Sunday morning reflection

Lord,

Do not let the dreams you placed in my heart to die with me.

Push me to work on them now, that they may outlive my mortality.

Teach me to keep trying and trying, to persevere at my tasks and my dreams. Show me that perseverance, not perfection, is the key.

Teach me to hold on to You even when circumstances seem the most uncertain. Only You will be there for me, and that in itself is the most comforting thought.

Amen.

It's been too long

Since I last made a colournerding post. So here. :))

And btw, I have found LONER KID. JUSTIN CUSTADO ASDFGKHJFDASDFHYDAFGSDHGFDSDNR PROMISE. @_@

Passion Pit.

Lately I've been really pushing myself to go beyond my limits. I've been trying my best to stay on schedule, study real well, and maximize every spare minute I have... In short, I've been trying to become a good student. Yeah. In the process I've decided I hafta kill some of my favorite hobbies, too. I sort-of realized there's not enough time for a struggling science student to practice at the drumkit and master the functions of all the muscles of a frog.. So one had to go. The frog kinda had my future in its manus, so you can fill in the rest and understand the context of the 'sigh' emoticon at the end of this sentence. :<

I'm clinging on to the hopes of qualifying for a good-enough standing, because no matter what I do the truth is my grades will determine my future. And that idea, surprisingly, got me going for the past couple of months. Yes, academic drive. Mygash. @_@

It was all good until Habagat came around. He somehow messed up the momentum I oh-so-carefully built up, and to make matters worse he left me with the flu, too.

College made me realize that sick days do not translate to chicken-noodle-soup-and-orange-juice-in-bed-with-TV-on-the-side. Sick days in college, as it turns out, are what they are: sick days.

When your mind is whirring with all the stuff you hafta do but you can't lift a finger.

When your cough is more troublesome than the noisy street DJ who keeps playing the same darn song over and over and over again... maybe not, but we're getting warm.

When your temp jumps from 36 C to 37.2 to 38.9 in a span of sixty minutes and you have frog muscles to memorize.

(I know, 'enough about the $#!&*@ frog muscles already!'. Okay. )

It just feels like the wind blew out the wonderful, wonderful fire I've just recently discovered, and at the moment I am not in shape to try and light one up again. :( I hope I will be soon, because I am not going to school tomorrow to get a checkup and it better pay off: I don't want to dig myself further into this pit of academic incapacity.

Sigh. Keep calm and stick to the stethoscope. [-o<
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I suddenly felt that this post didn't deserve to be all rant, because there are other things in life that break in a wee bit of sunshine despite the dreary skies. Like good books and good coffee and warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies, and good, good friends to share them with. :')

So! If you wanna see my dreams slowly making their way into reality, look at this!

*Insert angelic choir's sigh of ecstasy here*

That, my friend, is the door to my future cafe/restaurant. Yes, the one around the corner of the ol' brick building with the publishing house upstairs. And yes, feel free to drop by sometime! We'll talk about the rest of the old, creaky parts of my dream establishment over a plate of the house specialty: a strong cuppa joe and ooey-gooey chocolate chip cookies. :) Cheers!

It's probably the big pile of strong emotions

Saw a real-life PETA play yesterday! 'William' is about five students who discover that Shakespeare is more than just a too-flowery lesson in English.

Some notes:

1. The Shakespeare portrait in the background is AWESOME. Revolving panels = change of scenery = genius.

2. You see the big stack of stools? Hooray for makeshift props! Stools also function as lockers, doorways, tables, stairs, and other dramatic platforms.

3. Rap musical format worked well. It's great when they try to make Shakespeare kid-friendly by making it a musical, but then they went a step further and a) translated certain verses to Filipino, and b) delivered them lines via rap!

It was refreshing to feel some art in my life again.

Then spent 3.5 hours lounging off in fast food chains, waiting for Dad to pick me up. @-) About one hour of that was life-changing! Got home at around 11.30, then spent three hours writing something that I hope would somehow make sense to people who get to read it. :/ I hope it was well worth the time, energy, and coffee; I got to put my feelings into something that would somehow last longer than a caffeine buzz, but I pray it could (and would) be more than just coffee + brain fart.. I kinda poured my heart out into this one. [-o<

...It's probably the coffee.

Coming home

Naaalala mo ba yung eksena sa movie na pinanood natin nung first year tayo? 'Chris G was here! 19xx---here again! 1986'. Pangarap ko ang magkaroon ng ganung moment balang araw. Babalik at babalik ako, Pisay. :)

<3,
Patty

Seasonal bumming

Summer summer summer summer summer summer summer is here!

Had dinner with my best bros Nino Cholo and Victor last night at Yakimix. TWAS AWESOME. I didn't want to be the diner who took pictures of everything on her plate, so I resisted my blogger tendencies and focused on enjoying the meal instead. Hihihi. Then we went home and Nino and I had to endure Novaliches traffic (I cannot tell him eloquently enough how sorry I was he had to be bored so bad, woe is me :| ). But he was kind enough to not mind it. :)) Thank you, Lord, for such patient creatures.

Aaaanyhow. I have 20 more days to makke this the best summer ever! Goal numbah one: send you one of these postcards.

Happy bumming!

Days like this wonderful (see sarcasm drip) Wednesday morning make me wish I were Valhallen instead.

So instead of making up reports about common ions curbing the degree of ionization of X, Y, and Z at three in the morning, I could be shredding my Axe *accent here* and marveling at my pristine locks *accent here too* and totally practicing my wonderful Cali-surfer accent/profound vocabulary.

Or like, feasting on golden apples of Idunn with some fair maidens at an Asgard afterparty.

One of the reasons I love 'Mona Lisa Smile'...

... is Charlie Stewart. ♥

There's my dream boy right there. </3

The art appreciation thing was good, the women-empowerment bit was great. But sometimes I feel like it's a thinned-out version of Dead Poets' Society... or that's just me. @_@

Aaanyway, this weekend will be full of research papers, review centers, and chemistry. I know, right? It can't get any better that this.

I sure hope you have better weekend plans! :-j

Continuing with my Manila daydreams...

I used to think that if I attended UP Manila, the streets I would walk everyday would look like this.

I love love LOVE everything about this photo-- there's so much going on! The signs are gorgeous. The cars are swoon-worthy. And I wouldn't even start with the architecture! I can almost imagine living in this wonderful scene. 8D

And this one too!

Pretty women watching from a balcony somewhere in Old Manila back in the day when red lipstick wasn't overused.

Why why why was I not born in this era of good music, simple living, and soda fountains? T_T <///3




Photos from Paulo Alcazaren's albums. :)

Falling in love on a Friday night

Tonight I saw 'Letters to Juliet' on Star Movies. It had a romantic (though somewhat predictable) plot, but if you don't analyze the film too much it's actually a fun way of getting your kilig on. The idea of desperate women asking for advice from the infamous lovelorn Capulet through the wall is fantastic in itself, but having those wonderful Italian women---Juliet's 'secretaries'---write back and reply was so magical, I wish I could ask them myself. HAHAHA <///3 The best part was the scenery. The beautiful little houses with romantic wrought-iron balconies, the cobblestone streets, the sidewalk cafes, the foooood...oh Italy, Italy, Italy. You can have me anytime.

Oh, and did I mention that I COMPLETELY ADORE SOPHIE'S SATCHEL? I was drooling over it the whole time. I think I paid more attention to the bag than to Amanda Seyfried (sorryyyy!). See, when I was little my dad had a satchel which he used for carrying around his video camera (the big, bulky kind from the 90s), and when my mum wanted to sell it I asked for it na lang. Despite its condition (the seams and stitches are falling apart) I still love it with all my ♥ . Maybe I'm just associating the idea of the bag with my Dad, but whatever. All that matters is me gustaaaaaa. @-)

Gimme one of these and I will be eternally grateful. In fact, I just might start building you a shrine in my room this very moment. I will use it everywhere: school, work, travel, I can even sleep hugging this baby. :3

So there, two big additions to my Dream list. :)) IKR, mababaw. Pero okay lang yan. I haven't been well these past few days, so watching a happy movie took my mind off my cold for an hour or so. Soon I'd have to think about Philo and Chem and Kom again... oh well. To quote my good friend NINO GANA, 

C'est la vie.

And I finally figured that one out. :> Have a great weekend! :D

This made me smile.

When you're dead hungry, cheeseburgers turn into Salisbury steaks

Today I saw a real live orchestra, heard the Philippine Madrigal Singers, and walked behind National Artist Bienvenido Lumbera and got to touch his jacket (what is fangirl? hahaha!) :))

Super-cultural night with Nino and Victor! And then to top it all off, Nino and I feasted on cheeseburgers, fries, and hot fudge and caramel sundaes. Thank you, Mcdo, for being the cherry that gloriously crowns life's most memorable moments. :))

Anyhows, let's get to the actual cultural part. The Madrigal Singers sang Paskong Walang Hanggan, a heartwarming/kilig/heartbreaking song. I say that because HAHAHA pag heartbroken ka, malamang nakakalungkot makinig sa ganitong uri ng kanta. But then again, there's Mom and Dad and siblings and pets and friends and best friends and people you don't really like but hafta thank because they made you a better person.. yes. :)) From any perspective though, you can't deny the fact that it's sure to make you feel that the arrector pili mechanism God has so generously blessed you with actually works.

Ang bawat kong pangarap iyong pinalitan

Binigyan ako ng lakas, tiyaga at tapang

Na harapin ang bawat tanong at pag-aalinlangan...

...dahil alam kong ikaw ay katabi ko lamang. :)

How I wish this was the view outside my bedroom window.

On a good day it'd look like this. On a dreary one, like this. It ain't half bad. :)) Photos not mine. :))

HELLO, CHRISTMAS VACATION. I HEART YOU.

Injecting as much French into this post as possible

My pre-school teacher, whom I adore very much (she's the reason behind my lifelong pursuit of a UP diploma) has named her newborn baby Amélie, partially after herself (she's called Amel, short for Pamela), and also after Audrey Tatou's character in the French movie Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain  (I said I was gonna watch it this sembreak; I have failed again). Asdfghjkl such a pretty name! I suddenly feel so ashamed of wanting to name my future kid Sputnik. :|

Little Amélie from the movie.

I shall visit little Amélie and her mum before things in this little world of mine start to become hectic again. Have I mentioned that my schedule is asdfghjkl? My classes start at 10 or 11:30 or 1, my day ends at 4 or 5:30. I am soooo lucky. :| :| :| :| <--- Sarcasm

I am also abusing the straight-faced emoticon here, FB having recently removed it from the chat emoticons. Rawr. :| :| :|

I've come around to cleaning my room too, by the way (finally!). It is now prepared to weather the second sem storm (I honestly want to believe that with all my heart). Pray that things go smoothly this time. Bonne chance to me.

Dream with me. :)

Someday I'll find you.

I'll look into your eyes and realize that's where I want to stay forever. You'd hold my hand and tell me everything's gonna be okay. Hugs would be heaven on earth.

We would dream underneath the fluffiest clouds, too, the way Carl and Ellie had done. We'd get married and find our dream house: something cozy and not too expensive, with a backyard to make memories in. No worries if it doesn't have a white picket fence, we would make any ol' place a great home, with lots of laughter and love.

We'd treat weekends like special holidays. We would share life's little pleasures together: good movies and great music and tons of MnMs. And oh, sundaes too, no matter what day it is. Come Monday morning you'd hit the snooze button and I'd make your morning coffee, and life would still be great, despite the fact that it is Monday morning.

So someday I'll find you. Good things, after all, take (a great deal of) time. :)

In a perfect world...

I ♥ coffee

You ♥ tea

But I ♥ you

And you ♥ me.

(and we could be married, and then we'd be happy... wouldn't it be nice?)