Bye, Bye, Bye, 2005

I remember last year I didn't celebrate New Year's eve in Bulacan. My bro, along with his family, and I spent it in Bataan. That was one of my most memorable New Years because that's when my vertigo started scaring the bejesus out of me. I thought I would die. My blood pressure shot up and my world span around uncontrollably. My doctors advised me to start taking BP pills.

Whew! I thanked God for nuthin like that happened this year. I requested dad to cook barbecues and lumpiang shanghai for dinner. I'm really happy that my family is healthy and complete, even though Kuya is far away... they celebrated theirs in Bora (how cool is that!).

After the countdown and the noise created by Bulacan-made firecrackers, I proceeded to a neighbor's house where my friends were already drinking. I told 'em that I brought my MagicSing... that made the night more fun. Nimfa sang "The Reason", Mon gave us "Fame", Adrian interpreted a wicked "Spolarium" (got 96), and I, of course, sang "Somebody" and got 98. Teehee!

Being Santa

Woke up around 10 in the morning. Left Jun's pad and continued my sleep at my own place. I miss my bed ;oP

Called my mom to inform her that I'll pick her up. I reached RSCC around 7 in the evening. Had my dinner there. Brought some goodies with me and I distributed them to the kids at mom's cottage. I also gave 'em some chocolates (Super thanks to Arlyn) and chaos ensued. Teehee!

Music + Vodka = Fun, Fun, Fun!

To celebrate the upcoming New Year holiday, my friends (Nikks, Beng, Tabel, and Jun) and I had dinner at a resto in Jupiter. After dinner (had pecho and garlic rice), we decided to continue the fun at Jun's pad. We first went back to the office so Tabel could get her stuff and then we looked for booze. En route to Jun's, we had fun teasing Beng about the "men" in her life ;oP

We met Jun's friend, Caloy, at his place. He was watching an old episode of "Maala-ala Mo Kaya" featuring John Lloyd with cerebral palsy. Not impressed with his acting. Dunno if he's about to laugh or in pain.

Beng immediately prepared our drinks (Gilbey's Vodka and Pomelo juice). When Caloy left, we started singing. We passed around the booze and continued singing till around 3 am.

When the ladies left, Jun and I watched "The Longest Yard". We decided to sleep instead of finishing the movie.

And here are the pictures I promised. Thanks to Jun for uploading 'em from his spiffy digicam.

Lovely ladies ;oP


Presenting, ABBA! Teehee...


Love 'em hugs!

Love Dem Kids

Cleaning Out My Closet

It's the last working day and I'm still training. Bummer! I should be relaxin', watching movies, singing my heart out, and eating my heart out. Teehee.

Anyhoo, for the nth time, I've cleaned out my cube. I think this is, by far, the cleanest version of my area. Rudy helped me out a bit. I'm soooo proud of what I achieved. Y'know I hate cleaning. Sweet! ;oP

Scarborough Fair

After our office hours today, I setup my MagicSing at the training room. I invited some friends to sing their hearts out. Atty. Jane gave a wonderful performance of an Air Supply hit, "Making Love Out of Nothing at All", Mark delivered Simon & Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair" (became an instant favorite of mine), Mark & Beng made us fall in love with their version of "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?", Nikki sang Spice Girls' "2 Become 1" complete with the sexy moves, and Tabel gave us Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach". Jane, Mark, and I sang "Four Strong Winds" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart". That was fun.

Sulking Over Video iPod???

For us, iPod nano fans, there's still hope to watch our favorite videos. Clinkundaeemage!!!

Mind & Soul Nourishment

This holiday season, I caught up with my book reading. One of our directors lent me her book, John C. Maxwell's "The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader", a few months ago. Since I was still reading King's "The Dark Tower", I just put it off. My friend, Beng, also lent me her book on Leadership, "Developing the Leaders Around You"... again by Maxwell.

Hmmm... I promised myself that I won't start another book if I'm still reading one. I made an exception this time. Since the King novel was kinda heavy, I didn't bring it home to Bulacan. Instead, I carried with me 2 books, "The 21..." and Bo Sanchez's "Fill Your Life with Miracles" (this I got from Gerard during our SOLV Brother's Christmas party). I finished these two books in one sitting and found out that in Bo's book, he mentioned some stories that were also included in Maxwell's. I really enjoyed reading the Maxwell book so I got me-self a copy today (found a hardbound copy at PowerBooks)!

Tonight I might continue on King again. After which, I'd proceed to Beng's book.

Merry Christmas, Y'all!!!

Walk This Way

Nope, that ain't my feet, silly. But once you wear these slippers, you'd surely get a second look. They're called "Topless sandals". The makers claim that they simulate barefoot sensation and the nice thing is, they don't leave sticky residue (we don't want that at all).

Interested? Get one here.

I dunno about you but anything with the word "topless" sounds good to me =oP

Am Freakin' Excited!!!

Arlyn's coming home ;oP Yahoooooooo!!! Will pick her up today at the airport. Hopefully, traffic won't be too congested.

Sing Even When There's Nobody Sings Along!!!

After my training yesterday, we had to wait for Earl, our dance instructor (I'm not sure if he likes to be called that way), to come back from a Christmas party. Our dance/workout was supposed to start at 6. Beng, Ning, and I were his students for the night. Others, like Jayjay, & Nikki, had prior commitments so they had to leave early. They promised they'd join us next time.

Immediately after our setup at our office Recreation Room, Earl proceeded to share his knowledge in dancing. One thing I admire about this guy is that he's VERY willing to share his passion. *claps* *claps* We learned some new steps. At times I couldn't do the moves but he was patient with all of us. We danced to a Michael Jackson song that goes sumpthin like, "Rock my world..." (not sure of the title).

The goal of this workout is to break a sweat (I think we achieved that even though the room was a bit cold) while having fun. We even had a portion where we practiced our macho dancing moves. Joy sprouted out every now and then to watch us =oP We finished at past 9 already. Not bad for a workout, eh?

'twas time for dinner. Ning and I had to find a place to eat and we found Dencio's at Paseo Center. Earl promised to join us later after his chat with his "commander". We had shrimp sinigang and tokwa't baboy (Ning only ate the tokwa) and a few drinks. Indeed, Earl joined us some minoots later. We ordered baked mussels and some mo' drinks.

Our talks concentrated on Ning's unforgettable boat experience and Earl's Japan adventure. It's fun to listen. We called it a night around 1:30ish.

Now, wait a minoot. What's this blog all about? On to my other story....

When I tried to buy a MagicSing yesterday and got declined (I maxed out on my credit card already), my heart was crushed. I thought I could cross one item off my Christmas list already...

But now, I'm super happy. Got 96 on "My Immortal", 91 on "Wherever You Are" (my first song) and 95 on "Aubrey". Sang till 4 (I had to wake up at 7 for my morning training). That's PASSION!!! Teehee... =oP

Joey & Son

Around 3 pm yesterday, we got another visitor(s)... a familiar kid walked into my training room. Gave him a big hug. I asked where his daddy is. Joey was already chatting with Nikks & Noel at the lobby. All the people who recognized him commented that he lost so much weight and asked him if he wants to come back ;oP

Mystery Man

I promised that I won't be revealing this person's identity. The last time he paid us a visit, I got him into trouble. Teehee... Now, who do you think this guy is? If you know my anniversary date @ Enterworks, you can see the unretouched photo ;oP Good luck!

Please, Please, Pretty Please!!!

Remember this iPod nano cover that I featured a long time ago? Well, it's now available at Podstar. Paging Joyish, Ogz, Razul, Cathy, Apaul, Teodie, Kathy, and to all my friends in America, please, please, please get me one. I'd be soooo freakin' happy if you can buy me this ;oP Pretty pleaseeeeee....

Ultimate Frisbee @ Night

Early this year, my friends introduced me to Ultimate Frisbee. But after seriously hurting my back (thanks to Bok!), I stopped playing. I think the last time I threw frisbee was in Bora last summer. I remember Bravo (a big black dog) did a serious damage on Chel's frisbee. That's the end of our playtime.

Now, to all my friends who still play the game, here's a very cool Christmas gift to ask for! Wish I were in America and I could buy one for you, guys ;oP

An Invitation for my Artworks

Was checking my blog last week when I stumbled upon this very interesting comment:

Hey there! I love your work...would like to invite you for a Solo Exhibit @ Food and Art Galerie, 12th floor GT Tower...I can give ya a total of 45 panels...if its too big for you...you can invite some friends to join you.

We had ER Tagle way back...pls. tell him I'm willing to make a showcase for your class. I'm open for January 2006."Right now we have KODAK and UNESCO's "Present Day Slavery" Photo Exhibit. Be among the chosen few to exhibit at our place.

-Rain Nerona
Marketing Officer
Food & Art Galerie
Foodparks by Raintree

Hmmm... is this for real? Might have to call her one of these days ;oP

King Kong: Then & Now

After watching and crying buckets over Peter Jackson's remake of "King Kong", I got interested in watching the 1933 original by Cooper & Schoedsack (thanks, Noel).

Here are some of the things I noticed:

The Jack Driscoll then (Bruce Cabot) was more of the leading man/hero type than Adrien Brody. I don't think there's chemistry between Adrien & Naomi.

I have nuthin against Jack Black (love him in "School of Rock") but I like the original Carl Denham more.

Ann Darrow then (Fay Wray) was a candidate for an ear plug commercial. She's screaming all the time. The Ann now, portrayed by Naomi Watts, has more depth and personality. I remember in the latest King Kong, they said sumpthin like "Fay" wasn't available to portray the leading lady. That's cool ;oP

The natives are 10x scarier in the latest King Kong. They didn't need dialogue to express what they want (unlike in the original where one guy actually talked to the chief in the native language, which is ridiculous to me). The way the native abducted Ann was more imaginative in Jackson's version too.

If you plan to watch the original, watch out for Jack Driscoll's reaction when he saw Kong for the first time. That was priceless. I like Black's reaction this time.

In the original version, a brontosaurus gobbled some crew of Driscoll. Hellooo, I thought brontosaurs are plant-eating dinosaurs?

There was a T-Rex fight scene too in the old version. In here, the T-Rex was bigger than Kong. I give props to Jackson for raising the bar. Fighting 3 T-Rexes is THE highlight of "King Kong" for me. By the way, in the end where King Kong was opening & closing the broken jaw of the T-Rex (which I found hilarious) was also included in the original. I thought that was new.

When Carl presented Kong to the world in the original, it lacked oomph! I like the latest version. It's sooo Broadway-ish.

Of course, I didn't cry in the original version. Kong looks cartoonish. WETA workshop did a magnificent job in creating a very charismatic and believable Kong.

Washing Machine: Checked!

My Christmas gift to myself is a spiffy automatic washing machine. I couldn't bear to lose clothes to our condo laundry shop. I plan to wash the clothes I treasure and let them wash my everyday clothes. Ariel & Downy "Simple Pleasures" (you should try their Vanilla & Lavender scent) are my partners in crime. The only drawback is that my unit smells like fresh laundry =oP

I also bought an electric dish dryer to keep away the bugs that infest Cityland Tower. I haaaaate 'em!

SOLV's 21st

Bro Algie was very kind to text me that he's going to Don Bosco to get some stuff for our 21st SOLV Anniversary tonight. While waiting for him, I went to the Blessed Sacrament chapel and prayed. After a few minoots, Rogel tapped me on the shoulder. I finished my prayer and proceeded to the parking lot. I couldn't find Algie's vehicle so I thought he brought a bigger one for the party. I went to a nearby van and opened its door. Only to find out it's somebody else's car. The driver looked at me. Obviously, he was as surprised as I was. Ooops! I blushed and excused myself =oD

I quickly searched the area for the familiar car of Algie and finally found it. Algie & Rogel were in stitches 'cause they saw what happened =oP Man, that was hilarious!!!


Around 3:30 pm, we reached Richville Hotel. Unlike in the last anniversary party where I was just a mere spectator, this time, I played an important role. I, along with sisters Glo & Arlene, was in charge of the registration. Since the two sisters haven't arrived yet, I setup my laptop and performed my task. 'twas otay. I didn't panic when people arrived. I got the assistance of France. Later on, Glo & Arlene arrived.


Around 5:30, we heard mass. The gospel was about the annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. After mass, we had worship, led by Kiko, and a talk, given by Harvey.

Past 8 and we haven't had dinner yet. My tummy was already growling. It ain't good for me to be hungry for a long time because my hyperacidity could act up. Good thing, one of the sisters brought with her some bread. I munched 'em while waiting for our actual dinner.

After Harvey's talk, Joel announced that it's dinner time. Finally! I had soup, noodles, chicken, and veggies. Yay! During dinner, Randy & Beauty presented how SOLV was for the past few years with photos he collected. He actually divided it into 2: the ole days and the recent years.

France called on Ramil and Ate Malou. They started the ballroom dancing. I quickly searched for Glo and danced with her. Afterwards, I danced with Cerise. When 80's & 90's music were played, more people started to strut their stuff. It was fun to see brothers & sisters dancing together and enjoying the moment. Mike was a revelation of the night. I didn't expect he could dance 'cause he's the silent type. I truly enjoy dancing so I gave it my all ;oP There was no Pinoy Big Brother theme song so the brothers danced to YMCA with Ramil leading the choreography.

After awhile, the DJ changed it to sweet music. That's my cue to rest. The SOLV couples danced this time.

Ballroom dancing was next. I was tired already so I just continued to have my break. Around 11, we called it a night.

Pictures from Ogz's Despedida Party

Bulilit left early. Franco was the last to arrive. OJ came with his girlfriend. Tabel tried the cerveza negra. I got drunk with two bottles of mineral water. Word!!!

Beautiful Kong

After Ogz's despedida party last night at Gerry's, Ogz, Tabel and I bought our tickets for the movie, "King Kong". The movie started at exactly 10:30. Just to warn you, you won't be seeing Kong for at least 70 minoots.

Now let's discuss the fun and exciting parts. Numero Uno: Watch out for the stampede scene. Remember the wildebeests scene at the "Lion King"? That is no match for what you're going to see in this latest film of Peter Jackson. I was at the edge of my seat when the panic-stricken brontosaurus fled from their habitat.

Number Deux: Now this is my favorite part. The T-Rex battle. I won't be giving out anything more (no spoilers here, doncha worry) but I am pretty sure, this will WIN in the next MTV Awards' "Best Action Scene". If you plan to go to the restroom, be sure you won't do it during this magnificently executed fight scenes. Kong rocks!!!

Number Tatlo: Two scenes made me cry a bucket. When Kong was being captured and of course, during the final scene. Oh man, I really can't help it. I love animals... even huge ones! I remember I also cried when I saw the 1976 version of "King Kong", starring Jessica Lange. In that final scene, you could hear the heartbeat of Kong slowly fading =o(

Number Four: I love the scene when Kong was on top of a cliff, with Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts, who is sooooo beautiful in this movie) in his arms, and appreciating one of God's beautiful gifts to us... the sunset. It was repeated in the final scene. But this time, it's the sunrise, and the two characters were on top of the Empire State building. Beautiful moments.

If you're wondering where you've seen Lumpy the Cook (the guy with one eye shut) before, well, he's Mr. Andy Serkis. Doesn't ring a bell yet? Gollum. There! He's also the guy behind the facial expressions of the endearing Kong.

Bad News, Good News

After eating my pork sinigang dinner last night, my tummy started achin'. I thought taking an antacid and mefenamic acid would cure me. I was restless in bed. At 4, I still couldn't sleep yet. I decided to check myself in at Makati Medical Center.

The nurse immediately advised me to lie down. I was cold. They gave me the standard white blanket. I requested for another one.

My female doctor named Dr. Janelle Custodio gave me an oral medicine that tastes like chalk. After awhile, she told me to rate the ache from 1 to 10. Told her it's an 8. She gave me another dose of that nasty stuff. She repeated the process. Told her it's a 7 now.

That's when she decided to give me a shot. This time a male doctor supervised the procedure. He tied my left arm and inserted the needle. I screamed, "What the fffff...!" Just kidding. I have a high tolerance for pain ;oP

I tried to sleep but still couldn't. My femme doctor asked me if I'd like to go home. Told her that I want to 'cause it's freakin' cold in the emergency room. Before I left the hospital, the guy doctor briefed me on what food to avoid (that's why I had sandwich & salad for brunch today). No coffee, no soda, no beer, no juice. Just plain agua.

Before I forget, the good news of the day is that, I was able to recover the missing gift cheque and some stuff from Globe that I won from our Christmas party raffle. Mama Butch handed it to me this afternoon. Yay!!!

We're also celebrating a party for Ogz who's leaving for the US tomorrow. Unfortunately, I couldn't drink. Bummer!

The Culprit

The Mindoro Sling. Thanks to my good friends, Tabel, Ogz, Chel, Candy, and Rudy for taking care of me during my "LOST" moments.

SOLV Brothers Christmas Party

t'was already past 7 when I met my fellow brothers at Don Bosco last night. We immediately proceeded to the SOLV office for our first Christmas party for SOLV brothers. When I got there, people were signing up their names on a piece of paper. Gifts were placed on a table.

Since we're not complete yet, we were advised to mingle with our team members. I belonged to the Red team, composed of James, Jonathan, Isco, and Gerald (one of our latest bros).

Around 8, Kiko led the prayer and we had dinner afterwards. We had barbecue (the best!), lumpiang shanghai (liked it), beef mechado, and yogurt of two flavors: Kahlua brownies and Triple Chocolate (courtesy of Ramil).

Worship was next. We thanked Him for the wonderful blessings we've received.

Then we had our first game. Pertolino handled the games, by the way. We were tasked to complete the 7 mission statements of SOLV. Unfortunately since we're pressed for time and no one has actually memorized the 7 statements, we didn't get to achieve our goal. That's one of our missions next time ;oP

Next game was more challenging. We had to complete a perfect square with our eyes covered. This produced chaos among the brothers. People were talking at the same time. People expressing their ideas at the same time. People were laughing. In the Green team, they created their own perfect square. In our team, Isco was suggesting sumpthin. In short, we failed again. Pert had to instruct us to remove our blindfolds and talk about our strategy. Randy became our leader. After some minoots, we were able to solve our problem. Whew!

Our third game was the most fun. Pert played some portions of the song, "Pinoy Ako", and we had to think about our choreography. For our team, we were given the first 10 to 20 minoots. James thought of our dance moves and we just followed him. After every team had danced their parts, Pert mixed up the sequence, which made us memorize the steps even more.

Later on, we completed the whole song together with Ramil as our choreographer. We will dance to this tune on Saturday for our SOLV Anniversary party.

Then it was time for us to write down on our name tags our prayers for the upcoming year. We put them all in a box and people started picking out names from it. I got James'. Next Christmas party, we'll check if our prayers were answered ;oP

Exchange gift time. I got Gerald's "Bo Sanchez' Fill Your Life with Miracles" and he got my "2006 Psalms Calendar". That was funny. Also, Randy gave us some laser pointers and Isco gave us some rosary bracelets.

Raffle time once again. Noel got a jacket and Rogel got a bag.

Caloy led the final prayer for the night. I helped in the cleanup before heading back home.

Going Red

After eight solid months of having brownish yellow dreadlocks tip, I changed it to red for the holiday season. Although it doesn't look 100% red, I'm otay with the new color.

But first, I had my dreadlocks repaired at the Black Strawberry shop. Thanks to Romy for his patience.

Then I went immediately to a nearby salon called "Crispin Britanico", formerly known as "Paradigm". I asked if they could change the color of my dreads. They worked on it immediately. Lita Glory was my stylist, along with 5 more assistants. I was offered coffee too while waiting for my dread color to settle down. Myles Hernandez, one of the Viva Hot Babes, was sitting a few distance away from me. Sweet!

Happy Birthday, Mommy!!!

Gave my mom an early birthday present with her first trip to Boracay a couple of weeks ago. I'm really happy for her 'cause she saw her grandchildren again. It was her first plane ride too. Happy birthday, mommy! I love you so much!

What Freakin' Happened?

Woke up around noon wondering how I got to be sitting at my cube. My last recollection was the videoke portion... with Earl singing beside me. I'm clueless as to what happened during the rest of my night. It gotta be the Mindoro Sling that I consumed all through the night. Somehow it has a weird effect on my system. I honestly couldn't recall anything... Ning filled me in on some of the details but I need to talk to some more people about what happened. This is soooo weird.

A Mardi Gras Christmas Party!

The party started pretty late. The two Johns got stuck in traffic. People came in their Mardi Gras costumes. Mama Butch was wearing a gown that Isabel Granda, a dunzo actress, wore one time. Rudy was dressed as a pirate. Arman was our Panday for the night. There were 3 Zorros too: Jayjay, Rey and Jan.


For a change, we had Noel lead the prayer. After Mimi gave her opening remarks, we had our dinner, composed of a salad, some rolls, lasagna, an interesting fish barbecue, some beef, eclair for dessert, and lechon. The lechon was so good.


As for the hosts, we're 4 this time: Joy, Ogz, myself, and we had a new recruit, Earl--the ex-Maneouver dancer ;oP

During dinner, we started exchanging gifts. I gave my baby, James, his robot. Incidentally, he was my daddy last Christmas. We teased some people (Beng & Franco and Joy & Bimboy) to give one another a kiss for Christmas' sake. Adrian surprised John Wood with his funny gift: a black boxer briefs with "Mr. Tickle" embroidered on the front. Not sure if it will fit him though ;oP When it was Robbi's time to give away his gift, he called out the name of his baby, "Sumpthin-sumpthin pizzas!" We all shouted back, "pizzazz!" He repeated it, "sumpthin-supmthin pizzas". That was hilarious!


The first game of the night was "Dress Me Up, Santa". My team, composed of Rene, Tabel, Beng, Jayjay, and Earl, got John Wood. He instantly became our Santa. We included his gift as part of his Santa costume but the judges didn't like it much. Where's your sense of humor, guys?

John Wood presented his game next. He called out 10 people and asked them questions that Tony (who was there for the party) gave him. First question was related to the song, "Twelve Days of Christmas". John wanted to know how many gifts were actually given. I blurted out "78" accidentally. Sadly, I wasn't included in the game. Bummer! Anyhoo, 5 people got some very nice gifts: Mark received the Video iPod, Candy got a 2-GB iPod nano, Alwyn got the digital camera, Ruthie got a cellphone, and Neil got the other nano.


Arman and Nikki delivered the classic, "Have Yourself a Merry, Little Christmas". They had to repeat thrice and with that, the crowd roared in laughter.

HR presented the "Employee of the Year" award to Arman Jison. So deserving!


In the middle of the party, Chel told me that Joey (from Singapore) was trying to call us. My phone doesn't have a vibrate feature so I missed his first call. Anyhoo, he called Chel a few minoots later and we were able to catch up finally.


Second game was the most enjoyable part of the party. 5 representatives from different teams had to sing a song and let MagicSing decide who the winner is. First contestant was Nikki. She did an outrageous version of "Power of Love". Erwin was next with "Love Hurts". Boy, that guy can actually reach the high notes! Beng was next with a Michael Bolton classic, "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You?". She got the highest score. Robbi was hilarious in Celine Dion's "All By Myself". The problem is, he thought it's the Eric Carmen's version that he had to sing. Candy sang "Alone". And Paul was tasked to sing "All At Once". He got the lowest score, 38 ;oP It was soooo funny.

Jon Church delivered his final talk. And I think he also announced the winner of the best costume. I missed it because I was changing my shirt.


We finally presented our dance number, which Earl gladly choreographed for us. I was already tipsy from drinking early so I'm pretty sure I missed some moves. But anyhoo, it was fun and people liked it.


The big winners of the night were Noel who received the flat screen teevee, Butch got the DVD player, and Ruthie got the electric grill. As for me, I lost the only raffle prize that I got: a Globe keychain, money clip, and a gift cheque from sumwhere. Bummer!


We danced the night away. The dancers of the night were Paul (!), Attorney Jane, Bulilit, Nikki, Beng, Franco, Joy, Ning, Chel, Ogz, Tabel, moi, and of course, Earl. Drinks were passed around. I had some of the drink that Nicho prepared... "Mindoro Sling", it was called.


Next was Videoke time. We finally found out how to use the MagicSing on our projector. Maidette delivered a wicked Carly Simon's "You're so Vain". I wasn't able to sing anything because I passed out. It gotta be the Mindoro Sling! I don't normally pass out at parties ;oP