Made some dreamcatcher danglers (and other stuff I was too lazy to take a pic of, haha) this weekend! Three for a customer, and one for myself that was matchy-matchy with my new phone. :) Thanks by the way to everyone who ordered from Eleven, Eleven! :)

An eternity ring from Mama. <3 Made of diamante negra (or something like that), I think? (I already tweeted about this but) The saleslady from the Paraiba said rings suit me because my fingers look malandi. Um, was that supposed to be a compliment? :P

Well, my last weekend of summer vacation has been pretty eventful! (But I realize now that I didn’t take nearly enough photos to document everything I was up to. Darn.)

• FOURTH YEAR NA AKO! WOOHOOOOOO!!! Hi, I’m Nenen, 18 years old and college senior. ;) KILIG! It feels victorious, even as early as now, to know that I’m nearly there, nearly at the finish line. Ang sarap lang ng feeling to be labelled “BMLS 4″ because it carries survival with it, a testament that me and my batchmates have survived three grueling years of college. But what’s weird is, I don’t feel the disbelief that usually comes with this, the usual “parang kailan lang first year pa ako” feeling. No. The past three years have been long and hard. I still feel that, as true as ever. And that’s what makes me feel triumphant right now.
• BUT what I’m not at all happy about is my horrible luck when it comes to teacher assignments: My most… disliked teacher from the 2011-2012 second semester will be handling us again. UGH. I mean all respect to her, but I honestly don’t know if I can take another semester of her teaching. Call me OA, but being called out every meeting? Being used in almost all examples? Being asked to answer almost every question, if no one else from the class answers it? And being present in every meeting only to find out that your teacher is constantly absent? That’s mentally exhausting. One can only take so much. It made me harbor negative feelings towards every meeting with her – and consequently, towards the subject she was teaching. It made me dread the subject. It would have been good if I actually learned relevant information from a semester with her, but I have learned nothing. And that’s what I’m most afraid of this coming semester – not the possibility of getting a low grade (although that is a likely possibility, based on our experience last sem) but the fact that I may not learn anything again. I don’t want that. My parents didn’t pay my tuition for that. Of course, I should give her the benefit of the doubt and hope that this time around, she might just surprise us. Things may turn out differently. And I really don’t have a choice but to endure and do my best, do I? Pero SHET lang. Nakaka-stress. Nakaka-kill ng buzz.
• Oh, and yeah, OUR CLASSES START TOMORROW. (Nooooooooooooooooo.) Our first day welcome treat = Comprehensive quiz in one of my kryptonite subjects – Immunology and Serology. This effectively killed most of my excitement about finally being a senior. lols.
• I got a new phone! :) Well, I’m not really a phone person, because I hate texting and I only make/accept calls when necessary. But my old Nokia 7210 Supernova finally gave up on me (traitor!) around the same time I fell in love with (my high school classmate) Yasmine’s pretty phone – so I got one for myself. Alcatel One Touch Glam 810D – it’s cheap, small, convenient, user-friendly, and really, really cute, so it’s more than enough for me! Never mind its shortcomings (no Wifi, etc) because I have an iPod Touch, anyway. Plus the LED pattern thingy on the clamshell cover is a unique bonus feature! (13!) :D
• Mama was here! :-) Great timing, too, because it’s Mother’s Day weekend. I spent most of Friday and Saturday strolling around with her. We went shopping – jewelry stores 85% of the time, because my mom has been super addicted to jewelry lately, and I don’t really get why – and I got a lot of new stuff. Most unnecessary purchase? New sunnies! (Ha!) I say unnecessary because I’m not really going anywhere, knowing school starts again tomorrow, so what do I need sunnies for?! My mom bought a new pair, though, and she was happy to buy me a pair too, so yeah. :-) ANYWAY. We also ate a lot, too. Let’s see… in two days, we’ve eaten at KFC, Greenwich, Wings and Dips, Razon’s, and Chikaan, plus bought treats from Bread Talk, Gonuts Donuts, and Margie’s. My stomach’s way happy now. YUUUMMMMM.
• My mom also influenced us to try out this Dance Workout by Richard Simmons CD she got from Odyssey. It actually looks fun and easy. My sister and I (and my cousins and aunt) are inspired to give it a try. Hope we can stick to doing it regularly! :>
• I love you, Mama. Sad you had to go home today.
• Watched Dark Shadows with my sister and cousins earlier. We left the cinema disappointed. The movie was nothing but weird and pointless. It started off with the potential to be great, but never delivered. There were some funny dialogue, but the directions to which the story went were just batshit crazy, and no amount of good costumes and makeup (which were admittedly A+) couldn’t hide the fact that the movie had no clear point whatsoever. Oh well. At least I got to eat white cheddar fries from Tater’s. Om nom nom!

Sorry for the vanity. We just had to. Aren’t we adorbz?? Hahaha.

So yeah. My summer vacation’s coming to a close (3 days left! D:) and I guess I should be getting as much R&R as possible, but this is how I’ve been spending the past two days – roadtripping for Research. I finally got permission to go on an unchaperoned road trip with friends, and I got to go to places I didn’t even know are still part of Davao City. It’s not exactly sun, sand and surf, but I had a lot of fun all the same. As I keep repeating, my groupmates are AWESOME. Looking forward to the next time we do this on June ;-)

I am lured by faraway distances, the immense void
I project upon the world. A feeling of emptiness
grows in me; it infiltrates my body like a light and
impalpable fluid. In its progress, like a dilation into
infinity, I perceive the mysterious presence of the
most contradictory feelings ever to inhabit a human
soul. I am simultaneously happy and unhappy,
exalted and depressed, overcome by both pleasure
and despair in the most contradictory harmonies.
I am so cheerful and yet so sad that my tears reflect
at once both heaven and earth. If only for the joy of
my sadness, I wish these were no death on this earth.

E.M. Cioran 1911-1995

Stuff we do, people we meet, places we visit, things we see. Research.

Impressive quote Cedie and I read today: Today I am determined to study to improve myself, for tomorrow I may be wanted, and I must not be found lacking.

We were crazy imaginative back in high school. I can only hope we still are.

Backyard well. I used to be terrified to go near this (ahem, The Ring days) but now I know there’s nothing to be scared of. Except, well, possibly getting dengue, because it’s stagnant water after all, and the area is very mosquito-infested. I told my mom to find a cover for it so mosquitoes stop using it as breeding place. (O diba, anti-dengue advocate na ako. I learned something from school! lols)

Lucky 9, our old jeep. I miss cruising around with my dad in this.

I realize I have not blogged about seeing The Avengers last April 27. I guess it’s far too late to spazz now, and anyway, my tweet after watching the movie says it all, but yeah: it’s safe to say it has made my favorite movies of all time list. And I still love Tony Stark with all my heart.

The Hulk was def the scene stealer, tho. ;)

I still wanna see it again, hopefully in 3D! Palabas pa ba? lols

But instead I got Erudite.

You’d think I’d be flattered to be chosen for the faction for The Intelligent, but after being sorted into Ravenclaw by Pottermore (although yes, I was a hatstall for Slytherin too), I want out of the nerd stereotype. A new side, like maybe Dauntless courage, or Abnegation selflessness, or maybe even Divergent! (This quiz says I’m Divergent tho. Whoopee.) But I guess I don’t have it in me. Oh well. (Wanna take the Divergent Faction Quiz, too?)

Anyway, I finished reading Insurgent a couple of days ago…and I spent the first half of the book wanting to strangle Tris. Seriously. I understand why her character arc had to wrong turn upon wrong turn, knowing what she went through, but still, it’s really hard to remain patient with a book whose narrator keeps testing your patience with her many lies and reckless decisions. And my impatience towards Tris kind of extended towards Four, too, as they kept arguing throughout most of the book, so it was really a hard read. I kept on, though, because Veronica Roth’s writing still delivers (REALLY delivers; I’m a fan!), and I’m glad I did because it definitely gets better in the last half of the book. The action’s still as page-turning as ever. Plus I’m glad no new character was introduced to create yet another cliched YA love triangle (puke). Over-all, I enjoyed the read, although I liked Divergent a little better. And I have to admit I’m not dying to read the next book, because the supposed bombshell in the end of Insurgent didn’t surprise me at all. But I’ll still be anticipating it, no question.

However, I think I like Four’s mind a little better than Tris’s.

Plans. Better when written longhand.