This, that, All about Steve(2009), and The Gift of Abundance by Pido Aguilar

First an introduction:

Whew.

I believe we had a very fruitful Parish Pastoral Council ExeCom meeting. Details will be spared, but I must say that everything discussed was fair.

I was pleased to see that Europe was good to my friends who just came from there.  It's obvious that they enjoyed their 3 week pilgrimage.  Tiring, but fulfilling, I guess.

Thank God that I've been to some of those places already, but I do miss traveling to that side of the world. Maybe after election season, who knows?

Anyways, this was a fruitful day too.

I helped dad with some of his work.  I'll be helping him during the weekend (tomorrow I'll try to do stuff for the VSAP's Voice newspaper maybe after visiting a friend) and hopefully this will prepare him for his trip to Davao on Monday.

Please pray for traveling mercies...

After lunch I brought RJ to Southmall where we watched ALL ABOUT STEVE(more about this below) and ate at the Beraldi Coffee Kiosk.

Storyline from imdb:

Mary Horowitz(Sandra Bullock) writes crossword puzzles for the Sacramento Herald. She's loquacious to a fault. When kids at a career day make fun of her for being single, she accepts a blind date with Steve(Bradley Cooper), the cameraman for a CNN-like news network. Within minutes she decides he's the man for her. He's quickly put off by her constant verbiage and over-the-top advances; he makes an off-hand remark about going on the road with her, and splits. She's moonstruck, writes a sappy crossword puzzle, loses her job, and decides to follow him as the news team crisscrosses the Southwest; Steve's team eggs her on. Then she falls in a mine shaft, and she and Steve become a story; is it a love story?Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>

Director:

 Phil Traill

Writer:

 Kim Barker

Stars:

 Sandra Bullock, Bradley Cooper, Thomas Haden Church

The traffic was horrific from Concha Cruz to Elizalde because of the Maynilad digging etc.  Sometimes I'm so tempted to tease Tito Roy that he orchestrated everything so that he would look good. Nah, I won't do that.  He might not laugh at my unmalicious joke. (Peace!) ;-)

We arrived home a little before five in the afternoon then waited for the sugar free apple pies baked by my friend, Cristine.  My family enjoyed every bite. Praise God!

I hate to admit this, but I could somehow relate to Sandra Bullock's character in ALL ABOUT STEVE (my rating for the movie is ☆☆☆☆/5).

Tsk, tsk.  I laugh when I think about it NOW, but there were times that I thought I "needed" to entertain my fellow sojourners, but all they wanted was peace and quiet.

Thank God that I realized this when I was the one who wanted peace and quiet then this seatmate of mine kept babbling. I also was reminded of this when I was at Tito Claro's birthday party last August and this woman kept bugging Tita Tessie and me. She meant well, but she was so annoying.

It's all in the past.

We learn from our mistakes.

 

Anyways, I watched the movie because I'm a crossword "addict", I'm single and way out of calendar range, and though I have some property and could've had a career abroad, I live with my folks because they claim that they need me. I don't regret that NOW even if there are times that I do(a bit only).

I'm just glad that I have friends...praise God for that! Friends make a big difference.  I'm also glad her character, Mary Horowitz, met some good people that accepted her.

If you're going to watch it, please listen to her words of wisdom in the end. It's cool!

Watching the movie made me wanna brush up with my ASL (American Sign Language).

In toto, I liked this movie very much.  Although I wanted to hit Mary with my shoe (well, at least the screen) because she was borderline psycho, I learned to love her character towards the end. Well, she produced it, so I guess she would choose a character with redeeming factors, right? 

#NotReallyAComedyForMeButILikeIt

2009

by Pido Aguilar (Author), Jr (Author), Jason Mass (Illustrator)

Amazon.com

THE GIFT OF ABUNDANCE by Pido Aguilar was gift given by Ate Cia (ate Carol's sister-in-law) almost two years ago.  I was a little apprehensive if I should read it because of the back cover.

Literally, I was reminded that I should not judge a book by its cover.

Besides the cover, the mention about Dharma and Karma kinda cautioned me. So I shut the book and thought of never reading it again.  Last year when our parish had a stewardship seminar, the Claretians were selling it, so I gathered it was OK for me to read. Plus, I learned, they made a reprint. Ergo, they believe in it too! Praise God!

So there. I read it and I'm rereading it. I've reread it several times already because there are times I have to be reminded of the contents.

It's a beautiful book and I highly recommend it!

Buy it from the Claretians or any other bookstore or at Amazon.com. =)