Journal Entry

I was tidying up and trying to throw stuff that I no longer need when I saw some of my old Starbucks planner which has a few random journal entries.  

This one is from 25 Feb 2011 (retrieved 28 Mar 2020)

It's the 25th Anniversary of Edsa 1. 
But no, Im not gonna write about that.
I read from Inquirer the other day about the virtue of gratitude. It says we have to write at least 2 things that make us grateful each day

1.  Boredom hits me and again, Im at that point when I ask what my purpose in life is. And since I dont have a strong, resounding answer, I naturally dont feel that great.  Than I talked to V and she doesnt feel that great either. She's quitting work.  I wished her luck and said she'll do good. Cos I believe she'll do good. She's a smart girl. And she felt like crying because she said she needed that boost of confidence.  And I felt good as well.  I think I have that "gift" that I can somehow make my friends feel good by a simple show of support from me. 

2. I have supportive parents.  I cant relate when she talked about one of her parents now having enough confidence in her.  

Wish she'll really do good. 

late gong xi fa cai post

lo hei, a traditional cny dish which is supposed to be tossed by the whole family


tossing lo hei while saying lo hei out loud


10-vegetable noodle which became a 7-vegetable noodles


veggies in masarap na dressing




steamed duck (damn, i failed to take a photo of the baked turkey)


kim and mitchie preparing dessert in kim's cozy kitchen


almond jelly with lychee and peaches

Journal Entry

I was tidying up and trying to throw stuff that I no longer need when I saw some of my old Starbucks planner which has a few random journal entries.  

This one is from 03 Feb 2011 (retrieved 28 Mar 2020)

It just dawned on me.  This is my third space.  Leaf of a notebook.  Coffee shop receipts.  Not the typical geographical space, but a spatial reality indeed.

I watched Boy A last night.  Andrew Garfield - his acting was effective and I guess the movie itself was effective that it made me realize and rethink about my views on things, especially on second chances to those who ask for it.

Man can sometimes be cruel.  The world, in general, can really be cruel to those who have sinned. Yes, we're men and hence we're rational.  But it's ironic that the same rationality makes us very much the same with animals. We hurt others when we're hurt.  Some kill when loved ones get killed. Maybe there's something we're missing about our understanding of human rationality. 

In one of their interviews for The Social Network, Andrew Garfield talked about us being human and our capacity to empathize (this was in response to a question on how does it feel to portray someone who's still alive or getting into character. And so the romantic idealist in him, I feel, revealed those words.  Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield made me look at actors differently.  They probably are the ones who take craft seriously and are respectable people in their own right.  Justin Timberlake look like a dumb, egoistic one when seated next to them).

Anyway, yeah I guess it's one of the features that characterize us from animals. Empathy can help us become better individuals.  Empathy can help us believe and hope that people can change. 

Now, I understand why some people advocate for rehabilitation instead of death penalty.

sunny new year

woke up with the sun smiling at our window. pero maya maya lang, we saw this...

zooming in...

cant see the other car from our window though.

so drive safely people.

snippets

its been raining for 24 hours now. continuously. there were sporadic heavy downpours but most of the time, its just rainshowers. ang dilim. sarap matulog! katamad lumabas. buti na lang may stock kaming munggo. finally, i can utilize the leaves from my ampalaya plant.
-----
for the past 2 weeks, me and some of my classmates have been going out after class. at first it was holland v, then adam park. next we're going chinatown, arab street, etc etc. anne and i made a deal that we'll bring them to 7107 flavours one time for some pinoy food.
----
i finally finished my 1st budget trip series entry last night. its a very late entry. and so will be the succeeding ones.
----
i read about erwan heussef's blog and checked it last night. i think it was good, with a pretty cool concept and writing style. there's just one thing that im not comfortable with, he keeps on touching his glasses and nose while cooking.

i also read an article from the forum (up faculty newsletter i think) way back that they dont encourage celebrities doing cooking shows to wear jewelries when cooking due to sanitary reasons. that issue was about food nutrition and sanitation and was 'instigated' by the fact that a lot of poeople is not aware of proper food handling.
----
i had a classmate who asked me about
1. is it true that the marcos wealth is not only from the coffers of the philippine government but because he found a lot of gold bars and he hid it somewhere?
2. why do convent bred filipino ladies wear really really big pearls? (referring to gloria arroyo)
hehe
-----
i love the library. whether that be in btc or krc. i love its cool, relaxing, quiet atmosphere. i like krc because of the study carrels, allowing you to occupy that entire room for a day. i like btc because i always get to seat beside a window with a beautiful view of the trees and the lawn outside.
i think its my geek, introvert self coming out.
----
i speak better english in my new media than in my theories class. sometimes i even surprise myself that i can speak flawless english (errr or so i think anyway) without stuttering. but in my theory class, i always grasp for that word that could express what i want to say.

pwede magtagalog?

scene from the lone printer

after a few minutes of monopolizing the printer

guy: so how many pages are you printing
girl: im not sure but its quite a lot so this will take some time

*ang bagal ng printer*

guy: the files must be big
girl: yeah, and its printing so slow. sorry for that
guy: no worries, im just wondering if youre printing about a hundred
girl: no, just around half of that
guy: youre from lky?
girl: no, from fass
guy: where is that
girl: faculty of arts
guy: oh, so youre just here to study
girl: yeah. hmm i thnk this is the last one so, the printer is yours

*finally, no more queue from the printing release station

girl staples and punches her stuff. guy is on the monitor and enter his student number. but wait, something seems wrong with his cash card/ezlink so he leaves the station without printing anything

girl heads to the staircase. guy was at the information counter near that, sees the girl and waves. girl smiles back.

the end.

post for the day

its been ages since i bought books for school because im so used to photocopied articles from various sources. but today, i bought 2. one is a textbook for my new media class and the other, a biography authored by my malaysia module prof.

i think i will keep one of them. the other, ill put on sale for next semester.

caught in surprise

i was looking at him without anticipating that he'll look back. then when he was like 3 feet away from me, he did look at me. and i froze. there was a millisecond of gaze locking then i looked away. i could just imagine how i looked at that time - big, round, surprised eyes. i didnt know which direction i laid my eyes on after but i knew, i looked away. otherwise, ill be excommunicated. bwahaha

the week that was

monday was my first school day. went to school for my malaysia module but prof didnt show up. we were at the classroom until 7pm. fortunately, one of my classmates is our prof's colleague so she called him up. it turned out he wont really come to class because of a commitment. he emailed somebody who was supposed to email us but nobody received that email so we all turned up to class.

on a sidenote, its good to see familiar faces. kami kami ulit

tuesday was spent doing nothing. we spent the day inside the house because it rained the entire day.

wednesday was bye bye day. i love airports... except when its your time to say "see you later" to your loved ones. went home that night to a room which is back to its normal state. its just me and hoys again.

thursday was cnm day. i cross enrolled for a cnm module and was surprised at the number of students in that class: 4. me and another pinay plus 2 exchange students, 1 from norway and 1 from germany. i like the module and the prof seems ok so i hope it will be a good class. that night, i saw my ex-boss on ym so hoys and i popped him which resulted to me editing his paper.

friday was my most productive day. went to my other cnm class and this time, there were only 3 of us. one was the student from norway and another exchange student from denmark. this module seems to be challenging with its requirement for a weekly reflection essay for the readings, field report, term paper plus a lead discussant role.

after the class, i went to mpsh 4 for the blood donation project. i was late for my shift but there were a lot of other volunteers so it didnt become a prob. i was assigned to the distribution of freebies part. for every blood donor, i should give a 'thank you pack' consisting of a pretty cool planner from the red cross, voucher, 2 kinds of vitamins and a small medicine box. at kahit saang blood donation, staple ang juice at biscuits :) but here, aside from juice and biscuits, meron pang tubig especially packed for the red cross, apple at stress ball.

around 4 pm,konti na lang ang blood donors so i opted to donate blood also. 3 of the nurses were pinoy :) my first attempt at blood donation back home was a failure because the nurse said my blood was too thick. i only got to fill half of the bag after about 15 mins (which i later on found out from the nurse during my second blood donation that it was possible that the extremely slow blood flow during that time was due to a wrong insertion of the needle. he said that if there was something wrng with my blood, they should have noticed that during the test which made sense). my second attempt was successful but i had minor bruises near the wound after. that was normal as explained to me. this time, it was perfect. may pinahid na anesthesia, the nurse was smooth, and there were no bruises after.



the kid beside me though felt dizzy after. yun naman pala, he had classes from 9 until 3 and he havent had lunch tapos dumiretso na para magdonate ng dugo. i told him to eat but he said he had to rush to a meetng. hay nako, ang mga bata talaga dito. nakakaaliw lang that when he said he was dizzy, the nurse said "reaction' and other nurses came, placed down the headrest, elevated his legs and called the doctor. at pronto, anjan na ang doctor. ang bilis!

one of the volunteers has a pinay yaya who has been with them for 16 years already. she said she's like her second mom already. she knows ilocano cuss words. when she was a kid, she was so bubbly that her yaya told her "plantsak ta ngiwat mo". she calls me ate. she went to puerto galera last november to do scuba diving and she'll go back again in may.

after the blood donation thing,i had a big bowl of bian mian. kailangan ko kumain.

i headed to the library after to send my ex-boss' paper with my comments.

my philippines module was at 630 that night. most of my classmates were familiar faces. prof ileto was funny, the typical pinoy who injects a funny line in his lecture every now and then. we watched the movie rizal for an hour to introduce rizal to the class and he would pause it every scene or so to explain things. one of his annotations was "this lady who plays his mother was a miss universe during my time". panalo! lol

saturday, we went to see my prof's newborn kid. she was really cute! a really tiny baby. he was telling me how the pinoy nurse taught him on how to feed the babt and carry her properly.

we were still there when it was time to get the patient's preference for dinner and breakfast. they had a choice of either chinese, malay or indian food. and there were choices for every type of cuisine. lumalabas na naman pagkajologs ko. sanay kasi ako na ang order namin sa ospital ay low salt, low fat at diabetic meal :) and they dont write down the orders. para silang mga waiter sa restaurant na may palm top, or whatever that thing is called.

sunday, sunday, lazy sunday. i noticed that my ampalaya plant has grown! san ko kaya pagagapangin to


its monday again tomorrow. i have to start reading or else...

maligayang pagdating 2011

new year, new life

buto ng ampalayang inilagay sa paso. hindi inalagaan pero isang araw ay sumulpot na lang at tumubo.
media noche after the mass

this is what started my year in 2010

i wonder kung ano para sa 2011

9 days, 9 churches, 1 song

in my years of existence, 2 beses pa lang ako nakabuo ng simbang gabi. i dont remember which year was my first. this year is my second.

since dec 15, ive been attending anticipated simbang gabi mass with my auntie, my motherhood and sisterhood. since 3 simbahan lang ang may simbang gabi bawat araw, kailangan naming dayuhin nasaan man ang simbahang iyon. i plotted the churches on the map and ito ang kinalabasan.

parang tour lang ng sg.

my favorite churches were that of st bernadette and st theresa.
pinakapuno ang sa st joseph.
i'll never forget our journey este pilgrimage to st anthony de padua. 2 hours.

at sa loob ng 9 na araw at sa lahat ng 9 na simbahang pinuntahan namin, hidi nawawala ang kantang ito.


maligayang pasko!

days 8 & 9

day 8: church of st. alphonsus

one thing the oldies always asks me whenever we get out of the house is: malayo ba? (referring to the church) this time, i confidently said, malapit lang. its a 15-minute walk from the house.

the altar

people outside the church


===
day 9: church of the risen christ



at si father habang nagcoconcert right before the final blessing.

days 6 and 7

day 6: church of st. theresa

nice church, looks newly painted. kaya lang, naiwan ko ang memory card ng camera kaya telepono lang ang gamit ko :(




one thing i noticed about this church, ang ganda ng columbarium!



habang nasa pila kami ng magic porridge ni fr angel, nakita ko si gene with 2 of his colleagues sa nie. and the best part about our kwentuhan, "saan ang pinakamasarap na lugaw?" haha theirs was at boon lay, madami daw sahog. since hindi namin tinikman yung sa unang 2 araw, hindi namin macompare ang quality ng lahat. so the best for me was the one at st bernadette, may kasama pang apple. haha fun fun fun

===
day 7: st joseph's church



since it was a mere 20 minute-ride from our place, maaga kami nakarating. akala namin marami pang bakanteng upuan pero...


at 715pm, puno na ang simbahan



fr angel said that the church can only house 800 people kaya madaming tao sa labas. the parish prepared 3000 hosts pero marami pa rin ang hindi nakareceive.

days 3, 4 & 5

been so lazy to post lately so im pooling everything here

day 3: church of the holy family



an apt church for the day. motherhood and sisterette arrived this morning.

again, the church was full. and there was a special prayer for those housed at the migrant center.

during communion, i saw a familiar face. she was pr's girlfriend! and pr was right behind her. so after my turn, i went to their side and discreetly said "pr!" but he didnt hear me.

after the mass, we went for the free porridge and sandwich to try out the entire experience. and i saw pr again! so tinawag ko sya ng medyo malakas na and this time, he saw me. its always nice to see familiar people in a foreign land. had a small chat while eating.


motherhood, auntie and sisterette having their porridge


day 4: church of st. ignatius



went straight to the church from orchard.

for simbang gabi, i have a way of finding the church better than consulting gothere.sg or google map. i call it, sundan ang amoy ng pinoy! sa bus pa lang, malalaman mo ng papunta ng simbang gabi ang mga tao pag nakita mong puro pinoy ang nasa bus. just be attentive and engage in a conversation with them. tapos sundan na lang sila. been doing it for the past 4 days already and its quite effective actually. plus, its easier to jaywalk when doing it with a whole crowd. lol.

day 5: church of st bernadette




its a bigger church compared to yesterday's but still full. and i liked the songs.




the bakets

simbang gabi day 2

i had a classmate who reported about the creation of indigenized spaces in our geography class. people who live in other countries tend to "own" a particular area where they would typically meet their fellow migrants and recreate their indigenous culture. sort of an enclave. here, the filipinos have lucky plaza, the myanmarese/burmese have peninsula plaza, indians have their little india, and so on.

with the conduct of masses in migrants' local languages, the church also becomes a sort of indigenized spaces. and with the simbang gabi, the pinoy's "home away from home" becomes more prominent.

i went to the catholic church of christ the king in ang mo kio for the second simbang gabi here. unlike yesterday's experience, finding this church was easier because it was just across the road from the bus stop.

not all churches have simbang gabi. every night, there are 3 churches in the entire country which pinoys in sg can choose from. hence, one can expect overflowing people in all these churches, just like simbang gabi back home. and aside from the lay ministers and altar servers, almost everyone in church is pinoy. i learned at the latter part of the mass that the philippine ambassador to sg was even there together with the other embassy personnel.

the mass starts at 8 and we were already in church at 740 per puno na sa baba pagdating namin.

so they opened the gallery on the second floor which was also filled in just a matter of seconds.

the choir was rehearsing when we came in. they sang mostly tagalog songs which elicited that poignant feeling that i always have when christmas comes.

and just like any pinoy gathering, there's food! this is how the queues look like. and i just took one area of the church grounds. sa buong paligid ng simbahan, ganito pa rin ang itsura. they served porridge, bread and juice. we didnt join this fun part though because we also had porridge before going to church.

i love pinoy christmas. and i love the fact that we also have pinoy christmas here.