Forgive me for the lack of posts, and for not being able to visit my favorite blogs for the last few days. I was stumped with work, reunions with friends, and other things! No one's complaining though, I am having so much fun :D

Yesterday I met up with Ana for our "project". And since everything has been finalized and me thinks nothing can jinx it anymore, I think it is safe to announce: we are putting up gloss, our online magazine! The idea came to us when we participated in Powerbooks' writing workshops. We were busy before the holidays so we were not able to begin straightaway but now that we have more time in our hands, we thought of finally making this dream a reality :D Our online mag will cater to girls aged 16-26 years old, and will discuss not only fashion, beauty, and pop culture, but also real life issues and causes. We will also feature people, places, events, and food! Basically we will write about everything that interests us girls. And we are not just your ordinary bloggers, mind you. Ana is a Journalism graduate from UST while I have a Bachelor of Mass Communication degree from PLM. (Which reminds me! PLM President Adel Tamano was a guest in today's Good Times with Mo. I am so proud of him! Such a shame he became university president after I graduated.)

Ana and I met online about three years ago and I am just so grateful of that. I loved the exchange of ideas we had yesterday, and the bonding we had over Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf's Mocha Mudslide Iceblended coffee and Toblerone Cheesecakes. We are soul sisters, dreaming to make it someday in our local magazine publishing industry and work for Summit Media where we both interned for (separately though, when we didn't know each other yet. Funny how fate...). But while that dream still seems so far-fetched, we thought of putting up our own publication bu utilizing technology and relying on word-of-mouth (or bytes, in this case haha!)

Anyway, we will 'release' the first issue before the end of February and we are hoping you will support our magazine :) I'll post the link once the site is ready. We bought hosting last night (from Kisty, thanks so much! :)) and we are preparing the articles already. Whew!

I have started tweaking the site today, and my brain wanted to drip out my ears :D I have used Multiply, Blogspot and Wordpress for all my previous blogs and I've never encountered the terms FTP, cPanel X, Box Trapper, Account Level Filtering, Raw Access Logs and all those other nosebleed-inducing jargons before! I clicked and clicked, and finally I was able to figure out some of it. For someone with no formal training in CSS and html and website thingies before, I must say I did pretty good :D

So yeah, I do hope we'll finish everything SOON! We have very good plans for this venture and we would certainly want to see everything come to fruition.

I am just so happy and thankful for this "creative outlet". Writing (and sharing it with others) is something I am (and have always been) passionate about so I am really feeling enthusiastic and excited towards gloss. Good vibes all around. I hope you all enjoy gloss once it's out and we promise to bring you quality (and fun!) articles. Sweet shimmering kisses!

We bonded over coffee and juicy stories at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. I remember the note she wrote in the graffiti wall of my autograph book, saying she hopes we'll have more juicy stories next time. And for that I have an answer, if our stories get any juicier than that, then I guess I will have to be prepared for a heart attack! :D

A get together wouldn't be complete without photos :D



We also went to Powerbooks where the book club discussion for Ricky Lee's book Para kay B. just finished. He was still there though for an interview. Since I wanted to get a copy of this book anyway, I figured I might as well buy it that day so I can score an autograph.




The note says "Dear Krissy, I hope my novel inspires you to always give love a chance!" I wanted to scribble a little note at the bottom part, "but I always do!" =]

I am just so happy that I was able to see Recks again. We were super bestfriends in college and we fought only just once =] We were kindred spirits, and I believe we still are. Proof?


I matched my gray plaid dress with black heels and a plum bag, she wore a plum top and black heels and brought a black bag =] We even have the same pressed powder! Look at the first photo ^ and you can see our pressed powders beside my plum bag =]

Here's hoping we can get together again SOON! And of course with Jinna and Minnie this time.

It's already the 15th day of the first month of the year and I am making good on my resolve not to buy new clothes. For someone like me who cannot resist to spend (especially on clothes, shoes and accessories), it should be considered as an accomplishment already Ö

But my nerdy side could not resist a good book when I see one, so for the first payday of the year I got myself

this:


It has 1148 pages and contains over 13,000 quotations with topics ranging from Abide to Zoo (though why anyone would state a quotation about zoos remarkable enough to be included in this book alongside with quotes by Oscar Wilde and company baffles me). Yup, the topics are alphabetically-arranged.


Priced at 555 Php, it's not so bad. And for someone who is an utter loony for words and quotes and trivia and other nerdy stuff like me, these kind of books should not be left owner-less at bookstore shelves. It found an owner now, and it would be a lovely addition to my mini-but-becoming-extensive library. Ü

I am enjoying a long vacation off work and won't be back until Thursday. Then I'll just work for two days (Thursday and Friday) then it's a five-day vacation for me again (I'll be on leave from Saturday to Monday and then rest days on Tuesday and Wednesday). This is the life. I was on the dumps last week, feeling tired and bored with my job. I want something new, something more challenging I guess. But then it is not practical to be without a job these days, so I guess I'll just stay put until the employment opportunity abroad I am waiting for comes (which would happen this year so I just need a little more patience). Besides, I love the people I am with in my workplace and it'll be difficult to leave them. Everything's so much more fun with them around.

So, back to my long vacay, I am just lounging here at home, maximizing the use of my computer (which I missed terribly, her being broken and all for a couple of months). Yesterday my Tita Jean and cousin Jerico went to Citisquare to buy blank DVD-Rs and some other stuff. I finally got this month's copy of Cosmopolitan Philippines! I never fail to get a copy of it every month, it is my bible! I used to collect Candy and Seventeen Philippines but I guess I am too old for them now. Now they are in my room here at home, carefully kept and preserved (they are even covered in plastic! I am that careful of my mags Ö) This month's Cosmo ish is a little bit more special for me because Britney Spears is on the cover! Yeah, I love her so much and never stopped liking her even when she was in her dark days. Heck the success story I wrote in the second activity of the Powerbooks' Creative Writing Workshop: Writing a Success Story I attended is about her! Ö


Won't you look at that. Hot!

So what else am I doing while hibernating?

Just the best PC game ever invented (in my opinion, that is)!


You all know what The Sims is about, yes? If not, then a quick overview from Gamers Download Zone:

The Sims, lacking definite goals or objectives, which are common in most other computer games, focuses entirely on the lives of virtual people called Sims, placing the player in control of their virtual “world” and their daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, reading, and bathing. Will Wright, the game’s designer, calls it a “digital dollhouse”. Although players are encouraged to make their own characters, certain pre-made characters, such as the Newbie and Goth family, have become popular.

The player controls almost all aspects of the lives of a family either premade or self-created. Many choices lead a player’s sim to a large family or a lonely life.

Read the rest here.

They have also released several expansion packs already to make for more interesting gameplay:


I love that I am able to create families and design houses for them to move in. Indeed, it is a digital dollhouse. And I've always loved Barbie dolls and creating stories with them, so this game more than satisfies the girly-girl and geeky-geek sides in me. Excellente!

Now I know they have already released The Sims2 and The Sims3, so why the eff am I still stuck with the first version? Well it's because I like the interface of it more, plus the fact that I can focus more on the designing houses and neighborhoods part. For the succeeding versions the gameplay concentrates more on the controlling the Sim part. I guess I am not that much of a megalomaniac haha! I used to joke that this game is for megalomaniacs since it gives you the power to control the entire neighborhood Ö

So, are you a Sims player as well? If not, what games do you like? And what do you do during long vacations? Ü

My classmate-since-Kindergarten AV who is now based in the US went to the Philippines for a short visit. Add to that the fact that it has been almost 5 years since our high school graduation and you've got the prerequisites for a reunion!

Joana and AV organized everything, and even though I was there for just about two hours, I had lots of fun! It was great seeing all those familiar faces again and swap stories and laugh with them. Such a shame that Third, Prex, Chester, Glen and I had to leave because we still needed to go to Dianne's house for a Barkada ni Ric powwow. For some reason they were not able to go to the HS reunion.

The party was held at Joana's house last Saturday night. There were games, raffle draws, prizes, music, booze, and FOOD!



Not everyone was able to come, but it's okay since I know it is indeed impossible to have 100% attendance for this. It was enough that there were representatives from the three sections of our batch: St. Augustine, St. Bernard and St. Benedict. I am from St. Augustine! Ü


And lastly...


Don't you just love high school memories? I do! I love these people! I went through pre-puberty and adolescent stages, my Britney Spears obsession, my being all nerdy in quiz bees and all phase, and teenage angst-y phase with them. It's nice that this was organized. I'm really thankful to Joana and AV for the invite. Here's hoping we'll do this again SOON.

4 favorite things to munch on




4 places I like to visit and why





4 favorite sites for online shopping





4 things that pop up when you google my name


All pictures from Google Image Search. No copyright infringement intended.

And now I am tagging Joan, Ana, Ed, Joner, Belay, Izhia, and Rej! Heck I am tagging everyone who wants to answer this! Ü