I've heard people say that our childhood dreams are the truest kind since we, as children, don't know the meanings of "can't" and "impossible". Now, I don't know if that's necessarily true but it just entered my mind when I found some of my old sketchbooks yesterday.


I actually remember owning oodles and oodles of sketchbooks a long way back, but apparently threw out most of them while cleaning my room. Oh well, the ones I did keep were nice to look back on.






Seeing some of my old sketches led to going through some old paintings.


Again, I'd thrown away most of the others. I don't regret it though; twenty or so canvases take up a lot of space.

I realized I'd drawn loads of things in my younger years. I remember always scribbling on notebooks and blank pieces of paper. But ever since I got into college, I'd stopped. Not consciously, mind you. But all my paints, colored pencils, and pens were just slowly kept in piles under my study table or given away.

So for the first time in at least three years, I picked up a pencil yesterday. :D My scribbles aren't posted up yet (still working on them, in fact) but expect some of them to show up soon. I just keep thinking about how much fun I had drawing --- they didn't have to be good by the way, just fun --- and I guess I want to get back into it again.

So yes, I've sharpened those colored pencils and dusted off my paints. We'll see what happens next.


Remember that school project I keep talking about? The one that involves going to the lab and making new products every week. I mentioned making virgin coconut oil and ice cream a few posts back. Anyway, we submitted them last Tuesday with storebought-looking packaging. I say storebought-looking since Cookie and I just made them LOL.




I posted an up close and personal version of the virgin coconut oil labels on my DeviantArt account here if you're interested in seeing it. The tea box wasn't all my work though so I decided not to put it up.


We're going to a concert tonight featuring Don Moen with my sister, parents, cousins, uncles, aunts, and a bunch of other people. And no, we are not making up the whole audience though there are a lot of us. :D OK, that was a humorous attempt. Laugh, please.

I have to prepare my stuff before I head over there so bye for now!



Yes, that's me in basketball mode. Feast your eyes on my sweaty, athletic self and be shocked.

That's how most everyone reacted anyway when they heard about it.

It all started with KD (my cousin / adopted little brother) asking me if I wanted to learn how to play. It was just a random question that popped into his head. Since he started getting excited about the idea, I gave him my random answer: yes. Now those who know me know that I have a body that runs (away) at the sight of exercise. Walking is fine (especially if there's something good at the end like the cheesecake KD and I once walked twelve blocks for), and so is the occasional twenty-five laps in a swimming pool. Other than that, I'm just your average lazy bag of potatoes.

But really, how could I refuse? And... it was FUN! I'm nowhere as good as any of the others and have zero chances of getting into basketball for a living --- as if I wanted to --- but there's a certain joy in getting multiple shots in a row. Besides, playing with my cousins is a gas. We're playing again this weekend.

Anyway, we made macaroons in Chemical Process Industries lab last week. I hear this is not a usual thing since we're supposed to be making more chemically-created things like shampoo and ice cream (more about this later). We just couldn't see all our grated coconut from the oil we made go to waste though so...


My artist side appreciated the prettiness and the bright colors of the paper cups. My stomach just appreciated the slightly wet crunch of dessicated coconut with butter and raisins. Mmmm.

This was all Arn2's treat since her birthday had been coming up (then). Here she is with her improvised cake.


It wasn't really supposed to be a cake but a batch of macaroons in cute paper cups lined up. Unfortunately, we put too much batter and the macaroons rose and rose and ROSE until they stuck together like so.

We like to think they knew it was her birthday so they did it just for her.

Anyway, our teacher seemed to like the idea of making food from extra materials, so in lab today, a bunch of extra egg whites turned into an omelet with tomatoes and spring onions. People are starting to say that our class is taking the C out of ChE (short for Chemical Engineering) and turning it into Home Economics. Ha. Ha. Ha. OK, this is where you laugh at the attempt at a joke.

By the way, this is all in chronological order you understand. So many things happened during the last week (a.k.a. the exam week I didn't blog) that I'm trying to cram all the good bits into this post.

Last Sunday's breakfast bears mentioning. If nothing else, because I have photos of what I ate. :D


It was good. Light fluffy eggs, lighter and fluffier pancakes, crunchy bacon... You get the idea. And I finished it too!

Eating copious amounts does not mean I get to waste whatever's on my plate. Leftover food would look pretty lonely anyway. All alone on a large white plate. Better in my stomach with the other food. They can party.

We made ice cream in school this week! It was cool, sure, but it was also tiring. We spent almost six hours straight in the lab making the thing. We also had a really major exam after our free time so most of the day was spent studying, mixing, studying, mixing... We moved to Joni's house when the lab closed since we weren't finished yet. Except for Henri though, which is why she is not in this picture.


Oh, and guess what! Remember that blog design I submitted for a photography contest held by friends? (If you don't know what I'm talking about, I forgive you since I mentioned it about a month ago. It's mentioned here.) Anyway, it won first place! I didn't know they were planning to give prizes out (simple ones, you understand since no one donated any money for the competition), and told them they didn't have to send it. Apparently, they still did.


I got a postcard a new sock for my phone in a cute girly color. It's a nice memento from my internet friends. :)

This is getting pretty long so I'll just end with the parties I attended last night. Anyway, my cousin Ken on my father's side and my Aunt Carmen on my mother's side decided to celebrate their birthdays on the same night. Not wanting to miss anything --- We love them both oodles. --- we jumped from one party to the next.

Suffice to say, they were very touched at the effort and my sister and I got to eat unhealthily enormous amounts of food. I think I ate about four full plates of food and drowned everything in a hot cup of tea. I will not be eating that much again in a long time.


Sorry for the long post, people. I will attempt to write shorter and more regularly since exams are over. See you next time!



My head feels like its brain has been pureed in a food processor, my shoulders and arms hurt like I've been lifting weights, and my hands have red abrasion marks on them and can barely move. It's a very strange sensation.

I wonder if this is how a normal Chemical Engineering student is supposed to feel like.

Anyway, my soreness and marks come from our Chemical Process Industries lab class (or CPI to us students). We started making virgin coconut oil today (follow the link here to see what that's supposed to be). This involves squeezing out every last drop of coconut milk from a certain kind of coconut and getting oil from it. And I mean every. Last. Drop.

That's why my arms hurt, and I'm sure some of my other groupmates (insert Cookie, Henri, and Joni's names here) feel even worse. Wringing the coconut meat until it's completely dry is both time-consuming and painful.

It was fun though. We were all smiles.




Of course, that was when Henri's camera was trained on us. The rest of the time we were gritting our teeth and exerting a lot of effort. The product will probably be cool in the end though. It always is.

The coconut milk was so creamy and fragrant that I wanted to drink it. But I guess that's the reaction anyone can expect from someone who fills her blog with foodie posts.

My college friends and I went to Jollibee last week for some much-needed relaxation (in other words, lunch). We laughed, ate, talked, ate, joked, ate... OK, I think you get the idea.


It was the last fun thing we actually went for before we settled in for this week's LONGGGGGG EXAMSSSSSSS. Seriously. I've been reading chapter after chapter after chapter (which gives me the pureed brain I mentioned above). I guess the studying has paid off though I technically don't know any of the results yet.

Anyway, my Mom told me an amusing story about my (un)forgettable childhood years. My parents apparently used to leave me in the toy department of a mall when they needed to go grocery shopping. I would play happily in my own world, but when we had to leave, I would just put down all the toys like I'd forgotten about them. Well, one time, I threw an enormous ENORMOUS tantrum over a small plastic telephone in a fire-engine red color. It was just a cheap thing (maybe US$2 or less) but my parents figured I must have wanted it a lot.

So they finally got it. And I used it for years and years --- I still remember it, in fact --- even when it got pretty old. It got to the point that my Dad had to fix it three times because I had snapped the wire that held the telephone together.

I must have been a really frugal child. It explains how cheap I am now, LOL.



Yes, I'm alive. It just so happens that my life outside the internet is getting really busy, and I can't keep up.

Seriously, there are lots of tests coming this week that I have not studied for. There are also some other commitments like work, friends, church, family... In short, I'm busy.

Anyway, I didn't want my blog to die so here I am. Not to mention I ate a lot of food last Saturday that I thought was worth mentioning. :D

First, my Mom and I went to a food show. She wanted me to go to learn things. I just wanted to taste the food.


The food show featured some food brands and machines used in food manufacturing. It was jampacked with people trying out the free food. :D






All in all, the show wasn't bad. They offered some pretty cool seminars on making packaging (I wanted to attend that. :D), food businesses, and whatnot. But it was just. Really. Small.

But I guess it was a local thing. I hear food shows are extremely large and jawdropping in other countries. :)

Moving on quickly because I have only ten minutes to finish this before I get on with my homework / church / life...

That was a nonsensical sentence back there.

Anyway, after the food show, my Mom and I weren't satisfied by the ice cream, cakes, bread, coffee, and other stuff we'd eaten. No, we had to stop by a cool bakery first.


We blame the impulse on all the pretty cakes. They were real works of art. We just had to order one (settled on a Mango Float Cheesecake on the lower row of the display), and then I saw...


MACARONS IN DIFFERENT COLORS! Or flavors, whichever way you look at them. There were mango, ube, strawberry, and pistachio. I got one of everything except the ube since it seemed a little much to eat four different macarons. Who am I kidding, eating three kinds is already too much!

Anyway, it's kind-of funny. I'd heard about macarons and their sweet goodness, and even made a blog design of it once. I'd never tasted it before though. My aunt wasn't really familiar with any good places with macarons in New York (though I know there must be oodles of them), so I came back with not even a taste.

And here they are in my hometown! Funny, yes? :D

Well, what can I say about them... They were good in a strange way. I say strange because I haven't got much of a sweet tooth. I appreciated the texture (crunchy on the outside with filling on the inside), but I don't know if it will ever be my favorite food. I liked the strawberry one best.

Either way, it was great washing them down with steaming mugs of chocolate-flavored coffee. My Mom and I didn't feel that great after the meal though. Too much of everything, maybe? Not to mention my dislike for coffee. I only got a cup that time because I wanted to see what my Mom liked so much about it.

All I can say is I'm sticking to tea next time.

Well, that's not the end of it, folks. Later (about four or five hours with some snacks in between that I don't need to mention), Allison, Daphy, Mom, and I headed for a late Japanese dinner.


We'd been meaning to head out for some Japanese food with Allie for some time. I was already pretty full though --- with everything else mentioned above --- so I didn't order as large a size as I normally would.


I settled for a box of my favorites: some rolls, tempura (or fried shrimp in flour to the rest of us), and Japanese rice. I think there were other extras but this is what I was going for. I was too full to have my favorite raw fish dishes though. Sad, really.

But everything was good. Not extremely good, but just good if you get my meaning. I'm starting to think food only seems to taste great to me when I'm hungry.


It was some pork and rice combination platter that I wouldn't have thought of getting. Not that it was bad --- in fact, I understand it was quite good --- but I always seem to be craving raw fish and seaweed rolls when I'm eating Japanese. But that's just me.

I think this is a pretty long post. Maybe the length will make up for my long absence? I hope I can post more regularly even with school making me run around like an Energizer Bunny. Anyway, I have to go. Bye!

I've heard people say that our childhood dreams are the truest kind since we, as children, don't know the meanings of "can't" and "impossible". Now, I don't know if that's necessarily true but it just entered my mind when I found some of my old sketchbooks yesterday.


I actually remember owning oodles and oodles of sketchbooks a long way back, but apparently threw out most of them while cleaning my room. Oh well, the ones I did keep were nice to look back on.






Seeing some of my old sketches led to going through some old paintings.


Again, I'd thrown away most of the others. I don't regret it though; twenty or so canvases take up a lot of space.

I realized I'd drawn loads of things in my younger years. I remember always scribbling on notebooks and blank pieces of paper. But ever since I got into college, I'd stopped. Not consciously, mind you. But all my paints, colored pencils, and pens were just slowly kept in piles under my study table or given away.

So for the first time in at least three years, I picked up a pencil yesterday. :D My scribbles aren't posted up yet (still working on them, in fact) but expect some of them to show up soon. I just keep thinking about how much fun I had drawing --- they didn't have to be good by the way, just fun --- and I guess I want to get back into it again.

So yes, I've sharpened those colored pencils and dusted off my paints. We'll see what happens next.


Remember that school project I keep talking about? The one that involves going to the lab and making new products every week. I mentioned making virgin coconut oil and ice cream a few posts back. Anyway, we submitted them last Tuesday with storebought-looking packaging. I say storebought-looking since Cookie and I just made them LOL.




I posted an up close and personal version of the virgin coconut oil labels on my DeviantArt account here if you're interested in seeing it. The tea box wasn't all my work though so I decided not to put it up.


We're going to a concert tonight featuring Don Moen with my sister, parents, cousins, uncles, aunts, and a bunch of other people. And no, we are not making up the whole audience though there are a lot of us. :D OK, that was a humorous attempt. Laugh, please.

I have to prepare my stuff before I head over there so bye for now!



Yes, that's me in basketball mode. Feast your eyes on my sweaty, athletic self and be shocked.

That's how most everyone reacted anyway when they heard about it.

It all started with KD (my cousin / adopted little brother) asking me if I wanted to learn how to play. It was just a random question that popped into his head. Since he started getting excited about the idea, I gave him my random answer: yes. Now those who know me know that I have a body that runs (away) at the sight of exercise. Walking is fine (especially if there's something good at the end like the cheesecake KD and I once walked twelve blocks for), and so is the occasional twenty-five laps in a swimming pool. Other than that, I'm just your average lazy bag of potatoes.

But really, how could I refuse? And... it was FUN! I'm nowhere as good as any of the others and have zero chances of getting into basketball for a living --- as if I wanted to --- but there's a certain joy in getting multiple shots in a row. Besides, playing with my cousins is a gas. We're playing again this weekend.

Anyway, we made macaroons in Chemical Process Industries lab last week. I hear this is not a usual thing since we're supposed to be making more chemically-created things like shampoo and ice cream (more about this later). We just couldn't see all our grated coconut from the oil we made go to waste though so...


My artist side appreciated the prettiness and the bright colors of the paper cups. My stomach just appreciated the slightly wet crunch of dessicated coconut with butter and raisins. Mmmm.

This was all Arn2's treat since her birthday had been coming up (then). Here she is with her improvised cake.


It wasn't really supposed to be a cake but a batch of macaroons in cute paper cups lined up. Unfortunately, we put too much batter and the macaroons rose and rose and ROSE until they stuck together like so.

We like to think they knew it was her birthday so they did it just for her.

Anyway, our teacher seemed to like the idea of making food from extra materials, so in lab today, a bunch of extra egg whites turned into an omelet with tomatoes and spring onions. People are starting to say that our class is taking the C out of ChE (short for Chemical Engineering) and turning it into Home Economics. Ha. Ha. Ha. OK, this is where you laugh at the attempt at a joke.

By the way, this is all in chronological order you understand. So many things happened during the last week (a.k.a. the exam week I didn't blog) that I'm trying to cram all the good bits into this post.

Last Sunday's breakfast bears mentioning. If nothing else, because I have photos of what I ate. :D


It was good. Light fluffy eggs, lighter and fluffier pancakes, crunchy bacon... You get the idea. And I finished it too!

Eating copious amounts does not mean I get to waste whatever's on my plate. Leftover food would look pretty lonely anyway. All alone on a large white plate. Better in my stomach with the other food. They can party.

We made ice cream in school this week! It was cool, sure, but it was also tiring. We spent almost six hours straight in the lab making the thing. We also had a really major exam after our free time so most of the day was spent studying, mixing, studying, mixing... We moved to Joni's house when the lab closed since we weren't finished yet. Except for Henri though, which is why she is not in this picture.


Oh, and guess what! Remember that blog design I submitted for a photography contest held by friends? (If you don't know what I'm talking about, I forgive you since I mentioned it about a month ago. It's mentioned here.) Anyway, it won first place! I didn't know they were planning to give prizes out (simple ones, you understand since no one donated any money for the competition), and told them they didn't have to send it. Apparently, they still did.


I got a postcard a new sock for my phone in a cute girly color. It's a nice memento from my internet friends. :)

This is getting pretty long so I'll just end with the parties I attended last night. Anyway, my cousin Ken on my father's side and my Aunt Carmen on my mother's side decided to celebrate their birthdays on the same night. Not wanting to miss anything --- We love them both oodles. --- we jumped from one party to the next.

Suffice to say, they were very touched at the effort and my sister and I got to eat unhealthily enormous amounts of food. I think I ate about four full plates of food and drowned everything in a hot cup of tea. I will not be eating that much again in a long time.


Sorry for the long post, people. I will attempt to write shorter and more regularly since exams are over. See you next time!



My head feels like its brain has been pureed in a food processor, my shoulders and arms hurt like I've been lifting weights, and my hands have red abrasion marks on them and can barely move. It's a very strange sensation.

I wonder if this is how a normal Chemical Engineering student is supposed to feel like.

Anyway, my soreness and marks come from our Chemical Process Industries lab class (or CPI to us students). We started making virgin coconut oil today (follow the link here to see what that's supposed to be). This involves squeezing out every last drop of coconut milk from a certain kind of coconut and getting oil from it. And I mean every. Last. Drop.

That's why my arms hurt, and I'm sure some of my other groupmates (insert Cookie, Henri, and Joni's names here) feel even worse. Wringing the coconut meat until it's completely dry is both time-consuming and painful.

It was fun though. We were all smiles.




Of course, that was when Henri's camera was trained on us. The rest of the time we were gritting our teeth and exerting a lot of effort. The product will probably be cool in the end though. It always is.

The coconut milk was so creamy and fragrant that I wanted to drink it. But I guess that's the reaction anyone can expect from someone who fills her blog with foodie posts.

My college friends and I went to Jollibee last week for some much-needed relaxation (in other words, lunch). We laughed, ate, talked, ate, joked, ate... OK, I think you get the idea.


It was the last fun thing we actually went for before we settled in for this week's LONGGGGGG EXAMSSSSSSS. Seriously. I've been reading chapter after chapter after chapter (which gives me the pureed brain I mentioned above). I guess the studying has paid off though I technically don't know any of the results yet.

Anyway, my Mom told me an amusing story about my (un)forgettable childhood years. My parents apparently used to leave me in the toy department of a mall when they needed to go grocery shopping. I would play happily in my own world, but when we had to leave, I would just put down all the toys like I'd forgotten about them. Well, one time, I threw an enormous ENORMOUS tantrum over a small plastic telephone in a fire-engine red color. It was just a cheap thing (maybe US$2 or less) but my parents figured I must have wanted it a lot.

So they finally got it. And I used it for years and years --- I still remember it, in fact --- even when it got pretty old. It got to the point that my Dad had to fix it three times because I had snapped the wire that held the telephone together.

I must have been a really frugal child. It explains how cheap I am now, LOL.



Yes, I'm alive. It just so happens that my life outside the internet is getting really busy, and I can't keep up.

Seriously, there are lots of tests coming this week that I have not studied for. There are also some other commitments like work, friends, church, family... In short, I'm busy.

Anyway, I didn't want my blog to die so here I am. Not to mention I ate a lot of food last Saturday that I thought was worth mentioning. :D

First, my Mom and I went to a food show. She wanted me to go to learn things. I just wanted to taste the food.


The food show featured some food brands and machines used in food manufacturing. It was jampacked with people trying out the free food. :D






All in all, the show wasn't bad. They offered some pretty cool seminars on making packaging (I wanted to attend that. :D), food businesses, and whatnot. But it was just. Really. Small.

But I guess it was a local thing. I hear food shows are extremely large and jawdropping in other countries. :)

Moving on quickly because I have only ten minutes to finish this before I get on with my homework / church / life...

That was a nonsensical sentence back there.

Anyway, after the food show, my Mom and I weren't satisfied by the ice cream, cakes, bread, coffee, and other stuff we'd eaten. No, we had to stop by a cool bakery first.


We blame the impulse on all the pretty cakes. They were real works of art. We just had to order one (settled on a Mango Float Cheesecake on the lower row of the display), and then I saw...


MACARONS IN DIFFERENT COLORS! Or flavors, whichever way you look at them. There were mango, ube, strawberry, and pistachio. I got one of everything except the ube since it seemed a little much to eat four different macarons. Who am I kidding, eating three kinds is already too much!

Anyway, it's kind-of funny. I'd heard about macarons and their sweet goodness, and even made a blog design of it once. I'd never tasted it before though. My aunt wasn't really familiar with any good places with macarons in New York (though I know there must be oodles of them), so I came back with not even a taste.

And here they are in my hometown! Funny, yes? :D

Well, what can I say about them... They were good in a strange way. I say strange because I haven't got much of a sweet tooth. I appreciated the texture (crunchy on the outside with filling on the inside), but I don't know if it will ever be my favorite food. I liked the strawberry one best.

Either way, it was great washing them down with steaming mugs of chocolate-flavored coffee. My Mom and I didn't feel that great after the meal though. Too much of everything, maybe? Not to mention my dislike for coffee. I only got a cup that time because I wanted to see what my Mom liked so much about it.

All I can say is I'm sticking to tea next time.

Well, that's not the end of it, folks. Later (about four or five hours with some snacks in between that I don't need to mention), Allison, Daphy, Mom, and I headed for a late Japanese dinner.


We'd been meaning to head out for some Japanese food with Allie for some time. I was already pretty full though --- with everything else mentioned above --- so I didn't order as large a size as I normally would.


I settled for a box of my favorites: some rolls, tempura (or fried shrimp in flour to the rest of us), and Japanese rice. I think there were other extras but this is what I was going for. I was too full to have my favorite raw fish dishes though. Sad, really.

But everything was good. Not extremely good, but just good if you get my meaning. I'm starting to think food only seems to taste great to me when I'm hungry.


It was some pork and rice combination platter that I wouldn't have thought of getting. Not that it was bad --- in fact, I understand it was quite good --- but I always seem to be craving raw fish and seaweed rolls when I'm eating Japanese. But that's just me.

I think this is a pretty long post. Maybe the length will make up for my long absence? I hope I can post more regularly even with school making me run around like an Energizer Bunny. Anyway, I have to go. Bye!