Bottled Sky

I learned from Meggan yesterday that Bottled Sky was included in Smashing Magazine‘s 45 Excellent Blog Designs article. That was a nice surprise for me, as I haven’t been checking my stats lately. Or reading any of my regular blogs. Or responding to comments. That’s what happens when real life gets in the way

I went on several job interviews this month. I was especially nervous on one occasion, because it was my second interview with that particular company. I knew they would either hire me that day or not. I also knew nerves would definitely not help, so every time I felt the tiniest bit of anxiety on the way to their office I lightened myself up by thinking of the fact that underneath my conservative business attire I was wearing a thong decorated with a cartoon cow. Nothing like funny underwear to shoo away stomach butterflies, I always say. Try it sometime. It worked for me — I got the job.

A few days after landing my first day job I assembled my first piece of IKEA furniture. The process involved a lot of screwing, screaming and cursing and left me exhausted yet satisfied afterwards — kind of like sex, except less… sexy.

Then the day after my IKEA devirginization I was evangelized into the Cult of Mac! Years of dealing with evil viruses and hard drive crashes made me more than ready to finally ditch PCs and make the switch. I’ve had my MacBook Pro for about two weeks now, and I can honestly say that it is the hands-down best thing I have ever owned. Yup, even better than my anxiety-busting cow thong.

I suck at blogging. I wrote only one entry last month, and I failed to mention that I moved to another country last week. To quote my friend Chrissa in her latest e-mail:

I’m surprised you haven’t broadcast to the world that you’re already in Singapore! I mean, it’s a freakin’ change of permanent residency!

Bad, Nikki! In my defense, I had every intention of posting a pre-flight entry last weekend, but as they say, the best intentions are fraught with frenzied last-minute packing

So how have I been? I won’t say I’m homesick, but I do miss many of the people and things I left behind. I miss my occasionally grumpy dad, my crazy friends and my hyperactive dogs. I miss watching TV with my aunt Cecile. I miss hanging out with my aunt Irene and her 500 cats. I miss having inane, three-hour-long phone conversations with Chrissa. I miss eating my mom’s pasta.

But that’s to be expected. I have a great life back home; of course I miss it! All things considered, however, I think I’ve been adjusting very well. In fact I’ve already found several things to love about this country. Public transportation is a dream here compared to the dingy buses and annoying jeepneys of the Philippines. I can walk to the supermarket at midnight without fear of being mugged. And have I mentioned how insanely clean Singapore is? It’s so clean that there’s only one brand of alcohol-based hand sanitizer available, and it’s thrice as expensive as any of the many brands sold in the Philippines.

I have a feeling that the longer I stay the more I’ll appreciate this country. Now if only I can get my family and friends to all move here, too…

An online acquaintance died yesterday. Hearing about the death of someone I know always leaves me feeling disoriented, but this one was particularly shocking since she was only a little older than I, and like many people, I associate death with old age. It really goes to show how unpredictable life is and how anyone can die anytime in a countless number of ways.

It also made me wonder how many abandoned sites out there belonged to people who have died. Not that I’ve never thought about that before, though. In fact, a couple of years ago I gave my FTP password to my friend Chrissa, along with instructions to post a quirky and light-hearted death announcement on my site just in case it’s still around when I die. Something morbid but funny and maybe even cute, I told her. Tall order? Nah. If anyone can pull that off, it’s Chrissa.

I mean, she wasn’t even weirded out by my request, as I’m sure my other friends would have been had I asked them instead. She actually likes the idea — at least enough to give me access to her LJ account every time she travels abroad, so I can do the same for her should her plane crash. (Hopefully I will never have to.)

This reminds me, I need to update her on a couple of password changes I’ve made since migrating to WordPress. Hey, it’s better to be prepared.

I remember a time when my Sundays were quiet and lazy, so much so that I disliked them because they were always boring and uneventful. If only I could have them back I haven’t had a restful Sunday in so long. My thesis has had me running around town for meetings and interviews even on the most sacred of rest days. As for today, I’m churning out the last few parts of my thesis with the sounds of grinding and hammering in the background. (Termites devoured our door jamb, so it’s currently and very loudly being replaced.)

So in honor of the good ol’ lazy Sunday, I’m posting this drawing of a dozing kitty. It was inspired by Tracy‘s unbelievably handsome Finn, who turned four cat-years old two weeks ago. I wish you all an uneventful Sunday

Every college student knows all about that certain week near the end of term when deadlines and exams have piled up one on top of the other and you have to struggle just to stay afloat of all the work that needs to be done. I don’t know what it’s called elsewhere, but here it’s called Hell Week. There’s at least one per term for each student. Mine was last week.

But because it’s my final semester of college, the Fates decided that garden-variety Hell Week simply wasn’t, well, hellish enough and gave me… Hell Week, the Deluxe Edition—with double the stress and three times the oppposite of fun! Picture this: all the ingredients of regular Hell Week, plus the pressure of having an undergraduate thesis to finish, minus electricity, telephone and running water for eight straight days. And did I mention that it was my birthday week, too?

It all started when Super Typhoon Milenyo (international name: Xangsane), raged through Metro Manila two weeks ago, leaving in its wake a mess of mangled billboards, uprooted trees, and twisted power lines and causing a Luzon-wide blackout. I was in denial during the first three days of the power outtage. I kept thinking, ‘Any minute now electricity will back, and I can finally get started on my schoolwork.’ I spent those 72 hours re-reading The Lovely Bones during the day and staring blankly into space at night. But on the fourth day, which also happened to be my birthday, I’d had enough of living in the Dark Ages and making zero headway on my assignments.

I learned that power had been restored in Chrissa‘s area that afternoon, so I stuffed some clothes into a backpack and went over to her house to get some work done. For the next five days I became a nomad. I lived out of the big, heavy backpack that I lugged all over Metro Manila. I even had to hike up the hills of Antipolo with that boulder of a bag weighing me down. I worked and slept over at Chrissa’s most of the time and once at Kathy‘s, going home only to restock on clothes.

At some points it felt like the blackout was following me wherever I went. When I stopped by an Internet cafe to have something printed, power went out barely a minute after I arrived. When I made plans to type at my dad’s office, electricity began fluctuating in their area that day.

All’s well that ends well, though, thanks to everyone who willingly took in this refugee. My thesis is close to completion and I’m done with all the work in my other subjects. I lived through the last College Hell Week I’ll ever have! And now that it’s over, I have just enough humor to salute the Fates for making it something I’m not likely to forget for a very long time.