(Photo not mine)

I've been a LiLi girl for about 5 weeks now!

Reading that First days blog post of mine makes me remember the feeling when I was kinda nervous but I feel like now, I'm getting the hang of it. I'm getting used to the work and operations, the constant foot/back pain, the service sequence and my co-workers. I love them so much already.

Our christmas party

As I've said before, I love this type of work where I get to see people appreciate food and things and be happy and warm and comfy. I, myself, am a food appreciator. (If that's even a word) I have this habit of moaning and repeating "mmm sarap" while eating good food. But of course, there have been tiring and confusing times and all these negative emotions during this especially with problematic guests and other tight situations, but in the end it all makes the experience worthwhile. It's because I know that I'm learning. Of course, you can't choose the people you deal with, so you gotta go along with it and see the good in every situation.

In line with getting to experience the "real work", I've been asked a few times these days of what am I planning to do after this... after college... after graduation...

and honestly... I really don't know.

I want to continue this line of work but I don't know where to start. It'd be amazing to be absorbed but I want to try other hotels. I'm a mess at decisions. Hahaha

It reminds me of a quote from One Tree Hill:

Yes, I am scared of the future.

But my fear is not irrelevant.

Everybody has them, from what I was told.

Thankfully, I have my cousins who give good advice like my rommie. She told me that I was very hardworking, skillful and that I wouldn't have that hard of a time searching for a job because I was hire-worthy to her. (plus she's a future HR person)

It made me feel really good and I for sure hope that what she said was real. But it all depends upon me, of course, to make it real. "No one has it all figured out." So I'm not the only one in this ship. I try to see everything positively and try not to worry about it too much.

It will all fall into place and everything will be okay.

This was taken more than a year ago. Throwback to silly headdresses, long necklaces and never ending New Orleans music. If you didn't know I was a server at Gumbo for my restaurant practicum.

"Hi/Bonjour, I'm Pola. Welcome to Gumbo!"

I really enjoy it and as far as I know, I'm good at it. I make it a point that I always put a smile on my guests' face. Sometimes, I made mistakes but you learn from them(obviously).. and there's nothing like the good feeling of making the guest feel comfortable and very homey because of you.

I firmly believe that you can tell much about a person by how they treat waiters or people that serve them.

(enough said)

The one dilemma I faced was my superiors, we didn't get on very well. Most of the staff don't get on with her either. So, the feeling between the crew is mutual. But when I look at it, I see it now, as a big learning experience. I learned that you don't get to choose who you work with, but you gotta accept it and really work with it. You mustn't quit, you mustn't give up. Definitely, not let other people bring you down. You must not let them affect you in how you see yourself.

You must take them like brick and build your castle.

You're going to make it.
It'll be hard, but you're going to make it.

So tomorrow, it's my first day as intern! (AGAIN!) I'm working for a bigtime hotel this time around. I'm getting all these mixed emotions: anxious, excited, nervous, pressured. (I hope it's better than my last one, but I'm focused in making it better. All it takes is positivity, right?) I think it's perfectly normal. Everybody has nerves. I just needed to vent about it.

Also, I've waited weeks for this internship to start and honestly I really don't know what to feel about the weather being bad. I hope everyone's safe. It's like, I'm not sure if I will back down if the rain's too heavy or I'll push through with it. It's because I'm not in the student category anymore!! Also, my parents are definitely shutting me in if the rain gets too heavy. I really don't know anymore hahaha *fiddle-faddle*

In a few hours, I should be waking up. So I'm off to sleep! x

#Throwback

A really dorky picture of me on my first day in Gumbo

Hello there! It's me and Tris (my aptly named pink iPod touch 5)

I've had this baby for about 4 months now, since my cellphone was stolen and it was just rubbish, I've saved up my own money and bought a second hand iPod (i can't afford a brand new one)

I've scoured countless online ads and read a lot of gadget articles about this one. In Greenhills, there's a lot of gadgets that are really inexpensive whether 2nd hand or brand new, you just have to know what to look for and what to inspect to ensure optimum quality. I bought mine at a fairly low price and it was as good as new.

Why I'm writing this now is because I saw my checklist of things to inspect (A GUIDE) on buying an iPod touch (specificially Ipod touch 5th Generation). I'm not a gadget expert or anything, I just compiled all the stuff that I read online and here it is:

YOUR GUIDE TO BUYING A USED IPOD TOUCH

☐ Touch Screen (no unresponsive parts)

☐ Dead Pixels

☐ Scratches/Bumps

☐ Led flash/Camera

☐ Speaker (if working)

☐ Make sure earphone plug works (especially when moving)

☐ All buttons (power, volume, home)

☐ Wi-fi

☐ Reset (general settings)

☐ Warranty

☐ usb cable and earphones

☐ how old? (if applicable)

I suggest you write it down or take note of this if you're out buying. So that you could tick the ones that are okay.

Go forth and best of luck in buying.

I've been itching to change my theme for some time now. Apparently, I've got lots to spare (while waiting for my practicum to start) and here it is. I'm not fully happy with it because I don't know how to adjust the characters length of post preview in the home page and the size of the images doesn't seem quite right being distorted. So, I should probably just suck it up and be happy with what I've done. I'm not exactly pro on this theme stuff. Hahahahaha (translates to I am clueless with html's)

(just a few selfies from these past days;;;;; me trying to look normal in formal wear tbh)

These days, I've been fussing about our Practicum 2. 

I've been out of touch. Like seriously.

I'm not kidding when I say that schools been strangling me for the past couple of weeks.

Graduating. THE STRUGGLE IS REAL.

I've been super busy with our thesis paper. I can feel my eyesight growing worse and worse with time. But of course, that hasn't stopped me from reading. This is why I'm making this post. To tell you what I've been doing lately and what I've been reading. Not that you'd care. But yeah, I like to write about it. Suck it up.

Yep. Ta-da!!!

Thesis Defense = DONE!

It was unnerving. I thought we were gonna have to rerun our surveys and stuff, I was sweating my armpits out! =))))) But it was okay, we made it our bitch. Just kidding! I'm just happy that's over with. Just the revisions and the printing. Phew *expenses on it's way*

But going to the main topic! Here are my recent reads!!

Isla and the Happily Ever After. This book GAVE ME A SHITLOAD OF FEELS OKAY! I can't express how happy I am with the Anna and Etienne engagement! Really. My favorite book couple got engaged! I mainly just waited and waited for parts of them. But I loved Josh and Isla too. Another fictional boyfriend of my dreams. :) Their story is so cutesy cutesy and it makes me twist and turn too. But not as much as Anna and Etienne. THAT'S MY OTP. :))))

If I Stay and Where She Went. TWO WORDS. ADAM WILDE! Eghhhhh. You know that I'm a professional fangirl, okay? This. This messed me up so bad. Because, I literally was bending over backwards because of the drama, the sweetness, everything. Adam, a rockstar. Shit. It's just... Huhuhu This is such a good read. Then again, another fictional boyfriend that gives you heart eyes. It's very well written and I loved it. :)

Catastrophic History of You and Me. This book confused me a lot. This was during the heist of my thesis works and I probably didn't finish it in about a week. It was long compared to If I Stay and Where She Went. Of course, the story was interesting. It's a different kind of purgatory, I guess? It's a cool concept. Also the major plot twist. It reminds me of Filipino teleseryes. :)))

Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. I READ THIS INSTEAD OF LISTENING IN CLASS because it's just that good. I clucked it in about 1 sitting or 2, if you count changing rooms in school. But I loved loved this one!!! MAJOR MAJOR FEELS again. Come on, you know british polite charming dudes are my weakness, the male protagonist reeks just about that. It's sweet and a light-hearted read, I just love it. I was squealing on the inside in the middle of class. And it's funny, because I've actually read that fact, that people have a high probability of falling in love in situations where their adrenaline is high, like in airports/airplanes, hanging bridges and roller coasters.

Legend. Another dystopian novel which I thoroughly enjoyed! It's exciting and all. I liked the characters but the flow of the plot wasn't as fast and upbeat as I wanted, but mainly I compared it to The Maze Runner which was jampacked with action and heart pumping scenes, and it was not fair to compare it to that... But it's a good dystopian novel. I like June's strong and very intelligent character so much! :)

There you go! I was glad to get that out of my system. Basically, I usually vent it to my cousin, which I persuaded into reading a shit ton of novels as well. :)

I was hoping, without all that paperwork now, that I would post again more regularly I guess? I just hope. My hotel practicum's coming up and I have to get a good hotel. But yeah, not like anyone reads this. But I would like to vent out more, because I feel like I'm just bottling it up. Haha! (Where did that come from?)

But yeah. Byeeee! Night. :*

For our humanities project, we were asked to do a photo shoot using a theme. We opted for the street style look and vintage set. Thankfully one of my group mates live in a very antique but grandiose house. They take care of the place for the owners. It's very big and very creepy!

(photo heavy post!)

I was kinda scared to take pictures because something may pop up in the film or whatever! Hahaha

I was very excited of course, there's no denying, I even searched for numerous outfit inspirations. I even downloaded the polyvore and lookbook app.

Photo shoots are fun. :)

Here are some of our final group shots:

Here are some of my solo shots! :)

"I'm feeling really model-ly"

Here you go! x :)

Now I'm off to be busy for our thesis paper. Just a few weeks till the defense! I'm getting jittery and all that! I just needed a break and I did this instead. So yeah.

OH MY GOD HAVE YOU EVER JUST READ A BOOK AND YOU KNOW YOU’RE HOOKED AND YOU CAN’T JUST PUT IT DOWN BECAUSE OH MY GOD IT’S JUST SO EXCITING AND WHILE READING YOU JUST EXCLAIM OUT LOUD NOT CARING WHAT ANYBODY THINKS

That’s me.

Okay, this series was amazing. James Dashner, you rock.

     I feel like there’s literally a movie in my head as I was reading this. When things get so intense, I feel like I was drowning in the pages of the book, gurgling down every word.

I’m speechless. I just finished these series moments ago and I can’t quite conjure up the words to praise this. It takes you on an adventure off the charts and it’s thrilling and my heart is just literally bursting with different kinds of emotions.

OKAY, I LOVE THOMAS! He’s a smart shuck face and I love him. I also love Minho’s character so much, despite of his temper, he’s a true friend and a fighter through and through. Also Chuck! I love love Chuck and his death ached in my heart. Of course, Newt also. When he asked Thomas to kill him, when he was at the road pleading for Thomas to shoot him, I LITERALLY FELT LIKE SOMEBODY PUNCHED MY HEART. Teresa’s death was so sudden that I didn’t also had time to feel the attack, then when they escaped, when it dawned on Thomas the amount of lives that were lost. It ached in my heart, but Brenda was there. Hart hart!! But at least, they were finally safe, no matter how costly it was accomplished.

I just I can’t even expound it more, you just have to read it for yourself. I highly recommend it because it’s just THAT AMAZING.

… and can you just tell I’m excited for the movie?

After Divergent, I sought out a less thrilling more romance kind of novel. Just to take a break from the action packed reads. I stumbled upon The Selection series and it was highly recommended by my fellow classmates who liked to read as well.

The protagonist’s name is America Singer and she’s a 5. Well, the book shows that the place they live in, which is the kingdom of Illea, is divided into caste systems that determine your rank in society. 5’s are the entertainers, which mean our girl can sing and play instruments. But her family is hardly compensated from what they earn. So they live a Spartan life. Besides that, she grew up being strong and able to fend for herself, willing to make sacrifices and staying true to herself despite the circumstances surrounding her.

Then there’s Aspen Leger, the brooding mysterious and forbidden love of America. They are each other’s person. Meaning, they knew each other very well from home and they would always protect each other, they would always have the other in their lives somehow. I love Aspen because of his unwavering hope for his first and great love and courage that drove him to always protect the people. He always had to be the knight and shining armor and I love that about him.

Then there’s Prince Maxon Schreave, the crown prince of Illea. So this whole series evolves from the so called “Selection” where the prince chooses the most beautiful and qualified of all the ladies in the kingdom and chooses his wife, the future queen, from them. (My first thought was, it’s like The Bachelor. Haha!) Okay, so America was picked. I love their first encounter when America was hyperventilating inside the palace and she ran onto the garden but stopped by the guards. Maxon let her out and she just couldn’t control her emotions and she screamed and yelled all kinds of stuff at him. Maxon was cool and composed, but with America, his guard cracked and showed a bit of his personality and I so love that about him. That being with America shows that side of him. And I absolutely love that Maxon always picked America, like from that first time, America won him over and it has always been her. Like one word from her the competition would be over. He’s completely in love with America, and I’m kind of frustrated on the part when they were both holding back from saying that to each other.

Kinda torn between these two, who should be the Maxon.

It kinda sucks the movie didn't finish filming, but yeah. It will be treasured, even if it's just in the novel form. :)

I also loved all the characters, especially America’s dad, Marlee and Celeste. As you know, I’m a hardcore shipper and I was frustrated when the series keep jumping back to Aspen-America then Maxon-America. She was so torn apart by two lovers and so was I. Hahaha

     Everything in this series is really nice, and it’s just a really hooking love story. You should go ahead and read it! J

I've been AWOL. I know. Between thesis, accreditation assistance and other extra curricular activities... my time was pretty occupied. I've read this ages ago, I just haven't gotten around to posting it yet.

I loved this collection of short stories from FOUR's perspective!

It takes you to certain parts of Tobias' life and it's like:

"Umm... GLADLY."

You discover more about who he is. Who wouldn't want more of this?

I especially love parts where Tris is somewhat involved. It makes you see Tris in a different light and how much Four really loves her. I mean I wish the whole Divergent series was remade from Four's perspective, but I'll take whatever Veronica Roth gives me. :)

Especially this scene!! ^

When Veronica retold the part when Tris jumped... and how Tobias really looked at her. See her for the first time in a different light and how he thought she was really beautiful. Ugh!

I really like this collection! I've basically recruited my cousin in the Divergent fandom and she can't stop reading it! :) I'll give her a copy of this as soon as she's finished with Allegiant. *dread*

Go read it!