two-oh-eight gets two thumbs up

every year brings new surprises and amazing grace.

i thank the Lord for these wonderful events He allowed to happen in my life, which made 2008 so great.

hello, mortals. you've all been great. :D

*photocredits to joanne for sbcc pic :)

year of the ox, is it?

I just got settled with albus after spending new year's eve and the first hours of the year with my cousins. It's 4:42 in the morning and I'm thinking of staying up until sunrise. I haven't seen the sun rise in quite a while. I didn't drink today as much as I did last year because my cousin's preggers and we didn't want to drink much if she can't. I did have Champagne- yes the white wine from Champagne, France- though.

and oh my gother, that sounded like a high schooler writing an 'essay' on 'what you did during the break.' sheesh.

I spent the first and last day of 2008 with my favorite ate dee in the whole world in, where else, starbuko (on both counts) and exchanged books. Maybe we should make this a tradition until both our libraries have travelled from manila to davao and vice versa. I like that idea. Ate dee, whaduya think?

I love my cousins, I really do and I believe their influences on me will always be there. We were discussing the future of my pamangkin who will be born under the year of the ox, under the leo constellation. Whaduyuknow, that's like moi. The baby's bound to be fabulous.

For the record, I don't believe in zodiac signs or mythologies or that they somehow dictate a person's future or character. All I'm saying is, I turned out to be a bit okay under the circumstances whether or not the ox or the lion thinks so.

I'm babbling. Sorry.

It's my second year of the ox year. Haha. Which means I went through the whole chinese zodiac twice equals I'm 24 this year.

I will have better things to say when I wake up in the morning. I'm off now.

Toodles!

for pete's sake

I would normally verify accounts before posting any link (as training in journalism).

But this is too much!

And if I'm breaching any code of conduct for journalists, I do not apologize. Stories like this deserve a space on my blog.

oh yey

i don't ask for much.
i don't have a lot of friends.
so i don't think i deserve this.

so i'm never going to ask again.

happy 2009.

today years ago...

Mary must have freaked out when her water bag broke. This was her first baby after all. And to think that she has remained untouched when she conceived... I can only imagine her panic. Giving birth with all the blood and gore that come with it in an unsanitary place and yet she chose to be joyful.

Joseph has got to be torn between being a weary tour guide and an inexperienced nursemaid. How was he supposed to know all the inns were booked and how should he be an instant expert at childbirth... a child whom an angel only said he was supposed to father. Putting his family name at risk and yet he chose to stay by Mary and their baby.

Shepherds wondered why there's something different about the country's night breeze. Perhaps something will stir their below-caste, insignificant lives.

A star twinkled its brightest, inconspicuous to untrained eyes...

...but to the Wise Men of the East, this star told a secret. A great discovery that will make them wiser than they could ever imagine.

Years ago a host of angels were getting ready to appear- to follow the example of Gabriel who calmed the fears of Mary and took care that Joseph should go on with the marriage- and herald the greatest news the world will ever know.

In a whirl of events involving characters seemingly inconsequential, who had nothing in them but obedience, God's master plan started to unfold. Today, after those many years ago a baby was born in the lowliest place putting at risk his earthly father's reputation and his earthly mother's natal health. He grew up to offend the sensibilities of pompous leaders who acted 'holier than thou,' to lead a revolution of changed lives, and to bear upon himself all the sins of the world.

This baby, born that many years ago, has grown up, lived, and died... and the best part: lived again and is still alive until now.

friendstering for five

wow, five years in prengster.

remember how friendster started with only five uploadable pictures? ngayon may pa-album album na. i don't use the album features- that's reserved for multiply. somehow, i want to keep it old school. and i'm not a fan of the friendster apps; that's facebook's job. and for the blogosphere, i have LJ for that. (oh yes, i'm making myself stalkable by being everywhere)

consider this a trip down friendster memory lane, at least in my POV. or you know, consider this the evolution of the xaris. haha.

in all five years of profile changes (mine reads the same as it did in 2003 except for the about me part), these are the pichoors that the world knew of the xaris.

thank you prengster, because of you...
1) i learned that there's such a thing as 'pang-friendster' na picture. haha.
2) i have practiced my best angle and the best way to tilt a camera to capture that 'pang-friendster' look,
3) i stalked much of the stalkables on my list.
4) i can keep track of old friends, new frenemies and everything in between.
5) i made friendster friends.

yay! i'm a geek loser so i still have only one friendster account with less than 500 friends. in fairness to me, i pretty much know the people on my list. and yes i have gone places but all you can see is my perfected angular shots. haha.

hello, mortal. good to meet you. will you add me in friendster? haha.

weekend madness

more pictures from this year's top five best weekends. :D

hala. ang taba taba taba taba ko na talagaaaa.
hahaha. off to the gym! or not.

friday- gateway
saturday- IV homecoming, IV building
sunday- church, divisoria, kopi roti
monday- marikina, trinoma

thanks to carmela's phone's lenses. i love you all!

random brain halukay

so this is what it must be like sleeping with your laptop. albus is running on reserve-battery because moi is too comfortable already to get to the e-outlet.

my coughing spells come at the most inconvenient hours. why couldn't i have had this when i'm not about to sleep? oi. maybe my room needs to be quarantined like rome suggested. yikes.

i miss baguio. i miss up baguio. you think i'd be who i am today if i didn't have baguio in my life? i wonder what's it going to be like if i had things differently. what's the point? what i have is already perfect.

good night, mortals.

it's an epidemic!

No, I am not talking about the twilight fever although it could very well start with that.

Okay, so last Friday started the happy ball rolling. I am truly giddy like a schoolgirl going to prom except that this wasn't prom we were going to but IVCF's alumni homecoming. Friday was when the NL Manila girls met (well, Carmela, Rome and me... the others were off the loop, beats me why they weren't responding) to catch up and have some grown up girl bonding time.

First there was dinner at Pizza Hut Bistro feigning cosmo poshness by having wine, nay, Chardonnay Sauvignon (at least that's what I remember the menu saying), while reminiscing common memories and gossip (holy gossip, mind you) on the side. Then off to the cinemas to see the last run of Twilight, which deserves an entirely separate blog entry (two words: ugh and eep). Then we headed off to my house for an impromptu slumber party.

The day after that was spent prepping for the almuni homecoming in UP-ISSI with friends and family from Inter Varsity. We met with our favorite people from all over the Philippines who represented their regions for this anniversary. Reunions galore led to another impromptu slumber party, more likely a mini-camp, at the Velardos' new home at the IV building. This time, we were joined by the Velardos, the Raquels, Zyla, Vanette, Frida, Alfe, Manong Bok (who left earlier). It was almost two o'clock when we all decided to call it a night. And even when the lights are all out, smaller conversations popped out until the last person fell asleep.

That was just like college days in Baguio. One memory that will be forever etched in my subcranium. It felt so much like family.

Sunday we all went to church, Zy, Rome, Carmela and Vanette were with me then we had lunch at Mister Kabab before we headed off to Divisoria to burn Christmas money. Divi was a long, tiring trip and it's crazy how we managed to set up another late dinner date with Kuya Aboy (the headmaster, haha) at Kopi Roti in Tomas Morato. Then again we stayed up late until midnight but not before an all-too important news broke out eliciting tears (mostly from me) and laughs and stupid comments and things you don't normally see in 'night joints.' haha. It was a good rollercoaster of emotions just the same. I don't think we slept when we got home. We just abused Albus and made a photo studio out of my messy room. This here is our version of Twilight. We're walrus vampires *inside joke*

Monday was a holiday, thankfully and again we extended the party all the way to Marikina and then to Trinoma. The weekend was nonstop chikahan, lakaran and puyatan. It isn't surprising how the slumber party girls all caught a virus the next day. We all got sick and had to miss Friday's UPB homecoming. Sucks much. But not so much when I think about it. I loved every minute of last Friday up until Monday. If I must get sick just to have that again, then bring on the virus!

Needless to say, I still have a hang over and instead of resting for tomorrow's work (I am kind of missing the office), here I am blogging away. I just don't want to miss the chance to write this all out because I am forgetful. I bet everyone still hasn't gotten over last weekend's fun because we have a virus to remember it by. *achoo*

only because i wanted to have a december entry

How misey sitting in front of the telly, doing yet another marathon while my favorite school in the whole wide world (sorry, not arneow) is having a homecoming. That's my home. I deserve to be there.

It's not like I chose this alternative. I had every intention of gearing up for the homecoming (I even bought a dress for crying out loud) because I need to see what I had to see. *grunts* If it weren't for this timely disease I must have caught from the holiday rush, I would have been there spying, erm, mingling with the uh, other alumni.

I wanted to get there so bad I dreamed about it last night. It was actually funny, when I recall it. The setting was in the 70s or 80s and I saw my teachers and nothing changed about them except that we were all in 70s clothes. I wouldn't think we were on a different setting (since I usually dress retro anyway) except that the school looked like they did in old pictures.

Ugh, I hate the feeling as if I'm missing out on something. I hate it mostly because I want to be in Baguio and I'm not and it sucks. I wish I hadn't gotten sick. But if I didn't get sick that means I wouldn't have gone Christmas shopping with Baguio friends which means I wouldn't have seen them which means I wouldn't have had the best weekend in a long time.

This is what a trade-off must be like.

ang nawawalang pictures

starring
carmela, xarissa, and romina

pag gumawa tayo ng soap opera magiging

CARROMELA.
or
CARMISSINA
or
ROMELISSA.

walang bebenta kahit ano.