christmas

Although the mornings of christmas, christmas eve and the day before that was filled with the air of my Mom's menopausal speeches and anger, the whole event turned out fine. I recieved an equal amount of "beauty" products as with clothes (shirts mostly). Several relatives decided not to give gifts to the 'old ones' anymore, unfortunately, including me, who is still a student (the only one 18+ not working yet). Fortunately, Lola decided to give me a large amount of money, which I used for buying gifts and going online everyday (to do workstuff and um, blog). There was, of course, a lot of drama on who gets what and when, and why did the other one step on the other one's toy. Crazy blinking lights toys are also very much present under the sheets of gift wrapper for the kids. They went uber-crazy on those, swinging their blinking-light-swords in the darkness which is the street in front of the house. There were a lot of cars also for the kiddies, which means a lot of zooming going on. I think we got four of those Ferrari cars from Shell. My cousins (who gave them) were having a big laugh on that, being a bit cheap and all. But then, the kids are happy.

And so, I hope I did not get any fatter this Christmas. Because I know that I did not overeat like I used to. Mainly due to me hating the spaghetti, which I made, two days in a row.

We went to Bocaue last Sunday. Ate a lot of lechon (and saved Mama from eating a piece of lechon skin, yay!), so maybe that makes me 1% fatter. There were a lot of never-before-seen relatives of my Lolo's (+). Lola Ched and children gave us lots of chocolates (+2% fatter), and the family a big loaf of bread (NO, I only ate a bit of that.). We did not buy firecrackers, as usual and I tag our family, "the people from Bocaue who don't use firecrackers".

I did not really plan on buying gifts but ended up buying for immediate family using the early Christmas present (cash) of Lola. So, then, back to zero in the finance department. Much love from the receipients, including Kuya, who received an "Office" plastic sign. (He vowed to put it in his cubicle at the Institute of Chemistry.) Excluding ingrate little brother who wanted more gifts, specifically from the parents ("Nasan na yung gift ko?"), and insisted on dragging parents to nearest shopping mall because Mama promised to buy him his gift with the all new gift certificates she acquired. (She needs to show proof that she indeed has purchasing power and deferred buying gift because she wanted little bro to choose said gift.)

Received a lot of text messages about Christmas and all its joy. Thank you all. I cannot respond to you all not because I have no coverage here, or similar. I just don't have the resources to carry out such an act of 1-peso generosity. Believe me, I have 450-peso class requirements come January.

So, went to mass, two days in a row. Sunday in church near ATC and Monday in nearby village church. Parish priest, as it turns out, vowed to keep sermons at a maximum of five minutes, but seems to have not obliged. Yay! I'm going to church again. Prayers of relatives are heard after all.

It is a happy Christmas. I hope I continue to spread the love in the coming days. Except.

an empty cup

I forgot to mention: Mary Macapagal for making the Awitan2007 webpage. :D Thanks a lot!
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They once again bagged the empty cup, which only means they are EWOC because they cheated, one way or another, felt so much angst towards people who win over them even in the tinniest games, and initiated fights that are really unnecessary.

And so, KEM for the nth time, was in second place. Well, we gave it our all. And I mean, all. Suddenly, I was sewing cloth together. I don't sew! Because I don't really know how to do it properly. But I did! Anyway, I don't blame anyone but the cheaters (not necessarily them) and the dimwits (not necessarily them either).

But, congratulations to all KEMers who kept their eyes on the prize. We did it! Well, minus the effect of the cheating and manipulation... We will get them next time. Eventhough it's my last Engg Week, I am with you again next year.
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Congratulations to all KEMers who were a part of the success.

To the EC and Engg Week heads, I'm pretty sure to say that this was the best Engg Week ever (for me) because you guys were organized. And you motivated the KEMers well. You gave the right people in the right jobs. And you were there, 7 am, 12 midnight, and even in our short dreams. Thank you for protecting what we worked so hard for, keeping a close eye on the points and ensuring that everything is fair. The biggest clap, however, goes to Mils, for being a strong person. Strong enough for the 180 or so KEMers. Jabellz, Meanne, Kong, Eds and Ron, congratulations and thank you also. You were all great.

To the major events people. Congratulations! We again proved that when it comes to talent, KEM is the best. We almost bagged all night events, if you take out the cheating part, which I will discuss later. To the Indakers, whoa! Eight times! To Torts and Dianne, congrats. You really deserved to win. To the Maski people, maski na pinatalo tayo, panalo pa rin ang outfits and modelling niyo. Best Maski I've seen (KEM lang 'no!). To Edward, good job! You are the one and only Ms Engg in our hearts. To Buddy Popples and Trixie and RT and all people behind Ms KEM, congrats.

To the mini-games people (including me), congrats because I really felt the passion of the KEMers to win those games. This just proves that we're very passionate in everything that we do, even if doesn't involve chemicals and stuff like that. To the people I played Nuts Enggtertainment (1st), Bogglengg (4th), I-drawengg Mo (1st), Cliptomania (1st), Dressengg Up (2nd), Brengg Me (esp the last day, 1st), Reverse Charades (1st), Debatengg (oh no!) with, thank you for being great teammates. To the tireless beings who improvise things for Dressengg Up, I applaud your greatness.

To everyone and just everyone who was there even if just to give nice words, to reassure one another, to lift another up, even if it was in a form of a joke, or soft insult, thank you. For no thought went wasted, no effort unproductive. We did well, and napanginig natin ang mga tuhod nila.

To them, takot kayo no? Sige lang. Magsaya muna kayo. We'll (or they will) be ready next year. Even if we just scare you. It will be worth it.

KEM Go Fight Kill!
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Will blog about the Maskipaps issue later. Or see other blogs then.

mid-engg week

Before anything else...

Thank you to everyone who helped make AWITAN 2007 a success.

To enumerate:
1. The AWITAN 2007 STAFF
Fritz Gonzales- Asst. Head
Carmel Germinal- Secretary
Jecho Antonio-Tech Head
Tricia Pestaño-Tech AHead
Larissa Gador-Log Head
Aldwin Binaday-Log AHead
Maynard Salangsang-Pub Head
Oscar Bejasa-Pub AHead
Tin Falagne-Marketing and Fin Head
Kathy Eliseo-Marketing and Fin AHead
Ria Requiero-Programs Head
Addison Falcon-Prog AHead.

And the rest of the Awitan staff:
Rhonda Reyes, Unja Manlangit, Brylee Tiu
Kris Catangcatang, Megan Malumay, Ron Villasquez, Tin Margallo
Mercy Ituriaga, Aimee Diamante, Shanelle Lopez, Daril Santos
Trizie Dy, Hannah Ebro, Alvin Salvador, Pat Tan
Herc Garcia, Lily Castro, Anne Apsay

And our ushers headed by Von Dela Cruz.

2. To the 2007-2008 Executive Council especially Kristine Millano, Pat Rimando, Haidee Macaraig, Hannah Cabrillas and Janine Montoya.

3. To the UP KEM alumni especially the UPKEMGLOBAL, Melan, Ate Georgie, Marc Ramos Elpee Macapagal and those who attended the event.

4. To the orgs who participated:
UP JPIA (every year, and finally FIRST na din!)
UP IEC
UP ERG
UP CIEM
UP CIRCUIT
UP CURSOR
UP ENGGSOC
UP AGGREGATES
UP ALCHEMES
UP MSS

5. To the ESC for all your help, especially Angelle and Pheng.

6. To our sponsors, URC (XO, CREAMS and HIDDEN SPRING), Pocari Sweat, CHEMREZ, ORANGE SEGMENT. (Naku, pasensya na kung may nakalimutan. Next time.)

7. To UPFI for the venue. Mga manongs... although somehow the rice tray was "lost".

8. Performers and hosts: UP SAMASKOM, UP DANSA, UP DanceSport, Marvin and Mark.

9. And, to all the KEMers who were always willing to help.

MARAMING SALAMAT! I will not forget this for the rest of my life.
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Engg Week is SUPER! Well, none of the hardworking KEMers have had sleep since last week, but we are all happy and filled with energy.

Congratulations to Jasser, Jabells and the cast of SMOKERS. Sa wakas, 2nd na!

Congratulations to the CLAIM TO FAME people, Buddy, Shey, Dada, Paulie, Aids and Addison. 4-point margin (1st!).

Congratulations to the Play Musical cast, and props crew, especially Mils, SHERRY, Mark and Vivi. Winning by a 19-point margin just proves that KEM is the best!

Congrats to all the people who have won in the mini games. To all who have lost, I know that we did our best, and did not cheat. I love you all.

Still, 3 days to go! With Cheering and Indakan, Maski and Ms Engg to bag!

KEM Go Fight!

a sorry note and more

I changed my layout to a (hopefully) more visible one, but 'tis only temporary because of the Christmas theme.
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Eventhough Mr. You hasn't read my pointed post to him (I checked the who viewed me part), I decided to un-complicate my life by getting rid of one unfriendly relationship. And so, first I say sorry for whatever pain I have caused you (or wala naman ata eh), and for the difficulty of us not talking to each other. But, I think that you should also learn from this. Seriously, there are a trilion other people in this world. And you are not hot enough to be the sun (so the world revolves around you), or massive (aka fat) enough. Let's just laugh at this episode in our lives. I was a bit childish. [May you read this because I won't mention anything to you about this again even though I will start speaking to you again come Monday.].

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I still want to be appreciated for the things I do. Ang sensitive ko ata, pero naglaan talaga ako ng time para dun pero wala lang. Sayang sa oras. Pasensya na. Nainis lang ako kanina. Good luck sa paghahanap ng tulong. Wala na akong oras for that now.
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I realized people just need to hear things from other people. Thank you to those people (coughPatcough, etc.) who tell me (nicely) the things I need to hear (praise or otherwise).

But resenting the person is unavoidable. If the comment is one you would rather not hear but need to.
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I need to focus on things now. Graduation is near. And I guess I'll have to be a chemical engineer to save the world. That's my power...calculating rates and designing vessels. I wish I didn't have to train for that and got time-space warping instead. Or super-taste. Or baking. (Thinks of a certain Mrs. [frog-related] cookie-baking person). Wee.

really random

I was really looking forward to blogging today, but somehow I lost interest.

But I'm really shocked at the porny pictures that appear in the google picture search when I looked for Disney-related pictures. I just typed 'pinocchio' and there it was. What if kids had seen that? I knew google was a good search engine, but it's not supposed to be that good to include all (and I really mean all) photos with the word 'pinocchio' on it. Gawd.

I still can't seem to move my butt and file my scholarship papers for this sem. Maybe an allowance pinch will motivate me. But please don't, parents.

The Awitan schedule is set as of our Monday meeting and I'm confident that we can pull this off nicely. But still, I'm very nervous about it. But we'll rock. Please watch.

I hope things turn out okay for me. Because I finally made the first step (in a lot of things).

And although Ceres said I can't be dictator because I look mabait, maybe I can try not to take crap from anyone anymore. So kids (and people acting like kids), beware.

must have

I must have posted this last Nov 30, but due to a sudden glitch, I haven't. Here goes.

Clearly, I had lost interest of claiming my graduation picture prints (and frame and CD of raw UNEDITED, relatively ugly shots). I only had 7 booth hours out of the required 9. I had somehow lost the thrill of getting my pictures, showing them to my friends and randomly giving dedications with the pictures. Getting graduation pics are not sweeter the second time around.

But then...

LOLOLOLZ.

We had a very short 190 group meeting (the waiting took longer than the meeting itself). We had named our group Catalysis. It sounds weird but maybe it won't be once we rock the plant visits and seminar and newsletter. I had the group meet at the 2nd floor lobby of Yia Hall, which is isolated and dark and weird, but it almost worked. Ceres asked me why I chose the place as our meeting venue. I said that it was convenient for me. She grumbled. I'm not blaming her for grumbling, but I only tried this evil group leader thing once. I wanted to see if I can actually pull off a dictator move. I can, but the guilt is unbearable. Anyway, that's Ceres and no one can be her dictator (in a good way, although you are an Uke right?).

I was really scared of what would have happened if things got worse in Makati yesterday. I feared I have to take an alternate route (e.g. C5) because of the situation. Gladly, Papa is nearby and I can go home with him. Also, the tension has dissolved around 6PM and the Ayala area is peaceful by the time we got there. However, the shops were all closed (we were supposed to buy eggs and bread) and people were scarce at the Ayala station (like 1% of the usual crowd). I do not know the issue behind this incident by I just have two things to say. First: what the heck! Why do you have to scare the people all the time. Sometimes people just want to go to work everyday and earn something to feed their family. I know this is totally capitalist of me, and shallow, but really, people just want to survive a day. They don't really care much about idealism this days. I don't know, maybe because a lot of politicians fling their kapricho around everyday and call it idealism. People are tired. Just let them work now.
Second: what the heck! Did the tank need to get INSIDE the hotel lobby? I was actually laughing at this when I watched this on the news last night. It was like the soldiers just want some Iraq-like action. Or maybe it was SOP. I dunno. It was just really funny.

Maybe if Miriam Santiago went to Peninsula, we'd all have so much fun. Or Bong Revilla. Then the military would catch him with Edu Manzano watching pirated DVDs. Boo to the arrest of media people. They just want to do their job. (But then if things get worse, they might be hostaged and bring about more problems.)