Marching Ants

I feel terribly HOT. Literally.

I sweat just walking down the street. And it's the tagaktak kind of sweat.

I think SUMMER is making a GRAND entrance in my life right now because I've been neglecting it...

For the past months or so, I haven't been such a responsible blogger and I haven't been my usual fun self because I tried to be a "more responsible" student. Imagine, I was finishing a paper over the holy week when everyone else was relaxing somewhere far from books and laptops. The Life.

How was your summer break, Lala?
Uhh, what summer break? I'm an ant. I'll be enjoying in July when the rain starts to fall... ;-)

Today, I've finally seen my grades online and sometimes graduate school really baffles me. I've met professors who grill me in class and make me find all my mistakes and then give me such a high grade in the end that makes me wonder if I truly deserved it. And I've met professors who ask me all these wonderful questions in class, smile and nod at me as I answer, tell me that I did a great job in my exam, and then give me a lower grade than what I thought I would get. And for this particular subject that I had this past semester (because there is a basis for this post), I thought I wasn't hoping for any particular grade... Not until I finally saw my final grade and felt my heart sink with it. So yes, I am officially grade conscious again just for this particular subject. I cannot argue with physiology. My heart just told me that I have GC (grade conscious) stamped on my forehead again.

But pfffft I'm letting go of my "serious M.A. hat" RIGHT NOW because YEAH, IT IS SUMMER TIME! Finally. :-D

Anyway, I just wanted to post a few long overdue updates about what I have been doing last month. As usual, they've piled up!

Gray Area Studios.
I worked as one of the models for their Open House and here are some of the photos that I liked. Thank you, Isa.

For more information on Gray Area Studios, click here.

Makeup and styling by Carmie Locsin.
Photo by OgeePhotography.

Peppered Cherry Summer Collection
located at the 2nd floor of Serendra Shops, Fort Global City...

For details and prices, check out Peppered Cherry

Models: Tata Garcia and Lala Jara
Hair & Make Up: Carmie Locsin
Photography: Pong Ignacio
Styling: Christina Dy and Jenny Penas
Set Design/Production: Kris Isaac, Marco Ortiga, and Gino Nacionceno

A Work of Beauty.
There is a blog that I often visit because I am amused, inspired, and sometimes just plain curious about what the author has to write. And I think that most Filipino bloggers around the world share the same sentiment as mine. I'm talking about Ala-ism, the blog of Ala Paredes.

Ala and I were batchmates in college (classmates in math 11, haha) and have lots of common friends but we never had the chance to really talk talk (our two longest conversations involved me holding a video camera with her giving out a message for Sarah's 18th birthday party and that short stint in the HK airport on MYX back in college :p) But I've read Ala's stories in her blog and have seen her talents in person and how she continuously shared all these to the world. And THAT is what I found most inspiring about her. :)

One time, Ala asked this question, why are you beautiful? It was for her BLOG's 4th year Anniversary and as one of her readers, I decided to give it a shot. First, because I have this habit of joining all the contests that come along my way, haha! And second, because I wanted to win her artwork!

I had to think of something unique. We're all beautiful inside and for sure, all of us has a certain kind of beauty. But hey, this was a contest! (Yeah, I know I have this competitive streak in me ;-D)

I emailed her the most honest and most striking one-liner I could think of.

TA-DAN!

I found myself as one of the five winners and received her artwork via snail mail (which arrived last month)!

Although I do not have tremendous talent in drawing, painting, or sketching, I do appreciate other people's artworks. And if there is anything I am good at, I think that would be documentation. I've always kept all my friends' artworks given to me in whatever form (no wonder i have such a messy bedroom!) . If any of these young artists turn into a National Artist someday, I would be proud to have one of their works in my bedroom ;-)

Going back to Ala's artwork, it got a bit crumpled from its travel. But the creases just made it more real. It was exciting to think that it traveled all the way from Australia to my bedroom. ;-P

I wanted to keep it flat so I could take its photo. Since it arrived like a rolled poster, I decided to adorn it with beads to hold the paper's (stubborn) edges. And this is how it looked :)

I changed my camera setting into sepia to see how it would look... Am I allowed to do this? altering the original color? :)

The creases I was referring to earlier are more obvious here.

Serene and calming. Trust me, this looks even much better in person.

If any of you are wondering what my answer was as to why I am beautiful, I'll let you wonder some more. ;)

Thank you Ala for appreciating that kind of beauty.

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And this officially ends my "long overdue updates".

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Present Time:
I NEED HELP FROM BLOG EXPERTS: How can I stop my Multiply account from publishing my Blogger posts? I don't want to post my blogs in Multiply (I just chose a few before but Multiply keeps on publishing everything including drafts) so I just keep on erasing them... there must be an easier way than deleting them one by one. Thank you so much in advance to whoever could help me with this dilemma!


Back to School Special
To my friends who I have not updated yet, I have decided to go back to teaching preschool children. Yes, I'm "Teacher Lala" once again as I write this post.

The world has become bigger for the past years. Several doors have been opening, one after another. They were not there before or perhaps they were and I just did not notice. Perhaps, the path is not as simple as I assume it to be. There are so many things to discover along the way and there are more uncertainties more than ever.

For now, I do have a few things that I am certain of.

I'm enjoying what I'm doing at present and happy to have all the persons I'm meeting along the way. And I love the fact that I wear these colorful shirts to class each morning saying:

"If you can read this, thank a teacher."