I've Got A Feeling

So far, so good. Just when I was thinking that things couldn't get any worse, well... it didn't. It's actually been pretty awesome.

Upon enlistment for the second semester, I was already groaning at how my schedule looked terrible and how the amount of work I have to put in would have to be +50 compared to first semester.

And then, critique's night did not turn out very well for the play I'm directing. There a lot of criticisms I can trace to the director. The play had to be fixed many ways and there were only 5 days to go until the first show (which was today).

Not to mention, a big fight had ensued between me and him that rooted from a misunderstanding.

Nonetheless this week seems to be spreading out well for me. Maybe it's too early to say this, but thus far, I have already a lot to be thankful of.

The Monday rehearsal was stressful. I had to rehearse my two actors separately because of schedule conflicts. It was my hopping from one room to another, repeating the same instructions over and over again. Although it was very much tiring and I still had AIfuckingS afterwards, I can say that it was a fruitful pair of rehearsal schedule and the major changes really sunk in the actors.

Tuesday was a good day. On one hand, it was filled with the anxiety for the next day's Intro to Art report, on the other I had a lot of free time on me. Much of it was spent discussing the said report, watching a trippy Japanese movie, and cleaning up a swanky New York flat/loft/whatever. After the said activities, I had my very first day in Spanish 103 class. It wasn't bad, and the class seemed fun. But this was very pinnacle of my Tuesday: a letter from the World Bank. Yup. Upon entering home, I was informed of the letter that the World Bank had sent. I entered a photo contest in which the theme was Economic Growth. Guess what? I didn't win! But I was a finalist, one of the 15 chosen photographers out the 400 that entered.... Wow. Holy shit.

And then today. Great day. I did an awesome report with my partner. We broke the "curse". We were the first people to ever report for that major class. And there's this curse that those who go first always present a sucky outcome. But now, I can breath well. Me and my partner haven't any report to worry about anymore. Also, the elated feeling of receiving that World Bank letter lingered throughout the day. And then earlier was the 1st Quandary show. The play I'm directing, Dialogo, was first in line of the series. I must say, that it was superb. Everything went well. My actress was stellar. My actor fortunately improved. The music elevated the play. The lights, and everthing else proceeded accordingly. I felt so... Proud.

I have all these aforementioned things to thank for, and a lot more. Tomorrow will be the school's Eucharistic Procession and as planned, I'm gonna be taking part of it. Not only because I want to and I have to, but also because I have these BULK of things to thank God for :)

I hope the rest of the foreverweek can be this great.

Trendy Stuff

You know it's THAT time of the year when you start seeing people walking around with red Starbucks cups. It's the time where Figaro, The Coffee Bean, Seattle's Best, or Bo's suck and Starbucks rise from the ashes of evil and become awesome. It's the time where stickers and red cards fly around your local Starbucks shop. It's the time where you hurt your wallet and pockets a little bit more for Le Corporation.

Ahhh. Peppermint Mocha and Toffee Nut. How we've missed you. And a new one that I've yet to try, Dark Cherry.

But I am not to talk about those simple (yet expensive) joys in life. I will blogging about the other reason why people claim Starbucks Christmas is awesome: The Planners.

I was never really one of those avid sticker collectors of Starbucks. The first time the promo came out, I was too destitute to care. The next times it came out, well it got suckier.

Let me show you how Starbucks Planners went from awesome to big-ass bulky, to just plain sucky, and back to a little bit awesome.

The 2006 Planner (Left. Source) was definitely, undoubtedly the most awesome creation of Starbucks that is in the nature of organizer notebooks. The first and the last of its kind. I remember the interior being quite nice. I'd have to credit Starbucks for the clever idea of putting in there their "coffee portfolio" or menu of some sorts. It makes people crave at the sight of it. But the very thing that made it so totally fucking HOLY-COW awesome? The coupons. Goodness gracious, when that planner came out I was just overjoyed. Free coffee coupons, free shots, discounts and what not!! The stickers were definitely worth it. 2006 = Awesome sauce.

The 2007 Planner (Right) was just plain big-ass bulky. Sure, it had a free notepad inside but come on. Don't you think they went a little bit overboard with that one? It's FAT, and Starbucks must have went koo-koo when they design this with a leather case which made it even more Cartman-FAT. We actually have three untouched copies of that thing lying around the house.
And you know what sucks the most? No coupons. Boo, Fat ass! 2007 = Fat and Stupid

2008 Planner (Source) followed the fat and stupid characteristic of its predecessor. Bad, kiddy-type, close-to-Comic Sans font. Also coupon-less. 2008 = Like your fat ass classmate whose brain is the size of a raisin.

2009 Planner (Source) was boring. It's definitely improved in sophistication when you compare it to the previous one. But the trade off was boring-ness. Why was it boring? The design is only secondary. The primary is because it's coupon-less again. By that time, I had lost hope. 2009 = Anorexic greedy rich kid who won't give free coffee!!

2010 Planner (Source). So I had my first Starbucks Christmas goodie yesterday. A brewed Toffee Nut thingy. Ahh. Yummy. And because of the past three sucky Starbucks planners, I did not take any interest in this 2010 one. I didn't even bother to browse through the sample. I just thought, boring. Would've been better the cover was one of my photos. Hehe. But soon after, Joao arrived and got his coffee, sat down and told me the good news. They have it back. The coupons. Hallelujah! Hope! Change! Free coffee but not quite!! It isn't as awesome as the first one. The coupons in this one, I was told were only of discounts and free shots. But that's okay! I can't wait. We have to get this one. 2010 = Awesome but less than that of 2006.

Sigh. Yes. Thank you.

Here's Goes Adenture!

It's been such a long time since I last stepped on Tagaytay soil. I can't recall when it was, but I definitely remember being very young.

Here's a recap of the said day-trip with HALLOH f

riends:

Cams slept over my place so as to make Raffy's life easier and pick us up both in one go. We set up our "bedroom" in the living room area because my room was too cramped and messy. American Idol was on the T.V. as we dozed off to sleep.

It was a refreshing feeling when I got to drive again. Optramus is still weak and can't be used around, so I haven't driven in ages. Me, Herb, Raffy, Abby, and Seph took turns with the stirring wheel but it was Raffy and Seph that got us through SLEX.

The first agenda upon arrival was lunch. We were all very hungry thanks to the tardiness of Raffy and Herb. Leslie's Restaurant was the choice of many because of the food and the great view it offers. While waiting for the food to be served, I set up the tripod and tried to do landscape photographs of the Taal Lake/Volcano. Epic Fail on my part. I don't think I was able to follow Joao's instructions very well. Although I took under and over-exposed shots and normal shots of the same frame. What does this mean, my friends? HDR!

After being filled with Filipino food and serenaded by musicians, we wanted more food particularly from the Mushroom Burger place. But since we were full, we decided to pass time shopping in the Ukay-ukay shops. Cheap, nice, yet smelly clothing. I'd definitely want to go back there equipped with more cash.

Once starved, we drove over to the Mushroom Burger place to take out some of their best-known burgers. It had been such a long time since I had one of these that I forgot that the mushrooms were mixed with the patty. This was to my disappointment since I was looking forward to having actual mushrooms in my burger. It nonetheless tasted great. Although I would have enjoyed it much tremendously if there were mushrooms.

Anne, Abby, and I chose not to join the Zipline Fun on account of practicality and "safety" (for Anne). We settled with watching from below and taking photographs. Although, I should try that one day with a more exciting-looking course.

And I haven't mentioned the back-seat moments with Abby and Camille. Well, to sum it up we simply "partied", made fun of Herb, and had very odd, funny conversations.

Before parting ways and getting dropped off in our respective

houses, we decided to be trendy and stop by High Street. Why? We don't even know. We just wanted to use the trendy wash rooms and walk about the trendy cements of High Street. Also, we did a bit of browsing in Fully Book which resulted in my wishing I had all the money and time to buy and read all the books I wanted. They also found interesting notebooks and Zombie books that they seem to give keen attention to. Plants vs. Zombies, anyone?

That was great trip to Tagaytay. I look forward to having more trips with these people, and the people who weren't able to make it.

All Saints/Souls Day

Last night on the way back home from my grandparents' place in Manila, I thought about life and death. Earlier that day, my little sister fainted in Quiapo Church just while communion was taking place. It was the first time that I witnessed something like that, and it's just peculiar that it happened to my sister. I had a feeling that she was very nauseated, yet again everyone was. It was hot and crowded inside the church and we didn't have a place to sit since we came in late. All of sudden, my sister just collapsed before we could even get her out of the church. Her face was in pallor. Her lips were beggining to darken. I held her arm, and she was dead cold. Dead cold, I thought. I know you might think of me as exaggerating, but at that time immense fear covered my thoughts. Could she be eventually...? I wanted to cry, but I guess I was in such shock and I didn't know what to do. My dad held her in his hards and he sat down the base of the lamp post. My mom ran to the nearest water vendor. I assisted my little little sister. My dad was panicking and asked me to find a fan. I didn't move. I just stared at my sister and a gush of relief engulfed me. I saw her chest, she was breathing. A kind lady handed me a fan and I gave it to my dad. It was only at this moment that I noticed all the people that gathered aroung us. I got a bit annoyed, but then i guess it can't be helped. My sister helped herself to some water that my mom got for her. Then we walked toward our car which was fortunately nearby. She stumbled a few times on our way there, but I was relieved that she had regained conciousness. In the car, she recovered fully. She told me how exactly she felt. The blackout, deafness, the heat, dizziness... To me, it was... Well... Amazing, I guess. I've never experienced it, and it was the very first time I've seen someone in that state.

I realized how important my little sister actually is to me, and how luckier I am than my dad. Me and my dad are the same in the sense that the sibling after as is pretty much our "mortal enemies". In order for my dad to realize how important his brother is to him, well, tito had to die. And until his death, they failed being nice to each other. I've not only my sister's life to thank for, but also the fact that it did not take her loss for me to realize her importance...

A lot of people say that you never really appreciate something or someone until that person dies or is lost. I've seen many cases of this, and have actually experienced it several times - both on the end of the lost and the lose-r. I've seen and experienced it a number of times to say that it both applies and does not apply. The lose-r apprecietes the lost, yet he/she does not necessarily apply that to everything else which is why the lose-r loses some more. For instance, my mother lost a baby before Maggie was born, and this was due to work and stress... After Maggie, she lost another baby due to the same thing. It sticks to you for a while, but maybe not a lifetime - not for some people. In the end, I think it's all a matter of learning one's lesson.

The point I'm driving at? I don't know. I guess I should just try my very hardest to stick to the lessons I learned. I guess... I shouldn't wait for a loss before I grasp something as "important".

A Bit Under the Weather

I've been officially on vacation for two days now - the ever so longed for vacation. But I'm gonna have to say that it's not all peaches and cream as I expected it to be. For the past two days, I've been switching between reading and putting album artworks on my iPod. Well, I've been doing other stuff amidst those two (like usual internet stuff, eating and eating some more) but really, reading and scouting for album artworks occupy hours out of my day.

Not that I'm complaining for the reading part. It's actually one of the things that made me look forward to this break and one of the things that keep me sane in this house. My reading list is interminable. I doubt I can finish all before the 18th.

For the iPod part, it started pretty fun at first. Then, I just realized how sad it is, scouting for album artworks, putting it in Sgt. Chimp. And I spent hour after hour doing that just so my cover flow could look great and less boring. I just find it quite sad. On a brighter note, I can now slightly recognize which song of which artist goes to which album. In my mind, I also rewarded the artwork I think is the best. And the winner is...

Hurrah for Streetlight Manifesto's album Somewhere in the Between. The simplicity takes my breath away.... Seriously. It's nice.

Another thing that's bringing me down is the weather. This Santi typhoon is only making it much more impossible for me to head out. I just hope this won't be as bad as the previous ones, and it won't last for very long. Fuck it, I hope it just suddenly stops before 6am tomorrow.

Also, I've been to the Cainta Municipal Hall 3 times since last night. After all the waiting, I ended up coming home unregistered and pissed of at the system. THE MAN IS BRINGING ME DOWN.

In addition to my being under the weather, I've been really paranoid lately. Sigh.

Blah!

Oh yeah before ending this, the WB called me up and said I got in the intial screening! *happy dancing to Dominoes Fall!*