adventures of a couch potato

a second hand bookstore is a place of wonder. stacks of big paperbounds (with laminated covers) teem the area. i browsed through the titles hoping to find a good read. my last one was the fourth of a trilogy (odd, but it is the description from the back cover) "the restaurant at the end of the universe" -- my most expensive book buy so far, and oddly (again!), the thinnest paperback with adequate word to page ratio. i would say the thinnest would be my kurt vonnegut jr yet with font 8 and centimeters in margin, it took me a month to read it all. going back to my weekend highlight -- orange, more or less book 60, very much crisp with the exception of its back cover. somebody might have spilled perrier over it. that aside, it was a good read. i am always in awe of gambling. how the high and wealthy throw away money at the throw of the dice or at the shuffle of cards. nice to know that asians have a strong presence in the poker scene, especially filipinos. i was wondering why there was no mention of the triad or peeps from macau. anyway, it gave a hearfelt lesson about quitting when you're ahead. this is the best example of burning out than fading away. at the end, it is always how the hand was played. how you bluffed and how it was called, or not. it is about choices. i just hope there are people who would earnestly watch my back out of love or respect. i wish to think that achie or deej are like that. but in the emerging concrete jungle south of manila, it is so damn hard to tell. gotta watch my own back.       

a paul auster trilogy at super slashed price tag. too bad, it is not the New York trilogy. but good enough for auster starters. i learned about this author from a korean teen flick (daddy long legs), of all the places in the world.