It's the 50th day of my summer. And I didn't even know it until I opened my blog and wondered what number should be on the title. I would have celebrated this day, the milestone that indicated two-thirds' worth of summer days. But the truth is, I'm going insane with my life. Remember when I wanted to get out of Cagayan de Oro before it stifles me? What I didn't realize was that I was going to have a month of May with nothing but crazy rush rush rush because I was out of Cagayan de Oro most of the time. My wish turned my life upside down, poetically speaking. (And that's all the creativity I've squeezed out of myself today.)

So now, I'm off to Bukidnon again, after just having been there two days ago. This time, it's for a national convention of student publications all over the country. And it's gonna be four days and a half, with many lectures and unfamiliar faces to fill up the time. I'm rather scared. And nervous. I'm never excited when it comes to these things; I'm just either scared or nervous. Sheeesh.

See you when I get back. And then I'll post all the entries I've promised. Because I must honor promises.

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam. I will either find a way or make my own. But before summer ends, it should be here.


P.S. Today I bought a book on impulse, just because the novel was set in Paris. And I'm a sucker for anything related to France. Plus, it was only for Php90.00. A steal, for a France-related novel. I wish all my addictions are this cheap (You hear me, Starbucks?). The book is entitled Blame It on Paris by Jennifer Greene. She's pretty good, I tell you.

I won't be able to post an entry for tomorrow (and probably for Sunday as well), since I shall be away from the laptop and Internet connection from 7am tomorrow to 8:30pm on Sunday. I'll be holed up in this awesome, paradisical (yes, that's a Bianca original, and I claim all rights to it) place called Montegelo for a leadership camp. And since I can't drag the laptop around with me because my sister will be using it, I shall have to bid a temporary goodbye to this blog for two days. Sad, I know. Anyhow, yesterday's entry will be posted on Monday. It was a rather long one, seeing as I almost got poisoned that day.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow and Sunday, truth be told, despite the lack of Internet connection. My life has gone so stir-crazy that an Internet connection would just mean more work, especially since my Facebook has been taken over by work-related posts: tasks, updates, assignments, approvals, etc. I even feel guilty for playing Restaurant City, knowing that people are probably expecting me to be concentrating on the tasks assigned to me when in reality I was just leveling up a smoothie in my virtual restaurant.

This trip to Montegelo will be a chance to restore my scattered sanity and refresh my mind and...rest. Not that we'll be on fluffy pillows, singing campfire songs the whole time. College leadership camps are more painful than anything else, especially when they spring those muscle-straining games upon you under the guise of "team building". But nonetheless, it'll be two days away from the hustle and bustle of the university, and I'd gladly take all the sore muscles in exchange of that.

A la semaine prochaine, mes amis!

Today, I learned how to make brownies that knock you naked (because it's so good, you'll just wanna strip...or something). I learned tips on how to improve my blog (and blogging skillz). I learned the process of writing a children's book (which is pretty much the same with any other type of book, right? Plus-minus a few modifications.). I learned how to photograph food, which is gonna be extremely helpful when I finally make the pastas I've sworn I'll make before the summer's over.

And all these I learned from one website, from one amazing blogger/woman--Ree Drummond. She is awesome, I tell you. Once you're done with reading this summary of events, you'd better head over to her site. Otherwise you're missing one-half of your life--and you'll never, ever get it back. Mwahahahah.

All right, I'm feeling rather elated right now. Coz...I just zapped a mosquito. Like, two seconds ago. While it was buzzing around my arm while I typed. I positioned my right palm over my left arm, and brought it down the split-second it started sucking on my blood. THWACK! Down it went, leaving some blood splatters on my arm (because it was one fat mosquito who probably fed on countless other humans before it tried my puny arms).

Speaking of puny arms, my aunt brought over her dumbbells today, at the request of my sister. There were three--two of them weighing 4lbs., and one 2lbs. My cousin showed me (and showed off) how to lift them to build arm strength (and sculpt my arms, which was my intent with them). He was using the 4lbs. ones, and made it look like...lifting a glass of water. Men. I tried it, one on each hand, and almost fell backwards. Yes, I am puny. Go on, make fun of me. I know you wanna.

Anyhow, I've resolved to, uhm, take it easy and use the two-pounder for starters. I am ambitious, yes, but hopefully not stupid. Definitely not stupid.

I'll start off with twenty counts tomorrow. Twenty each arm. Then I'll add twenty more every three days, until I'm doing a hundred everyday. And I'm not stopping 'til my arms are as awesome as, say, Santana's (in GLEE).

And...I made up that workout routine all by myself, so if it's stupid, tell me so at once before I get any stupider. I've tried looking into dumbbell exercises, but they're more of procedures rather than time tips. I just went with how much I could possibly do in a day, and how much I want to achieve in the end. Simple.

Am I doing that right, or is it wonky in places?


P.S. Someday, I'm gonna figure out why they're called dumbbells. And if they actually have any relation to church bells. I'll let you know when I get to the bottom of this mystery.

P.P.S. Today was Mom's birthday, and I'm stuffed with all the food on the table...and that's probably partly why I was almost bent over backwards by two four-pounder dumbbells: my stomach helped them along. Still, it was an awesome dinner. Happy birthday, Mom!

P.P.P.S. I went to Limketkai earlier (to have myself photographed for my 1x1 solo photos), and bought nail polish on impulse. Oh, and I strutted (shyly) around XU in a sleeveless top with matching silver dangling earrings. I am turning into such a girly-girl this summer. Darn.



Photo credits to The Pioneer Woman (for Ree Drummond's photo) and SodaHead (for Santana's cheerleading pose).

Today, I was supposed to go and get many, many things done. But I woke up late, the 8:45am kind of late, and Mom already went ahead without me. Me being the everything-has-to-start-perfect OC person, I decided to cancel all my plans and stay home all day. Which actually proved to be a blessing, coz I got some things done.

1. I read my ebook of The Little Prince (by Antoine de Saint-Exupery) AT LAST. I've been wanting to read this since high school, and only now was I finally able to understand why it is considered a classic. I learned so much from 64 pages! And I swore to never, ever be a grown-up who couldn't understand a drawing of an elephant inside a boa constrictor.

2. I made some progress with my French 101 in LiveMocha. My French Week, however, is going to be put on hold indefinitely, thanks to unforeseen circumstances. I have trips (workshops, conventions, vacations) coming up, all on this month and all at least two days in length. I mean, how am I going to have a French Week when I won't have access to a laptop for three of my four May weekends? Bummer.

3. I painted my nails a hideous shade of blue. Actually, the original plan was to paint them blue, then do a newspaper print nail art on them, and then finish off with a top coat. It looked pretty simple. Unfortunately, due to either the newspaper cuttings' lack of cooperation or my general ineptitude with nail art, the second part didn't work out so well. I kept pulling the paint along with the newspaper cutting, which meant...well, it looked sorta grungy, but hideous all the same. So I resigned myself to just the first part.

I'll try the newspaper print part again tomorrow. Or maybe I'll go for zebra prints. Let's hope it works out, either way. I can't live on this shade of blue without any adornment. It's gonna make me puke. It's too... blank.

4. I thought out some new story plot, which just came into my head with no warning whatsoever. I think this has better chance of working out than my current story. And by that I meant the summer novel that just won't be happening anytime before summer ends. I barely wrote a chapter, and every time I try resuming it, another story comes to mind. I probably have more word count for my random plots than for the story itself. What on earth is this disease of the mind??

So, anyhow, I have to sleep now so I can at least get up a little earlier than 8:45 tomorrow morning. Over the past two weeks, I've gotten used to waking up at 6:30 with the birds, and I'm confused why I broke the habit earlier. Hope it'll come back tomorrow, otherwise I'm dead.

Au revoir!

P.S. I'm back from the dead, as you can see. Let's hope this continues to tomorrow. One way or another, though, I'll make up for the days when I didn't post. Let's hope I do it soon. :)

Some things I have to include in my chronicling--and they are things that do not belong to the tail-end of a rant, so I'm making a new post for them.

Here's what I accomplished for today (which is making me feel a little more productive):

1. Completed Livemocha French 101's Unit 1 Lesson 4 on plurals. Wheee! Two more lessons, and I can now move on to the more complex shtuff.

2. Started reading The Fire Within by Chris D'Lacey. Am now halfway through the book. It's a page-turner that keeps your mind whirling--perfect for my Holy-Week-stagnated brain cells.

3. Found this awesome video at Vimeo, and it inspired me to work harder at my French lessons. Check it out here and let it inspire you too!

4. Planned my French Week and my French tumblog and my French to-do list so I can be out of French 101 when summer ends.

5. Discovered Axelle Red and her Sensualite music video! Loved both the artist and the song, though I couldn't fully comprehend the lyrics yet. I'm gonna listen to her more recent songs (the Sensualite song being a 1993 hit), and find out if at 43, she's still as awesome as she was almost twenty years ago.

UNFORTUNATELY, due to unforeseen circumstances, I'm gonna have to move my mass posting to Wednesday. Hopefully, I'll be done with all my other obligations and can then devote hours upon hours for my summer blog. Hopefully.


Keep your fingers crossed!

To start off TLC's Royal Wedding Week, they showed the footage of the Wedding of the Century--Princess Diana and Prince Charles. They showed the gown, the guests, the bride and groom, the entire ceremony. And I didn't watch a single second of it.

WHY? That was my mom's unphrased question. Why am I not watching something that many would kill to watch, if only they had cable?

Because I'm bitter. Yeah, bitter about royals and their messed-up lives.

I used to think blue bloods were at the top of the heap. They were people who ruled countries and determined the lives of many. They were confined to the rigors of their birthright, but they let loose once in a while and try to become normal, with always the thought of going back to their stiff images and sacrificing their happiness for the good of their people.

Yeah, that was a twelve-year-old's idealism. A twelve-year-old who read too much and did not care much for the TV.

But as I grew older, I saw nothing that resembles my ideal royalty. The kings and queens no longer ruled their countries; instead, they became mere figureheads that cut ribbons and attend galas and don a blue sash that reminded people of their past. They think nothing about "sacrificing their happiness" for the sake of others--because there was no need to. They are just ordinary human beings who, thanks to their great-great-grandfathers, live inside castles paid for by the taxes of the people whom they do nothing for. I expected them to all be a little more than Princess Diana. I expected them to be constantly trying to solve their country's problems, but instead, I learned that their average day consisted of partying hard and racking up scandal after scandal just to show people that they're still alive. They divorce as easily as they marry, and they and their kids end up with dysfunctional lives complete with eating disorders, fourth wives, and an addiction to drugs.

Well, good for them. So, do they have any other use?

Yes, I'm bitter over a broken ideal. But it's more than just the bitterness of a kid who discovered that Santa wasn't real after all. What made me bitter was the way they wasted the opportunity given to them to make a difference. They could've done so much with that influence, that money, that private jet. They could've campaigned for literacy, could've opened up an orphanage and helped manage it, could've started a new school for the underprivileged, could've done a thousand-and-one things better than spending the night with their lovers and making the tabloid headlines the next day.

Being a royal must be frickin hard, sure, having to dodge the paparazzi, having maintain an image, having to watch that the press does not find a bulge in your belly, etc. But couldn't they step up and do something more constructive with their spare time? Sheeesh. This is not to say all royals are wasting their time, but sometimes, the press is so darned concerned about what they wear, where they go, who they date, that royalty becomes nothing more than tabloid fodder. Is it so much to ask that they do something more?

There. That's my unreasonable love-hate story with royalty. So now, I feel apathetic about an approaching royal wedding. So what? What's gonna change in the greater scheme of things?

Bitter.

I'd post them today or tomorrow, but I haven't finished them yet and I made a pact (with myself only, but hey, that still counts) not to blog on Good Friday and Black Saturday. So blogging will resume on Easter Sunday, and all the delayed entries will be posted on Tuesday.

Why did I have to make graphics for the announcement? Because I wanted to. ;)

P.S. Happy Earth Day! Pity we can't celebrate it with much fanfare. Maybe next year.


Background photo is from PSDtoHTML. Edited by moi.