MEComposing

... is to be productive.

That means, I have to manage a routine. And stick to it.

One of my bigger personal goals is to diet and exercise. By diet, I mean, to stop the binges and eat more fruits and veggies and stick to white meat. I can never do reduced portions but I know I can do the healthier options thingie.

And aside from wanting to get preggy again, I really hope to look good in swimsuits for the coming summer season. So exercise I must.

Being productive means being healthy. Being productive also means saving money. So diet and exercise, I commit to thee.

And who knows, I may just be brave enough to earn more money.

First of all, Mom being alone in the US and all of us being here... that's sad. But still, the fact that my previous and my present families are all alive (almost) and well can't help but make me happy.

And then Dad had this very unwelcome idea of ending a Christmas tradition we've established with our cousins in Lipa. He opted to just come to Manila for Noche Buena instead of having us Manila-based folks going to Lipa. So after seven years of spending Noche Buena with them and watching them open gifts and line up for loot bags, we had to celebrate it again here and do all the cooking ourselves. See, it was always potluck in Lipa.

Still, cooking up the Noche Buena feast brought back memories of old Christmases when we'd all wake up on December 24 to my Mom's cooking. She starts on them very early so that after the Mass, we'd just reheat stuff or fry/cook what's already marinated.

And in the end, we all pitched in.

I mostly drank hot cocoa. My brother ate half the ham in one go, as usual.

All in all, I am very grateful for this Christmas. And really grateful for my family.

Inferno, I didn't expect much from Cory's administration because I believed her government had to clean up after Marcos' regime. Years of corruption brought by Marcos couldn't be undone in half a decade.

I considered her time a transitory one.

But I hadn't expected Filipinos to have woken up from the Marcos nightmare only to fall asleep again. But that's our fault and I digress.

But even when I say that I didn't expect much from Cory, i'd say I was also disappointed that she failed as a WOMAN president. All she ever did was pray but she never really furthered the causes I expected would be dear to her as a woman, like women's issues and education and health care.

Then, she continued meddling with other governments while still not championing a cause I care for. Where was she when farmers went on hunger strike on that matter of Hacienda Luisita?

And my gosh, I really expected her to at least rally her supporters to make Kris stop her rampaging days before.

And then, she helped oust Erap. And now, she says that was a mistake.

Sure, it may be big of her to admit that she's a person able to admit to unsound judgment but still, all she's making me feel is dismay. Dismay for the Filipinos who rallied behind her before. Dismay that all she ever was was a symbol, but not a hero. That all her husband stood for remained a dream with her.

She is prayerful... but a woman of integrity and conviction? Definitely not. So I wish she'd just retire (and be quiet) because only those with integrity should be giving the Filipino people hope.

For siblings with families, I digiscrapped pictures and put them in frames I bought from Divi. For my MIL, I mounted seven pics in a multiframe and managed to cut my finger (so the frame, glass, etc were all blessed by my blood) in the process. I also got traumatized... never again shall I deal with a multiple-pic frame. Hehe.

Anyway, allow me to share with you what I digiscrapped for my SIL and brother. My cousin made the unfortunate comment that it was kinda creepy, but I hope my brother won't think so. I hope, they have somehow made peace with their loss and are fully hopeful that their second son won't end up like his older brother.

Quickpage by DCAST Autumncard

So if you dropped by and want to let your presence felt, could you use the chat box instead since I have to figure out again how to use the Haloscan commenting system with beta blogger?

Hopefully, i'd also be a better blogger next year.

Oh... and I'd also be pruning my links because some of them do not blog anymore. Have a great weekend!

I actually liked the Twilight movie. Not sure how much the hype it's been generating has affected that, but I did like it. It is kinda weird (perverted, says hubs) that Bella was the way she was but since I was a teenage girl once, I can relate with all the selfishness and passion.

Not sure if I am ready to read the book though. I will admit I was prejudiced against it a little because I loved Anne Rice's vampire books. But a friend did say that I should think of Twilight as a romance series, not a vampire series.

Oh and yeah, hubs didn't like the book as well.

I am looking forward to Rob Pattinson's Little Ashes (?) movie... hoping he's a really good actor.

Yup. I got too busy for Harry Potter that I still haven't gotten myself a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard. And to think twas released last 04 December!!!

Ugh.

Need to wait for hubs' bonus first before I can buy one though. And to recover from my allergic rhinitis.

*~*

And funnily enough, I got too busy to also submit photos for the "Boobs for a Cause" thingie... submissions are now closed. Hehe.

My high school batch is holding a reunion this coming January for our 15th year anniversary out of high school. And it depresses me not to have anyone to go to the reunion with.

I mean, sure, I can rake hubs with me... but i'd also rather have some high school friend to meet and hang out there. The last reunion I attended (with hubs), I felt like a fly on the wall while watching all those old faces in their old cliques.

My best friend is somewhere in the Middle East. And the other girls in our clique of four, I don't have contact with anymore. And actually, our clique hasn't met and bonded ever since we graduated from high school.

And my other close classmates in fourth year... they haven't enlisted to come to the reunion this time (I hung out with them at the first reunion, because my BFF did not show up).

Anyway, isn't this sad? I wasn't a wallflower in high school. I had friends. I was not super popular but I was at least known. But having no one to go to the reunion with makes me feel like I didn't have much of a high school life.

Sure, there are familiar names that I could chit chat with, but there'd still be no one to sit with. Sniff, sniff.

And my high school crushie is coming!!! Waaaaaaahhhh........