Okay, I finally got this layout up. It’s been sitting in my hard drive for too long, and it feels so good to be able to see something fresh in this domain. Now I can stop worrying about this. :D But if you find anything that looks out of whack, please do tell me. :D

Edit 011507, 6:06pm: The layout is centered on IE and the menu bar is quite spacey, plus there are some unaligned images within the content. On Opera it looks pretty much the same with Firefox…so I suggest you guys use Opera or Firefox! But don’t worry, I’ll fix this in IE. :D

My arms hurt. It feels the same way as when I lifted hollow blocks during this community service we had for FORMDEV back in college. And that was me lifting about fifty to seventy hollow blocks for the entire day. This was just because of lifting three bags of books from our MV Doulos trip yesterday.

Jomar, Chris, Happy and I were four happy bookworms who headed over to the MV Doulos book fair yesterday. When we got there, there was already a lot of people, and the bookshop was packed. It reminded me of some sort of an SM Megamall or Sta. Lucia East midnight madness sale. The place was hot, and you can barely move because you have to always adjust your book basket so as you won’t hit people as you walk. The words “Excuse me” will be a big requirement. ;)

BUT, even if it is hot and there are a lot of people…it was amazing. :) So many books, so many rare titles and really cheap prices! Books are priced by units, and the conversion is 1 unit = P1, so 100 units is P100. There were two “book areas”: the main book shop, where most of the titles are. Genres range from Christian Living and Inspiration (the biggest selection), Bibles, children’s books, atlas and references, cook books, art books and game books. There’s also a small section on CDs (mostly Contemporary Christian and some classics), tapes and little souvenirs such as pens and keychains which are available at the counter.

And then there’s this other area, which looks like a book sale since you have to look through the big carts to find a book you might like. There are also CDs and mugs available…but that’s not the best part. The books there are priced P50/novel! And they’re good condition novels too. The CDs are priced P50 for three CDs! Bargain, eh? The titles are quite old though, but if you’re a real book lover, you’d certainly get a couple or so of books there. I got seven. :P Haha.

Behold my MV Doulos stash:

CDs (top to bottom in the picture):

1. Rise (Building 429). B429‘s second album, which is one of my favorites. :) It costs P500, which is pretty normal, but because it’s not available in the country, I just have to buy this. :D There’s a slight damage on the CD case, but the contents are still in good condition.
2. Warren Barfield (Warren Barfield). Mr. Barfield’s (swoon!) first album, which made us fall in love with him in the first place. :D One of my favorites, and this is a really rare gem. :)
3. Say-So (Say-so). This is what I call “leap of faith”. Jomar showed me this CD and told me it was old alternative Christian music, and because I need three CDs to make it P50, I decided to get this since I’m an alternative kind of girl. I still have to listen to this. :D
4. Sunny Day (John Cox). I know only of one John Cox song, Sanctuary, but because I know this artist, and this particular CD is cheap, I grabbed it. :D I’ve heard only the first few tracks but so far it sounds promising. :)
5. Subscribe to the Vibe (Abundant). As most of you know, I’m not a party/club/bar person. I don’t really like dance/trance music because I can’t see its point. Happy urged me to buy this CD. I wondered how this CD would last with me, but when I played it last night, I actually liked it. :) That’s something new. :P I like what’s written inside the sleeve:
   

   Abundant is a collective of people committed to providing safe spaces and places of cultural expression. The inspiration for this project has been to combine the 90’s sound of the underground dancefloor with the inspirational gospel voice of praise to God, who makes all things possible for those who believe.

   Great stuff. :D

And the books:

1. Girl Time: A Celebration of Chick Flicks, Bad Hair Days & and Good Friends (Laura Jensen Walker). I wasn’t supposed to get this, but Happy pointed it, so I immediately dropped the other book and grabbed this. :D I love Laura Jensen Walker, and I’m halfway through the book already and I’m loving it. :) To my girl friends, we should do some stuff here soon!
2. The Day I Was Crucified: As Told by Jesus Christ (Gene Edwards). I saw this once in a website, and I was curious, but I couldn’t find it here. I found it at Doulos, and for P150 only. :D I grabbed it, and I’m planning to read this by the Holy Week, since it’s about Christ’s passion. I think this is going to be a major tear-jerker.
3. The Martyr’s Song (Ted Dekker). P100, hardcover and a free CD! I don’t usually buy hardcover, but this one is a thin one, and Happy told me this is a great book. :) Looking forward to reading this. :D
4. Patience (Lori Copeland). A lighthearted romance, as said in the back of the book. This is one of my first Lori Copeland books, and it seems like a historical fiction too, and I hope it’s not boring. :)
5. June (Lori Copeland). Same as above. :D
6. Atonement Child (Francine Rivers). I’ve seen this for P400 at OMF, and it’s only P50 at Doulos! Haha. From the reviews it seems good. :D
7. Last Sin Eater (Francine Rivers). Same as above. :)
8. Scarlet Thread (Francine Rivers). And again, same as above. :)
9. Leota’s Garden (Francine Rivers). Ditto.
10. And the Shofar Blew (Francine Rivers). The summary of this book reminds me of The Visitation by Frank Peretti, sans the supernatural part. Tuesday already read this and she said it’s good, so there. :)

Now you see why my arms hurt. I had to lug that around, plus my SVP package (free Didache, Gabay, Companion and Sabbath — anyone want?)…although I’d have to thank the boys for carrying my packages half the time. ;) After eating lunch at Gary’s, Chris and I tagged along with Jomar for the Blogger Parteeh ’07 steering committee meeting (more details in another post about the parteeh next time. And yes, it’s spelled like that). I met some of the “famous” people in the blogosphere (haha, link baiting galore here): Migz, Juned, Rico, Sasha, Carlo and Mr. Abe himself (I have been lurking around his blog for so long already! haha). Fun discussions, and I look forward to seeing them again. Around 5:30, we parted ways and went home.

Now I have no idea where to place all these books. My bookshelves are full, and now all these new books are sitting on my sofa bed, waiting to be covered with plastic and placed somewhere. Again: I need a bookshelf. But I don’t have a place to put it here in my room. :-s

My arm still hurts, and the day is almost ending so tomorrow’s back to work. I hope these muscle pains subside tomorrow because it’s gym time in the morning tomorrow with my brother.

And this post is too long already. I should get out of my room and watch TV with my mom. She promised me a pedicure today, yahoo! :) Off I go. :D