LIFE LATELY : Post Grade 11 + New hobby + My future career?!

March 20, 2017 andreiparasLeave a comment

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IT’S SUMMER!!!!!!! Yes, it’s the start of my loooooong break! I survived the first year of Senior High and that’s something to smile about because it means I made it this far and I’ve accomplished everything on time! On another note, it’s just sad because the coming year will be my last in High School and I still haven’t figured out which course to take and which school should I attend. I know, nakakastress talagang tumanda. Why can’t I be in High School forever?! The future is seriously scary and exciting. Bahala na! It’s going to be okay in the end. Well, now that school’s over, I’m back to business and back to blogging! So life lately has been all about:

Online Shopping – What do you do after surviving 10 months of school? Treat yo’self. This was actually a result of my boredom. One night after doing school work, I got curious how COD works and I also wanted try online shopping by myself so I checked Lazada and tadaaaa, I just discovered something. I now have a new hobby! *evil laugh* Personally, Lazada has the fastest service because your order arrives within 48 hours….right at your doorstep. I ordered some skin stuff and it arrived one day later. That is just uh-mey-zing.
Post-school cleaning – I’m ready to let go of my notes and my bad memories with them so I’m about to set them on fire. Joke lang! Of course, since school is over, I have to keep these old goodies (no matter how much I struggled with them) because I might use them later on. (I have a separate post for this, watch out.) If you’re reading this right now, keep your damn notes and books and never ever throw or sell them. You’ll thank me later.
Hosting stints – The past two months were all about getting out of my comfort zone by hosting events. I had three stints in just one month and I actually enjoyed it because I met new people and it made me more confident. Future career maybe? It’s fun and I’m actually looking forward to hosting more events soon! School events muna, baby steps pa lang. LOL. I’ll get there soon, slowly but surely. (Fun fact: the photos above were from one of my events!)
Addiction to skin care – After weeks of stress and puyat, I’m de-stressing myself by slathering on all sorts of skin products I can use. I have a few zits right now and I’m afraid that they’ll get worse by next month or so. Knock on wood! Let’s be honest, I’m willing to spend lots just to get good skin.
Healthy eating – Since I don’t want to break out just like what I’ve experienced last year, I’m all for healthy eating. I avoid junk food at all costs because I believe they were the main culprit of my worst break out period before. I remember myself binge-eating ice cream, potato chips and sweets last summer and little did I know that they were the ingredients for a major acne breakout. Bye flawless skin. Now that I learned my lesson, I’m into fruits and ~healthy~ food now because I do everything in the name of good skin and it makes me feel healthy af. When it comes to acne, prevention is key.
Travel Ideas – Travel kuno, wala naman akong pera. I’m really really itching to travel because it’s summer and I know we all deserve it. Mommy, daddy pleeeeeaaaaaase! Let’s go out of Pampanga naman, I’m dying to go out of the country or just somewhere new because I believe that experience is far more valuable than money and life is not meant to be lived in one place alone. (Oh ano, laban?) Life is too short to not enjoy it, rightttt? I have a list of places I want to visit this summer and visiting them is actually ~possible~ because they’re just 30-45 minutes away from home. Philippines muna before other countries, if traveling abroad can’t happen. But I’m not closing my doors to any possibilities of traveling this year! Who knows?
Catching up on sleep and Kdramas – and movies!!! Okay, I’m not a big fan of movies but I want to watch Beauty and the Beast because I heard it was good, and Emma Watson is Belle and it’s from Disney so it’s a way to relive my childhood memories. Summer is all about sleeeeeping late and waking up late, ugh wtf. At least I get to rest for two months. It’s also a way for me to catch up on my fave Kdramas because I’m so busy with school that I don’t have time to watch anymore.

Photo by Lucas Gantioqui

Clean

January 28, 2017 andreiparasLeave a comment

How do you pull off a 300 peso turtleneck shirt? Wear a wide brim hat and you’re good. My personal style has evolved lately and I’ve succumbed to my one and only weakness that is, in four letters only, S-A-L-E. I told you, I’m wearing my aguinaldo’s. Olive greens, red clothes and neutrals are my latest addictions. This year, I’ll invest in shoes, shoes, and more shoes. My love for fashion taught me that what I wear doesn’t have to be expensive, it’s just how you pull it off.

The past month has been, so far, so good. Spent the first day of 2017 shooting in Subic and I hope the rest of the year goes like this! It was my first time to do a buwis-buhay shoot wherein I actually sat down on the road to take photos! (I won’t publish the photos for some reason. Haha!) Although I’m recovering from the intense food coma and holiday blues, I still managed to sneak in some quality time for myself—something I’ll be deprived of for the next two months. The demands of school is just crazy but I’m having fun nonetheless. We’re down to the last week of January and I can’t wait to see what’s ahead. This is going to be good.

(What I’m wearing: H&M high-neck shirt, H&M pants, Forever 21 hat)

Photos by Aaron Cruz

2016 Lessons Vol. IV (Haters Gonna Hate, Body Image issues + QUICK RANT)

January 4, 2017 andreiparasLeave a comment

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16. You can’t please everybody.

– As Dita Von Teese says, “You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world and yet there’s someone who still hates peaches.” No matter what you do, how you look like, how you talk and act, people will always have something to say about you, so you might as well do whatever you want. And it’s actually hard to do that here in the Philippines, where almost everyone is so judgmental (including me, lol).

Living in the Philippines in a nutshell:

“Ang ikli ng shorts mo! Magdamit ka nga.“ – Kaya nga shorts diba??? Anong gusto mo, longs??

“Grabe, ano ba yang suot mo? Bakit sobrang balot na balot ka?” – Sinabi mo e.

” Parang kamatis ilong mo! Paretoke ka nga.“ – *gets nose job*

“Eww, your nose is fake! You’re pure plastic” – Paretoke natin utak mo pls.

“Alam mo, ang taba mo. Magpapayat/magdiet ka nga!” – U see this bilbil?? That’s the sign of my mom’s love because she makes sure I’m well fed 24/7 so shut up.

“Grabe, kumain ka naman. Di maganda yung masyadong payat.” – Ano ba??????

It’s such a struggle to do what you want in this country. Di mo alam saan ka lulugar. Mabuti man o hindi ang gagawin mo, may sasabihin pa rin ang mga tao. Can we just stop meddling with other people’s lives and rather focus on our own business? Pwede bang walang pakelamanan?!? Pwede?? Pwede ba??? If it makes me happy, then fine, I’ll do it. I don’t care and you don’t care. Okay? Okay? My money, my life, my business. In the end, it’s your life and it’s yours to live. Don’t please everyone because you’ll please none. Do things as you please and don’t seek for approval. Do whatever the fuck you want because they’ll judge you anyway.

17. Stop comparing yourself.

– Everything looks sugarcoated online—making everyone think that life is perfect and has no room for mistakes. I’ve struggled with this for so long and I’m slowly getting contented with how I look and what I have in life. True, I may still crave for more but I’d still be happy with whatever is handed to me. Social media is training everyone to compare themselves and their lives to those who have it better, no wonder why everyone is depressed. Someone may look better, dress better or be smarter than you but that’s totally fine. Just do you. Keep doing you. This year, I’ll try my very best to appreciate what I have and how I look. We are all unique and it’s time for us to embrace our differences rather than compare ourselves with others.

Speaking of comparisons, to all parents/titas/tactless relatives out there, stop pitting your kids/pamangkins against each other. We are all unique and capable of doing different things so shut up and sit your ass down. Your arguments are all invalid. Wag kayong ano. Don’t me. lol

18. Don’t rely your happiness on someone else. You are enough.

– Stop waiting for that text. Stop waiting for that message that took so long even if they’re “Active Now”. Stop waiting for the right person because YOU ALONE should be the right person. Don’t ever rely your happiness on somebody else, malay mo taken for granted ka lang. Don’t hurt yourself. Wag kang tanga. Happiness comes from within. You don’t need anyone to be happy because you yourself should make you happy. You dictate your mood, don’t blame it on anyone as to why you’re sad or angry because it all depends on you.

19. What you give is what you get. What you think is what you become.

-I’m the type of person who will do everything to get what I want. If I want that pair of shoes, I’ll ask my parents to buy them. If they don’t, that’s when I’ll do everything. Like e v e r y t h i n g. I’ll prove them that I really deserve what I’m asking for. I will run errands, do chores, study until I get my desired score, among others. I’ll do everything. And it really works (lol mommy & daddy alam niyo na). You reap what you sow. Everything that happens to me right now is a result of my actions. It’s all about the value of hard work, patience, and perseverance. If you want to achieve something, you should work really hard for it. Like what I do in this blog, I write as much as I can to offer you knowledge, entertainment or quality content. I do this for myself because it’s what I want and I believe that someday, it will all be worth it. #LawOfAttraction

20. It’s okay not to be okay.

– 2016 tested me. I’ve had a couple of bad days wherein I got depressed to the point that my eyes look really puffy and everyone just kept on asking me if I’m okay. It’s absolutely okay to be sad because that’s how life works, you can be happy today but sad tomorrow. You never know. Bad days make you appreciate the good days. Heartbreaks are not always caused by failed romance; they may either be caused by shitty drama, school stress, or identity crisis and that’s totally normal. Everyone experiences bad days but that doesn’t count as an excuse to treat people like shit.

How’s 2017 so far? Wait for my blog posts soon! It might take a while because of my finals but rest assured that I’ll publish! 🙂

Life Lately : Summer Story

May 18, 2016May 18, 2016 andreiparasLeave a comment

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Life has always been so damn gooooood to me and I am extremely grateful for that. I’ll be honest, I am happy with my life right now and I couldn’t ask for more! Guess that’s what optimism does to you, your mind, and your life. I hope everyone knows how contagious positive vibes are. I’m indeed blessed so for the first time ever, I’ll be sharing with you guys how my life has been lately. And it was all about…

Elections – Thank heavens the election season is over! You can now rekindle broken friendships due to clash of opinions. Lol. All I can say is that I’m excited to see Duterte lead the country! So ironic how most people lack discipline and yet they claim that “Change” is coming but won’t even start with themselves. Change starts from within dude.
School related stuff – I enrolled last week and I honestly can’t wait to see what’s going to happen in Senior High. Although I can feel anxious at times, I’m looking forward to other school matters. God help me!
Dealing with acne – This, by far, is the worst breakout season I had in my whole life. I normally have mild to moderate acne and but the ones I had lately were the worst. Like ever. I tried all products I can think of but you just can’t get away with teenage acne. My Snapchat friends know how much research I’ve done to avoid it. Currently, my body runs on 1000 mg of Vitamin C everyday and my skin feels better, hopefully. And boy, I’m such a late bloomer to have breakouts at sixteen! It came to a point that I don’t want to go out anymore but of course, it’s puberty.
Planning trips – Summer is the perfect time to go out right? With that said, my new hobby is to search for flights and to take advantage of summer promos. I lowkey love day trips because they’re a lot convenient (for me) and you skip the packing part! We’ve been doing North bound road trips for the past month and we’ll go down South and around Pampanga this time.
Bowling – Me? Doing sports? Heck yes. I have a newfound love, and it’s bowling. You guys should try it! It’s also a good arm work out for me at least.
Online shopping and new clothes – New hobby alert! I’ve never tried this before and now I’m hooked. ASOS is my go to online store and you can encounter great deals like 70% off on good clothes or shoes. Plus, you can also reduce your carbon footprint when you shop online!
Japanese Food – My love for sushi and sashimi knows no bounds. We’ve already tried almost all Jap resto’s around Clark and Angeles City and I still can’t pick one. I’ve been eating Japanese food for 5 consecutive weeks already that I decided to make them on my own. Just my two cents, don’t try making sushi at home. You. Just. Don’t. No wonder why sushi costs so much in Jap restos! It requires effort and experience to create one.
Youtubers – After reading blogs and news online, I often find myself watching Youtube videos by awesome people like Wil Dasovich, Janina Vela, Dominique Cojuangco and so much more! I also like it when my favorite bloggers create vlogs too! I legit love the outfit videos by TheLineUp Menswear! Search for them and you’ll understand why.

How summer so far guys? I only have less than 30 days before school! It’s time to make the most out of it! ‘Til the next Life Lately entry!

(What I’m wearing: shirt from Abercrombie & Fitch, wayfarers from Sunnies Studios, envelope bag [not that visible] from SM Accessories)

andrei

Andrei Paras

Category: Travel