Bent Stem

I was just inspired by one of the episodes of Honey and Clover, and I didn't want this inspiration to go to waste. So I stopped watching for a while to work on this blog post.

In the episode, Ayumi shares a story about her plant being bent into two due to a typhoon. When her mother saw it, she said “That won’t stand up straight anymore, so break it off at the crease. If you do that, new shoots will grow from there and you’ll have beautiful new leaves in no time.” but Ayumi was hesitant in breaking it off because she could see that the tiny leaves, on the tip of the bent stem, were still healthy. A few days later, the plant eventually wilted in the soil. If she listened to what her mother said, the plant would have lived.

The plant is just like us. We start off as a seed and grow but during the growth, obstacles get in the way. No matter how beautifully we grow, there would always be a typhoon passing by to break us. Even if it hurts, the best way to live is to let go and let a new sprout grow or else we will just wilt, and eventually die.

It's like having a relationship with a boyfriend or girlfriend. You grow as the days go by, but once a typhoon (say it be a break up or the person left you) hits, the stem breaks. Those who wouldn't want to let go, end up being weighed down by the negative feelings and wilt as time goes by. No one wants to be an ugly plant, but that's how some people are because of the burdens they carry in their life. So break off the bent stem. Yes, it will hurt to let go but you have to put an end to it, and let a new sprout grow.

That episode sure reminded me of how I was months ago. I had someone special and after we broke up, I thought things would be well between us, even if we were just friends. However, I felt nonexistent to him so I decided to cut off the connection, hoping that he wouldn't try to contact me in the future. It did hurt, at first, but I felt better later on because he was a bent stem that I just had to break off.

For now, I want to enjoy being single.

* I print-screened the photos from the episode, itself, since I couldn't find any nice plant pictures.

Summer break (so far)

It has been 3 weeks of summer break and I'm already bored of it. Last week, I was feeling depressed because it took me about 3-4 days to finish watching all 4 seasons (including the OVA and picture drama) of Zero no Tsukaima, and I didn't know what to do anymore. There were times I wanted to cry but my eyes wouldn't let me. Until now, I can't get over the series because of the kind of relationship Saito & Louise have. As much as I want to share about it, I'll just save it for another day since I have a close friend who hasn't watched the series (yet) and I wouldn't want to spoil her.

I was thinking of watching Honey and Clover next. After that, I don't know. I'm more into anime shows in the genre: school, fantasy, military, romance and/or slice of life. If you know any anime with those genre, please let me know, I'm open for suggestions. Thank you in advance!

Summer Break!

Today is my 3rd day of summer break! It hasn't sunk in that I already am because supposedly today is my last day of school but 2 of my profs scheduled their exams early, so thank you very much for the early exam schedule! Honestly, this semester was the most relaxed one ever because we didn't have a lot of requirements to work (or cram) on and the exams weren't so bad. Hopefully, I get better grades.

So what do I plan to do this summer? Here's one fact, most of them don't involve me going out. If you were here, in Manila, you wouldn't be able to stand being outside for 5 minutes. Also, you can easily get sunburned. The things that I plan to do this break are these:

• Have an anime marathon (especially on Zero no Tsukaima)
• Attend the BLD YLSS this May (finally!)
• Cook something that I can present in my graduation (next year)
• Write the story that has been bugging my mind for the past months
• Attempt to do advance studying on two of the subjects that I will be taking this coming semester

Those aren't so much stuff but at least I planned my summer, especially realizing the fact that this is my very last break to enjoy as a student since I'll start working next year. It's sad but I can't be a student forever. Well, I hope this year's summer break will be more fun and memorable than 2011's.

LATE NIGHT SURPRISE!

After posting my previous blog post, my sister (miraculously) arrived home, holding a container of French Macarons. I immediately screamed because it's my favorite pastry! At first, she teased me by saying that they weren't for me and pretended to give me the container until I calmed down a bit.

Turns out that it was a gift from Ate Nique! It's so awesome that she knows what I like. Thank you so much for the surprise!

Now I don't know if I should eat these now or patiently wait until tomorrow morning~

Punishment or Blessing?

Just trying to avoid cramming (again)

My Friday class is usually from 9am to 12nn but today we were dismissed an hour early, so I had more time to stay in the library to work on my report for TQM. I worked on it for a while, then I took a nap and then I went back to working on it. Later on, in the middle of the process, I got bored that I stood up and started browsing through some baking books for a good baked cheesecake recipe but I couldn't find any so I went back to working on my report.

At around 2:30pm, my adviser dropped by the library and was surprised to see me. She then told me to go to the Demo Lab and assist Chef JA into preparing the ingredients for tomorrow's activity; even though I was in the library "studying." As I was getting my things from the desk, she asked why was I still in school, I frankly answered her "I don't want to go home." with that, she immediately asked "Why? Is there a problem at home?" realizing that my statement sounded as if I was upset, I defended my first answer by saying "Nothing is wrong. I just get so bored staying at home all day." (It's true!)

I was planning to leave school at 4pm but it felt embarrassing to tell the chef that since my plans weren't that important and urgent to do, so I just dealt with helping out until the end.

This was the only time I could take a photo of what I was doing

The preparation ended at 5pm and I was hoping that my purpose for staying in school, all day, would still happen. I rushed to the lobby as fast as I could and when I entered someone was shocked to see me and asked "Why the hell are you still here?"* I explained to her that it was a funny story of how I ended up this way. She looked like she was still in shock.

I finally left school and went off to the MRT station, forgetting to pass by Gourdo's to check the prices of some equipment I need to make a cheesecake since I was feeling quite tired from "studying" and the sudden food preparation. As I arrived Makati, there were so many places that I wanted to go to namely Dairy Queen, Tea Farm, The Market (for Sebastian's Ice Cream) and FaBurrito but I didn't want to spend, so I rushed going home, hoping for good food to be found in the fridge. Thank goodness that there were good foods at home and it got better when my grandmother brought home more food!

So was this day a punishment for me because I didn't want to go home or a blessing because I didn't stay at home for the whole day? I would say it was a blessing! Though the miracle I prayed for was a fail... No need for me to explain it.

Have a blessed weekend everyone!

* Unlike the students from other colleges/universities who still stay in the campus to hang out with their friends, the students in my school like to leave immediately after classes. (Long story) So far, I'm the only student who stays in school the most. (Yeah I'm a nerd but not the brainiac type)