Quarter Life Musings

Can’t think of a more apt title than this. After 4 whole months of not seeing a movie, I finally did last Thursday. Was only planning to hang out at Starbucks after Bianca dropped me off at ATC but I found out I had 20 minutes to spare before the next screening of Happy Feet. Armed with a tall Peppermint Mocha Frap, I headed to Cinema 1 and found myself a comfortable aisle seat somewhere in front. It was a delight to see the trailer of Harry Potter 5 even if it only lasted less than half a minute. Absolutely can’t wait for it!
What I loved about the movie:
- Every scene with Ramon and the Adelie Amigos. "Hey hey I hear people wanting something… me!" Shoot kinabag ako dun. Good thing there were very few people inside to hear my guffaw.
- The unrecognizable arrangement of Boogie Wonderland as Gloria’s heartsong. When she was singing it during her first music class it sounded strangely familiar. Sus, yun lang pala
- The courtship "ritual" of Memphis and Norma Jean, Mumble and Gloria. Upbeat, funky, downright catchy!
- Lovelace and his six-pack ring given by the "mystic beings". Haaay. Sarap tumawa!
What I hated:
- THE ENDING! I was actually bracing myself for a sad ending when he almost lost his mind in that aquarium. But do they really have to make pilit the environmental frou-frou in the end?! Sayang. It ended on a sour note lang for me. Twas nowhere near the level of Shrek 2.

The next day we went to MOA to get my mom’s glasses and Dad wanted to watch Casino Royale. Ang mahal na ng sine! Gone were the days when Php100 is enough for a movie. Anyhoo, I was lucky enough to watch 2 good movies one after the other after that hiatus. I have to say this movie has changed my mind about the whole franchise. I’m not really a Bond fan but I loved this!
What I loved:
- the opening credits is enthralling. Astig dude! Just like the fire and ice theme from Die Another Day. And the song is distinctly Chris Cornell
- the action sequence in Madagascar. I guess he’s the only James Bond who bled. He’s human after all! Yun talaga ang sugod nang sugod, kahit wall hindi pinatawad hehehe. I guess Daniel Craig had been under a lot of pressure to prove himself worthy of the character after the suave and sophisticated Bonds of the past.
- the bantering between Vesper and James the first time they met. Cute!
- the shower scene. Aaaack! I’m sure every female would find that unforgettable.
- Daniel Craig  in general. Scruffed yet charming. Good thing he’s got the critics on his side now.
- the torture scene. "Now you can tell all your friends you died scratching my balls!"
- Vesper Lynd. How I wish I could mess up a guy like that for good, like what happened to James mwahaha! Wag lang ako mamatay ng ganun
What I hated:
- nothing!

Memorable quotes:
Vesper Lynd:
I will be keeping my eyes on the money and off of your perfectly formed ass.

James Bond:
You noticed.

James Bond:
I always thought M was a randomly assigned initial, I didn’t know it stood for…

M:
Utter one more syllable and ill be forced to have you killed.

Vesper Lynd:
You’re not going to let me in there. You’ve got your armour back on.

James Bond:
I have no armour left. You’ve stripped it from me. Whatever is left of me - whatever I am - I’m yours.

Vesper Lynd:
Am I going to have a problem with you, Bond?

James Bond:
No, don’t worry. You’re not my type.

Vesper Lynd:
Smart?

James Bond:
Single.

James Bond:
"Vesper"? I do hope you gave your parents hell for that!

M:
I knew it was too early to promote you.

James Bond:
Well, I understand double-ohs have a very short life expectancy. So your mistake will be short-lived.

Vesper Lynd:
If the only thing left of you was your smile and your little finger, you’d still be more of a man than anyone else.

James Bond:
That’s because you know what I can do with my little finger…

I really missed going to the movies! Now that I’ve seen the trailers of Harry Potter 5, The Pursuit of Happiness, Deja Vu, Ghost Rider and Spiderman 3, there’s going to be a lot more reason for me to stay out.

Currently hooked on Fergalicious Fergie and have recently downloaded The Duchess album on my Zen. Zero profound lyrics I know (oh shit!), but the beat is really catchy it’s got me spelling D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S until I fall asleep It’s fitting gym music especially when Fergie says: "My body stay vicious,
I be up in the gym just working on my fitness
" …. waaah ang corny!!
Pedestal is a good song too, you gotta listen to it…
"who are you-and what do you do

to make you think you are above me

but have you walked in my shoes

the pedestal
you put yourself on

well since I’m breaking it down now

it’s gonna collapse and be gone-gone-gone-gone-gone"
and also Big Girls Don’t Cry. Didn’t seem like it’s a  Fergie song London Bridges still tops my list.

I think I’ve recovered from my supposed stomach flu from early Sunday morning’s barfing.  And I think that’s going to stop my coffee habit for a very very long time. I still have 8 stickers left to get and it’s probably going to be spent on Iced Tea and Apple Berry Juice Freeze na lang. Nonstop barfing in the middle of the night is not something I want to experience again. Maybe it has something to do with the oily Pizza Hut meal that I had coupled with nonfat Toffee Nut Latte, or maybe stress from last week (nye labo). Sigh. It was weird that Jing had the same symptoms as mine that very same day but we weren’t together. I think I was traumatized that I now don’t allow myself to feel full. I just stop after a certain number of mouthfuls. Yahoo sana consistent ako na ganito para pumayat na ng tuluyan!

di‧lem‧ma /dɪˈlɛmə/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[di-lem-uh] noun
1. a situation requiring a choice between equally undesirable alternatives.
2. any difficult situation or problem
Day in and day out we face moments that leave us perplexed. Some life-threatening, others just trying to compete for space in our gray matter. Sometimes though, the most mundane ones cause the most stress when you really think about it.

To drink or not to drink?
Good decision not to purchase my 8th Starbucks drink today. I was feeling nauseous after lunch (was it too much food or something else?) I thought I was going to throw up. There’s this stupid unspoken competition between me and my brother as to who gets the planner first. He’s on his 8th now, with the help of his girlfriend. It’s always a dilemma for me to let go of a hundred bucks just to get a much-coveted sticker. I’m not an avid Starbucks drinker, I’m just The Planner freak. I’m seriously trying to lose weight, and boxing training don’t go with frequent Starbucks trips despite the non-fat alternative. I’m contemplating on giving the drinks away, but then again, I’m not THAT generous Anybody kind enough to donate 14 more snowflake stickers? The reward ranges from a kiss to a…. hey wait a minute, donations ARE freely given
Top or bottom?
With my meager salary, I cannot afford to revamp my wardrobe like I used to. So purchases have to be kept to a minimum and its frequency controlled. It’s either a shirt/girly blouse/jacket or jeans/capris. Tops and bottoms, what else?
Procrastination
It will no longer be procrastination if I revise my thesis proposal, conduct my interview with Teacher Gila, conduct a preschool study, finish my critique paper, put up the Christmas tree, plot out my January curriculum and shop for gifts in the next 3 weeks. But then again, I have Sudoku puzzles to figure out, Prison Break, House MD and Grey’s Anatomy episodes to see, blogs to write, YouTube videos to watch, a fortune teller to visit (if I still feel like doing so after this week), friends to chat with on YM, forums to read and react to on PEx, new songs to download, more daydreams to think about, more time to laugh with my kids and more time for the boxing gym, among others. The adrenaline rush is just so great for you to pass up. Stresstabs and Starbucks nonfat Latte that kept me awake til 4am will soon be my best friends.

Was commended during today’s meeting for having perfect attendance from June to November. Even I was surprised that I got this far without calling in sick even if I was - sick in the head or otherwise haha. Seriously, this is the first time it happened. Since I started working, I always counted the days and months until I earn my leave credits which I can’t wait to use up. Wala lang, it’s just nice to realize that nothing has stopped me yet from going to work… even if I only had less than two hours’ sleep from coming up with a decent thesis proposal last week. On second thought, I dunno if it even was a decent attempt. But an attempt, nevertheless.
I’m looking at our picture with Corinne, and I can’t help but smile. She’s such an adorable girl, and I somewhat see myself in her. We share the same birthday, and maybe it has something to do with that. This morning she was pretending to be my mommy and she was feeding me pancit made up of colored rubberbands. She wanted me to drink milk and she put the "pancit" in the baby bottle for me to drink. I was dancing while pretending to eat, and that made her pikon. She said I should not dance when she feeds me hahahaha She quickly bounces back to her perky self, though. Just like me! Maybe I’m really pikon by nature, but because I don’t harbor ill feelings for long, it seems like I can stretch my patience.
She loves to eat like I do, and it’s no wonder she’s on the hefty side. I just hope it doesn’t reach the point when she can’t dress as cute as she does now. She’s the type to try rough sports like boxing though hehehe. She loves to sing and make gigil like me! I hope she grows up to be everything that I wished I was when I was growing up… confident, independent, streetsmart, an affectionate daughter, a more giving sister and the top of her class.

The Elorde ballroom was a little more than half-filled when we got there before 2pm. Monica arrived a few minutes later and we got ourselves comfortable at the back of the room where all the Sucat trainers were. We were just a few meters from the Round Girls and their placards which my brother said came from this promotional agency near the Airfreight office where he works.
I know very little about boxing rules and I was just cheering on the player who seemed the punch harder. Sometimes Kristian gave a bit of commentary (he came after an hour or two), which helped us to understand what they were doing. But basically it was laughtrip for me and Mon. We were nodding our heads to the beat of some RnB music in between the bouts (which were 2 rounds of 2 minutes each, sometimes extending to 3 rounds). After the 10-minute break we knew they changed CDs which we assumed was RnB Compilation Volume 2 probably from BF Ruins Feel din namin to move to the beat of Eye of the Tiger hehehe.
We were making fun of the Round Girls whom we thought only had 22-inch waists who acquired them by wearing corsets. There was this I-On promo girl/round girl whose legs seemed to go on forever whose white shorts could only fit both my arms. Her shorts were a bit big for her and it was hung dangerously low that we were waiting for her buttcrack to show. We then had this crazy idea that she might not have a buttcrack at all, but just a very small hole somewhere where only a catheter could fit hahahahaha!
Never thought watching UKC could actually be fun! Since all the participants were all amateurs from the Elorde gyms around the metro, sobrang laughtrip watching some of them punch the lights out from their opponents. Meron sugod nang sugod, merong naghihintay lang ng suntok, merong players na sumasayaw na lang sa ring at inuubos ang 2 minutes, may natatapilok, may nahulog pa sa labas ng ring hahahaha! Sayang at walang na-knockout. Hindi ko lang feel talaga ang mga taga Gilmore gym. Ang yayabang leche! Ayun meron tuloy sa kanila na nadislocate ang shoulder. During the intermission, the emcee goes, "Sa may entrance pwede kayong bumili ng t-shirt. Kung may pera, bumili kayo. Kung wala, tingnan nyo na lang" in true boxing commentator fashion hahaha!
Guess whose buttcrack we saw, accidentally of course. Sayang wala si Mon when the emcee called on Lance Raymundo to sing. He was from the Gilmore gym by the way. He went on stage but his CD wasn’t ready yet. Apparently the guy who has it was nowhere to be found! So there had to be another match while he waited for his CD. When it was his turn, he climbed the ring and there! My brother and I just couldn’t stop laughing! Gross talaga. May belt na sya nun ha. By the way, the song he sang? "Cmon baby light my fire…" What the?!?!?! Kahit yung mga round girls hindi sya sinamahan sa ring when he called them. Kakahiya hehehe
Syempre na starstruck ako kay Ryan Eigenmann. Either he boxes at Katipunan or GIlmore. Kristian said Keempee was supposed to compete too, but I didn’t see him there. Christian Vasquez was there as always, apparently came in with this girl from the gym. Which I think for me isn’t very pretty, because of the dark circles on her eyes. And it’s not because I’m sourgraping. There were actually a lot of eye candy there, which made me stay there for a solid 6 hours! Unbelievable! But of course it’s because of the Sucat guys and girls that I stayed.
Contemplating if I can actually sign up for something like that. This Jill girl won, and she’s smaller than me though she punches quite hard. Lakasan nga lang daw ng loob eh.  At wala ako nun hahaha! Maybe next year if I shed 20 lbs, I just might. And I won’t tell anybody hehehe

I’ve downed my 5th Starbucks drink right before my Methods class kanina since I got the sticker card last Sunday when I met up with Charm. Just means it has gotten to be a daily EXPENSIVE routine to inch my way to a really neat leather-bound planner with a pen and stationery. I told Rica that instead of thinking of it as as very unnecesary AND FATTENING purchases, we can think of it as charity work, since after all, a portion of what we paid for will go to Spark Hope. Sigh, the excuses we come up with to justify our actions
Anyhoo, I’m supposed to be sleeping now to make up for today’s grogginess. But here I am, online and blogging. Sleepiness eluded me when I bonded with my brother when he picked me up from school. He was supposed to go boxing but I guess my dad got tamad to pick me up kaya he sent my brother instead.
The Knockout Challenge is this Sunday na pala, at natural, excited kami ni Mon hahaha. Sana front-row seats I’m hoping that I’ll see Zoom there, I don’t think he has trained for about a month now. Maybe I won’t even remember what he looked like
As we were driving home, I realized it was a Thursday pala, and looking back at everything that happened today, I can say that this day lived up to its expectations just like always. Something made me smile again even as I went through the day with my eyes only half open. I think I also had gas from laughing so hard with Bianca this morning because of these things…
- Renee had been told that the sticks she was holding should not be used as guns. She paused for a moment and she said, "but it’s only used for this!" and went on to do a tap-dancing/cabaret number holding the sticks like a baton… can you picture her? Oh my God… that really left me in stitches.
- we were calling Alden by his name and he said, "No, I’m not Alden, I’m Super Inggo!" And when Natalia sat beside him, he said "She can be Super Ingga." And when he was eating his grapes I heard him singing, "Boom tarat tarat… boom tarat tarat…." If I hadn’t been careful kanina, maybe rice would have come up my nostrils hahahaha!
- We told Corinne to kiss Judd everytime he leaves his chair. Judd doesn’t like being kissed by her so he eventually stopped. Corinne, on the other hand, would even chase him around the classroom and would cover him with kisses, even on his toes! Now that’s what you call head over heels in love And they’re only 2 years old!
- Everything that Joaquin does is laugh trip for us. Even more so now that he gained weight and has grown tall, maaabutan na nya si Judd who looks like a first grader. Your heart will melt when you meet this charmer. He knows how to make you fall for him!
- I have a love-hate relationship with Keileane. He becomes jealous when I get affectionate with the other kids, and he gets mad at me when I insist he’s the Rainbow Power Ranger and not Yellow But when he sees me he runs to me to give me a tight hug and a kiss on the lips. Sometimes I think we share a freaky connection, like what soulmate stuff are made of. Well, who says soulmates are only of the romantic kind anyway? It was only last summer that I got to know him and yet we hit it off with each other right away. He was never assigned to my care and yet he’s very very malambing to me. He’s so funny pa, with his lisp and his talkativeness. I hope I get to have a kid like that. Soon!
Thursdays are really small miracles on their own. There are always moments that remind me there are still things to smile about, how lucky I am to be happy in my job, I have old friends who take time out to ask how I am, and there are strangers who can make me feel good about myself. Naks.

(Wrote this last night, around 10pm but Friendster had its scheduled maintenance)

Took a jeep to go home from Elorde a few hours ago. There was a bit of traffic and I was doing some people watching. My gaze rested on a pretty couple on a RAV4 with untinted windows on the next lane. The girl rested her head on the guy’s shoulder and he started stroking her hair and face. Twas a very heartwarming gesture that could only elicit a silent "Awww!" from me. It has been more than a year since… though I do miss those moments, I could pretty much say I don’t miss the last person anymore. The last time I saw him was the most painful thing that has happened to me, and that single fact was more than enough to convince myself that he might as well be dead. Not that I’m bitter or anything, in fact I’ve long forgiven him. It’s just that I won’t do myself justice if I succumb to communicating with him again. Sarili ko na ang pinoprotektahan ko. Sabi nga ni Moira, "Tayo’y babae lamang, mahina’t marupok." Nasabi nya to nung mga panahong siya’y mahina’t marupok hahaha
Nagregress na naman ako. Back to my point. When we broke up, people were saying I was better off single than having anything to do with him. They say I’m smart, pretty, magaling makisama, matino, marunong pumorma, may sense of humor, a good daughter, yung tipong pinapakilala sa parents, Atenista pa! Talagang nakadagdag ba ng ganda points kung san ako grumaduate? I’ll meet daw a lot more matinong guys in the future if I just continue being myself. But a year down the line, it’s still the same for me. Not that I’m complaining, just wondering. Being single is definitely a good place to be in - I’m free to do anything I want (like boxing or gym, which I think will be the source of a lot of squabbles in a relationship), I can bond more with old and new friends and also my family, and much less gastos!
Back to that last characteristic they used to describe me, I think it has evolved to be more of a liability than an asset. Even more so that I’m working on a master’s degree pa. Sino na nga daw ba ang papatol sa kin except for those with the same or higher educational attainment than me? There’s not much Ateneans here in the south and most of the people I meet nowadays come from all walks of life. The delineation between what school you come from and the kind of upbringing becomes blurred as you grow older and expand your network. When I meet new people and they find out I’m an Atenean, they jokingly back off at mang-aasar na. Why do a lot of people have a notion that Ateneans are particularly different? Snobbish, elitist? They usually don’t show the same reaction when they meet a Lasallian. Kasi naman yung ibang Atenista sobrang magfeeling kaya nagegeneralize tayo tuloy. In reality, there are a lot more level-headed Atenistas than the nagfifeeling ones.
I’ve had co-workers who rarely talk to me because I was such, at baka mapasabak lang daw sila sa English. They eventually realize I’m not that kind. At sino namang nagsabi na hindi ako marunong magtagalog?  I’ve had "special" friendships which has gone pffft because they thought of me so highly and hindi nila ko kayang sabayan. And all this boils down to the point that I’ll most likely end up with an Atenean or at least someone from the "better" schools. (I used quotations because I don’t consider it a fact but a notion that most people have.) So that just makes my market shrink to the smallest fraction. It’s actually no wonder pala why it’s still the same for me, because I’m no longer exposed to that very small population. I may have had a slightly bigger chance when I was still in the corporate world but I’ve given that up already (with no regrets however). It’s just odd to realize that mingling every single day with "our kind" (supposedly) doesn’t guarantee such, considering that my best friend has just recently added bisexuals to her target market. For a restaurant owner, it’s like extending your operations to 24 hours, 7 days a week. It may mean more expense, more tired staff, need for more security, but with always a promise of better profits. However, I don’t think I’ll ever be inclined to do the same, THE ONE better double his efforts in finding me then!
Found out lang this morning that the husband of my classmate pala was Swiss, a chef at The Palms, no less. Got me thinking if I’ll end up with a foreigner. That’s why I’m itching to find out and will not allow any delays in finishing my MA. No Koreans please! It’s just not for me - to each his own, wag na magreact! Will immediately say yes if it’s Wentworth Miller, or a clone of, hahaha. Maybe, that’s why I haven’t met anyone yet, because I won’t meet him here… but in Italy! Or a safari in South Africa. Or bumping to him in Manhattan hahaha.
Share ko lang. When I got home from school around 4pm, I saw a clutter of wires at my Tito’s garage, whose house is incidentally beside ours. Apparently, he’s setting up a security camera somewhere, in true Big Brother fashion! He works for Sony, and he’s in charge of setting up the cameras all around the PBB house. I dunno yet if he will set up a monitor inside the house connected to the camera. Cool, and yet… I dunno. A bit exaggerated? Duh, our houses combined do not even come close to a mansion hehehe But our neighborhood isn’t that quiet anymore. But in any case, we might benefit from this precautionary measure in one way or another.
I still haven’t started my thesis proposal as of this writing and the minutes are ticking fast!

That is my theme song for the week. And I mean literally. I dunno if my skin has dried up or has gotten oilier from staying up late, basta I’ve never been this pimply before. It’s been hell!!! After two days, I finally finished making my powerpoint presentation for the workshop that I will be conducting on Monday, including the nifty index cards that I made so I won’t forget a single thing. It’s funny how organized I’m trying to be nowadays. I never made index card prompts before, I just relied on my assumed photographic memory (yeah right!) for school or work presentations. It’s refreshing though, how confident I feel now, it’s like nothing could go wrong on Monday. Unless of course my thumb drive and the photocopier fail to cooperate.
You may think I’m not procrastinating, but you see, I still have to submit a 30-page paper for my Methods of Research class on the 9th. It may be early, but not for me who’s up the whole night composing just a 5-page paper. My thoughts are too fast for my fingers that I end up with prolonged moments of blankness, struggling to organize the pertinent ones and eliminate the dirty ones - which are not so many by the way hahahaha!
It’s sad that the last time I went boxing was last Monday pa, when I accompanied Fara (my second recruit) to Elorde Katipunan, which, I have to say, has nice facilities albeit only half the size of the Sucat gym. I can’t practice tuloy the new combinations I’ve learned (which Zaldy says I should use so people will think I’m good hahaha). The training last Monday was really intense that I looked like I was thrown into a pool. Walang effect ang dri-fit shirt hehehe. The next two days left me aching all over naman and I can’t sleep at all. Now my butt and my eyes na lang are throbbing from sitting in front of the PC for 10-hour periods.
But for all this week’s vacation is worth, I was able to finish up oathtaking requirements in PRC (how I hate that God-forsaken place, it’s a glaring reminder of how corrupt our country is), was able to buy some neat stuff from Greenhills (big thanks to mom), satisfy my craving for Beard Papa’s eclair cream puffs (another millimeter added to my waistline huhuhu), and to sharpen my Sudoku puzzle-solving skills. I’ve been timing myself since I bought the booklet, and I’m proud to say my average time is 8 -10 minutes! There were really easy ones where I clocked at 4 minutes. The hard ones? Forget it. They need utmost concentration, not when you’re attempting to write a thesis proposal, which I have to start NOW, by the way.