Friendsterization

 

 
I graduated this weekend.
 
I know I will probably be labeled SUPER DORK after I say
this, but I don’t care. The most enjoyable part of graduation, to me,
was listening to the honorary speakers we had.
 
We didn’t have a rock star, an actor, or even a business
man speak. Instead we had two doctors address the class of 2005. They
were Dr. James T. Goodrich and Dr. David A. Staffenberg.
If many of you follow the news, you would know that these two, along
with a team of dedicated surgeons, were responsible for
spearheading the first successful separation of conjoined twins, Carl and Clarence Aguirre, in a 17-hour operation.
 
That was nothing short of a miracle and I greatly admire them for it!
 
Both had very important messages to the graduates.  Dr.
Staffenberg passionately told us to work hard, take risks, and most
importantly, never give up in the face of failure. Dr. Goodrich,
winningly charmed the graduates to look for success by first
surrounding yourself with people who are more talented and successful
than you.
 
Sitting there, I realized that as big as graduating
from college seems to be, it really isn’t! Most can read, write, and
pass a class. But will most people try to live life and do their work
in such a way that the lives of others will have benefited, no matter
how small, from their existence?
 
This is something I am now asking myself as I get ready to accept job offers. Life is such an amazing ride. 
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DO YOU BELIEVE WE CAN CONTROL OUR OWN DESTINY?

WHITE + BROWN = LOVE


 

I think interracial dating is a beautiful thing.
 
I get to experience Matthew’s culture and he gets to
see mine. Sure, our relationship is not always stars and butterflies.
We are continually learning and adjusting to each other, making
compromises as we go along.
 
But we have never looked at each other and defined each
other by how much or how little melanin our body produces. And we have
never looked at other people that way either.
 
If only the rest of the world could view us the same way…
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my calendar is such a mess - i know!
but it’s a cute mess - hehe
            ————————————————————————–

Matthew’s photography always amazes me …
            

check out his new album "Aberration on the Lake" -
no photoshop editing
done whatsoever.
just a few camera tricks! i think it’s stunning…
            

            
            

although, in my opinion, it should be called "The Elegant Universe."
            

hehe

HOW DO I STOP THIS OBSESSION?

To do is to be [Descartes].
To be is to do [Voltaire].
Do be do be do [Frank Sinatra]
            
So finally my years of being a student are coming to an end. Graduation
is roughly a month away and well, everyone I know also seems to be
doing the job hunt frenzy. So have I.
            
I realize that it’s just not enough to send out resumes nowadays. I have to do things that will separate me from the pack.
            
So I came up with this list of possible things I could do in order to
land my ideal job.  Of course, after having my advisor review this
list, she tried to convince me that maybe I would best be suited at a
mental insitution. It’s the stress I tell you!
            
Ok. I’ll shut up (!). Here it is:

 DAPHNE’S IDEAS ON LANDING HER IDEAL JOB

1. light myself on fire. maybe my employers will come watch me burn. but F*CK that would hurt!

2. act exactly like Paris Hilton would during the interview,
including bringing a pooch accessory with me - *woof*

3. hold my breath until I get a job offer.

*4. pretend I’m invisible and go to do my work for the company, while I’m invisible .

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How did you land or plan to land your ideal profession?

at 9 years old, when i arrived here at the
US, i knew i was different. the way i dressed, the darkness of my skin, the way
i smelled, the heavy accent i carried, all made me the girl sitting on the edge
forever halved in photographs. i am filipino, but now i had to learn to be
part of something else. 

when i was in 4th grade, my mom used to send
me off to school with rice and vienna sausages for lunch. all the other kids in
class would look at me as if i had two heads. who ate rice and sausage for
lunch?! so i would hide my lunch under the table and pick at it slowly so it
would seem as if i was just sitting there casually or sometimes i would not eat
my lunch at all and just wait until i got home to eat it.

at night, i would watch BBC, and practice my
english so that instead of having my harsh filipino accent, i would acquire the
British one. i read and read, hoping i would learn something in books that will
teach me how to fit in or maybe how to lose my filipinoness because it was not
helping me at all.

i sat in front of two boys in church one
time and i remember he and his friend snickering. when a parent asked what the
fuss was all about, i heard them whisper to her, "the girl in front of us smells
really bad like fish."

that was probably the most
humiliating moment in my life. i could not help it that the type of food we ate
was so strong that not only did it pervade the house, but our clothes also. and
i could not help it that i had so gotten used to the smell, that i never
realized i smelled differently until i heard those two boys making fun of me.

i could go on and on about instances about
how i tried to act, look, and be anything else but filipino. then all of a
sudden, it hit me the other day. the reason i am so uniquely me is because i am
filipino. it is because i am part of a beautiful group of people who have a
culture as rich as bill gates. it is because of the struggles of my ancestors
that i am here today, writing to you.

what exactly do i have to be ashamed
of ?

sure, i have lost the accent. sure, i am
more americanized now, but it is my filipino qualities that i am now holding on
to steadfastly because without it, i would just be plain old boring me without a
story to tell. 

HAVE A CULTURAL STORY TO
SHARE ?

i dont have a dog or a cat (sob).

i have tried hard to convince my mom that a pet (mainly a dog)
would be beneficial to the entire household. but every request has been turned
down, the main reason being that if my brothers and sister and i cant even clean
up after ourselves, how could we possibly clean up after an animal?

hmmm … my mom has obviously not seen me clean up after
matthew. haha - jk babe.

anyway, so i’ve thought long and hard about this and i came up
with this solution. why cant we have a pet octopus ?! i think it’s a brilliant
idea. all we have to do really is to keep the water clean, but i’m sure we would
have hours of fun with it.

now i know you’re all thinking. uhm … the octopus will just
sit in a tank and do nothing all day and get very bored and so will you. well,
that’s what my mom said anyway.

that’s where you’re wrong, mom !

i wanted to take it a step further. so i thought, we could make
an octopus plastic bubble tank filled with seawater that will allow the octopus
to roll around the house when it wants to, sort of like a pet hamster only it’s
an octopus. we can take it for walks in the park or take it to go see a movie
with us. we would be the envy of a lot of people out there! even a pet door
could be installed to allow the octopus as much freedom as he wants. i bet you i
could even train that octopus, considering they are the most intelligent
molluscs.

so yeah, i told all of this to my mom and she stared at me
blankly after i finished. after a minute or two of this, she finally said, "we
still can’t have one. your dad would probably cook him for dinner."

parents! such party poopers!

WHAT KIND OF PETS DO YOU GUYS
HAVE?

 

 
i was tired of being right-sided up and since i feel all mixed up inside i decided to be upsided-down today.
please, dont e-mail me and tell me i have placed a curse on myself for
being upsided-down or some weird elf info that i have never even
heard of because it won’t make me feel good.
well, matthew is now only four hours or so away from North Carolina. thank you to everyone who wished him luck on his road trip. we both really appreciate it. it is going well and he is finally almost there.
 
in the meantime, i’m feeling a bit lonely.
*sad violin music and a grasshopper skips in the background*
 
it’ll be a while before i get to see him again *crickets
chirping*, - maybe 2 months or so - and although time
moves fast, when two people who are greatly in love (aww, it’s
mushy, i know - shut up ) are
apart, time does not seem to move at all. but then, i should not really
complain because i was the one who convinced him to move in the first
place.
 
my god, i must really love him! lol - it’s nice in a tortured kinda way. i feel like carving his name on one breast,
but then that would not be pretty and i also realize that my other
breast would get jealous and would demand to have a name carved on it
too. coming up with another name would be just ((too stressful)).
 
DO L00000000NG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIPS REALLY WORK?
 
so now that i can say i have a long distance
relationship, the fears that couples who live far apart
experience are starting to creep up on me.
 
matthew always says, "Trust me." and i do. it’s just
sometimes my mind comes up with all these crazy/insane/psychotic
scenarios that it makes me worry about what will happen when we
are apart. no wonder there are alcoholics out there!
 
argh - i think my mind is just being silly.
 
tell me i’m being silly guys.