Sunday Video: Head Over Feet

Happy Sunday to all!



Wishes do come true after all =)

Just a plug. Check out our activities for October in my work blog.

365 Days of An Apple a Day

It's been a year since I set-up this blog in Mountain View, California last year (that's why my dates are messed up a bit). I remember being so very dazed (due to jetlag) when someone gave us a talk about Blogger and all I could remember then was that we should sign-up for an account. I signed-up after and copy-pasted one of my favorite posts from my Friendster blog. I never took blogging seriously then (well it's still a pasttime for me until now) and just did posts sparingly until Janette urged me to blog more and gave me tips and directed me to try out other stuff like Technorati, Digg etc.

I would've started blogging more by December 2006 but I got stuck for a while in Jakarta and then the earthquake hit, accessing the internet over there was next to impossible. So it was only in January that I really started blogging a lot, then I attended the Blog Parteeh and then the rest is what you could say is history.

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The past year has definitely been a journey for me. As Sorsi keeps telling me lately, "Makulay masyado ang buhay mo mare." Not that I want it to be that way (LOL), but I'd say that it's been a really exciting year for me. I'm sure if you've been following An Apple a Day in the past year you'd know that my life's been riddled with ups and downs, triumphs and failures, but hey isn't that the way one is supposed to live life? I'd say, just do it, be happy, but don't forget about the important stuff such as values and responsibilities.

Gawd, I write too much and I still wanna make another post on my work blog before I turn in to sleep. Anyway, here are some posts which may be significant to me, made favorite by others or just whatever -

I am Filipino and Proud to be One

Travel: Bohol and Cebu

Bloggers Raid Puerto Galera

Meme: Funniest Childhood Memory

I am M.E. Miguel Escueta

Cebu Love Thoughts: How Will I Know if He is the One?

Meme: The Ideal Guy

Single vs. Married? Which is Better?

On Philippine IT News

I Won a Car from the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs Party

Taste Asia Blogger Food Fest: A Smashing Success

Blogger Lingo 101

I have a smattering of serious posts as well, but I noticed people like reading more about relationships and stuff about being Filipino. It's really funny how a lot of my search engine traffic come from the following keywords: my name, relationship keywords, childhood memories and other really silly stuff. Does this mean I'm silly? Yes. I mean, no, I mean yes. I mean, I guess I'm just not one to brood much. I like having lots sunshine in my life as much as possible.

Blogging I guess is my past time. I stopped writing for 8 years and I guess this is my way of forcing myself to write again (and hopefully start writing stories again) and besides I'm a very sociable person and since I don't have colleagues in the next cubicle or room to bug, blogging keeps me sane (at least my Mom doesn't catch me talking to myself anymore haha, kidding). It has also allowed me to meet many new people and gain many new friends and experience many new things. On the serious side, well, I'm going to make that post in my other blog.

You're probably bored by now... go... blog hop... to my other blogs wehehehe:

Stitching
Lakwatsera Ako
Twisted Wedding Planner
Homegrown
See all my blogs in my Google Page (get a page like this, just sign-up for Google Apps for Your Domain, it's free!)

And this day is a very significant day for me as well and I would just like to say THANK YOU SWEETIE, you made me really, really happy.

Now, I'm off to dreamland. Very bad jetlag indeed.

Emilio's First Cross Country Run

Mio, my 15-year old nephew joined the cross country team coz he wanted to try out something different. Anyway, I was just in time for his first run and I volunteered to be his paparazzi for the day (much to his embarrassment I think – his mom AND aunt watching him and we even arrived really early so we just hung-out with parents who arrived later).

My sister didn’t have any idea either on what goes on in the runs so we stuck it out and waited for more than 2 hours before Mio actually ran. My nieces, Celina and Maita, were in the swim team and they’ve got lots of medals and trophies from past winnings. Anyway, going back to the run, the kids basically would run 3 laps, totalling 5 miles (ugh!) and that doesn’t include the warm-up runs they did (I would probably pass out on the first hundred yards LOL).

It was actually fun to watch and we moved around a bit to follow the game and take photos.

Ready, get-set, GO! (video of the start-up)



Mio’s steady, winning form.


Mio almost at the finish line.


How I wish I had a dSLR and that I actually know how to take photographs. I think I might take up a bit of running when I’m home.

Bodies

One thing I love about Washington and spending time with my sister is going to museums/exhibits. The last time I visited her (a loooong time ago) I managed to visit a number of museums including the Museum of Natural History (I loooove the dinosaurs), Air & Space Museum (I’m a fan of the Apollo 11, I wonder why…), and a couple of other cool tourist spots such as the catacombs of a church, the Washington and Lincoln Monument. I have a lot of photos of those but I’m too lazy to scan them and I really don’t wanna show how I looked when I was a kid with bangs, braces and short hair.

I had a very short, but fun-filled visit with my sister. We packed everything in just 3 days. And considering that I haven’t seen her for about 5 years, it’s really great that we didn’t drive each other crazy (and I didn’t drive my brother-in-law crazy too). Anyway, I digress. So, off we went on an adventure by going to the Bodies exhibit. I had to be the navigator (it’s much easier to navigate in Washington than California believe me).


So what was in the Bodies exhibit? BODIES. Literally. It basically showed human bodies, processed and preserved to show it’s full form inside and out. The photo doesn’t do justice to what you would actually see in the exhibit.


What was remarkable was seeing a full-body skeleton holding onto the fingertips of a full-body muscled being. The guide said it was actually the same person – his skeleton and his muscles. Then there was what we thought to be leather, but was actually skin laid bare on a metal bed (thank God there was glass covering it). Then slices and cross sections of bones, lungs, the heart, the digestive system, arteries and veins which looked a lot like roots/corals, fetuses, bones of a fetus, etc. The muscles looked a lot like meat and beef jerky. Diseased lungs looked definitely gross, all-blackened up and way smaller than a healthy pair of lungs.

Weird? Creepy? It was definitely freaky, but fascinatingly so and educational. I didn’t feel quite comfortable knowing that the display were actually people. Well, the guide said the bodies were either donated or unclaimed ones. (Gives me the shivers thinking about how they must’ve lived before ending up in an exhibit). Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take photos inside the gallery, but I could say that the exhibit met it’s objectives with me by reminding me that I should exercise!


The Bodies exhibit will be open until October 14 in Washington, D.C. Go check out their website, it’s supposed to be going around all over the world.

I'm Green

I'm about to turn in for the night and thought I should go and check-out some blogs and saw Sexymom's post about "What Color is Your Personality?" and thought, yeah, why not do something really mundane? So here's my supposedly personality color -

What color is your personality? Your personality is green! You are a curious, and inquisitive person. You have keen observational skills, and enjoy thinking about words. You are shy sometimes, and enjoy your solitude to reflect on nature. Click Here to Take This Quiz

Quizzes and Personality Tests

Green! Yes, I could be curious and I'd ask questions no matter how stupid they may seem - I learn a lot of weird stuff this way. Inquisitive? Hmmm, it really depends, I guess coz I remember enjoying sifting through loads of research data and I was fascinated by it. Keen observational skills, true, I'm a data sponge. Yes, I am shy (no? you don't agree? I'm really shy!) and I certainly enjoy just sitting by the seashore doing nothing.

I never thought of being identified with the color green - well except as a proud alumni of THE De La Salle University and it's grad school. The color green for me elicits images of nature, mountains, hills, flying down to Iloilo on a sunny day (without getting stranded!) and I'd say a green person is someone who is calm, stable, consistent, dependable... okay, okay I'm sure you get the picture and I'd say I'm definitely not a green person if that definition was followed. Green minded? Naaah.

Zzzzzz... really sleepy now. Good night world.

What I Miss Most About the Philippines

I'm feeling homesick. I'm about to go home soon, but I just wanted to rant about the stuff I miss about the Philippines.


1. My Family, especially Miguel. I miss all the hugs sweetie. I miss my Mom and Dad a lot too (yes, even the sermons I get every so often).

2. My Friends, especially my best friends - Darwin, Anne, Tappy and Jay. And, of course, my online and offline friends.

3. My Parish. Yes, I always feel sad whenever I hear mass in another church. Oh, and it's supposed to be our Parish fiesta soon. Too bad, I won't be around again. Sheesh.

4. Pinoy Food. My Pinoy breakfasts! Tosilog, longsilog, tapsilog... my Ate made up for it though. I remember going crazy Wednesday last week coz I was craving for rice badly.

5. The beach. I saw a bit of the beach in San Francisco and imagined how cold it would've been to take a dip. Nahhhh, I like my beach warm and calm.

6. Knowing where to go. I'm a very independent person and I don't really like relying on someone to get me from one point to another. But being in that situation made me realize that it's nice to have someone taking care of you.

7. OPM! I looooove Pinoy music and I even got my friends the Edu Manzano dance hits CD. Too bad I forgot to bring it to the party last Friday. I was certainly delighted that my best friend launched the Titikpilipino podcast last week.

8. My bed. I must have spent a lot of time this year sleeping in hotels and I just simply miss snuggling in my own bed.

9. Working at home. I mean, my study room. I miss the Greenwich tinted walls, my desk, getting a lot of SMS, hordes of email (I'm still getting those though) and doing all those crazy stuff I do everyday.

10. My hamsters. I hope Miguel's been taking care of them!

I'll be home soon!

*Photo taken at the Observation Tower of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum (yes, the other one located near Duller Airport) and that's my sister =)

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

From 20,000 miles up in the air
Transiting to Washington, D.C.

I couldn’t believe how time flew so fast. The week was long but made short with a flurry of activities from morning till the evening. I must’ve barely slept and that made my jetlag much more worse, but I could say I learnt a lot both for work and for myself. It’s just a little sad that sometimes even though you work hard for something, it just really wouldn’t push through if it’s not meant to be. At least I could say that I tried and I took the risk. I may hyperventilate a lot, but I am no coward. The secret though is to know when to ship out.

Anyways, off to happier thoughts. I had a grand time the whole week. I attended a barbecue party right off the plane. It was a pleasant surprise that guys from this side of the world can and would do the cooking and the after-party cleanup (how come those are rare in Manila?). Sebastian and Jay could give our local barbecue restos a run for their money. Plus Juan Carlos can probably start a hamburger chain on his own. And let’s not talk about how these guys can guzzle down hoards and hoards of drinks (right Franklin?). Man, these guys could party. (And I couldn’t express how much gratitude I have for these guys for making my stay easy and fun! Thanks, hugs from me!).

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I thought it was really sweet of the guys to bring me to the Flea Market. We went around and around and around. It was so much like being in an open-air tiangge back home. I didn’t buy anything since everything’s available back home. Sunday night was spent clubbing in Poleng Lounge, San Francisco for Christine’s birthday bash. What was interesting about that night was meeting a filmmaker – Benito Bautista – who shared that he’s going to make a film about the Barong with versatile actor, Raymond Bagatsing as part of the cast. Don’t forget I volunteered to be an extra! LOL.

The whole week was spent on work. Meetings, meetings and more meetings. I spent a lot of time as well with Pinoys. You rock guys! It was a pleasure to share with them bits and pieces about home and I’m looking forward to their visits. Meeting people from different nationalities is also something I look forward to whenever I come for a visit (free lodging in any country!). I love learning about how it is in other countries, what makes them tick, what makes them laugh, how kulit they could be. I was, of course, the behaved Pinay (shy kunwari LOL) – but then they all discovered my blog. So there goes my cover. Hahaha. Keep in touch guys!

I was more than a starstruck fan when I met some rockstars. I was awed, literally drooling. Hey, I never dreamt of having this great opportunity. Come visit me when I’m home so you’ll see my new décor. Meeting them though was a great reminder to me about my mission and what I have to do and what I have to do better. Uyyy, serious.

I almost missed my flight from Salt Lake City to Washington, D.C. coz the ride from SFO was delayed. I felt a bit embarrassed that the flight was delayed coz they had to wait for me. But it wasn’t my fault anyway, and thank God they waited for me. I just hope my luggage is here in the flight as well. I’m spending some time with my Ate (yes I have one!) and I haven’t seen her for 4 years already. I hope though we don’t drive each other crazy! LOL.

System re-booting. A fresh new beginning.