Meg Face Search 2008 Trinoma

After eating rosemary chicken sandwich with my boyfriend at Trinoma, we went around the mall to stroll. And surprise, surprise! A lot of teenagers were gathering around the stadium for a make over and a pictorial! Its the Meg Face Search Grand Go-See 2008! (Trivia: Marian Rivera joined in the same contest some years ago)
That's Echo my boyfriend's car. And one of my school mate was there too! And in the above picture, that's me all dolled up!

The date of the event was May 21,2008 (ok sorry, I posted late...) and we have to go through a lot of steps. 1st we have to register, then wait in line for the grand makeover. 1st my hair was curled by Astra, then make-up by Shiseido and picked a dress at Seventeen. I was also able to pick a pair of gladiator wedges and accessories and bags.

It was a fun day but rather exhausting because of all the waiting and all but it was like every dreams come true!

Too bad we have to return the dress, shoes, bags and earrings.

Don't Judge a Movie... Just Like in Books!

We're going to watch Speed Racer in IMAX, the biggest movie house screen in the whole world!

You can experience 3D movie (just like in Enchanted Kingdom) in IMAX! I want to come face to face with T-Rex!

This is Speed Racer's car and that's me holding Herman Melville's Moby-Dick.

Would you believe that I could have totally skipped the movie Speed Racer with out regret? Oh yes, I even watch Harold and Kumar before it! I was a bit judgmental, thinking that it will all be about cars and boys and racing. But I was so wrong.

It has a cool breath taking effect, cute characters, a cute monkey and a really lovable family. I was so disappointed at myself for ever judging a movie without even watching it first... I even thought Harold and Kumar would be much better than it but... will all those marijuana nonsense? Ha! The only thing funny there was the Cock-Meat-Sandwich (blush). Yeah, I know. Bad Rachel!

Anyway, Speed Racer is child-friendly and a very "cool" movie. And watching it in IMAX had it more exhilarating!

Oh, by the way, after finishing The Scarlet Letter, my boyfriend bought me a book, Moby-Dick. I know, some may judge it, like how I judge Speed Racer, with Oh its just about a stupid white whale and captain Ahab... but believe it or not... I really got hook in this book just like I was hook in Little Women; only, this is a real adventure!

Summer Fashion

Vibrant colors for the summer!

I did some shopping recently and bought these two apparel, the pink top and the cropped shorts. Though florals are in fashion today, I want to give the aura of "flowery" when choosing what to buy. So I thought, this pink top, would compliment this short in such a way that it resembles the pink petals and the green-brown stem of a flower.

To give color to my eyes, since I won't be using any eyeshadow, I bought a violet contact lens. Yes, I was suppose to buy green but I feel like I'll be losing my identity if I don't wear my trademark color.

I guess its not that fashionable to others but heck, for all I care, I feel young, beautiful and vibrant!

Property Finder Cover

Yup, this is the 3rd time my photo was used. First for Buy and Sell and the 2nd for Property Finder. This is for the May 30, 2008 issue. Yes, they bring it out in advance.

Just another close-up!

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

An oil canvas of The Scarlet Letter by Tompkins Harrison Matteson

The words "scarlet letter" feels so controversial and popular yet I do not know whether it pertains to an actual letter or a letter as in a love letter. I bought it, not knowing what to expect and hopefully it will cheer me up as the novel of Flaubert had dampen my soul.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, ah... an author so much admired that Herman Melville had dedicated his ever so popular novel, Moby-Dick on this man who brought to us The Scarlet Letter.

I won't lie, it has a similarity to Madam Bovary but this novel is something like, what Madame Bovary could have done otherwise...

The answer to the mystery, unfortunately, will only be given at the end and so it really bugged me through out the novel. You can really feel Hester Prynne, who has been ashamed to the eyes of her neighbors and yet for 7 years or so continued to live her life and become the carrier of the legend of the scarlet letter.

Hawthorne even used symbolism as he used Pearl, Hester's daughter, the living representation of the Scarlet Letter. Oh, how I enjoyed Pearl and her antics. She is compared to an imp for her unruly behavior, always jumping up and down, dancing all around, and yet, possesses a great beauty that people admire but still connects to evil.

Reading this novel made me recall Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo of Jose Rizal. It attacks the people seated in power. Why, he had written it beautifully indeed! The mixture of love, hope, sacrifice, mystery, pride, power and vengeance... who wouldn't get absorbed in the world of The Scarlet Letter?

I then realized, that no matter how much I have ashamed myself in the eyes of the public, no matter how much people criticize and hate me, no matter how much they love to see my downfall, and no matter how they condemn the love I feel for a person to whom they think is wrong for me to love...

I will strive hard, and I will strive good. For though I hold in my being an invisible scarlet letter, I'll live by my curse and make my name. For no legendary icon has made it through the history books without injuring a fate similar to mine... or much worst!

So, does that mean you'll now have the guts to stay in your university having that enigma similar to the scarlet letter of Hester Prynne? We'll see... We'll see...

Madam Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

The original French Edition, 1857

It was regarded as the most important French Literature in the 19th century. I've mentioned in one of my post before how I'll never touch another novel similar to Paulo Coelho's Eleven Minutes. But thinking, this is a controversial and very much celebrated French novel, it wouldn't gain its reputation if it is anything similar to Coelho's novel. So I bought; and true to its claim, it is controversial, it is so much French and yes it's not at all similar to Coelho's.

How can I start? This novel took my breath away. It made me moody, it made me think and it it made me feel. Oh Madame Bovary, a woman disillusioned by romantic fantasies and played every possible drama in life. She is a woman of the past and yet she seems to represent the woman of the present. Yes... very much the present. Upon reading it until the end, I said to myself, I don't want to have the fate of Madame Bovary! Heck, I don't even want to feel what she felt! But alas! I am a reader and the reader will always (most of the time) feel every emotions in the novel.

Again, I will not spoil this one for you but believe me, this author really knows how to pierce into your heart. It's not really a novel I'd recommend for the young ones to read (unlike Little Women) but if you are smart enough to admit that in one way or another you're life might end up like hers, then go on and read it (at your own risk... this novel went through court before it was published!). Then perhaps the darkness will sooner (or later) fade and you'll see the glimpse of truth...

That happily ever afters are not for everyone and yet those who died never having to reached it are the ones who leave the most beautiful and valuable lessons in life.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The Little Women as they look in my imagination!

Way before I've bought the classical novel, Little Women, I have watched it before as an animation in Animax. This served as the image I'll use in my imagination. And so, on with my reading, not knowing that this novel would forever change my life.

Reading Little Women was like dreaming a good dream. It was so idealistic and yet it felt so real. I saw myself in three of those little women, Jo, Meg and Amy. Jo for being wild, unruly, lover of books and having a risky personality, Meg for being vain and wanting to feel luxury and Amy for being spoiled and trying to live by the standard of the society. How about little Beth? Aw... I am no little Beth. She is quite, kind, generous and saint. An epitome of values and morality.

I won't spoil this novel for you dear readers. But I will tell you one thing I've learned. As long as you have a loving and unselfish family... be damn to all the richness, luxury and diamonds of the world. I actually saw (or maybe read) how having a family can replace the abundance of gold and silver. There are so many Romantic Novel out there that radiates of love and happily ever after but it is in this one sole novel have I found, what the bible had often times describe, as unconditional love.

Some of you may get disappointed in one or two events... (oh why does he have to marry....) Oh just kidding! I did promise not to ruin the novel right?

Nobody had ever painted a family so inspiring as Louisa May Alcott did.