pre - all souls' day adventures

dahil allergic kame sa maraming tao, nanay, lola and i went to the north cemetery two days in advance of the traditional day of visiting the dead.

who would have thought, that of all places, dito ko pa makikita si ate cora. here's our shot in front of the north cemetery. ate cora was my roommate when i was still in college in intramuros. the ate i never had, i felt like a bunso when i was with her (and the other ates in the dorm). she now works for ibc13 as a news reporter.



we visited lola's parents, and lola luring's (lola's sister) husband with her clan. we had dinner at the nearby restaurant and took pictures at the parking lot of the chinese hospital (the nearest and safest parking lot beside the nort cemetery).



quiapo was the next destination. we went to the pea first then went anik-anik shopping. bough a fake havaina, charm bracelets from the muslims, mirror for nanay's office, oil lamp, and flowers. this was the only shot i took lest my camera falls into some snatchers filthy hands.



we were all set to go home, but nanay wanted to see what happened to the roxas strip after lim has taken over. and yes, it wasn't the same lively roxas like before. it's dark, lonely, nakakalungkot talaga. passing thru ccp, nanay called for dinner. we had dinner at chowking in star city.



here are some snapshots of lola at the star city



again, all set to go home, until we passed thru the dzrh office (which is at aliw theater). nanay mentioned that it was the dzrh office and tita dely (the old lady announcer who's been in the business for over 60 years) might be there. lola said we should drop by, so we did! when we entered, the security guard asked who we were and what's our business with tita dely, with a wide grin, nanay said - avid fans po kame.

here's lola and tiya dely magpayo

Halloween Party!

October 28, Sunday

Videoke biritan (complete with back-up singers and dancers) over chix, chips, bbq and unending rounds of vodka!

Saturday Morning at Tagaytay

blogging chorva

11:38 on the pc's clock. im trying out the the blogging feature here in multiply. ang daming pwedeng pagtapunan ng mga anik-anik (blog sites, photo sites, at kung anu-anu pa). minsan, nakakalito na kung san pwede pang magkalat ng lagim. it was only recently that i've become acitve here in multiply, since my new found friends have decided to put up a site (exclusive to members only) where we all could make tapon our anik anik -

:: word/s of the day -- pag may na-miss kang session, pwede mo 'tong balikan para you're always in da know. sa mga kagaya naming chismosa, importante 'to

:: pictures -- siempre, dahil karamihan sa amin a vain, kelangan laging may kodakan kada magkikita-kita (so far, lahat sa amin ay alam na ang tamang anggulo ng face para cute sa pictures). because pictures are the new words.

i'm still learning the ropes here in multiply, so far, i only have one album posted - ang mga vain self portraits ko. shet, the nerve talaga. i'm still thinking if i'd migrate all my blog posts here, or just cross post to blogger. and then, there's also my flickr photos. shet, decisions decisions.

i'm going to bed na. another round of adik sessions awaits tomorrow.

*** this is a cross post from multiply.

the adik adventures

October 17, Wednesday

I woke up with my head feeling so heavy (from attending my uncle's wake). Exhausted and all, I decided to take the day off. I went online and as usual, joined the conference. When Candy learned that I'm just at home and didn't come for work, she invited me to join the road trip to meketi. At dahil nga kaladkarin ako, I said yes. I went to Gracie's house para derecho na ang route ni Candy. Candy arrived with Chester at about 1pm. We went to APC first then to Ateneo meketi. After the errands, we went to Gloriett for meryenda.

Here are some of our snapshots from APC.

After meryenda, we went gift hunting for Gracie's hubby for their 5th wedding anniversary. Gracie got him an Armani shirt. Lipgloss hunting followed next. Sa Mac kami tumingin ng lipgloss. Gracie must have tried at least 20 tubes after deciding the color she wants best. At hindi pa dun natapos ang shopping galore ni Gracie - we went in at one of the toy shops in G2 at pinakyaw nya ang mga backyardigans na nandun.

Dinner time came, we decided to have it at Gerry's. Nonie and Greysi followed later. The most memorable dinner topic was Chester's famous "magic trick". Sa mga batchmates na maliligaw dito, pm me if you want to know about the "magic trick".

At dahil nga adik kame, hindi enough ang dinner, kelangan may kape afterwards. We went to starbucks at G2. Duon, ipinagpatuloy namin ang walang humpay ng kwentuhan. We left at about past 12, nung sinundo na si Nonie ng kanyang jowa with her brand new vroom vroom. Kendi and Chester took me home that night morning.


October 20, Saturday

Dahil nangangati ang mga paa ni Candy (oo, si Candy lagi ang salarin dito), nagyaya sya ng lakad. Dahil hindi pwede si Gracie on going south (alabang lang daw pwede) at dahil hindi na rin ako papayagan umalis kung malayo ang lakad - we settled at Gracie's house.

Kendi was already there when I came. Linney with her two year old nephew and Chester followed after. Toy haven ang bahay nina Gracie, ang saya saya. I played with her cutie pies and took pictures. We ordered pizza for dinner.

Here's me and Candy holding Gracies cutie pies, Tanya and Thea. Sana next time, kasama na ang mga cuties nina mother Greysi, at ang mga cutie boys nina Jeff at Chester.

And here's us getting crazy. We left at past 12 noon. Candy and Chester took me home again. At may libreng kiss pa ako kay Candy! Hehehe.

***bonus
Here's a peek on how we do it at nights. webcam at skype! da best! To the peeps below, I hope you don't mind if I posted this, tutal, tatlong tao lang naman ang nagbabasa ng blog ko (included na ata ako sa tatlung yun, hehehe.)

Tragedies

Tonight's headlines says that Glorietta has been bombed. Initially, reports say that it was an LPG leak, but follow-up reports concluded that it was a bomb! As of this writing, 8 are already dead while 70 plus are wounded.

This is so terrifying! Glorietta is like my next door mall, not that I live beside it, but it's the most accessible mall for me. Whenever I commute, I always go down at Glorietta for the bus terminal. Dinners, coffees and after-office-walks with friends are almost always at Glorietta (extending upto the Greenbelt area). Add the weekend movies and strolling (though lately, I prefer MOA for leisurely walks). What if the bombing happened when I was there, with my friends or with my family? Such a creepy thought!

To add more to the creepiness, I was there with some friends (from high school) last Wednesday night, at the exact spot where the bombing happened! Creepy! Horrifying!

Another sad new just this week was my uncle's death. It was me and Nanay who first got the call. Monday night, we're almost home when her cell phone rang. I answered it and the man from the other line said he's a doctor (forgot the name) from Las Pinas Medical and is looking for ‘Alfredo's' relative. Since the line was quite choppy, I handed the phone to Nanay. In about 30 seconds of the call, Nanay was pointing out that ‘Alfredo', her brother is not in the country (we were actually thinking that the man on the other line was selling something, like an agent or something). When the man already gave out the full name – Alfredo G (full name withheld) Castillo, and that he's already DOA at the hospital, we panicked! Only then did she realize that it was Tito Fred!

We hurriedly drove to the hospital after fetching Tatay from the house. While on our way to the hospital, we're still hoping against hope, that maybe, just maybe, Tito Fred could still be revived. You know those stories that some people were declared clinically dead for certain minutes and then they get back after.

Tita Hermie (the wife) and Ian (the son) were already there when we arrived (Kat, the eldest, followed shortly). There at the ER, Tito Fred lies. I could only take short peeks at him, I'm to scared to even come close. It's just my thing, I don't look at dead people. When I'm at wakes and is forced come closer to the coffin, I only look at the feet.

In just one week these two instances of death and tragedy made me think that life is short. I should live my life to the fullest, spreading love. That life can be taken in just an instant, no warning signals. Life is too short to harbor grudge and anger.

Sunday afternoon at the studio

had so much fun shooting these girls and boys. i will post more of this project later (or pag naisipan ko pang i-post). to my dear june, i'm sorry for posting your wacky pic. di bale, cute ka naman e. muwah!

Friday Holiday Night

Dinner at CPK, ATC. Coffee at SBC (thanks to Apol for the 10% discount). Post cofee meal at KFC, Petron, SLEX after. Stayed until almost 5am. Thanks to Mark and Jian for the ride home.

the peeps

Taken on October 6, 2007 at 1.00am at Starbucks, Bonifacio High Street.

saturday madness

i can't believe this. i am now typing from an internet cafe a few meters from our house. and why? dahil adik na ako! the laptop is with my sister so i don't have any means of connecting to the internet. as early as 9am, my cellphone spewed out messages from the "peeps", telling me to go online. at ako naman, parang adik na nagdidiliryo at that moment.

we had another get together last night held at the same place as last week's - starbucks at bonifacio high. the actual meeting place was at serendra, and it was my first time last night to set foot at serendra. my mother accompanied me while i wait for the other "peeps" to show up. while wandering, i told nanay not to talk too loud. you know my mother, everything flows spontaneously - walang preno. and i wasn't wrong about it, while in the middle of the conyo crowd, she pronounced - "may chowking ba dito? gutom na ako e". shyet! buti na lang malaki ang bag ko, i can easily hide my face!

greys and i were the early birdies. we met in from of market market after nanay and i had dinner at tokyo tokyo (di namin carry ang mga fine dining at serendra). while trekking the serendra and bonifacio high street, cielo called. the three of us decided to have coffee first at starbucks. and because greysi and i were the first to arrive on the scene, we were awarded with free coffees! nonie came next after giving her some mixed up directions (nonie, if you happen to stumble here.. sorry ulit.. virgin talaga ako sa serendra). mahaba pa ang storya after (going to and fro along bonifacio high, looking for available seats.. etc).. but to make the story short, everyone settled at starbucks for the chikka chikka moments.

*chikka topics withheld*

we parted ways at almost 3am. thanks to jeff for the ride home!

--
will post photos once i get the laptop from the sister.