umaga

Salamat po sa magandang umaga!

strength, hope, love and light

~strength, hope, love and light~

adik

Current status: ADIK

Yeps, I'm an addict. Addicted to California maki, that is. I can't stop eating maki. If I'm not eating, I can't stop dreaming about eating maki. I don't know what brought me to this. Right now, I feel I could go over my remaining time on earth even if it's just maki and me. Yeah, I know for sure that this will not last for good. But, what if it doesn't?

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Photo was taken this Tuesday while having lunch at tokyo tokyo in glorietta. Got no camera in hand, that's my phonecam's capture.

manila mania

wanted to see the sunset soooo much at the baywalk. dragged dodan along. we were supposed to go to the zoo this past saturday before going to baywalk. but since i haven't got much sleep, i met up with dodan at past lunch already. it's already 2pm when i reached ayala. dodan has been waiting for more than two hours for me, buti na lang mahaba pasensya nya. eniwey, happy mood naman sya kase nakita na nya yung hard to find na gundam glorieta. we had lunch first at tokyo tokyo. since there's no time left for the zoo, we just dropped by at their haus first. baby maki (dodan's niece) was sleeping when we came in. dodan invited me to see their newly built terrace. ang yabang, isa daw kase sya sa nagcontribute dun. below are photos i took while we were in the terrace.

pyesta na kina dodan this tuesday!

flowers galore. the actual size of these flowers is just an inch.

we took a taxi going to baywalk, roxax blvd. we were dropped of in from of malate church. from there, we saw a shuttle, yung open on both sides for sight-seeing. i thought it was for free, pero hindi pala. round trip ride costs 25 petot. pwede na rin. the shuttle makes rounds along baywalk, ccp complex, and luneta. na-miss ko tuloy yung motorco, the bus that has seats on top. the sky was gloomy, sayang, di ko na makikita ang sunset. pero anyway, at least it didn't rain.

after our round trip, sa baywalk naman kami naglakad lakad hanggang sa dumilim na ang langit.

matapos ang mahabang lakad lakad, we then went to the fountain area. it's actually called rajah soliman park.

and because the night is still young, kahit masakit na paa namin pareho, isip pa kami kung saan pa pwede pumunta. dodan thought of intramuros' WOW Philippines. taxi ulit kame on going there, mayaman tong kasama ko e, bagong sweldo. when we reached the wow philippines area, nagulat kame kase walang tao. sarado yung big tent, the one that has several tiangges from different places in the philippines. hhmm.. something is not right. dodan was humming the twilight zone background. nasan ang mga banda, ang mga kalabaw, ang mga karitela, ang mga magtataho at kung ano ano pa? we stopped asking questions when we saw the announcement posted on, park's maintenance check daw at sa september na magre-resume. haay.. eniwey, may ilang tiangge naman na bukas so dun na lang kame umikot-ikot. dodan was looking for a coin purse, nadukutan kase sya some weeks ago at ayala. nakabili sya ng coin purse, ako naman abaniko. ikot ikot pa kame until we saw a accoustic act on the other part. meron pa rin naman palang gigs dito, but it's not as festive as it used to be the last time i was there.

at dahil talagang pagod na kami at masakit na paa namin, at gutom na, nagtaxi kame papuntang robinson's place ermita. had our dinner at the food court. tapos, hinatid na ako ni dodan sa bahay namin.

pldt vibe no more

at first i thought my sister changed the settings of my pc. i could not browse at any site, and my YM does not connect. tried to ping yahoo's site, at ayun na.. nagre-request time out. bisit. borrowed my sister's isp card at eto, im back in the internet world again!

~*~

was at manila yesterday with dodantot. di kame natuloy sa zoo, pero natuloy naman kame at baywalk. will post pics in a while.

Mahal,

Madalas, wala akong pakialam sa yo. Madalas, naiinis ako pag nakikita kita. Pero ewan ko ba. Pag nakikita ko ang mga litrato mo nung bata ka pa, ang puso ko ay kumikirot. Minsan, naluluha pa ako. Nalulungkot ako sa nangyari sa iyo, sa nangyari sa atin. Maraming pagkakataon na humihiling ako, sana ibalik ang panahon ang ating kamusmusan para maituwid ko ang lahat. Sa mga litrato ng nakaraan, dun ko naaalala na mahal pala kita.

Pano ko ba ipapakita, ipapadama sa iyo na mahal kita. Hindi kita makausap, hindi kita maabot. Sa ngayon, ito lang muna ang kaya kong gawin, isulat ang nararamdaman ko para sa iyo. Mahal kita, sana malaman mo.

senses gone wrong

It's past 2am according to the pc's clock and I'm still wide wide awake. I should be sleeping by now since dodan and I are going to meet tomorrow at 11am. Blame it on the messed up body clock. Now my senses are confused. Night means work time, and day means rest for it.

~*~

I hope it wouldn't rain this Saturday. Dodan and I are planning to go to the Manila Zoo and at the Baywalk for the sunset.

~*~

I woke up a few hours ago craving for something I don't know. I sauteed a can of tuna for dinner. finished half of the tuna but still craving. Dragged nanay to 711. while I was inside the store, I could not decide which one to buy. I realized I don't like anything there, but it's the only store that's open at that time. Picked up chips ahoy and two packs of mango juice. Reached home and I don't want the chips anymore. Fickle minded me. Again, blame it on the confused senses.

wandering

I can't work, I can't focus. Despite the deadlines, unfinished reports, half way done emails, I can't do anything. I'm stuck into nothingness.

My mind wanders off. I can't help it.

Maybe because it's a Sunday, and me, being the most reklamadoraang babae in the whole wide world, whimpers up and down. It's a Sunday and I'm supposed to be resting! O well, it's been years, I should be used to it a long time ago na.

I've been thinking of my vacation leaves for this month. Should it be approved, I'll be on vacation for 6 days. 6 glorious days!!! The last time I had that kind of vacation was when I went to Singapore.

Hhhmm... where shall I go this time? I'm thinking of seeing the sunrise on Baywalk. Yes, the sunrise. Maybe I'd tag Dodan along. I need to be in Manila as early as 6AM, or earlier, to be able to see the sunrise. I'll also bring my baby rebel with me. I haven't tried to take photos of sunrises yet. I hope the weather would help out. The less clouds, the better. If I wasn't able to wake up early for the sunrise, there's always a sunset. Again, Baywalk is the place to be.

Next thing on my mind is the SPA. My body needs it. A good massage. Time to give myself some pampering. It's been more than a month since I set foot at a salon.

Jog. Time to shake off some flabs.

Divisoria. If had enough money, I'd like to dive in in every tiangge.

I hope I could have my 6day vacation.

Meanwhile, I'm going back to work.

Haayy...

the Eye

I noticed a little silver rectangular thingy blinking red and blue alternately as I was doing "rounds" earlier at work. It was deliberately placed in our team's work area. Ahhh.. the gods must be watching... There are already enough dome cameras installed in every corner of our floor, I wonder what's the use of this one. The gods must be crazy.

~*~

naalala ko tuloy, nung maliit pa 'kong bata. Pag aalis ang lola ko, at kami kami lang ang maiiwan sa bahay (meaning, no grown-up in the haus), lagi nyang sasabihin - "wag kayong gagawa ng kalokohan, yung isang mata ko, iiwan ko dyan. Makikita ko pa rin kayo!" at naniwala naman kami!

~*~

kaya nga If ever I was tempted to do something naughty, rather, something wicked, I'd always have in mind that God's eye is looking down on me. Yeah. It works. But if it's something (wicked) that I'd say, sometimes I wish God was deaf.

photos photos

"You can display a total of 25 photos in your profile."

whooaaa!!!!

from 12 to 25.. i can show the world every angle, every pore on my face, all the poses i do in front of the camera, every event i've been in to, the people i've been with....

it just gets better and betterer

the joy ride

I got at the office just in time. The time reader says I timed-in at 7:42PM. HR is now strictly implementing rules on tardiness starting this month. Grace period was set to 15 minutes. On my first day (for August) I was 30 minutes late. I embody the typical pasaway - pinoy slang for the delinquents.

Getting on time for work, especially when I am on graveyard shift requires a great deal of effort. Work starts at 8PM. So, to reach the office on or before 8, I have to leave home at 6PM. However, 2 hours doesn't always make it. Most of the time, I leave home at 5:30.

What happens on the 2 and a half ride is the subject of the story.

From home, I take a walk to the bus terminal. Walking within my own domain is not just like a walk in the park. I was once victimized by pick-pocket-gangs in our area. So I walk with great caution, ensuring that my bag is securely strapped around me. I carry a sling bag, like that of the postman's bag. As much a possible, I try to avoid carrying shoulder bags. Unlike the sling bag, shoulder bags have more chance being snatched.

The cautious walk only takes 3 minutes. After that, I take the bus bound for cubao. I'm usually lucky have a seat beside the window. It's my favorite part. Sitting beside the window gives me some sort of powers. I have the power over the curtains, I could have it down or put up. I have the power over the air-condition vent, I could monopolize all of it of have it turned off. Bus rides are not really that difficult. All you have to do is sit, wait for the ticket, pay, look out from the windows, watch tv if there's one and wait until you're already in your destination point. However, not all my bus rides are in that pattern. Chances are, someone annoying will barge in. Here are some of my oh-so-annoying-encounters:

A fellow passenger dozing off to sleep, his/her head falling in my shoulder. Hellow!!!! Bus rides for me are equivalent to rest due to my ever chaotic schedule. If someone did this to me, I purposely shrug my shoulders (with full force).

A fellow passenger trying to make a conversation when I am trying to fall asleep. The last time I encountered such was last month. A guy whose name I already forgot sat beside me, introduced his name, told me he's a professor from this school, blah blah blah.. Not that he's ugly or something, that time, I was not in the mood for leisure chats. He failed to notice that I wasn't at all interested. So, for good manners' sake, I politely nodded and gave out my name, my real name - I should have given out my name as Cleopatra! After that, I immediately shifted my head to the window. Again, he failed to notice that I was NOT INTERESTED. This guy's senses must be as thick as the calluses in my feet when I still to wear toe shoes in ballet. The guy still continued to on his blah blahs, and I just nodded for every word said. Thankfully, I was at my destination point in less than an hour. The next time this happens, I'll be frank, say it straightforward that I am not at all interested. Unless of course, if the guy happens to be a Tom Welling look-a-like, I'd have to think twice.

The manyakis. The manyaks actually ranks at top 1 on my hate-list. These are the cold hearted, bloodless, senseless beings roaming around, prying on their next victims. They don't get their stints on me, as I am always vocal when someone attempts to. I reprimand them in a-la-bella-flores tone, making sure that everyone could here their nasty moves.

The preachers. I've read in one of Jessica Zafra's article that this is one of her most hated part of the ride. I don't really hate the preaching part. I could also get some nuggets of wisdom from those. What I hate is the part where the preacher hands over a brown envelope. I have a friend whose a pastor's wife. She said she too had experienced to preach in the streets, but it was never a part of their routine to ask for money from people. She explained it further, but I forgot the details. She even told me that her once husband reprimanded, in a nice way, a preacher who was asking for money.

Other elements such as bad air conditioning. Repulsive smell that induces vomiting. I used to vomit on bus rides when I was young. The bus drivers who drives like he's having an lbm, although at some point this is an advantage, travel time gets lesser. "Kundoktors" who doesn't give my change even if I am about to get down already.

Either one or two of the above mentioned, I'm sure to get.

After the bus ride that usually takes for an hour to an hour and a half, I take my next ride, which is the MRT at the Mantrade/Magallanes station along EDSA. I take the train going south bound, instead of north bound. This is to ensure that I will be seated all the way, thus having less encounters with manyaks. Manyaks are more widespread in the MRT. I always take the seat beside the doors, so that I won't have to squeeze in through the crowd when I'm about to get down. If I get the chance, I would sit down at the side wherein I'll be able to see the traffic flow north bound of EDSA. I like seeing the traffic aling EDSA going from bad to ugly, and my train is moving ahead. Wicked wicked me. My MRT rides are as thrilling, if not horrifying, as with my bus rides.

If I have some money to splurge, I get down at the Shaw Boulevard station, go down at the Shangrila taxi station, and wait for a taxi.

However, if I'm in tipid/kuripot mode I get down at the Cubao/Aranet station. I take a jeepney that will pass through libis. This are the jeepneys bound for Rosario, Ever, De Castro - heck, I don't even know those places. This is the last ride going to work. Should heavy rains pour down, jeepneys rides at cubao could be like hell. I have once stayed an hour just waiting for jeepneys to arrive. And when they do, my feet and legs would all need an athlete's energy, for I need to run with all my might just to get pass though the other passengers who are also waiting. Imagine, 50 bodies trying to get in at the same time. Whew! Again, manyaks and snatchers are still on the loose, so my senses are still on alert mode.

Jeepney rides from cubao to Eastwood takes 20 to 30 minutes. Getting down from the jeepney and crossing the streets is as thrilling as my previous encounters with the bus, MRT and jeepney. There are no stop lights, only white stripes on the pavement. I am crossing libis, in fact it is a high way, wherein cars drive at the speed of not less than 60kph. One strategy I have here is that I cross with other pedestrians. Now I understand this line better -there's safety in number.

After crossing the street, I now reach the building where my office resides. This is the most unattractive building in the whole of Eastwood. I could still not get at ease yet, because I'd still have to make it through the elevators. Yes, the elevator is a part of my joy ride to work. The elevators in our building are nothing as compared to the elevators of the MRT. Most of the time I'd have to waste more than 10 minutes just waiting for the elevator to come down. How ironic, our building carries the name of one of the largest IT company in the world.

The joy ride is already done once I swipe my proximity card on the time reader. Yeah, another night work, and I'm already exhausted.

Personality Quiz

whatever this means...


Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.

The card reads - "Louraine at 18". 18, my youngest is already 18. She used to be the "baby" of the family. Well, she still is. Writing this, I try to reminisce the time she came to us.

Tatay was holding the yellow baby carrier, a mini kuna that could be hand held. I could still recall the excitement Jaene and I had, we were jumping over, trying to see the "new" baby Tatay was holding (we still don't know that she'd be named as Louraine then). Only to find out that there was no baby. Tatay was just mocking.

"asan na ang baby?" we asked

"naiwan sa ospital...." along came with another made up stories such as – "walang pambayad sa ospital, kaya ayun, naiwan si baby... etc... etc."

However, Nanay's story of Louraine's coming was the opposite. She told us that Jaene and I wasn't really excited at all. She overheard the two of us with this conversation while she was still pregnant with Louraine -

"hay naku, si nanay, buntis na naman"

"oo nga, may aalagaan na naman tayo"

I can't recall Jaene and I having that conversation. Oh well, I was just seven that time.

Later, we found out that the baby had to be thoroughly checked-up since the doctors suspected that she had some illness, I heard Nanay calling it Jondis. She had to stay at the hospital for three more days.

And she finally came. She was a cute baby. Chubby, so chubby that her legs and arms looked like they had hamburger deposits. Her cheeks are all reddish, as if it was pinched forcefully. Nanay recalled that she had the same color as macopa.

I couldn't remember anything after that. The next memory of her would be of diaper changings. Yes, Lola trained Jaene and I how to change diapers. Some downside of being the eldest, I had to learn errands adults also do. Jaene and I would take turns on swinging her duyan, so she could sleep continuously. If she peed or had her unwanted outputs all over, Jaene and I would have to sweep the floors, or gather the dirty diaper.

From a cute baby to a cute kid, she still haven't outgrown her baby fats. I would always bite her arms, her chins her chunky fingers. She cries everytime I do that, and would say my sorries afterwards. I remember way back, she was 5 or 6 then. I bit her chin so hard that it left a mark (some purplish to yellowish mark, the one you'd see on fraternity hazing victims). She refused to go to her ballet class, embarrassed that her teacher, Ate Gigi, and her classmates would see her unsightly mark. She was crying so hard. I tried to pacify her and told her that it's not that obvious. I failed to convince her. The bite mark was the size of a 5 peso coin, only the blind will fail to see that. And then, I thought of make-up. Jaene was also there, we both tried to conceal the bite mark using foundation. The make-up didn't completely hide the mark, but at least it was less noticeable.

From a cute kid to a chubby teenager. She took up swimming lessons to reduce her baby fats. Yeps, she became a good swimmer, but the baby fats were still there. Like any other teeners, I've seen her in her rebellious stage. That didn't take long, she was smart enough to not to waste her time on angst and other irrelevant emotional junks.

And now, she's in full bloom. Not just because she's 18 already. She has somewhat dropped some unwanted pounds, if not all. She could cook. She cleans the house well (payback time, my dear sister, it's your turn to do the errands this time). She knows her responsibilities and sets her priorities properly. And even if I don't admit it, she's getting prettier everyday.

My dearest Louraine, our home would never ever be the same without your laughter and childish giggles. Our lives would never be the same without you. And I could truthfully say that I am really really lucky to have you as a sister.