09 April 2009

quiet Thursday morning

I wasn't expecting Maundy Thursday to be this quiet. Went to Greenbelt, hoping to have breakfast at Flapjacks with A and do some last-minute shopping afterwards.

When we got there, lo and behold, Flapjacks was not yet open at 10 something in the morning, and all the stores were completely closed for the next few days. The hell. I thought this sort of thing only happened on Good Friday, considering how Filipinos are such mall rats.

It was a toss-up between Italianni's and Chili's (the only two restos open at that time), so we opted for the latter.

And being the devout coffee patron that I was, I made sure to get the Holy Week schedule of the Starbucks branches near my place. Starbucks The Columns is open today (Maundy Thursday) while the People Support branch will be open on Good Friday, 6 am onwards. We have come a long way from those it's-so-quiet-I'll-go-out-of-my-mind Good Fridays when everything was closed except 7-Eleven.

As you can see, coffee is not on my list of things to abstain from this Holy Week.

***

I am sitting inside Starbucks right now, typing this entry and trying not to wince at the sight of so many people entering the store to have their own coffee fix as well.

Currently reading Margaret Atwood's Booker Prize-winning The Blind Assassin, and I'm feeling slightly annoyed at myself for reading it only now. As I love novels that have a story-within-a-story structure, The Blind Assassin is my kind of book. It manages to be exciting and complex with a satisfying mix of world-weariness and irreverence without being sensational (whew, so many adjectives there, I realize). An easy read enough, and comes well recommended--so far (since I'm only halfway through the book). This is my first time to try Atwood, and I definitely plan to read her other books after Assassin.

***

In the spirit of Holy Week traditions, my friends and I will be having poker (and board games!) tonight. Which will involve the hefty sum of 20 pesos per buy-in. Gamblers! Pagans! Infidels! Cheapskates!

So far, it's turning out to be a most relaxing Holy Week.

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