I moved........

....to wordpress!! weh! hahahaha! akala pala! pero babalik-balik pa rin! hahahahaha!

aaaawww goodbye to my favorite blogspot bloggers!!!!!!!!

off to my NEW BLOG

74%

You and B are
74% Compatible

Your Happy Place

"This is one of those relationships that just works. For once, you don't have to deal with any of the annoying, embarrassing or disturbing situations that are par for the course with dating life. It's like you two "get" where the other person is coming from and make each other feel as comfortable in your skin as possible. So you can toss aside your fear of rejection, just be yourself and go for it, no holds barred! You love that you're both up for anything, and can take off on an adventure or start a new project together at a moment's notice. He appreciates that you've helped him to become a more spontaneous person. With your influence, he can start living life to the fullest. And he's "home" for you, providing someplace safe, stable and supportive to always come back to. It doesn't hurt that your physical attraction always keeps things interesting, regardless of whether you're out cliff jumping or staying in to watch the Discovery channel. Provided that you address emotional tensions and keep them from building up, you two are headed for a life of awesomeness."

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

I got this from a test online wherein the compatibility of two people lies on their respective birthdays and here's what I got. A whopping 74%! 

I know for a fact that for a test over 100, this is definitely a failing mark, but for a compatibility test, it's something one can be proud of or be happy about. It doesn't say that we're completely perfect for each other (which is sad), but reading the whole thing, I was still comforted by the fact that it said that last line right there: you two are headed for a life of awesomeness! :)

Not to brag or anything, but I think that the whole thing basically described us! HAHA! Kapal eh! Well, not exactly the whole thing that's why I had to highlight (yellow) the things that were most applicable to us. The ones in violet are the things that need improvement! haha!

oonga, why nursing, Mars?

I posted the same thing on my tumblr account and I wanted to post it here too so I can always look back in a few years time, pag successful nurse na ako (hopefully) as to why I love (ows??) and continue to try to LOve (much better) NURSING.

REBLOGGED from TUMBLR:

yesterday, during our IVT completion at VMMC, my groupmate from ceu mentioned something about a viral (kaya nga napanood na rin niya eh) video on FB (pa!). She asked us, "napanood nyo na ba yung video sa FB na Why Nursing, Anna?". At first, all I said was, "hindi" and I wasn't all giddy about it (unlike her) tapos ayun she said that it was really funny especially yung sa UNIFORM part. Then I had a hunch na baka si Anna Tan batchmate 'to from ust and true enough, lo and behold siya nga! and In fairness, out of all her vlogs, eto yung pinaka-naenjoy ko, maybe because I can relate well from the UNIFORM to the experiences to the reason why by the end of each day, pag hirap na hirap na ako sa duty, narerealize ko, yeeeeep, nursing is rewarding! JOY! ;)

DAMN! DAMN! DAMN!

I've been a fan of Avril Lavigne ever since she came out with her first single, "complicated" almost 8 years ago. I was in grade 7 and her song (album pala) literally became viral all over the world, including here in the Philippines in just a snap of a finger! I am exaggerating, but you can't deny the fact that it's true! 

Back then, during recess time, I would hear batchmates taking a break in the school corridors, talking about their favorite avril lavigne songs. Some were even singing uncontrollably in between classes rin with friends who also were into her. 

My friends and I bought her first album, "LET GO". Mine was a cassette copy (coz the CD was too expensive for me), but mind you, I couldn't stop playing the damn thing day and night. A few weeks later, I was able to memorize all of her songs (with all the nonstop playing and all, of course). I could not exactly tell which one was my favorite out of all her songs because (if you were a fan too, you'd know that) everything, as in EVERYTHING was really GREAT! You could really relate to her lyrics (which i came to know that she wrote herself). It's funny coz the packaging of her album had all the lyrics printed in her own handwriting (complete with strikethroughs and erasures pa!)! Odiba, yun palang bilib na bilib na ako sa kanya. It was as almost if like a journal lang of hers in musical form. 

As I was saying, I LOVED and ADORED her whole album that I cannot seem to choose which one I liked BEST so I'd like to categorize the songs in 3 classifications.There were songs na I really loved, really, really loved and WOULD KILL ME IF I CANNOT PLAY AT LEAST 80 times A DAY! WEH?! di nga? haha!

• songs that i really loved:
• Losing grip
• I'm with you
• Mobile
• Unwanted
• songs that i really, really loved:
• Sk8er boi
• Too much to ask
• My world
• Things I'll never say
• songs that WOULD KILL ME IF I CANNOT PLAY AT LEAST 80 times A DAY!:
• NOBODY's FOOL!!!!------the rap part I couldn't resist! SOOOOPER FAVE!
• Complicated
• Tomorrow
• Anything but ordinary
• Naked

So anyway, that was the first album lang. When she came out with her succeeding albums, I wasn't able to buy them na due to financial crisis (wahaha), but nonetheless, I liked everything just the same and downloaded them ALL on my player! 8 years later, here I am, still singing her songs (both old and new alike) to death! I am even listening to her newest single "WISH YOU WERE HERE"  now, on repeat mode to get me in the mood for writing this! HAHA! Kidding! Baliktad actually. I wrote this because I cannot stop playing the song over and over and I suddenly thought of writing and giving tribute to one of the best singer-songwriters of this generation! Why not right? She was a big part of my teenage life! :P

So aside from being a great influence as to who I've become today (talaga lang?!), here are the things that I did just because I was a big fan of hers:

• I once tried to wear that punk-rock outift of hers (white top and neck tie) and sang SK8er Boi and Complicated in front of the mirror!!! OH YEAH!
• I also tried on her VERY DARK and SMOKEY EYESHADOW make up with my liquid liner! I saw her do a live version of her songs from the 3rd album (if i'm not mistaken) and I liked how her eyes bled of BLACK EYESHADOW!! haha! adik lang talaga!
• I downloaded all the chords to her songs (yung kaya ko lang i-play--actually almost all her songs had very easy chords kaya keri naman) and sang them unendlessly/unendingly (kung anuman) in our room (sorry kay kat na inendure lahat ng yun noon! best audience ever!!!). Actually, her songs were the very first songs I learned to play in the guitar so KUDOS avril, you really changed my life! hahaha!! Among my favorites were: "Keep Holding on" (with my own version coz it was too high haha), "Happy Ending", "Why"!
• I sang and partied like a rockstar in our room once, complete with feelingera rockstar moves pa while playing "WHAT THE HELL" on repeat mode (as usual).
• I watched her first concert here ON TV! AKO NA! AKO NA ANG LOSER and I sang all her songs (as if andun talaga ako sa venue) with matching emote emote pa and iyak coz I was sooo touched by her presence and the energy of the crowd. I felt that she was touched by the Filipinos singing her songs out loud down to the very last lyric! 

Anyway, Avril, if by chance you get to read this, I wanna be your best friend so we can tour the world together on skateboards and skater boys! (WAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA ECHOS!) YUN NA!

Here's the wish you were here video (dedicated to uhmm alam mo na! HI!):

P.S. avril's so good in singing and composing (?) really good emo songs and aside from wish you were here, above, and when you're gone, eto pa yung isang emo song na I love playing on repeat mode:

CIAO!!!

getting productive...

I'm finally beginning to take hold of my life, or so I think; but nevertheless, I actually feel like I'm beginning to do something good for once in my life. Yesterday, I was with my best friend, looking for hospitals that are open for employment or for training for newly-graduated/registered nurses. Though 2 out of the 5 hospitals we went to weren't accepting applicants as of the moment, we still felt a bit hopeful of the fact that somehow, the rest accepted our resumes!!!! Iba pala talaga yung pakiramdam pag alam mong yung hirap at pagod mo may napuntahan talaga! Plus, we were finally able to get out of our bum routines, leave that lazy couch at home and do something MEGA productive!

Oh the perils, este the joys of Job Hunting pala: We didn't have our own car (which would've made hospital hunting easier), we almost ran out of funds (thanks to the the requirements that needed express processing and photocopying), we ate lunch at around 2 in the afternoon already, we even had to literally walk from hospital to hospital under the scorching heat; but by the end of the day, it was worth all the calloused feet, sunburned, greasy face and disgusting, haggard look because we felt like we finally had accomplished something and it's quite encouraging, knowing that someday, these institutions might actually take time and give us a call or even hire us for a position we've been asking for. 

Nikki, taking a pic of the requirements

requirements!

passed by my dormie!

Job hunting also made me feel a bit more eager (as compared to a few months back) to work already. Some people would've wanted to work as early as days after graduation or in our case, after completing the requirements for work, but not me. I felt like I got too burnt out or stressed back in college, that I just wanted to live my BUM dream and vowed never to work again. Thankfully, that Juan Tamad in me finally had the initiative to stand up and grab that guava out of that tree instead of just waiting for it to fall into his mouth. I finally felt that I wanted to work and take care of patients again. Maybe I just needed that reality check to give me a little push. I realized that I need to stop being a freakin' lazy couch potato and work my ass off to earn money and help pay the bills at home! SERIOUS MODE NA!!!

St. Luke's, qc

One reason why I suddenly lost interest din in working early is because of my love-hate relationship withe my course (gusto pa!). I felt like I hated nursing more than I should have loved it from the start pa lang, unlike the others, though I admit that no one forced me to take this but myself. Then slowly, I began to realize that Nursing made me feel bad about myself. It made me feel inferior couple of times. It pushed my self-esteem so low, it almost hit the ground, but now that I'm happy to say that I actually miss it!!! I never thought that I'd be wanting to clean up after my patients again, to take time and establish rapport again, to administer medications, feeding and hopefully do whatever it is that I haven't done yet (in my 3 years of hospital duty as a student nurse). I'd like to believe that I've become stronger and much braver to actually want all these things in my life again. I still am so scared that I might not be able to do my duties well enough or that I might do something to compromise not only my license but those of my patients lives. But I believe that I am good, or great even, and I have the potential to be the best nurse, if I work hard enough. I'd even want to promise myself that once I get hired either as a nurse trainee or if I'm lucky as a staff nurse, I would do my best to help my patients recover and obtain optimum well being again! I PROMISE! 

BUKO SHAKE LOVE after a long day :)

LAST POST, I PROMISE!!!!!

AWESOMENESSSSSSS!!! girl power!

Can I just Say that...

...PETER LEE JOHNSON IS THE MAN!!!

LUPE FIASSSCOOOOOOO covers!!!

When I like a particular song, I make it a point to look for talented people on youtube who do sooooper creative covers of that song. True enough, there were more than a few who took my breath away! SOOOOPER AWESOME!!!! 

This guy made an acoustic cover of the song and he's good!! *eyebrows raising* NICE ONE PARE! Love his voice!

Then it gets better, we have this guy who made a piano rendition of the song's melody!!! SooooooOoO good!!

Then here's another fave cover of ze song: VIOLIN VERSION!!!!!! SOOOPER COOL mo lang pare!!! sort of a mashup up of the show goes on and pachelbel (as the title says).... SWEEET!!

Here's another acoustic version of the song. He made a mashup of the song and "closing time". IKAW NA!!!! hahaha

OOOoOpsie, before I forget, I also saw this guy, he's PINOY and had the song rewritten!! kuya, you're awesome too!

Loved them all!! TWO THUMBS UP (ala ebert and roeper lang eh!) haha! If I could ask my sister to hand me her thumbs, I would you guys 4 thumbs up!!!! AWESOME!!!!

the show goes on......alright!

HOW TOs...

I badly need to wash the stain off my tarnished necklace however, I still haven't bought this silver cleaner from the jewelry store. Fortunately, I saw this homemade silver cleaner on tv (which if I can remember clearly is a mixture of baking soda and apple cider vinegar). However, since I'm too scared that this homemade shizz might actually ruin the quality of this special necklace, I had to look it up on the internet (where else?). 

So I found these sites suggesting I put my silver thingy into a bowl of boiling water with baking soda and aluminum foil instead. Said it works wonders. However, I still wasn't convinced that this would work (plus, I got even more scared of the fact that I had to boil the necklace). Good thing, we have YOUTUBE, where we can actually see how things work magically, right in front of our eyes!! 

THEN, I found this video! It literally made me wanna jump for joy! It's like a more scientific and a more complicated magic trick, for adults only! Then again, kid geniuses these days might appreciate it more than adults would!! Apparently, our jewelry undergoes a redox reaction and silver sulfide forms on them which causes the black stains that we want to scrub off! The aluminum foil acts as the reducing agent which reverses the chemical change our jewelry underwent and renders it stain-free. (haaaayyy how i hate chem!). hahaha!

OH JOY!!! Amazing isn't it? So, Imma go buy baking soda from the grocery tomorrow on the way home and try this! Sooooper excited!

Anyway, you know how when you're on youtube, you get the tendency to watch the related videos lined up beside the current video you're watching? Then you get addicted till you catch yourself opening a thousand tabs just so you could watch them all and post them on your blog like this? Then that's what happened today! I got carried away, checking out these weird yet funny, helpful and amazing "HOW TO" videos of people on YOUTUBE! So here are some of the ones that caught my eye today! I could go on and on, but I still got a lot of things to do before the sun sets (weh??), so.....

And here's another how to clean your silver video...

Then I found other uses of baking soda. Apparently, it can also tighten one's pores! I knew it could clean a lot of things and make your teeth whiter, but I never heard this one before!

Then there's the "how to take the blackheads off your nose with the use of elmer's glue" video:

Then I found this hilarious video of Jenna Marbles. Just the tone of her voice made my day! Sinong bored?

Then there were more Jenna Marbles how to videos:

Then I just had to LOOK FOR a HOW TO COOK KOREAN JAP CHAE video! I just had to because I am seriously dying just thinking about it now! CRAAAAAVE!!!! 

And wow, seriously, this is how I want my noodles...hand-stirred noodles! para masarap!!!

Then I also had to look for this video of how to launch a soda bottle rocket! I missed this! Back in high school, the only reason why I loved PHYSICS class is because of the experiments! This was by far, the best thing we did! I even planned on doing it all saints' day of that year in the cemetery with my siblings and cousins (but there were too many people, I had to ensure the safety of the majority haha!). Maybe we could still do it in the cemetery, wag nga lang sa November! OOoOhhh!! Sounds like a plan!

This next video is a lazier way of doing the rocket. Yes, because you could always substitute the bike pump with a compressor! odiba?

So there you go! Tune in again next time for more!!! weeeeeeehhhhhhhh! radio dj lang?!?! CIAO!!

the show goes on...

Ever since my sister introduced this song to me, for some reason, it keeps playing and getting stuck in my head, randomly. Usually one needs to hear or listen to a song first before they get LSSed by it, but in my case (or in this case), it doesn't necessarily have to be that way. 

There's this certain "good vibe" that this song brings me which relaxes me and makes me feel like I'm a real ghetto girl or something. HAHA! Plus, it has this nice rhythm unlike other hiphop songs, which makes it much more pleasing to thy ears! The lyrics don't seem so bad as well, talking about the usual small town rapper boy who made it big in the music industry (after working so hard) and continues to dream big, and in his journey to success, he inspires little rappers out there to never give up on their dream (no matter how far or impossible it may seem). KUDOS LUPE FIASCO! 

"THE SHOW GOES ON"

LA-SER
Alright, already the show goes on
Alright, till the morning we dream so long
Anybody ever wonder, when they would see the sun up
Just remember when you come up
The show goes on!
Alright, already the show goes on
Alright, till the morning we dream so long
Anybody ever wonder, when they would see the sun up
Just remember when you come up
The show goes on!

[Lupe Fiasco Verse 1]
Have you ever had the feeling that you was being had
Don’t that sh-t make you mad
They treat you like a slave, with chains all on your soul,
And put whips up on your back,
They be lying through they teeth
Hope you slip up off your path
I don’t switch up I just laugh
Put my kicks up on they desk
Unaffected by they threats than get busy on they ass
See that’s how that Chi-Town made me
That’s how my daddy raised me
That glittering may not be gold, don’t let no body play me
If you are my homeboy, you never have to pay me
Go on and put your hands up, when times are hard you stand up
L-U-P the man, cause a brand that the fans trust
So even if they ban us they’ll never slow my plans up!

Alright, already the show goes on
Alright, till the morning we dream so long
Anybody ever wonder, when they would see the sun up
Just remember when you come up
The show goes on!
Alright, already the show goes on
Alright, till the morning we dream so long
Anybody ever wonder, when they would see the sun up
Just remember when you come up
The show goes on!

[Lupe Fiasco Verse 2]
One in the air for the people that ain’t here
Two in the air for the father that’s there
Three in the air for the kids in the ghetto
Four for the kids who don’t wanna be there

None for the n-ggas trying to hold them back
Five in the air for the teacher not scared to tell those kids thats living in the ghetto that the n-ggas holdin back that the World is theirs!
Yeah yeah, the World is yours, I was once that little boy
Terrified of the World
Now I’m on a World tour
I will give up everything, even start a world war
For these ghettos girls and boys im rapping round’ the World for!
Africa to New York, Haiti then I detour, Oakland out to Auckland
Gaza Strip to Detroit, say hip-hop only destroy
Tell em’ look at me, boy!
I hope your son don’t have a gun and that would be a D-boy

Alright, already the show goes on
Alright, till the morning we dream so long
Anybody ever wonder, when they would see the sun up
Just remember when you come up
The show goes on!
Alright, already the show goes on
Alright, till the morning we dream so long
Anybody ever wonder, when they would see the sun up
Just remember when you come up
The show goes on!

[Lupe Fiasco Verse 3]
So no matter what you been through
No matter what you into
No matter what you see when you look outside your window
Brown grass or green grass
Picket fence or barbed wire
Never ever put them down
You just lift your arms higher
Raise em till’ your arms tired
Let em’ know you’re their
That you struggling and survivin’ that you gonna persevere
Yeah, ain’t no body leavin, no body goin’ home
Even if they turn the lights out the show is goin’ on!

Alright, already the show goes on
Alright, till the morning we dream so long
Anybody ever wonder, when they would see the sun up
Just remember when you come up
The show goes on!
Alright, already the show goes on
Alright, till the morning we dream so long
Anybody ever wonder, when they would see the sun up
Just remember when you come up
The show goes on!

I FREAKIN' PASSED THE JULY 2011 NURSING LICENSURE EXAMINATIONS!!!!!

2 months ago, I almost backed out of taking the test due to severe anxiety. I even begged my mother the night before the exams to let me take the test in December na lang because I seriously thought that I wasn't completely prepared yet, but true enough, like what our Dean/Asst. Dean said during our last pep talk before the exams, UST has been preparing us ever since we first stepped into that school, 4 years ago. Sabi nga nila yung reviews and enrichment daw yung icing na lang sa cake. YUNG SPONGECAKE, matagal na daw na-bake!!! To tell you honestly, I bought reviewers that I merely touched and I panicked on the last 2 weeks before the exams. Been too lax because I kind of had this confidence that no UST-CON will ever fail the boards. Then came the dreaded July 2-3, 2011, my rlemates and I met at St. Paul University's (alma mater!) entrance and did a little bit of catching up and checked each other's requirements for the exams. I kind of felt good that we all saw each other before the exams. It helped me a lot kasi I needed to laugh off the anxiety I was feeling that day! I think that we were all anxious.....pero MILD na lang, yung tipong alert yung utak mo and nakakapag-process pa yung brain mo ng matino! Like what they taught us in nursing school, sa stage ng mild anxiety ka usually nakakapagbigay ng health teachings sa patients mo dahil naiintindihan pa nila yung mga binabanggit mo. YES! may na-retain pa sa mga lessons!

Anyway, like what I said, I passed the board EXAMS! Still cannot believe it, and it's been a week after the results were released. I'm glad that I offered everything to the Lord. Truly works wonders! THANK YOU GOD!!!!!!!!!!

Now, I need to go church-hopping with Mara and Joey and go back to all the churches and saints we asked help from!!!! THANK YOU PO LORD, St. Jude Thaddeus, St. Clare of Assisi, St. Pio of Pietrelcina, St. Thomas Aquinas and of course, St. Paul!!!!!

I also want to thank my family who's been there for me ever since I took the USTET 4 years ago. Thank you for tagging along during special events at school, for waking up sooooper extra early on Mondays just to take me back to my dorm, for always being supportive through thick and thin and for loving me for who I am. Thank you Papa, Mama, Kat and Jus for sacrificing for me. I LOVE YOU ALL! :')

I also want to thank all of my relatives, titos, titas, cousins and my lola who prayed for me, day and night!! Nakulitan si God sa inyo, pinasa na Niya ako!!!!!!

I also want to thank my friends, SR: Jacqueline (bestie), Jannina, Christine, Kristine and PUGAKS: Louise, Marion and Mel and my college friends: Mara, Carlo, Maan, Denise, Fen, Chu and Bri, rlemates, classmates, batchmates, college professors, CI's, Dean and Asst. Dean, to the whole UST-CON. Thank you for being there for me/us. Thanks for all the encouragement and laughtrips na pampawala ng stress and pressure sa boards!!! Thank you all for praying for us, for imparting us the knowledge, skills and attitude we needed. THANK YOU PO!!!!!!

So to all boards passers including all my friends, classmates, college and high school batchmates, KUDOS!!!! We all did a great JOB!!!!! Ready to serve the world with our caring hearts, minds, hands, lahat lahat naaaa!!!!! THIS IS IT!!!!!!

P.S.#1 To Jess (special mention?), na ka-building and ka-merienda ko nung boards, naalala ko lang yung sinabi mo after natin mag-take nung test I ata or test II, sabi mo, "wala namang bumabagsak na UST-CON sa boards diba?" (yung tipong worried pero mayabang? wahahah) To you ateh, thank you lang ah sa confidence na binigay mo nung nagpapanic na ako!!! IKAW NA TALAGA!!! IDOL talaga kita!!! and to my RLEMATES, salamat sa mga feedbacks and last minute reviews and joketimes (in between) pag break time!!! tigas ng ulo pero I love you all!!!!!

P.S.#2: I would never have posted this entry kung di ko pa nabalikan tong entry na to:

 "SOOOOOOOPER KADOOOOPER EMO POST ABOUT MY UST LIFE" 

KALOKKKKAAA!!!! I LOVE UST!!!!! Goodbye college na talaga and HELLO WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and before I forget, Congrats to my beloved classmates, Bev Ong and Royce Ong (together with  16 other batchmates) for topping the boards!!!! KAYO NA TALAGA, ONG DYNASTY!!!!!! and UST na talaga! sorry mayabang ah, pero top 2 top performing school kasi eh!!! 468/469 test takers eh!! SORRY, minsan lang po magyabang, patawarin!!!!!!!! tomorrow, humble na ulit ako!!! PROMISE! :)))

:(

bakit ba ang LOVE may kakambal na PAIN? SADNESS? AWAY at TAMPUHAN? sana lagi na lang masayaaaaaa...

sana hanggang first half lang text na to yung mafeel ko...:((((

:(

malamang sa sobrang sama ko, ganito sabihin mo....

but still, i'm always hopeful na magiging okay pa rin in the end.....EMO shit kaasaaaarrrrr!

strawberry fields forever...

I came across Kiana Valenciano's profile on twitter and saw her current background which is somehow similar to the strawberries in the movie "Across the Universe", which also happened to be one of my favorite movies/musicals of all time (big beatles fan here). So I looked for some shizz HERE and i found these! I was supposed to make gaya Kiana and make the first pic as my background pic on twitter kaso kakahiya eh! hahaha! follower ko siya? (conyo-conyohan ka na teh porket bum ka?) labo.

Anyway, this made me miss ACROSS THE UNIVERSE and made me sing Jai guru deva om (again and again and again), so now i got the LSSyndrome (which unfortunately can only be remedied by another song that'd get stuck in yerr head...), daming satsat..................

To make the long, pointless story short....I wanna look for that dvd of mine wherever the hell ONDOY took it and watch it again sometime...... I MISS THE PSYCHEDELIC, HIPPY VIBE of the movie. Go watch it and GET LSSed by BEATLES songs! You;ll love it for sure!! Plus, Jim Sturgess from the movie 21 and upcoming movie One Day is the lead star!!! AWESOMENESS!!!!

of love and loss...

Today, as I had breakfast, I started checking out FB and Twitter (as usual), and sadly, I learned that the sister of one of my dearest college classmates, who also happened to be one of the happiest people I've met and whom I have been lucky enough to be friends with especially during our last year in college, lost her sister yesterday due to cerebral hemorrhage secondary to a ruptured aneurysm.

This classmate of ours texted us last Wednesday asking for prayers when her sister had an unexpected seizure attack which rendered her unconscious. A few hours later, she texted again telling us her sister was then already in comatose. My heart sank deep and immediately, I was at a loss for words. Her sister and I weren't friends but there was this heavy feeling in me that made me fall in deep thought for a while. Maybe because I knew that she was very young and I can always remember her as the girl whom like her sister had this really, really cute and sweet smile. Today, I also learned that close friends made this beautiful FB page for her. It was then that I realized how truly blessed her family is to have a beautiful girl like her who gained a lot of people who loved her. I know that her family will be touched knowing that at least their daughter lived a very beautiful life filled with love and happiness. So wherever she is right this very moment, I know that she still has that smile that even a very depressed and problematic person could not resist smiling back to.

And before I end this, I'd like myself and everyone else to realize that in every loss, there is also something we gain. We might not know the reason for these losses in life, but in time, with genuine acceptance, we learn that God has already had everything planned for all of us. It is our duty instead to know whatever it is that He has in store for us, what His purpose is for us because we are merely His instruments for a much greater plan beyond this mundane life we are all living.

And as everyone always says especially in times like these, LIFE IS SHORT and we all know what comes after that! God bless us all!

Millicent Pangilinan
joined Christ in paradise August 4, 2011

**Photo was taken from her FB page and apparently her last FB profile pic.

it's always been a dream of mine to....

be a film maker... ever since I discovered the joy of editing videos back in high school. I made videos and gave it to friends as gifts for their birthday. I made our school trips more memorable by "immortalizing" them in videos. I made videos of special family gatherings and gave a copy to my relatives so they can relive these celebrations and enjoy them as much. 

Then came college. My classmates and rlemates and even professors (i think) were also amazed by what I can do. I never used windows moviemaker so most of them were surprised to see a different set of effects, transitions etc, but mostly, I think they were amused by the wit and humor I like to put into those projects. As expected, I became the semi-permanent video editor for most of our projects all throughout college. There were times that I even had to direct the films myself! Hindi naman sa pagbubuhat ng bangko pero I could not deny the fact that I enjoyed watching those videos as well because I made sure that those did not only meet the objectives of the project, but also made people interested and amused. 

True enough, I succeeded in creating those projects. I cannot explain the joy and fulfillment I felt when we watched those videos in class. When you hear people laughing hard, applauding, crying out a few "Yes namans" and "woohoos", you cannot ask for more, but thank God instead na natapos mong i-edit yun the night before. HAHA!

Though I said I did well and succeeded in doing all the dirty work, it doesn't necessarily mean that it was pure happiness that I felt while making those. I experienced not sleeping at all just to finish editing in time. I cried a lot and bargained for more time from God. I even had to absent myself from morning classes, onde day and had my parents bring me to school in time for the film showing (last period ata of that day). There was even a time when I had to talk to our professor because I literally was finishing a video on the class period when it was about to be shown. Those were the most anxiety-provoking, distressing and most horrifying days of my life, but I will never exchange those moments for anything much less because I learned a lot and to tell you again, I felt rewarded and fulfilled every single time. Of course, I wouldn't have learned moviemaking and photoshop if it weren't for my truly talented father, my idol (ibang entry ko na lang i f feature si itay! and other family members...).

After graduation, people will talk a lot about their plans and what's up ahead for them and sure there were some who wanted to try something different, something unrelated to the course we've taken. One of those was me. 4 years ago, I would've taken film making in UP but I chose a science-related course instead. I was being more practical and realistic than being idealistic. I was thinking that I would be more successful if I was a nurse than if I made indie films or if I followed in the footsteps of my father, being an artist. Since I wasn't as talented as my father, and since I passed the entrance exam and interview in UST for my first choice which was nursing, I considered it one of my dreams come true. No one really forced me to take up this course but myself and I'm glad I did because I learned a lot and I loved it even if most times I almost wanted to give up. So four years later, I found people who were having the same dilemma I have and I'm glad that I am not the only one who feels like doing a whole lot of other things in life other than the path we've chosen. I wanted to study again. I wanted to take up FINE ARTS and FILM MAKING in UP if time and my parents would forbid me to. I wanted to take Culinary classes and Creative Writing classes. I wanted to be a photographer, travel blogger, food blogger. I wanted to design my own clothes (inspired by the TV shows I watch), I wanted to go sky diving, bungee-jumping, surfing, wakeboarding, snow-boarding and a lot of other extreme sports. I wanted to jump off a cliff. I wanted to dive. I wanted to do all those things and I still want to and I know I can if only I'd give it a try. But as for now, I know what I have to do and I am not regretful of the decisions I made in the past. I love my life and I know someday, I will be able to do all of these. 

OPS di pa tapos.... haha!! This morning, a college batchmate posted a link on FB and just reading the title and seeing familiar faces such as TADO, ERNING, RAMON, JUN and RA (whom I have been looking up to ever since STRANGEBREW days pa lang), I did not hesitate and watched it immediately. True enough, it was REALLLY ENTERTAINING but more importantly, very HELPFUL as well. Even though they made it look like a big joke, it wasn't because it was real and I know that these people are really geniuses when it comes to indie film making. This is why I wanted to take up FILM MAKING in UP SOOOO BAD, because I wanted to meet Ramon Bautista (BIG FAN OF STRANGEBREW and BREWRATS radio show) and because I wanted to learn more about this ART. I even wanted to make my own strangebrew back when I was younger! That's how inspired I was when watching that show. It seemed so pointless back then, but looking back, I realized that they were truly brilliant people. HANDS DOWN to all of them!

So here are RAMON, TADO, JUN, ERNING, RA and LOURD in WORD OF THE LOURD!! ENJOY and make sure you LEARN a lot!