I was fresh out of college when I met this boy who was the epitome of everything that my young heart wanted. He was sweet and funny. He plays the guitar and writes songs. He is tall, lanky, and cute in a geeky way. And he was famous with millions of girls wanting a piece of him.

I fell hard for that boy – I went to gigs, met up with him even though I had to brave the legendary metro manila traffic or had to stay up late at night on work week, was all smiles with fans wanting photos and autographs when we were right in the middle of a meal.

I even checked up on him regularly, asking how he was faring, if the second album was well under its way. Crazy nonsensical things. I even prayed for him every night – for his good health, peace of mind, and of course, his success.

But evidently, I wasn’t what he wanted. He ended up falling for a pretty actress who made him her goffer for everything. The minute she dumped him, he started crying on my shoulder.

I really fell hard for that boy and though I was younger, I know it was real. So I hate it when people tell me, ‘Bata ka pa. Wala lang yan.’ (You’re young. Its just a passing fancy.) People got up on their high horses, telling me things as though I was a dimwit. I might have been younger but I knew what I felt.

Four years later, I’m still here – single. Not because I am hoping he’ll finally come to his senses and realize he can’t live without me. But because there’s never been anybody who made every single cell in my body sing. There’s never been anyone whose happiness was of the utmost importance.

This morning, my friend J sent me this. And it made me smile.

The Republic of Love by Carol Shields

But she noticed something she’s never noticed before. That love is not, anywhere, taken seriously. It’s not respected, it’s the one thing in the world that everyone wants–she’s convinced of that–but for some reason people are obliged to pretend that love is trifling and foolish.

Work is important. Living arrangements are important. Wars and good sex and race relations are important; and so are health and illness. Even minor shifts of faith and political intention are given weight that is not accorded love. We turn our heads and pretend it is not there, the thunderous passion that enters a life and alters its course. Love belongs in an amateur operatta, on the inside of a jokey greeting card, in the annals of an old-fashioned poetry society. Moon and June and spoon and soon. September and remember. Lord Byron, Edna St. Vincent Millay. It’s womanish, it’s embarrassing, something to jeer at, something for jerks. Just a love story, people say about a book they happen to be reading, to be caught reading. They smirk and roll their eyes at the mention of love. They wink and nudge. Lovebirds. Lovesick. Lovey-dovey. They think of it as something childish and temporary, and its furniture–its language and kisses and fevers and transports–as evidence of a profound frivolity.

It’s possible to speak ironically about romance, but no adult with any sense talks about love’s richness and transcendence, that it actually happens, that it is happening right now, in the last years of a long, hard, promiscuous century, even here it’s happening.

People dismiss love so easily. Is it because we all lose our heads when it comes along? Because we do the most stupid of things that we wouldn’t normally do? Because when love finally sneaks up on us, we hardly know the person we’ve become?

There are days when I regret having fallen so hard for this boy. How could I have been so stupid? How could I not have not seen how unattractive I am next to the actress? How could I have been so hopeful when he was singing in front of huge crowds while I shoot sofas and beds?

There’s nothing I can do now but learn to accept what happened. And continue to teach myself to look at love with all its richness.

I haven’t touched ‘Emma’ since New Year’s. (other than putting it in my bag.)  It’s been there ever since and now, i just have a bit over two weeks to finish it. How could I possibly do that?

One word.

DISCIPLINE.

Hah! If only it was just that easy.

Seriously, I should really be penciling in Emma and Mr. Knightley for 10 pm. Nightly.

(at Merlion Park with my copy of Pride and Prejudice and a pack of oatmeal cookies)

Since then I’ve vowed to read the other five novels of Jane Austen before the year ends. Sadly, I have failed. (Though, I’ve caught most of them on film.)

So here I am now, issuing a challenge unto myself to read the six novels penned by Jane Austen in the span of six months.  May God help me in this endeavor.

For January, I am going to start with ‘Emma.’ Written between January 1814 and March 1815, Emma was commisioned by the distinguished house of John Murray. It was published in December 1815 and was dedicated to the Prince Regent, at the request of the Carlton House Librarian, the Revd James Stanier Clarke.

Source: John Sutherland and Deirdre Le Faye; “So you think you know Jane Austen?’.

]]> http://romancejunkie.wordpress.com/2010/01/01/my-jane-austen-project/feed/ 0 romancejunkie 9929_184715072387_526642387_3880806_5690547_n http://romancejunkie.wordpress.com/2009/12/29/my-christmas-films/ http://romancejunkie.wordpress.com/2009/12/29/my-christmas-films/#comments Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:57:22 +0000 romancejunkie http://romancejunkie.wordpress.com/?p=94 ]]> Happy Christmas!

Okay, maybe its a tad late for that. (Nonetheless, consider it said.)

Since I am a bit unpatriotic this time of the year and refuse to watch any rubbish entry to the Metro Manila Film Festival, I’ve rounded up the top three films I always watch during the holiday season.

1. LOVE ACTUALLY

(Universal Pictures)

2. THE HOLIDAY

(Sony Pictures Entertainment)

3. THE LAKE HOUSE

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

4. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

(Universal Pictures)

Yes, my christmas films are all well-written love stories.  And for a romance junkie,  that’s enough.

Again, Happy Christmas!

Going back to the corner where I first saw you,

Gonna camp in my sleeping bag. I’m not gonna move.

Got some words on cardboard, got your picture in my hand

saying, “If you see this girl, can you tell her where I am?”

Some try to hand me money. They don’t understand.

I’m not broke. I’m just a broken-hearted man.

I know it makes no sense but what can I do?

How can I move on when I’m still in love with you?

‘Cause if one day you wake up and find that you’re missing me

And your heart starts to wonder where on this Earth I could be,

Thinkin’ maybe you’ll come back here to the place that we’d meet

And you’d see me waiting for you on the corner of the street.

I’m not moving, I’m not moving.

Policeman said, “Son, you can’t stay here.”

I said “There’s someone I’m waiting for, if it’s a day, a month, a year.”

Gotta stand my ground even if it rains or snows.

If she changes her mind, this is the first place she will go.

‘Cause if one day you wake up and find that you’re missing me

And your heart starts to wonder where on this Earth I could be,

Thinkin’ maybe you’ll come back here to the place that we’d meet

And you’d see me waiting for you on the corner of the street.

So I’m not moving, I’m not moving,

I’m not moving, I’m not moving.

People talk about the guy that’s waiting on a girl.

There are no holes in his shoes but a big hole in his world.

Maybe I’ll get famous as the man who can’t be moved.

Maybe you won’t mean to but you’ll see me on the news.

You’ll come running to the corner

’cause you’ll know it’s just for you.

I’m the man who can’t be moved.

I’m the man who can’t be moved.

‘Cause if one day you wake up and find that you’re missing me

(Find you’re missing me)

And your heart starts to wonder where on this Earth I could be,

(Oh, where on earth I could be?)

Thinkin’ maybe you’ll come back here to the place that we’d meet

(To the place that we’d meet, ohhh)

And you’d see me waiting for you on the corner of the street.

(On the corner of the street)

So I’m not moving.

(‘Cause if one day you wake up and find that you’re missing me)

I’m not moving.

(And your heart starts to wonder where on this Earth I could be)

I’m not moving.

(Thinkin’ maybe you’ll come back here to the place that we’d meet)

I’m not moving.

(And you’d see me waiting for you on the corner of the street.)

Going back to the corner where I first saw you.

Gonna camp in my sleeping bag. I’m not gonna move.

Here’s the Farmhouse Canopy Bed from Pottery Barn.

It costs $1,449.00 – $1,649.00.

• The headboard, footboard and canopy are masterfully crafted of solid mahogany and mahogany veneers.
• Finished entirely by hand using a multistep process that creates exceptional depth of color and highlights the wood’s natural grain.
• Features a removable canopy top that allows you to customize the look; the Sheer Canopy Drape is sold separately.
• Wood swatches, below, are available for $25 each. We will provide a merchandise refund for wood swatches if they’re returned within 30 days.

But then of course, its more than I’m willing to shell out. So I found this affordable alternative.

This one goes for $299.00! Isn’t that sweet?

So here’s to dreaming!

They’re playing our song
They’re playing our song
Can you see the lights?
Can you hear the hum?

Of our song
I hope they get it right
I hope we dance tonight
Before we, get it wrong

And the seasons
Will change us new
Be the best I’ve known
and you know me
I could not be stuck on you
If it were true

I was sleeping
My eyes were dark
Til you woke me
And told me that opening
is just the start
it was

Now I see you, til kingdom come
You’re the one I want
To see me for all the stupid shit I’ve done

(Chorus)
Soil and six feet under
Killed just like we were
Before you knew you’d know me
And you know me

Blooming up from the ground
3 Rounds and a sound
Like whispering you know me
And you know me

So this was our song
This was our song
I still see the lights
I can see them

And the criss cross
Of what is true, won’t get to us
Cause you know me
I could not give up on you

And the fog of what is right
Won’t cover us cause you know me
I could not give up a fight

Wondering what ’3 rounds and a sound’ mean? Here’s what I gathered from one of the boards:

Israel Once told me about a custom in some foreign coutry, where as a wedding gift you give the newly weds 3 rounds and a sound. “A clock, a spool of wire, a bicycle rim, and a transistor radio.”

I like to think of my wife and myself as those newly weds and that I’m the narrator singing to my wife, and that the wedding gift Israel gave us is the song “3 rounds and a sound”.  -MickT

-  Isn’t this song  such a dream? If I do ever get married, I want to dance to this song during MY wedding reception.  And hopefully, Blind Pilot will be playing. Haaaay.

Its the Vera Wang Luxe Callalily.

” Silk organdy strapless mermaid of asymmetrically draped layers. Gown is available in ivory or white.

The Luxe Collection ranges from $6,000-$18,000

Note: This item is not available for online shopping.
Please contact a consultant for more information.”

http://www.verawangonweddings.com/fashion/gown.aspx?Category=Luxe&ProductID=J00980101#

I believe I have found my wedding dress. Its sooo me! With the big flower on one shoulder, the strapless mermaid cut, the asymetrical layers, its definitely ME! Weee!

Now, I only have to save up for this dress, lose about 60 lbs, and plan my own wedding. And oh, find my husband-to-be. hahaha.

That would mean a lot of things especially to the die-hard potter fans. But I would like to point out that because of that fact, I can look at the movie as a movie and without any bias. Right?

I really enjoyed this movie.

The plot was good. The shots were great. Even the more attention to romance, i think, was warranted. After all, these kids are getting older, both reel and real time. And budding romances, to be in a romantic relationship for the first time, the puzzling dance between a girl and a boy,  are what these kids are pretty much occupied about or at least, curious about.

[ The girls are looking at love potions.]

I have always been a fan of Dan and Emma. Yup. Their chemistry on screen is undeniable. So I’ve always wanted to see Harry and Hermoine end up together. (But we all know that would never happen.) So for every frame these two were in together, I was thrilled. Really.

But the first kiss between Harry and Ginny was poignant and I liked it.  After endless wistful gazes at each other, their lips finally met and it was sweet.

But having Ginny initiate it seems to me a bit disappointing. I mean, can’t Harry make the first move? But I do understand that the situation is a bit complex – him being her brother’s best friend and her dating Dean Thomas.  There wasn’t any choice but for her to make the first move.  Here’s a poster of the two.   Got it from: http://www.hgnetwork.co.uk/fate/hg/REL_Harry_Rel.jpg

What I found most amusing in the movie was the love triangle between Lavender – Ron – Hermoine.  Its just that anybody can relate to any of these three.  Ron, absolutely flattered on being the object of one’s desire gets it on with a girl he hardly likes. There’s lavender who is head-over-heels in love and goes after the guy.  I remember people laughing when she appears on the screen. I think more than her more desperate actions, people laugh at her because they can see themselves in her.

And of course, there’s Hermoine with her unrequited love, the tortured soul.  Goodness, Emma did such a good job that my heart went out to her.

Ahhh. To be young, hopeful, and brave. I tell you,  the romantic sub-plots really helped make this movie such a delight.

PS.

Somebody pointed out to me that the movie lacks the special effects it used to sport. She said, it might be so because of the financial crisis and that the studio needed to cut production cost. Hmmm… really? I don’t think so. This is Harry Potter we are talking about. Young and Old, Female and Male (and even the ones in between) are fans! What was she thinking?

I was trying to write today yet words escaped me. To get me back on track, I watched, again, one of my feel-better-about-writing movies – The Jane Austen Book Club.  Yes, I do know that it came out in 2007. But I really like this movie!

I not only love the fact that they discuss the works of Jane Austen but also that  stories very similar to the book being discussed at the moment unfold!  The concept is not new but it is quite effective.

I absolutely love Hugh Dancy in this movie. Isn’t he such a dreamboat. Haaay.

PS.

Tomorrow, I am thinking of talking about the love stories in the latest Harry Potter movie.  Hmmm….