Christmas is coming, come play Poker

My first time to go to the Sunday service at VCF since remember-when. And last night was gimik night after church. McDo@Mariahilfstr. --> Köö@Stephansplatz

First Poker game, first winter snow this year (I think the day before yesterday was this year's first winter snow in Vienna, but the homebody that I am didn't notice that at all!), and first pic with a real, living Christmas tree.

Pinoys go Japanese in Vienna

This last Monday of November, a movie date with my brother and my cousins was planned. But unfortunately, my brother couldn't make it because he said he has a lot of schoolworks to work on. I doubt it, but yeah, fine. We decided to just cancel the movie date. Luckily, we bumped into Kuya Carlo and his friend Wynn along Mariahilferstraße and ended up eating at a Japanese Resto there since it's Wynn's birthday. Kuya Carlo was nice enough to treat me. Aw... After a couple of hours of eating and chit-chatting, we finally decided to go home. But before doing so, we made a little fun of ourselves by going Jap! So there you go...Pinoys going Japanese in Vienna. :)

So damn addicted to PBB

Never been addicted to a show! Most of the time, the very first thing I do as soon as I wake up is to check PBB online forums. And then, I'll end up spending the rest of my time reading these forums. Before I know it, it's almost time for my German class. After my class, there'd be no doubt that I'd hurry to my laptop to again check on PBB.

This is so stalker-ish, but the other day I saw a link of J's friendster account. Could you believe it, tears were falling down my cheeks as I browse the pictures? I actually cried! Gah! I know, this is really absurdity at its best! The few times that I absurdly cried over something were when I'd see pictures of Chris Tiu and when I actually saw Faust in person! But crying over J's pictures is quite a hundredfold more tears and overacting!

Addiction for me has never been this bad.

Work it!

"dear acee v. boredom is a sign of intellectual poverty. get off your butt and go do something productive. peace, man. i only get harsh with people i care about. :D but it's true. use your head. learn something new. paint. sculpt bubblegum. carve rubber erasers. break the world record for longest paper clip chain. write a novel. whatever. DON'T WASTE YOUR BRAINS, ACEE V. i know you've got a brilliant nut in that cranium. WORK IT." -Patty Ramos (via Facebook post)

That was such an inspiring post, Ms. Ramos! I'll take it from you and be sure to really work it!

Breaking anxiety's grip

Things would always turn out good for me, somehow. I really wouldn't have gone to the party today if I wasn't chewed out by my Dad the last time I skipped on a party. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Reunion of sorts with old friends and getting to know a few other good people. We played this Ninja game after the party at the venue and in the tram on our way home.

I guess I'm just always anxious for nothing. There's always a room for breaking free! Yes? Yes!

Enjoy life!

-----

Last downloaded: (Francesca Battistelli) Free To Be Me, (MYMP) Now

Dad at 45

At Brandauer's with family. Spareribs overload, but yummy! Ordered "Schweinbraten mit Knödel". It's basically thin-sliced pork and flat-sized bola-bola in gravy. I liked it!

Happy 21st to ME!

My first birthday in Vienna. It was anything but fabulous. I was even wearing a shirt I wore the last night. Talk about dugyot days and ambush dinner, huh? But it's just the way I like it. No party, just a few good people -- yes, family! I wasn't really planning on doing anything at all. But my parents insisted on going out for dinner. Since I wasn't buying, anyway, I gave in! Haha, I know I'm bad. :D We ended up at a Chinese Restaurant just in our neck of the woods, one block away from home.

It was interesting that the resto was also celebrating it's 21st birthday this year! Yikee! Happy 21st birthday to you, too, Zhong Hua Restaurant! Thanks for giving me my first dose of Peking duck!

2 am, twice it was!

My computer clock struck 2am twice! When it's about to turn 3am, the clock struck back to 2am. Cool. It's the time of year when they adjust the time here in Austria (and some parts of Europe). It's nice, people get to sleep longer.

The Symptoms!

It's undeniable!


Early in the morning...
...woke up from a dream
...found it hard to breathe
...then, checked on my phone
...and kept telling myself this could not be "IT"


This could not really be it, right?

Plans, plans, plans

It's really a pain in the ass when things don't go as planned. I am so used to planning ahead, writing every single detail on my planner. When something suddenly comes up out of the blue, I get all sorts of agitation. Like how I planned to be home from September 2 to 13 (12 days), leave on the 1st and go back on the 13th. Actually, last night I was supposed to head off to the province up north. Unfortunately for me, I made some miscalculations. The event in the province down south would actually be on the 13th and so I have to be there on the 12th, which means I have to leave on the 11th. That's minus 2 days. And also last night, to my surprise, someone called to say they're coming over. They have something from my parents for me, which means I have to move my trip today. That's minus 1 day, all in all that'd be three days less. It's not that I blame anyone for it, I just feel stressed that's all.


Having said all that, it is a mystery that I don't see a clear view of my future. I mean, the bigger view. It is, to me, still as vague as it has always been. Being so into details makes me miss out on the main point. I guess I'm just constantly going with the flow. Wherever river I'm in right now, I hope it'll lead me to the right sea.

Mar Roxas gives way to Noynoy Aquino for 2010

I'm teary-eyed while listening to the speech of Senator Roxas. It gave me goosebumps. I just hope that the selflessness he talked about will not be just on pen and paper. Pinas, ftw!

Adventures of the traveling feet

With the foot photo at the center (2007, one rainy and a little floody day, wearing my favorite Dupé flips) as my header photo in my multiply site, "Adventures of the traveling feet" was born. Since then, I've collected quite a few foot shots of myself.


The first one on the leftmost part was during my thesis experiment at the Natural Sciences Research Institute (NSRI) in U.P. where I spent the whole day on that lab, monitoring my experiment. Below that was a shot while riding an Ikot jeep in school. The second picture on top was taken on my way from U3 to Tita Helen's place. Right next to that picture is technically not a foot shot but a slipper shot with my legs crossed. That was one mood swing attack at Karlsplatz on a Sunday with Tita Helen and Mom. I ended up going home shortly after we arrived. :) The second picture at the bottom was on a snowy Sunday at Schönbrunn. I remember how my hands freezed and got really numb (because I didn't have my gloves and I was taking photos out in the cold) I had to really rush home. And beside that is a photo while walking on a pedestrian lane on my way home to Linke Wienzeile.


The topmost photo on the rightmost part was taken along the small alley on my way home to L. Wienzeile. The next two pictures below that was at Cagayan river and along its shore during one of my Echague home visits. Below that is a picture of my black nail polished toenails, the first time I voluntarily had my toenails get polished, dated March of 2008. And last, but not the least, is a photo of my feet donned in my Puma sneakers at the Marine Science Institute (MSI) lobby while patiently waiting for my class to start.


Because I often stroll alone and I am not so much of a sel-ca (Korean slang for self camera shots) fan, I figured that maybe photos of my feet would be just as great to capture memories. True enough, my feet always had adventures to tell.

Diego Luna

he's coming to Manila for the Cinemanila.


He looks pretty much the same in his two movies that I've seen -- Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001) and Dirty Dancing (2004). And the picture of Diego Luna in my mind looks like this.



Now, this is Diego Luna at 29.


In this May 2009 photo, he is with his bestfriend and Y Tu Mama Tambien co-star Gael Garcia Bernal. The latter didn't change much from the 2001 movie. In fact, I think he looks better than before. But Diego Luna? This is definitely a far stretch from five years ago. I must say I got the shock of my life! He looked older (of course he's older!) and different with the hair, facial hair and all. I guess I'll never get used to his this-is-how-you-should-look-when-you're-about-to-be-thirty look. Nonetheless, Diego Luna, you're still the man!

Country music buff

100% certified! Never will I get tired of country music. There are actually a number of country music sub-genres (bluegrass, new country, blues country, etc.), but I can settle for just anything as long as it's country. A few of my favorite country artists are Nickel Creek, Kenny Rogers, Carrie Underwood, Dixie Chicks, and Taylor Swift.


My first love was Nickel Creek. Back in high school, when listening to the radio was an addiction (because mp3's weren't that much of a fad yet and an hour of internet surfing amounted to 40 pesos), Nickel Creek's "This Side" was played on my favorite radio station. Upon hearing the first few seconds of the intro, I was instantly mesmerized. It was love at first hear and it was the first song I remember acknowledging as my favorite song.


Including Kenny Rogers on my list is a no-brainer. He's a legend in country music. "Jesus Take the Wheel" of American Idol's Carrie Underwood was love-at-first-hear as well. But it was not until I discovered Dixie Chicks that I realized my fascination with country music. See, I'm walking down on memory lane here. I actually can't remember where and when did I first encounter Dixie Chicks....I really can't. But I think it was their song "Lullaby" that started it all.


Taylor Swift was my latest favorite. This one's self-discovered. I think I was searching the Internet for the top 100 country songs (since I've already known my being a country music buff) when Taylor Swift's "Our Song" was on the Top 10 list. Again, it was love at first hear. And then months later, Swift conquered the Philippines with her "Teardrops on My Guitar". I never heard "Our Song" anywhere here, though. And eventually, "Love Story" and "White Horse" came.


And the rest, as they say, is history.

I think I am

I am a self-confessed anti-social. Relatively, at least. Compared to most people I know, that is. Of course exclude social networking, count that out. I mean, I practically socialize with different kinds of people one-on-one, but being in a crowd of more than 5 freak my brain, stomach, heart, and every organ out. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating but I'm trying to be serious. I don't know, I just got used to being so immersed in the things I do alone and eventually I ended up living to love it that way. Listening to music, surfing the internet, playing the piano, reading books, playing the violin, watching movies, watching TV, walking, jogging, strolling in malls, gosh, even cleaning. I basically enjoy all these things when I'm alone.


There's this one time when I bumped into someone in my neck of the woods during one of my violin lessons at the U.P. College of Music and she was like, "Where have we met again?" Major ouch. And so, I told her we're actually neighbors. Can you imagine? Our units are merely 10 meters apart and we've met maybe twice or thrice. And I've lived in our compound for more than 3 years now, yet she barely knows me. But I know her, you know what I mean? God, that further affirms my being a sociopath...haha, kidding.

Transition state = high energy, PV = nRT

Today on Facebook, my college batchmate posted a link to her new blog entitled "transition state = high energy".
That definitely caught my attention obviously because I think she got the idea from my comment on her post. :)
In a chemical reaction, it is in the transition state where the highest energy is needed.

Similar to life, whenever there is a transition taking place it takes a lot of energy to cope with the transition. Be it a transition from school life to work life or from bum life to work life.


Also on Facebook, I remember a friend posting this on her status:

It's no surprise that I figured that outright (hello, chemistry major!). And I love the statement! This is from the ideal gas equation PV=nRT, where P is pressure, V is volume, n is the number of moles of gas, R is the gas constant, and T is the temperature. Do the Math and you'll find out that "nakaka-[nRT/V]" translates to "nakaka-PRESSURE". This friend is studying for her upcoming board exam and trust me, I can completely sympathize with her.


I hope I'm not making noses bleed here... :)

Injecting some foreign language phrases into my vocabulary

To start off, my favorite Waray word is "ambot", which means "ewan" in Tagalog. Having two Waray friends as my closest friends in college didn't help me much in learning the language. Not that I'm not interested or anything. It's just that we always talk pretty much in the same language, either English or Tagalog. And so, sad to say, "ambot" is the only Waray word injected to my vocab.


In contrast, having an almost 4-month vacation in Austria and being able to mingle with people of different nationalities there, I've learned quite a few of the basic phrases in various languages aside from German.


TURKISH
Nasılsın? How are you?
Iyi. I'm good./I'm fine.
Para yok No money
küçük small
büyük big

SERBIAN
Dobar dan! Good day.
Kako si? How are you?
Dobro. I'm good./I'm fine.
Šta radiš? What are you doing?

ALBANIAN
Mirëdita! Good day.
Si je? How are you?
Mirë. I'm good./I'm fine.
Faleminderit. Thank you.

Baklava -- My classmates often mention this in class. I've known this as a kind of sweet/pastry but I never got to see nor taste it.


DISCLAIMER: I am only writing according to what I remember having learned from my classmates. Ergo, I am uncertain as to the accuracy of the aforementioned words and letters/characters and their corresponding translation. :)

Chris T. on Twitter!!

Eeeekkk! Oh-em-gee! I am now following Chris Tiu on Twitter. How cute. :o



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Last movie seen: 21, Current song: 21 Guns by Green Day

I'm free

It puzzles me how I get weirder everyday. Like how I looked like I got my dream job as I went out of the Marine Science Institute building today -- teary-eyed, smiling face and all. Man, I know it's nuts but I was really elated a while back after my meeting with Ma'am Gisela. Totally unexpected that it turned out perfect, just not the way I imagined it would be. And soooooo, I am soooooo freeeee!...Oh, and jobless, by the way. :D

Ouch!

My back...my shoulders...my arms...my neck! Shouldn't have practiced playing the violin that seriously. I didn't push myself that hard, did I? See, I'm trying to play it perfectly but I ain't perfect. Sadness. If not for my aching body parts, I would have played for an hour more or so. Good luck to tomorrow's class!


Plus, I'm sick. Blame it on rainy days. This better be not THE virus that's H1N1! I'm crossing my fingers...

The chicken in me

Just what is it with me?! After all my melodramatic overanalysis of things, crossing Rubicons and stuff, I ended up chickening out in the end. Booooo! Loser. I'm guilty as charged!


After 3 days at work, I decided to pull the plug. As to why I did it? It simply does not suit me and feels like I'd not be happy doing that job for a year. Maybe I can't put up with the challenge of a project as big as it is or maybe the people, heck. Anyway, I know that in the future I'd be sorry I turned it down. I've had my dose of wasted chances. As a matter of fact, thinking about the past year, I realized how unthinkably I've passed up several opportunities. However, I'm more attached to the present than neither the past nor the future.


It's actually hurting me that I can't think of anything at all that I really want so bad in life. I came across this article that says,

True satisfaction comes from doing what you know you were created to do.

But the question lies on what am I really created to do. Still need to do some soul searching.

Happy birthday, Chris Tiu!

July 15.

Cracked nail and brain explosion

Overslept. More or less, I had about 13 hours of sleep last night. That's to make up for my sleepless night the day before. Had to rush for my violin class so I merely slipped into my flip-flops and forgot that today is a lab day. Good luck to my feet! Well, starting yesterday everyday would be more or less a lab day except for weekends.


On the way to class, I noticed my cracked index fingernail. Wuhuhu, thanks to violin, which I'm loving, come what may. As soon as I make my first step inside the College of Music building, I can already feel the music! C'mon! Hearing the sounds coming from various instruments while walking along the hallway and corridors, wow, really puts me in high spirits. That's why I always look forward to Tuesdays because of my violin class. Now, just how great is that? Save for the hassle of carrying my instrument in a jeepney. Still, just the same, no big deal for the hassle. 30 minutes of playtime is just awesome, getting better by the minute.


Enough of my cracked nail. The first two days of my future job was a blast! I say future job because it'd not be official til Thursday. Tomorrow's Maria's last day. Hopefully, I can make it through the hang-ups and eventually get the hang of it. Haven't really felt the boss, though. I only met her once and she will not be visible at work til tomorrow. Oh, shoot! Which means...when she get back on Thursday, which is my official first day at work, I'd finally "see" her! And...she'll finally have the chance to ambush interview me! Brrrrr...goosebumps! Back to my first two days, I was really overwhelmed by the responsibilities of my position. Information overload was the name of the game. In between Maria's discussion of things, I find myself either spacing out or almost passing out. I was exhausted to death that for almost 8 hours a day for 3 days I was being told of this and that and these and those. Yeah sure, there are some of those things I already know of, but still there are more things that I need to familiarize myself with. That makes me think twice about doing this job. Yet another aversion to newness attack. Good luck!

Might be crossing a different Rubicon

Change of plans? Maybe. I'm at a loss.


I can't believe I'm actually drinking coffee right now and planning not to sleep just to do some researching (yahoo-ing, I typed on the yahoo search bar) on "isolation and purification of bioactive compounds from marine organisms". This is ludicrous defined! I thought of how ludicrous it is just now that I had to stop my searching (I'm only on the 6th page, item #1 of all search results: 51/38,200 results. Uh-oh. Sheez, I'm not planning on looking through all those! Maybe I should stop at page 6 while I still can.) and take time to blog about it.


It has been a long time since I last did this kind of academic routine. And my facebook status?

"can I really say goodbye to bum days??"

What what what? Starting yesterday, life's giving me merely three days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) to savor my freedom. Since I left my last job (which was mid-December of last year), I have been ultimately on a holiday-freeday-happyday mode, however you may call it. (That includes learning the German language and how to play the violin.) Might be hard to get it out of my system...but, bring it on! It's just that things turned out to happen so abruptly -- almost shocked me to death! Here's how...

July 7, Tuesday
- received an email from Matet that there's a job post at the Marine Science Institute for university researcher position

July 8, Wednesday
- thinking time...

July 9, Thursday
- finally sent an email of application to Dr. Gisela Concepcion
- received a reply from Dr. Concepcion telling me to see her Friday morning at her office
- started to research on the Philippines PharmaSeas Drug Discovery Project

July 10, Friday
- got interviewed by Dr. C. for I think less than 2 minutes, with asking my general weighted average (GWA) as the highlight of the "interview". Here's a paraphrased summary of our dialogue.

Dr. C. : You're Raphlin?

Me : Yes, Ma'am.

Dr. C. : Yes, ok. Here's Maria. She'll show you around and tell you the things you need to know. Ok, so what's your grade? <-- totally unexpected killer question!!

Me : (Ano daw?! Anong tanong? Grade? Oo, grade daw. So GWA? Oo yata. Ah wait...ah ok. Ngayon ko ba kelangang sagutin? Andami kayang tao dito...si Sir Gino, si Sir Louie, at kung sinu-sino pang di ko kilala. Capital O-M-G! Ang alam ko ambaba ng GWA ko eh...ano nga? Ang alam ko nasa recommendation letter ko yun from Ma'am Amor...wait...ah ok.)

Me : Ma'am, GWA is *.*

Dr. C. : Ah ok, pasado naman. Ok when can you start? If possible, sana ASAP.

Me : Ok, Ma'am. I can start on Monday. (Shoot! Sure ba 'ako?! Bahala na.)

Practically, it took me about 10 seconds to answer the killer question.


Now I'm thinking if my getting that job was matter-of-factly and deliberately thought over by Dr. C. I guess not. Who knows? She might just have been preoccupied by a lot of things that day. I really wanted to tell her that I don't have enough experience in bioassays and stuff and ask her if that's fine. Not a chance. It's really weird that I'm hoping for a reverse of fate that would disqualify me for the job. Feeling the pressure of having two of our chemistry instructors as workmates and considering how big (!!!) the project is, I can't help but be browbeaten. Ok, so I'm chickening out and all, yes. Nonetheless, I have to constantly remind myself and accept the fact that "Hey Raph, this is the next level, this isn't high school nor college anymore." You have to STEP UP! As Melai puts it,

"Wala ng madali sa mundo."

In reality, my problem may just be a grain of sand in a sandbox-sized problems of the world and I may be overanalyzing things here, but that's the most rational thing I can think of to simply say to myself, in a consoling manner,

"You can do it!"

...and frankly,

"C'mon, get out of the box, coward!"

I figured that I am probably scared of falling short of people's expectations. More often than not, I'd rather not try at all than fail. I'm just not cut out for the saying,

"It’s better to try and fail than to have never tried at all."

Passing by Papemelroti, this one struck me bull's eye,

"Everybody makes mistakes. That's why they put erasers on pencils."
-The Simpsons

So much for the quotable quotes, I should get back to business. I'm crossing my fingers for this different Rubicon I'm trying to cross.

Chillin' with Guji

Saturdays and Sundays, 5pm-8pm at Mellow 94.7. At last, DJ Guji! First saw Guji in an afternoon series of ABS-CBN, Bud Brothers. His character portrayal as Rei is so adorable that minutes later I find myself actually google-ing him already. And here's what I discovered about Guji. That he is, in fact, a DJ for real! And so last Sunday, I got to finally hear him on his show. It's pretty much...err, yeah, chillin' time. Although when I tuned in to the show, it's almost nearing the end so I didn't really gauged how good or fitting it was for me. I still have to see in the future.

Diploma

Nahaaks!! Just got this last Friday, more than a year after graduation. Who'd have thought that this piece of paper...is just a piece of paper?! And one more thing, I never thought it would be written in Filipino. :) Nah, anyway, I had it translated for my graduate studies applications.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

I just learned how to play this song in my violin class today, which was my second session. I am so happy and I'm pretty much getting the hang of playing the violin! All thanks to my nice and brilliant teacher, Ms. Crissie. Keyword for the day: RELAX. Keeping this in mind for the rest of the session, I was able to play pretty well. In fact, the teacher teased me about playing in the recital at the end of the semester. Whoah! And I bet I'll be playing together with 7-year old kids. No way! Haha. But of course, occasional squeaky sounds can not be avoided by a beginner. :) Way to go!

Crossing the Rubicon

I am about to cross the Rubicon. Actually, I just made the first step. My Mom called and I told her that I have decided to go there by September. This is definitely a big big move in this time of my life. Uncertain if I am making a right move, I am willing to take the risk. Just thinking that I'd eventually leave Mama, Tatay, Ninang, and the rest of the gang back home makes me cry buckets already! Like right now, I am. The kind that actually hurts my eyes because of the salinity of tears...


It can be helped, but sometimes it really can't be helped. I have to move on with my life. Spending my time more than a year after graduation without accomplishing that much makes me feel like a dumbass. Nevertheless, I am just so glad that I got to spend time with family and friends. If only I can do that for the rest of my life, not having to earn a living at all, and still live with dignity. Deep inside, I know that's what will make me really happy...just spend time with Mama and the gang. Oh shoot...how I wish I was born FILTHY rich! But, life says it just has to be this way. Go by the book. To the letters. In time, I'll prove life wrong.