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. :)

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.

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!

reunion ng mga GT girls 06

chars, xai, and rome together again.

cosmo-cosmo-han

two of my SV-baguio girlfriends are working in banks. i think that makes them cosmo-ish. sad to say though, they're photobooth noobes. sucks to be them, LOL.

kidding aside, i hearts them like whoa for coming to meet me at The Loft for some much-needed girl bonding sans work-talk and office-gossip.

this was before photoboothing at the worst starbucks ever.

R and C, you guys rawk. thanks for saving my dying braincells two saturdays ago. xoxo, X.


thank you partipicslive for the photos! :D

You... yes!

I don't know why I even had second thoughts in coming to this KC get tog.

Attendance:
Ate Reena who's going to Qatar any time soon to earn big moneys so she can support Zyla as a staff, hahaha. :D
Kuya Jun, the missiologist (missionary yun) who advised ate reena to marry a non-believer so she can share the gospel. Joke lang daw. Ows.
Kuya LJ, who had a sprain from playing basketball (wawa naman may tungkod).
Zuriel, the ATS mastering person who lives on the other street.
Ate Sherry, the SGV accountant who gave us the lowdown on the market, hehe.
Yanyan who came all the way from Pasay despite the late hour.
Paolo na malapit na ikasal, ayee.
Kuya Caesar, the almost-pilot who came in really, really late. Bakit kaya, may tinataguan?
And moi, Xai again after a very long time.

There was spiked sinigang, fruit salad and ice cream. I say spiked kasi para kaming mga high sa kakatawa. Laugh trip talaga hanggang umaga. :P Kwentuhang KC, career and work life pati pag-aasawa! Kaloka talaga. Matatanda na sila. x)

Hello KC mates, wish you were here.

Photo credits from Kuya LJ. Napaka useless ng camera ko, walang battery.

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!

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*

so vamp!

description someday.

right now, too lazy.

detour... zeela version

more pictures from the best week of 2008.

zeela took forever to upload them but we-hell, i shall still post because i love NL like whoa!

Dahil Minsan Ang Mga Detour ay Kailangan

Wala akong balak umakyat ng Baguio simula nung maisip ko na ayaw ko ng attachment. But lo and behold. Dun din pala ako mapupunta.

Bibili lang dapat kami ng ube tapos uuwi na. Dala na rin ng mga pangyayari, may-I-extend naman ako ng very hard sa Baguio my love so sweet.

Hanggang sa naging one week ang stay ko dun. Hindi ko rin pala matitiis. Charing.

Photos in the new IV home in Ambiong (na lagi kong hindi malocate at nagkanda ligaw ligaw na 'ko every time) with the IVNL peeps.

Cast:
Papa Paul (the future ex-boyfriend)
Ara (soon-to-be IV homer and staff)
Ate Eden (the dog charmer and mommy of the house)
Frida (ang nag-iisang fan ni dj xaris)
Jeff (dude, whatever)
Zyla (ang dakilang KC mate na staff na ngayon)
Kuya Carlo (the comsci prof)
Ate Weng (mrs. comsci prof)
Allen (the silent border)
Cel (the sister of the silent border)
Toni (student leader extraordinaire)
Alfe (para sa Balitang Amianan kasama si camera mang ____)

Yung mga di kasama sa IV home experience:
Jerry
Dell
Albus MacAllister

i ♥ KC 2004!

Kamusta naman ang four years later. Harhar.

Pichoors stolen from Zeela who took a long time to upload these, too.

Kawayan Camp is a month-long leadership training for Christian student leaders all over the Philippines. IVCF hosts this camp which provides holistic and wholistic training. Hurray for KC!

Masyado maraming pwedeng ikwento about KC kaya hindi ko na susubukang ungkatin ang mga nakaraan. Chos. Ayun. For memories' sake. Bow.

i ♥ KC!

Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) has been Kawayan Camp-ing for the last 50 years!

These are SOME of the alumni of the month-long leadership training camp IVCF holds every summer from 1958 to present. Yesternight, about 130 grads came to reminisce of KCs past. We had an informal gathering and it was fun interacting with different batches represented there. When the group sang Tunay Kang Matapat as the closing song, I got goosebumps because it sounded really good. Parang praktisado lang with matching voicing and stuff. Ang galeng!

Raise your hand if you...
1) had tuko encounters
2) had to miss showers and rely on tabo and balde
3) wait in line at the cubicles for a bath
4) had an 'aying-aying,' 'prospect' or if you had ever been asked, 'sino na-aappreciate mo?'
5) had any form of nose-bleeding because of inductive Bible studies
6) had to make a book review of John Stott's Basic Christianity
7) washed dishes for 100 or so people
8) had successfully kept your quiet time for a whole month

Hurray for God's faithfulness over all these years. :) It's really amazing!

EDIT: pichoors stolen from zeela's digicam. waiting for paul's shots to steal. bow.

when i can't be in baguio...

... baguio comes to me. :)
at least [some of] the people who matter.

the ISOT invasion

so these great graduate team [some active, others retired *nyahar*] members get together after the wedding and invade the isot campus of which the legendary aboy daen is administrator.

QT together, dinner, breakfast, coffee abound... with much-missed updates and discussions on everything under the SON. :)

praise God for the reminder of THOSE times.

first time nga nila ikasal

i get all sentimental and gushy around weddings [what gay kid doesn't?]. planning and preparing for this day was all heart and soul from the couple. for the whole week, it rained in the afternoon, but no rain poured on october 13, 2007. the sky was a perfect shade of blue for a garden wedding. the Lord really is so good for allowing clear skies on this day.

as kuya carlo and ate weng were reading their vows, i was all teary eyed and really, really happy that finally, they're making it official.

welcome mr. and mrs. carlo raquel! :D

pre-wedding or windang moments

"first time mo ba ikasal?"
when stress gets the best of your usually normal and steady mind, this is what happens. hello wedding bells. at least kuya carlo and ate weng get to unwind before the big day.

the wholesome-st bridal shower and stag party in the whole world. superrr funn. :D

mara and xai hit gateway

mara means bitter but this girl's really sweet.
i hearts her to pieces. like whoa. :D

the GT's of KC2K4

kit, xai, zy. people always get our names confused. don't ask why.

hanging round the, erm, most toured tourist spot in baguio. pfft. haha. that's est em to you.

hello kcmates. haha.

oh.snap.

if i said this once, i've said it a hundred times.

i hearts baguio. like whoa.