iloilo-guimaras-bacolod

happy birthday doc!

when things get messy and you just don't want to be sad anymore, it feels good to be surrounded by lifetime friends who know you inside out. our doctor friend ate gay called me, ate nelly, avon and ate may for merienda last saturday (her birthday was easter sunday). we haven't done this in more than a year. ate nelly cooked (tried!:P) spaghetti, i brought ice cream (better safe than sorry), avon helped doc gay out with her really yummy siomai and ate may took care of the grill. i ate too much. again. but yeah, who cares?!


ang mga boss

birthday girl

putting the cam's timer on works :P

the shirt is a gift from my mom. my brothers got theirs too: masamang impluwensya and sunog-baga. our mother loves us dearly :)

nakikigulo lang sa pag-iihaw :P

team kiko christmas

i got the chance to see old friends at the team kiko christmas party last dec.17 at the brickhouse in guadalupe. i brought my mom along, as we were scheduled to go to the noel bazaar at the world trade center in pasay the following day. a lot has changed, i felt a bit lost, but i still love my team no end :)
with my mom

with lizel

catching up with sen.kiko

with ditas

with team kiko

inanity

after staying at my place for three days, my doctor friend gay and i travelled back to bataan for the weekend. as the bus stopped in front of an elementary school in our hometown, we saw practically every kid running back and forth--to go home, to play, to get into a building.

me: bakit kaya napakanormal sa lahat ng bata na tumakbo?

doc gay: oo nga no. ang matanda, kahit nagmamadali, unless sobrang importante, di pa rin tumatakbo...parang nakakahiya.

me: imagine kung pati matatanda tumatakbo...

we looked at each other and pondered some more.

bangkok dangerous

just an amusing thing.

my thai friend somphon, bade and i were driving in the streets of bangkok from a night out late last year when we ran into a detour. somphon opened the window to ask a bystander what was happening, and when he turned to us dear foreigners to explain what was causing the delay, he said that a hollywood film was being shot right ahead of us.

"ask him who's the actor in the film," bade told somphon.

"arrgh," protested somphon, but he knew the most painless way out of it was to do as he was told.

"i swear if it's colin farrell, i'm getting out of this car," i told bade.

"nicolas cage," somphon reported.

and we drove happily ever after.

a few months later, it was somphon's turn to visit. while he, bade and i were killing time at mall of asia waiting for his flight back to thailand, we passed by the cinema to check out movie posters.

"hey look, somphon," bade said. "bangkok dangerous."

starring nicolas cage.

Girlfriends, Men and Dogs

I caught up with my college best friend, who shall now grace this blog as Bade (since she is quite a spectacular person and any untoward revelation made herein might cause nuisance to her perfection--if you know her true identity then you also know her well enough to keep your mouth shut) at Greenbelt 3 today. She was escaping the vestiges of the supertyphoon that left her city with no electricity for many days now.

Last time I saw her was sometime in February when we went to the UP Fair. The vixen lost some weight and was fabulous as ever. Trust her and I to not lay eyes on each other for months and feel like we're still living at the annex wing of Kalayaan Dormitory.

It's funny how we kept our friendship for six years when our personalities are poles apart. She's cool, calm, collected. I'm the perennial worrier. She doesn't give a hoot about what other people think; I was born a crowd-pleaser . She eats exotic food...when we were in Bangkok, she willingly ate whatever food was on her plate without asking what composed her meal. I can only take chicken, pork, beef, definitely no vegetables and fish, but I do love shrimp and crabs. We do agree on one thing though, but it is much too exclusive to reveal here...we were, for once, whispering when we concurred on this observation a few hours ago.

Our source of fascination varies from politics(today it was the death of Rep. Beltran) ,history (we conferred on the Boleyn sisters), international relations (the ASEAN)...but mostly the more important topics that would grace our discussions would be the choice of tissue paper("Bakit ganito brand nito...'Tisyu'?!!?Wahahahaha"), food("Bakit wala nang cream sauce itong meal na to?....Ay teka, nasa ilalim pala ng kanin!" or

"I specifically said lose the onions, this is onion, it's not cabbage, it tastes like onion too.") and of course, men and failed relationships ("If you think about it, mas okay na yung married before kasi may annulment naman...mahirap yung may anak kasi yun lumalaki, nakikita mo, di mo naman pwedeng patayin yung anak di ba?!?").

Speaking of men...I was also in Greenbelt last night and found this book, Everything I Know about Men, I Learned from my Dog by Clare Staples, with a foreword by Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell. I didn't get to buy it, so when I told Bade about thi s find, we traversed the narrow path to Powerbooks and searched again.

Found it, bought it, loved it. Now that's an irony, because I'm not especially fond of the male specie at this point, and neither am I fond of man's so-called best friend. Anyone who claims to know me must know my uncanny fear of the canine. Big or small, I turn cold and jump at the sight of a dog nearby.

In any case, the book is a joy to read. It's the kind you finish in an hour or less. Each page contains one paragraph of truth--on the left side about men, and about dogs on the right. I was only on page two and I was amused already.

So what sort of insight does the book share? "Don't date a slob. No matter how good a man's heart is, or what a great guy he seems, if he looks a mess, most likely he is a mess. A man who takes pride in his appearance has self-worth and that is a great quality." Partnered by " Make sure your dog is groomed regularly. Their appearance is very important and they look to you to keep them at their best."

Or "Handsome men are never a great bet. Often they have learned to rely on their looks and as a result have not had to develop a personality or sense of humor--two far more important qualities." With, "Don't choose a dog for his looks alone. Remember that looks are only surface deep--loyalty, devotion, an eagerness to please and unconditional love truly are the most wonderful things you can ever experience than the color of his eyes or the softness of his coat."

This author's one smart former model.