First of all I would like to thank you all for listening to my little rant yesterday. It was one of "those days" when I just needed to blow off some steam. I appreciate all your comments and well wishes, thank you for making me feel so loved. :) 

I wanted to tell a completely different story for today but I guess that would have to wait.

Today is supposed to be my paternal grandmother's 72nd birthday. Her name is Virginia, and I call her Lola Binyang. She succumbed to a hypertension attack on September 21, 2005. After showering, she just felt dizzy, and that was it. She was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced brain-dead as one of the veins in her head has already popped. My aunts, uncles and father had no choice but to agree for the life-support system to be switched off.

It's a shame I don't have a photo of her in my computer... She was what you may call a "classic beauty" (and I got my dimples from her.) She was the mother of eleven children and was a very charming and kindhearted grandmother to us. She was strong yet gentle at the same time. I still do miss her, and sometimes it is still hard to believe she is already gone.

Today my Papa and Mama together with my sister Kyla and cousin Jerico (my brother Ken had classes) went to their house in Malabon to "celebrate" her birthday and offer prayers for her. It was nice to see my aunts and uncles whom I haven't seen for a while (since I wasn't able to attend the family reunion last Christmas.)

We got home at around 5PM. By 6PM, my mother had to leave again because she and his brother had to take their father (my  maternal grandfather) to the hospital as he has been sick for a few days now. They went there last Sunday but were told by the doctors to go home since his condition is not that bad. Now they told us that he would have to be confined to the hospital already because of pneumonia. Now I am really worried, and I hope he gets better soon... My Lolo is tough though, I know he will get through this.

It got me thinking of the book I read recently thanks to Marj aka Miss Guimba. 

She sent me her personal copy for Christmas and I was so touched! I read it here in my parents' house before going to sleep and I was drawn by the story. It is about Susie, a 14-year old girl who was raped and viciously murdered. She watches her family (and how they dealt with their grief) from her heaven. Through this she was able to discover and realize things about life and about herself and her family. This was made into a movie by Peter Jackson and Stanley Tucci - the actor who portrayed Mr. Harvey, her murderer - was even nominated for an Oscar award. I don't know if it will be shown here though, I hope it will.

Quite incidentally, I was listening to the Music Player in my phone earlier (where the songs are in Shuffle mode) when it played Kris Allen's song Gotta Live Like We're Dying (which was written by the guys from one of my favorite bands The Script.) I thought it was very apt; let me share with you the lyrics of the chorus:

I don't want to sound cliche-ish and preachy to you guys but we all know it's the truth: that time spent is time gone, and while we're here we have to make the most out of our stay. I am happy I am able to chronicle my life through this little space I have in the Internet. In the event I die unexpectedly, I have already entrusted someone to post the details of my death in this blog. Morbid much? Not really, I just don't want you guys to think I abandoned you. :)

For now, let's all seize the moment! I do hope that we all get the life we want and deserve.

PS: Ana and Mel also wrote about people close to them who have died in the last couple of days. What's sad is that they died at the prime of their lives, their hopes and dreams (and those of their families unnecessarily taken from them. RIP Jessa and Mr. Cuan.

Thank you for reading this and I hope I did not creep you out. As Susie said, "I wish you all a long and happy life."

The last two days have not been good for me. 

Yesterday I was really excited for 3PM to come already because it was my last day of work for the week and I will go home to my parents' house where I will spend my rest days. But then something came up and I - with my officemates - were not able to go home until after 6PM. It would be hard for me to commute to Navotas by that time because it was already rush hour so I just opted to go home to my apartment for the night. 

Problem solved? Not really. You see, ever since I experienced the wonders of the world wide web I found it hard to let a day go by without getting my Internet fix. It has been my ritual to surf the net before I go to sleep. I use my desktop PC when I am in my parents', and my netbook Lady Fabrize when I am at the apartment. The problem was, my netbook is in my parents' house. I brought her home on Saturday because I didn't have work on Sunday and figured I will be home anyway from Monday - Wednesday. So that's the reason why I did not have an entry for Make Me Smile Mondays yesterday. Left with no other means to get my Internet fix, I just watched my DVDs of How I Met Your Mother again so that Barney can somehow cheer me up.

And so, instead of eating my Mom's home-cooked dinner I was looking forward to after five days' worth of less-than-satisfactory dinners, I ate this last night:

I finally got home this morning and proceeded to use the computer after I ate breakfast prepared by my Mom. Alas, the Internet connection was not working! I tried to use my prepaid Internet stick but I really was not able to connect! The CSR from SmartBro advised me they were having some repairs done on their base station. This carried on for another couple of hours. I was finally able to use the computer at about 1PM. Gah! It was so frustrating =[

Everything's fine now, though.Yay?

I know these are superficial and I sound really shallow to some of you after reading this post but I just wanted to vent. If I may, there is a line (I can look it up, but I am feeling too lazy) in the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower that not feeling these things does not necessarily mean the problems of the world will bee solved. My friends, it's okay to be annoyed by stuff that might seem too trivial for others even if there are people dealing with more serious issues.

Regular blog-programming resumes after I hit the Publish Post button.

I like: that it's the Love Month! Perfect excuse to go on endless rom-com marathons! Bring on the cheese-fest! :D

I don't like: that Dane's and my plans to go to Enchanted Kingdom (the biggest theme park in our country)  on the 13th was cancelled because my VL from work was not approved. Plans have been pushed back to next month. My VL on the 14th was approved though so yay! We might still come up with something on the evening of the 13th. :)

I want you to know: that Dane and I are not a couple. Nobody believes me when I say so. We are just in a special friendship, people. x_x

I've planned: to not be bummed this Valentine's even though I am not part of a couple. In the next posts I would like to tell you about my *ehem* experiences when it comes to that four letter word - love.

This is a game thought up by the Toothfairy so we can all share a bit of ourselves to our readers by completing a set of unfinished sentences every first Sunday of the month. Easy enough right? And fun! Want to join? Click here! :)

I guess when you really want something, you will do what it takes to get it.

So, even when temptations (to go shopping for other stuff instead) surrounded me, I am happy to say that I resisted them and finally got myself a new digital camera! That's one item crossed off my wish list!

Casio Exilim EX-Z29

Dane, Watcher and Mich accompanied me to SM Fairview to get this new baby. We went straight to the mall after work and went home after dark. Fun! :)

Believe me, saving up for a big ticket item is very, very difficult for me as I am the type of person who spends endlessly as long as there is cash to burn. Yes, I know that's bad, but I cannot seem to help myself. The only way I can buy something that needs saving up for is if I receive a windfall. Technically, I did not save up for my new gadget; he is a product of all those double pays during the Holidays. :) But kudos to me for not spending them on other stuff I wanted to get like a new pair of shoes, dresses and an eyeshadow palette. :)

I really wanted to watch Kris Allen's concert with Jabbawockeez and Boyce Avenue tomorrow but no one is available to go with me and the venue is too far. Dane will not be able to accompany me because he will have an admission exam for his MBA the next day. So yeah, the money that I was supposed to use for the concert went to my camera funds.

Because of that, I (with my compulsion to name everything in sight) am naming my new baby after Kris Allen :D

Meet Lord Fontaine d'Allen

Yes, I wanted to follow the pattern of my netbook Lady Fabrize, thus the name. I really wanted one in white or pink, but the only choices are black and silver. I preferred the black one over the silver model since it looks more sleek and "formal". :)

And today I went to SM North EDSA to get a pouch for him.

I only paid P99.75 for this because I got P100.00 rebate :D

I am happy I finally got a new camera. I am expecting my blog will have better photos; no more squinting at images by my 2mp phone Alister! :D

I hope you're all having a great weekend! I will be on VL on Sunday so I will be off to my hometown tomorrow to see my friends! :)

I already knew what I would wear the first time I read about it. I bought this really pretty white and pale pink dress from my soul sister Ana's online store way back in September but I haven't got the chance to wear it. I have also been wanting to have a photoshoot with my good friend and classmate-from-college Karlo since I was impressed with the photos he took of us in our Tagaytay trip. I have said this to my friends and I am going to repeat it here, "We are only young once so it's best to wear what we want to wear now and take lots of photos so that when we're already old, then we'll have pretty photos of ourselves to look back to." So yeah, this photoshoot is like hitting two birds in one stone :D

I had the photoshoot last January 23 at UP Diliman. I was actually supposed to go to Bicol that weekend but my Vacation Leave for Monday the 25th of January was not approved. I did not want to waste that one weekend away from work so I contacted Karlo and I am so glad he agreed. My good friend/ officemate Mich also went with us.

Enough talk, here are my favorites from the 100+ photos!

I did my own make-up, hair and styling. Karlo hasn't sent me the post-processed photos yet; I did all the editing. Minimal editing only though, I just did the Vignette, Round Edges and krissyfied Watermark :)

I hope you did not get too tired looking at a barrage of my photos :D  I can't wait to see yours! I think this is a really good way to get bloggers involved (it is a really great way to meet other bloggers!), I hope that there will be more of this in the coming months! :)

Click here for the full details ;)

I have noticed that I rambled on and on in my previous posts, so for now I am going to write a short introduction and then let the pictures (and the short captions) speak for themselves. Ü

I like this day. Aside from it being my weekend (to the uninitiated, my rest days are Tuesdays and Wednesdays), I love how it was oh-so-easy-breezy at work today. 

Dane returned from his vacation in Bicol last Thursday morning (we also saw each other that day but that deserves another blog entry). The famous perfect cone-shaped Mayon Volcano is located in that beautiful province. In our country, Bicol is also synonymous to pili nuts and a trip there will not be complete without trying them. (Backstory: my maternal grandparents are also from Bicol so I am a certified Bicolana even though I have been there just once.) Maybe that is why I like pili-smothered anything? But then again you don't have to hail from Bicol to like these sweets, they are really delicioso!

Today he gave me the goodies he bought for me :)

My friend/ officemate Sasha also came from Hong Kong and she gave me this:

You are both so thoughtful, thank you very much! :)

I missed being Dane's lunchmate the whole week he was away, so today we ate at KFC and had a special treat via Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.

I hope you'll have a fabulous and smile-filled week ahead! Ü