Look, Luke!!

So I just wanted to share that for the past four months, I've being hanging out a lot with this guy from work. Luke has been a great source of fun and entertainment, a much-needed distraction from all the worries of the outside world, an unexpected spring of knowledge and learning about Australian language and culture, and most of all, an awesome friend and confidante.

But as the saying goes about good things coming to an end or never lasting or whatever, he's on his way to bigger and better things as he moves more than three thousand kilometers up north to further his career and grow as a person. It's going to be sad because I will surely miss him but in the same breath, I'm truly happy for him and just want everything that is good for him.

So to Luke, thank you for everything and good luck on your new job. I hope you find what you're looking for and I wish that you become the best version of you that you could ever hope to be. Always know that we'll always be friends and I'll always be here for you. See you when I see you.

Derby

I've lived in Australia for a little over a year now and one of the things I've learned (or get taught a lot about) is Australian Football. Both my housemates are passionate about their teams, although both their teams are near the bottom of the ladder anyway. Passionate enough though that they actually have arguments on whose team sucks more.

There are two teams based here in Perth: the Fremantle Dockers and the West Coast Eagles, which happen to be the teams my housemates support. So when the two teams meet, it's kinda crazy because people here are divided in support of these teams. This game is called the Derby.

Yesterday, the Fremantle Dockers beat the West Coast Eagles in the derby which also happened to be the first ever footy game I watched live. It was awesome! To be surrounded by people who were passionate about something (even if it's football =) ) was wicked. I made a stupid comment like, "Guys, calm down! It's just a game!" and the look of terror on their faces and astonishment that I'd even say something like that was great! I even heard someone say, "Yeah, it's not a matter of life or death. It's way more important than that!"

Anticipating Impending Disaster

I'm in a weird place right now. It's like disaster is looming or waiting for me around the bend. I know it's there. I know it's going to happen sooner or later. The weird thing is I don't know why I won't (or just don't want to) stop in my tracks or just turn at a different corner. I know it's there but I'm still walking towards it.

I've always believed that self-preservation is the key. I've always kept myself a step away, in a bubble behind the so-called wall. This is the exact reason why I now find myself in a strange situation. I've never been here before. Actively seeking or knowingly walking towards what I know in my gut is disaster.

As them wise folk say, I'll just hope for the best and expect what's about to come.

Perspective

For the past few weeks, I've been listing things I miss from home that in a few days I'll be able to indulge myself in again after almost a year of missing out. This got me thinking for a moment there that what if I just stayed home and not come back. I wouldn't have to miss all that's on the list since I'd be able to indulge myself everyday. How wicked would that be???

But then again, because of my love for looking at every situation from a different perspective, I started making a new list. A list of stuff from here that I'd truly miss if I just stayed back there. I think it's cool how this new list is much, much longer than I expected it to be, heaps shorter than the first one but long enough.

The actual act of making both lists made me appreciate all the people and things I have that I just took for granted, both here and there. I guess this whole process just made me a little bit happier and grateful at the thought of going home and coming back.

20 Some Odd Days and Counting...

Well, I'm going home back to the place where I belong

And where your love has always been enough for me

I'm not running from, no, I think you got me all wrong

I don't regret this life I chose for me

-Home by Daughtry

The countdown has begun. In a little over three weeks, I will be going home to visit my family and friends. I'm soo excited! I just keep thinking of all that food I've been missing, coffee that's not Gloria Jean's (hahaha), chocnut, sinigang, inihaw, Chicken Joy, Chowking, Pancake House, Teriyaki Boy, the list is endless! And all the places I want to be at, not just see. It's also exciting to think about seeing the changes that have happened in the past 11 months while I was away.

But there's this little voice inside me saying I'm not the same person as I was then, and everyone else isn't the same either. So if they were friends with that me then, would they still like this me now? I know it's pretty weird. But given my pessimistic view of friendships and relationships, to borrow a line from Carrie Bradshaw: I just can't help but wonder... After a moment's pause, I reckon if we were real friends I'd love them for who they are now and not dwell on who they were then, and hopefully vice versa.

Shoutout: I hope to see y'all on my birthday, give or take a few days. Can't wait to be home.

My Current Soundtrack

I always think that in every phase or situation in my life, there will inevitably be a song that I am able to relate to that serves as the soundtrack to that phase, as long or as brief as it may be. Right now, this is the song:

Lost and Running

by Powderfinger

I was sick and tired of waiting lost

You were mad at me for so much more

I was bored listening to the same old chords

You would complain that I was never around

And we shouldn't hope, no we shouldn't hope

If love was so easy, then why am I stuck

If life was so smooth, why can't I get enough

I'm still lost and running, I can't get enough

Everyday moves like a hurricane

It's dragging me around no matter what I say

Night time in the city streets I'm out of luck

The cobblestones are dark and wet, there's no one I trust

And it comes around, yeah it comes around

Mr. So Easy say where have you gone

I'm looking for somewhere that I can lay down my arms

I'm still lost and running, I can't get enough

I'm taking my time I'll let it float away

Spare me no lies and you'll have nothing to say

The further we slip into this rabbit hole

The harder we look for a new place to go

I'm still lost and running, I can't get enough

yun lang po...

I Got A BooBoo!

Three weeks ago, at four o'clock in the morning, my housemates, a few other friends and I decided to go to the park near our house to walk the dogs, play in the playground and kick an Australian rules football around. As most of us all heard in the past, it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Unfortunately, that someone that night just so happened to be me.

I was on the swing, trying to relive my childhood and go as high as I possibly can. And of course, when one goes as high as one possibly could the only logical thing to do at four o'clock in the morning is to jump of the swing, right? So I did. The only thing I forgot to do is check if all my body parts would come with me as I try for a brief moment to soar across the vast nothingness, also known as the 3 feet of space directly in front of the swing.

Alas! (hahaha) I jumped off only to realize while I was in mid-air that the little finger in my right hand was stuck in one of the links of the chain. Thus, my so called booboo. Oops! Because of that eventful night, I now have to wear a splint on my finger for the next four weeks as I almost broke my finger. Doctors say and x-rays show that I successfully ruptured my tendons and fractured the middle bone on my finger diagonally and the two halves of that bone are connected by a very thin piece of bone. Thankfully, because the doctor said if that connection wasn't there I'd have to get screws through the pieces to hold my finger together.

Oh well! At least I had a blast, right? So at night before you sleep, when you ask whoever your soul to keep, give a shoutout for my booboo that it'll be better soon. =D

Sydney Baby!

I'm in Sydney!!! Yipee!!!

As I've done numerous times while back home, visiting different parts of the country and discovering what other cities have to offer is always a very interesting experience, not to mention a whole lot of fun! Having been in Perth for almost nine months now, it was awesome to be able to see and walk the streets of a new city, visit and catch up with a lot of old friends and of course, be able to speak Filipino and having people understand what the hell I was saying. (Not that I speak a lot of Filipino when no one understands me, that would be weird. hehe =D)

But as with every situation life puts all of us in, there are pros and cons. I've always been jealous of my friends being all together in Sydney and still being able to just hang out at each other's houses whenever they want. On one hand, I think it would be great to be a part of that and just still hang on to some of my creature comforts. It would be amazing to have my friends around every time I get a little homesick or eat Filipino food from that take-away store everyday.

But I realized, on the other hand, I wouldn't have needed to make friends with the ones I have in Perth, and they are wonderful people. I wouldn't have been able to experience their way of life, which in some ways are same as mine used to be but in a lot of ways different as well. And I think I wouldn't want to miss out on that.

I guess being able to recognize the what ifs, as well as accept and be happy with the what is, makes living my life a lot easier and a lot less stressful. =D

**Shoutout! Thanks Jack and Kim for letting me stay in your home!

I'm Off!!!

I'm sooo excited!

After work tonight, I'm going to step foot on my first ever red-eye flight and spend a full week in Sydney. I've been there once before but this time, I'll just be hanging out with friends and seeing the sights. I guess collecting all them days in lieu (which I get when I work public holidays and six-day weeks), chaining them all up is now allowing me to have a mini paid vacation without having to touch all the holidays I'm saving up to use when I go back home to the Philippines in May.

It would be a fantastic opportunity to speak Filipino again with people there to actually understand what I was saying. While I often slip the occassional na and lang in my everyday life just as often as I say no worries and I reckon, having a full day just speaking Tagalog (more so Taglish) I think may be both weird and refreshing after 8 months amongst non Filipino speaking folk here in Perth.

But I reckon (=D) spending time with friends that I knew from back home in a different city could be quite interesting as well. Making memories of places I've never been and having these people in them would be really nice. But mostly catching up and getting ourselves into all sorts of crazy stuff we used to do back home but in a different setting should be hilarious.

Well, that's it for today! I have to get to work. Just wanted to share. I'll try and upload pictures when I can.

DMCs or DandMs

We've all done it at one time or another, with either friends and family, or with the occassional stranger. I always enjoy deep and meaningful conversations with people as I am able to get an insight into someone's soul, gain a little bit of an understanding as to what goes on in another person's head and try to walk in his or her shoes for a second.

Last night, I had a great conversation with two of my housemates. I really enjoyed it and was able to learn alot from and about them. It's amazing to me to realize that even though we're from different backgrounds, cultures and even accents (hehehe), we still are able to relate to one another and have so much to talk about. We laid on the driveway, started to watch stars and galaxies, then watched as the sun rose and shone on us, all the while sharing each other's lives and loves, hopes and fears, secrets and dreams.

What I've realized is that we aren't as different as I always thought we were. We were all passengers in this journey, able to help each other out as we go, if we only realize that help is just a heartbeat away, we only just have to ask or recognize it when it comes. We are all of the same race, human. And we are all as confused and messed up as each other, but that these make us who we are and give us our uniqueness.

I just wanted to capture these thoughts as they come to after a long but fulfilling night of a deep and meaningful conversation.

Call for Keeping the Tradition Alive =D

December is here. It's the first time I won't be home for Christmas. I was asked by my Secret Santa what I missed the most from home and what my Christmas must-haves are, which got me thinking of all the things I used to do and all the people I used to see over the holiday season.

Some things, I'm sure I won't miss, like the heavy traffic and all the last-minute Christmas shoppers, feeling the sweat of and rubbing elbows (among other things, literally) with the entire Metro Manila population who always manage to be shopping where I decided to shop that day.

But a whole lot of things I will surely miss. Aside from the obvious, family and friends, I'll miss stuff like cheap clothes, shoes, bags and wallets at Greenhills, Christmas lights everywhere you look, up, down, left, right and center. I'll miss tuneless Christmas carollers who just yell out carols and get mad at us for pretending that we don't celebrate Christmas. I'll miss all the Christmas parties, dinners and get-togethers and all the food people always complain about that make them gain so much weight during the season.

But one thing that dawned on me that I won't be able to do or have this Christmas, is to have countless cups of coffee with friends and come up with every excuse in the book to grab a cup of coffee just so I could collect stickers and save up for the new Starbucks Planner. hehehe

So to anyone who would like to get me a gift this Christmas, the 2008 Starbucks Planner would be a great gift!

Homesickness F**king Sucks!

If I get it all down on paper,

it's no longer inside of me,

Threatening the life it belongs to

- Breathe, Anna Nalick

I've been feeling homesick for the past week. There are so many things back home that I'm really missing right now. On lazy nights, as I lay on my bed, it gets me thinking if I made the right decision in coming to a far off place with no friends and family to get me through times like these. But I just always manage to sleep it off and when I wake up, it's all good again.

But this time, it's somewhat different. I can't seem to shake it off. I just keep thinking of stuff I miss and stuff I'm missing out on. So just to get it all out of my system, I decided to write a list of what I miss (and therefore now greatly appreciate having all the while).

I miss my family and having the support system they provide!
I miss my friends and having people who understand me even when I don't say a word!
I miss my home and having a place I'm confident and happy to call my own!
I miss my car and being able to go wherever and whenever I want (free gas too =D)!
I miss my room and everything that's in there!
I miss Manang and Melody and how life is soooo much easier with them around!
I miss the food! As in! It's not even funny! (I shouldn't really list all the food I miss coz it would take me forever!)
I miss watching movies and the processing after! hehehe
I miss roadtrips and the crazy stuff that goes on and the weird games we play in the car!

I miss tambay, just chatting over coffee and talking about whatever!

In Lieu of Christmas Dinner

Every year for the past five or six years, we have had a thanksgiving dinner every Christmas season just to spend time and catch up with each other. This year, however, given the distance between us all, regretfully, we won't be able to sit at a table together and share wonderful stories and insights of the year that passed. (as if! hehehe) or at least we won't be able to laugh with (not at :D) Ganter! (I love you Gantz!)

But just to keep this wonderful tradition going just long enough till we all find our way back home, Aloy and I have set up a virtual Secret Santa, if you will, at a website called Elfster.com, an online service that will allow us to do our annual Kris Kringle even if we are all miles away from each other. Gifts can be anything from photo montages, e-cards, powerpoint presentations to actual post cards or Christmas cards, or you can actually send a gift through the post. (Well, if you're both in Manila, i-abot mo na lang.)

So if you want to join, email or YM me or Aloy your email address so we can send you an invitation. The website will be drawing names on Friday, November 16, 2007. Hopefully, emails/gifts will be exchanged on or before Christmas. :D

Game Nights

Once in a while, we have game nights in the house. Tegan usually brings over a game for all of us to play and we spend the entire night sitting around on the lounge room floor playing our hearts out. It's like a speed bump that slows their fast-paced lives down, even for a night.

The first game we played was Scattergories. It comes with a dice that has letters of the alphabet on its sides and a list of categories. When the dice is rolled, the timer starts and you have to write a word starting with that letter for every category in the list. When the timer goes off, the players would compare their answers and if you have a unique answer, you get a point. It was really fun and at a few times we were just laying on the floor laughing so hard we developed ab muscles. :D

The other game we played is the interactive DVD version of an Australian quiz show on TV called Spicks and Specks. This game tests your knowledge of music and the music industry. It's like the game Cranium but all about music. There's a game where you'd have to get your teammate to guess the song you're singing but you had to substitute the lyrics to a book you were reading (and of course, Nadia's textbook from cooking school to the tune of YMCA was hilarious!!!!).

Just wanted to share! hehehe

Great Day for the Beach!

As with a lot of Wednesdays, we all got today off and have been planning to go to the beach since Sunday. We'll bring the dogs, bring a picnic basket, have a barbecue and just hang-out! It's going to be a lot of fun!!! So at 10 a.m., I got woken up by a phone call telling me to get ready for the beach. I looked up and the sun decided to come out. Yipee!!!

Three hours later, Mel and I are still in the lounge room waiting to go to the beach. When we finally get all our stuff together, and the dogs, we were off. In the 45 minutes we drove to the beach, the sun decided to go back to bed and the rain started to come out and play with the wind!

So when we got out to the beach we were freezing cold and dripping wet. But we still ran around in the rain and played fetch with the dogs. It was a lot of fun. It was different, not your normal preconceived notion of a day at the beach. My housemates said it was an Aussie thing since they do everything backwards... but of course, it's not.

An Answer to a Great Friend

I was reading one of my friend's blogs and he was asking a question about friendships and how they fare against distance and time. I've always thought friendships are phases in one's life and friends are the people with whom you share mere parts of your life while you share parts of theirs. All good things never last, right? And realistically, of all the people we've met, and will meet, in the span of our lives, however long that period of time might be, it would be impossible to sustain a level of friendship with them all. Personally, I couldn't and wouldn't be able to do it because I'd be spreading myself thin. It just takes too much effort.

Thinking back, I guess I've lost a lot of friends because I just wasn't prepared to put in the effort needed to sustain relationships with certain people. Although sometimes I really wish I wasn't lazy one night and went out with them or too caught up in my own world to even send a message.

As a twisted mind's reply to whoever's asking, for me, the level of friendship two people share is just what they both want it to be. If both parties still put in an effort into the relationship, then they're sweet. If not, then whatever right? There are billions and billions of people in the world. My only fear is not losing good friends, but letting the great ones just slip away.

**This is unsolicited advice: an answer to a great friend!

Like Sands Through The Hourglass...

As I've never really lived away from home, living here in Australia is the first time I actually experience the highs and, once in a while, the lows of having housemates, like always having people to talk to and just hang around with. Or on the other hand, people waking me up at 3 o'clock in the morning to get me to set up the MagicSing, a reminder that they're still partying whilst I'm in bed as I have to get my butt to work at 9.

But also, it's like watching a soap opera and following it everyday. It's fascinating to be a witness to their lives, their own highs and lows, their laughter and tears. It's interesting to watch their relationships grow, intertwine and settle into one big web of friendships and whatnot. It's exciting be part of the comedy and dramas in their everyday lives, and without even realizing it, letting them be part of my own comedy and drama.

** Although this entry doesn't really express how dramatic things have been in this house, there's a reason why I compare living here to a soap opera. But that's not my story to tell. =D

Before and After

I'm sure pretty much everyone has watched one of those room or home makeover shows on TV. I always love how the people who own the living space react even before they open their eyes of take their blindfold off. But what I love the most about them shows is how they show the before and after shot from the roughly same angle.

I tried to duplicate this effect but in reverse, a shift in perspective, if you will. I took pictures of the house on Friday. I wanted to show my mom what it looked like and how clean and organized three young females all in their twenties could be. However, it was Mel's birthday a couple of days ago and she invited a few friends over for a barbecue. Two days later, I decided to take another photo from roughly the same angle, as they do on those makeover shows.

Here's the Before and After shot =D

Two in a Row!!!

Gosh!!! I think I'm getting a bit bored. Two blogs, two days in a row. I think I need to get out more or find something else to do with my time. But it's all good. This blogging thing takes a good chunk of an otherwise useless hour anyways.

Just letting everyone know, even if you're all not interested (hehehe), the puppy finally has a name. Mel decided as of the moment to call her Harley. We all went to the shops this morning and found one of those jacket things that little dogs wear. We got her one that lookes like a leather jacket that one of those biker dudes wear. Thus the name Harley.

And now back to my usual programming, which includes laying around and watching tv before I need to go to work.

Well, that took all of 5 minutes. Now what? =D

Name for Pup-Pup

Two nights ago, my housemate Mel, came home with a cute little puppy that has an uncanny similarity to Fido Dido's dog. The pitbull crossed with a bull mastiff is now really tiny but given her parents, I'm pretty sure she won't be tiny for long. She's white with a big black spot all over one eye and several other black spots around her body, including a heart-shaped one across her ribs.

So currently we are trying to help Mel name her new baby. She's tried to call it so many names, I think the puppy's starting to get confused. And it's not helping when everyone in the house wants a different name and just calls the puppy what they want.

Mostly we call it Pup-pup or Little One coz it's a puppy and it's little. Other names tried out: Zoe, Dida, Gypsy, Zactly, Patience, Pal (coz our other dog's name is Buddy), Penelope, Celeste, Frances, Scabbers, Pussy Cat, Pig (just coz she's not)

I just hope we find a name for her quick so she doesn't get stuck with Pup-pup, coz I think she's going to grow up to be a really big dog and it would be weird to still be calling her Pup-pup. =D