06:51 AM It's the end of the month, and this layout's been up for two months already! I haven't had time to sit still at a computer and think about a new layout, but lately I've been thinking about the issue of copyright. Celebrity pictures were taken by professional photographers who claim ownership of all the pictures they take. If I take a picture of, say, Josh Hartnett and use it for my layout, wouldn't that be copyright infringement? Maybe I ought to start making more layouts like this one and the one over at Rebel Heart--made entirely by me.

Now my problem is how to come up with a layout by tomorrow. Clarissa, Dyanne and Macy have really great ones. Ü

09:42 AM Okay, just a few links to start up the day. Look at this beautiful clique I joined and some really interesting blogs I found through BlogSnob:

LeftOvers
The Elf and The Whale

12:17 AM Need... help... sister... has become... YODA! She just told me "Going to bed now I am. Not wise to sleep late it is" in a croaky voice nearly approximating that midget Jedi master's. Ü Anyway, I took this test a few days ago, and I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi.

10:50 PM My family and I have just come back from watching Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones. My advice to people who have not seen the movie yet: DO NOT READ THE REVIEWS! See it first, and make your own judgments before you let someone else form them for you. I'm sure I missed a lot, and I nitpicked a lot, particularly about the acting and how cheesy and stilted the characters' lines were. The misplaced non-use of contractions ("I do not like this idea of hiding") killed the flow of dialogue, among other things. What grated on me was the fact that Obi-Wan kept addressing Anakin as "my young Padawan" or "my very young apprentice"; I know that it's supposed to put Anakin in his place, but there's such a thing as too much of a good thing. But the effects! The effects were spectacular! I think Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is going to get a run for its money at the Oscars. It's gonna be WETA vs. ILM.

Speaking of LOTR, I'm reminded of Christopher Lee's portrayal of Saruman as opposed to (or akin to?) his portrayal of Count Dooku in Episode 2. That "you must join me" part appeared in both films! The thing is, somehow their lines are interchangeable... Ü

Saruman: You must join me, Gandalf, and together we will destroy the Sith!
Dooku: You must join with that power. It would be wise, Obi-Wan.

So, which villain portrayed by Christopher Lee is more intimidating and powerful, fantasy fans? Saruman or Dooku?

By the way, I'd have to be a complete Star Wars ignoramus not to notice a few of the more intentional similarities between this film and The Empire Strikes Back, namely that someone loses an arm the same way Luke lost his hand, and that the end sequence involves showing the prosthetic replacement and two people looking out over scenery. Ü

08:45 AM For those who are asking about how to volunteer for YouthBuild, try visiting their website. But since I'm so nice, I've harvested the info off their contact page.

ANYA S. SANTOS
Volunteer Programs Coordinator NCR / LUZON
Tel. no. (632) 637-8700 Ext. 221 or
Email anya_santos@habitat.org.ph

YouthBuild will only go on until June, so make inquiries now--the rainy season is upon us. When we were at the build site, it rained for a while, although not so much to make the ground muddy. Ü

06:09 AM I have a newfound respect for carpenters and masons. They toil all day under the sun in backbreaking conditions and get low pay.

Of course, we volunteers toiled under the sun all day yesterday and didn't get paid. Ü Then again, we came for the experience, not the monetary reward. I was assigned to plaster walls and actually enjoyed it because it didn't require so much intellectualizing--you just did it (or tried to figure out how to get the cement to stick to the crack in the wall). Being a desk jockey all my life, I found it refreshing to do manual labor. Of course, afterwards my body told me I might have overdone it. There was this numbing pain in my right arm, and I couldn't extend it fully. Today some of that pain's gone, but there's still some tenderness in my fingers.

I found out my work ethic is stronger than I thought. While others were taking breaks, I stuck by my job because the cement in the bucket would dry up if I didn't keep using it. Yeah, so maybe I missed out on the socializing that occurred between my teammates; it didn't matter. I liked looking at the wall and saying proudly, "I did that!" It was a positive experience on the whole, though I don't think I'll be back any time soon. My body can't take that kind of punishment. Ü

04:57 AM Have you ever built a house with your bare hands? Well, today, I'm going to try. My sister and I signed up to join a build for Habitat for Humanity. We're going to their site in Muntinlupa with a group of at least 30 young people from Christ's Commission Fellowship Sucat. Being encouraged by all these YouthBuild commercials on TV, we wanted to try it out for ourselves. Besides, I want to see if I'm useful or will just be running around like a chicken with its head off. Ü

By the way, my sister and I have also opened our photography and art site called print/scan. It's not finished yet because she hasn't given me her stuff to scan, and most of my stuff is quite old, especially the art because I stopped drawing in college. In any case this is to force me to use my pastels again to try to top my pathetic artwork.

I can smell corned beef coming from the kitchen. Ü

11:20 PM "At summer's end Noelle beheld all the movies she had seen, and she saw they were good--except for that Britney Spears stinker. And she said, 'Lo! I have seen more movies in theaters this summer than in the past three years combined. Therefore I shall rest until the next blockbuster comes.'"

A Walk to Remember was a good movie. Some people might think of it as City of Angels without all the stuff about angels. I think that Mandy Moore, as Jamie Sullivan, did well for a singer-turned-actress, although the suspension of disbelief that is vital for me while watching movies (or reading books) didn't quite happen. My inner Siskel and Ebert kept me distanced, and I wasn't able to immerse myself fully in the "universe" that was A Walk to Remember, as far as Mandy was concerned. I kept thinking, "but she sang that 'missing you like candy' song!" If I had gotten past that, the movie would have seemed much more believable.

On the other hand, Shane West gave a spectacular performance as the protagonist Landon Carter, and one could actually sympathize with his character, so flesh-and-blood did he become. Apparently, Shane West is also a songwriter and singer; if you take a look at the end credits, one song is credited to him. It was probably played at the beginning of the movie (I think it was the one playing in Landon's car during the opening sequence). And as Mary Jane from Spider-Man put it, "You'll think I'm just a silly little girl with a crush." He's cute. That's it. I'm not going to say anything more for fear of sounding like a hapless rabid fangirl. Ü

10:00 PM Link via Ricky: Are You Going to Heaven?

05:55 PM Rebel Heart has now been updated with a layout made possible and easier by CSS. Thanks to JM who congratulated me on the conversion of Ambergris to CSS. Actually... I studied both his and Pau's sites because I was too lazy to look for a CSS tutorial. Ü

11:45 AM A few hours later and I'm still working out the kinks to this layout fully dependent on CSS for positioning the elements of these webpages. Ü I'm planning on redesigning Rebel Heart soon to take advantage of what I learned about SSI and CSS. Summer resolution number one down. Two more to go... Learn Elvish and Lose Weight.

I stumbled across these pages while clicking through my BlogSnob ads, and some other pages appeared on my list of referrers.

Blogatelle
Legalities of "Deep Linking"
House Arrest
Kleene-Star
This Is Your Goldfish Speaking

I also visited Exposures, which is an amateur photography site run by Mikko et al. The saying "a picture paints a thousand words" comes true with each of these girls' pictures. I wish I could join them, but it's my sister who's got the photographer's eye in my family. She probably inherited it from one of my aunts. I, on the other hand, can't seem to get the image I see with my eyes to translate to negatives.

09:28 AM Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce the fully table-less layout for Ambergris. Ü

Okay, okay, so it looks just the same... but take a look, and you'll find that CSS is purring under the hood. 08:02 AM I checked, and my archives go all the way back to this month last year! Ü I should be celebrating my first year anniversary--hey, would the date established still be valid even if I changed the name halfway through?

I have a new email address where you guys can send email and other stuff. It's noelle [at sign] friction [dot sign] net (I'm trying to avoid spammers Ü). Ever since Bigmailbox.com threatened to shut its free email service down and start charging for it, I haven't used my cherrycoma.net account, and the bluebrat.net account I used for my Corrs website is also now inaccessible.

Free stuff is hard to find (and keep) nowadays, no?

09:42 PM Spider-Man makes it to the cover of Time Magazine as part of their general proclamation of a Blockbuster Summer. Also included are special features on comic-book superheroes in movie adaptations and, of course, that other big movie of the summer, Attack of the Clones. Which brings me to the point I want to raise: is or isn't George Lucas' latest film bad? I read Salon.com's review that said it was a stinker, and then Richard Corliss in his Time article says otherwise. I hear negative or disappointed reviews from friends who have already seen it, but my other friends who are Star Wars fanatics say it's great. Maybe I should rephrase my question: is it worth spending my money on a movie ticket? Considering that I did not see The Phantom Menace when it ran in theaters, instead waiting for WOWOW and Star Movies to show it last year, I'm actually quite willing to pass up this opportunity as well.

Still on the subject of movies to see, Remember when I said I won tickets to watch the premiere of A Walk to Remember? Well, my sister also won tickets to it a few weeks ago, but the showdate was pushed back to May 21, so we were only able to claim our tickets yesterday. We received so many that we had to give four away to our friends. Ü I hope the movie's good; I was planning to buy the book it was based on, but some people say that the movie's better if you haven't read the book yet.

11:18 PM My father's sister plus her family are moving to Canada this July, leaving my father's brother-in-law here to take care of the details, like disposing of their property. After about a year of waiting for her papers to get processed, my aunt was cleared for immigrant status this past February. My father's brother has already sent in his papers for processing, planning to take his wife and two teenage sons to Canada as well. Looks like a lot of my relatives are leaving for greener pastures. Is the Philippines really beginning to look so toxic? Granted, right now it's sweltering hot, but I'm not just talking about the climate. I'd like to refer to one of my posts last year (look for June 10).

Over breakfast, my family and I were discussing the benefits of emigrating to a foreign country. My mom dredged up her friend Jeanie's great experiences in Canada, which led me to wondering--after graduation, where do I go? I feel two yearnings: one is to leave, get a peaceful life and a good job in a stable country, and the other is to stay, try to make the Philippines a better place.

Look where I am now. I've graduated, and my whole life is ahead of me. I know I'm not yet qualified to emigrate to a foreign country (quite frankly, at my age it would be ridiculous), but one of these years I might just be old enough, with enough work experience and probably a master's degree, and I'll come up against this question again: to go or to stay? With job opportunities opening up in other countries like Canada and Europe (especially for caretakers for their aging population), it's hard to resist the lure of big money.

I remember the speech the University's valedictorian gave at our commencement exercises. She said that as long as the country was steeped in poverty, corruption, and decreasing job and study opportunities, the graduates of the premier University would continue to leave the country, like so many of their predecessors had done. I also remember what my professor Felipe Miranda once said, that if all the good people leave the country, only scoundrels will be left to run it. Somehow I'm caught between these two views. I'm glad I don't have to face deciding ultimately which one to believe and follow.

I got a call from someone earlier this week asking if I were interested in a job working at one of these call centers. After two days of mulling it over and weighing the pro of having a high-paying job with the con of not having a social life or not being able to devote my time to studying, I decided to decline the offer. Did you know that the Philippines has one of the fastest growing call center industries? Corporations (say, from the U.S.) with toll-free numbers enlist the services of call centers elsewhere in the world to be the persons on the other end of the toll-free line. If you Americans think you're calling a fellow American on the toll-free line, think twice. Ü In any case, the job hours are taxing, occurring at the hours where most Filipinos are asleep. What makes my future really disappointing is that most people with my degree (sometimes classified under "behavioral sciences") have taken jobs with call centers.

The LOTR fan in me can't resist comparing the Philippines to Middle-Earth and the Western world (Canada, the US, Europe) to the Undying Lands where the Elves go when they finally tire of the mortal realm. Of course, it's not an exact parallelism. Ü

04:13 PM I've started to use the SSI capabilities of this server so that I could keep an archive page of the current blog entries without having to upload two different files. CSS is also included this way instead of with the usual "@import" command, although I haven't converted totally to CSS so this page may look a bit freakish to those few non-standards-compliant browsers out there. I'd like to be able to change fonts and layouts at the snap of a finger without combing through all the pages searching for the proper tags. One of these days I'll figure out how to do tableless layouts completely through CSS. Ü

04:01 PM I never realized this before... but my family and I are officially coffee hounds. We seek out the nearest Starbucks whenever in a mall, and when we were in Bacolod we tested all sorts of coffee places, from Calea to Cafe Bob's in search of the perfect cup of cappuccino. Well, actually, as much as I love cappuccino, I usually settle for the Decaf Coffee of the Day, garnished with a packet of Equal or Sweet 'n' Low and the occasional cinnamon and nutmeg sprinkle. It's not like we need the caffeine or anything; we just like coffee.

Okay, so I've finally figured out what to do with this coming semester. Instead of sitting on my butt and warming a bench or a La-Z-Boy, I'm going to take some extra subjects. I'm still going to try to enter the MA Journalism or MA Broadcast Communication program in UP, but I figured that I could take some undergraduate courses in Journalism (Journ 101 or BC 101) to prepare me for them. I mean, I don't want to suffer from too major a culture shock.

10:00 AM Strange how many different things and different realizations can happen to you in 24 hours. Yesterday, which was Friday the 10th, I found out that I had missed the deadline for application into the MA Journalism program in UP this coming semester; the application period for next semester doesn't start until July 1. This means that I'm going to be pretty much idle this whole semester while waiting for my application to be accepted (if it is). My parents were really disappointed in me, and I know why: I kept delaying my inquiry about re-entering college (whether into a BA or MA program), and now I can't do anything about it. I'm looking into doing some freelance writing for some magazines, and my parents have asked me to look into applying for a Fulbright scholarship. What I feel now is confusion, because I don't feel like I'm doing anything for myself; rather, it's like I'm trying to please all these people. All my life I haven't done anything actively. Everything's come to me rather passively, whether it was my course or my org or anything else I've ever done. It was always "I need to complete this to make them proud" or "This is where I was placed, so here I go" instead of "I want to do that, so I'll try my best to make it possible."

Another thing that happened to me was that I attended the youth service at Alabang New Life Christian Center, and I realized that my church doesn't have the equivalent of the programs they offer to their youth for participation in church work.

Between these two experiences I can honestly say I've never felt so passionately about doing something as I have now. I want to go into journalism in any way, shape, or form I can get it, and I also want a youth program in my church where I can participate. Strange, that it's the first time I've ever felt like I truly wanted something in my life. Nearly nineteen years after my birth, and this is the first time I've had some sort of direction.

10:56 AM Finally! I lost my prepaid internet connection the other day because I'd used up all the hours. Fortunately, our local phone service provider has finally set up Internet access... and until May 15 it's free. Ü

I'm trying to apply to the masteral program in the UP College of Mass Communication, but no one's answering their phone, so I can't make any inquiries. My parents look like they support me in this endeavor, and I'm sure that if I truly love that field of study (and as of now I do), I can get past the thesis part. In any case, it looks like I got past the logjam I experienced while I was in Bacolod. I saw all these job opportunity signs cropping up and I started to get lazy. I figured that since I had already earned a degree, why try to get another one? I could take advantage of all the jobs waiting out there. Of course, parents know best, and it took a little tough love from my mom to convince me that I was still not ready for "the real world" out of college. If it's God's will for me to continue schooling, I'll be able to get into that masteral program. If it's not, and it's God's will for me to go elsewhere, he just might enable me to get into that OJT program at YOU Cross-campus.

Now, didn't I say I'd rhapsodize about Spider-Man? Yes, I certainly did. Want me to review the movie? I'd rather you see it for yourself. I'm actually planning on taking my parents to see it this weekend--sort of like my Mother's Day present to them.

I'm supposed to buy a domain with my cousin's help... but he's suddenly flown off to the States and won't be back until later this month! I don't know what to do now because I don't have a credit card to use. Ü

10:04 AM I watched Spider-Man on its first day, May 3rd, when I was in Bacolod. It was terrific, and I enjoyed every minute of it. If I had tried to see the movie in Manila that same day (which is simply a hypothetical scenario), I would probably have never gotten my foot inside the theater doors. The movie posted a 115 million dollar gross on its opening weekend--the biggest in history. Ü I find myself realizing that I'm also a fan of Tobey Maguire, although someone on #theonering.net said he looks a little bit like k.d. lang (ugh). More on Spider-Man later, when I can rhapsodize about it.

09:49 AM Please bear with me as I try to work out the kinks on this site--and polish my essays in the meantime, for your reading pleasure. Oh, by the way, I might be buying a domain soon...

12:24 AM I'm currently having problems with Greymatter, so it's back to manual coding for me right about now. In any case, I'm back with a lot of things to write about. The next few days' worth of blogging will be in essay form about certain things that struck me while I was there--yes, it's not your ordinary "I went to such-and-such place and did this-and-that" sort of thing. Ü

That said, I'm going to visit all my links and see what's up. If you want to tell me anything that's happened in the past eight days or so, why don't you write me?