Saturday, June 16, 2012

THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE by STIEG LARSSON

061612. saturday.

another book i couldn’t seem to drop the moment i got a hold of everything that’s inside it - The Girl Who Played with Fire.

it’s the second book of the trilogy, following The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

i love how everything looks as if nothing’s wrong, like everything goes according to plan and all of a sudden something shocking happens to bring chaos. HAHA. well, there’s where everything gets exciting i assume. thriller, right? HAHA.

this time the story mainly revolves around the interesting character and past of Lisbeth Salander. she had been subjected to a lot of injustices and wrong accusations. this fact is what makes it distinct from the first book. the first book dealt with a wholly different story. in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, she could be considered an outsider to the case had she not been contacted by Blomkvist. i so love Lisbeth Salander. HAHA.

here, Blomkvist and his colleagues only wanted to expose those who were involved in Sweden’s sex trafficking business. Bjurman wanted to get rid of Salander so he could be free again. then, Salander got caught in between. she became a suspect. her past was dug up. all her efforts to be unnoticed for all of her life had flown away. Blomkvist came to her rescue. (that’s the only gentle part. HAHA. there’s a love story but a love story that is far from the flicks we know. HAHA. cute in its own sense.)

the chapters narrated the never-ending hunt – Lisbeth hunting Zalachenko, Zalachenko hunting Lisbeth, the police hunting Lisbeth, Blomkvist hunting Lisbeth and Zalachenko.

on a more serious note, i was so affected while i was reading. i don’t know. maybe because of Lisbeth, maybe because she’s a woman, maybe because she has suffered from injustice in the most cruel way. i know none of this is real but what the hell? i know in the outskirts of wherever there’s a Salander in so many women, those who suffered and were not treated. seems like the story’s totally gotten into my nerves, huh? HAHA. look who’s talking? who am i? i talk like i’m a women’s rights advocate. hehe. no, i just care. i’m a girl, too. would you believe? HAHA.

another thing, i know this is already a cliché but it is what it is. the book also tells us that no matter how hard we try to keep a secret, it will always find its way out, doesn’t matter if it’s for the good or bad. and that it will put itself where it should be so that things would start to fit the situation. in the book, this fact lead to the discovery of a lot of things about Lisbeth’s life and a secret agency’s operation.

that powerful John Clements training...

060112. friday.

if ever you noticed, i've been quite inactive these past few days. i was always hella tired! been busy attending to a very important commitment. HAHA.

i was an active participant in the John Clements "Near Hire" Proficiency Training. it was an initiative of Lyceum of the Philippines - Laguna and John Clements Consultants, Inc. to help the fresh graduates prepare for their applications. sounds nice, ayt? HAHA.

i was kinda hesitant at first when i learned that the training was gonna last for two weeks (which would later turn out to be three weeks). as for me, two weeks is such a looooong time! hello, it's already half a month! honestly, i was like "what the heck?!" HAHA. but then, i still showed up on the pre-assessment day. like i have a choice??? HAHA.

our class was a mix of fresh graduates who were still up for learning. HAHAHA. (just so we wouldn't be tagged as bums or unemployed. HAHA.) we came from different courses. you have there ab comm, tourism, hospitality management, computer science, and accounting something(not sure of ken's) students. the truth is we have different reasons why we came in the first place. aside from being pressured by someone influential (HAHAHA), i wanted to try the training and what it offers. some really wanted to learn and be more proficient. some just wanted to do something while still unemployed. some wanted to be placed by the agency. 
during the graduation of our professors. HAHA.
the powerful CITHM people with ago, roc and jonas.
looks real. HAHA. (raiza, ken, bimby)
raiza, darwin, katchie.
rhec, raiza, kuya renz.
the reason the originally two-week training would be three weeks was because the first week was spent for the encouragement/recruitment of other fresh grads to attend. we had to be 25 for the class to start. and there, we were thinking that the moment we had pre-assessment was day 1. hell no. we were wrong! HAHA!

we were taught about three important things during the training- pronunciation, grammar and fluency. for the whole day everyday, we were given lectures that would provide us knowledge and activities that would further enhance our skills. there were mock interviews, raps, jazz chants, speech choirs among others. what's good about the activities was that they were mostly group efforts so we had the chance to get to know our new "classmates" more. i was able to make new friends. the awkwardness faded as days passed. we even reached that point when training days were what we were looking forward to. 

what's even more fun was we got to learn new terms from our new classmates. POWERFUL, AY PLEASE, APPRECIATE, APPLAUDED, DOONSING, DYANSING, GANOONSING! hahaha! thanks to CEDRIC and RHECA for these! they are just crazy!
presentation of jazz chant. HAHA. past tense team, the winners!
i'm glad ago, jonas, roc, jamie, sarah, faith, cedric, rheca, raiza, shine, zandro, katchie, darwin, ken, and kuya renz were my classmates in that training.  i was amazed by how inspired and motivated they were. they were never scared to try again and again and again. they were always open to opinions/criticisms.  :) what's even more fascinating is the fact that we were still able to have fun while learning. the atmosphere inside the classroom was always so light and easy.
fooling around while waiting for the trainer to come. HAHA.
whatchalookin' at, mister? HAHAHA.
break time. haha! 
i must say that the training has been a great help 'coz we have seen how drastically all of us improved in just a few weeks. i'd like to thank the trainers (Sir Jon, Ms. Gerby, Ms. Cel, and the assessor, Ms. Vera) for being patient and forthcoming all the time. they never considered our mistakes as mistakes but as rooms for improvement. they never got mad at us. HAHA.

and just last monday, 061112, we had our graduation and final assessment. HAHA!
a few words from the assessor herself, Ms. Vera. haha!
the team.
sir jon. :)
and after everything...
hmmmm? HAHAHA.

*thanks to sarah, faith and jonas for the photos.

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