Quarter Life Musings

I’ve proven time and again that Thursday is my lucky day. It never ceases to surprise me, but they’re not necessarily good ones always. I can probably say last Thursday was quite monumental, but it ended with a big bang actually.
I thought that the only interesting thing two days ago was that I’ll be watching 300 for the second time with the night group. It’s been a while since we got together so I was looking forward to it. A free diamond peel trial treatment was scheduled for that day, thanks to Jing, and I thought everything was going to be hassle-free. Until I rode a 5-minute jeep ride from Slimmers Alabang to the bus terminal before Southmall.
I noticed right away that I was sandwiched by two ugly men but I told myself it will just be a short ride. I saw my bag was partly open and even saw the brown string of my phone holder inside, and I closed it after paying. I suddenly felt the guy on my right was squishing me and he was carrying a bag but since I was aware I closed my bag already, I was looking out for my stop. He looked like he wanted to go down but I beat him to it. The moment I settled in the bus, I searched for my phone AND IT WASN’T THERE ANYMORE! Kulang na lang iunload ko lahat sa bus laman ng bag ko. Thank God my Zen and my wallet were still intact, big thanks to my Starbucks planner that was on top of them.
The whole trip from Las Pinas to MOA, nakatulala lang ako. I can’t afford to buy a new phone now! I went straight to the Globe Business Center to have my line disconnected lest the snatcher was smart enough to make so many calls under my dad’s name. The Globe guy was trying to console me but he needed to call my dad to confirm the disconnection request. He passed the phone to me when my dad learned my phone was stolen.
Dad: O ano ba nangyari?
Me: Nasa jeep ako… blah blah…
Dad: So nasan ka ngayon?
Me: Ay, nasa MOA pala ko dad, kasama ko sina Kirs mamaya…
Nakalimutan ko magpaalam! Natawa nga yung mga taga Globe eh. Nabisto pa daw ako hehehe.
Anyway I might have told my story around 20 times that afternoon, and APP had the brilliant idea of calling Customer Service to ask if I’m entitled to any Loyalty privilege. Napatayo ako from my seat when the CSR told me I’m entitled to 1,400 worth of bill rebates EVERY MONTH FOR TWO YEARS or choose a free phone from a Blackberry, Motorola V3xx, SE Z810i or a Nokia E65. Even asked the CSR if she was kidding hahaha. From then on, nagmukhang normal na naman ako.
Despite the loss, it still ended on a positive note. Mahal talaga ko ni God

Syempre, instead of finishing Javier’s narrative report, I opted to start this overdue blog hahaha. Will cram later when I get home from the party
It’s been 3 days since I arrived from Shanghai, and I’m still on a high. (It rhymes!) Laugh trip pa rin even kanina when we got together for class and reminisced about the funny moments of the trip, and I’ll tell you about it soon. I also have to figure out how to put all our funny pics in a slideshow and post the link here. This will be a multi-part entry, just watch out for it

Today has been recorded as the hottest day of the year so far at 34.7C. I wonder how Bangkok would feel like whose weather averages 37C?! I thought I’d have a nosebleed from walking in the heat this afternoon. Quite thankful I’ll be in Shanghai in the next few days. Already brought out the trenchcoat and started packing sweaters… cannot contain my excitement any longer!

For the first time in a long time, hindi photofinish ang pag gym ko this afternoon. Spent a solid 3 hours on my workout even if Jing and I were initially sleepy and tamad when we got there. Ginanahan lang ako partly because of the 8-pack abs of those hot Spartans haha. Kaya all the upper body exercises I could think of ginawa ko na kanina.
If only I can be like one of those perpetually toned girls who can starve themselves to death, or the really lucky ones who can eat themselves into oblivion and not gain an ounce. Here I am, painfully struggling not to reach out for a Toblerone bar, doing 300 crunches every morning, and devoted to using Nivea’s Goodbye Cellulite cream (am I divulging too much information here?) Promised myself I’ll be 20lbs lighter for the Boracay rendezvous with Cathi in June. I’m keeping my fingers crossed as I write this, dahil konting katamaran lang, I might find myself gorging on peanut butter on a really bad day.
Last Monday, Neil taught us the first few steps to Sean Paul’s Give It Up to Me. Sigh, astig talaga choreography nya, love ko na sya! Cute pa at mabait enough to extend his class 15 minutes even Sayang I won’t see him on Monday, it’ll be hard learning the new steps. Big thanks to guys like him who provide interesting reasons to go back to the gym. Would be so much easier if they transfer at Festi. Pero mukhang June pa yon
Might or might not go boxing before the trip. Though I’m looking forward to really good dimsum this weekend, I’m secretly hoping they’ll be too expensive para hindi ako ganahan hahaha

For the record, it was a total of 302, including the Captain and King Leonidas. Dragged my bro to wait for me at ATC while I tutor Patxi and we were comfortably seated 45 minutes before the 5:15 showing, munching on the biggest bucket of Taters sour cream and chives.
Is it just me or did Gerard Butler looked more like a drawing than a real person? But throughout the film his presence was so compelling  (even if he doesn’t shout all the time) that I had to stop chewing to completely hear what he says. Galing niya talaga, crush ko na nga eh. Surprising to know he was being considered for James Bond then but Pierce Brosnan just beat him to it.
Enjoyed the minimalist outfits and the six-pack abs of the Spartans hahaha. The captain’s son was cute! Too bad his reflexes weakened after that father-son moment that he was caught offguard with that whack on the head. Wasn’t there about three heads that were sent flying, apart from the countless slicing of limbs? Yum yum.
Faramir, was the one with the "little scratch" and Theron was also seen in Mona Lisa Smile. Caught the making of 300 on HBO about an hour ago, and I didn’t realize what a hunk this Xerxes person was in real life! Rodrigo Santoro’s the name, and can you believe he’s the voice of Stuart Little?! My bro and I had a blast the time when Xerxes put both his hands on Leonidas’ shoulder. "Mukhang tense ka ata, gusto mo ng massage?" sabay slide down ng hands to his chest. Hahahaha laugh trip! Pero no joke, I didn’t recognize his actual features beneath that flamboyant Xerxes makeup.
The thing that blew me away were the visuals - totally breathtaking! The gray/silvery sky in contrast with the golden wheatfields and their red capes against that backdrop; the splatter of blood and the thrusting of their spears, the way the Oracle’s filmy dress blended with the smoke, and everything else. Each battle scene was intense and the slow-mo moments were fantastic! Kahit ulit-ulitin sulit pa rin.
Hanep si Frank Miller!

Feels so good to finally finish 1 book report! I thought I won’t be sleeping tonight because I was barely making progress this afternoon. I only have to worry about 1 more tomorrow. It may have been the chocolate from Martin’s (or refusing dinner) but the surge of inspiration came in, albeit quite late, around 9pm. I dunno, but I feel it had to be one of the best (if not the best) 2 page paper I’ve written recently. Exag ba? Ang hyper ko ngayon even if my stomach is growling and it’s getting close to midnight! I think the chocolate’s kicking in….
I can’t believe I’m going to Bora again! First week of June nga lang but who cares?! I only had to pay for tax because of the Cebu Pac offer. It will just be me and Cathi prowling the white sands for fresh meat LOL. Can’t wait! It’s going to be my 3rd plane ride for the year, and I’ll be broke as I’ll ever be.
Something I learned today: 3 year old kids may be able to count with objects but drawing them is a totally different story. The kids were made to draw candles on a cupcake pertaining to the number written on the side. Half of them can barely count out loud AND draw. The objects have to be present first before they can count out loud. Strange, but interesting. Doesn’t mean anything at this point, and it’s no cause for alarm. They have a few years more to shape up their math skills. Hay nako, don’t get me started with preschool stuff, or I might be typing til the wee hours of the morning.

I’m back! Not without a mouthful to those bastards who stole the PLDT cables that run through our village FOR THE THIRD FREAKING TIME since Typhoon Milenyo. Tamaan kayo ng lintik for leaving us phone line and Internet-deprived for a couple of days. Siguro I have to be thankful a bit that you spared me the inconvenience on my birthday. Sana nawa’y tubuan na kayo ng sangkatutak na kulugo sa katawan kung ulitin nyo pa yun.
I missed blogging so much that I have to set aside all my other tasks for tonight to do this. Talk about priorities hahaha. Wala ng pakialaman. Anyhoo I would like to thank again everyone who greeted me, kahit na late May iba dyan, ang yabang, patawag-tawag pa, maling date naman ang alam! Hey Lili, I hope you had a blast during your birthday too!
3 weeks to go and the schoolyear’s over. No more know-it-all, irresponsible grade schoolers who are too tamad for their own good! Hay nako, I’m not spared from wrinkles because of you. I’ve got 3 more narrative reports to write, a Moving Up program to practice for, final PTCs for the year. I hope I can be considered Lead Teacher na by June. I think I’m more inclined to stay because I’ll start thesis by June/July and I need all the "me" time I can get.
4 weeks to go before the third term ends. 2 book reports, project documentation and a teacher portfolio to go, which I have to cram for the whole of March, and all I can think about is the Shanghai trip waaaah! I’ve picked out the sweaters and the coats (naks kala mo I’ll be gone for a long time!) from Tita Ana’s closet, secretly hoping it’ll be colder than Hong Kong last April para majustify ang pagporma ko LOL!
While waiting for our boss to call us for a meeting, we were talking about marriages and families. Someone pointed out that some people have almost perfect marriages to make up for their f*cked up families. So, it is just one or the other and never both? Does that mean that having a good family accounts for a pathetic and/or non-existent lovelife like mine? Errrr… I think I’d rather be doomed to suffer as a singleton than have my family fall apart. I think I can take being an old maid than have a philandering dad (my dad’s the greatest). I can take having rifts with my mom because we can easily settle that. The last one that we had?  It’s over! I think she finally understands me now It was even she who said that my thoughts will not always be the same as hers. Finally!

Thanks to everyone who remembered my birthday! *hug* Twas a blast even if I didn’t have a big party. It was so nice of parents to give me gifts even if it was really Corinne and Arnaud’s birthday celebration. Really nice of Irene to buy me a cake so I can blow a candle too! Had another cake at Jaye’s; with pizza, chips, Red Horse and a Magic Mic Much thanks to Lala, Jaye, Jen and Dang for celebrating with
me - mga loka-loka kayong lahat! Really looking forward to another
bonding moment at Galera very soon
Nice to have time for some quiet reflection at the Greenbelt Chapel with a thought-provoking homily by the priest.
My diet? Threw it out the window! never had this much sweets for the longest time! Have to hand it to you Tina, one of the best cookies I’ve tasted. Big, chunky, chocolate chip! Which by the way was so good with the Moroccan Mint tea latte from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. I guess I just have to work double time with Neil on Monday…

It’s Muntinlupa Day, and I just came home with a box of blueberry tarts from Rowena’s in Tagaytay. Had a really big lunch with Sheila, Jenny and Issa at Leslie’s after visiting Seven Pillars at Laguna Bel-Air and St. Scho Westgrove to observe Sheila and Jay’s classes, respectively.
SSC Westgrove looked like a monastery on top of a hill, very much like the pictures I remembered seeing back in grade school. The school grounds are beautiful - there’s so much space, the air is fresh, the sun shines on everything. A far cry from the cramped and sinister-looking Manila campus that I’ve known. I heard they’ve erected more buildings, making the campus a claustrophobic’s nightmare. Westgrove makes a great venue for muni-muni, especially as you get to the third floor viewing deck that gives you a spectacular view of the mountains and the nearby La Salle Canlubang (which I heard looks like an asylum with its metal doors and green tinted windows).
From the parking lot, we saw little girls crawling on the lobby floor. We figured it was recess and went in to find Jay’s class. Seeing girls clad in ubiquitous white ruffled blouses and navy blue jumpers gave me goosebumps, but at the same time filled me with a sense of belonging. NO JOKE! How can it not be, I’ve worn them for 11 years?  For a moment I was transformed back in 1985, when I sat in on one of the front desks in Ms. Osi’s class on the first floor (may she rest in peace). I had apple-cut hair, and my pink plaid lunchbox always containing Goldilocks mamon and Zesto orange juice placed beside the desk. I belonged to Prep St. Emebert, and I remembered spending recess playing in the big treehouse near Gate 7. I had always been chubby, and outgrew my uniforms in less than a year. I don’t remember running a lot, I preferred drawing and coloring as I sat on the floor without a care in the world and wait for the schoolbus (or rather, a school jeepney driven by Mang Chikiting).
Jay’s class of 27 was a riot, and I’m sure my class more than 20 years ago was basically the same. Ms. Osi, God bless your soul! Thanks for your patience most of all. It’s really no joke to be a teacher, especially when you’re handling that many. Spoiled pa nga kami sa Toddlers, we even have a yaya in the room to clean up after us. Bayani ka, Jay! Di ko kaya yun.
Jenny just resigned from Rosemont and was pretty good at persuading me to replace her for next schoolyear. Almost shoo-in na daw eh. I might just drop by and submit my resume one of these days, just to check if I’d have good vibes with the place.
Hmmm if I do get good vibes, would I be willing to give up what I have now?