tea time thoughts and tales
from rants to politics, from leisure to city stress, from Kaffeklubben to Madras….. all the things, all the places, all the experience, all the people and memories are kept forever. “Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose” ~The Wonder YearsArchive for Just Raves and Rants
25 Random Things About Me…
1. I have tons of phobias: cats, heights, tall buildings, riding elevators (but I developed the skill of pretending to be not afraid of it), closed spaces, crowded places, dark and murky waters, riding a boat or big ships, back seat of the bus or a van, all forms of reptiles (especially snake) and amphibians (especially frogs) and sometimes even cold blooded animals like fish.
2. In relation to #1 – I don’t like animals at all but I pretend to. Though I dislike animals (actually, I’m hell scared of animals) I still believe I am an environmentalist. I believe not liking or being scared of animals doesn’t necessarily mean I am not an environmentalist.
3. I used to watch Batibot, That’s Entertainment, Eat Bulaga, the Inday Badiday show (was it Eye for Eye or something?) and all those classic Filipino TV programs back in the mid-80’s to early 90’s. The ironic thing is, I am a Disney-Sesame Street baby.
4. I pretend to be extremely apolitical but I’m a political junkie in mind, body and soul.
5. I’ve always wanted to be a princess but I know that’s far from reality so I gave up dreaming about it. I’m a girl (straight!) deep inside even if I sometimes appear tough and behave in a tomboy-ish manner.
6. I’ve always wanted to be a beauty queen and/or model but I don’t think I’ll ever pass their standards.
7. I am addicted to the beach! I LOVE THE BEACH!!! and I don’t care if I get negra after. I also love water sports. Right now I enjoy surfing but I hate riding large ships and boats.
8. I don’t like going up the mountains. It scares the hell out of me.
9. I am an extremely OC person and a control freak when it comes with deadlines, priorities, tasks and schedules. I have high uncertainty avoidance that I always make it a point to plan my schedules and tasks weeks ahead. I have two planners that I cannot live without: one for writing my general agenda and overview of weekly schedules and one for jotting all necessary details per agenda and schedule to make sure nothing goes wrong with my schedules and that I don’t miss anything. I spend a lot of time jotting things down in my planners and carefully think of the things I need to write.
10. In relation to # 9 – I always carry with me a pencil case containing an eraser, two mechanical pencils (one for back-up), colored pens and a case of extra lead for my two mechanical pencils, which I use to write in my two planners. I also have a set of mini transparent post-its (pink, blue, green, yellow, orange and clear white) that I can stick in my planners in case I run out of space or I need to emphasize an important task. In short, the things written down in my planner are extremely organized by color coded notes and pen colors.
11. The things I mentioned in #’s 9 and 10 equal to half of the total weight of the load of the bags I carry to work everyday. The other half is mentioned in #12.
12. I am a walking National Bookstore, Kikay Kit and Mercury Drug – other stuff you can see in my bag includes the following:
- a pair of scissors
- a roll of scotch tape
- a ruler
- a chalk case and holder
- highlighter pens (usually 3 different colors)
- correction tape (I used to carry fluid)
- a stack of business cards to give out to people I meet for work-related matters
- tea bags in case I eat out and the place where I’ll eat doesn’t serve tea
- a bottle of cologne or perfume – a bottle of moisturizing water spray (usually Evian or Avene)
- a tube of Nivea face sunblock
- Nivea day moisturizer for sensitive skin
- Facial Wash (usually Nivea or Cetaphil)
- Nivea lip balm
- Nivea lip balm with spf
- Nivea hand lotion
- The Face Shop face powder with spf
- The Face Shop mascara
- an eyelash curler
- a blush on
- travel make up brushes
- a palette of eyeshadow
- a tube of lip gloss
- a comb
- a roller brush
- clips or pins for extreme hair emergencies
- sometimes a bottle of hair spray
- a toothpaste and of course a toothbrush
- my not-so-reliable anti-stress balm
- a nail file and a nail cutter
- tissue paper (traveler’s pack)
- wet wipes
- a bottle of hand sanitizer
- a bottle of Acalka medicine for my kidneys
- a banig of Vitamin C and Multivitamins
- a bottle of Kamillosan spray in case I get a sore throat
- a small medicine organizer containing Biogesic, Bioflu, my tummy ache medicines such as Pariet (in case I get hyperacidic attacks), Motilium (in case I get indigestion out of eating too much), Buscopan (in case I get stomach cramps) and anti-histamine medicines (in case I get an allergic reaction to a food or to something in the air or environment)
13. In reference to #’s 9-12 – I always carry two heavy bags to work everyday (and I commute – take the tricycle, the jeep, the FX, the bus and train!!!). I never go to work carrying only one small bag because I always try to control things and anticipate emergencies (from breaking a nail to having something green thing stuck in between my teeth to getting a severe migraine on my way home).
14. I am a die hard fan of Nivea and The Face Shop (refer to #12) since they’re the beauty products that really matches my skin type. They should pay me for this endorsement!
15. I don’t have a bed in my room at home because my brother took mine so I sleep Japanese style!
16. Because I love drinking tea, I got the habit of drinking a cup early in the morning before breakfast and most of the time after every meal. Because of that, I can easily tell what type of tea I am drinking.
17. When I was 4 years old, I have a favorite stuffed toy which I used to call “Bilog” because it’s round. I don’t have it anymore because one of my playmates stole it from me.
18. I miss dancing a lot. I wish I could still dance ballet, jazz and hip hop.
19. I also miss painting, sketching and playing the piano.
20. I can’t find a time and sometimes, the energy to do #’s 18 and 19 anymore
21. I love encountering different cultures, trying out and eating a new dish, meeting new people, going places and traveling (my goal is to travel to 20-30 countries before I reach 40!) I also love learning a new language and I can speak French and Spanish but I need to practice and master the languages more. I am also starting to learn Japanese, Italian and some German.
22. I love writing essays, composing an article or writing about anything that interests me. In fact I own a blog account, but I get lazy at times so I don’t update it regularly anymore. I think after this I will try to write something.
23. In the morning, I allot a minimum of 15 minutes for prayer time, try to hear mass at the college chapel in Ateneo at noon and also allot around 10 minutes for prayer time before I go to bed everyday.
24. I wish I could be a political analyst-diplomat-economist-social entrepreneur-fighter jet pilot-fashion designer-ballerina-beauty queen-writer-crime scene investigator-social concerns and peace advocate-policy lobbyist and analyst-college professor-historian-anthropologist-cultural analyst all at the same time
25. I am so deeply in love with the nicest, most wonderful and greatest guy in the world and I always pray to God that he will bless us both.
The beginning of the end
Compared to last year’s summer where the Hong Kong trip with my brother, aunt, uncle and cousin was the only interesting thing that happened to me, this year’s summer was better than the previous one. Although my summer is not as delightful as it was when I was still a non-working individual (where I have the whole two months to stay up late at night for DVD marathons and wake up much later in the morning) or as it is to someone who has all the money to burn for a trip to the Caribbean, April 2008 and the first few days of May went pretty well with me.
Summer 2008 marked the beginning of the end of long summer breaks for me. I had my last 2-month long summer holiday last year after finishing graduate school. That would be goodbye to the times when I just had to spend the whole months of April and May bumming around the whole afternoon or just sitting or lying on the couch watching TV and DVD’s or reading a pocketbook or spending some time with relatives in the province or going to the beach or pool for a swim. This year’s summer also ended my happy days when I spend my time just thinking of what productive thing I could do for the rest of the week or spend more meaningful hours attending an art class or dance lessons.
This is the first summer where I don’t get to wake up later than 7 or 8 in the morning since I became part of the working population. Although I am normally a morning person (I wake up between 5:30 – 7:30 AM even during holidays and weekend), I can still stay in bed as late at 9:00 or 10:00 AM, especially during summer breaks when I was still a student. However, being an income-earner now, I seldom get the privilege to get up from bed later than my usual waking time.
This, for me, is the end of being a simple ordinary student and the beginning of being a person who just got a more challenging and bigger role in life.
Anyway, as I said, the past month and the first few days of May went well with me. I spent five years in college including graduate studies tussling with the ups and downs of academic challenges. Having gone through the struggle of staying up late to meet tomorrow’s term paper deadline or trying not to mess things up while juggling school, extra curricular and personal issues, I finally landed into a job.
My current job allows me to meet different people from different sectors and levels of society. Being part of the team for four months now, I already find it very challenging to keep track of the number of people I keep meeting as weeks go by.
When I taught History to college students in Ateneo right after graduation, I was also given the opportunity to meet young people from different backgrounds. That was one of the perks of being a teacher, which I love very much. Now that I am exposed to a bigger network, things became more interesting and enjoyable for me (not that I don’t enjoy or miss teaching because I still do and I am trying to find a way or some sort of arrangement where I could teach part-time and still work at my current job).
Now, like I said (and I’ve been saying this since the beginning of this journal), this summer became really interesting for me given the fact that my work involves meeting people from various networks. Being part of various organizations and civic groups, I thought I already have enough friends and acquaintance on my list. However, this exposure made me realize that there is still a lot more in store for me.
This whole new world where I am in (being part of the renewable energy development sector and being part of a global charity network as well as international youth organizations) made me see the bigger world out there. I began to realize that my world doesn’t stop after school. My entire world doesn’t end where I thought things are just enough for me. I began to realize that I can reach and acquire something bigger.
This may be the end of my long summer breaks but in fact, that’s what just ended. In reality this is not the beginning of the end but the beginning of something bigger and new.
My summer highlights…
I thought I might just want to log these things in my digital (online) journal for “record purposes”…
Last April 4, I attended the VSO Bahaginan National Conference. I met representatives from various NGO’s in the Philippines as well as Dr. Steven Rood of the Asia Foundation and Che-Che Lazaro, one of the well-respected prominent journalist in the country.
On April 9 – 11, I went to SM Megamall to have a look at the exhibit of entries for the World Bank’s Panibagong Paraan event.
Simultaneously with that event, there was a conference on renewable energy and energy efficiency for Asia and Pacific-based NGOs and energy developers at the Asian Development Bank headquarters, which was organized by FDC, GVEP and ADB. The theme of the conference was “Financing Village-Level Energy for Development in Asia and the Pacific”. I had to go back and forth to the two events to represent our company and the foundation where I am also part of (but ended up representing the two other organizations I am part of, which makes it four!).
Five days after the energy conference at the ADB, I had to go back with my boss and our coordinator to attend another conference (on energy again), which was later followed by a one-on-one consultation with the ADB representative in-charge of our hydro energy project.
On April 24, I attended the QBP with my bestfriend and boyfriend (which I already posted previously… you might want to check it out and read it as well) and personally met one of the consuls, John Chick and the UK Diplomatic Couple themselves, Amb. Peter Beckingham and Mrs. Jill Beckingham. I was at the party where almost all the consuls and ambassadors from different countries that are presently assigned on a mission to the Philippines were present.
However, even with my busy schedule, I was still able to go to the BEACH!!! to swim, sunbathe, snorkel, ride the banana boat and ride the jetski. Since our company did not plan of having an summer trip out of town, I joined my mom in their company’s trip to Nasugbu, Batangas last April 12-13.
My summer might not be as cool as the other’s who think that summer is all about out of town trips, beach, sun, surf and sand. It’s still better than having nothing at all.
