Now I know how models feel...

Fashion Shows are exhilarating. I'm backstage and wish everything is ok. I can't see what is out until I see pictures but the models are confident and you just make sure they are wearing your clothes the right way.

What if you are to model the clothes?

Yup. That's right. I had a taste of full-figured modeling. Practice was supposed to make me confident. I practiced three days straight but to no avail. Saturday, BelAir, showtime.
I fixed myself a hundred times and was queued to walk the ramp. My cheeks won't stop chattering. I can barely smile! Man! I was practicing my smile the whole week. This is how a model feel. A first timer like me, that is!
The clothes that I was wearing just came out Friday afternoon. It was not supposed to be what I was to wear. The clothes Marie and I were wearing was my recently made samples for the Trinoma mall Boutique. My Boss really liked it and insisted I wear it.
Man what a day. I treated me and Diki with cream puffs and eclairs and Orlan a lechon lunch!

Talecraft Delays

Man! stupid Phil. Customs! How long can they take a bloody box out? There is something wrong with this country! Nobody is bloody clean! Everyone wants a lagay!
Well, Komikasi is clean!... That is why wala pa rin ang package ng Talecraft! Arg!

How the hell do they want to help small businesses grow? Promote education and ceativity!!!
What shall happen to this country after May? I am scared. Will the government get eviler and eviler? Is this why all my realatives are migrating?
Is it why everybody wants to migrate? Everybody wants something better! Even OFWs. Everybody wants to escape the country.

Animadness; Circus Freak!

Check out the Circus Freak by Komikasi at Animadnes!
My two sis and I made it. Please vote for it. It is a short animation about a circus freak pining for a tight-rope walker.

http://www.nycmidnight.com/Films/2007/Animadness/Circus%20Freak.htm

Quotes from The Left Hand of Darkness

By Ursula K. LeGuin (Writer of Earthsea)

Life and the Unknown

"The unknown, the unforetold, the unproven, that is what life is based on. Ignorance is the ground of thought. Unproof is the ground of action. If it were proven that there is no God there would be no religion... But if it were proven that there is a God, there would be no religion."

"The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertaintaintly; not knowing what comes next."

On Patriotism and Government

"How does one hate a country, of love one?"

"What is love of one's country; Is it hate of one's uncountry? Then it is not a good thing."

"A man who doesn't detest a bad government is a fool. And if there were such a thing as a good government on earth, it would be a joy to serve it."


* * * The left hand of darkness is LIGHT... * * *

The Sleeping Humpty Dumpty Beauty

Trust Anne McCaffrey to give a good story!
In her anthology, The Girl Who Heard Dragons, she has a story entitled the Sleeping Humpty Dumpty Beauty is a mix of the two. Humpty Dumpty and Sleeping Beauty. Now who would have thought of mixing these two stories into one Space-Age drama?

I love this story. It is simple but there is humor and romance in one. Imagine a futuristic space where humans travel and fight alien wars. Now, a soldier fights in the war but still believes in fairy tales.

Bardie is a doctor sent into the battlefields to collect bodies and cure what soldiers that can be. She picks up a badly battled Lt. Roger O'Hara. His left hand is gone, his left leg is broken in 9 places, goodbye left lung, stomach is slashed, he needs a new pancreas and one liver left. But his face, only a small gash. His head is completely intact and he is completely alive.
Bardie makes a decision and puts him back together, ordering new organs and putting prosthetics to the limbs.
One problem, Lt. O'Hara doesn't want to wake up. His brainwaves indicate he is alright and is not in great pain. He was only asleep. The nurses tried to wake him but no progress. Bardie gets a few bodily responses but that was it.
The Lieutenant was a handsome man. He was battered and patched up but his face was like an angel. In a dreamy moment, she kissed him. Ashamed, she fled and never came near him. Later, she learned he was awake. The nurses thought it was a miracle.
After two weeks, she was finally going home. Aboard the space shuttle taking her home, the lieutenant was also placed to get home. Once the ship set off, Bardie was called to attend to Lt. O'Hara. He was back to his "sleep" state.
Bardie confronts him and asks why he went back to his self-induced sleep.
"I know you're awake!"
His answer, he wanted to know he didn't wake up in a horror story. He wanted to make sure he woke to more than a fairy tale, a reality.
"You're no Sleeping Beauty, O'Hara, More like Humpty Dumpty."
But he woke to find his king's man gone. Wouldn't Bardie love to have a fairytale even if it is just during the trip home? If so, how does Sleeping Beauty wake up?...

Kiss!

At Work

To expand knowledge and of course raise capital, I have decided to work.

Yes, I am working at a place that I like. Though frankly, it is veyr far. It takes more than 250 pesos a day of commute money. Hayyyyy...

The Girl Who Heard Dragons

Its a short Story by Anne McCaffrey. Set in Pern, the colorful world with the 5 colors of Dragons live and protect the people from the deadly Thread that rains from Outerspace.

This story is about Aramina. Although she has been introduced in All the Weyrs of Pern and is in the Renegades of Pern, this short story is her flight from Igen Lower Cavern to Lemos and how she met Heth and Lessa.

Lady Hodless Thella, the queen of the renegades, is set to capture Aramina. She will destroy all, sacrifice her men and kill to get what she wants and what she was in the gilr who can hear dragons.
Aramina, daughter of Lady Barla of the Ruathan blood, is a holdless member of the Igen Lower Cavern. They have nowhere else to shelter from Thread and is cheated by the holders whom they have no affiliation to. Proud and threatened, Aramina and her family runs from Igen to Lemos because Thella is on their heals. Accident happens and the cart they ride falls atop her father. Without thinking, she calls to the dragon that passes. The dragon drops and reveals his rider, the smallest dragon boy. (He has his own Short Story entitled The Smallest Dragon Boy). K'van is small but Heth is still a bronze. He lifts the cart and helps them to the cavern.
Barla is scaredfor her daughter. A girl who hears dragons must stay in the Weyr. If not, Thella might catch them. F'lar, F'nor, T'gellan and Mirrim comes and lends a hand. Lord Asgenar of Lemos sends his mn to protect Aramina and her family but still Lady Holdless Thella evades them and catches Aramina.
Ara calls to Heth who responds at once. The rest of the dragons come too. Thella escapes but Ara is hurt. Lessa arrives and decided that for the good of Ara, she must go to Benden Weyr.

That was the short story. Though in Renegades, it is all in the point of view of Jayge, Ara's soon-to-be-husband.

About Aramina and Jayge in Anne McCaffrey's The Renegades of Pern
Major Spoilers!

Jayge is a holdless man but a trader like his family. He does not know who Ara is, only that Thella is chasing her. Knowing that a helpless girl is in trouble, Jayge embarks on a journey to save a girl he does not know. In Renegades, Ara refuses to impress in Benden Weyr. She can't block the dragon's voices and it begins to get on her nerves. She is sent to Benden Hold but is kidnapped by Thella for the second time. She is put in a dark tunnel, naked. Because of the this rocks, she can't reach for the dragons of Benden. Jayge is helped by his uncle Readis. They rescue Ara but Readis is killed. Ara and Readis runs away to the Southern Continent but is caught by storm and is shipwrecked at an ancient settlement. She gives birth to a son they call Readis in honor of Jayge's uncle who saved her. Harper Journeyman Piemur sees them and helps them out. They soon discover the ancient name of the hold, Paradise River Hold. Master Robinton helps them acquire it as a permanent Hold. Upon his arrival on dragonback, Ara faints upon realizing she can no longer hear dragons. It must be a thing only young girls can have.
Jayge calls his family to help him hold Paradise River. Ara and Jayge prospers and has three children. Piemur visits along with Jancis.
One day, Lady Holdless Thella arrives and tries to take Ara again. She knocks Jayge, Piemur and the other with him. Luckily, Jancis is a quick thinker and luckily, K'van comes. K'van is now Weyrleader of Southern Weyr. Heth called him to help Ara. Itseems Heth can still hear the Girl who Heard Dragons even if the ability is waning. F'lar and Lessa had impossed new rules that Weyrs will not intercept holder business but that doesn't stop Heth. Jayge finishes the job by capturing Thella's men and killing the Renegade herself.
Lessa is disappointed at K'van but is relived to see Ara is alright. She had thought the girl died after being kidnapped by Thella but has instead ran to the south with Jayge.
All wa well for now...
The story will continue at Dolphins of Pern.
Their son, Readis, crippled in body but not in spirit. He wants to be a dolphineer and not even Aramina can stop him. Ara hides a secret from everybody. She soon discovers nothing can stop the sad songs she hears at night. Not even dragon songs. Readis will hear it and its lure to the sea is more powerful that tides.

The Circle Opens: Magic Steps

Who has ever heard of magic dancing? Not Pasco. He loves to dance but be a mage?
The Acalon And the Quais are two families of Harriers. Harriers are guards and police force of the Provost in the land of Emelan. Pasco is the only son of his Acalon Father and Quais Mother. He was bound for a ahrrying job. From early age, he and his cousins are trained in the family courtyard for baton lessons, wrestling and staff practice. Pasco's dancing, his friends said, gave luck to who ever he danced for. So when it did happen, he was spotted by the Duke's grand-niece who was a odd type of mage herself.

Lady Sandrilene (Sandry) is now 14. She is living in the citadel, the Duke's residence. While accompanying her uncle in a ride around Emelan, she sees a boy dancing magic into a net. As a graduate mage from Winding Circle Academy, she must be the boy's teacher because she discovers his ability. Pasco denies his magical ability. He feels ridiculed enough as it is for dancing. But nobody knows specialized magic like Sandry. She and her friends from Winding Circle have abilities of their own. She is what they call a Stitch Witch. She weaves magic. Her spells also includes bespelling and controlling anything with thread or anything woven. Pasco's magic in unique but it still has to be harnessed. One blunder sends the boy begging for his lessons.

So Pasco takes his meditation and magic lessons from Sandry and is taking dancing lessons from Yazmin, the most famous dancer in the land. Yazmin teaches young Pasco that dancing is merely a way to communicate, a channel. This channel can now be the outlet of his magical abilities.

Murdering assassins strikes the city and Sandry takes it upon herself to get involved since she is better equipped at handling than the provost's mages. She and her ex-teachers at Winding Circle sets a trap for the assassins and it will take young Pasco to dance the enchantment for it to work.

This is the Second quartet set in Emelan by Tamora Pierce. The first is the Circle of Magic Quartet. It is about four 10 year old mages who is discovering their magic. With friendship and very dedicated teachers, they learn to control their magic and is able to overcome the 4 tough situations. Now, 4 years later, they are official mages. Young as they are. So they set out with one teacher each to seek experience in the world. Sandry is left in Discipline Cottage with her teacher Lark, the Weaver. When the Duke gets a heart attack, Sandry must go and nurse him. She finds herself taking over his household and acting as his nurse.

I have two books so far from this quartet. I like it better than the first quartet. Tamora Pierce's style has grown.

The Four mages _____ Their Speciality _____ Their Teachers
Sandry ____________ Weaving __________ Dedicate Lark
Daja ______________ Smith (forge) _______ Dedicate Frostpine
Tris ______________ Weather __________ Nicklaren Goldeye
Briar _____________ Plants ____________ Dedicate Rosethorn

This way, that way... Anyway!

I'm going this way and that way and I can't pretty much decide what to do with my life. I think I'll work a while then start my biz. It's just frustrating to start a biz in this country. People are asking so much lagay. Arroyo admin is not doing much for helping the young starting business. If there were a lot of business, even a small one, there would be good taxes. Hopefully, hindi ubosing ng mga politiko! That will really help the country's economy!

Pero what now? They don't care...

Brother Cadfael

Just who is Brother Cadfael?

He is a 12th Century Benedictine Monk Detective created by Edith Pargeter known as Ellis Peters.
This middle aged setting was supposedly the time of the first crusade. There, our young welsh Cadfael joined and returned sick of the world. He joined the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter and At. Paul in Shrewsburry, Shropshire. It is near the border of Wales.
In the abbey, Cadfael takes care of the Herbarium. He takes care of sick people and creates the poltice needed but he is not the infirmarer. He finds himself able to solve the crimes happening in the town surrounding the abbey. He is then tasked by the Abbot to solve it in the name of the church.
Because of this, he makes a lot of friends outside the abbey. This includes the dashing young Hugh Behringer. Cadfael becomes the godfather of his son.
Because of his quick thinking and practicality, he is like a detective. Even the sheriff askes his opinion. Since the abbey takes care of the preparation for the dead, he is also like the coroner.
He gets along with everybody and is well-loved.

I like him a lot.
There is a television series I used to watch in Hallmark about Brother Cadfael. He is played by Sir Derek Jacobi. Derek Jacobi plays Covinus in Underworld: Evolutions and as a mortuarist in Nanny McPhee.

Read more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_Cadfael

Novels: Brother Cadfael Series

1. A Morbid Taste for Bones (written in 1977, this episode is set in 1137)
2. One Corpse Too Many (1979, set in August 1138)
3. Monk's Hood (1980, set in December 1138)
4. Saint Peter's Fair (1981, set in July 1139)
5. The Leper of Saint Giles (1981, set in October 1139)
6. The Virgin in the Ice (1982, set in November 1139)
7. The Sanctuary Sparrow (1983, set in the Spring of 1140)
8. The Devil's Novice (1983, set in September 1140)
9. Dead Man's Ransom (1984, set in February 1141)
10. The Pilgrim of Hate (1984, set in May 1141)
11. An Excellent Mystery (1985, set in August 1141)
12. The Raven in the Foregate (1986, set in December 1141)
13. The Rose Rent (1986, set in June 1142)
14. The Hermit of Eyton Forest (1988, set in October 1142)
15. The Confession of Brother Haluin (1988, set in December 1142)
16. The Heretic's Apprentice (1990, set in June 1143)
17. The Potter's Field (1990, set in August 1143)
18. The Summer of the Danes (1991, set in April 1144)
19. The Holy Thief (1992, set in August 1144)
20. Brother Cadfael's Penance (1994, set in November 1145)

* Books I have.

Cadfael Chronicles: The Leper of St. Giles

Our Welsh Benedictine is back with another murder case. There are new characters and old ones too.
Brother Mark, his apprentice, followed his calling to take care of the lepers at St. Giles Hospice. For his sins, Cadfael is given Brother Oswin to train and make as assistant. The fumble fingered brother Oswin is kind and very industrious, overly for Cadfael but is clumsy in ways. While fretting over his herbarium, he has to see to a wedding and a murder that soon takes place. The bride is enshrouded in mystery but so is a leper from St. Giles. What is the connection between this two?
Only Brother Cadfael could guess.
He actually does and reveals all that had to be revealed for the sake of justice.
The bride is saved and all is well.
Of the leper, he disappears after he reveals himself to Cadfael.

The characters are more involved now. Brother Mark is surely trained well by Cadfael. He followed his instincts and was able to uncover clues for the murder. Sadly, no Hugh Behringer. He is at Maesbury because Aline is giving birth.

I liked the story and the way it was written. Very educational at the same time intriguing!

5th chronicle to the Cadfael Books of Ellis Peters also known as Edith Pargeter.

Easter Thoughts

Mom said:

If you want to make a difference
you don't need to save the whole world!
That's Jesus' job.
You can do it one person at a time.

Cadfael Chronicles: The Hermit of Eyton Forest

14th book of Ellis Peter's Cadfael Chronicles.

There was a new Lord of Eaton and it was Richard Ludel, 10 year old student in the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter and Paul in Shewsburry, Shropshire. He was left to the care of the abbot by his ailing father and was tasked guardian should he die before hand. The grandmother of Richard has other plans. She fights the abbot for the custody of Richard.
Aiding her is the Hermit of Eyton Forest. Aiding Richard are the monks of the abbey and the Hermit's man servant, Hyacinth.
When a man is discovered murdered in Eyton Forest and Richard and the man servant missing, there seems to be something amiss. The abbot turns to Brother Cadfael to know what is truly happening. He gets to the bottom of things and learned that the Hermit is not as he seems.

This time, Cadfael does not discover all things by himself. The players of the story discover bits and pieces themselves and it is actually up to Richard and Hyacinth to get the truth out and save themselves from the forces trying to dictate their lives.

Cadfael Chronicles: St. Peter's Fair

By Ellis Peters.
This is the 4th segment in the Cadfael Chronicles. The Fair of St. Peter Ad Vincula was a three day affair with merchants from all over the country coming to Shropshire in the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter and Paul. An ordinary fair is not without conflict whether be by the masses versus the church, merchants against each other and political turmoil.
Set in 12th Century England between the conflict of King Stephen and Empress Maud. There is much intrigue but only an elderly monk to solve the case.
Brother Cadfael, a monk in his late fifties, has stayed in the abbey for two decades. He is an herbalist but the abbot and the deputy sheriff know there is more than herbs the shrewed brother knows. He is set by the abbot to find the real killer of a murdered merchant. Later, another murder occur ed and vandals here and there. Little did anyone guess that the murders are in connection to the war but the abbot wants this clear of the abbey and the sheriff wants his murderer in the gallows.
The book keeps you guessing 'til the last minute. It is very intriguing. though set in the abbey and its walls, it is an adventure to take!