Shards of Memory

I just got back from my triple treat party together with Robs and Joseph. Lots of food (pizza, carbonara by Robs, various Chinese New Year treats, ice cream, and two cakes), lots of friends (I don't know the total number of people who came, but I think it was around 20-25), and lots of card games and alcohol FUN :D Since Cassy is abstaining from playing bridge as her Lenten sacrifice, we played Uno cards instead. I never thought that game could be so much fun, but it's hilarious when someone is unlucky enough to be at the end of a Draw Two or Wild Draw Four combo (unless it actually happens to you). And catching someone before he/she can say "Uno!" is really satisfying. In a way, Uno is more fun than normal card games (e.g. Pusoy Dos, Bridge) because so many people can play at the same time, and it gets really rowdy.

I really don't have anything else to say, so I'll just spout off some random thoughts.

• Absolut Vodka Pear tastes AWFUL. It's like rubbing alcohol with pears. Bailey's is still as yummy as ever.
  
• I've started my Honours' Year Project (my thesis thing) already. I spent the whole day last Wednesday in the lab and I was even late for my 4 pm class because my supervisor suddenly dumped a truckload of lab work on me. I had to dissect 2 mice, get their thymus and spleen, mash up those organs into a cell suspension, do hypotonic lysis on the spleen cells, count the cells, make sure they're viable, plate them on 96-well plates, activate them with concavalin-A, and then incubate. Too much information, I know, but you get the picture. In the end, my supervisor ended up doing half of the work. Thus, she made me come back to the lab yesterday so that she could tell me everything she did.
  
• My mom and my sister didn't greet me today. I'm hurt :P

Well that's about it. Midterm break is the week after next (yay). Okay, I'll stop now.

February 16, 2005
It's all pretty vague now, especially since I had my debut thing about a month early, but I think this was Ash Wednesday and I spent most of dismissal time hiding from Ma'am Mijares (who was trying to get me to attend the mass being held at the ASTB). Oh, and almost everyone forgot that it was my birthday, including my own father. Naalala lang ng ibang mga Truthies noong dumating si Mel at binati ako sa harap nila :P And after that hindi ko pa kaclose yung nakaalalang bumati sa akin (si Billy). Depressing :P

February 16, 2006
Busy day. I had class until 6 pm, and then I had to go to choir practice at 6:30. The choir sang "Happy Birthday" for me, then I went back to the dorm. All in all, I received a purple rose, a blueberry cheesecake, and a "let's break up" email. Definitely a memorable day :P

February 16, 2007
Woke up at 7:30 am. Got to class 5 minutes late. Spent the rest of the morning in a lab meeting. Had lunch with Cassy, Diana, and Paul. Went to class and almost fell asleep more than once. Went back to the dorm and thought about taking a nap but was already too awake to do so. Had dinner with Cassy (who paid for everything :D thanks apo! :D). Went back to my room and blogged. Exciting, yes?

On an unrelated note, here's an excerpt from the inane YM conversation I had with Cassy last night.

( Beware my twisted morals )

No sleep + Cassy = INSANITY.

Because I am utterly tired of reading and writing about black holes and star birth and Hawking radiation, I have decided to *gasp* put off my term paper until tomorrow (or some other day that is not today). I'm just consoling myself with the fact that I'm half-done with it and I still have around 2 weeks until the deadline. Yes, I am justifying and condoning procrastination :P Just as scyphs would claim that I have justified and condoned cutting class (try waking up at 8 am after being accustomed to 2 pm classes :P). As much as I'm tempted to argue that missing a non-mandatory class is not equivalent to cutting (our lectures here are optional; no one checks attendance), I'd probably just seem defensive so never mind.

I changed my layout again. Cute tabs! :) It's kinda bright, but since summer is coming up I guess that's appropriate. I can't wait to get home and just bum around for 2 and a half months.. especially with the recent release of Kingdom Hearts 2 :D But mostly I just want to get all these exams and requirements over and done with.

It's really too bad that I wasn't able to go jogging this morning. I've decided to join eternalmortal, Jayson, and Arthur in their weekly exercise routine; they've been jogging every weekend for a month now. Waking up at 6 in the morning on a weekend is hardly pleasant, but sacrifices have to be made if I want to get thinner :P There's really not much I can do about my diet with the limited options we have here (and I hardly eat as it is), so this is the only available route towards weight loss. I'm not overweight (I think, I hope >_<) but with a family history of diabetes (and a couple of obese cousins), it's better to be safe than sorry. We also play badminton after our jog, so it's not all work and no play (and the fact that badminton is also a good way to lose weight is an added bonus :P).

It's. So. Darn. Hot. Not at all conducive to productivity.. *sigh* I really wanted to finish my term paper today :( Oh well. I guess I'll just sleep early tonight (a laughable idea, but it's the thought that counts).

Belated happy birthday, Jayson! Salamat sa libre kagabi! :D And happy birthday half_elven17! Overnight sa bahay mo sa May ah! :P

EDIT: Thanks to scyphs for helping me change the formerly eye-damaging font colors.

I wasn't really expecting much on my birthday, what with a mountain of schoolwork and.. other things weighing on my mind. But actually it turned out to be a very memorable day, thanks mostly to my wonderful (naks) friends here in NUS :)

Before anything else, acknowledgements muna (yuck STR memories). First of all, thank you very much to Mike, Michael, and Jeunesse for the pretty purple rose they got me for Valentine's Day and for my birthday. It may not seem like much, but it really helped lift my spirits that day. Also, a very big thank you to Gelo for the yummy blueberry cheesecake that is now resting contentedly in the freezer :) It even has a strawberry on top! :D I hope I can finish it before it expires or something.

I took pictures of the rose and the cake :D They're under the LJ cut.

It's too bad I wasn't able to get a decent picture of myself. For some reason, a lot of people kept commenting on my outfit that day (I was wearing a sleeveless white Chinese-style top and a long violet "peasant" skirt); when I went to choir practice, all the girls were going "Wow! So pretty wat! What's the occasion? Are you going out?" etc etc etc. I think I should wear those clothes more often. Haha.

*yawn* I think I'll sleep early tonight (now where have I heard that before..). I stayed up until 3 am to study for my European history test today because that class makes me so insecure :P And the test was at 10 am so my morning wasn't so good. At least it was easy (which actually makes my efforts somewhat useless but what the heck).

( pictures! )