I vividly remember during 4th grade being required by our Arts teacher to pick an image from the batch of black and white photos she passed around in class. When I spotted a a photo of a woman wearing a hat tilted sideways, I knew what I wanted, and was dumbstruck when announced a few minutes after that we are to create a charcoal sketch of the exact photo we have chosen, to be drawn on an illustration board. I'm not sure though if I was with mommy when she bought the fat black Staedler charcoal pencil that would be my best friend for the next few days. I began the sketch by plotting lines lengthwise and crosswise on both the photo and the board, so I may proceed drawing raw lines per inch block, and I don't know what transpired next, as I remember how wide my smile was when I finally submitted the project to our teacher Jing. I didn't knew then that the woman I was sketching was the pretty Ingrid Bergman.

The Ascott-World Vision Christmas Tree Lighting Event last November 17, 2008, featuring the Rondalla kids.

During the longer than the usual holiday vacation, I was able to see the following movies:

1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. August Rush
3. Kamikaze Girls
4. The Girl who Leapt through Time
5. Chibi Maruko Chan
6. House Bunny

For 2009, I plan to do the following to make sense of what has happened and what will be happening in my life:

1. Finish a small portion of the Lagro house, replace the gate, for the property to function as a home
2. Review all my books and decide what to sell or give away
3. Stash all daddy's useless talyer stuff
4. Save save save money for these major makeovers to make and to set aside something for my wedding
5. Put more attention to my skin
6. Study harder
7. Be more active at church
8. Spend more time with friends and families and less time at work
9. Get better at writing
10. Explore getting study grants abroad