#002 Twitter, Facebook, Formspring, Tumblr.

For two months, I had a problem with my follower requests. Because of that, I was forced to publicize it. Then last Thursday I tried reverting it to private. I used a mock Twitter account to send a request and voila! The request was sent. You can follow me via @caaandiceee.

Facebook is now strictly for FRIENDS OF FRIENDS only. Simply put, only schoolmates and close friends can add me up. This is done to make my profile stranger-free. I’ll add up only people I know.

Formspring is closed - FOR GOOD. I cancelled it today due to lack of questions.

Lastly, I’ll post my Tumblr follower count for the first time ever.



Fifty more to 1000. After that, I can breathe.

Thanks also to all those who commented on my last post. I’ll answer them next week after the ACET.

From now on, I’ll be naming my blog as Candydoll Domination - inspired by Pussycat Dolls’ last album. :)

So no one told you life was gonna be this way

I haven’t been blogging a decent entry for two weeks. I know all of you are getting impatient with this so I’ll whip out a blog you’d want to read. And for the first time in this blog, I’ll introduce to you a story of me and my barkada. *wink*


Let’s begin with my grade school days.

Before I met everyone, I didn’t have a real barkada. It all began in 2005 when Kath became my classmate. In mid-September that year, we became seatmates and got along in an instant. I was really sad when she have to transfer to another seat. Shortly after Kath moved away, I experienced a lot of bullying leading to a trauma which stands up to this day.

My then-best friend was not a real friend because she didn’t defend me when I was being bullied by my ex-classmates. So for a while, I ate recess and lunch alone because no one would make friends with me. All the while, I confided to Kath and some of my other classmates who were very kind to me. I hung out with a group in Grade 6 but not all of them liked me. So when I was assigned to I-2 in first year, I was happy because not only there were a lot of friendly girls there but also Kath’s my classmate.

We started hanging out with each other that year. Our friendship grew closer and I was opened to a wide circle of friends. Our bond was so special that even when we were assigned to different sections in third year, we showed everyone that we were inseparable. But long before that, we were part of a group that I thought would last for the rest of our HS lives. However, I won’t tell you the exact details of how it all ended. Let’s just say that I’m still friends with most of them.

Just as the group dissolved, we went on our own ways. Back in November and December last year, I ate with some girls of my section. But it wasn’t the same as being with my close friends. There were even instances when I ate lunch alone (again) and headed to the library to read. It was like the old times. On the first day of our school intrams this year (January 5), I spent a very miserable day without saying a word in school and without anyone to hang out with. I was so alone. But the next day changed everything.

I found Kath and her twin sister Kharisse during a game of tiyakad. At recess time, Aly, Bev and Gelz joined us. The six of us had a great time that day. We played badminton, strolled around the school and watched our classmates play. In the end, I realized that the five of them are my real friends. From that day forward, we spent breaks together.

Last Saturday (August 28), all of us including our guy friends August, Ely and Moses (one was unable to attend because of an emergency), celebrated Gelz’ birthday party at her pretty condo unit. I was amazed with the way her room was arranged because she had a lovely bed and it was all neat. During that party we feasted over mocha cake, cookies and cream ice cream, spaghetti, Coke and rootbeer. We had a great time playing charades and swapping stories about everything that happened in our lives. I was supposed to meet my tita at Mcdo Retiro at 6:30 PM but because we enjoyed it so much I texted her that Ely will drive all of us home.

I didn’t eat dinner because I was full from spaghetti and ice cream. August told stories about pop stars, backmasking and illuminati giving us goosebumps. After dinner, Gelz toured us around the place and the camwhoring began. There were the “Three Musketeers” signs, the fail jump shots and such. When we were about to leave the place, all of us didn’t want to let go of each other because we were so tight. We began planning about the nine of us hanging out on Family Day (Oct.23).

In case you’re wondering, my barkada’s name is Lucky 9(+1). And who thought of that name? ME. While Bev and Kath were singing at the karaoke, I watched my friends playing cards. Then came the Lucky 9 game. That night while we were swapping stories, I told everyone that Lucky 9 should be our group name. So there you have it, you now know who my friends are. When I got home, I asked to myself, “What if I wasn’t there at the party”? I pictured myself at home, sitting on the computer and full of regret.

I haven’t told you about the USTET last August 22. It was easy but full of time pressure. My room was also very cold because of the aircon. I saw a lot of Theresians too but I didn’t get to see any of my classmates. The day went like this: I and my tita ate at McDo for lunch and ordered KFC Hot and Crispy Chicken (my favorite) for dinner. While I was taking the test, she already bought groceries for the week.

Tumblr update: I’m close to 1000 followers. Not to brag about it but I get an increase in followers everyday. In a few weeks (or days, if possible), I’ll be reaching the golden number. I promise you that the day I reach it, I will make a post about it. Follow me for I post interesting stuff from fashion to photography. Now speaking of followers, I’ll give you some tips on how to increase yours:

• Don’t beg for followers. It’s very annoying to ask all of the people you follow to follow you back to increase the number. “Follow me, xxxxx” is the worst sentence in Tumblr. EVER.
• Post stuff that interests you. Love fashion? Then follow fashion-filled Tumblelogs. A fan of art, All Time Low (one of my new favorites) and Strutting Leo? Follow them!
• Be original. Make original posts and not just reblogs. Upload pretty photos from Flickr and We Heart It.
  
• “Follow me and I’ll follow back” - NOT. Do you want your dashboard to be flooded with content you can’t stand and pure reblogs? Remember, follow back only if you like his/her posts.
• DON’T USE TUMBLR STALKER. This will make you cry if you find out who your unfollower is. This is site must be handled with caution.
  

Have a Tumblr account? Then I hope these tips are very useful to you. Comment on this post if you want more tips!

[The Rembrandts]

#002

“

Because we're never gonna be as young as we are tonight

So much stress, so little time to blog a decent entry.

Recently, I’ve been appreciating a lot of indie music. I guess they’re more relaxing to listen to than hip-hop songs. Check out my iTunes and you wouldn’t see any hip-hop in there (except Kanye West’s Love Lockdown).

Wanna listen to a very fantastic cover of “Young”? Click this to groove to the tune of the cover of a very talented Theresian. Trust me, you’ll thank me for this brilliant discovery.

[The Summer Set]

#001

“I hate to say this but I am very insecure of you. You have everything I don’t have. You’re beautiful. You’re skinny. You’re one of the populars in school. You’re filthy rich. You have all of the best gadgets in the world. Most of all, you have a really hot and gorgeous boyfriend. Not to mention that no one called you ugly for once.”

- Confession of a typical teenage girl dealing with insecurity.

I don’t have time for another game

My first decent blog entry in 13 days. Is this the longest break I ever had? Don’t worry, I’m all cooked up for a new post. I’ve been hanging around in Tumblr and Twitter lately when I have the shortest free time in the world. Put an emphasis on shortest free time. Everyday I’m piled up with homework and quizzes to study but that doesn’t mean I’ll abandon this blog. I got a lot of comments from readers wishing me luck for the UPCAT - which happened last Sunday.

It wasn’t difficult nor easy. In fact, I only found Math as the mind-boggling section of the exam. Language proficiency and reading comprehension (sans the Filipino nosebleed) were eggs to the face. I was shocked to hear my classmates complaining how hard the exam was. I thought of what went right. I guess it’s the prayers I made every night. Generally, last Sunday was a very good day. I woke up at 7:30 AM, attended the 8:30 mass with Grandpa and left the house with my aunt at 9:30 AM. We first headed off to Tutuban for a power lunch at KFC (yummy!) and bought snacks to eat while taking the UPCAT. What were my snacks? A big bag of Piattos Cheese, a small pack of Oreos and Absolute drinking water. I enjoyed taking the LRT-2 because aside from occupying a seat, the train was air-conditioned. After the ride, we hopped on to a jeep going to UP where we encountered heavy traffic. Luckily, School of Economics was already near us.

The exam is a very long story since I took it for five hours. Eventually, I ate and finished my snacks during the course of the test. None of the IV-3 people were in my room but three girls coming from my batch were there. Before I went to UP and on the way home, dad and mom called me asking me how am I doing. I got home at around 6:30 PM and proceeded immediately to my homework.

I’ll tell you a confession: I almost wanted to quit my elective Creative Writing and Journalism.

Kinda shocking, eh?
Back in the first weeks, I only got a 9/10 in my Take 10 writing exercises. It was depressing to see my CWJ-mates rejoice over their perfect 10s while I only got a 9. It was very, very disappointing to know I’m part of the Theresian yet I couldn’t manage to perfect my writing exercises. I was like, “I don’t deserve to be part of the Theresian because I couldn’t get a perfect 10.”

Everything came to a head last Thursday. After two weeks, our Take 10 journals were returned. I browsed through the pages. I was shocked to see two perfect tens. I DID IT! I GOT A PERFECT TEN AT LAST! As the wise men say, nothing is impossible.

Haven’t I shared my obsession seven years ago? Stare at the photo below:

Leonardo DiCaprio was my celebrity fantasy for only two months. I wouldn’t fall for him if not for Titanic. On the summer of 2003, I went online to know more about his films. I watched Romeo + Juliet, The Quick and The Dead and Catch Me If You Can all thoughout my vacation. I was so obsessed with him I called his name like Lady Gaga did in “Alejandro”. I was madly into him my dad even scolded me for that. I met F4 and Meteor Garden and I dumped Leo.

How about you? Who’s the celebrity you’re once obsessed with? Share your answers by commenting on this post.

[Hey Monday]

There's a party at the end of the world

So, do you like my new layout? For me, the one-week hiatus with a temporary layout was all worth it. I’ve been busy for the past few days and it was only yesterday I was able to go online freely. It took me about three to four hours to alter my April-May blogskin because I loved it so much. Since nothing on Blogskins.com tickled my fancy, I dug in my files and searched for the basecode. Voila! I got it and tweaked it all along. I’m glad I’ve got Amandine in my font list because this suits my current theme. So what do I call this?

Lipstick and Dynamite V3? Leave a tag on my chatbox or comment on this post. Meanwhile, I’ll answer the tag by my very wonderful online buddy Nice.

1. Are looks important? Why?
- I don’t know why teenagers are making a fuss out of their appearance. When I became a sophomore in HS, my looks started to matter. There are a hundred pretty girls in my school I’m very insecure of. Everyone’s telling them how beautiful they are. I suppose no one thinks they’re ugly. Me? I only got praised for my skills and good attitude. There are some people telling me about my looks but not as many as those girls. It sucks to know that most of the “simply flawless” people are in a relationship or have suitors. Thus, the misconception of the infamous “Single = Ugly” thought shadowed upon me.

But when you get to adulthood, I don’t think it will matter anymore. God doesn’t see you through your Angelina Jolie face. Have you read the Bible story of how David was chosen as king? If not, I’ll tell you. God sent Jesse to call all of his sons to be presented and judged by God to be the next ruler of Israel. The first son was very handsome but the Lord rejected him for He doesn’t base a human’s greatness by its appearance. See that? Good looks fade, your pleasing morals don’t.
I guess this is the purpose of having wrinkles and saggy cellulites when we grow older. In other words, looks are temporary.

2. What are your plans for the future?

- Aim to pass all of my entrance exams (which I’m studying so hard right now), enter the world of theater and journalism, have a happy family, be successful, work for a magazine (if Candy still exists by the time I turn 20) and forgive all of my enemies.

3. Have you ever been in love? How does it feel like?
- Not yet. I’ve been unattached since birth.

4. What are your special talents?
- Creative writing and acting. I treat them not just as talents but God’s precious gifts.

5. What’s your favorite song for the moment, and why?
- If you ask about my current LSS, Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream. The melody gets on my impulses. I like it better than California Girls.

6. What had hurt you the most?
- All those offensive online and real-life bashing. I hate the fact some people want to get rid of me even if I didn’t do something against them. There was even someone who told me her life will be better if I just left school because I was a curse to everyone.

7. Recall the best memory you have.
- I guess the day my family went to Enchanted Kingdom back when I was four years old. It was also the first time I ate KFC Zinger.
8. Are you loving your life right now? Why?
- Yes, because I have a great online life (thanks to all of my Tumblr followers and HYC friends for making me happy), a great set of classmates and friends and a loving family.

I’m done with my ACET essay. In fact, my dad read it via my e-mail and he loved it. UPCAT will be in a week away and I’m preparing for it. I pray hard to God every night telling him to guide me and for giving me an opportunity to study in UP or ADMU. But it’s not just the prayers that work. I make an effort to study after doing my homework.

I didn’t know that the little prince in the book (The Little Prince) was already dead after he met the snake. I was wondering how come he fell on the ground without a thud (like live people do) and suddenly disappeared. It was only then I got the picture. But overall, I love the book. Speaking more of it, I failed to blog about the staffers’ bonding last July 23. I had a great time listening to the editors’ narration of how they got the job, playing this “grab me” game and sharing insights with the lower classmen. It was a great experience. I even found this year’s staff bonding more enjoyable than last year’s.

Wait, I forgot to tell you about my Basyang experience. Our house lost the electricity at 2:30 AM of July 14 and got it back by 10:30 PM. I, my mom and tita went to Tutuban to cool things off in the morning but there was 40% electricity there too so we didn’t get to enjoy our visit. For the rest of the day, I slept about four times and did my homework. When the lights went on again, I sat here in the computer to do my CWJ paper. Unfortunately, I noticed that the Internet connection wasn’t working.

It was total FML for six days. I worried about my Twitter and Tumblr followers. I thought of HYC. I was bothered by my Facebook updates if there were any friend requests or notifications. It was total boredom for six days until 9:00 PM of July 19. I was listening to my iTunes playlist when I checked the connection. There were two lights flashing. I opened Mozilla.

BAM! THE INTERNET HAS RETURNED! IT WAS A MIRACLE!

I was happy with my Tumblr because I gained 20+ followers. As for my Twitter, I lost some but regained a few after a few days. FB? I accepted some friend requests.

Before I end this post, here’s a typography I made during no Internet week:


I’M TAGGING EVERYONE IN THE TAG I ANSWERED. :)

[All Time Low]