On Dead Stars and Romantic Afternoons

I had a draft of this post from last night early this morning, before my shift ended, but I decided to chuck it all because that was my end-of-night-shift self talking and that self is usually more talkative than my usual self (imagine that). Let’s start over.

I wasn’t supposed to moderate a discussion for this year, but being one of the head moderators/administrators, I was ready to pick a vacant month to moderate in case no one steps up. It came a little early, after a friend made a deal with me and told me she’ll handle our other activity if someone else moderates for this month. It just so happened that the previous days, I was chatting with another friend about several activities that we can do for the group, and I realized that maybe if I moderate again, I will be able to make those activities happen.

So when 2013 rolled around, I was actually already planning my discussion. It didn’t even matter what book won, because I was going for an easy read — an easy and romantic read, because my discussion was during February. I was all about embracing the inner romantic of course! :D

The “book” that won was actually a short story, Dead Stars by Paz Marquez-Benitez. My original book of choice was Fourteen Love Stories but I could’t find a copy of it anywhere. So I decided to just stick with that story, and it won, mostly because of familiarity as this was one of the stories discussed in Literature class for most of us.
f2f14b

We had the face to face discussion last Sunday. I honestly felt more prepared for this discussion than my first one, probably because I have been preparing for this for so long. Heh. Plus the fact that I had several sick days in February, and I ended up having a lot of time on my hands despite my busy schedule. I had several activities planned, and while I was very excited, I was also kind of wary. Will it fly? Will people like it? Or will they think it’s too corny/cheesy? Am I just doing everything for my own fulfillment?

Discussion time :D

Discussion time :D (Photo c/o Reev)

But it’s a known fact that our book club is awesome. :) Last Sunday was such a tiring day, but it was worth all the exhaustion. We had a great discussion about the story, which had questions about love, and flirting and cheating…and well, it was a pretty deep discussion that even I was surprised about it.

I had several activities planned after that, which (I hope) kind of fed to the entire romantic feel of the afternoon:

  • Speed Dating, TFG style – I only had 8 questions for the discussion, while the rest were thrown into the activity. I wanted to have some sort of speed dating, but since we pretty much know each other, it was more of a discussion set in a speed dating format. There were questions about the story and about love in general and each pair answers them in two minutes. I had my best friend help me with this because I wanted to join in the activity, and to be perfectly honest, this was the most exhausting part of it all! But there was one moment where I looked around and saw everyone chatting with each other animatedly, and it made my heart swell because these people were willing to indulge my whims. :D Heh.
    Speed Dating is happening! (Photo c/o my best friend)

    Speed Dating is happening! (Photo c/o my best friend)

    speeddating

    One of the questions for the Speed Dating :D

  • Love Letter Reading – This was one of the activities that only really pushed through a week before the discussion. Last year, I attended a letter-reading activity which gave us all the ~*feels*~. My best friend won’t stop asking me to make a similar event like that, and while I wanted it, I didn’t know when to do it. My friend JL and I were talking about it one time and then he said why not ask people to read actual love letters? A few text messages were sent and I got people to agree to read for us. Talk about massive, major #feels. :D
    Me, reading Monique's letter (photo c/o my best friend)

    Me, reading Monique‘s letter (photo c/o my best friend)

    Bennard and Rhena's Letters for each other ♥

    Bennard and Rhena‘s Letters for each other ♥ (Photo c/o Reev)

     

  • Flowers and Chocolates – And finally. I’ve always liked the idea of people getting something for Valentine’s Day, be it from friends or family or significant others. Back in 2008, we had this flower-giving activity at work, and I remember the happy smiles I saw from everyone who we handed flowers to, and I wanted to have that same thing for our club, too. I almost thought I wouldn’t be able to do this because I couldn’t find flowers, but I found them at the last minute. :D Hee. So the boys gave flower (pens) to the girls, and we girls gave chocolates to the boys. Being the mastermind of this activity, I thought the “awww” factor would be lessened for me, but it wasn’t. :)

    The boys and the flowers ♥

    The boys and the flowers ♥ (Photo c/o Reev)

We had one surprise activity for Alexa, too, since she celebrated her 18th birthday just last week, and then it was the end of the discussion. I was so exhausted, but I was also so, so happy that the afternoon was a success, and everyone was happy and smiling and kilig. :) We had a post-discussion hang-out at a nearby restaurant, and it was just the perfect way to end my day.

F2F14 Attendees  (Photo c/o Reev)

F2F14 Attendees (Photo c/o Reev)

Like I said, it was all so tiring, but oh so worth it. :) My inner romantic is thoroughly satisfied, thankyouverymuch! Thank you to everyone who helped, and thank you to everyone who indulged my romantic whims and embraced their inner romantic at least for one afternoon. :) I know I’ve said this so many times, but you guys know I love you, right? :)

I wrote this in my “thank you” speech in my discussion thread, but I thought I’d post it here, too. One of the questions I wrote in the pile was: How was your Valentine’s Day this year? My actual Valentine’s Day was spent at work, but I think this is the best Valentine’s Month I’ve had so far because of the discussion last Sunday. Yihee. ♥

3 Thoughts on “On Dead Stars and Romantic Afternoons

  1. Pingback: Required Reading 2013: March | One More Page

  2. Thank you, too, for a wonderful afternoon. Personally, the highlight of the afternoon was Patrick’s letter-reading. He almost made me cry. Gaaah!

  3. Pingback: Dead Stars | One More Page

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