JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

A pleasant side-effect of having to wake up before 7am three days in a row: my body clock has been reset. I’ve been getting up three, four hours earlier than I usually do. No rushing to get to the bank before it closes, no hurrying to get chores done. Life proceeds at a more leisurely pace. I actually have lunch by noon! Don’t know how long I’ll keep this schedule, but I should get some vitamin D out of it.

On the downside, observing regular people hours means you have to deal with more road traffic and more human traffic at malls and restaurants.

I was done with my to-do list by 1130, so I could wander aimlessly. True, I wander aimlessly whether I’m done with my list or not, but it feels more like rewarding myself than goofing off.

At National Bookstore I was pleased to note that Hilary Mantel’s Booker prizewinner Wolf Hall is already available. In hardcover it’s P1,245. I’ll wait for the trade paper edition—easier to lug around.

The other day I read a review of a new biography of W. Somerset Maugham by Selina Hastings. It starts, “Very few people read William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) anymore.” A pity, because he’s brilliant—an unfussy style that doesn’t wave itself in your face, acute observations of human nature.

“Looks like we’re among the last ones,” I told my sister. I’d read all his short stories plus The Razor’s Edge in college. When my sister was working in Singapore she warded off boredom by reading him. Some of his finest tales are set in Asia, especially Malaysia and Singapore. “You still have all the Maugham books, right?” I asked Cookie.

“Uhhh. . .actually I can’t bring myself to look at my books after the flood,” Cookie said. “I know some of them were damaged, and I don’t know if. . .”

So we went to the bookstore and got his Collected Stories. If they ever go out of print, we’re covered.

My throat felt a little scratchy. I hate getting colds, so I self-medicated with garlic. I figured the fumes would zap the microbes.

“Garlic Bath” sounds like something you do before watching Twilight or visiting Siquijor (which I must do soon, I hear it’s beautiful), but it’s this dip they serve at Pazzo. It’s made of crushed garlic in olive oil and served with herb foccacia. You dip the cubes of bread into the garlicky oil like fondue. It’s wonderful, it may have prevented a cold, plus I don’t have to worry about unwanted company.

Finally: a Disney character T-shirt attuned to my personal philosophy. Always liked Maleficent the Wicked Stepmother better than that Snow White and her band of midgets. (Although Maleficent and the Wicket Stepmom could be the same person. I always thought Prince Charming was a polygamist.) Also this T-shirt reminds me of poor Alan Turing.

I got home early and annoyed my cat Saffy by making her wear the string of seed pearls and magnets that Cookie found in Greenhills. You can use it as a choker or a bracelet, and the magnets keep it in place so you don’t need a clasp. Saffy complained as always, but still posed for photos.