fun times in the Philippines

Our luggage was found, though a little worse for wear.

Family reunions are awesome.

This internet cafe is just a couple houses down from our house.

I really like getting emails from loved ones.

My dad, brother, and I are getting lots of invitations to visit other households, though I think we'll have to start refusing.

Christmas is almost here.

Resolutions?

More later,
Michael

Calling from Home

Howdy folks,

Currently in the Philippines after a day and a half or so of traveling.

I bought a 7 dollar phone card in Hong Kong and it got me just 6 mins and 23 seconds to NY. Boo.

Lots of delays and all of my clothes are currently lost in the system, but I'm sure I'll get my stuff back sometime today.

It's about 80 degrees here, but it's been great seeing the neighborhood where my dad grew up.

Of course, I'm eating some great food.

Happy 22nd Birthday Erika!

I'll keep y'all updated.

Take it medium,
Q

I'll be "home" for Christmas

By home I mean the motherland... aka the PI aka the Philippines.

That's right folks, for the first time ever, I'll be celebrating Christmas (and New Year's in fact) in the Philippines with my dad's family. I'll be there for a whole month with my dad, who is so excited that my mom wants to get rid of him already. My brother will be there too, but only for a couple weeks. Needless to say, I'm super-excited as well. Too bad I miss the Fiesta Bowl. I think my grandpa on my mom's side has ESPN. I leave on Monday. w00t!

It took a long time to get home today, but at least I got home. Let's recount:
-3:30 flight delayed til 5:50
-flight to Chicago required some circling
-3 hour extra wait in Chicago
-30 minute wait for bag

'Tis the season for delays I suppose. I was fine with it all actually. I had my trusty mp3 player, which I did not turn off... even when they asked. oops.

My next post may be from the other side of the globe.

Much love,
Q

all smiles for early Christmas presents

Erika made a huge poster-sized photomosaic of the Dome using alot of my pictures of campus, so it's "my experience under the dome." Probably the best gift someone could give me. I'm so lucky. :-D Too bad I'll be away for a month.

*I wonder how much international calls are...*

Much love,
Q

at the RA gathering

From left to right... PJ, Jeff, Me, Danny, Nick, Daniel 

With Santa!

his bag was leaking... haha 

Christmas Card-y

that was one of our two "prom" poses 

The Decorated Section

lots of lights, as you can see. 

guess what I'm doing?

lol, procrastinating on a paper, of course!

I have a Paper/Final in a couple hours, so I've decided that it's a great chance to update my blog, since it has been a week.

Not too much has gone on, other than study days, which I used to finish a big paper. I've also been spending lots of time oh!.. I haven't talked about the Morrissey Christmas SYR yet!

I spent most of the morning with Parny, running around South Bend looking to blow our $75 on our "Christmas in Africa" theme. Our big ticket item was Cheetah stuffed animal/floor decoration, which we ended up mounting on a wall. We had our section, 1CD, in big block letters in lights, and pictures of famous Africans, that I put Santa hats on. Decorating was a little tough, as most of my section didn't particiapate. To be fair, most of them went to the basketball game, but even then, they didn't help when they got back. Fortunately, I got a ton of help from Smeds, his gf, Parny (who was a amazing), and Erika, whose arts and crafts talents came in handy. (pictures perhaps?)

The dance was a blast. Maybe the best SYR I've ever attended. I had duty at the end of the dance, but it was a ton of fun anyways. Everyone was dancing, singing... basically having a wonderful time.

Ok, back to writing about John of the Cross, Vatican II's Dei Verbum, and their teachings on divine revelation... *whew*

Take it medium,
Michael

I Love Freshly Baked Cookies

I've come to realize that freshly baked cookies are a big contributor to my happiness.

It all started in grade school. They used to bake these big chocolate chip cookies that were 5 inches wide and really thin. They would put them into these wax paper sleves that would turn translucent as the buttery goodness set in. The cookies were always about to fall apart and their melted chocolate chips would get all over your fingers. I can still remember waiting in line to pay 50 cents for one.

Now to college. This is what makes South Dining Hall superior (or at least one of the reasons, for those who care). Freshly baked cookies at lunch time. Just wait 10 minutes or so and they will always have some next to the doughnuts. They rotate among oatmeal raisin, peanut butter, sugar, and chocolate chip. I don't even really like peanut butter or raisin cookies, but these are so good... that I'll eat them anyways.

So that's why I bake cookies. Because I can create that atmosphere of waiting to get fresh, hot cookies for myself. I've got a great recipe for Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Chunk cookies, which are my personal favorite. I made a whole bunch of different kinds when I went abroad last semester, but those oatmeal chocolate chunks are my favorite.

You know what is a bad idea? Tide with Febreeze. Why would you want to smell like you Febreeze'd your clothes? Seems silly to me.

www.ytmnd.com is hilarious and now occupies a lot of my time. It's really weird internet humor that many may not understand. w00t

Rawk awn,
Q