live as you dream

The year that was

2011-01-07T10:36:00.005+08:00

Best year ever :D

scuba!

2010-08-22T09:51:00.006+08:00

what i've been up to lately...scuba diving!

here's me at anilao, batangas a few weeks ago. it would be our hardest dives yet with strong current at mainit (5 knots!) and low visibility at bubbles. i'm loving my new-found hobby so far. i can't wait for our next dives specially now that i got my own gear. and oh, i love wreck diving!

p.s. yes, i didn't bother to coordinate my swimsuit and wet suit. haha!

Super late post

2010-02-16T19:21:00.005+08:00

So 2009 has come and gone and we're halfway thru February and I haven't written my usual year-end post yet. I've been spending a lot more time in my other blog, in Tumblr (sorry blogger) which is why I've been putting it off.

Here we go.

I loved 2009 for making me realize that I can make my dreams my come true. I've gone to the US and set foot in New York, the place I've been wanting to go to since I first got my passport. The vacation was a dream come true and it was made more memorable because my friend Zaza was a gracious host and was the best tour guide ever. She took me everywhere and made sure I had my picture taken on all the famous landmarks. I also enjoyed those days I was alone and discovering Manhattan by myself, walking miles and miles and never getting tired, just stopping to eat at the nearest resto/deli/park I see. Plus, during the time I was there I get to hang-out with my visiting friends from Virginia, JJ and Nidjan. It was the best vacation ever.

Work-wise, nothing still beats the crazy long-hours I put in last 2008. Although 2009 was still crazy especially during the last quarter. I'm used to it now and working late has become a habit. Last year though there were more good times: more night outs and a lot of new restaurants discovered. More travels too. I've been to Palawan 3 times this year, and to 2 countries.

2009 was a good year. I had a lot of fun and I like the fact that I still learn something new about myself.

2010 started out not so-good but it's picking up. I've a feeling this year will be equally good, if not better.

Sunday

2009-08-02T12:58:00.005+08:00

Was looking for a new desktop photo to replace my Central Park one and I remembered my old source and flickr contact: fiftyfootshadows. His pictures make me sigh. I can’t get over how good he is at capturing ordinary objects bathed in wonderful light. I could almost feel how it is to be there at that moment before he pressed the shutter. Almost all his pictures felt like it was shot on a Sunday…slow-moving, unpretentious, and calm.

Here's my latest desktop:

central park..

2009-07-18T20:56:00.003+08:00

..i miss you so.

dream a little dream

2009-06-28T19:35:00.002+08:00

The weeks that passed since I got home from vacation was a blur. I had only about 2 days to catch up and then I was forced to get back to the groove again. It seems things got worse now at work, when the other unit I was supporting started having problems with their system as well. Last week I started staying later and later in the office again, just catching up with reports and other stuff the bosses asked from me. My lists of deliverables just gets longer and longer, it seems I don’t get anything done at all. I’m just glad though that I love the work that I do and the people I work with. So I don’t mind all of these that much.

The news of the week is Candy’s wedding. The ceremony and the reception afterwards were lovely…I hope it was everything that Candy dreamed of. I remember how we got to this day, Candy kept putting off preparing for the details of the wedding that I was the one panicking for her. Even our gowns as secondary sponsors were fitted about 3 weeks before the wedding! Thank God even if my gown was super tight at the waist it was still wearable. At the wedding, Pixie made me give an impromptu speech, much to my shock. I wish I had something prepared so that my message was more special, more from the heart. Once I’m up to it, I hope to write Candy a letter and tell her what could have been my speech.

I remember feeling sad about 2 weeks ago. I was telling a friend how after the trip to NYC I had nothing to look forward to anymore. And then she mentioned that there was Candy’s wedding. Now that was over too. Sigh. Now I need to plan something soon , something worth dreaming about again.

back to reality..soon

2009-05-30T22:20:00.002+08:00

i'm dreading monday. monday means back to work. it's not really the work that i hate, it's the commute. i hate having to wake up early and standing in line to wait for the service. it's that part of my daily routine that i dread. obviously something has got to change. moving out to get an apartment closer to work is out of the question -- how else can i afford to go travelling again? and about getting a car...well that has to wait until i've paid off the bills i accumulated from this trip.

darn. i wish i live in a place where i can take the train to work.

sigh.

glad to be home

2009-05-27T02:28:00.002+08:00

arrived in manila a few hours ago after about 24 hours of travelling from US. i'm still reeling from lack of sleep and fascinated and bewildered at the same time to notice that funky manila smell: mausok. i guess one only notices it after leaving the country for so long (as if). my brother was telling how good i smell, i guess i smell like a newly opened balikbayan box from US hehe.

anyways. i'm leaving in a few hours to go back to the airport TO GET MY LUGGAGE. something went wrong with the luggage compartment of our plane. either we we wait til 330 am (we arrived almost 11pm) or have our bags delivered to our house. the delivery option would've been ok but we have to authorize the airline company to open our luggages for inspection. a big no-no. i have bags there. as in bags i brought for myself and for pasalubong. good thing i placed the sport watches i brought for my dad and brother on my carry-on bag (thanks to the nightmare i had in new jersey about coming to manila and finding the watches stolen from my luggage). i so wanted to hit the pillow and sleep for hours and hours. looks like sleep has to wait.

finally

2009-04-29T09:30:00.004+08:00

after weeks of waiting, i'm finally having my well-deserved and much-awaited US vacation. i'm now at my aunt's house in fort lauderdale and living the suburban life. i tell you, that "suburbia" song by pet shop boys plays on my head whenever we pull in and out of the drive way. i love it here, everything is clean and the streets are wide and no traffic jams! so far we've been downtown to los ojos and miami. the rest of the time we're out shopping. i think i spent half of my budget for shopping here in florida already, and i haven't been to most shops yet! yikes! and oh, we heard mass last sunday. everyone is old (at the mass at least). i was half expecting to see jerry seinfeld's mom and pop whenever i turn my head.

i've been keeping myself up to date with that swine flu scare here in US. it's bad that most of the cases are in NY, where i'm planning to spend 2 weeks of my vacation! i hope it doesn't get worse.

pictures soon.

Once more, with feelings

2009-03-15T20:35:00.009+08:00

Once again I was present at the Eraserheads reunion concert. It was held last Saturday, March 7 at SM MOA concert grounds and was attended by an estimated 100,000 fans.

How do you like our new house? The 'Heads perform acoustic. Photo by: Dan&Neva

This concert wasn’t as surreal as the first one – that it started with spine-tingling “Alapaap” and that it ended with shocking news that front man Ely had to be rushed to the hospital right after the first set – there was none of that drama. If anything, “The Final Set”, as what the concert was called, was more relaxed and full of fun surprises. When the concert started with a fast song, “Magasin”, we all knew this one was going to be different. And it was. Ely was more engaged with the audience, he responded “kayo muna” when we shouted “group hug!” and when a man from the audience shouted “I love you Ely!” as Ely was singing the lounge version of “Kailan” Ely responded, “I love you too, pare”. More than that they showed how unpredictable they still could be as they were 10 years ago. They changed some of their lyrics, in “Magasin”: “ngunit pangit ka pa no’n…hanggang ngayon”. And in the already naughty “Pare Ko”, they added more, well naughty lyrics: “sabi nya, ayaw pa nyang mag-asawa, dehins ako naniwala…ayun pala, magaling lang sha sa kama…akala ko ay dehins pa.” That got us, the crowd, screaming.

Ely in excelsis: confetti showered upon the stage and on the crowd as the band played "Ang Huling El Bimbo." Photo by: ikissfootball

There were other moments during the concert that got us cheering and screaming like mad: Raymund standing next to Ely as they listened to us sing-along to “SloMo”, Marcus singing the reggae version of “Wag Mo Nang Itanong”, and at that part where Ely had us chant “Francis!” before he sang the chorus of “Kaleidoscope World” for his dearly departed friend FrancisM. If I may be candid, sometime while Ely was singing “Pare Ko” I started to cry. The song was sad in itself, and I was feeling nostalgic: here is the band that made songs that had become part of my teenage years. It felt a lot like saying goodbye and I wasn’t ready yet.

Thank you Ely, Raymund, Marcus, and Buddy for the 2 reunion concerts, for performing one last time as a band and for playing the songs we all loved. Those nights would never be forgotten.

Group Hug: We are the Eraserheads. Photo by Dan & Neva

the year that was

2009-01-01T13:07:00.001+08:00

I didn’t have a life in 2008. Work was like a vampire that sucked me dry until I didn’t have energy left to do anything else. Airplane rides and beaches were traded for many long boring meetings. I had way too many midnight cab rides going home instead of road trips with friends. Weekends were gone, for my only free time was Sunday and it was spent sleeping in. 2009 promises to be a great year. If my plan pushes through I’ll be stepping inside a plane again flying half way around the globe taking a bite on a big apple. I can’t wait.

projects

2008-09-14T13:54:00.004+08:00

I wish I have the time to take pictures again.

A couple of months ago I finally found a box of fotoclips which I’ve been looking for forever. The clips are supposed to “stitch” photos together to put on a wall instead of taping or pinning which may ruin the photos (and your wall). And last month I won in eBay a vintage Olympus XA (a rangefinder! Yay!) The light seals need to be replaced and I intend it to do it by myself. I’m excited :D Now all I have to do is to find and buy the stuff needed to replace the light seals. And as for the photo wall…well that would have to wait. No new photos will be put on my wall while I’m busy with work.

Minsan

2008-09-07T19:04:00.006+08:00

We're nearing hell time at this phase in our project but thank God I can still spare a few hours to unwind. This is the event I went to last Saturday, August 30:

The one night only reunion concert of the Eraserheads held at the Fort open field. It was a good 15-song show which started with "Alapaap", a song that was performed oh-so-lovely that for a split-second I almost cried. The concert was cut short when Ely was rushed to the hospital after experiencing chest pains. I was disappointed, just like everyone who was there, but we all understood. And we didn't feel we were short-changed. I guess collectively we felt that at least they reunited at all for our benefit and that we heard them play their hits live, at least some of them. Raimund announced shortly after in an interview that it was supposed to be a 3-set concert, where each set will be better than the last. He also mentioned that members of the band were sad that the fans didn't get to see what they had prepared, adding that the first set the fans saw was just "warm-up". Sigh. As of this writing, Ely was already released from the hospital after undergoing another angioplasty. No word yet if another reunion concert will push through.

Photo by: LBDista

so many places to go..

2008-08-02T21:02:00.005+08:00

one of my flickr contacts has a lovely photo set of images from a recent trip to macau. i like how she took photos of not only the usual tourist destinations but also of the city's quaint nooks which one usually discovers when en route to some place else.

i miss travelling. so much.

photo by KoolCats

not Sunday

2008-07-27T10:56:00.007+08:00

I am currently sitting on the dining table with my laptop, a notebook, pen, and a bottle of water. I am all set to work at home…on a Sunday morning. An hour has already passed without me getting any work done. (Although I discovered a nice little blog which I now added to my growing list of blogs I love to lurk, haha).

Why am I working, you might ask. Because there’s a lot of work to be done and our working hours last Friday was cut short with an impromptu team building activity and an hour-long pep talk from the IT big boss. Add to that that all us from the team could not come to work yesterday since our workstations were being transferred from an oven masquerading as an office to a, well, better working area. All in all about 10 manhours were taken from me. Sigh.

It’s nearing 11am and I have yet to start opening up the test scripts and use cases I intend to review. Seriously.

photo credit: FabianG

new chapter

2008-07-06T12:52:00.002+08:00

Yesterday I decided to:
1) Give my old laptop to my brother
2) Buy a new laptop
3) Give my iPod to my dad

It feels like starting a new chapter of my life.

Tomorrow I will commute to work without my usual playlists in hand. I don’t know if I should re-create them as how I remember them...or if I should create new ones. Hmm.
These are just superficial things, but there are actually bigger things changing in my life right now. Like my youngest brother leaving home to work in UK. A friend leaving. My work starting crunch time. And then maybe, me. Changing yet again.

I guess this calls for a new soundtrack.

this and that

2008-06-01T11:16:00.006+08:00

Early this year my boss told me that my involvement in this big project would shift from just an SME (Subject Matter Expert) to full-time BA (Business Analyst, which is actually my job title). The project needs to be finished by year-end. I’ve been dipping my hands on it on and off for about a month until this May when I started working on it full time. I'll tell you that I am way over my head. Way over. I can now foresee my year and it doesn't look bright.

And so that is why my blog is not updated. Not that I’ve been working even on weekends but well, there was nothing to tell anyway and after spending long days in the office on weekdays, I would much rather lie down on my back, stuff my face with junk food and watch bad tv.

Even my iPod has been neglected lately. The last time I updated was on April 19 (!) and it was Feist’s Black Session recordings. It cannot even be considered new music since the songs were just live outtakes of songs from her studio recordings. So in the meantime I listened to the same old songs in my playlists. I’m glad though I now have Zoe Deschanel’s album (as She & Him) and I cannot wait to transfer her songs to my iPod. Yes, new music brightens up my day.

In other news, I got myself an iPhone. Whee!

Top 10 things I love and hate

2008-02-03T12:00:00.000+08:00

Got this from Lisa. In random order now:

Love
• A good night’s sleep
• Traveling and taking lots of pictures
• Coming in early for work
• DVD marathons
• Hanging out with friends, having wicked conversation and laughing
• That “I got it now” feeling after learning something new
• Finishing a project and a pat on the back
• Recovering (from anything)
• Losing track of time over a good book
• Discovering new music and listening to them over and over and over

Hate
• The weight I gained last year
• Abusive people
• People with no sense of urgency
• Not knowing how to act around people I like
• Zits
• Waiting
• “Oops I shouldn’t have said that” moments
• Too much information
• Worrying over nothing
• People who complain a lot but do nothing about it

And another list...Top 3 Things I did last month (a.k.a. I’m making a list because I’m too lazy to write a proper entry):

1) Downloaded the movies “High Fidelity” and “Empire Records”. That John Cusack movie took me back to the past. I had goose bumps while watching it I swear.

2) New additions to the iPod:
• Pillows & Prayers compilation
• Iron & Wine’s “The Sheperd’s Dog”
• Bat for Lashes’ “Fur and Gold” – discovered their music after falling in love with their music vid for “What’s a girl to do”
• Tunng’s “This is Tunng”, “Comments of the Inner Chorus”, and “Good Arrows” – I honestly haven’t quite gotten to like them yet.
• Juno Soundtrack – a set of lovely folk-y music. Just what I like :D Can’t wait to watch the movie.
• Once Soundtrack – love the movie and love the songs. One of the best movies I watched last year.
• The One AM Radio – my new favorite!

3) Went out with someone. Went to a party. Saw Went on the new episodes of Prison Break. These recent episodes are classic PB, unlike the first few which were utter disappointments.

To do today: watch new episode for the latest season of "Lost".

music for the future

2008-01-06T11:53:00.000+08:00

Back in the old days (whoa! I sound like I’m 80), I discover new music mostly through the radio. In gradeschool and early highschool I was mostly into pop music and got my fix from the radio station RX 93. I remember listening a lot to whatever’s on the weekly top 10, and then really liking Debbie Gibson and New Kids On The Block. I even went to their respective concerts…but that’s another story. Anyway, the radio was my friend and our relationship got stronger when I received my first boom box on my 13th birthday. From then on the radio was on most of my waking moments. Towards the end of highschool, I started to outgrow RX 93 and began exploring other stations. I began listening to 99.5 RT and then NU 107. It was around this time that alternative music started to hit the airwaves. Nirvana. Pearl Jam. And in the local scene, Color It Red. But it was the music of Indigo Girls that captivated me. The song “Galileo” was the first song I fell in like with…then I fell in love with the rest. I think their music was constantly on my boom box for a good 4 years (1995-1999). And then I moved on listening to indie pop. You can read more on this on an earlier post titled “music and sadness.”

So after the tapes, the cds, and now the mp3s. Information, especially when sourcing new music, has also evolved from just coming from the radio, or from the reviews on the magazines and newspapers, or on music videos on tv, to the internet. Now, more than ever, it’s easier to discover new music. Heard a song that you liked on an episode of House? Google will churn up various websites containing episode and music information. Want to know more about the artist? Check it out in allmusic.com. Want to listen more songs of the artist? Listen to track samples on iTunes. It can’t get easier than that. There are even websites such as Pandora (now no longer available outside the US - haha) which recommends music based on artists you like (basically, you set up some sort of radio station by choosing an artist, then Pandora custom-makes a playlist for you of songs by similar artists). But honestly, the google-allmusic-iTunes bit works better for me.

So back to Indigo Girls. I only had two of their best records on tape, so when the tape deck of my mini-stereo (I’ve long abandoned the boom box) died on me, I also stopped listening to them. Until recently when I thought about them again and was inspired to download their songs. Now as I type this I listen to “Mystery” and I’m transported back in time. Back when well…never mind.

Debbie Gibson is now a has-been and has even tried to jumpstart her career by posing on Playbloy. Or Penthouse. I forgot which. Plus I don’t even listen to the radio any more. I’m plugged to my iPod almost all day on weekdays. And weekends are spent reading blogs, watching tv shows and movies always on the look out for new music. Time has changed.

I wonder 10 years from now, how will we discover new music? By then will the music player be just the size of a stud earring? Hello future.

2007 highlights

2008-01-01T10:37:00.000+08:00

A rundown of the year that was:

January – took photos of the lovely fireworks at SM MOA, traveled to Bacolod and ate lots of sweets.

February – went to Clark to shoot hot air balloons with the camera club members. Spent my birthday at a friend’s wedding.

March – a weird entry on march 8: stop looking. I could not recall what that was all about.

April – Banaue-Sagada trip with friends from the office. Learned: wear layers of clothing or bring a fleece blanket on looong bus rides.

May – Learned: think twice when lending an expensive gadget.

June – Family reunion at Palawan with my mom’s family. Got blown away with the beauty of the islands in El Nido.

July – llocos trip with friends from college. Fell in love and brought home a mac.

August – Mocha died. Learned: how hard i could cry when a pet dies. Cebu-Bohol trip with friends. Fell in love with W.

September – Got a new dog but it wasn’t the same. Went to Sonia’s in Tagaytay for the first time.

October – Celebrated my mom and dad’s wedding anniversary with the family in Hong Kong.

November – Zaza’s wedding. Learned a lot about life and relationships from her.

December – I learned how much I grew up (and how much weight I gained this year).

A lot happened in 2007 and if there was any truth in Saturn Return, I think mine ended last year. It was great looking back to the places I've been, the people I met and the people I became friends with, life-altering conversations with people I've known for a long time, books I read that inspired me, and experiences both mundane and extraordinary that made 2007 an unforgettable year.

Welcome 2008! May you be as exciting and as fun-filled as the year before you.

spending, living, and growing up

2007-12-23T14:02:00.001+08:00

Tis the season for spending fa la la la la la la la.

With the strengthening of the peso (this week’s closing is at $1 = Php 41.50), the capitalist in me has been all over the net looking for awesome finds. So far I’ve bought 2 t-shirts from Threadless.com. Their girly shirts usually sells for $ 17 a pop so when they held a sale a few weeks ago, I did not hesitate to grab my card and place an order. It’s been 3 weeks so the shirts should be arriving at my doorstep anytime soon. Currently I am looking at 2 cameras at ebay.com. One lo-fi, a Holga 135BC and an underwater digicam, a GoPro Digital Hero wrist camera (how cool is that?). I have not made up my mind yet on these items, maybe I won’t even buy them at all. Teehee.

The weeks leading to today were spent hanging out til late night with friends, going to Christmas dinners with old officemates, and then with highschool friends, Christmas parties at the office, and sleeping the clock around the morning after. Yay! This month I channeled Paris (when she was 16) and have (temporarily? permanently?) let go of the spinster librarian that inhabited my body since 2006.

It would also be interesting to note that, more than any month this year, I learned a lot about myself and life in general. I grew up. I have to thank my friends for that. Change is always good. And that’s all I have to say about that.

Merry Christmas everyone!

ho, ho, ho

2007-12-04T11:40:00.001+08:00

dear santa,

i hope you noticed how i tried to be very good this year. it gets harder every year but i hope i get extra points for the effort.

anyway, what i want for christmas is a new dog. i miss mocha so much and since i have no boyfriend to hug (hint, hint), i'll settle for a cute little shih tzu that looks a lot like and is as nice as my old dog. please santa. i want a cute puppy on my stocking this christmas.

love, michiko

p.s. i'll try to be nicer. promise.

p.p.s. it's really the dog i want.

*last photo of mocha. i miss him everyday.

...

2007-11-26T21:34:00.000+08:00

i had an important realization today. if it wasn't for that thing that happened two years ago, i would not have the chance to experience what my friend did yesterday.

congratulations zaza! you deserve all the good things you have right now. you inspire me to believe that we can have it all :)

total waste

2007-11-15T21:33:00.000+08:00

skipped work today to get the gown and it was terrible. i hate it. what a waste of time and money.

thrift-shopping

2007-11-11T18:56:00.000+08:00

today was supposedly the day i pick up my made-to-order gown but as luck would have it, the dressmaker forgot to make the dress because her kids got sick. thank god i lied about when i really needed the gown and made it two weeks earlier than the actual date because i would've strangled her, sick kids or not. i could just imagine the stress i would be in had the event really been tomorrow. anyways, while i was in her little shop i decided to change the design of the gown from a below-the-knee beaded strapless satin gown to a spaghetti-strapped chiffon long gown. i wasn't sure about the beaded thingies so i opted for a simpler and safer design (in terms of making it and not because i have nothing to support the tube, haha). i just wish the gown comes out as pretty as in the magazine.

so now with that taken care of, i left the shop then proceeded to do what i do best: thrift shopping. here's what i did with my 350 pesos (about $8):

i got:
3 flannel capri pajamas (in candy stripes, popcorn and pretzel print, and polka-dots. how cute are they??)
1 cd case
a pair of socks
1 dozen emery board
a pack of hello kitty gift bags

i love my finds!

for the books

2007-11-04T11:55:00.000+08:00

now here's not one but two milestones: 1) i've overcome my fear of using the gas stove and 2) i have learned how to cook chicken tinola (chicken in clear soup) for lunch. mom was out today so i cooked. hurrah for me! i'm still jumpy when turning off the stove though but still it's a feat that i can now turn it on and off by myself. (brief background to those who have just stumbled on this blog - two years ago both my legs and my right arm got burned in a gas stove malfunction. i have not cooked ever since, well until today.) it would be nice and a bit cliche if i were to say that i would be cooking again. i doubt that since i've become lazy and have lost desire to turn into a slightly chunkier version of giada.

anyway.

yesterday i went to this seedy part of manila to get my bootlegged dvds. i got season 1 and 2 of weeds, seasons 1 to 3 of arrested development, factory girl, a documentary about che guevara, and a compilation of audrey hepburn movies. when i got to the street where the dvds are, i decided to check out the goods on the opposite side of the street from where i usually get my stuff. then as i was approaching a stall i got asked by a boy vendor about what i wanted. it's from him that i got weeds - for 100 pesos. doh! i got the rest of my dvds at 50 pesos per disc. anyways, moral of the story: don't rush. i guess i got too excited with finding what i wanted right away that for a little while i forgot my head. silly me. of course that will not happen with boys again. nice segue, eh? haha.

x-files

2007-11-02T11:01:00.000+08:00

this must be one of the best news i've heard in a long while. hurray!

gillian and david have aged so much don't you think?

and speaking of david, i watched half of the pilot episode of his new series, californication, yesterday. i watched half of it not because i can't stand it - far from it actually, i was laughing hard in some of the scenes. i watched the episode only online and and the stupid streaming just wouldn't budge after the 17th minute. anyways, it's now on my must-watch tv shows along with weeds, and dexter. now the problem is where to get these shows.

it's the 3rd day of a very long 5-day weekend for me (actually, there are only 4 days but i was sick last wednesday and so i had an early vacation). i ran out of dvds to watch. i'm getting bored. i'm definitely going out in a bit to buy some dvds.

clutter

2007-10-26T23:29:00.000+08:00

my closet of a room was so messy this week that it looked like one of those "before" rooms in a tv show called clean house in lifestyle channel. my bags, dirty clothes, and toiletries are on my bed, shoes and slippers scattered all over my floor, and a small fold-away table propped up on what's left of my floor space. my room needs organization. fast!

so this evening having left the office a bit earlier than usual, i decided to drop by a nearby mall to get some stuff to organize my room. i was planning to buy just this little strip of plastic with hooks to hang my bags. i ended up buying that, a bag organizer (actually, a little bag to put inside a bag - yes, even the inside of my bag is a mess), AND a shoe cabinet. yes, furniture. that wasn't on the plan but i bought it anyway coz i thought the price was reasonable (read: lower than my budget and didn't look like crap). they did not have stock aside from the one displayed so they will be delivering the cabinet to our house next week. how's that for impulse buying?

on my way home i thought about the the space in my cabinet filled with old shoes. why don't i just throw them away and make space for the shoes and slippers i frequently use? and how many bags should a woman have anyway? i don't know the answers to these questions...but in
the meantime, my goal is to clear up the obvious mess. major cleaning up will take place in another time. lord knows when that day will come.

family holiday

2007-10-14T19:29:00.000+08:00

It’s Sunday night once again and I’m about to wrap up all these stuff I usually do on weekends – which is to download tv shows, songs, and read pages and pages of stuff on the web. Some good but usually bad. I didn’t discover any good sites this weekend unfortunately.

Anyways, the trip to Hong Kong with the family went well. This time around we didn’t get a package tour so we can save a few thousand pesos. (I have not started to calculate how much we actually spent since I need my good night sleep - haha - and would not want to wake up in the middle of the night thinking how I’m going to pay for my credit card bill when the statement comes in). We stayed in YMCA Salisbury at Tsim Sha Tsui, which is beside the very posh The Peninsula. It was a great hotel, a bit expensive, but worth it since my dad was impressed with how nice and clean it is. We didn't do much on our first day in HK since our 8am flight (which we got up 3am for) was delayed to 10:30(!!!) so we just rested when we got to our hotel. I did check out the nearby Adidas and Esprit stores next door though after checking-in. Then for dinner we headed to the very fancy McDonald's.

Second day, which is our mom and dad's 32nd wedding anniversary, we went to Disneyland. It was our (my mom and I) 2nd visit so I wasn't too excited. We did try out some of the shows and rides we skipped out last time.

Third day was spent in Ocean Park. The park was in some kind of renovation so it wasn't too picture pretty. I noticed that they moved McDonald's, and the place for viewing the giant pandas was renovated as well. A new attraction was the jelly-fish aquarium, which I find really cool.

Our last day was spent shopping in Mongkok and Parklane in Kowloon Tong. I got this really cool biker jacket which I'm hoping to wear really soon!

I enjoyed shopping in Hong Kong and on the way to the airport on our last day I realized I like it because it’s one big scavenger hunt for me. I love shopping for good finds you see…going about rows and rows of shops is as much fun as actually finding a cool one-of-a-kind item. Speaking of which, I did not get to buy a be@rbricks toy…though I did see a shop selling them in the airport. Oh well, next time.

weekend update

2007-10-07T19:08:00.000+08:00

This was a very low-key weekend for me. Saturday and Sunday found me in my room either watching dvd or surfing away on my laptop. I would like to think that despite my hermit-esque behavior I was productive since I was able to:
1) download new episodes of my favorite tv shows (30 rock, prison break, and heroes).
2) discover and download cool widgets (the filter – an iTunes companion which creates a playlist for you based on a song or artist you choose; and iSquint – an avi converter for the aforementioned downloaded tv shows so I can watch them on my ipod)
3) discover a blog about, among other things, shopping for quirky finds in hongkong. I’ll be going there this week with my family by the way.

I’m dreading going back to office tomorrow to spend again the whole day working on a report on damn MSAccess. Last Friday the user I did the report for pointed out to me my error. I know how to do it now but still just the thought of spending hours on it again makes me want to cry.

Anyways, I’m sharing with you the first playlist The Filter created for me, based on the song I chose, Yo La Tengo’s “The Whole of the Law.” I won't say that I would have chosen the same songs on the playlist, but still, it's pretty cool that the widget almost got it right. I have about 3000+ songs on my player so it's, how should i say this, refreshing (?) to be listening to other songs aside from those i listen to everytime. I'm actually looking forward to the other playlists The Filter will create for me.

midweek music

2007-10-02T22:50:00.000+08:00

these dreary rainy days had me listening to sad songs. i'm sharing with you a lovely song about a relationship i suppose a lot of people can relate to. it speaks of loving someone too much and then losing your self in the process. what i like about this is that the "loved" one "sings" the song, pleading to his lover to stay as she is. sigh.

before i came
- majestic

I know you love it when I say
How much you mean to me
You don’t hear it very often
It seems like everything I do
It’s the only thing that’s important to you
And all those things I have to say

Why’d you want to be like me?
And why did you, you are so perfect as you are
You need me far too much

Please don’t do this to us
There is so much inside yourself so don’t stop thinking
Please don’t do this to us
You can listen to me but don’t forget your self.

How are you before I came?
You can’t remember
It was too long ago
Where are the thoughts you once had
I think they disappeared the moment I came into your life
And all those things I had to say

saturday mini-break

2007-09-30T13:41:00.000+08:00

sonia's garden in tagaytay was worth the 3-hour travel from marikina, and was everything i expected it to be and more. i will not attempt to describe the place, as i might not give it justice. so here are the pictures. enjoy!

here's my lunch (sonia's serve eat-all-you can salad, pasta, and desserts). i had three servings of this salad...i was famished! we had lunch at 2:30 :(

i love this door in the garden. this door leads to the outside garden.

one of the many chandeliers all over the restaurant. i want this in my house too!

the pink rose on our table.

after our late lunch at sonia's we had coffee at starbucks somewhere in tagaytay, then crashed my friend's officemate's birthday party in cavite. it was an amazing day spent mostly on the road driving in very bad weather. it was silly of us, really, to have braved the rains just to have lunch out of town. but like i said, it was all worth it!

dum-dee-dum

2007-09-29T09:06:00.000+08:00

It’s Saturday morning and not even 9am yet and I’m online and have already: 1) read my mails 2) updated my Facebook account 3) downloaded a song 4) read a few blogs, and 5) read something about taking MTRs in Hongkong (more on that later). This is not how I usually spend my Saturday mornings but today my mom paid someone to do my chores. Hurrah! I’m usually Cinderella without the glass slippers on weekends because we’re poor and cannot afford a stay-in maid to serve us hand and foot. Hahaha. Anyways, I also woke up way too early for a weekend because my friend and I are going to Tagaytay for lunch later, and hopefully, to take pictures. I’m saying hopefully because it’s raining non-stop as I type and from the looks of it, it won’t let up until maybe past noon. I'm crossing my fingers though that the rain will stop by the time my friend picks me up so we can enjoy our lunch at Sonia's Garden, a restaurant I keep hearing very good things about. I'll give you a mini review when I get back later.

Oh well. Time to hit the shower. And oh, where are my glass slippers?

of music and sadness

2007-09-16T16:42:00.000+08:00

What came first, the music or the misery?
- Rob, from Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity

There are certain periods in my life which I remember best by the songs I listen to at the time. When I first fell in love, I remember listening a lot to the mix tape made for me by an ex-boyfriend. It contained songs by Club 8, Stina Nordenstam, and a slew of other indie pop artists which I instantly loved and continue to love until now. The mix tape was then my most priced possession because it was an extension of my boyfriend. When he couldn’t be with me all I have to do was pop the tape on the player and he is there, chasing away my loneliness. When we broke up I couldn’t bear to listen to the songs again. The songs have lost all meaning and became just sad reminders of a love gone bad. Thankfully the memories attached to those songs have long been erased and I can now listen to them again without feeling anything.

After we broke up I just listened to sad songs by random artists in my mp3 player. There are certain songs though that helped me get through grieving, and the one that stand out most is from one of my fave artists, Beth Orton. From her “Comfort of Strangers”:

One love is better than not enough
I’d rather have no love
Than messing with the wrong stuff
It’s just the comfort of strangers
Always the comfort of strangers...

Right now I’m recovering again from another lost love, a love which I found coincidentally at the time I discovered the music of the band called “A girl called Eddy.” It was probably bad timing since now there’s again a face and memory to link the music to. A girl called Eddy’s music is a lovely mix of tender vocals and poignant lyrics…very addictive stuff. I find myself listening to their album almost everyday now, most of the time while traveling to and from work, and daydreaming of someone who could never be mine. It’s his face I remember when Erin Moran (the vocalist) sings these lines from Tears all over Town:

I'm scattered like newspapers all over the street
I see your face in everyone I meet
I'm avoiding the corners
I'm avoiding your name
I know that I loved you but I loved you in vain

Such is my life...music and misery. When another chapter in my life unfolds I’m hoping the soundtrack will be full of happy tunes about driving until sundown and waking up to sunshine.

ilocos trip

2007-08-12T11:51:00.000+08:00

i finally had the chance to do some color corrections on the pictures i took from my recent ilocos trip. here are some better-looking shots.

the photo above was taken at blue lagoon in pagudpud. it is the lush-est beach i've even been to, and it kinda reminds of that, well, blue lagoon movie from the 80's. too bad we didn't swim on this beach as we went to this place on the day we planned to visit other towns and tourist-y spots.

here's from a pottery making shop in vigan city.

teeny-weeny weed found along the shores of saud beach, pagudpud. this pic was taken before sunset hence the amber glow and the shadows.

at vigan heritage village. it's actually a long street lined with turn of the century houses. some inahabited, some turned into shops.

windmills of bangui. it looked alien-esque don't you think?

on my mind

2007-08-12T09:24:00.000+08:00

i was youtube surfing the other day and came across a music video by EBTG for a song i've never heard before. you see i'm a big EBTG fan and i thought i have all of their songs but i was so wrong! tracey and ben started out as solo artists from the cherry records label sometime during the early 80's and "On My Mind" was one of their early collaborations. the song is included in a compilation called "Pillows and Prayers" (a cd which i'm soon getting online i swear :D)

here's the video. i'm posting the lyrics as well, which i lovingly transcribed since i cannot find it anywhere on the web. enjoy!

you got me feeling so happy
(feeling so sad)
i only smile now when you’re with me
(she got it bad)
i look around for someone new
(wasting her time)
but no one can compete with you
(that’s a bad sign)
my friends I don’t care what they say
(talking to you)
when my heart’s a million miles away
(what can I do)
and I don’t know whether to laugh or cry
(please don’t ask me)
but I know I kiss my heart goodbye
(well that’s easy)

we tell her how she’s wasting her time
still she finds
you’re on my mind
on my mind

and every day is just another
(day without you)
and I don’t know why I bother
(thinking about you)
i see you should I…run and hide
when I get home I slam the door and shut the world outside

we tell her how she’s wasting her time
still she finds
you’re on my mind
on my mind

it's oh so quiet

2007-07-30T16:25:00.000+08:00

It's, oh, so quiet
It's, oh, so still
You're all alone
And so peaceful until...
Bjork, "It's oh so quiet"

There was a time when I lived for weekends. Then there was another time when I dreaded them, especially those long weekends in between holidays. I used to hate the feeling of not knowing how to make the most of my weekends and the regret that I feel when Monday comes that I wasted them. Then weekends became just ordinary days of rest between work weeks...days neither to dread nor anticipate. Now my weekends are no longer enough! I have surrounded myself with so much amusement I can no longer keep up with myself. There’s a good book which I’m still half-way through, several DVDs of TV shows and movies to watch, a blog to update, blogs to read, pictures from two trips to edit, a new lens to take photos with, a laptop to familiarize, a photo-editing software to learn…all that I wish to cram for 2 days on top of doing my usual chores and napping (!).

Now it’s Monday and back to the usual grind. I can’t wait for Saturday to come along…

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begin to hope

2007-07-27T11:14:00.000+08:00

As what Freud and the others say, what we dream while asleep are translations of our innermost wishes, dreams, and feelings that we conceal in our waking life. And such are what my dreams usually are…and often times they are so cryptic that their meaning sometimes comes to me days later. A few nights ago, I dreamt about some overt desire that it made me laugh when I remembered about it when I woke up. I rarely have such dreams played out to the letter so I didn’t think much about it. But yesterday something happened and I felt like it was just the first of better things to come. Could I be right? I once felt something like this just a few years ago and my intuition didn’t fail me. I feel hopeful and excited though I’m not sure what this really is…

Then again maybe this is finally…peace?

just like heaven

2007-07-24T18:30:00.000+08:00

I recently found out from a friend’s Friendster site that one of my favorite bands, The Cure, is performing in Singapore and my friend is watching. I’m so jealous! Turns out that the band has a mini-Asian tour (Sing, HK, and Japan) this coming weekend and they left out Manila in their itinerary. Why Robert, why?? And why are the producers in Manila keep on bringing crap artists like David Pomeranz? Why hasn’t anyone thought about bringing The Cure here instead?

Oh well. I’m dedicating this post to the boys who made the best love songs ever. Here are my top 5 faves:

1. Mint Car – one of the band's happier songs which never fails to make me smile whenever I listen to it.

Say it will always be like this
The two of us together
It will always be like this
Forever and ever and ever...

2. Pictures of you – the first strums of the bass guitar at the start of the song is enough to make me weep.

“If only I'd thought of the right words
I could have held on to your heart
If only I'd thought of the right words
I wouldn't be breaking apart
All my pictures of you”

3. Just like Heaven – one of the songs I love to sing when in a happy mood. I only sing the first few stanzas though. I dream of someone singing this song TO ME one day, hahaha.

"Show me how you do that trick
The one that makes me scream" she said
"The one that makes me laugh" she said
And threw her arms around my neck
"Show me how you do it and I promise you
I promise that I'll run away with you
I'll run away with you" ….

You
Soft and only
You
Lost and lonely
You
Strange as angels
Dancing in the deepest oceans
Twisting in the water
You're just like a dream...

4. Letter to Elise – maybe the song that I can relate to the most..

elise believe i never wanted this
i thought this time i'd keep all of my promises
i thought you were the girl always dreamed about
but i let the dream go
and the promises broke
and the make-believe ran out...

5. Love Song - a song with simple lyrics yet evoke so much sincerity like all the other love songs Robert makes. *sigh*

Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am home again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am whole again

getting the hang of it

2007-07-22T14:13:00.002+08:00

learning how to operate this new mac is a lot like getting acquainted with a new boyfriend. you want to spend as much time as you can with each other, and when you're apart you plan about the things you'll do next time you're together. there's a lot of things to do, to discover, so many things to explore together and so much to know about one another. and since i've been with someone almost forever (ahem, the windows), my new boy promises no less than excitement and fun. yes, so many things can be done on a mac that i'm still overwhelmed. during the first few days, i just stare at it in awe with its power and beauty. i feel so unworthy, to be perfectly honest, as i am just getting the hang of blogging, of taking good pictures, and of transforming them to some semblance of art. now i make it my personal mission to be "worthy" of this new boy. i'm blogging more often (cross my fingers that i keep at it), and i am now learning to use photoshop.

i'm looking forward to my 100th post, like my friend lisa did just recently. congratulations my friend!

update, update

2007-07-19T21:49:00.000+08:00

so i made a promise to myself to update this blog often as soon as i got my new lappy. it's been 2 weeks! ok so i got my excuses, having spent last weekend up north travelling with friends. it was a fun and tiring trip having crammed so much activities in just 3 days that i went home sick. i'm well now, but just so tired all the time.

i feel slightly better about the pictures i took from this trip. the ones i took in palawan were a real disappointment that i started reviewing all the magazines and books that i have about taking better pictures. apparently "part" of the problem was caused by my icky lens kit. thank god one of my photo-freak friends gave me a tip, and that's to use minimum aperture of f8, and to adjust the sharpness settings in my cam body. this afternoon i got another gadget to improve my photos: a new lens! it's a 50mm f1.8, the cheapest canon lens there is and the only lens i can afford at the moment.

more pictures soon!

me, the beach baby

2007-06-06T08:27:00.000+08:00

i'm here now at puerto princessa palawan, vacationing with my family. here's our house, and my dad leaning on the balcony. this photo was taken just this morning after breakfast. palawan, like most provinces, has a very slow-paced lifestyle. there's nothing much to do here but lounge around, play with the dogs, and go to the beaches. i could seriously live here.

this was photo was taken yesterday while island hopping in honda bay. we just loved how the sea was calm during the boat ride.

then here's me, the beach baby. behind me are the people snorkeling. i think one cannot truly enjoy the beach without snorkeling (at least if one isn't into diving anyway). there's another world out there to enjoy and discover! i think i saw around 7 or 8 kinds of fishes...and that's a lot considering i didn't go too far!

tomorrow we're going to el nido. it's all our first time, even for my cousins and aunts who grew up here. more pictures on my next post!

un-sleep the clock around

2007-06-01T14:38:00.000+08:00

Have you seen the movie, The Machinist? It stars Christian Bale and it's about a man who have not slept in years. He is bone thin and suffers from delusions. This movie comes to mind right now since lately I'm having trouble sleeping. Unlike the title character, I still do sleep but I haven't had a long good sleep for 2 weeeks now. Even on weekends. And it's a big deal for me since I'm such a baby when it comes to sleeping. I need at least 7 hours a day to function well the next day. The good thing is that coffee in the mornings and coke during lunch could keep me awake and help me stay sharp enough to do my work. Today was specially hard for me since I had 2 job interviews - one face to face, and another via telephone. I think I did well...considering i'm in sleepy mode.

Thank God those interviews are over for now (I still have one, which is yet to be scheduled). I can go back now to my comfort zone and work here on my desk and try to finish as much as I can before I leave. I hope I won't doze off. And if I do, I hope not to cause a racket, like my head banging on my keyboards for everyone to hear. Haha.

christmas in may

2007-05-31T11:12:00.000+08:00

i love reunions and i love receiving gifts from relatives coming from abroad. oh the imported goodies! last thursday my favorite aunt, ninang, came home from canada. i got so much stuff from her, specially since i was the first person to see what's inside her balikbayan box. then the next day, tita bong and my cousin lindsay came home from florida. during the weekend, all the sisters of my mom staying in manila came to my aunt's house for a reunion. it was so much fun catching up and sharing stories about what happened to our lives since the 3 years they've left manila. this weekend, my mom and i are flying to palawan to meet up with the rest of our relatives for a reunion. we have so much planned for a week's stay -- including going to islands we've never been before. i'm so excited! i hope the weather cooperates so we'd enjoy the sand and the beach to the fullest :)

i just love those paul frank slippers!

busy day

2007-05-17T18:28:00.000+08:00

thank God today is over. i'm done with my LOMA (Life Insurance) exams! yay! no more forcing myself to choose to study over doing stuff i really wanted! now i can watch episodes 11-19 of Heroes, read all my books and magazines lying on my bedroom floor, surf the net and download songs, and finish transferring all my mp3s from my old player to my ipod (i'm doing it by artist, and i'm still in "H").

aside from the exams, i also managed to bring my camera to canon to have it serviced (cleaning and detaching of the filter which got stuck to the lens), check out the film lab where i can have my films processed, get my contact prints from a friend, and sign-up for membership to greenpeace organization. then back at home, i played mummy to our sick mynnah bird by holding up the nebulizer to help it beathe.

tomorrow i go back to work and get back to my projects which i have set aside for a week. back to the grindhouse and i can't wait :)

the new toy

2007-05-13T19:34:00.000+08:00

i picked up a new toy the other day day to amuse myself. it's not a gadget, it's actually a toy. it's a magic 8 ball! most of you probably had this as a kid, i didn't. actually i wasn't familiar with it until i was already in my 20s. i showed it to my family and told them how it works, just so they know what it is. they took turns asking silly questions and made fake sad faces when they didn't get the answer they wanted. it's a fun little ball and now it sits on my dresser waiting for me to give it a shake and spurt out the answer i wanted to hear.

last night before i put away my toy, i shook it and gave me this answer. i'm not telling what i asked, it's between me and my ball :D

pet grief

2007-05-09T21:33:00.002+08:00

losing a pet is a lot like losing a lover or a friend. it’s the same kind of sadness and hollowness you feel when it hits you that you’ll never see them again. RIP, Lucky. you will be missed.

a world waiting for me to discover

2007-05-09T08:28:00.000+08:00

during the long weekend before labor day, some officemates and I went up north to see the grand banaue rice terraces. the place is included in the book "1,000 places to see before you die" so despite the long bus and jeep rides we need to endure just to get there, i decided to make a go for it.

the weekend was a tiring one, spent mostly trekking, going up and down mountains, and exploring caves. it was an experience i never thought i would enjoy so much. though i've always been a fan of travelling, trekking and such were never included in my itinerary. and now i discovered just how much fun it could be!

there's so much to discover in the philippines, and i hope to continue discovering all the beautiful destinations our country has to offer and tell about it :D

first post

2007-05-07T18:26:00.000+08:00

hello blog world!