Insomnia, Illegal Car Rides and Monster Pet Shops

Fun car ride with Laura after welcoming the CCS and SOE froshies with some of my orgmates to DLSU during the first round of welcoming for the LPEP week. Don't feel like writing much today so I hope you have as much fun watching the video as I did recording it.

Watch the Videos Even If You've Got Something Better to Do

I promised I'd post videos from my Boracay trip within the week and here they are... FINALLY! Sorry they took so long, I kinda lost the memory card since I brought two on the trip. The one the videos were on were still at the bottom of the bag I brought on the trip.

This first one is basically me and Sarah talking on the boat about anything we can think of. Most of the people we were on the trip with are in this video. You probably shouldn't watch this if you get seasick easily or just dislike crappy video-taking.

Here's the view of the Boracay shoreline from our boatride. Didn't edit anything because one: I'm too lazy, and two: I don't have the programs to edit it properly so might as well not edit at all.

Finally, here's Yana talking about some pretty racy stuff!!! Kidding. She's just talking about hotdogs. The kid-appropriate kind for those of you who's got their minds in the gutter. Yana's one of the little kids we were with on our trip. I love kids, don't you? So yeah, mashed together two videos. Again, no real editing for the reasons stated above.

So yeah. Let me bid you adieu for the time being. I'll probably post another blog or video tomorrow just to make up for my absence.

Pew Pew take2

 I haven't posted in a while. Partly due to the heat, mostly due to laziness. So again, I'll be updating in a series this week, starting with the Boracay trip I went on with my friends last April 12, 2012.
My friends being Ateneans and an Iska were on break, meaning Jen and I, being La Sallians, had to cut a day or two of class. Supposedly the trip was to bond with one of our friends who's leaving for Singapore later this year, but at the last minute, her parents made her back out... no REAL surprise there.
So anyway, night before we left, we stayed at Phoebe's house. Just because it would be more convenient... and more fun.
Phoebe and Sarah tried teaching me how to play bridge. Which I can beat them at after a few tries. BOOM BABY! We barely slept and Pheebs didn't sleep at all. So yeah, rushrushrush to the airport... Not really, we were pretty chill coz we were super early.
I'll speed through the next part coz I can feel you getting bored.
So we check-in our "luggage", have breakfast at the airport. Chill a bit more, board the tiny plane and fall asleep before take-off. Land at Caticlan airport and wait for the carousel to spit out our bags.
Funny thing though, there was a box of Dove bar soap riding the carousel like nobody's business.
Moving on, we had a short ride to the boat, rode it across to Boracay island itself then shuttle ride to the hotel. Estacio Uno, same place we stayed last time.
We got there at around 9am so we had to chill a bit at the cabana.

Chillin at the cabana with Jen, Phoebe and Patrick. (c)Gai Pardilla

By 10am we were showed to our room, so we picked our beds and took naps til lunch.

Our room. (c) Jenina See

After our nap and lunch, we went out to ride the Zorb. It's this huge plastic bubble that they can either strap you into to or let you slosh around with a bucket or two worth of water, then they let you roll down a hill... try it if you haven't. It's fun.

ZORB! (c) Gai Pardilla

Wet and wild. (c) Phoebe Chua

Sarah strapped in for the dry Zorb ride! (c) Phoebe Chua

We bummed around the rest of the day, had dinner and bonded over drinks. First night was 3 pitchers of Toilet Duck. Which was fun. Bonded with Patrick and Mark. Soldiers fell one by one... survivors: I can't even remember but I think it was me, Gai and Phoebe? Jen broke out in a killer rash, so did Patrick.

Next day we bummed around again but it started to rain. Hard. Which would have been fine. Except we were going to go on a yacht ride with everyone. But we decided to persevere and it turned out fine. It stopped raining by the time we got on the boat and we were able to relax and enjoy the view. Which was awesome, just so you know. I'll post the video of the view sometime this week. Honest.

Row row row your boat! (c) Sarah Liao

Jen, Phoebe and Gai.

Everyone we were with on our trip.

Jen's attempt at being a "photographer". (c) Jenina See

Group pic of me and my girls! (c) Mark Ley

View of the shoreline in party mode.

So yeah, we had massages then went out to eat. Went back to the hotel after and started drinking. Again. Absolut and Jose Cuervo this time. Not really the Cuervo but the Absolut was gone.

Absolut with Sprite and cherries.

We drank til 4am, I think. Again one by one the soldiers fell except for 3 survivors: Gai, Mark and me. We were a bit hungry so we headed to Jonah's for some shake. Yum.

Survivors enjoying shakes from Jonah's.

Went back to the resort and chilled awhile. The two other people in the picture mixed Cuervo into my shake. Dastardly devils. Didn't really matter though, coz I'm strong. Kidding. Anyway. Yeah. We stayed up til around 5:30am. Then that was it, trip over. Back to Manila. Sad story. But super fun weekend.

New Year. No Hair.

I just thought that some of you would like to know that I got my head shaved today. And when I say shaved, I mean all of it.
I am now a skinhead and it's actually kinda cool. Literally. Just a slight breeze hitting my scalp actually feels like someone's rubbing ice up against my skin.
If you know me, you know that I change my hairstyle a lot. I dyed my hair around 5 times this year. Red to light brown which turned blonde to reddish brown which turned to blonde again to dark brown which again turned blonde then finally jet black. I also got an undercut sometime in October. 

Just a few of my hair choices from 2011

Now, even if you don't know me, you get the idea that I take risks with my hair. The thing is though, I have never ever had no hair at all on my head... at least by my own volition.
I have thought about it at some points. Scratch that, I've actually thought about it quite a lot, I've just never gone through with it.
So now your question is: Why cut it all off now?
Answer: Stress.
Yes, stress. My hair was falling due to extreme stress. I didn't notice the hairfall until my mom pointed out that I had a bald spot the size of a thumbnail near the front of my scalp the night before my final exams (thanks so much, mom). At first we were laughing about it. Then I started to panic. At the time, of course, I had absolutely no idea why my hair was falling so I jumped to all kinds of conclusions.
So anyway, I went to the doctor a day after my final exam and she explained that my case was fairly common. She gave me medications and injected the affected area.
Next few days, I noticed the rate of my hairfall was rapidly increasing. And I don't mean like above the average 50 strands of hair per day, I mean like chunks of hair that I could roll into mini balls of yarn. Everyday. After a shower. While I sleep. Running my hands through my hair. Chunks of hair.
Out of frustration and probably a dose of panic, I decided that I was going to shave my head.
So I did.
And now here we are, you reading about why I shaved my head, and me wearing a beanie to keep my head warm.

For some reason, I'm not as weirded out by my baldness as much as I'm weirded out by the normalcy of it. And ok, the pictures I posted are in black and white... kind of. I'm not ready to show you how pale my scalp is yet.

What do you think about my new found hairlessness? Bang or bust?

Being Charlie

Happy New Year, everyone! And as new year tradition dictates, I've come up with my new year's resolutions which I will hopefully see through til the end of 2012. So, for those of you who are curious about my resolutions, or are just bored enough to take an interest, here they, or rather, it is:

BE CHARLIE.

Most of you are probably scratching your heads wondering what 'Be Charlie' means. So let me explain.

Earlier in 2011, one of my professors asked us to give her a name that we'd like to be called and known as in class. I chose the name Charlie. Not because I wasn't happy with my real name, it was more like, this was a chance to be known as someone else, at the very least by name. As the term passed, I noticed that Charlie was someone I wish I were in my everyday life. Someone who was confident in everything she did and did everything she set her mind to doing. She wasn't afraid of failure, of trying new things, of doing things that scared her.
As Steph, I'm loud and outgoing, but I'm not determined enough. I lose my focus and give up as soon as the going gets tough. My goals aren't set high enough-mediocrity is acceptable. 
That's not to say that Steph doesn't have good qualities, it's just that I, as Steph, have shortcomings too, just like every normal person.
Long story short, I want to become a better version of me. A 'me' I can be proud of.
Now to be more specific, a 'me' I can be proud of includes:
1. Getting a GPA of at least 3.0 for the whole year.
2. Living a healthier lifestyle.
3. Getting a job, at the very least for the summer.
4. Trying something new at least once a month.
5. Overcoming at least one fear for the year.
That's all I can really think of right now.

May the year be an everlasting bang for all of us.
Any suggestions for my list? Or better yet, what are your resolutions for 2012? Care to share?