Why fall when you can fly?

This is for my husband with whom I have very serious plans of marrying (again) a year from now. For giving me a reason to try my wings... the courage to soar... the faith to fly when all I could do (and do quite well, was dance my little drunken dance, stumble, fall, and fall down some more).

Been flying ever since.




If you've never been
In love, and your longing
For the happiness it brings
Try your wings

If your hungry for the
Sound of a lover
saying sentimental things
Try your wings

Even the tiniest
Bluebird, has to
Leave its nest to fly
What a bluebird can
Do you can do too
If you try

If you've always had
A dream, and you've
Been afraid that it
Would not come
True hither to
Fall in love and
You will find that it's
Just what you've been
Dreaming of

The first love never
Comes twice. So
Take this tender advice
When it comes
Try your wings and
Fly to the one you love

THE REAL THING

At TGI Fridays Trinoma whilst celebrating Paolo's recent [and well-deserved] promotion, Lisa Stansfield's The Real Thing starts playing and, of course I [thanks to my mother's love for Ms. Stansfield] start singing...

Me: [how I remember the lyrics, I don't know] Nevermind the stars in the sky, nevermind the when and the why. Got a feeling higher than high, this is the real thing. Nevermind the rain and the storm, we'll keep each other warm. Got something stronger than strong, this is the real thing...

Psyche: [begins clapping outtanowhere] Hooray! Mommy's the best singer EVER! Papa! Tell mommy she's a good singer! Come on! Tell her she's great!


(I don't know whether she was just being incredibly nice or just insanely obnoxious.)

On that note:

Family time is so much fun. I can't wait to get another baby into the mix of things (hahahaha just throw him right in there along with the rest of the crazies =). Hopefully, it'll be a boy next time so Psyche can have her "baby brother." Make the Callanta-Toledo union so much more interesting. Then maybe I'd have TWO adoring [or obnoxious] fans clapping and cheering for me whenever I start singing outtanowhere at random restaurants... and two people to always remind my husband how great I am.

But I don't think he'll forget something like that. =)

Day 100 - A picture of you smiling

                                         Our first year anniversary [last year] in Bali.

It's our second year anniversary today.

This year... we plan on simply settling in to the fact that we've only been together 2 years, married only 7 1/2 months... and have never been happier just vegging together, eating Cheetos, watching Fringe, knowing that we both came home from a hard day's work, loving what we do, loving each other, loving our daughter, and believing that all of this --- the days that go by, the promotions, the trips-away, the bills to pay, the parties to attend, the movies we still have yet to watch, the daily grind that comes with living... all of it [as in, all of it] is just so much sweeter because we have each other to share it with. Isn't that the paradox? "To get the full value of joy, you must have someone to divide it with."

Well who'd have thought blessings only multiply when you divide em?

We also plan on getting a hotel room. (Cuz we nasty =)

Day 99 - A picture that was first on your [Multiply]

So I learned I was pregnant November 6, 2006, right?

Would you believe me if I told you that I KNEW I was pregnant with a girl November 18, 2006?

That would be impossible since you can't determine gender until the 4th month.

I had taken a picture of this butterfly/moth [same diff] November 18, 2006, 1:44pm. It had flown inside my room via a small hole on the screen on the corner of the window and latched itself onto the bathroom door. At first I thought it was a toy magnet of sorts. (Obviously, I had my cameraphone in my hand so I took a picture). But then when I tried to touch it, it began to move. Not fly. Just sort of crawl around on the door. I guess when it KNEW I realized it was real, it began to fly around me and then right back out the hole in the window.

Now I always knew I would name my first girl "Psyche" --- my "soul." Psyche, Goddess of the Soul, represented by a butterfly. But in this case, it was not just any butterfly. It was a yellow butterfly. Yellow. My favorite color.

Day 98 - A picture of you and your friends out somewhere

Out and about.

It's funny how while most people mistake my sister Roni and I for twins, there are still those who don't believe that we're actually sisters (despite the resemblance). Friends, or cousins perhaps. But not sisters.

They say sisters can't possibly be THAT close.

I say, God gave me my bestfriends when I was young. We all just happen to be related.

(As for my sister Paula... I wasn't cool enough to be her friend, hahaha! Ergo, I had the other two to bully on over to my side. =)

Day 97 - A picture of something you no longer have

I hate that I lost my [photocopied] copy of this book. I first read it as a freshman in college and it was what made me believe, for all of my disillusions of men, that any man who says he loves his country... should love his woman just as much.

She is country. Home. Shelter.

My college professor (who introduced me to the book) once said, "Pablo Neruda ruined it for every other guy. He wrote what we always wanted to say."

Day 96 - A picture of your favorite movie

Sephora from Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments, one of my absolute favorite movies.

CHRISTMAS WISHLIST 2011!!!!

I began writing my list about a month ago (just when the -ber months rolled in) and I realized, I already started buying some of the stuff I wanted myself (Ie. a wet/dry hair iron) because really, my wishlist is just a personal shopping list but if someone decides to buy it ahead of me and then give it to me, that's truly a lovely lovely thing.)

So in random order:

The Octavia "miracle" dress

Carolina Herrera 212 VIP for perfume for women

A blender.




A sack of red rice.



Chocolate brown hair (and this luscious bedhead look)



Slendertone replacement gelpads (for my slendertone belt =)



The Spa gift certificates


A strapless swimsuit (so I don't have any unsightly tan lines come the wedding)



Bikram Yoga instructional DVD (because the classes are helluh expensive)



These Virtual Mae boots.

 
Or God willing... Nicki's pink boots.

I do still want the paint zoom with all of my heart but I know that's probably something I'll hope to use next year when we decide to give our condo some color. And the steam gourmet. And the magic airbed.

I'm just glad I don't have a landline phone otherwise I would be blowing the Home Shopping Network UP!

..............................

But honestly, I just want Psyche to be able to read and write properly before she goes to school and for me and Pao to save up enough money for our modest albeit AWESOME wedding. I plan on getting Psyche an entire Learning Chinese DVD set for Christmas. (I am preparing her for world domination... she just doesn't know it yet.)

For Pao? Maybe just me with nothing but the radio on. (And some Chanel No. 5. =)

Day 95 - A picture of you on a plane

Can't go anywhere without my chips. (And I totally didn't know it could do that on a plane =)

The most beautifully hateful "fuck you" EVER.

This fucking needs a moment of silence and strict internalization.



Then this is is what you need to do.

You need to take a day.
Say what you couldn't say.
Lock the door.
Sit on the floor.
Hug your knees.
Save your pleas.
Cry your heart out.
Scream "let me out, let me out, let me out"

And "fuck you"
"And all we've been through"



.......


And here, the most painful "no" you will ever hear.

Day 94 - A picture of you and your friends eating

Food tasting at Robot. =)

Day 93 - A picture of your favorite board game

Man, I wonder where my mom kept our board??!!! This has got to me the awesomest game ever... if only for the funny way people draw stuff when they're pressured. Even a fish becomes difficult to draw.

Stick figures are always the best way to go.

Because 90% of being a [parent] is just showing up.

While shopping for groceries...

Psyche: (outtanowhere) Mommy, you're the best.
Me: Awww (in surprised and quizzical tone as I was reaching for the laundry soap) that's so sweet, thanks.
Psyche: (insistently... as if she knew I didn't quite believe her the first time) You're the best mommy.
Me: (as we head on over to the junkfood aisle) Awww, why do you think I'm the best?
Psyche: (in matter-of-fact tone) Because you go to the office... and then you come home. And after you go to the gym... you come home.

I let her grab a bag of Piattos and a Moo chocolate drink after that.

Day 92 - A picture of your school

Oblation, UP Los Banos.

Day 91 - A picture of you and your friends playing a game

Because Jenga when you're drunk can kick Cranium's ass any day of the week, twice on Sundays. (Clean up's a b*tch though)

Good times. =)

Day 90 - A picture of you wearing your favorite color

                         My only yellow dress... which only looks good on a sunkissed body.

LAPLAPAN 2 da MAX and other funny ass sites.

God love the world wide frikkin' web.

......

My sister told me about this site recently:

Naughty Girls <----------------------------- THIS IS F*CKING HILARIOUS.

(We heart and miss SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE @ Bureau =)

I swear... if I were applying for a job and my would-be employers showed me this site and asked me what the meaning of this was... I would probably laugh uncontrollably and say something stupid like, "Heeeeeeeeey! Laplapan to the max, bitcheeeeeez!"

But my all time favorite meaningless site (which I totally bookmarked because it's helluh fun to read again and again) is...

PAOLO TOLEDO aka "sobrang all-around guy and super cutie"

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I couldn't be ANY prouder! *smiles triumphantly*

To Hunigurl and Skybluecanvas --- Man, what I would've given to have seen what y'all saw back in '04! Hahahahaha! Perhaps one of these days, I'll get Pao to wear his blue babble uniform and make him dance for me. Hehehehehehe!

Day 89 - A picture of you at a hotel

PANGU 7 STAR HOTEL, BEIJING, CHINA ----- the awesomest hotel I've stayed in thus far. (First, I got to drink ALL THE BEER IN THE FRIDGE and second, THERE WAS A MIRROR/TV BY THE BATHTUB. With cable.)

I totally didn't wanna leave my room.

Day 88 - A picture of your dream car

For beauty, the 1963 Volkswagen Beetle (drop top bug)


For brawn, the 2002 Nissan Skyline GTR R32 as seen in Initial D.

Day 87 - A picture of someone you grew up with

               Thankful to have had bestfriends and playmates so early on in my childhood.

Day 86 - A picture of someone who helps you with school/work

Ben, our Senior Art Director, my co-beautylab guinea pig, my photofeature co-conspirator, and personal assistant... of sorts. =)

He was the one who taught me that you should strive to work hard so that you are not only GOOD at your job, but you become NEEDED at your job.

On not having a "real" FB, deleting my Google+, keeping true to Multiply and why I never voluntarily deleted my Friendster.

"Science and technology would be used as though, like the Sabbath, they had been made for man, not (as at present and still more so in the Brave New World) as though man were to be adapted and enslaved to them." - Brave New World, Foreword by Aldous Huxley

 

In 2003, I take it I was about 20, my sisters and I were in Boracay (by ourselves)... and this thing called "Friendster" kept everyone from the beach and in search of an internet cafe in order to "give someone a testimonial" or at least check to see if they'd received one. I didn't have an account then. So when we got back to Manila, my sisters put up my account for me (as I was studying and going home to LB then and I didn't have the time nor the resources to bother with such things). I just had to maintain it.

 

Come 2007, my sisters (again) convinced me to put up a Multiply site because "it was way faster than Friendster and you can put up MORE photos and albums." So I did. My first album was of my daughter, a month after she was born.

 

The following year, a boy named Edo from Indonesia or Hong Kong I think, stayed in my former home to live. He told us to keep in touch via Facebook (which wasn't big here at the time) so my then-boyfriend put up an account solely to communicate with him and I said we'd just share an account, if ever.

 

I never bothered to put up my own. Even after we broke up and I was single and my sisters told me I could totally meet guys if I had an account.

 

That wasn't going to convince me this time.

 

Even when people were asking me to move to Tumblr so they could "follow" my blogs there, I still didn't see the point. Or the reason to exert the effort.

 

Twitter was never an option only because... I always have a lot to say. I don't TWEET. I TALK.

 

Besides, I didn't wanna meet anyone new. And in a way, I didn't mind that some of the people from my past REMAINED THERE.

 

Call me old-fashioned but I still find that being somewhat "unavailable" to people a tad romantic.

 

Or maybe I'm just really pakipot.

 

And look... I'm still in touch with the people who matter. I still meet up with friends who remember that my number hasn't changed since forever and invite me out. I still found a boyfriend-turned-husband ON MY OWN, without the help of a really awesome profile picture, and without him telling me he'd just "add me on Facebook" rather than get my number. And I met some really lovely people by writing nonsensically on my pink Multiply blog and about my "Mis-education" and perhaps even my re-education.

 

I'm only sad that I wasn't available to salvage my testimonials from my Friendster account... even if I did save the pictures. Those were real gems.

 

 

 

So Kit and Den... HOLLA AT YOUR GIRL!!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!! I'm a phone call away. Seriously. Android, iOS, Blackberry... lahat yan kayang ipa-ring yung telepono ko. =P

Day 85 - A picture of your favorite holiday

Merry Christmas!!!! This was my first tree EVER. Pao and I bought it together 2 years ago. We were only a couple months then. Before him, I never had a reason to buy my own tree (I was a single mother living in my own apartment, raising my own daughter, I couldn't afford to buy a tree so I had a small picture of one PRINTED and stuck it on the wall. Psyche didn't mind).

But watching her decorating it whilst singing some remix version of FALALALALA LALALALA is priceless.

Day 84 - A picture of a school project

I lost the album I made for my Sociology of the Family class back in college. It had pictures of my family (of origin) and letters to my [future] child and husband. Back then of course, it was just a project. But putting these memories into my own album now... it's truly a dream come true.

Day 83 - A picture of you and a teammate

                             The only time we won Trivia Night at 121 Grille and Restaurant.

Day 82 - A picture of someone you love asleep

I know he's going to KILL ME for posting this but I JUST HAD TO!!!

I never knew my husband was the CONTORTIONIST! Hahahaha!!! Must've been all those Blue Babble exercises that made him so flexible and springy. =)

***I swear the moment I woke up and saw this, I went straight for my phone and took this picture. And I didn't even bother to rub my eyes either.

(I love you, Waffle!!!!! You sleep so peacefully. =)

Day 81 - A picture of you with a character

             With my favorite YELLOW m&m... cuz I sure love me my chocolate-covered nuts. =)

Day 80 - A picture of you and someone you love being silly

      Taking that leap of faith after only 500 days. Now THAT'S silly. But in a good way. =)

Day 79 - A picture of you in the water

Taken and edited by Chad Villarmino.

(Mind you, these shots ACTUALLY HURT LIKE A MOTHER. I got an absolute pounding --- that's what she said --- and I was absolutely wet. =)