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Belated Christmas Joys [30 Dec 2009|10:39am] Christmas 2009 w text, originally uploaded by kaich. This eCard was accompanied by a short note I wrote, explaining the photo. "Hello my loves, Yes, that is a wedding dress beside our Christmas tree; and no, it's not mine ;p Mary and Joseph became a family when they welcomed Jesus into the world and into their lives -- and we celebrate his birth until today. This year, my eldest sister Kristine and her husband Jimmy will be welcoming the Lord into their lives, and into their marriage, a day after Christmas. Indeed, thousands of years after Jesus' coming, this season still celebrates family. Have a blessed Christmas, a joyous holiday season and a sparkling new year!" * * * * * That said and done, I just came home from the beach with my sister's new in-laws. It was a much anticipated reunion with the sand since my trip to Misibis last May (which is a time that remains bright and glorious in my mind to this day). Palm Beach has a less rocky beach front than La Luz and the water was clear and cool even at high noon. The weather was kind and afforded us the right amount of hot sun and refreshing breezes throughout our stay. The massage I got on our first night there made me drunk with relaxation, and while Ryan was trying to make conversation with me, I drifted in and out of sleep without meaning to. The company was different, as I don't remember the last time I've had so much fun with an extended family. It was, curiously, a relief to have so many Ates and Kuyas, and then so many kids running around making happy laughter -- to be somewhere in between: not responsible for any of the plans, nor for the entertainment of the elders by being asked to sing or dance or do something cute for everyone to applaud. The food was not exceptional but was comforting, and so were their constant intervals. Had it not been for the mealtimes, I would've lost track of the times of day. Unfortunately, even as I was still feeling full from the previous meal, there was something so irresistible about the warm soups, the garlicky rice and many other typical snacks at the buffet spread that I ended up stuffing my face every four hours -- resulting in a bulging tummy and numbers that tip the scale. As a trade off, I am darker and lightly sun-kissed which may make the extra pounds seem negligible. I had brought some study materials to prepare me for my exams on the first week of January, but they were neglected and substituted by Bust-A-Move on Ry's iPhone, Mario Kart on DS (which I have not played in months!) and playtime with Enzo (the precocious son of one of Jimmy's brothers.) In return, I learned about precision, patience, building a sand castle and never lying about my age. Now, with the wedding behind us and with a union of families that will last a lifetime, I am even more excited for 2010 and the years to come. Nothing caps and kicks off a year like family. Knot the Stem

The Mac Diet [17 Nov 2009|10:32am] [ music | Back in the Day - Erykah Badu feat Lenny Kravitz ] There's so much I want to write about, but it's always the shallower thoughts that are easy to jot down first. I'm going on a Mac diet. I need to get back to my ideal weight and tone by December 26, the day of my sister's wedding. If I accomplish it, I will reward myself with a Macbook Pro! It's ON. I also need to catch up on uploading photos on my Multiply. I had a fabulous time in Australia. I also want to edit a video of our tour. There are so many great things coming. I'm so excited for life. Knot the Stem

October is for Trick or Treat! [14 Oct 2009|11:13am] This has always been my favorite month because Halloween meant candiiiiies and costumes and going around the village with friends and neighbors. Now that I'm older, it's still the candies and the costumes that get me really excited (haha), though I haven't gone to the extreme like I used to. I remember that I went around with two, large handbags (the best one was the reversible blue and red Esprit shopping tote) and by the end of the night around the village, both of them would be full to the brim with chocolate, gum, lollipops and jaw-breakers, with an occasional orange and apple thrown in there. I used to take note of the houses that gave Whatchamacallits and 3 Musketeers because they used to be my favorites. Later on, I would compare my loot to that of my sister's or my neighbors' and we sometimes swapped goodies if the other liked them better. I would eat those candies everyday for months (yes) until those that remained were the ones I didn't really like. Obviously, no matter how hoarse I got from shouting "Trick or Treat!" in the past, I very rarely got tricked. Halloween was more about getting treats. This month, Trick or Treat is proving to be more in favor of the former what with Ondoy and Pepeng, the initial postponement of our concert, the pushing back of the sem, the conflicts I have yet to resolve in terms of my finals schedule and the schedule of the consultancy job I took on, and the endless make-up classes we now have to attend just to stay on track. I have a mere week-and-a-half left of this semester, but it feels like such a long and torturous home stretch. I'm trying to stay positive that at the end of it all, I will get my treat because after all, these words would not have been coined together if life left us with no choices. The fact is, I decided to get into all of these: RCS, school, training in Convergys. Sure, had Ondoy not happened, things would have progressed smoothly -- but when does life ever run as we want it to? The fact is, I have little reason to complain. My treat is in knowing that I have been more blessed than others; that I have music, education and a job... talent, intellect and skill. These, no matter how tricky they may get, are my treats greater than 6-months' worth of candy and a night of parading in a spectacular costume. Knot the Stem

Help Others & Enjoy An Inspiring Evening [01 Oct 2009|08:39am] Tickets at P500 (Balcony) and P800 (Orchestra). Proceeds will help in relief and rehabilitation efforts for the flood victims in GK Sitio Pajo, brgy. Baesa, QC. CONTACT: JOHN JOHN TORRES (john2torres@yahoo.com / 0917-819-3004) or ROSE CABRERA (rose1dac@aol.com / 0920-952-7857) 1 Blossom Knot the Stem

Break-breakdowwwwwn [01 Sep 2009|10:26pm] What has been going on, the breakdown. I just answered 18 online tests (with an average of about 15 questions each) to help prepare me for my EnviGeo exam on Friday. Our delinquent professor said he'll be basing his questions on these, and I'm scared now because there were plenty of concepts and terms that we didn't discuss in class. I was confident with what I already knew before taking the tests (based on my perfect score with 3 bonus points from our summative quiz earlier today), but with my cumulative score of 68% on these online quizzes, that only gives me a grade of 2.25. Not good enough. If he does, however, prepare our exam ethically, meaning include only those that were lectured, I'm pretty sure I'm ready. We just had a change of professor in Chem lecture, and this one looks even younger than the last. She looks like a nice girl, possibly someone who is sweet to her friends and typically soft-spoken, but based on the manner in which she introduced herself and discussed the rest of the curriculum with us as she set expectations, she was attempting to put up a front. She sounded screechy, almost manic, possibly in an effort to give the impression that she is in control and cannot be manipulated. I think I saw right through her and the unnatural-ness of it all. She was a nervous wreck. Upon my request, I got her to consider preparing a mock exam in preparation for our second departmental on Saturday. She quickly agreed and scheduled one for this afternoon from 1:00-5:00 pm, and another on Thursday at the same time. However, she gave the condition that we can only see the mock exam if we allow her to grade it (10% of total grade!) which is a smart, risk-calculating move. Now I'm contemplating whether I want to take it or not by asking myself which weighs heavier: my want (or need) to see possible questions, or my fear of having my grade pulled down by a messed up mock. After class, I did doggie errands by buying tick medicine for my loves and then applying it on their backs (between the shoulder blades). Tomorrow, I'll see how effective it is. It's kind of expensive. Due to the changes in schedule (oh yeah, and my SP100 class canceled when I was already in school in uniform), I thought I would be unable to attend an RCS meeting; and I will definitely miss the EggYokes' shoot of the film which I wrote the script of =( My dad's seasonal outburst has just occurred again, not more than 2 months after we had made up from the last time (can I even use "make up" when it entails something mutual?) and I was seriously about to give up and and felt the beginnings of a meltdown yesterday -- but as usual, after some thought (and strength from God) and processing with the help of Ry, I was able to calm down. I should remind myself that people should have no power to inflict sadness upon myself. I should only be grateful that I learn from their mistakes, the mistakes of the situation, that I'm not unreasonable, that I will grow up to be a better person... and these things make being on the brink of a breakdown dissipate and I can sleep at night. 1 Blossom Knot the Stem

We Want, We Make Do [25 Aug 2009|09:37pm] ... because I need a break from making my schematic diagrams, here are two pictures that make me happy. Yesterday's breakfast dog prepared with a Schueblig on a bed of slaw in a bun slathered with Dijon, topped with grated cheddar, pickle relish, and cheesy scrambled eggs. Virtually studying together, black message on white board full of blue notes. Need these. My dogs are sick, it's making me sad. They need prayers, especially Chili who has fainted twice and has been on an IV drip since this afternoon. =( Knot the Stem

Better [25 Aug 2009|02:56pm] I have forgotten how end-of-sems feel like; and even as someone with, purportedly, more experience such as myself, time seems to keep ticking, not waiting, not stopping to see if I'm still in stride. I have one particular subject under a professor that either comes in way too late or doesn't come at all, and he seems to think his absence will be compensated by a mountain of projects and papers that require submission. All his deadlines were vague in the beginning of the semester, but now they are actualizing and their deadlines are spaced out by at least two submissions per week. Being the now dutiful student, I have started each of these projects, but actually completing them is still a daunting task. The projects vary from reasearch papers to creative works like poetry, drawing or song-writing, to a photo-journal documenting the preparation of a 72-hour kit. The value of these projects now weigh as much as a portion of our final exam due to the delay his attendance cost our class. On top of that, the bigger chunk of that final grade will be determined by the the presentation of our group research paper -- the one that I was assigned to defend. His last words at the end of class today were to the effect of, "All your grades will be dependent on the performance of your one groupmate." Anxiety attack. My Chemistry second exam is this Saturday, and before we parted this morning, our professor distributed a problem set. When I looked through it, I couldn't answer a single one. Due Friday, no comprehension at this point, what to do, where to begin. Luckily, my Speech Pathology class' sexond exam is not for another week and a half. That'll give me time to space out preparing for the gazillion papers required for envi-geo. I could choose not to have a life, to get myself sucked into the work and be successful but miserable; however one thing I think I am learning is that the pursuit of excellence, at the expense of happiness, is not a balanced equation. Happiness, always, should be given a priority. On the other hand, it would be perfect if excellence (or at least a standard near the ideal) can be achieved whilst being happy at the same time. Next goal. Knot the Stem

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