Tinola after the Storm

Things are not going as originally planned. I'm sailing through the days after the storm "Frank" hit us hard in the Philippines.

I read the newspaper and watched the news, seeing the sad news about Frank's victims that ranged from those affected by the floods, a tidal wave in Infanta Quezon, and a sunken ship :( My condolences to all those who lost loved ones and homes...

As for me, Frank bumped off my thesis proposal defense and now I am in limbo, waiting for my panel members to finalize our next schedule.

But the good news is I'm back to blogging! Let's start off with updates that I wasn't able to put up before...


Oi! Oi!



Oi! Hong Kong Style Noodle is now open! Visit the food stall in Starmall MRT Bridgeway. Noodles for P20 only. Noodles with Siomai for P25 only. Mix your own sauce: Oyster, Soy Lemon, Sweet Chili, Teriyaki, and Chili Garlic... And voila! :)


They have tried it! And you should too! :D




Friday the 13th, Happy Opening to FLTI!



Father's Day on a Thursday

I had a date with my dad, which I haven't done in a long time. I accompanied him to the UP Centennial concert entitled "Pamantasang Hirang" at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Because we arrived an hour early, we had dinner together near Manila Bay and I took this photo of the sky.




I enjoyed the show especially the dance number by a group of UP Manila students who portrayed the UP Oblation. Watching them from where I sat reminded me of a music box. Their movements were that fluid, precise, and incredulous. I had to remind myself that I was actually watching human beings. They contorted their bodies with such grace, carrying the other and balancing one another, that there were moments that they seemed inhuman. I could just imagine the kind of muscles and discipline they possessed. And my dad whispered to me, humoring me about the show we watch on TV, "So you think you can dance?" Too bad cameras were not allowed. These dancers remain imprinted in my memory at the very least. I hope you get to watch them someday too.

I also enjoyed meeting all my dad's colleagues in medicine, his high school classmates...


his friend in the UP Concert Chorus



the well-known composer/musician Ryan Cayabyab who I didn't expect to be so tall as he physically towered over my dad...


See how he stands out from the crowd?




And also the current UP President, President Roman, who called me "Lala, the official photographer" of my dad and his friends. ;) She then made me have my turn in front of the camera with her granddaughter, Julia, who was also part of the show.
If my dad just took the photo a little bit lower, you'd see how President Roman had her arm around my waist. ;) Such a warm university President.

It was a fun night and I enjoyed hanging out people around my dad's age. And although a lot have been commenting on how young I was, the truth is we all felt so young that night regardless of our ages because we were celebrating something much older than any of us -- U.P. in its hundred years ;)


Zipstahs in Ziggurat

And because we didn't push through with our trip to Highlands due to conflicting schedules (and thankfully we did not push through because Frank the Storm arrived this weekend), my fellow zipstahs and I had dinner in Ziggurat. :D



Jamie and Omar with the menu



Me with my halfie, Jamie Jarabejo, whose fingers I'm using for signing out.

Fresh Start

I believe that when there are days that aren't as peachy as we would like them to be, it's because our characters are being tested. But if suddenly all the days just seem a little bit less peachy to us, then maybe there's nothing really wrong with the days. Perhaps it's time to accept that the problem is within ourselves.

For the past weeks or so, I feel like I've been a little bit crankier... holding a little bit of angst over little details that I would not usually fuss about. Or sometimes I would succumb to pressure and just find myself not being the best person that I could be. It's alarming to notice such things about yourself especially when friends used to describe you with these words: grace under pressure.

And to find that lost grace because of things that just pile one after another is a challenge that begins with recognition. I got through Step 1. I recognized those changes about myself. And I thought about being the positive person that I usually am.

After a personal reflection over the weekend, I think that I'm ready for a fresh new start again. Our so-called "quarter life crisis" in the mid-20s just happens when we let it. The truth is we're young and we're learning. As a mentor once said, own your statements with the word I so here goes -- I am young and I am learning.

It's important that I pass this way. It's important that I be at this point in life. Without this point, I don't get there. This is not the highest point in my life in terms of personal achievements but I am on the way. I am moving. Although it's not as fast as I would want it to be, I am actually moving. And I feel it.

Sometimes I just need to be reminded of things that I often hear but just have to listen to again... that the journey is as important as the destination.

For someone who loves to travel, I enjoy the rides, seeing new things outside the window, and being with people who are taking their own journeys too. In real life, I'm thankful that I have people who travel with me, taking the little steps, making the journey fun. Maybe I should look out the window every once in a while and see that if I went faster than this, I wouldn't be able to see and I wouldn't be able to enjoy the company of those traveling with me...that sometimes slow is good.

Reading my old posts reminded me of how optimistic and how excited I was to become the best person I could be, to contribute to the world, and to live with passion. I just have to remind myself now that I need this point in life in order to reach those other higher points I aspire for.

This Sunday, I'm having a fresh new start. A week from now, a big day is coming up for me. A week of preparation is in my hands. I feel that to find that lost grace would be just right. Grace under pressure and uncertainties. :)



A portion of my photo collage last year that makes me view the world with optimism and reminds me of dreams.

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HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to ALL FATHERS OUT THERE! :)
As for my Father's Day post, please click on June 2006 in my Archives and read "Daddy's Little Girl". I think I'll enjoy reading it over and over again for Father's Day. Some things have changed from then 'til now (as two years has already passed and a few details no longer hold true) but the essence is still there: I wrote it with lots of love! :D Enjoy Father's Day!

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Have a beautiful week filled with passion, everyone!

Kung ayaw mo matulog, magpatulog ka.

I took this photo when we visited Bohol last March. It was a poor little tarsier, a nocturnal animal that was supposed to be asleep during the day but had to be awake because of tourists like us. :(

I was torn whether I wanted to see one of them up close or to just let them be. But if I didn't take his photo, does it mean he is able to rest more? I think not because others are lined up after us. Still, I'm guilty.

Although I used macro lens and no flash while taking this photo, I know that I also contributed to shortening his life span. :(

But I'm posting this here so you get to see for yourself the look in its eyes as if telling us what he couldn't say...



"Give me some sleep."


But maybe it would have a stronger impact in Tagalog, "Kung ayaw mo matulog, magpatulog ka."

And if you haven't seen one yet, at least you won't have that urge to see it up close and personal during the day because you've already seen it right here, from the closest and safest distance you could get.

Brilliance

I just want to share one of my favorite photos from last weekend. It was as if I was saving up all my energy for that single moment and all the lights shone at the right time, making the photo look intense.

But in reality, I was simply taking a candid shot of our friend’s wedding reception when another good friend, Sarah Bautista, took a candid shot of me. I was in full concentration, not knowing someone else was watching and trying to capture that moment of capturing a moment. ;) When we saw the photo, Sarah and I were both amazed.

Because it was not contrived, the photo came out brilliant. Or at least we think it came out brilliant. And we don't just mean the lights.

Life is Imperfectly Fun

The word “perfect” lacks U and N so there’s literally no fun in it. When things come out “not perfect”, it has both N and F and just needs YOU to recognize it and make it FUN. -REJ

Before leaving for Tagaytay last Saturday, I wrote on air that I believed things will be perfect and ended it with a happy face just like this one – :)

One of our high school friends was to get married to the man of her dreams and vice versa. The wedding was in a chapel in Midlands, ten minutes away from the main gate of Tagaytay Highlands.

And so, my other high school friends and I have been planning for quite a time about logistics so we could sleep over in Highlands and stay until the end of reception. When everything has been settled, I truly believed that things would turn out perfectly as planned. But maybe I have slightly jinxed it as I typed the word “perfect” because not everything fell into place as we hoped.

I was asked to be commentator for the wedding and gladly accepted that role. I forwarded copies of the misalette to our friends who were assigned as readers. I’ve tried the role of reader in weddings for various friends and cousins but I’ve never been a commentator before so I took this as an extra important role. And because of positive thinking, I truly believed that the wedding would be just perfect because we took time to prepare for it.

We coordinated the meeting place and time in Manila. Those who arrived in our house were on time and we left to pick up the others. Somewhere along the way, there were details that were forgotten so detours and Plan B then Plan C were proposed and executed. All these contingent plans were deemed best at the time.

If there’s anything that one should remember during planned meet-ups, the entire group is only as fast as the last person to arrive, something that slightly deterred our plans. Other than that, there were external factors that one could not control such as traffic and bottlenecks in our supposedly called “highways’ and “expressways”. There were also two weddings in Tagaytay that Saturday and being the start of a long weekend (Monday, today is a holiday), traffic was the worst.

When it was nearing our call time and we were still in Sta. Rosa, I felt so pressured to reach the wedding on time that I found myself constantly checking our speed, asking if we could go faster. But one could only do so much especially when there are other factors involved. As Franco said, he could not fly his car like a plane and we could only push such things to their limits.

To cut this part of the story short because remembering that portion of the ride makes my heart thump with tension, we did not arrive on time.

I felt sorry and terrible about the fact that I had failed in my promise to be a commentator. Since the First Reading and the Second Reading were also part of our group who met up first in Manila, they missed their parts too. With missing our liturgical roles, I felt bad because the last thing I wanted was our friend to feel that her friends had let her down by being late on her wedding day with particular roles to fill.

The good side of the story was that we had two friends who arrived on time and saved all of us. We then exchanged roles by offering in the mass instead, without the other guests knowing that we’ve been changing plans by the minute. We played everything by ear and the mass went smoothly with the beautiful couple kissing as husband and wife in the end. (Still, our group must have been part of the wedding coordinator’s list of nightmares.)

I realized how small decisions along the way could have changed the outcome but then when I look back and view everything as a whole, we could not change any of those anymore. And the learning is now far more important. For one, I re-learned something I read in a children’s storybook about taking firm hold of the nettle. I now know how to handle future situations much better, how to make sure things can go on as planned, and how to go about things that do not flow as planned.

I’m also grateful for the things that worked out that day. We arrived there safely as an entire group of friends. We were able to listen to the gospel and homily and witness all the important parts of the wedding. There were no blames. Just saves. And we celebrated happily with everyone until the wee hours during and after the reception.

Telling this story to another friend who now lives in another country, she said “at least there’s something you’d laugh about in the future.” And that’s exactly what we’ll be doing years from now, laughing and thinking of how we saved each other’s butts.

Just like in theater, the bad dress rehearsal means a smashing play. With the booboos we created, I think the last-minute changes in the wedding meant a smashing reception and a much better marriage. ;)

I think it’s so apt that the married couple chose 060708 as their wedding date. It’s more of a progression rather than a perfect 777 or 888. Life is like that. Things get better everyday and they aren’t perfect. Because when things are just perfect, there’s no room for progress. And there’s no room for fun. After everything that happened that day, oh boy, we definitely had so much room for those two.