Travelling in the Present and Parallel

Finally back in Manila after a grueling 2.5 day workshop in Cagayan de Oro. We finished with a bang, as always, with Cheche's Facing the Media talk (which is always a workshop highlight because she delivers it in such a funny, entertaining, self-effacing way) and the adrenaline pumping situationers for the participants, wherein they have to experience the media pressure from REAL media people.

Suffice it to say it was a success. Everybody seemed to enjoy the workshop, and some went as far as to say that it was the first real seminar they enjoyed and really learned from. For workshop-givers like PMFI, that's a reward in itself. And rightly so, after all the hardwork they always put into their activities.

Good and grueling. I say it's grueling because being the workshop facilitator/moderator/chief picker-upper is so darn exhausting. In fact, by the second day, my voice was horrible: all squeaky and hoarse. By then end of the workshop I felt like my throat was constantly being stuffed with hot charcoal. Add to that the fact that my cold manifested itself.

And it's the awful kind of cold: the stubborn type, where you cough a constant dry cough but nothing is expelled. Ugh. I couldn't wait to go home and rest. And most of all, bask in the care of my loving husband.

My missing him I guess was also due to the influence of the book I was reading: The Time Traveller's Wife. I haven't read such a book in a long time...the kind where you easily drown into the story and you're constantly thinking about what happens next. Sometimes I even forget that the characters are characters in a book and aren't real people. And you couldn't wait to go back and see what happens next.

I like the story because though it uses the age-old time-travelling theme, the spin is quite refreshing. And the love story is far from cliched. Haha, most of all, the protagonist, Henry reminded me sooooo much of Benc. It's creepy. He and Henry even have the same birth month. :)

The characters were very real, despite the surreality of time travel. It's fantastic how you willingly suspend disbelief and then let go and then know it isn't real but believe it anyway because you think you know the characters. It's enough to drive you crazy but it's a heady kind of crazy...sort of like being in love in fact. No matter how crazy it may seem, you persevere.

It was so romantic without being cheesey. And even if it was, you wouldn't mind so much because you knew love gets the better of you in real life. That made the story fun and heartrending at the same time. And that's something everyone can relate to.

I highly recommend this book. Read it read it read it! Now! Before the movie comes out (scheduled in 2008)! You won't regret it. I guarantee you'll fall in love with the story, the characters; and the feeling will linger. I promise, it will be sweet!