i recently went to jakarta, indonesia to visit my sister. it was 2 whole days of sightseeing and picture taking. i really had fun at the safari even though it was crazy cold. my least favorite part would have to be the monas visit because it was ridiculously hot and it just got me into a really bad mood ('cause of the heat). it was a very short trip and i was really sad that it ended. my poor sister cried so hard when we left. i guess it's really hard to be away from family. i can only imagine how hard it is for those who go years without seeing theirs. at least my sister can visit every couple of months or so.

pictures are worth a thousand words so i won't elaborate anymore. i have yet to find a good photo sharing website where i can upload all the pictures. in this day and age, this is my problem.

i was absent from school last monday so i had to make an excuse letter. my mom has been worrying about that excuse letter since i left for jakarta. as in WORRYING. she wanted to say i was sick or some other crazy story. we settled for the truth in the end and when i gave the letter to mrs. sacdalan, she didn't even glance at it. all that fuss for nothing. tsk tsk.

i really hate being absent from school because then, you miss so much stuff. and it sucks to catch up. the requirements to be passed piled up because i didn't do any of them on the weekend. as i'm typing, i'm losing valuable study time but goodness, we all have to vent our frustrations somewhere, sometime.

the day i got back, an elective classmate reminded me of the computer contest i was part of. 3 PM rolled around and the competition started. what we had to do was really easy. the problem was the time limit. i guess we didn't really go about it strategically, dhanna and i. so in the end, we lacked pictures and video. which is probably really important to the final score. i'm glad to say the lyrics were appearing at the appropriate times. that's really the only good part. some pictures lasted for 30 seconds and there wasn't time to put any transitions. so it's time to kiss victory goodbye.

friday, before i left, we had the tle cooking demo. our dish was a success! everyone said it was really good and the best part is, it was really easy to make. hooray for seastrings (patent pending)! i don't have a picture of it, which sucks, but it's okay. i'm contented everyone enjoyed it. we couldn't join the food sale because our product was susceptible to spoilage. i'm cool with that though. my sister concluded that that meant our dish was not "feasible". which made a lot of sense to me.

i'll have more stories to share next time. entering nerd mode in a few minutes.

next up: the things i missed because i went to jakarta.

currently listening to: spring awakening soundboard

i just want to post something before i delve into my tle report.

there's tons of catching up to do, a lot of events i haven't reported. but i'd really rather concentrate on today's events. that might seem weird since it's only noon, but this morning has been the most eventful one this week, worthy of a blogpost.

as my trips to the dentist have been a running discussion in this blog, i shall continue. i went to the dentist this morning. it seems new, given that my last visit was six months ago. nothing really exciting happened. he took a picture of my teeth and told me to come back after another six months. ahhh, the joys of retainer land.

afterward, i decided to go to the national bookstore, approximately a block away. when i arrived it was 9:50. they open at 10. i really didn't want to stand in front of the store under the heat of the sun. so i found myself in greenhills with nothing to do. wrong! it's a shopping complex for **ck's sake! so i walked over to the promenade, with the intention of taking my business to fully booked. lo and behold, it was closed too. albeit there wasn't a lock on the door like in nbs, the "closed" sign was held up. i trudged back to the bank where my mom was at and waited until she was finished. we had a snack and went over to v-mall to go to "a different bookstore". their collection was limited so we ended up at nbs (which was open by then). lusted after catching fire for a while before moving on to other books.* got 2 new books and a magazine. they're just for leisure reading so i have something to do for the remaining days of sembreak. i'll blog about the books if they're any good. the magazine is really just for inspiration. i saw "the mortal instruments" on display and it looked promising. hmmm, next time (when i have more money saved up/when my parents feel like giving me money).

on the way home, i saw a vespa dealership. it's really cool that they sell them in the philippines now. i was introduced to the vespa by the lizzie mcguire movie and gossip girl later on (oh, zoey 101 too, although it was called...JET X!). that must mean there's a demand for italian scooters here. isn't it weird that as more filipinos get poorer everyday, there are some who get so much richer? high-end brands and boutiques are popping up everywhere. what's the deal with that?

on a shallower note, i really wouldn't mind having a vespa. it looks way cool.

well, the time has come for me to bury my nose in a book so i won't lament the fact that i have not seen a single movie since my sembreak started. and there are so many good ones out too! argh.

*i read the hunger games. awesome book. highly recommended.

caption: total wannabe :D

we went to camsur to go to the camsur watersports complex to try out their cable park. it was a 10-hour drive from manila to naga but it was worth it.

i wiped out a lot just by kneeboarding. but i finally got to go the distance after, like, 5 failed attempts. i tried actual wakeboarding but i never went farther than 3 feet. ahh, well. i'll get it right next time.

most of my cousins were there so that made it more fun. i'm happy to report that i was not the worst in the bunch. yesss!

in other news, since we were already in the bicol area, we also stopped by the cagsawa ruins and got to take pictures with mt. mayon in the background. pretty lame because clouds covered half the mountain.

you should go but i'd recommend that you take the plane to naga. a 10-hour drive along roads under repair was not my mom's idea of a vacation.

currently listening to: great DJ - the ting tings

just came back from calapan (again). slept and ate the whole time i was there. if i wasn't doing either, i was probably walking to the table/bed. super lazy the whole time.

got to watch tenacious d & the pick of destiny twice. watched idiocracy with my sleeping grandmother. played billiards with my cousins. nothing too exciting.

lost my appetite for oatmeal.

sorry for my attitude. i'm glad i made it to 2009. :D just not super excited for blogging. i feel like i already have to do a million things and i haven't even started.

which is the truth, incidentally.

currently listening to: (coffee's for closers) - fall out boy

mom screamed me into consciousness this morning. how can she be annoyed at me for oversleeping?

had my dentist appointment today. he said there were still spaces between my teeth. the rubber rings are now fully connected with one another (get the picture?). it's tight as hell now and it hurts a bit. i really thought he was gonna take them out. dagnabbit.

got accessories for my ipod. went dress shopping with sister dear. i'm pretty sure it's my third visit to greenhills within a period of seven days. that's a record for me.

slow day all in all.

gonna leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow to go back to calapan. 2009 is just around the corner...

update! i just remembered that my sister spotted slick rick and tony toni. i wanted to point at them and say "spot the slick!". unfortunately, since i haven't been listening lately, i'm not sure if that contest is still in progress. stupid time slot change. haha. that's all.

currently listening to: remembering sunday - all time low

yeah. i promised a long post. i hope i don't disappoint. imma turn off the music so i can concentrate.

21 december 2008 - there i was. thinking i could just bum around the house when dad decides to drag me to calapan. i really didn't wanna go. but who could argue with him? so off we went. i packed the bare essentials because we were just gonna take the bus. couldn't take the car coz there was just the two of us. we had rolls and rolls of fabric with us for the funeraria. total hassle. but frankly, i wasn't bothered much because there were still porters around. did i mention we left the house at around 4? that meant 5 hours of bus ride + 2 more hours on a ro-ro. so we got to calapan at 11 in the evening. super tiring. i slept at mama's house. there were tons of mosquitos around. rather, there were about 2 mosquitos who were picking away at me. ugh.

22 december 2008 - i finally got around to sleeping. only to be woken at 4 AM by the bells of the church signaling the midnight mass. great. didn't do much for the whole day. mama and aling apin took me to the bayan to shop. got a shirt. mama got shoes. went home 'cause it started raining. ate dinner. slept. w/ a bed net this time. exciting day. dad offered to teach me how to drive already. dang.

23 december 2008 - woken by the church bells again. couldn't help it. i even caught a cold. the bed net wasn't that useful 'cause a mosquito still penetrated it.

moral of the story: tuck the ends in.

went to the main house to start organizing photos. started at the year 1976. was able to work my way to 1990 by the end of the whole trip. not bad. considering i sorted 600+ photos. went to visit cousins' place. got food for the gods from tita noemi. sampled tita tess' calamansi slush w/ grenadine and the fried crablets (thumbs up). went home and just watched abs-cbn with my grandmother.

24 december 2008 - organized more photos. surprisingly had a good nights' sleep. the bed net ends were tucked safely under the mattress. packed my things. left at 1:30 on the supercat. sped through SLEX. home sweet home at around 6 PM. went to mass w/ the family at santo domingo church. place was so filled with people we couldn't even get seats. had to stand the whole time along with 1000+ people. terrible.

25 december 2008 - had noche buena at home and then opened gifts. here's some of the cool things i got

yeah. weekend post part two. it's been a busy weekend.

friday - went to school and did who-knows-what. got home. rescheduled dentist appointment and then went to greenhills with my dad. bought 7:45 pm tickets for eagle eye. ate dinner at peri-peri in promenade. bought a few stuff. saw eagle eye [shia labeouf, michelle monaghan, billy bob thornton]. went home at 10:30.

saturday - woke up like it's a school day and went to school like it's a school day. iLead forum. had school introductions. school intoductions were mostly creative. stc's was lame. so sad. the palihan leaders [me included] were supposed to be in charge of that. i appreciated xavier's because their intro was from one of my most favorite movies of all time: dodgeball [clap, clap, cobra hiss :)]. had tuna sandwich and new harvest for the working merienda. watched the presentations of 13 schools on their best practices on environment. gawd. they were all pretty much the same. i used to believe that the outreach programs were unique to stc. oh dear, how wrong i was. high schools everywhere pretty much do the same things. theresians aren't missing out on much.

got home at nearly 1:00 pm. scarfed my lunch down. got dressed. packed for trip. left with the family for tagaytay at 2:00ish. arrived at 8 suites by fat jimmy two and a half hours later. the name is odd but the place is fantastic and very zen-ish. the place is on a 'soft opening'. the place is a kilometer away from tagaytay highlands, the destination. changed into party clothes and left at 6:00 pm. arrived at country club to celebrate my cousin's wedding. it was a 'dinner and dance party'. i had dinner but did no dancing. stayed there until a quarter to 10. went back to hotel to rest and have a gossip girl marathon [season one].

sunday - got up at 9 and had breakfast at merk's cafe. watched gossip girl some more. got ready to leave. left the hotel at 12:30. ate lunch at unknown grill place. traveled back to manila. went to a 4:00 pm mass at the holy redeemer. bought bread at pan de manila. got home at 5:30 pm-ish. unpacked and got ready for tomorrow. opened the computer and watched fall out boy's video for i don't care. downloaded norwegian recycling compilation album. blogged on blogger.

so, what was your weekend like?

here i am, back from my 6-day vaycay in palawan. i'm about 10 shades darker but it's cool. i'm glad my inner black is finally coming out. i always knew i was black in the past life. kidding ;) when they took a picture of me at night, i couldn't be seen unless a flash was put in. i'm THAT dark.

ok, enough about my skin tone. tomorrow is mikka's birthday so, happy birthday to her! i've kinda lost the concept of time. people back there sleep so early. most of the shops are closed by 7 so it feels so late into the night, but it's actually just 9:00 pm.

it was kinda boring, to be honest. we were there for 6 days, after all. palawan wasn't exactly the tourist destination it promised. there aren't that many places to go to. there's the croc farm, butterfly farm, iwahig prison, congressman's house overlooking the city, various restos, island hopping, underground cave, dos palmas, and el nido. if you have unlimited cash, you can do all this in 3 days-tops. and we were there for 6 DAYS so you can just imagine how much family fun we didn't have.

we stayed in this house just outside the city. nevertheless, it still takes 30 minutes to reach the city center. the tv in the house only has one channel-GMA. no wonder they have better ratings...people are practically left with no choice. in front of the house was this international motocross track. it was pretty cool, although no one was actually motocrossing. we only saw this one kid with a bicycle.

it was still fun, but dragged on a bit too long. i wouldn't put myself through that again. maybe when we go to el nido. :D

we're gonna leave for puerto prinsesa tomorrow. by 'we', i mean my parents, me, and my brother. i pray that we will have fun, because there is no such guarantee. puerto prinsesa is in palawan. we will be flying in from manila. emphasize 'flying in'. we hardly go on trips that require us to get on a plane. we're more of the roadtrip kind. i haven't packed properly yet. which reminds me. i packed my whole closet because we'll be staying there for a week. a week. that's too long to go with only your parents and brother around. i'm not excited at all, to be honest. it should be fine. it should be fine. i hope it will be fine.

yesterday, i hung out with B at the mall. just the two of us. it was so weird. it was just the two of us. i felt eerie about the sudden freedom we were given. i remember ashley tisdale. on one of the commercials on the disney channel, she was asked: when was the first time you ever felt grown up? she said 'when it was just me and my bestfriend at the mall. all alone.' yesterday, i didn't exactly feel all grown up. it was fun. we just walked around the mall and tried to decide what to do. my feet ached from all the walking so i didn't enjoy it as much as i should have. at about 5, we went back to B's hotel room. haha. that sounds a bit wrong. we watched juno on her mom's laptop. we were enjoying watching it until the laptop ran out of battery. we called daryll up in her home. turns out the hotel charges the guests for phone calls. it's Php 19/minute. how crazy is that? we didn't even realize how much a call costs until my mom asked. so we ended up just watching tv and dancing and singing along whenever a JB song came on. we also played hide and seek. B is terrible at it. the first time i was the 'it'. she didn't hide fast enough. the next time around, i hid behind the curtains. i heard B opening the closet doors. she even came close to finding me. but sadly, she didn't. when she still didn't find me, she just gave up and let me keep on hiding. i realizd she wasn't looking for me anymore so i came out. let it be known that B sucks at hide and seek.

this week has just been too hectic to have any time for blogging. i was so busy!!! the teachers give us so much homework. look at my calendar!

feb 1 -- TLE poster, Speech-revised script, CAE-poem

feb 2 -- Soc. Sci. project, Daryll-sleepover

feb 3 -- Belay's party 8am-4 pm

feb 5 -- Science project, Music homework

would you believe how much time it takes to do all of those things? crazy, right? note feb 2. daryll came to sleep over at my house. my first sleepover!! isn't that cool? the main reason for that sleepover is to make the science project duo on feb5. we were working from 3:30 am to 11:30 pm. aimee went over to help us. she stayed until 7:30. she was a really big help. she did the whole cover! thanks a bunch, aimee. we couldn't have done it without you! the following day was belay's party. we had to wake up at seven to get ready for the 8 am assembly at mcdo retiro. so the party went like this:

7:00 am - wake up time (daryll woke me up)

7:30 am - breakfast time (bacon, eggs, loaf and milo)

8:15 am - arrival at mcdo retiro (everyone was there already - mikka, lourdes, grace and belay)

8:30 am- 11:00 am - hanging out at belay's house (we were delayed because her mom had to use the car)

11:00 am onwards - antipolo (the house there was huge; belay's cousins were there coz it was also her tito's birthday)

6:30 pm - departure from antipolo

7:30 pm - arrival at mcdo retiro

7:45 pm - i'm home!

the party was so much fun! thank goodness i didn't have the project to worry about. we finished it the night before, remember? ysabel and lourdes have not finished theirs however. they were doing it when we were in antipolo. anyway, to you this week might not seem busy, but to me, i'm totally exhausted!

bye for now!

p.s. i upgraded my blogger account (it was mandatory). see any difference?