Hi, guys! I thought today I'd talk to you about my wonderful experience with the photo fridge magnet making brand, PicStick. Overall, my experience was smooth and hassle free. Considering they're from the UK and I live in a southern Philippine province, I was surprised to get my parcel on time. I remember that one time I ordered from Asos and had to pick it up from the post office (a long way from where I live--or maybe it's just my lazy bones), the extremely suspenseful wait was nearly enough to ward me off overseas ordering forever. However, since they sent it through Royal Mail air mail, I received the parcel in 13 days and regained my overseas-shopping confidence. Yay!

Okay, I know it's only been weeks (lol) since I last posted but to me, it feels like it's been months. Looking at my blog archive since January this year, I realize how distant I've become. A quarter of the year is over and I realize all I've been posting about have been centered on the events I've gone to, unsolicited advice on how to live your lives, and everything remotely me. It might surprise you, but OhPenda dot Com is a personal blog (that's why I have all the good reasons to get worked up that my posts are becoming less and less narcissistic). My blog feels foreign to me, and although I've had positive feedback about this "new direction the blog is going", I choose to ignore that because this blog is not meant for your happiness, but for mine (so bushwhacks! Oh wait, I typed in muahahaha but it got auto corrected to bushwhacks -- what on earth?) Plus more people have said that they've missed my [alleged] deadpan writing than the other category (nursing has robbed me off my wordplay).

When I was just starting out blogging, business cards have always been my problem. Actually, my lack of business cards was my problem. I would go to events, meet the higher ups (I'm inherently very civilian) and they'd ask for my card. If only they were asking for a birthday card, that would have been easier to access! But no! They mean a calling card and I couldn't find a place who offered overnight print services.

As a blogger, a business card is a very important tool to promote yourself and your blog. Not only can the recipient of the card have the opportunity of contacting you, it also gives off a strong sense of professionalism to what you do.

Benefits of Being A Blogger With A Business Card:

I've been meaning to tell you about this for awhile, but I've taken designing blogs more seriously and compiled some of my recent works in a webfolio. Most of what's in it is my blog designs for the Wordpress and Blogger platforms but I also have some non-blogs in there. I would appreciate it if you guys visit it and tell me what you think :)

I know it's been days since we welcomed the new year, but albeit a bit late, I would like to greet everyone 'Happy New Year!' My 2013 was filled with much joy, a sprinkle of sadness but unending gratefulness to God who's always so faithful to me and the people who made the year special. Did you know that in a village somewhere (possibly in Mexico), the people would gather inside their houses mere hours before the clock strikes midnight and at exactly 12am on January 1, they would toss out all the bad and undesirable things they had to the streets. I hope no mother or sister or brother was tossed out. In line with this tradition, I would like to drive away all my regrets and failed hopes in the past year. 2014 is my year! Let me be loud and clear, 2014 will be good to me!

Our house serves as my office, our home and an appliance repair center.

My office--where I work (mostly online).

Our home--where my family lives in, breathes in, often eats in and do other domestic and filial things.

An appliance repair center--I'm not the only one who brings her work home, my mother does it too. She's currently area manager of the company she works for and ever since we moved a year ago, the service center moved with us. So yes, while I'm waiting on a literary epiphany, I constantly have to drive away customers (I'm sorry, mom) who asks for warranties.

So basically these are the operations that go on in our humble abode. If you decide to come in on a visit, I can offer you nothing but free WiFi and a chance to crash my turf on FourSquare (known as Penda's Crib). That, and MAYBE a stash of chips (AHOY, Mateys!)

I don't know about you but by the time I hit senior year and got the most coveted position on the school paper, I got myself butlers (a.k.a the male population I bullied) and constantly chatted up juniors because I could do it. I was pretty close to everyone in my batch. Oh, gosh I miss it so bad! I graduated 2011 you see, and we had this alumni homecoming last year, but even then I felt like it had been 20 years since we last saw each other, and terribly, I missed those guys! I've kept every T-shirt we've printed, and even held on to my uniform that everyone vandalized on! On a pretty sentimental day, I even went as far as looking for some place that made Class Rings! In fact, I think I might as well convince my class to check out http://www.joyjewelers.com to see if there's any hope in that.

Okay, I know I said I wont be ready until March 8, but I got excited and finished everything today. MUAHAHAHA. Yeah. Thank you for hyping it up, everyone who hyped it up :D Only tested it on our pc and have no clue if it works fine on other computers. Please check the navigational bar on top, does it have seven links? (Home to Affies)

So, how do you like it? Questions, questions?

When I first started a blog, I had good intentions, so I guess that's what you need. Whether we do it for our readers, ourselves, or both, it's what we need to get a blog up and about and going. I started writing too and some people commended me of my writing style, which I thought was very weird. I've been blogging on Ohpenda.com since September 2012. I've also been trying to climb the social intricacies of the webosphere by creating for myself a Twitter, a Facebook page and even as far as a Linkedin page. I've only just Google Analytics-ed my blog and submitted it to various Search Engines for uhh.. maximum popularity? Anyway, I'm a self-learning, self-wounding blogger when it comes to these things. Google Search is my best friend and bloggers are friends of my best friend whom I like to acquaint myself with (or rather because I rely on them for making everything possible).

I'm obviously a healthcare-inclined person because I'm a nursing student and didn't go to the School for Web Savvies in order to achieve my so-called "web success" of FINALLY learning what SEO is, knowing what in the world 3pl benefits are, and tweaking with my layouts. I don't even buy books for this because :

   (1) I only read Young Adult, YA Fantasy and the likes 

   (2) I'm broke 

   (3) I know I'll get bored to the bones 

   (4) An internal  hemorrhage will occur since I don't know the internet jargon 

   (5) I'm busy [reading the Bible, my nursing textbooks, YA, and YA Fantasy books].

But I'm a living proof that even a person who's internet-knowledge deficit can still survive the bewildering savages of the webosphere. So take heart, my dear internet noob friends!  A 24,000 mile journey begins with a single step (though we're not literally going anywhere because we're glued to this chair).

You know what? I don't think I'm the only one in the family who does things in a whim. I was getting home wednesday afternoon, yearning for the comfort of my bed when suddenly. Mushrooms with eyes! Dad says I have no bed in my room anymore because they've transferred it to the other house. Well, I'll tell you what. Monday morning they told me we're moving. I didn't really believe them then. Grave mistake. Now I'm stuck in my slightly smaller but definitely fresher, cleaner and newer room. I was supposed to share turf with Deb but she opted for Abby's company instead. Hmf! Wednesday night I caved in on sorting my stuff and left my pile of clothes to their liberty as I slept. I thought I was going to sleep badly (hint: previous experiences at unused-to hotel rooms) but my body had other plans. And I kept mentally asking the parents, Why on earth are we moving on a weekday?! when I have classes, and church and lots of things to do. Then I figured out why. There's a wedding on Sunday. Whoopsidaisy.

New house pictures: (badly taken using my phone)

my window, just saw you know where to throw rocks at (or serenade *wink wink*)

Perhaps I am like Augustus Waters in a way. Because my thoughts are stars I can't fathom into constellations. I was going to write about something but the moment I finished crossing the kitchen, got to my door and turn the doorknob to the side, I held the thought no more... up until I decided to get my notebook and started to jot down random words. I still cant remember the subject of my earlier cognitive spark. It should be important, but I just can't remember. But what I can remember is that I indeed had a cognitive spark.

So instead of dragging the subject further, I'm going to shift to All Hallows Day. In some part of the world, they may be forking virgins and offering them as living sacrifices to who knows what, we (myself, along with the vast population of our country) on the other hand, prefer to visit our dearly departed. While I may not be one of the mob that goes as far as spend the night at the cemetery, it's a tradition that my family keeps and I want to go on keeping. It's not so much as to spend time with the dead, but to spend time with the living, and the dead oddly reminds us that this (all we have right now) can stop anytime, we don't even get to be ready (unless you're informed--like when you have cancer of something). Being there, in the forlorn land of the dead, is consoling only because of the fact that this isn't over yet. That we still have a chance at life. To make everything right and to finally rest in peace. Okay, the fact that we're standing about six feet above our dearly departed can be consoling too... for some people. I don't understand comfort there. To be so physically close, yet so far, disconnected. I'm sorry for writing like this. I need to gather my thoughts but then I know it wouldn't really work. (For more info on the matter, please read what's on the picture above)

Another thing I find ironic is how the wife lits up a cigarette for her dead husband who died of lung cancer. I don't see much sense into that. But I suppose they need to take breather and just remember. Shrug. But jumping to another task at hand, I'm just going to randomly share my sentiments of the books I've been reading this week. I finally finished reading Unearthly. And although I haven't mentioned it before, readers you MUST pretend that I have so we won't get into a lengthy pre-read opinion discussion that I should be able to muster from no where. Well, I must say it was written better than Divergent (although this isn't much of a feat, actually). I haven't read anything about angels in YA books ever. It was improvable. I expected alot from it I guess. But who could blame me? There were some funny parts in the book though, and I'm convinced that it was not the author's intention to have me laughing like crazy at some point. I doubt she planned that scene to be anything but hilarious, but I ROFLed anyway. So did the friends that I shared that part with, who like me, are pretty much Bible-reading Christians. I think I would be reading the second instalment, hoping for more character and concept development. There isn't that much books about angels nowadays, not when majority of paranormal books are about vampires or wolves. Its sad. Makes me want to write my own angel story.

Anyway, first week of school is bearable. Bracing myself for the days to come though. You can never be too relaxed when you're a nursing student.

My mother is picking up dad in MLA, then they'll be heading home and the real wedding planning will commence. Will be really busy over the month. With the wedding, with school, with everything. Might as well enjoy this moment of freedom for today. Not that I don't like schools or weddings, it's just.. they're very consuming... in a happy way I guess. But that means I won't be able to blog as often as I want. Which is sad. BOO. Well, I hope everyone's having a great week so far. Have plans for weekend, any one?

Sigh. Well, that went well. I know you probably think by now that I have worse moodswings than half of the people in my country. I'm not one to deny the obvious so I'm just going go out of my way to sulk, wallow and probably hide in some hole right now. Au revoir, tous les monde!

What exactly happened? Easy answer. The inevitable. Hmm as you know a certain couple in my family is getting hitched and I'm supposed to make the invites in exchange for something in my wishlist. Correction! The ONLY item in my wishlist. I thought we'd talked about it and I convinced myself into believing that delusion. Only to have that delusion hit me right in the face, ruining my face and shattering my hopes (the face part was a figure of speech but the hope part I kid you not)

I was fancying them invites to be nothing less than unscrutinizable even to those who have meticulous eyes to detail. I kept mentioning said member of wishlist and mother avoided the topic endlessly until I, finalement, manage to get it out of her. It wasn't happening, what I wanted. In my forlorn solitude, I Patrick Haywarded on- -goodness not them- -myself.

Wells. I dont blame them. I blame myself. My heart is shattered, but its all my fault because I got my hopes up too high. I dont want that many things in life. I'm not sure about things. I talk about traveling but I'm not even sure where I'm going to go. Rarely do I give myself to certainty. If I could help it, I wouldn't have given myself over. Gah, this oddly sounds like a sappy love story. Perhaps Patrick Hayward and I are related. Perish the thought! I wouldn't have chosen what he chose in the end though. Gah I'm disappointed of how the Patrick Chronicles ended. Less dramatic than what I feel right now but since we're talking about despair at the moment...

Well I wont be bothering you guys any more than I already have tonight. Must retire for the night, bonne nuit!

BUT BEFORE I GO. I'm sharing a perfectly unrelated Patrick Hayward. When Joseph tried to cleanse Pat from his 'stack of socks that have been fermenting in a jar of formaldehyde' smelling self-->

Nevermind that we were both fully clothed, or that I was showering with my adult brother. . . this is so wrong on so many levels.

P.S
Perhaps you're wondering if I would continue making the invites. Yes since I'm 3/4 done and I love my family even in my Patrick mode. But even while he sulked, he loved his family despite the circumstances. Hmm perhaps we really arn't too different, Pat and I. So yeah. I would have a different kind of joy, hopefully it will satiate the void that its predecessor left. How dramatic.

P.P.S
Title is pun intended! (needless to say)

----
Everything's fine and I've let go. Because this is really immature, to get all that worked up for a single thing. I'm not even that materialistic. Or at least I think so.

A brief but very definitive analysis of my previously insane, mundane and teen angst (not quite) life, as observed in posts of my seriously-not-deadpan blogs Penda Kokak and 2010 entries of As Insignificant As You. Brace yourself, future me! BRACERS ON!

Yes, yet another blog. After As Insignificant As You and Open the Page, I have decided to debut another blog. This blog will be for my own comfort, where I would most likely rant about seemingly random things happening in Ze Lady Life. Hm. Also so that I can quote myself on brilliant thing like..

Anyway, I'm learning French too so I may, bit by bit, apply what I learn here :D Personally, I think blogging is interesting. Not only can I rant, but uhhh... that's it. I can rant, but ranting is underrated nowadays. Ranting can be fun. Anyway, I'm okay today. Although I've confirmed that I really did flunk a major test. But hey? C'est la vie! It's not the end of the line pour moi. *Note to self: Should try to actually learn French in order to be better at it.

J'ai Faim! Alimentaire, ou est tu?

Ciao!! (I am aware this is Italian but yeah--c'est mon style. ha!)