AndieCrafts

Never would I have thought it would end this soon. I feel so lost.

Almost 4 months, really. And this time, I will neither apologize nor make promises I can’t keep. This is my blog, after all, and it is completely up to me to do whatever I please with it. Sue me.

I won’t deny the fact that my writing has gotten a bit rusty, so I guess the best that you could do is effing deal with it. I know I sound like I am in a foul mood, but I’m actually just a bit confused (hence, the soundness of an advice for you to run when you feel like I am really, genuinely, angry). I know my capabilities, my capacities, and everyone else’s expectations of me. What am I to do if all these collide like bullet trains on a track gone wild? But I’m positive everything will work out just fine. Oh crap. I have so many things to doooo!!! I better get some decent rest first…

You know how yellow often stands for things that are almost always correlated to happiness? Take as examples daisies, sunflowers, and the sun. Yellow almost always exudes the essence of smiles, for is it not often that we consider someone wearing yellow to be someone who is at a point in their lives where they can’t possibly be any happier (but then, maybe, that’s just me)?

In safety, however, yellow, when paired with black, is considered a major warning sign. Posts, humps, and areas that are susceptible to accidents are almost always painted with yellow and black in alternating stripes. This has never made any significance to my system, up until now.

I have been driving all on my own for roughly 6 months now. And during that entire time, I have only met accidents twice. And the most recent one was just this week.

The first time was the day after I first took out Felicity (the car I currently drive) for a drive. Personally, my family and I have always hated the parking spaces at GMall. It’s like the spaces are meant for just half a car, and not an inch more. A long, long time ago, GMall was the only decent mall you could actually go to, so we often went there to shop. Ultimately, our car had to pay the price in the form of dents (the kind you get from other cars that get their doors slammed to your own car’s body). Since they never had their parking lot renovated, the loser parker that is me had to contend with what they have, ultimately having my car pay the price in the form of a dent on the driver’s side (since they had a pretty small parking space, and since I was such a loser at parking to begin with, I ended up hitting my side of the car to a post). After the incident, a guard approached me and told me that I wasn’t the first to hit that post, and I probably wouldn’t be the last (what a consolation. And given the number of scratches that post had, he probably was right, too.) A few rubs with some car scratch remover solution dealt with the scratches, but the dents are undeniably there.

But that’s just a piece of the history. Guess what the color of the post was?

You got that right. Freaking yellow.

A few days ago, I hit a jeepney. The hit dented my car near the right headlight, and good thing the headlight itself didn’t crack. In addition to the dent, which wasn’t that obvious given that it was on a very strategic location, I had to deal with horrendous paint marks from the other vehicle. A vehicle that happened to be a shade of very joyful kind of yellow. Joyful. Yeah. Right. The best part about it all was that the other car didn’t even suffer from the slightest of scratches.

Since it was both our faults, we both decided to let the whole thing go. My sister and I then spent the entire afternoon fixing the yellow paint marks on Felicity.

A few days after the accident, life’s back to pretty much how it was before the accident. All, except my perception of the color yellow.

As of this week, I officially despise the color yellow.

Yellow. A joyful color. YEAH. RIGHT.

It is no secret that my favorite restaurant is Lachi’s. If my stomach was a bottomless pit, and I was given the choice to eat from either the best buffet in Davao City or a serving of dessert from Lachi’s, I’ll always choose Lachi’s. No questions asked, and entirely hands-down.

It has been a while since I had my fair share of Lachi’s goodness. And trust me, a fair share of Lachi’s is never fair, as you could only possibly want more. Truth be told, I regret everything that caused me to be this overweight (lack of discipline, junk food, medicines, and whatnot), save for Lachi’s.

So, lo and behold, after a while of absence (which I’m sure the servers at this divine restaurant noticed), I discovered that they have expanded their menu.

Some new menu items: Chinese Pork in Red Sauce and Halo-halo Lumpia

Unforgettably, my favorite main course from Lachi’s is the Unforgettable Ribs. And since it had been a while since my last visit, I was truly craving for some ribs. But the Chinese Pork item seemed like it was a good alternative, and God bless me for wrong I was not.

Chinese Pork with Red Sauce

I am still craving for some ribs, though, so maybe on my next trip. As for today, despite the lingering craving, I feel like I’ve achieved so much. Yes, I am that addicted to Lachi’s. Sue me.

It is not everyday that one gets the chance to grieve the loss of a great man. Great men come in too little a supply, and often, they leave without so much as a warning to lessen, if not completely halt, any pain that naturally comes from goodbyes. Yes, it is a pain to part, and even more painful to part with great men, hence the natural order of things where great men are few, and to part with them an even rarer circumstance. My family, however, grieves the loss of a great man once or twice a year. And once again, the time has come for us to swallow the bitter pill that is goodbye.

A great man is one who loses himself in the service of others, including those he love the most. A great man takes time to make up for lost time, despite knowing the futility of such an act. A great man braves the seven seas and the cruelty of the world, sometimes even literally, for someone other than himself. A great man is my dad.

Yesterday, I was at the kitchen with my mom while she was preparing dinner. Throughout the years, I have come to understand my mother’s emotions as though they were my own. I witnessed a hint of sadness in her movements, and asked her why it is so.

She gave me a simple reply of “You know.”

I went up to my room, close to tears, and composed myself before dinner. Throughout dinner, she was a tad bit cold towards my dad. She even snapped at him for having worked, again, when he was supposed to be resting for the long trip ahead of him. I could never understand, and I don’t think I ever will. Maybe that’s how love is. If you feel the pending goodbyes and months ahead without so much as a touch from the one we love, we become hostile. And we rarely fail to show it.

I slept last night not without shedding a handful of tears for them. And a couple for me, as well.

I woke up early to make sure that he is prepared for the months ahead. I know he doesn’t have as much entertainment when he’s gone, so I try to do things to compensate for that. I know nothing can ever match the fun of sitting in the den with your crazy wife and kids laughing and playfully pissing each other off, but a few movies, songs, and TV series episodes ought to do for the next half year. Hopefully, 150GB worth of data is enough to keep him happy at least a couple of hours each day.

Great man, I doubt you might be reading this, but still I write so to proclaim to the world my gratitude for everything you have done and love for everything that you are. You might not have noticed it, but the moment I started missing you when you left was the moment I started speaking less or slept in during the morning you left. It’s not to stop you from going, but it is to stop me from crying. We have lost all those years, but still, every time you are here, I feel like you have been here all along. Maybe, just maybe, your love is a powerful enough thing to overcome the futility of using time to make up for time after all.

See you soon, great man.

When you get sick, who do you run to?!?!?!

ANDIEEEE!!!!!

When your dependents feel ill, who do you call?!?!?!

ANDIEEEE!!!!!

Yes. People go to me when someone relevant to their existence (meaning, their own selves and their spouses and children) needs some medical attention. I am currently the Medical Staff of Davao Light and Power Company. And with great surprise do I report that I am liking this job.

Medical Staff. Any word or thing pertaining to medicines, biology, and pathology is sure to scare someone who decided to take up engineering for college initially due to the simple fear of taking up any Biology subject (most of the engineering courses from my university are not required to take biology subjects) out of their silly wits. To get my point through, let me tell you the story of Andie on her first day at work.

Ms. Janice: (Orientation mode)… and the MEDICAL STAFF position, which you will be taking over…

Andie: (Not understanding a word after MEDICAL STAFF) What Medical? Medical what? Medical has everything to do with medicines and biology and pathology, right? Oh no, oh no, oh no… oh no!!! what mess have I gotten myself in?!?!?!

And for the rest of the day, Andie was scared witless, which is a sad thing seeing as she doesn’t have much of a wit to lose in the first place.

But, again, to my surprise, I’m really liking this job. It gives me the chance to make others feel like someone is out there in full gear and with relentless conviction to take care of them, which can be rarely said about the general customer service culture of the Philippines. I like serving the people, and getting oriented with whatever disease they might have that needs attention. It makes me stick more to the recently established belief I conjured from my most recent Philosophy class (thanks Sir Tomacruz): behind everything is a face. Behind the presence of our daily supply of electricity is a group of people pretty much the same as the rest of us: mere human beings. They do their best to provide us with electricity, and despite the facelesness of the highly important product they provide, I have taken to heart to serve the people behind my daily dose of net surfing, tv watching, and whatnot.

I am a Medical Staff and, despite my huge fear of anything that has to do with medicines, biology, and pathology, needless to say something that involves all of them, I am happy and proud to be one.

… through laughter.

We all know the radio has it’s fair share of funny things that can either lift or dampen spirits. That’s why I love listening to the radio in the morning, as the case usually is that I am still in a good mood and can be led to laugh at the smallest of things. A few days ago, something I heard on the radio made my day, and quite honestly, I still can’t get over it.

Novellino Wine: Best served chilled with family and friends

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! You can’t possibly imagine just how many scenarios I’ve managed to play in my head just by thinking about this statement. Must be the coffee. Or the overdose of vitamins. Or both.

Hahahahahahaha!!! Imagine opening your fridge finding all of your family and friends chilled in some orderly manner, with a small space in the midst of the fridge confusion meant for your little bottle of Novellino wine. Just wait an hour, and you’ll be able to have your NOVELLINO WINE SERVED CHILLED WITH YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Adik ko. I know. You don’t have to tell me.

Still. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Imagine me getting all giddy and giggly with the love story of two teenagers. I’ve only had one romantic relationship in my life, ever. As all, or most, young love stories go, it started out pretty nice, but ended up rather ugly. Anyway, it’s been a while since I ever thought of young love, and thanks to my brother, I’ve had to think about it again, albeit not entirely unwillingly.

All I’m actually feeling right now is rather silly for being all smiley and light upon reading all the ILYs and IMYs (it’s actually a shame how long it took for me to decode these acronyms. Man, am I getting old!) I read in their most recent chat (hahaha, chismosa si ate). If you’re reading this, which I doubt, you better make sure you close all your chat boxes next time you borrow my MacBook. Ugma, makatilaw gyud ka ug sungog sa akua, NYAHAHAHA!!!

I’m actually in a good mood to tease my brother about it right now (but sleep is creeping in). He says she’s not his girlfriend, yet. Oh, young love. How naive you are.

14804 spams and counting. Had I not found myself faced with 7k+ spams to delete, I would not have had looked over my available plugins. Consequently, I would also not have had just lived through another wanting-to-bang-my-head-on-the-wall-for-my-utter-stupidity incident upon realizing that all it took was for me to click on “Activate” to save myself from all those months (a little over a year really) from the pains of spam relating to anything and everything under the sun. We Buy Ugly Houses. Really. Would you rather buy my soul, instead? Or do me the favor of killing me? Oh, wait, NO MORE SPAM!!! I DO NOT HAVE TO BE AFRAID OF MY BLOG ANYMORE.

‘Til next time. Not entirely sure when’s that, really. But it’ll come. I’m sure it will.

I have been putting off reading ever since graduation. Hell, I’ve been putting off pretty much everything I’ve planned to do with my life not pertaining to employment ever since graduation. As of the moment, I’ve 3 books, three-quarters done reading each (and the sad part is, unless I finish each of these books, there’s no point in having read them at all. With books, there is no such thing as having read 2.25 books for my case.). I’m greatly disappointed with myself on that note, but I’ve realized something I have known for quite some time now (I guess I should be calling that re-realize now, shouldn’t I?): my thirst for reading is insanely insatiable, even if I’m the one depriving myself of the privilege to read.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been taking in movies, series, and whatnot (thanks to the power of torrent downloading and pirated DVDs, hahaha). Having loaded my MacBook to a certain point of leaving only a few hundred mbs of free disk space (out of a 250 gb capacity), I have a lot of things to entertain me for the entire summer (or until I get hired). Due to the lack of motivation instilled by my last couple of years in college and the endless supply I have of fast and easy entertainment cum distraction-from-the-basic-realities-of-this-world-and-life-after-graduation, I have become a bum (there’s no easy way for me to say this, but it is said that one of the first steps to healing is to admit you’re sick. I AM A BUM. FML.). Despite this bumness galore of the past four or so weeks, I discovered that my mind has a mind of its own (what the?!?!? Pasabti ko beh.). Halfway during movies and episodes of whatever it is that I’m watching, I’d pause, and start googling (this word ought to be part of our dictionaries now, really) stuff. Just random stuff. From the basic plot of whatever to the car I’m eyeing on a current film I’m watching, I have googled, clicked, and read to my heart’s extent. There have also been instances wherein upon waking and I happen to have something of a lingering dream, I’d start googling anything relevant to that dream (ie, if I saw a daisy in my dream, I’d start googling on all the families, genii, and species of daisies, trying to find which one I had in my dream). Adik. Here’s a short list of some of the things I’ve been googling for the past few weeks (just so you get a basic idea).

• Denrobates Azureus
• Burmese Cuisine (and heaps of foreign cuisines)
• Anna Chlumsky (and heaps of other actors, actresses, models, and any remote family members that were lucky enough to have a page in Wikipedia)
• Kemper
• Mr. Roboto (and other really old songs that came up on the radio)
• Eyeball Tattoo
• Small Room (for ideas on how to redecorate mine)
• Poison Dart frogs
• Pinhead Gunpowder (and heaps of other bands)
• Lance Armstrong (saw him on CNN and wasn’t quite sure whether he had cancer or Parkinson’s, so I googled)
• Acai Berry Yahoo Messenger (those effing spims are getting to my nerves)
• Reprise (and heaps of films that featured in Sundance)
• Camcorders
• Eyelash Elongation (saw a sign in front of AdDU Matina saying they provide this service for a thousand bucks. After reading about the entire process, I realized this wasn’t too practical, and that I’m better off using some fake lashes instead)
• Samsung i780 review (and reviews for heaps of other phones)
• E75 release date Philippines
• So happy together lyrics (and lyrics for heaps of other songs)
• Photoshop Photographers Tutorial
• Iraq (and heaps of other countries)
• Mother Lode (good God, I can’t remember why I searched for this. I think I remembered a cheat on Sims 2, but I can’t remember what made me remember the cheat)
• Bone Draft
• What to do when lightheaded
• Interval Training
• How to Call Phone on Roaming Smart (Menchie asked for this one. Anton went to China and the only way she can reach him is through text.)
• SSOP
• Bangs (hair bangs, hahaha)
• Colonoscopy (and other medical procedures)
• Dead Pixels
• Strep
• NLP
• Pig Latin (and although this can’t be considered a real language, I’ve managed to search heaps of other languages as well)
• I’m halfway through my Google search history and I’m tired. You wouldn’t even want to know of the things I’ve read from StumbleUpon.

So yes. I’ve been putting off a lot of things aside to get some googling, stumbling, and watching done. But tomorrow, I’m starting anew. I’m going to get things done. SOOO, here’s my list of things to keep me better preoccupied for the rest of my life:

• get fit
• learn a new language
• redecorate my room
• free some disk space on my MacBook
• listen to some songs while singing along
• practice Photoshop and photography
• make some film and book reviews
• finish reading my pending books
• organize iTunes
• finish the two blog entries that I drafted before this entry
• Finish andiecrafts.multiply.com, refurbish andiealbino.multiply.com, and delete all my friendster accounts
• Refurbish andiecrafts.com
• clear spam from my website and email
• transfer IM friends from an old account to a newer account

That’s a relatively short list for the rest of my life, isn’t it? I’m sure I’ll come up with a longer list as time passes. As of the moment, though, the objective is to get me off my ass and get me to start doing things again.