karl said: "oi! happy mother's day!"

  (huh! i'm a mom?!?)

i must be getting old...

i caught a late tram home last friday night. it was full with people in their late teens or early 20s (i think), who, i guess were either on their way home from a late night out or on their way for a late night in chapel street.

as i tried to balance myself and put down the bags that i was holding, the girl seated just in front of me offered her seat to me.

i was shocked.

i've only seen seats offered to old and frail-looking people. or, theoretically, offered by a gentleman to a lady. but, in her evening dress and dress shoes (with matching stockings), she definitely looked more feminine than me in my nothing-else-to-wear denims-and-shirt outfit. she was more the lady.

eww... i must be getting old and looking like it.

random thoughts

ok, it has been more than a month since my last blog. i've been home and back. and i haven't even mentioned that i had lunch with deevaa before i left for manila.

and it was my birthday last march 31, i'm now 35, and my waistline is catching up with my age fast! funny thing, i was telling a friend about an experience i had when i was a college freshman, which i said was "...about a decade ago", until he pointed out that 1983 was two decades ago! woh. there's really nothing like reminiscing to remind you bluntly of reality.

***

speaking of those college days... i'm glad that merc is blogging again. her blog is a lazy way for me to catch up on what's been happening with friends.  i'm so lazy when it comes to writing friends. i've always thought that friendship is a bond that exists beyond the chitchat and friends can always pick up where they left off. i've known her since hm, 1984? 1985? she has always been a good writer (and i think her son has picked up those traits). she had always seemed to write effortlessly elegant prose even way back in those times when i hated writing assignments because i'd spend half an hour struggling to come up with the first sentence. and she is one of those perceptive, sensitive souls who can go so deep. some of my unforgettable memories with her will be: sitting in the hallway of the humanities building while we attempt to write a poem, lying in bed in the men's dorm (which has a misleading name because it is, actually, a coed dorm) while we psychoanalyze the people around us and talk about 'jugears' and decide if we have a 1/4 crush or a 1/2 crush or a full crush on someone, sitting on the table in one of the empty lab rooms in the physical sciences building while reflecting on the thoughts of 'i love you just because'. we were one of those inseparables. until i had a boyfriend and we spent less and less time together. i'm very happy that she was there on my wedding. it made the event more complete, somehow, with special friends to share the experience with me.

***

and i've known virgil for 15 years. omg. and what has changed during those years? i guess, nothing and a lot. a lot of experiences and life changes but nothing in what we really are deep inside, in where it really matters to us.

i'm so excited!!! i'm so excited!!! i'm so excited!!!

God willing... i'll be home again two weeks from now!!! i'm just counting the days.... eeeee! thrilled!!!!  *hold on... let me catch my breath.. haaah!*

i know... it seems like i'm working in australia just to have enough money for the plane fare and phone calls to the US and to Manila. it certainly looks like i will save more if i pay off my contract instead of spending money on plane fares and lots of overseas phone calls.

but there're those career options to think about...

hold on... what career options??? i've always wanted to retire at 35 and be a fulltime mom and housewife, right? and 35 is just a few days away...

except that... to be a housewife, i think i have to learn how to cook. i mean, not just make an omelette. and take care of... babies..? *rolls eyes from side to side*

maybe i should forget about getting that industry certification exam next month and get a housewifely crash course instead. (a masteral on eric w, maybe?)

hm. options, options, options...

the past year has brought a lot of changes for me. i wonder if this year will bring another huge wave for me?

hm. i think i'm having a mid-life crisis here...

i think i'm babbling...

i think it must've been that glass of red wine...

or maybe the glass of white...

happy birthday, honey!
*mwah*

it's my 6th month here...

and in the span of six months i've: moved houses twice, moved teams twice, had my hairstyle changed twice, got married... 
 

ok, here goes...

 uh, careful now, guys!

 [the guy on the left is chris, my team lead, and on the right is elio, my manager. this is the *re-enactment* because i couldn't get a copy yet of the pics taken during the actual session.

in the actual session, they used a #4 clipper, not scissors.]

  notice the colors, here?

it's not that obvious because the lighting is bad. but that's purple on my left side, and green on the right side. the color washes out, though.

but, i think, i'll bring home some of those spray-on colors and have fun with my nephews who have the same haircut as i have. heehee.

i'm having fun with this but i don't think i'll do this again.

new things with my new hair...

• the wind tickles my head


• the wind feels colder


• i feel light-headed


• i spend more time putting my earrings on than drying my hair


• oh, i now wear earrings


• what i have spent on earrings for the past 3 days is more than what i've spent on gels and shampoos for the past 3 months (speaking of earrings, i just love the funky ones i'm wearing now -- a pair of dangling capacitors. and to go with it, i also bought a choker, which has a piece of circuit board as its pendant. i'm wired! )


• before i go to bed, i put moisturizer on my body, my face, and my head. i just hope i don't get too soft in the head.


• i like it -- and people say it suits me. who would have thought i have a good head on my shoulders, huh!
  

i didn't shave my hair. i shaved and colored it. 

and i'm happy.

for one, i faced my fears... when i woke up this morning, i was soooo nervous about doing it. i had to  pray over and over to ask if i was really doing the right thing.

and... the resulting look was better than i had hoped. i like it even without earrings. so now i've gone from the kikai look -- with the long and curly locks -- to the kakai look -- kakailanganin ang sumbrero (needs a hat!).   but a hat would hide the colors - purple on one side, green on the other, and red with touches of gold in the middle.

and, lastly, i raised a lot of money for a good cause -- second highest fundraiser. not bad for a morning's work for someone shy like me (i was so shy about going around to ask for donations that i only started the rounds this morning). a lot of people gave money, and some gave more money, when they learned that i was shaving it, especially since i was the only female who shaved. for courage and bravery they said.

whatever it was...  i'm happy. i thank God for that.

special thanks to eric, for saying that i'd still be the minky he loves even if i shave my hair (*sigh*)...  and to my family for their rah-rah-rah support!

pics later.

--------------------------------------
some people told me that i might get some interesting looks from women. seems that lesbians here identify their sexual preference by shaving their head. that will be interesting if that happens. (j/k, ok.)

inggit ako...
pati dito... inggit na inggit na ako.