Liv in a Life Well-Lived

Book in Hand: Stone Angels Song in Mind: Ribbons Undone by Tori Amos Word in Mouth: Long Weekend!!! she's a girl / rising from a shell / running to spring / It is her time / Watch her / With Ribbons Undone / She's a rose / in a Lily's cloak / she can hide her charms / It is her right / there will be time / to chase the sun / with Ribbons undone / Without the Ribbons Maybe I'm lucky to be able to relate the lines above to my childhood. It must mean I had a happy childhood. Which I did, I really did. Problem with a happy childhood is that it's so dang hard to leave! And I hold on too hard and for too long. :) That's how it probably would be for the rest of my life. So, my daydreams of becoming a self-contained, graceful, reserved, Ms. Perfect Manners would probably never come true. I like being clumsy, and irrepressible, and silly and yes, even, sablay, too much. Late-Night Psychologizing Last night, my sister and I bonded well into the night... talking about our...

Tsk, tsk. Livvy, do you remember the last time you were taken in by a good smile? D'you remember what happened next?? Now that you DO remember, you can't possibly be thinking of letting yourself go through all that again. Except of course if you've gone completely masochistic. And you can't have any distractions right now, y'know. And he's just probably as immature as you are and that would never ever work out. And he talks weird. And... and... I better find more reasons because I'm running out of it and forgetting " the why i should not " is so much harder everytime I remember him smiling.

I made a new blog for some of the pics I took during the Photography Workshop. When you guys have the time, be sure to check it out. =D I'll be in Laguna for an office assessment workshop the next couple of days so I expect I won't be able to update for a while. I'd be spending my time away from civilization for the time being. Later days!

Ahahaha... I won a photography contest today. It's just a small contest amongst the other participants of the Workshop I took. You have to understand that I absolutely have no formal training on photography whatsoever and it kind of shows in my work. I took the training to help me "See New Ways" of taking pictures. To win first prize was a shocker. =D I hope you bear with me. It's a first for me in this field, and I don't know if I'll ever win anything like it ever again. The other participants, my workmates, actually submitted better pictures (in my opinion). Their photos were fab -- clear, poignant, dramatic, romantic, shows technique.... but I guess the pic I took made them laugh. And that's probably why I won. The emotional tug of laughter is surprisingly buoyant and that's probably what they remembered. Of course, I'm just using " headology " here. I so wanted to pass another pic which I thought was a bit more artistic, a bit more pr...

Book in Hand: Castles of Britain - a Photo Journal Song in Mind: One Good Day Coming Up! Words in Mouth: Manong, pwede ko kayo kunan ng picture? And she thought she'd never make it. She thought she won't survive... and at the very last minute when she thought she was about to implode --- she realized she could still take a breath. And another. Then another. Before she knew it -- it's Saturday! Yey! I SURVIVED HELL WEEK! WORKING GIRL VERSION! The Potable Water Project I have to present yesterday went just fine. It could've been better, but I did my best and the donor seemed to be okay with what I have presented. I have no idea how I managed to split myself into the number of bodies I needed to do all the work that needed to be done. But somehow I've pulled through! Here's my week in hindsight: Monday - Training Assessment Presentation / Workshop to teachers of As-is Elementary School in Bauan, Batangas (whole day) Tuesday - Preparation for PLDT School Building Pr...

Book in Hand: Woman who Roars Like a Man by Tamora Pierce (lent by Mariel) Song in Mind: Can this be Love (sorry, but the radio keeps playing it) Word in Mouth: Sniff, sniff Energy reserves? Specimen # 14586 tagged Olivia is all out of that. Have cold, will sneeze. Have headache, will squint all day. Have loads of work, will work til I get fever and officially have reason not to work. Also suffering from Instantaneous Unnecessary Numbers Recall Syndrome. This only happens when I'm very very sick and I can't control the right part of my brain anymore. Numbers keep firing at will...sometime with a few letters mixed in. Most of it seems to be car plate numbers and phone numbers I have somehow encountered in the past. Recognize any of these? TFX 302, UBG 878, 99-14586, 09175393001, 3675778, 09192068210, TMP 234, 777-8080, 45% of 756, Php 1,948.67, 6388637 .... I could go on you know. These numbers flash through my brain without any real tangible reason. They make sense, but not at ...

Book in Hand: Legends by several fantasy authors YOU A FAT KID?? Last night in Gilmore Girls, there was a line there that really made me laugh. A guy was trying to hit on Lorelei and she made a quip and made him laugh. He was dork enough to say, "Oh she's funny. She's pretty but she's funny. Tell me, were you a fat kid? Because there were studies that says most pretty girls aren't funny because they didn't need to be." Or something along that line. Haha. What a hoot. B ut the dork's probably right. What's it to me anyway? Okay, I'm chunky but I don't think people find me as funny. I think people see me more as -- harmless. So moving on... STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES When a friend recently asked me about my past love life, I gave him the standard answer: Nope, never had any. But this one is persistent. He's just fallen in love with somebody and probably wanted to share the feeling with anyone. The way it goes when you're in love and yo...

Economics of Living I almost can't believe that I managed to stretch my Php 500 to last me one whole week! And that's inclusive of commuting fare and office lunches. If five hundred bucks is enough for me for a week, I'd still have 80% of my monthly salary for savings. But why the hell don't I have any? I'm a lousy spender, I am. About 60% goes to my family, and the rest I spend on books. This summer it would have to be different though. I want to give 90% to my parents because they both didn't get summer classes this year. And even that wouldn't be enough for the household expenses. Anyway, I'll just get enough to last me every two weeks... meaning just a thousand bucks. Wow! If I can make it through this summer with just that... I'd be so proud of myself! And after this summer, I could keep on doing this and save a lot! The thing is, the most important factor I have to resist is the impulse to buy more books. Arggh, books! How am I to exist without...

Book in Hand: Rereading Hitchhiker's Guide to the Planet by Douglas Adams (in preparation for the movie!) Song in Mind: Love moves in mysterious ways by Nina Word in Mouth: Payong, please???? Ever read the book White Oleander? Somehow, because of that book I now relate the flower with madness. And today is an Oleander Day. I'm going stark raving mad with the summer heat! Just came from a groundbreaking ceremony for a two-storey six classroom school building project in Taguig. Had to run around assisting the donors and the teachers in the laying the time capsule and shoveling of sand for photo ops.... under the sun. And my whole system is overheated rendering me more dysfunctional than I ever was. Good grief. I don't even want to eat anymore, I just want to drink lots of liquid. That's probably a good thing except that I get even crazier without something solid to gestate. So it's a double Oleander day. All carbon-based life forms beware! Okay, on a more serious note...

And this one is totally amusing: this gurl probably had lots of free time to take all those pics (ever wondered how the fifth wheel of your swivel chair looks like???) and then post it on her blog... A Fish In Japan crazy but cute.

Check out: The Cocktail Sermons Pretty cool pontifications from a NY Guy.

Book in Hand: The Magic Circle Song in Mind: Still A Sorta Fairytale (the song just plan stuck in my head! Argh!) Word in Mouth: Dubwash and Dubbins (coz I just couldn't say Damn out loud) I'm not feeling great today. I'm a bit dizzy and I can't keep my eyes focused on the computer monitor. And I don't feel like praising my work today. It's one of those times I'd rather be anywhere but here. I'd rather be home and vegetating. Daddy doesn't have summer classes this year and I'm back to commuting the two-hour long travel from home to work. This morning, had to ride two jitneys all the way to work... haha! My face felt stiff with layers of dust when I got to the office. Not pretty. Hay. I wish we were rich. If we were, I could have my own car. And I don't have to work at all! And I could take my masterals and my doctorals and use that as an excuse not to work! Ha! I'll just write all day and watch TV all night. I'll read all the books I ...

and i'm so sad like a good book i can't put this day back a sorta fairytale with you a sorta fairytale with you

Hehe, Prince Charles married Camilla Parker-Bowles. People are asking if this is the end of Monarchy. What I think (although of course, the Brits don't give a dingdong about what I think) is that they don't have to end -- they just have to change. Would it ever come to the point that Prince William could marry a woman with not a smudge of royal blood in her genes and not belonging to the Church of England? If that happens, guess who'd be on the first flight to London? =D Just another improbability, that idea. The monarchy just really depends on keeping their traditions because that's where they get the respect of the people. They don't really have much authority anymore, and except for being the Guardians of History and Guardians of their Faith (sounds lovely doesn't it?), people hardly rely on their decisions anymore. They give importance to the monarchy's decisions, but it would have to be backed by Parliament as well. Oh well, I don't know. I'm n...

Book in Hand: Legends (lent by Norman) Song in Mind: Tell the World of His Love (heard it in Mass earlier) Word in Mouth: twicenight (heard it from somewhere and I hope it means two nights) Basta, 'yaw ko na ng drama. I've got lot's of WOOT to read and I'm basically content. Though, kanina, kinanta sa Church yung Tell the World of His Love and I bawled my head off again. Reminded me kasi of some past promises I made to myself. Galing talaga, songs really do have the power to move us back in time. Funny thing, I was browsing through some of my friend's blog and I saw Peloy's latest entry. Just song lyrics from a Bachelor Girl's song entitled "Permission to Shine." That shut me up real good from my earlier ranting. Here's some of the lines there: (I have no idea how it actually sounds like but the lyrics hits the spot right on.) Intro: Permission to Shine by Bachelor Girl Hey, what would you say If I can't play the hero tonight Cos lately I...

Book in Hand: The Sea King's Daughter by Barbara Michaels Song in Mind: A Sorta Fairytale by Tori Amos (Peloy helped me remember the title!!!! ) Word in Mouth: Woot! (Short for: Wow! Loot! - Thanks Edward for my word of the day) D'you ever get that weird state of emotions when you're happy but you're not? Ack. Not a good way to be, but it happens to the best of us. Hay. I should be happy. Yesterday, I spent the whole day with my sister and friends from work in a resort. I swam for three hours. I reveled in feeling the water surround me like a silken robe. I had a great time. But then on the way home, Pope JP2's funeral was being aired on the bus tv set and that sobered me up a bit. Today, I spent the whole evening with my best geeky friends and we talked about books and movies and other standard geeky stuff for hours. We met in Powerbooks GB but brought our own books to exchange with each other. Norman said we brought more books in than what we brought out. After ea...

And another thing.... Hearts heal, right? I can't live this way forever. It's taking too damned long to recuperate. O baka naman healing is just another legend and it's just about finding the next best thing after the heart annihilates itself?

Book in Hand: The Horse and His Boy (Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis) Song in Mind: Shut up by Simple Plan Word in Mouth: It's Okay I took a test measuring my English proficiency today and I didn't get a perfect score. Fine by me, I'm not an English language scholar. But what bothered me was that the other examinees were English teachers from small universities and colleges in Metro Manila and their scores were mortifying. Hala, what are they teaching their students then? More than that, a lot of them were already old and ang yayabang nila. Pinapagalitan pa nila yung speaker sa harap. Pilipit naman mag-English. " Why is it that you are lecturing us on modules and not on lesson plans? We are here because we are new to this and we want to know how to do." - sabi ni Mr. Procopio who insisted on being called Dean Rivera. (Dean KA??????) Super enunciation si Sir. Natalo pa si Miriam Santiago. Bakit ba ang daming Pinoy na akala ang sukatan ng pananalita ng Ingles ...

Book in Hand: Rereading the Gift by Patrick O'Leary Song in Mind: The Prayer It's not really a simple day at all. When I heard that the Pope is dead, I have to admit that something was definitely missing. Something good has gone from this earth and one could actually feel it. Blame it on magical thinking, but I really expected the world to shake when he died. And as it turns out, it did, yesterday, here in Manila. More than that though, I was expecting a choir of angels to announce to all the faithful that a saintly man was received lovingly by his Creator. But of course, that's just me and my delusions. I may not have a right, but I do feel I've lost someone connected to me somehow. Or my soul.

Book in Hand: Renaissance Faire as edited by Andre Norton and Jean Farbes Song in Mind: HAri ng Sablay (Pasensya ka na, madali lang ako mataranta! Me! So me!) Word in Mouth: Too sick to open my mouth Whoopeee! Congratulate me! I met someone who knew a girl I knew in high school. This girl knew me back during those days when I was into writing "young love" stories. (Eeeewww... Olivia tries to fight against the instinctive selective amnesia that is threatening her memories -- okay, Liv, you are adult enough now to accept that --- you were completely insane when you were doing that). Anyway, this someone I knew who knew that girl from high school divulged to me yesterday that the latter told her something. That I wrote stories daw nga. And that she thought they were pathetic stories. Her words were "Yucky! Just plain trash!" daw. Well, excuse me for breathing. First instinct was of course, "#!#@!**#* niya! Bakit, nabasa ba niya? Teka, noon ba marunong na siyang m...