Christmas Away from Home

Where have I been? Hehe. Went home on the 15th and haven't blogged since. Well I was busy, kind of.

I was trying to make the most out of every second I had back home. Dad was telling me my days were longer coz I get up twice a day and proceed on doing whatever I have to do. Because it's simbang gabi already. I sleep by midnight, get up by four in the morning, go to church, have breakfast with them (my sister, dad, and Yana--yes, she wakes up soo early din, iiyak pag iniwan) and then drop my sister off at her school, go back home, sleep, and then do something else (like, meet up with friends, wrap gifts, shop, or report to the office) hehe. So my eight days seemed like sixteen waking days. :)

We tried to complete the simbang gabi with nine different churches but we weren't that successful coz we don't really know the mass schedules of other churches so some days we went back to the other churches. So where have we gone to?

Day 1 - San Jose de Navotas (my parish church)
Day 2 - University of Santo Tomas (supposedly at the chapel but they held the mass at the grandstand so..)

Day 3 - Nuestra Senora de Guia (Ermita)

Day 4 - Shrine of Jesus (near MOA)

Day 5 - my parish church again

Day 6 - Manila Cathedral

Day 7 - Immaculate Concepcion (Malabon)

Day 8 - Shrine of Jesus again (love love this church, wanna get married here!)

Day 9 - San Roque de Navotas

But the ninth day was anticipated mass so we heard the mass the night of the 8th day. Why? Coz I'm leaving right after the mass. This is a unique Christmas to me, it's my first away from home. For nineteen years I've been having Christmas Eve dinner with my family and now, I think we're going Krispy Kreme somewhere nearby or that coffee shop around the corner with my donggis. Well me and the entire family had had that dinner already (complete with giving of gifts!) a couple of nights back. But of course it'll never be the same. As I explained to my hube during our Clark-Incheon flight, "Christmas Eve is everything." At least for my family.

Do I have a Christmas wish? Of course. More Christmases to come, and hopefully be at home by then. Hmm. They say wishes come true if you complete the simbang gabi :)

To all of you out there who are feeling all bored at family reunions during Christmas, think again. There are people who'd kill for those things. I know I would. *wink

Merry Christmas.

This isn't a post

...it's a shoutout. To my other ex, Dre, happy birthday. You're a year older and a year more mature. *wink*

New Profile Layout

So Friendster just released the new profile layout. And it meant customizing again. I still wanted the old black and purple and stars so I did. Anyhow I'm almost done with it already but there are still some things I can't figure out how to customize (if you visit my profile, drop me a message if you know how to change those dark gray text and blue links please).

And Niko, you should see my Sandbox.

Speaking of layouts, I'm thinking of changing my blog template layout for the nth time. Suggestions? I still want to go black though, something neat and assymetrical?

And happy birthday to my ex-boyfriend and future civil engineer Patrick! Last sem mo na, kaya yan! Aja! (Uh-oh, too much Korean in me...)

Beach amidst fall

Just came back from Cebu. And I'm so sleepy. Instead of sleeping the whole layover day (to put to rest my very tired body and at the same time gather enough energy to work for the inbound flight) I went out and ate at Greenwich, bought Chowking food and then tanned under the Philippine sun. I love the beach. Especially if you've got a big piece of the shore to yourself. (I went "beach-ing" at the hotel itself, Hilton, so there aren't so many people around.)

Barren Trees

It's minus 8 degrees now. The trees are barren. Is it officially winter now?

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Took the shot somewhere along Hap Jeong area, while on the bus today from airport to hotel.