Early morning coffee with a friend at Starbucks in Pearl Drive. Too many realizations, but hey, this one is for you.

---

And only because my sister said: Bed Weather: Sleep Together this is a timely poem for today.

Weatherbeaten
Naya Valdellon

By the time you read this, the week-
long typhoon will have moved
north towards the South
China Sea, as the weatherman
had predicted. They never change
course this time of year,
these tropical storms named
after fickle women—like migratory
birds, they never stay long
enough to learn local words
for love, steadfast to their wind-
blown language of rainbursts.

( more? ) You will know,
perhaps, every time you read this,
what it’s like to be a woman
no storm has been named after,
to be unfazed by the forecast
of foul weather, with these words
storming through the lightning-
stricken heart, writing up
a storm to weather your leaving.

 

Tagged by the lovely Coco.

It took me this long to make this meme/survey because of the following reasons:

1. I'm insecure. i do not own any books at all. Only until last weekend did I actually buy books from my own money.
2. All the books I own prior to this survey are gifts from friends, ex-lovers, ex-friends. So I was afraid it could not qualify for the survey. But, what-the-hey, I'm posting them anyway.
3. The only books I ever read were borrowed from friends, shared books between me and Alex, and/or borrowed from her. I could not stress it enough: I do not own books.

Here we go with the survey:


Better Homes and Gardens Salad Book (1978)
where: my mom gave this to me.
why: actually we stole this from the library in her small town. We did not really steal this. It was more of: you can take that home, Atty. So she decided to give it to me. I was raised at the cook in our household. I had always loved cooking. I had always dreamed that if I did not become a lawyer, I would become a chef, or a housewife. I will own a small bookstore where I sell paperclips, and pens and glue sticks. I will cook food for my husband and kids. All I wanted was a simple life. And this is one of the testaments to that. Plus, it's from my mother.
price: Free.


The New F-1 World by Canon (1982)
where: this one is from mr. Darrel Jay Tolentino.
why: It is no secret: I am trying to take better pictures. I do not intend to be the best one in the planet--i just want to be able to take better pictures for my remembrance. This book is an old photography book, tattered and torn at the seams. It has a lot of photos which has some EXIF data explaining the aperture, the shutter speed, ISO value of each photo. This book is the subject of some discussions between me and a close♥friend. This book has some breath-taking nature photography.
price: Free.

The Illustrated Rumi: A Treasury of Wisdom from the Poet of the Soul by Jalalu'ddinRumi (2000)
where: this was a gift to me for my birthday from a dear friend.
why: This was actually on my birthday wish list. I had always loved Rumi. I remember the day I discovered him was a hot February morning. It was in Sir Delfin Tolentino's class. I have a penchant for Asian literature not coming from the Orient. Read: Indian and Hinduism and Islam. Rumi is a Sufist whose writing reminds me of drunkenness: fluid and never held back.
price: Free.

Amelia's Guide to Gossip: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly by Marissa Moss (2006)
where: this one is from Abel.
why: This book is a testament to how random I am. This book is directed for elementary students in the primary level. Read: Grade 2-4. It has lovely illustrations. It deals with all types of gossip and how to deal with it. Major discussions include the "Gossip Ripple Effect." It looks like a diary and can be read in some 15 minutes.
price: Free.

The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis [part of the Vintage Classic Twins-Vintage Lust] (2007)
where: National Bookstore, SM Fairview.
why: This is the first book I ever bought with my own money! It is half of the Vintage Classic Twins pair for Vintage Lust. I have been lusting over the Vintage Classic Twins since summer and this one is first on my list. Time and circumstance got in the way and only last weekend did I get the chance to buy this. I am now flat broke, but I love it. Teenage sex novels are just so exciting.
price: 324p for a pair.

Tagging anyone who hasn't been tagged yet: Xaris? Meia? Michael Yap? Kat Manalo? Raffy Galope? Anyone! WP bloggers, LJ bloggers, friendster bloggers, etc. :) Leave me a comment when you have done the survey.

My sister is in love with her books.

She treats her books like lovers, careful to tuck them under the sheets when she sleeps with them. She takes them in, the way lovers take in each other--mindful of all the details and the slip and slope of their bodies. She gets what she wants from them: an orgasmic thrill of a discovery. She shivers and giggles and sighs when they present her with pleasure. And after she finishes with any of them, she leaves them behind, prudent so as not to destroy their memories and the pleasure--or lack of it--they provide.

♥♦♣♠ ♥♦♣♠ ♥♦♣♠ ♥♦♣♠ ♥♦♣♠ ♥♦♣♠ ♥♦♣♠ ♥♦♣♠

In other news: I want to re-do this photo with me and Alex as the stand-in. I just need to find the perfect jacket and the perfect skirt for it. Guess which one is which? Alex already has the outfit, I don't :( ukay-ukay, anyone?

Words are mere representations of the general narrative of a particular culture. A culture has a word for a concept, exactly because they feel the need to define the idea--in all its preciseness. They feel the need to confine one concept in one word. While it is easy to define concrete ideas such as sun, sword, symbols there are abstract concepts which need to be defined in several words. While some abstract words are easier to define, such as pain, precision, irregularity, there are others which have to be defined in a phrase, or a group of words.

It is interesting to note what concepts particular cultures choose to define. The Filipino culture has many one word direct translations for a lot of rice concepts: bahaw, tutong, sinangag, kanin, bigas. All of which are called RICE in the English language, save for adjective or qualifiers to define what type of rice they are: day-old rice, burnt rice, fried rice, cooked rice, and uncooked rice.

Here are a few interesting foreign words. (My favorites actually) All of which are: one word for a concept which if defined in the English language is usually defined in two or more words. The definition is not as precise, considering its code-switch from that culture's language and representation to English.

• Hitomebore - Japanese. "falling in love with someone at first glance". (Imagine the preciseness of this: at first glance, a fleeting second. It is not directly similar to falling in love at first sight, because sight denotes taking in of the vision longer than a glance.)
• Schadenfreude - German. "finding delight at the suffering of another person." (it is interesting to note why the Germans have a word for this kind of ill-wishing towards others.)
• Saudade - Portuguese.  "intense longing for someone who will never return." (Saudade is directed towards lost lovers, or missing people. The contemplation of death is imminent, but the recognition is not there, therefore saudade exists.)
• Kilig - Filipino. "A certain rush of excitement and bliss usually experienced after something good happens or at the anticipation of something good." (Usually pertains to love and relationships. It is similar to being smitten, except kilig contemplates a temporary state of happiness, perhaps fleeting even.)
• Sisu - Finnish. "The ability to sustain courage in the face of adversity." (Similar to stoic toughness, sisu is a pervasive FInish word that most products in Finland contain the name.)
• Stam - Hebrew. "Just because. Usually denoting amused frustration." (Why did it have to rain today when I didn't bring my umbrella? Stam.)
• Lagom - Swedish. "when something is done exactly right" (Similar to cooking pasta al dente, something is considered lagom when there is nothing more which begs to be done to something because it is done exactly right, the way it should be done)
• Huggelig - Danish. "When something feels warm and comfortable, small and cozy and there is a feeling of ease and happiness and contentment." (While the word "cozy" is pretty similar to the idea, it is not as precise as this. The word's additional feature: contentment assumes general happiness which is not attached to the idea of being cozy. Similar to a rainy day spent indoors, with someone you love drinking hot chocolate, eating champorado, cuddling and talking. huggelig.  )
• Mokita - New Guinean. "when a group of people are all together and fhey are all thinking of the same thing, but nobody is saying it." (this one has to be a real favorite. Imagine all the moments we have encountered mokita in our lives! It is not when someone thinks of the same thing. It has to be a group of people who agrees-without the need for words about a particular concept. It defines a cultural acknowledgement, an agreement to understanding.)

Forgive the extremely geeky discussion of words, I was a language and literature major back in college, and this is what I do for fun. Plus, seeing as I am in the bussiness of words, might as well!

Some reference here: http://ask.metafilter.com/10490/What-concepts-do-not-exist-in-the-English-language

GEEK LUST AHEAD!

•   Vintage Crime: Ripley’s Game by Patricia Highsmith & Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
•   Vintage Fantasy: The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami & Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
•   Vintage Fear: The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter & The Complete Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm
•   Vintage Lies: Atonement by Ian McEwan & What Maisie Knew by Henry James
•   Vintage Love: Possession by A.S. Byatt & Middlemarch by George Eliot
•   Vintage Lust: The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis & Tom Jones by Henry Fielding (this one first!)
•   Vintage Monsters: Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson & Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
•   Vintage Satire: Atomised by Michel Houellebecq & Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
•   Vintage Sin: Inferno by Dante Alighieri & Sabbath’s Theater by Philip Roth
•   Vintage Youth: Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh & Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

I must remember to get my hands on any of the titles in bold (the Random House Vintage Classic Twins)

Since I happen to have a lot of time in my hands this summer, even if I am teaching Koreans, I have 4 hours of free time daily. Just lounging around in the office and swearing to oblivion, I must make it a little more meaningful. SO to kick start summer, i'm starting with  Haruki Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and Salman Rushdie's the Moor's Last Sigh.

Hmmmmn, teaching Korean's may not prove to be this season's disaster after all. *crosses fingers*