the art of controlled abandon

Hello, 2012!

2012-01-02T00:38:00.000+08:00

AND WE ARE UP AND OFF!

Update your bookmarks:

http://the.lastgirl.net

the 2011 yearender

2011-12-31T15:17:00.049+08:00

2011 was Awesome.

JANUARY
* Mom at fiftytwo
* Fiction: apartment story
* Some sort of wedding fever (since subsided haha; also, does this mean I caught it too? HAHA.)

FEBRUARY
* Music: Momox 2011
* Briefly noted in a life roundup:

- Boxing
- Angelo Reyes #news
- Azkals vs Mongolia #football #sports
- Read-Along at St Joseph's with Louise #work
- Lipgloss #popjunk
- ShoutOut #popjunk
- Edsa 25 (old newspapers/me = OTP) #work
- Lost Girl Season 1 marathon #popjunk #gaygaygay
- PLL #popjunk #gaygaygay
- Glee #popjunk #gaygaygay
- Skins UK #popjunk #gaygaygay
- Skins US #popjunk #ugh

* Fiction: Footshooter
She says, Let's pretend it's all new.
* Photos: Valentines Day 2011.
* Introspection/Public Service Announcement: Date a girl.
* Briefly noted in a life roundup:

- UP Fair 2011
- Women's volleyball feat DLSU and Ateneo spikers hihi #sports
- Haircut

* Dad's birthday!
* Photos: The Inquirer FunRun #work #sports

MARCH
* Briefly noted in a life roundup:

- The beach! #summer2011
- Sugarfree live with the Manila Symphony Orchestra #popjunk #lss
- Skins UK #popjunk

* Photos: Lalalalala Luzzzz beaching #summer2011
* Introspection: And I'm getting older, too
On Glee, girls, and everything else.
* Photos: The Great Northern Luzon Adventure!
Baguio, Sagada, Vigan in nine days!

APRIL
* Briefly noted in a life roundup:

- Sucker Punch #popjunk #movie
- Hop #popjunk #movie
- Nerfff

* Finished Margaret Atwood's Blind Assassin! (And had a weird dream about being on the Moon.)
* Music: Mix/Stories -- with footnotes!
* We Loved Senior Year #popjunk #movie
* Notes on Holy Week 2011 #summer2011
* Introspection: Six #college
* Photos: Stilts! Sizzling. #summer2011

MAY
* Photos: That Extreme Zambales Adventure: The Agaw-Buhay Experience #summer2011
* Music: Disarm you in the Morning feat Thao and the Script
* Introspection: The Mother's Day entry
* Photos: Discreet in Nasugbu! #summer2011
* Photos: Anva-yeahhh #summer2011
* Music: The five-eighteen lssmix #lss
* Photos/Review: Pico de Loro vs Anvaya #summer2011
* Fiction: but what of strangers
* Dork: Letters to the Last Girl.
* Dork: My personally curated Longreads feed
* Briefly noted: Rebecca Black's Friday. #popjunk #lss
* Photos: The Sean Connery Weekend a.k.a. High School Reunion #summer2011

JUNE
* Rec: Girl seeks girl #popjunk #gaygaygay
* Photos: The Grand Jowa Reunion! #college
* Photos: Edz' birthday and housewarming! #college
* Introspection: Slates
* Photos: The Peacock Garden getaway #summer2011

JULY
* Briefly noted in a roundup:-Chuck Palahniuk's Survivor #books

-Audrey Niffeneger's Her Fearful Symmetry #books
-Runaways (comics) #books
-Transformers 3 #popjunk #movie
-Krista's boyfriend Jorel
-Serialcomma.net

* Introspection: The Leaving Litany -- also contains photo of my infamous undercut. LOL.
* Briefly noted in a roundup:

- Harry Potter 7.2 #popjunk #movie
- Eliza's despedida
- Minibloc reunion at Whistlestop for the Azkals vs Kuwait game #college #football #sports

* SONA 2011 Highlights #work
* Music: The Post-SONA playlist
* Introspection (or something): Dreaming

AUGUST
* Sabaw Warning: That ill-advised thing: Peste Little Liars, a.k.a. our despedida gift for Eliza. #popjunk #sabog
* Introspection (or something): sport is beautiful #sports
* The dotcom redesign #dork
* Briefly noted in a roundup

- Backtrax: So Young by The Corrs #popjunk #backtrax
- The Naked and Famous (Young Blood, Girls Like You) #popjunk #lss

* Briefly noted in a roundup

- Ang Babae sa Septic Tank #popjunk #movie
- Penk Ching's guesting at the Read-Along #work
- Trains and old campuses #introspection

* App List: Galaxytab Must-Haves #dork
* Backtrax: An Andrea Corr appreciation post #popjunk #backtrax
* Briefly noted in a roundup:

- Bon IVer's Holocene #popjunk #lss
- Atom Araullo's guesting at the Read-Along #work
- UP's loss to FEU after leading for three quarters #sports #uaap #maroons #HAYNAKO

* Introspection: Ghost Month

SEPTEMBER
* Briefly noted in a roundup:

- My Binondo Girl #popjunk
- Zombadings #popjunk #movie
- Pinoy Junior Masterchef #popjunk
- HAPPY LEMON #food
- My new Smart unli data plan #dork
- Wendy's float #food
- Pottermore #popjunk #dork
- Lost Girl season 2 #popjunk

* Link dump: The 9/11 post #work
* Photos: Briefly mentioned in a roundup:

- Midnight Mercato at The Fort #food
- Kylie Padilla's guesting at the Read-Along #work
- Arigato, Hato's EP launch #music
- Froyo with the fam #food

* Dork: Pottermore and more
* Love: Anniversary week 2011!
* Briefly mentioned in a roundup:

- Matsuri with the family for Wy and Auntie's joint birthday #family #food
- Remington's guesting at the Read-Along #work
- Geek Fight with the Seven Nation Army #geek

* Nostalgia: A toast to Sept 29th 2001 and what Twitter would have looked like in 2001 #college #dork

OCTOBER
* Sabaw alert: That Beeconomic Guessing Game #dork
* Introspection: Steve Jobs #dork
* Introspection: An unsolicited letter to young girls who like girls #gaygaygay
* Briefly mentioned #popjunk:

- Awkward [Status: Finished season 1]
- The Secret Circle [Stuck, unfinished]
- The Lying Game [Stuck, unfinished]

* Briefly mentioned in a roundup:

- Ateneo's four-peat #sports #uaap
- Azkals' second-place finish in Long Teng #sports #football
- Raya Martin's Buenos Noches #movie
- What's your number? #popjunk #movie
- Azkals vs Nepal 4-0! #sports #football
- My first Happy Lemon Cocoa with Rock Salt and Cheese #food

* Music: BOY's Little Numbers and more #popjunk #lss
* Life update: Ana's entrance to research, Lilie's wedding, a knee accident
* Mixtape: Endings #popjunk #lss
* Mixtape: Frightened Rabbit playlist #popjunk #lss #grooveshark
* Mixtape: Parties are made for mashups and vice versa #popjunk #lss #grooveshark
* Videodump: Feat. M-83, Anna Faris and British accents. Also mentions: Batangas-wood.

NOVEMBER
* Lost Girl gives me feelings. #popjunk #gaygaygay
* Briefly mentioned in a roundup:

- Undas 2011
- The Research Halloween Shoot
- The DLSU interview
- Nanowrimo 2011 (since failed boo)
- Mom's death anniversary preps
- 2 Broke Girls #popjunk
- Puss in Boots #popjunk #movie

* Introspection: The Little Team That Could: Postscript to the Read-Along's Quill win. #work

DECEMBER
* PARTY SEASON!

- Photos: Inquirer Anniversary Party #work
- Photos: Block Party #college
- Photos: Annual Get-Together with the Ates at Abe's
- Photos: Editorial Party!
- Photos: Libre Party!

- Introspection: twentyseven
- Mix: MomoXmas: The Christmas Makeout Mix
- Photos: The Post-Birthday Post

The post-birthday post

2011-12-30T18:10:00.003+08:00

Turned 27 yesterday and was with family. Played LazerTag at the Alabang Town Center with sibs and cousins and respective significant others where applicable, then bowled at Starmall before eating at Army Navy for snacks. Then met up with the uncles and aunts at home in the evening after their respective work shifts.

BTW--Best up-side of being officially out to immediate and extended family: The question, How old are you? doesn't get automatically followed up with, When are you getting married?

In summary: All's gooooood. Nothing beats family. :)

ALL RIGHT. PHOTOGRAPHS!

Pink team! Lazer Tag with sibs, cousins and significant others.
L-R: Krista, Jorel, Wy, Me, Brent (who's like 6-foot-2), Bea, Hazel, Mark

110. Pasado na sa PE yan!

With Jorel, Krista's boyfriend (wheeee)

With Hazel, Mark's girlfriend (yihee)

Le familia. Ngayon alam nyo na kung bakit ganito ako hahahaha.
(Aww Andrea should be in this shot, totally.)

Oh man, family is awesome. Auntie Mimie and Jake brought awesome homemade maki while Hazel, Mark's girlfriend, brought awesome homemade panna cotta like AWESOMENOMNOM. And then Auntie bought me cake like I were a seven-year-old celebrating a birthday for, like, the 20th time HAHA. Love. Brent and Mark bought Tanduay Ice, Uncle Matt brought Bacardi (HELLO PASS MUNA UNCLE OK LANG), Auntie Benda brought barbecue, and then of course there was grilled chicken courtesy of Auntie's electric grill, and Krista and Wy's awesome honey mustard sauce, etc. This is why I'm fat haha.

In all -- a good day! :) Today I'm meeting my high school friends for dinner, hoping to introduce Andrea (after years and years of pestering haha). Also this morning: I got a haircut, the annual kind. Nothing much.

I'll write about Ms Bote -- bumped into her yesterday at Alabang Town, and I was like, speechless from joy. I loved that woman -- some other time. That calls for some lengthy introspection.

EDIT:

Julie wins Best in Surprise for this cake + boxes of pizza on my last night at the office before my birthday! Thanks Ate! :)

mix: momoxmas 2011

2011-12-27T15:44:00.004+08:00

Due to insistent public demand: Your Christmas Makeout Mix.

Because baby, it's cold outside.

DOWNLOAD: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 (Going down [lol] 3 Jan 11)

twenty-seven

2011-12-27T02:05:00.000+08:00

Last day at 26, as tomorrow I'm turning 27! Wow, time flies so fast. Right now, I've just come from a drinking session with Max, and nothing makes me feel older than when I'm out with younger people haha.

So here I am, three bottles of beer later and halfway through a glass of wine.

(Cut for drunken blather, kindly indulge)

Age twenty-six was a good year – traveled a lot, mostly; found myself atop a mountain after a five-hour hike, then on a plane for the first time with Andrea, then hit a couple of snags, relationship-wise, that I will not detail. It's all good though; this year I learned a lot – about myself, about other people, about limits. This year: I worked hard, won an award for a project I worked hard for last year, and most importantly: prepared to embark on an altogether new journey.

I've kept so many cards so close to my chest, and here I am sharing one with you: I woke one morning somewhere the middle of this year wanting to change something about the way I was doing things. A career-related impulse, mostly; I looked up the requirements, and before I knew it, I was heading to the old campus in Quezon City to get my transcript, then taking an exam, and buying clothes to wear for interviews, etc.

Long story short – my requirements were all found to be in order, my exam was marginally all right, I somehow managed to survive my interview, and just last week I attended the orientation and learned a new alma mater hymn. And so, yeah.

And so in January I'm starting out as a freshman MBA grad student at DLSU. Big step, of course – I've spent the last six years out of school, and now I'm back. I probably need to reconfigure my habits – I haven't been a student for so long. I look forward to: being forced to read a ton, doing papers, meeting new classmates, being awkward at introductions, and, actually, having a great time. Yep. So help me God.

This year I am thankful for: Andrea, who has managed to bear with me after all these years, despite everything; Friends who, no matter how hard I have been to love, did so anyway without fail; Family, with whom distance is no object; and Co-workers, who have continuously held up half the sky, especially when my arms are tired. That said, I don't know where I'd be if this year hadn't been full of wonderful people, old and new, who tided me over from day to day, week to week, month to month. It's been such a pleasure being with you, and I mean 'pleasure' the way you want me to, hehe.

Next year: Is going to be different, absolutely, and I am so ready. It's been ten years since I last met that girl who was new at everything, though I still remember her wide-eyed fear of the unknown like it were just this morning. I feel that way too, right now; I guess, we all feel the same when we're at the cusp of things much, much bigger than we are, no matter our age.

So, 2012, here's our deal: Surprise me, and surprise me good, because I've got a few good cards up my sleeve, and well. Between you and me, you see — we're about to have a riot in our hands, and I mean 'riot' whichever way you want it.

because the best things in life are Libre!

2011-12-24T13:37:00.002+08:00

To cap the party season we had Libre's "toned down"/"subdued" party on Thursday!

To summarize: Beer, giant pizza, truncated Christmas songs (Free app kasi! Hanggang fifth day of Christmas lang haha!), Ang Siko ni ZsaZsa, a makeshift photobooth, limpak-limpak na PASABOG (mahaha) and of course -- endless videoke! I got home around 5 a.m. -- feeling nineteen! (cue Tegan and Sara here)

ANYWAY: A few photos to illustrate the night, if you please. (Thanks to Almi and Mau for the photos!)

(Under cut)

Nagtaka kami kung ano yung printouts ni Ritche -- yan pala yun!
Of course, full force na naman ang Research -- no. 1, even in parties haha. Thanks for hosting us, Libre!
L-R Lawrence, Schatz, Ana, Marielle, Almi, Me, Libre Tarp.

Whee headgears! Almi, Me, Carla, Schatzi, Erika, Mr Postman, Mau/Karen, Pen with bow

Orayt anong oras na tong picture na to!
Clockwise from me: Almi, Marielle, Ana, Erika, Schatzi, Jaycee (HOY! Special guest haha), Penny

Uy before I forget: We had the Research Department Christmas Party-slash-Ms Medy's Despedida on Wednesday!
We gifted her with a Page One Mockup and a Libre spread, thanks to the awesome Arts Dept and Ritche.
L-R Top: Ate Ellen, Ate Malou, Ta Nitz
L-R Middle: Almi, Rox, Odeng, Sherryl, Ma'am, Ana, Schatzi, Marielle, Me, Lawrence
Seated: Our special guests with the Lady of the Hour, Ms Medy

12.25 EDIT! - Eh yung may Part 2 pa pala yung camera ni Mau?!

Pucha ang hirap magcaption ng may direction. In this photo: Carla, Jun, Penny, Schatzi, Mau, Me, Ana, Armin, Almi, Erika, Marielle, Rissa, Lawrence, Ritche.

we interrupt this program: lost girl 2.12

2011-12-24T09:02:00.001+08:00

It's our favorite succubus' birthday, and if there's anything Buffy has taught me, it's that birthdays are never good days. Le Sigh.

Anyway, this is why I shouldn't be left alone watching things. By myself. With wine in the fridge. I need to cuddle huhu.

Oh, Bo. Come, cuddle.

(Cut for spoilers. And FEELINGS.)

Starting off by saying -- I CAN'T EVEN, BO. NGH.

Okay, now that we have that out of the way, a rundown:

Kenzi is planning a super secret surprise birthday party for Bo! But don't let this cute intro fool you. It's always a bad sign.

Speaking of -- Meanwhile. The Ash has taken Lauren out of the Bartolina and into his conference room, to tell her he's read the Old Ash's journal and has now found out who put the curse on Lauren's girlfriend, Nadia: The Old Ash himself, apparently in an effort to trap Lauren into finding the cure for the epidemic that was killing off Fae at the time. (Cue Lauren's distressed face; Everything has been a lie! Oh my God I wanted to hug everyone in this episode.) -- Aside: Interestingly, Lost Girl inserts here the curious and ever debatable question, Does the end ever really justify the means? Curious.

So apparently the New Ash has located the Shaman somewhere in Congo, but that the Shaman is Dark, which means the New Ash can't do anything about it. Which also means: Let's talk to Bo who's Unaligned, but for some reason, Lauren doesn't mention her, but then she's been in the dungeon for FOUR DAYS and isn't thinking straight (LOL straight *weak laugh* whatever, this episode gutted me okay)

The Ash goes ahead and talks to Bo anyway but prohibits her from speaking with Lauren or informing Lauren, saying that it might hamper the curse's lifting (which I think is a lie, mostly; only an opinion though) so Bo goes to this quirky travel agent who kind of just teleports her to Congo (and uses fancy jargon like, I fold the earth -- Really now.)

In Congo, Bo meets the Shaman, who shows her a wooden post literally riddled with cursed nails. I kid you not. He says he'll help Bo identify and remove Nadia's nail from the post provided she comes to him with this mask stolen by this insatiably greedy Fae, etc. (Another interesting aside: The Shaman mentions that none of the curses have been made lightly, and that each nail on the wooden post has shifted the luck of other people, etc. I love the emphasis on Everything's connected -- because, as recent personal happenings have indicated, YES THEY FUCKING ARE, OKAY.)

Anyway, the search for the greedy Fae brings Bo to catacombs in Madagascar with Dyson as backup, and I'm like, WHY AREN'T THERE ANY ANIMALS IN THIS EPISODE? *sadface* Then there's this thing with destructive sand and the curse of this greedy Fae that everything disintegrates upon his touch, yada-yada, but I can't be bothered to analyze that since I'm too heartbroken already. ANYWAY.

Long story short, Bo gets the mask, goes back to Congo, pulls out Nadia's cursed nail. That would've been the end of it, but oh, Bo and her honest interpretation of fairness and justice -- too honest, too shortsighted. I was as horrified as the Shaman when she started pulling out other nails -- if everything is interconnected I can only wonder whose fates Bo just managed to alter just then. Chills, bbs. Chills.

Back in the laboratory, Lauren is talking to Nadia who's still in a coma -- guys how heartbreaking is it to see someone talking to this unresponsive shell? TOO HEARTBREAKING and then--AND THEN--things just start glowing, and before I know it BAM.

Nadia's awake.

(That said, I'll refrain from commenting on her looks as it will probably be distracting and not helpful.)

And oh my God, their faces. Lauren's face that mix of surprise and awe and longing and oh my God just. ZOIE PALMER. And oh, Nadia's face, so open and innocent and happy.

And oh my God, Bo's face when she comes in through the door and sees Lauren and Nadia kissing. Oh my God, pakipulot yung puso ko nalaglag sa floor.

Oh my God.

Bo's like -- I nearly got myself killed to bring my prospect's girlfriend back in her life. Tangina namaaaaaaan.

Which brings me to -- Oh Lauren, bless your persevering heart. I don't get the backlash elsewhere on the Internet saying that the show's writing for Lauren has been inconsistent. It's been one of the most accurately human portrayals I've ever seen, and perhaps that's why it's, in a matter of speaking, inconsistent? IDK.

She's been waiting five years for this moment. I cannot for the life of me imagine how hard that is. I've got no info as to how long they were actually together before Nadia fell into that cursed coma; but oh my God, how torturous have the years been for Lauren, really? And then one day years later she meets someone like Bo, who's kind and awesome and great in bed, and they're getting this connecting thing going rather well, and then BAM something of this magnitude happens and.

And the thing about Bo is that she's got a lot of things going on for her. (I'd love to read something where she and Buffy totally share a birthday and get trapped together with lots of alcohol.) Not that I should blame her for that, but if I were to choose between someone who's positively devoted to me owing to our history together, and someone fresh and alluring, I'd definitely... tangina, I love how delicious Lauren's problem is RIGHT NAO.

And oh, that kiss. So tender and just this huge I-miss-you OVER AND OVER (And really, FIVE YEARS?? I greet my girlfriend this way AT THE END OF THE DAY. Huhu. Feelings.)

It's LOADS different from this kiss, which is all, I'm conflicted, just kiss me.

I CAN'T. And not rooting for Nadia kind of makes me feel like an asshole or something.

BUT BO. Bo got that nail out for you. Nearly got killed for you. And really, as if I hadn't been gutted enough by that scene, Lauren goes ahead and BRINGS Nadia to Bo's surprise party and I'm like, I'm so proud Bo didn't just walk out of the thing altogether. Apparently, here's a girl that handles surprises well.

And all around her, people start pairing up, and Dyson keeps dropping the, "What are friends for?" phrase and I'm like, what is it with exes insisting re being friends? (/slight self-insert, beside the point.)

Lauren doesn't even address the issue, which is actually very Lauren -- overly polite, don't want to ruin your birthday but I can't not be beside my newly resurrected girlfriend for obvious reasons, but here's a gift to protect yourself with (a pointy star slash dagger) because I care about you. And look I dressed up for this occasion. (I approve so hard, btw)

And Bo just... pulls herself together and gets herself through the night looking fantastic, and I just. I can't. Dyson has Chiara, Lauren has Nadia, and Kenzi has this total guitar-toting cutie named Nate. And Bo's in the middle of the room, opening her gifts -- various weapons LOLLL -- and drinks her wine.

And THAT my friends is how you handle birthday blues.

*

Incidentally this episode comes A WEEK before my birthday hah. Let's hope I don't share her birthday luck. =)

party (fuel) rock: make your own (editorial) party

2011-12-21T18:38:00.000+08:00

Editorial peeps pitched in to hold a simple Christmas party in the office on Tuesday night -- simple but thoroughly fantastic, btw, even if I didn't win anything at the raffle-slash-Sendong fund raiser.
As always, the best part about any Editorial party: Old and new friends, TOGETHER! So fantastic to see some "alumni" in the house!

Also: Back due to insistent public demand: Party Fuel cocktails.

(Photos under cut! Thanks to Almi for letting me gak some of hers!)

Tumba Party Fuel Gang, Editorial Party Edition. In this photo: Jaykie, Eliza, Lawrence, Francis, Denison, Jun, Erika, Jovic, Penny, Almi, Cy, Anelle, Fran, Schatzi, Me, Kim, Jo, Ana and Marielle. ANDAMI NYO GAIS.

Researchers 2005 to present (with Jaykie!). In photo: Eliza, Cy, Lawrence, Marielle, Schatzi, Almi, Ana, Me.

LOL multiple cameras FTW!

Party Fuel!

Waiting for our respective lucks: Ang sinwerte lang sa photo na ito -- si Schatzi at si Princess. Next year mahahawa na ako sa raffle luck na ito! :)

Sabawan ulit sa may printer.

L-R Lawrence, Me, Almi, Marielle best in pose, Schatzi

With lovely PDI alumni! Me, Almi, Abi, Eliza, Cy, Edson, Lawrence. So fantastic to see you again guys! :)

Work hard, party harder.

UNIBERSIDAD! Jo, Lawrence, Me, Almi, Edson, Abi, Penny

L-R Lawrence, Cy, Almi, Me, Edson

At the Presidential Table haha: Marielle, Almi, Aby, Me, Carla, Jun, Jovic, Din, Rissa, Lawrence, Penny. Foreground: Denison. Haha.

With Almi. Merry Christmas, gais! I'm not as drunk as this photo implies! Heee.

december so far

2011-12-20T00:21:00.000+08:00

So much to be thankful for these past few days: Girlfriend introduced to me to the wonder that is Katsu House's superduper delicious teriyaki makis and they. are. AWESOME. Shoutout to Laura and her fantastic cooking/discovery skills! You should all go and try some for yourself! Check out Katsu House's Facebook! (Don't walk -- run!)

Part of my December-long Birthday Celeb! I love you love! This was awesome and supernom!

Sunday was Annual meet up with the Ates Day a.k.a. M & V's joint birthday celeb! Here be a photo of us inside Abe's in Serendra. A hearty lunch laced with laughter -- thank you as always!

This group around one table -- always a riot!

Abe's Knockout Knuckles. I can still feel you in my system oh gad.

Abe's lechon. Omygad pampabata talaga ang menu nung Linggo. XD

Speaking of the holidays -- the Department has released the Official Christmas Greeting ID for 2011! Seasons Greetings from all of us! (LOL me official greeting? Mamaya may video na yan. Jaraaan!)

Happy Holidays! Lab, Schatz, Maryi, Ana, Me, Almi, Ma'am, Lawrence.

Real life note: I guess I'm totally pushing through with graduate studies this coming January at DLSU. Here's hoping my studying/social skills aren't entirely outmoded yet. Haha. (I've been [over]thinking this -- it's been years since I've been That New Girl, and I'm sort of out of practice.)

Dork note: I am in the middle of a Major Online Revamp Project or something or other. Will probably launch around my birthday (My 27th! Can you believe it!). Stick around for details. Heh. Kala mo naman iPhone 4S ang ila-launch ko (HUHU IPHONE 4S.)

Miscellaneous and potentially cryptic: "We would make the strangest of friends."

That's it. Big day tomorrow and I'm just kind of jittery and all over the place. Wish me luck!

sabado nights!

2011-12-13T00:18:00.000+08:00

This year's block party was yet another videoke party! We dougie'd, we super bass'd, we party rock'd and even tried to get the other rooms to conga line with us! Hahaha! The photos would probably do it no justice, so here are a couple of photos I nicked from these Facebook albums. Maraming salamat for letting me gak!

(Photos under cuuuut!)

Ten years. L-R: Lawrence, Jobert, Jaycee, Hannah, Therese, Kate, Ice, Almi, Kim.

The Angels: Cy, Ice, Me, Almi.

The Wheel Chair. LOL kitang-kita nga naman pala ang ebidensya ng kung ano yung kantang tumutugtog habang nagaganap ito. Also: Nag-usap kami ni Kim na magbu-blue OKAY.
Recital ko ito sa Almi Ilagan School of Performance Arts.

Aside from these photos, meron pa palang leftovers from the shenanigans Last Friday Night -- as seen by other cameras! Afraid.

All the pretty colors around the dinner table, feat Jaykie and Eliza huzzah!

Itaas mo! Marielle, Ana, Lawrence, Schatz, Kate, Almi, Kim.

From Ate Eve/Kuya Louie's cam! Riot on the dance floor! With Denison, Kuya Edwin, Ruthie (HOTTT)
LOL Schatz! I see you!

LOL Requisite Truck Shot! Nasimulan na rin lang -- taun-taunin na! Thanks Kim for taking this shot! :)

Hayyyy Barbie. Ikaw pa rin. Ikaw pa rin talaga.
(TBH naiiyak pa rin ako sa Belinda Bye Bye TRUE STORY!)
Thanks Francis and Poch for making this shot happen OMG you guys ILU.

last friday night

2011-12-10T15:42:00.000+08:00

The Inquirer turned 26 yesterday! Aaaaand as has been the tradition for seven straight years now, we usher in the December party season with the Grand Anniversary Party!

But before that, here be the Inquirer's Page One and the readership survey we wrote for the issue. :)

We're Number One!

And before we proceed to illustrations of last Friday night (heh), a summary: We ate, we laughed, we cheered (Editorial won! Nice one guys!), we danced like we were in a workout class, and more importantly: we drank.

ONTO THE FESTIVITIES.

(cut for photos!)

We have seen the future. Schatz, me, Marielle, B.D. (Before Drinks LOL)

Me, Ana, Schatz, Marielle pang-notebook! With Party Fuel and Ice Cream!

With Bianca. Nakainom ka ba Biancs? =/

Party Fuel cocktails! Sweet lord.

I love your laughing faces girls. Not in photo: Lawrence on the floor.

Merry Christmas from Research! Me, Almi, Schatz, Ana, Marielle, Lawrence (YOUR FACE IS PRICELESS BRO)

Yo hoo(d)ligans in the hauuuuuus.

This is the Future. Resistance is futile. Also: Those metallic shoulder pads are awesome.

Partyyyy with Jaykie and Elizaaaaa (and Kim!) wooohooooo

Tumba Party Fuel Gang. Anong Petsa Na Tayo Umuwi 2011. With Din, Erika, Abi, Jun and Denison

ILU GAIS. See you sa Editorial Party. Ano, kunin natin yung Mobile Bar? HAHAHAHA.

the little team that could

2011-11-30T18:48:00.001+08:00

Here be Monday night's Quill crew:
L-R: Sir Chito, Me, SPR, Ruth, Margie, Ta Nitz, Ms Miner, Bianca, Ate Ellen.
This photo taken from Ms Margie's Facebook post. Thank you!

Let me start by saying that this time last year, we were literally on our knees, packing boxes to be shipped to some 20 other venues outside Metro Manila in preparation for the 25 simultaneous sessions last Dec. 4.

Of course, last year, while dutifully checking lists and counting notebooks and cutting packaging tape and printing labels, we weren't even thinking about the Quill awards -- what we just wanted to do was, of course, just send out the 60 boxes to the 20 venues and just get this thing off the ground.

(But really, my choice moment, and I will never tire of retelling this: I found myself sitting in an Inquirer truck at 4 in the morning outside the domestic airport, waiting for a man I knew only by name, whose family was boarding a flight to Batanes. As we all know, that flight eventually got canceled -- I woke to a 9 am phone call telling me that, and I spent most of that day looking for another guy to take those boxes to Batanes, because, hey, it's From Batanes to Tawi-Tawi. Batanes was not an option, it was a requirement.)

It's been roughly a year since we pulled that off, with the help of hundreds of Inquirer employee-volunteers, partner organizations and of course the Inquirer bureaus. In last year's Post-Mortem, I wrote:

That said -- I wasn't kidding when I said many hands have kept us afloat -- what I've seen in the past few months while organizing this thing is something I'd never forget. I guess it's true what they say -- Build it and they will come.

They all did. And as they say, the rest is history.

At the time, I knew I was in the middle of something huge, and last Monday, when the team bagged an Award of Excellence at the Philippine Quill Awards, and was eventually named Overall Winner for Division 1 -- there are a few things that could rival the utter joy of that moment. More than the trophies and the photos and being on stage and all that -- it's the fact that the team was there to celebrate together that really got to me.

2011 Philippine Quill
OVERALL WINNER
Division 1 - Communication Management
25 Simultaneous Inquirer Read-Along:
Telling the Story to Empower,
To Inspire from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi
Philippine Daily Inquirer

You know how they say that you're the sum of the people you spend the most time with? Well, how about this: Since 2007, I have been spending a ridiculous amount of time with the most creative and hardworking group that I have ever had the pleasure of working with, and as with all things that end up to be surprisingly amazing, it all started with a small idea.

(Rest under cut, with Photos!)

Over the course of the years -- we're turning five in May, and can you really believe that it's been only a little over four years? -- I have learned plenty from being a part of the team behind the Inquirer Read-Along: I have learned to be more flexible and more able to recover from things unexpected; I have learned a hundred and one ways to deal with kids without blowing your top or laying a hand on any of them. I have learned how to organize and keep my sanity from one weekly meeting to another, and how to talk to other people so that they accept your requests without hating you (hehe). I have learned to look at (or many times, for) the bigger picture, to be more receptive to ideas, to think out of the box. To not be afraid of challenges, and things that involve hard work.

Above all -- this team has taught me to not shy away from things that seem impossible. It's important to stress that when the idea of holding TWENTY-FIVE simultaneous sessions was first broached, the first thing that hit us was: "THIS IS GOING TO BE BLOODY IMPOSSIBLE."

Yet, a year or so later, here we are. You know how they say, Impossible is nothing? Yep. I believe that.

*

This year, in keeping with the theme, Let's Continuously Outdo Ourselves, we just capped a two-day marathon of events we called the Inquirer Read-Along Festival. In a nutshell, it involves not one, not two, not even three, but SIX READ-ALONG SESSIONS held one after the other in a single venue, the GT Toyota Asian Cultural Center in UP Diliman.

As with last year's 25 simultaneous sessions, the idea of holding a storytelling festival was hatched in May, when we sat down with our regular partners during the Read-Along's fourth birthday party. They noted the absence of a storytelling festival for a couple of years now. A storytelling festival? Now this was an animal we didn't know. And just like that, the challenge was accepted.

Formally, we started planning for the Festival in August, and truth be told, I actually looked forward to sitting in those weekly meetings with the seven other relentless people that formed the Festival's "Core Group". We scouted venues, wrote letters of invitations, made phone calls of every sort. We suffered rejections, we waited for confirmations that never came. Just this Friday, we were actually afraid that there wouldn't be kids to attend our sessions (we continuously prayed for this over the weekend -- now the joke is that we overprayed. Hehe.) Just this Saturday, we screened 25 storyteller applicants for the first ever Read-Along storytelling contest. On Sunday, we were still checking and rechecking that we have enough resources (tokens, giveaways, etc) for each event.

The result: Three read-along sessions for Day One (Three readings involving representatives from the Japanese, Spanish and South African embassies; a segment with Cesar Montano; a segment with international beauties from Miss Earth 2011; sessions with Kuya Rich of Alitaptap, Sophia School teachers, Ate Dyali and a super-special Living Museum of Well-Loved Storybook Characters from Sophia School students that ought to bring some variety shows and event openings to shame)

For Day 2, we had a seminar for some 200 public school teachers and daycare workers, a special Junior Inquirer read-along event, a storytelling contest, a mini-concert from Gary V himself, and a Fright Night session complete with faux-bonfire, costumed UST students, and comedian Jon Santos.

At the Entrance, before everything started

Outside the venue that morning

The calm before the storm. GIANT MUSHROOMS!

With kids from Al-Salaam Peace Community, Sophia School teachers and the Living Museum Kids

Right now, I'm still a bit woozy from all those early mornings, but in all -- my body is tired, but my mind's on overdrive. Magpapahinga lang po saglit -- but I'm sure when we come back, we'll be full of new ideas and really -- I can't wait for what's in store for us in 2012. =)

we interrupt this program: lost girl

2011-11-19T00:09:00.000+08:00

I am in love with this doctor. Yep. I love how she wears her confusion on her proverbial sleeve. Fantastic, Zoie Palmer. Fantastic. I love your face. Also: In any given show, I always fall in love with the girl... who reminds me of me. #fact

And now for an even briefer news round-up, just to get my journalist-y feelings out of the way: This day has been insane I tell you -- in the morning the Commission on Elections voted to charge former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo with electoral sabotage in connection with the alleged rigging of the 2007 senatorial election results in Maguindanao. And then the Pasay RTC released an arrest warrant for her. ALL IN THE SAME DAY. I mean, this never happens in this country, really. By 6:30 p.m. we were watching the cops say they'd just served the warrant in a fucking hospital. Unbelievable. It's like Grey's Anatomy and Law & Order rolled into one. Just saying.

OKAY. Now we have that out of the way. Care for a little Doccubus action?

Speaking of insanity: How fantastic was this latest episode of Lost Girl season 2 huh? That meat butcher guy was scary (yep, Lost Girl really doesn't pull its punches re: these disgusting demons) and the whole Hale/Kenzi thing was wayyyy off the charts (I will Ship That! Burning I tell you!) plus hihi Kenzi killing someone with coffee! ("Who doesn't drink coffee? It's not a drink, it's a hug!" Oh Lost Girl. I love you. You're like my Buffy now. No blasphemy intended.)

So yeah, so Bo and Lauren walk into this Lich party (I can't even -- a lick party? Can the innuendos be any more subtler, writers? LOL) and this Lich guy gets pissed and since he's into the business of experiencing things (he's on the right track; if I were to live forever, experiencing extraordinary things is certainly on top of my list) he wants to experience the utter unbridled passion of a Succubus feeding off a human.

But yeah, since Bo isn't into making out with an audience, she declines. Lich has her injured via gunshot to the stomach, but then when she's still unwilling to feed, Lich drags Lauren onto the dinner table (I can't even -- really? Can I actually be able to watch an entire Lost Girl ep without all these inappropriate thoughts about Lauren? No? Okay.) and puts a knife at her throat.

AND THEN SOMETHING AMAZING HAPPENS. Bo goes all blue-eyed, and in something very very VERY FAMILIAR -- think Primeval from Buffy Season 4 -- she sucks all the chi out of the Lich's zombie vessels in the room and, speaking in a creepy voice, says something that might be rather crucial later on. (No dark, no light -- only Me. Oh man, just thinking about this foreshadowing -- deliciousss.)

Anyway. So Lauren sneaks Bo into the lab to see Nadia. Remember Nadia? Lauren's comatosed girlfriend? Well, Lauren thought Nadia fell ill amidst an epidemic while they were obviously honeymooning in Congo. (Oh Jesus, my feelings about this are all over the place.) Apparently, Nadia isn't sick -- she's been cursed. And all they have is this weird looking Nail that'd been turned over by the Morrigan.

And Bo's like, Don't worry. I'll help you. You'll get Nadia back. We'll bring her back to life. And I'm like -- I CAN'T EVEN, BO. Ngh.

Apparently, Dr Lauren is similarly conflicted and I really have to tell you: Watch this episode from start to finish, and tell me that that kiss at the end of it doesn't do things to your system. Really. I love the lighting and I love the way Lauren's like, Jesus why are you so amazing? at Bo and she's all conflicted and Life is so hard I have a girlfriend but she's in a coma and you're here and alive and not to mention great in bed. NGHHH.

In Summary: So many FEELINGS. I love this show SO HARD.

midweek round-up, 11.09

2011-11-10T00:30:00.001+08:00

Undas 2011. Requisite "Hi mom" photo. Hi mom.

This better be a quick one because I am up to here in plans: In the tradition of Outdoing Ourselves with Every Outing, the ever creative Read-Along team is putting up a two-day marathon of reading events (this, from last year's oh, let's do 25 of them nationwide AT THE SAME TIME.) by the end of the month, so until then I'll be, let's say, a bit all over the place. I can't wait for December. Seriously.

Just a rundown of things -- spent Undas 2011 with the family, watched the pseudo-MGB Halloween special (pseudo because it's not MGB, just something that Kabayan happened to host, hehe, but in all a good effort, that) then reported for work on Nov 1st, because it was a Tuesday.

On Nov. 1, my Research brethren and I did a bit of a Halloween photo shoot:(The rest under cut, for your own good hehe)

L-R: Me with my Fantastic Five: Marielle with that fantastic look in her eye, Schatz with fantastic wig, Almi with fantastic boots (not in photo haha), Ana with fantastic eye makeup and Lawrence, who actually came to work without a costume hmpf

My costume is a cross between a Vietnamese Kung Fu Panda and a Landmark guard, but what the hell. Thanks love for letting me borrow this costume!

Since the downtime for Halloween, life's been abuzz with last-minute preps for the Read-Along Festival and the insanity of actually having two other sessions for November. Insane, I tell you. Hehehe brb laughing in the corner.

Also worth noting: I showed up for the interview with DLSU MBA faculty yesterday. I was fucking nervous, but I think the people there were nice enough to not let on that they actually noticed. Hehehe. If I were to be completely honest, this time last year I wouldn't have even thought about going back to school, but oh well, you know what they say -- I've gone this far, what's a little bit more, right? :)

Nanowrimo update: I am currently flailing sub-10k, and that is unacceptable, I know, but I'm trying okay! :)

We're marking mom's 14th death anniversary this Saturday, and as usual, I'm spending it at work. Just putting it on here -- I always check eh. So yeah, here's a note right here, all right.

Other things: We like 2 Broke Girls, I loved Puss in Boots (meowrrr), and I always see your boyfriend in the hallway since their office moved some floors. Yep.

dear lost girl 2x06,

2011-11-03T01:06:00.000+08:00

This via http://fuckyeahbo-lauren.tumblr.com/
I officially have feelings.

(spoilers for Lost Girl 2x06 under cut, though I'm sorry that GIF has to stay out of it -- because, hello.)

WARNING: INCOHERENT FLAILING.

I can't even with Lost Girl 2x06. I CAN'T. Bo/Lauren is so endgame it hurts. Like, a physical pain. In the chest area. Oh god, so many feelings. About lesbians on television, but whatever.

So for the generally uninterested: We've been seeing a hell lot of heavy flirting between succubus Bo and human doctor Lauren, since season 1 -- by my count, they've slept once last season, and that ended badly because that time Lauren slept with Bo because Lauren had been, to a degree, ordered by The Ash, some sort of powerful authority in the story which owns Lauren, in a manner of speaking.

Everybody has been asking Why? ever since, and six episodes into the second season, we finally have an answer, which is:

Lauren has a girlfriend, who has been lying frozen in a coma under Lauren's research only because The Ash had allowed it. CHRIST. And Bo learns of this how? Via the Morrigan, who has promised Bo the key to "freeing" Lauren from The Ash -- which was to save Lauren's girlfriend first.

Oh my God. I haven't been so invested since Frankie slept with Cat at the end of Lip Service season 1 and since Naomi and Emily rode bikes and did shotgun by a lake and made out in the forest and kissed against those lockers in Skins S3. (Oh my lost youth.)

For the record: I like Lauren. And not just because she likes girls -- it's because I think she's genuinely a nice person who cares for Bo. It just happened that -- well, I'm like, in the process of researching ways to resurrect my girlfriend, yes? (TO WHOM I STILL TALK TO EVEN IF SHE'S FROZEN -- TANGENA SHAKING AND CRYING) And then, this beautiful girl comes along, who's headstrong and sexy and wow, I think she likes me back. And she's kinda badass and she's got nice boobs, etc and yes, she's conflicted because she's into this guy too, but what the hell, maybe we have a chance? But my girlfriend's still in a frozen coma, how do I tell her, she's got many problems, yada-yada--you know? It's a HARD PLACE OKAY.

(Still the best exchange though:
Lauren: I need to know this is not just you trying to get over Dyson.
Bo: No, this is about us.
--OHMYGOD DYING.)

And it just sucks because on the surface, Bo has every reason not to trust her. And I'm like, things between them just got better, and now it's about to go down the drain again. ARGH INSERT MY SUFFERING FANGIRL HEART HERE.

ANYWAY. NOW THAT WE HAVE ALL THOSE FEELINGS OUT OF THE WAY.

Anyway -- god bless you Lost Girl for teaching me the variety of ways I could actually do away with tank tops when in, um, a hurry. To wit, see these gifs over here. (YOU'RE WELCOME.)

Also -- red sheets look so good on screen no? It's like, every lesbian scene I've seen features the exact same shade of red sheets. I should consider getting one of those myself. CHOS. (But maybe I would.)

Also -- I thought it was Florence during that intense make out scene, but apparently it's Austra's "Lose It." Great song, will definitely make it to Momox til the end of the world mix 2012. Haha.

mix: parties are made for mashups

2011-10-29T23:44:00.000+08:00

Oh man, I've been having too much fun on Grooveshark lately. Here be a playlist of wicked mashups: Parties are made for mashups (and vice versa) -- ngl MGMT, Far East Movement, Enya, Prodigy, Eurythmics, Lady Gaga, Nelly Furtado and Robert Miles. How am I still alive. How are you still sitting there and not dancing?!

video dump, 10.26

2011-10-26T22:34:00.002+08:00

Jeez, how is it only Wednesday? Haha. Here's a story to tell our mother when I come visit her grave this weekend: Ma, true to form, Nobyembre na naman at nababaliw na naman ako. Haha.

Anyway! Here be a massive video dump: M83, What's your number? and a few miscellaneous things under cut:

M83 - We Own the Sky

M83 - Skin of the Night

M83 - Midnight City

(Note: Ngl, makes me weepy)

What's your Number - Rusty British scene
("Simuuuuuuhn!" -- LOLZ ANNA FARIS IS GOLD)

Other things:
- Periodic Table of Swearing

- What would you save in a fire?

- And lastly: Batangas-wood by @elvinelvinelvin:

monthsary weekend round-up

2011-10-24T12:22:00.000+08:00

I took this photo hehe. ILU love. 49 months! That's longer than my college education already! HAHA.

Marked our 49th month on Saturday and spent most of Sunday walking around (30%) and eating (70%). FORTY NINE MONTHS. I know, right, who'd have thought we were here for the proverbial long haul? Haha. Love is funny. Here's Andrea's account of the fantastic food-trip-Sunday over at her LJ (complete with photos!)

*

Also on Sunday, Andrea joined in the bi-annual Read-A-Thon and finished six books. Hurray for avid readers!

*

Meanwhile -- I've been considering my battle plan for the upcoming Nanowrimo 2011 (a.k.a. November! Let's torture ourselves!), primarily because, looking back, I had fun last year. (And I even have proof of it right here) I can't believe I just said that, but there. 2011 hasn't been a big year for writing AT ALL (except for a couple of things I finished earlier this year), and I happened upon a PDF of maps, letters and a brief guide to navigating scars while cleaning out my harddrive this morning and I'm all inexplicably weepy. JFC I need Happy Lemon in my life right now.

Anyway, last year's piece was, mostly: heat, beaches, quiet. This year, let's go for the opposite: cold, deserted roads after dark, and, well, running away from explosions and robots and gunfire.

Or maybe not. Which is the best thing about this exercise: It could be about anything.

mix: frightened rabbit playlist

2011-10-22T01:03:00.002+08:00

What? No love for Frightened Rabbit hereabouts? RIDICULOUS.

Nothing Like You | this is a story, and you're not in it.
The Twist | you twist and whisper the wrong name
My Backwards Walk | i'm working on erasing you
Things | like new skin from old skin that'd barely been lived in
Floating in the Forth | i'll steer myself through drunken waves

Grooveshark ILU - [Playlist]

mix: endings

2011-10-21T14:36:00.001+08:00

This photo taken during Lilie's wedding. Nice shoes, Budi.

The New Radicals - I hope I just didn't give away the ending
Earlimart - It's okay to think about the ending
Taken by Cars - Logistical nightmare

this week, on the Internets

2011-10-21T00:46:00.000+08:00

USB Cassette Converter by CD-R King (Php780)

Discovered earlier today that, not only does CD-R King have practically everything -- it has something that'd convert your old cassette mixtapes to MP3 FORMAT. (And while you're at it -- also a safe box disguised as a cereal box. Really.)

Indeed, this has been a rather interesting week for online finds. (More under cut: Longreads, etc etc)

- Via @NYMag -- "Just Kids" -- on the early days of Jeffrey Eugenides, David Foster Wallace, Jonathan Franzen, Mary Karr. I've always fantasized about belonging to a cool crew of writers haha. Anyway, striking bit:

But Wallace was volatile, Karr says, and she was sharp-tongued; their fights became frequent and virulent. Karr is a charismatic raconteur, and the portrait of Wallace that she painted in speaking with me was striking. In one fight, he threw her coffee table at her; in another, he stopped the car in a bad neighborhood and pushed her out, leaving her to walk home. Then he would try to win her back. He once climbed up on her balcony, she says, to “beat on the door like in the fucking Graduate.” This is not the familiar Wallace, wounded and ever sweet. Years later he wrote Karr a letter of apology, she says, for “being such a dick.”

- Via @TheAtlantic -- Hacked! -- Do you use Gmail? You may want to read this. Lord, this fucked me up big time. After reading, I downloaded LastPass and changed ALL my passwords. Scariest bit:

When she looked at her Inbox, and her Archives, and even the Trash and Spam folders in her account, she found—absolutely nothing. Of her allocated 7 gigabytes of storage, 0.0 gigabytes were in use, versus the 4+ gigabytes shown the day before. Six years’ worth of correspondence and everything that went with it were gone. All the notes, interviews, recollections, and attached photos from our years of traveling through China. All the correspondence with and about her father in the last years of his life. The planning for our sons’ weddings; the exchanges she’d had with subjects, editors, and readers of her recent book; the accounting information for her projects; the travel arrangements and appointments she had for tomorrow and next week and next month; much of the incidental-expense data for the income-tax return I was about to file—all of this had been erased. It had not just been put in the “Trash” folder but permanently deleted.

I can't even -- I took a long hard look at my online life and asked myself, How much of me is on the cloud, somewhere? God, plenty. I'm still studying ways re: how to protect myself.

- Via @TheAtlantic: Why are modern children so anxious? All work and no play

The researchers found that compared to 1981, children in 1997 spent less time in play and had less free time. They spent 18 percent more time at school, 145 percent more time doing school work, and 168 percent more time shopping with parents. The researchers found that, including computer play, children in 1997 spent only about eleven hours per week at play.

- Via @TheAtlantic: Why more and more women are forgoing marriage in favor of the single life.

In 1969, when my 25-year-old mother, a college-educated high-school teacher, married a handsome lawyer-to-be, most women her age were doing more or less the same thing. By the time she was in her mid-30s, she was raising two small children and struggling to find a satisfying career. She’d never had sex with anyone but my father. Could she have even envisioned herself on a shopping excursion with an ex-lover, never mind one who was getting married while she remained alone? And the ex-lover’s fiancée being so generous and open-minded as to suggest the shopping trip to begin with?

What my mother could envision was a future in which I made my own choices. I don’t think either of us could have predicted what happens when you multiply that sense of agency by an entire generation.

- Via Thought Catalog: Why We Want People who are Unavailable

It’s possible we choose people we can’t have not because we want a challenge, not because we actually believe that we belong with them, but because we can keep them at arm’s length. There’s something that keeps them from getting too close, and that’s what we want, and sometimes, what we need.

- Via Thought Catalog: Do's and Don'ts of being a lesbian -- LOL at times dubious, but what the fuck, anything that mentions familiarity with PMS deserves a two-line mention.

- Via The Guardian: A Murakami interview -- "The Murakami style: enigmatic, deadpan, full of big emotions sheared flat by repression and presented with detachment." I still love Norwegian Wood best. And I am kinda in love with the way seeing cats on the street make him SO HAPPY. ILU.

How, then, did he find the confidence to do what he wanted?

"Confidence; as a teenager? Because I knew what I loved. I loved to read; I loved to listen to music; and I love cats. Those three things. So, even though I was an only kid, I could be happy because I knew what I loved. Those three things haven't changed from my childhood. I know what I love, still, now. That's a confidence. If you don't know what you love, you are lost."

- Via Spin.com: Special Report: Homophobia Haunts Indie Rock

- Also: My LGBT feed on Google Reader is on fire and it's because October is LGBT History month -- elsewhere at least, so: LGBT Resource Guide « Albert S. Cook Library

- I love Rookiemag.com, which I discovered through @ndreanicola. Anyway -- witchcraft as metaphor for girl empowerment, anyone?: The Season of the Witch

There were a lot of things that my friends and I were scared of, during our Craft mania. We were scared of our bodies. We were scared of the attention that our bodies were receiving. We were scared of dating, and of sex. But we were also scared that we’d never date, or that we’d never have sex. We were scared of college; we were scared that we might not get into college. We were scared of driving, and scared of not getting the license. We were scared that we might grow up to be our parents. We were scared that we didn’t know what to do with our lives. We were scared of tests, auditions, try-outs, games, and recitals. We were scared of increased responsibility, and scared of our own powerlessness. We were scared of our classmates. And every day, we kept on turning into someone else—turning into our new selves, our grown-up selves—and we had no idea what the outcome would be, or if we’d like it. So, more than anything, we were scared of ourselves. But here’s one thing that definitely didn’t scare us: The idea that, if we supported each other and stuck together, we could somehow control all of this just by wishing.

So it's a site geared toward teenage girls. I wish there was a place just like this that's geared specifically toward gay girls. JUST SAYING. I could have used that when I was younger, is all. (What, meron nang ganun? TAKE ME TO THE RIOT, GUYS.)

more wedding photos!

2011-10-20T10:37:00.002+08:00

As promised, I'm grabbing a few of the photos Francis took during Lilie's wedding. (Incidentally: It's his birthday today! Happy 20th birthday, Francis! Haha!)

Here's to the lovely years ahead!

(Rest under cut)

The newlyweds with office friends

Favorite shot <3

O susunod na? Haha :) <3

LOL me and ga, naghahasik ng lagim -- in Technicolor! Sa background! With butterflies!

L-R Me, program, Jo, Jaymee, Tash, Robert.

domestic injury time!

2011-10-18T10:55:00.000+08:00

Excuse this "baby-book moment" (ever had one of those? you know, the ones pedias used to track your vaccines and your checkups and your prescriptions? I remember my pediatrician telling me when I went to her for a check-up one last time a few months after I turned eighteen: You have to get an adult doctor. Oh well. This is why we self-medicate, guys!)

Just putting a note here: I injured my right knee on Sunday night -- put simply, I was sitting Indian-style on the bed when something heavy dropped upon it by accident. Oh wow. That was a shock. Haha.

Anyway -- first time to encounter such an injury; in the past, I've always injured my ankles. (Remember that latest time I injured my ankle last year when I missed a step and fell down the stairs with laundry? YEP.) So yeah, when I woke Monday morning, I could barely move it. Tried a little dance and it hurt. Huhu. So much for hoping I wouldn't have to see a doctor for it.

And since it was my knee and I haven't injured it before, I figured I should have it x-rayed, for my peace of mind. Which was what I actually wanted to do, but the pleasant guys over at Healthway in Greenbelt 5 told me the Ortho was in and I should just ask him what to do with it. (Turns out it didn't need an x-ray, which is nice since Healthway isn't covered by our office healthcard; it's just conveniently located in a mall.)

The Ortho twisted my leg all sorts and checked for pain. Apparently it's a sprain. Nothing torn, nothing broken. Oh thank god. Here was his explanation:

This is my personal "artist's reimagination" LOL whatever I forgot to ask for the drawing from his pad sayang.

So yes, it should go away in a few days. I should try walking the best way I know how and not, you know, limp around because the muscles around it would cramp if I don't. OKAY. Wag i-baby ang injury. Gotcha.

So far, I think it's getting better. Or maybe it's my knee support (aptly branded, Manly. Tawang-tawa ako, Landmark, pero whatever, it's the cheapest sort on display).

/end baby-book moment. Stay safe, you guys. :)

a wedding!

2011-10-15T23:19:00.000+08:00


Lilie's last words outside the church: Ngayon pa lang nagsisink-in. Kagabi lang, single pa ako.This girl is ALWAYS a laugh.

Lilie and Budi got married this morning! Ran a bit late and nearly bumped into Lilie just outside the door but arrived just in time to sub for Andrea, who was subbing for Elaine, who was supposedly the Mass commentator but unfortunately got the wrong Christ the King Church that morning. Haha! Ako na ang late na, may role pala dapat. Haha! Anything for you, kids! Pasensya na at hindi ko masyadong kabisado ang misa, kung saan-saang point tuloy ako naluhod (kung kelan dapat nakatayo ako at sumasagot kay Father, haha! Kaaliw.)

ANYWAY -- Much thanks to Jo and Francis for letting me hitch a ride from the Fort this morning! I'm excited to see the pics Francis took; from the few I've previewed, I am confident that they're all going to be awesome (and I'm grabbing all of them once they're uploaded! Whee!)

a welcome

2011-10-15T22:04:00.001+08:00

Yellow cab! I missed you! :) Also in this photo -- me with THREE JACKETS ON. What is Antarctica.

L-R: Birthday celebrant Ana, Marielle, Almi, Lawrence. (We missed you in this photo shoot, Schatzi!)

On Monday, we welcomed the latest addition to the Research section family -- apparently, just in time for her birthday! Ana treated us to pizza, chicken wings, pasta and coke on Thursday. Thanks Ana! *burp* Here's to the pounds ahead! (Hehe, kidding. Half.)

all the pretty things that we could do

2011-10-14T10:00:00.000+08:00

BOY - Little Numbers from Grönland Records on Vimeo.

We have been obsessing about this song by girl duo BOY (Valeska Steiner and Sonja Glass). And why not, really? In our heads, this video was shot in Rio de Janeiro, and they're secretly lovers. Too adorable. Andrea likes the lead singer, while I like that girl with the mini-piano (predictable taste is predictable haha). Wait for that one moment by the escalator -- brb trying to contain my kilig like whoa.

Other things I also love here: riding through narrow streets on a bicycle (!!), walking on the beach at night, chalk pianos drawn on the pavement, street football (!!!)

ALSO: Check out their trailer for their album, "Mutual Friends."

new tv: the secret circle

2011-10-13T12:30:00.000+08:00

Teenagers with magic powers. CHECK.

Caught the first episode of The Secret Circle over the weekend, and I must say I'm totally spellbound.

Story so far: Tragedy strikes a young girl's life when her mother dies in a fire while home alone. Sixteen-year-old Cassie goes back home to her grandmother, who lives in the town Cassie and her mother left after her father died shortly after her birth. She runs into teenagers in her school and is subsequently subjected to That New Girl treatment -- which apparently includes getting her car set on fire. Yep, these kids are freaky, and despite the fact that they all seem evil to me, I kind of like them. Especially that hot one in a leather jacket. YEP.

So. Secrets? Check. Teenagers running around practicing magic by setting things on fire/causing major storms/making water droplets float in a forest? Check. HOT GIRLS IN LEATHER JACKETS. Yes please.

new tv: awkward

2011-10-12T12:30:00.000+08:00

Jenna Hamilton is awkward.

Just caught the first episode of MTV's Awkward -- ngl, my first worry was: This isn't going to be Skins US, is it? The good news is that it certainly isn't. The acting, for one, is actually pretty good, and that's what makes this series enjoyable. Lead girl Jenna keeps a blog called Invisible Girl Daily, but when she shows up at school with half her body in a cast -- well, guess who's not invisible anymore?

It's like Mean Girls, but with social networks. Also, who doesn't like a funny thing set in high school (and doesn't involve singing, for a change?) *hands up*

the midweek round-up, 10.11

2011-10-11T23:30:00.000+08:00

I can't get enough of that guy who's napping flat on his face. For serious. I can look at him all day and ponder existential questions. Really. (Source: Huffingtonpost.com)

And just like that, it's October already?! Oh, wow. Time flies. We're eleven days into the tenth month and in those eleven days: the Ateneo Blue Eagles won their elusive four-peat, Sunday Inquirer Magazine transitioned from a weekly to a monthly magazine, the Philippine Azkals finished second in the Long Teng Cup, we lost Steve Jobs, I was compared to Charice Pempengco while having my picture taken AND I actually took that Graduate Admissions Test. Kind of a packed first few days, huh.

Caught Raya Martin's Buenos Noches, España! at the Spanish film festival in Greenbelt last night with the girls. Can't say I enjoyed that (walked out of the cinema some twenty minutes into the film because I was starting to feel physically ill, literally) but then again, don't we all need movies like that to get all introspective about cinema -- what is the point of filmmaking? Was there something wrong with me as a member of the audience because I wasn't able to appreciate that? Will anybody be ever ready to sit through a 70-minute film with those sort of visuals and that sort of audio? Is there any other sort of success other than to make your film understood in the best way possible by the most number of people? Etcetera. To compensate for the nausea, we had drinks at Cervezeria instead. Drunk on a Monday night! FAB!

10/15 EDIT: A PHOTO!

L-R: Cy, Almi, Ice, Me. Scarf is not my fault, for the most part.
This photo nicked off Almi's Facebook, thank you! :)

Anyway. Speaking of movies -- what I did enjoy, however, was Anna Faris in What's Your Number? -- especially that British part. Hilarious! Caught that one in Rockwell on Sunday with Andrea, who treated me to my first Cocoa with Rock Salt and Cheese at Happy Lemon. I'm officially in love.

Work note: Today, we welcomed our newest researcher Ana into the fold -- here's to meeting new people and keeping all the old ones :)

Also -- the Azkals played a monster 4-nil game at the Rizal Memorial against Nepal tonight! Phil Younghusband scored 2, his brother James scored a fantastic goal from just outside the box at the 29th minute, while Matthew Hartmann put in his first goal for the country at the 89th minute. Good game was GOOD.

(Note to self: Nearly done with 2011 (what the fuck, did I just write that??) and I'm looking at at least 2 more huge projects before the year ends. Excitement abounds!)

new tv: the lying game

2011-10-11T12:30:00.000+08:00

Yet another show with twins. YAY.

Sutton and Emma are twins separated at birth, and the question is: Why? I love Sara Shepard's (also of Pretty Little Liars) story formula: A secret, and a bunch of girls trying to keep it. As we all know, Girls/Secrets=OTP.

Also, it helps that the girl who plays both girls (Alexandra Chando) reminds me a bit of Sarah Michelle Gellar on Buffy -- the head tilt, the pauses, the inflection. Stellar. Main boy Ethan (Blair Redford) reminds me of Caleb (Tyler Blackburn) from PLL, and the requisite girl posse also reminds me of PLL, but then this is a Sara Shepard show, so.

In summary: SO SOLD. Hanging tight, and loving it.

an unsolicited letter to young girls who like girls

2011-10-10T14:13:00.002+08:00

This image is from Tumblr, and is originally from here.

Saturday afternoon, overheard in a table full of twelve-year-olds:
Girl 1 to Girl 2: Ano, may crush ka sa girls?

Dear kids,

Here's where I say: It doesn't matter, don't let anyone tell you otherwise -- yes, you can like that girl/that boy/whoever you want.

Yep, I'm probably that girl your parents warned you about, but before they seek me out with restraining orders, here's a list of things I also think you're too young for: (uh, girls. you're twelve.)

Sex. (It's not a contest, nobody's counting, and no one gets a prize; getting into it earlier than when you're actually ready for it is going to fuck you up in more ways than one.)
Drugs.(No explanation necessary.)
Cigarettes. (You can try when you're spending your own money. And then you'll quit because a pack a day is going to burn a hole through your wallet before you know it. And trust me, one day you're going to want to move out of your parents' houses and apartment living is expensive even without vices. Just sayin'. Also -- it sucks having to quit. It's fucking hard.)

Now that we have those out of the way.

I am writing this for you, that kid who responded with an enthusiastic, "I like you!" after I said you can like girls. Of course you can, darling. Everybody else is going to tell you otherwise, and you probably need someone who'd tell you that it's okay. And just in case nobody has said that to you yet, I'll go ahead and say it for you: It's okay. So, you're a girl who likes girls. It's not the end of the world.

For one thing, you're twelve. Your world's just about to start. From what I heard from friends, high school is going to be very different and interesting, and you're going to have to figure it out as you go along - while juggling Chemistry, Bio, Physics, Trig, Algeb, your readings and papers for English, and now, you have your online social networks to also think about, etc. (You live in such severely interesting times, I sometimes envy you lot.)

I vaguely remember how it's like to be a twelve-year-old who's bursting at the seams with feelings -- just, you know, generic and strong. You want to belong, you want people to like you, you want to get recognized for something, you want your parents to be proud of you, etc etc.

Here's what you need to know at this point:

You're beautiful. Oh my god, don't let anybody tell you otherwise. Don't let them tell you you're not tall enough/slim enough/fairskinned enough/whatever-enough. One day x number of years later you're going to want to see their faces when they see how far you've gone from that time they last saw you, and it will be the most delicious thing.
You're crazy talented. Everybody's got something to bring to the table, but remember -- talent is nothing without focus (or so I've read somewhere). So you're good at something -- you have to hone it. Cliche and actually true.

The Internet tells you things like, "this big shot quit school to be this Big Shot" -- well, that worked well for that one, didn't it? :) What the Internet will also tell you: (Like this -- it's on the Internet, right?) School taught me discipline, time management, the importance of initiative, and, above all, teamwork. The fact is, you can be a genius, but you're not going to be in a vacuum, like, ever. The fact is, school introduced me to some of the best people I know, outside of family. That said, I really hated Physics and Chemistry, too, but I loved school.

So -- that part about liking girls. When I was your age, I didn't know I could like girls that way. I'll have to say my lack of exposure to that reality played a part in that: My school was co-ed, and I was busy with a number of things that I actually didn't know if anybody in my midst was in that sort of relationship. I was blissfully unaware.

And perhaps, very much unlike you. You must be constantly bombarded by these realities all at once (I heard somewhere that all you have to do to find all the lesbians in the world these days is to go on Tumblr). It's easy to be confused and to mistake one thing for another, and I've had my share of mistaking some things for other things, and, well, that's what being young's all about so. Go ahead and give your older self a lot of things to write about. Heh.

Seriously -- I was around your age when I first discovered writing. You know, in a journal I had to hide from my mother. (My mother has since passed, and now there's virtually nothing I can hide from her, hehe. Though I sometimes wish she were still around to actually tell things to. Like, in a conversation.)

I know, these days it's so easy to tell everyone how you're feeling -- you tweet, you blog, you reblog something on Tumblr -- but let me just say this outright: I'm glad I kept some things to myself. Or at least, until I was ready to tell someone about them. You know, like in a conversation.

The point is -- if there's a girl you should really like, it should be, firstly, yourself. Not even kidding. Something I've learned after all this time is that a relationship with someone else is really better when you're already in a good relationship with yourself. (I've had a gazillion people telling me this when I was in one of them proverbially bad relationships that made me feel bad about myself, and I only realized how true this was when I actually managed to shake myself out of a bad thing and eventually get into a good one -- four years and counting.)

That said -- you're twelve, and all this talk is probably me getting ahead of myself, and speaking of getting ahead -- at this point you're probably old enough for:

That first kiss. (Ducks for cover! Guys, calm down, it's just a kiss!)
A bit of beer. (Hopefully in the midst of adults -- seek 'em cool and responsible ones, 1) they'll probably pay for it, 2) they'd stop you when you look like you're headed into a hangover after one bottle of Red Horse and 3) they'll clean up after you.)

That said -- Be safe, have fun, and don't post anything you're likely regret later on Facebook.

Love,
Kate.

steve jobs (1955-2011)

2011-10-06T15:32:00.000+08:00

Steve Jobs: Innovator, visionary, icon. 1955-2011

Woke to news this morning that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had just passed away. Such a heavy feeling. Just how big is this loss? Time Magazine stopped their presses on the issue they had just put to bed that afternoon and called an emergency meeting to devote a new issue to Jobs. If that doesn't make the hairs on your arms stand, I don't know what will.

I'm not what you can call an Apple fan -- my first Apple purchase was the iPod touch I gave Andrea for Christmas a few years ago. I bought myself an iPod classic soon after, then bought Almi's iPod nano as a gift to my brother -- and that about ends my list of Apple products. (10/10 EDIT: Ugh, I forgot about my sister's iPod touch, and our not-so-brief obsession with Tilt to Live! Haha! Still no Android equivalent, boo.)

I have iTunes on my non-Mac netbook -- an old version at that, since I'm too lazy to get an update -- and have since warded off my desires for an iPad or a MacBook: Too pricey, would probably burn a hole in my pocket for a long time, and, as my girlfriend often reminds me: What do you need it for? (For the record: She's right. I get by just fine on Windows, an old Nokia qwerty phone, and my trusty Android tablet.)

But more than his products, to me Steve Jobs is primarily an inspiration -- a man diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004, he lived SEVEN YEARS MORE (a whole lot longer than his doctors expected, at every front, A MIRACLE) to introduce the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad -- and to inspire an entire generation.

This generation includes me. Thank you, Steve Jobs.

Here's a link to his famous 2005 commencement address to graduates of Stanford, and my favorite passage from that speech:

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

I'll be sure to remember, sir.

that beeconomic guessing game!

2011-10-02T11:47:00.001+08:00

Take the quiz, change your life. FOREVER.

It is rather unavoidable for one to have inexplicably stress-filled afternoons, but here's a fix we discovered just this week: That Beeconomic newsletter that lands in my inbox every afternoon.

Allergic to Groupon offers? Impulsive online buyer with a recently activated PayPal that you've been trying NOT to use? Well. Good thing I've devised a guessing game so you could still enjoy Beeconomic's, um, out-of-this-world offers. (No, seriously -- out. of. this. world.)

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Beeconomic, I'm just a regular email subscriber who reads these things instead of letting them go automatically into the spam folder. Haha. :) All in good fun guys!

Mechanics: Guess the DEAL/PRODUCT/WHATEVER THEY'RE TRYING TO SELL using the clues. These things were lifted off VERBATIM from various Beeconomic newsletters. Ok game.

CLUE #1: Before self-defense training classes, heavy bags and wooden boards would sit for months without feeling the warm caress of a clenched human fist. Arm against assailants with today’s Groupon... [highlight for answer](Mixed Martial arts classes)[/end highlight]

CLUE #2: Along with drowning out the world and keeping ear holes warm, headphones and earphones are brilliant for having a heart-to-heart with your brain. Enjoy music to your ears with today’s Groupon... [highlight for answer](Earphones)[/end highlight]

CLUE #3: Pistons and shafts overheat and seize up unless protected by a slick, shiny coating of oil, just like classical Greco-Roman wrestlers. Keep your engine parts from throttling each other with today's Groupon... [highlight for answer](Periodic car maintenance)[/end highlight]

CLUE #4: Some of nature’s gifts are just plain undesirable, such as bird flu, monsoons, and younger siblings. Nurture your unwanted nature with today’s Groupon: [highlight for answer](Hair removal treatment)[/end highlight]

CLUE #5: Like the Spice Girls and the Backstreet Boys, fingers and toes perform best in groups of five, dressed in matching colors, rejuvenated and healthy. Pamper your appendage quintets with today’s Groupon: [highlight for answer](Hand and foot spa treatment)[/end highlight]

things i'm glad we didn't have in '01, no.1: twitter

2011-09-30T01:00:00.002+08:00

I had a lot of fun doing this. Srsly. Obvsly.

Truth be told, I'm kind of glad we didn't have Twitter when we were younger -- for one thing, it would've clobbered my poor attention span. Secondly, I couldn't imagine the amount of ill-advised Twitpics I would have taken under the influence of various substances. Thirdly, well -- I've said it before and I'd say it again now: the fact that there is no record anywhere makes it all the more special. Like this moment is really just about you and you and you and you and me. You know? :)

Also, also -- man, the amount of drivel I could have subjected all of you to while I was in the middle of SO MUCH TEENAGE HEARTBREAK. Oh, lord. To quote Ice -- I shudder at the thought. :)

Anyway -- this fantasy Twitter thread was fun to do! (Jobert and libraries. OTP! True story! Peace bro!) Also -- check out that TEN YEAR OLD ID PHOTO OF ME. I wonder where my UP ID is. That is the exact same face, I kid you not.

a toast to sept 29th ten years ago

2011-09-29T19:46:00.002+08:00

Handwritten, September 2001.

I remember my introduction to gin -- I was sixteen, sitting in a friend's seventeenth birthday. We were in her house (Cleng, this is you) and we were this small group of girls sharing a liter of gin. Sabi nga ni Almi, who was with us that night -- Grabe, ang bata pa natin noon!

Over lunch today we were debating whether The Great Gin Drinking Spree Prior to the Great Kas 2 Field Trip happened on Sept. 28th or 29th, the 29th being Cleng's birthday. To settle it, Almi asked me to check my old blogs. And I really would have -- had I been already blogging at the time. I started blogging in 2002; before that, I'd been greatly into making these really corny and juvenile "class websites" on Netscape Composer, mostly for myself, because at the time I knew very little HTML, and NOBODY WAS ON THE INTERNET, REALLY. No Twitter, no social networks, not even Friendster, which I joined in 2003 and has since been packed up. Geocities, my initial host -- God bless its digital soul. (Though aminin niyo guys, most of us heaved sighs of relief when it went down -- I know I did.)

Anyway -- I finally decided that the Great Gin Drinking Spree was on Sept. 28, 2001, and the Kas Field Trip was on Sept. 29, 2001 -- A SOLID TEN YEARS AGO, GUYS. My first year in college was hands down one of the best and most memorable -- and the fact that it's all in our heads makes it all the more special: only a handful of photos and ZERO SOCIAL NETWORK UPDATES plus NO TWEETS AT ALL.

Which brings me to: I wonder how my social network feeds would have looked like had all these things existed when we were at our craziest. Oooh. A reimagining, anyone? :)

the midweek round-up, 9.28

2011-09-28T23:58:00.001+08:00

Double celeb for Wy and Auntie

Wy turned fifteen on Monday while Auntie turned twenty on the 27th (haha) so we decided to make Sunday extra-special with a buffet lunch at Matsuri on Morato. Andrea has edited and labeled all the food photos over at her LJ post here -- needless to say, for a Japanese food junkie like me, THIS PLACE WAS HEAVENLY. A bit pricey at P595 per head, but man, you don't even have to stand to get to a buffet table, you just ask the waiter for bottomless refills of everything. That said, I'd totally do it again.

Afterwards, we met up with Andrea's former officemates at Cubao! They were awesome and we ate at Bellini's and I took their group photos, etc :) Awesome mini-reunion, thanks for letting me tag-along love!

Monday, I was at work on my day-off to finish something we're cooking up for the Read-Along -- I'm actually thankful I finished bulk of the work plus approvals on that day because as it turns out Tuesday was Pedring day.

Woke to scary winds Tuesday morning, and Andrea was just about to go out to work when her boss texted her to stay home. Lucky. I went to work early to escape power outage in the condo, tried to finish up leftover work from Monday, monitored the news, etc. Andrea was at work with me (it's like a mom taking her kid to work / a kid taking her mom to school kind of deal) and I'm thankful to have someone to ride the scary trike with at 9 p.m. that evening.

Today, two back-to-back meetings and I'm kinda spent. Oh, also caught Glee season 3 episode 2 (meh, as usual) and The New Girl pilot episode (meh, it's as bad as Skins US! I'M SORRY ZOOEY!)

Oh, oh and this -- Read-Along with Remington Friday morning! Geek Fight Friday night! Here, have photos:

Whee with Mart Escudero

With 7 Nation Army at Geek Fight!

Anyway, interesting finds on the Internet these past few days:

- Thought Catalog: "Why is it when we lose lovers, we lose places?"
- Tumblr: Gotye's "Hearts a Mess"
- Poetry: Eliza's "Prayer" on Stone Telling 5
- ... and Mashable says: No, you aren't quitting Facebook (and I kind of agree.)

blogger's new dynamic views

2011-09-28T11:09:00.000+08:00

My posts tagged "beach" in Blogger's new "Magazine" dynamic view

Just a quick note to say -- I am digging Blogger's new Dynamic Views.

Read more about that on Blogger Buzz

and now, for something that will make you feel old (really)

2011-09-24T23:02:00.000+08:00

Trust your sister to use a seven-year-old photo to illustrate her point. Hey you look adorbs in your tie! Just sayin'.

Most of you would probably remember my younger brother as that small kid who used to visit me during PTC / this little boy who used to suddenly show up in my college boarding house / that kid you probably kissed during my graduation / that boy who used to be MUCH SHORTER THAN I AM / etc.

Well. He's turning fifteen on Monday. Oh wow. Time flies.

Happy birthday Wy! I'm still looking for your pictures!

the midweek round-up, 9.21

2011-09-21T11:10:00.000+08:00

Anniversary week! ♥♥♥

A few things:

- Went to the Manila International Book Fair on Sunday with her folks. Not as outstanding as our previous visits, but thoroughly enjoyed just the same. I got my friend Caloy's "Corpus" from the UST Press, while Andrea got Lourd's "Super Panalo Sounds," which, from what I heard, is also super panalo.

- As part of my anniversary loot for her, I gave her the Samsung Galaxy Mini that came with my new Smart unlimited data plan, which she is currently thoroughly enjoying. (e.g. by taking photos of herself as twins, etc.)

Hello there!

- Exchanged anniversary gifts a few days early! On account of our low EQs hehe. I did this series of 48-word stories for her on Tumblr a.k.a. mixed media (LOL -- there's an Issuu file, and audio files everywhere, because I secretly like reading things aloud, etc) also, meta: It is easier to write something lengthy than it is trying to trim things down to a certain word count. This was a new experience for me as a writer. /end meta.

48-words on Tumblr.

48 words on Issuu

- But as usual, I have been trumped yet again by an AWESOME 365-DAYS-IN-THE-MAKING COLLAGE MINI-BOOK. Shet. True to form, love. True to form. It has collages and drawings and stories and, believe it or not, scratch and sniff portions.

I love you, my multi-talented loverrrr.

n.b. Here's Andrea's account of the weekend!

(There are more things under this cut!)

Met the girls at Starbux Shang on Monday for coffee, stories and laughter :) Riot as always ang pag-alala sa fashion of the past (which includes Cy's legendary orange shirts and my equally legendary elephant pants -- hey those served me well, they were awesome, ok!) Also enjoyed: Ice's stories from Kalinga (with pictures!), and Almi's stories from Singapore. Next month, girls! :)

I love Cy's caption for this, which involves mention of perfect TOEFL scores, wedding engagements, fourth anniversaries and THE DOUGIE. LOLLLL. (L-R Cy, Ice, Me, Almi)
Thanks Kim for taking this picture!

Eggs with the legendary Teamba during the Big Boss's birthday party last night! Come from behind win in Pictionary FTW!

L-R Abi, Julie, Schatzi, Almi, Kay.
Di ko makakalimutan yung game-changing na pagsagot ng SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY GUYS! Ang mumulti-talented! :)) Eggs from Pateros for all our hardwork! :))

And for having reached the end of this post, here: Two previous anniversary gifts past. Haha.
- Me for her: Year One | when I think of you (a timeline)

and, everyone's favorite: Her for me, Year 3: Panda and Miming around the World.

app crush

2011-09-17T23:38:00.000+08:00

I'd like to introduce you to my latest app crush, If this then that. Basically, it's a site that allows you to automate tasks over the Internet. How? Simply put, it lets you define an "if I do this" task and an "and then this happens here" result.

REALLY!

So far here's how I use it: If I tweet anything on my @thegshift account (excluding @replies), then IFTTT automatically ships the tweets to a notebook I keep on Evernote -- incidentally, also an app crush.

Why I like this automation: I used to be able to collate my tweets via LoudTweet (which used to ship the compilation to my old LJ), but that service was interrupted when I decided to turn my Twitter account to private. Which was a bummer, but now, it seems like I've found a way to compile my tweets without having to open up my account. Which is nifty. VERY NIFTY.

I also would like to emphasize that IFTTT is collating my non-@reply tweets, because God knows I'm too talkative on Twitter haha and oftentimes I find myself looking for the things I post (links, quotes, photos, etc) underneath all that babble. So there. Voila!

So this is what it looks like -- I tweet all day, then when I go home at night, I open up Evernote on my desktop and then merge all of the tweets for the day. So far, I'm finding it very useful for someone like me, as I'm 1) always on Twitter and 2) always using Twitter to collect stuff from everywhere: Longreads, nice videos I can't access in the office because of firewalls, NSFW photos of Christina Hendricks, etc.

As Cassie of Skins is wont to say: Oh, wow. Yep.

Other things you can do with IFTTT: It's not just about Twitter. You can link tasks between Wordpress, LinkedIn, Instagram (I am actually envious, as I do not have Instagram). Tumblr, Facebook, Gmail, Google Calendar, Dropbox etc. etc.

I also have a link between Twitter and Tumblr (If I tweet anything with the hashtag #longreads, it automatically generates a Link post on my Tumblr), and I am very, very interested about what it can do with Dropbox in the fray. When I have the time, I'll tinker.

For now, go and have a look around! :)

the pottermore post

2011-09-13T23:13:00.000+08:00

So last week, I got into the Pottermore craze when I finally got my welcome e-mail (after weeks of whining, heh).

The experience so far has proved to be very magical indeed -- the graphics are awesome, you get to find things by zooming in, there's a lot of meta going on about J.K. Rowling's process as a writer (a personal favorite, absolutely -- I have enjoyed what I have read so far about things not in the book), PLUS I totally got my wand and GOT SORTED.

Well, as far as SORTING goes, you all know how that turned out:

Slytherins: Sleek, powerful, misunderstood.

(Here's why I agree with the Sorting Hat's decision-- WARNING: SPOILERS. Just in case you care.)

Upon sorting, I got a Welcome Message from Prefect Gemma Farley, who described the Slytherin emblem -- the serpent -- as the wisest of creatures.

Don't believe what they tell you

The message starts off by dispelling a few myths -- for most of us who spent most of our time hating Slytherins while reading the books, this was quite an eye-opener. The biggest shocker: Merlin was a Slytherin! Oh wow, I didn't see that coming.

You might have heard rumours about Slytherin house – that we’re all into the Dark Arts, and will only talk to you if your great-grandfather was a famous wizard, and rubbish like that. Well, you don’t want to believe everything you hear from competing houses. I’m not denying that we’ve produced our share of Dark wizards, but so have the other three houses – they just don’t like admitting it.

Coolest and edgiest

Andrea, who got sorted into Ravenclaw, kept repeating that they're the cleverest, quirkiest and most interesting house in Hogwarts! (with an accent to boot, hah - next time you see her, ask her to do it.) So I quickly scanned the Slytherin letter for something to that effect and we have:

Let’s talk about what we are, which is the coolest and edgiest house in this school. We play to win, because we care about the honour and traditions of Slytherin.

There it is. And, like a giddy teenager, I am so down with belonging to a cool and edgy house, you know.

Seeds of greatness, etc.

The other things I agree with, in bullet form:

It can be fun, having a reputation for walking on the wild side. (LOL, wild.)
But we’re not bad people. We’re like our emblem, the snake: sleek, powerful, and frequently misunderstood. (LOL)
We Slytherins look after our own -- once you’ve become a snake, you’re one of ours.
You know what Salazar Slytherin looked for in his chosen students? The seeds of greatness. You’ve been chosen by this house because you’ve got the potential to be great, in the true sense of the word

Haha. I like it the sound of Slytherin pride, if I were to be completely honest. I like the sound of destiny and greatness put side-by-side, and the adjective sleek, as well as this seemingly strong sense of belonging to a brood and loyalty.

People say Slytherins are good at Potions. So far, I absolutely suck at it. Haha. I hope these Houses are not in the habit of kicking incompetent members out! :)

Anyway, before I forget -- I also got a wand! Larch and Dragon, 12 and a half inches, Rigid. (Wand talk will never be not funny.)

LOL, rigid.

Here's what they say about Dragon-cored wands:

As a rule, dragon heartstrings produce wands with the most power, and which are capable of the most flamboyant spells. Dragon wands tend to learn more quickly than other types. While they can change allegiance if won from their original master, they always bond strongly with the current owner. The dragon wand tends to be easiest to turn to the Dark Arts, though it will not incline that way of its own accord. It is also the most prone of the three cores to accidents, being somewhat temperamental.

And about Larch wands:

I find that it always creates wands of hidden talents and unexpected effects, which likewise describes the master who deserves it. It is often the case that the witch or wizard who belongs to the larch wand may never realise the full extent of their considerable talents until paired with it, but that they will then make an exceptional match.

From what I understand, these are newly released written stuff, also from Rowling. I can't think of any other way to describe it -- AWESOME, yeah?

Pottermore formally opens for signups in October. See you there! :)

the weekend round-up

2011-09-12T12:25:00.001+08:00

Rare these days that I have ~a social life, so I take every opportunity to blog about it whenever I have one! Haha! :))

ANYWAY!

Friday night

Happy birthday, Ate Chona! Various photos with Maricar, Val and Drea -- same guys I went to Nagsasa with this summer! Every lakad is an adventure, charot! :))

First time to get to visit the famous Midnight Mercato at The Fort on the occasion of Ate Chona's birthday. It was a rainy night but we braved the puddles nevertheless. It was jampacked! I had fantastic steak with rice, and then we had cheese flautas, and then we had chicken skin and then we had smores cake and then we had BEER ICE CREAM. Which tasted weird, but hey, awesome idea is awesome, innit.

Saturday morning:

After the session, we talked about her experience as a young Muslim woman growing up in Australia during 9/11 and what being a "fully Muslim woman" means to her. Surprising and inspiring.

I usually shy away from late Friday night outings whenever I had a Read-Along session set that following morning, but thankfully I was able to wake early enough in time for that Saturday morning's session with Kylie Padilla.

(Oh, look. The paper ran the story today on Page One. Thanks, editors! -- on PDI: Read-along session marks Peace Month)

Session was with Service for Peace, a non-government org advocating peace through community development. The kids we had were from their Muslim community of peace in QC and their Christian community of peace in Mandaluyong. As with every session -- an eye-opener, this one. Thanks for coming over! :)

Saturday night
Just the same, I shy away from late Saturday night outings when I've been awake so early in the morning for the Read-Along (man, I'm getting old), BUT Arigatohato's EP launch at B-Side was too awesome to pass up! Got home at 4 in the morning! (Naks, at B-Side. Kala mo parang bente anyos lang. Haha!)

Went to the thing with Andrea, who knew Arigato, Hato singer Cat (When we were introduced I was a total dork, starstruck etc; I shook her hand and flailed at how awesome her set was. Haha.)

When I got there after work, Andrea was with Marie and Poxy, and then we bumped into Nayna and Mak at Wabisabi, and then into JC and Cass at the gig itself. Awesome night was awesome. A few notes:

That Techy Romantics set! - *swoon* That girl sure knows how to move. Christ, I can't even.
That Pedicab set! - *pants* -- Oh wow, that sure felt like a workout.
That couch was an awesome idea -- if I were a smoker. I wouldn't have moved AT ALL but damn, the smoke got to choking level. Yo kids smoking is bad for you, etc. Charot, you'll quit on your own when you're 25 or something.
Also -- got filmed by a group doing a documentary on Meiday! While having a round of beer with JC and Cass while Outerhope etc were playing above our heads. Talking (more like, yelling over the roaring music haha!) about web startups and geek fight and stuff.
Had too many bottles of beer! San Miguel Apple is Cali Shandy with Alcohol, which is nice, if you're into that kind of thing.
Got home at 4 a.m.! Naks, parang bente anyos lang.

Anyway -- PICS OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!:

(Photos and Sunday, under cut)

Clockwise from center: Mak, Nayna, JC, Cass, Drea, Me and that ubiquitous bottle of beer. (This long Saturday deserved to end with bottles of beer, just sayin'.)

Couch mates! Andrea, Poxy and Marie.

This Techy Romantics set was AWESOME. I mean it. I don't know how this girl manages to set things on fire just by holding the microphone like that, but the thing is that she does.

Which brings us to...

Sunday morning!

Slept through noon and ordered lunch from Bonchon, then got a text from the sibs asking if I were available for ice cream (read: yogurt) and we said yes. Always fun being with my folks! Also, my sibs like my girlfriend. Sometimes I think they like her more than they do me, haha!

Le familia at Frutti Froyo on Morato. Wy, Me dorking around with Andrea's hat, Krista, Auntie, Uncle (who was thankfully available that day to be with Auntie on the long drive. Thank you!)

The sibs, high on sugar.

With the girl. This light is love.

Photo-op inside Pisay grounds! A.k.a. The campus I've always visited but never actually went to. Le sigh. Also--I think my brother and Auntie always make it a point to go out in matching colors. He's stylish like that. (That's also how he described the hat -- It's very stylish. Haha!)

Postscript: Here's Andrea's account of our weekend shenanigans over at her LJ! ♥

the 9/11 post

2011-09-12T10:59:00.002+08:00

The Inquirer's Sept. 11, 2011 front page

For the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 bombings, I condensed profiles from various sources (The New York Times mostly - link to their 9/11 interactive website here) for the twenty Filipinos who perished in the attacks. (On PDI: Roll of Remembrance: Bells toll for 20 Filipinos)

Spent Friday afternoon reading through every story -- some of them shouldn't have been there, some were in the middle of wedding plans, some found their love in New York, some had families in the Philippines waiting. All the stories were still heartbreaking even after all these years. (One of them was a former boss's sister. That was the most heartbreaking piece, IMO.)

*

Other interesting reads about 9/11:
- The 9/11 Commission's final report (More than 2,600 dead in the WTC alone)
- The Losses of 9/11 by the Numbers - NYTimes
- Via The New York Review of Books (@nybooks): Joan Didion’s “Fixed Opinions, or The Hinge of History”
- Wikileaks released text pager intercepts covering the 24 hours surrounding 9/11/2001. It's a massive read, but chilling just the same. I still get goose bumps reading things like, Please call home in between announcements of planes hitting the towers.

*

Here's a personal 9/11 flashback: At that moment, I was in my boarding house, preparing for the following day's class. I was a freshman in UP and I got the heads up from the weirdest person -- a boy I used to like in high school texted me to say I should turn on the TV to CNN because the Twin Towers in New York just got hit by planes.

That was the last time I heard from him. It felt odd, getting that text; I guess I really was That Girl from your High School Whom You Text About CNN. Haha.

Anyway, so I went to the boarding house's main living room and asked the landlady if we could watch TV, and then there it was. What a sight.

the midweek round-up: 9.07

2011-09-07T10:47:00.000+08:00

A quick round-up of what has happened since last week:

- Lawrence created this poster, in which we invite you to "spot your newest fave teen stars" (zoom in for total effect of Things that Cannot be Unseen) -- http://t.co/FbF0st8

- So I've been watching Kim Chiu do a bit of cross-dressing on My Binondo Girl. Quick summary/spoilers for the uninterested: So Kim's character dresses up to be a boy (a very pogi boy LOL -- I mean, see for yourself) so she would be recognized by her Chinese (Filipino-Chinese?) father, who has been aching for his first-born son Yuan (who is Kim's brother and who has already died). My question -- Is her character technically lesbian -- since she wants to be male for acceptance's sake? Or do you have to be a girl who is attracted to girls to be lesbian? My head hurts. Meanwhile, I saw the guy who plays Kim Chiu's dad at Rustan's in Power Plant. He is pogi. Hihi.

- This awesome link find via my friends on Twitter: http://t.co/6ubB1yN

(The rest under cut)

- LOL finally a movie about a love triangle where a guy with a girlfriend likes a girl who likes... his girlfriend. MAHAHA. Movie tagline: He's wild about her; she's wild about HIS GIRL. What. the. Actual. Fuck. http://t.co/vXltORP.

- I attended a meeting on Wednesday that sought to curb procrastination in the work place. I'm kind of interested. (Of course). Strong words off that day's meeting: Don't tell me how rough the sea is -- just bring the ship in. -- Yep. I can work with that. *pulls*

- Meanwhile, I like doodling during meetings. Usually, what I come up with is a pretty accurate illustration of just how lengthy a meeting is. Here's my Wednesday meeting illustration: http://t.co/CMNvRR5. (DISCLAIMER: My doodling improves my attention span. NO LIE.)

- OH WE CAUGHT zombadings ON THURSDAY IT WAS AWESOME. AWARD!

- This week's dose of wisdom, courtesy of my Algebra review: Di mo man aminin, minahal mo e kaya di mo nakalimutan. #algebra #anopangaba

- Weird dreams are weird, btw: Dreamt I had to postpone undergoing an operation for a secret heart ailment because chances of survival are slim. ANO BA SUBCONSCIOUS. Also -- It was a dream in English because my doctor was Arizona Robbins. YEP.

- Fantastic UAAP performance of the week: Saturday -- UST crawled out of 17-pt deficit to win against Adamson with a 16-pt margin. Jeric Teng: 20 pts. And just like that, UST is still in the running for the Final Four.

- Caught Pinoy Junior Masterchef on Saturday! The kids were awesome! CAITLIN/JOBIM HIHIHI <3

- Tried the new Happy Lemon branch in Power Plant on Sunday. Tried their green tea with rock salt and cheese. Verdict: Lasang block rosary crusade. Whatever that means to you haha. Next time: Cheese is nice, but Less sampaguita OK.

Me and the girl. Hello there.

- Also on Sunday: Applied for a new data plan from Smart. Mmmm. Excited.

- Monday went back to UP for a document request then a quick meetup with Julie then capped the day with a Wendy's date with Andrea feat Wendy's Float -- 50% Frosty, 50% softdrink. AWESOME.

- Then I got my Pottermore email (HAPPY DANCE!) My wand is... Larch and Dragon, twelve and a half inches, ~rigid. My goodness, wand talk will never be NOT funny. HAHAHAHA.

- Also, like I always knew somehow, I got sorted into Slytherin.

- MEANWHILE, ON MY TV: LOST GIRL SEASON 2 EPISODE 1. Oh my God, how I've missed you guys. Bo/Lauren = Still off the fucking charts. (Illustration by way of gifs -- HERE.)

the long weekend update

2011-08-30T15:49:00.000+08:00

So the girlfriend was out over the long weekend, so I rightfully spent it getting monumentally wasted with a bunch of twenty-year-olds I just met. Sweaty dancing, second-hand smoke, and out-of-this world alcoholic concoctions whose names I can't remember. Miraculously managed to climb several flights of stairs so I could pass out in my own bed. And oh, the Hangover of the Morning After. That said, I'm not touching anything with alcohol for the next ten million years. Or something.

Or... maybe not.

Excuse my exercise in fiction, but clearly this isn't my life anymore, and I assure you I'm well past that age where I meet random nameless twenty-year-olds in places where there is dancing under strobing lights.

That said -- yes, it's true that my girlfriend was out of town over the weekend to celebrate her dad's birthday, so I... well, did chores. Cleaned house, did laundry and dishes, cleaned the kitchen counter, changed the bed sheets, etc etc. Not quite the wild ride everybody's expecting out of what is touted as a MAJESTIC LONG WEEKEND, but Jesus, I haven't been having long weekends since college. HAHA.

Saturday

ANYWAY. Saturday I spent at work, where we watched the glorious come-from-behind win that FEU notched against NU in DOUBLE OVERTIME. Jesus, now that's basketball.

Saturday night I spent at home doing some chores, some reading, some writing and some drinking. HAHA.

Also, if you have to watch ONE badass Angelina Jolie video, watch this: http://bit.ly/qXcROx -- a compilation of badassery from Tomb Raider, Mr and Mrs Smith, Gone in 60 secs and Salt. Set to Britney's "I wanna go." How can you go wrong here, really. (Also -- man, if the movie "Gia" actually featured AJ toting guns I'd probs be dead by now.)

Mandatory Beer Count (MBC): 3.

Sunday

Sunday morning I met my sister at the bus station near Ayala and we went home together to meet Auntie and our brother. Had lunch at Festival Mall (Oh my God, Gameworx is already closed, how??), then walked around to window-shop for electronics (hands down our favorite sibling activity). I was actually on the lookout for a new laptop, but I ended up buying a Samsung keyboard dock for my Galaxytab (no excuses; I'm weak, etc.).

I spent the night in my parents' house, watching TV. HEH. I missed Sunday TV. Caught the Ateneo-DLSU game that afternoon and the Man Utd-Arsenal match that night. Lord, what do you do with an 8-2 result, right? Needless to say, I was rooting for Arsenal, the same way I rooted for the Maroons. (HAHA FAMILIAR GROUND FTW)

Also did a little reading, a little writing on the side.

MBC: 2.

Monday:

Auntie brought me to the bus station after lunching together. Actually, my real purpose for going home over the weekend was that I wanted to get their official parental blessings for something I'm looking to pursue in the last quarter of the year. (Pa-cryptic for the win! -- baka majinx e haha)

Anyway, when I got back to the apartment I proceeded to do my laundry, clean the kitchen counter, sweep the floor, change the sheets, etc. When I finished it was past 6 and I was starving and I thought about getting some gyoza from Wabisabi so, braving intermittent rains, I went to The Collective, only to find Wabisabi CLOSED. Of course, what had I expected? It's a holiday, Kate. HOWELL. Ended up having wings and fries and beer at Wingman while supposedly reviewing basic grammar tenets and a bit of math. MATH WITH BEER. That said, Beer eventually won out.

Anyway. Back home by 9, I resumed reading a little/writing a little/drinking a little. At the end of three days, I have not finished what it is I'm writing. Just sayin'.

MBC: 3.

Dream segment

I fell asleep with the lights on, dreamt about a bus AGAIN. In all cases, I'm on the bus -- the first time, I was on a bus going down from what seemed to me to be Sagada, and then the thing careened off the cliff haha. I remember being somewhat unconcerned though. Bus plunged into sea, and I was figuring out how to get out of the thing when I woke up. I don't remember feeling terrified -- in my dream I felt generally hell-bent on getting out in a very logical, take-charge manner.

The second time I got left by the first bus, then I got on the second bus, and then I was worried the foreigner-looking drivers were driving too fast down a really scary looking terrain. HAHA.

Last night -- I just remember the bus. I wish I remember more but I don't.

Googled a few dream interpretations this morning, and all of them pointed to: Bus = Life journey. Interesting.

ghost month

2011-08-22T13:02:00.000+08:00

So as we all know, August is Ghost Month.

I'm not a stringent believer of superstitions (though I often take the 'wala namang mawawala kung susundin'-route) neither am I an ardent believer of ghosts.

What I do believe in, however, are hauntings.

Aside: I was so certain I had written something about this, sometime around 2006; I was looking for it in the dotcom and couldn't find it there. Apparently, it's in my [now locked-down] LiveJournal. Dated 2nd November 2006, it goes:

alone again on an october night -- nights like this, i could not sleep. i am kept awake by sounds of footsteps treading my worn carpet with a familiar, calculated pace.

i get up to take a look. as expected, there's no one there.

there's a haunting i fear more than i do poltergeists and spirits, and that is the kind that involves a still-living memory. it is a haunting that is defined as hearing voices, and seeing and *feeling* things that are not there.

you are most likely the only haunting i've ever come across. that makes this apartment the most haunted place i have ever been in.

i heave a sigh as i head for the kitchen to heat water for my coffee. out of habit, i take out two cups and not one; i put the other one back in upon catching myself.

there are habits that are hard to let go of -- habits a lot like this, formed through several late night trysts, few and far between. years hence, they are still here, embedded, recurring every now and then. especially on nights as haunted as this.

(a faint but familiar laugh, a swish of a pale blue sundress in the corner of my eye, a knock on the door, the feel of coldwarm hands.)

there are ghosts in this room, and they're all you.

Oh dear young self -- please use proper caps. HAHA. (Though that ending is too true. To a degree, I'm still looking for this girl who used to write like this -- have you seen her? What, she's on indefinite vacation? That. Sucks.)

(More hauntings of same sort under cut)

Just as I was ribbing Max re: the sudden re-appearance of all her old people in her life, I myself get a curious message on Facebook. It goes, (severely paraphrased) "Hey, I was cleaning out my old inbox when I came across an old story you had e-mailed me years ago -- that one about sand and paper airplanes. Still brings tears to my eyes. Has it really been only six years?"

(Story in question is this. Max's question was: How much of this story is based on actual events? My response was: It's 2005. ALL OF IT. Haha, oh dear young self. I hug you.)

Of course, as I would reply to strangers, I said: This was such a weird message to receive, but thank you for the kind words. Then there was a brief exchange about SIX YEARS. Funny how time passes no? I mentioned how Andrea and I found an entire folder of her stuff in my old drive, and, similarly awed she said, Maybe I'll come get them someday.

Predictably, I said, Maybe I'll send them someday. End of.

Actually, before ultimately deciding against it altogether, I had wanted to remind her about that time I lost her Kerima Polotan book (oh man, remember how I lost that Kerima Polotan book which was the central metaphor of this very, very thinly veiled story that, as I have recently decided, I actually regret having written? And then remember how I ended that, with the protagonist finding the book eventually, but deciding to give it to someone else instead of returning it? And then, you know what, earlier this year it turned out that Andrea had that same book and now it is here beside me. I swear I am kind of psychic.)

Sometimes I have to wonder what it is the Universe has in store -- sending her boyfriend to my office, that near-miss at the train, and now this. I'm just curious, by the way. Whatever it is, I am so ready. I am a fan of circles closing. I know somewhere, someone in a similar bad place right now could use this sort of encouragement, so here it is: Dear you, once someone told me I'd make someone very truly happy. It didn't happen that year, or the year after that, or even the year after that -- but when it did, it absolutely blew me away.

Incidentally, today is our 47th monthsary. Andrea and I are hitting 4 YEARS next month. Other equivalents -- a high school diploma, a college degree, a toddler (haha, our favorite metaphor.) After all this time, it still blows my mind. I was sick over the weekend, but I am well now, thanks to her supernatural healing powers. (And I kid you not.)

Last night's weird dream involved: mountain climbing, my ex-girlfriend running after me with a flier, me running away saying I have a girlfriend! and a scary bus ride chauffeured by foreigners. I have been dreaming about buses and Sagada again. I wonder what is up with that.

Oh my, my head's been mighty busy. Must be the fever.

and at once, i knew

2011-08-21T12:31:00.001+08:00

... i was not magnificent.

BON IVER "Holocene" from nabil elderkin on Vimeo

Damn, this Bon Iver video is beautiful.

Feeling under the weather over the weekend -- I'm guessing a sort of virus caused the sore throat, which in turn caused my fever (low grade, I guess. I hit 38 last night, but am back to 36-point-something when I checked this morning).

Anyway, I'm hoping I get none of those fluctuating things, because fevers that fluctuate mean I have to haul myself to the hospital to have my blood checked and I haven't been in a hospital in forever so please, Body, just work with me here. Okay?

Great.

Other things that have shaken the past few days:

- Did a read-along session with Atom Araullo for Doña Teodora Alonzo's 100th death anniversary. Here be a gratuitous photo of myself with reader LOL.

LOL shaky photo is shaky. Taken by the boss.

- Currently reading: Nine Planets without Intelligent Life -- description via @Brainpicker: "A philosophical road comic about two unemployed robots on an interplanetary voyage of self discovery." // I mean, it had me at 'two unemployed robots'. Just sayin'.

- Here be Mr Jun Engracia's account re: Ironman 70.3: Life lessons learned from the tail-end. We're still debating re: his age -- the INQUIRERSports twitter put it at 68! We're still in disbelief. HAHA.

- On Thursday, UP LOST TO FEU AFTER BEING IN THE LEAD FOR ALL THREE QUARTERS. Jesus Christ, Maroons. A basketball game has FOUR QUARTERS. What is heartbreak.

hot damn

2011-08-18T00:37:00.004+08:00

Andrea Corr in a bathtub in the middle of a grassy field.
HELL YEAH.
(And yes, if you recognize that quote from somewhere, please just -- let it be. Hahaha.)

(Obsession under cut)

YOU GUYS, I CAN'T EVEN--

October 16, 2011. Also known as a SUNDAY

That the girlfriend's name is also Andrea, by the way, is a coincidence. =) Anyway, so I'm looking forward to watching this Andrea with my Andrea come October. Before sleeping, we were like, Let's see how much we remember from that time we were addicts and of course, did I really expect to trump my girlfriend's Corr obsession? OF COURSE NOT. Haha.I lost, predictably -- she owned original cassettes of Forgiven not Forgotten and Talk on Corners. Not even my original VCD of their concert at Lansdowne Road could beat that.

Here, have a ~~couple~~ shit ton of videos:

What Can I Do

Things that give me feelings: Andrea Corr looking at me like that while sitting in the back of that car; Caroline Corr hitting the drums while wearing a cowboy hat; Sharon Corr's cheek bones, in general. (And, sige na nga, Jim Corr's sideburns -- because, hello?) And oh my God that landscape. This was New Zealand btw, in 1998.

Remember
A relatively less-popular track, but I happen to love this song.

Also -- clips used are actually from the Runaway official video (which is my favorite song)

Also, also -- I can watch Andrea Corr drink from a mug ALL DAY. Really. Oh my God, woman, why are you so attractive?

I Never Really Loved You Anyway

Haha I remember waiting for this to play on MTV.

(Remember that time we didn't have YouTube and we actually had to wait?)
Anyway, how incredulous is it that girls who are this gorgeous have to sing this song, yes? Haha. Anyway -- Andrea's smug face is giving me all sorts of giddy feelings. Just sayin'.

Only When I Sleep
Oh my god, they all look so young here. But yeah -- Andrea Corr and all that seductive staring while leaning against the wall and lounging in bed. See you in my dreams nga raw. O sha sige, kitakits. =)
Also -- oh my god, how do you ever produce sisters this attractive, really. HOW?

Dreams
Also an MTV classic. Ohai Andrea's little black dress. And multiple ear piercings. I can't even.
Also -- check out those oriental fonts on Caroline's bodhran (naks, niresearch haha)

AND ONE SONG I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THEY HAD:

Long Night

I was like, What? I was looking for "One Night" (which the girlfriend hates -- for the record, I love One Night, even if really sounds like a song you'd hear in a beer house -- brb adding this pala to my Songs to Striptease To MIXTAPE OMG)
Anyway, back to Long Night -- Hey. Because I'm predictable, I'm going to go ahead and say I liked this. Video looks like It's All Coming Back to Me Now and oh Lord, Andrea Corr's brief acting stint here -- SO MANY FEELINGS YOU GUYS. Also -- Oh my god the violin in this is AWESOME. (Attn: Krista)

OKAY ISA NA LANG PROMISE:

Runaway (Live at Lansdowne Road)
Where Andrea trails off occasionally because the crowd knows the song by heart. You gotta love it when that happens no? Also giving me feelings: Andrea's red top, her half-teary "You are so fantastic!"-comment at the crowd at the 1:30 mark, Sharon's dimple and braids, Jim's surprisingly attractive glasses (LOL) and Caroline playing the piano (a rare treat -- just how many instruments do they play anyway Christ), Andrea's insanely seductive dancing at 3:35.

And by way of ending -- a May 2011 interview with The Telegraph: "I never wanted to sing again."

10 a.m. edit: OH MY GOD ANO TO. Hahaha kidding. I just wanted to note: "Hopelessly Addicted" (Forgiven not Forgotten, 1995) and "Long Night" (Borrowed Heaven, 2004) sound nothing like each other and absolutely worlds apart (see below.)

Hopelessly Addicted

Long Night

--just proves to show that yes, you sound different when you're younger (but not automatically worse, imo. I loved their earlier stuff... more.)

galaxytab must-haves

2011-08-17T09:57:00.000+08:00

I've had my Samsung GalaxyTab since February this year and these days I've been using it for doing basically everything on the go -- keeping up with social networks, taking and sharing photos, syncing docs with my home and office desktops, reading comic books and ebooks and even a bit of word processing on the side.

In light of Eliza's recent purchase of a Galaxytab (and her subsequent plea on Twitter for app recs), here are the stuff I use more often. Under cut---

(Ang hirap-hirap-hirap hindi mag-flail. Kailangan daw respectable ang tono ko para galangin. ANYWAY.)

Tweetdeck
Link at Android Market here

So here's how my mornings look like -- upon waking, I reach over for my Tab and fire up Tweetdeck to check if I've missed anything while I was sleeping. I'll never run out of love for Tweetdeck, really -- it manages both my private timeline (where I follow friends) and my public timeline (where I follow news outfits, etc) and a few other hashtags I follow (the #longreads hashtag is an easy favorite).

Firefox
Link at Android Market here

Sure there's an installed Browser, but I still prefer my Firefox.

Dropbox
Link at Android Market here
If you don't have Dropbox yet, you should consider getting an account here.

The thing I like best about having Dropbox around is the fast and easy syncing it facilitates across multiple desktops. I have it here in my home PC, and in my office PC and I have it in my Tab. It works when I have to take work home (just save it in my Dropbox folder located on my office PC desktop, wait for 10 secs for it to sync, access it at home yay), or when I have to transfer small files like photos from Tab to PC (if for printing or inclusion in Powerpoint presentations -- trust me, the things I've actually managed to pull off using this). Also -- download ebooks off net using my PC, save PDF/epub in my Dropbox, read it in my Tab later. Perfect.

Perfect Viewer
Link at Android Market here

I finished a couple of comic books using this app. Very easy to use and does not hang every time.

Instafetch Lite
Link at Android Market here

Sometimes I come across longreads on Twitter while browsing on my Tab and want to read it for later so I just let the whole thing load, click the site logo on the top left of the page near the URL and choose to share the page to Instafetch, where I can download it later for reading. I think you have to have an Instapaper account -- which is for when you're on the PC when you discover things to read for later.

ThinkFree Office
Link at Android Market here

When I purchased my Tab, I think it already had this. Nifty on the go word processor, if you're into that kind of thing.

Vignette Demo
Link at Android Market here

If you're looking for something Instagram-ish. Haha. Most of my baguio2011 photos were taken using this app. Easy sharing too -- just choose share preview and choose Tweetdeck. Voila.

Camera360
Link at Android Market here

Still tinkering around with this app. So far we are liking that "Back to 1839" effect and grids. Oh, an opportunity for a gratuitous photo of myself using this app! HERE:

Used the Back to 1839 filter + 4grid. Pwede na.

Tumblr
Link at Android Market here

Well, if you must. Haha. TOTAL TIMESUCK BTW BUT I STILL LOVE IT.

As for games: Angry Birds, Blast Monkeys, Words with Friends, Robotek HD. Haha. :) I may have missed a few though? What do you use in your Tabs guys? Share naman jan! :)

the mid-month update

2011-08-16T10:13:00.002+08:00

Just a few notes on this month -- halfway through August, and I just wanted to grab a few photos off Facebook and put them under cut. Heto na naman ang caption-based blog entry making haha.

ELEVATOR ACTING COMEONST!
Caught "Ang Babae sa Septic Tank" early this month and loved it! We're still doing quote-offs to this day ("Nice. Nice talaga.") Not to mention -- this was absolutely the ~perfect bunch to watch it with -- you crazies ILU. L-R: Andrea, Jaycee, Marielle, Jaykie, Schatzi, Eliza, Me, Ice, Almi, Elvin, JM, Abi, Lawrence. Sa Zombadings ulit!
This photo nicked off Almi's Facebook. Thank you!

Met up in Shangri-La for this month's Angels' night! The Big Story haha kilig all around! ILU girls. L-R: Almi, Ice, Cy, Me. This photo also nicked off Almi's Facebook account. Maraming salamat! :)

LOL WHAT IS THIS I CAN'T EVEN. August 10th we had a special read-and-bake-along with master cake maker Penk Ching. YOU GUYS SHE IS AWESOME. THAT POT IS EDIBLE IT IS FONDANT. Well, not all of it, but the surface man. It is sweet. This session made me feel like a kid. Thanks Ms Penk for letting me borrow your hat, for making time for the kids and especially for making beautiful cakes, please never ever stop EVER.
This photo nicked off Ruth Navarra's Facebook. My Facebook is half-"photos of me with friends" and half-"photos of me in Read-Along." TRUTH.

Now that we have these ridiculous photos out of the way.

A train story, sort of.

That day I met the girls in Shang, I decided to ride the train. I figured, it's Shang anyway and I could just get off at Shaw Station and walk into the mall. When I got on the platform, the rush-home crowd was already thick,so I told myself -- patience.

When the first train came it was already full to begin with, but still the people insisted on fitting themselves into the gaps. I hung back, thinking I could catch the next train -- only the current train was taking forever to get going. Ten, fifteen, thirty minutes, then the girl on the PA system was announcing a power interruption at GMA Kamuning station, and that they had no information what time the train will start functioning again.

I found myself laughing inwardly at my luck.

So naturally, the people in the trains proceeded to file out, emptying the train slowly. Soon I found myself alone on the platform, facing an open door and a still relatively full train. I figured I could wait. I wasn't in a hurry, was I.

It took all of four paragraphs for me to get here, but here it is -- I was looking around on the platform and there you were.

Strange.

Of course, of all places, on the train. You were standing a few doors down from where I was and there was no way you would have seen -- too far for your poor eyes. I remember that time you told me about your high school prom, when you had to go without glasses and contacts and you had to memorize the color of everyone else's dresses because there was no way you'd recognize them otherwise.

The shirt I had on that day was very much post-you; my old college clothes barely fit me anymore, so.

I'm still stuck at of all places, on the train. How very Wong Kar Wai of you, and I was still smiling to myself when the doors closed a few minutes later and the train moved and there it is -- one moment, an open door, and the next -- gone. Just like that.

The next train arrived a few moments later. It was spacious and comfortable, and -- the entire metaphor is not lost on me Universe, it really isn't.

I told Andrea about the incident that night and she was like, TEXT HER! Haha. My girlfriend the little troublemaker :P (For all I know that wasn't you, and all of it's just fiction in my head. Either way, well and good.)

*

That old campus.

And another -- so yesterday I was in UP to get my transcript. (I'm mulling over several options in my head, all of which involve things akin to making hollow blocks and hitting myself over the head with them. Haha.) Needless to say, I spent much of the day lost, trying to figure out where all the jeepneys go these days. Apparently, Monday is the new Wednesday, so I just figured, oh fuck it, I'll walk.

Oh man, lugging around all this weight is stressful. I'm thankful I was x number of kilos lighter in college because oh my poor knees. Haha. I walked to the new OUR beside the Diliman Police, then walked back to the jeepney route near the Amphitheater to ride a jeep to the PNB Bldg behind the Shopping Center, and then I kept looking for a Toki and I figured, all right, I'll get any jeep na lang. I ended up walking again. I still feel all that effort on my knees right this moment. Haha.

So lakad-lakad, ganyan. Nakikinig ng Bon Iver habang naglalakad, ang drama ko lang. Hindi masyadong mataas ang araw kahit tanghali, hindi rin naman umulan, pero tangina ang init. Buhos ng pawis kung buhos. Muni-muni sa buhay, etc, interspersed with tangina ang sakit na ng tuhod ko. Haha.

Dumaan ako ng Film Center (lol regarding it in that quiet way people looked at tombstones in cemeteries -- here lies the remains of my eighteen-year-old innocence LOL) tapos lumamon nang matagal sa Choco Kiss, mag-isa. Keri lang, hihinga lang.

Hay, UP. Once upon a time, I knew you so well.

Anyway -- I met Julie and her QC-beat mates afterwards in Cafe Quezon on Maginhawa. Thank you for the laughs and the quick ride guys! :) In all a good field trip day hehe :)

ocho

2011-08-08T17:20:00.000+08:00

A summary of things for today, under cut

First, I was like -- Oh! Today I will be productive! Let me sit down with a cup of coffee and upload my new layout and... ooh, what's that?

The Corrs - So Young (Live in Wembley, 2000)

Me on Tumblr: Man, if Tumblr existed when I was sixteen, I would've made a lot of gifs featuring Andrea Corr. *LIGHTBULB*

This woman. Ngh.

Also, speaking of feeling young, here -- The Naked and Famous - Young Blood.

Sounds like: Passion Pit, MGMT
Video looks like: Kesha's Take it off.

In summary: GOLD!

Anyway, downloaded their album, "Passive Me, Aggressive You" (I know right!). I am also loving, "Girls like you."

Yep. About girls like you.

And here, by way of ending, have a GIF of me dancing for world peace:

BRB DANCE BREAK
Kelangan may label baka mamisconstrue HAHA.

oh, wait

2011-08-08T10:43:00.001+08:00

Most of this post is in the form of a caption. To wit:

Oh, LOL. Not like I have plenty of free time (only that I am forced by poverty to stay indoors this weekend and do this)
Oh wow. So I redesign my dotcom roughly every year. Entirely too rusty, I had to use cheatsheets with my CSS, etc. but man, Notepad++ is my new best friend.
ALSO -- who is this dork who makes a Twitter feed for her dotcom? That would be me. Finally, somewhere I can stash my cleanwebsitelayout-pr0n, or something.
Version notes: Oh, handwritten logo! It sucks, but you should've seen the earlier attempts. And man -- 2002-2011? NINE YEARS. I'm so throwing a decade-old party next year.

sport is beautiful

2011-08-06T23:02:00.000+08:00

Just in case I cannot stress it enough -- I love sports. These days, most of the things I love watching on TV (outside of the usual teleserye marathon that follows the evening newscast that follows the day-long news monitoring on cable) is a good game -- may it be football, basketball or volleyball, my top sports of choice (and the occasional nailbiter of a tennis game, I suppose).

The thing I like best is the down-the-wire basketball game -- nothing that can make me happier than switching to a channel by accident and finding a ball game in its dying seconds with the score tied. ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT.

It doesn't even matter who's playing, doesn't matter what league it is, or if it's the UP Maroons to begin with (perhaps the only basketball team I'm invested in -- outside of Smart Gilas din pala).

I'm in love with movement and teamwork and the sheer determination and clutch that is needed to win a tight game (plus of course, that surge of adrenaline that you can't get anywhere else.) Pardon me, I've been in love with this game since I was ten -- which was when the guys next door introduced me to street basketball. My life has never been the same since.

It's been a good few days for sports around here -- UAAP's basketball season is here and we've been trying to watch the games religiously on Thursdays and Saturdays at work. UP notched an AMAZING second win against FEU on Thursday, and this afternoon, UE won its first game against a very stunned NU squad in a heart-stopping match that ended with UE ahead by only a point.

UP's win was a blowout -- the lead was double digits, hence I cannot tell you what happened in the dying seconds as that would be irrelevant. What was very relevant, however, was how Jett Manuel played. Good lord boy, good job. I am liking this squad's performance so far that I actually remember their names.

Speaking of things I do remember -- you should have seen how UE squeaked past NU -- the game was so tight that when NU's star player Parks missed his first freethrow (would have tied the game at 72 had he sank it) I actually YELLED. I think he missed his second free throw on purpose -- he got his miss, but the putback (that would have won it, btw) didn't quite make it. There was a tense jump ball near NU's ring, but alas it got tapped to a UE player, AND THAT WAS THAT.

Dear lord. These are the moments I live for, really.

(In this afternoon's second game, DLSU lost to Adamson. I have no words for the atrocious misses they made in the dying seconds. Just plain unlucky, these guys.)

Speaking of another thing I remember -- FEU defeated UST last week when one of their rookies, Tolomia, sank a game-winning three pointer in the last few seconds of the fourth quarter. UST always suffers the most heartbreaking of losses, I'm just sayin'.

(And also in this vein -- San Beda nailing a layup in the dying seconds of its game against JRU to win by a point. OH MAN I LOVE THIS GAME.)

Speaking of heartbreaking losses -- I think we're all moving on from the Phil NT's heartbreaking elimination from the World Cup qualifiers when we lost to Kuwait, but man. I cannot ever forget how intense that game was. Caught the first leg in a bar in Makati with a few college friends; we ended up cursing at the giant TV like we were eating nachos in our own living room (haha). The second leg was equally intense -- I liked that better because at least we scored a goal (and via Stephan Schrock, no less!) and that goal was nothing short of glorious -- from Chieffy's fantastic ball handling to Schrock just coming out of fucking nowhere to catch the Kuwaiti goal off-guard with that goal during additional time in the first half. Lovely, lovely.

Postscript

Sigh. You know what I'd like better aside from watching quality sports game?

Playing some. Oh man. I miss having teammates and getting sweaty and being competitive haha. We should just form an all-women U-30 (LOL UNDER-30) league of ANYTHING.

holocene

2011-08-03T11:23:00.000+08:00

that ill-advised thing: peste little liars

2011-08-01T17:49:00.002+08:00

So for Eliza's going away present we gifted her with... her very own episode of Pretty Little Liars.

No, this post doesn't contain the entire 7-minute episode (which we shot in a day, in between requests and before the bosses came in -- oha) -- what it does contain is a scene-by-scene recap.

Oh man, we wish we're kidding you. Really.

Disclosures: All is fair in love and war. We did not mean to offend you, copyright holders. The program is yours. All you other guys here: THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION. ONLY WITH VIDEO. NONE OF THE ASSERTIONS ARE TRUE! ASK HER YOURSELF! hahaha :)


We can't even--. Really.

(Cut for things that cannot be unseen. This serves as your warning.)

Insert the Proverbial Ringing of the Phone here

Episode opens in *gasp* The Research Section. Almi answers a mysterious phone call and asks, "Are you sure?"

Yep.

Lunch time!

INSERT FANTASTIC OBB HERE -- OMG.

So our Peste Little Liars are huddled around the table discussing the Season Two premiere of Game of Thrones. Marielle remembers Eliza -- the person responsible for introducing this addiction to the group. Kate asks if anyone's heard anything from her since she resigned. Almi and Schatzi exchange creeped out looks.

Schatzi, Almi and that day's lunch

Almi: Balita wala.
Schatzi: Paramdam meron.

Lawrence as usual is clueless. Ano'ng ibig niyong sabihin?

Apparently, Eliza makes her presence ~felt~ whenever somebody discusses rumors about her departure!

Almi: E di ba nga inisip natin na baka may something kasi nagiging health conscious siya?
Kate: Which can only mean buntis siya right?

GASP WHAT BOLD RUMOR IS THAT. Buti pa si Lawrence may benefit of the doubt:

Lawrence: Eh di ba dati pa naman siyang healthy living?

But then, Marielle totally jumps to the conclusion, saying: Oh my! Healthy Pregnancy!

Then we flash back to that time Marielle finds a mysterious book in Eliza's drawer that one time...

Check out that PROP hahaha :) Production design c/o Lawrence haha!

LOL SEPIA! LOL Dictionary of Philippine BABY NAMES!

Why the hell has she been hoarding a dictionary of baby names right?

Almi: So binaon na talaga niya ang past niya with girls no?

GASP. The surprises don't stop! Turns out Eliza has always been a couple of drinks away from a potentially bisexual experience haha!

As usual, Lawrence doesn't get it at all: What do you mean? Lalaki siya dati? Alam ba ni Jaykie ito?

Oh trust us, Lawrence. What Jaykie knows pleases him greatly.

Good thing Marielle has the decency to explain in a very very soft whisper: Di ba nga pareho sila ni Ate Kate na lesbian.

(ROUND OF RATHER GENUINE LAUGHTER HERE)

Lawrence: Ano? Lesbian si Kate?

Uh. Wag kang mabibigla, pero...

ANYWAY. And so Kate recounts that one time she found folders in Eliza's computer... full of photos of scantily clad women! AT THE BEACH!

Not those kinds of folders

Featuring REAL STILTS PHOTOS

It's Schatzi's turn to present an explanation for those photos:

Schatzi: Baka naman gamit niya dun sa mga sinusulat niyang erotic stories for Bulgar.
Almi: Di namin alam yun ah, pano mo nalaman yun?

OOPS.

LOL a fiction column with a HEADSHOT. Nice.

LOL HERE BE LAWRENCE LOOKING SO SERIOUS.

I have no idea why he's looking at her so seriously.

And then there's a flashback involving Marielle where Eliza apparently takes revenge upon the Peste Little Liars by... get this: BORROWING ALL OF THE BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY. Oh the TERROR.

Marielle looking so sadly at the empty shelves

Library card that says "e, e, e, e, e, e"

Oh Eliza you hoar(der).

Anyway. It's Lawrence's turn to share a "haunting"

Magtitimpla sana ako ng kape sa pantry...

Pero imbis na kape ang lumabas sa pakete, ang lumabas ay... OATS!

LOL INCREDULOUS FACE IS INCREDULOUS

Lawrence: And only Eliza trades oats for coffee right?

(Hands down the best line I've ever heard/seen/read in a while.)

Almi also comes clean with her *threesome* experience in the washroom

LOL Look at those guilty faces

Cannot be unseen. We warned you okay!

LOL THIS SEPIA DREAM!SCENE TO KESHA'S TAKE IT OFF. 3 SECONDS OF YOU-WISH-YOU-COULD-UNSEE GLORY

Marielle: May nangyari sa inyo?!
Schatzi: HINDI YUNG INIISIP MO!

Oh Marielle. Natututo ka na hahaha.

Anyway. The REAL experience in the washroom goes this way -- they're talking about spoilers re: Eugene Domingo's latest Hollywood flick while simultaneously doing things in the bathroom stalls

Almi liked the jumping off building part

"Dinaig pa yung paglubog sa septic tank!"

I wish I knew what I was doing in the shower stall, too.

And then upon coming out of the stalls AT THE SAME TIME (hahaha PLL oh you ridiculous show how do you pull this off?) --

LOL PANG-AWARD!

Anyway, if you're wondering what these girls saw that nearly caused them to get to their knees in the office's comfort room, here:

"AYOKO.."

"SPOILERS"

LOL SOMEONE DISLIKES SPOILERS INTENSELY!

Who wrote that?! While they were in the stalls right?! SO BRAZEN!!!

So our PLLs run out of the bathroom one after the other. (Still one of my favorite moments, like, EVER.)

But since we're on the topic of logic (wait, we were?) Lawrence tries to generate the benefit of the doubt:

Lawrence: But what makes you think na si Eliza yun?

Cut to memory where Almi borrows a lipstick from "Eliza" HAHAHA

LOL Schatzi: Best Actress in an Eliza role.

And then while reminiscing guess what happens? ALL THE CELL PHONES AROUND THE TABLE START BEEPING?

Coincidence?

Kate: O anong message sa inyo?
Almi: Globe advisory.
Schatzi: Globe advisory.
Marielle: Akin din po.

(Eh hindi nga ako Globe pero nakatanggap ako ng Globe advisory. O di ba creepy.)

AND THEN! Di pa tapos diyan--the phones beep A SECOND TIME.

CUE: TINGINANG MALUPIT AT PAIKOT.

OMG!

Apparently undisturbed (LOL), Almi says they should just take the plates back to the pantry. Little did they know what awaits them upon their return...

LOL ELIZA LIKES BANANAS OK? AND THE WORD CHOS.


OH THE SUSPENSE! OH THE DRAMA! It's too much for our knees.

THE END.

Credits: Almi as Sort of Aria, Schatzi as Sort of Hanna, Marielle as Sort of Spencer and Kate as Sort of Emily. Lawrence is Sort of Toby. Marielle hasn't seen an episode of PLL. Imagine that. Haha. No copyright infringement/insult upon copyright intended. We're just having fun.

Also -- Lawrence wrote this script.

you there, august?

2011-08-01T15:38:00.002+08:00

EDIT: And when you're super hungry it starts RAINING LIKE FUCK.

Huhu dear Universe, I did my chores today. I just wanna eat without DROWNING. Thanks.

dreaming

2011-07-28T00:03:00.001+08:00

Andrea and I like to do a lot of things together, but one of the best things we do together is talk, and lately we've been talking about our dreams. If we don't catch each other in the morning (I have been having this horrible habit of oversleeping lately), we usually fill each other in when I come home from work that night.

It usually starts with, Hey, you know what? I had a totally crazy dream last night that I wanted to tell you about this morning, only you didn't wake up.

Andrea's most recent dream involved a door. We were inside our room and someone was pounding at the door, and she said in her dream, she'd turned to me and said, "That must be (name) at the door. I'm glad it's locked."

"What does it mean?" she asked me, awake now.

I said, "Well, what do doors mean to you?" I always love this part -- it's all symbols and metaphors.

"All I know," I said, "is that doors do two things: keep you in and keep others out. Also -- its function is very voluntary, unlike, say, locks without keys. Or outright cages. Doors are things you can open and close."

"Interesting," she said.

Aren't dreams always.

*

The other day I posted on Letters to the Last Girl about this dream I had about this faceless girl and this interesting thing I had to say to her: I'm that girl you get to draw but don't get to sleep with.

Of course, when I got home, she was all like: Who's that girl? And I was like, I DON'T KNOW!

That happens to me a lot - faceless girls who feel familiar, but not quite. Strange.

*

I recall, at this point, two important dreams, early on: This one in February 2006, in which Andrea does a cameo way before we even met in person (heh), and another one much later, which I actually used to jump start a conversation over text with her.

"You're that friend who interprets dreams, right?" -- has got to be the lamest pick-up line ever, but it's strangely effective. (How else to start a conversation with a friend of a friend, right?)

That dream was simple enough -- it was our mother and me, and I was sitting while my mother cut my hair.

I don't remember how she'd interpreted it at that time -- perhaps something about cutting ties or shedding habits or whatever -- fact is, whatever it was, it must have been something horribly appropriate for that time of my life, because I remember feeling totally impressed.

*

This evening: "I've been having that dream again," she told me after dinner, "About that house that wasn't really our house?"

"That one with the special hidden room, right?" We'd talked about this more than twice, and it's always been so fascinating, how we both had these places we frequented in dreams that don't really exist anywhere else.

Mine is this beach resort -- I can see how this giant hut is in the middle of it all, like a bar-reception area of sorts, and these slab of stones in the sand that lead up to it like a pathway, and how the sand dips and then there's the sea. I think the last time I was there, I bumped into a shit load of Film people from college haha. (Yes, an ex-dream entirely. Far too long ago.)

*

Last night, I dreamed a younger officemate was seeking my advice -- her sorta boyfriend was always nagging her for her drinking habits.

I think, before waking up, I asked her if she wanted to talk about it over drinks.

(HAHA GOLD.)

her fearful symmetry

2011-07-27T01:02:00.001+08:00

Niffenegger's "Her Fearful Symmetry" --
different from "The Time Traveler's Wife"
in its own endearing way.

Just a quick note to say -- oh wow, I can't believe I've already finished this book! And yes, I liked it.

(Spoilers under cut, of course)

Andrea bought this book many, many months ago. Apparently, she began reading it but got bored in the first few pages. (I think her bookmark was at Page 30 or something.) For the record -- it does start somewhat slow -- it opens with a death, as it is a book about haunting.

And I'm all like, Yes, it is boring and slow and painful at first, but wait till you get to the TWINS.

Yes. The book has twins named Julia and Valentina. They're mirror twins -- Julia's body is practically Valentina's mirrored, which is why Valentina has her heart on the right side of her chest, etc. Interesting.

A confession: I finished this book thinking about the Fitch twins off Skins gen 2 throughout. I can't help it that I see Katie in Julia -- dominant, fiercely possessive, and yet for all their outward strength they're actually more vulnerable. More attached.

It's interesting how Niffenegger explores this curious dynamic (I've always wondered how it is to have a twin, even before being exposed to Skins and yes, Sweet Valley. But I guess, twins always wonder how it is to be this single person, so we're even, right?) -- and I think this is the strongest thing about the book. Niffenegger writes this relationship so achingly well -- that desire to be together and to be apart at the same time. Necessary but maddening, isn't it.

Important to note as well that it has a London cemetery as its backdrop, which, under Niffenegger's pen, comes across as cool, quiet and serene rather than gloomy and creepy. Even the depiction of the hauntings are not frightening per se -- more like, melancholic. The ghosts here are my favorite sort -- nostalgic, yearning and unbearably lonely.

Also, there's a Kitten. With a capital K -- always a good sign.

Things I also found interesting: Robert's obsession with the cemetery, Martin's obsession with crossword puzzles, the fact that these twins sleep while cuddling, and Marijke's name. My god, what a name.

Anyway. People would ask if it's better than Time Traveler's Wife -- I can't say. They're differently textured. If you're looking for a love story, that's Time Traveler's Wife, and not this. But I enjoyed Her Fearful Symmetry because it's about sisters -- they're so close, if you read into it harder it's almost incestuous. I mean, I have a sister, and I'd like to believe we're close, haha but I think it's a different thing altogether to have practically two of yourself at the same time. And this book was a good look into that sort of experience, so -- thank you Ms Niffenegger. A thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Ps. Oh. WHAT AN ENDING.

seven-twentysix: the post-sona playlist

2011-07-26T12:27:00.001+08:00

She's going to break my heart and I'm going to let her.
Text from Audrey Niffenegger's "Her Fearful Symmetry"

atlas genius - trojans

Take it off / Take it in / Take off all the thoughts of what we've been
Take a look / Hesitate / Take a picture you could never recreate
Write a song / make a note / for the lump that sits inside your throat
Change the locks, change the scene / Change it all but can't change what we've been

sarah jarosz - long journey

Starry nights and summer sun
I think you just might be the one

lifehouse - broken

The broken locks were a warning

passion pit - tonight, tonight (smashing pumpkins cover

Tonight,
The indescribable moments of your life

bon iver - towers

For the love, Iʼd fallen on
in the swampy August dawn
what a mischief you would bring young darling!

SONA 2011 highlights

2011-07-25T19:20:00.001+08:00

In summary: President Aquino's second State of the Nation Address lasted for fifty-three minutes. By our tally, he was interrupted by applause forty-five times.

In his second State of the Nation Address, President Aquino...

(Oh man, this is a work post.)

-- Announced the appointment of retired Supreme Court Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales as the new Ombudsman, ending weeks of speculation. (Earlier this month, the Judicial and Bar Council submitted four names from an initial list of 27 – Morales, Justice undersecretary Leah Armamento, former Justice Secretary Artemio Tuquero and PCGG commissioner Gerard Mosquera. Talk has been rife since then that Morales was going to be appointed. Incidentally, Morales was also the one who administered the oath to Aquino when he was sworn in in June last year.)

-- Revealed having uncovered yet another anomaly: “In PAGCOR, the previous management apparently spent P1 billion on coffee alone. At P100 per cup, that would be 10 million cups of coffee over the last several years. Where did all that coffee go? Who drank it? Perhaps we can find the people who consumed all that coffee and ask if they have been able to sleep in the last few years.” (One side-comment I loved: Naku, ninenerbyos na yang mga yan ngayon. – TOO TRUE OH MY GOD.)

-- Used the word “wangwang” (how I could ever explain this to friends from foreign lands I’d probably never figure out) in every imaginable way possible. Verb? Adjective? Adverb? Check check check. One of these days, I’d probably say something like, Oh, but you wang-wang’d your way into my heart and there was no stopping it. CHAROT.

-- Here be a list of things he was proud of:

o Lower hunger rates – well, SWS figures showed hunger declining from 20.5% in March to 15.1% in June.
o Credit rating upgrades – Moody’s, S&P, Fitch, Japan Credit Ratings Agency: "Let me remind you: in the nine and a half years before we were elected into office, our credit ratings were upgraded once, and downgraded six times by the different credit ratings agencies."
o "Our innovative fiscal approach has saved taxpayers P23 billion in the first four months of this year. This is enough to cover the 2.3 million conditional cash transfer beneficiaries for the entire year."
o Record-high PSE index
o Renewed investor confidence -- some 140 companies to invest in the energy sector; new power plant to be built in Luzon
o Zero-based budgeting which ended many wasteful programs; the President also announced he was proposing the new budget before Congress tomorrow
o DPWH via Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson sacking erring DPWH engineers involved in anomalous activities
o Reduction in rice shortage -- from 1.3 million metric tons to 660,000 metric tons, thanks to a 15.6-percent increase in rice production (Something that Economics professor Solita Monsod isn't entirely impressed with, I heard in a briefing.)
o Houses for cops and soldiers!
o Reduction in crime rates especially involving car theft. (With a slight ribbing directed at media: "Unfortunately, it is the one or two high-profile cases that make the headlines, and not the bigger picture—the fact that there is a large drop in car and motorcycle thefts, and that we have returned a higher percentage of stolen cars to their rightful owners.")
o Reduction in unemployment rate -- from 8 percent in April 2010 to 7.2 percent in April 2011
o Poverty alleviation via the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program -- estimated 100,000 families helped every month ("inaahon sa hirap buwan-buwan" -- some things are better in Filipino)

-- Here be a list of things he didn't like:

o Self-employed professionals: "Around 1.7 million self-employed and professional taxpayers: lawyers, doctors, businessmen who paid a total of 9.8 billion pesos in 2010. This means that each of them paid only an average of 5,783 pesos in income tax—and if this is true, then they each must have earned only 8,500 pesos a month, which is below the minimum wage. I find this hard to believe."
o PNCC execs: "Before they stepped down from their positions, the former heads of the PNCC gifted themselves with P232 million pesos."
o Jobs mismatch: "According to the Philjobnet website, every month there are 50,000 jobs that are not filled because the knowledge and skills of job seekers do not match the needs of the companies."

--Here be some plans and other things that sound like promises:

o Capability upgrades and modernization of military equipment; purchase of vessels, weapons, etc. AT GOOD PRICES WITHOUT NEED FOR BRIBES. Hmm.
o Involvement of communities in taking care of newly planted trees ("We will be investing in the people, even as we invest in the environment.")
o Compensation of Marcos victims, support retired soldiers, expand coverage of DOST scholarships, etc
o Upgrade/development of facilities for BuCor, NBI, PTV 4

And for some strong words:
Re: Corruption -- "Some of my critics say that I take this campaign against corruption personally. It’s true: doing what’s right is personal. Making people accountable—whoever they may be—is personal. It should be personal for all of us, because we have all been victimized by corruption."
Re: Spratlys -- "Now, our message to the world is clear: What is ours is ours."

Here be my source: The English version of the President's SONA.
Things I am also thankful for: The 2011 SONA Technical Report -- so prompt. Thank you!

Other Footnotes:
o Here's something we did: Promises, promises: Hits and misses (Part1) -- Eliza laid the ground for this; I just added a few details, and the Big Boss did a lot of significant sprucing up. Hmm.
o I have reservations re its delivery in Filipino -- the figures, especially, were harder to comprehend. Does this make me a bad Filipino? (Or a bad Math student? Or both? Who among my elementary school teachers will be more slighted, my Filipino teacher or my Math teacher?)

This was a thoroughly long day. Next year na ulit. Haha.

life roundup, week ending 7.24

2011-07-24T15:34:00.000+08:00

Well -- that was an action-packed week, both work-wise and social life-wise.

In summary: simultaneous reading sessions on National Children's Book Day on Tuesday, the end of so many eras, and an awesome Saturday sports day under cut.

First off -- just a quick note here to say we pulled off 14 read-along sessions simultaneously on Tuesday to celebrate National Children's Book Day. The 14 are among the 41 sessions held in SM malls nationwide that day, plus 3 more in China. I mention this here because preps for this thing dominated my planner for the past month. Hah. Now that we have that over and done with -- YEY.

Speaking of things over and done with -- and so we close a ten-year tradition with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (a.k.a. HP7.2), which I finally watched on Wednesday -- and what more fitting way to do this than with the girls with whom I have watched the previous movies since 2001. (SINCE 2001 GUYS. I FEEL OLD.)

LOL -- watched on Wednesday with Cy, Ice and Drea. Inset: Almi, who wasn't able to join us for that night, but who's also been a part of this experience SINCE 2001 YO. Sabi niya i-photoshop ko raw siya eh. DONE! (Thanks love for taking this photo!)

We'll have to think of another tradition to usher in the next ten years :)

Still on the subject of eras ending - marked Eliza's departure from the section with a simple despedida. Thank you dear, see you around soon. :)

Clockwise from top left: Almi, Me, Lawrence, Jaykie, Eliza, Schatzi and Marielle. Photo gakked from Eliza's blog. It's been a pleasure working with you for the past four years! Onto the next adventure! :)

Saturday was Sports Day -- the UP Maroons lost to La Salle (to quote Schatzi: Ano ba, nanalo lang ng isa, ang taas na ng expectations! -- Sorry naman, tao lang umaasa din haha!) early in the afternoon, and then there was the PBA All-star game vs Kobe et al, which we started in the office and finished in Whistlestop on Jupiter, which eventually turned into a venue for a mini-college block reunion!

L-R: Lawrence, Jaycee, Atty Jobert, Drea, Me, Julie, Cleng

Thanks for coming guys! It was a super fun night! We ordered not one but THREE servings of nachos (haha!) and yelled at the television for the entire hour and a half or so. At one point, Jobert ran into his boss and we thought about behaving, but that plan didn't go too well at all. (Sorry attorney!)

Anyway, the Azkals lost to Kuwait, 3-0, but man the Philippine NT's effort was nothing short of MASSIVE. Bravo guys! Let's show 'em on the 28th!

In all -- a good week. Right now we're looking at the President's State of the Nation Address, and some requisite workplace rearrangements. Exciting times up ahead indeed.

the leaving litany

2011-07-20T00:51:00.001+08:00

The night Eliza told me she was resigning, I called up a younger friend from an entirely different circle (actually, she's a circle on her own -- haha thanks Max) and asked her to get drunk with me. No further questions asked. I paid for her dinner; she paid for my second round of beer. I was home before midnight.

(Cut for rambling and drunk shit etc)

Since then, the days in between have been a blur. The first few nights I'd managed to restock my fridge with beer, but then I fell ill so now I couldn't drink as much. (Same thing, nakakaantok din naman ang gamot -- quits lang. I guess.)

As usual, things go on -- looking back I wonder how we got away with playing hooky THE ENTIRE DAY, that time before the Ates left in 2007. Last year, when Cy left, the work load leading up to December that year (25 simultaneous sessions, the anniversary book, everything else) was fucking insane, and for the most part I hadn't even realized what just hit me until much, much later.

I have shit memory; all that's ever left with me is that memory when a thing hits me first--like, when Cy's phone call reached me, I remember I was in front of a bank, holding onto a railing. I spent that afternoon in slow-mo: I ate a slow meal in Greenbelt, quietly trying to figure out, sans tears, what the fuck I was supposed to do next. Haha. If it sounds like a breakup -- well, that word hit me also :) I kept telling myself that afternoon: Tangina, para akong nabreakan.

It's been roughly a year since then; by some grace of God I managed to have a fucking wonderful time over the summer. I guess that was the Universe overcompensating for something. Tangina, sabi ko na eh -- I don't want to have to mistrust every moment of happiness, but I do believe in balance, so I guess that's just things evening themselves out? I don't know.

Anyway--so we're in this familiar space all over again; I remember being that frightened girl in 2007 in a cab with Cy, speculating about the Ates tendering their resignation. What then? we'd asked ourselves, and I had said in jest, Well, they'll just have to wait for us to grow up, and then. (Tangina Universe, must you always eavesdrop on everyone like that)

(And so here we are. We're two-for-two for the 2010-2011 season, haha so quota na muna Universe, kung okay lang. Alam kong nasabi ko at one point na parang me kalyo na ang puso ko dahil sa UP Men's Basketball team, pero dahan-dahanin pa rin natin, pwede? :)

Anyway. I remember when I sat down with the boss a few weeks ago, she said something like I looked so sad that day Eliza told me about her plan. That day I said nothing, and apparently she was worried that I was going through a breakup (haha oh my boss, parang tita lang) -- o di ba, sabi ko nga similar symptoms. I'm so predictable.

Right now I'd just finished with a round of simultaneous reading sessions this morning, then I actually have a few hours to spare before I go back to the office and slave over whatever SONA-related thing we're doing (story of our fairly routinary lives) so can I just, you know. Take a minute?

I can?

Yeah.

*

So: Like all the predictable girls who are, whatever, undergoing something, I got the customary insane haircut:

Hair courtesy of _makattak - thank you!
Got this on Friday at Blackbookdesign at the Collective.
This decision was alcohol-less, absolutely.
(Girlfriend's hair also by Macky. Thanks!)

Oh, don't worry, it looks normal when I try -- like, for meetings. And stuff. (But when I tie my hair it sometimes looks like I got this half-mohawk. But most days it's like there's nothing else really there -- hah story of my life, everything's underneath.)

*

Some days I think this is what I get for staying put: something akin to a front row seat to this parade of comings and goings. And that's life -- schooled since 1997 y'all -- people come and go and that's the truth, and I guess the thing that really matters is what they leave with you. (---Memories, habits, memories of habits)

And you know what they say -- nobody really ever leaves; for all we know, something somewhere is just making room for something else -- something new. I don't know. I remember when I seized the opportunity to join Research in 2006, and then that turned out to be my way to meet Andrea, and then... Haha. The rest, as they say, history etc. And you know, what if -- WHAT IF -- something like that is in the works for someone right now? I don't know. I have to keep thinking something good will come out of this, else I'll unravel.

*

And after all this time, the answer is still yes.

So--yes. This and me, for a while longer. There is so much left to do and I'm not about to go anywhere, not anytime soon :)

*

7/21 EDIT:

Got a good laugh from an old friend this morning, who sent the following text message: "Angelikate! What the hell did you do with your hair!!!" -- I love you Mary for 1) calling me by my high school first name in full and 2) being so invested in this haircut!

That said -- it's like the Universe is telling me, Why have you ever doubted this? I've been telling you SINCE 1997 -- people don't have to be around you to be ~with you.

Just, oh. Loud and clear now.

Loud and clear.

kwentuhan lang

2011-07-10T13:29:00.000+08:00

(Cut for old school)

Wow, it's been a while since I was last on here -- life's been relatively ordinary and run-of-the-mill since that Bohol trip, and since then I've fallen into the usual things: malling on Sundays and laundry on Mondays and the 12 to 9 roll on weekdays. As expected, even when we're not cooking up anything for the Read-Along, we're suddenly looking at, uh, some 18 sessions before this month ends. WHAT. Haha life, why you crazy :)

Boxing and I have not been friends for a while; I kept wanting to do things on Mondays, like pay the rent or do the laundry or get sealant on my window sill because the rains are fucking crazy these days.

Anyway, between Bohol and today I have gone back to reading. Finished Chuck Palahniuk's "Survivor" -- a kind of quick read, you don't really want to stay on Palahniuk's prose (very unlike the experience of reading something off Atwood -- you want to stay there forever and before you know it, five months have already passed. HAHA STORY OF MY BLIND ASSASSIN LIFE YO) but it's fairly interesting enough. There was a time in my life where I wanted my words to read like Palahniuk's, and well -- I think it was that sort of time. Anyway -- thanks to my sister who gave me this book for Christmas! Look, I finished it before Christmas 2011 (ACCOMPLISHED!)

Right now I'm reading Audrey Niffenegger's "Her Fearful Symmetry" -- it starts out real slow, but once you get to the twins Julia and Valentina, it gets better and I'm actually now halfway through the thing. (And yes--TWINS.)

Also, in between I have managed to discover a CBR viewer that works for my Samsung GalaxyTab -- Perfect Viewer for Android. With this nifty little thing I managed to finish all three volumes of Runaways, which is basically about a group of kids who discover that their parents are part of a secret evil crime group. YES. I loved Volume 2 the best, when they're all grown up and they already have this sort of ~shared history (oh, best place for ANY STORY I tell you) and was thrown a bit off by Volume 3 where the art's at best irregular. Howell.

Movie-wise: Yes, I have seen Transformers 3. Also known as, Enough of the drama, let's blow things up with GIANT ROBOTS OMG. Saw it on 3D cinema with the sibs (haha I'm not even supposed to say this? I think.) and we thoroughly enjoyed it like a group of small boys. HAHA.

So. Ano pa ba nangyari. Oh, I should note that for Fathers' Day I took the fam out to dinner and that's when I sprung the surprise: Oh, have you heard my sister already has a boyfriend? HAHA. This is major news. I felt like I was coming out to them a second time. And as I've said on Facebook, my life experiences are now complete: Told parents about a girl, check. Told parents about a boy, check.

Anyway other things I like doing: Reading things off the #longreads hashtag on Twitter. Recent picks: How To Mend a Broken Heart by Shannon Service, which is about the Museum of Broken Relationships; and The Boy Who Lived Forever by Lev Grossman for TIME, which is about Harry Potter and fan fiction (nice one.)

So for the rest of the year I'm looking at: More rain. Haha :) And more kwento. The other night we were trawling through some old email and we came across some old correspondence circa 2008 and we were talking about this site, serialcomma.net. The site has since closed down, the author now happily married and busy with real life, but I remember that site fondly because she was a good writer and she chronicled her life's ups and downs since 1999 rather beautifully. Sana kasi mas masipag daw ako magsulat haha.

The Peacock Garden getaway

2011-06-21T12:00:00.001+08:00

Scored a lovely 3D/2N getaway at The Peacock Garden in Baclayon, Bohol over the long weekend via a DealGrocer promo a couple of months back. (That was actually my first DealGrocer purchase; best impulse buy made EVER. On that site at least. Haha. Maraming salamat guys! Next year ulit!)

Have I mentioned: ALSO A TOTAL STEAL. Here, have a photo:

Needless to say, we were totally not prepared for how totally awesome that place is.

(Cut for even more photos)

Nestled atop a mountain, the Peacock Garden (owned by German Hans Schoof and his Filipina wife Lani) is located in Upper Laya, Baclayon in Bohol, a fifteen-minute drive from the Tagbilaran airport. It's billed as a "luxury boutique resort" -- owing to its location, it certainly isn't a beach-front property, but trust me when I say it doesn't need to be too near the beach to be awesome. Just saying.

We left Manila Saturday morning via AirPhilippines. News of the tropical depression "Egay" kind of kept us on edge, but what the hell, it was actually sunny when we left Naia-3.Thanks, Universe! (Also worth noting: Can you believe it took us roughly four years to actually plan a getaway involving a the two of us and a plane? For serious.)

Signage by the Tagbilaran airport entrance. Indeed, a different world.

Andrea and I have both been to Bohol before on separate occasions -- she's gone to visit Panglao with her family a few times, while I actually trace part of my maternal roots to Bohol, where my grandfather was born, etc. etc., though it's been certainly a while (read: 6 years) since I was last here, and to say that a lot has changed between summer of 2005 and this weekend is an understatement. So upon booking the Peacock Garden for the Rizal long weekend we decided it would just be about chillin' at the place, a little swimming, and probably lots of... reading by the pool. Haha. :)

Anyway. Reached Tagbilaran City a little past 11 a.m. We were afraid it would be rainy -- we got our umbrellas confiscated by airport security haha and were too lazy to check in one of our hand-carried bags -- but alas, Tagbilaran skies were actually pretty clear when we landed. Our DealGrocer coupon included roundtrip airport transfers, and true enough, someone was waiting for us when we got there:

Specifically, someone driving a fucking COASTER. Haha. This photo taken by our lovely new friend Ira, thank you!

We arrived in the resort some fifteen minutes later after driving through the town alongside colorful tricycles and past the famous Baclayon church. It was a little before noon, and check-in wasn't until 1 p.m. and we were starving as expected. Thankfully, the staff was friendly, accommodating and attentive (constantly efficient throughout our stay, I tell you). They greeted us with welcome drinks and offered to serve us lunch by the pool. We were like, "Okay. STARVING PLEASE HURRY." We were ushered from the reception and into the Old Heidelberg restaurant, past its certainly European interiors, and through the garden, and into something totally breathtaking. From, "Okay, starving" we were like, "Oh my God. What is this place?"

Give me liberty, or give me my hands. LOL. Also, to the left of that statue you can actually see Pamilacan Island.

I therefore conclude that no matter how hard we'd researched on the Internet about this place, nothing could have possibly prepared us for this. I mean, SERIOUSLY. I knew just how much I paid for this three-day, two-night stay, and it somehow felt like I was cheating the establishment HAHA.

Look at those, "JACKPOT!"-smiles haha

Shady individuals by the infinity pool

For lunch, we had the "Chef's set" which, for that day, included lentil soup with bacon, pasta and homemade ice cream (spicyyyy). While waiting, they served us bread with nice butter and schmaltz. Also, we met a new friend, Nong, whom we had initially mistaken for a Filipina haha. Turns out she's from Thailand. :)

And yet another shot of us by the pool. We can't get enough, seriously.

During our first afternoon, we swam a bit in the pool -- LOL finally, after taking a million photos. Anyway it is actually bigger than it looks, damn. The adult pool at its deepest point is 5 feet, which is enough to actually drown me haha. And then we had an early dinner (order the Beef Salpicao from their snack menu -- the best we've tasted EVER) before proceeding to the Fontana Aurelia spa for our massage. Thanks love for this treat! :)

Fontana Aurelia Spa -- come early to your appointment so you can use the Jacuzzi! :)

Before I forget -- we were actually ushered into our room after lunch. As unprepared as we were for the lovely landscape outside, we were also totally caught off guard by how even lovelier the room was. Our DealGrocer coupon included the Premier Infinity and Sea View Room - beyond words. Really.

The keys to a different world

View from the outside

Bath robes! I could totally get used to this!

Actually two sinks here

Morning scene from our window

Also somewhere in this photo: A Sharon Cuneta DVD! Haha. It's as if the place did research on me!

View from the inside

With welcome fruit! They sure know how to make guests feel welcome.

Enough reason to stay indoors, actually (which is probably what we would have done, had it been raining.) On Day 2 however, the sun was out and the day was lovely, so Andrea indulged me and let me do this:

Adventure buggy ride! Also known as, The First Time Drea Sits as Passenger to Anything Driven by Me!

More than a rough drive through tough terrain, there's also an eco-tourism lecture about birds and nature courtesy of our guide-mechanic Jeff.

Requisite jumpshot. LOL my face, as always!

Loved how our guide actually knew birds by sound and was actually pretty knowledgeable about the area and its natural resources, like the plants and their uses, etc. Turns out he was a Forestry graduate. Good job Kuya! We drove through the forest, uphill, downhill, etc. Thankfully, only a few spots were muddy and I only got lost once (haha) on the way back and I got confused as to which way to turn. Hehe. The girlfriend says I'm a good driver! That's all that matters! We're getting a buggy to drive us to and from our Makati workplaces! Or maybe not :)

In the afternoon, we swam a little more (sayang naman ang araw haha) and then tried some other dishes from the Old Heidelberg's menu. (Veal cheeks in wine -- still think the Salpicao's better though)

You and me: To Infinity and beyond. <3

Nifty chess set by the entrance of the restaurant. Egyptians vs Romans ahoy! :)

Staff said this means: Enjoy while we are young. Or something. Haha that we'll do!

Left the following morning after a heavy buffet breakfast with our new Thai friend Nong. Rode a van back to the Tagbilaran airport with Ira et al and waited for our 11 a.m. flight back to Manila, also via AirPhilippines.

Until we meet again, Peacock Garden! We sure had a really lovely time.

Notes on this trip: I'm sure you're curious as to how much all this decadence cost us haha -- the DealGrocer coupon cost P10,995 net, which included 3D/2N accommodation at the Premier Infinity and Sea View room, free daily buffet breakfast and roundtrip airport transfers (I checked -- originally P12,500 A NIGHT. Totally a steal on this front). DealGrocer coupon also included P2,000 resort credit for use in the restaurant, the spa and the activities at your discretion. Thank you DealGrocer, lovely weekend well-spent.

Activities: The 90-minute massage at the Fontana Aurelia Spa was P1,450 per head inclusive of Jacuzzi and steam room use and after-therapy tea. The two-hour adventure buggy trail ride cost P1,750 for two pax, inclusive of guide/mechanic.

Food at the Old Heidelberg is a bit pricey, but we found the Chef's set (with refillable bread basket, appetizer soup, main course and dessert) to be reasonable at P650/head. Their snack menu items start at P300, while their entrees start at P400, but even then the servings are generous you could split them. (This was where the P2,000 resort credit c/o DealGrocer went haha.)

Airfare via AirPhilippines -- not too discounted considering I booked late (May already) -- roundtrip Manila-Tagbilaran-Manila at P3,600/head already inclusive of taxes and fuel surcharges.

(Andrea's LJ entry on the trip is here. The rest of the photos are on her Facebook.)

slates

2011-06-09T01:05:00.000+08:00

Nicked off Friendster and taken by a camera phone. Thesis moments, 2004, I think.

My sister-slash-bestfriend wrote an absolutely heartwarming note over at her blog, and I've spent the better part of this rainy night trying to come up with a worthy reply.

Oh well, here goes. ♥

When I say our relationship is one of the more storied ones, it's probably not an exaggeration -- I met her in an English class when I was 16 and new to this part of the city; now it's ten years later, and to say that a shit ton of things have gone down in between is a gross understatement haha.

We lived in the same corner of the campus and usually walked home together from class, talking about -- well, there's school, there's love (boys! girls!), there's that occasional terror prof and then there's plans of isaw and other sabaw stuff. (And of course, that favorite thing we often recounted in get-togethers, about how I actually came out to her during one of those walks haha. So funny in retrospect, really.)

I remember that time (that one and only time) we went rappelling at Kampo Uno, I was so afraid of heights that Julie actually had to bring me down from the tower herself like a fireman rescuing an unconscious victim haha. Embarrassing, really -- I mean at the time we'd known each other for barely six months and then there I was completely helpless. Haha. (As it would eventually turn out, that wouldn't be the last time she'd save me from things ;-))

So yes, connected at the hip, practically -- we found ourselves processing the days on the way home, often stopping by the streetlamp at the corner of the street to my boarding house to light up a round of cigarettes to talk just a bit longer, haha. In class, we ended up partners in subjects we were taking, most notably that Comm Res 101 subject we took on a Saturday during that epic semester (epic in all sorts of ways, really), and that paved the way to our J199/J200 coupledom LOL. I practically lived in their house, finishing our assignments together and taking turns typing portions of our papers, etc. Hell, I watched Buffy at their house on Mondays, and her family took me in like one of their own (read: fed me. Hehe.) I remember pancit canton afternoons in their kitchen and overdosing on instant coffee and smoking outside their gate until late and having to knock at Manang's door because it was already way past the 10-pm curfew. Haha. (What, may curfew?)

Anyway, so yeah -- that's a whole lot of history right there, not to mention all those nights she spent listening to me whine about that girl I fell in love with halfway through college. (Must have been excruciating. Haha.) I remember texting her that morning after the girl and I became an 'item' with a label of sorts, and rushing to her house at 9 in the morning before anything else just to update her (Kami na! -- pota, ang juvenile. Kadireeee. Hahaha.)

Hah. One of the best times of my life, really; if I were to do a highlight reel of sorts, it'd probably be full of snapshots of this part of my life.

But as with all things, we also struggled with a bit of conflict -- I was this coward who didn't know better and so I ended up hurting the people who mattered the most. It was a difficult time marked by expanding worlds; I was meeting new people, and yet I was painfully aware that something was missing. I don't remember much of the details -- but one day, I think it was through the intra-office chat client (haha don't remember much pala ha), that we started talking about Murakami. If I were to summarize that part of my life, it would be a time for heartbreak and healing.

If anybody were to ask how we got from that all too tentative place to here now, this place of trust and confidence -- I'd say we got here by taking our time. We did a lot of that. She was wary of trusting me again too easily; and so we tried to ease ourselves back into this friendship slowly. No rush, no giant expectations, just the quiet assurance that we're there.

And there we were. And here we still are.

It's amazing, how things like this fall into place.

*

I think I'm currently in that space in my life where I'm all about assessing my current relationships -- all these years I've accumulated all these connections, and it's time to test which ones are for that proverbial long haul.

Over the past couple of years, I have made certain peace with the fact that some ties are better off severed for the sake of growth; but then, I also learned that there are some ties that I really couldn't do without.

I think it's clear, who belongs where.

*

This morning I handed a receipt to our employee services center; it was Julie's request that I hand them over for reimbursement. I've always kidded that Andrea's my girlfriend but that Julie's my other spouse, in that I often run bank duties for her hehe. (Really, it's the least I could do to help my best friend who's four, five cities away from the office. :))

So yeah, I was handing those receipts in when Ms Rachel said something like, "Ang bait mo namang kaibigan."

Laughing in kind, I just said, "Of course, best friend eh!" before heading out of the room.

I wanted to say more -- like, how that isn't even half of it -- but then, hahaba pa ang usapan eh. Hahaha.

I'm sure, gets na nila yun. :)