I remember when I was still in the third grade. How I, after putting down my school bag and changing from my school uniform to my pambahay, would immediately grab the remote and change the channel to Cartoon Newtwork. Then, for the whole afternoon, I would just lie on the floor, watching TV, with The Powerpuff Girls and Dexter keeping me company and entertaining me. It was on such an afternoon when I was just lying on the floor, when I pressed my ear on the cold, tiled floor for God-knows-why. (But hey, I was only 9!) Then, I thought I heard something from underneath. I remember thinking of the sound as a train. And I also remember pressing my ear on the floor from time to time after that, listening intently, trying to hear that train again, or searching for any other audible sounds other than the train. I even invited my younger brother one time as my ear was pressed against the floor to listen with me and see if he can hear anything. But, my brother, having always been a chicken, thought I was trying to scare him. Anyway, I couldn't remember if I heard the train again. Actually, I had already forgotten this childhood incident. Not until while I was reading Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. This book is about how the life of an ordinary young man living in London suddenly changed after he stopped and helped a bleeding girl he found on a sidewalk. From then on, he found himself into another London, a very different London from the London he had lived in. A place where rat-speakers, life-sucking women called Velvets, Sewer Folks, BlackFriars, an Earl, a marquis and a family that can open locked doors reside. A place of barter, of a dark bridge that takes unfortunate people who dare cross it away, floating markets and countless underground trains.
I very much enjoyed reading this book. Neil Gaiman is the most ourstanding writer in his field. No wonder a lot of goths like him. His stories are dark, unique and whimsical. Right now, I'm planning to read all of Neil's books that I can lay my hands on: American Gods, Stardust, Mirrormask and The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish. (God, my hands are itching to have this baby!)
Gaiman also describes things very clearly. So I didn't have a hard time picturing the places and, not to mention the violent, gory details and fights. Neverwhere took me to yet another realm and made me feel like I'm really there, in London Below. Like how Harry Potter took me to Hogwarts and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe took me to Narnia.
Books are the best reality-escaping tool, next to movies or TV shows. While I was reading Neverwhere, I was lost in my own world. I am with the marquis de Carabas, Door and Richard in London Below, fighting to survive the perils of the world below. But after I finished the book, and I looked back on that time when I thought I heard sounds from underneath the floor, I thought to myself: Could there possibly be an Antipolo Below?

Last August 14, URC celebrated its annual Family Day. And since my mom works there, we were given free movie tickets to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and free ride-all-you-can tickets to Dreamscape. So I grabbed this opportunity to enjoy myself since we're going to have our First Periodical Exam on Friday and Saturday(damn!)...and Monday.
But anyway, pushing exams and school aside, I would just like to share with you guys how well I liked the movie. It is highly recommended for kids and... well, kids at heart. But if you're neither, well, you'll completely miss the point of the movie.
The movie shows how a simple boy from a very poor family won Willy Wonka's (surprise) prize and how he had made the seemingly stoic Willy Wonka relive his (bitter) childhood memories. The movie didn't fail to entertain me from beginning to end. It served as a relief after seeing other movies which apparently took a million dollars to make and promised a lot but turned out to be completely pointless. I especially liked the Oompa Loompas, the little workers in the factory who offered a song and dance number each time a kid got in trouble because they insisted on what they want. This movie will teach the kids that being bratty wouldn't always help them get what they want. Instead, it can get them in trouble.
I most especially loved the room where, according to Willy Wonka, everything is eatable(even the grass!) This made Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory the ideal paradise for me. Just the thought of those unique candies and the endless supply of chocolate made me wish the factory exists.
Sometimes, escaping from reality can be a good way to get away from everything that's bothering me: school work, school work and uh, school work. Just imagine if I leave and just go and live with Willy Wonka and the Oompa Loompas on the factory, then I will be able to escape from school, from unreasonable teachers, from heartbreaks...
I will just stay there all day, eating chocolates, listen to my mp3, write, (stories, poems, articles) blog, chat, watch TV, read, ponder about life sometimes...everything I enjoy doing! Then perhaps my life will not be as complicated and hard as it is now.

Her day is already ruined. She was saying over and over again in her mind: Sister Felicitas must die. She's now convinced that their principal is a fraud. She's not a real nun. She's a fraud. And she must die.
This is the worst field trip ever for her. It was the first time she cried in a field trip. Cried! When she's supposed to enjoy. She merely frowned at their next destination: The Rizal Shrine. She had been there, once, and she reckons nothing had changed about the place. As she got off the bus, she noticed that the van with a group of fourth year students including "HIM" is parked just in front of their bus. So, that means she'll have to go around the place with "HIM" and his group close by.
So she went around the musuem/house with people she know. She was busy texting her best friend through Audrey's cell phone since her own cell phone is lowbatt. While they were in the balcony of the house, she caught sight of "HIM" below under a tree. So she continued texting, trying hard not to stare at him, trying hard to remember that his face is not worth staring at.
She and her group ended up just a few feet away from where "HE" is standing. So she acted as if she hadn't seen him and proceeded in texting Des and laughing with Germaine and Angelica. For some reason, she took her cell phone(which she had turned off) out from her pocket. A text message came in. It was from an unregistered number. It said, "You're not talking to me!" To which she replied, "Who are you?" She stole a glance at him, he was texting. Could it be...?
Her cell phone vibrated from her pocket. She read the message, and she nearly fainted. The sender of the message is "HIM". She sort of hid behind a girl whose name she had forgotten. She didn't know what to do. She quickly texted Des, asking her what she should do.
In the end, her reply to "HIM" was, "And why should I talk to you?" She looked at "HIM". He had recieved the message. And for a moment, their eyes met. Then he replied, "Nothing. Tsk Tsk Tsk" She knew what she did was wrong. But girls shouldn't make the first move, should they? She's not that kind of girl. He never texted back.

THE END

---Okay, that is not exactly fiction! That's something that happened yesterday in that "horrible, horrible, horrible" field trip! Thanks to our dear Sister Felicitas once again. May God bless her(not).
---Anyway, last Saturday, I finally bought Tori Amos' The Beekeeper! And it's only for 395 pesos!
---A while ago, our adviser told us that maybe God allowed us to be transferred to another bus for some reason. Well, what was the reason? I got to see him everytime we reach a destination? Puh-leez. I'm trying to forget him already. Trying...trying.