=)

Papa Paul,



Photo courtesy of someone from the internet. Hehe=)

Papa

I want to write my father a nice Father's Day message, but I don't know where to start. I try to rack my brain for a nice flow to this post, because I cannot just anyhow dedicate a second-class piece of writing to the first man that I have ever loved - my papa. How do I utilize the 26 letters of the English alphabet to fairly illustrate my father's remarkable character, to thank him for all he's done for me and for our family, and to tell him how much I love him?

One of my first few vivid memories of my father is when he was washing my brother's clothes, who was then less than a year old. I still remember the lump that was forming in my throat and the hot tears that were about to burst. I was just so touched by the gesture, and that my young brain cannot comprehend why my father was doing the laundry instead of our house helpers. There's supposed to be a party in our relatives' house just inside the compound where we were also living, so I don't know why the heck my father was doing the laundry at that time. His back was facing me so I don't think he knew I was watching him. I was only four then, but the memory still lingers.

During my kindergarten days, I could always count on my father to help me do my homework. I could always approach him whenever I felt like a buffoon in math or if I needed to draw a pond with ducklings in my English workbook. It was such a big deal to me when he taught me that the square root of 49 is 7 even while I was just beginning to learn how to multiply 2 by 2.

My father is a very patient person. His patience extends to the clouds. But sometimes they are low-hanging, gray nimbus clouds. When he gets angry enough to give me or my simblings a spanking, he would never fail to say sorry afterwards. He would always approach us, place us on his lap, and explain why he had to discipline us and make us understand that he wants to straighten our ways because he loves us.

He is also the type who tells a lot of funny jokes and anecdotes. But most importantly, he always gives little nuggets of wisdom in each serving of his life story. He would tell us his past mistakes so we'll learn from them.

Right now I can't properly organize my thoughts, because I need to sleep early as I'm leaving for Indonesia so freakingly early tomorrow. I hope my father would pardon my haphazard attempt to shout to the world that he is the best dad I think there is, that I appreciate his calls and sms and all words of encouragement, that I am touched everytime he picks me up when I stumble from a relationship gone bad or from sucky grades, or just for being the plain old dad I could run to just as I had done when I scrape my knees when I was still a tyke. I thank you for providing for us, for not having any vice, for leading our family, and for loving us unconditionally.

You are my inspiration, Papa, (as well as Mama!), at sana matupad ko lahat ng pinangarap nyo para sa akin.=)

I love you!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Today I had my unofficial last day of work at Synovate. Unofficial because it's still uncertain if I'm coming back to work there again after my Aceh trip. It depends whether the project is still ongoing and if they need more people, and it depends on me too hehe=)

I left early (around 3:30pm) from work and went straight to Bedok, where we had our last general meeting for the Aceh trip. Since other people already had designated tasks when I got there, I ended up having to participate in our puppet show for the kids. Nope I'm not complaining.=)

After the meeting, I rushed to Cathay Cineleisure where Michael and Ivy are waiting. We didn't go there to catch a movie, but rather to eat at this Japanese restaurant that's only a few cents more expensive than any of the Japanese stalls on campus. Yay great food, but I let Michael eat the baby octopus (what's the plural of octopus again? octopuses? octopi? just plain old octopus too? whatever. He ate three today I think. Hala they're breeding inside of him na.

Ivy went to Marina Square to meet the love of her life, and Michael went with me to Carrefour because I realized I have to buy a lot more stuff after I've gone through the travel checklist handed to me just this afternoon.

So there, I ended up spending around $80 for only two bags of groceries! WAAA! But I was just following the old adage An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure, and bought sufficient amounts of insect repellants, hand sanitizer, wet wipes, mosquito lotion, torchlight, a new towel, plus the basic essentials like toiletries. Oh yeah, I also bought vitamins, the most expensive item in my receipt.

Let me just insert this horror story here, about one of the people in charge of the trip asking me to bring powder too. What for?, I asked. There was this news about their water pipes bursting, was the answer. Connection?, I thought out loud. So you won't be as smelly if you can't take a bath. Yikes! CANNOT TAKE A BATH ISSIT?! I cannot NOT take a bath! Cannot! Cannot!

Anyway, whatever.=)

Why am I going to ACEH again? I volunteered without thinking twice when I read this email:

Dear @,

December 2004 has become a milestone in the human history. In just few seconds, 230,000 people in Aceh were killed by a devastating tsunami.

You might have questioned: How in the world can you have the opportunity to witness the impacts of tsunami and contribute to the people in Aceh? Now you have the opportunity.

You can go to Aceh for free. For two weeks, you will be attached to two orphanages and help the orphans to rebuild their lives. All expenses are covered: ticket, decent accommodation, food. Nothing tricky...


It is too good an opportunity to pass up. I want to feel what "making a difference" means. Maybe I can be a more useful citizen of this world for a change. Haha=)

My father once told me to be genuinely interested in people when interacting with them, and I've always been awed by people who are considered successful by the world's standards. This time, I would be with people who live a very simple life - those who are less fortunate if you want to call them that. Maybe they can teach me a thing or two about life too.

I am going to miss Ivy and Michael and Natalie and Casper and Mark and even the snobbish 11th floor people, the people I've been with almost everyday for more than a month now. And of course my WYLDFIRE dudes and dudettes and our Tsuper ng Buhay dance steps.

Everyday I'm getting closer to meeting my family and friends back home, and I can hardly wait.=) Whee=)


PS

Impt contact numbers (as demanded requested by Papa)

Team Leader: Abu Sufyan Bin Bedin
+6594244861

Co-Leader: Filzah Amalia Binte Rahmat
+6591773295

Project Manager: Hamzah Bin Abdul Mutalib
+6591879143; +6281533177986

Institutions/Orphanages where we'll be staying:

1.) Fajar Hidayah Aceh
Phone: 62 651 7417135
School Principal: Ibu Anning +62 813 8098 6533

2.) Taman Kanak-Kanak
School Principal: Ibu Dewi +62 815 3424 8766

3.) Panti Asuhan Rahmah, Pantiraja
Caretaker: Pak Tarmizi +62 813 6013 6671

Today

Every 16th of June used to be a very significant day.

At least for those four years, that is.

Mane Event

I just had a haircut and it looks as if I'm donning a wig right now. It looks so unnatural.

So why did I have a haircut when I was impatiently waiting for my hair to grow longer? Because I couldn't understand the shape of my hairdo anymore. Basically the lady just maintained the length and thinned my hair because as she said (in her own words) "Your hair is very volume."

Everyday, I painstakingly try to fix my hair so it looks decent enough for work. Stupidfreakinglyshorthair.

Ladies who cut their hair short are stupid. And that includes me. Long hair is definitely more manageable and easier to style, thus giving you considerably lesser bad hair days. And I am the type who gets really affected by bad hair days. Stupidfreakinglyshorthair. And a girl looks more feminine with long hair. Duh.

In fairness to the hairdresser, she's really very nice and hip and I want her hairstyle! She dyed her fringe green, and I like her layers. She did everything she could with my hair (subject to my condition of maintaining the current length), but there's just really nothing much that can be done.

When she was doing the final touches like blow drying and stuff, I asked her "Can you give me a fringe like yours?" Sensing that I still wasn't really thrilled with what she's done so far with my crowning glory, she obliged. However, she warned me that for my hair, her fringe style may not have the intended effect on me because my hair is very volume, while hers is flat. I still let her cut my fringe though, and voila!

SO now it seems like I'm wearing a traditional floor cleaner made of coconut husk on my scalp. I told Michael and Ivy a while ago (they were with me at the salon) that i don't want to die yet because I don't want people to see me with this hairdo as I lie in my coffin.

Anyway, I'm so sick of complaining. Even if my hair is freaking ugly as it is right now, I still have the option to be happy. Ka-career-in ko na lang to!

Again, in fairness to the cute and young and hip hairdresser, I'm not putting any blame on her. She's been very nice to me and tried to accommodate all my requests. I'm going back there again actually, and let her style my hair again when the right time comes.

Me, Myself, and I

The following are the things that I've placed above myself in the past few days:
















































I've been so selfish, and I'm sorry. I miss you.

Babae

I stole got this from the Friendster page of my sister-out-law.

Alab ng Puso

Happy Independence Day to all my compatriots!

Mahal ko ang Pilipinas kahit hindi masyadong obvious kung minsan.

FIFA!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHAIDER!

So today we had our youth meeting/dance practice/Shaider's bday bash at this posh condo behind Wisma Atria at Orchard Road. When I entered the gates, I was like "Wowness". Then the following: dance practice, 'surprise' for Shaider, PINOY FOOD, monkey-monkey, and other fun stuff in between. Then when we were just about to leave, a World Cup match between England and Paraguay was just starting. Grr. I was tempted to stay for a little longer (Rovin did), but yeah never mind because I have this little fever brewing as I just had three jabs yesterday and the nurse warned me about having a fever or a headache as my body's anti-bodies wage a war with the weak viruses she just injected inside my body.

Then when we were nearing the Orchard MRT station which is only less than five minutes from the condo, Rovin called Missy's phone and told us that England just scored a goal courtesy of my future husband, David Beckham. I SHOULD HAVE STAYED FOR A WHILE LONGER. I missed the action! Armph!

Ok, let me just make it clear, I am not really a fan of soccer, or all this World Cup hullabaloo. I don't even have the slightest inkling of what World Cup is all about before I came here, because back home basketball is the THE SPORT and not soccer. I've only been aware of the magnitude of the World Cup just recently, because their ubiquitous ad tugs at the heartstrings (even of people who are not huge fans of soccer). This is where legends are born...*then tears start to form at Korinna's eyes*.

So when I got back to my room, I opened my laptop pronto and searched the net for any way I could watch the live game for free. FAT CHANCE. To console myself, I just logged on to youtube.com and watched some amazing videos of Beckham. Then I also found myself wandering to the one and only site in the whole world wide web that Sundeep knows of - soccernet.com. (Yes he is such a huge fan and I think at this very moment he is jumping in pure jubilation since the World Cup started.)

Here is my photo of the day:



And let's not forget about my current wallpaper:



So why the sudden interest in the World Cup? Two reasons:

1.) Sundeep likes soccer. A lot.
2.) Beckham is in it.

The reasons are in no particular order.=p

Three Jabs

I had three jabs today, one after another. So it is like this:



multiplied by three.

I'm still wearing the three plasters to cover the jabbed areas, two on my left forearm and one on my right. It feels like someone punched my left arm, and it still hurts a bit. But I'm not complaining, because it would be for my own good. The Aceh trip organizers provided for our free vaccinations for flu, tetanus, and typhoid fever for precautionary measures. They even gave each of the participants malaria pills to ensure that we'd be protected.

I'm so impressed with the organizers, namely the members of NTU Muslim Society. They have a well-planned itinerary for the whole two weeks of our stay there, and I'm really hats off to all the preparations that they're doing. To think that they are just students like me. They were able to get *bleep* to sponsor $XX,XXX for their trip. For me, it is a very big thing, organizing a trip for 24 people going abroad to a place that is far from being called a tourist spot, so the risks are greater for them.

And even though I'm in a way different from them, they are a very friendly bunch. Yayness.

I'm leaving next Sunday for Indonesia, then I'm coming back to Singapore for a couple more days (Youth concert coming up!), then I'M GOING BACK HOME TO THE PHILIPPINES (before school starts again)!!! MABUHAY!!!=)

=)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTIA MAY MARTE!!!

Maalaala Mo Kaya

Tatlong araw ko nang pinapaiyak ang sarili ko sa kakapanood ng Maalaala Mo Kaya sa youtube.com...ang saya saya meron talagang nag-a-upload ng buong episode. Yung una yung 'Rosaryo', starring Juday and Ryan. Nung una gumigilid-gilid lang ang mga luha sa mga mata ko pero ayun, naiyak na ako ng tuluyan. Weakness ko kasi yung mga scene na may old man and son na nagdadrama. At aminin na rin natin na magaling talagang umarte si Juday.

Ang next na pinanood ko yung 'Radyo', at ang magka love team ay si Mark Bautista and... *drumrolls*...GLORIA DIAZ! Grabeh muntik ko nang hindi kayanin, mabuti na lang at naawa sila sa mga viewers at walang kissing scene na naganap. Hay ang pag-ibig talaga, walang pakialam kahit 48 thousand years ang age gap nyo.

Tapos ang latest ay ang 'Laptop', starring Joross and Roxanne. Nung una hindi ko naman balak maging affected talaga ng story kasi pa-tweetums naman ang tingin ko sa mga bida, kaso pagkalaunan ay nagpakatotoo na talaga ako at kinuha ko na yung Kleenex sa bag ko kung saan nag-aksaya ako ng tatlong piraso ng tissue sa aking pag-emote. Siguro'y dala na rin ito ng malamig na weather.

=)

Happy Birthday Papa!
I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!

=)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTINE!

alafyoo flifax.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIMPLE!


I'm so blessed to have a sister like you.=)

Rivermaya Rendezvous

Disclaimer: It's my first time to incorporate the table html tags in any of my posts, so pardon if it's all conked out. Don't know how to tweak the darned thing yet. And just so I could post the deluge of Rivermaya photos I was talking about four centuries back, here goes. This is not even all of it.

So, I had a midterm test for Structural Design and Materials the next day, but Rivermaya's in town! I just cannot NOT watch!

At the earlier mini-show...Rico, parati akong nasa likod mo.








Mosaic Music Festival Free Concert begins!








The paparazzi that is me.






Autograph-signing session..








Lalayas na sana kaso hinarang pa eh noh?



I came back to my room that night a very happy girl. My boyfriend (who's also my classmate) thought I'd gone bonkers for going night before the test. But I studied before what! And thankfully my test turned out OK. Actually more than I expected. I would have deeply regretted it if I hadn't come to watch Rico and the gang perform live. So there, sometimes crazy things are worth more than what you give them credit for.

PS
I must reiterate though, that I did study beforehand. My little siblings might misunderstand. Okies? Haha.