let's all toast to some whine

i know i slacked off this weekend. i admit it was my fault. but hey, i'm only human, so allow me to whine about this week.
i have a test on both theology and great books on thursday, which pretty much assures me of zero sleep on wednesday night. however, i also have to write my philosophy paper by friday, and it's NOT a paper that i can cram, nor do i want to. i have to start work on it by tonight, as well as make a dent in the novel i have to read by thursday for great books. oh, and did i mention that i'm also reporting on the said novel?
and not to forget that i have a thesis consultation on wednesday, by which i should have already...
1. checked up on the three sources that i have2. come up with more storyboards3. come up with a definite structure for the website.
all of which ensures... almost no sleep on tuesday night.
and who says i can finish the novel by tonight?! well, i probably could... hmm...
so should i finish the novel tonight and try doing my philo paper tomorrow or should i read the article i need to read for my philo paper and then read the novel?
decisions, decisions. boy, i sure suck at this. i hope i haven't forgotten anything...

da vinci code is the new harry potter

...is the new lord of the rings.

now, some people might kill me for that statement (the respective fans of each, for example). but as i see things, that statement is true.

every once in a while, some books become so popular that it seems like every other literate person has read it, is reading it, or wants to read it. honestly. i remember there was this person back in high school who was not at all the type to read, and he admitted as much. it turns out, though, that he has read a non-required book for school: harry potter. oh, the power of literature.

the reason i am writing about this phenomenon is that aside from being awed by this phenomenon, i am extremely curious about how it starts. i mean, is it from word-of-mouth or do they just have really good publicists?

i've read the da vinci code and harry potter and the lord of the rings. and yes, i found them to be great books. on the other hand, i've also read books as good as they are which aren't nearly as popular. why is that? why aren't those books popular?

by the way, i'm really asking, so feel free to post your answers.

Just like 20/20

Yesterday was the first day that I wore contact lenses. I've always been fascinated with the idea, but I was too scared of putting those things in my eyes! Besides, i've heard of people going blind when they accidentally leave their contact lenses on when they sleep. *shudders*

However, seeing the bausch & lomb booth in school yesterday giving out free contact lenses really intrigued me. i probably wouldn't have done if i were on my own, but blooey wanted one, too. so, i went. when it was time for the lady to put my contact lenses on me, i was hands-twisting-legs-jittering nervous. i've already decided to go through with it, so there was no backing out, and i wanted to see for myself. people have said it was painful at first, but nobody ever died of putting contact lenses in. thinking about it now, i must say that i admire the courage of the pioneers of the contact lens. they were very brave souls.

bracing myself, i watch the woman clean the lens and i ask her a million questions about going blind and how to put it on or take it out. then, the moment of truth finally comes. she holds my eye open, and carefully tries to place the lens in my eye.

suddenly, my eye lid twitches like it was injected with crack, and my eye is flooded with tears (not because i was crying!). she tries to put it on about twenty more times: it would get caught on my eyelashes (she threatened to cut them short!), or it would fold or something. gawd, it took us SO long. i was so embarassed, but no way was i backing out now! in the meantime, it seemed like everytime her finger got close to my eyeballs, the lids would move as if independent from my body. i tried to stop it, i swear!

finally, she gets it in, and finally, it stays. we all heave a sigh of relief: one down, one to go.

getting the second one in was as much an ordeal as the first one. it was pathetic, and i pitied the lady who probably got cramps trying to put the lens in. when it was over, i had 20/20 vision and eyes red and puffy from the tears i've produced. mau tried it too. unlike me, it took her all of one minute to get both eyes done, which only drove home the point of how pathetic i was. *bleah*

later that night, as i was out with my friends, i gave in to the sudden impulse to scratch my eyes, and only realized afterwards what i had done. pop goes the lens in my left eye. i panic. luckily, my friends also wear contact lenses, and nina, the sweetheart that she is, tries to help my by putting it on me. eventually, we decided it won't work, and she holds a mirror in front of me. so it came to be that i was in the front seat of a moving vehicle, and trying to get my contact lens in (good thing we weren't going fast). and, i succeed.

then, there was pain. horrible pain. stinging pain. pain pain pain. is it any wonder i panicked? i thought that maybe i had gotten some of the alcohol i used to clean my hands with in my eye. ALCOHOL! IN! MY! EYE!

apparently, it only stung like that because i used the lubricant (not owning a bottle of solution) to clean and moisten the lens, and it really stings. darn it. the pain really threw me into total panic, thinking i would go blind in my left eye. it was a masochist's dream.

getting it out was easier, to my relief. had to put them i water, though, instead of solution. i'm going out later to buy a bottle.

an anemic site

ok, so i changed the opacity of my alpha filter for the background to make it not so transparent. problem is, now the WHOLE PAGE is fading. seriously, it looks like it has anemia, or like a vampire. eew. what can i do about this? help...

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i think i failed my history test. and not because i didn't know the answers. i had no time to answer everything. heck, i didn't even have time to answer half of it.

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ok, so i found that i can make my flash tagboard save the messages. bad news is, i have to learn XML to do it. oh momma. i am stuck in html and as country. dang you programming freaks for creating so friggin many programming languages. pick one and STICK TO IT! *bleah* sorry, it's just so frustrating.