Tin Was 21 and a Week Old

She blessed us with the F word:

Avoiding the Quadrillion Probabilities of Our Non-existence by Joe Pintauro

i am not who i was
i am not going to be who i was going to be
you changed all that

you are not who you were
you are not going to be who you were going to be
i changed all that

what is, is. and cannot not be.
what was, was. and cannot not have been.
so you see
my love

we are us.
we are us now and we shall never have been
not us.

who are we going to be?
we are going to be who we never would have been
without each other.

My Bucket List

(not in particular order)

1. Stay in a job I love
2. Trek around Europe
3. Get married to the most amazing man
4. Be the best mom (and wife)
5. Perform on stage
6. Live in a foreign country and explore its different culture
7. Take at least 5 kids to college (maybe by contributing to a scholarship program)
8. Visit the most picturesque place in the world
9. Do something scary and wild (sky diving perhaps?)
10. Do something remarkable which could improve the lives of the marginalized in the country (I know it's seems impossible, but I'm sure there will always be ways to do so) :)

For the Love of Food

I can barely notice where I am in the crowd of pictures taken from my Freshman year. I have almost forgotten that my shirt tags were used to be labelled with "S" (for small) and not "L" (for large). I suddenly miss the light feeling of wearing my colorful sleeveless tops and mini skirts, since these have been hanging for awhile now in a neglected part of my cabinet.

During the past 4 (school)years, I can estimate that I have gained around 10 to 15 pounds of mass in my body. It crossed from my cheeks, rested in my tummy, and raced up to my legs. But didn't Grade School Science say that "the more mass an object has, the more it attracts other objects towards it?" So thanks to Chicken Strips, I was able to suck in all those Freshman Math. Thank You, Asian Salpicao, for giving me the will and the patience to sit in Diyco's class. I owe Seattle's Best and Figaro coffee for warming me up during all my Philo and Theo Orals. Maybe without caffeine, I couldn't have aced those. Thanks also Cerealicious for adding sugar to our Thesis.

What a nice way to rationalize overeating one's overdependence on food, huh? XD

But don't worry, I'm not binging and waiting 'til I can pull on the Earth. I've already been eating fish and vegetables for a week now, and I started jogging/walking this morning. Sometimes, I invite in a piece of choco chip cookie as my reward.

I haven't lost a pound yet, but somehow, I feel lighter. Maybe because I'm now attracting some "healthy vibes", and it's doing good to my soul, don't you think?

Nevermind if I still don't recognize myself 4 years from now. I'll be better by then, just as I know better now. :)

Lomo in the Beach

Punta de Uian, San Antonio, Zambales
March 10-12, 2008


Even if their receptionist is bitchy, and even if there weren't any other guests aside from us during our first hours there, it's okay. :)
The place was all ours, and no one was able to distract us from appreciating the sun, the sand, and the dazzling beach.

TRIVIA: Dito nagshooshoot and Marimar. Haha. Yun ang sikreto.


Ang hirap labanan ng waves doon. Kaya kaming tayangin hanggang China.
Kaso naisip namin wala kaming visa, so 'wag na lang.


As usual, Tin and her DSLR. TIN UPLOAD YOUR PHOTOS NA!


Tin in awe of the beautiful sunset.


Mich, Tin, and me so far away from Jo


At first I thought the chairs were the only ones there.


Ready for island hopping and snorkeling huh?


Capones Island
There's the old lighthouse built way back when the Spaniards were here.


Mich, bakit ka may scarf?


Takot sa araw, halimaw ata


The end or the beginning?
Both, I believe.

I'll post more lomo pics here in my Multiply
tonight. I'll post the pics from my digicam too. :)

I HOPE YOU'LL ALSO FIND WAYS TO ENJOY THE SUMMER HEAT!
And have a blessed holy week.

Now I Feel Like a Genius

Most of my friends know that I never had an interest in DNAs and parabolas, well basically because I always have a hard time imagining such abstract concepts (seen in Science and Math books!). BUT I think mostly everyone knows how much I LOVE tweaking computer codes, although it may also be considered abstract, since my dad, who is an engineer, introduced to me MS-DOS when I was 8, the Internet (through Netscape Navigator) when I was 11, and HTML when I was 14. I remember the days when I was the only girl who compete in 'computer contests' in school. I remember that before going to sleep, I used to regularly browse through my thick HTML guide, and I never admitted to anyone that I did that just for fun!

Sometimes, I still wish I have taken up MIS (Management Information Systems) instead of Communications as my undergraduate degree. Sometimes, I regret not taking programming classes, because if I did, I could have enhanced my 'techie skills', as how my friend Mich calls it.

But the Internet has been a great avenue for me to still explore HTML and CSS at least. I have long been looking for a desktop client which can allow me to post to all my accounts in Blogger, LJ, and Tabulas. I particularly had a hard time looking for a client which can cater to Tabulas because it's not as popular as the other two.

But after knowing that w.bloggar supports, not only Blogger and LJ, but also the old Blogger API, which hosts Tabulas, I became so excited I downloaded the software immediately! When I was customizing my account in bloggar, I didn't get at first what to put exactly under 'host' and 'path', until I figured out that the host is api.tabulas.com and its path is not /xmlrpc/ anymore but /blogger/. So hooray, I did the right thing, and now I can easily post to all my accounts, thanks to w.bloggar and also to my repressed 'techie skills'.

(and for the first time in a very long time, I feel like I was a genius to have worked that out!)

I hope this can be of help to others, especially to the Tabulas users out there, since there are already a lot of clients which support Blogger and LJ (like the fabulous Microsoft Live Writer).

Happy-Sad

Zen Garden, Ateneo de Manila University

I'm still swamped with work, but just to mark this occasion, I am blogging now to announce to the world (and to convince myself) that yes, today (well since it's 12:17 am, then I'm referring to yesterday) is-was the last day of my undergrad classes.

Good thing I still have finals next week and graduation is still a month away (near) from us, because as of now, saying goodbye to classrooms, cafeteria food, homeworks, and teachers still feels so surreal.

And for the longest time, I thought school will take forever. Who was I kidding.

Can someone fund my Postgraduate degree?

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Now playing: Stereophonics - it means nothing via FoxyTunes

The Next Best Thing After Grad (& Getting a Job!)

I'm sure the upcoming months will be filled with parties in celebration of that college diploma. But have you ever wondered what gala is next in line?

WEDDINGS!!

I wonder who among our batchmates will actually make it and celebrate it as stirring as this one:

Great editing from these guys. They will be reserved on my wedding day! Now all I need is a specific wedding date and a potential groom! :) Haha! Happy Love Month to everyone! Upload your own wedding video clip when the time comes! :)

American Adobo!

Adobo is a famous Filipino dish. It's actually my favorite. Now here is Travis, a guy from the States, doing his best in showing how to cook adobo... in Filipino! GO TRAVIS!

Apple Oatmeal Crisp recipe

 

You can do this just in 1, 2, 3... First, you'll be needing the following:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 3 cups apples - peeled, cored and chopped
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

And then off you go!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C.) Lightly grease an 8 inch square pan.

In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, oats, flour and butter. Mix until crumbly. Place half of crumb mixture in pan. Spread the apples evenly over crumb mixture. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and top with remaining crumb mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown.

My uncle and aunt from the States gave this recipe to us. They got it from allrecipes.com. Food never fails to make someone smile, at least here in the Philippines.

 

So This Is How It Feels

Sometimes, I think about the past and I remember how different I was (it was) back then. I think about the times when I was genuinely happy and the times when I was also genuinely  sad, and I realize I have never felt the same way, never have I been fired up such extreme emotions. So I think this is how you describe the feeling of being okay, this is how you elaborate when a person asks how you are and you have nothing to gush nor whine about, and the only fitting answer you can say is just that -- I'm okay. 

The Year That Was 2007

It might be a tad late already to post a year-ender post, but I cannot not chronicle how 2007 went for me... because when I get older stuck with a memory like a sieve, I need to remember that this was the year:

...when I first had my 10 megapixel Canon digicam. My batchmates in Comm, especially my blockmate Scott, and my aunt, roused my curiosity in photography. I really did make sure that I get the camera with the best features (there is during that time) without having to strain my mom's wallet.

...when I first competed in an inter-school competition and surprisingly, became a finalist! I decided during the very last minute to join Uniliver's Print Ad competition last year. I can still remember all the stress that competition cost me! Being one of the finalists is already an achievement for me, especially after knowing that I am the only one of the finalists who worked alone (if only Tin were there), while the others were in groups.

...when after the longest time, I first experienced again to spend Valentine's Day without a 'special someone'. Mom bought me a laptop jacket to compensate for the flowers and chocolates I won't be getting that year (and God knows until when?). It was still fun--I celebrated it with my family in an eat-all-you-can place. I gave chocolates and Valentine cards to my friends, Mich and Tin, to express my love for them.:) Oh my, now this reminds me that Happy Single Awareness Day is nearing!

...when I first had my practicum in an advertising agency (Campaigns & Grey) and in the marketing division of SMART Communications. It was more of a privilege for me to have worked in SMART, they trusted me to sit on the job of my 'boss' who went on leave for a month in the States!

...when I finally got the chance to travel abroad! I will never forget Victoria Peak and the endless walking we had in Hong Kong. AND OF COURSE, I will never ever forget my US trip, from arranging all the requirements to acquire a US visa, to the looong hours I was in the plane, to finally stepping in New Jersey and seeing my Uncle and Aunt's beautiful house, to road tripping from there to Maryland, Washington, Boston, and getting inside Harvard and MIT, to my first try of playing in a casino (...just with a slot machine ah! and they gave me a free drink! how dare them think I'm already 21!), to touring around the magnificent New York, to discovering the beauty of the evolution of time through paintings and sculptures in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to trick or treating with my Uncle's neighbors in Jersey, to ALL THE SHOPPING, to watching my first Broadway musical, to getting lost in Los Angeles, to all the screams I had in Universal Studios, to rallying with the Writers' Guild (haha actually I was just at their back to take their picture), to  seeing such well-toned bodies of cadets in Westpoint, etc, etc.

Traveling abroad made me realize how vast the landscape of the world is, and that I should never just limit myself in staying here in the Phils. Actually, it made me appreciate Filipinos more, upon seeing the contrast of our culture to others'.

...when my friends surprised me for my birthday! It was so sweet of them to actually think that I should celebrate my 20th and a month birthday!! Who wouldn't be surprised?! Even me, the Nancy Drew wannabe, didn't find any clue to it at all!

There's actually more: my dad leaving for work in Dubai, me living away from home for the first time, my immersion in Rizal, Papa Bong's 1st year death anniversary, the numerous  visits I had to the hospital, the social enterprise we built, me being an officer in PEERS, more Philo classes which I ♥, simbang gabi  (dawn masses during Christmas season) in Ateneo, etc, etc.

SO 2007, THANK YOU!! 2008, make sure my list will be longer next year!

Microsoft, I Love You

You impressed me last year by coming up with Microsoft Office 2007. And now, Microsoft Windows Live Writer leaves me speechless. :)

I need to let this out.

1. I think I'm depressed. I'm uncertain because I can still function well. I just refuse to cooperate with myself. Why? I can state possible reasons, but I'm not really sure about anything.

2. I can't motivate myself anymore. I don't see the prize of slimming down, getting higher grades, or finally committing myself in a relationship again. Sometimes it feels like "I was already in that phase and I don't want to go through it again". Most of the times, I'm just too too lazy to create something new in my life. I'm stuck here and I find it terrifyingly comfortable.

3. My environment affects me a lot. Though you've helped me adjust in school, I believe you're also a major factor as to why I end up as a wreck sometimes.

4. You're a control freak and I can't do anything about it, because I turned out becoming like one too.

5. What's with the accent? You sound like a poser. I know deep inside you're still one of us. Or maybe I'm just envious.

6. I wish we can be friends, but I know you will never give me the chance.

7. I want to quit. I need space.

8. If fate favors me, I will marry a web developer/IT geek, our honeymoon will be somewhere in Europe, and we will play around with Flash and CSS for the rest of our lives. Under the moonlight, we will share each other's philosophy.

9. I really wish I'll worry about which company/school should I work for after college, instead of worrying because no job opportunities await me.

10. I think too much that's why I never get things done.

P.S I'll feel better if more people care to read what's happening with me. Maybe that's why it's so depressing. I'm used to treating life as a show. With no one watching, it feels so pointless living for yourself.

Unbelievable

I'm blogging in my P1i!!ü