:::.. ~* lilacstardust *~ ..:::

::. TOO OH OH EIGHT! .::

2008-12-31T20:53:00.004+08:00

2008 -- OH WHAT A YEAR INDEED! I never really expected this much to come out of this year coz, although I didn't really believe in horoscopes and stuff, this was supposed to be a bad, bad year for the Horses. Thus, I did not really hold my breath for anything spectacular to happen.

But hey, I think by far, 2008 has been the year wherein I got to travel a lot: I was lucky enough to travel outside the country around the time I just turned 30. We had a conference at Bintan Lagoon Resort in Indonesia (April) so I grabbed the opportunity to go on vacation at Singapore (April/May). Singapore was such a safe non-scary place so I was brave enough to go around the city mostly by myself after my officemates have long gone home to Manila. I was thrilled at the thought of being in another country by myself and it was such a great adventure to me. I loved Singapore! The cabs and food were damn expensive but I splurged on Charles & Keith shoes anyway. I went to Vigan (May) and Boracay (Aug) with my dear high school friends and I've been with my family in Morong, Bataan (June), Laiya, Batangas (June) and Bohol (Nov/Dec).

But the most defining title of 2008 would of course be (hands down, duh!) the year God blessed me with a boyfriend. Not MU chenezes like the Canossa school syndrome ones. My boyfriend CJ. Really. Thirty friggin years, and technically, my first boyfriend! It's about time, God! And so I happily let go of the NBSB title :-) I met him while I was vacationing with friends in Vigan last May -- a trip that was supposed to be in Feb but was postponed to May. WhoWouldveThunk! Blessing in disguise indeedy...

The most controversial personal happening of the year was probably the Twinklekaka Scandal. The pathetic Multiply gal who plagiarized my blog post about my Camiguin vacation last 2007. I hope she has learned how to blog her own thoughts by now :p

I noticed that I have ceased to blog much in my Blogspot this year. I have been too lazy to hypertype vacations and various musings in detail. I've lost that blogging feeling, I guess. Or maybe it's coz I'm not such a big drama queen anymore than I was in the previous years. And maybe I'm too busy with real world stuff that I don't have the energy and enough focus to weave kickass words. Hmm. I am actually deliberating if I'll just concentrate on my Multiply and let my Blogspot die a natural death. I have pretty much settled into posting photos in my Multiply lately anyway. Plus, Abbie has introduced me to Twitter this year so whenever I itched to share something, I just chirped away 140 characters that encapsulated my very thought at that very moment. I love Twitter! It keeps me in touch with what's going on with my friends, even the most mundane things they do get some tweet press! I have long abandoned MySpace and I seldom log into my Friendster. My virtual world basically revolves around Twitter and Multiply. And yes, I gave in to Facebook. It's still a bit too cluttered for my taste but I'm beginning to get the hang of it. I'm still bugged about the deluge of Facebook app requests though (stop sending me Lil Green Patch whathaveyous!!! hahaha!). I so wanna iggy everything!

The pop icons that would probably best represent 2008 are David Cook and Edward Cullen -- or Jacob Black, fine, for the Team Jacobs out there! The PPG was so obsessed about American Idol season 7, such that we lived and breathed Cookie all the time we spent in Vigan! And I scavenged the net for everything Cookie I could ever find like his pre-Idol band recordings. And yey to Forces gals too, they influenced me to jump into the Twilight bandwagon. I have discovered the awesomeness of listening to an audiobook in my iPod and have in fact listened, not read, the first 3 books of the Twilight saga. To date, I have just started with an hour of Breaking Dawn.

I just realized that I haven't bought any audio CD this year. Yet, I have 3,799 songs according to my iTunes that could last me 10.7 days. Yey to free music :p I have shifted back to more R&B and a bit of alternative rock this year, thanks to CJ who's so into R&B, hiphop and those non-mainstream R&B jewels that Wave 89.1 plays.

Alright. I guess that pretty much sums up my 2008! I don't wanna dwell on the shake ups that happened on the latter part of my year (oh hey, I caught Dengue early this December and it was my first time ever to be confined in a hospital! Bummer.) but I hope and pray that those won't happen again. I am praying for a rosier and happier 2009. May we be blessed with wonderful love, good health, prosperity, peace, understanding, trust, acceptance and open-heartedness this coming year and thereon... With God on my side and with hard work, I'm sure things will fall into place... the divine place it should be ;-) Thank you 2008 for the lessons, realizations, the significant other, steady friendships, better relationships, improved character, stronger faith... I am happy and I have found what I have been looking for ;-)

::. I'VE FALLEN FOR EDWARD CULLEN .::

2008-10-14T23:22:00.005+08:00

Hmm. So I have been remiss with blogging for more than a month... What better way to make a comeback than blog about Edward Cullen? :p

So I admit: I was so blah and indifferent at first when Abbie, Charo, Tin and Mitzi have been talking and raving about the Twilight saga these past few months. It never really piqued my interest until I started "researching" quotes from the books for my little online business. I admit, after reading one quote after the other, I have fallen in love with Edward Cullen.

But I didn't buy nor asked around to borrow the Twilight book. I was too lazy to read and I just tend to fall asleep while doing so. Having heard that there was an audiobook available, I decided to try it out. It was quite a pain in the butt to download all the freakin' rar files, unzip them, consolidate the numerous mp3s and convert it to an iPod audiobook format. (Thanks to Mitzi for the conversion tips!) But after all that tedious process, it was heaven to listen to an audiobook. It was my first audiobook experience and I loved it :-) It was so convenient! I listened to my iPod while I was falling in line at the terminal, while travelling to & from the office and even before dozing off to sleep... although I refrained as much as possible to listen to the audiobook when I know I'm already sleepy coz it was kinda hard to trace where I left off one time that I fell asleep and left my iPod playing :p

I have just finished the Twilight audiobook this afternoon and I absolutely loved it! I am way too excited now to start listening to New Moon but as of this writing, I still have 32 minutes to go until I finish the entire download. Argh.

I read somewhere online that in New Moon, one will fall in love with Jacob Black. Hmmm. I'm not sure how one can like Jacob more than Edward... Can't wait to find out why there are Team Jacob girls out there!

I'm also anticipating the release of the Twilight movie come November. Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!!! Although Edward Cullen could have been played by a more handsome actor but hey, I found that Cedric guy cute when I saw him in Harry Potter. Oh well. Anyway, the first time I saw the trailer on youtube, I think I gushed & sighed at Edward's "You are my life now" line. I loooove that line. I am a sucker for poetic mushy romantic quotes and Stephanie Meyer is sooo good in churning out *triple sigh* lines for her Edward Cullen character.

I'm very curious about Midnight Sun though. I would have wanted to "read" it after Twilight rather than proceed with New Moon... Too bad Meyer isn't done with it yet :-(

::. WHERE WAS I LAST 08-08-08? .::

2008-08-25T16:47:00.006+08:00

I spent the once in a lifetime 888 date with my friends Abbie, Charo, Tin and Jako at the sunny side of the Philippine Islands... in Boracay! Thanks to Cebu Pacific's low rates (and Abbie's purchasing power!), we managed to book a roundtrip ticket to Caticlan for a little bit under Php2K. Thanks to Tin's connections, we managed to enjoy a nice room for a steal at Serendipity which is conveniently located beside the D'Mall. Thanks to the coosome-twosome Jako and Charo's Holga for the nice lomo shots and the ever-reliable tripod of Jako that enabled us to jump to our heart's content (22 freakin' frames of chaotic jumping against the Bora sunset) and switch around four different digicams for the same group shot and angle hehe :p

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words... or maybe I'm just too lazy lately to blog and spew out nice profound flowery words hehe :p Just check out this slideshow ;-)

::. WANTED Kicks Ass! .::

2008-07-05T15:51:00.004+08:00

I'm not much into testosteroney action flicks and top of mind, I think the only favorite man-flick that's on my list is Fight Club.

My sister and I watched WANTED last night. We missed like 10minutes of the movie's beginning so we decided to stay on and check out what we've missed. The movie's so good though that we decided to finish it the second time around.

Angelina Jolie kicks major ass and I *heart* James McAvoy. I hope he does more action flicks... he reminds me of Ed Norton... you know, the man-boy appeal, kiddie looking and doesn't look like a big action star at all. This is only the 2nd movie of James McAvoy that I've seen. The first one being Narnia wherein I mistook him for Shia LaBeouf whom I also have a crush on eversince I first watched him in Transformers. I think I'm gonna hunt now for a copy of Atonement to see James McAvoy's award-winning performance...

Anyway, the movie is pretty bloody and violent. I cringed both the first and the second time when I heard the sickening thud of Wesley Gibson's body as he hit the concrete train tunnel. His comic lines makes him adorable in this movie. My favorite kick-ass scene is when Wesley Gibson shoots this dude from his limo's sun roof. Super astig action scenes... love love this movie. Don't watch it on pirated DVD, watch it on the big screen for maximum impact =)

And coz I like spotting nice songs in movie soundtracks, here's one that I loved from the movie:
http://lilacstardust.multiply.com/music/item/531/Because_WANTED_kicked_so_much_ass...

::. I'M A (SHAMELESS) LITTLE TWIT STAR .::

2008-06-22T15:09:00.008+08:00

Abbie gave me the heads up on this one last night... Apparently, one of my twits has been immortalized in The Bivings Report article about American Idol: Using Tweets and ImpactWatch Tools to Predict American Idol.

It's quite funny though how Abbie discovered it... She was reading The Twitter Hall of Shame: 50 Tweets That Will Echo in History. Under the "Pop Culture" heading, this article pointed to the Bivings Report, with a premise: "These tweets focus on shameful pop-culture conversations."

Haha, yes, indeedy, I have participated in "shameful pop culture conversations" :p All for the love of American Idol Season 7!

Are you on Twitter? Follow me there.

::. JUNE FAMILY OUTINGS .::

2008-06-22T10:28:00.013+08:00

It's a stormy day today due to typhoon Frank. Boy, I am sure glad that we had a chance to go to the beach in the last coupla weeks!

Spent the last two consecutive weekends with my daddyo & mommyo -- first was at White Corals, Morong, Bataan wherein my most fave part was when we visited the Pawikan Conservation Center (so hard to find since there weren't really any signs pointing to where it was!). The beach at White Corals wasn't exactly that inviting so I opted to float around at their salt water pool instead. It's the same beach feeling minus the pesky sand getting trapped inside your swimsuit :-) Their room was okay -- with aircon and tv -- though hooks/rails to hang your wet clothes or bath towel are lacking. The food was so-so and there were a LOT of pesky flies competing with you as you eat. That was my major peeve about the place.

Coming from the Pawikan Conservation Center, we had a yummy lunch of pesto pasta and pizza at Xtremely Xpresso, Subic. We passed by Duty Free and then stopped over at the Lighthouse hotel to take its photos.

A week after, we went to La Luz, Laiya, Batangas. I liked the beach at La Luz :-) There weren't much sand coz it was practically tiny beach stones/corals everywhere... what's great about it is that you won't find any sand trapped inside your board shorts hehe :p The water was pretty deep even if you're just a few feet from the shoreline. The waves were a bit strong. It's high tide in the morning and low tide in the afternoon. When it's high tide, the water swallows most of the huge rock by the right-most (far) end of the beach. I went to that part of the beach to snorkel during the early morning (before 9am) and it was awesome! I saw lotsa fishes going about their own business, not minding me at all. They swam through the deep crevices of the stones -- black & white striped cichlids, yellow and black striped ones, deep blue ones with yellow and green streaks, tiny dilis looking ones.... gaah, i don't know what kind of fishes they were but anyway, they're all so wonderful to watch =) In the afternoon when it was low tide, we climbed the same huge rock and snapped away with our digicams. No sunset though at that part of Batangas :( We woke up early for the sunrise but it's not entirely visible as we would have wanted... we still managed to get some good sunrise shots though =)

I liked our room at La Luz, I think ours was one of the premier rooms. What's great about it is that it had separated the toilet, sink and shower so it's ideal for sharing with roomies. There's aircon and a ceiling fan; the only bummer was there was no tv. Good thing my dad brought his portable dvd player and I had my trusty iPod nano :-) Guests aren't allowed to bring in food and it is compulsary to pay for the Php950 buffet meals which include lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and breakfast the next day. Food was fine but I think my mom's cooking is way more delicious than that! ;-)

more bataan (and subic) photos at my multiply...

I enjoyed Photoshop'ing some of the artsy fartsy photos I took...

more la luz photos at my multiply...

::. I LEFT MY LONGGANISA IN VIGAN: THE JOURNEY .::

2008-06-14T17:07:00.005+08:00

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I say, I am just too lazy to churn out words to narrate my Vigan experience last May with my friends Abbie, Tin, Charo & Jako.

We left Manila via the 11:30PM Partas bus trip last May 15. Arrived at Vigan 9 hours after on May 16 and immediately checked in at the oh-so-vintage Grandpa's Inn. Went to Chavit's Baluarte, ate the overrated bagnet at Cafe Leona, rode the charming calesa to the famous Bantay Bell Tower (which we climbed) at St. Augustine Church, dropped by Villa Angela, checked out Hidden Garden, ate dinner at Cafe Uno (yummy chicharon dipped in dinuguan!), had a night stroll through Calle Crisologo, chilled out at Sitio Bar, ate Vigan longganisa for breakfast at Grandpa's Inn, went to the Syquia Mansion (I'll never forget you lolo tarush!), ate Vigan empanada at the town plaza, shopped for souvenirs at Calle Crisologo, visited the Vigan Cathedral, bought Vigan longganisa at the palengke, tripped out on this el cheapo jukebox at the carinderia beside Partas bus station. Took the 9pm Partas bus out of Vigan on May 17. Got stranded somewhere in uhh I don't know where (pangasinan? tarlac? who knows where the hell we were?! it was pitch black outside... no electricity!) due to the terrible typhoon Cosme. Got to Manila around 2:30pm of May 18 after 17 freaking hours of stop and go travel. Ate a super late lunch at Yoshinoya Park Square Makati. Rode yet another bus (at that point, we HATED being inside buses) to San Pedro. Got home around 5ish pm.

Such a swell time. Long live the PPG! I love you gang! That was quite an adventure for the books! The forces of nature jinx is still alive hehe :p

Here are the visuals to tell the story of our trip...

::. DAVID COOK IS THE AMERICAN IDOL! .::

2008-05-22T22:08:00.009+08:00

DAVID COOK WINS AMERICAN IDOL! WOOHOO!

gang sign for the cookies!

I was so ecstatic when I heard the news via text messages and phone calls! My bet, the rocker hottie David Cook is THE American Idol of Season 7! I just watched the re-run of the finale over at Star World and I swear I cried as I felt Cookie's emotional man-sob (don't you just want to hug him when he cries like that? awwww...) as his name was announced as THE winner of the season. He cried in all his guyliner glory. He soooo deserves it as he is a true artist who never compromised his individuality with his song choices and such. And since I have heard his pre-Idol album Analog Heart already, I could definitely say that he's got an awesome talent.

don't you just wanna hug cookie? awww...

i would have rooted for Archuleta if he wasn't facing off against Cook...

Little David's a good kid -- if only his father Jeff didn't get such bad press...

After Simon Cowell's declaration of a knockout last night, I was prepared for the worst -- David Archuleta winning and all. Not that I don't want Archu to win per se... the charming kid's got awesome power ballad talent and his brilliant voice also makes him deserving of the spot. If it were a Syesha-Archuleta finale, I would have rooted for Archuleta. But hey, the Cookie's got my heart (and the rest of the poopoo gang's hearts as well! *gang sign*). He had me at "Hello" ;-) I have played his versions of Hello, Billie Jean, Always Be My Baby, Don't Wanna Miss a Thing, etc. so many times that the people in the office must be so tired of hearing my iTunes on Idol Cookie mode these past few weeks :p

I'm so glad that Cook did not "suffer" the same fate of Chris Daughtry in AI. But hey, isn't it a bit weird that in the mini-montage in the Boxing match episode featured Daughtry instead of Taylor Hicks?! Just goes to prove that indeed Daughtry has enjoyed more success than his fellow Idolmates McPhee and Hicks.

Anyway, about tonights finale... I loved the Brian Adams number, Jason Castro's Hallelujah (whoa, for a while there I was scared he would miss the same final note he messed up the last time!), Mike Myers and Jimmy Kimmel segments... and the ZZ Top-Cook number if only to see Cookie do that leg dance thing again. The OneRepublic-Archuleta number of "Apologize" would have been nice if only OneRepublic didn't crack on his vocals. I say, Little David sang Apologize better than the original artist! :p

the best AI season I've ever watched! :-)

My season faves are: Cook, Castro and Archuleta.

I'll sleep happily tonight. All that "DAVID COOK FTMFW!" has finally materialized! =) Congratulations Team Cookies!

photos grabbed from yahoo news.

::. I LEFT MY LONGGANISA IN VIGAN .::

2008-05-19T19:56:00.003+08:00

My friends (Tin& Abbie and the coosome-twosome Charo & Jako) and I just came from a memorable vacation in Vigan, Ilocos Sur last May 16-17. I'll post more details/photos once I've gathered all my thoughts and have collected all the photos from the digicams of Jako & Charo, Tin and Abbie ;-)

::. DON'T WANNA MISS THIS COOKIE! .::

2008-05-14T21:56:00.004+08:00

As rickey.org states: OMG — Are they testing out the waters for a CORONATION SONG? *gasp*

As I heard the first few notes of the violin, I got goosebumps... in the same vein as his live performance of "Always be my Baby", the violin accompaniment totally added an extra dose of awesomeness (Barney HIMYM talking!) to David Cook's performance of "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing". I actually liked this better than his "Dare You to Move" number (which I felt was a bit bitin). I do hope iTunes would have the full version of both Aerosmith and Switchfoot covers (is that too much to ask?!). His "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" performance proves that he can still do mellow numbers as good as his rock-out performances.

So okay, 'gotta admit that David Archuleta -- even if he seemed to be out of breath while trying to do the R&B dance while singing -- was cute when he did Chris Brown's "With You". At least he tried to sing something more pop than his usual power ballads...

Simon says: David Cook wins the night!
I say: DAVID COOK is THE American Idol of Season 7!!!

DAVID COOK FTMFW!!!

::. WTF?! MY BLOG POST WAS PLAGIARIZED! .::

2008-05-12T21:19:00.019+08:00

First off, let's define plagiarism:

According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, to "plagiarize" means

1. to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
2. to use (another's production) without crediting the source
3. to commit literary theft
4. to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source.

In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud. It involves both stealing someone else's work and lying about it afterward.

But can words and ideas really be stolen?

According to U.S. law, the answer is yes. The expression of original ideas is considered intellectual property, and is protected by copyright laws, just like original inventions. Almost all forms of expression fall under copyright protection as long as they are recorded in some way (such as a book or a computer file).
All of the following are considered plagiarism:

* turning in someone else's work as your own
* copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
* failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
* giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
* changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit * copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not (see our section on "fair use" rules)

http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/what_is_plagiarism.html

If I change the words, do I still have to cite the source?

Changing only the words of an original source is NOT sufficient to prevent plagiarism. You must cite a source whenever you borrow ideas as well as words.

http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/plagiarism_faq.html

So anyway, I just got this comment from my post re: my Mantigue Island/Camiguin trip last year. The anonymous poster asked if this was my multiply account. When I checked the link he/she gave, I realized why he/she thought it was my multiply. I read familiar words! The pathetic literary-retard/plagiarist blogger has copied virtually everything from my post! The nerve!

Click on the photos to see what Lala the Blog Plagiarist posted on her site... I screencapped it just in case she restricts viewing rights/deletes her multiply post in this URL:

http://twinklelala.multiply.com/photos/album/118/Mantigue_Island_Camiguin
And here are the screencaps of my blog post last year which she undeniably plagiarized: http://lilacstardust.blogspot.com/2007/07/island-hopping-in-camiguin.html#comments

Why in the world would she plagiarize my post?
a) she is too much of a dimwit to put her own experiences into words

b) she graduated from plagiarism university and majored in copy-pasting

c) she super-flunked all her English and Literature classes so she doesn't know how to construct words into this simple intelligible body of work called "blog"

d) she thought it was a one in a million probability that I would find out that she ripped off my blog post

e) she is a massive disgrace to the blogosphere and she is too much of a dunce to actually know that

f) she is royally constipated coz her subject and verb disagreed with her.

Feel free to add more reasons.

::. SINGAPORE TRAVEL-LAH! .::

2008-05-05T18:22:00.023+08:00

APRIL 30:

After our conference in Indonesia, we stayed overnight at the Carlton Hotel in Singapore. We checked in and then went to the nearby Raffles City mall. The peculiar thing I noticed in Singapore was that sunset came around 7:30PM. Anyway, around 8PM, Ed's former colleague in Kodak Singapore brought us at the East Coast Parkway for a sumptuous dinner feast of black pepper crab, chili crab, prawns and fish at the Red House seafood restaurant. After dinner, we had a joyride into the city and passed by Clarke Quay, the Merlion Park, CHIJMES, one of the routes for the upcoming F1 Grand Prix on Sept, etc.

MAY 1:

We went to Ikea and shopped for home stuff. I wish I could furnish my bedroom and office space with Ikea stuff... their items are nice :)

After Ikea, we went back to the hotel and checked out. The others prepared for their flight back home while Vic and I proceeded to Hotel Royal at Newton Street to check in for an overnight stay. Our former officemate Melis who had just relocated to Singapore with her family met us for lunch. We ate lunch at Doc Green's at VivoCity. Shopped around and bought a pair of white sandals at Charles and Keith and a black Bossini top for office wear. We then ate an early dinner at the Food Republic atop VivoCity, where the wading pools were and where one could see the entrance to Sentosa.

see the yellow sentosa express train behind me?

with vic and melis (see the cable cars to sentosa behind us)

wading pools full of children behind me...

Took some photos and then had my first MRT ride to Lavender station where we walked a bit to get to Melis' condo. Hung out there, had some beer/coffee and waited til her hubby and son arrived. Their smart and creative son Tod (aka Todzilla!) showed us his Paintbrush masterpieces of a variety of Godzilla stuff. Vic and I asked him to make us a Viczilla and Aileenzilla version (I told him to make mine colored violet and cute). We also took the opportunity to use the net for our KrisFlyer internet check-in (coz internet isn't free in the hotel!). Melis took us to the poolside and the rooftop... their place was sooo nice :)

MAY 2:

Vic had her scheduled flight back home in the afternoon so we split for the day... She went to Sentosa while I went to the Singapore Zoo. I took an adventure and rode the MRT to the Ang Mo Kio MRT station to catch the Bus #138 to the zoo. I had no problem finding the Novena MRT station near our hotel. I just counted how many stops until the Ang Mo Kio station just to be sure I didn't miss it. What I had some trouble finding was the damned bus stop for Bus#138! I went outside the MRT station/mall at Ang Mo Kio and checked out 3 different Bus stops nearby and I didn't see the number 138 on all those bus stops. After about 25 minutes of walking around the area, I decided to go back inside the MRT station. Somehow, I found my way into an indoor bus station which was inside the same building where I got off the MRT and magically found the stop for Bus#138. I was able to use the same card I used for the MRT... so efficient! It was a long bus ride -- about an hour. I arrived at 9am at the Singapore Zoo and availed of my unlimited tram ride -- one of the Singapore Airlines boarding pass privileges that saved me SGD5/ride. And believe me, with the area size of the Singapore Zoo, you would want to hop on the tram once in awhile or you'd be so tired from walking!

I super enjoyed the Singapore Zoo coz it had an "open zoo" concept. Such an awesome experience for animal lovers (or even just plain animal-curious!). I specifically wanted to see the Singapore-born polar bear Inuka coz where else can you find a polar bear in tropical Asia?!? The second animal in my must-see list were the white tigers. I wandered around and took photos in the zoo for about 3.5hours.

See more of my Singapore Zoo photos here...
View videos of Inuka the (son of Sheeba) polar bear eating his favorite watermelon treat and swimming around; Sheeba the momma polar bear waving to everyone...

After eating lunch in one of the zoo's restaurant, I took a cab (faster travel time, just 30minutes) back to Hotel Royal to check out and then proceeded to my next hotel (a cheaper one since I had no one to share rooms with anymore) -- South East Asia Hotel. It was just beside the famous Kwan Im Chinese Temple and very near to the Sri Krishnan Hindu Temple. After resting my feet for a few minutes, I proceeded for gadget accessories shopping at Sim Lim Square -- the famous electronics mecca of Singapore. Six storeys worth of gadgets and accessories! Shopped for my dad's bilins: digicam batteries for his Canon DSLR and mom's Kodak digicam. Checked out the price of a certain Canon lens that my dad wanted. Went to the upper floors and bought laptop sleeves (only SGD21!), laptop vacuum cleaner (only SGD9!), 2GB Kingston SD card (only SGD15!) and some iPod accessories.

After a tiring shopping spree at Sim Lim Square, I dropped off my best buys at the hotel, rested a bit and then proceeded to the Bugis MRT station. Alighted at the City Hall MRT station to get to the CityLink Mall where I ate dinner at O'Brien's cafe. Got mom a watch in one of the stores and then proceeded to Suntec City Mall. I intended to take a photo of the famous Fountain of Wealth at Suntec but I got umm, "sidetracked" and ended up buying 3 pairs of sandals at Charles & Keith as the store was about to close. By the time I was done shopping, the sales lady said the Fountain of Wealth was already turned off :(

Using the map, I successfully found my way to the durian-shaped Esplanade Theatres and the Merlion park. Had no problem having my picture taken in those famous landmarks since there were always Filipino tourists around ;-) After traversing the long bridge from the Esplanade to the Merlion Park, I proceeded to walk towards Victoria Theatre where a statue of Sir Stamford Raffles (Singapore's founder) stood. At almost midnight, I was too tired to walk further on but regretted that I missed a spectacular photogenic sight of St. Andrew's Cathedral which I saw as my cab drove off a few meters away from Victoria Theatre. Anyway, I got back at the hotel around 1am, so thirsty and hungry. I went to a nearby 7-11 and an Indian-owned convenience store to buy bottled water and some food. They say that Singapore's tap water is potable but I was too squeamish to drink straight from the faucet. Made sure I filled up the GST refund vouchers before I went to sleep! (Needed to claim the refund at the airport before I check in...)

MAY 3:

Woke up late coz I was so tired from the previous all-day all-night walkathon across the city. I wanted to catch a quick ride to the City Hall MRT station to take a photo of St. Andrew's Cathedral but I thought I would run out of time. Anyway, I just refunded the remaining value on my MRT/bus card. So I decided to explore Bugis Junction instead. Managed to buy another office top from there. On my way back to the hotel, I checked out the street vendors at Bugis Street. I spent my last few Singapore dollars on this cool vintage-look shirt with a camera print. At 11:30AM, I got back at the hotel, quickly took a bath and checked out. Sally, my colleague in Singapore, picked me up at the hotel and brought me to Changi Airport. She showed me around at the new Terminal 3. She treated me to lunch in one of the cafes at the 3-Top (I tasted the laksa she ordered... twas too spicy for me!). She then dropped me off at Terminal 2 so I could claim my GST refund, check-in and do some last-minute shopping.

at the 3-Top at Terminal 3...

I explored the Sunflower Garden and Koi Pond, rested at the entertainment deck for awhile and then went shopping for some chocolates for my nephew, Charles and Keith bag for my sis and sunglasses for me :)

at the sunflower garden atop Terminal 2
by the koi pond at Terminal 2... i love my cheap vintage style shirt!

More Uniquely Singapore sights here...

Yeah. Suffice it to say that I'll be out of moolah for the next coupla weeks after this Singapore vacation! :p

::. EI ASEAN CONFERENCE @ BINTAN, INDONESIA .::

2008-05-05T15:09:00.017+08:00

Flew off to Singapore last April 27 (Sunday) on the first flight SQ915 at 8:20AM. Didn't have to line up for check-in coz I already printed my boarding pass and chose my seat via KrisFlyer's internet check-in :)

From Singapore's Changi Airport, we proceeded to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal to catch the 2pm ferry to Bintan Island in Indonesia. The ferry ride was horrible! The floating platform at the boarding area was so wobbly that we got a bit dizzy already... and we're not even IN the boat yet! I had to make a little jump at the cue ("go!") of the crew who were holding us as we jumped into the ferry. {On our ferry back to Singapore, as I was jumping off the boat, I probably looked nervous coz the crew member who was assisting me said "Don't worry, Miss." } You know that lurching feeling inside your stomach when you ride Anchors Away at Enchanted Kingdom? Imagine feeling that for an hour and a half! Yeah, riding the Arung Mendara ferry to Bintan was THAT bad. But thanks to Pfizer's Bonamine, I did not have to use the blue motion sickness bag:) My officemates Jane, Vic and Bianx all had motion sickness and Ed had to attend to Jane & Bianx while I attended to Vic. We weren't able to eat lunch before we rode the ferry so we were so famished by the time we got to Bintan. By the way, Indonesia was 1 hour behind Phils./S'pore time.

the hotel lobby and the fish faucet that fascinated me...

beautifully crafted indonesian dolls/puppets for sale at the hotel shop...

Upon arrival at Bintan Lagoon Resort, the first few things we saw in our room was a can of Baygon spray and packs of a local insect repellent. Hmm. That didn't offer a comforting thought. I guess we were in the company of a variety of island bugs, yikes! True enough, our al fresco welcome dinner by the beach was occasionally marked with a small insect drowning on the strawberry syrup for the dessert cakes and some big bugs flying over our starry starry night sky.

tourists beware... arm thyself with this!

We were basically cooped up in our conference room from April 28 to 29 as we listened to everyone's presentations regarding marketing/sales strategies, a Fuji vs. HD vs. Kodak case study and an interesting Digital (HD) vs. Film presentation from a guest cinematographer from Singapore. The team went to the hotel's videoke after dinner on the 28th but I wasn't able to get a chance to enjoy it coz I, along with two of my Singaporean colleagues in charge of inventory had to access our ERP system that night... had to do some urgent work done coz we were having an inventory discrepancy back in the Philippines (ugh! I didn't even get to drink the margarita I ordered at the videoke bar!)

We had a free night to ourselves on the 29th so Vic and I joined our Thai colleagues for a night out of the hotel. Upon our local contact's recommendation, we went to this tourist plaza called Pasar Oleh Oleh. Not much, really. Just some restaurants serving local food and a number of shops selling expensive (rip-off!) tourist souvenirs. I was liking this small wooden jar (about the size of a Clinique All About Eyes jar) with a bright intricately painted design but it costed around Php500. No way! So anyway, we ate our dinner at Cafe Helo Helo wherein we ordered garlic fried Shrimp, Tom Yam soup, grilled fish and fried cuttlefish. Twas a good meal for about SGD 16.50/head (about Php511).

the entrance to pasar oleh oleh

the facade of cafe helo helo

bintang beer served on a heineken mug, hehe...

a traditional hut at the middle of the plaza

group picture at the entrance

On April 30, we had a team building at the Adventure Training Centre, conducted by Focus Adventure. Man, I am so not outdoorsy but I had fun doing the giant seesaw thing :) Didn't have as much fun though on the wooden skis thing coz it was so exhausting to pull the ropes up -- I had chafed my palms red in the process :( Had to hold ice cubes on my hand to relieve the redness. BUt anyway, overall, the team building day was fun. But come night time when we were already in Singapore, I felt my upper thighs ache from all that effort I don't normally exert everyday.

go team goooo!

the giant seesaw: a balancing act

the wooden skis: super effort walking and picking up of balls

More photos of our team building here...

::. DAVID COOK ROCKS! .::

2008-04-20T14:42:00.003+08:00

Okay, so that awesome 'Always be my Baby' number that David Cook did in the recent Mariah Carey week in American Idol totally blew me away. I was half-sleeping as I was watching the re-run around 11:30PM last Wed and I literally rose from my lazy sleepy mode to a full-attention indian sit close to my TV. Mind-blowingly f'n awesome rocked-out version of one of my favorite Mariah hits! I loooove it! So now I officially have a crush on the word nerd. He actually looks better now after that haircut/makeover that took away my attention from his huge forehead. He does look arrogant sometimes but hey, he's got talent! His AI performances Hello and Billie Jean are on my iPod. And now I have both the studio and AI live version of Always be my baby.

I do hope he wins!!! David C. vs. David A.! I hope he doesn't become like Chris Daughtry who got eliminated in AI two seasons ago(?).

::. I LOVE MY CROCS! .::

2008-03-30T17:18:00.006+08:00

Okay. So I am now a Crocs convert. I used to not understand the concept of why people were wearing those funny looking McDonald-ish shoes. But eversince Crocs came out with narrower shoes that have almost the same width as regular shoes, I slowly accepted the possibility of wearing a Crocs. My pair of old flat casual sandals were literally destroyed while I was walking one time near the SM Makati MRT station so I was hunting for comfy flat casuals to replace it. I eventually stumbled upon a pair of cute Crocs at the SM Department store but they did not have my size. Went to Rustans but I had no luck either. Got the phone numbers of the Crocs in Trinoma, Serendra, ATC and MOA and after making some phone calls, I was lucky to find my coveted pair on stock at MOA. So on my lunch break last Friday, I made a quick trip to MOA to purchase my first pair of Crocs --a Malindi in Cotton Candy. I actually thought of buying the color Turquoise but I thought it was harder to pair it off with an outfit... light pink was easier to be worn with whatever color. As an afterthought, I also bought a pair of skulls jibbitz to make my shoes funkier. Those freaking jibbitz are such a rip-off though. Php150 for one piece?!? Crazy! I will look for knock-off jibbitz the next time around... I'm sure they abound somewhere...

I totally love how my Crocs feel. It's soooo soft I wanna wear it at the office everyday! I'll save up for more pairs in the future... perhaps a Ruby Red/Chocolate/Black Sueded Alice or a Chocolate/Cotton Candy Cyprus (I haven't seen this model though locally).

::. KOTA KELUARGA .::

2008-03-30T15:50:00.009+08:00

Spent the whole Saturday at Kota Keluarga in San Juan, Batangas with my cousins for some summer sun at the beach. Got a henna tattoo on my right ankle, ate lunch while I waited for the henna to dry and then headed to the beach!

It was only my second time to snorkel so my cousin's family friend whom they call Lolo Tisoy taught me some basics of snorkeling. I was having a hard time shifting directions while wearing fins so I swallowed salt water twice while I struggled with my snorkel. I probably need a lot of getting used to swimming with fins... I manage to float just wearing fins (no lifevest) but I just can't do a good turn while wearing them. I was first "trained" at the shallow part of the water and then our party of 5 (my cousins have started scuba diving a few months ago...) headed to the deeper part of the beach. I ditched the fins coz it would only make my life difficult. Just wore a lifevest instead. I think we were snorkling for a good 30 minutes or probably more... I dunno what the salt water fishes are called but anyway, they were like black angel fishes, some black & white striped cichlid-looking fishes, some yellow fishes... Nothing as breathtaking as the underwater life I saw at Mantigue Island (Camiguin) though...

After taking a bath in the late afternoon, my cousin and I trekked towards the stony right side of the cove. Did some picture-taking over there...

More photos at my multiply...

::. VISITA IGLESIA 2008 .::

2008-03-22T13:10:00.004+08:00

more photos at multiply

Our family had our annual Visita Iglesia last Maundy Thursday. We prayed the Stations of the Cross in the following churches:

Sto. Rosario Parish - Pacita Complex I, San Pedro, Laguna

St. Peregrine Parish - Tunasan, Muntinlupa (where a piece of rib from St. Peregrine Laziosi's incorruptible body is enshrined)

Sto. Nino de Cebu Parish - Binan, Laguna

Our Lady of Candelaria Church - Silang, Cavite

National Shrine of Our Lady of La Sallete - Silang, Cavite

Parish of St. Joseph - Las Pinas (home of the famous bamboo organ)

Cathedral Parish of St. Andrew - Paranaque

::. THE CARNAGE .::

2008-03-08T22:40:00.014+08:00

Well Kanye West says that "now that don't kill me can only make me stronger." Sure. Let me save that mental thought for inspiration.

Goodbye to you...
I received the bad news on March 6. Feb 7, 2009. Wow. Save the date everyone.

Goodbye to you
Goodbye to everything I thought I knew
You were the one I loved
The one thing that I tried to hold on to

Carnage. Total carnage. My heart bled into a million pieces. I was devastated. Massive heart attack. I thought I was gonna shit in my pants and vomit at the same time. I suddenly had an upset stomach, cold hands and a burning feeling on my neck amidst my palpitating heart. Now I'm currently having emotional stress-induced asthma symptoms.

What hurts the most...
It was a horrible feeling to have every memory rush back in my mind at lightning speed. And even in random unguarded moments, a snippet of memory cruelly sneaks into my thoughts. That's torture. I wish I could have something like that lacunar amnesia thing in the "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

What hurts the most
Was being so close
And having so much to say
And watching you walk away
And never knowing
What could have been

Much has been said...
Why did it have to be harder than it had to be?

It wasn't supposed to end with us just walking away

Can't describe the way it felt
When you left said you goodbyes
It just seems crazy for me to think
That i found love the same time
But we all know how it all wraps up in the end

You know that terrible feeling when it suddenly dawns on you that you have been abandoned and you have been waiting for three months for nothing? I can't see why I put my hopes up and led myself to believe that he will be different that time when I knew full well that he will always be who he was.

Light years away...
It's almost like you had it planned
It's like you smiled and shook my hand and said
"Hey, I'm about to screw you over, big time"

It's how you wanted it to be
It's like you played a joke on me
And I lost a friend
In the end

We've never been lovers now we're not even friends. Such a shame. He would have been a nice friend to keep.

You won't see me crying...
This will always be a tainted song. There will never be a time that I will not remember when I hear this song.

Duets suck.

Tell me it's not over now, will you?
So I won't be hangin' around
And you won't see me crying

Sorry...
I just poured my heart out
there's bits of it on the floor
And I take what's left of it and rinse it under cold water
And call him up for more

Crumbs. I felt like I was eating crumbs he throws my way whenever he felt like it. Oh what a lovely feeling, isn't it?

Tomorrow...
I dont know how I'll feel tomorrow
I dont know what to say tomorrow
Tomorrow is a different day
And I know I'm not ready
Maybe tomorrow

Crazy love...
Tonight I'm gonna break away
Just you wait and see
I've never been imprisoned by
A faded memory

Must. Stop. Being. Stupid. I know that.

No ordinary morning...
If there was nothing that I could say
Turned your back and you just walked away
Leaves me numb inside I think of you
Together is all I knew

We moved too fast but I had no sign
I would try to turn the hands of time
Then look to you for the reason why
The love we had passed me by

In the darkness that surrounds me now
there is no peace of mind
Your careless words undo me,
leave the thought of us behind

::. DANNY NORIEGA OFF AI - T.M.T.H.! .::

2008-03-08T20:26:00.006+08:00

Among all other things that made me sad this week was the fact that my favorite gay guy on tv got booted out of American Idol :-(

I sure liked watching Danny Noriega on AI. As someone's comment on http://www.rickey.org/?p=7233#more-7233 states: "...he may not be the best singer.. but my goodness, he is really entertaining!"

I'm gonna miss the double head snaps, ish and T.M.T.H. Awww.

Well, lots of press coverage going on about Danny... there's the infamous old Christmas video... there's this news about him attending an "at-risk" high school.

Sigh. AI will be a little less fun to watch now that he/she is gone :(

::. AMERICAN IDOL SEASON 7 MUSINGS .::

2008-02-29T22:06:00.008+08:00

DAVID ARCHULETA - this adorable kid is my #1 bet for this season. He does sound too nasal at times but nevertheless, he definitely has the talent & charisma to make it to the final 3. He seems very humble and he's totally adorable when he chuckles over compliments thrown at him. Sooo cute. As Paula said, you just want to squish him and dangle him from your rear view mirror (or something to that effect.)

DANNY NORIEGA - he (she?) is a good performer... not a super good singer but I love watching him (her?) He is as entertaining as Christian Siriano of Project Runway... I like his snappy/sassy exchanges with Simon. Double snaps! Saw his early teenage photos shown during his profile? He makes a pretty girl. I envy his nicely shaped eyebrows! So chic!

JASON CASTRO - quite a cool dude with dreadlocks :) His guitar playing makes him an interesting performer. I actually liked his modern rendition of the Beegees song.

DAVID COOK - Ahh, the rockin' self-proclaimed word nerd. Geek is the new chic. I like his rocker voice. He pulls off the rocker appeal better as compared to (now eliminated) Robbie Carrico.

LUKE MENARD - Orlando Bloom, is that you? He is good looking but I smell a hint of gay. Especially after I saw him dance at the background while someone else was performing on stage. Got a Kenny Loggins voice but his theatrical performance sometimes doesn't do it for me.

DAVID HERNANDEZ - Ahh, if there were nude photos of Antonella Barba last season... well this season's hot gossip is that he is gay and he used to work in a gay night club. He can sing well but I don't exactly like his performances so far.

JASON YEAGER - He's been eliminated and it's okay with me. I am quite annoyed at how he sings and smiles at the same time. I can't stand it. He can sing but his constant smiling while singing really peeves me.

MICHAEL JOHNS - Nothing really memorable. I think he's kinda good looking. I don't remember any of his performances at all.

CHIKEZIE EZE - I actually liked him during his audition. He's got the soul/r&b voice going. I love saying his name chikezie eze... easy breezy.

I am not as enthusiastic in watching the girls' performances though so I have no female favorites really. Well RAMIELE MALUBAY is a Filipina, so GOOO PINOY!!! She reminds me of Lilo (Disney's Lilo & Stitch). Her first performance of You Don't Have to Say You Love me is such a trademark Pinoy videoke number.

I don't really care much as to which of the girls leave but please, I just wish AMANDA OVERMYER gets eliminated next week. I just simply can't stand watching her. Literally. I switch channels. It's probably the big Cruella De Vil - Simba hybrid hair that puts me off. And probably because she also reminds me of Dilana of RockStar Supernova. It's like she's in the wrong reality show. Oh well.

::. DEMAND FOR JOSIAH LEMING IN MANILA .::

2008-02-25T15:13:00.005+08:00

There's a "Demand It" button over at Josiah Leming's MySpace... yeehaa!

::. MY COUSIN'S WEDDING .::

2008-02-24T18:18:00.004+08:00

My cousin Cholo flew in from the US to have his wedding here in the Philippines. His wife Vanessa, his brother Nino & wife Marjorie, along with my tito and tita also flew in for the momentous family event. The wedding ceremony was at the grand Manila Cathedral and reception dinner was held at Manila Diamond Hotel.

more photos at http://lilacstardust.multiply.com/photos/album/33/._MY_COUSINS_WEDDING_.#30

::. ROBBERY INSIDE PINK SISTER'S TAGAYTAY .::

2008-02-24T16:38:00.008+08:00

the neatly cut glass left on the floor at the back seat

the entire back window gone!

On our way back to Manila after our planning session at Tagaytay Highlands last Feb 22, we stopped by Pink Sisters for a quick visit. We were originally intending to buy some tarts at Angel Hills but it was on a "by order" basis so we just decided to drop by Pink Sisters to pray in the convent's church. We parked on the new parking lot across the church. We came in two vehicles: I rode with my officemate in her Toyota Vios while my other two colleagues were in a Kia Sorento. My officemate parked her car on the left side, probably like the 5th parking slot or so. Our other officemate parked on the right side just near the parking entrance, could be the 1st or 2nd parking slot. Anyway, we were only gone for abot 15 minutes to pray inside the church. When we went back to the car, I was stunned to see my officemate's car window at the back passenger side totally gone! I immediately told her that her window was broken and at first, I thought it was hit by a stone or something and then the next second, I realized it was a robbery! Her [company-issued] laptop and hand bag with some cash & digicam were stolen from the back seat! It could clearly be seen that her window was NOT simply smashed but it was cut (by a diamond cutter perhaps) in two strategic directions and then probably pushed to totally give. She also left her celfone charging on the dashboard slot but it was not stolen coz the thief/thieves were probably in a hurry. Our overnight bags inside the trunk were untouched. I did not lose anything coz I always brought my handbag with me wherever I go.

Horrible, horrible! The lone security guard who was posted right by the door of the church said he did not see anything and he said he has gone to eat his lunch (which I doubt, that in a span of 15mins he left his post coz when I went out of the church to take its picture after being inside for abt 5 mins, the guard was still there. I went inside again and a few minutes after, me and my officemates went out and hung out by the garden right in front of the church as we waited for our other officemate to finish praying inside. I clearly remember the guard still seated there on his post.) The only suspect was this espasol vendor who was there at the parking lot when we left our car. Veggie vendors who had a good view of the entire parking lot from the perimeter fence of the convent said they saw nothing/no one except for the espasol vendor. From where the guard was stationed, the area where we parked cannot be fully seen. What can be seen from there was just the tops of the parked cars.

We don't know who did this. The espasol guy may or may not be involved. For all we know, there might have been a vehicle who just parked beside my officemate's car and could have quickly done the crime in less than 5 minutes and left the church without raising any suspicion. Who knows, really?! The police said it was the first time for something like this to happen inside the Pink Sisters convent. There were reported bukas-kotse incidents in Tagaytay restuarant/fast food areas but not at the church.

It's still unbelievable how something like this could happen inside a quiet and holy area like Pink Sisters. It feels kinda surreal for me when I clearly remember that second in my mind when I saw the broken window. Horrible, horrible.

::. PLANNING SESSION @ TAGAYTAY .::

2008-02-24T15:17:00.004+08:00

foggy tagaytay highlands

Me and my officemates held our annual planning session at Tagaytay Highlands wherein we were cooped up at the Texas room of Highlander Steakhouse the entire day of Feb 21 and the morning of Feb 22. It was cold weather to begin with in Tagaytay and way up at Highlands, it was super super windy, foggy and cold. I remembered Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day! Sulit the jacket and the muffler I was wearing but I did wish I wore rubber shoes with warm socks instead of sandals. I was like "oh gee, watch my toe nails turn pale purple in the cold!"...

We had a hearty lunch of a 10 oz. rib eye steak which is so so huge that I only managed to eat 3/4 of it and I lessened my intake of baked potato and veggie sidings to accommodate more steak since it's such a waste not to finish the juicy yummy steak.

After the day's meeting, we proceeded to The Boutique Bed and Breakfast near Day's Inn. The four of us split into two rooms: I Escape and I Dream. It is more oriented towards couples hieing off to Tagaytay for a getaway -- this we realized after having a long laugh over discovering that our room's had umm sexy CRs. Our room, I Dream (its immaculate white bed pictured below), had a completely see-through glass panel beside the shower wherein one can be seen in all his/her bathing glory from the private terrace and also by the rest of the Taal people down below. I called it "The Pornstar CR"! The other room, I Escape, had a see through glass panel with a view of the garden and also a glass door for the CR such that one can see you doing number one or two on the toilet seat! Not a comforting thought! And so they had the glass door covered with a piece of cloth. Actually, I Dream's CR had a piece of cloth as well which you can hang like a curtain on hooks installed on the glass panel's frame.

our pornstar toilet & bath :)

The hotel's room rate includes a complimentary 10-min. cold stone facial massage, choice of bath soap, shampoo & conditioner (I loved the Lavender scents we chose!) and room scent, and hot chocolate & churros served before you go to sleep. The hotel had an in-house Hawaiian restaurant. We just had salad & spicy chicken wings for dinner since we were still full from the steak we had during lunch. I had swedish massage in our room using a Jasmine Rose scented oil. It was a little bit hard to fall asleep though coz it was very windy outside and I could hear the terrace glass door vibrating and whathaveyous banging around due to the strong winds.

more pictures at: http://lilacstardust.multiply.com/photos/album/32

::. DINNER WITH MY MIRANDA COUSINS .::

2008-02-24T15:09:00.002+08:00

My cousin Cholo who resides in US is here in the Philippines for his wedding with Vanessa (who is also fr the US). His brother Nino and wife Marjorie also flew in from the States for the big family event. Being so, us Miranda cousins had a dinner get-together at Sentro (Greenbelt) last Tuesday Feb 19 :-) Missing in action were: Kuya Bernie, Kuya Arnold (who's in uhhh I forgot which Arab country he's in now...), Che Che, Maricar (uber busy with taking up Med at UST), Harmon & Jay. In attendance were: Me and my Ate Chinkee, Ate Christine, sisters Rin Rin & Maan, brothers Nino & Cholo with their wives Marjorie & Vanessa respectively.

Sentro's famous sinigang na corned beef disappointed me this time. I first got to taste it back in, hmm, 2005 I think... and that was super good. However, last Tuesday's sinigang na corned beef was blah. The sizzling tofu appetizer was delicious though.

Ate Christine and I went home ahead of the rest after dinner. The rest of my cousins went to a comedy bar in QC to cap the night.

::. REALITY TV DISAPPOINTMENTS .::

2008-02-17T13:47:00.004+08:00

Okay, first thing that sucks is that Marc & Rovilson finished the Amazing Race at a painful 3rd place after winning 1st place on various legs of the race. Loved watching these buff guys for the crazy humor (Rovilson) and hot looks (Marc). And I love their statement shirts ("Real men ask for directions", "Rovilson's stunt double"...) 'Just bummed that it came down to national flag knowledge which Adrian of the Singapore team happened to be such an ace on. All the while I saw the Sony HD commercial on TV, I had this hunch that Adrian & Collin won coz they're the only ones who appeared in a Sony TVC as tandems. (Rovilson appeared in a Sony TVC with one of the Amazing Race girls, forgot her name...)

Another big upset is Josiah Leming being booted out after the Hollywood week of American Idol. Who could resist this innocent-looking blue eyed crybaby of AI? Sooo adorably cute. Really sucks that he did not make it to the top 24 coz he screwed up that Stand By Me audition after dismissing the AI band. Anyway, after much surfing, I stumbled upon Josiah Leming's myspace page. Quite talented kid. Nice songs posted on his page. Also saw some homemade videos of his piano performances on youtube. I wish he gets a record deal and/or comes back to AI next season.... Such a waste and such a shame if he doesn't get anywhere but his car (which he calls home).

::. V-DINNER WITH FAMILY .::

2008-02-17T13:08:00.004+08:00

Went to San Miguel by the Bay (beside Mall of Asia) last Friday to celebrate Valentine's Day with my family :-) We stumbled upon a branch of G-Squared, the same
"palutuan" that cooks yummy tempura at Dampa Macapagal. We were so hungry at around 8:30pm that we devoured the tempura (the first dish to arrive at our table) before I could take a picture hehe. After having late dinner there, we proceeded to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at MOA for some cheesecakes and coffee.

more photos at: http://lilacstardust.multiply.com/photos/album/30

::. HAVE A HAPPY EMO WEEK .::

2008-02-12T22:12:00.001+08:00

For the ones in the same boat as I am... emo for the drama queens! I loooove this Typecast song...

BOSTON DRAMAStandard pick-up lines that seems to wreck your bones
Can this be a sequel of my dying hope?
Chasing down a never ending make-believe
But you're a perfect match of consistency

Will you come back in a heartbeat?
Don't be confused of what a great thing we could be
We'll take a walk on the same street
Can you tell me how Boston is like without me?

You're image is stamp beneath the insides of my heart
Now you're gone I don't know where to start
The evidence is showing like a stable apprehension
But you're the only one who's apt for this affection

::. TO PEE OR NOT TO PEE .::

2008-02-04T20:11:00.000+08:00

I went on VL today to take care of my long-delayed driver's license. I only had a student permit and I needed to get a non-professional driver's license before it expires this May. To avoid the hassle and ensure that I won't have to do the practical test, I coursed my application thru A1 for a rip-off fee of Php1,300 (accdg. to the LTO info board, non-prof license is just around Php300+).

The first step at the LTO was the medical exam where, surprisingly, I was declared having a 20/20 perfect vision. Duh, I wear eyeglasses in the office and the girl even asked me if I wore one. But yes, I did manage to read the smallest number posted about two armlengths away from me. Next was the drug test. Before going to the LTO, I actually drank a 500ml bottle of water already. However, a pee-machine that I usually was, I had a hard time "conjuring" a pee session that MUST fill up the lab bottle (I'm guessing it was around 60-80ml). Weird! And so, I bought another bottle from the canteen (rip-off price of P20 for 500ml of just purified water) and downed it as I stood by the aircon to make me feel cold (thus: pee). Took me about 30 minutes more to psych myself up and finally deliver a successfully filled up pee bottle. It was sooo NOT me to not feel like peeing! I am THE Pee Queen! I think I was too pressured & stressed about it that it dried up my bladder! haha!

Anyway, it was such a tiring day at the LTO! We were there around 11am and we left around 5pm! Oh by the way, I got 37/40 on the driver's license exam :-)

::. AWESOME VISUAL DNA .::

2008-02-03T11:49:00.000+08:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

::. QUASI DRUNK DIALING .::

2008-01-29T22:09:00.000+08:00

I did something stupid. I dialed all five freaking numbers. Two rang. One number called back. I answered the call after some freaked out hesitation BUT I did not say hello. Some guy was on the other line... I'm not sure if it was him, he said hello twice but I did not answer back. I ended the call quickly.

Hah. Pathetic.

Blame it on listening to Ne-yo's Go On Girl about 12x today.

"For a minute there, I lost myself." ~ Karma Police, Radiohead

::. I WISH I COULD SAY... .::

2008-01-29T21:36:00.000+08:00

He was my night time, thought I was his star
Guess I was wrong, but see I'm strong
Won't take long for me to move on

Please don't worry 'bout me, I'm fine
ONLY GONNA PLAY THE FOOL ONE TIME
Trust me when I say that I'll be okay
Go on, man

The mistake I made is clear
That's the reason you're not here
Not a single salty tear
Not a feeling in my chest
Baby I'm feeling no stress
I'M TOO FLY TO BE DEPRESSED

* adopted fr Ne-yo's Go On Girl

::. CELEBRATING MOM'S BDAY .::

2008-01-13T11:18:00.000+08:00

I loved the food the first time I've been to Dampa Macapagal so I suggested that we eat there for my mom's birthday (Her birthday was last Jan 7). It's great that my sis is back from New York now so our family was complete when we celebrated yesterday =)

Mom was mainly the one who shopped for seafood in the wet market since I really had no palengke shopping aptitude hehe :p We had our seafood cooked at G Squared (same place where Jako brought me, Charo & Abbie the first time). We had an oh-so-yummy feast of buttered garlic shrimp, tempura, salt & pepper crab, steamed alupihang dagat and some eggplant, tomatoes & onions. Mom enjoyed eating since she didn't have to cook the food herself ;-) More photos here.

::. CATCHING UP WITH OLD FRIENDS .::

2008-01-05T22:09:00.000+08:00

The last time I spent time with Rose & She (my college friends) was our big trip in CDO-Camiguin last year. And so I'm glad we were able to get together again for a Friday night dinner :-)

I picked the resto in Glorietta -- Italianni's. The Italianni's branch in Glorietta was quite cramped and I like the roomy Greenbelt branch better but hey, the food's great so we even had ourselves listed on the waitlist before we got our table.

As usual, my only request was for us to order my favorite in the menu -- the chicken sicilian salad. There. I MEMORIZED the name of the salad this time! Everytime I'm in Italianni's I would always just say that we order the salad with chicken, mangoes and grapes... never got around to remembering the name until now.

Twas so wonderful to touch base with them again as I haven't been much in communication with them especially She. Coz at least, with Rose, I "see" her over at Multiply! However, She remains to be free from the slavery of online social networks -- no Friendster, no Multiply, no MySpace, no Facebook!

We talked and talked so much... I think we were there in Italianni's from hmmm, around 7:30 til 10:30pm. It's comforting to know that I am not alone with my hopes and fears. I discovered that we still had similar views, dreams, goals, fears in life. Another wonderful discovery is that they are also keen on doing charity work (Sheryl has been looking at kids with cancer. I've been wanting to have something to do with kids -- like orphans -- but haven't been able to go around actually doing it.) We were talking about having a sense of purpose at this age (especially with us turning 30 soon!) and so I brought up my wanting to do some sort of charity work. Also picked up some interests from them like travelling as much as possible and going back to school even just to study some short-term marketing module. I'm excited to travel with them again =)

After talking to them, I now have this renewed will to save up some moooore so I will be able to do more of the things we aspire (aside from paying our insurance!)

::. I WANT MY SOUTH PARK BACK! .::

2008-01-03T23:30:00.000+08:00

Just lost Jack TV on our cable after ETC/2nd Ave/Crime-Suspense went on free tv. Got new channels like Maxxx, Fox Crime, AXN Beyond, Velvet... but I can't find Jack TV anymore :'(

I reprogrammed/re-tuned my tv already but I really haven't seen Jack TV anywhere.

Huhuhu. I want my South Park back. I miss those bastard kids.

::. WARHOL ON MY MIND .::

2008-01-02T02:21:00.001+08:00

I was so ecstatic with cracking my copy of Photoshop CS3 after several attempts of circumventing the trial period. Inspired by the burst of colors in the new Multiply template I found, I suddenly remembered Andy Warhol's pop art. And so, with the wonderful help of Google, I found web tips on how to do the Warhol effect. The 4-tile one was actually my first try using a tedious technique. The 9-tile one was my second attempt, employing a different technique and copying the color scheme off the Che Guevara pop art.

Yup. I am bored with the new year and I've got a lot of time in my hands. Oh, and I can't sleep. (But I'll be sleeping right after posting this...)

::. YUP, IT'S A YEAR-ENDER POST .::

2007-12-31T17:30:00.000+08:00

I had the compulsion to write a year-ender post coz I wanted to do a thank you speech/reminisce-the-year kind of thing. But somewhere in between going mildly crazy over changing into blogger's new xml template and hearing a guy neighbor sing the "woohoo, yeehoo" intro of Gwen Stefani's Sweet Escape, I lost my blogging mojo. I was going to do this survey thing but it started with a #1 question: "Did you fall in love this year?" So scrap that idea. I'll just write whatever pops into my head now...

THANK YOU's
God - For always protecting me & my loved ones from harm, misfortune and other horrible stuff that I feared would happen but did not. For giving us blessings & good health. For taking care of us in ways we do not even know about. For granting our prayers.

Dad & Mom - For being the anchor of my life. For all the love, support, understanding and concern. I know that you are sometimes tired & weary but you keep providing for this family in every way you can. For the roof over our heads, for the yummy food we eat, for the nice ride we travel in...

Sis - For all the love, support, understanding & concern. For being an inspiration of strength and generosity. Oh and for helping me buy my kick-ass laptop ;-)

Dean - For teaching me utter patience and making me practice my maternal skills -- shopping for kid clothes (briefs!) and teaching homework, forcing me to brush up on my math...

Ate Rosie - For washing & ironing my clothes, for helping out mom in the household chores, for updating me whenever I miss PBB...

Chloe - For being a bundle of joy and an instant cheerio toy when I'm feeling sucky

Forces friends Abbie, Charo, Tin, Mitzi, Ivy - For being the Carrie/Samantha/Miranda/Charlotte to me in my ups and downs, drama queen episodes and madamme moments

College friends Rose, She, Aga, Annray, Rick - For being always the same good ol' friends that will always be there for me despite our rare meet-ups. Special mention to Rose & She who made an adventurous traveller out of me in our CDO-Camiguin trip! Aga, the cool proud momma, stay in touch in Multiply always!

NEW THINGS I DID THIS YEAR
I have never been much of an adventure-seeker due to my squeamish, girly nature but I totally loved the white water rafting, zipping & snorkling that I did with my friends in CDO & Camiguin.

With my girly obsession over fashion accessories, I decided to put up my own online store in Multiply. I have always been such a collector of necklaces, earrings, bracelets and as soon as the Multiply shopping bug bit me, I thought why not make my own stuff and sell online as well? If they can do it, so can I :-) I have become bored with my day job and it's this tiny accessories business that keeps my creative juices flowing.

With much prodding from Abbie, I succumbed and registered in Facebook. I'm too lazy to pimp my profile there though and I find all those apps too tedious. Not a big fan but we'll see...

With financial smarts kicking in at the year when I turned 29 and got more than the usual bonus from 2006's work, I decided to invest my money in mutual funds and also got another endowment/life insurance.

OLD THING(S) I KEPT DOING
Still the same ol' drama queen. I wonder if I successfully made the impression that I have moved on... Hah!

PASSIONS IN 2007
Have gone very OC about ID tags and album covers of my mp3s eversince I got an iPod nano

Have scoured a loooot of websites about the world of gadgetry and infinitechnology as I shopped for my laptop

Have loved Multiply a lot and uploaded tons of mp3s & photos

Have tried to be patient & not be miserable with my job. Have been praying for the big shutdown so we can all finally get that big package and move on with our lives (and get a new job while at it)

THING(S) I PLAN TO DO NEXT YEAR
Revisit my "Things to do before I shrivel & die" list. I have some additions in mind. Stay tuned.

AND SO I PRESENT TO YOU MY 2007 -- THE YEAR THAT WAS...

::. CALLING IN SICK FOR THE HOLIDAYS .::

2007-12-30T16:41:00.000+08:00

Demmit. I can't believe I have not enjoyed the holiday season just because I've been sick. The weekend before Christmas, I already had colds, fever & cough but we had to go to Toy Kingdom to buy my nephew his Christmas present. Half of the time that my family was shopping at SM, I was sitting down in whatever chair I found. We watched The Golden Compass and I think I spread some germs in the Glorietta theater hehe. Anyway, it was the kind of illness I always had... flu and then a bit of asthma which was always diagnosed in the past by my doctor as upper respiratory tract infection. Popped some antibiotics and cough syrup, drank salabat and drank Pei Pa Kua (did I spell it right?).

Come 24th, we celebrated my late grandma's birthday/Christmas get-together with my relatives. I was there but I just ate, hardly made conversation (coz my voice was squeaky) and slept most of the time while sitting on the sofa. Still managed to take some photos of the big family event and even managed to get tons of photos of Chloe our shih tzu while wearing her Santa frocks.

I stayed in bed most of the time, watched a lot of Ellen, Conan & Jay Leno, watched some movies on dvd Knocked Up, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry and on cable: Fever Pitch, The Chronicles of Narnia (I could have sworn, I thought Mr. Tumnus the faun was played by Shia LaBeouf... only to find out on imdb that it was James McAvoy).

I'm totally bummed out that I missed my friend Tin's birthday bash which was just here in the village where I lived! :( I was actually feeling quite fine during the day time and already made plans of going together with Charo. I took a nap around 5pm coz I had this little headache. Still had headache when I woke up to take a bath. Thought I'd be fine when I ate dinner but apparently not! Everything I ate, I threw up. Twice. Gaaah. I was feeling whoozy as I managed to text the girls a last-minute bail out. I felt drugged as I slept with an empty stomach. Woke up around midnight. Funny, my first concern was that I had to brush my teeth coz I went to bed without brushing my teeth. And then I realized I was totally hungry. I went down to the dining room to find my cold half-finished plate of dinner still on the table. Our househelp was still up, watching tv and she still hasn't gone around to cleaning up the dinner table. And so I ate my cold lumpia dinner :-) And brushed my teeth :-) I was wondering if the girls were still at Tin's... sigh... I missed another of Tin's birthday parties :-( I remember not being able to attend last year's party... forgot why... was I sick too? Oh well. Oh and I didn't get to say bon voyage to Mitzi who's now probably back in LA :(

I'm now hoping I don't get sick with the usual asthma with all the air pollution expected of New Year's eve...

::. SEASON'S GREETINGS FROM CHLOE .::

2007-12-23T17:02:00.000+08:00

What better way to spread the holiday cheer than to have Chloe, our dear shih tzu, do the greetings for me ;-)

::. NIGHT OUT WITH THE GIRLS .::

2007-12-22T22:55:00.000+08:00

Last Dec 19, I had dinner with my Forces of Nature gals (friends from high school). It was to welcome our friend Mitzi who has been living in the States and has come back to visit the Philippines for the first time after she left 4 years ago. It was so wonderful to see Mitzi again after all these years that we've been only communicating via email, blog and YM! It's amazing that she can still speak great Tagalog without that American twang ;-) The only giveaway is her "oh yeah"s ;-) She treated us to dinner at Masas where we ate yummy Filipino food which she has been missing. (Oh by the way, while I was waiting to meet up with the girls, I decided to get a long-overdue haircut! Since the bob is back, I decided to give it a go again.... I used to have this same haircut when I was in highschool and college. I only started growing my hair long when I was already working. So basically, I chopped off my mid-back length hair into a shoulder length bob).

dinner @masas

mitzi's pasalubongs!

After dinner, Mitzi gave us her pasalubongs :-) After much picture-taking (yeah, all of us had our own digicams), we proceeded to head south wherein Tin treated us to coffee at Starbucks SLEX. 'Can't believe they weren't open 24hours or even til 2pm! When we got there around 12:oomn, they were about to close up. We managed to squeeze in our orders though after making pakiusap to the staff. We had another round of gift-giving, picture-taking and endless chatting as we drank our coffee.

coffee @ starbucks
more photos on my multiply: http://lilacstardust.multiply.com/photos/album/24/._NIGHT_OUT_WITH_THE_GIRLSWELCOME_HOME_MITZI_.

::. THE NEW SUBIC ORDER .::

2007-11-30T19:09:00.000+08:00

I was in Subic for almost a week -- from Tues Nov 20 up to Sun Nov 25 for the 20th Phil. Advertising Congress (PAC). My officemate Vic and I had to be there as an advance party to ensure smooth ingress and make some last minute arrangements at Yacht Club for our industry lunch come Saturday. We also had to deal with some inefficiencies and non-coordination amongst the PAC committees *rolls eyes*. Last week was super exhausting to the nth power!

As luck would have it, Murphy's Law was upon us as we had to make last-minute changes in our booth location due to some misinterpretation of the PAC-issued booth measurement. I almost cried with all that mistake about our booth size! I had visions of Donald Trump saying "You're fired!". Thank God, there were some more empty unsold booth spaces wherein we were able to transfer. To top it off, we were pressed to conduct our judging for our technical excellence award for cinematography (Kenny Rogers "Nourish" TVC won. Coincidentally, Victor Basa -- my fave PBB housemate -- was in the TVC) the day before Vic & I were Subic-bound.

The newly-built convention center wherein the PAC was held was huge and nice but parking was horrible! By the 3rd day, all I could text to Abbie (who was on her way to Subic for PAC) was "I hate this Ad Congress!" The horrible parking plan for the venue was so unfriendly for us who had no drivers to drop us off right at the entrance. We had to walk one freaking block away from where we parked... depending on the weather, it was either a horrible walk in the muddy grass while it was raining or an equally horrible walk amidst the hot sun and dusty street. I didn't even get to use my heeled sandals which I packed! I wore my trusty Nike old skool sneakers all week. The only time I wore heels was during the Araw Awards night.

Didn't really enjoy much of what PAC offered for this year. Totally a big hassle. I wish they'd bring the PAC back to Cebu!

Anyway, here are some snaps:

our nice booth which overcame murphy's law :p

our oh-so-elusive bus that our aussies failed to see... so they kidded us & told us it might have been just a figment of our imagination.

at the Phil Star booth... right before heading to our Yacht Club luncheon

gasp! we almost thought Akon would be attending the Araw Awards! :p

now this is the problem when i'm the only one being masipag with taking pictures... i don't get to be IN the frame :-(

waiting for the awards to start...

~* SMACK THAT *~

2007-11-30T09:28:00.000+08:00

So Trillanes tried to do an Oakwood 2 again. My officemate (Bianx) and I have just finished a presentation at UP Film Institute when we were told by the faculty that Trillanes has just walked into Manila Pen. Whaaaat the....?!? Trillanes again?!? That was around 11ish am.

We had dessert at Chocolate Kiss in Roces Ave. which was near ABS CBN coz we were supposed to get an MMFF movie artwork from Star Cinema around 1:30pm. I then received texts from my mom, my dad and my boss. My dad's office had already let them go home so I was pretty worried that the situation was getting worse in Makati. My mom told me what has been happening in Manila Pen. My boss told us to be careful since we were out of the office. Still, there was no official announcement that work has been suspended.

So anyway, Bianx and I headed back to Makati where our office were. Traffic was horrible in EDSA due to the non-stop rains and due to the Trillanes chaos. We left QC around 1:30pm and by the time we reached Makati, it was nearing the 3:00pm ultimatum for Trillanes to surrender. It was raining, we sooo needed to pee and there we were at the EDSA-Ayala intersection. I was talking to my boss over the phone when I saw -- not one -- but two (gaaaah!!!!) freaking tanks roll right in front of us. There was also a military jeepful of armed forces that drove by, heading to Manila Pen. I have never seen a tank THAT close so I started to feel really nervous --most especially when I saw the guy atop the tank preparing to aim the huge gun! A totally nerve-racking sight! :-\

Traffic was so clogged at that area so we decided to turn to McKinley and go inside the Fort. It was an extremely tense atmosphere along the Marine Corps Headquarters. We saw armed men on standby along the perimeter fence of the HQ. And then I got totally scared when I saw this bad-ass HUGE tank double the size of what passed by our car back in Ayala! Very scary!

We managed to get back safely to our office in Pasong Tamo around 4pm. My problem then was how to get home (our office announced suspension of work around 3:30pm). My usual shuttle terminal was the one behind Intercon/beside the MRT SM station. I was afraid to go there coz it was quite near to the Pen. Anyway, I had to finish a fascia and billboard artwork that was supposed to be picked up by our supplier over this weekend so I didn't head home immediately. Traffic was horrible at SLEX anyway and I was told by our GM that I could call for a cab service if I couldn't find a way home. I have even told Bianx go ahead and go home without me coz I told her I'll just call up an AVIS cab. However, when I called AVIS, I was told that they stopped operations in Makati (oh no!) and so they refused to pick me up:( Gaaaahd. Good thing Bianx called me up a few minutes afterwards and told me she's been hearing the gunshots on her way to the office of her husband at RCBC. She then offered to come back for me in the office. Traffic was hell so they only managed to get to the office around 6pm.

Rode with them up to Alabang... Traffic was extra-horrible at SLEX and we got to Alabang around 8:30pm. My dad (who was already home after a 3-hour drive fr Makati to San Pedro) offered to fetch me at Petron near Festival/ATC. We got home around 10pm.

Such a tiring day it was. With the 12mn-5am curfew imposed last night, I wonder whatever happened to the people who went to Akon's concert? Hmm. A Konvict night it was indeed.

::. A THOUSAND WORDS .::

2007-11-17T16:45:00.000+08:00

Working for an imaging company, we employees have been encouraged to submit our photos in our company blog "A Thousand Words". Themed photos submitted by employees worldwide are picked and posted every other Wednesday. I submitted mine around mid-year and was notified of my photos' acceptance and posting date lots of months ago. Finally, November 14 has come and gone... and I finally saw my photos being featured =)

They're a bunch of photos I took during our family's Visita Iglesia and I'm really happy that the blog admin in charge of "Picture Wednesday" back in Eastman Kodak accepted my entry =) Yey!

Here's the link: http://picturewednesday.1000words.kodak.com/default.asp?item=683669

::. NOW PLAYING: Fade Into You by Run Run Run .::

2007-11-17T13:53:00.000+08:00

I love this version of Mazzy Star's Fade Into You. Run Run Run is an indie band from LA.

I want to hold the hand inside you
I want to take the breath that's true
I look to you and I see nothing
I look to you to see the truth

You live your life, you go in shadows
You'll come apart and you'll go black
Some kind of night into your darkness
Colors your eyes with what's not there

Fade into you
Strange you never knew
Fade into you
I think it's strange you never knew

A stranger's light comes on slowly
A stranger's heart without a home
You put your hands into your head
And then the smiles cover your heart

Fade into you
Strange you never knew
Fade into you
I think it's strange you never knew
I think it's strange you never knew
I think it's strange you never knew

::. OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW .::

2007-11-11T14:34:00.000+08:00

Finally! I got my new laptop! =) Got it last Sunday fresh from the States. I super super owe a lot to my sis who had such a hard time getting it for me in NY. And thanks too to my cousin Maricar for handcarrying it for me when she got back from her sembreak vacation in the States=)

After 2 different Toshiba models, I finally decided on getting this one. It's such a steal for its price! I couldn't believe the big disparity of laptop prices there in the US vs. here in the Philippines--the difference is so insane! I was lucky that the exchange rate had been in the Php44-ish range when my sister got it in Oct so I bought it at such a great price.

The last time I checked back in Sept., there were still no 2GB RAM-Core2Duo Toshibas around here. And the most insane thing is, the 1GB model here was already selling at around Php70K+! Indeed, if you really have the chance, it's better to buy a laptop in the States than locally.

I would have gotten the dream Macbook but (a) my budget's limited! and (b) it's hard to get umm "inexpensive" software for Mac OS! ;p Upon Mitzi's and our office IT guys' recommendation, I chose to get a Toshiba laptop. Mine is the Toshiba Satellite A205-S7464. It runs on Vista Home Premium, Core 2 Duo 2GB RAM, with 200GB hard disk, with built-in webcam, wi-fi capable, HD DVD-ROM/DVD SuperMulti. No built-in bluetooth though but that's alright coz I already have a bluetooth dongle.

It's such a pain in the ass though to migrate all my 15.1 GB worth of mp3s plus my 4GB photos and all other docs :( Since I could not find a portable hard disk to borrow (wala si Tin dito eh!) Abbie suggested that I use my humble iPod nano to migrate my files (still not done! a few more file transfers to go...). Did not have to pay our IT dude to migrate stuff for me! I already installed iTunes and the Kodak EasyShare software... next up would be to install my Adobe Photoshop CS2... So much stuff to do... Anyway, after I copy all my files from my PC, I'll hand it down to my nephew =) And I'll be freeing a big space in my room when my PC's gone=)

Meanwhile, the new Windows Vista would take a lot of getting used to! Argh, that paranoid pop-up thing just reminds me of that funny Mac ad on apple.com... so true! haha!

my Toshiba ROCKS!!! yey! =)

~* THAT'S WHAT EARPHONES ARE FOR! *~

2007-10-30T20:43:00.001+08:00

Argh. I just had another "5 People You Meet in FX Hell" kind of experience on my way home from work. It just so happened that I chose NOT to plug in my iPod for a change. I was blissfully enjoying the silence when this lesbian's celfone beside me cranked up that "Don't give up on us baby..." song. Ugh. *rolls eyes* Really now. Do I really have to listen to that sappy crap of a song?!?! I thought it was his/her ringtone and he/she just didn't want to take the call. But unfortunately, it was not. The whole freakin' song played! Gaaaah. I was sighing and tsk'ing heavily but he/she was too... umm, how do I say this... uncultured? etiquette challenged?... to care about my obvious irritation.

I kinda angrily opened my bag to retrieve my sanity-saving iPod and kinda SHOWED her how to use the damn freaking earphones while mumbling "friggin' earphones!" under my breath. I was contemplating whether or not to let my anger explode an tell her:

a) Excuse me, do you mind?!?
b) Don't you have earphones?!?
c) Don't all mp3-enabled celfones come with its freaking earphones?!?
d) Do you want me to lend you MY earphones?!?

I swear, I had to muster all my energy for anger management. I managed to stay like a silent volcano waiting to explode. I imagined swatting him/her with a gazillion earphones.

Annoyance. Hayyyy.

Oh and I still heard strains of "Got to Believe in Magic" invading my Texas, Coheed & Cambria et al.

Triple ugh.

~* THE EYE CANDY THAT IS VICTOR BASA *~

2007-10-15T20:16:00.000+08:00

I literally squealed with delight when I found out that Victor Basa is in Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition. (My nephew who was downstairs said he heard me getting kilig in my room upstairs as the big reveal for Victor was done, hehe). I liked his boyish look eversince he was modelling. His cute chinky eyes and curled corners of his lips did it for me. And since he is a model, he dresses so well and has that prerequisite hot abs. I think I saw him first in Cosmo's September edition (that annual "men" issue). And then of course he made it as a VJ in the revamped MTV Philippines. And then I was surprised to see him appear in some telenovelas in ABS CBN this year.

I had an inkling it was him when I saw the skateboarding thing that was part of his montage. And those cute sleepy/chinky eyes are definitely his. I frantically texted my officemate "Victor Basa is in PBB! Woohoo!" in my excitement.

I was never a super fan of PBB and I only started to really watch it last season when my "cousin-in-law" Gee-Ann was in it. But now, I will most definitely make it a point to watch PBB for the eye-candy that is Victor Basa. Hotness! Yum! *Sigh*

P.S. And he is in Wikipedia already! Gooooo Victor! :-)

images from http://manilagayguy.com

~* HAVE YOU FACED YOUR POCKET? *~

2007-09-20T21:12:00.000+08:00

Have you ever heard about Faceyourpockets.com? Last week, I saw my friend Claire post Faceyourpockets-inspired photos on her Multiply. And then I saw the site being featured in Inquirer's Super. How could I not resist the infectious pixel bug?

Here's mine :-) Can you tell that I'm a bit of an O.C.? Or am I just an over-prepared girl scout?

* click photo for a larger view

~* AJINOMOTO HIGH BY DAMPA *~

2007-09-20T18:02:00.000+08:00

Another obscure fact about me is that I've never eaten in the so-called "Dampa" places (I think the original one is in uhh, Parañaque?) wherein you literally shop around for your own seafood desire in a wet market and then have a restaurant cook them according to your fancy. My friends Abbie, Charo and Jako found out about this weeks ago, as we dined at Pancake House after watching the Aga-Maricel-Angelika movie "A Love Story". They hatched a plan to take me in one of those places (there's also a version in Macapagal Ave. and in Ortigas) so I can finally have that so-called Dampa experience. They have been teasing me about the wet market thing coz I am known to be very squeamish :p

tinimbang ka, ngunit kulang!(pero may smart buddy pa rin! uy, abbie's happy!)
Finally, we pushed through with dinner at Dampa Macapagal Ave. last Saturday. Charo, Jako and I arrived there ahead of Abbie so we were the ones who shopped for seafood at the wet market. I think I gulped the first time I saw the wet market scene. Now don't get me wrong, when I was a kid, I actually accompanied my mom in the town palengke/talipapa which was literally sitting on muddy grounds... by the time we got home, I always had mud all over my feet and some more splattered on my legs. So actually, I knew how it was inside a typical wet market. The one in Macapagal had concrete floors, still unavoidably wet but at least no mud splattering around :-) Of course there was that distinct fishy smell but it's no big deal. The gulp was just because I haven't been inside a wet market for such a long time so I was quite overwhelmed. I told Charo "Sige, carry ko toh!" :-) And then I just realized an important thought: "So who among us knew how to choose the best seafood, judge its freshness and make the so-called 'tawad' sa tindera?" Don't look at me! I only came here to eat, haha! Charo also didn't know how to shop for seafood so good ol' Jako chose & haggled for us :-)

uber-fresh seafood galore!
After purchasing loads of shrimps, maya-maya and bading crabs, we proceeded to G-Squared to have them cooked. Abbie arrived at G-Squared just in time for the sumptuous feast of tempura, shrimp in garlic butter sauce, sinigang sa miso na maya-maya and crabs in oyster sauce w/ onion leeks.

After downing all that yummy seafood, I think I got a bit dizzy with all that MSG. When I asked them if they thought what we ate had MSG, Charo said Jako was a bit dizzy too!:p When I told my mom about it, she said it was probably the MSG and the fat (alige?) of the crab that made us so.

By the way, the entire Dampa experience was Abbie's oh-so-late birthday treat to us. Thanks Abs! :-)

After dinner, Charo and Abbie were lured by the inexpensive DVDs nearby. After DVD-shopping, we struck a pose amidst the wet market :-)

On the way home, we hung out and had coffee at Seattle's Best Caltex at SLEX :-) Talked about memorable episodes of Friends and spoilers of Grey's Anatomy while Jako perused the gadget magazines inside the cafe (hindi maka-relate sa 'min eh! hehe!).

dinner shots inside G-Squared and wet market "glamour" shots :p
way too happy to finally experience eating @ dampa...... or maybe it was the MSG high :p

~* GETTING SUCKED INTO THE iPOD LIFESTYLE *~

2007-09-06T21:21:00.000+08:00

I don't even consider it a craze or trend. It's a lifestyle for the earphones-fixated generation of today.

A year ago, I didn't even think I needed nor wanted an iPod. Then last February, I got myself a pink Nano. I was probably among the late majority (or was I one of the laggards already? When did the iPod become THE aspirational digital media player anyway?!).

I just checked my inbox and saw this Apple e-blast.

Hmm. I don't really care about the portability of video since I'm more of a music addict than a videophile. But hey, the cyan iPod nano looks cute. And the red one looks really chic. So do I let myself get sucked into this money-making scheme just because of the nice colors? I'm too lazy to Google for reviews and besides, it's just been launched so not a lot of in-depth reviews as of now, I bet.

Anyway, was that Nelly Furtado on the ad?

Anyone generous enough to buy me one? ;-)

********** ADDENDUM ************

*GASP* I just saw that there's a lavender iPod Shuffle! Such cuteness! If I had money to burn I'd buy it just because it was lavender. But then again, I don't have the moolah. *sigh*

~* FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN FX HELL *~

2007-09-01T18:52:00.000+08:00

I don't drive my own car but, whenever I can, I hitch a ride with my dad to get to my office. On my way home, I commute via those white L300's or Nissan Urvans. I also move around via buses, FXs, jeepneys and tricycles. I've been commuting since I've been going to college and now that I'm working, I have encountered a loooot of memorable co-passengers from (probably) all walks of life. And as you may have guessed, the memorable ones are the kind that either annoyed or grossed me out. Let me focus on the ones I usually encounter inside the FX/bus and L300's/vans since I share my seat and oxygen with them for about an hour or so, five times a week.

THE WORLD IS THEIR LIVING ROOM
"Really. Do I really have to see and hear the shrilly-voiced girl in the video playing on your celfone?!?"

Just last night, I was peacefully co-existing with my fellow passengers in the van when I heard an annoying shrilly, crackly voice and laughter coupled with the blinding bluish white light coming from this guy's celfone. It appeared that the guy is letting his friend view the supposedly amusing/funny video. But take note, I was listening to my iPod when I heard it so imagine how freaking loud the volume of the video must be. People! The van isn't your living room! Turn up the volume all you want when you are inside the confines of your own home sweet home. Or get yourself an iPod Video. Earphones, people. Earphones! There's a reason why they were invented!

THE REVOLTING SMELL
"Oh, come on!" *imaginary throwing of arms in the air, rolling of eyeballs*actual holding of breath*

I've smelled it all. Careless whispers of fart. Morning breath yawnings. Shawarma breaths. Garlic longganisa burps. Potent Kili-kili power. Stinky burgers. Kid barf. You name it, I've probably smelt it! I had no way to defend my poor myself but to hold my breath. It kills me softly when someone with BO sits beside me and then holds the rail in the middle (when I ride the L300) such that the aircon is blowing past his/her armpits and then onto my breathing space. *pseudo-faints*

Now regarding kid barf, whenever a passenger toting a toddler sits beside me, I get nervous. I just say a little prayer: "Please God, don't let the kid vomit on my clothes and shoes."

DUDE, YOUR SWEATING ON MY CLOTHES
"Ewwww."

I am a fairly petite/medium built so when a burly sweaty guy sits beside me, his armpits tend to be ensconced on my shoulders/forearms. And in bad days of summer when it's superhot outside and the aircon is not blowing nicely, I dread finding my clothes a bit moist with the sweat of my seatmate. Really yucky. And it's extra annoying when it happens in the morning when I am on my way to work.

THE ETERNAL WHINERS
"The heavy traffic will not magically disappear even if you tsk-tsk yourself to death."

I hope that people will just keep quiet when it's traffic. I know that being late for an appointment while stewing powerless in the midst of heavy traffic jam is stressful in itself. Hearing a pissed "tsk-tsk" and whiny mutterings on my left and right ear like surround-sound theater IS royally annoying to the nth level. Let's just keep mum, people. Hearing you whine is just upping my stress level.

UNWELCOMED VIBRATIONS
"Stop it, will ya?!"

Remember that the seats in public transport are communal. We are sharing the same shabby PUV seat. So when you flip-flop your butt around, fidget or makes kuyakoy with your leg, I can friggin' feel it. It's really annoying when I'm trying to rest during the travel and then I suddenly feel like I'm off-road driving. Stay put and sit properly, people!

When you think about it, there are really more than five kinds of annoying co-passengers. There are also those loud talkers, off-key earphone singers, PDA'ers, ringtone-happy people, burpers who don't excuse themselves, gals whose long shampoo-commercial kind of hair is flapping onto your face... the list goes on. It will take one helluva long blog post to tackle them all.

~ by the quiet iPod-toting commuter

~* MY FIRST ONLINE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE *~

2007-09-01T14:04:00.000+08:00

I have never bought anything online until I discovered various Multiply sites offering a plethora of unique pretty accessories. More often than not, the online stores are run by young entrepreneurial Pinays. I have started exploring the possibility of buying stuff online especially when my friend Abbie has successfully bought several shoes from Schu via Multiply. I am still too iffy about buying stuff that one has to actually fit, feel and see on oneself like clothes and shoes. However, accessories are easier to judge and deem as purchase-worthy. All you need is to ask the seller more questions regarding the material used, exact length/size of the piece, etc. and you can already decide whether to buy the accessory or not.

I have included the better ones in my Multiply friends list as business contact. My qualifications were as follows:

based in the Philippines
has unique accessories (meaning stuff that you don't usually see on tiangges & stores in the mall)
with price and product description indicated in the photo (I am annoyed with those sites who don't indicate their prices. Price is the first thing a consumer considers so that should be readily available.)
affordable, reasonable prices
can be paid via bank deposit (eg. BPI)
answers questions promptly
can deliver products via courier

I am currently asking one of them to customize a charm necklace for me. We've been exchanging messages and now I just have to wait for her costing & mock-up. In the meantime, my very first online purchase was from Sepa. It is owned by a gal named Josefa Dianne Espera who is based in Cebu. She has a well-presented catalog of products in her Photos section. Her accessories are so chic and in fact, she has been featured in Us Girls and various magazines already (though I didn't hear about Sepa via the TV show nor magazines). I actually just stumbled upon her site while I was searching for charm and locket necklaces. The name rang a bell coz I saw her stuff previously featured in Schu's online store. I totally adore her accessories and if I had more money at my disposal, I would have bought more, hehe!

It was a fairly easy purchase. At first, I sent her a message asking more info about the products I liked. After narrowing my choices to a pair of earrings and two vintage necklaces -- same design but one in vintage gold and the other in vintage silver -- I read her terms and conditions and then filled out her order form. About two days after, I received a text message from her confirming the availability of the items and the total amount of my purchase including Air21 shipping fee. The next day, I went to the bank to deposit my payment in her account. I informed her of my bank deposit and after she checked her account, she shipped out the items. Air21 delivered my order the next day and viola! I have new accessories from Sepa :)

It was wonderful transacting with Dianne of Sepa. She promptly responded to my PMs and SMS and kept me well-informed regarding the shipment details of my order. I was so excited to go home when my mom confirmed that she has received my Air21 package from Cebu. Was quite baffled by the packaging as I tried to remove the blue plastic lock. I was beginning to think how stupid I must be not to figure out how to open it... But then, I just realized it was meant to be tamper-proof! *toink* Yeah, you really have to tear the clear plastic in order to get the parcel inside. Basically, the parcel was double-sealed (the outer clear plastic with the blue tamper-proof lock and then the usual opaque sealed plastic pouch) so that comforted the worrywart in me :) And then, everything was inside a box sealed with scotch tape which was signed over so you'll detect whether it was tampered with or not. I think I squealed with delight when I finally opened the box and saw the beautiful accessories in their pretty packaging. I was impressed with the effort spent in packaging the items with care and kikay presentation :) I definitely recommend Sepa to those who are looking for well-crafted, stylish and reasonably-priced accesories :)

the mystifying Air21 tamper-proof seal
the box of accessories
the pretty packaging
look dianne, i thought of a fourth way* to wear the necklace ;-)

* The vintage necklaces I bought had an adjustable chain which offers versatility. It can be worn three ways as shown in Sepa's photos but I managed to also wear it as a choker :-)

~* BOURNE HOTNESS *~

2007-08-30T23:12:00.000+08:00

I have a confession. I haven't watched ANY of the Bourne series until last Monday. I'm not the kind who'd go out of her way to watch guy flicks so I never really had the burning desire to catch Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum when it was released in the theaters. It's just as much as saying that I have never seen any of the Ocean series (Ocean's 11 to 13) coz guy flicks don't really interest me. Having a national holiday to enjoy last Monday, I decided to spend it doing a Bourne DVDthon. With all the raves over Bourne Ultimatum, I got really curious and decided to see what the hype was all about. I hate to watch sequels without watching the first one so I viewed all three movies in order. The moment I was finished with Bourne Identity, I was hooked. And really, playing the Jason Bourne character has made Matt Damon officially hot in my book! I never really categorized him as "hot" previous to watching Bourne mainly because I still get the gay vibe with him and his best friend Ben Affleck :p

I loved the testosteroney awesome car chase and fight scenes! And that fast-paced suspense scene in Ultimatum when he was dishing out quick instructions via celfone to the newspaper writer at the Waterloo Station! Jason Bourne as a character is such a turn on coz he's actually a number-memorizing geek/highly-adept map reader/amazing crazy driver/kick-ass fighter. Verrrry manly!

Actually, I've never been a big fan of Matt Damon. The last time Matt Damon's acting amazed me was waaaay back in The Talented Mr. Ripley. I haven't seen Good Will Hunting though. But, really, watching the Bourne series changed my opinion of him as an actor. So okay, I like Matt Damon now. And I'll be sure to watch out for the next Bourne movie...

~* OH WHEN LIFE GETS TOUGH *~

2007-08-30T22:21:00.000+08:00

I was saddened when I heard about Owen Wilson's alleged suicide attempt :-( I'm not a super huge fan of his but I always loved his comedic acting alongside Ben Stiller (think: adorable little cowboy in "Night at the Museum") and enjoyed watching him in Zoolander, Starsky & Hutch and Wedding Crashers. I prefer watching his movies over his brother's (Luke Wilson) ;-)

His smiling eyes, distinctly crooked nose and winning smile... that unmistakable boyish voice of his... his comedic timing are everything that makes him every bit of the extremely likeable romantic-comedy genre actor.

Everything is basically just wild gossip as of now but I wonder how someone who seems to have such a happy disposition in life turned out to be someone desperate enough to (attempt to) kill himself. Was it a cry for help? Sigh. 'Just goes to show that even celebrities who seem to be on top of their game lose their way and stumble into the darkness... With such Hollywood star status, we just forget that they're human human after all. They have pains, troubles and heartaches like the rest of us ordinary people.

I just hope Owen bounces back from this. I would really love to see him get his groove back soon. It would be such a sorry loss to Hollywood if he crumbles and breaks altogether.

Get well soon Owen! (Riiight. As if he'd read this. Hah!)

~* NOW PLAYING: SWANS by UNKLE BOB *~

2007-08-24T17:30:00.000+08:00

I discovered this poignant song while downloading Grey's Anatomy soundtrack from Season 3 episodes. It was used in the ep "Some Kind of Miracle". This is the one where dead Denny re-appears in the show...

Unkle Bob is a band from UK and judging from their Myspace comments, they've become pretty famous when GA fans heard their song used in one of the episodes.

Swans

Unkle Bob

By my side,
you'll never be.
By my side,
you'll never be.

Cos I'm fake at the seams,
I'm lost in my dreams.
I want you to know,
that I can't let you go.

And you're never coming home again,
And you're never coming home again.

By my side,
you'll never be.
By my side,
you'll never be.

I wanted to tell you I'd changed.
I wanted to tell you that things would be different this time.

But I see you, you see me,
Differently.
I see you, you see me,
Differently.

You tell me that you love me but you never want to see me again.

~* POST SECRET *~

2007-08-17T17:20:00.000+08:00

I looooove PostSecret. I always make it a point to visit this blog once a week. Sometimes it comforts me that I am not alone in this battle called Life. I love this AVP that Frank did and Sia's Breathe Me just gives me goosebumps as I watch the postcards featured here...

~* MEETING JOE BLACK *~

2007-08-11T22:45:00.000+08:00

In the movie "Meet Joe Black", the characters say that death and taxes are the only things certain in this life. Death cannot be anymore real for me than last Saturday when my grandmother passed away. She was 86 years old.

As I met much "senior" relatives during the burial, it occured to me that I was not sure if I wanted to grow THAT old. I tried to envision myself 55 years from now. Granting that I'm still alive by then and not yet choked by the horrible air pollution of the 21st century, I would probably be a skinny shrivelled old lady in a purple dress. Do eyelashes fall off as you grow old? If not, I would probably still be curling my eyelashes. I hope my precious Shu Uemura eyelash curler is still surviving with me by then. Can I still walk when I'm super old? Or will I be maneuvering a wheel chair? Would I be wearing super thick eyeglasses? Would my hearing be impaired? Will my grandchildren talk super loudly at me so I can hear what they're saying to me? Would I have grandchildren? Would I have children of my own? Would I have a husband? Will he live as long as I do or would I be a widow? Would I be married? Will I have a great pension plan all paid up? Will I have a good insurance coverage?

Now the thing about a gathering of relatives you only see once or twice a year is that it would always raise the million dollar question. Remind me to make a shirt that says "No, I don't have a boyfriend." And since my lola was a DECS supervisor, I've met Mrs. Barroso, my English teacher back in high school, during the wake. And imagine how I got thrown off-guard when she asks me: "So who's the girlfriend of K_ now?" Uhh. Okaaay. Must I know the answer to that question? I managed to blurt out an "I don't know" and reasoned that we umm, haven't been in touch these past months. I just updated her about stuff I knew about my batchmates and highschool friends... where they are now, whether married or not, boyfriend of whom, working where, has a kid... stuff like that. I tried to spew out as much update as I can so as to elude prying questions about MY current sorry state. Hah!

Now thinking about my wake and death, I should make sure that a trusty kikay friend of mine would ensure that I won't look like roadkill inside my coffin. When she was alive, my lola had already made some sort of sister-pact with her friend -- whoever "went" first shall be responsible for the other's "coffin look". Hence, her friend even rearranged my lola's hair and ensured her eyebrows were drawn right. That kind of kikay stuff. So whoever will be my designated kikay friend, listen up: Curl my lashes, shape my brows (or draw natural-looking brows if I don't have any eyebrows by then), don't use super red lipstick coz it makes my lips look bigger... use a nude or pinkish brown shade, use lavender/purple eyeshadow, don't forget the cheek blush. And make sure my hair still looks fab.

I'm okay with cremation if it comes out less expensive than being buried. Either way, I'd want a lavender-tinged white coffin. And if I'm cremated, I'd be happy with a pink marble or pewter urn. During the wake, assuming every place is Wi-Fi'd by then, I would like a laptop set-up in one corner of the mortuary where the visitors would be able to read my blog posts and view my online photo galleries. That's gonna be one cool memoir :-)

And during my eulogy and/or burial, for goodness' sake, please don't sing a sappy Hindi Kita Malilimutan kind of song. How about Sarah McLachlan's "I Will Remember You" or Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony"?

~* WHEN AND WHY? *~

2007-08-11T13:02:00.000+08:00

from:http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

Did you ever have one of those days when you ask yourself if this is as good as it gets? Will the heartbreak ever heal? Will I be able to move on someday soon? Will I have my happily ever after anytime soon? Why do people leave? Why do people do what they do? Is there really hope for the flowers? Will it forever be a pursuit of happiness? Will I ever BE happy or just die trying?

~* SIMPSONIZE ME *~

2007-07-17T00:37:00.000+08:00

Hey, try this for fun! It's so cool :-)
Go to http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/main.html

Of course, I had to make my Simpson version in shades of purple & fuchsia ;-) My only complaint is that there's no choice for the footwear & pants :-(

~* HOMEWARD BOUND & PASALUBONG SHOPPING *~

2007-07-12T15:57:00.000+08:00

more photos on my Multiply...

JULY 1, 2007
3:45 AM - We hired the services of Allan (our Camiguin tour guide) again to bring us to Benoni Wharf to catch the 4:30AM ferry. Van rental from Paras resort to Benoni Wharf was Php 450.

4:20 AM - We boarded the MV Doña Pepita (Php 107/pax) which sailed promptly at 4:30AM. The moon was still up so I braved the cool pre-dawn air to take some long time exposure shots. Quite messy shots though coz it was wavy. Also caught the crack of dawn orange-dark blue skies as we neared CDO Balingoan Wharf.

5:20 AM - Back in Cagayan De Oro's Balingoan Wharf. From there, we rode a commuter aircon van for Php 80/pax upon the recommendation of a porter who accompanied us all the way to the van terminal a few walks away from the dock.

7:00 AM - I think we arrived at Agora market 7ish AM. The van dropped us off right in front of Vjandep Bakery who sells the famous Camiguin Pastel -- a soft bun with creamy custard/yema-ish filling inside. A box of 6 was around Php 56 while a box of 12 sold for Php 100+.

8:00 AM - We rode a tuktuk to Jollibee in Gaisano City, ate a Jolly breakfast and waited for the mall to open at 9:00 AM. Once it opened, we deposited our mala-Amazing Race baggage on the baggage counter. We tried to look for Pines ham inside the Gaisano supermarket but it seemed nobody knew the brand.

After taking some directions from Ces' friend who knew CDO well, we navigated our way to the Pines ham main store via tuktuk (Php 5/pax). When we got there, it was closed! Dang! And apparently, it was actually PINE with an apostrophe S. Surprisingly, when we went back to Gaisano supermarket and asked for PINE ham, the saleslady easily pointed us to where a lone Pine's ham was. What a difference an "S" makes!!! Since we all wanted to buy ham, she pointed us to Robinsons supermarket at Limketkai Mall where there were more Pine's ham for everyone. We rode another tuktuk to get to Limketkai Mall.

In Robinsons Supermarket, there was a whole isle dedicated to native delicacies from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. I don't think they put big markups on the goods coz I checked out the Vjandep pastel there and they sold it for just about +/-Php10 more than the Vjandep store in Agora market.

We bought take-out lunch in KFC where we amazingly been able to get our order right even if the store clerks/cashier spoke to us in Bisaya. I know it's just conversing out of context but She and I were just so amazed that I managed to give a right response and understood what the store manager have asked me in Bisaya. Coolness!

12:00 NN - We left Limketkai and got a cab to the airport. They have Toyota Altis units for taxi! The cab driver refused to charge us by the meter, reasoning that he will not be able to get passengers from the airport so we'd have to cover his roundtrip fare. We hired the cab for Php 250.

12:30 PM - Arrived at the small Cagayan de Oro airport which was under renovation so some aircon units weren't working. Security and baggage checkers were very fussy. Toiletries and any kind of liquid had to be strictly checked in. We had to remove our sandals as we passed through the x-ray. Ate our KFC lunch while waiting for our Cebu Pacific boarding. There were clean restrooms in the boarding area. Terminal fee is Php 30.

1:48 PM - boarded the Cebu Pacific flight back to Manila.

3:15 PM - landed in Manila. Reluctantly home sweet home. We had so much fun white water rafting in CDO and enjoyed beautiful Camiguin so much... We wished it wasn't time to go home (and go back to work!) yet.

could there also be an emotional breakdown area?

~* ISLAND HOPPING IN CAMIGUIN *~

2007-07-12T13:56:00.001+08:00

more photos on my Multiply

10:50 AM - We rode the pump boat for Php 500 (roundtrip, inclusive of snorkeling) to bring us to Mantigue Island. The boat ride took about 20 mins. The ride was a bit shaky but after that wild white water rafting in CDO, I was not fazed at all by the waves. As long as I had my lifevest, I was quite ok (but still a bit nervous coz we were navigating open sea and I can't swim for dear life!).

11:07 AM - Upon docking on the island, we looked for Roger the Guru (as we were told by the guy who arranged the multicab for us). Roger and the rest of the islanders welcomed us with a smile. It turns out that one of the teenage boatmen was actually Roger's younger brother. We told Roger that we wanted to have our lunch in the island so he gave us a menu. We got the Barkadahan meal package which was good for the four of us (but I think it can feed 5 or 6 average eaters). The Barkadahan meal consisted of grilled fish (huge fish which Roger calls the mantigue fish [yeah, 'could use a little more creativity on the name hehe]... it was just half a fish -- the head part and then some -- and we still did not finish it), rice, seaweed and coke litro. We also ordered shells (halaan) on ginger-flavored soup reminiscent of tinola.

While waiting for our lunch to be cooked, Roger offered to tour us around the island. He told us about his little project on rebuilding their humble school which was ruined and virtually swept away by the stormy waves last year. On his welcoming cottage, he had this small wooden donation box marked as Mantigue Elementary School (or something to that effect). It came with a log book wherein donating island guests are to write their names and corresponding email addresses. Roger promises to email everyone a picture of the new elementary school once it is completed. He had been collecting donations for the school project since October 2006. Oh by the way, there is no internet access in the island. Roger sails to the Camiguin main island for internet access and the villagers also sail to town for supplies like ice, ginger, and other food ingredients. I'm not quite sure if there is electricity in the island coz Roger says there is no refrigerator anywhere there. We heard some guys singing on the videoke though so I'm not so sure. There is a strong cellphone signal in the island (mine is Globe) and there is a solar-powered telephone somewhere there.

We circled the entire island in about 45 mins., inclusive of numerous stops for photo ops here and there. Roger is not only the island's sole spokesperson and resident teacher but he is also a photographer :) He handles digicams with ease, perhaps used to it after numerous tourists visited Mantigue. He pointed good photo spots for us along the way. He also showed us the ruins of their old school and the site of their half-done new school. In the entire duration of our Mantigue tour, two local dogs have accompanied us as if they were Roger's assistant tourist guides. So cute! They never barked at us, they just walk alongside us and frolick here and there as we took pictures.

click for larger view

We came to a complete circle and ended in a small cottage (see photos above) which Roger offers to tourists for an overnight rate of Php 1,000. He says you can squeeze in as much as 10 persons in the hut for sleeping. There are bamboo fences around the cottage and on the outside is a small lounge area. Inside is a wide open space (where one could probably lay sleeping mats) and a small room with two bamboo beds. For adventure-seekers who are so charmed by the place and want to stay overnight, this is the only place to stay in. The hut is situated near the sea shore and a little walk away from the tourist CR which surprisingly has tidy tiles and ample water on the pail for flushing. You just need somebody to watch the door as you use it coz the door doesn't snugly stay shut as it should. The villagers just get water from the sea and into a pail to serve as one's flushing water. I even realized I asked a funny/stupid question when I wondered: "Saan po kukuha ng tubig para sa CR?" But of course, the sea shore is just a few steps away! *doink!*

Mang Roger (Rogelio Saturos) can be reached thru mobile no. 0920-230-6407 or thru email addy: roger.mantigue@yahoo.com

Mang Roger joined us for lunch as he told us about his frustration regarding not receiving enough support from the local government to promote tourism in Mantigue Island. He thinks that this is due to the fact that the government wanted to declare the island as a sanctuary. Thus, they who have lived in the island for so many years were supposed to leave it and find a home somewhere else. He laments that the local government promotes White Island more than Mantigue Island. When in fact, Mantigue has a much richer underwater life best for snorkling and diving than White Island. No one is helping them rebuild their school. So Roger, with his innate spirit to help his fellow villagers, has taken it to himself to do something about it. He tells the tourists the island's story and hopes for whatever kind donation that they will drop in his small wooden box. Well we just saw a Loren Legarda election poster right beside our hut... so Sen. Legarda, what say you?

Roger is the only island local who has confidence to talk to the tourists. He said that his fellow villagers are too timid to converse with the tourists because most of them did not get proper education. Roger, on the other hand, had finished college (an Education course), worked for some time in Goto King somewhere in Cebu and then went back to his home island to teach the children (all subjects!). He endeavors to teach the children of Mantigue in hopes that he could give them enough knowledge and confidence to entertain the tourists who come to Mantigue and also find alternative sources of living.

He told us stories of kind tourists coming back to Mantigue with school supplies, school chairs and food donations. The Mantigue children's favorite is chocolate. It so happened that She brought a bar of chocolate as snack so we just gave it away to the shy children who were just around our cottage :-)

1:20 PM - We were brought by the boatmen a few meters away from the shore for snorkeling. I'm not good with estimating distances but from where we snorkeled, we could still see about 2 inches of Mang Roger waving at us.

It was my first time ever to snorkel so I asked She (who has snorkeling & scuba diving experience) to teach me how to use the snorkeling gear and breathe underwater. At first, I was gasping for air coz I was not used to breathing through my mouth. My legs were too flappy as per She that's why I got tired easily and used up more air. In a few minutes, I managed to regulate my breathing and calmed myself down with less leg/arm movements. The underwater life we saw was totally breathtaking! Just like in a salt water aquarium as Mang Roger described. I could only name the clownfish and starfish but there were other schools of fishes down there. Hand-size fishes and tiny ones, royal blue, yellow, aquamarine, orange and gray schools of fishes abound. They were all swimming leisurely about a huge coral about the size of 2 cars. Oh and I just learned that starfishes are not colored fleshy pink but a deep violet-blue underwater. The starfish I saw was about the size of an adult's hand. I could only see a blackened abyss on one edge of the coral and that made me panic a bit coz I couldn't surmise how deep it was. In my nervousness and my desire to still venture in that direction, I asked one of the boatmen to dangle a rope which I could hold onto like a security blanket.

We floated pieces of crackers near the surface and in seconds, small fishes swam up near us to partake of the goodies. Didn't experience a fish nibble though like what happened to me back in Camayan Beach (Subic).

I think we took an hour or so just snorkeling. Somewhere in between, two boatloads of incoming tourists passed near us. The boatmen were actually clapping with joy at the thought of new tourists visiting their little island.

SNORKELING TIP: Bring along a toothpaste sachet when you snorkel. Before snorkeling, wash the eyemask with toothpaste to prevent fogging. Also wash the mouthpiece with toothpaste for that fresh minty feeling when you put it in your mouth for breathing.

If you want the fishes to come near you, stash some bread or unflavored cracker with you. Feed the fishes with bits and pieces of these.

After snorkeling, the boatmen took us straight to the Camiguin mainland shores (a much nearer drop-off than where we were previously dropped going to Mantigue). We walked into a seaside village and out onto a main road where we waited for a tuktuk to Mambajao for Php 20. The tuktuk dropped us off on the market area of Mambajao (near the vicinity of the town's church). From the market, we rode another tuktuk back to Paras resort for Php 10. The entire travel from Mantigue to Paras was probably about an hour and a half.

4:18 PM - From Paras resort, we rented a roundtrip pump boat for Php 400. It took us about 10 minutes to reach White Island which you can actually see from Paras' al fresco dining area. It was low tide in the late afternoon so the island was much larger than it was in the morning.

a 180-degree view of white island

In White Island, there are makeshift cottages with tables & chairs for rent at Php 50. There are also some townsfolk who offer freshly cooked food. The sandbar facing Paras had a very fine powdery texture which was a delight to walk on barefooted. The other side of the island which faces the open sea had a much coarser white sand. It had a view of the sunset on one side and a view of the picturesque Mt. Hibok-Hibok on the other. The island "closes" at 6pm so our 1 hour and 15 minutes were busily spent on doing lots of group shots (thanks to digicam self-timers!). We took a lot of time perfecting our group shot wherein we froze a mid-air jump, with the sun setting behind us, thus resulting to fun-jumping silhouettes. A group of onlookers on the other side of the island were watching us jump endlessly and then some were actually mimicking our pose for their own cameras (I presume).

I dumped a lot of sunblock on me for the day's island-hopping so I was not sunburned at all. Not even a visible bikini mark on my shoulders. I really just got sunburned on our CDO white water rafting adventure.

5:58 PM - We got back to Paras resort and ate our dinner in their gazebo. It rained hard so we had to forego the plan to dip in the resort's pool. Besides, there were lots of children swimming in it and we concluded that the pool would have been child-pee by then :p Before dinner was served, Rose had arranged for a reflexology massage with the front desk. They recommended a (third party) lady who offered massages for Php 300/hour. We did 30 minute sessions so we only paid Php 150 each. I think I was already watching PBB's big night by the time it was my turn to be massaged.

~* YAHOO! NAKA TUNOB KO SA CAMIGUIN! *~

2007-07-12T12:38:00.000+08:00

To pay it forward to the blogosphere and forums which helped us intricately plan this CDO-Camiguin vacation, I am posting with complete travel details like time duration, supplier name and cost of various stuff. I hope this'll help future travellers seeking adventure in CDO/Camiguin :-)

* Read about our DAY 1 here. Detailed account of DAY 2 starts hereupon...

more photos on my Multiply

JUNE 29, 2007
6:45 AM - We hailed a cab from Casa Crystalia to catch the Balingoan-bound bus in Agora market. The cab driver warned us/kinda scared us with hold-up/bomb scare stories about the bus and having a longer travelling time due to the multiple bus stops (asus! style!). He offered to bring us straight to Balingoan wharf for a contract fee of Php 1,000. We declined and told him that we were on a tight budget. We bargained and finally sealed the deal at Php 800. Still mighty expensive compared to just commuting by bus but we were in a hurry to catch the ferry at Balingoan...

8:20 AM - Arrived at Balingoan Wharf (CDO). Bought ferry tickets costing Php 107. We took a quick pee at the relatively clean tourist hall just beside the ticketing booth. We boarded the M.V. Royal Princess to Benoni Wharf (Camiguin) after that. It was scheduled to leave at 8:30AM but it waited for more passengers to board. We ended up sailing off around 9:30AM. What a long wait! Anyway, I did not feel any motion sickness at all. The waves were moderate and the ferry wasn't wobbly.

10:40 AM - Yahoo! Nakatapak na ako sa Camiguin! We finally arrived at the Benoni Wharf. From there, we were picked up by our tour guide/aircon van diver Mr. Allan Ebarle (Celfone: 0917-253-7878). He drove us to Secret Cove in Mambajao where we checked in quickly and then ate lunch at the nearby Paras Beach Resort. We treated Allan for lunch and we told him which Camiguin tourist spots we intended to see. He then proposed an itinerary to maximize the day.

PRONOUNCIATION TIPS: Balingoan is not pronounced "ba-li-NGO-an" as we had thought. It was actually pronounced by the locals as "ba-LING-wan". Mambajao is also not "MAM-ba-jao" as we wrongfully pronounced. The right pronounciation is "MAM-ba-haw". These'll come in handy when you talk to the locals and ask for directions ;-)

1:00 PM to 6:30 PM - Allan toured us around the island of Camiguin. Our first stop was Katibawasan Falls (there's a minimal entrance fee ... around Php 15/pax if I remember it right). We intended to swim at Katibawasan but chickened out when we saw that there was a bunch of guys in one of the ground tables with a case of beer. We were pretty much been ogled at as we took loads of pictures of the magnificent waterfalls and did kooky poses. The beer dudes left after awhile so we decided to venture on the ground level of the waterfalls. The water was icy cool to the skin and it relieved my sunburned knees temporarily.

After Katibawasan, we went to the Philvolcs Observatory Station situated high above the mountains. It affords quite a bird's eyeview of the island but really not much else to see.

We then visited the now closed Ardent Hot Spring. They said it was closed due to some political hullabaloo. Something about the present political figure not supporting the place (the politician who previously took care of the place just lost in the recent elections). It's a shame coz the place has a potential. The surroundings looked really untidy though due to the fallen kapok/cotton all over the grounds. We were allowed to go in and take some pictures after Allan asked the permission of the caretaker. We were surprised to see a handful of locals bathing in the hot spring so we're not quite sure why it's closed. Dipped my foot into the water and it wasn't that hot -- just lukewarm.

After Ardent Hot Spring, we visited Sto. Niño Cold Spring (again, a minimal entrance fee of about Php 10 - Php 15/pax). The place had lots of people bathing around. We just posed for some pictures, took a quick pee in their restroom and were tempted to drink/eat fresh buko at Php 10/pc. They kept the coconuts inside a net which was submerged in the cold spring (all-natural ref!). The buko juice was sweet and mala-uhog. Yum! After we finished drinking the juice, the tindera cut the coconut with a bolo and using a shard of the buko shell as a scooper, we ate the coco meat. At first, I was squeamish about using the shard of coco shell as a scooper coz I could see remnants of dirt on its edges. But then I saw She, Ces and Rose happily eating away so I thought, what the heck, a little germ won't kill me :p

After our refreshing coconut snack, we headed to Catarman Church Ruins/Gui-ob Church. The historical marker which tells of the eruption of Mt. Volcan was very well-written -- it was evoking to the senses and it painted a vivid picture of what happened. It's a shame though that it was slightly vandalized and some engraved letters were a bit faded. There is a small (new) church inside the ancient ruined walls. It started to drizzle so we only managed to do one kooky group shot which elicited some smiles from the locals nearby.

The last tourist spot we visited was the Cross Marker/Sunken Cemetery. I wanted to photograph it in a duskier backdrop but it was only 5:30PM at the time so I didn't get my most-desired orangey-pink-blue sunset sky:-( It was also drizzling so the clouds were quite gloomy. There were boatmen offering a quick boat ride to the cross marker itself but we didn't venture anymore coz it was already getting dark.

On the way back, our tour guide Allan brought us to one side of the road lined with stores selling souvenir shirts and stuff. He pointed us the rightmost store which he said offered the least expensive souvenirs. We bought shirts for Php 90/pc. (XXL size sells for Php 150). Got myself a shirt that read "Yahoo! Nka 2nob ko sa Camiguin" which was translated to me by the store guy ("nakatunob" means "nakatapak"). The tinderos here were very patient and helpful. They handed us shirt, after shirt, after shirt as we chose our pasalubongs.

For our second day, we decided to transfer to the nearby Paras Beach Resort after being turned off with the customer service of Secret Cove.

SECRET COVE = 1.5/5 RATING (This hotel should just remain a secret! Its only saving grace is the yummy food. But I'm warning you about the scowling waitress as early as now.)
http://www.secretcovecamiguin.net/en/resort.htm

We checked into two twin sharing rooms. Each room costs Php 1,050 (off-peak rate) which meant Php 525/pax for the four of us.

PROS: Room has aircon, hot water, mini bar. Food is excellent! We ordered scallops sauteed in butter, prawns sauteed in white wine and chicken cordon bleu which was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Had a yummy blueberry apple pie (?) for dessert. They offer gourmet dishes which are definitely not run-of-the-mill. Our dinner total was Php 990.

CONS: Room has no TV (Room with TV is available for a higher price). They say they're a beach front hotel but when you get there, the place is covered with tendrils "roofing" most of the place so even at daytime, the place looks dingy. I didn't feel a good aura/vibes in the place.

The water coming from the shower was too fine that it was hard to wash off our shampoo, conditioner and soap. Thus, it took me more time to finish taking a bath.

Tom the Canadian owner was quite snooty/condescending. The short-haired waitress who served us was masungit and had a scowling look. She started frowning when we asked her how long the brownout will be/if it always happened/why was there a brownout. (We surmise that the island is switching power sources at night because a short less-than-5-mins. brownout also happened when we were at Paras). She also gave us an evil stare when we told her that we would be checking out the next day and therefore cancelling the 2nd day booking. The ultimate kabastusan she did was when she thrust the black bill case on our table... Our bill was Php 990 so we gave her Php 1,000. We were expecting to see a Php 10 coin returned to us as change but apparently, they so assumed that they could just keep it for themselves. Appalling disrespectful behavior! Argh! I don't know what planet she is from but the usual custom is for the restaurant to give back the exact change to the customer and then the customer, upon leaving, would leave an appropriate amount of tip tucked inside the black leather bill case. Argh! Kainis talaga! So assuming! We got totally irritated after that so we didn't care to leave any tip.

And if we give benefit of the doubt for erratic human behavior, then what about that rude-sounding/not family-friendly sign posted on the restaurant? I wondered if I should chuckle or be totally turned off by it upon reading what the sign said: "This is not a playground. If you cannot contain your children, please bring them somewhere else." Wow. Ibang level ang rudeness!

PARAS BEACH RESORT = 4/5 RATING (Very Good!)
http://userpages.websprinter.net/parasbeachresort/main.html
CONTACT NOS.: 0926-944-3606; (088) 856-8562

We checked into a Standard Triple sharing room w/ extra bed. They gave us 10% discount so the total amount was Php 1,864.50. Thus, Php 466.13/pax for the four of us.

the 180 degree-view from the gazebo
PROS: Paras is one of the premiere beach resorts in Camiguin (The other one being the Camiguin Beach Club) and for the price which turns out to be cheaper than Secret Cove, it is way more worth it to spend your night here. Since it is off-peak season, they gave us 10% off.

They have a very accommodating and courteous staff.

There are gazebos facing the shore wherein you can dine anytime and savor the serenity of the beach. They have a sweet mango shake and yummy Pizza Deliciosa. Clean restrooms are near the dining area.

There's a 4ft swimming pool. They offer Php 400 two-way boat rides to White Island which is just across the resort (about 20 mins. boat ride away)

They can also recommend a local masseuse (non-employee of Paras) who can give 1 hour reflexology massage for Php300.

a view of paras beach resort coming from white island
CONS: The day before, I had already signed a reservation slip for 1 standard triple sharing room. They even allowed us to do an ocular inspection of the room so it was definitely vacant. I was to call the night before to confirm if we could do an early check-in. When I called, they suddenly said that no reservation was made under my name. Apparently, the person in charge during the daytime forgot to log my reservation into their computer. They said that there were no standard rooms available for us (somebody checked in on the standard room) so they suggested that we take the superior room which is of course more expensive than the standard room! I negotiated that they give us the superior room at the same rate they extended for the standard room since the problem was due to their incompetency. I was asked to call after 15 mins. as the girl was going to consult her supervisor first. When I called again, the standard room was magically available again (thus, all previous arrangements remain the same). I was like, duh, a few minutes ago she said it was already booked! We thought this was another "style" on getting us to take the more expensive room. Hayyy!

~* JUST GOT TAGGED: ABCs & Magic 7 *~

2007-07-08T14:17:00.000+08:00

I've been tagged by Abbie and Ida...

Let's start with these ABCs about me which Abbie tagged me with.

A - Age: 29 *bordering the oh-no-30!*gasp!*
B - Band Listening To Right Now: The Magic Numbers ... I fell in love with their song "Love is a Game" the first time I heard it.
C - Career: Marketing for Entertainment Imaging business unit of Kodak Phils. Ltd.
D - Drink or Smoke: Drink occasionally when in night-outs; Smoked only once back in college... tried it and didn't like it!
E - Easiest Friends To Talk To: My Forces Friends (Abbie, Tin, Charo, Mitzi, Ivy)
F - Favorite song at the moment: Rihanna's Umbrella/Cinderella remix feat. Chris Brown (?)
G - Gummy Bears or Gummy Worms: bears
H - Have a Boyfriend: nope
I - In love: umm, when you still think about THE person, does that count?
J - Junk Food You Like: NY fries and Potato Corner sour cream fries
K - Kids: sure, when I'm married.
L - Longest Ride Ever: the Baguio roadtrip w/ the Forces gals last year. Sakit sa pwet!:p
M - My Favorite Sports: none! I have neither the innate desire nor physical ability to engage in one.
N - Names For Your Future Kids: Kenneth Edmund, Gwyneth
O - One Wish You Have Now: secret!
P - Phobias: flying cockroaches, ghosts
Q - Favorite Quote: "Life is not measured by the number of the breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away."
R - Reasons To Smile: Chloe (our shih tzu) just being her usual charming self, blog comments/funny posts, remembering our CDO white water rafting (hotness!), crazy out-of-the-blue punch lines in everyday conversations, trying to sing the Seiko wallet jingle (I challenge you to try to sing this entire jingle without breaking into giggles)
S - Sleeping Hours: 10ish pm or even til 2am during weekends
T - Time You Woke Up: today? 8:30AM
U - Unknown Fact About You: If I tell you then everybody will know :p
V - Vegetable You Hate: I'm a fairly veggie-friendly person. No veggie I especially hate...
W - Worst Habit: succumbing to the so-called Canossa syndrome
X - X-rays You've Had: chest, abdomen area, teeth
Y - Yummy Foods: California Maki, Corned Beef, strawberry milk
Z - Zodiac Sign: Aries bordering on Taurus

Here's what Ida tagged me with...

Instructions: Each player starts with 7 random habits/facts about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. I am OC when it comes to sharing food/utensils, germs/bacteria in public places. I always carry an alcohol spray with me. I'm also OC with grammar. I check subject-verb agreements in blogposts and business letters, spellings everywhere and I pity those who can't tell the difference between "loose" and "lose". I'm OC with packing. I have different little pouches for toiletries, face gunks, medicines, etc. And I always have an extra undie and shirt just in case!

2. I hate sudden changes in planned meetings/impromptu meetings. I only do special adjustments/consideration when it's regarding my family & friends. But I am still peeved nonetheless :p

3. I don't think I can ever qualify for Amazing Race. I cannot swim, cannot ride a bike, cannot drive (well, 'just got A/T driving lessons from A1), I have no sense of direction, I am hot-tempered and I am squeamish.

4. I turned 29 this year but survey says (in bars/with new acquaintances) I can still pass for 20 and thereabouts.

5. I used to be 95lbs. back in college. Now I swing from 110-100 lbs. My waistline used to be 23" when I was about 13. Now it's 26-27".

6. I used to collect stamps, old coins and angel ornaments/figurines. Now I only collect gigabytes of mp3s.

7. Whenever there's a big event coming up or whenever I'll be travelling, I always have a dry run of my entire outfit days before. I chart my attire per day down to the footwear and accessories. I just don't want to be caught panicking with nothing to wear or finding out that my waist or arm hole is about to burst on its seams.

~* HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY OVER BROADBAND*~

2007-07-08T14:12:00.000+08:00

Finally! After more than 7 years of snail dial-up internet access at home, we now have a spanking new connection of Smart Bro!

Youtube vids, Multiply mp3 downloads, heavy Macromedia Flash sites, here I come!!!! :)

~* WHITE WATER RAFTIN' & ZIPPIN' IN CDO *~

2007-07-08T02:48:00.000+08:00

9:40 AM - Our basic white water rafting began. We just paid close attention to all of Clint's paddling instructions: "Paddle forward! Paddle backward! Stop! Two-strokes forward! High-five! Lock your feet!" My favorites were "Stop" and "High-five" :-) [We high-five'd using our paddles after every exhilirating move.] A photographer-rafter went along with us on a separate boat to take our photos with a 7MP waterproof Pentax digicam. A teenage paddler went along with us to assist Clint. Both Clint and the teenage paddler sat at the back of the raft. They made sure we sat properly near the edges of the raft. We encountered 14 rapids in the basic course. In between, where there were long stretches of calm waters, we were encouraged by Clint to get out of the raft and just float on the river while laying flat on our backs. (Laying flat is important coz you'll never know when you'll bump into a rock underneath.) Along the course, we saw swallows flying around, dragonflies, butterflies, wild mangoes, occasional locals doing their laundry by the rocks, some locals fishing, some carabaos on the side of the river, wild orchids and ferns, huge cave-like rocks, a gushing stream of mineral water from a huge rock just above us. Every so often, Clint would shower us with cold water from the river because he says one should always remain damp while rafting. Makes sense coz if you're sweaty and then you get wet by the super cold water of the river, you might catch a cold. After the last rapid, we did their so-called "Graduation Jump/Drop". We climbed on a tall rock which was about 12feet above water level and jumped off it. When it was my turn, Clint warned his kasamahans on standy-by below that I am a non-swimmer so I was not really scared that I'll drown or something. He told each of us not to hesitate when jumping. I pinched my nose with my hand as I jumped but water still managed to get into my nose. Felt myself sink due to the impact but I immediately bobbed out of the water since I was wearing a lifevest. Felt totally awesome after that! :-)

We super enjoyed our 2.5 hours of basic white water rafting! We were confident we could tackle a much more exciting/rougher course together with our guide rafter Clint (whom we deemed super adept so we weren't scared at all of flipping over or anything like that) so we asked if we could also do the advanced course after lunch.

12:15 PM - We arrived at Macahambus Park where we rested first and ate our super pisa Jollibee burgers which we kept inside our bags. After eating, we did the canopy walk and zipping which lasted for about 30mins. We handed our cameras to the guides who took our photos while walking and zipping. The canopy walks were long with about 1ft.L. x 3in.W. wooded boards to step on. We were strapped on safety lines just in case we slipped. While walking, we saw deep ravines below. Seeing how super high we are as I looked below made me a bit woozy. In terms of height, it was probably something like being on top of the Glorietta building and then looking down below. I just made sure I held firmly on the ropes which acted as hand rails on the canopy walks. The tour was capped off with us zipping back to where we started. It probably took about 15-20 seconds to zip. Screaming while zipping is highly recommended :-)

MACAHAMBUS PARK = 3.5/5 RATING (Good)
Cost of canopy walk & zipping: Php 300/pax.

PROS: Gears are well-provided. They will secure your straps properly. The guides were good photographers. There was a clean restroom in Macahambus for a quick pee before our advanced course in rafting.

CONS: A bit pricey for about 30 mins. of all that. The helmet smelled stinky with sweat. Ewww.

1:50 PM - We were brought by Team Kagay farther away upstream for the starting point of our advanced white water rafting. Clint had two new assistant paddlers this time. He explained that the local "assistant" rafters were following a queue for each rafting trip. Since our afternoon advanced rafting was a "new" trip, we had new assistant paddlers. The raft was also pumped with extra air to be firmer and less susceptible to bending. Before starting, Clint briefed us again for more safety instructions -- once again emphasizing on "Don't Panic" and "Lay flat". This time, two rafters Neil and Ryan (who looked very much like Chito Miranda of PNE!) sat in front and Clint stayed at the back. Pio, another rafter who was a native of Bukidnon, was on a separate raft to take our pictures. (In our animated chat on our way back to Plaza Divisoria, Pio revealed that he belonged in a band that played world music much like the Pinikpikan. He had been in Manila a few times to play with the band). The water was indeed rougher with lesser calm waters in between. The course was much more exciting due to the stronger currents. There was a point wherein we paddled against the current for about a minute or so. Really felt my tired arms about to fall off so I stopped paddling but I could still see Neil and Clint paddle to the maximum level! Very impressive! Neil was paddling so fast that one stroke of ours was already 2-3 strokes of his! We managed to go against the current after a few minutes of crazy paddling to the max to repeat a certain drop that had our raft almost in vertical position. Super astig! High-five! And in true Barney [How I Met Your Mother] fashion: "legendary"! There was also a part wherein Clint instructed us to stand up on the raft while paddling. We tried to paddle but the raft was super shaky so we opted to hold on to the rope beside our raft and kinda sat down (but Clint was still shouting "Tayo! Tayo!" Haha, no way dude! I am holding on to the raft and sitting down my pretty butt now! I don't wanna fall off the raft!:p ) The advanced course had 7 or 8 rapids. We had to lock our feet more often (by inserting our feet under the seat in front of us) this time. After the last rapid, we all jumped into the water and floated downstream up to the end point (which was the beginning point for the basic rafting). I was drifting too far away from the left [calmer] side of the river so Clint towed me by my lifevest. On the other hand, Ces was journeying too close to the side of the river which tend to have lots of leeches so Clint also grabbed her away from it.

3:00 PM - Finally finished the awesome white water rafting experience! Posed for a picture in front of the CDO rafting sign together with our friendly rafters Clint, Neil, Ryan and Pio. My right hand which held the paddle handle felt a bit ngalay. My left hand which held the lower part of the paddle was a bit red from all the friction. And since I did not put on sunblock, I ended up with a rudolph nose and cheeks, roasted legs and forearms. As of this writing, my sunburned legs are super itching to the max. Argghh!

KAGAY WHITE WATER RAFTING VOYAGES = 5/5 RATING (Excellent! Highly Recommended!)
http://www.cdorafting-map.com/
CONTACT NUMBERS: 0917-712-0325/0917-712-2323/(088) 856-3972
Cost of Basic Rafting: Php 500/pax
Cost of Advanced Rafting: Php 700/pax

PROS: Their riverguide-rafters are very adept. I felt totally safe even if I didn't know how to swim. They are very alert and quick to respond. Like when Ces and I was about to fall off the raft, Clint quickly grabbed us by our lifevests. Sense of humor is also a welcome trait. To lighten up the mood and as an icebreaker, Clint would crack jokes in relation to our surroundings once in awhile. I could almost hear an "esmyuskee" joke in my head! He also gave clear paddling instructions and safety tips. He made sure that we understood all his instructions. In case you book a rafting trip with Kagay, we highly recommend Clint :)

Gears provided did not smell funky. The lifevests had different sizes for a snug fit. Lifevest straps and helmet strap were complete and had no defects. Paddle was in good condition. They provided us with a waterproof duffel bag for our things. There is a shower area at the end point of the basic course but we did not get to try it.

A CD containing the numerous photos taken by their 7MP Pentax waterproof digicam was delivered to our hotel by Pio around 6:30PM the same day.

CONS: Their beige colored raft was not photogenic. A bright yellow, red or blue raft would register better on photos. Not a big deal actually, nothing like a good Photoshop can't fix ;-)

After being dropped off by the Team Kagay dudes at Plaza Divisoria, we walked back to our hotel (Casa Crystalia - Tel. No.: 88-722465) in all our post-rafting wet glory. Overnight booking for quadruple sharing costed Php 1,335. It's a budget hotel which is conveniently at walking distance from Jollibee, McDo and Mercury Drug. It has an aircon, cable TV, hot shower, two twin beds and two bad-ass-huge cockroaches inside the CR (yikes!). It has a restaurant downstairs but we opted to venture out and eat at the nearby Barkadahan which their receptionist recommended. Barkadahan is a self-serve restaurant with grilled seafood in their menu. They had a very helpful waiter who attended to us and helped us choose our food. After our meal, we stopped by Hanabel bakery which was just beside Barkadahan to buy pastries for our early breakfast. We bought our bottled waters from Mercury Drug. Since we had to leave the hotel early at 6AM the next day, we decided to settle our bill the same night.

Read about our Camiguin Day Tour here.

~* PRE-PLANNING FOR A 4-DAY VACATION *~

2007-07-08T00:32:00.000+08:00

Fine, I admit it. I've never been a light packer. Even if I attempt to travel light, I still always end up as the gal with most bags whenever I travel with friends or officemates. My latest trip to Cagayan de Oro and Camiguin with my college friends has proved to be a challenge to my packing prowess. I think I can never really achieve a one-bag rule coz I'm OC and I always prepare for the worst. In an attempt to help fellow travellers in maximizing those treasured vacation leaves, here are some travel tips I've come up with:

1. Surf the net for tourist attractions, modes of transportation together with estimated rates and duration of travel. Using data gathered, prepare an itinerary which you can bring in your pocket. It should also have the corresponding estimated expenses, important contact details of the hotel, tour guide, transportation, etc.

2. Bring a map of the town for easy navigation. You wouldn't want to be a helpless and lost tourist in the middle of nowhere.

3. Make a checklist of things to bring so you won't forget to pack anything.

4. Plan your attires to see if you can easily mix and match your clothes.

5. Pack a blow dryer. Aside from hair styling/drying purposes, it can also speed up drying of your wet swim wear if you need to pack them ASAP. (It also saved the day for me when I forgot to remove my money bag from my waist when I went white water rafting... I spent about 5 minutes blow drying my wet mushy Ninoy bills on my hotel bed!)

6. Bring your celfone charger and/or digicam battery charger.

7. Bring lots of small bills and coins for transportation, tips, entrance fees, etc.

8. To minimize bulk, instead of packing a towel, buy a "super magic towel" or "super absorbent towel" from Watsons. The super magic towel is like a car chamois while the super absorbent towel is like a fine-fibered regular towel. Both are about the same size as a pillow case.

9. Buy a waterproof pouch for your digicam, celfone, ipod and wallet if you plan to take a boat/ferry or go white water rafting. I got mine from the Store Shop Outdoor Lifestyle Company (right across Jamaican Patties) in Park Square I.

10. Pack leaky stuff like toiletries in a ziploc bag. Bring extra big ziplocs for wet bikinis, board shorts and aqua shoes.

11. Buy toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner in sachets instead of bringing them in tubes/plastic bottles.

12. Bring an extra foldable bag/sturdy plastic for pasalubongs.

13. Put a bag tag on all your bags and/or insert your calling card inside your bag's pocket.

14. Bring a masking tape and pentel pen which you can use for labelling your bags and packing stuff. You can also use the tape as a marker to easily spot your bag on the airport conveyor belt. Others tie a bright colored ribbon on their bags for easy spotting.

15. When packing clothes, you can roll them, pack a folded set of attire in a ziploc (press hard to remove air inside the ziploc) or do the bundle technique which I learned from onebag.com.

16. Bring lots of tissue, alcohol/hand sanitizer and wet wipes.

17. Don't put your moolah in one place. I separated a bigger chunk of my pocket money inside a money bag which I strapped on my waist and wore under my clothes.

18. Belt bags are very convenient when travelling. You can put all your valuables/plane ticket in it and then have both of your hands free for carrying other stuff.

19. Better wear a pair of sandals or flipflops to the airport coz regardless of whether you're wearing boots or skinny flipflops, they will still ask you to remove your footwear to include it on the x-ray conveyor belt.

20. If you expect to be moving about in different vehicles (for us it was a plane, a taxi, a tuktuk, a multicab and a van) bring a backpack instead of a trolley bag.

ABOUT PBB's GEE-ANN

2007-06-23T12:16:00.000+08:00

Gee-ann is a cousin of my cousin so we're especially rooting for her. I'm also rooting for Mickey :)

Oh, and I despise Wendy. Having a father who didn't love her & left her family is no excuse for all the royally biatchy things she did. She says she's just "nagpapakatotoo" that's why she's showing her bad side. I beg to disagree -- "pagpapakatotoo" does not equal to letting loose your maldita behavior like you're the world's top evil spawn. She probably hasn't heard that there's such a thing as self-control, anger management, basic ethics and social etiquette. That just shows her lack of breeding. Oh, and it also highlights Bruce's non-existent balls.

I'm re-posting here an email forwarded to us by Gee Ann's family...
========================================

Originally Posted by hydrangea

Guys, got this from multiply. This came from Ivere Abrahan:

WHY GEE-ANN SHOULD REMAIN IN BIG BROTHER'S HOUSE

I am writing to seek help for Gee-ann Abrahan who is presently a housemate inside Pinoy Big Brother's house.

Gee-Ann is a 3rd year Mass Communication student at the Assumption College in Makati. Her parents are separated and she lives in Quezon City.

Gee-ann is noted as the "sologs" (sosyal na jologs) housemate of Pinoy Big Brother Season 2. Declaring her fondness for TV soap operas and local films, she entertained us with her Dying Inside, Bizarre Love Triangle,and Andrew Ford Medina performances and amused us with her hilarious "forevermore" and "mahigpit pa ang kapit ng gamu-gamo" lines. Gee-ann deconstructed our notion of the typical sosy girls or kolehiyalas. She transcended stereotypes and rose above imposed values. She headed out a new awareness that a person can, in fact, savor the best of both worlds.

An outstanding student from Kinder to Grade 6 at Miriam College, one of the highest-ranking examinees in the Assumption College High School Entrance Exam, and a Dean's Lister in College, she has brought the same level of excellence inside PBB house by winning the 9x9 Sudoku Puzzle Task (Gee-ann is a self-confessed 16x16 Sudoku wizard), the League Task Lambitin, and the Tug of War Task. She also composed some of the songs in the Puppet Show Task, dazzled us with her cheerleading prowess and largely contributed bright ideas in the group's brainstorming. Plus, she successfully accomplished her personal tasks -- Blindfold for A Day Task and Laundry Task.

Together with Mickey, Bodie, and Beatrice, Jasmine, Dionne and even Kian attest that Gee-ann is one of the housemates who has established a meaningful connection with them, a bond that is beyond mere harmonious co-existence but a friendship which entails genuine concern for another housemate and innate generosity to other people.

"I was born weak pero hindi ako aalis ng bahay na 'to na hindi lumalaban!"

As PBB2 unfolded, Gee-ann also underwent a total character transformation before us. Initially, she hit us with her "Pamela Monologues." In the course of events, she gave up Pamela, not just to spare her from being automatically nominated, but she realized that it was an opportune chance to set off her maturity and emotional growth. And it did.

We were all first-hand onlookers to how she progressively acquired household skills, social competence and an ethical stand. Her surprising confrontation with Dionne, her heartfelt dialogue with Kian, and currently, her attempts to withstand Wendy's cruel remarks are verification that Gee-ann is, after all, so much more than mere charisma.

Gee-ann, therefore, possesses redeeming qualities which added value to the show. She instigated a change in our sensibilities by revealing the other side of today's reality.

If Gee-ann becomes the Big Winner of PBB2, she will challenge and reconstruct our socio-psychological mind-set. We will be able to break free from a "survival of the fittest" attitude in which survival is obtained by outdoing, harassing, and critically judging another person. Through Gee-ann's triumph, many will realize that there are far more important things than conforming to socially constructed standards -- that a resentful heart and a wicked motive is far more harmful than a childlike habitual gesture to cope with life's disappointments. PBB will be able to revolutionize our now twisted ideology and degraded moral values -- that a person's burning desire to alleviate HER condition can never justify HER WRONG ACTIONS.

Gee-ann is a reminder that we have evolved into a society which recognizes interdependence. At times, we need a little humility to tolerate our imperfection, to put us in touch with other people, and to allow them to show their care for us. She made us aware that despite our irreconcilable differences and conflicts of interests, each person must be treated with respect and dignity.

This is an appeal to your kindness to help us keep Gee-ann inside PBB house. Let us put our resources together and do everything to ensure her win in this competition. Let us encourage our friends and relatives to vote for Gee-ann and to campaign for her in our offices and among our circle of friends

Let's do this together and prove that PBB is not a farce. We will take a stand and we will do something.

~* DRIVING 101 and OTHER TV-MOVIE THOUGHTS *~

2007-06-03T13:31:00.000+08:00

After a bit of a nagging from my mom, I enrolled in A1 Driving School for a 5-hr A/T course. No, I don't have a new car and neither is my dad buying one for me -- it's just so I can drive in case of any kind of emergency.

The first step was to get myself a student permit. I took a VL from work to do just that. Getting the student permit in Las Piñas LTO was so dragging. I was there 1pm and was only called for ID photo and signature at 3pm. As with all other government-issued docs/IDs, my student permit photo totally sucks. I just hope I'd have a better pic when I get my non-prof driver's license. I paid A1 more than double the price of the actual student permit just so they'd have the burden of waiting for the permit til probably 5pm. I will most likely pay another obscenely overpriced fee for getting my non-prof license hassle-free.

Had my first 2 hours of driving lesson yesterday. It was fairly easy to get the car moving from point A to point B but at no more than 20mph speed, haha. Probably the funniest thing that happened was that my car stopped on top of a road hump. As per my driving instructor's evaluation, I still need improvement on left & right turning, turning to the correct lane at an intersection and observing safe distances. My problem is that I can't estimate whether I'd hit the curb or a car when I turn. I'm scared that I might have miscalculated my turn. I can't see my car's front bumper so I'm having some trouble approximating space. Argh. Oh and my neck hurts from all that craning. I should probably sit on a pillow to give me some height when sitting hehe.

My next 3 hours of driving lesson will be next week. I am already dreading the parking, backing and maneuvering that I will do.

*****************

Ok, so the past month of May brought big Hollywood movies our way. Spiderman 3 was great but too testosteroney for me with all those action sequences. I love Snow Patrol's Signal Fire in the Spidey soundtrack. Shrek the Third was okay but I loved Shrek 2 more. Puss in Boots lost its charm. One comment though: why the hell did they use Damien Rice's 9 Crimes in one of the scenes? I felt that was sooo off! Damien Rice's music is too heavy and depressing for an animated flick. It's better apt for a Grey's Anatomy soundtrack. Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End was a spectacular visual feast as always. I just got confused though with some of the subplots. And their piratey accents didn't help me catch up with the story either. I was a bit "lost" with the story so I Wiki'd it. Found out from Wikipedia that there's still a scene after the end credit. Darn. We left as soon as the credits rolled so I missed the post-credit scene just as I missed the one in Pirates 2 :(

*****************

For the TV show season enders, I saw from E!News that Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) died in LOST. And Burke (Isaiah Washington) left Christina (Sandra Oh) at the altar on Grey's Anatomy. It's sooo frustrating that AXN will only begin LOST's Season 3 starting this Thursday. And Studio 23 has been advertising LOST Season 3 as "coming soon" since 2 months ago. Isn't that sooo NOT "soon" at all?! Well at least Studio 23 is now airing season 3 of Grey's Anatomy. No word from Star World though if GA 3 is coming soon.

Nowadays, I've been loving How I Met Your Mother and Heroes. HIMYM has been showing on ETC for quite a while now and I'm catching up on the first few episodes since it has just started to air in Star World. I *crush* Ted. His character is such a romantic :-) And I love Barney's lines! Neil Patrick Harris (post-gay announcement) proves to be a good comedian after all. Heroes has been airing on RPN9 but I missed the first half of Season 1 so I'm catching up via the Crime/Suspense channel which just started airing the pilot episode last week. My fave hero is Hiro (Masi Oka) coz he has such comic scenes and I *crush* Peter Petrelli (Milo Ventimiglia). Oh and did you see James Kyson Lee (Ando, Hiro's Japanese friend) judge the 2007 Miss Universe alongside Dave Navarro last week? Cool!

I know there's a gazillion copies of pirated DVDs of the latest season of these tv shows but I don't want to buy one coz I'm running out of DVD storage space!

~* NOW PLAYING: Infatuation by Maroon 5 *~

2007-05-27T12:43:00.000+08:00

I'm loving the new album of Maroon 5 "It Won't Be Soon Before Long" . My fave tracks are the slow tempo ones in the same vein as She Will Be Loved/Sweetest Goodbye: Won't Go Home Without You, Nothing Lasts Forever (remember that part Adam sang in Kanye West's "Heard 'Em Say"? This is like the full version of that snippet), Goodnight Goodnight and Better That We Break. For the upbeat songs, the bonus track "Infatuation" is my fave... It has a very catchy chorus that it's usually my LSS (Adam Levine is still singing "i want it... i want it... i want it" in my head...)

I was wondering if Adam Levine (who still looks hot, by the way) and company will still be standing everyday out in the corner in the pouring rain... And after hearing this new album, the answer is yes -- in my book, at least. Maroon 5 still rocks :-)

Infatuation
Baby, I don’t want to spend my life on trial
For something that I did not do
And maybe if you stopped and looked around some time
I wouldn’t pass right by you

Maybe it’s because you are so insecure
Maybe your pain don’t care
Maybe it’s the chase that really gets me off
I fall so when it’s just not there

Burn another bridge, break another heart
Try again, it will only fall apart

Infatuation
Not seeing the rest of you is getting the best of me
It’s such a shame that you shot me down
It would have been nice to be around
I’m touching your skin
If it’s only a fancy, then why is it killing me?
I guess this must be infatuation (I want it…)

Try to put my finger on what burns me up
It always seems to escape me
And when you have decided that you’ve had enough
Just tell me where I need to be

Now her face is something that I never had
To ever deal with before
She left me with the feeling that she’d had enough
And I’m the one wanting more

Burn another bridge, break another heart
Try again, it will only fall apart

Infatuation
Not seeing the rest of you is getting the best of me
It’s such a shame that you shot me down
It would have been nice to be around
I’m touching your skin
If it’s only a fancy, then why is it killing me?
And I guess this must be infatuation (I want it…)

I’m so attracted to you
The feeling’s mutual too
And I get scared the moment you leave
Get so hot I forget to breathe, yeh

Infatuation
Not seeing the rest of you is getting the best of me
It’s such a shame that you shot me down
It would have been nice to be around
I’m touching your skin
If it’s only a fancy, then why is it killing me?
I guess this must be infatuation (I want it…)

~* ROSE-COLORED TIMES ON RIDES W/ YOUR EYES CLOSED *~

2007-04-22T19:38:00.000+08:00

http://lilacstardust.multiply.com/photos/album/17

those were rose-colored times on rides with your eyes closed.
those were rose-colored times on rides with your eyes open wide.
~ lisa loeb

i sooo loved the pink dusky sky!

I brought Charo, Tin and Abbie with me to our company outing at Enchanted Kingdom (Sta. Rosa, Laguna). Charo, Tin and I were at the amusement park around 4ish pm and Abbie followed around 7:30pm. We stayed til closing time 10pm. Basically, here's what we did:

Got our Wizard Money from my officemates. (P500/pax! woohoo!)

Snacked on hotdogs.

Got tickets for the 4D Discovery Theater (Pirates). It was just around 5ish pm but the ticket they were selling were already for the 8:20pm showing.

Pondered on whether Abbie (since she's still recovering from losing a gall bladder) should take the "real" seat when we see Pirates. The ticket attendant suggested that Abbie could seat herself on a monobloc chair. And then somebody will stand beside her and manually spray water on her using a spritzer. (Ok, the latter was my suggestion. lol.)

Tin, Charo and I proceed to the Dodgem. Wooohoo. I know na how to drive a bump car! It was my first time to navigate one by myself. Driving lessons c/o Tin and Charo hehe.

Rode the Roller Skater. It's like a mini-primer for the Space Shuttle. Tin took photos while we were on the kiddie roller coaster.

Got on the farthest side of Anchor's Away. I can't believe I let myself get talked into riding at the farthest side! Aaaaack. I screamed like a girl. I felt my insides lurch. While I was screaming and all terrified, Charo and Tin carried on with the photo ops! I couldn't even raise my hands up in the air! I was holding onto the bar (and leaning towards Charo) for dear life!

Gathered our senses in the *very boring* Rialto featuring "Peril on Akryls". *Yawn*

Braced ourselves for the Space Shuttle. Let me tell you that it does not help to have vivid recollections of the scenes from Final Destination 3 in your mind while queuing for the Space Shuttle. I was so paranoid that my seat's bar would come off in the middle of the ride and I had visions of myself dangling upside down as we go through the loop. Not good. I closed my eyes and screamed the entire duration of the ride. I think I hurt my neck and my back over there! Gaaah. I swear I will never ever ride that thing again. I'm getting too old! :p

Took a much-needed break and ate Domino's pizza while waiting for Abbie to arrive. I was still a bit woozy so I didn't quite enjoy my pizza.

Okray'ed the showband while eating pizza.

Met up with Abbie at the entrance and let her buy some food.

Proceeded to watch Pirates at the 4D Discovery Theater. I loved this one! It was fun with all that wind and water spray effect. Got kinda OC though about the 3D glasses coz I was thinking of how many people already used it. Ewww. I was thinking "oh no, I might get pimples!"

Rode the Jungle Log Jam and got mildly wet. Yuck, murky water! haha!

Witnessed the tail end of the fireworks display as we alighted from the log jam. Got a nice view atop the log jam bridge. I wasn't too happy with my fireworks snapshots though. They sucked.

Claimed our Jungle Log Jam photos at the booth. Tin blocked Charo's perfect log jam mega-watt smile with her hands up in the air hehe. Meanwhile, Abbie and I looked like happy/terrified (take your pick...) dentist patients.

Lined up for an uber-long time at the Rio Grande Rapids. The kawawa little boy with his parents got totally drenched on the first wave just a few minutes after our "take off". My back got a total shower on that big waterfall while Tin, Abbie and Charo's bottoms got wet by those huge splashes of waves.

Got our photo at the Rio Grande counter.

Still had lotsa Wizard Money left. Since the park was about to close and our money could not buy us a flesh-and-bone wizard for each of us, we spent our money at the Rialto gift shop. I got a purple pillow with the wizard's hat patchwork and we got Gabby (Abbie's niece) a violet wizard bag as pasalubong.

Had a final picture-taking in front of the Grand Carousel and at the park's facade.

Headed home with the gals. Mom made us a nice yummy post-bday/post-EK dinner of pasta, chicken and lumpiang shanghai. Jako followed at our house.

Watched -- or more like "listened" -- to the free extremely blurry signal of 24/7 Pinoy Big Brother on cable. The Slovenian "exchange housemate" just arrived. Crushed on Mickey's voice ;-)

Called it a day (umm, night?) at 1am.

more photos on my multiply: http://lilacstardust.multiply.com/photos/album/17

~* DEAR LIE *~

2007-04-20T00:01:00.000+08:00

Dear Lie,
You suck. You said you could fix anything. Instead I'm f***d. You made things even worse for me... Guess I'm not smart. I let you unnerve me. I let you control me. Afraid the truth would hurt me when it's YOU that hurts me more.

A picture of you reminds me how the days have gone so empty. Why do you have to leave me without saying that you love me? I’m saying I love you again, are you listening? Open your eyes once again, look at me crying.

Waited by the phone all day thinking that you’d call but you never did. So tell me it’s not over now, will you? So I won’t be hangin’ around and you won’t see me crying.

SO WHAT'S THE POINT IN ALL OF THIS WHEN YOU WILL NEVER CHANGE? The days have passed, the weather's changed. Should I be sorry? Could I be sorry?

I did it all -- all for you -- hoping you would see. Your eyes are dull, your hands are clenched. Are we ready? But you, you think about yourself, only but yourself -- but what about: Un-lonely nights, romantic moments, the love, THE LOVE, what about them? Throw it all away.

You know me well. You know it's wrong. Then what is it you feel? You hide behind those perfect smiles. It won't fool me coz you already did.

Someday you’re gonna realize. One day you’ll see this through my eyes. By then I won’t even be there. I’ll be happy somewhere even if I cared.

Someday someone’s gonna love me the way I wanted you to need me.

~* VISITA IGLESIA '07 *~

2007-04-06T22:13:00.000+08:00

In observation of the Holy Week, our family had our traditional Visita Iglesia last Wed. April 4 plying the Tagaytay-Batangas route. As usual, our first stop is our very own parish - Sto. Rosario. Then we visited two churches in Tagaytay. In Our Lady of Lourdes church, we were fortunate to be there the same time as the famous relic of Padre Pio -- a piece of his glove -- was displayed there for the faithful to pray on.

In Batangas, the parish of San Francisco Javier had such a beautiful interior -- the grand altar, the painted ceilings and stained glass windows were awesome. The facade of the church was also nice to photograph since it had this regal-looking belfry.

It was our first time to see Caleruega and, indeed, it lives up to its reputation of being one of the beautiful churches to hold one's wedding. Inside the vast grounds of Caleruega are function halls, cottages, a koi pond, a hanging bridge and a chapel. The Transfiguration Chapel is ensconced in the midst of the flowery garden of Caleruega. The chapel is very picturesque and one could take pictures of it at different angles, at the upper and lower grounds. The pine trees frame the chapel and flowering plants line the stairs leading to it. Plant-lovers will have a field day touring the grounds of Caleruega coz they have soooo many varieties of plants around the compound. The place also has an outdoor stations of the cross which we couldn't pinpoint at first coz it was a wooden engraving featuring an "Igorotized" version of Jesus, et al.

To sum it up, below are the churches we visited:

Sto. Rosario Parish (Pacita Complex, San Pedro)
Chapel in Franciscan Missionaries of Mary (Tagaytay)
Our Lady of Lourdes Parish (Tagaytay)
San Francisco Javier parish (Nasugbu, Batangas)
Parish of Saint John the Baptist (Lian, Batangas)
Transfiguration Chapel of Caleruega (Nasugbu, Batangas)

More photos on my Multiply...

http://lilacstardust.multiply.com/photos/album/12

~* TUESDAY BEACH DAY *~

2007-04-06T20:41:00.000+08:00

Like in the past years, the family headed to Camayan Beach in Subic to kick off the long holy week vacation. There weren't much people in the beach so it was great to unwind. The water was cool at 8am so there were some annoying tiny jelly fish stings here and there. I've never been stung in our past visits to this beach so it was quite an annoyingly new experience>:( Most of the time we stayed near the shore where the water was warmer (hence, no jelly fish!). It was lovely sitting on the cushy sand, feeling the wet sand on my feet and the lapping saltwater on my skin :-)

What I always loved about this beach was that one could always get a glimpse of varied kinds of salt water fishes even in waist-deep water. Near the shore, one would find a school of super tiny gray fishes. Farther from the shore and near the rocky part, one would find black and white striped cichlids and these silver split-tailed fishes with a hint of blue on the head. My dad and I held pieces of bread with our fingertips underwater and in seconds, the fishes swam near us and took nibbles of the bread. One time I got startled and shrieked when the silver fish took a quick nibble of the bread AND my finger. Not painful at all but it was just really surprising to feel a one-second fish nibble! I was about to go back to the shore when the morsels of bread were almost finished by the cichlids but then this totally unique fish came swimming by to eat the bread remnants. It was totally breath-taking: a lone fish, colored blue-green on the head til the mid part, graduating into a bright green near its bright yellow split-tail. It was about the size of my hand. It was sooo beautiful! I wish I've taken a picture of it but I couldn't since a) I don't have an underwater camera and b) my digicam is tucked inside my bag on the table at the shore. The fish would have been gone by the time I got back with my digicam.

We ate our lunch by the shore and come 12noon, we heard this shrill whistle-like sound coming from the forest right beside the shoreline. At first we just saw about two monkeys descending from the trees and onto the beach cottages. In less than a minute, we saw probably about ten monkeys hanging around for their lunch break. Some went near the hotel (I saw one toting what looked like a plastic bottle of sunblock or shampoo!) while the others went near the cottages where we were, rummaging through the garbage can. One was sipping a discarded zesto-ish kind of juice foil pack (the one with a built-in straw) and another one was trying to open an empty 1.5 liter Mirinda.

And now, for the NatGeo moments...

[click for larger image] the mirinda-loving monkey

More pictures posted on my Multiply...

http://lilacstardust.multiply.com/photos/album/11

~* AMERICAN IDOL BETS *~

2007-03-31T13:10:00.000+08:00

Here are my top three bets: Melinda Doolittle, Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks. Who are your favorites?

~* NO, MAN.THAT WAS NOT COOL.*~

2007-03-31T12:51:00.000+08:00

No, Armando Ducat, that was NOT cool at all, man! Tsk, tsk.

His Messianic Complex landed us on CNN .

I say: the end does not justify the means. What do you think?

Oh, and was that a politician's publicity stunt?

~* RANDOM RULES *~

2007-03-29T00:08:00.000+08:00

Ok, I got this blog post idea from sillypipedreams who also referred to this site wherein "The A.V. Club asks its favorite rockers, writers, comics, or whatevers to set their MP3 players to shuffle and comment on the first few tracks that come up—no cheating or skipping embarrassing tracks allowed."

It's a cool way to take a peek into someone's music collection. So shall I say, "tell me what's on your player and I'll tell you who you are?" ;-)

Here's mine...

THIS WAY (JEWEL)

Oh wow, I didn't even know it was there! It's not really a memorable nor a fave song from Jewel so umm, I'd rather listen to Hands, Foolish Games or You Were Meant For Me the next time I'm in a Jewel-y mood.

IN DA CLUB [REMIX] (50 CENT feat. 702)

I sooo love this trippy happy remix of In Da Club. The cheerful bouncy melody and feminine touch of 702 makes it better than the original version.

LOVE ME STILL (CHAKA KHAN)

I think this started my obsession with TV show soundtracks. This nice dramatic song is from the 90s tv drama Party of 5 (remember Matthew Fox a.k.a Jack from Lost? I think he was Charlie in Party of 5.) Luckily, I was a practicum trainee in Studio 23 back in college. Party of Five was being aired by Studio 23 back then and at the end of our practicum, our boss gave us a Party of Five soundtrack CD as a token. See, I was really lucky back then...

BLIND (LIFEHOUSE)

I totally dig Lifehouse's sappy love songs and this is one of them. I love it so much that I actually have three versions of it on my PC. One album version and two different live/acoustic versions. I am a sucker for hot band guys with gravelly singing voice. Jason Wade, will you marry me?

GONE [N'SYNC COVER] (JOHN MAYER)

Now this one's really funny! John Mayer takes a jab on the boyband craze. The mp3 starts off with John Mayer doing some funny adlib and then proceeding with a storytelling interspersed with Gone verses. Really cute of John to do that. I love his humor. I've seen this concert DVD of his and his commentaries were really goofy-funny :-)

LET ME HOLD YOU (BOW WOW feat. OMARION)

Nice collab between Bow Wow and Omario but uhh, since I'm not a big fan, I don't know who's singing what in the track. But I love the melody of this one. I am having visuals of Bow Wow/Omarion doing that let-me-hold-you part in the video...

IT DON'T MATTER TO THE SUN (ROSIE THOMAS)

Not a big playlist mainstay but it's a pretty decent song. It's from one of the Grey's Anatomy episodes. Umm, I can't remember which one though.

INSENSITIVE [ACOUSTIC] (JANN ARDEN)

Haven't you noticed that I keep acoustic versions of songs? I'm a sucker for acoustic versions and this is one of those songs which sound nicer in its acoustic version. Did this come from a Julia Roberts movie? I forget. Or maybe I'm just too sleepy to recall. Anyway, this is the classic "I'm pining away here, can't you see that I'm in love with you, you jerk?!?" kind of song.

EWAN [APO HIKING SOCIETY COVER] (IMAGO)

Hey don't get me wrong, I really think Aia is a wonderful vocalist and I like most of Imago's songs (esp. Taning and Akap. But I could never ever like Taralets...) but I am really annoyed with the way she sings "mahal kita, mahal kita hindi to bohhhl-lahh" part. The really arte way she says "bola" is driving me nuts! Which brings me to the thought that I should probably delete this annoying song on my PC...

BREATHE ME (SIA)

This has got to be one of the most amazing song discoveries I've had in my channel surfing history! I LOVE THIS SONG! I don't really watch Six Feet Under on HBO but I just happened to channel surf my way there one night and apparently, the finale of the series was airing. This girl was driving along the highway while vignettes in between were showing how each cast member dies over the years. This was the background music during that long final scene. I didn't know the title nor the artist of the song back then so I searched for "Six Feet Under final episode soundtrack" on Multiply. And voila! Thank you my dear Multiply!

I BET YOU LOOK GOOD ON THE DANCEFLOOR (ARCTIC MONKEYS)

I've been hearing the buzz on Arctic Monkeys so I got curious about their music... and so I downloaded this coz it was the most prevalent track over at Sharezaa back then. Nothing spectacular but it sounds cool when I want some energetic music going on.

OBLIVION (30 SECONDS TO MARS)

I think this is from their first album? The self-titled one. Not a memorable 30STM song for me but rockin' enough anyway.

Ok I'm really sleepy na so I'll stop. Nitey-nite!

~* DRAMARAMA: THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE LIGHT *~

2007-03-28T21:41:00.000+08:00

So I've been pretty much depressed lately and I'm making a wild guess that it's coz my birthday is coming up again. Ahh, another year. One step closer to the edge of the calendar days. And still freaking single. Fudge.

I remember the last time Abbie, Tin and I went out drinking (Charo, we missed you that night!)... we were supposed to watch Music & Lyrics but we were so bummed out with our personal dramas that we decided to just drink and talk the night away. After that, I resolved that I might as well start saving up and hope to be filthy rich when I'm older so that I can at least be artificially happy with an obscenely expensive vacation or whatever uneconomical material thing money can buy. I will always go back to that Dogbert mantra : "The key to happiness is self-delusion. Don't think of yourself as an organic pain collector racing toward oblivion." Can you smell the pessimism in the air?

Well anyway, I think the positive effect that my freaking-out-about-turning-29 has brought upon me was that I've learned to be *super* financially-conscious. I've read these two bestselling locally-authored books (one was by Francisco Colayco and the other by Efren Cruz) that teach one how to be financially prepared and be responsible in terms of handling moolah. Sorta like a Rich Dad, Poor Dad kind of thing (though I haven't read this book yet). Last year, I was done with paying off a pre-need plan (a term life insurance which has a lump sum amount at its maturity date which I can opt to just let them keep for my future pension plan). This month, I applied for a life insurance with endowment and dividend payouts which I can also just opt to accumulate til I'm retired from work. And then I re-evaluated my liquidity as well as net worth and have done some measures to save up some more moolah on the bank and also some investment on mutual fund stocks. Basically, I'm trying to make compounding interest work for me. I have also religiously listed down my expenses and have come up with a monthly budget. Not a strict budget though coz I just blew some money buying new office pants and this cute bandeau for summer. Arghh. Got. to. fight. the. shopping. spirit.

Now back to turning 29 and still not *categorically* moving on...

It just sucks how some people just pop up out of nowhere when you think you are almost there at the finish line where it says "Congratulations, you have *finally* moved on!". Whatever popped up last 02.16 is still in my freaking inbox. Why did I not delete it?! (I am scolding myself and I'm figuratively banging my head on the desk in disgrace.) And whatever THAT was disappeared into thin air the same way as it came -- quicker than the brown fox that jumped over the lazy dog.

I remember hearing Chico and Delamar talking about viewing someone in a negative light in order to let them go. (The topic was the Top 10 Break-up Lyrics...) Yeah. I think I did that already. I remember being *very* pissed to the point of feeling animosity towards a person. And boy, look at me now! Gee, that sure worked *rolls eyes*.

Anyway, I was multiply'ing and saw this post from a friend of a friend: "The sadness you will feel once someone is taken away from you is directly proportional to how happy you were when you were with that person."

So do I still have a long way to go? Dammit, where the heck is that friggin' finish line?!?

~* IPOD WHEEL OF FORTUNE *~

2007-03-25T13:30:00.000+08:00

Abbie and Tin have done this already so now that I'm in a blogging mood, here goes...

HOW THE IPOD GAME GOES:
1. Put your iPod/music player in shuffle mode.
2. Answer the questions below through the song being played.
3. Click the forward button as you move along the questions.

how are you feeling today?
Doo-wop (That Thing) ~ Lauryn Hill

will you get far in life?
Love and Affection ~ Nelson Brothers

how do your friends see you?
Again ~ Lenny Kravitz

will you get married?
Just Take My Heart (acoustic) ~ Mr. Big

what is your best friend's theme song?
Tattooed on my Mind ~ D'Sound

what is the story of your life?
Volcano ('97 demo) ~ Damien Rice

what was high school like?
I Remember You ~ Skid Row

how can you get ahead in life?
Opposite Direction ~ Union of Knives

what is the best thing about your friends?
She Runs Away (acoustic) ~ Duncan Sheik

what is today going to be like?
Every Rose Has It's Thorn ~ Poison

what is in store for this weekend?
Last Request (piano acoustic) ~ Paolo Nutini

what song describes you?
Liar - 8mm ===> {to my dear iPod:} ugghh! you traitor! :p

to describe your grandparents?
Bend ~ Stonefree

how is your life going?
The Scientist (KCRW live session) ~ Coldplay

what song will they play at your funeral?
In Bloom ~ Nirvana ==> wow, totally done in rock chick fashion. this is feasible ;-)

how does the world see you?
Karma Police (Radiohead cover) ~ Tori Amos ===> I'd have to agree on this one!

will you have a happy life?
You Turn Me Around ~ Aqualung

what do your friends really think of you?
In Repair ~ John Mayer

do people secretly lust after you?
Take Away ~ Missy Elliot feat. Ginuwine & Tweet

how can I make myself happy?
Somedays ~ Regina Spektor

what should you do with your life?
When I Look into Your Eyes ~ Firehouse

will you ever have children?
Say it Right ~ Nelly Furtado

~* SHOPPING & GREY'S ANATOMY *~

2007-03-04T13:48:00.000+08:00

My calves hurt. As in. When I woke up today, I felt the muscle ache on my calves. Reminds me of the saying "shop til you drop"...

My Saturday started early coz my college friends Rose, She and I had planned to go shopping at 168 Shopping Mall. I met up with She at Sucat at 6:45am, then we picked up Rose at Las Piñas and then we drove to Divisoria, arriving at exactly 8:01am at 168. We ate breakfast at the nearby Chowking and then started to comb through the 168 stalls around 9am. We went through each and every frigging pasilyo alphabet on all three floors! I spent a total of Php1,700 and took home all these: 1 black office bag, 2 puff-sleeved plain colored shirts, 3 lace-trimmed tank tops, 1 chocolate brown asymmetrical blouse, 1 puff-sleeved office blouse, 1 pink & brown plaid clamdiggers, 1 basketball shorts (for my nephew) and 1 plain cotton shirt (for our househelp).

It was my first time to go to 168 and I was thrilled with all that good bargain! You'll definitely get a lot more bang for your buck when you shop there. Anyway, here are some tips which I learned from my friend Rose who is a seasoned 168 shopper (plus some of my own input):

Bring cash. Everything is on cash basis transaction so leave your credit cards at home.
Spread your cash. Don't keep everything in one place. I had some money on my wallet which was in my bag, some on my left pants pocket, some on my pants' tiny right pocket.
Don't bring your ATM card. If you want to be on a strict budget, leave your ATM card at home so you won't be tempted to withdraw more money just to buy some more unplanned stuff.
Dress simply. No bling-blings, no expensive watch. Avoid looking hmm *rich* so you can be believable when you make barat/tawad to the tindera.
Wear comfy footwear. Your feet are your friend in this journey to retail therapy!
If you must bring a bag, go for a body bag or belt bag. Don't bring shoulder bags that tend to dangle on your shoulders and become very accessible to pickpockets. Hold your bag closely and keep it in front (not even on your side) where you can see it.
Avoid flashing around your gadgets. Expensive celfones, iPods, PDAs or whathaveyous may tempt the pickpockets. Better be safe than sorry!
Always try to make tawad. Don't just buy at quoted price. Haggle and negotiate first for a really big discount. The vendor will usually disagree with your quoted price and will make a higher-priced counter-offer. Haggle some more until you reach a middle ground. It helps if you chika the tindera and talk nicely. If they don't give you your tawad, sometimes it helps if you feign losing interest and start walking away from the stall. More often than not, they call you back in and concede to your bargain price ;-)
Bring one huge sturdy bag. Put every item you buy inside this huge bag so that you won't have to struggle in lugging around a lot of plastic bags from the different stalls you buy from.
If you're bringing a car, strive to be at 168 by 8am (or even way earlier during peak season like Christmas time) so you can still get a good parking space.

We finished shopping and left the mall around 4pm. Wow. Imagine that! Virtually 7 freaking hours of walking! No wonder my calves hurt now :-(

After bonding with my college friends through shopping, I spent some q-time with my dear high school friends Abbie, Tin and Charo who went over to our house around 9pm last night. We scheduled a Grey's Anatomy "DVDthon" and watched the first 5 eps of season 3 in my room. We ate some junk food (No crumbs on my bed! I give them 5 stars!) while watching McDreamy, McSteamy and annoyingly pa-cute Ellen Pompeo [Meredith].

Tin had a grand time copying some of my mp3s into her portable hard drive. I heard her exclaiming over finding Jeremy Jordan, Wilson Philips and Tiffany songs in my PC :D On the other hand, Abbie "checked out" (yeah, I have a log book for anything borrowed from me, hehe! I'm OC with my possessions!) some of my CDs so she can OC-ly rip them at hmm 320kbps? ;-)

We were supposed to finish all 7 eps of GA on the DVD but we were too sleepy na by 3am so they all headed home. We'll just have to schedule another DVDthon for the rest of the 3rd season eps! ;-)

~* WHILE I WAS iTUNING... *~

2007-02-19T11:55:00.000+08:00

I have been sooo remiss with my blogging duties... So here goes one big update!

I GOT MYSELF AN iPOD NANO. Yeah so basically this is the reason why I've been neglecting my blog. I was supposed to buy a Sony Ericsson Walkman fone W850i but got turned off when I examined an actual unit in the store so I ended up buying a pink iPod Nano instead. I have been OC'ing over putting album artworks and fixing the ID3 tags on my 2,999 mp3s worth 11.5GB. And I am still not freaking done. I haven't even organized the genre tags. Arghhh. And about a hundred mp3s still don't have their respective album artwork. OCness does give you carpal tunnel syndrome. Ouch.

I LOVE THE HOLIDAY! Saw this movie with Abbie & Charo last V-day. I love this movie! Jude Law and those dreamy eyes *sigh* I didn't feel any chemistry between Cameron Diaz (Amanda) and Jude Law (Graham) but I liked the pairing of Jack Black (Miles) and Kate Winslet (Iris). It's refreshing to see Kate act goofy and to see Jack as a romantic male lead. The lines in this movie are such quotable quotes, I love it... especially the lines of Kate's character. Here are some of my favorites:

Amanda: You know Graham, I just broke up with someone and considering you just showed up and you're insanely good-looking and probably won't remember me anyway... I'm thinking we should have sex... If you want.
Graham: Is that a trick question?

******
Iris: You're supposed to be the leading lady in your own life, for God's sake!

******
Iris: I like corny. I'm looking for corny in my life.

******

Iris: ... And then, there's another kind of love: the cruelest kind. The one that almost kills its victims. Its called unrequited love. Of that I am an expert. Most love stories are about people who fall in love with each other. But what about the rest of us? What about our stories, those of us who fall in love alone? We are the victims of the one sided affair. We are the cursed of the loved ones. We are the unloved ones, the walking wounded. The handicapped without the advantage of a great parking space! Yes, you are looking at one such individual. And I have willingly loved that man for over three miserable years! The absolute worst years of my life! The worst Christmas', the worst Birthday's, New Years Eve's brought in by tears and valium. These years that I have been in love have been the darkest days of my life. All because I've been cursed by being in love with a man who does not and will not love me back. Oh god, just the sight of him! Heart pounding! Throat thickening! Absolutely can't swallow! All the usual symptoms.

******

Iris: It doesn't matter how many new haircuts you get, or gyms you join, or how many glasses of chardonnay you drink with your girlfriends... you still go to bed every night going over every detail and wonder what you did wrong or how you could have misunderstood. and how in the hell for that brief moment you could think that you were that happy. And sometimes you can even convince yourself that he'll see the light and show up at your door. And after all that, however long all that may be, you'll go somewhere new. and you'll meet people who make you feel worthwhile again. And little peices of your soul will finally come back. And all that fuzzy stuff, those years of your life that you wasted, that will eventually begin to fade.

******
Hannah: My god, I've just noticed how pathetic you are.
Iris: Really? I'm *sooo* aware of it.

******

WE HAD A YUMMY FAMILY LUNCH AT KAMAYAN SA PALAISDAAN. My Tito Boyet from the States was in town for a short visit so we treated him and my Lola Pura out for lunch at Bay, Los Baños (Laguna) last Saturday. I love the ambiance of the place... the type where you can have a very relaxed lunch and just enjoy the "countryside" appeal of the place. {more pictures on my Multiply}

WE WATCHED AN URBANDUB & DICTA LICENSE GIG. Another Sonic Boom event was held in San Mig, ATC last Saturday so Tin and I grabbed this chance to see Urbandub and Dicta License perform live. Typecast, The Ambassadors and Airport Drama also played. Hilera wasn't able to come coz they were still in Fairview. Got a little bitin on the Urbandub set coz they didn't do an encore :( Gabby looked pretty tired already. But they did a kick-ass set anyway so it's all good. Pochoy (Dicta License) looked *hot* as usual. He is just *so* cute in white shirt (ooh, a new version of the Faspitch shirt in white!). Dicta License played last so the crowd pretty much thinned out when it was time for them to play. Good for me though coz I managed to stay right beside the stage on Boogie's side. Really -- this band is so damn good looking (pogi rock alert!)... every single band member is cute in their own way. But that's not to underestimate the intensity of their songs. Pochoy sings with so much passion about socially-relevant themes that is meant to wake up the youth of today. Now THAT's extra pogi points ;-)

~* NOW PLAYING: The Kill by 30 Seconds to Mars *~

2007-01-30T23:37:00.000+08:00

Found this nice acoustic version of The Kill which was performed by 30STM at AOL Sessions...

THE KILL

by: 30 Seconds to Mars

What if I wanted to break
Laugh it all off in your face
What would you do?
What if I fell to the floor?
Couldn’t take this anymore
What would you do, do, do?

Come break me down
Bury me, bury me
I am finished with you

What if I wanted to fight
Beg for the rest of my life
What would you do? (do, do)
You say you wanted more
What are you waiting for?
I’m not running from you

Come break me down
Bury me, bury me
I am finished with you
Look in my eyes
You’re killing me, killing me
All I wanted was you

I tried to be someone else
But nothing seemed to change
I know now, this is who I really am inside
Finally found myself
Fighting for a chance
I know now, this is who I really am

Come break me down
Bury me, bury me
I am finished with you, you, you
Look in my eyes
You’re killing me, killing me
All I wanted was you

Come break me down
Break me down
Break me down

What if I wanted to break?

~* 30 SECONDS TO JARED LETO *~

2007-01-30T20:52:00.000+08:00

Jared Leto: From My So-called Life to rockin' 30 Seconds To Mars

So I just found out that Jared Leto was actually the vocalist of 30 Seconds to Mars when I chanced upon an E! celebrity feature on Cameron Diaz early this January (he used to date Cameron). I was surprised to know that coz I've been digging 30STM since last year! And frankly, my only vivid memory of Jared Leto was from the Claire Danes TV series "My So Called Life" which I used to watch back in my highschool days. I don't even remember seeing him in Panic Room nor in Fight Club (must be too much Brad Pitt eyeballing)!

Anyway, I first got into 30 Seconds to Mars' music last year when I saw them as one of the nominees in the MTV Video Music Awards -- mentioned pretty much in the same breath as Panic! At The Disco whom I also love. And so, I can't believe how a Hollywood actor can actually rock! NOT a lame attempt at all! The band has enough street cred since their single "The Kill" rose up the charts. He can actually sing... I saw this one interview in youtube and he was fooling around & singing in a Sinatra kind of way-- so unlike the screamo vocals on A Beautiful Lie [album]. You know how screamo-alt-rock their music is? I was listening to their album in my Winamp at the office the other day and my boss actually asked me to tone down my music. Heh. Probably way too much of Jared's screamo-emo :p Favorite tracks from the album (aside from The Kill which was my first love): A Modern Myth [loved the violin tracks here!], Attack, From Yesterday, Hunter [a cool Bjork cover!], The Fantasy... Well actually the entire album rocks :-)

The band's drummer, by the way, happens to be Jared's brother Shannon. Their guitarist Tomo actually started out as a fan and then later auditioned as a replacement. (No interesting footnote about the bassist. Heh.)

the 35-year old eyeliner-wearing hottie as he appears in 'the kill' vid

I've been youtube'ing and I've seen funny interviews of the band and live performances. I love their acoustic performances... most of the performances were just with Tomo & Jared onstage and in those stripped down arrangements, it's amazing how Jared's voice is actually nice in a soothing, breathy, semi-gravelly kind of way. There are some Daily Download videos on youtube which had Jared & Tomo accompanied by this string section which resulted in a gorgeous version of The Kill. In the funny interviews, Jared's facial expression [when he amps up his humor] reminds me of Jim Carrey. And one interviewer actually introduced him as "singer/actor/hottie." And hottie indeed he is. He's got those pretty intense eyes and killer lashes, virtually perfect teeth and those lips that curl at the corners.

Been surfing up some bad press about him though... this thing about his fight with Elijah Wood and this blogger/press writer... his dating habits... etc. And do you remember that infamous pic of him kissing Scarlett Johansson wherein he was actually checking his phone WHILE kissing her?! But anyway, strictly talent-&-looks-dept. only, I would chalk him up beside Brandon Boyd of Incubus ;-)

~* HAPPY B-DAY MOM! *~

2007-01-08T22:12:00.000+08:00

Twas my mom's birthday Jan 7th so we treated her out for a nice yummy dinner at Seafood Island (Market Market - The Fort) last Saturday night. Haven't eaten crabs for a long time so I pigged out on the Salt & Pepper Crab... in fact, that was all I ate (okay, and some oyster rockefeller. Mmm!)

with the bday celebrant

yum yum boodle feast et al. and the *very* nice lights on one corner of the resto

~* NOW PLAYING: LOVE WILL TEAR US APART by FALL OUT BOY *~

2007-01-07T15:51:00.000+08:00

I have Nouvelle Vague's lounge-y chill-out version and I have recently stumbled upon this awesome punked out acoustic version by Fall Out Boy over at Multiply. Ooh I just love cover versions. This is originally done by Joy Division (uhh, Joy who? hehe.) back in the 80s.

When routine bites hard
and ambitions are low
And resentment rides high
but emotion won't grow
And we're changing our ways,
taking different roads
Then love, love will tear us apart again

Why is the bedroom so cold
turned away on your side?
Is my timing that flawed?
our respect run so dry..
Yet there's still this appeal
that we've kept through our lives
Love, love will tear us apart again

Do you cry out in your sleep
All my failings exposed
Get a taste in my mouth
As desperation takes hold
Is it something so good...
Just can't function no more?
But love, love will tear us apart again

~* NEW YEAR, NEW YOU, LET'S MULTIPLY *~

2007-01-07T15:10:00.000+08:00

It's a brand spankin' new year so I was inspired to change my template and finally displace some of my houndstooth pattern fixation ;-)

Last week, I just saw this certain postcard from PostSecret which totally got my attention. It read "Everyday I am asked to be a magician in a world where magic doesn't exist." And then somebody emailed a reaction about the postcard and Frank posted it too. I love the inspiring/empowering words of the person who reacted: "You aren't the magician, you are the magic." Wow. Very concise but it had such a big impact on me. And that's how my new template theme was born.

~*+=+=+=+=+=+=+*~

I believe Abbie has beat me to it (she texted me about it yesterday) but I'm also gonna rave about Multiply. At first I was just using it for the photo albums but when I was told that I can search for music there, I was in love. I am a big mp3 junkie and I have started with winMX back in 2001 and then switched to Kazaa, shifted to Bearshare and lately, I have been using Sharezaa. But now, I think I'm gonna stick with Multiply for my mp3 needs. I swear, you can find almost anything there! From really old 90s Pinoy rock.... to band covers of pop songs... to the Lacoste (touch of pink) perfume commercial soundtrack. There are just a handful of elusive tracks that I have not yet found so far like Nadege's version of Heart's "These Dreams", Agot Isidro's "How Can I Be Sure", The Party's "Where is My Romeo", Tribal Fish songs, "Black to Gray" by I'm-not-sure-who but it's OPM -- Skychurch or something and Saga's "Berto." I'm also eager to upload and share some obscure and lesser-popular songs so watch out ;-) I've already uploaded two playlists as of now so feel free to download! :-)

~* FAMILY HOLIDAY IN BAGUIO *~

2006-12-30T20:59:00.000+08:00

Our family went up to Baguio City for a holiday vacation last Dec. 26 to 28. We stayed at Venus Parkview Hotel at Kisad Road which was *very* near Burnham Park. We basically just ate a lot of delicious food (Giligan's, Pizza Volante, Yellow Cab, Central Park...), shopped around at Mines View (got myself two Hello Kitty flannel blankets -- one in sky blue theme and the other in pink), bought Good Shepherd's famous ube jam, exercised at Burnham Park one early morning, and, at last, I was able to take nice pictures of The Cathedral :-)

Check out our photos on my Multiply:

http://lilacstardust.multiply.com/photos/album/9

~* COMPANY XMAS PARTY *~

2006-12-18T22:17:00.000+08:00

Had our Christmas party at Embassy (The Fort) last Dec 14 (yeah, a weird day - Thursday - for a party... I guess it's easier to book Embassy on such an "off" day). Too tamad to recount everything. Food (buffet) was good, photo galore (not surprising), Jeffrey Hidalgo hosted (hmm...), I still did not win anything from the raffle (never in my entire working life. hmp.), the theme was glitz & glam, dj's dance songs were iffy some time of the night (I stopped dancing when he spun Jessica Simpson's Public Affair. And I was glad I did coz I heard Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up a few songs after that. I am not kidding. I heard twas not the dj's fault though, somebody asked him to play 80s pop. Duh.)

Anyway, as you can tell, I am fond of the houndstooth nowadays... Just click the pix for a larger view...

~* NOW PLAYING: LAST REQUEST by Paolo Nutini *~

2006-12-11T22:22:00.000+08:00

I just saw his video yesterday for the first time and I loved the song already. The catchy vid with a tragic story line [credit: video link from his official site], the good looking singer and the Brit-sounding ballad caught my attention. His name is Paolo Nutini, he's Scottish and he's just 19. He doesn't sound nineteen at all. He sounds much older actually. Kinda reminds me of James Blunt and Damien Rice. I love those two artists' sappy ballads (think: You're Beautiful/Goodbye My Lover ~ James Blunt; The Blower's Daughter/Cannonball ~ Damien Rice). And so I'm digging Paolo Nutini's Last Request. My only complaint is that he has little imagination on this song's lyrics. It would have been nice if he thought up other phrases instead of settling with repetitive verses (which are admittedly perfect to inflict LSS upon unwitting listeners! hah!). I predict this single will catch on over the radio airwaves as soon as MTV plays the video to the hilt. And I can almost hear it being played in one of the Grey's Anatomy episodes {another current obsession of mine: downloading GA ep soundtracks!}...

Album: These Streets

slow down, lie down,
remember it's just you and me.
don't sell out, bow out
remember how this used to be.

i just want you closer,
is that alright?
baby let's get closer tonight

grant my last request,
and just let me hold you.
don't shrug your shoulders,
lay down beside me.
sure i can accept that we're going nowhere,
but one last time let's go there,
lay down beside me

oh, i've found, that i'm bound
to wander down that one way road.
and i realize all about your lies
but i'm no wiser than the fool that i was before.

oh, baby, baby, baby,
tell me how can, how can this be wrong?

~* BAGUIO GET-AWAY *~

2006-12-02T17:11:00.000+08:00

Last Nov. 24-26, my highchool friends and I took our first out-of-town vacation (yes, we've never had a trip out of town, save for Tagaytay -- which doesn't count coz it's just nearby...) at the city of pines, Baguio City.

We travelled via the trusty Victory Liner bus and stayed at the Prince Plaza Hotel along Legarda St. We rummaged through the ukay-ukays, posed at The Mansion, Wright Park and Mines View, did a little grocery shopping at SM Baguio, I bought export-quality mufflers for me and my mom (the ones I got were overruns for Nine West), we met an interesting cab driver named Denver A. Colorado, bought choco flakes, strawberries, etc. in the local market, got scared with the urban legend while driving along the very dark Loakan road, ate in Volante's at Session Road and Dencio's at Camp John Hay, had a night-out at Nevada Square and I got kinda drunk after drinking mindoro sling, white russian and strong ice consecutively.

They discovered how OC I was with my packing and my expense accounting, hah! We had this funny title roles we designated to each other: I was The OC Accountant (kept tabs of the group expenses down to the very last cent), Tin was The Gatekeeper (responsible for the hotel keys all the time), Abbie was The Competitive Navigator (ayaw magpatalo ng Canon digicam nya from my Kodak digicam and says everything is walking distance when it's actually a cab ride away), Charo was The Tourist (her last trip to Baguio was when she was in high school so we indulged her with going to the popular tourist spots) and Jako was The Scapegoat (we blamed him for the flooded bathroom).

You can check out our incriminating photos on my multiply (and also Abbie's).

Oh and before I forget, some obligatory rolling of credits: Thanks to our dear friends Mitzi and Ivy who generously wired moolah for our happiness and comfort :) To Abbie's friends Bruce for arranging the hotel booking & discount for us and entertaining us at his resto/bar (see the biggest serving of iced tea that I've ever had in the pictures) and John for driving us to SM, giving us samples of his banana chips and all that crazy talk.

http://lilacstardust.multiply.com/photos/album/8
http://abbiereal.multiply.com/photos/album/18

~* GAEL AND THE DAWN *~

2006-11-11T22:08:00.000+08:00

I've been inside the Mall of Asia (geez, can they make it any more labyrinthine than it already is?!) twice in a span of 1 week just to watch movies. First was last Nov. 3 wherein Charo, Jako & I caught the one-time only screening of a new Gael Garcia Bernal film "The Science of Sleep" during the opening of Cinemanila '06. It was directed by the same guy who did "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" -- Michael Gondry. I never really make an extraordinary effort to watch foreign language films except when it's a Gael Garcia Bernal movie. I'd endure reading the subtitles if it means seeing Gael on screen.

'Loved the movie :) It's refreshing to see Gael in a non-dramatic/heavy role AND speaking some French instead of the usual Spanish. He's on the funny side this time. His deadpan delivery of punchlines and his boyish charms (as always) were very endearing. The story has the same hyper-realism that Eternal Sunshine had so it was a very visual movie. Charo & I were laughing almost the entire time... the Disasterology-themed calendar, the one-second time machine and his other wacky inventions, his Parallel Synchronized Randomness theory and witty dialogues...

Then last Nov. 8, Tin, Charo, Abbie & I watched the Cinemalaya '06 Best Picture "Tulad ng Dati". Thanks Direk Mike Sandejas for the tickets :) It was an advanced screening/album launch of The Dawn but we didn't stay for the album launch anymore coz we had to wake up early for work the next day. I've always been curious to see the movie (being a music junkie and all). The story is loosely-based on The Dawn's journey as a band from the 80s til present. The guys were ok in terms of acting... a bit unnatural on some parts but hey, they're musicians, not actors;-) Well Jett had some theater experience so that helped. It was my first time to see Ping Medina in a movie (he seems to be in a lot of indie movies and music videos lately). With the right make-up and hairdo, Ping Medina really looked like Teddy Diaz.

It was a pretty cool movie with good rock music, surprising cameos (Stonefree was there! No wonder we spotted Miro inside the theater... Karl Roy, Imago, Raimund Marasigan...), funny scenes (Francis Brew when JB said "no sudden movements" at the rooftop... Buddy Zabala and Raimund facing each other and somebody said "Uy Eraserheads! Asan si Ely?")... and the rockin' face-off between the fictional Ratbunitata band and The Dawn -- pretty wicked guitar-playing by Kiko!

What I liked was this central thought about things "lost" that Teddy points out to Jett during his ghostly appearances in the movie. The idea was: If you lose something, you look for it; if you can't find it, replace it; if you can't replace it, try to forget about it; if you can't forget it, then accept that it's lost. Very apt when I relate to it personally (like hmm, love lost?)

Two good movies indeed! :)