Swear to shake it up if you swear to listen.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEE
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEFASDFAFSDLFJA;SLFJ
ALSJKFLAJSFLAJSFJLJFLAKJSFLJASLJFDAJFLKJLKJASLK
DAJUA'A;AFJSDLAKJFJASDJHGHGJGHAHFHASLKDJFH
ALKSJDFHLKPPPPPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANIIIIIIIIIIII
IIIIICCCCCCCCCCCC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! \(>o<)/ (Yes, I think I actually managed to physically make that face.)

*cue uncontrollable flailing*

*jumping around*

*spazz*

*dance*

*breathe* ok now that's out of the way: the Panic at the Disco concert was the GREATEST. THING. EVER. O_O

One more time, with feelings.

The Panic at the Disco concert was the GREATEST THING EVER. \(>v<)/

They played (In semi-random order, just as I remember them.):
♥ = my favorites

We're So Starving
Nine in the Afternoon
She's a Handsome Woman
But it's Better if You Do ♥
There's a Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered, Honey, You Just Haven't Thought of It Yet [Ryan made the audience snap along during the verse and do jazz hands! during the chorus xD] ♥
That Green Gentleman ♥
The Only Difference Between Suicide and Martyrdom is Press Coverage
Behind the Sea
Lying is the Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off
I Write Sins, Not Tragedies ♥
I Constantly Thank God for Esteban
Folkin' around
Time to Dance [Brendon solo. Naturally, we did "Shotgun! Wedding! Shotgun! Wedding!" :D] ♥
Northern Downpour
Pas de Cheval
Mad As Rabbits

Yes, pretty much, they sang nearly everything in Fever (except Nails for Breakfast and Build God) and some stuff from Pretty.Odd. :D

Needless to say, I shrieked louder than I ever thought I was physically capable of. Ah, and my "seat" was mostly just a technicality because I was on my feet the whole time (well for a while, I stood on the seat... until the bouncer told me not to. Damned spoilsport.) xD I never thought I could keep screaming so loud and for such a long period. I danced and yelled the lyrics sang at the top of my lungs. :D I also did this \m/ a lot. Moohaha. IT WAS SO MUCH FUNx100,000,000,000.

Alright, I'm off to bed to pass out now. (LOL whose bright idea was it to hold this concert on a Thursday.) I'll follow up with a more extensive and hopefully, coherent narration. Because I'm the narrator and this is just the prologue. Sorry, I just had to do that. Oh ho. xD xD xD. Photos (I have lots) will follow as soon as I retrieve them from my sister's camera.

(Also, since they ended with "Mad as Rabbits"... before goodbye, the last lyrics they sang were "we must reinvent love... reinvent love...") ♥ :3

And all that crass.

What, if this article from the Philippine Star is anything to go by? Then Ryan Ross is a discourteous bratty rock star. Oh, sorry, I mean Ryan Ross is allegedly a discourteous and bratty rock star. Fortunately, I am over that phase of my life in which I pretend to like musicians for their wonderful personalities (Oh but in the case of Question?... they really seem like nice guys. I digress.) That, and I am willing to give Ryan the benefit of the doubt. And, I really, really like his lyrics. And I'm going to their concert, so I feel obligated to defend them. For my money's worth. xD

That aside, I'd rather put in my two cents about the article itself. Particularly, the paragraph right after the interview part, in which the writer calls Ryan Ross a "shmuck" and imagines him in an S&M orgy with groupies--among other low blows. Fine. Assuming the interview really did go that badly, then Ryan was an asshat, and the writer had every good reason to be pissed off. But as I've pointed out (in a message board, oh lulz), it's one thing to have a cranky rock star being an ass on the phone, and quite another to have a writer from a major daily slinging such cheap insults in writing. (Name calling? Really now.) What. The whole Brian Gorrel incident, and now articles like this? The Philippine Star is shaping up to be one of the classiest newspapers around. Watch your ass, BusinessWorld.

I never gave a damn about the weather.

What: Company outing
Where: the beach, in Puerto Galera
When: right smack in the middle of typhoon season, 1st-3rd August 2008

Let's not get into why. Last Friday, I found myself bound for the beach, for a company team-building(ish) trip to Puerto Galera with two fellow writers, co-workers and bosses from the Korean office, and our Canadian editor. With a complete disregard of everything I learned about coherence, here are some of the highlights.

FRIDAY.
Around noon. Yelling across terraces at the resort.
Editor: HEY INCHUL!!!
Inchul (co-worker from Korea): YEAH?
Editor: LIZ HAS SOMETHING TO TELL YOU!!!
Inchul: WHAT?
Me: ...YOU HAVE A NICE BUTT!
Inchul: *cracks up*

x x x x x

I got to go snorkeling!!! IT. WAS. UNBELIEVABLE. I don't have enough words. The corals and the little fishies were sooooo beautiful!!! I even saw a blue starfish at the bottom, which I swear was the prettiest thing ever. Never mind that it probably wasn't my, um, most graceful moment. xD I couldn't count how many times I had to shake off my mask just so I wouldn't end up drinking half the ocean. :P LOLNOOB.

In the afternoon, the whole group went fishing, and let me just say. I finally understand why I never understood the appeal of fishing. xD I guess I'm just not the kind of person who's up for staying still in one place for a really long time, just waiting for fish that you're not even sure would bite or not. (Ah, that, and I don't even like fish. Wahaha.)

SATURDAY
The snorkeling left us with useless, sore arms, so Meg and I both took a rain check for the "jungle tour" that our other co-workers went on that day. So us two girls--both with considerable ADHD symptoms--scampered about for other activities to fill the day with. First up, we got some sweet henna tattoos--room service, natch. :3

The flower design on my lower spine means balance, the butterfly on my upper back means freedom.

We also hung out at the beach, camwhored a LOT, and oddly, became something of a tourist attraction(?) because some dude just had to trot over to get his picture taken with us in the background. xD LOL WHUT.

SUNDAY
Most of the morning was a huge photo op. Stole hibiscus flowers, posed around. In photo: Those rocks? Those were SHARP. Really sharp. That's me pretending they don't hurt me in the ass.

Afterwards, us three writers went on a relatively long trek along the "shore" (that at that time had disappeared into the tide), and got soaked in the rain, just for the sake of souvenirs for ourselves and loved ones. xD I guess I went a little crazy buying the pretty bracelets, but I just absolutely love their color.


All in all, it was easily one of the best trips I've ever been on. I guess I'd be saying something else if I'd gone on the aforementioned "jungle tour" (which turned out to be something of a mild disaster), but yeah.

♥ I'll probably up more pics to Facebook, Friendster, etc. The mushier (aka moar feelings plskthx) stuff, as always, will be relegated to the not-so-sekrit journal. xD Also, I might edit this tomorrow. I'm so sleepy right now it's no longer funny. Oyasumi nasai! (_^_).zZ

Just so I remember this clearly in the morning,

tonight, I:

♥ had dinner at an Italian restaurant with co-workers and direct superiors;
♥ shotgunned half-glasses of beer... TWICE;
♥ [and consequently] got slightly, uh, hammered (see, 2 beers isn't much, but I guess the speed kinda makes a difference xD );
♥ was put in the hot seat and made to answer hypothetical questions on whether or not I would keep dating someone with an amputated leg or a hook for an arm*;
♥ made / took part in a whole bunch of gender-related jokes, some of which were aimed at aforementioned direct superiors xD ;
♥ HIT my editor with my UMBRELLA several times for calling Panic at the Disco emo D: ;
♥ kept tickling someone in the ear then proceeded to poke him in the eye; and
♥ ran recklessly across a busy interesection while under the influence.

Wednesdays are SOOOO BORING. (_^_).zZ LOL

And because in-jokes are made of awesome:

SILENCE!
I kill you~
O_O

x x x x x

SCENE [right after being teased about Panic at the Disco]

EDITOR:
So what other emo bands do you like?

LIZ:
*hesitant pause*

*considers acting all indignant*

*gives up*

...FALL OUT BOY. T~T;

x x x x x

*Answer: the amputated leg, sure. The hook for an arm, no. But a robotic arm... yes.

These?

--are REALLY GOOD. Really good. In fact, beyond good. Just. GENIUS. :3

Anyhoo.

Yesterday the boss mentioned something about dancing, and it got me wondering if maybe one of the reasons I've been so sickly is because... I haven't been dancing enough? Ok I KNOW it sounds stupid, but I'm not my body isn't exactly the most logical thing in the world so I figure it's worth a shot. Dance has always been therapeutic for me anyway. So... I broke out the Luis Fonsi mp3s (aaaand the Brian Friedman video, haha) a little earlier. xDDD It's probably just the endorphins, but hey I feel a little better already.

At the very least, I know it won't try to kill me like Neozep did last last night*. My head was hurting so much I decided to take one before bed. About half an hour later, I COULDN'T BREATHE PROPERLY. D: And not even because my nose was stuffy or anything. My breath was just really really short, and I felt really thirsty even though I had a glass of water with me. It was like... my body couldn't take in oxygen properly or something. It went on for about an hour. I WAS SO SCARED. ;~;

I hate being sick.

*An exaggeration. I'm probably just allergic to something in it. No rawsuits prease.

Time for me to retire now and become a duck.

So. Virus=1, Liz=0. After a week of snorting, blowing my nose, and generally feeling gross, today I finally waved the white flag to the nasties that took over my body. I had to go home by around 11AM, feeling too weird to function. When I got home I... got drugged and slept around. LOL WRONG. xDDDD But yeah, the Tuseran (FORTE!) totally knocked me out and I was asleep all afternoon. (_^_).zZ I'm feeling slightly better now, and I've got all weekend to kick this thing, hopefully I'll be in top form again by Monday.

Anyway. Moving on to happier things. This week, work stuff has had me thinking a lot about the uh, golden age of Flash. You with me here? I'm talking 2004, 2005? NEWGROUNDS? ALBINOBLACKSHEEP? If you still don't get what I'm talking about... I'm guessing we weren't friends then(?). xD But I digress. Here are some of my all-time favorites. Let me know if you remember:

Fight! Kikko-man
Worcestershire sauce? Ketchup? What a suckers!
SHOW ME, SHOW YOU. Kikko-man. Kikko-man.
SHOW ME. SHOW YOU. KIkko-maaaaaaaaaaan~ All right!
[Wahahaha I found the romaji lyrics!!! 8D WIN! Here, sing along.]

Badgerphone
Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring bananaphone
Ring ring ring ring ring ring ring bananaphoooone
I've got this feeling, so appealing,
For us to get together and sing-- SING!

The llama song
I was once a treehouse, I lived in a cake
But I never saw the way the orange slayed the rake
I was only three years dead, but it told a tale
And now listen, little child, to the safety rail

Laid Off: A Day in the Life (by Odd Todd)
"When I finally got out of bed, I stared at my wall for a little while and drank some coff-ay and... stared at my wall. For breakfast... I had some fudge-striped cookies... aaaand Pringles. Then I went on my computer and poked around and looked at stuff, aaaand typed... stuff."

There you go. I just wanted to dig up some of the... classics before all the attention whores over at YouTube completely take over the innarnet's idea of LULZ. Special mention: Numa Numa (which, although a video, was still in Flash), and Tiny Plaid Ninjas (I don't know if this one caught on, but I remember liking that).

Anyway, that's it for now, I think I'll go lie down again. xD

Is it can be havin suffishint educashin tiem nau.

Last week I was with a bunch of friends who've gone back to university for post-grad studies. They make university life sound totally fun cool interesting, I've had to wonder whether or not I should maybe go back for a second degree myself.

After thinking about it more than a few times, I've come to a decision.
LOL. I didn't know I had such strong opinions about formal education until now. But the more I think about it, the more I feel tempted to agree with Mr. Conrado de Quiros, who once said he quit school because it "got in the way of [his] education." Not that I'd go that far. (Because I am neither that smart nor talented. AFADFAKJFPHAIL. T_T) All I'm saying is, I guess some people are inclined toward formal studies, and I'm not others aren't.

It's weird because the thing is, I actually love to learn stuff. If I didn't, I probably wouldn't give up watching half of Attack of the Show just to catch Jeopardy. LOL LOSAR. But I've realized that I have to be really interested in something at that precise moment. Like, I learned Spanish, if I remember correctly, out of sheer enthusiasm. (Fandom = excellent motivator.) XDDD But that's the thing, I have to be really into it. And I have to do it on my own will. Basically, nobody tells me what to learn. BECAUSE I'M BAD ASS THAT WAY. :D

Don't get me wrong. I do appreciate higher learning. I have to, living in a country where not having a degree doesn't leave you with a lot of options. My beef is with the way it often becomes pedantic to the point of wasting time. I have no problem with learning a shitload of terminology if it helps me understand the world a little better. But don't give me ten shitloads more just so I can sound smarter than the person next to me. By the way, I also have a problem with theology classes masquerading as sociology classes. And freshman algebra. Like, I'm a journalism f♥cking major, don't make me f♥cking take algebra.

So now I just completely undermined everything I said above by making it obvious that I'm just a bitter brat who sucked at college.

And failed freshman algebra.