When it rains, it pours.

It's raining non-stop for the past two days and I hope it rains ideas for our project study too. I've been browsing the internet for some projects for days now. There were many but I still haven't found what I'm looking for. I just hope a decent idea hit me hard and fast. The submission for the proposed titles and problems is tomorrow. Darn. Darn. Darn. I had no idea it will be this hard. :(

Cavite is under storm signal no. 3 as of this morning. That is very good news for students like me. If this keeps up until tomorrow morning, or at least tonight, there will be no classes tomorrow! College level included! So that means more time to ponder on the perfect project study idea. Plus, another day without the looooong kaantok classes.


I may sound happy because I am sitting here infront of the computer, dry, safe and sound. But not everybody has reasons to celebrate. Thunderstorms are usually a nightmare for most Filipinos. To some it means 'yeah! NO CLASSES' but to many, this could cost them their homes, their families.. their lives. With one angry strike of strong winds and heavy rains, their world would come crashing down. At this point, a simple prayer is our hope for God is our only shelter.

God bless the Filipinos. God bless our families.

(photo taken from www. unicef.org)

Finally, it happened!

Finally.

After so many change of plans and attempts to reschedule, the high school get together actually happened. Thank God.

Okay. So here's why I thought the get together was not going to happen.

1. The initial plan was to visit the ecopark, have a picnic, go hiking or biking perhaps, boating, fishing, see the butterfly garden, enjoy a breath of fresh air, talk non-stop, reminisce, and laugh like there's no tomorrow.
2. With less than a week before the get together, only four people responded to the invites.. (Me and Shar included!) So technically, that's two people. Most friends have gone MIA.
3. Three days before the event, Jen decided she can't go. Then added that she will still be able to ONLY if we change the location to somewhere within Cavite.
4. I suggested the Paradizoo which is somewhat similar to the ecopark. We can still have a picnic, go hiking, see a butterfly garden, a vegetable and a flower farm, we can now feed farm animals, enjoy a breath of fresh air, talk non-stop, reminisce, and laugh like there's no tomorrow.

5. With less than two days, Carlo suggested we have a lasagna party c/o Jen, then we hit the movie house to see Kung fu Panda.
6. Ookkaay. So that means after days of planning and preparation there will be NO picnic, NO hiking, NO gardens, NO breath of fresh air.
Then again, we'll still be able to talk non-stop, reminisce, and laugh like there's no tomorrow. It's my friends I want to see, not the farm animals and the gardens. No harm done.

7. Saturday night, with less than 24 hours, I asked Carlo where the meeting place will be. Guess what? He said, 'Russell's place. 11.30 am.' Whaaat?! No Kung fu Panda?!
8. If I didn't catch Carlo on YM I would have gone to the mall waiting for people who obviously won't show up. So that left me as the get-together-planner-who-ended-up-being-on-the-wrong-place-because-she-wasn't-informed. Great.

So on June 15, 2008 the get together with high school friends actually happened! :) It was a lasagna party and DVD marathon at Russell's place. Jen was apologetic, it turned out that she didn't know my new cellphone number and had no idea that I didn't get her message.
I was soooo glad to see my friends again. We told each other stories from high school for the nine hundredth time yet we still laughed about it like we just heard it for the first time. We talked about life, college, internship and for some of us, a new challenge: Job Hunting!

With them, a movie marathon involves only ONE movie, a lot of reminscing, dozens of silly antics and countless stories to tell. So who cares if it's the ecopark or simply a lasagna party at home? Wherever it is or whaterver we do, we'd rather be together. :)

Happy Father's Day to My Angel in Disguise

I wake up every morning thinking of the wonderful gifts God has given to me. A wonderful family- mom, dad, my brother and sister, great friends, Archie.. They complete my life's superb cast.

Today, I want to give special thanks to my angel in disguise living here on earth pretending to be my father.

For his strength and selflessness in raising us, his children.
For having a way of putting things together. Always.
For making us feel special despite our imperfections.
For teaching me all about faith and hard work by being the perfect example.
For always believing that I can do great things. All more than what I give myself credit for.
For his faithful hand that lifts me up when I'm down.
For his breath of kindness that blows my loneliness away.
And for his kind heart that is always filled with love.
I am very fortunate to have a gem of a father.

***
My dad has been working as a seaman for twenty years. Once a year he leaves for work which usually lasts for 10 long months or more. When I was young, I save up money so I can buy him something before he leaves. After all, it will be long before I see him again. I usually wait until he's finished packing, then I'll sneak up to their room and secretly put my gift into his luggage. And do you know what I bought for him every year?
It was always an angel figurine.
Something to watch over him while he was miles away from home. Back then, I didn't know that I was giving an 'angel' to my very own angel.

Dad.
It's a three letter word that means the world to me. If I have to give you something for all the things you've done and sacrificed for me and for the family, I wouldn't just give you anything.
I will give you my life.

Happy Father's Day daddy. I love you. :)

It's the Nightmare vs the Jackpot

Let's talk s-c-h-o-o-l.

My first three days were so unforgiving. I mean, I was only back three days and I've already got enough things to do to last me the whole semester! (This is where the exasperated sigh comes in.)
I am going nuts.
First, there's the whole thesis thing. Plus the outside plant communication system design, plus lots of homework, and lots of programming to learn. C'mon! And it's only our first week!
(optimistic side butts in)
Think about it. 365 days from now, you'll have nothing like these to worry about. No more thesis making, and lab reports and homework. You can have all the good times you want.
(another exasperated sigh)
Oh yeah?
Board exam.
Ring a bell?

I'm doomed.

***
Wednesday.
I was almost late for school. Thanks to my stupid alarm clock which chose to be fully dysfunctional right on my first day. Met up with Archie then we went to school together. School's a good 15 minutes away from my house, that's minus the 10 minute exhausting- and -sweaty walk from the gate to the classrooms.
I could have jumped up and down and thanked the God of Good Timing when I saw Ikot La Salle near the gym. That is, if I had coupons then but I didn't. My bad. I thought they were strictly implementing their 'no coupon, no ride' policy so we had to choose the 10 minute exhausting-and-sweaty (I think this needs emphasis) walk. Later I found out that you are allowed to ride even without a coupon, because you can just buy a coupon right then and there. wtf!
I thought seeing my friends again was making up for my exhausting and sweaty morning, that was until Sir Reyes entered the classroom and I realized that it was a nightmare all over again.

Note: My mean self is about to take over, but please keep in mind that my normal self still has a lot of respect for the guy. Well, yeah. Sometimes.

You see, he handled our Industrial Electronics Laboratory last semester. He's really smart but the semester still didn't turn out good. In fact, it was a nightmare. He gave out tons of work load with so little time to spare and after spending so much time and money for his 'projects' and writing 20 pages long reports in engineering lettering, he'll be happy to give you a 2/10 with an evil smirk on his face (consider yourself lucky if it's a 4/10). He's like a hungry cat hunting down small, helpless rats. So we always try to get out of his way as much as we could, afraid to be eaten alive. I mean, if you still want your free time, you'd better hide from this professor!
So when I saw him enter our classroom, I knew right then that I won't be too fond of Wednesdays.

Luckily, our Wednesday class was only until 11.30, so Archie and I had lunch together then went to Fun House where I saw this cute memo clip. We didn't have enough tickets for the memo clip by then so we bought tokens and played Slam-a-Winner. We always have a contest on who gets more tickets. It was clear that I've lost when Archie hit the jackpot on his first try! That's 125 tickets in a flash! And I was very disappointed when my ball landed on 1 but the machine still gave out 125 tickets.

Lucky me.


We got enough tickets for my memo clip and a small toy car I brought home for Pito. :)

Different Types of Morning Torture

The day before I come back to class (the last day I could sleep in), Pito woke me up at six thirty in the morning by putting his little finger into my nose. The cute little guy has a knack for being annoying sometimes. My hope of going back to sleep vanished into thin air when he yelled 'aaattteeee' (the evolution of his previous 'achiii') and tried all his might to crawl up my bed. By doing that, he meant business. That means I have to play with him whether I like it or not and the motto is, 'Sure my little sweetness, you're the boss!'. There goes the first kind of morning torture.
Don't get me wrong, I love playing with the little guy. But not at six thirty in the morning! I heard his new nanny will arrive this week so he will probably go home this Sunday. Now he's taking a nap and I'm stuck here fuming about how I do not want this day to end and how each minute that passed brought me closer to tons of lab reports, long kaantok class hours and thesis making! At least they were easing us back to school by starting on a Wednesday, just three days till the weekend. Thank God.
I would probably feel better if I stop blabbing about how much I dislike going back to school. So I'll just tell you about a strange thing that happened to me Sunday morning.
STRIKE ONE
I woke up at about 10 past 9 in the morning thinking only of one thing. 'What time ba is Jollitown?' Funny. Jollibee must have visited me in my dreams and offered me lots of fries and ice cream and jolly hotdogs. Being the glutton (I am exaggerating) that I am, that must have made me extremely happy and all I thought about upon waking up is to watch his show.


STRIKE TWO
Later that afternoon, I was with Tita Ana and Tita Marie. We were driving around town in search of the perfect place for their planned grocery business. All of a sudden it was like, Jollibee strikes again! We saw this and we were on the verge of being amazed. We are probably among the last people to know about Jollibee on Wheels but it did not stop us from walking closer to take a good look at it.


I thought there will be a STRIKE THREE for Jollibee, but there wasn't. Or at least not within that day.
I also busied myself designing class schedules for me and ate during the weekend. The first one's my schedule. Minus the red marks, of course. Uggghh. I still can't get over the fact that my class starts at 7am! Bummer.

What's In the Box?

It all began one hot summer during high school. Together with two of my friends, we decided to write each other letters, as a way of keeping in touch during the vacation. Apart from the usual text messaging and telephone calls, of course. Letters were something I’ve always fancied. I am a sucker for colorful packaging, so any bright and multicolored stationery call out to me.

So there I was, writing letters for my dear friends, telling them stories that made me laugh and cry. They were not just simple letters stuffed into envelopes. Crammed into those small colorful envelopes are the joy and sorrow of our friendship, and the slightest touch of affection that kept our friendship from going flat. Those letters relieved us of our longing to see each other again, and jogged our memories that we maybe separated by miles, but our hearts cannot be bothered by any distance.

For once or twice a week I welcome the mailman with a hearty smile, happy to be given my letters. After reading them several times over, I keep them carefully in a decorated shoebox. It was a self-made repository of my treasured letters. And through the years the letters grew in number. My shoebox contains not only letters from friends, but from my family too, and from the man I love. On folded pieces of paper are soothing words of ‘Thank you!’ and ‘I’m here for you’, and a whole lot of ‘I love you!’. Once in a while, I get my shoebox from the shelf and read my letters. They are something I can always touch, read, and rely on when my life becomes difficult, reminders of the wonderful people I have in my life. My blessings. Inside that decorated shoebox are love and comfort that I can always believe in, even when I am alone. As of now, I could no longer put down the cover of the shoebox properly. They were many, but they will never be enough. I would never want to stop receiving letters, for in each of them are pieces of my heart, and each have contributed to the woman I’ve become. Gifts of great beauty and value are nothing compared to a humble, decorated shoebox filled with joy and love. It’s something that cannot be bought, and a loyal memento that the best things in life are free (minus the postage stamp cost, that is!). And sometimes, they come in folded papers of all shapes and sizes.

I decorated another shoebox for keepsakes of all sorts- from bracelets to candy wrappers. You maybe are wondering why I keep all these ‘trash’. But never for a moment did I consider them as trash. They are pieces of me too, in their sticky and cluttered form. :)