I’m giving away a ticket to Philippine Fashion Week Holiday 2012! Pls scroll down or go to my post here.

Do any of you guys have Pinterest? Oh I can hear you guys grumbling “Not another social network, AGAIN.” Actually it does seem like Tumblr but in a more organized manner. Pinterest is somewhat like a corkboard and shelf all rolled into one. For example, you were looking for a particular style to redecorate your home but there are so many. So what you do is you “pin” it on a particularly board in Pinterest and then you’ll be able to review them all at a later time. What I love about is it’s graphical user interface and it’s just so easy on the eyes. It’s bookmarking WITH STYLE. I’ve already made 12 boards and I’ve also indicated my dream camera there too, just so I won’t forget it or anything. I will get a DSLR someday and after hours of research, I do know what camera and lens to get. I just need… you know, moolah. So if you’re on Pinterest already, ADD MEE! Or if you want an invite (you can easily log in using twitter or facebook), I can easily give ya one. Just comment away

One of my favorite boards there is of course, that dream house “Welcome to My Abode” board. Ever since I was young and had to move away from my grandparents, I knew I wanted my own room just like what other “normal” people had. Why am I still sleeping in the same room with my parents EVEN up to now? Why can’t I tear down these walls and decorate to my own liking? Well of course money money money is the problem and the fact that we’re just renting our house. So if ever the owners decided to boot us out, I’ll be homeless. So I don’t really have a permanent home, this is why I love the phrase, “Home is where the heart is” because I can make ANY PLACE my home. And thus the dreamer in me continues to dream. I’ve grown out of my pre-teen and teenage phase so unfortunately I can’t decorate my room like one anymore (well WHO SAYS SO… I still can! haha) but I have a vision of what my dream house would be like. It’s got to be big, and spacious! Check out my dream house board.

Seems though I LOVE to incorporate nature and books in my future home.

Maybe live inside a mountain or a hill

Or float around in my lazy river inside the house

Or yeah again in a cave

But then something revolutionary happened last week that threatened me to jump off my dream precipice. I watched a documentary on Youtube called “We The Tiny House People” and it featured the tumbleweed houses and various other people who were able to build extraordinary homes in such a limited space. It wasn’t actually my first time to see this particular house

which looked like a cabin compartment on wheels more than anything else. Somehow it wasn’t able to change my perception of my dream house but after watching this documentary and to find out how living less doesn’t always mean living more, but it doesn’t mean that LESS CANNOT BE MORE. Why can’t it? A lot would disagree with that statement at how having less things mean more things. But I believe that we can make it more. You got to work to achieve and if you check out my favorites in the documentary, such as this amazing 400-square feet boat home by Heather Wilcoxon who ditched the Hollywood glamour to live on a boat.(no I am not a hippie or bohemian-ish really… i would change the interior design but the concept is amazing)

My favorite apartment though has got to be Christian Schallert’s apartment in Barcelona. They call it the “lego-style apartment” because of how everything is connected and hidden. It’s perfectly functional too.

This space-saving idea is so practical and wonderful but might be turned off by those with kids. Of course you can’t raise kids in these kinds of quarters but it doesn’t have to be such a big difference right? People who have built tiny homes state that one of the reasons why they love building these is because of “being lazy” and “no dusting required” statement. Actually that’s a perk but I think the reason goes beyond that. Less cleaning is always helpful but let’s not forget that it’s great for sanitation purposes, it helps with countries’ density problem. Building these kinds of tiny houses is more economical and cheaper they say because of lower rent rates and of course less land needed and I do agree.

I look at the problems here in the big city of Metro Manila and look at the squatters and shanties around and I can’t help feel a nudge somewhere… that this might be a solution to their problem. I don’t know how it’s going to be implemented or not but applying these kinds of concepts could help with the environmental waste problem and also the squatter situation. I want to pitch this idea to somebody but I feel like I lack the needed knowledge (i am not an interior designer or an architect) but this is an important idea that must be shared. What do you think?

Please take the time to watch this documentary, it might be long (1 hour and a half) but it’s really worth it. You don’t have to watch it all now but it would be great if you take the time to watch this too. This has affected me so much that wherever I turn to in my home, I’d see “WASTED SPACE!!!” and say “TOO MUCH SPACE FOR 3 PEOPLE!!” and I want to take out everything. But it’s not yet my home… wait till I get my own. Nature will definitely be a part of my future home though.

If you just want to watch the trailer, you could do so here It’s only 10 minutes I think?

Check out the Tumbleweed blog or Faircompanies for videos and photos of more tiny houses. They also give you tips on how to “save space” from your homes.

Jay Shafer is also the founder and owner and architect and… well he built the first “tiny house” like this. Check out his tour. Thought that I should mention him here because he’s kind of the “pioneer” in the States.

Updates when I update!

Don’t really have spring here so I just pretend I have spring cleaning. Even though it’s summer. So let me just be a Snow White here and clean out my closet.

Oh the things you find in junk (actually there’s still box-loads of junk and I just had a major Epiphany which I will share in my NEXT blog post) especially TONS of stuff toys. I didn’t realize I’ve amassed a collection until I saw that they were gathering dusts (and maybe cobwebs and a few spiders who knows) in my closet and I’ve decided to scrub em till they shine! Well lookie what I found!

Show ▼

Sorry for messy beds background

That’s just 1/4 of the family and I’ve got some more tucked away in Narnia waiting to be found. Most of the stuff toys I have now were mostly gifts and this is one of the reasons why stuff toys aren’t really my ideal gifts… O_O where would I place all these without them gathering dust? I am thankful for each of them though and they are darn cute, you gotta admit it! I did find some… weird ones, one was so freaky that our dog kept barking at it.

But he wasn’t scared of his new toy

It creeped me out at first, I mean what is it and why doesn’t it have ears or something? See, having ears makes a difference. A lot of difference.

I’ve been reading a lot of good books lately and I hope you can check them out here. Add me up on Goodreads, am always on the search for another perfect book. I love fantasies such as The Hobbit, Harry Potter and also magical realism books such as One Hundred Years of Solitude, and also books with animals on them (Life of Pi did it for me I think). The last book sale blew a huge hole in my wallet but I died a happy bookworm. Tea Obreht’s The Tiger’s Wife is a gripping read, one of the few books that made me actually want to join a book club and discuss its meaning because there are so many twists and turns and I NEED to know what really happened. It’s also about a Balkan country which I know next to zilch about so it was a very interesting read. Full review of my read books can be found here.

As you can see, this set has all my preferences

I swear you have got to read Habibi if you’re an aspiring artist or designer because of its intricate patterns and designs on the drawings. Just for that I’ve already given this book a WHOPPING 10 but it is for mature audiences. This is the third volume of Y:The Last Man and since the bookstore only had 1 copy left… I couldn’t help but by it T_T And Free Comic Book Day is coming up on May 19 with 20% off on graphic novels… *gets shot more* Somebody help me control my book shopping tendencies. Maybe I should check in a support group.

I’ve also been bitten by the culinary bug. Well it’s actually more like my mom’s doing.

Mom: I don’t want to cook anymore, you’ve got no job yet anyway so you can cook for us.

Me: But but but I do help with the business…

Mom: No, you start today.

Me: Okay… *polishes my rusty cooking skills from 2 years ago*

I haven’t cooked really or had the desire to cook since my student exchange last 2010 but I thought what the heck and since our new helper at home actually knows how to cook, she helped me with my chopping skills and mentored me as we cooked these dishes. I was the mastermind and strategist while I learned the correct basic cooking techniques as I never received any proper training. Searching for recipes is the funnest part and I somehow became immune to the heat even while cooking. I didn’t despise it anymore as long as I can cook good food and see the happy faces of my family. Seeing the joy of somebody relishing good food is really something. Makes you feel happy like Santa. If Santa’s out there…

And now I want to introduce you to one of my inspirations (besides my mother and brother because he does cook good food), THE PIONEER WOMAN (Ree Drummond)! She was the one who saved me during my student exchange because of her step by step VISUAL recipes. I never had the patience for cooking videos because what if I missed a step and I had to rewind it back then I’d be hobbling around the kitchen frantically making a mess out of things. So when I saw her WONDERFUL WONDERFUL SITE, I became a disciple of her good cooking and inspired me to actually take good food photography (and I still fail at it, sorry ). What I love about her blog is not only the mouth-watering delectable pictures and easy to follow recipes (heck I’m even thinking of canning and making cinnamon rolls, what the fudge), but also her style of blogging. It really appeals to me. And maybe because she talks and answers herself a lot.

Oh yes she does.

Like me. Sort of.

See? Am answering myself again. Oh the beauty of solitary soliloquy! Oh where were we? Oh yeah food.

SO YEAH GO VISIT HER BLOG! Here are my “exam results” and I hope you guys… like the virtual food? TATA FOR NOW!

My first dish, Spicy Shrimp Aglio Olio (very unconventional as we decided to put Tomato, this is a no no for aglio olio BUUUUTT it kinda worked, it’s still tasty!)

Spicy Tuna Carbonara (didn’t follow Ree’s exact recipe, has Filipino touch to it)

Pasta Puttanesca (Had to substitute some items, be creative as they say! XD)

Chicken Parmigiana, my first love at her site and this was infinitely better than the one I made in France

Above: Baked Blueberry Cheesecake for Chair’s birthday!
Below: No-Bake Blueberry Cheesecake from mom’s recipe
Baked = cheesier, no bake = ice cream-ier

Fresh Strawberry Smoothie.

Lasagna. We didn’t follow the recipe exactly and it came out a bit soggier than usual

After much Italia cuisine, I decided to cook healthier dishes LOLL coz I think we all became fatter afterwards :/ Chicken Couscous with Chick Peas and Harissa Paste. This recipe was from some dude in Foodily. I kinda forgot who…

Roast Herbed Chicken. VERY HERB-Y! This is Jamie Oliver’s recipe (I seriously love his shows. And his family is like the BEST FREAKING CUTEST FAMILY EVER! Check out his instagram) but I used breasts instead of a whole chicken. You need to lessen the oven time coz it cooks faster.

I’ve always wondered what the Earth has seen through her lifetime. As the opening song of The Big Bang Theory goes

“Our whole universe was in a hot dense state,
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait…”

If the Earth really were 14 billion years old (CORRECTION 4 BILLION YEARS AGO, thanks Chiui!), then man, she must have seen a LOT of things. And she’s probably made a lot of things too. Whenever I just walk around along the streets of anywhere, any country, I always wonder, what lies under the ground beneath my feet? I’m sure there’s dirt, crust, bones, and who knows what living things. The Earth has risen I think as we pile concrete or other materials on top of the Earth, we tend to bury a lot of things. And yeah, maybe we can find things inside mountains and volcanoes too.

And who knows what you might find.

Probably a gold mine, maybe Atlantis, maybe your lost sock.

Or maybe…
MAYBE WHAT? ▼

I’ve just rewatched Gone With the Wind and I caught Scarlett O’Hara’s phrase, GREAT BALLS OF FIRE once again! haha Such a lovely quote/expression if you ask me.

So only 3 days left until the reckoning and I’m thinking of holding a giveaway of some sorts. There’s so many things that are happening this month (graduation, employment issues – i wouldn’t like to call it employment, I guess searching for yourself is better, a crossing of the threshold, temporary freedom, projects, 6 month anniversary with the Order of the Lions, etc) so I was thinking, to celebrate this grandiose month of culmination and beginnings, LET’S HAVE A BALL! A GIVEAWAY! I just have no idea what to give away yet or how it will happen. I must gather up some things… to give away first! Will keep you guys posted via twitter or I’ll make another post as to how I’ll make this happen. Do you guys want a giveaway though?? And maybe I’ll have another one in May to celebrate 4 years of bloggingness on this site. Or maybe combine it… HMM HMMM HMM

Thank you to everyone who has shared their ideas of the cyber bullying issue on my last post *pls scroll down to read it, I appreciate comments!* It is interesting that most of my readers didn’t care for the methods of hacking, (aren’t you guys afraid that one person can potentially infect you with a keylogger and get your info?? :O) and how it doesn’t equate to the damage that cyberbullying inflicted. I guess it’s “revenge is sweet” right? I would like to think that hacking is still wrong, same as cyberbullying and how 2 wrongs do not make a right. BUT IT FEELS GOOD TO FEEL SOME SORT OF “JUSTICE” at its most flexible sense.

I want to talk about now the issue of “LINSANITY”. No, you haven’t heard of Lin yet? Jeremy Lin?? Well don’t worry, I’m sure non-fans of basketball wouldn’t know about him but for Asian-Americans who do, and for anybody else who do love basketball, they’d know that he is the latest rising star of the NBA. Also probably just the 4th Ivy League student who played for NBA (HARVARD, HE WENT TO HARVARD O_O ECONOMICS DEGREE. O_O *STARES* Oh and also the FIRST ASIAN-AMERICAN TO PLAY IN THE NBA (not from mainland China or Taiwan, though he has Fujian ROOTS! My ancestors came from there 8D we may be related in a soo soo soo distant past! LOL KIDDING). So yeah, that’s why they’re making a big deal out of him. At first though I just kept on reading A LOT OF tweets about this Jeremy Lin. My first though was, oh is he the one who replaced Yao Ming? From China? And then more tweets about his great plays came in and Facebook started to be flooded with a lot of Jeremy Lins (hey we’re Asians so… Chinese-Filipinos who love basketball so… there… XD) and I couldn’t take it and decided to check on who the heck is this guy. My brother isn’t here so I’m not updated with the NBA anymore.

And this is what I found.

A Youtube tutorial on “How To Get Into Harvard”. Heck he even collaborated with Nigahiga and Kevjumba BEFORE he became a star and no wonder who looked familiar coz I did see him in a vlog of Nigahiga a year ago when he was still in the Golden State Warriors and I was all, “WHO IS THIS TALL GUY?” and now he’s on the cover of TIME magazine and my dad is obsessed with him now. And my dad is obsessed only with Michael Jordan or Manny Pacquiao so this is a HUGE THING for him. It’s amazing how he’s taking everything with humility as he is a devout Christian and he just thanks the Lord for this amazing opportunity. I don’t know… maybe it’s a fluke or he’s going to choke midseason but I admire how down-to-earth he can be. This video proves that he has a great sense of humor (“if you already have glasses, GET BIGGER GLASSES”) and this hulabaloo isn’t inflating his ego (cough Kobe COUGH) YET… I hope he doesn’t change anyway. It’s also amusing to see how he struggles with speaking Mandarin but knows how to understand it and it parallels to any second generation Chinese immigrants in ANYWHERE.

So the world (NBA world) now has its eyes on Jeremy Lin… he better keep his game up!

And now I just want to end this with BRAVE. Coz I’m going to need a lot of courage this year. Definitely A LOT.

And come on, IT’S AMAZING. THIS 2 MINUTE SNEAK PEEK TRAILER IS FRIGGING AMAZING. I’ve already watched this 1000 times and I can’t get enough of it. Of Merida’s red hair. Of Scottish accents <3. Of how EPIC THE ENDING WAS. No spoilers guys. Just plain PIXAR AWESOMENESS.

I so want to get into Pixar... ANY JOB WOULD DO.

Questions
1. What do you think of the phrase, “Two wrongs do not make a right”. Agree or disagree?
2. Do you know who Jeremy Lin is?
3. WHAT DID U THINK OF PIXAR’S BRAVE?

Just wanted to share something really insane stuffs that’s been going on in my University the past few days (oh gosh why am I

writing something academically related again well not really…) such as…

THE RUNNING DEAD!

Our mountaineering society has decided to pattern it to a similar marathon in the US where people who marathon are also chased by ZOMBIES!!!

It’s a BRILLIANT idea if you ask me. I mean not only will you be able to get your usual “exercise” factor from a normal marathon, but you also experience THE ADRENALINE RUSH, THE FEAR, THE ANXIETY, THE SHOCK and everything that you imagine a Zombie chase scene would feel like. Of course it’s not a pleasant sight, I mean who would REALLY want to be chased by zombies? But this is a safe and “realistic” way of imagining it. There were only limited slots for the runners and zombies (would have LOOVED to be a zombie, I’ve been practicing my zombie skills after watching too many Zombie films and series — WALKING DEAD IS AWESOME, PLEASE WATCH IT. Just be patient with the first part of the first episode and you’ll LOVE the ending — and too bad I wasn’t able to use them Next time I guess??

//EDIT I found the original American marathon! It’s called RUN FOR YOUR LIVES and it’s FRIGGING HILARIOUS! Setting is really somewhere in the boonies and the zombies are meaner and the obstacles are crazy! LOL and btw SPOT THE NINJA TURTLES AND WALDO HILARIOUS! Oh my gosh I want to see this in action, but how could I get to America? I would probably need a payday loan!

Also one of my coursemate (hmm should I blot out his name? hahaa but more than 6000 people have seen it so maybe not… !) has now become a 9gag celebrity! Have you seen his reaction paper regarding a field trip to the Malacanang Palace (aka The White House here in the Philippines, of course Obama doesn’t live there)? Come on I’m sure you have seen this already!

TOTALLY GOT RICK-ROLLED! 9gag frequent readers would know this term since Rick Astley is such a great Meme My coursemate didn’t really have plans on posting this on 9gag, just Facebook but… you know how some of your friends just suddenly go to you and say, “OH WAIT ___ BY THE WAY I UPLOADED IT ON ___! DON’T THANK MEE!!” And that’s what happened to him. Friend apparently didn’t erase his name so he keeps on being googled and being stalked. He has got some pretty WEIRD e-mails and calls. And he has been featured on our local news channel as the ____ STUD (___ is my university name, I just don’t want this post to be googled that’s why I’m not going to give any specifics) I have no idea why they didn’t complete the word STUDENT and just wrote STUDE. Weird! Also he just got a call today and it’s from a BIG media company! I wonder what will happen… Stay tune!

So there, exciting events have been happening lately! OH AND 2 WEEKS UNTIL I FINISH UNIVERSITY.

I CAN’T WAIT.

BECAUSE THIS POST DOESN’T NEED WORDS AT ALL. NO WAY.

Comments off Check out and comment on the post underneath it instead. THANKS AND STAY CUTE!

*title taken from Google’s post regarding SOPA*

****UPDATE! AS OF JANUARY 20, 2012, SOPA’s mastermind Lamar Smith POSTPONED and will review the bill once again along with the committee and various Internet entities. This is GOOD NEWS but I am sure isn’t the last act of this World War Web

It’s been so long since I made a REAL blog post and not just a filler video to keep my blog running. Priorities priorities I say! I even ran out of pre-made blog posts that I wrote before. This is how delayed I am -_-

Several serious issues have blotted the start of my 2012. In short, my too optimistic self who says that 2012 will be a better year is in for an extremely CHALLENGING YEAR. My successes will be greater but so will my failures. I’m willing to make that hundreds of TRIALS just to get that right formula or fix the light bulb and this, standing up to a great issue is one of the challenges that not only I but THE WHOLE 21ST CENTURY GENERATION will have to face.

Almost everyone on the online world must already know about the business regarding SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP) as last January 18, 2012, the world wide web witnessed the largest temporary shutdown of thousands of sites in protest to these US Bills that the US government wants to pass. Some known sites such as Wikipedia, Reddit, and even simple blogs like ours joined hand in hand in this silent war against this atrocious bill. By January 19, 2012, US President Obama joined us netizens by going AGAINST SOPA and PIPA.

But what happened to this stand from Obama when just a FEW HOURS LATER, The US government and FBI sued and arrested 4 out of the 7 shareholders including the owner of file sharing sites of Megaupload and Megavideo. They took their domain and this what you see when you visit their page

I haven’t really explained SOPA or PIPA yet to you guys and maybe you think I’m just riding the bandwagon here because it’s “in” to be against them. NO! I think that everyone should be against this because of the “ripples” it creates for EVERYBODY. Do you realize that when SOPA is passed (or not, wtf did FBI just do? and HOW COME OBAMA DOESN’T KNOW ABOUT THIS yet he claims to protest SOPA), not only is Megavideo and Megaupload targeted, but EVERY IMAGINABLE SITE (which includes ALL FILE SHARING SITES, YOUTUBE, 9GAG, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, TUMBLR, WORDPRESS HECK EVEN MY BLOG, WIKIPEDIA, AND 99% OF ALL SITES) that can host copyright materials is a potential threat and will be shutdown. The Internet as we know it will cease to exist. Think of this analogy, SOPA treats it as a cancer so if they see that for example your hand has a cancer, they not only will chop your hand off, but KILL THE WHOLE SELF AS WELL. So even though Youtube has this agreement or policy that it is not responsible for the ANYTHING that is uploaded in their site, the bill will still target Youtube once a user uploads a whole movie or used a song in his music video. Because I can’t really explain the bill well and only give you scenarios, it’s best for me to leave the explanation to the experts.

Watch UK Law Graduate and Professional Gaming Commentator “Total Biscuit” explain SOPA

For those who prefer American accents, watch David Sohn’s explanation

And of course, the ever reliable Wikipedia (don’t use this as sources in high school or university dear students! but for blogs you can

The bill would authorize the U.S. Department of Justice to seek court orders against websites outside U.S. jurisdiction accused of infringing on copyrights, or of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. After delivering a court order, the U.S. Attorney General could require US-directed Internet service providers, ad networks, and payment processors to suspend conducting business with sites found to infringe on federal criminal intellectual-property laws. The Attorney General could also bar search engines from displaying links to the sites.
The originally proposed bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators from conducting business with websites found to infringe on federal criminal intellectual-property laws, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites.
The bill also establishes a two-step process for intellectual property-rights holders to seek relief if they have been harmed by a site dedicated to infringement. The rights holder must first notify, in writing, related payment facilitators and ad networks of the identity of the website, who, in turn, must then forward that notification and suspend services to that identified website, unless that site provides a counter notification explaining how it is not in violation. The rights holder can then sue for limited injunctive relief against the site operator, if such a counter notification is provided, or if the payment or advertising services fail to suspend service in the absence of a counter notification.
The second section covers penalties for streaming video and for selling counterfeit drugs, military materials or consumer goods. The bill would expand penalties to include unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content and other intellectual property offenses. The bill would criminalize unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for ten such infringements within six months.
The bill provides immunity from liability to the ad and payment networks that comply with this Act or that take voluntary action to cut ties to such sites. Any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement would be liable for damages.

And after everything, we can ask, “IS PIRACY THE ONLY THING THEY REALLY CARE HERE?”

NO.

They want MORE PROFIT. MORE BUCKS. MORE DOLLARS. So they eliminate competition from Indie film makers, programmers, artists and writers. They don’t want to share and instead EAT THE WHOLE PIE. So please I hope that you can include a STOP CENSORSHIP ribbon on top of your website to protest against SOPA and PIPA (well the bill has been postponed but doesn’t mean we can’t stop expressing our views and beliefs and be ready for the next battle as the American government doesn’t seem like to be waiting for the bill to pass to take action. Rapidshare could be targeted next).

Everyone must informed about this case. Everyone should be alarmed that this bill AFFECTS EVERYONE.

Questions:
1. Thoughts on this? Agree or Disagree?

*COMMENTS CLOSED. PLEASE COMMENT ON POST BELOW *

Hey guys! Just want to feature a rising Pinoy band that is composed of my fellow Atenean batchmates! Their music is actually quite different from the local Pinoy artists and it has a really good alternative so I’d suggest this to fellow 80s or 90s fans Check it out!

From their YouTube page:

Never the Strangers, after all, as the band members explained their name, comes from their love for music, how it is a common thread that brings people—even strangers—together. This unabashed idealism shows the age of its members, who are all still in college at Ateneo de Manila University.

Meet NEVER THE STRANGERS ACE Libre—lead vocals and keyboards, PJ LaViña—drums and percussion, FRANCIS Victa—bassist and JP del Mundo—guitars.

Never the Strangers is a band formerly known as Leonecast—the band Ace and JP carried over from high school to college. When they realized that they are already a different band from when they had started—half of the members are new, even the band’s sound has evolved—they decided to change the name to Never the Strangers.

When asked how they define their music, each member throws in: “New Wave synth rock,” also “keyboard-driven rock,” but they have songs that are guitar driven too—but they all agree that rock music is their main foundation, influenced by New Wave, alternative and synth.

Quick Site Updates! Added links, pages to my Europhotoblog, fixed Project 365 (now my instagram blog, having an iPhone can be handy dandy!), Project Filmography 2012, Project 50 Leaves 2012 (I FINALLY FINISHED 50 BOOKS LAST YEAR!! WOOT GONNA DO IT AGAIN!), added my old poem (will be making new ones soon!) and also added some Meme Questions that I got from Jess (do ask me questions! Would love to hear from you guys :D). So was able to spring clean my blog just in time for the first day of the year!

I got a story to tell though! Something happened right before the start of 2012. Remember my last post when I talked about the alien conspiracy theories and how people think that another reason why the Mayans predicted that December 21, 2012 is the end of the world is because the Mayans MET the aliens. Actually not only the Mayans but including ancient civilizations such as the Greeks (EVEN PLATO THOUGHT THERE WERE ALIENS, well the Earth is a made of grids and this is related to aliens coming here) and Egyptians (how were they able to build the pyramids with no pulleys and other forms of equipment in just a few years?) were visited by them too. Well the creepy thing is that at around 3am in our room, I saw two small dwarf-like creatures that had alien shapes with blinking eyes(????) were kinda moving at the 2 corners of the room beside the air-conditioner and on top of my cabinet. I WAS SERIOUSLY FREAKED OUT BUT I KINDA SUPPRESSED MY SCREAMS. I ran and opened the light but nothing was there O_O I decided not to look at the corners again and just sleep well. Oh gosh that was creepy and I think I hallucinated it because I haven’t been sleeping early the past nights and my brother has been bugging me with all this alien talk so maybe that’s it….

That has to be it right?

Oh and we kinda mistook a flying lantern on New Year’s eve as a U.F.O. Oh flying lanterns are the craze now! The Philippines by the way is always fun on New Year’s Eve since people LOVE to make a lot of noise and lights. Our family was treated to a free fireworks show as usual because our neighbors were kinda competing against each other on who had the best show. Well all of them were awesome! Here are some photos I took

Shower of Lights

Little Piper Boy and the Fountain of Youth

Scarlet Fever

Well back to the alien part… I’m not gonna deny that there might be other beings in the INFINITE universe. Maybe there’s an alternate reality or something and we might never know. But I am still a Catholic Christian at heart (though the Church is another matter, oh gosh) and just wanna share this amazing book by C.S. Lewis called Till We Have Faces. Religion is all about creating a way of life and this is how I choose to be and in Lewis’ book, which he claims to be his masterpiece, he tackles it in such a profound way by retelling the myth of Psyche and Cupid in the point of view of Psyche’s sister. It’s such a beautiful philosophical and theological book but requires a bit of deep reading (need to read it again! don’t worry it’s not too deep as reading Ricoeur or other German/French philosophers. Still enjoyable!). Like what a reviewer said, tt basically tackles the psychological honesty about the human sense of injustice by the gods. Who has not been tempted to say to God, “It’s not fair”?

The ending is one of the best endings I’ve read. I teared up just because of the honesty and revelation of it. It’s quite an experience reading it, nothing like I’ve felt before. LOL this is turning to be a love story by the way I’m talking about it. But seriously I loved it.

Just some favorite quotes

“I have seen something like it happen in battle. A man was coming at me, I at him, to kill. Then came a sudden great gust of wind that wrapped out cloaks over our swords and almost over our eyes, so that we could do nothing to one another but must fight the wind itself. And that ridiculous contention, so foreign to the business we were on, set us both laughing, face to face – friends for a moment – and then at once enemies again and forever.”

“I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice?”

I have this in PDF (I thought that it would be boring so I didn’t bother buying it, now I NEED to get a paperback copy!) and am willing to email it to those who want it.

Now I’m going to end this post with something light. All Asian girls have to relate to this video in some way or another. THIS IS FREAKING HILARIOUS! Been playing this every night before I go to sleep just to make me smile again What made this funny for me was the guy in the video dressing up as a girl and everyone keeping a straight face about it And the way he played the girl was kind of funny too. I’m not saying all asians girl do this but it’s funny how some do (like me! I do the starting today no fast food bit and break that promise after a few days or something XD) and how it’s portrayed her. Hope nobody takes offense (I’m asian and a girl too btw)

and I GOT THE SLATE PLANNER! (My other post talked about my planner dilemma but I solved it!) Am liking it so far especially the art, quotes, and there’s even a space for a Bucket list! I have my own list in my blog but I think I’ll make a list of things to do in 2012 (sort of a new year’s resolution, but nah, no deadlines or constraints for me Check out their site to order or you can go to any Fullybooked branch near you.

Toodles peepz!

Questions
1. What’s the first thing you did after you woke up on January 1, 2012?
2. Do you think you’ll read this book? What’s the most thought-provoking book you’ve read? If you don’t really like to read, what’s the most thought-provoking thing that happened to you last?
3. LOL Do you do any of the things that Asian girls do? (Doesn’t have to be Asian really, most girls do those too!)

*PLS COMMENT ON REAL POST BELOW hahaha! Play this as background music if u want haha! Comments are closed here*

For the sake of old times…..

Once upon a time….

A long long time ago….

Just wanted to share the real Scottish (I LOVE SCOTTS!) version of the song. It’s so beautiful ;-( ;-( ;-(

HAPPY 2012 EVERYONE!