10:48 PM My, my, what a long absence I've had! Ü I'm actually starting to get sick of this layout. I hate dark layouts, especially when they make me brood. Oh, well. In a week it'll be August... but I don't even know what to replace this layout with! *sigh*

I'm acting as if it would be the end of the world if I don't come up with a new layout. That might not really be the case, but it would mean that I don't have the time to create anything new, much less write about my day.

Currently, I'm at home in the throes of some cold I caught yesterday while slogging through the heavy rain just to get to my last class of the day. I thank God that I had the foresight to bring my heavy windbreaker with me, or else I wouldn't have attended at all... and today I might have committed my first absence this semester. Ang bait talaga ng Panginoon: God is good. Ü

I've been lagging on my email; I managed not to check it for almost a whole week, actually. A few months back, I wouldn't have survived through a day without checking my email twice, surfing the internet for hours on end for some obscure fact I wouldn't really need in real life. In hindsight, it was such bondage; I mean, it kept me from enjoying other stuff around the house--my books, the TV, simply talking to my family. If it weren't for a strange morning when I woke up and suddenly knew I had to stop obsessing about a certain thing, I'd still be glued to the computer screen, and in real life would humiliate myself with a rendition of Nibun no Ichi in front of the entire freshman College of Arts and Letters population (no offense, MM). All I'm saying is that all I did for a certain obsession seems a little silly now. Hehe. Ü

Thing to do: watch the VCD of A.I. which I borrowed from a friend yesterday. BTW, my cousin changed his weblog's name; I wonder why. Ü

12:18 AM I just finished typing up a take-home exam for my Comparative Lit class; incidentally, Macy and I share the same professor, only Macy's taking up Humanities 1. Ugh, what a sickening professor we both have. Ma'am Alaras may very well be one of the most inept teachers in UP. First of all, she does not have a course syllabus, nor does she explain fully what the course is going to tackle. Secondly, she does not even give proper lectures; she just keeps on planning for events that are grandiose in character, expects the class to organize them, and then can't even explain what it's all supposed to be about. She, a Jose Rizal freak, was organizing this "pilgrimage" tour around the campus as something related to Rizal's Renaissance-Man achievements (Rizal achieved excellence in both the arts and the sciences). When we asked her what this long walk around the campus was supposed to accomplish (because we absolutely had no idea what was supposed to happen anyway), she couldn't even explain it to us. It's like she believes she has this holy mission to establish Rizal and the University of the Philippines as objects of worship--but Rizal's just a man who accomplished great things, and UP is just a university with great achievements. Enough said; you don't have to hold a "pilgrimage" around the campus as if it were some religious procession.

*sigh* So I'm going to go off to bed now, and will wake up around seven hours from now. I need my beauty sleep; I've already got the pimples to show for lack of it. Ü

By the way, thank you to all those who signed my guestbook, especially to Bel, Clarissa, Cyberbutiki, Macy, and Stephie.

09:43 PM This is just a short note... Ü I've got a new guestbook, courtesy of Megabook. Go on and give it some loving!

09:05 PM I just realized that a big plus in turning eighteen is that people give you extravagant presents. Ü The ones I got are some of the best I've had in years, and none of them are unwanted. My favorite presents would be the book The Jesus I Never Knew from Tin R. from Bible study, and a pair of Levi's superlow jeans from my uncle.

I have a confession: I've never been inside a Levi's store. By my own means, I could never afford to buy even a basic pair of jeans from there, but because my uncle was willing to pay the price, I was able to purchase what I wanted without worrying about cost.

In a way, I guess that's what Jesus accomplished by dying on the cross: we humans, sinners, could never hope to enter Heaven on our own merit, but because Jesus paid the price for our sins, we can freely enter the kingdom of Heaven--that is, if we choose to believe in Him and accept grace. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23

On to more mundane, earthly matters... Just as I was walking by recruitment booths, someone accosted me and started promoting his org.



As I walked away, I heard his orgmates start making plane-crash sounds. I'd just shot the poor guy down. Aww. I know this would sound funnier if I were saying it out loud instead of writing it. Ah, shoot. Ü

10:43 AM Happy birthday to my cousin Chelsea, who's turning 10 today! Ü

Last night, Bible study turned into something else. I don't know; I can't help feeling partially disappointed that it wasn't a Bible study like any other; instead, it was like I had a party at my house and then held a Bible study during that. I guess it couldn't have been avoided because my parents were determined to make something out of it, while all I wanted was to make nothing of it. I mean, the party was not supposed to be for me; I was just supposed to provide food and a venue for the Bible study. *sigh*

One of the birthday gifts I received is the book The Jesus I Never Knew, by Philip Yancey. I've only just started reading it, but the basic point is that Jesus did become a man. Jesus made possible a new view of God: "humble, approachable, underdog, courageous." In the past, all of humankind's dealings with God had involved the element of fear; since people are sinful, contact with the sinless and holy God was impossible (and those who encountered Him directly were either struck dead or permanently injured). Philip Yancey writes: "In Jesus, God found a way of relating to human beings that did not involve fear." A hemorrhaging woman touched the hem of Jesus' robe and came away healed, not dead. "It took courage to risk descent to a planet known for its clumsy violence, among a race known for rejecting its prophets." The book is a compelling read, and I'm going to stop blogging about it now to read more. Ü

06:51 PM Classes were suspended today at 1 PM Problem was, I was already in school, so I didn't have the luxury of not leaving the comfort of my own house. My sister, Papa, and I ended up spending our afternoon at Megamall while waiting for Mama. Something straight out of television happened in front of Mossimo--a woman had slipped and couldn't get up. There was this crowd gathering, but we couldn't see anything past the bodies of security guards and store personnel.

Anyway, I'm off to read David's log. He told me he wrote a recent entry in it. Ü Oh, and I didn't realize Sugar Ray's When It's Over video had two versions--animated and live-action. Both are still cute, anyway. Ü

09:46 AM I've been surfing my cousin David's sites, namely Marit Larsen Online, The Tom Morello Domain, and his Internet Radio site, NotRadio. Ü What can I say? Is this fascination with making websites hereditary or what? Hehehe...

In a few hours I'm going to the dermatologist to get my skin cleaned up. How many months has it been? Six? More, maybe. I probably have a lot of blackheads and whiteheads and milia I didn't know I had, not to mention I'm going to get scolded for popping my zits. Argh. Ü

MTV Asia's Artist of the Month is Sugar Ray. I'm watching their When It's Over video, and it's so cute! Jetsons and Flintstones influences, and some Dukes of Hazzard as well. Ü Last night, I watched Tomb Raider, and it was great! Sadly, I noticed the quality the critics really hated; the movie didn't have emotional depth, even if Lara was propelled on her quest because she wanted to get her father back. It was very much like the video game--and it was fun! I realized, though, that the screenplay didn't follow the canon that Eidos Interactive created for Lara Croft. Tsk, tsk.

12:00 AM Happy Birthday to me! Fact: I was born on the fourth of July, eighteen years ago (that's 1983 to those who can't count Ü). It was a Monday. I was supposed to have been born two days earlier, but my mother never really felt any labor pains--she tells me that she just felt so heavy in the morning that she had herself brought to the hospital. It's a case of the baby having separation anxiety; I had actually overstayed my welcome (and had eaten little bits of baby feces by that time). I was brought into the world via Caesarian section around 2:25 PM and stayed in an incubator for a little while until I was pronounced fit to go home. And thus began the not-so-normal life of myself.

That sounded a bit melodramatic. Ü Anyway, thank you to those who greeted me a happy birthday via the guestbook, especially Clarissa, Macy, and Redgie. They all have lovely new layouts at their weblogs as well.

Looking at the header graphic on this layout, I'm a bit proud of myself for having accomplished that burned edge effect (please, someone stick a needle in my ballooning head). It was actually not a result of Photoshop's "burn" effect, but was a product of good old-fashioned painting and layering. Ü Oh, by the way, I don't have a scanner, so these J.Lo images have been pilfered from some website--and unfortunately I forgot the URL, or else I would have given credit.

Okay, well, I got my beauty sleep to catch. *yawn* Good night (well, good morning) everyone.

03:02 PM Here's the new layout! Ü It's going to last me through the whole month of July, so help me God... even though it didn't come out exactly the way I wanted it to, it's better than keeping the Josie layout for much longer. I've really been so busy lately, it's not funny. When I get home, it's time for dinner, and after that, I just want to crash onto the bed. Probably explains why this layout isn't as up to par as the others I've done. *sigh*

In any case, my birthday's going to be in a few days. Instead of having this huge debut that everyone seems to expect from me (and unfortunately, they don't see that I can't afford it), I'm just providing dinner for this week's Bible study. Ü I personally think this is a better way to celebrate my birthday. Actually, I don't want to celebrate my birthday; I mean, who am I? I'm not a national hero or a celebrity, and I am certainly not Jesus Christ. Hehe. So instead I'm just going to give a simple thanksgiving dinner for my Bible study. Heck, I know it might sound weird to some of you (should I say most of you readers?), but I personally think it's the best way to thank God for my eighteen years. Ü