the seven-year itch

after all these years, it has finally been made formal. the long wait has ended and reno (with the rest of us) are truly rejoicing.

to reno and minerva, congratulations! sa wakas! :)

insulting

a chat conversation that happened today (pasted word for word here except for the names)

guy: lupet kat
guy: best ever
me: binabasa ko lang yung pinadala ko sa iyo kanina
girl: hehe....
guy: yang ang malupit
guy: di nag share ng notes
guy: kala siguro nila, robot ka kat
girl: didnt sound like you kat
me: prepared ang tawag dun. :P
me: sinisipon ako eh. :)
girl: hahaha
guy: natatawa ako dito kay girl eh
guy: nagtanong pa kung sino
guy: di mo ba napansin, yung english, walang tono
me: wow, tenk yu.

i so hate this guy.

legally driving

yes, i finally have a license! that does not mean, however, that i have ventured far beyond bf homes or alabang-zapote road. but it still feels good to have it at last. don't look at my license, though... it makes me wonder how the hell i can fit into a car, much more drive. i wanted to go back to the releasing area to have the details changed but dad said it would probably take me another month to have them corrected so off we went.

oh well, at least i have my license.

blooms

people who know me know that i love flowers. i remember when i was young, i would pick wildflowers when we would go mountain climbing. and even when i grew older, my fascination with flowers didn't wane a bit. some of my friends would even pull me away from flowershops because i tend to just stop, stare and be in awe. and so it's no surprise that during my stopovers in singapore changi airport, i would often pass by the orchid garden they have. here are some of the pictures that i took in my most recent stopover.

a sad day it was

yesterday was supposed to be a happy day. it's supposed to be a day wherein everyone is celebrating and enjoying themselves. but it didn't turn out that way. last night, three bombs went off within the hour --- in davao, general santos and makati city. in the makati bombing alone, three people were killed and around 90 people were wounded. a total of 7 people died last night.

seven. quite a small number, if you think about it. but if you think about it more, that's seven people who have died because of terrorist retaliation. that's seven lives that were lost without a cause. that's seven families that are mourning and suffering the loss of a loved one.

i may have understood it if the abu sayyaf retaliated against the military. but to kill innocent people who had nothing to do with the military operations being done in mindanao is just sick. it abhors me the way they treat human life as a pawn in their game of military tactics.

i pity the muslim community. because eventhough majority of them are peace-loving, they are connected to these terrorists because of their common faith. i pray that the muslim community would have a vigilant stand and take the necessary steps to help out the government in this fight against terrorism. and maybe soon, we will have the real peace and freedom that we claim to have.

day of hearts

this is the fifth year i'm going to a date on valentine's day. yes, i've been going out during valentine's (give or take a few days). the great thing about this is, i'm not going with just one special person but a whole group of them.

for the past four years, as is true now, i'm going to spend my valentine's day with friends. :)

i've never had someone romantically special to share valentine's day with. but i'm far from being miserable about it. being with friends on this occasion makes you realize that this day is not just for those romantically involved. it's a day for people to celebrate their love for each other.

happy valentine's day everyone!

london, baby!

i never thought i would be saying those words (from joey in friends, by the way) but i did.

i was ecstatic since december when i knew i would be going to united kingdom. europe! it was the one thing i was looking forward to when 2005 came. i didn't care about the almost 18 hour flight (that is, with a stopover in singapore). i didn't even mind the jetlag, nor the cold that is sure to greet me when i arrived. all i cared about was that i was going to see england.

my first stop was london. i got to stay there for a day (well, almost) before i headed off to newcastle. cel and i met the next morning and immediately went to see big ben, the houses of parliament and westminster abbey. we took about a million pictures during that stop, it was so obvious that we were tourists. excited ones. we decided not to take the train but to keep on walking. we knew there was much more to see that way. we were looking for buckingham palace when we saw guards on horses so we decided to stop, wondering if where we were was already buckingham. but the place was small and there was no gate at all and so we figured that probably wasn't it. still, it didn't stop us from watching the guards change. we then went to trafalgar square and took more pictures. by then, it was time to head back to the hotel to get my things. i almost didn't make it to my flight! i said goodbye to london, but happy in knowing i'll be back after few days. and off to newcastle i went.

newcastle was about work (which is the real reason why i went to england). i knew it would be possible to attend the meetings via conference calls but meeting our colleagues in person was the real benefit in attending in person. i met glenn, peter and anna (europe), debbie and alma (latin america) and other contacts like brahim and harry. it was a very intensive three-day workshop but we still managed to enjoy ourselves. we went to a dog race on tuesday night --- i won about 40 pence. it isn't much but it was a thrill to win. wednesday night, we went to a nice spanish restaurant for dinner. after that, we went out for drinks at a bar beside the millenium bridge. it was great finally meeting the people i've talked to for so long. it's great having new friends.

friday noon, i went back to london, excited in getting to see more sights. cel fetched me from the airport and we went to her friend's house. since it was already midday, we decided just to go around luton and see a movie. the next day, cel and i went out early and explored new sights around london. we went to madame tussaud's and the planetarium. we were planning on going inside but decided not to at the last minute because it was a bit pricey. we went to regent's park instead. after that, we headed for buckingham palace and this time we found it. it was actually near the trafalgar square and had we had more time during our first day, we would have seen it then. we went to see the london bridge (which is a really ordinary bridge, i might say), the tower bridge and the london tower. that was our only agenda for the day but since we still had time, we decided to go to st. paul's cathedral and to the british museuem. the museum was huge and had a tremendous amount of things on display. i even saw the mummy of cleopatra! at the end of the day, our feet were aching so much but we were happy nonetheless. sunday morning, we went to drop cel's bag off. after a good and hearty breakfast, we went to windsor castle together with mandy and his family. and all too soon, it was time to go back home. i wanted to stay longer but don't have neither time nor money to spare.

it's an understatement to say that the trip has been wonderful. many many thanks to all the people who made it so great. i am hoping that one day i'll get to see more of europe.

beauty?

during lunch, a friend told me she will be having liposuction. it was hard for me to keep my surprise to myself since i never really imagined anybody i know to undergo that kind of procedure. i've seen it done in extreme makeover and it wasn't a pretty sight. i don't even understand how anybody could consider giving that kind of torture to their bodies. yes, that is what i think it is. your body goes through so much battery and pain just to make it look better. it wouldn't bother me much if the surgery is for health reasons.

don't get me wrong, i do not look at my friend any differently than how i did before. in fact, in some ways, i think i admire her for having the courage to do it. i could just imagine the questions and the whispers that would circulate in the office when she gets back.

at this point, i believe i won't be undergoing such a procedure in my lifetime. i am not saying that i am liking my body the way it is. in fact, it really needs a lot of work. but at the same time, i don't believe it's a hideous sight for me to consider cosmetic surgery.

like what i said to my sister, we need to have the balance between knowing what to improve and accepting what God has given us. there are some things that we cannot change and we should consider a gift. and for those that we can change, there are some other ways of making it better. it may take more time and effort than we actually want but i believe it would be better for us in the end.

wedding bells ringing again

i could probably consider jen as my first friend in college. that is because i've known her since high school. but for one reason or another, we didn't get to be friends then. what's interesting though, is that a lot of her friends are my friends as well. we knew each other back then (or at least i am assuming that she also knew me) --- she was a consistent outstanding student, a bit soft-spoken i might say (a common misconception because this girl can be talkative). one memory i have of her is that their team beat us in the math quiz bee. this was in our senior year, if i was not mistaken. she was called GP (for grace pasilaban) by her high school friends but she was jen to us.

college was the time when we really became close. mainly because we were in the same course and took the same subjects. she was my constant companion in our communication classes and my thesis mate as well. we were batchmates in our org and shared two years in the council. she was one of my constant companions during my college days. she witnessed a lot of milestones in my life and i witnessed a lot of hers.

last weekend, i witnessed another milestone --- probably one of the biggest, if not the greatest one so far in her life. with half-closed eyes, we travelled from paranaque to damar village to witness her exchanging "i do's" with ken. jen was more beautiful than ever, all smiling and radiant as she met ken at the head of the aisle. it was a solemn event --- that is until the kiss that lasted for ten seconds that got everyone cheering. but that was nothing compared to the kiss during the reception. when the host told jen and ken that the guests would tap the glass and they would have to kiss until the tapping stops. raf and i started tapping and we didn't stop until the host told the guests to stop because the kiss lasted so long already.

to jen and ken, more happiness to you both! bon voyage!

the year that was

looking back, i could say there were a lot of things that i should be thankful for. not only for what i received and experienced but also for the things that happened to my friends and loved ones.

almer, raf, sheryll, jent and grette all tied the knot with the love of their lives. the last four in the list are all from my college barkada so it's no question that this is our barkada's "wedding year". every wedding was an experience to behold, definitely a concrete profession of their love for one another.

it's a year of new opportunities, with me having a new role at work. admittedly, at first, i didn't want to leave my old role. i was comfortable there. i knew what i was doing there. i was confident in what i can do there. and change was nowhere near my plans. but this new work led me to new opportunities and new places to see. i was able to travel to vietnam, canada and china and soon, to united kingdom as well. it gave me opportunity to meet influential people within the organization and it helped me realize that i still have a lot of things to learn. it forced me to challenge myself, forced me to believe in myself knowing that other people would not believe in me if i did not.

it's a year of relationships being broken, forged and renewed. i have seen how love has the ability to change people and heal past hurts. i have experienced how friendship does not depend on space nor time. and in this day where communication is so accessible, it doesn't compare to seeing your friend once again. i witnessed how hard it is to overcome heartbreak but also i saw how a friend managed to come out of it with more strength than ever. life trials like these make you realize that you can go through so much. never unscathed but always fighting. and though there may be times that you fail, those battles are still worth it. the one thing we have to remember though, is to make sure that we never question our worth whether we fail or succeed.

it's a year of life-changing decisions. on the crossroads of life, we would never know what decision is better for we only get to choose one path. we just have to believe that what we have chosen is the best one for us. sometimes, we choose a path more difficult, but hardships are part of our life journey. they help us learn the lessons.

it has definitely been a year full of milestones, full of memories both good and not-so-good. but whatever may have happened, it's already in the past and there's nothing much i can do about it, except to learn from my mistakes and move on.

welcome, 2005! here's hoping that it would be even better than the year that was.