*deep intake of breath to create momentum*

I passed my thesis defense and got a grade of 1.25!!! Whoo!

Wow. Del Potro really dominated Rafa. There goes another chance for Rafa to grab the US Open, the only thing missing from his list. But I still love you Rafa.

With Rafa out and del Potro in, and with the way Federer clobbered Djokovic, and with del Potro and Federer meeting in the finals, you already know who will win the US Open. Again.

At least Rafa got #2 rank again. Whee!

Edit: So I spoke too soon once again. Wow, del Potro did a really good job of beating Federer.

Rafa won against Gonzalez! Yay!

But I was stunned that Serena lost to Clijsters. I've predicted a Williams vs Wozniacki finals. 'Guess my ESP's getting rusty.

Oh, and I'm really envious that my friend John (who recently flew to NY for a 2-year scholarship) was able to take a snapshot of Rafa on his way to practice :P

Edit: Okay...I just found out how Serena lost. I wasn't able to catch the live telecast, you see.

Because my laptop had to be reformatted (and because I didn't backup stuff) I lost:
1. ALL my Glay mp3s
2. My fics
3. My precious, precious JiroxHisa pics.
4. My 80s and 90s mp3s that I've worked so hard for to pirate look.
5. And other stuff (work stuff, boring stuff)

It's been a week since my long-weekend-vacation at Davao Oriental. I hadn't posted anything yet because I didn't have any pictures ready and because I was nursing a bad, bad sunburn. (With the 2 morning hours and 2 afternoon hours, plus 1 hour of trekking the mountain, I was destined to be toast.)

Moving on, ( clickie for the piccie )

Okay, I'm hardly a kitchen goddess, but my husband thinks so...or at least he makes me feel so. I just noticed that he eats more if I'm the one who cooked the meal instead of the help doing the cooking. I've even taught the help a thing or two to make the meals taste better.

What have I made that the hubby liked?
1.) Sweetened fried galunggong
2.) Better pork sinigang
3.) Pinangat na sapsap
4.) Fluffy scrambled eggs
5.) Crispy dilis (and I mean crispy)
6.) Adobong kangkong at sitaw

I asked the help once to make adobong kangkong...Eric didn't eat much because he said it didn't taste like adobong kangkong at all. So I asked Mom how to fix it and she told me how and I served the re-prepared dish come that dinner: Eric ate it all.

Eric says I really know my way around the kitchen and that I know how to create a variety of dishes. It just feels really good for my husband to appreciate what I cook.

I'm hungry.

I'm hungry because I couldn't eat the viand I bought from the lady.

I couldn't figure out what the viand is. x_x

I don't know how to go about this so I'll let this out in one breathing...

Five days before my wedding day, my maternal grandmother passed away. She was hospitalized last May 9, the day after my cousin from Guam arrived because they were to fly all the way to Davao to be with Eric and I on our day. But she suffered a stroke on the morning of May 9. She was strong, as far as we knew, and from the updates Tita Lucy gave us on Inang (what we call our grandmother), we were under the impression that the situation wasn't that bad. But she had to be transferred to a bigger hospital that same day for a better CT scan. From my Tita, we found out that the CT scan results weren't very promising. The death came both fast and slow. It was slow because the vital signs didn't drop that drastically but it was fast because it only took a few days for death to take over her.

My initial reaction was anger. I was never close to Inang. I used to be close to her and I used to be her favorite grandchild until three other cousins were able to go and live in the US and eventually are able to send her dollars. She was very materialistic that way.

I was angry at her because I thought she was stealing my light. I only get to be the star in the family only once, especially in Inang's eyes. I mean, I'm getting married at the right age, I never got pregnant before marriage nor am I getting married because I'm pregnant. I've finally found the man who loves me enough to want to marry me and most of my immediate family will be flying in just to see me walk down the aisle to start forming a family...and then here she went, making everyone forget I am even going to get married.

When Inang got hospitalized, I told myself that if there's anything she would do of if there's anything what will happen to her that will affect my wedding, I won't be able to forgive her. I am not going to cancel at the last minute because she's not the only person who will be flying in to see me get married.

I cried buckets last night. I didn't cry because Inang passed away. I cried because I hated that something bad happened just a few days before one of the happiest days of my life. I hated that our big day might be remembered not as "the day Eric and Sheila got married" but "a few days before Inang died."

I thank Eric for rushing to my side the moment he found out. I thank him for letting me cry on his shoulder until rationality sank into me. I thank him for letting me cool down and keep my emotions in check before I say anything to further aggravate the verbal spat my mother and I were already having.

Now, after all the crying and the hugs and the comforting I got from people around me, I'm starting to think better and feel better. I realize that I cried not because Inang died, not because I was afraid that my family won't be there at my wedding and not because Inang has ruined my plans. I realized I cried because I was sad Inang won't get to witness the day I got married. (Insert: I just received a message from Mom telling me that the dress Inang had herself made for May 16--the wedding day--is far more beautiful than the one Mom will be wearing, and that Inang had followed our motif.)

P.S.
The wedding will still push through. The family back home decided to have Inang interred on Thursday and have their Thursday flight rebooked for Friday so they can be here for me on Saturday and help me with whatever still needs to be done. Besides, the whole family had already flown in from abroad and there was no one else to wait for. (When Mom flew back home for the wake, I'm the only one left here so other than Eric being here, I suddenly feel so alone.) They have decided on this even before they asked what our (Eric and I) intention was. I realized they still want to be there for me. I stayed back here because as they say, bride-to-be's are prone to accidents.

We're all still looking forward to Saturday, but I will be missing one person.

I'm getting married in a month's time and guess what my workplace gave to me as a wedding gift: unemployment.

Today, our marriage license was released. Ooh, joy!

Something I copied from tonomurajiro

You're on my friends list! I wanna know you. I want to know 33 things about you. I don't care if we never talk, talk every day or already know everything about each other. Short and sweet is fine. I just want to know you.

1. Can you cook?
2. What was your dream growing up?
3. What talent do you wish you had?
4. Favorite place?
5. Favorite vegetable?
6. What was the last book you read?
7. What zodiac sign are you ?
8. Any Tattoos and/or Piercings?
9. Worst Habit?
10. Do we know each other outside of lj?
11. What is your favorite sport?
12. Negative or Optimistic attitude?
13. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
14. Worst thing to ever happen to you?
15. Tell me one weird fact about you:
16. Do you have any pets?
17. Do you know how to do the macarena?
18. What time is it where you are now?
19. Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
21. Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?
22. What color eyes do you have?
23. Ever been arrested?
24. Bottle or Draft?
25. If you won $10,000 dollars today, what would you do with it?
26. What kind of bubble gum do you prefer to chew?
27. What 's your favorite bar to hang at?
28. Do you believe in ghosts?
29. Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
30. Do you swear a lot?
31. Biggest pet peeve?
32. In one word, how would you describe yourself?
33. Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?

Time to post some pics I haven't gotten to posting yet...

( Clicky, clicky )

Remember when I ranted posted about YM being blocked at work? And YouTube, too (category: Streaming Media)? Guess what: they added more: I can't access MySpace and Facebook (category: Personals and Dating) and Sporcle (category: Games). But Friendster and Multiply are fine.

Heck, even the ads on my LJ sidebars are blocked (category: Advertisements).

I'm thankful LJ is still alive, so yay!

Yesterday, the Significant Other and I have officially reserved the date at the church and the reception venue.

May 16th, 2009.

Okay. Now the tough jobs come in.

I'm getting married in four months time.

So if I seem a little out of touch sometimes, forgive me. I just realized that it's true what they say--preparing for a wedding can make one go crazy.

The Significant Other has asked me to make the preparations and to just consult with him what I've come up with. Then I had to devote a huge chunk of my time looking at gowns, wedding rings, reception venues, churches and all of the needed things. So far, we haven't had any arguments over the preparations yet, but I'm getting the nagging feeling we might have a spat in the months to come.

I'm excited. I'm scared. I'm getting stressed.

But most of all, I'm happy.

Okay...because it's a new year, changes have been made at work, particularly with the internet.

I can bear that they blocked Youtube...
I can understand that they blocked Sporcle...
I wouldn't even care if they block Friendster and MySpace...

*rants* But to block Yahoo Messenger is going overboard!!!

They didn't block Google Talk. Anyone out there available at Google Talk?

I'm sneaking in a quiz because I'm still trying to find the words to an actual LJ entry. (copied from B)

Because I'm bored and pretending to work, I checked my flist and found a meme from tonomurajiro and I just can't help but copy.



I had to crack up so hard at #10. It made Hisashi sound so uke...

And then if course, I had to do Jiro.





#1 - Wow, such a quickie!
#2 - All the more reason to kiss him longer.
#7 - WAHAHAHAHAHAHA...
#9 - Rub Jiro Wayama where?

I'm sorry for the lack of updates and for the silence. Eric's father passed away last Thursday night and will be interred tomorrow.

I owe a lot of things to a lot of people. I will make up for those once I've settled back in.