Finally, a Miss Philippines bags the crown after eight years since Miss Earth’s conception in 2001. Over eighty-five ladies from all over the world paraded in their swimsuits and evening gowns tonight at Clark Expo Amphiteater in Pampanga.

Her court are as follows:

• Miss Tanzania Miriam Odemba (Miss Earth - Air)
• Miss Mexico Abigail Elizalde Romo (Miss Earth - Water)
• Miss Brazil Tatiane Alves (Miss Earth - Fire)

The last time a Miss Philippines went home with a crown was in 2006 when Catherine Untalan won Miss Earth-Water. That year, Hil Hernandez of Chile won as Miss Earth 2006.

Congrats Karla Paula Henry! You deserved the title!

I’ve already forgotten how it feels like to stroll nonchalantly in a mall. In fact, I can’t even recall when was the last time I entered a mall without papers to think and readings waiting to be finished. This afternoon, I tried to relive those carefree days once more. Actually, I did have an agenda but besides paying our apartment’s phone bill, the day was actually stress-free and the afternoon’s long enough to be spent bumming at home so I decided going to the nearby mall is the best way to kill the time. As if it wasn’t much of a temptation, I uncovered an unused gift cheque my mom gave me more than a couple of weeks ago hidden in all those stacks of paper. I used to be a real shopaholic. Armed with my mother’s credit card, I used to buy things that I wanted (but don’t really need) the moment I lay my eyes on them and find them cute. I’ve since changed when one morning I accidentally peeked into a billing statement and got guilty of how much money I’ve been spending on unwanted stuff. That’s when I started budgeting and planning how I spend my money - or rather my mother’s. I still go on binge shopping though, especially when I’m mad or down in the dumps but I’ve been more careful about things that I buy. Never did I imagine though that all those cutting costs I’ve been doing in the last year would make me a thrift shopper ‘coz I found myself actually spending more than an hour thinking of what to buy with the gift cheque I had in hand. If it was a year ago, I’d walk happily away with a new pair of bikinis especially since we’re going on a swimming trip on Sunday but right after I spotted a good pair, I started to think twice and asked myself if I really badly needed a new one. It’s not as if the place we’re going to is a beach where people would care less of what you’re wearing but a pool, and a public one at that could have eyes that are more judgemental and harsher regardless whether you were the one in the proper attire or not. To cut the story short, I didn’t buy the bikini and opted for make up and a cover-alls instead. I know, they don’t exactly sound like i need them badly but at least they’re a little towards the positive end of the “usefulness” spectrum than an overpriced swimwear. So once again, my mind won over my heart. I went home so happy and contented that I even made an entry proclaiming to the world my victory over another needless spending…

*silence*

Or probably not. *sigh*

Inasmuch as I want to make a more decent entry, I can’t rack up my brain to come up with one. It’s one of those hellish days when I feel like there’s some construction going on inside my head and there’s some endless pounding taking place. Yesterday, my allergies acted up again and I spent the whole day sneezing my brains out. I was even tempted to put some tissue up in my nose to keep mucus from dripping down my reviewers. (I know, this is some icky and nasty stuff that shouldn’t be shared at all. Hehe) What I didn’t expect though was that some genius out there actually thought of making one.

Genius huh?

I wonder if they allow sickly people like me to take an insurance like NC health insurance, though.

I’m watching a new show I discovered at TV 5, it’s called Rakista and stars Carlo Aquino, Denise Laurel and Charles Christianson among others. It’s been showing on air since August 14 every Thursday nights with reruns on Sunday afternoons. It’s been a while since I watched shows from other networks since I’ve always been glued to ABS-CBN (whether I like it or not.) Anyway, I’m off to review. My reviewers are waiting for me.

I love pampering myself. After a long week’s worth of lectures, patients and papers galore, I always look forward to the weekend and what pampering treatment I’d get for myself. I am a self-confessed spa fanatic. I love getting a nice, long massage to relax my tired muscles. For me, the very first sign that I am under stress is when my upper back (the Trapezius to be more precise) starts to get really sore and hard. And when it does, I go straight to one of the spas that litter the metro.

Last night, I was supposed to be at the Cinemalaya with my blog friends but Bee decided it was a night that the two of us should be spending together. He bribed me with a dinner date and a free spa. It was actually the third time he brought me in to get a nice massage. We were supposed to go to Spa 168 where I’m a regular client (I brought him to the place a few weeks ago) but there were no parking spaces available so off we went to Excelsior Spa just across the street. I’ve tried that place once and the massage that I got there on that first time still tops my list (but that was last year and I forgot to note who gave me the best massage of my life). The price for their Swedish massage had increased from 380 to 400 but I don’t really mind because the staff were very accommodating anyway unlike in some spas that I’ve been to that literally would leave you clueless and alone (I’ll blog about them some time soon). The massage was relaxing but I thought there was nothing much special about it. I wonder though if it was because I wasn’t as super stressed out unlike my usual trips to the spa or the masseuse wasn’t as good as the others.

The place is a lot smaller than the other spas I’ve been to and I feel it was rather cramped. The ladies’ area consists of two showers, one toilet and a small sauna. The common massage room is located upstairs. I don’t really recommend the place for first-timers or for the more conservative types because you share one big room with three other clients and there’s really no privacy at all. No divisions to hide you from the other clients. Not even a curtain! When the place is fully booked, it gets a little cramped - what with 8 people inside the room. The toiletries, towels and robes were clean and fairly new and the locker room lady is really accommodating and would assist you with your needs. Having someone to assist you is a MUST in every spa. Especially since not every client knows what to do and how things go about inside the spa.

The verdict for this trip?

I’m giving an extra because it’s free.

…my hair that is!

I’ve been pretty much annoyed by my hair lately because it seemed as if it has a life of its own. The right side is flying away no matter how short or long it is. It hasn’t always been this miserable though. I remember how Pauee and I once were the luckier girls in class for having long, silky and beautiful hair without even trying. Those days, it was our good friend Cathy who had major problems with her hair. Yes, the beauty-title holder and environmental advocate was once teased for having hair that’s flying towards just one side. Now, it seems like my karma has finally found its way to me. The sad part is, I can’t have my hair cut until two weeks from now when my cousin finally weds her legal husband in church. The gown she had made for me would look really perfect with long, curly hair and so I must stop myself from itching to the salon in the next few days. However, being such a sissy, I know that with that wedding aside, I’d think twice about having my bra-length hair chopped off to something as short as this:

That’s Yoon Eun Hye looking great in a short ‘do.

Anyway, I still have a couple of weeks to decide whether I’ll have the guts to have my much-awaited make over. My boyfriend had his long hair cut short recently and he looked a whole lot younger again! If I don’t want to look like a an old manang right next to him, I should be getting my butt out and heading to the salon soon. Yes. As I’ve been saying over and over again, judgement day comes when the wedding’s done and over with. After all, there’s no more stopping it anyway. The party invitations are out.

So, think I can sport this look with ease?

I tipped the scale at 100 lbs - or so says the weighing scale in school. If it were any other girl trying to lose weight, she would have jumped with glee with that figure. But, I am no ordinary girl and I’m not even close to feeling overjoyed with that.

You see, the scale I used to measure myself is actually an obesity scale masquerading as a weighing scale because it adds 5 lbs to everyone’s actual weight. When I first tried weighing myself in and saw the pointer at 100 lbs, I was so happy, well, not until my roommate told me how this obesity scale adds 5 lbs to your real weight. At my height, tipping the scale at 100 lbs is just the exact weight one needs to get that normal BMI. A pound lower than a hundred and it’s already considered underweight - a problem that I’ve been struggling with since time immemorial.

A lot of girls envy me because I don’t have to watch out what goes into my mouth. I can literally stuff myself with all the junk foods and chocolates I could lay my hands on and not feel any tinge of guilt at all. Nay, I am not at risk for having bulimia nervosa. Heck, I don’t even have to spend a cent for diet pills such as Phentermine just so I would fit in those size 0 clothes. What most girls don’t know is that girls like me born to have an ectomorph body type face the same insecurities that girls on the other end of the scale do. Like them, we also want to have a better body frame; a more lean and healthier physique.

In 2006, I discovered an appetite stimulant that boosted my appetite to its maximum. Soon, I found myself eating almost non-stop and a month later, everyone noticed the new, heavier and happier “me”. I finally reached my 100-lb target. Of course, I had to stop taking the appetite booster once I reached a hundred because I didn’t want to grow so big that I’d go on a crash diet. At the same time, though, I vowed to myself that never again will I go back to my old, ugly, skinny self. However, a classmate caught my attention a few days ago and commented on how I’m starting to get thinner and thinner by the day. It set off the alarm bells to ring. He didn’t have to say it out loud because I could feel the chubbiness of my cheeks literally fading into oblivion as days go by. I knew I had to start a weight-gain regimen soon, else, I might wake up one morning and find myself back to square one. For the last few weeks, I’ve been on and off the weight-gain pills that I fondly call “Ling” (if you can understand Filipino, I even made an entry about “Ling” in my Filipino blog). Because of the effects of this stimulant, I always get hungry so that I am always munching on something at any time of the day. But you see, I don’t really know if what I’m taking in now is more than enough for me to pack on some pounds especially since the stress of medical school is soon taking its toll on me and it worries me that I might have to take it longer now. “Ling” took one month to produce the much desired results in 2006. I wonder though how long it’ll take “Ling” to transform me back into this cuter-looking me some two years later:

Hmmmm…