Into the Wild Part 2

More animals!

Turtles

Tortoise

You see, a tortoise is a land animal while a turtle lives in water. Never knew it was like that before. Haha!

HIPPOOOOOO

I swear, I was so happy when I saw this pygmy hippo. I felt like a part of my life has been fulfilled. I've never seen one before, and I thank the Korean god for giving me the chance to see one alive.

Black piglets

Doe

Arapaimas!

These are scary fishies :O Super big and super scary. Although they don't have teeth, they still manage to engulf chicken heads without any problem. What makes these creatures scarier is the sound they make when they swallow the food. And why have I never heard of these fishes before? A movie like Piranha 3D should be made for these arapaimas, they're really really scary.

Cheetah? Leopard? Jaguar?

I really don't know O_O I already learned to differentiate them when we were there, but I forgot now.

Hyena

Vultures

Fox

There were other animals like crocodiles, geckos, tigers, pigs, donkeys *gasp* but I figured they weren't as interesting as the ones you see above. It was a really great experience for me and I know Kyle, Daniel (my Korean partner) had as much fun that I had. I wish Kythe would come up with more field trips because I will definitely go. Weee.

Into the Wild

With only three and a half hours of sleep, I pulled myself out of bed yesterday to prepare for Kythe's Into the Wild.

For more than a month, some of the officers prepared a field trip to Avilon Zoo for the kids from NKTI and NCH. And because kind Koreans approached our org and were willing enough to shoulder most of the expenses for the field trip, we didn't think there was no reason for us to back out.

I was reunited with my baby girl Kyle from NCH.

Also met my Korean partner who toured with me and Kyle for the whole two hours

I was never a fan of animals or of the zoo for that matter, but Avilon Zoo has so many animaaaals! As in animals I've never even seen or heard of before. I felt so uncultured that I didn't even know what their names were or how to distinguish a leopard from a jaguar, or a tortoise from a turtle. Hanggang cat and dog lang kasi sa Batangas O_O

Peacock peacock

Feeding the guinea pigs!

Little ducklings!

I also saw swans, both white and black but then we didn't have time to take their pictures. :( That was the first time that I saw a black swan in my entire life.

Ram = male goat :>

The ones I showed aren't the highlight of the tour, patikim pa lang yan.

Remember Today

Because today, like any other person in this world who had loved and lost in the end, I was not saved from the pain. But I promise myself, I will get better and find someone or something truly deserving of what I have to give.

All I have to just get back up. Tomorrow has to be amazing.

Edit:

11/11/10: Who's going to wake me up now when I take my evening naps? :(

Sundays at Cafe Xocolat

Sunday has always been a very special day for me ever since I studied in Ateneo. Living alone gives me the freedom to spend my Sunday in any way I like. Before, I'd go to the mall and walk around or jog in the morning around the school and enjoy a nice brunch by myself.

I've been taking review classes for the coming NMAT every Sunday from 8AM-5PM, so I haven't found the time to go the mall or even jog. Nonetheless, I try to wake up early so I can enjoy a hearty breakfast before heading to the review center. During our one-hour lunch break, I'd always go to Cafe Xocolat along B. Gonzales to grab a bite.

For today's lunch, I ordered their Herbed Chicken Panini. I've always been a rice meal kind of person when it comes to lunch, but I figured I'd try this out.

Herbed Chicken Panini Php 165

It was surprisingly very filling. I found myself falling asleep while the teacher was discussing biochemistry during the afternoon's review. But then again, I think I'd still choose the Xocolat Chicken Pasta over this one.

Btw, did you notice the sudden improvement in my photos? Hihihi finally got my dad's old Sony Cyber-shot. It's not the best in its field, but definitely better than my phone's crappy camera.

Overnight Art Project

Aside from working and surfing the Internet, perhaps I've spent most of my sembreak babysitting my little sister. From watching a cheesy Filipino movie to juggling 15 little girls in a crowded mall, I can say that it's actually been a very interesting break for me. On one of our quality time nights, my sister asked me to help her design an old wine bottle for her school project. Now who the heck assigns a major requirement the day before the submission?! In college, any crazy professor who does is sure to receive tons of letters of complaints in his or her pigeonhole. It's crazy! But I am in awe how my sister does not panic at all by this "major" class requirement.

So we decided to go for an ocean-y vibe since their class theme was nature. Actually, this is not my own original idea as it was inspired by another brand I saw in school before. I pretty much did all the work with my sister trying her hands at double-sided tape. I was never fond of tapes since you tend to waste a lot of it and because they're too stiff for me, not as flexible as my trusty glue stick. But we all know glue doesn't stick to glass right? Anyway, here's our masterpiece!

Monochromatic blue waves

Amazing stuff you can find at National Bookstore

Cotton =))

Not bad for an overnight brainstorming and execution, eh?

To be honest, spending most of my free time with my sister made me feel that I can have a future as a teacher. My parents will not like this at all, but I can now see myself as a preschool or elementary teacher in a few years. I like the feeling of having to be responsible (somehow) of a little girl or a little boy's future.

Sembreak Chill

I've been a very lazy bum this break. I told myself I'd blog more since I'll be having more free time, but we all know that never works during sembreak. Anyway, here are a few of the things that I've been doing for the past two weeks.

Med school applications

I realized how difficult and tedious it is to apply for schools all over again. I don't remember applying for college to be this hard. Hayayay, and I only a little more than a month to finish everything. The future is really really scaring me out now, and I'm not even a little prepared for this.

Star Wars marathon

Everyone knows I was never a Star Wars kid. I never bothered watching the whole six episodes before, and so I wonder why the heck I'm allotting more than 12 hours (one episode is two hours long) just for a bowl of double-fried chicken. Those wings better be good.

To be honest, I'm having a hard time to keep up with my viewing because I seriously fall asleep in what's supposed to be the climax of the film. Hahaha.

Stage Zero: Beat Cancer!

Cooking up a party with two other orgs from DLSU. It's hard planning for an event when you're supposed to be on break. Work never seem to stop, but I'm not complaining. This is pretty fun, I miss having to worry about budget and logistics.

Tourist vibes

The four-day trip to BKK was indeed very interesting. Channeling my tourist-y vibes in the pictures. I'll do a following on this trip soon. I'm too lazy to upload my own pictures. Maybe next week or the week after that. But seriously, nothing could be greater than drinking coco water or milk tea while strolling around a flea market and then a few minutes later you're holding little plastic bags full of clothes and shoes you're not even sure why you bought in the first place.

Routes

Because I'm trying to figure out a way to use the BTS Skytrain even before we get to Bangkok, I'm now studying different routes via Google Maps.

Route from Baiyoke Suite Hotel to Phaya Thai Station

Route from Baiyoke Suite Hotel to Platinum Fashion Mall

Is this too much? I'm just really scared that we'd get lost and my sister will start to panic. I think it's my job to make sure we know where we are heading. Despite my incompetent map-reading skills, I have to keep this in memory! I really hope this trip goes well, that the weather will be fine, and most of all, that we'll be safe from bad people. So help us God.

Anyway, the reason why I'm working hard to understand these routes is because these two routes are supposed to lead us to the shopping havens. Hihihi. Yes, there's always something in it for me (and for my sister). I really really have to go to the Chatuchak market, even if it means skipping one whole day in Dream World and seeing the Four Faces Buddha. This is important!

Busy Friday

Yesterday had been very busy for me. My day started at 7AM with me preparing for a meeting I was supposed to have at 10 in Megamall. I knew that area would be very traffic, so I decided to leave earlier, around 930 supposedly. But while waiting for time to pass, I saw this lovely picture.

Megamall opens at 930! So I packed my stuff and headed out as soon as I can. I got there around 940, which gives me around 20 minutes to look for clothes. Buti na lang there weren't a lot of early birds, so I was able to pay for my clothes without having to worry about the long lines.

After my meeting, I thought I could come back for some of the clothes I spotted earlier, but holy guacamole, sobrang haba na ng line! Forever21 even had bouncers managing the people paying for their clothes and those who were just looking around. It's crazy! But then again, I can't blame them. For a dress that initially costs P1500 and then marked down to less than P300, who wouldn't mind to wait in line for more than an hour to buy that dress?

So the day continues with two more meetings followed by a trip to Greenhills to buy the number one item on my list of things to buy.

My very own external HD! Yay! After buying the hard drive, Z and I passed by Ortigas Area, and lo and behold, it was Banchetto night! We decided to check it out, despite the crazy crowd. Walking along the very narrow street is hard enough, being covered by the smoke coming from the grill was another thing. But that didn't stop us from trying out the food. For appetizer, we bought squid balls, kwek kwek and chili cheese sticks. These were okay, but the chili on the cheese sticks were a bit disappointing. For the main course, we bough Angus beef kebab. Yes, real Angus beef sold for a mere P55/stick! This is definitely something we'll be going back for in the future. Sarap! And for dessert, we got those 3 for 100 desserts plus strawberry shortcake. I wanted to try the huge burgers, with patties as big as a normal dining plate! :O But I figured it would take very long, so next time na lang.

What is left of the 3 for 100 sweets we bought. This is actually good, very moist.

This is one of the few things that I miss when I'm here, long and eventful Friday nights and food escapades. Next sem better be full of adventures!

FREEDOM (almost)

I'm done with all my requirements for this semester! Well everything except for thesis revision. But then again, I'd like to believe I'm already done. So YAAAAY! I can't wait to leave and spend the break going to far places and eating food that I wouldn't bother to know the origin of. So Thailand here we gooooo! (Where's my hat?!)

All photos are from lonelyplanet.com

Sembreak Temptation

I can't wait for this sem to finish and to finally have the chance to rest and not give a damn about school or grades or both. I already have a list of things to do and to buy, and I really wish this list gets me an A!

First on my list is an external hard drive. Medyo naghihingalo na yun memory ng three year old laptop ko so I think it's high time that I buy an external HD. Mmm I found cheap ones at Greenhills, but I'm not sure if they're any good. P2500 for 300GB memory doesn't seem so bad right? I found one stall that sells an external HD with 1TB memory :O what's TB? I had to ask Z, and he told me that's about 1000GB. Amazing! Imagine how many games, movies and e-books I can place in there? Tempting!

I was never the hat-kind-of-girl, but I've been looking at pictures of hat-wearing girl jet-setters and I realized, I want to be a jet-setter too! And I want to wear hats while I'm at it! Maybe not like the ones SVW wears but the boat hats the Blair Waldorf wears. Those are nice, but where can I buy? F21's having its first sale of the year and I'm tempted to visit and see if they have hats.

Who wouldn't want to stay heeeere? Siquijoooor! I love you already without even having seen you! Please friends let's go here this sembreak or on summer, fine! Ateneo de Boracay sounds awesome too, but I need R&R in Siquijor. I'll definitely save up for this, even if I won't have anyone coming with me. HAHA.

SM Find

I just wasted three hours of my life commuting via MRT and LRT. I have to keep reminding myself why it's never a good idea to ride the MRT. I know it's a lot cheaper than taking a cab, but seriously, the energy I lose from walking, lining up, and battling with other girls inside an already cramped-up train is just not worth it. I need energy! Now! I still have Philo orals notes waiting to be written.

Thank God I found something to cheer me up from all that walking along Glorietta and SM Makati.

Voila! Meiji Bitter Macadamia

I've always loved the red Meiji Macadamia that my dad takes home for us whenever he goes to Binondo, and discovering that it has a dark chocolate makes it even more tempting to buy. I found this while passing by SM Makati, supposedly to look for new flats in the department store. I hope this will keep me up the whole night as I write my notes.

What I hate the most, aside from waiting for a cab or riding the MRT, is binging whenever I'm stressed, especially during hell weeks and exam weeks. Yikes. But what the hell, one final stretch before my last first sem in college ends! Let's go Mia Uy! <(^o^)/

My Own Storybook

Looking back, I'm not sure why or how I decided to take an extra subject despite knowing that physics and thesis will already be taking up most of my study time. Nonetheless, I lined up for one whole day to make sure I get into IS122.3 or more commonly known as Writing and Illustrating for Children.

There was a disclaimer in aisis that says "basic drawing skills are required". Knowing that my drawing skills are not as good as I hoped them to be, I felt the need to call up the IS department and inquire on how they define the word "basic" since I think this word is very relative. The kind secretary said for as long as I can draw circles and color along the lines, I'll be fine.

Well I thought I was. The writing phase was pretty exciting. I'm thankful I have a lot of interesting stories to tell inside my treasure chest, thanks to friends, family members, and people I don't really know. I realized, one of the advantages or perhaps one of the things any writer must work on is having a lot of friends or connections. By having a lot of friends, we have a lot of stories to hear or laugh at or cry about. And from these stories, we add a bit of imagination and then we write tales about our friends' stories.

As you've seen, the illustration phase was such a struggle for me. Seeing my classmates' works did not really motivate me, but it made me feel better to hear that even if my works aren't as creative as theirs, they're nice enough to actually praise me and help me do better.

All my hard work seemed to have paid off with my final piece, my own storybook. I should've written in my bucket list, write a book, because I just accomplished that goal. It might not be a novel or a winning piece, but I'm happy that I was given the chance to share it with others and to write about something that is truly close to my heart.

Regardless of the sleepless nights trying to finish my illustration plates or to write a storyline or to cut out pieces of paper, I'm very happy with how this class turned out. It's nice to know that we can all have the chance to do something we never thought we can actually do. What's even better is realizing there are other doors, more colorful ones, that are opening up for us.

My IS122.3 prof kept on telling us that we can never start something or jump into something if we'd always think we're scared or that we're not creative enough or that we're simply not good enough.

This is the front cover of my book, colored with color pens and black sign pen. My story's entitled "Luis is a Superhero"

I wish I can post all the spreads, but I don't have a scanner, so the manuscript will have to suffice. I hope you like it! :)

Luis is a Superhero

4-5 Hello! My name’s Luis and I want to be a superhero.
But the thing is, I’m not yet sure what kind of superhero I want to be.

6-7 I want to be like that hero with his long golden hair, swaying with him as he fights the bad guys.
But the thing is, my hair falls off and is not gold enough. I barely have any hair to be swayed by the wind.

8-9 Or maybe I can be the kind of hero who fights the villains in the middle of the night, when everyone else is fast asleep.
But the thing is, I’m always sleepy. I can’t even stay up to watch the evening news!

10-11 I also thought of becoming like the hero who can lift tables and cars effortlessly!
But the thing is, I don’t think I’m strong enough. I mean, I can’t even lift my baby sister.

12-13 Maybe I can be that superhero with knives on his hands and who never seemed to get scratches and burns.
But the thing is, I have these cuts and bruises that don’t seem to heal very fast. See, my paper cut from last week’s still here.

14-15 I think I can be like the superhero who runs like the speed of light.
But the thing is, I get tired very easily. Walking from my home to the park can really tire me out.

16-17 I really want to be a superhero, but I’m not sure what kind of hero I can be.
Can you help me figure out what kind of superhero I can be?

18-19 Mom and I are visiting the doctor today, just a few check-ups and tests.
I don’t really like going to the hospital, it makes me feel queasy all over.

20-21 You noticed my mask?
I wear this whenever I go outside, or sometimes, even inside the house. Mom says it’s to protect me from the bad cells.

22-23 We had to wait for a really long time before the lady in white called my name.
I got really bored and sleepy, so mom asked me to tell her a story.

24-25 So I told her about my master plan of becoming a superhero.
I told her all about the heroes I thought I can be and how I can’t be like them because I have cancer.

26-27 Mom hugged me and told me this:
“But Luis, you’re already a superhero!“

28-29 “Do you remember how brave you were when the doctors injected all sorts of things on you? Or how strong you were that you didn’t cry even if the chemotherapy hurt really bad?”

30-31 So maybe I am a superhero, even if my hair falls off, or even if I feel tired and sleepy most of the time, or if I can’t lift my baby sister.

32-33 Hello! My name’s Luis, and I am a superhero!

I do hope it did not make you feel sad, because that's not really what I intended to make my readers feel. It's really just to give you how cancer makes kids like Luis feel and how, despite the disease, a child's imagination is as colorful and bright as any other kid in this world.

Breaktime

I have so many stories to tell, but let me first leave you with some of the things that make/made/will make me happy right now or in the future.

I promise to update more often after this hell sem ends!

Breaking Hearts

Is it the season of breaking hearts?

Next to my own heartbreak, I guess the next worst thing would be seeing your best friend's heart get broken as well. It’s getting a text from her, asking for a friend to cry on. It’s running to the org room and seeing her staring into space. It’s not knowing what to say when she tells you how everything seemed so unreal. It’s feeling the heaviness she’s trying to carry on her own, just so people can’t judge her for feeling weak. It’s one of the greatest heartbreaks I’ve felt, and seen. And so, all you heartbreakers, please be careful.

Self-Date at Cibo

I had to shut myself from the rest of the world this afternoon and spent the day by going out with myself. Despite the pile of schoolwork that's waiting to be done (because I was too sick to do them yesterday), I felt the need to just take a breather. It's been a while since I last go on self-dates, mainly because school seemed more important than spending time with myself. But the recent events in my life called forth the need for an emergency date.

One thing you should know about me is that when life gets too stressful, I tend to binge. The only way for me to get out the stress is to eat, eat, and eat. It doesn't have to be expensive food; good ol' kanin with any viand will be just fine. But today I decided to splurge on food. I dined at Cibo in Gateway. I was actually deciding on whether I should eat there or not. Not because of the food, but because of the people who were there dining as well. I walked past Cibo just to check if it's crowded; three families dining wasn't so bad. And so I decided to enter; table for one please. Some of my friends aren't very comfortable dining alone, but it wasn't much of a biggie for me. I've been living and eating dinner alone for more than three years now, and one lunch out wasn't such a big deal. I dig into my food - potato chips with aioli and farfalle alla Genovese which is basically pasta with pesto, mushroom and cheese. Anyway, to cut things short, it was a pretty good meal and a pretty good day. If it weren't for this painful headache brought on by the scorching heat, everything would have been nice.

I think I need to go out on more self-dates, or dates in general. I miss hanging out with the people I love and having steady nights, nights that don't require too much, just plain, heartfelt conversations.

OK, Don't Panic

A HUGE HUGE

SIGH OF

RELIEF

Next week, let's bring it on! Four weeks to go before sembreak and 98 days to go before Christmas. I can't wait!

As Requested :)

What is oily face? Hahaha

These lovely people deserve this space because for me, they're still the best dancers! Kythe Ateneo Dancers (KADS). For the kids! :)

Busy weekend ahead!

New Hair

Finally decided to cut my long hair yesterday (and today). I went home to Batangas and decided to visit my trusted stylist from Bench Fix branch in one of the local malls. I showed him the style I wanted from a random hairstyle magazine I found while waiting for my turn. The style looked really short which made the stylist worried that it might be too short for me, so we compromised on a certain length that's still short but not too short. It was goodbye to about 6 inches of my long dark brown hair and hello short hair.

My long hair was actually starting to look very dull and lifeless, so I decided that it was time for me to end the dullness of my long hair.

6 inches of my hair which my mother took home as remembrance

My mom was not particularly happy with my short hair. She was giving me signs last Saturday saying that the length was enough and that I should not cut it shorter anymore. But being the indecisive person that I am, I went back to the salon and had my hair shortened and with no extra charge! It's shorter now, and with more "style". I don't have pictures, so I'll just wait for an event to come up for me to "flaunt" my new hair.

Honestly, looking back to what I did to my hair, I'm not really happy with the short hair. HAHA. My mom will kill me if she finds out about this and will give me her I-told-you-so look. I felt adventurous, and this is the fruit of my misadventure. Oh well, as the online style guide says it, any kind of hairstyle will only look good (regardless of the shape of your face) if you feel confident with it. So confidence, enter me!