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.

Haven't been able to sign on for the past two days because we were on the move and such. Taking some time out to write this before my parents pretty much kick my bro and I out the door again.

Sore throat was gone by the time we had to fly to Toronto, but it was replaced by this allergy-cold sort of thing that I must've gotten from staying in our room - it was apparently pretty dusty in there. If you think about it, that put me between a rock and a hard place: staying inside rooms meant suitable warmth but a lot of dust, and staying outside meant good, fresh air but cold conditions. We were already heading out, though, and the only thing that I could possibly be concerned about was if my 'cold' was going to make landing and taking off hellish.

Our old maid picked us up and brought us to the airport, where we proceeded to go through the simplest check in and registration process that I have ever had to go through. Dad was amazed at how everything was so smooth, and how most of the proecess was automated. I told him that since we're used to crushing ineffeciency, we forget how most people actually expect things to work out versus expecting things to go horribly wrong. We then met up with our other old maid and her husband at the White Spot for brunch. It was really, really nice, hanging out with them and actually seeing the kind of people they are - I was very young the last time I was in close contact with them, and you know how that sort of thing goes. It's touching how much gratitude and respect they still have for my parents: they really feel as though they wouldn't have had anything of value if my folks hadn't brought them to Canada with us back then. From the stories I have heard from them and my folks, this might just be true.

The last check right before hitting the boarding area was a bit hassling for everyone except me: Dad got tagged for bringing in the food that our maids prepared for us (some of it had gravy), and my bro and my mother were randomly tagged for a full body scan. The plane ride itself was also the most turbulent flight that any of us have been on in a long while, aaaand they didn't feed us or provide free earphones for their in-flight entertainment systems (thank god for my headphones). Beyond that, though, all was well - I finally watched Toy Story 3 (nice way of finishing the series, imho), and since my folks were seated beside me, I got to watch them watching a movie together, which was super cute since they were leaning against each other and holding hands. Still going strong after thirty-seven years, and all.

Landing was super smooth, and my ears didn't feel the shift in air pressure at all in spite of my cold. My brother Phil picked us up with his little girl, and it was an adventure traveling through Toronto airport in order to get to his car. Place is fucking HUGE, let me tell you. It is also apparently thrice more expensive to fly in and out of Toronto than any other place in North America. Maybe even the world, if I was hearing Phil correctly.

Car ride to Phil's place was short and sweet since he and his family live nearby - we're staying at one of the apartment complex's guest suites, which is tiny, hot (since the entire tower's air conditioning system is offline for maintenance) but otherwise very swanky (lol full glass shower stall). We all ventured down to my bro's unit (which is, like, three doors away from our suite) and ate all of the food that our old maids packed for us (Dad admitted that he suddenly didn't regret the hassle of bringing it through the airport). We must've ended by midnight or so, and only because Phil does the graveyard shift and we didn't want to keep him up for too long.

Hands down: my first official day in Toronto was amazing. The subway system looks like something out of the movies (old trains, dingy stations, street performers in the tunnels, bustling crowds, strange people lurking around), and the city itself just has character, from the people wandering the sidewalks right down to the buildings themselves. It's been a long time since I've been in a city this huge at an age where I can really pay attention to the details, and believe me: I was looking every which way to try and catch as much of it as possible. We walkd down a bit of Yonge Street to get to the square on purpose so that we could get a good look of the place. I now understand the appeal of window shopping - the stores were all so different, and given the fact that I'm in the Philippines, it was pretty awesome, seeing adult sex shops, video rentals, fortune telling shops and kink stores spilling from every corner. The crowds themselves were a treat too; we even met crazy people on the way. My parents weren't too thrilled, but my bro and I found it cool.

We decided to take this city bus tour that does the entire route through the central area and lets you get off wherever you please. In spite of the fact that it was cold and slightly rainy, my bro and I stayed on the top deck of the bus the entire way to get a really good look of the place. It was totally worth it, because if the buildings weren't awesome, the pieces of art that they have scattered around were in their place. It was at that moment that I fell in love with Toronto, and I think that if I ever had to move back to Canada, it'd have to be here. There's just so much happening; it makes perfect sense now, how writers seem to love the place.

All four of us were freezing, tired but happy by the time we got off the bus. Stopped by McDonald's for a bit of food and to catch our breath, then we headed down into the Path, which is apparently the largest underground shopping mall in the world. All of the people who should've been up in the streets were down there instead, since it was bright and warm. We didn't walk around too much, though, since we had to head back to the station near my bro's place to meet up with him and his family. They drove us through Missisaga, the area that they used to stay in before moving to Sherway. Totally enjoyed the quick stopover we had by the lake in his old neighborhood: there were swans (they're bigger than my niece, holy shit), mallard ducks and Canadian geese!

Ate dinner at this lovely Vietnamese place with wonderful food and huge servings - we all just sat around and talked again, which is the best part about staying close to family. Got home late, of course, but I managed to stay around with my bro for a bit to hook up the internet on this thing and just catch up.

Little bro dutifully informed my parents and I, first thing this morning, that all three of us were snoring now. I apparently do that when I'm sick or really tired, ahaha. Now we're off to breakfast with Phil's wife and kid before heading out for the day.

The original plan was to go for the museum since the weather was supposed to take a turn for the worse, but when noon hit and there was no sign of that so-called thunderstorm, we took a chance and zipped down to the Toronto Zoo.

Most.

Kick ass.

Place.

EVER.

(Pics will follow eventually.)

My new favorite animal is the snow leopard.

Now that that is out of the way, let me babble briefly about the GPS that Phil lent to my dad. It's incredibly smart and can be programmed to calculate routes that best suit your driving style and speaks in this interesting, low female voice.

I want to name it after that computer system in Eden of the East. Yes, I am a dork.

We met up with Rob (my white brother) and his wife Regina for dinner after we finished walking the entire length of the Toronto Zoo (my legs still hurt like a bitch, by the way). We ate at this lovely Chinese place, and I am one to believe that the food really was excellent and it wasn't just me and my little bro starving after walking everywhere on a light breakfast and no lunch. We also got to meet up with this guy who has apparently become one of Philip's good friends while he's been staying here. A bonafide Chinese genius who calls himself 'yellow and geeky'. He appears to live up to this title well.

Peter wanted to stay up to watch stuff for a bit, and I took so long settling in and checking online accounts that out of desperation, he actually clamped down unto my shoulder and whined unto I turned on the next episode of Supernatural. Oh, family.

H-hahahaha, I suppose a somewhat monthly update is better than no update at alll...

Hi gayz. Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and all that jazz. My life? It has been nothing but crazy as of late, but in a good way.

SO AS OF LAST ENTRY I said I was going to SG, and I did, and it was really fun because khursten was with me and we stayed with tasogareika, which meant that we got to bug her 24/7, which we did. The conference was also super cool, because the topics were awesome, and I met people, and I also met this lady whose papers I actually refer to in my papers, which is the academic equivalent of a celebrity orgasm.

Going home meant going back to the Christmas rush, which wasn't so bad - didn't end up going to Baguio with the family, but I did give myself an early vacation. (I deserved it, okay. T_T) The break was just what I needed to get myself back on track, since we had our usual huge-ass gathering at home, and my amazing cousin got my bro and I Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (THE ENDING OF WHICH IS TYPICALLY WHAT THE FUCK). New Year's Eve, however, was slightly different, because a family friend of my father's invited our clan to spend New Year's with them in the kick-ass resort that they own.

Fireworks, free flowing booze, clubbing music and awesome accommodations. For those two days, all was right with the world.

ANYWAY SO. As those of you on Plurk already know, I won't be finishing my semester with Ateneo this year - this is because NUS offered me a research grant. ...Sort of. More like, I was given a strong referral, and now I'm waiting to see if the my proposal is good enough for them. How this happened? Just ask me; I don't want to talk about it online. This is kind of a win-win situation for me, because if I do end up really getting in, I'm spending the next two months in Singapore and getting paid even more for work that I love to do even more than teaching. If I don't actually make it, then at least I got to escape from a batch of kids that I didn't really enjoy teaching.

Of course, I'd prefer it if I got in, s-so. Here's hoping.

As it is, I have done all the preparations on my end, so I just need their word and I'm good to go. The English Department was real sweet about me going for a bit then coming back to teach for the next school year, and I managed to drop all of my classes and take a leave without too much hassle.

Oh yeah. I am writing again, more or less regularly. It is an amazing feeling.

For those of you who didn't know, I just spent the last four days in Coron, Palawan.

Took lots of pics and wrote a lot, so I'll be splitting the entries up to save everyone's browsers. orz

( May 29 to June 1. )


Part Two is over here!

Before all else: FIC PIMPS!

Fanfics for kye_kestrel, in celebration of her birthday!
+ SUPERNATURAL MEETS soul_campaign. Feel the freedom like no tomorrow.
+ HUNTER X HUNTER MEETS soul_campaign. When burning bridges won't come down.
+ KATEKYO HITMAN REBORN! In the custody of trolls.

Other fics:
+ OOKIKU FURIKABUTTE. No dust upon the furniture of love (Christmas gift for istrill!)
+ METAL GEAR SOLID 4. Burn the length and breadth of the sky (iWHORE request from gaijin_ikei!)

sob, I'm going to have to prepare to write a crapload very, VERY soon.

---

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY CRAZY WEEKEND, FLIST. ...Although the crazy didn't actually start over the weekend itself, but last Wednesday.

Little brother's organization was scheduled to sing Christmas carols at our house on Friday night. Everything was pretty much set - both my parents and my grandparents were going to stay in to watch, and my mom was even going to bring in Anika, my niece, to be cute and listen to the performance. They received word, though, that the mother of one of our family company's most loyal co-workers passed away in Baguio, and that meant that both of them had to go right over and be with her for a bit. That meant that the kids HAD no audience, especially since they planned on bringing our grandmother with them and my older brother Paolo was likely going to choose his latest computer game over watching the kids sing now that my parents weren't going to be around to keep him in place.

That is where I came in, because mom promptly left me in charge of finding them a new audience. Which I did, by posting a shoutout to Plurk (thanks to everyone who replied or tried to make a way to make it, btw!) and poking my buddies at the Faura smoket. At the end of it all, khursten, psychoshoujo and yue_dermond joined me for the evening, in exchange for free food, nice beds and good company. :3

The kids were really, really good for something totally amateur, and the best part about it was my lovely younger brother sang a full song in Filipino! I've never heard him sing in Filipino before. o_o It was also nice hanging out with the girls and kicking around, and I'm especially happy that Yue was able to come because I know how far my place is for hers~

The day after that was the start of my Epic Weekend, which involved Khursten and I zipping over to Trinoma in order to meet up with yukitsu, kye_kestrel, 77ws and the mythical synatri in order to celebrate the purchase of Yukeh's First Dress Ever, and Lynffles' birthday! Traffic was a bitch, which meant that I didn't get to stay all that long since I had somewhere else to be right after lunch, but I got to eat with them and chill for a bit! My only real regrets are that I didn't get to be with Lynffles all that long for her birthday blowout aaaaand I didn't get to watch my other half get dolled up. OTL

Bore through more terrible traffic in order to go to Pasig and come to mlina's lovely house and celebrate Christmas with her and her group! Managed to spot dreamlessness, nonartisan (WHO GAVE ME ANOTHER MINI GACHAPON CREEPER TO HANG FROM SOMEWHERE) and mochalic before they had to zip off, and chillaxed with Noey, redmoonmurder, Kang and the rest of Noey's friends before I had to leave YET AGAIN for the party I was going to host back at my place.

Faura Smoket Crew (guest starring psychoshoujo again, because I wanted to take her out for a weekend!) trickled in car by car sometime after I managed to get home (through significantly less terrible traffic), and it was absolutely lovely to have nearly everyone under my roof! THERE WAS SO MUCH FOOD slakdhgakshd household prepared stuff and everyone brought something to either eat and drink! And I introduced the lot of them to my parents (who all found them "respectful" and nice, ahaha!), took them on a tour of the whole first floor of my house (two batches with commentary, lol), and smoked a lot of interesting things from Jakarta, which Faith brought back with her from her vacation there! It was beautiful and fun and amazing, and the people who weren't able to make it were really, really missed BUT NO MATTER WE SHALL HAVE ANOTHER PARTY SOON.

khursten and I slept sometime after 4 AM - she and Mia woke up a little before I did hours later, and I was totally incoherent until we had lunch with my family. Saw them off sometime after that (BUT NOT BEFORE WATCHING THE SEASON FINALE OF GLEE), then kicked around until Mass. Dinner with family was nice as always, and I ended up accomplishing about 70% of all my backlogged student things before bed~

THIS COMING WEEKEND IS LOOKING CRAZY AS WELL, AHAHAHA. Hello, holiday season!

---

With the general paperwork out of the way and my students on track before the break, this week looks like it's going to pan out rather nicely. Kicked it off, in fact, with dinner with Anjo and khursten at Kamimori + dessert at this amazing DIY yogurt place called Fruity Froyo - I treated my little brother out to both once he managed to join us, since I figured I ought to do something nice for him for Christmas.

...Speaking of Christmas gifts. I've been weirdly inspired to give lots of people stuff - like, people beyond the usual suspects anyway. I guess it's because this is my second year of gainful employment at ADMU, and I've got money to spare. Time to give something back, y'know?

I am also going to spoil myself by buying a PS3, and I'll likely have a unit in my home sometime before the end of the year.

Yep.

It is time.

I debated upon putting this in my academic faggotry filter, but I suppose I'll just do that the next time I've got stuff for it.

Sometimes, I Do Try to be Smrt: Academic OTL @ Orzisms

This is the "launch" of the section of my blog where I'll have a running dump of some (or maybe most) of the papers I submit or publish for my classes. Longer explanations are over at the post along with download links to the PDF versions of my papers, so feel free to head on over if you're interested!

I should have done that, like, at LEAST a year ago. I-I seriously suck at maintenance when it actually counts. orz

On other news, I dropped an RP I really loved yesterday.

More coherent post on that, among other things, to follow.

Poll post~! ♥

[Poll #1306163]

Konking out early last night really, REALLY helped, but I STILL woke up before 7:00 AM. >_> I managed to go back to sleep and kinda recover that lost hour though. Pio and Mai Mai had slept over although I didn't even get to greet them since I went to bed early, so breakfast was pretty lively. It was too bad that my parents had this thing in Batangas (Barrion Foundation scholars, yo~) -- at the rate we were all going, we could've sat there, talking all the way until lunch.

Mai was asked to give this talk to the incoming Management Engineering freshmen in Ateneo, so she camped out in my room, working on her Powerpoint on Aidan!Laptop while I poked around and flailed with yukitsu before she and I both had to leave FOR PHILIPPINES KOUSHIEN!. I hitched a ride with Mai in order to do English Department things. It turns out that since the department's underloaded with regard to professors, I'm going to be teaching nine units rather than six: I might also handle a Lit 13 class.

This excites me and scares me. More classes means more stuff to check, more people to deal with and overall, more pressure. There's also the fact that I'll be studying at the same time, and-- well, let's just say that when I was writing out my schedule from tomorrow all the way to June 10 (the start of classes), I really, REALLY needed to smoke. @_@

...It was nice, though, watching Ate Josie fixing up the cubicles and seeing my name taped up in one of them. I hope I'll do well.

Anyway, the rest of the day went swimmingly~ met up with lonelybusiness, ficcentricity and, of course, yukitsu -- synatri came around later, AND I'M ACTUALLY EDITING THIS POST TO ADD THIS RIGHT NOW BECAUSE I FORGOT HER IN THE ORIGINAL POST. *is shot* Yukeh went to get the charger for her DS replaced, but beyond that we were just flailing around and bitching/chatting/spazzing/fangirling the whole day. I think I totally amused them with my whole "WHAT GAME DO I GET" dilemma, but I walked out of it with WhorePuppy!Zack an original of Crisis Core at the end. I've updated the wishlist accordingly. YUKEH, SRSLY, I LOVE YOU LONG TIME.

On that note, expect to see a Paranoia Meme here soon.

Peter was with the driver when he came to pick me up -- I later dropped him off at Eastwood and headed home (THE TRAFFIC, IT WAS MIRACULOUSLY NONEXISTENT). Emails yielded this badly punctuated review that was trying very hard to flame one of my fics but failing miserably; apparently, FF.net has a thing with sending me stupid people to slap bad reviews these days. I emailed the idiot back and told it (yes, I say "it") that I'm happy it reviewed, but really, I can't take it seriously since its grammar and punctuation fail on so many different levels. I'm expecting this loser to reply with another flame, but I don't intend to read it.

Parents aren't coming home, so I'm prolly going to take a puff or two in my room. Btw, daniela_lynx, thank you SO MUCH for linking me to that post with all those add-ons! I've gone ballistic installing them. ♥

Tomorrow will probably be spent studying (MUST. MAKE. LESSON PLANS.) and fixing that new layout I mentioned a post or two back.

Before all else: kitsune_jade, birthday drabbles are waiting for you!

And now...



A NEW PC, I CAN HAS IT!!!!111oneoneone D8



See, Alistair v1.0 -- my old desktop -- kinda-sorta broke down back in December, leaving me to crai moar shift all of my work and things over to Aidan!Laptop. I would've gotten it fixed properly, but then my Dad and I both figured that it was time to replace it. Just, neither of us had the time (or the money) to do it until now.

BUT NOW IT'S FINALLY HERE AND IT'S GOT THIS REALLY NICE VIDEO CARD AND A QUAD-CORE READY PROCESSOR AND 2.0++ GB OF RAM AND A NEW DVD WRITER THINGIE AND AN EXTRA 320 GB HARD DRIVE FOR GREAT STORAGE JUSTICE AND--

*is shot*

So, awesomeness aside, the best part was that the tech guys at PC Express (with many thanks to Mikey for the referral) discovered that Alistair v1.0 was still kinda-sorta running. Dad got it into his head to have it refurbished, so we ended up going home with two PCs at hand. WE WIN THE INTERNET TODAY Y/Y? ♥♥♥

Alistair v2.0 is sitting beside me at the moment -- I'll probably plug in all the stuff, then start setting things up and moving files around after I take a shower. That will probably occupy me until tomorrow. After that, I have to start moving stuff around and hopefully reformatting/drive partitioning Aidan!laptop. THEN I have to go back to Alistair v1.0 (who really needs a new name now) and set things up for my dad. I'm really grateful that he decided to pay for a lot of the stuff that originally wasn't in the deal. ._. I love my parents.

So! Setup tiem! THIS WORK, IT WILL NOT DAUNT ME. WHY? BECAUSE I HAVE A NEW PC!

( MEME TIEM! )

---

Spent my morning burning off some of my accumulated shit on DVD-Rs, and promptly spent the rest of the day reading The Marriage Stone, a Harry Potter fic that kye_kestrel referred to me. Keywords: Snape, Harry, forced marriage.

Hold your horses, fangirls. It's a commendable fic and it's epic, but srsly: the prose REEKS pretentiousness. And don't read the author's notes unless you're up for an unhealthy dose of Ficcer Going MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEAWESOMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME like, 98% of the time.

I'm not going to drop a review. If I did, I may be inclined to bitchslap her with something like "Reading Beowulf does not a smart person make" or something less-than-nice.

Seriously, though. It's an interesting fic.

---

Work tiem again tomorrow. Also: the animu that have come out so far look good. Kurenai, especially. AND DAMN IT WHERE ARE MY SUBS FOR MACROSS FRONTIER?! I CAN ONLY GET SO FAR ON WATCHING A RAW EPISODE, PEOPLE.