masthead graphic by Ingga Alcala

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Sunday, January 08, 2006

Hobbies

Jess was in town for the holidays, so we went out with Olivia, Lizzie and Temi (Elizabeth's beau). Jess finally paid back what she owed us from a bet. Hahaha. Naw, that was just Jess being Jess, generous and all. We had a bet last year on whether or not Jess would pass the UPCAT. It was one of those unnecessary bets since there was an obvious outcome. Nevertheless, Jess passed, and she owed us Starbucks...

I gave her a paper model of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, a gift I was wishing she would open in front of MaraGar. Hahaha.

Speaking of paper modeling, I have a new hobby! Aside from pottery (after I coaxed my parents into buying me this toy pottery wheel in Pricesmart...which really works! Woohoo!), I am now hooked into paper modeling. Yes, making small scale replicas of famous landmarks, monuments and vehicles out of card paper. After my frustration over plastic ship model kits (I never got beyond unfinished models of the Titanic and the Charles W. Morgan), paper modeling seems to be the realization of that unaccomplished dream.

And how did I get into this? Well, for Eng 11, we had a Christmas reading list which included Henry David Thoreau's enigmatic Walden. It's not difficult to read in the sense that it's peppered with symbolisms and requires extensive knowledge of ancient vocabulary, but it's just hard. Somehow. So I searched the net for easy-to-read booknotes. I found a couple, but the most interesting was this whole site dedicated to Walden and Thoreau. They had this link to the "Walden Express," which was a page that gives the beginner Thoreau reader a brief introduction to the text and how to attack it. Then, it gives you a selection of chapters to read, if you don't want to read the whole thing. Also, if you're really pressed for time, it gives you the essence of sorts of each chapter, so you can actually finish the "Walden Express" in 15 minutes.

Although that's not enough for my class, the website did provide a link to a paper model kit of Thoreau's Walden cabin. And the rest is history.

As for my other hobby, I acquired yesterday, with my sister, a vinyl recording of Beethoven's 7th Symphony. There was this box of vinyl records for 25 pesos each only, and I just had to buy it. I haven't listened to it yet, but I can already say that this was an undeniably great bargain.

4 comments:

Ana said...

Haha! This sounds like the beginnings of the foundation of the Marcala Museum!

LOL!

...but actually, my pot doesn't have to be fired. The toy came with air-dry clay. For kids talaga...

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