Tag Archives: The Time Traveler’s Wife

Registering, Renewing and Resting

I can’t believe the past week is almost over. Despite the numerous holidays this week, this week went by a bit too fast, don’t you think? Maybe it’s just because I haven’t been at home during any of the holidays and it made the time go faster than normal.

So what have I been up to, anyway?

WEDNESDAY. Wednesday was Quezon City day, one of the days when I’m really glad to be working in QC. I decided to take advantage of the QC-only holiday to do things that I should have done ages ago: register for Comelec and renew my driver’s license.

I woke up really early on Wednesday to avoid the lines but ended up leaving mid-morning because of some things that I’m not in the mood to talk about. I got to the Municipal Hall with my passport by half past ten, and then went for registration. I was done within an hour — really quick and easy! I am now a registered voter, five years late! I’ll write more thoughts on this on another post. :)

After that, I headed to the nearest LTO satellite office to get started on my driver’s license renewal. I almost decided to skip it, but then my mom told me to go through with it because it will only take a while. So I did.

A while. Right. Apparently, since all LTO offices in QC are closed, a lot of QC residents decided to renew their license where I am renewing, which led to a bottleneck at the drug testing center. I started my renewal process at 1:30, and by 4:00pm I still haven’t been called for the picture and fingerprints. :| The estimate was another hour until I get called and so I decided to just go back for it the next day since I still had somewhere else to be.

The missed renewal kind of made my day even more tiring, especially since it meant I had to wake up early again the next day. But such is life, I guess.

THURSDAY. One of the perks of being a Fitness First member is that I can go in the mall where the gym is really early because of my ID. That meant I could go to the drug test center really early to get the rest of the process done. I got my results by 9:30, and then debated if I wanted to get the rest of it done (I had an appointment at 10:30), and then went ahead. By 10:20 I had my shiny new license, and finally it says female instead of male! I can now use my license as a valid identification! (Because one really needs a valid ID that can be whipped out immediately, like when you’re trying to get auto insurance quote or something)

Now the next step is to actually drive…but yeah, baby steps. I’ll drive soon. :P

Thursday at work was quick and kind of distracting because we were in between holidays. I was so itching to be off work because I needed to get ready for the beach trip…and I ended up spending for a bit of stuff (which is, thankfully, reimbursible) — like contact lenses. :) Yeah, I’m back to contacts again.

FRIDAY-SATURDAY. Spent the first part of the holiday with friends at La Luz Beach Resort in Laiya, Batangas. I finally hit the beach for the second time this year! What’s even more interesting (at least for me) is that I sort of planned the whole thing. I mean, I got the reservations ready and all that. But I couldn’t have done it all alone, especially without my friends from work who joined my three friends/gym buddies and I to the trip. :) The food wasn’t really as good as Balai Laiya‘s, but there were a lot of firsts for me: first time to go kayaking, first time to go snorkeling and swimming to really deep water (with a life vest of course), and my first time to get slightly er…drunk. Okay, more like majorly tipsy. If you think I’m noisy when I’m sober, wait till you see me tipsy. Heh.

After Batangas, we drove to Tagaytay to have lunch and just hang out and buy tarts…and then went home. I was still strangely hyper and still not too tired when I got home — maybe that’s what happens when you got the much-needed relaxation?

Oh, on the downside, my diet was totally non-existent during the two days of vacation. :| Guess who hit the gym by Sunday?

SUNDAY. After the gym and talking to Pau, I went off on my own for a bit and watched The Time Traveler’s Wife. I was alone in my area in the cinema which somehow made me appreciate the movie more. It wasn’t exactly the same as the book, but the ending made my heart hurt just a tiny bit…and yes, I did cry while watching the movie. I’m not all eager to read the book again, though.

And that was my week. Sort of. I’d post pictures but my Internet is uncooperative again, so I’ll go and post pictures on another post. :)

So what about you? How was your holiday weekend? :)

The Time Traveler's Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)

Rating: [rate 3.5]

The Time Traveler's Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)This is the extraordinary love story of Clare and Henry who met when Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-two and Henry thirty. Impossible but true, because Henry suffers from a rare condition where his genetic clock periodically resets and he finds himself pulled suddenly into his past or future. In the face of this force they can neither prevent nor control, Henry and Clare’s struggle to lead normal lives is both intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.

It took me a long time to stick to reading this book without being distracted by any other one in my to-be-read pile. I’ve had this book for almost a year, and I was really curious about the story when I first saw this book. But somehow, after reading through the first few chapters, it just…bored me. Maybe it was because the first few chapters involved Henry jumping through time for the reader to make sense of his condition and to establish his history with Clare, before the story starts flowing in an almost sequential manner.

I admit it was really a chore for me to continue reading the book. I don’t know why. Probably it’s because the book feels too serious to me, and it almost read like a classic and we all know how hard it is for me to get through a classic book. Maybe it’s because I didn’t really connect with any of the characters, even if they were pretty solid. Or maybe it’s because of all the sexual parts of the book that is normal for couples — especially the ones trying to conceive — but the ones that were done before their wedding was really…well, it’s really an issue against what I believe in, which isn’t really necessary to discuss in this review.

However, after the part of their wedding, I started to get more into the story. I don’t know why or how, but I started to be more interested in what was going on. I found myself rooting for Henry and Clare’s relationship, especially when they were trying to conceive. I found the same joy when their daughter was born, and the sadness when Henry found out what would happen to him sometime in the near future.

The ending was sad, and yet quite satisfying. It must have been a really hard thing for Clare to keep on waiting for Henry, not knowing where he was at a lot of times when he’s time traveling, or not knowing if she should believe when she sees two different Henry’s in front of her (makes you wonder how Henry would get identity theft protection if ever he wanted one).

I can’t say that it’s one of my favorite books, and I honestly can’t say I would be willing to read this one again. I didn’t think it was an Omg what a totally amazing book like some people thought it was, but it’s a pretty good one, and I’m glad that I finished it and I got to know what happened.

I’m probably watching the movie, just to see how they would interpret it in the big screen. :P