Eefa's Blog:

ANOTHER lonely Eid

2011-08-20T17:52:00.006+08:00

This is gonna be another lonely eid... it's so hard spending the entire day at home wondering what to do and have no company ...I feel like a useless creature. And i miss those times when Eid used to be super fun.. when it was the time of the year we'd look most forward to.. and we had a constant barrage of guests...

Here's one of my best Eids... Winter of 1999

ok i could try and lose weight once and for all this Eid.. perhaps...

Tagaytay.. Fall of 2006... the time I had the epiphany... Need that inspiration again..

A New Beginning...

2011-03-17T16:47:00.000+08:00

for sure.

Back to Oral Pathology

One year from home

2010-12-23T13:48:00.002+08:00

2010-12-05T19:11:00.000+08:00

Eid without Ammi and Abbu

2010-11-17T15:56:00.010+08:00

It's my first Eid without either parent. And it's sad. Nothing is the same. I totally forgot to bring a set of shalwar kameez worthy of Eid... even though I have at least 6 brand new shalwar kameez hanging in my closet. I woke up late...like super late. There was no sheer khurma to gulp down before Eid prayers. There was no mehndi and no family lunch.Even chand raat was so lonely. So i de-stressed myself in the kitchen churning up some novel mattar pulao which bordered more on chicken fried rice.

Then my younger brother and I dined together reminiscing about bygone Eids and other childhood pranks. I laughed loudly and uncontrollably... the shrieks of laughter reverberated throughout the house ... By the end of the meal, the joy, the bliss and the spirit of jubilation of Eid had returned ... at least somewhat...

Here's my brother and I. I wanted to re-experience the feeling of eating with my hands... so here I am putting a chunk of rice in my mouth lol

I MISS YOU, AMMI

Billy... my cat REVISITED

2010-11-16T04:44:00.006+08:00

Billy, my cat in Manila 2005-2006 was the bestest pet ever. Abbu picked him up from some street in Makati where he was roaming aimlessly apparently abandoned by his mommy hehe... He brought him home and he became our sweetheart. Ammi's biggest fear was how he would be toilet-trained... but he surprised us... he was INNATELY toilet-trained hahaha... It took a consultation from my ailurophile (cat-lover) teacher to establish its gender but anyway... he was such a good kitty.

Here it is with my brother, whose loving side with animals I saw for the first time with Billy the cat

And with me... I loved to give him anti-flea baths and learnt so much about cat and dog fleas in the process :)

Come on, look at the camera kitty

My Family

2010-11-15T19:14:00.006+08:00

Jewish Museum and Synagogue

2010-11-15T15:01:00.008+08:00

Blast from the past

2010-11-14T20:08:00.004+08:00

I was going through some old photos and chanced upon this one. It was taken May 7, 2007 on a trip. The person who took this photo passed away 23 days later in a car accident. Unimaginable when the four of us had lunch together at this stopover on some highway on the way back to Manila... Here we are grinning for the camera, totally oblivious of the future. How fragile life is...

Saturday dinner

2010-11-14T01:25:00.002+08:00

Saturday breakfast :)

2010-11-13T17:27:00.003+08:00

the happiest person in the world

2010-11-02T03:56:00.003+08:00

I gained access to my blog once again... Wow, after 4 long years... it's the sweetest moment ever. Some how, i can walk down nostalgia lane... capture those moments again and be mesmerized at how far I have come...

Eefa... you're the HAPPIEST person on this planet.

Silver Quill

2006-11-20T14:08:00.001+08:00

Silver Quill
Originally uploaded by eefa87.

Leashing the Black Dog

2006-11-14T20:06:00.000+08:00

Logo of the Black Dog Institute

Churchill who coined "Black dog" to refer to his depression

Franz Kafka and his mouse "Josephine, die Sängerin", in which the central character is a mouse, who sings - or squeaks

Billy: My Cat

2006-11-13T23:32:00.000+08:00

oh and isn't my cat a cutie? It's getting really naughty

Here it's biting off its own tail

Oucchhh.. it's my finger, kitty!

Kitty love...

I should be in bed... havta wake up at 6am, work out and then it's gonna be a looong, tirin' day but heck I'm ready for the challenge :)

A Crazed Pre-Med Student...

2006-11-11T18:29:00.000+08:00

A look at my utterly disorganized and scattered life. Here's my desk right before an important exam...

Because the 24 hours of the day and the allotted hours of study are not enough, there's an anatomy chart under the shower to maximize shower time.. after all, no moment is too brief to be wasted...

It's also important to curb the few minutes that are wasted everyday in attending to nature's call.

Thus, I cannot overemphasize the need to keep a couple of books at hand to occupy oneself while one engages in this undeniably necessary need.

That Falling Feeling...

2006-10-27T03:42:00.000+08:00

Finally...the economics project is complete... That's significantly de-stressed me..

A sneak peak at the economics assignment:

Wow, they actually have renovation work in Manila!!! The view from the living room...

And the view from my bedroom...

Tagaytay Retreat

2006-10-19T15:24:00.000+08:00

Last weekend, I had my LASARET retreat. Wasn't really looking forward coz of all the negative feedback but the experience turned out to be very fulfilling indeed.

After hearing the experiences of friends and acquaintances from upper batches and those already through with LASARET, I didn’t receive a very favorable response. However, after going through with the retreat myself, I can sincerely say that I was genuinely moved, touched and inspired. I also learnt that I should take other people’s advice with a grain of salt hehe...

My favorite part of the retreat was the Solidarity Meal. College life, for me, has been for the most part, an emotional roller coaster ride. During the Meal, it really hit home that my life is after all, MY life. I can’t subsititute for another person’s life. I have to accept the goodies and not -the -so –good aspects of my life and strive to be the best I can be. The fruits, the bitter herbs and the sweets all bear a poignant resemblance to life’s mixed experiences.

I am glad that I can say that even though I'm a practicing Muslim, attending a Christocentric retreat has rejuvenated my relationship with God. Now I engage in a regular, healthy dialog with Allah.

Some photos I took of the place... So scenic. I'm jealous the nuns get to stay their 24/7 :P

Typhoon Aftermath...

2006-10-02T06:18:00.000+08:00

Milenyo wreaked havoc in Metro Manila. Many areas of Makati City are still out of power. I feel for them. We were without electricity for a whole day.

It's the strongest typhoon in Manila in 11 years. That's the photo I took from my bedroom...

After staying home 3 days due to the typhoon aftermath, I must tell you how annoyed and pissed off I am.

What did I do? I studied

Last night, I worked out after a whole darn week. It was one of THE BEST if not the best. Not just that, the best part was that I immensely enjoyed the whole workout. Because I took up running primarily for weight

The First 10K

2006-09-18T13:56:00.000+08:00

Finally, the wait is over... TODAY is the RACE DAY!

I woke up at 4am after a mere 3 hours of sleep, showered and got ready for the race: my heart fluttering with excitement and dare I admit, a bit of fear of not being able to complete the 10K. There was reason to be fearful. Hell, I haven't run more than 5.4K in one go in my life!

After getting to the race venue: Ocean Drive, SM Mall of Asia (largest mall in Asia), my first visit to this famed mall, it wasn't difficult to find the crowd of racers. After checking in (check-in = a line with a blue pentel pen on the race number.)

My race number

I realized it would be better to totally relieve myself before beginning the race and so joined the unending, wriggly line infront of the portalets (portable toilets). I must tell you, it's NOT a pretty sight in there and not much of an olfactory delight either :P

While I was still lined up, I saw this huge swarm of people gushed forward. I didn't even hear the gun being fired! I just stood there supinely ignorant and I started 7 minutes after the "official" start of the race. Sure it's good to be timely but to start a race five minutes before 6am?!?

I had asked several veteran runners about how to survive at least an hour of non-stop running. "Just focus on finishing it, they said and pace yourself", and so that's what I did. There were some pleasant surprises: just when I thought we finished 3 and a half K, I realized we had jaz passed the 5K mark in 31 minutes, my personal best. The last 5K were naturally harder than the first 5K but I just continued without really ever going slower than a brisk walk pace.

And before I realized, we were near the finish line though it was completely out of sight. I plucked up the final gush of energy, sprinted and dashed forward and lo and behold, I had made it. My FIRST 10K.

My time: 1hr, 11minutes

I realized it hadn't really been as hard as I imagined. So I already came up with some lofty future goals:

The Yakult 10-miler (16K)

Then, a half-marathon (21.2K) and then finally a MARATHON (42K)...hehe

Kudos to the race organizers, it was arranged very well. The route was unambigous and the directions were very clear and well laid out. There were drinking stations every 3K or so, plenty of patrol men and patrol cars. It seemed a family outing of sorts for some: many people lined the pavements probably there to cheer on some family member or friends.

Oh, there was a goodies bag for finishers...

The goodies bag

Inside the goodies bag...

I was shocked to see a Men's Health back issue in the bag... I remember there were two lanes near the finish line. Since I was the only girl nearing the finish line at the time I finished (there were many more male participants by the way) and in my mad dash to the finish line, I had entered the male finishers lane before realizing the mistake and subsequently swerving to the adjacent female lane. I wondered if I had been handed a MALE goodies bag. What other reason could there be to have different lanes for the 2 sexes?

But NO, I found out, EVERYONE got the same goodies bag. Men's Health happens to be one of the major sponsors of the race hence the issue being included.

After the race, we had a scrumptious English breakfast at Pancake House. The Cinnamon Toasts were great... Then I hit the bed to make up for my heavy heavy sleep debt.

The Race Packets

2006-09-15T05:09:00.000+08:00

Last night, I got my race packet. Remember, I had initially ordered a medium-sized singlet for my brother (who doesn't want anything to do with running btw)...well, I changed my mind :) **evil grin**

The singlet was too much of a beauty to let go off. It was the fabric that's extremely comfortable to run in. And after seeing David try it on, I realized, it didn't really reveal much above the shoulder. And besides, I wasn't even sure if Tamjeed (my brother) was amenable to wearing anything of this sort.

Here's the shirt. It's supposedly 695 pesos in the market as shown on the tag. All for free with the race registration fee. Oh, not to mention a 25% discount coupon as well on Adidas items. Woah.

Can't wait to hear the fire shot signalling the start of the race :P

I just want to return home triumphant. The goodies bag is beckoning to me...hehe... All finishers get a goodies bag, the contents of which I don't know.

Currently feeling: ecstatic

On Running...

2006-09-13T13:54:00.000+08:00

I'm infinitely excited about the Adidas King of the Road race which takes place in less than a week. Sunday September 17, 2006. My biggest fear is not finishing the race. After several days of back-to-back & back-breaking practice, I don't want to come home defeated. It's my first 10K.

Wow. I got a chance to read a few blogs from people who had participated in the same race. It's held in Malaysia as well...so there were some interesting accounts from them. I have to tell you, it's gonna be pretty challenging. Those folks mentioned the rolling hills which was a bolt from the blue. My practising ground has been my fav. oval Ultra Stadium in Valle Verde. So TOMORROW, I better be practising on the treadmill to achieve the incline to be expected out in the open.

I also got a feeling of the need for those indispensable power bars and energy drinks that I need to get hold of and the need to warm up properly for optimal performance. Here are the lessons I learnt:

1. Bring power pars, isotonic drinks etc

2. I HAVE to be there 530am for a nice smooth warm-up, that means I have to LEAVE 5am. and I guess my friend will have to pick me up even earlier i.e. leave home 440am or so!!! So I need to sleep nice and early so I won't be groggy during the race.

3. The first 50 finishers get medals. hehe

Tomorrow, I'll be in North Greenhills getting my race packet. They're giving away adidas singlets but since I DON'T wear sleeveless stuff, much less SINGLETS, I ordered mine several sizes bigger.... for my brother! hehe...Now, I can't forfeit my singlet jaz coz I don't wear one!

First Day of School

2006-09-12T15:33:00.000+08:00

The first day of school... ahh..

I didn't know it was this hard requesting for a special class. I'm graduating this term (hopefully) and I was simply shocked when I was told that CELLBIO (Cell Biology) would only be offered as a regular class which means if 14 other students were willing to take it as well.

First thing in the morning, I met Dr. Al Licuanan. Sorry, SECOND thing in the morning. I attended the Genetics class before that. Gawd, it was SOOOOOO boring. I actually hid a Reader's Digest issue beneath my notebook and I have absolutely NO CLUE as to what the teacher discussed in the last 20 minutes. My concentration span was jaz stretched beyond its limit hahaha... Ironically enough, Genetics is my FAV. course.

Ok, so I meet Dr. Al who tells me I have to get one more student to petition for CELLBIO for it to be offered: a coup de theatre. Well, later I saw Kelvin Tsang and Cherry coming up to me for the "signature campaign" I was desperately hoping for. All in all, I think we're 17+ already. I've heard Dr. Cabrera will be the prof. Yay, I'm super excited. She's my all-time favorite prof.

Then, I rushed to the vice dean for some much-needed section changes. I was glad I was able to do them before everyone else who was really vying for that particular section. Whew...

The Book Fair

2006-09-04T14:37:00.000+08:00

The Book Fair

Posted by eefa at 11:37 pm on September 3rd, 2006.

Today was a fun day... I got to attend the Manila International Book Fair at the World Trade Center...lots of good books to feast on. That's the pic I took of the tarpaulin outside

I was particularly looking for a good guide on yoga, an all-encompassing book dealing with all the schools and positions of yoga. I didn't end up finding one. But I found a nice one on ebay :P

Other than that, today was quite a bummer. Woke up at 2:30pm! ya, life couldn't be any better.

I found this very cool embroidery art on the cover of a calendar book or something. It said it was made by the women of the Kutch tribe in Gujarat, India. The piece was delicate and extremely beautiful. When I saw the price, unfortunately I had to forget about owning it. 985 pesos.

But you appreciate the marvelous piece of art. I can only hope I can buy it loads cheaper in Pakistan. I remember seeing one of my mother's shalwar kameez with just such a thing. This stuff is always adorned on clothes as far as I know.

I WANT this! Grr...

Endless woes

2006-08-20T08:50:00.000+08:00

Gawd, it can't get worse than this. The dreaded nightmarish situation: the final paper for RELSFOR is due BEFORE its deadline. Now, we had always believed, as the teacher had stated earlier, the stuff was due 28, 2 days or so before the course card. All of a sudden, Lala, my groupmate calls me to announce the deadline has magically changed to **drum-roll, plz** the NEXT day.

So, all night I worked on the RELSFOR paper, of course I took generous breaks cruising the Information SuperHighway :P

God, I still have SO much to study. There are the 2 final exams on Tuesday. Thank God, Monday is a holiday (Ninoy Aquino Day). I MUST FINISH BIOCHEMISTRY AND PARASITOLOGY TODAY. The next two days should only be for review. There are still many papers to pass. Looks like I'm gonna be glued to my computer for the next week.

After a hellish all-nighter (a part of which I spent reading Rachelle's blog), it turns out the groupmate who was supposed to submit can't anymore coz his grandpa is in the hospital. Now, all I can hope is that the prof. allows a late submission.

Moving on, Rachelle's blog
was an eye-opening experience. Although some of the entries were very very bitter, I must say I admire her for believing in herself so much, perhaps what others might term "arrogant". I found some of her entries super amusing, some outright shocking and others totally mind-boggling.

But, I'm **THE** most apolitical person one can become. I NEVER took sides, in fact i tried to stay away from the controversy. Yes, I was curious about why Nissy totally separted herself from LSDS etc...That's because I'm naturally inquisitive about people's interactions with each other, from the psychological perspective, that is.

What was MOST shocking about Rachelle's blog was that she OPENLY mentioned ALL her grievances against the other parties. The blog was generously peppered with some very colorful language hehe... She's A COOL GAL...

Well, why do I call it an eye-opening experience? Maybe, it's because I realized I was not the only one that has felt wronged.

I was actually very hurt by some of the stuff I heard about myself coming from the Batcave. What baffles and perhaps angers me as well, is why can't people just confront me and ask instead, rather than jumping to assumptive conclusions and then maligning me.

Case in point: When I "failed" to attend a Publicity meeting.

Perceived scenario: That I texted VP-Publicity that I couldn't make it to the meeting but i was seen bumming around somewhere around the canteen area. i.e. I was LYING to avoid attending the meeting.

ACTUAL scenario: I receive a text to attend the meeting just a short while before the meeting. Apparently, the schedules weren't consulted but it's ok. I have a RELSFOR class 1140-1240: the time of the meeting. I still remember it was a wednesday right before U Break. So, I reply politely that I have a class and I would be happy to meet her later and what time would be ok with her. I go to class after that.

Since the class is during lunch time and I expect to be busy during u break, notwithstanding the fact that I seldom have breakfast in the mornings. So, if I had been "spotted" elsewhere, i was probably rushing to class and buying stuff to eat. Yes, I'm a habitual late-comer to that class...i myt have been late. This doesn't mean I absented myself nor was I under an OBLIGATION to absent myself to an academic class to attend a PUBLICITY meeting.

Now, it is weeks and weeks later that I find out through Vic about this grivence coming from the VP-Publicity. Now, PLLLLLLLZZZZZZZZ, if she had only SPOKEN to me earlier, the matter would have been CLARIFIED. But apparently, people like to talk behind people's backs. She probably wanted me to find this shit through OTHER people. Moreover, I told her the other times I was free..and I never ever heard from her again. She HAS my number and she NEVER made an effort to contact me again.

Her ENTIRE judgement of me came from one time I failed to show up at a meeting...WOW

Well, all I must say is that people need to communicate more to avoid NEEDLESS misunderstandings.

I must emphasize what a big shocker it was when Vic talked to me about the VP-Publicity's "problems" with me. Oh well... life is full of surprises...

That's it for now.......

oh, isn't my cat a cutie?

Gluttonous urges

2006-08-17T09:18:00.000+08:00

I have an urge to raid the kitchen and eat like there's no tomorrow. And then become like this guy :P (w/ all respect to plus-sized people)

Buying online has turned out to be so addictive... Finally, RELSFOR is over: It took an all-nighter to compile everything from all the groupmates and finally send them to the lawyer who is supposed to accomplish the logsheets for us.

Then, I come across this entry from Philip. I was trying to kill time on ebay looking for a discman and on blogspot.com trying to find other people with my name. They're only a handful in the world, you see. Anyways, so I come across this entry. Before I read the blog author, I saw the word jollibee. I knew what it was going to be about.

Anything that hurts me doesn't deserve to be in the realm of my thinking. That might classify as escapist thinking but I really don't like to dwell on negative experiences.

Now I know why, when I was in Batcave, he left upon seeing me talking to Kim. The comment that was made wasn't designed to hurt him but his reaction was over the top and disproportionate. Anything that hurts me doesn't deserve to be in the realm of my thinking. That might classify as escapist thinking but I really don't like to dwell on negative experiences.

But whatever happened, happened for good. I still think he's a nice guy and the whole episode was unfortunate. But I can't pretend that nothing happened and I wasn't hurt.

Moving on, I skipped PHILHIS today. A morning class is always such a struggle to attend. FangFang, a very nice groupmate of mine told me about the very significant happenings (grade calculation hehe :)

My image in the mirror this morning frankly scared me. My cheeks are drooping from all the reckless eating that's been going out for the couple of WEEKS...It's not a surprise: Indulgence in food is a good way of countering stress, they say... so it's not entirely a surprise given it's final exam week in a week's time :(

I'm uber excited to go to the International Book Fair by GOODWILL bookstore. I STILL don't have the passes. I hope that won't entail a purchase from their store. I only found out about this huge event from the passes that I saw with Mayumi (the little, sweet girl I tutor).

This really brings back memories of more than 10 years ago when we, as a family would go to this international book fair in suburban Cairo. It would be the mega event of the year... or was it held bi-annually? And INVARIABLY, on our way home, my dad would be complaining about the Pakistan stall. Perhaps, the deeply patriotic man that he is, he wanted to see more worthwhile stuff that would make the mall stand out in the myriad of stalls of countries from all over the world.

Well, that's about it for now. I need to study Parasitology. Those vermiform creatures enthrall me :P (they're not all vermiform by the way)

.	vermiform - resembling a worm; long and thin and cylindrical worm-shaped formed - having or given a form or shape

from www.TheFreeDictionary.com