I Skate!

01/31/13

Today's the last day of the first month of the new year. And what's next to January? It's the LOVE month, February! <3 Oh, how fast time can fly. Anyway, before we head towards Spring season and bid farewell to Winter, lemme share to you the exciting experience I had last Monday.

 

It was last week when we found out that my nephew would be having an Ice Skating Party as part of their school's activities this week. I have never tried ice skating before, and even roller skating (street skates with roller blades). And I've had several chances before to try ice skating but I never dared to. This time, I said YES to my sissy when she asked me if I wanted to go with my nephew.

 

I didn't skate before (about a month ago) at a highland here in San Diego because it's an outdoor ice skate rink and it's superdooper cold! We just went to that place because we wanted to do some shopping, actually. Then we saw there was an ice skate rink, I kinda thought of going for a try. But I backed out because I was chilling. Think about being on top of the ice, outdoor, in the middle of winter, and I have just arrived from a tropical country (I haven't adjusted well with the weather yet). So, I gave it a NO.

 

But no, it wasn't a NO. It was actually a NOT YET. :)

 

However, last Monday's scenario was different. It was an indoor skating center. And I think, I am excited to try. I wanted to brave enough to try. I want to toughen myself. Though I am aware that there is fear - Fear of failure.. fear of falling on my butt, to be specific.

 

So after I changed my shoes to ice skates, I slowly got up and walked towards the rink. I was feeling kinda nervous because there is actually quite a big number of children and adults skating on the rink. Making me nervous? Yes. Because it increases the possibility of me bumping into another skater. Or worse, knocking us both down.

 

And yes, I fell down on my butt.. so hard, it still hurts until now (about 3 days after the fall). The first fall was a few steps away from the sides.. just when I have just begun to let go of the sides. And it was one hard fall. But, I never gave up! :) I stood up. And I tried to skate again. Just slowly. There were countless times that I felt like I'm about to lose my balance, I just kinda swing my body so I'd be in control. I fell down again. But I don't cry, I smile. Stand up. And try again. Until I learned how to do it. Just the neophyte-kind-of-skating. It's actually more of walking. Haha! But it's fine, at least I can move thru the ice now. *winks*

 

Photo captured by my bro-in-law :)

 

Falling down can cause pain. But it helps one to be stronger, braver, more determined. If by the first time you don't make it, try again. Maybe the second try would be better. Well for me, learning the thing was difficult. I fell hard. I got hurt. But it was worth it. In the end, I am happy.

 

Let's skate through the ice of life! :)

On Screen: Silver Linings Playbook

01/25/13

from filmtrend.nl

"This is what I believe to be true: You have to do everything you can.. and if you stay positive, you have a shot at a silver lining."
- Pat, Silver Linings Playbook

The movie I was able to watch recently (on theater Jan21) was the Silver Linings Playbook. Actually, this movie has been showing since November 16th but I just got interested on it when the Golden Globe Awards named Jennifer Lawrence the Best Actress for Comedy, for this very movie. Plus, several other nominations.

from philly.com

 

The movie basically started with the story of Pat Solatano (Bradley Cooper) who happened to be detained in a psychiatric facility in Baltimore. He has a bipolar disorder and the very reason why he was sent to the facility was his uncontrolled "manic" incident in which he almost killed his wife's co-teacher, who happened to be her loveydovey.

So when Pat finally got the permission from the court to get out of the facility, where his mom picks him up, Pat had a principle in his life to get his life back together and find Nikki, his wife. However, there is an existing TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) from the court which prevents him from seeing, or even calling, Nikki. Then, there came Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence). She's the sister of Nikki's close friend, Veronica (Julia Stiles) who happens to be the fancy wife of Pat's friend Ronnie (John Ortiz). Their first encounter was during a sorta funny dinner at Ronnie's.

 

After their first encounter, Pat and Tiffany continued their friendship, which led to different arguments, fights, and drama as well. Tiffany's offer to send Pat's letter to Nikki was in exchange for Pat to practice dancing with her so she can join the Ballroom competition. And towards the ending the story, which as you may have known I have cut short, Pat discovers Tiffany's white lies. And later he realized what he had is far better than that silver lining he had been hoping for.

 

From an audience's point of view, the movie was actually entertaining. It's funny. Plus, it speaks of reality. My nursing course may have influenced the way I see the story, but I know a lot of people, even if they're not taking up med courses, would understand.

People would understand the parents' love for their son... that despite the old age they have, they are still there for their son - physically, emotionally, and financially. They would understand the pain a man feels when his wife has an affair. They would understand how a woman feels when they've done something wrong once in their life, and no matter how she tries to correct it, people would always look at her as someone who's like a big failure.

I know they would understand, because I did. And yes, the movie moved me. It made me smile, laugh, and cry. But most importantly, it made me understand.

from usmagazine.com

 

On Screen: Les Miserables

01/12/13



(from phobos.apple.com)

Lemme start this blog by showing you a screen shot:

The photo above is a screen shot of my Facebook status. I posted it last December 28 at around 1 am, the very moment we arrived home from the mall.

 

And if you are a Lea Salonga fan, or a music-lover by any chance, you would surely know what I'm talking about. The words there actually reflect lines from the song "On My Own", one of the songs from the musicale Les Miserables. And as placed there, it was sung by the character Eponine.

 

Les Miserables is a movie derived from a phenomenal musicale. According to its official website (lesmis.com), it is the world's longest running musical and seen by over 60 million people in 42 different countries. And with the people who were able to watch at the broadway, you could really tell it was amazing.

 

That is why, me and my sister were rooting to watch it on the cinema. We've known it would be showing on the cinemas on Christmas Day (December 25, 2012) but since we spent our Christmas at Vegas, we watched the movie last December 27, last full show at the Westfield mall.

 

Honestly at first I was kinda bored. The first scene was actually about the slavery in France. With the men singing, "Look down, look down.. blah blah" (see photo below). However, I admired how they filmed this with the men dragging a very huge ship. Very creative, I should say.

 

(from lesmiserablesfilm.com)

 

But eventually the story got interesting, especially when Fantine came into the scene. And Anne Hathaway's rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" is just so awesome. But the part which made me cry-cry was when Eponine sacrificed her life for her love, Marius.

 

(from lesmiserablesfilm.com)
This part made me cry ;( so sad.

I don't really have plans to narrate everything from the movie. Neither do I want to spoil the excitement people have, especially those who were not able to watch it yet. Actually, when I posted the status (see screen shot above), my friends wrote down comments about how lucky I am to watch it first. Hehe :) The movie's screening/showing date in the Philippines will still be on January 16th. And I could tell, alot of my friends are already super excited to watch! And I would recommend this movie, really. It's a mix of different stories: Comedy, Love, History, Action, Passion, Sacrifice. Plus, the songs made it more special. <3

 

A friend asked me to rate this movie from 1-10 with 1 as lowest and 10 as highest. My rating is 9. My fave characters are Fantine & Eponine, and my fave song is "On My Own" by Eponine.

 

By the way, here's the official trailer:

 

 Happy weekend, and happy viewing sweeties! :)

Heller there 2013 :)

01/10/13

My first post for the year 2013 :) So, lemme say Happy New Year sweeties! I was actually planning to post here my resolution for this year but I changed my mind. Instead, I just want to share to you what I've been up to lately and to share my thoughts about my life.



These are actually our New Year fruits. It's actually a tradition ever since to have 12 fruits on the table for the New Year. The 12 fruits symbolize 12 fruitful months for the year 2013 :)

 

Just when I was getting excited to transfer the photos from my digicam to the laptop, I can't quite figure out how to open the files. But I'd work on it next time, pretty soon. So as of now, I just finished watching the movie 50/50. I am aware that this movie was released last 2011 but oh well, I just saw it today. And I realized, I have actually been watching Joseph Gordon-Levitt movies. Just last week, I watched Inception, Looper and Premium Rush. And then this. But I didn't really do it on purpose. Haha! :) Coincidence.

 

And watching the film 50/50 made me realize something - that life is short and that I am blessed I don't have any sickness or infirmity right now. Thank you Lord. :)

 

A lot of people are actually sick this time because of the cold season. Cough and colds are very common. But what alerts most people is FLU. That is why, getting a flu shot is recommended for everybody. I've had mine last year, I mean 2011 so I might get another shot soon. It's a vaccine given to the patient yearly. Just for, you know, prevention. Okay, so I'm getting far now. Hehe. I just want to express the point that we are now in a new year, so we should take extra care so won't catch any illness. Let us not start the year with unending ha-chus (sneezing) and u-hum u-hum (cough sound). Aside from frequent handwashing, which is for me, the best weapon against germs and viruses, we should also eat nutritious food. Fruits rich in Vitamin C can really help.

 

 

It's for you to figure out which of these fruits are rich in Vitamin C. There are actually a lot from this photo and more from the stores and perhaps from your backyard ;)

 

So that'll be all for welcoming the year 2013 and about the movie and the flu and the fruits. :) Take care during this flu season sweeties!

 

The photo I sent to my boyfie thru PM, which he eventually posted in his timeline. haha!