Into My Private Sky

2011-04-12T03:57:00.002+08:00

I've FINALLY decided to just stick to my Tumblr account. Blogging is easier over there :-(
~Patty

National Book Week

2011-03-18T22:03:00.001+08:00

I just got this from someone in Facebook. :-)

It’s National Book Week. The rules are: Grab the nearest book to you. Turn to page 56. Copy the 5th sentence. Don’t mention the book.

“She’s one of those who think that knowledge is power and forgiveness: If I know that I belong to a self-satisfied elite who are sacrificing the common good through an excess of arrogance, this liberates me from criticism, and I come out with twice the prestige.”

Taking A Short Trip In My Brain

2011-03-12T01:48:00.001+08:00

I was browsing through my old Friendster (we all went through that phase...) and Multiply accounts of my friends and LOOK! FUN PHOTOS OF NENE ME AND MY NENE FRIENDS! This is just pure fun :)) (These aren't chronologically arranged teehee)

Me and my friend Joanne. I miss my long straight hair.

I look sooooo... I don't know :))

Eating McDonald's on the way home from a beach trip.
Nom nom!

4th year. Welcome Freshmen activity.
They BANNED my section from the activity
because we exploded bottles of Coke,
but it was all worth it :-)

ACP Flight Golf. I am there at the back with the
huge glasses. Hahahahaha.

My UNICEF buddies.
Kim, Kat, me, half of Joanne. On the way to CCP
for a UNICEF activity with street kids :-)

Me, wearing freaky pink-tinted glasses and
hugging the huge inflatable C2.
This was in Subic, I think.

@ Avilon Zoo with UNICEF buddies Kim, her sister Kakai,
Tin, Kat, Joanne, and me.

Joanne, I and Kim on a tiny fake-looking hill.

Pimples & Braces

ME, Kim, Hannah, Joanne. MY HAIR. MY HAIR. !!!

Kim and I at her birthday party.
:">

Kim and I on a bamboo raft
@ Villa Escudero, Laguna

Kim and I during badminton practice. Hit the happy!
The shirt (Cebu) I am wearing is one of my
favorite t-shirts, sadly, I lost it.

Peace :-)

Noong uso pa ang feet/finger stars :-)

Noong payat at nakakapag-relax pa ako :-(

:-)

Fukien-Mandarin daw :-|
Patty & Ronnie

Patty & Ronnie :">

Good day! :-)

P.S.
Pray for Japan, Asia, and the rest of the world. For safety, protection, unity, healing and strength.

The Mauritius Miracle

2011-03-11T12:38:00.001+08:00

The following article was taken from this website :-)

The Greatest Country on Earth

What the United States can learn from the tiny island nation of Mauritius.
By Joseph E. Stiglitz Posted Monday, March 7, 2011, at 3:58 PM ET
Suppose someone were to describe to you a small country that provided free education through university for all of its citizens, transportation for school children, and free health care—including heart surgery—for all. You might suspect that such a country is either phenomenally rich or on the fast track to fiscal crisis.
After all, rich countries in Europe have increasingly found that they cannot pay for university education and are asking young people and their families to bear the costs. For its part, the United States has never attempted to give free college for all, and it took a bitter battle just to ensure that America's poor get access to health care—a guarantee that the Republican Party is now working hard to repeal, claiming that the country cannot afford it.
But Mauritius, a tropical island nation of 1.3 million people off the east coast of Africa, is neither particularly rich nor on its way to budgetary ruin. Nonetheless, it has spent the last decades successfully building a diverse economy, a democratic political system, and a strong social safety net. Many countries, not least the United States, could learn from its experience.
In a recent visit I had a chance to see some of the leaps Mauritius has taken—accomplishments that can seem bewildering in light of the debate in the United States and elsewhere. Consider home ownership: While American conservatives say that the government's attempt to extend home ownership to 70 percent of the U.S. population was responsible for the financial meltdown, 87 percent of Mauritians own their own homes—without fueling a housing bubble.
Now comes the painful number: Mauritius's GDP has grown faster than 5 percent annually for almost 30 years. Surely, you think, this must be some "trick." Mauritius must be rich in diamonds, oil, or some other valuable commodity. But Mauritius has no exploitable natural resources. Indeed, so dismal were its prospects as it approached independence from Britain, which came in 1968, that the Nobel Prize-winning economist James Meade wrote in 1961: "It is going to be a great achievement if [the country] can find productive employment for its population without a serious reduction in the existing standard of living. … [T]he outlook for peaceful development is weak."
As if to prove Meade wrong, the Mauritians have increased per capita income from less than $400 around the time of independence to more than $6,700 today. The country has progressed from the sugar-based monoculture of 50 years ago to a diversified economy that includes tourism, finance, textiles, and, if current plans bear fruit, advanced technology.
During my visit, my interest was to understand better what had led to what some have called the Mauritius miracle and what others might learn from it. There are, in fact, many lessons, some of which should be borne in mind by American and European politicians as they fight their budget battles.
First, the question is not whether we can afford to provide health care or education for all or ensure widespread homeownership. If Mauritius can afford these things, America and Europe—which are several orders of magnitude richer—can, too. The question, rather, is how to organize society. Mauritians have chosen a path that leads to higher levels of social cohesion, welfare, and economic growth—and to a lower level of inequality.
Second, unlike many other small countries, Mauritius has decided that most military spending is a waste. The United States need not go as far. If the United States reduced by just a fraction its defense spending, much of which goes toward weapons that don't work against enemies that don't exist, it would go a long way toward creating a more humane society, including the provision of health care and education to those who cannot afford them.
Third, Mauritius recognized that without natural resources, its people were its only asset. Maybe that appreciation for its human resources is also what led Mauritius to realize that, particularly given the country's potential religious, ethnic, and political differences—which some tried to exploit in order to induce it to remain a British colony—education for all was crucial to social unity. So was a strong commitment to democratic institutions and cooperation between workers, government, and employers—precisely the opposite of the kind of dissension and division being engendered by conservatives in the United States today.
This is not to say that Mauritius is without problems. Like many other successful emerging-market countries, Mauritius is confronting a loss of exchange-rate competitiveness. And as more and more countries intervene to weaken their exchange rates in response to America's attempt at competitive devaluation through quantitative easing, the problem is becoming worse. Almost surely, Mauritius, too, will have to intervene.
Moreover, like many other countries around the world, Mauritius worries today about imported food and energy inflation. To respond to inflation by increasing interest rates would simply compound the difficulties of high prices with high unemployment and an even less competitive exchange rate. Direct interventions, restrictions on short-term capital inflows, capital-gains taxes, and stabilizing prudential banking regulations will all have to be considered.
The "Mauritius miracle" dates to independence. But the country still struggles with some of its colonial legacies: inequality in land and wealth, as well as vulnerability to high-stakes global politics. The United States occupies one of Mauritius's offshore islands, Diego Garcia, as a naval base without compensation, officially leasing it from the United Kingdom, which not only retained the Chagos Islands in violation of international law but expelled its citizens and refuses to allow them to return.
The United States should now do right by this peaceful and democratic country: recognize Mauritius' rightful ownership of Diego Garcia, renegotiate the lease, and redeem past sins by paying a fair amount for land that it has illegally occupied for decades.

That's just incredible! The benefits definitely outweigh the risks and the costs. But really, it's just amazing how a nation can hold it together like that for quite some time.

1. Societal organization for social cohesion and equality.

2. Spend LESS on (unimportant) military funds and MORE on the essential human needs. Which is not to say that safety is not a human need, but why spend so much, so as to cause an imbalance in the distribution of goods?

If the United States reduced by just a fraction its defense spending, much of which goes toward weapons that don't work against enemies that don't exist, it would go a long way toward creating a more humane society, including the provision of health care and education to those who cannot afford them.

3. Human resources (given education, health care, true democracy and cooperative governance) as primary source of income and as thread of unity among the people.

In the words of my Filipino teacher, "Struggle for holistic socio-economic democratization (socialism)!"

Good day! :-)

2011-03-11T00:21:00.000+08:00

Two of my current favorite food blogs:

I've been following these two for the past months and mmm-mmm-mmm I am always hungry right after.

;-)

I miss painting!

2011-03-06T15:53:00.000+08:00

I'm going over to National Bookstore next weekend and I'm going to get myself some materials and start painting again.

5 Pesos and A Global Issue

2011-03-04T00:35:00.003+08:00

Today, I donated Php5.00 to WWF for the Save the Butanding campaign thinggy-majiggy. It just popped out of the ATM machine screen when I withdrew cash earlier this day, asking me if I wanted to donate Php5.00 or not. I was rather dumbfounded when I saw it because that was honestly the first time an ATM machine ever asked me for donations of any kind. Was it a scam? I don't really think so. It's a terribly small amount of money, but I guess collectively, those terribly small amounts of Php5.00 can greatly help our beloved whale sharks :-) After attending a talk/documentary viewing (The Cove: A documentary film about the killing of dolphins in Taiji, Japan) and listening to Mr. A.G. Saño, dolphin advocate and WWF Hero, for a school program (LEAP) my eyes were just truly, truly opened to the environmental (and the economical, political, social, etc. etc.) implications of illegal whaling. Just to add: He's actually doing one of those dolphin murals at my school. That is really awesome!

I am not an advocate or anything, but I do love the dolphins :-( I grew up playing with Fishy, my first ever stuffed animal - a blue dolphin, and got another one, Loki, and I have grown to love them ever since.

I truly hope that my meager Php5.00 can do something.

See:

Something that made me smile

2011-02-26T20:00:00.000+08:00

I found this in Tumblr and it made me smile and tear up a bit :'-)

40 Extraordinary Things Happening Right Now

Right now is a phenomenon. Right now extraordinary things are happening.

Right now…

A soldier of sorts is diligently fighting the fight so you don’t have to.
Someone who suffered from a severe injury last year is back on their feet.
A small group of people are building something that will soon make the impossible possible.
Somewhere on Earth a double rainbow is stretched from one end of the horizon to the other.
One of the next Billboard-chart-topping musical artists is patiently rehearsing in her garage.
A piece of literature is being written that will eventually change your perspective on life.
Young children all over the world are singing and dancing before they even realize there is anything that isn’t music.
A friend is helping a friend rise above thoughts of suicide.
Someone is thinking what you’re thinking, but hasn’t said anything yet either.
Two people in your hometown are falling in love.
Somewhere someone is admiring a breathtaking sunrise, and somewhere else a surreal sunset.
People of various religious backgrounds are in temples, churches, mosques and other places of worship praying, wholeheartedly, for world peace.
Someone who has struggled with their weight for the last several years is standing on a scale and smiling.
Hundreds of cute elderly couples are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.
A baby girl just took her first few steps without falling.
Two best friends are laughing so hard they aren’t even making any noise.
A future world leader is in grade school at recess.
Someone is in the process of sincerely forgiving a seemingly unforgivable act.
There’s a kid studying hard somewhere who aspires to get to where you are in life.
A firefighter is running into a burning building to rescue a perfect stranger.
Someone in your vicinity genuinely wants to be your friend.
A young mom is lying in a hospital bed and holding her newborn baby twins for the very first time.
Someone is taking a shower and singing happily at the top of their lungs.
There is someone out there who smiles when they think of a specific moment they once shared with you.
An alcoholic just celebrated one full year of sobriety.
Volunteers in major cities all over the world are working at homeless shelters caring for those who are less fortunate than themselves.
A young man is pulled over on the side of the road helping a young woman change a flat tire.
A high school athlete just broke her own personal record.
Two teenagers just received their very first kiss ever from each other.
A husband and wife who were drowning in debt five years ago proudly hold a balance of zero on their credit cards.
Someone is hugging a friend who desperately needs it.
A new small business owner just wrapped up his first profitable year working for himself.
A grandfather is holding his granddaughter’s hand and they’re both smiling from ear to ear.
Someone just placed their spare change in the charity collection cup at the grocery store.
A small group of friends are sitting around a table sharing funny stories and cheerfully reminiscing about the good old days.
A breast cancer patient just found out her cancer is in complete remission.
Someone out there is missing you and looking forward to your next visit.
Honest people are working for various government entities to help protect your basic human rights and civil liberties.
An emergency room surgeon is in the middle of saving his patient’s life.
Someone is holding the door open for the person behind them.

Right now is a new beginning. Right now is an opportunity.

Do something extraordinary.

Source: marcandangel

Meow!

2011-02-26T14:20:00.001+08:00

I wish I could do that. That would be pretty awesome! Full body massage & scratch in one. Hahahaha :-P When I am already living alone, which is in a few months (!!), I will get a cat. :-3

Happiness does not have to be expensive ;)

2011-02-26T01:00:00.000+08:00

I have been fixing my eyes on Michael Palmer's The Fifth Vial ever since my boyfriend and I spotted it in Powerbooks in Greenbelt. They have it in paperback copies and it costs around Php300-400+ (I don't remember the actual price). Guess how excited I was when we saw it in hardbound among the Php99 SALE shelf in National Bookstore. EXCITED. I love getting books without having to spend so much! I had to control myself from buying some other books because I remembered that I was trying to save money and that I actually do not have that much cash with me. Hahaha. :-) I hope there will still be some books for sale when I come back.

Blessed is he who speaks a kindness, and thrice blessed is he who repeats it.

2011-02-25T00:01:00.001+08:00

- Arabian proverb

Today, I (almost) lost my phone at school. It's not an expensive phone so I did not really feel so panicked about it being stolen or gone forever. I just felt really bad because I had that phone since I was in high school and it was still working pretty well. Aside from the tiny scratches and the almost-erased keypad (I am obviously a heavy-texter), it was still in mint condition for me. It also contained almost 4 years of good and save-worthy messages from my loved ones and I am a really sentimental person, so that phone means a lot to me. I've considered getting a new phone just a couple of months ago but decided against it anyway.

To make my long story short, I realized at some point that my phone was missing, but two hours after that, someone actually returned my phone to the lost and found section. While walking to the lost and found section, I kind of gave up. I realized, with the experiences of past classmates and other friends, when your phone got lost, it either got stolen, or was misplaced then someone found it and decided not to give it back. I tried to call my phone for the second time using Miggy's phone, which is another great story: I had no idea where he was. We had totally no communication, and with all those people in school I figured it would be tough to find him. I tried to go to his usual hang-out spot but he wasn't there so then I had absolutely no clue. I walked around for a while and felt that I'd never really find him, right now at least, and then there he was. Sitting down on a bench in a hidden corner of this not-so visible area! I do not know if it was pure luck or coincidence but I felt really relieved and amazed at how I was able to magically see him. Someone answered my call and told me that I could claim my phone at the lost and found section. Yay!

It felt so good, not just getting my phone back, but knowing that during these times, there are still intrinsically good people. I do not know who that person is, but whoever he/she is, I pray that in some small way, you will receive an act of kindness in return for your good deed. It just made my day and it did a better job than coffee at waking and cheering me up! I felt pretty good the rest of the day after that and I just felt like sharing even more random acts of happiness to other people. :-)

In Vases (Pondered Thoughts)

2011-02-15T02:14:00.008+08:00

“You are beautiful, but you are empty,” he went on. “One could not die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you--the rose that belongs to me.” - The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I remember this one time when I was in grade school. It was Valentine's Day, and in my school, this special day is really celebrated. They would play cheesy old love songs over the speakers, there would be programs, flower vendors inside the campus, blah blah stuff like that. Everyone, especially the girls, would get all giddy and excited but I never saw the point anyway, probably because I just never had that crush-love thing for anyone back then. My crushes before were anime characters. But as the bandwagon goes, the popular girls (or at least the pretty ones) would get roses, teddy bears, or an assortment of chocolates from the boys. And I see the same thing pretty much every year. And then that one time, that one Valentine's Day, I realized I never got roses. I never got teddy bears. I never got chocolates. I never got a pet dog (yes, yes there was). But I never understood why. All I know is I wasn't pretty enough to get them. And through the years (although it wasn't that long) I realized that I will never get a rose on a Valentine's Day. It kind of made me feel sad, as if I was stripped since birth from the privilege of ever getting something on Valentine's Day.

My first rose was from my bestfriend, a girl. And she didn't even give it to me exactly, it was just something sort of like "Oh hey do you want this rose? I don't really want it." But I took it anyway, and took pride in the fact that I was holding a rose, never mind that it meant nothing. And then this one time I brought my own tiny stuffed dog toy and tried to fool others (myself) that I had received it from someone else. It's so funny, now that I look back on it. I should have never pretended to myself, but I guess it was part of me experimenting with how things felt, specifically how receiving something on Valentine's Day felt.

Last year on Valentine's Day, I received my second ever rose (3 roses actually) from my boyfriend, Miggy. Technically, that would be the first time I ever received flowers on Valentine's Day, or on any regular day of my life. It completely blew me away. I never expected it, and for not expecting such an event I have 2 solid reasons:

My boyfriend does not believe in giving flowers. It's something he keeps on telling me every time I try to drop a hint about getting flowers. I sometimes see his point (that they're expensive and of not much practical use because they will die anyway) but being the very emotional/sentimental/heart-over-mind person that I am, I do not believe in him. But he is who he is and through the years that I have known him, I have come to understand that he is very, very, very firm in whatever he believes in. So, no flowers for me from now on.
My grade school experience.

Seeing him outside my house, waiting by my door, with three red roses in his arms, I died. There he was, the first guy to ever give me flowers. I was very happy of course, but then it also served another purpose, one I did not expect: I realized that I did not need flowers anymore.

I just needed to be shown once, just once, what it feels. And then I am OK. He made me the happiest person on Earth, and for that I really feel grateful. Thankful that I have a very wonderful person by my side at all times. I do not need flowers anymore because I have him. But of course I still wish from time to time for flowers, although I do not really press it on him anymore :-)

And just to share my 2011 Valentine's Day experience, I received no flowers. Just the gift of his company and time. We ate at a simple Japanese place where the food was unbelievably delicious, shopped for books, and had coffee at our new favorite cafe where we just talked the night away. It was all too simple. Nothing too fancy, just the way we wanted it, and I would not trade it for anything else.

(Belated) Happy Valentine's Day :-)

I'm so tired.

2011-02-09T21:34:00.002+08:00

Sigh.

Old School Stuff That Works!

2011-02-04T22:00:00.002+08:00

I really love Carmex lip balm! I bought one yesterday because I had really chapped (and ugly) lips because of the cold weather and I have this terrible habit of licking and pulling the cracked dry skin off my lips. Hahaha gross, I know. I was out in the mall and I forgot to bring my lip balm so I decided to buy one just because I really really really needed to soothe my lips. So I bought Carmex lip balm. I got the strawberry one in the click-stick tube. All I can say is, I LOVE IT! I'd give it 5 out of 5 :-) It's super nice. It has this cool minty feel on your lips and it glides on smoothly. My boyfriend even liked it. He's actually the one who saw it first, pointed it to me, and asked me if I know the brand. Hahaha. The packaging is so cute too! I also love the fact that in just over one day, my lips became smoother and it's no longer dry. This is definitely my favorite lip balm :-)

Can I just say

2011-02-01T23:07:00.001+08:00

That sometimes I do not understand what goes on in your head because of the way you act. You are SO inconsistent in a lot of things that you do. You cannot seem to make up your mind. I mean, alright, you've made up your mind about something but then you take it back. That annoys me like hell. And the way you sometimes (MOST OF THE TIME) make me feel like a stupid f.ck because I do not know what happens in your life but you make me think like I know. What annoys me now is that I do not want to see you but I know I can't. So I'm stuck with having to deal with this feeling I have until it just melts away.

That is all. Time to go vent out or something.

"Isn't It Good?"

2011-01-31T02:30:00.001+08:00

Caption: Not enough sex? A scene from the new film Norwegian Wood,
Murakami's tale of love, death and liking the Beatles.

This I need to see! Check it out HERE! I guess I wouldn't really mind their issue on the film not being as sexual in the novel. I'm really into seeing how the actors portray the characters in the book. The characters were so full of life, emotion, wisdom, etc. (insert other dramatic adjectives here!), it really makes the storyline even more interesting. I can't wait!

Off topic (but not really?): I am almost done with Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle! I've been so busy with school lately I really don't have enough time for reading :-( But I am kind of exciting to see how the story will end and ALSO I am excited to buy a new Murakami novel! I don't know which one to get next though, but I really want to get as much Murakami as I can ;-)

Afternoon

2011-01-28T15:00:00.000+08:00

I am, right now, in this zone of absolute peace. Right now. Just this moment. The breeze is flowing in through my windows, I can hear the wind chimes outside, the noise coming from the neighbors are all muffled, the sun is not too bright, the air not stale - it smells so fresh, and I can hear a distant sound of clucking chickens. A very good afternoon indeed. I cannot explain it but it is here and right now I am just in absolute peace. And in a few minutes it will probably be gone. I'll make myself a glass of iced tea and bask in this very wonderful momentary feeling. Good day :-)

Under The January Moon :-)

2011-01-23T01:13:00.001+08:00


Miggy and I at the Abaño-Bautista Wedding

It was definitely one night to remember. Will post about it tomorrow, I'm super tired!

My Body Clock Sucks.

2011-01-16T14:47:00.002+08:00

I came home from school yesterday at around 3 in the afternoon, something I am not used to because I always come home late in the evening. With all that free time I had, I slept. At around 6 PM, someone knocked on my door, calling me for dinner. The weird thing was that when I woke up, I felt so disoriented. I looked at the window, but the curtain covering it couldn't tell me what time of the day it was. So I hurriedly checked the wall clock and it said 6. I was in panic. I thought it was 6 AM and that I am going to be late for school (my classes start at 8 AM everyday). Then I stood up and felt all groggy and shit, checked my phone, then opened my door. I felt really bad, like the kind of feeling one sometimes gets when they suddenly wake up from an afternoon nap - headache & nausea. So I sat down for a while on my bed and tried to recall everything. And that's when I remembered that I already went to school that day, I slept in the afternoon, and it is already evening.

I hate that feeling.

Random Post at 5:40 AM

2011-01-09T05:43:00.000+08:00

From a sleepover with my best friend

I cannot sleep.

Weekend Bum

2011-01-09T04:56:00.000+08:00

Since I have pretty much nothing to do for school this weekend because it's only the first week, I am spending my weekend (Friday-Saturday-Sunday) by being a bum!

Stuff to watch

Casablanca
Flipped
Easy A
Modern Family (I still have to get a copy of season two :-( huhu)
Community
Parks and Recreation

Then catch up on my current read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by my recent obsession, Haruki Murakami. Pure genius on paper! Maybe that will be my first spontaneous resolution for 2011: Read and collect as much Murakami books as I can. Hahaha.

Happy Sunday! :-)

Welcoming Year 2011

2011-01-01T05:33:00.001+08:00


Click for better view. HAPPY 2011!

I will start the year with an entry about 2010. This is just a short recollection of my thoughts about the year that was. :-)

In the year 2010 I have...

Finally shifted out of hell. This is probably the best decision I have made this year. Yes, I do love computers. BS in Computer Science major in Computer Systems Engineering is a lengthy name and I guess I was sort of seduced by it (hahaha). I love tinkering with the parts and exploring around new software. I also enjoyed the little time I had with programming and studying all those nodes and binary numbers. I did like it for some time, but I just couldn't picture my future self working in a computer company; I can't even stand the thought that I would be spending the rest of my entire life (exaggerating of course) in front of a computer. I finally took the courage to tell my family, especially my mom who really wanted me to excel in this field, that I wanted to shift out. It was a tough time for me, really. But fortunately, things took a right turn and here I am, doing better in a course more suited for me based on my interests: Early Childhood Education. And I am glad to say that I really enjoy it.
Made new friends, but kept the old. Hahaha, that was actually from an old song or rhyme that I remember during my childhood. It went something like "Make new friends, keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold." Because of my course-shift, I had a really hard time adjusting to the new environment I was in. People were quite different, but soon I met new friends, and everything went smoothly from there. I kept my ties with my blockmates whom I will forever love, and I'm really thankful that even if I don't get to see them as much as before, whenever I drop by our usual place I still feel welcome and truly at home. I also kept strong ties with my high school BFFs ;-) One thing I learned from this all is that time filters the people around you. I saw the friends who have stayed by my side despite being in different colleges with new sets of friends. We keep the communication open and make time to see each other. :-) I'd like to quote a line from a famous Beatles' song.
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,
Mmm,I get high with a little help from my friends,
Mmm, I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends.
Shared a wonderful relationship with my best friend, Miggy. I've known him through some mutual friends since we were in high school. He's been my good friend for about 6 and a half years now, and we've been in love with each other for the past two years. I'm really happy to share this love with him because he is the one person who really knows me and we share a secret that has helped us understand each other better. He knows how to make me feel better when I am down and I'd like to say that we've truly got each other's back. He isn't the romantic type of guy that every girl would be drooling over. He said it to me himself that he doesn't believe in giving out flowers (but greatly surprised me with three red roses on Valentine's) or calling each other fancy names (which he did at one point, as a joke, but for that one moment it was real) but he is a real person. He has values that I admire and weird quirks that I absolutely have come to adore. In short, he is weird. But in that sense, I love him more because everyone else is so normal and normal has, based on my experience, become unreal. Besides, I am weird myself :)) I really love the idea of us. It just makes everything right. He makes everything right :)
Realized the importance of death and loss. In Haruki Murakami's novel Norwegian Wood, he says that "Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it." Losing my parents one after the other with only a 7-month gap is a cruel choke on my being, but somehow I managed. I guess I just never questioned God, nor have I questioned Death. If it is what it is, then let it be. It will happen one way or another; I am just one of the unfortunate ones to experience it sooner. Nevertheless, it taught me one thing: Things that I would never have expect to happen, happen. And that I did fall into the cliche "You will only realize what is important when it is gone." I am thankful that somehow my parents made my life easy. I would never trade them for another set of parents.
Rediscovered my love for reading. I think that 2010 is the year when I have read the most books. Before I would read an estimate of 3-5 books (that isn't required by the school) a year, but in 2010 I have read about 30 books! I plan to read more for 2011. It feels nice to be surrounded by good literature. Check out my Shelfari!

So, that's basically my 2010. I hope to make my 2011 even better, filled with more hopes, dreams and good experiences for life ahead. Cheers!

Mes que un club

2010-12-28T15:09:00.003+08:00

Goosebumps!

I'm not partial to any of the two teams since I used to really really really like Real Madrid when I was much younger but really. Barça, awesome.

The Beatles All Day

2010-12-26T21:32:00.000+08:00


Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood

My boyfriend Miggy gave me this book for Christmas, and I absolutely love it! (Him too haha ♡) I have always wanted to read this ever since I first saw it in random bookstores, but I never really bought it before. Sad to say, it's kind of hard to find it now, even the newly released copies with the new nifty covers. So I was just absolutely excited when I saw this wrapped in violet ribbon (which I turned into a pretty bookmark hahaha)!

And so, because of that, I've been playing The Beatles music all day today. Hahahaha now this is the life. :-)

I love Christmas!

2010-12-24T21:42:00.001+08:00

(Click for better view)

Merry Christmas! :)

Today's Random Post

2010-12-23T15:15:00.002+08:00

(Click for better view)
Stormtrooper and Domo-Kun!

I really have no idea what they're doing. They could be arguing or something. Hahahaha :-) Good day!

Hello World! (Yes, I used to program).

2010-12-22T02:33:00.000+08:00

It is now 2:21 am and I made this blog in more or less 20 minutes. Completely out of impulse. I had nothing, absolutely nothing, to do and I bored myself even more by searching for my name (I am that idiotic) in Google and I came across my old blog which apparently dated back in 2005. If you want to know, it's Urban Gulaman. And it's dead. But I remember having so much fun with that blog. The archives are complete and it is just so funny back-reading my old blog and seeing how my writing and composition has changed throughout the years. Oh my goodness. Funny stuff. :)

It is now 2:25 am on the 22nd of December 2010. 3 more days until my first Christmas without my parents. God how I miss them, but I know they're happy although now they probably know a lot of the secrets I've been hiding from them. Ha ha. But really, I know they're happy and I'm glad. ;)

Got my dreams, got my life, got my love
Got my friends got the sunshine above
Why am I making this hard on myself
When there’s so many beautiful reasons I have to be happy

I heard this song while watching Bride Wars and I just fell in love with the words. This is Natasha Bedingfield's Happy. I'm not really a fan of hers, I just really like the song.

Just sharing some love!

I'm off! :-)