endless possibilities

a new year. a fresh start. 

2008 was great because i had rauf.  everything else was just icing on the cake called "rauf"
the rest of the year... well, let's just call it the spice of the life that has always been mine to make and break.

2009 will be another year which will be mine to make... for me. for rauf.  i am embracing this as OURS.  no breaking it this time around.

come hell or high water, this year will be OUR year. 

- - -

DO OR DO NOT. THERE IS NO TRY. -master yoda

happy new year!!!

party time

food, alcohol, great conversation and good music usually make great parties. usually.

the problem is, though i had all four last night at our office christmas party and the party went great (i think), i didn't really get to groove & have fun because i played hostess of the program.  now i've done hosting stints and i can say in all honesty that hosting a party means you won't really get to enjoy the party, but i sooo wanted to have fun last night.  see... this is my first christmas party with this office.  but i couldn't say no to the hosting assignment because it was literally forced down my throat.  i totally blame it on my party-going mode during our last get-together, since we all found the event a bit ho-hum, i took it upon myself to play videoke mistress (now that's a term i love. haha.) that night.  and since i think that they think i did well, it was a foregone conclusion that i would host last night's party again.


it was okay up until the oldies began to mess with the program, literally TELLING us (me & my LATE co-host joseph) to call on whoever to sing a song or two, resulting in a longer program which i couldn't help save anymore.  what can i do, i'm the junior-est junior lawyer.  as hostess, i just wanted to keep the peace. haha.


so... even if i got to drink a glass of wine and guzzle down 3 san mig lights (how pitiful. for a party that started at 6 and ended at 12, that's my lowest low ever. hahaha.), i totally did not enjoy the party.  but it's okay.  (obviously, i just want to rant about a wasted supposed-drinking session. haha.)


it wasn't a party for me.  it was work.  hay naku.  so i hope to high heavens that tonight, at the An Waray christmas party, i will get to have fun as i wasn't able to last night.  oh. and i have another one tomorrow, with my beloved original law school block.  it's major bawi chika & inuman time!!!


kampai!

the price of children

This is just too good not to pass on to all. Something absolutely positive
for a change. I have repeatedly seen the breakdown of the cost of raising
a child, but this is the first time I have seen the rewards listed this
way. It's nice.

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth
to 18 and came up with P5,404,725.00 for a middle income family. Talk
about price shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But P5,404,725.00 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into:

* P300,262.50 a year,
* P25,021.88 a month, or
* P6,255.50 a week.
* That's a mere P893.64 a day!
* Just over P37.23 an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is don't have children if
you want to be "rich." Actually, it is just the opposite.

What do you get for your P5,404,725.00?

* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night.
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
* A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
* A partner for blowing bubbles and flying kites.
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said
or how your stocks performed that day.

For P5,404,725.00, you never have to grow up. You get to:

* finger-paint,
* dress-up for halloween,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs, and
* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:

* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
* watch Saturday morning cartoons,
* go to Disney movies, and
* wish on stars.
* You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator
magnets and collect! spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand
prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for
Father's Day.

For a mere P893.64 a day, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get
to be a hero just for:

* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
* taking the training wheels off a bike,
* removing a splinter,
* filling a wading pool,
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team
that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat in history to witness the:

* first step,
* first word,
* first bra,
* first date, and
* first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree,
and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called
grandchildren and great grandchildren. You get an education in psychology,
nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no
college can match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all
the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch
a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them
without limits, so one day they will, like you, love without counting the
cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren & great-grandchildren !!!!!!!

It's the best investment you'll make!

- - -

re-posting this from an email i received.  i couldn't help but smile.  but at the end of it all, having and raising a child is really priceless :)

passing time

i'd love to think that Fate just wanted to prepare us for these realities... me still here, you still there, living different lives in two different worlds.  we are more careful because we are older, wiser, and more mature. (are we?)

yet i continue to wonder where this will all end... where you or i, or you and i, will end up.

hope floats.  and plans can be made.  but it's the possibilities of the world and our parallel but different lives that will dictate the choices we will make.

unless we decide not to choose.

but i think it's too late to even think about not making a choice.  or whatever.  we never know.

2 months down.  and everything's still looking up. 

thanks for the simple happiness of knowing that life, and possibly love, still awaits. 

for now.

toys for the (big?) boys

i think it was last tuesday or wednesday when niccolo came home late and finding rauf awake, he excitedly told mother & son that he had pasalubong for his favorite (hay. as if they all have a choice. haha.) nephew.  he switched off the lights and suddenly, neon lights were blinking from a spinning top.  and the small top was playing some techno music which i hadn't heard before.  rauf's eyes were like saucers! :)

apparently, niccolo had just come from quiapo and found this new contraption being sold there.  needless to say, it was a hit with everyone, from rauf to my dad to the yayas, who couldn't believe that it cost niccolo PhP 200 to buy the toy.  (naku, nicx, as if we all believe you'd buy that kun tu-od adto. hahahaha.) 

- - - - -

there's a new wii console at home.  dad got it for seal's 13th birthday.  although we think he's playing favorites again (seal is our youngest.  dad & mom were particularly waxing sentimental last friday, very affected by the fact that their youngest is now a teenager. haha.), having a new plaything at home aside from rauf is refreshing. hehehe...

so i don't have pictures to post yet, but here's the deal:  they got the wii sports edition.  and it's not only seal and my other brothers who are enjoying the new toy.  count me, wawan and... ta-daaah! MY MOM!!! in.   we all love this new source of family bonding, and had i known playing wii was this fun, i'd have bought it eons ago. hehehe :)

happy, happy birthday, tito seal! 7th and youngest of the brood, and the doting-est doting uncle to rauf! mwa!

20 questions

as i write this, i'm playing 20 questions with a very good friend.  my questions seem so high school-ish, and the answers come fast.  maybe because everything seems so simple.  or maybe because the real "us" is easy to reveal to the people we trust.

we take a lot of things in life for granted, and i am thankful that in moments like these, we get to go back to the simple realities of who we are, what we love doing and what we still want to become.

so this christmas, here's wishing that all of us look back and remember the kid that we used to be, and go back to the real meaning of christmas joy:  Christ, family, love and peace.

now how i related 20 questions to the christmas season is weird... but heck, reflections come  at anytime, at any moment.

carpe diem!!!

tagged and willing to play :)

tagged by danikook, willing to play, and definitely game!

Here are the instructions:
   1. Open up the music player on your computer.
   2. Set it to play your entire music collection.
   3. Hit the “shuffle” button.
   4. Tell us the title of the next ten songs that show up (with their musicians), no matter how embarrassing. No skipping that Carpenters tune that will totally destroy your hip credibility. It’s time for total musical honesty.

- - -

my list goes:

1.  it ends tonight - the all-american rejects
2.  close to you - the cranberries
3.  my humps - bep (haha.  i didn't even know that this is still in my library!!!)
4.  get over you - sophie ellis-bextor
5.  someone else's story (tinabebe!!!!!!!!!!!)
6.  score: that's that - graeme revell (score ost)
7.  across the universe - rufus wainwright
8.  les jours triste - amelie ost
9.  real - plumb
10.  false pretense - the red jumpsuit apparatus

so my rnb & pinoy rock didn't show up... probably in the next 10. :) 

now i'm tagging steve, raissa, rosa, christine, tina, julie, nad, lyne, raoul, kris, lj, janjan & whoever else wants to do this :)  just leave your answers or a link to your answers in the comment box :)

merry christmas folks!!!

christmas in up diliman

December 2, 2008 officially welcomes the Christmas season on campus. The traditional rites of lighting the campus will be at 6 p.m. at the Oblation plaza. It will be immediately followed by a concert entitled Tanglaw Sentenyal: Mga Tugtuging Pagdiriwang, featuring the UP Symphonic Band under the direction of Prof. Leopoldo Lopez, and the UP Symphonic Orchestra under the baton of Prof. Edna Marcil-Martinez and Prof. Rodney Ambat.

The concert repertoire includes classical celebratory music, music by Filipino composers, and Christmas carols where the audience will be invited to a community singing.

The concert is organized by the Office for Initiatives in Culture and the Arts (OICA) in cooperation with the College of Music.

Other activities are the following:

December 5, 5 p.m. Coral Building, Office of the Campus Architect: The opening of Designing Diliman, a centennial exhibition of the architecture, planning and landscape design of the UP Diliman (1939-2008). The exhibit showcases the campus as a veritable living laboratory of 20th century Philippine architectural styles and urbanist tendencies, with the exhibition locating the constituent structures within the contexts of shifting social environments, from colonial to national, from national to global.

The exhibit is organized by the College of Architecture Foundation for the Built Environment, Office of the Campus Architect, and OICA.

December 9, 5 p.m. University Theater: Karolfest,  a choral competition featuring various student choirs organized by OICA, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, and the University Student Council (USC).

December 15, 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. University Theater: Hagikhikan 2008: UP Diliman Faculty Follies, a variety show featuring members of the University faculty showcasing their talents in acting, dancing, singing and entertainment.

December 16: Bisita Kultura, an annual project of OICA bringing musical performances to selected areas on campus:

10 a.m. Melchor Hall steps (performer/s, to be announced)

3 p.m. Gonzalez Hall steps, featuring the UP Woodwind Quintet

5 p.m. Palma Hall steps, featuring the UP Brass Quintet

December 17, 4 p.m. Academic Oval: The Centennial Lantern Parade.

(from the diliman website)

live a.i.d.s. silver (the UP centennial edition)

i was with my co-workers (all UP alumni) last saturday night and as my title reads, yes, we watched up samaskom's live a.i.d.s. at the up theater. 

it was only the 2nd time in my life that i got to watch this annual show at diliman, and i was soooo effin' proud of the samaskomers that night.  mahaba yung show.  it started at 7:30pm, had a 10-minute break around 9:30, and natapos ang cast call 11:20.   but in all fairness, the dragging moments were few and far between.  kumbaga, it was a roller coaster ride from the appearance of michelle obombshell until the final lines of jeff salonga & myron's "under the lagoon" (that's my sequence title, not theirs).  mahahaba yung segments, but overall, the show was really worth the 4-hour stay at the theater.  super sulit.

as an alumna, watching this edition of live a.i.d.s. makes me proud to be a UP-ian all over again.  because it's the UP centennial, they squeezed in everything they could that's UP Diliman-ish through & through:  there was an oblation run (yes. totoo. true-la-la.).  they had a real oblation (in all his naked glory, with the fig leaf, but of course).  they talked about isaw, banana cue, sampaguita & fish balls, manong ice cream, sunken garden, jogging (and finding a lovelife while jogging).  and they drove a REAL UP IKOT JEEP on stage. 

i mean, super-duper-mega-over production ang nangyari, and i couldn't help but be in awe of all samaskomers i know, both residents and alumni.  ang galeeeeeng.

i missed the e-heads concert but i am uber glad i didn't miss watching live a.i.d.s. this year.  sa mga alumni na hindi nakanood, you missed a great show.  (oo, may connection ang eheads and live a.i.d.s., kasi kung tunay palaban makabayan kang UP istyudent, maka-eheads ka AND alam mo ang tradisyong live a.i.d.s.)

(as an aside, i TOTALLY have no regrets about not attending the up law alumni homecoming night... which was held at the quezon amphitheater, just right across the up theater. hahaha. kebs ko kung nagpatayo sila ng malalaking tent.  saka na ko pupunta, pag matanda na ko.  hehehehe.)