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Monday, January 21, 2008

What do you do when the internet goes down?

Joaquin was freaking out again, because the internet went down. I actually found out today that it was, for once, not the fault of the internet company. Joaquin has been "futzing" around with his new Operating System, and probably screwed up some connection some where...but anyway after all his kicking and screaming I finally fixed it. So I did something that I thought I would never do in my entire life...I organized my pictures on my computer....yes I was as equally shocked as you currently are now.
So since I have not been typing much with hospital duty and stupid group projects, I thought I would share a few things that I found in my Picture folders. Some of these things might be a bit shocking, so brace yourself.

Here is a bat video from when we visited Boracay.




This is what happens when you mix Manila heat with Redhorse... (this is not me, it's my cousin)
Teenage love gone weird...





Who the hell was taking this pic?






To be continued tomorrow, my internet is waaaaay too slow.

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!





Hello 2008. It's me, Karen. How will you treat me this year? What New Year's resolution shall I make? Well, I will make my usual "Im going to lose weight down to 120lbs". Last year that did not sound so realistic, but this year I think I can do it. In the past 2 months I already lost 10lbs. Eating during the holidays are not exactly helping me much, but I am only human.

For Christmas we went to Sagada again. We love it there. We went with a bunch of our Persian friends and my sister, Kate. We had so much fun, and did things that I can honestly say I have never done before. We went caving and trekking. Even though I was scared out of my mind, I still managed to keep my cool. There were several times where I could not keep my composure as a lady. I fell knee deep in mud, and almost lost my shoes while I swore up and down not only in English but Tagalog as well ( you always learn the bad words first). I tried to ignore the fact that there were visible snails in the mud and where there are snails, there are parasites.

I used to think to myself when I was younger that I was not afraid of heights. Then when we came to the Philippines, I realized that I am nautiously afraid of heights. There was a point as I was walking across the rice terraces, I became dizzy. I kept picturing myself sprawled out on top of a bed of cabbage, piercing my sides. Would I sink into the mud? Would the frogs and snakes get me? As I walked a bit faster, trying to maintain my balance, the cabbages became a blur and I started to lose focus. And once you lose focus, there is no "stop one second I need to rest". It was more like "Oh shit, keep going, there is no way back and if I fall that's it for me..." And I didn't exactly like the idea of my death being amongst the cabbage.

Or even when we were in the caves. 1. if i fell, its a VERY long way down 2. It would be so much trouble for everyone to find my limp body and haul it up to the road. So all that I could really do is watch my slippery steps, and ignore the dizziness. I do have to say, for someone who is afraid of heights, I am still up for the challenge.

When I wasn't crying in my head, I enjoyed every minute of it. I had everyone all around me who understood my situation and did not make me feel like the big baby that I really am. I was assured that snakes did not live in the caves and there was nothing to fear in the dark. Supposedly, snakes can not survive in Sagada because of the cold. I wonder if they placed that in the brochures...

I never really believed in ghosts until I moved here. As a child, I am constantly trying to tell myself that there is no such thing. That if I pray to God, then they will not exist and leave me alone. Well let me tell you, they do exist. And all we can do is pray to God...for their souls. But I am not afraid of them. Even if you can not see them 100% of the time, they are there. They might pay you a visit when you are most volnurable. The other night, my sister and I were staying at my cousins house in manila. I've had a few minor encounters so I am thinking Sagada might have opened up my third eye a bit. During our stay there, we shared one room. I was sleeping on the right twin bed and she was sleeping on the left of me. We fell asleep at about 3am because both of us were packing. At about 4 am, I was absolutely startled and awoken. I saw that my sister was tickling my elbow. I said "why are you doing that? you scared me and woke me up." She just shrugged her shoulders. At the time, I had to use the restroom so I went downstairs to relieve myself. By the time I came back up, my sister was fast asleep. So I crawled into bed and drifted away to la la land.

The next morning, I asked her why she would do that? She's 21, and tickling my elbow is something a child would do. She replied "I never did that". Then my cousin began to explain that the house was haunted and that a child ghost lived on the stairs. He just didn't tell us because he thought we would freak out. The child ghost already chased away 3 previous tenants. But since an altar of the Baby Jesus was placed at the stairs, he hasn't appeared.

Like I mentioned earlier, I think Sagada has opened my third eye more. And some people say that if you have one experience, you will forever have many more. Here in baguio, we have a hotel named the Diplomat Hotel. People will go there just for fun...ghost hunting. They think nothing of it. But out of all the people I know who went there, they all continously see ghosts everyday. My friend Carol went there, and now she sees them everywhere. She says that she doesnt like coming to our house because she saw a ghost in the building downstairs, and also at our neighbors house. I believe her too, because I myself have had my own creepy experiences in this house.