Some randomness from YouTube, haha! Click here to go see what the final product looks like! (Yes, Natalie and I named it "Gibby" lol!) To make your own version, click here.
Hey! I've been increasingly thinking of making this a private blog. I don't post much anymore, but as I mentioned previously I want to resurrect it and kind of make it a more personal diary of sorts, something I am unwilling to share to the public. Yes, dear readers, you. ): Sorry. (Like anyone's gonna read this anyway.) Sadly, Blogger doesn't have the option to make certain posts private. It's all or nothing.
But anyway.
My Bath & Body Works (B&BW) craze has finally culminated in my deciding to buy the Twisted Peppermint Body Lotion from a seller in GMarket. Yay! It's expensive, but that's the price I have to pay for this current obsession. I also found sellers for Berry Vanilla Body Lotion and Lemon Vanilla Body Lotion. I LOVE these two scents! They smell like Skittles! :D But we still have tiny bottles of those at home so I'm trying out the holiday scent. (: I'm really jelly of the semi-annual sale they're having in the US now, with some body lotions going for US$3 a pop! D: But oh well..
With regard to this trip to the Phils, think I'm having a mini reverse culture shock. First, there's the hordes of people in the malls when we go shopping. Then there's the traffic and haphazard driving. I never really noticed this before because I only started driving coming to a year now. Now I see how crazy it is and with it comes the realisation that I will never be able to drive on Metro Manila roads. D:
One big thing is the social aspect. Filipinos are social creatures; parties everywhere, relatives, barkada, sosyalan, inuman, etc. Now I've always been an introvert and disinclined to talk and socialise. But I think living away from all that for a long time, especially in a country where I don't have any relatives, further pushes me toward the brink of antisociality. (I had to search the noun form of "antisocial" lol.) Constant parties and meeting "new" faces tire me. (I say "new" because I may be related to them or have met them before but am only just now renewing the acquaintance.) Not to mention the awkwardness that can only result from being away too long. For eg.: the awkward moment before "the greet", which depends on your closeness to each other. (Such as a handshake or wave for people we barely know, or beso for relatives and closer friends.) Imagine coming up to a person not knowing what to do! Those moments are so ajldhgwoaufhg#1089ey for me. I wish I could ignore everyone, but that would be discourteous.
One thing I think is really sad for me and my siblings is that we don't have anyone in Singapore but each other. Unlike our cousins (especially our second cousins) who literally live right next to each other, we don't have cousins in our vicinity. And even if we lived here, we still wouldn't be seeing any of our first cousins, who all live in the US. Every time we meet up with our cousins, it's like a new wall is erected that we have to break by the time our session with each other expires. We have to bond and rebond all over again. Every. Single. Time. Only with frequent bonding incidences comes a shorter time needed to break down barriers. But of course that doesn't happen as often as we want either.
I'm jelly of the camaraderie between my cousins that springs from close proximity or frequent meetups. Don't get me wrong, I love Natalie and Gibby, but it would be nice to have other people in our lives too. With that said, is it so difficult to give up more time just for us? (Yes I am ranting, but I can't help it.) D: I don't mind sharing, but at least give us moreee. According to Natalie, the situation is precarious. We lost our "power" long ago. But still! ): At least we've had sleepovers. Those were fun. "You just got burned, boy!" HAHAHA. I don't mind hanging with Daniel WHILE he's hanging with his other cousins either. But he's leaving on the New Year. Sigh. None of our first cousins visit us in Singapore either. ): Daniel came once, waaaay back. But the Peñas, no. Emo. At least my sibs and I have each other.
Anyway, so far here we've done (in no particular order):
1) Christmas shopping / Shopping for self at SM, Trinoma, Ever
2) Grandparents' Anniversary party
3) Auntie Bong's Birthday party
4) Sleepovers
5) Quezon Memorial with Daniel and Lolo
6) Imus for Lola Aling's Birthday party**
7) PBA games*
8) Davao*
9) Pampanga with Lola's first cousins
10) Eastwood with Tita Nanette, etc
11) Christmas luncheons at Tito Rene's and Lola Idoy's
12) FCCF, GSUMC
13) Other stuff I am sure to have forgotten
*Only Natalie and Gibby
**Only me
Anyway, that's enough ranting for now. Maybe more tomorrow. A more personal post perhaps. With pics! Father, Buh and Fab are back from Davao! :D And tomorrow will be another long day.
So I suddenly decided to blog after an ultra long hiatus.
Late at night I had the sudden craving to visit the Bath & Body Works website. I LOOOOVE B&BW! I love the scents, stepping into a store and sniffing everything in sight, one by one. Sad thing is they don't have stores in Asia. D:
When I'm in the US, my skin gets super dry so it is imperative I use body lotion almost everyday. Last year I got the Apple Blossom Citrus Body Lotion to replace the Country Apple Hand Lotion my Tita Sophie gave me aeons ago:
I also got a mini candle (3 for US$5) in Mint Chocolate scent. I got 2 other ones in Salted Caramel and I think the other was Frosted Cupcake.
I gave the latter 2 to Ria and Claire while I kept the Mint Choco for myself. ZOMGGG it smells soooo nice! *SNIFFS* I don't think I'll ever burn it because I want to enjoy the smell forever. :P Sadly the scent has been discontinued. )': It was a good thing they still had this scent left over from 2010 when I got it last year. Hope they bring it back!
So I was checking out the site and saw they have already released their Holiday 2012 collection. If you don't already know, I love mint-- the food and the smell. Mint chocolate especially! Because of this, I really really want to get these items:
Twisted Peppermint Body Lotion
Twisted Peppermint 3-Wick Candle
They also have a candle scent called Peppermint Mocha, but the reviews aren't as good. I also want to get the other holiday scents. But of course, I'd much rather sniff everything in person before buying. So I really love the smells but they don't have a store here! ): The Body Shop doesn't hold a candle to B&BW in my opinion. And the online site doesn't ship internationally either. ): And the holiday scents will be gone once Christmas is over. ): Sad, sad, sad.
I'll guess I'll just sit here and keep sniffing my Mint Chocolate Mini Candle.
So I have more or less decided to move URLs, because of the weird traffic being directed to my blog from random sites. D: If you wanna know the address, you'll have to ask me because I won't be giving it out here. I'll prolly be shifting in a week or so.
I dreamt a few days ago. Natalie gave my a fluffy white cat with pink hearts! I know there's no such thing in real life, but I'm once again thinking forward to that time when I'll have my very own Exotic Shorthair cat. Read my long ago post about it. And I found this pic online:
Natalie says it looks like a chocolate cat and that if I get a cat it should look like this one. She actually likes this cat! :D
And there's an über cute cat in this video. SUPER CUTE! I wanna, like, hug it to death! D:
Anyway, I desperately wanna watch The Lion King at MBS! Rawr! I need to book tix soon or they may sell out! ): I haven't yet confirmed with whom I'll be watching with, but I ought to soon. Here's the ticketing link, I've had it bookmarked since ever. It shall be my graduation gift to myself in May. (:
Speaking of The Lion King, I remember my concert last year with the PJ Choir and the songsss. Wish I'd learnt all of them and not just a few. ): But school kept me from doing so. Here's a video of the PJ Alumni Choir singing Shadowland from Lion King I found:
It's soft so turn up the volume!! I can actually hear myself. o_O Man, I miss those days. (:
Anyway here's another vid but of the PJ Choir so I'm not singing. He Lives In You. It's awesome!
I'm thinking of shifting my blog to a new URL, after learning that people have been redirected to it from strange websites. Hm..
The first few days of school were.. cool I guess. (:
The content of my 2 core modules are familiar, so they're okay for now. Complex numbers basics and some linear programming.
Science of Music doesn't have much new info either. But it's quite interesting learning stuff about music I didn't know before. (:
Had my first SP1202 class today. I like how the class is small and how there is a lot of interaction. And very interesting subject content too!
I've only had one lecture for Environmental Sustainability so far, but I think it'll be unlike anything I've done before. A lot of reflections on the lectures need to be done. And the collaboration with an ANU student will be something poles apart from say, Maths stuff. :P
Then there's Chamber Singers. Mr Bennet seems like a really nice guy. :P But already I can tell that this sem will be different from last sem. For starters, there's a new conductor. And there're many more songs this time around, haha. I think I have kinda gotten used to sight-reading on the spot. :P I really find this module to be super fun~ I like the stimulation as well as the challenge of sight-reading! (:
Today Natalie flew off for Bangkok, then from there she'll be heading to Copenhagen. Actually, the latter flight of hers will be leaving in a few hours I think. [: Buh, I'll miss you!
Tutorial balloting results came out some hours ago and I got all the slots I wanted. Which virtually means: 3-day week! :D:D:D (Friday is a self-declared free day, what with a webcast for my only lecture and all.) Thursday will be a killer though, with lessons from 10am to 10pm straight and only a 1-hour break for dinner. D: But I guess that's what Fridays are for? Lol.
Anyway I think I'll be heading off to bed soon. But before that, let me share this with you:
At the Cross by Hillsong. I'm listening to a playlist on YouTube now! (:
Vacillating once again. I realise I always seem to have an internal debate. Oh, new information. This clinches it. (: Yay.
Well, there's nothing more to say, lol. Here's a nice song for you:
The Tear Heals from Rapunzel: A Tangled Tale. It's the score during the climax when Flynn dies. It was such a heart-rending moment. I cried. :P I salute you, Alan Menken. Thanks for all the magic. (:
