Apologies for how delayed I've been in putting up my next post. I can imagine you, dear Reader, tapping impatiently at your keyboards and getting increasingly madder at how I've forsaken my blog.

Or not. Seriously, you guys have better things to do with your time.

Anyway, where have I been?


This is actually the reason I'm having a bit of trouble posting. I mean, I went through a large part of a continent. Should I be typing a very detailed account that includes what I said & what I ate? Do you even want to know what I said & what I ate?

I also have 2000 photos from the trip, and I'm trying to decide which ones are actually going up on this blog.

In short, I think I won't have anything ready to be posted until Friday or Saturday. Sorry, folks.

Until then, keep doing the things you've been doing while I've been gone. Eat! Sleep! Do things!

It is becoming apparent that I did not leave my silliness & lack of maturity in Europe.

*** EDIT: This post will end up having links to the rest of the Europe series for convenience to the dear Reader. I went to Germany (the Anuga food fair and Köln), Belgium (Brussels), the Netherlands (Amsterdam), Italy (Rome, Venice, Florence, and Pisa), and France (Paris).



I'm on my semestral break: three weeks to recover from all things chemical, and three weeks to do everything else I want to do. Hooray!


It's just on time. I can't handle any more three-to-three-and-a-half-hour exams with five-minute breaks between them to eat lunch. I'm also tired of hibernating with my schoolbooks.

I think I'm becoming slightly unbalanced because of too little sleep and too much unhealthy food. I mean, I've started to dream about listening to lectures on Thermodynamics & taking my final exams.

But that's over now. On to the fun stuff! What will I do with three weeks?

Plenty.

1) I'll spend more time with God through prayer, reading, & reflection. This is a given. I have all this time. What excuse could I have for not giving some of it back to Him?

2) I'll spend time with my family. We're actually taking a two-week trip tomorrow. I don't think I'm taking my laptop --- We're hopping from one place to another almost every day and a laptop isn't exactly light. --- so my blog will die for two weeks from lack of updates.

I'll make it clearer:

My blog will remain unchanged for the next two weeks. Do not visit looking for something new. Thanks.

I'll resurrect it with photos and stories you don't necessarily want to hear after I get back though, so it's all good.

3) I'll organize all my stuff. That includes clothes in my closet, my study table, and the rest of the furniture in my room that's crying because I piled too many belongings on them. If my stuff were alive, they'd picket me for abuse. I'm also fed up with not being able to find anything. I missed an important class a few days ago because I couldn't find my admission slip!

4) I'll play with my graphics tablet. I'll draw, and draw, and draw, and get better at it. I hope.

5) I'll catch up on my reading. I actually joined a book club before the nightmare that is Finals Week. I'll be speeding through the pages so I can actually join the excerpt discussions again.

6) I'll knit my cousin a little rabbit. It's for her birthday in November.

7) I'll practice my violin. I miss playing it. It's just one of those things I had to put on hold for schoolwork.

Those are the high points. Other things I want to do are mandatory like sleeping eight hours every night & eating regular meals again (No more dinners nuked in the microwave at 11:30 pm!).

I can almost hear some of the feedback on this post. I thought she said this was a break! She's as busy as she ever was. I guess my definition of vacation differs from some people. I've always believed it was a little gift from God so I could do what I couldn't do otherwise. All that time is precious; the last thing I'd do is waste it.

Not that kicking back is a waste of time; it's good in small doses. Either way, I'll be having a lot of fun. See you all in two weeks!



This is one of the words of the week. Rather, it became a word of the week after what happened yesterday.

faux pas
(foupä)
n., pl. a social blunder

"Your exam results will be distributed at 5 pm," our professor comments when he finds us loitering about the hallowed halls of our college department.

But it's 4:00. No one actually says this out loud, of course. Except Arn, one of my extremely good friends.

"You mean we have to wait for you?" Everyone stares at her in horror as she proceeds to mentally kick herself.

Our long-suffering teacher shoots her a glance as he passes by.

"Why not?" And he's out of earshot, leaving a bunch of students going I can't believe you said that!

Live and learn, dear Reader.

Another word of the week is graphics tablet.


A graphics tablet is a device you connect to your computer that gets what you draw by hand onto the computer screen. Immediately. Wikipedia will give you a better idea on its superpowers than I ever could.

I first used this when a friend lent me hers for a time-consuming project. After it cut down on the time I took to draw said project by more than half, I started researching brands, prices, and tons of feedback on the internet. I liked the Wacom model best, and had some money saved up. Suffice to say, I got one.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not someone who buys on impulse. Most of the time, I won't even buy what I wanted in the first place. But when I've thought it through --- Will I actually use this? Why do I want it? Is this the best deal? --- and gotten a positive answer on all counts, I don't mind shelling what I've saved up.

It's going to be really useful with my side jobs and drawing projects for school this week.



This post is subtitled "Or A Short Post To Tide My Blog Over Until My Exams Pass Me By".

Anyway, Oswegan gave me --- drum roll, people --- A Thingie.


Campy X-Files-like music starts to play as I blink at it a few times & wonder what The Thingie is supposed to be.

Is it a button you clickety-click to get to a happy land with kittens & puppies romping over fields of wheat? A giant red splat that will splatter its little red splat babies onto my blog?

Well, no. It's a really cool award for reaching a certain standard in the blogging world. I cannot believe I had to use Google to find out what it was supposed to be. I'm quite behind on the times.

So, thanks, Oswegan!

And thanks to everyone else who reads my blog despite its (occasional?) silliness!



On one of my few study breaks, my Mom and sister pulled me from my schoolbooks and projects for some dinner in the real world. I had an enormous headache but went along willingly. This is food we're talking about, after all.


We ended up in an interesting bakery that my Mom explained had real food. Not that I'm saying a heap of pastries could not count for dinner; it's just that we were hungrier than that.

I wasn't up to picking anything because of said headache and my propensity for picking things on the menu that are not in stock. (Seriously, I once ordered three meals to be told they didn't have them at the moment. When I asked what else they had, they said everything else but what I ordered. I'm the kind of person who gets the bent fork or goes into an empty bathroom and chooses the one cubicle with a destroyed lock. OK, so back to the topic.) Or maybe I was just lazy. Either way, their set menu looked good to me.

I attempted to order a ginger ale that was not in stock, and ended up with settled rootbeer and free bread. I also got a look around.

The place was lined with bread and wines of different vintages. The decor wasn't bad, sort of garden patio meets art museum.


Then my leek soup arrived.


I don't think the camera makes it look very good. Actually, I'm not sure it even looked good in real life since my Mom gave it a dirty look. But it tasted great: warm broth that left a little zing in my mouth. Leek is also one of my favorite vegetables while my dirty-look-giving Mother hates it.

My Mom and sister oohed and aahed over their soups so I guess all their soups must have the same quality.

I continued with a salad of lettuce, green beans, red beets, pork, & horseradish dressing. Yes, you've caught me reading off the menu again.


It was interesting. I loved how everything melded well though I think that's the general idea. Maybe they just taste better together because they're all partying in my mouth. Did I just say that?

Pityful description, but I'm not a great fan of salads. I'll eat them, of course, but they're not my favorite food. I like the main course more.


And the main course was wonderful. I dug into the beef tenderloin in red wine. The red cabbage was slightly sour yet sweet, while the cheese --- is this an irreverent observation? --- actually reminded me of Macaroni & Cheese. Again, they all went so well together.

"What's that yellow thing?" my Mom asked.

"Cheese. It's nice." I didn't bother to look up since the only other yellow thing on my plate was butter.

"No, I mean that yellow thing." My Mom pointed at the cheese.

"Cheese. It's nice." There was a pause while my Mother thought about this and I ate a bit more.

"OK," she said.

This was about the time I started to get full. I don't know if anyone else gets this but I've always had a clock of some sort in my stomach. It rings when I'm filled up, rather like the first click when you fill up your car with gas.

Anyway, my stomach rang. I could not accept this. I was only half-way through the main course! There was still dessert! My stomach was betraying me!

The other members of my family were also getting rather lethargic.


Did I mention they ate much less than I did?

I soldiered on manfully (or womanfully if we're getting technical about it). I mean, I don't often eat this much anyway. I usually have a plate with rice and some form of meat/vegetables and a glass of water without ceremony. That's the outline of my five-minute meals.

So, on to dessert!


All I can say is wow. Wow, I like the picture. You can see my Mom and sister sleepily talking in the slightly blurred background.

Oh, and the cake wasn't bad either. It didn't seem as good as the rest of my meal but don't take my word on it. I don't like cakes so it takes a lot for me to give one good marks. The little chocolate shavings were delicious though. The only thing I had against it was the sourness of the yellow plums. Well, they probably weren't fresh anyway.

So with our tummies happily full --- OK, a little too full. I think they were all crying. --- & the bill paid, we went home so that I could continue putting my nose to the grindstone. It was a good meal out; I haven't done anything like that with my family in quite a while. Not to mention studying a lot also means I occasionally forget to eat.

Goodbye then! :D



And Wednesdays, in general.

But it's been a bit busy lately. And it will continue to be so until this nightmare ends with the semestral break two weeks from now. I can't wait.

Until then, this is how my weekly planner's going to look like.


Don't worry if you can't read my handwriting; most people can't. Basically, my weeks are generally filled with reminders, prayers, comforting Bible verses, and comments on how I've spent my time ("Aah! Overslept!" and "Yummy lunch!" for instance).

Anyway, I'm getting a little nervous. I have a Powerpoint presentation to do, a Flash presentation to make (which will be interesting since I know next to nothing about Flash), about six written reports, five commercials to do, candles and floor wax to make, exams, reading assignments, soap, detergent, and shampoo to finish up with packaging labels and stuff. At least, I think that's it. For this week.

If you stopped reading in the beginning of the last paragraph, I forgive you wholeheartedly. It scares me too.

I did get a lot of help from a song I heard yesterday. It goes:

There will be times
When I'm frightened
Times when I'm amazed
Where You're creating miracle moments,
I'll need a heart that's full of faith.

(More of the lyrics can be found here.)

All the stuff I have to do, and how overwhelmed I'm feeling right now are setting the stage for miracle moments. I just need faith and the drive to do my best. And somehow, I'll pull through with good grades. I'm praying hard.

Oh. For those who wondered how my sudden trip went, it was good.


I did get to class a little late, but it didn't signify since I finished the exam in record time. Now if only I got the answers right...

Well, class starts in a half hour, and I have to run. Or drive if you want to get technical.

I'll be keeping my blog updated though I may miss my original blogging schedule by a day or so. This may also mean replying to any comments will take a bit longer. Either way, cheers, everyone!

Apologies for how delayed I've been in putting up my next post. I can imagine you, dear Reader, tapping impatiently at your keyboards and getting increasingly madder at how I've forsaken my blog.

Or not. Seriously, you guys have better things to do with your time.

Anyway, where have I been?


This is actually the reason I'm having a bit of trouble posting. I mean, I went through a large part of a continent. Should I be typing a very detailed account that includes what I said & what I ate? Do you even want to know what I said & what I ate?

I also have 2000 photos from the trip, and I'm trying to decide which ones are actually going up on this blog.

In short, I think I won't have anything ready to be posted until Friday or Saturday. Sorry, folks.

Until then, keep doing the things you've been doing while I've been gone. Eat! Sleep! Do things!

It is becoming apparent that I did not leave my silliness & lack of maturity in Europe.

*** EDIT: This post will end up having links to the rest of the Europe series for convenience to the dear Reader. I went to Germany (the Anuga food fair and Köln), Belgium (Brussels), the Netherlands (Amsterdam), Italy (Rome, Venice, Florence, and Pisa), and France (Paris).



I'm on my semestral break: three weeks to recover from all things chemical, and three weeks to do everything else I want to do. Hooray!


It's just on time. I can't handle any more three-to-three-and-a-half-hour exams with five-minute breaks between them to eat lunch. I'm also tired of hibernating with my schoolbooks.

I think I'm becoming slightly unbalanced because of too little sleep and too much unhealthy food. I mean, I've started to dream about listening to lectures on Thermodynamics & taking my final exams.

But that's over now. On to the fun stuff! What will I do with three weeks?

Plenty.

1) I'll spend more time with God through prayer, reading, & reflection. This is a given. I have all this time. What excuse could I have for not giving some of it back to Him?

2) I'll spend time with my family. We're actually taking a two-week trip tomorrow. I don't think I'm taking my laptop --- We're hopping from one place to another almost every day and a laptop isn't exactly light. --- so my blog will die for two weeks from lack of updates.

I'll make it clearer:

My blog will remain unchanged for the next two weeks. Do not visit looking for something new. Thanks.

I'll resurrect it with photos and stories you don't necessarily want to hear after I get back though, so it's all good.

3) I'll organize all my stuff. That includes clothes in my closet, my study table, and the rest of the furniture in my room that's crying because I piled too many belongings on them. If my stuff were alive, they'd picket me for abuse. I'm also fed up with not being able to find anything. I missed an important class a few days ago because I couldn't find my admission slip!

4) I'll play with my graphics tablet. I'll draw, and draw, and draw, and get better at it. I hope.

5) I'll catch up on my reading. I actually joined a book club before the nightmare that is Finals Week. I'll be speeding through the pages so I can actually join the excerpt discussions again.

6) I'll knit my cousin a little rabbit. It's for her birthday in November.

7) I'll practice my violin. I miss playing it. It's just one of those things I had to put on hold for schoolwork.

Those are the high points. Other things I want to do are mandatory like sleeping eight hours every night & eating regular meals again (No more dinners nuked in the microwave at 11:30 pm!).

I can almost hear some of the feedback on this post. I thought she said this was a break! She's as busy as she ever was. I guess my definition of vacation differs from some people. I've always believed it was a little gift from God so I could do what I couldn't do otherwise. All that time is precious; the last thing I'd do is waste it.

Not that kicking back is a waste of time; it's good in small doses. Either way, I'll be having a lot of fun. See you all in two weeks!



This is one of the words of the week. Rather, it became a word of the week after what happened yesterday.

faux pas
(foupä)
n., pl. a social blunder

"Your exam results will be distributed at 5 pm," our professor comments when he finds us loitering about the hallowed halls of our college department.

But it's 4:00. No one actually says this out loud, of course. Except Arn, one of my extremely good friends.

"You mean we have to wait for you?" Everyone stares at her in horror as she proceeds to mentally kick herself.

Our long-suffering teacher shoots her a glance as he passes by.

"Why not?" And he's out of earshot, leaving a bunch of students going I can't believe you said that!

Live and learn, dear Reader.

Another word of the week is graphics tablet.


A graphics tablet is a device you connect to your computer that gets what you draw by hand onto the computer screen. Immediately. Wikipedia will give you a better idea on its superpowers than I ever could.

I first used this when a friend lent me hers for a time-consuming project. After it cut down on the time I took to draw said project by more than half, I started researching brands, prices, and tons of feedback on the internet. I liked the Wacom model best, and had some money saved up. Suffice to say, I got one.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not someone who buys on impulse. Most of the time, I won't even buy what I wanted in the first place. But when I've thought it through --- Will I actually use this? Why do I want it? Is this the best deal? --- and gotten a positive answer on all counts, I don't mind shelling what I've saved up.

It's going to be really useful with my side jobs and drawing projects for school this week.



This post is subtitled "Or A Short Post To Tide My Blog Over Until My Exams Pass Me By".

Anyway, Oswegan gave me --- drum roll, people --- A Thingie.


Campy X-Files-like music starts to play as I blink at it a few times & wonder what The Thingie is supposed to be.

Is it a button you clickety-click to get to a happy land with kittens & puppies romping over fields of wheat? A giant red splat that will splatter its little red splat babies onto my blog?

Well, no. It's a really cool award for reaching a certain standard in the blogging world. I cannot believe I had to use Google to find out what it was supposed to be. I'm quite behind on the times.

So, thanks, Oswegan!

And thanks to everyone else who reads my blog despite its (occasional?) silliness!



On one of my few study breaks, my Mom and sister pulled me from my schoolbooks and projects for some dinner in the real world. I had an enormous headache but went along willingly. This is food we're talking about, after all.


We ended up in an interesting bakery that my Mom explained had real food. Not that I'm saying a heap of pastries could not count for dinner; it's just that we were hungrier than that.

I wasn't up to picking anything because of said headache and my propensity for picking things on the menu that are not in stock. (Seriously, I once ordered three meals to be told they didn't have them at the moment. When I asked what else they had, they said everything else but what I ordered. I'm the kind of person who gets the bent fork or goes into an empty bathroom and chooses the one cubicle with a destroyed lock. OK, so back to the topic.) Or maybe I was just lazy. Either way, their set menu looked good to me.

I attempted to order a ginger ale that was not in stock, and ended up with settled rootbeer and free bread. I also got a look around.

The place was lined with bread and wines of different vintages. The decor wasn't bad, sort of garden patio meets art museum.


Then my leek soup arrived.


I don't think the camera makes it look very good. Actually, I'm not sure it even looked good in real life since my Mom gave it a dirty look. But it tasted great: warm broth that left a little zing in my mouth. Leek is also one of my favorite vegetables while my dirty-look-giving Mother hates it.

My Mom and sister oohed and aahed over their soups so I guess all their soups must have the same quality.

I continued with a salad of lettuce, green beans, red beets, pork, & horseradish dressing. Yes, you've caught me reading off the menu again.


It was interesting. I loved how everything melded well though I think that's the general idea. Maybe they just taste better together because they're all partying in my mouth. Did I just say that?

Pityful description, but I'm not a great fan of salads. I'll eat them, of course, but they're not my favorite food. I like the main course more.


And the main course was wonderful. I dug into the beef tenderloin in red wine. The red cabbage was slightly sour yet sweet, while the cheese --- is this an irreverent observation? --- actually reminded me of Macaroni & Cheese. Again, they all went so well together.

"What's that yellow thing?" my Mom asked.

"Cheese. It's nice." I didn't bother to look up since the only other yellow thing on my plate was butter.

"No, I mean that yellow thing." My Mom pointed at the cheese.

"Cheese. It's nice." There was a pause while my Mother thought about this and I ate a bit more.

"OK," she said.

This was about the time I started to get full. I don't know if anyone else gets this but I've always had a clock of some sort in my stomach. It rings when I'm filled up, rather like the first click when you fill up your car with gas.

Anyway, my stomach rang. I could not accept this. I was only half-way through the main course! There was still dessert! My stomach was betraying me!

The other members of my family were also getting rather lethargic.


Did I mention they ate much less than I did?

I soldiered on manfully (or womanfully if we're getting technical about it). I mean, I don't often eat this much anyway. I usually have a plate with rice and some form of meat/vegetables and a glass of water without ceremony. That's the outline of my five-minute meals.

So, on to dessert!


All I can say is wow. Wow, I like the picture. You can see my Mom and sister sleepily talking in the slightly blurred background.

Oh, and the cake wasn't bad either. It didn't seem as good as the rest of my meal but don't take my word on it. I don't like cakes so it takes a lot for me to give one good marks. The little chocolate shavings were delicious though. The only thing I had against it was the sourness of the yellow plums. Well, they probably weren't fresh anyway.

So with our tummies happily full --- OK, a little too full. I think they were all crying. --- & the bill paid, we went home so that I could continue putting my nose to the grindstone. It was a good meal out; I haven't done anything like that with my family in quite a while. Not to mention studying a lot also means I occasionally forget to eat.

Goodbye then! :D



And Wednesdays, in general.

But it's been a bit busy lately. And it will continue to be so until this nightmare ends with the semestral break two weeks from now. I can't wait.

Until then, this is how my weekly planner's going to look like.


Don't worry if you can't read my handwriting; most people can't. Basically, my weeks are generally filled with reminders, prayers, comforting Bible verses, and comments on how I've spent my time ("Aah! Overslept!" and "Yummy lunch!" for instance).

Anyway, I'm getting a little nervous. I have a Powerpoint presentation to do, a Flash presentation to make (which will be interesting since I know next to nothing about Flash), about six written reports, five commercials to do, candles and floor wax to make, exams, reading assignments, soap, detergent, and shampoo to finish up with packaging labels and stuff. At least, I think that's it. For this week.

If you stopped reading in the beginning of the last paragraph, I forgive you wholeheartedly. It scares me too.

I did get a lot of help from a song I heard yesterday. It goes:

There will be times
When I'm frightened
Times when I'm amazed
Where You're creating miracle moments,
I'll need a heart that's full of faith.

(More of the lyrics can be found here.)

All the stuff I have to do, and how overwhelmed I'm feeling right now are setting the stage for miracle moments. I just need faith and the drive to do my best. And somehow, I'll pull through with good grades. I'm praying hard.

Oh. For those who wondered how my sudden trip went, it was good.


I did get to class a little late, but it didn't signify since I finished the exam in record time. Now if only I got the answers right...

Well, class starts in a half hour, and I have to run. Or drive if you want to get technical.

I'll be keeping my blog updated though I may miss my original blogging schedule by a day or so. This may also mean replying to any comments will take a bit longer. Either way, cheers, everyone!