Tag Archives: Dear Diary

Dear Diary

Nine Twenty-Four Oh Seven

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I have this insane desire to start writing on my blank Moleskine journal because of her entry, but I still have a journal that I haven’t finished writing on yet. Hmmm. Maybe I should just write on the other one tonight before I sleep. :) The Moleskine can wait.

Now I have this urge to name my Moleskine. Ahmm.

Today was a good day. Interestingly, nothing exceptionally good happened to me (like say, winning a contest or something), but I’m in really high spirits right now, and it’s good. Yes, it’s good. :)

Today was spent mostly at the office, finishing my leftover requests during the weekend after morning prayer, and then doing some team-related stuff right after. Then I was given this request to edit a Chinese website. I had tons of fun doing that, really. It was quite difficult yes, because of the special characters, but it was really challenging because I used my character recognition skills. Hah. I got to promote that page at the end of the day so all’s good.

And then there was that yummy lunch of fish, then the afternoon Holy Kettle Corn and strawberry milkshake (no wonder I gain all the weight). My meeting at Shangrila was cancelled tonight, but since my parents were waiting for me at Megamall, I had to go there so I could have dinner with them too. I was already at McDonald’s when the rain poured down harder, so I decided to just go back to the office and wait for my parents to pick me up instead. As I neared the building, I saw a familiar face waiting outside. Turns out it was Tin, a college batchmate, who just got out of her interview. She offered me a ride to Megamall and I offered her my umbrella so we could get to her car. Our feet were very wet by the time we got there, but it was okay.

Now, Tin and I weren’t really that close during college. We had some classes together, but we weren’t in the same circle of friends. I got to know her better because of their Catch 2t6 choir thing where they practiced in the dorm, and because my thesismate is a close friend/blockmate of hers. Oh, and we’re LiveJournal friends too. :P And if you know me in real life, I’m not the most “friendly” person around, nor would I let myself hang out with people I am not really close to before (Case in point, I saw a high school friend at Duty Free yesterday, and I pretended I didn’t see her. I don’t know if she saw me though. ^^; ). But on the ride to Megamall, we ended up talking about work, school stuff and some growing up things. It was really nice being able to talk to her, and I really pray she gets the job at my company as well. If that is not God’s will, I pray she gets the job that she will love. :D But it would be rad if she gets the position she’s applying for where I work. Like I said, we’re not that close before, but seeing her and talking to her really made my day. :D

When I got to Megamall, I met up with my family, had a yummy yummy dinner at Sbarro (gotta love Italian food!), and now I’m home. I’m supposed to work on my training slides tonight but I am not in the mood to, so I’ll just work on my outline and then work on the slides tomorrow. :P Crammer much?

This is such a Dear Diary entry, don’t you think? :)

Dear Diary

Real Time and Colour

Yes, just for that title, I’m going to go for the British (or Australian, since that came from an Aussie song) spelling of color. Hello, colour. :)

It’s been raining since last night. I suppose this is real rain, as opposed to the cloud seeding thing they’ve been doing for the past days, right? Because it’s been raining all day. And you know what, I miss this weather. I used to love this kind of weather, but because of college and its commuting woes (plus the sentimentality of it all), plus the fact that I don’t get out of school easily then (we need to be flown up into the air before the school decides to call off classes), I started disliking the rain. Now, despite the difficulty of me going to and from work, and the ickiness on the feet once I stepped accidentally on a puddle…I think I am actually starting to like it. :)

Yep, rain is good. :)

Last night was our first bowling game for the company’s sportsfest. Nerves, pressure and a whole lot of cheering and fun for the entire team, and what do you know, we won! We had a pretty good score at the start (and yes, I wasn’t playing yet), and then during the second game they won, but we had a 200 point lead so we won! Can’t believe it! To think I was already so down on myself for sucking so much last Saturday…but playing last night was fun! Albeit a bit pressuring especially when you have the lowest score among the entire team…but it’s still fun! Next match is on the 20th. Wish us luck? :)

Tomorrow I have a whole day training with three other teammates, and then a trip to the old office to pay off some debts (hihi) and meet up with a Switchfoot ticket buyer. As much as I am starting to like the weather, I do wish I don’t have to travel in the rain tomorrow so my taxi fare won’t reach over a hundred. My remaining funds for the next days until the next salary is going down because of all the cabs I am taking. Hmph. But then, it’s almost payday!

Up and coming!

  • Get boxing gloves and start going to the boxing gym with Kuya.
  • Work on Godchicks layout revamp.
  • Sell (more) Switchfoot in Manila concert tickets.
  • Post more to Mission: Sydney
  • 2nd bowling match (August 20!)
  • Attend one badminton session w/ officemates (gimme time, please?)
  • Buy new shoes :P
  • Team outing (please let this push through :D)

All in all? Life’s good. :) Nothing gray, just real time and colour. Yes Brooke, I’d say exactly the same thing. :)

Dear Diary, In His Steps

Faith Like That

I’ve been so post happy last week, with PayPerPost and BlogToProfit demanding me to blog (okay, PPP didn’t demand me to blog, but I chose to blog because I wanted to get the big paying ones) more than one entry everyday. To be honest, I feel quite guilty filling this blog with ad posts; it’s like I’m violating some code that I don’t know.  Even if I do choose which ads to blog about, sometimes I decide to take up something that I don’t really know (like hair replacement, for example) just because of their price. Then again, at least I get some writing exercise — the more ads I post, the more creative I try to be. No wonder I feel kind of drained from blogging.

But I’m still blogging. Obviously the drained part doesn’t faze me.

To be completely honest, the reason I’m blogging right now is because I feel unsettled. I just received some news through email (on an autoreply email, of all things) that got me feeling kind of worried and wondering if I did the right thing at the right time. I seemed like the right thing yesterday, but after reading that email, I was like, should I have waited? However, if I waited, then the opportunity willt pass me up, and I might forever regret that I didn’t take it. ((This is supposed to be for another entry)) But from the email, the technicalities seem to be against me. I find myself saying, “Well, that’s less than ideal.” Ala HRG/Noah Bennett on Heroes.

Less than ideal for me, that is.

So what do I do now?

Continue reading Faith Like That →

Dear Diary

First Days and Big Mouths

Today, most of the schools in the Philippines started their classes and a bunch of new people started at work today. Lots of first days, isn’t it? How exciting.

I remember last year, on the first day of classes in DLSU, I took a day off at OJT to go to school and join in the first day fun. I didn’t mind losing hours because I knew I had some people I will be able to get back to, who are waiting for me in school. I was so excited to blow off work to go there and see my friends. I quote the entry I wrote in my LJ two years ago:

I want to go to school on Monday. I want to be able to feel the first day of school woes. I want to have new filler notebooks, new pens, new school stuff and then have properly marked with subjects. I want to feel the thrill of meeting new professors and wondering if I should adjust and if I do adjust, looking around the list of available sections. I want to type the course syllabi in those two column sheets and stick them into my notebooks, be the OC girl I am. I want to be able to meet my friends at the Gokongwei lobby on the first day, be surrounded by freshmen, see the congestion of froshies in SJ walk. Hear hilarious froshie stories. Eat at Agno, or figure out where are the new places to eat. Look for the people I want to see. Go out of my way and head over to the YFC Tambayan to hang out, talk, talk talk and then when the day is over, head over to my new room in the dorm and get to know my new roommates. (May 19, 2005)

Ah, reading that just made me miss school even more. Of course, DLSU started classes about one and a half weeks ago, and weirdly enough I miss it too. I just miss the first day rush. I think the difference with this year and two years ago ((I’m not counting last summer because I was a bum then, plus I was also in school a few days after school started)) is that this year, there’s not too many people I can go back to. I mean, most of my batchmates have graduated already, and most of my YFC friends who I caught up to are not there anymore as well. But that doesn’t erase the fact that I’d love to and want to be a student again — to be a self-centered student who only cares about her studies and her allowance and not about bills, work and other adult responsibilities.

It makes me wonder why people want to finish school immediately. Why leave a life of comfort (yes, studies also means comfort, believe me) for a life full of responsibilities? Younger ones, heads up!

Continue reading First Days and Big Mouths →

In His Steps

MUfHH: Are You Ready to Be Offered?

My Utmost for His Highest (abbreviated to MUfHH by yours truly) by Oswald Chambers is one of the devotionals I read every morning during my prayer time. I love it how Mr. Chambers (or as I like to call him, Pareng Oswald ;p) can be so profound and direct at the same time. Sometimes his reflections can be a bit deep and most of the times they pierce straight into the heart and soul, but they are great insights nonetheless.

Anyway, from time to time, I’d be sharing some of the reflections that can be found in this book in this blog because the messages I got there are just too valuable not to share. :) They’re the kind of things you read that you want to highlight all over because hit you straight on. In common language, swak na swak. :P And here’s today’s reflection, which definitely hits the spot.

ARE YOU READY TO BE OFFERED?

“I am already being poured out as a drink offering.” 2 Timothy 4:6 (R. V. Marg.)

“I am ready to be offered.” It is a transaction of will, not of sentiment. Tell God you are ready to be offered; then let the consequences be what they may, there is no strand of complaint now, no matter what God chooses. God puts you through the crisis in private, no one person can help an other. Externally the life may be the same; the difference is in will. Go through the crisis in will, then when it comes externally there will be no thought of the cost. If you do not transact in will with God along this line, you will end in awakening sympathy for yourself.

“Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.” The altar means fire – burning and purification and insulation for one purpose only, the destruction of every affinity that God has not started and of every attachment that is not an attachment in God. You do not destroy it, God does; you bind the sacrifice to the horns of the altar; and see that you do not give way to self-pity when the fire begins. After this way of fire, there is nothing that oppresses or depresses. When the crisis arises, you realize that things cannot touch you as they used to do. What is your way of fire?

Tell God you are ready to be offered, and God will prove Himself to be all you ever dreamed He would be.

* February 6, 2007 reflection from My Utmost for His Highest, emphasis mine.

This particular reflection reminds me of God.com by Alexander Langteoux, and Elijah’s sacrifice on Mt. Carmel (more to this on another post). This reflection obviously does not give a picture of a happy kind of faith, where one gets what he/she asks for in prayer. At first, our spiritual life would start like that, until God tells you it’s time to mature. And that’s where the struggle, the confusion and the sacrifices come in.

I think this is what most people avoid in their spiritual life, the one that comes after the initial wonder of discovering who God is. After a period of “bliss”, God brings our faith into a deeper level. This is the time when God asks one to do two things that I think are the hardest things to do: to let go and to trust. You may say that it’s easy to do that, like the way you let go of a top that doesn’t fit you anymore or the way you trust a friend by telling him a secret. But what if you have to let go of someone you loved for a long time because the relationship isn’t working out? Would you be able to let go? Or what if you had to tell your friend something about your past that you are so ashamed of, one that could potentially destroy your friendship? Would you be able to trust your friend even if he urges you to do so?

For the past few weeks, I’ve been learning that faith is hardly comfortable at all. It’s easy to tell God that you have faith in Him but to really put it into action is hard. To let go of yourself and to trust in Him fully is never comfortable. We tend to think that when we put our lives in God’s hands, our lives would become easier and it would be smooth sailing all the way. But it’s not. One of the major things we have to learn about believing in God is that it requires sacrifices. Although God loves just just the way we are, if we really want to follow Him, it would require sacrifice on our part. We cannot follow Him and our selfish desires at the same time. As we grow in our faith, we have to let go of our other baggages and learn to trust in Him. We have to let go of our former selves and trust that God is in control, that He won’t let anything harm us.

It may sound easy as I write it and you read it, but actually trying to live that out is, well, hard. I’m still struggling with this, and just as when I thought all my selfish parts have been “burned”, as Oswald Chambers said, I find out there’s more. The more you truly believe in Him, the more you — the selfish, conceited and nasty you — are destroyed to make room for the new person He is making you to be. This is the fire that comes to our lives once we decide to truly follow Him, the fire that burns not us, but the selfishness that lives within us.

I know this sounds all negative and all, but look at the last line of the reflection: Tell God you are ready to be offered, and God will prove Himself to be all you ever dreamed He would be. Think of your deepest, greatest and most wished-for dream, the one that makes you sigh and say, “Someday.” Think of your sincerest hopes, the ones where you say, “I promise to be good if only this would happen to me/if only I could get this.” Now think of that, and think of what you will do when you fulfill those dreams, those hopes. Think of the joy you felt on Christmas morning as a kid, and multiply that a thousand fold. That is just a taste of what God has in store for you, for me, for us. The pain that you and I experienced, am experiencing and will experience as the fire refines us is nothing compared to what He has in store for us after.

Letting go. Trust. Sacrifice. JOY. Are you ready to be offered?

Have a nice day, everyone. :)

Dear Diary, Say Cheese!, Techie Geek

Word overflow on a weekend

I realized lately that working in a telecommunications company wipes out the fun for me about anything related to mobile technology. For example, last Friday, I was holding SIM cards and cellphone load all day to prepare for this User Acceptance Testing I was conducting. A few months ago, I would’ve been really amazed at the amount of credits and SIM cards I was holding then…but at the end of the day last Friday, I was sick of it. Being the one who goes through the UAT of the promos we have, by the time the promo comes out in the market, I have no intention of taking advantage of anymore because I have used it a lot of times before it was released and I know every bug I’ve encountered that other people might see too.

Or like one of my officemates, who holds different kinds of cellphones everyday to test. She gets to see and hold and play with the latest Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung and Motorola handsets, and she can tell you which phone is the best to suit your lifestyle. But when we talk, she tells me she’s tired of seeing all those phones because they’re all the same and there’s always something missing with the new unit. Being around new cellphones everday wiped out the amazement and wonder she used to get whenever a new unit comes out.

Hay, this is the work life, I guess.

I’ve made up my mind to go on gimmicks every weekend as this year started, and so far, I’ve been doing just so. Last year, I preferred staying at home during the weekends so I could rest, but I end up bumming around all day. For the past month, I’ve managed to go out every weekend and not be a party pooper. :P

Continue reading Word overflow on a weekend →

Dear Diary, Techie Geek, WWW

Speaking of…

Wow, it’s already February. Where did January go?

My thumb hurts. I’ve been texting the entire time since the time I commuted from the office just to finish off the free SMS of the test SIM cards I brought home. I am only at my first SIM which still has 30+ free SMS and I have about three more to go.

What shall I do for that? Anybody want a textmate until tomorrow lunchtime? I just need to send messages to someone until it runs out…but I’d use those to get a good conversation. :) My textmates right now are silent…I wonder why? Did they get tired of my texting? I hope not. Or is the signal just weak?

Speaking of SMS, I just heard of Globe’s new scheme for their Unlimited SMS service, and all I know is that people are going to complain (in fact, I got a message earlier about boycotting this new scheme), especially for those who bought a Globe SIM just because of their Unlimitxt service (namely, me). Comparing the highest and longest rate for all day unlimited texting, the old Php50/5days is now Php80/4days. From Php10/day to Php20/day! That’s not right. Okay, so they also have the unlimited day and unlimited night texting…say I turned the Day Unlimited, that’s Php30 for 2 days, and then Night Unlimited, that’s Php20 for 2 days…that’s Php50 for only 2 days! HELLO?!

Sorry, I just want to rant.

Speaking of phased out…the floppies have flopped. I remember playing with some speed-reading programs and decathlon games on our PC from time kopong-kopong days (translation: PCs with green and black screens running on MS-DOS :P), but that’s with mini-floppy disks, the one you can fan yourselves with and get a considerable amount of air. What I do remember about the microfloppy disks (3.5″) is that my brother and I used to play Jeopardy and Prince of Persia in my dad’s borrowed laptop. That’s with the black and white screen, still running on MS-DOS. :p I remember owning a lot of 3.5 floppies for backup of files, school work and even up to college, passing it for machine projects! I don’t know how to feel about it saying goodbye, since I hardly use diskettes anymore (too many corrupted diskettes and files lost because of mishandling…how sad). But it sure has a lot of “fond” memories associated with it somehow.

And speaking of memories…here’s something that would put the Blog Parteeh ’07 into the memories of more people: Bo Sanchez‘ Preacher in Blue Jeans episode of the Blog Parteeh ’07, featuring interviews of Jun, Noemi, Aileen and Sorsi, plus Marcelle‘s magic show for Bo. :) Sorsi told me after she was interviewed to get myself interviewed too, but I’m not much in front of the camera. I’m more of the behind-the-scenes person…but still, I was mentioned there! :D Now go watch it; I can’t embed it here without losing the text after the video.

Speaking of can’t…my test SIM that I’m supposed to be emptying of balance is not receiving any text messages. I can send, but I cannot receive anything at all. No wonder my textmates are now silent. Argh. Now how can I get rid of all those free text tomorrow?! All day texting until 5pm?! My poor thumb! :(

Maybe this means I shouldn’t bring “work” home.

Speaking of home…I better hit the sack. I want to get to work early tomorrow so I can get out at 6:30 for a blogger’s dinner at Makati. :D Good night everyone!

Dear Diary, Randomnities, Say Cheese!

Thursday Thirteen # 3: The Life Update

Let’s go simple this time. It’s time I update everyone about what’s happening in my life (like that’s so interesting, but then again this is my blog so I can post that :p). And this week has been quite interesting, so let’s get on with it. :)

Thursday Thirteen # 3: Things that happened to me this week

Thirteen Things that Happened to Me Since Thursday

  1. Friday, I went to school to visit and to support my friend Tuesday on her final thesis defense. Her defense was at 11:30, and I got there around 9:00am, so I hung out at the YFC Tambayan first and talked with the people there. Gosh, I missed the people there so much! :)
  2. Happy arrived a little while later and we went on our way to Gokongwei building to support Tuesday. We talked, then she slept at the lobby while I read as Tuesday’s defense went on.
  3. My iPod broke down. :( Actually, it’s my brother’s iPod because we switched so I was enjoying the benefits of having a 40GB iPod. The hardware corrupted and the sad iPod started showing up. Cute, but that it meant no music. :(
  4. While waiting, I got a call from one of the companies I got interviewed at weeks before, telling me that my job offer is ready. I scheduled a meeting for Tuesday next week.
  5. Tuesday went out a bit before 2:30pm, and their temporary verdict for their defense was re-demo. That meant that their group is one step closer to passing, but they had to do something more. Sooo….that meant Tuesday wouldn’t be able to go with the rest of us for the Elim Singles table talk. :( But oh well, it’s the last one she’s ever going to do something for thesis, so it’s okay.
  6. I met up with Bea, and she updated me with her life over some hot chocolate. Then we went to Gox to meet with Tue again. She got ticked off over some thesis thing and she had to do some things before we left for Elim Singles. Then I met up with Bung when Bea disappeared and she told me about what’s up with her life and YFC-DLSU. Then Bea came back and we met Happy at the LRT station to go to Katipunan. :)
  7. Elim Singles Table Talk! The Veggie Girls minus Tuesday spent most of the time laughing at some things only the three of us could laugh about that night. Haha. We even had a pseudo drinking session — with water. It looked real enough! :p
    August 18, 2006
  8. Saturday and Sunday was very…blah. We were supposed to go out but I ended up sleeping half the time. Finished reading The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde.
  9. Monday, I finally got to crack Gamehouse’s Mystic Inn and Delicious Deluxe. Spent most of the day reading and not worrying about my schedule the next day. ^^;
  10. Haw Flakes - click to see bigger imageTuesday, I went to the office of the company who called me last Friday to get the job offer. Read it and talked to my mom and brother about it. I bought The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. Then we went grocery shopping. Grocery is always fun when I’m with my brother because we ended up getting a lot of snacks that we normally don’t buy because we don’t have money. :D We got to buy Haw Haw Milk Candies and Haw Flakes (some of my childhood candies :D).
  11. Tuesday finally passed her thesis. She’s going to graduate this October! :D All our prayers were answered :)
  12. Wednesday, I spent most of the day calling the HR of Sun Cellular to clarify some things. I went to the mall with my mom and spent some time in prayer at the Adoration Chapel at the EDSA Shrine. I finally made up my mind and made one of the biggest decisions in my life. The discernment I did was a big thing too, and I’ll reserve it for another post. :)
  13. And last, but not the least! Today, I accepted the job offer. :) I HAVE A JOB! Praise God!

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