Thank you, Sung Kang! You posted this with the absolute best timing ever!  Now I don't have to go over a dictionary to improve my English vocabulary for the IELTS. 

Guys, please try out FreeRice.com

The site sponsors donate 20 grains of rice for every correct answer to English vocabulary multiple choice questions to Third World countries.  So not only do you improve your vocabulary, you also get to do charity work at the same time.  Neat, ne?

Genrou and Hiei were recently reformatted so now I'm installing like mad my usual applications and some new-ish fun stuff.  Got this firefox add-on called StumbleUpon and I'd been stuck sitting in front of Genrou since.  Here are some of the more interesting sites I well, stumbled upon:

Color & I - an online personality quiz

Fontso - a free fonts download site

Classic Cat - a directory with links to over 4800 free to download classical performances on the internet, sorted by composer and work

Since B-kun died I've been squeamish seeing/smelling and have therefore totally avoided eating any animal food that has red blood and vertebrae. The very sight of people eating anything still attached to bones is nauseating; so I haven't eaten any red meats, poultry and fish ever since. Eating eggs is up for debate though because I avoid eating it when it's obviously a dish with egg but I don't mind it when it's incorporated in bread or other pastries. Dairy's not a problem because they don't have to kill the animal just to get milk, so I'm okay with butter and cheese. Shrimps and squids are okay as long as I don't see their heads and eyes. Same as with crabs. And I'm okay with mussels and clams. Vegetables and fruits, of course, are totally fine. So yeah, I guess I am a pescetarian. It's only been 24 days so far though, but I wanna keep up with it. Let's see if I can keep this up for the entire Lenten season at least.

Mom's getting worried about me not eating anything. It's kinda hard for her to shop for what to cook on a daily basis because the rest of the other people in the two households (ours and Tito Toto's coz they eat lunch and dinner at our place) love to eat meat. We are Kapampangan after all. I insist on having no red meat and innards anywhere near the vegetable dishes she serves and everyone else complains that the dish tastes bland. But I won't go near anything seasoned with red meat or anything that's been cooked with it.

I've gone back to eating a bit of rice. Around 1/4 cup's worth for each meal. Hate the feeling afterwards though coz it's like having a brick inside my stomach. It's just heavy.

Yet despite this kind of diet I haven't lost a single fricking pound. I'm not really doing it to lose weight although I thought that this would be an advantage, but no, it hasn't happened yet. Maybe part of it is coz I stopped taking those contraceptive pills my OB-GYN gave me. My monthly menses haven't come since I stopped them (no, I'm not pregnant). And I'm kinda expecting it but it still sucks that my forehead is breaking out with small pimples every now and then (they don't last long and are usually gone overnight) since I stopped taking the pills. Guess I need to continue drinking those pills again. I'll start them Wednesday next week so I won't get confused. And I guess I have to start some sort of exercise program. Hmmm... wonder if the Fitness First here can help me with strength-training? Must ask when I go there this weekend.

Hallmark made holiday or not, hope your hearts swell with the joy of love today and the rest of the year! ^_____^

   

Waaaaaaiii! Kawaii!!!

Waahhahahaha!!! Don't you just wanna pinch their cheeks? They were sooooo cute as kids!

Got this pic of Peter and Paul from Camille's friendster photo gallery. Couldn't resist grabbing it and posting it here in my blog coz the twins were just too cute for words when they were little. I'll try to find that pic of the three of us playing under the coffee table. I know it's somewhere in this house.

*sigh* I miss those two

Ah, my first post after so long and in the new year too.

What to say? Hmmmm... ... ...  Been uber busy. Didn't have time and the inclination to blog. I do now, so here goes:

Had a weird dream last night...

Anyways... still I'm reviewing for NCLEX and CGFNS.  Still don't have ATT for the exam so no sched yet but I';; definitely take it in Makati coz I don't want the added pressure and expenses of taking the exam in another country.

Finally got my license from PRC some weeks ago.  Why is it that ID pictures never ever turn out nice? And no, I'm not posting a copy of my license anywhere on the net.

Will start volunteering at a local hospital in February.  Also thinking of trying my hand as a clinical instructor, though dunno what school I'd apply to yet.  A lot of my former nursing classmates say I'll be a terror slave-driver prof if I ever became one and I have to - unfortunately - agree so I'm having second thoughts about applying in the first place.  I kinda like to teach though (must be from my mom and dad coz both are educ grads).

Dad's gonna come home June this year, hopefully before the town fiesta.  Big reunion supposedly coming up with my relatives from his side of the family coz our relatives from Canada are also coming home for a visit on June.  Not really that excited about the reunion (though of course I LOVE that my dad's coming home) coz we don't get along well with a few of our relatives after they - repeatedly - borrowed money from both my parents and never paid them back a cent.  Gah, too long a story that.  But they're family.  Blood.  What can I do but bear it, right?  I think they'll also talk about how they'll partition the land our grandparents left them so gawds I'm really not looking forward to June. 

When I had free time during the holidays, I've been able to catch up on a few anime series, though none are really worth wasting my time writing a review about. Finished a few manga though I still have to work on my kanji.  *sigh* 

Which reminds me, this year I need to:

• save up for the trip with Ana and Seika by the end of the year
• finally buy that WACOM tablet I've been planning to get since last year so I can color those darned sketches for Illu
  
• start learning Spanish / Italian / Chinese / French and get Dad to practice Japanese with me everyday once he gets home
• purchase online and install an updated antivirus program for my desktop and laptop. 
  

Oh and is it too much to ask God to perform a miracle by making me dislike eating sweets? ^_^? 

God thank you, thank  you, thank  you, thank  you, thank  you, thank  you, thank  you, thank  you, thank  you, thank  you, thank  you, thank  you, thank  you, thank  you, thank  you, thank  you, thank  you, thank  you, thank  you, thank  you, thank  you, thank  you, THANK YOU LORD!

Sarap pala ng pakiramdam ng nakapasa sa board hahaha! Pero shemay, buti alang nakakakita sakin right now coz I'm behaving like a complete loon by laughing and crying and jumping around in joy simultaneously hahahahhahahh ^_______^

So sa lahat po ng nagdasal para sakin at sumuporta: Domo arigatou gozaimasu. Maraming Salamat.  Thank you so very much.

Next step: find a job... God help me heheh ^^;

June 28, 29 & 30 marked the 163rd year our parish has celebrated its patron saint's (St. Peter the Apostle, known to us as Apong Iru) fiesta. Fiesta season starts nine days before the 28th day of June for the 9-day novena, you'd know and feel it coz of the divisoria-like stalls that pop up along the street, then on the 28th Apong Iru is paraded from his ancestral home/shrine in Capalangan to the town parish church (a 410-year-old Spanish-built cathedral) in San Juan, Apalit.

Since I've been away studying in Manila before, then busy with my classes and hospital duty later, this is my first time after so many years in participating in the fiesta. I felt somewhat like an outsider, to tell you the truth; especially with vendors of Apong Iru's images flocking to me to buy their wares for pasalubong or remembrance or whatever the heck reason they could think of to make me buy those scapulars and etc.

In any case, the 27th was started with me waking up at around 2am coz mom, Tito Toto and I were scheduled to buy flowers from Dangwa early in the morning. We got there at around 4am, bought miscellaneous white flowers - 2 stargazers, a bundle of orchids, anturiums, wild chrysanthemums, roses, and aster - went back home at around 6am, then arranged the flowers for the remainder of the day till early in the afternoon. Mom and Anna were busy cooking; just in case may dumating na bisita mahirap naman na ala kaming ihahanda para sa kanila di ba?

The 28th found us watching the fluvial parade as the Knights of St. Peter pulled Apong Iru's barge through the river towards the cathedral where he'll be staying for the duration of the 3-day fiesta. Apong Iru's barge is accompanied by private boats and bangkas so the river's one chaotic and noisy mess of people throwing water-filled balloons at each other.

The 29th, the fiesta proper, was spent cooking some chili-garlic shirmps for Tita Pes (pandagdag sa handa); then went to mass and proceeded to the cemetery where Peter and Paul are buried. It was the twin's birthday that day. Their first birthday since they died last November. Kinda odd eating lunch at the cemetery. It's not really our custom to do, not even during All Saint's Day, but Tita wanted to celebrate the day near the twins so... *shrug* We spent the day there. It was quiet inside the cemetery, there weren't a lot of people visiting their dead though there were a few. Paul's classmates at Kester came, so did Peter's UP friends. Nicolle and Grace were also there. I don't know why but I don't really feel like socializing with those people. They promised to come each year on the twin's birthday and day of death but I really am doubtful they'd keep that up for more than a year or two. I mean, Grace - Paul's gf of two years - has already found another guy, and I don't blame her for trying to move on. I wouldn't wish any of them to continually grieve for my dead cousins, I want them to move on with their lives, and eventually, I know they will. And that however good their intentions are about visiting and supporting Tita Pes, Tito Toto and Camille, they'll eventually find less and less time to do so. Am I just being negative about them? Anyways, that's how I feel so I don't want to socialize with them, pretend they're friends or anything of the sort coz they're not.

Anyways, today's the 30th. The last day of the town fiesta. Wala sanang magtampo na hindi ako nangumbira kasi wala naman talaga akong kinumbira kahit na sino. Didn't feel like it coz nga of the twins. Mom didn't invite anyone either so... Mom and I went to the 8am mass, then waited and watched as the Knights shouldered Apong Iru to take him back to Capalangan through the same route they used on the 28th when they brought him to the cathedral. Hindi na kami sumama sa paghahatid kay Apong Iru, although the festivities would have gone on at Capalangan once the Knights got Apong Iru inside his house.

Funny thing I learned this year: pinapayungan pa pala ng mga Knights si Apong Iru! I don't see the logic of it. I mean, sure he's an important image/rebulto but it's not like iitim siya or magkaka-sunburn if nainitan siya, right?

I mentioned in the previous post that I was watching Ai Yori Aoshi, right? Well, I didn't finish it. Kinda surprised with myself that I hang on till episode 24 (with gritted teeth and eyes rolling heaven-wards at the sheer cheesy-ness of the story) before switching to something else.

The something else was another mushy story, though thank God that Yuu Watase ended it like that so it had a bit of a saving grace to it. What I'm talking about is Zettai Kareshi. No, I didn't watch it. Dunno if there's even anime available to watch; I just read the manga. Liked the bittersweet ending, that's all; although it's similar to Touya telling Yuuhi to take care of Aya when he's gone. I had to bear with seeing Tamahome's face for the entire 6 volumes, so it was somewhat a torture to read. I never really liked Tamahome in the first place, I'm a Tasuki fan, remember? And is it just me or did all the characters look alike with just a slight difference to their hairstyle? They all looked good, but geez...

Next was Hana Yori Dango manga and some of the anime (since I don't have all the available episodes). I stopped at episode 10 (I have 32 so far) of the anime coz the BGM grated on my nerves. And I hated Makino's voice. So monotone! Settled for reading the manga. I kinda wasted my time in doing so coz I basically just read the story of the jdrama. I LOVED Hanazawa Rui though! I totally enjoyed it when he was no longer Makino's love interest and was just her friend. He's hilarious! Though maybe I'm partial to him coz Oguri Shun plays him in the jdrama and I LOVE Oguri Shun hehehe ^_^

Then read (yes! I read it. The title of this post really shouldn't be anime marathon but manga marathon, ne?) W-Juliet. I *heart* male Makoto! And Ito's older twin brothers! Waaah... my one wish, if I ever get reincarnated, is that I get older brothers like those two wheheheheheheh! They're so fricking cool!

Next I watched Gundam Seed Destiny. *sigh* I kinda wished I didn't. I hated Shinn as the main character. That boy had a serious attitude problem and was so easily brainwashed. Then again it's kinda cool how good he is when he goes into seed mode (he's so fricking strong!) and even managed to win against Kira's Freedom. Of course I hated him for going after Kira but then there wouldn't be a story if he didn't so in the end it's okay ^_^; Besides which, for a main character he didn't get that much air time compared to Athrun. And his character development suffered a great blow when the writers/director/producers or whoever the hell is responsible for the darned script decided to switch to Kira as the main character during the latter phases. Also hated that the ending was so rushed.

My eyes hurt. Ever since I came back from our 10-day stay in Manila, I've been doing nothing but fret about the NLE results. To get my mind off whether I passed or not, I started watching the anime series that I've been able to download before. So far, I've finished watching:

Black Lagoon. Watching this made me wanna rewatch Cowboy Bebop ^-^' Dunno. Revy and the gang were okay and all but the series didn't really sit well with me.

Gundam Wing (plus Endless Waltz, and I've even re-read Episode Zero and Battlefield of the Pacifist manga). May I just say that I understand the story and characters a heck of a lot better now compared to when I first watched it back in high school. I actually like Relena now. Well, she's still not my favorite GW character (that spot still belongs to Duo heheh ^^), but I appreciate and understand her more now. I actually found her encounters with Heero funny, as in I was chuckling ruefully at them funny, know what I mean? I'm happy that though they're not exactly together together, they at least understand (and suit) each other so well that there's hope for them truly getting together in the future.

12 Kingdoms a.k.a. Juuni Kokki / 12 Kokki / Record of 12 Countries. I adore Rakushun!!! Heheh ^____^ He's just soooooooooo cute!!! I want a plushie of him! The mouse version, that is. His human side's not bad looking but he just doesn't evoke that girlish-squealing wanna-pinch-his-cheek rub-my-nose-on-his-whiskers and just glomp him feeling that I get whenever I see that cute gray mouse ^_^ But it bothers me a great deal that the anime didn't finish Taiki's story and just left it hanging like that. I can't find the novels anywhere and I don't plan on buying them since they're in Japanese - since I can only read a few Kanji - so unless I find an English translated copy of those novels (they're novels, not manga, mind you) I'm stuck with where the anime left off haaaaaaaaaaaay...

Gundam Seed Ahh... this one had me crying, shouting, laughing, and staring-at-the-screen-helplessly speechless at certain parts. I'm just dumbstruck at the death toll of this story. Geez... it's so fricking tragic, and hope-filled at the same time. One of the better anime titles, surely. I really needn't say anything more. Although I find it nice how different the Gundam pilots are in this show compared to the GW boys. Without their Gundams, Kira and Athrun wouldn't probably last too long if forced to go against Heero, Wufei or Trowa; but in fairness they'd probably pummel the GW boys if they were to fight with their Gundams.

I was thinking of giving myself a break from all the heavy war-driven plot lines of those three series so I'm now in the middle of watching Ai Yori Aoshi, but darn... all this lovey-dovey mushy LoveHina-ish stuff is giving me a toothache and migraine. I hope the plot gets better coz I'm only at episode 8 and I already wanna switch to another title.

Thinking about watching Gundam Seed Destiny next. Or Kiddy Grade. Or Blackjack. Or Kekkaishi. Or maybe I should rewatch Fushigi Yuugi now that I finally got my hands on a copy of the 3rd OAV? There's also Mushishi... and some of the other titles Jean told me I should watch.

Waiting for a month for the result's making a couch potato out of me gaaahh... I need to get out more often, wonder if any of the girls would wanna play badminton with me? Hmmmm...

I couldn't really care less if I never see Will and Elizabeth again; they had their (so-so) happy ending so let's leave them there. What I want is more Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow!!!

Errr... watched these last Friday with mom coz there was an NPC brownout from 7am to 7pm here in Apalit that drove us to the mall to escape the heat at home; but I kinda plumb forgot to blog about them heheh ^^0



Shrek 3
Mom slept through the first half. It was boring, she said and she was dead on correct. The jokes just weren't funny enough and were too predictable. Had a teary moment when Arthur did that monologue about living well despite what people call you and all, but as far as emotions go that was all there was to it. There were a few 'awww' moments, with Pus doing that thing with his eyes (that I keep imagining Antonio Banderas actually trying to do while dubbing), but really it was rather formula-ic and unoriginal. So Shrek had a problem about becoming a father, big deal. What newly married man wouldn't? He had a thing about becoming the next king, jeez... who wouldn't?! They should end it with this movie, quit making full-length films and just do episodic daily animations for tv or something if the producers wanna keep at making more Shrek stories. I mean, just about every one in the film had found their happily ever after (except Charming), so I hope they end it with that.


Pan's Labyrinth (El laberinto del fauno)
Horrible. Wonderful. Terrifying. Beautiful. Mom didn't want to watch this coz she thought it was another children's fairy tale story (she ended up not liking Shrek 3 though she was the one who insisted we watch it in the first place since she liked the trailer ^^0) and it was, but Pan's Labyrinth was so much more than just a fairy tale. I need not expound on it since it is an award-winning film and one of the best films in 2006. Why it was just shown now at our local theater is beyond me. Oh wait, maybe it's coz it's subtitled. I could count the number of people inside the theater with us on one hand. There were just so few. Most of them were watching Shrek 3 or Spider-man 3. *sigh* A guy at the back was snoring and a couple sitting at the other side of the snoring idiot were necking. Hay nako... how come some people don't realize how good a story actually is just coz it's not in a language they understood? The subtitles are there, but no... no one wants to read. Even my mom, at first, was dismayed when she saw that it was subbed. I was curiously delighted. I like hearing languages I'm not too familiar with. Helps me learn new vocabulary ^_^


Spider-man 3
Okay, we didn't exactly watch it on the same day but i haven't said my piece about it yet so here goes... Peter Parker was a jerk the entire movie. Hahahah!!! Okay. That said, whoever heard of NYC 'loving' Spider-man?! Oh wait, I remember ranting about this to Guidz so better not repeat myself. Kinda sad though that they killed off Harry. Wonder if there'll be a 4th installment? Hope not.

Anyways, I browsed RottenTomatoes.com's list of "Comix Worst to Best: Countdown to the Best Reviewed Comic Book Movie of All-Time" and realized I watched 45 of the 94 movies in their list. Hmmm... just 45 huh? Although that's a lot.

A few months back, my dad's friend's daughter who lives in Japan (I have no idea what her name is) did some house-cleaning and instead of dumping them decided to give me several manga hand-me-downs (tankoubons and weekly/monthly JUMP, Hana to Yume etc. magz) among which were three complete series volumes of Ai Yazawa's works. They've mostly been collecting dust at my bookshelf, but I've been reading them on and off since then (usually when I'm en route to school I read one during the jeepney ride).

Anyways, I've yet to read "Marine Blue no Kaze ni Dakarete" and "Tenshi Nanka Ja Nai". I read "Gokinjo Monogatari" first and finished it some time ago, so when I looked it up on the net and found out that it had a sequel (of sorts) I immediately checked MangaTraders if they had "Paradise Kiss" which they thankfully did. I just finished reading it. I know it has an anime (and that a lot of people have probably watched it a while back), but I'd really rather go with the manga (is it just me or does Arashi look a heck of a lot better in the manga compared to how he looked in the anime?).

I shouldn't have read the darned thing... volume 5 at least. It made me cry ;_; My eyes (and heart) hurt so much right now that I don't have the will to review! And to think I just read the darn thing to give myself a little bit of break from reviewing.

It's just sooooooooo fricking sad, dammit! I like tragedies and all, but why'd Yazawa end it like that!?! Waaaaah ;_;

A recent visit to our local cemetery rendered me incapable of eating red meats and poultry... heck I even waver when I see a fish still with visible bones. I won't post a picture here (heck I wouldn't even dream of taking a pic of what I saw coz I wanna forget it ASAP!); suffice it to say that though I have no qualms about seeing a patient cut up, with blood gushing out, vital organs and bones on display, I definitely get nauseous about seeing... erm, a human body after about a year of decay. It’s the hair that I remember most, really; maybe because it’s the first thing I saw. Didn’t realize at first exactly what I was looking at, but then when what it was hit me I kinda froze and got a good look at everything. Gah-urk! Now I REALLY wanna get cremated when I croak.

You still with me? Hey, I did warn you, ne? ^^0

Spent around 8 hours last Wednesday at the PRC just to apply for the Nursing Licensure Examination this coming June. Gawds above, the lines were horribly looooooooong so my feet ended up hurting like hell! Been too bugged out to post anything, and I don't really wanna rant any further about it so, minna, I beg you to just please pray for me when I take the board exam this June.

I was in 5th grade in elementary when IBC Channel 13 aired Candy Candy every Sunday at 6:00pm. It was probably the very first anime series I really became a fan of. I loved watching that series; so much so that I even remember taping it, memorizing the opening and ending songs (which lyrics and melodies I somehow still remember until now...), and talking to my classmates about it nonstop on Monday mornings when we meet in school. Too bad they stopped showing it about a few episodes after one of the major characters died. *sigh* I remember virtually crying my heart out when that happened... and I was so pissed off with IBC for stopping the series airing, but I really couldn't do anything.

So now, around 15 years later (I'm 26 already ok?! There you need not calculate my current age hehehe ^_^0) I finally got a hold of the complete (scanlated) manga (I know, piracy and all that, but I really tried looking for the orig manga and videos at our local shops but couldn't find any trace of it). I read the nine volumes overnight. I just couldn't stop! Not because the story was so good -- to be truthful, if I didn't feel so nostalgic about it I'd diss the plot for being so soap-opera-ish! -- but then I always wanted to know what happened to Candy afterwards.

*long heartfelt sigh*



The picture is the last page in the manga. It's a flashback of six year old Candy with her "Prince in the Hill".

*another long sigh* Sometimes I hate that I've gotten creative writing classes back at AdMU coz I always end up knowing how the plot would go around the first quarter of any story/movie/book... wish I didn't guess who the "Prince" really was when the character got introduced. The foreshadowing in this story's so darn obvious that I wish I'd finished reading/watching it when I didn't know ziltch about writing.

But anyways, I still I want to read the third novel! Wahahaha!! Because it's supposed to be a continuation of the events in both the anime and manga. Too bad they never made it into manga or anime and that it's not available in English. And that it's out of print! Ah well... Heard there's some legal issues regarding this title, but I don't really care anymore. I finally got to finish this story!!! Wai!!! I'll be happy with just that.