Of course I used to have one, and it was made in good old Microsoft Word…or was it Excel? Haha, anyway, I lost all of them, and I never got to make anything else because I never saw the need for it when I stepped into college. Oh, and I never got my own calling cards back in my first job because I resigned before I could have one made, and the only time I have my own calling card now at work, which I rarely use and has the wrong landline number. -_-;;

I meant to make blog calling cards for the next blogger event so people could remember my URL, which I never made because I got too busy with work and I totally lacked the design skills to make a kick-ass logo design. ^^; I could make a totally plain one with just my name and my URL but that’s just…a waste of paper. There are professional people and places to get nice business cards done, like LogoYes. LogoYes specializes in logo design, which can be used in your business cards to give them a professional feel. LogoYes provides a quick and easy to use step-by-step program tha helps you create your own logo AND business card. There’s a wide variety of logos for you to choose from with different themes to fit your business need. Also, there’s different layouts of calling cards to help you pick how you want your card to look like. There’s not too much fancy stuff, but the quality of design is pretty good. Look at this design I made for Godchicks:

Looks nice, doesn’t it? Not to flashy, but good enough. These card designs aren’t free though (Logo designs for $69 while Logo and Cards for $99), and it’s not that cheap for simple blog cards like that but I think, from the ease and flexibility for how things are done, it’s worth the bucks. :)

Anyway, so this feels like homework, which I’ve been very distracted from since this morning. It’s amusing how when we need something done, we find all sorts of distractions not to get it done. I suddenly found myself reading this book, napping, reading another book, watching a movie, watching another movie, watching a game on TV, downloading something, eating — doing anything but. Hah. But now I’m working on it…first I have to blog. :P

Oh and speaking of game…Animo La Salle! It’s the first game I watched this season, and it’s a crucial game at that! :) I don’t want to be at Araneta, but it must’ve been fun after winning. I slept a bit during the game (sugar rush because of Keebler’s cookies hee hee), but I saw the last few moments! Wohoo! :) I miss this — school spirit and whatnot. Although I have to admit, UAAP games bring out the worst in me. :P Ahehe. I’ll see if I can post about my frosh UAAP memories next time. ;)

Anyway. Right now I just stuck the second article in the newsletter layout, and I’m afraid to show this to my officemates tomorrow because it’s gonna suck. But it’s a good backup, in case we couldn’t get anything done tomorrow morning. I still have this training I have to prepare for, and I haven’t reviewed about databases in PHP — my topic tomorrow. Whee. It feels like I’ve been doing continuous reports for a class with that training.

But as much as I miss being a student — with all the allowances, the free time, the vacation, the stress of school work, seeing friends everyday, college weeks, booths with all those free stuff such as promotional pens, pulling all nighters for projects, dorm moments — I’m happy where I am. :) Then again, I sort of kind of feel like a student whenever I go to work, only with a different kind of deliverable, and my teammates feel like one big barkada…so it’s almost the same. Almost. But I’m not complaining. :D

It’s the last day of September! Whew, that was fast. :) Tomorrow’s a brand new month, and here’s a small list of resolutions that I will try my best to do until the end of the year, which I should have been doing since January but not. :P

1. Eat healthier. As in at least one serving of salad a week (I love Pho Hoa chicken salad!), and less sweets for snacks (which means no more fries and milkshake or DQ…huhu)
2. Exercise. Go boxing either at the gym or at home with the punching bag. My gloves are not ornaments, they are to be used!
3. Go to a yoga class sponsored by my company at least once.
4. Have dinner/go out with my high school friends, Godchicks and my old office friends.
5. Make a new layout for Godchicks before the year ends.
6. Post more to Mission: Sydney and get really serious with my going to Sydney next year. Yes I will go to Sydney in July 2007. Itaga sa bato.
7. Open a bank account for my savings by December.
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That should be enough. Back to the newsletter!

Blue Like Jazz

Searching for God Knows What

I’m 3/4 through Blue Like Jazz and I’m loving every page. This particular chapter, Romance, is especially cool. I never thought I’d read something about romantic love in a book like this since it’s not really about it, but I like how Donald Miller explains how he learns about that kind of love. At the end of the chapter, he shared a part of this play Polaroids, which is about a man’s life from birth to death. This monologue is written after the man’s fight with his wife. He planned to have these characters divorce, but he changed his mind. Instead, his character kneels beside his sleeping wife’s figure and delivers the most beautiful monologue about love I have ever read. And here I will share my favorite part (emphasis mine):

I will give you this, my love, and I will not bargain or barter any longer. I will love you, as sure as He has loved me. I will discover what I can discover and though you remain a mystery, save God’s own knowledge, what I disclose of you I will keep in the warmest chamber of my heart, the very chamber where God has stowed Himself in me. And I will do this to my death and to death it may bring me.

I will love you like God, because of God, mighted by the power of God. I will stop expecting your love demanding your love, trading for your love, gaming for your love. I will simply love. I am giving myself to you, and tomorrow I will do it again. I suppose the clock itself will wear thin its time before I am ended at this altar of dying and dying again.

God risked Himself on me. I will risk myself on you. And together, we will learn to love, and perhaps then, and only then, understand this gravity that drew Him, unto us.

It’s such a beautiful expression of how a romantic relationship is made to glorify God even more. :) Hay. I shall print this and put this up in my journal for sure.

Book review will come when I finish it. This will definitely be in my favorites list. :) But for now I will continue reading and take a nap in my room (not in the living room sofa, for a change, woot! My bed may not be one of those modern platform beds, but it’s mighty comfortable :p) to recover from the little sleep I got last night. Have a nice rainy day y’all. :)

Didache, September 28, 2007
A Thousand Lives

“The Son of Man must suffer many things.” -Luke 9:22

The patron saint of my elementary and high school is the first Filipino saint, Lorenzo Ruiz. For 10 years, I had to hear his life story — where he was born, how he got to Japan and how he was killed — over and over. To be totally honest, I was really kind of sick of it. Plus, the film about him that we used to watch in GMRC/Values Education class was kind of morbid.

When I entered college, I stopped hearing Lorenzo’s life story because I changed schools. But I started to really get to know someone else more, the person who I am pretty sure St. Lorenzo followed after. Luke said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things.” And I think St. Lorenzo knew that Jesus himself suffered many things because He loves us. In return, the saint was willing to give a thousand lives for Jesus because he knew to what extent his Savior suffered for him. Tina M.

I’ll write something about how you learn more from yourself when you read something you wrote before next time. But yes, today is the St. Lorenzo Ruiz’s feast day. For those who don’t know, he’s the first Filipino saint. Pinoy pride, mehn. ;) Haha, if you want to read his life story, it’s pretty much around the net.

I can’t believe I’m shooing you guys to go around for his story. I’d post it, but I have no time to look around for it now because I am swamped with work. Not that I’m complaining and all, but it’s starting to get really crazy. I have a presentation to finish for this afternoon and a newsletter to finish for tonight plus the daily requests…so yay. I might need some muscle milk for this. Hahaha.

Have a great Friday everyone. :)

But true, it is the middle of September and NaNoWriMo is just around the corner! My dad bought me a copy of No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty, and it’s been an interesting read so far, but I have to admit: I have no idea what I will be writing this year! O_o Well I have some scattered ideas here and there, but that’s it. For example:

1. There’s that science fiction/fantasy novel I’ve been planning to write for so long, based on this series I tried to write before called The Chosen Ones. But I’m not really good in fantasy/sci fi stuff and I can’t make them original. Then again, the story is based on a handful of other stories, so what do you expect?
2. The spy novel I wanted to write because of all the Totally Spies episode I keep on watching when I was still unemployed. I initially envisioned a group of college girls who are actually spies and help out the PNP (of course it’s got to be local) in fighting crime but never show their faces to the police/people (hello, Sailormoon?!) and the police always end up messing up the crimes so they never really catch anyone. But it’s so girl-power-y and Sailormoon-y that I cringe at the thought.
3. There’s part 2 of the Fall Like Rain thing, where I plan to focus on one of her friends, Faith (and will be entitled Keep the Faith). In this installment, Faith will be having marriage woes, Rain would be going back home and I plan to take the girls to caribbean cruises to spice things up. Oooh, so chicklit!
4. Finally, there’s the Ibong Adarna remix I was planning. This was inspired by one of the NaNo novels I read last year, where the writer made a mix of Greek and Roman mythology in the characters. Anyway, this is a modern novel based on Ibong Adarna, where there would be no magic only lots of stars, glitz and glamour in finding Ada, the hottest young singer in the metro and the long lost foster daughter of Don Ferdinand. Figure it out. ;)
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So far that’s all the ideas I have. I’m personally leaning towards the last two, mostly because they’re familiar already, plus I have been sort of planning to write # 4 for Script Frenzy, only I opted out of the event. And November is going to be busy, with the out of the country trip at the first few days plus the big event near the end of the month (you’ll hear about it here soon!), so I should go for the easier one to write.

But then…comfort zone again! Maybe I should take up some challenges to make my writing interesting, don’t you think?

Or, I could always write about Faith, Rain and her friends joining the search for Ada, Don Ferdinand’s long lost daughter and hottest young singer who turns out to be a spy helping the police to get rid of crime and eventually fighting off magical creatures with people who call themselves The Chosen Ones. ;)

This is a follow up post of what I mentioned before, and how I’m holding up with the status of the things I need to buy. Here we go (photos to follow):

1. I got myself two new work shoes. One black pointed flats from Auztralian and one white heeled one from Mario D’boro. I love the white one, and I plan to get the exact same style, only it’s in hot pink. :P Yes, I love pink. ;) I spent about Php1000 on it. :D
2. My mom got me a new bag which is exactly what I need for work. Yay, no expenses here since it’s a pasalubong. Hahaha! But I love it! Just what I need for work. :D
3. I finally got myself new sneakers…after almost a year of not buying one. This is the first pair of sneaks I will be paying with my own money (I love you, credit card!). It’s the much wanted Chucks – pink and white with pink hearts embroidered on the heel. :P
4. Next week is jeans week at work, and I realized that the last pair of jeans I bought was back when I just graduated. How about that. Anyway, I realized that I am running out of jeans again, so today, I got two. :D Bench loves me, I got 2 pairs for Php 1000. Penshoppe jeans are too small now. :( Wait, I have more jeans at home, but they’re thin jeans, which means if I want to wear them again, I’m gonna have to lose these flabs first. *pouts*
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Well that’s not bad. :) I’ve yet to buy a crystal case for Captain Tal, a dSLR and a new laptop. The latter ones are big and expensive, I know, but that’s why I save up for things, like the way some people save in buying real estate. That would have to wait until the end of the year, me thinks. ;)

If this post didn’t make sense half the time, I am sorry. I’ve been multitasking for the past three hours. :P Have a great week ahead!

Anyway, here’s a question:

So, tell us, when do you need soothing? And, what soothes you?

When do I need soothing. Hmm. I’d say everyday, but not really. I’m really not a stressed person, or a stressful person. I do get stressed, but I just end up laughing it off. Or eating it off (now I know where all those flabs came from!).

I guess I need soothing on days when I’m really, really stressed, when I’m feeling all desperate and hopeless. It depends on what the situation is; when I’m really, really frustrated, I obviously need soothing. What kind? It depends as well. A good talk with friends over dinner or coffee usually does the trick. Or getting myself a new book. Or new shoes. Basically shopping. Listening to my favorite songs also helps. I’d travel as far as the Outer Banks, but that is if I have enough money for that (which I don’t).

But then, I’m a pretty easy person to please, so there’s really nothing too difficult to do to be able to de-stress/soothe me. :)

Friday Five, Thursday Thirteen and now Sunday Seven. :) The things people come up with to make interesting blog entries. :) This week’s Sunday Seven is all about mugs.

Name the designs, characters or messages depicted on your seven favorite coffee mugs.

Okay, this is hard. I’m a coffee drinker, but I basically use the same mugs over and over again, which we also basically share at home. Plus all these mugs aren’t fancy, none of them had fantastic designs or school related, like mugs printed with Penn State football designs or something similar. I don’t have to list only the ones I’m using, right? I could list the ones that are still sitting pretty on our mug display, right?

Oh stop blabbing and start listing. :P

1. My mug at work is this blue, orange, pink and white polka-dotted mug which an old colleague gave me as a Christmas present.
2. This blue, green and white mug I got back during INTROSO class in college as a prize for reciting. It has little boats on it.
3. This Mickey Mouse mug my brother got from his ex-girlfriend that I use when someone else uses my mug at home.
4. The one written with “Mondays are uncalled for.” It’s the hugest mug we have at home.
5. The golfer mug my dad got for Christmas one year. It has Bugs Bunny on it, with a little spinning golf ball on the handle.
6. This pretty tall brown mug with little spirals on it. I forgot where we got it.
7. And finally, this GMA mug I got as a freebie at the Blog Parteeh ’07. I’m no Kapuso, but I like having a mug from a TV station. ;)
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That’s creative. I wish I could show photos of it, but Ginger is still Photoshop-free and the only graphic editing I could do at home can only be done on my brother’s PC, which he is using to play DoTA right now. Er.

CSI: Miami and then bed time! Have a great week ahead, friends. :)

But let me just say, I am so sick of eating the same kind of food every day. Argh. Fastfood ain’t fun to eat everyday, not to mention unhealthy. I miss being able to eat different kinds of lutong bahay ((Read: home-cooked food)) that my mom cooks. I miss having to smell different kinds of smell everytime I go home, and being surprised by the food that she cooks. Hay, I really need to learn how to cook proper meals soon, and actually cook them.

So now that we’re talking about food, here are some of the food I’m craving for right now. Eat your heart out!

1. Crispy fried tilapia – as in very, very crispy, like when I bite I can hear its crispiness. Yum yum. That, with lots of tomatoes, rice and some patis (fish sauce).
2. Crispy fried galunggong – Yum yum yum.
3. Daing na bangus. Same as above. :)
4. Isaw. So unhealthy, but so good especially with lots and lots of spicy vinegar. Enough said.
5. Fried liempo – just the way my mom used to cook it.
6. Chicken with mushroom sauce – my brother and I tried to cook this once, but the chicken wasn’t all good anymore, so it tasted a bit too yucky already. Boo.
7. Scrambled eggs and tuna – in short, torta. I’m gonna cook this one tomorrow, actually. :P The spicier the tuna, the better. :)
8. My mom’s macaroni and squash soup – my favorite sick day meal. It’s got no meat, just tofu, squash, macaroni and lots of oregano. :)
9. Pancit Malabon – I want it full of flavor. :) With lots of hard boiled eggs. Haha. There’s a Pancit Malabon booth at Eastwood, must check that out.
10. Tapsilog – I want the classic one, not the ones I can buy at Eastwood. Something ala Vivian’s Tapsilog in Marikina. =9 Big chunks of tapa, garlicky rice and sunny-side up eggs.
11. Sinigang na bangus – milkfish stewed with different kinds of vegetables with a sour tamarind flavor.
12. Sinigang na hipon – same as above, only shrimp. :) Better be careful with the allergies, though. :D
13. A nice, fresh and healthy salad. We usually have our own salad bars at home and my mom usually puts different kinds of stuff in it: grapes, ripe mangoes, nuts, pomelo. Mix that together with the other usual salad stuff (lettuce, tomato, carrots, hard boiled eggs, etc) drizzled with natural Ceasar Salad dressing. Yummeh.
14. Kwek-kwek. Translation: quail eggs covered with orange colored flour. It’s not exactly the healthiest kind of food, but it’s good to eat every once in a while. :) Mike! Kwek-kwek break?
15. This has to be the weirdest, but I’m so craving for Chocnut.
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Argh, now I am even hungrier. Time to raid the kitchen and get cooking. Hmm. I guess I’ll just go cook the hotdogs right now for dinner. Tomorrow I shall cook again for lunch, and again it’s something fried. But I swear to myself that I’m going to find some veggies from whatever garden of life there is in Eastwood just so I can eat a bit healthier. *determined nod*

So for the entire 21 years of my life, I have “played” the following sports (the ones in boldface I actually enjoyed):

1. Volleyball
2. Basketball
3. Gymastics
4. Track & Field
5. Soccer
6. American Football (seriously, we had this one back in high school)
7. Table Tennis
8. Fencing
   
9. Dancesport (well, it is a sport)
10. Ice Skating
11. Roller blading
12. Softball
13. Dodge Ball
14. Badminton
15. Bowling
16. Boxing
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Out of sixteen, that’s only seven. How…un sporty. Haha. Don’t get me wrong, I love being able to sweat it out and do some physical activity (endorphins ahoy!), but I’m just a bit too uncoordinated and a bit of afraid to get any sports related injuries (like simply falling on my face, which was what happened during my rollerblading days).

But right now, I’m actually surprised at myself for engaging in sports all of a sudden. Like bowling, which I started doing back at the office, just for kicks. And now boxing, much thanks to my brother’s persuasion. No, I’m not competing, but I’m just going boxing in lieu of going to the gym in an attempt to get fit and lose weight. Of course, I spent a somewhat ridiculous amount of money (which could also probably buy me a Ping Golf equipment, if only I play golf too) for my boxing gloves and my gel-supported handwraps, but after my first boxing session, I’m not regretting it. :) Yes, even the body pain is worth it.

I’m up for boxing again on Tuesday night with my brother. I’m gonna check the prices of the boxing gym near the office so when I go on night shift, I can go there and go boxing on my own. Wanna come and join me? :)