Mar Roxas gives way to Noynoy Aquino for 2010

I’m teary-eyed while listening to the speech of Senator Roxas. It gave me goosebumps. I just hope that the selflessness he talked about will not be just on pen and paper. Pinas, ftw!

Adventures of the traveling feet

With the foot photo at the center (2007, one rainy and a little floody day, wearing my favorite Dupé flips) as my header photo in my multiply site, "Adventures of the traveling feet" was born. Since then, I've collected quite a few foot shots of myself.


The first one on the leftmost part was during my thesis experiment at the Natural Sciences Research Institute (NSRI) in U.P. where I spent the whole day on that lab, monitoring my experiment. Below that was a shot while riding an Ikot jeep in school. The second picture on top was taken on my way from U3 to Tita Helen's place. Right next to that picture is technically not a foot shot but a slipper shot with my legs crossed. That was one mood swing attack at Karlsplatz on a Sunday with Tita Helen and Mom. I ended up going home shortly after we arrived. :) The second picture at the bottom was on a snowy Sunday at Schönbrunn. I remember how my hands freezed and got really numb (because I didn't have my gloves and I was taking photos out in the cold) I had to really rush home. And beside that is a photo while walking on a pedestrian lane on my way home to Linke Wienzeile.


The topmost photo on the rightmost part was taken along the small alley on my way home to L. Wienzeile. The next two pictures below that was at Cagayan river and along its shore during one of my Echague home visits. Below that is a picture of my black nail polished toenails, the first time I voluntarily had my toenails get polished, dated March of 2008. And last, but not the least, is a photo of my feet donned in my Puma sneakers at the Marine Science Institute (MSI) lobby while patiently waiting for my class to start.


Because I often stroll alone and I am not so much of a sel-ca (Korean slang for self camera shots) fan, I figured that maybe photos of my feet would be just as great to capture memories. True enough, my feet always had adventures to tell.

Diego Luna

he’s coming to Manila for the Cinemanila.

He looks pretty much the same in his two movies that I’ve seen — Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001) and Dirty Dancing (2004). And the picture of Diego Luna in my mind looks like this.

Now, this is Diego Luna at 29.


In this May 2009 photo, he is with his bestfriend and Y Tu Mama Tambien co-star Gael Garcia Bernal. The latter didn’t change much from the 2001 movie. In fact, I think he looks better than before. But Diego Luna? This is definitely a far stretch from five years ago. I must say I got the shock of my life! He looked older (of course he’s older!) and different with the hair, facial hair and all. I guess I’ll never get used to his this-is-how-you-should-look-when-you’re-about-to-be-thirty look. Nonetheless, Diego Luna, you’re still the man!

Country music buff

100% certified! Never will I get tired of country music. There are actually a number of country music sub-genres (bluegrass, new country, blues country, etc.), but I can settle for just anything as long as it’s country. A few of my favorite country artists are Nickel Creek, Kenny Rogers, Carrie Underwood, Dixie Chicks, and Taylor Swift.


My first love was Nickel Creek. Back in high school, when listening to the radio was an addiction (because mp3’s weren’t that much of a fad yet and an hour of internet surfing amounted to 40 pesos), Nickel Creek’s “This Side” was played on my favorite radio station. Upon hearing the first few seconds of the intro, I was instantly mesmerized. It was love at first hear and it was the first song I remember acknowledging as my favorite song.


Including Kenny Rogers on my list is a no-brainer. He’s a legend in country music. “Jesus Take the Wheel” of American Idol’s Carrie Underwood was love-at-first-hear as well. But it was not until I discovered Dixie Chicks that I realized my fascination with country music. See, I’m walking down on memory lane here. I actually can’t remember where and when did I first encounter Dixie Chicks….I really can’t. But I think it was their song “Lullaby” that started it all.


Taylor Swift was my latest favorite. This one’s self-discovered. I think I was searching the Internet for the top 100 country songs (since I’ve already known my being a country music buff) when Taylor Swift’s “Our Song” was on the Top 10 list. Again, it was love at first hear. And then months later, Swift conquered the Philippines with her “Teardrops on My Guitar”. I never heard “Our Song” anywhere here, though. And eventually, “Love Story” and “White Horse” came.


And the rest, as they say, is history.

I think I am

I am a self-confessed anti-social. Relatively, at least. Compared to most people I know, that is. Of course exclude social networking, count that out. I mean, I practically socialize with different kinds of people one-on-one, but being in a crowd of more than 5 freak my brain, stomach, heart, and every organ out. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating but I’m trying to be serious. I don’t know, I just got used to being so immersed in the things I do alone and eventually I ended up living to love it that way. Listening to music, surfing the internet, playing the piano, reading books, playing the violin, watching movies, watching TV, walking, jogging, strolling in malls, gosh, even cleaning. I basically enjoy all these things when I’m alone.


There’s this one time when I bumped into someone in my neck of the woods during one of my violin lessons at the U.P. College of Music and she was like, “Where have we met again?” Major ouch. And so, I told her we’re actually neighbors. Can you imagine? Our units are merely 10 meters apart and we’ve met maybe twice or thrice. And I’ve lived in our compound for more than 3 years now, yet she barely knows me. But I know her, you know what I mean? God, that further affirms my being a sociopath…haha, kidding.

Transition state = high energy, PV = nRT

Today on Facebook, my college batchmate posted a link to her new blog entitled "transition state = high energy".

That definitely caught my attention obviously because I think she got the idea from my comment on her post. :)

In a chemical reaction, it is in the transition state where the highest energy is needed.

Similar to life, whenever there is a transition taking place it takes a lot of energy to cope with the transition. Be it a transition from school life to work life or from bum life to work life.

Also on Facebook, I remember a friend posting this as her status:

It's no surprise that I figured that outright (hello, chemistry major!). And I love the statement! This is from the ideal gas equation PV=nRT, where P is pressure, V is volume, n is the number of moles of gas, R is the gas constant, and T is the temperature. Do the Math and you'll find out that "nakaka-[nRT/V]" translates to "nakaka-PRESSURE". This friend is studying for her upcoming board exam and trust me, I can completely sympathize with her.


I hope I'm not making noses bleed here... :)

Injecting some foreign language phrases into my vocabulary

To start off, my favorite Waray word is “ambot”, which means “ewan” in Tagalog. Having two Waray friends as my closest friends in college didn’t help me much in learning the language. Not that I’m not interested or anything. It’s just that we always talk pretty much in the same language, either English or Tagalog. And so, sad to say, “ambot” is the only Waray word injected to my vocab.


In contrast, having an almost 4-month vacation in Austria and being able to mingle with people of different nationalities there, I’ve learned quite a few of the basic phrases in various languages aside from German.


TURKISH
Nasılsın? How are you?
Iyi. I’m good./I’m fine.
Para yok No money
küçük small
büyük big

SERBIAN
Dobar dan! Good day.
Kako si? How are you?
Dobro. I’m good./I’m fine.
Šta radiš? What are you doing?

ALBANIAN
Mirëdita! Good day.
Si je? How are you?
Mirë. I’m good./I’m fine.
Faleminderit. Thank you.

Baklava — My classmates often mention this in class. I’ve known this as a kind of sweet/pastry but I never got to see nor taste it.


DISCLAIMER: I am only writing according to what I remember having learned from my classmates. Ergo, I am uncertain as to the accuracy of the aforementioned words and letters/characters and their corresponding translation. :)