Flip Flopped

I'd rather not buy Havaianas. Too expensive for a pair of rubber chinelas.
-Kuya Wine

That's what I remind myself whenever I'm tempted to buy a pair of Havaianas. Insanely expensive rubber flip flops made in Brazil.

Not a long time ago I wanted to buy a pair of tsinelas. I'd rather say that since "flip flops" sound like a term for the fashionistas. I've been trying to set aside Havaianas for a while but they remain to be the ONLY choice for me. I was looking for a comfortable pair of footwear until I found Banana Peel. It seemed to be a local brand since its prices are around Php 60 to Php 200. I bought a pair for myself and my sister and we seemed to like it. That is I discovered it was fade-able.

Then Ate Glen's birthday came and I gave her a pair for Php 60. It seemed to be a bargain! She said they were comfortable, durable and they took a long time to fade! Better that than Havaianas, Roxy, Reef, Crocs or those pricey tsinelas for the conyos. And Carlo taught me to be practical. He also wondered why many people want to spend to up to Php 1,000 for a pair of designer tsinelas.

Well, Tita Cherry has a wedged pair of Havaianas and they were lovely! Sadly it was a hard-to-find product. And I might eventually grow tired of it if I did own a pair.

Now I understand why Havaianas is a hot thing among the coños. Flip flops are a trend in the USA. Amazing how they once laughed at the Asian funny footwear and now it's a fashion statement. Of course our local coños would rather follow the American trends hence Havaianas became a hit. it's overrated here in RP. A friend said that's it's affordable in the US.

Yay. Coños being duped into buying overpriced rubber tsinelas thinking that it's actually a fashion statement.

I've learned to care less for printed soles since they cannot be seen anyway when worn and will eventually fade.

And I wonder why the word "coño" became associated with the rich people when it actually means "cunt" in Spanish.

Death Anniversary

It's been exactly a year since our late Papa Tony passed away, making to day his first death anniversary. There was a dinner and a gathering here. Only a few of my cousins came. Raph came as usual. Ray-an and Triza were here too. We spent the whole night just talking. Metal Gear Snake Eater, FPS Doug and ROFLMAO Productions, Newgrounds parodies and the time Ray-an and I were toiling away on Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness two summers ago.

Ultimately we talked about how we felt and reacted the moment we heard that our dear grandfather finally went. Ray-an was playing Need For Speed when he heard the news. He immediately turned the PS2 off, locked himself into his room and thought deeply. Raph was drowsy one early morning and was shocked when Tita Cherry told it. I heard it past midnight, just a few minutes after his passing. I woke my sister up and we cried together.

It's quite hard to believe that Patony's been gone for a year now. How time flies. If Patony was still alive then Christmas would have been ten times more enjoyable.

Wise military man said that we should not mourn over the deaths on great men. In fact we should rejoice that such men lived.

Yeah. I should be thankful that Patony lived in the first place. I should be thankful that I got to experience growing up with a complete set of grandparents.

We'll see him soon.

These precious things
Let them bleed
Let them wash away
These precious things
Let them break
Their hold over me
-Tori Amos, Precious Things

Ego-Surfing

JIEA stands for:
Japan Ireland Economic Association
Jaipur Industrial Estate Association
It's also a search engine known as jiea.com

I was waiting for my cousin to go online since we'll be talking about our trip to De La Salle University - Dasmariñas through YM.

While finding ways to kill time e.g. checking my Friendster account (nothing new), searching Wikipedia for anything interesting (Cartoon Network, Lyceum, UE), and had an idea. I went ego-surfing.

First I tried Wikipedia but no articles led to "Jiea". So why not try Google? And above are the results returned by "Jiea." The whole time I didn't know I was named after an international association. This Jaipur thing even has its own seal with the inscription JIEA on it. Wow! I feel like a VIP.

I guess it pays to be named the same as almost no one. Yeah, there are also many people named Jiea but with a different spelling. Gia, Jia, even Ghia and Jhia! I don't understand why many pinoys love to put the letters H and Z in their nicknames. They think it makes their names cool when it's just one way to join the bandwagon of names.

Йя Eнныфэр Ди
-Russian equivalent of my name. I transliterated it myself. I learned the Russian (Cyrillic) alphabet through self-teaching. Inspired by the game Metal Gear 3: Snake Eater.

I know only onoe word in Russian and that's Йэп (pronounced "yep") which means "sex". XD

Drugged

I wonder what my body would sound like
Slamming against those rocks
And when it lands
Will my eyes be closed or open?
-Björk, Hyper Ballad

Centrum reeks. I've been taking it once a day for more than a week now and I feel no healthier. In fact I've been feeling drowsy and unenergetic instead of being "complete" just as its advertisements suggested. I do feel complete. Completely drained.

Due to minor problems at school and lack of sleep by talking to my Zhou Xun over the phone past midnight, I've been suffering from headaches, some slight and some a real pain, but thankfully no cases of migraine yet. In fact I don't think I've ever experienced migraine in my entire life. And I hope I never will.

During those headaching times, I resorted to over-the-counter painkillers such as Biogesic and Advil. They both worked but took quite a while to take effect. And that would be one of the few times I'll take safe drugs. I don't want to live a life being drug-dependent. After all, no matter how safe and legal they are, they're still drugs. I personally believe they can still be associated with drug addiction and drug overdose.

Raph recommended water therapy instead. Whenever his mom would have a headache, she'd resort to no drugs. She'd just drink a warm glass of water and everything else follows. He-ey! They say the natural way is always the best way!

Starting tomorrow I'll take Enervon-C, also a brand of multivitamins. If Centrum doesn't work for me then I'll try that. Besides, it's only half of Centrum's price! Centrum is Php 9.50 while Enervon is Php 4.50. And if Enervon doesn't work, I'll go for Stresstabs.

For the first time here in Lunette Reverie, I'm talking about drugs.

Cherry Tree

I won't fall in love anymore
I swear this will be my last heartbreak
Even if a cherry tree is shaken by the wind
The flowers on it will still bloom

To fall in love with you is to sacrifice everything
My wish is that this be the last heartbreak
Even if a cherry tree is shaken through time
The flowers on it will still bloom
-Utada Hikaru, Sakura Drops

But I did fall in love again. And I've done so after recovering from my first and final heartbreak. I was listening to Sakura Drops by Utada Hikaru (now Iwashita Hikaru). It's been almost four long years since I bought her third album Deep River. I learned of her from Kingdom Hearts and she's my favorite Japanese individual. She's musically talented. She sings, she dances, she writes lyrics, she composes. And most of all she's bilingual; fluent in both Japanese and English.

Enough about Hikki. I remember reading Arice's blog and she said that the true opposite of love is not hate but indifference. For a long time I never believed it until now. I was so immature then that I believed that hate is the most powerful way of having someone be gone from your life. How wrong I was.

One day Raph and I were talking about rivalry and hate. He explained to me that having a rival can serve as a positivity since you have a measuring stick of your skills and he can be your source of drive. But there are more negativities in having a rival. First of all if he triumphs, it's a hellacious blow to you. You have to know what he's up to and how he's improving. Yet there's one more thing that's much worse. He has meaning to your life.

It was a shock. Then I had an epiphany after listening to Saydie. Their songs revolve mostly around hate. That only means that the people they hate have meaning to their lives. If you hate a person, why even write and sing a song for him? Why waste time and a sense of art in expressing hate? He greatly angers you by the mere mention of his name. He truly has meaning to your life.

Then I've learned not to hate. Yoda once said that we must unlearn what we have learned. We must unlearn to hate. I'm glad I've finally unlearned to hate my ex-boyfriend. This signifies that I'm now indifferent to him and he no longer has meaning to my life.

I'm also beginning to unhate those on my deathlist. Aeris Gainsborough, Britney Spears, Hillary Duff, Hale, Cueshe, everything.

And for those who have hated me, I would like to say thank you to all of you. Thank you for letting me have meaning to your lives. You don't know I've realized how touched I am.

Arice also told me that the best remedy for love is love. It did say the "best" and not the "only" rememdy. When my ex-boyfriend and I broke up, it was devastating. Then a week later I've reached full recovery thanks to my friends. I recovered without seeking the remedy called "Love".

Then my Zhou Xun and I met. Contrary to Utada's song, I did fall in love again. And this time I'm much happier than before. The way she expressed it is so poetic and beautiful.

Even if a cherry tree is shaken by the wind
The flowers on it will still bloom

I love you my Zhou Xun.

You Are An Invisible Ex

You're so over your ex, you hardly even remember you have an ex You prefer leave all of the baggage behind you - far, far behind As they say, indifference is the opposite of love!

What Type of Ex Are You?

Pen and Ink Twin

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
-Dwight D. Eisenhower

That's what's in front of the spiral notebook more than a month ago to serve as my journal. I still haven't thought of a name for it though. Maybe I'll just call it Dwight! I've been spending much devoted time writing in it very personal issues which are too crucial to be published in this blog. Almost neglected Lunette Reverie. On the other hand this blog led me to neglect my thick journal I kept for almost three years. I had to abandon it since it's full of horrible memories of 4th High School and my ex-boyfriend, both I want to forget.

Time to crack the bad news: I wasn't accepted to become a part of the McDonald's crew. It was devastating at first but I'm glad I quickly recovered. Haha! I forgot to behold the power of positivism. I've read,

I've learned that getting fired may be the best thing that can happen to me.
-Live and Learn and Pass It On

There are much more good things. First of all, I don't have work to bind me into responsibility and pressure. And since it's Christmas, I can fly back home to Puerto Princesa and spend quality time with my father and two other sisters. Plus I can fully enjoy the pleasure of Christmas and be free from the headaches wiping tables and punching in orders for customers. I'd rather spend my Christmas home than behind a counter. And 'sides, a part-time job worth around Php 4,000 monthly cannot buy happiness and time with my family whom I've been away from for half a year.

Other news: Sir Generoso Aquino, a faculty member of the Lyceum of the Philippines University, has recently passed away. Sad. He never became my professor in any of my social sciences sucject but he was a very nice man. Once he kindly advised me to sip my coffee first to keep it from spilling. I guess Nightwish is right about one of their songs...

Why am I loved only when I'm gone?
Think of me long enough to make a memory
-Nightwish, Bless The Child

That's how I felt too when Papa Tony passed away almost a year ago... Just a few weeks from now until his first death anniversary. How time flies.

I guess that's all for now. I'm just in a netcafe. Better make most of my time by doing "other" things. =D