Monday, December 17, 2007

Shopping weekend

I died and went to shopping heaven Saturday night. Anna and I went to the Christ the King Bazaar to finish our Christmas shopping. The slope was bad (gradual, but oddly difficult to traverse), and we kinda had a hard time keeping our balance walking up and down and up and down and up and down the two aisles but by far, I got the best deals ever. I basically busted MY ENTIRE SALARY on weekend shopping. I'll have to survive on Skyflakes for the next two weeks. Well, not exactly, but I can't splurge on dinner too much until the next suweldo. Hehe! Oh well. I have to lose weight anyway. I loooooooove everything I bought. This is the last of my shopping escapade extravaganzas, since I'll be belt-tightening beginning January next year. Read: saving up for a car, which is going to take quite a while, even if I get a hefty bonus... (Lord, please enlighten the minds of the partners of the firm and make them realize what a difference they will make in the lives of so many entrepreneurs if they give me a bonus... Hehehe!) So... My plan is to save half my net income (i.e. less taxes and other charges, rent and bills). The other half will comprise my monthly personal allowance. It's actually a pretty good plan. My "personal allowance" isn't too bad. So anyway,,, any shopping I'll be doing will be financed by my "personal allowance". The policy is N-E-V-E-R touch my savings unless I'm dying and/or in immediate need of surgery and/or expensive medication the cost of which cannot be reasonably borne by the disposable half of my income. (And yes, the reason I'm writing this is to psyche myself up.) So there. Three days and two rehearsals to making-a-fool-out-of-myself-day (a.k.a. the firm's Christmas party). Ladida...

Thursday, December 06, 2007

It's the season to be not-so-jolly...

It's been a rough couple of days. And it has nothing to do with work. Well, save for the fact that we don't get any free cuts, or the right to say, "It's sleepy weather. I don't think I'll go to work today. I'll sleep this one in." I like my job and where I'm at. The past few days just haven't been very forgiving in terms of my psyche. I thought the week was going to turn out fine until semi-recent events sent me spiralling down into another downcycle. I won't elaborate. I don't really relish the thought of having to churn out actual words to describe how sucky it feels to not be so in tune with the so-called spirit of Christmas. And speaking of Christmas, I think the dreaded holidays are taking their toll again. The most obvious pop-up would be that I, together with dozens of other new hires from here and other firms, will be making a complete and utter fool out of myself dancing to the beat of songs I don't even listen to, all for the sadistic amusement of the powers that be. Give me physical pain any day of the week and I'll pay you for it. It doesn't make it any better that I actually have to organize the goddamned thing. But no, that isn't what toed the line. For one thing, I miss studenthood. I miss the so-called life I used to have, and the people I used to drag and get dragged by. I don't miss financial dependence, but I do miss being carefree, and being responsible only for myself.

On a different but not too distant note, my train of thought lately has been running in the direction of figuring out where I'm spending the two four-day weekends later this month. As most of my friends probably already know, Lipa is not a very good place to spend the holidays. I just want to see my dad and my brother, but I will not (Read: WILL NOT) spend a night there. I don't have very good emotional ties with the city or with the people there, particularly someone I will not mention but people already know. Not too many happy memories to be had. Personally, my default holiday hideout is my grandmother's, although it hasn't been very festive there since my uncles left for Houston. I want to be proven wrong though, for the sake of my nephews, who are now old enough to appreciate the difference between an actual celebration and one where we just sit silently around the dinner table. The option of spending the holidays in Baguio at my aunt's place, but I'm not sure if she'll be staying home or going to my cousin's place in Gumaca. In any case, anywhere I spend the holidays, the people I end up NOT spending the holidays with won't exactly be pleased with me. Which doesn't really leave any room for what I want. Ate Tina (my cousin) told me she would just kidnap me come the holidays so it wouldn't be my fault, and that she would take the fall for me, but, well, I don't know. It's one of those seasons when all choices presented to me are wrong for at least one relevant party. The complications of having equally dearly beloved family members, most of whom are the fiercely jealous types, spread all over the country...

More work just poured in after my two-hour respite from the world... I'm not complaining. I'm not whining. I'm a bit too numbed out at the moment for that. Just a statement of fact. The pains of being an adult and having to take responsibility for my decisions knowing that however I decide, I'm bound to run into a brick wall and break a few bones in the process. Thus the title.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Ohmigod I can't believe I'm so F-ING pissed.

The problem with this creature is that she thinks she can deliver offensive remarks with impunity because she expects people to take it as "so her". It's so annoying that it bothers me but man, it's been bugging me since yesterday and I want to rant, so to hell with everything else. I wouldn' t be writing about this if I weren't so F-ing pissed. Arggh. Word of advice, things said in confidence, are, as the word suggests, confidential, i.e. should not be blurted out in an attempt at being candid or half-cute. Duh?!! I sooooo hate that thing right now. Some people should really spend like an extra hour before even considering using their vocal chords. Note to self: smalltalk, period. And then dunk dog slobber on her head. Let her see if she finds it cute. What a hypo.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Wala lang, it's poem day.

Remember (Christina Rosetti)

Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

And before I actually get to work...

THE MORE LOVING ONE (W. H. Auden )

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.

How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.

Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.

Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.

And the award for poem of the year goes to... (Drum roll...)

This one I got from Angie Zafra way back in college.

-----------------------

I shave my legs,
I sit down to pee.
And I can justify
any shopping spree.
Don't go to a barber,
but a beauty salon.
I can get a massage
without a hard-on.

I can balance the checkbook,
I can pump my own gas.
Can talk to my friends,
about the size of my ass.

My beauty's a masterpiece,
and yes, it takes long.
At least I can admit,
to others when I'm wrong.

I don't drive in circles,
at any cost.
And I don't have a problem,
admitting I'm lost.

I never forget,
an important date.
You just gotta deal with it,
I'm usually late.

I do watch movies,
with lots of gore.
Don't need instant replay,
to remember the score.

I won't lose my hair,
I don't get jock itch.
And just cause I'm assertive,
Don't call me a bitch.

Don't say to your friends,
Oh yeah, I can get her.
In your dreams, my dear,
I can do better!

Flowers are okay,
But jewelry's best.
Look at me you idiot...
Not at my chest!

I don't have a problem,
With Expressing my feelings.
I know when you're lying,
You look at the ceiling.

DON'T call me a GIRL,
a BABE or a CHICK.

I am a WOMAN.

Get it?... YOU DICK!

Now, you must forward this to at least 4 FEMALES or you will have a HORRIBLE streak of bad love life. Not that I believe the above, I just think you should forward this to at least 4 women so they can laugh too!

Another nice poem

I have no idea who wrote this. Troy forwarded this to me like three years ago.

-----------------------

You pointed to a crack
Where my heart failed to see,
Busy as I am, convinced, that my hands
Are molding the clay with which to fill the
Long-standing tear in my being.

I know not how to mend this,
To stop this vast ocean
wracked by swirling anger beneath
from drying through your eyes, while the sunset
lurks around your unreachable iris.

I see the crack, now, with my hands reaching
Across the distance and silence.
I see with the eyes of a fly, swatted
by the magnitude of the spectacle, looking as I am
With the scattered pieces of my being.

Now I have minted the crack in my heart,
Oblivious of what it means, but it's future meaning
for now, it seems, the crack is all I am,
the pieces exploding with the drying
Of your ocean.

I lift my head, squinting beyond the darkness
For a scent and an angel, a voice and a face.
time is the anguish in my heart.
The world is on the brink of implosion,
Shrunk to the memory of a painful conversation.

This is my doing, yet I couldn’t mend it alone;
I know not the tune of the plea
That would avail me your pity.
i see now, I understand how.
This I hold in my grimy hands to offer.

I have lost my temple and my feet
bleeds from walking the distance
paved with shiny invectives. All around
I look for someone calling me. Me whom
I can’t bear to recognize til it’s you I see

True true.

I got this from Joven a few months ago.

One Art

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster;
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

- Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like a disaster.

- Elizabeth Bishop

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Slooooooowwwww...

Argghhh... The internet connection today is going as slow as my bar review progress. Hate it.

In any case... Thursday night was another major booboo. I kinda got really pissed and unleashed my wrath on a semi-innocent bystander. Hehehe! Annoying kasi, it's SOOOOO not a good time to be delivering bar jokes, e.g. that someone's going to flunk the bar (in addition to all his usual hirits). Gawd. So yeah, he's not so innocent. He deserved the me getting pissed part, but probably not the hissy fit that followed. Sorry dude. Didn't mean to go postal on you like that. Nwy, friends na kami ulit, I think. Kasi naman, he started our 11pm beer run that way, and two hours and five beers later, I was just about livid. So I threw him off the Dencio's Capitol railing, left him to nurse his broken bones, and stole his car. Well, that was what I wanted to do. Only he's much bigger than I, and I haven't driven a car in six years. I swear to the highest heavens, sometimes I wonder why I'm friends with that ape. Everytime we go out, something bad always happens. Talk about a non-match made in hell. I don't think we've ever gone out without fighting about something at least once an hour. Oh well. He was there naman during my lowest low point last year. I guess that counts. In addition to the free booze. And good laughs. Men. Can't peacefully coexist with them. The opposite is debatable.

Oh yeah, last week, for the first time ever, I witnessed a guy lying to his girlfriend over the phone. Exaj, ang galing niya magsinungaling! I swear, it's scary. It takes talent to lie like that. Personally, I'm not a very effective liar. I always get conscience-spooked. (Yes, I do have a conscience.) So you liar you, you're a bistadong sinungaling boyfriend dude. No hirits allowed anymore. Wala kang right. Sumbong kita. Bleh.

Anyway, gotta go. I'm going home for my lola's birthday. I'll upload the rest of my stash when I get back next week. Hopefully, both my review and the connection won't suck this bad then. I'm off to Neverneverland then. See ya guys.

Friday, June 08, 2007

Please kill me now.

Waaaaaah... It's almost mid-June, and I'm soooooo not progressing... Panic attack!!! Okay, breathe... Jumpstart brain...

Btw, Friday's my check-my-mail-and-procrastinate-online day. Well, I get two hours, anyway. So. Shit. Less than 3 months to go.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Postscript

By the way, please leave your name if you're going to post a comment. Just so I know who I'm theoretically conversing with. Wala lang.

On a Sunday

Today was expensive, but overall, pretty good. Well, aside from the potentially bad news I received this morning, which I choose not to divulge before Wednesday's confirmatory tests. And no, I could not possibly be pregnant, although from the rate my bilbils are growing, I wouldn't blame people for thinking that. Hahaha! I swear, everything I eat bypasses my entire digestive system and gets stored ASAP. Tsk tsk... Need physical activity...

Oh, by the way, I finally got around to making an Excel file for our bills. I was so obsessed about the 219 pesos I thought we were being overcharged, I took out all our bills since 2004 and read through each and every one of them. Conclusion: we weren't being overcharged. And two hours of study time down the drain.

In any case, I went to mass with my roommate earlier. I just have to say, that was one of the funniest masses I've ever been to. And then off to Red Ribbon to binge. And then to indulge my school supplies addiction. I'm so proud of myself, I only spent 375 on supplies this time. Yipee!!! Anyway, after Ngangi dragged me away from the pen section to the cashier, we picked up our takeout and went back to the condo. And the War of the Roses started. The heart of the matter? We 20-something-year-olds are ill-equipped to deal with teenagers. Particularly sensitive vain ones and their issues. Oh well. Teenagers. I didn't understand them when I was a teenager, and I don't understand them now. So anyway, Chi and I decided to jump ship. I decided to retrace my roots back to my freshman year study place: Coffee Bean Eastwood. My turf. Haha! (FYI, I don't actually call it that. It's an allusion to something someone we used to live with once called Starbucks Katipunan. Hehe!)

I don't actually have any life-threatening addictions, but the things I'm addicted to are pretty expensive. Word of advice, NEVER go on a grocery, bookstore or shopping trip with me. I swear, I'm bound to drive you crazy. I'll make you smell all the different brands of soap, shampoo, conditioner and lotion. And then I'll spend two hours browsing through the rest of the grocery items and randomly throwing stuff into the shopping cart, and the next hour trying to persuade myself that I don't actually need most of the things I threw in there. Same thing goes for National Bookstore. Although there's nothing to smell there. I do try out all the pens and highlighters and browse through most of the books and assorted supplies there. Bookstores, ahh... my heaven. Never let me near one if you know I'm close to broke. I'd trade good food for a good book any time of the day.

In the middle of studying, I decided to take a break and check if the books I ordered from A Different Bookstore had arrived yet (Day and Dawn (Elie Wiesel) and Grimm's Fairy Tales (the complete compilation, translated from the original). They hadn't. So I figured I'd browse through the rest of the books there. And chanced upon a copy of the best book ever---C.S. Lewis' A Grief Observed. LOOOOOOOVE IT. (We read it for Philo class in college, but I couldn't find a copy then, so I had to photocopy it.) Half an hour later, I couldn't convince myself not to buy it, so I decided to just go ahead and get it. That's one more book to add to my C.S. Lewis stash. Yay!!! And the store manager gave me a discount card. Woohoo!!! (10% off on cash purchases, 5% for credit card purchases) He was supposed to just give me 10% off for the book I was buying, then he said he was giving me a purchase tracking card (To get a discount card, one's supposed to purchase at least 12,000 or 6,000 pesos' worth in a year), and then he handed me a discount card. What can I say, nerds connect. My charms still work. Although I wasn't really using them. Hehe!

Anyway, I was so happy I decided to get myself a Swirl card from CBTL. Cost me another 125. But it came with a free drink, so... Yay!!! It's a pretty good deal actually. I get a 5% rebate.

The best thing about today is I was actually able to get some serious studying done. Although I had to go home at 9pm before I got frostbite. And I just got an email that my Ateneo Alumni Association card's ready. So now I get a discount from Fully Booked as well (same rates as A Different Bookstore). Yipee!!! If only I didn't have to review for the bar... And if only I was rich enough to buy all the books I want... Oh well. Long and short of it is, today was a good day. I guess the rosary in my pocket worked. I should go to mass more often. If only the masses at the Gesu were held every Sunday instead of just on the first and third Sundays of the month. So many if-only's.

So there. Back to the books. I'm going upstairs to the condo in a while. I hope the cold war is over. It's really tough getting caught in the middle of sisters (one of my roommates and her 13-year-old sister) fighting. Or at least not talking.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

On the non-event called grad and other issues =p

Now that the readership of this blog has sufficiently waned, I think I can post a really personal rant.

So. How was grad? Horrible. Sad even. How else do I say that I hated it so bad it actually brings me to tears? It’s not that the general décor was, well, let’s just say very inappropriate for law school graduation. Very…impoverished. The chairs offered for the faculty (The handful that showed up, anyway. At least Sir Te was there. It was a complete boycott, I swear!) and the Chief Justice were dragged from the Law Library. I couldn’t figure out whether the banner thing was made of tarp or cloth, or whether it accidentally got torn into three pieces or was hanging from a loose rope. In any case, it looked horrendous. The Chief Justice’s speech was long. Really long. That’s just about all I can say about it. Dionne’s speech brought tears to my eyes though. Especially that part about family.

Overall, the non-event didn’t mean anything to me. Actually, I don’t think I’d have thought much of skipping the entire thing. Anyway, the people I wanted to be there didn’t bother to go. They didn’t even remember that I was graduating. Except for Tito Iggy, nobody from my family texted to congratulate me or to give the cliché “I wish I could be there, but…” speech. Basically, it was a non-event for them. I don’t understand how they can demand so much from me and not even remember my birthday and my graduation. Both from college and from law school. I invited them to both, but they flatly refused both times. All the “We’re so proud of you”’s? Lip service. You can’t possibly mean things like that if there’s absolutely no evidence to prove it. How taxing is it to call or to send an SMS for crying out loud? And yeah, they totally forgot about my birthday too. Same story. Not even a belated happy birthday a week, or even a month later. All of them. Well, except my dad, my cousin Shirley, and Tito Iggy.

So here I am two days later, sitting alone in a towel moping, wallowing. Cried myself to sleep last night. Cried in the shower this morning. Cry intermittently in between. And I hate myself for being such a crybaby. I just want to crawl into a hole.

Add that to the fact that I want to strangle the stepmonster. I had to invite her because I didn’t want to hurt my dad. He told me to invite her. So I did. He told me to confirm if she was going. So I did. He told me to ask her to go with us onstage. So I did. And now I’d really love to gouge her eyes out and feed them to piranhas. I could also skin her alive, douse her with alcohol, and then feed her to piranhas. Or death by a million papercuts. And piranhas. First off, she was more excited about getting her picture taken with the Chief Justice than anything else. Actually, that was all she talked about. All she wanted to do. Oh, and the jewelry set I asked if I could borrow for the ball that she said she’d sold because she was broke and had to make ends meet… Lo and behold, she was bedecked in the same diamonds and white gold yesterday. And duh, the jewelry didn’t even match her sack of an outfit. Of all people, I think I’d understand not wanting to lend stuff. Just don’t lie about it and offer some fake sob story. Duh. If you don’t want to lend your stuff, just say so. People will understand. Gawd, I hate her. The only thing I looked forward to was a quiet dinner with Tito Iggy and Tita Nini afterwards. And of course, she was there too. In all her elementary uneducated (not to mention f*ing ugly) glory. Talk about a damper. She goes out of her way to drop hints that my brother and I are not welcome in her house, that when we’re there, we’re visitors. That the house is hers and her son’s. I just want to strangle and maim her. But then again, she’s already disfigured, so scrap that. She took a good part of my parents’ stuff to her house too! Absolute separation of properties, bitch!!! No wonder you flunked the bar three times. If my dad (whose taste went gaga after my mom died) didn’t marry you, you’d be a single 45-year-old fat ball of cellulite from the middle of nowhere with nothing to boast of but a law degree you barely even deserved and having taken the bar thrice but never hurdling it. Even when I was in high school and clueless about law shit, I knew you had no idea what you were talking about. I swear to God, I’ll get everything back and more. I’ll leave her penniless in the gutter. She won’t know what hit her.

And although I love my dad, sometimes, I just want to slap some common sense into him. He changed his shirt OUTSIDE THE CAR. In the parking lot. I was so outraged that he didn’t get why I was so furious. Nobody does that! And he actually asked me if he had to go to dinner with Tito Iggy and Tita Nini with me. Dad!!! If someone sends your daughter to law school, the least you can do to thank them is to show up at grad dinner after you’ve refused dinners and lunches for four years!!! Oh, and by the way, they didn’t even bother to bring a camera. And all the stepmonster was worried about was that she wouldn’t be able to get her picture taken with the Chief Justice. I so f*ing hate her. And no, she didn’t even give me an old used and ugly leather wallet this time. (FYI, she gave me a really ugly pre-owned black leather wallet two Christmases ago. Last gift I ever received from her.) All she’s good for is that, and I didn’t get anything. By the time I got back to the condo, I felt like my head was splitting in two.

In any case, with a family and stepmonster as supportive as mine, I have to draw emotional support from somewhere. And yeah, it comes from the most unexpected people, like Nico’s mom. Since the two people I’ve been unloading most of my issues on lately (Sands and Nico) have since moved away, Nico back home to Las Piñas, and Sands to Sunrise, we don’t see each other as much. But when I felt my demons coming, I couldn’t fight the need to tell them. Sands told me not to mind them, that people can be really insensitive sometimes. (Amen to that!!!) Nico, since he didn’t know what to tell me, asked his mom to text me. So a minute later, I got a message from an unknown number. I won’t reproduce the text here, but I still have it in my inbox. Let’s just say that halfway through the text, I broke into a sob. Well, at least I have SOMETHING to be happy about. I swear, I hate my life sometimes. If I wasn’t scared of my head being underwater, I’d immerse myself in the tub a la Meredith minus the suicidal urge. I’m too much of a scaredycat for something THAT drastic. I can’t even get highlights or a really rad ‘do, for crying out loud. In any case, back to the books. I think I’ll skip the whole trip home this weekend. I may just get involved in an offense involving moral turpitude. I’ll save my emotional stamina for my trip home on election day when I’ll brave my demons and rein in my violent urges to exercise my right to suffrage.

Hay… Life… I guess people really don’t change. I just hate it when I start believing that they will and they end up disappointing me yet again and I have to rebuild the fortress after the onslaught. This week, while some people came to know how many people love them and support them, I came to the stark realization of quite the opposite. And it hurts. Real bad. I’ve never missed my mom and my brother more. Now that they’re both gone (one of them constructively), I’ve just about lost everyone. I love my dad, but he will never measure up to my mom. And my full-blood brother JJ will always come first. They’re the ones who should have been there at grad. And they’re the ones who should have been with me on my birthday. But I can’t change the past fourteen years. I swear, I would do anything to go back to 1993. I could stay there forever and never grow up. But I can’t. And it kills me that no matter what I do, I can’t bring them both back. Because none of this means anything if they’re not with me. Life. It would be great if I could escape. Go crawl into a hole or hide under a rock or something. Now I know what a certain blonde meant when she said the world was moving so fast but she felt like she was in slow motion. It feels awful. Like trying to move and talk underwater. Sometimes I just want to pack my bags and move someplace where nobody knows me. New life, fresh start. Clean slate. Start over.

In sum, my life pretty much sucks right now and I really hate it.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Downcycle

Yesterday should have been the height of my insanity. What with Balane midterms hanging over my head, i.e. 5 units I can't afford to fail lest I risk not graduating with my batch or taking the Bar this year. The latter part is another story. Anyway, yes, yesterday should have borne witness to the worst of my moods, but truth be told, yesterday was fine. But today, ah today, today was hell for me. Nothing happened really. I'm just in a foul mood. I hate the fact that the iron's broken, that I'm gaining weight like there's no tomorrow although I'm not pigging out, that I've apparently lost identity and become someone's keeper (DUH. I SO HATE IT.), that I want to get stinking drunk tonight but I have to be up bright and shiny tomorrow for OLA... I could go on and on.

I want to get my own place, but I can't afford to. I want to lose all the weight I've gained in law school but they're so damned loyal they refuse to leave me even after miles and miles of road covered. I want to go home but I have class. I want to go to Tita Susan's in Baguio and wallow in my misery in pine-scented air while sipping tea from the balcony, but I don't have enough time to make the trip worth the stress and the expense. ARGHHH... I want the ground to swallow me whole and not spit me out til I'm sane again.