Padd Solutions

There have been many instances since I started university, when people would comment about how I look, what ethnic background I am from, and not surprisingly, my age. They're not all necessarily negative comments; in fact when people comment about my appearance, it was only either, (a) "You look nice today!" or (b) "School working you too hard?". Not necessarily using those phrases, but you know what I mean. Sure, I look tired. I don't dress "nice" for school. I don't give a damn - no one does! Every university student from time to time (especially during crunch time) are bound to look and act like zombies. Seriously! So, this isn't much of an issue.

What's starting to get on my nerves is when people ask time and again what I am, where I'm from, what background I belong to. The asking doesn't bother me. Not at all. It's the reaction that makes me want to squeeze that stress ball so hard, it would mush into pieces. (Okay, I'm overly exaggerating, but you get the idea). Let me tell you about some of my experiences - true story!

Experience # 1:
Asian Guy Who Looks Lost: Hey, excuse me.
Me: Hey.
AGWLL: Are you Chinese? Do you speak Cantonese?
Me: No, sorry.
AGWLL (continues to talk to me, asking me something about the bus/transit)

Experience # 2:
Asian Girl From Economics: Hey, excuse me!
Me: Hi..
AGFE: Hey, are you Chinese?
Me: No, I'm not.
AGFE: Oh, really? You look Chinese.
Me: No, I'm Filipino.
AGFE: Oh, okay! You look so pretty! I really thought you were Chinese.
Me: Thanks :) I'm Filipino, but my boyfriend's Chinese though.
AGFE: Oh, okay. (Asks questions about the Boyfriend)...Are you in Economics? I really need help on this.
Me: Oh, no sorry.
AGFE: Oh, it's okay. Ok, well, take care!

And there are a ton more experiences that resemble these. I was okay explaining the first few times...but damn, they just keep coming! Do I really look that Asian? Not Filipino at all?

The worst encounters are when my age is what's being questioned. I'm now 21. I guess I look 17 or 18. I'm in fourth year, I guess I look like I'm in First. Less than 2 years ago, the dentist thought I was still in high school. Go figure. Let me share with you today's experience.

Girl In The Bus (asking people whether they go to The University (the campus I attend)): Hey, do you go to The University?
Guy 1, Guy 2: Yeah.
GITB: Are you in first year?
Guy 1, Guy 2: Yeah.
GITB (looking at Me and the Person Beside Me): Are you guys from The University?
PBM: No.; Me: Yeah.
GITB (to Me): Are you in First year?
Me: No, I'm actually in Fourth.
GITB: Really??? You don't look like Fourth year.
Me: (He He He. . . . . . )

See what I mean?

1. Do you have any experiences similar to mine?
2. Do you think I'm over-reacting? :P
3. How are you today? :)

Okay, I'm not gonna lie, it's been a while. Almost four months have passed since I last clicked "New Post" on the Blogger dashboard. I can't believe it. You would think that during summer time, you'd have way more time to write, reflect, and update your blog. Well, wasn't the case for me. Okay, well I wasn't in total busy bee mode, but I wasn't just lounging around either (for the most part anyway).

Summer, well...let's just say it was one heck of a summer vacation. And I don't mean that in a totally positive way. As with the rest of the year, this past summer had its ups and downs - I would say it's almost a balance of 50%-50%. I'd love to share everything that happened this summer but time and space just won't cut it. It probably won't interest you anyway. Most of it are too personal to chat about here (You can steal my personal diary for that -- actually, no, please don't). Let's just say the first half of the summer started a bit rocky; but fortunately, at midpoint, all the "bad" stuff began to steer clear. Oh, and I also took a course for the first half of the summer (which, if you're wondering, turned out to be okay). The good times? For the most part - and probably the highlight of my sort-of-busy summer - traveling to NYC, NJ, Pennsylvania with my family. You can check out some photos here, here, here, and here. During random occasions when I felt "in the mood", I took photographs and (tried to) digitally enhance them, which I think, for the most part turned out pretty well. You can check out my photos at my deviantART. I also bought a new smart phone, the Google phone with Android OS. Here in Canada it's called the HTC Dream, whereas in the U.S., it's call the G1. Thanks to the Boyfriend for helping me purchase it. And so, for the rest of the summer, I was just trying to enjoy the wee bit of time left before school started again. Oh, and I also turned twenty-one! But that deserves a whole separate blog entry to itself.

...So that's about all that happened. See? You didn't miss much there! :P

So you might be thinking, "Why bother returning to the blog scene now?" Seriously, I just felt like it. I think that I just didn't have the inspiration/motivation to write/blog when I'm not being productive (a.k.a this past summer). Now that I'm back at school, it seems like the more busy I get, the more that I feel like I need to write/blog. It's probably Stress knocking on my door again. Really can't separate studying from Stress. I just have to write/blog! This serves as therapy for me.

Anyways, I'm not planning on waiting for the birds to chirp outside. Cheese and rice, it's late!
Will blog about more interesting stuff soon. But before I go,

1. When was the last time you wrote an entry?
2. Now that I'm back in the biz, are you gonna follow my blog? :)

Hey you! How are you liking my new blog layout? I know, it may be kinda neutral and plain, but I like it. :) I think it's nice and clean, and it's very inviting. Tell me what you think! :o)

So I've had this on and off relationship with my blog lately, but that doesn't need much explaining since we all go through it at times. Plus, the main reason for my indefinite breaks is because I'm busy with school work and all the other priorities I have right now. But I won't bore you with all the details. I'm just gonna leave it as that.

On to other more interesting things...

Weather...
I'm loving the weather lately! It's spring time and I can see the trees and flowers blooming once again. Love spring! I just don't like it when it's cold and wet. But I'd choose spring in a flash over winter! Weather here is very unpredictable though, one minute the sun is shining, and the next time you look up in the sky, you see gray. Pshh...But I'm very happy that it's starting to get warm. I want my 20-degrees weather now!

School schmool...
Ok, well I finished my exams on the 21st. I was one of the lucky ones who finished exams early. But that's only because half of the courses I took didn't require us to write an exam. Phew! I'm officially done with 3rd year! It's a bittersweet feeling; I'm not gonna lie. I just love being a student minus the stressing out part.

Summer time...
So, what are my plans for the summer? I have no idea. I have a very long list of things I have to accomplish for the summer. For instance, I have summer classes for about 6 weeks. I must finish my driving lessons before it freakin expires. I have to get a job. I have to get experience in the field that I want to go into. I need money and lots of if to pay my gigantic student loan debt. @#$@%%^ Thinking about all these makes my head and heart hurt. Enough of that...moving on...

Careers & the future seen through the crystal ball...
Well not really the crystal ball; just this enlightened mind of mine. For the past few years I've been a lost puppy, just going blindly through university, taking all the courses that interest me or courses that I think will help me in the future. I've been trying to keep my options open. But there are pros and cons to this. Just a week ago, I've decided on pursuing a career that I personally didn't find appealing at first. I was going towards this career goal in 1st year but completely changed my mind before 3rd year started. Now, I've finished 3rd year and I'm totally changing gears again - back to where I was 2 years ago. It's really been a crazy ride, these past years. Now I'm pretty happy with my decision and I'm very happy that I have an actual concrete goal now that I can follow. If you're wondering what career choice I made, stay tuned! That deserves its own blog entry. :)

Here and now...

1. I'm back in the blogging world!
   
2. I've got a new blog layout. Tell me what you think :)
   
3. I am now officially a twitter-er! Follow me on twitter!
   
4. I've been job/volunteer hunting. h e l p!
   
5. Tomorrow, I'll be going to downtown to meet with Ian, my love. :) (Another entry for this one tomorrow or asap)
6. I can't believe it's going to be May in a couple of days! Time does fly fast.

So, that's about all I can say for now. Will update as soon as possible. Now I'm just gonna prepare for my little date tomorrow and then head to bed!

Questions/comments?
- tell me what you think about the new look of iamdiandra.blogspot.com (if you are new to the site, still comment, please :))
- do you have a job? and if yes, can you hook me up? (just kidding! :p)
- what else can I add to the site?

I'm a busy bee. That explains why my blog has been quite "empty" lately. I haven't updated for a while, because I had way too many things to do on my list. "Blogging" always ends up at the end of the list. I apologize for those who visit and are disappointed because I haven't written anything new.

Anyway, this week has been filled with interesting things. Well, Monday, especially. My Monday was long and tiring (kind of?). It started with a class from 10-12pm. Then I had my 3-hour long break. Usually, I just end up wasting my time doing nothing for 3 hours. But, the past Monday, I actually made use of my time! I went to this Fair about the Research Opportunity Program at my school. It's this really awesome program I want to participate in. I'm pretty sure there's going to be a lot of competition, but it doesn't hurt to try, right? Plus, I get a whole credit for it, I get to work with a great prof/instructor, and can use this experience to get me jobs in the future! :)

Speaking of jobs, two days ago, on Tuesday, Ian and I went to go to the plaza near my house to hand out my resume. Ian was a lot of help! He helped me edit my resume, fix it up a bit to make it look nice and clean. I printed out about 8 copies for that day...gave it around the plaza. Hopefully, someone is interested in hiring soon - as in, in two months. I must get a job this summer! I must!.


Oh, by the way! Before I forget...Belated Happy Square Root Day! Haha... March 3rd, 2009 is the Square root 3 day --> 3 times 3 equals 9, get it? :P The next Square root day will be on April 4th, 2016. Brace yourselves until then! :P (F.Y.I. I am really not a fan of math, I just heard this on the radio 2 days ago. Babe, this part of my entry is for you...Haha)

Anyway, I kind of just woke up...well, not too long ago. So, I gotta go get some breakfast - or brunch? I have to leave for school in like 2.5 hours. I'll be at school until 6pm tonight. I'm not really sure when I'll have the next free time. But keep visiting! :) And, I hope you're also visiting my Project 365. I haven't been that organized lately, but I'm keeping up! :)

I'll leave you guys with a funny, yet sad "story" I found on FML.

Today, I took my girlfriend to a very nice restaurant. I thought it would be a good place to pop the question. I gave the ring to the waiter and asked him to put it on her dessert plate. When she saw it she picked it up, put it down and said "no". Then she started to eat the dessert. FML

Toodles!

So...I've been waking up too late every day. I love sleeping in! It's not the most productive day...but I still love it! :) I guess I'm more of a night owl than a morning bird. I wish I was a morning person though - you can watch the sun rise, really know that it's a brand new day.
Oh well...maybe later on in life I can actually wake up and watch the sun rise. :)

So, it's reading week, and usually, students would go partying, or go on the ever-so-popular ski trips. I guess it's similar to spring break in the states - except here, it's lamer and doesn't involve the ocean or sand (or it could for some who choose to fly somewhere warm). So reading week is almost ending and I've done neither of those "fun" activities. What did I actually do? READ. I hate having a test after reading week, because it means that I'd have to study during the supposedly free-of-teaching week. It's supposed to be a break from school, for cryin' out loud.

Anyway....

On a more positive note: Are you a basketball fan? Specifically the NBA? If you are, did you watch the NBA All-Star held in Phoenix last weekend?

I didn't watch the whole All-Star weekend, but I did see the 3-point shootout (Go, Kapono! - too bad he couldn't do a 3peat), and the super amazing dunk contest!

Last year, Dwight Howard (a.k.a. Superman) won the slam dunk contest. He was amazing last year! This year, he competes again but there's a tough competitor: Nate Robinson. Nate Robinson is waaayyy shorter/smaller than Dwight Howard: Nate's only 5'9, while Dwight is 6'11! Imagine that! It's crazy to think that either of them can even jump that high and dunk! You've got to see if for yourself! You can find many videos of the slam dunk contest from YouTube, but here's a clip of Nate Robinson's final round (he won this year, by the way):



Here's yet another interesting clip from the All-Star Weekend: Shaquille O'Neal dancing with the Jabawockeez!!! It's so funny and entertaining! Click that play button now! :P

So...where to begin...?

I guess I'll just write about the gist of everything that happened for the past couple of weeks (fine...almost the past month) or so. Don't you worry - I won't bore you with all the details!

For the rest of January...
Basically, last month was a whirlwind! January went by so quickly. As usual, school has been taking over. Had a few meetings here and there for Peer Health Volunteer. Tons of readings were assigned - and most are unfinished (woops..) My sister had her first piano exam, ever (Gr. 3 exam - yes she skipped grades 1 & 2). On the last week of January, she went on a trip (like a retreat) with her batchmates, and I was left with no one to talk to at night (aww). An assignment for a class was due. I wrote a couple of tests. And basically, just a bunch of readings as I said...

Month of February...
Life starts to get a little more interesting. First of all, it's love month! Yay for all the couples out there! I guess this is the month that single people dread...I'm sure some of them enjoy it too - single parties, drink & mingle parties! Last weekend, Ian took me to this nice, fancy French restaurant for this year's Winterlicious [photos below]. The dinner was GREAT! I hope to go again for Summerlicious; can't wait! :o) My BFF Joyce also came over last Friday for a Girls Night In...and we had such a great time! Also, a BIG celebration is about to happen: mine and Ian's 3rd Anniversary! That's about a week an a half from now (Feb. 22nd); don't forget to greet us! Hehe :) It's Friday the 13th this Friday and Ian and I are planning to have a movie night, watching scary movies -- that's right, just before Valentine's Day. :P For V-day, we have nothing planned yet. I told him that I'd put together something for him and "give it" to him on our big day. I don't know what he has planned, but I'm saving mine (the best) for last! ;) Next week is Reading Week - when students don't actually read...sort of like a break. Unfortunately, I would actually have to read, since I have a test the Monday I come back from the break (that's just great...) This test requires for us to read 2 full books, cover-to-cover, and another 3 chapters from a textbook. Wowsers.

So there you have it. A very random, sloppy update. Hehe...Will post another entry soon!

Random thought: What did you think about the Chris Brown & Rihanna issue? Shocked much?

So, I haven't had a chance to post an entry since the 4th. A lot of stuff has been happening lately, with school and such. But, luckily, I still get to update my project 365, so go check it out if you haven't yet seen my photos :) It gets quite challenging when nothing special is really happening with your day and you're stuck there thinking, "What should I take a picture of now? I guess that's the challenge - to find something worth reminding yourself of the next time you review your photos at the end of year, on the 365th day. :)

A few days ago, I was browsing through some articles online about love and relationships and came across this article that I just had to read. The title of the article was "10 Traits That Make You a Great Girlfriend"; I just had to read it. It's quite interesting, and I'd like to share it with you & see if you agree. I'll be putting up only the actual 10 traits and not the descriptions that are accompanying them. The words in parenthesis are my own thoughts on each of them. You can find the full article here.

10. She's independent. Of course your boyfriend wouldn't want a girlfriend that they'd have to babysit. We ladies have to learn how to stand on our own two feet and not have to depend so much on our men. Yes, they're supposed to be there to care for us and protect us, but of course there's always going to be "his" and "hers". Your guy probably doesn't want to feel like your suffocating him.
9. She's intelligent. I think this speaks for itself. You don't want no boring talks with your boy either right? Sometimes, you want stimulating talks and maybe talks that will make you think. Learn to be serious, but also learn when not to be. Plus, intelligent doesn't necessarily mean seriousness. Have a sense of humour! :)
8. She's sexual. I think we all know what this means. Both of you have to be sexually compatible, meaning you have to be physically attractive to your partner and vice versa. Without this, there'd be no spark.
7. She's beautiful. This goes with the point before this. While this can have a literal meaning, you can also think of it as "the beauty is in the eye of the beholder". As it said in the article, you don't have to be a Heidi Klum clone for your man to feel proud walking beside you.
6. She respects you. I only have one thing to say: Do unto others what you want others to do unto you. The golden rule :)
5. She lets you be a man. What do you think girls? Do you let your man be a man? This goes hand-in-hand with respect. Let him do "boy stuff" like poker nights with his boys or Friday night football. You may not enjoy it, but he does, so let him. :)
4. She's nagless. Oh c'mon. I disagree with this one. Of course there's no female being in the universe that is nagless. It's just in our DNA! It just is. Haha...But I guess, we should know when to speak up and when to let it slide. Hey, guys have annoying habits too!!!
3. She gets along with friends and family. For me, this is really important because my family is #1 on my list. So if he doesn't get along with them, he's out!
2. She loves you. Well, duh. Can anyone make it even more obvious? This point is very commonsensical, yet sometimes we forget, especially couples who have been going out for a while. They get so used to each other that they forget why they're with that person in the first place. Rekindling the relationship, making time and effort to move forward is a big part of being in a committed relationship.
1. She makes you want to be a better man. Really? :P This may sound simple, but to find a person that can make you be a better person can be extremely difficult; but once you've found that person, you know he/she is a keeper. :)

{And I found this funny t-shirt! :o)}

Do you agree with this list, boys & girls? :)

Ringing in the New Year
Wow, who feels brand new? I do! :) How's your 2009 coming along so far? How did you all celebrate your holidays? I hope you had as much fun as I did on New Years Eve! Just like last year, my family & I (and Ian came along after having dinner with his family) celebrated New Year's Eve at our family friends' house. They've got a really big place so it can fit a lot of people, and yes, there were a lot of people! And no one parties like Filipino families! There were so much food and drinks, it's ridiculous! I'm pretty surprised with myself though; in parties like the one we just had, I usually eat a lot, especially if there are a lot of people eating too! I did eat quite a lot of desserts though, it was my sweet tooth!

Anyway, I was just glad that 2008 is over! 2009 has been great for me so far. I'm sensing some (positive) changes are about to happen & I'm super excited about it. I'm happy with myself right now; I feel like I'm really going to do it this year, I'm really going to make it, and I'm really going to make this happen! I'm loving it so far! My plan was to start the year right, and I'm pretty confident that I'd done that. There's nowhere else to go but up, up and away! This year, I'm going to take over!!! :o)

The blog title
Ever notice the blog title? Taking Chances. No, not the Celine Dion song! I want this to be sort of a guidance/guide phrase for me to live by this year. I always find myself "just here" and never really "out there", and this year, I plan to be "out there". Over the years, I tend to be more passive than assertive and maybe that's one reason why I'm not moving up (or at least it feels like it). So, this year, I'm going to take chances and take more risks and be more confident doing it (and look good doing it too!). I'm hopeful that I'm going to be successful this year (whatever that means to me). Wish me luck, folks!

Starting Project 365
If you're wondering if I've started the photo project, well yes I have! You can find it & view the photos here. I made a separate blog for the project, just so it won't interfere with my personal blog. I'll also put a link at the bottom, so you can find the link there as well. Follow me in my 365-day photo journey! :o)

I'm going to end this entry with a few quotes I found about taking chances. Also, I'm going to share with you guys some photos from the New Year's Eve party. Enjoy!

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
-Mark Twain

"Progress always involves risks. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first. "

~ Frederick B. Wilcox

"Leap and the net will appear."

~ Zen Saying