before i forget

well im happy on my last post. but let me share about this 'funny' incident about one of the people im working with right now.

she asked me to check her personal email because we needed to retrieve one information urgently.

then being the gossipmonger that i am, i checked her other emails. there was a saved chat conversation with another guy from work.

girl: i hate one of the people in our group
guy: sino? si bubbles?
girl: blossom

di ko alam kung maiinis ako dahil:

a) ang bilis ng karma. tsismosa kase. ayan tuloy.
b) dahil hate nya ko. e feeling close naman kame pag kausap ko sya. plastik ang bruha.
c) dahil ako ata ang pinaka-hateable sa group namen. ako ba naman ang unang banggitin!
d) naisahan ako. parang nananadya. gusto ata talagang pakita saken.
e) tinawag na naman akong bubbles. ilang ulit ko bang sasabihin na ako si blossom?
f) none of the above
g) all of the above


pero kebs...sumipot sya a week later. kinakausap ako na parang wala lang... gusto ko syang tanungin kung bakit nya ko hate. pero wag na, iannoy ko na lang sya lalo para dumami lalo wrinkles nya. haha!

i think i just made a difference.

it's two in the morning. my body's all worn out and i barely had time to sleep in the last three nights due to rehearsals, work, family pressure, club meetings, etc. but i can't help but write this one before i go to dreamland. i just finished my first evaluation forms from my last training and i was so close to shedding tears. this time it's not about bitterness, defeat, depression.

i read their evaluation forms and i saw that they really liked my first training. i know i did a very good job last sunday but i never fully realized it until i read their evaluation. it's so nice to hear women who are at least twice your age and whom you just met then thanking you for a job well done. the happiness is beyond words. they enjoyed the activities that i prepared. i've been to lots of enrich trainings and i could see how they lose interest middle of the course and discreetly leave the venue. it was different with mine last sunday. they were really participating and i was able to keep the number until we ended, even if we are an hour overtime. it means they appreciate the way i handled the course! yey!

i was telling my observer when she asked me about how i felt on my first training: this is like auditioning for your dream job. all my life i always thought that i am into voluntary works, i want to empower women and i can be a great trainer/teacher. had i failed on my first training, my world would crumble. all the personal image that i made myself believe shall slap me in the face and tell me that im dreaming the wrong dream if i failed.

but heck i nailed my first training! i got a very high trainer score.

and i think i just found my calling.

i never felt so human until today.

the cast

woohoo!! we're are definitely on! meet some of the cast of our play!



i never did anything this large scale. waaaaahhhhh!!!! excited!

photo taken by b.

f*ck that bottle of conditioner!

my housemate is accusing me of being responsible for that expensive bottle of conditioner that's missing in our bathroom.

due to the scarcity of space in the toilet, she places her toiletries near the window. it's easy to have it thrown out the window with a little budge.

fuck, i always close that bloody window whenever i use the shower area! i hated the wind from outside and i was always that somebody might see me.

she said she used it last friday, her last night last week in the flat and now she's getting hysterical because it's missing. i also noticed that it's gone but didn't mind because perhaps she put it inside her room before she left for shenzhen.

fuck. fuck. now i have to pay for it. it's a few hundred dollars! and im broke already!

affected

i just got one of the juiciest tsismis about the people close to me yesterday.

it was a love triangle bound for tragedy. who would have thought that real life is much more dramatic than cheesy soaps?

how can some men be so undecisive?

syet. men.

U.P.

i haven't been to my favourite university in ages! the last time i was there was during lantern parade in 2004 and it was a very bad experience. nothing to do with UP as a school but from that moment, i felt a little detached from the university. but when i went there last month, i felt the nostalgia of it all. all the craziness from the dugyutin days... now we're all back almost 5 years after graduation, with our respective careers... and we're all excited to see each other. it was really good seeing them again! i was really looking forward to seeing the kids i sort of grew up with.

with some of them with oble at the back:




hehe.. that's don. he's a friend/former suitor who is still in love with me after all these years.. pinagbigyan ko na.. tignan mo naman ang kilig sa mukha nya. haha!! joke lang. actually baligtad ung case. haha!



since this is my blog and i consider it as an online journal.. i'll tell you a story. r AND r were there! together! i know i said that i moved on and im really happy with b.. but i haven't seen r the ex since i moved to hk. and im very fine with that arrangement. i think it's for the best that we don't meet at all. ever. we were all shocked that r the friend said that 'they' are on their way. i know i don't own the circumstances but we thought that r gets that she should not bring r. it was sort of an invitation initiated by me. that's why i didn't put it in the e-group. only selected people. that's what we all think. the three of us haven't been in the same event since the break up more than 4 years ago. when i was still in manila, they would take turns inviting them, and me in order to avoid snubbing or dead air moments.

it's not that i am still in love with r. it's just the awkwardness of the situation. i know im improving my PR skills and im the most pretentious person i know, but i somehow didn't prepare myself for the moment and it was quite a surprise. i was really caught off guard. i couldn't even look at r the ex straight in the eyes.

so many things are running through my head. i was like: ok blsm. say hi perhaps? i did say hi. so what now? well, why should i make the effort? all this time, i should not be the one reaching out. or maybe they want to be friends? hmmm... i don't buy it. we never were. we were fling mates that got into something deeper. so when we ended, everything ended. what's there to get back? or r the ex wants to see the other friends, too? can't they just schedule another time? perhaps another chance without me? and how come r the ex is quiet all these time if catching up with others is the sole purpose? or maybe they're just testing the water, and gauging if things are ok and they take if from there? or they just want to see how fat i've become? or maybe they just want to assure that r the friend goes home safe? likely. so many dramas! all in my head! ha!

ending? we (i and r the ex) never talked the whole night. not one single word. r the friend and i are super close though. weird. oh wells, b&b are happy. r&r are happy. no matter the drama... at the end of the day, what matters is the person that your heart beats for. pagbigyan na... may hangover pa ng valentine's e.

oh! oh! derek ramsey was there, too! so many celebrity sightings!

some first time's in bohol

i love love bohol. everything is new and exciting!

but these would have to be the most unforgettable first time's:

holding a real bee colony..without any protection. yaiks!



holding an iguana. this is really yucky.. i could feel all the round things inside that creepy reptile! eewwww!


tried kissing a native. pero loyal pa din ako kay b.

manila photowalk

i was able to finally meet kuya j and we did some photos. intramuros isn't as magical as it sounds. but with a bit of a tweak of photoshop, there is magic afterall. we were geared to do a long afternoon of shots but unfortunately, here are the photos that i dare post:

manila cathedral




an abandoned building in intramuros:


rizal park:



best parts of the walk: seeing carlos celdran in person doing what he does best -- being a tour guide. he's oozing with knowledge and very articulate. and of course, meeting kuya jay. cool and nice guy!

blsm the trainer

they updated the enrich website, and i am now promoted from an advisor to a trainer.

check out my writeup below:

http://www.enrichhk.org/leaders

im doing my very first training on sunday. i've never been so nervous! i'd be handling a lot of women who are at least my mother's age -- for three hours!

syet, wish me luck!

He's Just Not That Into You

i just got the book with the captioned title from the library today. it sounds interesting but it's a seemingly endless array of advices that could be summarized into one: STOP ASSUMING.

guys are not as complicated as women. they'll pursue you if they really feel something. if not, they wouldn't even lift a finger about it. they are bound to the challenge of getting something they want, so don't bother fussing why he hasn't called you or answered your text message if you think there's a spark from the previous night. he's just not that into you.

i wish i read it before to save me from heartaches. all those freaking 'signs'. but since im happy now, i'd like to see it as a conspiracy of events. now i know why they didn't work out...because i was preparing myself for the right one. yihaaaa!!!

yep, we're still together. false alarm lang pala un. pagod lang kaya di na nag-away at tinulugan na lang. medyo nalate lang ang pagsorry kinabukasan kaya medyo nagworry ako ng bahagya.

anyway, hope you had a good heart's day. i did. he cooked unas comidas muy deliciosas. then we did a photo shoot around lan kwai fong. saw wendel ramos and antonio aquitania. the latter is way much cuter. and... and... i saw matthew mcconnaughey!!! as in bumped into each other! waaaahhhhh!!!

f*ck...

did we just break up?

marriage

i planned my dream wedding a long time ago. i've seen plenty of weddings in my life but i feel sorry for the couples because one way or another it was ruined by some shitty factors.

i don't know.. but my business trip/hiatus in china got me thinking of my plans. with my situation with b now and without practicing any religion, my wedding dream faded away.

but come to think of it, why deprive myself of the event that i've planned since childhood just because the intended groom is not capable of doing so?

i want all the drama, trivialities, excitement on a wedding. i want it to be as perfect as possible. my family never failed to give me a debut or graduation party, but i never liked any of those. i didn't know half of the guests and i didn't even like the food, and the weather was not always pleasant. we had to make do with our small house, and i was always wearing casual dress.

i want it to be as conservative as possible. i want to hold it in a beach, with a sunset background. ill invite in the ceremony only my close friends. those people whom i think will listen to the sermon. i want all of us to go home and reflect on the life ahead. my flower girls and ring bearers should at least be teenagers. no kids allowed. i dont want any kid running around and any parent chasing after them. ill invite all the ppc-hk peeps to come over and shoot all they want. but during the mass, i want them seated too. only one or two photographers are allowed to shoot. i want it as solemn as possible. less people moving, the better. i know it's beach setting but i want the people to be in dresses and well made-up. they can be barefoot but at least i know that they still took some time to put on their make-up and availed the best dress available. they shared that moment with me, so they should also be part of the magic of it all.

there should be a live band. we'll sing to our heart's content. i'll choose the songs that they'll play. and the food! aaaahhhh... don't get me started on the menu.hehe..


i want it to be the best day of my life.

haayyy... forgive the cheesiness. it's the old age you know. haha!

the bohol experience

sorry for my delayed recounting of stories about my vacation. i finished carlos ruiz zafon's shadow of the wind. it was a nice suspense novel. it really got me hooked. however, i felt cheated upon reading it. it's a story about a boy trying to find the whereabouts of a dead author. it was so exciting on the first half of the book as he interviews people connected to the author. he finds out that not every interviewee had been so honest as he wished. there were plenty of twists as every mystery unfolds. however, later in the story, an old woman (one of the people who lied to the protagonist) dies but since she knows somebody is out to kill her, she composed a super long mail confessing it all - everything that the boy wanted to know. it's a fairly thick novel, and i really felt i wasted time reading it when i could just jump to the woman's mail.

when i returned the book, the librarian informed me that the twilight that i reserved had arrived - therefore delaying my story telling even more. i lost interest in the book a couple of weeks back, but im reading it now -- just in case some teenager asks me about it in the future.

back to bohol, i would have to say that this is the most fruitful vacation ever! this is the only long vacation that i'll have for 2009 so might as well maximize all resources available. i brought my entire family and my bff. we felt like millionaires spending as if we've got a fountain of money.

good thing about bohol is that there are plenty of things to do. money speaks but as long as you starve yourself for a couple of months, you should expect one of the best getaways you'll ever have.

i've been reading forums because i really want this vacation to be as close to perfect. it's no joke spending for five adults at the same time so there's really no room for travel woes.

summer came in early! woohoo!



we rented a big van on our first day for sightseeing. it was quite costly, but with our tired bodies from the early flight, it was worth it. it also helps that the driver is really knowledgeable about the sites in bohol.

first stop: sandugo site. it's really nothing, and i was a bit worried that the sites wouldn't live up to my standards.

next stop: baclayon church. one of the oldest churches in the phils. it even got a small museum. i saw a super old camera worth drooling over. the church is a beauty.

side view



inside the church


front of the church. it cannot get more pinoy, can it? the religiosity. the overloaded jeep. the festive banderitas.


with our grumbling stomach, all we could ever think of was food. so our driver took us to the loboc river for a lunch cruise. i watched panaghoy sa suba and i wanted to see the river eversince. it's not as fascinating as i expected but it's admittedly more than your ordinary river. good thing about this is that they take you to a small tribe with local performances - such as tree swinging, tribal musical instruments, etc. they try to be primitive and it has gotten so unconvincing that you just laugh at their attempt to relive the way of life back then.



what's bohol without the tarsier?


and chocolate hills? i have to say it's quite a disappointment. it's not as overwhelming as i imagined it to be during my school days.


we also passed by the 'man-made forest'. man-made in a sense that it's a school project of the boy and girl scouts some thirty or forty odd years ago.

last would have to be the butterfly garden. we all know the life cycle of a butterfly by heart, but the tour was really informative. one of the things that i love bohol is their good local guides. they're really articulate and they have that certain charismatic tone that will make you feel like you're on a school field trip. though you don't have to worry about doing a reaction paper afterwards. :p

then that's it for us for the day. we were thinking of having dinner at the restaurant with deaf and mute people as servers. however, we were dead tired that we woke up at 9pm, settling for the bulaluhan nearby.

next day, we were off to 'bohol bee farm'. another informative tour. we really got close to the tour guide and we really learned a lot about the behaviour of bees and worms.
bees are like human in a few ways that:
1. there can only be one queen in every colony - that's why wives and mothers in-law never get along
2. the workers are all female bees - need i say more?
3. the male bees go on whole day and slack around, only purpose to fornicate - again, need i say more? haha!

last trivia: worms are hermaphrodites and they really use them for burger patties. eewwww!!!

we were thinking of going back there after our tour for the day but when we inquired about their buffet dinner, it costs 500 pesos! not much, but if you're spending for 5 people, whom you know will not appreciate bougainvillea salad, might as well look for alternatives.






a school of fish


it rained heavily after that. we went to the shell museum. it was the site that i liked the least. shells are so much better when you pick them up from the shore.

next stop: panglao island nature resort! woohoo! the real start of the beach getaway. we went there for lunch with the glorious coconut juice. and the INFINITY POOL! it was uber uber nice!

last stop would have to be the hinagdanan cave. it's a small underground cave. but good for photo taking nonetheless. when i went to sagada a few years ago, i got so frustrated with the absence of souvenir photos. but with my dslr now... here are the photos...




we walked in one resort and we availed of a very cheap room. dirt cheap. problem is we all have to squeeze in one tiny room -- all five of us. emmy and i spent the night doing a mini photo shoot. and bonding.

we needed to wake up early because our call time with our boat guy is at 5am. this is how panglao looks like at dawn. no photoshop. it's really blue!!!




why the early call time? because we need to watch the dolphins at 7am! it's really a fun experience seeing the dolphins in their natural habitat, without doing any stunt. there were about twenty boats around the area and where ever the dolphins appear, all boats run to that area! it's like a race! woohoo!



and my most favourite part of bohol: balicasag island! snorkel galore! the reefs aren't as beautiful as palawan, but you'll be amazed at the variety of fish that you'll see. i've never seen so many colours in my life!



last boat stop: virgin island. it isn't 'virgin' for nothing. one of my visions of heaven






lover starfish


i thought it was a mistake to stay in panglao for our last day. we could have saved a lot of money had we stayed in tagbilaran. but with sunrise shots from alona beach such as these, how can you regret it?





i love bohol! and it was a good time to spend with my family! it's heartwarming to see my father clutching the seat on his first plane ride. or my mom's excitement when she sees the dolphins. or my sister's adventurous attitude. or emmy's patience whenever we shoot.. haaayy... best vacation evaaahhhhhh!!!

fb

syet! may facebook na din ako!!! nooooo!!!!

real men are so clueless about women's fashion

i was wearing sleeveless top over a polo. one guy said "baligtad ata damit mo".

i was wearing pantyhose, one guy said "those are very long socks!"

toinks toinks