Silver

Happy 25th anniversary, Papa and Mama! We ♥ you very very much! May you have many more anniversaries to come. :D

Incoherent is me (I am drugged. Expect a lengthy entry.)

I had another bad migraine last night. I tried rubbing two types of menthol balm on my temples-- Omega and another similar balm that my mother gave me. The smell of Omega makes my sister dizzy while it makes my nerves relax. I took Tylenol PM to help me sleep. After an episode of American Idol Season 6, I fell asleep but woke up at 5AM with a feeling as if an electric drill was working on my left temple. So I tried to sleep again. At 10AM my migraine was still bothering me so I got out of bed, took the medicine for my liver and then watched tv. I tried not to succumb into Excedrin temptation but I did and I took a pill because it was getting uncomfortable. So now I feel rotten because my migraine hampered my productivity. Argh.

I'm watching The Cathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List on Jack TV. I actually like it. HAHA! Rawr. The things you do when you're left at home with a migraine. I am groggy and that Snickers bar beside the laptop is looking at me with puppy dog eyes. Must. Not. Be. Tempted.

I was at the bookstore the other day with Alej picking out oil pastels and felt paper. While he was at the cashier I wandered off to the Bestsellers' List. There's a new book by Mitch Albom that made the list and the new book by Amy Tan was on it too. Both are just two of my favorite authors and it got me thinking that it has been a while since I read a good book. My definition of a good book is something that moves me-- like a book that makes you think even after you've finished it. A book that makes you want to highlight countless lines from it just because you could relate to the words and books that cast a spell upon you and draws you into THAT world. Some of these good books are Amy Tan's novels-- The Bonesetter's Daughter and The Kitchen God's Wife, Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones, Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, Elizabeth Wurtzel's The Secret of Life, James Patterson's Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas, Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl, Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Tuesday's With Morrie, Jeffrey Eugenides's The Virgin Suicides, and the list goes on! And I miss the feeling of reading a good book.

I read from Don't Stress the Small Stuff for Teens that a person should have a good book beside the night table. It doesn't matter if it's just one book from which you'd read a page or two every night or five books (oh yes, FIVE) and read a few pages from each of the five depending on which one you like. If you want to pull of a Kris Aquino, you can grab a copy of TIME Magazine and read it from front to back in one night.

Book quotes are the reason why I created this blog not so long ago. I haven't updated it in ages and it's good to look back and read those lines that touched me. I'm sharing them with you so go read some of them. :)

I just feel like sharing: My father has this friend who inherited a huge amount from her deceased aunt. She is based in Abu Dhabi and because she's already in the Middle East, she takes time off to visit neighboring countries. Among several Arab countries she went to, she went on a tour to Israel and lately she went to Turkey. She sent two boxes of Turkish Apple Tea. It looks yummy and I hope it won't disappoint. But my point to sharing this is that it must feel so good to have time and money to tour exotic Arab countries. She seems to be having a lot of fun from the pictures that she sends through email. Watching Cake made me want to be a travel writer. It must feel really good to be paid for what you like to do. sigh

Another friend of my father who is in India and a newly appointed ambassador sent my sister and I beautiful pendants! Mine is a pearl and silver pendant. It's so pretty I promise to cherish it for the rest of my life. HAHA! Realllyyyy! I'm not too big on jewellry but for pearls and sentimental pieces, I go crazy.


this is a picture of the pretty pendant! the chain came from the white gold heart-diamond pendant tito lynn and tito jon gave me as a gift for my 21st birthday. I wear it everytime! :)


just two of the pear earrings tito lynn and tito jon gave me. they're my favorites too! Mama also gave me a pair of pearl/yellow gold earrings. I plan to keep them until I grow old because I want it to be an heirloom. :P


This is a very sasbog entry. It's quite appropriate because I can't be coherent right now. Must be the medicine kicking in.

Lastly, it's a shame to waste phone memory space. So here are random photos:


1. Alej was ecstatic when he bought the third season of Prison Break at Dampa in Macapagal. But to his dismay, the dvd was broken.
2. Alej hanging out at my house.
3. This is us at 1 year and 4 months!
4. My sister eating pizza at Pricesmart.
5. Cinnamon sugar churros!
6. This is Ala snuggling her head under the sofa. I think she likes it there because it's dark and cool there.
7. Us again! Don't you hate cheesey couple pics? HAHA!
8. Good morning, sunshine!
9. Coca Cola. Bad for your health but still highly addictive.
10. Same size but cheaper than Big Gulp.
11. Papa and his Coke.
12. Angela's prom shoes. I love it! 50% off at Naturalizer. WHOOO!
13. Rock on!
14. Myanmar is famous for their teak wood because it's sturdy and it lasts for a long long time. We've had this dining set since I was a littleg irl and it still looks brand new.
15. Papa cooked pancit last Sunday for lunch and it was really good!

I'm going to be a bridesmaid next year for the first time. WOWW! :D :D :D

Good bye, kids!

great things start from taking baby steps

Things to look forward to:

1. my new digicam (10 megapixel Canon love!)


2. being web artist and co-webmaster for www.UPmanila.net (U.P. Manila's website for students)


3. designing an architectural board for Hera's thesis model (my first official design project for someone else *gulp*)


4. starting a mini-business with Alej (it's just a test-run)


5. (probably) starting a simple mini graphic design business (for all your streamer, posters, print ad needs hehe)
   
6. and... April 24!!!
   

I need to put together an online portfolio or maybe Multiply will do the trick. Of course, I won't charge too much because it's just for simple design needs. And then I'll see where I'll go from there. I am putting up a Canon EOS 350D fund, by the way. If ever I get profits from my mini business ventures, it will go straight to the Canon EOS 350D fund. So yeah. It's for a cause! And maybe I should put up a portfolio for my writings. I can probably freelance if any magazine will accept me or if I'm good enough. My punctuation marks may probably suck but hell, I love to write and maybe writing will pave my way to getting that dslr.

Unrelated: The best compliment I've received so far is when a pre-school teacher and a high school teacher told me that I can be a pre-school teacher for my aura. Another compliment no less than the previous one was about my writing and about writing a book.

It's amazing how others can believe in you more than you believe in yourself. But yes, these compliments are noted inside my head for future reference-- particularly on days when I feel like the world has turned its back on me. And I hope you have that too-- something to look back to when you feel down. It may be a simple pat on the back from someone, a little compliment that made you blush like a tomato, or a kind word from a stranger. Everyone deserves to feel good about themselves. No one deserves to be pulled down. I believe that in this world we have no one else to please but ourselves and God. As long as we're happy and we're not hurting anyone, then carry on. Life is short. Carpe diem!

Anyway...

You should check out UP Manila's brand new website! WOOHOO!AWESOME!

P.S. You can check out http://pixelatedgirl.deviantart.com for some of the designs I've already made.

I need this stamped on my forehead

Note to self:

Stop procrastinating.
Get your act together.
In a few weeks' time,
it will soon be over.

Yey!

I colored my hair this evening. Actually, my sister did the application for me. I love it! Even if I want it lighter. This is enough. I don't want to look like a "coconut".

I crave for ice cream. Ben and Jerry's Half Baked. :9 Or Arce Dairy's Chocolate Chip Crunch.

We live in a kaleidoscope world, indeed!

Imagine waking up with a bad migraine. Restless, you plug in your earphones and listen to songs by the Akafellas and you smile because the world is a better, more peaceful, place again.

I like what Leng's photoblog tagline says, "Shouldn't it be that easy to just be happy?" (Smoke, Tristan Prettyman). Thanks for sharing, Leng!

Back from Sick Land

I'm back. I got sick for a week. Fever and then throwing up everything I eat. I actually lost weight from the whole ordeal. It could've excited me to lose that much weight in a few days but I'm not happy about it because I was so sick then and I don't want to even recall how I felt while I was sick. I was so weak that all I wanted to do was to lay in bed the whole day (but even sleeping made me sick). On the third day I started vomiting and on the third day my tummy was empty, I finally asked my father to bring me to the emergency room. After hours of waiting for tests results to come back they came back negative from any illnesses. So the doctors figured I must have eaten something that upset my stomach. They prescribed tummy medicine like Nexium and Plasil for the nausea.

I take Plasil on a regular basis since it was prescribed and it makes me ridiculously sleepy. Yesterday I took an exam and didn't know how long I would last with my eyes open. When I came home I crashed into bed and woke up still sleepy! Like crazy sleepy! I couldn't keep my eyes open. And good thing Tito Jon told me that Plasil actually makes one sleepy! Yikess. So I stopped taking it for now. Otherwise I'd go through the day without finishing anything!

So now I'm slowly going back to the daily grind. Today I worked on timesheets and spreadsheets for work and designed the Indayog Sayaw Manila 3 streamer. All this since lunch time. That's three hours. I haven't even gotten off this computer chair yet! And I'm still in my pajamas! yeowww.

I hate to go back to my computer geek self because my uncle might be right-- being in front of the computer all day (or maybe it's the Ibuprofen) is taking a toll on my health. But responsibilities come first so yeahh...

I'll update more when I feel like it. Good news is that I've stopped vomiting. Food in the stomach is way good news because I get my strength from what I eat. Without food in the tummy for four days can be excruciating for the body. I just wanted to fall into an induced coma so everything would pass. And it did. Praise the Lord! :) I still went to the wedding, though. That made me even sicker because I wasn't feeling well during the whole trip.

More later. Or tomorrow. Or next week.

I have mad catching up to do on all your blogs. Sheesh. This is going to be hard. Hehe.

See you, kids!

GYAHHH! I'm sick! In the literal sense. Rawr. I haven't had sleep yet since 2AM this morning (the time I went to bed after exchanging texts with Alej). This is so not good because I want to go to Pangasinan! To that wedding! I bought a lovely white blouse for that!

Anyway, I stayed up all night feeling the same way I did the night before last night. Except last night was worse because I was shivering even if I was all curled up. When I couldn't find other ways to keep warm (I didn't want to turn off the airconditioner), I put on socks. The thick, fluffy, fuzzy ones that are comfortable for cold temperature. My bones hurt and I couldn't sleep because it was uncomfortable. I should have known this was coming. It's just weird because the day before, I felt I was sick but when I felt my body temperature it seemed normal. Maybe because I was already hot all over. So last night while I lay awake in bed trying to figure out what's wrong with me, I gave up and asked my sister if I was sick. This was around 5AM in the morning. When she said I was I took Bioflu right away. I feel guilty waking her up like that especially if she had to wake up early this morning for work. That was almost three hours ago and I'm still awake. Grawr. I want to sleep! I was going to have a long day today, you know. And maybe see the first day of the Pyrolympics but my father came into the room today to make sure I was okay because he said if I don't get better today, I won't be going tomorrow. NO WAY, MAN! I want to go!!!

I'm supposed to be at Tech4Kids at Greenhills today to meet up with Reggie, Sam, and Arbie. WAHHH!!!!

I know, I'm extra whiney when I'm sick. I should get some sleep now.

That's weird. I've been trying to access LJ the whole day until I gave up using Firefox. I tried with IE and voila! :D I'm in! :P

I've been feeling sick the whole day. It started last night when I felt like my bones were brittle because I experienced pricking pain the whole night. I thought if I slept it off until morning I'd be okay again. I was also expecting to get the flu but where could I have caught it? I woke up and stared at the wall for a few minutes and realized that my bones still hurt. It was like I was horizontally inclined the whole morning. I gave in to Panadol Extra to make me feel better and it did. But right now my bones hurt again. That pricking sensation is bothering me. Animal Planet and the show about penguins made me feel better as I lay on my bed half asleep.

Medicine and Alej made me feel better in the evening when he dropped by. We watched Animal Planet a bit and then left for Ortigas to meet up with his mom. We dropped by Megamall, went around Cybermall and gaped at a pretty green(!) 4GB flash disk!! *salivates* I also impulsively bought a set of colorful bangles. We had dinner at Behrouz at Metrowalk. Shawarma was soooo stuffing but soo good. :9

I hope I feel better tomorrow. The aching of my bones is back. I need to be in tip-top shape because I'm leaving for Pangasinan at 5AM Saturday morning to be at a 2PM wedding in Dagupan. My father is going be one of the sponsors of the couple to be married and we're staying overnight at Dagupan before the drive back home to Manila on Sunday. I haven't started packing and I should have done it earlier because tomorrow I'll be gone the whole day and I'd be too tired to pack at night. *groans*

Toodles, kids!

This is a bad start

Lately, I've been lazy to blog. But I've been posting more on my Multiply site. The old photos are viewable by public but the newer ones, I've decided, are for contacts only. Yes, me the girl who has blogs everywhere, thinks it's "private" that way.

I'm full. I cooked Sopas again. And I had two bowls. It's the only food I cook that I eat.

Papa might get an assignment soon. Six parentless years ahead. Whattaway to start the year. I'm going to miss my Papa and Mama. :(

Year Ender Survey (I know it's late)

What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before?
A LOT! ;)

Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't really make them but i have a few in mind.

Did anyone close to you give birth?
Tal! And I'm one of Johann's (sp?) godmother!

Did anyone close to you die?
None (thank God!)

What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
Strength, good health, optimism, and money. :P

Did you suffer illness or injury?
I got sick for a couple of days because I caught the flu. My bones felt like they were about to break.

What was the best thing you bought?
My red Chucks, ipod mini crystal case (which Alej accidentally broke *wahhh!!!*), Motorola Razr V3X, a Terranova bag, and another white bag.!!! :D

Whose behavior merited celebration?
Mine? HAHA!

Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Can't think of any.

Where did most of your money go?
New celphone, clothes, bags, some girly stuff.

What did you get really, really, really excited about?
the car shows, Christmas, Alej's coming home from the province, etc.

What song(s) will always remind you of 2006?
JoJo's Too Little Too Late, This Time, How to Save a Life by The Fray, Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol and that annoying song by Yeng Constantino Hawak Kamay because it's overplayed.

Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? -- happier.
ii. thinner or fatter? -- Thinner, I think? HAHA!
iii. richer or poorer? -- Richer.

What do you wish you'd done more of?
Excercised. Ate healthy. Been nicer.

What do you wish you'd done less of?
Eat. Whine. Be a brat.

What was your favorite TV program?
Grey's Anatomy and House! :D Wooohooo!

What was your greatest musical discovery?
High School Musical (HAHA!)

What was your favorite film of this year?
The Prestige, no doubt. And Happy Feet.

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
ooooh there's only one answer here. It could have happened somewhere in April last year.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
More girly, less Plain Jane like I usually wear.

What kept you sane?
GOD, family, Alej, friends and the little things.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006:
It doesn't matter how fast you get to the finish line. What matters is HOW you get there and how you ENJOYED every minute of it.

What was the nicest thing someone told you about yourself:
- that I lost weight.
- that I'm beautiful (heyyy this is my few minutes of fame)
- that I look like a sixteen year old (compliment coming from my father's officemate who thought I was still in high school, my boyfriend thinks so too hehe) yeeeeeeeee!


What did you like most about yourself this year?
OPTIMISM. Definitely optimism and breaking away from norms.

What did you hate most about yourself this year?
My being stubborn, of course!

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"Truth be told I've tried my best
But somewhere along the way
I got caught up in all there was to offer
And the cost was so much more than I could bear

Though I've tried, I've fallen...
I have sunk so low
I messed up
Better I should know
So don't come round here
And tell me I told you so..."
- Fallen, Sarah Maclachlan

Was 2006 a good year for you?
It was a rollercoaster but definitely a good year.

Where were you when 2006 began?
At home. :)

Who were you with?
Family

Where will you be when 2006 ends?
At home

Who will you be with when 2006 ends?
Family and Alej

What was your favorite month of 2006?
August (my birthday) and December (Christmas)

What are your plans for 2007?
Work, save, travel, and see where I'll go from there.

What are your wishes for the new year?
World peace and eradicate, if not, lessen poverty. Seriously.

First Blog Post for 2007

This song shall be my theme song for 2007. In a world where material things abound and where we get confused about what really makes us happy, sometimes we need a nudge to get us back on track.

Simple. That's The way it's got to be this year.

So Simple (Stacie Orrico)
Don't need high heels
For a good feel
You can keep the fancy clothes
I'll take walkin in the rain
Over things material
I'll trade Melrose and the big names
Give me faces that I know
Just play a melody that everybody knows

Take it down, down, down
And strip it to the core
I don't really need much less is more, more, more

[CHORUS:]
True to life, true to me
The way it's got to be
So simple, so simple, so simple
Live to love, love to be
Absolutely free
(so simple, so simple, simple)

Give me wisdom, plain and truthful
Teach me somethin I don't know
Plain as education, inspiration I suppose (yeah yeah)
Give me family, on a Sunday
And I'll be just fine
There's nothing in the world
That's worth more of my time

Take it down, down, down
And strip it to the core
I don't really need much less is more, more, more

[CHORUS x2]

Livin my dream, is my song to the world
(let 'em hear it)
Sharin' my soul and spirit
I'm hopin that you hear it
Got one (one) life (life) to live (live)
It's only what you make it (make it)
Every new day's a chance worth takin

[CHORUS x2]

My sincerest gratitude to everyone who played roles in my life in 2006 (and the years before that too...). Thanks for the friendship (both new ones, old ones, and lost ones). Thank you for making me who I am today. Thank you for being another reason why life is liveable and more enjoyable. Thank you for being patient with me.

To those that I've hurt (unintentionally), I am deeply sorry for whatever pain I caused you.

Cheers to 2007, I hope we all have another great year. Continue living with GOD. Peace, love, good health, and prosperity to all of you and your families! :D