hello china.

This is probably the first time in months that I've been home from school way before the sun got the chance to even think about setting. Is that a good thing? Probably is, but I'm getting bored sitting here while my brother's snoring away. It's the last day of classes before the christmas break, and there's still so much to think and worry about. From the Filipino play we have to watch, to the paper we have to write about it, to the books we have to read, to that long test waiting for us as soon as we get back, the so-called break is not at all a break. It's going to feel like a long weekend crammed with all the homework the teachers could muster (or at least the cold-hearted ones who just really want to make us students miserable during Christmas.)

The good news is, we're going to China! They say the shopping's great there, plus it's gonna be cold so I'll get to use all the cool jackets my sister brought home from Singapore. *claps hands in glee* Maybe I can get my Christmas shopping done there instead and be the New Year Santa Claus! And I can add a few more places on my "Places I've Been To" list. *smiles* We're leaving on Christmas Eve so I don't really know when I'll be able to do my homework. I don't even know what day we're coming back! Anyway, school is not really my main concern now that the christmas vacation's started. I've got only one thing in mind. Fun!

after the storm.

After 3 grueling hours in Escaler Hall, I emerged... I would like to say victorious, but sadly, I walked out the doors with head bowed, frozen fingers still stunned, confused with writing down numbers and words that made absolutely no sense. Screw that accounting test. Answering the sample test was so darn easy, it was a walk through the park! But that test Sir Darwin gave us tonight just made me want to pull my hair out. I probably spent a whole hour just turning the pages of the test over and over, trying to figure out where I could salvage a few more points. I could probably get a few points off neatness, but, things still aren't looking too good. Tsk tsk. And there I was, chilling at Terri's house with my false sense of security. The confidence swiftly seeped out of me the moment I saw Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer on the test paper. Goodbye to any chance of getting a decent grade. Phooey.

Anyway...*pushes the possibility of an F out of mind* I'm really sleepy now, but I don't want to call it a night just yet. I'm not writing anything down though. Wala lang. Sige na nga, I'll leave it at this. The last day of reckoning- tomorrow. And from there, helloo vacation! I can't wait!

christmas shopping.

Number of people on my christmas list: 35

Number of gifts actually bought: 2

Number of days left for shopping: 16

Oh noooooooo! (Number of O's: 8)

It looks like I won't be carrying around huge paper bags full of gifts this Christmas season. And to think I used to live for Christmas shopping. I loved doling out cash and buying all sorts of stuff I think my friends would like. This year though, it's either I'm not into the Christmas spirit yet, or I just don't have the time. Yeah, right.

super bowl of china.

I had lunch with my dad and my uncle today at the Super Bowl of China, Megastrip. It's probably the first time my dad ever invited me to have lunch with him on his office break. It's almost always my mom. But since she's in Singapore shopping her heart out, I guess my dad took it upon himself to play both roles, which explains for the paranoid "be at home by 10:30" text message I got last night. I laughed when Nati described me as Cinderella, having to be home by a certain time. Sometimes I get to thinking that Cinderella's even luckier. She gets to go home by midnight. I can count the number of times I've been out that late with one hand. Still, I do get sleepy before midnight, so it's just as well! *smiles*

As I was saying, I had lunch with my dad and uncle Joseph. That uncle of mine happens to be a Management Engineering graduate, so he asked me how I was doing in school, knowing that I was sort of "following his footsteps". Trying to erase last semester's 2.9 from my mind, I smiled and said "Okay." He recounts his M.E. experience saying that, like my dad, he had to retake his English courses during summer... but he got straight A's in math. Yes, he was exempted from taking the final exams for both Math 21 and Math 22. Wow. Never quite realized what a math whiz he was. Are the low English marks and startling Math grades supposed to run in the family? because I don't think I quite fit in. Here I am, barely getting along with C+'s for both those math courses. I'm sure glad he didn't ask me what grades I got! I would have cowered and hidden under the table. *whew*

Speaking of grades, I think I better go back to reading my accounting book. Who knows? Sir Darwin might fancy surprising us with a quiz tomorrow. Now we wouldn't want to be caught like a deer in blinding headlights now, would we?

distractions.

I haven't been writing here much since the second semester of classes started. I guess I just never got the time to really sit down and type away. Or maybe I was just too busy trying to study, trying to read Memoirs of a Geisha or those handouts on Activity Based Costing, basically trying to make good use of my time. Operative word: trying. There's always that blank screen tempting me into pressing the red button on the remote and making images burst out of the blackness. Last night it was the second installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Two Towers. Today, it was Vin Diesel and Triple X! Of course, there was also that weird giant electric eel movie my dad and I caught before dinnertime showing on HBO yesterday. Weird as it was, we watched it until the end before we both went, "Huh?" *laughs*

Whoops. Looks like this entry is going to be a bit short. I have to go. Ta-ta!