late late holy week blues

holy week
i've always secretly hated holy week. as a child, most of my birthdays fell on one of the holy days. when it fell on an Easter Sunday, my birthday would be happy. I'd have a party and gifts. Most of the time though, it usually fell on a holy Thursday, black Saturday or when I'm really unlucky : good Friday.
I felt cheated. Sometimes it felt like the world was against me when I see my birthday printed with red ink on the calendar. Lately though, I've been having a lucky streak, the holy week is usually a week before or after my birthday which is ok.
on the radio, people were wondering if it was ok to celebrate your birthday even if it falls on a good Friday. Speaking from experience, I would rather not celebrate it on the exact date. First of all, it is a solemn event and it is very important for Catholics to realize that it takes precedence over birthdays. Besides who would want to celebrate your birthday when malls and restaurants are closed and you can't eat meat. Just do the celebrations on Easter Sunday and have an egg hunt.
I hate the holy week but I know it is important. I guess for the people who want to celebrate their birthday, just imagine what would it feel like if you just died and people celebrated? If its still ok with you, well, you certainly didn't die to save everyone anyway so anything goes.
my family used to go out to the province or the beach during the holy week. Blame my dad who dreads the catholic rituals and would rather run away. During the last few years though, we've spent it at home. Though we still go around driving in the car looking for "Jewish" restaurants and stores. They're "Jewish" or "Chinese" or "Muslim" to my dad who is kind of racist, but only for fun. Lately, more people have been spending the holy week here in metro Manila. Mainly because their are a lot of restaurants open and Cable TV doesn't take a holy week break. People now have things to do here during the Holy Week.
I managed to finish watching "Love Me If You Dare". I loved it. Those two lovers were crazy. Love should be full of passion. Though waiting for more than 10 years to finally get together is not a really great idea for me :p The only downside was the crappy subtitles. He of course it's pirated. They kept saying "Guarantee" instead of just "Promise" so the original is a good investment because the dialogue is good (well it sounds like its good).
I also finished reading Dogsbody. Wonderful book. I wouldn't put it down it unless I really had to. Diana Wynne Jones is now officially one of my favorite authors.
Last Friday was also the first Good Friday I ever spent with neal. I held his laptop hostage so that he would come visit me. He didn't go to the province because he had work.
We met and spent the afternoon reading parts of Dogsbody to each other. neal likes to use different voices so it's really fun to hear him read. I read to my sister but only if she wants to fall asleep. She believes the sound of my voice can put her right to sleep. It's true too. I barely read 2 pages of the Arabian Nights and she's be asleep. Ask anyone else and they'll tell you my voice is not calming enough to put anyone to sleep. Go figure.