meet my new baby -- nikki

dec. 19, 2011. that's the date i got Nikki. and boy, is she so gorgeous! there's something about her that made me finally decide to buy her -- her color. i have been planning to buy an SLR for a long time but it always gets postponed....until i saw her -- Nikon D3100 RED.

red color never fails to attract me. most especially if it's combined with black. my phone, named Ozy, and my guitar, named Alexis, are black-and-red combi as well. red and black - i'm just a big fan of that duo. so when i saw Nikki, i fell in love with it at first sight, the same feeling i felt with Ozy and Alexis. some say that Nikki's color doesn't look pro. who cares? after all, i'm really not a pro. and having a pro cam doesn't make one a pro either, so why bother?

so to cut the long intro short, i present to you, my new baby, Nikki. :) included also are my other two babies of the same color, Ozy and Alexis. ♥

"Happiness is anyone and anything at all....that's loved by you!"

P-A-S-T Fever

(a September 19, 2005 post from my now-defunct friendster blog, Innermost Thoughts)

If I were to re-live the past, I'd start on the day some time in between of Nov and Dec in 1999. Things could've been better OR could've been worse. Well, I just think it would be worth taking the risk. But who am I to tell?

Of course I know I can't turn back the time and that I have to deal with reality here (that's what life requires me to)... & not with those good ole movies where they have time machines, genies in a bottle, fairy godmothers or an aero car that takes you back to the future. Not to mention Ina Magenta's and Faye's.

Yes, we all have to deal with reality no matter how badly we want a certain dream/fantasy or whatever you call it. Sadly. & now, the reality is the present. & all that I can and have to do is to live and deal with it. "Oh, jing, can you just please forget the regrets of the past?" the inner voice within me says and in addition to that, "Real life doesn't include those magic. In lieu of that, there are the hopes, the prayers, the faith that go along with reality." Okay then. Maybe I'll just try to see where those 3 will lead me.

• There's a song that says, "Some good things never last." But I never heard a song that implies, if not says, "Some good things don't happen merely because they aren't just meant to happen." Another song to add to the long list of break-up songs. So, any composers out there?
• They say everything happens for a reason. Can somebody tell me then the reason why such is such?
• Sometimes there are just questions best left unasked. For NO ONE can provide you the answers though every inch of your soul tells you that there MUST be a reason.
• I really believe that for every question, there IS an answer. There MUST be. We should just dig in deeper and a little deeper and a little deeper until you find the answers just as miners do to find gold mines.
• Further digging and pondering and I've concluded that maybe some reasons are not revealed 'coz they are just too great and too incomprehensible for a human mind to absorb. Better answer: Maybe, just maybe, good things don't sometimes last because there are better things yet to happen that's in store...gifts just waiting to be opened...or PERHAPS love just waiting to unfold...or could be just any thing else...(Bat ba naman kase walang emoticons dito sa blog eh???!!?!)

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Nov. 2, 2011. Oh, boy! Those were some serious thoughts! Did I really write that? Haha! And it sounds like I was really talking to myself there when I wrote it. My golly! Doing nothing at work, 9 hrs a day, really makes you think of things you wouldn't be able to think of on a normal day. All I could ever and must do that time at the office was to look busy and so my mind wandered to wherever-part-of-the-world. Haha!

"isn't it ironic, don't you think?"

(below is an excerpt from my "Present State" post dated Aug. 23, 2005 from my now-defunct friendster blog, Innermost Thoughts)

"had lost 6 lbs the past month. but already gained the 2 lbs. 4 more lbs to go. funny how i am surrounded with people desperate to lose weight while here i am trying to gain the pounds others would be so happy to lose!!! oh yeah. that's just how life goes!"

now, fast-forward to Oct. 29, 2011. being reminded of my old state makes me smile. i was just 94 lbs that time for i lost 6 lbs 'coz i got sick. 94 lbs!!! i can't believe it! i was sooo skinny then that i always included this line in my prayer before meal—Lord, sana po magpataba po 'to sa katawan ko. haha! imagine that??? and now, i'm trying my very hard to NOT gain another pound. it's a SIN!!! haha! in 2005, NEVER had i ever imagined myself wanting to lose weight. the "diet" and "exercise" words were so alien to me. now, every big food intake is equivalent to 10-20 minute exercise. life couldn't be more ironic, eh?

yeah, i am not fat but 110-112 lbs is my ideal weight. it's the maximum so i must maintain that level. it's okay if i lose some more lbs but to gain even a pound is, as i had said, a sin. so there. that's my present state now. :D

An Hour of a Wonderful Journey

(a July 4, 2006 post from my now-defunct friendster blog, Innermost Thoughts)

Last night, I was searching for some quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Mark Twain, & others that I had written in one of my journals. Little did I know that my searching would take me to a journey to the past.

I was flipping through the pages of my diary, looking for the quotes. I was not able to find them. What I found instead is myself caught up in a different time. I stumbled across the baduy poems that I made during college days...the "basketball court" times in my latter years in college and even after I graduated...the texts (forwarded and personal) that I had jotted down which I would like myself to be reminded of in the future (which happened to be last night)...all the places that I'd been, who I was with, the little acts and feelings of the moment—from the mundane little details of everyday life to the wonderful, unforgettable moments. I was flipping through the pages, just skimming the notes. smiling time and again for the past troubles, downfalls and pains, and smiling even more for the PRICELESS moments. Flipping, skimming, smiling. Now stretch that out to 1 hour.

It is indeed nice to be reminded of your past once in a while. But as what they say, all things come to an end. The journey lasted for an hour. I knew I had to end it when my face became quite itchy of the dust my old diaries possess (haha!) and when my head felt quite dizzy being deprived of an early rest. So I closed my diaries and sealed the journey with one sigh. And one smile.

I was only looking for the quotes but I found fond memories instead. I was only looking for the quotes but the vague memories of the past became vivid all of a sudden. I was only looking for the quotes and the past came dancing alive in front of my very eyes. I was only looking for the quotes...... *deeeeep sigh. one smile*

And lying on my bed, getting the sleep that I need, another hour was spent though for the aftermath...the "hang-over." I was half-asleep. Or maybe was half-awake. Half-unconscious. Or maybe half-conscious. Whichever. Thoughts came rushing in. The ramblings and all. 

The past...they are but just words now written on a diary...one smile...the ramblings again...the past...they are but just plain memories now stored in the memory bin...one sigh...one smile...more ramblings...the past...now they were just a history...one deep sigh...one smile...the ramblings again. Tomorrow would be another day. A part of the future I have yet to live.

Ramblings...ramblings...ramblings. 

It was then I finally dozed off.

RIP, my dearest friendster blog :(

you know the feeling of losing something that had become a part of you? sad, ain't it? and that's how i felt before when i first learned that friendster would be doin' a major modification. and it's not about losing my profile and pictures there that saddened me but about losing my first-ever blog. :'(

i heard about blogging in 2004 but tried the thing in 2005 and so www.rojane.blog.friendster.com was born. i can still clearly remember my first trial post. BROKE was the title. haha! what a way to start a blog! hahaha! oh, well. i was a neophyte in blogging then so, pardon me. ☻ and from that first entry, i knew i found a friend. a friend who's gonna take in ALL my rants, my stories, my innermost thoughts. without a single complain. so yeah, Innermost Thoughts had been the title of my first blog.

hay. it's really saddening, you know. i've typed almost all my 2+ years of my life and thoughts there so i can look back and have a glimpse of the past whenever i wish to. and then suddenly it's gone! huhu. and it's all because of that stupid, sh*tty, crappy makeover!!! so what had been my first entry was exactly the way my blog had ended. BROKE. the online link to my past was broken. but......

thanks to Solite i was able to print ALL my entries! haha! to those clueless about Solite, it's the company i worked at for 2+ years (from 2004). and man, i tell you! i did nothing there but to blog! aside from pretending to work. ☺ 'coz with the amount of work i had there, it felt like i got no work at all! so we, Solite girls, resorted to just do our own things to while away time. and i ended up strumming the keyboard, pouring out my thoughts of the moment.

going back, yeah, thanks to Solite i have hard copies of my first online diary! :P so what i have right now in mind is to little by little put my past here in blogger. what would be the essence of my blog title tagline, "this is my heart, my soul, my life. this is me," if i won't include the me before? after all, our pasts play a major part of who we are today, right? and yeah, i still want to re-read online not just my old thoughts, but also the innermost of it. ☻

so if you'll see a note at the beginning of my succeeding posts that the entry is from my friendster blog, you know what it means -- it's a glimpse of the past. ;-)

still a LOT to do

i love traveling. you get to visit beautiful places that you don't get to see in your everyday life. you get to taste food that are local and native to the place. you get to learn about different culture and the kind of people living in the place - how they speak, what they do, their interests, etc.

i have a mental list of places i want to go to. and if only i have lotsa money to finance this desire! oh, brother! isn't it frustrating to not do whatever you just wanna do 'coz you don't have enough resources? they say money can't buy happiness. whoever first said that must've been a rich, grumpy ole man lying on his bed with dextrose running thru his hands, just waiting for his final breath. joke. :D i mean, maybe yeah, money can't buy ALL the happiness in the world but it can actually buy some. :D like if your happiness is as costly as having a mansion in an elite society, or may it be as cheap as a scoop of ice cream, money is still needed to buy those. get what i mean? so what money cannot buy are just those happiness that don't have a market value like having a good night sleep, a big appetite, one great love, good health, so on and so forth. so what i'm just trying to say is that, money can actually buy you happiness, though not all.

anyway, back to my desire to travel, maybe i'm just quite alarmed now that i still haven't gotten to the places i want to visit here in Au. and my 1 month has already passed. so i still have 2 more months to roam this place, so that means i only have 8 Saturdays left! 8 Saturdays 'coz you see, apart from malls and parks, i can only visit places on Saturdays, that is, if i want my sister and her family as my companions. and golly, i still have this list:

1) Lone Pine Sanctuary
2) Gold Coast
3) Sunshine Coast
4) Movie World
5) Wet 'n Wild
6) Sea World
7) Southbanks
8) Sydney

also, i wanna try to experience riding in their train, their bus and their ferry, explore brisbane city and take a lot of pictures. so maybe i have to do some things by myself. anyway, i find it exciting traveling alone in a foreign place and i wanna experience that. but yeah, you know, the desire is there. it is just the courage that i still don't have now. haha. 'coz exciting it may seem, it can be pretty fearsome, too! like getting lost, getting caught for whatever reason...things like that. i really have this very low sense of direction, you know. so getting lost in a foreign place is quite likely. hehe. but i have to be positive. maybe i'll just bring TomTom with me. 'coz with IT, there's no way i'd be lost! haha! oh yes, you read it right, it's IT. and to those of you who don't know tomtom, here it is.

TomTom is a GPS navigation unit. it shows you exactly where you are and leads you to where you wanna go. as in in full details! what street you should cross, what time you'll get to your destination, the speed required, etc. it even alarms you if you're over-speeding! my only problem with TomTom is that, i think it doesn't work for commuters! haha!

anyway, i just wish myself and my list good luck!

Welcome to the World, Baby Julian! ♥

after 9 months, finally! baby julian's out! yipeeee!!! jazel's due was on sept 27 and julian made his way out to the world on the 29th. and boy, is he so cute!!! jazel and jovil were blessed with yet again another cutie little boy.

lemme take note of the major details of my second nephew.

born on sept. 29, 2011, 4:48PM (Au time) at Wesley Hospital, weighing 2.98kg with length of 47cm, baby julian was very much welcomed to the world!




and oh, he is such a crybaby! especially in his first days! every time he wakes up, he cries. every move, he cries. every sound, he cries. but thank God that as days pass, the cries are gradually ebbing. now, he just cries when he is, of course, hungry!!! hehe.

allow me to end this post by singing this song....

♪♫ May the good Lord bless and keep you
La-la-la-la-la-la-laaaah ♫♪

Lost in Translation, NOT! In Pronunciation, YES! :D

while boarded in the plane to Au, i was asked by this Australian stewardess what drink i want. here's how it went.

stewardess: what drink please?
me: regular Coke
stewardess: regular....?
me: Coke
stewardess: regular what? (with confused frown)
me: COKE (stressing the one word)
stewardess: oh, CAWK.


my golly!!! i didn't know that the Coke, which i pronounced as KOWK, is pronounced as KAWK here! mehn, they're so sleng, i mean, slang!!! :))

and oh, here are more "sleng" words courtesy of josh!

carret (carrot)
bacen (bacon)
missien (mission)
parret (parrot)

now i got the technique. just change the O to E and the A to O. so my real name now, according to a friend in Ph, is read as rejanne (rojane). hahaha. thanks, bjey! haha!

G'day Australia!!!

i had been so busy the past month 'coz I was preparing to leave for Australia. yeah, sure, I was pretty excited about it but when THE day was at hand, i must admit that though it's just gonna be a 3-month stay, i cried buckets!!! :(( haha! it's just hard to leave people that matter in your life, even if it's just gonna be for a short time.

anyway, i was past that and i know i have to brush off the thought if i want to enjoy every moment here. so i want my travel be documented...now that i'll be having lots of time. so, welcome me, my blog! it's been quite a loooong while, and i missed you! :)

THE day: Sept 12, 2011 at 7:50PM
i flew Cathay Pacific from Manila to Hongkong. it's a two-hour ride. and HK airport, though they're some kinda strict on liquids (they had me emptied my 500ml tumbler! that got me looking for the nearest CR afterwards. haha!), is really a nice one, with their duty free named as free duty! :D the ceiling is just awesome too! and look, they even have this free internet booth! ain't that cool????



mine had a connecting flight so from HK to Brisbane, i flew Qantas. what's really nice in flying international is the FOOD!!! a meal consists of a bit of everything, the main entree, juice/soda, milk, bread, desserts and a side dish! how can i even eat all of those on a plane? i had a night flight and so the two meals i had were served at 12:30AM (past midnight) and 7AM! golly! how can i eat plenty at those given times? so i only finished like 1/3 of the first meal and thank God that for the second meal, i ate almost everything! :D one more nice thing is that they had snacks and drinks available all throughout the flight! wow! but i didn't get any of those 'coz yeah, antukin that i am, i slept throughout the trip. zzzzz. haha!



what i thanked God the most for during the trip was that i got to my destination safe and sound!!!! yeba! it was my first time to fly a thousand miles ALONE and mind you, the butterflies in my stomach weren't really so funny! but yeah, thank God! also, i passed thru the immigration without a bit of hassle. there are really many things to thank God for, right?

oh yeah, by the way, i had a lost-in-translation encounter on the plane, i mean, lost in pronunciation! haha! i'll blog it next time. ;-)

gotta go! see yah!

on leaving comfort zones

Life doesn't always require us to simply just wait. There are times we also have to make the move. Eventually, I know I will have to give up some things, even happiness, just to have what I want. But giving up present happiness doesn't mean giving up future happiness, too. It doesn't mean that I won't be happy in the days after. Living life is taking risks, and I want to brave all risks. I'm confident. I'm strong. 'Coz I've been telling myself that no matter where I'll be, my God will forever remain the same and He'll always be with me. I'm confident. I'm strong. Because I know for a fact that the God that I know is the GREATEST in the whole wide world!!! And that God? Hmmm..."will NEVER leave me nor forsake me." ;)