BACK TO SCHOOL
Term break is indeed over. School started last week, and already, I am swamped with a million and one assignments! I have about 20 problems I have to solve for my Statistics class. Now I’m beginning to think taking three subjects wasn’t a very smart decision. But on a happy note naman, the “girls” and I are so glad we’re in Ethics class together. The “girls” were my group mates in Accounting class last term and surprisingly, despite the eclectic mix of personalities, we hit it off quite well… Naku, we’re already planning a Cebu get-away this December. Aside from that, we will be participating in Rockwell’s Christmas tiangge, not just to sell but to bond even more… BTW, as soon as I have the details I will post it here so you guys can visit and buy our goodies, ok?
Here’s a quick intro: Keena – tall, morena, part-time model (guys, sorry, being an only child, her parents chaperone her everywhere), Cristina – my partner in katarayan but this tall Chinese mestiza is very sweet to her friends (she brings cookies and prepares great meals when we study together in their house), Rochelle – very tahimik but among the girls, she’s my “mostest” gmik buddy :) and lastly, Thet – this size 2 (!!!) chinita graduated from UPLB but not an air of hauteur in her persona. And, do I need to say we (as in kasama ako, hehe) are all qt’s! Of course. ;) Any violent reactions? :-)

ANO G MO 2NYT?
A friend text’d me that earlier. I wish! Eh, I had been stuck in my apartment for almost two days now. Except for the short trip to school to attend my two classes (I was so thankful for the 4-hr break from my routine), I have done nothing but watch TV, sleep, write my blogs in the last 48hrs. No, it’s not by choice. For the nth time this quarter, I got sick again. Had the flu, and endless bouts of colds and sinusitis attacks. I even had stomach flu. And now, what I initially thought as ear infection, is actually just another bout of colds. No, I am not a hypochondriac, I assure you. Kakainis pa, those darned cable guys didn’t show up either so I only have about 8 channels to choose from! Anyway, as most of you know, I am an insomniac as well, so here I am typing away, after watching an episode of “F”. It featured Bacolod, and seeing all those familiar places reminded me of a friend whom I’ve missed dearly. Tani, maayo ka man da. Halong ka gid ha.

AWAKE
Laryang told me that friends have a license to bicker with each other because they know each other so well. We've known each other more than half our lives and it's normal for us to talk to each other straight. Over the years we've developed this certain tolerance, patience and understanding for/with each other. I guess if we weren't backed up by years of solid friendship, the four of us wouldn't last being friends. Come to think of it, if you put together a bunch of stubborn, opinionated, smart and successful females in one room, it's world war III waiting to happen.
In fairness to my friend (in my previous blog), he has apologized for yelling at me. I admit, I can be quite a handful, too. Yet, he's still around, ready to lend a helping hand or a listening ear. He was there in one of the most difficult periods of my life, extending an extra mile to help me through it. When I felt like I could no longer keep on going, he made me laugh and look at the bright side of life instead. He kept me company when I was most alone. He showered me with sweetness when I had lost faith in the goodness of the rest of the world. I guess smart women look at friends beyond the silly fights they have once in a while. Smart women will always value those critical moments when these friends have been there by your side when you most needed them. And smart women forgive.

HUH?!
Grabe! It started with a favor I asked a friend. It ended up with me crying and asking what the hell happened?! He said I should understand him because I already know him. He raises his voice every time he makes a point. And then he goes on to give me a litany of sorts. But he knows me as well, shouldn’t he also remember that I get hurt when he, or anyone else, does that to me? When he yells at me, I can’t help but feel that somehow, no matter what I say or do, I just seem to irritate him. Period. And I just take all that verbal beating. (Maybe there really is such a thing as loving someone to a fault). He goes on to tell me that he expects me to be considerate (and am I not?) since we’re friends. Uhm. Ok. Can someone pls. explain this to me? Am I just being dense or does this guy hate me or what? I should just get back to sleep. Maybe when I wake up later I’ll finally get it. Or maybe I should just read that article about smart women again. And take it to heart.

EXCERPTS
Smart Women
(author unknown)

Smart women get the nice guys because they don't lower their standards for men-or anyone else for that matter.
Smart women take the attitude that if this is the best you can do, they'll just go to the dance without an escort, the movie without a date, and the rest of their lives without the true companion constantly celebrated on FM radio.
A smart woman has figured out that her biological clock is not really ticking that loud, that her grandmother was still fertile well into her fifties, and, anyway, if she had wanted a baby, she would have had one by now.
Smart women have also worked out that all the media hype about not finding a husband when you're growing older is bull perpetuated by male-owned media machines to make women desperate and compliant. To make sure that men will always have their pick of scared women to choose from and that they won't have to work any harder at being decent.
Smart women have learned that the important question is not -Will I ever get married?- but- Do I want to get married?-

Smart women know that you can ALWAYS settle for less than what you really want. You can always get serious with a guy you're not really in love with or one who doesn't treat you exactly right. So there's no point in making any compromises today or tomorrow either for that matter. There's always going to be time to do the wrong thing.
Smart women aren't lonely enough. They've noticed you get a lot done when you're on your own.
Smart women know it's a heck of a lot easier to figure out what you're good at and make your own money than it is to entertain some tyrant. This frees you up to see a nice guy, whether he has money or not. Smart women have also freed themselves from the psychological need to be dominated by their men.
Smart women like to feel powerful themselves, and appreciate men who can handle that.
Smart women have adopted a firm line with men that can best be summarized: treat me right or take a picture of me.

Smart women are over men who fear commitment, who can't control their hormonal urges, who grunt instead of making conversation, who aren't reasonably punctual, who won't spring for an occasional evening out on the town, who don't listen, who don't know how to be supportive of their smart women's dreams.
Smart women know that being a jerk doesn't make a guy exciting. Smart women are excited by men who call everyday without being pushy, who do what they say, who know how to say -I love you- and, more importantly, how to act out that love in 100 ways that prove it. In other words, smart women are no longer attracted to the bad boys.
They've been out with all the bad boys. Yawn. Been there, etc. Now they cultivate the bad boy in the nice boys they go out with, which is something COMPLETELY different.

SEX AND THE CITY
I was so amused by some of the emails I received from a few of you comparing my musings to something out of “Sex and the City”. I laughed so hard! I guess it’s kinda true, about the city part. But nothing I wrote so far mentioned sex (don’t hold ur breath now, I’m not going there. Yet. :P), but I guess you folks are really my friends then… ;-)
Don’t you just love that series, though? I’ve heard that, in the U.S., girlfriends watch the show in droves. I haven’t gone that far with my girlfriends, but like most of the girls everywhere, we could either relate to any of the four characters or aspire to be them. :-)
While we were in Malapascua, Laryang, Fudzy and myself had an argument about who Samantha was in our barkada. We all agreed that we aspired to be her –strong, audacious and larger than life! I wouldn’t reveal who most of us think Samantha is, but Arlene is definitely our unanimous Miranda! (Hi, Arl, peace! We didn’t talk about you that much. Promise.) Anyway, girls, fyi, as per ivillage’s quiz results, I am 40% Carrie, 30% Miranda, 20% Charlotte and 10% Samantha. Well, what did I tell you? :-)

Hey, Fudz, thanks for sending me that article about “Smart Women”. All I can say is, I agree! Oh btw, you still owe us a bottle of tequila, right? :-) Happy birthday!

THANKS
Well, 1st of all I would like to thank all of you who have taken the time to read my blogs. I have never been the type to keep a diary or a journal, mostly because I’m so tamad to do it. But lately I have rediscovered the joy in writing. There was even a time when I got so addicted to posting in Femalenetwork’s message board (girltalk) because I finally had an outlet for my eccentricities and misadventures! Of course, that was a lot easier because I use a handle and I could just write away – no holds barred. :-)
I’ve only unveiled my real identity and promoted this site to those I consider friends, so I guess I feel safe enough to publicize my thoughts and emotions.
So for all who have emailed me pala, I really appreciate your feedback, inputs and encouragement! As soon as I have more spare time, I’ll work on the enhancements. Sieg, my yosimate and one of my best buds at work, already signed up to assist me. (btw, Sieg, check out my links, hehe...figured it out). But for now, I’ll just keep posting away. And you're more than welcome to post back.

REMEMBERING OLD FRIENDS
Time to introduce the rest of my barkada. Strange how after more than twenty years in this life, I've remained very close only to a few select friends whom I've met back in high school. Even if we hardly see each other, we always pick up where we left off, like no time or distance ever separated us.

Aside from the three girls I've already introduced in my previous blogs, I have a couple of other girlfriends whom you haven't heard about yet. The six of us were the epitome of "girl power" back in high school. Nobody told us then, but in one of our yearly reunions we heard confessions from our other classmates how they hated (cguro that's putting it very strongly naman) our guts cause we dominated almost all of our school activities. At one time, the guys even staged a boycott. Kami naman, we thought they were just being difficult! :P

Lily and Cookie complete the gang. The former, our resident painter, is now based in London (and I haven't seen her in ages!) while the latter is our businesswoman, also based in Cebu, who got married last year and is now a very proud mother of baby Benjamin! Lily also writes in Cebu Central c/o the feature called "Sense and Nonsense" (and to my other h.s. batchmates, fritzie also writes the feature "breathing space"). btw, Lily was my 1st high school best friend. She taught me how to make "para" a jeepney and get off from it (ok, I had a very sheltered childhood and riding a jeepney was already an adventure for me then), among other things. Despite the differences in the paths that we took in recent years, she has remained a very good friend who's accepted me, flaws and all :) I miss you, Lils, thanks for the emails and hope to see you soon...

REALITY BITES
I'm working from home today. Probabaly got overwhelmed by all the things needing my attention. I miss Cebu already. I miss not having to look at my watch constantly. I miss being out of touch and pretending, even for a short while, that this sense of peaceful indifference could last forever. :)
My manager is probably pissed off that I am still out of the office today. But I just can't drag myself out of my bed, much more my apartment. My official statement is that I'm not feeling well due to exhaustion. But I think I just do not want my vacation to end yet.. Uh-oh... I remember a friend telling me while we just got back from vacation in Costa Rica that we always need a vacation after a vacation... Sort of to give ourselves time to readjust to our own realities... I can just imagine my manager murmuring to himself that happy vacations can't be good for business. :P

HOME SWEET HOME
In just a few hours I'll be back to reality again, back inside the confines of my cube. :( Thus, I'm writing my second blog for the day to share with u folks what transpired during my few days of freedom, if only to savor those moments some more.

Wow, I was glad to be back "home" again. I have visited Cebu more than my usual (of once or twice per year) this year. But this vacation was special as I had more than just the weekend to be with my family and friends. Not only did I taste meals prepared by either dad or mom again, but I had long talks with them after dinner, like we used to do. Of course, my sis, Eyen, and I also engaged in our usual marathon kwentuhan till wee hours in the morning, talking about how similar we both are, being Aries, and about boys and our aspirations.

One of the highlights of my vacation was the Malapascua adventure with my best friends. Not only were we visiting one of the more beautiful, white sand beach islands in Cebu, but this was our first all-girl trip, in the 15 yrs that we've been barkada. I have three best friends, btw. We all have our own careers now -- Laryang and Arlene are based in cebu, both doctors, and Fudzy, based in Manila like myself, is a marketing manager moving around in the glam biz. Our busy schedules leaves us a few days in a year, if at all, to see each other and talk. So now you can understand why this trip was very memorable. Arlene, btw, was not able to join us as no one could cover for her in the hospital.

What can i say? We had so much fun! from the (bumpy) bus ride to Maya, to the 40-min pump boat ride to the island to the "near-death" experience in the floating bar, to the tour around the island, to the profound conversations about life, careers and relationships... One blog is just not enough to talk about that adventure! Suffice to say that nasuya (nainggit or got envious in tagalog and english, respectively) gyud si Arlene.. hehe..

Ok, so maybe I'll talk about the floating bar thing a bit. We were there, trying to get ourselves drunk with vodka, tequila, rhum, and suddenly it started to rain and the winds was blowing so strong that a few chairs fell into the sea. A tiny paddleboat took us to that bar, and we were wondering whether the boatman could bring us back safely to the shore! But thankfully he did, and despite the wet cameras & money, and us drenched in rain, we were able to get back to our cottages alive. Unfortunately, our attempt to drink till we dropped was foiled. :(

Back in the city, we checked out some of the new hang outs located in Ayala Center. (btw, i just had to taste Cafe Laguna's puto bumbong as laryang swore it tasted a lot better than Via Mare's - mine and Fudzy's fave! i still like the latter better, though the former still tasted good in it's own right.) We had dinner in Sol y Luna, with another high school barkada, Jude, the queen and her friends whom we just met that night. But we had a great time since we had interesting company. Dessert was at Dish (no relation to the one in Powerplant and this is not located in Ayala), and leave it to the La Pinay girls (Laryang, Fudzy and me) to order mango crepe. During my last night, we checked out a club called Mi Vida where waitresses danced in the bar counters! There's supposedly nothing like that yet in Manila, and I should say it's pretty interesting, and we saw some interesting dancers and faces that night... We salsa'd our night away until our feet hurt, then capped the night with a quick stomach fix in Banilad.

And now, I'm back in Manila. I had started reading through my emails as soon as I arrived in the apartment. And as expected, my inbox was full. arrghh... some good things never last...

So am I ready to be go back to reality? The size of my inbox, the pending work and the start of the 2nd tri of my MBA tomorrow definitely spells a big YES! sigh

A NEW BEGINNING
Just came back from a one-week vacation, the first real one where I didn't have to work while away from the office. I left my laptop in my Makati apartment and didn't look back. A couple of hours later, I arrived at the Mactan International Airport in Cebu, greeted by one of my best friends, and I was off to a relaxing and refreshing week, with only my cellphone as my connection to my real world back in Manila. My manager had told me that I was free to reject calls from work, and I had every intention of exercising that option. :)
My mind is clearer now, and the dilemma that occupied my mind a week ago is more or less resolved. I am once again ready to face reality. And what fitting way to start anew by starting up my blog! I have so many resolves, new goals, and fresh direction to look forward to!