SALINDUNONG X

Last June 25, I was invited to give a team-building talk to my former college group, ADVO’s seminar workshop for campus journalist. I have been doing this for four semesters already.But there is one thing I always tell them: that there is no I in teamwork, but also, there is no HIS. But there is always WE in teamwork, but you have to work to do that. Sometimes, i do think that i'm already boring them with my semestral presense but Claire accidentally gave me a push a day before the seminar by telling me that she is always looking forward to team-building talk because she finds it most enjoyable. Actually, Kuya Marco and I have been kidding about exchanging topics since he naman has been giving the copy reading talk every semester. But you know what i love most in this salindunong aside from we're almost complete, is that Marnee's back in the circle. =)

Hay, time flies. I remember those days I was just starting in Advo. It was a dream come-true since I have always dreamt of working in the publication. I made every day as a beautiful experience. the place where i met wonderful people who instantly became my family and the same place that tolerated my love for moments of solitude.  Every crook became an avenue of unearthing who and why and how. The basement hall became my shield and my only wonderwall.  It is my delight that i was part of the first Salindunong, I remember myself wearing a black and white tube dress during the opening, which I borrowed from Ma’am Portia, I felt so beautiful that day. It was during Kuya Norgs’ era when the semestral workshop obtained the name Salindunong. The word means transfer of knowledge or transfer of wisdom. It was derived from the tagalong words salin, which means transfer, and dunong, which is equivalent to knowledge or wisdom.

I know that am not a born writer. I know very little rule in technical writing. I have my own grammar flaws. But who cares, anyway? As long as I am writing from my heart and as long as I find happiness in every word I scribble, then that’s it. I cannot ask for more. I have made myself a writer and everything is a wonderful product of the intense passion and  the faith that God gave me to pursue it. Those two I have combined to the perspicacity that I have acquired from being a batang advo.

Oh, gosh. I’m gonna die the day manufacturers sans the production of pens and papers.

click here to view photos of Salindunong X.

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balai

I will always love the sea water, the good company, the sun and yes, the foods.

 

here we are before dozing off to a goodnight sleep.

moment with the sun, the sand and the salty sea water. i love our big sunglasses.

while everybody's taking their afternoon naps. oh gosh, i love to stay here every thursday afternoon. i think i'm going to marry on a thursday noon. haha.

nothing here, just feeding my narcism.

♥

and ofcourse, i took photos of the sumptuous foods that made made my stay extra wonderful =)

dinner: chicken barbecue served with ripe mango, baked eggplant with cheese, fried sweet potato, fried rice, chopsuey, miso soup and buko juice.

breakfast: fried rice, tuyo, fried egg, longganisa, pandesal, toast with butter and strawberry jam, tomatoes, melon and banana served with hot choco. aiza had coffee.

lunch: seafood curry (yumyumyum), grilled pinaputok na tilapia, chicken tinola, ripe mango and watermelon.

during merienda, we had tuna spaghetti and pineapple-cucumber juice which me and aiza really enjoyed. i guess this will be our next favorite flavor for summer.

my final verdict: five shiny gold stars and a super hooray!

PS. Oops, special thanks and a hug to tita cely for inviting me over to this BALAI escapade!

tita cely, sheena and michael, gizelle, tamot and of course, aiza, it was really a lovely summer treat to be with you! 

more photos here.

Balai resort is located at Brgy. Abung San Juan Batangas. For more information, check their website at http://www.balai-resort.com/laiya.php . 

Rate range from P750/head for day tour and P3900+ for overnight package.  

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kai's bridal shower

This was the night we pretended to be fairies and made ourselves believe that life is a fairyland and that there is always happily ever after.

Best wishes, kai. =) I hope you enjoyed the night. The colorful clues, the bubbles, the candles matched with petals and confetti, manong guard and the roses, red balloons, the love chants with an out of the ordinary choreography, the wine toast, the naughty gifts from the fairies, the cold pool water, the slimy truth or dare, the ala-showbiz central don’t tell a lie with daddy jp’s special participation, the tequila shots and of course, the fairyboys in their boxer shorts and sexy bow ties. And yes, the foods, super unlimited ‘til dawn. hay, everybody gave a wonderful share for this event: aiza,me, rose, arlene, mija, bibian but i want to give extra credit to Mother O. i don't think everything will be possible without her superpower! haha.

you do deserve a happily ever after, anyway.

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can't wait to see you, CARLO DOMINGO. =)

♥

MY SISTER JUST CHANGED HER MIND AND DECIDED TO GO FOR CARLO DOMINGO INSTEAD OF JUAN RODRIGO.

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biyaheng totoo.

For the continuous clamor for political change of every Filipino, this proves to be an excellent watch:

click here to view the collection of BiYAHENG TOTOO videos
courtesy of: gma.news.tv

This compilation of GMA7's 10 moving stories has revealed to humankind the other side of our technically growing luxurious world. each story has left my already wounded heart grieving, this time, for my fellow Filipinos and a stained hope that this can also do wonders to the next administrators of this country. Mr. President, let them be your benchmark of success.

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four good reasons why MAY smells so flowery-good.

i do not know what life would be without these people, maybe, DULL.

I super idolized this girl, young and free and principled. Oh, she’s a lot, actually, and this page isn’t enough to brag about her awe-inspiring self. She has taught me so much about life and I am always thankful to GOD for giving me a friend like her. i always tell her that she has inspired me so much and that she has made me appreciate life's imperfection, i love how she termed it "dysfunctional". i am waiting (and very much excited) to see her name in the bookshelves of National Bookstore (or sa fully-booked) because i know she has what i takes to affect people's lives. Thank you for singing Alanis’ songs for me, I love your voice. I love everything about you!

another free-spirited human being, Aien’s my college barkada and one of the closest. She’s the maarte type but there is so much about her that one will love. Kaya super love din yan ni Ate Grace. A person with a GOOD GOOD HEART, and I have witnessed that myself. I really miss our kikay moments, I hope we can spend more time together, more than the coffee talks na lagi naman namo-move. BFF for life!

Melanie, of course. We’ve shared the best of friends since first grader. She’s the school valedictorian who loves science, and now a noble teacher in a so rural area. I always tell her to move na in the city, pero lagi xang may doubts. Naku! wag ka, happy naman sa love life. and i am happy that she is. She always tell me how self-centered I am that somehow helped in improving myself. Up to now, whenever we get the chance to talk, lagi pa din nya sinasabi: "Naku, I know you, Gladi, you won’t give a care to other people as long as you’re happy." Which I guess is once true but i think, not anymore.

Tita Zeny is Aiza’s mom at higit sa lahat, Umpe ko yan! So lucky that there exists someone who has raised a so nice daughter like Aiza. Naku, stage mother talaga and very supportive kahit sa akin. lovelove. ay, she's giving me a cool headache thinking about the best present for her. hm, she has everything na naman kasi!

THANK YOU, GOD

for giving me these people.

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of Alanis and reality

When i was 10, my brother’s best friend gave me a cassette tape of Alanis’ Jagged Little Pill album (maybe he noticed my obsession to her music especially with Hands in my Pocket and Head over Feet. ) Those were the years when I am so much obsessed with reality. I eat because I am hungry. I do tantrums and tell my mother the very reason why. I stop and wonder at the middle of my hiccups to ask why my tears are colored gray. And she would tell me that it’s because of the dust I had accumulated via over playing outside. I cry and tell dad that I am scared. I laugh because I am being tickled with nice humors. I sleep not because of anything else but because I am sleepy.

Some years after that, i've realized that life isn't just about the "reality" that i had believed, there is more than reality, there is something more that we need to survive reality.  that there are important things that lie between being hungry and eating. that there are reasons why i am not allowed to play outside at dusk. why i cannot have the  very red apple i want.  the acceptance didn't happen overnight, i went through a lot of process. there are a lot of pains and scars, there are a lot of weeping after every stumble. and there, i finally accepted that  i cannot just cry because  some eerie monster scared my ass. i learned that tears won't give me what i'm dying to have. i've learned to cry inside and  dry the tears before dawn and learned to get acquainted with bluish sleepless nights. My sister is right, it is a delectable rocky road, but its more than a rocky road, there are muddy trails and steepy hills  and rabbied dogs ready to gobble me up when i am least ready. and it was during these years that I have learned to appreciate Jose Mari Chan’s captivating music. He introduced to me a sweet way of defending myself from life’s imperfection. of relaxing myself because SOON, everything will be okay. and a very beautiful voice that keeps on reminding me that there exist a smooth road somewhere. and it's there waiting for me and for Dad, for Inay, for Kuya Dong, Kuya Yloy, Ate't, for Ate Vangie, for Ate Grace, for Ate Lea and yes, for Kuya Noel. A road where all of us can exclaim: Hey, at last, at long last.. HERE WE ARE!

i remember my sister in one of our sister kulitan before dozing off to sleep. Ate vangie said that she just realized that she haven't heard a crunchy laugh coming from me for the longest time and that she can no longer imagine how i sound or look like. i thought that that was crazy but maybe i was.

What is this for? Nothing. I just find it so funny that after all these years, nothing has really changed. Good Alanis still haunts me with her sense of reality. it makes me laugh. It still makes me condemn and at the same time save myself. maybe, she is right :♪ i care but i'm restless, i'm here but i'm really gone, i'm wrong and i'm sorry, baby... ♫ i'm free but i'm focused, i'm green but i'm wise, i'm hard but i'm friendly, baby ♪ and most importantly, i'm short but i'm healthy, yeah! ♪ and Jose Mari Chan has always been around to offer me a gentle kiss to escape.

Thank you to the two of you.

And, thank you to Kuya Allan Muños. We haven’t seen each other for years (like 13 years already?) and I will surely not know where to start once I see you but I know we have volumes of things to talk about. Thank you for making me understand the true meaning of friendship. i owe that one to you.

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april's lovely fools

my life won't be as FUN without GOD creating these loving people.

It was in ADVO where I met Lloyd, he was the managing editor then, and later became my EIC. He was a snob, really. But when we became friends, ay, sobra. Sobra ko siyang na-appreciate. He was able to compliment the worst in me. I often tell him na ako na lang ang natitira nyang friend, (which of course is not true) it’s just that I DON’T WANT ANYONE TO GRAB HIM AWAY FROM ME.

Rea’s my first-day-high-bestfriend. Oh gosh, this sanguine (as she used to describe herself) is irrefutably a head-turner plus the art talent! Naku, panalo talaga. We love non-stop talking even pag naglalakad and I often end up talking to myself alone; kasi may nakikipagipagkilala na pala sa kanya. But she’s more than just a pretty face. We’ve been through a lot, and if there is one friend in my life who I let witnessed my worst, that is her. Thank you for keeping those and for staying amidst the distance.

And here is KUya Dong, my eldest bro. need I say more why he’s included here? He loves boots and cowboy things, and yes cigarettes! I do not think he can live without a stick in his lips. FYI, I super like this picture of him, reminds me of Francine, his eldest daughter. I am always fervently praying for his' everyday to be happy and free.

Lastly, na di sumipot sa birthday date is Janelle. BEST came from the opposite of it, she hated me ata dati. She didn’t like the supladita plus the opinionated me and plus my pagiging maarte (?) who cared to no one but myself. And we always made petty away; me ending with my eyeballs rolling and telling her "as if I care"? and her with her pasensyosang pag-iling. Haha. Tama ba, best? Pero naging swak kami sa isat isa. Although from head to toe, from trippings to principles ay opposite pa din kami, we were able to keep our friendship. We learned to accept each other’s flaws (or she learned to accept my flaws?)

happy birthday, guys.

and more of happy days to come.

 

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i do not like to blame the waves. neither the beers nor the nicotine puffs.

i just wish it would rain soon.

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slow-motioned FUN friday

The day started at 9AM as we rode the bus (which is very cool because it has something where you can rest your feet and swing it back and forth.) to Lucena. It was the longest Batangas-Lucena trip that I had, which took us 5 hours to reach our destination.

Uhm, not bad, because there’s a bundle of cool adventures including a very nice old-fashioned church which we accidentally discovered while were looking for at least a clean public washroom at Saryaya Quezon.

Oh, jeepney rides and weird conversations with drivers and people we hardly know because whether we admit it or not: WE GOT LOST. Buti na lang, we PINOYs are naturally maasahan specially during times of need. Sila pa talaga ang lalapit sa'yo to give help. Hoorays to superpinoys!

At 2:30PM, we finally found PRC, oh gosh. Why on earth you never inform us that you already moved into a GOD knows I don’t remember place! (joke) Ok here’s the direction:

From Pacific Mall, have a tricycle ride to lucena city (or bayan, and just pay PHP 11.00 per head). From Bayan, you have to ride a PHP 7.00 jeepney ride going to grand station and there, PRC is right in there, you just need to look for the big PRC signage

After getting our proof of being professional teachers (hala, am I really going to teach?). We realized that we haven’t had our brunch yet and so we went to SM Lucena via this weird van driver who wanted to show us his house (and his boarding house just in case daw we miss the last trip back to Batangas) but we politely rejected the idea.

And here I want to share with you a super affordable but delightful barbecue house @ Reyes Barbecue. We had grilled asparagus, grilled turkey tail and grilled salmon with atchara side dish and their famous peanut sauce.

We arrived home at around 9:30 PM, and Lhenore (“dude”) was already waiting for our non-stop talking sleep over. FUN! (i hope dude will upload the pics SOON)

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Moulin Rouge

 I watched Moulin Rouge last Friday (finally!) The scene of Christian and his typewriter left a vivid picture of a gloomy lover. The film started with “There was a boy. A very strange enchanted boy… and ended with Christian typing: Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. And then, one not-so-very special day, I went to my typewriter, I sat down, and I wrote our story. A story about a time, a story about a place, a story about the people. But above all things, a story about love. A love that will live forever. The End.

The supreme lesson, I believed, that they want to tell the viewers: The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return. Which I believe most will agree.
But my favorite line: I owe you nothing. And you are nothing to me. Thank you for curing me of my ridiculous obsession with love.

oh, gosh. i do not know why i suddenly miss watching old Pinoy films. Where are you (you know, Nora Aunor-Charito Solis-Snooky Serna-Vilma Santos-Christopher de Leon etc) now?

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she rode the bus and realized she's insane.

The breeze of the hot summer and the dancing cottony clouds dozed her off to sleep. The very same ones that blew her eyes open to see the noon’s sky. They will forever remind her of the things she painfully dreams of while her body starves for the salty seawater and the roughness of the sand grains. With this, she discovered two things as she rode the bus home:

(1) that this 24 year-old petite girl is still so much prone to her childhood tantrums whenever things failed to go her way. Still encountering the very same nausea and lameness of the leg-muscle that results to a futile tendency of continuous kicking, until everything around is broken.

The only difference: Today, there’s no one to assure her that everything will be alright, only her own fragile self. That’s why she needs to fight her demons desperately, so as to prove appropriate maturity suitable to her kind of age, and;

(2) that this girl, hurt and pained, is still capable of embracing life’s beauty. Of laughing and understanding every inch of its intricacy. and that makes her happy.

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gracefully marching away from march.

no. it's not yet time to wear my black cap and gown. i still need to count three more semesters to wear that again.but March definitely did sprinkle lots of good things to remember.

Last March 23, we were invited to attend the senior’s graduation ball themed SENIORS UNMASKED. We really danced with the teachers (sobrang groovy nila) and with the students (feeling 16 years old, talaga).

My best accessory that shimmery night: Victoria's Secret SUPER MODEL sparkle.

Oh, here's some of my pictures from last year’s senior's ball with atcheng gabby. (i wonder why he doesn't have a picture or maybe someone was already taking pictures of him that night? ) haha. Peace.

And also one misty sunday of march, i grabbed myself a copy of Gabriel Garcia Marquez' book, The Memories of My Melancholic Whore, from a booksale.Take note: just for PHP 40.00 plus a cute bottle of Estée  Lauder Beyond Paradise from atet. You have to see the super wide smile in my face.What a sweet-smelling reading!

My favorite line aside from the famous today's the day: "Nothing, I replied, wounded to the core, I know very well what I can and cannot do."

Let us move into some mouth-watering side, like this newest must-try from yellow cab, dear darla. The name was derived from Darla who is the love interest of Alfalfa in the hit movie "The Little Rascals" (which i haven't watched). The latter writes letters to the former, so there goes the name. Now, imagine a thin-crust pizza loaded with special blend of tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese, onions, black olives, mushrooms, pepperoni and capers layered with arugula leaves and alfalfa sprouts. Drizzled and rolled with chili oil and pepper. triple yum. I could've wolfed down the 10-inch pizza all by myself, but then I had to share it with Ate Grace.

By the way, did you support the earth hour, the biggest climate awareness campaign? I did =). And I hope everybody will support anything that advocates concern for our planet earth.

And lastly, we moved into our new office. =) We (me, aiza and sir ferdie) would really like to thank the whole UBHS family for making us feel so much part of that family. More warm years of working together. See the pictures here.

Bye, March. I’ll see you again, after 365 days.

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it's an UBer FUN DAY, Kid.

Together with the KAAKBAY members, we spent our March 17 with 17 street children (wow, it’s just now that I realized na pareho palang 17). It was a day of fun, really. We had parlor games, face tattoos, colorful balloons, prizes, loot bags, foods and of course,mcdo's hamburgler!

i do not know what's inside their every timid smile.

or what's really bemeath their gloomy eyes.

i will never know each story behind their rough skin and dry hair, for sure.

but i will forever wonder

where are they headed?

Contemplate: A boy who strolls around the busy city having all the freedom that he could imagine sporting tattered clothing, a nauseating aroma and yes, the face that launches a thousand of emotions. Add the hopeful tone begging for the littlest of alms, the most common: Ate, pengeng barya. Alternatively, offering cigars and candies, and yes, sampaguita garlands. But what do we often do? This might not be a strange scenario but this never fails to clench my heart.

I wish people would just buy these items from these kids, instead of purchasing from those giant malls. I hope one day, I can paint a vivid picture of them with all the justification to tell the world about these kids who also needs an embrace.

actually, i do not know how to help them or how to make sure that amidst the hurly burly of life, a brighter future still awaits them. i feel sad that all I could do is feel sorry for them. Sabi nga ni Dad when I once asked him why there are street children: that’s how life is daw, the question is whether they want to remain in the street or make a difference in their lives. Plus the reminder of how blessed I am for everything that the Almighty has bestowed on me.

But I believe, prayers will make a lot of difference. Let’s all be one in including these kids in our daily prayers, so one day will come, and there will be no one strolling down the cold streets with a growling stomach or a heart starving for love.

And that just like us, i know they also have so much love to give in this world. ♥

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