goodbye, pig

i don't like the chinese zodiac or any kind of zodiac for that matter. but i do like pig. and pork. and since the chinese ancients have mystically assigned 2007 to our dear beloved pig, let me say adieu to 2007 thru this picture of my favorite girl wearing my favorite animal. (coincidentally, pigs are colored pink, banne's favorite color.)



Happy New Year everyone! and if you're dumb enough to play with firecrackers then, there you go, you're dumb. Let's all have a great 2008!

and now... a dodong picture

photoshop courtesy of brian and banne. :P

my sister's home!

after almost four hours of waiting at the airport, she finally came. my sister. in a family obsessed with giving nicknames, she is known as "tutak".

Merry Office Christmas !

Here are some more pictures from our office pictorials. :)

Bantayan Island

Azeus Cebu lakwatsa at Bantayan Island. What a way to start my Cebu work life. Went to Bohol a month ago. Will post pictures soon. (Am writing like this coz phone blogging is a bitch. Hehe)

at your service

i was at the SM Megamall Supermarket last night to horde on C2 litros when it happened.

suddenly, a voice came over the PA system, "Attention SM Shoppers: This is our purpose..."

after three claps, every sales person on the floor raised his/her arms and shouted, "At your service!"

and then they went back to whatever it was they were doing before the "announcement".



now i have some objections to this apparent customer relations propaganda engineered by our friends at SM. first, the grammar is incorrect. second, anytime i am suddenly affronted by three claps and a caterwaul, i do not feel i am being served. (somehow, the emotion is more akin to being taunted by the opposing team during intramurals.) third, it is a humiliating exercise for any person -- sales or otherwise -- to go through.



SM, is this going to be a regular thing now? this "announcement"? it's bad enough that every mother's day, you have your sales persons sing to motherly-type customers at the cashier's. ick.

Switchfoot is coming to Manila!!!

mark your calendars, kids: 10 sep 2007 at the cuneta astrodome. check this site for updates.

trainspotting

Baby Dawn was Sick boy's bairn, aye? quite sad rrrealli. find oot what "Trainspotting" gadge ye are herrre.

a month more

i'll have a month more of you, ortigas.



... of your lovely architecture



... of your gravel-laden parking spaces



... of your unfinished twin obelisks



... of your spikey plants

i'll have a month more of you.

bumped into rhoda

yesterday i was walking up and down emerald avenue trying to get a cab. it was around 6:30 and i should have been in makati at 6:00. an itinerary is hopeless in this city when it involves a cab ride. it also didn't help that it was cold and rainy.

and then a girl blurted out my name from that golden strata 3000 building. funny that my mind immediately assumed it wasn't me being called out. for more than 2 years now in this city, i still thought nobody i actually new would bump into me in the street. it was rhoda macachor.

rhoda was as sweet as ever. she got a superb job that sends her all over the country to train people. how perfect is that for her? the next day, she was leaving for zamboanga. it also turns out that she's living with joy marpa and jotay somewhere in mandaluyong. i hope i can see them soon.

notes on a scandal

i've been telling people to go see this film. judi dench scared the hey out of me.

(something bizarre: the afternoon i bought this dvd, i was listening to paolo nutini. i got home and saw gerald butler get a stunt award for 300 on tv. and then i saw 'the last king of scotland'.

i thought the scottish connection would end, but then i put this film on and was shocked -- when you see this film, you'll understand why.)

trinoma

trinoma isn't a mall. it's either a resort with a lot of stores or a big store with an even bigger garden. you walk around never far from the sound of water trickling in some made up waterfall. in every bend, beautifully landscaped foliage. at night, fog effects hover on the waters.



centuries ago, men built hanging gardens for the gods, huge monuments to departed wives, or bejeweled halls for noble heroes. today we just ask the architectural geniuses from ayala land to build us the commercial centers of our dreams. all for a better shopping experience, why else?



trinoma means 'triangle north of manila'. the mall is quite spacious with snaking walkways here and there. as of writing, around half of the stores are already open, including a pretty little starbucks upstairs.

now i've something to see in QC aside from UPD and grill queen at teacher's village.

Gaga...

...will conquer Cebu starting June 30.

Camotes, day 1

the view from Santiago beach resort. white-sand gulf. cliffs everywhere. aquarium fishes swimming nearby. i'm so glad i'm not at the office.

Desk stuff

this is the first picture I sent directly from my phone. wowza!

dea has left the building

bye, dea! now only three OCD warla-types remain.

Happy Wedding, Mari

that's right, kids. our Mari is now Mrs. Tapere!



i wasn't there but banne took these pictures of the happy couple. i can't believe Mari looks just about the same pretty girl i used to talk with in high school. of course there's something so -- hmm -- official about the wedding gown.



I don't know the hubby well enough, but i'm sure he's a good guy. you know how it is when you start thinking about who your friends might end up with? i have this idea about who Mari would end up with and i'm sure Alby is all that and more.



God bless you, Mar! have a fun married life.

spidey rides an FX to megamall

if you get to be FX upholstery, then you know you have become part of Pinoy pop culture.



i got to ride this Pasig-Megamall FX yesterday on my way to work and i felt i was walking into a play pen. riding in the back made me feel like a baby in a crib - all around me spidey in various degrees of contortions.

on sick leave

i got time off work today. i've been feeling feverish and drowsy. my head alternates from feeling heavy and light.

not really a fan of bed rest, i marched to mega and looked for a good book. i just got some Powerbooks GC's courtesy of mr lee (company birthday gift) last week so splurging didn't make me feel too guilty.

the girlfriend had me looking for Letters to a Young Poet by one Rilke but Powerbooks doesn't have it. so i settled for The Narnian, a biography of CS Lewis. i think it's perfect because i've always wanted a new Christian book to read but i honestly couldn't stand the daily devotionals that pass for Christian Lit these days. (if you've read some real good ones tho, do tell me).

on the way home, i stopped for the nutty oats drink from Fruit Magic. the sales lady misunderstood me and got in an extra scoop of whey designer protein powder in the drink. i don't know if this will suddenly transform me into the hulk any time soon.

good book, good drink. i'm feeling healthy already.

randy is in town

randy is here for a month or so. we got together election day to eat, bowl, and talk -- mostly to talk. while the rest of the country queued up in humid voting precincts, we chatted about cars, pirated iPods, anorexic girlfriends, masochistic wrestlers and the difference between manila and cebu.



15 minutes into the bowling game, we were completely convinced we were wasting money so we can knock down flimsy white pins with pink balls. bowling is generally a boring game. but after you manage to do a couple of strikes, you start to feel there is more to it -- like maybe it really is a sport. and then your arm starts to ache and you finally conclude it really is stupid.



if you haven't talked with him lately, randy now speaks with the unmistakable twang notable of his profession. it could be quite disorienting at first, but after a few capably spoken "come on, man"-s, you'll get over it.



we ate at tokyo-tokyo. after an hour or so of waiting we finally resigned to the fact that larben and sir paul were not coming. i have been waiting to catch a glimpse of larben's flowing locks. i reckon it should be waist-length by now.



randy is seriously considering staying in manila for work. he loves the people. he loves the life. he adores greenhills. jayjay and i gave him a talk about investing on a good place to stay. if you don't, you will hate staying home and would rather choose to go out often. this entails a lot of gastos. but then again, a quality home is gasto in itself. this is the decision every working man (or woman) in manila must make.



see you around, randz! swing that ball like you mean it!

birthday gift

thanks to all who greeted me on my birthday.

phones i've dated

i've dated around seven phones in eight years so far. of course i had one fling with a small little sony ericcson, but she died on me (turned off and never lit up again -- we were together for just a couple of weeks).

so here are my ex's all displayed in chronological order. if i had ran my fingers over some technological goddesses which i failed to include in this list, do forgive me.



my first was a second-hand ericcson dinosaur. she looked something like this, although i had her dressed in some black star-lit cover. she was cranky and refused to tell me the names of people who send me text messages. we had a huge falling out when a friend accidentally broke her antenna (and my did she have one!). we got back together after i mighty-bonded her horn back. i loved the sound she made when she rang or beeped. the sound was crisp and perky, like a girl's demanding for attention.



and then i dated this alcatel damsel. then again, i guess everyone in the philippines caught the Talk 'N Text craze. unlike the one in the photo, i owned a bright yellow one. with its sturdy and curvy build and bright yellow color, it looked like i was carrying a bar of Safeguard soap around. i loved how she fit correctly in my hand -- all her curves and mounds fit perfectly in my palm. proof that the design department of Proctor and Gamble are doing their job.




now this one's a looker (nokia 3210). she may have been the sexiest phone i've ever dated. i loved the dark sandy grey color she came in originally. (somehow dressing her in other covers made her look cheap, so i had her wear her grey dress until it chipped off her.) she can play very few games, but she would always keep me up playing Snake with her. i always remember the subtle click-clackity sounds she made when i pressed. this phone i worn out till she broke.



this sweety was all about features (nokia 6510). she did so much for me! she can play the radio, surf the net, talk with other phones thru infrared. she was also incredibly small. sadly, this meant falling out of my hands quite often. although i always dropped her, she held up for me, the little trooper that she was. i loved the cool blue light she shone -- clear, quiet beauty.



i think everyone goes thru a nokia 7650 phase. i not only wanted a phone that can do many things for me but one that can do everything! i hated her look, but i convinced myself that her bulky slide was the thing for the technorati. for all she can do, she turned out to be pretty high-maintenance and i wasn't really prepared to spend so much time and effort on her. one afternoon, she cronked up and then refused to let me access my SIM. i called it quits.



this phone was all about attitude (nokia 7200). she wears this soft velvety cover which i enjoyed tremendously. she was ubber-thin once she is opened -- sleek and slender. she made me fall in love with flip phones. i had to let her go because i decided it was time for a change (i had a feeling she was getting old on me -- we were together for more than 2 years). i really wasn't ready to part especially since everyone seems to loved her, but move on we must.



i'm seeing this baby now (sony ericcson w710i). she's a walkman phone so she can sing a pretty good tune. she's very sporty and she insists on counting all the calories i burn from walking or running. i am crazy over her colors -- white, grey and orange. i've always complained about feeling old (what with work and financial concerns), but when i look at her i am reminded to have fun. she gets mixed reviews about her design (every one seems to think she looks odd), but the first time i saw her peeking at me from a window display in Causeway last year, i fell in love. she had me at fun.

kwentongwatawat.blogspot.com

visit this site for a dose of pinoy pride.

and now... puppy tongues!

i wish these puppies wake me up mornings. teeheehee!