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.

SBCC's DVBS09

The last time I participated in any vacation Bible school was in 2001.
It was different then. I think. I wasn't tired.
Or maybe I was younger then with more energy to spare.
Ack. I'm an old woman.

9 and 10 year olds, huh? Hurray for my Primary 2 class. :)

pichoors from day 0 and 1.

room mate series 1: iya

i have had many roomies.
i have a quest to meet them and get recent photos.
yay.

this here is iya. she's my roomie in 304 when i was a junior and she was a freshie. she had the bunk on top of mine which makes me the 'monster beneath her bed.' she took me to meet south border (where erm, that dude sang rainbow TO me). she likes pictures.

at 11ish PM we said, 'tara, kape' and found ourselves in starbuko katips minutes later.

hello, iya. :)

game plan

For the next two weeks, I will have to dress down, meaning none of my scarves, minimum-of-four-layers-of-clothes, bright shoes, accessories and head dress. Shirts and pants and comfortable shoes, here I come.

Tomorrow is the start of vacation Bible school and being a teacher of urban, grade school-aged children, I will have to tone down my habits, my xai-ness and be regular, ordinary. The last time I taught DVBS was eight years ago before I discovered that there's a color that's not black. I was simple then. Today, not so.

The week after that, I shall be off to my father's hometown. He keeps warning me that I have to travel light and I am only allowed to bring one bag. One bag. Me. For a whole week. It doesn't help that traveling light also meant not wearing any of the clothes I am used to wearing because my father insists that Manila-clothes will only shock the barrio.

Pray that I survive.

sanguinegirlsaywhat

The list I made of things to do are about to add to my list of failures (I would have said *epic* failure but I find them redeemable, so I save the epic part for later). This is one of the major setbacks of being overly sanguine-- too much things to do, so little time. And it is my fault. I am too impulsive. I say yes to things that sound brilliant at the time only to lose interest two minutes after saying yes. And I wonder why things don't go well. Duh.

First things first.

1. Learn and master photoshop.
Albus MacAllister will be abused.

Maybe I'll end up calling him Albused. *ta-dum-pak*
*canned laughter*
*applause*