East to North

I woke up from a slightly bad sleep. Had a few beers the night before and my body didn't react too well, probably 'coz of the meds I took before meeting up with my HP friends. I had to wake up at around 2 am to barf. Good thing I was still able to go back to sleep and woke up again at around 6 am. Then my Mom told me we had to go to Apalit for an emergency as soon as I got home. Too groggy, I just said "Ok, pero may meeting ako, mga gang 7 pa ako sa office". When I got to the office I realized, Nyek! Sa Pampanga ang Apalit ah!. Hahaha, OMG. After a very long day at the office I have to drive all the way to our province! Looking on the bright side, I get to drive in NLEX, weee!

Fortunately, despite the toxicity of the work week, two of my teammates treated us, one to lunch, the other for snacks. I love our team's favorite hobby, to look for an excuse to harrass people into providing free food for the PGs. Excuses include (among other things): New Hire Initiation, Regularization Celeb, Birthdays, bugging Miss Winnie for free food budget, hahaha!

On top of the treat, I got to go shopping with Joyce (hehe, I didn't attend my supposed meeting)! We bought a couple of trinkets in the Eastwood tiangge. Shopping with close bakla friends is just love!

When I got home, Mama had make-up on her face already, haha. So I just changed clothes then off we went as soon as my brother got to the house. NLEX driving is love #2 ! Steady, 100-130 kph for almost the whole stretch! Plus it's my first time to drive on the viaduct. It gave me goosebumps , it's just like when we were kids. But instead, I'm driving and Papa was the passenger this time. As a kid, I used to love the view of the vast farms with those cute white birds scattered everywhere and the mountains behind it then surveying the countless Ad boards by the bridge. I still love it til now, one of them simple pleasures in life. :) (Old version of the viaduct I found on the net ^)

We got to Apalit in around 1.5 hours. It's been a long time since we've gone to Pampanga to meet our relatives. I realized how much I miss Arayat! I'm hoping badly that we could go there for the holy week, so much childhood memories there. We did quite some catching up with my cousins and Aunts. Naloka ako, may mga tao dun na nagmamano sa akin! Some even look older than me, my gulay! Hahaha. Hindi ako pumayag, sabi ko beso na lang. Ayun.


We went home the same night and this time we got there in 1 hour, thanks to my brother and very the smooth traffic. :)

:(

Break my heart, why don't you...?

Oh Andie

My student's house :)

Bongga siya, may mga apat na kotse pa sa loob ng garahe na yan. May BMW, Benz, Mini Cooper at isang hindi ko pa mawari kung ano. Binenta na daw yung Patrol e.

Paano ko naman kayo pakakawalan niyan? Pagdating na pagdating ko pa lang sobrang init na ng pagbati niyo sa akin:

M: Hello po! Happy New Year! (sabay abot ng pastries bilang holiday gift)
A: Oh you shouldn't have bothered! You shouldn't have bothered pa M****, here oh. (sabay abot niya naman ng datung, haha)
M: Hehe (ngumisi na lang at wala akong nasagot sa English niya)
A: Teka I'll just call Andie.
M: Ok po :)
A: You're looking good ha, you have a nice hair.
M: Thanks po! :D

O diba? Siguro kung pwede akong magkaroon ng pangalawang nanay si Miss Agnes na ang hihingin ko kay Lord. Hahaha, she's the best! Kaso ang layo-layo talaga ng Magallanes my gulay! Bumibigay ako sa stress ng byahe! Therefore I must admit, I'm now struggling with attachment issues. Sige, tingnan ko pa for the next weeks...

Paseo de Magallanes

Well, well, well...

... Look do we have here...?

Hahaha!!! (sayang wala si Angela sa circle of few blogspot friends ko :P)

Reconnected!

Grabe, hardcore! Meris reunion! Haha, I was very hesitant to attend Pia's birthday party slash Meris reunion at first. I'm not sure why either. Maybe I was scared to fall out of place since they were all classmates from grades 1 to 6. Me, I had to transfer out earlier because of some technicalities with the school policies.

But it turned out to be quite fun. Free food and booze and some dancing. I got to see many old faces (even ones I don't recall anymore, haha!). It became a reunion of many sorts, even High School and people from work. It was all good, ang galing ni Pia! I'm so glad I went. :)

Update Complete!

Finally! Update complete! I went to Masinag to make a second try at my hair revamp (promise this will be the last entry on my haircut obsession). I was contemplating on having a haircut in F Salon or Reyes Hair Cutters. My instincts told me to choose RHC. The feel was different from the higher end salon last night. But because I am me, I felt at ease quickly. Mas bakla at jologs sila, at nag-enjoy ako sa pang-o-okray sa huli kong gupit, gatong pa kasi yung stylist. Kakatawa nga e, tinanong niya ako kung bakla ba yung kasama nila, nung una hindi ko pa masabi kasi nakaupo siya tapos nanggugupit ng iba at mukha lang siyang metrosexual na lalaki. But no, nagsalita siya! Dead giveaway! Bakla ang lola mo! Hahaha, gaydars never die. Ayun, nag-enjoy ako. Their service was a hundred bucks cheaper, but there was no shampoo and massage and the airconditioning wasn't good. So for me, the cost was just the same. Finally got the hairdo that I wanted! Though it's not as drastic as I thought it would be. Maybe it was the anxiety acting up since I haven't made any changes to my hair in a while.

Before 1:
Before 2:

After:


Haha, di ata gaano kita pagkakaiba kasi flat from blowdrying. But there really is a significant amount of hair removed from my crown. My ponytail is now so small :P.

Overall, I spent 340 on this mini-makeover (gave 40 pesos tip to the RHC guy). :D

New Day, New Do

Good morning world! Woke up early to a beautiful morning, very serene and probinsya-ish. So I got up and took a quick shot while there is still ample sunlight in our garden.


I've decided to take the haircut fix today! Hahaha! I couldn't get the frustration out of my head, so I'll just go ahead on to the nearest decent salon and get the cut that I wanted. And to make sure that i get what I want, I'll save the picture on my phone and show it to the bakla who will chop my coif. Whoever she is (-->), I think our hair's texture seems similar. Lamang lang siguro siya ng tatlong hot oil treatments, haha.

This is a perfect time to get a semi-makeover since I'll be going to an old friend's birthday party/elem batchmates' reunion. It's been some time since I've seen them and vice versa so honestly I'm quite anxious to go. But it's the nth time that my batchmate invited me to a reunion so I couldn't refuse this time, especially since it's her birthday.

I already bought a gift, which was a dyahe experience. I was supposed to buy an eye cream which had a tag of Php195. Not thinking twice, I picked it up and went straight to the cashier and gave 200 pesos. Ha! It turns out, it was worth 1,195! I couldn't hide the shock on my face! Good thing the cashier lady was nice, I told her that I just wanted to buy a simple gift for a friend. So she assisted me and showed me some "simpler" stuff that I can get. She even wrapped the item in Japanese paper and put it in the store's paper bag and even threw in a small ribbon and a gift tag.

One of these days, I'll go ahead and buy that expensive eye cream...for myself! Hahaha! :P

Layered vs. Shaggy

Just got a haircut. Haircut? What haircut?!?!?! I couldn't even see much difference from before and after entering the salon! Once again, the stylist didn't get the do that I wanted to achieve. I told him to trim off an inch from my hair, then layer the rest. He layered it but not the type of layered look that I imagined. He did just enough cutting so as not to make the end too blunt. I tried to tell him to cut more and bring the layers higher but he was too cautious. I gave up, I didn't want to go into "self-sabunot" mode anymore.

The haircut that I visualized in my mind was something more pokpokish, hahaha. Like this:

Instead, I think I got something like this (with bangs and brown hair of course):

It just looks like a trimmed version of my previous style. Maybe I should've told the stylist to do a shaggy cut. Then he might have done something more severe to my mane.

Anyway, they gave me a head massage, some good shampooing plus conditioning and an excellent blow drying so my money didn't really go to waste. Too bad I didn't have anything planned for tonight so this blow dried hair will just spend tonight on pillows. Maybe next week I'll try to get another haircut to satisfy the need for updating my look. :)

First day for 2010

For some reason, our house has been plagued with mosquitoes this past week. But I had a fairly good sleep thanks to Dragon Katowl, lamowk siguradong teypowk! :D

Then got up, ate and drank coffee slowly. Now off to work work work!!! This was my get-up for my first work day of 2010:

Haha, quite shabby for my standards. But for today I choose comfort over style. It's my number coding day so I commuted to the office, thus my choice of clothing. I had a very laid-back travel, I walked slowly and didn't even bother to complain about my short change in the FX. I don't want to start the year with stress and a hot temper.

So how was today? Just like any other work day, hehehe. Except for the extra volume of unread emails and a team meeting where my boss announced that we will soon have shifting because of our growing number of members. I really don't mind as long as they don't place me on graveyard shift. I also postponed my scheduled haircut to Friday since the meeting set me back by about an hour. Then finally rode in Kuya Celso's shuttle to Masinag.

Now I'm at home enjoying this sikwate made by Ate Vilma. Yep, that's my day. Nice and relaxed. :)

Twilight

Facebook has become too crowded for me, so I decided to cut back a bit. I also noticed that I've grown less productive because of my fb addiction, fb in my room, in the living room, while on transit, on vacation etc etc. I won't stop using it, but I'll try my best to login less and correspond more moderately. With that in mind, I'll just post my experimentation shots here. Don't want to bug my contacts there and I want to keep this hobby private. This is the latest, I just tested my tripod and the shots are indeed much better than just the 'clip your elbow' ones. The light was better absorbed and there was no visible jitter, in my eye at least.

These are raw twilight shots in front of our house:

Brentwood Visit

We made a short visit at Brentwood, Antipolo and inspected my relatives' property there. This is a very historic property for my Mom, it almost broke them siblings up. Well it's a long story, basically some misunderstanding blown up by one of my bruha Aunt's brainwash powers over Mama's brothers and sisters. Good thing it's all fixed now. Point is, I got to test my Panorama software! Hahaha, hihihi :P

Last day of vacation...

Since I worked last December 30 and 31, I get to take Monday and Tuesday off (Jan 4-5). Which I think is turning out to be good. While everyone is already on their manic first workday of the year, I still have the chance to adjust and ready myself for tomorrow. So, what are my plans for today? WALA!!! HAHAHA! Right now I'm installing photo editing stuff on my work PC, wahahaha. I'm still on honeymoon stage with my new toy, I want to learn as much as possible on what it can do while I still have a lot of free time. Took some photos yesterday:

Quick stop at Cherry:
























Electro:

Test shots at home:





I'm kinda tamad to study technical know-how's especially since I'm used to my lomo's which I think is a crime to post process. Editing will defeat the purpose of the art. But I resolve to improve a ton on this digital thingie. I want to maximize my sexy Lexi's potential and I'll do my best to learn more on post processing, I swear!!! Hahahahahahahaha. Hindi nga, promise! :P

Quiapo Day

Punta akong Quiapo ngayon. Bili ako ng films para sa old school cam ko. Iniisip ko pa kung papaayos ko na yung flash, pero baka saka na lang. Medyo gipit na ako e at hindi ko pa naman kelangan. Tapos tingin tingin na din ng screen guard saka accessories para kay Lexi. Sa totoo lang medyo tinatamad ako e, kaso sa tingin ko pag di pa ako lumakad ngayon ay tatamarin na ako ever. Ayun. In fairnessness ang sipag ko mag-blog ngayon, iba nga naman talaga nagagawa ng boredom at kabangagan. :P

Eto sample shots ng bago kong alaga:

Aurora, Cubao:




































10,000 km check-up:





Low light testing near Eng'g:





My old school love:

I love My Brus

Nag-Christmas chorva kami kagabi nung College berks ko sa Antipolo. Grabe, na-miss ko sila!!! Ang mga usapang kakikayan at career. Pero grabe, tumatanda na talaga kami, kasama na sa pinag-uusapan ang tungkol sa pagpapakasal, pag-iipon at pagpapamilya. Dyusme, ni wala pa nga akong boypren, at sa totoo lang hindi ko pa rin makita ang sarili kong nagpapasakal in the near future. Hindi lang talaga ako ganung klaseng tao. Pero gusto ko rin naman magkapamilya syempre, hindi lang yun yung tipo ng bagay na pinagtutuunan ko ng pansin sa mga panahong ito.

Ayun, masaya naman. Kahit jologs yung receptionist at parang gusto na siyang saktan nila Erma dahil hindi siya accommodating. Napa-rent pa tuloy kami ng cottage kahit di naman kelangan at naulan-ulanan pa kami. And pordat, isang oras lang tulog ko at pauwi humataw na ako galing tikling nang mahatid na sila agad at makauwi sa pinakamadaling panahon.

Nakakaaliw talaga yung ganitong klase ng pagkakaibigan. Kung tutuusin halos isang taong ko na silang hindi nakakasama (nung kasal ni Gidget di naman kasi kami gaano nagkausap). Pero parang pakiramdam ko last week lang kami huling nagkita at kung paano kami nung college ganun pa din hanggang ngayon. I love you friends!






At dahil sa mga kaganapan kagabi, gagawa ako ng to-do list:
- Upload ng pictures namin
- Lamunin yung chocolates na bigay ni Bars (pati yung para kay Allan, hahaha)
- Aralin ang paggamit ng LX3 at install sa PC yung software
- Basahin yung regalo ni Erma
- Tumunganga, magpahinga at matulog ng bonggang bongga!!!

Ayun. Hintay hintay pa akong matapos tong inu-upload ko. :)

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year everyone!!! Today I will try to jog off my overindulgence these past few days (keyword:try). I also want to spend some quiet solitary time in my beloved UP. No deep purpose, no need to reflect on life or anything. Just want to spend quality peace and quiet. No quangs, hahaha, shucks that's such an old joke!

Yeah, that's my January 1 to-do. Don't think, just meditate. :)

Reflections for 2009

Nice, the title is very reminiscent of the indakan piece, hehe. Eng'g Week spirit just doesn't die in me.

Anyway, let me start. I'm quite sick right now but I've been trying to sleep for 3 hours already, no luck so far. My head is starting to hurt from too much thinking. Therefore I'll try to write down thoughts, and this mostly covers a review of the year that passed.

Honestly, 2009 went by so quickly. It's one of the fastest, if not the fastest one that I've had thus far. It seems just like a few months extension of 2008. Not that it was bad. Actually it was a very blessed year to tell the truth. I feel that I received a lot of things that I didn't even ask for, and for that I'm very thankful and humbled. But I guess that's the reason why it went by so quickly. Though it wasn't exactly smooth sailing, there was relatively minimal conflict. My life was, should I say 'simple', for 2009. I've never been really used to this kind of life, the 'I ask for it, and I get it' type. I'm not saying that I've been having it ridiculously easy. But I can say that, compared to the previous years, I was able to get the things that I needed without too much fuss. But somehow, even though it's been breezy, I still feel that I'm missing out on a lot. I'm not sure how to place it, but when I attended one of our office meetings, our big boss hit it right smack: "Satisfaction, at some point, will eventually lead to discontent". In other words, just keep exploring what's out there. Satisfaction is good, but it's not constant. I couldn't agree more.

What I'm saying is, I'm not used to this kind of lifestyle. For a while it was all good, stable and secure. But I became too complacent. I guess I can say I'm the kind who doesn't mind going through the whole roller coaster struggle to get to some significant checkpoint. In short, it got boring. I'm not really asking for more, but right now I truly want something different. I guess convenience is not my thing, hehehe. I'm not asking for a TV-series worthy life but I'm getting tired of this on going safe, predictable routine.

So there. I think my point is, 2009 was a good stable year, no complains there. But for 2010, it's time to be more adventurous in many aspects of life, and I think I'm quite ready to be more risky. Go go go!!! Wow, I'm loving 2010 already!

Good luck to everyone, wish you all the best for 2010! Happy New Year! :)

The sweetest blessing that I got for 2009:

Cool huh? ; )

Kamusta naman?

So... Nawiwindang na naman ako therefore I have to review my progress to date in relation to my last "Ang mga plano ko" mode entries.

Starting off lightly, I just came back from my vacation. Being the person that I am, I won't pretend that I had a hyper super ecstatic fun time. But I did enjoy the vacation, not as hectic as my previous out-of-town trips. It was a go with the flow type of travel, chillax chillax mode lang. I didn't bother myself with OC-OC itineraries. I just wanted to spend time with my parents and act like their little girl once more, just tagging alongside them on a family trip, listening to my parents and relatives talk about our cool family heritage. So yep, almost five days worth of joyrides by land, sea and air. It was really... I guess nice is the perfect word, high quality type of nice. :)

When we passed by Iligan in Lanao del Norte, I saw the gigantic plants there. And I had to cry, literally. There were various sorts of plants, cement, steel, energy... etc. It hit me really hard, tears were welling up, I couldn't help it. Honestly, at this point I'm not really sure about myself and my willpower. I know how much is at stake if I really go through with my plans. It would really require a high magnitude leap of faith. I'm scared. Pushing through with it will mean risking our family's stability, security and my car. But not pursuing it will leave me forever asking a huge "What if?". I don't know anymore. Right now what my heart feels is this: Sadness and some sort of longing or maybe even envy every time I see those vast areas with gargantuan metal and concrete equipment; and a feeling that I'm spending so much time on something that I have very little passion for.

Ok, feel ko na mag-Tagalog...

Madalas iniisip ko sana sobrang mukha na lang akong pera, edi tapos na sana ang kalituhan ko. Kaso medyo mukhang pera lang ako e. Yung tipong, ok lang naman sa akin hindi ako sobrang makwarta basta masaya naman sa buhay. Pero mahirap talaga yung inaasahan ka ng pamilya, bawal maging makasarili, pag naghirap kasi ako ibig sabihin maghihirap din sila. Saka masaya naman kasi ako tuwing masaya sila kaya kaya pa sa ngayon. Hay, di ko lang alam kung ganito pa din pagkatapos ng isang taon. Dumadami pa naman yung nag-uudyok sa akin na yakapin na ang pagiging inhinyera ko. Sa ngayon, naka-on hold muna pag-enroll ko sa Masters. Tutal binabayaran ko pa naman sasakyan, no hurries baga. Pero pag next sem hindi pa din ako kumilos, aba iba na yon. re-evaluate na naman ulit ng buhay dapat.

Therefore, ayun. Wala pa naman akong masyadong progress sa orig na mga plano ko. Pero may bago akong pinasok, plug ko na din. Natuwa ako ng lubos sa Punong, yung fish pond ng pamilya namin sa province. Ang laki-laki! Alam ko namang 7 hectares siya, pero wala naman kasi akong idea kung ano yung physical na itsura ng pitong ektarya noh. Ayun, mag-i-invest ako dun sa next na cycle. Sana matuloy, sobrang excited ko na nga e!

Good luck good luck na lang. Review ulit ng buhay pag nasa mood. :D

Buhay Checklist

Sige, since nawiwindang at naiinip ako at hindi na talaga ako mapakali, gagawa ako ng checklist ng kung ano ba talagang gusto ko sa buhay:

1.) Bili ng kotse - Check
2.) Matapos bayaran ang kotse
3.) Pero habang pinagtratrabahuhan ang pambayad sa minamahal kong sasakyan, bawal magsayang ng oras kaya dapat magsimula na ako sa PAGMAMASTERALS ko. Sa ngayon, I'm thinking EnE...
4.).) Makapagshift ng career sa trabaho na sa tingin ko ay mas fulfilling at mas mae-enjoy ko
*Warning to self: Liliit ang sweldo mo, maghanda ka na, para hindi naman kawawa si family
5.) Masubukan makapagtrabaho at tumira sa iba't ibang bansa, sana naman magamit ko ang mga inaral ko
6.) Kapartner ng 5 ang travel the whole world drama
8.) Somewhere sa gitna ng 5 at 6, gusto kong maging tambay ng medyo matagal, mga 1 to 2 months at least pwede na. Hindi ako magttrabaho, hindi ako maghahanap ng trabaho, tunganga mode lang. Tambay nga.
7.) Dapat magawa ko ang 1 to 6 sa madaling panahon para pwede na akong mainlab nang hindi masyadong iniisip na baka makahadlang lang ito sa mga pangarap ko sa buhay
8.) Mainlab, mag-asawa, at maging nanay. Sana yung magiging asawa ko magaling sa buhay para kung maisipan ko mag-housewife lang, kering keri.

Ayun, syempre nasa huli talaga ng listahan ko ang love life. Ganun talaga, hindi pa siya kasama sa short term plans ko. Life muna. Hay sana matupad ko tong lahat ng to.