November 2011
2 posts
Dreamers and Realists
“There are dreamers and there are realists in this world. You’d think the dreamers would find the dreamers and the realists would find the realists, but more often than not, the opposite is true.
You see, the dreamers need the realists to keep the dreamers from soaring too close to the sun. And the realists? Well, without the dreamers, they might not ever get off the ground.”
—Cameron...
"Like a moth to a flame burned by the fire."
There is something to be said about old habits dying hard, even when you’re still inching away from the trough of what promises to be a very high peak with something called “your life.” In terms of my life, I talk specifically about thinking for a very long time that I need to develop thick skin.
It was recently that I found out all of my efforts toward developing thick skin may...
June 2011
1 post
Thank you, thank you. You're far too kind.
It’s mind-boggling to realize the effects one person has another. Good or bad, it happens. You don’t want to realize it when it’s bad, but you can’t believe it when it’s good. In the long run, you just come to terms that you’ve grown from it, and that’s the real gift.
I’m very aware of how I handle situations. I can never keep the good of...
December 2010
1 post
Watchkevinanthony:
to handlebar highways
Ride a Bike.
The assignment: create a remix video displaying a visual argument centered around Los Angeles. Having recently started going on late night bicycle rides through downtown, I had some friends cameo to help me out. I used a number of different videos to create this edit- the dominant one being “Kings and Queens” by 30 Seconds to Mars. Special thanks...
October 2010
1 post
Yamba Yuice
When I was in high school, Jamba Juice used to be my crack, my energy drink, my get-it-any-chance-I-got drink. I was as excited to hear that there was a “secret menu” at my favorite smoothie spot as I was when I heard about In-N-Out’s. However, I did NOT know just how many different drinks were on it.
How have I only tried 3 of these flavors and heard of 5? On the quest to try...
May 2010
5 posts
Love Ballads. They do good things to the heart:
...
I'm back and I'm corruptin'
I always wanted to start writing again this past semester, but a lot of things got in the way. Now, when I have finals creeping up, I decided to start updating this again. (How does that make sense? Shouldn’t I be studying?) I’M BACK.
Something I’ve been looking forward to as my school year comes to a quick end is my immediate return to the Philippines. Discussing it with my...
November 2009
2 posts
The Golden Compass
IMG SOURCE
Again, apologies for the lack of posts. When you mix laziness with finals coming up, multiple situations are losing situations. So here goes something I’ve been thinking about as I look back at my semester in Australia: I’ve become a better person, and I mean that in the most obvious way.
Before I left, my moral compass had been way off in terms of my relationships with...
October 2009
11 posts
Samoa For Lowa'!
One of the reasons I decided to study in Australia was because I wanted to be different from a lot of people who study abroad. A majority of students who consider studying in a foreign university have Europe on their minds. Not for me. My parents had gone to Europe more times than I had left the country. No, this opportunity to study in another country will be my own experience. It will not be...
Slow down, I just wanna get to know you.
Before mid-semester break, I was counting down the days until I departed out of this city. I should know better considering counting down days just makes them go slower. However, it finally got here and I was off to another country. In a tour of one of the islands, there was a street sign that the guide said had become an unwritten country motto: Slow down. You’re here. [PICTURED] Yes,...
We're all in this together.
IMG SOURCE
During my stay in New Zealand, an 8.3-magnitude earthquake hit nearby America Samoa shattering the island to pieces. I found out when ferries weren’t leaving Auckland because of tsunami warnings as a result of the earthquake. Luckily, we were able to ride along the ferry to previously mentioned Waiheke Island. After the day’s activities, I caught the news when back in my...
Pop that bottle.
When I was in Kindergarten in a Catholic school, my teacher, Mrs. Vargas, was teaching us about the foundation of Catholicism and the role of bread and wine in the Bible and in mass. She then took out an orange cafeteria lunch tray and unveiled before my class the body and blood of Christ in the form of crackers and grape juice. She said that the priest blessed it and even though we did not go...
I don't know where I'm gonna go when the volcano...
A good friend of mine back home, Mike Corpuz, has often recounted his story about how he experienced what it was like to witness a volcano eruption in Mount Pinatubo in Luzon, Philippines. He was there, not really knowing what was going on, and was running for dear life because everyone else was. I think about that story and how much I would probably do the same as a 21-year-old that Mike did as...
DAS DA TRUUF
Me: beautiful thing about mannerisms, you don't know you do them
Berna: exactly! its extra beautiful when people who luff you tell you about them and you're like WHAT.
Me: so what arm thing?
Berna: when you say things like YOU GON' SAY HI TO ME?! your arms go out to the side at like... a... 30 degree angle with your palms out
Me: HAHAHAHAHAHA ok i know that one. what else?
Berna: how your voice goes up
Me: like higher decible?
Berna: haha yah from beginning to ending of sentence. damnit i can't illustrate it unless you hear me
Me: DO I DO THAT?!
Berna: yeah its like... dooo II dooOOO THAT?!
Me: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Berna: DAS DA TRUUF
I'm glad I have people like Berna in my life who 1) love me, 2) love me enough to know my mannerisms down to a T, and 3) love me despite those mannerisms.
That's what I meant to say
It was until I got to Australia where I learned that I love learning about different cultures. If it wasn’t enjoying meeting people from around the world in my residence hall, it was being anxious to attend my international business classes knowing the lectures were to touch on the culture and environment of whatever country. I enjoy learning differences from the...
Strawberry-Kiwi Snapple?
Before my departure to New Zealand, people who said their goodbyes to me often accompanied it with “Enjoy the Kiwis!” or “Say hi to the Kiwis for me!” I didn’t want to sound ignorant, so of course I answered back with a “Will do!” Truth is I had no idea what they were talking about. My first guess was that New Zealand grew a lot of kiwi fruit. If you are...
I'm back!
Bittersweet. Sad that I’ll have to go back and do the school thing. The two weeks went as quickly as I knew it would, maybe even quicker. It just means that I’m that much closer to seeing my family when they get here. Two week vacation means I have a lot to tell you all. Stay tuned.
September 2009
16 posts
Ahhh... Here it goes!
It’s about time. It’s about time for vacation. It’s about time to turn 21. It’s crazy that I have been here for 10 weeks, and I’m about to embark on a new journey. I’m getting a new country stamp on my passport.
With that, I’ll be MIA for two weeks (as if I wasn’t already). BUT two major cities in two weeks means I’ll have plenty in store for...
"I'm your Vitameatavegamin girl." -- I Love Lucy
When I was a young fan of I Love Lucy and Crocodile Dundee, I thought Vitameatavegamin and Vegemite were the same thing. I’m older now and realizing that both are still the same. Vegemite promises to make you stronger, while Vitameatavegamin promises to “spoon your way to health” [PICTURED]. AND both are gross.
The beauty of Lucille Balle’s acting in...
On that grind.
IMG SOURCE
It’s about time I tell you all why I have been so busy with school lately. The week starting October 12 is by far my busiest week of this semester: two papers and two presentations. Doesn’t seem so bad considering that that week isn’t for another three. However, after this week, I’m off on Spring Break, or “school holidays” as Aussies like to call...
Green is the way to be.
Just for the record, I don’t have some sort of infatuation with toilets. I’m imagining how quickly this blog loses its appeal with its first two posts having images of toilets. Anyway, back to business.
There was a post earlier about how fresh the air is here. It makes you want to be outside as much as possible just so you can breathe it in. Fresh air should be a natural thing...
APOLOGIES (again)!
I tend to apolgize a lot on this thing. ANYWAY, I do really want to take the time to thank the people who have read, looked, glanced at this blog just even for a second. I write so you guys can know what I’m up to, and so that I can remember what I did while I was out here. Lacking in posts kinda defeats the purposes of both. I’m sorry that I haven’t been writing.
School has...
Back in the days when I was young, I'm not a kid...
I went to a party for someone who’s pretty much like family before I left to go to Australia. At that party, I saw a lot of people I hadn’t seen in a long time. My guesstimation is that it was 6 years since I’d seen them. Since it was six years since I last saw them, one of their daughters, Jasmine, who is eight now obviously didn’t remember me seeing as...
“That was actually my brother Jackie’s idea at home one day. He just said,...”
– —Janet Jackson.
Before that last post, I searched so long for the origin of MJ’s white glove. And there it is, published in Bazaar’s October issue interviewing Janet Jackson. I really don’t mean to overload on Michael Jackson stuff, but if you know me, you know that his...
Don't stop 'til you get enough.
I think everyone was surprised with Michael Jackson’s passing. The day it happened, I tried so hard to not believe the Facebook status updates because nothing was ever confirmed by CNN. My motto is that if CNN says it, it’s more credible than a lot of other sources. But then it happened. CNN confirmed it and the world had its eyes on the footage outside the UCLA Medical Center.
As I...
Holidaaaaay. Celebraaaate.
While skyping with some friends back home this evening, I was wondering why they were still awake at 3 a.m. on a Sunday (or Monday morning). They reminded me that they have a three-day weekend because of Labor Day. Labor Day was created when President Grover Cleveland put Labor as a top political priority commemorating workers of America. I didn’t know that until I looked it up just now....
Happy, happy. Joy, joy.
One of the first things I wanted to do when getting back from Sydney was rave to my mom about having the best times of my life in the alive city. I went point by point what I did, the food I ate, the times I slept. And one statement came out of my mouth that really surprised my mom: “I can see why people would move here. I think that I’ll eventually come back to live here.” My...
Ross: I'm man enough for this. Joey: Ross, you...
Australia vs. France. IMAGE SOURCE
It’s not secret that I mostly hang out with guys. Most of my closest friends are guys. When I was in elementary school, I was that girl who always sat with the boys during lunch, only did school projects with the boys, and only played during recess with the boys. There are many reasons for this. One, I always looked up to my brother, so I was always...
As we go on, we remember all the times we had...
Visiting the Sydney Opera House struck a chord with me. When entering the main stage, I was reminded of one of the best and proud times of my life: high school graduation. I was fortunate enough to study in a college preparatory school. I was probably one of the poorest students in that school, but it didn’t matter. I was given an opportunity and I took full advantage of it. Some...
"If there is something to steal, I steal it!"...
One of the classes I enjoyed taking in high school and continued to take in college was Art History. I’m not blessed with any kind of creative inclination to say that some day students will be studying my art. I just thoroughly enjoyed being one of those students. Understanding eras and styles and how the historical context has a lot to do with what artists are feeling at the time was...
August 2009
24 posts
The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire!
Over the Sylmar Mountains. Image Source
A long standing joke between some American friends (Bruce, Kevin, and Jackie, who else would I be talking about?) is that Australia is worth staying in merely for the quality of the air. Even the most metropolitan of areas in Sydney don’t have a quarter of the pollution that is considered normal in L.A. Imagine getting off a plane, exiting the...
Don't stop the music.
The club scene is Australia is similar to that of the States. First of all, there are 18-year-olds getting drunk. But clubs are a lot more laid back than the States. The bar scene definitely rules over the club scene in Australia. So much to the point that the bar scene finds itself in the clubs. The dancing isn’t so much kept to a minimum as much to say the social...
Rock the vote.
Anyone who has a Facebook (which EVERYONE has as I find myself confirming a friend request from my 8-year-old cousin) knows about those quizzes. You know, those quizzes that take up 70% of your news feed. The quizzes that tell you what reality show your life represents, what “minger” name you have, or what brand of beer you are. Well one interesting quiz I saw on my news feed one day...
“Btw, marius’ drunk ass made us take an oath in vegas to protect our little...”
– —Armand.
This one makes me realize just why I got so homesick quickly: I’ll be without my family for 5 months. They were the reason why I was sad, but also the reason I got better. They were there to give me words of encouragement and make me realize that I should make the most of my...
I pledge allegiance to the flag.
One of the first things you should probably learn about when residing in a new country is law. What’s against the law? It’s against the law to drive on the right side of the road. It’s against the law to serve alcohol to someone who’s obviously already intoxicated. OK, so laws are laws. They’re pretty much the same around the world, if not, in a country very similar...
The Legend of Zelda... or whoever you want.
Jorn Utzon. Image Source
The Sydney Opera House got me thinking about A LOT of things. After the initial obsession with the building, I went into deeper thought about a couple of different aspects that made the Opera House. I’m most likely going to post about them separately because there’s a lot to say. This post is about legacy. Throughout the tour of the Opera...
Must be nice.
Besides answering “It’s cold!” whenever people ask me how Australia is, I often follow it with “People here are really nice.” It’s a general statement, but it’s true. It’s so true that people at the other end of that answer most likely don’t understand what I mean. It’s almost indescribable. Gosh, how do you describe niceness? The only...
These boots are made for walking.
I’m going to gladly admit that I’m not the most fashion-forward individual. In fact, I can describe my style in one sentence: jeans, v-neck t-shirt, and Rainbows/Nike Dunks. BAM. That’s me. I never really cared for finding a newer better look. I’ve tried, but it’s all about comfort for me. When trends come into play in the States, I rarely follow...
EARTHQUAAAAAAKE!
I took a class my sophomore year called “Natural Hazards.” It was the first time I had gone into any in-depth study of earthquakes. I’m from California. Earthquakes aren’t a big deal. They happen all the time. WRONG. No matter how many earthquakes you’ve gone through, they’re pretty scary when you’re going through them.
Who remembers the Northridge...
It's not over 'til the fat lady sings.
The Sydney Opera House. I can’t even begin to express how I feel about the globally notable building. I knew that when coming here, the Opera House would be something I’d have to see. I wasn’t necessarily excited about it. I just know it was something that, as a tourist, was on my to-do list. I had no idea that it would have the impact on me that it had. ...