Annahilated

etcetera

2006-03-16T06:20:00.000+08:00

my life of late is an endless cycle of:

drafting, drafting,

writer's block,

long sleep,

no sleep for 48 hours- straight,

more drafting...

and in between are:

yoga

cooking greaseless, low sodium, low sugar anything (am forming a habit of healthy lifestyle)

exchanging notes with married friends on household budget and baby stuff while drowning ourselves in caffeine.

and dishing out pieces of advice to hormone-driven teenage boys, who seem to have anointed me their confessor, along the lines of: "true love waits, but if you can't wait then better be safe. and for goodness sake, you don't buy c*nd*ms in the bookstore!" (what the?!) i really need to tell their parents to walk them through the 'birds and the bees' topic, except that i might have to betray their confidence. ah, kids these days, they are scaring me enough to remain single and childless forever.

Not A Very Nice Christmas Post

2005-12-22T02:09:00.000+08:00

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year- Not!

At the risk of sounding like the Grinch, I really am not too gungho over Christmas. I have the highest stress level around this time of the year. Work just and deadline seem to pile up along with other ‘extra-curricular’ activities you have to do for Christmas, like that dance number for the Christmas party or helping wrap office giveaways because the Boss is too stingy to hire people who do this kinds of things.

Of course it’s a major killer to go home. After spending hours of overtime, you spend ages waiting for a ride. Cabs are nowhere to be found or they charge exorbitant fees that one as desperate as I am has no choice but to agree with. There are simply no words to describe how the traffic makes me feel. I cannot avoid falling asleep on the drive home (it’s a blessing the cab drivers I pick are good-hearted).

The crowds in shopping areas make me curse in a number of different languages (of course, I never do). And you know one can never avoid shopping; you really just have to give something to the people important to you in this Christian country. And sometimes even to the many not too important ones which necessitate the yearly pilgrimage my sister and I make to the shopping mecca of the Philippines- Divisoria.

For Manila is but a transient home, I am obligated to go back to my ‘real’ home on holidays like this. You cannot imagine the stress of reserving a bus seat (I do not even attempt booking a plane ticket at this time.). And then you stress over whether you will get to the station on time (for if you don’t they will forfeit your reserved seat) after you manage to extricate yourself of these last minute office parties you just have to attend lest you be branded an ingrate by the boss. Then brace yourself for the longest trip of your life as the expressway is almost always packed with cars.

And when you manage to get home, you do not even see any of your family members (except maybe on Christmas itself) as they are busy doing the rounds of these obligatory parties. Agghh…

taegukki

2005-11-13T02:31:00.000+08:00

my taegukki boxed set dvd! thanks unnie soyoung for this welcome (to korea) gift^^

a ray of sunshine

2005-11-11T01:51:00.000+08:00

look who the stork brought; LEE SOHYUN! her name means 'spread your light', so i just had to nickname her sunshine (never mind that her dad thinks 'soleil' sounds better for a nickname)

she's often mistaken a boy coz she's an exact replica of chris down to her earlobes! but i'd say her expressions are purely from soyoung (though everyone gives me a doubtful look; am i the only one who can see that?)

she's so adorable, she's barely four months old, but she can already turn on a crawling position! and she baby talks already! ohh...i miss carrying her and our nightly ritual of 'monkey see, monkey do'

laughing trip with omma and tita anna

making pa-cute at me

'ohh...something interesting...'

'pick me up NOW!'

'i mean NOW or i'm going to smash my face!!!'

'loving the water'

'ohh...this feels good, omma. i could get use to this...'

seoul survivor

2005-11-04T07:38:00.000+08:00

after all the glitches, i'm here in seoul.

i can't believe i lasted this long. the moment i stepped out of incheon airport, i had the half-baked idea of taking the next flight back to manila. my gulay, ANG LAMIG! The air is stinging cold and very dry, it's so hard to breathe. i thought i'd never make the 5 meter walk across the parking lot! by the time we reached the car, i was shaking (and chris just had to tell me it's the first time he turned on the car heater this autumn).

this tropical bird assimilated to the temperature quite fast. even i surprised my self. now i don't feel the need to put on too many layers of clothing (the first day i had 5!) and better yet, i have not broken out in allergies nor asthma (surprise! surprise!).

anyway, since oppa and unnie can only show me around on weekends, i have to be on my own the rest of my stay here. to be honest, the idea frightened me at first, but in seoul only the really, really stupid will get lost. well, that is not say that you can find your way with eyes close. you have to least have a functional understanding of how the seoul subway system works (which is the best way to commute in seoul). it may look like a labyrinth, but all you have to do is follow the yellow brick road, meaning just follow the arrows, provided of course that you know where you are exiting or transferring. unlike in the philippines you do not need to pay again when you transfer to the next line. and, yeah, if you are not using a prepaid card, you better tell the ticket vendor where exactly your exit is, for while almost all stops cost 900 won, you can't just stop anywhere, the friggin exit won't open. it happened to me and i had to ask help from a good-looking university guy (in a country where english is semi-functional, ask help help from the youngest literate person you can find in the area) who had nicely opened the emergency exit for me. actually, i should just have crawled under (as some koreans who must have missed their stop do) since i paid anyway, but i didn't risk being dragged to the police station.

save for the exorbitant price, a mc chicken meal is 3,600 won or almost 250 pesos, seoul is a very liveable city. for a big city, it's very safe. stores here do not have guards nor a store clerk watching your every move and it's safe enough for children to travel on their own even at dusk. unlike manila, be prepared to walk a lot (heck, i can't believe i walked this much in my entire life) and move fast, time flies really fast here, no wonder koreans have a culture of 'pali-pali' (hurry up). in manila the same span of time is very long, but here i can't seem to finish all that i have planned for an equal period of time. i'd have to admit that i'm beginning to like the vibe here. though not cosmoplitan, it's a very modern with a touch of nostalgia. it's just as their tourism magazine describe it to be.

essential: mobile phone (in case i get lost), MAP, won, phone card (in case mobile phone konks out, camera!, and kikay kit of course. make sure to place them inside a messenger bag (it's the only bag 'seoulites' seem to use) if you want to be less conspicuous

hallowen in korea

2005-11-01T19:31:00.000+08:00

is it coincidence, or am i doomed to be alone on halloween the rest on my life? last year i spent the halloween alone in my apartment with all the lights turned. not only was i alone in the house, but in the whole complex as well (check out the archives.)

now i'm in another country. i thought that since i will be spending my holiday with friends, it would be different this year, but no. soyoung has stomach flu, so chris had to take her to the hospital, so here i am all alone in their penthouse apartment. i do hope it's nothing serious and she'll be discharged immediately, otherwise it will just be me here all night. nyay!

ms.adventure

2005-10-30T20:41:00.000+08:00

with all the escapades i'd been lately i think it's proper to call me ms. adventure.

when 'big bro.' chris invited me to spend my holiday in korea. i said yes without really thinking about the details. i haven't seen my best male pal for four years, and i since their planned summer vacation never materialized, because the stork brought them a baby, i thought it would be swell to go. why wouldn't it be- it's autumn and korea is simply bursting in autumn foliage, there's a week long holiday and top it off- it's all expense paid.

chris suggested to come for a week, as for days won't be enough to explore seoul alone. but since he is only free on weekends, i would have to be alone the rest of the days. the evil 'chicken' reared it's ugly head, and suddenly felt i would be no fun to explore alone, especially in a country where English is a language they are just starting to learn. anyway, having a couple of friends to tag along was a great idea, so i thought. but the trip was doomed from the start. first we couldn't find a flight that would fit our friday to friday schedule. when that was fixed we encountered visa problems- one was denied, and i was to be interviewed by the consul (a day before we were scheduled to fly). holy cow! i had my airline ticket and everything was fixed. after an initial shouting match with the consul, we eventually cleared the misunderstanding. dang, they really quite strict when they think you are of suspicious character. anyway, after all that the consul was pretty nice and charming and we even had a little chit-chat. when i got my visa, i found out that my other companion had missed to file a leave of abscence. worst yet, i learned that after i left a rather costly pair of hiking shoes (for we planned to hike to Mt. Seorak)in a taxicab. Geez, that got my goat. I thought of putting off the trip. It seemed rather ominous isn't it?

Of course, chris would be disappointed, he already made plans and cleared his schedule for me (not to mention daniel was also expecting me.)Anyway, i called my mom, she's quite good at this omen things. Contrary to what I expected, I got a dressing down by her and told me to just 'friggin' go as I know at the outset that I would be going alone. And Jen did a booster club thing, saying to treat it as an adventure and after all i'm all packed and ready to go. would i go?

...to be continued

my town

2005-10-08T11:42:00.000+08:00

wow ilocos!

vigan:

vigan heritage village

vigan heritage village

getting my hands dirty

hera trying her hand at pottery

laoag city:

hera and jennifer on the shores of fort ilocandia

enjoying the twilight

ilocos museum

burgos

bojeador light house

hera, jennifer, moi and malou atop bojeador

pagudpud

saud

saud

bend it, baby!

2005-09-20T04:26:00.000+08:00

My inbox is flooded with invitations to the gym and I’ve been evading them since. I still have to recover from the recent ‘yoga class,’ you see.

I was pretty gung-ho about this gym thing, at first. I’ve been living a really sedentary lifestyle and I thought I needed to shake my butt a bit, I fear it’s beginning to sag. Plus, I really need to do something physical to de-stress. Everyone seems to be into badminton these days, but I don’t particularly enjoy running around (besides, all that running tends to develop my calf muscles into proportion I don't particularly like). My first choice was swimming, coz it’s something I can do alone, but by doctor’s orders I have to keep out of the water until my wound is fully healed. Next choice was taekwondo, but nobody I know was interested. I believe they told me something like, “Anna, girl, that is so unfeminine. How about taebo instead?” Anyway, I don’t really want to get into taekwondo class with no sparring partner, so the idea went poof. Yoga, seemed like a nice compromise. It doesn’t involve a lot of gym accoutrements, just shirt and sweat pants, and nothing too physically taxing, or so I thought.

Jaja, my coffee bean classmate, happens to be a gym buff. I think she’s gone through almost all the gyms in QC area. Her latest haunt is ‘Fitness First’ at the ELJ Center. Anyway, she invited me to try out the yoga class. I was pretty excited; I’d practically decided I’d sign up for membership. The location and the schedule, which is at 8:30 in the evening, are perfect; that is until I actually tried out the class.

We arrived quite early, Jaja being a stickler for punctuality; as a result we ended up occupying the front row- a mistake. I must have distracted yoga instructor the whole time and not because of my physical attractions (though, I looked rather fetching in my white sweat pants and teeny-weeny fuchsia tee) but more of my gaffes. I didn’t realize I was that out of shape. I used to be really limber, now I couldn’t even touch my toes! Halfway thru the transition to the warrior pose, I lost my balance and actually fell off the mat! The instructor was, by then trying, very hard not to look at me. I guess he already was having a hard time controlling his laughter. I was on the verge of rolling my mat and walking out. The only thing that prevented me was my pride and the fact that I was positioned out front. So, I endured the rest of the class and struggled to contort my body- quite a futile endeavor. Suffice it to say that that ended my contortionist dreams.
I guess I just have to wait ‘till I get to be a water belle again.

Small World?

2005-09-20T02:28:00.000+08:00

Who would have thought that two of my friends, who do not exactly move in the same circles, know the same guy and arranged me a blind date with him? Had I not found out, I would have gone on two blind dates with the same guy!

I attended the binyag of my roommate’s youngest son, my 4th inaanak to date. She’d introduced to me a guy she’d been trying to set me up with for the past couple of years. The guy and I never really get to go out. Back then he was an intern, while I was busy on the campaign trail. I assumed the guy had married, or, at least, have a steady girlfriend by now. Apparently, he doesn’t, and Ayen is still in this freaky match-making bent. I think she’s sort of hoping some of her posse would end up with her hubby’s friends (then we’d all go on holiday trips together ahahaha). Anyway, Ayen is by far the least subtle of all people, the kind who makes a big production of everything. So, the minute she got me cornered (well not exactly cornered as I was standing near the gifts’ table out front) called out to ‘the guy’ to hurry over and then promptly left us alone to get, er, acquainted, while the rest of the pack were pretending not to eavesdrop on our conversation.

As is typical of me in a stressful situation (yes it is very stressful to be put on the spot) I tried to wing it, albeit in a rather fidgety manner (hand gestures and a lot of shoulder shrugs). It was actually kind of funny we were standing somewhat 3 feet apart (I’m pretty sure I stepped back after the handshake) and we were kinda moving in circles, literally. I was standing near an industrial fan, or at least it felt like one, but somehow ended up infront of the thing and my hair was blowing all around me (I could picture my hair fanning about my face, it made a horribly funny picture), a good number fell into my mouth actually, so I had to step away. He had to change positions, too, so he would be facing me. We could have just sat down in one of the tables, but neither of us thought of it. So, we stood there making small talk, until my bra strap started to fall off my shoulder (uh-oh…must be because of the shrugging). I tried to discreetly pull it up to no avail. I was wearing one of those button-down shirt with short sleeves and my strap was just a centimeter away from flashing the world of its lacy existence. I really, really needed to pull it up, the kind where you have to actually reach down your collar to do it. By then I’d lost track of the conversation as I was debating whether I’d actually dare reach down and pull my strap or to excuse myself. So, while he was in the middle of something, I mumbled a lame, “I need to get to the toilet,” and rushed off (oh god!). It took me a while to get out for I discovered I also tracked candle drops on my red Mango slacks! I’m spotting white polka dots on both knees. Ahh! It took me a while to get them off and by the time I got back, he had already joined his friends.

Then to my surprise, I saw a vaguely familiar face in their table. Marvin (Mumty’s lovey)? A week ago, Mumty told me of setting me up with this doctor guy and had given me a good description of him, but forgot to mention the guy’s name or that he’s Marvin’s buddy. Geezus, but the description fit ‘this guy’ to a T! Alarm bells started to ring in my head and I had this urge to start giggling.I just had to ask if the guy in red is Marvin, and so he is, which means the guy Mumty told me about is the same guy that Ayen is trying to set me up with, a guy who happens to be a friend of both their loveys (It turned out Marvin and Carlo, Aileen’s husband, are childhood friends) .
Ain’t it funny, both of my friends, who’re unaware of each other’s existence, would match me up with same guy? Ayen said it’s fate (harummph!); I should go out with this ‘guy’. Er, yeah, we never even made it to the part where we get to exchange numbers.

Doctor! Doctor!

2005-09-01T01:49:00.000+08:00

my sis passed the physician's board exam! a doctor in family, yeba!

CONGRATULATIONS DR. CITADEL RABANES!

see link for the rest of the list:
http://www.inq7.net/exam/Phys0805.pdf

k-pop stars

2005-07-19T02:32:00.000+08:00

as requested, my top 7 male k-pop stars:

kwon sangwoo

won bin

bae yongjoon

lee donggun

song seunghun

park yongha

jo hyunjae

korean movies

2005-06-27T03:28:00.000+08:00

my top 7 picks. if you are not too discriminating in terms of plot, they are great for their entertainment value, not to mention cinematography.

1. my sassy girl (cha tae-hyun, jeon ji-hyun)
- the 'primer' for korean movies. said to have launched korean cinema in the international scene.

2. harmonium in my memory (lee byung hun)

3. ing (kim rae won)

4. il mare (jeon ji-hyun, lee jeong-jae)

5. if the sun rises in the west (go so-young)

6. windstruck (jeon ji-hyun, jang hyuk)

7. that guy was cool (song seung-hun, jung da-bin)

ANNA

2005-06-27T01:18:00.000+08:00

thanks to that cheesy pantene commercial this apo hiking society original was re-discovered. and just because it's my name, i'm posting the lyrics he he.

ANNA

I LONG TO TELL YOU
HOW MUCH I NEED YOU
IF I CAN FIND THE WORDS TO SAY
I NEVER HAVE TO FEEL THIS WAY
NOT KNOWING JUST WHAT TO DO WHEN I’M WITH YOU

MY FRIENDS THEY TELL ME
THAT I SHOULDN’T HURRY
EVERYTHING KEEPS GOIN’ STRONG
‘COZ YOU KEEP IT GOING ON
THOUGH I HAVE TO SAY HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU

CHORUS:
(OH) ANNA CAN’T YOU TELL AND SEE
WHAT YOU’RE DOING TO ME
OH ANNA THIS FEELING I JUST CAN’T HIDE
KEEPS DRIVING ME WILD
OH ANNA I NEED YOU HERE WITH ME
I WISH YOU COULD BE
OH ANNA WON’T YOU STAY WITH ME

YOUR EYES, THEY LOOK THROUGH ME
YOUR SMILE THEY FOOL ME
I NEVER THOUGHT I’D LOVE AGAIN
BUT THIS TIME I HOPE IT NEVER ENDS
I HAVE TO LET YOU KNOW
I LOVE YOU

do you believe in signs?

2005-06-21T04:51:00.000+08:00

Do you believe in signs? Well, I tried to ask God for sign/s to recognize the ONE. what do you know, the following day he answered my prayer. he must be joking, though. a quarter of the male population in the vicinity was wearing the particular color i asked for! apparently, there was an activity which required them to wear that. so i said, lord, i take that to mean that this is the place where i will meet the ONE.

but maybe i was vague, so i prayed again that the guy among my acquaintance who will wear such color is the ONE. that week I saw him wearing that color (and so far among all my male acquaintances, he is still the only one who wore that particular color). ahh...yep, god must be joking. how could this be? he's way out of my league. nah, it's impossible. so i decided to ignore it and went about my merry way.

days passed and i got to get to know this person more. well, he was not too bad after all. in more ways than i'd care to admit, he had me re-thinking about my perspective on life. but he is far from perfect; despite his circumstances in life he's flawed as everyone else is, which makes him all the more perfect in my eyes (ironic isn't). well one day, i decided to take stock. i listed the things i liked about him. i dug into my antiquated journals and compared the list to the one i made when i was still a dreamy adolescent. and to my surprise, he fit 98% of the description. am almost willing I waive the remaining 2%. but as i said, it's a basket case. he's way outta my league, and i don't think he'd be that easily impressed. besides, i tend to bungle 'impressing' exercises, so therefore i left it at that.

but you know, i can't help but wonder, so again, i asked the lord for another sign. if he sends me a message, it meant he could be IT. that week, he texted me. you know what is unusual about this? one, i'm fairly sure I didn’t give him my number. two, he has friends who could have just given him the same information and probably more reliable than I am. i should be the last one he'd ask. hmm...i was not anymore amused.

anyway, i prayed that i'm disregarding the previous signs. i asked god give me a sign or at least let me recognize the ONE soon. and yes, i insisted that i will recognize him by the same color shirt, and not any other particular article of clothing. Right after that prayer, i saw a big billboard with his name on it. *gasp!* ah, i must have stopped breathing. A week later, I saw him wearing formal shirt in that exact color. ain't god grand? he must be really amused by my discomfiture.

So what happened? nothing. nada, zilch. maybe we just see what we want to see.

crossroads

2005-06-21T03:55:00.000+08:00

Am I a free spirit playing at being responsible, or am I good girl testing the waters of rebellion? Or, is it that I am both? It’s too strange, my friend says, for me to be having an identity crisis at my age- a decade too late! My mother observed that I seem to be maturing backwards. Last week she told me I was a much wiser as I child than I am now. An observation my sisters are in only to willing to affirm. They’re looking at me with slanted eyes these days. Probably wondering why I am tolerating rock music in the house. It kinda shocked them seeing me actually popping one into the CD player and dancing to it. Har, I’m the girl who swings her head to classical music, wiggle to bossa nova but never to rock music. And what with my sudden preference to abstract painting over impressionist ones? I used to be drawn to the pretty, dreamy and romantic quality of impressionist paintings. But lately abstract ones are much more interesting to stare at. More than the visual satisfaction, I am more fascinated with the emotions they stir while I’m looking at them. I have the sense that even my flatmates feel I am in a different plane. I am waiting for them to ask me- “What did you do with Anna?” The only thing that’s keeping them is the fact that I still scan fashion magazines, read Paolo Coelho and squeal over male models with buff bodies.

It could be my reaction to change. Seems like a gust of wind, one I didn’t even noticed, passed by momentarily, but changed the landscape of my life irreversibly. Too many changes and choices I am not yet ready nor willing to make.

Cow and chicken

2005-04-27T19:58:00.000+08:00

Cow and Chicken

Hot humid days like what we had been experiencing the past weeks transports me back to my summers in the bukid. Every summer I was exiled to my lolo’s farm to breathe fresh country air, but mostly to keep me out of mischief, or so my mother thought.

A rule in my lolo’s house was to never get near the cattles- a rule I am only too happy to break. I managed to elude my grandmother’s watchful eyes one day and charmed a farm lad to let me lead one of the calves back to the barn. I got so excited whipping and shouting ‘hiyaa’ and ‘hoo-hoo’ blissfully unaware that I might be hurting the poor calf.
When he had enough of my abuse- he ran! Naturally, I wouldn’t let him get away, and tugged harder at the rope. I only succeeded in tripping myself and getting dragged, a good 10 meters, to the barn. Think of dirt road skiing!

After my episodes with the cows, I was to keep away from anything bigger than I. I contented myself with feeding the chickens. Not so much fun. I thought chickens were in the same category as penguins and dodos- flightless birds, until one day I was proven wrong. On the pretext of feeding the chickens, I sneaked into the coop hoping to catch a chick to raise as pet. I managed to catch an unsuspecting chick. I almost had the squawking chick it out of the coop, when the mother hen came flying towards me! My gulay, chickens could fly! My grandmother managed to swat the hen before it can peck my eyes out. According to the neighbors, my shouts could rival a fire truck’s siren.

To this day, everyone still delights in reminding me of my unrivaled feats of childhood folly.

oh what a summer!

2005-03-23T02:02:00.000+08:00

Aiieyaa! I just learned today that soyoung's 7 months pregnant. My 'so-called-friend' chris neglected to tell me they're pregnant. He claims he did, but I'm sure I would remember such news. I'm so happy for them- a new baby, oh wow! The down side is I won't be seeing them this summer. gee...

Tin's flying to the States on the 30th. It's a short working trip, but she'll be gone for most of the summer too. Dang, and I was looking forward to watching those foreign films in Instituto Cervantes and Alliance Francaise with her, not to mention spending Sunday afternoons in airconditioned museum.

It seems like the only the only things I'll look forward to this summer are surgery (oh god, I can't put it off any longer and it's scaring me) and release of grades. Things I don't particularly relish.

Let’s talk about sex

2005-03-11T01:31:00.000+08:00

Should sex education be taught in grade school? But really, why not? I don’t see anything wrong with making adolescents aware of reproductive health issues. Puberty commences at the age of 10 and the changes happening in their’ bodies are not something that they can ignore. Those changes bring about consequences. Allowing them information at a younger age would empower them to make better, more responsible choices. Traditional Filipino parents are touchy about discussing the subject of reproduction. Some fathers have a rather unusual take on it. They think that the way to teach their boys about the 'birds and the bees' is to take them to strip clubs (just what kind of values are they trying to impart on their kids?). Adolescents, to their detriment, are quite resourceful. Won’t it be better if responsible adults teach them what they need to know? That does not mean giving them just about any information, but age-appropriate ones and within a context. If schools provide then with information, adolescents need not go seeking answers from places and people who might not necessarily provide them the ‘right’ ones.

Besides, sex education in grade school is nothing new. Really. It was part of our fourth grade health education curriculum. It was basically about the reproductive system/cycle, and the changes happening to our bodies during puberty. Of course, when you talk about the reproductive system, you naturally touch on the topic of reproductive process. It's not the kind that parents picture it to be (there is a difference between grade school and college-age sex education curriculum afterall); the most graphic visual aid is the human anatomy chart ( i don' t think there is anything objectionable on that, is there?). Related issues of family planning, natural and artificial contraception and sexually transmissible diseases were also tackled. Through it all, it was reiterated by the teacher that physical intimacy should be in the context of a marital relationship. Whether that last one is actually taken to heart is pretty much left to the discretion of the students. But the important thing is- we were made aware of the possible consequences of our actions. I'd like to think that we are more sexually responsible adults because of it.

* my two-cents worth to a news i heard a few days ago that DepEd is planning to add 'sex education' to the grade school' curriculum. being that i heard it while in a taxicab, there is a possibility that i might have dreamt it.

hodge podge

2005-02-25T01:33:00.000+08:00

school fair

it's a sunny day and i thank god for the weather.
it's a sunny day and i'm living it for my god.
it's a sunny day and i thank god for the weather.
... living each day with the promises of god's words.

been humming this upbeat childhood ditty in my head all day (go on laugh, it's weird). i feel light-hearted, bouyant, pretty much like a child let loose on a park. guess, i'm just too happy doing something other than academics or work the whole day. this acp/lex loci thing was rather fun, reminds me of light high school extra-curricular activities (i was more into the 'marginalized-centered' activities in college, hence the comparison). i must say it's a welcome respite from the usual dreariness of routinary law school existence.

male style

the guys in the block were conspicously missing. (i wonder were they disappeared to. even the 'colin creevey' of the block was out of commission; the events of the day was, therefore, sadly, undocumented.) since they were out of earshot, it was an opportunity to compare notes. girls do check-out, you know; but unlike guys we do it discreetly and we don't make fun of those less than appealing to the eyes.

close-up smiles: everyone i talked with agree, these two guys have sincere smiles. they appear to be genuinely happy to see that person they are smiling at.

best smelling guy: this one is unanimous, everyone agrees, he smells great. my usually scent-insensitive nose remembers him smelling like chocolate-mint (maybe he does not really smell that way, except that's what my brain associate with yummy).

best dressed: could they be metrosexuals? i guess, a little vanity is not bad. everyone is in agreement that barongs are bland (besides one can put it on with his eyes closed). two thumbs up to the three guys who have been consistently in well-matched shirt and tie. same with those two guys who go to class in 'styled' saturday casuals.

sorry, dahlings, i won't be revealing names (lest we'd have preening peacocks in class).

realistic or romantic?

2005-02-17T02:01:00.000+08:00

i told you, i'm not an ice maiden. check out what this 'test' said:

You Are A Realistic Romantic

You are more romantic than 60% of the population.

It's easy for you to get swept away by romance...
But you've done a pretty good job keeping perspective.
You're still taken in by love poems and sunsets
You just don't fall for every dreamy pick up line!

Are You Romantic or Realistic?

a valentine wedding

2005-02-13T04:32:00.000+08:00

girls have this fantasy of getting engaged or, better yet, married on valentine's day

last year my 'bestest' male friend got married to the girl of his dreams on valentine's day. now, now ain't that romantic? i would not have expected less from this guy.

it was not a smooth journey to the altar, but love prevailed in the end.
here's to your first year anniversary oppa and unnie.

chris and soyoung on their wedding day

KKK

2005-02-08T00:08:00.000+08:00

ka-weirdohan, ka-baduyan, kabaliwan

kwon sangwoo: crush ko 'to!

my funny valentine(s)- part 1

2005-02-04T02:44:00.000+08:00

"valentine's ala david copperfield"

in my senior year in high school, i had this persistent 'admirer', who i avoided like the plague. it didn't help his cause that he'd look at me with a smitten 'puppy-eyes' (yeech!) and he'd bring his battalion of friends while he stake out my school. anyway, on valentine's day he and his friends camped out at my school's front gate. naturally, he had the requisite 'red roses' (double yeech) and chocolates. there was no way i was going to get past that gate without them seeing me. since my dad couldn't pick me up that day and i couldn't ride with my friends (as they were in cohorts with the boys), i had to find an alternate exit. the only other way out is via the convent gates ( which they don't let the students use and the guard is way past persuasion). desperate times call for desperate measures. i told the guard i needed to see some nun. while she was busy paging her, i climbed over the gates. yeeha!

that was not nice of me, really. the poor guy waited until dusk (oh-oh). and i had to explain my disappearing act to the nun the next day. sheesh..

repercussions of being a singleton

2005-01-11T03:19:00.000+08:00

I have ambivalent feelings for school breaks, holidays and all forms of vacation that compels me to go home. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been raised in a warm, supportive environment (some friends liken it to a real-life ‘Seventh Heaven’). Returning to the family nests, however, means dealing with nosy relatives and competitive parents. These adults not only compare their children’s academic/career achievements, but their romantic lives as well. They are generally nice folks who have an over-abundance of love whereby they think that ‘pushing’ their children to achieve in whatever area they think necessary is an expression of that emotion. Ordinarily, it can be quite amusing, but there are days that they can be exasperating.

It can be quite exhausting answering inquisitions on my inexistent love life, their analysis of the matter, and the unsolicited pieces of advice. They have gone to the point of setting me up on blind dates and telling me how to behave- not scare the guy off etc. etc. My mother has started worrying over the issue as well. She used to laugh it off for years, until last year, when it dawned on her that she was my age, she was already married with a couple of kids. And so began our phone conversations that included the question- ‘any interesting guy’. It doesn’t help that my younger sisters seem to have no interest on romantic relationships either (or they are just good at hiding it). Of course our dear mother would blame the ‘unfortunate’ situation on me, as she thinks I set the tone for everything.

‘What’, she would lament, ‘is wrong with you girls?’ My younger sister fave line- ‘I’m in med school, need I say more?’ (she hardly finds time to sleep between school and hospital rounds, how can she find time to date, indeed). My youngest sister- ‘I’m in auditioning boys’ (uh, okey). Me, I can’t echo the former excuse, and I’ve been telling the latter for years, it has become rather unbelievable.

So I tell them, I am commitment-phobe and they might as well get used to the idea that I might not be dragging along a guy to any family function ever. But not to worry, they’d have they little ‘apo’ as soon as I have the inclination and the resources to raise a kid. I have long ago held that women do not need men to complete their lives or whatever the male species are for. Save for their, uh, sperm men do not have anything valuable to complete a woman’s life.

I figured the Christmas break won’t be any different. I braced myself for another round of ‘the Spanish inquisition’, especially since a number of my close friends got engaged this year and had brought along their fiancés for the holidays. To my surprise, I got none of it. And even my rather crass joke how our bitch (I mean the female dog) must be emulating us (the darned dog refuses all studs), didn’t stir a reaction. Could it be that my relatives have seen the light?

Not really, except that they decided to tone down this year, as apparently a cousin had gone and found herself a ‘stud’. In short, she’s an unwed mother and plans to stay that way. My joke had become a reality and they have a hard time dealing with it. In an idyllic town, it’s a scandal of large magnitude. They would rather have a bunch of old maids over unwed mothers anytime.

So now my parents are singing a different tune, about how we are adults and since they can’t impose on us anymore (meaning, wait before we are married), the least we can do is to be responsible (translation: use protection). I would have laughed had it not been for their serious expression. I just had to reassure them that I would not do a sequel on my cousin’s gambit in deference to my brother’s chosen vocation (ah, the travails of one who has a future priest for a brother), and that, despite my ‘crazy’ pronouncements, I am not really that averse to having a functional family someday. My dad could not help adding that that he really don’t mind if I would get married while still in law school (that’s a great leap; he must be more desperate than I realized ha ha).