Bottled Sky

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.

In other news, Design Melt Down included Skylight in its latest list of beautiful blogs. Yay for that

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 barkada 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. And only a couple weeks ago I traveled to Subic with some college friends–you guessed it, a typhoon tagged along (click on the photo for more).

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