buena mano

first snowfall of the season.

syempre, hindi ako pahuhuli sa mga blooperous acts ko.

bonggang bongga ang pagsalpak ko sa semento habang pauwi na kami ng orc ko. ewan ko ba! akala ko di madulas. pero ayun na nga! sumemplang na ako and all! and take note, sa kalagitnaan pa ng pedestrian lane! kaloka! wala man lang konting discretion. center stage talaga palagi ang mga bloopers ko!

nag sorry pa sa akin ang orc ko. sabi ko sa kanya, "di mo kasalanan yun. madulas lang yung daan". wala pa ngang 1 meter yung lakad namin, sya na naman yung sumemplang! hayyy!!!

kaya very careful na ang aming paglakad. sabay enjoy na rin sa falling snow. yun nga lang, muntik muntikan na kaming abutin ng 25 years bago makarating ng bahay.

tsk! tsk! tsk!

into my own by Robert Frost

ONE of my wishes is that those dark trees,
So old and firm they scarcely show the breeze,
Were not, as ’twere, the merest mask of gloom,
But stretched away unto the edge of doom.

I should not be withheld but that some day
Into their vastness I should steal away,
Fearless of ever finding open land,
Or highway where the slow wheel pours the sand.

I do not see why I should e’er turn back,
Or those should not set forth upon my track
To overtake me, who should miss me here
And long to know if still I held them dear.

They would not find me changed from him they knew—
Only more sure of all I thought was true.



(A Boy's Will. 1915)

smitten

a visit to the dental clinic was not really my idea of a good tuesday morning. but thanks to Kjersti, who booked an appointment for my dental check-up with dr. frank-jakob sandbakk, i was in an early morning rush to catch my dental consultation at 09:30.

i was right on the dot when i arrived in the clinic. i was told to wait for a while. then, the dental assistant took a couple of pictures of my dents. after a minute or so, she led me to a room.

there and then, i was smitten! he introduced himself and offered his hand for a handshake. mystified and stunned, i shook his hand and smiled. everything was silent then. i was engulfed by his presence. i can't take my eyes off his thick eyebrows. they were beautiful eyebrows. he led me to the dental chair. reality snapped back to me when i saw the dental apparatus. they weren't pleasant to my eyes. (i have always been scared of dental check-ups and this one is no exception.) i just wanted to look at his eyebrows and internalize that everything's gonna be fine. but the lights blinded me and when he started checking and poking on each tooth in my mouth, i felt embarrassed. my mouth is such a dreadful place. it is an awful thing when you reveal your darkest side to someone who had just bewitched you. urgh! minus points.

he worked on my teeth for half an hour. he told me that i need to have one of my tooth pulled out. WHAT?! ain't i too old to be agonized by the thought of having a tooth extraction? he asked me if i could come back tomorrow. i asked him if there is any chance for an appointment next week. it will give me time to think whether or not will i have my tooth removed.

if and only if i'll come back to his clinic on wednesday next week, it will be because i was enamoured with his beautiful eyebrows and his handsome face.

ps. i talked to kjersti about my dental check-up today and she assured me that if i'll decide to go on with the extraction i'm in good hands with dr. sandbakk. so help me God....

sleeping with strangers

i was looking for a place to stay for a couple of nights in Oslo. I googled and i found a hostel which i liked. i tried to book online but there was a problem with my card. when i checked the hostel's website the following day, it was fully booked. i was so annoyed. i still had one hostel in mind but it's a little outside of Oslo already. so, one day, i called the hostel in the heart of Oslo city, the one which i really liked, and asked if they still have an available bed for their "shared-room". happiness swept over me when the woman on the phone said yes. voila! she arranged a booking for me!

now came friday.

it took me at least an hour to find the hostel. i have no sense of direction, alright! and when i found it, i was, mmmm....i felt quite weird. i buzzed on the door and i was in in a flash. i didn't like the smell. old cigarette smoke smell. but, well...i didn't mean to be so judgmental. besides, it was the only place which i can afford to pay. okay. proceed...i got my key from the receptionist and went straight to my assigned room.

the room was wide enough for the 5 of us who will be sharing it. i got the widest bed in the room. oh, what a treat! i was the first one to arrive too! i wanted to hit the sheets already, since i had a headache and i needed the rest for the exam the following day. but i thought better of it, grabbed my jacket and went out again. it was only 4 in the afternoon, after all.

i got back to the hostel at 6. i took a shower and got ready for bed. i fell asleep around half past seven. an hour later, a was awakened by the clicking sound of the key on the door. oh well, here comes my roommate/s. they tried to be as quiet as possible when they got into the room. whispering like old chinese women. they didn't even put the lights on. how considerate. they didn't want to wake me up. i wiggled on my bed and tried to figure them out in the darkness. holy cow! they were male species! guys, men, lalaki! and there were two of them! panic attack! i covered myself with my comforter. i didn't know what to do. should i run out of the room and ask the receptionist, WHY are there men in my assigned room? should i get my pen, the only deadly weapon that i had in my bag and have it in my hand throughout the night? i couldn't breath under the sheets. i felt trickles of sweat on my forehead. i didn't move until i could hear their silent whispers no more.

i tried to gather my thoughts. is this the way all these hostels in oslo work? was i just ignorant about these stuffs? what should i do?

after a long time of thinking and just staring blank at the wall, i decided to just go back to sleep, relaxed my mind for the exam the next day, resolved to the idea that all humans are, in nature, good. and those two guys would do me no harm.

i fell back to sleep until 3 in the morning when a loud sound woke me up. i thought it was my alarm. already? i needed more sleep! my subconsciousness wavered. i realized the loud sound was the fire alarm. i didn't panic or felt scared. i felt really annoyed! i wanted to sleep! but the alarm was just going and going and going. so i got up and by then i realized that there's another man in the room. it was me and the three of them. they weren't bothered by the alarm at all. i got out of my bed and opened the door just when someone shouted "false alarm"! i let out a loud "urggghhh!" in annoyance.

it was in light of saturday morning when the strangers and i acknowledged each other. i said "good morning" to them and went out of the room in a rush. what else was there to say to strangers whom you've spent a night in a room with?

there will be no next time. that's for sure!

gossip girl made me cry

towards the end of gossip girl's episode 6 of season 3, GG said, " when it comes to family, we're all still children at heart. no matter how old we get, we'll always need a place to call home because without the people you love the most, you can't feel but all alone in the world".

*i miss home. and i miss my mom...and everyone back home. i couldn't contain the tears. i've never felt this strong desire to be home*

ambush

i came home from a belly-bulging-Volda-Øresta trip with ate hazel, kuya geir, berta and rafael last night at around 7. while we were driving back to Stryn, i was already planning on how to spend my saturday night.

mmmm...first, chocolate-feeding. then, i will work on my listening comprehension for the TOEFL. after that, i will relax, play lover's in paris and splurge on paprika-flavored potato chips.

but the moment i went into my room, Felix was there, attacking me with all his fast-paced stories which i can hardly comprehend. an hour after that, mader knocked on my door and asked if our terrier could stay in my room for the night, or at least, until their party ends. okay, no problem. a little less than an hour later, Rebecca knocked on my door and asked if Felix could sleep in my room because he's scared to sleep alone. okay, no problem.

the minute i closed my door, with the two boys in my boudoir, i went crazy as they filled my room with adrenaline rush. oscar wouldn't stop whinning and scratching my door. obviously, he wanted, so much, to join the party of 14 people downstairs. huh! talk about a very social animal. and Felix? oh well, apart from the fact that he was annoyed for being banned to go downstairs, he was pissed because my pc works rather slowly, and he didn't have the patience to wait until the system is finished downloading those bakugan episodes. his whinning was far more annoying than oscar.

patience....patience is a virtue...i had to repeat my mantra for a hundred times to collect my remaining sanity.

with my well-planned saturday night gone to the trash, i just made the best out of what i can do. i cleaned my nails. when Felix was already asleep, i had the chance to see lover's in paris. but, with oscar's unending whinning, barking and scratching, i wasn't able to sleep until 3 in the morning.

unprepared

i am narcissistic. i admit that. i could spend hours and hours in front of the mirror admiring whatever is (i think) admirable in me.

i love pictorials. i love it when my friends take pictures of me. i love to pose and project. years of pictorial for friendster's purposes have developed my love for the camera. i know my angles, how wide my smile should be, when to make faces and when to make the moments appear candid. i'm not pretty, so, at least, i want to be prepared for photo shoots. always.

today was an exception. i went to the police to have my passport stamped for my extension visa. i didn't know that they will take a picture of me. i was shocked when the police said that i should take my jacket off and sit on a chair and face the spaceship-like machine. i was shocked that i didn't even care how i looked. the police even said to me, "maybe you'd like to see yourself in the mirror first". OMG! i didn't like what i saw. but they didn't have the whole day and i didn't have my kikay kit with me.

it was like a death sentence. i was advised to look at the white flashy thing in that spaceship-like machine and keep my lips together. of course, the machine was designed for tall people! when tall people have their picture taken from that machine they would be on eye-level with that flashy thing. of course, i am a midget compared to them! and you know what, when i got my passport back, my picture on it was like...is it a bird, is it a plane or is it an alien attack? imagine that! and it would be on my passport forever. okay. only until it expires. but still...

*thunder and lightning*

yubiii!

nagtatatalon na ang mga coronary arteries ko sa sobrang saya! dumating na ang extension permit ko! at ibig sabihin non, tuloy na tuloy na ang Paris trip! hello french fries, french guys...at meron kayang french kiss na mangyayari? ooops! kaloka ito! buti naman at hindi ako nahulog sa hagdan nung tinawagan ako ni mader para i-relay ang magandang balita. eh ano naman kung isipin ng mga nakakasalubong ko na lukaret ako na habang naglalakad eh nakangiti na parang ewan. masaya ako eh! at everytime na naiisip ko ang french fries napapa smile ako.

*buntong hininga*

bonjour Paris!

i get ecstatic every time i look at this piece of paper



i am still waiting for my extension visa and yet, i already have a ticket for the Paris trip. i am looking forward for the trip every single day! i even watched kc's documentary about her 4-year stay in the city of love. and what's worse? i've been watching lover's in paris! huh!

i have a list of places that i want to visit when i am there. i hope that 3 days would be enough to do everything that I am supposed to do when i'm there.

eeeeee!!!!!! can't wait!

so help me, G....

in fairness, i've been practicing for my TOEFL exam, which is scheduled a couple of weeks from now. what i didn't know, is that i've been studying for the paper-based test, when in fact, i should be working on the iBT test! stupid me!

for some reasons, i was inpired to google for free online iBT practice last night. goodness gracious! i was shocked! my brain was paralyzed for a while. so, okay then. i started to work on it.

the practice test was more on reading comprehension, which is my waterloo. i am a slow reader. normally, i would read a passage over and over again. at times, my eyes just brush through the words on the pages of a book. passive reading. but i can't do that when i work on the exam. how about reading a passage for 45 seconds and understanding everything? heller? i can't even finish reading a couple of paragraphs in that time span! how much more understanding what the text was all about!

my nose is bleeding!

practice...practice...practice and more practice! that is just what i need to do.

if it comes to worse, i hope mabeth's novena will work : )

mcdreamy and me

i call him boyfriend. him. patrick dempsey aka dr. derek shepherd of grey's anatomy.

i used to purposely walk to this store which sells sunglasses in the centrum. they had a poster of him. i normally stand outside the store, smile back at him through the glass window and whisper, "hi, boyfriend". when i'm at the other side of the road, i shout it out!

but the store changed their posters and display a couple of months ago. i freaked out when i went there and found him gone. there's no sense of going to the centrum anymore.

BUT! i found a picture of him in a magazine! my heart danced with so much joy!

now, my boyfriend and his bright smile occupy a part of my corkboard.