Out of the Silent Planet

It's taking me longer than a week to read CS Lewis's Out of the Silent Planet, but it's more because I don't want to rush it. His words and descriptions of the alien planet Malacandra (Mars) and those who live in it prove that books really do take you places. Aside from that, Ransom's own realizations about Man as he lives among the hrossa seems to be so apt that even in a work of fiction set so far away, everything rings so true.

I'm not one for giving out spoilers, but I just wonder how it would feel to leave Earth and learn that all the universe around you is alive with intelligence, culture and reason--not to mention in the state of perfect harmony. What does that say about us, who have lived for thousands of years in a world completely unaware of the wonders it is missing? What is it in our nature that by simply being cut off from the rest of the universe, we start all these conflicts and trouble, and to our own kind too?

An introduction of sorts

Amelia Lapena-Bonifacio, in a regular show of Teatrong Mulat ng Pilipinas, would usually describe "introduction" as "Kapag di mo ako kilala at di kita kilala, kailangan natin ng introduction."

Though I'm not going to write details here of me myself and I, I find it apt to make an introduction of sorts for this first entry. As you might have gleaned from my blog title (EDIT: the title used to be Not Quite Quiet, but I later on decided I didn't like how it sounds), I'm a quiet person, leaning on the passive (and sometimes passive-aggressive) tendencies of, uh, quietness. But I'm really trying to change all that, and that's perhaps why I decided that one day I'd like to be a writer. Because being too shy to speak up doesn't necessarily mean I have to keep it all to myself. And I'm not planning to stay still while everything blows up around me.

I'm not going to delve into any of the "still waters run deep" crap. It's overused, and I don't always want to be thought of as "deep." It's a little too abstract an adjective to describe someone anyway, and I'm no poet. So, let's just settle for the fact that I'm still learning, and am enjoying what I'm learning, and in this blog I'll share what I know.