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Moniker: Dindin
Location: Milan, Italy
Religion: Roman Catholic
Star Sign: Libra

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Boyz II men - Amazed. [Lonestar cover]



    



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She Kissed Him Hard.  

Friday, July 30, 2010

Before reading Paulo Coelho's "By The River Piedra I Sat Down And Wept", I don't think I have ever heard, seen, or read anyone talked so passionately about a kiss. My heart melts.

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|* *| listened at 9:08 PM  
0 whisphered | whispher to me  





Today's A Good, Good Day!  

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Today is the day.

I woke up, brushed my teeth, ate breakfast, groomed Andi, took a shower, skipped lunch, brushed my teeth (again), got dressed, and prepared all the papers I'll be needing for my 14.30 appointment at the C. office.

I leave behind the door that slammed too loud for my taste. Waited for the bus, then the metro, then the bus again. As I set foot on that 2nd bus I had to take, I said to myself, "It's now, or never." It's either they grant me what I've been requesting since last May, or I'll just forget about it. I've lived my life without it before, I can surely continue living without it.

The Universe conspired. The people at the C. were, surprisingly and weirdly, nice, and smiling. I had to wait a little too long, as in an hour and a half long, but i got what I came for. My request was finally granted.

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I WANT YOU ALL TO CONGRATULATE ME! Gow!
(And for now, let's not worry about the fact that I have to go back to the C. to apply for an E-passport.)

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And there's more... I came home to this:

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Yay! I've been waiting for this letter, because I love hand-written letters! I love letters I can actually hold in my hands. Hand-written letters are like letters with personality. :-)

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Kumi, thank you very much for the hand-written ala Twitter letter! Hehehe. The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the paper was GG! Hahaha. When Mamma saw the envelope she was surprised to see that you used pink ink! I thought it was normal, after all, you're the girl who chase beautiful things. Me? I already had the pleasure of using red, gold, and even silver (but I won't recommend silver, mahirap sya basahin, at napagalitan ako ng ale sa post office), aside from black, of course. Hahaha.

Have a good, good night everyone! :-)

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|* *| listened at 8:51 PM  
0 whisphered | whispher to me  





Motivate Yourself, Make Your Day A Good Day.  

Monday, July 19, 2010

Today, Monday, I just decided to stay home. Cancelled all appointments and moved everything that needs to be done on Wednesday. I wanted to motivate myself, try to convince myself and the Universe that Tuesday will be a great day.

I stayed in bed until around lunch time, which, for me, means around 2PM. I got up, had lunch, showered, read a book, went back to bed, and watched the television. Before I could do more of doing nothing (ano daw? Hehehe.), it's 9PM already. I'll skip dinner, watch some DVD, or maybe read a book.. I don't know yet.

But this, I'm sure of, before I go to bed, I will tell myself, the Universe, and whoever is listening, that tomorrow I will get things done, it'd be a good, good, day. Thankyouverymuch.

Good night, and great dreams!

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|* *| listened at 9:36 PM  
0 whisphered | whispher to me  





Stress Reliever.  

Sunday, July 18, 2010

So, after (the-much-awaited-and-equally-dreaded) July 15th appointment, I decided not to go online because I felt so frustrated. On the 20th, once again, I'm going back to their office to try my luck (once again) and (once again) see if this time my request will be granted. I'm still a bit irritated. Like what I told Xara, when she texted me to check what happened with people at the C, I didn't want to go online just to rant— Badtrip pa ako! I don't want to spread the negative vibes.

You see, I actually don't mind going back every-single-time they arrange an appointment, and find out that none of them were there because something suddenly came up; an emergency meeting, an emergency trip to Rome, they couldn't find my application form because the one who filed it was sick, or simply everyone got sick. I mean seriously. The thing that (almost) made me mad, was how annoyed they were when they found out my application was filed last May 5th, and was still in-process as if it was my fault.. Hello?! It's not my fault that every time THEY gave me an appointment something would "suddenly" come up, and they won't even pick the phone to inform me about it.

Three days after my most-recent-appointment with the C, I'm still pissed. So, this afternoon I decided to go to a bookstore. Bookstores make me feel calm, they make me happy, they make me feel at home. I like how people tend to respect everyone at bookstores, regardless of race, gender, and age. I love how everyone respect the unwritten rule of silence.

Summer sales are ongoing here. I was surrounded with books from all over that had GIGANTIC AND COLORFUL STICKERS that read "3 x 2: Compri 3 libri, ne paghi solo 2!" (You can choose 3 books and only pay 2 of them!), "-25%", and "-30%" on them. There was no way I could say no, and turn my back on those books. Absolutely. No. Way.

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With 5 books in my colorful eco-bag, I headed home, feeling better, with more positive vibes to share with everyone.

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Though this probably means I can't buy anymore books until Chirstmas, or maybe September, since it'll be my birthday, hehehe.

Let's keep the good vibes flowing. :-)

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|* *| listened at 9:03 PM  
0 whisphered | whispher to me  





South Border is Usher's Front Act.  

Friday, July 09, 2010

SOUTH BORDER is USHER's front act, together with Kris Lawrence, Nina, and former lead vocalist Vince Alaras. Paolo Bañaga of K24/7 and Jay Durias' brother Dylan Durias are doing back-up vox.


July 9, 2010; Friday at 8PM
MOA Concert Grounds
Bay City, Pasay City
Philippines

Don't miss it! =)


P.S.
Happy Birthday, to the Knight of RnB, Mr. Duncan Ramos!

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|* *| listened at 12:28 AM  
0 whisphered | whispher to me  





LUSH.  

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

This morning, my friend asked me to go with her to check out LUSH, and see what the hype is all about. I've always been a L'Oreal/The Body Shop kind of girl, but I read about LUSH on one of the blogs I've been reading for years, and the blogger talked good about it, kaya go naman ako!

Lush produces and sells a variety of handmade products, including face masks, soaps, bath bombs, bubble bars, hand and body lotions and hair treatments.

Lush uses fruit and vegetables, essential oils, and safe-synthetic ingredients in all products produced. In addition to not using animal fats in their products, they are also against animal testing and perform tests solely with volunteers instead. *


Here's what I got:

Dream Cream - € 17.95

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LUSH uses 100% recycled plastic pots. When you bring 5 empty containers in one of their shops, you get a free fresh face masks. Yay!

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And I love when everything has an expiration date! Double Yay!

I've been using Victoria's Secret Garden Strawberries and Champagne Hydrating Body Lotion for years, and it's been great, especially since I don't get that sticky feeling I used to get when I used Dove for a week because I ran out of "Strawberries and Champagne". There's no way to buy them here, and I still don't know why they don't sell it here. Dream cream is a body (hands & feet) cream which I plan to use at night, right before I go to bed. Let's see if it'll do wonders. :-P

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Ocean Salt - € 10.95

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Scrub made from grapefruit infusion, lime oil, fresh avocado butter, coconut fat, sea salt, and Vodka. Use once a week.

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It actually smells good, I'm not sure if it's the lime or the Vodka. Hehehe.

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*From Wikipedia

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|* *| listened at 11:32 PM  
0 whisphered | whispher to me  





My Brother-In-Law's 94-Year-Old Mother.  


My brother-in-law's 94-year-old mother passed away last night.

My brother-in-law is flying to the Philippine's tomorrow morning, and will be back here on Tuesday.

Please pray for his Mum, his whole family, and a safe trip for everyone.
Thank you.

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|* *| listened at 9:44 PM  
0 whisphered | whispher to me  





End Of Book Hunt.  

Monday, July 05, 2010

As promised my hunt for books continued today. I went to, again, 3 bookstores.


On to the first where I bought nothing..

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Okei, Haruki Murakami's "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" was is on my list, but I got scared on how THICK it is. I need to know if I'll like Murakami first, before I invest on his books. :-P

But I found this, and decided that if I don't find any other way to get my hands on the English version of this book I'll have to buy this, also because it's on sale.

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Spuntnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami in Italian.


Second bookstore, still no luck on getting my hands on anything...

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... but at least they let me order one of the books I'm looking for, Murakami's "Sputnik Sweetheart".

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Third and last bookstore, I finally found One day by David Nicholls.

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AND, The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition. It was calling me, because it was on sale. :-P

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For some reason, there's no way to order "Chasing Lightnings" by Rachel York, and they have no idea who she is. I guess this means... Off to Ebay I go... :-)

All in all, I spent €36.80 for 4 books. For now, my book hunt ends. Will buy books next month na ulit. :-)


Good night everyone! To whoever wants, I'll see you in my dreams! :-)

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|* *| listened at 11:12 PM  
0 whisphered | whispher to me  





The Book Hunt Starts.  

Saturday, July 03, 2010

Whenever I get the chance to visit the Philippines, I never leave the country without buying books, because it's cheaper and easier to buy books there. I sometimes buy book(s) when I travel too, you know how airports can be a lonely place! I don't have that much books, I used to just borrow them from friends, or libraries. I only started buying them when my budget finally allowed it, 4-5 years ago.

These are the books I have, most of them I've read more than once, and others I haven't read yet:

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And yes, I have too much books that I still need to read. Four of these still have their plastic covers.

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Hand-me-down books:

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Archie!!! I mean c'mon, who doesn't like Archie??!

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The two times I've been to the U.S., I bought these (airports can get looooneeelyy eh):
  • The first time (I was with Papà), I bought "Chicken Soup For The Teenage Soul on Love & Friendship"

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  • And the second time, I got stuck in London (stupid stopover) by myself. I brought home "How To Read A Person Like A Book" (I've already finished the book before the plane took off.)

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Now, this is a gift from a friend when the hype was still all about "The Da Vinci Code".

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I was on page 30 when my (then) favourite teacher saw me reading it, and told me to stop, mainly because it was trash. So, I stopped reading it. I know I will get back to it, when I'm finally done with my book backlog. Yes, I can be easily convinced most of the time. I mean, I have 2 Wiccan books. You get the idea?



Though most of the time I judge a book by its back cover (a.k.a. plot summary), sometimes, I judge a book by its cover. Here's The Surrender by Toni Bentley:

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I stopped reading this in public (I'm actually not done with this book yet, hehehe) because I caught 4 people staring at the book. Find the book, and you'll probably understand the reason why. :-P



I usually read 3-4 books at a time, because.. I don't know, I tell myself I do it because I don't want to get bored with whatever book I'm reading.

Lately, I've been reading...

(1) Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom, this is actually the 2nd time I read this book. The movie got me disappointed, of course.

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(2) For One More Day by Mitch Albom.

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(3) I Do or I Die! RJ Ledesma’s Imaginary Guide to Getting Married and Other Man-Made Disasters (As Told to him by his Yaya) by RJ Ledesma, obviously. [Probably the longest book title I've ever seen!]

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I finished "Tuesdays With Morrie" 2 days ago, last night I finished "I Do or I Die [...] (As Told to him by his Yaya)", will try to finish "For One More Day" before next week ends.


Anyway, I've been hearing and reading a lot about Haruki Murakami, who at first I thought was a Manga writer. I've been wanting to read him for the longest time, but I always get discouraged by people surrounding me, they keep telling me that I will most probably be depressed for at least a year if I read him. Until I met a friend, Kumi, who finally encouraged me to go ahead and read him. As I was afraid to end up terminally depressed, I asked her to suggest what book I should start with. She suggested "Sputnik Sweetheart", and "The Wind-up Bird Chronicle". Kumi also suggested reading Rachel York's "Chasing Lightning". Now the hunting starts...

Here, it's hard to find the books I want to read in English. Sobrang macha-challenge ka. Yes, I want to read them in English because I'm starting to be bobo in English already. Yesterday morning, I had to take Andi (my Shih Tzu) to the vet. I went home and felt sad about having to eat lunch by myself, so I decided to start book hunting, and just skip lunch.

I went to 3 bookstores where I found not one book.

First bookstore, I found (we're talking Haruki Murakami, okei?):

(1) Kafka on the Shore, and (2) After Dark. Both are not on my list, so... Nothing.

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I met up with a friend, and then went on to the second bookstore, they didn't have a single Murakami book. My friend saw I was disappointed and suggested I buy this book:

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

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I was hesitant to buy it, because I'd like to watch the film and not get disappointed. When they turn books to movies, I usually don't like the film as much as I like the book, and always get disappointed.

On to the third bookstore, where I found this:

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running - A memoir by Haruki Murakami

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And this:

Eat, Pray, Love. by Elizabeth Gilbert

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Sana dito na lang ako bumili, I don't like artistas' faces on my books eh. Hehehe. :-P



Kumi decided to start an online book club, so that means plus one on my list. I need to look for "One Day" by David Nicholls. I'm tempted to go back to Ebay where it's easier to buy, but it takes so long to finally smell and touch the books...

On Monday, the book hunt continues.

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|* *| listened at 1:32 AM  
2 whisphered | whispher to me