I bought a new laptop over Christmas break. The old one and I just didn't get along, especially since I accidentally fried its motherboard (its doing better now, thank you for asking) prior to the break. SAY HELLO to the new one.

Yes, it is huge. No, I don't mind. In spite of the size, it is surprisingly as light, maybe even lighter than the old one. And that size may also be the reason why the two of us are getting along quite well. It feels more like a desktop than a laptop, which is a plus for me since laptops and I have a well-documented (by my classmates) need-want relationship; I often need to bring a laptop to school, but laptops hate me.

Its also handling my insane amount of simultaneously open programs okay. I can't say its handling is perfect, but its certainly doing better than a lot of other laptops out there. Most laptops, even desktops, crash when I try to open my pdf'd journals, games, web messenger, ms office programs, pdf creator, games, plot digitizer, equipment price calculator, web browser, and games all at the same time.

I have just one tiny complaint:

*by the amazing people behind xkcd, as usual.

Chances are if you're a guy you'd have no interest in reading this entry. But you've already read this far anyway, so why not continue?

If you check the calendar to the left, you'd see that the last time I blogged was the 2nd of this month--the longest blog hiatus I've had for a while (if ever; I'm too lazy to confirm the archives). It's the typical excuse of being academically busy, but this time I have proof: the younger members of our organization are often commenting how I always seem to be doing something, whether in campus or when they catch me online, so much so that it's been used as a description in the apps' sig sheet. I've actually tried blogging in three separate occassions, but in all three times I didn't get beyond the first few lines because I didn't feel it was worth your (and more importantly MY) time. This one isn't either, but I'm actually in the mood to write it.

Today though was the last of my long exams for the semester (technically there's still the take-home exam for ChE 123, but it's take-home), so I really felt the need to de-stress. My card was sending ESPs of "retail therapy", and Leanne was game, so off to Trinoma we went.

Trinoma. It's such a frustration for me. I've tried looking for clothes and shoes here but didn't find stuff I liked. I do like the variety of shops, how close it is to both UP and my home, and how less populated it is relative to SM, so I still end up here often. That's why this time Leanne and I went kikay shopping; technically *I* went beauty shopping and Leanne tagged along--but she did so willingly! :D Here are some stuff I picked up along the way:
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I was feeling rather down today; Mom's off bargain hunting in bazaars, Dad's bowling with the kids, and me? Locked up in the house, the left side of my face swollen up like a balloon.

Meh.

So while I took out the nth cup of ice cream for today (So what if I get fat? It helps with the pain >:/), I decided to make it extra special, just so I can cheer myself up a bit.

My set didn't do much for presentation, but hey, it tasted good. Here are the cast of characters in case you decide to make a Monday treat (or a Tuesday one, Wednesday, Thursday...):

• Gold Delight Vanilla Ice Cream. I ♥ Gold Delight. They have high quality ice cream for very reasonable prices--and they're not freakingly sweet! *cough*selectamagnolia*cough* Bulatlat (a Philippine-based online publication) wrote an article on said company. [Article Link]

• Home Brand Chocolate Syrup. This is only the second chocolate syrup I've tried, the first being Hershey's, and I must say I like this over the first. It's less sweet, more chocolate flavor. [Product Link]

• Nescafe Taster's Choice, Original Blend Regular. Just a teeny sprinkling to give a touch of bitterness and crunch. As someone who doesn't drink coffee that much, I found that the teeny tiny pellets pack a punch, so next time I may have to opt for something less caffeinated. [Amazon Link]

• McCormick Cinnamon Ground. My mom loves cinnamon, that's why she bought this. The back reads, "Ideal as flavoring for hot beverages like coffee, chocolate, cider and tea." I've never liked it on those hot things though, so maybe on something cold? Hmm... not too bad. [Product Link]

And finally,
• Heart-shaped Mint Chocolate. A token from a recent wedding my mom attended. Put in the recipe just because.

[Edit: So the family came home with a box or two of Krispy Kreme glazed donuts as a peace offering. Coupled with ice-cold orange juice, I can be so easily appeased.]

After hearing about Banapple from a recent post at ClickTheCity, Aida and I knew that we should have one of our Friday brunches there. We couldn't possilbly allow otherwise. But it wasn't supposed to be this Friday. Oh no. Not when neither one of us could provide transpo and Aida had a birthday lunch to attend to at 1130 am.

But it was chaos over at UP College of Home Ec's "The Tea Room", and none of the pastry/coffee shops along Katipunan nearer to UP were appealing to us that morning, so we decided oh, what the heck, and chipped in for a taxi to go to Banapple.

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Its the first time it rained hard for a while. I think the rains started around 10 am this morning, and its still going on until now, 9 pm. Thankfully it pauses every now and then, and the really hard downpour was only this afternoon, so no major floods worth mentioning. At least, not yet.

The cold atmosphere and the rain's pitter-patter has gotten me into a slump (Which is terrible! I have three exams this week!), so I raided our pantry for some soup. I found cans of celery soup, tomato soup and mushroom soup--Yay!--all dated best before MM 2005--Boo!, so off to the trash bin they went.

( Read the rest of this little evening adventure? )