Whimsical.nu

Welcome to “Everything Angela”

I'm a true whimsical girl: I'm interested in many things (sometimes fleetingly), and talk about even more things: Big News™, activities, musings, the occasional quote and photo.

The Impossible Dream

I'm talking about: dreams

I originally wrote this last night, for a journal entry. But after finishing it, I decided I would post it as today’s entry, instead, under both Writer and Girl, because it is something very personal to me in addition to being about writing.

I think I just had an inkling of what a full-time writer (blogger? contributor? author?) must be like.

I have just come up for air from nonstop writing. Okay, that’s not technically true, because I’m still writing. That sounds kind of fail, but well, here I am writing in my journal. I wrote the whole day yesterday: broken by two meals, and intermittently to dump clothes in the washing machine and hang them up to dry. I wrote ’til 1AM, after which I (foolishly) played Final Fantasy I (it is on the iPhone omg!) until around 3AM (I had to stop because my iPhone power ran out). Today, I stayed in and wrote again, broken by Mass, one meal (I have yet to eat dinner!), and a thorough scrubbing of the bathroom. In a bit, I will make dinner, turn on the TV and iron my clothes. Ah, the calls of domestic life.

I’ve been writing almost nonstop. Some online researching, as well. The result of all of this is, I have blog entries scheduled and ready to go for the whole coming week, and the next two Fridays. That is almost crazy. I have around five more drafts that need working on, in various degrees, but very doable drafts.

I was talking to my friend Jaydee for a bit today, when I went on WoW to do some screen capping for some of these articles. I told him I was just capping for blog entries, and that I was back to blogging again, and that what I meant for just one entry has ended up to be three entries in one series. He said (translated), “that’s because you like writing, so you write a lot.”

And you know what…he’s right. He’s absolutely right.

I don’t know if this feeling of an epiphany is a phase or not–but it’s a good feeling. It’s a good feeling to be writing again, dealing with words again. Words have never been alien from my life–I’ve always journaled–but writing for public consumption is a different feeling, whether it’s creative or otherwise. I haven’t felt this in a while (the last time was high school, in fact). I’m not saying I’m a good writer: I’m still finding (re-finding?) my voice. I’m certain my blog posts are all over the place in terms of writing tone and style and voice. With my mercuriality, I may never have just one voice, and I may never be able to correctly harness and organize these multiple voices. I don’t know. But it’s wonderful to just write, anyway. It’s wonderful to see the number of visitors rise ever so slowly over the weeks. It is a small, cozy number, but I’m happy just the same–maybe even inordinately happy.

Creative writing might be a different story. I haven’t gotten back to creative writing yet, although I’m gearing up for it by signing up for NaNoWriMo this year. But I’m willing to give it a shot, again. If a month’s daily blogging placed me where I am now, another month of daily blogging should help me with NaNoWriMo, fail plot and all.

A whole weekend of writing. Sitting here looking back at it (with a growling tummy, I might add–I should go have dinner soon, but soon soon soon when I’m done with this entry) I am amazed, abashed, and so very grateful. A month ago, this would never have been possible. But I’m here now, and I can almost see the progress I’m making right before my eyes. Quantity is a poor indicator, but quantity is better than nothing.

Suddenly, it feels like my dreams of writing for a living–and enjoying it, in the same way I’ve enjoyed making websites for a living, that is to say, it has its highs and lows but I enjoy it all the same–is not so impossible after all. The possibility is faint, and fragile, and I may yet bungle things up…but it’s not some unattainable dream that I have lost somewhere along the way, now.

It’s there, so faint, so far away. But it’s actually there.

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I survived hosting a dinner party

Yes, I survived! Last night was the fist time I’ve hosted a dinner party without any help from, well, anyone else. I had three families over (my aunt’s, and two cousins’ families) for a small housewarming dinner. Ten adults, and six kids (and one baby!).

I have been a nervous wreck for most of the weekend: I was sick for two days (Wednesday and Thursday) so I did not have enough time to get my shopping done at leisure. I went to the grocery thrice yesterday. (I need a new wire trolley.)

The menu

I’ve never really cooked for other people in my life. Okay, there were a few times that I did (Christmases, that sort of thing–but my mom was always around to ask/bug/wail to about why so-and-so isn’t happening in my dish). But I’ve never cooked, not really. I can feed myself, but that’s pretty much it. But I went and tried three dishes for tonight’s dinner:

  1. The Pioneer Woman’s favorite meatloaf
  2. The Pioneer Woman’s Shrimp Pasta in a Foil
  3. Baked mashed potatoes (topped with cheddar and bacon)

(Yes, you can tell I am a fan.)

They’re all relatively easy dishes, but I’ve never done either of them before. I’d say the runaway winner here was the meatloaf: no leftovers! I borked it up a little though, as I had “halved” the recipe but forgot about it midway and ended up putting the whole 1 cup of cheese, but then there is no such thing as too much cheese, isn’t it?

(That, and the sad fact that I can’t find a broiler pan. I compromised with a roasting pan with a roasting grill, with aluminum foil over the grill, cut with slits to let the oil drop through.)

(Oh, I also left out the white wine in the pasta. Not because I don’t have any–I actually bought white wine just for it–but because I have no corkscrews. How fail is that?!)

Five realizations

  1. Stick to your initial plans and gut feelings. I suddenly worried that the pasta would not be enough (I halved the recipe), and I added a quarter pound’s worth. That quarter pound ended up as leftovers.
  2. Five cups of rice is still too much rice. (I have enough for six more dinners!)
  3. Filipinos just aren’t mashed potato people. Everyone said it was good, but there was half left over (well…I should have known, really. I can’t eat so much either, even though I think it’s omgdelicious–because I feel too guilty).
  4. Stick a movie into the TV and that keeps most kids’ attentions. That, and prank donuts.
  5. You do NOT need five hours to cook two dishes.

This certainly isn’t something I’d love to do on a regular basis (omgsotired) but the sense of achievement after is rewarding :)

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Shake it, baby

I'm talking about: homemade fruit drinks

Apple-orange juiceI love fruit shakes, fruit juices, and other such drinks. It’s one thing I miss the most in the Philippines: the proliferation of fruit drink stands. You can’t walk 10 minutes in a mall without bumping into one of these things when you’re there!

Sadly, this is not true in Singapore. Oh, there are plenty fruit stands in the food courts and hawker centers, but it’s just not home.

And so, my blender is seeing a lot of action. Last weekend I bought bananas, apples, oranges, lemons and strawberries, mostly to snack on and cut up for dessert. However, what I’m using them for the most now is for making fruit juices and shakes! I have at least one a day for the moment.

It’s crazy easy to make myself a nice, worthy drink, and cleanup of the blender is pretty easy. I usually put in two different kinds of fruits, a cup or two of water or milk, and some honey. Sometimes I add in some ice cubes.

And after, I rinse off the blender body to remove most of the visible fruit/food particles and slush, then I put in about a cup or two of water, a bit of liquid soap, and blend the mixture. Since I don’t usually put sticky stuff in my drinks, this is usually enough for cleanup. Then I can use the diluted, frothy mixture to do the rest of my dish washing! :D

Here are two of my favorite drinks:

  1. Banana-tomato shake

    This was a bit of an “accident”. I was making a grilled egg mayo sandwich and I wanted tomatoes in it. But obviously, one whole tomato is too much for one sandwich, so instead of popping the tomato back in the fridge, I tossed the remaining half into the blender with a banana. A cup of milk (I use low-fat pasteurized milk), about a teaspoon of honey (I never really measure, my honey container has this twisty top), and then I blend them all together.

    The result is a creamy banana shake that is not too banana-ey. There is no strong tomato taste, but you occasionally encounter bits and there is a slight tartness to the drink, an edge that wouldn’t have been there with just the mushy banana. It also looks pretty good! Creamy beige with a touch of pink and spots of red.

  2. Apple-orange juice

    Perfect as a pick-me-up for the mornings. I squeeze the juice out of an orange and put that into the blender. As for the apple (I use a Fuji apple), I sometimes leave the skin on, when I don’t have as much time to peel it–it makes the juice look pretty nice, what with small specks of red. I just cut it into smaller pieces and take the core out. They all go into the blender.

    Then a cup of water, a teaspoon of honey, and I blend away. I haven’t tried using milk, as I think the citrus and milk together just won’t suit my stomach. It’s perfect as a healthy breakfast drink though, very bright and perky.

I’m doing some more experimentation with a couple other fruits, although I admit I sometimes wonder if I’m crazy to try some combinations out. :x

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“If you can organize your kitchen, you can organize your life.” – Louis Parrish

I'm talking about: an aspect of my new life

My kitchen

I moved to my own place early last August, and have been spending a fair amount of time in the kitchen. I've never been much of a cook, but I'm pleased at the chance to experiment and learn at my own pace, with fun and without pressure.

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Hand-bound photo albums

Last Christmas, I decided I’d try for a little more personalization with my gifts to relatives, and went materials-hunting and planning for a hand-bound album. The whole set is on Flickr.

I wish I took closer note of the materials I used, the thickness of the paper and whatnot, but it didn’t really cross my mind at the time. For each album, I prepared five signatures of four A3 size black sheets (relatively heavy paper), folded in half to have A4-size pages for the albums. I covered illustration boards with this pretty wrapping paper I’d been keeping in store (er, kind of hoarding, lol), and used silver thread for the actual binding. I had been planning to wax the thread as usual, but I was worried the thread would lose its shine, so I didn’t this time around.

I had also prepared a good number of self-adhesive photo corners, but in the end, I didn’t stick them ino the albums, just included it in the gift package itself. After all, who am I to dictate how they wanted to arrange photos, or what size photos could they use in the album? Additionally, the covers also have a thin sleeve on the inside for various thin…things.

Each album took me around three hours to do, from preparing the materials to the actual stitching. It should probably have gone faster, but I was quite careful, especially with the first binding when I wasn’t used to the rhythm and the thread yet. It’s quite a soothing experience, sewing the signatures together and piecing the book slowly together; and I really like Coptic binding since the book can lay flat on its covers without destroying the spine.

I finished each album with each family’s name in glittery letters on the front, but alas, no pictures of those.

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Move forward, say yes, choose happiness.

I haven’t done a proper year-ender or new year post! (How obvious.) So I’m doing a one-week-into-the-new-year post.

My 2009 was…interesting, to say the least. I’ve been going through my journal entries starting January last year, and it’s interesting how the year has gone on, some things have been under way long before you started noticing! I’ve gone to more new places this year, re-discovered old friends and made new ones even in the unlikeliest people, and found heartache in the ones I thought I could trust. It’s a curious mix, of happiness and sadness, of boredom and stagnation and exciting new vistas. It’s bittersweet; for all the pain that’s been my share, there has always been a silver lining somewhere.

2010 is a new year, and what better way to spend it than moving forward? Things will not always fall into place, and I will get hurt, and I will cry; but this year, I will focus on moving forward, saying yes, and choosing happiness.

I will move forward: sometimes, things just don’t work out. No amount of fixing, tears, and hours spent on it works, and the only result is a lot of baggage being carried along for the longest time. I will learn from the past, and then close the book on them; I will move forward with the things that matter.

I will say yes: admittedly I saw this from a friend’s journal post, and I loved the idea. (I also realize there’s a comedy movie on this. Yes, I’ve not been watching my movies.) So many things in the past year happened only because I said yes, when it was easier and more comfortable to say no. So many good and wonderful things, I must add. So what better way to spend the new year than saying yes? (Warning: only works when the thing in question is reasonable. Lol!) I’ve started doing this consciously and it feels so liberating.

I will choose happiness: life is too short and fleeting to dwell on what hurts us.

“I find it hard to forgive.”

“What is there to forgive?” demanded Rochester. “Ignore forgive and concentrate on living. Life for you is short; far too short to allow small jealousies to infringe on the happiness which can be yours only for the briefest of times.”

(On a very random note, my room is pretty once again! Admittedly I might just be a bit attached to the new mauve bedsheet and white pillows.)

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The day the sky fell

Well, almost literally.

I went to bed over half past two this morning, and just as I was falling asleep, I was jolted back awake upon hearing a loud crash, like something falling, and then a heavy downpour of rain. The crash sounded like right above me, and I worried that a tree might have fallen into the roof. Hearing no other sounds, I settled back down. I was actually giggling to myself, thinking I was a ditz for getting scared.

Rain inside my room at three in the morning

Rain inside my room at three in the morning

And then I realized that the raindrops were loud…and rather disturbingly too close. I snapped on my lamp and, lo and behold, my left wall was leaking. From the ceiling. Streaks of water, some of them grimy. What happened to the roof?!

I hurried and got my towel and started piling it against the wall. Then the portion of the wall near my aircon unit started leaking too. Badly. No help for it– I got one of my rugs and put it under. As I stood up… my ceiling light started gushing. Gushing! Think of an old shower with the sprinkler not evenly releasing water. Turn to high water volume. My ceiling light became a damn showerhead.

Rushed off to get a pail. Noticed the water splashes near my desk, panicked at the extension there, and went to turn it off at the socket. Looked back into the waterfall. Not enough. Rushed off to get more pails, including the top of my laundry container. It should hold for a while. Water not lessening, and what will happen if the ceiling can’t take the weight and starts to crack?! Whisked off my Macbook into my closet, wondering if I should hide it elsewhere. Pails almost full, need to bring it to the bathroom. Ooof, laundry container top too big and heavy, sloshed water around. Resort to moving off water from container top into one of the smaller pails. Pails under control again. Stare blankly at the disaster.

Rinse and repeat.

At around half past four, or maybe closer to 5am, the downpour lessened. I lied back down on the bed, completely exhausted and dreadfully wanting sleep, but not daring to sleep because what if the rain starts up again? I open and close my eyes. At six I kept telling myself, I will get up in a few minutes to take a bath, then call my landlady at 7am. Seven rolls around, and I give up trying to get up from the bed, since it’s Faye’s turn at the bathroom.

Round two. Water splashing everywhere :(

Round two. Water splashing everywhere :(

And then the rain starts up again. PANIC. Rearrange pails. Look out of my window to see how bad the rain is. But…wait. There’s no rain. Wut?

No time to wonder. Room downpour getting worse. Wall dripping extending throughout the whole length of the wall, increasingly heavy. Time to move furniture, so I push and shove things around to the other side of the room, wipe down where needed. Pails and containers filling up far too fast. Dammit. What now?

Apparently, it’s not the rain. It’s our water tank, which is situated above our ceiling and below the roof. Closing off the water keeps my room safe. Opening it, even if it’s being used, transforms my room into a waterfall resort. The water tank person (lol) who came by in the morning found out that the pressure tank rusted and fell clean off (which is the loud crash I heard). Our hallway was also affected, with the water leaking off the hallway light fixtures as well (it cartainly put me into a panic when I opened the hallway light to go downstairs to get a mop).

It looks like this has happened in some form before, since one of our neighbors very kindly turned off the water for us the first time the room downpour happened; although that incident seems to have been more of an overflow, which meant using the water wouldn’t cause an overflow with the water on. Well, we learned otherwise. The hard way, lol.

As I am flying to Jakarta tomorrow on business, I needed to pick up a couple of things from the office, so after getting an hour’s sleep, and making sure things were in relative control, I was off. And very shortly after I left the house, the rain started. Zomg. I had rain inside my room for most of the morning and now I even have rain outside my house?!

My landlady and the repairmen came by again to replace the water tank while I was out. Elvie says our landlady even went and mopped up my room with clean water <3 although portions still feel pretty sticky, and my floor needs a good coat of wax, I daresay. It will have to be next week. I still haven’t packed up my luggage, too. QQ. So now I need to get some semblance of order back into my room, make sure floor and furniture is dry, pack up, get a few meetings out of the way, and get some sleep (!!).

(Photos and more photo commentary at the Flickr set.)

Well, at least I got my tees from the last Threadless shopping spree I had. <3

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A (determined plan to) return to making notebooks

Today was one of those roller coaster days, and true to my sex, a bit of shopping seemed to be the best way to cheer myself up. So on the way back, I dropped by the newly-opened scrapbooking/paper crafts store in Raffles City and picked up a couple shiny new toys for paper crafts, like bone folders and stuff for punching holes and scoring. (I know, retail therapy usually means pretty frills like clothes and shoes. But, these are shiny!) My hunt for that elusive book press and other bookbinding tools here in Singapore is turning up to be a bit of a dead end; and I don’t have access to encyclopedias (!!) for a makeshift book press. (Am I desperate enough to buy this book press online?)

Coptic Binding by Moira Clunie (moirabot)

Coptic Binding by Moira Clunie (moirabot)

Maybe it’s a sign I should seriously try my hand at Coptic stitch binding, which doesn’t need a book press. Coptic binding is plain sewing, and doesn’t necessarily use glue for the spine (though it can be done as well); and when nicely done it’s a beautifully stitched book–most (if not all) books bound this way have open spines to show off the stitches. Plus the book can be opened all the way without any spine damage.

Unfortunately, I’ve tried my hand at it before, and the result was quite a disaster :( I’d be the first to admit that I’m a bit of a klutz with crafts (well, with almost anything, actually). I’ve only done it once however, and hopefully practice will make perfect? After all, once I get the hang of it, it should actually be “better” than the old way I’ve been binding–Angela and glue doesn’t mix.

I did find quite a lot more resources online on Coptic binding now than before, such as this gem, which is much more helpful than plain diagrams. Now I just have to get myself some needles, thread suitable for book binding, and nice pretty (well, at least thick) paper. Hopefully Spotlight has huge needles and thick thread; I really have idea where else I can get them. If all goes well, this weekend will be (note)book binding weekend! *rubs hands in glee*

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Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana)

I find it difficult to write about events such as this. What is there to write about? Cold hard facts you can get from anywhere, and they change as the days pass, even as the hours pass. Yesterday, there was a hundred confirmed dead; now the toll is up to 240. My family is safe in the south, but the same cannot be said of many, many others who live further north and were affected by the heavy rains and flooding caused by Typhoon Ondoy/Tropical Storm Ketsana. Reports are also around that there is one, two typhoons still coming after this. Only days after.

Phonebooth becomes a makeshift boat by rembcc

Phonebooth becomes a makeshift boat by rembcc

We are a small country, and maybe we brought this on ourselves by the poor state of flood prevention mechanisms available, the pollution, and whatever else–God knows Taft flooded a bit everytime there was a storm when I was still in college. But no one deserves to go through this disaster, losing all possessions, losing friends, losing family, and even possibly losing their lives.

Shot from V. Mapa station, street flooded at depths between 4-5 ft., by rembcc (n.b.: yes, that is a man trying to keep afloat)

Street flooded at depths between 4-5 ft., by rembcc (n.b.: yes, that is a man trying to keep afloat)

Please help, if you can. Prayers, good vibes, or something more tangible. The Yahoo! Philippines Answers team are compiling a list of ways to donate and help out, if you are so inclined.

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The mundane things

I’d been feeling rather “off” recently–feverish and generally achy all over. Not a very swell thing to be. But, my sisters did come two weeks ago for a weekend’s visit, which was fabulous. We had a rainy Sunday, but we still had a great time. Since they’d been here before, this weekend was really just more of a going-around-and-bonding type thing than a tourist-y thing (same with my parents’ coming over earlier this month).

Biel and the scientist

Biel and the scientist

I’d never been to the Science Centre before, and this seemed like a good time as any to go. We had brunch, then went on it and took two IMAX tickets, for Sea Monsters and Van Gogh. Just our luck — we ended up picking show times at just the times when they’d power up the huge Tesla coil for viewers. When we arrived at the Tesla coil room, Ate commented that she felt like she was playing Red Alert 2 again. Hee hee. I miss that game.

The exhibits were pretty good, though — the most enjoyable ones for me were the optical illusions, and the human body/virus/etc exhibits. We spent a good couple of minutes on the projected game were you use your shadow to direct cells (like macrophages) around and help make this little boy well. That was fun! The IMAX shows were good as well, although I found the Sea Monsters show more enjoyable than Van Gogh; I ended up yawning every two minutes with the latter. Ate got dizzy with Sea Monsters, however.

After that, we went on to Settlers’ Cafe, which I had initially planned for them when the whole family visited Singapore for the first time. I think, at the start, they felt a little shell-shocked with how noisy the gamers were (haha) but we had a good time; I especially loved the last game we played, a strategy card game called Dominion. Makes me want to buy it :D I almost did, but got over since there’s really no one to play with, anyway.

Up Poster

Up Poster

The next day was spent mostly in malls, and commuting in between. We watched the 3D version of Up in Iluma at Bugis; damn animated movies, making me cry. (Ahem.) It was really good though–Dug is my favorite. I wish translating collars are real XD

We had a nice lunch at Empire State (reminds me of NYNY), then went around a couple malls in Orchard Road. Biel found My Girl (the Korean drama) at one of the video shops; Ate was content with just eating and sampling all the food (though we ended up not getting anything remotely asian… go figure). I’ve never watched My Girl, so after a bratwurst dinner, we went home and watched it while Ate packed up some. They ended up asleep all over my bed, which left me no space <_<.

My Girl was quite enjoyable, though, I’m glad they got me to watch. I don’t usually go for asian TV dramas, although I have a soft spot for the Matsumoto/Mao Hana Yori Dango (yes, I am biased, because I love my Hanadan). Gongchan/Yoorin reminded me of Tsukasa/Tsukushi, although they’re quite different. It must be the comedy moments! I don’t know exactly if I find Lee Dong Wook cute or not; he definitely has his angles and his moments but a big chunk of that is probably the role.

All too fleeting, though :( I accompanied them back to the airport on Monday morning. I’ve had the whole family come visit one after another the whole of August XD which has prompted my officemates to ask why not just come all together. Yeah, why not? Tee hee.

It was certainly nice to spend a rather “ordinary” weekend with my sisters, and doing random, non-tourist-y things. I don’t suppose tourists would actually sit and play board games if they go to Singapore? And watch movies. But the mundane things are often the dearest things, the ones that I miss the most.

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