seventy-seven

seven things that scare me...
1. heights
2. blood
3. missing out on God's will for me
4. knives and sharp objects
5. accident or death in the family
6. ghost stories
7. giving birth

seven things i like the most...
1. the night sky, esp. when the moon is large, round and orange
2. the smell of freshly laundered clothes and beddings na ginamitan ng fabric conditioner
3. sinigang na hipon
4. sleep
5. singing while taking loooong baths
6. playing computer games
7. spending time with people i love

seven important things in my room...
1. pillows (large, firm ones)
2. pictures and photo albums
3. notes, letters and gifts given to me
4. journals
5. notebooks of text messages
6. collection of books, cds, dvds
7. laptop

seven random facts about me...
1. i usually sleep on my side, with a pillow in my arms and a blanket over me.
2. i write down in a notebook almost all of the text messages i receive.
3. i hate crossing the street
4. i enjoy being one of the boys, but i love dressing up.
5. i don't like having my bare feet touch the floor when i'm seated.
6. i am directionally challenged (i easily get lost).
7. i have a hard time sleeping when my neck and ears are exposed.

seven things i plan (or want) to do before i die...
1. sing with a full orchestra as accompaniment and/or sing in a concert with my musician friends
2. paint
3. learn how to play the violin
4. have a garden wedding, kids and a house of my own
5. be actively involved in volunteer work, esp. among kids
6. travel, travel, travel
7. walk closely with my God

seven things i can do...
1. sing and harmonize
2. sketch
3. swim
4. not speak for a long time
5. sleep half of the day off
6. write articles and poems
7. read fast

seven things i can't do...
1. drive
2. wake up early for several consecutive days
3. play the drums
4. play the guitar
5. dance ballet
6. eat fast
7. do math in my head (yep, i am a math major :P )

seven things that attract me to the opposite sex...
1. deep-set eyes
2. smile
3. confidence/leadership
4. heart
5. wit/sense of humor, can talk about anything and everything
6. intimacy with God
7. thoughtfulness

seven things i say the most...
1. pambihira!
2. pramis?
3. awww...
4. right... (in a somewhat sarcastic tone pero naka-smile pa rin)
5. yes?
6. now na!
7. tara, uwi na tayo ('been saying this a lot lately)

seven celeb crushes... (pagpasensyahan na at wala akong maisip na iba pang guy celebs)
1. tom welling
2. angelina jolie
3. gary valenciano
4. jennifer garner
5. brad pitt
6. johnny depp
7. rachel mcadams

seven people who i want to take this quiz, besides those that have already done this, in alphabetical order...(i could actually list more than seven)
1. andie
2. eyang
3. jarms
4. jean
5. nez
6. shine
7. yeng

mini-boss in a foreign land: plalays

since we went to a going-away party last night, my homies and i weren't able to cook something for today's dinner. jarms (one of my two homies; jean, my other homie had a bowling tournament in the early evening) and i weren't in the mood to eat leftovers, so we decided to have fried squid instead. when i reached into the refrigerator to get the squid, my eye caught the bowl of leftover rice. i thought, why not have fried rice with fried squid?

there were still some pieces of cabbage left from the chop suey i cooked the week before and some crab meat left some weeks before that. i have never cooked fried rice before (and jarms haven't had fried squid before either), but since i was feeling quite adventurous, i thought i'd take a stab at it. :) jarms was not picky, and if all fails, we could always cook white rice. ;)

so i minced some garlic and chopped some cabbages and crab meat. however, i decided that it would be better to fry the squid first, and then use the oil for the fried rice. that way, the rice will have more flavor.

after battling with the oil-spewing squid, i started with the fried rice. i sauteed the garlic and crab meat, and put all the ingredients in. jarms suggested that i add soy sauce to the rice to give it some color, so i did. i also added a dash of salt and pepper.

my experimental fried rice ("plalays", as we jokingly pronounce "fried rice") was edible. in fact, jarms ate more than the rice serving she normally consumes -- and she wasn't even that hungry yet :) i have a feeling we'll be having plalays again soon ;)

mini-boss in a foreign land: the iron chef is at it again

my adobong spinach last week was such a disaster that i had to ask my next-door-neighbor-slash-iron-chef barry to "repair" it. ;)

***
i cooked chop suey again tonight. i used carrots, cabbage, young corn, cauliflower and mushroom (the cauliflower was kinda overcooked :D ) it surely looks good, and i think it tastes okay. i hope my homies like it -- i have to redeem myself ;)


i took this pic myself


i used a timer on this one


ta-dah!

plans for 2005 (updates)

it's more than half-a-year since i made my plans for this year. here are the updates:

* bought rubber shoes


* owns a digicam (yahoo! i finally got one!)


* learned how to cook at least 5 more meals (and counting :) i've tried sinigang, menudo, bistek tagalog, soy gin pork, and chop suey. 'will try to cook adobong spinach tomorrow)

* gained at least 7 pounds (but i'm still bony ;) )


* learned how to play pingpong (c/o jeff and joel)

* currently re-reading the New Testament (i'm now in Acts)

* created one pencil sketch (finished sketching akane yesterday)


* read 4 novels and counting (sidney sheldon's nothing lasts forever, dan brown's digital fortress, sophie kinsella's confessions of a shopaholic, j.k. rowling's harry potter and the half-blood prince)

* still working on hitting higher notes (i've gone back to singing in the shower and singing in the car)

* still have to learn how to sight-read

* still working on my people skills (this one's really hard :( )

* given up on relearning at least one musical instrument (at least for this year)

* given up on improving programming (at least for this year; my work here requires almost no programming)

* given up on badminton this year (they play tennis here; my friends and i play bowling instead)

mini-boss in a foreign land: a birthday story

this is a post i started writing three-and-a-half months ago, and i only got to finish it today :)

---

it started out like any other day. i woke up early (ei akane, istatyu?). i took a bath and prepared to go to work. as i reached the hotel lobby to wait for the shuttle, i noticed that my officemates were not around. "Hmm, I must be really early today."

After waiting for 5 minutes, I began to panic. Why weren't they here? Where is the shuttle? I looked out the window, and there it was, rounding a curve -- with my officemates aboard, no doubt.

i was incredulous! it's only 8:14 when i got to the lobby! the shuttle was supposed to leave at 8:15! i wasn't late!

i pondered arranging a 9:30 shuttle service before heading back to bed (yep, sleep is precious to me). or i could... i asked my batchmate, who had access to the staff car, to come pick me up. he was already in the office, but he came to my rescue.

when we got to the office, i received an email from my offshore team, asking me to stay late in the office, so that we could deploy the new application we were working on. sigh, it was my special day, and i had to stay late. :(

after office hours, my offshore team helped me deploy our application. but i was having errors on my end. four frustrating-and-dinner-depriving hours later, one of my friends happened to pass by my cube. she was also working late but was ready to go home. she took pity on "hapless" me, and helped me deploy my vexatious application. they even dropped me off at the hotel.

back in my room, an hour before midnight, i feasted on a microwaved mac-and-cheese dinner. while packing my things (i was to be transferred to another hotel the next day), i reflected on my day. sure, it was no way to celebrate a birthday, but i was thankful for some things: first, that i had something to eat for dinner. second, that i was moving to a better hotel. and most of all, that despite my "misfortunes", i had friends who were there for me, reminding me that God's arm is not too short to help me.

On such a lonely night in a land far away, i knew -- My Father in heaven has not forsaken me.