drama in the city

I can't sleep so I might as well rant.

I watched the news today from morning 'til night (with breaks in between and while multi-tasking, of course). I feel sorry for the Manila Peninsula as well as for its guests. And tonight I learned from a news website that there was supposed to be a wedding reception on the very hour when Senator Trillanes stormed in. I feel bad for the poor bride because the commotion had to ruin her day and even worse for the country because of the bad publicity this incident's going to cause. As if the Glorietta explosion wasn't enough, these so-called freedom fighters had to storm into a five star hotel located at Makati's Central Business District.

I remember a couple of months ago when Alej's friend came home. He works in Dubai and he was home that time for a business trip. He told me how his boss was supposed to come to Manila with a few business partners. They were foreigners so they were scared to come to Manila because of the stories that they've been hearing. So Alej's friend tried to console them. "Makati is the safest place in Manila!", he said. Then a few days later Glorietta 2 exploded and several people died. Safe, eh? And now here comes a five star hotel, famous for housing businessmen (both local and foreigners alike), that's taken under siege by supposed freedom fighters.

I feel for you dude, for what you're fighting for and all. But sometimes there are better ways to air your grievances than cause a hysteria that ends up ridiculously in the end.

Christmas Christmas List!

Yesterday while I was at McDonald's in Pampanga for Tito Romy Galang's funeral, Christmas carols played in the background. It's pretty much like that these days here at the malls, restaurants, and other establishments-- Christmas carols in the air. I commented on how singing a Christmas carol would make a group immortal. Take for example The Backstreet Boys. They sang Christmastime and now it plays every single year. Then there's 98 Degrees. Their song This Gift is immortal as well. So if you want to be unforgotten as a singer, sing a Christmas carol!

Manilyn and I also talked about how it seems inappropriate to be merry this Christmas when we've seen too many tragedies this month. Bad news eat the optimism in you, I tell you. But then I realized how God would be angry with us if we stayed bitter this Christmas season because of too many deaths this month and the suffering we feel for other people. He is the reason for the season and I think staying bitter about this Christmas would only entail that we put our selfish reasons first in place of God's own-- the birth of his son Jesus Christ.

So for everyone who has suffered so much the past few years, the past year, or even the past month...for people who lost loved ones and still have a hard time of grasping the reality that they're gone...for people who are in the process of healing fresh wounds...I hope you have a good Christmas this year. Think about God and the birth of Jesus Christ. I know it's hard to accept things that we cannot change but perhaps accepting His will is the first step to healing.

And speaking of Christmas...here's my Christmas list!

(not necessarily in order)

1. A Black iPOD Classic (because my ipod mini is dying, it won't charge anymore).
2. A one month free gym membership at one of the two Fitness First near my place. I need it for my health (hypertension and impending diabetes)
3. A gift certificate from Beauty Bar! (Yeyyy haha)
4. A Moleskine 12th month weekly planner (the medium sized one)
5. an external hard drive to rescue my laptop from crashing (Thanks Pa!)
6. The "Ugly Duckling" t-shirt from David and Goliath
7. A pair of silver or gold Havaianas High (thanks Pa!)
8. Anything from Philosophy (lotion, moisturizer, etc.)
9. A Lomo LCA
10. Cupcakes by Sonja!!!!!
11. FOOD, DESSERTS, CHOCOLATES, ETC. ETC. HAHA
12. Fossil aviator shades (the one with the gold frames)

happy birthday and happy engagement (meron ba ganun?)

Hey shorty, it's my sister's birthday! XD Ewwww she's old. Haha, kidding. She's 24 and she's engaged to be married to her boyfriend of 4 years, Kuya John. Congratulations and Happy Birthday!!!

Manilyn, one of my sister's best friends in high school back in Abu Dhabi, is staying with us for two weeks while she's in Manila. I'm using her shiney white iBook G4 because my sister's chatting with my parents using my laptop. Man, I NOW REALLY WANT A MACBOOK! XD It feels good under my hands! I'm hoping to make the switch too but I'm too poor to buy it for myself. I'm waiting for the heavens to open up and drop me a shiney white Macbook.

I'm sleepy...we came home from Starbucks, Silvercity a few hours ago. We had three slices of cake and coffee. My favorite Dome Cake is available again! A year ago the Dome Cake was phased out. I hope it's here to stay! It tasted realllyyyy good. YUMMYYYY! And then we (kuya John, Alej, Manilyn, my sister, and I) waited until midnight when we got home to say hello to Ate's birthday.

My sister, uncles, and Manilyn think that my new header looks like Sadako. Yes, it was meant to be scary. Mu ha ha ha!

Logging off. Good night,kids!

Happy Pocky Day

HAPPY POCKY DAY!


Pocky pretzel sticks were a huge part of my childhood. During the time when my family lived in Myanmar, my father made frequent trips to Bangkok, Thailand for work. I think he was there almost every four months or every other month, I no longer remember. He would bring my sister and I one huge box of junkfood from chips to cookies and chocolates. Everything that screamed "JUNK" was in that box especially boxes and boxes of chocolate and strawberry Pocky! That one huge box of junk treasure would last for a month or two. But because it was full of tooth decay and junkfood goodness, it was always stored on top of a cabinet so it would be out of reach for my sister and me. Clever, eh? We always need to ask permission from our parents before digging through the "treasure box".

Imagine my delight when I found out that Pocky is also available here in local supermarkets (nevermind if they cost so much more), it's still POCKY!

Today I found out that it's Pocky Day in Japan. It's on November 11, 11-11 because the figure "1" resembles a Pocky stick.

Happy Pocky Day all you Pocky lovers. ;)

circle of trust

Remember the "circle of trust" from the Meet the Parents/Meet the Fockers movies? It does exist. And I don't think people (outsiders) will get the bond sisters have until they have penetrated that "cirlce of trust", which exists in a sister-sister relationship.

It takes time and proof that you're really worth getting into the circle. It takes a lot of understanding too, to get into the "circle of trust".

And this "circle of trust" is an unwritten/imaginary circle that exists. Just like the Bermuda Triangle or Atlantis...there's no physical proof that it exists...you just know/believe that it's there.

p.s. also applicable to sister-brother (or vice versa) or brother-brother relationships.

random

I like the fact that there is always something to be excited about everyday.

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There are 10 rolls of film waiting to be processed. I can't waitttttttttttttt. =/ I hope I have find time to drop them off at Digiprint today!

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My phone is dying. :( I dropped it twice the other day. The 2nd time was the hardest. It fell on the pavement from the car when I got up. I used to be a phone person but not anymore. I hate the fact that I need to get a new phone because this orange phone (my favoriteTEST so far) is dying. GRRRRR. :(

I'm using one of our old spare phones, the nokia 6510. so forgive me if I reply "May I know who you are?" because not all my contacts are stored in my sim card.

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I'm waiting for Alej. We're joining the Christmas bazaar at San Miguel Corporation. =) Yey! Wish us luck! We're now business partners too. Haha!

I Want to Forget

I initially didn't want to post this here but since I already emailed my father about it when he asked, I'll post it now.

____________________________

I'm back from Cagayan Valley.

I went to Pagudpud for the first time. It was a five hour drive from Tuguegarao City.
I had fun playing with the kids (Alej's cousins) and burned my skin because I forgot sunblock.
But the all the fun was cancelled out by my witnessing of a horrible tragedy...the drowning to two people.

The kids and I were riding the waves near the shore. We were happy that the sun finally began to shine because when we got there in the morning there was bad weather and the waves were scary. We still went to the beach to play on the sand and swim but knowing how scared I am of open sea beaches (pagudpud opens up to the South China Sea), I mostly stayed on the shore. An hour later Alej came to us and told us to get out of the water because somebody had drowned at the opposite side of the beach where the waves were more ferocious. We trekked down to where a crowd was gathering and when I looked out to sea, I saw the body of a woman lifelessly floating on the water face down. It was horrible from there-- men retrieved her and held her from her ankles to get the water out of her. Her mouth was bubbling with water and air and she was just....LIFELESS. She looked like she was floating on water for a long time.

I saw everything from the floating body to the retrieval of the dead girl. Alej tried to revive her using mouth-to-mouth resuscitation but I knew she was gone-- her face was WHITE, her lips were a dark shade of purple, her eyes were lifeless, and she was already bloated. It was horrible to witness something like that especially when her guy companion couldn't be retrieved because of the strong waves. As of sunday, his body is still at sea.

Rest in peace. :'(

What a traumatic experience... I won't be going to Pagudpud for a long time. Maybe even NEVER AGAIN.

home sweet home

Hello I'm home! The 10 hour (or more?) drive was tiring! I couldn't sleep and we traveled in bad weather (the typhoon was where I came from). There were also five cars in the convoy with radios to boot (HAHA) so the drive was pretty safe. Anyway, glad we got home safe.

My trip was fun. Alej's family (he has a big one!) was very warm and accomodating. They're very nice people that's why I wasn't homesick like I used to be when I'm away from home for a long time. Cagayan Valley has awesome stretches of land, plateaus, hills, and mountains. The landscape is just breathtaking. If I could only stop on every single photo-worthy scenery, I would. But I was too shy to demand a lot of stops for my photo tripping.

We spent the whole day at the cemetery on November 1 until the wee hours of the mornig. I had fun playing with Alej's little cousins (there are so many!) and I think they like me too. That makes me happy. =)

We went to Pagudpud too that's why I'm pretty sunburnt. Ughhh. It's itchy. The place is a five hour drive from Tuguegarao City. The view was breathtaking, the beach too. But there was a horrible experience and I'll save it for later. Or maybe never.

Photos are mostly from film cameras but I have a couple of digital ones. Save the posts for later.

My sister's best friend who lives in Canada is in town for a vacation. And guess what she brought me? IT'S A FISHEYE! =D YEYYY! The box is cute. It has gills! HAHA!

This was waiting for me when I got home. That 10 hour drive in the middle of a typhoon was tiring. I couldn't sleep. =/



Thanks, Manilyn! =D