Weekday W△rrior

Niki Esguerra. 17 year old college student in ADMU. Studying Sociology and Anthropology. Sarcastic. Coffee addict. Grammar Nazi. Has a habit of complaining about small things. Dreams to work for the UN. Definition Weekday Warrior (n.) - 1. A rich kid studying at Culver Creek. 2. A person studying/battling through Monday-Friday, awaiting the heavenly gift from God that is called the weekend.

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Summary of the days I hadn't been blogging

1. Literature midterms

2. Math midterms

3. I thought eggs were dairy

4. I passed the 3rd Math test! (not the midterms... yet.)

5. Vodka pong isn't for the likes of me.

[stjn]

TIGERS ARE AWESOME, AND THEY NEED YOUR HELP

This GIF may be cute, but the horrible reality is that there are only 3,200 tigers left in the wild. That’s one tiger for every 2.2 million people. That’s also about 100,000 tigers fewer than were alive 100 years ago.

These majestic animals have roamed this earth for almost two million years, yet humanity has managed to exterminate 97% of them in the last century. The Javan, Caspian, and Bali tiger species have already gone extinct, and now the Sumatran tiger is about to become the next victim.

Poaching, illegal logging, and habitat fragmentation threaten the future of the few tigers that are left. If this doesn’t stop, all wild tigers will have disappeared from this planet in ten years. Ten fucking years, Tumblr.

Luckily, it’s not too late yet. The WWF reckons that with enough funds and effort, it is possible to double the current tiger population by 2020. I say we go for it and try to save these magnificent animals before we lose them forever.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

Donate to charities like the WWF or the IFAW With your donations, these organisations can fund antipoaching efforts, educate local communities, restore tiger habitats, and create political will to enforce laws that ban tiger products.

Don’t buy products that affect tigers or their habitats Buy only wood, paper, and coffee products that are produced sustainably. You can recognize these product by certificates like FSC, UTZ, or the Rainforest Alliance. Most importantly: never, ever buy products made from tiger parts, like traditional Chinese medicines that contain tiger bones.

Spread awareness The more people become aware of the tiger’s situation, the easier it will be to do something about it. Educate yourself, tell your friends, and reblog this post.

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Why do you want to be a buddhist?

It's hard to explain, really. Essentially it is because I feel that Buddhism isn't a religion that is imposed or lead by an organization, like the Church. I may be wrong about that and yes, I'm pretty sure there are organizations based on Buddhism but there's a different vibe to it.

Reading and learning about Buddhism, it felt as though the religion wasn't simply worshipping a deity. From what I see, it's also about connecting with yourself. Self-exploration. Or something like that.

Now, I know that Catholicism does in fact have these characteristics somehow but you see, I've been raised a Catholic all my life. I used to have such a strong faith but growing up, I somehow lost my spirituality. I believe the teachings of Buddhism would link me back to it.

It's not like I really really really want to be a Buddhist though. I think for now, I'd like to explore and learn about it. It's interesting, at the moment, yes. But that's merely because I'm rapidly losing my faith in the Church and I've been reading stuff about it.

Also, I do believe there is a God. Or at least a higher being.

It's complicated. Though I think I partially answered your question. Partially. That's the best I could do.

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Another thought.

So I was listening to Brighten's song "Whoever You Are" (you should too) and the lyrics really hit me. Recently I've been feeling so down because I thought I missed him. I realize now that yes, maybe to a point I do miss him but not to the extent that I want him, and the relationship we had, back. It's a slight difference, but it's distinctive enough. At least for me.

I mean, I'm not ready for a relationship with anyone. Probably not yet for another year. If I went into one now, it would probably be a bad idea but what I really feel right now is longing. For someone to say those things in Whoever You Are and actually mean it and DO IT for not just me. For us.

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Just a thought.

I'd like to be a buddhist one day.

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Sketch yo troubles away.

I've been so down lately. Normally, I draw when I'm bored in class, during lectures and such but sometimes, I draw when I'm stressed out. I didn't think my emotional state was so topsy turvy today until I took out a pen and paper. I guess it's a good thing I did because I like the outcome of my stress.

Blue ballpoint pen + pink and neon yellow highlighters = best/most fun doodling tools in class, at home and anywhere.

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So.

Hi, blog. I've moved again. I wasn't exactly feeling it on Wordpress. So here I am, on Tumblr. Yay. Here's a gif that depicts my excitement.

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Oh dear.

Looks like I totally went on hiatus without noticing. So hello, blog. I'm officially in college now and officially busy enough not to post on you often. BUT. I promise to post at least once a week. I swear. Cross my heart and hope to die. I have nothing to write about right now so I'll come back to you later.

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Life Revamp (or simply, "Change", but I want it to sound fancy)

Recently I've decided to change things up a bit. I've already started with my blog (moved from Blogspot to Wordpress), my fitness (although right now, I can't actually do any athletic activities due to having my fourth wisdom tooth removed) and my sense of responsibility (not that I was never responsible...) So what if it's not a new year? So what if it's not spring (there isn't a spring in the Philippines anyway)? I think it would have been a bit more reasonable for me to do what I'm about to do at the start of summer, not the end. Thing is, I've been trying to pull myself together mentally, all summer due to certain events that are far too personal to mention (at least, not yet.) Right now, I'm working on my room. I feel way too claustrophobic just sitting in it and it's so difficult to move around sometimes, especially when there's other people in my room. Yes, unfortunately, I'm not one of the lucky few who get to prance about their room as much as they'd like without having to worry about bumping into something... or someone. No, I do not live in a broom closet. The term "broom closet x 3" best describes it. I think. Anyway. The "revamped room" is still a work in progress. For now I think I'll work on my usage of parentheses (I, however, don't see anything wrong with it.)

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Je, J'ai

I'm feeling mean right now. Do forgive me, reader, if you are offended. Now, I'm no fluent speaker of French. I've been learning it for the past 5 years, but the farthest (in terms of grammar) I've gone is the intermediate level. Though I'm more of a Grammar Nazi in the language of English, I know my basic French grammar and I would like to pick at this little, teensy thing that has been bugging me for awhile now. French students (who aren't natives), whether advanced or beginner, can sometimes end up becoming pretentious, making a show of knowing another language. "Oh, how cool I am to be able to speak this!" I admit, I can be this way myself (hey, just writing this blog post reeks of pretense, doesn't it?) but when I do decide to speak French (even when in reality, I still have a lot to learn), I do make sure that what I'm saying is at least grammatically correct. See, honey, if you're going to go around making use of what you've learnt in class, you should at least take the time to check what you're saying. "Je" refers to oneself. I'm sure you know that, right? You should. "J'ai", on the other hand, means "I have." You should also know how to conjugate avoir. You know, like: "j'ai", "tu as", "il a" et "nous avons." Remember those? I mean, you should, seeing that you've studied that longer than I have. Why is it important to know this? Well. One, it's basic French grammar. It's a prerequisite to more advanced French, which I'm sure you're going to take soon. Two, you'll end up making a fool out of yourself. I'm sure "I headache" (je mal à la tête) isn't what you meant to say. In fact, I'm pretty darn sure you meant "I have a headache" (j'ai mal à la tête). That or "I am a headache," which would make sense as well because your grammar, even in English (your native language) can cause me headaches. Right. So that wraps up our lesson for today. Pretentious? Sure, why the hell not! We all are at some point, oui? Mais, try not to make it so obvious. Otherwise, je vais vomir.

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Beautiful Vandalism

"We may have lost you but your spirits will live on forever in our hearts."

"You call this vandalism?" He screamed, an expression of pain and rage in his eyes as the boys' friend looked from the floor to us.

"No," I said quietly, as if I were trying to turn his volume down as well. I never met them, knew nothing of them, and yet I still could feel the sadness from the loss as I listened to the words of rage spill out of his mouth. The candles that we had found, which were still lit, Tuesday morning, were now a melted mess, tossed aside to one corner. The messages from grieving friends and family, most written in permanent marker, others in correction fluid, on the surface of the gym floor had been erased as if nothing had happened to the four young boys. As if everything was okay and normal again. As if the four would be back there, to join their small circle of skaters. As if it were another afternoon in the Community Park. I'll write nothing more than that, out of respect. I believe the pictures are enough to tell the story. But here's a question for you, reader. I don't want you to exactly answer it here, just think about it. Would you have erased the things they wrote in memory of their loved ones, even if it would be considered "vandalism"?

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A Snapshot from Karachi, Pakistan

I was looking through old photos and decided to share a small bit of my life. Perhaps open a few people's eyes as well. When I was about 11 years old, we had to move to Pakistan because my father had work there. I dreaded going there, actually. I knew nothing of the place other than the fact that it was close to a country that was at war, at the time. Pakistan was also experiencing civil and political unrest but that wasn't much of a problem in Karachi. At least, it wasn't as bad as it was in the capital. I lived there for 14 months. Yes, it wasn't the safest nor the best places that we had lived in. There were armed riots that caused schools to close down or send the children home. Our home was guarded day and night by two security guards. Throughout the year, save for the winter, power had to be cut in certain portions of the city at certain times of the day. In fact, because of this, we experienced a short circuit that caused a fire in the master bedroom. No fatalities though. Unless you count the air conditioning unit as one. However, that doesn't necessarily mean it was an ugly place. I still hold memories that are beyond ugly. Memories that are beautiful. The picture above is one of those memories. I met a lot of people who lived there who made our 14 month stay there very much easier than it would have been if we hadn't met them. The hotel staff of the Karachi Mariott, the fellow pinoys, the teaching staff of my school, the other expat families, whom we had playdates with, and my friend's families. All of them. I hope to come back, simply to photograph certain sights of the city. There may have been terrible memories there, memories that I know would give me reason not to come back but looking at these photos, somehow the good resonates more than the bad. I suppose what they say is true. You only miss a place once you've left.

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Back to the Beginning

Recently I've moved from Blogspot to here. This is a little back story of my "blogging life", which deserves to be told because right now I feel like I'm back to where I started. For the past four months, I've been in search for the perfect blogging platform. Now, I'm no "noob" when it comes to blogging and when it comes to the interwebs. I've been blogging, graphic and web designing since I was 12 (I even had my mom buy me a domain name for my 13th birthday) and since then I've always had this attachment to Wordpress. I remember the days when I was one of those girls who set up a website on a free host to create free resources such as Photoshop brushes, tutorials and little glitter graphics. Looking back at myself then, I honestly wish I didn't start out that way. It was amusing because I tried so hard to be like all these other sites and quite frankly, I wasn't getting far in terms of frequent visitors. Then, I discovered this content management platform called Cute PHP. A lot of the people in the community I had been a member in used it, so I thought "Okay, why the hell not?" I can't say that was the start of my blogging though. I mostly used it for "site updates" and the only times I actually felt the need to "blog" personally, was when I felt the need to rant. I believe the real start of my blogging was when I found Jemjabella.co.uk, through her famous Pants Awards, in which she critiques certain websites (like mine, at the time.) I don't know what exactly compelled me to take coding and aesthetics more seriously, but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the fear of being slapped in the face with a Pants Award. Like I said, I tried hard to fit in. Soon, I learned of the security (or lack thereof) that came with Cute PHP and decided that perhaps it was time to actually switch to a much better platform. Wordpress was already incredibly popular at the time so I gave it a go. I brushed up on my PHP and started designing my own themes. I believe that that time held the proudest moments of my times as a blogger and designer, because I felt so 1337. I tested another blogging engine called Chyrp but unfortunately my domain's host didn't support PHP 5 at that time yet, which sucks because I paid them $9.00 a month. That ain't cool. Although, I suppose that was understandable because PHP 5 had only started to become supported during that time. After all that adventure and learning, I unfortunately stopped blogging and coding when I was around 14 or so, letting my domain die along with the identity I've made in a certain community of bloggers. The reason why I did so? I completely forget, but whatever it was, I shouldn't have let myself stop. Around a year ago, I decided to give blogging another shot. I didn't necessarily want to go back to designing yet however (I am now, but that's a different story.) I jumped from Tumblr to Livejournal to Tumblr and stayed there until I realized no one actually "blogs" text on Tumblr. I went to Jux, which mind you, is a pretty awesome site. Then I went to Blogger/Blogspot and I stuck to it for months. Honestly, it's not bad at all. In fact, it's a pretty good blogging engine. However, the customizability of the templates turned me off. It was very difficult, especially for someone who hadn't touched code in a long time, for me to comprehend the structure. I created an account here to compare Wordpress and Blogger. They both have their ups and downs but honestly, the whole time I was blogging on Blogger, I had an itch to move to WP. So here I am, back to where I started. I'm hoping I'll stick around long enough to upgrade and code my own theme, maybe even buy myself a domain.

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Summer so far: Palawan (Part Two)

On the second day of our trip to Palawan, we took a tour of the Underground River, which is now one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. I didn't exactly take pictures while we were in there. I was more interested in the tour itself, and dipping my hand in the water then wiping it off on my sister's arm. The third day was my favorite day. It was, hands down, the most interesting day I had this summer. That morning, we woke up bright and early, and waited for our tour group to pick us up from the Ranch (where we were staying). I didn't actually expect being with a group of complete strangers. After all, for the rest of our vacation, it was just us traveling as a group. But there we were, on our way to our Honda Bay island hopping, in a bus with people I did not know at all. Little did I know, I would actually enjoy the company of these people. We rode a small boat that would fit the twelve of us to our first stop, the Pambato Coral Reef. To my surprise (once again) there was no island or ground we would be setting foot on. Just a floating... thing. That could apparently hold only 50 people. And boy, was it crowded. Once I got in the water, I realized that there were way too many people swimming. On top of that, many of those people didn't know how to swim and had to hold on to this salbabida (life buoy) that was being pulled by their guide. My fingers weren't even enough to count the number of people I bumped into. I couldn't even enjoy it. Next stop was Starfish Island, where I had the guts to dive in the water on my own. Only, my little brother, who wasn't wearing a (or an annoying) life vest either, was tagging along and I didn't want to go so far from the shore. Starfish Island was wayyyy better than the Pambato Coral Reef, in terms of the crowd. I managed to get incredibly tanned there, but that wasn't really much of a problem. The problem was the fact that there were barely any starfish. Eh. No matter, our guide cooked us a really delicious lunch which included grilled tuna (my new favorite dish), sinigang and much more. Anyway. Our last stop was Pandan Island. I decided to opt-out on the swimming and dry off there. This is where I got to "bond" with my tour group. My tour group is composed of the five of us in my family, a married couple from Cebu who were celebrating their first anniversary, another married couple from Cebu and three interns from WHO. We exchanged a lot of stories, places to stay, places to go and shared complaints on the organization/safety when it comes to tourism here in the Philippines. One of the interns, Anne I think, was from Germany and has never in her life seen anything like halo-halo. Amusingly, she cannot comprehend how we just put practically anything in it with crushed ice and condensed milk. I got a kick out of teasing her about it when I got myself a cup. We were there until around 4 PM until we were told we had to leave. Pandan was the best island/stopover that we went to. It was very relaxing and the sand was so soft, if I had a concussion or if I went entirely insane, I'd think it was a huge bed of softness and dive into it. ANYWAY. Here's the most interesting bit of the trip. Once we were five minutes away from the island on our boat, something in our boat broke down and we were stuck in the middle of the water. We could still see the island but some of us, including me, decided to put a little fun into our little predicament. We shared theories on how this would end up. My brother made a bet with one of the interns on how many other boats would pass us. One of the boats that did had a passenger filming us. "Oh, hey," I said. "We'll be in the headlines tomorrow!" They laughed and one of them said, "That doesn't sound like that's a good thing." "Yeah. 'This is the last footage of a group that had been stranded in the middle of the sea.'" We got it fixed for a bit but then the boat stalled again. We ended up having to attach our boat to another boat and be pulled by them until whatever wasn't working was fixed. By the end of the boat ride, some of us exchanged emails to keep in touch. All in all, it was a great day. I saw and experienced great things, and met great people. In fact, our tour guide told my dad that we were the best tour group she had ever handled. There were no awkward silences and not at all any problems between people. I'm glad to have wrapped up my trip in that way because when I came back home to Manila, I felt so renewedand a million times happier than I felt before I left.

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A dose of: Fun/Foster the People/Kimbra

I was speaking to an old friend whom I used to be part of a gaming clan with (yes, I was actually part of one) and we started talking about music. He had told me to listen to fun. I knew one of their songs from hearing it repetitively on the radio but never really bothered knowing who they are (a habit of mine). So I went on one of my little music adventures where I check out the artist and the rest of their songs. I ended up checking three. Usually, I find indie, unknown bands, but these guys don't necessarily have to not have a record deal for me to drool over their music. After listening to the three albums of those three artists/bands, I thought "Hey, why don't I share it on my blog." Then I thought, "Hey, why don't I keep going on these little music adventures." So here you go, the pioneer post of my "A dose of:" post series, which links to SoundCloud and gives you, whoever you are, Mr. Reader Person, a dose of what I feel is good music. Any suggestions for artists? Comment.

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Summer so far: The Avengers + Palawan (Part One)

I'm so sorry blog, I have neglected you but before you PMS on me! I have a valid excuse. I've been having such a good summer. Yes. Yes I have. So last Thursday, I went out with Mica and Chiara to Rockwell to watch the long-awaited The Avengers: Assemble. Holy shit I never expected it to be that epic. I won't delve so much on it because words cannot describe how much I love it. Only my Tumblr will, what with my reblogs of Tom Hiddleston and Jeremy Renner and Robert Downing Jr. Excuse my fangirliness. Anyway. I couldn't fangirl so much that night after the movie 'cause I had to pack for my trip the next day. I never really expected much from Palawan, honestly. I just expected pretty beaches, a river in a dark cave full of batshit and sunburns but no, I got more than that (and surprisingly no major sunburns at all.) I unfortunately couldn't get pictures of the Underground River and of the Honda Bay island hopping. Oh well, moving on. We arrived at the airport at around lunch time and after claiming our luggage, we were brought to a restaurant nearby to eat. We were all in for a real, legit treat. The place we went to for our first lunch is called Ka Lui (write it down, if you're going to Puerto Princesa). I just wanted to eat so I just expected another local restaurant that would sit you down and give you menus and take your orders and let you eat. Oh, how I was wrong. When you're at Ka Lui, you remove your shoes. Yes that's right. You remove your shoes and are taken inside. The place has a very homey feel and they even have a little art gallery, which diners could go to while waiting for their food or any time at all. They showcase a lot of the Filipino heritage, including cloth that was made in a traditional way (I forget what it's called):

I ordered their Specialty Seafood Platter and a Vegetarian Platter to share with my mom. I never expected much at all but it was the best food I had ever eaten in years. I'll leave it to the pictures and their captions to explain why because I just cannot tell you how good the food was. They cooked/prepared it so perfectly I thought I was in heaven.

Fresh seaweed

Grilled fish in a mango sauce, sweet potato topped with an avocado-garlic puree, fresh seaweed, sliced carrots, steamed okra and pumpkin and eggplant tempura drizzled in sauce. Non-veggie lovers out there, like my sister, would actually appreciate this.

Just when we thought we were stuffed with grilled tuna steak (that was incredibly juicy and cooked to perfection I swear) and the rest of the meal, they served us a buko fruit bowl.

I'm getting incredibly hungry just writing this. Remember the name. Ka Lui. I suggest you book for a reservation a month prior to your trip, however. They are always fully booked because they can only accommodate less than 50 people, maybe even 30. If you're feeling lucky and think you'll get a table just by going there in person, the restaurant is open everyday except Sundays and they close at around 2 PM. They reopen at 6 PM, however. Anyway, after that we headed to the Governor's Ranch, where we were to stay, to change quickly before heading out to the Crocodile Farm, the Iwahig river firefly watching and then dinner. Again, I didn't get to take much pictures due to the fact that it was such a hassle to carry around a Nikon DSLR. I could have used my iPod, but eh. I was enjoying myself too much.