A big box of crayons

A sight for sore eyes

Just when the hectic atmosphere of classes was making me seem like I'm on drugs, along came someone who I have not seen in around three weeks already. Bea, my best friend, and former "more than friends", called me on my cellphone and asked me if I could meet her for a while. And she looked great, even better than before, and like always, smiling as if she never had problems.

Crazy Billiards

Billiards with Migs earlier ended with a crazy come-from-behind victory for me. He led most of the way, tied at 3-all and ended at 5-3.

The game was like in a movie where scenes have their own "theme song." I got my wins while Mandy Moore was singing on the radio. Everything went crazy as we missed several easy shots when Viva Hot Babes' "Bulaklak" was playing. "I HATE THAT FLOWER SONG!"

Trick shots were the keys to victory that day.

Juggling Number Challenge

I promised myself at the start of this semester to best my second honors two semesters ago and get first honors .

I only have 15 units. You need a minimum of 3.7 to enter that elite group. Therefore, there are seven ways of getting into the first honors category.

4+4+4+4+4/5=4.0

4+4+4+4+3.5/5=3.9

4+4+4+3.5+3.5/5=3.8

4+4+4+4+3/5=3.8

4+4+3.5+3.5+3.5/5=3.7

4+4+4+3.5+3/5=3.7

4+4+4+4+2.5/5=3.7

I have these subjects:

Basic Graphic Design

Fiction Workshop

Elements of Screen Art

Basic Illustration as Visual Narrative

Philosophy 102

And so far, I'm flirting with B, B+ and A's in all of those subjects. Oh yeah, I am assured of an A in Basic Illustration so that's one 4.0 down. Good luck to me.

Palancas

I haven't finished my play yet, due to my four final school projects. If all else fails, I'll submit a poem or a past story just for the heck of submitting something for the contest.

Goodbye antics

After billiards, Migs and I went to the SOM gardens to meet up with Mia. When we got there, she was with Ina, her girlfriend. As we walked to Migs' car (they had a photoshoot in UP), Ina wanted Mia to feel "jealous". So we playacted like we were a couple, locking arms and even a small peck on her cheek. But like Mia said, it was nothing compared to what Ina did when she kissed her on the arm to lick off the accidentally spilled thousand island dressing from Ina's salad.

And as they started to move out of the parking lot, I waited near the exit. Then as they were nearing the exit, I moved in the middle of the dirt road and I "got hit" by the moving car. I hurtled across the windshield and the side of the car's doors. It was a good send-off laugh to end the day.

Music:	Mandy Moore - ONLY HOPE
Mood:	Having a thousand pins stuck on my head

In a cuckoo's nest.

Just came back from the Honors' Assembly. There were only five students from the Fine Arts who attended: 3 seniors, 1 sophomore and 1 junior (me!).

The whole event was a cuckoo's nest as everything was "impromptu". The school of Humanities was the first one to go upstage. The usher called in only one row of students out of the two rows designated and placed them in reverse order. So imagine Sir Sev Sarmienta & Missy Maramara calling out their names but the last student in line was going up the stage.

And we were left sitting in our comfy seats. Later, all of us rushed upstage when our names were called. Grand entrance by the Fine Arts majors... what's new? :)

Since everything was going wrong, Sir Sev kept on cracking jokes left and right to "go with the flow" of the craziness inside the Irwin Theater.

And for the traditional celebration dinner, we had our stuffing of Buffalo chicken wings, three cheese pizza and a salad in Don Henrico's.

Note to self: ONE MORE TIME!

Music:	Queen - We Are the Champions
Mood:	In Control and Loving It

ara ara.

I can't believe I've never played billiards for quite some time now. At least, last Friday, we (migs & I) were able to hit the racks once more. And like a song where it always goes back to the chorus, my second winning streak still goes on. 5-1.

I'm a bit pissed today, I don't know why. Probably, I'm just experiencing the heavy school load now that even sleeping becomes tiring. Or maybe, my superpowers failed me in fulfilling my mission to go to Jen's gig. *she's gonna kill me for sure.* xp

And I need to submit a fiction story with four set characters by Monday, but I'm still not sure how to go about it.

Main Characters:
A middle-aged female teacher who was a former movie star
A high-school boy

Supporting Characters:
A gay/lesbian
A character of your choice.

Thanks to all the peeps who came to A-ward!

Music:	Mandy Moore - Senses Working Overtime
Mood:	Just Tired

A-Ward, our exhibit

So we had our opening of our "art" exhibit, A-Ward, at the Rizal Library, 10:30-12:00. There were a number of people who were there, and the bunch got shushed twice by library administrators.

And I got an A for my project/exhibit there! Yippee!

I also did the stereograms there, the makeshift guestbook, and the cute little anime nurses (our mascot) around the area.

Thanks to all the people who were there to view our works!

For those who weren't able to come to the opening, the exhibit will still be there up to Friday this week. Don't forget to sign in the guestbook!

A-Ward, crazily creative creations.

Music:	Space Sheriff Shaider
Mood:	Sleepy (I only had one hour of sleep)

Open Mic Satisfaction

"One falls once more --
the wolf's teeth sinking
into the petal skin
of a maiden bird

A little death under a blood moon --
butterflies spiralling into their mind
fluttering red in the candlelight.

Life. Mine. Hers.
Drips now on their eyes
and they rest in carnal delight."
--- © Milo & Mia *the clones* [yay!]

From an amalgam of random words and a very sensual, stimulating open mic poetry setting, in three minutes, we conjured up a poem that we believe is good although we have no idea what it actually means.

It was one of my most memorable events ever. You won't care if you are alone while 5,000+ couples were kissing in Roxas Boulevard to break the Guiness record. A huge thanks to Den for inviting me over. And if you read this Den, yes, I can't still believe you don't have a Valentine. And you handle that microphone pretty well. And yes, I promise I'll contribute to Heights next time.

It was relieving conversing with Mia about our past experiences in love.

It was fun seeing Mia's (girl)friend Ina sticking her tongue out towards me as though she had one over me while she and Mia were...

And of course, not to be a spoilsport, I joined in the fun.

Oh boy, what singles do.... (no, it's not what you think.)

Music:	None
Mood:	None

For the past 10 days...

Plug: Visit our Basic Illustration as Visual Narrative exhibit: Feb. 17-20 at the 2nd floor of Rizal Library. Opening is on Feb. 17, 10:30-12:00 --- it would be nice if you could attend the opening as the artists and the mentor would be in attendance along with a few selected guests. Don't forget to sign in the guestbook!

I just passed by the Placement Office earlier and saw that I passed through the second screening. One more to go. And Jen, you passed too.

Whew, this was a whole week full of projects, and they are still ongoing. I hope I could finish them all in time, especially the final project for my Basic Graphic Design class so that I don't have to go to Ateneo on a Saturday.

Despite being busy throughout the past two weeks, I managed/will arrange to make time for other stuff: sleeping + dreaming!, going to cell meetings, will be attending the Heights Open Mic Poetry Reading this Friday, will be watching Enemy of the People (for free!), editing/retouching Karla & Tia's posters, fixing my Palanca stuff and some other things. [I'm strong, I'll manage] I hope I could make time to attend Jen's gig though.

--------

Feb. 14 is approaching, and this is the first time in my almost three years in college that I'll be hitting the books and finishing projects on this day. Looking back, Feb. 14, 2002 was a disaster [strange day in Shakey's, never double-date], 2003 was like wow [even though it wasn't a formal date due to class activities (we had a play to watch in the evening), at least there was someone to spend that day with, with all the roses and candy around]. This year, it is the middle of those two binary opposites.

And I'm glad I've been on the both sides of the bridge. I'm content being single now, but I do not renounce love like others do; I still want to have that special someone in my life; I still have that longing inside me.

Sure, love can be painful at times, has a lot of risks, and sometimes you wish that love could be handed to you on a silver platter but hey, that's part of the challenge. And, if you two are successful in making that loving relationship blossom, those obstacles won't matter much at all. Probably, that's why we were made to be sociable people, that it would be more difficult for us to live alone.

***
Philios, Storge, Eros, Agape, the 4 kinds of love Greeks believe exist. Psychologists add even more kinds.

Living in the vicinity of Philios (friendship) too much, or even Storge (natural family bond) sometimes could be lonely.

Philios, Storge, Eros, Agape, 4 kinds of love, and they could co-exist at the same time.

Music:	Mandy Moore - Stupid Cupid
Mood:	Tired

Little Miffs

You may see me smiling all the time, but like all people, I do have things that annoy me. These are some of those things:

1. The usage of highfaluting words

They are not bad when used in the proper context. Use them sparingly though as they are major turn-offs to most readers. Don't try to sound smart by using them; you may actually be sounding dumber than you think. That highfaluting word may be a synonym of that ordinary word, but it may not mean the same thing.

2. The "birds of the same feather flock together" syndrome.

This isn't bad per se. However, when you know that one bird is doing a wrong thing, you mustn't continue supporting that bird even if you are friends, have the same gender, etc. You must help him correct that wrongdoing of his.

3. One-man groupwork.
Pretty self-explanatory. However, this is different from one trying to "solo-flight" everything.

Music:	Mandy Moore - Have a Little Faith in Me
Mood:	Sleepy

Interpret my Dream

I had a strange dream today. I just wanted to share it with you guys. Feel free to interpret it.

----Dream Sequence----

Apparently, there was a contest for the next CBS' Survivor. I was there competing against around 127 more who wanted a spot in that reality show.

They teamed us into pairs, one male, one female. The pair who won, got in the game.

I got teamed up with this pretty cute girl, slim, fair skin with a Close-Up smile on her face. I didn't get her name though --- probably I was too shy, like I am in real life, to ask her.

The first contest was getting three little white prisms from their challenges. The first challenge was to use your mouths, suck the water and spit it out and try to locate two white prisms in a tub full of murky water with seafood consisting of fish, squid, and octopus guts all around. And we were first, along with the opposing team.

It wasn't pretty. I turned to my partner and said, "We can do this."

In the rules, it said to select one person to do the stunt and one person to assist. And I volunteered myself to do the sucking/retrieving the two white prisms. And after around thirty minutes, I managed to get the second white prism from the murky water.

The second challenge of this two-part contest was all about luck. The two teams' retrievers were shown three things, an ice cube, butter, and dough. Apparently, one of them concealed the white prism - and you had to use your mouths to unconceal it. Since we won the first part, I had the first choice. I was ready to pick the dough, but I changed my mind, and chose the ice cube instead.

And I managed to pick correctly as I held the third prism in my hand! Delighted my partner was as she came racing towards me and hugged me tightly. We exchanged high-fives.

I started coughing --- my body was trying to remove some of that brackish water I accidentally swallowed during the first contest. And my partner, she was a sweet soul. She hugged me again, and patted my back.

"There, there," she said. "You did good. Rest first."

"Thanks," I replied in between coughs. And I showed my gratitude by giving her a light peck on her cheek. She just smiled again, that Close-up smile.

We went back to our seats, and she was nursing me all the time while the other contestants had a crack in that contest.

Soon, there were only 16 pairs left. This last contest is a mental thing --- a question and answer rounds with different questions ranging from anything the world can think of.

The contest went like this, teams had a set of question cards with numbers behind them under the desks. They call out a question number, you flip the card over and answer it by writing in the whiteboards. No wrong answers here, as one mistake would send you packing.

The first questions were easy --- for me actually as I answered them all --- and apparently, I knew them all (I don't know why though). My partner had no idea about the topics since they were using things about mythical creatures, Magic cards, the likes. She was the one who wrote the answers though.

And then there were two pairs left. Of course, my partner & I and the opposing pair.

They called out question 14. And suddenly we realized, we were missing that card! We looked over and over on our deck of question cards, but it wasn't there. We looked all around our place, and found it lying on the ground three desks away from ours.

The question: "What ability does the Juzam Djinn have?" First, I thought about saying "Flying." But I changed my mind and chose the "Deals 1 damage to you during your upkeep." However, we ran out of time. And yes, we lost.

We were dumbstruck at first. We wanted to blame our loss at the card who went to our neighbor's house.

She hugged me again.

"Don't worry. We did our best."

But I couldn't stop myself to shed a tear or two.

And she continued, "You might've lost the contest and lost the chance of being in that show, but let me tell you something more special..."

"You have won yourself a girlfriend."

I sat back, surprised at what she said. It left me stunned for a few minutes.

"And I won myself a boyfriend," she added.

I hugged her tightly.

--------end of dream sequence--------

Because my mom woke me up for breakfast.

There, so interpret it guys. I'll appreciate it.

Music:	Biff Naked - We're Not Gonna Take It
Mood:	Injusticed