my birthday (July 2) post
i know, i know, it's been almost a month. but i can't NOT blog about my birthday just like i did last year because i definitely want to remember my birthday this time around. :)

can i just say that having your birthday fall on a saturday is the best? because it feels like you're celebrating in two days instead of one - celebration at work on friday and then celebration at home on saturday. for me, it felt like the longest birthday because early in the week, lots of people were already greeting me via text and friendster. :)

i wasn't feeling up for a big celebration. and if i had my way, i would have been bonding and eating ice cream on friday night with a few close friends, and having lunch at home on saturday with my family. come thursday night, everyone was already asking what my birthday plans are. realizing that i can't very well haul everyone to Manila Pen to have ice cream, i finally decided to just have a party in the apartment - which we now fondly refer to as Casa Barberan for all the vices (smoking, drinking, gambling) Marlette and I brought with us when we moved in. hehe. - and then invite my highshool friends over for dinner at home on saturday night.

for me, my birthday really started when i received the beautiful bouquet of pink tulips. i went to the reception area to receive the delivery and read the message:

imma,
these might not be growing on sidewalks,
but i still hope it would bring a smile to your lips.
Love,
R

R? i knew immediately that the initial was intentional and the message was meant to confuse. too bad the sender made a mistake of referring to this blog post. hehe. the Ex doesn't read this blog so it took me about 10 seconds to figure out that the flowers really came from Rhea. sigh...that girl, even if she's in singapore, she makes us feel like she's really not. she's the best and when i got home, i put the flowers in a prominent place in my room so i would be constantly reminded of the sweetie that rhea is. :)

come 11:30PM, the party at casa barberan was underway. almost everyone was there. you know how you feel honored and grateful when someone invites you to a party? multiply that tenfold, and that's how i felt looking at all the people who came to celebrate with me. glenn brought the videoke and of course the booze was overflowing. twice, the lola neighbor walked past the gate to check who's causing the raucus at such an ungodly hour (it was 3AM) and slammed the gate hoping to shut us up. we're bad, yes we are. but we were having so much fun.

by 6 AM, we ushered the last visitor out the door. it was real sweet though that some decided to stay and give in to my pagiinarte na bawal umuwi hangga't di pa tapos birthday ko (meaning 11:59PM of that day). hehehe.

we all woke up to the heavenly smell of breakfast at 11 in the morning. the living room looked like it's been through world war III. but there was dude, standing in the middle of the kitchen, holding a sandok with one hand and a pot holder in the other. and then one by one, sleepy and hungover people started walking out the rooms. there was jen, chix, marlette, don, den, bobet and JT.

those moments after breakfast would be my "birthday picture perfect moment". we were in the middle of a mess but to me, everything was perfect. it felt like the world was in perfect sync. marlette started sweeping the garage. jen started on the living room. even dude and i have a strategy - he would mop the floor and then i'll follow him around to dry it. and then people just started righting odds and ends in a somewhat lazy harmony.

but it was when marlette pointed to the kitchen that i felt a gentle tug at my heart. there was don returning stuff in the ref, den putting the plates in the sink, and chix washing the dishes - my SOUVENIRS, marlette said. don, den, and chix who were the Ex's college barkada...i wouldn't have met them had it not been for him. and being with them used to remind of how so much have changed in my life...i realized then that yes, they are my SOUVENIRS. TREASURES even. i consider them my friends now. not just my Ex's friends. and it's just amazing how these people who were so much a part of my painful past can now bring great joy to my life.

(tut-tut)

there goes my phone, i read the message and laughed out loud:
MAMA: Happy Birthday PANGGA! Umuwi ka na kasi magluluto pa tayo.

hehe. classic talaga mama ko. i hurriedly took a bath and met iyah (who, thankfully was in glorietta).

my saturday celebration was more like what i had in mind. i invited only a few people so we can talk more and catch up. chie was there, so was iyah and arvie and roma. and then there was also eva and vi. the food my brother and mom cooked (i missed all the cooking because i got home late. hehe) were all delicious. up to now, i get hungry when i think of my brother's kare-kare. yum!

after dinner, we went to hang out at the Lanai Red - this cool bar in WestGate near Ayala Town Center. i felt kinda bad really that everybody else was still in the mood to hang out, but i was already too sleepy because i've been up all night the previous night. i became a party pooper at my own party and went home at 2AM.

eva and I still spent some more bonding moments while getting ready for bed. it was when my head hit the pillow that i realized that this is one almost complete birthday. everyone that matters in my life shared it with me. old friends and new friends and family.

my world isn't so bleak anymore. compared to my birthday last year (i didn't want to remember the turmoil so i didn't blog about it. hehe), it felt good to be looking forward to occassions like this again. although that's not to say that my past will never creep up and grab me again. i know there will still be moments...but i'm stronger now. and my heart is healthier now. :)

***

my nephew is growing so big already...he's thinner now because he's too malikot. but i was glad to discover that he can speak more words now and can tell a story that i can understand. :)

these are pics i took on my birthday...he was hanging out in my room and wreaking havoc in it. hehe.




nope, that is not a hat, that's the box of his birthday present :)

***

a birthday realization:
silence really IS deafening. 

  Book 6!
this has been a long delayed post and i intentionally didn't make the title more descriptive because for me, there is only one Book 6 (and Book 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 for that matter. hehe)


  


July 16, at 7:30AM, I excitedly walked inside Powerbooks - ATC clutching my reservation slip dated Feb 27 on my hand. I expected the place to be jampacked, but imagine my disbelief at being directed to stand behind a girl whose line was already snaking through eight freaking bookshelves towards the counter. I looked to my right and saw 5 people (no, i'm not exaggerating) standing in front of the supposedly non-reserved books-only counter holding the very object of my obsession the past what? 4? 5 months?

I thought: this is not the way a tired, hungry, sleepless, over-excited girl (uhrm, woman) should be treated especially when it comes to Harry Potter books! I nearly cursed centralized airconditioning to oblivion (it was stuffy and hot inside the bookstore i swear!) while i watched in dazed amusement as a man lashed out at a staff for "punishing" those people who were buying reserved books. Honestly, their system sucks. How can it be that i am holding a slip of paper (that they gave me) proving that i paid 500 bucks to reserve my copy but they still feel the need to countercheck it with their list in the PC???

Well so anyway, by 9:30 I was already sitting in starbucks reading the first chapter of the book.

RIA, stop reading when you get to this part because you will most likely try to strangle me again just as you did when you read my post with the Book 6 Teasers. (But really, after all this time, how can you still NOT know that Sirius will die?! You've had my book for months!)




I finally finished the book Monday morning. I had to stop at Chapter 29 on Sunday night because I got a bad migraine from reading and crying. Hehe. Man, did i cry when Dumbledore died. I saved the chapter on the funeral hoping that reading it in a public place wouldn't make me cry as much. Later, i realized what a stupid idea that was because i couldn't stop my tears even when i was reading in the shuttle on the way to work. hahaha.

I have mixed (and biased) opinions on the book. You see, I liked Book 5 the least because Sirius' death overshadowed everything (can't help it, i love the guy). I've only read that book about 3 times. The last one out of necessity because I wanted to refresh my memory for Book 6. Anyway, Book 6 was actually good...but, because I also love Dumbledore (even more than Sirius, I think), I guess it would be yet another HP book that would take me a long time to read again. Heck, I was browsing the last chapters this morning and it still made my eyes water when I got to the Chapters discussing Dumbledore's death. hehehe.

So anyway, here are my thoughts on the book. and questions too. hehe.

**
I remember reading in JK Rowling's website that there are chapters in Half Blood Prince that she originally intended for the earlier books but she decided against it...however, i really didn't see the point of the first few chapters of HBP (the muggle prime minister meeting with the minister of magic). Hehehe.

**
I think Slughorn is a shady character. I don't know why.
I didn't like Fleur for Bill at first, but she seemed to have redeemed herself in the end, didn't she? :)

**
And maybe this is a stupid question, but i just have to ask...if the dementors already walked out of Azkaban to join Lord Voldemort, who's guarding Azkaban now?

**
Bellatrix and Narcissa (the bad people) are humans after all. :) I like that JK thought to portray them that way (in that chapter where Snape made the Unbreakable Vow)

**
I was kinda frustrated that it still wasn't revealed what made Dumbledore trust Snape oh so unconditionally. And i would have liked to have known a little background about Dumbledore sana...how he became so powerful and all that.

**
I wonder what JK thought when she chose the title for the book. Is there more to Snape being half blood and his mom's maiden last name being Prince? Would Snape being the Half Blood Prince have any significance at all in the last Book?

**
What happened to Dumbledore's hand? He didn't have the chance to explain that to Harry in their meetings. Or did he? Did I miss it?

**
I loved the tender moments between Dumbledore and Harry.
One when Harry admitted to Dumbledore that he is a "Dumbledore's man through and through"
And another when, after getting the (fake) Horcrux, a weak Dumbledore said he's not worried...because he's with Harry. (am sure there's more, but i couldn't remember them at the moment)

**
I was intrigued by the conversation Hagrid overheard in the forest between Dumbledore and Snape. When Snape was said that Dumbledore took too much for granted and that maybe he didn't want to do "it" anymore and then Dumbledore said that Snape had to do "it" because he agreed to. Could they have been talking about the Unbreakable Vow? I'd like to believe that Dumbledore's death is all part of his "grand plan" and that Snape, for all his evil ways would redeem himself by dying in the last book for the sake of good.

**
The one who found the real Locket Horcrux and replaced it with the fake one...R.A.B...could it be Regalus Black?

**
I loved how the funeral was written. The merpeople and centaurs paying tribute... So solemn. And sad. Sniff. I still hope he will come back in Book 7.
**

ohhhh...i can't wait to see how it all ends. and when that time comes, i know i'll be both happy and sad. happy that i've read another good book (i have faith the JK will not disappoint) and sad that it will be Harry's final journey. Some laugh when they hear us talk about the books as if the characters in it are real. I know not a lot of people understand, but to us HP lovers, Harry and Ron and Hermione and Dumbledore and Sirius and everybody else are as real to us as the people around us. And we can't help but share in their joys and sadness and triumph and pain.

I consider us lucky, for I think not all can have that gift of appreciation and enthusiasm for the books they read. :)