Ruby Loves Adventure

One of my favourite things to do whilst on leave from work is to go out and just have adventures within Manila or outside Manila.

Last April 13th, since I was bored at home, I went to Quiapo and Divisoria with Yam, my friend.
Instead of the normal route we usually take, this time, we decided to take the ferry.
I first read about the Pasig River Ferry at a book club in Shelfari and immediately decided to try it for the sake of trying everything once :)

We met at Guadalupe, the ferry station is within 5 minutes walk from the MRT station, and it has strict times on when the ferry will arrive. We arrived at around 9:15, and the next ferry would be at 10am.

We decided to go to McDonalds first and eat breakfast then headed for the ferry after.

When we went back to the station, we paid P35 for the fare from Guadalupe to Quiapo. And who did we bump into at the station? None other than Iya Villania and Chesca Garcia -- they are doing a shoot for Us Girls Lol.

The ferry station is very clean, nothing like I first expected. Only downside? No airconditioning, so bring a fan if you need to wait for a ferry longer.



The ferry arrived at around 10:10 and I was surprised it was airconditioned! :) We passed through several churches on the banks, Malacanang Palace [we're not allowed to take photos because of security reasons. boo] and we also saw other ferries. Some of the ferry stations are nice, but when we reached the Quiapo station, I was disappointed. It was just a dingy piece of plank that was a makeshift stop! It didn't look like a ferry station after all.

Overall, I throughly enjoyed the ride! I can't wait to ride again, although a bit of a suggestion would be to renovate the Quiapo station. Seriously.

It's been a while since I've posted something [i've just been plain busy with work and my other interests] so I thought this would be as good a time as ever to share one of the many shelves I have which house my TBR books:



This is a shelf in my mum's room... the top shelf belongs to me, whilst the bottom belongs to my mum. I have amassed a huge amount of books that I had to invade my parents bedroom bookshelf! I have books in my room and also in the basement, which I plan to convert to a lounge area for me pretty soon :)

Currently the books in the TBR list are:
- The Virgin's Lover [Philippa Gregory] --> bought this on sale in National Book Store
- My Defence [Ashley Cole] --> I've been looking for this book forever! However, I saw it in Book Sale and I immediately had to have it. I already read the chapters I needed, but I haven't read the full book yet.
- The Rule of Four --> another book sale find by Yam :)
- Burning Bright [Tracy Chevalier] --> another find from National Bookstore's bargain bin
- Westlife: Our Story --> I bought this book whilst in England and read a few chapters there. I haven't read the whole book though.
- That Extra Half an Inch [Victoria Beckham] --> I've read most of the book but I skip chapters here and there, depending on my mood
- Jane Austen Book Club --> From Buy-The-book. I was interested in this book because the movie starred Hugh Dancy. Lol. What a stupid way to buy a book :P
- The Fourth Bear [Jasper Fforde] --> A National Book Store find. I bought it mainly because of the rave reviews in Shelfari :)
- The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency [Alexander McCall Smith] --> another book with good reviews in Shelfari. I mooched this from Triccie.
- The Duchess --> adding to my obsession with historical fiction
- Twilight: The Directors Notebook --> currently reading this now :)
- Coleen --> Autobiography of Coleen McLoughlin. Got this from England too.
- Wayne Rooney --> Autobiography of Wayne Rooney. Got this from England too.
- The Fool's Tale ---> Got this from bookmooch
- Queen's Handmaiden --> another book sale find!
- Eragon [Christopher Paolini] --> another bookmooch find
- The WAG's Diary --> got this book for free when I bought a magazine in England.

Anyway, I'm also trying to look at the list of 1001 books you should read before you die. I plan on joining the 1% well-read challenge, hopefully I could add to the list.

Wish me luck :)

By the way, I meant to join the 24-hr reading marathon but the telly and the stack of dvds I need to watch are a much bigger temptation not to read :)

I have now joined the bandwagon and have welcomed WiFi in my life. Oh my gosh. It is sooo much faster than dialup!

Hello downloads and more blogging! hurrah!

Sadness, we have to work tomorrow.

But anyhow, given that we don't have to work on Friday until Monday [yes, Monday is a holiday for me] so that gives me time to catch up on my DVDs and hopefully on my reading -- I'm still going nowhere with the 5 books I'm reading. But anyway, I'm slowly finishing my DVDs that I need to watch -- will post reviews soon. Just finished watching two episodes of "True Blood", I'm nearly finished with "Bones" season 1, and I've just finished the movie, "The Duchess". More DVD time from Friday to Mon. Yay. Hopefully I won't be out of my wits then.

Off to Quiapo and Divisoria on Monday to get some essentials. Hmm.. Shopping :)
Hopefully drop by MOA and/or SM Southmall before heading home and... before reporting back to work on Tuesday.

Have a happy holiday.

***Band photo for the day, The Click Five -- I love their new song "I Quit, I Quit, I Quit"***

An exciting Saturday ahead! :) First I'm off to Bonifacio High Street for the Fully Booked Book Geek competition [oh my.. hopefully I answer some questions correctly] and off to Greenbelt in the evening for the Secondhand Serenade concert. wheee!

Finally... I got to update the blog. I've been extremely busy lately, it's crazy! I haven't also been able to watch all my telly shows. Hopefully this Sunday.

Whee :)

Book #3 for 2009 is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "A Study in Scarlet"
I got this from bookmooch.com and am now offering it up for grabs in bookmooch for anyone who wants to read it :)



This was the debut novel of Arthur Conan Doyle, and the tale is told in the point of view of John Watson, a doctor, who also is Sherlock Holmes' roommate. It revolves around a mysterious death of Enoch Drebber, an American, who was found in an empty house in London.

What follows was a tale of revenge that started from the wastelands of Utah, Mormonism, travels from Continental US and through Europe, and eventually ending in London.

That's all I could pretty much say about the plot without revealing too much information.



Thoughts?

What made me pick up this book in the first place? Well, as I was walking out of Baker Street Underground station whilst I was in London, I saw a statue of Sherlock Holmes and immediately wanted to read one of his books. I was very, very curious on what he exactly did and why the cult following around him? I eventually made myself promise that I would read at least a few of his works when I get home so that if and when I do get back to London, I would appreciate the museum dedicated to him as well and eventually I did. An opportunity arose when the book was offered in bookmooch and I jumped at it, and the rest, as they say is history.

On to the book.

Well, the book was presented in such a manner that was unconventional for me -- it was presented in two parts: part one was told in John Watson's point of view, wherein he meets Sherlock Holmes for the first time and eventually finds out what he does, and eventually they both get involved in the investigation of the murder. Part One also concludes in the arrest of the suspect for killing Drebber, whilst Part Two starts with a back story of how the motive for killing Drebber was formed, and eventually concludes in how Sherlock Holmes caught the killer.

The language is a bit hard for me to understand, it is old English, but you'll get to pick it up and eventually understand it as you go along in the book. The book overall is very fascinating except for the part when I was nearly screaming at the end of Part One when I was like, "How did Sherlock Holmes do it? Why did the killer do it? What was his purpose?" -- blame my impatient self for that. Whenever I read mystery books, I tend to be very, very impatient as I also conclude and try to deduce who was the culprit. Another downside was the font in the book that I was reading -- it is a bit small so it gets pretty hard to read whenever I'm commuting.

Overall, the book did amuse me and I learned quite a bit from it. I'd give it a 3/5 stars.

And off to a friend's house tonight. Yay DSL! Hello long-delayed posts of videos on YouTube, reviews about events and photos.

Have a happy weekend everyone! :)

Latest hauls:
-- Taking 5 DVD [OMG been waiting SOOOOO long for this! Hello the Click Five!]
-- The Duchess and Carnivale [season 1 and 2 DVDs] --> is it just me or am I being biased to buying only period films?
-- Ronan Keating Live DVD [hurrah hurrah]
-- another copy of Boyzone: Back Again No Matter What Live 2008[because I'm scared the other one would be scratched the way I keep on playing it]

**Just wanted to post this --- OMG I shaked the hand of Joey Westwood. He's such a babe:**

Gawd.

My internet at home is such a hassle. I totally hate it. Dialup sucks, PLDT sucks because they don't have the necessary lines in my area. Ugh. I can't believe I'm stuck in the dinosaur age of dialup internet!

Anyway, moving on -- Last Friday, I got awesome VIP passes to the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus event in Market Market. Not only that, I got a chance to meet the band after the concert, the VIP pass comes with free meet & greets. Yaay!

The concert was good although in the first song, there was obviously some trouble with the microphone -- the intro and first two lines of the song "You Better Pray" were not heard by the people at the back. Tsk Tsk. I thought there was supposed to be a soundcheck to correct those kinds of issues.

As I write this, I am currently moving my files from the digicam to the computer for backup -- which reminds me, I need to get myself a DVD-Writer to backup what's in my external HDs... I am a very OC girl who believes in backing up the backups :D

Just a while ago, I managed to catch U2 perform in Good Morning America. They have a new album out so they're promoting it.
Gawd. I never really realized how GOOD this band was until a few months ago.

I'm currently watching the MTV of "Elevation" -- one of my favourite U2 songs :P Even though some of the lyrics don't make sense -- "A mole, digging up a hole...." I still love it. =)

Gotta go get ready to meet my friends in Glorietta in a few mins. tah! :D

**apologies for the lack of photos -- my slow internet won't allow it! gah!

The Tudors is a telly series that is currently airing in HBO [in Asia, anyway, Showtime for other countries] that has been airing for 2 seasons.



It premiered last night on HBO much to my delight. See, I've been watching this telly series for the past month now, and have gone through the two season and I just can't get enough! :)

It's a historical-based telly series, starring Henry VIII, yes, the notorious English king who had 6 wives. He is played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers [gorgeous guy] and his portrayal is definitely something to watch. He is GOOD!

I have blogged about season 1 before but having recently finished season 2, I was totally blown away. I cannot wait for season 3, which should be showing abroad starting this year.

Do watch it on HBO every Mondays at 11 :)

*sigh*

On another note, yesterday, as I was browsing through National Bookstore, I found myself another historical novel to add to my collection of English history novels:



It's titled "The Sixth Wife" by Suzannah Dunn. It tells the story of Katherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VII and her life after Henry's death -- her love affair with Thomas Seymour, and how she looked after Elizabeth after her father's death.

I'll post reviews once I finish the book -- this recent haul is currently in the TBR pile.

Can't English history be more interesting???

Phew. I finally got the time to post another review. Have been absolutely busy for the past few days with training and with work.

So, I'm posting my review for Shopaholic Abroad by Sophie Kinsella.


It picks up where the previous book left off. Becky is now happily in a relationship with Luke Brandon [drool], but this time, Luke's going off to New York to expand his business and he's inviting Becky to go with him!

That means she'll have more shopping choices -- Barney's, Macy's, you name it! And just when you thought that she's trying to keep her finances in track.

Becky then goes back in her previous pattern of shopping excessively and thinking that the dollar is soo much smaller in value as compared to her pounds. She ends up in massive debt again and her relationship with Luke is on the rocks.

But all is fair in the end... I don't really want to post much on what happens in the book -- read it for yourself, I swear it is one great read [well, for me anyway] and it made me squeal in delight as I was reading the last parts of the book. *sigh*
Again, I want my own Luke Brandon.

Overall, I'll rate this book another 4/5. Biased again :P

My copy is a trade paperback which I've bought from Powerbooks some time ago. Definitely a keeper! :D

I haven't been updating much lately because I was extremely busy... have been on a training session [and still is at the moment] and it's approaching month-end so it's time to crunch the numbers once again.

For this lent, I will do a self-imposed book-buying ban.

For nearly 2 months, I shall do no book buying [still thinking if this will also include mooching] to at least trim down the Mount TBR pile.

Wish me luck! :)

Well, I wouldn't consider this book as part of my 2009 quantity challenge as I finished this when I was still in college -- sometime 2003 or early 2004. It did not have the cult chick-lit following way back then, but it certainly entertained me.


The first book in this review is the "Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic" by Sophie Kinsella. It was first introduced to me by a high school friend and she said that it suited me well. At the time, I was a shopaholic and was deeply interested in finance. Talk about extremes.

It tells the tale of Rebecca Bloomwood, a financial journalist who just can't stop herself from shopping. She gets a thrill whenever she shops for stuff, and is so oblivious to the fact that her credit card debts are piling up and she is already running an overdraft with her bank.

Okay, very ironic, but Becky was younger, she thought that the credit card was some magical card where you just swipe it and poof! Your stuff is free.

The funniest part of the tale is whenever she gets her bills -- oh yes, there are lots and lots of them, and tries to hide them or "accidentally-on-purpose" loses them. Imagine, her biggest fantasy was that her credit card bill would be sent to someone by mistake and her bills would immediately be paid off! :P

Anyway, the part I loved the most about the book is Luke Brandon. Hmmmm.... for me, he is the quintessential British guy, the guy I tend to be attracted to the most. As I was reading the tale, I was like, "I want my own Luke Brandon." Okay. So he is just a character, but having a real-life boyfriend like that would surely make me so happy!

I'll still give the novel a 4.5/5. Okay. I might have been a wee bit impartial in giving out my overall rating because the Luke Brandon character added a bit to it and of course, it's set in London. Apologies, but I do am partial to novels written or is set in London. I just adore that place and well, I could deffo picture the stores that Sophie Kinsella was stating, even down to the tube lines :P

I'm going to watch the movie tonight, so expect some spoilers when I blog the differences and similarities of both movies! :)

Will post another review for Shopaholic Abroad soon!

My copy: a trade paperback novel bought from Powerbooks circa 2003 which I'm definitely keeping :) Oh yes, I have the British version. Hurrah!