Harry Potter

It just occurred to me that I have sold all of my Harry Potter books (or lost somewhere) after I have raided my bedside drawers. I can't believe that my childhood ended just like that. I don't remember finishing the 1st to the third book (The Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner in Azkaban) but I do remember finishing Goblet until the last book :( I actually cried after finishing The Deathly Hollows, mainly because, I would not have the luxury of reading and imagining Radcliffe and the gang grow up. I mean they did, and even had babies but, like every Harry Potter fan out there, you just don't want to end an amazing story.

It was a good ending, don't get me wrong. I mean compared to other books that have open ended endings, this one ended pretty damn good, but can't we make it a little more longer? ahahah!

JK Rowling is just an awesome writer. You really feel like the world she created may be true, that it exists in our world today. I hope that the book will be passed on to the children of the next generation. It is just too good to ignore.

Sisters from another mister

I can't really describe how grateful I am to be with these two most annoying people in the whole world :)) Andee and Paola, ang mga ate na wala ako sa totoong buhay. ahahaha! Thank you for being annoying :) I love you girls...deep deep down..as in 6 feet under. ahahah!

*Pinakamatinong picture of the three of us

Narealize ko lang na wala pa akong post ninyong dalawa dito.

Kapatiran 2013

Presenting: 4A1 and 1A1 of the Assumption College 2013!!!! (applause) 

I must say that this year's Kapatiran week is extra special, mainly because we are part of it for being the seniors of our school (HAHA). Every year, each senior will choose a freshman to bond with and get to know for the span of 1 week. On the last day there will be a pinning ceremony where the seniors will hand over their AC pins to the freshmen as a sign of welcoming them in the Assumption community. 

Today, 4A1(us) prepared lunch for our babies and we had a little program for them. Since the theme of Kapatiran is sisterhood, PINOY HENYO became the game of the day. Prizes were gift certificates from Star Bucks, Serenitea and this other store that I can no longer remember. ahahah! 

After all the eating and the games the program ended with speeches from the seniors and then the freshmen. Nakakataba ng puso :') The freshmen reminded me of how I entered Assumption and all the hardships I encountered during my stay. From entering first year with my mother also entering the hospital for her first chemotherapy, the contests I joined, the friends I made, all the fights we've been through, lahat ng iakan, tawanan, kulitan, everything just came rushing in...sobrang heartwarming :') 

I hope that every single one of those freshmen will be able to remember this day and the following days to come. They have so much in store for them. 

Happy Kapatiran ladies! :) 

KIDS

I don't like kids. I can't relate with them, they are incredibly rowdy, they poop and urinate everywhere they please, they shout when they do not get what they want, hit you in the face if they want to. I'm just a living bomb when I'm around them. 

Having to take care of a child is a lot of work. It really needs your full attention, it tests your patience and is exhausting physically, emotionally and psychologically. 

After Izzrie was born it took me a while to adjust to a new life of being an aunt. I looked at my brother and my sister-in-law and how they struggle to take care of her. Babies are helpless. You just have to do everything for them and yet despite the struggle, there is that fulfillment that lingers inside your heart as if anytime it might explode. 

I came to love children, especially babies because of my niece. Their innocence is overwhelming that I can't help but feel all lovey dovey and warm inside. They will come to love and trust you without hesitation, without any doubt. If you get pissed, they just look at you without holding any grudges. They get confused for a while but they easily let their guards down. They are angels. 

Tomorrow morning, if the weather will permit us, my barkada and I will go to Jubilee Learning Center in Mandaluyong and pass our forms for us to be selected as several of their interns. Too be honest, I was not so excited at first because I wanted to go to an environmental NGO instead, but after researching and seeing a clip online, I realized that those kids need us. Hopefully I'll be able to record my stay in JLC. I shall be posting my experiences here. May God help us to have patience and understanding as well as to really help those children and not take into account the needs of our own.

The Bucket List

Sing in front of an audience

Learn to sketch

Learn to paint

Learn to play the guitar

Learn to play the cello

Learn taekwondo

Design clothes and make them

Own a clothing business

Graduate College

Take up Masters Degree in Communication

Learn a different language besides English

Debate in front of people

Learn how to cook (as in yung masarap)

Compete in sports (badminton)

Speech competition

Writing competition

Get out of the country

Live on my own

Own a car

Fall in love

Have a relationship with a foreigner (an Australian in particular or European)

Donate a big amount of money to a charity

Work for an advertising company

Art in general

          I have heard a lot of people critique art as it is, only seeing the surface and not going deeper into what it truly means. I believe that every art that a person does is beautiful whether it be through photography, painting, drawing, writing etc. It is art. Therefore, it can never be ugly. It may be irrelevant to some, but then, relevance depends on what the person's situation may be or his/her capacity to imagine and dwell into things.  There are people who see things objectively and those people will never get it. It is just what it is. Nothing more. For them art is simply a drawing, a photograph, words, sentences; But then for some it is their voice that cannot be mounted, their way to travel without leaving their homes, their cries on how they enjoy life or simply, their masterpiece. Art is art, and I think every person has the right to express.

If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.
Vincent Van Gogh 

June 19 2013: Wash Day.

Basagan ng outfits :)) How I wish we could stay this carefree forever and ever. ahahaha!

First Day of Our Last

I never thought this day would come so fast. Parang thunderbolt lang ang peg. hahaha! It suddenly dawned on me that today is our first day that is also our last or to make the primary sentence short: our last first day. This is our last year of being THE A1 of Assumption College.

Its as if everything just passed by like the wind. How in first year, we "bullied" our blockmate making her transfer into another school (of course, this has a logical explanation that the bulli (if there is such a term) would be offended if I go into detail, so I won't).

In second year stuff happened that made me realize who my true friends are which you will see down below. This was the year where we were all shocked to have found out that one of our blockmate was not being honest about her identity. She just disappeared, leaving us all wondering who she truly is and if any of the bonds that we shared were real. We know that she is a good person, who just made the wrong choices, like how we do sometimes. This issue still does not have closure and so we did not have any choice but to just move on.

In third year, PANA of course, which is pretty much the highlight of that year because not only did it question our abilities but also tested our friendships; our mentor/professor who betrayed us; and of course the paper that we all just want to forget and bury into the realm of existence that is our THESIS!!!!!!!

and now our senior year. Here we are. The last chapter (hopefully) of our College Life. I can't help but be all sentimental. ahaha!

I'm really just happy to be spending the last year with these fellas. I hope we make one hell of a year.
 Rock and Roll bitches! :))

Oh and... HAPPY BIRTHDAY WIENNA!!!!!!!!!!!! :D
 

At long last

My friend Sharlyn and I have been in the same barkada since 6th grade. She's one of the people in my life that I can pretty much talk about anything under the sun. May it be about family, friends and even about Religion. Sometimes we find ourselves debating about certain topics but at the end of the day, we end up respecting each other's views and considering each other's opinions. No judgments, no hard feelings. Just plain talking.

I must say that college separated me from her and from my other barakadas but despite it all, when we see each other, the time and the distance seem no longer an issue. There was never an awkward moment. I'm writing this blog because of my appreciation of having a friend like her. Someone who understands me wholly and would not judge whatever it is that comes out of my mouth. If so, she tells me :)) There is that RESPECT that we earned from one another. Seeing her this afternoon was one of the highlights of this week. 8 years of friendship. A strong, independent woman with a huge heart. She has seen me at my very worst and helped me go through with it. No friendship is perfect, but this one is close to it. Thank you very much for a day well spent :) God bless you Sharlyn.

Story I wrote for our creative writing class

The woman sits inside the car. Her eyes are so dark they look like they have been gouged out. Outside, the lights of passing cars blur, then fade, then disappear in the rain. Her thoughts took hold of her as if for a minute she was somewhere else. Suddenly she heard someone calling her name. At first she thought that it was just her imagination but then it became louder and louder until finally she was back to reality. It was her fiance, Henry. “Jane! Are you ok?” he asked with a slight tension in his voice. At first she was hesitant to answer the question because she knows that nothing will happen if she tells the truth. “Yes, I’m fine, I was just thinking.” She said for argument’s sake. “Are you sure? You look like you could use some rest.” he insisted as he stroked her cheek. “Yes, I’m just tired. That’s all”. “Alright, as soon as we get home, you may sleep. I’ll take care of the house”

     As they got home immediately, without a word Jane went inside the house, went upstairs in their bedroom and climbed into their bed. The scent of the sheets penetrated her nose and she loved it. It was a mixture of her scent and her fiance’s which reminded her of how they made love with each other over the years. Although they hadn’t slept for weeks. As she heard Henry going up the stairs she closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep. Henry climbed into their bed and stroked her face. She knew what he wanted but he gave her no reason to give it to him. Henry finally gave up, he kissed her goodnight and finally went to sleep. 

     Hours passed and Jane found herself starring at the ceiling thinking of how her life would continue to be the way it was. She felt like a prisoner in her own life. Tears ran down her face. She went downstairs to their living room and there she cried some more.

     This has been happening to her over the past weeks. She hadn't slept for days for it was either she wakes up in the middle of the night unable to breathe or won’t be able to sleep at all. She was unable to explain her emptiness despite the fact that she had everything that she has ever wanted. A beautiful home, a loving fiance and a career. Finally, she stopped thinking, it was exactly 3:00am. She decided to go outside and walk along their block to divert her attention. She had no hope and it made her want to kill herself thinking that as she wakes up in the morning she will have the same empty life. She was unable to breathe again, she turned around and ran towards their house. She got the car keys went outside and got to her fiance’s car. She was ready to leave. When looking at the dashboard she saw a picture of her and Henry a few years back when they were still happily together. Suddenly the memories of her past came flooding into her system. How she met Henry, the way they looked into each other’s eyes and how she had loved him. For the first time, she felt a glimpse of faith as if hopelessness never crossed her mind. She then got out of her car, ran inside their house, into their bedroom as she found Henry sitting on their bed with the look of confusion on his face, waiting for her.

______________________________________________________________________________

Random Thoughts

We all have that selfish bitch daughter inside of us. It just really depends on how we choose to let it unleash. For some reason I do it ever so often.

A girl once asked her mother why she cannot accept her father. He's temperamental, thinks only of himself most of the time, disregards people's feelings, pretty much JUST. PLAIN. NUMB. Her mother told her, it is because the girl is ungrateful and is unable to forgive.

The girl could not process this at first because she thought that she's the victim here. Why put the blame on her? There must be something more to this. There must be.

Then the girl started writing all that her father is, and rereading the paragraph she realized that she is the exact replica of her father:  temperamental, thinks only of himself most of the time, disregards people's feelings, pretty much JUST. PLAIN. NUMB.

So this is it, she says, I am seeing myself....

_________________________________________________________________________________

Just. So. Random. K. Bye.

Random Thoughts

As I see everything that surrounds me, observing the dress, the church, the people, my friends who were beside me, I cannot help but think of how incredibly wonderful a wedding truly is. The priest has struck me with his homily that the two are married NOT by money, friends nor their families; but in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  It is God who has chosen them, a man and a woman both dressed in white facing all the people who deserved to witness their matrimony. I couldn't be happier to be a part of it.

I was not a fan of weddings, having to witness several failed marriages and sufferings of people in my lifetime.  The thing is, a marriage cannot survive with only the effort of either the wife or the husband, neither the both of them. It has to be something more than just living together, raising children, living a life of luxury or even, having to live a life of suffering. It is just more and I know that I cannot fully grasp this kind of life without me experiencing it for myself. I am scared that maybe this kind of life is for me, that it is my vocation, because I know for myself that I cannot do it. I am too proud, too selfish.

I do not know how to end this entry, because I am still hanging, still waiting of what is in store for me. I guess, there's really nothing I could do but be patient and just wait.

Haruki Murukami 1Q84

I must say that this book will really capture your attention.

 Murukami has his way of writing that will make you want to turn page after page, not realizing that it is already early in the morning. I have been reading this for a long time now because I've been busy with school and with my internship so I haven't finished the book yet. I usually just read now before going to bed unlike before when I read all day long, getting lost in one book after the other.

This book to me is a bit odd because of how it's written. The author has a different way of writing unlike the books I've read which were a lot, cause I used to read a lot. I'm not going to write anymore about this particular book because I might spoil it so, I'm just going to write my thoughts about the author.

 Murukami is very descriptive, you can actually imagine the place in your head and feel as if you're really there with the character. I don't know if the feeling is mutual with the other readers of Murukami, it still differs with each person's capacity to imagine but in general I think he really gets into people's minds.

A friend of mine (Jan Ricasio) read several pages of the book because I told her about how incredibly weird the plot is...at least...to the extent of where I am now in the book, and she got curious. She said the same thing...that Japanese writers really are a bit odd on how they make their plots. She mentioned this Japanese author whose books revolve around suicidal acts. I forgot his/her name but I'm a bit alarmed of how these people perceive the world. hahaha!

I'm going to bed now, will get a dose of Murukami again. What book should I read next??

 Goodnight!

Mother's Day 2013

     Three years ago I thought that 2013 would be the third year of my mother's death. I didn't mean to sound all emo and sadistic but I really thought that my mother would not be able to survive Leukemia. I, personally was preparing myself 3 years ago of what life I would be having if I lost my mother. Little did I know that after everything she has been through, we will be celebrating mother's day 2013 with her by our side. Not only that but another human being who I thought would be a dog (because I wanted a dog before) is now also with us. HAHA!  Sometimes I forget that my little niece is a human being and not a toy that I can play around with. I just can't help it! SHE IS JUST SO ADORABLE. Sarap pagtripan. Muwahahaha!

This year we celebrated mother's day in Max's Restaurant at Robinsons Galleria. We had Kare-Kare, their famous chicken (of course) and Crispy Pata. Sooooobbraaaannng saaarrraaapppp!!!!! My favorite is their Crispy Pata, if I'm given the opportunity to choose what kind of death I'll have, I'll definitely choose death because of Crispy Pata. but then, I would probably have a heart attack.....which would hurt....so...wag na lang pala. ahahaa!

Here are the pictures:

Marunong na magpacute eh :))

Bleeehhhh!

My mother and Izzrie <3

because I just looooveeee the camera.

my weird brother....

No picture of the other brother since he was the "photographer". 

Thank you Lord for everything! :) God bless us all. Happy Mother's Day everyone!

What I put on my face

 I do not have the perfect skin like some of my friends, who do not need to put anything on their faces. Basically because my skin is very sensitive just like all my cousins and my parents. So I guess it runs in the family, specifically, on my father's side. So these products are for people who have sensitive skin like me.

What I cannot skip with my routine is CETAPHIL. It is incredibly mild and moisturizing! It's just like putting mucous on your face. HAHA! I was shocked when I asked my dermatologist if I can still put Cetaphil on even if I was having allergies, after our trip in Boracay, and she said YES. IT IS THAT MILD PEOPLE! :))

Here is what it looks like :)

The next is this Toner that I got from Etude House. Before, I used to put this on everyday but after Boracay I got scared so now its just sitting on my dresser. Maxine recommended this to me. 

This one is my moisturizer, I skip this once in a while because of the heat but I try not to. They say that this is one of THE most important but I think I can live without this.

So, these are the products that I put on my face. It is important to take care of the skin because even if you have good makeup on and your skin is dry or oily or has acne all over, there wouldn't really be any difference. Often times the face will look even more dirty. So I take care of my skin. 

I admire people who do not put anything but water on their faces because I used to do that before but then, I just feel like its not anymore working for me now specially before getting my period, so I had to try on these products. The safest among these is Cetaphil. It is just amazing. I can go out and not put toner and moisturizer but not the Cetaphil facial cleanser. Thank you Maxine again for recommending this to me. It is by the way the number 1 facial cleanser in the US. Try it out.

Good Luck!

Random thoughts: My Course

Good Day to you all!

      Just some random thoughts while I'm chilling here at the awesome Cha Dao Tea Place (nag-endorse eh). Anyway, since it's sort of a lazy Thursday afternoon and as of the moment I'm not doing anything with my internship, why not write another blog? 

I have been hearing a lot of ranting these past few months coming from my close friends about their work. In a usual conversation, work has always and will forever be included when friends hang out. It is either they hate their jobs or they are getting bored with them. I guess, when I graduate next year and experience a legitimate job myself, I would probably say the same. Fortunately for me, ever since I entered college in Assumption, I could not see anything that is wrong with my course. I love Advertising. Pretty much everything about it. It is unpredictable because after a project another would come that is totally different from the other one. There will always be surprises and non stop creativity. The best thing is, people actually buy it. You make money out of creativity and manipulation. I do not approve of the manipulation part, but, it is the reality. Advertising gives people false hope.....but also, it gives confidence, thinking that buying a particular object will make them those people who they aspire to be.

At first I did not really know what course to take. It was only when I HAD to pick a course that I chose Advertising. I wanted to take Culinary but then Assumption, suddenly, scrapped the course out. I guess it really was a sign? ahahaha! 

Right now, since I'm experiencing the industry first hand because of my internship, I realize that I really love what I'm doing. I do not think I will ever get bored of Advertising. Thank you LORD and CHANDLER BING for making me choose the right course. I cannot wait to graduate and start working like a boss! :))

My First Ever Boracay Trip 2013

My family doesn't like to travel. Oh wait, no, just my father (who basically provides for us, so if he doesn't want to travel, we don't, since he gives us the kaching kaching). So we normally just stay home and do our usual routines which I get tired of most of the time. I think the only place my family and I have been to was in Tagaytay where we stayed in Days Hotel and spent 3 days swimming in the hotel pool and eating fast food which wasn't really nice since its no different here in the city.

I have been to places like Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Puerto Galera and Leyte which I went with either my church friends (pilgrimages) or my cousins. So basically, our family (my mother, father and 2 kuyas) does not go on trips together. I don't know if that's good or bad. hahaha

This summer of 2013, I was given an opportunity to go to the famous BORACAY thanks to my Godfather who is a priest and coincidentally an Italian. haha.

 that's him on my right tattooed hand.

 Being himself, has a lot of advantages. Syempre foreigner eh. He makes a lot of friends in different places because he is an itinerant and people tend to like him and his charisma.

 Anyway, he provided for our accommodations at fairways and bluewater boracay. He's friends with one of the owners of one of the villas in the said place. We stayed there for about 3 days and two nights. After that we went to Villa Lorenzo and stayed there for 1 night before going to the pier.

I had so much fun! To be honest, Jan (one of my closest friends) and I weren't able to fully appreciate the place. Maybe because we thought that we were only dreaming. The view is just too good to be true! I had to literally pinch myself to see if maybe I just fell asleep while searching pictures about bora in my laptop, but I WAS REALLY THERE! :))

Here are the pictures during our stay:

On our way to boracay

On our way to Caticlan

 this was at one of the Burger place in Boracay. I appreciate burgers now because of this place :))

Eucharistic celebration every night. (Perks of having a priest with you during a vacation)

The district dinner. This was free as well courtesy of Lorenzo's Italian friend who's the owner of The district.  

Miriam and I while waiting for our hennas to dry.

Banana boat ride 1

While waiting for our shuttle going to "Da Mall"

Oh, nothing, just the most awesome place in Boracay. ahaha!

Before going to the pier. At Villa Lorenzo

Oh yes! I forgot to mention that I had allergies half our stay in Bora. I had to go to one of their clinics near "Da Mall". They injected me with this thing that I cannot remember. HAHA! My face was so swollen, but I didn't care! Well, I did but not as much as I usually do.

because Lorenzo thinks he owns "Villa LORENZO" ahahaha!

WOOOH!

The remarkable view from the infinity pool <3

Possibly one of the best days of my life ;) ahahahaha!

I miss Boracay and these fellas already. 

I SHALL RETURN BORACAY! WITH MY COLLEGE FRIENDS! hopefully ;)