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I was in Bacolod last weekend for a family reunion, and aside from touring my grandmother’s hometown, lounging in the resort, and eating yummy inasal, I was able to bond with my cousins. Even if I get to see most of my beloved babies almost every weekend, I can never get enough of them!

Meet Leon, my 4-year old cousin.

There he is trying on my shades

And here’s Ana, doesn’t she look like Dora to you? She’s the cutest!

Here’s baby Angelo, who’s just a little over a year old!

And he already loves music as much as I do Here he is, listening to my mother’s salsa songs. Hahaha.

That’s my sister, Leon, and I swimming. Spot his floaters—he hasn’t learned how to swim without them yet!

That’s Leon with an ice cream cone after a sumptuous meal at Aboy’s in Bacolod. He loves chocolate as much as I do

That’s Angelo, trying to squeeze his head in between the chairs at the airport. He’s my most huggable cousin ever! Doesn’t he look like a koala bear? Awww.

Children are really my weakness, and these babies are undeniably my happy place. Whatever sour mood I’m in, once I see them and start playing with them, all the bad vibes fly out the window! I’m look forward to more trips with my loves! Thank God for babies like these.

<3Gaby

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I’ve been trying to keep myself busy these past few days, with a few of my newest (&not so new) obsessions! Hahaha.

Obsession #1: Word Challenge on Facebook!

Hahaha. It’s one of those Playfish games with the really cute graphics, and I love it ‘cos it’s like Text Twist! The object of the game is to form as many words as you can out of one six-letter word, under time pressure! You’re given just two minutes to do it, and each time you form a four-letter word, your time is extended by a few seconds. The catch is, the longer the word, more time is added. It’s really challenging ‘cos you’re forced to think of long words if! Plus, you get to see how well you rank amongst your friends, so it’s fun to try and get past their scores Oh, and you get to brush up on your vocabulary skills too!

Obsession #2: Dexter

What first caught my interest was when my Tita told me about this show about a really strange serial killer – he paints the nails of all his victims, with each fingernail a different color! Hahaha, so see, I just had to watch it. I ended up having a Dexter marathon, and now, I totally love the series! It’s a bit creepy; it’s a drama with a dark sense of humor, but the whole series is really captivating.

Obsession #3: Put Your Record On – Corrine Bailey Rae

I love this song!! It’s the perfect summer song! Hahaha. I heard Megan Corkrey sing it on American Idol (Loved her at first, but she started getting a bit cocky towards the end…), so I just had to look for the original. Now my sister and I can’t get it out of our heads!

Sapphire and faded jeans,
I hope you get your dreams,
Just go ahead, let your hair down.

Obsession #4: Capoeira!

I started taking Capoeira, and it’s slowly becoming one of my favorite obsessions! Hahaha. I loved ballet as a kid, and I’ve tried Judo and Muay Thai over the past two years, and capoeira is like the perfect combination of dance and martial arts! It’s a good way to learn about Brazilian culture as well, and I’ve even learned a few Portugese phrases since I started! You get to meet new people too, which makes the experience so much more enjoyable. Plus, it’s a great workout Check out Club 650 in Libis, Amezcua along White Plains, and AAK in Megamall for lessons, and for Southerners, they hold classes somewhere in Alabang.

<3Gaby

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There are so many things I love about summer—the lack of schoolwork, the endless going-out possibilities, the late, late nights, the really late mornings, and the out of town trips are just a few. What I really can’t stand (unless I’m at the beach, with the ocean a few steps away and a nice mango shake in hand is the sweltering heat of the sun! What’s worse is, these days I sleep so late and wake up at noon, when it’s the hottest time of the day! So I’ve found simple but effective ways to try and beat the summer heat. Here are a few of them!

1. Take a bath at noon! When the heat of the sun is at its deadliest, take a long cool shower! You’ll feel so much better afterwards.
2. Make ice-cold popsicles from orange juice/Ovaltine/whatever you have in your pantry! They’re really easy to make, and after a few hours of cooling in your freezer, and voila! Yummy popsicles!
   
3. Hydrate yourself! Drink lots and lots of water on a hot day to keep your body cool. And I found out that carbonated drinks that are full of sugar, like that ice cold can of Coke tend to go against the natural cooling process of the body. Water is really the way to go!
4. Hang out in your sala or living room instead of in the higher floors of your house! The closer you are to the roof, the hotter it gets. That way, you also have easy access to the refrigerator for snacks and cool drinks :p
5. Use a spritzer! Use an old cologne bottle, and fill it with clean water and store it in your refrigerator. When the heat becomes unbearable, use it to spritz yourself!—and they say that we should spritz our wrists first, to cool the blood flowing through our veins
   

I’ll come up with more no sweat ways to cool off soon! Haha! How do you beat the heat?

<3Gaby

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I spent the first Monday of Summer exactly the way I wanted it—with friends, fun, food, and fast rides! My blockmates and I finally visited Enchanted Kingdom—something we’ve wanted to do since freshman year but never had the chance to. Finally, finally! It was a really awesome way to start the break.

We arrived just before the park opened, at around 130. Luckily, students get a huge discount off the entrance tickets, and we ended up paying only 275 bucks instead of the usual 400! We entered the park eager to get on the rides!

The heat was close to unbearable, but Anchor’s Away was calling! I love the strange feeling you get in your tummy when the ship moves! We sat on opposite ends of the ship so we could see each other’s faces on the ride.

Spot my friend Iyai taking our photo!

We rode the Flying Fiesta (which I also love!), the RollerSkater (yaaay mini rollercoaster! but it was such a quick ride :(), went to the Rialto (this was a teeny bit boring.), and even rode the Carousel! It was so amusing to see ourselves, especially the guys, ride the teeny little horses that go up and down. Hahaha.

We were sort of killing time waiting for the Rio Grande Rapids to open, since that was everybody favorite ride. And with the sweltering heat, who could resist water rides? We lined up for the Rapids despite the long, long line. After one round, we decided to take a break to grab a bite, then found out that the Space Shuttle had already opened! But since we’d just eaten, we decided to go to the Log Jam first, since we were already wet anyway.

After that, we headed straight to the Space Shuttle—the most awaited ride of all! Everyone except my friend Patrick gamely went on the ride. I was feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness, but I was mostly excited, since rollercoasters are one of my favorite things on earth! Aaaah. Give me a rollercoaster over a make-me-dizzy ride anytime. I’ll choose the Space Shuttle over that Hot Air Balloon ride thing – that ride makes me want to hurl We went for another round of the rollercoaster, but everyone got drained after. So we decided to go on the Rapids again, since everyone was still so eager to get wet!

…And we didn’t stop until we were all soaked! We kept running back to the start of the line after the ride, and thankfully, each time, the line got shorter. After around 7 or 8 rounds, we were all drenched and happy. Hahaha.

After freshening up, it was almost closing time, and we had time for one last ride.  We ended up going on the Wheel of Fate, and got such a beautiful view of the whole park, with all the lights lit!

We left the park hungry, and everyone was craving for Jollibee!  We finally found an open branch close to home after passing by several closed ones. We ended our day exhausted, sleepy, and full.

But still happy.

This is the start of a good summer. I can already see it.

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I’ve been alternating between Facebook-ing and reading Economics handouts for the past few days, since finals week is just around the corner, and my Econ finals are scheduled for Monday. Rawr. Hahaha.
And thanks to the new Facebook layout, I get to see everyone’s quiz results, the surveys they take, who they Superpoke!, and came across this survey! It’s quite fun! Haha :p I’ve always wanted to be part of a band ever since I discovered Incubus, and turned my back on Britney Spears, M2M, and Backstreet Boys in gradeschool!

If I was part of a band, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be the lead singer, because I hate performing or doing anything in front of big crowds. I wouldn’t be the bassist either, because I’m short, and the bass would probably be even longer than me. HAHA. I wouldn’t be the drummer, because I think I lack coordination and I’m pretty sure I would screw up. So I’d probably be the guitarist, woooo. Hahaha.

To do this:
1 – Go to “Wikipedia.” Hit “Random Article”
or clickhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 – Go to “Random quotations”
or clickhttp://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3 – Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or clickhttp://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 – Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together

5 – Post it to FB with these instructions and TAG the friends you want to join in.

Heeey, I actually like my band & cover art! :p

Okay, I think I have to get back to reading about taxes, deadweight losses, and non-competitive markets now. L See you after finals week!

P.S. Check out another one of my favorite Asofterworld.com comics http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=7 Click!

<3Gaby

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