~*MUNDANE THINGS*~

Hmmm. Haven't been online much this past week. It's coz two Mondays ago, I woke up feeling nauseous. No joke, my head was spinning as I stood up from the bed. I was thinking that I had been having too many late nights around that time (i.e. being online forever til like 1am and then waking up at 5:30am for work, then, staying up late for the Incubus gig, then waking up early to go to Aga's bridal shower and then staying up late and then waking up early the next day... yeah, you pretty much get the drift...) So I thought I might be anemic na or maybe I just need more sleep. So there. Slept early every night. Controlled myself and didn't go online during weeknights. Well it kinda worked. I didn't feel nauseous anymore. Oh plus, it's Salary Increase-approval time... kelangang magpaganda sa boss! I've been coming to work 9ish lately (our official time is 8am! Although flexi-time naman... but still...) so I decided to quit being late and come to work on time for a change!

I missed out on so much stuff on the AKAfellas forum! I was like whoa, it's green now! (Nice, nice, nice Lucy-girl!) And it has a nice Akafellas logo (which was made by Robi daw accdg. to Lucy...)

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Weee. I'm excited about getting a new phone! The company's changing our handsets now. On impulse, I wanted to get the Nokia 6600. I actually decided that I will definitely upgrade (which would mean I'd have to pay the difference in the cost) coz the model that would come in free for me is that helluva nokia 1100 or somethin. What the heck would I do with a flash light fone thing which looks like a laundry bar? Gaaah. It's sooo not stylish at all. Since I didn't touch most of my bonus money, I decided to kinda splurge on this fone thing. I was originally about to buy myself a DVD-ROM (so I won't have to watch DVD in my parent's room), a new ass-kicking scanner to replace my stupid malfunctioning Genius scanner and more memory for my mp3s and movs. And I also wanted to buy a Kenneth Cole Reaction watch. Oh but these are all out the window... I'm willing to splurge on my mobile fone this time. But I was thinking... I was most definitely gonna shell out something like 15 to 20 grand for the upgrade... the 6600 is quite expensive... and for 20 grand, there's not even an FM radio! Good lord! I don't need the freakin' high-tech camera and video capture anyway coz I already have a digicam which offers way better resolution. I'm okay with basic camera and video features. No need for the whole shebang. I'm such a music person that all that's important to me is the tones. I wanted the music features of the 3300 but it's such an old model and it looks quite weird to me. So anyway, the model that I super want is the Nokia 6230 which is not yet out in the market. The Nokia peeps say it'll be launched this Q2. It's got FM radio and mp3 and I can personalize my ringtone with that mp3 feature. And then jpegs for wallpaper. There. That's all I want in a phone. And the 6230 perfectly fits my needs. Hmmm. Haven't heard from Purchasing though, as to how much I have to shell out, if I can wait up for it and when it will actually be available. Gaaah. I'm so freakin' excited already. C'mon Nokia and Globe, ship it in already!!!


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I was watching the news while I was eating dinner. These baranggay tanods were chasing this "suspected" call boy. When they caught up with him, the call boy says:"Eh pano naman ako di tatakbo, eh tinatawag nyo ko eh (presumably when he was asked why he ran... fleeing=guilty). Wow, anlabo mo dude! Pag ikaw ba tinatawag ka, edi lalapit ka diba and hindi ka tatakbo?! Hay, what a lame excuse. Crazy dude!


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I remembered this funny vignette when I saw Dominic Ochoa asking these Star Search (?) kids some questions. The kids had such funny answers. So anyway, one time, we were in the car with my nephew and over the radio there was this news about a landslide in Visayas. So I was testing the knowledge of my 8 yr old pamangkin... I asked him: "Bakit ba nagkakaroon ng landslide?" He answers: "Pag may erosion." "Eh bakit may erosion?" I asked again. He replied oh-so-seriously: "Eh kasi pag may nag yoooodelaheehoo dun..." I was laughing so hard when I heard that! He was probably watching too much cartoons. Yooodelaheehoo daw. Ahahahahaha! Kids talaga! That story always makes me smile when I remember it.

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Teehee. I opened my Friendster the other day and there's this guy who message'd me and asked if I happen to teach Adobo Photoshop. He saw my profile pics daw kasi and was asking how I did those. Me? Teach Adobe Photoshop?! I said I just self-studied Photoshop actually but I kidded him that I'd be happy to make him a profile pic for a fee. Haha. I'd be happy with a P500 GC from Tower Records. *teehee*


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I was shopping for strapless brassiere and I wanted to get this Wacoal strapless bra that you could actually wear under a see-through blouse or something. But good gawd, it's like freakin' P1,200! WTF is that all about?! I can already buy a basic tee from Mango with that amount! And helloooo, as if I was blessed with abundant precious boobies that would "maximize" all that pesos worth of pads, silk and lycra (uhmm, is that what it's made of? oh anyway, it's beside the point...) I can take 7ish, 8ish or even 9ish hundred. I have bought Wacoals that cost that much. But one thousand freakin plus pesos?!? Quite insane when you don't even have much boobs anyway! So well anyway, I settled for Triumph. I shall purchase that coveted Wacoal when my colleagues go to Bangkok. Wacoal is so cheap there daw. I'll just wait for that.

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I am part of the office's Health & Safety committee. So we were checking fire alarms, fire exits and stuff this morning. And then people emailed their comments/findings about the inspection. I read this hilariously-worded (but true) comment: The fire alarm does not sound alarming at all. Teehee. Funny but true! The alarm sounded faint in some areas of the office. And it was not this shrill, urgent-sounding alarm... twas more like "Woohoo it's recess time" kind of alarm. So yeah. It was not really that alarming at all nga naman!

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Gaaah. I officially have a crush from, uhhh, somewhere! Haha. Last time I checked his Friendster, he uploaded his Jose Rizal-ish-looking formal pic. Wahaha. Oh good gawd he's dark-skinned (just like ITY)! Man, am I back to liking tanned dudes now? Hmmm. I dunno if he reads my blog. Probably not. Guys are not into blogging anyway. But anyway, just in case he's not a typical guy, I shall speak in somewhat general terms when I talk about him here. Yuck, baduy. Stupid love. Gaaah. But I'm liking every minute of it. Hmmm. When you're infatuated, proximity is good. And oh I likey-likey the lil touchy-tochies. Hmmm. Sugar-rush. Hay, he's so lambing. Oh but he misspelled a cappella in his profile. Oooh, I am sooo itching to correct it! But *sob*sob* he's "in a relationship". Dang. I thought they broke up already. Oh well. A crush is still a crush anyway. Ahhh. This should be fun! One of these days I'll blog my quasi-analysis of him based on the modern stalker's tool... Friendster! Too bad he's not on myspace. I am probably freaking you out now with my weird plan so I am gonna stop now and blog some other time.

~*AGA'S BRIDAL SHOWER*~

Rose and I went to oh-so-far-away Binondo at Marissa's house yesterday for Aga's surprise bridal shower. Earlier, our college guy friends hung out for a while. (They left with the groom-to-be for their stag party). Gosh, I sooo miss college life! I miss MonTy's asars. The guys were my group mates in most of our projects. Candz, Tuesday, Kring and Aga's mom and aunties were also there. Gaah. We did not have a macho dancer although Felix (Marissa's younger bro) was more than willing to dance. Ahahahah!

We had a contest on bridal gowns made of tissue papers. I ended up looking like a bride who was "on the way" coz my tummy was bulging. Wahahah. I told them to put more tissue on my chest area so that I won't end up having a tummy which was bigger than my boobs. Ahahaha. We had charades wherein Aga acted out everything. Wow, I can't believe I was able to guess words like "69" and "vibrator". *Teehee* 'Just goes to show how UNinnocent I was! Last game was "Make the Perfect D*ck". My team mate and I were both virgins (the others have married aunts as team mate) so we ended up with a mushroom-looking d*ck. After all, our knowledge were all theoretical! Our "Virgin's D*ck" won "The Worst-Looking D*ck". Hahaha.

We gave Aga a book as a gift. "How to be a Great Lover" by John Gray (the author of the Mars and Venus series). I remember hunting for Aga's gift... I first went to National Bookstore to look for "Sex for Dummies" that my officemate suggested for me to buy. I was too shy to ask the salesladies like "Miss, where are your copies of Sex for Dummies?" Gaah. That'd be hilarious and embarrassing at the same time. So I went through all the rows of shelves to look for it. But alas, I couldn't find it. I proceeded at Powerbooks in Tower Records Glorietta and met up with Rose there. A lot of interesting books were there: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Seduction, The Big "O", Kama Sutra Illustrated.... Very entertaining! I was gonna buy the 'Guide to Seduction if only it weren't a tattered and soiled (last) copy. Dang, I think I need that book! Hahaha.

So anyway... Here are our crazy snapshots:

~*INCUBUS LIVE IN MANILA: A THREE-FOLD UTOPIAN DREAM*~

To see you when I wake up is a gift I didn't think could be real
To know that you feel the same is a three-fold utopian dream
You do something to me that I can't explain
So would I be out of line if I said, I miss you?

~ I Miss You, Incubus


Okay. Here's the kwento...

I could hardly sleep last Thursday. By Friday morning, I was floating and spaced out at work. Both Charo and I had upset stomachs earlier in the day -- I surmise it's out of our extreme, unfathomable excitement over the Incubus gig that was about to happen later that night. Hahaha.

I had already thought up an intricate plan on how to puslit my digicam inside the venue. I had a total of 3 cams in my bag. An advantix which is my "dummy cam" for surrendering to the gate guards. Then my 3MP, 3X optical zoom digicam (the one I usually bring in the Akafellas gigs) "hidden" inside my kikay kit. And finally, the ultimate kick-ass gadget, the 4MP 10X OPTICAL zoom *woohoo* perfect for zooming in on Brandon Boyd's abs. I buried it at the bottom of my backpack.

At the premiere ticket-holders' entrance, they didn't want to let us in unless I left the Advantix cam outside the venue. I said we didn't have a car, we rode a cab. What do you want me to do, leave my camera on the sidewalk? Well they said there was a depository on the other gate so we proceeded there. In total, we had to go through 4 different bag inspections that night. I sorta volunteered info that I have a camera (the advantix) and I kept asking where I should deposit it. The dude was almost gonna see my digicam inside my kikay kit. He opened it and he asked "Ano 'to?" I said in an oh-so-innocent voice "Kikay kit po." I sorta wrapped my digicam in tissue paper so thank God he did not make super bulatlat my stuff. The 10X zoom cam was wrapped twice in a plastic bag. He did not bother to check what was in it. Well anyway, in the final bag inspection we had to go through, they just made me leave my bottled water. My Advantix seemed totally non-threatening, soooo analog and low-tech that they said it was OK for me to bring it in. Haha. I was cheering deep inside. *evil grin* *i took vids and pics!*

Incubus went onstage by 9ish pm. They didn't even have a front act. No need though. The 2K ticket area was fairly peaceful. I was amongst tweetums conio kids so it was not scary at all. And to think my boss was scared that there'd be a stampede! Stargazing: Angel Aquino with a young college-looking guy whom I conclude is her boyfriend (but I could've sworn they said she was a lesbian!), Ryan Eigenman and gf, Mark Escueta (drummer) and this other dude from Rivermaya with their respective gfs.

Opening song: Megalomaniac. They also sang Wish You Were Here, Here in My Room, Certain Shade of Green, Drive, Talk Show on Mute, Clean, Consequence... Grrr, they did not perform Stellar, Echo and I Miss You. Last three songs were Are You In?, *another one I can't remember* and Pardon Me.

Some time after 30 mins. or so, Brandon Boyd took off his shirt and revealed his oh-so-deeeleeeesh bod. Gaaah. *drool*scream*shriek*faint* His legendary flat abs are still there. *sigh* All the ladies were in throes of ecstacy *wink,wink* And he made his trademark funky sways/dance moves. He closed his eyes while singing. Ooohlala.*screams some more* Haha. I vividly remember his voice saying "SALAH-mat!" (wrong but cute accent). And he called the audience "boys and girls" Hahaha. He said somebody threw an empty wallet at the stage. A wallet which didn't have any identification but had something like 50 cents in it.

Brandon Boyd sang, played the guitar, the djembe and those tiny shake-shake egg thingies. That new bassist... Ben Kenney had a solo... he was the birthday boy of the night. Mike Einziger... all I can remember is his big blonde curly hair. DJ Kilmore, I didn't get a good look at him. Adorable Jose Pasillas was quite far up on the left side and was sorta buried in his drum set so I didn't get to see how chubby he was.

Gaah. I think Brandon threw the white towel he was wearing/holding to the lucky peeps in front. Ben threw some posters, I think.

The show ended at 11ish pm. My black soft leather Prestos had turned gray from all the dust/dirt at CCP grounds. My arms ached from videoing and taking pics with my hands up in the air, way above the sea of flailing/thrusting arms. Oh but it was all worth it. I have deeeleeeshuz shots of Brandon. Ooohlahlah.

*still in Brandon Boyd heaven up to now*

~*AAA-ARE-ARE YOU IN?*~

Woooohooo! Last night was pure bliss! Gaaaah. Brandon Boyd is a god. I'll blog my narratives later when I have more time. But for now, here are the yummy pics of His Royal Hotness, Brandon Boyd (vocals, Incubus). *triple sigh* Gaaaaah....


Oh-so-close shots...*bliss*


Yummiest abs in the planet...*drool*


Me and my friend Charo...*on a high*

Kwentos later.... ;) *floating in 7th heaven*

~*INCUBUS = BRANDON BOYD = ECSTACY*~

Incubus is here naaaaaaaa!!!!!!! *shrieks* *screams* *gushes* *sighs* I will breathe the same air that Brandon Boyd is breathing. Ahhhhhhh. His Royal HOTNESS is here. Stellar. Something infinitely interesting. Gaaah. I haven't seen their arrival coverages though. I'm not sure if Brandon's wearing his dirty/scruffy look. DON'T ever conclude that he is NOT hot when you see him this way. He is so freakin' hot, I swear. If he's wearing his clean look, I swear I'll faint. Gaaaaah. Ahhh. And his breathy, whispery vocals in Incubus love songs (refer to Stellar, Echo, I Miss You, Wish You Were Here and Here in my Room). Ahhhh. Pure bliss. And his angsty screams in their angry songs (refer to Megalomaniac and Nice to Know You). Ahhhh. Oh so pulse-racing. Gaaaaaah. And his funky dancey moves while he sings (refer to the "Are You In?" video). *Triple sigh* Oh-so-sexy.




There's something about the way you move
I see your mouth in slow motion when you sing
More subtle than something, someone contrives
Your movements echo that I have seen the real thing

Could you show me dear...something I've not seen?
Something infinitely interesting.

~ Echo, Incubus





*YUM* *SIGH TO THE NTH POWER*

Enough said.

~*BIGLAAN*~

Gaaaah. I just luuurrrrve that 6CycleMind song. I rarely like Tagalog songs but this one just rocks my boat. Maybe it's coz I can relate to the song's sad lyrics... (Abbie, this is my Maco song! Argggggghhhh!!! %@#$!) I bought Permission to Shine solely because the poignant acoustic version of Biglaan is there.


Nandito, naka-ukit pa rin sa puso ko
Nang sabihin mong 'wag na lang
Nandito, nakatatak pa rin sa isip ko
Kung paano mo tinalikuran ang lahat

Kay bilis
Ba't umalis
Nakaka-miss

Nabigla nang
'Di ko man lamang nalaman na mawawala
Nabigla nang
'Di mo man lamang naisip na idahan-dahan
'Di ako sanay sa biglaan
Unti-unti na lang sanang nawala

Hindi ba natin kayang magkunwari
At sabihing sige na lang
Hindi ba natin kayang dayain
Ang mga yakap sa tuwing lumalamig

'Di ako sanay sa biglaan
Unti-unti na lang sanang nawala

'Di ko man lamang nalaman na mawawala
Nabigla nang
'Di mo man lamang naisip na idahan-dahan

~ Biglaan, 6CycleMind

Gaaaah. It's such a killer song. Bullseye. *ouch*

The mood has become increasingly depressing and I'm beginning to be overly-contemplative about my future. What with Aga & Jovan's upcoming wedding, Vic's break-up, her rants about relationships, finding THE One and marriage. I can't help but think about, hrmmff, these kind of things.

I wonder if I have (already) stupidly let THE One get away. Gaaah. It would be such a sad thought to be wistfully thinking of "the one that got away". What if God had already given/is giving me my second (and third... and fourth...) chance and it is actually staring at me right on my face and then I am actually shoving it away? Wouldn't that be tragic?

What does it mean when someone keeps coming back into your life (sometimes at such an opportune time you swear you think he must be heaven-sent but then again not). What if it is actually God's hand who is bringing him back to me? But the thing is, I am not completely sold to the idea and at the back of my mind I keep thinking, "What if I wait up some more? What if this one is not THE One and THE One is actually just a few days sleep and a coupla breaths away?" Freakin' complicated. Fudge, fudge, fudge.

Now why is it that T2 keeps coming back? Why, why, why???? And why is it that the one whom I actually want to come back doesn't? I am stupidly, naively waiting but I don't think he'll ever be back. I just hope that one day, when he turns around and looks for me, I am already happy with someone else. I want him to feel the consuming, exhausting, spirit-draining pain and heartache that I have been feeling since the day he went away. I may have some episodes of euphoric happiness because of them but then again it's still sporadic compared to the drama queen life that I am quietly living inside my mind.

When you're around someone <5 times a week, 8 hours a day> who is ranting about disappointing relationship(s), the one that got away, shattered dreams of getting married, fear of not EVER finding THE One (or if ever, finding THE One but at such a late, hopeless age) I'm sure you'd tend to think in the same wavelength as I am now. I'm turning 26 this year. She' just turned 30. She says I'm still young and I need not worry. But hey, she gave me a good scare! Gaaaah.

At this point, I am sick and tired of subscribing to the theory of true, endless love. It's sheer bullcrap for me now. But I am hoping that one day soon I will swallow what I've just said now coz by then, I will be (almost) insanely happy and in absolute pure bliss holding hands with the one I waited for all my life -- the one who will make all this sh*t I'm going through well worth it... and in that moment, all these words that I write will finally make perfect sense.

*sigh*


Even if there is pain now
Everything will be alright
For as long as the world still turns
There will be night and day
Can you hear me?
There's a rainbow always
After the rain.

~ Rainbow, South Border

~*THE PRESS LAUNCH*~

So it turned out that the album launch at Dish was actually for the press peeps. I realized this when I saw an MTV crew a bit ahead of me on the escalator.

I ALMOST wasn't gonna be there at all (something seems grammatically wrong here but I can't think of grammar-check anymore... for pete's sake, it's 3AM now!). I was close to barfing at LukYuen when I went there to have some soup coz I was really uber-nauseous na. I just wasted a hundred bucks coz I hardly touched the beef brisket noodle thing I ordered. I was trying to call Charo already and was gonna tell her that I was going home na lang but then I couldn't reach her coz she's still in the batcave of St. Luke's *teehee* where there was no cell signal. Well I didn't wanna "abandon" her and have her go home by herself. After all, she said the day before that she was not gonna go to Dish if I didn't go. Well I did not want her to miss it just because I was too lazy to go (it was on a Thursday and I felt I'd be too tired for work the next day so I was gonna skip that gig sana...). So it was 7:30 pm already. I was still in LukYuen Glorietta feeling like I was gonna faint or barf any moment. Reservations at Dish was good only til 7:45pm so I told Tere and Glenda to take na my reserved table. Thoughts were racing in my nauseous mind: if I went to Dish feeling sick like that, I might just throw up there and it would really be embarrassing! ewwww! Or if I managed to hold it all up, I was thinking I might throw up in Tere's car which would really be nakakahiya dba! I'd mess up her SUV! Gaaah. So anyway, since I couldn't reach Charo to call the whole thing off, I bravely decided to still go to Power Plant. But I passed by Starbucks 6750 first to get myself a Tazo Hot Tea and a slice of banana cake ( I was still very hungry but I couldn't eat much at all coz I was afraid I'd just barf it out).

So I arrived at Dish and I saw Tere, Teena, Glenda and June there. Rommel and Ienne arrived in a short while. Tere was so thoughtful/sweet and lived up to her AKAdoctor title.... she handed me some Plasil and Bonamine. (*mwah Tere!*) I was touched by how sweet Ikey was... before the show, he came up to our table and beso'ed each of us. Awww, how sweet naman. Charo and her friends from St. Luke (the guy had the hots for Robi. *teehee*) arrived around 9ish.

I didn't take much pics when they were performing coz my hands were trembling and a couple of my pics were already blurry from camera shake. So I took vids, vids and more vids instead! It was refreshing to hear them sing September. (Alleluia, a new song in their repertoire at last!!!) Oh by the way, while people were waiting for the show to start, we all got OD'd by the Bongga Ka Day audio and video. "HALA!" was swimming in my dizzy mind...

And whoa. Myke was actually shirtless under his denim jacket. We had a sneak peek of his ripped pandesals! Super pang Mossimo bikini contest na talaga his look. *teehee* While they were performing, I told June "June, can you shout "SKIN" for me please?!" since I was still feeling nauseous that time (They were shouting "skin, skin!" as in show some skin to myke. hahaha) Oh and his hair was super flat. Haha, when he was looking at all the pics in my cam (Wow, ang daming picture ah!), I told him "Ang ganda ng hair natin ngayon ah... flat na flat!". So anyway, he was asking me about my digicam, the price, discounts, etc. When I told him the price of my cam, he asked "May mas bano pa ba dito?" Hahah. I recommended the CX6200 to him. I told him that it was just P7,900. Aba, humihingi ng discount! P5000 or P6000 na lang ba daw? Wehehe. I gave him my business card na lang in case he really wanted to make pabili through me. Same with Robi. He was asking if I could get him a discount on the cams so I gave him my business card too. Gaaah. Too bad it's not within my powers to give them like 50% off. Hahaha. Too bad.

I had two cups of Tazo hot tea then but I still wasn't feeling dandy at all. The medicine was not yet taking effect on me.

The fellas had their signing by the entrance of Dish. Took a lot of pics especially since Reubs (and even Robi and Ikey) was telling us to take pictures of them in those weird/kooky/"emote to the max" poses. Hmm, I realized si Karl is also tipid mag smile. And oh, for the record, I liked Paulo Nav's outfit that day. He looked really spiffy with that blue-colored ensemble... I told him I loved his tie. Winner!

June and Rommel was asking me once in a while if I was already feeling better. I said I needed three things so I would feel better. Oh but I only had 1 out of 3. Had my dose of hug from huggy-wuggy Robi. *YEY* The other two "cures" are, uhmm, quite unachieveable *teehee*. And I might get harrassment cases from the 2 so nevermind....

After the gig, we hung out in Starbucks. Had my THIRD cup of Tazo Hot Tea there. There was no need to explain why I kept going in the restroom to pee. Haha.

Tere had offered us a ride the night before, so there. Charo and I (and Rommel) hitched with Tere on the way home. Thanks AKAdoctor Tere!

Twas really a fun night despite the fact that I wasn't feeling well. Oooh, and there's one more thing that made me grateful that I didn't skip that gig. Oh thank God I didn't skip that gig!

Ok. I'll sleep now. It's almost 4am. Gaaaah.