Happy New Year!

We have just bid 2011 goodbye and our lives are about to return to normal in a few hours but I want to share to you first this post. Every year, it has been my custom to buy myself a gift (who hasn't?). This year, I have saved a bit extra cash and I haven't found the perfect gift for myself yet until last Friday when I saw.... this:

from Accessorize at 50% off

And I fell in love with this upon seeing it, so off to the counter I go. Of course, I was not capable of deciding that fast to buy something with the kind of price tag that this has. So, with much prodding from my friend M, I decided to purchase it while thinking of reasonS to justify my purchase. 

I think this is perfect for those days when I feel like being girly-girly. And it also forces me to bring less since it is compact, perfect for shopping days so that I can carry more without the bag adding burden to my shoulder. And I think my newly acquired bracelets is just perfect with this. 

Look at the bracelets given to me by M, and my cousin:

Won't they look good together with my bag? I think so. And there it was, my new acquisitions to arm myself for the year ahead. 

Again, happy new year!

The Year That Was: 2011

In a few hours' time, the year 2011 will bid us goodbye leaving us to the hands of 2012. All of us are hopeful that the coming year will be better and at the same time excited to discover what is in store for us. So, as we prepare to unwrap the would-be events of our 2012 lives, I would just like to share to you some of the things that made my 2011, more bearable and enjoyable.

I am a sucker for almost every kinds of paper. May it be a bundle of bound papers or loose-leaf notepads, I just love them. I also love to write, and I have "short-term" memory. To solve this equation, I got myself an assistant. I bought a Belle de Jour (popularly known as BDJ) planner. Who wouldn't love the cover of this planner?

certified eye-candy isn't it?

This planner has kept me sane the whole year without boring me out. The pop of colors and the uber cute vector drawings always brightened my day making me want to write on it. And the coupons, plus the BDJ card just completed this lively package. 

On the other hand, as I am now nearing my 26th birthday, I have to really take care of my face. We all know that our face is the first to show our age and taking good care of it will never be too early. And so my search for the perfect skin care for my face started this year. Clinique gave me samples when I bought my Clinique Happy last year. I liked their liquid facial soap and their clarifying lotion which are part of their 3-Step System. I fell in love with their clarifying lotion but when I was about to buy my own bottle, I was disappointed to find out that they changed formula. The SA's were very kind to give me a few samples of this newly formulated clarifying lotion but sadly, I did not see the glow that the previous formula did to my face so I was back to square one. Upon persevered efforts, I found the freshly released Celeteque Dermoscience line. I first bought the Gentle Exfoliating Facial Wash to try out this new line of Celeteque products.

looks like citrus fruit shake, don't you think?

It performed well, so I incorporated another product, which is the facial wash from the Brightening line.

The first time that I used this, I put a little too much and caused my skin to be a bit too dry. Aside from that, I think it works OK. 

Then lastly, I bought the Alcohol-free toner from the Hydrating line. 

This toner works exactly as how toners are supposed to work. It cleans those dirt that your facial wash left behind. It may look like it's not powerful enough to clean your face as it looks a lot like water, but you will be delighted when you see all the dirt on the cotton pad upon swiping this on your face. 

And then lastly, I top my face off with my night cream which is Olay Natural White night cream.

This one, well... to tell the truth, this has been in my dresser for a year already but I cannot finish it! I just find it oily for my face and I just want it to be all used up so that I can buy another one to replace it. 

As of the moment, I am still in search for the perfect skin care for me. Although the Celeteque products that I am using now are okay, I still find flaws here and there. I hope that the coming year will finally give me my perfect skin care products.

Happy New Year!!!

Makapili

So here I am trying to have a good start although I was sooo late already for work when out of the blue, a blue bird pointed to me this article.

China builds more Spratly outposts

After reading the piece, I cannot help but feel awful. You see, I am working for China's state media so upon reading this, as shallow as it may seem, I felt like shit. It is just that while this circus is going on here I am, working for them. Somehow, I feel like I am betraying my country, the Philippines, just like a Makapili. Serving the Japanese conqueror at the expense of the Filipinos. But my hands are tied, though not too tight. I love it here, I mean my current boss is just the best. The working environment is non-toxic (at least most of the time). Anyway, I really pray that this dispute over Spratly's Island will not in any manner complicate things further. For one, we cannot afford a battle with China, and I say this with all honesty and humility. But as what the political analyst had said in the article, we should not surrender our sovereignty to whoever. We have come a long long way and fought our way through the end. This is not the time to surrender, and bowing down to whoever is out of the question.

Book review: Norwegian Wood

Just recently another author's work boomed in the market. But this time, it was an Asian author. Haruki Murakami. Familiar? Yeah, it should be. I doubt that anybody who loves to read has never heard of Murakami. His works are "hot items" nowadays. Swept by this hype, I bought my own copy, or make it, two copies of his works, just for trial. Upon reading reviews of other book bloggers, I chose "Norwegian Wood" and "After Dark" as the first books that I will read. I understand that Norwegian Wood has created a hype not only in Japan but in the whole of the readers' universe. In fact, Norwegian Wood has been created into a movie in Japan due to its popularity.

With so much curiosity and expectations, I read Norwegian Wood's first few pages with gusto. Quite frankly, I do not know what to expect, for one I have read quite a few mixed reviews of this book, mostly praises but also a few negative ones. Another thing is that I have already watched the movie version of the book, courtesy of my officemate who insisted that it was a fairly good movie for me to watch. I know that our fellow-Asian, Japanese have their own culture, sometimes, quirky, and some are just plainly weird for me but I thought maybe a glimpse inside their world will help me understand their ways of life a little. I hate to say this since I purchased his work due to the "mostly praises" that I have read about Norwegian Wood, but I find it somewhat detached. I mean, yes, it is not a Nicholas Sparks kind of novel, it is somewhat closer to reality, especially about the coming-of-age of the narrator, Toru Watanabe. But a narration that it is, I find it somewhat lacking in the connection department. Norwegian Wood, in my opinion is a "true" love story. And what I mean by true, is that it is somehow closer to what happens in the real world but the idea is to narrate it as a narration and nothing else. Maybe Japanese people are really somewhat detached. Maybe I am so used to the Western kind, which attaches and touches you as you read each part. But I just think that when reading a novel, of course I am not talking about biographies and stuff, I deem it proper to put in some feelings that will make the readers relate to the story or at least live them in their subconscious minds. This element, I think is what Norwegian Wood lacks as a novel. As of this entry, I have also finished reading After Dark, actually I read After Dark first before Norwegian Wood, and it left the same impression on me. Well, maybe Haruki Murakami's works are not my cups of tea. I love Midori's character, though. She is liberated and yet emotional, sometimes she struck me as a little bit weird, but I admire her ability to open up and express herself honestly. Something that I cannot fathom doing myself. And to think that this is 1960's to 1970's. Quite a gutsy lady, I must say.

Glorious Books

So it started with blog hopping through numerous book bloggers' blogs. It has started with reading through reviews after reviews of books of recent release and timeless classics. Bookworm that I am, these titles just pulled me into them, arousing my curiosity and seducing me to buy them and experience them myself. I got into this craze so much that I ended up signing in to two social networking sites that are into books.

Yesterday was shopping day for me. But take note that I shopped for.. what else, but books. I was so happy that those titles that I have been anticipating for has already arrived and so I jumped to the opportunity and ended up with this...


Yeah, it was the first time that I purchased this much in one visit. Thanks to the book bloggers. I get to update my library and I am now encouraged to read all the books that I have now in a faster pacing.

Calamities and Technologies

It has been a week and a half already since the disastrous, shocking, and devastating tragedy that happened in Japan. The 8.9, then corrected as 9.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Japan shook the whole world. The earthquake left thousands dead and thousands more missing. Earthquake proof buildings stumbled down to dust. As one of the countries in the world that has the most sophisticated IT and telecommunication technology, Japan now suddenly "cannot be reached".

The tragedy shook not only Japan but the whole world as well as people suddenly worry about the preparedness of their own countries. Nations have been stirred up to check and double-check if their preparations are enough to salvage their own countrymen if ever the same tragedy hits their countries. Amidst the scare of earthquake and aftershocks, devastating tsunami followed suit as normally as it can be. Then, as if land and water are not enough to scare the hell out of human beings, air completed the cast as radiation leak threats hung over nearby nations leaving people with no choice but to speculate and be scared unnecessarily.

Here in the Philippines, as the world's texting capital, some of these moronic texters tried to steal the limelight from Japan. Text messages containing information, in fact too specific information about the supposedly radiation leak to be blown our way from Japan spread like forest fire. I do not know what their true intentions are, may it be simply to ride out the situation or to prove how powerful texting is as they sit back and watch people skitter out to buy betadine and iodine salts to "protect" themselves from radiation as what is indicated in the texts. These good for nothing people really do not have even a tiny bit of humanity in their souls. They perfectly know that most of the people here have little or do not have any knowledge at all about radiation and yet they happily took advantage of that to cause panic. I simply cannot fathom how idiotic and inconsiderate whoever created and spread that text message can be as to create panic and do something like that in the middle of the calamity in Japan. How can they be that ruthless, really. This is not something to joke about and I hope these people realize how serious this situation is. Earthquakes this strong cannot happen only in Japan. In fact after what happened last March 11, it prompted our own PHIVOLCS to explain more thoroughly and more frequently the real situation of the Philippines, which sadly, is not satisfactory. Philippines is as vulnerable as Japan as both sit on the Pacific Ring of Fire and I am sorry to say but if Japan lost that much inspite of being well-prepared, how much more would Philippines lose when the time comes that a nasty earthquake hits the country? I hope that even before the most dreaded "Big One" happens, the Philippines will more prepared for it and for once I will appreciate it if this study about the "Big One" would hopefully turn out to be a miscalculation.

People, let's pray.