Wysteria Blend
Friday, October 29, 2004
When Life Throws Lemons, Make LemonadeI read this article entitled “Being Twenty-Something.” As much as I hate to admit that I am no longer in the teens, I look, instead, at the brighter things in life such as having my own money and being able to pursue my hobbies.
It presented the life of a twenty-something year old called the “Quarter-Life Crisis.” It happens all the time. Most in our age group are not happy with their jobs because it is not what they had planned to do. Some friends may seem to be just there on fair weather, while the practices and beliefs of others have simply become part of our list of unacceptables. The idea that love is blind and sweet has turned sour and mean, and our views of what the future has in store for us has turned bleak. In short, life is throwing lemons.
Yet these lemons are God’s way of telling us to be strong, to make lemonade instead of letting it go to waste. God never gives us challenges we cannot handle. He gives us weights to incur muscles so when the time comes for us to face the music we are ready.
Once upon a time, I hated the plight of my life. It was a gruesome year of toil and misery, until I picked up my skirts and told the world, “Poof!” Now, I like my life, I like my job, I love the people around me. I’ll try anything as long as it’s legal and good. Of course, when I have worked my way to where I want to be, I will remember the people who gave me a chance and believed that I will one day be my own unique person ready to take on the world.
HAPPY LONG WEEKEND EVERYONE!
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Quiz: How Well Do You Know Caren?I made my own quiz. Please take it and tell me what happens.
Take the "How Well Do You Know Caren?" quiz created on Tickle and see how you score. Here's the first question:
1. If I could eat one thing for the rest of my life, it would be:
* Sushi
* Pizza
* Hamburger
* Fried Chicken
Just click (or copy and paste) this link and you'll be taken to my quiz.
http://connect.tickle.com/test.html?id=g4XIawpeXV2Bwaqn&
Caren
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Of Frustrations and AddictionsWhen certain friends turn annoying, you just can’t help but tell the whole world how pissed you are, which is exactly what I’m doing now. To the lot of you reading this, I’m sure you know WHO I’m talking about. If not, I’ll most likely tell you about it some time.
It’s nice when people invite you to lunch, accompany you to a movie, give you advice on certain matters you need help with, or even just chat with you. But when too much is just TOO MUCH and you’re well eating into decision matters that are between those that matter to me and myself, “HEY! Back off! You’re way out of line!”
It makes me wonder, do these people have friends from their own age caliber? What do they do throughout the day that makes them so bored, that they have to result to invading others’ time at work, even worse, at school? And is life so dull that they would resort to wanting to trek the malls with girls 10 to 15 years younger while they do their shopping? Or texting the whole still sleeping world at 7 in the morning just to let them know that they also made a cast list of characters of a certain category? This is all I can say, GET A LIFE!”
To turn the sour mood sweet, I’ve been addicted to this card game called Spider Solitaire. Heck! I sleep late and miss TV shows all because of my addiction to this game. Even when I close my eyes, I can see decks of spades and hearts arranged from King to Ace, with obstacles ihndering me from forming one King to Ace of the same suit. Oh well!
Monday, October 25, 2004
Weekend HurrahUnlike most of the weekends that have gone by, this weekend was special.
Saturday
10:00 am to 7:00 pm
It was the usual, I woke up in the morning, got dressed and had lunch. Then again, it was different since Mikey was there. She and Mars slept over the night before, something we haven't had in a really long time. After pigging out duing lunch time, I took Bam, Mikey, Wappy and Mike to archery practice with me. Bam's really getting better. I hope for her to join National Outdoor with me on May. Mike and Mikee were pretty good for beginner too. As for Wappy, he hit himself a lot and is now suffering from major bruises on his left arm. Is it because I was the one who taught him? Wap, welcome to my world! Eek!
7:00 pm to 12:30 am
Dinner was at Kimpura and Kuya Dondi treated. Galeng when your cousins are old enough and have money to treat. Makes you wish you had more money too to treat everyone.
After dinner, Regina rode with us to Peninsula. It was really funny since she and Wappy were doing ditsy talk while Bam and I listened. The cutest thing was that she was giving all of us advice on matters of love. She's a freakin' 7-year old and her words were very sensible. Kids are just to cute and honest.
Sunday
11:00 am to 4:30 pm
The usual again. Go to the cemetery and have lunch at Butterfly. Then the fun started. After years of not participating, suddenly the Carlos Family had 2 kids registered at the Halloween party of Valle 6. Macie was just so adorable in her Super Girl Costume. To top it off, Regina as the Native American-Indian Girl won Most Unique Costume. Of course, the proud Titas, Tito and Lolo made sure that Regina had a cheering squad when she claimed her prize.
Trick or Treat time. Really! If you're cute, you can get away with murder. A lot of the people giving candies found Regina and Macie so cute so they were given extra.
4:30 pm to 11:00 pm
Macie had dinner at the house. Of course, so did her parents. I can't believe it. Macie didn't want to finish her food which was rice and breast milk mixed together. So I tried the breast milk. Haha! So did Bam and Ate. My findings: it's sweet.
As for the rest of the evening, we watched this video on wedding planning. I got into my usual addiction of Spider Solitaire, read a few pages of Eragon, and drifted off to dream land.
Friday, October 22, 2004
WysteriaI learned that no matter how great your ideas are, good writer or not, you can't help but experience the so-called writer's block. An amateur, trying-to-be, aspiring novelist that I am, I just wrote myself into one... again!
Three, or maybe four years, ago, I started writing this story. It was meant to be a fan fiction of my favorite video game of all time, Wild Arms, with traces of ideas from my favorite author, Tamora Pierce. However, I became so inspired to write, since Bam and Wappy were playing Wild Arms 2 at that time, so it evolved into my very own novel instead.
Only recently did I let anyone read what I have written so far. Three years have passed since I've begun this book and yet I only have 8 chapters. Why? I've been writing then stopping, writing again then stopping. I realized that each time I stopped, I suffered from writer's block.
I'm happy about what I've done so far. Bam likes it. Heck, even Ate Pebs got hooked into it so, to be humble, it's probably not boring. To think, when I relayed my ideas to Bam and Wappy for the first time, they laughed at me. Thanks to two, though, I've been getting ideas left and right on what should happen next without them really knowing what exactly will happen next.
To cut the long story short, when I get over this current writer's block of mine and finish my book (give me another year probably), please read it. And Bam and Wappy, no thanks for laughing at me at first but you'll both be in my acknowledgments when I launch Wysteria. (Btw, they laughed at that name too.)
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Name SearchingI’ve been into name searching on google and yahoo lately. Is this a sign of boredom? Well, not really. It’s just something I’ve been doing when I have a little spare time.
The things I’ve found are really interesting so far. For instance, I type my name and poof! They show a link to my mega ancient website with a really amateur layout. Google gave me better results though. It gave me a link to the online writing community where one of my works got published.
Check out the other people I’ve surfed for:
Bambie Carlos – Searchable. Yahoo will give the link to her blog. Google, though, will give you a link to some porn star named Bambie.
Mikey Atienza – Searchable. Yahoo will give the link to that old site of mine where I posted Mikey’s poem on angels. It even says “Heaven Isn’t Quiet by Mikey Atienza.”
Wappy San Diego – Not Searchable. I keep getting this thing on Wap, Wap, Wappy Hosting. Or “I boink my Wappy.” Whatever that is.
Chris Lacdao – Not Searchable. There is no Chris Lacdao. There is a Martin Lacdao. Wonder if that’s her brother.
Faye Reyes – It shows a site on Faye Reyes but the picture is of a guy demonstrating flexibility moves. Wrong Faye!
Ann Huang – I got Shii Ann Huang from Survivor.
Mike Robles – Did you know that there’s a site with the domain www.mikerobles.com? Cool huh! He’s a Latino comedian, but that’s not the same Mike Robles I was surfing for.
Hope Swann – There’s a Hope Swann who was born in 1913 and worked in Upper New York running a prison farm. Sounds very much like the Hope Swann of 1985. Hehe!
Mary Elizabeth Nave – There are too many Elizabeth Naves on the list. The first on the list is an Elizabeth Nave, whose mother’s name is Mary, born in 1791. Thus, Mary Elizabeth Nave.
Regina Bautista – This is the freakiest of all. There was a Regina Bautista from Mexico born in September 7, 1871, where as my friend Regina Bautista was born on September 7, 1985. Scary!
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
A Series of Uncanny ThoughtsWeird ideas have been popping in and out of my head lately. I guess that’s a good thing since that would mean that I haven’t really been stressed or harassed.
Anime and the Like
I started watching Kimagure Orange Road due to Ton’s persistence that it IS a cute anime and is more “kilig” than Ranma. Rather than agree, I, instead, wonder where the Japanese get such ideas. That, added to the weirdness of Lamu the Invader Girl (which I've finally given a chance), makes me raise my eyebrows due to the loss of brain cells. At the same time, I can’t help but laugh and enjoy the plot, not to mention the strange yet invigorating conversations and reactions that the characters bring.
Of Names and Counterparts
Recently, I met this girl who goes by the name Michelle Robles. I thought to myself, That name sounds really familiar! Duh! It’s Mike’s name turned girl. I recounted this incident to Bam and it got us wondering if it were virtually possible for a Christian Carlos (male Cristina since I don’t know the male version of Caren) to exist. What about a Victor Carlos (male Victoria, anyway what is a male Bambie?)? Perhaps a Rafaela San Diego?
I tried looking it up in google and these are the closest I’ve found. There’s a Christian Carlos Fischer from Argentina, 28 years old and is a systems information specialist. There’s a Rafaela Sta. Cruz who lives in San Diego but that’s it. There’s a Victor Carlos Pandolfelli who’s a Pesquisador (whatever that is!). As for Michelle Robles, that hit the spot. All you have to do is check google.
Monday, October 18, 2004
What Mystical Creature Are You?
Baduy naman o! I'm a freakin' MERMAID!!! *Sigh* "Look at this stuff, isn't it neat? ..."
I just realized. I'm such a water person according to these quizzes. It's ironic for someone who doesn't know how to swim. Oh well!
Anyway, I had the weirdest dream last night. I dreamed I was buying something and I had so much money in my wallet (100s, 500s) and it was raining. So I opened up my two-way automatic umbrella, slid down some car park drive-way (James Bond style), and got into my automatic, convertible and red don't-know-what-that-car-was. Is that foretelling of the future? *hopes* or is it an exact opposite of what I have now. Sob!
So much for being a mermaid!
What Mystical Creature Are You? (Pictures)
brought to you by Quizilla
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Walking ContradictionI am series of mixed emotions right now. I'm at the office with so many things going on in my head, not to mention the things going on "outside" my head.
It's cold so I turned off the aircon. Now it's slightly warm. But if I turn on the aircon it will get cold again.
As opposed to yesterday, I'm happy today. Except that I read this article in Youngblood about a guy who's nephew was still born. So I felt sad after, plus the fact that I remembered Chris Lacdao because of the baby's name... Enough of that before I say anything else. I'm just so glad that Macie is normal and very ok. Check out the cute face!
Kawaii!
RIght now, there's a recording going on at the studio right beside my door. It's for some afternoon show at IBC 13 and they're noisy so I can't really concentrate. Or maybe it's because I was told that bands would be coming in, and so this little girl ventured into the land of the star struck. Yikes! (Have any of you heard the group called U-Turn? They're GOOD!)
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Frustrations of an Account OfficerMost people think that account officers have the best perks in town: you get to go out on client call wherever, whenever (a.k.a. getting out of the office once in a while), you meet all sorts of people (that includes my latest crush), and you learn all the ins, outs, what's good, and what nots of the people you're dealing with (even the world-wide nasty ones about major corporations that are bordering on truth).
Sometimes, it begins with a simple trip to an unfamiliar building that looks oh-so-corporate, other times close to haunted. You get stuck in the elevator for some unknown reason and you find yourself in someone else's office. Even worse, the guard sent you to the freakin' wrong tower.
Then, there's the fact that you are friends with a certain someone yet maintain a professional distance for propriety's sake. Other times, you're boiling mad at one client but you've reached the point of schizophrenia just to keep up with your long term business relationship. Worst of all, you are not immediately able to cater to another person's needs due to an external force that you cannot dictate. It just beats the hell out of you.
As if that were not enough, the person you work great with decides to leave your side for a better offer. Not to mention the fact that your boss enlists your help in making a decision that you yourself have no control over. You're biggest consolation is that you are well-loved by the people around you (the boss and the people you work with), and that your opinions are highly valued.
Note: The above-mentioned are based on true to life experiences although not all incidents occurred in the same day. Thank God!
Just to get my mind off things, I took this quiz. What Color Angel Are You?
You're a "White Angel". You're a natural leader in every aspect of life because you always try to do the right thing. It may not always work out the right way but at least you tried. You're pretty near to your family and you love being around them. You're not afraid of what people think of you except your relatives because you have to deal with them everyday. Everyone else, you don't. You are only afraid that you won't live up to what they want you to be. You want to be the best at everything and you'll push anyone out of your way if you have to. You're a person with big dreams and ambitions and you're a clear thinker. You never do things on impulse but always think things out first which helps you a lot in life.
What Color Angel are You? (PICTURES)
brought to you by Quizilla
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
What's Your Element?
Your Element is Water. You are soft and serene at most times, but like Wind, you're scary when you're mad. You probably have a talent in singing and even your speaking voice is lovely. You have an innocent type of beauty that makes you look younger than you are and you like close relationships with people.
Isn't this the most accurate thing anyone's ever seen? The quiz described my entire persona in detail. I'm sure Bam and Wappy will raise plaque cards with the number 10 to rate this quiz. Not to mention their raves and rants of "Yes! Ate Caren is serene, sungit, and can sing nicely." Plus the fact that, often than not, people say I'm only 19. The rest say I look 18 or younger.
What's Your Element? (for gurls) (PICS)
brought to you by Quizilla
Sunday, October 10, 2004
Over the WeekendThere's something about weekends - about looking forward to it, living it, and looking back at it. Thus begins my might-be long entry about what has been.
Day Something In the Life Of An Archer
Archery! I just love every single minute I spend with my bow in tow and my arrows flying to the target. Despite all the workouts and bow training we've been made to do, I've come to realize that they, in fact, really pay off. Last Saturday, I was the model form... Steady as the beating drum.
Simply Cute!
One of the nicest ways to perk up your usually normal day is to see the face of an adorable baby, better yet one who's a member of the family. Macie is just all smiles and oozing cuteness. At only 4 months, she's a star in every way possible.
Not to forget another heart throb, Regina, confident like the wind blowing us out of our wits. She's everything to love and more.
Curtains Closed
Archery, spending time with family and good food, trips to Starbucks, looking at gadgets and gizmos in preparation for the Christmas season, and garnering a Santa Claus on a swing just make the two-day break from the rest of the week a time of leisure.
So as the week opens another chapter of our lives, I am signing off on a happy note.
Friday, October 08, 2004
High School The MovieToday was just crazy! Well, life is like that sometimes. So, for all of you with crazy school and work life at the moment, this article (one of those unpublished ones) is for you. It's that one I mentioned about high school from the point-of-view of an idealistic girl.
Note: I thought I'd incorporate titles of movies into the article to really get a feel of high school life just like in the movies. Yeah! It's so teeny bopper!
HIGH SCHOOL THE MOVIE
High school... you can't live with it, you can't live without it! But you have to admit that where the word Friends is concerned, after the mall, high school is The Next Best Thing. Even if the most stressful of days has you writing, "Dear School, these are the 10 Things I Hate About You," the most exciting events find you wanting to be in school For Love of the Game.
Indeed, high school is A Walk to Remember. Ok, maybe wracking your brains to write The Paper on Shakespeare In Love whose deadline, by the way, is tomorrow has you pleading with your teacher, "Please?!? Say It Isn't So!" Ready or not, it's a fact of life that you'll find it in your adrenaline to pick up your skirts and Bring It On.
Meanwhile, you're still on that perpetual quest to find out What Women Want. Whether it's to get rid of the Varsity Blues or simply to be Legally Blond, fighting for your cause will never be easy.
As you celebrate your Sixteen Candles, you'll realize that all there is to high school is to Pay It Forward. The best way to live it to the fullest is to sing to The Sound of Music, dance to the rhythm on Center Stage, and party as though heaven were on Moulin Rouge. And though you've Never Been Kissed, you're secretly hoping that your special someone would Save the Last Dance of prom night just for you. In the end of it all, there would be nothing left for you to do but That Thing You Do, look at the mirror, smile, and tell yourself, "She's All That!"
Thursday, October 07, 2004
New LookKonnichiwa! An Nyung! Hola! Hello!
Thought I'd change the look and feel of my blog into something more appropriate for a writer, or so an aspiring one. I wanted something different. The old one looked too much like Bam's and my room and Ate Pebs's room combined.
Anyway, if you have the October issue of Reader's Digest Asia, check out Page 6 under Tribute To Teachers! I have a short piece that got published about playing the violin. Whoopiedoo!
So, signing of for now!
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Feeling YoungI wanted to post something right now, one of my previously, take note, unpublished works but I left my notebook of pieces at home. It's all about my views on high school, more so, a realistic yet idealistic take on high school life from the point-of-view of a teenage girl. Yeah! How teeny-bopper. I thought I'd put it here coz I've chatted with two friends today who are presently toiling in school but are looking forward to the light at the end of the tunnel ... SEM BREAK! When everyone's on sem break (especially mega-stressed Bam), I feel like I am too. Hehe!
I'll post that later.
Monday, October 04, 2004
Which Broadway Musical Are You?Of all forms of entertainment, I think musicals are the best.
Just to veer away from what I previously mentioned, that this blog will be for my works only, I thought I'd share a quiz I took. Which Brodaway Musical Are You?
I am...
Tada!
