High-Lows

And in the spirit of "The Story of Us," today's high-lows:

1.) High: Indian priest classmate in Experimental Designs always helps our professor erase the board. It's really nice of him. Ang sweet :)

2.) High: Officemate's 2-year old son was chattering away at work today. Ang cute :)

3.) Low: Fearing that I may be responsible for blowing the circuits in Rm 203. I think I forgot to unplug the OHP after my class report last Tuesday. The short-circuit was said to have happenned Thursday. Please let it not be me!!! Ang malas :(

4.) Low: Telecon. Of course. For the simple reason that he's there. That's all it takes. Ang stupid :(

Shopping Weekend Gone Bust

According to my calendar of activities, I was supposed to go shopping this weekend. Footspa. The works. Instead I mostly snored Saturday away and pretty much of Sunday too. Three things of note though:

1. I snored most of Saturday away because I was out late last Friday at a... bar. Hahaha. Decided to drop by to take a peek at Juana's album launch. Except since I haven't been sleeping properly for the past 3 weeks, I was pretty much falling asleep on my seat by 11pm and so we had to leave before we actually got to watch Juana. Hayyy. Who am I kidding? I left early because of curfew...

2. Our paper got accepted for presentation at the 2006 Conference of the International Association for Educational Assessment in Singapore! I feel PSYCHED! (yes, I recently rewatched In Good Company). Except this paper is as yet non-existent! Time to start feeling PSYCHO!

3. I finally got to go the LOJ feast again in Camp Aguinaldo. Had to stand for 3 hours playing 'usherette.' It was good to see the folks there again.

And who am I kidding? I couldn't have gone shopping this weekend anyway because the most recent credit card bill ate up all my cash, I have to lend rent money and I'm down to the last bits of my transportation allowance until the first semi for February comes in this week. 'Til then, I must scrimp, scrounge and save...

But we will end on a happier note with Brother Bo's daily morning mantra (slightly edited for personal purposes): "How can I bless people I encounter this week?" It's amazing to listen to people like him :)

How Funky is Your Chicken

How do you move past disappointing performance?

"Be happy. And do your work like you're doing it for yourself."

Apply this Kathy. Apply, apply, apply.

I am...

The martial strains have summoned me,
To hear your sorrows,
Still your pain.
I am the protector of Justice
Equality - my sole friend
My vision never blurred by cowardice
My soul never chained
Life without honor
Is life in vain.


...the DoG




Ako si 'Mart...

This Year

Hi..... Happy New Year!

And my biggest resolution for this year is: Get to know myself. Or at least, recall who I am, and what I am capabale of. Because for the past 5, especially 2 years, I really lost who I was.

But, as part of another new year's resolution: We will NOT get into that.

Instead we will move forward! But first, a recap:

My name's Kathryn. My family calls me Turk (or Treng, depending on degree of consanguinity :)), my friends call me Kathy, some people try calling me Kat. Judel and Maritess call me 'Atchi.' I like my name because it sounds like the name of a queen, when pronounced the way it should, but it does not go by the common spelling. And I guess I like being that: being contrary. I prefer to blend in, in a way that stands out. Hahaha, that sounds schizophrenic.

I like potatoes. Fried, boiled, mashed. I like chocolate drink with bread or Presto Cream Peanut Butter Cookies. I like baby-watching (anywhere) with my sisters. And by baby, yes I mean infants. It's funny but I just realized that we've nicknamed one baby, whom we've watched grow up, everytime we saw him at church, Potato-Head Baby. It's the shape of his head. (Two of my loves, in one baby boy! :))

I like reading and daydreaming. I can draw, a bit. Last year, I was able to take up 'art classes' as I've been planning to for a long time. I would love to take up jazz/hip-hop dance lessons. I would also like to take a gander at theater. Yeah... contrary to appearances, I love performing.

I prefer comfort over style, although lately I've been trying to make choices that include both. I like wearing tall heals and long pants, drop earrnings and Max Factor Porcelain 50 Skin Tone Adapting Liquid Foundation (try saying that under 2 seconds!). I can't pull off short skirts, tubeless tops and spaghetti strap blouses. I wouldn't be able to wear knee-length boots and a mini-skirt even if my life depended on it.

I don't like mean people, ampalaya, interviews (I almost got interviewed in Boy Abunda's show, hahaha. Good thing I was busy when they called.) and corporate-speak. I don't believe that teenagers have to be rebels, that you have to hurt yourself first before you will truly learn how to ride bicycles or drive cars, or that men are dogs by default. I don't believe in cyncism. Because I expect better. Because I expect the world to be kind.

I believe in faithfulness. I believe in fairness and second chances. And despite what I've been told, I still choose to believe that benevolent power is possible. Because humanity has come of an age when it has realized that, "just because we can do a thing, doesn't mean that we must do a thing."

And I would like to live for a cause.

I'll stop here because this is getting too long, and lunch break is way past over.

Superman's Angle

Last night as I was watching a trailer of the new Batman series, I wondered out loud how they would remake Superman for the new generation of kids who automatically think having angst is cooler. Today, Rudd sends me a text message on the answer:

"I know what Superman's angst is!.... lost love and how to save this planet he calls home..."

Ah, ok. And apparently Kate Bosworth will play Lois Lane. Weird. I'd rather have Jessica Alba. Hahaha.

Then later today, Judel tells me that apparently, we will be meeting He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named on December 4.

I'm scared.

I dozed off at my desk with that last thought and woke up depressed.

Young Riders

... because the background music that goes with this picture is from the TV show of the same title...

This was taken around 15 years ago, in Baguio. Presenting the Tan Sibs in chronological order:

FRANCES
Position: Second from left
Code Name: Rudd
Alter Ego: Dr. Doolittle
Additional Description: Mother of Chewie (or Rattie, or Cutie or Joey, depending on who's doing the calling), Official (Dog) Pooper-Scooper, youngest-looking oldest sib... oh, and Pediatrician/Allergologist-Immunologist AND Lecturer (ADMU)


KATHRYN
Position: Far left
Code Name: Turk
Mutant Power: Demon Aura (a sputtering power)
Additional Description: Wicked Witch of the West, Bart and Chewie's Auntie, Official Sick Person, Lern's Twin (up until high school, notice the clothes) ... and uh... 'researcher'


ELEANOR
Position: Second from right
Code Name: Lern
Mutant Power: Imperious Curse
Additional Description: Gym Rat, Mother of Bart, Official Sauce-Maker, Turk's Twin (up until high school, notice the clothes)... and Investment Analyst


FRANK JR.
Position: Far right
Code Name: Jaje
Alter Ego: Cooking Master Boy
Addition Description: Discovery Boy, Official Juice-Maker, Water-Bearer and Student of Computer Science


Their names will be popping up now and then in this blog, so I thought introductions were in order.


Until next time!

Life Rocks!

So apparently, I can get madly twitterpated, then tossed away --- and still be a kick-ass student. It's one of those rare occasions when I actually feel: it's good to be me.


I hope you also had a good day today :)

B.A.C. (Before Art Classes)

Fan art. Before the workshop. Am I scaring you yet? :)

The foliage on this one was actually more complicated, so I copped out and just drew some arbitrary unrealistic vines. K and K forever! Right Maan? This was copied from a tiny, almost-thumbnail-size drawing.

Do these scans look as bright on your screen as they do on mine?

This one was copied from one of the OST covers. Yes, the resemblance is kind of weak.

What is so fascinating about this character? Well, as one blogwriter put it, "The idea of a man with absolute power, who absolutely refuses to abuse that power, is compelling."

And that's why. Among other things. But I really need to do my homework now.

This is kind of addicting.

Debut

I didn't have one of those when I turned 18. Too expensive. But on that day, I woke up to my mother holding peach-gold roses to my face. They were wrapped in newspapers because they were from the palengke.

And I got the following short story from my younger sister and brother....
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page 1.
"We were lucky we were able to pull together that fleet out there. I had to pull more than a few strings for that," Leia told Han nervously. She kept looking out of the window of the room.

"Don't worry about it sweetheart," Han said in an absent-minded though reassuring tone, "everything will turn out okay." He was punching in last minute instructions to the fighters outside. Chewie growled and barked something, and Artoo whistled an agreement.

"No, I checked out all those ships before I came in myself. They're all fine," Luke said confidently.

"I hope General Antilles was able to countercheck the loaded equipment. If any of the materials are left behind, oh, the mission will surely be compromised," Threepio moaned nervously.

Luke's com link buzzed and crackled. "Hey Luke, we're about ready to start."

Luke signalled to the others to start moving out of the room. "Okay Wedge, just wait for my go ahead."

Artoo was first to the door and everyone else followed. Out of the room, out of the building and past a little garden. Chewie led the way to a broad green field and roared at everyone to hurry up.

"I've always hated the running part," Threepio whined as he scurried along. Artoo just made some cheerful twittering comment in reply.

"Wedge better not botch this up," Han said very seriously.

"Go on Luke, give Wedge the signal," Leia said still a little breathless.

All of them stopped in the middle of the field and looked up at the sky. With a big smile on his face, Luke spoke into his com link. "All right Wedge, fire away..."

The screech of fighters filled the air and only seconds later bright explosions and lights in the sky---
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page 2.

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Birthday fireworks from the heroes of the Rebellion! Only the truly devoted (or the truly geek) would have loved it. And I, at 18, was one such creature.

I am still amazed at the amount of effort that must have gone into this. Considering that my sister is such a non-fan! There are so many details here that sit just right. The little ships were done by my brother. You can identify the models. :)

Peach-gold roses. And fireworks in a galaxy, far, far away....

It was a great way to wake up to a birthday!
(No, the picture below was not part of the present. Just felt like sticking it in.)

Memories

My sisters call photos, "memories." So I was leafing through some old 'memories' and came across this picture. I'm rappelling down a wall! (Yes, it's me the ropes are covering.) It wasn't a long way down, but it was vertical, and that alone kind of makes your head spin. But I made it down. And no, none of that Extra Challenge screaming. Although in fairness, we didn't scale a 2-digit storey-tall wall (ugh, what a bad rhyme). :)

Look at the angle this was shot. So anime!

This picture was taken in Tintern School, Melbourne, Australia. Nine years ago. They have rappelling for P.E.

I should do more things like this. Leap into new experiences, and savor every moment of the harrowing way down :)