Good Riddance To My Acne!

I hope I can say the same to my blemishes!

These are pretty common things that you have already heard about. There's nothing here that you don't already know. But I can tell that it really pays off to avoid bad habits.

Back in 2014, I suffered from acne. What started out as a lone pimple on my cheek turned into a nightmare. Yes, that lone resident enjoyed its stay on my cheek for almost a month. I didn't know why it stayed that long. Usually, pimples heal after three days or so. But that lone prick occupied my cheek for almost four weeks! Grabe!

Just when I thought it would move on, aba! di pa nakontento at talagang nag-invite pa ng iba. Imagine a nice peaceful place without residents. Then suddenly a lone person stumbled upon it and decided to settle in. He enjoyed the place's serenity and the solitude. Then one day, he realized he was lonely and thought of having other pricks to occupy the damn place. 

You know what happens to a place when there's a lot of people. The serenity withers and wanes. And that's what happened to my face.

I woke up every day, looked at my face in the mirror to see if the loner had wilted, only to find another pimple had suddenly popped out on my cheek. Back then, I didn't feel the need to worry. Why should I? Having a pimple or two wasn't unusual. But!!! It was damn frustrating when each pimple didn't heal right away. It was itchy so I couldn't help but scratch or touch my face. Believe me, I tried not to but the urge to scratch it till dawn annoyingly gnawed me! You can imagine what happened from then on.

It wasn't my first time to suffer acne. In my previous post, I wrote about how I suffered acne back in 2009 and it was excruciating! My skin isn't perfect and it will never be but I just want to have a normal skin free of acne. I dread to have another acne experience. I'm not really conscious about my physical appearance but having pimples is very annoying and damn uncomfortable. I hope there won't be a third time. 

My intuition why I suffered acne. Lol! Intuition?! I never approached a dermatologist so let's call it intuition, suspicion or whatever. These were the things I did back then and some that I still do. I won't tell which. 😂😂😂

Unhealthy lifestyle. 

This is one of the common causes why we get those pricks! 

-I sleep really late. I usually sleep at 3 or 4 in the morning. Imagine that! But it is not uncommon here in the Philippines. Most of the people sleep at dawn. We know it's unhealthy but we still do it. Why do some people stay up late? It's because of those evil gadgets. Haha! Unplug those and have a good night's sleep!  

-I don't usually eat breakfast and I eat at midnight. I usually get up one hour before noon so that's why I never have breakfast. What I eat for lunch is considered as breakfast, what I eat for dinner I considered it as my lunch and what I eat at midnight I considered it as my dinner. Haha! Magulo ba?! Another reason why I'm confident to go to bed really late is that I don't have to go to work early. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and I often miss it. Then when I get home, I'm usually hungry so I make myself a bowl of something. Eating or snacking late at night is very unhealthy. It doesn't only have negative effect on your weight but it can cause other health problems, too.

-I sometimes, SOMETIMES eat unhealthy food. I remembered eating something with butter for three consecutive days back then. I suspected that it was one of those factors that triggered my acne. 

-I don't exercise. Hahaha! I'm very lazy and my inner self cringes. Two years ago, I didn't feel the need to exercise I haven't gained weight. I mean, who the F would gain weight if you sleep late and never eat breakfast. But lo! I was wrong. Just because I thought I haven't gained weight doesn't mean I shouldn't exercise. I still need to sweat those cholesterol and whatever unhealthy oils that I have out! 

I changed soaps frequently.

I changed from one soap to another that time when I felt like it, when I noticed that the soap didn't live up to what it has promised or what it has claimed and when I discover other brands of soap that a blogger claimed to be effective. Naku! Mabilis pa sa alas kwatro ang pagpapalit-palit ko ng sabon! 😂😂  I should never have changed soaps unless my skin doesn't mind me changing soap too often. Wait, what? 😂😂

I pricked my pimples.

When my cystic pimples took a while to shrink, I pricked them. My logic fooled me. I thought if I pricked my pimples and forced whatever fluid made those pimples swell out, it would heal fast. Never, ever prick pimples! It would cause severe skin irritation.

I used different facial toners at the same time.

Some toners don't agree with your skin. Some would even cause inflammation! So be careful on choosing products for your skin. I know some would go to such great length just to get rid acne in an instant but just calm down. Take it easy and don't overdo it.  One at a time lang! Ganoon! Ang lola niyo kasi, desparadang mawala ang acne-eklavoo, ayun pinagsabay na. Haha

So how did I rid SOME of my pimples? I tried and keep on trying to avoid the things listed above as often as I possibly can. I would have shown a picture back when I still have those annoying pimples but it might gross someone out so I decided against it. Another excuse is, my old pics were stored in my broken phone's memory. Had I known, I would have transferred all the files to my memory card. I still get a pimple or two, but it's nothing I can't handle.

I'm still apprehensive about posting my pictures here but maybe one day, I'll be courageous enough to flood every entry with my face! 😂😂😂 :D :D :D

PEPERO DAY

Happy Pepero Day Everyone!

Red Velvet

I'm not really fond of cakes. I love dessert but cakes are not on top of the list. However, years ago, I got curious about red velvet. Been watching YouTube videos and seeing those Youtubers baking cakes and all, fascinated me. I'd been seeing red velvet whenever I literally passed by at the mall but I didn't really pay enough attention. But then I thought, it wouldn't really be that bad to give it a try. I mean, maybe it really is delicious and that's what the hype all about that time. So I told YY about it and he said give it a try. I bought a slice for P195. Oh boy, I shouldn't have expected so much. Hehehe

Not so red and lacked moistness.

There was nothing special about it. The cake tasted like it was a day and a half old. Quite dry and tasted ordinary. The first bite was like, "Dang, I should have bought mamon instead." :P Well, I was expecting something close to what I have seen on YouTube, you know, with generous amount of moistness and given that I bought it at one of the cafes inside Shangri-la.

Or maybe there was something wrong with my tongue...

Bahaw na kan-on....

Just another lazy day. I wonder how I survived Tuesday talking to my students the whole shift. I want to keep this blog updated but I just couldn't think of more entertaining entry to write right now. So I end up with Bahaw na Kanin (tira-tirang kanin/leftovers).

Karon bitaw na tag-ulan na, tugnaw gyud. Lami nalang ibalukot habol tibuok adlaw. Tugnaw jud ikaligo! Samot tugnaw kung bugnaw pod ang gikaon. Sa katugnaw, manapol nalang pod lung-ag maong bahaw nalang gikaon or naa sad time na kapoy kaayo gikan sa trabaho mao di nalang initon ang bahaw. Hahaha! Bahaw na, bugnaw pa gyud. Pero wa baya ko problema sa bahaw ha...In fact, kung naay bahaw tiwason gyud nako kay sayangan jud ko. Kung maglung-ag ko, siguraduhon gyud nako na sakto lang unya kaya lang nako hutdon kay sayang lage. Sahay, sa kagutom di nalang gyud initon!

Kung makadungog ko ug Tagalog sa bahaw ba kay makanugot sad ko sa akong kaopisina na arte sauna na itago nato sa codename na "Tikalon"(Kay tikalon gyud) Hahaha. Akong isa ka kaopisina(let's call her, JollyMS), before mi nahuman sa among shift kaniadto, gitagaan ko ug mamon man siguro to. Ambot, nalimot ko kung mamon ba to or ordinaryong pan raba kay 6 years ago naman gud to. Ang mamon nakuhaan nag gamay ba. Napahak na pero kinusian lang.

Murag igo lang tingale to gitilawan ni JollyMS pero wala pang-iti. So pagpanguliay na namo, ako gitiwas kay sayang baya ug ilabay. Sa dihang nitingog si Tikalon kay kuyog man gud mi ato. Kami jud tigkuyog panguliay ato. Maayo gani wa ko natakdan sa pagka-Tikalon. Slight lang tingale. Lol! Ni comment ba naman na "Ano ba yan! Kumakain ka nang tira-tira?!" Hala, niinit gyud akong dunggan ato na time! Di gyud ko kalimot. Kaarte ug kahambug sa hanggaw ay. Matanong ko lang. Ano po bang mali sa pagkain ng may bawas na o tira-tirang pagkain? Kung hindi naman panis ay walang dahilan kung bakit hindi mo kainin, diba? Isa pa, hindi naman po nilawayan at kinagatan ng nagbigay. May cute na kurot lang. Ganern!

Out of topic. Yes, dili to bahaw na kan-on ang gihatag ni JollyMS pero pagkadungog nako sa phrase na "tira-tira" nakanugot ko sa bahaw na kan-on. I have to be honest, I was offended. Na-offend ko kay tingale tan-aw niya nako hangul najud ko kaayo para pati sobra-sobra dili nako pasayluon ug hamal. Na-offend ko para ni JollyMS na maayo nalang gani kay dili namo kuyog, so wala siya kadungog. Na-offend pod ko para sa mamon. Kaluoy na mamon, na gitawag ni Tikalon ug sobra-sobra(bisan dili man pod siya tantong sobra-sobra) Lol!. May bawas, oo but it was just a pinch. Bisan Tagalog na adjective di pa magamit ug tarong. Bisan ako baya pod, nagkagidlay sad kung mag-tagalog. But at least, I'm not that insensitive. If I don't have anything good to say, I just keep my mouth shut.

For me, it isn't really that bad to eat slightly-bawas na pagkain or leftovers given by someone as long as he or she doesn't have a contagious illness, the food isn't spoilt at kung hindi niya nilawayan, syempre.

It was a small issue but I couldn't think of throwing the mamon away just because may bawas na so inubos ko pa rin. I just don't like wasting food most especially if it's not spoilt. I really finish my baon na kanin and ulam sa opisina before going home kasi alam kong pagdating sa bahay ay mapapanis na ang kanin. I also don't mind accepting and eating food na may bawas na, like I said sa taas, but being addressed for doing it was uncalled-for. I knew what I was doing and she didn't really have to point it out.

Ang sobra-sobra, tira-tira, bahaw, bow!

Shaw Boulevard

How my phone got stolen right under my nose by a shameless a**hole at Shaw Boulevard just across One San Miguel Avenue Bldg.

Before it was stolen, I used to think how lucky I am (although, I already experienced being mugged in 2010 while walking along Guadalupe Bridge-EDSA, but that was a different story) because I thought that working and waiting for a ride here in Ortigas is safe. I know, I know. Kahit saan ay hindi safe but compared to other cities in Manila, I thought it was. I have seen lots of videos posted on Facebook and one of them taken by someone stuck in a traffic jam capturing a phone snatcher in Recto. So, I thought to myself, "Oh, I'm here in Ortigas. Who would dare?".But damn, I was dead wrong!

It had to be slapped on my face for me to realize that I was wrong and that I should have expected the worst. I should have been more vigilant. I was so comfortable that I have neglected taking extra care. I have never been careless with my things regardless of the value.

I had to learn a lesson in a bitter way that time. It really broke my heart not just because the phone was damn expensive, but because it was given to me by Cy. It was so special that I really cherished it.

So, there I was, minding my own damn business and waiting to get a ride home. I was so eager to get home as it was Friday and oh, it was also April Fools' Day. What a memorable day to have your phone stolen!.

There were many people at that time and I actually didn't mind because it is usually crowded on Fridays. I was so anxious to get home that when I saw an almost empty jeepney, I ran just to get my butt seated inside. But lo! When I was about to go inside, a man blocked my way. I didn't mind at first but I got annoyed because he tried so hard to block my way. Just then, someone grabbed my bag from my right. I snatched it back. Damn, why did I even bother?! I didn't even have something valuable inside the bag. I was distracted and that was when my phone got stolen. I was pretty sure, the other one from my left side took it from my front pocket. Grabe lang! Dang! I didn't even noticed.

I couldn't even describe how I regretted taking my phone that night. It makes me want to punch someone's face every time I think about what transpired that night. I really cried. I was ashamed because it was a gift and I wasn't able to take care of it.

I cried because I couldn't believe my phone was stolen right under my nose! :(

I got off when I noticed that my phone's gone but it was too late. The street was almost empty and there was no sign of the buggers. I wanted to report it to the police but what could they do? For all I know, since they(the thieves) won't be able to get through the pass code, they have already sold the parts of my phone.   

How could a Filipino do it to their fellows? How hard could it be to work for something that they want to have?? How lazy could they be that they would resort to stealing??

I couldn't even fathom how anguished I was. There were times I wished that time machines were invented. I couldn't believe how awful that was.

Though I couldn't go back and change what happened, there are many things I should be thankful about. My family and Cy were there for me (they didn't give me the "You-were-not-careful-enough-that's-why" line) and nothing bad happened to me. Thank goodness.

"Things that are not meant for us have a way of slipping away from our fingers."

But as J.K. Rowling's quote goes... 'Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect.'

I really hope so...