Notable events this week

First, I blew a huge chunk of my disposable income this month on books. I got these:
 
Ilustrado (Miguel Syjuco)
The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl (Belle de Jour)
Hiroshima (John Hersey)
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
Like Water for Chocolate (Laura Esquivel)
 Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
Daughter of Fortune (Isabel Allende)
The Pacific (Hugh Ambrose)
A History of the Philippines: From Indios Bravos to Filipinos (Luis H. Francia)
The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves,and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History (Robert M. Edsel)
Memories of My Melancholy Whores (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

Oh, and I just bought Searching for Schindler (Thomas Keneally) online. I'll probably get it early next week. No, I didn't spend as much as you think. Many of these I bought from a sidewalk vendor in front of the Court of Appeals. I know, only in Ermita will you see sidewalk vendors selling (and knowing about) Paulo Coelho, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende, Laura Esquivel, CS Lewis and the like. And these are books in pretty good condition. And this is me talking. My books are my babies. Yeah, I'm kinda psycho like that. =p

In any case... Pretty good variety eh? =D Some of these I've actually read before but I decided to get a copy for myself now that I can afford to. I mean, as opposed to when I was a poor peasant student surviving on a meager allowance. Besides, this is all in the interest of intellectual enrichment and doesn't really count, right? I mean, the fact that I love reading is just the cherry on top.

Second, I finally received my Cath Kidston catalog yesterday. Yay! They actually sent me one from London. I really thought it wasn't coming, but hey, good surprise guys. I really love their prints. I wish they'd open a store here in Manila, but then again, I thrive on some semblance of exclusivity, so okay, scratch that. They already sell imitation Cath Kidston bags in SM, much to my chagrin. Ugh.

Third, our nth office lunch was yummmmmmyyyyy. =D Last week, we tried Chicken Charlie along Adriatico, and Tao Yuan along that little street perpendicular to Adriatico near the Pan Pacific Hotel. Next Friday is Little Tokyo dinner night. I think the week after that is reserved for dinner at another place in Makati. Uhuh, we looooooooove to eat, and it really helps that we all get along. The lawyers, at least. I'm really going to miss those guys when I leave.

Fourth, in keeping with my current fixation, I ordered a bunch of dvd's from my friendly neighborhood dibidi person:

Band of Brothers
Schindler's List
Life is Beautiful
The Pianist
The Thin Red Line
Inglorious Basterds
Empire of the Sun
Saving Private Ryan
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Anne Frank
Enemy at the Gates
Family Guy
Saturday Night Live

I'll probably get them next week. And yes, I threw in the last two to break the seriousness of the war movies. Sands, JV and I (and maybe Jingo, if he's up to it) could possibly get together for a movie marathon one of these days. Yeah, we're such nerds. Teeheehee.

Fifth, I finished another draft this week. Yay for productivity, me! =D Although there was a bit of an incident when someone deleted like three quarters of my footnotes while editing my draft because she misunderstood my boss's instructions. My draft returned to me with gigantic blanks in the footnote section. I mean, what's up with that, right? Please do not mess with my footnotes. I put a great deal of effort into making sure that I don't accidentally plagiarize material, you know.

Lastly, on a more domestic note (and this is probably too much information...you may zone out now...), I finally got around to cleaning the bathroom and changing the curtains today. I mean, my apartment is always clean by other people's standards, but I don't want to wait until it gets dirty before I clean it. I'm OC like that. =p So anyway, since I was cleaning anyway, I changed my sheets and my throw pillow shams and cleaned the whole place. By the time I was done, it was too late to go out and do anything else, so I decided to finish the last few episodes of Friends season 7 after my well-deserved shower. I really really love that show. I wish they'd do a reunion special or something.

So anyway, that's the gist of my week this really scorching week. Seriously. It was so hot and humid. To think that the local weather bureau announced the start of the rainy season LAST WEEK. Tsk tsk tsk... The sun was so fierce I actually remembered to use sunblock on my arms and legs. (I usually just remember to use sunblock on my face.) That's also why I remembered that I had to change my curtains. Since my bed is right beside my window, I literally have sunshine streaming through my window every morning. In cooler climes, I guess that would be a good thing, but man, in this city, not good this time of year. I've been consistently forced from my slumber by sunlight at 6:30am everyday this week. And I have cursed the sun everyday. Borrowing that Thought Catalog guy's phrase, Sleepy Grace has no morals.

And I have successfully shaken off most of the soul damage watching Schindler's List again has brought upon my psyche. I'm hungry.