I'm Alive?

Barely... hardly even breathing - and I mean that in a literal sense. My asthma's kicking again, just in time for all the deadlines I have to meet by this week as well as the badminton and soccer-baseball tryouts I was thinking of joining. It's as if my body is working against me, and not letting me get anything done. Well, procrastination also plays a major role (where the deadlines are concerned), but the tryouts are a loss. Better luck next year?
I've also noted that the state of my blog is a rather shameful disaster. I haven't written on it in more than a year now. Where does the time fly? Not into my hands, that's for sure.
A lot of things have happened to me in the past year: for example, investing in a business venture that my partners-in-crime and I worked our asses off for, which started out well for a while, then ended up in one of the biggest disappointments in my entire life. I will not be going into details as the thought of it just simply infuriates me. And they said there was no leaving anyone behind. Looks like the dudes at the top forgot all the little people and made off without even a look back.
Oh well, off to the better parts.
Last October, I graduated from the DCS course in Informatics-SM, majoring in both Multimedia and Programming, and garnering a Distinction (highest award?) for both majors. I applied for a part-time position at the same school some months later, and was hired as a part-time instructor by May.
At about the same time I started working, I enrolled myself at St. Theresa's College, where I am currently studying Mass Communications. Ironic, isn't it? I'm both teacher and student. It's not as easy as it seems, especially since I'm taking 29 units, with a fully-booked weekday schedule, and have been teaching two classes at a time, with a fully-booked weekend schedule.
Lastly, last August (at about the same time I stopped updating my blog), I met (thanks to Jessun) one of the weirdest, craziest, most unorthodox people in the world - my boyfriend, Oswald (Ossie as his friends call him). He's been with me through the ups and downs of the past year and has been able to tolerate me at my worst. He is one of my best friends, and the one who sheds the light of optimism in my, otherwise, critically pessimistic state of mind. There's also never a dull moment with him; he's outgoing and is always cracking jokes (sometimes a little too cheesy for my taste), and he never fails to make me smile (unless, of course, if I try really, really hard). We're really quite different, but also quite the same. It's confusing, so don't ask.
Anyway, we'll be celebrating our 10th monthsary on September, something to look forward to after all the pressures of work and school. I am particularly dreading Sunday afternoon, since I've a rendezvous with a rather demanding student, who likes the substitute teacher more than he does me... Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he's gay. This is my 5th class, and I've received no complaints from my other students prior to him. I don't know...
Oh well, that's life, I guess...

[Part Two] Operation: PARTAY!

Jiebie's party started slow, and by the time we were all settled down on our seats, I was so hungry even the roses on the table were starting to look good. I could have eaten a petal or two - on a dare - had they not, moments later, finally announced that dinner was officially served. The food was delicious! I can't remember what I ate, though, except for the lechon. Just that I enjoyed it quite a lot.
Setting the food aside...
A couple of late arrivals, Toru and Joseph, also decided to grace us with their presence in the middle of the meal. They made quite an entrance, if I do say so myself.
And it also took a while before the debutante was introduced and finally showed up, but when she did - boy! - were we surprised! She was splendid in pink - elegant and almost doll-like because of her small, slender stature. Finally, the youngest among the gang was now 18 years old. Our baby was now a lady!
Woohoo! I'm so happy I could cry! Actually, no. I couldn't. What am I? A sap? I'm just plain happy!

Anyway, as in any cotillion, the 18 roses, 18 candles and 18 treasures were all lined up to share in the debutante's limelight to, well, humiliate themselves mostly. Haha! I was one of the treasures, and I gave Jiebie a really pretty - and shiny - crystal globe paperweight - hope you liked it, Jieb! I can't remember what I said about the darn thing, though. I was practically blabbing, the nervous wreck that I was. But that didn't matter.
While everyone was making their speeches, I had some dessert. And while the rest of the meal is a blur to me, I do remember the dessert. Cupcakes, butterscotch and some salad. I remember Dyne was scooping all of the coconut in her salad and dumping them into my cup. She said she didn't like coconuts, but who was I to complain? I love coconuts! And the salad was delightful! My stomache, however, chose that particular time of the evening to raise a petition against my eating any more. So I gave the rest of my salad to Jessun, hoping that he could leave some for me when I had settled my stomache down. Guess what? He ate it all!!! The nerve!
The real party started later in the evening, when the formalities had been done and dealt with. Everyone was dancing and popping the balloons, and just basically having fun. I had my eye on the really huge birthday cake, but decided to wait for a better time to gourge on more sweets.
After the party, we all settled back into our rooms, and had already had a change of clothes before the guys joined us. We chilled in the room for a while, talking about a number of semi-nonsensical stuff. I went outside some time later to thaw myself. Unlike, the air-condition in the guys' room, ours was working just fine. I was also hoping to give the karaoke a shot, but other people were still using it, so guess I had to wait. I passed the time by playing cards with Joseph and Rj, who taught me how to play tong-its. We were only able to play a couple of times, however, before someone told us that the karaoke was now free for our use. Oh, happy day!
Jiebie's father had also prepared for us 200 pesos-worth of 5-peso coins - thank you, Jiebie's dad! Once again, I can't complain.
Let me also just take this moment to say that I - truly and sincerely - feel sorry for all the people who'd had to endure my off-tune singing that night. Fortunately, there were only a few people left - fortunately for those who had already left! Haha!
Joseph sang, too! It was the first time I'd heard him sing, which was a real shock to me. Go, twin! Oh, did I forget to mention? We're twins. Well, not that we look alike. We don't. At all. I can't remember how we became twins, just that it happened. No, questions asked.
Viel sang, too. So did Genevieve, Toru, Rj, Coyoca, Leah, Arianne, and I think a couple of other people who I can't remember. Sorry. We were all at it till 2 o'clock in the morning, singing, eating cake and drinking some sprite to wash it all down. I was enjoying myself immensely, despite the fact that Rj hogged most of the songs. The last song the four of us, Leah, Coyoca, Rj and I sang together was that song that had something to do with an "itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny yellow polka-dot bikini". The title eludes me.
After that, we joined the others where they were hanging out beneath a tree talking about love, I think. I didn't quite stick around to find out, as I had accompanied Dyne, Toru, Leah and Capacite to enjoy a quiet moment by the shore. Arianne joined us later, which was about the time we saw something unusual in the sky. At first we thought it was a star. But it couldn't have been one, since it was moving in a rhythmic pattern that was, well, not at all star-like. Cap then suggested that it was a satellite. Then someone mentioned UFO's, followed by a hushed debate. Curiosity then turned into panic. Leah screamed. And it was every man for himself, as everyone raced their way uphill, running for their lives. Capacite was the first to reach the top, dragging Arianne with him in some attempt to "rescue" her, leaving their "children" to fend for themselves. They left me at the shore, staring after them, a little befuddled and amused. It was hilarious!
We later reunited with the others, who were still sharing stories beneath the tree. We then related our recent "encounter" at the shore, and the focus was then turned towards horror stories. Frank was doing most of the storytelling.
A handful of people got scared and suggested that we all return to the room. We did, but when we got there, the scary stories continued. Then Frank started to tear up, followed, by Chot2x, Rj and Norman. They didn't cry, actually. Tears just started to flow from their eyes for no apparent reason. Chot2x was practically bawling beside me. That was when the guys decided to return to their room for a bit of sleep.

This is us at 5 in the morning.

Us girls also thought about sleeping; but a topic suddenly came up, and we ended up staying up and talking about it till 5am. Some of us went out for a walk some time later. Viel had already woken up, and joined us. We waited for sunrise at a hut surrounded by mangroves and the rising waters of the sea. It offered us a splendid view. After that, the others returned to the room to get some shut eye. Marianne, Viel and I decided to stay awake, helping some of the workers collect the empty bottles lying around for a bit, and just chilled outside the rooms. We went in when it started to drizzle, and fell asleep against our wishes. It was already 7am.
Jessun then barged in the room half an hour later, telling us all to have breakfast.
After all the food I had eaten the day before, I really wasn't sure there was room for any more. Apparently, though, there was. I had more lechon, more cake and more sprite. Good grief, I was a pig!
I'm not usually amiable in the mornings, but the good food had calmed me down a bit. Also I was excited about going to the beach. Woohoo!

[Part One] Destination: TUBURAN

Two Saturdays ago from today, on July 22, 2006, at approximately 8:00 in the morning, I arrived at the USC-TC exit to rendezvous with my former blockmates from BS-Architecture for a venture that was to celebrate the coming-of-age of a dear, dear friend, Jiebie Undag. Destination - Tuburan!
Not to my surprise, I was the first to arrive (mostly because - having woken up in a fit of coughing at 4 in the morning - I dragged my parents out of bed early to take me to the rendezvous point before they could find out I was sick and change their minds about my going). The V-hire was already there, so all I had to do was wait for the rest. Chot2x and Norman, both having skipped breakfast, were the next to arrive; and unfortunately for me, it was to be my "honor" to escourt them to a cafeteria just down the road. Luckily, Chot2x found it in his heart to buy me a snack along the way - thanks, Chot! - so it wasn't that much a waste of time. When we got back to the exit, everyone else was already there, and I cannot begin to describe how good it was to see all of them again.
I always, always look forward to an outing with the gang (even though there are times when I feel a little out of place; but that's beside the point).
The V-hire was packed, and all of us were squeezed in like sardines, with our luggage - not to mention miscellaneous other pieces of cargo - occupying what little breathing space was left. To my misfortune, Norman had me settled at a corner in the last row, which did little to alleviate my excitement for the trip and a lot to stir up my claustrophobic tendencies. And we were off!
The ride wasn't so bad at first, but when we arrived at the mountains, all the horrors that Claustrophobia could throw at me, it threw at me. One of the things that kept me from puking my guts out all over the van, however, aside from the cooling fresh mountain air - thank goodness for the window seat! - was the fact that I was having way too much fun and was enjoying everyone's company and the usual friendly banter that I was accustomed to when I'm with these guys. Rj's singing was also a little distracting; and the view from the mountainside was absolutely breathtaking! As a matter of fact, the ride wasn't so bad at all.

After 2 hours of travel, we finally arrived at Jiebie's home - at last! air! - where the birthday girl and her family greeted us with a warm welcome. We were later introduced to Jiebie's siblings, the youngest of which shared my name and - heaven only knows why - my anti-social tendencies. Whenever someone she didn't know tried to approach her, she would hide behind and stick to Jiebie like a relentless little gecko and was very close to bawling her eyes out. She was absolutely adorable.
On a side note, someone brought a copy of "High School Musical", which we were all forced to watch. I helped myself to a couple of cupcakes and some chocolate crinkles Jiebie was serving whilst I endured having to watch that brain-draining excuse for a movie - no offense to Genevieve, who I just found out was the one who brought it. By lunch time, I was full and, still a little nauseated from the trip, had to skip the the scrumptious meal that everyone else had enjoyed - oh! the shrimp!

At the beach.

When everyone had had their lunch, we were later taken to the beach - at long last! - only to find out that low tide had settled in. The only upside of this was that we didn't get to finish watching "High School Musical" - oh, happy day! With the sea being relatively unavailable to us, most of us decided to stay at the shore, where two hammocks had been prepared. Most of us were singing songs to the guitar, some were playing cards, while others were keeping Jiebie's siblings company. The havoc we caused! Fortunately, we had the beach all to ourselves.
Mark, Frank and Rj also decided to later go for a swim, which might have been a bad decision since Frank came back to shore with four sea urchin thorns dug deeply into his foot. He ended up going about, asking whether anybody would want to piss on it. Nobody did, of course. Or wanted to, for that matter. So he had to settle for having to dig the thorns out with a knife. Or was it a blade? Anyway, something with a point and a sharp edge. When that didn't work, he decided to leave them be; and - jumping up and down on his injured foot - announced that it didn't even hurt anyway. His affinity towards masochism might have somehow paid off.
Other than that, it was a peaceful afternoon, which we spent stuffing our faces with the Undags' homebaked pastries and snacks, downing them all with some sprite, C2 and juice.
Later in the afternoon, we headed off to the resort, where we could all prepare for Jeibie's cotillion. Two rooms had been prepared for us: one for the girls and one for the guys. Unfortunately for the guys, we got the better room. The guys' room was dysfunctional, so they told us. They said that the air-condition wasn't working very well, that their shower didn't work, that the faucet only dripped water, that the toilet wouldn't flush and that the drain in the bath didn't do a very good job of draining anything. Some of the guys took a bath in the brackish water in the river - or was it a stream - somewhere downhill (which might have been a good idea, since I heard from Viel the next day that the last person who took a bath in their bathroom had to wade ankle-deep in the bath-water the others had left - ew!).
Us girls didn't have much trouble with our baths. We had to shower in salt water, though, but that was all right.
We were all dressed and ready to - partay! - in no time.

Want Some Wonka Bars

Whoo, boy! Talk about having a fetish.
I finally got my hands on a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory cd and I've been watching it for 3 days in a row now. I'm planning to watch it again tomorrow, too, along with a couple of friends. Then maybe another time later in the evening.
Note to self: This cannot be healthy.
There can only be four reasons why I like this movie, and I shall give myself the liberty of typing it down here just to occupy some space. a) Johnny Depp, b) all the chocolate and candy (oh, the candy!) c) the Oompa Loompa dance numbers (aren't they cute!?) and d) Johnny Depp (okay, this doesn't really count, but I just felt like making an emphasis on his retarded hotness.)
Yes, and with having to watch all that candy, who wouldn't be turning off the TV without craving for even just a single bar of Whipple Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight. Oh, the chocolate!
Unfortunately, a recurring childhood affliction has struck again, and it is imperative that I abstain from any chocolate if I want to get any better. Mother's orders.
Though I really don't know how it's going to matter since it's already been a couple of days and my asthma seems to be getting worse. Sad is the life of the afflicted.
Not to mention the fact that I had to endure travelling along the dust-ridden streets of Cebu via jeepney and clogging my lungs up with an additional number of unwanted elements just to go to school. Yeah.
And just after I arrived back home (via another jeepney), I got so breathless I couldn't even pull aside the iron bar to open the gate OR to call for help, so I had to wait for someone in the house to notice the dogs' barking and open the gate for me. Lucky for me, we HAVE dogs. Nine of them. And... oh, the noise...
I better go sit down on a more comfortable chair. No use lying down. That would only trigger my inablity to breathe. (Is that sentence even grammatically correct?)

Phoenix Down

Okay... Uh... I'm back?
Yah, that's right.
Alive?!
Apparently.
I've been back from Samar since May 8 and have intentionally been ignoring posting in my blog for all this time since I got a little lazy. Okay, that was a lie... I got really, really, REALLY lazy.
Well, Samar is a great place, and I always love my visits there, though I really wish that I could have stayed a little longer. A month would have sufficed...
The first few days weren't as much fun as I had hoped since I was stricken by recurring bouts of migraine and nausea. I spent those days sleeping on the hammock outside in my grandmother's porch. Very comfortable. Mosquito-infested territory, though it was. But that was easily taken care of.
I got to visit my cousins who live at the other side of town. Wah! I miss them terribly! We had a picnic in my aunt's backyard. Guess what was for lunch. No, sorry. Wrong!
We had Tahong (oh, the yumness!)! Guess who did the cooking?
ME!
Whowhathowwhenwhere? I cook?!
Sometimes...
And no one was poisoned?! Gasp!
Nope! Healthy as a peach is me! And I also got to pop some corn.
Say what?
Uh, never mind.
Anyway, me and my other set of cousins went to the beach a couple of times, and it was great! I've some pictures to show off, but I don't think I'll be posting them here.
Hm... what else did I do?
Oh right! There was a couple of days blackout the first week I was there, and my mother's cellphone needed charging, so she sent us to an internet cafe about 15-25minutes walk from the house. Most establishments there run on generators because of the constant blackouts, so that wasn't really much of a problem. But it was already late in the afternoon that we had a chance to go to a cafe, and we had to spend an hour there to wait for the cellphone to charge. By the time we could go home, it was already dark. The moon was out, and because of the brownout, we had to walk all the way back in semi-complete darkness, since the moon was still just slightly less than a halfmoon, and the stars (in that oh so cloudy night) wasn't much help... I was with my brother and three cousins, Chico, Clarice and Chesed. Chico was the oldest, and unlike his two younger sisters, wasn't afraid of the dark. He, along with my brother, found it an opportunity to tease the girls and to frighten them during the walk. Which was unfortunate for me since both girls decided to cling to me on either side which caused me to stumble some of the way. To comfort them, I lead the girls into singing some praise songs all the way home.
On a side note, I love boats.
Yes, and I also love the Phoenix Suns. Which makes me really, really, REALLY happy since they won against the LA Clippers just this morning (127-107) and will be going head-to-head against one of my other favorite teams, the Dallas Mavericks!
Woohoo! This is going to be one match-up!
Go SUNS!!!

Summer Vacation

YES!!! Finally!!! My long-awaited summer vactation!!!
Samar! Here I come!
I'll be staying there for a couple of weeks, Michan... Sorry if I couldn't YM you... My YM has been wonkie... I'll tell you all about it when I get back, k? Love yah! Mwah!

Serenade

Yes!
It's alive! It is... ALIVE!!!
*insert maniacal laugh here* Eh... ehem...
In case you're wondering what it is that I'm babbling about, I'm talking about my own personal site. I call it... SERENADE. Big surprise there, huh?
Finally! After several gruelling days of struggling with css and php - and along with a couple of attempts to wring them by their skinny necks and whip them into dry noodles for a decent batch of rat appendix chow mein - Serenade is finally up!
You must visit!
Linkage: http://embien.shame-less.net