your faith in me brings me to tears even after all these years
Click for list official participants & info on joining in!
I literally just found this two seconds ago and decided that I have to participate. And just in time! Plus, I did promise a happier entry. And what says happier like good music?
ParamoreAll We Know is Falling (2005)
This album makes me think of the first time I heard them live and how I couldn’t stop playing their music over and over during the weeks (months) that followed.
Favorite songs: Here We Go Again, Let This Go, My Heart
Lauryn HillThe Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998)
This came out when I was in high school – I loved it then and still love it now.
Favorite songs: Doo Wop, To Zion, Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You
IncubusMorning View (2001)
I have most of their albums but this was the one that really sucked me in. Plus.. I love Brandon Boyd!
Favorite songs: Echo, Are You In, Have You Ever
WeezerThe Blue Album (1994)
I heard “Buddy Holly” all the time in middle school but I didn’t start loving this band (particularly this album) until a couple years ago.
Favorite songs: My Name is Jonas, Say It Ain’t So
No DoubtTragic Kingdom (1995)
My favorite song in 8th grade was “Sunday Morning” and I still listen to that song on a regular basis.
Favorite songs: Sunday Morning, End It On This, Spiderwebs
Nelly FurtadoWhoa, Nelly! (2000)
There’s just something about this album. Can’t explain it but it needs to be on this list.
Favorite songs: I’m Like a Bird, I Will Make U Cry
Lenny KravitzGreatest Hits (2000)
I’m usually not a greatest hits kind of gal but this really does include his standout songs (in my humble opinion).
Favorite songs: It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over, Heaven Help, I Belong To You
Hot Hot HeatElevator (2005)
Another one that’s probably released too recently for an “all-time” list but here it is anyway – the start of my indie music phase.
Favorite songs: You Owe Me an IOU, Goodnight Goodnight
Fiona AppleTidal (1996)
Ah, my angry female music of choice. I appreciate the lyrics more and more with every listen.
Favorite songs: Sleep to Dream, Criminal, Pale September
Sarah McLachlanSurfacing (1997)
It’s just a really beautiful album. The vocals, piano .. what more can I say?
Favorite songs: Do What You Have To Do, Adia
Red Hot Chili PeppersBy The Way (2002)
I was pretty late to the RHCP fandom by starting off with this album. But I’ve been a fan ever since.
Favorite songs: Universally Speaking, Zephyr, Throw Away Your Television
Janet Jacksonjanet. (1993)
I feel compelled to put this album here because it brings me back to a time when I used to love choreographing dances.
Favorite songs: If, Because of Love, You Want This
just don’t want to know why you feel the need to love me so only when you go
I’ve been having all sorts of interesting conversations lately. Different people can bring out different sides in you. And similarly, for me it brings out different conversations. Like for relationship problems, you tend to go to this person. If it’s a work-related frustration, there’s another person who gets that more. Or if it’s a family thing, maybe there’s a relative who can sympathize better than anyone else. And recently, it seems like all my frustrations are spilling out and overlapping. More than that, there seems to be this resounding theme: do I really belong anywhere or with anyone?
It sort of hit me today while talking to Susan. She was commenting on how it struck her one night that even though she felt close to a lot of people, there wasn’t that single “best friend” - or as she put it, that one person that is known as your female other half. And I found myself saying that sometimes I feel like that. That you know, ultimately it seemed like most girls considered their boyfriends their “best friend”. I mean, is it really girlfriends before the boyfriend? Or is that something we all say just to say it or if said boy is pissing you off currently. For me, it’s always been my friends before a guy (for obvious reasons) and because of those reasons I can’t imagine it any other way. But at the moment, it’s feeling really frustrating. ‘Cause coupled with that (no pun intended!) is this other observation we made. It seems like everyone is coupled off these days! We likened it to this sudden switch that’s been flipped and suddenly everyone is with someone. And couples naturally gravitate towards other couples. So where does it leave us single people? Boyfriendless and best friendless? And wow, that came out much more depressing than intended. I know it’s not always like that. I’m just ranting right now so forgive me.
But all that seems to parallel or mimic how I feel within my own family. Which is a whole other drama I’d rather not get into. Both or rather all these situations just proves though that even when surrounded by people, it’s still very possible to feel alone. Because the only person who noticed something was wrong and felt worried about me is on the other side of the country. Which prompted more frustrations spilling out this past weekend.
There are all these .. people just within my reach. Whether it’s people I regularly see or maybe even a path almost crossed, it makes you wonder who can you hold onto. Or if the ones you care about, care about you just as much. But amidst all this, I can’t ignore that they were people who listened to me these last few days and I am really grateful for that.
Sorry guys, I promise I’ll make the next entry a happier one.
remember i was there when you were a king and i’ll be the last one there beside you
I went with my youngest cousin to his first college open house yesterday. And afterwards, I felt really excited for him. Like, here’s the baby of our family showing interest in college and having a direction – the same cannot be said for my other two younger cousins that shall remain nameless. Of course, I’m also acting as his overbearing guidance counselor that will kick his butt if he doesn’t go to college and will personally drag him to open houses against his will. Ahem. Trust me, he doesn’t mind. Plus his actual guidance counselor tried to tell him that his aspirations might be a bit far out of his reach. Who says that?! But I felt proud watching him yesterday at NJIT – especially as he slowly became more comfortable with the setting and asked more questions. Sadly enough, a bunch of people representing majors came up to me asking me what I was interested in. Sorry kids, I’m not in high school. So initially I did all the talking but then handed over the reins to him. I felt like a proud mom or older sister (such a dork, I know). My baby cousin is all grown up! And I am .. so old hah.
in the end the only steps that matter are the ones you take all by yourself
Time for my latest playlist! I just feel like posting one today. I don’t know if it’s because I really like my current one, the new songs I’ve been finding through movie soundtracks or maybe it has to do with the Radiohead shirt I’m wearing. But here it is:
Schuyler Fisk – You’re Only Lonely
Forever the Sickest Kids – She’s A Lady
The Weepies – Can’t Go Back Now
Greg Laswell – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Oren Lavie – Her Morning Elegance
Golden (feat. Sophia Shorai) – Loosen Up
Death Cab for Cutie – Love Song
Kelly Clarkson – My Life Would Suck Without You
Lady Gaga – Poker Face
The White Stripes – We’re Going to Be Friends
Enjoy! Maybe you’ll find something new to listen to
turn out the lights turn on the radio how can we fight when i’m too busy loving you
I don’t know about everyone else but my valentine’s weekend was surprisingly and unconventionally awesome. It really is what you make of it. And I wanted it to be fun and with some of my favoritest people – no depressing thoughts of situations gone horribly wrong allowed.
So okay, I didn’t spend it with a significant other but.. I still spent it with loved ones. That’s all that matters, right?
+ I had a pre-Valentine’s Day and girls’ night out date with Carina and Loren on Friday. We met up for dinner at Applebee’s (complete with dessert and surprise gifts – Thank you Carina for the book!), roamed around Barnes & Nobles and watched Confessions of a Shopaholic. If you want a laugh out loud until your sides hurt, mindlessly happy and sweet movie – this is the one to watch! It also doesn’t hurt that Hugh Dancy is really cute.
+ After getting my taxes done Saturday morning (’cause who doesn’t love waking up bright and early for that on Valentine’s Day no less), it was basically nonstop family time. Eventually me, John and Jay went off to do our own thing. We decided to cook dinner (we means me) while watching old episodes of LOST and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Another really sweet and funny movie. It made me want to find a new band to feel obsessed about (and to make a new mix cd, hehe).
And to top it all off, I woke up this morning ready to get my usual “Ugh I have work tomorrow” feeling when I remembered – no work! Thank you President’s Day. Hope everyone enjoys their three day weekend. I know I will
she pours a daydream in a cup, a spoon of sugar sweetens up and she fights for her life
I was in my room watching Heroes tonight and approximately 3 minutes before the episode is about to end, my father rushes into my room in a panic. He’s all, “Look at what me and Mommy did on our computer! Google did this crazy thing!”. So I follow after him thinking they’ve crashed their computer somehow or accidentally downloaded some virus. I look at the screen and they both frantically tell me, eyes wide, “Look! We typed your name into Google and look what came up! There’s your name, where you work! How did that get there?!”.
They were looking at my portfolio site.
Now I’m looking at them trying not to yell even though they just made me miss the reveal between Nathan and Angela Petrelli because they don’t understand the Internet (or what I do for a living apparently). I explain that it’s my site, I put that there. They give me quizzical looks. They think that I don’t understand. So they show me how they got to my site, the search results, and the results for their names. My mom is all – there’s me! Mom, that’s not you because your last name doesn’t have a hyphen in it and you don’t live in Thailand. Of course my dad tells me I’m wrong and says he’ll show me his information on the Internet. Five minutes later, I’m still waiting. Finally, he pulls up a public records web site and says THIS is where he saw his name and information.
At this point, I explode.
Well obviously, it’s a public records web site! He explains what’s happening on this site despite my protests that hey, did you forget I’m a computer science major and I work on websites daily? I might actually know a thing or two. Imagine that. I further tell him that googling your name has been possible for years now. I try to explain some more. He complains how there’s all this information out there and that Google shouldn’t do this. And then… they both dismiss me from their room because I was right but they don’t want to admit it.
Moral of this story: I should’ve finished my episode of Heroes.
i wrote a song for you and all the things you do and it was called yellow
“The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch has been sitting on my desk for the last couple months just waiting to be read. And today, I decided to spent the latter half of my afternoon in bed reading it. I ended up finishing it in one sitting. It was just .. SO good. I got the book on an impulse without really knowing what it was about; just that it was getting amazing reviews. And it really does live up to (and exceed) all the hype. For those who don’t know what it’s about: Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked be part of their “Last Lecture” series not knowing that it would really be his last (as he was diagnosed with terminal cancer). This book is basically an extension of that lecture – it includes not only what he spoke about then but also additional anecdotes and words of widsom.
Here are some of my favorite excerpts:
When you’re frustrated with people, when they’ve made you angry, it just may be because you haven’t given them enough time. Jon warned me that sometimes this took great patience – even years. “But in the end, ” he said, “people will show you their good side. Almost everybody has a good side. Just keep waiting. It will come out.” [pg. 145]
My colleague told me this: “It took a long time, but I’ve finally figured it out. When it comes to men who are romantically interested in you, it’s really simple. Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do.” [pg. 146]
Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer. [pg. 149]
Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other. [pg. 151]
Halfhearted or insincere apologies are often worse than not apologizing at all because recipients find them insulting. If you’ve done something wrong in your dealings with another person, it’s as if there’s an infection in your relationship. A good apology is like an antibiotic; a bad apology is like rubbing salt in the wound. [pg. 161]
Hope these excerpts encourage you to read it!
climb the fence, books and pens, i can tell that we’re going to be friends
I have a little announcement to make – I have another blog! (In addition to this one.) And before you’re wondering why I have another blog when I’ve barely remembered to update this one lately plus I just made this huge domain switch.. let me explain. So Susan and I are huge LOST fans and whenever a new season starts, so does our weekly ritual of discussing the episode at length the next day at work. And after a particularly amazing two hour premiere of LOST a few weeks ago, she offhandedly mentioned that we should start a blog of our analyses. Then I suggested using our IM conversations as the actual entries (only cleaned up and formatted in a legible way). And from there, our blog Dharma Ginger Ale was born!
Quick explanation of the name – we’ve been having what we call “ginger ale talks” since freshmen year of high school. Because we used to sit in the hallway drinking ginger ale while talking about.. everything. The phrase just stuck with us. And as for LOST, well there’s all that Dharma Initiative food .. I’m sure they’ve got some ginger ale somewhere.
Check out the site and join the conversation if you’re a fan!
being with you is so dysfunctional i really shouldn’t miss you but i can’t let you go
I think I’m going to let the pictures and the video do most of the talking but my weekend basically consisted of: a beauty pageant, the cousins’ band, a cake and a birthday. I attended the Rutgers 2nd Annual Miss Philippines pageant for the sole reason (trust me, only reason!) of supporting my cousins who were asked to play a few songs. I will refrain from posting any snarky commentary but I will say this – halfway through the talent portion I sat out in the hallway to ease my bleeding ears. Enough said. I thought the boys did really well; especially considering that this was their first non-family gig. Then afterwards, I rushed home to bake the two-layer red velvet cake my uncle requested for his birthday party on Sunday. Despite baking it in a zombie-like state, it was a success! And the family get together was fun, as always
The birthday boy and Benaiah blowing out the candles. I love the expression on Uncle Mon’s face, heh.
BoJacob before he ran off to stuff his face
Close up of the cake!
Performing “Sunday Morning” by Maroon 5 at the Pageant
Go here for more pictures.
Go here for more videos.
a game you like to play leaves me solo every day
I think commuting by bus on a daily basis makes certain people very, very grumpy (or more accurately turns them into jerks). Case and point. This morning I passed out on the bus as usual when suddenly my seat jerked forward and woke me up. I assumed this was due to poor driving. But as I started to recline my seat back into place and resume my nap, the guy behind me pushed my chair forward again and yelled at me to “keep it up!”. Honestly, I was too startled to say or do anything. So I kept quiet, noticed the looks everyone was giving him, waited a few minutes and.. put my seat right back into place. Seriously, there were a bunch of open seats on the bus and I’m one of the first passengers since my stop is first — no one asked you to sit behind me buddy. Of course I didn’t think to say this at the time. But when we got to Port Authority, I made sure to glare at him and shake my head in disgust (I’m so bad@ss, right?). Anyway, the whole reclining seat issue is a fight I see often on the bus. Another popular argument – walking up to the front of the bus right as we pull into Port Authority. And yesterday, two guys got into a screaming cursing fight over someone cutting the other in line. People need to calm down. It’s just a bus!
I’m currently testing out this idea that my cousin Nancy brought to my attention. My mom was telling her that I waste so much energy by keeping the tv on at night and she commented that I probably don’t sleep well. Which is completely true. Basically, she said doing that never lets my brain fully rest since it keeps on processing information or thinking. So for the last 3 days I’ve kept the tv off and I think I do feel a difference. Or maybe I just want to feel a difference so that’s why I think that. Hmm.. Iet’s see what happens after a week of this.
Also, I just realized that I mentioned sleep a lot in this entry. Can you tell I need more of it?
... is a collection of my (quasi) daily thoughts. I'm 
