Car: Renewing our Car Registration

It's January again and it's time for Stanley's annual car registration.   Normally, we'd cringe from the thought of having to process such a tedious requirement because of the notorious lines at the Land Transportation Office (LTO).  But it's thanks to the Automobile Association of the Philippines (AAP) of which we're a member, that we just breeze through Stanley's annual car registration.

Here are the things that we needed to prepare before we went to the AAP Office at 682 Aurora Boulevard, San Juan, Metro Manila.

1.  The Smoke Emission Test with passing result and Original Receipt of Payment.  We went through our Smoke Emission Test at one of the smoke emission testing centers near the LTO along Aurora Boulevard.  As an AAP member, we got a discount of 15% since we went to an authorized testing center.  I think we paid only less than P400 for the test.

2.  Photocopy of Certificate of Registration


3.  Original Copy of the Previous Year's Official Receipt of the LTO Registration (we got this from AAP too)


4.  Original and Photocopy of the Certificate of Cover


So since we had all these documents before hand, the only thing we needed to do was get the Smoke Emission Test results (which only took about 5 minutes) and then proceeded to the AAP which was about 15 minutes away.

There was no one else in the office so the process took less than 15 minutes.  We just submitted the documents and paid our annual car registration fee, which amounted to almost P6000 (we have a Subaru Legacy station wagon), including the insurance.  We had to wait for about 5 days to get our new Official Receipt of Registration and the registration sticker.

*** UPDATE:

We got our registration stickers on January 28th.  It was available about a week after we registered Stanley but it was the only time Patrick was able to go on leave.

If you want to know more about LTO Car registration services of AAP, check out their page:  http://www.aaphilippines.org/products.aspx?pages=lto-registration-assistance

Movie: Ghost Protocol

Mission Impossible:  Ghost Protocol is the fourth installment in the Mission Impossible series starring Tom Cruise (Ethan Hunt), Jeremy Renner (William Brandt), Simon Pegg (Benji Dunn), Paula Patton (Jane Carter),  Michael Nyqvist (Kurt Hendricks), Lea Seydoux (Sabine Moreau) and Josh Holloway (Trevor Hanaway).

Here's the synopsis as taken from the IMDB website.

"The IMF is shut down when it's implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt and his new team to go rogue to clear their organization's name."

Honestly, I'm not a fan of Tom Cruise but Patrick's got a man-crush on him that's why we watched this movie.  However, we have watched, repeatedly too,  all the earlier Mission Impossible movies and I think this is the best of the bunch.

Of course, in any Mission Impossible movie, you can expect awesome action scenes and eye-popping special effects.  There are also a bunch of high-tech gadgets to rival those of James Bond :)  With all this in mind, Ghost Protocol doesn't disappoint.  As I write this, I keep hearing Dora the Explorer saying "What's your favorite part of the trip?" hahaha and for me, for this movie, I enjoyed watching Tom Cruise climbing the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.  It's just astounding climbing the tallest building in the world with just gloves (yeah, yeah of course he's got cables, he's not crazy!) but he didn't have stunt doubles for the scene so that's a definite plus! :)


Oh and there's a scene in the Kremlin with Simon Pegg and Tom Cruise and a really cool "gadget" for lack of a better word.  It's like creating a mirage with mirrors hehehe For those who have seen the movie, you probably know what I'm talking about, right? ;)

The script, too is great.  It's got a lot of humor without sounding too forced.  I guess you can say that Simon Pegg is the comic relief here but he pulls it off well.  :)

Before, I forget, there's also that scene with the multi-level parking garage in India that's really something else! :)

Ghost Protocol really went and delivered what we all want in a good movie - a good enough plot, great locations, hard and fast action scenes (not the kind that everything's a blur - I hate those!), and just the right amount of tension to keep you gripping the arm rests and making you tense in your seat :) I really enjoyed this movie! :D

Book: Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

Inheritance is the 4th and Final book in the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini.  This is the synopsis taken from the Inheritance site.

"Long months of training and battle have brought victories and hope, but they have also brought heartbreaking loss. And still, the real battle lies ahead: they must confront Galbatorix. When they do, they will have to be strong enough to defeat him. And if they cannot, no one can. There will be no second chances."

I first started with the series when my mom included the book "Eragon" in a package she sent us.  I'm a sucker for fantasy books and dragons so it wasn't hard for me to get into it.  I really got hooked and just ate up both Eldest and Brisingr when they became available.  I really thought it would end with Brisingr and I was so frustrated when it didn't.  I'm just glad that I didn't have to wait that long for Inheritance to come out.

It's been a while between books.  That was my fear - that I would have forgotten some of the details in the books that would be important when it came to reading Inheritance.  It's a good thing that a summary was included in the book to at least help you get caught up with the story even if you haven't read the first three books.

Before I started to read, I tried to recall all that I could from the first three books.  Personally, I wasn't satisfied with the summary but then I'm a stickler for details and I knew I would have to read the books again from the start to really immerse myself in the world of Alagaesia.  But, since I had the book already I needed to know what happened next and so I began reading.  Naturally, the book will have the same cast of characters - Eragon, Sapphira, Arya, Roran, Nasuada, Murtagh and Thorn.  Other characters that we've heard of in the previous books will now play a pivotal role in this one - Queen Islanzadi (Leader of the Elves), Angela (the herbalist), Solembum (the Werecat) and of course, Galbatorix himself.  

By this time, you know that they're headed to face Galbatorix and you know it's not going to be a walk in the park.  There are several battles and a lot of interesting discoveries.  You can also understand how hard it is for them, how seemingly hopeless things appear in the face of Galbatorix' strength.  Without divulging too much, you know that there will be something that happens to give them the hope and strength that they need to defeat Galbatorix ;)

I am still ambivalent about this book.. I need more time to read it again maybe after I've read the other three books too.  That will give me the depth that was missing from my initial read.  I'll let you know as soon as I finish :D those books are really thick you know hehehe