I would like to begin this entry with a quote, which I think I posted on Twitter a while back: “So much has happened in the past few months. When I look back, it seems like I have lived a hundred lives since.”

The above basically summarizes my feelings on all the events that have transpired this year in my life.

I have not been such an active blogger for a while, and I’m sure most readers have next to no idea on what happened. Allow me to capsulize it all.

1. I had my hair cut short
This was done last 13th July. The photo to the right was taken the day after. I have been planning to change my hairstyle for months and months, and finally decided to take action this time. This is the shortest my hair has been for nearly ten years. I really, really love it.

2. I am writing my first novel series
I started the project in December 2010, but began putting my back into it, so to speak, February 2011 after doing some travel. The book is generally Young Adult fiction, with lots of action, romance, intrigue and, oh yes, martial arts. The heroes and heroines are mostly Asians because I think it’s high fucking time we all stopped being just sidekicks. The outline spans seven parts. I have already set up an official website, Twitter account, Tumblr account and FaceBook fan page for the series. Hopefully, I will finish the first installment this year!

3. I have conceptualized my second novel series
Aside from the first book, I have also come up with lots of ideas for my second. This time, I am going back to my anime roots and my love for Fushigi Yuugi, Hunter X Hunter, Virtua Fighter, Yuu Yuu Hakusho, Soryuden, Recca no Honou and many others. This five-part series is YA supernatural, but with lots of action-packed twists and unforgettable, painfully human characters.

4. I trimmed down my online real estate
Last year, I had more than a hundred domains and more than a dozen hosting accounts. I have realigned my priorities and my needs and have cut down to save up. In fact, I am still selling some domains I no longer plan on keeping.

5. I re-evaluated my personal and professional life
While on holiday in the Philippines last January, I took a close look at my family, friends and relationships. I decided what are the things that mean the most to me. When I finally came to terms with what I really valued in life, all my decisions are much easier to think through and make.

6. I changed my lifestyle
With a fresh perspective on what I have and what I still want, I decided to make changes on my day-to-day living. This meant eating breakfast, always, no matter how busy I am. This also meant giving up carbonated and sweetened drinks, consuming smaller portions, eschewing junk food, and minimizing coffee and tea intake. I now subsist mostly on kid-friendly chocolate milk, an excellent source of energy and protein. I found out that caffeine just gives a temporary up, but eventually causes headaches, lethargy and acid build-up.

7. I lost loads of weight. And I mean LOADS.
As of my last weigh-in earlier this month, I lost 22 kilos since I started my fitness regimen in February 2011. I am 13 kilos away from my goal weight. I hope I will reach it before the year ends, or maybe by the time I turn another year older (24 September).

I have been quite active on FaceBook during the past few days, uploading various photos from way back when and tagging people with whom I have previously lost touch.

Thanks to social networking sites and the like, I was able to reconnect with friends and acquaintances from as far back as elementary school!

I was tagged by the above-mentioned people in their own albums as well, much to my geeky delight. Hence, I would like to share these photos which I did not have in my own collection before, but am very pleased to have found online after all these years.

The Blue Quill Editorial Staff, with our adviser Miss Girlie Libutaque. This was our publication during high school and the photo was from my junior year days.

High School Senior Year Acquaintance Party, where I am posing with my perennial partner Ramon. We always end up together in photos, somehow. He hails from Ajuy, where I have tons of relatives – he’s the brother I never had!

During freshman year at University of the Philippines, Iloilo City campus. These are my blockmates, which includes a lot of close friends.

University junior year, when I won landslide as the College of Management’s representative to the University Student Council. During my term, our departmental sports teams Scions (Accountancy majors) and Tycoons (Marketing and Management majors) won first and second places, respectively, overall in the annual sports festival. Oh, yeah!

I really enjoyed cleaning up these photos and subsequently uploading them to share with my readers. It feels so good to revisit my school days – they feel like a lifetime ago.

Tomorrow is my birthday! Gosh, how quickly time flies. Tonight, I am celebrating with Peter by going out to the clubs for a high-protein dinner with drinks and music, of course. Perhaps we could also catch a movie, we shall see.

This post is purely self-indulgent, I must warn y’all before proceeding.

Below is an amalgamation of pictures taken during various times of the past year or so. As such, it is a shameless expression of my unadulterated love for the color pink and its various hues, shades and tones!

I have mentioned many times, in different real-life slambooks, online social networking sites and my gamut of personal webpages, that I love this color so much that people have started associating pink with me, especially at work.

For instance, whenever they see a dominantly pink PowerPoint presentation or marketing primer, there is an automatic assumption that I either (1) designed the material myself or (2) seduced the poor man who put it together in a UAE promotions firm to cater to my whims.

A combination of pink done the old-skool and technology-era ways! My favorite Party Princess notebook, which has drawings of a funky royal fairy girl and her equally stylish pooch, together with my metallic grey and pink mouse.

A glittery stationery bag featuring a gorgeous blonde Funky Princess illustration. Its inside also has pretty pink stenciled cloth lining. What’s more, it can fit two A5 notebooks!

Shi at Starbucks, Qurum City Centre, Oman, circa 2009. I am wearing my favorite Adidas goddess-tunic style top. It has two shades of peachy pink and has Clima-Lite material to ward off the desert heat.

Shi at Starbucks (yet again, reiterating my love for Muscat coffee culture), Muscat City Centre, Oman, circa 2010. I have on my hot-pink Adidas baseball cap, newly bought for me by my baby from the Sun and Sand sports shop.

Back in February 2010, I went home on holiday to the Philippines. My vacation leave was officially from 11th February to 26th March – around 45 days of work-free, worry-free, food-loaded days, most of it to be spent in my home country.

I never did get the chance to blog a lot about the trip. I’m sure that most of it I could not chronicle quite clearly now, nearly six to seven months later. However, I found some pictures in my cellular phone and digital camera and wanted to share these.

On the Cebu Pacific flight from Manila to Iloilo. Taken 15 February 2010. No, I was stubborn and did not switch off my cellular phone when I boarded the plane. I did eventually, though, after snapping this pic.

At the La Paz home of my paternal grandparents, with my uncle and mom. Brought loads of food and a cake to celebrate my grandmother’s 82nd birthday! Taken 9 March 2010.

With Peter in Barangay Nino, Concepcion, Iloilo, during our visit to my maternal grandparents. Our background was our trusty 4WD white Fortuner transport. Taken 14 March 2010.

Our farewell dinner shortly before our flight back to Muscat. We had a light meal with Melody and Genefel at Max’s Restaurant in SM Makati. Taken 24 March 2010.

For sure, pictures of smiling people are loads better to see on a Filipino’s blog rather than an angry rant on the August 23rd hostage crisis in Manila. Perhaps later?

This is in response to one of the more common questions that bloggers are prompted with:
What fictional character do you most identify with?

Ever since I read her story in Elektra: Root of Evil, I saw myself in the Marvel Comics character Elektra Natchios.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of commonalities, in no particular order:

1. We are the only female child of our parents. (In my case, I am the only child.)

2. We are both interested and knowledgeable in martial arts and weaponry.

3. We like working alone.

4. We use intensive physical training as a means of stress relief.

5. We like to fight and get paid for it. Sometimes, we do it for free, too.

6. We both specialize in short-bladed weapons.

7. We wear primary colors as our trademark fight costume.

8. We like our men to be as good a fighter as we are, hopefully even better.

9. We have obsessive-compulsive tendencies.

10. We had really good masters who trained us.

11. We use our mental powers to keep ourselves alive.

12. Our reputations often precede us.

13. We have many enemies and precious few friends.

14. We have a violent nature that only discipline through years of rigorous training can keep in check.

15. Finally, we have a lingering, undeniable dark side, no matter how hard we try to suppress it.

This is the first blog entry I have written from my hometown in the Philippines since October 2007, when I moved to Oman. As such, this is the first time I have come back to my native land.

It has been quite a long time now, more than two eventful years, yet it feels like I first stepped onto the international flight away from home only yesterday. So much has changed yet it all feels strangely the same.

People have aged and grown, come and gone. Places have been built and destroyed, beautified and left to the mercy of time and decay. Money ebbs and flows, most of it moving away from our grasp so quickly as prices have all gone up. There are little victories and small defeats, glorious milestones and ugly consequences.

I am sure the above will still apply when I come back home again in later years.

When I arrived home, one of the first things I noticed was the addition of a small wooden plaque to the wall. These words were inscribed on the plaque:

Winners or Losers

The winner is always a part of the answer
The loser is always a part of the problem

The winner always has a program
The loser always has an excuse

The winner says, “Let me do it for you.”
The loser says, “That’s not my job.”

The winner sees an answer for every problem
The loser sees a problem in every answer

The winner says, “It may be difficult but it’s possible.”
The loser says, “It may be possible but it’s too difficult.”

On a final note: Happy, happy, happy birthday to my grandmother!

These past few days, I have been thinking about relationships. Particularly those borne of romantic love.

I realized mainly two things:

1. The true value of a person to you is measured by how much you miss them when they are not with you

Sometimes we get irritated and yell at our loved ones, or perhaps wish they would stop bugging us about trivial things – such as television shows, laundry, food for dinner.

But then we feel empty when they are not around, as if a part of ourselves had wandered off, lost. Only then can we feel the void that only the loved one can actually fill.

2. The true value of a relationship can only be totally appreciated upon looking at the relationships of others

We oftentimes forget to stop for just a minute and thank God that we are still together, that we still love someone very much and that someone loves us the same way, perhaps even more.

We need to look at the people who allow themselves to be hurt and abused inside and out because of love, and be grateful that what we have is good, healthy and honest. That someone sincerely takes care of us and only wants what is best for us.

Love is never perfect. It is always a work in progress.

And we must work hard at it, always.

This is a love letter, the first I have ever actually finished.

I am sharing it with the world, because it is something I will never, ever be ashamed of.

To My Dearest~

You came into my life when I most needed someone like you in it.

Life, as it always is, had been particularly cruel and I was running away and hiding like a wounded animal.

When I saw you on the fateful Thursday evening, I knew that maybe you will be someone to heal me.

You are like an angel rising from the ashes of my razed hopes. You are everything I have ever really wanted – someone simple and true and brave, someone strong and unselfish and so beautiful of soul that sometimes I think I don’t deserve to be next to you.

We have weathered so many storms and grown up so much since the beginning.

I love you. No matter what happens.

~Always, Yours

Time moves ever so swiftly.

Destiny’s garden is full of forking ways. Every so often, a decision has to be made, a path has to be chosen from among many.

However, after some time, when one looks back, there is only path that stretches out from behind, way back to the beginning and before.

Another complete revolution around the sun finds me here in the Sultanate of Oman – a perennial proud working girl, a perpetual wordswoman and digital visionary, indefatigably kicking and punching and splitting my way to enlightenment.

Oh, yeah. Bring it on, I say.

Happy, happy, happy birthday to me!

Today was salon day. I had a thorough foot scrub and massage, then had both my fingernails and toenails done.

Although my fingernails are cut short and square-shaped so as not to get in the way of my computer work and martial arts training, my manicurist insisted on giving me French tips. Thus, each nail was fully painted with translucent pearl polish, then tipped with matte white.

Almost everyone who saw my manicure and pedicure commented on how good these looked. Whoever said that French tips are only for those with long nails?

Afterwards, I went to one of the local malls to meet someone as well as catch a glimpse of the first ever region-wide Pencak Silat tournament.

The event was mostly for juniors, 17 being the age limit, I believe. There were weight-class competitions in both sparring and artistic areas. Some of the relatively more senior Silat practitioners did a couple of exhibition routines, too.

In other news, my rashes and sores that manifested several days ago have been healing nicely. The irritations on my skin are gone, although my mouth sores are still a bit painful. Methinks I need more cut-black tea and citrus fruits in my daily diet.

Today is the birthday of DB, a distant relative and a very good friend of mine.

Happy, happy, happy birthday, DB, and may you continue to kick everyone’s ass this year and in the years to come!

To celebrate, we had a delectable feast consisting of chopsuey, butter-fried chicken and glistening and very fat pan de leche for dinner tonight.

I think I ate all the mushrooms that were mixed into the chopsuey, although I vehemently denied doing such a heartless thing when my mother gently accused me of this crime.

My gift to DB was a set of various beauty products: foam facial wash, body soap, moisturizing cream and an exfoliating facial loofah. All these have been pre-packed at the store in a gorgeous white vanity bathroom bag.

Congratulations to Manny “Pacman the Destroyer” Pacquiao for defeating Erik “El Terrible” Morales by way of a Tenth Round TKO (Technical Knock-Out) in their WBC Super Featherweight match yesterday evening at Las Vegas.

Mabuhay ka, Manny!

My nails have been a glittery, slutty, bright purple since Saturday. Of course, this drew positive attention all around.

My hair is now back to being black, too. Wearing purple and having my natural locks back made me feel human again.

I spent most of today setting up my computer terminal – speakers, scanner, modem, the works.

Plugging and connecting electronic devices is a very therapeutic task, I must attest.

I am feeling infinitely better now. Yes, am delightedly rash-free.

The blasted rashes disappeared in the very early morning of Friday the 13th, strangely enough.

Thus, I was able to get back to my normal routine yesterday, including going to my martial arts classes as well as getting my nails done.

My nails are now whore-red, looking very much like they were drenched in glistening blood. Think Sin City red.

My manicurist was almost gleeful when she applied the polish onto my nails. Everyone in the salon was commenting on how great the color looked against my skin, which has a reddish-gold undertone.

Fourth day of rashes.

They were supposed to be all gone very early this morning due to the medication, but when I looked at around 6:30 AM, they were back. Full force.

One minute you see them all over the place, the next you can’t even notice anything remotely wrong with my skin. And back again.

A truly vicious cycle, I tell you.

Hence I shall be taking, from today and the next four days that will follow, a new anti-allergy formula in lieu of Histacort. First option given by the doctor was Claritin. If this is not available, then Loradex.

Two things of note for today:

1. Our Chinatown to be formally declared as such
After so many years of waiting, our local Chinese neighborhood, which is demarcated by three streets in the city proper, will soon be officially dubbed as Chinatown!

As in the name will appear as an actual address and will be a concrete location, not just a simple reference to a place dominated by Chinese residents and establishments.

I can’t wait to see the new documentation of the local tourism office. Methinks the Chinatown inauguration will take place around the Chinese New Year, 29 January 2006, or thereabouts.

2. Allergy recurrence
The last time I had a really ugly bout of skin allergy was in the early months of 2002. Four years later, history repeats itself, although this time around the rashes are not as welting-red or have “eyes” (think Hiei of Yuu Yuu Hakusho).

The first rashes appeared on both my forearms late this afternoon. I believe this is not due to something I have eaten or strange particulates or the polluted air, but an effect of “too much heat bottled up inside.” I say so because I feel HOT.

I have been taking Histacort double dose and am subsisting solely on crackers, ramen and the music of Bellefire and Kelly Clarkson. Heee.