Organizing Keychains and Cellphone Swings

Cleaning makes me realize a few things about myself

1. I'm a packrat.
2. I'm a hoarder.

Yesterday was the submission of grades and today was spent de-cluttering my room and doing my laundry. With regards to de-cluttering, so far, I've only been successful with cleaning (my room attracts so much dust), taking out a bunch of papers and re-organizing my corkboard.

Represent: Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Egypt, Paris and Vienna

This corkboard is the backdrop to my study table at home. This is where I pin keychains and cellphone swings. Why pin them there? Because I have so much of them! I have a number of gashapons from college (when I was still addicted to anime). Some of the items are pasalubong or gifts from family and friends. Others are souvenirs I bought from events or from my trips abroad. 

You see, it'll be impossible to attach all the keychains to my bag zippers or all the phone swings to my phone. Initially, I thought about putting them in a box (how typical haha) so that they won't gather dust but then I also thought that I didn't want to simply hide them away so I decided to pin them (on the corkboard given to me by Sty-chan a few Christmases ago) and just deal with the dust every now and then. 

Ah, de-cluttering is far from done. I have a bunch of office supplies that I need to organize. I never knew I had a lot of supplies because I haven't been buying much! Most of these are old stuff (mostly from high school, some from college) and they're scattered into different containers. Time to bring them together but first I have to figure out how to do that.

Stationery, papers, stickers, etc. scattered in different boxes

Organizing is such a challenge for me, a hoarding packrat. But I remember that last summer, I was successful at organizing my closet so I guess I can deal with this too. :)

Action-Packed

Believe it or not, on our second day in Boracay, I woke up at 5am. I don't even do that anymore during classes.

We swam early in the morning and then had breakfast. We also tried the flying fish water activity (PhP350). It's kinda like the banana boat but maybe 50 times more intense! I was seated on the edge and it was fun until I eventually got thrown off the thing (well, that was the goal anyway). It was crazy. It made my arms hurt like hell a few days after. It was a great experience but I swear I'm never doing it again. :))

photo from Ma'am Dora

Some of my co-instructors did helmet diving but I passed.

We had Jonah's fruit shake. I bought a banana vanilla shake.

photo from Ma'am Dora

And then parasailing (PhP650)! Like the flying fish, it was also a great experience but I swear I'm never doing it again. Haha. It was exciting but really scary and the boat ride was just unbearable.

photo from Ma'am Dora

In the afternoon, I chilled by the beach chairs and read the book Sean lent me months ago. AH, LIFE.

And then, in the evening, we had buffet dinner at Boracay Regency.

We were supposed to go to a bar that night but everyone was tired from the activities so we ended up sleeping early!

What Kept Me Alive

Last Saturday, I went to Boracay with seven of my co-workers. I kept looking forward to the trip during the course of the [hell] semester. It's what kept me alive, haha.

Finally, I can compare Malcapuya Island (Palawan) to Boracay. And what can I say? Well, same clean waters, same fine and white sand, same gentle slope. The only difference is that Boracay is a veeeeery long stretch of a beach, it's crowded (it's not even peak-season) and it's very commercialized (I wish I could plaster a huge "NOT INTERESTED" sign on my forehead to ward off people selling things and offering water activities to me).

We stayed at a backpackers' hostel, Frendz Resort, in station 1. It's a two-minute walk from the beachfront, which is good for people who don't want it noisy at night. We rented three private, air-conditioned double rooms and added two extra beds. The rooms are native-style (made of wood, bamboo and nipa) with verandas. The restroom floor and walls are made of marble (and I think they need a little bit more cleaning). I paid only PhP 1700 for three nights, which is really cheap for a Boracay resort in station 1. I have no complaints.

The cozy common area, perfect for meeting new people.

The room facade

I'd like to go to Boracay with my family next time. :) But for now, I have to get back to checking papers!