Hi, Nicah.

So yeah. :)) I'm back.
Kasi naman, some people there don't appreciate the "blah-ness" of this idea.
Sorry naman. Trying to hone my skills, ya know? :)) Pero NOOO.

High school's been scary. Really scary. They cut no slack, see all errors. RAWR. I will survive. :P

But... YEAH. It's my birthday tomorrow. :) Which is great. I'm turning 14 and it's great. :D


I really just posted to let you know you'll only be hearing from McKenzie when matters are too personal to REALLY talk about here. Thanks. :D
BYE. :)

Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah

It's been a month, and basically, McKenzie's just stopped caring. Stopped caring that she lost her best friend, stopped caring about that tightening feeling in her chest whenever she saw Lara and Hannah (that rhyme made her even more sick) together.

About a week ago, she said to herself, "If Lara doesn't want me anymore, then fine." To her, she wasn't worth it anymore. She'd make more friends; meet more people.

McKenzie was free.

When she and God had their little talks at night, it wasn't about how hurt she was anymore, or how stupid she'd been. He was reassuring her that she wasn't the reason Lara wasn't by her side anymore. It's just something that had to happen. Lara wasn't such a good influence on Kenny, anyway.

You'll make new friends, God had said, over and over.

And He was right. As always. McKenzie was living life without Lara with her one day at a time. And guess what? She realized her real friends had been around her all along. The people that really mattered. 

Besides, Lara was stealing what time McKenzie had for God.

Everything was falling into place, and McKenzie was happy. So happy. 

Super-dee-dooper happy.

Aha. Aha. Aha.

The Dark Side.

She still couldn't believe it. It's the 3rd night after seeing Lara with her, and McKenzie was (yet again) tossing and turning in her bed trying to figure out how things could've made a wrong turn. She just couldn't put it together! 

Lara has always, ALWAYS hated Hannah. ALWAYS! She despises her! I don't remember that changing before I left the country... I mean, to me, Hannah's always been just 'OK'. Until now. She took my best friend away from me!

She repeated those words over and over in her head those 3 nights. She tried to figure out how this all worked out: I left. Lara's sad and still thinks Hannah belongs in hell. I'm away for a couple of months. Lara suddenly realizes Hannah's the next best thing?? THIS JUST DOES NOT MAKE SENSE!

Finally, McKenzie decides to give Him a call.

---

Hi, again, God.

Hello, Kenny. How are you?

Are you seriously asking that? As if you don't already know.

Haha, nice one. I forget that you already know I'm ever-knowing. Go on. Give me another rant.

Alright, alright. I'm back from Japan, and all of a sudden, Lara's hanging out with Hannah. And she left me. She didn't even crack a joke when I got back, much less smile for me!

Isn't Hannah that girl she hates so much? Oh my, "hate". How I... dislike that word.

Yeah! That's her! That's why I've been so troubled. You've seen me. I've been awake for 3 nights, God. THREE!

You know what? Let's talk tomorrow. I think you need some sleep.

Yeah, right I need some sleep! Do you have any idea how long I've been... Urm, waiting, to... Uhh, go...

Good night, McKenzie.

Bye, Nicah.

Okay. I'm back, again. XD Sorry I haven't been writing in as much as I should be.  Been... Caught up. 

Anyhow, I've decided to make my blog more - I wanna say - creative. To practice my writing skills. To express myself in more meaningful, well, means. So, starting today, my blog will now become a story. A story of a girl named McKenzie. Yes, McKenzie. I did say "creative", didn't I? :P

So, good-bye, Nicah's World. Hello, McKenzie Batumbakal. (Nicah, what were you thinking??) LOL. 

---

It was supposed to be a good day, she said to herself. 

And she was right. McKenzie had just landed from Japan. Beautiful Japan. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom, and she had the most delicious sushi while she was there. She even got her dog a kimono (and kimonos in extra EXTRA large dog size isn't easy to find)! 

Today, she was home. Manila. She missed her family, her friends, the food. And the day she had been looking forward to, the day she would see her friends again, was there. She pictured it over and over and over in her mind: There's gonna be smiles! And definitely a lot of hugs. No drama or anything, just me and my friends. Of course, Lara's gonna be shouting "Kenny! Kenny!!! Who killed Kenny?!", and everyone's gonna laugh. 5 months away from home, FINALLY over! 

Yeah, you read that right, 5 months. Not like she didn't have fun in Japan. She sure as heaven did. She missed her relatives there. The Batumbakals in Japan were the best. But, something about the Philippines made her miss it. No, it wasn't the pollution. Definitely not the traffic. And maybe it wasn't the humidity either. It was the people. The people she left there. And even the dog. 

But today wasn't the day she had pictured it to be. She never imagined that Lara, bubbly, happy, amazing Lara, would do that. She never imagined her best friend joining... The dark side.

And trust me, the dark side is not a good place to be.

Hilary Duff Morph. Funny.

MyHeritage: Celebrity Morph - Blank family tree - Family history

Japan Whaling Scandal

I am a Greenpeace member, and I just received an update. Apparently, Greenpeace has uncovered some real evidence to the illegal whale meat trade in Japan (good job guys!), and now, it's our time to act.
---

Finally, we can tell the story some of us have been sitting on for months now: the whale meat embezzlement we uncovered in Japan, in which stolen cuts of prime whale bacon are smuggled away from the "scientific research" vessels and sold for oodles of yen -- one of our informers heard a crew member claim he built a house on his illegal proceeds.We hit the front page of Japan's biggest newspaper, Asahi Shimbun, this morning -- a first for Greenpeace in Japan, where whale stories have always been hard to sell. But with the Japanese government in seeming constant free fall with corruption scandals being unearthed all the time, whale meat embezzlement -- especially since it involves taxpayers' money -- is a monster story.

05/15/2008 THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Greenpeace Japan said Thursday it will seek a criminal investigation against 12 crew members of a research whaling ship over allegations they embezzled a ton of meat from whales caught in the Antarctic Ocean.

The group says the crew members aboard the research vessel Nisshin Maru sent cardboard boxes believed to have contained whale meat to their homes.

At a news conference Thursday in Tokyo, Greenpeace Japan members displayed whale meat they said had been intercepted on route to the home of a crew member. The box contained 23.5 kilograms of coveted whale meat used in bacon.

The estimated value of the meat is between 110,000 yen and 350,000 yen ($1,048 and $3,334), according to Greenpeace Japan.



This goes to the heart of the legality of the whaling programme. The ICR (Institute for Cetacean Research, which runs the scientific whaling programme) is constantly claiming that they are *compelled* to sell the "byproduct of their scientific research" by the International Treaty on the Conservation of Whales -- they don't really *want* to sell it, no no no it's not a commercial activity, there's a *law* see? Well guys, you made your bed, now sleep in it. If it's the law, then turning a blind eye to your own crew members skimming the best cuts off the top and distributing them to cronies and restaurants for kudos and profit is, literally, a criminal offense.

On top of that, the commercial sales are supposed to be "deferring the cost of the research programme" which costs the Japanese taxpayer US$ 4.7 million every year. So you can imagine there's some unhappy Japanese taxpayers reading the paper this morning. And watching the news as well -- every Japanese TV station was at our press conference a few hours ago, and the story has run already four or five times, even before prime news time.

So what do the whalers have to say about this? When we asked before the revelations, on the 8th of May, this is what the Japanese Fisheries Agency, the government agency responsible for whaling said:

8 May 2008 11:58 Investigator: After the price (of the whale meat) will be decided on in June, will all whale meat be sold at this price?
Mr. Naruko: Yes, United price will be set according to each part of the meat. Meat will go to the wholesalers with this price.

Investigator: Which means there will be no sales before June?

Mr. Naruko: Yes, without a price, there’s no way to sell.
Investigator: I heard from somewhere that the sailors used to bring back some whale meat as private souvenirs during the industrial whaling period. This does not happen these days under the research whaling, right?

Mr. Naruko: Of course not. Since the distribution (of whale meat) is very limited.
Investigator: Since the whale meat is considered as “official,” right?

Mr. Naruko: Yes.



Kyodo Senpaku, the company that runs the whaling ships, today also claimed it doesn't happen. Then changed their mind and said there was perhaps "some suspicion."

And the ICR, which runs the scientific programme, said souvenirs, just souvenirs:

"It has been a longstanding practice since we were whaling as a commercial activity," he said. "We treat it as comparable to making whale meat a source of our meals (during the voyage). It should not be a problem."
Another ICR official said each of about 250 crew members of a research whaling fleet receives several kilograms of whale meat for free as a token.

However, Greenpeace Japan noted that if the 47 boxes sent from the Nisshin Maru contained whale meat, the total would have exceeded 1 ton.


In fact, our informers mentioned the souvenirs, and said the smuggled whale bacon was on top of that -- kilograms of stuff they sneak into their cabins, salt and put in cardboard. We even talked to a woman who sells the special salt in the port town where the whales depart from: she says she can't keep enough of it in stock when the whaling crew are making their preparations to leave -- they buy her out, and the town runs out of cardboard. The salt is only for the whale bacon, the finest cuts, and doesn't get used for the souvenir meat.

One crew member sent boxes weighing 200 to 300 kilograms, according to the crew member.
Another former crew member said he sent 20 kg of whale meat to his home and ate it with his family. (IHT/Asahi: May 15,2008)


Now, if that lucky crew member who took home 200-300 kilos sold it at premium prices, he made a tidy profit of 25,000 - 38,000 USD off of a non-commercial, scientific whale hunt expedition. Who says crime --er, I mean science -- doesn't pay?

Two Diet members have now put official questions in to the Japanese Parliament and there will be an open seminar on Monday with the Diet members, media, and embassy officials, to look into the scandal further.

The Japanese people have been ripped off and lied to for too long. It's time for the politicians to step in and kill the permits for killing whales. Write this letter. Send it to your friends. Time to say game over. The jig's up. Everybody out of the pool. You're nicked, mate.

Eulogy.

My grandpa died recently.

He was a really good guy. He cared about his family (grandma, my mom and her sisters, his grandchildren, and myself). He liked making people happy. He took my advice and tried to become healthier, and started reading his Bible and going to church.

He spoiled us a lot. Whatever we asked him to buy us, he'd get it. In fact, he'd buy me a whole load of stuff I never asked for, and things I thought I'd seriously never use. But I guess that's how he wanted to show how much he thought about us and how much he wants to be a part of our lives. Sometimes people would get mad at him, like my grandma, or whoever, and he'd try to keep his cool and listen. Even if he did some things that we didn't want him to be doing - eating foods he wasn't supposed to eat, spending money at Vegas - he loved us all the same.

He was just full of love that he wanted to share with us.

-----

When my family and I go to the states this monday, and when we arrive, I'll have to do his eulogy. My mom said, "A eulogy is when you say something nice about person because he's dead." But I believe it's really more than that. It's not just a speech saying how sweet this guy was, or how all his achievements made you proud: it's bringing someone to life again, even it's just for a couple of minutes. It's showing people his whole person and what he meant to you. It's like a big show-and-tell where you want people to appreciate who this person was, before you all try to move on and stash to memories away.

I hope I can do my Grandpa Pops justice when I do his eulogy. He deserves it.

-----

Thanks guys. :) God bless, and take care.

See you people in the States, soon!!! :)

D'you miss me? :]

word of the day: all-out

Oh, hello. :>

I'm sorry if I've been gone for too long. Especially to my Ninangs over there in the US. :)

I was grounded. :| yes, grounded. Don't worry, I'm a good girl. It's just that sometimes good girls become lazy when it comes to schoolwork, and... :| well, you can guess the rest. :P

But now, I'm not! So I'm back on my butt computer chair, chatting and blogging and gaming away. :P

What's been going on in my life?

What's Up In Nicah's Life

1. Academics are over! :)
Final exams are over, with all-out good grades, too. :) But...

2. NON-STOP GRADUATION PRACTICE. :|
It's soo boring!!! I swear. :| So boring I really do fall asleep. and so torture-ous because we're having it for the whole week! and 3 more days after holy week. :| All-out boring. Shucks! But I'm totally excited for....

3. BATCH NIGHT!!!! WOOOT!!! <:-P
It's this big party/concert/gimmick thing at school where we get stay until 10 pm and just PARTAAAY. Haha! There's this whole "Glam Gig" theme, sorta like a red carpet event. So my classmates and I are going shopping for crazy wigs and cool accesories. All-out glam!

4. Crazy mood swings. :| :) :P :(
They're crazy. :| Teenhood is all-out crazy. :))

5. Been a very happy girl. ^^
yes, even when I was grounded. :) Like, all-out grounded. No cellphone, no computer, no landline. :| whoo.

Sick of being home.

Sigh. I've been sick these past 4 days. Colds, cough, and I had slight fever yesterday. And I hate don't like it. I've been staying home for two days, and frankly, I don't know what I'm going to do all day.

My friend *ahem ahem, Matt* gave me and idea to post...

Things To Do When You're Sick and Stuck At Home

1. Watch TV
As always. :P But sometimes there's really nothing to watch. :| Marathons are good, though. :D

2. Eat!
This is always an option. It works best for 1 day viruses though. Any longer and... *Faaat*

3. Read a book.
Fun and educational. But it'll probably only last you a couple of hours.

4. Write a song.
5. Make a new language.
6. Talk in 3rd person.
7. Have a tea party.
8. Label all the electric cords.
9. Organize your room.

10. Write in your blog. :P


See. I'm soo bored. :))

God bless, take care. :)

Rubik's Cube.

Yeah. Don't let the title turn you off. Believe it or not, the cube is back in. ;) People are starting to cube again and people are getting waaay faster. : Fastest I've seen is 7 seconds, so far. But that was on YouTube... So let's question the validity. :P

But nothing beats this. --> CLICK TO WATCH AMAZING CUBING VIDEO!


hahahahaha! =)) Hehe. :) Just having fun.

But anyway, I got a cube for Christmas in 2007, and after a couple of weeks of frustration, and after asking some help from a friend, and from learning from a very reliable source *wink wink*, I've finally learned to solve the cube!

...But not very fast, mind you. :P My record so far is 2.46 seconds minutes. SO not fast enough. But I'll be updating that portion on the left side *points to part that says "My Cubing Record"* often... So, yeah. :P

Gosh. I feel so geeky. Yet cool at the same time. XD

Alright, so I'm bored. :)) Bye ya guys.

Take care, God bless. :)

Nix.

P.S. If you want to learn how to cube... click here ;)

Welcome, 2008! :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!! :)

Okay, I know, it's a tad bit late. :D But what the heck, it's still a NEW YEAR! :) Everyone has celebrated, blown up fireworks and written their resolutions. It's a time to look at ourselves and see what we need to change and start over with. A time to appreciate everyone who had helped us in the year and those whom we want to make even more memories with. :)

So let's welcome this new year 2008 with a list. XD :))

Things to Expect in 2008!

1. New friends. :)

We meet new people everyday, and we'll never know who might be our new best friend or maybe even our new crush. :> hehe. But whatever the case, don't miss an oppurtunity to shake the hand of someone new.

2. New memories!

Every year, something happens that makes a difference in our lives. Whether it be an outing with your friends, a conversation over the phone with your relative, or even just a stroll in your neighborhood, expect to learn something new and to add a new moment to remember in your hearts. :)

3. New mistakes. :

We are only human. We will make mistakes once in a while. They may be small, or they may be life changing. But whatever our mistakes are, we should look at them in a positive view and grab the lesson that needs to be learnt from it! Mistakes are given to us by our God for us to change our wrongdoings and to realize what needs to be fixed in our lives. Mistakes can either make us better people, or worse. You decide. ;)

4. New disasters. :(

Well, let's hope not. But it's true: things happen, things that are out of our control. There was 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, the tsunami in Asia... and the list goes on. But again, look at them as oppurtunities! Oppurtunities to lend a hand, to help out, and to show our concern. And when lives are lost, it is an oppurtunity to see our lives in a different light. We can realize how blessed we are, and be more thankful for the lives given to us. :)

5. New lessons. :)

"You learn something new everyday." This saying is true. :) But only a few lessons stick in our minds, and in our hearts, too. They may be learnt through a person, through an experience, through a mistake, or through some epiphany, maybe. However they are discovered, let's remember that they all come from our Lord, and that we have to use them for the good of all. :) (woaaah. haha.)

Happy new year to everyone. :) Hope your 2008 is gonna be even better than our '07. :>

God bless, take care.

Love,
Nicah.

P.S. I know how to solve a Rubik's Cube. :>

P.P.S. I'm sorry, I had no time to Christmas post. XD This year nalang. :D