From "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants", Ann Brashares

Maybe happiness didn't have to be about the big, sweeping circumstances, about having everything in your life in place. Maybe it was about stringing together a bunch of small pleasures. Wearing slippers and watching the Miss Universe contest. Eating a brownie with vanilla ice cream. Getting to level seven in Dragon Master and knowing there were twenty more levels to go.

Maybe happiness was just a matter of the little upticks- the traffic signal that said "Walk" the second you go there- and downticks- the itch tag at the back of your collar- that happened to every person in the course of the day. Maybe everybody had the same allotted measure of happiness within each day.

maybe it didn't matter if you were a world-famous heartthrob or a painful geek. Maybe it didn't matter if your friend was possibly dying.

Maybe you just got through it. Maybe that was all you could ask for.

--page 282

Whoever said that Love only comes from the heart was lying. It also comes from the kitchen.

I cooked dinner today-- sopas (for non-Filipinos, it's a milky macaroni soup) and fried chicken. I love to cook and bake. I really do. My father and my sister said that it's like my mother's version of sopas so that's a very very good sign! I hope I am a successor of her great cooking because as tough or as cosmopolitan womanish I may be, I like the domesticated female role-- you know, baking and cooking and taking care of the family. But not to keep my future husband's hopes up, I don't think I'll ever settle down to be a housewife because I like keeping busy (i.e. WORK!) no matter how tempting the bumming and being bored seems.

My mother really knows how to cook and bake. Everyone loves her for that (among many other reasons, of course!). All of my friends love her brownies. And when I say all of my friends-- friends from every school I went to and that's like four! Isn't that just great? She's famous for her brownies, chocolate cake, and orange-cheese chiffon cake. Oh, lets not forget the custard cake too! So you must understand why this family loves food-- we grew up being fed like guinea pigs of my mom's cooking-- we were the testing guinea pigs. Or maybe you should scratch out the "guinea" part and leave the "pig" part. Like this one time when she tried out a new recipe of cinnamon rolls. She baked two dozens and when they were hot off the oven, my sister and I finished the whole batch in one day. It was so good we couldn't stop eating. There was also a time when she tried baking fresh ensaymadas from scratch. Again, my sister, my father, and I finished the whole batch. And it was supposed to be "not good", according to her, because it was her first time to try the recipe.

My childhood consists of a lot of memories of Mama's baking. She'd be in the kitchen all day preparing snacks for us or for family friends. Our birthday parties (we used to throw BIG ONES in our garden all our childhood lives) were not catered. They were all cooked by Mama and as expected, the birthday spread would be very very delicious from pasta, spring rolls, to the chocolate cupcakes and birthday cake. Yezzah. We were (and still) well fed!

I want my future children to have that. Mama did not only bake or cook food out of nothing. As cheesey as it may sound, I actually know what it really means when they say that food should be made from love. Mama's baking and cooking were all sprinkled with love and we shower her praises to show her our appreciation for her labor of love. She knows that I am her biggest fan when it comes to her baking and cooking. Whenever I see her in the kitchen preparing a meal I'd tell her that it's hard to diet when I have her as a mother. And she smiles everytime she hears that. I think it is from our faces, which are full of hearty appreciation and love for her food, that she gathers the inspiration to cook/bake more even if it's a really tiring task.

And I know this for a fact because today after more than an hour of cooking dinner it was really tiring but the end result and the appreciation of those who ate what I have prepared was enough to make me want to cook for people again.

A Weekend at the Car Show (Silvercity Auto Mall)

Hello, there! I had a verryyyy long ass weekend because of the car show. We had to be there for about 10 hours on both Saturday and Sunday and it was soooo exhausting. YES! Sitting down for HOURS can be exhausting and the place was badly air-conditioned so yeah, it was EXHAUSTING. I'll stop being repetitive now.

I didn't need to pay for entrance because of this:




There were so many entries (CARS!!) and I thought it was crowded at first. I had a great time hanging out with Alej and his Revtech friends (they won 6 awards, by the way, including 3rd place as Best Car Club or something hehe).




This picture is funny because the guy on the right was posing beside the car beside this old school Mustang that I ♥. I was waiting and waiting for him to finish posing but it took him soooo long! I WANT A MUSTANG, A RED ONE.

Day 1:
- Ais was at the car show with Gelo. We got to hang out from noon till night. I had fun and didn't get bored because we talked, went around, talked, and went around some more. At night we went to Go Nuts Donuts at the Hypermart in front of Silvercity because we wanted airconditioning that wasn't provided by faulty split-type airconditioning. And then we moved to Tiendesitas, went around some more, and I met up with Alej's family because it was Angela's birthday dinner. We had a very LOOOOOONG table that was set right smack in the middle of the front of the stage. It was like a wedding banquet or something. HAHA!

And then I lost my vanity kit with the only make-up I wear and liked and then poof. I left it at the rest room while Ais and I went there earlier. I only realized it after two hours. TWO HOURS!

Went back to the car show and hung out at the booth my sister and friends set up. There were a lot of their friends who stayed to support. AWWW. Mostly Jinx's and Kuya John's friends but astig pa rin. At around 1AM we packed up and finally went home.

Day 2:
It was the same riot but the day was more tiring because I stayed with Alej until the awarding. Tito Jon and Tito Lynn dropped by in the afternoon. WAW! HANGSWIT! And bought three more shirts (!!!) from the booth. YEYY! And Tito Jon gave me their receipt from Starbucks (two stickers, yo!). During the awarding There were no seats so we sat on the floor during the awarding ceremony and I was getting impatient because I was tired and I lacked sleep. But it was still fun.

So yeah. I uploaded a lot of pictures at the Multiply of cars. PIMP MY RIDE cars. I also uploaded a couple on Flickr (see sidebar thumbnails for links) :D HAHA! I'm a crazy car girl!

I'm proud of Alej! :) *confetti* It was his first car show. :D



He got it repainted and renovated after the side of the car got hit by a truck one morning months ago. I like how the mags' color go well with the greeness. HEHE.


Ais and I at the Revtech area. She was bragging (HAHA!) how the flash on her cameraphone (Sony Ericsson K800i) was awesome. IT REALLY IS! :D



Ate and her business buddies were happy because their booth was a great success. A lot of people bought t-shirts, drinks, and dim-sum. Wheee! :D So thank you if you're one of them and thank you, Tito Ninong and Tito Jon for dropping by. :D

It's sad. I have no pictures of people (US!!!) because my good digicam is being sent off to the Canon hospital. The old Nikon has bad resolution. So I had to make use with just my celphone.

Staple drinks for the weekend:




The Coca Cola addiction is back. SO. NOT. GOOD. And it was my first time the past weekend to drink C2 Lemon Iced Tea because I always drink the Green Tea variant (I love it, it tastes like Yeo's Sugar Cane juice in can).

Sidenote: I miss my (Abu Dhabi) high school friends! Jane, Jern, Ewie, Dars, Winston, Mark, basta! The whole gang! LETS GO OUT!

That's it, kids! :P

In Praise of Mistakes

Last night I couldn't sleep so I walked to my towering bookshelf, the one that has long been ignored for my lack of time to buy and read books, and pulled out Elizabeth Wurtzel's The Secret of Life. It's one of the few books that I can read over and over again and not get bored. "Commonsense Advice for the Uncommon Women", it said. The book is like drinking hot chocolate-- it makes your insides warm and fuzzy and whenever I hold the book, I feel like sleeping beside it or taking it with me wherever I go like a best friend of some sort.





I am an enormous fan of Sylvia Plath (since The Bell Jar and watching Sylvia, her sort of biography). After reading Sylvia Plath and falling in love with her (works and life story and all...), Fate brought me to Elizabeth Wurtzel's The Secret of Life at the local bookstore near school. I was waiting for Alej to pick me up and like I always do when there are no more ways to kill time, I hit the bookstore and browse books. I don't normally go to the Self-Help/Psychology section but the Fiction shelf was too crowded with men. I pulled out The Secret of Life as if my hand was a piece of powerful magnet and this book was metal. I read the first page and the first line drew me closer right away. I fell in love because it wasn't a book full of psychology bullshit that tells you to be this or that way as if it were that easy to deal with the craziness of life. I like how Elizabeth Wurtzel writes-- it's as if she was talking to you-- blunt and very real. Plus, I trust in a Harvard-bred literature (was it English?) major who went through her college years battling drug addiction and clinical depression. She is a survivor and she understands what it's like to be told to do this or that but they never really work. Her name was also familiar to me because I watched the book turned movie, Prozac Nation .

I had to hunt for a copy after that day. Apparently, the one I browsed was the very last copy in that bookstore and it took me months and months too look all over from National Bookstore to Powerbooks. When I gave up, I signed up for a special order from Powerbooks but I got impatient. When my mother went to the States, I asked her to buy the book for me online and voila! I got the book! 8 months later, Powerbooks called saying that my copy came in. Yeahhh.

So last night I flipped over the pages and tried to soak in the lines that I loved most.

"This book is about mistakes. In fact, this is a book in praise of mistakes. May you make many of them along the way. May you make them left, right, and center, and when you do, may you never claim to have profited from them. May you never chalk them up to lessons learned or experiences gained or any of that trite, commonplace bullshit. Just enjoy your idiocy, cry about it and bask in it, and be glad you are lucky enough to have a life that has room for some stupidity and lolling about and kicking around, because, you know, that's how it goes, and that is what it means to be living."

And the quote that I put in my sidebar:

I am not the happiest person. In fact, in the battle between joy and misery, I'd say the latter often seems to prevail. I don't like this, and everyday I refuse, for the eighty millionth time, to put up with another minute of it. But the world does what it does, and I often find it disagreeable. After all these years, I'm kind of resigned to that.

But I do have one thing on my side: I have enormous faith. And hope. I am not speaking of the kind you find in church or in the afterlife or in heaven of in the King James Bibile or in the Hare Krishnas that we all encounter changing flights in the airports of the world. I am speaking of a simple faith that says that one way or another, no matter how many times I stumble and stub my big toe, somehow life is going to work itself out.

The more I think about this line, the more it made sense. I remember in class, the professor explained how there is a psychological theory that the more you think highly of yourself, the more you feel inferior when you're with the better, greater people. Or something to that effect. You get my drift. What I'm trying to say is, don't beat yourself up when you make mistakes or take wrong turns because it's NORMAL. Not making mistakes or being snotty and self-righteous about the mistakes you made makes you absurd. It makes you look more like a fool and nobody likes a pompous person.

I've made a few wrong turns in my life and the biggest one yet is not achieving my goal on the date that was expected. But you know what? I dealt with it and dismissed whatever bad feeling I got for feeling like a loser in the fight because life was that way. It's all about mistakes and as Elizabeth Wurtzel puts it:

"And there are much worse things than mistakes. There are self-importance and smugness and arrogance and all the other traits that are associated with belief. Belief is a good thing in principle, but an annoying thing in human beings. Faith is for people who are not possessed of belief, and faith is a much better thing. To explain: People who believe walk around with a certainty and ease that, in my opinion (which is always correct), they ought to be taken out and shot for. They go around full of belief, they go through life just KNOWING that they will get that plum job, KNOWING that they will meet and marry that plum boy on some perfect and preordained schedule, KNOWING that they will get that apartment on the sunny side of the street-- the one with the high ceilings and bay windows and a marble bathroom and elegant detailing-- for half the going rate, with no problem. They KNOW they are going to win the lottery; they know they will always have a date on Valentine's Day-- and that it will surely involve long-stemmed red roses by the dozen and a fine meal of filet mignon-- and they KNOW that they will always most certainly be happy, even on New Year's Eve."

So you know, rejoice because you're human! Rejoice because you have enormous amount of humility to accept the things you've done wrong and the things you will do wrong in the future. When I think about it, everything worked itself out the minute I decided that I wasn't going to wallow in self-pity. Besides, I'm happier now and I wouldn't have it any other way.

There are a lot more lines/paragraphs that I want to quote from The Secret of Life but that would mean that I'd be posting the whole book here. See for yourself, contrary to popular rumors, the author does not suffer from the "I Disease" (me, myself, and I Disease, rather). She just talks in the first person point of view and relates her opinons/theories with her own life's experiences.

Imagine my delight when Wurtzel also looks up to Sylvia Plath! My two favorite authors. :)

Sidenote: Always find reasons to SMILE no matter how tough life gets!



this is from a forwarded email I got about China's endangered pandas.

I know, this is a ridiculously long entry. I'm like this when I get carried away. :P

Oh, the headache! I currently have a monster headache. I shouldn't be complaining because I have this all the time but each headache is headbang worthy. I hate hate hate headaches. I know. I'm reptitive especially when I'm caffeine high-- Excedrin + Toffee Nut Latte= ♥.

I had my sisig fix today because Alej and I went to Tiendesitas to take care of Angela's birthday preparations. As usual, when we got there we were very hungry so we pigged out. When we say pig out, we order too much food and always end up ordering the greasiest of grease. Ewww. This headache tagged along with me the whole evening. Even Excedrin didn't work and that extra caffeine from coffee. Sheesh. I think I need to take Sibelium to prevent these migraine attacks instead of dealing with painkillers when it's here.

I took Tylenol PM right when I got home. I need to kill this headache. Tylenol PM will knock the living daylight (er, moonlight?) out of me right after the medicine kicks in. Oh, migraine. Please go away. I want to sleep already. I may be narcoleptic, you see. I've been sleepy as early as 10PM the past few days!

I got another job call today but turned it down because I'm sure there are better jobs out there. No thank you very much for offering me a job that would put my health in peril. I still have months to knock on doors of companies who are willing to take me into their loving arms and I think I am a fairly fast learner so bring it on, world. If a job offer comes from the current company I'm with right now then yey! But until then, I will play my cards safe and pass my resume to just about anyone I think I like. A Segurista, they call it in Filipino. Heeh.

Okay bye. I'm blabbering.

So what's up, chocnut? I know. I'm corny so. You don't need to rub it in. I'm sleepy. I was trying to be funny by rhyming. It's almost 1AM I should be sleepy, right? Lately I've been sleepy as early as 11PM. Hurray for me because I hate not being able to sleep earlier than my body regularly sleeps. Bed time for me is usually at 2AM. At least these days.

Speaking of ryhmes, my professor told the class that one day a student replied to his text by saying:

Student: Okay, tooth decay!

He was puzzled after reading the reply. He thought the student was referring to him as "tooth decay"! Talk about generation gap. HAHA! It was only after a while when he realized that the "tooth decay" part was for rhyming. Ah, well.

Tito Jon gave me this from the International Bazaar. It's Mylene Dizon's business and these are available at Fully Booked too:





It's a pocket sized, leather-bound notebook with blank pages on them. Perfect for doodles and for playing with words. I love it! Thanks, Tito Jon! :)

And I made up my mind. Chef Tony's popcorn is WAY WAY WAY better than Holy Kettle Corn. :P Better packaging too! Sorry, Jane. HAHA! Tito Lynn and I finished the smaller tub in one seating. YEOW! This big one is for them to take home. I just had to take a picture of it because it's ridiculously large. I'm used to smaller containers. :P



It's going to be a busy busy weekend! There's the car show and Angela's birthday celebration on Saturday at Tiendesitas. I like Tiendesitas on weekends. It's a happy place where people go drink and be merry. I like Tiendesitas. Period. Probably because of the fact that dogs are very welcome (there's a dog show every week and a Pet Village), lots of food (I love Sisigland because of the sisig!) and beer. HAHA! I sound like a drunkard but I'm honestly not.

Good night, kids!

I love this chica!

Before church my sister and I camwhored while waiting for Papa to get ready.
It was also good hair day.
For once, that advertisement on tv was saying the truth.
Then we ate out with Papa, Japanese food, YUM!
Bought hairbands (polka dots! Lapit na New Year!) and then Starbucks.
I no longer feel motivated to fill in my Starbucks Planner thing.
Tito Jon bought ate and I a leather bound pocket-sized notebook from the International Bazaar.
One for each of us. Yey!
My sister lost our tickets so we didn't go anymore.
And Jane, your addiction to Holy Kettle Corn is infectuous. I bought a bag today.

And something I have in common with Tito Jon...

I know. Too many pictures of us. Don't they make you sick? HAHA! :P Forgive me. I'm on caffeine high.

Way to go, Pacman!

So Manny Pacquiao beat Eric Morales again. I should be happy. I am happy, of course. But I'm sad also because Morales' career is over. The look he had when he was being beat up by Pacquiao was heartbreaking. My father said he looked at his father and shook his head in defeat.

I hate competitions although by nature, humans are competitive. We compete with each other everyday-- in school, in our life's achievements, in our community, even in the family (immediate or extended). So you see, there is competition everyday and that means there will always be winners and losers. I wish it were easy-- to accept defeat and throw in the towel. But losing always hurts and it's not easy to accept loss especially if it's your career or passion that are at stake.

I nicked this poem off Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul because I loved the message. It will help you gain a better understanding in praying for winning a fight.

Sidenote: I'm going to use this layout for a while. I can't seem to write with the other layout because the fonts are so small. This is just temporary. I might bring the previous one back, it depends. :)

An Athlete's Prayer

It was right before the big one and the football player said,
"Excuse me guys for just a sec while I go bow my head."
And in the quiet of that room
The football player prayed,
"Oh God if nothing hear me now
I know that fate is made."

"So help us Lord to win this game,
It's the big one, man, you see,
If we lose this game that's it for us,
Please do this, Lord, for me."

And as his body knelt in prayer,
He looked up to the sky,
"And while I'm here, and have some time,
I need to ask you why?"

"They say you never help teams win,
Just do it once I pray,
We will pay you back in kinder deeds
Or in another way."

"The reason I can't help you win,"
The Lord just then replied,
"Is as you're asking me to win,
So is the other side."

"I'm everybody's father and
I must not take one side,
So games are played all on your own
Or they would all be tied."

"But that doesn't mean you shouldn't pray,"
He answered him with care,
"You can pray that players don't get hurt
And that all the calls are fair."

"And then I won't just watch the game,
I'll bless it with my care,
Because dear son you need to learn
That life's not always fair."

And while the player heard this voice,
He bowed his head in prayer,
"I pray for fairness," said the boy
"And for your tender care."

"You shall be blessed," the Lord replied,
"Your team and you the same,
And now will you excuse me boy,
I cannot miss this game."

-Sandy Dow Mapula
Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul 2

Yesterday Alej and I battled the Ortigas traffic to get to Megamall because I wanted to see the frames. The emo ones that I liked. But when I tried them on they didn't suit my face. So I left the shop emptyhanded and because were REALLY hungry already, we had dinner before we left for Silvercity. Man, were we hungry! We ordered too much food-- all of which were so greasey but yummy, nevertheless. Triple V Express has buff waiters, we noticed. HAHA! They were buff and tall. Maybe it's a prerequisite to be a waiter there-- to be buff and tall. So anyway, I almost finished my one cup of rice! I was that hungry! Normally I can just eat half. Alej eats my leftover rice but last night I almost ate the whole cup of rice.

We went to Silvercity Automall to meet up with my sister and Kuya John. They're putting up a booth at the Bumper2Bumper Car Show this coming weekend (BE THERE! Alej got his newly renovated car into the show). Kuya John, my sister, and Jinx got together and came up with a brilliant plan of selling t-shirts that have car themes on them. Business is fluorishing so far, all car-lovers love the designs and I'm even offering them my free service of putting them up an online store at Multiply so they could get orders online. Alej's Revtech friends bought around 10 shirts already and I'm so happy for my sister, Kuya John, and Jinx. Jinx and his other friend is also going to bring in food at their booth so it's going to be fun. So yeah, that's where I will be during the weekend.

And then all of us went to Tiendesitas to listen to the band playing and I couldn't believe that two bottles of beer made me ridiculously red again. Alej said I looked like I went out sun-bathing because my neck arms and shoulders were beet red. We left at 1AM and by the time we got home, Papa didn't get angry at us because my sister and I were together the whole night. Phew. :P

P.S.: These are just two of the many designs that my sister and her friends are selling. If you like cars or anything Japanese, you probably know what these signs mean:






TITO LYNN! Interested? :D

And NO, I AM NOT GETTING ANY COMMISSION FROM PROMOTING THE TSHIRT BUSINESS LIKE THIS. :p I'm doing this because my sister and Kuya John are family and well, family help each other out. :) We're all helping out. Alej has sold 20 (more or less) shirts to his Revtech buddies. He bought a lot for himself too! I'm still waiting for ALL THE SHIRTS to fall into my hands so I could take a picture of them already and then set-up a shop at Multiply. All I asked for was a free shirt for my service. HEHE!

* * *

Bea and I talked about this before already because she understands what I go through-- we're both the youngest in the family.

My father just pulled one! My sister is out- just like every typical Saturday and I'm the one who doesn't have Saturdays reserved so I stay home. Yesterday I asked my father to take me to the optical shop because I wanted to get lenses for my new frame. He said yes right away (for two consecutive Saturdays we've been spending the whole day together doing grocery shopping and running errands). This afternoon when Alej volunteered to take me to the mall to get the lenses, I told my father that he could take care of his other errands because the boyfriend can take me to the shop afterall. And he had this poor disappointed look on his face and said: "Sabihin mo kay Alej wag na, ako nalang magdadala sa 'yo nakakahiya naman sa kanya.." HAHA! Anyway, So I told Alej that I'll go with my dad because he might get hurt if I dissed him and he seems willing to take me to the mall tonight.

Oh my! Dads. They become very emotional and attached to their little ones when they are beginning to grow up and grow old. And I'm sure he doesn't want to be left alone at home again especially while my mother's away. When I'd stay up late until the wee hours of the morning, I hear him watching tv in their room at 3AM in the morning! He said he couldn't sleep.

So yeah, bonding time again with the old man!

Too much caffeine and cake from my sister's birthday dinner cost me hours of sleep last night. Well, I did sleep but still felt restless because it was a shallow sleep although I did dream about random things. I don't remember the others but I remember that I dreamt about Grey's Anatomy ala horror flick. Seriously. I dreamt that Izzie Stevens was a serial killer. HAHA! Hilarious. But in the dream I was scared.

Today I met up with people from work. Alej picked me up from NisComm because he finally got his car back-- shiney and beautiful and different than before! Pimped out! HAHA! He dropped me off at Metrowalk after a few detours-- picking up shirts from Kuya John at Banawe and then charging my phone at his house for a few minutes. At Metrowalk- Sam, Arbie, Reggie and I had dinner at Behrouz. The best shawarma I've had so far and yoghurt shake but the resto has the worst tables. It's too high! Or maybe I'm too short. Whatever. And then peppermint mocha again. I'm a loser. I only have two stickers but Sam has two more to complete hers. Phooey. I wanted to hunt for dvds but the stalls there were probably raided a few days ago because there were no deebeedee stalls to be found. It's a vice-- shopping for deebeedees that are illegal. After hanging out over coffee, talking, and car watching, Reggie and Sam dropped me off at Home Depot where Alej was with friends. We stayed for a while and hung out at J'Jay's until it was time for home.

My legs hurt. I'm like this when I have a long day. I think it's the Restless Legs Syndrome. I need to hop into bed because I'm tired.

Good night, world. Thank you for a great day. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ATE!
It's my sister Gwen's birthday today! *confetti* She turns 23!
Her officemates call her "Kimchi" because everyone says she looks like Kim Chu (that Pinoy Big Brother Teen girl). HAHA!

We are close because we are friends. We are friends because we are sisters. We are sisters because God made us that way and the relationship we have won't change regardless of how old we grow.

In high school, we did not get along with each other because were the complete opposites but because we shared the same room, we had countless bonding moments. Think Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield from the Sweet Valley series. But now we're on the same wavelength-- we open the door for each other whenever one of us comes home late, we go out, we share clothes (this did not work in high school because I was stick thin), we fight (oh yeah, fights can get pretty dramatic but we make up as soon as we both cool off), and we turn to each other when we need help (financially or otherwise hehe!). She's an awesome big sister and through the years she has grown up a lot. She was always the mature one and I, the bratty youngest girl in the family. She's compassionate towards other people and once you get to know her, you'll love the Gwen Astrid we all love!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! WE LOVE YOU and WE'RE ALL PROUD OF YOU!

I swear, I had several things to talk about especially after being induced with caffeine in the form of grande peppermint mocha but my thoughts flew out the window when I stepped down from my natural high. So this is my feeble attempt to recall the weekend:

Megamall.
- At Cyberzone, I saw the smallest Toshiba laptop I have ever laid eyes on.

- At the optical shop while Alej was buying a pair of contact lenses, I saw a pair of Banana Republic emo glasses that I fell in love with. I had to think about buying it and only made up my mind to have it fitted when we were two floors up. The store was already closed when we went back for it. Phooey. Maybe it's not meant to be?

Eastwood.
- Grande hot peppermint mocha from Starbucks. I am a sucker for peppermint. Anything peppermint will help my heart jump in delight-- peppermint chocolate chip ice cream, peppermint chocolate shake, peppermint candies, peppermint candycanes, peppermint chocolate, anything peppermint! Peppermint is one of the top reasons why I love the holidays because it's the peppermint season and peppermint is just ♥!

- I saw the planner. Starbucks Traditions, they call it. I started last year-- filling up my tiny booklet for stickers. I got the planner sooner than expected but I barely touched the book (it looks like a book because of the hard bound cover). I thought I'd pass this year because I thought it was ridiculous to go race for filling up stickers for a plain planner. Imagine my surprise when I saw the planner! It has a faux leather cover and it was beautiful. So scratch my being uptight about the whole planner thing. I'm going to get that planner. :P

- The Covenant. I liked the movie because of the action (using all that power) but missing it won't be a huge loss because it was so-so. There wasn't anything good that we wanted to watch so we settled for the next best thing. Plus, it was freezing inside the theater. How could I have forgotten a jacket? Argh.

- Endorphin. Caffeine releases endorphin (a.k.a. The Happy Hormone). So while I was watching the movie, my head was spinning with a million thoughts. Stuff that I was planning on writing about but the moment already passed so I forgot what these thoughts/ideas were. I need a book. No wait, make it a small pocket-sized ruled Moleskine (another link) so that I have a notebook to write on whenever ideas strike me!

- How to Save a Life, The Fray. It played again on the radio but that night I didn't mind because it felt hella great to have the windows roll down and listen to this song as the car swooshed through the night. The cold wind blowing against my face felt really great. It reminded me of flying (not that I know how..).

Saturday, I chatted with my relatives on YM. It's a weekly thing but I have been absent lately. I talked about laptops, digital cameras, and cars with my uncles. It was really fun. Sorry, Tito John. Should have zipped my mouth shut re: Canon Ixus iZoom. :P The rest of my day I spent with Alej: going with him at Silvercity near Tiendesitas for the car show thing he and his friends are joining, buying birthday gifts at Glorietta for November birthday celebrants (Angela, his sister and ate Gwen, my sister), hungry hungry hungry and a hearty satisfying Teriyaki Boy dinner (my treat because I used my credit card for the first time hehe).

Sunday I spent the whole day with my dad. Bonding! HAHA! :P

This is a picture of my little cousin Julius eating Sour Skittles. Pictures were taken by my aunt. I haven't met Julius yet nor have I seen my aunt since I was 6!



Okay bye. That was tiring.

I just wrapped up the second season of Grey's Anatomy. A "Greyhead", Kai called me. I like the sound of that. There are so many reasons why I like Grey's Anatomy. You know how the Goo Goo Dolls sang this line in Iris? "When everything feels like the movies / Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive." It's kind of that way, except it's the other way around. Confusing? I mean to say that watching this show made me realize how life is just like the movies or drama series. Like what I'm doing now. I think about my life and I think about the show and I feel like some parts of it is similiar to that of my own life's experiences. I saw the parallelism of life and G.A. and I came up with the conclusion-- one of the reasons why the show clicked is the fact that it actually talks about life, real life. Well, maybe not in the exact way it's happening to us but it has its parallelism. At least with mine.

I also realized that the show tells us one thing-- life is complicated but we learn to get over with our issues and deal with them. And whatever you do or whatever happens: DO NOT LET THE EGG SHELLS CRACK. (If you know what I mean).

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the show:

"A couple of hundred years ago, Benjamin Franklin shared with the world the secret of his success. Never leave that till tomorrow, he said, which you can do today. This is the man who discovered electricity. You think more people would listen to what he had to say. I don't know why we put things off, but if I had to guess, I'd have to say it has a lot to do with fear. Fear of failure, fear of rejection, sometimes the fear is just of making a decision, because what if you're wrong? What if you're making a mistake you can't undo? The early bird catches the worm. A stitch in time saves nine. He who hesitates is lost. We can't pretend we hadn't been told. We've all heard the proverbs, heard the philosophers, heard our grandparents warning us about wasted time, heard the damn poets urging us to seize the day. Still sometimes we have to see for ourselves. We have to make our own mistakes. We have to learn our own lessons. We have to sweep today's possibility under tomorrow's rug until we can't anymore. Until we finally understand for ourselves what Benjamin Franklin really meant. That knowing is better than wondering, that waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worst, beat the hell out of never trying." - Meredith Grey

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"Maybe we like the pain. Maybe we're wired that way. Because without it, I don't know; maybe we just wouldn't feel real. What's that saying? Why do I keep hitting myself with a hammer? Because it feels so good when I stop." - Meredith Grey

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"Intimacy is a four syllable word for, "Here's my heart and soul, please grind them into hamburger, and enjoy." It's both desired, and feared. Difficult to live with, and impossible to live without. Intimacy also comes attached to the three R's... relatives, romance, and roommates. There are some things you can't escape. And other things you just don't want to know." - Meredith Grey

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I'm hungry for more Grey's Anatomy and thanks to Mikko, I'm going to feed that hunger. Only, it will take me a couple of hours before I get episodes from the third season but I'm getting there! ;)

Sidenotes:

>I ♥ the soundtrack too. My ipod has a playlist for Grey's Anatomy! Awesome tracks!

>I need a bigger, better flash disk. My poor 256MB thumbdrive will succumb to my mp3s and image files if I transfer them there. A new 2gig flash disk will do the job, maybe. I'm mass dowloading tracks from G.A. and episodes from the third season. Poor laptop. :(

>It's a good time to take a nap but no thanks to too much instant coffee, I'm wide awake!

>Browsing the Bento Box pool at Flickr made me hungry. *pulls hair*

Grey's Anatomy is evil. It's getting harder and harder to tear my eyes away from the tv. Yes, I know. I've become a sloth.

Not yesterday, though. I went out. Ran errands with Alej and then had dinner at D'Marks at Greenbelt. Greenbelt, like SM Mall of Asia, is not conducive for hot and humid November nights. It's like summer these days especially in the evenings. We're going to have a hot Christmas this year, according to the news. Blame it on El Nino. Pizza was great. Alej had five slices and I had three. Eww. We were hungry and it was humid outside. But Who am I kidding? I'm always hungry! So scratch the justifications.

We went to the movies after and munched on chewy candy stuff from the candy store. I like the cola jellies. They looked gross in the beginning but they're sour and sweet in the mouth. The Prestige is a great movie. I loved every bit of it. It's one of the few good movies I've watched this year and it makes me happy to know that there are still good movies. Writers, producers, actors, and directors actually take time to make a movie that is not just for money generating but pleasing for the eyes and minds as well. It was a little disturbing, actually. I got out of the movie theater with a bad migraine (yes, the nth time for the past two months). When I got home I took Tylenol PM and waited for my sister to arrive home. Alej stayed with me and by the time the medicine kicked in, I was groggy and sleepy as hell. We had buko pie because my sister came from a wedding in Laguna. By the time I called it a night, I was barely conscious. Hitting the pillow last night was the best thing that happened to me during the day-- plus the pizza and movie.

It was Saturday night last night so everyone was out. It's the party night for everyone else and Greenbelt was hustling and bustling of party people-- people who were out for the night to have a good time. And I missed my friends that night. I miss Van, Novee, and Apple and our nights-out. Especially Apple! We were party people in sophomore year and that one sembreak-- despite of how sick I got, I still got out of the house and partied. Those were great times! Paoie was also fun to go out with. He went out with us lateron-- to that UP Manila chorale thing, the Indayog shindig, etc. I miss those days!

Tonight, my sister and I are going to take my father to Everything at Steak after mass because we're carnivores that way. Other days I'd feel sick and guilty about it, some other days I don't. And it's crazy. I need a little consistency.

Believe it or not, the medicine is still in my blood. I still feel sleepy and light-headed. I already had a mug of coffee and it's not helping. I hope I don't fall asleep while getting ready for mass because right now? My bed looks very inviting.

I hope you had a great weekend!

I finally got around buying the seasons 1 and 2 of Grey's Anatomy. I figured I should start from the beginning since I was only able to watch a few episodes whenever I could. I have a thing for not being able to follow my favorite series even if I am already addicted. I just can't wait week after week for an episode with advertisements in between so I buy the whole season instead. That way, it's like watching a VERY LONG MOVIE.

Grey's Anatomy is just stellar in such a way that it's drama, comedy, romance, and everything else in between. You get what I mean? For the past episodes I've watched, they have already made me teary-eyed, kilig over Dr. Grey-Dr. McDreamy and Dr. Burke-Dr.Yang tandems. It has made me laugh, cry, moved me, etc. I just love the show!

And in a totally unrelated note, I have a new philosophy to live by:

"Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today." (Benjamin Franklin)

Yes, that means I'm saying goodbye to my old procrastinator self. No kidding. It's time I grew up and so far, so good! I've been doing things that I need to do as soon as I get them (re: work) especially if I'm not doing anything. It really feels good to accomplish things beforehand because I make more time to do something else more interesting after I'm done with the less interesting part.

I might be growing up, afterall!