my 2008 christmas

lemme see ... generally, it was all the same for me this christmas ... well except for a few things like 1)we've decided not to have our usual monito-monita this year, since at the end of the day we end up giving everyone a gift so what's the use? 2)i was not able to give gifts to my ates and kuyas due to lack of prep time and 3)i almost did not make it for noche buena, good thing we were able to arrive in manila by 11PM. we (the choir) had a singing engagement at canyon woods tagaytay, we sang at the christmas dinner of the residents ... we started singing at 730, left the place at 915, arrived in manila at 11PM ... goooooddddyy!!! ... there was one "unusual" thing which as my sis would put it "it's christmas, let it go" ... so rather than allow it to ruin the christmas spirit, i just let it go and enjoyed the rest of the celebration ... so at the end of the day ... it was still ONE HAPPY CHRISTMAS ... :)

i love it!

i'd say one of my fave movies last 2008 ... who wouldn't want their edward cullen right? it's his character that draws us (girls) to him ... it seems that men like him are hard to find these days ... but then again, in my heart i know there are still "a few good men" out there ...

buntis ka ba?

kanina sa mrt, since i came all the way from taft station i was able to get a good seat all throughout my ride to Shaw station and a lady with a protruding belly was standing in front of me. i kept on looking at her and her belly kasi i was trying to decipher kun buntis sya o hindi. kasi kun buntis sya, i'll offer my seat to her, eh super di ko talaga ma-decipher, kasi mukha talaga malaki lang tyan nya eh, grabe! kulang nalang nga itanong ko kanya "miss buntis po ba kayo?" kakahiya naman, so wala, all throughout my ride habang iniisip ko kun buntis sya, tinitingnan ko belly nya, pero hirap talaga i-conclude kun buntis nga sya e. pero nung pababa na ko i stood up and i offered to her my seat pa din ... pero pero (uli) iniisip ko pa din kun buntis nga sya!

p.s. ang galing ng bagong exit-entrance scheme sa taft station ngayon, di na sya nag-clo-clog katulad dati .. very good!

the downward trend

tonight on my way home, a realization struck me which made me smile ... and i was so excited to put it here kasi i want to see the trend talaga, baka makalimutan ko eh.

i consider CMC as my first serious job. a few months after i finished college i joined the company and i was with them for 3 1/2 years; and while with CMC a Ms V called me up and offered me a job at her advertising agency (PCMAG) where i stayed for about 8 months and i probably would have stayed with the company up until now had it not closed down due to bankruptcy. i rested for a while, hoping that PCMAG will be revived pero wala na talaga. and after about 8 months of rest TT offered me a job in a company where she was working for, JVS, where i stayed for about 8 months lang, kasi DB from MMPI asked me if i wanted to do events, eh am not happy na with JVS, so i resigned and joined MMPI and stayed with the company for 2 1/2 years. i got tired of MMPI so i left and i went freelance for about 8 months. my life was at peace then, until another friend of mine, MC invited me to apply at CPK, eh wala naman mawawala sa ken, so i applied, i got hired, i got tired then i resigned after 1 year.

not counting the companies where i stayed for a few months, it seems that there is sort of a downward slope in the trend of my length of service in a company -- 3-2-1 ... and my resting period would last 8 months tops ... and then, lo and behold ... it's been almost 8 months again, and i am once again part of PFW, for RP, an old friend (JE) invited me to join his company.

3-2-1, after 1, ano na? will i stay? will i last? will i ... ewan? ... and then direk A (older sibling of my friend who invited me) talked to me kanina and started making bilins and gave me pieces of advise, saying "mukhang magtatagal ka dito, basta i-enjoy mo lang, balita ko magaling ka daw (naks! eh gusto ko sabihin sa kanya, sus maryopes! eh di ko nga po alam kun pipirma uli ako for next season, at di din nga po ko tumatagal sa mga kumpanya eh!)

pero sabi ni JE pinagdasal nya daw ang pagkuha nya sa ken ... ako? pagdating sa work eto lang parati ko prayer these days "dear God i lift up with you all the uncertainties i am feeling now, i do not know which company i want to work for, or what kind of job i really want to do, in fact i do not know if i want to be employed (again). you know the deepest desires of my heart dear God, kayo na po bahala..."

we'll see, pero as of now, for the past few days i have been working my ass out, i am enjoying ... and i thank God for it ... for now .... :D

7 months ....

it's been 7 months ... i've been counting since the day i left my old job, because for the past years (and based on records, hehe) it would take me about 7 to 8 months and then i eventually get a job, as in i get to be an employee again. and now am contemplating really hard if i should accept an offer for a company which will bring me back to the world of fashion and events; and to "test the waters" and see if i really would like to be part of the company for quite some time, i have accepted to work with them for one season, or about two months, and from there we could both gauge if we belong together or not ... so help me GOD.

still am keeping myself busy with all the other stuff, and though august was truly a busy month for me, i am looking forward to october for another busy month.

Philippine Fashion Week ... here i come! hehe

i grew up with them ....

we are the sacred heart singers (who got together through AKBAY -- '83 pa ata yun -- a choir group in sacred heart church, composed of people from all ages) ... and the video you are about to see was taken during our last christmas party ... i grew up with them -- most of them i call "ate" and "kuya", since i've known them since I was like 8 years old ... we were there for each other through thick and thin (literally! yun iba sa kanila payat pa nun eh ... hehe) ... through ups and downs, laughs and cries ... most of our members have left already, but what's good about our group is that, kahit mawala ka na nang matagal na panahon, alam mo in your heart, na may babalikan ka ...



Sacred Heart Singers Christmas Party 2007 - video powered by Metacafe

si don cuervo, bow!

july 27, 12AM, I arrived at my friend's house for a stag/shower party (yup! combined) ... no there were no strippers or dancers, but just friends enjoying the last "singles" party of a couple who's about to get married on 08-08-08. immediately when i entered the door don cuervo greeted me ... it has been quite awhile since I last saw him ... and I missed him! hehe ... I drank the shot minus the lemon and the salt, yum! haha

a few minutes after, another friend of mine our "tagayero" offered me a mixed cocktail with gin, which I welcomingly drank ... and needless to say ... there were more "tagays" offered to me ... and sadly though we (me and another friend of mine) were already hiding from him, he has a way of finding us, so we had to drink the last few "tagays".

i went home drunk (or i'd say, just reasonably tipsy) and numb (from too much alcohol)... and tired from all the "kulitan", "tawanan", and "picturan" ... and we haven't been drunk for quite some time, and odd as it may seem, i kinda miss the feeling of being "reasonably tipsy" when you just laugh your heart out and be as "mababaw" as you can be ... though the only setback is when you lie down your head is spinning and the next day, you get a terrible headache, which i remedied with paracetamol and (more) sleep ... :)

they were crying....

my nephew is in the hospital for dengue .. he's been there for almost a week, but he's getting better, thank God :)

last sunday, while waiting for my brother-in-law at the lobby on our way home, my attention was caught by a woman wailing, "bakit anak ko pa?" obviously, something bad happened to her baby, the ever curious side of me wanted to know the real story behind it, but I can't stand looking at her that long, parang kahit na alam ko na she's in a public place, I would like to give her her privacy and let her grieve her grief ... and my heart felt sorry for her and it felt so heavy, for everytime I see somebody grieve for their loss (especially death of a loved one), I can feel for them , because I too have lost someone close to my heart ... though it has been more than 10 years since my dad died, there are still times when i long for his presence, coz my dad has a way of making life sooo easy -- for everybody.

my dad was my encyclopedia, my dictionary, my driver, my errand boy, name it! and not just for me, even for my older brothers and sisters .. kahit may mga asawa na sila, my dad was still their knight and shining armor, hehe ... and especially with my mom, kaya it was hard for my mom at first, kasi she's sort of dependent on him ... though syempre eventually she became okay, kasi we really did everything we can to 'amuse(?)' her, as in every week we would go out, basta my mom should never be left alone at home. we made her feel na she can depend on us .... my dad wasn't perfect, syempre, but his (selfless) efforts (more than) made up for his imperfections.

well, sabi nga ni mommy, we lost him pero we all learned a lot from the experience, it made everybody stronger and we all learned to stand on our own two feet. plus, it has made our family more in-tact, and we know in our hearts that we can count on each other anytime.

and then today, on our way home (again from the hospital), I saw another woman in tears ... and then i started wondering (again), what happened to her? was it her son? daughter? bakit kaya sya umiiyak? ...

oh well, life, sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down, pero at the end of the day, SYA lang ang may kasagutan ...

ang cool mag lrt!!!!

today, i took the the LRT going to recto. and though was scared, i was actually awed by how clean and how neat the station was at Betty Go station, and not just the station but the train as well. I wonder how long they could keep it up though.

oh well, thanks to Ate J, I saved a lot of time, money and effort going to recto. the trip which lasted for about 20 minutes max (and if i take the long route, would have taken me an hour and a half), was actually relaxing, and i was smiling all throughout the ride, kasi sobrang aliw ... the train was sooo spacious, unlike the mrt ... well, the train was not that full when i rode it. and one reason i was smiling all along was because i felt so "tanga" when i first went in, as in naghihintay nalang akong may lumapit at magtanong ... 'first time mo?' ... as in syempre, was looking around, carefully reading all the signs, making sure that am on the right track, hirap na mag-roundtrip no! ... and so, i looked for the ticket machine ... eto talaga, i was smiling while going through it, kasi the first and only time i used a ticket machine for a train was in KL pa, and yun i was in a group, so super different ang situation ... buti nalang there was just a couple of us in front of the machine, so di masyado halata, na i was figuring it all by myself, which well acutally took me a minute lang naman, pero still!!! ... pero easy lang sya, para lang bumibuli ako ng coffee sa vending machine din ... good thing i immediately found the office i was looking for, and in less than 2 hours time, i was back na in QC! haaayyy... the wonders of the train!!!!

i miss photo shoots

it has been such a long time since i last did a photo shoot ... and when i say shoot, it's not just a pictorial, as in I get to be sort of the coordinator of the shoot -- in a studio, with a photographer, model, stylist, make up artist -- geez, that was eons ago, with cinderella, hehe. i'll upload some of the photos in cinderella soon ... and i missed it!

so my recent photo shoot was last friday, in ortigas for a hair accessory brand. i was the production coordinator, which at first, i thought was just a piece of cake, but really, it was not. there were a lot of glitches along the way, and especially since the first and last meeting with the client was held 4 days before the scheduled shoot, ganda, grabe!

eh anu bang ginawa ko as a coordinator? i was in charge of getting the photographer, videographer, make up/hair stylist and the (clothes) stylist. also, i was to coordinate with my team the entire project and lead them as they meet with the client. and then on the shoot date, make sure that my team is there and we do what we were paid to do.

anyways, at the end of the shoot, the client was happy naman (sana, hehe), except for another issue which came out of nowhere ... haaaay! ... but then again, this too shall pass .. hehe ... so here are some of the group photos we had that day ... :D




with pretty huangarian model, mia ... super beautiful skin, no need for touch-ups ...

and with mina the last model we shot before we called it "a wrap!"

busy for the past weeks

these past few weeks, i have been running around metro manila, jumping from one meeting to another, discussing different matters all together, with different clients, which often happens all in one day(?) tiring .. true, but come to think of it, i like it better than sitting around all day, in my cube, and confined in one small room. i appreciate the fact that now, i get to move around and that i get to do a lot of things. i actually asked myself if i really like what i'm doing now -- freelance -- or start looking for one, stable job, where i can just sit, and not scramble for the next offer i could work on, eh kaso, i'd prefer to be what i am doing now. the cash flow may be uncertain since it depends on whether i get projects or not, or if clients pay me on time or not, but at the end of the day, it's my own time and i am not pushed into something i do not want, or i don't believe in. and if i don't feel like working, then i won't work, i can sleep all day, or just do whatever i feel like doing for the day, minus the worries. :) 4 months of doing freelance work, and am still breathing ... thank God :D

the movie 21, about a group of students who counts to win big on black/jack -- nice movie, but not something i'd reco you watch on the big screen, dvd would suffice .. hehe. and one line from their professor/boss which actually is very typical of today's corporate world goes like 'so you think i'm your friend now? kid, you're only as good as the last money you make for me! this is business!', (geez, i forgot the name of their professor) .. oh well ... and that my friend is reality ;)

for now, the only sort of stable (?) work i am doing is tutoring ... yup am tutoring a 2nd grader, everyday, 5-7PM. good thing he's a smart kid, so all i have to do is really make sure that he does his assignments, check if it's correct, and make sure he studies for his special quizzes. not that big payment, since it's a tutor house (owned by a friend of mine) but it's better than not having anything at all ... ;)

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busy as a bee

yup, busy as a bee! lately, been running around ... meetings, interviews and more meetings .. hehe ... well been to a couple of job interviews which all ended up as freelance opportunities ... though it's true that i'd prefer not being an employee, i go to interviews just for the sake of going, and exploring at what they have to offer me, aside from the fact that i get to dress up -- yes, i miss dressing up, so if you see me a bit overdressed, please, please don't mind me so long as i dress appropriately for the occasion, i'd appreciate it a lot. surprisingly, though it's a bit tiring, am enjoying it ... especially since the last few months since i left my job, my writing job keeps me home most of the time (except for a few coffee and dinner night outs), which gave me more time to really take a back seat and relax a bit ... but now, am back! i have been rejuvenated and i appreciate all the offers (for freelance work) pouring in. ang galing nga eh, kasi sobrang diverse yun mga offers -- may writing, may coordination, may events, may research, at tutoring!!!! -- ang happy!!! and what i like about it is that, i can do it at my own pace, my own time, pero syempre, still meeting the requirements and deadlines. at at at, i have the option to decline or accept, di ako pressured ... oh life! :)

and since ive been going out lately, i was surprised to see the mrt change a bit -- some of the trains have their own radio system, so uniform na ang nagsasabi ng "buendia station", di tulad dati, un lalaki na minsan bisaya (am a racist! aren't we all? hehe) or minsan di mo maintidihan ang sinasabi, at least now, it's more professional na un voice ... tapos may LCD screens pa un ibang trains, though am sure they're testing it, actually wala naman masyadong silbi un sa mrt eh, more of sagabal pa nga eh ... pero these are also revenue centers for the mrt, malay naten baka mas mapaganda pa nila ang train given these income generating avenues ;)

friday is our market day ... yup! started about a month ago, since the doc advised my mom not to go to the market alone, since anytime she might faint, due to her heart ailment, so I am my mom's alalay. i hate the smell of the wet market, especially whenever i reach the fish, chicken area ... the smell sucks! oh well ... a few things i learned through the course of my travel at the market:

1. that the price of goods are different on saturdays and sundays, which i kept on arguing with my mom ... several times, i have asked her that we go saturdays, she'd tell me "naku mas mahal ang bilihin pag sabado?" and i'd tell her "ma, suki nyo na yun, lam nya na na lam nyo prices, so pwede pa ba taasan yun?" ... and then a couple of saturdays ago, while my mom's suki was offering her to buy talakitok "mommy (that's what the suki's call my mom), P160 lang yan, bukas P200 na yan per kilo" ... nyaaak!!!! was all i could tell myself .. totoo nga!

2. i would often wonder why my mom prefers to buy her goods from certain individuals ONLY! as in pag wala yun suki na yun she'd rather not buy. like the case of tilapia, my mom has a super favorite suki si ten (tomboy na matanda), she sells live tilapia -- na tipong asa banyera pa, at humihinga, tumatalon pa sila -- so this morning, ten was not around so my mom opted to buy her tilapia from one of her sukis ... when we got home, syempre, ako din po ang naghuhugas uli ng fish, my mom saw the tilapia i was cleaning up (wait, napalinis na yun mga fish, banlaw nalang sa house kasi sabi ni mommy malansa daw pag di ni-rinse yun), my mom was surprised kasi may mga dugo pa yun fish, so sabi nya uli "hay naku! kaya mas gusto ko kay ten bumibili eh, kasi pag naglinis yun, linis bahay, di tulad nito". geez!!! ganun pala yun ... and i realized, totoo nga, kasi the past weeks we bought tilapia from ten, i did not have to remove anything, just have to rinse it, tapos this morning, the fish was not that clean nga ... ang galeng!


yun lang, actually, i have another experience pa sa tilapia, pero next time nalang, mas maganda pag may video, i'll try to bring my phone and record the actual video ...

and kanina, i left home, went around the market and went back home .. BALIKTAD PALA T-SHIRT KO!!! demet!

last dec 2004, i was given a rare opportunity to be with the top philippine designers to assist them during the KLAFW, i was with mega magazine then. i was with rajo laurel, kat goulborn, mel vergel de dios (+), jun escario, puey quiñones, jojie lloren, and the mega team kitty and adel. dinner at chinatown, and the fittings, somehow, i was got to know them personally, plus i had to assist them as we did the set up for their clothes at the mega booth, so it was one tough task with only me as their coordinator. yup had to coordinate with the malaysians who at times looked like chinese but, good thing they all speak english which made it easier for me to coordinate. rajo introduced us to dried foodies at chinatown, bought a few samples for us to taste and after dinner we all bought a few for pasalubong. puey, jun and mel were all constant companions at chinatown, and kitty was my companion as we went to other shops to buy shoes -- loads of pairs i would say -- good buys pa! and i guess, the person who touched me the most among all the designers was mel (+), he was like a 'nanay' to all of us, ready to assist anytime, even willing to help me with my load, i will never forget you mel, and though it was for a short period of time, you have touched my heart and you will always be remembered ...

this just in .... after almost 3 months since i left CPK, this is the first time i opened the CD which mark gave me before i left the company ... thanks mark! i really like it .. mark and mira, both my colleagues (as in same department) at CPK ... a collection of some of great moments we've had at CPK -- christmas party, gimmicks, pampanga and baguio trips, my last birthday with them, si teddy!!!! na super katabi ko sa seat ko, it was given by the NSO team during my birthday in 2006 ata un ... i had fun while i was with the company ... thanks again guys!

traveling does not only mean going from one place to another, it could also mean traveling into the wonderful world of life ... which i have always been fascinated with -- it's ups and downs, twists and turns and just about everything! though i've been to quite a few places in the philippines, i have yet to see the beauty of the world ... funny, recently, i realized that i would rather much go around the world and see different places, just like the hosts i see on travel and living, damn! aren't they all so lucky? to be able to travel from one country to another, learn their culture, see great sights ... and it's all part of their job, they don't have to pay a dime!!! plus, they get to be treated really well since they are all part of the press/media ... darn! ... oh but then again, i can always do the same, soon (i hope) ...

i am a traveler ....

and will forever be ...