To Charlie

It's my second time finishing the book about Charlie.
I love reading books more than one time so that I could absorb as much information as I can because usually, on my second and third reading, that's when realization comes into mind and then I'd be able to see myself as the character or maybe someone related to him or her.

Early last night, while we were on our way home from Bicol, I read the last part of this novel turned movie. I was on the bus, looking at the bright lights and dark road through the foggy window. I can't say I felt infinite that time. The bus driver was scaring the bejeesus out of me. To be exact, I felt like my life was too finite. It was too exact. It was too short.

And then I remember all about being a wallflower. Someone people usually forgets to invite when your group of friends decide to go out for dinner or something. Someone people don't usually notice is in the room. Someone who is always listening because he knows that if he starts speaking, it's either a very corny joke or something people just aren't too interested to hear. I sometimes feel bad about it. I would often get into "tampo" mode because then I would know to myself how little my existence meant to those people. But then, I would say to myself that I'm lucky enough to be associated to such amazing people. I'm pretty sure they would see my blog post update over at Google +, but there's like a 99% chance they'd just read the title and then go on with their busy lives.

It is rather surprising to me how similar my life has been with Charlie. Albeit the fact that I'm the oldest among four children and doesn't smoke nor do drugs, some of our experiences, good and bad are the same.

To put things in simple words.
I also had an Aunt Helen.
Only, they're two Uncles.

I'm not gonna write more about that because I have forgiven them for what they've done years ago. Thankfully, it didn't affect me as much as it did Charlie. But it did make me stupid enough to experience what his sister went through with her first hippie boyfriend.

Never again.

Post Postponed

I just got home from MOA Arena and I only have time to transfer my pics and vids.

Here's some Heechul. I missed him lotsss~ ♥

This ELF

Who's ready for some Super Show?
I am! I DEFINITELY AM!!!
My Heenim be coming and tomorrow's just. UNF.
I'm sorry I can't watch my dear Ke$ha. But my SJ and ELF comes before you :)))
This will be my 3rd Super Show :D
Updates either late tomorrow or on Friday~ nightie!

Small World

The Internet may be big, but it is definitely getting smaller and smaller for me ever since my parents became my contacts on Facebook. Twitter is an alternative, but I usually have so many things I want to say and have very long rants that I can't simply put on my friends' dash. Especially because I killed their dash last August when I tried all ways just so I could get prime tickets for Linkin Park's concert.

Now that I mentioned that, I remember not having posted any details about my unforgettable experience during the concert.

Maybe tomorrow, when I'm not tired and super emo because Kaichou-wa Maid-sama has just ended. I just can't.

Two days ago, I went to two of my friends' birthday celeb collab and found out how many mutual friends we have. Small world.

Two days from now, I will see Super Junior again for the third time. I may not be as excited before, but nevertheless, I know to myself how much of an ELF I am, and always will be.

Today, I am so random. No idea why. There's a lot of things going on with me. Thankfully, I was able to secure and confirm the buyers of my extra two tickets for SS5.

Pinoy Hoops

Third post for this day because today is my day off. That's a rare feat. I rarely have any days off that is really a day off wherein I would literally just do nothing.

Now, I'm watching National Geographic Channel featuring Pinoy Basketball. I'm not an avid fan, but a fan nonetheless. That title goes to my Dad who can't leave the house without finishing Game whatever of the Playoffs. I even downloaded lots of NBA Greatest Games and Documentaries just for him. Am I not a good daughter? I am.

This show though. It does not just give you the reasons why Filipinos love basketball. It shows you how much we love the game. How it is incorporated into the lives of everyone in our country.

My dad is beside me, watching the show, and I get a load of stories of basketball in his younger days in the countryside. Like how they made basketball hoops from scratch, to how expensive a ball was before and how they had to even resort to tennis balls just for a game.

Playing basketball is okay for him though because he's a 6-footer. But most of us are an average of 5 foot something. Even when he was working for the casino, he would join leagues and branch tournaments. Imagine a 45+ year old, father of four, dribbling, shooting, and dunking his way to an MVP.

Height? Age? Gender? Money? Venue? Time?
There's no consideration. There's no limitation.

Parang pag-ibig ko sa'yo. CHOZ.
Facebook is down.
And I'm hungry.

Not following instructions

I didn't drink last night at the birthday party and yet I wasn't able to comprehend the instructions for the submission of my application for _______________. Placeholder. I didn't know what to do with the freaking pdf up until now that I am actually uploading my docs. They sent me the placeholder so I could upload it instead of my then unavailable pdf so I could finish the application process. OMG. HOW COULD I HAVE BEEN SO STUPID??

Kids, when they send a placeholder, try to read the instructions 10 times before retiring for the night, forgetting that the deadline was before midnight. JFC.

Essay

Tell us about a challenge you faced while in university or at the workplace and how you overcame it. What was your initial reaction to the challenge? What actions did you take to resolve it? What were the results?

I didn't know I had to answer these questions again. I've done it before and now, some of the challenges I had seemed so small now compared to my current dilemmas.

I haven't been writing recently due to events of personal, professional, and virtual concerns. There's just so many decisions that I have to come into terms with with the deadlines looming over my head. They're called "dead" lines because they would literally kill you from all the pressure and stress you're gonna put on yourself and to other people.

Let's see.

There's my future.
My personal future.
My social future.
My professional future.
My Timezone family.
My Linkin Park Underground family.
My Happy Street group.
My job's future.

Among other things.
Here's to hoping I would get to that distance and catch that top spot of a certain exam I took.

Issues

Nakakagigil.
Gusto ko manaksak.
Ang hirap pala ng hindi pa nahahatulan, di pa napapatunayan, pero yung mga larawan, madami nang sinasabi. Nangungusap ang mga larawan at attitude niya sa mga panayam sa telebisyon.
Hindi mo pwedeng ipasawalang-bahala e. Pera ng magulang mo yan.
Kahit sinong Pilipino ka pa, pera natin yan. Pera ng lahat ng mamamayan.
Mahirap nga namang mag-assume.
Pero tengene di mo maiiwasan sa lahat ng mga punyetang sapatos at Porsche nila.

Tunay ngang ang mga mayayaman lang ang yumayaman. Leche.

Expect the Unexpected

Trust my smartphone to update just when I'm about to sleep. I know it's automatic but since the time when I almost lost everything on my phone, I've been wary about upgrading it to latest OS. Not that I'm angry or anything with Ja, I'm not. I love you. It's not your fault, honey :) It's the company's stupid computer's fault :P So yeah, due to that sudden update at around 1am, I spent the day unenthusiastically groggy especially because of my upcoming training for the absence I concurred about a week ago.









Here you go. I'm actually ambivalent about this Jellybean update. The UI is nice, it's fast and easy to navigate. But it fucking drains my battery like a damn black hole. I didn't expect that the already very poor battery life of my Galaxy S II can get any worse. That sucks. It's forcing me to by a powerbank and you know that right now I'm as poor as a freaking sewage rat. And besides, I'm planning on purchasing a licensed MS Office 2013. Investment, yes? No? I don't know. I'm planning on becoming a teacher so that would be very useful, diba?




Surprise, surprise!

Knowing that I haven't had enough sleep recently because of my longer working hours and all the extra review I've been doing (am I really?) and the fact that I didn't sleep until two in the morning last night, I expected to have a difficult time focusing on our training at work.

It was a training in prep for a TOEIC exam (it's a weird phrase coz the T of the acronym is actually Test wtf anyway) which was easy to say the least. I mean, you're just gonna have to concentrate on what you're hearing and just choose the correct answer. It had two main parts each with 4 and 3 sub parts for Listening and Reading respectively.

I love taking examinations and being the competitive person that I am, I, of course wanted to get the highest possible score despite my lack of wisyo.

Tada! Didn't expect that from me, did you?

I could have done better had I been able to get a better rest and preparation. But, hey! Come on! That's my first try. Give me some credit, would you? :))))))))))))))

Should I take the test again? Yes! I would definitely have a higher score next time. ^^

Hot Not

I know I should be snatching photos of our Caramoan trip last week from my friends' albums on Facebook. I know I should be enjoying all the nice shots with them and of course a bit of the true beauty of the Philippines as we have experience in Bicol's very own, Caramoan Islands.

But I just can't.

I fucking CAN NOT.

Regret really comes at the end.

I regret not working hard enough on my diet and my exercises. There really were a lot of excuses being my working hours too long and that I have to go to classes during my days off from work. I literally do not have a holiday. All that stress because of finances and shit and that secret thingie I posted about the other week. Any free time I get, I have to deliberately and regrettably deduct from my supposed to be earning hours and days.

I do not wish to upload any of my horrenfuckingdous body.

My friend did and I immediately removed the tag. JFC. My tummy looked fucking ugly there and everyone just had to see it. Great. I'm not blaming nor am I angry at her. No. I love her for uploading all the beautiful shots of Caramoan but I just can't fucking digest seeing how disgusting I look. Kill me now. Please.

Except this. This is a sky shot and it freaking hid my disgusting tummy. Thank you, Nadine, for this mapanlinlang shot. :)
Photo by Nadine Camunay

And so, I fucking swear. The next time you see me at the beach, you guys be drooling over my model body. And I so fucking swear I won't be doing that by freaking starving myself. Nosiree. Never would I deny myself good food and good ice cream.

Caramoan is soooo beautiful. I don't want to taint a blog post because of my body, okay? That post will be done in a day or so. I have a lot to post but as I have mentioned, I don't have time and I won't have time because I will be working on that beach body yeah!

Election

I didn't vote three years ago.
Why?

Because my mother was forcing me to.

I don't like it when a person forces me to do something. My refusal to do so wasn't really that serious. I just said that I didn't want to vote for the presidential elections because I didn't like the candidates. But she just went on a tirade saying that it's my right and my obligation to the country as a citizen yadayadayada. Tempers blazing, I got on a word war with her and pushed away the idea of registering for the election.

Last year though, I've become more politically aware and has been active with online discussions regarding the RHBill, FOI, and same sex marriage. I wanted change. I wanted those opposing these out of the legislative branch of our government. My family had the chance to register together. Without my mom pressuring me of course.

I don't have my voter's ID, still. As well as my parents and my sister. But it's okay. Looking at COMELEC's computerization, I'm sure I'll get it within the year or maybe next. Kudos to their utilization of technology. It was easier for me to find the precinct I was assigned to and basically had no problems about today's election.

Except for this.

I'm not that angry really. Just a little concerned about my votes. I did think real hard for my choices for it to be jeopardized by a broken PCOS machine or worse, by people who want to change my ballot. I wish for the best of course. And may the deserving and those who want to serve the people win.

Overall, it was a peaceful, almost eventless election on my side. Maybe because we went in the afternoon instead of early in the morning when most people choose to vote.

Posted this here because everybody on Facebook's been complaining about it.

There's so many people complaining about all the photos of pointing fingers with indelible ink on Facebook. Come on.
No votes, no complaints.
Tagalugin natin, kung hindi ka din naman bumoto, wag kang magreklamo.

This Ain't A Review, It's A Goddamn Battlefield

I don't even have the words to describe how insanely exhausted I've been these last few days. There's been lots that happened and I just wasn't able to write for I often went home either too late or too tired. But here goes.

Neat interior of Subspace Cafe. I wasn't able to take a photo of the other amazeballs lighting. Will do so when we go there again. Promez.

There was the Labor Day Hanash with the Gang. Dinner and tambay at Subspace Cafe which I honestly like very much not just because of the KPop they play. Although, yes, that's a one big plus point for me. First song was Rose by Lee Hi. Oh yea!

Kenny and Bri had Purple Potato Latte. It was weird at first, but got better as you drank. Yea, I drank half of theirs. loljk

This Marshmallow Cake was just so scrumptious. I promise to try their Red Velvet Cake next.

We planned to have this hanash to finish earlier but it seems like whenever we're all together, it's difficult to just go home after eating so we headed to Metrowalk just coz Eldin was hungry. Then it turned to us drinking one bottle of Tanduay Ice each. Red Horse for Kenny. He's macho like that.

Then that spontaneous Iron Man 3 with Bri, Kenny, and Erwin. While waiting for them to arrive, I was even able to meet my old Wangan/Timezone buddies, the Misolas Siblings.
And of course, yesterday was the start of my review for the LET with Mela, Ate Queenie, Precious, and Darls. I've been so used to going to work in Buendia that I've forgotten how far Manila is from Makati, considering the fact that they're just next to each other. Fucking city traffic. Just the MRTLRT endeavor took most of my energy. Whatever was left I used in trying to concentrate in the helluva place called an "airconditioned" auditorium of PNU. It was just too hot to concentrate that I was able to fall asleep just because of the heat. Imagine how painfully painful my headache was. Dagnabbet.

Review again today.
Precious slipped on the stairs and fell really bad. She had to be taken to the hospital. Are you okay now, bb? Hope you are. See you on Saturday!

Saw this on my way home. A sign maybe that after all the rain of hardships I'm having right now, the light would still shine and give me a better future. Certainly. Absolutely. I'm claiming it.

After all that, I'm just glad that I'm still alive. Even when I can't even continue with my "diet program," it's all good. Two rainbows greeted us on our way home earlier. I saw some awesome cloud formations and their beautiful silver lining.

Now, I gotta start with my English Literature review. That's one damned long review for me. It's been years, Edgar Allan Poe.

It Has Arrived!

I wanted to take a photo of it while hugging my laptop but even that couldn't happen. The sleeve I recently purchased over the Internet was delivered this afternoon and immediately as I got home, my brother who received it shoved it to me excitedly. Of course I was excited to, it being my first shopping experience with Zalora.

But as I was opening the package, I was doubting the size of it and was instantly disappointed to find it a tad bit smaller than I would have preferred. It wouldn't close. My creys. Good thing though, Zalora accepts returns within a 30-day period should the sizes of the products do not fit or does not suit the customers' preferences in exchange for another size, another color, or store credits. All I need to do was to send an email to their customer service and fill up a form for the exchange and wait for Xend to pick-up the item from my house. Talk about convenient.

I wanted to take a photo, but I couldn't. I was so heartbroken. Thankfully, the swimwear I bought along with this order was the perfect fit. Yay!

Photos would be taken when both items I bought fit both me and Kappa (the laptop) hehe.



On other news, I bought some halo-halo this afternoon because it was just insanely hot today. Guess what I did? I had the manong sorbetero make my halo-halo more espeysial by topping it with dirty ice cream. Tada!

Oh and yes!!!! My office computer is now FINALLY Win7.

Golden Week

Why do I like Japan's Golden Week?

Most of my students are either absent or offline.
Either they're out of town or are too lazy to attend classes because, hey! It's the Golden Holidays for the Japanese people~

 

It's a week of consecutive holidays when the Japanese can finally have a chance to have a very long vacation. Although there are some days when they should go to work, they are companies who allow their employees to relax and just take a break from their busy days and hard work.

A break for us ESL instructors too! Yesssss~

Today, it's the previous Emperor's birthday which can also be called Showa no Hi.
I hope my students enjoy their well deserved holidays~

Intensity 10

I came home yesterday from PRC to have lunch before heading to my university for some TOR shizzles. Aware yes, but a fan? Not really. I've seen maybe two or three whole episodes of this drama but has never been into it. Although I know the storyline from my friends and my mom's retelling. I can't believe how much fans this program has gotten. Phenomenal indeed.

My mom is an avid fan. Even while eating, she would not miss a single scene of Be Careful With My Heart. As we were eating the Chickenjoys I brought home, I was surprised to hear her scream. Why? See here..

Sir Chief: Good night.
Maya: Good night!
Sir Chief: I love you.
Maya: I love you~

The whole Philippines was shaken by the squeals and shouts of the fans of Sir Chief and Maya who now apparently are dating. Define KILIG:

The Perks of Online Shopping

The other day, I posted about my discounts from Zalora.
Today, I was finally able to look for something I can use the discount for. Talk about forced shopping. Only, isn't that much of a torture because, come on! It's shopping!

Success!

Shopping with Zalora was very easy. I clicked the item, chose my preferences, added them to my bag and then checked out, paid using my credit card, and then this~ Soooooo easy~

Why is shopping so easy? But earning money to pay so very hard? It's unfair. loljk

The only other things I need to do as a first-time buyer of Zalora is to..

"For CREDIT CARD ORDERS ONLY, please send an electronic copy of the front and back of your credit card and a government issued ID toverifications@zalora.com.ph within 48 hours of placing your order. If the cardholder is not the same person as the one ordering, please include a signed authorization letter. Please cover the digits at the back of the card for your security. If you have already sent us your verification documents for a previous purchase, you do not need to send us these documents again. "

Noted Ma'am/Sir. Will do so when I get home later.

Haggardo Versoza Adventures

Today is my day off.
Technically.

I woke up early despite being tired and lacking sleep from last night's dinner out with my family and relatives in celebration of my cousin's oath taking ceremony for engineers. Congrats!

Hi Me. I love you~ Thanks for coming with me >3<
Payat mo dito hehe :P

Mela and I decided to meet up at MRT Guadalupe for our long journey to PNU to register for our review classes in preparation for the upcoming LET. So everything was going well but we were sent to PRC as soon as we arrived. It turns out we have to make sure which subjects or major we would be taking before they allow us to register for the review.

So, off to PRC we went.

Guise. Instructions. Take note.

3rd floor, Window 12 or 13 or 14 or any window which has an available person you can inquire from.

We showed the lady present our curriculum and our COR to be checked for which Major we would be taking. Since we were there na, we asked her to semi-evaluate our subjects if they fit the requirements of PRC for the LET. To our surprise, she marked 0 to several of our subjects and made us very verrrry nervous coz we really wanted to take the LET before this year ends. TT^TT

Mela was thinking twice about going back to PRC without confirming our chances of taking the exam. Since I would be finishing my request for my TOR, I volunteered to check it with the school registrar and our college secretary.

After interrogating Ms. Armie from the Registrar's Office and with the help of Ate Vivian (THANK YOU I LOVE YOU) who's been to PRC before to have our subjects checked, I was able to confirm that with the 8 subjects we took for the last 2 semesters, 6 are enough to get us through the LET application. Kaya don't worry guys. Mejo nag-panic lang kami kanina. Pero okay na. Gahd.

Kasi diba there are 4 clusters plus other relevant subjects.

Cluster 1: Child Growth and Development, .....
Cluster 2: Principles of Teaching
Cluster 3: The Teaching Profession
Cluster 4: Special Topics: Assessment of Student Learning
Others: Educational Technology + Developmental Reading (which although is not in the list, I was told that they still include as a relevant subject)
Field Study is not counted. Boo.

6 subjects: 18 units :)

Goodness, UMak. You could have saved us all the trouble of worrying about our subjects if you had lined the curriculum for TCP with the LET requirements. I felt like Sherlock Holmes finding out if all the subjects fit for the application. I even ranted on fezbuk about it.
I hope our TOR has complete descriptions for our courses. I SINCERELY HOPE SO.

So, yeah. From Makati, to UN, to PRC through the Friday traffic madness of Quiapo, to Makati again, to Market!Market! to meet my other friends.

Surprise! Surprise! Omiyage from Eita-san~ I swear he gives THE BEST OMIYAGES EVER.

Those are potatochip chocolates yo!

This, and some ChickenJoy turned pagpag and fresh creamy melon juice made this truly tiring but overly productive day.

P.S.: Dear classmates, should you have more questions about the LET or the review, please text me. I can't text you. I lost all your numbers. Sorry. I miss you~

Online Shopping From Heaven

Every girl loves to shop.

Actually, who doesn't?
My dad maybe. Or all dads for that matter. It depends. My dad likes shopping for car parts and some home DIY thingies. They're cool and all, but it's not my kind of shopping.

Since the start of eBay, my family has been a fan of online shopping. From books to gadgets to laptops to any other random interesting things. You name it, we got it from the Internet. It's so nice when you hear the doorbell ring and find out that it's JRS or Xend or FedEx on your doorstep. It's like Santa came early to give a gift that you yourself ordered... and paid for. The feeling is just inexplicable. Even this laptop was delivered to my cousin's doorstep in California. It should've been sent here to the Philippines but the shipping fee cost as much as the laptop itself. No, thank you. Luckily, my aunt was about to go visit us here and agreed to bring it to me. Yay!

This afternoon, I was surprised to receive an email from one of the newest online stores, Zalora. When I first saw their ads in several websites that I frequent to, ehemfezbukehem, I didn't really believe in it's credibility. Well, up till now no, I don't, having never tried their services yet.

Apparently, a friend referred me to Zalora and gave me P500 off my first shopping spree from the store. I'm not sure who that friend is, but hey, whoever you are, THANK YOU!!!

Upon reading the details of the offer, I learned that I have to shop for at least P2500 worth of items before I can avail said discount. That's a bit too high for me at the moment because of my previous engagements which I shall explain on my next posts.

After exploring the site, another offer popped out and said that if I register and subscribe to the site's newsletter, I would get P250 off my first purchases. Since I wouldn't lose anything but a little time and effort signing up, I went on and did it. And received this:

Similar to the first offer, they're giving me P500 off my first order. Better than that, the minimum is lower at P1500 minimum purchase. Yes!

I've been eyeing this laptop sleeve from Punchdrunk Panda and would like to get it with this discount. Hopefully I can avail it before the end of next week. I'm still choosing between the different designs.

If not, then I'd be looking for some new swimming shorts in prep for my barkada's Caramoan trip. Who's excited? Haha!

Money Food Money

Lately, I noticed our depleting supply of food in our refrigerator and pantry so I decided to stop by the grocery on my way home from work. Accompanied by two of my officemates, we entered said store and shopped for what I needed. Ja was tempted by the many junk food and so bought some ice pops and some cereals while Lai bought ice cream. Nom.

That was just about 5 items and already, it cost 109 pesos. Wow.

Now, my items totaled to 24 pieces and it cost 1800 pesos. Double wow.

When we were children, a cart full of groceries can amount to about 2000 pesos.

My money's worth is becoming less and less in this worsening economy more so because of the political and national security problems our country is facing.

But, hey! News from TV said that our Php is getting stronger.

I don't feel it.

Sometimes, I just want to be like Captain Eugene Harold "Armor Abs" Krabs.

Pinoy Politics

Watched a debate sponsored by ABS-CBN between 12 candidates running for senator in the upcoming midterm elections. I was discussing about my brother's tuition fees with my dad and was unable to focus on questions and answers. From what I was able to hear and focus on, there were some veterans whom I would like to keep and several newcomers whom I would like to see in the senate. The number one concern for me of course is their track record, supported by their views on the RH Law and divorce.

A lot of time would be needed if I ponder on their platforms, but I would make sure to list down the candidates whose vote I might give to and the reasons why they deserve it. Maybe. That would depend on my schedule. I'll be busy in the next few days planning for my students' arrival on Friday. Details to follow.
I need to sleep. It's a Monday tomorrow and we all know how frustratingly impossible the traffic and the crowd is in this impossibly busy city. Toodles~