Woohoo! Ateneo's the UAAP Champion! :D Praise God! I was grinning on the MRT ride home when I received text messages from friends about the bonfire. The last championship we won was in 2002, when I was still in first year =P
I'm studying for the french and japanese exams. Although I need to review for Japanese, I'm more confident that I can pass the JLPT than the DELF. The French exam seems tough :( It takes time for me to compose answers for the listening part, write an essay for the written segment, and gather debate-worthy points for the oral part >< But i need to take the exam just so I can get some kind of certification if I pass. The certification, I plan to use in MBA applications, if I ever do decide to apply to University of Geneva or Belgium (Leuven).
Back to the books~
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
ice cream!
I finally got to try Sebastian's Ice Cream at the 4th floor of The Block. All the flavors on the menu board looked yummy, but in the end I opted for the Banana Bonanza. I love bananas and I love ice cream! :) Although I would've wanted more walnuts in it, I found the ice cream to be light and not too sweet. Just perfect to cap a meal off.
Eizel tried the Blueberry Cheesecake variety and Mom had the Mango Sansrival. Both flavors are patterned after popular cakes. My first reaction when I had a sampling of those flavors was, "Did they just freeze the cake and serve it as ice cream?!" The flavor is captured perfectly, from the fruit bits to the cream-like texture to the crust bits. It's like eating ice cream cake :) I loved the Blueberry Cheesecake flavor. Yum! :P They were slightly heavier than the Banana Bonanza that I had though.
Ni had the Brownie Peppermint flavor. While I do love chocolate, I found the chocolate ice cream and the brownie bits to be a tad too heavy and well, chocolate-y. Since one scoop is relatively large, a big dallop of a chocolate-packed flavor can prove daunting. But like the other flavors, this too was packed with chunky ingredients - brownie bits and peppermint squares. The peppermint gave the rich chocolate a minty twist and made a bit less heavy. Reminded me of the mint chocolate ice cream flavor I used to eat at Laura Secord in Bayview Mall in Toronto.
I must say I'm pretty happy with Sebastian's Ice Cream. It's like ice cream gourment made more affordable (compared to Cold Rock, I guess). It has the chunky ingredients to contrast the creamy goodness of the ice cream. It's good to have another ice cream parlor to enjoy good ol' ice cream :D
*~*~*~*~
Michael Learns to Rock is coming to Manila! MLTR is probably the counterpart to my dad's Air Supply and my mom's ABBA and BeeGees. I want to watch the concert~
Eizel tried the Blueberry Cheesecake variety and Mom had the Mango Sansrival. Both flavors are patterned after popular cakes. My first reaction when I had a sampling of those flavors was, "Did they just freeze the cake and serve it as ice cream?!" The flavor is captured perfectly, from the fruit bits to the cream-like texture to the crust bits. It's like eating ice cream cake :) I loved the Blueberry Cheesecake flavor. Yum! :P They were slightly heavier than the Banana Bonanza that I had though.
Ni had the Brownie Peppermint flavor. While I do love chocolate, I found the chocolate ice cream and the brownie bits to be a tad too heavy and well, chocolate-y. Since one scoop is relatively large, a big dallop of a chocolate-packed flavor can prove daunting. But like the other flavors, this too was packed with chunky ingredients - brownie bits and peppermint squares. The peppermint gave the rich chocolate a minty twist and made a bit less heavy. Reminded me of the mint chocolate ice cream flavor I used to eat at Laura Secord in Bayview Mall in Toronto.
I must say I'm pretty happy with Sebastian's Ice Cream. It's like ice cream gourment made more affordable (compared to Cold Rock, I guess). It has the chunky ingredients to contrast the creamy goodness of the ice cream. It's good to have another ice cream parlor to enjoy good ol' ice cream :D
*~*~*~*~
Michael Learns to Rock is coming to Manila! MLTR is probably the counterpart to my dad's Air Supply and my mom's ABBA and BeeGees. I want to watch the concert~
long overdue
I've neglected my blog for quite some time now that I'm not sure where to start with the recaps.
So, in random order:
Books - Sale at National Bookstore! I've been there three times already this week. Probably one of the downsides of having the MRT connected to the mall is that when I have time to walk around, I end up buying something >< Talk about getting caught up in consumerism. Bought Deb Caletti's The Fortunes of Indigo Skye and The Nature of Jade, Human Sigma, The World is Curved, and Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper among others.
I bought The World is Curved, which talks about the recent (ongoing) credit crunch and mortgage crisis because I was intrigued by (not in the child-in-a-candy-store way) the recent financial and stock market troubles in the US market, with the effects rippling across the international markets. It's an interesting read. I'm learning about liquidation and securitization and starting to understand how the world's financial markets and activities are so intricately linked together. I guess I was just surprised at the domino effect brought on by the bankruptcy statement of Lehman Brothers, with Merrill Lynch being sold, and the Federal Government choosing to help AIG. With all the broadsheets headlining the events, I figured I should at least try to understand what was happening.
MBA - I've narrowed my choice MBA schools to about 5 or 6. My top choice is either the IOMBA programme in Geneva or the MBA programme at Rotman (University of Toronto). Other choices include Simon Fraser, Grenoble, IUJ in Japan, and Nottingham. I think I'll choose 3 to apply to. I should start preparing for the GMAT too, maybe next year. A 3-month review course costs 20k >< I should stop book buying and start saving up.
Friends - Met up with Jerome, Malt, Mic, Lin, Cha, Raech, Rainier, and Bryan at Burgoo Greenhills. Memorable events were the GMAT problem solving among Rainier, Bryan, and Jerome; Jerome being in the hotseat, and getting a copy of the songs that were being played that night. The songs were an acoustic take on current hits of NeYo, Rihanna, etc by a band called Voice Over.
Watched West Side Story with Angel and Carolyn. It was the opening night of the musical. The lobby was just swarming with Ateneans, it made me think of college again :P Joana Ampil is awesome. Her voice is so powerful despite her petite frame. The actress who paid Anita was wonderful as well. She fit the role to a T.
Dropped by Eastwood that day to get some documents from IBS. Chatted with the payroll peeps, Josa, and Mayeen :) Then headed off to Meralco Theater. The taxi driver of the taxi I got into was quite friendly and talkative. Our entire conversation was in English. In fact, a few minutes after I got in, he asked if it was my first encounter with an English-speaking taxi driver. I had to say yes :D He talked about his girlfriend and mentioned that Filipinos were discriminatory. It was not enough to love someone, the couple also had to be in the same socialeconomic range. Because face it, he said, who wants to have a taxi driver for a boyfriend. Your parents would be appalled.
He went on to say that it's unfair that most things and decisions are dictated by your status in life. There are unwritten societal rules regarding who you should be seen with, who you should be friends with. It is a hypocritical, discriminatory world. But it's also the status quo. And no one's been comfortable with going against it, myself included. I must say I sorta squirmed in my seat as he "interrogated" me and asked my opinions and shared his stories. I've been comfortable living in my status quo-defined world, ensconced in its beliefs and expectations. It made me uncomfortable to see my life, my world from another's eyes, because that's when the flaws and imperfections come out. And somehow, I felt a bit ashamed of my lifestyle and my norms and my views, because at that moment, they just seemed to scream hypocritical >.<;;
Family - Che, Ni, and I (with the help of Sa-em and Brian) have been buying prizes for the Autumn Festival dice game we're holding tomorrow at Ama's place. It's been fun shopping for appliances and houseware. Che and I joked that it seemed as if we were buying stuff for a wedding or a new house hehe. Shopping for the kids' prizes was a lot of fun too. I loved these cute tumbler/snack containers we got them. The container and the tumbler could be twisted together into an hourglass shape. Plus, it had freeze gel :) I just found them cute. They're called milk and cookie dunker sets. Because one would ideally put cookies in the snack container and fill the tumbler part with cold milk. Could be advertised in an Oreo commercial, don't you think? Although I personally prefer dunking choco chip cookies in cold milk.
JR is in shanghai now. He'll be there for a sem or two to study chinese. We had a mini despedida the day before he left at CPK trinoma. It was novel in that we cousins don't really get together except during holidays. So, it was fun to have a considerable number of us attend the despedida.
I also went to HK in late August. Met up with Gil and Emma. It was fun :) I loved the clothes at G2000 ^^ I didn't get to try the ice cream mooncakes at Haagen Daaz but they looked cute. On this trip, I think I was able to explore more of HK. I took more modes of transportation - bus, ferry, MTR - and I was able to go to more places than last Dec. Hmm, was also able to eat at Sweet Dynasty. I wonder if they'll open a branch here :P
Work - is fine. I think the work environment and people are still challenging my long held impressions on the Japanese work style and Japanese companies but I'm surprised in a good way :) The Japanese managers can say the damnest things XP I also joined the Social Interaction (SI), which is a team building activity, that was held at Calibutbut, Pampanga. It was Olympic-themed so there were games like tug-of-war, obstacle course, rowing, etc. It was a nice event :)
*~*~*~*
I think my writing is deteriorating. I can't seem to follow a single train of thought coherently, thus I'm unable to write an essay or theme on something that ties up from beginning to end. Blogging isn't exactly the most disciplined form of writing. I guess I kind of miss essay writing and the challenge that comes with it. I just felt that my writing is slowly losing structure hehe.
Listening to Marie Digby (Say It Again is quite catchy), Corrinne May (On The Side of Me) and The Script (love The Man Who Can't Be Moved!). Camp Rock's This is Me is pretty cute too, very Disney. David Archuleta's Crush is also on my playlist (I like the video :) ) Other songs on my current playlist are Ito Yuna's Alone Again, Alanis Morisette's Not as We, Chris Brown's Superhuman, and Gavin DeGraw's In Love with a Girl.
So, in random order:
Books - Sale at National Bookstore! I've been there three times already this week. Probably one of the downsides of having the MRT connected to the mall is that when I have time to walk around, I end up buying something >< Talk about getting caught up in consumerism. Bought Deb Caletti's The Fortunes of Indigo Skye and The Nature of Jade, Human Sigma, The World is Curved, and Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper among others.
I bought The World is Curved, which talks about the recent (ongoing) credit crunch and mortgage crisis because I was intrigued by (not in the child-in-a-candy-store way) the recent financial and stock market troubles in the US market, with the effects rippling across the international markets. It's an interesting read. I'm learning about liquidation and securitization and starting to understand how the world's financial markets and activities are so intricately linked together. I guess I was just surprised at the domino effect brought on by the bankruptcy statement of Lehman Brothers, with Merrill Lynch being sold, and the Federal Government choosing to help AIG. With all the broadsheets headlining the events, I figured I should at least try to understand what was happening.
MBA - I've narrowed my choice MBA schools to about 5 or 6. My top choice is either the IOMBA programme in Geneva or the MBA programme at Rotman (University of Toronto). Other choices include Simon Fraser, Grenoble, IUJ in Japan, and Nottingham. I think I'll choose 3 to apply to. I should start preparing for the GMAT too, maybe next year. A 3-month review course costs 20k >< I should stop book buying and start saving up.
Friends - Met up with Jerome, Malt, Mic, Lin, Cha, Raech, Rainier, and Bryan at Burgoo Greenhills. Memorable events were the GMAT problem solving among Rainier, Bryan, and Jerome; Jerome being in the hotseat, and getting a copy of the songs that were being played that night. The songs were an acoustic take on current hits of NeYo, Rihanna, etc by a band called Voice Over.
Watched West Side Story with Angel and Carolyn. It was the opening night of the musical. The lobby was just swarming with Ateneans, it made me think of college again :P Joana Ampil is awesome. Her voice is so powerful despite her petite frame. The actress who paid Anita was wonderful as well. She fit the role to a T.
Dropped by Eastwood that day to get some documents from IBS. Chatted with the payroll peeps, Josa, and Mayeen :) Then headed off to Meralco Theater. The taxi driver of the taxi I got into was quite friendly and talkative. Our entire conversation was in English. In fact, a few minutes after I got in, he asked if it was my first encounter with an English-speaking taxi driver. I had to say yes :D He talked about his girlfriend and mentioned that Filipinos were discriminatory. It was not enough to love someone, the couple also had to be in the same socialeconomic range. Because face it, he said, who wants to have a taxi driver for a boyfriend. Your parents would be appalled.
He went on to say that it's unfair that most things and decisions are dictated by your status in life. There are unwritten societal rules regarding who you should be seen with, who you should be friends with. It is a hypocritical, discriminatory world. But it's also the status quo. And no one's been comfortable with going against it, myself included. I must say I sorta squirmed in my seat as he "interrogated" me and asked my opinions and shared his stories. I've been comfortable living in my status quo-defined world, ensconced in its beliefs and expectations. It made me uncomfortable to see my life, my world from another's eyes, because that's when the flaws and imperfections come out. And somehow, I felt a bit ashamed of my lifestyle and my norms and my views, because at that moment, they just seemed to scream hypocritical >.<;;
Family - Che, Ni, and I (with the help of Sa-em and Brian) have been buying prizes for the Autumn Festival dice game we're holding tomorrow at Ama's place. It's been fun shopping for appliances and houseware. Che and I joked that it seemed as if we were buying stuff for a wedding or a new house hehe. Shopping for the kids' prizes was a lot of fun too. I loved these cute tumbler/snack containers we got them. The container and the tumbler could be twisted together into an hourglass shape. Plus, it had freeze gel :) I just found them cute. They're called milk and cookie dunker sets. Because one would ideally put cookies in the snack container and fill the tumbler part with cold milk. Could be advertised in an Oreo commercial, don't you think? Although I personally prefer dunking choco chip cookies in cold milk.
JR is in shanghai now. He'll be there for a sem or two to study chinese. We had a mini despedida the day before he left at CPK trinoma. It was novel in that we cousins don't really get together except during holidays. So, it was fun to have a considerable number of us attend the despedida.
I also went to HK in late August. Met up with Gil and Emma. It was fun :) I loved the clothes at G2000 ^^ I didn't get to try the ice cream mooncakes at Haagen Daaz but they looked cute. On this trip, I think I was able to explore more of HK. I took more modes of transportation - bus, ferry, MTR - and I was able to go to more places than last Dec. Hmm, was also able to eat at Sweet Dynasty. I wonder if they'll open a branch here :P
Work - is fine. I think the work environment and people are still challenging my long held impressions on the Japanese work style and Japanese companies but I'm surprised in a good way :) The Japanese managers can say the damnest things XP I also joined the Social Interaction (SI), which is a team building activity, that was held at Calibutbut, Pampanga. It was Olympic-themed so there were games like tug-of-war, obstacle course, rowing, etc. It was a nice event :)
*~*~*~*
I think my writing is deteriorating. I can't seem to follow a single train of thought coherently, thus I'm unable to write an essay or theme on something that ties up from beginning to end. Blogging isn't exactly the most disciplined form of writing. I guess I kind of miss essay writing and the challenge that comes with it. I just felt that my writing is slowly losing structure hehe.
Listening to Marie Digby (Say It Again is quite catchy), Corrinne May (On The Side of Me) and The Script (love The Man Who Can't Be Moved!). Camp Rock's This is Me is pretty cute too, very Disney. David Archuleta's Crush is also on my playlist (I like the video :) ) Other songs on my current playlist are Ito Yuna's Alone Again, Alanis Morisette's Not as We, Chris Brown's Superhuman, and Gavin DeGraw's In Love with a Girl.
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