warm brown eyes

chapter one

“Miss... miss... are you okay?”
A soft yet insistent male voice tried to claw through my foggy senses. Anne struggled to fight for consciousness as she felt a hand nudging her arm. The hand felt warm touching her skin. She shivered though she was sweating profusely.
Again, the male voice shook her and she slowly opened her eyes. Anne’s sight focused on a pair of concerned yet curious brown eyes.
“Miss... are you okay? What happened? Do you need me to take you to the hospital?”
“uh...” Anne tried to say something but couldn’t. Her mouth was so dry and she felt so weak.
He held her arms and slowly helped her up on a sitting position. Her senses gradually came back as she scanned the surroundings.
“Where... where am I?” She finally spoke, her eyes focusing on warm brown eyes.
“We’re here outside a coffee shop. I was walking by when I saw you faint. I quickly grabbed you before you fall to the ground. Are you alright?”
“Yes. I, I think so. Thanks for catching me.” Anne smiled weakly.
“No problem.” He smiled back. This time she was able to see his face clearly. He had small brown eyes with a charming single eyelid; a wide smile and a dimple on his left cheek. His face was long and his head was shaved.
He looked sweet and crushable. She smiled at him again.
“Hey, why don’t we go inside the coffee shop and have something to drink? It will make you feel better.”
“Okay.” she replied, and he slowly pulled her up from the floor. He held her hand and led her inside the small coffee shop called Flavors Café. Instantly, the aroma of rich coffee beans filled her senses. She breathed in the rich smell and smiled.
We went to the farthest table and sat down. A young waitress went over and took our orders.

“Hm.. one cappuc... I mean, one warm milk for me.” Anne told the waitress.
He looked at me inquisitively but didn’t say a word. He turned to the waitress and said, “I’ll have a cappuccino and 2 slices of cake please.”
The waitress thanked them and went back to the kitchen.
“So,” he started. “What happened back there?”
Smiling sheepishly, Anne answered, “I, I don’t really remember. I was just walking, I think, I had a lot of things on my mind, and I felt dizzy, then the next thing I know, you were waking me up.”
“Are you sick? Coz you don’t look that well to me.” He looked at her and added, “You’re so thin and pale, have you been eating well?”
“I, I’m busy and tired, I haven’t been eating much lately.” she admitted.
“Well, I hope that you’ll be okay and that whatever problems you’re having right now, you’ll be able to fix it.”
Anne was touched by his words. We don’t even know each other yet here I am with him, drinking coffee like we know each other. I really needed this assurance, even coming from a complete stranger.
The waitress came to the table with our orders and they silently sipped their own drinks. He pushed one slice of cake in front of her and said, “Eat this. You’ll feel better after having eaten something.”
Normally, she was not too fond of sweets, but right now, the cake looked so inviting. Anne picked up the fork and took a small bite.
The cake was moist and sweet and her hungry stomach took in whatever nourishment it needed.

We continued chatting about shallow things like the weather, music, movies, and all those not too personal details and Anne found herself laughing at his jokes and his easygoing manner. She took a good look at him and there was something about it that she found quite familiar.
“By the way, what’s your name?” He asked me. “We’ve been talking here for some time and I don’t even know your name.”
Oh right. “It’s Anne. What’s yours?”
“Stan.”
“Stan... fits you.” she said.
He smiled. “Really? Why’s that?”
“I don’t know. Just that Stan sounds... simple and regular.”
He laughed. “I’ll take that as a compliment, I guess.”
“It was meant to be one.” He has such a sweet smile, Anne couldn’t help but smile back.
“So, what do you do when you’re not fainting in front of coffee shops?”
“Oh, I’m an personal manager.”
“A what? What does a personal manager do?”
“I manage people, kind of like a personal secretary, except that I do more than take notes. How about you? What do you do when you’re not catching fainting girls in front of coffee shops?” she joked back.
“Ahh. Well, I’m a musician.”
“Really? What? Do you play in a band or a group or something?”
“Or something” He replied.
“How mysterious.” Anne smiled wryly.
Stan laughed. “You’re funny, you know that?”
“Yeah, I’m a stand up comedian at Metro Bar during weekends.” she grinned.
“No, really. You are. Your boyfriend must be really lucky.”
Her grin faded when she heard him mention ‘boyfriend’. “Funny you should say that.”
Noticing her sad face, he asked, “Why? Did I say something wrong?”
“The boyfriend part. I just got dumped. Big time.” Anne didn’t know why she was telling this fact to a stranger. But somehow, she just felt safe and comfortable talking with him.
Stan mouthed a big “Oh”
“Sorry. Bad memories? How long has it been?”
“Seven weeks, three days, not that I’m counting, but I’m still having nightmares.” Anne planted a bright smile on her face as she said this.
“That bad huh? What happened? He found someone else and cheated on you then when you found out he dumped you?”
Her eyes widened. “How did you know? I swear, you are clairvoyant, it’s creepy.” she told him.
Surprised, he laughed. “I was just kidding.” Then he took in Anne’s serious face and stopped laughing, “You’re serious? That’s what actually happened?”
She threw her hands up in the air. “Yup. Story of my life. Dumped twice for another girl for the past 3 years. I must really be pathetic.” Anne sighed as she drank the last few contents of her cup.
“Not pathetic.” Stan assured me. “Just not lucky.”
“Ah! And that just made me feel better.” Anne placed her hands on her heart, as if he struck her.
“What? Seriously, Anne, you just haven’t found the right person. Wait, that’s not the reason you’re not eating well and fainting, is it? You’re still mooning over your ex? Is that it?”
“No. I’m pathetic, but not that pathetic.” She lied. “I mean, yeah, I still think about him, but I’ve moved on.” Anne stood up straight and repeated, this time I was more confident, “I’ve moved on.” Saying this, she felt as if a big chip was lifted from her shoulders.
Stan sat back from the chair and looked at me. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. I think I am. I mean, okay, maybe not a while ago, but starting today, this afternoon, while drinking,” She looked at her empty cup, “milk with you, I have decided to let go and move on.”
Stan smiled. “Good for you. Don’t waste your time on thinking about things that has happened or linger on things that will never happen. You’ll only be disappointed.”
Somehow, she detected a sad note in his voice. Could it be that he was heartbroken too? “Bad relationship too?” she asked.
Stan nodded. “A long time ago, I don’t think about it anymore. I’m happy with my life right now.”
“Lucky you. I’m just getting over that jerk. So, I’ll be spending my time alone for a while.”
“That’s not so bad.”
“Yeah, I guess.”

Just then, Stan’s cell phone rang. He picked it up and answered the phone.
“Yeah, what up?”
“No, just hanging out here.”
“Yeah. What time do you need me there? 5?” Anne glanced at her watch and saw that it was 4.30 pm.
“Okay. I’ll be there soon. Bye!” He ended the call and looked at me.
“Anne, sorry, but they’re calling me back to the studio. Will you be okay?” Stan asked.
“Yeah. I’ll have to get back to work too. Thanks a lot for today.”
Stan called the waitress and asked for the check. When she arrived, they both reached for their wallets.
“No problem, it’s on me.” Stan said, brushing her hand away.
“No, let me thank you by paying for this.” Anne replied.
“No need. I had fun chatting with you anyway. You pay next time” He said, as he gave the money to the waitress.
Next time? The thought that Anne would see him again made her smile.

We finally stood up from our table and headed towards the door.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay? Shall I hail a taxi for you?” Stan asked, concerned.
“Yes. I feel a whole lot better now. And no need for a taxi. My office is just around the corner.”
“Really? Me too. C’mon, we can walk together.”
“Okay.”
They crossed the street and kept on walking to the right. Finally, they reached the entrance of a towering building near 32nd Street.
“Stan, thanks again for today. Hope that next time we see each other, I’m not fainting on you again.”
Stan laughed, his brown eyes twinkling mischievously. “That’s okay. I don’t mind catching fainting girls again. "See you around!”

As they shook hands, my phone suddenly rang. I waved at Stan before turning back and answering the call. I didn’t see Stan taking a looking back at me before he finally turned and entered the building.
“Hello?”
“Anne! Where are you? You should have been here an hour ago!” An impatient female voice scolded me.
Uh-oh. “Hi, Cindy. I’m sorry, I got holed up in traffic. I’m outside the building now.” I replied apologetically as I turned back and headed towards the entrance.
“Well, get here as quickly as you can coz Malinda is here and she’ll have a fit if we’re not ready to leave in 10 minutes. You know how impatient that starlet is.” Cindy reminded.
“No problem. I’ll take care of Malinda.” I replied. I ended the call and ran up the elevator.
___

cappuccino.one

my sister's keeper

a few years ago, i was browsing amazon.com for new authors and new books to read when i chanced upon jodi picoult. being a fan or romance and chicklit rather than general fiction books, i'm not quite familiar with her. but with the great reviews for her book, i decided to give her a try. the first book i bought was salem falls. i liked the book and finished it in one day. i went to her website www.jodipicoult.com and read up on the reviews of her other books.

the next book i purchased was my sister's keeper. i remember that when i was in powerbooks, the only available version was the large print, and it cost also P800! but i bought it and started reading it. by the end of the day, i was crying. i couldn't believe it! this was the second book (only! - the first one was kiss an angel by susan elizabeth phillips) that i read which moved me to tears. i quickly recommended the book to my equally book-loving cousin, C, and my good friends L & B. They too loved the book! C, being a mother herself, loved it because she could understand the family drama of the story and because the ending was totally shocking! L & B, loved the book and made them instant fans of the author, even buying also all of her books in the bookstore. unfortunately, only 1 other novel was as impressive as my sister's keeper - the pact, which talked about the tragic story of two childhood sweethearts. the others were just plain boring (ex. keeping the faith started strong but fell flat in the end while the tenth circle was a drag).


and so i was excited when i heard that my sister's keeper will hit the big screen. i like the cast.. at first i didn't expect cameron to be the mom, but she was not bad. i love abigail breslin and i'm glad she got anna's role. alec baldwin as campbell alexander made sense. i read somewhere that the ending will be changed in the movie, i speculated that both will live but to my surprise they went the hollywood route. the movie had a different approach from the novel which made the comparison harder for me. first, the characters. the parents were the same. jesse was more of a delinquent in the book than the movie. i didn't like the way they portrayed jesse, and his scenes were like shooting a music video..of him sitting outside a seedy club, of him looking at hookers passing by, mostly nonsensical scenes. campbell was the same, with his dog but they left out the subplot with him and julie. the movie also failed to show the close relationship between anna and campbell. in the book, the main character was anna but in the movie, it focused on kate and her nonexistent boyfriend (in the book, that is). in the movie, kate was dying but in the book, kate was merely sick and in need of surgery. and where are the court scenes? the court scenes came out at the end of the movie when in the book, a large part was held at the court, with all characters debating the case heatedly.

of course, the ending. in the book we find out that the reason anna sued her parents was because kate asked her to. anna won the case with campbell as her legal guardian. but then on the way home, they had an accident and anna died. campbell, as legal guardian, donated her organs to kate so she may live. in the movie, the reason was the same, except that here, kate died naturally before the verdict was handed out. then the next scene shows campbell telling anna she won the case (but then what was the point when kate died anyways?).. while the book's ending was a total shock (no one expected anna to die.. it was as if she was the "neglected one" and yet she was the one who died rather than kate) and elicited lots of tears from the readers, the movie was more into showing the mom's acceptance that kate is dying and showing flashbacks and waiting for kate to die, which then elicited the sobs from the moviegoers. two different approaches, yet heartbreaking all the same.

overall, i give the book 5/5 stars while the movie 3/5 stars, because the movie dragged at some parts and didn't totally show the whole story. nevertheless, if you like a good cry, i suggest you gather your gal pals, bring kleenex and watch the movie.

sidenote... i watched this in greenbelt 3 with my friend, L. most of the people were girls. i started crying early in the movie. midway, the two girls beside me were sniffing and pulling out tissues, then we heard a girl blowing her nose loudly.. and near the end of the movie, one girl was heard sobbing which made a lot of people (including me and my friend) laugh out loud! when the lights were back on, you can see all the girls with red puffy eyes and even the guys looking subdued.

sona

did PGMA really accomplish all the achievements she mentioned in her speech? how come no one has heard of them until now?

i did find it funny when she made indirect remarks to mar roxas and erap. nice one! even though i don't think presidents should be slinging those kinds of potshots during her state of the nation address.

and what's with her ugly dress? reminds me of the jollibee mascot guy - the one who's supposed to represent french fries (what's his name?)

can't wait for the 2010 elections!

Kpop mix hits

Here's a new set of Kpop videos for everyone!

Clazziquai released their new album called Mucho Punk and the carrier single is called "Love Again"... love the beat and Alex and Horan are just so cool! Glad they're back!

Other notable songs in their album: Kiss Kiss Kiss, Tell Me Yourself, Lazy Sunday Morning

BoA's third single from her American album is called Energetic. Again, i'm loving BoA's style.. more dance-y than her Korean/Japanese songs. Now if only she gets noticed by the Americans. She's way better than the Wonder Girls! (though I love Wonder Girls too. haha!)

By the way, BoA is collaborating with Akon called "Beautiful".

This song by Son Dam Bi and After School is for the newest Samsung cellphone CF "Amoled". Will update the link as soon as I find one with english subs!


Enjoy!

harry potter and the half-baked plot

last saturday was family day in my company and everyone got free tickets to the harry potter movie at the podium. i invited my brother and his wife to watch the movie with me and i got to drive the whole day! (yay!) the ticket came with a hotdog, junior popcorn and tall soda. we were lucky to arrive early and we were able to get good seats. people started arriving and soon after the whole cinema was filled with friends and family all eagerly anticipating the film.

as everyone knows, the harry potter series is one of the most successful and highly awaited franchise in the recent years. me, being a fan when i first laid eyes on the first book while i was in college, is one of those people who will not dare miss it on the big screen. i have all three books (still in good condition) at home, but then i didn't buy the 4th book (coz it's too thick), borrowed the 5th book (which was crappy) and stopped reading from the sixth to the final book. i thought the 5th book was too predictable.. in the first few chapters you knew what was going to happen but rowling wrote too many chapters just to build the suspense. still, that did not stop me from wanting to finish the movie. and so, given that i have no idea what the half-blood prince was all about, i was expecting to be awed by the film and the story.



alas, no matter how good the effects and the actors are, if the story is weak, it won't save the movie. the whole story just centered on two things: the love relationships between the cast and tom riddle as a child. the romance between them were cute.. ron was funny, hermione looked so heartbreaking when she cried while harry was such a martyr (can't think of a better term right now). the story about dumbledore and harry trying to solve the tom riddle (pardon the pun) started interesting but it just dragged on and on and when the secrets were revealed by professor slughorn, the secret wasn't even a big deal! all throughout the movie, the mood was dark and gloomy, there were no major action scenes aside from the brief quidditch game. and to think that the title being Half-blood prince, there will be a big significance when we find out who it is.. but when it was revealed at the end, it also didn't matter much.

despite my disappointment in the movie, i know it's just part of the story and i'm sure, the last book (which will be split into 2 films) will be better and will exceed everyone's expectations! so let's all hope 2010 comes and we'll get to see another harry potter movie!

mondays

chapter one.

“audrey! where the hell are you? I need those working papers now!” an angry voice barked over the line.
“leanne! im sorry, im stuck in traffic along rose street but I’ll be there as soon as the stupid taxi gets out of the way!” I frantically replied, while trying to turn the car to the left and balancing my starbucks coffee.
“it’s 9.30 already and you’re stuck in traffic? God! The audit committee meeting is at 10.30! barry has been demanding those files since 8.30!” leanne sands, my manager said.
“I know, I know, wait, here I am, just getting inside the parking lot. I’ll be up there in 10 mins!”
“you’d better be or you’re dead!” with that, she hanged up the phone.
damn. of all time to be late, it’s when I have an important meeting. I cursed myself as I found an empty slot and quickly parked my car. I turned off the engine, put the car keys inside my bag and gathered all the working papers at the passenger seat. I looked at the rearview mirror for one last look at my harassed state and quickly ran up the elevator.
hurry hurry. I thought to myself as I silently encouraged the elevator to go up as fast as it can. At exactly 9 minutes and 40 seconds, the elevator doors opened in front of the 12th floor and I immediately stepped out and hurried outside barry watson’s office.
“audrey! barry’s been breathing fire since this morning and poor leanne’s getting burnt to crisps inside his room. you’d better get in there fast.” emily vine, barry’s secretary, cautioned me.
“oh emily, thanks!” I breathed deeply before knocking on barry’s door. Inside, I can already hear muffled voices inside the room. Knock knock. I rapped on the polished oak door.
come in. I heard barry’s call over the closed door. I slowly opened his door and put on my best smile.
“uhm..hi barry! Hi leanne..”
“thank god you’re here!” leanne stopped me. She came over at once and grabbed the working papers that ive been clutching tight.
I meekly walked over to barry’s desk and stood before him.
“barry, here’s the impairment testing we came up with last weekend. The client is short by about 10m and we propose to adjust the figures in the balance sheet.” Leanne laid open the schedule in front of barry and explained how the computations were done.
“ok.” Barry said, as he went over the figures. “how about the properties? Were we able to check the market values? Do we need to set up an allowance on the condo units too?”
“no need, barry. It’s all good.” Leanne confidently replied.
“very well.” Barry glanced at his watch and saw that it was already quarter to 10. “I guess we’d better get to the meeting then leanne. Have you got all the papers ready?”
This time, I spoke, “yes, barry. i’ve photocopied 10 copies of the accounts and the agenda for the meeting.” i said as I showed him a thick envelope filled with official papers. I then fished my usb from my bag. “and this, leanne, is the powerpoint presentation.”
“great!” barry stood up and picked up his blackberry. “let’s head over there then!”
Leanne smiled brightly at barry and followed him outside the door. I quickly followed behind them.
When both barry and leanne were waiting for the elevator, barry turned to me and said, “Audrey, it’s ok if you don’t join us for the meeting. Just hand over the papers and the presentation to leanne. In the meantime, please go to louisa’s area. She needs a staff to help her with the special job over at titan enterprises.”
“yes barry. thanks.” I handed the files over to leanne who’s pout has slowly been replaced by a smile.
“thanks Audrey. I’ll see you later.” Leanne said.
The doors of the elevator soon opened and barry and leanne got in. I waved at them before the doors closed.
Only then was I able to breathe a sigh of relief.

___

aprilfifteen.one

18 again

last sunday night, i went to my mom's friend's daughter's debut party at the century hotel. the theme was about princesses and the table were all named after a princess (ex. sofia, camilla, isabella, etc..). the last time i had been to a debut party was 10 years ago, when me and my friends were 18 and have just started college. at first, i wasn't too keen on going to the party. i thought it would be too childish for me to attend it. but of course i know the birthday girl and i wasn't doing anything anyway so i went to the party. and i'm glad i did. coz i had fun. well, i really didn't do anything, just sat down, ate a yummy buffet and watched the night's activities. but i had fun because that night i reminisced those days when i was young and carefree. when all we worried about were passing subjects and joining extracurricular activities. how simple life was back then.

at the start of the program, G, the birthday girl wore a pretty fuchsia dress and she sat at the throne while they showed a short video of her in front of everyone. i dont know who did the video (i think it was G herself) and it was filled with pictures of her with her family..and her younger sister (i think they're best friends) and more selca pics of herself...i thought where are her pics with her friends? but then the second part of the program was the 18 roses dance and one by one her 18 close guy friends danced with her from her dad (first) to her boyfriend (last). then came the third and fourth programs, 18 candles and 18 treasures where 18 friends light a candle and present their gifts and say their wishes to her. i find it funny that their greetings were the usual cliches, "stay as sweet and adorable as you are" *giggles* "thanks for everything" *more giggles*. i remember being that way when i was a teenager. we wrote cutesy and generic dedications and giggled a lot. not that it's bad. i'm not blogging to laugh at them. i just couldn't help but smile at them.

when i was 18 i had so many things i wanted to do. i wanted to have an awesome time in college. i wanted to get good grades. i wanted to enjoy life hanging out with my friends and sometimes cutting classes. that was the good life! life was so simple back then. no worries. i couldnt wait to graduate and start working. fast forward ten years later. here i am. i have fulfilled my college dreams. i'm now working in a great company, earning a decent amount of money and getting a lot of travel perks. but life is no longer easy. i still have so many things i want to do. this time i want my own house. my own car. my own furniture. i want prestige. i want more money. but this time it's not that easy. i need to work doubly hard if i wanted to reach for my dreams. i need to work my butt off and make sound decisions. this isn't college anymore where when you fail a subject you just retake it again. this time your choices affect your life. and it's scary when you think of the future. i don't know what's going to happen or where im going to be.. i still havent decided it yet. right now im taking baby steps. im slowly building my path to where i want to be.

but for one night, i didn't think of my future, i thought of the wonderful memories of my childhood and relished the silliness and the simple happiness of it all. last night, i went to the portable picture booth outside the room, donned the silliest hair piece i could find and flashed my silliest grin and peace sign. tonight i'm going to have fun. anyway, as scarlet o'hara said, "tomorrrow is another day!"

kpop girl power

First up, 2ne1's I Don't Care MV is finally out! The song sounds different from their 2 previous hits, Lollipop (with Big Bang) and Fire, as I Don't Care is more reggae. The song is about a girl who is fed up with his boyfriend's cheating ways and the video shows the 4 girls getting revenge.


Next is the new single from SNSD called Tell Me Your Wish (Genie). While I don't think it's appropriate for these teenagers to be dancing provocatively, their dance moves are quite fun to watch (the crab legs dance) and the song is catchy. Their sailor outfits also look cute! But I still think Gee is more addicting!


Another girl group debuting this month is 4minute. They look a bit like 2ne1 but their song is more dance. Their first single is called Hot Issue and the lyrics are a bit conceited. The song sounds ordinary but I like the video. One of the girls, HyunA used to be part of the Wonder Girls.

spelling bee

Last night, my friend Cai and I watched Spelling Bee at the Carlos P. Romulo auditorium. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a musical comedy locally produced by Atlantis Productions and directed by Bobby Garcia. The story centers around 6 quirky adolescents vying for the first prize and run by 3 equally quirky grown-ups. The fun part of the Bee is when it called 2 celebrity guest spellers and 2 people from the audience on stage to take part in the contest. I think they were pre-selected but had no clue what will happen. The celebrity guest spellers were photographer Raymund Isaac and model Joey Mead.



The play started by introducing the contestants and with the host Rona Lisa Peretti addressing the audience on the rules of the contest. We felt like it was an actual contest and we were the audience. I felt nervous listening to the kids trying to spell the words correctly. I think the kids are supposedly in tenth grade but Cai and I dont even know most of the words! haha! The 6 kids all have different personalites and back stories...
1.) Olive Ostrovsky is the shy girl whose mom is in India while her dad is working late as usual and has yet to pay for the fee of $25.
2.) William Barfee (pronounced as Barfay) was eliminated last year due to his allergic reaction to peanuts. He has a "Magic Foot", he uses his foot to write on the floor before he spells the word out loud.
3.) Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre is the president of the gay and lesbians alliance in her middle school, with two overbearing gay men as parents and speaks with a lisp.
4.) Marcy Park placed 9th in the nationals last year, speaks 6 languages, excels in sports, plays multiple musical instruments, sleeps only three hours a night, hides in the bathroom cabinet, and is getting very tired of always winning.
5.) Leaf Coneybear was 2nd runner up in his district and got into the contest when the champion and 1st runner up had to attend the Bar Mitzvah. He comes from a large family and who thinks he is not smart. He spells a word correctly while in a trance. Most of the words he is assigned are South American rodents with amusing names.
6.) Chip Tolentino is boy scout and champion of the 24th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, he returns to defend his title, but he finds puberty hitting at an inopportune moment. He always get assigned the hard words.



The celebrity and audience guest spellers are given both easy and hard words to spell, depending on whether they need to eliminate them or not yet. For example, Joey Mead was asked to spell "runway", the two audience spellers were asked to spell "lamb" and "dog" while Raymund Isaac, who was the first one to go had to spell a hard word (i forgot).. it's funny looking at their faces when asked to spell a word because if they don't know it, they would say "What?!?" Big applause goes to one of the guest spellers, Mr. Betita who was the last to be eliminated from the guests.. Vice President Panch gave him a hard word which he unexpectedly spelled correctly. When he sat down, he was called again (haha..it's so obvious he has to be eliminated) and this time he did.




The musical numbers and the lyrics of the songs were nothing special but what makes this play a big hit is the fresh and funny dialogues and the quirky attitude of both the contestants and the hosts. Spellers can ask for the definition, language of origin and how to use the word in the sentence. Every single word had a funny definition and the way they used the words in the sentence are very creative (and sometimes very simple!) which causes everyone to laugh uproariously. Of course, they cannot show each and every word so there was part where in the "fastforwarded" the contest with the host and contestants saying gibberish and moving fast (as if you're fast forwarding using your remote) and then it went to "slow motion".

So who do you think won the Spelling Bee? My friend and I incorrectly guessed the winner but that's alright. I think everyone deserved to win! I really felt bad whenever one of them got eliminated and people will sing a melancholic "Goodbye".



On my way home, I suddenly remembered the times when I participated in spelling contests in elementary and high school (got a few silver medals to prove it..haha!) I tried to search for my medals but I couldn't find it any longer. In elementary, the spelling contests were just contestants sitting in a big table and writing our answers on the paper. But once I had the chance to join the spelling contest on stage in high school (i think I was a freshman then). The words were so easy during the first round that I was leading in the contest but then since I didn't even prepare for the contest, the words got harder and harder during the medium and hard rounds that I slowly went down to almost last place! A bit embarassing because my classmates were all rooting for me then later they stopped clapping.. hehehe..But that's okay. I still love words and spelling even now that I'm older and as Olive sang during the play, "the dictionary is my reliable friend".

Try to catch the last show tonight at 8pm!

hello again

hi. This is another attempt to create and maintain my own blog. I feel like i have so much to say and share but it's hard for me to write them all in a blog. Sometimes i feel like i'm writing too much or i am writing something useless. Or will anyone ever discover my blog and read it or i'm doomed to write own thoughts online and no one will ever get to read them. I mean what's the point right? Might as well keep a journal or diary instead. But this is much more fun and interactive. So here i go.. Cheers!