Blogging from Richmond, B.C, Canada! Yey! So my friends keep on telling me to create a new blog or rename this blog Canadian Sanctuary. Haha! Not happening though, I'm an Oriental at heart! LOL!

I'm missing everyone already - Sarah, Maje, Anna, Ico, Ronan, Aysa, Brim, Mapet, Angge, Jer, Noymee (LOL! Wag kayong maingay haha!), Carl (yeah, hugs? haha), Beb, and other USAP officemates of course, Ati Posh! My Dcan Barkada, and last but not the least, the Tropang Times! Thanks thanks so much for the memories we've shared throughout the years and thank you again for making my last days with you guys fun and filled with much happiness! I hope I've left good memories worthy to be remembered and missed. :) You've all offered me kind words as parting gifts and I'm endlessly grateful that I was able to share meaningful moments with you and that my advices are well-appreciated. =') To my Campus Gels, you girls are the sweetest best friends anyone could ever have and I'm so blessed that I was able to be friends with you girls! Thanks so much for the bonding moments, chikahan, coffee sessions, mall escapades, movie dates, shopping and window shopping times, "lunch" talks, food trips, lunchouts, out of town escapades, "bar-hopping" emotes, advices shared, especially the heart-to-heart talks, and everything under the sun that we girls did together! They are all remembered at heart and thank God, captured on camera! We'll see each other again, definitely! I love you Sarah, Maje, Anna, and Myrtle! Thank you for being a part of the person I am today. You might not know it, but you've really made a great difference in me - I've grown more confident, more sweet, more thoughtful, and more outgoing - just because you girls have shared with me your time, the most precious gift of all. *Hugggssss* To Ronan and Ico, thank you for being two of my closest guy friends! If I am to thank you both for one thing, that would be the trust you've both have given me. My heart swells at the thought that you think of me as one person who you're both confident and comfortable to share your thoughts with. I hope you don't regret doing so, hehe! Be happy you two, I wish you nothing but that as you both deserve to experience it to the fullest! *Huggggsss* Aysa, wow, special mention ka! Hehe! Anyway, thank you for the long and heart-warming letter you sent me and the blog you've posted about me. You're right, people may see us just as asaran buddies as we can't live a day without teasing each other but really it's just our way to express our lambing (hard to believe as it is haha). I told you a number of times already but just so the blogigng world knows, you are the "Ate" I didn't want to have! Haha! Kididng! See, I can't help but tease you haha! You're the "Ate" I've always longed to have. It's so easy to pour my heart out to you, you always are willing to lend a listening ear and offer a wise and tumpak na advice. You've told me the sweetest thing - that I bring with me a part of your heart here in Canada, that it's mine and no one can take it away. Thanks Aysa! *Huggss* To Beb, hey, thanks so much for making me feel special! Your intention might not be to make me feel that, but nonetheless it did, so thanks! Salamat sa sudden friendship at sa kulitan! *Huggssss* Ati Posh - salamat sa walang humpay na tawanan! Sa mga nakakalokang usapan at gay lingo na mukhang tau lang ang nagkakaintindihan! We might not always talk to each other and our time together, although short, we haven't forgotten to treasure the friendship formed at People Support. Ati, hold on, Elvin, you, and Momoneng will surely be together always, in due time. :) *Hugggsss* Tropang Times, my college barkada - salamat sa muling pagtanggap. This thanks is already way way overdue but thanks, still. Despite the argument we've had and the differences, you guys still welcomed me back with open arms. So thank you for still making me feel a part of this friendship, and for letting me know that I will be missed. *Hugggss* To my Dcan Barkada, my friends for the longest time. Wow, I've only realized now that we've practically grew together, and yet, we're still here, still laughing and sharing moments together! Salamat girls! For being here through thick and thin! Di man tau always nagkakausap at nagkikita, we were never really away from each other, the friendship remained intact. Distance and non-communication may have weakened it a bit, but the fact remains that the friendship is still there and we're always ready to pick up where we left our friendship off. Thanks so much!! Hugsss* All of your best wishes and prayers that I may be successful here are my weapons and they will surely keep me going. Thanks so much guys! God bless po. Till we see each other again... ='D

Purple Hunt Tour ♥

I was recently introduced to the newest Yahoo craze for Purple lovers, the Purple Hunt Tour, by my friend and I immediately got myself the Purple Ticket. This purple ticket claims to be the key to start off the hunt and win myself some cool purple-glazed gadgets. So, armed with the purple ticket, my friends (who I forced to register to this event, hehe) and I made our way to Market Market, where the first of the Purple Hunt Tour took place. :D

Since pictures paint a thousand words, let these tell the tale of what the Purple Hunt Tour offers purple lovers like meself (obviously :D) . . . and how joyous (yes, joyous, not happy) I felt surrounded by purple everything! :D

Stuff I got from the Purple Hunt Tour

Project Purple Graffiti Wall

I want this purple shirt! This freebie is only available to those who hold the ticket (?) they got from buying Chalk magazine. Of course, being a fan of purple, I decided to buy Chalk but alas, all bookstores had no more stock of the mag! Huhu! :(

We "purplized' oursleves. ^_^V

I dunno why but this horrible-sounding chicken seems to be a star on the event.

The Ultimate Prize - a "purplized" Honda Jazz
I wanted to look like I won that prize but it just doesn't show that. Blame it on my terrible acting. Haha!

Hurt? Broken? Rise again.

I cry when I'm hurt.

I complain when I suffer.

I may seem to have lost my path, but I never give up seeking to get myself back.

I fall, and sometimes even fall hard, but I make sure to stand up gracefully. And when I do, I walk with poise and confidence again.

I look ahead with much hope, ready to conquer and prove my priceless worth.

When I've gained enough strength to move on from painful experiences, I don't look back and regret. And when I've moved on, there's no turning back.

You'll have no one to meet when you decide to return, that's when you'll realize my worth. But too bad I've walked on ahead and you're left to think what could have, should have, and would have been.

As I said, I fall, but I stand up again, gracefully.

I hurt. I can be broken. But I rise again. Because I am a woman, and because I am me.

Recession Blues

What I've disregarded in the past has come back to haunt me - to make me realize the gravity of the situation.

I've shrugged the US recession off as something which I think I won't be affected with, and which I can live through.

Even when my fellow officemates got laid off work, I just felt sympathy, not empathy, something I shamefully admit. I haven't grasped the very meaning of recession and how serious its consequences are to those who've been slapped by it.

Until now...

Accounts of how life in the US is now lived have been shared, together with the painful admittance that relatives can no longer lend a helping hand, even if they so willingly want to. Left without a choice, others have even let go of the hope they've held on to the lands of opportunities and just chose to go back - with the new hope that they could start anew with the bread they've earned through years of odd jobs and hard work.

These things made me think back a second, sent a jolt of lightning my way to awaken me from my happy-go-lucky slumber, and made me come to a realization. It is only this time that I've come to fully understand what others meant of uncertainty in life. Truly, it is more true now that it has ever been.

Depressing as though it may be, the only thing I have against all these is my optimism. I cannot afford to feel otherwise as it will only make things worse for me and for those who've felt the blow of recession the most. I am a The Secret believer and if there's one thing that it taught me, it is that I attract everything I always think of, and that unfortunately includes the ill feelings within me and the things I endlessly rant about.

I must put an end to this. I must go back to practicing that best new year's resolution I've come up with - Stop or lessen whining and just do what I must and be optimistic. Life indeed gets better with that thinking in heart.

So amidst all these crises and global recession, I can't help but feel that change is just around the corner waiting to be found. With all these happening right now, there's no way to go but up, and there's no path to take but the path to a better place...

I bid farewell to this post with a message to one of the most powerful men in the world - US President Barack Obama:

What the others cannot do, that's what you must do...

What the last administration failed to do, that's what you must succeed on...

For the betterment of your country...

And of the whole world.

USAP Marketing Presents The Macalooweez - 2peat Champs!

We won again! Second time in a row, baby! Yeah! Hahah! All hard work and practicing till almost midnight paid off! The Macalooweez has once again earned the right to be called champions! As I said, "We are The Macalooweez and we defend what we deserve!" With our dance presentation themed The Macalooweez take it to the streetz, we definitely rocked the dance floor! Also, with the judges being dance authorities themselves, we sure made an impression of how dancing in a dance competition should be like! We not just bagged ourselves a whooping P30,000 we also got the much-anticipated prize of one more year of bragging rights! Hahahah! Kidding! We're just really happy we did it with flying colors as the result. We all hope the USAP Marketing peeps are proud of us. We proved ourselves worthy of the investment, right? :D Thanks again for all your support! And thanks to the Kupy for the Macalooweez logo! :D

And now, give it up for the USAP Dance Competition 2007 and 2008 Champion!! Enjoy! *drum rolls*

USAP Marketing Christmas Presentation (Champion - December 2007)

USAP Marketing Dance Presentation - The Macalooweez (Champion - December 2008)

Meet Nymphadora Tonks

I am a "The Secret" believer and for months now, I've been thinking of buying myself a digital camera, which has to be a Sony Cybershot, nothing less. So when the opportunity to buy a Cybershot presented itself, I just had to bite, I had to take the bait. And so I did. So thanks to a colleague of mine who offered her Sony Cybershot at a generous price (and a generous way to pay it at that), I now have a new gadget to play with!

So meet my newest toy, Nymphadora Tonks (Tonks for short, she doesn't want to be called Nymphadora), a pink Sony DSC-T70 Cybershot. You can already say I'm a Harry Potter fan, I named her after none other than the bubbly witch from Order of the Phoenix, who sometimes (or most of the time) wears her hair pink. It's unfortunate (for me) that Sony didn't release a purple Cybershot, it would have been a more appropriate color for a purple-lover like myself. Hehe! But I'm still okay with pink, at least it's still cute and girly. Haha!

The moment I got my hands on Nympha.. I mean Tonks, I immediately busied myself exploring the amazing features she offers. I have to say, she is everything I dreamed my camera to be. And I think she already likes me too! Haha! She's captured my smile with her Smile Shutter feature when she was having a slightly hard time capturing the smiles of others. Haha!

Oh, look at us!

She's a beauty, ain't she?

I love you Harry....

Hi Harry,

It's already been 2 days since you've left us and I hate you for doing that! Why did you give in? You know very well that losing you would make us feel terribly sad and still you chose to leave. You know we love you very much and that you mean the world to us so why give up at the last minute? You even gave us hope that you'll soon come back healthy as just the other day, you seemed to be yourself again and then the next day, you just gave up. You've crippled us, Harry. You are a part of our family and now with you gone, nothing would ever be the same again. =(

I never thought we'd lose you, honestly. I've always thought that you'll be with us for a long time and maybe that's exactly the reason why I sometimes took your existence for granted. I'm very sorry, Harry. Truly, I am. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to see and feel that you're already suffering inside. Had I known that, I would've given you more attention and cared for you more and maybe, you'd still be with us right now. Maybe right now, I wouldn't be just reminiscing the times I played with you while I'm writing this post but instead, I'd be playing with you for real. It would be just like the old times, me calling you and you not responding to my call (hehe), me squeezing your chubby cheeks while you just sit like nothing's happening. Oh, how I wish I was doing that now!

You left so suddenly that you made moving on terribly difficult. But despite that, you've left us with only good memories to cherish. It hurts to think of those happy moments now but hopefully, someday, we'll be able to accept the fact that you're in a much happier place now, watching over us like you've always done and just being adorably cute. And when that day comes, these memories will not bring us tears anymore but paint a smile on our faces.

Harry, thank you for loving us as much as we loved and continue to love you. We will miss you. =(

Don't be sad wherever you are right now, ok? We love you so much...!

Loving you the most,
Daddy, Mommy, Ate Abbi, and Kuya Ced