Birthday treats

Long overdue post ... oh well.

August 8

I was supposed to treat nanay and Dianne for dinner but the storm put a damper on our plans.

August 9

I was gonna treat a few friends of mine from AIU-RP on this night but Fred and Stan decided to do the honors instead. Hehehe. Thanks guys! For more info and pics, go to Jen's post about it.

August 10

Froilan and I treated our teammates some Pizza Hut pizza and KFC chicken for merienda. Froilan and I shared the same birth date so we decided to team up for the blow out.

August 11

I invited my high school friends (Abi, Renee and Jaja) and Dianne to the Temple Bar in Greenbelt. Abi was feeling down that night but she was a good friend and tried her best to still have fun that night to not affect our mood.

August 12

I asked Tita Lita to cook her special Kare-kare for us and for my relatives. This is my treat for them.

August 17

The August Celebrants of AIU-RP treated the team for some merienda from Buddy's.

August 24

Cecile, Marvin, Froilan and I treated some of our closest friends from AIU-RP. We spent most of the night and part of the early hours of the next morning in Pier One at The Fort.

Birthday gifts

My birthday this year was full of surprises. Who would have thought that turning 27 would be so much fun?! :D

This post will be dedicated to the gifts I received this year. I don't usually receive gifts on my birthday. My previous birthdays gifts were usually from Carl and Dianne only. I do get gifts from my other friends as well but it's Carl and Dianne who religiously give me birthday gifts. It's not that I'm complaining. Being greeted on my birthday is more than enough for me. And believe me, I get lots of greetings during my birthday! Part of the reason why I get lots of birthday greetings is because I remind people through text messages and emails that it's my birthday. Hehehe.

But I am still very glad when I receive gifts. I feel very lucky. Not everyone gets gifts on their birthdays. And it feels nice to have someone take enough effort to buy something for you, no matter the price.

So, here are some of the gifts I received this year.



This short skirt is from Carl. I am still trying to have enough courage to wear this very short skirt outside of our house .... maybe next summer.



The shades was from Dianne. And about time too since my shades broke recently. Or was it that my shades broke recently that Dianne gave me new shades?! Hmmm ....




The bag was from my mother. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a gift from my mother. Since I started working, she doesn't give me gifts anymore ... huhuhu. I used to receive money from her during my birthday so that I can treat my friends.



The Star Wars thingy was from Carl too. Although to be honest I don't know what to do with it. Marlon, Carl's hubby, explained to me what it was for but I can't imagine myself putting it in my phone since I figured it would just make my phone harder to use. Oh well .. thanks for the gift anyway!

What really surprised me were the gifts from my AIU-RP friends. Although I have also received gifts from officemates before, this is the first time that I received gifts from so many friends from work. Thank you, thank you guys!!!

The body butter lotions were from Ri. I am using one of them now and they smell absolutely delicious! If I had a boyfriend right now I am sure he'll love the taste of the lotion on my skin .... hahaha. I haven't tried tasting myself while wearing the lotion but I might give in to the temptation one of these days ...

The Ralph perfume was from Jen, Tid, Hazel, Jet, Fred and Stan. I don't think that I told any of these guys that this perfume is one of my faves but they certainly got it right!

I got more gifts but no pictures of these gifts. One gift was from Abi, it's something to wear when I have someone to show it too na. Another gift was from Renee, a Zen Zest lotion spray.

You know, in retrospect, I am really blessed. I have a very loving family and very thoughtful friends. I believe that people should always think of these little happiness in their lives and count them as blessings. Not everyone is granted another year with good health, a good job, family and friends. God is really very nice to me. Thank you Lord for all these blessings.

Sensya na sa drama. I was chatting with a friend earlier and we were talking about my papa. I was also reading a novel earlier and one of the lines struck me as so true. But sometimes the pain is as fresh as if it were yesterday. And that got me thinking also that we really should treasure the time we have now and the people we are with. Because life is really too short.

LinkedIn invites

I recently received a couple of LinkedIn invites from people I don't know. I had second thoughts of approving their invites since I don't really know them and I consider my account in LinkedIn as a serious account, not like a Friendster account where I approve anyone who invites me. Oh well ...

6 weird things about Yen

Got this from Tid. This is my first time to try something like this in a blog. Oh well .. here it goes.

1. I am a reading addict. It doesn't matter what I'll read, if I get interested in it my world feels as if it stops. I don't eat, work, sleep, etc until I am finished with what I am reading.

2. I can live for several days with just doing 3 things: sleep, eat and read.

3. I am a religious fan of Postsecret. I check for updates every week, sometimes even everyday.

4. When I am feeling down, I read novels that I know will surely make me howl crying. I even sometimes read books like this back to back. After reading and crying for a few hours (complete with runny nose and very puffy eyes), I'm ok again.

5. I'm dense. Sometimes I'll get wind of news that I scare people or that other people are mad at me or like me or whatever and I won't even have any idea of their feelings towards me.

6. I am both a dreamer and a cynic. I hope for good things in life but I also disabuse myself of my hope.

I am tagging Dianne and Ann to do this in their blog too. I don't know who else to tag since Tid have already tagged JJ and Rianne and they're the only ones who read my blog.

Blogging ...

Tid just left a message in the message board asking if this is my real blog. I also have one at Friendster. Is this my real blog? For now, yes. I'm not much of a writer so I don't post much here.

But I will try to post more. I've realized that as much as I enjoy being up to date with my friends lives, they might wish to be updated with mine too! Hehehe. Specially now that more and more of my friends are working abroad.

Just don't hope for a very detailed post about my life ... as I've said I'm not much of a writer. Also, there are things better shared over a cup of coffee or during inuman! Hehehe.

Currently listening at Hugh Grant's Meaningless Kiss.
Currently feeling sleepy since Henry's despedida last night ended later than I expected.

Chona and Winson's Wedding

Just came home from Chona and Winson's wedding.

Their Christian wedding as held at the Bonsai Garden at UP Diliman. Luckily, I was able to google the quickest way to get there so unlike my Solar friends, my mom and I didn't get lost.

It was a lovely wedding, even the drizzle right in the middle of the ceremony.

When we arrived there, Jack and his wife Iris was already there. Jay T. soon arrived after us. At ang lokong Jack at Jay, pinagtulungan ako! Sabi ba naman ba't daw gurl na ako ngayon?! Hehehe.

Jeng then arrived without Arne because Arne had to work today and will be coming in late.

Sir Empoy, Pia and Joven arrived just about when we were to march down the aisle.

And of course, here are some pictures. Pardon me if there are a lot of pics of me because I simply felt beautiful today! Hehehe. I know, I know, you might say that I am always beautiful but I was extra fine looking today ... in my humble opinion. :D

Di na maka-hintay bumaba ng kotse kaya nagsimula na magpa-picture.



Me and Jeng.



Me and Jack. Because some of the secondary sponsors were late, I suddenly became the sponsor for cord instead of just being a bridesmaid.



Me and Pia, my thesis partner.



With the newly weds, Chona and Winson



With Solar pips.



Pretty me and my pretty mom



At shempre, solo pic ko

Solar Lab Dinner

The Solar pips met for dinner last June 8. We met at Congro Grille in El Pueblo at Ortigas.



Winson and Chona are getting married and they met with us to invite us to their wedding.




Jeng, Pia and me are part of the entourage! We get to wear pretty gowns! Hehehe.

Totoo na to ...

Promise, ito na last outing namin for the summer 2007 ....

My Nanay celebrated her birthday with our extended family by treating us with breakfast in her new house in Pampanga and by providing food for our Fontana outing.

Dami sana maganda kwento dun sa outing namin eh. Kaso I have no talent in writing. Copy paste ko sana ang kwento ng sis ko dito about our outing kaso di pa siya nagpo-post about it. Hehehe.

One of the reasons why I continued with this blog is so that I can go back to the happy times (and the not so happy times). Kaso kung ang tamad ko naman magsulat tungkol sa mga yun, parang la rin wenta noh?! Hay naku!

Anyway, here are some pics from our outing.

Last hurrah for Summer 2007

Finally, after planning to go to Club Manila East for quite some time now (it was one of the contenders for our annual summer outing since 2005), we went to the Taytay, Rizal resort last Sunday.

The resort was better than expected. It was nice, with many pools and was not very crowded. The only disappointment was that the pool water was hot! I was expecting it to be cold since we were in Rizal, which is a fairly higher land mass. Oh well ....

Here are some pics.

It's not an outing if there are no self-pics ....



My 1st kayak ride. This pic is actually funny if you knew that the pool was only 4.5 feet high ... the funny part?! We were wearing vests!!! ... It wasn't funny?! Oh well ...



The waves were great!



My only regret for this summer was that I was not able to go snorkeling even just once! Oh well, there's still next summer.

tama kaya naging desisyon ko?!

hay! sabi nga nila, time will tell ....

Anilao, Mabini, Batangas

At dahil layas kaming magpapa-milya, after ng aming outing sa Sariaya, Quezon pumunta kami dun sa Healing Hands grotto sa Lucban, Quezon. Di ko pa ma-post yung pics dito kasi dun sa old fashioned camera yung pics namin at di pa siya napapa-develop. But never fear, as soon as mapa-develop un i-scan ko un at post ko dito. Hehehe. Wish ko lang maalala ko i-update tong post na to.

Anyway, after visiting the grotto we travelled for 3 hours to go to Mabini, Batangas where our Batangueno cousins live. Grabe, it was as if we came from Manila! 3 hours! Oh well, the outing the following day was worth it anyway. On Easter Sunday, we went to Anilao for some more fun in the sun! The sun was blistering hot but the sea was soothing cool.

Beachwood Resort, Sariaya, Quezon

For our annual family holy week getaway, we went to Beachwood Resort in Sariaya, Quezon.

The travel took about 3hours from Manila. The place was so-so, the 2 family rooms we rented were fairly big. Well, bigger than I expected. We were able to carm 10 people inside 1 room. There was 2 swimming pools, one for the kids and 1 for adults, and 2 jacuzzis.




And of course, the beach! Although we weren't able to enjoy much the beach. The sand was very fine but it was more black than gray. The sea was far from calm, there was great waves that would have been fun if not for the unpredicatbale nature of the sand. One minute, you're standing on sand with the sea at knee level and after one step the sea is at chest level already! And eventhough we brought life vests, it was still scary since you might be carried away by the waves.

But we were able to take great shots from the beach!

Gmail Paper

I feel so stupid. I fell for the Gmail Paper prank. I really thought that it was a Gmail service. Hehehe.

do i look gay?!

la lang ...

Corregidor

Nagpunta kami ng aking ilang AIU-RP friends (The Cookies, a.k.a Lord and Jenny, Earth, Fred, Stan and Hazel) sa Corregidor nung Sabado, March 24, 2007. Riot ang grupo. Hanggang doon, addict sa pictures ang mga tao! Hahaha.

Nagkita-kita kami sa CCP Bay Terminal. Na-flip ako dito kay earth (anong bago dun?!). Pano ba naman, ako kasi unang dumating dun. So ni-text ko sila na andun na ako at, baka kasi di sila familiar sa place, sinabi ko na sa CCP Bay Terminal sila pumunta. Etong si Earth nag-reply ba naman ng:

Ano oras na?! Late na ...

O di ba?! As if ako ang late?! Hahaha.

Dami rin namin pinuntahan dun. Aside from being an enjoyable trip, it was educational too!

Here are some of the pics. For the rest of the pics, click here

re-blogging ....

It's been a long time since I've last posted here. Will try my hand at blogging again. It's nice to have something to look back to.

Will keep you posted.

Backstreets Back Alright!

Watched the BSB Never gone concert last night with my sister at Araneta. It was so worth it! I was even thinking during the concert that maybe I may have been able to justify to myself to buy the 5,000 pesos front row ticket rather than the 1,000 pesos ticket that was 2nd to the lowest! Hay! But I'd rather not dwell on that because it's no good thinking of things you cannot change.

Anyway, the concert lacked special effects that usually accompanies BSB concerts but the boys made up the lack of special effects with their awesome performance! Boy band na boy band! Complete with the dance moves and sequences! It is as if I am 15 yeras old again and was falling in love with them all over again. Although now, I wasn't swooning because of Nick Carter (which was my fave in the start). He's kinda chubby na kasi eh. Kevin is still gorgeous even if he's getting old. And AJ still looks like a gangsta so no surprise there. But Howie D and Bryan have changed! They are so papable now!

And I liked the fact they they showed their fans that they do appreciate that we have stayed with them for so long. And that we are not ashamed of the fact that we are still fans. Some people that my sis knew told her that BSB is so bakya na daw and was teasing her about watching the concert. But typical Dianne, she just shrugged them off.

Bryan was very very nice yesterday night! All of the boys were nice but for me Bryan was the best! And it was fun watching them enjoying the show!

Hay! I'll post some pics as soon as I upload them in my flickr account. Although the pics will be a bit small since we were wayyyyyy far from the stage. If only it was possible to take pictures using binoculars ... tsk tsk!

Music 21 Gimik

at dahil minsan minsan na lang kami magkasama-sama magpipinsan ... nag-happy happy kami sa music 21. actually dapat sa baywalk kami tatambay kaso super dami ng tao! para kang nasa divi! tapos before nun, nanood kami ng

enteng kabisote 2
okay ka fairy ko
the legend continues

o di ba, hanep sa title?! grabe ha! ang dami nanonood nung pelikula na un! imagine ang dami namin na nasa harap nakaupo at sa sahig pa kami nun ha! di naman siya maganda! para ka lang nanonood ng mahabang version ng dadidodu! hehehe.

baywalk:




music 21:

Christmas 2005

ang saya ng christmas namin this year. mejo kumpleto kami kasi dito samin nag-xmas ang mga pinsan ko from batangas and sila arvin at banong kasama din namin. pati sila nhang-nhang, ate day, kuya kong and their families. and best of all, wala mashadong telenovela ang pasko namin! hehehe. tradition na kasi sa pamilya namin na laging me mga dramathon pag holidays eh ... xmas special ... holy week suspense ... at all saint's day action! hehehe. shempre ang makaka-gets lan nito eh mga kamag-anak ko. hehehe.

anyway, here are some pics:

ronald, arvin, kuya dondel - top level
egay, nhang, dianne, me, emond, banong



andrei's robotic arm



namimigay na ng gifts nila sina tito pitch at tita mariz



pila kay tito ando



3 stoogies

S.A.W.I. (Single Ako Warning Ito)

nanood kami ng stage play ni dianne kagabi, sobra sa enjoy ung play! hehehe. since mas magaling mag-kwento ung sis ko, kinopya ko na lng ung post sa blog nya at nilagay ko dito (with some editing of my own). read her review of the play para magka-idea kayo kung gaano ka-enjoy ung play. hehehe. we enjoyed it so much na we're watching again another play from Koine (the production house). we will be watching Subtext next sat.

-----

Day Out: S.A.W.I



Imagine.

You’re in a dark room, sitting utterly still. You can hear your breathing rhythm as well as the breathing of 20 other people. You’ve paid much for this experience and you’re expecting satisfaction. Suddenly…

A man cries out from the darkness. Bright lights momentarily blind you and you see this character scurrying to make it to the door. He looks like the devil himself is behind him, chasing him to the depths of hell. The pained look on his face, along with a hand on his backside makes you think that his doom is upon him. He screams.

Oh, wtf. It’s just a plug for their play next month, entitled “Sampung minuto bago makaraos.” ::x_x::

Again, in a darkened room. The tension was momentarily dispelled by the shameless plug but returns with a vengeance as a small voice starts counting off. “One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three….”

And then nothing.

Again, she counts, “One thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three….”

Err.. what’s freaking happening here?

Just when you are about to speak up and complain, a ghastly apparition appears in the television. The suddenness of its appearance makes you want to cry an- what the? It’s just a poor imitation of Ate Charo.

And from here on end starts the experience that is S.A.W.I.

Single Ako. Warning Ito.

Some people might not be able to relate with the concept of S.A.W.I. but it is a fact that this happens to many people in the country.

As the protagonist, CheChe put it, it has something to do with the question put to all the still single people out there. She described it as karumaldumal, horrendous and utterly impertinent:

“CheChe, may boyfriend ka na ba?”

Yes, my dear readers, if there are any, this is an experience that will make you tear your hair out in frustration. For not only her friends, her family and her relatives, CheChe is also plagued by this question by the university’s resident nun, the manong guard and the janitor. How sad.

And then, from the heavens came a roar of thunder, a flash of lightning and a loud voice that asked:

“CheChe, anak ko, may boyfriend ka na baaaaaaaaaaaaaa?”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lord, ano ba. Bigyan mo na kasi siya ng boyfriend para hindi ka na magtatanong.


But all does not end there. If the question is impertinent, horrendous and frustrating, the follow up question is even more so. It makes the first seem like a warm up.

“Nge? Eh baket wala pa?”


CheChe, girl, I feel your pain.

And then of course, the play wouldn’t be complete without her three friends-slash-ex manliligaws to pester her.



Friends-slash-manliligaws:

1. Maki. Wearing a stupid looking yellow green shirt and a green vest. Has black angular glasses that seem a bit big for his face. The geek of the group, he tried courting CheChe but ended up flat on his face because he’s Maki, the makulit.

2. Chicoy. (Dunno if I got the spelling right) The incurable womanizer/bolero of the group. Wearing a stupid looking hat and trying to impersonate a crossbreed of the Power boys AND Rexona boys. Cheesy and unoriginal. Got dumped due to his bad impersonation of Don Juan.

3. Victor. Big. Wearing a bright, sunny yellow shirt and lacks a few nuts on his mental faculties. As Maki puts it, he’s a slow one. Got dumped due to the fact that all he builds is his muscles and not his neurons.

And as they sort through the reasons for CheChe’s still ongoing single status, they stumble upon the fact that CheChe has love illusions of her own. Which includes her partner in Biology Lab. He’s everything she wants. But. There’s always a big but.

He’s already taken.

Argghh…. Get that song outta my head. ::flushes broken sonnet out of her system::

They agonize some more. Then at the end, CheChe rationalizes that why can’t she love everyone? Why does she have to choose this single person to shower her love upon when she can love everyone around her? Ah, I’ll stop it here.

In a nutshell, it is a must see. Though I’m not sure if it will be shown again, since last night was their last night to perform that particular piece. The actor playing CheChe was great, along with the facial expressions. The three guys weren’t so bad too and of course, Ate Charo was astounding. I’m not sure if it will be shown again but if you want to check out their other works, seach for Koine productions at clickthecity.com