Catching Up (August and September Recaps)

I have so neglected this blog. Doesn't mean that I haven't been scrapping. I was kept quite busy by the Scrappin' Moms Idol Challenge 2. I hope to be able to post my layouts and the stories behind each of them later. In the meanwhile, the OC in me wants to pick up where I left off. But that is quite impossible. So many things have happened already. And you know what they say, if it happened yesterday, it's old news. If it happened, two months ago, it's history.

But let me just post monthly recaps for August and September, just to have a sense of continuity.

August 2008

- I joined Scrappin' Moms Idol challenge yet again. I will upload separate posts for my layouts, my observations, and my conclusions. Remember I said in this post that I consider this a social experiment? :-)

- DH's laptop went bonkers in July, and he has been using mine. Given his "magic" touch, my laptop when haywire, too, losing profiles, passwords, and bookmarks. I was able to resolve that. But then we had some hardware problems. The mouse and keypads wouldn't respond to commands sometimes. We were never sure when the laptop would cooperate. That was my biggest challenge during the competition. I was always uncertain if I could retrieve my photos in the hard drive, much less, edit them in photoshop.

- I was featured in Scrapbytes' Designer Spolight for the July-August issue. I have to give it to Mia Castrillo. She really made me look good. :-) I am a fan of Mia's simple scrapbooks and keeping it real journaling so her writing about me is truly as an honor.

- Our Representative from my previous office (I don't want to write the whole name down because I know they search the internet daily for mention of the Foundation, and I dont want my personal blog being circulated in the offices). She attended the Ramon Magsaysay Awards and we had a sumptuous lunch together with DH and the KiDS at Spiral. We had alot of catching up to do since it's been two years since we last saw each other, but I was kinda distracted by the buffet. Can you blame me?

September 2008

- I volunteered to help out at the Venture for Fund Raising Congress, and was able to reconnect with former Foundation grantees. This really got me excited about working in the development sector again.

- During the first week, I lost my internet connection at home. My bad. I forgot to follow up with my DH's staff if he had paid the bills. The worst thing was finding out I didn't have internet as I tried to submit my LO to the Scrappinmoms. I had to bring my laptop to the Venture Congress (praying it would cooperate) and send it through Gateway Mall's freearaneta wi-fi. Whew!

- This month, I had a dream come true. Remember the Kaya 3 wishes challenge? One down, two to go. Speaking of Kaya, I missed the August-September challenges. Sigh. I've never missed a Kaya layout before.

- Middle of the month, my printer also went bonkers. And, you guessed it right. DH used it. Truly, this man was a walking technological disaster these past months. If you don't believe me, wait 'til I tell you about how he ran over his Sony cellphone/PDA. So I took to having my photos printed out in various photoshops, and uploading my entries in internet cafes, or in my brother-in-law's garage, or through his wife's computer....anywhere there is free w-fi. Hahaha.

- And yet despite such odds, I made it to the Top 10 finals of the Idol challenge. I still cannot believe it myself. Hehehe.

- Well, I was unable to join the Bad Girls challenge. I even asked Marj to enlist me. But because I wasn't able to go online and say present on the first day of class so I was automatically expelled. I so wanted to learn from the site, but, oh, well, maybe next year.

- I am not yet really back in business because DH still uses my laptop to finish up his term papers. We were temporarily able to solve the hardware problems by using the body of his laptop (his hard drive is still in the repair shop undergoing "archaeological excavation"). And because of that I still haven't had my internet reconnected. Sayang naman ang monthly fee kung di naman ma-maximize. :-(

On the one hand, I miss being connected to my friends and groups through the internet. On the other, I feel that I was able to spend more quality time with my family. My laptop used to be an extension of myself, but because of technological troubles, I was forced to be without it for months. It isn't so bad. There is life outside cyper-space. But, see you there again soon.