My December

You can tell just how hectic the past month had been. Last entry was November 17? Really pathetic, I should say. But then again I didn’t have a choice. It’s either I’m too spent to blog or simply not in the mood.

In fact, I’m not in the mood to do anything worthwhile, like paint or read a book. I’m just too lazy these days! Must be the weather. Anyway, here is my attempt to look back at my December…

December 1 and 2
The long weekend was spent in Antipolo, conducting a Corporate Values Training Program for the HR department of one of our beer plants. The weather was cold, being in the boondocks, and the participants were just great. After the training program (which lasted up to 10PM, we then hied off to the restaurant penthouse for a Christmas party. I had a couple of beers but was just too tired to drink more.

December 9
Went to see my mom so I could buy her a dress for my friend’s wedding. She’s one of the principal sponsors so I promised her a gown for the event. Funny, my mom is “ninang” of all my friends who got married. Probably their way of thanking her for spending most afternoons at our house when we were in high school. We used to ransack our pantry for whatever food stock we can get our hands on (usually making do with Spam™ or corned beef) and my mom would return home from work finding her pantry raided yet again. She could only shake her head, realizing how ravenous teenagers could be.

December 14
Kat, John, and I together with 3 other officemates went to Alabang for an outreach program sponsored by our company. The Haven was a secluded institution which houses women who have experienced rape or abuse/maltreatment in their relationships. The women go through counseling and medical treatment (they have a small hospital there) and they are also taught livelihood skills to get them ready for life outside the institution. We went there to bring gifts and treat them to a sumptuous lunch. We also prepared a short program for them consisting of games and a dance number. Since I prepared the program, I was volunteered to be the emcee as well (sigh). However tiring the morning was, I felt pretty good knowing that I was able to help, in one way or another.

That night, John, Kat and I bought gifts for Sir Alvin and Ms. Bong at Kultura in Megamall. We also bought our exchange gifts for the OPD party on Saturday. My feet were killing me because of the new shoes I bought (I think they’re the wrong size). We had dinner at the food court were I devoured maki and tempura (yumyum!). Thankfully, Lyndon was with me because I was spent with all the walking we did. At least I had someone to carry my stuff and massage my feet afterwards.

December 15
The following day, we went to Tiendesitas (this time with Leo in tow), a nice flea market near our office. We ate dinner first, gearing up for the long night ahead; the place is quite big and it would take patience and stamina to go through all the villages. The stores are segregated into villages depending on what you intend to shop for (pets, clothes, household items, antiques, etc.). We finally gave up around 10pm, too tired to go on, and yet we haven’t explored the entire place. I went home with a few toys, blouses and whatnots.

December 16
On Saturday, I had to wake up very early because I had to go to Quezon City to buy chocolate bars for the fondue. I promised my boss I’d bring the fondue and the chocolates, so I had to go to my favorite baking store (Chocolate Lovers) , wait in line for 30 minutes (the place was jampacked!) then run to my mom’s house to get the fondue set. I had to make it back to Ortigas by 1:30 or I would miss the ride going to my boss’ house. I chose to ride the train to Ortigas, thinking that it will get me there faster, but lo and behold, the line was about a mile long! But I had to bear with it because getting a cab was out of the question. Getting a cab in Manila at the height of a Christmas Season is a miracle, if you believe in one…

I finally got to Ortigas at 2PM, and hitched a ride with Sir Alvin. We arrived at Ms. Beth’s house around 4PM, just in time for the party. Now let me talk in pictures so I can share what happened during the party

December 21
Our department, the Corporate Human Resources held its Christmas Party on Thursday afternoon. This year’s theme was movie awards night so each unit has to represent a particular movie and dress up in costumes. We chose to present Austin Powers – Goldmember so we had to don a 70’s get-up. It was fun! I even convinced my best friend to drop by during lunch break to attach false eyelashes on me. I later put on a 70’s make-up and let my hair go wild (as in, literally). People stared as I walked around the corridors of the office, but who cares?! I was having fun playing the part.

I later ended up with an award as the Female Star of the Night! Didn’t expect to win, not even sure if I liked the attention, but the jacket I won was cool! Funny thing, John won for the male counterpart…thanks to Kat for providing our wardrobe.

December 23
My good friends Rex and OT finally got married (after four years of going steady) at the Sacred Heart Church in Makati. Their wedding reception followed at the Wack-Wack Country Club(note: pictures to follow). Annie and I emceed at the reception and of course we were our usual silly selves. Rex wanted the program to be as light or even funny as possible. No problem with the latter because when Annie and I are on stage, we almost always end up like Abbot & Costello or Champoy even.

from L to R: Chuck, Tony, Annie, Vivien, Rex, OT, Princess, Me, Minnie, Ojie; below: Anton and Jon

However, there were also emotional parts in the program (uhm, not to our credit though) like when Rex and OT had their first dance. Rex sang the firs part of Forevermore, and I'm sure everyone in the room felt the intensity of the newlyweds' love for each other. I am praying that their marriage will be as happy and delightfully colorful as the wedding had been.

December 24
I slept over at my mom’s house after the wedding and spent the whole day in front of the computer, playing Mystery Case Files™. Before the day ended, I had an awful headache which lasted until Christmas day.

Mommie spent the whole day tinkering around the kitchen. We of course had our usual Noche Buena at 12 midnight with Jef almost half asleep but tremendously excited at the thought of opening his gifts (he’s been pestering the whole family about it since morning). But I did love the look on Jef’s face as he opened his WWE action figures one by one. It’s what you can call a Kodak™ moment.

Honestly, I’m quite sad that I don’t get excited anymore with the coming of Christmas. Probably because I tend to equate its coming with gift expenses, heavy traffic, obligations and all the other hassles that come with it. I remember when I used to anticipate our Noche Buena because of the prospect of getting to stay up late (when we were kids, bedtime was at 8:30) and getting gifts even! I don’t remember when Christmas has lost its glory for me. Probably when daddy left for the states. All of a sudden, my Christmas never felt the same.

This is the 20th Christmas dad, and yes I’m still counting.

UST Tigers, UAAP Champions!

After a 10-year drought, UST emerged as the 69th UAAP Men's Basketball Champion!

I wanted to watch the games at the Araneta, but of course I had to be in the office, so I just contented myself with the television in our Corporate Library. Of course, I couldn't scream my lungs out, so I almost had a heart attack!

To think, the Tigers had a difficult start in the elims and the semis, and yet they were able to surpass it all. I'm so proud to be a Thomasian!
Viva Sto. Tomas!

Saturday Showdown

My Saturday was a truly tiring one, but no regrets because it was filled with adventure from the time I woke up.

6AM, I was off to Barangay Socorro in Quezon City to participate in a medical mission sponsored by the Cuasay family. It was my friend Kat's dad's birthday, and for a different kind of celebration, they decided to organize a medical mission for the residents of their community. The day started with a holy mass then breakfast, then of course the medical mission.

Our group (friends from SMC composed of Bong, Alvin, John and Jaize) were assigned at the Pediatrics section. While they were assigned at the registration table, I was assigned at the nurses' station where I teamed with two other nursing students from AMA. I was tasked to get the temperature, height and weight measurements of the patients plus do a short interview to verify the patient's illness.

Boy, was it back breaking! Specially when the patients arrived in swarms! I've done a number of volunteer works in the past, especially when I was still in Philippine National Red Cross, but this was the first time that I really got into close contact with that many poor people in half a day. Some looked decent enough but a number came who looked like they haven't eaten anything in days. Some kids looked too malnourished and weak, and didn't have anything decent to wear. There was one who didn't even have footwear.

While I know that there isn't much I can do to alleviate their difficulties, I felt glad that I had the opportunity to do something, however insignificant it may seem. Plus of course I experienced it with the tulisans, and this is something we will remember for a long time.

Right after the medical mission, Lyndon fetched me because we were planning to watch game 2 of the UAAP games. Ms. Bong and Kuya Carlos dropped us off to Araneta coliseum where there was a huge crowd of students, alumni and school officials eagerly waiting for the 4PM game. We got good seats, thanks to Allan and Lyndon's friend Onjan from Araneta.


We were of course rooting for UST, with me being a Thomasian, and because of Allan Evangelista one of the star players of the UST tigers. Lyndon got him into the team many years back, and he has flourished into a very good player over the years. He always tell people how much he owes Lyndon for that opportunity to play with the Tigers. He's graduating next year and will soon be playing for the PBL and I'm sure eventually for the PBA.

During the game, I in m striking yellow shirt, was seated with Jen and Kathy (Lyndon's niece who's also a senior in UST) and other UST professors. It was like I was transported back to the mid 1990's when the UST tigers won championships 4 years in a row. The energy of the crowd was just overwhelming and my head was throbbing from yelling too much. I was on my feet, dancing and screaming at the top of my voice the whole time. Jen and I were also carrying huge placards that said "GO USTe" and we were gyrating to the drumbeat. After the game, we went to see Allan to personally congratulate him. He was so glad to see us there.

We had dinner at Dencio's afterwards and feasted on sinugba, sisig and sinampalukang manok. The dinner was in celebration of UST's victory that night and for Jen's birthday on the 5th. Dinner was of course spent discussing the game and Jen's blossoming friendship with Allan.

We got home at around 11PM and while my feet were killing me, I was exhilarated and smiled myself to sleep. Hopefully, my voice will come back by tomorrow. :-)

Good luck Tigers, go get them in Game 3!

3 months after

Three months since i last went here...

I've been getting flak about not updating my blog as often, but then again there's just so much in my hands at the moment that I can't even bother to get a pedicure...

May, June and July came and went and oh was it eventful! First, my dad came home on May 26, my sister got married on June 10 (oh yes I wore the yellow gown!), my dad went back to the states, etcetera etcetera...

All my time and energy is still spent on work most of the time and in renting and watching movies over the weekend. This is something that i've come to enjoy doing on my days off. One time, i did a seven-movie marathon for 2 days!

Last week i rented the movie adaptation of RENT and boy i loved it! Not only because Jesse L. Martin has been my long-time crush (I never thought he sings so well!), or that I simply adore musicals, but because the movie was just spectacular! I'm still raving about it and urge all my friends to watch it too. I even downloaded a RENT screensaver for my office PC. The songs were great and I promised myself to get a copy of the OST.

Note: picture courtesy of sonypictures.com

Summer Outing

As if I didn't have enough to do, there was the CHR summer outing to contend with. With our boss concurrently holding the position of AMG Manager for CSU, we had to help out in planning and executing the summer outing for our department.

The venue was Blue Palm resort in Calamba Laguna. It was a very nice place where I'm planning to go back to, this time with the whole family in tow. Being in charge of the program and games, and all the preparations that went with it, we were busy almost the whole time with hardly a moment to rest, except in the afternoon. But it was fun, even when there were only about 50 of us who joined the outing.

During the raffle, guess what I was the lucky winner this year of a steam flat iron! What's so funny is, I won the same thing in our outing last year! Hahaha! I gave my prize last year to my big sister, so this new one goes to my mom this time.

Picture here was when we just arrived at the venue...

(standing LtoR) me, angel, tita presy, ed, kat (seated LtoR) Tizza, EDN, shiela, jonn and alvin

Poolside, with kat, john and ms. bong

Weekend Madness

Had the most fun over the weekend. Friday night was SMC songfest elimination night. After the event, I spent the night at my Ate's house in Pasig. As usual, I was a bit tipsy when I got home, having drank about a couple of pitchers of draft beer. I went straight to bed and was awakened by my little nephew calling me. "Mommy!," he said. And then he looked at me again and said "Ay, tita dap!" He then kissed me and told me to get up because it was morning already. He even sort of scolded me that everyone was awake already and I'm the only one sleeping. That little brat! :D

At about 10AM my other sister (our youngest) arrived with her fiance because she was scheduled for a trial make-up at my sister's house. The result was pretty good but both my ate and I were telling her that we don't feel much for her make-up artist. It seems that there is something more to her than meets the eye. Oh well, so much for intuition, she did a good job with my sister's make-up anyway.

By mid afternoon as we were watching TV, I broached the idea of watching a comedy show at Klownz. It's been a while since we sisters went out together for the night so it was really exciting to be with them again. The show was hilarious! We stayed on until the end which was about 2am already. We also saw Allan K outside the bar after the show so my sister and her fiance asked for a picture with him. He was very gracious and readily agreed. My Ate and Fel brought me home and we got there before 3am. I had a really great time. I wish we could do it again soon...