Travel Tuesday: Ben Cab Museum (Baguio Weekend with My Girls Pt II)

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Leave me inside a museum and I can spend the rest of my day there. As much as I want to be a painter, a sculptor, or those sorts, well I am not, I simply appreciate art. I look on their masterpieces and wonder how they come up with such! Ang tataba ng utak nila! They are so talented and their imaginations are so eclectic that they come up with such magnum opus!

Anyway, for the second part of my Baguio weekend with my lovelies, it will be about our admiration inside Ben Cab Museum. It’s the much talked about museum in the summer capital of the Philippines. I highly recommend taking the extra mile going to this place even if you do not appreciate art that much. The place in itself is a good unwinding from the usual unwinding up there. O diba labo ko ba? But on a more serious note, it’s a good veering away from the customary Baguio vacation. Apart from the different art installations, the place in itself is relaxing – its beautiful garden offers a restful mood. Plus, Café Sabel is a bonus! We enjoyed our lunch there, too!

I first chanced upon a few of Ben Cab’s works in one (or two??) of the art exhibits in The Museum of my alma mater. If I remember correctly, it was shortly after he was given the National Artist for Visual Arts award. His works are known for being contemporary.

Below are a few snaps (not in the best quality as I downloaded this from my Facebook album; apparently I was not able to back up the raw and original photos in my hard drive boo!) Some are candid shots of us! The four of us together can NOT get serious inside places like this, or anywhere pala hahaha! Hope these photos would make you want to go there. Let’s always support Filipino works and artists!

Since BenCab museum is sort of in a secluded area in Baguio, having Café Sabel was something sharp of an idea. We found the menu pricey for the usual choices but it was not bad at all!

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Book Comment: Making Your Emotions Work For You

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Title: Making Your Emotions Work For You
Authoar: Harold J. Sala
No. of pages: 232
Published: 2009
Read: May 31, 2014
★★★

This is one of the hauls I got during the OMF Literature super sale. Finally after several attempts I am finally done reading it. Not that it is not good read but because of things I can't explain this book seems to disappear each time. It is a non-fiction book which I greatly related to. For your information, as this blog attests to, I am an emotional person and chancing upon this book while browsing through the racks of the above mentioned bookstore is an instant "Hello Merie, buy me I know you need me." Nangusap talaga yung libro sa 'kin. True enough I learned quite a lot in this book.

Just as there are many colors, many negative emotions can fill your heart and overwhelm you. Yet no matter how hard you wish that these emotions simply fly away, the only way for you to face them is by learning how to manage them. In fact, you can even use these emotions to your advantage!

In Making Your Emotions Work For You, you will learn how to confront inner challenges and apply biblical principles to unleash God's power in you.

... With insights from God's Word and practical advice from this book, you can learn to make your emotions work for you and become a more positive, confident, and fulfilled person.

So this back-of-the-book summary got me. I know there are a lot of things needed to be worked out in me, most especially my emotions. This book has 11 chapters which starts with helping you understand more who you are and your worth. I must state that this is in a Christian and spiritual perspective which is one reason why I also bought it. Each chapter has "Questions for Thought and Discussion" which was a good aid in self-reflection. It also has some practical guides at the end of each chapter. A chapter is also dedicated for each negative emotion. It gives scenarios and similar biblical stories with an explanation on how the biblical character dealt with it and/or what were the effects of good and bad responses to negative emotions. It also gave real-life situations of people and how they were able to cope or not.

It is a relate-able book. I have learned that I am not the only one going through such emotional tunnels. Reading this book, I appreciated the Bible stories, encouners, characters, and passages related to each emotion. This book will surely be a reference each time I am in an "emotional" state.

My rating would be 3 out of 5 stars. 

The greatest enemies are not the ones out there somewhere, lurking in the dark, awaiting the proper moment to attack me. Rather, they are the ones within.

Do you fully believe you can be different? Instead of being angry with the world because you aren’t six inches taller than you are, that you don’t exactly have an hourglass figure, that your physique doesn’t mirror that of Arnold Schwarzenegger, or whatever, you can work in harmony with the Holy Spirit in developing the kid of personality that lifts you six inches higher, that reveals integrity and strength within, that reflects the handiwork of god both inside and out. Gradually the light comes on – you are one of a kind, a creation of the Almighty, and it’s okay to be you!

When Christ adds Himself to the most insignificant individual, you become a person of value. Redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, you’re now a person of real value.

So don’t give the person permission to make you feel less valuable than how God sees you.

Ego is “Edging God Out”. You will never be able to fully control your environment, and you often cannot change you culture. There will always be people who rub you the wrong way. The weather won’t always suit you,. Neighbors may not please you. But you will never be in a position in which you cannot choose your emotional response o your environment, and this knowledge is liberating.

Refuse to allow bitterness to creep into your life. Remember that you become the loser when you do this.

Not all fear is cowardice. It can be your friend, because it causes you to rise to the challenge, It is when you panic and fail to deal effectively with it that you become its victim.

Rudyard Kipling was right when he wrote, "Of all the liars in the world, sometimes, the worst are you own fears."

When someone is afraid, ridicule, criticism, or minimizing the fear doesn't work. Logic doesn't always work either, because fear is an emotional response; it is not based on reason.

Fear is not something you overcome; it's something you manage.

Life is a matter of choices. Not all of those choices are between good and bad. Each of us must evaluate several good things and then choose the best. Sometimes those choices become difficult. Life is often a compromise between what you would like to do and what you can do.

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A Book, Some Food, and Crafts

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Fullybooked High Street
March 20, 2014

Another of my backlog posts but finally it’s here. A book, some crafts and yummy nibbles – these are the highlights of that Candy DIY Craft Night. It’s a book-signing and a craft party rolled into one event. I went to this artsy event with Micah, my crafty friend,(and co-fashion designer in the making naks kailangan kasama talaga ‘to! Haha!). Glad I met her or else I would have been alone in this event or worse would have let this just pass me by.

As a kid, and as a pupil, I loved art classes and remembered that I also even attended workshops. I like it when it’s the Art/MAPE subject already ‘cos it’s finally time to unleash my creative juices (kala mo naman napakadami hahaha). I grew up a sentimental person hence scrapbooking is one of the things I enjoy doing as well and it’s still something “crafty”. When I give out gifts I always put some personal touch on them or some DIY stuff. Up until now I still am into these things so it’s really something of my interest. Hence, this event is a go.

We also took it as an opportunity to meet the authors of the Candy DIY book and yes they signed our copies. It’s just inspiring to see people like them who do what they love doing and make money out of it – aaahh must be one of my long-term dreams – fashion and art/craft will be part of my daily grind.

They set up four craft stations and we tried them all. Oh I love the food station!! Okay, I know it’s not part of the four but I especially enjoyed chewing on the taro chips. Alessandra Lanot, one of the authors of the said book, co-owns a restaurant hence this little feast.

Anyway I took some photos (and maybe I’ll wait til Micah uploads our photos haha and update this blog).

This is the food station I'm talking about. I actually liked everything in here. This makes the event more worth coming to. Hahaha! 

Our first stop was the Pompom station. The idea is to put all together pompoms to come up with a rag. We just tried doing two.

The box office station, the Stamping station. I know a lot of us had tried collecting stamps or even stamping ourselves when we were young. I remember Lisa Frank (is it Lisa Frank??) stamps!!

The majority of our stay was spent on the Washi and Jewelry stations. Having different prints of washis and paper straws and you're free to use any of them, how can we not enjoy this event??

Here's Micah and I captured her during her "Instagram" moment. Hehehe.

It was a fun artsy crafty night! Looking forward to another event or sort of like this. :)

Update:
View Micah's post on this here and also grabbing our photo from her post hihi :)

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Book Comment: Gone Girl (by Gillian Flynn)

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Title: Gone Girl
Authoar: Gillian Flynn
No. of pages: 395
Published: 24th May 2012
Read: February 22, 2014

I have blogged about our recent book club session on this book, which we all agreed to be the first book we would read as members of the club. Each one of us have expressed fondness of this book in each of our own standards. We all agreed that this book can be among the psycho classification. Hahaha! I've read the book in three days; two factors: 1) I am pressured by the book club as we are about to discuss it 2) Upon approaching around 40% of the book, it became a page-turner.

I would classify this as a dark book filled with self-absorbed thoughts and selfish motives. Reading it in the first person, with two characters having the same crazy trail of thoughts, almost made me a psychopath as well hahaha! It is not something for light-reading. It is heavy with a plot that is shady and twisted. It’s a mystery thriller that made my fingers leaf through the pages fast. It’s the kind of novel that made me engaged with the different characters – I had love-hate relationships with them. I still recommend it. I give it a rating of OWN A COPY OF THE BOOK. It's still worth a copy.

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick's clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn't doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife's head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media--as well as Amy's fiercely doting parents--the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter--but is he really a killer?

As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn't do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?
(Synopsis from Goodreads)

I vow to write away a  review immediately after reading a book as I have problems recalling it, given the fact that I've read countless articles and few books already. But I remember the thrilling and annoying feeling while devouring it. This book if reviewed is an instant give-away spoiler, so I'll let future readers read it and enjoy. Anyway, allow me to leave some quotables in here. 

“Men always say that as the defining compliment, don’t they? She’s a cool girl. Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl.

Men actually think this girl exists. Maybe they’re fooled because so many women are willing to pretend to be this girl. For a long time Cool Girl offended me. I used to see men – friends, coworkers, strangers – giddy over these awful pretender women, and I’d want to sit these men down and calmly say: You are not dating a woman, you are dating a woman who has watched too many movies written by socially awkward men who’d like to believe that this kind of woman exists and might kiss them. I’d want to grab the poor guy by his lapels or messenger bag and say: The bitch doesn’t really love chili dogs that much – no one loves chili dogs that much! And the Cool Girls are even more pathetic: They’re not even pretending to be the woman they want to be, they’re pretending to be the woman a man wants them to be. Oh, and if you’re not a Cool Girl, I beg you not to believe that your man doesn’t want the Cool Girl. It may be a slightly different version – maybe he’s a vegetarian, so Cool Girl loves seitan and is great with dogs; or maybe he’s a hipster artist, so Cool Girl is a tattooed, bespectacled nerd who loves comics. There are variations to the window dressing, but believe me, he wants Cool Girl, who is basically the girl who likes every fucking thing he likes and doesn’t ever complain. (How do you know you’re not Cool Girl? Because he says things like: “I like strong women.” If he says that to you, he will at some point fuck someone else. Because “I like strong women” is code for “I hate strong women.”)”

“There’s something disturbing about recalling a warm memory and feeling utterly cold”

“Love makes you want to be a better man. But maybe love, real love, also gives you permission to just be the man you are.”

“There's a difference between really loving someone and loving the idea of her.”

"People love talking, and I have never been a huge talker. I carry on an inner monologue, but the words often don't reach my lips.”

“Because isn’t that the point of every relationship: to be known by someone else, to be understood? He gets me. She gets me. Isn’t that the simple magic phrase?”

“I was told love should be unconditional. That's the rule, everyone says so. But if love has no boundaries, no limits, no conditions, why should anyone try to do the right thing ever? If I know I am loved no matter what, where is the challenge? I am supposed to love Nick despite all his shortcomings. And Nick is supposed to love me despite my quirks. But clearly, neither of us does. It makes me think that everyone is very wrong, that love should have many conditions. Love should require both partners to be their very best at all times."

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No. 1

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Curves and dark lines;

Something’s not fine.

Circles and swirls;

my mind is in a twirl.

Dirtied colors,

this life needs favor.

The beauty of such,

let me view the whole paper.

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Going Back Escolta

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Last Saturday, it was our second time to participate in 98B Collab’s Saturday Future Market at Escolta. And each time, I am amazed how talented and creative Filipinos can be. I can’t help but admire those people who are really into these creative stuff and let “creativity feed them”. This collaboration is indeed a brilliant idea – making room for local artists and “artsies” showcase what they got and allow them to earn from it. This is just our second month of joining but I am already looking forward to the coming months to pour our hearts out on this endeavour.

From where I stand -- Escolta

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Book Comment: The Shack (by Wm. Paul Young)

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Title: The Shack
Author: Wm. Paul Young
No. of pages: 252
Published: July 1st 2007
Read: August 15, 2013

This book deserves a two thumbs up, standing ovation, confetti, it's just worth the time spent reading. Yes, I got carried away. However let me also state that I like books regarding spirituality, hence, this book automatically goes a notch higher. Yet, I consider this book as definitely one of my favorites. It impacted me. It touched me in a way that I cried on some parts of the book. It made me pause and utter a prayer. And since I read it, I try to live some of the words Papa uttered there like it was God who said it to me. I was able to relate to Mack at so many points. I guess all of us can relate to this book, most especially to my dear Christian friends. I highly recommend it. I give it a rating of OWN A COPY OF THE BOOK. When I say own a copy, it only means that it’s worth the money, the effort and the time!

Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation, and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his "Great Sadness," Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend.

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251. Afflatus Board

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