Random Confession Time

In all honesty, this blog doesn't give much advice. It's a narcissistic blog purposing to discuss things in my life to (a) make me feel better or (b) brag about the things that make my simple life really awesome. So yeah, I just wanted to get that out there. Sorry for people looking for how-to's. You won't find much of those here.

I ate chocolate after one stressful day and ended up sounding manly, raspy and toad-like the next day. Worst scenario, it was Sunday and I was back up vocals for the worship team. I regretted that I couldn't give God my best and promised myself to be a better steward of my voice (thereby declaring not to eat chocolate in the evenings)

I dream of random things in my sleep. Say I was browsing the internet, looking at random things like flower pots, violins, make up or deflatable green balls. I dream of that great digitech jamman solo at guitar center when I go to bed. Sometimes I even dream of going to the store and buying the most random of things.

There are times when I brush my teeth with my favorite toothpaste (Arm and Hammer) and have the unusual and gross urge to swallow. I think it's the baking soda. But a lesson in life tells me that not all great-tasting things are edible.

When I take an awfully long time to get out of the shower, my family should take the hint that I am unabashedly sniffing Albatross White. I seriously try to stop it but oh my gosh these things are like drugs. I'm thinking of writing a petition to the government about these abhorrent things. Manufacturing this is surely illegal, right? I think it's affecting my brains.

Read More

The Evolution of Hair

Short Bob with Bangs/Fringe - when I was younger, I had thinner hair that appeared brown. My parents liked to keep it short with bangs because long hair stuck to my skin a lot because I sweat a lot because I played under the sun (predictably) a lot. That's an illegal sentence for you folks, but I don't care because right now it's too late here for me to be writing this post. So grammar Nazi Pen-pen is out. Also because of lice issues. (**Note to parents with cute young children: keep your uninfected children away from children infected with lice!) I kept the bob through third grade.

Read More

Awesome Family

Scanning my blogposts, I realize I haven't written enough about my family. So I decided to just toss together random sentences to fix that. Actually, I've always intended to make an awesome family introductory post but never really got the chance to actually do it until today, 105 blog posts later. But hey, better late than never right?

I have a very close-knit family. We talk about every sensible and random thing on earth. Each of us is the other's best friend.

Anyway, I have a wonderful mother who raised us to be, for the most part, decent children. She used to work in cosmetics but switched to sales where she found her calling. She hates it when people bully us and is really protective of us (not really allowing us to have crushes LOL). Overall, she's a wonderful mother, our friends call her 'mommy' too because she likes to take care of others and have lots of love to give. She's real supportive of what we want (always the first to read my blog posts, supports my elder sister's nontraditional career dreams of becoming a fashion designer) and really sits down with us on big issues. She's godly and hardworking and is a living testimony in our lives.

In the Philippines, we address our older sisters as 'ate' (e.g Ate Abby, Ate Lora) but that has never been the case with my sisters and I up until last year when we suddenly did. Ate Abby is my tea buddy when she's home, we like to hang out at our favorite milk tea shop (Wang's) when she's home from fashion school. We used to fight a lot through our highschool years because she was plainly self-centered and I was too indifferent and sarcastic. But God came into our lives and it changed us (but her, drastically) Looking back at those years now, I'm grateful to God. I can't ask for a better older sister. She's kiddish but mans up when she needs to.

My younger sister, Deb, is a poor creature whom I bully a lot because (a) she's really gullible and (b) she's really expressive and just seeing the expression on her face brings tears to my eyes (due to uncontrollable laughter). She's cute and loves school so much more than we do. She studies a lot and insists on having pets and really talks with so much vigor and passion that (a) you'll find it ridiculous or believe whatever (b) petition she's advocating. Unlike me, she also does well with responsibility (just like my other sister). She likes to help people out, but can't hide her emotions well (that's usually a good thing, but sometimes bad too)

Dad came to our lives around 8-9 years ago. He's the only dude in the family, for that, we crowned him the king of cover stays a long time ago. He works in construction and comes up with lines like, 'oh I need to find a fat, old woman to sell my body to' whenever we disclose the sum of our tuitions. He says he likes me best among my sisters (and says the same to them behind my back tsk tsk tsk). He's funny and easy-going, we don't need to argue much about where to eat. He loves us so much and speaks good English (inside joke).

Read More

Review: Suburgatory S1 & 2

It's late at night / early in the morning and I just finished watching two whole seasons of what has grown to be my favorite American sitcom (rivaled only by Friends and How I Met Your Mother). Suburgatory narrates the story of George and Tessa Altman, a father-daughter pair from the jungles of New York, New York as they transition to suburban living in the fictional town of Chatswin. I guess my partiality to this sitcom started with the name (as you may recall, I'm quite amused by portmanteaus), Tessa's intoxicating copper hair, and of course, Ryan's body (you need to be able to get to Season 1 Episode 14 in order to understand this joke). But as I continued to watch each 20 minute episode, I craved for the laughs, story progression and ridiculous dialogues.

What I like about Suburgatory

Substantial characters. Well-crafted characters that are significant to the show (except probably Marty) and you can half-imagine to exist in real life. I could write a full page article about each one of Suburgatory's minor characters and wouldn't run out of words to say, just as if I live next door to them.

Character development. In every episode, Tessa learns something about life and accordingly, George is either failing at that area or learning about it too (and vice versa). It's amazing to see how each have grown during their time in Chatswin! For George, that change was quite obvious when his friends from New York came to visit, for Tessa, it was the season ender of second season to that highlighted this. Even the minor characters grew as well.

Great plot. Another thing I looks about the show is the well crafted plot and flow of every episode. The timing couldn't more precise, I applaud the writers and director for the smooth flow and witty dialogues. You know a well thought of story if you see one. There's just enough randomness going on, and they can certainly bring about a variety of emotions from the audience.

Read More

Wedding by The Beach

Hey, guys! Last weekend, I attended a churchmate's beautiful wedding by the beach. Frankly, it's been a long time coming and I'm just glad that they've finally decided to tie the knot. Anyway, the motif was easily black and red (seems to be the popular color choice nowadays--from where I'm from anyway) but even so, I struggled to find a dress (being almost plus size). My mother did suggest we take the dress she intended to wear on our church anniversary to the tailor and it came out okay. It was a black ensemble with a floral embroidery in the bodice. Since I wasn't too confident about my body and was too confident about my face (LOL), I prepared this picture for you guys:

So yeah, I'm not a fashion expert so I paired the dress with lone this fashion jewelry I found somewhere in my more fashionable sister's ownership. And no, my skin is not as milky as it is on the picture. The picture is too gratifying LOL Anyway, here are some snaps I captured of the place (taken before I started getting too busy to take pictures)

I just love watching weddings. It almost always makes me cry every time (except I don't because I have to keep up my indifferent girl / unsentimental freak act). Anyway, how was your last wedding experience?

Read More

Hello, Sprall!

First, let me answer the question that's bugging you from your head to your intestine: what exactly is Sprall? Sprall is actually a portmanteau of Spring and Fall, and is the current season of our neighborhood park. It's actually quite beautiful. Check out some pictures below!

And yes, I definitely think that Sprall is better than Sprautumn (which sounds like a man's body part that I'm gonna tell you I know about because my fourth grade P.E teacher used to say it over and over again)

Read More

Church Thanksgiving

Frankly, I've been running out of things to tell you, people of the world wide web. Not much is happening to me except probably school and I absolutely can't talk to you about school for fear of boring you to a rock of massive proportions (I don't even understand myself right now). This predicament forced me to bow down and inquire the Kaiser of Ingenious Topics (sarcasm), David (my BMF who's made literary appearances in my Teatime and Challenge posts). The topic he suggested, as you might have guessed, is the bold two-word clause at the beginning of this post, 'church thanksgiving' which I have been eager to write about since it happened.

Two weeks before D-day, we've started cleaning the sanctuary and everything that might have anything to do with it. Also, I've just about rummaged through my closet, looking for appropriate things to wear (I've prepared about 3 selections before ending up with an ensemble bought on the day itself). We've prepared for months as a lot of our temporarily and permanently relocated brothers and sisters in Christ were coming home to celebrate with us and we just really wanted to prepare for the day we remember how God's been so faithful in a grand way. Our church is turning 27! Another year of experiencing God's grace and faithfulness, I couldn't wait!

Bishop Larry Langston (or Tatay Larry) arrived from Florida earlier that week and preached that evening, a wonderful message from his book, Divine Strategies for Extraordinary Lives. I was so blessed and encouraged. I hadn't realized that merely believing isn't the same as actually seeing myself in the picture. It change a good portion of my view of God's promises and the reality of them. I overlooked the fact that God is still as hands on with this generation as He was during Moses'. My faith really increased and it's just so wonderful :)

My mom also has been praying for his backslidden friend to be able to join us and indeed God is good because He just opened up the opportunity for him. There were lots of new faces and some I haven't seen in a while. Brothers and sisters I've missed dearly. Political figures also attended to congratulate us on the 27, also publicly declaring their support on our goal to be a church that opens its arms to the community, bringing the church to them instead of forcing them to come to the church.

To all my brothers and sisters who worked hand-in-hand to make this event possible, thank you! Your labor is not in vain, God bless you! Thanks to everyone who celebrated with us, I hope we brought home a special something from God. And of course, to the God we serve, the God we worship--You deserve it all, our Almghty King! We exalt You high because there's really no one like You, Jesus! (#shout2theLord!)

Read More