where the moon shines

August Comment Challenge update: I made a grand total of 390 comments! Epic fail! Hahaha But I failed only in terms of reaching the 1000 comments goal. I succeeded in finding new blogs to follow, and really engaging myself more when hopping around the blogosphere. I hope that I have also encouraged a reader, or two, to go ahead and leave comments and interact with the blogs you also visit.

Like today, it was a welcome surprise to see a friend’s name in my comment box. I miss you girl, and miss just hanging out and laughing so hard with you. When was the last time? Too long ago! Let’s go watch the UST choir’s concert together

Entrecard Top Droppers for August: Thank you so much! Once again, I appreciate the visits, and more the footprints you leave behind.

I only saw one movie in the cinema in August – The Expendables! But I did get to see a couple more movies from home, including Julie Delphy and Ethan Hawke in Before Sunset. Then there were the  movies shown on cable TV that we would watch in the afternoons. Movies like The Rocker, and this other movie where the protagonist was a high schooler who got thrown into prison for a while, and then attended a different school when he came out. In the new school, he established an entirely different reputation: that of a bad boy. He has a band too, with his old geeky friends. I don’t know the title of the movie, but Zooey Deschanel was there too as his friend and band mate (not his love interest though). The new guy lived with his dad in a trailer, and I remember how the boyfriend wondered aloud how in other parts of the world, motorhomes are real homes. It must be exciting to be able to drive your home somewhere and not worry about spending on accommodations, and having the great outdoors as your living room or porch. But it could be a tiresome life too not to have much private space. And if you really traveled a lot on it, you’d probably rack up huge costs on motorhome repairs! Oohh, but I’ve gone too much out of topic here.. what’s the title of the movie again? You gotta help me out babe!

Anyhoo… in September I plan on reorganizing and backing up my pictures stored in my hard drive, and the older photos in the external hard drive. Some of those photos have not been looked at or shared since they were taken and transferred. It’s going to be a huge undertaking because I’m sure I’ll be prompted to post-process and share most of them. Maybe I’ll even be inspired to scrap pages out of some.

I’ll also be launching my health blog this month, and hopefully launch a new design for The Newbie Photographer. The boyfriend would also like to use his blog to showcase his photos so we’ll be checking out a more suitable template for him. That would be nice, seeing that blog has gathered a lot of dust.

I’ll be seeing my girlfriends next week for a fun (wholesome, or not?) bridal shower for one of our friends. I hope this signals another round of meetups with other friends as well.

September is also gearing up to be an exciting month on the work front.

What are your plans for September?

After almost a month of staying away from Trinoma, the boyfriend and I stepped into the mall again yesterday. We had two things in mind: lunch at Conti’s and grocery shopping for my SBD meals that he prepares for me.

Lunch was satisfying. He had lengua, while I had the American grilled spareribs. For starters, we ordered gambas with mushrooms. The meal was completed with a slice of Mango Bravo that we both shared.

From there, we headed inside the mall and walked around a bit. At the Activity Centre, there were cars and scooters on display, among other things. We checked out the Suzuki APV, which would be a nice family car. There was also the Suzuki Swift, a white one, that would be a great first car for just the two of us. But it wasn’t the four-wheeled cars that got my attention. It was the scooters.

First, my eyes were glued to the Kymco Like:

It’s cute, not too small, and has a compartment at the back.

A few steps away, my heart was captivated by the Yamaha Mio Fino:

It has that vintage feel to it, even when it’s actually brand new. The one on display was tinted in gold, but not a very bright one. It looked more brown to me than gold, but since the salesman said gold, then that it is.

Both scooters share the same price range but if I were really to consider buying a scooter, I’d probably go for the Fino.

What would I use a scooter for? To get to and from work, of course. I can potentially save some money in the long run, plus I wouldn’t have to wait for a cab anymore. We can also use it to go to the seminary, or to the groceries along E.Rod. But do I really really want to hop on a scooter? I’ve never been on one, so I’m not really sure. Besides, I can’t stand the pollution so I’m sure I won’t be using it much around major thoroughfares.

Still I really think it would be cool to have one. Besides, my brother and dad have been bugging me to get one since I started working at NCO. I just never really liked the idea of being on a scooter. Maybe that will change.

After the boyfriend bought a pair of jeans, we went down to the supermarket for our last errand of the day. We enjoyed grocery shopping for food that follows the SBD guidelines. Alfred will be cooking for me again this week.

We picked up something that’s not exactly SBD though. Two boxes of Guylian chocolates, La Trufflina. They were on the buy-one-take-one rack because they will be expiring in the next two months. So what. Haha.

La Trufflina is an irresistible combination of Belgian chocolate truffles with a smooth milk chocolate truffle filling. Each truffle is enrobed with the finest milk, white or dark Belgian chocolate and delicately sprinkled with fine chocolate flakes. An unparalleled chocolate dream.

It was a fun afternoon, even if we were exhausted a little since we both came from our work shifts. I also missed an NCO party yesterday because I was tired, and was also having stomach cramps due to dysmenorrhea. Ugh. Yes. Primolut N worked for me that I actually started bleeding again before the month ended. And I’ve been wearing maternity pads for a few days now. Ugh. Sorry, too much info!

How many of us have MSN.com as our home page? It’s usually the default home page on IE, so unless you actually changed your homepage then you probably see the page everyday too. But most of us won’t venture deeper than that front page. At most, we’ll click on to the Hotmail link to check mail, and then move on from there.

But when you’re at work, like I was a few days ago, you won’t really go browsing to other websites. So I clicked on a featured story on MSN, the banner read: “Finish college with zero debt” In the Philippines, I don’t think a lot of institutions offer student loans. I know that we have that in UP, but I’m not sure of the details. It is true though that many parents fall into debt to send their kids to college, along with their hopes and dreams that someday their kids would help pay them back, and eventually help them send younger kids to school.

In general though, I am still with the opinion that we are better off, and even fortunate that a college degree is a lot more affordable here in the country than in many places around the world. Each university/college also has its own scholarship program. Many other companies and institutions provide college scholarships too.

I think that this is something that I may have taken for granted.

My college education was never a problem for my parents because they had taken out a college plan and had completed paying for it years before I took the entrance exams. So money for tuition: check.

Next came the question of where I was going to study. I got accepted to all three schools I had tested for. And because the cost of their tuition fees were not a problem (again, not because we were rich, but because my parents were wise enough to take out a plan), I was at liberty to choose which one I wanted to finally enroll in. Though none of my friends were going there, I decided to enroll in the country’s premiere State University’s Diliman campus. There’s a lot of pride of getting into a quota course too, haha. So university: check.

Like I said, I think I took for granted that I had it easy. I didn’t explore the many other courses I could have learned at the UP. I used to think that I balanced my social life with my school life while in college, but on hindsight, I simply didn’t give my education the top priority it deserved. I didn’t graduate with honors, and I did have to drop out of a subject or two. Calculus and Chem16 gave me such joy that I had to take both twice!

A lot of people are in awe of students who finish with the highest honors, not me. I’ve always felt like I could do that too, and in fact, I could have had those. But I didn’t work for it. At the time, I just didn’t care. I say this though without any bitterness. And it’s not to say that I was a bad student, or that I didn’t value the gifts that were given to me. I guess my point is that, now that I know better, and if I had the chance to do it all over again, I’d probably change some things. I’d still be as socially active (I’m not talking about going out with friends either, I was involved in other things while I was still in school), but I would also work hard to keep my grades up.

Why? Because others don’t have it as easy as I’ve had it. And they would kill for the same opportunities I got in life. I hope to impart this to my future kids, but hopefully not put undue pressure on them.

Thank you Lord!

…for tonight I will go to bed, and can look forward to getting up in the morning

…for my family surrounds me tonight. And I have more tomorrows to look forward to with them.

…for the valuable lessons that, I hope, many will learn from the tragic events of this day.

…that today, all I can really complain about, is this darn cold, and not any serious ailment.

Lord, I pray!

…that there will be less like him, who in desperation will take the lives of others.

…that tomorrow will be a brighter day for the PNP. I know they need more funds, but I’m sure they could have done better even with what they already had. I pray that better minds and more resources be chanelled towards strengthening the force we rely on to protect us.

…that everyone stays safe, wherever they are, and in whatever circumstances they be in. Safe in Your hands, and in Your heart.

I’m still in the race for 1000 comments this month (though I still only have under 400 comments and we have a week left in August!!) so I went around visiting blogs and leaving my footprints all over the place. It is through my blog hops that I’ve seen this blog where the author talked about what kind of home she and her husband would like to have.

She had pretty photos up in that post, and I wish I could link to it, but for the life of me, I could not remember what blog it was I was reading!

I do remember though, how much I would like to be in a place very close to nature, with lots of trees and wide open spaces for dogs and kids to run around in. I’d like to be somewhere near a (clean) flowing river where we could go swim in the afternoons. Oh okay, a swimming pool will do. I imagined something like the Pioneer Woman’s ranch, but I didn’t want to do the ranch chores that comes with the property. Hehe.

I remember too what song played in my head as these thoughts ran through my mind while reading that blog post: Home on The Range. It was a piece that was included in my beginner’s piano book. I loved playing it, and listening to it. My mom would sing the song too.

Now, looking at the website for desert ridge homes for sale, I remember the same things again. The music, the backdrop, and the whole feel of the place.

But to be realistic, I’d probably spend the rest of my life in a house in the city. Hehe