Gift ideas

Christmas is roughly two months away; I don't plan gifts this early, but somehow I am so bored right now I want to plan my gifts already. A little hiccup is that I don't have much money this year, I've been spending on vacations and so my savings are pretty unreliable right now. So I will take the time I have to not just plan but be resourceful in what I can give.

What to put under the tree?

I know it's not really imperative to give gifts or give big and expensive gifts (not that I can at this point) but I do want to, even just little somethings. :)

Day one over, friendship over.

Until last Saturday I really thought SPP would start today, Tuesday, but it started yesterday. It was pretty uneventful, nothing really stood out for me. I presented my poster which got good reviews, I'd like to think. It's just that what I had printed was the version before the final one. Very deep regrets.

So there. But I got pretty emotional come dinner. HP and Epson were teasing me about Brother practically the whole day. I can take comments and slurs about it, but definitely not in a crowd. During dinner every chance they got, they turned on me. Brother's seniors were just on the other table. Good Lord. I ended up crying. And when I cry, I am bordering angry trust me.

This thing about Brother, almost everybody knows. But I only openly talk about it among select people, even rarer that I talk about anything about it at all. Just thinking about it ticks me off, and if you're familiar you know what I mean. In that sense, especially that I did tell HP and Epson about it myself, it's privileged information. I tend to keep things to myself and I really don't like other people poking around my business or other people dishing out my business.

I guess it is my problem that I take things too seriously. I do. I can't help it. Maybe that's why I'm relatively pikon. Other people, even friends, can't gauge of my personality that well; it's probably too much to ask for. Only a few really do, and after last night HP and Epson absolutely don't.

"Do you like pain, creep?"

I just finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and I am absolutely hooked! In a perfect blend of crime, mystery, violence and ethics with a tinge of romance, this book has left me hanging at almost every turn and has had me enduring my increased astigmatism in the early morning hours just to keep on reading.

Definitely a fantastic and thrilling read! Now, I need to get a a copy of The Girl Who Played with Fire.

Anong bagyo?

I honestly did not see this drinking session coming. In a blink I was at Cantina Katips with my groupmates Nicole, Andy, Elo (and Mabi) and our adviser, plus we also invited Ate Nic. Oh well. Spontaneity is cool. We had fun. Though maybe we had more fun if... Hahaha.

It didn't occur to me to take pictures until Sir Ganni and Nicole decided to have a contest and chug a glass of beer. Mwahaha. Nicole won, but Sir Ganni wasn't really competing. (Update: Nicole fell asleep the instant she hit a bed)

In photos: Sir Ganns, Nicole, Andy and Ate Nic 

Dear ol' adviser

What's more interesting is that Ate Ekkay and Sir Chris dropped by Cantina as well. That's one long table of physics geeks. :)

Malamig na ang simoy ng hangin.

Today I realized Christmas indeed is just around the corner. We went shopping at SM Department Store earlier, and the whole mall echoed Christmas songs. As in. Plus we stayed near the trees and decor at Home World while waiting for Lola and Mamie so the image of Christmas is quite vivid now. 

I love Christmas, and I don't think we Filipinos celebrate it like anyone else. For one, we have Christmas for around four months and I don't know any other country who has Christmas that long. Tia tells me our tree this year will be something like Paskong Pinoy. I want to hoist up the tree this instant. Mwahaha. But I can't do that so I'll just hunt for some new Christmas albums. :D

Everything deserves a WHY

I impulsively bought a Live Curious shirt at Regatta earlier. I don't regret it, I'm just amazed that I actually bought it because I'm saving up for my upcoming trips this sem break. In any case, I hope it brings me much needed luck in my exam later. 

In whatever discipline you're in, in whatever area you're enthusiastic about or in whatever field you aim to belong, I sincerely hope you don't succumb to boredom. Live curious. :)

Winnie Monsod's Last Semestral Lecture (10/05/2010)

I submitted several questions for PDI's First Edition last summer. I was hoping the one that got me my tickets is the one asking the candidates what they would do to stop the brain drain in our country. None of my questions were asked and this has nothing to do with Winnie Monsod's last lecture except to me, I know. But somehow after seeing this clip I remembered that incident and I felt good, knowing that somebody whom everybody listens to is like voicing what I have in my head. :p

The Pursuit of Happiness

I used to think that to be happy is the ultimate goal in life. Consequently, I thought hurt and sorrow were the evils we must avoid at all costs. It's a bit naive in my part, now that I think about it. Not that these perceptions are wrong, but just not as absolute as I thought they were.

Happiness would lose its meaning if we were constantly happy. There wouldn't be that glory and that want to be happy. At the same time, the feeling of pain would lose its meaning because these are two complimentary emotions that to lose the meaning of one would render the other meaningless as well. Everything would just be the same, if we were brought up to feeling only one side of the spectrum of human emotions because I don't  think we'd discern feelings if that were the case, because we wouldn't be able to identify which is which.

I've new found appreciation for the whole range of human emotions, be it in the good or bad side of the scale. Pleasant emotions make us feel better, make us feel more complete and I still think it's a good idea to strive to be happy. At the same time a lot of emotions are unpleasant and unwanted, but understanding that there's a rainbow because of the rain creates a whole new perspective; we should take in the good and the bad, because life would be more meaningful with both. 

Let's not be picky and take a cue from Forrest Gump, "Life is a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get." 

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Image taken from here.

Only children know what they are looking for.

Of course I wouldn't have understood The Little Prince as thoroughly if I weren't in Ma'am Lalaine's class. I've always considered it a very witty, almost philosophical, book but I didn't extract so much meaning when I first read it several years ago. Now, it's like a whole new different book that I've read especially when our class got to discuss balance. (Update: Love story pala ang The Little Prince, as in more than just the symbolism of the rose. Gosh, I'm dense!)

Simply put, we need balance in our lives. Balance between work and play, balance between greed and service, balance between theory and practice. Grown ups, the little prince said, are only concerned with matters of consequence. It cannot be helped. But what's important is to not get caught up in the oh so important things such as money, politics or golf in order to appreciate sunsets, rain and drawings which are equally important.

We were supposed to write a comparative essay among The Little Prince, The Pearl, and The Giver. I didn't come to think of balance being one of the concepts that these three share. It really struck me how important this is and how I totally missed it, and I've come to realize I find this specifically important because I am afraid to lose the child in me. Very much so. I'm pragmatic and serious most of the time, and I can't help but think I need more poetry in order to see things not just as they are but also what they can be. I'm afraid of being an unbalanced and messed up grown up.

I'll read The Little Prince again after a couple of years, and I'm really curious what I'll pick up then.

There are endless significant lines in the book but I'll end this post with a classic quote:

 L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.

What is essential is invisible to the eyes. 

Easy Cinnamon Sticks

I was looking for sandwich recipes earlier for my baon tomorrow when I stumbled upon Bobby Flay's Nutella and Banana sandwiches. I went to the pantry straight away!

I made a simpler version, we only had banana but it was really good still. Would've been marvelous if topped with vanilla ice cream. Hehe

Because of this, I don't think I'll ever buy cinnamon sticks again. Taking a cue from Bobby Flay's recipe, it's quite simple now that I think about it.

Start with buttering a non stick pan. Add the sliced "sticks" of bread to the pan to toast it a bit, then add a sugar and cinnamon mix of a ratio of about 2:1 until the mixture adheres to the bread. Just adjust the amount of sugar and cinnamon mix to the amount of bread you'll use. 

Note that you should use low heat and cook quickly when there's sugar, it may burn.

Enjoy!