soundbytes

attended my very first hakika (binyag) today, and saw baby sufia at last, with her very proud and loving parents xam and ibn. the hakika is very different from traditional christian baptism. it's very open and intimate, and the imam explained to Muslims and non-Muslims alike the elements of the hakika, their importance, etc. inside the loving circle of family, extended relatives and friends, it was an entirely new and eye-opening experience.

so... i'm supposed to read a poem tomorrow at happy mondays but i haven't written a thing in over a month. i might beg off, no sense in coming up with a poem just to have something to read. :P

watched 3 good movies on video - perfume (unforgettable! you have to see it to remember it hahaha), wicker park (the hollywood version of l'appartement which starred monica belucci) and this year's 21. haven't had the time, energy or actual momentum to even write about 'em.

at fully booked today, bought 2 books in lieu of the jasper fforde i've been wanting to buy - an old favorite, jostein gaarder's the solitaire mystery and natsuo kirino's latest real world. i almost bought jonathan lethem's girl in landscape, but it was the last copy and pretty worn out and sad looking for P559. there was a loooong line though, and with the exception of jat and myself, they were all clutching either twilight or breaking dawn. nakaka-OP! hehehe.

of course, talk about manny pacquiao's historic win today against golden (pretty) boy de la hoya is all over the place, and as usual, the streets were pretty deserted since everyone was glued to the television set, but i've never seen at least 20 people queueing up just to buy one book!

the more hype twilight gets, the less inclined i am to pick it up. i've never been much of a believer in good film adaptations of good/great books, either. i'll prolly be one of the unfortunate few who missed out on the books and the movie. as for the movie, if it means enduring the shrieks of lovestruck teenyboppers from start to finish, i think i'd rather not. haha.

or maybe the all too familiar genre itself including, yes - vampires, love story, undercurrentes of erotica - was already big during my time, when people started noticing anne rice's vampire chronicles a decade after they were published. back then, kirsten dunst made her unforgettable debut ("i want some more"), brad pitt was hot (and not in a fatherly, married man way) and tom cruise was miscast (haha, sorry!). i'm talking about interview with the vampire, btw. i'm mildly curious about meyer's books though, and maybe i'll just borrow a friend's copy (assuming they're willing to part with it for a day or two).

am trying to jog regularly. 3 attempts so far, and already i can see and feel changes. for all the times i complained about being too skinny, i certainly got more than i wanted. i seriously gained a LOT of weight in such a short span of time and most of it went to my midsection, too!
hopefully by next year once i sport a leaner, meaner me. rawr!