night out

one night, last week, i found myself in a disco bar, outside manila. normally, i wouldn't be caught dead dancing or even just hanging out inside a disco. bars like 70's bistro or conspiracy garden cafe were more of my scene. but last week, together with KT, FRD and FRD's young cousins, we found ourselves barhopping which eventually ended in a dark, noisy, fully-packed disco bar, it's name i could not recall.

up until now, i could not understand how the place became a disco bar when you couldn't even find a spot to do some decent, or even undecent dancing. the place was too crowded and all one could do was sway a little to the music, which was an advantage for me since i don't really dance. maybe it was just a place to see people and be seen. to ogle and be ogled.

the age range of people there were teens to early 20s, so obviously, FRD, KT and i felt a little out of place. i couldn't even enjoy seeing a cute guy without thinking of being sued for statutory rape!

FRD's cousins were our hosts for the night and they all had a great time. the 3 of us ended up as the chaperones. our presence served as an excuse for the kids to have a late night in town without curfews and limitations. there were no limit to their alcohol consumption since their "chaperones" were mildly alcoholics as well.

oh well, i must be really getting old and the kids, i think are a lot different now. i guess my parents had the same sentiments while i was growing up....

plane ride

taken at the very back of the plane

as FRD and I were waiting for our plane going to boracay, we noticed that the ground stewardess changed our seat number. from the 3rd row, we were moved to the 10th row. the plane had a 32-seating capacity and after doing some math, i realized that we were moved to the last row.

i was still thinking about the move when we were finally asked to board the plane. FRD and i were the last to board when we saw that the seats were vacant from the 6th row down. So, i then asked the stewardess who was ushering us in,

me: "miss, pwede ba dito na lang kami sa bakante?"

stewardess: " ay maam, dito na lang kayo sa likod kasi ho lahat na ng pasahero nasa harap, para ho balanced yung eroplano."

ayus! with me and FRD's combined weight, we could balance the whole plane! as our price for being such good sport, we were given 2 nagaraya crackers each... while the others just got one.

In May

This month of May brought a lot of childhood memories, most of them good. For one thing, it's my birth month and as a child, i could not wait for May to arrive, for that day to come...my birthday. Not that each birthday would mean a party with balloons, gifts, cakes and ice creams galore, but it was, and sometimes, still is the day i feel extra special. It was that one day when everybody was extra nice to me, tried not to upset me in any way and treated me like a princess. It was my most favorite day. But as i grew older, my birthdays became an entirely different story...

May too, was the time when I got ready for school. I could still remember the times when we went to Cubao to buy the things I would need for the next school year. With Alimall, Rustans, SM, and other shops all in one place, Cubao used to be ‘the’ shopping central. Usually, our first stop was National Bookstore, which was always crowded around that time, for the books, notebooks, pens and other odds and ends. Next would be SM for the Gregg shoes, but if, and only if the shoes from the last school year, a) did not fit anymore, b) could not be repaired by our suki shoe-repair man, c) no hand-me-down shoes to fit me. Otherwise, SM would only be just for window-shopping.

Since Rustans had very expensive stuff, hence, we could not afford their goods, it just served as our shortcut to the next awaited destination…Goldilocks. They used to serve the best spaghetti I ever tasted. I could still remember the euphoria I felt every forkful I swallowed…ang sarap! All the pagod from walking one place to the next was erased with just one plate of goldilocks' mouth-watering spaghetti.

But the end of May also marked the end of hot, sunny days, and the rain started to come. The end of doing nothing, save for sleeping, playing, watching TV shows, interspersed with the occasional household chores, etc, etc. Life was really simple then...

I could go on and on about my happy memories of may but I'd like to cherish those memories some more in my mind and in my heart.

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To bengorts, R, F, E, F and all the others who are celebrating their birthdays this month, may this entry evoke your happy childhood memories of May. =D

do you have secrets?

i was lucky enough to have bloghopped to this site.  I found myself thinking of my

secrets and came up with quite a lot. but they're for me to keep and for nobody to 

find out. =)

both sides now

dreamland

after months of searching, i finally found a joni mitchell cd in a music store in makati. as i asked the saleslady for the price, i secretly prayed that it would be within my budget. good thing, i wasn't disappointed. the cd contained one of my favorite songs, both sides now. yey!

oh, and F, you're not off the hook yet. you still have to give me the cd you promised! =P

both sides now

Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons ev'rywhere
I've looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun
They rain and they snow on ev'ryone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way
I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds
At all...

Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way that you feel
As ev'ry fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way
But now it's just another show
And you leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care, don't let them know
Don't give yourself away
I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It's love's illusions that I recall
I really don't know love
At all...

Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say "I love you" right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way
Oh, but now old friends, they're acting strange
And they shake their heads, and they tell me I've changed
Well something's lost, but something's gained
In living ev'ry day
Oh, I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose, and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life
At all...

*** this is the song you hear in the background everytime you visit my blog.

sarap!

boracay sunset


feed the fish! feed the fish!

napakainit sa boracay! pero ayos lang tutal pwedeng pwede naman magbabad sa dagat kahit anong oras. wala akong pakialam kung maging negra ako eh talaga namang di ako kaputian dati pa! ang sarap magtampisaw lang sa dagat o di kaya maglakad lakad sa buhangin. iba't ibang klaseng tao makakasalubong mo, merong maputi, maitim, mataba, payat, sexy, TH, maganda, di kagandahan, pero halos lahat ata ng kababaihan eh naka two-piece (asa pa isa ako doon!). syempre pa ang mga kalalakihan eh ligalig na ligalig (wag na i-deny!).

totoo nga sabi ng kaibigan ko, sa boracay kebs lang, basta enjoy ka lang! napakadaming pwedeng gawin pero napakaikli ng panahon. pwede ring tumunganga lang maghapon pero masaya pa rin. hay nako parang alang problemang babalikan pag uwi. ang sarap talaga!

ang di ko lang ata nagawa eh uminom ng malamig na san mig light habang nagmumunimuni sa ilalim ng mga bituwin, sa tabi ng dagat, sa mala-espasol na buhangin (syempre pa-good girl ako). di bale, may pagkakataon pa ko uli sa susunod na linggo!

thirty

as the clock turned 12:00 last night, it suddenly hit me, it's 2005 and this is the year i turn 30. i could not believe it! for one thing, i do not look and feel my age so i look younger (that's what people said and i believed them). plus i still don't act my age. people, especially my family, does not treat me as a near-30-year-old woman...i think they go hand in hand.

i've realized too that there are still a lot of things i haven't done and time is running fast! i just hope that before my life is over, i've done all the things i'm set to do, be it 30, 35, 75 or 100 years old.

may this year be a better one than 2004.

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i wrote this on new year's day in my other blog. tomorrow, i will turn thirty and the sentiments are still the same.

*** i recently saw the advertisement of a cosmetic brand on tv. seeing the commercial, i made a decision and that is not to trust the company, for very obvious reasons...

murano, anyone?

still saving my money to get this original murano pendant

a couple of days ago, for the first time in my life, i went to quiapo to do some shopping. though i've been to the church once or twice, last week was the only time i ventured outside the quiapo church walls. the market there is not one of the safest places to be and i didn't tell anybody at home i was gonna be there. so i told my friends that if anything happened to us, i'd rather be dead than get spanked! patay na kung patay.

and it was all because of the murano glass beads i'm currently fascinated with. the ones in quiapo were copies of the original murano glass of italy but they were so pretty and colorful and cheap that i really didn't care if they were fakes. the ever-famous duke served as our tour guide since he used to moonlight in a clinic there. we braved the afternoon heat as we rode a jeepney going to quiapo, coz we couldn't contain our excitement in finding the beads.

all i knew was we had to find the muslims who sold pearls and other ornaments, just like in greenhills and robinson's where i already bought a handful. so duke guided us to where he saw them and we weren't disappointed. my instinct was to buy them at once and get out of the place fast. of course, when buying, bargaining and canvassing the other stores were very important. so we made round of the shops, until one saleslady pointed us to where they got their beads.

and boy, were they cheap! they were just 1/3 the price they gave me in greenhills. kainis! but the stock was limited which was a little disapponting. i bought a few plus all the little things needed in making a bracelet and a pendant. but in the last store we went to, which i initilly didn't want to enter thinking they didn't have what we were looking for, we found more beads. they were a lot cheaper than in all the other shops. and contrary to what i thought, it was owned not by muslims but by a chinese businessman. plus, it wasn't a jewellery shop, it was a general merchandise store.

it was a joy finding those fake murano beads. now i have a box full of them, still unmade, and i don't know what to do with the lot. and i can't wait to go back to quiapo again this week.

------
this afternoon, i went to a stall in greenbelt where they sell original murano-made jewellery from italy. i'm now a proud owner of a new pendant and watch, courtesy of my brother. nakaka addict!