Sunny February

At the beginning of the year, I had imagined a long and excruciating wait till this semester finally ends and I get my summertime. It's now almost a week into the third month of the year, and I've got to admit, the first two flew by unexpectedly quickly. It's the final sprint till my college degree, so these past few weeks (and those to come) have me filled to the brim with school work. Blogging is a luxury I can barely afford, hence, I am cramming the latter half of February in this one post.

On the twenty-second, a good friend of my family from Japan (plus another new family friend) came visit so we went out for dinner at Zao, a Vietnamese restaurant at Serendra. Masaaki-san (the said family friend; farthest right in the last photo) is this really awesome (I do my vocabulary no justice, but I cannot find a more befitting word) director-composer whom we have known since 2007, and we are his, and I quote, "family in the Philippines". He has this unbelievably adorable son whom my sister and I always volunteer to babysit in spire of the glaring language barrier. Their family will be coming to visit this April so that's one other thing to look forward to this summer.

The day after was The Father's birthday, and we had a small celebration at Amici in Megamall. The cakes and gelato in that place are so interestingly designed so those always make for good photos.

In the week after that came the highlight of my month. The twenty-ninth marked the day of our batch's graduation photo shoot. It was one of the better reminders of our inevitable aging and the looming grand change in our lives. For my creative shot, I chose to immortalize my geekery by going as a modern-day Princess Leia, complete with See-Threepio and Chewbacca Mighty Muggs, and a sith lightsaber. I spent most of the day with two of my favorite girls, Lavina and Lesley (to whom the photos of us three are credited). In my best stereotypical surfer dude accent, that day was pretty rad, bro.

And that, boys and girls, is my two weeks in a nutshell. Till then, I will be chained to my corner in the library, by the window with the view of the tree, waiting for this semester to end. It will be fantastic.

Cheerios! ♥

All Good Things

I'm not the sentimental kind of person so Valentine's Day has never been particularly meaningful to me. I've got to say though, the best thing about the 14th is the abundance of sweets all over the world. Oh, and the love emanating from just about everyone (cue applause). ♥

For this year, there were cupcakes abound, plus a very quaint fondant cake from The Sister's boyfriend. These Tequila Rose Valentine's cupcakes (which we got from my cousin) are so adorable, no?






Happy Valentine's day, kids!

Southern Child

It's funny how when you really think about it, the memories you have and are nostalgic for are often very romanticized versions of reality. Not that this is generally a bad thing, but it's disorienting when you finally realize that things aren't all you remembered them to be.

I grew up in the southern part of Manille with the same kids I spent more than half of my life with. Though I will always think of high school as the pivotal years of exploration, creation and formation, it's also very interesting to see how far I've come since then - the annoying, angry, pseudo-rebellious teenager has now grown into the simply unpleasant person that I am now! Kidding aside, the sad thing about this is that for the most part, we've all become so different that it's hard to feel around in the dark for the things we still have in common. Nevertheless, I will always welcome every opportunity to hang out with the kids I grew up with.

Last Sunday was one such opportunity. I traveled back south for a graduation-slash-birthday party of a friend. It feels good to be back in the same place, with the same people. Which leads me to believe that no matter how long I'm held hostage in the north, I will always be a southern child.


On that note, most of my high school friends have already graduated while I'm stuck swimming through the murky waters of yet another year in college. I'm not complaining too much, though. I'll be holding on to the last of my justified parasitic existence for as long as I can.

Cheerios! ♥