Sandbox

Recently, I went to the guidance center for the annual routine interview. Since the counselors for seniors were all fully booked, I had to sign up under a sophomore counselor. Which was fine by me, seeing as I didn’t care at all for the interview. I just wanted to get it over and done with.

But as I entered the counselor’s office, something was different. There was this big blue plastic container in the middle of the room and an entire shelf full of toys and figurines. I thought that the counselor was probably an anime enthusiast or something but I couldn’t stop staring at the shelf.

Well, apparently, he wasn’t an anime enthusiast. He was introducing something new to the routine interview, and this time, by using the value of “playing” to learn more about the person.

And how great is that? The routine interview has always been a very boring, very straightforward Q&A time where the counselor asks you about EVERYTHING from academics to family life to friends to your lovelife, while you awkwardly answer him/her without giving away too much.

Instead of all of that, I was asked to use the box filled with sand as well as all the figurines to create a landscape representing my world out of the stuff available.

The counselor gave me around 5 minutes to fiddle around on my own, and this is what I came up with!

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Now, what is that? While I was making it, I just grabbed a bunch of random stuff without giving it much thought. But I came up with this. A while later, the counselor came back, asked me to explain it to him, and out came all of these observations that actually did reflect what was going on with me in real life! It was still quite awkward, but we spent plenty of time just staring at the box and figuring out what everything meant. It was all very poetic, and I just wanted to share how cool it all was. Here a short explanation of what I did:

• Present-me is represented by the Mulan doll sitting on the swing/bench thing, and the people behind me are my family and friends.
• The bridge over the river represented the path I needed to take in order to get to my future goals, that is, represented by the fancy house, the foreign looking landmark (representing travel), cakes and stuff (actually they were just cute, but I guess they represent the finer things in life), plants (with snow!), and also the corporate attire lady who was supposed to be future -me.

So what did it all mean?

My future is all laid out in front of me, a short distance away, and I know how to get there (by crossing the bridge), but currently, I’m just sitting here, enjoying the view, not really taking any concrete steps toward my goals. Fortunately, I have my family and friends supporting me (that’s why they’re behind me) so that one day, I can get up and start moving forward.

Wow. So deep, right? It’s pretty interesting because even though I myself made that landscape, there were these little details that I didn’t recognize, yet reflected some of my inner thoughts and feelings.

I liked it so much I took photos to share with everyone. If only all guidance interviews were this fun and enlightening!

ANOTHER 25 things about me :P

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Taggie Thingies

Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

*Since I’m not using FB to do this, I’m not gonna tag anybody anymore. Besides! I’ve done this a million times before and I’ve run out of friends to tag. Well, actually, I ran out of friends to tag the very first time I did it.

**I’m only joking about having less than 25 friends, mind you.

So, 25 things. Here we go:

1. I’ve never gone around telling people to call me a certain name other than my actual given name. In my mind, nicknames are more sincere when it comes from the person. That being said, I (not always) dislike it when people copy the nickname that others give me when we’re not even that close. (Oh wait, I think I have already mentioned this before. Oh well.)
2. My favorite color is officially blue, but my tastes vary depending on the mood. Sometimes I’m into purple, sometimes pink, sometimes black.
3. I don’t have many guy friends. Why? *shrugs*
4. I go through a lot of phases, which is when I am so into something that I don’t stop until I am completely sick of it. Then I move on to something else. Examples: anime, Jpop, fanfiction, Japanese dramas, Pet Society, etc. Not that I hate them now, but I sure don’t love them as much as I used to.
5. I love melons. Especially honeydew melon. SO SWEET :3
6. On my mother side, I only have 3 1st cousins. And 2 of them are in Taiwan. And all of them are younger than me! So I’m sort of like a big sister  to everyone. It’s nice.
7. My favorite dessert next to ice cream would have to be cheesecake. Any sort of cheesecake! Even plain cheesecake. Except maybe the no-bake cheesecake. Which is good, but is no match for real cheesecake! Drooool~
8. It feels weird for me to make friends with people who are my senior. It must be a culture thing. You know, power distance, and all that stuff.
9. My favorite number is 3 and 13. Because my birthday is March 13. I know. So lame, right? But anyway, this is sort of a good thing because although in general I am rather superstitious, I’ve always considered 13 to be lucky (for me) rather than unlucky.
10. I’m looking forward to having classes again this coming Tuesday because it’s my first time in a long while to be back in a regular class, since I’ve been in JTA classes since last April, and I didn’t even get to have summer classes because I have OJT.
11. Some company just emailed me about an interview for OJT. Hello? You’re kind of late by 6 weeks. It looks like a nice company too. T_T
12. I love the drums. Even back in high school, I loved watching the drummers strut their stuff. It’s not the choreography that gets me, but the way they can make MUSIC out of hitting a few cans. It’s amazing. Even when I listen to songs, I always pay particular attention to the drums, sometimes so much that I don’t even remember the song itself.
13. I can’t wait to have a real job! Not because I’m a workaholic or whatever, but mainly because I will have a stable source of income. I mean, my allowance from my parents is tiny and I can’t buy a lot. But when I get a salary, I’m totally going to splurge. (Not everything of course. Just my first paycheck, or something)
14. I have a tendency to spend a lot!!! And since (as I mentioned) I don’t usually have a lot of allowance from my parents, I tend to run out easily and then I have to beg my parents for more. It’s a little sad. For me, at least.
15. I’ve always loved to sing. Unfortunately, although my voice is quite nice (in my opinion at least XD), I have difficulty with range. Meaning, I can’t reach high notes or low notes. So I’m stuck in the middle. Hey! Did you know that the song Moon River from the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s was written specifically for Audrey Hepburn? Because she, like me, (YES, I TOTALLY HAVE THE NERVE TO COMPARE MYSELF TO AUDREY HEPBURN) has difficulty reaching high and low notes. So if you have heard the song, then you might notice that it doesn’t hit a lot of highs or lows. Maybe I should sing that song too. XD
16. I am vain.
17. I’ve been blogging for almost 5 years. Like seriously. My first blog post was on June 24, 2005, on Friendster. You can even see it here: http://charmaineyv.blog.friendster.com/2005/06/
18. I look down on people who still use Friendster. (YES, I AM MEAN)
19. I’ve never had a boyfriend/male more-than-a-friend (except FAMILY). Whoop. Big surprise.
20. I don’t have a single best friend who is with me 24/7 and with whom I can confide EVERY SINGLE THING like those protagonists in chick lit. That is why I am jealous of said protagonists. In other words, I need a life.
21. I want to be famous. But not too famous. Maybe just up to a certain extent where people know me, but not what I look like so they can’t stalk me. Or something.
22. I have this whole folder on my computer filled with scraps of stories that I started writing but never bothered to continue. Before I got a laptop, I had a box of paper and notebooks with all that stuff.
23. I need a writing coach. Preferably Meg Cabot. If you have her phone number, can I have it? I’ll give you chocolate. (Or if Ms. Cabot is unavailable, I can settle for Sophie Kinsella.)
24. Whew. That’s quite a bit of soul searching right there, man. You are totally learning a lot of deep dark secrets about me here on this post. That is, if you’ve read this far. Have you? If you have, comment/message me saying “I like Peter Pan Peanut Butter” or something. Just so I know I’m not wasting my time writing all this. XD
25. I like cheese.

E-book!

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Sammy the Starfish

That’s right!!!!! I’m a published writer!!! XD

No, I’m kidding. Duh.

But I DID illustrate a children’s book that I co-wrote with my classmates in Psychology (two years ago, in fact!). And I am here to provide you the link!! Isn’t that great?

No?

Oh. Okay.

But anyway, it’s called Sammy the Starfish, and it talks about asexuality. Here’s the link: http://www.mediafire.com/?incmgzmni2g

Oh, and it was inspired by And Tango Makes Three, which is a book about homosexual penguins. And our book is about asexual starfish, get it? Hahaha. Ha. Yeah…

Please comment!

Well, lookie here.

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Blog Title: A Charmed Life, new theme

I changed my theme! And my blog title! Thanks to Audrey’s suggestion I actually like this title. Very catchy. Haha! Although I don’t know if my life is as charmed as the title is claiming. I mean, the only thing charmed about me is my name, I think.

But seeing as I have only a few months to go before actually graduating college, aka getting released into the wild without a leash, then who knows? Maybe my life is going to be charmed after all.

BTW I’m liking this theme! After several months of going black, I think this theme is very nice and clean.

Working Girl

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Internship

That’s right! I got myself a job! Well, an internship, but it’s corporate and everything, and it’s quite fun and exciting. At last, I’m applying everything I’ve been learning for the past 3 years.

Downsides, of course, is that I’m working for free. Not even an allowance. But the experience is worth it. I only hope that my post-graduation employers think so too.

And it’s super hard to commute to Makati everyday. I’ve taken Krizia’s advice (and someone else, I forget. Sorry) and learned how to take the bus, and I love it Aircon! No pollution! Cushioned seats!

And I’m learning to live without Internet, too, because we have no internet in the office. So it’s just me, my computer, and my e-books. Haha!

So anyway, everything’s great so far, but I still have 3 more weeks, so good luck to me! Thank you, God, for giving me this chance!