Murakami-ish Story With My Comments
JoQ: whaw. this story is kinda murakami-ish in a way: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080125/od_afp/japanpostanimaloffbeat_080125183046kayeqv: checkn...
kayeqv: i think the reason y d fish died (or was an easy prey) coz it swallowed the balloon by mistake.. the balloon concealed the letter (it being plastic) and practically extended the lifespan of the paper w/c was just drifitng in the sea.. polluting it
kayeqv: hehe
JoQ: hahaha
JoQ: that's one way of looking at it
JoQ: heeheehee
kayeqv: :DHere's the story:A letter that a young girl in Japan sent into the sky in a balloon some 15 years ago has been found on a fish hauled from 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) below the Pacific.
A fisherman found the still legible piece of paper sitting on a sticky flatfish in his catch on Thursday, along with a torn-off string and the fragment of a red balloon.
He opened the folded paper, discovering it was a handwritten letter from a six-year-old girl at an elementary school in Kawasaki, 150 kilometres (93 miles) away from where the fish was caught off Choshi port.
The sender, Natsumi Shirahige, and her friends released letters as part of events to mark the school's 120th anniversary, which was in 1993.
"Our school is 120 years old... If you pick up this letter, please write to me," the letter reads, listing the school's address.
The 52-year-old fisherman said the letter was a nice surprise.
"I've been in fishing for a long time but this is unbelievable," the smiling man told the Asahi television network.
Shirahige, now a 21-year-old university student, said: "I can't get over the wonder of how the letter survived 15 years. I never expected I'd get a reply this way."
Summer Wedding Checklist
The thing about countdowns is that it gets more exciting as you get near the hour. Well, we have more than three months to go before the big day. Except for my wedding gown, and that of the entourage's, i think we're still on track schedule-wise. I never thought that the engagement would eat up some time, apart from the actual wedding preparations. Here they are in chronological order.
- The church - We've been contemplating on marriage last August so I brought him to Paco Park. I've always loved that place. I'm glad that he liked it too. We made a few trips there to take photos. We made a reservation last November. We chose our anniversary date, which happens to fall on a weekday.
- The reception - We considered setting up the reception at the park. We had a hard time finding a caterer that fits within our budget. Thank God for Google as we finally found the perfect place, Ibarra's Garden. We made our reservation just after New Year's Eve.
- The entourage - We got our names finalized after the pamanhikan. Our parents sure has a way of telling us how to do things.
- The photographer - This is a tough one, but i'm quite confident that Jon Mallari would be perfect for us.
- The rings - Surprisingly, it didn't take that much fuss on deciding what our wedding ring would be. We ordered from the same shop where he bought my engagement ring.
- The giveaways - Not that we bought them already but we at least decided on what to give our guests. We've two options on where to shop for these but we'll first check out the nursery at QC. Those plants should be just perfect.
- The theme and stylist - It would have taken longer to finally decide on the theme. It's always good to have a third person whom you trust for his artistic sense and creativity. We finalized the color and theme just last weekend. Thank you Metro for helping me visualize green and lavender. And with the help of Miong, we're able to gang up on my beau to at least get some professional assistance from one of their friends (free of charge) to style the wedding.
- The videographer - Anna's on top of my list. I called last Sunday and it's a deal!
- The honeymoon - We've always wanted to go to the beach. As we're both backpackers, it was easy for us to decide on where and when to have our honeymoon. I booked our flights already and made reservations on one of the resorts in El Nido. I even had the IT straightened out. We're having two trips, the third one, which is in Beijing, would have to pass for next year when it's spring.
- The hotel - I'm just waiting until next week, or maybe after Feb 12 (that's the cut-off date for my credit card) to book. I think it's too early and besides, the rates would be different in May. But we already have two options in mind.
- The lechon - Cebu's lechon is the best! So I've already called and inquired. We an order two days before so there's no rush.
- The invitation - Well, this has been going on since December. My beau insists that we design it ourselves. He was able to have a chat with Printrade and we have until next week to finalize the design. These will be printed on February and will be released on March.
- The guest list - We started working on the list last November and finalized everything last night. It's good that my Mom asked me to bring it this weekend, otherwise, I wouldn't have really finished it.
- The wedding gown - Magazines are helpful as I was able to pick a dress from its pages last December. It's just a matter of deciding how to dress up the rest of the entourage. My dressmaker is definitely going to be Judith Yu. I found this really nice cut worn by some lady at the mall earlier, during lunch out. Lightbulb on!
- Our Playlist - There isn't going to be a live string quartet playing for us, not even an acoustic band. We've decided to just organize our own playlist burned in a CD for the technician to just pop in. I'd still have my lovely friend Weng to sing for us of course.
- Our church choir - Sto. Domingo's Barkadahan, c/o my sister, will be singing those curch songs for us. Nothing fancy, just some church classics to keep the ceremony solemn.
- The program - Ibarra's provided us with a program guide. I'll just have to sit this out with Aryx to see how else we can spice up the reception.
- Place to stay - Yep, this is a post-wedding thing but we intend to start moving in before the wedding. So we both need to do some serious digging of places for rent until April.
Maybe, just maybe, when I feel like it, I'll do my own reviews of my wedding and our suppliers. But for the meantime, i'm keeping my hopes up as i'm sure that our wedding's going to be just perfect.
Loving IT
I still have mixed feelings about my career. I know pretty well that I didn't want to get stuck in marketing, even in writing, technical or otherwise.. and so far, my HS experience had provided me with the flexibility that I needed. I'm anticipating a somewhat similar stress-level that I had with my last project to the one that i'm getting this February. I'm taking it easy now and I do appreciate the three weeks of lag time that i have. I even managed to sort out some personal things which, under my normal schecule, would not even be realizable.
So, i think two years is just right, weighing things out. It will be enough time for me to decide on what I really want to venture on. I learn a lot as usual and I hope that I can utilize these hard-earned capabilities in my waning years.
I like IT now, and I hope it suits my new life as well.
A Bloody Goth Musical
A singing Johnny Depp.. now that caught my attention, plus the fact that it was by Tim Burton. So there I went with my beau and friends for a supposedly relaxing evening at the movies. Everything went well just before Sweeny Todd, but as soon as he started to use that silver blade.. oh man! It was blood all over the place! It was gory, well, it was in-your-face gory!! It was terrible!
I was so relieved by the time the movie ended. I can't believe my friends enjoyed it! Maybe, as JoQ said, I would have appreciated it more if I've been warned. I agree coz then, I wouldn't be as shocked as I've been.
But i liked the part when they were picnicing by the beach.. err, park.. the whole shifting of colors, the lovely tree, the changing of scenes.. even the acting.. i really like Johnny Depp!
So was it worth it.. well, Johnny Depp's there, and Tim Burton did a splendid interpretation of the musical. I just didn't like the singing and the fountains of blood part.
Almost Panicking
Sometimes I'd think that it would be better to be more expressive just to release the tension. I've covered most of the major details for the wedding, but I haven't ironed out the most basic of them all.. my wedding dress as well as the rest of the entourage's!
I think it's good that i get to share these worries with the girls.. thanks Aryx!
Maybe it's coz of those hormonal imbalances that i got to pester my beau last night with unreasonable logic regarding my lack of a designer, completing the guest list, the invitation, this weekend's anniversary of my parents, the photo display, our schedule, etc.. I was like my complete opposite last night. I felt panicky all of a sudden. I pigged out on junk food after the call. Eventually, i managed to put some discipline into my weird behaviour so I was able to update our budget, finalize the guest list, finish my laundry and pack my things. It was midnight by the time i finished. So tired but felt really accomplished!
