The 2012 Status Report

They say that whatever happens to you or whatever you do on the first day of the year is going to happen to you all year round. So far I've been eating, Facebook-ing, Twitter-ing, XBox-ing, Monopoly Deal-ing, and videoke-ing. Hmmm. What bright future lies ahead of me. LOL.

I had a love-hate relationship with 2012. The ups and downs were too frequent that it left me mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted. Still, I'm thankful for the things that happened, and I think it's safe to say that I've learned a lot (about myself, mostly). Now that 2013 is just beginning, I'm quite excited. There will be a lot of changes and big decisions to make, and though it scares me just thinking about what might happen, I know everything will fall into place. Lezdudiz!

Enough talk. Now for my annual status report. :)) 

MOVIES

35 of 60 - FAIL. :| I got distracted by the XBOX. xD

The Mistress. This Guy's In Love With You, Mare. Tiktik. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. The Avengers. Ironman 2. The Hunger Games. Cabin in the Woods. Battleship. Dark Shadows. Men in Black 3. Magic Mike. The Dark Knight Rises. Total Recall. Wrath of the Titans. Super 8. Sherlock Holmes 2. Chronicle. Get Smart. Hellboy. Hellboy 2. Strangers on a Train. xXx. Rise of the Guardians. Asiong Salonga. Confessions (Japanese film). Jason and the Argonauts. Spiderman 3. The Three Musketeers. Midnight in Paris. Something Borrowed. 21 Jump Street. The Dictator. 50 First Dates. The Lady Vanishes.

2013 goal - 60 movies (again). Will try finish them this time. :))

BOOKS

9 of 3 - WIN, with surplus. LOL. Thanks to my sister's Nook.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Books 1-5 (R. Riordan). Neverwhere (N. Gaiman). World War Z (M. Brooks). Strangers on a Train (P. Highsmith). Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal (C. Moore). 

Now reading: A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1, G.R.R. Martin)

2013 goal - 5 books.

Here's to an awesome year! HAPPY 2013!! :)

Goodies from Sweeter Moments

I'm not a cake/pastry person. I usually go for ice cream or leche flan (who doesn't love leche flan?), but there are times when I encounter cakes that look so mouth-watering, it's practically calling me to eat it. Sweeter Moments is one of those.

Photo credits to Krizia Parungao.

See what I mean? Just look at that icing!

Sweeter Moments is a cake and pastry business set up by Tess Parungao, devoted wife and a mother of two, whose passion for cooking is evident in the presentation of each and every morsel that comes out of their oven. I've been a fan of Tita Tess' cooking for a couple of years now (her daughter Krizia and I are friends), so when they asked if I could feature them in my blog, I didn't have any seconds thoughts.

They sent over a box of Ferrero Cupcakes and Banana Butterscotch Muffins. You have no idea how excited I was to go home and put these in my mouth. LOL.

Continue reading...

Day 17 (Rainy Days and Mondays)

Classes were suspended today, which means more time for me to catch up on things I normally have no time to do like reading and writing. Oh, and I slept a lot. I think the amount of time I spent sleeping today is enough to compensate for the lack of sleep I will probably experience as this semester progresses. Yep, it's the first semester - the busiest for our department. Better get my vitamins, energy drinks, and meds ready.

A photo of you and your family.

Today's topic is about family. I was planning on writing about only my biological family but then I realized that there are so many things and people I am grateful for that these deserve some sort of recognition. So yeah, here goes nothing. (Excuse the crappy picture resolution. Facebook picture compression really sucks, and uploading it here compresses it more. Oh well.)

Mi Familia

Miwa's birthday.

Gabutero Reunion 2011

I grew up in a simple home with my parents, sisters, and maternal grandparents. I'd like to think I turned out quite alright. :)) I look forward to reunions because of all the food, laughter, and asaran that goes on. You can't be pikon in a Gabutero Reunion. :))

Highschool Barkada (aka SNG, or Short-Notice Gang)

With HS Girlies in San Pablo, Laguna

May Birthday Bash 2011

I am so thankful to have friends with whom I share a strong bond. Most of us have known each other since pre-school, and for us to still meet for special occasions or just to hang out because we're bored says a lot. 15 years (give or take a few) of laughter, food, drama (I have never seen a barkada that didn't go through some sort of issue, hahaha), and more food and laughter. I will forever love these people.

Ang Bandang KAZE

KAZE with Ruth @ Cafe Boheme

Cubao X

Miwa, Chiqui, Tin, me, Chevy, Tuesday, Hannah, Jimbo,
and Wendell @ The 70's Bistro, QC

I'm soooooooooo lucky to have found 6 other people who share my passion for music. We're turning 8 years old this October, and again, I can't ask for better bandmates. I'm also thankful for all the friends we've made since we started doing gigs. Top Junk, Session Road, Mozzie, Rosco, Kagaws, PNE, etc...seeing how they perform and how much they're into their music keeps me so inspired. 

Alligators

@ Okiniiri No

My college life would've been so boring if it weren't for these people. Even the story of how we became "alligators" is still so funny. Doilet Daks, chickens, Tagaytay food trips, Bento-Ya dinners, Dyosas, videoke - whatever it is, I always go home with painful cheeks from all that laughing. 

Student Teams and Orgs

The Collegiate Mover, July 2012

PRSP Team @ Yakimix, Sept. 2011

What I love about being a teacher is that I get to meet new and interesting people everyday. My students come from different walks of life, and they somehow manage to make my life and my work a lot less boring. And seeing them do something great, accomplish something they thought was impossible, surpass my skill, and exceed beyond my expectations is such a great joy. It makes me feel like I'm actually doing something right.

Le Kiddies

With Manny, Adelle, Krizia, Carla, and Mikey

This picture was taken during Krizia's birthday (the girl in the purple shirt). Krizia, Manny and Mikey are my original "kiddies", meaning they were the first batch I ever handled. We grew together in school; me as a teacher, and them as young, mature professionals. I'd like to think they learned a thing or two from me, as I did from them. Now they're all working in their chosen fields, and I am so proud of them. I've also found new friends that are worth keeping.

I'm so used to seeing them in school, it's kinda weird that I don't anymore. Good thing I still have Carla, Adelle, and the rest of the "kiddies" to keep me company. LOL.

And I guess that's all she wrote. This is probably the longest entry I've written in a while but hey, I'm trying to brush up on my writing skills. Now I should probably go to bed. I'm sure classes are going to resume tomorrow. 

When It Rains, It's Four

As much as I like the cold and the rain, the current weather condition is making me restless. I hardly consider strong winds and heavy downpour as "bed weather"; after Milenyo, Ondoy, and all those other storms that uprooted trees, submerged cities, and made cows fly, I'm paranoid as sh*t. The fact that it's already nighttime isn't helping either.


Aaaaaaaaaaaand we just had our first one-second brownout. Time to break out the flashlights and candles, and I should go check on my cats. 


Here's a little something to ease my nerves. I saw this way back and I still can't help but laugh. K Brosas, Y U SO BENTA?

Day 16 (Meow)

Your celebrity crush.

Got home about an hour ago from watching The Dark Knight Rises on IMAX with my sisters and Chi. As I've mentioned in my Facebook and Twitter accounts, I thought it was over-hyped and predictable. It's still a pretty good movie and worth watching, though, and since this post isn't meant to be a movie review, I'm just gonna leave it at that.

So why mention TDKR? Because of this.

Anne Hathaway, my new celebrity crush. LOL.

When I first heard she was playing Catwoman in this movie, I must admit I wasn't sure if she could pull it off at first but I thought she did a pretty good job playing a smart, conniving, and seductive thief, in all magical fairness. And ang ganda niya talaga eh. Hence the crush. LOL.

And because I'm too darn sleepy to do any more explaining, I'm going to stop right here. It's been raining all week! Stay safe!

You Can Get Addicted To A Certain Kind of Sadness

No, not an emo post. I'm sure most of you know by now where the title of this entry came from.

I've never heard of Gotye until I saw Walk Off The Earth do a cover of "Somebody That I Used To Know". The song's popularity sky rocketed in just a matter of weeks, and before you know it, everyone's got a copy of the song and suddenly belting out "SAMBADEH!" every chance they get. I can't blame them, though - the song is quite catchy, and the lyrics go through the heart especially to those who can relate. Gotye became an overnight mainstream sensation. I wish I can write a song like that. LOL.

Yesterday, I saw a post saying that the singer committed suicide. I had a mini heart attack and started asking if it was true. Thank goodness it wasn't, and it was confirmed by Gotye's official Twitter account. Later I found out that the link was CNN's version of Wikipedia, meaning anyone can submit news and a whole lot of other stuff.

Moral of the story: Don't believe everything you read on the Internet.

Because of this incident, I have the song on repeat again. I also stumbled upon this amazing guitar cover by Mike Dawes. Completely mesmerized, I am. @_@

SAMBADEH!

Greetings from Nueva Ecija!

This has been a really bad week. Aside from my laptop's demise, work has been a real challenge (can't expound on that. Let's just say it's only the second week and I feel like I was thrown under a bus 14 times). This weekend is just what I need to cap things off.

It's my Lola's birthday today! Since she's here in Nueva Ecija, the whole clan decided to hold the reunion here so she won't have to travel far. I'd like to say that the travel time was long, but I really didn't notice since I practically crashed as soon as I got in the car at 5AM (went out the night before and came home sabog at 2AM, hehe). Anyway, it's my first time to visit my Tita Susan's house and I'm having a chill time so far - stuffed myself senseless, sang a couple of songs (I think that's why it rained pretty hard), stuffed myself senseless, wrote on my Uncle Nel's dusty Alterra (mwehehehehe), took pictures of people and cats sleeping on tires, and listened to my cousin's friends tire-out the videoke machine. Oh, and I stuffed myself senseless.

Happy 85th birthday, Nanay Rubing! I heartyouberimeni!

Miwa, Lola and I. <3

Crash

My laptop crashed last Saturday.

It started with the OS acting up, and then boom! There goes the hard drive.

I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. That laptop's been with my family since I was still an ignorant college freshman in UPLB, and I'm honestly surprised (and impressed) that it lasted this long. I've been meaning to make backups of my files but kept putting it off, so now...you know what they say, "nasa huli ang pagsisisi."

Everything's gone. :( My school stuff, my video and audio files, and my pictures. The last one's the real kicker; these are things I cannot recreate nor download (in high-resolution, because FB compresses photos like a steam roller), unlike all my other documents and files.

I just remembered that my portfolio was in there. ARGH.

Moral of the story: MAKE DOZENS OF BACKUPS.

So now I'm laptop-hunting. I need one that can handle Sims 3 and Adobe Photoshop (not at the same time, of course). Any suggestions?

Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith

I have heard so many references to Strangers on a Train in movies and TV shows that I finally got curious and sought out the book with much anticipation. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations.

On a train back to Metcalf, architect Guy Haines meets Charles Bruno, who makes an interesting proposition - he will kill Guy's wife Miriam (whom Guy is planning to divorce) in exchange for Guy killing his father. Guy, thoroughly disturbed by the offer, dismisses the encounter until Bruno goes through with his part of the "deal".

The concept in itself is quite interesting. It's supposed to be the perfect murder; there were no apparent connections between the two men except for that meeting on the train, and they had no motive to kill their targets. I was intrigued to see how Miriam's murder was going to affect Guy, especially since he had a potentially bright future ahead of him.

The only thing I didn't quite like was how the book was written. Sentences were choppy. Some ideas were suddenly cut off that I felt like I was hung out to dry. It was like reading a book written by a kid in 6th grade, and it left me a bit frustrated. If the story hadn't been intriguing, I would've put this book down and leave it in a shelf to gather a considerable amount of dust.

Here's to hoping that the movie is better than the book.

Day 15 (Shades)

Something you don't leave home without.

I've been wearing sunglasses for as long as I can remember. The first pair I owned were these hipster-style shades we got from McDonalds when I was a kid. Back in college (SISC), my friends were amused because I'd wear a different pair everyday, which eventually became my trademark. You'd never see me go out (during the day) without wearing shades.

I used to have a lot more, but they got lost or broken.

I didn't start collecting sunglasses just for the heck of it. When I studied in UPLB, I started getting frequent headaches. I didn't know what was causing it until I went to have my eyes checked. The doctor told me that my eyes could be too sensitive to light, and that I should try wearing sunglasses (with anti-UV lenses) to see if the pain would subside. What do you know, it worked. Good thing, because if it didn't...I don't want to think about all the other possible causes of my headaches.

And that's my story. Anybody know where I can buy a shades rack?