timepieces

i've always liked watches; they're one of my fettishes. watches, hands, and wallets. it's one of the first things i notice in a person. when i watch tv or a movie, i always notice the actors' watches (forget the frontal nudity; did you see his watch?!).

i keep a number of them also, each with a story to tell. i still have to attain my dream watch though... a 2-toned, square-faced, santos cartier (gold screws, please) - just like my dad's. i would've wanted to keep his for myself also if only... but that's another blog.

my first watch was a mickey mouse watch where mickey's arms were the watch's hands. it's gone now but i'm always in the market for another one, but only if the gloves are yellow. my second watch, i still have. it was given to me when i was around 9-years old, so i guess it's kinda like an antique already, hahaha!. it's a silver, metal, tiny, round-faced, seiko timepiece, a gift from my dad. thankfully, the bracelet still fits around my wrist. i decided to have it fixed ("restored" is the more appropriate term, i think) yesterday. thought it would just be a battery thing. guess what... it's de-susi! gosh! it IS an antique! sometimes, it pays to be a packrat, i guess. can't wait to get it back!

dare to be pink

a pink person, i definitely am not. it's just... too girly for my taste. only very recently did i venture into wearing pink, only because i had no choice as it was our school uniform. some people actually said that i look good in pink. yeah? well, i'm not about ready to change my wardrobe, let alone use it on my cellphone. which brings me to...

the other day, amy and len were tinkering with my (somewhat) new cellphone. then they return it to me with a new wallpaper - a lion with hearts around it, kasi valentine daw - and new color scheme... PINK! ew. it makes sending and reading text a painful endeavor! they're daring me to keep the settings for two loooooooong weeks, in exchange for a treat: old spaghetti house's cookie collosal. hmm...

shet. ang cheap ko. hahaha!

secret garden

one of the "features" of my new room is that it opens up to a veranda and a mini box garden where, among others, we've been growing basil and oregano for my cooking necessities. the place has potential for a "gimmick area" by adding lighting, a banig, big pillows... must do something about the view though.

i'm no green thumb but i am, kahit papaano, a nature lover. i like plants that are ALIVE. so it was to my dismay that when i opened the door to the veranda this afternoon, it was the sight of parched dying plants that greeted me! i mean, it's bad enough that one of the plants is a funky, slightly tacky, red, pussy-willow-ish / feather duster type. what more a DYING, funky, slightly tacky, red, pussy-willow-ish / feather duster type?!

i tried to water the plants with the use a tabo, but it was evident - and more physically economical - that i needed a hose. i asked the helper in charge of that duty to help (duh) hoist the hose from the ground floor. as if embarrassed, she volunteered to water the plants herself. when i asked her when she last watered the plants, she replied that it had been almost 2 weeks! ugh! siya kaya ang hindi ko painumin ng dalawang linggo! grrr! AKO NA LANG ANG MAGDIDILIG NGAYON.

as i watered them, i couldn't help notice the plants gently swaying with the breeze, as if dancing a "thank you" dance. they're on a respirator for now. will update you on their situation. haay...

fee-fi-FO-FEM!

maria is now a blogger! welcome to blogspot, teacher fofem! : )

so happy that you can join us. i can't wait to read your thoughts! it'll be like old times.. sorta. miss you tons!

tic-tac-toe champ

meet my sometimes roomate, migueli. i taught him how to play tic-tac-toe and now he can actually beat me... even when i'm not trying to make him win.

that's him, in my room, on my lola' s bed, with the ladybug-and-flowers tic-tac-toe set amy gave me 2 Christmases ago. that's coco (the bear) behind him.

meet "the champ"

tama ba naman yan?!

was browsing through my tutee's handouts when i chanced upon her filipino talasalitaan list for the 4th quarter.

one of the entries was "ISMOLIN," defined as something like "mababang pagtingin sa tao o bagay..." or something to that effect.

i wonder how soon the words "ispelengin" and "PK" will follow suit?

i think i can! i think i can!

i have never, in my entire academic career, failed nor have dropped any subject... at least on purpose (the only time i was asked to fill out a load revision form was when our class was dissolved, due to a lack of students). in my MA studies, the temptation to drop has always been there. in my first semester in UP, i remember that it took me about a month before i finally found my bearings and had the confidence to think, "hindi! kaya ko 'to!" it's been a breeze since. so it's funny how, in the last semester of my MA studies, i sense the temptation to drop one of my last 2 subjects. and the call is strong this time!

it's not like me to be a quitter and i know that i can do the work the subject requires. but not now, when the sem is shorter and i have 3 subjects to teach and make daily lesson plans for! even more heartbreaking is that of all the subjects i've taken in the past 2 years, THIS is what i think an MA subject should be like. i have a very good, and as others might put it, "tough" teacher. i know. she was my very first prof in this course. i like her. probably one of the very few teachers that i respect in the program.

so... as in the past, i prayed. and i prayed. and i prayed.

God answered me today. among other things, my teacher announced that we will no longer have final exams. WOOHOO! that, and she approved my topic for a seminar with an enthusiastic, "why not?!" so things are looking brighter. looks like this can be a "can do" job. wish me luck!

just press # 6

another excerpt from my genogram...

Mi casa es su casa

Big as it is, our home was opened to and shared with many relatives. For a time, two of my Lola’s sisters (spinsters) lived (and died) in our house. They moved into what was then my sister's and my room, the Pink Room (#2 on the intercom). Cousins from the province (Surigao) “boarded” with us while they pursued their secondary and / or college degrees. We even had a nun stay with us for a while. She was an old college friend of my parents back in their days in U.P. Before her, another cousin and her friend stayed in the same room (#4 on the intercom).

All these “guests” staying with us made us “move” from one room to another. At a certain point, the house got so crowded that I found myself without a bed. It was then that my Mom suggested that I sleep in the Master Bedroom. This was back when I was in Grade 6. I have never moved since.

okay. truth be told, i've had my own room probably since 2nd year high school. do i sleep in it? no. i've always considered it my "holding room." the only residents in that room are my clothes and my things... especially on the bed (which i only remember sleeping on once when my mom and i argued).

having a guest for interchange changed things. needless to say, there was absolutely no way that she was going to sleep in the master's bedroom. i started to resurrect the green room for her to stay in with the added incentive that it would eventually be mine... it also gave me good a chance to put all those episodes of "queer eye for the straight guy" i've watched to good use.

but what's a room if you don't sleep in it? the night before our thai guest came, migueli, my syster, and i christened the new room (and mattress) by sleeping in (and on) it. but since our guest departed, a cousin has spent 2 separate nights in it - uh oh! was history about to repeat itself? so i started moving in my stuff, albeit ever so slowly. it started with my craft stuff - my "toys" - then my bookcase, then the "antique-ish" study table that was always out in the hallway. my clothes made the move last week, so now i really had to shower and change in the "yellow-green room" as migueli would call it (three walls are yellow; the 4th wall is an accent wall in green).

thursday night, i spent my first night in MY ROOM...and overslept! it's a work in progress still... i have yet to find a place for all the stuff that remains on the bed in the other room (there's always the bed in the yellow-green room. it's a bigger queen size too! hahaha!), my 400+ CDs, and a place to put my shoes. i hope to get all that stuff transferred before migueli moves in there... hopefully before he gets to high school. hahaha!