Life Lately: Binge watching and coffee

It has been so long since I updated you guys! I had a lot of time recently, but then I was not so sure about what to blog. When I started to think about revamping my blog, I decided to insert one of the aspects of blogs I love the most, study blogs! So yes, I'm turning Mind over Matter to a study + personal blog! Added to the change of blog topics, I also revamped by blog template! As you can see, I added a new color scheme that is more on the pastel side. I'm currently loving my template so I hope it motivates me to blog more given my hectic schedule. I also added a categories bar, where you can see all of my labels so that you could navigate through my blog easier.

Going back to my life lately, I just spent the whole summer break binge watching series and gobbing up cups of coffee. I tried so hard to do schoolwork, but my body is going against me. Hopefully when 2016 comes, I'll me more motivated to do schoolwork.

Anyway, I hope you guys had a great 2015 (not so for me haha)! Hoping all the best for 2016.

Happy new year, lovelies! ❤

How to Avoid Procrastination

Procrastination is very common within students, no matter what grade or school you are in. There are a lot of distractions present when you try to study, such as social media and other things you'd like to do that are more "entertaining" compared to studying. Procrastination starts as a simple act, but it develops into a habit that can be inevitable.

Thus, in this blog entry, I will list a few tips on how you can avoid procrastination, TODAY!

How I Survived My First Semester in College

I feel so accomplished finishing my first semester of college without failing or dying. Given the fact that my course is borderline demanding and hard, it extremely requires you effort to study because you have grades to maintain. I’m a scholar as well, so my GPA requires being much higher. I’m blogging about this because (1) I want to backread my blog and read how much my study habits have changed and (2) this might help you guys too! :)

Note: I am a visual learner, so almost all stuff after the cut is enticing to one’s sight.

I hope this helps! :)

Life Lately // Instagram posts

HI! I'm done with my first ever semester in college and now I'm just waiting for the release of my final grades. Talk about the agony I'm feeling! Anyway, I have tons and tons of backlog right now, but I couldn't blog away just yet because our desktop got reformatted so I'm still on the process of retrieving my files, if ever they can be retrieved. :(

There are a lot of things that has happened lately, actually. Highlights are probably me and my bubba's 3rd anniversary (gahd, saying that makes me feel real old .__.) and surviving my first sem in college!

I'll let my Instagram (@ianathebanana) photos (w/ a few lengthy captions) to the talking for my life lately!

All About College and What Not

Hello everyone! It's been 2 [?] months since I last updated and I am really sorry for that. Schoolwork has consumed me and in the days I don't have schoolwork, I usually sleep to get back all the sleep I lost during the week. I am able to blog just because it's a holiday for us today (Thanks a bunch, St. Iggy!).

I warn you, this will be a long post because I'm going to fit in this single post all the significant events of my college life! This will be a text and photo heavy post, so be prepared.

When In Iligan: Maria Christina Falls

If you have been following me on my Twitter account (lol at my shameless plug), you know that I have recently been to Cagayan De Oro. The reason why I am blogging about this first is because this is the highlight of my whole trip! ❤

Since we live in Zamboanga, we don't have a direct plane flight to Cagayan De Oro. So what we did is we traveled by land. When we were on the way back to Zamboanga from CDO, we decided to pass by a significant place here in Mindanao, Maria Christina Falls. This falls can be a source of hydroelectric power supply. This is my first time to go to this place, and I was utterly amazed! Let the photos I took do the talking. ;-)

The Bubba Diaries: 33 months —

I saw that you were perfect and so I loved you. Then I saw that you were not perfect and I loved you even more. Falling in love with him I hadn't expected. But being in love with him is something I couldn't stop even if I tried. Maybe it was your laugh, or eyes, or your smile. It could've been your hair, or your voice, or your personality. Whatever it was, it made me fall pretty damn hard. I wish I could turn back the clock. I'd find you sooner and love you longer. I want you any way I can get you, not because you are beautiful or clever or kind or adorable although the devil knows you are all these things. I want you because there's no one else like you, and I don’t ever want to start a day without seeing you.

Could not be more grateful to have someone like you. Happy 33rd monthsary, my love. Always know that I am here for you. Cheers to more days, weeks, months and years with you. I will always be your Wonder Woman and you will always be my Superman. I love you. ☺❤

Know The Banana: My Reading Habits Tag

After my blog being dull for the longest time, I decided to have a new blog project! This is the Know The Banana project! This series will feature random things about me, it's going to being anything under the sun. So for my first blogpost, I am doing my reading habits tag! I stumbled upon this tag at Ate Joyce's blog, and I realized that it would be so great to do this!

Books are my first love, and I do not know how my life would be without them. So let me share my reading habits with you guys! :)

Food Diaries: The Fat Monk

There is a current abundance of new restaurants in our city, offering us a break from the normal grilled food and fried stuff offered in most restaurants. One of the new restaurants in our city is The Fat Monk. It has the Asian cuisine vibe that isn't that common here in Zamboanga. This is actually my second time eating in this resto, the first time was right after my graduation but I did not get the chance to talk photos of the surroundings because the place was jam packed with people. So when we ate there three days ago, the place was almost empty so I took the opportunity to take a few photos. :-)

Life Lately: 04/24/15

Hello everyone! As you may have noticed, I didn't update my blog for the past 2 to 3 weeks. I admit, I was a bit lazy, and I decided to lay low from social media (except Twitter tho). I did not have much to blog about also, because my days have been such a routine that nothing much is really interesting.

So my life right now has always been about debate and reading. I have been training with the college debaters to help me get better in debate. I swear to God, I feel so dumb in debate because of all the things I am learning. I really feel how dumb I was back then; I need to rush to evolve from a high school debater to a college debater. Hopefully I make it!

Ever since my last book diaries post, I have read four books. It's the Maze Runner & The Scorch Trials both by James Dashner, When by Victoria Laurie, and The Time of My Life by Cecelia Ahern. I gave 5 stars to all the books expect The Scorch Trials. The latter is the sequel of The Maze Runner, and I expected so much from this book because The Maze Runner was just so good. Main reason why I did not pursue reading The Death Cure because I saw a lot of negative feed backs about it and I believed that it was not worth the shot.

I am currently reading Cecelia Ahern's books, and I am currently into One Hundred Names. I couldn't find a decent ebook of Love, Rosie which I have been dying to read, so if anyone out there has it, please email me at felisse.morales@gmail.com!

I hope I have more things to blog about already.
Stay safe everyone!

— Iana The Banana ✈

Book Diaries: All The Bright Places by Jennifer NIven

Synopsis: The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park in this exhilarating and heart-wrenching love story about a girl who learns to live from a boy who intends to die. Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him. Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death. When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink. This is an intense, gripping novel perfect for fans of Jay Asher, Rainbow Rowell, John Green, Gayle Forman, and Jenny Downham from a talented new voice in YA, Jennifer Niven.

Rating: ★★★★

Review: I was hesitant at first to read this novel because it dealt with a very sensitive topic (well, for me at least): suicide. It is not a common topic I read about, since most of the time I read Young Adult books related to comedy, romance and fantasy. Honestly, I was scared to read the book because it might change my views in life. But then, I still took the risk and read it. 

And I have no regrets! The story line was just so inspiring and enlightening. It opened me to the reality that not all people are okay just because they smile or show that they are happy. Totally relate!

The reason I gave this book only four stars even if it had an amazing storyline is that the way the story was written was somehow dragging for me. I had a long time reading this book (it took me a week to finish this book. Yep, that's long for me) because of the writing style.

<----- MINIMAL SPOILER ALERT STARTS HERE ----->
Even if it was not a happy ending (I cried. It's normal), it was still a great love story and story as a whole. It have me all the emotions all at once: love, happiness, depression, anxiety, EVERYTHING! :(:
<----- MINIMAL SPOILER ALERT ENDS HERE ----->

I highly recommend this book to all bookworms who want a break from your typical love story. Even if the writing style was a bit dull, it is worth the read. :-)

*Two straight blogposts about books! I'm on fire! Hahaha!
Current read: The Maze Runner by James Dashner!
By the way, add me up on Goodreads! {Click!}
Thank you for reading! ❤

— Iana The Banana ✈
 

Book Diaries ✿ 01

Hello everyone! This post is long overdue, because I was too lazy to type everything in here. This is the first installment of my book diaries, and since I will be presenting twelve books, I won't be writing my review anymore because besides the fact that I give crappy reviews, this post will be too heavy if I write my reviews with them. I will just give my rating for each books, and maybe add a note or two about how I feel about the book. Let's get started? :)

Faber Family's Despedida

March 31, 2015 — April 01, 2015
 
➳ Despedida is a Spanish term that means leaving; a send off party for someone.

After countless outings and graduation parties, we had our final send-off party. We decided to have a despedida After this, we would go all our separate ways and see each other again probably 9 months. We decided it to become an overnight at one of our hotels in the city: Astoria Regency.

I have to say, I will never forget this overnight or despedida, because I have seen the sides of my classmates that I have never seen before. If people tell you the a person has an 8am, 8pm, 12mn and 3am personality, believe me, they're telling the truth. Me and my classmates struggled most of the night for some reasons, thus we did not have the luxury of sleep. We stayed up all night, and talked about things we never thought we would talk about.

I am just really grateful I took the opportunity of going to this overnight (because I am not an outside person), because it was one of the best moments I have spent with Faber. ❤

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." — Philippians 4:13
2nd of April, 2015 : Maundy Thursday ✞

Hello everyone! This has been one of the most productive days since forever, because it has been so long since a had a legit busy day.

April has started pretty good for me, with Faber's despedida slash overnight yesterday, plus my productive day today.

I have been awake since five in the morning, which rarely happens by the way, and started getting ready for our trip to Abong-Abong. Abong-Abong is a local place here in our city where the stations of the cross are located. There is an added challenge though, the place is really steep. It is like you are hiking, but on concrete road. At the end of the stations, there is a big cross (the photo above) which makes all the effort of hiking worth it. 

After the hike at Abong-Abong, I went home for a while to rest and then I was off to my next adventure: Bisita Iglesia. Bisita Iglesia means visiting churches. It is a Filipino tradition where you visit seven churches and recite the stations of the cross. 

We have been doing Bisita Iglesia for 2 years now, and it is nice to visit churches you don't usually go to and appreciate it's beauty. 

We have completed the Bisita Iglesia and took a few photos of the churches.

The Countdown Ends Here: Graduation

Congratulations, Batch 2015! #SexySen1or5

The long wait is over. After what seemed like months away is now over. I am officially a high school graduate. I did not know what to feel on the day itself, after numerous countdowns, I had nothing to look forward about high school anymore because it was ending. The day just went smoothly, it seemed like everything was falling to place.

The day what filled with mixed emotions: happiness because obviously, I was graduating; nervousness because I might trip because I was wearing heels and I had stockings on and the undeniable sadness because of the separation anxiety I will be feeling with Faber. What better way to describe my graduation than with photos?

Last Post As A HS Student

I remember the days I used to neglect the idea that I was graduating, because graduation was months away.  But now, I am hours away from being called a high school alumni; leaving the nest and preparing to fly to greater heights or a bigger nest. Life will never be the same. I have not felt this anxiety towards anything. I should be excited; excited to explore a new world. But I am nervous. Nervous that I won't see familiar faces next year; nervous that we would be separated by undeniable distance. I want to cry just typing this, because I will miss them SO MUCH. I just hope everything will turn out to be okay for everyone. I love you, Faber.

— Iana the Banana ✿

Last High School Recognition Day

4 more days until graduation, I don't know what to feel! :(:

Last March 13, I had my last recognition day in high school. It's kind of sad that I call every single thing I do as my last, because I did not expect that time would fly this fast. On my last blog post {Click!}, I mentioned that I still had seventeen days before graduation, and now it's less than a week before graduation. :-(

Now going back to the recognition day story...

Like any normal recognition day, with all the name calling and medal awarding, it was a short program. What made it special are the photos we took after. It was our last time wearing our gala uniform, so let's snap away!

Meet my ever supportive mom!

Peace Award part 1! ✌ Jayko, the one on the right is one the the Young Peace Weaver awardees. Congrats, bruh!

Peace Award part 2! ✌

Just cuties! (L-R) Jermiss, Me, Allen, Shaira ✿

FRIENDSHIP GOALS! I could not imagine my life without these girls, and knowing that Jermiss will be leaving soon (really really soon) breaks my fragile heart. But at least we still have a few more days to catch up and make the most out of our remaining days together. Plus, Kay would be taking Accountancy as well, so there is a possibility we would be blockmates! YAAAAAY! ❤

With my two 6-foot classmates (I feel so small around them), Aj and Jayko!

One of the boys ✌

Team GT (Gifted & Talented)! Insert Kath here! Will blog about the debate event soon! :))

A groupie with our very own Father Principal! ❤

THE DEBATER IN ME. HAHAHAHA! Really happy all my efforts in debating paid off. ❤

— Iana the Banana ✿

March 03, 2015 ♛

17 days before graduation!

It is kind of weird that I am blogging about my day for two days straight. Productivity hits —

Today was a rather productive day, I did not have a I-regret-going-to-school moment! It's nice to make the most out of my remaining days in high school by meeting the kids who will be carrying the sections of my batch next year! ❤

March 02, 2015 ✿

18 days before high school officially ends!

I have mixed emotions about it, really. Plus its 2 days away from the announcement of graduates, so nervousness and anxiousness are all over me!

Nothing is really special about today, but I just feel like blogging about it. I would like to try to blog about everyday of my life as much as possible (when something productive or new happens). Since I'm a senior, I don't have classes anymore because our final exams were done eons ago. Practically, we just go to school for the sake of our homeroom grade, but we rarely do anything.

Here's what my first Monday of March was like (really detailed version):

Started my day by playing Mafia with my classmates! There were just about 15 of us but it was okay. The game lasted for about an hour or so, then we switched to playing Killer Eye. We know a lot of group games, I don't know why. Hahaha!

After we got tired of playing games and arguing (the games required arguing, okay), we decided to go down the cafeteria for a while. But since Kay, my triplet, and I were not hungry, we decided to chill in the library. Since I forgot to bring my tablet where my copy of David Levithan's Everyday was (current read!), I scanned our library for any fictional books. Luckily I stumbled upon our school's rich collection of Nancy Drew books! It was a totally nostalgic moment because it goes back to my elementary days where I am able to finish a Nancy Drew book a day! I chose the book Nancy Drew: The Clue in the Diary. Kay chose Cecelia Ahern's One Hundred Names (she's the author of Love, Rosie!).

After about 2 hours in the library (ultimate nerds), we decided to go down to the CM office to gather people to have lunch with us. We saw Josh along the way, so he accompanied us for lunch. It was a miracle to see him in school, because we know that he is such a lazy ass! :-P

I look so happy and so... white. HAHAHA! After lunch, we decided to chill in our classroom before going to the audio visual room for the finals of Filipino declamation and extemporaneous. (I became an impromptu emcee! Scroll down for the full story!) I'm going to miss this classroom so much! By the way, it is THAT messy because as what I have told you, we don't have classes anymore so who cares about cleanliness. HAHAHAHA!

I was not able to take photos of the Filipino declamation and extemporaneous finals because I was too busy being an emcee, but maybe our teacher has some photos; I saw her taking pictures earlier. It was really impromptu because our teacher told us that she needed emcees for the program, so Kay and I volunteered! We had nothing else to do so why not? I was challenged because we had to talk in straight Filipino, and I am not that good in expressing thoughts in straight and formal Filipino. But Kay and I managed to push through. Yay! Congratulations to all the winners!

Just a random selfie showcasing my uniform and our curtains. HAHAHA!

Ended the day with a pig out session with Kay and Allen! Everything gets better with food ;-)

Overall, this day was not that productive compared to other days but it was equally fun, for me at least. I have decided to skip school tomorrow to prepare myself for the announcement of graduates. I hope everything will turn out good; for everybody. Our batch is still aiming for 100% graduation! May the odds be ever in our favor! ❤

Sticky Note: I am currently writing a blogpost featuring all the books I read for the past few months, but I am too lazy to finish it because it features 8 books, and I want to write reviews for all of them plus I googled the synopsis of each book for you guys. It has been on my drafts for a few days now, hopefully I get to post it tomorrow or on Wednesday. :-)

— Iana the Banana ✿

It's the Night of Nights: Prom 2015

Promenade (n.) 
- a ceremonious opening of a formal ball consisting of a grand march of all the guests 

2/12/15: So since I am done with my Faber Men appreciation post {Click!}, it is now time to blog about one of the highlights of my senior life: Promenade. Click continue reading to read the post!