Fierce Friday

There’s a certain policy that I abide by, and that is Strictly No Homework on Fridays, meaning all my assignments can wait until Saturday, but Friday, afterschool, is exclusively Me Time. Unless of course I’m having an exceptionally hellish hell week, that’s the only time that rule doesn’t apply anymore, and the last semester that happened with alarming frequency, much to my chagrin, and it felt like my academic load, was holding my weekends hostage, and I was captive to never-ending tasks the whole semester. Thankfully, that’s not (yet) the case this weekend, with one week of Summer classes officially behind me. Right now I’m still semi-carefree, but I’m sure, without fail, my school work will pile up before long, so I’m really just enjoying the calm before the storm, in a manner of speaking.

Anyway, I’m not really an outgoing person, so I prefer relaxing on Fridays to nights out and parties with friends. In short I just like to forget all about the school week that passed and all the work I have to get to, even if it’s only for a short while, so I can have some quiet or peace of mind and not worry about the coming week. Occasionally I go out to the movies, and I have been wanting to watch Titanic 3D, but the miser in me isn’t willing to blow PhP300 all in one go, when I’ve already seen it before, besides the much awaited Avengers is showing soon and I’d rather save the money for then. But I feel a bit bad about missing out on Titanic, I bet the experience is way different on the big screen, and in 3D at that. I was still a little kid when it first came out in cinemas, and I only watched it when I was a little bit older, on TV, so that pales in comparison to a movie theater. But between Titanic and Avengers, I’d still choose Avengers, no matter how that pains me. Oh, Jack. My mind was made up, so I went home after my classes and stayed home today. Maybe other people need more excitement and fun, but I’m content with that.

Before I go on, I’ll just go over how my day went, and also touch a little bit on Wednesday and Thursday, because I missed blogging on those days. They weren’t really eventful, but it’s better to round off the week. I was feeling a bit down in the dumps after Tuesday, and I didn’t really feel any better on Wednesday and Thursday. Don’t get me wrong, my classes are actually fun and I like my professors, but I’m still hung up on this Summer and I haven’t quite wrapped my head around going to school Monday to Friday, when I could be frolicking, instead of studying. I’ve tried to rationalize it away to avoid my own drama, but it’s hard to do when the heat about takes away my zest for life. It’s not so bad, at this rate, because my classes are from 9 am to 1 pm and it’s still tolerable with my one air-conditioned classroom, but it only gets even hotter after that, and it just saps me of all my energy. Though I’ve tried compensating by wearing the skimpiest or thinnest and least clothes I can get away with, short of indecency, and by drinking more water, my throat always feels dry and parched, and it always feels like I’m melting and sweating away whatever spirit I have. If that doesn’t dampen anybody’s enthusiasm, literally, I don’t know anymore.

I break a sweat even before I’m out the door, and just getting into my car, which about halves the little patience I have, if any, to begin with. My sister knows this best, and combined with Manila traffic, I bark curses, honk my horn without restraint, I refuse to yield to other motorists, and I drive pretty aggressively. She has an earlier class so Mama and Papa drive her to school and I take my own car later, so she can’t always keep an eye on me and keep my road rage-tendencies in check. I pose more of a danger to myself than to other motorists when I’m angry, because I seriously will not give way, not even to a bus, if the driver doesn’t have the right of way, and that sort of thing. I sometimes have these urges to put motorcyles in their place, but I know better and I just leave them alone. My sister is my passenger most of the time, but she’s also my built in traffic enforcer, chiding me for violations of safe driving. But even if she’s not with me, she was thoughtful enough to burn a CD for me to play in the car while driving to help me stay cool.

I don’t like listening to the radio when I drive because it can be distracting when the DJ’s talk, so I play CD’s and music. For the longest time I’ve just been alternating between Sitti and Nina. They’re both local artists, OPM, and they used to keep me mellow, but over months of repetition, they’re not effective anymore, and my sister’s been wanting to introduce me to an up and coming band, called One Direction, so she prepared a CD for me. At first I wasn’t really interested, I’d heard of them before, but I’m not really up to date on musical acts and bands. But nonetheless, I was touched that she was sharing it with me. We don’t really have interests in common, so it’s nice to meet in the middle like that. But as it turns out, One Direction is actually good car listening! In fairness, the bubblegum pop and teenybopper, feel good music and the pubescent sounding voices reminiscent of Backstreet Boys and A1 (I feel so old) gave me good vibes! It’s not normally my type of music, but as far as keeping me from turning into a devil behind the wheel, how can you lose your temper even if you’re stuck in traffic, when there are all these upbeat and cute voices? No joke! Thanks, darling sissy-poo! It’s good LSS (Last Song Syndrome) material when you’re sandwiched between cars in bumper to bumper traffic, that I’ve been experiencing the past two days at Tandang Sora flyover.

In any case, my driving mood notwithstanding, half-day morning classes are still a drag because of the heat. And I’m hungry all the time! Having breakfast at seven and class until one totally throws off my ideal lunch hour between 11 and 12. I bring small snacks for lunch just to get through my classes, but then I end up gorging myself come merienda time! Tsk tsk tsk. That means my workouts are payback time! I thought it was hard having classes the whole day, then having homework, and working out regularly, but that wasn’t in this summer heat! Even if my classes are only half-day, I get home really, really tired. Not to mention, leaving the car parked out in the sun for four hours turns the steering wheel and the seat-belt burning hot to the touch and I have to turn the air-conditioning on for a while before I can drive off.

My summer prospects are a bit bleak if the heat continues like this, however, things are starting to look up somewhat. Willing or not, I’m falling back into a school rhythm, and today being Friday, I was in a better mood, in anticipation of the weekend and I just tried to channel zen and whatnot so my classes would go by faster. Sometimes all it takes is an attitude adjustment to have a smooth day. I would know, I am a queen among drama queens. Going back, the last few nights I’ve been sleeping way earlier to recover from the strain of the hot days, and I have to say it’s been a big help! I woke this morning feeling really light after my late night Hip Hop Abs workout. I went through my usual morning rituals and cam-whored a little before going to school.

Here’s a little face of the day, which isn’t out of the ordinary, but today I used Nyx Round Lipstick in Thalia. My undereyes are a bit puffy, but oh well, that’s life. I’m glad that the pimple I had above my left eyebrow has begun to dry up, but another has taken its place on the left side of my nose. Nothing a little makeup can’t take care of, so no problem. By the way, this is how my hair looks because I don’t wash my hair in the mornings to save time (I do it at night, and it doesn’t get dirty when you sleep after all), and when I shower in the morning I twist my hair up in a bun so it won’t get wet, and it gets wavy when I let it down afterwards. It gets limp as the day goes on though, but I took this picture before leaving to show you how much volume I can give my hair with just tying it. And for my outfit of the day, like I said, my clothes are getting shorter by the day, so today I wore a yellow shirt, a denim mini skirt, and my trusty sandals. I bought this skirt in first year and even then it barely fit, but now I have wiggle room! I love short skirts. In the case of skirts, I admit to flaunting my legs, but more than that, they help keep me cool. It’s so refreshing to feel the wind in your legs. I’m so glad UP doesn’t have a dress code. Back in high school our skirts had to go down to our ankles, almost, and the fabric was so thick and hot and stuffy!

 

 

Alright, Speech 111 and PI 100 were both really fun and not too heavy today. My professors were also in the mood for the weekend and didn’t keep me. I love how my Speech 111 professor is prone to going off topic when she remembers something in connection to the lesson and goes off into funny anecdotes and she lapses into thoughtful pauses only to share amusing stories. It kept things light and it was nice, in between vocal exercises to laugh. My PI 100 class was also pretty casual, our professor being hip and cool. I like his approach of humanizing Rizal for us to better understand him as a person, as a man, as a boy. In high school, my teacher just put him on a pedestal and reduced studying Rizal’s life to insignificant trivia, like memorizing his whole name, when there’s so much more than can be said of Rizal’s childhood and background than just his entire family tree and his full name! Our professor wants to debunk the myth of Rizal to show us Rizal as just a man. I like it so much more that way, unconventional and interesting.

Well, that was that, I hurried home, Friday was all mine after that! Another thing I was looking forward to was the hot lunch waiting for me at home, since it was market day, and that only means sinigang na baboy, corn, and fresh fruits! I got home, even with barely any traffic, a little bit past 1, and the homefolks had gone ahead without me and by the time I got back the sinigang and the rice weren't as piping hot as I would have liked, but it was still so delicious and hearty.

After lunch, I let my hair down, both figuratively and literally because I put it up. Here’s a shot of my makeup after classes. Some shine, but otherwise, it held up nicely in the heat. Thanks, mineral makeup!

 

 

 

 

So, my activity for the afternoon was to watch old Filipino movies! The day before, I watched Ishmael Bernal’s Manila By Night, and today I watched Lino Brocka’s Maynila sa Kuko ng Liwanag. I looked for a copy of Bayaning Third World for my PI 100 class, and while searching for it, I stumbled onto channels on YouTube with lots of old Filipino movies that I’ve wanted to watch for a long time. We’ve discussed those two Manila films in Film 100 and in my other majors, but I hadn’t seen them until now. I knew what to expect since I already had an idea of what they were all about, but still there’s nothing like the real deal. Bernal and Brocka have such nuanced visual story-telling, and coupled with twisted plots, dark themes, and a stellar cast! Oh, how I wish there were directors in the same league as them, right now, to produce quality films of old. But then everything’s so homogeneous, it’s all boils down to formula love stories between look-alike actors and actresses, a dime a dozen. You don’t find actors and actresses that have distinct looks anymore, it’s all carbon copies. Bea Alonzo and Angel Locsin combined are nowhere near as beautiful as Lorna Tolentino, Rio Locsin, and Alma Moreno. And not even John Lloyd Cruz can best Bembol Roco when he still had hair! Okay, so both Manila By Night and Maynila sa Kuko ng Liwanag were tragic, or didn’t have happy endings, but it’s just what I needed. I’d been feeling disillusioned and jaded lately and a dose of social realism was just what the doctor ordered. Happy endings would have only made me feel all the more at odds with myself.

 

While watching, I had a tall glass of Rocky Road and Double Dutch ice cream for merienda. Remember my avocado dirty ice cream on Tuesday? Well, I told the story to my parents and yesterday they brought home a gallon tub of Selecta ice cream. In the past, a half-gallon was just for me. I could bulldoze it in one sitting. I am not exaggerating. Now, however, I still consume that same amount, but over two days, and not just in one fell swoop. And then I pay a high price for it by working out extra hard! But it’s all worth it, because the ice cream was just so divine. It gives me a greater sense of purpose when I work out. I work out so I can enjoy my food without any guilt. Do these lips look guilty? That’s how I love my ice cream, right down to every lip-smacking spoonful. Chocolate lipstick and all.

 

 

 

Speaking of working out, after finishing the movie, I removed all of my makeup with my ever reliable Pond’s cold cream and then I washed off any residue with Pond’s Antibacterial Facial Scrub to get ready to wok out. Say hello to my squeaky clean, makeup free face!

 

 

 

And then I readied my gear. I laid out my mat and prepared my water bottles for the downpour of sweat that I knew was going to come. Besides, the heat wasn’t letting up and my electric fan was aimed at my laptop where I follow the exercise video from on top of my desk, to keep it from overheating, so I would go without any cool air.

 

I changed into my workout attire after that. I’m into my third week of the Hip Hop Abs program and it’s gotten more and more intense! I’ve actually seen a difference already. My arms and legs feel leaner and tighter, and my oblique's have gotten more defined. I haven’t bulked up at all, but my muscles have gotten firmer! Today’s workout was particularly ferocious! I was practically a boneless heap on my mat when I was done! My whole body was crying out in surrender after a full hour of torture! And my sweat was phenomenal. I could feel the fat droplets rolling down my back, my arms, my chest. Beads of sweat just cascading down my body. I was soaked, I had bathed in my sweat, in the fire of my limbs! My rosacea was on high alert too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All for the greater glory of this temple. Friday is for kicking butt!