quoting

from Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower:

"We accept the love we think we deserve."

"We are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them."

"It' okay to feel things. And be who you are about them."


I took a break from non-fiction (pregnancy and parenting) and went back to fiction for a couple of days. :) "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" was showing in cinemas a couple of weeks ago and friends' reviews were all, "You should watch it!" My present situation doesn't allow me to enter a movie theater for the next few months so I read the book instead. :D (Borrowed my sister's copy--thanks, Mela!) Good book, I liked it! Read it during breastfeeding sessions and I finished it in 2 days. My view is that the book is always better than its movie version, but I'd still want to see The Perks of Being a Wallflower movie someday. Adding it to my list of movies to watch, which also includes The Dark Knight Rises. (Yes, I haven't seen it yet.) Basta, as soon as the videos come out...

R.I.P. Sec. Jesse Robredo

Link to Mayor Jesse Robredo's speech to Ateneo de Manila University's 2003 Graduating Class: http://www.naga.gov.ph/cityhall/ademu2003.html

#SalamatJesse

Happy Birthday to me! :)

I turned another year wiser a few days ago. :D Celebrated the day with Ronjie, mostly just at home. I cooked pancit/pansit (for long life!) and he baked me a chocolate cake! ♥ For dinner we went to a ramen place nearby (more noodles again, for long life!), just a 1-minute walk from the apartment. It was a nice, cozy birthday celebration, different from the previous years where my day would be filled with people. Different, but I was happy nonetheless. :)

I love receiving packages! - birthday presents from Ronjie :)

we're just starting to build up our book collection here

chocolate cake baked by my husband :9

using Betty Crocker microwave cake mix :D

And this was the Garfield strip during my birthday. :D Perfect!

Garfield 110727

Tanabata

Ronjie's Nihongo sensei gave out boxed goodies in class one day, to celebrate Tanabata. Looks like black bean jelly, which is symbolic for good health.

it tasted like black bean jelly so I guess that's what it is

Tanabata (also known as the "star festival") is the "Japanese-Chinese Valentine's Day" and is celebrated on July 7 (or August 7 in some places, based on the traditional Japanese lunisolar calendar). According to a legend, this is the only day when lovers Vega (Orihime) and Altair (Hikoboshi) are allowed to meet. The lovers' story, lifted from Wikipedia:

Orihime (織姫 Weaving Princess), daughter of the Tentei (天帝 Sky King, or the universe itself), wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the Amanogawa (天の川 Milky Way, lit. "heavenly river"). Her father loved the cloth that she wove and so she worked very hard every day to weave it. However, Orihime was sad that because of her hard work she could never meet and fall in love with anyone. Concerned about his daughter, Tentei arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi (彦星 Cow Herder Star) (also referred to as Kengyuu (牽牛)) who lived and worked on the other side of the Amanogawa. When the two met, they fell instantly in love with each other and married shortly thereafter. However, once married, Orihime no longer would weave cloth for Tentei and Hikoboshi allowed his cows to stray all over Heaven. In anger, Tentei separated the two lovers across the Amanogawa and forbade them to meet. Orihime became despondent at the loss of her husband and asked her father to let them meet again. Tentei was moved by his daughter’s tears and allowed the two to meet on the 7th day of the 7th month if she worked hard and finished her weaving. The first time they tried to meet, however, they found that they could not cross the river because there was no bridge. Orihime cried so much that a flock of magpies came and promised to make a bridge with their wings so that she could cross the river. It is said that if it rains on Tanabata, the magpies cannot come and the two lovers must wait until another year to meet.

One of the customs is to write your wishes on a small piece of paper and then hang it on a bamboo tree, along with other decorations. The Tanabata festival is particularly famous in Sendai, where it is celebrated in August. Recently though, Japan has been cutting down its festivals--to conserve energy and probably also so resources can be redirected to the rehabilitation of those affected by the recent tsunami--so I wonder if the Tanabata festival will be celebrated in Sendai this year, and if so, in what scale. In any case, I hope it isn't rainy on the day.

For more fun facts about Japan's Valentine's day, click here.

TWF Post-it reminder for today:

#728

Who are the people in your neighborhood? postscript

Postscript to this post a few days ago.

These are the Tuesday and Friday garbage collectors:

And these are the Monday collectors (paper and plastic):

To end, here's a Peanuts strip from a couple of weeks ago. My birthday is next week! In preparation for my turning another year wiser, I'm will start counting my blessings! :)

Peanuts 110701

And before I forget:

thingsweforget #726

(for more Post-it reminders, click here for the TWF blog)

quoting

from Haruki Murakami's Sputnik Sweetheart:

"Falling in love is always a pretty crazy thing. It might appear out of the blue and just grab you. Who knows--maybe even tomorrow."

quoting

from Haruki Murakami's Sputnik Sweetheart:

"Don't pointless things have a place, too, in this far-from-perfect world?"

Who are the people in your neighborhood?

Let me introduce you to 3 (4?) in our current one.

the vending machine refill-er

Vending machines on every other street corner are a very common sight in Japan.

I actually don't know who this is. The neighborhood spray-er, perhaps?

 Caught this guy walking around the apartment compound one afternoon, spraying some stuff on the ground using his backpack sprayer contraption thing. Maybe pest control? 

friendly neighborhood garbage collectors

These guys are our Thursday garbage collectors. (Took these photos of them just earlier today!) We segregate our garbage here and each type of trash has a designated day of disposal. Today, Thursday, it's cans, PET containers, glass and metals. The collecting truck is different each day, depending on what kind of garbage is for collection, though I don't think the guys are the same ones who come to get the garbage every day.

Here's an illustration of the garbage segregation scheme here, from the pamphlet guide for Filipinos Ronjie got when he first arrived in Atsugi:

notice the text in Filipino (Tagalog) :D

By the way, I'm continuing with FreeCell again and just finished game 779 this afternoon. My current goal is to finish game 1,000 by yearend. :) Looks very possible! :)

Here's some stuff to occupy yourself with:

Watch this video by Giniling Festival. Official music video of 'Hipon'. My brother is in it! :D

Check out Hugh Laurie (Dr. House) for L'Oreal for Men in this online video-

New marine species have been found in the Philippines! Read more about it here. Cool photos!

A chocolate printer now exists!

News on lower priced IKEA items!

Happy Thursday! :)

around Atsugi

wishy-wishy!
(saw this while walking around the neighborhood)

kakaibang puno

This is right outside the Hon-Astugi train station.

pedestrian crossing right outside the Hon-Atsugi station

Atsugi Catholic Church one Saturday
(the white-haired guy is the parish priest)

Atsugi Catholic Church after mass one Sunday
(click the photo to jump to the mass schedules)

Mr. Owl last June 5 - he's looking good!

Thomas the Tank Engine!
the first English book I saw in the bookstores here

cute leather keychain

tsk, tsk

That's it so far! Will be sharing more 'around Atsugi' photos in the coming blog posts. To end this entry, here's a Mutts comic strip and a cool timelapse video of the night sky by Christoph Malin. This was not filmed in Atsugi. I'm including both (comic strip & video) here anyway, just because I missed the lunar eclipse last night. :D

Mutts 110605

Black Hole Sun - Astronomic Mountain Landscape TimeLapse from Christoph Malin

other June food (1/3)

butter
(I love how it comes pre-cut already)

 +

pancakes

+ 

strawberry jam

Spanish sardines pasta

pork menudo
using Del Monte Quick n Easy Menudo Sauce
(Did you see how big the red bell pepper was?!)

blueberry yogurt :)

hotdog sandwich (?)

+ 

chocolate cream-filled bread dipped in chocolate

 +

a peach-flavored drink

pancakes with sausages :9

lunch at MOS Burger
clockwise from top: french fries (R's), onion rings (mine), breaded chicken fillet (R's), cheeseburger (mine),  some double pattie spicy burger (R's), large softdrink (R's)

sinigang na salmon
using Mama Sita's Sinigang sa Bayabas Mix
(we have sinigang once a week)

bottled cubed Thailand mangoes in syrup
(We miss mangoes! Thailand mangoes aren't even half as good as Philippine mangoes.)

we saw this in the supermarket and decided to try it out

pork sisig
using Mama Sita's Sisig Mix

remember the bottled Thailand mangoes? this is them but now with cream and sweetened condensed milk

imbentong salad: lettuce + cucumber + salsa :D

Pocky!
very addicting!

beef tapa with tomatoes and fried egg
(The fried egg on top was cooked using a microwave egg cooker; the one below I fried after I cooked the tapa, in the same oil, hence the dark burnt-looking color.)

peaches, pineapples, pears, and apples in syrup

was craving for doughnuts; this was all I could find
(it didn't satisfy my craving, just to let you know)

tapa pasta :D
(re-fried leftover beef tapa in some olive oil, mixed with leftover spaghetti, and topped with grated Parmesan cheese)

And to end this post, here's something I got from Yahoo! - how to rescue a wet cell phone.