fixing shit.

Ive read a couple of books since my last blog post. I just forgot most of them, and even the titles. Something's gone wrong. Have to fix my shit.

Vicious Art

Art work and a list of songs made by the late Sid Vicious.

Goodnight Steve McQueen

“If you liked High Fidelity, you’ll love Goodnight Steve McQueen.” – Sunday Times magazine (London)

This quote pasted on the book cover caught my attention not to mention Steve McQueen’s name on the title that might serve as a guarantee of an off-beat, cool story. I first saw this book two years back but was priced unreasonably high that I let it go. But now, I got it for a song.

"Goodnight Steve McQueen" by Louise Wener, a singer of a band and not just a pretty face, is not actually a story of THE Steve McQueen but a certain Danny McQueen borne out of his mother’s obsession with everything Steve that she even married a McQueen. Danny is a 29 year old band member who works in a video rental shop to make ends meet while waiting for that rock stardom.

The story transpired when his corporate girlfriend Alison gave him an ultimatum to shape up or ship out of the band if nothing substantial happens in the next six months. It was during these times when his rollercoaster journey of fate, luck (good and bad), and hard work to achieve his realization came into being. With his band mates and a cohort of interesting characters, Danny McQueen dove into that quest of finding his true self. The challenges and situations that affected his decisions are quirky bringing the story into its crazy end.

A book about music, band, and the pursuit of true love never fail to interest me. At the end of the day, it is all about love and pursuing what is really important to oneself. Goodnight Steve McQueen is a good book with lots of good odds and ends that will make the reader smile and feel good in the end.

All you need is love, so the Beatles says, and that I have to agree.

Flavor of the Week

Lovely. Flavor of the Week is just lovely. It brought back memories of first crush, first love, childish jealousy, and love’s redemption. I hit the jackpot when I got hold of this book by Tucker Shaw about a nice guy named Cyril who was described as chubby, if not downright fat. Girls in school loves him, as a friend, and that is bad news for would be playas. Not that nice guy Cyril dreams of being a playa but his greatest love, Rosie, feels that way towards him, a great pal.

There is however one thing that separates Cyril from the rest of the field. He is a very good cook who dreams of entering a prestigious culinary academy. But by some dumb predisposition, his character wants to keep his talent a secret. His bestfriend Nick used Cyril’s cooking prowess to the hilt to get Rosie with Cyril’s consent just because he feels he does not stand a chance with good pal Rosie, who I imagine looks like Lisa Loeb as described by the writer. And while Cyril knew that Rosie is crazy over boys who can cook, his shyness prevailed.

So Nick claimed the cooking shit that impressed Rosie and as a coup de grace, asked Cyril to prepare something really special for Rosie’s birthday, which Nick prayed to God, would be the time he gets to score with Rosie big time. But at the end of the day, God had plans for good old Cyril and Rosie. Not that Cyril went on and got a chance to score with Rosie or French kissed her or caressed her boobs like preparing bread dough. He won her heart then passed the entrance test of a famous culinary arts school. The story is so sweet like leche plan with plenty of syrupy sugar under the aluminum gallinera.

I am so hi-hi-hi (kilig) with the book because it is very easy to read and it is a love story. The inclusion of recipes and putting food and cooking as an integral part to the whole story added flavor to the romance. In the end, it is still the simple comfort food that defined what the girl is looking for. Like love, you must be comfortable with your partner, isn’t it? Hi-hi-hi.

I believe it is a YA book. YA is Young Adult, I think. A jargon used by book addicts. It is not Yarian Agad (YA) normally seen in triple x films. Hi hi hi.

Neverwhere

Browsing and organizing my pile of books, I came across a scratch paper with scribble of notes that I think was intended for my blog. Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman - Read it late 2008 after immersing in Graveyard Notebook. - A parallel world of people in the same place at different times. - Reflective of people living in the margins or out of the margins of society. “Silang mga etsa-pwera” (term culled from a Jun Cruz Reyes book) - Street children, beggars, street vendors, prostitutes Then some words were written beneath the scribbles Autodidact – self taught. Vacuous – lack content. Fatuous - silly; dementia; imbecule; foolish

Eto ang Tula

May ilang buwan na rin ang nakalipas mula nuong maimbitahan ako ng isa sa mga manunulat ng librong IPUIPO SA PIGING na dumalo sa paglulunsad nito sa 70 Bistros. Hapit sa oras at ilang kadahilanan kung kayat hindi nakadalo ngunit nangakong bibili ng kopya nito. Subalit dahil sa may kataasan ang halaga, hindi na rin nakuhang makabili at mabigat man sa dibdib, ay nawalan na ng pag-asang magkaroon ng kopya nito. Subalit sa kabutihang palad, nagtagpo muli ang aming landas at nabigyan ako ng kopya ng libro ng walang bayad, dahil sa ako ay tapat ngang kaibigan at katsokaran nuon pang nasa kolehiyo kami.

Agad ko itong binasa at sa pambungad palang ay ramdam na kaagad ang pwestuhan, ang tindig ng antolohiyang ito. Kontra-gahum sa naghaharing sistema sa larangan ng literatura at hindi ito takot bumangga at magsalita, maglantad at labanan, ang mga bangkaroteng sistema na namamayani sa ating lipunan. "Isang biro na lang kung ituring ng mayorya ng mga Filipino ang anumang postura na seryosong paggamit ng wika" eka nga ng pabliser ng libro na si Fermin S. Salvador at tagos nga sa libro ang kaseryosohan na ipahatid ang mensahe na pag-igihan at palaganapin ang paggamit ng wikang Filipino. Pero hindi lang natatapos sa paggamit ng wikang Filipino ang pagpapakita ng pagiging makabayan ng libro kundi sa mga akda mismo na naninindigan at nagtataguyod sa mga nararamdaman ng sambayanang Pilipino at mga aspirasyon nitong lumaya mula sa mga ganid at mapang-aping mga uri at istruktura sa larangan ng ekonomya, pulitika, at kultura.

Kakaunti palang ang nabasa ko subalit tumimo kaagad sa akin ang mga gawa ni Diana Galaura Cabote. Isang guro ng Literatura sa kolehiyo at aktibong organisador ng isang militanteng samahan ng mga Guro.

Sa kanyang tulang "Kay Nanay Nang Pinilit Akong Magpakasal," mistulang nasa tabi ka ng nagkukuwento ng eksena sa pagitan ng isang ina at kanyang anak sa harap ng kusina habang nagluluto. Banayad at puno ng kalinga ang tono ng bawat isa para sa isa't isa sa harap ng isang usaping mistulang hindi kayang resolbahin.

Nakahabi ang emosyon sa bawat galaw, kilos, at arte ng mga tao sa tula habang nagluluto (at naririnig ko pa ang pagkalansing ng mga kawaling wari'y nagkakabanggaan ng hindi sinasadya, o marahil, ay sadya). Ang tunog sa paggisa ng sangkap sa kumukulong mantika kasabay ng mainit na pagsigaw ng nanay sa anak dahil sa katigasan ng ulo nito, sa kanyang palagay. Ang sabay na paghiwa ng mga sahog habang sabay na dinaramdam ang sakit dulot ng tunggalian ng mga ninanais. Ang pag-iyak ng ina habang hinihiwa ang sibuyas na puti, kasimputi marahil ng inaasam niyang trahe de boda na sana'y isusuot ng anak sa kanyang kasal na hindi mangyayari.

Matikas ang dalawang babae na naguumpugan subalit nagkakaisa rin sa tibay ng paninindigan na suungin at tindigan ang anumang pagsubok at hamon na kinakaharap nila sa buhay.

May nakapagsabi na hindi kasanayan ng Pilipino na magbasa ng tula at isa na marahil ako duon subalit itong tula na ito ay nakapagbigay gana para muling bigyan pansin, aralin, basahin, at yakapin ang mga tulang Filipino ng mga Pilipino para sa mga Pilipino.

Kay Nanay Nang Pinilit Akong Magpakasal
Diana Galaura Cabote

Tila kusang huminto ang lahat ng tao, bagay
sa kusina nang sinimulan mo ang pag-alis
Sa bayong ng mga napamili mo sa palengke.
Nang inungkat mo ang hindi ko pagpapakasal
Sa lalaking kinakasama.

Ang katulong ay nataranta
Nang minadali mo ang mga sangkap
Ng lutuing ulam para sa tanghalian.
Nang sinabi mong wala nang magkakagusto
Sa babaeng katulad ko -
Ina sa pagkadalaga

Napaiyak ka nang sinimulan mong hiwain
Ang sibuyas na puti
Tulad ng inaasam mong trahe de boda.
Sabay banggit ko na wala sa kasal
Ang seguridad ng isang babae.

Pareho nating hiniwa ang mga bituka.
Lamang-loob ng baboy nang maliit ngunit
Hindi pino, dinurog ko sa aking lamay
At umasang kaya pang gawing likido
Ang pinilit na hinulmang dugo.

Tanong mo, bakit kinaya ko kayong
Palakihin nang wala ang tatay ninyo?
Sagot ko, kaya nga hindi pa rin
Ako magpapakasal sa kinakasama ko

Sabay sa iyong paggisa sa kumukulo nang mantika.

Sigaw mo, matigas talaga ang aking ulo
At ang katulong ay tumakbo
Palabas sa kusina,
Naiwan tayong dalawa.

Inamoy ko ang iyong niluluto,
Sabay sa huling sipon kong naiwan
Mula sa mahabang pag-iyak.

Hinanda ko ang lamesa
Para sa isang masarap na tanghalian
Sa paborito mong lutuin
Na dinuguang ulam.

Ibinebenta ang Ipuipo sa Piging sa Bookay-Ukay Bookstore.

My 10 Top Books of All Time, So Far

At dahil nasimulan ko na rin maglista ng mga kung anu-anong top 10 shit ngayong araw, isusunod ko naman sa top 10 all time music artist ko ang top 10 all time books na nabasa ko. Baligtaran ang pagkakalista ng mga 10 ten na ito sa isang papel na nakita kong nakaipit sa luma kong notebook kahapon habang nagkakalkal ng tambak ng mga libro sa bahay. Medyo badtrip nga ako sa bunso kong anak at siya talaga ang nagkalat nung mga libro at mistulang Duplo na pinagpapatong patong at tinatadyakan ulit. Barumbado ang kumag. Buti nalang, lumabas sa tambak ng libro hindi lang yung notebook with the magic top 10 list kundi pati libro ni Nick Hornby na "A Long Way Down" na may katagalan ko na ring hinahanap at ibabalik ko na sa library para sa clearance ko. Kung hindi ay babayaran ko ito sa halaga nitong mga 650 pesos. Putang ina eh napakamahal nga kaya ko hiniram sa library tapos mawawala buti nalang nga nakita ulit ang shit.

Louis' Top 10 Books of All Time

1. Lord of the Rings Trilogy - J.R.R Tolkien

Una kong nabasa nuong hindi pa ako grumagradweyt sa kolehiyo. O Dapat yata ay gradweyt na ako nung panahon na yun kaso may katagalan lang ako bago nakatapos. Mga 5 na beses ko na itong ulit binasa at mga 10 million times ko ng napanuod yung pelikula. Maganda itong libro na ito dahil limang beses ko ng binasa.

2. Peace is Every Step - Thich Nath Hanh

Hindi ko mapigilang ngumiti kapag binasa ko itong libro na ito ng isang zen teacher (Thich ata ay teacher sa wikang Vietnamese) dahil tinuturo niya ang ngumiti ka palagi kahit parang magmukha ka ng baliw. Payak ang pagkakasulat at madaling intindihin. Lalo na kung paano nga ngumiti sa gitna ng mga iyakang binibigay ng mundo.

3. On the Road - Jack Kerouac

Gusto ko ito kasi feeling ko sobra akong cool nuong mabasa ko ito. Cool kasi si Kerouac at kinanta pa siya ng 10,000 Maniacs na cool din na banda with Natalie Merchant na sobrang hot na cool na singer.

4. Philippine Society and Revolution - Amado Guerrero

Maayos at matalas na nailahad ang kasaysayan ng Pilipinas sa isang makauri at rebolusyonaryong paraan. Kaya nga may revolution ang pamagat ng libro malamang. Palagi ko itong binabalik-balikan kapag nakakalimutan ko ang mga salot sa lipunang Pilipino at kung paano ito gigibain.

5. 100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Parang may kahabaan ang libro dahil 100 taon nga ang tinahak nito pero magara ang pagkakakwento kahit pa ito ay salin sa ingles mula espanol. Ang ganda siguro lalo kung nakakaintindi ako ng espanol tapos babasahin ito sa kanyang unang wika.

6. High Fidelity - Nick Hornby

All time guy literature for me. Nauna ko talaga itong napanuod sa pelikula ni starring John Cusack pero talagang dapat meron akong kopya nito. Halos marami na rin akong nabasang book ni Hornby pero hindi lahat ay sumapat sa aking panlasa.

7. Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha - Thich Nath Hanh

Kuwento ni Siddhartha Buddha sa istilo ni Thich Nath Hanh na kalmado, banayad, parang nakainom lang ng Gin Premium. Swabe. Si Sidd ang parang nagpasimnuno ata ng buddhism sa earth.

8. Dharma Bums - Jack Kerouac

Still Life with Woodpecker - Tom Robbins

Medyo tinatamad na akong magpaliwanag kung bakit sila nasa ikawalong puwesto. Pero parehong tangina this ang writers na ito at saka kuwela pero may laman at sustansiya ang mga libro.

9. Of Love and Shadows - Isabel Allende

Magic na progresibo ang mga tauhan na ang setting ay parang sa Pilipinas din kasi sa Latin America ito. Love story na hindi lang sa magkasintahan kundi para na rin sa bayan.

10. Gerilya - Norman Wilwayco

Nakaka-relate ako sa istorya sa ilang parte ng buhay na pinagdaanan ko. Sabi nung sumulat di pa raw siya ganun karunong sumulat nung ginawa niya ito. Tingin ko madami lang siyang shit nung mga panahong sinabi niya ito. Maganda ang libro, tight, cohesive, at gusto ko ito.

My Top 10 Music Artist of All Time

It is one of those days when one feels blue, melancholic even, after a weekend of not knowing what transpired due to some brain malfunction. I think I lost something, or someone, or something. The point is, I lost a small part of myself. And losing anything feels bad and sad.

Life is very fleeting and as I write this down, my good friend's wife is struggling for dear life in the hospital. My former neighbor was just planning her menu for today yesterday and is now in deep coma after a stroke. Life is very fleeting and I am officially sad today that I've decided to post my top 10 music artist of all time just for posterity. I found the list in one of my old notebook, handwritten, and carefully thought in one of those days when I felt sad, melancholic even to make me feel better.

MY TOP ARTIST OF ALL TIME

1. B-52S

2. The Jerks

3. REM

4. The Police

5. James Taylor

6. Oasis

7. The Clash

8. The Cure

9. Jackson Browne

10. Indigo Girls

My Claim to Fame

Im with the Jun Cruz Reyes, one of my favorite writers in the whole world! His books molded my way of looking and appreciating things and events and concepts and shits. Shot taken during the launching of the book Oxymorons: Kung Paano Magsalita ang mga walang sinasabi on February 24, 2011 at the PUP campus. A wasak book and event by wasak peeps.

Fuck Me Ray Bradbury Video

Wasak si Ray Bradbury.

Slam

Poignant was how the usual reviewers coming from the different Times, Posts, Heralds, across America described Nick Hornby's 2007 book Slam about a young Brit caught between the web of what life has to offer a 16 year old, Tony Hawk adoring skater when a bump comes to shove and a push became a pull in his supposed to be simple life complicated by a push and a pull and a bump with his girlfriend. I am still checking wikipedia what poignant means.

Sam Jones likes to skate and talks to Tony Hawk's poster. The weird thing is that the poster talks to him through the superstar skater's biography. Sam lives with his MILF like mother (as the book described her). 32 years old that even Sam's skate companion Rabbit wants a piece of her.

Alicia, Sam's girlfriend, got pregnant after a few weeks of going out and even when they were doing protected sex after meeting at a party. It was rambuncious when Sam's mother got pregnant and her child who is Sam's half sister, is younger than Sam's son Rufus. Or it may not be that rambuncious after all with real life copying fiction. It was the sex, the unprotected sex I guess that formed the story as Sam tried to escape by running away with 40 quid in his pocket only to go back after finding out the harshness of life away from his comfort zone that ultimately became uncomfortable in the long run with the baby and their way of looking at sex, love, and relationships.

The story is a study on contemporary western family values on relationships and sex, and love and the complexity of what is supposed to be a simple set-up of a family composed of a father, a mother, a brother, sister, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

The sincerity of the characters draw out the sweetness and bitterness of the events and outcomes that somehow molded Sam and Alicia to whatever they came to be. Sam tried running and escaping but in the end, his good nature shone through as he thought: Life would be easier if I did'nt give a shit. But I do.

Books with Nick Hornby's name on it never fail to excite me after reading his "High Fidelity" but I guess I just have to take his writings one book at a time.

Andrea, paano ba ang maging isang ina?

I first watched the film "Andrea, paano ba ang maging isang ina?" of Nora Aunor in 1990 when it participated in the Metro Manila Film Festival. Written by Ricardo Lee and directed by Gil Portes, it depicted the lifes and deaths of a mother struggling to liberate her country, her people, and herself from the oppressive structures in society that permits the exploitation of man by man.

I had the chance to score a copy of the film and watched it again after 21 years while waiting for my second son Ponso to wake from his morning slumber.

The film opened with a massacre scene somewhere in the countryside and the New Peoples Army being asked by the masses for help. Andrea (Nora Aunor) and her comrade-husband Momoy, are members of the New Peoples Army (NPA)who works in the area zoned by the military. Being pregnant that time, they opted (I guess its a they being in a collective set-up of organization) for Andrea to give birth in the urban area staying with her trustworthy friend played by Gina Alajar whom she met while in college. She is married to Lloyd Samartino for six years but cannot bear a child. Andrea was forced to leave baby Gabriel with Gina when Momoy succumbed to the fascist bullets. She was then caught by the government and were thought of as dead. So Gina and Lloyd brought baby Gabriel, now re-christened as Raymond, to the United States.

Andrea lived through the torture and escaped but was in communicado for sometime and in hiding. Pained and frustrated, she tried to recover Gabriel but her situation as a wanted person limited her mobility and capacity to pursue her son. She continued in the armed struggle and after seven years, had the chance to get her son back when Gina and Lloyd's family went home for the holidays.

She eventually gave up her claims after a heart to heart talk with Gina and asked for the last time to meet her son before they go back to the States and Andrea, to the armed revolution. She did meet Gabriel (Raymond) and even embraced him but they had to cut short their meeting because she was followed by the fascists and was eventually martyred in full view of her son.

The film is very tight and every Filipino should watch it. It reflected the situation of the country and is reflective of the internal turmoils of those dancing in the gallery of the struggle for national freedom and democracy and those who are invariably caught in the middle because of their apathy.

It is sincerely truthful in treating the emotions of the characters as it weaved the mothers represented in the film. Momoy's mother who felt betrayed and left out when her son, who was a law graduate, opted to join the NPA, a woman who continues hoping to find her dissappeared activist husband for six years, Gina Alajar's character who rebuilt her relationship with her husband through Gabriel, and Andrea who lost and found her child amidst the dysfunctional society she herself wants to change not just for the Filipino people but more so for her son.

It is an activist film as it showed the strengths of mothers in a set-up that requires mettle and courage to stand and be firm on societal challenges. It is an activist film as it never hid its bias towards the certainty and rightfulness of the revolution as represented by Andrea. The non-antagonistic debates between Nora Aunor and Gina Alajar was perky and might remind the audience of their time talking with their activist friends, as they always settled peacefully yet not letting go of their positions. The scenes are very realistic and might have been culled from real fact-finding reports of human rights groups. The checkpoints, the tortures, the massacres, and other numbing incidents experienced by an oppressed society are all in the film.

Even Andrea's resolve to join the activist rank was smoothly injected through Lloyd Samartino's questioning to explain the reasons why people become activists and revolutionaries. And the collective and scientific way of resolving problems and issues within the revolutionary movement was shown when Andrea was told that she can overcome her weaknesses through painstaking masswork and trust in the masses.

I for once will advocate charter change so I can insert the provision of compulsary viewing of the film Andrea, paano ang maging isang ina? to all Filipino people regardless of creed, belief and other shit. I admit that I get real angry and sometimes cry when I hear injustices committed in real time and real life but I also cried watching the film as I eat my early beefsteak lunch while Ponso spinned his beyblades before going to school.

Ceelo Green

Ceelo Green is in the house mofos.

Selling Books

As a resolution for the new year, I will seriously undertake my bookselling project to make money. I am in a quandary for sometime checking out viable ways to augment my shrinking beer money and other shites. For the past year, my cousin Ian and my friends were the sole reason why the magic liquid continues to flow in my veins.

I however still do not know how to market the books stuck in my house. I think I have a fairly good titles and authors that are good for book collectors and private libraries. For starters, I have brand new copies of Hermann Hesse's Siddharta and I am selling it for P180 each. It is priced low compared to the bookstore chains' P259 price.

It is one book that I really want to sell and share because of its buddha story and how it was written. A timeless classic that readers will enjoy. No shit. You will enjoy it or else you are a stupid motherfucker. Buy it so I can also enjoy my beer.

I am also selling Thich Naht Hanh's Being Peace for P120 each. The famous Vietnamese Zen Master who talks of zen and meditation in simple and practical ways. Ken Wilber' Up from Eden is up for P280. I hope I can post all the titles and the prices but the upload is just so slow.

I have to think of a way. A facebook account for the books maybe? Ive tried Multiply but it is just not feasible for me to maintain. Laos na ata yun. Hohum.

My Life with the Indigo Girls

I have been trying to list down my top 10 bands of all time while looking after Paco at home when my thoughts hanged as I listened to ‘Hammer and a Nail’ of the Indigo Girls. I first met Amy Ray and Emily Saliers in 1994 when I was checking out cassette tapes during the yuletide season at Isetann Cubao. Of all places, it was in Isetann Cubao when a saleslady recommended that I listen to Indigo Girls after getting a Tanika Tikaram tape. Feeling humble and kind due to the season, I delayed my usual snotty judgment and asked her to play the tape. A solid guitar rhythm reverberated in the Isetann music station that immediately hit me and changed my life forever. It was love at first hear, if there is such a shit.

Indigo Girls’ Rites of Passage album redefined my musicscape. Their melody and lyricism weaves well with the steady folk rock genre that connects well with my advocacies and principles in life. I got almost all of their albums and even shelled hard earned dough to score their original two CD live album that I have to order in Greenhills shopping center around 1997 or 1998 and wait for two to three weeks. It was well worth it.

I got an original Rites of Passage CD and had the chance listening to it along the Nevada-Arizona interstate waxing romantic just imagining my two music goddess trod the same lands they cherish and love through their music. Their activism on environment and peoples’ issues all the more raised my appreciation of these musicians who continues to enjoy their struggle for a better world. Let it be Me from the Rites of Passage album is one of my all time favorites. It is a prayerful song of a person sincerely trying to serve well and act well for the people and the environment.

I loved them even before the mushy “Power of Two” song (Swamp Ophelia) that could have raised their bar in the popular music scene in the Philippines. It was viciously played in the radios in the late 1990s with the song even reaching primetime noontime television sang in duet by the latest love teams of the land. The song however did not make a dent to give Indigo Girls that needed fame in the country that might have made them consider doing a concert in the Philippines.

From my deep down emotions on love, pain, happiness, to my advocacies and angst in this world, my life’s MTV revolves around Indigo Girls music.

I am lucky to be alive during their time.

Romance in the new Year

Its the new year and what better way to start by reading a book. I somehow hibernated from reading during the yuletide season and focused on being with the family bonding and doing shit with the boys. So, to jump start my reading again, I got hold of a book from my mother's book pile and just started reading and reading and reading and saw the title after intense reading about a man who wants to hire an assistant to take care of his shit and stuff while he works hard for the money. hold your breath....the title, motherfuckers, is "The Bachelor's Stand-in Wife" by Susan Crosby, a writer who is sure to please, according to the cover of her book. It gloriously proclaim that it is a special edition book and is included in the Wife-for-hire series of Silhouette.

I checked out the blurb and found this:

Tycoon David Falcon needed a wife.

Not someone to actually marry, but a superefficient, multitasking woman who'd keep his household humming along smoothly. Single mother Valerie Sinclair seemed the ideal candidate. Until an evening out led to an unexpected kiss.

Organizing the businessman's hectic life was one thing. Wanting to share his life wasn't part of the deal. But once Valerie got a taste of being David's girlfriend - even for just one night - how could she go back to being his stand-in spouse?

Valerie Sinclair got the job and did her best to give her daughter a sense of stability in their otherwise free-flowing not so stable life (I get it that if you are not financially capable of maintaining some caprice in life, then life is indeed shit). David Falcon is sleek and sensible and responsible and good. A clean, rich man whose penis was even described briefly when he went skinny dipping in his pool while Valerie was peeping from her bathroom. But for the record, Valerie's boobs was also described as normal, not big nor small and can perfectly fit David's hand (from David's own measure when checking out Valerie from afar, before they screwed each other).

She worked perfect and even her daughter Hannah loved to stay in the place. Valerie's strong stance to deal with her problems by herself sent conflicting message to David who she loved but was afraid to show because of her past experience having screwed her mother's boss' son and was treated shabbily when she got pregnant. David was also afraid of committing because of his past experience when his parents divorced.

But a good fuck can make the world go round. The sexual tension between them was consummated when the man inserted his penis to the woman's vagina and they kissed. They did it (clap your hand motherfuckers! clap! clap! clap! But what is the sound of one hand clapping?) but initially relegated it as an act of two perfectly healthy individuals who wants to let go off some steam. But David the man did not sleep well one night and was enlightened by the fact that he really loved Valerie, his personal assistant (whom he already screwed a couple of times) and said that he wants to marry the woman. So he had some landscaping done in the garden as a sign of his love and they told Valerie's daughter that they will get married. That is all I remember. It is a love story from Silhouette. It is like Sweet Valley High, only the lead woman is not a virgin anymore because she already gave birth and they describe the sexual organs and shit in the book.

It is romantic. You can read it if you want.