the secret to a happy life is learning the robot dance!

quadruple meetings tomorrow - starting at 9:00AM until 4:30PM,somewhere in visayas avenue. i hope i don't get lost going there! i'll bring lots of sweets to keep my energy up. i'll try and rest! now...oh and a picture i took randomly...a lost member of rikkai, i think XD

the work-related trip to leyte's over and it's back to reality and i didn't even realize how much i missed my bed XD that place was wonderful and the townsfolk in tacloban were noble in manner and yet very simple. the place has this old world vibe going on and the people have this mild disregard for non-locals. i enjoyed myself, a lot. i like it there very much. i have some pictures here, no captions because my head's still on work and nothing amusing or creative comes to mind.

the macarthur landing. tacloban loves this park so much!

ah! this week's turning out to be surreal. i don't mind. i like surreal. i like twilight zone-ish things! the doc took a last look at my eye and said i can take out the bandages. before i went to the doc i put my comp in the shop since the screen kept getting fuzzy wuzzy and it made some weird whizzy sounds. i got a text not long after i could use both eyes and it said that it's gonna be REAL expensive to have my comp fix. i'd rather buy a new one, really. but getting a new laptop isn't high on my priority list so that can wait until january 2010 (earlier if my mom decides to take pity on me and get me a new one, but i'm not counting on that). either way, i can still check stuff when i am at work.

i believe zaraki, my ever wonderful and loyal computer sacrificed its life for my eye XDXD

with that said and done...i am on FORCED

apart from some saturday work stuffs - i stayed at home for the weekend and tried resting. like coma-resting, trying not to think about anything that will stress me out and eventually force my eye to pop out of its socket. was pretty successful in that department. i also unearthed old mp3 files from a dusty, dying HD (from the old computer named kaoru) which is why i was able to mix up some songs for my favorite characters in bleach. anyway the pacquiao/cotto fight happened and it was amazing. i am not a boxing fan and 'm living on a tight budget to i had to watch the whole thing on delayed telecast. didn't matter, it was still amazing and my heart goes out to cotto for having a lion's will. i am sure he'll go far. he is young and hopefully has got good years ahead of him. having stood up against pacquiao and walked away from that, still standing, that's a good fight under his belt. awesome, classy fighter! as for pacquiao, he's one formidable athlete and he's just amazing. gets me every time. i'm pretty sure that HOODLUM idolizes you XD

the eye is getting much better, i can open it now and i'm taking one less antibiotic for it. so nore wozzy nauseating feeling for me. it makes me soo happy. i have my room cleaned twice a day to prevent any more infection. i did however try to clean my home office and ended up getting sacked by my mom to stop aggravating the situation and that dust was and never will be my friend. ever. i took a sloppy mobile picture of how good i am at putting gauze on my eye. taken on a friday because i had nothing much to do during lunch. my sickface. ftw. ( .......... )

Bleach Fanmix: Follow The Leader // Kenpachi Zaraki



1] Needle In The Camel's Eye by Brian Eno
2] Fell From The Sun by Pale Saints
3] Dead Can Dance by Bauhaus
4] Burn by The Cure
5] Lush by Orbital (Underworld Remix)
6] Follow The Leadr by The Killing Joke
7] Black Hearted Love by PJ Harvey
8] Hole In The Earth by The Deftones
9] What Does Your Soul Look Like by DJ Shadow

Download: Click on this link
*Personal project. Because Kenpachi's my favorite Captain. Forever.

obviously, i've got nothing better to do that mix mix some songs today. i did watch the pacquiao/cotto match but i will reserve the squee and stuff for later *_* i just have to get these out of the way: 3 mini mixes. both inspired by bleach characters. i couldn't think of brilliant titles!ORZ fail! enjoy them like mini-donuts XD feel free to take songs and use for your own poison.

comment if you want. not crossposted anywhere...oh wait...maybe plurk XD

Bleach Mini-Fanmix: Hisagi Shuuhei



When your sparkle evades your soul
I'll be at your side to console
When your standing on the window ledge
I'll talk you back from the edge

1] Geraldine by Glasvegas
2] Shine by Mr. Big (Radio Edit)
3] The Dream We Left Behind by Sons of Anarchy+Primal Scream
4] Revelry by Kings Of Leon
5] Hold on Hope by Guided By Voices

Download: Click on this link
*the little mix is for simply_kim who loves senpai shuuhei very much ♥

stayed home today because my head was throbbing earlier. i kind of knew it would happen, mostly because i was working with just one eye the whole day yesterday. i had to sit through meetings void of water or food because makati med is on a big budget overhaul. so when we finally got out we felt dehydrated and stuff. anyway, on to another dinner meeting and it's difficult to write under restaurant light, also i was pretty tired by then. i had to stand in line for an FX unit for 45 minutes after that. zoned out on the way home and BOY WAS I HAPPY WHEN I SAW MY BED! i would like to thank our driver who had the thought and presence of mind to pick me up from the FX terminal. i was so tired i forgot to text but he was there anyway. YAY!

so, i am on antibiotics and i've grown immune to the weird smell of betadine. i am now also an expert in bandaging my eye on my own - it's not rocket science, just weird contortions and stuff. i also realize that the scent of isopropyl alcohol mixed with warm water is something i like, very relaxing =D

work for today is almost done. i told myself that i'll finalize the minutes and important notes before going on to the manual. two sections done and i'm pretty much ready to crash again. i know i should not complain though. the brunt of the work really falls on the programmers and documentations and system organization is a lot of work but NOT hard. we're already planning our christmas party so it should be nice break for the kids, something they can look forward too besides work.

hi lj! it's good to see you and update you today! a small update about life and work and stuff that go in between :)

a) work's picked up again and the slump we suffered mid-year is now gone and replaced with a lot of deadlines and travel. DENR bought our software and it's up to the teams to go to the provinces and train LGU users. this is so exciting and i think they are considering me to accompany some of the training teams. my organizational skills do come in handy sometimes!

b) went to makati medical center yesterday and sat in for a co-worker. the meeting is about interface and is pretty much a nifty but tedious topic for developers. anyway. it was tiring, mostly because it took a while and i had absolutely no idea how far they've gone in their production. i hate passing through mmc's backdoor. the chemical smells are horrendous.

c) had major burnout last night and i told friends i was going to NAP but ended up sleeping in an epic snorefest way. i slept around 845 and wok up at 430 in the morning. some nap, huh? hopefully i can stay awake longer tonight. but then again i keep yawning and yawning some more as i type this!

d) my fic for the 80/S community is slowly getting done. i never thought it would be this difficult to write them. i think it's because i am conflicted and i like 80/27 too, i have to moderate their interactions and stuff :3 i want it to write itself. and sakura addiction has come and gone - and i came up with what hm ONE contribution for it blahaha! oh well, when inspiration does not strike...then it doesn't XD

e) sent out emails today for our early xmas meet-up. GUYS please read your emails and please pass on the message to other famiglia. my bugging has just begun!!

f) my eye is once again infected. i really need to see a specialist why it's ALWAYS this eye and why we can't seem to find a solution to this problem. bad timing too because i'm writing an installation manual and haha it's a pain having one eye bandaged.

h) ate a lot of meat yesterday. BAGNET. BAGNET. oh my god. then i felt sick afterward. will eat veggies today and try to remember that i am not as young as i used to be and consuming that much unhealthy stuff will kill me in my sleep. i think i was channeling ICEPICK because he loves meat. a lot of it! for those who do not know ICEPICK is a character i own/made over at a chat-place called TinierMe.

for the yuletides id like to write fic for him and hoodlum and .44 magnum and balisong - you know just background/backstory drabbles of where they came from and who they are! i will one day make a crossover with our characters from stationslash LOL. /ded/

i) a lovely person named rinnakins made a miharu + yoite fanmade EP over at the nabari no ou community. it made me CRY. it was such a subtle and heartwarming collection. i loved it, from start to finish. check her post out: here! leave a comment if you are taking!

first off, because i can...

SUGAAHCUBE HIIII! welcome to my journal XD

it's been a series of strange days for me. it all started last saturday when i thought i was being haunted. it was cold where i live so i was wearing a sweater and i was in the home office chatting with amanda. anyway, so i felt something tap my arm, then again my head and then again my other shoulder. i was getting afraid so i turned on the lights and WTF OMG it was a FROG. something i am more afraid of than snakes or lizards! I SCREAMED and people in the house thought we were being robbed =\ sorry i couldn't help it. they caught the darn thing and put it outside. i have no idea how it got in and i really don't want to know. i just wanted it out! out! out! and so my odd days followed. i couldn't sleep after that. this is how much i fear frogs. my period came back with a vengeance too @_@ my mother told me to start thinking right because obviously this was all psychological. i agree with her, tbh. so tonight i will force myself to sleep no matter what!

>> i finished a fic for 6918 and it's called : a train straight to okinawa. i realize now that using "straight" when referring to 6918/1869 was a grave error on my part >3

* i didn't get to sleep very well last night, mostly because of work-stress and the fact that my period's coming up so i'm mostly like experiencing hormonal implosion. i also, seem to have developed a fondness for menthol products. the shampoo, the soap and even the deodorant needs to be mentholated. i mean...really don't get it myself XD

* i've been reading up on "kaddish" the 1995 album by the multimedia group called "towering inferno" it's an epic album that goes on for a full 75 minutes. there's also a dvd i think. and they didn't hire a producer or editor so it's mostly amazing true blue indie stuff :P a used album is selling for $2 a pop over at amazon, so that's not bad at all.

* top chef tonight...i wonder who will be eliminated?? not stefan! please! i think he is my favorite now >E

* watched the first two episodes of the winter sonata anime. i'm happy with it, amused that the story's been pretty much faithful to the drama which made the series popular to begin with. the music is the same (much to my mother's delight) and it's also dubbed in korean. subbed in japanese. yujin, the protagonist is SO spot on, down to the little gestures that the actress in the drama does. i love it. it's cute. it's not something i'm excited about following each week, but i'd like to watch it whe i have free time. i cannot wait for the mega-drama crying bits.

(sharona1x2, were you able to watch it? happy? sad? mad? XD)

* and someone awesome from the flist *cough* sage *cough* posted up a LOT of 6918/1869 Djs and yeah. i can live on that for a year and a half. thank you for sharing. kaze, you are an 1869/6918 santa. brb dling between editing and writing work stuffs.

first of all: THANK YOU TO ALL THE LOVELY PEOPLE WHO LEFT MESSAGES, PLURKED, TEXTED AND FACEBOOKED THEIR GREETINGS. thank you so much guys. my heart is full and grand and happy even if i am now officially an Obasan/Ossan creature! but happily so. (kazehaya is ikemen who is controlled by obasan! watttt?!) XD


i really didn't want anyone to remember my birthday to be honest. i felt like 32 is such a weird number and that i'm really so far away from my desired 18-forever-dream, lol. but people remembered anyway. especially amanda who had given my present two days before the actual day which really set the mood for my weekend. i was simply happy. and that's really all one can wish for on their birthday, right? ( stomping on the floor with my stilettos on )


there has been a recent avalanche of rebocomm fsts and while i prefer the old/veteran/seasoned fst makers over these new guys. i do admit that some songs are worth discovering and listening to. i was talking to pam and eri over at plurk about it as well. while i always thought fst-making was a really nice fan contribution to a fandom...having it as a 'bandwagon' now can be very irritating. especially when some fst-makers make it a point to add a lectre about how one's particular technique is THE proper way to make an fst. i have an issue with that because i am a genre-purist when it comes to music. it means i stick to particular genre and the sub-genres it gives birth to as the years go by. i do not dare swing and dabble in other genres out of...first and foremost respect and then comes choice: that's my stand as an audiophile.

an fst isn't rocket science to begin with. an fst is picking out songs that resonate with you when you are working on something related to a character, a series or a storyline. an fst is putting together a collection that's cohesive enough to give others a clear picture of what pairing or character you are doing the fst for. that's it. the mood, the depth follows right after one has established that. which is really WHY i prefer the seasoned and old-timers because i get what they are doing. their humility doesn't hide the fact that they have good taste in music.

though in the end - i think for the three of us - our love for music overrides everything else and we ended up downloading the songs that were worth listening to. personally, i just could not ignore jethro tull's "aqualung" and that song was SO worth the dl.

i'm still waking up despite having showered at 530 in the morning. work requires me to finish a write up regarding the web interface for some software that we're developing for a government agency. it's really not that exciting and i am working with very little material so it's really not that easy. but what can you do, right? you just have to roll with the punches and say it's fine. a friend of mine had mentioned how nice it seemed to be working from home. i told her it was a shitty deal because there's no work-clock to tell you to stop working. the only upside to it is you get to pad around the house in pajamas and fuzzy slippers all day: like a mental patient XD

i'm not going to order in today.

like iron chef, i have my not-so secret ingredient, WHICH IS SHRIMP! i worked on this for a bout 45 minutes. it's a little twist on stir-fried shrimp/deconstructed sinigang. instead of using butter and spinach, i used water cabbage and vegetable oil. i made the sauce out of fish sauce and tamarind base for the stock. it turned out pretty well. something i can eat a lot of rice with, definitely. now, if only i can buy green mangoes to make ensalada then it'd be a perfect lunch.

DEEP OF THE OCEAN: 80/S Fansoundtrack



*because i wanted to contribute something to the 80/S community, i made a mini FST for the pair. most of the songs are the ones i listen to when i am writing (trying to finish) the fic i had started for them a while ago, the same fic that i hope to finish before the weekend rolls in *~*

SIDE A:
1) Angel by Massive Attack
2) High Life by Mono
3) Stranded by Plumb
4) Lover I Don't Have To Love by Bright Eyes
5) Breathe by Telepopmusik
Download: CLICK ME!!

SIDE B:
1) Center Of The Sun by Conjure One
2) Home and Dry by The Pet Shop Boys
3) Momentum by Vienna Teng
4) Where Do I Begin? by Chemical Brothers (w/Beth Orton)
5) Once In A Lifetime by Wolsheim (single version)
Download: CLICK ME!!

*leave a comment if you wish.

i was trying to write my fic for sakura addiction week, sadly its not working and it'll have to wait another day for it to get finished. i wonder if people are getting sick of my AUs for mukuro and hibari. i don't even know it writing AUs all the time is creativity or just plain laziness of my part. i'm excited. i want to see SOMETHING happen for my ship. the anthology for them never happened and that was one sad disappointment. but this time the future looks bright and nice. thanks kyraensui and welcome to the journal :D♥

izkariote posted a number of fsts last week and i downloaded two of them. i always love it when i learn about new artists or bands. i admit i have an ego when it comes to the music i listen too so it makes me happy when i want to hear something over and over. love a LOT of them pam, esp: doves, tangerine submarine, the presets, maps and css. OF COURSE, it was a pleasure to see royskopp and wolsheim on your list! my player's been on overtime duty since the weekend (: SO, thank you, thank you for sharing great music! (now i will go hunt for that xanxus/squalo fst you made some time ago and go dl it too)

random music upload: bright eyes

-- a poetic retelling of an unfortunate seduction
-- driving fast through a big city at night
-- lover i don't have to love
-- the calendar hung itself

download: CLICK ME!!!

i got the chance to watch kimi no todoke last week. i remember talking with some friends about kazehaya-kun (why am i calling him 'kun'?!?!) and i personally find him endearing and adorable. he reminds me of dino or yamamoto. more of yamamoto, actually. and i even saw caelestin plurk about it even before i did! so it's one series to watch for the time being. it's going to air 12 episodes for this season. i like the main character too. she reminds me of that woman in XXX Holic, i'm not a CLAMP fan so i don't know her name ToT still i think they're pretty.

wanted to rant about the naruto shippuuden manga for some weeks now but i keep holding back because I KNOW kishimoto-sensei is better than what he's been putting out for the past few months. I KNOW because i've been following this series for years and years and i'm not about o give it up just yet...it's just that i need break from all the lulziness and the fact that sasuke is crying blood, omg, omg -__-;; for the first time in all the years i've been following naruto i just wish that someone put sasuke out of his vindictive misery. it's frustrating like running your fingernails onto a chalkboard. i love his character no matter what. even more than i adore itachi's character...but the main plot's gotten lost somewhere and somehow his angst and anger just isn't justified anymore and he comes off rather bleak like a grey cloud on a sunny day. and somehow the past few chapters have made naruto look stupid. like really stupid. in the past naruto's always been dumb when it comes to certain things but not at all stupid. i guess love does that to you >D no i'm not fangirling...i'm bereaved! really! i am!

watched glee last night and i cannot believe i sat through a musical. HONEST! i don't really like musicals but i was able to just sit there and even sing - i'll never refuse a Heart or Queen song anyway :D next tuesday ulit!

BOMBS AWAY: D/59 FANSOUNDTRACK 10-10-09



*this fst is a pretty selfish project. i ship d/59 as hard as i ship s/80 and d/s so i thought of making a playlist that catered to such an addiction! it was not difficult to make. despite gokudera's angst the songs i picked out are pretty upbeat. i guess that's the dino factor right there. feel free to take the songs FOR YOUR OWN POISON :D enjoy!


SIDE A:
[1] The Listening by Lights
[2] Fireflies by Owl City
[3] Inner Smile by Texas
[4] 500 Miles by The Proclaimers
[5] Never Let You Go by Third Eye Blind
Download Link: Click Me!!!


Side B:
[1] Books Written For Girls by Camera Obscura
[2] Beautiful Things Can Come From The Dark by Azure Ray
[3] If My Heart Was A House by Owl City
[4] Say Something by James
[5] Joyride by Roxette
Download Link: Click Me!!!

*Leave a comment if you like. Thank you!

i had the MOST surreal night last night - there was a blackout that affected rizal and nearby cities. because of this traffic was shitty and oh so unbelievable. i stood in line for almost three hours just to get a ride home. now, i knew something was wrong when i got off the bus and saw that the line for antipolo was ridiculously spilling out of the parking lot. it never ever gets that long. so i just thought that a lot of people moved uphill because of the floods and now there are more residents than ever before. WRONG. the fx units just had a rough time travelling because there were no traffic lights and the traffic aids blended perfectly with the night. no offense guys, i think they were heroic working overtime. it just felt useless because people just did what they wanted especially traversing valle verde onto C5. okay so standing inline proved to me that my stamina's pretty good. my feet hurt like hell even now but i wasn't able to feel it then because of adrenaline and i just couldn't believe it. i shared my umbrella with a lady that irresponsibly didn't bring an umbrella even if she had a toddler with her. that was my good deed for the night. as the line moved you could see the amount of trash people leave behind just by eating their snacks. plastic cups, styro containers and straws littered the ground. it was infuriating and disappointing. as if people had already forgotten that we've suffered a great flood just a week before. though that flood was caused 50% natural, 10% human idiocy, 40% is actually due to our irresponsible ways of disposing garbage. i know that megamall has their own cleaning crew and they will clean...it just wouldn't hurt to see SOME INITIATIVE. like a person can volnteer a big plastic bag where they can all collect that trash and one person can actually WALK to throw it in the trash can. seeing litter like that on the ground reflects badly on what we're like. i started picking some of the trash i can reach and put it in a plastic bag i had, found funny that people look at me like im a treehugger or something or a bag lady in the streets. shrug. i can only do so much.

when the fx unit finally came and we were able to load up it took us another two hours to get to antipolo proper. when i got to our "exclusive" subdivision i almost laughed seeing our loyal and big-hearted security guard manning his spot with a tiny flashlight. and the scene behind him was absolute BLACK. dear homeowners association, the guard needs a solar-charging lamp, maybe two. or we need a generator to light up even our subdivision name x_x buti pa ang palmera homes. men. ang liwanag!

when i got home it was pitch black too, save some candles and lamps we had charged and stored for emergencies (parma scare). i showered and was ready to just really plop in bed...but like a cheesy movie i had a mini-breakdown in the shower. it just weighs you down...this kind of situation. it makes you think why life is like this and that and then you get to start worrying about things that you have conquered long ago. after the shower though i was calm and just plain sleepy. thank you to my current loves - kings of leon - for the pretty pretty music i listened to in the dark. it was very nice. falling asleep to "red light morning" was a little weird though! power was restored around 3am and i slept in until 5 which was great because i had to report to work early (but not that early). the prototype is still broken and giving me all the error messages that i don't want to see but the main thing is that they're fixing it so i can finally go on and proceed with the paper work and documentation needed for the software.

despite the bad/surreal/twilight zone experience i had a fun time at Mall of Asia with simply_kim and bluecircles. i was finally able to meet kimmy's BFFs - SEL and MAU. they were awesome and fun loving. gayz and i never felt out of place or out of the loop. mau is awesome, i can see why she and kimmy are best friends! i think the concept of having a best friend is clearer to me now XD gayz and i also shared a loong bus ride going back to ortigas and (for gayz) cubao. we talked about our dogs and books and just super general, fun nonsense. i always have a great time talking to gayz! but it has to be said that there was no nina around :( sadness!

AND the best thing out of all this is that i'm getting almost a weeks worth of vacation time this december. im going to hong kong for some rest and relaxation. oh wait! first i have to buy my ticket XD! i will. i will XD

clockworkwings

i'm currently downloading songs c/o pam and i cannot wait to listen, i only hope that the process goes faster >E slow connection. you lose, office, you lose! it's not even hal of the day and i am already stressed as hell. i don't mean to be mean but sometimes the incompetence of other people does affect one's overall performance (as part of the workforce) for the day. see, our driver was late reporting for work so getting to the terminal from our village was delayed by a good thirty minutes. precious time that helps me avoid long lines and traffic. but he apologized as son as he saw me, so how could i stay mad? getting to makati took so long but it's marvelous that even if i was late, i was still the first one here XD i will not relinquish my lady guard dreams!

*

i'm meeting simply_kim and her BFFs today! we'll be having late lunch at MoA and i'm also planning to get "amrita" by banana yoshimoto. i'm a little nervous, as i always am meeting new people. sometimes i even act like a jackass. but one day i will mature. like when i am fifty. that's not a long ways to go!

*

my journal has a new layout and profile page. i am in fangirl mode so i just had to. kings of leon and train's been a constant in my playlist for a week now. i think i plurked about this - but the voice for kings of leon reminds me of xanxus. for some reason he does. yes. i just think that if xanxus sang for aband he'd have a raw and soulful voice - kind of projecting a certain amount of pain he's lived through or something >E i should be worried that everything just has to comeback to khreborn /falls.

some songs to check out: notion || use somebody || true love way || be somebody || closer

*

you know you've had too much KHR...#1 -- when you feel like you can never have too much KHR.

*

excited!! my birthda's just around the corner. we must all meet up and eat out. i want to celebrate my 32nd year of life on this planet!

i finally feel like the most unwanted weekend of my life has passed. and that is surely an understatement coming from someone like me. and yet i feel more afraid to go out into the real world, more so than my countrymen/friends/family who had to go through such a life changing experience. see, last weekend (starting the eve of friday 9-25-09) manila and nearby provinces (including my hometown for some 13 years now, rizal) was hot by a storm. the storm had a pretty cute and unassuming local name. ondoy, he was called. a name you give your youngest or favorite child. a pinoy petname you give to a handsome fellow. it was such an unassuming name that no one thought it was going to carry with it a lethal amount of rainfall that surpassed that of hurricane katrina.

saturday morning, my mom had classes but she called her class rep to tell him that it was postponed for next week at her discretion. and it turned out to be a right move for her, i was running a fever since friday so despite the rains i was home before it got really bad. anyway, around lunchtime, my mom kept bugging me about how the rain "never really lets up" there was no pause to the downpour. something that irked me because i was already online reading bbgun's feeds on plurk.

i was trying not to feel nervous and think nothing of it, telling myself that close to 20 typhoons hit my country each year. we'll surely breeze past this one. of course, as it turned out, i was very wrong. i had heard on ANC that a number of dams and water reservoirs were releasing water because they were at their limit - more feeds came in that water was rising at a completely alarming rate. i looked at my mother, she looked at me and i said the only things i could say at that time: "it's not funny anymore".

it's true what they say, when nature strikes back, you feel puny and irrelevant. you feel like a speck of dust in the gobi. i was still cracking jokes on plurk on saturday morning about how rainbowbrite could be dino and stormy could be gokudera. in retrospect, i regret messing around. so when i told my mom that it wasn't funny anymore, i had meant really, that th situation scared me a whole lot. and i was beginning to realize that my friends and family (who live in lower rizal area) were in really real danger.

we lost power a couple of times after that- we lost internet and cable for the rest of the weekend. it was kind of ominous, like how lights flicker in a scene of a horror movie. my mom decided that we should stay home. we live in the hills of antipolo fashioned from solid stone, a rare place since antipolo has a lot of clay area. as the rain continued, we started getting texts and news from the AM radio about how floods were engulfing a lot of areas, turning NCR and other affected cities/towns into a virtual sea. flooding is nothing foreign here. i tell you, my dad used to carry me from my school bus to the front door of our old house because of the floods. but i've never encountered nor heard of a flood that was 12 feet high happen in my turf. so i was left in a state of disbelief.

saturday evening was hell. i couldn't sleep though i was running a fever worried for people that i could not help at all even if i wanted to. come sunday morning, i was up at first light and it was then that we learned just how close this typhoon really hit us: aside from friends affected my cousin was trapped in the second floor or their house (for days after we learned of it) traumatized right now, three of my college professors lost their houses and (news coming from my mom's friends) our normal route to work was unrecognizable. but at the end of it - all my loved ones were all accounted for. i feel lucky that we were spared from the brunt of this ordeal. though, it has affected my loved ones too, so it's hard not to be contemplative about it. after you say thanks to the higher power, you look inside yourself and go, well there must be a reason you're still here. so go do something. i'm working on that.

there was so much sun this morning and popo was playing and was being more lively. it made me happy. my dog was so depressed when he ran out of dog food and it took us a day and half to even get new supplies XD this has taught me to stock up on things! and i missed shadows, you know. during the storm everything was dim and dark and melted into one indigo shade. popo's playing shadow was a delight to see. and even if - i am still running a fever or i managed to hurt myself seven ways to sunday just by staying home (i admit i am a klutz). i know that i've got to look at popo as an example too. make myself better, do my work well, stop moping/bitching, if you want to help do it efficiently/quietly.

make someone's life better by being in it. everyday is a new day after all, and you live through the bad things. that's how Pinoys do it. that, and with a huge smile on their face (:

atmosphere. dreamscapes. odd sleeping habits. skylines. the open air. love. >> these are but a few of the recurring themes that owl city uses in his songs. put against an electronica background and he's able to create something magical with each piece. one would think that it would get boring after a while but it doesn't; where lighthouse family uses landscapes as their foundation - owl city uses dreams and i have this theory that he also writes in a state of dreaming. of course, that is always up for debate. it's hard to tell, but he did say in his myspace account that he has trouble sleeping. also, it's not a healthy comparison putting lighthouse family side by side with owl city. LHF has always had this earthy and feet-on-the-ground approach to music, producing some of the classiest tunes ever to grace pop. and then you have OC whose music never seem to touch the ground and uses the sound variants of your portable casio and transforms it into real genius with his work. the common denominator is the quality of work and the emotions that they evoke. yes, i will be first to admit that it gets to that cheesy point - but it can be forgiven. we've not yet crossed the aqua and ace of base threshold just yet. thank you. i love how owl city is always telling a story through the accompaniments in his songs. i like how each drum beat or piano key emphasizes and resonates with his chosen subject matter. it's really precious. though a part of me does not want him to be a super famous artist, i do believe that he deserves to be just that. owl city's music should be heard by everyone and maybe be the voice of all the insomniacs and narcoleptics in the world and people with normal sleeping habits in the world. he perpetrates the positive side of living, loving, failing... his vision reminds me of kokia who turns tragedy into something you'd want to hold on to - just because its your experience.

i have links to owl city's music here. songs that i am confident in recommeding! all links go back to youtube.

- Fireflies
- Designer Skyline
- On The Wing
- Meteor Shower
- Fuzzy Blue Lights
- If My Heart Was A House
- Vanilla Twilight

i wanted to do a camera obscura or cocteau twins write up but i guess that can wait. so much stuff to do. i really want to cry 8D

i am FINALLY done! finished with this collection of stories from Haruki Murakami! to be honest, it was like listening to a double album of one great artist. like smashing pumpkins' "mellon collie and the infinite sadness" just because i believe that he is at his best when he drives to the heart of the subject matter and speaks his mind in few words. i was not expecting much. i was so captivated by "kafka on the shore" that i thought everything else that came from him would mean little or incomparable to the novel. that was my mistake and now i am all the wiser for it. sorry (tao lang).

i liked how some stories seemed to share a particular connection, a recurring theme or just a particular hint (here and there) that the reader can piece together and end up with some half-solved puzzle. the stories i enjoyed the most were: perfect day for kangaroos, firefly, the iceman, man-eating cats, airplane, hanalei bay, where i'm likely to find it and of course my favorite of them all -- chance traveler. those stories in particular are sad and desolate but there is also something rejuvinating about them -- the kind of feeling that leaves you nodding and thinking about life in general and how lucky we all are that we're here. mistakes/downfalls and all. just because.

there's this one line in "firefly" that i really like.

i waited forever...

i don't even know why i like that line so much, it's not like it should mean something to me. though i guess some of us do spend a big part of our lives waiting for something or someone - to come, to change, to vanish, to appear...and it's what makes life both annoying and interesting. i don't know. bleh.

in one of our plurk conversations dreamlessness mentioned that my dog popo takes after me when it comes to the emo. i don't think i am that emooo XD but i do have my moments. so here look at this photo that i took of my dog on a really lazy sunday afternoon :P