Story of a Flower

Happy Seconds: Live, Laugh & Love Promo

2011-01-12T17:42:00.002+08:00

I'm so excited due to the promo that Happy Seconds posted!

I've always wanted to buy dresses from this shop, but other I always end up empty-handed since there are a lot of early birds.

Anyway, check out the details of the promo in their website:

HAPPY SECONDS: A VINTAGE BOUDOIR

I'm crossing my fingers for this one! Hoping for an early graduation gift. hahaha!

Shopping really is a break from stress!

If you could instantly become an expert at one style of dance, what style would you pick?

2010-10-21T01:04:00.001+08:00

Classical Ballet, because it looks so graceful and fascinating.

Ask me anything

What's your earliest memory?

2010-10-21T01:03:00.001+08:00

I think it was when I was around two years old and I was trying to show my ninang the christmas tree. When I plugged it in, it turned out that I was holding the plug on the metal thingy then I got electrically shocked. The earliest dream that I can remember was also around that age.
I dreamt that all humans lived inside flowers, and that I was living in a sunflower and I was just so happy and jumping all over the place. This must be because of ferngully. ^_^

Ask me anything

If you could rid the world of one thing, what would it be?

2010-10-21T00:57:00.001+08:00

Guns and sharp stuff that you can kill a person with. Or just Hate.

Ask me anything

Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

2010-10-21T00:55:00.001+08:00

Introvert. I can draw, paint, sing, write poetry, play the violin, make crafts. Just don't make me run around and do team sports.
If I have to do any kind of sport, I'll be doing archery, scuba diving and fencing.

Ask me anything

What was the best concert you went to?

2010-10-21T00:51:00.001+08:00

Honestly, I don't know. haha. Some were quite touching, like the UP Centennial, and some were snooze-worthy.

So far, nothing comes to mind. Maybe in 10 years, I can answer this. :D

Ask me anything

Destressing, and a Festive Feel

2010-06-04T16:59:00.001+08:00

Today has been a great day. Thank you, Lord! I'm praising the heavens right now for this day.

First off, we just stayed at home to watch the first game of the NBA finals: Lakers VS Celtics. And Lakers won!

After that, we went to the University to finish my registration. Two classes in the History department opened some slots for Prerog, and I got it! I got six units of classes from that department. I also found an opening in Thai 10 in the Linguistics department, and so I got nine units today! Add that to my previous six units of Archaeology and major, and I've got.. drumroll please........ 15 units! Yay! I'm alive this semester!!! Thank you, thank you!

Later on, I decided to go to Shangri La unwind, and I ended up buying these gorgeous ballet flats from Baby Phat:

Rustan's Luena Ballet flats from Baby Phat - P3350

Right now, I'm just winding off at a Mrs. Field's Cafe in front of my 'nee's rehearsal venue, eating my favorite Choco Lover's Cookie, a small bag of Ruffles, and Cookies n' Cream Shake. Hmm.. I can almost hear Fred Astaire crooning Cheek to Cheek...

Heaven
I'm in heaven
And my heart beats
So that I can hardly speak
And I seem to find
That happiness I seek..
Hmmm....

Stress!

2010-06-03T17:11:00.000+08:00

Registration in the University of the Philippines is a very, very stressful thing - especially if your college registrar forgot to tag you as a graduating student.

I experienced the worst of the worst this registration phenomenon since Tuesday. From crying - sobbing, actually - in the Admissions Office because this one darn guy, Allan, took my number just because I went out for five friggin' seconds to look for water, to thinking of just filing a Leave of Absence, to hating my beloved University, and to just crying myself to sleep.

In the Admissions office, I've been waiting for more than two hours in line and I was so faint from thirst, that I went out for a bit to get water from my 'nee. And this Allan guy takes my number and tells me that I should wait for a new number.. I was already sobbing from frustration with this obnoxious guy, and so I talked to the line manager. Point is, NO ONE ever oriented ANYONE that going out of the building is forbidden. Thankfully, the line manager is nice, and so he gave me back my number. I hate that Allan or Allen. Darn him, wherever he may be.

Anyhow, after that, I went to my College Secretary to confirm my diploma for the summer. And Ta-Dah! Another problem found its way into my frustrating life! I'm lacking a grade. One of my professors from 2005 failed to submit my grade to the system. Fortunately, my mom keeps my class cards from my subjects. Whew! On to Enlistement!

As I've said, my College Registrar forgot to tag me as a graduating student... Meaning, I didn't get any priority for the batch runs at the CRS. I only got 6 units: Archaeology 10 and my Major. And so, I needed to go to every department in the University and request for a Prerog.

Around and around the University we, 'nee and I, went. We scoured the whole of AS, Math, NIGS, FC and CS for classes that still have slots. But we found none. Zip.

Six units... and I can't go underload because I'm graduating next semester. I need 15 units desperately! I can't even process my scholarship if I don't get those 15 units.

And I can't to anything but cry from frustration...

Ode to Summer

2010-05-29T22:18:00.005+08:00

I just made this inspiration board for the skirt that I'm selling on eBay.ph.
Hope you like it! :)

Details | Skirt: BUY IT NOW in eBay.ph

2010-05-21T17:34:00.001+08:00

"This post confirms my
ownership of the site and that this site adheres to Google AdSense program
policies and Terms and Conditions."

New Blog!

2010-05-15T19:18:00.003+08:00

Welcome to my new blog: Story of a Flower! :)
Let's all enjoy life together!

a leaf falls

2010-05-15T15:44:00.000+08:00

1(a

le
af
fa
ll

s)
one
l

iness

ee cummings

Humble-bee

2010-05-13T17:12:00.000+08:00

URLY, dozing humble-bee,
Where thou art is clime for me.
Let them sail for Porto Rique,
Far-off heats through seas to seek;
I will follow thee alone
Thou animated torrid-zone!
Zigzag steerer, desert cheerer,
Let me chase thy waving lines;
Keep me nearer, me thy hearer,
Singing over shrubs and vines.

Insect lover of the sun,
Joy of thy dominion!
Sailor of the atmosphere;
Swimmer through the waves of air;
Voyager of light and noon;
Epicurean of June;
Wait, I prithee, till I come
Within earshot of thy hum,—
All without is martyrdom.

When the south wind, in May days,
With a net of shining haze
Silvers the horizon wall,
And, with softness touching all,
Tints the human countenance
With a color of romance,
And, infusing subtle heats,
Turns the sod to violets,
Thou, in sunny solitudes,
Rover of the underwoods,
The green silence dost displace
With thy mellow, breezy bass.

Hot midsummer's petted crone,
Sweet to me thy drowsy tone
Tells of countless sunny hours,
Long days, and solid banks of flowers;
Of gulfs of sweetness without bound
In Indian wildernesses found;
Of Syrian peace, immortal leisure,
Firmest cheer, and bird-like pleasure.
Aught unsavory or unclean
Hath my insect never seen;
But violets and bilberry bells,
Maple-sap, and daffodels,
Grass with green flag half-mast high,
Succory to match the sky,
Columbine with horn of honey,
Scented fern, and agrimony,
Clover, catchfly, adder's-tongue
And brier-roses, dwelt among;
All beside was unknown waste,
All was picture as he passed.

Wiser far than human seer,
Yellow-breeched philosopher!
Seeing only what is fair,
Sipping only what is sweet,
Thou dost mock at fate and care,
Leave the chaff, and take the wheat.
When the fierce northwestern blast
Cools sea and land so far and fast,
Thou already slumberest deep;
Woe and want thou canst outsleep;
Want and woe, which torture us,
Thy sleep makes ridiculous.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Love Sonnet XVII

2010-05-12T17:20:00.000+08:00

Love Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda

I don't love you as if you were the salt-rose, topaz
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as certain dark things are loved,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that doesn't bloom and carries
hidden within itself the light of those flowers,
and thanks to your love, darkly in my body
lives the dense fragrance that rises from the earth.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you simply, without problems or pride:
I love you in this way because I don't know any other way of loving

but this, in which there is no I or you,
so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
so intimate that when I fall asleep it is your eyes that close.

--Pablo Neruda

I Chose Right

2010-05-09T17:50:00.000+08:00

After mentioning Baby the Musical, I can't help but share the lyrics of this next song. This one never fails to send my heart afloat.

I CHOSE RIGHT

As I leave my single life behind
Thoughts are kinda spinning in my mind

First I think about you
And I think about me loving you
And I think about you and me
deciding we can be one

It's crazy I know,
I wrestle with my pillow all last night
And I look at you
and I know I chose right

Life's a very long road
And the crossroads come up right away
And it's so hard to know which way to go
when you've barely begun

And oh, the road you leave behind
can shine so bright
And I look at you
and I know I chose right

Now maybe we don't mean that much - you and I
And maybe our balloon will never fly
And maybe no one cares if we let things go by
And maybe doesn't matter if we live or die

But if I'm making promises to you today
I wanna know I'll keep them all the way
And if I've not been good at meaning what I say
It's time now to try!

So I think about you
and I think about me loving you
Then I think of my friends who'll say they're in love
when they're just havin' fun

But I say no,
no, no.
if I am gonna love,
its with all my might.

And I will be true,
I will follow this through,
and I look at you…
And I know I chose right

________

Can I get a wedding proposal song like this??? Hahahaha

I Dream..

2010-05-08T17:50:00.000+08:00

I dream of summer drizzles and a great life ahead;
I know, i know - up in the clouds, is my head.

I dream of hugs and kisses, and entwined hands;
of shared little smiles and golden bands.

I dream of eternal life for my cherished ones -
a life full of bliss where the seconds seem like months.

I dream of life and how it has been -
of what it coulda, woulda or shoulda been.

I dream of just living a happy, simple life.
Of becoming a great daughter and a wonderful wife.

I used to dream of greatness and of fame.
Of the material things, and all the money I would tame.

But just now I had quite a bit of realization
I know, to some, it's just a normal revelation.

Everything has an end but dreams live on.
I say, it may seem like the sunset, but I'm still at my dawn.

-------------

A big WALA LANG poem. I just felt like writing. Kinakalawang na eh.

Slipping through my fingers

2010-05-01T17:18:00.000+08:00

Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile
I watch her go with a surge of that well-known sadness
And I have to sit down for a while
The feeling that I'm losing her forever
And without really entering her world
I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter
That funny little girl

Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see what's in her mind
Each time I think I'm close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time

Sleep in our eyes, her and me at the breakfast table
Barely awake, I let precious time go by
Then when she's gone there's that odd melancholy feeling
And a sense of guilt I can't deny
What happened to the wonderful adventures

The places I had planned for us to go
(slipping through my fingers all the time)
Well, some of that we did but most we didn't
And why I just don't know

Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see what's in her mind
Each time I think I'm close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time

Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture
And save it from the funny tricks of time
Slipping through my fingers...

Slipping through my fingers all the time

Schoolbag in hand she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile...

- ABBA

I've been watching "Mamma Mia!" again. Love it!

RESULTS

2010-04-29T22:31:00.003+08:00

Pullip Doll

2010-04-25T17:40:00.000+08:00

I want this Pullip doll! Ain't she a beaut?

Tissue Doodle: April 14 @ ROC

2010-04-15T15:12:00.003+08:00

Yeah, I doodle everywhere, on any surface, using any possible material. haha.
Done during our merienda at ROC in UP Bahay ng Alumni.

Vier Minuten

2010-03-24T17:51:00.002+08:00

REACTION PAPER

Vier Minuten (Four Minutes) is a German drama whose storyline revolves around the lives of Traude Krüger, a spinster and former pianist, and Jenny Von Loeben, a rebellious and aggressive convicted murderess.

Traude Krüger has been a teacher in a women’s prison for quite some time, and when she meets Jenny, she seems quite reluctant at first to teach her but when she saw Jenny’s potential, she then offers to teach her for a competition.

Both characters have troubling happenings in the past. And it seems that through music, they were able to release themselves from their scarred pasts. Music became a source of freedom and release for them.

I found the film to be quite frenetic, and I was left disjointed at the end. It was quite chaotic in the sense that flashbacks are played without any clear explanations, and whenever those troubling flashbacks are presented, it gives the impression that neither the film nor the other characters actually care about them.

Whether the flashbacks present topics such as Nazism, Lesbianism, or sexual abuse, they all seem like a minor bother that should be gotten over with as quickly as possible. These kinds of actions may have been done so that there is only one focus, which is the true important thing for the characters and the film – Music.

Vier Minuten. Four minutes of glory is all that was ever given to Jenny van Loeben. Her performance in the finals of the competition left me with the phrase, “shock and awe.” I am a music major, and as a trained violinist, I don’t think that I will ever do such a performance wherein I will improvise and actually change the piece that I rehearsed over and over again for hellish periods of time. But I think I understand how Jenny felt. It was those four minutes.

The way she played was filled with pure expression and release. If I were left with only those few minutes in my otherwise condemned life, I’d probably do the same. There, I thought that maybe she was thinking that playing along the notes, and playing as precisely as you can get with a masterpiece, is like a prison in itself. I know that certain feeling of being “boxed in” when playing a piece, and of having to follow every single detail as dictated by the composer, and written as is for the whole world to perform. And if I were in those final moments, will I still play as written – in which I know that any other gifted musician can deliver the same expressiveness, precision, and dedication as required by the piece? Or will I give myself a shot to shock and to awe the audience in a performance they will remember for a very long time? I think I’ll give it a shot - those four minutes to freedom.

Untitled

2010-03-04T17:54:00.000+08:00

Just sharing a few things that I came across with..

The first thing is this Google logo in celebration of Vivaldi's birthday, in the theme of his Le Quattro Stagioni.

---

The next one is a post that a friend of mine shared - which she also got from another blog, actually.. the true source is unknown to me. Well, I'm sharing this just because.. ^__^ happy, happy. :D

--

I guess it’s that person with who everything was great, everything was perfect, but the timing was just wrong. There was no fault in the person, there was no flaw in the chemistry, but the cards just didn’t fall the right way, I suppose. I believe in the fact that ending up with someone, finding a long time partner that is, does not lie merely in the other person. I can actually argue that an equal part, or maybe even the greater part, has to do with the matter of timing.

It has to do with you being ready to settle down and commit to someone in a way that goes beyond the little niceties of giddy romance. How often have you gone through it without even realizing it? When you’re not ready to commit in that mature manner, it doesn’t matter who you’re with, it just doesn’t work. Small problems become big; inconsequential become deal breakers simply because you’re not ready and it shows. It’s not that you and the person you’re with are no good; it’s just that it’s not yet right, and little things become the flashpoint of that fact.

Then one day you’re ready. You really are. And when this happens you’ll be ready to settle down with someone. He or she may not be perfect, they might not be the brightest star of romance to ever have burned in your life, but it’ll work because you’re ready. It’ll work because it’s the right time and you’ll make it work. And it’ll make sense, it really will. The day comes when you’re finally making sense of things, and you find yourself to be a different person. Things are different, your approach is different, you finally understand who you are and what you want and you’ve become ready because the time has truly arrived. And mind you, there’s no telling when this day will come.

Of Skipping, or wanting to, and Marvin.

2010-01-20T17:56:00.000+08:00

Heck. Can't I just skip this week and go straight to Monday? One midterm exam down.. Two more to go!Just Music Education Workshops and Deutsche left..
I really want to celebrate!

About Marvin.. It's one of my favorite cartoon strip, aside from Calvin and Hobbes, Mutts, Garfield and Pugad Baboy. I read Blondie and Beerkada from time to time. I've tried reading Kiko Machine, but it's just so, hm, say it just causes me a "nosebleed."

This Marvin strip I read a while ago at the Manila Bulletin is just so cute!

If you can't read it, here's what it says:
"My whole world was rocked to its core last night! I was listening to my mom and dad talking when it suddenly hit me... My parents don't have all the answers!!

Cute!
Haha. Anyway, enough blogging. Time to get back to studying.
Emile Jaques-Dalcroze and Zoltan Kodaly... help me. :)

Ok, just one last tiny bit.. though this week is pretty dreary, I'm really looking forward on celebrating on Monday.. It's mine and Ralph's third year together. Looking forward to that kind of celebration is enough to uplift me this week.

Closing Cycles by Paolo Coehlo

2010-01-04T17:42:00.000+08:00

One always has to know when a stage comes to an end. If we insist on staying longer than the necessary time, we lose the happiness and the meaning of the other stages we have to go through. Closing cycles, shutting doors, ending chapters - whatever name we give it, what matters is to leave in the past the moments of life that have finished.

Did you lose your job? Has a loving relationship come to an end? Did you leave your parents’ house? Gone to live abroad? Has a long-lasting friendship ended all of a sudden? You can spend a long time wondering why this has happened. You can tell yourself you won’t take another step until you find out why certain things that were so important and so solid in your life have turned into dust, just like that. But such an attitude will be awfully stressing for everyone involved: your parents, your husband or wife, your friends, your children, your sister, everyone will be finishing chapters, turning over new leaves, getting on with life, and they will all feel bad seeing you at a standstill.

None of us can be in the present and the past at the same time, not even when we try to understand the things that happen to us. What has passed will not return: we cannot forever be children, late adolescents, sons that feel guilt or rancor towards our parents, lovers who day and night relive an affair with someone who has gone away and has not the least intention of coming back. Things pass, and the best we can do is to let them really go away.

That is why it is so important (however painful it may be!) to destroy souvenirs, move, give lots of things away to orphanages, sell or donate the books you have at home. Everything in this visible world is a manifestation of the invisible world, of what is going on in our hearts - and getting rid of certain memories also means making some room for other memories to take their place. Let things go. Release them. Detach yourself from them. Nobody plays this life with marked cards, so sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. Do not expect anything in return, do not expect your efforts to be appreciated, your genius to be discovered, your love to be understood. Stop turning on your emotional television to watch the same program over and over again, the one that shows how much you suffered from a certain loss: that is only poisoning you, nothing else.

Nothing is more dangerous than not accepting love relationships that are broken off, work that is promised but there is no starting date, decisions that are always put off waiting for the “ideal moment.” Before a new chapter is begun, the old one has to be finished: tell yourself that what has passed will never come back. Remember that there was a time when you could live without that thing or that person - nothing is irreplaceable, a habit is not a need. This may sound so obvious, it may even be difficult, but it is very important.

Closing cycles. Not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because that no longer fits your life. Shut the door, change the record, clean the house, shake off the dust. Stop being who you were, and change into who you are.

--Paolo Coelho

To 2009

2010-01-01T17:46:00.000+08:00

I can't put into words how I feel about you, but this is what it feels like.
Goodbye, 2009.