Eighteenth Birthday

It'll be my niece's debut this Saturday. Andy will be the escort of the debutante. Since the music for the Cotillion is the theme from Beauty and the Beast, does that make him the Beast?

Well, the "Beast" will look dashing in long sleeves and slacks. The polo, he will borrow from a cousin. The slacks, he has yet to buy within the week. The "Beast" has three eensy-weensy pimples that he's kinda worried about. Haynaku -- ang concerns ng kabataan.

Si Koko naman, aside from dancing the Cotillion, has been tasked to do the invocation. Actually, he volunteered to do it. Akala n'ya makakatakas siya sa sayaw if he leads the prayer.

Ang D'Gob, may role din sa debut. Along with the other little ones, she will be giving flowers to the debutante. Naku- good luck sa mood ng prinsesa.

What else do we need to buy ba aside from Andy's slacks? White shoes and lacey tights for the Gob and of course, a gift for the celebrant. Gastos na naman! Pero okay lang. Excited ang Misis.

2000 Steps a Day

To get a little exercise into my routine, I intentionally go down at the Rustan's/Glorietta bus stop and walk all the way to my office, which is at the corner of Legaspi and Herrera Streets. Actually, it's a pleasant walk. I go through the gardens of Greenbelt and the parks of Legaspi Village... really nice. If I'm lucky, there'd be bossa nova music or some relaxing tune playing in the background.

I don't think I'll ever lose weight doing this. But then, who cares?

H***en Kho

So much brouhaha over Hayden Kho and his sex video. I was reading an article about it the other night. Apparently, this celeb described him as t*****ado. For some reason, the word that came to my mind was titilado. (Akala ko, word play on his genitals and the fact that he's a titled person, a doctor, if you didn't know) Pero teka -- when I was into subtitling, I learned that the number of asterisks should correspond to the number of letters. So -- titillado? And then, I saw in the next line -- a**hole. Ano? tpwettado?

"Life is like a mango...

photo by: lemuelinchrist
...kahit na mukhang masarap, pwedeng maging maasim. " Words of wisdom from the hubby.

What's your Grande Island horror story?

We went on a company outing to Grande Island and the trip was full of horror stories.

I, for one, saw a dead cockroach floating in the pool.

The husband of my officemate got locked in the bathroom. As in, they had to get a maintenance guy to open the door.

When the wife of an officemate asked for a change of towels, the staff asked her: "Why?"

Front Desk wouldn't answer our calls. Aren't they supposed to be open 24/7?

Ano pa ba? I wanted to take a swim sa pool at 6 AM. Siyempre wala pang staff around na matanungan kung okay lang. Aren't they supposed to be cleaning up by that time?

I tried their ATV (all-terrain vehicle) and expressed concern about the front tires na parang diagonal na. Sabi ng ATV guy, okay lang daw yun. Syempre when I rode it, ang hirap n'yang i-maneuver and if I wasn't extra careful, malamang sumemplang ako. One girl who, I think, wanted to overtake me (kasi I was driving oh so slowly) actually did. As in, tumalsik siya from her ATV and suffered a really bad fall. So bad, they had to ferry her back to Subic for medical attention.

Now let's talk about the food. Nothing fantastic. Tapos yung desserts, parang hindi pinag-isipan. Most of the time gelatin. Parang naalala ko days ko sa dorm.

Breakfast, which is my favorite meal, wasn't exciting. No tocino, tapa, dried pusit, sinangag... all the all-time favorites. Tapos weird, minsan may pechay baguio, which I wouldn't really classify as breakfast food.

One time, one of our AEs saw a lipstick mark on her glass. (Does that mean they don't wash their dishes very well?) Well, at least, hindi nasira tiyan namin.

Anyway, despite the inefficiency of the staff, the dirty beach and the not-so-nice design of the place (our cottages were a mile away from where the action is), we all had a great time.

Everyone had fun, especially the kids. It's the bonding that counts.

Now the kids are here in the office. Later, I think, they're gonna watch a movie. Tomorrow, they're off to Enchanted Kingdom naman. Ang saya, 'no? The grande outcome of a Grande Island outing.

Entrance Fee

To the island, it's free. An overnight stay at the cove is P50 per person. But the sea charged us P2,000!

The waves were so wild, tinangay n'ya yung bayad namin sana for the boat and more from Oca's pocket. Betchabygollywow.

The following day, this young collegiala was the victim. Ang nakuha from her -- a pair of shades worth P1,200!

Joskoday -- if there's a place where the sea takes all this loot, mega treasure trove na siguro 'to. I wonder where that is?

What would you do if you win the lotto?

You've heard of stories where the lotto winner eventually got poor again after all the parties and all the balatos were given away. Well, there's this Pinoy who won, I heard, $20 million dollars in the US lottery. Now, he has this big resort in San Antonio, Zambales in this sprawling piece of property with lots of mango trees up front.

Probably as a way of thanksgiving, he has this chapel at the south western corner of the property with this big modernized statue of Mama Mary.

Well, I wish him luck in his business venture. At least, this way he's able to share his blessings and hopefully make it multiply a hundredfold. Not just for himself, but for a lot of people.

The Good Side of a Volcano Eruption

One of the folks in the resort told us that Anawangin wasn't like this before. It was the Pinatubo eruption that re-designed the whole place -- extended the beach, created a tranquil lagoon near it, and spread the seeds of pine trees all around it. One of the blogs I read about Anawangin likened it to Colorado. A lot of people who see it immediately get the impression, "Parang hindi ito Pilipinas." Not that the Philippines isn't beautiful. It's just so un-tropical. Parang any moment, you'd see wild bears or something. Well, I heard there are wild tamaraws out there. Hmmm... FX?

16h Honeymoon

Fifteenth, actually, since last year we had the outing of the construction and parlor people on the first of May.

To those who haven't heard of this wonderful tradition the hubby and I have, every year, we celebrate our wedding anniversary on a trip out of town, as much as possible, to a place where we haven't been to. No reservations. We just go out there and have an adventure.

This year we headed for Pundaquit, Zambales. I was thinking of Potipot Island. But realizing that it's farther than Iba and wanting to get to our destination earlier, we decided on the last minute to go to Pundaquit.

I first heard of the place from one of my dormmates. He went to Capones Island with his family and had a wonderful time. So, it was all a matter of doing a little research through Google to find out that Pundaquit is the jump-off point going to Capones.

Finding Pundaquit was easy. Looking for a place where we could stay was another story. Just about every resort, big or small, was fully booked. One really chaka resort with an air conditioned hut for rent (not again) was charging a whopping P4000 for an overnight stay. Ano siya, masaya?

We were just about to give up on Pundaquit. But we decided to check out this one last place before we leave. The name of the resort is Pation Inn. Tamang-tama, may one last available aircon room pa sila for a reasonable P2500. The room had a ref, a microwave oven, a TV and DVD player and of course, its own toilet and bath. Not bad. And the staff was very accommodating. They have someone assigned to you, like your very own yaya. Ours was Joanne. Her room's next to ours. So if we have any problems, kahit late at night, madali siyang hagilapin.

Food at their restaurant was so-so. Ewan ko ba why small resorts usually don't have inihaw in their menu. Eh anything grilled tastes fabulous pa naman when you're on the beach. For lunch we just had chicken curry.

After siesta, we took a boat to Capones Island. Just a few minutes boat ride and you get fine white sand (not as fine as Bora, though)and interesting rock formations. There are also corals and interesting sea life. But then the waves were too wild. Katakot magsnorkelling.

Besides, we were too excited to see this place called Anawangin.

Anawangin's beach is a mix of black and white sand. Instead of the usual coconut trees, you are greeted by the cool sight of pine trees. Walk further and you will see a gentle stream. Behind it, more pine trees and the mountains. Ang ganda! Reminds me of the time I went to Yosemite National Park way back when I still had the privilege of having a dad working at PAL. Para siyang typical place in the US of A where kids hold their summer camp. O kaya where serial killers go on a murdering spree ala Friday the 13th.

Too bad we weren't prepared to go camping. It would be nice sana. We just took some pictures, ate our baon of puto pao and water, then took a swim. Before sunset, we went back to the resort.

Next day, we just took a very long walk down the beach, a swim, then another long walk back. On our way home, we passed by Subic and had lunch at Dencio's. Then did some shopping. Parang maraming pera?

Not for long, kasi pag-uwi namin, umutang si Celia. She has to go home pronto to Bicol kasi her husband, Badong, was taken to the hospital. Haynaku. Sige na nga. In the name of love.

And that's the story of our 16th honeymoon.