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I have the organ donor sticker on my driver's license. I think my fiance would be proud of me; if I died, who cares?  I'm dead, and my body should go to a good cause instead of being wasted.  Someone who needs it should have it.

But it's hard while I'm alive though. I don't know if I can donate and sacrifice myself like that while alive...unless it was someone I truly cared about.

   

I just answered this Featured Question; you can answer it too!

If so many websites are accessible via their mobile webpages, shouldn't xanga?

I am currently typing away on my Blackberry Curve 8900 into my xanga blog. I've been a fan of this site since I started college (7 years ago), and continue to use this site often to blog and read about other people.

But the future of the web is going mobile, and I feel that most if not all tech-savvy people would agree--that before long many people who have smartphones and devices such as the iPhone will be reserving our places at favorite restaurants via twitter (yes, there's already an app that claims to do that, called twiservation on the BB App World store), check movie times and buy movie tickets, order groceries, and so much more as they eat breakfast or lie in bed watching TV.

So why shouldn't the rest of the web jump on board? Why are there so many major sites with large followings still make the mobile-user web experience difficult?

I still think it's the gov't trying to make money off people.  Whether my conspiracy theory is true or not, it certainly seemed like it to me--it's just like back home in the U.S. with the traffic cameras so that they can catch you and write a ticket for a ridiculously large amount.

My roommates at my homestay in the Philippines laughed with me about what happened and retold their story about their 2nd day here in the Philippines.  They got caught jaywalking too, but the guy that ticketed them was really nice about it and let them go.  Kay told me I should have spoke Chinese and pretended I didn't know what the hell the traffic enforcer was talking about, but my phone had died, there were groups of other people ticketed, and this man was angrily disputing his ticket in Waray Waray with the official without success.  "It's still a violation," the official told the man.  P200 ($4) to me hardly seemed like a big deal to fight over even though it's a lot of money here for a stupid ticket.  It's alright, I thought, I'll cheer up after I get my french mani-pedi at the salon after this.

So I paid without complaint and walked over to the salon to get my nails done.

--*---*---*--

:Didn't even want to get up today even though I woke up late at 7:18am and knew I'd be late for my volunteering placement at 8am for the special ed classes.  Hearing everyone shuffling around and the rooster crowing, I finally got out of bed.  One thing I won't miss about the Philippines: the annoying rooster waking me up every morning.  No need for alarm clocks here.

Thank god that at least where I'm staying there's no cockroaches or spiders.  My room has no ants either, which is wonderful.  Kay (my roommate--actually she doesn't share a room with me but with her friend Nat) found ants crawling all over some of her underwear and couldn't help but buy some new ones to wear instead of wearing the once ant-infested undies.  No problems like that in my room at least.

Only one and a half weeks until I come home...I am starting to miss my boyfriend a lot and can't wait until I get back home.  But I also dread the bills and responsibilities waiting for me once I do get home: cleaning my room, sorting out the mess with financial aid, finding a job in the middle of the recession, etc.  Although I do have my grad check in the fall to look forward to!  Just thinking about graduating makes my stomach flutter.  It's certainly about time.

Maybe next year I'll go with my roommate in the U.S. to stay with her family in China and travel once more.  Or go study abroad...I hope I will have the luxury to not work and just enjoy my last year in college, but somehow I doubt that would happen.  California is out of money and has cut my benefits.  I will probably have to work on top of being a full-time student in the fall to make ends meet...

Anyway.  You see why I don't want to go home and think about all that?

Even though I can stand the heat better than my roommate Nathalie, I am ready to go home.

I realized that when our roommates decided to go to Peter's Dive Resort (www.whaleofadive.com) in Padre Burgos.  We'd forgotten how nice it was to have hot showers, a flushable toilet with seat, and air-conditioning.  Yes, we are spoiled--but we felt like we deserved it.  We went snorkeling in the clear blue ocean by the shore, spotting fish that looked like Nemo and Dory among the coral reefs.  I lost my snorkeling mask on the last day when I panicked again in the water.  I couldn't get over the idea of relaxing and just letting the water carry me.  I kept imagining what my mom felt like as she was drowning in the pool years ago without anyone to help her or hear her struggling, gasping for oxygen.  I knew it was ridiculous to think that I would die so close to shore and I know the paranoia was misplaced, but I couldn't help myself.  The thought of suffocating in salt water engulfed me every time I went in the water, and I couldn't snorkel for more than 15-20 minutes at a time.

I ended up paying $30 USD for the snorkeling mask, and my roommates and I rode home packed like sardines in a minivan full of twelve or more perfect strangers desperate to get to their destinations.  The ride took a little more than six hours and I felt deprived of oxygen even though the A/C was blowing air into the cabin ever so faintly.  Finally I pulled open the window as wide as possible.

Still the trip was worth it.  A day of great food and a wonderful getaway.  Fresh seafood and delicious adobo chicken for dinner along with halo-halo (crushed ice with condensed milk, ice cream, and sweet bean and jelly), ham and eggs with fried garlic rice and mango oatmeal for breakfast; listening to the ocean waves, it was pure heaven for about 900 Pesos or under $20 USD a day.

But I still miss home.  I miss my bed and the gorgeous weather in California.  Can't wait to come home and see my boyfriend's dog and kissing my boyfriend when he picks me up two weeks from now...