Last Year of the Decade

halo halong year highlights in no particular order. :D

God's faithfulness brought me through 2009 and I can see His hand prints all over.

These are the things that brightened my year. Thank you friends and family for making it worthwhile! ^_^

Cheers for the new year! *clink*

nashnal confrence two-oh-nine

IVCF NC09 is like a huge family reunion with 200 plus relatives attending. :)

This would be my first NC and I had a blast volunteering for the special events. Wala nga lang akong SG (boohoo) kasi nakaka-zap ng powers ang mga laugh trip, dance production, at side comments sa technical meeting ng events. (kudos mommy dot, ate mizpah, manong bok, ate angel, bibang, and ate di!)

Expo nga lang naattendan ko pero every time wapak! Lord, nangungusap ka na naman at pambihira bull's eye aray. (Iba-blog ko na lang siguro someday)

Waiting for my fwends to upload their pichoors so I can steal 'em. Harrr.

Rome and Paris

Super late post.
Because I'ma miss Roomie at NC tomorrow, here's for you!

mwah. :*

...

Sana lang nasa tono itong mga nangangaroling sa labas ng bahay namin.

Hindi ba nila alam na napakaganda ng dahilan kung bakit may K silang mangaroling, este mambulahaw, sa bawat bahay na daanan nila? Mali na nga lyrics, mali pa enunciation, punctuation at breathing.

Krismas na. Konting oras na lang.

Promise Keeping

I said I will blog today.

So I will.

And this is it.

breakfast club

long time no see. cindy and kathy, my imaginary friends turned real. :)

eat all you can buffet at examiner street, hay nako, lugi. haha. eat all you can tas one round lang? pero heavy naman so okay na rin.

kathy! wala tayong picture together. :(

don't i have the loveliest friends? :)

happy Tito Bob day!

i know his body is in a marble urn but i always imagine him bounding up in church one day and asking what he missed.

i'd steer him to the buffet table because i know this event is cause for a feast. and then i'd tell him about the time i finally led praise and worship.

he'd shake my shoulders and say 'sabi ko naman sa'yo eh!' he always bugged me about that. he'd say nice things and end with mana ka talaga sa mommy mo. he had the sense not to say out loud sa tatay ko ako nagmana. haha.

but then of course i'd be competing with everyone else in church. they had after all missed him, too. more than i miss him.

i keep thinking i don't and so i rewire my brain into being so sure of meeting him one day soon that i won't have to think about his being gone.

he's just around the corner. like, he'll show up and start telling us about this new place he's in.

hey tito bob, you should see the new building, it's super cool. :)

tito, did you do something to your hair? LOL :)

friends don't get any special-er than this

superfriends are the best!

bagal kasi magupload nitong mga to eh. :P

Toldja I'm a Star :P

When I was seven, my very first best friend Marie and I took on a project for the pre-school we went to. The Learning Tree is where most of my happy childhood memories were built and where gifts were nourished.

I do not remember how it all started just that days after our senior kindergarten graduation, I was told to listen to a series of tapes with recorded music, learn the words that came with the melody, and meet Marie every so often to practice.

Then came the days when we had to go to a recording studio (a super feat for pre-schoolers who recently transferred to the 'big school') to sing and 'play' and sing some more. I remember thinking we were like Celine Dion (whom I did not know back then) in their video of Beauty and the Beast, singing to a hanging microphone with headsets on.

We even had an album launch. :)

On its first release, the albums were on cassette tapes. Gimme a break. It was 1992. Then after selling like, I dunno, a whole lot of copies, it is only but right to produce a CD version. So yes, Marie and I are like, platinum record holders. LOL. Of course, Teacher Francie gets props for being the mastermind in all these. :)


(Btw, did you know that she collaborated with the Megastar Sharon Cuneta in the latter's children's album? And that Miel went to the Learning Tree, which means the Megastar's daughter sang our songs, hahaha. Funny thought.)

Later, the grown ups will tell us that we liked holding hands on the way to the studio, at play, or simply to talk. Pang-Hallmark moment lang talaga. :)

You hafta squint a little better and zoom in to see our names, and recognize our faces. I'm second from the left, Marie's the pretty girl with long hair. :)

Anyway, those are the best days, weeks, months I can ever remember. One, because I got to share it with my best friend. Two, because we bonded over music. Three, hullo, we're recording artists. Four, we were probably the most spoiled first graders ever. Five, because Teacher Francie took us to all these expensive restaurants (that I thought was 'common' for most people, yun pala something I cannot afford as a grown up, LOL) and because she is such a darling.

I truly thank God for the experience for it has made a lot of things uber cool in all my years on this earth. And I absolutely praise Him for the beautiful, long-standing friendship Marie and I have. And music, I thank God for music. :)

Tiger's Day Out

Tiger went to the groomer's today. It's her second time there actually but it's the first time I was around. Her hair has gotten all grown and tangled so I decided to have them sheared off.

It was a struggle to bring her out of the house but she seemed to have enjoyed the scenery. I put on her leash so she could at least exercise her legs but no, when I put her down she just stared at me didn't move. She wouldn't walk outside so I carried her all the way. Such a diva.

And so there she was, being all squirmy when all her hair fell off from the razor.

She got an all-around cleaning that took about an hour (such a long time for a wittle puppy) and all the other clients gushed at how cute she was, asking me her name and age and stuff dog owners tend to ask. I answered what I could, being a newbie and all. But I'm so darned proud that they were all sweet to my Tiger and remarking how cute she was.

Heehee. She had been well-behaved at one point and really paid attention to what was being done to her. Such a cutie, noh?

Across the Pet House was my old school, TLT, and I went there to get a copy of our album. The children at the courtyard stopped playing to gather around me and Tiger, asking for a turn to hold and carry her. Once upon a time, I was that kid, going up to a lady to ask for her dog. Talk about role reversals.

My baby looks like a sheep now. And acts like one, too. She seems to be enjoying her new do, and vitamins and food.

happiness!

wedding bells and dreameries...
(talagang kailangan i-connect?)

happy anniversary pastor dave and tita nory! <3
happy get tog TG!
happy shopping, dreameries.

yay. <3

a dream is a wish

There has been a lot going on but there are lull times, too. I blame the lack of wifi in our office for my cyber silence and karma suicide. And when I do get valuable internet time, I end up being too swamped with senselessness that I fail to keep my thoughts in order. I thank twitter and plurk for accepting the one-liners I cannot, for the life of me, put together in a coherent/cohesive entry.

It amazes me how I get everything (or most things) I want. My joys are simple, really. It is even more astounding that despite of me, I get divinely spoiled. I'd like to think that God spoils me. Emphasis on think. I like the thought. :)

If I should begin telling you about the great things that happened between this blog and the last, I would not know where or how to start.

Here's one thing though. In college, when I would go up to Baguio early Monday mornings and pass by the Timog fly-over, I'd look out the window and tell the GMA tower that someday, I will work there. And here I am, three years later.

Believe you me, dreams do come true. :)

kathy and xaris in the meanie convention

yes, we have talked about YOU. do not wonder whether the words exchanged between us over you were nice. there is nothing nice by which to recall you.

nar, just pulling your leg. all the things we said pertaining to you were only the truth and nothing but. you had better believe it because kat and xai are very, very honest people.

so yes, they were mean. but they were facts.

wahahahahahaha!

(and we did have an evil laugh that came along with the conversation. cruella de ville would have been so proud)

cheers to kindred spirits! :)

day one: trinomey afternoon date. coffee. shopping.
day two: choc kiss date. dinner. stargazing.
day three: serendra evening. drinks. book hunting.

we're totally BFFs. :)
missing gel and cin.
xoxo

enchanted kingdom

toldja i was in EK last week.

no rides as the park was closed for the taping of stairway to heaven. (i am so looking forward to watching that!)

and yuh, i do declare i'm super cool. :P

the xaris day

At this time some twenty years ago (haha), my mother was rushed to the hospital because she freaked out that the baby in her tummy has stopped moving.

I was born sleeping. Ta-dah.

On a full moon.

I am making my life sound interesting. Let's try.

Xaris likes to go by The Xaris, if anyone asks. Spawned by accounting guru Asser Tamayo and grammar nazi Cynthia Paler Tamayo, the child grew up to be a grammar whore who had a love-hate relationship with numbers.

The Xaris was born on August 1, 1985 under a full moon (but no one noticed because she was born on midday). Legend has it that the baby inside Cynthia’s tummy stopped moving altogether thus the mad hospital dash to deliver the unmoving fetus. Apparently, before boredom presented itself to the baby, she already discovered what it was. The moon-child came out of the womb sleeping.

Moons and stars fascinated The Xaris growing up. The Xaris believes that she is of the star people, which her non-showbiz manufacturers never denied. To this day, The Xaris swears by the laws of stars thus her crazy antics.

The Xaris has three siblings. And a weirder bunch nobody has ever seen.

More than life, The Xaris loves her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Despite her allegiance to the Cross, The Xaris is still in the process of grace. Sometimes her evil inclinations get the best of her, but that is why she hangs on tightly to the grace of the Lord. Apart from it, she is nothing. Xaris after all means grace.

Sometimes, The Xaris goes by the name Xai. When she is Xai, she is as sweet and charming as an… erm, sweet and charming thing. Oftentimes, she is just plain Xaris, the evil manipulative twin.

Oh. Someday she will fall in love. And this biography would sound even better. Rararara.

***
Tita Cory couldn't have picked a better day to die. Only fabulous people mark lives on August 1.

***
Dear God,
I know that your plans are way better and your thoughts higher. When you call people home, it is because you want them to meet you face to face. What a privilege for your children whom you call your own.

Earthlings say that the month of August is a ghost month. Having been born on the first day of this month, I say pfft, whatever. Thank you for making me, me. Thank you for continuously working in my life.

Thank you, Jesus, for loving me. :)

***
I was supposed to have been back from Baguio today to audition for the MYX VJ hunt. Ambisyosa talaga ako. LOL. Instead, I am still in my pajamas, watching 'Labs Kita, Okay Ka Lang' on Cinemaone, never having left home.

I had plans for August and September. One, to live in Baguio and work as GT. Two, try out for Myx on all Saturdays of August. Three, paint. Four, get a *tattoo*. Five, overhaul my wardrobe equals shopping.

But because God is infinitely wise and kind, He thwarted my plans. :) He instead gave me a new job in GMA-7 as researcher for Mel and Joey and showed me my soon-to-be-new-puppy poodle Tiger. :D *cartwheels*

I will blog about my first week in my new job when I get down from my cloud/bubble. I am still on bum mode and everything is new. May God grant me peace on this new adventure He gave me. :) Here's to twenny four! :)

early this morning

zeik, jahd, and i played nerf in the morning.

they had new big guns so i got to use the two old ones and had to make do with four darts. zeik won the war, i won the 2nd battle (ha!) and got machine-gunned, sniped, and tennis ball-grenaded by jahd.

tomorrow is another day. i'm bringing reinforcement (a flying pony and a magic forcefield, haha).

round two of nl in manila

july twenny six.
raquels' house.

cranium for the win! i love that game. :D

prayed for people we dearly love in baguio. prayed for the movement. prayed for everyone who came. :)

before i let you go

Do you remember how incredibly cheap Baguio cabs are? From town to La Trinidad is less than 100 petot and the cabbies give you exact change. I miss that about living here.

I also miss that everything in town is at a walking distance. Walking is exercise. Exercise gives you endorphines. Endorphines make you happy. Happy people don't just shoot their husbands (I've seen Legally Blonde a million times, sorry).

I miss pizza in Volante where you can get a 14" with two flavors (bagal pa rin the service but what the heck, wala nyan sa Maynila), refillable brewed coffee, and pasta in pesto.

Forest House is still homey. Loakan Road still dark. :)

I can never forget how absolutely easy it is to be stylish in a cool climate. I love my jackets, scarves, mufflers, and layers and layers of clothing. It's cold here again. And ukay ukay is still the bomb in Hiltop.

The market is being renovated and I lost my way; I couldn't find the coffee grinders. :( But the stalls are still there, in make-shift spaces selling goodies, peanut britol, etc.

I love how Baguio can still make my heart beat abnormally giddy even when most of the people I've come to know and love here are in Manila already. So maybe, it's not really the people that brings me back but the love for the city. I dunno. Or memories. Probably memories.

Before I let you go I want to say... pfft, kita kits ulet next week. :)

day four point five

days three to four: camera battery fail. boo.
pero keri lang, hindi rin naman ako masyado naglalalabas.

started today bright and early for k-lite interactive at 7am.
i lurve krish santana and the newest addition nicolo gigolo.

i miss everything. *sniff* going home in a while. *sigh*

day three point five

started the day really late, i came from la trinidad this time.
i cooked for the IVCF night and met new kids on the block.
gah, i'm sooo old. harhar.

remember when we used to pray for acads, papers, exams, health and family? LOL. those were the days.

day two point five

the xaris fans day continues.
ambisyosa!

BSU in the morning to say hi to Zyla.
UP in the afternoon to... I dunno, walk the runway? LOL.

Meet the CAC building and the coolness that is UPB. :)

hello, heart's hometown! (day one point five)

this is my mom's and my retreat from the busy-ness of last week's waking and practically-living-deadness. (o, nagets mo yun?)

mom's writing my lola's life while i'm 'working' on the TY letters for everyone who condoled and drafting lola's love story. (i haven't done much... erm, haven't done anything at all.)

because it's easy to procrastinate in baguio!!! i saw fog again and i go, whooooa! waaah! and people laugh. :)

tomorrow, gee, later is another day. i hasz to do this! hu-hah!

lightning-speed-reflex aka the band album

it's a terminal condition... my saying yes to most things without thought.
so when alice and alex wants coffee and i figure, sure, why not, i go ahead and make plans.

there are no date-worthy bois in gateway by alich's standards.
we will mostly likely have tyanaks for babies as karma for being malait.
only alex can pull off tunay na idol.

starbuko. gateway.
20 july 09

superfriends save the day!

it's good to start the grieving process with best friends.

(i'm *really* upset but this should help distract me)

happy 12th of july when all four of us get together.
once again, we've established that...

arriane is still a heartbreaker. <3 ganda ng hair.
marose is still petite but fiercely terrible.
pie still lives in a vacuum.
moi is still overdressed.

thank you dear God for fabulous friends.

HSBC family day

and we (the raquels and i) get to play van's family and go across the world! yey! :D
we went to canada, hong kong, dubai, united kingdom, USA and of course, manila (awright?)

nagpa-practice na maging parents si ate weng at kuya carlo. yahahaha. :D

USA was very nakakapagod and once again, i have proven that i am the loserest sports person in the entire planet. bwahahaha.

upb get tog at mogwai

aack. who are you people?! part two.

additional cast: kuya ryan the 'construction worker' and kuya nato the 'car tinter from banawe.'

photo credits: kuya noel

alex, where's your version? gimme. <3

why is my java uploader not worrrrkiiing? boo multiply.

baguio in manila

my life in baguio is transported here at least for one night. :)

photo sources:
rome
ate dot's cam
photobooth

june 28, 2009
velardo's apartment
IV building

ulitan! ulitan!

I take the bus now

Today I'm the poster image of a working girl. I took the bus to work at about the same time half the metro is on their way to their offices. I walked down the block to where my 'new office' is, cradling my uber chic coral pink LC bag on one arm while balancing a steaming hot cup of starbucks coffee on the other.

That is what I call pretentious on all counts. I shall slave away for the next ten hours in this god-forsaken glass case while I dream of freely running down the mall or sleeping in my room or stalking in cubao x.

Times like this I wish I were driving but then going all the way from QC to Pasay does not sound appealing to me or to my weak ankles.

I swear I was born to freelance because office-work is too trivial for the likes of me. Plus I'm by myself and my only companion is iTunes plus an occasional shove from online contacts. Thank God for DSL.

I have no reason to complain because technically, I am being paid to 'tambay,' a luxury not everyone gets. LOL. According to Murphy's Law however, I am bound to find the other side of the fence greener and wish for what I cannot have. Figuring out ways of things to do is more tiring than actually doing things. I wish somebody would come in to inquire so I at least have a companion here.

I'm about done criticizing the people who pass by the office looking atrocious in their ill-fitting uniforms. Harhar. Even in boredom, I still find ways to be mean.

This is day three. I am wearing a purple mini dress paired with black slacks and a black cropped blazer. Days one and two were more 'corporate.' Day one I wore black pin-striped slacks matched with a powder blue striped button-down shirt and a black blazer. Pearls adorned the ensemble. Day two I wore a dark blue skirt on top of dark blue stockings paired with a light blue collared top and blue blazer. Ribbons and pearls were my accessories.

The goal is to never wear the same outfit twice in my two weeks' stay here. That's what I'll do; bore you with details with what I did for the day. :P

it's been too long

:)
annie's working in manilerr na! hurray!
si pie na lang kulang.
x)

sunday with my peeps

haha peeps. :)
spent sunday morning and early afternoon with two lovely girls.
charisse had to go home that day, sayang since we had a reunion dinner that night. oh well.

aheehee. in retrospect, lookie at our old selves! taken in 2005.


this is four years later. :)

reunion ng mga GT girls 06

chars, xai, and rome together again.

random thoughts at 12:47am

This is mild, believe me.

Yesterday-- wait-- on Tuesday, I was going through the streets of the UP Diliman campus, trying to look for my sister who was supposed to meet me. As I looked out the cab window, I noticed how entirely plain the student body is. Jeans, shirts and slippers is THE look. It doesn't matter if they match or if they flatter the body or if the color complements anything. Of course I get that it's more comfortable especially at this weather and it's practical, really, to dress down.

My sense of aesthetics was violated needless to say. But that's just me and my rewired brain. I can understand how practical works. Sure. I don't ask that people dress up for the catwalk, I just ask that they at least adhere to Tim Gunn's Guide To Style at the bare minimum. Then again, I ask for much.

I saw my sister walking and the first thing that caught my attention was her deep purple shirt and pink headband. I heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of color. Drab outifts on a gloomy day make me sad.

everything looks easy on paper

Just when I start painting a pretty picture in my head about how lovely the future would look, everything gets lost in translation when I make an attempt to articulate it with words.

On the rare occasions the words do come out, I get all psyched believing that's the first step and again somewhere between the written word and the action failure seeps in.

The world spoiled me for the last 22 years and now, it's about done giving me perks. Oh well.

so as not to crowd fezbook with quizzes

You Are Highly Expressive

You are dramatic, expressive, and even a bit temperamental. You are artistic and creative. You're always dabbling in something. You are very self-aware and introspective. You understand yourself well. You are on a constant journey in life, and you change frequently. You're a shapeshifter of sorts.

hurray i'm a shape-shifter!

Your Pop Star Name Is Cleo Stardust

You're Gonna Be a Star!

i'd like to thank blogthings for believing in me. *waves at crowd*

Your Favorite Color Says You're Gifted

Intuitive --- Seeking --- Creative Kind --- Self-Sacrificing --- Growth Oriented Strong --- Very Wise --- Rare

Intutive-maybe. seeking- sometimes.
kind- so not. self-sacrificing- i have yet to find out.
strong- erm. very wise- omit very. rare- well done.

Your Outfit Says You're Spirited

You are flirtatious, attractive, and even sexy. You are vivacious and lively. People feel happier being around you. You have a deep inner beauty, and it just makes you even more beautiful on the outside. It's like you wrote the book on how to be charming. Your high end fashion designer match: BCBG Max Azria Your must have accessory: A beaded necklace

accessory: check.
i told you i was charming. :P

like i needed a quiz to tell me

You Are Bitter

You aren't bitter at the world, even though you have a strong personality. Instead, you are sophisticated and cultured. You appreciate acquired tastes. You are very powerful. You have the ability to change a room's energy. While some may find you disagreeable, your points of view are intelligent and interesting.

these personality quizzes are godsend. LOL.

History Tweak

*I am re-arranging my history as a person.*


Since my fall from the sky and survival in the mortal world...

I was home schooled in high school. I know Cindy, Kathy and Gel from being imaginary friends to successfully crossing to the unimagined world.

sleep pattern erratic, kill me now

Oh how cute, multiply is on the way to preservation. If it were entirely up to me, I wouldn't change anything about any of my online pages. Why, you ask. These social networking sites have their own reason for existing and it is beautiful if they keep their uniqueness. I'm just saying.

I suppose there is some good to be had in keeping the status quo as far as websites go. Then again, there aren't too many loyal followers who have all the time in their hands to maintain multiple web pages. Who knows, someday, Conan O'Brien's words will ring true... how yet another social networking will arise in the year 3000-- YOUTWITFACE. Looking forward to that.

This rambling is brought on by the weird sense-- so damagingly overpowering-- that things are slowly changing. I am so caught up in the abruptness of things that I forget to step back to take it in. I have never been in the place I am now. Why can't the universe cut me some slack and stop ganging up on me?

Not that I'm complaining, though. It's just that this newness is so, well, new that I'm afraid (yes, there you have an admission of fear) I'd get too used to it and stay stuck here for the next three years, which I think is the proper amount of time to call an era.

I can't seriously be unhirable, can I? There you go again, a glimpse on my fallibility (LOL come on laugh with me!) and insecurity bouts. I thought I planned on it. I alotted a certain amount of time for me to do things. I have ticked off my list perfectly until now.

There has to be something I can do to pass time without feeling so worthless. Any suggestions?

Oh. For the record, this is the lunatic talking. The full moon is waning or waxing, I do not know, I lost track of the lunar cycle. And no, I am not crazy. Yet.

I guess I just need somebody to talk to. My brain cells are dying each day and I get dumber by the minute. Maybe that's what's bothering me. I have been less intelligent than (I thought) I was a month, possibly years, ago. That's a tough change I have to accept if I were going anywhere. And then again, maybe I am more afraid to get anywhere. Ugh. Baby steps are taking too abnormally unbearable.

ooh what is this?

karma

After a while, I was back in the social scene. Social meaning there were plenty of people and scene meaning I had to command their attention. Being the very boring person that I am, my social scenes usually just involve weddings and church-related activities.

I forget how it is in public. How it is elementary knowledge never to leave your things unattended. How basic it is NOT to stash stuff just anywhere. How it is a no-brainer to leave your cell phone in bags that are easy to pick up and carry off.

That's how I lost my jurassic cell phone. Fortunately, I got a replacement sim within 24 hours so I haven't really felt the effects of being phoneless. My problem is that the phone I'm using now is more patapon than you can imagine.

I had been trying niceness all week as penance for the mildly-- fine, extremely-- horrid thing I did and this is what I get. Karma sucks.

***
My number's still the same. Please send a message and don't forget to leave your name.

this is why alice owes me a movie date

i have pictures, alice. you cannot deny.
x)

aaack! who are you people?!

this is random as random is gonna get.

it was just the twins (kath and alex), alice and the xaris (aka xai) off to a night of hoping for the flowers and merriment on a monday night. LOL. mogwai played the venue and bottles of san mig light and red horse the beverage.

and then there was lonely boy spotted, drinking by himself, when alice had a blast from the past. lonely boy was familiar as he was the entourage of alice's once-upon-a-horror-tale of scorned love, mapapamura ka sa alaala.

and then the cast expanded. and then connect the dots. and then who do you know that i know facebook connection talk.

and then it was almost 2am.

who says you can't have a UP Baguio reunion in a snap? x)

josiah's summah outing

naki-summer outing with my josiah's family. :)

may 21 two-oh-nine.
sierra madre.

more bicol

~ spent two days with my lovely tita (future BIR commissioner, ehem, ehem) Eli and cousin Nikki. it was tita's official birthday.

~ on the same day we were to fly back to maniler, diether ocampo and star friends arrived. we stayed in the hotel within the airport grounds (do not go there, eep!) so we were like *just there* when the celebs landed. buti na lang wala si john lloyd kundi... nakupoh.

~ ang ganda ng mayon this far, pano na lang kung upclose na.

~ and first time at naia 3! weee! :)

spot the difference

starbucks. star wars. star trek. star world. star movies. star mall. star girl. stargazer. starstruck. star gate. star search. star patrol. star city. starla. starscream. stardust. star trooper. the xaris.

x)

hello, masbate

from our house to the airport= 1 hour
from naia to legazpi= 45 minutes
from legazpi to pilar= 1 and a half hour
pilar port tambay= 3 hours (to wait for the fast craft)
pilar to masbate port= 2 hours
masbate city to nabangig, palanas= 2 hours
plus three hours worth of waiting and boarding and stuff.
equals 12 hours. :)

4 days in masbate.
day one. hello folks
day two. samson family reunion
day three. high school alumni homecoming
day four. fiesta part one

met my relatives from my dad's family.

back from masbate with love

Going to Masbate requires all modes of transportation and a whole lot of patience. First, you get a flight to Legazpi in Bicol then ride a tricycle to the terminal where vans to Pilar are available. You then board a van to Pilar, wait for the next ‘fast craft’ (which is a boat) to Masbate Port. When you get to the port, you ride a tricycle again to a terminal to ride a van to Nabangig (where my father’s family lives).

View from my plane window. <3 Mayon.

Whew equals 12 hours. Fortunately, my hosts’ place is almost along the highway so we were dropped off where we can walk to their house.

Neng, first time? :P

We left our house in Manila at 4am and arrived in our hosts’ house at 4pm. Until the Masbate airport gets fixed, this is going to be the way we roll.

Masbate is an island along the Bicol region. The land is rich in coconut fields and is surrounded by a body of water. Despite its richness, Masbate is the third poorest province in the Philippines. My dad says that the classic political structure contribute much to its present economic status.

The Masbatenos in Nabangig are mostly my relatives at some degree or another. My dad’s cousin, Tita Ling and her family, welcomed us into their home, which is one of the nicest houses in their block. Most of the people there were teachers by profession that’s why they call the place teachers’ village. On other parts of the town, some houses need serious repair as they were smacked right in the middle of modern-looking homes. As far as historical houses go, there were none left because apparently, the descendants of the older families disregarded the importance of keeping landmarks.

People here are very conscious of titles even when their jobs do not require having one. They call my dad CPA Asser Tamayo as if CPA is a tag like engineer, doctor or attorney. If I were to pick up the culture, I would be known as Superstar Xaris Tamayo or Xaris Tamayo, Superstar. Hahaha. That would be a hoot. I also noticed that some of the homes here display placards of the residents’ names attached with the profession they are in. There are homes that say (Name) (Last Name), Dentist even when the clinic is fifty miles away.

The people in town were relatively friendly but extremely tactless as if I do not understand what they were saying. It's pretty funny, actually when everyone who was introduced to me would remark how dako I am.  Para namang dili ako makasabot ng Bisaya. I thought it was cute rather than offensive. And anyway, they make up for it by saying they can't wait to see me on TV (somehow, they got the notion that I was pining for celebrity status).

In our family reunion the second day I was there, I met titos and titas who are my relatives twice over. I suppose intermarriage in the past was prevalent and I only had to juggle several surnames to figure out who are my relatives. Jerry Springer much.

My dad prodded me to host the reunion even when I had trouble speaking the language despite the crash course he gave me on the trip. Masbate language is a mix of Bisaya, Bicolano, and Spanish and I only had to catch a few words like baligya to know whether any one had plans of selling me. That was their usual joke even when I was little. Diri ka na mabaligya karuon sa Masbate.

I learned so many things about my dad’s side of the family. All I knew before the reunion was that my titos in Manila are my dad’s cousins and only recently has it sunk in that their mothers were siblings. My late grandmother had nine siblings and they all had families. Hardcore na family forest.

One common thing I discovered about my family is that we all love to sing! In fairness, despite the regional defect (e and i as well as o and u are interchangeable), they modulated pretty well and they definitely can carry a tune. I especially loved the videoke machine in our venue; I got 3 100's hahaha. I almost took the machine home! Hahaha.

On my third night, I had a first-hand experience with their local fiesta (I forgot which saint this is in honor of) and their folk dance, the Pantomina. The steps are very basic but I'd die before I dance it in front of those people. The dancing is also their way of fund-raising. As in required mag-abot ng moneys.

Pantomina time. :P

There were also so many stories about my dad's childhood that were told, istoryahon all day long. It's really good to know how crazy and childlike my daday had been. I shall now refer to those tales for future blackmail.

And I also found out were sorta kinda related to Kristine Hermosa. I do not wish to be associated with her as I firmly believe that members of my clan were smart. Harhar, buti na lang maganda!

My trip to Masbate was really meaningful. I think I'd go back there... as soon as the airport is in full operation.

Photos to be album-ized soon. :P

my mother is a superhero

one, because she gave birth to four weird children normal section.
second, because she raised said children while working as a counselor and a grammar nazi.
and because she is the ultimate grammar nazi (for which my sister and I thank her).
also because she learned to cook just for us.
and then because she always took us to enroll even until day one in college.
and hers is the name we cry in the middle of a burning fever as a baby and as an adult (in my case).
mostly because even if i can tell she's tired, she always comes to our rescue.


i do not understand most of the things she does. why she wakes up early to prepare breakfast for grown-ups. why she stays up late until we got home. why she'd go see me in baguio within a 24-hour clock (aka balikan). why she married my dad. LOL.

my mother rocks beyond reason. i praise God for her.