SITE'S DEMOLISHED

AWE-NIONS.

2008-05-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

I'm like, trying my best to multitask right now. I prepare to cook, watch the Lakers-Spurs Game 5 and hit the keypads like there's something rational to write (like I've always written something sensible,duh).

Yeah right, a very unlikely tasks done at once.

***

ONIONS.

It makes my finger pungent.

It hurts my eyes.

and so my thumb too.

Maybe I've underestimated the peeler Queen Elizabeth bought nearly a month ago-- that's why I ended up cutting the back of my thumbnail yesterday. Sure thing, it stiiinnngs. *___*

And it stung worse, when I sliced onions a while ago. Ugh.

I guess I've insulted the peeler enough; I advised my brother to use the knife instead before and I told Queen Elizabeth it was a stupid purchase.

Well, look who's stupid.HAHA. I think I just didn't know how to use the manual device. Yeah, I'm twice dead foolish considering it's...MANUAL.

The peeler sure put up a sweet revenge.

***

Oh well, on the other hand, the Spurs better put up a good Game 5. :) They better be remembered for a Greatest-Games-worth game today, like their first playoff game with Phoenix that was very a viewing pleasure. :)

Holla, it's all YELLOW-VIO. I ignite my love for Kobe. ;)

The Lakers has come back from a 17-point deficit. :) Smells like, Western Confe Champs :P

***

Oh well, I better go back to the kitchen.

By the way, I'm cooking cabbages for lunch. :P

trash talk.

2008-05-28T00:35:00.000-07:00

Nope. This post is not what it seems to be. Trash talk sans the litany of cusses, fo shizzle. :)

*******

Why am I such a clutter connoisseur (what the heck. i am not even sure how to pronounce this word flawlessly. i just the learned the word days ago, why do i risk using it here.HAHA)? Does misplacing (and eventually losing) stuffs count as an expertise? Damn it! (I couldn't really imagine the words escaping from my lips. HAHA)

My latest mislayed item...TADA! A blog post draft.

Ugh. That was the draft I scribbled to kill time at Queen Elizabeth's work place! And yeah, that was something first for a long time-- scribbling (since tapping the keyboards was considerably within reach always).

Fire it. Sure thing, this wasn't the first time I misplaced some paper with something important (or something just important to me important and just important to me-- there's quite a difference). No doubt, I score A's in this subject.

Papers are so easy to turn a blind eye to; it's quite predictable why they end up in trash bins. One won't even bother to look if it's a scrawled phone number, an important Physics lecture, a rough copy of your Formal Composition due tomorrow or a crucial Opening Remarks speech.

It happened several times before. I learned my lessons..and I keep learning them. Probably, the "Lost " episodes will occur more than several soon considering the advent of the school year.

Pen, lipbalm, handbag (believe me!), earrings, hanky...and uh...more pens, and pencils, yeah. Name it. I've lost a lot of those little things that make a blithe and blighted life bearable. Especially the ballpens part...ugh! It befalls like déjà vu.

The experiences never fail to teach me lessons. And swear, I try hard to live by the morals. But just when I'm keeping up with the rhythm of not misplacing something again, by a sudden of twist of fate, I lose another something...again! And the worse part is, at times, it's not even my fault!

Whatever happened to sanity.

But well, I'm quite sure I'm guilty of losing that blog post draft. HAHA.

RED ALERT.

2008-05-27T21:51:00.000-07:00

TULONG!

TULONG!

SAKLOLO!

Kailangan ko ng tulong mo! ~~Mang Jose...Mang Jose..~~

CLONE [WARS] ON BLOCK H.

2008-05-26T18:35:00.000-07:00

It came on the right time. More than the right time, it arrived on the perfect stretch.

Summer had never been so dull. For that, I can't thank my online buddies* enough for putting Edward Cullen (with love) in their profiles, which apparently sparked my curiosity. In due course...I'm officially immersed to Twilight! (oh yeah, you may say "at last")

I finished the book this morning. Well, maybe earlier if I was a vampire, I could've finished it before the sunrise, by twilight. :) But see, I SOOO love my zzzz's. :)

Twilight came out like 3 years ago but as above-mentioned, I just learned about the Meyer masterpiece this summer. Maybe I knew about the thriller-romance late, but I quote: "It came on the right time. More than the right time, it arrived on the perfect stretch."

It was delighting to get hooked something that spared me from eating and surfing, and more unnecessary munching. The Edward just increased twofold in my (love) life-- Westwick plus Cullen.

Sabaw kung sabaw. :))

***

[okay, here's the real story, sorry for the irrelevant pre-intro. :) ]

***

Just when there's no more page to turn (I might purchase New Moon, the sequel, this weekend, and Eclipse, a weekend before I officially declare myself a student again), I retorted to my (our!) summer habit-- (nearly endless) net surfing.

I visited the ningpage*, the closest thing I have to friendster, aside from facebook. I haven't opened the site for quite some time. Oh well, so I noticed, Matt Mangoba, the brilliant avilon creator, changed the interface (when I only meant, tab labels and fonts, silly). I hovered to the Discussions tab because I hardly care about my profile (wallcommenting and inviting "fffriends") anymore.

Blockmates. The forum title immediately stole my windows such that my fingers released a speedy click. Oh well, people from the ningpage were declaring their blocks already. It's undeniably posted.

It took me two multiply sites to confirm my block. In the first site, I clicked right away the first of four pics tagged Meco. I bore the idea that somewhere in these shots, my name will appear in a sea of neutrals. The first one did not display my name. Nor did the second one. Oh probably, it's just on...oh well not. I'm neither found in the last two.

Anxiety crept my vessels. Don't I belong? Hey, I confirmed my slot personally. I was there, I even saw my schoolmates. :)

The second multiply site, to my relief, assured me that I am a part of the five-blocks-degree-program; of which I belong to the first-- block H.

See, I was wrong with the first multiply site (the same way it wronged me too), it was just there and then, my name. The H.jpg was left unnoticed because it wasn't relevantly labeled compared to the following MgtEco blocks, of which had "Meco" on their caption.

So much for the trifles. I might have already checked that my name was actually in the list, but I haven't checked yet if there's even a ningperson who happens to be in the same block. I did found familiar names, names I see on ningpage...in the other blocks. I, for an instance, found no one from the same block, but I was dead sure I found something mooorrree hilarious. Check this out:

All my schooling life, I get up my bed everyday knowing that I share my name with someone (always)in school. And whether I am outside or inside in the school, it will always be like that in this vast universe.

But I haven't really woken up knowing there will be another Karen Anne that will be neighbouring me for two years (blocks are solid in my school for two years). And on a clearer note, a Karen Anne A. The whole name literally differs on the surname, and well I hope, the middle name.

It's not that I have never considered that there will be more Karen Anne's in this world. Karen is such a common name, and so is Anne which is clearly easier to attach with any name. My mom really lacked some creativity. HAHA.

It's just that it's soooo.....surreal :)

It may sound like, but I am not ranting about it. Really. Everything's just dead funny and soooo.....surreal :)

I hope she doesn't talk like me (I'm bad with orals). What if we have the same macho-yet-clumsy gait? What if she looks like me? HAHA. Will there be clone wars in block H? :)) I SOOOO HOPE NOT. :)

I'm just morphing into a paranoid will all these comparisons I'm presuming :P Lalo na if she's intelligent. We'll be tagged Karen Bobo and Karen Uno. HAHA. :))

I just hope she isn't pissed that's she's actually sharing her name with me! :))

Oh I'm just sure those who arranged the blocks enjoyed themselves in putting two Karen Anne A.'s together :P

See you soon, Karen Anne A. Vera! :))

CONFIRMATION AND A LOVE NERVE.

2008-05-18T23:11:00.000-07:00

This is not a post; this is merely dropping by.

OH YES.

I deleted my tagboard because...

...SIKKRETTT.

*sabaw.*

oh did I just see Edward Westwick in my dreams? *____*

Chuck Bass was speaking in tagalog I swear and he loves me.

Literally, a dream I don't mind getting stucked to until forever ends.

*swoons then dies*

A POST SMEARING THYELF.

2008-05-13T23:39:00.000-07:00

Pessimism is chewing me whole…all the time…all my life (read: since age of reason). I guess, I certainly neeeveeerrr catered my weak spots properly. When I said properly, it denotes fighting spirit and persistence. It’s such a shame that my definition of properly has fully ripened but I waste time executing improperly.

I drown in a sea of disgrace.

I am so frustrated that I bend my idea of strength, contradicting my own thoughts. Maybe it just goes to show how weak I am; maybe I was just conjuring all along that I am a tough cookie. I never served myself right when I knew the remedy all along.

On such a tender age, I have engineered a sturdy wall of pride. I did not allow myself to lose because I wasn’t allowing to myself to try─ which hinders me from the taste of glory.. I was denying myself of acceptance because I refused rejection─ which hinders me from the taste of glory.

WAITING TO GOSSIP.

2008-05-07T00:54:00.000-07:00

22.8% to go...

I won't go to sleep without my windows setting on the latest Gossip Girl Epi.

Since I find it hard to finish Philippa Gregory's The Constant Princess, I am killing waiting time by dropping by this crapbox. :)

I am not in the frame of mind for some serious blogging or lengthy typing; my brainwaves are MIA. Neither am I on the mood to organize my thoughts, pick-up the best words to use and care to correct whatever there is to be corrected.

I am just typing out loud whatever words my neurons spontaneously delivers.

Just to kill waiting time.

20.4% to go...

I cannot believe it thought but 'course it was probable- I have not touched the laptop for straight 48 hours! :) Wow. As in LITERALLY, I did not even touch the laptop last Sunday and Monday.

My tatay celebrated his 76th birthday last Sunday so it was like a Social Being Holiday. I was able to cook spaghetti, interact with my cousins, watch from the neighbor's telly and breathe the outside air.

Remember. My Pursuit of Happiness Tip #1 post from Reader's Digest is a well-proven fact.

19.2% remaining...

Well, another thing why I almost tossed this account to the wastebasket-- Queen Elizabeth and my sis have been using the laptop more more more than I do. Queen E checks her mails and "Skypes" Daddy five solid nights a week and my sister is soooo glued to y8.com + links since her kuya introduced her to it. Icka has been enjoying the flash games, especially the dress-up games. You know, like online paper dolls? :D Or shall I say virtual dolls. She got bored of what everythinggirl, nicksplat and cartoonnetwork have to offer so she is very much enjoying the myriad of the oriental-scribbled flash games.

17.8% remaining...

Actually, Icka wasn't the only one enjoying. Haha. Last week, I also got hooked to Hot Dog Bush. And I must say, I did well for someone who do not have the reflexes. :))

17.3% remaining...

I became a part of something today! Hail the Ning friends! Thanks to Matthew Mangoba and friends! :D Don't you notice? My sentences are running shorter.

17% remaining...

I am excited for Monday.

16.8% remaining...

Lazy bubbles rising!

IGNITING AVERSION

2008-05-03T23:32:00.000-07:00

How could you make such a fuss

How could you erupt so unreasonably

How could you shout at the person who cares for you more than anyone else in the world

How could you make me listen to your irritability

How could you raise your voice to the person who dies to hear it

How could you do such to the person who never ever despised you

How could you make me despise you

HEY, IT'S MAY!

2008-05-01T21:07:00.001-07:00

I have been unattached with myself for the past few days, Solitary Confinement nearly found itself in the wastebasket.

***

“Ang laki rin pala ng Pilipinas noh?”

Compelled by the view from the twelfth floor, the words break loose from Aya’s lips.

It was a bouncy way to wrap up the scorching month of April. I went out with Aya yesterday. Since graduation, going out is such a big deal to me. I have always brought up how “homey” my summer has become. Throughout the schooling hiatus, I always seized college errands to meet friends. And when I said college errands, I meant two occasions (only) ─ last 23rd and yesterday.

Basically, the two of us went out to “escort” each other. She accompanied me to school to submit the requirements for medical clearance and I accompanied her on a medical check-up.

I never saw Aya for a month but well, we exchange text messages at times (look who’s texting now! :> haha. I learned that my phone was subscribed to “superduperunlimited” on the second week of April, so why not take advantage of the mischance? :p) Nevertheless, texting is somehow barely akin to a personal dialogue so boy, how glad was I to see someone, hear someone, smell someone (sniff her! she smells strawberry!) and feel someone beyond the perimeter of home.

‘Course, what better way to kill travel time than chitchat! We spent the whole bus ride speaking in between yawns. It was 7:31 in my phone clock and 7:41 in hers when we left Bulacan. Most people our age aren’t awake yet that time so what do we think are we doing leaving the outskirts of our home. . .no doubt our mouths involuntary unseal cave wide.

We reached Pasig past 9. Going to a big operating hospital is a first time to me in years. Medical City is such a sanctuary. The contemporary, elegant structure captivated my windows. I love the location, the neighboring places, the tiles, the landscape and the secured feeling it provides. I never considered being admitted to the hospital than malling + shopping this bad. Take note, for mallrats who poorly dub milkshakes as frappes, there’s nothing like being confined in a medical institution with a Starbucks (Disclaimer: I am not a mallrat who dubs milkshakes as frappes. I’ve never purchased anything from this coffee shop.).

Another first time in years: elevator ride. That almost-theme-park-ride-feeling…oh it made me wobbly. For all I know, I have not figured the elevator buttons in my whole life. This is my fair share of the crappy basic-things-ignorance. Anyway, elevators are never a part of my everyday life and elevators are rarely incorporated in my everyday life. Before yesterday, the last time I rode the up-down platform was last April 21, 2007. It was a reviewmate’s birthday and we visited V-Mall where the elevator [buttons] is operated by an assistant. I do not know if she came noticing it but I was observing Aya and all those people pushing the buttons. What I got clearly is I have to push the destination button inside the elevator. Then they have this hold button which basically…holds (course) the door for those who are coming in. I am not sure if my instincts are right with that up-down in every floor prior to the elevator ride. Guess I will try it out myself next time and I gotta look smart. :)

I am not quite sure if this is one more first time in years or plainly first time in my whole sixteen years of existence─ I used the stairway, the backdoor stairway! (What do you really call it, eh?) Remember chasing scenarios in movies? All those breathtaking (literally for the actors) scenes? Hey wait, that’s way general, okay. [for Heroes viewers] Remember when Matt Parkman handcuffed Ali Larter (because I cannot recall anymore if she was playing Niki or if she was playing Jessica then.)? [for everyone] Remember where in the hotel Dao Ming Si collapsed from shivering when she went out with Shan Cai? This is a really petty kwento but a first time is always a first time. Aya and I landed on the wrong floor. We went up in the 6th floor but when we got there she thought we were on the wrong floor. She guessed we have to be in the 7th floor. We’re just one floor away so why not take the staircase. But turned out the canteen was on the 2nd floor, and well, we ended up again in the elevator.

So much for my elevator-stairway tale.

I am glad Aya’s restoring to health now. Things are normalizing for her. Dr. Mary Queen Florencio-Villegas (I was looking at her nameplate all the time, how could I not remember!) told her her thyroid gland secretion would took time to stabilize. Overall, she’s getting okay. She was just upset she no longer has access to the elevator pass in UST. Haha. :) I just knew about the elevator pass yesterday. In the five-storey building where she attends, those who have a condition have access to the elevator. So for the entire second semester, she enjoys the perks of “having a condition,” no longer enduring the craps of scaling to the 5th floor. But then again, she has to climb her way to her class. Aren’t you changing floors? :D

Five jeepneys, three buses and three cabs. The day actually greeted us with a mishap─ endocrinologist’s not yet in there’s no other way to kill time than squander our bills and coins, make way to Katips to secure my medical clearance and go back to Medical City. Yesterday was really a circuit trip.

***

Hey it’s May. And before I know it, June befalls. Someone and something’s (shouldn’t I use are? I have to subjects but I just can’t picture a some word mingling with are) telling me I gotta cut loose the ingesting and shed off the extra-extra pounds. T_T

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

2008-04-25T22:06:00.000-07:00

I would still like to add some text but I am just dying to post this entry so expect a follow-up on this. :)

***

I would just like to share what I read four nights ago from the latest issue of the Reader's Digest (Asia). This might just be the lone helpful post in the annal of this blog ever.

10 Ways To Turn That Frown Upside Down

1 BE LESS VIRTUAL, MORE 3-D. "If there's one thing that separates happy people from ridiculously happy people, it's the quality of their social relationships," says psychologist Todd Kashdan of George Mason University. If you sit at a computer all-day, get up and indulge in some human contact instead.

[jailbird] For all you know, I busily devote most of my time resting my ass in front of the laptop after the mandatory housekeeping. Household responsibilities are very withering since most of us find it as a chore (because I really do not mind watering the plants) but it can just be as boring as net surfing despite the countless activities and possibilities it has to offer. But before I forget, hey! I've got cousins in the neighborhood! At the dreariest time frame of the day, I brushed my ass off, turned-off Pav, walked to my grandparents' place and bonded with an older-but-of-my-age-bracket cousin. You are a social being─ allow yourself to interact. And when I said interact, that excludes adding "friends" in Friendster, sharing applications in Facebook, throwing comments in Multiply or giving away your seclusion in Blogger, Wordpress or LJ for a change. // [jailbird]

2 4,6,8...WHO DO WE APPRECIATE? Making a list of things you're grateful for may seem silly, but it's been proven to work. In fact, counting your blessings may be the single most helpful thing you can do for your happiness quotients, says experts.

[jailbird] She resolved to detach herself. Her classroom experience was always penetrated by loneliness on her own account but she found solace in a piece of paper and a retractable pen. *Maybe it was my love for doodles. Amidst an interesting class where all auditory organs are lent except my pair, rolling friction materializes before my eyes. I found myself listing my inner circle. I love scribbling the names of true friends. Those squiggles are nothing but a natural spring of joy. Yes, it is a silly act but I cannot deny that it is a caress in my back. // [jailbird]

3 RACK 'EM UP. Think of every positive experience during the day as a bead on a string and see how they add up. This simple exercise makes you focus on even the smallest positive moments, like an e-mail from a friend in a spam-filled inbox.

4 THINK MEMORABLE, NOT MATERIAL. If you have to choose between a new car and a family vacation, pack your bags. Even the sexiest sports car becomes routine over time. But the memory of a good time with love ones will last forever.

[jailbird] From all the toys you unquestionaby discarded, from all the clothes you purposely handed down, from all the spring notebooks you barely write at, from all the shoes you hardly wear, from all the mobile phones you intentionally disposed, you should know by now.// [jailbird]

5 GO TO THE FUNNY SIDE. "Humor is like salt on meat," says psychologist Martin Seligman PhD. "It amplifies everything." Watch reruns of classic shows that never fail to make you laugh. Try to smile at the absurdities of life.

[jailbird] (Sometimes) Forget poise, laugh out loud! Embrace rowdiness with open arms. :) //[jailbird]

6 ESCAPE TO YOUR STRESS-FREE ZONE. Think of a place where you always feel calm and happy. Then, when you are tense and miserable, call it up mentally, with as much detail as possible.Smell the suntan lotion. Feel the sun. Hear the sea. Play this video in your mind when your spirit plumps.

7 SEE THE GLASS AS HALF-FULL. Whenever possible, try to look at the bright side. You might be feeling like your life right now is one giant downhill slope. But if you stop and assess it honestly, you'll see you actually have it pretty good.

And if things truly are against you...

8 FIND YOUR INNER ARTIST. Think back to when you had time for creative expression. Were you in a rock band? Did you write poetry? Did you like tinkering with cars? Remembering feeling so engaged that you lost track of time? Joyful expression can bring happiness.

9 DO SOMETHING GOOD. Acts of kindness, however small, deliver as much pleasure to the giver as to the getter.

[jailbird] Cook breakfast for the family. Open the door for an elderly. Offer your seat to a preggy in a sea of people in the MRT. And turns out money can buy happiness...if you spend it for someone else. Bring pasalubong from an away day. :) Goodness is innate, people of the world. [jailbird]

10 SEIZE THE MOMENT. Rather than waiting to celebrate a big event, why not do it today? Bake a cake. Take someone out to lunch. Open a bottle of wine and raise a toast to a good day. GO AHEAD, BE HAPPIER.

WHOSE BIRD IS IT ANYWAY?

2008-04-22T01:12:00.000-07:00

I want you to get glued and listen hard. Well, what I am trying to say is at the very least, pay attention to this idiot box. If you happen (or is it happened? Whatever…I am losing my grammar screws) to drop by, go get reading.

Now, pay a visit to my cBox. If you haven’t been here to read, well my cBox is that sunshine thing at the right of the window. You just have to scroll down. Spend 10 seconds of your life and read the latest entry (by the time I am typing this) from >.<

19 Apr 08, 12:54
>.<: mron ng thejailbird.com..kso under const. pa..la lng

I feel infringing and infringed.

Infringing, because I do not know long has been the VooDooHouse Productions constructing the site, I might just be innocently stealing their name. Infringed, because maybe it works the other way around.

Hell, no lawsuits here, why am I making such a fuss when every time I wake up each day, I would always share the same name with the other Karens of the world.

Nothing important to you and nothing should I be badly bothered about but just the whole ingenuity feeling, it sucks.

So I am like talking to two lawful readers and two kinda regular viewers (readers, viewers─ see the difference) right now. :) Worse, I might just be talking to myself. :))

My site’s original URL was http://excretionasylum.blogspot.com. But I grasped to the fact that people (I am talking about a small group. Like four persons eh? >;3) found it hard to spell my domain. People also failed to reverberate my domain so I myself did not phonate the six-syllable magic word. I finally decided to change my domain when a friend*, who I never thought would ask, asked me about my URL. My other friend** replied on my behalf but ** never seemed to answer *’s question because * hardly understood what ** said.

I tell you, I did not come up with “excretion asylum” on a trying hard approach. It simply budded from my mango-shaken brain and bagoong-dipped neurons just like how those last five words before just, like, how and those, which includes two fictional adjectives, suddenly sprouted from my mind.

Excretion Asylum was not a Blogger account original only because it used to be my Multiply account header in April 2007. When I was on the process of creating the account, I wanted a header name that would suffice my drive to pour out my thoughts when I thought back then that Multiply would be the perfect site for me. I no longer own a Multiply account now.

Putting the words together came on the spot but not sans the reasons why the pair-up. Hindi ko rin nagets kung ano yung last sentence ko pero ang ibig kong sabihin, hindi pinag-isipan ng matagal yung “excretion asylum.” Bigla na lang siya lumabas sa kokote ko pero lumitaw siya sa utak ko kung paano ko man ginusto kasi na-meet niya yung reason na gusto ko. Unexpected, but simply the way I wanted it to be. (I don’t know if someone’s getting any of my points explanations to my lone point >;3 don’t I just suck with explaining!)

excretion [ik skrsh'n]
(plural excretions)
noun
1. excreting of waste matter: the act or process of discharging waste matter from the tissues or organs
2. waste matter: waste matter that has been discharged from an animal or a plant

EXCRETION. A thought drizzling from my brain is like sweat leaking out of my armpit, booger peeping through my nostrils and shit coming out of my asshole. There, well said. :) Whoa. I just came up with the most brilliant simile in my whole life!

asylum [ə sləm]
(plural asylums)
noun
1. protection from extradition: protection and immunity from extradition granted by a government to somebody who has fled another country, e.g. because of political oppression
2. shelter and protection: protection from danger or imminent harm provided by a sheltered place
3. offensive term: an offensive term for an institution for people with psychiatric disorders (dated)
4. HISTORY place of sanctuary: a place that once offered shelter to criminals and debtors, especially a church
[15th century. Via Latin]

ASYLUM. The place where my smarts and stupidity shall dwell should be more than idyllic; it should be the first place and the last place I shall feel belongingness and acceptance. The place is MY WORLD on MY ACCOUNT.

Do you realize how much I digress and how amazing I digress? Haha.
MOVING ON…

THEJAILBIRD. I stumbled through my cerebrum but no creative juice was squeezed; not a drop. I settled with inmate.blogspot.com (inmate came out of my mind upon reading Solitary Confinement) despairing no blogger took the name yet. But then of course, there was someone already. I no longer plunged deeper to my brain and compromised with at least, just getting rid of “excretionasylum” and replacing it with something spellable. I looked up the thesaurus and found the slang term of inmate─ jailbird. I inserted the article “the” because jailbird.blogspot.com has been existing for four years now. I conceded. I never thought it was for keeps though. I said to myself I will change it eventually with something catchy, something in Filipino. Until one day, I played with Photoshop and found myself accidentally making a header for my blog and I never touched my domain again.

jailbird.blogspot.com. thejailbird.blogspot.com. thejailbird.com
someone has to be the copycat.

So obviously, I am on the tight spot but not anything the world should bother care. I am just a worrywart who is well….worried. :)

Help me to come up with something catchy. Paint my world! I am open for suggestions but of course, I would prefer something original from me. Well, that is if I can come up with something. :)

2008-04-19T21:48:00.000-07:00

Before the elite S and B, there was the B and V tagteam. No, it's not Blair and Vanessa. You wish, haha. :)

Thou shall not forget the love-hate BFFship of Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge! :)

Before one has discovered the magical world of Harry or even before one has deciphered the secret of Da Vinci, the Archie Digest Library was a bookworm's doorway to her/his insatiable interest.

My mom really wants my sister to enjoy the pleasure of reading so she dropped her by a bookstore today. Knowing my sister, I know she wouldn't have thought to purchase a reading material. :) So after devoting solid minutes on which coloring book to buy, she finally rested her heart to the Sabrina, The Animated Series Coloring and Activity Book. I really want her to invest in books too so I asked her to suit herself in the Children's Books section. I know I cannot ask her to read the Harry Potter Series at home so I encouraged her to buy a Betty and Veronica double digest which she has foreknowledge of. She enjoys my old copies at home, anyway.

Before I came tapping the keyboards to visit the Blogger page, I leafed through the B and V Digest of my sister. I never held one for ages, until like 30 minutes ago! :)

Remember the people from Riverdale? Course, Archie, Betty, Ron. :) Then there's Jughead, Reggie, Jellybean. Forsythia, Jellybean, Mr. Weatherbee, Geraldine. Daddykins, Pop Tates, that genius guy who played Socrates once.haha. My memory's sorta blunt. :P

Well, if it weren't for Betty and Veronica double digest, I wouldn't learn about Florence Nightingale. :)

***

Well, what else.

***

I guess the last time I read a book was two or three days before the JS Prom this year. Yeah, way back February, Coelho's Eleven Minutes. I just borrowed it from Janella while everyone was practicing for the promenade. And the last time I finished a book was last year as I enjoyed the Horcrux Hunt in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows.

I thought of finishing a book again when Jose told me he was enjoying Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. There was an abrupt ache in my senses and I yearned for a book. Just the thought of holding one and sniffing a brand new purchase.

I am not really a bookworm mind you, but I read. Well, it would really take one a good book to start to read.

This time, I am trying Philippa Gregory.

***

I got this weird feeling yesterday. So since I am already done with the GG Episodes and all new episodes aren't airing yet, and I just finished the latest epi of OTH,I felt the urge to download. Nothing really, but it's just I don't get this feeling that I need to catch up. :) I've always thought of downloading Heroes 2 and House 1 but I prefer enjoying them on pirates. :P

Well, I JUST learned yesterday too that there was GOSSIP GIRL Revealed. And yes, you got it. Emptiness filled. I am downloading something again. Haha.

ECHOES, SILENCE, PATIENCE AND GRACE.

2008-04-18T23:55:00.000-07:00

It has been 27 days since I last watched One Tree Hill. The show left me and the other millions of viewers with Lindsay figuring the comet riddle and running away from the altar, Brooke throwing a flamethrow (You're fired!) at Victoria, crazy Carrie loosing her screws as she kidnapped Jamie and grandpa Dan (now we call him grandpa!) rescuing his nearly-brunette grandson from the wicked witch nanny in its hundredth episode.

One Tree Hill returns with a four-weeks-later setting in Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace, the 13th episode of the 5th season (don't I sound like I write some kinda recap or review writer? :p).

James Lafferty no longer has that appeal to me. I guess Nate [Archibald] took me away from Nathan [Scott]. As for Bethany Joy Galeotti, the makeup artists made a good job in making her look like a mother coping with stress. She really looked drained and worned-out. Is it just Haley or it's Joy we see? I would like to believe it's just Haley. Don't get me wrong, I like Mrs. Galeotti! Maybe I am not just used to see her less glammed up or maybe it is just because I have not seen her for a month.

In this episode, the two seeked the help of a therapist (I like the questions the therapist are throwing at them.) to save their almost 6-year marriage. The couple struggles with acting their age. No, they did not act their shoe sizes. They acted like sick burned out teachers who...whatever. There's no way their marriage is falling apart. Their tandem is the last thing OTH wants to alter. I love Nathan and Haley (and Jamie), always and forever. :)

Jamie is sooo...Jamie. Jackson Brundage is such a beautiful kid and his talents are superb. He's very promising. If more doors will be opened, I won't be surprised if he gets himself an Oscar! I realized I missed the kid when I watched the episode an two hours ago. Here is the feeling: You suddenly realize you miss the person upon seeing him when you haven't felt the longing at all in his/her absence. You get that feeling too, don't you?

Regarding Lucas, he spent the last weeks in Andy's yacht, waking up every morning thinking of Lindsay. Oh c'mon. I thought the Lindsay phase is ooover. She's just a guest star! She's not even in the header of the OTH page in cwtv.com or in every fansites there are (I suppose :])! Get over, Luke! Give it a break. The thought of Linday in the comeback epi is sooo predictable but I mind her presence. Well, she's in the latter part of the epi, looking bigger than Lucas as usual.

And guess with whom Hilarie Burton shared her scenes? Drumroll please...tada! Mark Schwahn, brainsource and executive producer of the show, on cameo. Look who's running out of actors. Haha. Schwahn played the owner of the record store in Tree Hill frequently visited by Peyton as you witnessed in the previous seasons. But was it really him? I don't think so. It was some pale-looking guy who definitely doesn't curly tresses if my memory doesn't betray me. Ha. Going back to P. Sawyer, I missed seeing the bulimic bitch (as how Lindsay labeled her in the Tree Hill library) and her lines. I missed how she insecure me with her gorgeous legs and slender frame.

Brooke Davis comes back on a serious panorama. No Owen in this episode. I really like her relationship with Jamie! Cool godparent. :) Victoria was absent in the epi but her bitchy intervention never fails to butt in. Eh yes, she failed to convince the adoption agent. I don't really have any idea what's coming on Sophia Bush's character...which means there'll be a lot of things to happen and we'll all be thrilled...again :)

Okay, so I just read something about the OTH creator's cameo. Well yes, my memory betrayed me. Mark Schwahn, as I've read in BuddyTV, appeared in Season 4.

It was not really an eventful episode but it was very verbose, which only means, more lines to quote. :) I really like the transition and the connection of clips, and if you are a Tree Hill fan, you know what I mean. They are just so great with that.

So did I just sound like the first person who watched the epi when I am actually two days late? I did, I did. :P

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE.

2008-04-17T16:59:00.000-07:00

When my mind is illegally lagging (go on, burn your neurons. what do i mean? it's not merely a wordplay :p), I do not permit The Remedy to be on a turtle pace. Lately, I am having problems with the thing that at the very least keeps me busy occupied. Why on (global-warming-threatened) Earth is my Internet Explorer giving up on me? Okay, I’ve got Firefox too, but it’s worse and I’ve decided to delete the application, thank you. It’s just ultra frustrating that I really arrive to the point wherein I restart the system.

Viruses. Yeah, that came in my mind too. :

***

Well, anyway, finally! I am done with Gossip Girl! Yey! I just finished A Thin Line Between Chuck and Nate a couple of minutes ago. Actually, watching the thirteen episodes took me almost a month (I started late Holy Week). I finished super later than expected because, yeah, I wasn’t expecting downloading wouldn’t turn out smoothly compared to my One Tree Hill downloads. Our cable line doesn’t include ETC so pity me, I really have to download everything. Well, at least, I am updated. :)

I guess I totally forgot about Brooke, Peyton and Haley for a while because Serena and Blair and Chuck so to add were purely amusing. :) I even failed to recall that the all-new episodes of One Tree Hill aired last April 14. Oh at least, I just started downloading the One Tree Hill’s latest epi.

I’ve read reviews saying the TV Series is less entertaining compared to what the books tell like how the Harry Potter movies turned out to be boring. I’ve always seen the Gossip Girl series in the bookstores but I never really showed interest. I don’t remember coming close to the shelves and surveying a copy. I dunno, I guess I felt it was some chic-lit I don’t plan to invest. NBSB by Claire Betita is the chic-lit I own actually.

***

What now…Just can’t wait for The Blair Bitch Project! Uh-oh.

xoxo. =)

I DON'T UNDERSTAND!

2008-04-16T21:41:00.000-07:00

German schoolboy, 13, corrects NASA's asteroid figures: paper

BERLIN (AFP) - A 13-year-old German schoolboy corrected NASA's estimates on the chances of an asteroid colliding with Earth, a German newspaper reported Tuesday, after spotting the boffins had miscalculated.

Nico Marquardt used telescopic findings from the Institute of Astrophysics in Potsdam (AIP) to calculate that there was a 1 in 450 chance that the Apophis asteroid will collide with Earth, the Potsdamer Neuerster Nachrichten reported.

NASA had previously estimated the chances at only 1 in 45,000 but told its sister organisation, the European Space Agency (ESA), that the young whizzkid had got it right.

The schoolboy took into consideration the risk of Apophis running into one or more of the 40,000 satellites orbiting Earth during its path close to the planet on April 13 2029.

Those satellites travel at 3.07 kilometres a second (1.9 miles), at up to 35,880 kilometres above earth -- and the Apophis asteroid will pass by earth at a distance of 32,500 kilometres.

If the asteroid strikes a satellite in 2029, that will change its trajectory making it hit earth on its next orbit in 2036.

Both NASA and Marquardt agree that if the asteroid does collide with earth, it will create a ball of iron and iridium 320 metres (1049 feet) wide and weighing 200 billion tonnes, which will crash into the Atlantic Ocean.

The shockwaves from that would create huge tsunami waves, destroying both coastlines and inland areas, whilst creating a thick cloud of dust that would darken the skies indefinitely.

The 13-year old made his discovery as part of a regional science competition for which he submitted a project entitled: "Apophis -- The Killer Astroid."

***

nosebleed, mare!

severe epistaxis. :

I saw this article in the Y! homepage and I find it worth the click.

Pagdating ng fourth paragraph...Walay na. Is this another language? I don't understand it anymore. *_*

Science sucks. I suck in Science. They work to me both ways. There's a lot of truth to that. *_*

STORIES LEFT UNTOLD

2008-04-15T23:49:00.000-07:00

February 29, Friday
THUNDERSTRUCKED. After the first test of the final exams, I went straight to the St. Augustine room. Andrei received a text message from Lance. It was all around the latter’s network. He sent a group SMS asking everyone’s prayer for her mom who suffered from stroke. I was jaw-dropped frozen. I did not presume though that Mrs. Rosales was on a severe condition. Knowing how Lance’s Mama looks, she defied 40─ blooming and beautiful.

I FEEL FOR YOU. My cousin*cuzzo is very tight with Pat, Lance’s sister. She went straight to the hospital from school. We exchanged text messages regarding the incident and I learned from her that Tita Ochie was already braindead, breathing through artificial respiration. I spent the night sobbing, ignoring the exams the following day. I felt terribly morbid. I was grief-stricken because of the circumstances Lance’s family is braving through. Moreover, I was disappointed with myself for not being there for my friend, telling him it’ll be okay while patting his back, when I could’ve come. I did not opt to visit his family that day and extend my warmest consolation all for the lousy reason that his other group of friends chose to come around that afternoon. I fumbled with my core emotions.

March 1, Saturday
IN THIS CHAIN OF DOUBTS AND RAINY CLOUDS. There were moments when my eyes wandered nowhere, totally ignoring the density of the final exams. I was greatly waiting for dismissal so I can finally assure myself that I won’t be compromising for any awful excuse. And boy, how glad was I when the clock stroked two.

Friends and I contributed to bring something for Lance, his Papa and his Ate. Sam and I volunteered to purchase the food. When we reached the Mendoza General Hospital, I caught sight of my friends─ calm and collected. His other group of friends were there too. It was relieving on my part that I am there too. Then, there was Lance.

He immediately brought Sam and me upstairs in the ICU. There we were, standing before the two-door entrance, absorbing every sad microelement in the atmosphere, glancing at Lance’s Mama lying on the bed and his Papa, caressing his better half’s hands. “Brain dead na Mama ko,” Lance uttered in a vulnerable-strength-fighting- deep-grief tone. It was very heartbreaking.

It was indeed a very unhappy way to smooth the path for the march of March. There are a lot of emotions to deal with but I know if paving way for the awaited month of our senior year meant helping a friend get through a difficult time, then that’s the way I want it to be.

Darkness was falling and there were now only eight of us left. Lance brought us to the second floor. We hanged out in the staircase and the corridor, literally making it difficult for passers-by. The next thing I knew, we were having a good conversation, laughing our asses off. Lance was even laughing hard too. It did not make things better for all I reckon but at least for moments, he was able to let go of the heavy feeling. Thanks to Jose’s dilemmas. The past days had been somewhat cold for me, missing friends even though they are just there. It was very heartwarming to hear Juanito saying, “Namiss ko ‘to.” Good things really happen in an unlikely place in the unlikeliest circumstance.

Then there were four of us left. Andrei. Sam. Zobar. Ako. As much as we would we want to be physically there for Lance, we were basically tired and sleepy too so we considered going home. Yet I kept extending the length of my stay. We went downstairs and waited for Lance since he was in the ICU. When he came down, he broke to us the news. The neurosurgeon said they would just be waiting for his mother’s heart to succumb.

I went through extremes today.

March 2, Sunday
SUNRISE DOESN’T LAST ALL MORNING. My cousin and I were walking home from the church. I was telling her stories how my friends felt about the situation, how Sam asked me “Sa tingin mo ba may pag-asa pa?” as we bought food for Lance and his family yesterday, how I felt when he said that, how I poured my despair to Zob and how Zob told me, “Wag mong isipin ‘yon.” I just reached the house when, the phone rang. It was my cousin. She told me Pat texted that their Mama passed away by 3AM. For seconds, my mind was blank. Every bone in my body was frozen and every nerve in my system was immobile. I felt dark. When she learned about it, Queen Elizabeth immediately decided to visit the wake after our family day-out.

Life is full of surprises, you know that. Money comes in an instant. Downfall happens in a snap. Fame rises in a flash. Sad to say, death may also come in the same package. :(

March 3-7, Monday-Friday
To relieve the pressure of the deadlines and clearance week, I have pictured since then that this week will be carefree. Together, we’ll all be the blithe people of the world. We’ll all just be cherishing our last days in high school, patiently waiting until the day we march down the aisle and receive our diploma. But since last Saturday, it already unfolded before me that this will not be the week as I imagined. Lance’s pain is all ours too.

SILENCE SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS. I always try to come up with the comforting words but it never seemed helpful. I do not know the perfect words to say. I am not sure of the gestures to perform. All I can do without a glitch is be there for him. And yes, my friends and I made sure if the least thing we could do sit beside him, then we’re resting our weights on our buttocks.

LET IT GO WITH THE WIND. I never saw him cry but I know he did because it is necessary. There’s a lot of truth in that. He doesn’t buy the myth that if you are a guy; you have to act in a certain way. My friends and I admired him on the way he handled the situation. Needless to say, he has given so much reason to be strong and vice-versa. As days passed, his strength all the same made us feel easy.

March 8, Saturday

CURTAIN CALL. It was my first time to attend the funeral. Again, I found myself overlayed with deep sadness. Everything on my part was kindly unspoken. Hearing Lance’s Papa cry is the saddest song ever.

CRANK YANKER.

2008-04-12T23:08:00.000-07:00

Ah ulol: Hello, pwede po ba kay Karen Anne?

AKO: (Ay mukhang may hahabol ng haberdey :D Assumer talaga o) sino ‘to?

Ah ulol: (Parang ‘di sigurado) Si Choko.

AKO: (Ha? Sino?) Sino?

Ah ulol: Si Choko.

AKO: (Niloloko mo ‘ko, Choko ka diyan.) Ha? Sino?

Ah ulol: Si Choko.

AKO: (Hindi mo nga kaboses si Choko eh.) Bakit?

Ah ulol: Si Karen Anne ba ‘to?

AKO: Bakit?

Ah ulol: Si Karen Anne ba ‘to?

AKO: Bakit?

Ah ulol: Si Karen Anne ba ‘to?

AKO: Bakit?

Ah ulol: Si Karen Anne ba ‘to?

AKO: Oo, bakit?

Ah ulol: Pa-cheeseburger ka naman!

(Dudong boys on background: Oo nga, gutom na kami! Burger! Burger!)

AKO: (Nangiti! :D) Sino ‘to? (Maniwala naman kasi akong si Choko ka.)

Ah ulol: McDonald, Old McDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O

[bagg]

Binabaan ako ng phone. Okay na sana eh, binabaan mo lang ako. Psssh ka.

***

Whoever brain's behind the McDo Cheeseburger Ad, KUDOS. Such a cool ad. :)

HUMABOL!

2008-04-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

WOW.

69 slides yan pag i-open mo sa Adobe ImageReady!

Ang tiyaga ni tamad! :)

Buong araw siyang hindi nagparamdam kahapon. Pero alam ko, ano man ang mangyari, babati yan! Haha. Oo, assumer na kung assumer. :) Pero naisip ko rin naman, sa rupok ng kakayahang makaalala niyan (ikaw na rin nagsabi niyan ha), 'di rin malabo na malimutan nga niya.

Mga alas-singko kanina, nagparamdam sa Y!M at binigyan ako ng link.

O di'ba?

Bongga. Kailangan talaga, malaki yung mata. Nakapagpangiti ka ha :)

Salamat Rie! Tara, Tanay! :)

THE A-LIST.

2008-04-12T00:30:00.000-07:00

Sweet 16 today
She's lookin like her mama
A little more every day
One part woman
The other part girl
To perfume and make up
From ribbons and curls
Trying her wongs out in a great big world
But I remember

-Butterfly Kisses, Bob Carlisle

***

To tohse who neevr fliaed to rmmebeer

to tshoe who hread aobut it,

HOGOUOMNUS TKHNAS. :)

teh ppeole who ceard to clal...

IVY SNOATS, it was talotly ucexeptend!
EIIKA PRALTEA, clal me on teh 23rd! Msis you for rael. :)
SAM BAALG, acroncidg to teh pnohe achirve, we berund teh lnie for apairotempxly 3 huros, 10 menutis and 34 sodcens. C'mon!

teh poelpe who feird a txet masesge...

JNINEE SAN JAUN, I kewn it!
FEYRA PLAAD, a gniat goldouck to you. Tkae ltosa crae.
MI AGNE LEPOZ, fatbooll bsacis nxet week. See you!
CEYRNE CURZ, wehre to? Blaatian mo 'ko. :)
TE TKWINLE, lvoe you!
JSOE FEENARNDZ, sgie MG lnag. :D
MEJAT PREEZ, smae wtih Cy, wehre to? Blaatian mo 'ko ha.
TITA MA LOEPZ, yuo'er a blot form teh bule.
SNAHE HOMEREENGS, see yuo snoo!
JCAE PEDINA, sooo haret-wraming. :)

teh pepole who deorppd by Sitaroly Ceenimnofnt...

CRIHS CPILAI, I wsih you teh smae tinhg. :)
FIVEE SCHAENZ, you took me by sprisure. :)

teh Bloattain Cearmmonds olnine...

ARDINE RODLAN, pormise kpet! :)
RUH BREDARNO, look! Ardine and you theogetr. The two of yuo wree teh olny oens who gerteed onnile. See yuo soon! :)

l'enfant de co-destin

ATE CRALA, 会社をありがとう!
ATE YOJ, 会社をありがとう!
RON、DJは、幼児に感謝する!

mes parents... MMMOY, DDDAY, mi seize :) J'ai seize ans maintenant.

FINALLY!

2008-04-10T18:22:00.000-07:00

At last!

After more or less two hours, I am now finish with the French aviator Antoine de Saint Exupéry's popular work, Le Petit Prince. :)

Oh yes, yes, a lot of you have finished the text like years ago for less than two hours, so what... :)

I started with the baobabs chapter as I've been doing for the past days. Out of boredom (such an overused word for heartbreakingly dormant homo sapiens this season), I picked up the book, lie down and started leafing through.

Since I was lying down, course I have to tell you that I was taking naps in between chapters (imagine! Little Prince doesn't even have lenghty chapter! =>). Pompously I must say, not every chapter though-- accomplishment. Haha :)

Well, thank God I was able to finish it, FINALLY, today. :)

***

Happy Birthday, Arians!

to my far-away cousin, Ate Twinkle, how are you Ma'am? I am sooo proud of you, I know you're even tougher than the guys out there (she's a Criminology student! *rounds of applause!*)! I can ride a bike now for real! Haha. Just having troubles with the curves. :) I missss you and how I wish I could seeee you soooon. Happppyyyyy Burdeeeeeey!
to my former classmate, Sharina Karnani, yes I never forgot about you. Bleed GREEN. :) Goodluck with college. Small world, I demand a chance meeting with you. haha. Wishing you the sweetest sixteen. :)

A DAY OUT.

2008-04-09T22:12:00.000-07:00

So basically, my summer is a home detention. :)

While a lot of people are making the most of the bikini season by hitting the vacation spots, taking whatever fruitful lessons are offered and working for money, I am busily embracing barrenness and tedium.

Of course, just the thought of monotony, I miss being out with friends to spice my day. March 29, distrubution of report cards, was the last time I saw some of my friends. I was not able to spend time with them at all because I was basically avoiding chance meetings. :)

Actually, friends have been regularly scheduling meet-ups. For all I know, some still see each other on a regular basis (in the likes of Jose and Pao). Well, it is just that...uhm, I've been turning down offers. :P Simply because I don't have money.

Whenever someone persuades me to join the lot, I would immediately ask in response, "all-expenses paid ba?" And of course, who would dare shoulder my splurges? "Hindi eh." That's an immediate answer too.

In point of fact, the last time I went out the marginals of my parents' estate (oh how sosyal does that sound for a bungalow! haha.) was on the last day of the last month of the first quarter of the year (breathe!)-- in short, March. If you have been reading older posts, you probably know my tale that day.

***

For a couple of days now, my glasses are falling off from where it should be. It's feels uneasy especially when I'm doing house chores so I felt the need for an adjustment. Since my cuzzo will be enlisting for summer classes, I decided to accompany her. I did myself a favor, yey :) Well more than the demand for frame modification, I guess I needed to catch further air to inhale. :D

So I guess I had three things in mind hours ago:

break out from monotony

fix my eyeglasses

train myself on my way to Katipunan

Cello's Doughnuts and Dips

***

I will never be a Maroon but somehow, I had my fair share of the enrolment and enlistment experience in UP (though my cousin told me that wasn't the worst-case scenario yet). Yes, I was merely a companion then and there. I was neither the one filling out forms, deciding on classes and schedules nor dealing with the adviser but I was with my cousin all along. Like she did, I also treaded the streets of the campus, took a lengthy walk under the scorching heat, rode the jeep, went back and forth CMC. Imagine, just being there is a perspiring involvement. Nevertheless, an experience is always an experience.

The two of us spent more or less three hours in Diliman. It was almost 1 PM when we left for Katipunan. We were tremendously hungry and thirsty!

***

The tagteam of chow time and Katipunan only meant Cello's Doughnuts and Dips! Yey :)

If you must know, since I learned about Cello's, I was immediately craving for it! Yeah, silly. My taste buds haven't experienced the Cello sensation yet but badly longing for it. I am really a sucker for doughnuts (now you know what you can give me :D).

So at last, I was there.

From my usual blogosphere treading, I learned that a piece costs P20.00 and a box of six costs P110.00. Beforehand, I intended to buy two doughnuts for my own consuming (in which I planned Oreo will be one) and even bring home a half-dozen box for my sibs (pretty much for my own consuming too. haha).

Much to my dismay, a doughnut costs P25.00 now (I guess it complements to the upsurge of the price of flour.) and P135.00 for half a dozen. Three honey-glazed doughnuts plus a dip cost P90 something. More mouth-watering treats in the likes of Blueberry Cream Cheese flavor cost P35.00.

My cousin and I ended up buying a box of 2 each. Considering the size, I guess Queen Elizabeth wouldn't be thrilled at all at the thought of a P135.00 half dozen box of doughnuts. Sorry, no sweet take-home for Mark and Icka.

Too bad, Tokyo-Tokyo is nowhere to be found in Katipunan Avenue. We actually considered to kill more time and make our way to North Avenue just to have a Japanice lunch. Bearing in mind our starving stomachs, we compromised to Greenwich. Our tummies were already revolting! They could no longer afford two more jeepney rides to TriNoma!

***

Maybe the most acceptable reason for my day out is to have my eyeglasses adjusted. Guess what? The best reason there is was forfeited. Remember the denim case of my glasses? It was nowhere to be found! Oh the cute case just got lost. The thought of it still sucks. I put the receipt in the case meaning I can no longer avail the free frame modifications. We did not dare go to Sarabia Optical anymore thinking about the charge. Knowing that I will only spend for transpo and food, I did not ask much from my Queen Elizabeth. I think we left the adorable case in the van we rode on our way to Mother Ignacia. How stupid was I!

I consoled myself by searching for a lovely pair of kitten heels. Aside from slippers, I plan to make kitten heels my official school shoes. I really wanna have a pair of Keds Raves if not a Keds Blossom Hi Wedge. I have been visiting Keds webpage for more than a week now.

***

I cannot resist a Japanice experience so we still ended up in TokyoTokyo! Spicy Kani Roll and the perfect red iced tea. :)

***

Jose and the lot scheduled a swimming at Paradise Resort in Malolos. Jose was uber convincing me last night to join the club, and you know it, I asked if it was junket, but of course he replied with a no. He was asking why I can't come with the crew. Besides the fact that I cannot swim (pathetic.), I have been honest with him that if I have my own money course I would come. Well, you can say I asked money from Queen E today but it is just because I gave her an acceptable reason- my glasses.

Perhaps if I asked money from her for the swimming getaway, I have the foreknowlege that she'll be rasing an eyebrow. You know if she's not into something that will require her money, she acts like she doesn't hear you. If truth be told, I don't have the courage to ask her permissions for day outs because I don't have the most lethal weapon with me-- MONEY.MONEY.MONEY.

Jose even offered to pay one-fourth of my entrance fee. Ha? Not even a half? And entrance fee only? How about my food and my transportation? Haha. I told you, ALL-EXPENSES PAID. :)

I am really sorry guys. Well anyway, I know it's not too much of a deal at all. I hope you enjoyed today. :)

flunking, learning and trying

2008-04-02T22:04:00.000-07:00

Nothing.

I don't have any narrative these days. Man, it's already April and my academic hiatus is getting boring and fruitful each day.

I wanna be PRODUCTIVE. That is how I wanna label my summer by the end of the season.

Currently, I still managed to be a big P. Yeah, Pathetic.

***

For two weeks now, my mommy has been mugging up to enjoy the perks of Y!M. Well, as I've mentioned in a previous post, my daddy took time to learn the essentials of internet. In his recent visit in the Philippines (he's an OFW), I guess he learned how much time my brother and I spends in the internet.

Now, my parents take pleasure in video calls and voice chats.

Queen Elizabeth works for a realty company in Makati. In the course of the summer, she has developed the habit of calling by lunch time-- asking how are we, what did we eat, babbles with her youngest and endless reminders. :)

So say she learned the ABCs of chatting now, well, we now chat over Y!M every lunch. :)

Basically, my youngest sib is on the learning process too. :) And eventually, she glued her eyes in the monitor and no longer left her seat. She visited the Pokemon Site (Oh I remember how addicted was I to the media franchise then! I was of the same age she is now) and the Everythinggirl webpage.

Of course, the laziest asshole was seating on his throne.

and where was I?

I found a copy of the third widest-read book in the world in my brother's room. Huwaaat. My brother have this in his room??? I asked him if he already finished reading it, and replied an expected "Hindi pa."

It's the favorite book of a good friend. And well, I have heard a lot of how enthralling the story is. Course, it has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide for a reson, right? :)

And yes, I tried reading the book because it is The Little Prince.

Well, it wasn't a successful attempt. I fell asleep. :)

Honestly, I am not yet enthralled. At the very least, it's a not yet. For now, I am just clinging to the notion that this is Antoine de Saint Exupéry's magnum opus.

crystal, sir!

2008-03-31T18:03:00.000-07:00

owl eyes, poor vision

If it's you and it's me, then we belong together.

Yes we do.

My nearsightedness cost me a lot. It shattered my studies in particular. My academics last school year was clearly a mess. Oh yes, I managed to at least clinch a spot in the honor roll but see, I'm better than that (that really makes me sad). Well, if truth be told, my frail vision is not the reason (nor will it be an acceptable reason) but it plays as a factor in my par (to pathetic) grades and pitiful study habits.

In a seat plan, my size (read: full-figured) often parallels to an armchair in the back-- so classmates could see the board well while I cannot see anything at all, mind you. If the the discussions orbit in lectures or anything written in the board, hell, I do not care even if the subject is 1.8 units (read: Physics), I would not bother to bother.

A subject's "lectury" and "boardy" discussions give me the chance to rest my forehead in my arms which is relatively enjoying static friction with the desk. "Boardy" periods? Of course, of course, MATH. I would just wake up with a seatwork or quiz rolling. Is there anything written on the board? Blackboard, whiteboard. It doesn't make a difference. Like I clearly see a thing. I am not a math wiz, but what a blessing, oh sometimes I would wake up without the perfect idea but getaway with the perfect score. :) How arrogant could I be...

Eating in fastfood chains would not allow me to survey the wide array. I cannot recognize persons waving "Hi!" or saying "Ba-bye!" Oh most of the time, I just return a nod as if I distinctly perceive his/her face. He/she probably knows me, anyway.

Actually, I wore eyeglasses in the sixth grade. The copper frame irritated the skin between my eyes above my nose bridge. So, farewell glasses. I don't think I even wore you for half a year.

***

After the trip to Katipunan, Queen Elizabeth seized her absence from work and had my eye checked. The original plan is to visit an optha in Makati who opens her clinic by two. But it was just striking 12 noon that time, so we took a detour. Queen E opted to bring me in TriNoMa without a foreknowledge of an eye clinic.

So how lucky are we to have Asian Eye Institue in North Avenue. It is, obviously, my first time in the place and my first time to visit an opthalmologist in 4years. I surveyed the diplomas man, these doctors are graduates of Harvard Medical School!

Need i say more?

Basically, it was just a check-up to get a prescription for lenses. Oh yes, I am getting eyeglassses...again.

Since we're already in the mall, Queen E and I already took time to find the perfect pair of eyeglasses. I bought this Levi's frame (yeahhh, more than the jeans) from Sarabia Optical. It was not the perfect pair but it was a wise acquisition. The frames fits comfortably. I loved pairs from D and G, Miss Sixty and Cavalli, but an eyewear for a cellphone's worth? Oh the lux.

We claimed my glasses after an hour. Aha. After an hour. Encased in a denim holder, I wore the pair rightaway. :)

WOW. Everythings so surreal, man. :) Oh more than contours, I can see face details now. Before, everything was like my psd-filtered with smart blur. Well, now, vision's crystal clear. C'mon. :)

Sooo much for looking years older. So, I do look sharper? :) Geekazoid.

Five Decades. Half a Hundred.

2008-03-31T06:09:00.001-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY! WE MISS YOU HERE.

LOOK WHO'S EVIL

2008-03-30T17:28:00.000-07:00

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Fifth Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	High
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Moderate
Level 2 (Lustful)	Low
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Moderate
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Very High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very Low

whoa. Look who's evil :)

Well yes, I'm such a Hulk.

I can't help remembering...

ta-da!

YEAH!

aren't we related? :)

So, where do you belong? Take the Dante's Inferno Quiz! :)

momma must be proud.

2008-03-27T22:40:00.000-07:00

For the past four days, Queen Elizabth has been asking me to visit Gmail, Chikka and Skype since Daddy already took time to learn the ABCs of Messengers and E-mail. While her pages were loading, I was, of course, Solitary Confinementing (whew!). I was "trying-hardly" editing the layout of my page. The Queen was watching me.

Maya-maya, she was like, "Alam mo dapat mag-Information Technology ka." Hey, where did that come from!

WAHAHAHA.

The Queen was not joking though. She really thinks I'm good with technology and stuff. Haha. I cannot blame her. :)

Gee. I am not even a techie. I am not oriented with CSS. I am far from good with HTML. I am not good with troubleshooting. I am not updated with "THE" softwares.

HAHA. Thank God for Mothers. I love you, mommy. One of the best suggestions ever. =)

Mothers know best anyway. :)

WARNING: Prepared to get Oh-Sooo-Nuts. :)

2008-03-27T15:27:00.000-07:00

For the record, this is my ugliest and nastiest post ever! Yeah, worse than grammatical errors and chessy drama. :) I got this somewhere in the blogosphere (elsewhere!). Effing funny. Eventually, I copied and pasted the whole thing. Haha. Pangungunahan ko na kayo, I am by a hair's breadth patron of chain messages, whether be it an e-mail or SMS. I'm SOOO hardly a fan. Duh. Like I text.

***

Once you've opened this bulletin, there's no turning back. Below are true descriptions of zodiac signs, wih traits written 35 years ago by an astrologist predictionist. Read your sign then repost this with your zodiac sign and label it. If you don't repost this, you will have a badluck for as long as it says on your description.

Virgo: The Whore
Dominant in relationships. Sexy. Someone loves them right now. Freak in bed. Always wants the last words. Caring. Smart. Intellectual. Attractive. Loyal. Easy to talk to. Hard to forget. Love at first sight. Everything you ever wanted.Easy to please. The one and only. The ultimate sexiness. Great kisser. 7 yrs. of badluck if you don't repost this.

Scorpio: The Lover
Can be mean sometimes. EXTREMELY SEXY. Intelligent.Energetic. Predict future. Most erotic (freak in bed). GREAT KISSER. Always get what they want. Attractive. Easy going. Loves being in long relationships. Talkative. Romantic. Caring. 4 yrs. of bad luck if you don't repost.

Libra: The Sex Addict
Very pretty. Very Romantic. Nice to everyone they meet. Their love is one of a kind. Silly, fun and sweet. Have own unique sexiness. Most caring person you'll ever meet. Amazing in bed!,,did i say amazing in bed?!not the kind of person you wanna fuck with..you might end up crying. The most irresistable. Rare to find. Funny. Talkative. Erotic. Smart. Loves sports. Get's what s/he wants. Loves in a relationship. 9 yrs of badluck if you don't repost this.

Aries: The Sexiest
Outgoing. Lovable. Spontaneous. Not one to fuck with. Erotic. Funny. Take you trips to the moon in bed. Excellent kisser. Extremely Sexy. Loves being in Long relationships. Addictive. Loud. Best in bed.16 yrs. of badluck if you don't repost.

Aquarius: Does it in water
Trustworthy. Sexy. Great kisser. One of a kind. Loves being in long term relationships.Extremely energetic and funny. Unpredictable. Will exceed your expectations not a fighter, but will knock the shit out of you. The best and biggest freak in bed. Considered to be a "G". 2 yrs of bad luck if you don't repost this.

Gemini: Ultra Sexy
Nice. Love is one of a kind. Lover not a fighter, but still knock you the fuck out. Trustworthy. Always happy. Loud. Talkative. Outgoing. VERY FORGIVING. Horny.Freak in bed. Loves to make out. Has a beautiful smile. Generous. Strong. ULTRA SEXY. The most irresistable. 9 yrs. of badluck if you do not repost.

Leo: Wild in Bed
Great talker. Sexy and Passionate. Laid back. knows how to have fun. Is really good at making out. Great kisser. unpredictable. Outgong. Down to earth. Loyal. addictive. Attractive. Loud. Loves being in long relationships. Talkative. Not one to mess with. Rare to find. Great when found. 7 yrs of badluck if you don't repost.

Cancer: Most Amazing Kisser
Very high sex appeal. Great in bed!!. Love is one of a kind. Very Romantic. Most caring person you'll ever meet. Entirely creative. Extremely random and proud of it. Freak in bed. Spontaneous. Great tellin stories. Not a fighter, but will knocks your light out of it comes down to it. Someone to hold on to. 12 yrs. of badluck if you don't repost.

Capricorn: The passionate Lover
Love being in long relationships. Great talker. Always loves to bust. Nice. Sassy. Intelligent. Sexy. predict future. Irresistible. Awesome kisser. Gets what s/he wants. By FAR The best in BED. Very sexy. Loves to own gemini. In sports. Extremely Fun. Loves to joke. Loves to be your first so you will never forget. Smart. 24 yrs of badluck if don't repost.

Taurus: The Freak in Bed
Aggressive. freak in bed. Rare to find. Loves in long relationships. Likes to give a good fight for what they want. Extremely outgoing. Sexy. Loves to help people in times of need. Outstanding kisser. very funny. Awesome personality. Stubborn. Sexual. The most caring person you'll ever meet. One of a kind. Not one to fuck with. Are the most sexiest people in earth. 15 yrs of badluck if you don't repost.

Sagittarius: The Sexy One
Spontaneous. Horny. freak in bed. Great in bed. loves being in long relationships. the one. So much love to give. Not one to mess with. Very pretty. Very romantic. Nice to everyone they meet. There love is one of a kind. Silly, fun and sweet. Most caring person you'll ever meet. Not the kind of person you wanna mess with you might end up crying. 4 yrs of badluck if you don't repost.. Sexy. Loves to help people in times of need. Outstanding kisser. very funny. Awesome personality. Stubborn. Sexual. The most caring person you'll ever meet. One of a kind. Not one to fuck with. Are the most sexiest people in earth. 15 yrs of badluck if you don't repost.

.

2008-03-26T13:40:00.000-07:00

I am currently suffering from menstrual cramps! Man, it's a taste of hell. Pumipilipit na talaga ako kanina. The discomfort sorta eased off. Kaya nga eto, I somehow managed to tickle the keyboards amidst the square one of a perspiring afternoon.

I was busy googling some university's table of fees and all until pain triggered my lower abdomen. It was a squeezing sensation. I curled in agony. Arayyy. Cruciatus curse.

I really hate having my periods. It is one of the dreadful parts, if not the most dreadful, of the female existence and experience. Every girl (and boy) knows that. Say, God altered Eve's anatomy because she was pretty naughty compared to Adam. :)

Hayaan mong ulitin ko. I really hate having my periods.

See, I hate sitting tall. I hate shunning my slouched sitting comforts. Lest, I have to deal with leakages, feeling ultra eeky!disgusting. I hate ending up in the bathroom, washing my undies. I hate getting disturbed if my skirt has some non-geometrical bloodstain. I hate longing for stain removers. I hate wrapping sanitary napkin in scratch papers. I hate depositing scratch-paper-wrapped napkin pads. I hate finding out I do not have enough supply of napkin. I hate borrowing pads from others but no one can lend you an extra. I hate purchasing one in the HS Canteen. I hate that they cannot be availed in the clinic for some, uh, privacy. I hate the bloodflow. I hate limiting my motion. I hate feeling uneasy.

Oh, it's just the way it is. I hate all of it.

Lucky for those who, eh, do not have a "flawed system." Hmmm. Paano ko sasabihin. I was nine when I started with the menstrual cycle. Ang bata pa nga raw. My cycle was very irregular. Like for the next two years, my period lasted for twelve days. That's a lot of blood. :)Sometimes (still true in the past months), I'll be missing my period for a maximum of three months at sobrang impyerno na ng susunod na buwan. Napakastressful ng ganun. Tapos malalaman ko si Jeca hindi man lang kailangan magbaon ng "sandwich-kuno" kasi mahina lang ang discharge niya. Lucky are you, lucky are you.

Marami ata akong nasabing hindi maganda. haha.

***

I was never used to aid myself with any aspirin or ibuprofen. Actually, I do not make an effort to alleviate the stinging. I just coil in torture and rant, rant, rant. Parang ngayon lang.

If men would have a fair share of this pain, in what form would it be? Unfair. Just the way it is. Just the way it is supposed to be :)

what happened.

2008-03-25T21:48:00.000-07:00

I just got home from Ariben's birthday party. :)

Birthay party sounds childish but there were big men and beer cases. Course. haha.

We lodged in the celebrant's (man, i remember Ma'am Maclang! She prefers "celebrator." WAHA.) bedroom. I was sort of surprised to find out that AJ (how hard is it to refer you that way...) was the sole inhabitant of his asylum. I thought Lance and company were already in their place but turned out Jose, Marie and I were the first to come and greet Ariben in person.

Soon, his bedroom was crowded with ten people in the persons of Pao, Patchot, Jehn, Erin, Monique, Derrick, the three early birds and him. The girls got him a birthday cake. Ron gave him a present (download ata), I did not care to check out, delivered by Derrick. Actually, Marie and I thought of buying a cake for Ariben as we met but opted not to since he, anyway, would not thought of the same on our birthdays. How selfish. :)

Nevertheless, my thoughtfulness managed to arise earlier this morning. Aside from the previous blog post (that GIF), I handed to the celebrant my 2-months in use, A Data 2GB USB Flash Drive. I remembered him asking about flash drives yesterday. I jested, "O, sayo na lang 'tong flash drive ko. Mayaman kami." Yes, I was filthy rich. At sadyang bano ka kung kakilala mo ako at naniniwala ka.

Of course, he was like, "Sige, akin na!" But it was just a clear joke until today happened. Aba malay mo sa susunod, pag yumaman na ako. Nangangarap ka ng Porsche at inoffer ko yung akin. Biro lang lahat yun, pero nung birthday mo binigay ko na sa'yo. :) hehe. Malay nga eh, malay mo.

The arrival of Derrick marked uneasiness. At alam ko na sa sarili ko, na kapag umalis ako sa harap ng monitor ni Ariben at lumabas ako ng kwarto eh hindi ko na kayang bumalik pa. Pabalik-balik ang kung sinu-sino sa kwarto ni Ariben. They were all saying, "Kumain na kayo sa labas." With tummies roaring, the celebrant finally resolved (and so did we)that we should already hit the tables. Marie was already hungry then too. But I was smart. I reasoned out that we'll wait for the rest of the lot. But of course, I was simply generating reasons to somehow alleviate the uneasiness I am feeling. Eto namang si Marie, napa-Oo nga. hehe :)

Matagal-tagal din bago nadagdagan yung siyam na bisita ni Ariben. Later on, Sir Mendoza, Jeca, Andrei, Melmari and Zobar came. Wow. I was surprised to see Jeca. Sabi kasi ni Maruh kanina sa Y!m umuwi na raw siya. Like this is the first time I saw her since the pre-program of the Commencement Exercises.

Maya-maya, nagtext na rin si Maruh, nagpapasundo. Jeca and I volunteered to fetch Ruh. Well, if it's the least thing I could do for Ruh since she had a very tiring day at school (lay-out artist, PauliPrism..associate editor, Annual Staff). Ariben and Andrei also came with us.

Pagtapak ko pa lang sa labas ng kwarto ni Ariben, alam ko na, hindi na ako makakabalik dito. Swerte nila, makakagamit na sila ng PC. Hmph.

We walked our way to Petron. There was Maruh with Sir Randale and Ma'am Tubo. Eventually, Ariben invited them to his place.

Jeca and Maruh would only stay for a while so I told them that maybe we could eat already. As I reached the table, I was already quieter than usual. Lutang na. Well yes, I never came back to AJ's room. Since Ruh would pay a visit there to check out the others, I asked her to get my purse.

I traveled back to Sta. Maria alone. Sam was not around. Zobar still had something to finish in the school. Andrei stayed. Lance had just arrived.

The next thing I knew, I was vulnerable. I hate to admit it but I was. I felt I need someone to talk to because I was starting to feel something (and you don't know it! And I won't share it!). I texted Maruh like minutes ago because I wanna tell her something. Marie will be listening and I guess Sam would understand somehow. :)

***

Derrick, Lance, Jevin (he showed up from the vastness of the night when we were eating) and I do not know who else stayed for a sleepover. As usual. Boys' overnight? They always had something going on.

sweet sixteen.

2008-03-25T07:03:00.000-07:00

I demand you to appreciate this! Hindi naman kasi ako magaling sa graphics.

I worked on this like for an hour last night. Matatapos na sana, biglang nag-hang yung Imageready by 11 PM. Kumusta naman yon. I worked on it again this morning. <3,syempre, this was crafted especially for you (and uhm, for the sake of posting even more. haha). :)

ano pa ba? eh di ikaw na may birthday.

2008-03-24T19:50:00.000-07:00

*Text to follow. :) Indulge your eyes.

she bangs!

2008-03-23T20:35:00.000-07:00

I got myself a haircut!

But there was more than the bangs. (oh yeah, you read that right. Like every girl walking before you has that hair before their eyes. Oh fringes. Who would have thought I just joined the bandwagon.)

The story does not lie there.

***

In the course of the Holy Week, I was thinking of getting my hair cut by Easter Sunday. Why not? The last trim I had was last Acquaintance-Disco, way back early July.

My hair is clearly a mess. It's not straight nor curly. I have wavy locks. It doesn't have volume. That's why I do not let my hair down. Ponytail is my official do.

My tresses are seldom attractive. And when it does look good, well, I'm just sooo proud to say that it's all natural. Virgin from hair straightening or perming. But gee, that's seldom.

I envy friends (in the likes of Loi and Rie) for having those effortless gorgeous locks. When can I have those? So I resolved I would probably get a hair treatment. No, not rebonding nor relaxation. Expensive. Most of all, ayokong mag-mukhang sinunog yung buhok ko.

I went to David's at around 3:00 PM today. Ate Carla accompanied me. I decided to get a haircut and a hair spa. Like a month ago, I got my hair assessed for hair spa and they priced it P1500.

Okay so I brought the last of my fortune (pooor :) and treated my unmanageable locks.

Course, I got my hair washed first of all. The next thing, the hairdresser was trimming 2 inches from my wavy tresses. Then, someone put some cream in my hair and got it wrapped in plastic (which I do not exactly know how to refer). The best part was the massage! Always, the best part of the salon visit.

Ate Carla whispered to me, "Parang wala lang yung hair spa." And I was on the rocks of regret. More pricey version of hot oil. Uggh. P1500.

The hairdresser rinsed my hair. Working the fringes follow. The salon experience, course, concluded with a blow-dry. Rocks of regret. I wasted my savings. Shit. Parang nagpablowdry lang ako. Sana nagpagupit lang ako, diba? Karen. Stupid.

It's so hard to let go of P1,610 for a dubious makeover. I was on the counter, handing out the bills to the receptionist/cashier when I realized...

PUTEEEK.

Kulang yung pera ko.

Na-short ako ng P210.00. Nakahihiya. Gusto kong matunaw. Nanliliit ako.

One of us should really make her way home and get money; the other one should be left in the salon. There's no other way to get away with it. If someone has to travel 20 minutes back and forth, that's me.

Flaunting my new hair, I rushed to the jeepney terminal. :)

Para pagtakpan ang kahihiyang nararamdaman ko, pinaglaruan ko na lang yung buhok ko sa jeep. Haaayyy. Kung alam ng mga taong to. "Alam niyo ba, bagong gupit ako, pero 'di pa bayad yan." What a catch.

I really did not know how I managed to pull it off. Kapal ng mukha? Oh, looks like it.

Well, at least I learned a lot of things!

[1] Take time to count how much money you have before leaving the house for out-of-towns, malling, any kada gala or err, salon visits! No matter how last minute the action is, check your wallets, check your pockets. You don't wanna end up like me!

[2] Bring a friend with you if you're not sure to comply with [1]! Hey, I do not really know how will I be able to get away with it if Ate Carla with it. Anyway, if you're a mobile user (heck, I'm not), that's surely useful. Actually, the salon has a landline phone, I could ask someone to rescue me but I'm just not a prima donna.

[3] Do not be a spendthrift! Do not indulge your hair, if you, uhm, do not have a backer (say a glam mom). :)

[4] Be wise where to spend your savings!

[5] Love your tresses. Yes, you can get away with it. Believe in the beautiful side of things.

***

How do I look? Don't ask.

Christ has risen.
Happy Easter, everyone!

T.G.I.S [i]

2008-03-22T02:57:00.000-07:00

I have always rated Tortang Talong with five stars. :)

Of course, the kitchen has always been a pit stop, especially these days since I inhabit the house for a solid 24/7. Yesterday, I was delighted to find out that we have eggplants in the refrigerator. Para akong batang nakakita ng ice cream sa freezer. Well, egg is a staple in our house, so I asked my mommy if I could cook tortang talong for breakfast.

My first attempt to cook a favorite omelette dish did not turn out to be quite successful. Hindi, hindi ako nakasunog. It was just a simple egg and eggplant combination plus a dash of salt pero hindi ako nasarapan eh. Actually, the cooking experience left me with a burn on the left wrist pa. :)

Parang buhay lang, the sufferings you've been through doesn't guarantee victory in the end, but the bruises will heal. Afterall, it was a learning experience.

Ang buhay at ang talong.

Bow.

***

"Oh, and that banner you held up? The one with the numbers? The ranking of colleges? That's so useless, dude. Just accept it. Halos lahat ng pumasa ng ACET, pumasa ng DLSUCET. Sorry if it doesn't work the other way around..:)"

The never-ending battle of blue and green.
(Hindi ako color-blind.)

This is a line from a blog of obviously, an Atenean.

There and then of course, I pondered.

I cannot assess the DLSUCET because I failed to submit my application requirements. "La Salle na lang hindi pa nakapasa," yan ang mga naririnig ko nung unang-una pa lang sa mga nakatatanda. From feedbacks like that, I would of course measure that DLSUCET is a piece of cake.

Kakatapos ko lang mag-ACET no'n, I asked a batchmate how was the DLSUCET. "Grabeee, ang hirap," sabi niya.

Ha? Ano ba talaga?

Sabi naman ng pinsan ko, mahirap din naman daw ang entrance exam ng La Salle kaya lang mas malaking percentage ng examinees ang kinukuha nila. Meaning, DLSUCET is a brain bomb too but student selectivity is looser compared to UP and AdMU.

What way to muse more than checking out threads? Just clicks away. PEx was ever-reliable. Well, of course the forum morphed, as expected, into a bragging outlet. Concerning the difficulty of college entrance tests, here's the stand of the majority in the thread involving the Big Four-kuno (hardest to easiest): [1] ACET; [2] UPCAT; [3] DLSUCET; [4] USTET. Yet, amidst the heated argument, jesting still managed to occur.

acaciatree: bakit ba pilit na kunukumpara ang DLSUCET sa ACET? e yung social climber naming neighbor na nag-Saudi ang Ama (now Daddy na ang tawag) na ga-munggo ang utak nakakuha ng Scholarship sa DLSU.

Bandido: ^^mas grabe pala sa ateneo ....kahit walang utak na tulad mo nakakuha ng scholarship???

acaciatree: mas grabe sa la salle at ust, kahit walang ulo pumapasa.

I don't know if you find it funny, but I do. :) Mabenta kasi sa'kin ung ga-munggo ni Bandido. Baka tuloy maging bukambibig ko na 'to sa mga susunod na araw. :) By the end of the forum, pinagtulungtulungan na yung mga Thomasians. They were picking on the USTET. Irrevelant concepts sprouted and the chief topic went astray.

Managing to collect my thoughts, here's my say: The difficulty of college entrance tests does not entirely reflect the capacity and excellence of schools. Neither do the selectivity in admissions, I guess. It serves as a factor though. So what if a school has an easy-peasy admission test? Maybe they can accommodate more students in their institution. Education is [mutating to be] a business after all. (Summoning Paulinians from SPCB! =>)

Anyway, passing the entrance exam is an entirely different matter from surviving college.

be posting again later.

Thursday was eventful...or I was just extra-talkative? Part II

2008-03-20T22:59:00.000-07:00

It really frustrates me that I cannot write a single paragraph or at least a five-sentenced testimony about my faith. Well, as I greatly pondered, not just on the concept of faith but at things (a LOOOT of thingsss) that scratch a broad spectrum-- say, the Filipino customs or labor migration or my diplomatic stand on Jun Lozada. A malignant frustration. It hammers me hard everytime I come to think of it.

"Miss, you are not a writer."

Tae talaga.

***

I am still stucked with my thoughts yesterday. And subsequently, I've been thinking of Ma'am Maclang :). This woman has a rare gift, a gift of touching one's conscience. Well, why use rare? Simply because not all who tries to capture your conscience (e.g. priest's homily, parent's scolding, friend's advice) activates it.

I would tell a lot friends and classmates how amazed am I that she can actually trigger the inner voice of one's inner self. Her ability to spark one's sense of right and wrong is unmistakable. One would end up telling himself "Oo nga noh" at the very least, and "Ang sama sama sama sama kong tao" at the utmost.

Kaso minsan, chudoinks! Dyahe. Her grammatical errors bursts the bubble sometimes-- veiling a laugh amidst sermon on the mount. :) Her point cannot be broken though. Whether be it in English or Filipino (better off in filipino), what a gift, ma'am!

Steadily on denial, what the... I'm longing for ma'am's words. :)

***

Ngayon pa ako nakapanood ng TV, kung kailan Mahal na Araw.

I was confined in the master's bedroom. The laptop was (sorta) shockingly not enough to treat ennui (I learned the word because of Marie-- sharing.) so I turned on the television. There was no cable line in this room. And you know it, I am lazy so I did not bother to go downstairs so I could watch BasketballTV, JackTV, HBO, AXN etc. Thus, it's either ABS or GMA. GMA was airing some cartoon or anime, (gee, can't remember what was it) then and some Star Cinema movie (I guess).

Guess what? I chose ABS! Haha. And it wasn't just some Star Cinema movie for a lot, referring to fans (well, for me, it was!). Hey, it was a Juday-Piolo movie.

So the story was like this. Juday (I did not bother to remember the character names.) seeks the help of Piolo to find the lost fiancee of her brother which is allegedly with Piolo's friend. Oh I remember a name! Rabbit. Yeah. Rabbit was Piolo's friend who's the new love interest of Juday's brother's fiancee (which happens to be her bestfriend too). Waaw. I knew the story. :)

On a stray thought, I was never mesmerized by Piolo. I only thought Piolo is charming on the mere idea that he has a myriad of fans. Sabi nila makalaglag-panty raw yung gwapo ni Papa P (hala? nakisama sa asosasyon? haha.) pero ewan ko ha. Let's see. Well, if we get to meet. (haha)

Small world, who knows?

***

Torrent, I can't thank you enough! Since January, Bittorrent and uTorrent have been so useful ever. I would really like to take the path of "lawful viewing," but cwtv.com's episode programming service is only limited to residents of the United States. So nobility aside, I resorted to ever-reliable downloading.

I am sooo updated with the season 5 of One Tree Hill! :) The perks of laptop and router-- very timely unexpected present from Daddy.:)

Abroad, OTH airs every Tuesday which means Wednesday in the Phil...I did not care to search how many hours advanced are we. So I download by Thursday and enjoy the episode by Friday.

uTorrent just finished downloading the 12th epi of season 5, OTH's hundredth episode. In seconds, I'll be enjoying.... <3

Credits to Marie, she's always the techie one. She introduced me to Torrent software.

Speaking of Marie, Jose told me via Y!M that she has been texting Rie recently. Oh wait, that wasn't the catch. Marie was replying to Jose's text messages recently. (yaannn) He related that Friend was missing the internet sooo much. I figured. :) haha.

Thursday was eventful...or I was just extra-talkative? Part I

2008-03-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

Like any other fresh high school graduate *slash* incoming college froshie and I, Jose is on the verge of a university dilemma. Of all, I am not expecting anymore somehow that he will be in such a case. He was so fothright (I just learned the word yesterday :>) about it, and accordingly, he was already attached to the thought that he'll be braving the QuarTerm system of Mapua by college. Marie and I were ultra glued to the thought already as Jose will be pushing through our dreams of taking up Multimedia Arts and Sciences (MAS) in MIT. If truth be told, we were exciteeddd for him. LOL.

Jumpthought! Marie and I also took the Scholastic Aptitude Test of MIT. Well, we considered Mapua as an option then because of MAS. A jumpthought in a jumpthought, our Intramuros visits last December and January were kinda memorable and, uhm, educational. :P

But today, he told me his mother was begging him to take the entrance exam of FEU. Because for an instance, he'll be studying there for free if he agrees. Yeah, for free because his mother is returning next school year to teach in the College of Nursing in FEU once again.

Para sa isang bansang may ekonomiyang matamlay, pag-asang namamatay at kaisahang sumpungin, sadyang pangarap na lamang ata ang libre sa buhay. (waaw.yoon.)

Perks? A brand new desktop and a brand new laptop. Not bad for a bribe.haha. That was a joke. :P Kidding aside, it really makes him think twice though. And ++, if he opts to pursue a degree in Nursing, he might get a car as well. Wahaw.

But Jose is loyal to the field of Informations Technology, a car wouldn't do. :) He is even thrilled of the news that Japan is now looking for IT Specialists (course a group of peops he would love to be a part of) even he hasn't even stepped to college yet. I did not knew about that. Uhm, anyway, I have not been a couch potato for sooo looong. Broadcasting the hearsay, I am leafing through his brain waves and I am comprehending that he's very enthusiastic about IT.

So just out of plain musings, I visited the website of FEU. I figured that what place to try than the site of East Asia College so to find out the degree programs in the field of IT. I found pretty easy what I was looking for. It was boxed on the left pane labeled Course Offerings. There were eight courses. Stemming from my initiative to nurse ignorance, I bothered myself. What's the difference of Computer Science to Computer Engineering to Informations Technology? Sure, I am a dumbass. :) I clicked on the keywords but I was soo lazy to absorb the text description. Better off, I'll just ask the class valedictorian on Monday. :P

***

This morning, I swore to myself that I am not eating any sweets. But just when promises are made to be broken, I delighted myself with choko-choko sticks on my way to my Cuzzo's place. I brought back her tank top which well, I wasn't able to use anyway. I caught her in front of the desktop facebooking and multiplying. Okay, I returned her tank top.

Afterwards, I sat beside her and watched her surf. Out of the blue, she told me she was stalking (haha.) the Magalonas' blog and multiply accounts. Yeah, as in the nuclear family of master rapper Francis M. So far, I've seen Maxene's (often referred as Maxx) multiply (but I've visited her page looong ago), then Saab's blogspot and multiply too. Then there's the multiply account of Pia Magalona, the wifey and of course, the padre de familia's own. Even their youngest, Clara (Grade II next school year if I am not mistaken-- as I can remember from my almost 180 minutes of tailing.haha), has her own multiply account. I wasn't able to visit Frank Magalona's (a Candy cutie) page. Actually, I am not sure if he has his own.

And so I was stalking too. :)

Gee. What a cool family. You may want to adopt me. kidding. <3

Oh by the way Cuzzo, if you happen to read this post (anyway, I will tell you to do so or I'll just break the word to you in person. :P), hey, as I was browsing pia magalona's photo pages, maxene has a pair of golas like yours. Gee. There goes the artista-fan treatment, eh? haha. eek. duh. like someone popular's things cannot be yours at hand. I am acting totally gross. Cuss me for this. :)

procession of thoughts.

2008-03-19T23:14:00.000-07:00

It was a starless sky. Well, most probably, there were points of light but the vast heavens were pretty cloudy. Yet, the moon shone luminously on its finest shape. Its manifestation promised to lift chins to secure compliments.

I accompanied my mother and two aunts to join the procession today. Oh okay. Let me restate that. I was more than accompanying my mommy, Tita Baby and Tita Myra; I also opted to participate in the procession.

Let me take you a trip down memory lane. When I was younger, slim and slender (I miss that :) Karen was accustomed to take part in processions every Holy Week. She treads the road of San Vicente and Parada with the rest of Tres Marias, her ever-there cousins, Ate Joy and Ate Carla.

I may have not fully realize back then, but pacing the motorway with a candle stucked in a cardboard at hand was my way of observing the Holy Week. And I guess, I still bear the same reason why I joined the procession four hours ago.

Ate Joy and Ate Carla are now college students. The former hails from Quezon City actually. Tita Baby was waiting for her outside their house. "Nasa NLEX pa raw eh," she breathed with worry. And so, I replied in concern, "Baka hindi na makakasama yun, pagod pa yun eh." Emerging from the dullness of the night, a mademoiselle with long, curly locks came approaching our way. Tita Myra. I asked her, "Si Ate Carla?" "Kakauwi lang eh, pagod," she answered. Okay, no Tres Marias tonight.

The procession sets off in the next barangay, San Vicente. The four of us rode a jeep minimizing sixty minutes of relaxed walking to five minutes of travel. The mass was already in the communion rite when we arrived in the Diocesan Shrine. Anyway, we did not have plans of attending the mass afterall. It was my first time in the place. My mom and my aunts visit rarely. If I am not mistaken, it was just mommy's second time.

The three of them were conversing how idyllic the place is and how lucky are the residents nearby. The moms were comparing our parish and the shrine. Then my own thoughts started rolling. Imagine this. Fr. Vic Robles lifts the host for consecration and suddenly, some vehicle passes by, the driver exercising his democratic rights, claiming the "King of the Road" crown. Fine! You own the track! Eh di sa'yo na yung daan.

Okay, It's plainly my fault if I always get distracted every Sunday in the church. My concentration nerves aren't just good enough, but hey! Talking about drivers who keep bragging their horns! One of the most irritating things ever. If someone has to fine them everyday, or even jail these self-proclaimed road royalties for a month, just to remind them A MASS IS GOING ON, A SACRAMENT IS BEING CELEBRATED, so be it. They have to learn the ABCs of courtesy.

My mind was activated from that moment on. And I really thought of blogging. :)

After the shrine tour, we walked our way to the place where people started assembling. I passed by a karo, and whoa! Mother Mary smelled like Clinique Happy Heart.

It was already 7:30 evening and the 7:00 PM procession has not started yet. The four of us pleasured ourselves with a conversation. Our exchange of thoughts flowed from driving lessons, to Dr. Luciano, to orthodontists, to the Perezes. We arrived to glutathione and calamansi, the hell I dunno how. The next minute, people started lining up and our, uhm, girl talk terminated.

This time, I was not holding a candle jammed in a piece of cardboard. Wax started dripping to my right hand but I did not let out an ouch (neither an aray. hehe). I was 80% numb, frozen to my deep pondering. My class adviser and RE teacher must have been proud of me, I was sincerely reflecting, and well, examining my conscience.

I was observing the people surrounding me because, I guess, most of us no longer understood DEEPLY what we were there for. If I asked those people one by one regarding the essence of the procession, I think my anxieties would not be alleviated nor my question be answered. Well, who am I to doubt? so, I am not trusting faith testimonies anymore? I do not know actually. I guess because no one seems to be helping me unearth clarity? My mind is all cluttered with random thoughts of faith. My sentences are not even organized. All throughout the procession, I was struggling with these thoughts.

I am living a hollow spiritual life right now.

I need my Religious Education teacher/Class Adviser.

17 years and still counting.

2008-03-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

fatman. . .phuk yoo. =)

i can't breathe!

2008-02-24T10:19:00.000-08:00

K: may papagawa ka pa?

N:....

K: may papagawa ka pa?

N: ....

K: may papagawa ka pa?

N: bakit ba? ano bang gagawin mo?

K: sabi mo ayaw mo dito. eh di sa ibang bahay.

N: eh di umalis ka na! magpaalam ka sa ama mo!

i'm starting to feel extremely crappy and disgusted about my ho..hom...house. can't breathe! i need oxygen! oxygen is only confined within my room... and of course outside the area of 763.

2008-02-21T21:48:00.000-08:00

Amidst a casual conversation...

eryka peralta: teka

eryka peralta: newsflash lang

karen mirano: go

eryka peralta: kung hindi mo pa nababalitaan, FIRST PLACE si GIDO sa NATIONALS!

WOW.

Congratulations Gian Dominique S. Francisco!

Gido, a friend and a classmate (I hope he doesn't mind considering!) champed the Sports Writing Event in the National Press Conference!

Way to go, E-I-C!

Soooo proud!

FOUR YEARS, SIX MONTHS, TWO DAYS

2008-02-19T19:35:00.000-08:00

I don't know who I am anymore or how I got here.

I miss who I used to be.

I wanna have my home again, you know.

And real friends, you know?

The kinds of friendships we used to believe in.

I miss that.

And I miss you.

I guess I just miss all of it.

-PEYTON SAWYER

PERSONIFIED HOPE.

2008-02-18T23:18:00.000-08:00

Way back in grade school, I believe Trisha and I are friends. So to add, our mothers are friends too. We became classmates in first grade. She is sandwiched between Carmina Fernando and Aprille Maleficio in our class picture; I am located in her northeast. But it doesn't really matter how often we were housed in a classroom together.

I remember our phone call conversations. I remember how we talked about our moms. I remember how the news came to me that she was diagnosed with cancer.

Days have passed by without her treading the corridors, sitting in a wooden armchair, sheltered in the cradle of St. Paul School of Sta. Maria. I don't think I have noticed at all. On the other hand, she must be thinking of herself treading the corridors, sitting in a wooden chair, sheltered in the cradle of St. Paul School of Sta. Maria-- she must be thinking of it everytime.

I can clearly recall how she surfaced in the limelight during our Graduation day. She walked, reached for the directress' hand, received her diploma, stood still and took a bow like any other student of the Centennial Batch. She was given a well-deserved round of applause. It lasted for seconds but that touchstone encompassed a lifetime.

After that occasion, I hardly heard anything about her.

Sundays. I remember seeing her family and her after masses. She flashes a weak smile everytime our eyes meet. Paradoxically, her strength never fails to radiate everytime.

Seeing her small frame, you can feel how much she has gone through and sympathize. Moreover, you admire her and get inspired.

I did not have a hint that she came back to school this year. I was not surprised to see her last June afterall. I was happy to see her. Working behind the red curtains during the Acquaintance-Disco, I felt the same happiness when I saw her in line with the transferees and freshmen. She wore an elegant gown I see in fairytales. I felt maternal love on the spot. I remembered how I loathed the Acquaintance Party I am supposed to enjoy and here she is enjoying, as how it should be, what I missed. That was the last time I saw her. They said she attended the JS Prom. That was the last time I was supposed to see her.

Someone's death reminds me of mortality. It never fails to remind me how short life is, how hopeful life is. It never fails to remind me how may days I've sulked, how many weeks I've taken for granted, how many months I've squandered and how many years I've wasted.

Throughout her battle, Trisha was a personified hope to those who have heard of her story.

I am never knowledgeable how much you have been through or how much your family has been through, but I am omnisciently claiming that I know you have indeed fulfilled your purpose. You deserve to breathe sans the worldliness in His loving arms.

deviant and promising

2008-02-16T18:22:00.000-08:00

The windows of your soul just set on the REAL DEAL.
This is a deviation by a friend.
Click here to visit here deviantart account and find more magnum opuses.

See, she posts once in a blue moon. The two of us are pretty sluggish in terms of site*acct maintenance (greatly opposite MARUH's overrated "social utility" account).

Anyway, substance is worth the wait.

*Happy Birthday Ronald Joaquico. Oh I just know it's your day. I know a lot. Haha. Kidding aside, hey Mr. Senior 2008 I think (from what the lot has been telling me) your outfit last Prom Night was oh so oozing with confidence. Gee, I missed your heavenly get-up. :)*

tanong: pumunta ka ba nung prom? hindi kita nakita eh. sagot: di ako umattend, wala akong pera.

2008-02-16T03:15:00.000-08:00

See, I shouldn't be blogging at this very moment. I should be in a different spacetime.

At this very moment, I should be wearing a sophisticated ball gown whose length wouldn't touch my toes. My marble round windows should have been accentuated, thanks to the flirty inventors of eyeshadow. . My locks should have been flaunted. All these remain to be "Shoulds."

At the very least, I can say I became a part of the refined evening in my own way. Eh bakit nga ba kasi ako di aatend? Hey on the first place, missing prom is nothing but my idea. Let me tell you why.

I am missing my friends right now. Hell, I am sure Jeca looks stunning tonight. More than turning heads, I know she's breaking necks. *whoa :)* So how do my guy friends look like? I know I just have to change those chinese collars to suits but I can barely imagine. I asked doodles Rommel to send me a pic of his get-up three hours before the soiree. Nice. Just how I want a man to be dressed- turtle neck + suit. Unquestionably, I know he looks handsome and charming tonight in his all black do. And speaking of all black, I remember Ariben mentioning that he'll be in an all get-up too. Black looks good. waaa. sooo passé.

Days ago, I guess I do not know what I am missing. Well hours ago, I guess I know what I am missing somehow.

THE FIFTH MEMBER.

2008-02-09T21:19:00.000-08:00

A J plays ball.

naisip ko lang...

2008-02-09T04:24:00.000-08:00

It's pretty amazing how people enter your life infiltrated by entropy. The arrival and departure of people from silly to coincidental manners is nothing but one of the sugars and spices of life.

Sometimes, it doesn't matter how surreal their entrances were, or how graceful their exits came. You may not have realized so but the vital part is these people you meet, in one way or another, have made the tiniest to the largest impacts in your life. They will forever be encapsulated in your witty memory.

There's always a choice of keeping of them or not; there's always their choice of staying or not. Afterall, you are not always choosing to keep someone. You also tend to choose to break out and leave someone. The same way, your arrival in someone's life is just as heartwarming like how someone's departure is heartbreaking.

Lives. Lives. The interconnection is simply amazing.

One Tree Hill Season 5, Episode 2. Racing Like a Pro

2008-02-06T17:15:00.001-08:00

The rest of your life is a longtime.

And whether you know it or not, it isbeing shaped right now.

You can choose to blame yourcircumstances on fate, or badluck, or bad choices or you can fightback.

Things aren't always gonna be fair inthe real world, that's just the way it is.

But for the most part, you get whatyou give.

Let me ask you all a question: what'sworse, not getting everything you wish for or getting it but finding out it'snot enough?

The rest of your life is being shapedright now.

But the dreams you chase, the choicesyou make and the person you decide to be, the rest of your life is a long timeand the rest of your life starts right now.

-Haley James-Scott

unexpected

2008-02-05T20:18:00.000-08:00

I totally suck at writing poems. Well, I was not really born to craft a winning declamation piece or melt people's heart. I'm just not good at stringing words together, rhyming words so to speak.

Words won't just bud from my brain. Okay. Let me restate that. Sane words won't just bud from my brain. Would you consider "flower-power" lucid? Everytime I try to make a poor attempt to be a poet laureate, this pair of rhyming words automatically flows from my neurons. Hell, I do not know why! Some involuntary nerve I obtained from third grade? I guess. Not a purely absurd presumption afterall. I, if truth be told, learned flower-power, an overrated rhyming words example, in third grade.

Casing her indispensable absence, my English teacher left a seatwork I never looked forward to. The class was instructed to make a poem inclined with a paradox, metonymy or allusion. Oh men! Did you just say another poem? Oh well, the previous poems I have made in my life are all, without doubt, for the sake of passing a seatwork, project, portfolio, assignment or quiz. What's the difference afterall?

It was a topic of free will. Anything under the sun. And anything under the sun makes my head blunter. I was very much on lethargic mode. I doubted if I can finish one by the end of the hour. I was purely loitering and amidst my idle stroll, I saw my classmates working on the seatwork. It was a thwarted feeling. So, they are working on the seatwork huh? Well, I am not!

But my stand-in kept getting bothered. Di ba talaga ako gagawa? English is the last subject I wanna mess up with, really. At talagang patigasan. I am not passing a seatwork by the end of the period, or even by the end of the day. Afterall, Miss Carpio might just let it pass if I pass one tomorrow. Anyway, the class president to whom the seatwork was given to was pretty much on a sluggish state, I can say.

But I waked up today remembering that I did not finish any poem last night. I have not even started a single line! In the course of the day, I was all bothered... just bothered. I tried skipping recess so I could work on this upsetting seatwork. But I can't just turn down the company of my friends. :) I allowed myself to accompany them in the canteen with my pen and paper. I did not buy anything to feed myself because I was too focused to finish, uhm, or should I say, start a poem. Thirty minutes passed by...guess what? Course, I wasn't able to germinate a line.

The only thing that consoles me is English is the last hour of the day. Anyway, I still have lunch. I will have finished that by lunch. But then again, lunch passed. And the recess in the afternoon passed. I was in the point of return.

Nice try miss, the disturbia brought you nowhere. We arrive to the final
hour and accept it, you did not finish, and again have not even started, a poem
inclined with a paradox/metonymy/allusion.

Miss Carpio finally asked the class president for the outputs yesterday. To her dismay, there were only a few papers submitted to her. Not even the one to whom she had entrusted the seatwork complied. And there goes the blah...blah...blah...the scolding went on. The next thing I knew, we, who did not care to finish a line (I cared actually! I just wasn't...aarggh.), were standing. We were asked to finish a poem within the period. Same instructions. Just this time, we have to squeeze the words out standing.

Suddenly, I was Isaac Mendez. Like how his fingers started to paint a magnum opus, my pen started scribbling words I did not know where the hell did they come from. Really, I would love to share you the work of miracle that happened hours ago but sadly, I lost my draft (see, I'm very good with losing things.)

I approached the table and I passed my work. Out of nowhere, she told me she handpicked me to represent the school for poem-writing in the 5th National Science Congress. Dude. I really wanna explode a boisterous laugh that very moment but I managed to emit a modest smile.

The incident wouldn't really give a good hard laugh, but afterall ain't it hilarious? :) It was pretty funny for me.

I said no. Of course, I do not trust my poetic skills (oh so do I have them? :P). I insisted that I would just work for the school paper. I was even sent to the office of the HS Academic Chairman so to plead that I am not in any chance joining the tilt. He was very dismayed with my spirit. I springed all the reasons I can come up with no matter how flattering the words he says of me. Well, being a delegate means paying the fee. And I am not paying the fee! I insisted that I will just work for the newsletter, the least thing that I could do for the science meet.

By the end of the day, I turned down the opportunity. It could have been a very good risk though. But being the first choice to compete for poem-writing, it was pretty silly, but it was more than I could ever think of. :)

So I do not suck at all. :)

To all heaven-sent viewers and mind-blowing passers-by:

2008-02-02T19:05:00.000-08:00

SORRY FOR THE EXTREME UGLINESS AND INSANITY.

THIS SITE IS UNDER DEEP CONTEMPLATION AND UNFATHOMABLE CONSTRUCTION.

ANYWAY, WHY DON'T YOU MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR VISIT? IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA TO DROP BY MY CBOX. MINGLE WITH THE ADORABLE SUNSHINE ITEM BELOW, BLOW ME AWAY AND SPEAK YOUR MIND.

--aakaren*.

for YUH.

2008-02-02T18:38:00.000-08:00

I wrote this essay like six months ago. This is my ADMU Essay in response to their application requirements. Working on this (meaning deciding what topic to expound, dealing with the pressure to catch the eye of a blue eagle and all ++) denoted a brain bomb. Absolute.

I dedicate this post to one of the sparkling gems (how did I come up w/ that?haha.) in my insane-sane-insane-sane life, Maruh. ( Friend, it's worth the link, hey, you've got an exposure, see? :D ) You made me post this.
***
Are there any significant experiences you have had, or accomplishments you have realized, that have helped to define you as a person?

I learned the other day that a classmate from grade school is now a Cadet Major in their school and the Corps S2 of their batch. Hearing anything CAT makes my heart twinge and smirk. I wonder and ponder; does she have a similar life?

Candidate Officer Leadership Training (revised C.O.C.C. in my school) practically changed my life. From being the remorseful latecomer for two years, I morphed to a patron of public transportation and a fan of punctuality. For the love of being early, I allowed myself to get hit by a tricycle that I limped for a month. I endured and survived three-month pumpings with an injured limb. I wore pigtails that made me bear out dreams of being Baby Spice. Placard served as a year round nametag. I shouted a nine-letter codename from extremely humdrum to exceptionally thrilling formations. Hanay became a household name. 7/11 served my gastronomic wants and needs. I lost the so-called friends but the unfeigned have stayed. I obtained the best circle of friends. I lost family ties. I was not in good terms with my mother often times. I enjoyed the clique of quitters and uncovered the tales and goodness of quitting. I disgusted the word “Unity.” I offended and got offended. The bosses brought me into a hurdle to choose between the High School Board of Students and Citizenship Advancement Training. Taking me to insanity, a class of good riot and unforgettables fostered me. I cried the hottest tears and flashed the coldest grins. These all happened for eight treasured months.

Last 26th of May, eleven hard slaps hit my face concluded my eight-months sojourn. It was the final station of six days of physical challenges, mental check-up and emotional hell. C.S. Lewis captured the alpha-omega relationship on the last page of the Chronicles of Narnia, his seven-book children’s fiction series: “For us this is the end of all stories…But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world…had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story.” Yes, it marked the end of the COLT and marked the beginning of a far bigger responsibility.

My fellow officers and I were under observation for two months before our final ranks and designations are unleashed. I have been appointed officer-in-charge several times together with my mates. I heard the call for deep perseverance and elevating optimism. Design and submit a comprehensive Summer Training documentation, construct the activity plan and facilitate an overnight Leadership Training for a hundred students, work on the physical arrangement of the Acquaintance-Disco— these tasks were handed out to me at my most favorite package— surprise.

Even before the strike of the school year, I already had a deadline to meet. It’s funny to think I have not even met my teachers who will kill me with projects yet I have to work tirelessly in front of the monitor. A day before the opening of classes, I have to offer my crib to my mates to cradle all the paperworks.

Haggard, I have confused myself with activity and productivity. I thought knowing my purpose would simplify and focus my life. Maybe, I tried to do more than God intended for me.

I told you. I disgusted the word “Unity.” We are sixty three in the unit, yet, there are only few that get pissed, bothered and hassled over and over again. And these are the people I love. These are the people I work with at sleepless nights and no-time-for-recess days. I curse those unconscious people and they curse me back. I got myself a mortal enemy and chums convert to users and backstabbers. On the other hand, I love to beam that arrogant smile for the lagi-na-lang-kayo compliments from the Commandant.

Outside the unit, the so-called friends did not run out of queries. I did not explain. Friends will understand and foes will not believe anyway. I love the circle I have now. My mother never understood and never supported that made me cry because she did not ever. Nevertheless, I am thankful that she has been continually permissive.

CAT is more than the formations, the marchings, the rifles and the commands to me. I saw more beyond the principles of commitment, discipline and leadership.

CAT is a family. I have treated my mates the best brothers and sisters I could ever have. And so the feeling is mutual. We may not be related by birth, marriage or adoption but the bonds generated are as strong as or even stronger than those. They have been the best partners in crime and the best shoulders to lean on. Our Commandant is next to our fathers. He never failed to show us love.

CAT is a quest. It was a search for self-identity. Nathan Scott quoted, “Stepping up. It's a simple concept. It basically means to rise above yourself; to do a little more, to show you something special.” Yes, I learned to step up and stand tall. When my heart will break again, I’ve got to fight like hell to make sure I’m still alive and kicking. The pain, confusion, fear and insecurity are all self-imposed. No one learns to walk by taking only the first step. I should not be afraid. I am a tough cookie.

CAT is a learning experience. Everyday is an investment to wisdom and knowledge. I always like to give the name experience to my mistakes. I have learned that you become effective by being selective. I have distinguished friends from companions. I realized to loosen up my buttons and don’t live by the opinion of others. I understood the reason they pull you down is because you are above them. I developed the love for work. I have contemplated over that pessimism is a waste of life. I discovered that laughter is not far behind tears.

I still leave the house before the sun opens it eyes. I still pass by 7/11 to serve my cravings. I still have the silliest “best friends.” I still get scolded by my mother over misunderstood matters. I am busy and people find my lifestyle pathetic. The emotional saga extends. If my classmate from grade school lives exactly the same life, I don’t know if she’ll be happy, but I am.

I am a CAT Officer. Two hours from now, I will be inaugurated as Cadet Major Mirano, Karen Anne A. - Corps Executive Officer. This is my story.

***
I told you, I wrote this like six months ago. Things have changed. Some strings of this ____(crap?) are now obsolete, some still beautifully existing. Nevertheless, I cannot change the fact that the essay was passionately crafted-- 100% true, 100% heart.

(hours after this post, I thought of some persons who really loathed me for my CO Experience so I deleted this then. But turned out, nabasa niya na pala. I don't have to be bothered anymore. So here I am (yes I am this essay) again.)

january 13.

2008-01-28T22:06:00.000-08:00

I started writing this strings of soppiness last 14th of January. Due to spoiled enthusiasm and disgust (oh yes, the feelings ran through my veins at the same time- the enthusiasm to write about my disgust), I failed to work on this filaments of thoughts until tonight. See, I really want to chronicle (as much as I can) my 2008 so I finished this crap. :)

"Inquirer po."

Every Sunday, I splurge P20.00 to buy a Philippine Daily Inquirer, my cheap yet wealthy (how ironic is that!) pleasure. Firing up late November 2007, I started the habit to nurse my ignorance and to feed my mind. It's a W-I-S-E investment afterall.

After the 6:30 mass, my feet automatically direct me to corner where stacks of paper reside. This is the pwesto of an old woman who I knew all my life as the "old woman who sells newspaper." Yes, all my life. I never knew anyone in Barangay Parada who attended my need of news clippings in grade school.

Uhm, no. Not a family affair, you see. I don't have a father who unbolts his morning sitting in a lazyboy, reading a broadsheet that entirely covers his face with a cup of coffee waiting in the side table. The habit (which I wish to sustain until ...) is a self-medication to current events paucity. It's all me.

***

THE DISAPPOINTMENT.

More than the 18th birthday of my beloved cuzzo, I did not see any other thing to celebrate that day. The day kicked off pretty ordinary. I was following my usual Sunday morning ceremonies. Attend mass- check. Buy Inquirer- check. Cook breakfast- check.

After serving breakfast, I surfaced to my room and changed to airy clothes. Read the newspaper is next on the program. Lying on the bed, I grabbed the newspage. Usually, my fingers would immediately jump to the editorial page to hear from Isagani Cruz, Rina Jimenez-David, Justice Artemio Panganiban and Patricia Evangelista. This time around, I decided to begin the marathon no where else but the startiing line-- A1. I fixed my eyes to the banner headline. . . and so news articles from succeeding pages followed.

Local execs blame solons for falling share of taxes. Machine-readable passport app'ts allowed via internet.

Well you see, I don't read everything though. As much as I would want to care (or be interested at the very least), no article seemed to catch my attention anymore.

NBI summons 5 accused of manhandling Bunevacz

Ting! (eyes affixed, glued to the article) I d u n n o why I give a damn 'bout this shit. Pure shit, you see. I knew about the issue since it's a show business material (on an entirely different approach). Okay, I admit, lumaki nga akong nanonood ng showbiz talk shows, yeah maybe I give a damn (pure damnation, M A D N E S S!!!) concerning David Bunevacz and Beverly Hills 6750. At malamang sa malamang, chismosa talaga ako kaya this article fought the ennui that was eating me whole. (kung 'di mo kilala si David at sobrang hindi mo maintindihan ang sinasabi ko, visit this link.hehe)

But L O O K, just when I thought this article was just the bessttt deal to save me from blahs and blues, the real deal came ascending on the least expected turn.

Just beside the Bunevacz article:

UPCAT RESULTS ARE NOW ONLINE.

My mind snapped out of absent-mindedness. Thanks to adrenaline rush, I rushed to the kitchen and informed mommy. Sweat wanting to come out, heart thumping so loud, I was screaming in silence.

....

...

PAK.

...

....

My beloved cuzzo, AB Journalism in UPd, dashed to our front door. "Hindi ko mabuksan samin(pertaining to the database of UPCAT results)," sabi niya. My mom answered her, "Hindi siya nakapasa, sa Los Banos lang."

Just like what I mentioned earlier, the day kicked off pretty ordinary. Perhaps, there was nothing to celebrate more than the debut of my beloved cuzzo. There's NONE, certainly NONE.

***

YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, DO YOU?

When someone asks me if I passed the UPCAT, I answer as if printed in my DNA, "Hindi nga eh (++twinges and frown muscles)."

At times when I fly from depression, the thought enters my mind: hey, I still passed. I just didn't passed (ano?!). Failing Diliman equates failing everything UP to me. I'm lost for words, UP pa rin ang UP Los Banos pero di siya UP Diliman.

remote, standoffish, reserved, indifferent, distant, detached, unfriendly, cold, unapproachable, proud, snooty *

2008-01-04T20:48:00.000-08:00

My torpor has worked wonders for me.

You know, I have been tagged by persons from teachers to not-so strangers as someone indifferent to insensitive because of my indolence. But then, my deficiency of excitement, physical and mental energy, or anything embracing the adrenaline was nothing but my salvation.

I was redeemed from emotional breakdowns and disgraceful aftermaths. I have been rescued from the social stress and social thorns; though I know in my brain (and in my heart?) that I have not been emancipated from infiltrating conflicts and penetrating pressures. I am just so fortunate that I am so nonchalant!

Actually, iniisip ko rin kung naduduwag lang ako. Alam niyo na, clichés-- indulgence in fantasies to escape reality, superb fraud, pretending not to be hurt, playing tough enough. Gee. Di ako yun. I may not have a degree in Psychology but I feel sharp that I understand intelligently the difference of escapism and torpor*insensitivity.

But see, the COMMON DENOMINATOR is SELF-PRESERVATION.

So much for my mind-blowing aloofness that I doubt, got through your neurons (I guess I’ve said much, but I think I was still too vague for anyone, or someone **,)

Christmas Charade.

2007-12-25T00:07:00.000-08:00

It is a wonderful morning in the seat of a low tide. Whilst the sun kisses her chubby cheeks, she whiffs the smell of sea breeze. The cool wind dances with her wavy locks. Her pearl white slippers frolic with the sand and rocks as her feet direct her to the comely shells. She reaches the top of the dike and stands on the edge. Like wings ready to fly, she frees her hand and throws it in the air, surrendering to the restful clouds. It’s Christmas Day; she couldn’t help but feel blessed in bliss.

Pictures have captured these memories. These are nothing but extracts of my early Christmas morning last year. I spent the holidays in Dulangan, San Luis, Batangas— my daddy’s hometown. My lola came home from Chicago. My gift (well, everyone in the family’s gift) won’t be any sweeter than to hang around for her to make her stay worth while.

As October was about to end, my lolo passed away. His passing brought us (bloodline in the father side) together for Undas. You see, my lolo’s cremated remains were still abroad. When my lola arrived later this November, she has the urn with her. The urn was buried in the grotto in their house. Yet again, another meaningful gathering. Since her stay is only good until the 20th of January, it was instinctive for my family to celebrate Christmas in the hearty cradle of Batangas.

How kind. Plans were crystal clear and five days before Christmas, I’ve got CHICKEN POX.

The miserably ludicrous manifestation of the Varicella virus successfully trashed my Christmas vacation plans. My 20-day holiday break (see, I kicked off my school escape a day earlier. I missed the last day dated 2007 in the school calendar [read: Christmas Party]. **,) is also very suitable to shed off extra pounds. I dead pigged out this year, and well, I thought I just got the interlude to unscramble my weight struggle. But since I will surely feel extra-icky and itchy after an hour of workout, I postponed my shed-off slim-down plans. Oh well, talking about spoilers! But see, I am not in any chance devastated considering my laughably pathetic state.

I am not sure if I am allowed, or just if it’s right that I feel this way, but I feel very funny. Look, this is a very unusual Christmas for me. And yes, I guess for my mommy and my siblings too. My mom and my sister are in Batangas since the 23rd. My dad is in Saudi Arabia— for myriads of light-years. And I am stucked in our Christmas spirit-free home with my brother, who is by the way, no where in my path because he is doubted to be protected from me, from Chicken Pox.

I just feel so….FUNNY. This December 25 is so different from the last 14 December 25s of my life. My contagious state spelled out alterations. No presents. No aguinaldos. No greetings (I assume greetings from friends will be through text messaging but my phone is not accessible for six days now.) No hams. Not even any staple celebration food. No Christmas mass tomorrow. No Mommy. No Icka.

I guess I am not allowed to search out for sympathy. Remembering the families of Jonas Burgos and Geraldine Palma, I should never ever feel deprived of normalcy of the holidays— and I never felt so. I am not down nor depressed.

For the third time, I feel super funny. Nakakatawa, nakatutuwa. Inabutan na ako ng Pasko sa computer.

Merry Christmas.

an inconvenient truth

2007-12-23T23:56:00.000-08:00

The heavenly promo of a telecomm company practically functioned as the lifeblood of a republic where the rate of hitting the keypad is faster than the rate of metabolism. It has been a six-day plague for individuals of my extreme opposite. I have not really fostered a perpetual connection with my mobile phone.

While hundreds of folks carry the termination of unlimited text messaging as a national jeopardy perilous than global warming, the skin lying over my scapula felt from itchy to flaming scratchy. I grabbed my phone and took a snap of what my undulating eyes cannot catch a glimpse of. Is this a zit? The screen displayed a picture of an inflamed blemish skin. My nose is bursting with blackheads and my face gets extra glistening oily sometimes but I hardly ever obtain zits. I feel qualms for my unblemished back, well, which is now spoiled thanks to an inconsiderate zit. . .it couldn’t be more than a zit!

The tagteam of a scorching headache and an involuntary lethargy constrained me to bed. I guess this collaboration commissioned my alarm clock as an accomplice. And they were hell good. It was now impossible for me to complete the Misa de Gallo. I heard no alarm and when I came to my senses, I guess the fifth of nine Eucharistic celebrations is now on the second liturgy. However, a wish assured to come into being by fulfilling the nine holy chilly mornings (or nights) was certainly not my motivation in attending the Simbang Gabi. I could still attend the remaining four masses, I said to myself.

Five days before Christmas, I had to leave my hackneyed habitat to meet my classmates and make a colossus-worth project in Electronics. I was feeling very ill but I have to make up to them and well, do my part in the project. My head was dead throbbing as if a lightning scar is engraved in my forehead and You-Know-Who might just have resurrected, or well, there was still an eighth Horcrux. I compelled myself to take a bath and prepare myself. As I was bathing, my attention on the burning sensation in my head detoured to a swollen spot in my left arm…and then there were spots. I found another two in my abdomen. I can tell they were blisters— swollen, painful, fluid serum. But I won’t tell myself. I don’t want to get bothered but actually, panic levels were starting to rise as I was feeling equally scratchy and lumpy in my scalp and in my forehead.

The project-making kuno was a day filled with hilarious tête-à-tête and sidesplitting laughter. This group did not fail that day to radiate good hearty laughs which made me survive my uneasy state. Lest I guess, I will perish owing to the throbbing phenomenon in my head and the heavy discomfort of itch. It was almost eight in the evening when I got home. The nasty truth confronted me as my eyes feasted on my miserable back and abdomen. I’ve got chicken pox.

renaissance.

2007-12-23T22:56:00.000-08:00

I have not written for gazillion years. Sayang. Kung may writer mettle lang sana ako at playwright disposition, I could have written about the 23^rd of August, mixed signals, entrance exams, burning bridges, indifferent state and my hypolactasiac fingernails.

2007 is such a colossus year! How could I not publish everything from the mundane episodes to the learning experiences!

At this point, I have started to hit the keyboards but I still feel ugly. Actually, I feel nothing more than expelling my uncertainty. And as my uncertainty is revealed, my insecurities exude. Running behind are my frustrations which bring us back to the alpha- I have not written for gazillion years.

And there were nine sentences. Sweet.