The post-birthday post

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!

twenty-seven

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)

because the best things in life are Libre!

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)

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

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!)

december so far

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!

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!)

last friday night

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!)

the little team that could

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!)

midweek round-up, 11.09

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)

monthsary weekend round-up

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.

more wedding photos!

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)

domestic injury time!

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!

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!)

the midweek round-up, 10.11

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!)

the midweek round-up, 9.28

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.)

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

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

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!)

the midweek round-up: 9.07

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)

the long weekend update

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.

ghost month

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)