Category Archives: Big, Fun and Scary Things

Big, Fun and Scary Things, Dear Diary

At the 8K Mark

[Cross-posted from my Tumblr]

The 8K Mark

Believe deep down in your heart that you are destined to do great things.

If you have told me that I would be running 10 kilometer races last year, I would have laughed. I was never the sporty kid, and the only way I lost all the extra weight I had was because of gym time and exercise. I never liked sports.

Then I decided to try something new this year, and running races was one of them. I thought I’d be doing 5k until the end of the year, but after an impulsive moment, I started doing 10k and never looked back.

Of course, I have only ran 4 times this year, so I can’t say that I am a great runner. I can’t say that running loves me, but I think I am starting to love running (even if my legs and knees tell me otherwise, especially post run).

Today I broke my first personal record for my 10k race. Official results will be out in the next few days are out, and my time is: 1:15:12. That’s about two minutes less than my first real 10k! The idea that I was able to run better, faster this time (despite having only 2 hours of sleep — don’t do this, kids!) is enough to make me giddy. :)

And it helped a lot that I made sure to pray while running the race. :) Awesome God, indeed.

Now my 2 hours of sleep are catching up — I’ve been awake for almost 20 hours already. Till the next run! (Adidas King of the Road, October 24! Who wants to come with? :P)

* * *

Proper race post to follow in the next few days, after the PhotoVendo pics go up so I have actual running pictures! :) Right now I better get ready for work, and put some moisturizer on my hands because its strangely dry, and I don’t want that to end up as eczema.

Have a great week everyone. :)

Big, Fun and Scary Things

March: Thirty Days of Celebration

So here’s the deal.

I want to do something kind of big this month. Again, March is one of my favorite months, and I don’t want this month to go by without challenging myself somehow. I know, it sounds crazy because I seem to find a lot of challenges to join for myself every now and then…but what’s life if you’re not challenged, right?

Or maybe I am just crazy.

Anyway. The last time I did a 30-day blogging challenge, I failed at the end because of the flood that caught all of us by surprise. I’m sort of pretty sure a flood will no longer happen — at least, not anytime soon, so I guess it’s pretty safe to have another 30-day challenge, right?

But I realized that last year’s blogging challenge was kind of hard for me because I didn’t have any focus, not unlike Riz, who focused on blogging about 30 awesome things. I didn’t have any kind of theme — I just blogged because I felt like it. This time, I want t have some kind of theme with my blogging, and because I’m turning 24 this month, I figured…why not write about things worth celebrating?

Tada! Here’s 30 days of Celebration!

I have a feeling I’ll be complaining about this sometime soon, about how I’m running out of things to write about, but I do hope I’d contradict myself and find it easier this time. :) It may be something grand to celebrate about, like watching the upcoming Paramore concert, or turning 24, or even something as simple as getting roller blinds…I’m pretty sure there is something worth celebrating everyday, right?

The 30 days will run from March 2 to March 31, so the official start is not until tomorrow. I thought of writing this as my first post…but that might be cheating. And yes, I’m doing that to challenge myself further. :p

Oh, and there will be an additional challenge for myself this month, but I’ll mention that when I’m done, because I’m not really sure if I can actually do that challenge. Okay, I may not have made sense there, but…yeah, I’ll explain next time. :P

So, hello, March. :) You’re going to be awesome. ♥

Big, Fun and Scary Things, Dear Diary

2010 Declarations

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Ugh, I can’t find the Bible verse about this post just as when I need it. I know there’s got to be one about declarations in the Bible, but I can’t remember it. This is why I should read my Bible more often.

BUT ANYWAY. Hello, this is my fourth post for January 1, 2010, and I’m not quite tired yet. Which is just good because I still have another blog post and two articles to write. *sigh* No rest, no rest.

No, I’m not complaining.

So I’ve been pouring out “Yay, it’s 2010” posts in this blog just because I can, and this is the fourth one. I never had the time to do this a few weeks back because I was busy with work, workout and going out with friends, which just proved that I somehow have a life somewhere out there. Today I’ve holed myself inside the house, and it’s kind of nice to be back to this kind of routine, even just for today. That, and going out means the lingering firecracker smoke will trigger all my allergies and make me sick and I don’t want that for 2010.

But, I digress.

It’s time now to write down my 2010 goals, which I will call my 2010 Declarations. Why the name? A couple of days ago, some friends and I were chatting and we were talking about — haha don’t laugh — guys and dating. A friend said something about the topic and I agreed, and then she said, “Yes, let’s declare it.”

I have never read The Secret or anything that is related to the topic of focusing on your goals/dreams to make them come true, but I do believe in accountability and that the first step in making your dreams become reality is to write them down to where you could see it everyday. I also learned just recently that being specific and positive about your goals helps a lot too…so this year, I’m making my 2010 goals into specific, positive declarations in hopes of being able to achieve them this year. :)

So let’s start!

Continue reading 2010 Declarations →

Big, Fun and Scary Things, Dear Diary

2009 Goals: Looking Back

So, onto my third post for 2010. Hah. This is what I get for cramming. :P I will be spamming your RSS readers and overwhelming you with another one later, just because I feel like these two posts need to have one of their own. So…sorry for that. :D

It’s the first day of 2010, and it’s time to look back at my 2009 goals and see how I did last year. :)

BIG, FUN AND SCARY THINGS TO DO FOR 2009

  • Write a piece of fiction everyday for 2009. I lasted…for 78 entries, I think? I set up Wordplay just for this, and was going well for January, but February got me tired and cranky and stressed about this goal, until I finally gave up. I told myself I’d settle for 200 pieces, but I didn’t reach it either. I did try to write consistently for 30 days in this blog, but failed that because of Ondoy, too. I realize I should have gone down a smaller scale on this one. But I also learned that I can write stuff when I put my mind into it. :) I’ll still keep Wordplay up to put my shorter pieces in, so watch that every now and then. :)
  • Lose at least 3 inches and/or 20 pounds. I am proud to say that I did this! Okay, I don’t think I lost 3 inches, but I did lose 20 pounds — from 154lbs (haha surprise), I’m now down to 134lbs! I’m really happy about this, but I’ve got a long way to go — 10lbs to go on my overall weight, and still a bit on the total body fat, but I’ve started on it, and I’m happy. I’ve never felt so good physically and I can’t believe it took me this long to do this. :) So yay for this one. :)
  • Finish my 2008 Novel. So I didn’t get to do this, either, but I got started. I promise to get this done this year. :D
  • 100 Nanowrimo winners for our region in 2009! This is was one thing I didn’t really have any control over, but we tried. It was a difficult year for the region, but if it’s any comfort, the region doubled this year. It should be easier to get to 100 winners next year, right? :)
  • Read 50 books in 2009. Another yay! I reached 50 books by the third quarter of the year, I think? I finished a total of 70 books last year, which is probably the most I’ve read in an entire year. :) I didn’t get to read 50 classics, but I finally finished Pride and Prejudice! :)
  • Watch 25 movies in 2009. I’m proud of this one, too. :) I got to 44 movies last year, which is the most I’ve watched in an year, too. 13 of that were watched in the cinema, and I look forward to watching more this year. ;) My movie buddies and computer’s video card better be up to it. :D
  • Travel. Batangas, Hong Kong and Palawan, check! :)
  • Bake a double layer cake and/or apple pie. Unfortunately, I took time off from baking this year. Plus Ondoy threw us out of whack again, and I lost some of the ingredients to the flood. :(
  • Drive by myself. ARGH. This one. Ack. I suck at this. I don’t think I even sat in the driver’s seat this year. :(
  • Submit a written work somewhere. I think the only writing thing I submitted this year was for a small contest. Tsk tsk.
  • Enroll in some classes — either writing or anything web related or even something entirely new. I didn’t get to do this on my own…but I did attend a leadership training for work that helped lots.
  • Prepare for graduate school application. I think the only thing I did this year about this was think about it. I wanted to start school again, but finances and the new role at work took my time, as well as working out. I don’t know if I can manage to do that this year because the latter part of the year is going to be busy with our family, so…this might have to wait again. :(
  • Pray more. I tried, really. But I’m always so stubborn. :( That doesn’t stop me from trying again this year, right?
  • Go to work early and leave work early. I think I managed to do this? Being on midshift did wonders to my working hours — it never tempted me to stay in the office too late. :P
  • Take care of myself more. I did most of the shopping at the end of the year because I can fit better in the clothes I want. :D
  • Be healthier. Yay for this one. :D
  • Keep in touch/get back in touch with old friends. I think I managed to do this too. I got in touch with my high school friends, met up with my college friends and made time for a lot of them, I think?
  • Better time management. I think I was pretty consistent with my big rocks every week, and my planner was very used, up until Ondoy. Heee. I love planners and this year, I’ve got a power planner to help me out.

I think I did pretty well because I managed to cross out some of the long standing goals off my list, and push myself to reach some of the goals that I didn’t get to reach before. I don’t see any use in crying over unreached goals, because the new year meant I can try reaching (and exceeding) them again. :)

Goodbye and thank you, 2009. I didn’t like you, but in a way, you were still a bit good to me. :D

Big, Fun and Scary Things, Dear Diary, In His Steps

More Ondoy Aftermath

It’s been five days since that day that I saw our house submerged in the flood, and sometimes I still wonder if everything that happened was just a dream.

I never thought I'd see our house like this.
I never thought I'd see our house like this.

But every time I go back home and see the mess that we have to clean up, the furniture that we have to bring out of the house, the mattresses that needed to be washed out and dried…and the fact that my dad is leaving so soon, I am brought back to reality and I can feel despair creeping into my heart again.

Yesterday I said that I will stop being a victim and start being a survivor. However, the moment I got home and learned that there was no water that we could use to clean up, I started feeling down again. When my brother dropped me off at the condo, I took some time at Galleria to get some wifi and look around (yes, I tried looking for the bag. Failed). As I checked Twitter and Facebook, I read a lot of updates about Pepeng and I felt full-fledged fear. The kind of fear that I only used to feel when I was thinking about my thesis back in college, and yet not quite because this time it’s not just the grades I am worrying about but our own lives.

It was enough to make me teary-eyed…but I didn’t cry just yet. It wasn’t until I got to the condo, with my first nutritious dinner in four days that I found myself bawling after almost slipping on the growing pool of water under the refrigerator that was there because my dad defrosted the freezer.

I know it’s something no one should ever cry about, but I was tired. I felt beaten. I was despairing, I was afraid. All I could think of was, “Lord, please stop hitting me while I’m still down. Please, please, let me recover first before bringing me anything else.”

It was the first time I’ve cried like that for the longest time. It was the type of crying that had actual sobs, not the kind of crying I usually do with laughter in between. I almost just wanted to sit there and just cry because I felt like my heart couldn’t take it anymore. Lord, I’m not strong enough. Lord, I can’t do this anymore, I can’t deal with it. Lord, I’m sorry I can’t be stronger.

I thought I was okay…but I wasn’t. I don’t think I’ll be really, really okay yet. Yesterday while I was cleaning up, I started wondering what I would have been doing at that moment if the flood didn’t happen. I probably would’ve been at work. My brother would be somewhere, working on a project, probably. My parents would be buying stuff for my dad’s return to Saipan. I would’ve gone to Body Jam earlier today before heading to work. I would’ve been making plans for NaNoWriMo 2009. I would’ve been buried in CSS codes at work. I would’ve been planning something to do for the weekend…I would have. I would have. But I’m not.

I miss a lot of things back before the flood. Work. My normal everyday routine. I know things will go back to normal eventually, but I know the flood has changed me. There will always be the “before the flood” and “after the flood”. I will always remember September 26 as the day that the seemingly impossible happened to us, and changed all our lives.

* * *

There’s Pepeng news all around, and right now I just don’t want to listen to it. I’m scared, because we haven’t fully recovered yet and here comes another possible big blow. And it’s not over yet because I hear there’s another one coming soon. But there’s nothing else I can do (other than get ready) but pray. And believe that God is faithful. Because He is. And when my strength is not enough, I’m sure His is.

PEPENG, MY GOD IS BIGGER THAN YOU.

No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it. (1 Corinthians 10:13 – The Message)

Big, Fun and Scary Things

Plot Holes

Day 25So. Let’s try this again.

I’m going to have the first volunteer’s meeting for NaNoWriMo Philippines 2009 tomorrow afternoon, and I am quite excited about it. I have a couple of ideas in my head right now (which I should start writing down after I finish this entry) about what to do for the Wrimos for this year and I hope I we could pull everything off. It is the region’s fifth year after all.

But there’s another thing I should be preparing for November is my own novel. I still have absolutely no plot that I am really interested in investing my whole November in. Oh sure, I have a few ideas here and there, but I’m not sure if they’d hold for thirty days in November or I’d end up hating it the way I hated used to hate my 2007 novel.

Someone give me a plot?

Thanks, inkygirl.com
Thanks, inkygirl.com

So let’s throw some ideas in the air, shall we?

  • IDEA # 1: A sequel of my 2008 novel. I’m thinking the sequel would be something like, I Am Dating (And Everybody Knows) or I Am in a Relationship (And Everybody Knows), and it tells of Ruth and Ian’s relationship (oops, spoiler over there). It’s a tempting idea…but I haven’t even finished the novel yet so why am I planning to write a sequel? And it kind of reminds me of the Ashley Stockingdale series…and I bet there will be a third part for this if I push through with the sequel. Something like, I Am Engaged (And Everybody Knows). Haha…but why not?
  • IDEA # 2: I thought of reviving my 2006 novel, but writing from a different character’s perspective. The 2006 novel is in hiatus right now but there was this new character I was supposed to introduce and is supposed to have her own story. It’s supposed to be based on Jonah’s story in the Bible, and would be set a couple of years after my 2006 novel. It’s something to think about.
  • IDEA # 3: Young Adult again, and it’s an idea I’ve been trying to play with in Wordplay every now and then. It’s about this girl who used to be a leader in her youth group but disappeared because of some sort of scandal with her partner and her best friend. She goes away for a year, goes back to the country and attended college where another chapter of the youth group is very active. She tries to stay away from them, but she gets caught by her roommate wearing a youth group shirt and won’t stop bothering her about it. She comes back but she’s wary because of what happened a couple of years ago.I really like this idea, but I’m not so sure if it would hold. I mean, writing the group and the setting should be easy because I’m practically basing it from the things I used to do in college but I’m not so sure if I can pull of a brooding girl and pair her up with a guy who might need some slight acne treatments and who will bring her out of her shell. Huh, this storyline reminds me a bit of a Sarah Dessen story…and I am not surprised. Haha. Let’s see.
  • IDEA # 4: There’s still Ibong Adarna remix that I’ve been planning for ages but cannot think of a good storyline to follow for this. Besides, after some research, I realized that I didn’t like the ending of Ibong Adarna. Heh.

I’m stuck. I’m still browsing through the forums’ Adopt a Plot threads, and there are some interesting ideas, but I’m still not sure about it.

Maybe it’s just because I’m not in a conducive environment? Maybe work is just totally getting in the way. I need a fresh environment! I need to people watch! I need to read books outside of my genre! Maybe I need to try something from a new genre so spice things up? I need to…

…get things together. *facepalm*

Come on, inspiration! I need you!

25/30.

Big, Fun and Scary Things, Dear Diary

So close

Day 24So let’s try this mobile blogging thing again. WordPress for iTouch, plz to not eat my entry? Ktnx.

I’m on Day 24 of this blogging challenge…and honestly? I don’t think it’s doing anything for me. I don’t know if it’s because I just have too much work or the lack of a theme but I can’t think of things to write anymore. At least interesting things that is, that don’t sound like it’s all “me, me, me”. I almost wanted to skip today but I figured I should still try…so here I am.

I’ve got six more days to go at this and I’m kind of dreading it because I really have no idea what else to blog that is even remotely interesting/inspiring/whatever. Everything else I wrote sounds like I’m complaining or sounds like I’m the only one interested in it. Kind of like talking to a wall, or shouting in the air where no one cab hear anything, you know? Does anyone even read this thing besides me? And a few people I know?

I hope I get hit by inspiration tomorrow. Let’s see.

Six more days, Tina. Let’s see if the challenge would bring anything.

On another note, I just remembered an email I need to send. Now please don’t eat my entry.

24/30.

Big, Fun and Scary Things, Randomnities

iDoze

Day 23What a long, long, long, long, longggg day. And it’s almost over, and I’m still at work, and…what a long, long, long day this has been.

All I want to do now is this:

funny-pictures-cat-dozes

My brain is totally fried from all the work today, and…well, I’m just tired. Too tired to even think of a proper blog entry. See.

This kind of reminds me of when I had to do so much work for school that my brain is absolutely fried. The only difference is…I’m in school. And I get paid for this.  Heh.

*yawn*

Anyway, I’m going to…zzzz…..

23/30.

Big, Fun and Scary Things, Greetings

Big Brother

Day 22I cannot believe it.

I’ve been searching through all my photo archives and I just realized that I don’t have any recent pictures with my brother.

How did that happen?

Oh yeah, I hardly take pictures and if we take pictures, he’s always the one who takes the photos. Heh.

I meant to create a new greeting today in honor of my brother who turns 26 today. He’s out having dinner/drinking with his friends right now, and we’ll be having our time with him tomorrow (with my future sister-in-law). I don’t know if he’ll be able to read this, but still…

Because there’s no recent photo of us anywhere (huhuhuhu :( ), I’ll just repost the same greeting I created for him three years ago, with some edits. The words ring true to this day, anyway. :)

Happy birthday, Kuya!

We need to have more pictures together. :P

Thanks for everything, Kuya. Love you! ♥

22/30.

Big, Fun and Scary Things

A Little Dose of Fiction

Day 21This entry should be going to Wordplay, but it’s not flash fiction because I’ve written this one months ago. Anyway, I’m just really tired today so I can’t go and think of anything deep to write about (I still owe you guys something though). Soo…since NaNoWriMo is almost upon us (still going crazy thinking about it!), and I’ve been meaning to finish this novel soon (gimme time, gimme time!), I thought I’d share a part of my 2008 novel that I am currently finishing/revising. :)

Most of the stuff I wrote in 2008 are still unused in this re-written version…which is like a total bad thing to do when you’re not yet done with your novel, but really, the things I wrote November last year? It sucked. Haha. Then again…this excerpt I’ll share may also suck just as bad so I shouldn’t judge.

Before I cut this entry…I invite you! If you’ve been wanting to write a novel all your life and haven’t…well, this November is just the perfect time to write a novel! :) Everyone’s welcome to join the challenge, so if you have a passion for creative writing, you’re welcome! So…join the National Novel Writing Month! 30 days to write a 50,000 word novel. Crazy? Yes! Fun? DEFINITELY. :)

So here we are…one of the favorite new parts for my 2008 novel. :D Unedited, of course, so excuse the errors. :)

Continue reading A Little Dose of Fiction →