Missed out on updating this for a while again, since we got pretty busy. I'm currently typing all of this out from my brother's apartment: it's our last day in Toronto before the last Vancouver run, and my folks have gone off to do some last minute shopping things. Peter and I are done packing, so we're chilling out and waiting for them.




May 26

This was our last day in Washington do to whatever we could, so after sleeping in and eating brunch at our leisure, my family elected to hit the Mall again to cover the Museum of American History. That place had some of the coolest exhibits I've ever seen, and one incredibly impressive exhibit on America's involvement in the different major wars along with some of their own on the home front. Military history and the like are among my favorite topics of interest, so you can only guess how much time I spent bouncing around in there, gawking at everything.

(Have I mentioned, on a related note, that we caught field trip season while we were in Washington, so we've been constantly swarmed by crowds of irritating children? I sometimes wonder if I've ever been so unappreciative of heritage and culture at those ages.

Shut up, I'm an old woman.)

We spent most of our morning and afternoon there, and then we split up to check out places we were interested in. Mom hit the art galleries; dad, Peter and I wanted to take a look at the Museum of the American Indian. Everything about that place was amazing, and my only regret is that we really, REALLY didn't get to see a lot of it before closing time. I was hoping to pick up a good book on Native American beliefs - something like a general reference on systems of religion, worship and philosophy - but there doesn't seem to be one in existence. That saddened me greatly, because the one exhibit we really got to go through tackled that topic, and was so fascinating. ;;

My feet were smarting from the collective pain of constantly walking since Toronto by that period. I think I spent most of the remainder of our last day in bed.


May 27

We got kicked out of the hotel by 12 because of check out times, and since our flight had been pushed back into the evening, we were left to stroll a bit around town and lounge in the lobby until it was time for us to head off. That was the start of all the shit, I believe.

Because of horrendous weather conditions and lots of air traffic, our flight was pushed back at least seven times, which resulted in my family and everyone else waiting for flights coming from New York waiting in the departure area for over four hours. The long delay made us miss our connecting flight to Buffalo (and, subsequently, an extra afternoon and evening with my brother Philip in Niagara on his birthday), so after riding a plane that smelled of piss (no joke; I don't want to think about whatever went in there before we came around), we were forced to putter around for a hotel at 2 in the morning upon our arrival to spend an extra night in NYC. We nailed one, but they dinged my parents for a crapload of money that didn't quite add up to the services and room quality of the place we were stuck with. It was one of those hotels that used to be really classy but is now falling apart all over the place.

At least the shuttle driver who took us over to our hotel was really cool.

In retrospect, the situation really wasn't so bad because I had my family with me. I think I would have been a lot angrier (and maybe a little insecure) if I had been traveling alone. The last delay I had to go through was back in LA, when I flew off for a conference. That wasn't very fun. :\


May 28

Our flight to Buffalo was, thankfully, NOT delayed, and we managed to get our suitcases upon landing without a fuss (they had been checked in the day before and had gotten to the airport way ahead of us). Philip was there to pick us up, along with Russell, one of my white brothers. The road trip going to Niagara was fun. XD

Russell accompanied Peter and I on the Maid of the Mist tour, which was so damned awesome... the last time I had been to see the Falls, I had been very young, so encountering them again at an age where I could truly appreciate their beauty and power was something else entirely. After that, we all spent a night out on the town, checking the place out. They really built a tourist town on the Canadian end! It made me miss the company of my friends back home.

The only solution, it seems, is to come back there with them someday.


May 30

Did some last minute touring of Niagara (Russell, Peter and I hit the Journey Behind the Falls this time and got thoroughly soaked) then went for a pit stop at Niagara-at-the-Lake (lovely little town; got to eat Canada's best ice cream, or so the sign said) before heading home. Didn't get to see Geoff since we arrived pretty late, which kind of sucked. Blame it on all of those damned delays...

Attended Mass with Phil and his family in the evening, then spent the rest of the time settling down and bonding. The little bro and I were dragged out early the very next day to go around the Greater Ontario area, checking out some of the universities that my folks are aiming to send my brother to. I went, of course, because these are the places I will have to seriously consider myself, since we might be moving.

Phil, Peter and I picked Liza and Liana up as soon as we were home so that we could catch Kung Fu Panda 2, which was pretty damned good for a sequel. After that, we picked up ginormous sandwiches for dinner, and the bros and I talked on things - family, growing up, moving out - while waiting for my parents to get home.




This trip, it seems, has been all about thinking back, looking forward and wondering where the hell I am now, in more ways than one. I am occasionally surprised at realizing how I really feel about things, and I'm also becoming increasingly aware of the fact that there's only so much time to do everything I need to do, and all of the other things that I simply want to do.

Interesting, really, this process of getting older.

On other news, I'm on my second (and heaviest) day of my period. I will be in transit. Fun.

18456 / 50000 words. 37% done!

Might not make the desired word count today since I came home brain-fried, and I'm STILL kinda out of it. I am also fighting off the urge to fix images again, but this has been struck out, so let's pretend that I'm not slacking off. I'm trying to stick with the habit of writing 1,700 or more each day this month. orz Still, knowing how I can't sleep unless I accomplish what I want to, I'll probably end up hitting it later on tonight or something. That, or I fall asleep on my keyboard. Whatever comes first.

No excerpt with the word count this time... I'm too lazy to post an excerpt this time. 'Sides, I must be flooding your flists with too much TL;DR.




Registration for us graduate people down at ADMU really IS faster and more efficient. o_o Must be because they're really careful with handling professionals, and because there are less people to shuttle around. Am still finding it some kind of cool how I don't have to sit down and enlist myself -- they just whisk my form off and do it for me. Lulz.

Mandatory Next Semester Talk and Brother Shit on the Side. )

Talked with lots of people while I was popping in and out of the English department today. Was supposed to meet up with [livejournal.com profile] anothermiyaw after registration shenanigans, but Mom came over to school because she forgot to sign her check (uhihihi, Senior Moment! ♥), and then we had to swing over and pick my little brother up. orz Next time, bb?

I got my chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream though. Tastes just the way I thought it would. I have to admit that it's hella expensive and I actually prefer the one that Magnolia came up with, but this is good enough for constant comfort food. X3

Randomly: November really DOES make one post on one's LJ more. Must be the NaNo Effect.
izkariote: (onoz.)
( Sep. 21st, 2008 03:54 pm)
Two weeks left before this semester is over.

HAHAHAHAHAHA I'M SO FUCKING DEAD.

orz

On other news, yesterday was so much fun, guys. Even if [livejournal.com profile] yukitsu betrayed us and we didn't get cookie dough ice cream. You know. The thing I've been craving since ever and ever and ever Amen. Thanks. ♥

ALSO, [livejournal.com profile] lonelybusiness, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU. WE MISSED your boobs your butt YOU.

Because my older brother decided to be a bitch and emo dump about the sick and sad state of his life (his words and sentiments, really, not mine), I'm not in the mood to be productive in the academic sense just yet. Will probably take the opportunity to read up on sources for the paper, fix RP applications, possibly archive for the KHRPlurks... just generally do whatever. Might as well relax while I still can, right? Even though I technically can't, ahahaha.




EDIT: Just so that this entry is more useful...

FOR FANMIXING SHENANIGANS, FEEDBACK IS NEEDED!



ANSWER PLZ, VERY imported IMPORTANT.
You know how sometimes people on your friend's list post about stuff going on in their life, and all of a sudden you think "Wait a minute? Since when are they working THERE? Since when are they dating HIM/HER? since when???" And then you wonder how you could have missed all that seemingly pretty standard information, but somehow you feel too ashamed to ask for clarification because it seems like info you *should* already know? It happens to all of us sometimes.

Please copy mine below, erase my answers putting yours in their place then post it in your journal! Please elaborate on the questions that would benefit from elaboration! One-Word-Answers seldom help anyone out :)


I planned to do this one a while back, but well. )



Internet connection has gone sucky again (must be the weather), but thankfully, I uploaded a lot of stuff ahead of time.

Love Songs Mix: The Last Love Song on Earth (Set Two) )

…I’LL TRY NOT TO DO MASSIVE DUMPS LIKE THIS AGAIN.

Links to previous mixes:
Love Songs Mix: The Last Love Songs on Earth (Set One)
Special Mix: Sadface Songs - The Polite Version (Set One) || Set Two
Battle Songs Mix: State of Emergency (Set One).



I had sort of planned to stay home today in order to recover from my EXTREME WEDNESDAY SCHEDULE!, but I ended up going out from morning til dinnertime. o_o First half of the day was spent in the library on campus in order to complete my homework for Lit 201, and I had to drop off some more things for my cubicle in the department.

Ate lunch at home, then headed out with my Mom to buy an office chair. I'm sitting in it now, and thoroughly enjoying myself. IT'S BLACK AND MESH AND SHINY AND BEST OF ALL, IT HAS A FULL BACKREST AND ARMRESTS! …Then I had to run around with her as she did some Motherly Errands, but that was cool because part of that included going to Santi's (which meant getting to buy more cold cuts for early morning sandwiches) and National Bookstore (which meant getting school supplies for free! Again!). Dad finished up early in the office, so he hitched a ride home.

Some of you might have noticed this already, but my outings with my mom have become my only opportunities to really talk to her about the situation at home and the things -- or more like, thing -- that bugs me. Of course, the conversation naturally went towards my brother.

WTF! SHE IS TALKING ABOUT HER BRO AGAIN? B| )


...It took me two hours to make this post. That's excluding the number of times I had to edit this because of the coding.

LJ-cuts are magical. They make otherwise long posts look extremely short. o_o
izkariote: (bringing sexy back.)
( Jun. 12th, 2008 12:54 pm)
MANDATORY FIRST DAY POST OVER HERE, YO.

...Now for the nonsense stuff. ♪

Patent Pending - Cheer Up, Emo Kid

That one isn't particularly a good song, but it's catchy AND WHEN I WAS LISTENING TO IT WAS LIKE "OMFG IS THE SINGER TALKING ABOUT MY CRAZY OLDER BROTHER?"

Yeah. I'm going to get shot for that. Anyway, download it. And I do solemnly swear that I'll upload actual mixes soon. :D

On another note: I haven't told Paolo this yet, but the elective that he kicked me out of by deciding to take (I bitched about it here before, I think) he wanted to get into might be dissolved. Not enough people enrolled in it.

Talk about karma.

Srsly, though, I'm working. Managed to finish the sample Munchkin Report that I'm requiring my En11 students to do every week, and I'm just about to get started on my lesson plans for tomorrow.

Also, a meme, taken from [livejournal.com profile] catfight, [livejournal.com profile] factorielle and [livejournal.com profile] yukitsu:

Give me a story I never finished wrote ( crack!AUs, crossovers, etc. totally a GO! for once) and/or its title, and I'll give you a line snippet from it.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO REMEMBERED AND GREETED ME! ♥♥♥♥



See some of you guys on Saturday? :3




So~ dragged myself out of bed at 6:00 AM today because of a required workshop on how to teach Literature 13: Introduction to Fiction -- it's one of the basic classes that all freshmen are required to take up in Ateneo. Suffice to say, it was VERY helpful and EXTREMELY enlightening, but I am still going to flail over the course syllabus and possibly fumble my way through my first semester.

Quotes of the day include:


"A short story is a one-night stand. A novel is longer and thicker and therefore more pleasurable -- hence, it's a long-term commitment."



"How do you teach your students? BY HOLDING THEM BY THE NECK -- but not too tightly."


I won't say who said these because this entry's public. 8D

Other highlights include smoking with my future smoket buddies in the Eng Dept, being appropriated for several in-department jobs that may lead to other career possibilities in the future and realizing that a lot of the part-time/new faculty share many, many similar interests of mine (read: video games, animu, sci-fi & fantasy works). The only "bad" thing that happened was my crazy older brother stepping on my space again.

...Let me quantify that statement. Some of you know this already, but he's taking up English Language and Literature Training under the English Department. It's technically not the same course as mine, so you'd think that we wouldn't really run into each other too much, right? Well, it turns out that he is "required" to take nine units, and "required" to take a free elective. Since he can't take undergraduate classes as electives, he ended up picking Lit 202, which is one of my required courses.

No worries. We are not classmates, at the expense of me changing my schedule (aka, compromising on his behalf yet again) and taking up Development of Fiction instead. That delays my taking up a class that I might very well need when it comes to research for a whole year.

He couldn't understand why this bothered me that much, and had the gall to tell me to chill and not be so uptight. "Don't sacrifice your future because of me", he even muttered. I felt like ripping his face off right then and right there in the Eng Dept. See, with Paolo, much of the things he says can be unreliable because he's kinda slow and usually doesn't think up of alternatives when it comes to this sort of stuff, so for all I know, he's bungling around when there are actually ways that would allow the two of us to get what we both want without either of us compromising anything. For example: he could easily decide to NOT TAKE NINE UNITS ALL IN ONE GO AND THEREFORE NOT NEED TO TAKE AN ELECTIVE NOW, THEREFORE NOT TAKING UP MY SLOT IN LIT 202, WHICH IS A REQUIRED CLASS FOR ME.

Let me remind you all that this brother of mine has not been in school for nearly a decade. He also has anxiety problems and difficulty handling pressure. Now he's setting himself up to choke on 9 grad-level units in a single day, because that's how the schedule's lined up.

That leads me into a whole new rant, but srsly: it's my birthday. I don't need any more bullshit.




My second and last teaching workshop is tomorrow -- I've learned my lesson today, and will sleep earlier (NO REALLY I WILL) so that I can survive it a little better. I also need to register for my classes, if it's possible to do so.
izkariote: (wasted.)
( Jun. 2nd, 2008 02:54 pm)
This heat, it is unreasonable. Whatever happened to those cold weeks we had sometime back? *crai* Of all the times where it could have been fucking hot, it had to happen today -- I've just spent the last 4-5 hours scuttling around, fixing my closet. I have discovered that:

A.) I had miniskirts. I don't know why I bought them, because I never ended up using them, and I never will.
B.) I have a pink pair of pants. They're actually quite nice.

Before that, though, I sorta started my day off on a bad food because the breakfast for the day was ravaged fish (Paolo and the parents got to them first) and syrup-less pancakes -- they forgot to buy some at the local supermarket. Since I have to take my meds 30-60 minutes before my meal nowadays (doctor's orders), you can imagine how murderous I felt after staggering downstairs in a hunger-induced haze to no food, no food, and no food. >__> Cranky Pammeth is cranky.

Cook eventually fixed up a decent meal for me, so I zipped off to ADMU after some idle tiem on the PC. Everything's chaotic in the English department since a lot of the important folks are still on vacation and there's only one department secretary to do legwork enough to keep a whole battalion of department secretaries busy. I ran into Anne, one of the lit majors I graduated with last March... she apparently applied as a graduate assistant at the department, but she decided to try out as a a professor instead because the grad assistant work she was doing was reportedly killing her brain. I'm not surprised by her decision: in fact, I'm wondering why she didn't just try out as a professor in the first place. She's one of the most brilliant people from her batch. @_@

Anyway, I originally went on campus today to do some grad studies errands and follow up some teaching things... I've managed to the next set of required papers and my registration form from the grad studies office, but I won't be able to get advised until tomorrow. I don't really mind, though, since I've already pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I'll be on and off campus this whole week for teaching seminars, class registration and other important things. I'm actually going to end up spending my birthday in a required teaching workshop, but if you really think about it, that could be the best gift I'll receive this year, given the way things are running. Lulz.

Tomorrow's errands include:


  • Moving into my cubicle. I'm cubicle mates with [livejournal.com profile] pyrosinferno. 8D
  • Confirming my class schedule. The one they gave me is still tentative.
  • Helping Ate Josie with department errands. As I said, she's one woman doing work enough for an army.
  • Meeting up with Anne and Carlo to cram discuss teacher stuff. Anne is going to have her demo class soon, and I need advice on lesson plans.
  • Getting advised for my grad studies classes. *crosses fingers* If I can't get advised tomorrow, I'm going to have a hard time later this week. I texted Sir Pulan, but he told me to get advised by someone else, and that basically means harassing Ate Josie again. ~_~ I swear, after all of this shit has passed, I am so buying her something.
  • Hooking up with [livejournal.com profile] laurgasm for a bit, since she'll be in the area. I dunno whether I'll be able to do this, but it would really be nice if I could.
  • Going out with Mom to buy a few more articles of Teacherly Clothing. Now that I've fixed my closet, I have a better idea of exactly what I still need to get.


Now that my clothes have been properly segregated (i.e. Stuff I Will Never or Rarely Use + Stuff I Use When I Go Out But Can't Wear When I'm Teaching in the extra closet in Philip's room, Teacherly Stuff + Everything Else in my closets), I'm taking a quick break to type up this entry, poke some people online and generally catch my breath before I put in that last set of clothes and start figuring out what I'll bring for my cubicle.

Not-so-randomly: Paolo is getting antsy again. The grad studies office hasn't given him a straight answer about the status of his application, and registration is coming up. There's also the fact that he's going through 35612365861365816563016473265th Childhood and he wants a PSP. Or a Wii. Or something. He can't make up his mind, I think, he just wants something. He actually wants to sell his PS2 -- he bugged me about it when I was doing errands, and I nearly bit his head off for his horrible timing. Srsly. What was the point of all that dramarama last year if he was just going to get tired and sell the damned thing anyway?

Yeah, okay, I get it: he's depressed and he needs a girlfriend help, but frankly speaking? Maybe things aren't working out for him because he's being such an emo kid/ass/brat.

[/end rant]

BAAAW. I STILL HAVEN'T WATCHED A LOT OF THE STUFF IN MY BACKLOG, BUT WHAT'S WORSE IS I STILL HAVEN'T FIXED MY LAYOUT HERE.

EDIT: The thing idiot I mentioned in this entry never replied. Hurhur.
BEFORE ALL ELSE:

[livejournal.com profile] kitsune_jade, your birthday is coming up. Please compile a list of prompts/characters/pairings/ideas that you'd like me to write as a part of your birthday gift. You have 28 drabbles, give or take a few according to a length. And sorry, no, I don't think I'll be able to do your crossovers. ^_^;

ALSO!


Answer this meme if you ♥♥♥ me!





Slow, slow day at the office... I spent it mooching off the bandwidth fixing the files that were dumped on me last week. Nothing new went up, but once everything is fixed, it'll be busy again. Of course, the REAL highlight was the internet connection itself down there - my torrents were fucking wild. I must've downloaded at least 20 80-350 MB files while I was there today. I wish my connection at home was that snazzy. D:

There was also that short but nice conversation I had with [livejournal.com profile] laurgasm, prompted by one of her posts on Twitter. See, apparently, this chick made it on national television for... and drumroll please:

For keeping a "paper journal". Aka, notebook. Aka, doing the remarkable thing of writing with a pen and paper in this fast-paced, modernized world.

Oh, Philippines. You have reached a whole new level of illiteracy.

That said. How's about somebody pay ME big bucks for scribbling in my notebooks? Maybe somebody should make a Pinky of me while they're at it. :D




Going back to ADMU tomorrow.

DO NOT WANT!!!111oneoneone

Okay, so maybe I'm not THAT averse to trudging back on campus, given the fact that I kinda sorta have to. I'm still missing that last recommendation letter, and this is my only real chance to submit my requirements since I'll be in Batanes from Friday until Monday. There's also that small issue of submitting my application to the ADMU English Department. *crosses her fingers* [livejournal.com profile] pyrosinferno has given me a lot of support and tips in that direction, but who knows what'll happen, right? I'll just have to hope for the best. B|




Band of the moment: 65daystofstatic. They sound like the love child of Bloc Party, Mogwai and the Mars Volta. I haven't been this into an instrumental band since... well, since a long way back.

For serious. With titles like "Welcome to the Times", "Aren't We Still Running?", "Drove Through Ghosts to Get Here" and "I Swallowed Hard, Like I Understood", how can you go wrong?

What's funny about this band is that I discovered them through rabid downloading of KHR fan soundtracks.




Not so randomly: Paolo hung around the office today.

We're living in the same house, and we'll probably end up studying on the same campus. Now, even my work place isn't safe.

Our paths have crossed far too much for comfort lately.
.

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