AT LAST

Today we had another group meeting in English class. And by the grace of any supernatural being out there, my groupmates are participating! They’re not as quiet anymore, and are starting to volunteer for parts and responsibilities! Hmm… perhaps they’ve grown sick of my talking (what took them so long?). Or maybe because it finally sunk in that our report would be next week. We set a rehearsal for tomorrow afternoon, but since my class lasts until 4:00, I’m gonna have to catch up with them. Besides, I have a minor role and I’m mostly in charge of props and backdrops (probably because I’m the only painting major there).

I do hope they’ll continue participating actively until reporting day… geez, I feel like a mother to these kids…x__x

It doesn’t matter, though. The point is, they’re working! Yay!

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By the way, I have an exam on Art History on Wednesday.

>________<

Street Chic

Yes! I am Queen of the Road! No one can conquer my territory!!

…

I pretty much dominated the streets of the city business center today doing my homework for my electives. For some reason, professors Buwan and Dimalanta (of sequential art) did a collaboration project for a joint class: photo comics. It’s basically sequential art using photos instead of drawings. The difficult part about this is you don’t have constant characters, unless you get models or volunteers to pose for you… hahaha yeah. Hard. It’s a good thing I don’t have to make one for each class because I’m taking both as electives!

I did something along the lines of “a soul searching for the perfect body” or something like that. Gives me an excuse to eliminate a main physical character while inserting many different characters to the story. This took me one whole day of walking, stealth-mode photography, and a whole lot of guts to pull that off. I’ve yet to compile them into a coherent storyline, though. But I’ll save that for another day.

Tonight, I sleep.

Be good to yourself

That’s what Francis’ message told me this morning. Good ol’ Ran-ran, always giving wonderful advice. So with my remaining week allowance (thank goodness Mika treated us yesterday. They really have such expensive taste!)…

get this…

I went shopping.

Wha?!? Me? Shopping?? That didn’t sound right. I guess those girls had rubbed more influence on me than I imagined.

Well of course I go to malls and buy stuff once in a while, but I usually go for movies or food. But this time I really shopped for clothes.

My loot? Three pairs of pants, four shirts, and a jacket.

It helped that there were clothes sales galore, plus I brought along a chunk of my savings as emergency money, because I absolutely just had to get that pair of jeans that fit so perfectly; and that jacket was love at first sight! Once I tried them on, I didn’t let them go.

…

O_o

Man, I’m starting to sound like Fritzi, the ramp model.

Then again, I really, really enjoyed today… well, probably because I let myself binge on almost anything I wanted. Heheheh.

There goes my savings... hahah. oh well.

Feel left in

Girls’ day out? ME?? For somebody who’s actually more at ease with members of the opposite sex, spending time with the girls is not exactly part of my normal everyday activities.

Heheh. I was forced into it, actually. Today is Mika’s birthday and she wanted the old group reunited. The “group”, by the way, are the first people I made friends with in college. Three of them shifted out, leaving me and Salome in our original course. Even Sal and I drifted apart, though we’re together usually in class… but not like before.

So there was Mika, Salome, Butter (don’t ask), Fritzi, and the reluctant-but-fine-it’s-her-birthday-and-I’ve-got-no-excuse ol’ me at a cozy restaurant just outside the campus.

Of course we talked mostly about reminiscence: our daily lunch escapades that left us almost always late for our 1:30pm class and practically no money; our batchmates; our professors… eventually it led to more recent events. And while they gleefully talked of their other friends and suitors and boyfriends, I just sat and watched and listened. Apparently these four have been keeping in touch without me but I didn’t mind. I find amusement in watching them tell stories and laugh and shriek and gossip.

I’ve often wondered how I hit it off with these girls. They are so… girly. I guess it game with the circumstances on the first day of freshman year (actually they were the only ones around at the time). I never really imagined myself to be “one of the girls”, but here I am, with the girls, and I’m enjoying it. :)

Do you get the picture?

ROFL!!

Sir Buwan is absolutely—unquestionably—the unprecedented highlight of every week!

We were having a slide show of old and new photos, trying to see what differences there were in terms of theme, composition and technique, among others. Some of the old photos were those by his mother. And she’s really good. Then suddenly, we were faced with a projector-screen-sized photo of a young Sir Buwan!!

“How the F*CK did that get there?!?”

With our without sir’s bluntly profane exclamation, the whole class roared with laughter, as each one of us instantly recognized him, though it looked like the photo was taken at least ten years ago. For one thing, the hair was… bwahahahah!! And sir just had to think aloud and talk to himself…

“Aw man, Blitz messed with my slides again!” (‘Blitz’ is Miss Liwanag, sir B’s friend and professor of literature and creative writing).

“She’s gonna pay for this… as sure as my hair was long when I was fourteen, I shall take my revenge!! MUHAHAHAHAAA~~~!!!”

-------silence-------

And the whole class succumbed to laughter once again.

Okay fine, the picture was really nice if you look at it from an art point of view, though it looked more like a stolen shot than one what was really composed. But sometimes it’s better that way. :) I’ll ask sir about it sometime.

Stayin’ Cool

If that’s the way he wants to play, then so be it.

It’s not like I can’t survive without an indispensable companion. In fact, that’s how I’ve lived for most of my life (Francis doesn’t count because he qualifies by default)

Ha, ha. Yeah, I’m a lone wolf.

Well, sure I got friends, imaginary or otherwise. But they’re all… I daresay… transient. “Friends are forever”? HAH! Been there, done that, didn’t work.

Should I list them down? In chronological order:
1. Kate — friend since childhood who suddenly disappeared from all conversation, which led me to…
2. Gin — the logical choice at the time, since we were the same in terms of being ignored by Kate and company. Too bad she was too drunk (pun intended) from her love interests.
3. Miguel — err… okay. Let’s not talk about him for a while.
4. Loots — us and our famous L-L partnership? Fizzled.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t do anything to make them leave or never ever talk to me again. More often than not, it just happens, whether I knew the reason or not.

Once a wolf, always a wolf, huh? I could live with that.

Is there anything nicer than being able to forget the time?

Nothing is.

Especially when you love what you’re doing.

I guess this is the reason I went for this course, and why I never left.

Contrary to what most artists do, I don’t draw inspiration from what I’m feeling. I don’t paint what’s inside me.

I paint what’s not inside me.

I’ve always been able to do that: blocking off anything that’s bothering me—even time—and it shows in my work. It’s almost instinctive.

Sometimes this gets me in trouble, like one time when in fourth grade we listened to music then we had to draw what we felt. Hahaha. Tough luck for me, the music was supposedly sad. My work was rainbows and candy canes and stars, complete with Emerald City in the distance. :D

Other than that, though, this works to my advantage. It gives me peace of mind, even for just a few hours.