June

Wow, it's already July tomorrow. Pretty crazy how the first half of the year just flew by.

This month, I experimented in the kitchen often.

Vegan adobo: shiitake mushrooms and tofu

Tableya hot chocolate with cinnamon, vanilla and chili powder.

My brother went to Finland (for business) and brought home some blueberries.
We also had ripe mangoes at that time so I made a pie!

Binagoongan rice with green mango and egg

baked potato wedges in butter-sriracha sauce

lettuce, tomatoes, sauteed mixed mushrooms, caramelized balsamic onions,
burger buns, and beef-malunggay patties with cheese

Yay burger!

zaru soba (cold buckwheat noodles in dipping sauce)

This month, sadly, I only made one painting. It is, however, my most detailed painting so far.

This month, I visited a third-wave coffee shop in West Avenue called Coffee Empire.

So much equipment, it looks like a laboratory!

They have a room for storing coffee beans and a roasting area as well.

I ordered a light-bodied capuccino. It was very good and it didn't need sugar.

A mango-bavarian which was good but too sweet for my taste.

This month, I went to Boracay (first trip to the beach this year yay!) with my friends to relax. We mostly just ate, walked, slept and played in the water. Hurray to getting a tan!

Wind turbines! Hurray for renewable energy!

This month, my computer finally crashed and I had to have it formatted. Thankfully, I decided to buy an external hard disk drive last April (by then, my computer has been exhibiting some problems already) so most of my files are backed up.

This month, my news feed has been bombarded with graduation photos, mostly of my former students, and even though it kind of makes me feel old, I'm actually very happy looking at them.

Life Lately, in Paintings

During kendo training last Saturday, our sensei made us wear bogu (kendo armor) and do shiai (sparring). It's actually my first time to wear bogu and to do shiai.

Well, I don't know if my match was a draw or a loss. I'm pretty sure I didn't win because I didn't get a point but I have no idea if my opponent got a score either. While I did manage to hit my opponent a few times, I didn't do proper follow-through, and that's maybe/apparently why I couldn't earn a point. Well, it doesn't matter really if I won or lost because the point of the shiai was to show us the importance of kihon ("basics" or "fundamentals", in Japanese).

It was a really nice experience (and I can't wait to see the videos to see how silly/stupid I looked during my match haha). I'm motivated to train harder at kihon and eventually pass the bogu exam so that I can finally wear a bogu.

"Kihon! Kihon! Kihon!!", sensei always says.

These past few weeks, I've been trying to figure out what I really want out of life and maybe I need to stop fooling myself that I'm fine with what I am and what I have right now. Instead, I need to start going for what I really want.

"I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul."

I know I made bad choices these past few years but I'll make sure that I will learn something out of them.

And sadly, I'm going through a little heartbreak right now. Well, my heart's been broken a few times before. But maybe the word "broken" doesn't cut it... more like it's been crushed before and this one I'm experiencing right now is probably just a little crack-- nothing my resilient heart cannot handle.

And with all that's happening, an emotional Heimlich would be really useful. As Chuck from Pushing Daisies said, "A hug can turn your day around. It's like an emotional Heimlich. Someone puts their arms around you and they give you a squeeze and all your fear and anxiety come shooting out of your mouth in a big wet wad and you can breathe again."

But maybe a nice movie doesn't hurt. I watched Kingsman last week and I absolutely loved it. Action, comedy, gentlemen in suits... just my cup of tea.

Also, Game of Thrones.

Or maybe some meditation.

No worries, I'm totally fine. :)