..dots and lines in chena's sky...

The last few weeks have been quite busy since we've been trying to catch up on the year-end lag and regain the pace of the whole magazine cycle- we now have to REALLY try our best to come out two weeks before the issue month. We've been doing well so far- the Feb issue came out on Feb1 while the March issue is expected to come out early next week (which means we are at least a week early) so I guess we're off to a good start.

Anyway, we just finished closing the March issue last week so we're now supposed to begin work on the April stories but, since I have yet to hear from potential sources, today's an unusually lazy Monday for me. We're supposed to have our story conference (which shall then be the highlight of my day) later today then I'll be back to browsing and chatting. But I guess I ought not complain since this shall serve as a short break before I resume my busy mode later this week and next week.

Anyway, have a good and productive week everyone. :)

I am soooo excited to see Stardust! Directed by Matthew Vaughn, it stars Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert de Niro, Sienna Miller,Jason Flemyng, Ricky Gervais, and Peter O' Toole with the voice of Ian Mckellen as the narrator. It comes out in August, I can hardly wait!! I just hope the film matches everyone's expectations, but I have a pretty good feeling it will.

I'm sure most fans have seen these already,but I just couldn't help posting some stills from the movie. (The official Web site contains some more photos and trailers.)

Today turned out to be quite a nice day for me. Nothing special happened really, I just happen to be in a good mood. I went to a Sony event at Edsa Shang at around lunchtime (where I ran into an old friend Jaz who, I jus found out today, was now working at Sony) then I went to Netopia to work. I actually got a couple of things done- in a short time if I may say. I can't really say why I'm in a good mood because I also don't know why, maybe it's because I was productive today and I don't feel as stressed as I should be.

I hope happy days go on for quite a while, I badly need to recharge. I did get to recharge a bit last weekend, (well not physically because we practically spent the entire weekend at the mall) because my sister, Nana, arrived from Naga together with my brother-in-law and my nephew NJ, whom I adooorrree so much.. He really made my weekend so much fun. Will see if I can post about it.

Gotta go, need to write minutes for Cyberpress meeting. :)

A lot has been going on around me lately.. Yup, around me being the operative phrase because, somehow, I'm like spaced out while everything and everyone's rapidly moving around me, or shall I say moving away from me. So many people leaving or thinking of leaving the company, some more people going through drastic changes in their personal lives, while I'm standing in the middle of it all, dazed.

Not that nothing's going on in my life, I do have my share of personal issues and most of them are pretty big issues, mind you- but somehow the goings-on in everyone else's life gets the best of me and overshadows my own issues. I guess this just happens to be the time for major changes. Changes tend to be overwhelming most of the time, especially when they involve something or someone you've been too familiar with for quite a time already.

But these are part of life I know and I just have to deal with them. I'm not complaining or anything, I'm just psyching myself into accepting that the world simply has to move on, things and people have to change and you just have to go with the flow..I often have this urge of slowing down or just standing still to pause and watch the world go by. I somehow want to have just a few moments to look at things from a fairly objective distance and just watch, watch, and watch the world go on around me. What would the world be like without me? It will go on just the same, of course.

But this is just me overthinking, silly me contemplating nonsense (is that possible?) So what the heck, let's just get on with this and move on. Life IS complicated. Maybe that's why trivial stuff and simple joys exist, to keep us going when we it seems like we are just running on reserve fuel, when everything we do feels mechanical.

"Maybe we're not supposed to be happy. Maybe gratitude has nothing to do with joy. Maybe being grateful means recognizing what you have for what it is. Appreciating small victories. Admiring the struggle it takes simply to be human. Maybe we're thankful for the familiar things we know. And maybe we're thankful for the things we'll never know. At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing is reason enough to celebrate."- Meredith Grey, Grey's Anatomy

i feel weird.. i've been feeling weird for a couple of days now. it's like i'm overwhelmed with too much emotions, i don't feel anything anymore..i don't even know if i still make sense..i have tons of work to do (which are all due tomorrow) and i haven't gotten around to working on anything yet. I don't have the energy to do anything.

Lord, help me. Please give Jen back.

I just finished working but I can't go home yet 'cause we have this Cyberpress board meeting. I hope I get to be helpful somehow because I don't seem to have the energy to do much these days. I do get to submit the required one-story-a-day quota but what used to take me 30minutes to write now takes me an hour or two, sometimes even more.

Well yes I do YM and surf the Web in between which is why I take that long but that's because I would just keep staring at my monitor if I don't find something to do in between writing. I can't seem to be able to focus these days, or for the past few weeks that is. I thought my weekend in Naga would do the trick, I guess it did for a while (I had so much fun by the way--story in a separate post), but now I'm back to being spaced-out and distracted. I've been fending off work that should have been done way back, and I seem to need to drink (beer or whatever alcoholic drink I can grab) every night before I can sleep. And that is so not me, I'm like a pig who'd fall asleep as soon as my head touches the pillow.

**My friends are planning to go to Baguio for our friend's birthday, (that would be on the 6th of October) so I hope that'd do the trick. But short breaks from work seem to make it worse because I can't get off the vacation mode once I'm on it. Gaaad, I hate this. I don't know what I need anymore..

I now have a new PC, yay!! I'm so happy!! My office friends know how sucky most of our PCs are but this one's supposedly for editors so it's a lot better than my former annoyingly slow, ugly PC. Now I can run YM, friendster and a lot of other stuff, hihi. But seriously it'll make me less stressed while writing, I swear my former PC can be so slow you'd want to pound it with a hammer until it's reduced to tiny pieces. Thanks shevy for your pamana. I was sooo excited when management approved my use of your PC I kept bugging jerome to set it up as soon as possible. hihi. Thanks also for the cute puppies sticker, heh. We miss you already.. =(

WAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!! I just realized I lost the file with my photos from my first singapore trip. NOOOOO!!!!!!! I thought I just got it buried under some other files but now I can't find it, noooO!!!!!!!! This ain't fair!!!!

I know it's my fault because it's been three freaking months past that trip and I still haven't gotten around to posting my pics. Now I got what I deserve. I hate myself. And this right after my I'm-in-a-nice-mood-I-love-tuesdays post. WAAAHHH!!!!

Mantra to self: It's ok I lost my pics from MY FIRST FREAKING SINGAPORE TRIP(!!!!). I'm still in a good mood, I still love Tuesdays. I'm gonna have a great day today..I'm gonna have a great day today..

It's 11:45 pre-lunchtime. I'm hungry but now I'm in a nice mood..I looovvee Tuesdays, I swear I always wake up on the good side of the bed on Tuesdays. Well, not all Tuesdays of course but they just usually start (and end) right for me. Yay for Tuesdays. I think everyone should have a favorite day of the week so they at least have one day to look forward to. My Mondays are usually bad so Tuesdays always come to my rescue the next day.

I hope everyone has a nice Tuesday as well.. (For a moment there, the image of Tuesday Vargas suddenly popped to my head, I have nothing against her but I somehow don't like to associate her with my favorite day) Happy Tuesday! (not Vargas)

I very seldom drink coffee, now I remember why..I had iced coffee this morning and now I'm as hyper as ever, I can't sit still. I keep barging in on the art dept to check on what they've finished so far when I just went in a few minutes before to give them what to lay out. heh, sorry guys.

*I'm really excited to see the new Computerworld magazine, I know it's as late as ever for July but I'm excited to see our first magazine issue. nefertiti00 who saw an advanced copy says it looks nice. Yay!!

I'm in an oddly nice mood today..Well, Tuesdays are generally happy days for me but what's odd is nothing extraordinarily exciting happened today and I'm bouncy as a kangaroo that just learned how to hop(lame metaphor,hihi). I guess I just really looove Tuesdays, I often get surprises on Tuesdays because my high school teacher taught me a Tuesday prayer where you ask for a suprise.

I don't know if it's right to ask for surprises or to even believe in such prayers but they work!!! Well maybe they're just coincidences or the day just ends up to be great because I believe it would. Either way, I love Tuesdays and will forever love Tuesdays..Maybe I'll get married on a Tuesday or have a baby on that day..hihi.

With monday(always the worst day of the week for me) over, am actually greeting Tuesday(my favorite day of the week next to Saturday) morning by staying up late. Another reason for staying up late though is my having to write an article but I'd like to be positive here so the first reason suits me better. Anyway, my Monday in the office was not that bad but I wasn't in my best mood either.

Near the end of the day, April and I were finishing this article for the executive briefing when, being the oh-so-clumsy me, I accidentally clicked on something when I merely intended to click on "word count". Tada! Everything that we squeezed our brain juices for turned into these silly-looking overlapping black letters on the left side of the paper. April was freaking out 'coz she wanted to go home early so we called uly, one of the test lab boys who saves our butts when our PCs give up on us. There I was trying to compose myself while battles were raging inside my head, I was half-hating myself for being so darn clumsy and half-cursing Monday for being its usual lousy self. We finally found our way out of it and managed to finish the article after all. Whew!

Am now writing my second article. Guess I won't be sleeping tonight, as usual, which is kind of okay because I do have tomorrow night to look forward to,along with the rest of the week, when I could get more than enough REMs. Am just glad Monday's over.

I really pity Monday sometimes 'coz he always gets the blame when all hell breaks loose for most people on the first day of the week. The poor guy's only sin was to come after Sunday and he gets cursed for PCs that break down and traffic jam in EDSA. I've an event later, Apple is launching Tiger,the new Mac OS X, am hoping to win an iPod or anything nice for that matter. Hello Tuesday, give me a nice surprise will you? (and please,please,please consider making it an iPod)

am relishing every moment of the good mood i'm in right now- this must be in anticipation of the weekend I was so looking forward to. Nothing too special scheduled for the weekend really, am just looking forward to not having to wake up early and go to work. I'd probably just be meeting up with a couple of friends.. Nana, my sister dropped a line this morning, just checking how I was doing. It kinda made me miss my family and our cozy home.. that's one more thing I'd be looking forward to- going home to Naga.

I talked to my friend Chery yesterday and she told me how badly she misses our house. Our house happens to be the official "tambayan" of our group but more than that, Chery also happens to be my neighbor so you can only imagine how many hours she spends at our house. She even spends longer hours at my house than hers. I jokingly told her that how can she miss our house when I don't even miss it; but when she began enumerating the things she misses about it, and the things we used to do with our friends, I began to realize that there indeed was so much to miss about our home sweet house. oh well, that's the price you pay for growing up and wanting to be independent.

If I could tell the world just one thing
It would be that we're all OK
And not to worry 'cause worry is wasteful
And useless in times like these;
I won't be made useless,
I won't be idle with despair..

Your Porn Star Name is: Nasty Thong

Your Japanese Name Is...

Etsu Yoshida

Your Birthdate: June 30

Your birthday on the 30th day of the month shows individual self-expression is necessary for your happiness. You tend to have a good way of expressing yourself with words, certainly in a manner that is clear and understandable. You have a good chance of success in fields requiring skill with words. You can be very dramatic in your presentation and you may be a good actor or a natural mimic. You have a vivid imagination that can assist you in becoming a good writer or story-teller. Strong in your opinions, you always tend to think you are on the right side of an issue. There may be a tendency to scatter your energies and have a lot of loose ends in your work. You may have significant artistic talent and be very creative.

Your #1 Match: ENFP

The Inspirer You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends. You are also unconventional, irreverant, and unimpressed by authority and rules. Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives. You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're qutie the storyteller! You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist.

You Are 45% Normal (Somewhat Normal)

While some of your behavior is quite normal... Other things you do are downright strange You've got a little of your freak going on But you mostly keep your weirdness to yourself

You Are 26 Years Old

26 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

Your Boobies' Names Are: Bambi and Thumper

Your Deadly Sins

Sloth: 40%

Envy: 20%

Gluttony: 20%

Pride: 20%

Greed: 0%

Lust: 0%

Wrath: 0%

Chance You'll Go to Hell: 14%

You will die while sleeping - and no one will notice.

You Will Die at Age 79

79 You're pretty average when it comes to how you live... And how you'll die as well.

Your Element Is Air

You dislike conflict, and you've been able to rise above the angst of the world. And when things don't go your way, you know they'll blow over quickly. Easygoing, you tend to find joy from the simple things in life. You roll with the punches, and as a result, your life is light and cheerful. You find it easy to adapt to most situations, and you're an open person. With you, what you see is what you get... and people love that!

Your Life Path Number Is 3

3 Your Life Path is one that emphasizes expression, sociability, and creativity as the lesson to be learned in this life. You are among the entertainers of the world, bright, effervescent, sparkling people with very optimistic attitudes. You possess the most exceptional creative skills: normally in the verbal realm, writing, speaking, acting, or similar endeavors. The lesson to be learned with a 3 life path is that of achievement through expression. The bright side of this path stresses harmony, beauty and pleasures; of sharing your creative talents with the world. Capturing your capability in creative self-expression is the highest level of attainment for this life path. You are warm and friendly, a good conversationalist, social and open. A good conversationalist both from the standpoint of being a delight to listen to, but even more importantly, one who has the ability to listen to others. You are always a welcome addition to any social situation and know how to make others feel at home. Your reative imagination is present, if sometimes latent, as the you may not be moved to develop you talent. Your approach to life tends to be exceedingly positive, and your disposition is almost surely sunny and open-hearted. You effectively cope with all of the many setbacks that occur in life and readily bounce back for more. It is usually easy for you to deal with problems because you can freely admit the existence of problems without letting them get you down. You have good manners and seem to be very conscious of other people's feelings and emotions. Life is generally lived to the fullest, often without much worry about tomorrow. You are not very good at handling money because of a general lack of concern about it. You spend it when you have it and don't when you don't. On the negative side, a 3 may be so delighted with the joy of living that the life becomes frivolous and superficial. You may scatter your abilities and express little sense of purpose. You can be an enigma, for no apparent reason you may become moody and tend to retreat. Escapist tendencies are not uncommon with the 3 life path, and you find it very hard to settle into one place or one position. Guard against being critical of others, impatient, intolerant, or overly optimistic. Typically, the life path 3 gives an above-average ability in some art form. This can encompass painting, interior decorating, landscaping, crafts, writing, music, or the stage, or all of the above. You are apt to be a happy, inspired person, constantly seeking the stimuli of similar people. Your exuberant nature can take you far, especially if you are ever able to focus your energies and talents.