When she walked out of the door, I felt back to the first time I saw her. How could anybody, ever, have wanted to run away from Juli Baker? (Flipped - 2010)
“Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.”
So glad I can finally reblog Fault In Our Stars posts!
fifty people I love more than anything (In no specific order) ↳3) John green “Saying ‘I notice you’re a nerd’ is like saying, ‘Hey, I notice that you’d rather be intelligent than be stupid, that you’d rather be thoughtful than be vapid, that you believe that there are things that matter more than the arrest record of Lindsay Lohan. Why is that?’ In fact, it seems to me that most contemporary insults are pretty lame. Even ‘lame’ is kind of lame. Saying ‘You’re lame’ is like saying ‘You walk with a limp.’ Yeah, whatever, so does 50 Cent, and he’s done all right for himself.”
I finally put up a list of my books this year. It’s right here. I’ll keep updating as I go along. I mainly did this for myself so that I can keep track and not keep hoarding buying books when I still have a lot of unread books on my shelf.
Also, I should really start noting the dates I started reading a particular book so I can see how fast I read (not that it matters, really) and so that I can remember when I read and/or reread the book.
I’ve only met a handful of people who do what they do not for love or for money, but for the sake of kindness. They’re the kind of people who wake up in the morning not thinking about how much money they’re going to make, but how many lives they’re going to change. So when I read an entry about Reading Club 2000, the free library on Balagtas Street, I pitched an idea for a feature about it to Jared, Stache’s associate editor, and what followed was an inspiring story from a stranger, Hernando Guanlao, perhaps the kindest and the most grounded soul I have ever met.
The library started like a seed in 2000, with an estimate of 200 books from Guanlao’s personal collection. Because of his passion for serving his countrymen, he set up a free library in front of his ancestral house. What makes it special is not its growing 500-book collection or its unconventional location in the middle of the bustling district, but its free 24/7 service. In fact, Mang Hernando encourages you to come as you are, and leave with a free book.
In the hope of discovering the story—the man—behind such a selfless advocacy, we found ourselves on 1454 Balagtas Street, Makati, awestruck as we browsed hundreds of titles. A student was looking for research material, children who were reading looked up to smile at us, and at the end of the street was Hernando Guanlao, saying thank you to a family who came all the way from the South just to donate books. After introducing ourselves, the first thing he says is, “This is junk. There is nothing impressive about this.” Before we could object, he gestures to the books, most of them worn-out, hand-me-downs, torn at the edges, but he says, “I give life. My goal is to give life [through these books].”
“Some of us get dipped in flat, some in satin, some in gloss….”
He turned to me. “But every once in a while, you find someone who’s iridescent, and when you do, nothing will ever compare.”
Still in love with the 90s.
In a wheelchair(click). Harry Potter ϟ. Hanson. Anything & everything Disney. Oldschool Nickelodeon.
Movie /TV show buff. Musicals.
