It's been a busy week, running here and there --- basically chasing time --- to get things done. Thankfully, projects are all out of the way by now and I welcome midterms with a song in my heart (a funeral march haha). Aside from the studying, midterms are fun (seriously). There's no other time when class schedules are so loopy that more time is spent not being in school (something I have lived for since I started acquiring an education). :)

Anyway, my 2006 resolution has been in the works. This year, I'm trying something new: I'm adding to the list throughout the year (wow, big discovery there). Sarcasm aside, it seems more realistic to work on a few things at a time. It's overwhelming when there's actually a WHOLE list; I don't think I'd be courageous enough to even start. OK, so...

1) Study the Bible when I get out of bed and get into bed.
I've always wanted a deeper relationship with God but never made time for it. No time like the present time, I guess...

2) Sleep eight hours a night.
Those who know me better will either be in comatose shock or screaming fits of laughter by now. So I'm a dreamer... :) Eight hours is just an ideal; I'll probably be sleeping six or seven hours realistically (already a large gap from my normal four hours).

3) Clean my closet.
This item has been on my list for three years now. I'd better get around to it; if nothing else, for the satisfaction of crushing it off...

So that's it at the moment. The effort to actually put enough words together for three items on this list was dear. For all I know, this will be the only effort the rest of the year. ;)



You can say it. I won't hate you.

"What's Sinulog?" :)

This post probably needs some sort of introduction for people who aren't from the Philippines or don't know the place like the backs of their hands (and really, who does?).

Sinulog is a dance, said to have pagan origin but was later incorporated into the Christian faith by the first native Cebuanos to be converted to Christianity as an expression of praise to the child Jesus (called by the Spanish colonizers Santo Niño, which translates to "Holy Child" in English).

There are now two aspects of Sinulog: the religious ritual and the street spectacle patterned after (but not quite copied from) the South American mardi gras. It became a well-organized annual affair timed to the religious Feast of Santo Niño, which falls on the third weekend of January.

The Sinulog procession went on today, as a matter of fact. Being a Protestant Christian, I am not really into that sort of thing but our school made us hapless freshmen into human barricades to control the crowd.

A lot of people (and a few saintly floats) passed us by. If we're going to be specific, they lumbered past us for three and a half hours before we left. There were just too many people... Human barricades were forced to surrender when the procession's members started elbowing and barreling through us. Things seemed to get a bit off-kilter but we survived.

The trauma comes after that, actually.

Somehow, I ended up with no money, no cellphone, and no friends in the middle of a gas station surrounded by traffic at night. The cellphone I had left behind (by accident and with dire consequences). The money I had used up. The friends were on their way to the mall, thinking I was safely going other places in a car.

The stupidity.

I couldn't call anyone to get me (or even let my friends know what happened). I couldn't ride a jeepney (no money means no fare, you understand) or even a taxi. Our car and its driver weren't in sight (evidently, it was zipping around town looking for me).

Borrowing the phone at the gas station, I realized how pathetic I was when I couldn't even pay a peso to use it. An old man sitting near the door (the owner? the manager? your average old man?) took pity and told the secretary I wouldn't have to pay. He left before I could thank him, before I even realized he had seemingly paid for me.

The car didn't arrive though, and the station's office had closed for the night. This left me in a rather dark spot. I was seriously at wit's end; what if the car never arrived?

A kind station guy (you know, the one who fills up cars with gas) got me a taxi (which by the way, I still didn't know how to pay for). I figured a taxi would be easier to pay for; it was only one ride and would wait while I borrowed some cash. I worried that the driver might trick me (I'm alone, and a girl, after all.) but he was really nice.

Thankfully, a friend lent me money to pay him, and I arrived whole at church for our meeting.

There were so many things that could have gone wrong this evening; it's freaky to even think of it. Thank God for good people, good timing, and God just being... well, God. :) I don't think I could have gotten out of that fix safely without him.

On a lighter note, I'm tweaking around with Adobe Photoshop and codes. Hopefully, my blog will look different (and better) a few days from now. I have piles of schoolwork to do first though; midterms are around the corner. X_X



Well, the first week of the year is gone. OK, technically, it's still Saturday but it's like we're all seeing the hind end of this week. Haha, stupid analogy...

Anyway, this week was... um... :) a combination of post-New Year parties, dreary schoolwork, and irrationally urgent and psychologically significant house cleaning. Seriously, the cleaning thing... It was like spring cleaning (except there isn't any spring in this two-season country I live in). Two things amused about it:

(1) Through all the cleaning, nothing ever seemed to look any cleaner. Was it all in my mind or something? I'm still surrounded by piles of well... junk. :)

(2) I find myself keeping things at 3 in the morning, and other odd hours of day. I'm in bed, drifting to sleep, when I just get up to put a CD in a shelf which leads to bigger and better chores... You get the idea...

My sister and I did clean up our library though. We're going to be neurotic and put labels on the shelves haha. Whee. :)

I've been in a funk these past few days since school began though. Ah well, that's what school does to me. Now, I'd better work on that nearly 70-page term paper. The thought of it gnaws my insides.

It's been a busy week, running here and there --- basically chasing time --- to get things done. Thankfully, projects are all out of the way by now and I welcome midterms with a song in my heart (a funeral march haha). Aside from the studying, midterms are fun (seriously). There's no other time when class schedules are so loopy that more time is spent not being in school (something I have lived for since I started acquiring an education). :)

Anyway, my 2006 resolution has been in the works. This year, I'm trying something new: I'm adding to the list throughout the year (wow, big discovery there). Sarcasm aside, it seems more realistic to work on a few things at a time. It's overwhelming when there's actually a WHOLE list; I don't think I'd be courageous enough to even start. OK, so...

1) Study the Bible when I get out of bed and get into bed.
I've always wanted a deeper relationship with God but never made time for it. No time like the present time, I guess...

2) Sleep eight hours a night.
Those who know me better will either be in comatose shock or screaming fits of laughter by now. So I'm a dreamer... :) Eight hours is just an ideal; I'll probably be sleeping six or seven hours realistically (already a large gap from my normal four hours).

3) Clean my closet.
This item has been on my list for three years now. I'd better get around to it; if nothing else, for the satisfaction of crushing it off...

So that's it at the moment. The effort to actually put enough words together for three items on this list was dear. For all I know, this will be the only effort the rest of the year. ;)



You can say it. I won't hate you.

"What's Sinulog?" :)

This post probably needs some sort of introduction for people who aren't from the Philippines or don't know the place like the backs of their hands (and really, who does?).

Sinulog is a dance, said to have pagan origin but was later incorporated into the Christian faith by the first native Cebuanos to be converted to Christianity as an expression of praise to the child Jesus (called by the Spanish colonizers Santo Niño, which translates to "Holy Child" in English).

There are now two aspects of Sinulog: the religious ritual and the street spectacle patterned after (but not quite copied from) the South American mardi gras. It became a well-organized annual affair timed to the religious Feast of Santo Niño, which falls on the third weekend of January.

The Sinulog procession went on today, as a matter of fact. Being a Protestant Christian, I am not really into that sort of thing but our school made us hapless freshmen into human barricades to control the crowd.

A lot of people (and a few saintly floats) passed us by. If we're going to be specific, they lumbered past us for three and a half hours before we left. There were just too many people... Human barricades were forced to surrender when the procession's members started elbowing and barreling through us. Things seemed to get a bit off-kilter but we survived.

The trauma comes after that, actually.

Somehow, I ended up with no money, no cellphone, and no friends in the middle of a gas station surrounded by traffic at night. The cellphone I had left behind (by accident and with dire consequences). The money I had used up. The friends were on their way to the mall, thinking I was safely going other places in a car.

The stupidity.

I couldn't call anyone to get me (or even let my friends know what happened). I couldn't ride a jeepney (no money means no fare, you understand) or even a taxi. Our car and its driver weren't in sight (evidently, it was zipping around town looking for me).

Borrowing the phone at the gas station, I realized how pathetic I was when I couldn't even pay a peso to use it. An old man sitting near the door (the owner? the manager? your average old man?) took pity and told the secretary I wouldn't have to pay. He left before I could thank him, before I even realized he had seemingly paid for me.

The car didn't arrive though, and the station's office had closed for the night. This left me in a rather dark spot. I was seriously at wit's end; what if the car never arrived?

A kind station guy (you know, the one who fills up cars with gas) got me a taxi (which by the way, I still didn't know how to pay for). I figured a taxi would be easier to pay for; it was only one ride and would wait while I borrowed some cash. I worried that the driver might trick me (I'm alone, and a girl, after all.) but he was really nice.

Thankfully, a friend lent me money to pay him, and I arrived whole at church for our meeting.

There were so many things that could have gone wrong this evening; it's freaky to even think of it. Thank God for good people, good timing, and God just being... well, God. :) I don't think I could have gotten out of that fix safely without him.

On a lighter note, I'm tweaking around with Adobe Photoshop and codes. Hopefully, my blog will look different (and better) a few days from now. I have piles of schoolwork to do first though; midterms are around the corner. X_X



Well, the first week of the year is gone. OK, technically, it's still Saturday but it's like we're all seeing the hind end of this week. Haha, stupid analogy...

Anyway, this week was... um... :) a combination of post-New Year parties, dreary schoolwork, and irrationally urgent and psychologically significant house cleaning. Seriously, the cleaning thing... It was like spring cleaning (except there isn't any spring in this two-season country I live in). Two things amused about it:

(1) Through all the cleaning, nothing ever seemed to look any cleaner. Was it all in my mind or something? I'm still surrounded by piles of well... junk. :)

(2) I find myself keeping things at 3 in the morning, and other odd hours of day. I'm in bed, drifting to sleep, when I just get up to put a CD in a shelf which leads to bigger and better chores... You get the idea...

My sister and I did clean up our library though. We're going to be neurotic and put labels on the shelves haha. Whee. :)

I've been in a funk these past few days since school began though. Ah well, that's what school does to me. Now, I'd better work on that nearly 70-page term paper. The thought of it gnaws my insides.