Hohoho! Merry Christmas! :D

Christmas was a blast! It didn't go exactly as we planned it but we all had fun. XD

We were planning to host the Christmas lunch, but it turned out to be Noche Buena, Christmas breakfast, lunch and dinner. Don't ask me how it turned out that way, but it did. ^^;

My cousins and their kids stayed over for Christmas eve. The house was packed with people that night. And we prepared a lot of food... when Christmas came, we were full! I texted a lot of people, I decided to be different this year by sending out personal messages instead of quotes. I don't know if I'm going to do that for New Year. :P

Daddy was able to call on Christmas eve. It was a long phone call and he was able to talk to everyone. ^^ Grace also called, she's coming back on January 5! *gets excited* But wait! I've got an exam on that day... *gets all depressed and gloomy* I won't be able to see her that day. -_-; I just hope I'd be able to see her on January *checks out calendar and mumbles something about exams*.

I went Christmas shopping with Ivy last Sunday. I walked around Greenhills and Megamall for about 10 hours. O.o;;; So I was house-ridden (instead of bedridden :P) because of a terrible sprain in my ankle. Although it doesn't hurt today, I hope it' s healed. :)

I'm talking to Daddy right now. He's in Singapore and leaving for Sri Lanka in a few hours. He also heard about the tsunami in South Asia. The waves were as high as the coconut trees! O_o;;

I'm going back to sleep, I woke up around 6:30am after sleeping for 4 hours. I stayed up late wrapping gifts. :P

I'm feeling sick right now, having this sore throat sucks. And I guess it doesn't help that I just ate some ice cream. XD

Last night I went to our HS reunion. I came really late, around 8pm because I had to wait for my mom to come back. They already ate when I came, I was just in time for dessert (and I bought the cake. :P).

Jenny was there! We haven't seen each other for over a year. She transferred to another school to pursue another course. ^_^

Lori rented a videoke machine and we had so much fun singing. We love to sing and as I remember our class always wins the first place in singing contests. ;) This reminds me, I have to get a list of mp3s by Duncan Sheik. We sang "On a high" and umm... another song, I've got to get a list. ^^;

And Sabrina called! She's still in California. We miss her... but she promised to come back next year. ^_^ We sang a lot of songs that we didn't even notice the time. I went home with Noe, Farley and Yosef (ahaha... three body guards! XD). They kept teasing me on the way. Those guys never change... -_-;

I got home around 2am. I was full and when I got on my bed I easily fell asleep. And I haven't changed my clothes! XD Well, I woke up 2 hours later and changed clothes. ^^;

I finally finished 'Full Moon wo Sagashite' and I'm currently addicted to 'Shinshi Doumei Cross'. All works of Tanemura Arina. :D To tell the truth, I like FMwS better than KKJ. I think the ending is a lot better. Although I feel a bit sad for Eichi-kun (He's super cute!), but I guess it was for the best. :)

My cousin's here with her kids. She'll be staying for Christmas (I don't know if they'll stay up to New Year though... ^^;) So I don't have a room. *sigh* Her kids are as hyper as ever. >_<>

Well, so much for short posts. This is going to be a long one. :P

Updates, hmm... I got guilty because I sold overpriced goods, got a lot of mp3s from Sheryl, and took two exams this year instead of five. The others were moved next year because of the suspension of classes. Which means when January comes I'm going to be filled with deadlines, problem sets, home works, and exams. Even though it's Christmas break, I haven't rested not even for a day. ^^; Must plan a day to be a bum. :D

The Engineering Week just came to a close last night. I'm proud to enumerate my organization's achievements.

December 10
- Dateengg - Josine & Ace
December 13
- Indakan (pair) - Tina & EJ - 1st
- Indakan (group) - DanzERGs - 2nd
- Enggcredibly hot - RA, Lian, Ace, Sherwin, Patrick - 3rd
December 14
- Awitan - AwitERGS - 2nd
December 15
- Maskipaps - Female - OJ - 2nd
- Male - Gidz - 1st
- Group - Ed, Lei, Josine - 1st
December 16
- Ms. Eng'g - Mark - 1st

Volleybagan:
Men's - 2nd
Women’s - 3rd
Mixed - 1st

And now were the 5th placer in the EWOC. It's the highest place our organization has ever achieved. (I think. :P) The best part is that we all enjoyed ourselves with all the major and mini events. :) I was only able to go to the last three days because I had to prepare for my EEE 103 exam. I was able to review... like a few hours before the exam and I totally forgot the terms I was trying to remember. >_<

Last wednesday, I was supposed to go to school at 8am but because I stayed up really late (up to 6am because of Full Moon Wo Sagashite) I was able to get there around 1pm. I stayed at the tambayan for the whole time. I helped out with the Breng'g me game by counting the aluminum can tabs one by one. I got a rash from that... I don't know where those people got the tabs, but they were really dirty. -_- After that I helped out with the costume for Maskipaps, a fashion show/band concert. I was using spray paint and I got a little dizzy because of the fumes so I asked Meinard to paint them for me. ^^; We painted everything we used - okra, garlic, sinamay and rubber foam. We were aiming for a tribal look so we painted the model's bodies with black paint and added a lot of white tattoos. It took us a few hours to finish painting them all together with retouching the paint. But it was worth it. Our models were able to put up quite a show. Gidz did a head stand, OJ used her slick dance moves, and Ed, Lei and Josine walked the walk! ;) I didn't finish the whole event, when they finished their turn Chanda took me home. :D

On thursday, I went to school early to pass Nikki's reaction paper. At first I didn't know what to do when I got into their building because I have never, ever entered CMC's building. ^^; I got nervous and everyone else were looking at me funny (maybe because I was wearing a shirt that said 'UP ERG') but still... they didn't have to stare! >_<

Today we went to Golden Acres to spend some time with the old folks there and spread good cheer. To be honest, I really don't know how to interact with old people. My mom's parents were always strict and I had to mind my manners, behavior and conduct. My dad's parents were a bit aloof but we never had bonding moments because we could never connect. So when I was there, I didn't know how to interact with them. I just stayed outside with the other people who I think have the same dilemma. At 5pm we said our good byes to the old folks, and headed outside the compound. We gave our gifts to each other while stating how our gifts would be described by something E or R or G. It was fun. :D I bought the prizes for the most creative gift because I thought we don't have anything, and then when we got there we learned that Lea also bought some prizes. ^^; So we just distributed the other prizes for the people who didn't get any gifts because the ones who got their names weren't there. I went home (nobody else was home) and watched TV because I thought we'll be featured today. But... heh... we weren't. I fell asleep (with the TV and lights on) and I woke up because Kuya Nitoy was back. I opened the door and checked my phone. I was surprised to see a lot of missed calls and a message. Nas left her wallet in my bag! >_<>

I know it's very late... but I can't help myself from posting this! I can't contain my excitement! We won in the Ms. Engineering competition! *jumps up and down* We won! We won! XD

We got the fifth place! Woo hoo! It's so hard to get those points and yet.. we were able to make it! :)

I'm so happy! XD

I won't be posting for a while. ^_^

The first blow of exams on December is going to be tough. I'll be having about two or three days break in between exams. To tell the truth, I'm kind of scared to take the exams. There's just so much at stake here. x_x

I was surprised when I woke up today. I thought I was late for school. Blame it on 7am classes to turn your sleeping world upside down. I now sleep at 12mn then wake up at 5am then sleep again at 9am and wake up around 12noon. If that's not a crazy sleep pattern, I don't know what is! :P

Engineering Week is just around the corner. I hope we'll be able to get a lot of points this sem. I was so stressed last time I talked about it because I didn't know what resposibilities I had to do. Actually, they asked me for back up in volleyball and cheering. I don't know if I could do that so I just said I'll think about it. It's going to be hard to participate considering I've got five exams on the first two weeks of December. I guess they just have to deal with what I can contribute. :)

I'm going back to sleep. XD

My hands are feeling a little rough and a little bit sore because we tried wall climbing yesterday. Plus I handled hot and cold stuff today when I cooked frozen hotdogs. My poor hands! T_T

In other stuff, I tried mapping out a schedule for my exams. Turns out that I've got to do some heavy work before November ends. And I thought the tough work would happen in December because of Engineering Week. What to do? Prioritize. ^_^

Mom's birthday is only two days away! I haven't found her a gift... It's so hard because lately she's been buying the stuff she wants/needs. Now I don't know what to give her. >o< I tried asking but she's not telling me anything. T_T

Christmas is so near! I don't have any gifts for anyone because I don't have the time. @_@ Must schedule some major shopping spree... Must save money.... XD

Today was a lazy and fun day. :P

I was supposed to go to the dentist today but when we checked if there were still patients waiting we backed out. I guess I'll just drop by tomorrow. ^^;

I woke up around 9:30am because of a nightmare. I dreamt that I failed EEE21 for the third time and I was going to be kicked out of college. It's a bit blurry now but that's what happened, when I woke up I remembered that I already passed EEE21. Now why did I have that dream? *shivers* I hope it's not some bad omen....

Around noon my mom was invited to our old neighbor's birthday party tomorrow (they already moved) and then our other neighbor invited us to their grandma's birthday party tomorrow. :P My mom asked me to go with her and I agreed. Now I’ve got to go to church, two parties, buy some ERG supplies and go to my dentist in one day. ^^;;

I was complaining yesterday about my dampened spirits. Well! Nothing good old shopping can’t handle. :D Mom took me shopping for my early Christmas presents - a watch and a micro umbrella. ^________^ I love my new watch. It’s so pretty. I promise to take good care of it! :)

Anyway, I’ve been very happy for the rest of the day. By the way, have you noticed there are a lot of stars tonight. They’re very pretty. *_* <-stargazing

I was looking at my horoscope online for today, and this is what I've found.

"You've been exerting yourself a little too hard over the past few days and might feel a little listless, dear Gemini, as if you've burned out all your energy. Nonetheless, your mind is still very active, and you're likely to seek stimulation through books, TV, documentaries, or perhaps lectures of some kind. Whatever you learn, you should find exciting, and could set you off on a new interest. For today you could well turn into an armchair traveler!"

So that explains why I was so absorbed in my lectures today. I'm also watching the tv while reading stuff from the net. ^_^

I watched "Land Before Time" and "Land Before Time 2". My favorite character is Ducky! She's so cute, especially the time when she hatched. Such a playful personality and very talkative. Just like me. :P I used to favor Little Foot but now I think Ducky's better, plus she swims. :D I cried in the first movie (again :P), it's just sad when Little Foot's mom passed away. T_T

I've been very quiet for the whole day. I don't know but I wasn't in the mood to talk. Hope this feeling goes away tomorrow. T_T

I was upset a while ago but now I think I'm okay. :)

Anyway, I still have to do stuff for ERG. Honestly, I'm considering not to participate in any ERG Activity but when I think about it - I don't want to miss out on all the fun. *sigh* A little inactive maybe? I still don't know, but if they're expecting me to go all out for them... I can't possibly do that. I have to prioritize my studies before anything else. I can't handle everything they want me to, I'm not superhuman. I wish I am but I'm not. So they just have to do with what I can give. If I won't be able do it, they should give the job to someone else.

I'm so moody today. If I wasn't enlightened earlier, I would have ranted off about how unfair life can be and choices and chances and more stuff that wouldn't make any sense. Glad that's over with. :P

I'm also tired. These past few day's I've been trying to sleep earlier than 12am but to no avail. My body clock seems to follow the sem break sleeping time I used to have. It's so hard to change it... T_T

I got the schedule for exams. I've got exams on Sundays, plus there are times when I'll be having two to three exams in a week. This is going to be one tough semester. Let's hope I'll make it out alive. :)

First day of classes.

What can I say? I feel really tired right now. Ugh! I hate being in school for 12 hours. It plainly sucks. >_<

What did I do with my 5 hour break? I went to sleep at the third floor quiet zone, read Chapter 1 of EEE 103 book, made an incomplete outline of that chapter, looked for a lunch mate, met Anton (Elmer's batchmate), went to Eng'g library and talked to people there, and met Joma (Arnold's friend) another classmate in ME63.

EEE103 followed by STS lectures make me feel so woozy. Add the fact that I only had two hours of sleep last night. -__-;

I'm not spending my break in school again, next time... I'm going home.

I'm enrolled!

Finally, after four days of going back and forth to school. *relieved sigh*

I got all 19 units. Yay! ;)

Now to start reading the topics for those subjects. *puts on a study hat* :P

I'm so tired! My arms feel like they're going to fall off any moment. x_X

I enjoyed the past three weeks. It was a very hectic schedule but I enjoyed it. :)

Wednesday, met up the other ERG people at EEE. I got there 15 minutes after the 4pm call time. The ride to Laguna wasn't there and we had to wait for a few more hours before the rides arrived. Then when we were ready to go, Kaloy went home to Antipolo to get some clothes. I got mad because he didn't get those before he went to EEE. -_-;; We had to wait until 7pm so he could come with us. We were hungry but they already prepared food for us at the venue, we had to wait to get there. There were some bloopers during the ride, like the time when a traffic officer suddenly halted us to ask if where we were going. We all said, "Swimming po." and when he asked where we came from, wer replied "Sa UP Diliman po." Apparently we should have secured some documents before we went to Laguna... I learn new things everyday. -__-; Anyway back to the scene, after a dialogue consisting of "Where did you come from?" and "UP Diliman po" because they asked us a LOT of times, they let us go on our way. Another blooper was when we stopped at an intersection, we thought we have arrived. Just as they were unlocking the door and we prepared to go outside, the driver stepped on the accelerator so they quickly shut the lock. :P When we got to the place, we saw this huge pool with a slide, beside it, a messhall... but it lacked rooms to accomodate us all. So we decided not to sleep until our ride arrives at 5am the next day.

Thursday, 12 midnight - Ivy and I started to swim. The pool was up to 5 feet and I realized that when I tried to dive, I already touched the floor. XP The other people came when the program finished. After two hours of swimming, taking pictures and racing with other people we took a shower and dressed up in pajamas. We tried to sleep but the other people were so noisy belting their voices in videoke so decided to join them. After that we played some cards to pass the time and then sang more songs. At 5am we changed our clothes and got on the first trip. The trip was fast and it felt like the whole vehicle was flying. I fell asleep for more than an hour and we were all dropped at the EEE building. I went home and I just curled up in bed and slept for two more hours. 10am I woke up because Albert came and we have to go back to EEE to meet up for wall climbing. We met Nas while we were walking towards the building and we rode the rest of the way in their van. Then we noticed that Tin (who was on the other side of the road) already stopped. We caused a little traffic because Tin saw us and she thought she could give us a lift but Nas beat her to it. We blocked both sides of the road. :P We got to the building at 10:30am and I was so sleepy. I tried to sleep in the quiet zone but to no avail. So I just told them stories on what happened the other night while we were waiting for Ivy and Elmer. When they finally came around 11:30am, we went to KFC to eat brunch. When we got there, Tin's window froze halfway up. So she had to bring it back to her house, but Nikki got her order so she went to get the door fixed with Albert. Almost all of the tables are occupied when we got there, so we had to split in two groups. The couple and the singles. :P While we were eating, Tin told us to go to the Power-Up center and they'll just follow us after the car got fixed. So after eating, we went to the Center and got our bags from Chrissa's car. To Nikki's horror, her bag wasn't there! It was left with Tin along with her cellphone and wallet. So in the end, we had to wait for Tin to come back before we got to climb. We took some pictures as if we were sleeping. :P Then when Tin and Albert finally came, we signed a waiver, got our belayer card and got the shoes and harness. It took me three tries before I got the right shoes and after wearing them I made some jokes about the harness. I didn't know how to wear it so I kept on guessing where it should go. The instructor was chuckling while I was doing that. XP Anyway, he told us how everything goes and then Tin was the first one to climb since she's done it before. I was her belayer, she's heavy... ^^; Anyway, it was so much fun to climb and then go down. Actually, it's a lot more fun going down. :D Elmer slept while we were climbing up. We kept teasing Ivy, "Full support si Elmer o!" while she climbed the walls. XD After going up a few walls, I fell down, exhausted on the foam. I took a nap while lying on the foam for around 30 minutes or so... I just couldn't get my body to get up. :P Then I tried going up the inclined wall a few more times until my hands hurt and I couldn't hold the grips properly. I was the first one to take the rented materials off because I knew I can't go up anymore. We rested for a while and Tin took me home to change and get my stuff. Then we went to her place so she could change. After that we went to Chrissa's place for the sleepover. :) We cooked the food and then set up the equipment to watch movies. We watched "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". After the movie, a few of us (namely Ivy, Nas and Nikki) fell asleep. Chrissa said she'll treat us some ice cream if we were the ones to buy it. We were all in pajamas and Tin volunteered to drive us to the mini mart. So that leaves me to be the one to buy it. ^^; So we went there and I quickly got "Crinkles" and left the store. When we got back, everyone woke up... except for Ivy. She looked pissed at Nikki then she went back to sleep. I poked her a couple of times and told her, "Ivy... may ice cream." She suddenly opened her eyes and asked, "May ice cream?"... we all laughed! XD

Friday, early morning - we all ate the ice cream. A half gallon for the six of us. XP We talked until 5am. Then we all fell asleep. I woke up around 11am, and my arms hurt. ;_; We ate pancit canton and spanish bread for brunch and watched "The Omega Code" and half of "Brother Bear". Then Ivy treated us some Pizza! :9 After the pizza and getting some creative shots, we changed our clothes. We tidied up the house and went home. As soon as I got home, around 6pm I got my shoulder bag and went to my high school reunion. I got a cake on the way and got there just in time. I saw Rosana waiting outside Lori's house and we both went in. There's a new landscape art at Lori's place, they've got waterfalls and table with small stones in it. It's pretty. :) More than half of the class was there, unfortunately some couldn't go in such short notice but it was still fun. :D The game we most enjoyed was Killer, Cop and Judge. The one who blinks is the killer and if he blinks at you, you're dead. The objective of the game is for the cop to catch the killer before he kills the judge. If the judge is killed, the game is over. :P We did that until 12midnight and Rosana gave us a ride home. The people in Rosana's car were me, Julie, Rhea, Noe, Vincent and Allan. How we were able to fit ourselves in her car remains a mystery. :P I got home around 12:30am, and I went straight to the pc to upload the pictures.

Saturday- I tried editing the pictures but around 5am, I zonked out. I was too tired. Ate Amphie even texted me while was I still awake but I didn't have the energy to reply. I woke up around 2pm and my brother was getting ready to go somewhere. Mom was out too.. so I fixed myself a sandwich, waited for my brother to be gone and went back to the pc. I tried finishing Princess Maker 2 with a sorceress but she only got to be a street performer. T_T Ah.. I'll try again. :)

Well, that's the story of my busy week. Next week we'll have enrollment. Must savor the last few days of freedom. :D

Chrissa reminded me that I haven't posted here for a while... so this post is dedicated to her. ;)

It's been a while. A lot of things happened. Tons of homeworks, papers and exams finished. Some disappointing while the others were victorious. (I am being vague, aren't I? :P Seems like I'm making a poem. )

Anyway, sem break is finally here! *smells the air of freedom* We went to Enchanted Kingdom and Jayrald's place in Batangas for ERG's sem ender. His house (or should I call it mansion?) is huge! It felt like we were having a fiesta at their place because there was so much food. I loved the suman! :D We stayed at a resort afterwards and I walked along the beach with Tin before I retreated back to our room. I fell asleep as soon as I hit the bed. ^^; I went swimming when I woke up and we also played some volleyball. Swimming is so much fun! :)

I also went bowling (Marco's treat :D) with friends. It was fun! I didn't get a high score but I really enjoyed cheering and discouraging (trash talking?) the other teams. :P We gave him a cake but I wasn't able to eat it. I was only able to taste a bit of icing and he took home the cake. Me want chocolate cake...T_T After lunch Phin and I played Dance Maniax and yes, you heard that right Phin and I... You didn't know she's a good dancer, did you? ;) We had two rounds of dancing, then the guy who used the machine when we were finished was so good! His hands were flying because they were too fast! Ah... when will I ever get to that level? ^^;

I've got plans for this week. *crosses fingers* I hope nothing goes wrong. :)

Wheeze...

I am so relieved that two of the toughest exams are finished. :) After the last one, I felt really drained… like life was literally sucked out of my body. I almost fell down the stairs because I was just staring blankly while I was walking. I felt like a zombie…

The first exam was so hard. I only had some ideas how to solve them but only partially because I haven’t actually practiced solving those types of problems. I got mixed up with my formulas for the generator and the motor. Argh…

Anyway, I went home shortly after eating lunch at the cafeteria (I should’ve eaten at home… -_-;) because I left my book. I went back to school before the next exam… I was a little early for the exam so I just took out my notes and started memorizing formulas. When the teacher came into the room, I took out my calculator and pen after he gave me my answer sheet. I went from problem to problem… then rechecking everything because I was able to finish it. While I was rechecking my paper, I found out a lot of mistakes mostly because I was careless and I didn’t pay attention to the given values (I derived the value of one variable even though it was already given… ^^;;; I didn’t notice it the first time I solved it.) I had to rewrite the whole problem and it took me sometime to finish I was only able to look at the other problems because I had no more time to check them all. When we turned our papers in, I looked at the answer key and I saw that I had a lot of errors in the other problems. I think I was too careless… *sighs*

I'm feeling so frustrated. I know the process on how to solve those problems but while I was doing the math… somehow, something went wrong… so I ended up with the wrong answers. It’s one of those bad days that you just want to go home, get into bed and bury yourself in the covers. But when I turned the tv on, guess what? I found a great movie, “Tuck Everlasting” it’s about a family that could live forever. It made me think a lot about the question, “Would you want to live forever?” I’ve been trying to have a debate with myself whether I want to or not. I’ve listed a couple of pros and cons about it. The good side is that I’ll be able to take my time to do whatever I want, I wouldn’t get sick, I wouldn’t die, I could try risking my live because in the end… I’ll still live. The only catch is that I’d never change physically and all the people I love around me will pass away, perhaps there will come a time that I will want to die because it’s the only thing I can’t do and then I’ll regret living forever because I couldn’t die even if I want to. So in the end… I guess I wouldn’t want to live forever.

Another scenario that I thought… if I lived forever in this 20-year-old body then I’ll be taking EEE for the rest of my life… That would be hell for me… >_<

A quote from “Tuck Everlasting”: “Do not fear death, but rather the unlived life. You don't have to live forever. You just have to live.”

Then after watching that movie, I watched “Anger Management” on HBO. I’ve already seen this on the big screen with JM, Chrissa and Nikki. We even experienced a brownout in the theater… that was really testing our anger management… :P It’s still funny, and now I’m able to get the other jokes. *chuckles* Ah… life when I could still go to the theater, now my only life is home-school-org and nothing else… (unless you count my tv time.. ^^;;)

So all-in-all, I’d say I hate having two exams in a day.>_< But I like watching two good movies after the exams.

Speaking of exams, my brother’s taking the board exams today, tomorrow up to Tuesday. 4 days of head-splitting, knuckle crunching, teeth gritting exams… x_x I hope he passes… *crosses fingers*

By the way, the EEE Department is the Overall Champion for this year's Engineering Cup! Hooray! *cheers*

Hmm... here I was thinking that I could probably set a new record by having only one post a month. Then I saw my earlier posts this year (i.e. March 2004)... -_-;

Oh well, since I can't keep the record I'll probably update this often... er.. when I have the time. ^^;

In other things, I was talking to my swimming classmate last thursday. It started with a her being neglected by her mom when she was young and before long she was telling me about some serious personal things. Things like her mom left them when she was still a little girl and her dad is in the States with another family, so basically there's only the two of them (she has a brother) left. I felt bad when I learned about it, I just can't believe that parents could be so... selfish. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones because my mom is always at my side and my dad is very supportive. He can't always be with us because of work, but it's okay... I'm used to it. We're not wealthy... we don't have the best of things but the love they've given me has always inspired me to do my best. (Well, the competition with my brother is also a factor... but that's just sibling rivalry. :P) Somehow I feel proud to be part of this family. My mom is trusted by everyone in the clan and my dad is the 'ideal father' as my cousins would put it. I'm really lucky~~! :)

This week has been very exhausting. x_x Even though on some days I only have half day classes, I am not exempted from staying late at school to finish homework, org work and other work. Plus the teacher that always makes us go to make-up classes. My eyes heve reduced to nothingness with the eyebags I got. They look like these -> ._. The whole week I stayed late over there... -_-;; I do not want to do that again... well, not in the near future... *thinks about 5th year thesis*

I love my pets.. they're so cute together! :D By the way, I have to take a mental note to think of lovebirds names. They've been here for a month and I haven't given them a name... ^^;;

I love Disney Channel! Yesterday I watched Treasure Planet and today I watched Anastacia... I love those movies... <3 I also watched LOTR Two Towers on HBO. It's the fifth (?) time I've watched that movie and I still like it.

"What are we holding on to?" - Frodo Baggins
"That there's still good in this world. And it's worth fighting for!" - Sam Wise

I should've had an exam tomorrow but it has been rescheduled to next week. Now I have to deal with reviewing for all three exams for next week. For now I'll be optimistic... I know I'll finish studying before the exams... so here goes nothing! *plunges into tons of notes*

Yesterday, my niece visited us. At first I thought I was dreaming because I was still in bed and they've just woken me up. (It was 6am in the morning. ^^;;) As far as I know she's still in Japan with her baby, then when I heard her voice I screamed "No way!" and got up. She really is here, in the Philippines! :D

Just a little background. My niece and I go way back. We've been friends since we were babies, she's a year older so we get along just fine. On her first year college she lived with us because it's easier to go to her school from our place than her home. :) Then three years ago she went to Japan, our communication consisted of emails and phone calls every now and then. She told me she'll come back this year but I didn't know when. ^^

She brought her baby but her husband stayed in Japan. We talked and talked until lunch came, I missed her so much! Her baby was so cute, by the way I'm his god-mother. Here's a picture:


After lunch we continued our conversation, but we got a little sleepy so while watching tv we fell asleep. After a few minutes, I felt uncomfortable sleeping in the small chair so I got up and asked Grace if she wanted to sleep in a bed. (My brother isn't home she could sleep there.) She replied with a groan and I just went to my room and continued sleeping. I woke up a few hours later when she came into my room and looked around. She saw my cellphone and played with it. She noticed I haven't changed my phone, not even my number. I just shrugged and said I don't want to change it because I can still use it. I don't want to change phones every now and then just because there's a new trend. Trends fade... besides, it's not like I'm going to use all the features. I'm not yet working, maybe when I'm working and I need more features will I change my phone. But that doesn't mean I don't rave about the newest phones, because I do! I like checking them out and thinking what else the future holds. :)

At 3pm they decided to leave, I asked her to stay for the night but she refused because they had church tomorrow. She promised me she'll come back in December when she'll be giving birth to her next baby. (Yeah well.. she's 3 months pregnant right now. ^^;) Here's our picture yesterday... she's so skinny! It's unbelievable that she's going to have a baby.


Her flight back to Japan is on thursday, August 26. It's the same date as my brother's graduation. *sighs* I want to be the one to send her off to the airport but I already promised my brother I'm going to his graduation. *heavy sigh* If only I can be at two places at once...

For the first time, I watched a movie... ALONE. At first I wasn't sure if I'm going to do it. I was scared because of the emails I've received about people putting needles in chairs and perverts. I was also excited because it would be the first time that I go into a theater without friends or family. I bought a couple of chips, cookies and a bottle of water and went in.

Of course, the cinema was dark. And I went in 30 minutes before the start so caught the last few minutes of the movie. *pouts* I thought it was already finished. Anyway I sat in the middle of the theater, surprisingly, eventhough it's a Spider-Man movie there wasn't a lot of people. Perhaps everyone has seen it on premiere night. :P

I hate it when people turn on their cellphones in the cinema, I mean haven't these guys heard of phone etiquette? It seems like they haven't. *grits teeth* I really wanted to throw some popcorns at them but I didn't buy popcorns so I had to satisfy myself by throwing loud remarks about their phones. -_-

After the movie, I felt okay... far from the horrible things I've been imagining. It was liberating, no one was criticizing how noisy I've been or what funny comments I've been saying or teasing me because I almost cried at the most unexpected scenes. :P

It's the rainy season again, it always rains in the afternoon no matter how hot it is in the morning. *sighs* Last friday there was a flash flood and I had to walk through the flooded streets to get to my house. Eww! I was scared of getting leptospirosis that I quickly washed my feet when I got home. I was also forced to wash my rubber shoes and clothes. *sweatdrop*

Oh! A while ago I went with my friends to the Honda Jazz booth in campus. My friends were asked test-drive the car and I had so much fun being the passenger for FOUR times. :D I saw how the manual and the automatic works, without touching the wheel or doing anything besides sitting at the back. ^_^

I didn't swim for the whole week! *cries* I wanted to swim but the the filter for the pool is broken and they haven't fixed it. T_T I want to swim so much even though my skin is so dark... I want to practice... We still have practicals on backstroke in the next meeting and I haven't had any practice...

Garfield the Movie is showing on August 4! Must invite friends to watch it on the UPCAT days... :D

Weeelll... my birthday only comes once a year so I might as well rave about it. :P

For as long as I can remember, all my birthday parties were planned. The food, people, and so on... but today it was different. ^^

I wanted to celebrate my birthday at home with my mom and brother but my duty (as AVP) calls so I had to go to the committee planning sem yesterday. We stayed at Jayrald's house overnight. Lian was joking about his birthday on June 26 and then while we were kidding around I blurted out that my birthday is on June 20. Everyone thought that I was only joking until Lea saw the birthday calendar and she realized that I was telling the truth. It was already 10pm, I already took a bath and I was ready to plan out our activities this semester. I felt a little sleepy so I slept while I was lying in bed. They woke me up an hour later because we were going to start, but Jayrald and RA went outside so we had to wait for them.

I was getting a little impatient, we were supposed to start at 11pm but it's almost midnight and the others haven't arrived. So I just talked to Ann while we were waiting. When the clock struck midnight, the ones in the room - Ann, Lea, Meiling and Lendl - greeted me. Then Lea went downstairs while I was checking my phone. When she went back with the others, they were singing me a birthday song and holding a cake! ^_^ I was so surprised I didn't know what to say... I just sat there with a wide grin on my face. :D It's my first surprise party! (haha.. just when I'm turning 20 :P)

Then I learned that it took Jayrald and RA so long to find a cake shop that's open at that time. They were also creative enough to devise a plan to put my name on that cake, they used yan-yan chocolate dips to put "HBD Kathy". ^^ Wow... all that trouble for me... it was more than enough to make my day. :)

After the we ate, we started to talk about the plans. We finished everything at 5am and immediately went to sleep. I woke up around 10am and I went downstairs. We ate brunch and then I headed off to the shower. Then we waited for the others to finish preparing their things before we went home.

I came home around 2pm. After eating I went in front of the pc to surf the internet. I haven't been able to surf as well as check my email for the past few days... My schedule has been so off that I can't do everything I want to do in a day! >_< (Which includes answering email and downloading stuff.) This might continue indefinitely because exam week is nearing and I seriously have to study. T_T

My cousin, Ate Juliet came around 5pm and she forgot that it was my birthday. (They were here to help my mom process some papers.) Anyway, they all greeted me and I had fun teasing her kids. (They're twins! ^^) When they went home, I took a nap before we went to the church. I wasn't able to catch everything the priest was saying... but I think I get the whole idea of the sermon. On our way home my mom bought halo-halo from Chowking (because it's my favorite... ^^) and some bread. We ate dinner at home because my brother was already waiting for us.

A little while ago, someone was trying to call me. I didn't know who it was because there was no number. I guessed that it might be dad, but when I answered I was shocked! It's Mary Grace! (She's my nephew/close friend that went to Japan a few years ago.) We've lost contact for months and I was really happy to know that she's okay. She greeted me and said that she'll send me her new email add. :D

I've lost count on the number of people that greeted me thru text. I'm really sorry if I wasn't able to thank you properly. I've had poor signal since I came home. Thanks a lot for the greetings you guys! ;)

All in all, I'm happy. ^_^ Sure... my birthday had some dull moments in between but I thank God for giving me all these wonderful people in my life. They make me feel so special on such an occasion. I'm truly grateful. ^____^

Election and other things.

Last May 10, I was able to exercise my right to vote. I was really excited that I wasn't able to sleep well. At 7am, we were up and ready to vote but Mom insisted that we have some breakfast first so we were able to go to the precinct at 8am. My cousin, Ate Lai, didn't know her precinct number so I waited for her to inquire about it. But there were so many people, she couldn't wait that long... so we just went to my precinct. While we were checking for my name in my precinct's voter's list, she found her name too! ^^ It took us less than 15 minutes to fill up the ballots and drop them in the box. I felt happy afterwards, it felt good to fulfill my obligation as a citizen.

On other things, I've been busy this summer because of my summer class - ES12. The class ended last May 20, but we're still waiting for the results. I still don't know if I passed or not because of the terribly hard final exam. >_<

Have I said anything about Luke? Well, we have a new dog from Chrissa. She gave him last April 12, when he was two months old. He's so cute! *^^* I'll post a picture when I get around to it.

Fun, fun, fun... under the sun!

I've been to 4 different places in 8 days. ^_^

April 3, Saturday:

We went to Laguna with my cousins from my mom's side. We were supposed to hitch a ride with my cousin, Kuya Edong. Unfortunately he miscalculated the number of people coming with him so we ended up using our old car. I finished packing my things at 3am so I only had an hour of sleep, I easily got mad at my cousin because he made us wait 3 hours for nothing. -_- Anyway, when we got to the place my uncles and aunts were already preparing the food. I immediately changed into my swimsuit and went into the pool. The water was cold, but it was okay because the weather was hot. I was in the water from 9am up to 4pm. :D (Of course there were a few breaks in between for lunch and snacks.) I "tried" diving. Notice the word, "tried" because I still can't dive. :P It was fun trying though, my cousins were patient enough to teach me. ^_^ Oh! And there was so much food! Barbecues, grilled corn, grilled fish, etc. (I don't know what the other stuff were called but they all tasted good! :D) We were not able to eat everything, eventhough more than 30 people came. ^^; On the way back home, I was able to sleep from Laguna up to Bicutan. When I woke up, my arms were sore from all that swimming. My brother got off at QC City Hall because he was going to Valenzuela with his friends. When I got home, I took some painkillers and went to sleep. ^_^

April 5-6, Monday and Tuesday:

After an hour of sleep (I was packing until 3am. :P), we (my parents, 3 cousins and me) went off to go to Nueva Ecija. My cousin's husband dropped us off at the bus station and then we got our tickets. I sat beside Ate Lai and then I went to sleep. I woke up when we were in Tarlac, and then I took out one bag of chips and started eating. (I didn't eat any breakfast.) There was a tv in the bus so I was able to catch a movie. I think the title was "Patriot Games". So there I was, munching in my seat and watching the movie when I suddenly felt queasy and sick. Not to mention that the sunlight was directly our side of the bus that I felt hot. I felt horrible, my head was spinning and my stomach was turning. Luckily Ate Lai brought a barf bag and I threw up all the chips I ate. ^^; Then I started feeling a lot better. It was already noon when we got there. They prepared lunch and we ate outside. It was like a picnic, only we had it just outside their homes. You see, there are 5 houses there and they're in one big family lot. We stayed with my Aunt Nieves since they have the biggest house. After lunch, I helped out in preparing for my cousin's wedding. I thought that peeling a sack of potatoes only happened in cartoons, but I was tasked to peel a sack of potatoes. ^^; My right thumb and index finger got sore from all that peeling, but I still felt good because I was able to help out. I also took care of the kids while their parents were preparing the food for the wedding. My little nephews and niece were so adorable, but they were also very active. I had a hard time taming those kids... especially my niece who was always calling her mom. ^^; After a long, grueling day I took a bath and went to bed. It was kind-of weird while I was sleeping because someone kept poking my arm until I woke up. I told my mom about it but she said she was just shaking me to wake up but she didn't poke me. I think it was my grandmother's ghost that was trying to wake me up. *is scared of ghosts* ^^;; I got up at 4am and took a bath. Then I dressed up for the wedding and helped my cousins prepare. At 8am we were already at the church, I was ready to take pictures. (I had two cameras. ^^;) The wedding started at 9:30am, and ended around 12noon. We went to the reception, and it was so hot there. My face was dripping with sweat. Ate Lai's sandals got broken and we forgot to bring the gifts so we went back to get another pair of sandals and the gifts. When we went back, we ate for a while then we quickly went back to my tita's house. When we got home, I went to sleep after changing my clothes. I woke up when my cousins got home because they were so noisy. ^^ Then my mom announced that we'll be going back to Manila that evening instead of taking the early morning bus the next day. I was quite disappointed because I wanted to stay longer, but my dad's waiting for an important call at home. So we packed our bags, ate dinner and went to the bus terminal. I got sad when I was saying goodbye, especially when my niece wanted to come with us. I wanted to bring her home with me. ^_^ Anyway, we got a bus around 6pm and took off. But there was a construction going on at the North Diversion Road so we were only able to go home around 12 midnight. I was tired but I had to watch "Patch Adams", I bought it the week before. So I was only able to sleep around 3am. ^^;

April 8, Thursday:

We went to a resort in Marikina together with my cousins from my Dad's side. It was the first time I saw all my cousins from his side, they're pretty cool. ^_^ I wasn't able to swim because I had my period, but it was okay... we played cards until it was time to go home. Uncle Ansing tried to cheat, but one of my cousins caught him. :P After they finished swimming and taking pictures, we went to Uncle Max's house. It was a nice home. Very tidy. We shared more stories there and bonded with our cousins. When it was really late, we decided to go home. ^_^

April 10, Saturday:

After going to Camp Aguinaldo for a recollection, I went with my parents to Cavite. Actually, I have never my dad's cousins in Cavite. He told us some stories about them while we were on the way. When they were kids, my dad and his brother used to go there riding a bike. They leave in the morning and arrive there around noon. ^^; I can't really believe that they could ride all the way there using only a bike but when we got to the place (it was near the bay... ^_^), my uncle told us that my dad used to ride their bikes going there. That's a long way... ^^; Well, we gave them some cake and they showed us around. I met more cousins, aunts and uncles. After talking, with them and exchanging addresses (we almost got lost because my dad forgot their address... -_-;) we went back home. I was able to buy some sweets on the way and we stopped by Baclaran church to pray before going home.

Coming home...

Last night was the UP EEE Alumni Homecoming. Like last year, I became an usherette. I came there at 3:35pm, just in time for the briefing. I was a bit late because I had exam in ES 12. The exam was hard... I didn't manage to get at least one problem correct. T_T

Anyway, the briefing only lasted for 10 minutes. At 3:45pm, an alumnus already came. He thought that it would start at 4pm, but only the registration was supposed to start at 4pm. ^^; Carl, one of the organizers, panicked! The registration forms were not yet finished, tickets and other paraphernalias were not yet there, and we lacked registration assistants. He asked me to stay at the registration table while we were waiting for the others to come. But at 5pm, Gidz was the only one who came from ERG to be a reg. assistant. We had to bug Nas to help us out with the registration booth. Tin was able to convince her, so she went home and changed clothes. She came back around 7pm. ^__^

Being an usher is not an easy job. We had to assist the guests and tour them around the building. We had to check for labs that are available for presentations. We had to go up and down 5 flights of stairs. We had to keep smiling the whole time ( I felt the stress on my face when I came home. *rubs cheeks*) We had to wait for 5 hours without food and water because the guests have to eat first before us. The good bit: food was great. I tried the creamy beef, sweet and sour fish, and the chicken fillet plus the carrot cake and sushi! Yummy!

I was also able to convince a couple of alumni to check out our booth and buy some cds. Yay! ^__^ Then I went home with Nas at 11pm.

All in all, I'd say it was a great experience. I was able to talk to a lot of alumni and help out. It was tiring but fulfilling. :)

It also made me wonder... after we graduate, will we be like them? Successful in their professions, willing to help out the department and their old organization, and still in touch with their college friends.

I hope so... :)

Boiling point...

I woke up this morning because I had a bad dream. Well, it wasn't really bad because I dreamed of my wedding but the thing is my tooth was pulled out in that dream. Here in the Philippines, we have this pamahiin (saying) that if your tooth got loose in your dream, a loved one will die. So when I woke up, I went to my mom and asked what to do. She said I should bite some wood, so I bit my door and my bed. I hope nobody in the family dies... *crosses all fingers and toes*

Anyway, I got late for my first subject. The teacher called out my name for recitation, unfortunately I wasn't there when he called me. And that was the last chance I would be able to recite in that class. :(

I had an exam at 1pm. It was hard! I hate it! I was in a really bad mood when we finished it because I don't know if I got half of the answers correct. -_-

After the exam, I went to the library to return the book that Ivy borrowed (She forgot her library card when she was going to borrow the book so I had to borrow it for her.) and the book was two days overdue. So I had to go up the stairs and go to the cashier to pay for the overdue fees, and down the stairs to return the book. After all that, I went back to the EEE building (where I had my exam) and I was already tired of all the walking. Then I saw Tina (the one who has my jacket) about to leave the building. I asked her how I would be able to get the jacket and she said some directions to find her cabinet in the laboratory. Unfortunately, when I told Dasco (her co-lab) he got confused and it took a while before he finally found it.

I went to the erg tambayan (the place where our organization is located) and spent some time there until 3:45pm. At that time I left the place and went to the faculty center to meet my groupmates in Comm 3. We were supposed to meet there at 4pm so we would be able to see the magazine that we paid for. I got there around 3:50pm and I stayed with our teacher waiting for my groupmates. I brought all the tapes that I was supposed to distribute to them (I had to record 5 tapes with the same stuff... I was able to memorize our WHOLE interview. -_-) Lady and Lowell came around 4:30pm. There was only one group member left, Bugsy, and he was the one carrying our magazine. We texted him and asked where he is, he said he was currently at the computer shop and they were printing the magazine. We kept texting him and bugging him if we will be able to pass it on time. He said yes and he'll get a taxi to go to the department. We asked him to hurry, because we were running out of time. At 5pm our teacher said in her watch it's only 4:45pm, so we were relieved. But when the teacher said that her husband is already there and we're waiting. We panicked! Bugsy is still not there and the teacher is leaving! We asked her if she could wait for Bugsy, she said she'll give us a few minutes because her husband will be mad if they waited longer. We got her to wait for about 20 more minutes and then she said that she really had to go. We were talking to Bugsy and he's still on his way! I ran down the stairs with mam and try to talk her to wait some more. I was practically begging her to stay longer. My groupmates used all my cellphone credits to call Bugsy and I was outside talking to mam. Finally her husband parked their car and waited. I ran towards the building and looked for my groupmates. When I saw them with Bugsy I immediately called their attention and told them to give the teacher the magazine but the pages were still loose! My groupmate ran upstairs to the photocopy place to borrow their stapler, but since it was very thick she wasn't able to staple it together. I took out my stapler and we tried to staple it, it was finally joined and I told them to go and give it to mam. When they went out, I saw my teacher's car run past them! We were THAT close to giving our project... THAT close! >_<;;;

We went back to the building and I was holding back my tears. I wanted to cry right then and there! I didn't know what to do! I was so mad and frustrated that we were not able to give it in time. When I saw the magazine he made, I got angrier! It wasn't worth it! The magazine was nothing I expected! Not to mention that I already lowered my expectations about it, but it was not good enough to be worth Php 1000 (approximately US $18 ) I couldn't say anything because I might snap... I tried so hard to keep my cool. I looked at it and at the very first page... I saw a typo! I inspected everything and saw dozens of typos! I wrote them all down and asked him to edit them all. I got a calmer while I was writing and when I finished looking at everything I told him that I was definitely disappointed with him. I couldn't say anything else because I felt like my heart was going to burst because I felt really hurt. I went home feeling sad and angry. When I got home, my parents and grandma were about to eat. While we were eating I told them everything, and finally got all of that hurt, anger and frustration out of my chest. Actually I felt relieved after telling my story to my parents (I was practically shouting while I was telling them about it... I was THAT mad! And I rarely get mad... *shakes head*).

I've just received a message from my groupmate. Bugsy already talked to our teacher and she'll give us a chance to give our project. Whew! I'm feeling a lot better now.

Hi!

I miss blogging here. Things have been pretty busy lately... so that should explain the absence of blogs.

School is not so good, that's why I've been too busy. I got to get my grades up before it's too late. I'm always distracted by games and tv. ^_^;;

Life is okay. Dad's home for vacation and we get to spend some time together. Although most of the time, we end up arguing about trivial stuff... you know, usual father-daughter arguments but nothing serious. ^_^ My mom needs to go to the doctor and I've been insisting that she go as soon as possible but up to now she hasn't set an appointment. -_-; I guess I just have to keep bugging her. My brother is about to graduate... hopefully this April if his research goes well. :)

Hmm... let's see... what else? I've been playing this game on the internet, Kings of Chaos. Maybe you've heard of it? Well, if you wanna help me out please click on this
link. It will only take a minute as you click on the number. Thanks!

I guess that's all... :)

Well... Two new years has passed and this entry is my first blog this year. Does it matter if I say "Happy New Year" and "Kung Hei Fat Choi"? I guess not. :P

Anyway, I've been pretty busy this month. The teachers gave us a lot of reports, projects, exams, and quizzes. Not to mention the tons of photocopied notes to be read. I'm terribly stressed out. *sighs*

I have nothing more to say, I'm going back to work.... -_-