Shara's Unbirthday Party!

L-R: Me, Joyce, Eireen, and Caila

We celebrated Shara's 18th birthday (college blockmate) last Saturday in AFP Club House. Her debut's theme was Alice in Wonderland, so we had to at least be "inspired" of one of the characters in the story. I tried to be an inspired Cheshire cat for that night. Well, I obviously failed to be REALLY inspired of cheshire cat! I just wore a purple dress and had a pink-purple combo of eyeshadow! :)) LOL

On another note, I bought the Tony Moly Berry Berry Lovely Stick PKLSO5 the same day as the debut .It's one of the darkest shades of pink in Tony Moly. The pigment is good, in my opinion. I had to reapply it for a couple of times though, maybe because I didn't have any lip primer on. 4/5 stars for this! :D

So here was the CheshireCat-inspired look!

P.S. I've been missing in action for the past weeks. As you all know, semester will end soon so requirements are all piling up until the 3rd week of October! :D Ciao for now!

William

Superb! One word that, in my opinion, best describes WILLIAM - a rap musical about the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare, directed by Maribel Legarda. It is an original play by PETA which is said to cure students' Shake-fear and turn it into Shakes-peer - a friend to everyone (del Rosario, 2011).

To be honest, I've not yet seen nor had a role (during my high school years) in any Shakespeare plays; Not even the famous Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet. But after watching the show, I was enthused to know more about Shakespeare. The words in his works sure are never-racking, mind-breaking, nose-bleeding and whatnot, but damn, his works were grand! His works ARE grand.

This show has not defeated its purpose, in my case. :D  Not only did I learn to appreciate the life and works of Shakespeare, but also made me realize how important my life is. How worthy each second of my life is!  As he had said:

Let every man be master of his time -- William Shakespeare, Macbeth

Being the master and not the slave of time... doing what you can do and not holding back.. having the opportunity to cherish what life can offer when you still have time.. these I learned by watching William.  I seldom watch plays, but I'm grateful for watching this one! Definitely a must-see show! Cliché but true. ;)

After the show, I was lucky enough to meet some of the cast:

(L-R) Anj Heruela (Estella), Me, Hapster Constantino, Meann Espinosa (Ms. Martinez)


Rico Del Rosario (TJ) and I


And two of my most favorite promising theater actors, Ian Segarra (Erwin) and John Moran (Richard)! I'm really looking forward to see them more in PETA's upcoming projects. :)

Somehow, my passion for Performing Arts also has grown by watching William. That passion for singing... dancing.. , so is my budding ardor for theater acting. I am not a professional yet, but I'm hoping that sooner or later, I can try it out! ;)

William play dates are August 14, 19-21, 26-28, September 2-4, 9-11, 16-18, 23-25, 2011 with shows at 10:00 a.m. and 3 p.m. The PETA Theater Center is located at No. 5 Eymard Drive, New Manila, Quezon City. MORE INFO at Broadway World: Philippines

The Crossing...Train Rides

Odd as it seems, I find train rides relaxing. One would engage himself in a very tough battle going inside it at first, especially when it's crowded with people; nevertheless, when almost everyone would have gotten off,  I find the impression of trains mild and serene as if it's giving me space -- that "space" I need to breathe in, breathe out... stay calm and sane...away from the unsettled pace of the people that have bounded me initially. Kudos to Monumento Station for being the main get-off of the masses BTW! :D

Within that intimate, personal space I get from the almost vacant train, I find a moment of stillness. I rarely get calm these days, you see. Reality/Life nowadays is giving me a hard time, but I'm trying... not to feel down nor frustrated. I know I've been always a happy bee! An optimist! But there will always be a limit to everything, so I'm encouraging myself to drive the happy hormones out and just be.. well, happy!  :p

I will never blame academics for this though, coz maybe it's just really part of the routine of being a typical college student -- we need to get stressed so we won't be at ease all the time. After all, the Actual Life (away from the books, more on reality bites) has more to offer than the amount of stress we get from cramming the readings, almost not hitting the sack every night, and getting the pens and brains ready to battle out the revolting examinations! ;)

The usual Berso Sa Metro quotes situated at the top sides of the train are one of the unique things I get from riding the train. They make me reflect the moment I read them, and they are really effective especially when I'm in the middle of anxiety. God knows when I need some words of motivation, words from The Almighty!  :]

On another note,  life , as they say, can be compared to train rides. There are a couple of stations where you can get on and off, go for shorter or longer paths depending on your choice and then decide when to stop and get off the train. You can even decide if you want to go back, or just move on and go to the next station. We, likewise, get to be on different stages in our lives wherein each stage serves a mixed platter of blessings and difficulties. It's up to us now on how we'd take the platter! ;)

Questions: How do you get over life difficulties? Are you happy and contented with the way you are living now? || Do you ride trains? Do you feel the same when you get on a train (that feeling of calmness when it's almost unoccupied by people)?

One Long Break!

This past weeks turned out to be a really long study break for me made possible by the annual celebration of our department, Department of Biology, as well as the little gathering I've had with my long time friends and detox party with my schoolmates.

As you may see, I was very much out of sync with the blogopshere. Practice hours for Biogyugan (a competition among Biology students) and Biorhythm (Department Choir / My Org) were demanding! The theme for BIOgyugan 2011 was "The Forest: Our Last Stand Against Climate Change".

We won 1st runner-up! All thanks to Him! :D It was definitely a big deal for us batch because the past 2 years of our Biogyugan experience were better off forgotten. This year's performance was exceptional. It was a well-planned production by us, Juniors in my opinion. I played the role of an evil Jane (That girl in yellow top and violet skirt amidst the deers of Pocahontas, dwarves of Snow White, Lady Gaga and Ariel in labgown for the moment! :D ) who would eventually ruin the forest.  We even had Dora, Boots, Doraemon, PPG, etc. in our show. Oh just remembering that day makes me laugh! One memorable Biogyugan performance it is! ^^~

On another note, we had dinner at Karen's place before her departure off to Seoul a couple of days ago. I've been friends with these three since birth. Yep, 19 years and counting of friendship! Whenever I look at our pictures and how well we've grown since our meeting... it just makes me high in spirit! Awesome friends!  XD We're now in college but whenever we get-together, it just feels like going back to our childish self. :D

Lastly, detox party with the gang aka Monique's debut! I was out searching for night make-ups then stumbled upon a couple of videblogs made by a friend and co-blogger, Rhea. I tried one of her looks in Youtube, and I liked the result!

Outfit is from Forever 21. Heels from Gibi. I was part of the 18 songs, so I sang Count on Me by Whitney Houston.  :D

Last pic for my update today! I was with a bunch of Sophomores during that night with Miguel (Junior) and Vap (Senior too. To sum it all up, I felt detoxed after! Nothing beats partying with stressed students like us, as they say! :D LOL!

Carefree Sunday

This is yet the most relaxing weekend of my entire third year college life probably because I have no exams to worry about for the coming week. My carefree attitude is also a factor here though, since I really had enough of the stress lately that all I wanna do is just be "rebellious" for the moment and JUST BE AWAY from all these stress-inducing activites AKA Acads. Who's with me? :cool:

So I had Mcdonald's for breakfast! :D My parents often go to Mcdo on weekends. When I was in high school, we usually go out every morning just to eat our fave breakfast meals from Mcdo! Now that I'm in college, I prefer to sleep rather than get up early for breakfast, so they usually bring home my fave Sausage McMuffin with Egg and fries!  Then we headed to Church for Mass.... I bought this beautiful rosary-bracelet personally made by the priest awhile ago. I'm very much into these bracelets. They are really purdy and I feel like I'm always protected when I have tangible stuff like this with me.

Here's my attempt to look like a weirdo doing the kitten's paw pose! I'm wearing the bracelet! ^^~

Ala-Siete y Media

Kung mapapansin niyo, di ako mag-iingles ngayon; Feel ko lang kasi talaga mag-Filipino. Parang ayaw ko muna mag-isip ng kung papaano ko isasummarize ang pinakaimportanteng mga kaganapan sa buhay ko gamit ang wikang Ingles. Ano naman ang kwento ng blog title ko? Ayun, "7:30 o Ala-Siete y Media" -- pinakasignificant na oras ngayong araw na'to -- day and night time!

7:30 AM. Late ako ng 30 minutes sa 7AM class ko kanina, sayang tuloy yung additional 2 points for our 1st exam na binigay ng prof namin sa Ecolab. Oh well, that's life! Masaya narin ako since napasa at qualified pa akong maexempt for finals sa subject na yun, as of now. xD So ano na ba pinagkaabalahan ko ngayon? SAME OLD SAME OLD ang sagot ko diyan! Acads pa rin ang nagbibigay kulay sa mundo ko. Third year na ako ngayon, at mas feel ko na ang pagiging BS Biology Major ko. More on papers kami lately -- scientific reports, oral reports, atbp. :D Ang saya-saya. Minsan. :))

Syempre, di magpapatalo ang laki ng eye-bags ko sa dami ng gawain ko bilang estudyante. Mapapa-"grabe only!" ka talaga sa dami! Buti nalang may twitter na pwede kong paglabasan ng stress. :D Di lang 'yan, meron din akong mga pinapanood na Asian Dramas para madivert ang atensyon ko paminsan-minsan. Just to keep me sane! Heartstrings (Kdrama) at Sunao ni Narenakute (Jdorama) ang recent na nasa dramalist ko! Okay silang dalawa. Yung former, typical romance-comedy. Fave ko ang chemistry nila Shin Hye at Yong Hwa kaya approve sa akin ang Kdrama na 'yan! Yung latter naman, kasisimula ko palang panoorin yan. Friendship made through Twitter naman ang concept nila. :D

7:30 PM. Pauwi na ako ng bahay nang umulan ng malakas! at napansin ko lang, di ko masyado mahal ang kulay pink at violet. xD Purple bag, key strap, umbrella. Pati suot ko purple. Tapos yung interior lining ng bag ko ay pink. Pink din most ng cases na makikita sa bag ko -- pencil case, kikay kit, wallet, at dalawang de-zipper na lalagyan (1-pang LRT/MRT cards at 2- lalagyan ng earphones atbp. na pkailangan ma-isolate sa iba kong gamit). AKO NA. Oo, ako na talaga. :))

Bago pala ako umuwi, nanood pa kami ng Babae sa Septic Tank starring Eugene Domingo. Sa cinemas na namin siya napanood, so madaming cut scenes. Sayang, 170 php bayad namin, pero parang di worth it dahil di naman buo yung napanood namin. Naubusan kasi kami ng tickets sa CCP at UPD for Cinemalaya Movies a couple of weeks ago.  :)

So ayun, 7:30 AM at 7:30 PM, naisip ko lang siya pagkadating ko ng bahay. Ano kaya meron kung bakit ang "significant" ng 7:30 sa araw na'to? Baka nung past life ko, importante din ang mga oras na yan. HAHA (Okay, ang gulo ko na. Sabaw)

END.

Gong Cha Craze

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="450" caption="Image Source: Gong Cha Philippines website"][/caption]

One day when I was strolling around SM North Edsa, I found this newly-established tea shop called Gong Cha at The Sky Garden. Being a huge fan of milk teas, I definitely tried one of their specialties and found love. XD I've already tried three milk teas from their menu: (1) Taro Milk Tea with Egg Pudding (Php 100.00); (2) Earl Grey Milk Tea with Pearls (Php100.00); and the third which was bought just an hour ago is (3) Toffee Milk Tea (Php75.00). I totally love their beverages! :D One can really tell how fresh the ingredients are. Find out more about Gong Cha Philippines and try one for yourself!

Gong Cha sets the highest standards when choosing tea materials, and takes the utmost attitude in quality control in order to provide the best tea available with considerate services to our customers....Every beverage is tailored for the customers and is made by our well-trained people (Gong Cha PH, 2011).

Just so you know, this isn't a paid ad. :)