Mujou, Impermanence

Once, on the way home from a Japanese speaking workshop in Makati, R-senpai and I got into arguing about the types of anime we preferred. As a rule, I only watch one-season, mono-plot anime that revolve around the paranormal, and so R-senpai had to explain to me the perks of being a fan of 'slice of life'. There were many fine details I believe, to this day, I am better off not thinking about. For instance, Azumanga Daioh is considered 'slice of life' but Clannad is not. And so on.

Eventually we came to the term 'mono no aware'. R-senpai brought it up, and I didn't understand it then. The phrase slipped my list of things to Google until a few minutes earlier, when I became fascinated with why Kazuo Ishiguro says he doesn't write in the Japanese fashion despite how clearly - to me, at least - he thinks the Japanese way. The term 'mono no aware' is in his Wikipedia profile, here. To clarify, I've only read one book of Mr Ishiguro's, An Artist of the Floating World. But the 'mono no aware' is there, all right. The novel ends with its lead character merely, poignantly people-watching, after all.

The Weekend I Robbed Myself

I don't know how I managed to do it, but I actually had money at the end of the week - enough to go on food trips with friends. It was a lucky thing, too, because this weekend was probably the last time we'd see each other until 2013. If we make it to 2013, of course.

I went to these places with some of my favorite people, and because eating in each place made me inexplicably happy, I made reviews for each. [Yey!] I'd never been to any of these places before, by the way. They're listed in the order we visited them.

Ramen X, Trinoma
Fresh Selections, UP Teachers' Village
Ariake, Tomas Morato corner Scout Rallos
Baang Coffee, Tomas Morato
Bubble Tea, Tomas Morato

Christmas~

Bubble Tea

Tokyo Bubble Tea 
Tomas Morato 
Quezon City 

For almost two weeks, M had been craving for Mango Cake. It couldn’t even be a Mango Roll – it had to be legit Mango Cake. So for the same period of time, we’ve been entering cake shops all around Quezon City, searching for her salvation in the form of Mango Cake. Finally, after traversing a considerable stretch of Tomas Morato, we found Bubble Tea. We were so comfortable with the place and the food we decided to stay there for hours.

Baang Coffee

Baang Coffee 
Tomas Morato 
Quezon City 

After a heavy dinner, I wanted to wash down the food with coffee or tea, but didn’t want to go someplace over-the-top like Starbucks. In my head, I wanted to seek temporary caffeinated refuge in a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, preferably with quaint mismatched tables and ivy vines creeping up the iron-wrought windows. But I don’t think there are any affordable cafes like that in the Tomas Morato area. Baang Coffee, seeming strangely welcoming and non-judgmental, was our final destination for coffee then.

Ariake

Ariake 
Tomas Morato corner Scout Rallos
Quezon City

M and I have long been planning to visit this shop, mainly because in the Jdorama Ryuusei no Kizuna, Ninomiya Kazunari’s and Nishikido Ryo’s and Erika Toda’s characters own a shop with the same name. We were admittedly intimidated by the setup of the restaurant though, because it looks too sophisticated and respectable for a pair of poor and perpetually hungry college students like the two of us. In any case, several months after we first heard of the place, we went. Because fangirls will be fangirls.

Fresh Selections

Fresh Selections 
Maginhawa corner Magiting Street 
In front of Mini Stop 
UP Teacher’s Village, Quezon City 

R and T and I met for lunch today, and since R hadn’t been around the QC area so much after the Boards, T suggested that we try the new restaurant that popped up at Teacher’s Vill. None of us had ever eaten there before, by the way. It was a safe experiment then, because there was almost zero possibility that any of us would feel over-exposed to the food.

Ramen X

Ramen X 
Space 2087, Level 2
Trinoma, Quezon City 

D and I wandered here because she Googled the restaurant’s menu online, and decided she wanted to try their ramen. I don’t know how she first heard of it, or if anyone she knows had ever eaten there before we got to, but it was a remarkably no-fuss experience even with both of us clueless about what the place had to offer. Even though Ramen X is technically a high-level restaurant given it’s in a mall, the whole space had a laid back atmosphere that made it almost inevitable for customers to just relax and to enjoy the food.

Fairy Tale Fail

I will have to warn you that I am nuts for the author of this thing, Ms Mina V. Esguerra. I can't even refer to her without that title! I sometimes feel it's blasphemous to cite her using just her pen name, but we shall reserve analyses of my awkwardness for later. The point is, one of Ms Mina's self-published novels was recently picked up by Summit Publishing for national print distribution. [Excellent move, Summit Team! I've always approved of your creative decisions, even if you did phase out Seventeen PH.] The most recent of Ms Mina's Philippine-published books is entitled Fairy Tale Fail, and it has won the first ever Filipino Readers' Choice Awards for the Chick Lit Category.

I would describe the book this way:

Even with the modest income of a twenty-something Makati-dweller, Ellie Manuel's hobby remains planning efficient escapades to foreign countries, where no one knows about her and her recent awful breakup with all-around good guy Don. She can't even hate Don - she can't get over the fact that he's broken up with her in a disturbingly calm fashion that all their friends decide to be downright awful, and she still thinks they have a chance of getting back together. Because their romance is a carefully brought-together fairy tale, and Don is her only prince charming.

Contrary to what the typology of traditional fairy tales promises, however, a mysterious, undefinable character arrives in the form of Lucas Haresco, who is neither Fairy Godmother nor Donor nor Messenger. He is the office Rock Star, and while the little switch in Ellie's danger radar hints he might not be the type of guy to bring home to Mom, she finds herself falling for his addiction to chocolate truffles, his offers to refill her coffee mug with caffeine stashes from the department pantry, and his stern half-resignation, half-support of everything that had caused ex-boyfriend Don to decide to drop out of her life.

So who does Princess Ellie choose? The Prince her life plan demands her to pursue, or the Half-Prince whose existence may be the undoing of her happy ending?