Data, adrenaline and encouragement

• Presenting my boss with the data she requested; she seemed surprised that I was able to obtain the data so quickly. (My staff coincidentally got the data a month ago for some other purpose.)
• Strangely feeling exhilarated in the afternoon after I am done writing letter requesting for authority to fill-up a position in my unit. Must be the Monday madness adrenaline...
• Receiving some words of encouragement from the bear who dropped by the office in the morning to give me a CD of music he had promised and explains why he couldn't send me any SMS lately. Later in the afternoon, I finally get to listen to some of the music he gave and thank him via SMS. After revealing that he'll be going on his pre-residency starting next week--implying that he and I won't see each other for the two weeks he'll be away--he says, "Keep your head up. Ingat na rin!"

Our scribe's sonnet

• I reprogram cantatas.
• Piano, art, grace, smart.
• All sacred; veto mojo! Gee...
• To evade major colleges.
• Manila doc jeered goat.
• Good! A male reject.

* Current obsession

Equinox haiku, iPod Touch wish and silence.

• Longer nights ahead / --only 'til Winter Solstice. / Something to look to!
• Having a sudden urge to buy myself a 4th generation iPod Touch despite knowing that I have no need for one; I must be depressed...
• My cellphone has been silent for five days now. Where are you when I need you, my bear?!

A day with a rebel tummy

• Still not completely out of the woods with this mild food poisoning case since last Sunday. Sigh...
• Trying to calm the chaos in my stomach with iced tea and plain salt crackers. So far, so good...
• Eep! Extremely moody stomach seems to have gotten rid of every bit of the McDonald's breakfast I had this morning.
• Reluctant to go and talk to people I'm supposed to talk to in case I suddenly have to run and "go".

Instant exam, inverted email and three weeks early

• Coming up with an exam for my discrete math class in one and half hours in the wee hours of this morning.
• Exchanging email messages written in reverse with the bear. He had requested me to invert the logo/monogram I made for him so that the letters won't be that obvious. I complied and, in sending him back the modified logo, wrote my email message with the letters of the words in reverse order to echo what I did to his logo/monogram. The bear replied in the same manner. What fun!
• Receiving news to the effect that I might be driving a Honda Jazz three weeks earlier than expected!

MacBook chat, surfing in bed, and two little words

• Finally getting to voice chat with my sister using my MacBook Pro (via Yahoo! Messenger). She marvels at the clarity of the sound and it gets even better when I demonstrated using iSight.
• Finally figuring out where best to place/locate our WiFi router so that I get a strong signal in my bedroom downstairs. Feels great to be able to surf in bed--finally!
• Finally (again!) having the courage to say those "two little words" to the bear via message on Facebook in my reply to his heartwarming words of encouragement. ("two little words" = "three little words" minus one)

Photo session, logo envy, and back to normal diet

• Spending nearly half of Saturday afternoon sitting on the floor of the front porch taking photos of the bouquet of mums, daisies and roses that my mom received for her birthday. Posted two of my favorite photos on my Flickr account.
• Churning out more wallpapers using the logo/monogram I made for the bear. So many possibilities! I'm beginning to hate the logo/monogram I made for myself (so boring!) and wish the bear's logo/monogram were mine instead.
• Recovering from an unpleasant case of food poisoning and being able to eat a normal--read: fatty and delicious--diet once again. (Now, who isn't glad about that?)

The White Hat, Jazz and a late night chat

• Eating the most delicious frozen yogurt I have ever tasted: The White Hat Italian frozen yogurt over at the mall. Tasted perfect with strawberries in syrup. Yum! Rather pricey for a small cup but definitely worth it!
• Looking forward to driving a Honda Jazz about a month from now!
• Being awakened at 10:40 by a text message from the bear who wanted to chat with me online. He then breaks the news that he''s decided to no longer undergo the "freaking" pre-res for his internal medicine residency and will instead take his chances in securing a fellowship for a residency in nuclear medicine which was what he had wanted all along.

Missed lunch, dinner, and consolation

• The bear sadly became too busy--"bogged down by students"--to have lunch with me. But that turned out to be a blessing in disguise because we instead had an early dinner which turned out to be better because then we could sit back and relax and not worry about hurrying back to our classes.
• The bear and I finally got to eat at Bonitos, recalling the first time he asked me out to lunch: Two years ago when we received some cash as a gift of appreciation from Class 1958 for playing/singing during their Thanksgiving Mass, the bear was visibly delighted and told me, "Kain tayo sa Bonitos!" We didn't get to that time because it was pouring cats and dogs but we eventually started eating lunch together about three weeks after that.
• The bear thanked me for the Daily Survival Kit I gave him saying (via SMS): "I really needed that." Then when I told him, "I'll miss you," he consoled me with, "Just remember that this is no goodbye..."

Umbrella, early goodbye, and a perfect fit

• Today I gave the bear an umbrella to replace the old one he had been using all this time and which was slowly falling apart. He had to select from two that I bought and to my delight he chose the one with blue/black pin stripes that I picked out for him. (The other had a plaid pattern and was what my mom picked out.)
• The bear broke the news that his pre-res will start next week rather than the Sunday after next. What a shock!
• The 5.75" x 5.75" x 3.5" gift box turned out to be a perfect fit for the survival kit I am putting toger as a farewell and thank you gift for the bear.

New outlets

It's been a long while since I've played the piano, let alone play as accompanist during Holy Mass. While I find it sometimes painful to think back to those good ol' times, I've been fascinated by how I have been able to find other ways to express myself. Now I'm back to playing around with Adobe Photoshop making wallpapers for my brand new MacBook Pro and have ended up writing two poems--my first in probably thirty years!--and a short story--or whatever you might call all that nonsense I've written.

Minutes, lunch and another chance meeting

• Getting two sets of minutes of meeting finally done and approved by my boss. Phew!
• Finally having lunch with Joel who excused himself for not being around earlier in the week because of a bad case of the flu!
• Running into Joel again on my way back from paying our cable/Internet bill. We have a brief chat where he tells me he had just come from picking up his mom's gowns from the dry cleaner.