Wednesday, October 31, 2007

oh my stars

from astro dot com

An evaluation of goals ***
Valid during many months: This is a challenging time in your life. You will have to make many choices about what areas of your life to emphasize. Will you work to build up a new career or continue to build upon a current one? Will you work to make your personal life as satisfying as possible? Will you work collectively with many other people or by yourself?

Often there is an "alienation crisis" with this influence, a sudden feeling of being cut off from everyone else, as if you have spent too much energy pursuing purely personal goals. This in turn generates loneliness and a feeling of being distant from others, even loved ones. Or you may suddenly feel that you no longer have the strength to go on in the direction you have chosen. Fears of your own inadequacies may distort your perspective. All of this is most likely to happen if you have neglected personal relationships in your life. You cannot go on forever without supportive emotional relationships, and you may have been trying to do so.

Sometimes this influence can have the opposite result, and you discover that various personal entanglements have been interfering with the pursuit of your valid goals. In this case you will break off relationships and gain the freedom to go your own way. The issue here is the balance between personal relationships and advancement in life.

On another tack, this period can test your choice of goals. You may encounter opposition from others that forces you to examine whether your goals are really valid for you. If they are, the conflict with other persons or against trying circumstances will be useful. But if you find that your heart is not really in the path you have chosen, you may have to make adjustments and change your course of action. It is far better to do this now than several years from now, when you may be overcommitted to an inappropriate course and discover that you are trapped. Now is the time to change. It may not be pleasant, but it is possible.


Saturn Square Med.Coeli ,
activity period from 30 October 2007 until beginning of August 2008.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

staying?

if it's not galore,

it's work
or the kids
or the church
or food (eating)
or spirituality
or money
or sex
or love
or shopping
or beauty
or the rules
or drugs

what makes life worth living?
(what puts pain away?)
being.

what do you say to another?
who are you to say?
in lieu of?

how to be filled from within?
how to find joy?
breathing.

Friday, October 26, 2007

cooking up a storm

it was just past eight when i texted atej to take the tapa out of the freezer, pork or beef it didn't matter. i wanted to cook myself a hot meal soon as i arrived, not so much for the food, as for the comfort of cooking one's self, something, well, food.

who knew i would come to this? just a few days before the trip to the mountains, my cousins' eyes almost fell off watching me unwrap a thawed chicken, place it in a baking dish, and pop it into the oven. me who only knew enough to push around some tinned food in some oil with some onions, garlic, and sometimes, tomatoes. gisa, it's called.

the day after i arrived, the menu was:
breakfast: mess of hot and spicy tuna, omelet/scrambled eggs, loads of onions, tomatoes and garlic
lunch: steamed kangkong leaves
dinner: chicken-cabbage soup, fried little fish

yesterday:
breakfast: tortang talong, squid uga, pinakas

and today:
breakfast: homemade yogurt with bananas, honey, and muesli
lunch: leftover chicken pineapple fried rice, leftover uga
dinner: pasta with beef strips in a yet-to-be created white sauce :D

one-step above just "gisa the can", but you know, it's the cooking act itself, even the slicing of onions into paper thin strips.

so therapeutic.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

"The key to getting through difficult times is to take to heart the lesson offered by all the mystics down through the ages. For the mystics remind us we cannot be truly effective in dealing with life's difficulties, unless we ground ourselves in silent meditation and prayer. For in the receptive stillness of meditation and prayer we discern the still small voice that guides us through the night. As we listen intently to all that is going on within us, we can begin to sense the blessings that are already present in the apparent loss and hardship we may be going through at the moment. Surely, this is deathbed wisdom. For, as our faith assures, the moment of death is not simply the end. Death is a door that opens out upon new and unforeseeable beginnings that never end. Learning to see this gain out of loss, this birth out of death rhythm; learning to step into the stream of this rhythm, to move with it, and trust in it always, is to live a contemplative way of life in the midst of the world."

-James Finley, www.myss.com

Friday, October 12, 2007

swimming

lumalangoy lang po!
just swimming.

sobrang dami ang mga nangyari nitong mga nakaraang linggo. karamihan dito ay mga tipong nangyari lang, hindi mo ini-skedyul pero nangyari na lang. hindi dahil sa walang mga kinalaman ito sa mga nangyari sa nakaraan, kundi ito ay ang mga bagay na basta na lang sumusulpot. at ang puwede lang gawin ay harapin ang mga ito.

so many things have happened in the last few weeks. most of these are things that just happened, that you don't schedule but just crop up. not because these are not somehow connected to things that happened in the past, but because these are the type of things that will just arise out of the blue. and the only thing to do is to face these.

there are no heroes, but we all are ourselves. i love that everyone is just themselves. it is in being ourselves that we are most able to help each other, no matter the conflict, the tears, the pain. there exists as well joy and hope. when each one tends to what is true to them, and takes care to grow and learn, there comes always understanding, love, compassion.

for somehow, these are all adventures in compassion. compassion for ourselves, and compassion for the other. that is why we are all in this together. we are inter-connected in life's weave :).

we have been Kissed!

Monday, October 08, 2007

akala ko puwede na akong sumaya.

Wednesday, October 03, 2007


the diwata kisses the tree


you wouldn't think for a minute, the original scene


was this.


this is how rusty my kissing skills are.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

deities and the days

Astro Dot Com
Repair works *
You may be concerned today with repairing something that has broken down, such as an automobile or an appliance. Or you may have to deal with a situation that has broken down to the point that it must change radically in order to continue, even along completely new lines. You may have to contend with a person who is trying to exert unreasonable power over you today, forcing you to defend your right to do things your way. The person may feel that he or she is doing this for your own good, but that is not usually the case. Avoid contact with criminals and do not go into areas where you are likely to encounter street crime. Under this influence it is just possible that you might have an unfortunate encounter.

The interpretation above is for your transit selected for today:
Sun Conjunction Pluto , exact at 20:07
activity period from 24 September 2007 to 26 September 2007.


Yesterday, I got severely told off by the aircon repair men for not maintaining the health and wellbeing of The Aircons, pointing out that I'm lucky the compressors haven't given up after years of neglect. To pay for my dereliction of duty was literally, to pay, with bowed head. It was a dear dear sum, but in the end I was quite happy to pay it (I might not be so happy by the end of next month, but hey, now is what matters, hahaha).

And now, I'm cold. (I hope she is too.)

* * *

My dear dear (phrase of the day) teacher said in her lecture last Saturday: Sometimes we are like Sleeping Beauty, we are asleep to ourselves. We need a kiss to wake us up, but what we don't know is that the kiss is that given by Life. It is the Kiss of Life that wakes us up.

Friday, September 14, 2007

the art of compromise

1. Dump yummy easy healthy instant oatmeal into your favorite mug. Let it fill a third of your mug.

2. Pour boiling hot water into mug, just enough to cover oatmeal. Mix thoroughly.

3. Leave oatmeal for a few minutes to cool down (unless you're impatient, in a hurry, or someone who can't take advice :P). Doing so, protects you from being accused unnecessarily (more on this later), aside from the main reason (coming up next).

4. Scoop Rocky Road ice cream (preferably Magnolia!) on top of nicely-textured, cooled-down healthy oatmeal! Mix a little, keep a little ice cream pure, whatever floats your healthy-unhealthy food compromise boat :P.

5. Enjoy with a big grin! Got one over you, oh guilty ice cream! :P

giddy me to carebear: Guess what I invented! Oatmeal with ice cream! Yummy!

stressed-out carebear: You're justifying your impatience for oatmeal to cool down with claims of culinary success!

me, rolling my eyes: No am justifying my need for ice cream by cramming it with a slew of oatmeal!

Sunday, September 09, 2007

overheard

I didn't come here to tell you that I can't live without you. I can live without you. But I don't want to.
-- the Jen Aniston character in Rumor Has It


I read somewhere that love is like friendship on fire.
-- the guy character in the Hilary Duff movie on HBO


This is not my problem so I am not going to worry about it.
-- me

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

TAG

8 random bits ala La Rossa Keeda

1. she's petite, a woman with long blond wavy tresses, pert and pretty in her blue checked coat, walking outdoors on a nippy new york day. (i already know she's a woman after my own heart as she previously tried her best to let her friend know that her friend's fiance made a pass at her) she turns to her date, her first since her husband died a few months ago, and invites him to check out a gallery with her. it's for work, as she needs to look at some stuff for her boss. she and the date walk in the gallery door and admire the poignant photographs on the walls.

then their eyes lead them to a photograph of her. grief, the camera caught her moment of grief, sitting outdoors on the stairs to her building, broken down, crying unashamedly. the happy woman, unprepared for such a sight of her raw self, unhooks the framed photograph from the wall, hugs it to her chest, and hightails it out the door (leaving her date with his mouth hanging open).

she stole the photograph of her.

and because the scene is in six degrees, my newest favorite tv show on planet vivi, it turns out that the photographed woman is friends with a woman (the one who had a cheating fiance) who is friends with the photograher who wants the photo back. someone wants to buy it from him to be the cover of a book, and he genuinely needs the break.

the photographer asks the friend if he could meet his subject, and she does. she pleads her case: she is a happy woman and she does not want her eight-year-old daughter to see her mom immortalized on the cover of a book, crying her eyes out, bereft. he pleads his: when people see the photograph, they will not see her, they will see themselves. he explains some more. it had been one of the worst times of his life, and when he saw her on the stairs, it called out to him.

he adds that a photograph is made by the photographer and the person he is photographing. but she is adamant: people may not see me but i see myself.

then one day soon after, the good and soulful photographer knocks at the blonde woman's door and hands her a huge envelope. he says he didn't want to send it through the mail, all the negatives of the photographs he had taken of her. he says, "sometimes i forget to see outside the frame."

then a few days later, she sees her little daughter kneeling on the floor of her bedroom, staring at the framed photograph she had hidden under the bed.

the daughter asks, "mommy why are you crying?"
the mother speaks, "i was very sad. i missed daddy."
"i miss daddy too. why is this under the bed?"
"i didn't want you to see me sad."
"but didn't you tell me it's ok to be sad? besides, i think you're very pretty." then the daughter stands up to look for her skates that she thought she had left under her mother's bed.

and this is why i adore six degrees. it totally makes my Mondays :D.

2. so some of you may have by now enjoyed or missed A Love Story starring Aga Muhlach, Maricel Soriano and Angelica Panganiban. I totally enjoyed it. It's about a wife, a mistress, a man, and love. Written very well by Vanessa Valdez.

in one scene, the Maricel character had just had a trying day wherein she had sacrificed her happiness in order to be happy, and even performed convincingly in front of her "public" that she was totally fine. that night, the Aga character comes to see her, fully aware and cognizant of all that she had gone through and given up. he gives her a hug, and she cries.

buhuhuhuhu, this is the scene that made me cry. you know how it is, when it's a moment of the biggest emotional disaster, and someone sees you.

3. i was as neurotic as a child as i am now. i remember my moments of fear. living hours of my childhood traveling on a long winding coastal highway that linked the city to our rural town, i can still remember being instructed by my mom not to look as the jeepney we were riding in took in bloodied victims of a vehicular accident and sped away to the nearest hospital, far far away.

another time, i also remember lying in the backseat with my arm in a temporary cast listening to my parents explain to people outside the car that they could not bring another victim (this time of a hit and run) to the hospital as they were bringing me to the hospital too.

i am still as scared of accidents, and i still don't look. i peed in bed as well, perhaps, a testament to all my unspoken, unconscious, unacknowledged worries as a little introvert child. if you don't know it, piss it. hehe.

4. i learned the lyrics to billy joel's You May Be Right from my uncle's copy of Jingle magazine left in our house when i was a little girl. i memorized it, and i still know the song straight thru. fridaynighticrashedyourparty, saturdayisaidi'msorry, sundaycameandyoutrashedmeoutagain, iwasonlyhavingfun, wasn'thurtinganyone, andweallenjoyedtheweekendforachange, youmayberightimaybecrazy, nobutitjustmaybealunaticyou'relookingfor :D many years later i would have a cassette tape of billy joel's glasshouses and would know all the words to all the songs as well, including youmaybewrongforalliknowbutyoumayberight! yeah!

5. the top five blogs i lurk at (aside from my friends'), meaning i drop by theirs every time i'm online and they don't know me at all are: ala's, pam's, ging's, rosa's and erica's. if you don't know them, well it's your loss! :D

6. for an entire year (well eight months), i killed with my eyes and in my head all the men of all shapes, sizes and form who dared look at my sister as an object and not as a person, and so woe to you if you're a man and you do that and you have no clue how offensive you are! what makes you think your gaze is not intrusive and invasive! show some respect, you dicks!

yes, i have anger issues with men who objectify women (and rightly so, so much for my peace of mind). what makes you think, you're the only one human, and the only one who deserves respect! you know the golden rule: if you don't like being bothered, stop bothering others!

LOOK AWAY :). Staring is rude. I truly believe a good man looks away.

7. i'm trying :) i'malazyassselfindulgentspoiledlittlebabychildwhothrowstantrums but i try :) perhaps when i turn 80 i shall be perfect like my grandmother :)

8. my mom bought me my copy of the little prince when i was small or when my waist was small i can't remember exactly when. it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.

I TAG my beautiful cousin Lea, my wonderful friend Tina, my much-missed friend TitaEds, my soon-to-be-mom mermaid friend Nina (hahaha gawa gawa ko lang about soon-to-be-mom), my relocated friend Buddha who doesn't have a blog, my beloved sister Duni, and double tagging the gfs Dee and HB. Don't think we haven't noticed. Hehe!

Monday, September 03, 2007

an eyeful

Strength Mediaworks posters at Men Can Stop Rape!






Monday, August 27, 2007

the Binky Lampano dance

@ the 70s Bistro August 22, 2007

gig was a blast!

Binky and Lampano Alley rock!

sweaty! hehe!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

askew



when i let my eyes roam our sala, i can see at least three things that are askew. you know the phrase "has really opened up the space"? oh yes! i am so reveling in our space made new by pulling stuff around and putting things askew :D.

i decided i could no longer stand The Way Things Were. it was ugly.

first, i started in my bedroom. i closed the door and pulled my bed to the other side of the room. oh, wait. we're talking about a queen semi-poster bed here so i made it skate over and around, on cloth trapo.

oooh, it really opened up the space :D.

i can now totally live in/ enjoy the huge window as it's now THERE instead of just there. i also took steps to get myself a proper desk, the one i've always wanted, a big one that's shorter than standard :D. i don't have it yet but in my heart i have it already, hehe.

taking advantage of a few nights of having the sala to myself, i've spent two nights pulling things around. after the first night when i was only half-done, i went to sleep at five am, expecting to be awakened at six by our kasama's shriek at finding the sala in chaos, looking like it was ransacked. hehe. she survived the shock, i stayed in sleep.

for now i am done :D.

this is the reason why i didn't have things fitted/ fixed. i was sure that at some point i would die from not being able to move things around.

it's so amazing how life is made new by recreating a space. it's unbelievable. i can work again. i can live my life again.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

bleh

this is me making a face at you.

i feel uncomfortable.

i feel uncomfortable because i am aware i have not made progress even though i already know which direction i am going (that's the extent of my movement, but at least). i also know i have miles to go. miles to go before my first big milestone. i'm not scared about the miles to go because i'm sure i will love it. i'm just uncomfortable because i should be making a move on already!

and yes, i'm also uncomfortable because it doesn't feel good not being able to tell the people who matter and who care, that no, i have hardly done anything, errr, yet.

aside from that, i am also not liking the person i love(d) much and that is always uncomfortable. and sad.

* * *

but at least, i blurted out already the study i wanted to do, to the people concerned. hehe. and they didn't say no. (but i wish they would be more enthusiastic, hehehe).

and finally, after three months, had the talk i'd been needing to have. talk was good. but life is sad.

* * *

but uncomfy is good :D

Monday, August 13, 2007

estadistika

in the last week!

classes attended: one, with quiz (to give it weight)

related materials "read": one thesis, one book, 3 journal articles (does it count that i purposely read all last four in one day to improve my stats? ehehehe)

"clients": two counselees, and one cancelled testing referral (which makes it two haha!)

movies seen: 5! ooops! but it's only because it's cinemanila :D

bottles of beer on (intestinal) wall: 3 and 1 mojito

loads of laundry: four! but that's because i super multi-classify according to color, and type of material hihi

dish cooked: oooh, did a mean pork binagoongan! yummmeeeeh. i have to toot my own horn, no one else has tasted it. hahaha!

resolutions for the week ahead: 75 million :D

Monday, August 06, 2007

clothes and the cabbie and the paparazzi

minsan, gusto ko talaga mag costume. hehe.

one time, nag mall kami ng housemate ko at nanood ng sine. tanong niya, "which gala are you going to?". hehe. natuwa ako.

naka-flowing skirt eklat kasi ako nun. wala lang, yong gusto ko lang magsuot ng may konsepto.

alam mo yong gusto mo mag costume para maiba/ magkaron ng twist, pero ayaw mong may makakapansin sa yo? hahahaha :p

* * *

one time, as we were coming home in a teksi, roommie and i, bundled in with the groceree/shopping, and we were, you know, chatting ourselves silly, and the manong driver, maybe feeling like, heyman, wheredahell we goin' man, says to us in the middle of our chat, "misis, san tayo dadaan?"

whada? that shut us up for a good three minutes. it doan feel so good man, being called a missus when it ain't true maaaahn, and besides, wadidhemean missus? we look like olegirls, man? isdatit? and besides, which one of us did he mean?

* * *

and so it certainly lit me up like a Christmas bulb was spreading gladness inside me, when the very next week, on the way to school, taxi man says, "Ne, papasok ba tayo sa ______?"

oooh, Nene! maybe i wasn't the missus after all :D

and the two other times it happened after that, man that felt good.

* * *

but then, i wore this Lola (vintage print) empire-cut dress and when the taxi driver dropped me off, he went, "O, ingat ka ha, buntis ka pa naman."

waaaaaaah, toink!

how do you explain, manong, yes i have bilbil but it's also the thing to wear stuff that look like they're for preggers.

manong, talaga hahahahaha.

* * *

spent time with old old friends last week, and i discovered that there appears to be a perk with having a husband.

there we were on one long table, and hubbies would regularly stand up from their meal, and take photos of their wife and whoever was sat beside their wife (like the baby or the friend newly arrived). as in! it was like wives had their personal paparazzi who snapped shots without being asked at very regular intervals.

amazing.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

my name is vivi and am a size 36 or a 6

the good news is, the celine sale is finally over.

YES!

the one that started six weeks ago with "everything-must-go!", then tested my quivering resolve with "everything-must-go and a further 25 percent off your second pair" offer; and then took me right over the edge and left me to drown with its "everything-must-go, futher 50 percent off your second pair" final offer.

oh shit na.

hahahaha.

i hate celine. i hate the fact that they have such funky shoes that are so sulit for your money and so usable that you just can't let it pass you by. that makes you think of every woman who's someone in your life like your mother, your sister, your best gfs and your lola who would all surely appreciate fun funky sulit pairs of shoes!

(it's the thought that counts :P)

but now that the sale is over, i can be on the road to financial recovery and academic bliss. finely and funkily shod.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

refreshing!



while frolicking with the rose, we came upon this lovely garden on flickr.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

state of the pansies

realizing the weirdness of my hours, and the possible dire consequences of such on potential morning appointments, i have lately been engaged in attempts to "normalize" my rhythms. so i say goodnight to those within goodnightie radius at half twelve or one, climb onto my bed, turn off the lights save for my reading lamp, read my amy tan (the opposite of fate) and wait for oblivion to steal me away. alas, amy tan is too entertaining/thought-provoking, and here i am at half past two am typing away on fiolo. on other nights, i read till four or five, or tossed around till four or five, or dozed then was startled awake by peculiar night sounds, or the alien gruntings of my aircon, because i have been like that ever since i woke up to thieves trying to get into my house last year, or gave in and worked till five or six. and so sad to say -- dare i say it? oh the shame -- i have been waking up at 10-11 am when i sleep at 3-4 or 11-1 when i sleep at 5-6, and in the past two nights because i have been ill, i just have slept the mornings away wholeheartedly.

so this is where i'm at. it's a tuesday-turned-wednesday so i have just had a very enjoyable night again at my inkblots class because i found out from when i changed seats during our second meeting, that i just have a natural affinity and affection for this class and am developing deep respect and liking for our very witty and seriously-in-love-with-his-subject to the point where he will print out copies of the lectures for all his students teacher. i like this class so much i am having idle thoughts about using inkblots for my imaginary thesis.

i also have a monday class that i took out of fear (that my time might get so unstructured i'd be bored or miserable or both. oh and that i'd get grossly undisciplined, or all three) and ignorance (i've lately been having young kids as clients and thought what i know about kids i can count with my fingers so i might as well educate myself more, but maybe i should have a kid instead so then, i'll know) and stubbornity (heeeee sounds much better than stubbornness) because this teacher and i haven't got the hang of each other, and i thought i'd try again. so as you can see, simply from my reasons, this class takes a little more effort to go to and have fun at. :D

i am also doing my thesis starting this semester but i have only gotten to the point of dipping my toes in the lake because i have been as yet extremely preoccupied flirting madly with other things, flirtation being the first step(s) to a serious commitment. i have been involved with testing and preparing psych reports for another insti (where i love the boss who says thank you back when i say thank you), with putting up a wholistic-oriented (what?) magazine, and with fixing up my stuff and my house (a lifetime preoccupation with bouts of frenzy timed with transition periods). but dipping my toes felt very very good so my hopes are mostly up. (up in the air or up-timistic, hehe).

my roommie and i are also taken with planning the daily menus and the weekly groceries (or rather, every ten days groceries) which might make you think we're running a fulltime carinderia or a gourmet restaurant instead of simply feeding three girls two meals a day. but since there's no running away from feeding the third girl task, we thought we might as well maximize the meals in terms of taste and, well, taste. hehe. it also takes planning so we don't end up with too much leftover or have one too many unsatisfactory meals. we have nightly assessments and recommendation sessions, not to mention reconnaisance missions to the refs to see what's what and what's up. hahaha. sorry, but that's how it is.

the peace and present equilibrium of my life wasn't always so. four weeks ago, i was crying into my pillows before sleep and at odd hours, for having been separated from my sister -- we had literally been in each other's hair for eight months straight. and it might be hard to explain, and therefore unexplainable hehehe, but we were (are) great friends, and got along really well on very very many levels, and had loads fun, too. it's hard to imagine for those who didn't live very closely with us and knew us very well, and hard to describe to anyone else except for one or two friends fitting that description plus our mother, so i didn't/ don't try very hard to do so (as you will see from this blog :), and from my conversations with friends). suffice it to say, that it was real, it was (is) love, and it was grief. and i know that's already enough info for those who love us and those who may not know us but who empathize (thank you).

but as with most things that are and real and truly love (not contrived nor illusionary), it respects emotional honesty, recognizes natural flow, and is grounded unconsciously and consciously, in the awareness and understanding that everything is always as it should be, and we are always in the right place at the right time. and so, four weeks hence, sister and i are once more firmly entrenched (were we ever dislocated, it was just the necessary motion) in each other's lives, this time through text, and email, and the fact that often my last thought before i go to sleep (when i am finally able to these days) is that she is well and can overcome the many bumps in her UK road. closely followed by the guilty thought that she would only be helped by me and my thinking if i truly believed she can, so there, i picture that she can.

which brings me to my thought that perhaps love, those we love, are truly our last thoughts before sleep, and how this brings up that i am also presently in the last throes of accepting the deep and abiding incompatibility (shot through with a very real love) between me and my last, err, love(r). he was often in my thoughts before i started snoring, and it was my oft-repeated wish that i was also in his, but it's a real sign of our incompatibility that i could not possibly be in his as much as i wished to be as he probably did not could not even say on any random night whether he would in fact be sleeping or at what time, and perhaps he might have just woken up. so there, me. hehehe. plus i say in the last throes because i grow more detached in the face of similar stimuli. but let's not get ahead of ourselves, lest i need to resort again to whining about ex-love(r) in the near future. hehehe. sorry, but that's the way it is.

i am also at this point in time, on a conscious process of building stronger relations with my family members, near and far, fully recognizing the fact that sometimes it's quite hard, and as such, this is a lifetime endeavor, but that life would have no meaning without family and so, even if i sometimes really need to run away for a while, this is really what life is all about :).

last week, i also, following my flow, renewed my ties and promises to do voluntary counseling with my other practicum insti. i can't tell you how immeasurably better i felt after doing so. i want to do therapy/ counseling. i want, i want. i might super suck at it, being such a super newbie needing lots of experience and guidance, but i find i am much happier by having ensured i will still be doing it at this point in time (outside of practicum or a formal practice) :)

while i was in bed writing in my head, i also thought that i don't believe in self-improvement projects but rather in awareness, and acceptance, and in living from awareness and acceptance. it is through that process, that one -- dare i say it? -- that i can truly flow. and if i haven't learned this after sitting in my favorite teacher's class for three sems in a row then i really haven't gotten the benefit of my oh-so-expensive tuition.

finally, after weeks of not being able to put my finger on it, i finally found the words that mattered to me as a thesis advisee. i don't need a super-duper-brilliant-academician adviser. i don't want strangers. more than anything, i wanted someone who believes in me. and with that, i feel i can do mostly anything.

;)