Imperial Jump

My first post from Japan. This one was taken outside the Imperial Palace.

Friday lunch

Friday's lunch was at Cas in UP with my officemates. Mine was the spanish omelet on the left. The beef and veggies was Tid's. Loved my meal but Tid didn't looked thrilled about hers.

maybe next time

Because of the upcoming long weekends, the office higher-ups have decided no one can go on leave next week unless we give them compelling reason why we deserve to be gone from work for five straight days. Since I won't be able to justify four days of mountain climbing, I've decided to skip Mt. Halcon.

But I'm not so disappointed as a bit relieved. With it's own rain-soaked weather and abundance of miniature bloodsuckers called limatiks, Halcon is one bad ass mountain. It posed to me such an intimidating challenge that, truthfully, I'm not so regretful to have missed the chance to conquer it.

It remains though as the mountain to beat. But the time to do that is not now. In the summer, maybe.

Videoke

Friday night, after a really good tuna, salmon, tofu and salad dinner at Soul Food and my first ever DOTA session (tons of fun!), I went to videoke with Che, Ades, and Jorel. It was around 12:30 am. When we decided to call it quits almost four hours later, Jorel had already dozed off and I had run out of voice that I was actually whispering already through the last couple of songs. But, I was still singing! Or trying to. Heheh. What can I say, I love videoke.

Doubt

I know I've signed up for the climb and I'm fully aware that this one's definitely not going to be a walk in the park. But with preparation and good weather, I know i can do it.

However, if the weather gets bad, I'm out.

Goal

Now I have more reason to jog and climb stairs. It's because i've signed up for a climb which will happen at the end of this month. I'm going mountain climbing! This time it's not just to any mountain though, but the treacherous Mt. Halcon, 3rd highest in the country and they say the most difficult. Undoubtedly it's going to be challenging as hell so I need to be fully prepared. And right now, I need to go jogging. So hopefully the rain outside lets up soon so i can head to the acad oval and jog already.

got milk

Today I learned that skim milk is equivalent to fat free milk, which is calcium-rich milk with less than 0.5 g of fat per 8 oz serving.

And it's very useful news because last week I decided to incorporate milk into my diet, but found myself a bit lost at the grocery store when choosing what milk to buy. There were whole milk, soya, reduced fat, lite, 98% free, fat free, skim. I wanted the not fattening and least-damaging-to-the-wallet kind. (The latter rule was a bit more challenging because the price tags were missing.) Finally I settled for Cowhead fat free. (Earlier today I learned that the fat free kind was a good choice but the Cowhead brand was too pricey.) I didn't touch the skim milk labeled varieties because I didn't yet understand what they really were. But now I know -- skim milk is good. And that's great news because it has opened up more options, and cheaper ones too.

Another healthy option: reduced fat soya milk with no sugar added. Sounds expensive, though.

fixed

So my blog template going bonkers was Blogger's fault after all. Nearly went haywire trying to find any errors in my template only to discover that nothing's wrong with it! Good thing Blogger has already provided a way to handle this issue. Yey! I'm back to normal.

And sorry if i haven't been blogging. Aside from being a first time bridesmaid and trying to lose some weight for the wedding, not much has happened in this past month.

I'm feeling like posting more often now, though, now that my template's fixed already, even if *still* not much is happening.

eyes almost shut

Last night, I drove home squinting. I was so tired, it was all I could do to keep my eyes from closing. I also tried shaking my head, and pumping up the radio, which worked to keep me awake. But because my eyes had become so tired, it had become difficult to stare at the road and bear all the road lights, which by then had seemed glaring and just too bright and painful to look at.

I slept without changing and woke up at 1 pm.

chance

This morning I had an upset stomach. A real one! Recently, faking one so I could skip work had *crossed my mind*. Well, what do you know.

But I really needed to skip work. You see, my driver's license is already two weeks past its expiration. And the penalty fee is not going to get any friendlier the more I put off renewing it. However, I was also wishing I could renew it without having to waste a vacation leave, which I'm saving for a real vacation.

Well, this morning I became sick for real. Fortunately, even though it seemed at first that I would be stuck at home, it was a good thing the upset stomach was still bearable enough to let me get out of the house and drive and have the renewal, the majority of which just consisted anyways of hours of sitting around waiting for my name to be called. It was still uncomfortable though - definitely too uncomfortable to have to be working with at the office.

So I called in sick (for half a day) and made good use of my time. :D

back to jogging

Happy that I get to jog again last night. After more than a month's break from doing any form of exercise, I'm trying to jog again. Yesterday night, when the day-long heavy downpour finally ended, I took my chance and headed to the acad oval. It was a bit dishearting to find the jogging track empty save for some guards and one or two joggers, but the transformed weather, which had become quite welcoming, was irresistable. The slight wind was providing cool, refreshing air that was just energizing. And having just recently obtained a new watch bought specifically for jogging purposes, and also having two knee guards now to support each knee, I knew I it was a great time to jog.

So I said a prayer for safekeeping (the road was well-lighted and the guards were conspicious enough, but you never know...), and jog I did , and enjoyed it too. The weather remained friendly, I got to cover two rounds without my knees feeling any pain, and I got to exercise. Woot!

numb

After more than a month of not playing the drums at church, I got to play again this morning.

But since I haven't been practicing much lately, my right hand got tired sooner than it should. Meaning, the songs weren't over yet but my hand was already giving up. There came a point where I was barely holding the stick anymore, but with half-curled fingers too tired to wrap themselves more tightly around the stick, I was just supporting the stick to prevent it from flying off of my already numb hand.

Gratefully, no stick came hurtling off of the drumset (which had happened before, with no spare sticks, in my drumming days of many many months past). And maybe the tempo slowed down a tiny bit because of my getting tired. But, at least, there weren't any show-stopping blunders. (I can't exactly remember when or how bad, but somewhere in my drumming days past, there was at least one of those too.)

Well, this should remind me to practice more often...

E.E.E and KTV

Yesterday night turned out to be an eventful evening after all. I had dinner with my college batchmates at Marina, a seafood resto along Timog Ave which served wonderful baked oysters. Afterwards, we were off to IO KTV for hours of singing-our-hearts out fun! We had lots of munchies too. I loved the big fries and the sisig. And Marvin paid for at least half of the bill. Another fun night!

rain rain go away

I'm a little jealous of my brother Moti. This afternoon he called me to ask what time i'm going home. He was planning to go home very late, around 1 am, and he was hoping he'd have a ride. Of course it meant he was hoping I'd go home very late as well. In previous Fridays, me heading home very very late was expected, because I usually still have work. Yep, tons of work to finish. And in much much earlier Fridays, my brother asking me would be a formality because during those days of not much heavy Friday night work, there's usually a night out, be it super a extended dinner, videoke, movie, party, or just a chill-out session at starbucks.

But as of this moment, I have nothing lined up for tonight. So most probably i'll just end up going home earlier than usual. Not a problem really. It's just that my brother is going to play basketball! His affair tonight is at least three fun hours of shooting hoops, a sport I just never grew tired of playing. It made me wish I could play too... right now, of course.

Truth is, if not for the cat-and-dog weather, I'd be dribbling to the parking lot halfcourt already.

OK Sunday

A few good things happened today - enough good things, actually, to make today one of my better days.

First, even though I was just in time for church when I should have arrived much earlier because I had to replace a guitar string that I snapped yesterday, it turned out I didn't have to. A new string was already fixed in place and the guitar was even tuned already.

Second, even though the guitar was tuned one key lower that the other instruments, and despite finding out about this too late, meaning I was actually already playing on stage, I was able, for the first time in my life, to transpose the chords on the spot. Being a far from good guitar player, I was really happy I pulled this off, because it can get really confusing! And good thing my bandmates were the most helpful, adjusting to me for the first song. Afterwards, though, it was either my way or the right way. Fortunately, I didn't mess up.

Third, I got to do some work at the office and help teammate Jon a bit with some debugging.

Fourth, I made it in the closing hours of the SM sale! And I got to buy some clothes and even a cardigan that I need for a friend's wedding.

Last, when I returned to the office from shopping, two heavy sticks of the most delightful Dannylicious barbeque, picked up and paid for already by my boss, were waiting for me! Yeah!

Nina Live

Nina rocks! Today, I listened to Nina's live album for the first time and I loved it. With a great selection of songs, and Nina's pleasantly powerful vocals that just fits the songs very well, I couldn't help but enjoy the music and sing along!

Different

I had a feeling while driving to work at the start of the day, as I was trying to manage the busy road of buses who are supposed to stay in the rightmost lane but keep hogging the middle lane, unpredictable jeepneys that are speeding one second and lurching to a stop with nary a warning the next (no thanks to their ever-absent brake lights), and rushing cars determined to pass them all, when, amidst all these road rage-inducing madness, not to mention the tangles of free for all intersections, all I was feeling was a great need to close my eyes and doze off, that for this day, getting on the ball at work will be tough indeed.

True enough, despite having tons of important work to do, I was still sleepy most of the day. And spaced out. Something's wrong. I hope it's only a one-day thing.

Fancy Gem Biscuits

Came across this photo in flickr, and immediately, I was transported back to the time when I was still playing agawan-base with my elementary school friends. After school, I'd have these and eat the biscuit part first, then have the sweet colorful tops for later... just like saving the best for last.

I wonder if I could still get me some of these...

crazy taxi

Nearly had a car accident this morning. I was already inside UP, and was following a taxi. But as the taxi was about to turn left going to ISMED, it suddenly jerked to a stop! Vehicles are supposed to make a full stop at intersections and I was fully prepared for that. But the taxi's sudden change of speed would catch anyone off guard.

Good thing I reacted just in time, and was able to stop immediately, while quickly glancing at my rearview mirror to check if anyone was following (no one was). Then I blasted my horn to show the idiot taxi driver that his sudden stopping nearly caused a collision.

Then something flashed on me. Suddenly, I remembered my previous car accident, where a crosswind I was following suddenly reversed and ruined my hood. Something told me the taxi was going to do a crosswind. Without hesitating, I quickly checked my rearview mirror again to make sure I wasn't going to hit anything then I reversed my car in an instant. And surely, as soon as I had moved a couple of inches, the taxi was already lurching backwards!

Realizing that the taxi driver's still unaware of my presence or something is very wrong with him or his situation with his passenger that he's stupidly ignoring me and my close distance, I backed up some more. And then his car was reversing again. This was really puzzling - and kinda alarming - because in front of him was a clear and obstacle-free road but he seemed like he's trying to wiggle out of the corner by jolting his way backwards without any regard if he'll hit anything in the process.

Finally he managed to move forward and quickly took the opposite lane - must be to stop eventually at the other side of the road.

As I went pass the taxi, it hit me that I had just barely avoided certain disaster. And as I breathed a sigh of relief, I knew, God saved me again.

dialled the dentist

After nearly a year now of daily enduring bursts of painful sensations that one busted molar has been giving me, I've finally made myself do something about it. I know, I've waited six months. But the pain wasn't so bad six months ago. Unfortunately, I've allowed it to evolve into the kind I cannot live with anymore, for the busted tooth been giving me pangs of the most unwelcome and excrutiating pain I can feel down to my toes.

So just now I made an appointment with the dentist, and tomorrow I'm heading to his office so he can end this misery. I can't wait!

jump for joy

Hats off to Jonny Hat, who apparently loved my jumping shots just enough to donate real Euros to my flickr account, now making me a pro Flickrite! Cool! And of course, my jumping shot "models"--Tid, Khen, Peejay, Pita, Von--have a lot to do with the great pics. So thanks all!

Now I'm *really* missing my camera, which is currently touring Europe with my sister.

Oooh, when it lands in my hands again, it shall be on fire! Mwahaha!

thankful

I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
you have become my salvation.
Psalm 118:21 (NIV)

Couldn't have done it without you. ;-)

Lunch

I joined Tid, Khen, Peejay, and Ades earlier today for lunch. I already had my usual packed lunch with me but could use some change of atmosphere so I decided to go with them to Casaa. We learned soon enough, though, that U.P. was in the thick of enrollment, so we found Casaa crowded--way too crowded to be risking waiting for a table given our limited break time. So we immediately transferred ourselves to Khas, which, albeit much more crowded than usual, still appeared to be able to accommodate us.

But how wrong we were.

Obtaining a table was easy enough. The frustratingly difficult part: getting through to even one waitress. It took us ages--at least three times asking for the menu and then three times being acknowledged that "yeah, it's coming", before having our tiny request pushed at the back of their minds so we had to ask them again--before we were finally able to get hold of a pair (which we realized we didn't need anymore because the waiting has made us recall our usual orders and that's what we're going to order to save precious minutes). And then we had to endure another millenium of waiting before the orders arrived. (A few minutes after our orders were taken I was so hungry already I went ahead to munch the bread that I'd brought along.)

Good thing the food seemed pleasant enough. Well, I really couldn't tell for sure, because I brought my own lunch, but everyone was instantly busy devouring their meals the second the food was put on the table. Could just be the hunger though...

Another plus was the food was cheap.

We could be definitely be back at Khas again, but definitely not during these kind of days.

a welcome weekend

Shuumatsu ha dou deshitaka? (Musta ang weekend?)

I had a good one.

Friday night found me, Khen, Rose, Pita, Tibo-san, Mam Ken, Jon, Von, Peejay, and Tid at Tid's new crib, seven floors above and more than twice bigger than her previous residence. Tibo-san provided the junk food and drinks; everything else--guitars, songbook, playstation, violin, the couch, spectacular nighttime view of Katipunan Ave.--was courtesy of our gracious host.

Upon getting ourselves settled, the drinks were prepared, a tekken tournament was initiated, and the first song in the mellow rock songbook was played. As there were hundreds of songs, and since we were going through the songs one by one--yes, page by page, skipping only the overly boring ones--our night didn't end until 4:30. Our competitive spirits also didn't help to shorten the night, for the tekken fights stretched out until everyone was ready to admit that Pita was the best among us.

I tried tekken too, but against Peejay, Von, and Tid and not Pita because he'd gone home already and he'd already built up his mean reputation that I didn't dare play against him for fear of some major butt-kicking.

A lot of times I can be found strumming one of the guitars, but mostly what I did for the night was lots of singing (surprised? hehe). I also tried my hand at creating decent music with the violin. But alas, I realized that decent violin music are not created by first time violin players. The violin was such fun, though, and I don't mind learning it at all.

When everybody has left, I remained behind and crashed on Tid's couch only to be woken up with barely an hour of shut-eye. My dad was calling and urgently needed me back at home because he just got into a car accident (again!) and he'll be needing two vehicles so he could still go around while the damaged one is being fixed.

So *right away*--which surprised my dad--go home I did, and then continued my interrupted rest, and then learn, when I woke at around 4pm, that I'd nearly missed another day! But what a restful sleep that was...

The rest of my Saturday afternoon I revisited the piano, and tried Pachelbel's Canon in D. Oh, how frustrating it is to play the piano when one's not good at it at all! But I love Canon in D so much I just know, with tons of practice, someday I'll be able to play it. It'll be my latest piano masterpiece -- mwahahaha! (Tin, you're probably laughing up your sleeve at me right now!)

Then, a short while later I arrived late for choir practice. It seems I've been terribly oblivious (for this was supposedly going on for three montsh already) that Saturday choir rehearsals have moved its starting schedule one hour earlier. So, I was an hour late. (Too bad, I would've been just right on time by the old schedule!)

After choir practice was another rehearsal, this time for the band for tomorrow's praise and worship. I was supposed to be the drummer, but ended up as guitarist because nobody else was available. Hmm... I probably have already sensed this all along, because I didn't go through my usual practice session at home and actually forgot to bring my drumsticks with me. Good thing I had some sort of practice from the previous night's songbook session.

I got home around 9 with the house still almost empty. So with almost nobody to bother with very loud music, I hit the drums.

So that was my Saturday.

Sunday morning found me unusually early at church because we were supposed to do some last minute rehearsals, this time with the drummer, Carlo. But the keyboard person, Tin, and the leader, Ate Darlene, were late, so Carlo and I practiced on our own first. When the band finally got its members all present, it was almost time for sunday school. So after going through a few of the songs, Carlo and Ate Darlene were off to their groups. Since my sunday school leader and classmates were all still in Europe, I spent the next 30 minutes in fun conversation with Tin.

So the morning proceeded with church activities. After lunch, Carlo, Moti, my Mom and I tried out the still-untouched Monopoly game board that I bought two weeks ago. We had a great time, although we had to end the game after only one hour of playing because my brothers and I had to go to the usual Sunday choir practice.

I went home right away after choir practice, but only to find out that I had been locked out of the house. I was alone and hungry. But I had transportation and good thing Tin hasn't yet left the church and was still jamming with Ate Bhoom. So I went back there to pick her up. But before we left I can't resist but to jam with them some first (the guitar was already locked away, and Ate Bhoom was already happily seated on the drum throne, so I was left with taking over Tin's other role as the singer! Hehe, no choice.) Afterwards, Tin and I went to starbucks and, over coffee and ham and cheese croissant (yum!--I always remember a certain person whenever I order this) continued our morning chat. I learned a lot about Tin, but despite her saying afterwards that I had been a good listener, I still think I blabbed more about myself than listened. I just hoped she enjoyed our little yack fest as much as I did. ^_^

After dropping Tin off at Bayan, I went home for a quick dinner and headed to the cinema to watch Madagascar. It was a fun movie, and had its hilarous moments, but the story was so plain. The moviehouse, though, is still the place to watch it because one would surely be missing the outstanding graphics if watched at home through the constricted frame of a TV.

After the movie, I went straight back home, and after only half a chapter of The Dawn Treader -- quite an interesting read, if only I wasn't so tired -- was off in dreamland.

decisions...

I'm sitting here, still at the office, but doing nothing in particular. I'm in a state of confusion, and have been the whole day, trying to decide on what I'm going to do this evening, tomorrow, and the future. And although I've somewhat reached a conclusion, I still can't say that I'm fully convinced of the choice I made.

See, I've decided to skip tomorrow's climb to Mt. Daguldol. Because of that, I don't need to go anywhere tonight to buy food and gear as part of preparing for tomorrow. And also because of that, my budget for the climb is now free to be spent on something else, like a pair of new rubber shoes, which is not an urgent need in at least four months but will only be available in its ultra super low priced form (that's a 70% slash) for just four days (and that's today until the end of this month!)

But a part of me still wants to go. I haven't actually told those who'll climb that I'm in, so I have nothing and no one to back out from. But mentally, I've been preparing for this climb. Now I feel like I'm backing out from myself, like I'm leaving an eager and expectant part of me in the air, leaving that part of me dissapointed and crushed.

And why the change of heart? Why, the rain mostly. The daily afternoon rains has been making me lethargic. And today its full effect was upon me. I can't even think straight.

But I've made my decision. I'm not going anywhere tomorrow. Now, I hope I can decide on where to go for dinner tonight.

Pangasinan behind the scenes

Yes, I know, this post is about something that happened ages ago. But somehow, despite being happily in draft form for almost a month now, this entry didn't want to stay like so forever. So here it is, better late than... Oh yeah, there's a reason it was hidden. It's boring.

As you can see, it's actually just more pictures from the Pangasinan trip. But not the usual ones. Just pics of trip's photographers caught on still camera while doing their jobs. OK, now I think it's a bit interesting. I just noticed that there was always somebody who manages to take behind the scenes shots of other people taking pictures of other people. Mostly it was PJ, who took the first photo, capturing me photographing other people. I also remember myself doing it once during the trip: shooting peejay while he was shooting... me (shooting him. That should count!) But there's one more person, I'm just not sure who, who caught PJ taking a picture of other people (me again, actually). Pics 3 and 4 illustrate.

Bolinao

Second day of the Pangasinan weekend was Bolinao day. 14 beach lovers in four vehicles headed out from a hotel which fronts the Hundred Islands in Alaminos, to Patar Beach, a long strech of almost-white sand which fronts coral-rich sea.

After waking up Sunday morning with far from enough shuteye (with the activities of the day past and the activities still ahead, three hours is never enough), I, with the rest of the gang, packed, checked-out, made a stop at McDonald's Alaminos for our packed lunches, set the plan to go to Patar Beach (ah yes, the actual destination was not known until right before we stepped onto the highway to Bolinao!), and then drove for more than an hour and a half through long straight roads and climbing zigzag roads, and then through a seemingly endless stretch of patience-testing dirt road to finally reach... China, er, Bolinao's Patar Beach.

The beach, though, was well worth the troubles. The place was a nice long and wide stretch of fine clean sand expansive enough for us--and many others, if them others had wanted to--to play frisbee and football. Sand also stretched way into the water, offering our feet soft ground to lazily wade on. And after just going a little deeper into the sea, the sand is soon replaced by lovely corals.

And the water. Cold but not too cold to make you shiver, the water had just the perfect temperature to give the perfect refreshment under the burning hot sun. Also it didn't burn my eyes much. Somehow, it wasn't as salty as ordinary seawater.

We enjoyed Bolinao till almost late in the afternoon, then it was time to go home... already. We were just happily playing and eating and relaxing and soaking up the sun and then it was time for the six hour drive back to Quezon City... already! I haven't had a decent night's sleep--not even a decent amount of daytime shuteye--in three straight days and yet I have to be driving--again!

Then a slight change of plans from some of my passengers. My brother and his friends, who travelled with us going to Bolinao and were going to ride with me again going home, weren't ready yet and needed at least a couple of hours more. (Some were so not ready they were postponing their departure until two days later.)

Turned out I could snatch a few hours of badly needed slumber before hauling through the highways again. And I actually got 5--just enough.

What a great day!

Hundred Islands

Ah, hundred islands--where the Astra gang spent its Saturday during its weekend expedition to Pangasinan last week.

After going around the islands, with Khen's friend the boatman bringing us from island to island and introducing each one to us (apparently, every tiny island has a name), we finally made our home on Scout island, a nice little patch of land with a mini cave and, more importantly, trees to shade our camp from the scorching sun.

But our tiny little island had more to offer, we soon discovered. Aside from its stone canopy that provided us shade while wading and swimming near the shore, its small patch of cream colored sand, we were delighted to learn and play with, was of the fine fine kind.

Beach bound

Well, it looks like I could be trusted to drive with the rest of the 16-wheeler trailer trucks and mountain-bound buses of the north luzon express way and the national highways of Pangasinan after all.

When I asked my dad again last tuesday night, he didn't say OK. But instead he just said the tires needed some checking first. Then, that's it. He said nothing much, and it was my turn to speak already. The way my dad was talking, it was like it's already set: I'm good, i.e. I can leave with his 2.5-L AUV and drive 600 plus km without his guidance. After that I remember telling him more details about the trip, like how many people have confirmed their participation (14 beach hungry guys and gals), and then the time we plan to leave (around 8pm). But it was like he didn't even had to hear them. After our short conversation, I was convinced he was convinced I can handle it. Cool!

So the gang's all set now. Pangasinan here we come!

Pangasinan plans

The office is abuzz today with talk about the coming trip to Pangasinan. The trip's this weekend already, and the plan is to go to Hundred Islands, then to Bolinao. Ades and Khen are cooking up the menus already. Pita's new snorkeling gear is on standby. BJ's new 7.1 megapixel camera is waiting to take fresh jumpshots. The hotel's been reserved, too.

The only thing that remains to be ironed out is the transportation, because my dad hasn't yet actually given me the full go signal to use his crosswind. He's about halfway to consenting: he said I can use the vehicle only if I'm not going to be driving at night. But we're scheduled to leave on Friday night.

Some persuasion is at hand. Gotta make full use of what remains of my safe and defensive driver image. Wish me luck.

Puerto pics

Took this after doing some shopping on my third day at white beach in puerto galera last week. Went there this time with the whole office (on a trip where everything was paid by the office--yey!) This was the most colorful sunset during my stay there. Must be the on-and-off rain during that day, which only finally stopped falling just before the sun began to set.

Here's me with some officemates who are about to go snorkeling. I was only able to go the following day, because as of the moment this picture was taken, I was still having my period. Yep, the timing couldn't have been any lousier.

Ah, so what to do when the rest of them are happily checking out the corals and you're left alone with a friend who's not really into following fishes around but has a brand new digital camera and would gladly put the said camera into good use? You got it: snap away!

Sometimes, I just love it when somebody else is doing the picture taking. And in this trip, there were four others who brought their cameras along. Yey!

But behind the lens is a nice place too.

the view from halfway up mt. malasimbo

from my puerto galera weekend with my mountain climbing buddies last April 2-3

hut chairs flowers sky

Talipanan beach, Puerto Galera

Amos Lee

Heard his songs for the first time today. I only got to listen to three of them, but instantly liked them. I liked his laid back, jazzy sound. The lyrics are good too. Now I want to hear the rest of the album.

Pag mura ang songhits na nabili mo...

Got this from a yahoo group of mine, and boy, did it made me laugh!!
Let's start singin'... :)

I decided long ago, never to walk in edu
manzano...
(I decided long ago,
never to walk in anyone's shadow)

Cry by Mandy Moore - A walk to remember... it was
late afternoon!
(I'll always remember, it was late afternoon)

All My Life by K-ci and Jojo - supposed to be
you're like my mother,supposed to be you're like my sister
(close to me you're like my
mother... close to me you're like my sister)

Where's the Love - People killing, people flying,
children hurt an living,
crying...
(People killing, people dying; children
hurt and you hear them crying)

Leaving on a jet plane - so kiss me and SMAFFLE
me...
(so kiss me and smile for me...)

Usher & Alicia's My Boo - It started when we were
younger you were
NINE...
(It started when we were younger you were mine)

Eto pa: ...and you were my BEYBLADE... it started
when were younger
you
were FINE... hehehe....

(eto isa sa mga naging favorites, hehehe...)
If I Ain't Got You by Alicia Keys - "some people
want
TAMBOURINES.."
(diamond rings)

Britney's Baby One More Time - My ONLY NEST is
killing me... and I........
(My loneliness....)

Thumbthumping (Chumbawumba) - I get knocked down
by an elephant, my
mommas's gonna bring me down...
(I get knocked down, but I get up again...)

Crush by Jennifer Paige - "i-splash, a little
crush.."
("it's just.. a little crush..")

Red Hot's Californication - "Viva
Californication...."
(Dream of Californication...)

No scrubs, TLC - "A scrub is a guy who thinks he's
fine but is also known
as a BUS STOP"
(buster)

Waterfalls by TLC: Don't go JASON waterfalls...
(Chasin')

John Mayer - You're ALICE IN WONDERLAND... You're
ALICE IN WONDERLAND
I'll use my hands
(Body is a wonderland)

Baa Baa Black Sheep: "Baa baa black sheep, heavy
on the road..."

With A Smile by Eraserheads: "lift ur HAND.. baby
dont be scared..
of the things that could go wrong along the way..
(HEAD!!!)

Wag Na Wag Mong Sasabihin by Kitchie Nadal:
maaaaaaaaaag... ,
magdamag
mong
sasabihin........

two-trick pony by sandwich - i have been waiting
for you all night
under
the glow of INSECENT LIGHT
(...under the glow of YOUR SATELLITE)

On Bended Knees by Boyz II Men: Oh God give me the
reason, I'M DOWN...
ABANDON ME...
(I'm down on bended knee)

Red Hot's Zephyr Song: Fly away on my
CELLPHONE...I feel it more
than ever
(Fly away on my zephyr, I feel it more than ever)


ETO ANG "THE BEST!"

Nothing's gonna change my love for you... you know
NAMAN MY LOVE
how
much I
love you...

awful afternoon

Drove for two freakin' long hours going home! The traffic was horrendous! And the drive was longer, too--51 kilometers!

I took a different route. Instead of using C-5, I went through Edsa. What a mistake. It wasn't only longer, but the traffic, as my experienced dad, who everyday goes to and from Laguna, belatedly warned me about, was worse.

morning cruising

Had a nice long 40-km drive this morning going to Alabang, where I'm attending training. Didn't encounter heavy traffic! Amazing! And the few places where the traffic was a bit slow were at points where I actually wanted the traffic to slow down--you see, the better for me to do some multi-tasking. Like dig in my bag to get my brush and then comb my hair, blithely ignoring the curious stares of two men at the jeepney in front of my car; get my shades from my bag and wear them; grope for and snatch my sandwich from the passenger seat and have it for breakfast; and grope again inside my bag for my phone and text some. (Children, don't do this at home--I mean, in your car.)

The rest of the ride, I was cruisin'. Nice.

ear plugged

Been wanting to play the drums since the start of this holy week vacation but I didn't want to risk having ringing ears again. It's freaky, having to hear phone rings after every nice little drum roll!

Finally, I was able to buy me a pair of nifty earplugs yesterday from JB (no discount, coz it's less than 100 bucks--hehe, sayang), and tested them this morning. Mwahaha! No more ringing. And the snare and cymbals sounded much better too.

Too bad I don't have earplugs for the whole family. Hopefully, they're better at tolerating the crashin' and bangin'. :D

Norah Jones in Manila

It's been almost two weeks, I can't believe I haven't found the time to blog about Norah Jones' fantastic concert last March 12. I'm blaming work, hehe.

But since today's the first of a four-day weekend, surely I could squeeze some minutes to write about the Norah Jones' totally fabulous Manila concert.

So, here goes. To better recall the concert, I'm listening right now to the tape that I recorded during the show. Uh-huh, I managed to sneak in a tape recorder! Haha! So now, I'm listening to the concert again. Trying to relive that nice experience, even if only through a Maxell tape, a casette recorder, and headphones.

So the concert. It was wonderful. Norah and the superb Handsome band performed around 20 songs, nicely filling my tape's 90 minute capacity to the brim (the last song was actually cut halfway).

She started with Turn me On. And the audience was turned on. After the audience's screamin and clappin, she thanked the crowd by saying, "Salamat" (in a Filipino accent), which made the audience clap and scream some more. Then she said, "Hope I said it right."

Haha! She also laughed at that.

She followed with Those Sweet Words. I noticed the drummer used a percussion box-drum for this song. He looked a bit awkward stooped so low tapping his box near its bottom. But that's just my observation and it doesn't matter. What matters is the band sounded great. They even added a touch of mandolin (or whatever that small guitar is called) for a fine folk effect. Nice.

Nightingale was next, and the guitar man (Adam Levy?) did a great job making his guitar cry on this one.

After this song, a guy from the audience yelled, "Turn me on!" Norah made sure she heard him right (replying "What did you say?"). But the man screamed again, requesting, "Turn Me On!"

But Turn Me On was the first song, so she replied, "Turn me on? We already played it. (laughs) I already turned you on!" She then added, "You musta hit traffic on the way. (laughs) Sorry."

Hahaha!

And then at this point a guy from far back in the audience cried out, "I love you Noraah!"

"Oh, salamat."

The audience cheered, and the band starts the music for the next song. But the guy from far back wasn't finished yet, and screamed again, this time hoarser (probably from having his throat already damaged from shouting from the far end of Araneta Coliseum).

Loved Norah's reply. She said, "Don't hurt yourself, man," (and got me laughing--haha!) and then she proceeded with the first line of her next song--one of my faves!--What Am I To You.

The Painter Song--with a great mandolin solo--was next. Then it was I've Got To See You Again with a delightfully different flavor. It was more playful and almost danceable, with an extended piano intro and Andy Borger providing playful drums to Adam Levy's ripping guitar riffs.

Next she played a Gram Parsons cover entitled She. It had a melancholy ring to it, but it was really nice. I didn't know how the song originally sounded but this one had Norah written all over it. As American Idol's Paula used to say, she owned it.

After taking the seat behind the electric keyboard and introducing that the next song was written by Adam Levy, she went on to In the Morning, which gave me a happy surprise. The drummer Andy Borger went crazy! With his playful and passionate improvisation, he really shined on this one. The audience loved it too. With a shower of applause and cheers, they were quick to acknowledge his brilliant drumming.

Then Norah moved again to the grand piano (as part of what Moti and I called her choreography for the night, i.e. moving between her two keyboards! Well, later, she'll prove us wrong.) Anyway, before starting her next song, she remarked about the big projector screens beside the stage. "Can't stop looking at that. It's creeping me out."

Hahaha!

Then, she raised her arms chest level and waved them in front of her while checking herself on one of the big screens. Seeing her making fun of herself, it was really funny.

"It's very distracting," she said as she laughed with the audience.

Next, she charmed the audience with Carnival Town. Daru Oda, her backup singer (and friend since 15, Norah later told), added a touch of flute, making the song lovelier.

Now for the next one, Norah was going to be solo for the first time--just her and the piano. But just as she was about to mouth the song's first words, she paused, apparently distracted by something pesky flying about her and so instead said, "A mosquito..."

The audience can only laugh. Hehe.

So Norah just said, "This is for the mosquito." The song was The Nearness of You.

The mosquito must have really bugged her, because at another time during the song, she just paused and appeared to be distracted. But she kept on with it, giving a performance full of emotion, singing with a heartfelt voice that just tugs at the heartstrings!

Then next were songs without her playing the piano: the slow but beautifully sung Humble Me; Long Way Home, which got the audience clapping to the beat; and Don't Know Why versions 1 and 2. The first version was the one we all know too well, but the second one, well, it was the first time I heard it.

Norah said she sang that one on Sesame Street with Elmo. Turned out it's got a bit of a history:

"I've got a date, though, with the letter 'Y'," she began. "But he stood me up... "

A big sigh from the audience.

"Yeah, he didn't show. No show..."

Another sigh.

Then Norah said, "Did you say why? Why? He was hanging out with his X!"

Hahaha!

"That's a stupid joke. That's a bad joke," Norah just added.

Hehe.

But there's more. "So I looked sad. Elmo was worried about me," Norah said. "He said 'What's wrong?' I said, "I waited till I saw the sun, Elmo..." Then Norah sang, "Don't know 'Y' didn't come."

Ahahaha!

"Hey they wrote it, not me," was Norah's excuse. "I though we'd meet / and have some fun / Spelling words like yogurt and yum," she continued to sing.

Hahaha, more laughter from the crowd.

"That was fun / but he didn't come," she added. "That's OK, 'cause I hung out with Elmo. We had some beers..."

Haha, got me laughing out loud!

Then she went back to business, proceeding with the jolly country Creepin' In, where Daru stood in for Dolly Parton, and guitar man Robbie Mcintosh provided some mean guitar solos; and a powerfully played Above Ground.

Then it's back to the piano for Norah, giving out Sunrise and a lovely rendition of Come Away with Me. (Her most popular songs! The show must be nearing it's end. Noooo!)

And soon after, she was saying goodbye. She thanked the audience and said she hopes to spend more time here next time.

Then, her last song was up. It was a cover of Life is a Carnival by The Band. I really didn't know the song, but it was great. And it was cool because Norah did a bit of dancing, too.

She gave the audience about one minute to scream "Moooore!" and cheer and hoot, and then did not dissapoint by showing up again on stage.

"I hear a lot of high-pitched screams," she remarked. "That means a lot of ladies are here; they brought their boyfriends (laughs)."

Hehehe!

To close the night, she sang Seven Years, Lonestar, and a cover called Ooh Las Vegas, a song they only play for their "cool" audiences. Yeah!

Druing the concert, I sooo wanted to sing along with her. And actually at times caught myself doing so. But I'd stop as soon as I realized I was singing, because nobody else was. And anyway, it would just probably ruin the experience of listening to and feeling Norah's beautiful voice. So there, I restrained myself, but, still while wishing that a chunk of the audience would start singing already so we could all sing together! Well, it didn't happen. But it's OK. Norah was here, with her band, singing, and playing, and talking and joking around! It was an awesome night.

For the ears

Researched a bit about earplugs and earphones that protect the ears while drowning oneself in (self-induced) rocking, but ear-damaging, music. Found out the earphones are called "isolation earphones". I still don't know how much they are sold locally, but I hope they won't cost too much. I think they are a necessity for me right now, but as usual, I'm on a tight budget... so here's hoping my JB discount card will find itself useful again.

Sunset

Found this and many more lovely shots while clicking around looking for wallpaper photos.

Ahh, I love flickr.

Be prepared

One tiny lesson I learned this morning: Make sure that my hair is already perfect when I enter UP! Make sure the tangles from the morning bath are all straightened out already, that the hair is already perfectly parted somewhere above my left eye, and that the 'do is already straight and flowing and ready to be presented to the world, because you never know! I might stumble upon a v.cute guy, whom I know, and who probably still remembers me, and I have to be ready to exchange smiles, and some words with him again. But first, I have to be at least presentable, with my hair to have undergone at a minimum of two passes under the comb.

So it was just my bad luck that this morning I saw this guy, my crush from college. I had the perfect opportunity to talk to him. But my hair, it was still a mess; I wasn't near ready! Argh, too bad. Sayang.

Peeta's propitious pacing

After much prodding from Ades and I, Peeta finally agreed to set the pace for tonight's jog. Apparently, he set a good one, because the three of us were able to overcome the hot summer air, exhaustion, and four whole acad oval rounds in record time: 1 hour. Well, that's a rough estimate, because my watch went to blank mode again late last night, and we were only able to keep track of the time through per-round checks from Peeta's constant companion, his Ipod. But we monitored faithfully and one hour was what we got. Although this was only my second four-round jog, but with the first one at one hour and three minutes, tonight's run was way shorter. Therefore, my fastest four rounds ever! Record time.

Tonight's was more enjoyable too, because despite not having music plugged to my eardrums like my buddies, I found myself bored only once. (Yes, it happens and it's very distracting.) I felt it coming when we were on our second round while plodding the uphill stretch along palma hall annex. Fortunately, as soon as I rounded the corner stepping onto the flat road of vinzon's hall, it was poof. And more fortunately, it never came back! Well, that's what some lung-torturing pace boost will do! (Very close to what we did.)

Courtesy of Mistah Peeta.

Evening jogging

Next time I jog, remind me to streeetch my legs real good before taking off because as recent experience will attest to, they will tend to complain real bad, especially when the plan is to push them to cover more than six and a half kilometers in personal record time.

It could have been that the pace was faster, or the weather hotter, but somehow my slight disregard this evening for stretching beforehand (I streched, but not enough) must have given a fair contribution to my legs aching halfway through the three-rounds-around-the-acad-oval run. Boy, they felt heavy and sluggish. Going into the last stretch, I even had to talk them, cheer and egg them on--all in my head, of course--into taking another step forward. Inside my body, a battle was ragin.

Thankfully, the mind won. Apparently, the mind thing worked, because I had my fastest three rounds tonight (with 43:56.27). Yahoo!

Sunday morning

(This post was hand-written around two hours ago.)

A sure sign that one has not have enough sleep: forgetting if one has shampooed right after one has taken a 30-minute bath. And even now, 3 hours later from taking the said trip to the shower room, I'm still clueless if I really did pour Head & Shoulders to my hand and frothed my hair with said shampoo.

I remember using the conditioner, though. Hard to forget, that part, because squeezing and extracting what remained of an almost empty conditioner tube to the point of cutting the said container apart just to glean the last shreds of air-softening chemicals out of it and having my thick mane of black hair covered to satisfaction took maybe 15 minutes.

Later today I'll know for sure: If the hair ain't gonna be bouncy and feather light enough, the alleged morning shampooing episode most probably never took place. Unfortunately, later today, I'll be performing in a musical and my hair will be hard pressed to give a most graceful appearance. It must not dissapoint... even if, I'll actually be wearing a cloth to cover my hair just like the women of Bible times.

Wait, my head's going to be covered. I probably wouldn't even be recognizable with a headgear that's going to show only my face.

Haha!

Here I am worrying and writing about whether I shampooed or not when it wouldn't matter much anyway. And worrying and writing so when I should've been listening to and pondering about the pastor's sermon (I'm at the church, you see.)

Must definitely be lacking in sleep.

tired but happy

8.8 kilometers. Maybe not so long a distance, but for me, it was the longest ever that I've jogged without stopping, or walking. And I made it just this evening. It felt great. My lungs didn't complain much, and although my feet were already weary after only the third round, they still managed to push me through. And even pulled off to make the fourth round the fastest.

My buddies for tonight, Ades and Peeta-san made it as well. I don't think I could bear to run that long, without radio, without them. We didn't even need to talk (well, while running, we didn't, actually). Their presence alone was enough to push me. Definitely beat the boredom and loneliness of running around the acad oval for more than an hour.

Go me, and Ades and Peeta-san!

The numbers: 16:47, 16:15, 15:55, 14:54; 1:03 total.

Ringing in my ears

grooves.

I hope I'm not getting deaf. Everytime I hit the crash cymbal, I hear a ringing sound, something not very different from the phone's ring. And now, just after playing the drums for more than an hour, my right ear feels a bit weird, like some mass is inside it.

But my hearing's still fine, I think. Although surely it won't be soon, if I don't cut back on exposing my eardrums to sounds with above average decibel levels. But I can't stop drumming. Besides, I don't get to play the drums very often anyway, just once or twice a week.

What I can do is cut back on wearing earphones almost every waking office minute. Now, that's going to be a bit of challenge. Without my constant fix of music, I find it really hard to stay alert while working.

So here's hoping the wonders of coffee will still work on me. Coffee to prevent deafness, now that's something new.

long time no post

And still can't decide what to write about. So many things to tell, yet can't figure out how to begin.

Ok, maybe I'll start with my cell phone situation. I have a new one now, and it has FM radio! So, it has made my losing all my old phone's contact info and a sizable amount of money every pay day for the next two months much easier. I thought Ok, I was going to bear it, just save some money every month to pay for the credit card that got me the new phone, and scour for old contacts through the help of friendster. I have a radio now, and can now easily tune in to the hippest rock and R&B tunes while trying to be a diligent office girl. I was not sad, but not ecstatic either. Truthfuly, I still was a bit sulking, and really not looking forward to the next pay day. But then this Monday, my brother came to me with a most splendid news! He found my old phone! Now I'm not only happily reunited with my precious old contacts, but will be some thousand pesos richer when I get to sell the resurrected phone. Yey!

Like what Rose-chan said this afternoon at Nihongo class, ureshiiness!!

So that's the phone situation.

Next, the jogging thing. I've recently extended my jogging rounds to three rounds around the acad oval. It's now a bit slower, but way longer. And not so tiring, I think. At least for the lungs. I think they love it, even after the three rounds. It's a bit different for the legs, though, because even after only two rounds I can feel them getting tired already. But it's all good. I'm loving my pace and distance right now. I didn't get to jog tonight, but will definitely go tomorrow!

There's also more of us jogging these days, so it has gotten more enjoyable. Peeta-san, as well as Pat, have joined the club. And sometimes, we get to drag Rose-chan. Now, there's at least five of us. More encouragement in numbers.

So there's the jogging situation, and I'm going to end with it for now. My other brother's pestering me to go home asap. Actually, to leave my office and go to his, so we can play warcraft already, which is a very good idea.

So, I'm going to go. now.

Phone-less

After 2 days and still no indication of my cell phone reappearing, I'm now giving up of ever finding it again and now officially saying goodbye to my trusty ol' 2100 and the ever precious sim card that's now also officially gone with it. Oh, the lost contacts! Oh, the hard-earned money that's going to be kissed goodbye just to buy another phone! Now I'm getting really disappointed with myself. I didn't lose that phone because it got stolen--like directly stolen, like it was snatched or mugged from me--but because I carelessly left it somewhere for anyone to pick it up and claim ownership for themselves. Or slipped from my pocket to be forever lost in, in I don't even know where!

I lost it and it's all my fault.

Ah, better go jogging. Enough of this dwelling on unfortunate things.

Monday, Jan 24 - 14:51.47, 14:15.97; 29:07.44 total

taking advantage of the acad oval

Just going to log my recent jogs...
last week Monday 14:28.88, 14:34.50; 28:59.38 total
last week Thursday 14:47.74, 14:19.08; 29:06.57
tonight 14:14.99, 13:42.54; 28:37.64

It's already 9:30 and after attempting, since going back from jogging around 2 hours ago, to write something of substance to the document that I'm supposed to be rushing because it's very very important and the boss needs it ASAP, I barely managed one sparsely populated table. So now I'm getting outta here because my mind's not functioning anymore. Well, software-wise, at least. Because I'm pretty sure when I get home, it'll be ready to take in all the Japanese-talk of Naruto. Hehe!

Back to reality

Monday saw me back at the office.

Tuesday back at the acad oval. The jogging was slow going, but I'm just so happy I still found myself back on the jogging track after weeks of endless eating and playing need for speed til 4am and waking up at lunch time. After 30 minutes and 20 seconds of forcing myself to put one foot in front of the other, of psyching myself to overcome the fatigue in my legs and ignore my screaming lungs, I was able to complete two laps around the oval.

But with the above 30-minute time, I'm back to below passing. Have a lot of making up to do!