It's time for another blog entreh!

Did you know?

Deal or No Deal just had its best show in the course of its entire run tonight. With two cases down to 1M and P2M, nothing could be more surreal... except that the player clinched the P2M jackpot, right on the nail. WOW. A most satisfying finish for the year.

Vinson Ngo, also known as Vinz, and more popularly known as Bleedman, has, to date, the most number of page views in DeviantArt. He also has a Wikipedia entry on his hugely successful webcomic, The Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi, and a fanbase.

He is Filipino.

Quite a feat. Most viewed and a Wikipedia entry to boot, this man has just made his mark in the history of internet pop culture. And for every Filipino in this range of internet pop culture consciousness, we salute you with utmost adoration for your wonderful contributions to our society. Live on, be deified, and we hope to see you finally getting your spotlight in the real world. *worship*
---

And let's see what made it to my 2006 List of...:

Things I Just Realized that I Absolutely Dislike

1. Wet Hair
2. Staying up late to dry Wet Hair
3. Forgetting to dry Wet Hair last night and getting Wet Pillow in the morning
4. Cold Water
5. Cold Water in Wet Hair that's trickling down my back
6. SCARY MOVIES!!!
7. Scary dogs
8. Collinear pimples
9. No Benzac for pimples
10. Getting my long blog posts erased because the system messed up

What Made Me Happy This Year

1. Sunny days, foggy days
2. Blue skies, green sproingy grass, poofy clouds
3. No school
4. Friends :) and family
5. Hugs. Chocolates.
6. My new spiffy ink pens!!! And my dandy mechanical pencils!!! (Thanks to Aya and Father Li!)
7. Cold weather and cold rain
8. Getting a prom date (Hah. In your face Dino!)
9. Maniacal Pride and Prejudice marathons with my siblings
10. Feeling productive :D

More to come tomorrow.

Stupid Blogger. Had to erase the frikkin post...

cccc

[*points to above*:

ThisisintestimonythatIlostmypostandamfeelingveryagitatedandangryandunhappywhichiswhy

I'mnotusingspacesandtalkingliketheSheepMan.]

If you can decipher that, then I congratulate you.

Good times and bad times

Christmas for me was all about those experiences deeply anchored when I was a kid: cold weather, crisp mornings, evergreens, Advent prayers, Christmas wrappers, carols, Nat King Cole, hot chocolate and bibingka/pandesal, the Belen, the era before that bedeviled song "Boom-Tarat" was concocted...

It seems that all I knew about Christmas was about those things that made if FEEL like the real thing. It's not bad. I'm not saying that. I loved waking up to Christmas carols. I loved giving candy to the carollers. I love staying up late and opening presents.

But, as with everything, time changed it all.

Like, hello global warming; hello spindly, low-quality Christmas decor; hello fake hot chocolate and fake floury bibingka; and hello to rude carollers who raise hell with screaming anthems of BOOM TARAT-TARAAAAT!

I realize, with everything slipping away, what makes me happy most isn't the number of gifts I receive; being with my family is what makes it really special.

I'm sixteen, and somehow, not that crazy anymore about the aguinaldo.

Insta-replay

The monitor conked out last week. So here's what happened, starting last Sunday.

Sunday
Recital nightmare. I was so anxious and nervous throughout the show, I was on the verge of vomiting. My amazing bladder filled up three times before slowing down, and my fingers were numbed and frozen. I was feeling this certainty that something was going to go wrong. My gut said it. My practice schedule spelled it all: one-time practice on the grand piano is never enough.

So yes, I crammed.

I screwed up the ending.

And my damn foot nearly ran off by itself because it was shaking so bad.

I think it's the waiting that sucks the most, especially if you're the finale. I had to repeat a section of my second piece due to mental block. Eep. That's the FIRST time I had to start over. Hay nako. Dinaan ko na lang sa kapal ng mukha. I really hate recitals.


(Medyo pixelated at madilim) Left to right: My sister, Teacher Kristine and me. Of course, next to my wonderful teacher, I look so BLAH. But what the heck.

Monday
Like I said, the monitor lost itself Sunday night, so my IP paper was, in short, BUSTED. So I took a day off to get everything together, even if Monday was the deadline. Thank goodness for the internet!!! Nearly all of the parts in my email, so not doing it on my computer was okay.

I finished it, but it was disturbingly short. There's something abnormal about research papers that painfully extend to only a measly number of 6 pages.

Tuesday
Pumasok na ko, to submit the darn paper. 2pm yung uwian, so hooray!

I went to the YA Christmas Party with Ate later that night. The theme was "Christmas all over the world".


I'm a Frenchwoman! And my sister is... a Pinoy public school boy. Actually, she's wearing Angelo's Xavier uniform :. I think Angelo indulges her whims too much. I mean, wearing a guy's uniform is gross... it's what they wear next to their skin (though the polo was freshly laundered, I assure you)! Gets ko pa kung jacket e...

And guess who dropped by



B-b-b-b-b-b-borat!!!!

Nakakaaliw!!! He was attracting so much attention na nahiya na siya, so he took off the mustache. Aw.


Diba dapat may bigote pa dito?


It's the second time he was called to the front. That's why he's looking like that.

Wednesday, Thursday
Skipped school. I'm a delinquent, I know. But it just comes to a point where it seems like it's absurd to follow all those rules. In any case, goodbye Marie Eugenie Award. Hahahaha.

Friday
I shopped. Til I nearly dropped dead. We went to Big R at 11:30 am, and shopped until 5 pm. HARDCORE grabeeeee. Naganahan ako e, but the pain from walking was getting to my head. I was happy with my buys though-- to think I got to buy a dress half the price! Hurrah. I like dresses. They're convenient.

Today
We have a Korean priest visiting us. He said the meal prayer in Japanesse. We were awed.

Sleepy now.

Tomorrow will be Christmas Eve. I wish we didn't have this family feud going on. Hmm.

Much thanks to

To AYA:

Aya! You made me so happy!!! I can't believe someone actually reads wishlists!!! *hug hug hug* They're great and inky and smooth. And the staedtler pencil is... sharp. Hooray! I don't have to plug it into the sharpener anymore!

Natutuwa lang ako. :D

ThankS Goodness It's Friday's!

OJT--
My legs hurt. But it was fun. More details next time.

---
My wishlist

A. Needs

1. Uni ink pens 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 (especially the ones in bold)
2. Staedtler (sp?) pencil 5B, or a mechanical pencil 0.1 (yung matino)
3. 2 Pilot pens, black (kasi wala na kong matinong ballpen)
4. Notebook- at least one handspan in length and width with an interesting cover, but nothing too perky (not something from Papemelroti please)
5. Camera film- ISO 100 or 200 (buy this from Kodak or other photo shops)
6. Batteries, lithium is preferrable
7. 2 pairs of Flip-flops (isa para sa loob ng bahay)- sturdy, reliable, not necessarily branded
8. Promdate (ok. joke. scrap that.)

B. Wants

1. cd ng Sandwich (Five on the Floor), or Itchyworms (Noontime Show), or ni Jack Johnson or Jason Mraz; no burned cds please, piracy is not good
2. Gift certificate from Fully Booked (hurrah!)
3. Pride and Prejudice soundtrack. Or Pride and Prejudice DVD, yung orig.
4. Blue eyeliner (even though eyeliners freak me out)
5. A really cool and funky hat. As in tipong jester hat and costumy stuff like that.
6. Phoenix Suns cap! Or anything with their logo on it. :) Orig naman ha.
7. Libre niyo ko sa sine
8. Gawa niyo ko ng anti-piracy pin, with something catchy written on it.
9. Facial wash and moisturizer

C. Book list

Anything by:

1. Neil Gaiman
2. Vladimir Nabokov
3. Haruki Murakami
4. Garth Nix
5. William Butler Yeats (!!!)

OR

Samahan niyo ko sa Aeon Bookshop and I'll pick one from there. :D

"The only moment in the article I found myself sympathising with the otherwise-impossible-to-sympathise-with Mr. Cussler was over his 'Dirk Pitts has black hair thing,' which left me wondering what the Constantine movie would have been like if someone with power could have graven in stone, 'Remember John Constantine is English and blond'." (as taken from www.neilgaiman.com/journal)

Hahahaha. My thoughts exactly. Over the last part, I mean. I remember looking at Constantine in the comic book and seeing him in the movie and noticing the different hair color. As with most book-movie adaptations, the movie would've been better off being called under a different name.
---

Two things that scare me: eye liner and the eyelash curler.

I think anything that's meant to touch my eye (or any friggin part of it!) is a sore point with me.

I cannot look my fear in the eye, because it's gonna poke me.

*garbled moan of frustration*

Antiallergic dimeric prenylbenzoquinones

I don't believe anybody can say THAT in one breath. Why does science like to complicate things?! I hate these -ologies.

FREE TIME IS THE BEST

Dear Diary,

Tuesday
We picked our monitas today. Mine is someone I don't see myself making friends with (ansama, haha), even though I haven't been her classmate ever so I have no basis for making judgements. It just tops off the reaaaally brilliant day. An unhappy day.

Wednesday
Misha "adopted" the kitty in the flowerbox. Nyah, it really is a baby little thing on wobbly legs! We took pictures of it and tried to give it a decent name, in which we didn't succeed. I petted it and held it whenever Misha had to do something. Well actually, I held it in my skirt, on which it just clung to like crazy. It nearly drove me crazy; I had kitty germs all over my skirt!

But it really is one of the cutest things-- even cuter than Antonio Bandera's famous Puss in Boots with the huge eyes. I hope, for Misha's sake, that the kitty isn't afflicted with The-world-is-my-litterbox syndrome.

After playing with the kitten, I think I want to take care of something... a few months older. Or maybe not at all right now.

Went to Leann's birthday party after. I think... I ingested too much NaCl. Ah mojos.


Thursday
We did the cookout. I had to commute because Mom was so busy. I commuted to CAINTA with Dad. Just a thought: I HATE COMMUTING. Because the weather sucks and the pollution is ghastly. I can say the same for the sights and smells of different places. Hindi naman sa pag-iinarte, pero nakakasama ng araw ang pagcommute sa malalayong lugar.
The cookout was no better. Sure, we somehow managed to make the dishes, but not as organizedly and enthusiastically as I had hoped. Gastronomic delights. The venue wasn't as, er, conducive to cooking. It was a mess, so I skipped lunch instead. Oh the irony of it all, spending all morning to cook food and ending up being hungry.

We did the IP experiment after, but it was so f****d up that it's irritating. I agreed to go to the cookout, provided that time in doing the experiment after wouldn't be compromised. Unfortunately. Shit happened. Two hours behind schedule and my groupmate so worried about how to go home (commute lang siya e tapos malayo pa bahay niya, so I understand)... it wasn't the most productive mood to begin with. But we did it somehow, though we were stumped at how to convert liters to grams and vice versa; a feat deemed impossible by common sense, if I'm not mistaken. Well... we couldn't figure out how to fix the proportions. But we had a final product by the end of it, and I must say, inspite of all that groping in the dark and banging our heads, inspite of being hot and thirsty and irritated, inspite of wading through shit and all, our ointment actually feels right, just a little softer than petroleum jelly.

Way to go.

Today
Did the Review of the Related Lit part of the paper. I think we might have to submit the draft late, with this rate of accomplishing things. Strangely enough, I don't feel that pressured. Maybe because I have Erika with me, who's soaking up the stress like a sponge. A stress sponge. I secretly demoted myself and promoted her to Leader status, but she'd get mad so I'm happily assisting her assist me, which isn't bad at all.

Kittens in flowerboxes

Because I was too depressed thinking about the IP last night:


Hm. Guess who this is. First one to say so gets a cookie-- I'll draw you one.

Cheery stuff, this is.


There's a kitten in one of the flowerboxes in the HS building! It's the most wuffly wittle kitty I've ever seen, all curled up in the corner! I wanted to take it home right on the spot, but manong said that it was too young. I poked-- well, not poked, TAPPED it lightly (gently) with my pen, and it opened its mouth. Woah, it really is still a baby. Aw.

Tinsel and Dust

We decorated the house today. Finally.

I used to thing decorating for Christmas was such a lovely idea. Of course, I kept that notion because it was Mom who did all the ingenious originalities that we saw every year. Now because Mom is so tired and busy that the task is left to us (US, meaning usually Bianca and myself, and occasionally, Dad). And good Lord. What a chore!!! It's tedious rummaging through BOXES and BOXES and BOXES--!!! And dust too. Never forget the dust...

Bianca had to pry me from the TV to get things done. As I said, it's a chore, mostly because it involves cleaning up and rearranging and sighing over everything else. Plus the chaos makes my head hurt, so I can't think straight.

We did the tree first. I think it would be interesting to say that our Christmas tree is older than I am (Dad had it ever since he could remember), that it came from Clark Air Base, and I think is the only tree I've encountered that still has real needle-like needles (unlike the common ones today, which have flat paper-like things for pine needles). It gets pretty cramped up during storage, but it's "regal" when put up. Dad said so anyway.

We used the starchy-white, crocheted snowflakes from last year. (Last year was the best decorating season ever-- we were actually inspired enough to make the color scheme work. ) And some Christmas balls. I wanted to kick them all, because my fingers were hurting from trying to stick the makeshift wires into the whole lot. Ngyar. Anyway, we got around that and finished the tree, putting some other stuff into it. Its look says... eclectic modern. Maybe when I post a picture you'll know why. Dad also got the lights on. As of now, it looks pretty spruced up and fat, a big difference from what it looked like this morning.

In spite of the itchiness, the sweat, the mess of fake evergreen leaves on the floor, tinny and insipid Christmas medleys from insane lights, I think we finished the job pretty well. There's only one area left to do, but I think it's okay not to do that anymore.

Oh yeah, the Belen is on a table at the corner of the living room, because there isn't any safe space to place them. Every figure is breakable. It's a good thing we found the other, less Barbie-like set, because the colorful one only had Mary, Joseph, the Three Kings and baby Jesus left (and this kind of baby Jesus had a blue pillow and was wearing a pink flannel gown). The more solemn set was a crowd (it has a lot of extra people), complete with sheep, a cow, a donkey and a camel. The camel's head was severed, but we superglued it on, to our great satisfaction, and spent the rest of the time terrorizing baby Jesus with the camel.