While the rest of the northern Philippines deals with the aftermath of Typhoon Mina, it’s windy here in Manila. I just returned from a trip to Tagaytay with my boyfriend and some of my closest friends, where it was cold and wet and windy. We had a great time though; despite Pepito and I being an hour and a half late for our departure time (we were almost not allowed to head out), we left and had breakfast at a McDo along SLEX, then had lunch at an awesome Bulalo place which killed us afterwards, then were lazy until the evening, when we had drinks and bummed around. We drove around the next day and took pictures; it was even colder than the day before and I got to make good use of one of my sweaters. Manila meanwhile is all wind, with few patches of sunshine. I’ve opened all the windows upstairs to let the breeze through. I’m sure that later, my mom will come up the stairs and close some of them, as open windows often bring in dust from outside. (She’s just left for the gym with my dad as I type this, so I suppose the windows will stay open for the rest of the early afternoon.)
I’ve been reading Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, which I am enjoying. I’m actually a bit surprised, as for one, I didn’t think Plath was a writer I could enjoy, and two I didn’t think I could put up with reading a PDF file from my iPod. But it’s turning out to be okay so far. I first learned about Plath through my boyfriend’s mentioning (when I told him I was interested in writing poetry) and was formally introduced to her in a literature elective class I took in my senior year at college. My boyfriend warned me that she was crazy (in a good way) so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. The first poem of hers, if I remember correctly, that we read was “Lady Lazarus”. I don’t remember much about our reading of it, just that it was about death and rebirth, or suicide and resurrection. I found her other works to be disjointed and difficult to follow, so I’m surprised and quite happy that The Bell Jar is so far something I can follow better.
