The Two Constants

Because of my usual lazy state, I've practiced not to post photos and stories that only chronicle my activities with friends that do not have anything to do with any outfit shots. But since I've posted about Lina and I's swimming activity before, I'll just post about our recent swimming date again. This time, my best friend Karen and Lina's sister Laura joined us. See, Lina and Karen are my life's two constant. I seldom see anyone else aside from them but it doesn't really matter since their company more than makes up for the lack of quantity.















Swimsuit: River Island

We stayed in Sofitel courtesy of Lina's mom. I rarely swim because as I've said plenty of times, I don't know how to aside from I dislike the inconvenience of waiting turns before I can change into dry clothes once more. But if the place is as inviting and luxurious as Sofitel, let my preferences be damned. Haha! We lounged around the lawn facing the Manila Bay in which our photos were beautifully illuminated by the sunset. Right after, we slipped into our onesies and roamed around the hotel like "furry animals in the wild", as Laura described us. I'll be posting photos of our next hotel destination!

O Captain! My Captain!

It's finally happened!!! My brother graduated from college and is now a licensed private pilot to the delight of all our family members, well-wishers, and friends. By now, it's evident that I am someone whose top priorities include her family. I am the type of sister who involves herself way too much in her brothers' lives. When the older brother graduated in Manila Hotel last 1 April 2015, I was bursting with pride to the point that it's insane how I handled it. I mean, since I practically wrote his thesis and another final project, I deserve to jubilate right? Hahahaha

Dress used as top: Promod | Necklace: from a bazaar | Skirt: Kultura | Belt: Mango | Shoes: Zara

Yet again, I found myself forgetting to take photos of what I'm wearing that I've to resort to uneven cropping. Oh well. The invitation clearly states that female guests must wear either a long gown or a Filipiniana gown. I've lots of both in my closet since I rarely give my gowns away even though I've already used them so it was easy to decide on what I'm going to wear. But a day before the graduation, it dawned on me that I'm only the sister of the graduate so I've to look less formal than my Mom while still being in theme which meant that I've to re-examine the pieces in my wardrobe. I wanted to wear a top that has the Imelda Sleeves then pair it off with dress shorts for the modernized youthful Filipiana look but I can't find it. I, however, managed to get my hands on its bottom counterpart. I can't find anything that will balance its length and design out so I opted for a simple top and a statement necklace. Perhaps the final look doesn't look much but do you realize how much thought process went into it? Hahaha



Even my make-up and hair were evaluated the night before. Sometimes I really make someone else's event my event hahaha Just kidding!



My brother with our proud parents
My brother happens to be the eldest grandchild in both our Mom's and Dad's sides so he has a special place in everyone's eyes (next to me, naturally). He also happens to be the first pilot in our family. He graduated with a degree in BS Aviation major in Flying from Airlink International Aviation School. We celebrated with the usual company - my two first cousins in the country, two grandmoms, and two uncles. This time though, my Mom invited my cousins' cousins from their Dad's side just to make it more festive. We dined in Market Cafe in New World Manila Bay Hotel. We've tried a couple of buffet restaurants in different hotels (which I'm trying to sort in under the RESTAURANTS tag for easier categorizing) and this is actually among those that are really deserving of its price. The food choices are diverse while the taste is superb.



I briefly talked about being the Filipinana Queen when I was in elementary in this POST, a title that is self-bestowed. I used to ask my grandmom to make me a dress year after year just because even then, I didn't want to wear the same thing over and over again. Luckily I was able to store them. Here are my cousin Rayne and her cousin Jamille in the gowns I wore when I was in Grade 5 and Grade 6.





My brother is among the few people who have found the perfect match in their chosen career. Not that I'm judging my brother and his preferences (although I enjoy doing that in front of him as a form of bonding), but he's among those whose personality is so strong and developed that he thinks that there is a certain way to live. His views are wrapped around the idea that exclusivity must be embraced. Personally, I also subscribe to the same philosophy but in a less extreme way. There's nothing wrong with aspiring to live the "good life" so to speak especially when one works hard to attain it, and subsequently choose to share it with people who also think the same way. Others might find his aloofness and opinions as hallmarks of snobbishness but he's always been the straightforward kind, one who doesn't do the typical mundane nonsense we all have to deal with. Perhaps it's a trait that has to be corrected but ultimately, I don't think that it posits big problems. After all, the extent of his clout is small. The damage, should there be any, is only within the people whom he likes to associate himself with. It actually sits well with me. There's nothing wrong in living with a certain set of standards and allowing only a few people to matter. It's all just a matter of choosing what's most comfortable to live with.

I've graduated from college more than a year before. Check it out HERE. 

Perils of Becoming a Genius

It's easy to call anyone who does an extraordinary act a Genius. I do it all the time and in the process blur the line that separates real genius from average-thinking people like myself. I like listening to intelligent people talk about solutions or mere concepts that propel the progress in our civilization. To me, visionaries are considered genius regardless of their IQ level. However there are organizations, particularly the Mensa, which standardize the tool used in singling out genius from the rest.  I think it's just fair that the top 2% of the population belong in an elite club where they can enjoy privileges worthy of their brilliance. They deserve it. I applaud all kinds of genius because their minds are the modern weapon, so to speak.


Top: H&M | Skirt, belt: from Tutuban Mall in Divisoria | Shoes: CMG | Bag: Fossil | Necklace: Pull & Bear | Bangle: from Platinum Mall in Thailand

These photos were taken last 8 March, serving as my Dad's second birthday celebration with my cousins here. Everyone was feeling lazy then, not even wanting to go out so we opted for a nearby restaurant where we can come in our pambahay and have no one frown upon our get-up (I can't let go of my heels though). Bonus points for the karaoke inside the room. I love singing! We ate in Seafood Paluto in Daang-Hari, a 15-20-minute drive from Alabang. The first celebration is HERE.



It's just fitting that when I talk of genius, I actually think of the author of my favorite book - Oscar Wilde. When someone is capable of shutting up his detractor not by force but by words, and make the latter realize the extent of his stupidity and subsequently become the cause of his eternal embarrassment, then he is my Mr. Miyagi (I'm a huge fan of the Ralph Macchio - Pat Morita's Karate Kid).  Anyway. When we read novels that speak to us beyond the themes present in them, we wish that the author lived in our times just so we can hit him with a Hi-Hello-you're-a-genius-can-we-be-friends note. Certainly an email will suffice (at least for Jodi Picoult who patiently responds to my fanmails). I haven't read from a more illustrious author who can romanticize insults and make the recipient look forward to it. By anyone's standards, Wilde is a literary genius.




Another genius I look up to is Stephen Hawking. I first knew of him when I saw him in an episode of The Simpsons where he told Lisa that "sometimes even the most intelligent are fallible". Of course then it wasn't his wisdom that made me remember him but his wheelchair attached to the computer that aided his speech. For a 12 year old girl, his physical appearance was greatly alarming and fascinating at the same time. It was only years later (I think I was 19 then), when I picked up a copy of his A Brief of History of Time that I was astounded by him for the right reasons. To be fair, I did not understand almost anything in the book despite his attempt to dumb down the explanations. I got a few things though such as, he does not believe that the biblical God is responsible for the universe. What can I do, my mind is more inclined to understand the controversial over the scientific that composed the bulk of the book. Anyway. Since then, I tried to learn as much about him as possible. I saw Benedict Cumberbatch' Hawking (which was terrific!) and later on, I watched Eddie Redmayne's The Theory of Everything (which was even more terrific). I haven't read the novel from which it was based but the movie was good enough to complement what I already know of him. I'm a fan! Wow. Of all the things he stands for, I guess the best piece of wisdom he shares is his warning to everyone about developing a machine that is more advanced than the human counterpart. He's among the most prominent beneficiaries of Artificial Intelligence yet he's also among the most prominent who warns against its danger.




But there are dangers associated to big minds. Perhaps Sherlock Holmes and Sheldon Cooper, although both are only fictional characters, embody the concept that when someone has too much of a thing, he also has something that is lacking. Most often, a high IQ begets a low EQ. The idea of "putting one's self into another's shoe" that we learn when we are young is not something that is present in a genius. And then there's hubris. It comes with the territory, I guess. When someone knows that he is superior, it is expected that he thinks he's incapable of being wrong. There are other perils in being a genius but I'm most particular about the Genius' difficulty in forging relationships the way others his age can. What prompted me to talk about this topic is knowing that someone I care for deeply is due to take tests that will determine if she's a genius or someone with a different condition. Ever since she was born, she has been different. She's only 5 years old yet her command of Math, reading, and Science are advanced. She's so good in academics yet she has problems in relating to anyone. A few days ago, her doctors advised her parents to have her checked because her brain movements are much advanced compared to her peers. People like her need more attention than say, people like me whose difference from others is only rooted on shallow views. And people like her will demand special attention for the rest of their lives.



The final verdict? For someone who wishes to leave an imprint on the world when it's my time to leave, it's easy to wish for a brain that's more than capable. Those with genius-level capabilities tend to make impact on the world more than the rest. But when I get right down to it, they suffer from a difficulty that the rest do not even know of. It's difficult to say which group has the better in life. But personally, I'm somehow contented with the limited thinking that I possess because in a world where relating to someone else is very important for survival, an equal level of IQ and EQ is most effective. Or maybe it's just the Marketing graduate in me whose training is all about connecting people.

Start Them Young

Our baby girl Rayne graduated from pre-school last 21 March 2015 as the Valedictorian of her class. It's a feat that merited gifts, celebrations with her family from both her parents' sides, and immeasurable pride in everyone who loves her, myself included.

Polo top used as dress: Zara Man | Cardigan, socks: H&M | Leather gloves: Temple Street Night Market in HK | Shoes: Adidas

Considering that she's the youngest in their class, she looks like everyone's older sister right? This must be how I look like when I'm with my friends, only I'm everyone's younger sister. Oh well. I wasn't able to take a decent photo of what I wore to her graduation but since this blog is about me-thoughts, me-outfits, me-reactions, I had to post accompanying photos that show what I wore from head to toe. You know, just to satisfy the pretend fashion aficionado in me. The rest of the photos were taken on her graduation day.

Rayne with her classmates

"There was something that he lacked: discretion, aloofness, a sort of saving stupidity."

Over the last months, I finished reading two novels which immediately rose to my 5 Favorite Novels Of All Time. (I really have nothing to share so I'll babble about books today) George Orwell's 1984 introduced the concept of doublethink. To simply put, it's how intellectuals have to be selectively stupid. See, when one lives in a superstate like Oceania with an omnipresent leader such as Big Brother who dictates the expected conduct of everyone, free-thinking is not only frowned upon but more so, greatly prohibited. So even if one knows that Big Brother is just a concept and the history is simply a constantly rewritten novel by members of Minitrue, he has to convince himself that whatever the Inner Party says is true is the truth. 1984 is a brilliant novel that ticks off everything that I look for in a novel. I love words and how they bring to life abstract ideas. This novel didn't only display a new way of putting words beside each other to paint a different term but it also created an entirely different dictionary known to the Party as Newspeak.

The greatest act of rebellion begins with an idea. But as others said, chaos resulted from well-meaning ideas. Stephen Hawking benefits from the advancements of technology but he's never short on warning us about the precautions of having a machine that's capable of being smarter than our race. He warns us to be wary of all the devices that Science is developing under the guise of innovation. Once technology can read what's inside our mind, freedom will cease to exist. Perhaps the government, or a powerful country's government for that matter, can then monitor every one's thoughts under the pursuit of the common good. Who's to say then that 1984's Thought Police are far from reality?

"And that's what's frightening the life out of me. To have no idea."
The stories of Sherlock Holmes were so good that I found other detective stories falling short in comparison. Until I've read Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. I've long been impressed when a book references another literary material so from the very first page of this novel, I was already devoted to finishing it. At the very heart of this, I'd like to believe that this is about a test of one's morality. Was Judge Wargrave's crime justified when all his victims were all criminals, who continued to freely roam around just because the law cannot reach to them, as well? As with all other morality tests, it can only be answered by those who are subjected to the case. Every one else either becomes a passive spectator or self-righteous commenters.



Philip Lombard is my favorite character not only among the 10 "Indian boys" in the story but among all the books I've read. He readily admitted to his crime instead of denying the accusation like the rest did. Secondly, he's very intuitive and logical. His high sense of survival would have brought him out of Soldier Island alive but alas, the panic in the survivors bested him out. It's a shame how the only character who somehow saw the tell-tale signs, which were brilliant by the way (the poster in each room, the figurines on the table, and the glimpse in each of the characters' thoughts), had to die eventually. Of course his moral fibres were also tested. But he's decisive so he knew that if he would choose to stay with the natives, they will all die. To cut the story short, he knowingly left the natives to die and chose to save himself. Was it wrong to choose one instead of none? Again, it's not for us to high-handedly decide on.



I can go on in articulating a few more of the themes in these novels but I'll save them up for future posts when I'll find myself at a loss for insightful thoughts once more (which is pretty often). To close, allow me to say a few words about my cousin's celebration. Since there were around 15 of us that day, her parents decided to have it in Yakimix in Alabang Town Center. I think it's just right that kids are pressured to excel right from the beginning to gauge whether he can do it or if he excels in another area. I grew up with a very lax attitude towards education and by anyone's standards, I've among the poorest study habits. A classmate never even had to dare me to not submit homeworks because chances are, I didn't even have plans of doing anything at all. But as expected, my grades heavily suffered from my attitude - well at least, in my parents' standards and mine. So I say to everyone else, a certain amount of push is necessary. If one wants success, then start young.

The Child They Love The Most

 I have always deemed myself lucky with the kind of parents I was born into. Perhaps I'm as opinionated as I am because they have always encouraged me and my brothers to speak our minds at all times provided that we do it in the appropriate place and while ensuring that respect for both ourselves and the person we're talking to isn't sacrificed. I've generally made my choices in life with my parents' approval in consideration. Of course this doesn't mean that I haven't messed up. I did, plenty of times to be more precise. I keep on making the wrong decisions as I grow up. And it keeps on getting harder to accept the disappointments I subject myself to due to error in judgments but with my parents' accepting nature, at least there are two people whom I don't have to worry about being disappointed in me.

Dress used as top: Zara | Earrings, ring, bangles: Aldo | Shoes: People Are People | Skirt: Zara

This is what I wore to my Dad's birthday lunch celebration in The Cafe in Hyatt Hotel located in City of Dreams last 7 March. We celebrated with the rest of our extended family the following day, which I'm going to post here in a few days or weeks, depending on whether I'll have something to talk about or not to accompany the photos. Anyway. I can't believe 2 months have passed by!! I haven't written anything in February (the last two posts do not count since technically, they happened in January) and March. So I'll publish two entries within the day to compensate for them.



Let me get on my high horses and do something that I both enjoy and detest: preach. Provided that the person came from a fully functional family, he (just to be clear, I'm all for gender equality but the use of "he" in context here is gender-neutral) is completely indebted to his parents. As such, he has the responsibility to live up to his parents' expectations of him. No, really. Call me boring, call me out for sucking up to my parents but I think, when one's only resources, pardon the term for being so frank and tactless, are his parents then it's counterintuitive to disobey the parents' sound decisions. It's called "basic gratitude", I believe. I don't even know where to begin in trying to understand when one deliberately defies his parents' reminders yet has the gall to ask for allowance the following day. Where did he get such impertinence? Financial support aside, the parents are there to provide the necessary voice of reason. They normally advise what would later on become the right advice. They know a lot of things and they are only after ensuring that their children grow up to be better than them.




We search for help elsewhere or a listener in someone else but we fail to see that our parents would want us to turn to them. Definitely we can't talk about specific topics with them - topics that we will hide from them for as long as we live - but I've always believed in communication so even the mundane aspects of everyday life, I try to expound on when I'm with them. Besides, it's in those seemingly trivial stuff that a person's level of thinking is revealed. Not that I've any proof about mine but both my Dad and Mom have superior understanding of almost everything as proven by their immaculate school records. So I really relish every time I get to talk about new and insightful discoveries with them.



I guess the best thing that parents can offer is genuine emotional support. For which I am lucky as I have a Mom who serves as my thoughts' sound board and a Dad whose comments have constantly redirected my goals when they're shaky. There's something very uplifting in knowing that when everything goes wrong and my sudden self-doubts rise up to the surface, they're there to listen. My parents know me so well that even when I got in conflict against school teachers once who tried to paint me in a much negative light, my parents laughed it off. My parents have always been on my side. And to me, their approval is the only thing that matters. I may constantly mess up a lot but as long as I can make my parents see the reason behind my actions, I'm good.

On these notes, I hope either of my parents see this because after the fur vest and fur jacket, I'm going to ask for a new cape. This has been a lengthy prelude to asking for something. Oh well. Happy birthday, Daddy! 

Title's from Phineas and Ferb's Candace Flynn