Excited

Tomorrow will be Christmas Day, and New Year the week after. Year 2009! Can you actually believe it?! Later tonight, it will be our yearly family reunion on my mom’s side, an event we wouldn’t want to miss. We’re now on our 10th year, I think. But aside from those mentioned, I am also excited and looking forward to two things the moment January and February 2009 comes in. The eighth season of American Idol and the 81st Academy Awards! Yey!

We’ll soon see five faces on the next AI posters or banners everywhere, for there will be an additional judge. Her name is Kara DioGuardi. I didn’t do my research yet prior to this post, as to what her profession is or would she blend well with Randy, Paula and most especially Simon. Cowell was actually hesitant with this change, according to an article I’ve just read, but since the show is patterned to Pop Idol, the original version in UK, he said that he might embrace it as well. Another change (well, not the very new addition type of change) I am excited about is the return of the Wildcard Round. I have always liked wildcard finalists. The likes of George Huff & Jennifer Hudson from Season 3, and Clay Aiken from Season 2. I so can’t wait for January 13! I really miss this show!

Come February 22nd, the whole Entertainment world will be glued to the Oscars. From the Red Carpet, who’s wearing who, the nominees, the actual winners and their speeches. Aside from Idol, I’ve been religiously watching the Academy Awards, too. I even make a list of nominees and winners hehe! This year would be extra special because of the movie Ploning, which is shortlisted for the category Best Foreign Language Film. I really hope our movie can actually make it to the last five movies battling it out for the Oscar. I guess we’ll just have to prolong the agony, wait a little bit more and enjoy the holiday season!

Merry Christmas!

My new babies

Over the weekend, I bought a new camera and an mp3. Yes, I opted to buy a new camera coz having my old one repaired would cost me around P7,000! Mahirap pala pag lens yung nasira. That’s why I right away asked and roamed around SM Cyberzone and looked for one. Una kong kinonsider yung budget syempre haha! Magpapasko, kaya dapat tipid nang konte hehe! Ang ending, Canon pa rin binili ko. Yun nga lang hindi na nung katulad dati na Ixus. It’s a Canon Powershot A470, bagong labas lang ata. So far, ok naman. Gamit nila mama at ng twins ngayon eh, christmas party nila sa school kaya di ko mapicturan hehe! I just Googled for the image haha!

A day after naman, I had this itch to buy an mp3. I’ve been wanting a music phone for the longest time, eh since mas inuna ko bumili ng new camera, tyaga na lang muna sa mp3 haha! Good thing may mga mura sa Cdr King. Ayun, ginagamit ko na sya araw-araw. Ang saya lang hehe!

Well, sana lang hindi masira agad tong mga to! Wala na ko pera haha! I’ll be extra careful especially sa camera. Advanced Merry Christmas to all!

Of celebrating and mourning

Last December 7 the Filipino nation here and abroad rejoiced anew as Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao won against “The Golden Boy” and Olympic gold medalist Oscar Dela Hoya in a non-title bout dubbed as “The Dream Match”. It was a fight clearly dominated by our Pambansang Kamao, leaving the now obviously weak Oscar surrendering after the eighth round. Victory really spelled that morning with a capital V! Mabuhay ka, Manny!

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That same day, while most are still in jubilation, a very sad news broke about the sudden demise of young actor Marky Cielo. Reports said that he was found dead in his room early Sunday morning, but have yet to confirm the exact cause. For weeks, up until now, Marky’s death has been the subject of rumors, speculations and major showbiz controversies. I am not much of a fan of his, but I like this guy. Very talented, with a good and kind heart, hindi mayabang at walang ere, as many observed. Watching the shows paying tribute to him really broke my heart. Not too long ago, two very young cousins close to my heart left us on the same year in a very sudden and yes, tragic,  way. That’s why it suddenly felt like two years ago when all of that happened. Wishing I could turn back time. Sighs. Anyway, you’ll be missed, Marky. May you rest in peace with our Creator in heaven.

Reaching out…

Just last week, the 6th of December to be exact, me and my friends from the RushersML spread some early Christmas cheers by doing an outreach project. A month or so before, we asked for donations from our Yahoogroups members and we accumulated a total of around Php12,000.00! Proceeds were used in buying toiletries, a stand fan, gifts, giveaways and some food for the kids of Bethany House, our chosen beneficiary located in Guiguinto, Bulacan.

Only six of us made it to join on the actual day but we all enjoyed it! We played games, gave gifts, and was able to provide them lunch. Of course this wouldn’t be possible without the (financial) aid of other Rushers mailing listers who participated and donated. It is a really nice feeling to help and reach out to those in need, especially this holiday season. We all enjoyed being part of this. Being the big ate’s and kuya’s to those orphans was really a fun experience. They’re makukulit alright, pero mababait naman.

It was indeed a success! And we hope to make this an annual thing. This is actually the first outreach event I was part of, and I’m really glad I did this. I initially became interested with the idea that’s why I just didn’t offered my financial assistance but joined in the actual outreach day itself. I really hope to join in more programs like this. Let’s all spread the early holiday cheers! Let’s all help and reach out! Even in our own little and limited means, it will surely go a long way.

My December

Christmas and holiday season. It’s here. Can you already feel it? The cold breeze (I wish I can also say ’snow’), the rush, the very tight and packed schedule, christmas songs everywhere, and basically just the feel of it.

I sure can. Christmas is my most favorite part of the year. Yes, more than my birthday. There’s something about it that brings my happiness in a different and ecstatic level. It’s like everyone’s happy and feeling light, including your wallet, I suppose.

Even this early, my holiday schedule is beginning to get packed. Christmas parties here and there, reunions, kitakits as we fondly call it. I haven’t started my christmas shopping yet, but we’ll get to that for sure. For sure I can squeeze in time for it. Anyway, here’s how my December calendar looks like so far. Some are still on the process of being finalized, so imagine how really tight it can be.

< NOV

December 2008

JAN >

SUN	MON	TUE	WED	THU	FRI	SAT
	1 add	2 add	3 add	4 add	5 add	6 add 07:00a RushersML Outreach @ Bethany Orphanage
7 add	8 add	9 add	10 add	11 add	12 add Twins’ Bday Celeb	13 add 6:00p Popoy Christmas Party
14 add	15 add	16 add 2:00p Xmas lunch out w/officemates	17 add	18 add	19 add	20 add Lesley & Aries Wedding Day
21 add	22 add	23 add 3:00p Xmas kitakits w/Dems,Chy,Madista & She	24 add 9:00p Family Christmas reunion	25 add Family Christmas reunion	26 add	27 add
28 add	29 add 8:00p RX friends Christmas/New Year kitakitz	30 add	31 add

Packed, isn’t it? An outreach program, reunions, parties, kitakits and even a wedding! Whew! There are still some more actually, the ones above are just the finalized ones. Thanks to Multiply for the calendar, I got to arrange my christmas calendar of events. I’m sure it’ll be a lot fun and we’ll definitely spell it with a capital F!

Boracay bliss (day 3)

Since my camera betrayed me at the height of our second Bora day, I won’t be able to post a lot of pics for our third day. Really felt bad that it went dead on me at this time, at this grandest vacation one could ever imagine. And when after several attempts and still it says “Lens Error, restart camera”, I finally gave up. I really need to endure a day and a half without taking pictures, I just told myself. Sad, but there’s nothing I can do anymore. So the next day, I hesitantly asked some friends to take pictures of me and joined in their photo ops instead. We all went to the groto early in the morning. It’s our last day so we have to make the most of it. Here’s a shot I took of my friends atop the groto:

I became their sort of a photographer since I don’t have my camera with me. I kind of enjoyed it, and they love most of the shots I took! We continued to have fun in the water, enjoying and loving every minute of it. We’re all gonna miss Bora! Time flies really fast yet again, I needed to step out and prepare to pack. I have an earlier flight than the rest of them and I don’t wanna miss it of course. It’s a bummer that I have to go home alone! But it’s more like a challenge for me. Before excusing myself, syempre picture muna!

I have to hurry because I don’t have any pasalubongs yet. I already bought some, but I still need to buy other requested items from my friends. It took me about an hour to do that, then I went back to our room to pack. My heart grew heavier as my bag gets heavier too as I pack. I don’t wanna leave! Especially alone and this early! I’m just telling myself that at least I get to enjoy our three days stay. Around 11am, I finally said goodbye to my friends. Aden took me a picture waving goodbye, but she still hasn’t uploaded it. I’ll update this post with that picture as soon as she send me the copy.

My travel going home went pretty well. The boat ride was a bit a struggle again, the waves are like angry pack of wolves ready to eat us whole. Good thing I only had to endure the ride for around 10 minutes. I made it an hour and a half early for my flight back to Manila. So I just killed time and later on became sleepy. The plane arrived a bit late, that’s why the flight got delayed for about 10-15 minutes. We experienced some kind of turbulence and it was a bit frightening. I didn’t get to sleep because of that. But I later learned that it was a normal thing, depending on the pilot. When at last we finally landed, it just feel so good to be back alive and in one piece hehe! Suddenly, the Manila heat started to annoy me like I have never experienced it before. Few moments later, the traffic became congested. Grrr, I am so back indeed!

Well, I don’t wanna end this post with that note. Rather, with high hopes that I’ll be able to go back the soonest. Back at home, I told Mom that there’s another promo on going. And when they saw my pictures, envy spelled out onto their faces! I hope we can save up for the four of us, and I promise to be back! Armed with a more stronger camera, that is. I don’t wanna be left behind on taking pictures the next time. So, like a Boracay sunset, I might be gone for a while but sure to be back. Shining more brightly than ever.