Chuck Klosterman is a Rockstar.

"Eating the Dinosaur" is his latest release and I recently procured a copy because I needed to buy a book that would make my updated to-read list a bit more eclectic than it already is.

Here's my non-work, non-school to-read list.

I was gifted with Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love from my Balikbayan sister, I asked for Rushdie's Satanic Verses but she said she felt the title sounded so off so she bought me a lighter, more pleasant book instead. I told her Rushdie isn't a bad man. She laughed at me as I tried to convince her not to judge a book by its cover, or in this case its title.

I bought a Tolstoy, because I figured I haven't finished reading a Russian's work might as well try one out. I tried a Dostoyevsky a couple of years back, but I was too confused with the proper nouns, they all sounded alike. The little bit that I got to read of "War and Peace" wasn't too bad, I figured I'm ready, I'm up for the challenge. Bring it on, the pages, the small font, the Royalty wars.

Then because I am attracted to books with a red cover, I had to buy one. My best bud, resident book geek Francis recommended Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. I've been asking him to lend me his copy but alas, he keeps forgetting so I bought a copy of it. It really does help that the cover's red and it has an inverted dog on the cover, I'm intrigued. Plus I always rely on Francis to recommend for books to read because he's well-read and a book fan. Did I just contradict my belief of judging books by its covers?

Going back to Chuck Klosterman as a Rockstar, I'm a few chapters in and it's really good. Although I have to admit, I am not familiar with his choice of references in his writing half of the time. I am quite proud of myself that I know that Jeff Beck is a guitarist and that I've listened to Nirvana's Kurt Cobain belt out his misery. I can imagine Chuck as that guy people gravitate to during "inuman". He actually posited a quandary in his book, he said it was his favorite inuman question, he asked, if you had 15 seconds to go back in time to your 15 year old self, what exactly would you say? I really enjoyed reading his overthought, geeky answer to this. I won't do his work justice by putting it up here, so buy the book! Haha, I am such a crazed fan. I have yet to read the rest of this book and secure his other works, the only other piece I've read before was IV. His take on American pop culture is just fun to read, it's bordering geeky. He's an intelligent word user and deeply profound in a non-effacing way. This is probably why I enjoy reading blogs that are self-referential but not in a gag-inciting overly self-absorbed way.

I gotta stop writing and get back to my reading. It's so much fun to be a geek.

Random Zombie Thoughts

I am on my nth cup of coffee and still a zombie! I still have one more deadline to push through. I am so dead if I don't make tomorrow's do-or-die deadline.

Thanks to youtube, I have been able to enjoy a myriad of songs from a lot of different artists. Interestingly enough, I have a very disjointed taste in music. Just take a look at today's playlist.

Bag Raiders Fun Punch, Shooting Stars and Turbo Love
Usher There Goes My Baby, Love Looks Good on You, I Love You Too
Freestyle Half-Crazy
Green Day One 21 Guns
MAE Reflections, Release Me
Madonna Secret
The Script Before the Worst
Kjwan One Look

House music by the Bag Raiders ROCK! These guys are my get-up-and-go musicians. When you're on your 23rd zombie hour, one bad-ass upper's required and these guys do it for me.

Something to think about.... How do you eat your pasta? Do you mix it so that the sauce is evenly distributed, so that every bite is the same as the last one? Boo for you. You're boring. I realized that eating pasta without mixing it makes the experience exciting and unpredictable. There are times that you barely get a hint of the sauce, then there are times that the noodles are dripping with sauce.

Zombiefied.

Taking A Moment To Procrastinate

Before I drown in a sea of deadlines, let me hum a tune from a band that was introduced to me by my niece. It has such a catchy tune, so easy on the ears.

Release Me by MAE

if you'd get next to me and help me find simplicity
then you could be the one to take me, to break me
and flood my soul

at first this cloud burst is pulling us under
lightning and thunder
rain falls and you take me under
and flood my soul

could you be the one to release me
oh, release me
waiting for your love
oh, to free me
so, release me

Wait one more song, gotta love the rockstars crooning slow. Reminds me of The Script.

Reflections by MAE

Too quick to fall asleep again to find you
I'm rushing through a dream I can't control
This house of mirrors beckons us to walk through
But instead again I'll have to let you go
Stuck here in this stare
Revealed beyond the glare
Again you're gone
So throw a stone through these reflections
Scatter light in all directions
And sing this song

Reflection
Is all we have and when it's over
Reflections
Of the path that sends us searching
Over and over again
(Over and over over and over over and over over and over)

When does this physical
Meet with the spiritual
Is this the typical question?
But doubted of the up above
It looks the same
So I'm not so sure of anything
Where we'll have come from again

Alright, procrastination time over, must go back to work.

My Sister, the Comedic Thinker

My sister and her kids have been staying with us here at Taytay for their Manila vacation, but there are days that we stay at their crashpad at Makati and have a condo-party because the trek out back to Taytay is invariably painful (that is for me the designated school bus driver).

My sister is a class-act comedian, I swear she cracks the craziest jokes without her even knowing it.

So it was past 3am in the morning, the three of us were on the gigantic bed, Ate, my niece and me. We had a post-Usher concert analysis for my crazed-fan niece. As I started feeling the powers of sleep overcome me, my sister comes up with a game, "Unahan matulog panalo." Then my niece started to laugh and I felt my sleep fade, my sister continues on, "Eh paano natin malalaman kung sino panalo?", we laughed some more. We come up with checks and balances of this game and end up falling asleep in the process. Sige nga, paano mo malalaman kung sino panalo sa larong ito?

Oh by the way, I won that contest, I don't know how we figured that one out.

Then there's the curtain-less bathroom windows. The major bathroom of the crashpad has a full wall of windows, of which was exactly opposite the set of windows of the adjacent building. Let's just say it's not a good idea to take a shower when the curtains are being laundered. This was the case last Friday, the curtains were in the laundromat and we were stuck with using the other tiny bathroom. Then my sister goes on to say while drinking her twice warmed coffee, "Teka, so paano kung super kailangan mo nang gamitin yung banyo, anong gagawin mo?". I and the other children come up with, we're so going to hold it until the tiny bathroom becomes available, knock at the neighbor's door, etc. Then she blurts out the best answer with the straightest face possible, "Ako, I'd look for a towel, drape that over my head and use the bathroom." We laughed until our sides hurt. Only she can come up with that.