In my previous entry, I wrote about how I'll nurse my brain by letting it hibernate for a month or two and I guess that really is too much that it'd probably starve my brain to death hehe. So I guess it's quite inevitable for me to feed my brain even this summer break, not really with Accounting stuffs but at least equal to them and reading a novel seemed enough. I've just finished off, just last night, reading J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. Truth is, I'm not fond of reading novels. Yes, I do read a lot but novels take the comfortable back seat. I'd rather catch them in a big screen than strain my eyes reading the whole thing. Besides, who wouldn't prefer a plot-assed literature to go into exhilarating motion? Hehe. But of course, there's no rule without exceptions. The general rule is I'm not into fiction depicted by most novels. There's one time when my brother bought this Dean Koontz's The Taking but I almost slept while reading it just because the scene I was reading then is raining. In short, it bored the hell out of me! But my only exception is when a novel is so controversial, I'd definitely do what it takes just to get a hold of it. I think even people who're not really into reading ANYTHING would jump off their seats, go to the nearby bookstore, and get a copy of it no matter how much it costs. That's exactly what I did when I got my copy of arguably the most popular book of the 21st century, Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. As far as I can remember, it only took me a day to finish the whole thing off, talking 'bout page-turner books, no one can argue that this book is one of them. The Catcher in the Rye is also included in that elite rack. For one, it's one of the most famous literary works of the 20th century. I first got to know that this book has been 'challenged' just because the Chapman guy who murdered John Lennon was caught carrying this book while he was being arrested. And boy did I get curious. Just what the hell is in this book that triggered a psycho like Chapman to murder a famous musician? Perhaps if I get to read this book I'd also be pushed to murder that Boulevard guy who's running for Councilor, I believe, at a little town of Hagonoy just because he's one royal nuisance with a complete white cowboy attire and all. Hehe. The only difference is I'm no psycho and perhaps people of Hagonoy would even rejoice at me after doing the deed haha. JOKE, I'm no bad. Well, what I've found out in this Salinger book is that Holden Caulfield, the novel's protagonist, is an unreliable narrator. He's simply unreliable because he's basically mentally challenged. Swear! He dislikes almost everything in the world. He likes one thing though and that is to become the catcher in the rye. Haha. It's for you to find out, I wouldn't spoil anything hehe. Thing is, this lanky-looking guy is strange. But this book is damn awesome at least to me, no doubt it's been popular to the extent that it's been part of the high school curricula at least in many English-speaking countries. Awesome to me because it's philosophy and psychology combined, to my perspective ha? Hehe. And that kind of combination is my freakin' weakness just like a can of rootbeer and a slice of pizza. And if you give me that kind of book, I'd really love you forever haha. It has major themes that depict social issues, most appropriate for teenagers. And I end there. I'm not in the mood to write a review or something hehe.

The "Lent" has just been over. I spent the holy week at the little town of Hagonoy, Bulacan with college friends for 2 days counting from Maundy Thursday. It's where the cribs of Nina and Pipo are located. Yeah hehe. God, I can't describe the fun I've had there but let me try. Unlike the EK blast, I was the early bird. I had arrived on SM North before the actual meeting time at 10am. Boy was I excited hehe. While I was waiting for Kristle and Mai to arrive, I was reading that Catcher in the Rye to make the most out of my time. Man I was so feelin' my get-up then, wearing a military cap and my Philippine History shirt. Imagine a guy looking like that while reading that Salinger book, really, I believe if some political animal had passed by me, he would have looked back again and whispered to himself, "What a creepy anti-social!" Haha. Kristle had arrived first then not long after Mai came next. Mai, oh MY, she looked SO gorgeous with her, what you call it? I don't exactly know what it's called but she wore a sky blue sleeveless dress, now you can imagine hehe(I believe it was a spag). Definitely, heaven wouldn't permit her to ride an "ordinary fare" bus having an attire like that and for God's sake, I wouldn't let her hehe. Besides, it's nearly impossible. We were so lucky that despite the rush of people to get to their respective provinces, we took a well-ventilated Adventure ride en route to Malolos. And from there, we rode a jeep to Hagonoy, our destination. We all met up at the town's Jollibee franchise, Nina and Pipo warmly welcomed us three and Pipo remarked, "Pare hindi ko akalaing itutuloy niyo 'to." Hehe, something like that. We stopped by Nina's place and good God, her parents are simply the epitome of Filipino hospitality. We ate our lunch at Nina's and boy, I double-murdered the freakin' fish, damn when will I learn to decipher its anatomy just to make the fish look good after bein' torn down to its skeleton? Anyway, I must say I was 'full' most of the time especially when we left Nina's place to visit Pipo's which is just a 'walk away' and ate Spaghetti his beauty-queen sister cooked for us. Don't worry Spaghetti has no skeleton haha. Then we left from Pipo's, went back to Nina's, and set up the most enjoyable thing to do-videoke haha. Oops I almost forgot, for a freakin' long time, I finally played basketball with Pipo and Nina's younger brother at the nearby half-court. Damn I can't believe that despite the long absence from playing the sport I love, I nailed my first two jumpshots. I'm sure as hell that my clutch is still not disappointing me hehe. But when we finally played the game, I just can't penetrate my ass into the basket for a high percentage shot like a lay-up just because I was afraid that my eye glasses might fall off and break. For God's sake, I'm half-blind and I could hardly survive a day without it. So I just played the game for fun, nothing serious, and afterwards my legs hurt like hell hehe. I could barely walk. Pipo and I went back to Nina's place after playing, I brought my bag, walked to Pipo's place to take a shower. Went back fresh to Nina's and continued singing hehe. I swear man, tag me along for one videoke bonding, I'd really make you laugh your head off haha I really did. In fact, I once asked Nina to turn the lights dim to set a romantic ambiance whenever I sing slow songs haha. And most of the time, I sang and danced to wacky songs like Tie a Yellow Ribbon having Kristle and Nina as my back-up, Mai and Pipo were our fans hehe. So much fun! By the way, Mai is just as awesome as Nina in singing. At night, Pipo and I had bought a can of beer each before we settled down with the girls to play cards. Honestly, it was my first time to play those card games just because I couldn't stand just watching all of them playing and being the only one there just eating peanuts and sipping beer. And so I learned a card game without the gamble and all, just a powder on the face hehe. Admittedly, I was a slow-learner when it comes to cards, it's tolerable perhaps because it was my first time. When we became tired playing cards, we finally bonded inside Nina's cozy room talking mostly 'bout exhausting topics like relationship with people and all. It was almost a crack of dawn when we finally decided to sleep. Pipo and I woke up from a measly two-hour sleep(surprisingly sufficient) and played ball again for exercise and that's when I finally realized that my youth is dripping away, seeing myself, roughly 10 years back, in my kid defender. Yeah, I do get emo and shit even in a simple basketball game hehe. By afternoon, we walked for a lenten procession, damn just imagine, I could barely walk due to basketball hehe and we actually walked around the whole freakin' town, held our lit candles, and Mai suddenly got her embarrasing moment of getting her sandal's strap unfastened while we were walking hehe. She ended up just wearing some cheap slippers Kristle and Nina bought at a store on our way to the final stop. Mai was almost a total wreck that time 'cause for one, she's got a skin allergy irritating the hell out of her and then the sandal thing plus the cheap slippers she had no other choice but to wear didn't fit well. Before Mai's misadventure happened, we were walking slowly behind a processional cart Pipo's clan owns, not singing prayers, and just chatting non-sense hehe. On black saturday, we finally decided to leave and took the same route we had when we came to town. Bye Hagonoy, you'll forever be cherished haha. I set foot on Manila, ate McDo for both my snack and dinner(I was freakin' hungry), and home at last. Continued reading that Salinger book and you may go over the start of this long entry again. It's just a vicious cycle, you know hehe