Life & Other Things

The writing hiatus wasn’t intentional; I just had no dire need to be active online. My last update was roughly eleven weeks ago. That's the longest time I've been absent from this blog. Although I still tweet occasional brain farts, I also haven’t been on Twitter as often as I used to (i.e. from backreading every single tweet to just catching less than 50 tweets per day). Nothing drastic happened, really. It’s just a change of pace, peace, and pleasures in life. And I’m here to dump some things that I haven’t shared during my trippy seclusion.

F E B R U A R Y  |  M A R C H  |  A P R I L

The family celebrated lola's birthday over brunch and then after a quick stroll around the mall for an hour, we had pizza even when we were all still obviously full. You see, we like to be fat.

I got to be a ninang again, and I had no clue what to do since my first ninang duties were for Nicole (I was still a student back then so basically all I did was show up at church). For JD’s christening, I had to ask people what the custom was in giving gifts. I even asked Taira if I had to wear white. She laughed at me. It was a mini-reunion with A&M, and a smack to the face of how old we already are. Godchildren = 2. Maturity = 0.

Brunch date with the girls during Regina's brief Manila visit. It was our first time to try π (Pi) Breakfast & Pies. We enjoyed the food and had a crazy fun time. The other diners came and went and we stayed for more than two hours browsing through Tinder and taking panoramic shots of ourselves while doing our usual catch up. We proceeded to 10A Alabama afterwards for the Arts and Crafts Fair, which takes place quarterly. It was so very hipster, whatever the tweens mean by hipster. There was an abundance of awesome stuff, from succulent plants to postcards, to ubiquitous washi tapes and handmade trinkets. There were paintings and wallets made out of pages from Archie comic books. There were wands and framed illustrations and typography, homemade perfumes and soaps, even macarons. It was a new scene for me and I'm sure it won't be the last.

I was able to exercise some skillz in the hair and makeup department during our company's 10th anniversary party, which I believe was a better use of energy since I did not attend the event, doing curls and updos and painting people's faces to make them prettier. All girls are pretty. I like making them prettier.

It has been four years since I've last been to Tagaytay, to drink coffee. That was lame. Two weeks ago, some office friends and I went down south as an excuse to fan off the Manila heat. We were wrong. Tagaytay was an oven ready to bake your pizza doughs to a perfect crisp. I got burnt. The discoloration in my arm is evident. There is a serious ombre happening in there, which is only visible to me because I still wear cardigans outside the house even when it's summer. I know. I'm a freak. Anyway, we spent the morning in Caleruega. The afternoon was split going to Sky Ranch, Picnic Grove, and having an early dinner. I'll probably make a separate post about this.

Family reunions. Tita Joan and Tito Edison visited from Australia. I haven't seen them in YEARS. Next week, Tita Che will be here and it will be bittersweet because she won't be back in a while until she gets her Green Card. Aah, everything in life is bittersweet.

I’ve been answering randomly generated questions on ask.fm when I feel really bored and my answers are equally boring but if you want to have a look see, you can troll through my 38 answers so far.

M U S I C  |  T V  |  B O O K S 

2013 was definitely an awesome year in terms of album releases and I haven't heard half of them yet. I was able to pore over the music of artists that I haven't been aware of before January, and then some. I breezed through Gabrielle Aplin's English Rain, Laura Jansen's Elba, and KT Tunstall's Invisible Empire // Crescent Moon once. My play count increased, however, with Beck's Morning Phase, Ben Howard's Every Kingdom, Peter Griffinson's Maybe Someday, Sam Smith's EP + singles, OneRepublic's Native, and Tom Odell's Long Way Down. Particular tracks that I am obsessed with: I've Told You Now, Promise, Burning Bridges, Grow Old With Me.

I don’t know what I watch anymore. Sometimes I think that I’m better off ignoring online torrents. Scandal and Suits have both ended, so there’s nothing to look forward to on Fridays. Well, aside from The Vampire Diaries. I started watching new shows: Believe, Crisis, Mixology, Faking It, Kitchen Casino, About a Boy, and Friends with Better Lives, all of which I am fairly enjoying. I finished watching Lindsay Lohan's docu-series, Lindsay, which I must say was really interesting. I’m on track with The Mindy Project, Saturday Night Live, Orphan Black, Game of Thrones, Awkward, The Blacklist and The Voice. I’m a few episodes behind on The Originals, Intelligence, Hell’s Kitchen, Cosmos, and Resurrection. Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon are staples. I may have already given up on Hannibal, but we’ll see. I’m going to start Fargo and Silicon Valley when I find the time. Oh, and also, I have to already watch My Mad Fat Diary’s second season because I keep forgetting. I'm not sure if you noticed, but that’s a lot of television. There are titles not listed in here but let's just keep it at that. My Twitter feed is already an embarrassing display of my lack of productivity as it is. BUT BEFORE I FORGET, JACK BAUER IS BACK!!!

I’ve been slacking on my readings (yes, plural), which is essentially bad. The ones that I have read aren't exactly brain stimulants, but I can't really blame myself. I have a pile of substantial books ready to be conquered but whenever I see how far-off I am on my Goodreads challenge (I'm currently 3 books behind schedule--again), I spring back to my safe haven, romance and young adult fiction. My currently-reading list is growing and it's a shame. I've hailed May as my big re-reads month, so here's to not particularly getting a grip and soldiering on.

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I believe that during this entire time, I have balanced being present both online and in real life. I've had a fair amount of interaction with real people in the last four months that I can totally be proud of, basing on my history of flaking. What I plan to focus more on now is my health. If only it were easy and if only I had the discipline, I would normally say. Slap me in the face and let's try to kick that pessimism out into the waters and let it drown. I'm joining a fun run that I didn't sign up for this Sunday. I guess it's a start?