and I got it.

Spent the day at Paul' s house with Bea and Paul watching movies and eating pan de sal with a cheese omelette. Alain picked us up to meet with Niki in ATC to watch Iron Man. The movie rocked. It probably topped my list of favorite superhero franchises. Robert Downey was amazing. That movie was enjoyable from start to finish. Galeng.

After the movie it was back to Pilar for more of the usual. Only this time, I had more than I usually have and ended up passing out twice. Nice one, Kari. In fairness, I wasn't the only one as you can see below.

It's almost 3am and I managed to (sort of) finish Louiie's video. I needed to do something creative as my first day back at work was kind of depressing.

Louiie had a gig at Kublai's Katipunan last April 18. I went to try to shoot using Charlie. Video when zoomed in wasn't so great and I was unable to get enough sensible footage so I used photos by Apy and Grace. Finished product ain't so bad for my first music video. If I had better footage I might have done something more with it. I couldn't do the whole song as I'd have to repeat or extend the clips which would suck.

I hope Louiie likes it.

Had dinner with some of my friends from high school Saturday night. Our friend Baby was visiting from New York. She hasn't been back home since early 2006. We left for the US just about the same time only to have me come back a year later (pfft). This was probably one of my more enjoyable times with them. The usual life updates took place. It's odd how much we've grown since high school. Baby is a physical therapist in NY, Tonet is an OB-GYN, Rita works for Ayala Cinemas, Rona is in events, Lissa for Shakey's and I, well, I'm a bohemian and let's leave it at that. Lissa and Jun are set to get married December of this year and as they were sharing bits of the wedding planning, I could sense the stress that it gave them, Lissa mostly. I could tell Jun was being a guy and didn't want to fuss with the little details. Ah, welcome to marriage!

Did I ever mentioned we had a dog? You all keep seeing Paul's bulldog George in this blog and I never mentioned that we had a Labrador named Max. I don't get to play with him often since he wasn't trained to be tame around people since my dad preferred he stayed in his cage. So every time we let him out he goes nuts and jumps at people wanting attention. It would be okay if he was a little puppy but he's much much bigger now and I don't want a large horny lab on me. Our new maid got the evil end of that scenario the first time she walked the dog and Ate Noemi's had her share of scrapes and bruises every time Maxie would suddenly run and and jump when she walked him.

Ghost riding in Pilar. This is what happens when 8 people have a cossack sleyliber night. Ito ang isa sa pinakamagandang welcome back to Manila na natanggap ko. I was without alcohol for a week so the guys knew I needed to wind down with a favorite drink. Niki and I also played dress up with Paul's sister's old prom gowns.

This was shot past midnight close to 1:00am.

Marla was inspired by Nik Ainley and she made this!

If it weren't for my distractingly plump belly, this would have been perfect, HAHA!

Below is a video made by Paul S.

Check it out! If he does this when he's bored, I can't wait to see the final edited video he's going to make with all of us in it!

...and I'm still up and refuse to sleep because I can't seem to stomach the fact that I'm back home and will have to start working again soon...

Was tagged by: Ara
I'm not tagging anyone in particular. I won't know if you do this anyway.

The rules:

• Each blogger starts with 10 random facts/habits about themselves
• Bloggers that are tagged need to write on their own blog about their 10 things and post these rules
• At the end of your blog, you need to choose 10 people to get tagged and list their names
• Don't forget to leave them a comment telling they're tagged, and to read your blog

My ten things:

1. I'm afraid of the dark (duh, I just mentioned that in previous post)
2. I think of death at least once a day. I try to imagine how I'm going to die or what would be the least painful way to die.
   
3. I'm afraid of being alone. I'd rather die young.
   
4. I value people's opinions most of the time (sometimes even when I say otherwise)
5. Despite my resistance, I may end up to be just like my mother.
6. I'm more troubled than I'm prepared to admit.
7. I value my friends a LOT. I'm ashamed to admit sometimes more than family.
   
8. I hate waiting, for ANYONE.
9. I don't enjoy driving myself or anyone else except if with Paul...there's not a lot of exceptions to this.
   
10. I'm a sponge. My likes/dislikes/expressions/habits are STRONGLY influenced by whoever I'm regularly hanging out with at any given time. I don't do it to fit in, I just catch it and unintentionally use/get it.

BONUS! (because honesty is a lot of fun and I seem to be on a roll)

• Despite my efforts to express otherwise, I seem to have a strong desire for a quiet life with my husband and child as a stay at home wife/mom. Right now, nothing would make me happier than to finally settle down without all the hooplah.
• In reference to previous statement, I also feel it's partly due to the fact that I have absolutely no career plans. I have no real desires to be anything and am completely satisfied with my skills and what I am able to do with them.
• I have a constant yearn to learn new things. From my first job as a graphic artist to learning and developing photography for 4 years, now I'm exploring the world of videos.
• Sometimes I feel I do these things to be remembered. If my only contribution to the world is to entertain and inspire a bunch of people, then I am totally fine with that.
• Regarding my current situation, I know I am refusing to face an issue. But it's only because I am clinging on to the hope that there is still something good left in there for me and that it's way too good not to fight for.
  

That last one was meant to be vague and will only be understood by certain people.

That's it. I think I may have to give up and surrender to the fact that I AM back in Manila and will only have two more days before I start cursing life again.

Back in Manila and I keep thinking...

I should have had one more bowl of pho...
one more plate of fried spring rolls...
one more of the fresh ones...
a couple more glasses of the ca phe...
another serving of the tapioca dessert...
Should have tried that baguette sandwich sooner.
That was hands down the BEST DAMN SANDWICH I've had in my entire life!

OMG.

I want to go back. The food was awesome. I could stay there and eat in the market everyday and I will not complain.

We did try Com Nieu Saigon on our last day upon arrival from the Mekong Delta tour. But I was very surprised to see that the place was nothing like I saw in the show (A Cook's Tour). It seems that from a humble carinderia style resto, they have made enough money to renovate the place and relocate into a two story brick structure with wide open spaces. I was afraid they weren't going to let us in since I told everyone it was a like a carinderia and we all went dressed in shorts and rubber slippers. The place looked really really nice I was almost ashamed to go inside.

So, how was their infamous com nieu, you ask?

Honestly, I expected better. It was like eating old rice scraped from the bottom of the rice cooker. Bourdain said it was crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. Ours was tutong all over. The nuoc mam sauce that topped it was amazing though. The same sauce on their plain (and seriously delicious) rice would have been better. The rice by itself is soft, fragrant and has a taste that uniquely its own. I was going to post video clips of the other dishes we had but I figured I'd save it for the full feature I'm about to edit this weekend. My Com Nieu Saigon dining experience as a whole was truly memorable and I will recommend it to anyone who plans to visit Saigon. I suppose what added to it was the fact that the man who made me want to go to Vietnam was once in that same place. I can see why he fell in love with the country and it's food. I will agree that Vietnamese cuisine is one of the best in the world.

Currently in the process of sorting through (literally) hundreds of video clips and photos and I really want to get it done before (damn) work gets in the way.

Saigon photos part deux, click here.

Remember the guard who walked me across the street seen in the last video from this post? I have yet to know his name but I just found out that aside from being a hotel security guy, he also paints in the mornings and works as housekeeping as well! We saw him cleaning up the room next door and he brought his son along. He's an absolutely adorable two-year old kid who kept running around while his dad made the beds. The room had a view of the traffic roundabout where the statue of Tran Nguyen Hai so I went in to take videos (with the security guy's permission, of course). I also took a clip of his playful son.

My parents insisted on having breakfast in KFC today. KFC?!?! Hello! You go to Vietnam and eat at KFC? I refused to partake in such an outrage but had to go with them as my mom wasn't comfortable with me wandering around on my own (at 26 years old! geez). I walked with them to both the Saigon Center and the Saigon Square before Kim and I wandered off to Ben Thanh by ourselves. My sister kept getting mistaken for a local and was repeatedly served complements and stares the whole time.

she has been mistaken for a local of just about every southeast Asian country

Since I hadn't had any breakfast, I was anxious to try Ben Thanh's offerings.

Soft noodles topped with crispy spring roll and a fresh shrimp noodle roll

iced ca phe

I also bought a few dried kiwi slices to snack on. Kim and I shopped around for a couple of hours. Ben Thanh market is a MAZE! We kept passing the same aisles several times thinking we haven't gone that way before.

Was hoping to go try Com Nieu Saigon but the way things are going, chances of that happening are bleak. Even the Mekong Delta trip is looking a bit iffy since my mom and sister are no longer up for the long trip to the delta. I still really want to go though and may go on my own if I can get a tour that won't cost much since tours are cheaper if you're in a group.

*updated*
click here for photos.

Woke up early for the day tour. The day didn't start off so great, I didn't get my coffee and the bus was supposed to pick us up by 7:45am but they didn't arrive until 8:30am. Then the driver takes us and the rest of the tourists back to the travel office to switch buses. A few broken English exchanges later and we're on another bus only to have the air conditioning break down less than 5 minutes through the ride and we turn around again to hop on the original bus that picked us up. Whee!

I have read about Vietnamese drivers on the hi-way. They're supposed to be major speed-racers with little or no respect for road rules. I was honestly excited. After that 3-hour Bantayan bus trip, I was ready to experience this ride. However, we happen to get the slowest bus driver I have ever had. It took us OVER 3 hours to get to the Cao Dai Temple. Since I didn't get coffee in the morning, I napped through most of it so it wasn't so bad. We had a very nice Vietnamese tour guide. He told us about the country's poor economy, the people and warned us about cholera, malaria, diarrhea when eating food from street vendors. Even if he did speak English, I felt like we all needed another translator to understand his version of the language. He would repeat each sentence twice just to make sure we understood him but all I got were little fragments.

Cao Dai Temple at noon worship

After the temple, we all went to lunch as part of the package tour. Food was so-so but since all we had was a ham and cheese sammie for breakfast, we all scarfed down our food like it was the best meal ever.

Travel to see the Cu Chi Tunnels was an hour and a half from the resto. I napped again after the full meal and woke up only when the tour guide told us we had reached our destination. This was my favorite part of the tour. It started out with a viewing of a very old film about the Vietnam war followed by a lecture about the tunnels. He then took us on a walking tour of the area. The vietnamese people are very scary smart. The whole time I kept flashing back to the film Heaven and Earth which we had to watch for class in high school. Ruthless and violent, I remember how scared I was of vietnamese soldiers then. We saw the kind of booby traps they made and they were all horribly fantastic!

The tour ended with a "walk" through of one of the tunnels. We were to go into one of the holes and come out of another. I have been warned by my mom and books that the tunnels were made to fit the average size viets as they run through the tunnel bent by the waist. Being a girl of my size, this was not an easy feat. The video below is predominantly pitch black because that's how it was under there. I had to DUCK WALK CROUCHED DOWN the entire stretch. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this in the blog before but I am seriously afraid of the dark. It would have been okay if it was simply a long, straight tunnel all the way through. But it turned, and dipped and would fork in some places. There would be other tunnels that would be perpendicular to the one I was in. I tried my very best not to think of The Descent the entire time and wouldn't even dare turn my head to glance in the other passages in case I see something I wouldn't want to. I cut some parts of the video because there was a lot of loud panting and groaning on my part that it almost sounded like I was doing something else, if you know what I mean.

Cu Chi Tunnel experience

The trip back to the hotel was another hour and a half but this time I didn't sleep. Earlier in the bus when I'd wake up in between naps, I'd feel disoriented and would constantly keep reminding myself that I was not in my own country. The landscape is very similar to Manila's if not for the strange signs and unfamiliar language. By the time we got back to Saigon, it was already dark out and the lights of the city had come alive. Despite my mother's incident last night, I can't help but feel some form of awe towards the Vietnamese. Looking around all the structures and establishments, it's easy to forget that it was only a little over 3 decades ago that the country was in ruins from the war. In a very short period of time they have risen and rebuilt their country to what it is today. Their resilience is quite remarkable.

Bonus clip below is when I crossed the street to Le Lai park infront of the hotel to try to take night footages of Ben Thanh Market and the city lights. The market's lights were out so all I got were flashes of headlights from the speeding motorbikes and buses.

My mom was very worried that I'd get mugged or something so she had the hotel security guy walk with me to the park. He would have me hold his arm as we attempt our way across Saigon's chaotic streets. He told me "When we go you do not stop ok. You keep walking and don't step back or they hit you."

Nice.

Was downloading my first day HCM videos after dinner. My sister and I went back to the hotel ahead of my parents and their friends. A half hour later, there was a knock on the door and the daughter of their friend came into our room screaming "Nanakawan si Ninang!" Yes, my mother, the woman who's been telling everyone else to watch their stuff and to be careful, got her entire purse snatched by a passerby on a motorcycle. Two cyclists grabbed her purse and yanked it out, pulling her into the middle of ongoing traffic. It's a good thing she didn't fall and get run over by the swarm of motorists. I don't know what to say right now. My mom lost her credit cards, atms, license, cell phone, IDs, and a large amount of cash. I can't believe she's so calm about it. Sabi ko imagine nalang niya nag nagdonate siya sa mahirap. Grabe man...

First day in Vietnam would have been perfect if it weren't for this last incident. I guess we were really just unlucky. Stuff like this happens in Manila too anyway.

Video preview below.

...and mooching off the free food at the Mabuhay lounge.
Ang sarap ng arroz caldo!

FIVE hours I mean. But my frantic mother insists we wake up at 7am and be at the airport HOURS before the flight. I guess I got the freak out gene from her. I can imagine Paul snickering and saying how much like my mother I am.*grumble*

Good morning Manila! Good Afternoon Vietnam!

Dress up weekend today is Alice in Wonderland so I came in as the Mad Hatter.

Slow morning but it looks like we're swamped after lunch. Had my coffee from Figaro as I can't quite get myself to shell out more moolah for my Starbucks white mocha. 

Need to be at the airport by 11:00 am tomorrow for the flight to Vietnam and I haven't packed yet. Will have to throw stuff in the big suitcase my sister and I are sharing when I get home from work. I don't know why I'm not as excited as I should be. It still feels a bit strange that I'll be out of the country again, albeit only for a little while. I have no money for Vietnam. I hope no one expects pasalubong since I only have enough for my culinary adventure. I've wiped out my bank account from the Boracay and Cebu trips already. I can only afford to go to HCM now since I just had to pay for the tix and the 'rents are paying for hotel and incidentals. Otherwise, I wouldn't be going at all.

Be careful what you wish for...

As soon as I published the post about Rockwell not being busy, we got swamped with appointments! So much that I was unable to take my lunch the whole shift! Drove home and had a hearty dindin of Sinigang, bangus, chicken adobo then I finished half the remaining leche flan. After dinner, Bea called to say they were picking me up on the way to Tarragon for dinner. I wasn't planning on eating but they made me!

Headed to Jeek's for beers after and Paul convinced us to try their Margerita even thought we were full to our necks. The pizza was not bad for P95! Told my mom I'd be home early but Paul said he still had vodka at home so we went to his place to drink some more, watch The Shadow and trip on Georgie. Video below was when Alain was pulling George's shirt over his head. The poor dog kept running around trying to take it off.

When I'm depressed, I go to google maps and use their new street view feature and I run along the streets of San Francisco visiting the places I used to frequent. The supermarket, cinema, dollar store, Paul's workplace, I even saw my in-laws place!

I can't even begin to describe how positively homesick I am. I want to go back now!

Knowing I was going to be in the Rockwell store today to shoot, I was prepared and had my game face on. I didn't bring my Mac as I didn't think I was going to be able to use it anyway. Rockwell is known among the staff as the store where you can't even take a break for lunch due to the influx of people coming in.

I get in the store and I check the appointments. We have three shoots. THREE?!? SO here I am, blogging. Check out my donut ring! It's from Paul's mom and was originally a gift for my sisters but the ring's too big for them (it's too big for my ring finger even).

I had MickeyDees (Mcdo :p) drive thru on the way here. I haven't had fries in a looong time so one would think the fries would rock, right? NOT. The taste of McDonalds fast food is gross to me now. Hindi po ako maarte sa pagkain ok? Tanong mo si Niki!

I need coffee but Starbucks is too expensive and Dunkin Donuts coffee lately has been crap. In Fort, the Krispy Kreme lattes have been a good mid-way alternative. They should open one here.

may message sayo si Louiie.

Shot and edited by Paul S.

This features the tagalog (more understandable) version of Dex's SM Southmall story which I posted in this blog post.

Where am I going next week?

Why, to the birthplace of Pho and other glorious delicacies, of course,

HO CHI MINH CITY,
VIETNAM!

It will be the first time in almost 10 years that I will take an out of country trip with family. Tin will be unable to join us though since she just started working and is not entitled to vacations yet. I am most excited about the food. The awesome Anthony Bourdain has forever stained my thoughts of images of Vietnam that I cannot let this opportunity pass me by. We happened to score accommodations at a small hotel that is walking distance to ben thanh market. I will arm myself with an empty stomach and a hunger for new flavors. I can't say if I will ever try crispy creepy crawlies and weird looking worms and such but you'll never know what may happen. This will be my first ever culinary adventure!

I am also very excited with the footages I'll take home with me so I can once again share with you my trip. I've been thirsting for something to edit since finishing the Bantayan clips. I'll have Charlie and Kali (350D) with me the whole time, snapping and flipping my way through the market. I sure do hope nothing gets snatched, yikes!

I bought myself a pocket guide to Vietnam but have not had time to read it. Has anyone ever been to HCM and would like to offer great advice? Feedback like what would be the best way to get around and haggle would be mucho appreciated.

Photo source [lonely planet]

I've been meaning to try out Som's for a long time. I read about it online and heard about it from a couple of people. It's a small Thai "carinderia" somewhere along the side streets behind Ateneo Law School in Rockwell. It's infamous for its good thai food at cheap prices. Being a huge fan of thai food, I knew I had to check this place out. I coerced Bea to making a side trip to Som's after our meeting in Rockwell before we head out for her shift in MOA. We got spring rolls (w/c rocked!), pad thai (was better that Jatujak's) and green chicken curry (so-so, Jatujak's was better). Niki and I tried their thai iced tea. It came in it's own plastic bottle which we would pour over a tall glass of ice. It looked a little dubious to me at first since I was used to the freshly-poured-milk-in tea-over-crushed-ice variety but I gave it a shot anyway. It didn't taste like the usual drink I'm used to (it tasted like they used soy milk) but it was good all the same. For P30 a pop, Niki and I ordered two more bottles to take home (I'm sipping on one at the mo'). Grace followed soon after our food was being served and ordered herself some sticky rice with mango (w/c rocked too!). Total damage? P500, and that was only because Niki and I ordered FOUR extra bottles of the tea to take home. We could've paid less than P100 for the meal which we couldn't even finish. We took home the leftover pad thai to give to Paul. If this place wasn't so far from home, I'd be there very week. I'm going to try the garlic pepper shrimp and Tom Yum next time.

Som's Noodle House is located at
5291 Algier St., Poblacion, Makati
757-8079

*Coming from Powerplant Mall on the way to Kalayaan Ave., Algier St. is the street before you reach Grilla. It's the first street you see on your right as soon as you make the curved turn to Kalayaan.

Now to scandals....

I can't and won't post the blog I'm currently so hooked on. It's almost 2am and I have to wake up early to get my car fixed (AGAIN) but I just couldn't stop reading it! I've listened to the radio interview and saw a few of the news reports posted about it. It's so juicy I can't get enough of it. The blog just confirms my impression of (some of) Manila's high society and reminds me of how much I'm thankful that I am what I am. I hate the whole concept of "being seen" and "knowing the right people." I've never had any desire to strive to be an "it" girl. The recent realization of how much people read this blog actually freaks me out (but I don't want to scare you away! Keep reading! haha!). In high school, the only reason people might know me is because I was the tallest girl in my batch...maybe the one of the tallest girls during my time. That was me, the "tall girl," yung sumakay sa kabayo (long story), si "ruffa" (UGH!), and one time, because of my color and hairstyle, people called me "toni braxton" (double ugh!). I hate being stared at, and I don't particularly enjoy going out at night, unless me and my friends decide to make a trip of it. You may have noticed we like hanging out at Paul's all the time. The reason being, why go out and spend a sh!tload of money on cover charges and over-priced drinks when you can have the same (if not double the amount of) fun at home with your friends? I don't see the point. I turned my husband into an introverted turtle during my year's stay in SF. He stopped going out and lost contact with all his friends because of me. Note to Paul: Sorry , bb. You can go out naman eh. You just didn't want to because you were already with me, awww...

But I have nothing to say.

So I will post two photos of my two nieces and nephew. I love and miss these kids so much. Right now I wish I could hug and cuddle with them in bed. Sigh...

I wish they'd come visit while I still have a studio at my disposal.

photos from Paul

I can't count how many number of times I've looked into a mirror at work or anywhere for that matter, or maybe see pictures and videos of myself with my eye make-up all smeared and I end up with raccoon eyes or mascara dotted eyelids. I never notice how dungis I look until I stop and take time to check.

Which brings me back to the question...

BAKIT WALANG NAGSASABI SA AKIN?!?

Ok, so I didn't just graduate college. But after four almost five years of being away from school, I just got hold of my diploma! I never bothered getting my transcript and diploma after school. I didn't even march and go up on stage! I just never found the need to do so. My last day in school was the day I got my course cards and I never went back since. When the lady at the Registrar's Office handed me my diploma through the small glass window, my heart skipped a beat and I felt like that moment was my graduation! I couldn't stop looking at it all day!

Walking the halls of Benilde today was bittersweet. Memories of long lines during enrollment, running up several flights of stairs since I was already late for class, crossing the ever-chaotic Taft Avenue. A lot has changed and part of me wanted to cry. I forgot how much fun school was and how I met a lot of good people there. Looking at the students walking around felt odd and I knew that I was too old to be part of that anymore. Sigh...

Had lunch at Jatujak today before the ever-gracious Paul S. drove me to Benilde. Niki had something to celebrate but I will let her tell it on her own time. Hint: She got a J that will enable her to L M and S in D plus W in an awesome RH!

Wasted half my day off sleeping since I woke up at noon. Well, technically, I spent half of it getting drunk at Paul's as usual with Paul, Bea, Niki, Grace, RB and Jad. I slept at 5am which is the reason why I woke up late. We took videos during the night but I refuse to post it as it is highly embarrassing. Jad reaffirmed his place as the gypsy king, I danced like an idiot, Niki got gang raped and Grace would pass out every so often. Grace put up photos in her multiply setting it only for contacts but I can show you two of my favorite ones below.

Bea and my legs

Yes?

Given my recent foray into video editing, it's only fitting that I make myself a Youtube channel. I signed up for one over a year ago but never used it because I had nothing to upload. The only video that account contains is the company's recruitment video which I assembled and uploaded for hiring purposes. I decided to make another one now and in it, I loaded my most recent Flip-shot-mac-edited films. I designed it to match this blog so they both go hand in hand. I'm currently trying to research the best way to export videos for Youtube that balances load time with video quality. Will see how that goes.

I don't care what happened to Kat and Louiie.

I WANT TO GO TO THAILAND!

The Tourism Authority of Thailand is having a tourism event right outside the store. They're giving out free brochures and travel guides. I scored myself some. They have booths for Thai Airways, Dusit Thani, etc. The works man! Tourism must really be important for Thailand if they're spending for this kind of event. They even have a stage up and dancers will perform soon.

I want THAI FOOD. Thai iced tea! Curry! Sate! Tom yum! *droolz*

Took all night to finish it but I needed to as this is long overdue and I fear my excitement will expire if I postpone it any longer.

Ok, I should've done this when I first saw it but here it is anyway. Below is a short film by Jammi. This was her college thesis and it's a short film called Hieroglyphics.

In my opinion (and I told her this already), it's a beautifully made film even if I didn't understand it at all (hehe). I loved the cinematography, editing and soundtrack (made by a friend of hers daw). There were some parts that I felt were unnecessarily prolonged and I may not have understood the film but I enjoyed watching the images and how the colors and sounds all came together. It was wonderfully put together. I forgot the name of this film director but he once said that a beautiful film is when every frame is a good photograph. I believe this can fall under that premise.

The chef is back in Manila!

Had a lot of fun catching up with Louiie and Angel. Called Angel at the last minute as I was on my way to pick Louiie up. She followed us in Pier One in BF. She refused to drink so me and Louiie drowned ourselves with SMlight. Had a lot to catch up on. I haven't seen Louiie since vegas baby!

Note to Paul: She wants to hit us up when I get back to SF and the three of us will take a drive to Napa (she said we should rent a Mustang) and we should all sit down and enjoy a world class meal by the awesome food master Mr. Thomas Keller at the French Laundry. She said she can pull some strings and hook us up with reservations as normally we'll have to book the meal about 3 months or so before the actual event.

The incident that happened in Thailand was Louiie and Kat went on an elephant safari and all was fine and dandy until one of the elephants freaked out causing the rest of the pack to go on a mad stampede. Kat FELL OFF THE ELEPHANT and Louiie was dangling over the side of the animal holding on for dear life as the elephant ran through the jungle. What's great about it is she caught it all on video! She left her Flip on (yes she bought one for herself after she saw mine!) since the incident happened so fast!

Grace, baduy sa Rome! Umuwi ka na dito habang andito pa ko.

Safari gone wrong:

During my Cebu trip, my Macbook casing cracked so I went to the Apple store to get it fixed. They said they needed to order the part from Singapore and that they'd let me know when I can bring the Mac back for repair. They texted yesterday saying the part is ready for installation and I hurried over to get it done. They changed the interior casing, the keyboard and the trackpad which was great since my trackpad's all rubbed down and doesn't work on certain areas. Now my baby's as good as new!

This next clip is me and Niki's dindin at Kitchen
while we wait for my Mac to get made over.

Then we all met up at Paul's house again because Bea felt the need to b!tch and drink so the boys whipped us up some drinks. Bea kept challenging everyone to Def Jam Icon because she kept winning. Niki took the challenge and her Ludacris won over Bea's L'il Jon a couple of times. I may be wrong. I was drunk and was not really paying attention.

The morning of my day off kicked off with an irritating start. I hope the rest of the day doesn't continue on like this.

I'm feeling the need to be creative. I really really want to make a short film right now. Been skimming through the tunes I have on my MAC and I keep hearing music that would be awesome for this film that I have in my head. The only problem is I need (my) Paul as the subject. Argh!

Btw,

The Flip, as of this moment shall now be named
CHARLIE
and will henceforth be referred to as such.
(thanks Tita Baben and Gary!)

I miss having the freedom of simply being creative. Lately my job has become anything but that. Which is odd since the creative factor is the reason why I came back to it. Oh well...

I've been meaning to change the design of this blog. Was supposed to do it for it's one year anniversary but (damn) work got in the way.

I'm in the mood to edit the Bantayan videos but (grumblegroangrumble) I have an important meeting to attend tomorrow morning and I'm afraid I may not be able to wake up if I stay up any later than after this post is done. Sigh...

Bakit ba kasi mahirap maging artist...

Fool's Gold and El Orfanato

Saw both movies last night. Saw the first one with Paul's mom and th second movie with Bea, Paul, Jad, Alain and RB in Paul's house. Met up with Paul's mom after work and we had dindin at Tempura. Talked about Kate, Jose and the baby. She's selling the house in La Union since the new building is built and she's setting up apartment rooms there instead. Irene is now living in La Union with ate Jovy. She decided to send her to school there since tuition is cheaper and she'll have more children to play with over there. According to her, Bashir objects to the whole idea and Irene says she prefers to stay in Manila but I think it would be good for her to be around more children her age.

We saw the movie after dinner and she obviously loved it. She was laughing so hard I HONESTLY thought she would either a.) have a heart attack or b.) choke on her own spit. She said after the movie that her doctor told her that laughing for at least 20 minutes a week (or was it day?) was just like having sex and you don't have to be unfaithful. If that's at all true, given all the time I spent with Paul and the guys, then I believe I'm all set. Those clowns crack me up until I'm on the floor crying.

Fool's Gold was bleh. I could have just waited for the torrent if I hadn't seen it. El Orfanato was another great production by Guillermo del Torro. It was a little too close to how The Others was made in terms of theme and treatment and they both had (although different) the killer ending but it was still a really good movie.

I had to ask Jad and Alain to convoy with me home though since I was too afraid to drive home alone. I refused to even look at the rear view mirror.