The weekend was so much fun!

I met up with my college friends in Makati. It was supposed to be a get-together for Mitchie but because of miscommunication and the text message about a bomb threat, she ended up at Rob Manila and us at Glorietta. Mitch wasn't able to join us in Makati so it was just Apple, Simoun, AJ, Alej, and myself. We had lunch at Mexicali and stayed there for a LONG time because we got carried away reminiscing and just laughing like lunatics. It was so much fun! My cheeks hurt after our lunch get-together. I also saw Tito Jon and Tito Lynn! HAHA! Apple saw them as they were passing by Mexicali. It was hilarious! I had to run after them and banged my knee onto a chair that was on my way in the process.

Lateron Apple, Simoun, Alej, and I had ice cream at Dairy Queen. When it was nearly 6PM we headed to Banana Leaf at Greenbelt for our dinner reservations. Simoun couldn't stay because he was going to be busy the next day so we waited for our blockmates to arrive. After dinner we had coffee at CBTL and talked some more. WHEW. OHWHATFUN!

It was such a fun night. It's been a while since my face hurt, talked that much, and laughed that much all in one day. I can't imagine how my college life was...it was that way everyday-- laughing, talking, and everything else in between. These guys are the best. We're the best block! And those happy times are always relived whenever we have these small get-togethers. These people are my best people because we share the same interests, we have are on the same wavelength, and they gush about movies/books (pao and chezka!) the way I do. I love being around them! They remind me of how great it feels to be surrounded by people who know you well.

By the end of the night I had a migraine and my cheeks still hurt. HAHA! Onto photos!


apple, aj, simes, me, and alej


hmmm, san kaya nag-aaral ng Law si Simoun? HAHA! Dude, make us proud! And we'll be there pag nag bar exams ka na with a big tarp banner with your face plastered on it. GO, SIMOUN! :P Tsaka yung U.P. Law t-shirts namin ni Apol ha! Cmown!


Chex, Gab (Tal's eldest and the first baby of the block!), and Ies. She got the U.P. Centennial Planner for Apple and Bea. WAHH! INGGIT! ANG GANDA GANDA KASI! I want one for commemorative purposes. It's 350 for students and 500 for alumni.


Us with Paoie. Super tagal namin di nagkita ni Paoie. It was more than a year because he went to Thailand to work. Now he's back home and he's still "dashing" according to Dr. Mateo. Haha!


Chezka, Ies, and Bea-- my fellow bookworms.


With Gab gwapo!



Over the weekend, I came into a possession of a new toy: FUJI INSTAX MINI!

Pagtatapos

My headache is killing me. Argh. A three day headache is annoying. Today is the worst because it didn't go with the medication I took. Maybe it's because of my eyes. Ahh well. Nothing can stop me from logging off. HAHA!

I've gone WIRELESS! Tito Lynn and Tito Jon gave me a wireless broadband router for their grad gift, something that I have been meaning to purchase since forever. Thank you, soooo much! Best graduation gift ever. I am now mobile! At least around the house. Hehe!

Anyway, I graduated yesterday. It was such a tiring day especially for my feet. I loved my pointy heeled shoes but they killed me. *pats feet*. I am now nursing my blistered feet and still in "just graduated" high. I did my own make up. Wanna see?

TIP: click on photos for original size.


super big deal for me! haha!



Photos are here: http://gailaloo.multiply.com.


College graduation at the CAS Roofdeck, 23 April 2007.




sa bahay before leaving for PICC.


UP Manila Commencement Excercises, 24 April 2007 at the Plenary Hall, Philippine International Convention Center.

Singing U.P. Naming Mahal and the entire graduation ceremony, in general, was sad because there was a certain finality to everything-- that everything is about to end. But as one of the speakers said during the ceremony, "commencement" doesn't have to mean "an ending" but "a beginning" (of something new) instead. I am beyond grateful for my U.P. education. It taught me not to be afraid to fail because there is a right time for everything. It taught me to become fearless, to become independent, outspoken, and it also reminded me of my right to voice out whatever opinion I had. It taught me social awareness and nationalism. It taught me how to embrace culture-- mine and the rest of the world's. The best teachers I met in my entire life, I met in U.P. Manila and for that I feel so blessed.







my college best friend Apple! :)


my family. forgive the messy hair. it was the toga's cap fault. :P



My only wish is that 10 years from now when I return to U.P. Manila, I will do my alma mater proud. I must've been something to be proud of by then. :)

I will miss my home of many years. I will miss Padre Faura and the smokey Taft Avenue. I will miss Robinson's Place. I will miss the Philippine General Hospital. I will miss everything about the vicinity where U.P. Manila stands. I will miss everyone from the Department of Social Sciences faculty who grew up with me during

I wanted to cry at the end of the graduation ceremony when we sang U.P. Naming Mahal (Our Beloved U.P.).

U.P. Naming Mahal


U.P. naming mahal
Pamanatsang hirang
Ang tinig namin
Sana’y inyong dinggin.

Malayong lupain
Amin mang marating
Di rin magbabago ang damdamin
Di rin magbabago ang damdamin.

Luntian at pula
Sagisag magpakailan man
Ating ipagdiwang
Bulwagan ng dangal.

Humayo’t itanghal
Giting at tapang
Mabuhay ang pag-asa ng bayan
Mabuhay ang pag-asa ng bayan.


A chapter has ended and another one is about to begin.

@ Drew's, Febuary 2 with my original college buddies

Everytime I hang out with my original college buddies, I understand what Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower said about feeling "infinite".









Me, Alej, and "Drew" the beanie bear (free from McDonald's for every purchase of a float). I named the bear after Drew's. HAHA!I had to edit this picture because all you can see is the bear. The rest is dark.

we love our straws. HAHA!
thank you, Scelda for emailing the pictures. :)

brace yourselves, pictures ahead

i remembered to bring the camera yesterday although i brought the 16MB flash card instead of 256MB. you have any idea how much 16MB can accomodate? only 10 good resolution photographs. the 256MB flash card can accomodate 150 250-300 photographs depending on the resolution. so i shrunk the size of the resolution and good thing i brought the other 16MB flash card. so that's 32MB. not bad since i got a lot of pictures from yesterday.

my sister: si Gail lahat nalang kinukuhanan! (Gail takes pictures of everything!)
(after we got home when i tried taking pictures of the star-dotted sky. it was lovely but too bad it didn't show in the pictures.)

warning: loads of pictures ahead. sorry if it'll kill your browser :P don't say i didn't warn you!

from 9am-5:30pm... org work at the Oblation Garden preparing for the org week. you'll notice in the first picture that mitchie and i were trying to climb the Oblation statue! mwahahaha!(click for larger version)

at 5:30pm, off to Philam Auditorium with Van, Paulo, Pie and Jules to watch the UPMC (UP Manila Chorale) in concert then dinner at KFC afterwards. :)

my sister and her boyfriend picked me up afterwards. dropped by the house for a while to change my shirt and jeans because i was out and about since morning. then it was off to Eastwood to watch Bridget Jones Diary: The Edge of Reason. cam whored with my sister at kuya john's pick-up. that's me showing my long ponytail which i will have cut this december break.

had a great saturday! it's always fun hanging out with van, paulo, pie, and jules :) hehe! the movie was also grrreat! eastwood has tiangge fever now. i think almost everywhere you'll find christmas bazaars. didn't have time to look around, though. we were lucky to catch 3 decent seats for Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. laughed my heart out. i love Bridget Jones. she reminds me of myself. i can also be a klutz sometimes :P

new lay-out and psychedelic rants

Emily the Strange lay-out will be back as soon as the holiday season is over. for now, Have a Betty Merry Christmas! i a have a thing for Christmas and what better way to express it than to create a holiday lay-out! :)

changed the music to Blessed by Christina Aguilera. this could be the perfect song for God as well as my friends & family. :)

today was fun aside from the stupid mistake i made of following the wrong schedule for the day. all my huffing and puffing on the way to school went down the drain because my first class was at 11:30am not 10:00am! i should've checked my class sked last night before bed but i was too lazy. i ended up missing 2 classes unintentionally because i followed my sked for monday instead of tuesday. grawr.

during lunch while hanging out at the cafeteria, apple saw her school girl crush. actually, we saw him a couple of times while walking along Faura. first, on the way to Rob. second, on the way to Taft from Rob. wasn't that cool? but apple was too chicken she was red all over and she'd bow down her head really low so that [insert his name here] wouldn't see her blushing face. hello? obvious ka pa rin. :P

of course, i saw crush #1 too. i don't know his surname, just the first name. if i'd only choose to, i could ask around since i know people from his group of friends but i'm too chicken myself. for now i'll be thankful that i get to bump into him ALL THE TIME since second semester started. as for crush #2, i only saw him once. maybe his class hours don't match mine. i always see his blockmates, though. the ones that i don't really like that much because everytime i smile at them, they don't smile back. i hate it when that happens. my cheeks start to feel really hot of embarassment.

we got to see National Treasure today. i liked it. it's Dan Brownish only with a lighter story. since i liked The Da Vinci Code, i liked this movie too. i loved Riley. he was so hilarious! i noticed that Nicholas Cage has a beer belly and the actress from Wicker Park/Troy is so purrrty! i love her smokey eyes and cheek bones.

traffic was horrible today because of the flooding the typhoon brought. it rained yesterday and good ol' manila flooded instantly. i didn't expect the day to be sunny but the sun did show up and i didn't have to battle the rain with my trusty umbrella. it's a bright red, by the way.

now i'm tired. came home from grocery shopping with my sister. there's Ice Monster at Congressional na pala :) yeyness.

borderline between good and bad day

whoops. look who's home? i chose not to go to the youth camp (this time) because i realized that i've had 3 absences in my spanish class. changed my mind this morning because just one more absence in spanish class and i'm dead meat. plus, i badly wanted to go to the concert. there will be more youth camps so i passed on this one. my 2 bags were packed last night and now they lay untouched on the sofa in the room. ah well. i'll unpack them tomorrow. too tired to do that now.

i just came home from UST. i went to the concert afterall. man, was today such a long day. classes ended at 1pm but apple, van, mitchie, and i killed time at Rob until 5pm. Van's dormates from DLSU came, plus Ais. we were like an inter-scholastic meet! there were representatives from UPM, UST, and DLSU. it was a joke for all of us but it was fun.

all of us, except mitchie, went to the concert at UST. when we got there i had to remind the girls, "hey! blend in!" because we hated it when people stared. for a time we got lost but we tried to make our way around the campus. the College of Fine Arts and Architecture building was beautiful especially at night when the rooms are lit up. of course i saw this from the outside. the whole of UST campus was beautiful too. according to apple and van, "ano? transfer na?". the whole campus had this genuine college feeling to it. i don't know if you get me. the trees, the benches, the wide space with green grass... it was prettyful. add the fountains near the miniature park and you have one homey campus. when you're studying at UPM, you can't help but admire the vast space because at Faura we have such a tiny Oblation Garden. anyway, we hung out by the fountain for a while until we figured out where to go next.

during the concert we got squished, sweated like pigs, and had our energy and hyperness sucked out of our bodies. we were drained after people started being rowdy in the crowd. they were boys who were such rockers that they got so carried away. they pushed the crowd and at one point i got so scared of being squished to death in the dark. i literally couldn't breathe. it was so crowded. how horrible was that? to die such a death is so sad. over-reacting, yes? but if you were there you'd understand why parents get the jitters whenever their kids go to rock concerts. the bands that played were Bamboo, Chicosci, Sponge Cola, Kambyo, and Moonstar 88. i was expecting Southborder in the end but the campus has a curfew, 11pm. so Southborder wasn't there. at some point when we got fed up, my friends and i hung out at the back of the whole lawn. we sat on the cool dew dropped grass just appreciating the crowd along with the sky, which finally cleared and revealed lots of stars at the end of the night.

the whole thing was supposed to be fun but because i got so tired of standing up for hours walking here and there and for the long day... i feel like i can go to sleep and not wake up until nightime tomorrow.

apple's text just a while ago:

haloo...Ü im home na.
salamat 4 d wondrfl/tiring/bitin/bad3p s uste
night wid me.. worth it naman cos
i got to spend it wd all of u guys.. no stir. Ü
gud nyt, mwah!

as Vanessa always puts it, "ganyan talaga magaganda maraming pagsubok." take that from Van! her one-liner always cracks us up!

i agree with apple. it was worth going through all the exhaustion, the feet and leg pains, the profuse sweating, being pushed around, walking around UST trying not to look lost, and all other troubles because i got to hang out with my friends. the friends that i really love being with because they're as crazy, laugh-trip thirsty, fun-loving, spontaneous, and quirky as i am! i love my friends. i wouldn't want them to get hurt in any way and i'd do anything for them as long as i could do something. college life wouldn't be as fun without them around! now i can grow old, look back on my college years, and smile because i know i had a blast and not a day was wasted. i grew, i partied, i had fun, i studied, i learned my lessons well (both in academics and in life), and grew up. no regrets, i'd always tell myself. right now? so far so good! :)

ah... the long weekend. finally.

bad news

not going to the concert afterall. why do i keep missing Bamboo concerts? *whacks herself on the head*. i'm not going not because i don't want to but because i can't. the youth camp is tomorrow not saturday. so i packed really quickly hours ago because tomorrow i won't have that much time after school. i hate last minute packing because i end up forgetting a lot of things. i'll be gone for 3 days. sunday noon is when the camp ends. 3 days out of my nutshell called home without internet and tv. i can do without these things. mental note to self: bring a notebook just in case i find something interesting to write about. still debating on whether to bring the camera or not.

it's almost 11pm and i'm already sleepy. not quite confident to take a quiz tomorrow but i've studied already. 7AM class tomorrow. that just sucks but i have no choice but to drag my lazy self to school in the wee hours of the morning.

i'm recycling my Emily the Strange layout because i like her and i want something dark for this blog. :)

my back hurts. my eyes too. good night, world.

"clean fun"

i'm chatting with Apple at YM. funny girl! we might be going to UST tomorrow. our friend Ais is a math major there (yes! math major! sheesh!) and she invited us to a concert. Bamboo, Southborder, and Sugarfree are going to be there among others. we'd be dismissed at 1pm tomorrow since our last prof for the day wouldn't be meeting us. i told Apple we could go home first then back to UST in the evening for the concert. man, i so want to go!

i've always been the person who you could drag along anywhere as long as i'm into whatever gimmick there is. i'm always game. my parents let me go because they trust me. i haven't done anything stupid and out of their rule book so far and i'm so thankful for that because i get to enjoy my life being young. i know my limits and i know how to distinguish what's wrong from right. so to my folks, thanks for trusting me! i won't let you down (like Rexona hahaha!). i see myself as a cross breed between being a goody-two-shoes and an extrovert nineteen year old. so it's basically 50-50 of both. works for me and it obviously works for my parents too! no matter how i rack my memory for an instance when i got my parents angry/disappointed... i can't come up wtih anything (except for petty disappointments like not cleaning my closet & arguing with my sister hehe) :D hurray for me! i wouldn't have the heart to break their hearts anyhow. i love them too much. word of advice from my father every time i tell him i'm going out? "have clean fun!", he'd always say ;) but when i parents say NO, they really mean it so i just take it in no matter how disappointing. like last New Year's day when apple and the rest of the cavite people asked me to go to Enchanted Kingdom with them. my mother didn't want me to go no matter how i pleaded.

the YFC 3-day camp will be at Antipolo. i won't know anyone there, just Den Den, my former blockmate. it's a great chance to meet new friends and grow spiritually so i'm really looking forward to that. people from other schools will be there so if you're YFC too, i'll see you there! haha, whoever you are. man, i so wanted to do this in freshman year but i never got the chance to go for it. i always pull out. so i'm doing this because after i graduate i might have regrets and when i'm already working i won't have any chance to do these things. college only happens once! i'm beginning to like junior year a lot.

school got suspended today because of the strike of transportation groups. imagine me waking up groggily to "hey! walang pasok!" (no classes!) so i'm one lucky duck. but tonight i have to study for a quiz tomorrow.

again, i so want to go to the UST concert.

my cellphone is lonely

isn't it sad? no one texted the whole day. not even a "hey! deadline this week!" or "hey, what's up?". sometimes i feel like people think i'm dead already. it feels good to be remembered once in a while, you know. haha. drama.

ordinary school day...

yesterday was much fun. spent the entire day with the usual people i hang out with: van, pie, apple, and mitchie. plus paolo, our unico hijo (only guy). i also brought my camera along and we went click happy while hanging out at the cafeteria. since last semester, we've been regulars there hanging out under the bright nescafe umbrellas. now with vacancy in our scehdules, we have more time to just sit there and watch people go about their businesses. there was a rally yesterday. some people excused us from history class but since sir atoy wasn't around and we weren't sure if we were going to be excused, we decided to attend class anyway. good news was that the quiz was postponed to friday. that'll buy me more time to study.

after school my sister texted me. she asked if i wanted to go to Taco Bell at Gateway. i said yes right away. who could say no to burritos for dinner? Gateway mall looks pretty good although it's still in the works. i hope Taco Bell opens elsewhere too and put out more branches. loved the burritos and nachos. i love the cheese dip :9 in the afternoon did org work with apple and the rest. we talked to the managers of McDonald's and Popeye's at Rob. the two managers from Popeye's asked if they could be toured at the campus grounds. so i was pseudo tour guide from an hour until i saw raymond and introduced him to the two managers. i like doing P.R. work, i swear :)

wednesday. no classes. it's sad, didn't get anything done. i can sometimes be hit by a pang of laziness and i loathe that about me. i'm going to get a little work done before i go to bed (and after C.S.I. which i'm watching right now...).

too lazy to study

man! a history quiz tomorrow and i feel like i'm studying for a long exam because of the thick readings! i'm so lazy. i procrastinated over the weekend and look at me now, trying to cram as much bits and pieces of information that i pick up from the lessons.

i just want to share: i have a strange way of getting teary-eyed whenever i laugh too much. my eyes water that easily that it also makes me very prone to crying over little things like the Olympic documentary a few months ago, a commercial, or watching little kids play without a care in the world. i cry over the pain of others (yes, i do have a heart) and i cry when i'm overjoyed. i cry while telling childhood stories to friends (not really the sobbing type of crying...) and i cry when i tell corny jokes.

anyway, org picture taking earlier this afternoon. before the picture taking, my blockmates and i hung out at the RH lobby and sat along the stairs. we cam-whored with my blockmate's phone. i didn't bring the digicam because i had no batteries. i'll bring it tomorrow so we could cam-whore some more. after the picture taking the debate on how much to pay for the org club party on dec. 03 seemed endless so i left for home in the middle of the meeting. i'm fine with whatever they come up with anyway.

we have a new dog at home, by the way. i'll take a picture of her. she's so cute and she likes amidala too! amidala loves her just the same. now she has a playmate. how cool is that?

i might be going to the YFC camp this long weekend, something that i've been meaning to do since freshman year. laziness always crept into me whenever i tried to join (or is it the demon driving me away from growing spiritually?). i'm going. i'm going. i'm going. this will help me. :) i'm pretty excited. YFC from other schools will be there and there will be lots of talks. something to look forward to. the only downside is that i also have org work. hrmm...

i'm going to go study now. i hate long quizzes.

when i don't feel like writing

saturday in fragments. it's up to you to piece them all together. it pretty much sums up to one one word: FUN. gail loves her social life.

saturday. spanish class. House Blend with Ina. conversation over iced mochaccino and sloppy fries. sour cream and onion. talking about my friend's now existent "like" life as it rained. meeting up with van and paolo at rob. a movie. Mini Stop hot chocolate. splashing tiny dots of hot choco on my pale blue shirt. van saving the day by lending me her jacket. dance concert at PhilAm auditorium. great music, great dance numbers. MedRythmics, Orange Dance Core and Indayog rocked. wanted to dance like crazy along the aisle myself. regained composure. refrained from being crazy. saw my two non-UPM crushes. kilig moment. sir joey (my former lit prof) and his uber cool dance number. astig. dinner at a chinese place. the walk to malate. checking out Indos and Arkdia for the org party. hanging out at Arkdia after finding out that richard's band was performing. cocktails. good music. dancing with paolo at the dance floor while the band played. hanging out with richard and his bandmates after the other three went home. i was "hot seated" by his bandmates. i lost my voice at the end of the night from screaming during the dance concert along with the smoke inside Arkdia. richard drove me home. otherwise i'd have no one to go home with. a few hours sleep. woke up this morning disoriented. must face responsibilities now. school work. pfft.

sorry for such short sentences. they pretty much summed up yesterday. i had FUN with paolo, van, and apple. thank you guys! :) sarap niyo kasama! last night paolo said we should go out again next week. cool! :P

ate bhibe: if you're reading this, this is the concept for the poster. putol yan di yata na-upload ng maayos. the original size is really huge for better resolution when blown-up. akala ko pinakita na ni kuya mervyn sa inyo. :) tell me the changes so i can edit the text.

kayo na din mga orgmates (if anyone reads this blog. i highly doubt it but anyway...)! tell me what you guys think.

i could use a cold shower right now but i'll save that for later because at the moment my calves are killing me. no wait. my whole body is killing me. i was walking around here and there with mervyn to post the fliers for the org week. had to walk all the way to national bookstore at rob place just to buy neon yellow construction paper. mitchie and i designed the fliers and i must say, we did a pretty good job :) haha proud!

tonight i must conceptualize on what to print on large streamers and the posters that we're going to post around campus. i love working for Publicity and Documentation. it's so me! this is the reason why i didn't mind staying extra hours after all my classes. i had to be at the library after my last class to meet up with the rest of the Pub and Doc people. man oh man, i wish the org week won't be a huge flop! i care too much for all the hardwork to go down the drain. kudos for the freshies who are working as equally hard as the upper classmen!

dr. boncan looked lovely today during Hist116 (Philippine Nationalism). she reminds me so much of my mother back when she used to have her hair permed. she already handed out the articles that we're going to summarize and write a written review at the end of the semester. i got two articles on the Muslim of the South. this shall be really interesting although i fervently hope that i won't cram as much this semester as i've done during the past. i must take everything seriously now because i really want to graduate on time.

professor for Anthro123 showed up for the first time since classes started. he's around his late 50s and he has long frosted hair tied up in a ponytail. he has dark skin and a very Filipino-like facial feature. he wore a loose batik shirt which looked very ethnic. at first glance you might think he's weird but if you're from UP and you're used to seeing professors being different from the rest of the conventional professors, you'd appreciate his uniqueness. we're going to study about the indigenuous people in the Philippines. interesting? very! the prof seems to be nice too and i hope he won't be that much of a cheapskate when it comes to giving grades. we had an introduce-your-blockmate kind of thing. it was fun.

i'm going to play with Photoshop now for the poster. good luck to me! ta-ta!

sometimes i sit here in front of the computer for minutes pondering on what to write about. i get that itch to write all the time. sometimes i have several ideas inside my head and i get confused which to write about first. other times i completely don't know what to write about but i know i want to write.

org week coming up in 2 weeks (or is it less?). i'm a part of the Publicity and Documentation committee and in charge (along with mitchie and von) to design banners, flyers, and teasers for the big event. this shall be really fun although it will be tiring preparing for the OrgASM (Organization of Area Studies Major) Week. the club party might be at Arcadia at Malate. anyone want tickets? help me sell tickets! buy tickets from me! it's going to be fun! just tag the tagboard, email me, leave me a note, or whatever. i would leave my number here but this is the internet and it's a scary place so just tag the tagboard instead and we'll see what we can do. support our org!

on friday it's the Kitchie Nadal's album launching at Eastwood. still haven't found anyone to go with me yet. apple has dance practice on friday for the Sayaw Manila dance concert at the Philam Auditorium.

i'm going to watch it with Van and Paulo. we're going to support Apple and Krizia (woohoo!). if you want to watch the dance orgs of UP Manila, watch Sayaw Manila! dance orgs from different colleges will perform and of course, Indayog too! it's the official dance troupe of UP Manila and man, can they really dance! apple has bruises all over. anyway, i could sure use a night out after the event because school isn't hectic yet. after the Christmas vacation, that's when everything will start to become crazy. so for now i'm going to have myself a little fun before working again. Van and Apple agreed to sleep over my place after the dance concert so we could go on an asian scary movie marathon. this will be fun. a lot of squealing and paranoia after the movie. i wonder if mitchie's interested. i love that girl when she watched scary movies. she actually screams her lungs out!

came home at 7pm all groggy and tired. dinner and a few pages of The Lovely Bones later, i fell asleep on the bed still in my jeans and shirt which i wore to school today.

it's almost Christmas. the best part of Christmas are the weeks before Christmas when Christmas is in the air. bright-lit lanterns on sale along the streets, the chilly air at night and the comfy breeze in the afternoon, the light-decorated neightbor's houses, the Christmas trees, the carols playing in the air in restaurants and malls, the Christmas decorations... the Christmas spirit in general!

i may no longer believe in Father Christmas but i still believe in the unexplainable joy the Christmas season brings. when it's Christmas i feel like floating on air and i'm always happy for no apparent reason.

joy!

yesterday i decided not to go to school because i assumed that the professors wouldn't attend the classes anyway. but Dr. Boncan did and she checked attendance. there went my perfect attendance goal. well, at least that was just one absence. i'm not going to use my free cuts from no on.

today i was almost late for school. i twisted my ankle from my running to class. when i got to the hallway, i saw Dr. Boncan walking towards the classroom door. i thought to myself, "way to go Gail! right on time!" so i tried to run across the hallway and into the classroom. when i got inside, the professor smiled at me. right. on. time. i forgot that it's friday and usually during fridays the traffic jam is horrendous. sir atoy was also present today. both my classes seem to be really interesting. for Area Studies 121 we're going to study more about the history, culture, politics, and society of Southeast Asian nations. i saw at the syllabus that we'll be studying about Burma's history too. cool! i lived there for 8 years (when i was a kid i thought i was Burmese rather than Filipino... hehe joke!) but we never studied about the country's history because i went to a diplomatic school. we studied the history of England! crazy, yeah? but studying about their kings and queens was no joke. too bad i forgot everything i learned. so yes, Area Studies 121 is an interesting class. the only downside is that we have a graded recitation every single day. that's every single meeting. so i will be forced to study the lessons in advance and finally read the assigned readers (unlike last sem when i only study for quizzes and exams). this is cool, though. my professor said she wants more discussions by us because we will be trained to be more articulate which would really help us once we're released from our nutshell (the university).

for Social Science 120... it's basically about assigned readings for the Social Sciences. we'll be dwelling more on philosophies and philosophers pertaining to history. this is fun. i have a lot of history subjects this semester. i love history. i am a history buff! again, the downside is that we will have A LOT OF READINGS. i have to ready a big box where i can dump my old readings, stacks and stacks of photocopies of articles and philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, Marx, Engles, Saint Agustine, etc. i have to clean that up before my parents come home. they're all piled up downstairs! during the semester, our professor also wants us to organize a symposium which would be held at UP Diliman. some prominent speakers would be invited. this shall be fun.

second semester is going to be a tough one too. if not the same as last sem, probably tougher.

my goal? don't slack off anymore. take studying more seriously (although i really really do) and i won't be frustrated even if i don't get the target grade that i want. as long as i know i did my best i will be happy.

on the way home, met up with Jern and had lunch with her at Chowking. i miss my high school friends!

enough about school. there's a Kitchie Nadal and Pido album launching thing at Eastwood next Friday and i so want to go. i must find someone to go with me. i want to see Kitchie Nadal sing and play live!

Spanish class again tomorrow then watch The Forgotten with Ina... i don't know where, though. i left my Spanish workbook at Kuya John's car! man! how am i supposed to get it back? oh well!

toodles! i'm tired. i'm gonna rest now.

yey :) i have a monitor that i can temporarily use. my sister and i agreed to scout for a new one after her final thesis defense next week.

the other day when i went to school for enrollment (only to find out that i got the dates mixed up...) i went to the bookstore to buy notebooks and pens. i realized that classes were going to start the following day and i didn't have supplies with me. tsk tsk. talk about sembreak hangover. so anyway, i got two big notebooks and a pilot 0.4 sign pen (my handwriting only looks decent with this type of pen) and a blue paisely print gift wrapper. i figured i should wrap the notebooks with gift wrapper because at least i get to choose the design i want :) so last night i used the leftover wrapper to wrap my new hardbound journal. i used a cheap school notebook and turned it into a journal where i can write what i can't say here in my blog. i got hooked, too! by 8 PM i had stacks of old teeny bopper magazines with me that i no longer find interesting. cut out words here and there and pasted them to make a cover for the journal.

the product of my fruitful work? tah-dah!!!!

the ocean blue paisely print cover :) i'm going to get more of this wrapper. i love it!


first page of the journal


...the second page with my once-in-a-lifetime studio picture.


...and more.

the journal slash scrapbook is private so why did i go through snipping and pasting and all that labor? i figured, to keep my enthusiasm for writing on this journal... it should at least look attractive and interesting. plus, it's gonna be around for a long time so it might as well look decent enough for me to not throw it to the trash can.

i've always had a flair for arts and crafts. i enjoy cutting and pasting and making lay-outs for scrapbook pages. when i was younger i had origami books and my parents bought art kits from UNICEF. i loved that big box because you can paint, make paper mache, draw, and do a lot more because it's a kit with lots of stuff to do for kids. in grade school, i enjoyed my industrial arts class where we drew, made small sculptures from clay, and made beaded accessories.

art is fun! :)

i'm hoping that the enthusiasm won't die down. next stop? pottery! haha!

i'm in a crappy internet place with noisey boys playing counter strike. the noise is unimaginable. on the way here i thought i could write which was the sole purpose why i came with my sister (she's working on her thesis). must scout for a new monitor or get the old one fixed.

i forgot to talk about the orientation we had for UP Pahinungod for Hospice Care Volunteers. i had to drag my sleepyhead off the bed at 6 AM in the morning for the 8 AM orientation. i was surprised to see that there were only 16 of us but to the head nurse in-charge of hospice care at Palcare, it was a big number already. the head nurse who lectured about hospice care said that we will be taking care of stage 4 cancer patients. i volunteered for ward visits and counselling which means that i have to be emotionally strong for the cancer patients. i can imagine myself in the ward with death hanging thick in the air trying to be as strong as possible to whoever is going to be assigned to me. but the thing is i feel like i can go through anything because i already set my heart into doing this. our group of volunteers is the first batch since hospice care became defunct for a few years. i haven't been interviewed yet, though. it's sort of like counselling so that the people in-charge of the hospice program would get to know the volunteers more and if they are emotinally capable of handling stage 4 cancer patients.

it was a different feeling sitting there inside the conference room at the Pahinungod office. i thought that this was the place where my life-changing process would start and it felt so good to know that i do have a calling to do this work. i feel like i've been putting too much time on myself and less on other people that it's about time to get a move on.

how about the rest of junior year and time management? God will find the way. if this is my calling then it doesn't matter how hectic my schedule can be during 2nd sem. it will still be fulfilling to finally share my life and actually help people get through tough times. i can't wait for the seminars to start. we have to undergo seminars on counselling, dealing with death, etc. before being sent off to the cancer ward at the Philippine General Hospital.

i want to skip the whole seminar process and meet the people.

hopefully, volunteer work will make me a better person and i will be able to make people's lives a little easier than it currently is (i really HOPE this would happen). most of all, i met a lot of new people with the same passion as i do and they will become my support group as well when the volunteer work starts. at some point (the head nurse said) we would become burnt out and drained after counselling sessions and depressed, even. but with a support group to help us through, we will be just fine. that is so cool rather than intimidating. :)

wish me luck! :)