so this is why i'm thin.

i don't eat much.

basically, that's the main reason why i'm this thin. but i didn't know there could be another reason, one that is equally valid.

i just read in an online cosmo mag an interesting, and in my case, a true study: a new research in UK found that people who get up early tend to be happier and thinner.

According to an article in the British newspaper The Guardian, one of the authors of the study explained, "The reason early risers do better in life could be down to the fact that getting the chores out of the way [...] helps people fit in better with hectic modern life." Not the most satisfying explanation, but we see his point. Plus, other experts not involved in this study add that lounging around in bed on workday mornings can leave you feeling sluggish and moody all day.

(Read more: Early Risers Happier and Thinner - How to Become an Early Riser - Cosmopolitan)

i'm definitely a morning person. there were few instances when i wake up later than usual, but most of the time, even after i worked looooooong hours and went home late or even after i stayed up late for a movie marathon, i simply wake up ahead of my alarm. of course back at the time when i was working night shift was a totally different story. my body clock went a 360-degree turn at that crazy schedule. and i'm so glad to be back to normal when i quit that night shift job (truth is, that, along with many other reasons made me just feel good about quitting).

presently, i can't even bring myself to oversleeping on my days-off, even if i will myself to do so the night before. and though i feel bad sometimes when i can't give my body the oversleep it needs, i just can't help but love waking up early in the morning, when the sun just gives its perfect warmth, when it's still quiet and peaceful and beautiful at home.


and more than getting the worm, getting flatter abs may just make one consider being an early bird (or make one wish to stay as that).

happy 41st!

they say, at every start of a relationship there's this thing called honeymoon stage. the first three months of being a couple are the best and sweetest time. the time when they are head over heels inlove with each other. the time when everything and everyday seems perfect, colorful and magical.

my plan of working in singapore has been crystalized few months before alvin and i got back together. being a planner and forward-thinker that i am, committing to anyone before i leave wasn't part of my plan.

until we started seeing each other and going out together...all over again.

i tried to stick to my original plan as much as i can. but he was persistent and i stopped resisting. and love pulled us in.

we got back together in may this year. it's been five months now. two months past the honeymoon stage. but it seems like we haven't gotten over that period yet. for the past months, we exchanged sweet-nothings almost on a daily, hourly basis. and yes, we also shared fights, big and small. but in all these, i just fall more deeply inlove with this man, every morning that i wake up, and every night before i sleep.

many times i contemplate about the love we have. and i really consider myself lucky to have found a love like this, authentic, comforting, lasting. and i consider myself doubly lucky for sharing this kind of love with him, he who is selfless, patient, understanding. this is the love i'm extremely thankful for. this is the man i would love to love many times over.

and today (well, less than an hour from now), we remember and celebrate our 41st monthsary. we're two months into ldr now, (22 more to go!), but it's the third time that we celebrate it away, so far away, from each other. 

and as the distance between us grows, so is my love for him. it grows every second of every day, seriously.

and it is my hope and prayer that we keep this honeymoon stage going, even after we're long past the three-month period, even through wrinkled face and graying hair.

love for psychology. love for self.

i started loving psychology seriously when i enrolled in a psychology class back in college, one about personality. i loved it so much i even thought about shifting courses or take a master's degree in that field.

there is something satisfying in learning about human character and behavior, why people act a certain way, why we think the way we do, why we have opposing views and beliefs, why we are similar yet different.

it's even more satisfying to learn about one self, fully. not that i didn't know much about myself before i enrolled in that class, but i can say i became more aware of who and what i really am. and i liked myself more than i ever did. 

this personality test of some sort has been visible in many facebook walls lately, and i also found it in joicee's blog. i gave it a try and i kind of liked the first four words i stumbled upon.

passionate.  sentimental.  witty.  lovely. 

yeah, i think, nah, i strongly believe, i'm all these and more.
i think i'm now verging to conceitedness. but i still call it healthy self-love. 

which reminds me...

many times when i look at the mirror, i say, "ang ganda ko" without intending to voice it out, really, but sometimes someone at home hears me mumble that. there was a time ate monette, one of my housemates, did. she laughed and said, "wala kang suicidal tendencies no? mahal mo kasi sarili mo."

i smiled and i thought. isn't that part of the natural order of things, we love ourselves first before anyone else can love us? and yes, i love life and myself so much that i don't have suicidal tendencies. no dice.

the chat ♥

i love reading and re-reading. i even enjoy re-reading the silly, oftentimes crazy, sometimes mundane conversation i have with the people i love. and though i have a lot of favorite exhanges that i go back to many times on my quiet alone time, this one is my recent favorite. the one with my favorite loved one.

reading it again, it somehow reveals the kind of woman i am -- apathetic and mushy at the same time, and the kind of man i have -- loving, loving, and seriously loving.

i love how our ordinary chat turned into something sweet, funney and lovey. for some reason, i loved it that i made him feel like crying.


and i say it again, he's my past, my present, my future, my forever.

my soundtrack ♥

i've been trying to figure out how to put my favorite song on my blog home page for three days now. not three whole days exactly of course, but yes, three days passed before i successfully made it. three days and a couple of not-so-successful trial versions.

and you can see, it's not much of a huge-very-complicated thing. it's just so simple actually. but being the techy loser that i am, i consider it an achievement. and after getting the perfect fit of the video for my blog layout (minutes ago, the whole video almost covers the whole right side of this page, and it looks so ugly), i was so ecstatic and howling like a madwoman, one would think i won the lotto, or married to a millionaire, or something.

so now i can indulge to the song i'm so fascinated to recently while i do the "talking" right here.


and i got the one with lyrics so i can sing along, and eventually memorize every line.


oh how i miss my weekend videoke habit back home!

because i'm a work lover.

i guess this is still i'm-awed-by-steve jobs-hang-over of some kind.

he said in his address, "your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. and the only way to do great work is to love what you do."

today, i like to dwell further on that.

i started working early in life. and if my work as student assistant in our university library is part of the count, i can claim that i started working since i was 18. and i know from that point on, i am a passionate and a dead serious worker.

for obvious reasons (one, that i am great), whenever i join a company, my goal is to be an asset. i don't wanna be a typical employee working ordinarily and waiting for payday as if it's the only reason why i work.

work, for me, is more than just my bread and butter. the satisfaction i get is not limited to every peso (and now, dollar) that the atm dispenses. it means more than just a source of my siblings' tuition and college allowance, more than the answer to our monthly and piled-up bills.


work. it's something that inspires me more to wake up every morning with cheery talk and upbeat walk.

so it disappoints me, bigtime, when i hear someone talk and see someone act as if work is nothing but a money source.

and i heard one today.

i just think, if you don't care enough for the company you're in and the job that you're doing, might as well leave and channel your energy someplace else. surely, you'll do better somewhere, and surely still, someone will do better in the position you're filling.


life is just that simple. don't settle. never waste your time doing something you don't put your whole heart into. and never waste space by staying to a place you don't thrive in.

and steve jobs reiterated, "stay hungry. stay foolish."

i rarely blog about people i don't have personal dealings with. but i just wanna spare a space for such an inspiring man i only got to "know" recently. and by recently, i mean yesterday.

yeah. i know some geniuses are behind awesome creations, inventions and innovations, like google, airplane, facebook, etcetera, etcera. but i don't clutter my brain with too much information and too many names that i don't memorize, much less familiarize each one of them. so yeah, i knew steve jobs just yesterday. shame on me, i knew him just now, now when he is cold and lifeless.


and the instant i knew him, i liked him. more than his brilliant creations, i like him for his wise inspiring words. i love him for his humble beginnings and simple background.

i love the inspiration he brought to the graduates of stanford university, and the inspiration he brings to me now and to the many people who'll stumble upon his words one time.