I'm a Water Pig in a Fiery Year

Kung Hei Fat Choi! Year 2007 is the year of the Fire Pig. And although I read in an Inquirer article that those born under the year of the pig (along with those under the ox, tiger, and snake) are considered unlucky this year, I just feel that this is "harvest time" for those who worked hard for the past years (regardless of the Chinese animal year). As for me, I'm hoping for a Year of Abundance and Generosity... :)

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* My Weekend update *

For our post Valentine date (yiheeee), Franco and I went to Tagaytay to have lunch and unwind. We were choosing between Josephine's and Breakfast at Antonio's. We decided to go to the latter. We finished lunch at past 2 because we really took our time! Afterwards, we went to Picnic Grove and just enjoyed walking around the area like kids (tipid tactics, haha!).




As for our "remembrance and little Tagaytay token", we bought a pair of pens (one pink and one blue, how stereotyped ba?) from a sophomore college student who was selling pens so he could pay for his schooling. He sounded so sincere and we really think he was. I really hope he finishes college. (Good Luck, Joel!)

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Then, at 7:30pm, we watched our friend, PJ Lanot, in a play written and directed by Niel de Mesa -- Barya Lang Po sa Umaga. It was HILARIOUS!

But more than being entertained, I was touched by Koine Theater Foundation. After the play, Niel explained about their 200 scholars. As we talked to him, I couldn't help but notice how dedicated he is to what he is doing.

He directs plays, writes scripts, composes songs, and dances really really good HIPHOP! He shares all his talents by training different scholars in music, dance, and theater. In turn, these children gain the opportunity to hone their own talents and express themselves through various art forms.

No wonder Sarah said that Niel is one of her idols. After watching two of his plays last night and after conversing with him, he's one of mine too.


CW from top left: Koine theater foundation scholars dancing Britney Spears' "Hit me Baby." The cast of "Barya lang po sa Umaga". Koine theater foundation signage. Having our picture taken with Rissa and Niel de Mesa.

Watch out for "Scholars" on May 26.

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Afterwards, we had our Block Y Valentine party at Coco's house. It was FUN seeing my Psych blockmates again! Videoke, billiards, and potluck FOOOOOD! Let the pictures speak louder than words!


By this time, my camera was low in battery. I grabbed most of these pics from Carmie which explains why she's in most of them, haha! And I was a late-comer which explains why there's only one "me" in the pics above. :p

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And for the JPEG version of Smart Buddy's Valentine ad (thanks again, Sarah!) ... here's part 4 of the series!

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Happy Chinese New Year, everyone! :)

-from a Water Pig who's ready to jump into one HOT and EXCITING year!

Surprise Surprise!

It's the day after Valentine's Day. I really hope you all had fun!

My V-afternoon was spent with my groupmates, Nena Dehn and Nica Dayo. If my name were Nala Dara instead of Lala Jara, our group could have been funny.

Prior to yesterday, people were asking me how I would spend my Valentine's day. And today, as expected, others asked me how I spent it.

I spent Vday, Vnight rather, as planned-- inside the comforts of home, away from traffic, and with persons I love. I had dinner with my dad, mom, and Ling complete with candlelight effect! ;p Kuya Paolo was in Ria's house and my two other sisters were of course in Manila since Vday fell on a weekday. Franco came from Bulacan (oh, he no longer works in Cebu btw, yay!) and visited after dinner. He spent time at our place although he was down with colds. Aww, sweeeeet.

And as you all know (if you just read my blog), I am not fond of flowers so instead of receiving a bouquet, I got LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of Twix chocolates! I don't know how Franco did it but he found the Twix version that I love. I shared some with Ling and I'm planning to share the rest with Nikki and Ate Monica over the weekend. (It's also the perfect way to lessen calories!) I also received a book about putting up a child care center! (how nerdy ba? haha.) And of course, I received my favorite item of all -- a Valentine card. (Ok disclosure ends here.) It was a happy Valentine indeed! :)

Oooooh for my surprise (Carmie, here it is!)... I couldn't wait any longer for the JPEG copy from Sarah (there goes my low EQ) so I'm just going to post the "actual copy" that all of us could have had if you just read your newspaper last Sunday or yesterday! This one's from yesterday's paper. :p

I was greeted in the morning by this! I got surprised actually because I didn't know I would see it yesterday morning. BUT NO, Hello Valentine. Good morning, Sunshine!

I've never been in the newspaper for a print ad before! Let me just do this please??? :-)




Thank you so much to my beautiful friend, Sarah Bautista, who submitted my photo and made me do this ad! Mwah, mwah, mwah! :)

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Last Sunday, we had a shoot for Doray's campaign materials. I worked behind the scenes with my friends and had loads of fun! The atmosphere's really the best when you're working with great friends who have fresh personalities. By the end of the shoot, we were all eating lunch at the Doray's house and you'd think we were all friends from the very start. (fyi: the three of them just met one another that day)

Here were some of the behind the scenes photos...

The photographer, Louis Fojas, and his equipment:



The make-up artist, Carmie Locsin, and her equipment:


Doray getting ready for her shoot:

One of her many photos. I just cropped this one.
DSC_2099. This is my vote.

For the FUN PART!
It's the photo that says move over, whoever...

Of hearts and roses

I wrote a short essay six years ago using the same title as the one above. I showed it to Ate Monica, my best and worst critic, and she liked it! It's still in one of my notebooks. If not Psychology, I should have taken Communication or Creative Writing in Ateneo.

Since the 14th is getting near, I'm now writing a COLORFUL Valentine Special!


OF HEARTS AND ROSES
(This is not the same as the old essay written six years ago. You would hardly call this an essay.)

Have you seen that ad on TV with this bald guy saying that "all girls like flowers especially the ones who say that they don't, pakipot lang yun"?... Well, it's either because his script writer hasn't met me yet or because I'm really a guy. You choose.

But if you really want to get to my good side, chocolates are the way. Those among many other FREE things that you don't need to buy.

Children's hugs. Holding hands. sound of laughter. Homemade cards. Love letters. Genuine smiles. personal messages. sweet surprises. Moon & stars. Sunrise and sunshine. Cloud nine. mountain top. vast field of grass. thousands of kisses. millions of hugs. long conversations. warm baths. silent discoveries.

LOVE is in the AIR.
BREATHE in and out, baby.
Take it ALL in and SPREAD the LOVE.
-Lala J.

May you all have a HAPPY VALENTINE!

sitting in between

It's easy to remember teachers who have either tortured us to death (of course I'm exaggerating) or who have inspired us by teaching us life's useful lessons (or fine, taught us to appreciate Organic Chemistry... hello Mr. Guidote).

It's always someone on the extreme end of the spectrum who we remember. Not the ones in between. We remember the really really good or the really really bad ones, the "great terrors", the "awful terrors", or the ones we used to make fun of because we felt that we knew more than they did (typical high school been-there-done-that thinking).

Call me weird but I tend to remember more than the "extremes". Maybe it's nicer that way. Or maybe there's just really something special about each one of these teachers that they won't really fall somewhere in-between. Or maybe none of them really is THAT BAD (we just have all these parallel wavelengths and our thinking never meets with the way they think in this world). Well ok, sometimes there are really bad ones.

But teachers, no matter what we say about them, are teachers. They do their roles, day in and day out. They teach. Or sometimes they try. (Trying has always been good. We eventually get "there" by trying.)

To teach is such a powerful tool. Teachers do have power.

There even comes a point in time when teachers hold more power over us than our parents.

Have you ever remembered doing an assignment in grade school or preschool and your mom or dad wanted to help you out and they got it all wrong and you told them: "But teacher said this and that..." At that time, your assignment was the WORLD for you. You just had to get it right. With getting it "right" meaning doing it your teacher's way.

Then eventually, you realize that the teacher isn't always right. The teacher doesn't have all the power. And there's the struggle. You want that power for yourself.

Somehow you just think that way as your grade level goes higher and higher. In high school, it all gets full-blown and disproportioned when you think that your teachers always get it all WRONG. Except for that one or two "cool ones" who seem to understand you or the ones who make the subject matter worthwhile for an adolescent with peculiar interests.

Then the world turns bigger as you graduate from high school. And you become more serious and you learn to respect your teachers who respect you. Somehow you will meet those who see you as an equal or someone who just wants you to think for yourself.

That's when you meet that teacher who actually wants you to debate with him (hello Sir William Panlilio) or the professor who wants all of you to answer the same question in a Philosophy exam. There is always a correct answer but getting just that merits you a D. How you actually arrive at the correct answer merits you that B that most are happy with. How "pretty" and "organized" you've woven everything merits you that A that is almost impossible to get. But once you see that big red A, you just say "wow" to yourself. Then you thank teachers like them for making you think more and be more.

Then there's LIFE outside school where you look at your parents again who have been there all this time and you realize that they have been your teachers for life. All your teachers in school had their mistakes. And you realize your parents had their own share too. But what the heck, you learn from all their mistakes along with the ones that you yourself made.

Then there are the beautiful people around who you just meet randomly each day. They may be younger or older but no matter what the age, you could learn so much from them if you just open your eyes and ears to see and hear them.

And then you realize that we were not talking about power all this time.

Somehow it doesn't matter who has more of it because there's more to life than power. You go back from where you started when you knew not so much and you just wanted to take everything in.

Teaching and learning are all part of being human. We all want to learn. No, we all NEED to learn. Even if we say we don't, we always learn SOMETHING.

By now you know that I'm not talking about just reading, writing, and math. It doesn't always have to be in school. The best part of learning usually happens outside it.

Teaching and learning are part of the human cycle. The best way to learn is to teach and the only way you could teach is if you have learned what to teach. They're forever paired.

I see myself moving back and forth between both. A teacher, a learner, then perhaps a teacher once again.

They say it's a calling. But I think everything is a calling. Being a doctor is a calling. Being a fashion designer or a makeup artist is a calling. The best way to know if you've fulfilled a calling is when you called yourself to do those things and you're happy doing them.

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Hello my Padawan. This one's between you and me. The world is just sitting there to read. Or perhaps sitting there and watching us while we walk, run, and play. Sometimes amused. Sometimes not. But somehow interested. Yes, interested. I would think so.

How time flies. I used to just sit quietly and watch the rest of the world. Now, it's watching us back. It's nice to see that the world sits and watches too. It comments every now and then. I love that. But more often than not, it's silent. I love that still.

You're turning one in a few weeks. And I can't believe how much time I've spent on and with you.

You accompanied me through my ups and downs. We had one hell of a year, huh? I'm now looking forward to the new adventures of your second year!

Advanced Happy Birthday to my BLOG!

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P.S.
I have a little surprise in store for you guys...
Just remind me in a few days. :)

HAVE A BEAUTIFUL AND HAPPY WEEKEND!

Live it. Love it.

I'm back from a Hong Kong trip with my best friend from Canada, Cami! This was the first time I went out of the country with a friend (with no family member or whatsoever). So yes, I felt a bit independent especially about handling my own money and about securing ourselves out there in a different city...

The last time I went there, I was with my entire family and it was in October 2003. It was a funny experience actually because I ended up on TV (haha!) Thanks to former MYX VJ Ala! ;)

FLASHBACK:
...back to October 2003...
Prior to departure, I saw Ala in the Centennial airport washroom. I knew who she was but I wasn't so sure if she knew me. We were Math 11 classmates in college but I was sitting at the back of that class so we really didn't have the chance to mingle. (Besides, our Math 11 class was taught in a traditional lecture manner where you never get to interact with your classmates. Ever.) But I think somehow you just know it when you see a batchmate... Lo and behold, she knew me by face. We ended up talking there in the washroom and discovered that we were on the same flight!

Once we've landed and claimed our luggages, Ala and I were talking about where we were staying etc. And TA-DAN!!! Her cameraman was shooting us both all those time, giving me a few minutes (yeah I think they were actually minutes) of stardom, mwahaha!! So when they aired the episode on MYX, friends kept on texting me but somehow I was always out and couldn't find a nearby TV. Even my Theology professor told me that he saw me on TV but I NEVER GOT TO SEE IT! Boo!

Fast Forward to January 26, 2007:
I was in class on a Friday night when Cami sent me a text message:
Cami: Tell your prof you'll be absent next week.
Lala: hmmm, ok...

Of course there was still more planning behind all these. I couldn't just be plucked out of my house anytime. (I really don't have that much cash and time.) Cami has been telling me about the trip for months, even when she was still in Canada, but I couldn't say yes due to my erratic school schedule (reporting, etc). When I learned about my class reporting schedule and knew that my professor was A-OK with me missing one of her classes, I took it as a GO-signal.

After a few hours, I asked permission from my parents. I got an easy YES from my mom (who was sort of briefed about this trip before and asked me if I wanted to go) but I still had to answer all my dad's questions (which made me think that he could have been a good lawyer too if not a doctor), and then waited for a miracle to happen.

And it did... in the form of this line from my dad: "Where's your passport?" (Translation: ok you could go).

And after a few days, Cami and I flew.

January 31 - February 4
YEAH, LIVE IT and LOVE IT!

I think I lived and loved it too much. ;) I'm down again with cough and colds. It was BRRRRRRRR COLD there especially at night and I think that cold Disney night caught me off guard. But as always, I know I'll be back on my feet in no time!

Oooh, I can't wait for another trip this 2007!
But I'm just gonna take things in one at a time... ;)

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CAMI dearest: Thank you so much for this unforgettable trip! I hope all of us girls could go somewhere again next time! And we'll make more memories for the elephant, hahaha! See you soon, mmwah!

SPECIAL THANKS to Tito Peter and Tita Pie Wilken: You guys are the best and the coolest hosts :) See you all soon!

And to Rowell Cuenza: Thank you so much for everything! I hope to see you dance soon! :)