Dusting Off

Yessss we are still aliiiive!!

Allow me to take some time to dust off the cobwebs that have been growing at the corners of this blog. *wink* I know my last post was April 2015 but it feels so looong since I last ever wrote anything. Maybe because so many things has happened, this year has been a whirlwind!!

I write this now inside a room for two, waiting for Ray to finish fussing outside so we can prepare of lunch. In my right ring finger, a band of white and rose gold sits comfortably. REM plays in the background. It is a weekend, and we woke up 10am (yaaass!)

After almost two months, the dust has pretty much settled. From here on there is no longer much of an I-I-I as there is a we-we-we. I am starting to get used to waking up beside this gentle giant, in fact I now find it a little strange when I have to sleep without him. We are in the process of adjusting our routines, making short and long term plans, with some bickering along the way (hihi).

So yes, the duo of this blog has finally gotten married. :) :) May foreverrr!!!

We're excited to share more here. This blog is our love child and will always be. I want to keep writing and keep my eyes open to this world that can only get more colorful now that I have him with me.

AND OF COURSE WE'LL BE BLOGGING ABOUT THE WEDDING! It's a little overdue now but we'll be talking about the suppliers, the ups and downs, the lovely people who have supported us all throughout, and every single thing that made it our very own best-day-ever. So stay tuned! :)

That's one of my favorite photos from the prenup shoot. :) Up to now I can't help but gasp at the beauty of it all.

But for the meantime, excuse me while my husband calls me out to cook our fried rice. *wink* Will be back soon!!

My Tatay Passed the Real Estate Appraiser Examination 2014! :D

First off, what is an appraiser? As Wikipedia puts it: 

"Real estate appraisal, property valuation or land valuation is the process of valuing real property. The value usually sought is the property's market value. Appraisals are needed because compared to, say, corporate stock, real estate transactions occur very infrequently. Not only that, but every property is different from the next, a factor that does not affect assets like corporate stock. Furthermore, all properties differ from each other in their location - which is an important factor in their value."

An assessor is for government properties, while an appraiser determines the value of private properties. An assessor is automatically also an appraiser, but an appraiser cannot be an assessor until he passes the licensure exam.

The licensure exam took place last July 13, 2014 at the Manuel L. Quezon University over at Quiapo, Manila. But before this day, Tatay had to take review classes from Cesar Santos that spanned a month of whole-day review sessions and he would even review at home. A few weeks prior the exam he would stay up until the wee hours of the morning just studying and solving problems. Imagine someone in his 50's who was still willing to go through all that effort to pass the exam... it was very inspiring!

I kept asking him if he was nervous but he just laughed it off and said he had faith in God. :D

Come exam day, me and mama were in full support of tatay and accompanied him to the exam venue.  Unfortunately there wasn't an allotted parking space, but we were lucky we got there early so we got to park right beside the gates. Mama didn't want to walk around the place so we spent the whole day just stuck inside the car. Thank goodness we had newspapers and other reading stuff so we didn't really get too bored. I think I even blogged there. Lol.

I managed to take a couple of snapshots from the exam venue so well here's what it looked like:

Aaaand before we knew it, the exam was over. The exam took one whole day (just like the UPCAT!) and  Tatay got tired so we headed over to Pancake House at the Mall of Asia to eat.

We only found out the results about a week after, but it appears that they already released it 3 days after the exam. Turns out the exam was harder this year, with just a 36% passing rate. Buuuut yeheees!! Tatay passed!! Yeahmeeeeen!!

You can find the complete list of successful examinees here:

http://www.prc.gov.ph/uploaded/documents/REA0714se.pdf

I am SO SO SO SO proud of Tatay! Of course we're really grateful for all the help that God has blessed us with, BUUUUT you have to admit that you really won't go anywhere if you don't put hard work into it.

So! If there are any real estate properties, both privately or government-owned, that you would like to have appraised, just contact me or hit the comments section below and I'll refer you to my Tatay, okay?? It appears that there's a lot of technicalities involved in these things that you really need a professional to work these out. My father is also a licensed real estate broker, you can visit his Sulit (Olx) page here for available properties (majority in Laguna, Cavite and Batangas area).

So yes, contact us! :D

Congrats again Tatay!

Rediscovering Newspapers

One of the activities that eat up a huge chunk of my online time is reading articles. Sometimes I catch up on news, sometimes I read on social commentary,  gossip, and whatnots like Buzzfeed, Thoughtcatalog, etc (my favorite is Lifehacker). While it is of course healthy to take a peep into the perspectives of different people from different belief systems, there are times when I think some of these are just carefully-worded junk. It's funny how people with twisted reasoning can gain sympathy and believers by simply relying on witty rhetoric. But then again that's what makes the internet interesting.

Even if I love reading these articles, I'm realizing that the overload of content and the fact that just about anyone can publish their work, is turning this end of online content into a pile of confused mess.  Just like how videos of cute dogs and cats can now be considered junk because there's just waaaaaaaaay too much of them. It can be tricky to sort through the ones with real value.

Even self-declared news websites can produce a lot of crap nowadays (though not all really). If in the pre-internet era you can trust all the facts you see in new articles, nowadays you'd have to take things with a grain of salt because they tend to make typographical mistakes, errors in citing references, and sometimes even their facts are just downright wrong. I don't really get what their editors are doing, but I think they're less strict on their online articles because they know that they can undo their errors by simply hitting the "edit" button. And all this while acting like arrogant journalists at that (*ehem*ehem*tamaan-na-ang-tatamaan*lol).

Anyway, this line of thought has prompted me to rediscover the one medium that has been grossly affected by the rise of online journalism - the newspapers.

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Of Love, Friendship, and Paper Lanterns | This is it :)

I woke up a little disoriented. I checked my watch and found that its 6:30pm. I must have slept by more than an hour. In front of me, Suzette soundly sleeps. Oh I missed this lady, and the rest of the gang.

I stood up and checked myself in the mirror. My hair is a mess. I remember how my boyfriend Ray told me that we have to help in the preparations for this evening because tonight we're having a bonfire. Wee! We're composed of 4 vans, and almost 50 people, all from the process engineering department. They're technically my second family, as my first 5 years as a professional really evolved with these people. In spite of my resignation a couple of months ago, these people remain close to my heart.  There have been a lot of new engineers, but what's really cool is how a lot of engineers brought their families and special someone's to this outing. It's not every day that you can organize a whole department trip to Potipot, Zambales anyway! Hat's off to Sir Francis for that! It’s our best summer outing to date!

  

I looked for Ray but he was nowhere to be found. I tried to get back in and look for him in the kitchen, in the other rooms, and in the other areas of the resort but I couldn't find him. And I started to notice how the rest of the group wasn't in the resort either.

Soon, Ate Hya and Kuya Francis arrived. “San kayo galing” I asked. "Naghanap ng kahoy sa bonfire", they answered.

I didn't stop looking for Ray. I kept asking people around where he was and I was slowly getting agitated. Then I finally saw him and I was like "Kanina pa kita hinahanap san ka galing?", and Ray just answered "Ah naghanap lang kami ng kahoy sa bonfire".

So lahat ng tao naghahanap ng kahoy sa bonfire ganon??

And so we had a sumptuous dinner courtesy of kuya Philbert and his wife, and the much awaited bonfire began.  We huddled around the fire, with Zane, Sham, and Reinald doing the singing, and me the ‘saling ketket’. Zane and Sham are two of my dearest friends and I've always loved our jam sessions. Zane has the most beautiful voice I’ve ever known and Sham’s musicality is both energetic and fun. Reinald is a pretty new engineer who sings and plays the guitar really well. ;) Together, they would sing the soundtrack to the most unforgettable night of my life. :)

A couple of minutes after, a series of slides were displayed on our improvised projector-by-the-beach. They showed pictures of us in our outing last year, at Muntingbuhangin Batangas. They were fun memories that everyone laughed along with. Then I saw a photo of me, sound asleep, mouth-wide open, leaning on papa ray's shoulder. EMBARASSMENT haha!

Then the succeeding slides started to show my pictures with Ray. It had our pictures in batangas, pictures in tagaytay, pictures in random dates. I was getting embarassed again I mean what the hell are these things doing here? But then I saw the caption "I just want to make you happy". Oh man. Ray is up to something.

Zane and the gang sings Bruno Mars's "Just the way you are". I try to join in by making use of the shaker. But I find it hard to keep in tune because I see some of our officemates fussing about something, with Ray seemingly tense. Why?

Then one by one, dear friends of mine approach me, holding pictures on wooden paperclips. These are me and Ray's photos starting from the day we've met, our favorite dates, random night-outs, and out of towns. I struggle to read them all but the pictures just keep coming and coming! Ray loves to relive memories and experiences that we've shared, I'm torn between smiling and staring at Ray in bewilderment. It was like taking a trip down memory lane.

The last one I would not forget, Ate Hya Insisted that I read this first. It was a photo taken in Majayjay 2 years ago, where he knelt down in front of me as if asking for my hand, under a waterfall.

MY MIND WAS SPINNING.

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Freelance Writing And Thoughts About Having So Much Time

I dedicated this week to doing freelance writing full time. I knew it wouldn't be easy, which is why I really took advantage of the waiting time I have for some of my materials for the thesis. I wanted to 'get the groove', you know. Hehe.

So far, I've been able to write 12 articles varying between 500 and 650 words each, and 1 E-book. Yes an e-book! Huwaw! Is legit! Hahah.  I didn't realize it could be soooo hard.

When you're in the industry, the company, your bosses, define your targets. In our case, there were so many external stimulants that keep pushing you to work and drag yourself forward, and you get to push yourself to heights that you never thought was possible. That's how you re-discover yourself. And that's because, well, you HAVE to. You can try to slack off but someone is bound to push you once again.

It's a different story altogether when you have time in your hands. Don't get me wrong, I am given a golden, GOLDEN opportunity to finally learn everything I've ever dreamed of. And to tell the truth? I am having the most interesting time of my life!

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6 Things I Learned From the 6th Go Negosyo Filipina Entrepreneurship Summit

March 7, 2014 marked the celebration of the Filipina entrepreneurial spirit, as over 130 schools and hundreds of entrepreneurs trooped over at the World Trade Center, for the 6th GoNegosyo Filipina Entrepreneurship Summit. This is spearheaded by Joey Concepcion, founder of Go Negosyo, along with its industry partners.

The Go Negosyo booth

World Trade Center was packed!

  

I was never really the business-minded type, Tatay is the only one who really liked to do business in the family. Mama would have wanted to come but she had work to do, and she was the one who spotted this event at the Manila Bulletin. We came out of curiosity, and in addition to me trying to look for acrylic sheet suppliers for our technopreneurship class.

The booths were quite few, mostly limited to the sponsors. I didn't  find what I was looking for, but what I went home with was something even better - the chance to bond with Tatay and a truckload of inspiration.

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Inspiration on the First Day of Freedom

Yesterday was my first freedom day. Yes, after 3 weeks, I finally got some real fresh air and well, real traffic. Heheh. You wouldn't believe how ecstatic I was! Seriously 3 weeks of house arrest can make you feel really down. So I went to UP for the 1st time for 2014. Sickness is a b*tch though, specially if it dwelt in your bloodstream. :( I could still feel some weakness in my knees, and I still wasn't very much up to UP long walks.

But it was fun! It was a very productive day. Finally got my cellulose fiber, got into talks with DOST-Enterprise and it's quite a promising venture. I'm thinking of really pushing it through if things go well enough. It ended with a chika-date with Moia and also a quick date with my Phelthe-love. :-)

Standing at the MRT, watching all these people rushing and all these mad cars racing each other, suddenly it all came rushing to me. House arrest tends to freeze you and your brain, but being back in the city reminded me of the MANY things that I need to be doing. It is a race against time and I must never forget. I admit I kind of started late, but it's never really too late to push for the things you really want. There's sooo much work to be done! The theme of my year will definitely be Time Management and FOCUS. And my motto is: Shoot lang ng shoot! Hahah!

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5 Things To Love About The BDJ Power Planner 2014

I have been a loyal BDJ girl for 4 years now, and I just bought my 5th last week. I was in the verge of switching planners last year but I realized that a planner is a friend. Its nice to know just where to drop your doodles without having to 'familiarize' every year. I think I made a really good choice because my BDJ 2013 was just so packed!  I got to fill up almost all the pages, I even wrote some of my blog posts there so yes my relationship with BDJ is going strong. :)

And for that, I'm listing down a couple of reasons why you would love Viviamo's fab offering for 2014. Again, why would you want a BDJ?

1. It's like a BFF that we have become so comfortable with - BDJ girls know this. What I love about BDJ is that it has the same old format but it is still made exciting by new features, slight changes on fonts and color themes. It gets better but without alienating the users with too much change. :D And because Viviamo is an actual company (that seems to being doing really well if I may add), one can be assured of the continuity of BDJ planners in the coming years as it already has a very strong following. They make sure that your planner is not just like any other planner, it's your buddy. 

Here's a screenshot of a page. If you notice, the lines and texts are also quite faint, except for the dates. This is so you don't get pressured to write strictly within the boundaries of the allotted space. This works for me because I'm an anything-goes kind of person who likes to jot down notes everywhere. :D 

With different theme colors every month and cute fonts in a non-jolog-kind-of-way :)

A one week page has additional spaces for : 'Professional  Priorities', 'Major Goals', 'Personal Errands', 'This Week's List of', and 'This week I'm grateful for' (my personal favorite! Reminds me to always be thankful :D ). 

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SPIK 2013 Annual Forum - Nurturing That Much Needed Link

I have always thought that when it comes to research, the Philippines is already bursting with so many ideas. In fact I think the university is  almost saturated with it. We have already proved countless of times that Filipino talent is definitely at par with our counterparts from developing countries. 

While a new idea is always a good thing, I think a larger problem is that these ideas remain just that - a pool of ideas. Majority of thesis studies  are left to dust in their departments, either because it has not found a suitable application/funding, or the momentum to follow it through has simply burned out. 

So I found it very timely that key people from the university, the industry, and the government are now making concrete responses to this need, by initiating a partnership between ERDT, Engineering Research and Development for Technology, and SPIK, Samahan sa Pilipinas ng Industriyang Kimika. Well yes, it is composed mostly of chemical engineers, and related industries, mainly because manufacturing in the Philippines, is 60% composed of companies that are related to the chemicals industry. Being an ERDT scholar, we were required to attend the forum. As chemical plants normally employ a mix of various disciplines, below fields  can also benefit from the forum:

Civil Engineering

Chemical Engineering

Industrial Engineering

Materials Engineering

Mechanical Engineering and

Environmental Engineering

The main goal is to create a government-industry-academe linkage, with the following roles:

Government - provision of scholarships, funding, necessary legislation, and support on the national level of the programs

Academe - provision of capable manpower and environment for research, laboratory facilities, intellectual know-how

Industry partner - commercialization, funding, mass production/ implementation of results

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Turning Pages

I have been trying to put off writing about this for quite a while already. I wanted to break the news with flair, with a bang, however you want to put it.

But well I realize that delaying it is pointless. It will come, and it will happen, no matter if I'm ready or not.

I have resigned from a 5 year semiconductor career. To run after my heart.  :)

It is one of the biggest gambles that I'm taking at this point in my life. But I realize that there's no better time than now to make those risks happen. To actually make things happen.

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Cloud Atlas - We are All Connected (The Book and The Movie)

At the start of this year I've been searching for a new book to read, as reading has been one of my favorite ways to spend my "me" time. I had to look up some book reviews for it though because I'm looking for something new, something to take my imagination for a spin. Just like in movies, I easily lose interest when the plot or the theme gets predictable. Or maybe it's just that I want my hard-earned money to buy something that can really teach me something new.

And Cloud Atlas gave me more than I asked for. It's not just a novel, it's six (6) different stories spanning six (6) different eras. The characters are linked together by a single birthmark shaped like a comet, and a universal rule that knows no space and time.

Favorite book of 2013 :)

It was a helluvanexperience. Personally, I found it breathtaking and exhausting at the same time. Each character lived in a different era, therefore for each "chapter", one had to be accustomed to the setting, the characters, the culture, and most especially the prose. The vocabulary of the 1800's are of course, different from the 1970's, and from 2013, and Mitchell invented his own slang for the future. Mitchell, takes a delicious spin at every turn and I loved it.

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Science via Art, and Vice Versa

Our professor invited Joey Tanedo from the College of Fine Arts to talk about the upcoming video presentation of our review paper. I thought we'll just deal with the technicalities of video making like the framing, the camera works, the gestures and the like. But what we talked about was something deeper. It was the marriage of Art and Science.

I first heard about this while reading Steve Job's biography (I blogged about it here). The reason why Apple remains to be the icon that it is, is because they were able to merge technological genius with a fine taste for art. You can see it in the way they planned their operating system, from the all the nitty gritty connections, to the design of their phones - everything is well thought of.

Now if they CAN do it, why can't we?

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Remote Online Journal Access for UP Students >> Thumbs up :)

I went to the College of Engineering Library of UP Diliman today to do research for the 70 journals/ references that we need to read for our thesis. I try to say "70" as casually as I possibly can because seriously, this has been driving me nuts for two weeks now. WHEW. There's three days from the deadline and I am only halfway through the required number so help me Lord.

I've been on Kiji-mode (killjoy) for a week now, I try my best to minimize working overtime and I keep my eyes glued to journals as much as I can. I could go on and on with my rants but the bottomline is being a working student is definitely, definitely not easy. No matter how cool it sounds. BUT daunting tasks like these are worth it when you are interested with your topic. :) And I could use a little more discipline here.

BUT what I'd like to blog about is that I was pleasantly surprised today upon learning that:

1) It's now easier to access academic journals online because the university has their own subscription to online journals, allowing students to download the needed literature for their study, and

2) We can even access them from home! Nice! I think this has been on for a couple of years already, sayang I learned about it only now. I used to think that all academic journals can only be accessed via the University wifi.

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On Passion and Puppets

Me: "Wow haggard!"

Colleague: "Syempre, passionate eh. San ka ba nakakita ng passionate na maaliwalas ang mukha?"

I was stunned. It sounded so wrong in different ways.

I'm thinking maybe it was because of a work culture that never fails to overwhelm even after decades: deadlines, output, avalanche of quality issues, 'people' issues, doing more for less, making less grow more - and the fact that work can just swallow down your whole life


While I do admire intensity and drive, I think it's sad when "passion" is equated to haggard faces, toxic lifestyle, and anxiety overload. The best lesson I learned from Steve Job's biography is that passion is the tune of your heart singing. It comes from doing something you love. And when there is love you 'glow'. You motivate yourself not just out of necessity but because of your inner drive to get something done. You do not live like a puppet getting carried away by a whirlwind.

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Freelancing at Essays.ph Yo!

I've been approved as a member of Essays.ph for a long time now however I never really found time to claim an assignment because I've been too busy with work and extra-curricular activities. And during times when I'm actually free no assignments would be available.

Today though, I chanced upon an assignment. So I clicked and claimed right away. Only to find out that I need to submit five 450-word-articles within twenty four hours. I wouldn't mind the requirement, only that I had work tomorrow so essentially, I only have roughly five hours to complete the whole thing. HUWAAAT.

So here I am writing like crazy as a first time freelance writer. It's exciting and scary at the same time. But I love how I was able to learn so much in a matter of hours. And the act of typing is so therapeutic. I think you would agree, yes? The sound of keyboards snapping is almost like running water. It's so peaceful. Bwehehe. It's really cool when you still have ideas bubbling in your head, but after a while it gets draining. But I guess that's the challenge. To write even if you feel like you no longer have ideas. To find a new angle, to come up with a new story. Ahh, I think a writers life must be amazing and stressful in different levels.

Everyone's work is stressful in different levels anyway.

I just finished churning out 4 articles. The last article is still brewing in my head but I think I'll allow myself some sleep first. In fact I'm also brimming with ideas to write on this blog. Wee.

(Not) Getting Rid of Gaps

Written on one of those rare nights when i get home in time for telenovelas :)

Tonight i got home a bit earlier than usual, so I managed to catch up with a couple of local teleseryes. Catching up with local TV is a guilty pleasure (apart from the fact that we don't have cable lol), and it makes me feel normal. I'm a certified Kapamilya. Muhaha.

Juan dela Cruz was about to end when I started watching, and I went through Ina, Kapatid, Anak, Apoy sa Dagat, and Missing You. I didn't finish the last one because it felt predictable.But one thing I realized was that I didn't miss out too much with these teleseryes. Across all timeslots, everyone's still crying, and shouting, and scheming revenge, and shiz like that. Nothing new really.

Something's always happening. Someone looks for someone else, yells, screams, gnashes teeth, or maybe falls head over heels in love. But what TV and mainstream movies fail to show, is that life can be really boring. That sometimes a day, a week, or a couple of months could pass by, and nothing ever really happens. That part of being human is dragging yourself out of bed and walking with unseen strings called ROUTINE. No bombs, no revelations, no brouhaha's. Just a continuum of breathing and living. And you live anyway.

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Silence is Detoxfying

I'm here at the Engineering library to work on a term paper. Students may stick their tongue at me but there's something so refreshing about working in the library for one whole day. I think it's the SILENCE.

For someone working at a manufacturing plant, working means alternating between staying in an office area of 300+ people all buzzing around like bees, and standing in the midst of 500+ machines all wire-bonding nonstop round the clock. You get used to noise. You get used to the fact that you need to think while someone is shouting, and you consider machines as mere white noise. You master the art of willing these sounds to fade into the background. You don't really have personal space aside from the 30 square inches of your office cube. Some don't even have that luxury.

In contrast -  a library. Ahhh. It's Saturday now and there are very few students. I'm hearing nothing but the low hum of the airconditioner. In front of me is a view of trees behind the building. I'm alone in a desk surrounded by books, books, and more books. My mind feels like flying into a vast space of thought and imagination. And hence, this blog.

The library feels very detoxifying.

I need to catch my head though before I get too far, I got a paper to write. And I'm still trying to find the coefficient of thermal expansion of abaca fiber. Bleh.

It's my last requirement for the last lecture subject of my masters degree. Dang it feels surreal.

I still have my thesis to work on, but yuhoo, thank God for helping me get this far. Konti nalang. :)

Have a good day!

What The Blind Man Sees

We only needed to walk a couple of meters to get into the house. It was a simple bungalow with a mini sari-sari store by the entrance. The sala welcomed us with a charcoal portrait of the charming king and queen of the Segismar clan.

Lola welcomed us with a warm tight hug, just like she did last year. They have been waiting for us since early afternoon however a couple of unexpected events prevented us from getting there as early as we would've wanted. But we were there, and I've been eager to meet the man whom I've heard a lot from. I didn't know what to expect but I looked forward to it.

Lolo is 83 and could no longer walk around like Lola does. He sat at one corner of the receiving room. I approached him and gave him a hug as Ray introduced us. He held my hand as his eyes looked straight ahead for he could no longer see. He lamented that he could no longer see my face, so I joked that at least my voice was beautiful enough.

From then on he did not let go of my hand. He started with "kanus-a mo mag-minyo?" (When will you get married?), followed by nervous laughter from me and Ray. He then sat up straight and reached his other arm to his grandson and said "Ang importante sa tanan, magka-sinabot mo" (Most important of all, is that you understand each other).

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Photo-Stress-Busters

I think all sorts of careers get more stressful by the minute.

I used to think that what we do at work is more stressful than others, but sharing work-rants with roommates and meeting other people, made me realize that everyone else just leveled up. Expectations are higher because technology kept making a way to make everything easier and more convenient, thus more to do with lesser time. Or maybe it's the other way around: technology had to keep up with rising expectations. You see, easier doesn't always mean better (at least for us).

Stress knows no time, and doesn't give a damn. If you don't handle it then it handles you. Stress and work haunts us even until we get home. Fact is it has become a norm. And that's the sad part because it's the family that suffers the most. I'm fast realizing how much quality time with family and the people who matter, has become more precious nowadays, and making these moments count are just as important.

I came across Papa Ray's photos from his Christmas 2012 vacation and a much deserved break. What i have always loved about him is that he never fails to make his whole family feel loved and cared for even if he's miles away from them. And I just love how photographs are able to capture these precious moments that only happen once a year:

The queen of the clan: Lola Nita! :)

Baaaabiiiieees!! Super cute! :)

Pretty cousins, noh? :p

In spite of all this RH Bill brouhaha, who's to say that small families are better with wonderful smiles like that? :p

And below photo is from the birthday party of our dear friend's son. It was my first time to attend a Jollibee birthday party and indeed it was alot of fun! Baby Josh couldn't get enough of Jollibee! :)

Now I know why Jollibee is such a classic hit :)

I guess I can't blame the rising prices of cameras and other photo-gadgets. Pretty much like fashion, you don't really need high end designer clothes but you'd love to have the best quality anyway. And these photographs aren't merely images- they're frozen memories. A quick break and escape from the fast-paced environment that we have here in the city.

It doesn't really mean that we all need to burn money with those DSLR's. Almost all mobile phones already have their own camera and I'm still happy with the 5.0 megapixel snapper of my Samsung Wave. A photo may be pixelized and all but as long as it captures the memory of a moment well spent, then its worth much more than a high-end image of nothing but fake smiles.

So while we're all struggling to deal with stress levels at an all time high, let's keep counting those happy moments and just snap away. Yes? :)

Remembering Love Letters :)

Me and Papa Ray celebrated our 14^th monthsary last Saturday, Nov 24, and I decided to write him a love letter :D wee! Yep, the old school ballpen-on-yellowpad type of loveletter. Actually when he saw it he said “wow LIHAM! Meron akong LIHAM!” hahaha!

The art of writing love letters has been easily lost in the sea of text messages, chat, email, and FB status messages. It’s just much easier, quicker, and more convenient. In our case we've been very busy for the past months and most expressions of love have been through texting and chatting (well aside from being together almost everyday nyehehe).

Still, a little re-validation and appreciation of love can go a long way. Sometimes our loved ones get way too integrated into our daily routines, and can get lost in the midst of our fast paced lifestyle. If we’re not careful, this might cause us to take for granted the smallest things that make our heart smile.

Just like everything else in life, it’s always nice to pause and appreciate the beauty around you, and the love that you've got. For me, a great way to do this is to actually sit down, take a pen and paper, and write a love letter. 

While I was writing the first few lines, I tended to have this urge of finishing it fast. Like I wish I could just let everything out with one snap of a finger. We all know that typing (whether in cellphones or in keyboards) is much faster than doing the manual cursive, and so it had to take a little getting used to. However, that precisely is the beauty of writing a letter with a pen: the fact that it takes much longer forces you to feel and savor every word uttered. While you watch the lines along the paper, you tend to reflect on how much you mean what you really say. And before you know it, you end up spilling your heart out and enjoying the moment. I think I am much more focused when writing on paper (probably because there’s no alt-tab option to steal my attention away? Hehe ).

Sentence construction also takes the time and effort: “What are the things I want to say? How do I say it?”, and this time, there’s no friendly red line that tells you your spelling is wrong or that your grammar is awful. You do your own checking and well that’s part of the effort.

For me, the simpler is always the better. I love saying I straight to the point. Don’t get me wrong though, I don’t end up with short love letters. In fact they’re actually quite long. Or maybe that’s just because of how wonderful he is. Lol #kesomucho.

Aaaaaaaaand the really fun part was folding the letter afterwards. Hahah! Who among you guys remember the number of ways to fold a letter? I went for the old school way, the type of fold that you really use for snail mails. Here goes:

Starting with your letter facing the upright position

Take the upper right hand corner and fold it diagonally downwards

Fold it again as shown above

Take the upper left hand corner and fold downwards

Fold it in half... and dont forget the magic line "Smile before you open"! hahaha :D

Writing letters probably isn't for everyone, but i find it a very refreshing way to express myself because that's just me, unplugged. I think its also a very intimate act of love and appreciation. And well all it takes is effort and some time. 

Ray was laughing the whole time because it really felt old school, but well I still had my prize: a tight hug and a kiss. Wee!