the doting yaya tita
what are you looking at?
teah silliman, my cousin nia's [huge] 4 month old daughter :)
toby siga
sophia, on her 3rd birthdayLabels: sophia, toby, trip
restless
after a busy week in sanfo, we flew to ohio for two weeks of rest. time seems to move slower here, maybe because we spend more time literally resting at home. we can stay in bed for as long as we want, without any pressure, and most of my time is spent in front of the computer or playing with sophia [yes, yaya ako dito hehe], washing the dishes and SHOPPING in nearby malls/stores. there's not much to see in ohio, really [compared to sanfo or maryland at least]. i don't really check my revived friendster account much [long story :p] before, but here i get to log in friendster several times a day and add more people i haven't been in touch with for a long time. i also found the time to delete unnecessary e-mail and upload our sanfo photos in my multiply account.
the irony is, the more i have idle time, the more restless i become. this feeling springs out mostly from guilt and worrying about the coming semester, year, etc. i'm thinking that i should be spending this time reviewing past subjects [:P] instead of reading about hollywood stars in people/ok! magazine over and over; or burning calories at the gym instead of indulging in oily, greasy food all the time [ang sarap pa naman ng krispy kreme]; or fixing the piles of cases in my room instead of shopping for clothes that i won't be able to fit in my closet when i get home. and all this talk with my mom/sister about work and future plans and the imminence of the bar made me think about my future. all this worrying even seeped into my subconscious. i remember waking up early this morning with the prevailing thought in mind that i might not pass the bar. i woke up with my heart beating fast; i felt so exhausted, like i didn't sleep at all. and then i had this weird dream the other night about me preparing myself for a wedding with some guy, and it turned out that the guy [whoever he is] had no idea we were getting married. and then i called the whole thing off. basta, ang labo talaga. i feel that i always need to be on the go so i won't think about these things.
anyhoo.. despite the guilty feeling i get, i do love shopping. every time i enter a shop i like [i love forever 21 and old navy 'cause no matter how fat i get, i still fit into small/xs/sizes 2/4 hehe], i feel like all my worries dissolve into thin air. i even forget that i'm hungry. haha. weirdox. we spent hours yesterday and the whole day today [11 am to 5:30 pm] at the mall. i've always felt that there's something wrong with my impulsive shopping, but when i shop with my mom and sister, i feel perfectly normal. they shop more impulsively than i do without feeling remorse/guilt afterwards. haha. i'even the one who always thinks twice about buying something because "it's too expensive", and they return encouraging words such as "eh maganda naman talaga" or "makakahanap ka pa ba ng ganyan pag-uwi mo?". and i go to the counter feeling good about what i bought. and i'm proud to say that i've bought two suits already with skirts for our office of the legal aid duties from h&m and bought blouses from new york & company. [sale kasi. and items on sale here are priced lower than export overruns from greenhills.] that's the only preparation for O.L.A. i've done so far. heehee. so when i get in court and i start to look stupid in front of the judge for lack of knowledge of the subject, at least i look good. haha.
owayt, i'll sleep in a while. more shopping adventures in the next few days. hehe. and the dave matthews concert on the 7th!! :D
Labels: ohio, rant, trip
wala lang
wala lang, natuwa lang ako sa pic na 'to. hehe, feeling artsy fartsy again. taken at carmel[?] beach. that's my niece jenna, nephew benjo and cousin lyka. Labels: california, trip
quick, random update
still in sanfo. we'll be flying to ohio on wednesday. we've been busy so far; we've maximized our 1 week stay here. we sleep at the earliest at 12 am and wake up at 7:30 [if i can only do that on school nights]. last night, i slept at 1:30 am already because we watched the da vinci code at 9:50 pm [which was surprisingly nice. i've been hearing bad reviews about it].
it's funny that i get to watch more local tv here than i did back in the philippines. back home, i never watch wowowee or home boy, but of course that's all they watch here. and i think i've eaten more frequently in jollibee here than i did when i was in the philippines. [we only ate jollibee here twice. yes, that's already frequent for me] at masama pa ang loob ko don kasi ang mahal ng jollibee!! 100 pesos in the phil. can get you far in jollibee already, but of course, the rates are different here. another time, we ate lunch at this pinoy resto where they served sisig [na hindi naman sisig kasi mukhang beef ng shawarma] and laing for $8 each. grabe!! and i heard from my cousin that they have gerry's grill here already, but the dishes are too expensive, like $10 per serving. hayyy... i've learned that if i want to indulge in really good food, US is not the place to go. ok pa singapore. and of course, good old "P.I." [phil. islands daw. haha].
by the way, they also have bench in serramonte, but they sell it for double the price. we always complain about overpriced US restos/products in the phil. [think taco bell, etc.] well, it's not that different with imported restos/products from the phil. to the US.
siyempre kahit sawang sawa na ako sa pinoy food we still eat in pinoy restos here. i realized that san francisco is the closest thing my brother and sister could get to the philippines, since they live in far flung places like ohio and maryland where filipinos are scarce.
another ironic thing is that i watch more veronica mars back in the philippines than i do here. i don't have time to watch tv at night. kainis. just when things are starting to heat up.
anyway, all our pics are in my multiply site. :D
Labels: california, trip
update from sanfo
due to limited computer time, i'll let the pictures do the talking. hehe. to my brother/sister[who i know doesn't have anything better to do hehe]/relatives, the pics are in my multiply site. 'turns out that a lot of other flights were cancelled last sat. due to the storm. yesterday, 'went to the park straight from the airport to celebrate mother's day. 'saw almost everyone. the weather was sunny. we must've brought the sunny weather with us, 'cause they said this is the first time it became this hot in sanfo. and i bought long-sleeved shirts 'cause i thought it's going to be freezing cold. but i'm liking the weather anyway. today, we went to serramonte mall and tanforan with my cousins, went out with jonel [yeah sosyal na tayo jonel! pastates states na lang! haha], 'watched scary movie 4. 'update later. :DLabels: california, trip
second day
the first two days seemed so long. not in a bad way though. i'm enjoying every minute of it. i've already gone shopping - bought mostly rocker/vintage-effect shirts from forever 21/ross. haha. i know they have no use for me in two year's time because i'll be [hopefully] working already in a law firm/court where i'm supposed to wear corporate attire, but i don't really care. at least i have comfortable shirts to use when i get back to hell school this june. everything here seems so surreal, the same feeling i got last year when i arrived in maryland straight from my labor 2 finals. maybe i'm just overwhelmed to see all my relatives. ang dami na palang bacorro dito. hehe. it won't affect my conviction to stay in the philippines though. i miss local music [i even miss kamikazee's "narda" song. haha. the song everyone's singing at the church camp.], pinoy humor, jeepney signs with bad grammar, greenhills, cheap movie tickets and cheap food. i used to spend a total of P40 at the internship for lunch. this afternoon, i spent $9 for a meal of pasta + side dish at sbarro at the serramonte mall food court. ano buh. isang t-shirt na yun ah.
as i've mentioned in my last entry, yesterday i met up with jonel at serramonte [pronounced serramonee haha] mall. he was the designated driver [hanggang sa states chatao ka pa rin! hehe]. libre kasi gas niya, covered ng company. hehe. here are some pics:
at the picnic, mothers' day. ang mga mothers. :D nagagalit na si nanang, ba't ko daw siya laging kinukunan pag tulog. hehehe!
zel, kaye, lyka, me, jonel. mukha pa talaga kaming sasayaw ni jonel :P
jonel, nagpapaka-abnormal as always. hehe! at the victoria's secret store, tanforan mall. so bale blacklisted na kami don. **nananawagan kay ms. patricia gizzy, where are you????
Labels: california, trip
only in da pilipin...airlines
by now, i should be halfway across the pacific ocean, sleeping my way to san francisco. but no, i'm back here in fairview, blogging as i do when i'm bored.*
our flight was originally scheduled at 10:30 pm last night, so we made it a point to be at the airport by 6:30 pm. when we got there, we learned that the flight has been moved to 12 midnight. which is no surprise, really. it happens all the time, especially with PAL. waiting was inconvenient, but so are many things in life, so we shouldn't complain. hehe. anyway, later on, there was an announcement on the PA system. i didn't make out most of it, but i distinctly remember the words "delayed to 12 pm" and "free hotel accommodations". my initial thought was that they made a mistake, the person should've said "12 am" not "12 pm". this passenger in front of us, however, was quick to realize that our flight has been moved to 12 pm, the next day. ARGHH!!! and they're providing hotel accommodations for the passengers. we opted to get the transpo compensation instead, and waited for papa to pick us up [who arrived a little later than expected because he was the one who drove, and he got lost on the way]. yes, things like these i only read in transpo cases under avila's class.
well, at least...
- we got P2,000 compensation for transpo :P
- the dave matthew's concert wasn't scheduled may 12 evening
- the weather's relatively better today. it was terrible last night
and happy mother's day...
...to all the mothers and the mother figures :D
*you can tell how bored i am with how many entries i'm posting per day. i think i'm not used to having nothing to do anymore, that yesterday morning, after i was done packing and had nothing else to do, i posted three entries in my lj, watched veronica mars and digged up dvds i haven't watched yet. i hate idle moments. :P
Labels: pilipinas, trip
here comes the rain again...
as i walked out of the house this morning, i was greeted by grey skies and two-hour traffic [good morning sunshine! :P]. i don't know if the light rains had anything to do with the traffic; traffic is perennially bad in manila so there reallyis no way of knowing.
while i was reading the paper [which is what i usually do during idle times at the office] that summer's ending, as evidenced by the onset of rains and a storm in samar [i also read in the paper, by the way, that 3 out of 5 youths think they're immune from aids, and that today's the feast day for single women looking for true love :P]. it was a sudden shift from the sunny weather to the wet season.
i also don't know if the rains have anything to do with my current emotional state. well, i actually know they don't, but it's just coincidental that the weather caught up with my feelings. basta, i've been getting sporadic surges of different moods lately - glad, sad, bad, mad. haha. it's so erratic that i jump from my angsty to my emo to my happy playlists in my ipod. and i try to skip coldplay's "the scientist" and up dharma down's "the world is our playground..." altogether. or at least play a neutralizing song afterwards. i couldn't stress this enough: my life has been turned into a rollercoaster since the year started. things just drastically change every month or even every week. hay grabe.. i know i should be entrusting everything to Him and stop taking control of things, but it's sometimes difficult.. :/ trust me, i've been there. i should know better than to try to manipulate things the way i think they should turn out to be.. wala lang. just thinking aloud.
internship report
and so, today was the last day of internship. timing pa, kung kelan ako aalis saka sila nag-assign ng work. hehe. not that i'm complaining, because i would prefer busy days over idle times any day. i remember last friday, i wasn't given a single work, time moved soooo slowly. i downloaded a game in my cellfone and i kept myself busy with that the whole day until my eyes got strained. sometimes i would go downstairs and buy some food at ministop. or go to galle and shop. and i tried to read pugad baboy 18 discretely where i was seated. haha. awhile ago, we had lunch at max's galleria. the associates always go out for lunch on fridays [and they always treat me every time heehee. before, we ate at roma mia's and pizza hut bistro]. at around 5 pm, i was finished with the tasks i was assigned to do. at 6 pm, i started saying goodbye to everyone. i never expected i would feel so sad and heavy about leaving. hehe. i know, i've only been there for 4 weeks, and i don't even know the names of some of the associates, but they're just all so nice and accommodating that i've grown attached to them already. they, especially the older ones, seemed intimidating at first, but it really surprised me how funny and down to earth they can be. tao lang din pala sila. it's like rubbing elbows with my law school professors. hehe. and the atmosphere is just different, since it's a small law firm. they're all pretty tight. and as much as possible they try to maintain harmony in the firm by not hiring anyone repulsive. hehe. they also have cute policies like wearing blue on mondays because "blue monday" daw. haha. and somehow i did learn to appreciate the law more, since i got to see its practical application. of course in law school all they teach you is theory [with the exception of some good teachers who don't focus on that entirely]. basta yun, i just felt so sad awhile ago. some were even asking when i was coming back, and i realized i won't come back until the time i'll be applying for employment, which is in more or less two years. of course i can always ask them where they'll be eating out on fridays and have lunch for free.. hehe joke [baka di ako tanggapin doon lalo hehe].
oh and by the way, one opposition i wrote is going straight to the court of appeals. hehehe wala lang. proud daw.
since the internshp is not really required in school, and i just went through that for love of the law [bwahaha] and because all my friends are taking up internship, plus i have nothing better to do this summer, i wasn't tasked to do any reflection/reaction paper. and so i'm just listing down here all the things i've learned from the internship. i have learned that:
- in law firms, they really use the initials in identifying/addressing each other. thus, i'm barred from marrying anyone with a last name starting with M. my sister's last name after she got married starts with an M, but at least she's not in a law firm. hehe.
- more work can be good.
- i have to love tax because that's where the money is. hehe
- for the same reason, i have to love corpo. law
- 30 pesos can buy you an entire meal for lunch
- some law firms do consider the internship when they hire you for employment. so thank God nag-internship ako because my grades are subpar.
- i need to study more because apparently, i don't know anything!! [not a new learning, but a reaffirmation of something i already know. hehe]
last sunday..
i thought after the camp we will all go our separate ways and forget that it ever happened. well, apparently, last sunday we had an unexpected reunion. pastor chris called me up last thursday and asked if i could give a testimony about the camp in the 7 and 9 am services.. as much as i wanted to decline [because i didn't want to speak in front of an entire crowd. i have not yet done that, especially in gcf], i couldn't, and somehow i want to be more active and visible in church, so i agreed to do it. we had a script anyway, and homer was speaking with me. anyway, in the 7 am service, we ended up reading the entire script. we were told that it didn't sound like we had fun at the camp. and so we revised the entire script, and i had to throw in some quips here and there which i'm glad the crowd laughed at. hehe. and at least people were telling me ok daw yung testimony. puwede na pala ako magstand up comedy...sa court. hehe. at least law school did me good; i can talk in front of crowds now.
anyway, after that we saw some people who also joined the camp, paula, bryan, et al. 'attended a new growth group, all-single-girls naman [singles anonymous?] with me-an, macor, rizza who also attended the camp. 'had lunch at san yang, galleria, where we saw more people from church. yeah, galleria is an extension of gcf. hehe. 'even saw one of the associates from the law firm i worked in. and then watched m:i III with my cousin zaila and mark.
oo nga pala..
i'm flying to the states tomorrow. heehee. gotta pack some more things.
Labels: church, internship, mark, rant, sem break
last day of internship tomorrow
i didn't even notice that 4 weeks have already passed. come saturday, i'll be off to the US for a 4 week vacation.
downloading veronica mars episode 22.
Labels: internship
extreme summer church camp
*note: yes mitch, i'm a born-again christian. haha. ay naniniwala ka na pala :D
last weekend we had the extreme summer church camp at subic. yes, the trip really lived up to the name, from the extreme challenge we had to go through in slicing and masticating the barbecue ribs that was served for lunch until the extremely hot ride home in the bus with the busted aircon. hehe. it was actually my first time to join a camp since i became a member in church. i remember joining similar camps waaay back in high school, but i lost interest then on. i'm glad i decided to join again this time with my cousin. i couldn't think of a better way to spend the long weekend.
at pacific grill, where they served the dinosaur ribs [ang tigas eh hehe]
in day 1, we had the "fun race", a la amazing race. we had to run around subic, looking for clues and doing challenges. i think the heat creeped up to my head, plus i wasn't quite fit to do anything physically strenious, that's why i ended up skipping acoustic night and sleeping in the hotel room after dinner. i was so tired from running around that i actually thought i would have been better of doing the documentary stamp tax returns i was assigned to do for the weekend. hehe. anyway, our team finished last because it took us too long to figure out one of the clues in a certain challenge. my rubber sandals also suffered casualties that i had to throw it out afterwards.
at the ranger game, where i, uh, died. [that explains why i'm not in the pic hehe]
in day 2 we had the main event, the eco trail challenge. i was actually thinking of bailing out because of my bad headache the night before, but it's a good thing i still decided to go, since it wasn't as straining as i thought it would be. besides, the weather wasn't so bad and we had the privilege of communing with nature and the natives while performing the challenges. hehe. it really felt like we were in some reality show; we were tasked to do things we wouldn't think of doing in our sedentary lives [rappelling, slide for life, climbing up an oily tarpaulin..]. we were also told that "we might get wet". anong "might"?? i was drenched in cold water from the waist downwards for crossing the river. haha. but it was really fun. i especially enjoyed sitting by the river with some teammates, with our feet dipped in the water, while we were waiting for the food to get cooked. the view was picturesque, the weather was cool, i was with good company. aliw. the only downside is my 2nd pair of shoes got ruined also. :P
me and my cousin zaila
brown team hehe
i was pretty quiet most of the time because i was soooo tired. :P
ensaladang talong that we my teammates cooked
photo op nanaman namin paula. we had a lot of pics taken together during idle moments hehe
wheeeeee!
at the slide for life. add in a few cameras, paolo bediones and ethel booba and it'll be extra challenge. hehe
relaxing after the challenges
3rd day, the awards were given out. we were supposed to have a 3-hour free time, but everyone woke up late, so we spent the rest of the time with the awards, testimonies, etc. thanks to the host, pacific grill transformed into a comedy bar during the awarding ceremony. hehe. our team ended up in 5th place. hehe. pero ok lang, we gave out the best testimony [trilingual pa, thanks to our teammate from china].
yey 5th place kami!! [6 teams lang lahat haha]
"welcome to boracay!" - overheard during the photo op.
on our way home. i was so relieved the moment we arrived gcf. the bus driver was a madman driving the "hato" bus [which was aptly named because sira nga yung aircon. hehe]. it was a roller coaster ride back to manila. but we enjoyed the trip nonetheless. 'had lunch at one of the gas stations. and there was no traffic [thank God].
so yun, that sums up my entire 3 day weekend. i'm glad i joined, at least i was able to make new friends from church. and yes, i did get to reflect during the devotions even if i was so tired and sleepy during those times. 'made me rethink about my mediocre life and how i'm not utilizing my potential energy. and i also felt the need for me to use biblical standards in whatever i do instead of worldly standards. hayun. sayang, there's going to be a reunion on the 19th. probably by that time i'll be in US freezing from the cold. [well that surely beats riding the "hato bus". hehe.]
Labels: church, summer
church summer camp
...pictures are
here.
Labels: church, summer
