eleven degrees

i am a sucker for melancholy.

i love stories that weigh much of sadness.
my choices almost always exclude stories with happy endings.

maybe because such dismal stories ring truer ---
as nothing lasts in this world.
happy endings are not really endings, they are beginnings.
but then again, despairing endings can also be seen as beginnings...

so, with nothing really settled, i still would opt for despondence.

crying brings such a relief that when a certain mood strikes me, i have 3 readily available movies i'd watch over and over:
1. The Royal Tenenbaums
2. Lost in Translation
3. 5 Centimeters Per Second
no, i don't watch them in a particular order, and definitely not watch them in one sitting.

i am reading again.

i visited one bookshop after my visit to the doctor and found J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey.
(even when i am not reading, i still enjoy going to bookshops. and if a book interests me, in one way or another, i'd buy it.)
i distinctively remember the staff, on getting my payment, telling me, "I just finished reading that one. A very good read, I'd say."

it turned out to be more than a good read:
i fell in love with the Glass family.
it somehow cast a spell on me and i'm back to reading ---
while waiting for the train, on the train, at home, even at my desk at work during lunch time.

today, on my way to work, i read "For Esmé – with Love and Squalor".
while reading it for the first time, i had the feeling of having read the story before. but i could not remember when, how, or if at all.
it moved me to melancholy as surely as eating marshmallows make me lose my appetite for a proper meal.

say "ta" for thank you

melbourne's cbd is pretty
as european city pretty, they say
i haven't been to europe so i am taking it as that.

it was warm when i flew in
and rather mild for its nasty reputation:
warm one moment then chilly the next,

it didn't send me off without showing it's true colors through
got chillier almost touching biting cold
my winter coat was handy, especially on the last week of autumn

pretty, cute, very
lovely backdrop
for maturely childish phone calls

i had a rather busy week, conversational skills put to the test
met some who said they are yet to meet someone from the phils who's not happy,
joy's the name and i am just trying to live up to it

it was a jaw dropping experience
as anyone would when stopped on a walkway by a total stranger
"you are really pretty! this is ridiculous but i just wanted to tell you that."

a new sight is a new sight
where cars are impatient and trams are determinely passive
but would rather go around by foot and be surprised.