operation: let's play with snow

waking up to a snowy morning is just one of most beautiful things you'll ever experience. thanks to gino's email, i would not have noticed the falling snow. it might have snowed for hours now, i suppose, because the snow's already 2 inches thick. so, i knocked on marianne's door...

operation: let's make snowmen!

my mr. snowman

mr. snowman's family

given the fact that we are newbies to seeing so much white around us.. anything goes.. :)

operation: let's make snow angels!

angel dawnita

angel marianna

and by anything, we mean anything..

dear God,

Lord, thank you for the snow. i'm seeing my childhood dreams right before my very eyes. thank you that i am given this special chance that other dreamers might never ever have. you really never fail to make your children happy. childish as it may seem, but to us who have dreamed of snow all our lives, one snowy day was more than enough. but you made it two. THANK YOU, LORD!

music therapy

when eating your heart out just makes you feel bloated,

when you ran out of dvds to save your life,

and when everybody else is asleep...

there's always that song in your playlist that does its job.

(currently listening to southborder)

on partying and alcohol

"will you drink alcohol? what do you want to drink, dawn?"
"anything but not beer... kahlua and milk, then."
"milk? how old are you?"

there's an unwritten rule when attending a party: drink. everybody's doing it, anyway. i'm trying hard to fit in, you know. but please don't take it against me that i don't have the gastrointestinal tracts for alcohol. i won't take it against those who do have them, too. cool na kung cool. but i just came to be with friends.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

i just got home from a friend's party (all with alcohol and loud music) and i realized(for the nth time around), i'm no party person, at all. yep, i tried talking to people who come up to me and introduce themselves. but the conversation ended there. i can't make it any more longer than the 30 second "yoroshiku. my name's dawn," drill. i ended up sitting on the couch for as long as i can remember, watching MTV VMA's, eating chips and drinking my kahlua and milk drink made an hour ago, while watching other people pour second or perhaps their third helpings of beer and chatting with themselves. bored, while everybody else had something to do.

i remember one crazy time when we dressed up for a night of partying supposedly with MTV in shibuya. but since we were below 20, we weren't allowed to get in. so we headed for another club instead. when the door opened, there goes the small room, with dim yet flashing lights, crammed with sweaty and drunk people, dancing (dirty dancing?) to the loudest music i've ever heard. our ticket came with a cup of vodka, or so i thought. i got it anyway just to look like i belong. haha we had our little spot in the middle of the dancefloor, me and my friends forming a little circle. for a while i enjoyed the dancing but things changed so fast. here goes a guy or two, slowly dancing their way nearer to our circle. maygawd. why do they have to dance so close to you? worse, why behind you? total panic. it didn't do me good. i was wishing i had my boyfriend there, i'd feel safer that way. but he was not there and i'm freaking out. haha good thing, the club had a separate room for the girls only. a big, muscled guy was guarding the entrance to the room to ensure it remains for girls only. it was my last resort to escape the horrors of the dancefloor. so, i stayed there, sat down, gave my high-heeled feet a break and watched tv for the rest of the night. (or should i say, dawn?).

don't get me wrong, i have nothing against partyphiles. it's their way of having fun. and i've got dozens of friends who looove to party. it's just that i can't get the hang of the mixture of alcohol+deafening music+super close range dancing+strangers (read: drunk strangers) in one room. i enjoy a lot things and i enjoy them with friends; sports, shopping, traveling, eating, etc.

but definitely, partying is not for me.

4 days of happiness

i've been off for the past weeks. acads here and there, people here and there. blah blah. i can go on ranting for as long as i want. i tried eating my way out of it, finishing 1 chocolate cake roll in 10 minutes, 2 in 30, 15 pieces of mandarins, pringles, bento and peach tea on the sides. All, while watching 24 from sundown until sundown. Oh, hibernation lifestyle in the confines of my humble cave. But it didn't work for me when i thought it would. crazy. crazy.

but the past 4 days have been happy days, thank God. the Lord's rainbow after the rain.

sunday: papa called from home and woke me up at around noon just to let me hear Jay Durias singing the OST of a new teleserye in ASAP. "langit sa 'yong tabi.. la la la la la..." Oh, i love my family. They know how to make me squeal and smile like a fool. good thing, i'll see them real soon and i'm looking forward to it.

monday: the last day of class. i still have a nihongo exam next week though, but it's officially over. yeba!

tuesday: i was an hour late but it didn't matter anyway. we went ice sakting in aka renga, a first time for me. woohoo. 'di ako natumba, infairness. after that, we had ice cream in a store called cold stone,where they sing while they make the ice cream. cute. then, we had purikura and pictorials in MM21. laughtrip and child-like fun. talking about flushing away all the negativity in and around me. it worked.

wednesday: still awake and already 6:30 am, sitting by the sliding doors of my room while watching my last 2 episodes of 24, my eyes caught sight of drops outside. OMG! i've been waiting for this for 19 years! SNOW!!!! i stood there, outside my veranda in my PJ's, a jacket and my camera in one hand, letting the snow fall on my hair which looked liked big flakes of dandruff. haha i stood there, shivering and teary eyed, watching the rooftops change its color from brown and blue to white, watching everything turn to white and wishing it would never stop.

Thank you, Lord.

PS: I placed a bowl outside while it snowed. I have snow water! haha

greetings from SAORI... :)

My day started out wrong. Walang tulog kasi gumawa ng outline for my ever long report about Mr. Darcy. I had to go to school early to finish it. There goes Dawn, 8 in the morning, walking towards the bus stop. I met Yama there, naghihintay din ng bus. Hi dito, hello dun. Turns out, maaga din siya kasi she still has an unfinished report to do. We were not ourselves that moment, stress just overpowered our usually enthusiastic conversations. Fast forward, we arrived at the station, got into the train, still dull and silent and falling halfway asleep. We reached futamatagawa station and changed trains.

"Dawn! Dawn! Dawn! I have something to show you!"

"Nani ga? Bikkurishita, Yama-chan!" ("unsa man? nakuratan ba ya ko!")

Yama just got lost in the rush hour exodus of people. Next few moments...
She opens her folder and looks for something. She finds it and hands it over to me. I got excited. What could that small paper be?

"My friend got this for me. I'll give it to you. pu re zen to desu."

The moment I saw the word TORAY, I knew what Yama just gave me. An autograph from no less than

木村　沙織　(Saori Kimura)

(FYI: Saori plays as wing spiker of the Japan National Team. She also plays with Toray Arrows in the Japan V-League.)

With a Dawn smile (the smile nung una ko na meet face to face ang Southborder... haha You can imagine.. :) ), I managed to mutter:

"Really?? 本当　に　嬉しい!!!!!! ありがとう!!!

(happy ako masyado!!! SALAMAT!!!)

"Don't smile that big during your classes, ok? hehe"

"*Laughs* arigatou!!!! arigatou!!!! arigatou!!!!"

That made my day start all over again. *wink!

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks to Yama, i'm craving for volleyball again.. haha Here's a clip of Japan's game versus Poland during the World Cup 2007; 5 sets cramped in 11 minutes.. Japan's most exciting game in 2007, I should say. :) Enjoy!

what shall i call you?

I'm doing my last and most difficult paper for my Pride and Prejudice class and by way of closing our books, here's a script of the alternate US ending of the 2005 movie Pride and Prejudice. Goodbye Darcy. Certainly, vanity, not pride had been your folly.

darcy: and what shall i call you when i'm crossed? mrs. darcy?

elizabeth: no. you may only call me mrs. darcy when you are completely, perfectly and incandescently happy.

darcy: and how are you this evening, MRS. DARCY?

mrs. darcy... mrs. darcy... mrs. darcy...

* Pride and Prejudice. DVD. Universal Studios, 2005

静か な

what is with the silence, Nelly C.?
no, i'm not mad nor scared.
i'm not asking why, not judging how
but i am hoping you'd answer anyway.

random. oh so random.

i just had to write something. bear with me.

i was reading the january 2008 US edition of the marie claire magazine, with a pregnant and a still sexy christina aguilera on the cover. it reminded me of my very first magazine 7 or 8 years ago, with a younger aguilera riding a motorcycle on the cover. how nostalgic. i miss my mags.

i'm a confessed late-bloomer fanatic of 24 and of tony and michelle's twists and turns. sleepless nights are so fun. but too bad my chase edmunds is nowhere to be found after the 3rd season. :(

hi chase! :)

so, they're working hard to make yokohama a creative city. artists and creators who decide to live here get a subsidy based on criteria. that's good. i'd like another walk of yokohama before i leave.

marianne, cris and nami went out for mister donuts after class. i regret i didn't go with them. i realized, i'm craving for a ポン　デ　ドボル　ショコラー. yum.

4 more reports to go and i'm done with my so-called japanese academic life. but still, i don't want to start making them. not yet. lazy dawn. i'd rather play.

and speaking of that, seiko and me are the unbeaten champs in our badminton class. haha. new career. but volleyball will always be my いちばん and numero uno.

i'm still thinking about our high school batch reunion. i really missed a lot of fun. and my bestfriends are planning to get together again soon in manila. i'm dying of envy. again. humanda kayo pag balik ko dyan!

the other day, i had the strong urge to look up for probable med schools in the UK. it somewhat changed my plans. Master course in Medical Microbiology first before of getting an MD. University of Birmingham and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, here I come! :)

i have to go. it's getting late and it's super cold outside. i forgot my jacket. haha good luck scoliotic back. may you not kill me with pain. i've had enough of the it's-a-girls-thing-kind-of-pain yesterday.

room matters

i feel so good and beaming with pride that i can now show off my room to anyone who knocks at my door...


it had cost me two tablets of mefenamic acid and a day...


hooray. :)

New Year, New Goals

Yokoso 2008!

Goals to keep me busy with. :)

1) have my lazy tooth extracted.
-it sounds painful but I have to. Dentist's advice.

2) learn how to drive.
-and get a driver's license. I'm way over 18 anyway. haha

3) dance again.
-i regret that i gave up my love for dance when i entered college but
i want to do it again and lose weight on the sides. haha

4) fight for my scholarship key.
-i need a 3.7 this first sem of 2008 to get a key. I don't how I will do it
with 4 majors and a physics class but I will. I should.

5) quality time with family.
-i've been away for a year and i miss them. I've got a lot of catching
up to do. Hear, hear about the Manila trip, ma! hehe

6) take NMAT on december.
-this is the first step to enter medical school. And to get into the best
medical schools, at least an NMAT score of 90 percentile is required.

7) formulate a sensible and feasible thesis proposal.
-the horror of all horrors of college life, secondary to finding a job
atleast. I hope I'll make a good one 'coz a BPI-DOST award is waiting.

8) visit QC.
-It will be my 20th birthday present for myself: to visit QC on my own. And
be with jun and my closest friends for a few days. Hello, Puerto!

*May we all have a blessed 2008! :)

wake up, you sleepy head!

I've been lazy these past days, with dvd engagements all night until 朝日 shows up and dozing until the last rays are gone.

My day's the other way around. As it has always been. Only worse.
Blame it to oversleeping.

I feel weak and too tired to cook.
Blame it to over sleeping.

My room's a mess for weeks or maybe months now.
Blame it to over sleeping.

I haven't seen the sun for a while now.
Blame it to over sleeping.

I doubt if I can wake up tomorrow in time for our Tokyo trip.
Blame it to over sleeping.


And to 24.

habang atin ang gabi

had a gluttonous make-your-own sushi dinner..

5 am and still awake..

taking advantage of the free internet.. (arigatou Uchida-sensei)

made a chikka account.. (but nobody replied)

trying to blog my supposed-to-be-sad-but-turned-out-to-be-happy Christmas..
(salamat Mar, Kat, Gino, Ate Cy, Kuya Jayson, Ate Nor and Xiao)

wanting to answer my mom's e-mail..

assessing my 2007.. (a blessed year)

but no luck..

maybe next time..

wondering who'll come to our high school batch reunion tonight..

and thinking of the fun they'll have..

all without me..

hahay..

no more drama of wanting to be home..

in less than 2 months, i'll be home anyway.. :)

but now...

i'll just continue my lazy dawn..

listening to a deadly dose of my musical refuge..

if there is such a term..

SOUTHBORDER..

w/ Jay Oliver Durias at Kanto Bar (Davao Show 2004)

Ginger Bread Christmas Cottage

Dec. 22, 2007


Today, we made a ginger bread house. Six hours, a tray of home-made apple pie, glasses of peach tea and a Bridget Jones’ Diary movie after, the snow-covered cottage stood up while decorations were being glued on its roof.



A minute or two of that Yatta! and yehey! feeling, the sweet-smelling house collapsed. The meringue a.k.a snow a.k.a glue didn’t do its job well. And, damn gravity. haha



In the end, we had to eat the house, piece by piece.


It’s three more days to an apparently sabishii, no-noche-buena-and-family Christmas but I’ll not be a collapsed ginger bread cottage. I refuse to be one though I’m already on the edge.


Merry Christmas everyone!

panicking

isang slap-on-the-face moment sa literature class ko nung monday:

-----> we were talking about Chapter 1 of the book The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith when DNA testing came into the subject...

DNA! DNA! DNA!

(..in Dawn's mind..)

Sh*t! What does DNA stand for again???

deoxyri... deoxyrin.. deoxy... what?????????????? .......... acid!

gulay dawn, DNA... DNA... remember.. remember...

................................................................................

a few moments of panicking and scribbling after:

(..written on dawn's notebook..)

deoxyribonucleic acid

there you go dawn.. after what seemed like 48 years for a biology major... shame!!!!!!

reality check: i've been totally blocked out from biology (no books, no lessons, no lectures, no everything!) for almost a year now and given my poorest of poor memory, i have to start getting back on track. Remebering what DNA stood for is my first step. Disaster. Major.

Oh God, help me.

1's, 5's and 12's

Dahil katatapos lng ng World Cup Volleyball 2007, my mind's still full of volleyball.. hehe
May hang-over pa ako with the volleyball fever, so eto.. I'll give you my list of my best players, coincidentally wearing jersey # 1, # 5, #12.. hehe pero siyempre may ibang exceptions..

1) Taismary Aguero- # 12 of Italy.

Former Cuban star na lumipat sa Italy. The title 'Cuban Star' speaks for itself.




2) Yumilka Ruiz Luaces -# 1 of Cuba

She's one of the few left from the superb Cuban team dati. Veteran kumbaga.

3) Katarzyna Skowronska-Dolata- # 1 of Poland

She's Poland's middle blocker (pero pra skin, she's a better wing-spiker) and was awarded the Best Scorer in the 2007 World Cup.

4) Francesca Piccinini - #5 of Italy

My fave Italian player. Wing-spiker / celebrity. hehe

5) Jelena Nikolic - # 1 of Serbia

Another killer wing-spiker. I don't know much about Nikolic but she's definitely Serbia's main scorer. (FYI: Serbia is this year's European Vice-champion)

6) Miyuki Takahashi -#5 of Japan

Yeba! Yeba! By far, my most most most favorite player in the league! hehe Though hindi siya kataasan (170cm), she has a spiking technique (na hindi ko ma explain in words, sorry) na kahit gaano pa katangkad ang blockers niya, it's either the ball goes out, or makakalusot, in a straight course down the line! woohoo!

I LOVE YOU SHIN! :)

7) Thinkaow Pleumjit - #5 of Thailand

A middle blocker na efficient sa quick sets... in fluid motion.. hehe I'd like to say she's Thailand's it girl and many call her the SCORPION QUEEN kasi my tattoo siyang scorpion sa may shoulder. hehe

8) Saori Kimura -# 12 of Japan

Saori will be the next Japanese volleyball savior. She's still young (21) but she can play a universal position. She's a wing-spiker na efficient sa likod as a receiver and digger and she can block. She's also trained to set and is improving her back row spike. And by the way, siya lang ata ang nagse-serve ng ganong jumping floater sa league ngayon.

--------------------------- syempre may exceptions-----------------------

9) Yoshie Takeshita (# 3 of Japan) is THE setter.

From now on, I will get inspiration from this girl. She is the smallest setter, maybe even the smallest player in the international volleyball scene today, (159cm lng sya). But despite her height, she is by far the best setter of her time. At sa liit nyang yan, nkaka block pa sya ha! hehe

'Di man nakasali ang Russia sa World Cup 2007, thumbs up pa rin ako kina...

10) Lioubov Sashkova Sokolova -# 5 of Russia

She is one of the finest diamonds of the former Russian Head Coach, Nikolai Karpol. Karpol transformed her into a universal player na kahit anong ipagawa mo sa babaeng ito, she will deliver.

11) Ekaterina Gamova - #11 of Russia

Whew! Whoever remembers Ekaterina Gamova will always say, she's the Giant! Standing at 202 cm, she is VERY efficient in blocking. Nung mga starting days niya sa Russian team, she was just a mere higante on the court but she managed to improve and now, she is a universal player too. Penge naman ng height!!!

----------------------------------and of course------------------------------

The Brazilian squad will always be my number 1 team! Sila lang ata ang team na lahat magaling eh. hehe No bias, really. Distributed lahat ng points. Wala silang star player, unlike other teams.I call them "the team of barbie dolls". Simula kay Leila Barros to Erika Coimbra. Ngayon, Shiella Castro and Jaqueline Carvalho.




Leila Barros- # 12

Who will ever forget the Leila mania sa Pinas sa ilang taong pabalik-balik ang Brazil sa Manila?? She really was not all beauty and charisma. She was once Brazil's main man. Too bad, she retired that early.

Erika Coimbra- #11 (# 3 before)

Nang mawala si Leila, pumalit na man si Erika. She's not all beauty too, you know. Isa rin siya sa main spikers and ace servers of Brazil. Sayang lang, di siya naglaro this World Cup.

Shiella Castro- # 13

Hmm... She is, I think, the next Virna Dias.

Jaqueline Carvalho- # 12

Need I say more?? She's Brazil's up and coming volley belle.

The Brazilian Squad at the World Cup 2007 in Nagoya, Japan (silver medal)

(* all pictures are from the FIVB official site)

Goddess of Phone Bills

Pockets are getting tired of paying more than it could, 43000, for the record. Since then, it has been a monthly mantra, “Never call Pinas w/o THE card.” But what’s a girl to do when the only thing left to lift her spirits up (not even a truffle ice cream nor the biggest platter of sushi w/o wasabi can suffice) is an hour-worth of call, badly wanting to hear news and simply desperate to talk?

For that moment before sleep, a stupid smile is lingering, imagination is dancing and the heart, singing. But then, the next sunny day hears GUILT shouting, finds hopes of a GREEN SONY VAIO crashing, and devises a plan, a serious mode of STARVATION. Then and there, the mantra is recited and meditated upon, again and again.

Yes, the mantra works for a couple of weeks, stopping the itching hand from getting hold of that

BLACK TEMPTRESS

and from pressing on “005345639064881661 + call”. And a couple of weeks it is. That is all it takes to clog up every possible space with the mounting stress, elevated insecurities and even the mere nature of slight depression of not having to talk and hearing news. And with a clog like that, the strongest decongestant sure will have to be taken in. Prolonged suffocation is dangerous; tested and proven. And so…

“Kring…. Kring…. Kring…. Kring… Kring… Kring….”

Oh well, whatever happens at the end of this round and about monotonous clash of alter-egos, whether the GREEN SONY VAIO will or will not set foot on Philippine soil on February or whether or not the telephone company will send a thank you letter for being the “BEST CUSTOMER EVER!”, only the

legendary GODDESS of phone bills know. ;)

beyond comprehension

Immersion with things beyond your comprehension makes you realize how much of the world you still need to know.

My English in Society and Culture subject taught me how language is such a complex matter, and how it functions in the society. Now, I have new terms added to my memory dictionary: decreolization, received pronunciation and inherent variety among the many others. Global Issues class exposed me to the serious problems of the world: from obesity down to malnutrition, city planning to overpopulation, free trade to fair trade, land mines to child labor, and efficient energy consumption to diminishing natural resources, just to name a few. Globalization classes taught me about creative cities and how they were formed and how the employment conditions in some countries change over the years. Literature classes taught me to read books and classics, which I did not normally do. And of course, Nihongo classes taught me a whole new set of writing, vocabulary and grammar to use.

I know it doesn’t have a lot of Science in to it, which I was very used to, but I am enjoying this broadening-my-horizon-of-learning thing. Well, yes, I miss my Biology classes back home. I miss the cats, the frogs and the fishes I open up almost everyday. I miss my professors’ explanations on things like how a jellyfish moves or why dolphins are shaped as they are or why the cacti appear to have no leaves when they actually have. And I miss wearing lab gown, too. But having to take these “deviation from my norm” classes made me feel I have been too focused and devoted to being a doctor and disregarded the other things that matter too. Way back, I never found myself reading history books again or even just the newspaper. I never read other books aside from those Biology ones, what more of those literary greats. So now, when I am asked about how the labor demand is in the Philippines, or why was India separated from Pakistan and Bangladesh after the war, or even a simple question of whether I have read a Samuel Richardson before, I don’t have answers. And yes, it’s hard and embarrassing. But I like the fact that I’m learning new and relevant things, and that I’m starting from scratch. It makes me want to know more.

I know I am left behind, stocked knowledge wise, but I like it that now, I not only know that Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice but Elizabeth fell in love with Mr. Darcy after all; that not only is London the capital of UK but is also a “global financial articulation”, together with New York and Tokyo as well, and that せいぶつがく (seibutsugaku) actually meant Biology in Nihongo.