After Ten Days

When I said I was on vacation mode this summer, I was thinking on taking a break from a lot of things, like counting molecules and differentiating radicals. But a break from one thing can lead to another. And so my blog is not as up-to-date as I would have imagined for this summer. Nonetheless, I am back with stories to share, although not everything can be told in one go.

i baked 'em, them brownies

First story: I have baked two sumptuous (I'm at lost for a better word *wink* ) desserts since summer started. The first of my culinary experiments were brownies. I made it with the help of my brother Jommel and our in-house cook Ms Jack. The second, which my brother just finished tonight after his dinner, was chocolate mousse. I did it by myself, in exchange for not going to an excursion with my brother. It was his decision that I did not go with him, by the way. You should know how he is when it comes to food. Well, he loves food. And it shows, too. (See picture below.) You see, he dreams of becoming a chef.

le future chef takes a bite of my experiment

Chocolate Mousse. Pardon the not-so-obvious layers.

Second story: Last Good Friday, my family climbed up a hill while praying and reflecting upon the Way of the Cross as part of our tradition during Holy Week. There were hundreds of people there, if not thousands. We started at the first station, together with some other people praying and lighting candles. At the next few stations, I noticed that we were being followed by a stranger. When we would stop to pray, he too would stop. When we walk up to the next station he would follow us. At first it scared me and when I told this to my mother, she just told me to keep an eye on my bag. It's better to take precautions, right?

But then, I started to notice his lopsided leg and how he walked differently. He was physically challenged. I also noticed that he was usually near us as we recited prayers, as if he trying pray too as bowed his head reverently and murmured words. It is as if he just wanted to pray but didn't know how. And he was lucky  to have found us.

But I think we were the lucky ones here. Creepy guy was not creepy after all. He should be inspiring guy. He might be physically challenged and does not know how the Way of the Cross goes, but he does what he can, i.e. follow a bunch of people who knows the Way of the Cross. In fact, he is better than the other people climbing up the hill. There are a lot of those who talk so loud about gossips and who play rock songs loudly from their mp3s and cellphones instead of praying and reflecting. They were climbing up a hill with Stations of the Cross and it was the Holy Week, Good Friday at that, for goodness sake!

Third story: I have caught up with my readings and "watchings" in the previews days, thus I have not done my "writings". I have finished four books and currently reading The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I have finished watching the latest episodes of Revenge, Grimm and Smash, among many series. Now, I am a-waiting for the next episodes of a lot of shows. Movies are still idle, which I am very sorry for having so many of them yet so little time to spare for them. As you can see, my summer is already booked with books, shows and movies. But I can still pitch in some time to write, swim and do a lot of crazy stuff appropriate for summer. Any more suggestions for summer activity?

Last story: My mother found a dance studio that offers dance lessons this summer. And guess who's taking them starting tomorrow? Moi! I'll be taking jazz lessons for about four weeks and I'm pretty excited about dancing again. I'm getting jittery just thinking about moving again. I think I would have liked Zumba better than Jazz though.

Rhythm & Hues Dance Studio

Shall we dance?