Day One: To That Dude Who’s Awfully Weird and Awkward aka Weirdo

Dear Weirdo,

I am awfully sorry that I am calling you a “Weirdo” because in my eyes right now, you kind of are. I know you seem like a cool guy and all, but I just can’t skate over the fact that you’re so weird and awkward (well, towards me at least).

School’s about to end and I think I won’t be seeing you anymore, so I think it’s nice of you to say hi to me, but I just find it really weird and awkward that you know my name despite the fact that we haven’t been properly introduced to each other (whoa! What a mouthful!). I know I can count the number of people who are our common friends/colleagues, but for some reason we just don’t get the chance to be introduced. So I think next time we get that chance, I will properly say, “Hey, I’m Gett!”. I just have this thing for introduction, because I don’t want you to think that I’m feeling close. My friendliness has limits, see.

I really think if despite the circumstances we could have been good friends. You seem like the type of person whom I’d hang out with. So I do hope we’d get the chance to become friends. If not, well that’s okay. At least you’re kind enough to show some effort of trying to befriend li’l ol’ me. I do apologize for being a bit off towards you. I just find it weird that you’re talking to me and acknowledging my existence.

I want to wish you the best after college. You’re very smart, and I think you’d make a great journalist or whatever career it is you’re trying to pursue.

Wanting to be friends in the future,

Gett

This time, her teacher volunteered her to be one of the actors in the school presentation. And this time, she couldn’t refuse it. She stuck it out, and her teachers and classmates applauded her performance.

Twelve years later, she’s going to play a new role – this time, she picked this role out entirely as a choice. The jittery, scared seven-year-old was still inside her, only she’s learned to mask this and act all grown up. She’s learned that people will be depending on her, so she has to act as someone who’s dependable and responsible.

It’s funny how the most random things remind us of the memories buried deep in our minds, almost but never entirely forgotten. A car ride, a song, or the smell of a perfume. No matter how hard we try to forget, it will always come back in the most random of times –  when you lease expect it, or when you least think about it.

But what I lack in hospital experience I make up with my klutzy, accidental-prone life. I bump into tables, I trip everywhere, I scratch myself, I get nicks and bruises.

Recently though, I’ve been finding myself in almost-dangerous accidents. Last semester, it was my leg sprain (and it has a very funny story to accompany it). Recently, its the hand bump.

Hello from me and the injured hand

Hand is injured because of swimming. That’s it.

The thing about injuries like this is, I’ve never had anything like it before. I’m not used to people asking me, “What happened? Are you okay?” because I’m the one who usually asks those questions. Yes, I can be quite like a mom in that way.

First time I got injured (the sprain), people were fussing over me. It was a foreign feeling because I’m used to doing things on my own, like administering first aid on myself (yes I know first aid).  That was when I really learned that I can’t always depend on myself. I need the help of other people to get by life (and get to my next class for that matter!).

I remember when Maxine (my beloved pup) first came into our lives. She was, out of all the dogs we’ve had, the first dog I fell in love with. But nothing could have prepared me for the scratches and cuts she’d give me while she clawed out of my grasp. Those scratches hurt a lot, but after a while, I learned to bear with those because I love Maxine.

To me, the first lessons of learning to depend on someone came when I sprained my foot. It was painful because, despite my being a total klutz, I did not expect to have it at all. After that incident, I’ve been more careful with walking and choosing the people I hang out/work with. But occasionally, I think I need to get these bumps and bruises to remind myself to loosen up and open up to new possibilities.

Sunday was the day I went inside a morgue. It all started with these two getting lost on their way to La Funeraria Paz in La Loma.

Raiza and Anton. Oh yeaah

Death beds. Literally.

The Probe team is inhaling formaldehyde unwillingly

SUUUUUN

Monday was Gett-Will-BUM-BUM-BUM Day.

Tuesday was the day I woke up in time to receive my text from my PDI reporter telling me to get to Malacanan for a Press Con. It was my first time in Malacanan. And my first time (along with Ohne) to be told by Presidential spokesperson Abi Valte, “I’d like to welcome the two Ateneo interns. I do hope that you would be encouraged to become journalists (NV).”

Ohne Lopez and Gett Baladad - your new Pres Spokespeople. NAT

Wednesday was well, ACOMM Day.

Today, Thursday, was an unexpected day. I had my promos shot…

Pick a card, any card

… had an impromptu (AND HAPPY!) sushi time with Janna and Kath Carebear…

Happy Janna is happy

Me and Carebear waiting for sushi

SUSHIIIII

… Tagged along Probe team for the third time, and seeing Cheche Lazaro actually interview one of the histo profs in UP…

Pau and Anton being test shot by Probe team

… and had barbecue (isaw for Anton and Raiza!) and pugo with the guys after walking from FC to Mang Larry’s.

FISHBALL

The Probe Taggers

Le four of us

I get by busy weeks with good company.

A lot of love

The next couple of weeks will kind of be toxic (with exams, campaigns and elections. And V Day. Oh God), but I realized that hey, I don’t have to do things alone. And knowing in my heart that I love what I’m doing, I know all the stress will be worth it.

Sir Chris Castillo

With Sir Chris and Sir Tim

Sibol Kids

But that’s not what this post is totally all about. It’s about these guys:

ACOMM LOVE + Sir Dino

And just when I thought ACOMM people are always out and about, they show up in SIBOL, supporting their ACOMM kids’ (me, Raiza, and Yen. Kara’s in SF :c huhu) send-off. What really touched me was the fact that they were so supportive of their officers’ growth. And for the past few months, after all the stress, promotions and events, I finally conclude that yes, I love ACOMM very much. And I want the future officers and members of ACOMM to feel the love too.

Can you feel the love vibes? I certainly am.

Sure I used to say I can juggle everything, or I can balance it all. But as election season’s just around the corner, I’m going to have to let go of something.  I just don’t know what it will be. Will it be a dream? A whim? A bad habit? A person? An important thing? I don’t know for sure.

But I can’t keep everything to myself.

And I wonder

Obligatory Baliw Shot

And a more decent shot

All of photos of me courtesy of my friend, AJ Santos!

So I blew the money my mom gave me during A-Fair. Being me, I had to try out the food – I had sushi, pizza and froyo from Tutti Frutti. Then all these cute, girly stalls had to be there, and I bought these:

Cherry Earrings, Onigir Earrings and a Nyx Round Lipstick in Fig

I’m not sure if that’s the right orientation of the picture, but whatever. I wasn’t supposed to buy another NYX lipstick, but I couldn’t help it! I found Fig, so hooray!  I also bought my little sister cute donut earrings.

Then on my birthday, le grandpere gave me money, so I went off to SM to take advantage of the clearance sale. Yes, I’m a terrible shopaholic.

What is a shopping spree

So I bought a dress from Tomato that was originally priced at 750, but I got it for 375! Bought the dress in case I decided to go to Maya’s birthday (after I contemplate how I’ll be getting to her debut venue). Then I bought a floral shirt and a skirt in Jellybean (also for sale!). Then I bought two makeup brushes, two makeup pallettes and a new adapter for my laptop’s charger in SM Department store. So yeah, I guess I’m pretty happy.

But what made me happy? My family and friends all greeting me a Happy Birthday despite the fact that I told them I was busy finishing papers (I finished my article and SA paper, finally!).

I wanted to paint my nails my usual Bobbie Glitter Polish, but I couldn’t find it! Luckily, I remembered I still have about six polishes I bought as presents for my roommies.

Sweet Cherry Nail Polish is a nail polish I found in Watsons while I was Christmas shopping for gifts last month. I intended to get Etude House’s nail polishes for the roommies, but again, I was feeling like a cheapskate and the polishes there are way beyond my budget. So there I was in Watsons when I found this brand!

Likes:

1. The packaging. I really like that it’s taller than most polish bottles.

2. Color payoff. I’m using the color Midnite Crimson, and wow oh wow, one coat had really good color payoff! But two coats should do.

3. Variety of colors. There were a lot! Just check out Watsons for other color choices.

4. Price. It retails for about Php16. Talk about cheap!

5. Availability. Sweet Cherry Nail polishes are available in Watsons. And Watsons is pretty much everywhere.

Dislikes

None so far!

Sweet Cherry Nail Polish in Midnite Crimson

Happy Gett is Happy!

Do try out Sweet Cherry Nail Polish. I’ll go try out the other colors; hopefully they won’t disappoint.

Also: just before Sci10 class was declared as ‘free cut’, Apa, one of my classmates, a writer for the Features staff, approached me. He asked me if I was going to enter the Locsin Awards (which apparently, is a big deal for aspiring journalists if you win it). I was looking at the guidelines and all last week, and I thought, all my news articles are crappy and mediocre (but then again I am my worst critic), so why bother passing crap to the Locsin foundation?

I declined.

Which is funny, because had it been high school Gett, she would’ve taken the opportunity and try to enter an article (even if it’s not the best). High school Gett would be optimistic and hope for the best and all that.

What I’m trying to say is, college has really gotten into me now. While my teachers might have proclaimed me to be a great writer in high school, I see myself now as someone who needs to work super hard to write a good article. I’m not a good writer. But I guess since I’m in The GUIDON, I’m not a bad one either. Admittedly, I have been getting sick of writing. It’s not the same as it was then, when I write to my heart’s content before – I don’t live for writing anymore like before. I know there are better writers than me out there, so the mentality I’m going for now is the practical one. Too much competition? Look for another craft.

But don’t get me wrong, I still love to write. It’s just that, with the many writers in the world, what would the world do with a nobody like Gett Baladad? The world won’t bow down to my feet, begging me to come up with some genius essay or writing that would save millions of lives.

But in the end, I think I should be writing for me. I have been writing so I could try to impress people. But sadly, I’m not even impressed with my own works. So I’ve decided I should write for myself now. If people notice me, then okay. If they don’t, then that’s okay too.

I just find it kind of sad that my ideals in high school are now down the drain. I’d like to think that I’m still optimistic. But I have to think practically too.

I think I’ve documented in this blog and in here my immense love for Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood.

Just a little background: I’ve read this when I was around 14 or 15 by means of an e-book. I didn’t really understand it at first, since I was only 15 at that time, but there was something about it that just drew me back every single time. I’ve reread the story again (around last year), and I’m slowly understanding.

So basically, when I heard that it was going to be adapted into a movie, you could imagine my joy. I like to watch movies adapted so I could see if the movie can justify my imagination, if what runs in my mind while I read the book is what the book is trying to say.

I’ve been waiting for the movie’s torrent since I know the movie was released in Japan last December (and I’m pretty sure they won’t be premiering the movie here. Sucky world) so I chanced upon the torrent three days ago. Took me two whole nights waiting for it to finish downloading. So imagine my joy when it finally finished.

And on to the movie.
I enjoyed the whole aesthetics of the movie. I love that the costumes actually fit into the whole 70s era with the tucked-in fitted shirts, bell bottoms and flannel.  I love the old feel of the cinematography, and you actually feel like (for most of the film) they filmed it a long time ago. However, for some parts, I think the seguing of the scenes aren’t properly edited, it gives me the feeling of ‘bitin‘ which highly annoyed me. I’ll go watch the movie again to see if the unusual cutting makes sense. Anyway, the music choices just knocked off the hypothetical socks off my feet. The instrumentals and the songs of The Doors and Can just fitted the whole mood of the story. Plus points because I love that kind of music they used. The instrumental, which they mostly played during highly dramatic scenes, particularly where Naoko is concerned, just gave me that haunting, scared feeling.

The Snow scene

In terms of the actors, I didn’t know who Kenichi Matsuyama was prior to the movie. But wow, I really do see him as Toru Watanabe. I enjoyed his performance and looking at his lips (okay you know what this means: NEW CELEB CRUSH). HAHAHA. And during the last part, where he was grieving over Naoko at some beach, he looked truly unrecognizable as how a man who grieves over the loss of a loved one looks like. Bravo to Kenichi Matsuyama.

Rinko Kikuchi, the only Japanese who was Oscar-nominated for her performance in Babel, played Naoko. Now, I didn’t initially think that she should play Naoko, because I was envisioning Naoko as someone who’s very beautiful, and has a much more younger look. But Rinko Kikuchi convinced me in her performance as Naoko. I was envisioning more of a normal-voiced Naoko, but I think the soft-spoken way she spoke worked for this. There are some angles that do not work for her, but there are some angles as well that makes me see the Naoko I had in my head. And I like her dimples. )

Kiko Mizuhara gave an okay performance as Midori Kobayashi, Toru’s classmate and eventually girlfriend. I read somewhere that Kiko is actually a model and this is her first acting role, and I think physically, she fits Midori, who was described as someone who had an androgynous build in the book. Kiko could’ve been more energetic, since I was thinking of Midori as someone full of life. But then, they are Japanese and we have to think of the conservative culture they must have had then. And it kind of annoyed me that Kiko smiled too much even if there is no need for it.

Reika Kirishima played Reiko Ishida, the patient in Ami Hostel who becomes Naoko’s good friend and roommate. I was thinking of Reiko as someone not sublimely pretty, but wow, this woman is super pretty. And I enjoyed her version of Norwegian Wood.

Tetsuji Tamayama played Nasagawa, Toru’s friend in the dorm. He fits the role well, and he acts like a total asshole despite his few scenes in the movie. I do wish though that there was more of him. Also Eriko Hatsune who played Hatsumi, Nasagawa’s girlfriend, also was great in her small role.

Also, the way that the cutting was done kind of leaves the audience wondering ‘what the hell was that?’ or ‘what just happened??’ or ‘HUH? WHAT?’, unless they’ve read the book and know it pretty well. So I think the segueing sucked. A scene segues to another scene without wholly explaining what just happened.

And finally, there are these scenes where Watanabe is clean shaven, and the next thing you know, he has a mustache. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!?!?!!?!?

Some of the scenes that left me awestruck were:

1. When Toru got the letter from Naoko while he was washing his clothes and he was climbing what seemed like endless flights of stairs. I loved how it was filmed, following him climbing the stairs from the perspctive overhead.

2. When Toru took Hatsumi home, aboard the taxi, there was this scene that focused on Hatsumi’s wrist and fingers and her sleeping face while Toru was narrating about what were to happen to Hatsumi four years after. I think it was a cool foreshadowing for what was to happen to Hatsumi in the future.

3. The snow scenes when Toru visited Naoko in Ami Hostel (oh BTW: they didn’t really give a name for that institution for the movie. It was the name in the book). Winter wonderland. Ohmygod they looked so ethereal (Toru and Naoko) against the white snow. Their innocent but complicated love coming out. Oh my gosh.

4. One scene where Toru’s working at the record store while Midori’s walking around the store. While the background music plays, it seemed as if Toru was in a dream state while Midori was prancing around the record store. It was as if Toru was dreaming, but in fact, it was all real.

But overall, I enjoyed the movie but I’m glad that I don’t have to pay for it. It’s a good movie by Tran Anh Hung, but I don’t think it’s a movie worth to watch in a cinema to be honest.

And now some screenshots:

Screenshots from Cunshang.net

(okay reviewing ))