hay nako....

Here we go again.. You've re-entered my life to stir things up yet again, when all along I've written you off and considered you a closed book. Ano beh....

in a few days...

The best boyfriend in the world is about to take his bar exams. Though he may appear calm and collected, I know he's very stressed out and is feeling anxious and fidgety on the inside...

Hence, he was really looking forward to last night-- the send-off party by his fratmates for him and his batch of barristers. The party was jampacked with well-wishing people and, as is typical in all frat functions, overflowing with booze, yosi, and more booze.

Hay.. Only in frat parties do I see such a huge amount of hand-shaking and back-patting. Brods left and right were greeting each other and wishing each other luck, through the customary shaking of right hands and the vigorous hitting of each other's backs.

I met even more people at that party. A portion of the crowd was composed of girls-- who were either girlfriends or dates of the boys. I stayed with these girls on occasions where Dennis would wander off to other people. Some of those girls were from law school too, and they entertained me with stories of their encounters with my boyfriend. The stories were all good, of course, and were usually about how, even if he's suplado, he was always the perfect gentleman.

A lot of guys approached me too, not to hit on me (takot lang nila, ang laki yatang tao ng boyfriend ko! Hehe) but to tell me just how much they love the guy my boyfriend is. They told me various recollections of their experiences together, including the fights they went through and the binds he helped them out of. They told me of countless times when my boyfriend went out of his way to help a friend in need, no matter how inconvenient or problematic the situation. They gave me different testimonies on why they trust him-- with their secrets, with their problems, with their lives..

To-date, I've never felt more proud to love him and to be loved by him than I did at those precise hours. I heard various stories of my boyfriend as a freshman, as a sophomore, junior and senior.. as a friend, as a brod, as a classmate, as a person... All those stories lent me a look at Dennis through the eyes of other people. I felt like I was getting to know him all over again. Every good story, every single praise, made me fall in love with him a little bit more..

By the end of the night, all those stories made me adore him even more for being the person he is, both to me and to others. He's a good guy. Underneath that siga exterior is a very good person.

And he loves me. All of his brods that I spoke with told me the same thing. That no matter how much I believe that he loves me, I'll never fully see just how much I mean to him. And just how big an impact I made in his life.

That's another thing about my boyfriend. He gives justice to the meaning of the word love.

Hay... As I said, he's the best boyfriend in the world.

money, money, money,.... money!

I attended this Citigroup seminar in the office the other day, and learned a whole lot more about investment. It was amazing how, if you compare the interest rate in a regular time deposit account, factor in the current inflation rate in the Philippines, your money can be losing value up to about 5% every day that you keep it in that account. People may think they're saving by keeping their money in bank accounts, but if you consider inflation and the ever-rising cost of living and the ever-plummeting value of our peso, your money is actually spending itself away...

They also touched on mutual funds, bonds and other securities we may be interested to avail of. Being Citibankers, we had the advantage of getting these investment instruments minus the usual brokerage fees. Also, as opposed to entering, say, the stock market on your own and having to monitor the shakes and turns yourself, entrusting your shares to the professionals can save you lots of time and energy.

I happily took in all the info, listing down the products I consider investing in. At first, I wondered how I was ever going to afford to put in enough money to actually 'grow' my moolah considerably. After all, it's not like I'm earning millions every payday.

But, interestingly, when I was doing the math upon getting back to my desk, I realized that about a 10-15% monthly cut from my paycheck can amount to a substantial amount of investment per year. And, at the rate that some instruments go, it's very worth it to get in asap. 10-15% is, interestingly, doable on my part too! I just have to think of it as an 'expense'... like shopping or going out.

Hay, I sooo want to start saving up and making my money grow. I hope this is the start of it :)

sassy!

Saw "My Sassy Girl" for the first time last night. I've heard so many people gush and mush about it, that I tried not to expect too much from the movie. Better to keep expectations to a bare minimum-- I've been letdown by a lot of 'must-sees' in my lifetime...

But, oh my, after watching it.. I must say that I now join the crowd in cheering and clapping my hands gaily at such a great movie! I love it, I love it, I love it! It's feel-good yet sad at the same time-- and the characters are so lovable that you can't help but root for them. The way the story is told was so unconventional-- unlike a typical romantic comedy, you wouldn't be able to predict how it's going to end. So the story just sweeps you away-- when the lights come on to signal the end of the movie, you have to make a conscious effort to regain your breath.

I love it! I love it! I love it!

Spent the rest of my weekend naman with my sassy boy. He's been so stressed about the bar exams (coming up in 2 weeks!) that I treated him to a full-body 60-minute massage at the spa today. Afterwards, we feasted on some really good Japanese food and spent hours just talking and laughing. I tried to crack him up with my clever jokes (i.e. "Ang C2 kaya, binebenta din sa C5?), but he ended up giving the better wisecracks. Oh well, I tried =p

And I tried my best to be the sweet, caring girlfriend this weekend, being the one with the lambing words and sweet gestures (the massage, etc)... but he still stole my thunder as the weekend came to a close. After watching "Must Love Dogs", I playfully teased him, "Will you ever stop loving me, just like Diane Lane's ex-husband?!"

He answered without batting an eyelash, "From the moment you agreed to be with me, I knew for sure I'd be loving you all my life."

Sigh... what did I tell you-- he's my Sassy boy.... =)

a bit of advice...

I wish I can say I don't know what the hell is wrong with you, but I can't. Because the reasons why you've reached this point are as clear as daylight:

1. You have an annoying habit of blowing your stress waaaaay out of proportion. - I think this comes from your competitive streak.. the bad kind where you pull other people down and suck out their energies. You love proclaiming just how stressed you are, with the objective of appearing highly-utilized and thus very important. Ang yabang kasi. Yan napapala.

2. You have a superiority complex. - Mainly an attitude problem, you walk around with your nose in the air and act as if you're better and smarter than everyone else. Hello?! Newsflash: Compare IDs with anyone else in that floor and you'll be reminded of your proper place.

3. You never ask for help. - Linked with # 1 and 2 above, not being willing to acknowledge that you can't handle everything on your own adds to your stress unnecessarily. Not to mention it renders you vulnerable to committing unnecessary mistakes.

4. You don't make friends with people. - To think that you're already in the company of some of the greatest, most fun and most accomodating people ever! What the heck is your problem?!

5. You don't eat. - Starving people rarely make very nice people.

6. You're manipulative. - You know what this means. I don't need to elaborate.

7. You're a brat. - Napagsabihan lang kala mo ano ng nangyari. Welcome to the real world, man. Believe it or not, you've had it soooo easy. You have no idea what else is in store for you. I can't believe how whiny and weak you're being. You give the rest of us a bad name.

Tsk tsk tsk. I strongly advise you to tread carefully and consider your next move. Avoid going down the path of least resistance, especially considering you haven't really tried yet.. at least not completely.

i want...

a Members-Only Jacket!


Check it out at http://www.karmaloop.com/products.asp?ProductID=7740&VendorCode=MEM

the ex-mrs pitt

... is looking quite good. Just saw the trailer of her new movie, "Rumor Has It" at http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1808626158

Can't wait for the Vanity Fair issue with her interview :)

alternative careers

If I had my way, I'd quit my job as a pseudo banker in a heartbeat and shift gears to the any of these Top-3 alternative career paths:

1. interior designer, preferably to the stars (Haha! Dual purpose-- serves both my interests!)
2. host of a lifestyle/ fashion makeover/ celebrity interview type of show (Ala-Look for Less, especially, would be ideal, hehe)
3. socialite-philanthropist with a special bias towards the oldies

back to reality

After two blissful weeks of no work, no stress and no deadlines, I'm going back to the office today =( Back to the daily grind, I guess...

On second thought, I actually broke out while on vacation.. Maybe my system missed the stress and was looking for it?! Hehe... =p

truth in advertising

Calling AdBoard, hello! It's obvious to anybody with half a mind that those shampoo ads violate all truth-in-advertising policies ever created. I swear, I don't know how these materials go through the AdBoard and get approved time and time again. I mean, of course your hair won't bounce like that or look as smooth as that, no matter how many times you use the shampoo. No matter how often you use it or how long, the result will never measure up to what you see in TV. And what's sickening is that all shampoo brands engage in this kind of misrepresentation. Well, the issue about how effective these ads are in the first place is an entirely different matter. I just think that the AdBoard does the public a disservice by letting these flagrant stretches of reality make their way into our TV sets.

end of the road

Ok, officially, starting today, the deal is closed. In fact, it's off. It's better that way anyway. After much deliberation (one of the many good results of this 10-day vacation leave), I decided that this isn't for me. It's not the right move to make, and not the right time to make it either. From the way this all looks, it's better to stay than to go.

Hay. Life is as simple as it is complicated.

volcanic spa day

Went to Pinatubo Spa today. What an unusual spa-- they have a sulfuric acid-infused sauna bath and a matching salted bath, which were supposed to smoothen your skin and (more importantly) cure skin asthma and relieve rheumatism.

My tita brought us there to see if the stuff actually worked... and to relax and have fun as well. It was a long, tiring trip up to that place, and there was no cellsite at all (note to self: should really consider switching to Smart, if only for the cell service in deeply rural areas). But the place surprisingly did not disappoint. The baths were relaxing and did seem to smoothen the skin.. I don't know about curing skin asthma though, as I have no recent attacks to 'heal'. My cousin who does have severe skin asthma says her skin felt better after the treatment, though. So I guess it kinda worked :)

There was another treatment where you get buried in hot volcanic ash (well, your entire body neck-down gets buried) and it's supposed to cure other ailments and pains (I forget what the names are).. I didn't try it though, coz it looked scary. It gets really hot as the ash is shoveled over you, and I bet it gets claustrophobic too. My tito went and said the experience was 'cool'. Eeeer, judging from the heat of the ash.... I beg to differ =p

Afterwards, we all treated ourselves to a hot shower and a Shiatsu massage, which felt really really good. And a hearty dinner, which I'm still digesting 'til now.

An interesting trip overall. Doesn't beat Bora at all, but 'twas a good experience anyway :)

him

He is an accident waiting to happen. Like a ticking bomb waiting to go off.

He started off as a goofy kid-- always cooking up schemes in his head and looking for ways to make people laugh, especially his family. He loved to make the big family he grew up in roll over with laughter at his antics and jokes.

He was an intelligent kid-- gifted with the skills of drawing and gifted with early recognition of his dreams to become an architect.

He was an active kid-- often getting scrapes in the knees and elbows from too much outdoor activity. He held so much promise, had such good a life to look forward to...

He grew up to be a sullen introvert—bearing no resemblance to the goofy, talkative and rowdy child he used to be. He stopped drawing... flunked out (seemingly on purpose) of his architecture classes. Up to that point in his life, flunking was never part of his construction—he never failed a single test before. But, a desperate cry for help, one coming from deep within, drove him to skip the exams and cast aside his dreams. He felt that doing something this uncharacteristic was the only way to get the attention he wanted.

You see, the big family he grew up in turned out to be as much a curse later on as it was a blessing at first. He watched years and years go by as eyes gloss over him and ears tune out his stories and jokes. He never felt more invisible than he did at home, he realized bitterly.

The weaker ones always, somehow, got noticed all the time, he observed. And so he chose to be weak. In fact, he decided to be the weakest one of all.

He shaved off his own hair and took up the vices of smoking and drinking. He picked up cuss words, hung out with the wrong crowd, flunked out of school, drove fast and drove wild. He spoke rarely to his family, and retreated deep unto himself. He spiraled further and further downward, all the while thinking he had full control of the situation and could always turn back once he got what he wanted out of it. He couldn't have been more wrong.

Alas, he discovered, as time passed by, he did get attention—but it wasn’t the kind he wanted. He was looked down upon and yelled at—the attention he got was one full of comparisons to his counterparts. And he found himself failing miserably time and time again.

Indeed, he is an accident waiting to happen. Like a ticking bomb waiting to go off. And no matter how far everyone else reaches out, they cannot seem to help him.

girl bonding

Just came back from an overnight trip to Tagaytay. Funny how having visitors from abroad can make you appreciate what you have here in the Philippines more. There are places we went to, like horseback riding and going up the Taal V, that I wouldn't have gone to if they weren't here...

Anyway, I also spent the past few days bonding with my cousins, especially the 2 girls. I saw them last year when I visited Toronto, but I guess it's different when they're the ones visiting and I'm the one showing them around. Being the only girl in my family here, it's a little weird to have other girls in the house. I'll be the first one to tell you that, ordinarily, I'm very territorial when it comes to being the only girl in the family (also the main reason why I'm not too keen on having daughters-- I like being the princess of the house). But having them over has been super fun! We've been engaging in the high-points of girl bonding-- gossiping about celebrities, getting facials and manicures, talking about boyfriends and love lives (haha, a definite favorite!) and shopping. And, what's best, I got to bunk with women who're not my grandma or my mom! Haha! What fun it is to share a room with girls-- especially if they're family :)

Because of all this, I guess I don't mind as much not being the only girl in the family.. Maybe I should rethink this having-a-daughter thing. (wink wink)

ode to my filc girls

My Friday nights haven't been as much fun in quite a while as last night had been. All thanks to my FILC girls.

I don't know exactly what was different with us that night, but we were uncharacteristically game for round after round of drinks and staying up later than usual. We were just on a roll-- with the chatter and the ideas and the jokes and the stories. We would laugh (quite loudly at that) one minute, then be all contemplative the next. We'd argue on a point, then we'd later come to agreement. We'd be in touch with reality and update each other on what's new in our lives; then the next minute we'd be exercising our imaginations and dream of living abroad (and bunking together) and traveling for fun.

This morning, in fact, my mom asked how come I hang out with these girls more than anyone else in my life? Well, apart from my boyfriend, that is. And I just didn't know what answer is satisfactory to explain why. Underneath it all is still the bond we established in the 1 year we spent hip to hip. But it's a bond that transcended the internship and blossomed into a solid friendship. One that's based on trust, honesty and laughter. We may not be carbon-copies of each other, but we're complementary. Must be why we hardly ever clash. Or, worse, get bored.

More importantly, this friendship is one that's based on a true sense of solidarity and-- I dare say-- a deep commitment to one another. All too often, friendships water down through the years due to either lack of time or lack of interest. Life just gets in the way of things, and as time passes, most friends either don't have enough time to catch up or just don't even bother.

But the truth is, as is true with spouses, friends are people you commit to. But, with all that happens in our daily lives, that's a lot harder to put to practice as it is to preach. That's why it's quite admirable that the 4 of us make time for one another. As in purposely carve out a piece of our regular schedules to meet up and to have fun. We choose to stay relevant in one another's lives. And I think that's integral to the survival and to the upkeep of a relationship. Without that, all you have, really, are memories. And as nice and valuable memories may be, they're not enough to keep a friendship alive.

I know I may have gushed about this foursome more times than I can ever count, but it's just that I can't help but feel thankful to have them in my life. They say you'd be lucky to have at least 1 true friend in your lifetime. Well, guess what? In these girls, I already have 3.

10 pounds!

I gained 10 pounds without even realizing it! Oh my God, how could that have happened? 4 of my black slacks don't fit anymore and I've been wearing more skirts than before just to fit into clothes better. It's only this morning that I actually weighed myself, after my friends last night validated what my mom has been saying-- that I've gained weight. A lot of it. So I sauntered off to the scale this morning after waking up just to see....

OH MY GOD! It took all my willpower not to pass out in front of the weighing scale this morning. Whatthe...?! That's it, no more meryenda and no more late-night McDonald's. I'm going to take this weight off. Seriously.

sibling loyalty

We may tease each other endlessly and push at the other's buttons tirelessly. We may poke fun at each other and play dumb games. But at the end of it all, our loyalty will always be to each other. No one messes with my brothers without messing with me. And vice versa.

Such a nice feeling, to be honest. It's like growing up with 2 loyal bodyguards, both taller and bigger than me but both listen to everything I tell them =)

FINALLY!

The day has come :)

I even reviewed the plot of the 5th book to refresh my memory and prepare myself for this...

my wallet is bleeding....

Ever since I got my own credit card a year ago (and stopped leeching off mom and pops), I've always tried my best to curb my spending. My gauge with the credit card is to keep the outstanding balance within 4-digit figures. So far, I've been keeping within that limit. Maxing it out sometimes, granted. But still within 4 numbers.

4 numbers, good. More than 4 numbers, bad.

So you can just imagine my shock today when I received my statement and voila, 5-digits! OMG! I'm going to kill myself now.

I will not spend anymore. EVER.

for the nth time...

We've had a million of these conversations before-- talking about the past scenarios wherein we would've met each other sooner.. been together sooner.. loved each other sooner. Since it was a common friend who'd introduced us and fixed us up, the subject of conversation has often circled around the numerous past chances that we would've come to know each other. She was persistent-- this common friend of ours--and has the honor of being the first person who's ever been convinced we're perfect for each other (she pushed this idea for about a year or so). She created so many opportunities for us to meet. She presented us with one too many chances, actually... (thank God she still kept the faith!)...

One was during our many gimmicks with our Uno friends. One was during the Mr. Law School pageant. Another was during the celebration of his successful thesis defense. Another was during Li's last night here. So many would-have-been encounters that never happened. As if fate had other plans-- that we would meet under another set of circumstances-- circumstances that would let us know the other in the best possible light... to have us meet each other on our best possible days, in the best possible ways...

As if this was all meant to be. Wrapped neatly into life's best little packages...

I love you. And I love the way you came into my life.