Bottled Sky

My college friends and I hung out at Eugene‘s condo this weekend. It had been months since I last saw some of them — Tin! Nas! Albert! — so I was really excited. We went swimming, had dinner at Pancake House, played PS2 (they played; I just randomly pressed buttons), (re)watched Golden Boy, drank, slept a little, then woke up and had leftover alcohol with our breakfast. Good times. Check out the photos from Chrissa‘s camera.

Of course there was gift giving, too. Like I mentioned in a previous post, I didn’t have much money to spend on gifts this year, so I did a lot of DIYing. This time I drew cartoon alter egos of the girls, had them printed, and found matching desktop frames for each drawing:

Check out my illustration portfolio for the bigger versions.

They loved it! Seeing their reactions to the cartoons got me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. The guys pretend-pouted and asked why I didn’t do the same for them, so I mock-complained about how hard they were to draw because they all looked alike, hehe. I did try, but unfortunately I can’t draw boys as well as I can girls. I got them uber-geeky squeeze flashlights instead. Maybe next year.

Happy holidays, everyone! And thanks to Rose for being extra cool

My old high school barkada (Filipino for “clique” or “group of friends”) got together for our annual holiday dinner last night. It’s been getting harder and harder to schedule our gatherings, because everyone’s so busy these days. A couple of our friends weren’t able to make it, but we still had a great time just talking and catching up on each other’s lives.

Berns, me, Jo and Fatz

As we talked about what we’d been up to the past year, what our plans were for the near future and how silly we’d all been in high school, it hit me — we’re all grown up! When did that happen?!

Continue reading Broke for the Holidays »

It has finally happened. I’m a college graduate! It won’t be official until they release the final list of second-semester graduates in December, but I have completed all the requirements for a UP Journalism degree. I still can’t believe it. The whole thing is surreal to me. I feel so overwhelmingly relieved that it’s over, but at the same time it seems somewhat anti-climactic. Is it because I finished in October instead of March? I’m not sure. However, I am quite grateful that I managed to get through college mostly unscathed.

I say mostly, because I did hit a couple of speed bumps along the way. I had originally chosen to major in Electronics and Communications Engineering (ECE), because I mistakenly thought a math lover like me would be most suited for an engineering degree. I very soon realized my mistake, and this blog became host to my rantings on the evils of ECE. To get a better idea of how much I disliked my old course, check out what I doodled at the back of one of my ECE readings:

Of course, this one has been digitally cropped and colored. The original doodle shows the three stages of ECE insanity, complete with accompanying text. Hmmm, maybe if I had spent more time concentrating on the actual lessons instead of doodling I would have done better… Nah!

However rough my academic life had been in ECE, I can honestly say that I had a lot of fun there. I made many wonderful friends in ECE and managed to keep them even after shifting to Journalism. Cue cheesy photo montage.

Unlike ECE, Journalism was fun because of the coursework. I’m not saying it was easy, but it was challenging in a manner that I liked. There was a lot of room for creativity in Journalism, while in ECE there was practically none. I got to play reporter/photographer/producer/poet/etcetera. I interned at a fashion magazine, where I met many “interesting” people. I was even able to apply my favorite hobbies (drawing and designing websites) to my academic work. I would have never been able to do any of those things had I stayed in Engineering.

Another thing that would have been impossible for me in ECE: I got a cum laude average! Well, I’m not actually getting the honor because of a silly technicality — I wasn’t able to complete all my Physical Education classes within the first four semesters. Funny, huh? I really don’t mind, because I’m not the scholarly type, and grades don’t matter much to me. Still I can’t help but feel good about myself that, despite my procrastination problem, I managed to do well in that respect.

With or without honors, I’m just happy to graduate! I’m finally done! Woohoo! So now what? Unfortunately I still don’t have the answer to that, hehe. Until further notice, I am a bum. Oy.

Kathy is a special breed of awesome. My weekend rocked something fierce, thanks to her love for Seventeen Magazine and her penchant for joining their contests. They sent Kathy, Ivy, Phin, Chrissa and me on an overnight stay at Taal View Heights and took care of everything so we didn’t have to pay a single centavo. We were chauffeured, overfed, and generally pampered. We even got new tankinis from SPF, “Filipinas” flip-flops from Havaianas, and loads of Freeman beauty products. I can’t speak for the others, but I for one had never been spoiled so rotten in all my life.

The best part was I finally got to spend several hours swimming under the sun. My sunny swim in TVH’s Zen-inspired infinity pool was no doubt a far cry from my freezing foray into the stormy seas of Subic. It still wasn’t enough to bronze me, but at least I’m slightly darker than I used to be.

Swimming wasn’t all we did, though. We played badminton and billiards, rode horses, and briefly visited the lakeside where we met the friendliest little dachshund. On Sunday morning Chrissa somehow managed to make jogging up and down the hilly venue seem like a good idea, but after only 10 minutes of wheezing and panting, Kathy and I realized that it really wasn’t. We also made our very own scary movie using the night vision setting of Kathy’s Handycam, squeezed under a single comforter while bonding under the stars, and consumed too many glasses of mais con yelo. Oh, and we took lots of pictures.

The only downside was that we missed Nas and Tin and wished they could have come, too. Other than that, I can definitely say it was the most fun I’ve had of late. Hugs for Kathy!

I seem to have the worst luck in going to the beach and getting a tan. I vacationed in Pagudpud with my family a few summers ago, and it stormed for the bulk of our stay. Then a couple of summers after that my high school friends and I went to Punta Fuego. Sure it didn’t rain, but the sun didn’t bother to make an appearance the whole time we were there either. Only a couple weeks ago I traveled to Subic with some college friends, and — you guessed it — a typhoon tagged along.

While it was undoubtedly interesting to swim in the ocean amid strong winds and cold rain, I’m starting to lose the hope of ever seeing a sunny beach again. I should probably give up on that natural tan I’ve been coveting for the past several years and be content with being pale. At least I won’t have to worry about skin cancer.

You’re going to have to excuse the whiny tone of this post. I normally make an effort to keep my entries light and entertaining, but these past few days I haven’t been feeling good enough about myself to be perky. Let’s just say it hasn’t been the best of weeks. Several recent incidents have shown me that I can be a bit of a self-absorbed bitch at times. Though I don’t really believe I’m completely to blame for the said incidents, it is obvious that I need a little attitude adjustment.

Ick. I feel weird posting semi-serious stuff here–clearly I’ve had more practice writing about the quirky and the silly–but I didn’t want to censor myself too much either, so I just let the words flow. Sometimes I do need to purge. Don’t worry about this becoming a trend, though. My life is cushy and uncomplicated; I have neither an excuse nor a desire to go all “tortured soul” on you. We’ll be back to regular programming by next post, I promise!

If you have an abundance of positive energy today, send some over to my mom and my dogs, Oreo and TJ. They’re celebrating their birthdays this week.