Somebody give me a job for June.

My contract’s ending this month, and my father is pressuring me (again). So unless my employment gets extended, my game-face should be on for job hunting. 

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In other news, I feel like graduating an Octoberian is a sad thing. At least for me. By the time you officially end your studies, your original batchmates/friends already have jobs (and a different circle of friends), and the incoming-batch-slash-your-graduating-batchmates have become so distant that you just cannot relate to them anymore. 

Then again maybe I’m not making any effort, but so are they. :|

Happy 23rd, Jen!

Today is my cousin Jen’s 23rd birthday! The family met up in TriNoma and had dinner at Kamay Kainan, and post-dinner chillax time at Starbucks. 

Before. 

After.

It’s hard to manage ordering drinks for 13 people ha. So Jen and I just ordered the same order for everyone, no requests honored.

I love spending time with family even in the simplest occasions. I’m proud to say that even if we don’t regularly call, text, or even chat with each other, we’re very much intact. We meet up at least twice a month. As in, one day Dad decides the weekend’s no fun without companion, so we drive to my cousins’ house. Or Mom just want a night of Mahjong, she invited the family to the house. Even if we’re all busy with school, or work (since almost all os us cousins are graduates already), we still make it a point to update each other with our lives. Cheesy okay! :)

Holidays 2011

This Christmas, my family spent the holidays with the Claudio clan for the first time since forever. It was really a quiet celebration. We had dinner at around 8PM, and the rest of the night we just spent opening gifts and babysitting kids. 

The next day (25th), we went to Tagaytay to eat Bulalo (that wasn’t even good). Boo that restaurant! We got stuck in traffic for hours too. I think the whole trip was 2/3 being stuck in traffic and 1/3 eating, walking, and taking photos. Didn’t even get a decent shot of Taal. 

We had late Christmas/early New Year celebration with the Raralios a day before new year! It was super fun, and loud (this is how we always spend the holidays)! We had games (yeah, that will never change haha), the guys had too much to drink, and the ladies kept on playing Mahjong till 5AM the next day. No wonder no one was waking us up at 8AM.

The game that never sleeps in the house.

Pinoy Henyo! My partner (Jhen) and I won this game with the word JOSEPH in 7 seconds! BOOYAH!

These are scraps of paper, you know, cos we just want to cut paper and scatter them on the floor. Jk, these are improvised play money. We scatter them around, and then we randomly get 4 pieces (cos we’re 7 in the game) and then we add the amount on each of the paper and the winner is based on the game master (for example, the person with the least amount wins, or the highest amount, or with the amount nearest to 150 pesos, etc). Winner gets P20.00 each.

When, finally, the game master wants to end the game, we scatter and gather again one last time (excluding nuisance play money, like those with 0.25 on them). I got P90.00 on the last round so I got P90.00.

My sister got P130.00. She had the highest amount, but I won far more games than she did that night.

While everybody gets something in the end, it doesn’t necessarily mean a good value. Case in point, my cousin won P7.00 only. :))

Obligatory food photo. We have this habit of having more than what we can eat on the dining table because the parentals believe that the practice attracts abundance in the household. Hmm.

So how did you spend your holidays? :)

The [Obligatory] 2011 Recap

To get productivity running in our veins, my buddy and thesis-partner-in-caffeine-crime Ella and I often spend early TTh mornings in Katipunan. When cramming, however, I resort to Museum Cafe which is very accessible from my home college (CSSP) and has fast WiFi. I go there to send last minute requirements to our thesis adviser via email, to study with my KMS family/almost-a-sorority, and even to get some AIESEC work done. 

KMS Week in February! Dare Team photo posted above. As part of our week-long (or was it two weeks long?) anniversary, we sort of have this young tradition of going around CSSP with a bunch of dares in a fishbowl, randomly catching a victim from the crowd, and have him/her do the dare for P20, P50, or P100 depending on the difficulty of the dare. 

One of the highlights of my year would be being part of the 2011 AGBS Organizing Committee as a Publicity Staff. Posted above is a photo of our team after the success that was our seminar. Guess what. I’m also part of the 2012 AGBS OC. :)

March-April-May

I feel like this is a small thing but this year, I succeeded in my first ever marketing attempt. Haha! I got TriNoma as a venue sponsor for an exhibit. After our exhibit, their marketing department contacted me so I can provide them with 2 models from AIESEC for a fashion show, and they also invited 10 AIESECers as guests to the fashion show. I thought it was gonna be just the usual mall show, until celebrities started gracing the runway. And we got see Rivermaya perform live! As in inches away from me, it was like a private concert. :>

Oh, I was also under THE Randy David that semester! The photo above was taken during our potluck. We had one because our class was Sir Randy’s last undergraduate class. :>

I spent the summer in Cagayan, but my camera malfunctioned so I wasn’t able to take pictures.

June-July-August-September

I had an awesome birthday celebration with my KMS family at the tambayan! I felt really loved because everyone was there to celebrate with me (/eat pizza and chips haha). KMS’ ACLE for the semester was also successful! We invited Nicole Hyala and Boys Night Out as well as Prof. Pinky Aseron and Emily Marcelo to talk about Goffman’s concept of Dramaturgy and its application in broadcasting. Another KMS highlight would be co-presenting Patikul with UP MSA for Cinemalaya Goes UP. We sold almost all the tickets, and we only had to pay for the 11/300 tickets that we weren’t able to sell. :>

The two photos of my 2011 Comm Family is super dear to me, since I’m not in Comm this term. New members of The COMMunity never fail to make me smile because of their enthusiasm, not to mention they’re all so talented!

October

Best month of the year for me! Attended Pam’s debut with KMS, partied till around midnight, got semi-stuck in Katipunan because of the Ateneo bonfire, and I wore a dress (yun talaga yun!). The event also served as my semi-last party with KMS before I retire as president. 

NLDC 2011 was so awesome, I am super glad I attended it! Initially I felt like it’s going to be useless on my part because I’m ending my undergraduate (hence active org-participation) life that month, but as each day went by, I felt my passion for AIESEC and what AIESEC does burn even more! Thankfully, I didn’t receive any motion. Haha! I was roommates with 3 foreign delegates (1 Korean but she’s from UA&P, and 2 from Myanmar), was groupmates with the most creative team and overall champion for Fiesta Night, drank alcohol for the first time in years, partied until 3AM (oops I am not supposed to say these things haha)…I attended the best conference ever.

Oh, and I also graduated. Haha! :>

November

First month of being an official bum. Every Mondays and Fridays, I go to UP to hang out with friends I wasn’t able to bond with for the one year I didn’t make time for them because I was busy finishing my thesis (and undergraduate studies). Reunions with friends who have graduates before me, and attended UP KMS’ induction (I’m not the inductee anymore!).

December

Global Youth Summit 2011 was seriously the most tiring conference I’ve attended (cos I’m a facilitator), but it was very fulfilling! It’s not everyday, or even every month, that you get 1500 youth in one venue and have them equipped, engaged, and empowered. I was super inspired with Sir Anthony Pangilinan’s talk and I felt super sayang that he was the last to speak, but he delivered a great ending speech! Ma’am Mignon Ramos was also super inspiring, even from the faci orientation day. Made me feel so proud that I’m part of the same org they were once members of. :>

Attended the KMS Christmas Party and sang my already sore throat out to Katy Perry’s Last Friday Night at Redbox TriNoma! Wasn’t able to stay long enough for the BonChon dinner though. But our exchange gift was pretty creative!

I also met my mentee, Elise! She’s really super nice, and easy to get along with! Reading her blog about her AIESEC XP made me really proud of her, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be prouder as she goes on with the real AIESEC XP. I’ve never really seen someone as passionate as her when it comes to architecture (her course), AF (her home org), the student council (ASC), and her family and loved one/s. I’m so blessed to get to know Elise in 2011 and looking forward to getting to know her more in 2012!

Spent Christmas with the Claudio clan for the first time in years! And yes, the Christmas Day Tagaytay Roadtrip tradition continues. Also celebrated post-Christmas/early New Year with the Raralio clan a day before the new year. :)

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2011 was a bunch of amazing things, and I look forward to more awesomesauce in 2012 (and I pray to God I get to travel the world haha)! Happy New Year everyone! :>

*Apologies to those whose faces/heads have been cropped out of the photos! Did the mosaic online so I wasn’t in full control of the photos’ arrangement.