the calm before the storm

i'm still spinning like a top on caffeine to the google power.

i know i've said a couple of times that i don't like having long periods of "vacation." i don't like it because i get lazier by the day.

but lookie now. i'm stressed out because i feel like i'm about to hit a whole mess of stress and work.

thank goodness for karen. she is my organic happy pill. she keeps me grounded and she slaps me if need it.

so noo-ni-noo-ni-noo.


two happy bits of news.

my friends S and L gave birth to little tyler.

sweet.

and then,

i got the "torturing" job that i've been praying for. yey!!!! richard and olivia are a bit sad to know that this new job means they won't be seeing me,not that they need me. i am but one soldier in an army of tutors hired to assure them of academic success in the stressful and ever competitive world of private schools.

i am very happy at this prospect because this will definitely help me in saving money. thank God for this blessing talaga.

i am very excited and kinda anxious about starting grad school. i hopefully i will hear from my admissions rep. i am mailing my scholarship application tomorrow, finally. i hope i make it i hope i make it. please. please please.

in other news cleo and i have been prepping for the start of the school year -- clothes-wise. she got me to consider wearing skirts.

but wait

pencil skirts.

we'll see how my logs look in them.

i know my number one fan approves of the stern teacher/secretary look. having a new principal this school year made me realize i have to rethink my work outfits. have to look the part. stacy and clinton will be so proud of me.
a shout out to candy : dude, i found uniqlo this tuesday. i love it. great basics. you're right of course. saw some lovely astro boy tees and naturally i thought of you.

a drink with gay bf #3, weekend torturing and cleaning up de crib, and a weekend with Z just before school starts.

iscurred

gah.

i finished my FAFSA application for grad school on sunday morning. i submitted my application online on the same day. now the admissions reps have been calling me. i still need to mail my scholarship application today.

i need ultra mega vitamins, because at night, all i do is read and sleep.

maybe i need gummiberry juice.

toink.

toink.

toink.


bleh. i'm going to the city with cleo today. original plan was to go to astoria. now i think we will go from 42nd st. at times sqaure all the way downtown.

broadway huuurrrrr we come.

yes mom, i put on sunblock.

sorry Z, i know you like my "tan" but if i did not put sunblock on, i'll be darker than my shadow.

babushka

three day round up

1. dallied into bestbuy to finally get a replacement battery for click. salivated over an Asus Eee pc. mura lang, $449 lang. but no, i think i'll have to wait for my Mac book that comes with my new course in grad school.
2. cleo invited me over for dinner. yummy green bean in tomato sauce dish. salad and lots of coversation. walked off the calories after that.
3. watched The Cho Show with Chocnut. he, in TX and I, on my couch with the phonr cradled on my right shoulder. twas my first experiece in tv watching on the phone. we agreed to make it a date next week.
4. FRIDAY - hopped on bruce at 10 am to go visit Aneta, an hour away from home.
5. had the longest car ride and traffic. 2 major accidents. i hate route 80. what would've taken me 1 hour took me 3 1/2 hours!!!!
6. had yummy polish food and great conversation with aneta about oh, almost everything. tee-hee.
7. have i told you i have the best friends ever?!
8. got back on the road home.
9. decided to navigate route 46.
10. that was loooooooong.
11. somehow found myself on route 3 then garden state parkway, and finally route 4.
12. home sweet home.
13. torturing started today at 7:30 am
14. went to target
15. went to trader joe's to get some healthy frozen food.
16. had a small cup of yolato's mango and dulce de leche ice cream. forget about mitsuwa's green tea ice cream for now.
17. wrote a letter to my grandparents.
18. finally sitting down to make a list of things to do.
19. busy day tomorrow.

two week countdown

i'm back from a week's hiatus of some sorts. i don't usually like vacations because i tend to be idle instead of doing productive things. i need some sort of work to keep me going.

thank goodness J called me and scheduled a back to school daily torturing sessions with my two favorite korean-american kids. what a sweet reunion.

my richard is already 12. he's already two inches taller than me, and as sweet and as thoughtful as ever. we are discussing the good earth by pearl buck, his summer reading novel. olivia, 11 is getting lovelier everyday. she and i both finished reading rick riordan's sea of monsters. another convert, mwehehe.

as a bonus we are watching the odyssey. i'm still thinking if i should buy the good earth dvd.

tomorrow, i will visit aneta and her boys.

a totally unrelated topic, i am obsessed with french manicure and pedicure. what makes it sweeter for me is i know i'm saving at least $35 for doing my own nails. and look mom, i can color my nails and toenails within the lines. why didn't i have these coloring/painting skills when i was in elementary schools? tee-hee

chocnut said his current obsession is the pedi egg. he says his feet are as soft and smooth as a babe's booty. i wanna. i wanna.

my manicure and pedicure obsession is brought to you by youtube .

bow.

summer's almost over.

sigh.

tagged : nicknames

since i am taking a break from my summer reading, patulan na nga ang tag ni timmi.

List ALL the names you were called by and the people/person who called you that. Tag at least 5 members of your contacts and give a comment on their site for them to know they've been tagged.


Joffin-Mari = my real name. my mom's name is maria josefina. o di ba, mini me talaga.

Joffin-Mari Therese = my baptismal name. di bagay ang therese sa akin, swear.

Joffin = this is what most people call me. mostly my family and classmates.

Pipin = i have a cousin who used to call me by this name because he can't pronounce F properly.

Tupin = my cousin Chino used to call me Ate Tupin, i dunno what's up with that, i guess J and F are both difficult to say for toddlers. my other younger cousins call me by this name also

Jupi = Fanny calls me this. sometimes, er herbovore bro calls me by this name, among other things.

Jop = My very close friends call me this.

Jop-Jop = this was what my HS barkada used to call me in our early highschool days.

Mamajop = college brods and sisses call me this, i think because of our band Mamajammas.

Ms. Baril = UPRHS my screen name in my teaching years in UPRHS and South hell.

Ms. Durga Baril = my second batch of students from Rural High sometimes called me this. I was in my Hindu mythology phase back then.

Ms. A = is what my high school kids call me.

Jane = is what strangers call me. When Z wants something, he calls me by this name also. This was my screen name in the site where we met.

Jane Gunne = abangan sa suking tindahan.

summer holiday

background music : hey mama by BEP

i finally made it down in south jersey after slumming it out this weekend and keeping in touch with slim on the phone during the weekend. it's abnormally cold and windy down here i've had enough of my hair slapping my face. don't even get me started on the long and painful process of brushing out the tangle mess.

ayan kasi,pahaba-haba ka pa kasi ng buhok.

today officially starts my week long summer holiday with Z.

time to get on the bike.

a lazy picnic at th park

home cooked dinners.

run/brisk walking in different neighborhoods.

visiting the city for more sights and tastes.

i'm thinking of crossing the brooklyn bridge and getting a slice of grimaldi's pizza and a scoop of ice cream.

double decker bus.

economy candy.

midtown comics

gray's papaya.

swweeeet.

better charge click's battery.

independence day

background music : last goodbye by jeff buckley

i got divorced today.

i am single now.

i even got to reclaim by birth name.


name change

of course i was very tempted to change it to wonderwoman, or maybe jane gunne, but i kept the name my parents gave me. for a while i even wanted my name to be durga. but today of all days i just happy to be back to ol' me : JM(T)PB.




men in black

and i'm not talking about will smith and tommy lee jones.

a long time ago, a mayor, wearing a black toga officiated my marriage in a civil ceremony. he was the mayor of the borough X lived in at that time. today at around 12 noon, another honorable man, wearing a similar black gown, officially and legally severed the ties that bound me to a man who was my husband of 6 1/2 years.


congratulations

i told some of my friends, who i consider my family, of the change of status. most of them were happy and said congratulations. i was happy to be on the phone so i didn't have to show a reaction or a facial expression. some of my friends were quick to add "you know what we mean" to their congratulations. my mom and aunts were also happy at my news. my mom said congratulations like i won the lottery. i suppose i can understand my mother. which mother would not be affected by a child's heartache anyway? especially since she was not able to comfort me in person. i have not seen her in two years so i know, for her, an ending to this ordeal was a happy one.

peelings

how is one suppsed to feel about ending a marriage anyway? i guess there is joy and relief for those who are victims of abuse and violence. as for me, as much as i am relieved that i have closed this chapter in my life, i could not help but feel a little bit sad at the end of things.
it's a kind of sad you feel after the end of a movie or after a sad story. that's it. it's done. it's over. goodbye.

i have thought and agonized about this day. how would i feel? will i be angry and say something nasty? will i just bawl my eyes out unexpectedly at the slightest provocation? i almost drove myself sleepless at such thoughts until jane snapped me out of it and knocked some sense in my head.

i would feel what i feel when i need to feel it.

i can not expect anything.

i don't expect anything anymore.

besides, i don't think anybody would wish for such sadness deliberately. i know for sure, as a little girl, i did not wish nor say "when i grow up, i want to be divorced!" kinda like not one little girl says " when i grow up, i want to be a prostitute." it just doesn't go that way. of course i hoped for a happily ever after.

but that was not for me, not with X anyway.

the most important thing that i got from this closure is this : that despite the sad and painful way things turned out to be, i came out a bit bruised, but still standing. that despite having lost a loved one, so much love was showered upon me by God so that i have more love to give and share with my family, friends, students and who knows, that one person who i can have a happily ever after with.

bear with this mushy post dear reader. jane has got a heart too, you know.

on a sunday afternoon

background music : on a sunday afternoon by a lighter shade of brown

yesterday was a picture perfect day in the city. i took full advantage of the beautiful weather and spent most of it in the city with Z.

we met up in port authority and made our made to times square church in time for the 3pm service. i always have a great time attending sunday service at TSC. the music is awesome and pastor neil rhodes is very engaging and humorous.

after church we made our way to greenpoint in brooklyn to have early dinner at Krolewskie Jadlo or "king's feast"i don't really care much for tomato soup because i feel like i'm drinking spaghetti sauce, but this polish take on the tomato soup was very yummy -- it had rice in it, but not quite like tomato flavored lugaw. for entrees, Z had a polish platter which had pierogi, kielbasa and golabki. i had goulash in potato pancake. i think my entree was good enough for two people. it was very good. we washed our hearty dinner with a tall big icy mug of good ol’ polish beer, zywiec. here’s the funny thing about me and Z. We are both soft on drinking. Halfway through our mug, we were both buzzed. We both like beer or at least we like to try new beers once in a while, but we usually have a bottle to wash down food.

Buzzed and busog (full), we went to get dessert at riviera café a few blocks north of king’s feast. I had a slice of their black forest cake and Z had raspberry and dark chocolate cake. I would’ve taken pictures of our food but shyness got the better of me. I became self-conscious that I was the only non-polish person in the pastry shop and the restaurant and I didn't’t want them to think that I am too touristy. we walked off some of the calories by taking a stroll in a nearby park and stayed there ‘til sunset. Then we took the train back to manhattan and back to our separate homes.

With camp ending this week, I look forward to more day trips in the city. I better get a new battery replacement for click so the kodak moments do not go to waste.I’m glad I took click with me yesterday. The last pics we took were from march. I am so excited to put a couple of pics in my already numerous picture frames scattered all over my apartment.

TGIF

today concludes week 5 of summer camp. one more week and i say goodbye to these cute and lovable 10-12 year olds. sniff. gosh. pretty soon it's gonna be back to school again.

gah.

this afternoon we had the yearly camp talent show. i was asked to dress up to be a "judge." since i taught a comic book writing class, a suggestion came up that maybe i should try coming in as a comic book/ superhero.

great.

see, even though i'm a drama teacher, i don't like role playing. scratch that. i actually do., but not that kind of role playing. strike that one last statement too. tee-hee.

anyway, since i was not so excited to play dress up. i just pulled an all black ensemble and put a red and black sun and moon cape on and came in as...

typhoon

storm's cousin.

ha.


anyway, the kids had a great time with us. after camp we went to hang out in S's house to celebrate his birthday with him.

3 glasses of white wine later, i made my way back home and had a nice long chat with slim. we both can't wait for sunday for a date in the city.

as for tomorrow, i head out bright and early to take a walk with cleo.
and this time, we're talking a walk outdoors.

sleep calls.

have a great weekend, dear reader.