Bisaya Bloggers

I maintain a few websites for friends sometimes for small gratuities (money for snacks) and once a year as they renew their domain registrations and hosting services I sit down and jazz them up with new templates and layouts.

This weekend I did my sister-in-law Dr. Faith Mesa-Gaerlan’s org site Philippine Society of Emergency Care Physicians (PSECP).

Couple of days back I gave Danton Remoto’s blog a little facelift. I’m also submitting a proposal for his personal website for the May 2010 Elections.

Just finished overhauling MSU Demolay Rainbow for Sam and his brother Ferdie.

I got a few pics lined up for the Gallery on Gaerlan St., more buses with Bayani stickers for Press this Button, and the Lego Boys invade Chinatown on Do I.T. Yourself.

But they will have to wait for their updates, after all it’s a long weekend. I have another day ahead of me to do that.

I had forgotten so many things about my previous life, whether purposefully or just because of brain cells that have long expired. But in my feeble mind’s effort to leave the past behind it had also erased some of the wistful memories that I should have kept. The kind that when someone reminds you of it you absolutely do not remember, and even deny ever happening. Then it comes back to you, gently but constantly as a sudden drizzle on a summer morning.

My eldest son had taken the UPCAT too, nine years ago. He had conjunctivitis on exams day, but he took it anyway, the proctor allowed him to keep his sunglasses on to protect his pride. He reminded me of this when he was here last week, after having heard the news that his kid brother had taken it as well. I had forgotten about it completely, and so he reminded me that I had waited outside UP Cebu campus until he came out. He passed that exam, but his chosen campus was UP Diliman, and after considering the expenses his going away was to incur, it was decided that he stay in Cebu and attend the University of San Carlos instead.

And I suppose memories such as these are the particular ones my mind blocks out, because they remind me of all the other wrong decisions I had made as a parent. Decisions that my children suffered for because I had, at the time, thought they were the best thing to do.

Along with these memories I suppose I had also forgotten friends mainly because I didn’t want to be reminded of that previous life. I count those that remained friends to this day with one hand.

One of those friends is Danton Remoto. I first met Danton in the mid-80s at the Silliman University Summer Writers Workshop. I was this insignificant writer from Cebu and he was the up and coming poet from Manila. I knew little about him then, other than the fact that he was from the Ateneo. A few years later our paths crossed again at a literary gathering in Cebu. This was shortly after my uncle Amando F. Kapauan passed away, and Danton told me that their tables faced each other at the Ateneo de Loyola Faculty Lounge, and that he could still feel Kap’s presence when he sat there. A couple of more years after that I ran into him quite by accident at the Cafe Adriatico in Remedios. I was with my cousin’s banking friends and was trying not to look baffled by all the in-house jokes they were cracking, and I saw Danton floating up the stairs.

I do remember what he told me while I sat at his table. “Girl na girl ang aura mo kung hindi mo kasama asawa mo.” I remember pondering that remark when I went back to Cebu when my business trip was over. I suppose it was one of the things that firmed my resolve to sever my ties to the old life and start a new one.

Now Danton himself has embarked on a new life, from academic to politician. And we’ve crossed paths again, as I have volunteered my services in his quest for a seat in the Senate of the Republic of the Philippines in 2010. My post on the February 29 rally on Ayala has another photo of Danton and myself, when we happened to walk the same path towards the hub. That was when he told me he was running for the Senate, and when I told him he could count on my help for whatever he may need.

Danton Remoto in 2010.

My co-worker Cel has an enviable tan. It’s her natural skin color. My husband Sam had commented once that Cel reminds him of a young Tetchie Agbayani. I agree.

We were having lunch once, Cel and I, and she mentioned that one of her older sisters gave her some whitening lotion that she couldn’t wait to try out.

“Whitening lotion?” I said, incredulous. “If I looked like you I’d walk down the beach in Boracay in a two piece swimsuit and feel the envy of everyone spread out on the sand trying to get the tan that I naturally posses!”

And I wonder where it will all come to, whitening stuff for Asian women while caucasians try their darndnest to get a tan.

Life for me has been rather interesting the past two weeks, but there were developments I was waiting for before I could finally blog about them.

My son Maui is in fourth year high school, a time when you can no longer postpone the decision of what you want to do with your life. A huge part of that is where to go to college. At first I thought it was not going to be that difficult, as I had attended a parent-teacher meeting at his school where his adviser said that the school’s guidance office will coordinate with the colleges and the students regarding applications for entrance exams. This is, the advisor said, the absences a student would have to incur on the days that he/she would have to go to the chosen college to get application forms and such.

I thought this was a laudable move from the school—that was until Maui asked the guidance office about the University of the Philippines College Admissions Test (UPCAT). The Guidance Counselor showed him the announcement poster, which had been stuffed in her drawer and had not been displayed on the bulletin board, and it said the deadline for submission of applications had been on the 18th of June. It was now the second week of July.

Maui and I searched the internet and found the UP Office of Admissions Online, where it did confirm the deadline for submission for Metro Manila schools was 18 June and 25 June for non-Metro Manila schools. But one could still register online, fill out the application forms and generate a printout ready for the school’s registrar’s office to put in this grades from the previous first second and third years of high school, and for the principal of the school to sign and affix the school seal.

Armed with the printout (2 copies of the 3-paged application form) and four 2*2 ID photos of my son I went off to see the High School Principal of the Basic Education Department of Olivarez College. I told her what we needed and she proceeded to tell me that it will take the registrar a week to generate the historical grades, something I thought unbelievable as the entire college was computerized and networked, which was why it was so quick to make a payment at the cashier’s, because they could pull the records from their computers within seconds. I voiced this out to the principal and took the guidance office to task for not displaying the UPCAT announcement for the students benefit, when the adviser said they would help the students in this regard.

The principal said “Did the adviser say that we would help out with the UPCAT in particular?” I said no, but since he meant college entrance exams applications I thought he meant all of the colleges available. The principal then said that they had been under no obligation to display the UPCAT announcement.

Why? I said, incredulous.

Just that, the principal said, they were under no obligation to post announcements from other colleges.

Because you have your own college? Which Olivarez of course did. She said nothing. What if the course my son wants to take is not offered in your college? And why NOT display the UPCAT announcement, wouldn’t you be proud to be known as a school who can prepare kids for the most prestigious state university in the country?

The principal also said I will have to get the registrar’s entries on the historical grades, after which the principal’s office will verify the entries, and after that she will sign the papers, a process which would take more than five days. I wanted to tell her that if they had made good on their promise to help the students with their college applications I wouldn’t even be here in the first place, but I knew a conversation in that vein would go nowhere, so I said goodbye to the principal and headed off to the registrars office.

The registrar was more helpful than the principal, and after hearing me out, he called out the person in charge of filling out the grades sheet, who in turn told me to come back in two days. Two days is better than five, so I thanked them and went on my way.

The other problem was how to get the application form when it was already past the published deadline. For this I had to turn to my best friend Sam who knew a few people at UP. All I wanted was to get the application in of course, if it’s not too big a favor. So Sam made a call to a friend who told him to bring the application forms and bank deposit slip from Landbank (P450 + P25 transaction fee) to his house on campus and he’ll see what he could do. Two days later Sam got a call from UP Admissions saying that Maui’s pass was ready, but that we had to pay the late filing fine of P150 at the system cashier. After all that we’ve been through, P150 was fine.

So this is how I got to celebrate my actual birthday—walking around the Diliman Republic with Sam and getting to see almost every hallowed building there was on campus. A short trip to the cashier at the basement of the building behind the Oblation to pay the fine, and then on to the Admissions building to present our receipt and get Maui’s exam pass. We asked admissions if they were still accepting late applications and they said Yes, they were, and would keep accepting them until the last possible minute.

With Maui’s exam pass in hand we walked on to find Malcom Hall, where Maui needs to be at half past six in the morning on Sunday, the 3rd of August.

We then walked to Mang Jimmy’s in Balara for an early lunch. We congratulated ourselves for a mission accomplished with sizzling blue marlin and bulalo and kare-kare, all yummy and at surprisingly affordable prices. Mang Jimmy’s also has a wall of fame where photos of famous people who had eaten at this restaurant were spread across.

After lunch at Mang Jimmy’s we walked back to campus and dropped in at the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice, where a mass was ending. While we sat there I surreptitiously took out the envelope containing Maui’s pass and showed it to Jesus who was hanging benignly from a cross on the ceiling. Mind blessing this, Jesus? Every little bit helps.

We had coffee at Khaz by the swimming pool where the foreign exchange students hung out, then walked through the commercial center to case the place. Lots of internet cafes, copying centers, a Western Union outlet, a store where you can get kitted out in maroon. We even dropped by Kalayaan hall where I had been billeted for a week back in ‘85 when I had been a fellow at the Summer Writers Workshop.

After that very long walk we dropped by on Sam’s friend, the person who took the trip out to the Admissions office with his cane and all, to hand Maui’s application over to the Director of Admissions himself. He was having luch at the Tree House over at the SOLAIR after a holding a class and attending a meeting. He bought us coffee and asked us about Maui and gave us a few tips on what Maui should be prepared for come August 3. And so we sat there while he chain-smoked his Rothmans and talked to Sam about old friends and we agreed that Cebu was no longer the city we remember it to be. He was from the municipalities of Pinamungahan and Carcar.

We would have talked into the early evening if we hadn’t told him of our plans to get a reviewer for Maui on the way home, and so we walked him to his car (he still drives himself around campus) and he even offered to drop us off to where we were going next. But we felt we had imposed on him too much already.

Sam and I left UP campus and headed off to National Bookstore in Cubao for the reviewer, and then hopped on a bus going home. We were so tired we slept for most of the trip. When we got home we gave Maui his exam pass, his revierwer, and told him everything the old man told us.

But this was just the first step. Now it’s up to Maui to make an old man proud, not to mention his parents. Wish him luck.

After swimming in Nai Harn beach for several hours, this little fellow (who happens to be my godson) didn't run out of energy and insisted we also take a dip in their swimming pool. It lasted more than two hours. Mum and Dad could only smile, as this cute little rascal showed off his swimming skills to his Ninang (godmother) Z.


He calls it the Kung Fu jump, one of his many crazy jumps shown to me on that afternoon.

News of anyone having a baby always brings a smile to my face. So when our tech guys Beng announced a baby shower for his first born due in October we all happily pitched in. Beng had a list to help us along, so it wasn’t very difficult to think about what to get for the coming baby.

A few days after the party he thanked us by putting this picture up on his website:

And while I looked at it I remembered how my babies started out. Totally different circumstances they were, as we were living in the province, I didn’t have a job, and I had a bunch of sisters- and cousins-in-law who had babies and baskets full of hand-me-downs for Athelstan. Diapers were made out of old flour sacks, washed out and bleached and washed with Perla Blue so that they’d be soft and fluffy. Old blankets were cut into smaller chunks and sewn into quilts to line the convertible crib which had belonged to the eldest son of the eldest daughter-in-law of an aunt.

Honestly, this was the first time I had been invited to a baby shower. We didn’t have them in the province, as it was considered bad luck to buy anything in advance for an unborn baby. I had sat with head bowed under disapproving eyes of elder women who tut-tutted after I had bought a baby mobile while I was six months pregnant with Maui. I had gone to the local bakery and bought three dozen old flour sacks but I couldn’t clean them out because my neighbors ten meters away would cluck and shake their heads at me, and I was young enough back then to care.

When we were expecting Maia things were a bit different. We lived in Manila now, where no one cared what their neighbors did as long as they weren’t too loud, and I had enough funds to plan ahead with. Sam and I had managed to get a few things in Divisoria in preparation for the hospital basket, the one we’d take when it was time to go to the delivery room. But having gone through previous experiences such as these keeps me in awe of parents who do hold baby showers, and half of me wishes I had done the same thing back then.

The photo above is courtesy of Beng’s young wife, who patiently laid out all the gifts on the toddler bed, and took picutres for all of us to see.

Nothing beats soaking on the warm, bubbly waters of jacuzzi, after a hard day's work, or, on a cold night.

Join us here.

A good friend recently sent me an email bringing good news – she’s getting married this month. It was such a whirlwind romance that while we, her close friends, are happy about this milestone, we are also really surprised over this. But never you mind, M, what's more important is that you both are happy, and, you got what you wished for - becoming a June bride *wink*.

Isn’t it funny, no? Times are hard but we see people taking the marriage plunge. Even here in Cambodia, the number of wedding invitations I receive every week gets too overwhelming. Every time I pass by the Mondial Center, a popular place to hold wedding receptions in PP, the place is always full; every inch of space in the car park is filled. That is definitely the power of love; that it is even stronger than the economic crunch!

Going back to my friend, M. What I thought at first was that she was pregnant and that it had to be a shot-gun wedding or something. But knowing M... the hopelessly romantic M... the right man has finally found her, and with him, a promise of a life happily ever after. Er, I made that one up.

Basta, M, suportahan ta lang ka, ah. Best wishes to you both.

Have you ever felt like you were watching a real-life romantic love story unfold right before your eyes? Sometimes, I look around and see my friends going through their relationships and heartbreaks. I wonder, what if this guy sending some well-wishes on the web page of my newly attached friend is actually the ONE for her? I get this funny kilig feeling. It makes me feel like I am sitting near the Master Author, who allows me to read parts of the grand story He is writing.

No, he's not really drunk.
He borrowed the whiskey bottle from another table and gamely posed for this shot :)
He is Long Dimanche, our Coordinator in the Prey Veng Pilot Project site. Being the head of the team on this part of Cambodia, he does all the preparations making sure everything is ready when I arrive to conduct workshops and meetings. After days of working in and with the community, we, locals and ex-pat staff alike, share what the locals call a solidarity dinner. Everyone gets cleaned up, all dust washed away, puts on new clothes, and wear our best smiles looking forward to a fun night. Dinner is usually accompanied by loads of karaoke singing (all Khmer songs), dancing, and drinks.

A little angel came my way and it was sent by Princess of CJ. I am glad that she considers me a friend even though we have yet to meet in person. Okorn charan, sis, from the bottom of my heart. What a nice birthday pressie! In turn, I am sending this angel to everyone in my links list. Hope this little angel brightens your day!

So I am excited!

My friends are coming over for a tour of Angkor Wat. The hotels in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh are already booked, the itineraries been finalized... a few hours from now, three friends of mine will set their feet in to Cambodian soil for the first time.

J-B-L-O-G-G-E-D will arrive via Poipet together with her travel companion, Yvonne. Both of them are Pinay bloggers, working in the Maldives and this will be our first meeting, although Ja and I talked on the phone for hours months ago when she surprised me with an overseas call. We talked as if we're long-lost friends.

Linda, on the other hand, is a member of the IAWRT family and EBC family. We met in Kathmandu where we both participated in the IAWRT conference on Women and Peace. She's just finished her 9-month fellowship stint at the Environment Broadcast Circle in Manila. She is visiting Phnom Penh before returning to her native South Africa.

Do call me girls. You know my number :) Save for sore throat and clog-gy nose, girls, I am ready for anything!!

A

it was quite unexpected fun really. i flew to cebu not expecting much, but with the kindness and generosity of the people it was very enjoyable and blessed. lots of laughter and lots of pictures. our snorkeling gears were utilized to the full as we checked out the coral reefs of the two islands. silly, harebrained ideas with jan as willing victim. tee-hee!

thank you, ray for arranging most of the trip.
thank you, jerry for being our kaban ng yaman, official haggler and PR person.
thank you, andy for the cheap rates and the great service.
thank you, tito peter for being jan's boyfriend and teaching us about bombs.
thank you, tita susan for the free dinners and the big discount on the lodging and showing us around ogtong cave resort. it is truly a wonderful place.
thank you, ray, jerry, mia, miah, ninin and jan for sharing the trip with me. i had such a great time and so did dixie. i haven't waken up that early for three consecutive days in quite a while. just to see the sunrise spectacle that decided to be quiet the days we were there. still lack of sleep but abundance of food and friends... always something worth having.

like what dixie said... let the pictures do the talking. soon. ;p

i'm a month old today!

i spent the last few days with m.angie and her friends at malapascua and bantayan island. most of the time i was just inside my bag because i might get wet. but it was fun riding the boat, though a little scary. i might need to go back to the shop if i got wet. so i'd rather be not wet.

i've discovered two new ways to make use of my abilities. i've always known about my continuous shots feature but this was the trip where i had the most fun with it. my models did a lot of funny poses so i took one pixie after another. it's funny when you see the results. like a cartoon missing a few frames... well that was it actually. hehe! t.jan was the funniest person during the trip which was quite new. must be the fresh bantayan air. hehe!

we also played with my shutter speed. since it was already dark, m.angie and ther friends tried to write their name with light. and it was so spectacular! except m.angie took a long time to learn it. t.ninin did it quickly and so did t.ray. t.mia and t.miah had a hard time as well... but they seemed to enjoy a lot.

there is so much to tell about the trip but i think my pixies will do a better job at it. i'm just glad to have spent my first month being fully utilized. there is so much to learn about me! and i'd like to know that about myself too.

i wonder how the next few months would go with me? i hope it's as exciting and adventurous. :)

Today my folks and I had a very enjoyable lunch with my friend, Bob Martin, and his family at their lovely home. The Martins were at our home some weeks ago and we treated them to Filipino fare. This time, we were treated to American cooking — Bob’s mother, Billie, described it as a traditional Thanksgiving meal.

The butterball turkey, which is available in grocery stores in Davao by the way, was really good! They had it prepared lechon-style at Lechoneros. I’m prefer white meat because it’s healthier, and not because it’s tastier — but the turkey breast was juicy. (more…)

it is that time of the year again when the city of davao comes alive with people and activities. streets are colored with fruits selling cheap and tasting sweet. i've probably devoured 10 kilos worth of mangosteen in five days!

this year was complete attendance and more, as friends from manila flew over to enjoy our yearly tradition of a crazy August weekend. it may be quite a while since another gathering of this number may happen. if that be the case, it was a fitting swan song for a tradition that brings the barkadayawan/fuhkers (fun house kids) together.

Love Autopsy

Figuring out you and me
Is like doing a love autopsy
They could operate all day long
And never figure out what went wrong
Love autopsy
Love autopsy

ah ah ah ah

What went wrong

Continue Reading >>>

Last night I took time off to help out a good friend with some of the more technical aspects of blogging. After maintaining his blog for some time now, Mandaya Moore decided it was time to take the next step — the one that’s beyond merely writing articles. Specifically, he was curious about MyBlogLog. So I apprised him of the wonders of social bookmarking services. For good measure, I also showed him the ropes around Technorati. Well, the basics anyway.

Sitting down with my friend and having been able to share my knowledge gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling yesterday. Not only because Mandaya and I are friends, but also because I realized I’d gotten so busy lately that I’d neglected my objective this year. And that’s to get more people to start blogging. Earlier, around summer, I was able to inspire two friends to take it up, but that was it. So I’m glad that my friend, who will remain anonymous behind his blogging pseudonym (for now), gave me the chance to pick up where I’d left off. (more…)

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at least for me, anyway.

i have totally vindicated my 11-year old self for sleeping during their concert back when we were still living in angeles city! yeah, stupid me. totally fell asleep in the midst of blaring music and a wild crowd. and woke up right smack in the middle of "salamat."

anyway, it was good i was already able to watch "tulad ng dati" before their davao gig because i was totally pumped out to listen to the great live music of the dawn.

but i had to get over one hurdle of the day first. my mother was godmother to a wedding, so i offered to accompany her for the afternoon so i get to wear my princess dress (which i willing victim to kaladkarin's masterful manipulation of thrift shop shopping) and eat a free dinner at apo view.

then they sang "enveloped ideas," the crowd really went wild. one even got accosted by the police for throwing a plastic cup to the stage (which he might have stolen from either jerry or tat who placed their beers on the speaker while dancing). and tat has evidence of how wild in her camera.

when they did "salamat" i was near-panic because that meant the end of the night. no! no! no! you can't stop yet. it's only 1130! noooh. but they did. when the lights dimmed on the stage... most of the crowd were on their way out. we, on the other hand, still had to finish the rest of the second beer tower.

it was then that we realized that jerry had not eaten and had downed so much beer already. the slur in his speech was funny that we forced him to have dinner and sober up in gerry's grill.

the band was there! the band was there! but i was tyope the whole time. i so wanted to go up to them and thank them for such a great time. instead i just told my story of penis-fencing flatworms and chastity-belting butterflies.

finally, when they seemed to be on their way home, a sense of urgency rushed up to me that i was only 20% tyope to go up to them. but kang had more courage and got my camera and asked the dawn if we can have our picture taken with them. of course, they were more than kind to oblige. aaaaahhhhh. inakbayan ako ni jett! aaaaaah. piniktyuran kami ni francis. aaaaahhhh!

after the whole thing, we went back to our seats. my knees were shaking so bad. i couldn't even kneel on the chair to grab a piece of tokwa. sheyt. what i felt that night was somewhat similar to what i felt when i met neil gaiman after lining up for seven hours at rockwell. this was less hassle and more simple. but this is one of those days when i'm such a fan girl! (the funny thing is... i don't own a single album of the dawn. nakakahiya. buti na lang meron si jan. hehe!)

i had such a good time. i hope they come back soon!!!

(realization this morning: iba ang dating ng concert when there aren't shrieking fangirls around. the shouting during the concert was low pitched instead of tinny.)

there weren't much photos for the friday that i spent with jan. we had lunch at sizzling plate, which is always a baguio classic. and it would be wrong not to order their famous sans rival. oooozing with buttery goodness! i couldn't get enough of it. the rest of the afternoon was spent at burnham park people watching while eating fishballs and japanese sweet corn. i was wondering if any disc devil would turn up, but there were only college boys playing soccer. skins and shirts. oooh.

mike and rowie finally arrived and were famished as they had not had any lunch. so we went over to o mai khan, which a resto owned by a english classmate in college. and by golly... ang sarap ng pagkain!

we went in search for dessert as jan and i owed mike big time for the free lodging at their clan's transient house. after looking over at several places, we ended up at the manor. the poshest hotel in baguio land. surprisingly, they had quite affordable cakes! not your typical hotel prices. bizu was even more expensive! we ordered a rum ball, a blueberry cheesecake, a belgian chocolate cake and strawberries by the yard. the last two are a definite must have.


the only thing on our itenerary for the trip was a trip to tam-awan village. there were a lot of installation arts and several types of indigenous huts. it was less impressive as i imagined it to be, but we had a good time nonetheless. i would have wanted a portrait taken, but i didn't want to spend money on a sketch of me when i have an artist around. will just wait for jan to draw inspiration from my ethereal beauty (asa pa). hehe!

right across tam-awan village was arko ni apo where artist ben-hur villanueva lives. he also happened to be jan and mike's teacher in grade 6. his family was very accomodating. i was awestruck with him, and his works were really beautiful. i fell in love with a wall clock and his sculpture of abraham sacrificing isaac.

he gave us a tour of his home, introduced us to his two sons, bumbo and jikko. they, too, were artists (good-looking ones at that). his grandchildren laikha and nico (4 y.o, and 7 y.o) inherited the artist genome and were already selling their own sculptures for $20.

it was an honor to have shaken his hand. aaah! and when he becomes a national artist, i can say, i shook that man's hand! he was my bf's teacher. ben-hur, i heart you!
in his home, they have a restaurant called kape diperensya. while we were conversing with him, he offered us free soya coffee. (talk about nice!) since there were other tourists around, he brought over bumbo to entertain us. bumbo explained kape diperensya is a place, "kung saan lahat may diperensya, pwera ang kape." so they would serve it in cups without ears, or chipped saucers. or waites would be cross-eyed. what a concept. haha!



it was difficult leaving the place. but of course we had to hunt for our lunch. when we asked directions from a guy he told us that left would take us back to the city and right would take us to la trinidad.

guess which direction we took? (see prev post)

the original plan of action was to have dinner with jan's high school barkada. but within the day, two called in sick already, which just leaves jan and andoy. so when jan asked andoy whether to resked, andoy affirmed. thus we ended up watching "the curse of the golden flower."

and typical of chinese emperor movies, you can either brand it as shakespearean or telenova with high budget. i prefer the latter. it an interesting watch, with beautiful costumes and production design. nothing different about the story, as there are the usual elements infidelity, power-grabbing and deception. but it is nicely told, and chow yun-fat did great acting as emperor because you see the character and not the actor. but throughout the latter part of the movie, only one thing keeps going on in my head... "madami talagang tao sa china!" there were thousands and thousands of people (who i assume are really computer-generated) and you just have got to be amazed with their organization skills especially in warfare. ;p

and so the movie was done. jan gets a text from mytch that he is going to andoy's anyway. a call here and there, and we were on our way to jan's house to get the car so we don't have to worry about how to get home. finally, we were at the host's house. and it was just so amusing seeing old high school pals remember their crazy reckless days. and the funniest thing was when they were discussing how our changed plans ended up going back to square one. and oh, somebody else has been relegated to the status of snuffulafugus girlfriend.

around 1pm, we were ready to go home. well, not really, but andoy had to get to work and had an infant to take care of so the three of us decided to ease his suffering for the night by leaving. on the way up to ateneo (we were at barangka), mytch was suggesting that we have a quick look at the UP fair as he was in a nostalgic mode. it was all fine by me since we were in the area anyway.

so we went to UP. MYMP was playing their last song, which was fine by me. i don't really care much for them. though i was singing along with them despite. wehehe!

our quick trip ended up to be a one and half hour stay because mytch was able to get us backstage passes through mojofly. i think he directed their newest video, thus the power to drag two over-aged teenagers to concert.

by two o'clock i was sleepy. the bwah music of the UP bands wasn't exactly helping to keep me awake (yes, i fall asleep listening to metal. sorry, drin). but i was too nahihiya to leave without listening to mojofly because they were the ones who got us in. and mytch was enjoying himself. so. we decided to wait for mojofly to perform. thankfully, they got upped two slots so we can go home earlier.

it was great seeing ali alejandro on the drums. poging talaga. not my type, but poging. i forgot the name of the vocalist, but mytch was saying, "lasing na to." which made it more fun, because nothing beats listening to a pumped-up drunk band singers. the whole time, the kala vocalist was on the stage dancing to the band's beat. they were to be next anyway. he was an adorable teddy bear that i wish i could squeeze but my hands weren't big enough and i wasn't bold enough to approach him. but i was behind him while they were waiting for mojofly to get on stage.

even with my eyes going on auto shut off, i asked that we stay for kala's gig. it's just two songs anyway. so it was fun listening to rock baby rock and jeepney. while this was going on, out came four guys in baston. orange and lemons. only one of them wore shades, and a ten gallon hat with that. so it was kinda funny when he was putting on his guitar because his hat got knocked out. since everything was a haze, i dont know which orange this was.

we left after kala. walking to the car, they were playing panalangin. i'd have stayed for the song just to find out what their second song would be. but it was just too darn late for an old fogey like me and poor jan still had to drive everybody home. so i never found out what they sang.

and it has to mentioned that several troops of taytay boys were there. punks not dead talaga! haha!

inside the car, while i was on my way to dreamland, i had a little smile on my face. it's messed-up plans on nights like this that make life a little more exciting. on valentine's eve too!

So, I'm at work. And I have been working on our lab website -- just entering inventories and stuff. On the upper right hand corner of the screen, pictures of co-workers usually appear. I find it really scary to find my smiling face on it. Wahahaha. Panhadlok hin mga yatot (to scare the rats)!

Anyhoo, I'd like to extend my thanks to the Youth Group peeps (Ate Boogie, Sarah, Anna, Kirsten, Fergus, Neil, Jerel, Wayne, Ate Aziel, Faith, Kezia, Jethro) for doing the Seven Things meme. For those YGs who have yet to do it, I'll stalk you until you do...

Yeah, I've been home from retreat for a few days now, but it feels like I'm still on retreat. I had a blessed time, it's beyond words. God met me in ways I needed to be met. Wow, I serve an amazing Lord! And wow, my Youth Group is such a treasure. I love you all!

So, I'm back in circulation and will post something more detailed next time... maybe with pictures. Or maybe Liane's meme.

Happy Birthday, Auntie Nene! I'm not sure if you still read my blog, but here's my little greeting.

Miss you, miss you, miss you. I look forward to catching up. Don't forget to email me! love, gail