Celebrating 400 years of unending grace

AKA an excuse for a photo spam of my friends and I having fun last Wednesday.

Was at UST by 6AM for the parade, which was lots of fun! We went through Morayta, Mendiola, and Legarda, meaning we passed FEU, UE (which had a banner congratulating UST on its 400th year, how sweet), CEU, San Beda, and San Sebastian. Of course, every time we passed another college, the noise level went up by several decibels. We're such a bunch of show-offs, lol.

Before the parade, looking fresh in the morning air.

2BES1 with the crush-ng-bayan professor, Sir Mabahague.

Ako'y nagagalak matawag na isang Tomasino!

Last Thursday, thousands of Thomasians celebrated the 400th anniversary of our most beloved university.

During the countdown to midnight, there was a program on which various celebrities appeared: some sang, some danced, some told stories about their time in UST. Most of them were UST alumni, like Albert Martinez (who was so hot, BTW), Mr. Fu, RJ Jimenez, Sarah Geronimo, and Jamie Rivera. Some, like Gary Valenciano, weren't, but they still got into the whole university's celebratory mood which they admitted was infectious.

Books, AKA the blog post I wrote while waiting for The Best Friend to go online (damn it, what is taking you so long?!)

For the second time this week, I didn't go to class. Instead, I slept in and decided to accompany my mom and ninang to Shangri-la.

Since it was Shang, I expected the price tags to be steeper than what I was used to. Still, the feeling of walking empty-handed out of several boutiques was very disquieting. It wasn't something I'm used to, especially after seeing lots of stuff I would have bought if they had been cheaper... or if I was rich.
(There was a dress in Topshop that had 50% off the price, but still cost around P2500. SALE NGA!)

To add to me disappointment, we didn't eat at California Pizza Kitchen, which I was dying to try out. Combine that with the fact that my bajingo's doing the monthlies (read: I am menstruating), and I was a very unhappy girl this afternoon.

What cheered me up was seeing a Fully Booked on our way home. I entered and immediately, my mood soared. Even though they didn't have Aimee Bender's The Girl in the Flammable Skirt (the only book of hers that I don't have yet), they did have Chuck Palahniuk's Invisible Monsters, which I bought. Yay!

Trying to read palms and peer into crystal balls just makes the future even scarier

My mom and I sat down to breakfast the other day and I asked, "Ano magiging reaction mo pag hindi ako nag-law?"

My mom was thoughtful in her answer: "Okay lang. Ayoko namang isipin mong napipilitan ka. Nakikita ko namang magaling ka magsulat, baka mas magiging masaya ka kung yun yung papasukin mong field. Saka alam ko ang hirap ng law students kaya hindi kita pinipilit."

Even though it's my choice to take up law after earning a degree in Behavioral Science, the idea still scares me. What if I couldn't handle the pressure? What if the professors are the rotten, misanthropic ones that assign fifty case studies per day just to see students have a nervous breakdown? What if I fail the bar exams? What if, what if, what if?

It's not just my law school future that scares me. Every time I go to school, I realize that I'm halfway through getting a degree but I still feel like a fucking kid. No matter how hard I try to be grown up, I'm just not cut out yet for any real responsibility.

It's just that I never really thought of life as this fast-paced. Everything's speeding up: I'm halfway through my college education, but I'm feeling like I've accomplished absolutely nothing but ingest an insane amount of alcohol. Soon, I'll be applying to companies for my OJT (which, by the way, scares the bejesus out of me), writing my thesis, and receiving my diploma.

Thinking about the future terrifies me and makes me face, albeit reluctantly, the realities of life as I know it.

I never imagined that such a simple question would throw me almost completely. My god, I was only making conversation!

Epic week

[insert whining about my inability to come up with catchy titles]

This week has been pretty sweet.

Monday, I scoured SM San Lazaro for a dress to wear on Robi's birthday party. I saw a couple of gorgeous ones in Tomato for only P750 each, but Mom wouldn't let me use my credit card.


Tuesday, had dinner with Andy at a carenderia (lol IDK if the spelling is correct. Carinderia? Karenderia?) in Morayta. We saw his uncle there.



Wednesday, met with him again to eat the food he cooked in class: pizza, mashed potatoes, and sausage. Then we went to his place to watch Inception. I haven't watched that movie yet, so I was seriously mindfucked at the end. Seriously. I was sitting there with my mouth agape, utterly speechless with the intensity of awesomeness that the movie had. SERIOUSLY.

Oh, and I met his parents and his brother and Pusa, their cat. I love Pusa. He was sweet and cuddly and he slept in my lap for nearly the entire movie.
INCEPTION!!! Okay, I'll stop now.

Thursday, I, along with half the class, had to perform a three-minute on-the-spot speech for English class. The question I randomly picked out of a box was, What was the biggest surprise of your life? Damn, I thought I wouldn't be able to answer the question well, but all modesty aside, I think I did a pretty good job. A lot of my blockmates complimented me, and I kept saying Thank you because it's a really amazing feeling to be praised. :">
(As for my answer to the question, I basically said that I was surprised that my family and friends stuck with me even though I'm a huge fucking asshole, and that I was also surprised that I'm happy despite my tendency to be dark and twisty.)

Friday, we took a very long Theology quiz that I'm sure will be nearly identical to the prelims on Monday. Shit was hard as hell, and we walked out of the room scratching our heads.
Also tried Pasta Boy's Pirate's Twist (carbonara+seafood), which was a huge disappointment for me. FYI, Pasta Boy, cheap chopped-up squidballs in my pasta is not equal to seafood!

Wow, recounting everything makes my life sound dull. But it was fun! Really! Seriously! This week has been great and I have been happy and I have stayed away from the Internetz for two days!

Ending this post with my current LSS. I listen to this every day as I walk to my classroom. Makes me feel like a bawzz, eh.

I am in love with Jorma. <3

Yearbook

While organizing my bookshelf the other day, I found myself reading the yearbook back from when I was in the sixth grade. To be honest, it was really blah: everything was in greyscale, with *~inspirational quotes~* underneath the photos of awkward preteens.

I'd like to think that I outgrew that awkward phase, but...

Flipping through the pages, a little voice in my head did a voice-over every time I recognized a face:

He was so annoying back then, but now, he's a catch! Cute, smart, and fun. I wish I could have dated him. Heh.
God, even back then, she was so full of herself!
I wonder what happened to this guy? Last I heard, he was off doing drugs every other day and screwing anything that moves. [exaggerated greatly]
Wow, this girl looked so plain back then, but now she is drop-dead gorgeous!

All of it felt like from another life. I spent eight years in that school, with almost the same people in it. Nice people, boring people, annoying people, awesome people, and douchebags. It's a mark of how often I forget to look at the bright side that I can remember the douchebags better than the nice people.

My friends would probably ask why if I told them I didn't like elementary and high school. I hated it, actually, but I've no concrete reason why.
I wasn't picked on, so I don't have any cliche troubled teenhood stories, nor did I have bad grades. I was entered in Speechfests and citywide journalism competitions and essay-writing contests and actually won a few. I had fun friends and a boyfriend from another school. In other words, while I didn't have the Cher Horowitz experience of high school royalty, I sort of had it made.
It was probably all of that, however, that made me hate it. It was too made. It stifled me.

Looking at all the faces with gap-toothed smiles and hair in kiddie braids, I got to thinking, how many of these people did I keep as friends? How many did I hurt? Help? Know, love?

In college, I hope not to make the same mistakes I did back then. Maybe I'd close my 2013 yearbook with a smile of contentment instead of scorn.

Also, yay for writing a moderately meaningful blog post for the first time this year! Let's look forward to a 2011 filled with hope and love and sunshine rainbow glitters unicorns!
(Yes, I am currently filled with optimism.)