A Joyous New Year To All

I'm off to Bacolod this afternoon to attend yet another wedding. I have started to look forward to the day when the parties will stop and I can get on with my life; Sleep as much as I want; Watch movies in our new DVD player my youngest brother gave us (Yes! He now works and pays for himself! Thank God!); Finish reading "The Lord of the Flies". But a few more days of partying wouldn't hurt although I really miss my shut-eye. And I think I'm getting sick from the change of temperature.

Today will be my last day at work this year. I planned to clean my desk before I leave for Bacolod but since I'm blogging, looks like that's not going to happen. Hehehe.

Viking is busy with sister and handling work problems. We just sort of peek into each other, leaving tracks of where and how we are doing without actually meeting. Lol. Stealth mode. Hold on, babe. Angels are on their way to get you through.

Got a Christmas card from Writer friend. He wrote: To my best friend, Duddy. LOL. I'm not sure I like being demoted to best friend but I was happy about the Duddy part. We haven't talked in quite a while. Glad he still has a sense of humor.

I had wanted to make a picture Christmas card that moves but I havent had time yet. Hope I can make one before the New Year arrives.

I'm off to get an early lunch, my office desk a mess for the coming 2006. Hope I can blog again before the year changes.

To all my blog buddies, readers, friends and relatives who have somehow discovered my blog, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Possibly half my lifetime

Happy Birthday to me! :D I turn 35 today.

Parties in review

Trying to take a breather from all the partying going on. I'm a bit surprised that people still find it in themselves to party despite of complaints of having too little cash this Chrsitmas. I have about 60 people on my Christmas list. I haven't bought one gift. With all the partying, I don't really have enough time to go shopping. And I really hate shopping when I know how little I can afford. So postponing Chrsitmas shopping till the last minute. I just had my braces adjusted with new wires yesterday so I'm in no mood for jolly Christmas. It's ... reeeeeeaaaaaallllly painful right now. Sigh. Anyway, here are some parties I've been to these last few days:

The Slaying of Sponge Bob My nephew turned ten and we organized a Sponge Bob Square Pants pool party for his 18 friends. Prepared games for the kids but couldn't get them out of the pool to play even just one game. So I ended up tossing wrapped pineapple candies on the pool for them to dive for. They were a noisy bunch but I think they had a good time. We gave away bubbles and lollipops that when pinched, flashlights the inside of your mouth. LOL. Anyway, this pic of the before and after of the cake. Poor Sponge Bob. He lost his pants ... and legs too.
House lights This pic gives new meaning to house lights. My cousins celebrated four occasions in one go: The birthdays of husband and wife, a successful career move of daughter, and the engagement of a couple. All that in one family. So I guess that explains the lights. :) They had an acoustic band playing on the side and the cool air made everything romantic. Somebody made them banner-like caricatures. Really funny but wasn't able to get a picture because a niece was playing with my camera. Maybe next time. We were missing a close relative. She didn't attend because of a huge spat between her husband and her borther. Felt really sad about it because she was always the life of the party. Holidays are no place for bad feelings.
Opening Salvo To mark the opening of the coming Dinagyang Festival, warriors paraded around town to the beat of drums and synchronized dancing. The Dinagyang Festival will be on the third weekend of January. Today, they just sort of felt the streets. It was raining but still they danced in unison. Looking forward to Dinagyang for all photos I'm going to take. And so nice to feel drumbeats this close ... even if they are actually from drums and not from beating hearts. :P
Wedding Remember the Miagao Church entry I posted a few months ago? About the guy who proposed to a friend of mine, publicly, in church, after mass? This is their wedding. And this is a shot of one of the flower girls. They celebrated it in the same church of course. When they kissed, we all released butterflies. :D Very lovely. Anyway, we spent the night out of town and danced the night away. I took both cameras with me. Missed the sunrise though. I just couldn't wake up earlty anymore.
Community Christmas Party Last year we had kids for the community Christmas party. This year we decided to adopt 33 people who we think really deserves a Christmas Party. Here they are dancing to the tune of Pinoy big brother. Inset photo show Manang Maxima, 52 years old, earns a living by making nipa sheets people use to make nipa houses. It's the only way she could feed her family. She enjoyed the party though and rewarded everyone with a toothless smile. Sent everyone home with bags of groceries and rice. This party has been the best one so far.

No title

Haven't been very productive lately. I go to the office and then refuse to work. There is much to do but procrastination seems to be on top of everyone's list nowadays. So when I do some work, I also mix in a lot of staring into space. Kind of a conscious effort to keep the balance. The good news is I've cleaned my In Tray. Of course, new documents will somehow make its way to it just when I'm beginning to feel comfortable with spacing out. But that's fine as long as I don't have a panic attack; I've met my deadlines - Grin!

I've also been spending too much time drinking too much coffee with the superfriends as we make plans on what to do for the Justice League Christmas Party. We have a very limited budget this year, most of it will come from our own pockets. Good thing superheroes always lean towards generosity and sharing whenever a party becomes part of the agenda. Plan of action will be lechon (roast pig). That will be expensive since there are only six of us and we need to feed 30 people. But you can't really expect trainees to contribute since they are forced to laugh at our jokes. Of course, with our tiny budget, the pig just might turn out to be a piglet. But roasted it will be. Mmmmmmmm.

Finished reading three books by women authors. It has chopped my to-read-book tower down to 3 stories. Will have to make it a point to look for second hand bookstores again to replenish my vertically challenged tower. For now, I'm resting my eyes. Allow me to list my favorite lines on what I've read so far:

Intelligence always had a pornographic influence on me.
- Maya Angelou, The Heart Of A Woman.

This I can totally relate with. Hahaha. Ever wonder why Woody Allen look alikes can bag themselves a babe? Hehehe. It's all in the brains. I tell you, not everything attractive is between the legs. It's also between the ears too. But I know women who will disagree with me. lol.

She thought: I don't have to do this. Though she understood in the same moment that it was knowing that she would positively do this that had allowed her the luxury of indecision.
- Anita Shreve, The Pilot's Wife

The luxury of indecision. I've been going through some stuff right now. Trying to see my limits and exploring how daring I can be. So far, I've been unafraid. Anxious maybe ... Me liking this side of me. Me liking what I'm discovering. I have a choice. It's good to have options, don't you think?

Sometimes you're loved because of your weakness ... What you can't do is sometimes more compelling than what you can do. For a second, I felt hope for myself. But loving for weakness, seemed like a weakness itself.

Their premise is that men are natural predators, and the more difficult the hunt, the more they prize their prey. In othe words, the last thing you want to do is tap the hunter on the shoulder and ask him to shoot you.
- Melissa Banks, A Girl's Guide To Hunting And Fishing

This one is good for women. Funny and entertaining and yes, you don't need to follow the rules. About the difficulty of the hunt determines the value of the prize - um, I don't know. Although I do want to keep the filipina values of pakipot (hard-to-get) and being dalaga (a lady) and all ... I'm at the age when I can also get my bow and arrow and learn to shoot. Hehehe. And I am good with the gun. I've practiced target shooting with my brother - Lol. So after age 25, I do believe Filipinas can hunt too. To remain classy, learn the art of subtle flirting.

I'm beginning to think that men do think with their dicks. Although most men I know will tend to disagree. But there has to be some truth in that. This conclusion is based on experience and observation - hehehe.

My 2005 Christmas Wishlist

(Sings) If I can't have you, I don't want nobody baby. If I can't have you oh.

That's why we have wishes, if we can't have them, at least people know we wanted them and help us wish it for us. So here's my Christmas Wishlist. No, I don't expect Santa to give them to me. I expect to save up for them and buy them maybe in the next few years. Lol.

1. Peace on Earth, Good will to Men It's a habit I can't shake off. I blame it on one of Robert Redford's spy movies; Snickers I think was the title but I'm not sure. Anyway, I think it's a must have in all Christmas list.

2. a Canon Digital Rebel : (Sigh) with extra lenses and filters


3. a Zuiko Telephoto Lens 135mm for my Olympus camera.



4. Logitech Quickcam Pro 4000 so people don't have to squint at me and think I'm somekind of dark Lord.



5. Nokia 6233 Cellphone : hmmmmm, wala lang. I just want one.


6. a 4 port usb : to accomodate all the geek stuff I've been acquiring of late



7. Calvin Klein eyeglasses : to make me look more fashionable and less geeky



8. an ipod shuffle : to keep me company when I go jogging which I plan to do sometime next year. lol.


9. a car, (used or brand new) any car. But If I have to single one out, my choice will always be a Volkwagen Beetle


10. a long vacation, anywhere; preferable somewhere with lots of photo opportunities.

Missing

For some reason, I really miss her. Maybe because it's December. Maybe because we haven't talked lately. Maybe because the world turns dark more quickly and the cold air bites somehow more sharply. Maybe it's the christmas lights that makes everything so romantic. Maybe it's the busyness of the season.

I miss her - the person she was - when she was with you.

I miss me ... with you.

But look, it's still me. Not much has changed ... except you are just missing. Hopefully missing me too.

Photofriday: Experimental

I was tweaking with the filters of Photoshop for a reunion invitation, and remembered this trick when Photo Friday made Experimental this week's challenge. I guess if you don't have the right filters for your camera, you could make a reasonable adjustment with Photoshop. Although it lacks the clarity of the real camera, it will have to do.

This is Iznart Street of Iloilo City taken from the top floor of a building. As usual, I forgot to wear my glasses. Here's the before picture:

Spell it

My nine-year-old nephew came to visit early morning last Saturday. He had four teenage siblings with him, so they, as usual, entered the house with a bang and woke up the entire household. My sister emerged from her room with sleep in her eyes and wearing her sleeping clothes: pajamas and a spaghetti-strap blouse. My nephew took one look at her and said, "Tita, you look like you're going to have S-E-X."

My sister's reaction should confirm the truth but I'm gonna leave that alone and let her blog about it - hahaha. :P. Anyway, glad to know the boy can spell.