Confessions of a Bibliophile

 I love my job at the Barnes & Nobles / Starbucks Cafe . Although I'm a cafe server, trotting around in my green apron, serving coffee, and cleaning tables, I love the fact that I'm surrounded by my two most favorite things... books... and chocolate.  < And to kill any further fantasies you may have... I'm NOT a moe cafe server >

When I enter any bookstore, my heart palpitates and I get so stimulated and excited. As I look at all the books which surround me, I'm stricken with awe and excitement. But wait... it gets even better..

When I pick up a brand new hardcover, my fingers caress the texture of the pages as I open the book.  I bring it close to my face as I smell the ink and pages. My lips graze the cover of the book tasting its literary goodness. Finally, I open the book and its a feast for my eyes as they read everything on the pages.

It's easy to be intimate with books... right?

Okay... I'll admit it... I'm a bibliophile... >..>;;  The whole process of reading and books in general... can be in my eyes, an erotic experience... >.<

I'M NOT CREEPY!! KNOWLEDGE JUST TURNS ME ON!!

Consider this then... Yomiko Readman from Read or Die,  how she manages to be so attached and so close to her paper and books that... it's like a companion.... You could say that I'm a real life Yomiko, since I do sorta look like her  ( at least when I had long hair) and have similar likings as her..
I have to admit, this fixation towards books is slightly unhealthy. When I have money, the first thing I buy is books when I probably SHOULD buy a new pair of shoes or a shirt. But in the end, when I have a book... it's one of the ultimate pleasures a bibliophile could have. *_____*

Every Girl's Best Friend: Barbie

Alright so its been a while since I've updated this atrocious thing of a blog. And I fervently apologize. School work and jobs tend to overwhelm me easily.  Speaking of jobs, I am now a piano teacher, teaching a wonderfully angelic  four year old brat . Honestly, she is a brat. It took me 3 hours to get her SEATED at the piano. Her parents were amazed with the fact I got her at the bench. Wonderful. These past three weeks I have slowly broken down this child's mental defenses with my most advantageous asset: bribery. For every line of a song she learns, I give her a Barbie doll (one of my old ones that I barely used as a child). so far I gave her Scuba Diver Barbie, and Spring Barbie.

However, as I sift through my Barbies each week to decide which plastic doll will be the young girl's reward, I become slightly nostalgic.  As a child , I rarely played with Barbies, and even when I did... it was quite... unorthodox with the manner how I played with them. I never asked my mum to buy me dolls. It was something people just gave it to me because I was a girl. Yet , I clearly remember one Barbie doll that I wanted so badly.

Beautiful, huh? *___*

I was in India for summer vacation, and I was roughly 5 or 6 years old. I was at  a store with my mom, and thats when I saw HER: Indian Barbie. I was so transfixed by her turquoise salwar and her pink scarf and  her beautiful dark hair.
 I had never seen a Barbie so beautiful and unique as that , that I actually wanted one...

La Barbie de Iberia... que bonita!

Perhaps it was my cultural pride, or the fact that this was a Barbie that could actually resemble me. Nevertheless, I pleaded to my mother for her... and I was denied.
"You have so many at home you don't play with! No!"  " But mom.... She's different..."
I must admit, that wasn't the only time, I begged my mom for a Barbie...
In the summer of 2007, we went back to India... and my beloved Barbie was still there. A fifteen year old then, I begged my mother  and was denied again.
And I've come to the conclusion... it wasn't just the Indian Barbie I gravitated to... it was those exotic ethnic Barbies...
When I was at Valencia, Spain, I was captivated by the Spanish Barbie. And of course, my penurious cousin declined my request.
 Even this summer when I saw the Statue of Liberty, at the gift shop, not only they had a Statue of Liberty Barbie, but they had a beautiful Big Ben Barbie, and a chic Eiffel Tower Barbie. Of course, I didn't even bother to ask to buy those  three dolls. I'm an eighteen year old, after all, and perhaps sometimes I should try to restrain my childhood fantasies...

My favorite: Eiffel Tower. Hell, just get me that dress then, if not the Barbie..

 .. or give my old Barbies away,  so I could bring in the new... ;)

Occult Academy

Normally, I'm not a fan of starting brand new animes, especially those that are really modern. I'm all for the the old school Cowboy Bebop  or Ghost in the Shell classics for fear of wasting my time with another Naruto. However, the manga god spoke to me, and as if by divine intervention, I felt drawn to start watching Occult Academy. After watching the first episode, I was transfixed. I fell in love with the ominous yet weird aura it evoked  and the use of the things I love. This anime had everything, creepy mythological creatures, zombies, time travelers, and of course, your main tsundere girl.  Maya Kumashiro  has made it to my list of favorite female characters, which is quite a notable feat in my eyes, considering the fact that I'm a misogynist.

Maya staring at a naked Fumiaki descending from the sky... just watch the show please. 

The male lead, is Fumiaki Uchida, or known as Bunmei, a time traveler who is klutzy, cocky, irresponsible, and is completely idiotically cute.  The animation is beautiful and just mind blowing,just like the plot. Carefully mastered and tying all pieces together,  Occult Academy is a complete success in my arrogant opinion. It touches on so many topics and issues of humanity; deception, lust over love, importance of family, and of course, good vs evil. It's such a good show... that I don't want to belabor you with a mere plot summary. (I'm not being lazy...) Watch it yourself, and believe in the occult.

Maya and Fumiaki. Now she's my kind of girl.