transposable element

my feet and legs are hurting after spending the last 4 days in roaming the ancient city of rome. photos can never ever capture the magnificence of rome– st peter’s basilica, the vatican museum, the sistine chapel, the colloseum, the fora romana, the columns, the arches, the cobble stones. i’m glad to have had the chance to step foot on one of the ancient seats of civilization and see these for myself:

a four-day stay is no way long enough to appreciate rome and all its splendor. one day, one day i’ll be back.

“you? fat? you never get fat!”

that’s what they always tell me. and it was true. was being the operative word. around this time last year, i visited the philippines and on my way back to germany, i brought my old jeans and skirts with me. these were clothes i used to wear not just pre-pregnancy, but even pre-wedding. yes, i was so skinny, i was back to the size i was when i was all stressed out with the wedding preparations. should have made me elated, but i hated it. i wanted to gain weight.

through unhealthy means, it took me a couple of months to gain some flesh. and then some. and then some more. add to that a work-at-home routine that requires me to sit in front of the pc for longer periods, trips to the philippines at christmastime, and then another before i even had the chance to burn the flab, plus an ample serving of stress. i’ve ballooned two sizes in a span of a year. and i hate it.

i hate it that most of my clothes don’t fit anymore. and in those that do, i look like a sack of potatoes. i hate having aches and pains because i’m not moving enough. i hate being tired. i hate it that my thighs rub each other when i walk. i hate it that i have to catch my breath after a dance performance. and i hate looking at pretty summer clothes knowing that i won’t look pretty at all in them. i hate envying other women and their flat abs. and most of all, i hate the prospect of summer: bikini-time. arrrgh.

i’ve been running google adsense for longer than i can remember on this blog but have yet to receive a check. last i looked, a few months ago, i think i’ve made a dollar or two. heh. not surprising, considering that there are probably only 10 of you who read this blog (which i actually prefer, come to think of it) and i suppose, like me, you’re already blind to the ads, hehe.

so i’ve ditched the adsense skyscraper on the middle column and replaced it with auctionads. at least they look nicer, and i get to choose the general theme of the ads that will show up there, independent of what i blog about. if you have a blog, you can also display these ads by signing up for an auctionads account, or by loging-in with your textlinkads account (aff).

the last several weeks, we’ve had splendid summer-like days spent grilling, biking and basically doing summer activities right in the middle of spring.

yesterday, however, autumn seems to have started as temperatures fell and the skies turned grey. at the rate we’re going, perhaps we’ll have the first snowfall by june.

aside: it’s fun rediscovering photobucket. flickr is ok, but now i see there’s more fun stuff one can do with photos at photobucket, even with the free accounts.