Bottled Sky

I decided to participate in this season’s CSS Reboot and came up with “Bloom,” Skylight’s 17th version. I was browsing through an old issue of Time Magazine, when I saw a picture of the King’s Forest room at Hotel Fox and became instantly inspired. (Even the name of the hotel itself was enough to tickle my fancy. Hotel Fox? How cute is that?!) I have never been attracted to the color orange in the past, but that particular hue really caught my eye. Skylight’s previous layouts had a lot of blues, greens and grays in them — I wanted to use a color that I haven’t used before. I was also going for a slightly more grown-up look, something feminine but not frilly. Of course as dictated by tradition, the design still had to feature a cartoon version of me, hehe. Aren’t all personal websites at least partly narcissistic, anyway?

Let me know what you think or if you have problems viewing the new layout. I double-checked everything, but it’s possible that I missed a kink or two.

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

You are looking at Skylight version 16, entitled “Endless Summer.” I created this layout for the following reasons: 1) the semester is finally over and I have free time again; 2) I love to swim; 3) I love the colors of the ocean; and 4) I love summer, the way I used to know it as a kid.

The summers of my childhood meant freedom and relaxation. For two glorious months, I didn’t have to worry about following a schedule. I could sleep as late and as long as I wanted and spend my days however I chose. But then college rolled around, and I had to use my summers to catch up on the units I lost in trying to find a major that didn’t drive me crazy.

I’m scheduled to graduate in October, and this summer is the last I’ll ever have. So I decided to skip summer classes for once, forget about school for a while and just enjoy a true-blue summer vacation. I plan to paint my room aqua, visit the beach with my friends, get a tan, take lots of pictures, and make pretty things (hence the layout). I’m going to make my last summer count!