Between A Wash And A Gain

I went to the DLSU library as planned to get some isolation to do something creative, in this case punch out some pages for next week. 

I wasn’t able to do that, but I was able to spend my time there looking through some of the older thesis submissions for the Creative Writing program, specifically one by one of my professors, Dr. V. Goryon.  The whole abstract and creative process was enlightening to say the least, but what struck me was how a whole lot of what I was thinking of putting into my tentative novel could be found in it, particularly the “youth running from family circumstances returns home years later due to the family situation he was trying to escape” aspect.

That knocked a whole lot of wind out of my creative sails, for sure.  Drat.

This is going to be a whole lot harder than I thought.  Time to do blind writing exercises ala Finding Forrester and hopefully accrue pages by sheer inertia before Friday.

Trying To Clear My Mind Off It

Today’s shift at work wasn’t much better from yesterday’s, despite the fact that there were three of us this time around.  The queue still experienced awful spikes, though I was able to avoid half of it due to my merchant systems going down again.  So convenient at times, that.  This meant I was shunted over to the membership queue for most of the day (though again for some reason workforce put me on the merchant queue again around lunch — logic!), but that wasn’t easy either, as it was also subjected to bad and random spikes.  It was also backed up for a bit during the start of the day too.

The afternoon was cloudy, thankfully, so the journey home wasn’t so bad.  I was so exhausted by the shift though that I was so happy to jump into bed for my late-afternoon nap. 

Now to purge my system, so I can focus on punching out 10 pages of text tomorrow, or at least try to.

Still Nowhere Near Done

As advised, I went to school today to finish my thesis enrollment (and in the process turning down tatay and my sister, who were going for a walk with my nephew, as well as checking out a breakfast buffet at one of Mall of Asia’s seaside restaurants).  Our adviser was there, and so I filled out my form as promised… Except I’m still not allowed to enroll, as the form itself needs the signature of my mentor.  Who obviously wasn’t in today. 

Depending on the schedule, I’m going to have to either take leave off work on Monday, or head to the school after work.  Then maybe I can FINALLY pay for this term’s tuition.  Sheesh.

Anyway, I have definite dates now that I have to watch for, July 25 in particular, where I’d have to complete my Thesis Proposal before then.  Hopefully I get this in one go, as I’d really like to avoid a repeat.  Though this does mean that I’m going to have to go on an internet exile until that point (or at the very least stay away from my desktop as much as humanly possible), as I can’t afford distractions.

Ah, no pressure, right?

A Whole Day’s Caffeine, And Nothing To Show For It

So I wake up early, take a heavy lunch, and spend the rest of my day in front of the laptop trying to come up with something for my visit tomorrow to the department, all the while drinking cup after cup of coffee just to stay awake.

Needless to say, I accomplished nothing for all that caffeine I drank.  If I wasn’t distracted by the desktop — a clear sign that I really need to be as far as possible from my room to be able to do anything — it was the fact that I spent a good chunk of the day staring at the laptop screen.  There are germs of ideas, but as usual my lack of writing practice caused me to translate none of them into actual text.

And then late in the day, I found out I have a mentor now.  Drat.

I’m sure as heck not going to be impressing them tomorrow, that’s for sure.  Now I need to play catch-up now.  Ugh.

Needs Over Twitchy Expenditures

I paid off some of the bills today, specifically the PLDT combined DSL and phone bill, the Maynilad bill, and deducted a chunk off my VISA credit card’s balance.  So I won’t have to worry about the first two until next m0nth, but the last issue was more or less wasted, as I added to the balance again soon after.  *sigh*

It’s my nephew’s second month-sary, so obviously we had some preparations in mind.  In my case I provided the softdrinks (a pair of 2-liter pet bottles of classic Coca-cola and Zero, respectively), while my brother-in-law saw to the meal, which in this case was four familiy-sized pizza’s (thanks to the pump card of Pizza Hut).  This, on top of some spaghetti that was care of our neighbors (because apparently it was the birthday of one of their kids), meant that there was a whole lot of food on the table, more than what we could finish off. 

And this wasn’t even taking into consideration the rice and monggo that had been prepared for lunch.  It’s no wonder our fridge was full by the time dinner was over.

Tatay came back from the province today, but this time he was a little bummed out, as the job that he went back home to Leyte for never really materialized.  Still it was good to have him back, and right in time for the feast too… Though given his small appetite he didn’t quite contribute to decreasing the food count.

Anyway, here’s to hoping for an okay shift tomorrow, rather than a stressful one.

Warm Lazy Weekender

It’s my day off, and suffice to say that I did my best to spend it on relaxing as much as I could.  Which was hard to do, especially when one considered the heat.  Egads, I was sweating again just a few minutes after I had taken a bath and changed clothes for example.

That said, spent more than my share of quality time with my nephew.  He’s a heck more alert now, and even at two months is becoming very talkative.  Okay, it’s mostly baby babble, but compared to the baby of one of our neighbors (who at 5 months is pretty reserved) he’s very loquacious. 

Oh, and he seems to be reacting to my voice now, apart from recognizing my face when I lean in very very close.  These help with putting him to sleep, as there are times where just lullabys don’t work as well.

Here’s to a more productive weekend tomorrow though.

A Pot Belly Full Of Pasta

I have to admit to losing every single bit of self-control today, as I more or less single-handedly finished off what’s left of the pasta prepared for my father’s birthday yesterday… Which is to say the whole cooking pot’s worth.  It’s no wonder I feel bloated, and likely over-loaded with carbohydrates.  Ugh.

Ironically our fridge, aside from the freezer, is pretty much empty.  This means that I’m going to have to withdraw the 200 USD nanay sent us via Western Union tomorrow, just so that we can put some vegetables on the table again by Sunday, and not have to fall back on canned goods.  Sheesh.

Not really asking for much for tomorrow’s shift, just that everyone who’s supposed to be there comes in.  It’s simple really.

Muggy Sluggish Saturday

It’s our father’s birthday today, though aside from preparing a whole pot’s worth of spaghetti during the afternoon my sister buying a miniature black forest cake was the highlight of the proceedings.  Nanay did remind us to send the actual greetings (my sister did hers via Facebook, while I settled for an old-fashioned SMS) when she popped up for the video conference this morning however.

Aside from that, it was pretty laid-back as far as my Friday day offs went.  Spent the day trying to escape the heat the best we could, with my sister and her kid heading downstairs for most of the daytime, while I  napped upstairs. Kind of hard to avoid getting sleepy by the time noontime rolled in, really.

There was an impromptu baby powow between the kids in the apartment during the late afternoon (there were three of them including my nephew), likely because it wasn’t hot outside by then and there was a good breeze going.  Unfortunately said nephew wasn’t able to go to sleep as scheduled, which led his mommy becoming frazzled and frustrated that he was keeping her from sleeping as usual.  Thankfully, he seems to have calmed down by now, and since I’m not hearing any noises from my sister’s room, it seems that both parent and child have finally achieved slumber.

Hmm, which reminds me, it’s about time for me to do the same.

In One Pocket, Out The Next

Today was another demonstration on how I have lousy budgeting sense.  Easily half or more of the salary I deposited yesterday is gone, with two thousand pesos worth paid to my VISA credit card bill, and a thousand to my Mastercard one.  And after that, I withdrew a thousand pesos more… to fund a rare outing to the cinemas to watch Ironman 3.  I can’t say that I didn’t feel totally guilty with that one, but darnit, it’s been so a while since I treated myself that it was a a long time coming.

And hey, I always wanted to try beef pepper rice anyway, so it was as good an excuse as any to shell out for it.

Of course, this just means now that I’m going to have to shepherd what’s left until the next payday.  With my father leaving for the province again before the 15th (meaning I’m on my own again to pay for the household stuff), and my enrollment on the 27th, well, it’s going to be a long and very tight two weeks, for sure.

Overstuffed And Lazy

There are really only three highlights to this day.  One was the fact that my salary came in late (as in well-past lunchtime and well around two in the afternoon late).  Two, was as a result of my salary coming in late, I was forced to use my credit card for purchases again, which will sting a bit as I haven’t even paid for this cut-off’s credit card payments.  And three, was I had my hair trimmed at the usual place, which since my salary was delayed, I also had to pay with the aforementioned credit card.

Yes, it was a slow day, but it was hot, and it was boring.  What else can you expect?

As for being overstuffed, you can guess that I over-ate today as a result of said boredom.