Hey! I've been increasingly thinking of making this a private blog. I don't post much anymore, but as I mentioned previously I want to resurrect it and kind of make it a more personal diary of sorts, something I am unwilling to share to the public. Yes, dear readers, you. ): Sorry. (Like anyone's gonna read this anyway.) Sadly, Blogger doesn't have the option to make certain posts private. It's all or nothing.

But anyway.

My Bath & Body Works (B&BW) craze has finally culminated in my deciding to buy the Twisted Peppermint Body Lotion from a seller in GMarket. Yay! It's expensive, but that's the price I have to pay for this current obsession. I also found sellers for Berry Vanilla Body Lotion and Lemon Vanilla Body Lotion. I LOVE these two scents! They smell like Skittles! :D But we still have tiny bottles of those at home so I'm trying out the holiday scent. (: I'm really jelly of the semi-annual sale they're having in the US now, with some body lotions going for US$3 a pop! D: But oh well..

With regard to this trip to the Phils, think I'm having a mini reverse culture shock. First, there's the hordes of people in the malls when we go shopping. Then there's the traffic and haphazard driving. I never really noticed this before because I only started driving coming to a year now. Now I see how crazy it is and with it comes the realisation that I will never be able to drive on Metro Manila roads. D:

One big thing is the social aspect. Filipinos are social creatures; parties everywhere, relatives, barkada, sosyalan, inuman, etc. Now I've always been an introvert and disinclined to talk and socialise. But I think living away from all that for a long time, especially in a country where I don't have any relatives, further pushes me toward the brink of antisociality. (I had to search the noun form of "antisocial" lol.) Constant parties and meeting "new" faces tire me. (I say "new" because I may be related to them or have met them before but am only just now renewing the acquaintance.) Not to mention the awkwardness that can only result from being away too long. For eg.: the awkward moment before "the greet", which depends on your closeness to each other. (Such as a handshake or wave for people we barely know, or beso for relatives and closer friends.) Imagine coming up to a person not knowing what to do! Those moments are so ajldhgwoaufhg#1089ey for me. I wish I could ignore everyone, but that would be discourteous.

One thing I think is really sad for me and my siblings is that we don't have anyone in Singapore but each other. Unlike our cousins (especially our second cousins) who literally live right next to each other, we don't have cousins in our vicinity. And even if we lived here, we still wouldn't be seeing any of our first cousins, who all live in the US. Every time we meet up with our cousins, it's like a new wall is erected that we have to break by the time our session with each other expires. We have to bond and rebond all over again. Every. Single. Time. Only with frequent bonding incidences comes a shorter time needed to break down barriers. But of course that doesn't happen as often as we want either.

I'm jelly of the camaraderie between my cousins that springs from close proximity or frequent meetups. Don't get me wrong, I love Natalie and Gibby, but it would be nice to have other people in our lives too. With that said, is it so difficult to give up more time just for us? (Yes I am ranting, but I can't help it.) D: I don't mind sharing, but at least give us moreee. According to Natalie, the situation is precarious. We lost our "power" long ago. But still! ): At least we've had sleepovers. Those were fun. "You just got burned, boy!" HAHAHA. I don't mind hanging with Daniel WHILE he's hanging with his other cousins either. But he's leaving on the New Year. Sigh. None of our first cousins visit us in Singapore either. ): Daniel came once, waaaay back. But the Peñas, no. Emo. At least my sibs and I have each other.

Anyway, so far here we've done (in no particular order):
1) Christmas shopping / Shopping for self at SM, Trinoma, Ever
2) Grandparents' Anniversary party
3) Auntie Bong's Birthday party
4) Sleepovers
5) Quezon Memorial with Daniel and Lolo
6) Imus for Lola Aling's Birthday party**
7) PBA games*
8) Davao*
9) Pampanga with Lola's first cousins
10) Eastwood with Tita Nanette, etc
11) Christmas luncheons at Tito Rene's and Lola Idoy's
12) FCCF, GSUMC
13) Other stuff I am sure to have forgotten

*Only Natalie and Gibby
**Only me


Anyway, that's enough ranting for now. Maybe more tomorrow. A more personal post perhaps. With pics! Father, Buh and Fab are back from Davao! :D And tomorrow will be another long day.