Please be my Prisoner! Please! Please!

Before anything else:

Lovely, isn’t it?

 

:D

 

And now to tell the story.

Last week, while having dinner at Chef’s Quarters, I wanted to go see a movie. We weren’t able to make it. 9_9 To make it up to me, we went to the cinemas last night, after going to church.

 

Which is weird. You’re going to a mall, and you look like this:

 

 

 

Photo taken by random family member. xD

 

THAT was at the food court. And people were STARING at me. Lol.

 

  …yeah. We’re back to the little, black dress agenda. (And there isn’t enough lighting in this photo. xD Who took this?!)

 

 

And by force of habit, I often acknowledge any person who gifts me.

And this gift is kind of late, but it was given only yesterday, by Ate Irish. Thanks, girl. ;)

 

Must’ve taken a hint that I lost my butterfly brooch. :>

 

Maybe I’m a nut for dressing too maturely (and acting too immature) but that’s the way it goes. Try living a life with all-girl cousins who are older than you by seven to ten years, and most of your clothes comprised of hand-me-downs. Let’s see YOU not dressing maturely after that. XD

 

But I still like things that are childish. I love kids.

And he’s a pain, but I love my brother anyway.

 

Sometimes, it’s the fact that we’re the only children around that starts my love for the minority, often treated with injustice, just because it isn’t the decision of the greater party.

 

For example, last week, when I made my request to watch a movie, I said “let’s go watch UP!” and my brother was all giddy with excitement. And I kept on telling him that we’ll watch UP in 3D the next weekend.

 

So yesterday, we were thinking to watch it. But everyone else wanted to watch The Time Traveler’s Wife (which was good, sure. But still…) So my brother gets depressed, because he couldn’t see the movie he wanted in 3D. More than that, he’s forced to watch some sap of a love story regarding an impossible genetic anomaly.

 

Really.

 

And I’ll throw them off a cliff because:

And I went around the mall following after him, begging for his forgiveness because I didn’t stand up for his opinions and preferences when I could have.

 

Sorry, pare. I failed. :/

 

(Well I may suck when it comes to landscapes and such. But I’m pretty good with people’s emotions and…photojourn. XD)

 

I went through the same childhood. No one in my family is my age. And if anyone WAS my age, it would be some cousin who lives faraway with no common interest, who I barely see—even on holidays. I know only ONE cousin who is my age. Everyone else is older than I am. And inevitably, their children are younger than me.

 

So when we went out for movies, I could never see the movie I liked. :/  It happens every time. There is injustice in the smallest things, and children’s opinions being neglected, just because they are the minority.

 

I would have watched UP in 3D with you, kid. But I would have wanted to watch a movie where we don’t have to split up for once. For years, I’ve lived through WANTING to make a decision to watch a movie I liked, for once, and everyone else can go their own way. I get called a killjoy for it.

 

I’ll try to make it up to you somehow, baby. :/ Really sorry.

 

I’m afraid ice cream isn’t sufficient. Though I’m glad you enjoyed it. ^^;

 

Krrr, the guilt is enough to kill me. :/ I wasn’t able to fight for the preferences of the one person who remembered what I wanted for my birthday: to watch UP in 3D and get a pair of those rubber shoes from Tokyo Angels. He still remembers the color, and what it looks like. :/ And for almost every week, up until my birthday, he was telling me, “Ate, let’s tell mom that we should buy you a pair of Tokyo Angels!”

Bro, you’re adorable when you’re not driving me crazy.

 

 

 

 

And yeah. There was this UP display prepared at the cinemas. IT was adorable. There were children playing in it, and they were going about a few coloring book pages which they pinned up a huge wall behind the display. There were a bajillion balloons connected to the house, and large, painted cut-outs of the characters were there.

 

At least my younger brother got to enjoy THAT.

 

 

 

ANYWAY, The Time Traveler’s Wife (the movie) was good. I mean, the story was good—it was based on an award-winning novel. But the movie version was a little cut-off. There were no explanations as to how the man had the genetic anomaly. Though I love how the camera angles were. The scene where Henry and his girlfriend got out of bed in the morning—favorite one there. And, hm. Well what I couldn’t forget was what Henry said. He lives his life as if though only to wait for the time that he’ll have to travel again. It’s how everyone lives, I guess. We go to elementary school, only to wait for high school, then college. We live, only to wait to die.

 

I think what’s important here is to maximize the minimal time given, before you travel to a different time, or dimension, or state of life.

 

Speaking of Life, Death and otherworldly matters, anyone here seen the movie My Sister’s Keeper yet? It was quite well done. Cameron Diaz was such a wonderful actress. She managed to display emotions and have them come off the screen, enough to make her viewers cry. Although, she was not the only one I celebrated here. The girl who played the role of Anna Fitzgerald was an award-winning kid from Little Miss Sunshine, playing alongside Steve Carrel. She’s all grown up now. :] And I love the movie more so because of her.

 

The only thing I had to complain was how the movie deviated from Jodi Picoult’s novel.

 

SPOILER.

Highlight to view.

In the movie, Katie dies from Leukemia, just as how she wanted it. Anna won the case, got to keep her body, the way her sister told her. But in the novel—which was so BRUTALLY spoiled by my cousin ;A;—Katie got to live. Anna won the case, but she died with her lawyer, Alexander, in a car accident. And her kidney was donated to Katie, and she lived. It was a great twist of fate, I say. Imaginary fate, for that matter. Also, it wasn’t their brother who said “Katie wants to die!” in the novel (as it did in the movie)… It was Anna who said it.

/Spoiler ^^;

 

And that’d be it, basically.

My To-Do List

1. SPARKS Magazine, first issue

to be released on Sept. 11

Printing on Sept. 10

-Layouting to be finished  by tuesday, Sept. 1

Completion and editing of articles this week

 

2. Photoshoots

a. Magazine

-Front Cover

- The Sparks of Joy

-Inside back cover with Sr. Celia and Kids

- School promotion

b. Poster

-school promotion

 

3. Designs

-Layouts

>Kamalayan

>Love

>Joy

>Voice

>Within

>Fun

>Editorial

-Websites

a. school

b. sparks

 

4. Planning

-Write proposal for BIDAFORCE

due this week

 

5. Homework

Trigonometry

Calculus

English

Christian Living

Filipino

 

6. Competition

-Song writing (song due NOW, lol)

-Recording TOMORROW with the band

-submission on monday

 

Good luck, self. More so, God bless. If you don’t die of fatigue this week, congratulations.

Cards and Tards in Mental Wards

The bday girl would like to remind you
that a greeting is much a gift as something you write or give me.

I like getting cards
And I like getting anything written.
Cards are my favorite part of birthdays.

Kinda disappointed, this year. I was looking forward to reading another one of my mother’s annual cards. They’re always very well written, as expected from a writer. And they’re always very insightful, as expected from a mother—my mother.

Well they did buy me a laptop. Though I was hoping to read a card when I get up from bed. :/

Did you know that I didn’t receive ANY kind of card this year?

It was kind of a school thing to have a card passed around the class for everyone to sign on and write their message. My birthday was on the day of an exam. But even on the day after, or the day before, it’s been a few days now. I have no card.

That’s why I went ecstatic when I read Shakti’s message. ^_^ Always a fun thing.

Though Xela and Nona were in charge of making cards, they…didn’t. ;A;

Well Xel is celebrating it, THAT she is.

Lol.

This is actually from the chorale elocution competition. From our speech choir. RIGHT after we performed, we all headed to the ice cream place. We haven’t eaten anything cold in WEEKS. And now it’s time for pay back.

The cover for the ice cream cone… yeah, that’s the thing on Xela’s head. Lol.

Oh right! SIGABO! That’s a frikload of fun

From the far left is my teacher in Filipino class, who is also the animator for the school’s Theatre troupe, and our trainer and choreographer.

To the right, the boy with glasses, is my hubby! 8D Yay hubbs. Lol. He’s one of my writers. He is “as reliable as a husband”. REALLY punctual when it comes to submissions. And always follows up on work. He’s always with ‘Wifey’, who IS a boy, another of my writers, and who “nags and complains like a housewife”.

I have no picture of Wifey. :/

Anyhow, the day after that, we had a dinner party with the family.

Finally got ourselves to try that restaurant called Chef’s Quarters at the Atrium. Lol. Dad didn’t like it, because it wasn’t FILIPINO. I’ll agree with him, though. I think Filipino cuisine is the awesome-est.

And anything else gets everyone bored.
L
O
L.



Which, dear friends, results to THIS piece of mayhem:


Ate Irsh and Kuya Manny, turning into zombies.

 
And, ohnoezmigash, not Ate Aleth as well!
Don’t eat Ate Hershey’s shoulderrrrr. D: I know it’s fugly, but it doesn't deserve to be eaten. You’ll only get a stomach ache

Or would get you drunk.
‘
Cheers.

Let’s drink on the night of a child’s sweet sixteen. ;)



While she has ice cream. :’> I love ice cream. I’m such a child
I don’t intend on growing up, really.

HAAAGEN DAAAAZS

And, yeah. So I’m wearing a little black dress and a white-gold bracelet. Yes, my styles will change, but I’ll always love the same things. Let’s face it. Ice cream is immortal.



You can hold on to your glass.


  
I’ll just have lobster soup.

btw, the photos that Gabs gave me were perfect for wallpapers.

REALLY liked the one that reminded me of raspberry rapture ice cream from FIC (fruits in icecream)
And the one with the moon on the very side. ;)

I’m such a nut. =P

Messy Desk and Scattered Memories

 You might be wondering, at this point, if this really is Arli’s blog or not. I’m certain you guys aren’t really that accustomed to seeing MY blog with PICTURES in it. Real,techni-color collations of pixels by plate. I wouldn’t really blame you, that you haven’t seen much pictures from me. I used to take a lot of them before. And my past blogs had them.

And please don’t think that I’m copying off Gabs. Oh please, plagiarism isn’t my thing.

I just actually got really disappointed with a writer of mine. He’s just a freshmen, so I wouldn’t blame him.

He said that the reason why he copied off my work was because he doesn’t know much about journalism yet. And I could understand him. Not everyone is a writer by nature. And not everyone had training at age nine-and-a-half. But still, he was my greatest bet for Editor-in-chief (I made that bet last year). It’s just that… he doesn’t seem capable enough for it.

 

Now I’m thinking of getting my layout designer as an editor. It depends. Her writing isn’t the best at this moment. And I’m left with a crazy mesh of inexperienced students looking for enlightenment. Hah! As if I have it.

 

See, the difference is that I learned how to write, because I really wanted to; because I gave effort into it. I attended the training sessions that I was so gracefully given. Not only that, but in my spare time, I read journalism books. And I went online for tutorials on them. I practiced my writing daily, and kept numerous blogs. I enhanced my vocabulary by reading, and I expanded my world of thought to different cultures and people that I could meet, especially online.

And I have a book on journalism. Try to spot it.And in case you’re wondering, yes, those ARE Prentice Hall books. That’d be Algebra 1, Algebra 2: Intermediate Algebra with Trigonometry, Conceptual Physics by Paul Hewitt and College Algebra and Trigonometry. Wondering what the giant pink book is? It’s my Calculus book, The Calculus 7 by Leithold, one of the greatest Calculus textbooks ever. It’s old, a gift from my previous chemistry teacher. That’s why I had to cover it with both wrapping paper and plastic cover. It was quite tattered. Obviously, it was used well. And I’m happy to report that I have both our names on the flyleaf of the book.

 

Here’s proof that they’re all ORIGINALLY Prentice Hall. :]

They really do help. And I plan on keeping all these books for as long as I can, without having them tattered or torn. See, getting a math course can be frustratingly difficult without good resources. Resource is the first gift of opportunity.

 

Speaking of opportunity, does anyone know that it’s one of my favorite words? XD It would be the fault of my Intermediate Algebra teacher. We were having an exam that time, when he wrote “Opportunity favors the prepared mind” on the board. I got good grades on those exams, by the way. But after those exams, I remembered a piece in English class that we were obliged to memorize and recite when I was in—what?—sixth grade? It was called ‘Opportunity’ by James Ingalls. I never understood it, in elementary school. I wasn’t even able to recite it in class that time, neither did I put an effort into memorizing it.

My mind wasn’t prepared. And opportunity did not favor it. So I graduated without honors, when I was in elementary.

And now, Opportunity is my favorite poem.

 

Well by now, you might be wondering about what is up with these photographs. They’re pictures of my desk, at this moment. The first picture was that of a really messy room—one that not even nature, no hurricane, no storm, could create. My books were scattered on the floor, and for some reason, other people’s stuff were on my desk. It was a whole heap of trash on there. And I didn’t use that desk because of it. But I had a writing assignment for English class. We had to write an entry for Youth Writers Asia 2010 (yeah, the one in Singapore). It was really noisy outside, and there’s no place for me to write inside the room. So I had to find my way through it. Tada!

 

Cleanliness. My books were aligned, notebooks were stacked, art supplies on the side, crayons in cups, a mini-speaker over there, and a lot of white, glorious space for me to have writing space. Finally, I can get to work without making the usual excuses that I make daily.

 

 

 

 

 

 And hey, now I have a bulletin board. (Literally, it’s just a piece of corrugated cardboard, covered with purple, left-over fabric. I don’t have pins around, so I used the pins you would normally use for sewing.

 

And I will never forget to introduce to you my Jose Rizal books. :D

These are both English translations of Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo. The Filipino translations are on the shelf, in the home library (yes we have one). We don’t have copies of the original Spanish novels, though. I’m not sure if they sell them here, since, well, nobody really speaks Spanish. Perhaps, only the linguists have them.

 

 

Back the the topic of messy desks, and things of anonymous ownership:

 

Yes, there’s a printer over there. A Hewlet-Packard at that. (Now is that spelled as Hewlet or Hewlette—or Hewlett?) It’s a good printer, still usable, but it has no place anywhere. The Xeleron desktop has an Epson printer on its desk. The other desktop, the one with the LG widescreen and Dual Core, has an HP printer-scanner-copier-fax-in-one with it. So, really. This friend of mine, the HP, is left hidden behind notebooks, underneath a case of paints.

 

So much color.