My Asinine Thoughts

Ever since school started last month, I haven’t been able to catch my breath. I’m swamped with assignments and papers and projects and I only took 4 courses! I thought that I should have taken more than 15 units at the beginning of the quarter but now, I’m glad I didn’t. It’s not so much the amount of work as the amount of time it takes for me to finish them. I am damn slow.

After almost a month of school, I’m seeing some distinct differences with the teaching style here and back home. Here, it’s more of a collaborative effort with my teacher and my classmates. The teachers are aware that the students also have something to bring to the table and they’re willing to facilitate. Most of them are pretty generous with grades and you’d be an absolute moron not to get at least a B+. I only have one class/teacher which I absolutely HATE! This teaches me a very valuable lesson. If the first class disappoints, don’t give it another shot, just move on to the next one. I was so worried during the first week about not having enough units and not being able to get into the classes I wanted that I just stuck to my first schedule. Bah! Bah bah bah! Next quarter, I’m going to select classes wisely. I hate griping and complaining every week, and that’s what I’ve been doing for the past 3 weeks.

Barring that lechefying class, my life here in San Jose hasn’t been all that bad. I’ve got everything I need, although not necessarily all I want since I don’t have a job (aka no money). I’m trying to make a list of the things I want and hopefully by the time I can afford them, they will still be for sale (hah).

p.s. I have a class which is about teaching music and movement to kids and I had an assignment last week that gave me a headache. The teacher required us to bring a nursery rhyme in our own language to class and for the life of me, I couldn’t find one that wasn’t nasty. I wanted a nursery rhyme that has no music connected to it which made it more difficult because Bahay Kubo, Leron Leron Sinta, and Tong Tong Tong are sung more than recited. I researched online for hours and these are just some of what I came up with: (WARNING: Bastos!)

Utot

Ako’y lumabas
Kabilugan ng buwan
Ako’y napautot
Nilagay sa supot
Nilagay sa sulok
Pamatay lamok

Puwet

Ma’am I’m finish
Ang puwet kong makinis
Kinagat ng ipis,
Lalong kuminis

One, two, three

One, two, three
Asawa ni Marie
Araw gabi
Walang panti

(tanong ng nanay ko, bakit yung asawa ni Marie ang walang panty?)

This is my nephew Aiden, Matthew Aiden to be exact.You know that thing I said about our initials? Well, ahiya is passing it on: Mark + Aileen = MA = Matthew Aiden.

As soon as he was born, we asked mama what he looked like and she said, “singkit.”

We were like,”What? Singkit?”

Well, it shouldn’t be a surprise really. My brother is singkit, Aileen is singkit, WE are singkit. If the baby came out with big eyes, we’d probably ask Aileen who the real father was.

Happy New Year everyone!

I’ve been so busy the past couple of weeks that I haven’t found the time to do anything but eat.

Naturally, new year’s resolution number one is to go on a diet, but I won’t start just yet. I have to wait until ditsi and Arnel leave because it’s impossible to NOT eat when EVERYONE is eating.

We spent the new year here in California watching dvds and playing mahjong. No party, no fireworks, nothing particularly special but we spent it with family so it’s all good. Two servings each of atsi’s yummy fried rice and a bottle of merlot were all that was needed to fill our tummies.

2007 was a pretty good year (since I spent about half of it doing absolutely nothing, boy how time flies). Not fantastic but definitely better than the year before and that’s what I’m hoping will continue on this year. I know 2008 will be even better than 2007, I’m going to meet my first ever pamangkin (a nephew!) this January for starters. Yay!

Swimming pool in the middle of all that snow!

Hehehe. Mga baliw!

23rd:
After a very filling buffet breakfast, a snowball fight ensued but it didn’t last long. Neither of us had the stamina to withstand continuous snowball assaults on each other. We ended up taking lots of pictures instead. Then we headed to Squaw Valley to check out the ski resort. Oh boy, I will definitely try skiing next year, even if I have to rent everything right down to the ski goggles. On our way home, we passed by Emerald Bay and even if it was already getting dark, pictures must be taken. While Jamie and Arnel were taking pictures, we just sat on the rock to admire the view… and freeze our butts off.

Thank God for Jamie’s portable heater

The Different Looks of Hunger

We ordered at least 7 trays…

After staying with Ahiya and Aileen in Reno for a few weeks, I went back to California to thaw out a bit and eat another slice of Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory before Christmas (I’m in the process of elimination, therefore, I have to try each and every single slice of cheesecake they have, some I even have to try more than once!)

Ditsi and Arnel flew in a couple of days ago and we’ve been really busy shopping and sightseeing. I’m very happy that I’m with my sisters this Christmas and that we’re almost complete as a family this year. We have a special bond that no amount of bickering, fighting, or hair pulling could ever change.

The Systers - Mary Ann, Pebbles, Chelle

I spent the greater part of the morning shopping online for Christmas gifts the other day. The intention was sound (shop for others), the end result though was a bust since I ended up buying things for myself instead. Shit.

I read a lot of blogs and one of the blogs that I read that day was A Bugged Life. The blogger posted something about Threadless t-shirts and I was a goner from there. I LOVE t-shirts! I’d wear anything funny, silly or creative even if I end up looking grossly unattractive. My sister-in-law and I were talking about it last night, about preferring to wear t-shirts and jeans when we go out and how lousy other people say we look because of it. I do care about what other people think about how I look sometimes, but I can’t seem to change my programming. Hay.

So back to the Threadless t-shirt, I kind of lost my head when I visited their site. There were so many shirts I wanted to buy and it really really sucks that I’m not working right now because 10 bucks for a shirt is a pretty good deal indeed! I practiced restraint and ordered only a couple of shirts for myself. I’d just buy the other shirts I liked for other people this Christmas.

The Embroidaries
Spoilers
Nerds Unite!
Mic. Chuck. One. Two.
I Listen to bands… (just read his shirt)
Impossible Love

(If anyone from my family is reading this blog entry right now, chill, don’t buy me a shirt. I know you guys visited my wishlist on Amazon and while it’s great that you can get me the books and dvds I’ve always wanted for Christmas, I think I can get more out of you guys when you see me looking forlorn in the mall. It worked on ahiya since he just bought me a really nice and expensive North Face jacket last night haha! Sometimes being one of the youngest in the family has its advantages, what can I say.)

In Reno…I just saw my brother for the first time in almost 7 years.
In Reno…it’s very very cold, but no snow yet.
In Reno…there’s A LOT of static. I’m afraid of touching the doorknob, my computer, other people, the dog, the car, the microwave, my bangs, the light switch, the… ok, I’m afraid of touching a lot of things right now.
In Reno…we went to an eat-all-you-can sushi restaurant. Am I in Heaven?
In Reno…my face breaks out. I’ve never had so many zits in my life. No exaggeration. I’m silently panicking inside and about this close to asking for a visit to the dermatologist as my Christmas gift this year.
In Reno…one can find my brother’s house and it’s a very nice place to veg. I’ve barely moved since Monday.
In Reno…there’s my sister-in-law Aileen’s treadmill, which I haven’t used yet.
In Reno…there are a lot of casinos. This may be common knowledge but I didn’t know. I played for a couple of minutes and lost all the money I put in. Shit.
In Reno…I had an In-N-Out Burger for the first time and I now understand why it’s called In-N-Out. After eating our burgers, my brother, my sister-in-law and myself had an upset stomach and had to move our bowels right away. In, then out.

Because I only found out about YM’s calling function the other day.

I’ve had Jeeves since December of 2004. We’ve been through a lot together. It has downloaded thousands of multimedia files, burned hundreds of cds, pulled all-nighters, and traveled with me from place to place. I’ve loved it, hated it, wanted to replace it but up to now we’re still together. After all this time I thought I knew everything there was to know about it…I WAS WRONG!

If a friend hadn’t called me while we were chatting using Yahoo Messenger the other day, I wouldn’t have known that Jeeves had a built-in mic. So the next day, I called my sister in the States and she promptly discovered that she had a built-in mic in her laptop as well (and she’s had her laptop since 2002)! We talked and talked and then we invited all my siblings to start chatting. Atsi called ahiya to go online, then we buzzed ditsi even if she was out of the office and only using her blackberry, I told syoti who was in the other room to go online as well and so, chaos ensued.

Later my dad heard me talking to my mom while I was chatting with my siblings so he sat down beside me and started talking as well. It was a bit confusing with all 7 of us talking /chatting at the same time but it was a lot of fun! It was the first time in a long time that all of use were doing something together even if we were physically apart.

P.S. So YM I so stupid nga? Because I only found out about audibles the other day.

I’m not happy with the name Michelle but it could be worse. I wouldn’t want a name I would have a difficult time living up to like Lovely, Sweet, Cutie, Baby, Girlie, Beauty… brrrr! My Chinese name on the other hand is a bit embarrassing. I was named 許美雪 Shi Mei Xue by a great aunt when I was a baby. It literally means beautiful snow, and no matter how much I’d like to believe that she found me beautiful even when I was just a blob, she probably just wanted to find a Chinese name that would sound almost the same as my English name.

There were a few boys and girls who would tease me about my Chinese name when I was younger. 許美雪 in Mandarin is Mei Xue, but in Fookien it’s Bi Suat. Unfortunately in those days the Chinese teachers used Fookien a lot in class instead of Mandarin. My classmates would often call me “Misua! Misua!” Sometimes I would answer back with “Eh ano ngayon? Masarap naman ang misua ah!” But there are also times when I would just let it pass, especially when only ugly boys are doing the teasing.

My English name was not spared, mostly because my parents were cruel enough to add Angela to my name. I was called Michelle-Pitchel for a while, but the Michelle Angela-Michael Angelo thing lasted longer. My friends and family are probably sick of hearing me complain about my name already but I still wish I was like Lam-Ang who was able to name himself as soon as he was born. I wouldn’t choose the name Lam-Ang (hello? nanlalamang, malamang, alamang-o…) but I could have certainly chosen something a lot better than Michelle Angela. But when I think about it, my parents were doomed from the start to choose rotten names for their kids, based on their history.

My mother’s name is Anita. When she was very young her Chinese parents split up (quite unheard of at the time) and they decided to take one child each. Her mother took her eldest sister while her father took her. Then a couple of years later, my mom’s father died in a car accident and she was then raised by her paternal grandmother, A Tai. A Tai harbored great hatred towards her ex-daughter-in-law so she never permitted my mom to see or talk to her own mother. She never saw her alive again. A few decades later, she heard from her eldest sister nicknamed Annie and promptly discovered that Annie’s given name was also Anita. Apparently, their mother named them both Anita!

My father’s name on the other hand is Mauricio. His father, Angkong, was from China so please forgive him. My dad has 10 other siblings but I must admit, his name sounds the most mabaho* of all. The others were Monina, Manuel, Mariano, Marcelo, Maximo, Margaret, Marilyn, Monte Cristo, Michael and Mary Grace. Yes all their names started with the letter M and I never asked why. My father decided to follow tradition and gave us names starting with the letter M as well. He took it one step further and gave us two names, one following his initial, and the other following my mom’s.

So my eldest sister’s name is Mary Ann (an-an, buni, hadhad, alipunga…), my older brother’s name is Mark Anthony (markito, markado), my other sister’s name is Maria Aurora (au au, woof-woof). My parents immediately regretted naming her Aurora so they gave her a nickname: Pebbles (bato, bubbles, peeebols). My youngest brother’s name is Maverick Adelbert (forever mispronounced by family and friends as Ma-be-rik). Maverick has the nicest name of all since he was named after Tom Cruise’s character in Top Gun. At the time, my eldest sister was totally nuts about Tom (not knowing that Tom was actually the nut).

On a completely related note:

What if you were named Dimples by your parents and you have a lot of pimples?

to be continued…

*stinks