from the comfortable confines of my black-cushioned, white spray-painted ikea couch, i've begun to take a sniff at the job market for creatives here in lah-lah land. sniffing is as far as i can go at this point -- without my marriage license and thereby my dependent pass, i'm ineligible for any sort of legit job application.
the first ten minutes of my online puttering was quite a roller coaster. i started seeing words like "leverage" and "solutions" and was forcibly reminded of my days at the factory. besieged by the wealth of editorial jobs up for grabs on jobsdb, i went into a mini-panic and considered, for about two full minutes, a return to publishing.
this was totally a return to the old job-hunting me: unsure of what i wanted, but prone to worrying about getting a job and thus even more prone to accepting any job that would take me. when i realized it, the voice in my head did me a huge favor (for once) and said, in no uncertain terms, "NO."
digging deeper into the job forums, i started looking up all the graphic design openings even if i'm not a graphic designer. and what i found really, really excited me: a fistful of witty, irrevent, creative and independent design firms. i found websites that literally got my heart beating and the wheels in my head turning. i would totally customize portfolios for, and whore myself out to, some of the firms i came across this afternoon.
i was just telling marlon the other day that my heart belongs to/my career direction is television (i really don't watch television the way i did two years ago!), but working as a copywriter for a small design firm (even freelance) totally opened up as a possibility for me today!
don't you love how possibilities just give your butt a special tickle? heck, it's enough of a tickle to get me off this couch!
now, if you'll excuse me, i have three boxes of beloved books to unpack and big, downy-scented fluffy yellow towels to hang up and dry.
p.s. i've decided to blog about the wedding when i get the raw wedding photos from our photographer. which should be anytime in the next two or three days.
Thursday, January 31
Monday, January 28
Creating the couchwife
immediately prior to and after the wedding, i would inevitably get asked whether or not i was going to be a housewife in singapore. and i would inevitably bristle. while on a conceptual level i knew that there's nothing wrong with being a housewife, and that a housewife, in effect is what i'm going to be until i get a steady job here in lah-lah land, the pouty, stubborn and prickly part of me still put its foot down on the term.
that is, until i moved into the conjugal digs on cactus drive, plunked down in front of the samsung lcd tv (marlon's most prized and joyous home purchase), and discovered the wonders of digital hd tv.
lulled into surrender by the comforting weight of my husband's arm, a comforting meal of spam, rice and pokka iced tea, and a deliciously long tv playlist (miami ink, a model life with petra nemcova, kinky boots, gladiator and many more), i gleefully acquiesced to the existence of a sedentary spouse, albeit temporarily and with my own little twist.
"magiging couchwife na lang ako!"
today is day one of the couchwife life, and it ain't so bad. the morning was spent fulfilling the "-wife" half of the equation: i woke up bright and early to cook breakfast for marlon on his first day back on the job.
my sunny side-up eggs over easy (marlon taught me to do the "over easy" part the night before) were quite... aethestically challenged. luckily, marlon loves eggs far too much to be picky. "any egg is a good egg!" he declared, chomping down his morning cholesterol. still, i'm determined to pull off perfectly plump, round yolks in future breakfasts. i know, i know, i'm adding way too much significance to eggs.
after going back to sleep for a good four hours, i rolled out of bed at lunchtime to do more wife stuff. i took dry clothes off the wire drying rack we've temporarily set up on the balcony (a.k.a. future painting and coffee nook). i stuffed another installment of the neverending honeymoon laundry into our tiny washing machine. i swept our bare marble floors and cleared the living room by stuffing the last of the honeymoon clutter into my pink suitcase for future sorting.
and now, to balance things out, is couch time. surfing the net, reading, and making up for lost tv time (i must have been the only tv network employee who never watched tv) with my beloved discovery travel and living channel. all this while waiting for 4.5 cubic meters of stuff to arrive from manila -- my clothes, books, abubots plus our daybed and wedding gifts are supposed to be delivered before 6pm.
i have wedding kwento to spill, honeymoon photos to sort and upload, and a new life to map out and create. but for now, being a couchwife is my easy access to settling in just fine.
that is, until i moved into the conjugal digs on cactus drive, plunked down in front of the samsung lcd tv (marlon's most prized and joyous home purchase), and discovered the wonders of digital hd tv.
lulled into surrender by the comforting weight of my husband's arm, a comforting meal of spam, rice and pokka iced tea, and a deliciously long tv playlist (miami ink, a model life with petra nemcova, kinky boots, gladiator and many more), i gleefully acquiesced to the existence of a sedentary spouse, albeit temporarily and with my own little twist.
"magiging couchwife na lang ako!"
today is day one of the couchwife life, and it ain't so bad. the morning was spent fulfilling the "-wife" half of the equation: i woke up bright and early to cook breakfast for marlon on his first day back on the job.
my sunny side-up eggs over easy (marlon taught me to do the "over easy" part the night before) were quite... aethestically challenged. luckily, marlon loves eggs far too much to be picky. "any egg is a good egg!" he declared, chomping down his morning cholesterol. still, i'm determined to pull off perfectly plump, round yolks in future breakfasts. i know, i know, i'm adding way too much significance to eggs.
after going back to sleep for a good four hours, i rolled out of bed at lunchtime to do more wife stuff. i took dry clothes off the wire drying rack we've temporarily set up on the balcony (a.k.a. future painting and coffee nook). i stuffed another installment of the neverending honeymoon laundry into our tiny washing machine. i swept our bare marble floors and cleared the living room by stuffing the last of the honeymoon clutter into my pink suitcase for future sorting.
and now, to balance things out, is couch time. surfing the net, reading, and making up for lost tv time (i must have been the only tv network employee who never watched tv) with my beloved discovery travel and living channel. all this while waiting for 4.5 cubic meters of stuff to arrive from manila -- my clothes, books, abubots plus our daybed and wedding gifts are supposed to be delivered before 6pm.
i have wedding kwento to spill, honeymoon photos to sort and upload, and a new life to map out and create. but for now, being a couchwife is my easy access to settling in just fine.
Friday, December 28
This is it
the past two weeks have been something else. sometimes a crazy looping roller coaster, sometimes an easy coast, sometimes a slow trudge, sometimes a frenzied skitter, sometimes a happy and joyful dance.
yet i know tomorrow will be nothing like the past two weeks. it will be nothing like the past, period.
so what will tomorrow be?
a smooth glide, a light step, and a leap into a future that was totally not going to happen.
wish me luck.
yet i know tomorrow will be nothing like the past two weeks. it will be nothing like the past, period.
so what will tomorrow be?
a smooth glide, a light step, and a leap into a future that was totally not going to happen.
wish me luck.
Monday, December 17
Send to all
Subject: Goodbye and thanks :-)
Dear all,
Today is my last day at GMA. As many of you already know, I will be married next Saturday, December 29. Post-wedding, I will begin my new life as a married woman (eeek!) in Singapore, where my husband-to-be Marlon has been based for the past four years.
While I'm excited and raring to go, it's difficult for me to leave the network. There are really no words for everything that I've come to love and appreciate about working with all of you.
Thank you for the unique contribution each and every one of you has been to my life. I haven't found a job in Singapore yet, but I can only hope to find one that I can love as much as this. This will be my benchmark for a workplace to have fun and grow in, be passionate about and be inspired by.
Please keep in touch and look me up if you do plan to go to Singapore. Mahal ang accommodations doon ha, sa amin na lang kayo tumira para mas marami kayong pang-shopping ;-)
Deepa
Dear all,
Today is my last day at GMA. As many of you already know, I will be married next Saturday, December 29. Post-wedding, I will begin my new life as a married woman (eeek!) in Singapore, where my husband-to-be Marlon has been based for the past four years.
While I'm excited and raring to go, it's difficult for me to leave the network. There are really no words for everything that I've come to love and appreciate about working with all of you.
Thank you for the unique contribution each and every one of you has been to my life. I haven't found a job in Singapore yet, but I can only hope to find one that I can love as much as this. This will be my benchmark for a workplace to have fun and grow in, be passionate about and be inspired by.
Please keep in touch and look me up if you do plan to go to Singapore. Mahal ang accommodations doon ha, sa amin na lang kayo tumira para mas marami kayong pang-shopping ;-)
Deepa
Friday, December 14
The end and the beginning
last week, marlon and i ended our four-and-a-half year long-distance relationship. well, the long-distance part, at least. and there are no words to describe what it is to finally know that it's over, and that we made it.
when i welcomed home for the very last time one week ago, marlon said only two things. "i'm home for good," and "you waited."
me? i was unable to speak. a small voice in my head whispered, "we'll never be apart again." i know that the only time we'll ever have to be apart again for long is if one of us goes first. literally, from here on in, it's till death do us part.
i just held my husband-to-be in my arms, smiled and cried, as i considered the magnitude of experiences that made up my world for the past four years, and that would now be part of our past.
early-morning taxi rides to the airport. tearful evenings before somber farewells. joyfully frantic races for flights and visas. the familiar bone-deep longing that could only be expressed by white-knuckle grips on the phone receiver and low, intense voices. tight, crushing hugs spaced months apart, or just weeks apart if we were lucky or rash enough. friday nights spent home but not alone, sort of. and so much more.
oddly enough, i will miss all of this, in a way. simply because for a very long time, that was who we were.
yet nothing can eclipse the joy of the future we're living into -- one that waits to be filled with a thousand new ways for us to be.
when i welcomed home for the very last time one week ago, marlon said only two things. "i'm home for good," and "you waited."
me? i was unable to speak. a small voice in my head whispered, "we'll never be apart again." i know that the only time we'll ever have to be apart again for long is if one of us goes first. literally, from here on in, it's till death do us part.
i just held my husband-to-be in my arms, smiled and cried, as i considered the magnitude of experiences that made up my world for the past four years, and that would now be part of our past.
early-morning taxi rides to the airport. tearful evenings before somber farewells. joyfully frantic races for flights and visas. the familiar bone-deep longing that could only be expressed by white-knuckle grips on the phone receiver and low, intense voices. tight, crushing hugs spaced months apart, or just weeks apart if we were lucky or rash enough. friday nights spent home but not alone, sort of. and so much more.
oddly enough, i will miss all of this, in a way. simply because for a very long time, that was who we were.
yet nothing can eclipse the joy of the future we're living into -- one that waits to be filled with a thousand new ways for us to be.
All botched up
so after weeks of looking at/re-editing/sending/following up/choosing pantone chips for/double-checking invites that looked like this, in (reddish-purple) plum and (teal-ish) turquoise...
my printer sends me these horrid chocolate brown and grass-green invites. one hundred fricking twenty of them.
at first i am stunned. then i flashback to the meticulous process (see above) i went through just to idiot-proof the design. then i whine about it to all the art directors at work, who, while deploring the color job, say it's a kick-ass piece of work. this is why i love working in an office full of kick-ass creatives -- my seatmate cecil did the layout for me for free. "maganda naman siya eh," volunteers jl. "itapon mo na lang yung original file."
then i get online and, with almost eerie calm, proceed to inform the owner of the print shop of the matter. after checking the damn things, he promptly offers me a free reprint, which is just as well. dahil kung hindi, aba pucha, one email to the phalanx of bridezillas in my egroup can potentially derail his business for at least a few months. you have no idea how seriously brides take supplier reviews. really.
since he vows to personally take responsibility for the outcome of the reprints, i am placated. really, if not for the service given me by the owner, i would be bashing this place to kingdom come. which is a shame, actually, because i was pretty happy with them until all this happened.
the reprints are done in a week, which is still too long a delay for me but what can you do. the print shop's peace offering arrives -- the colors are still not true to the original file. at this point, i am still not happy, but not willing to put off delivering the invites for another week. so i simply choose not to feel bad about anything i'm going to give my nearest and dearest, and accept the prints. i tell the owner as much. he feels bad about the whole thing and offers me free thank-you cards -- a very gracious offer, which i am gracious (and penny-pinched) enough to consider.
now most of the invites are out, the guests are informed -- and on the whole, pleased and wowed by them (except for one major drama). and that is that.
my printer sends me these horrid chocolate brown and grass-green invites. one hundred fricking twenty of them.
at first i am stunned. then i flashback to the meticulous process (see above) i went through just to idiot-proof the design. then i whine about it to all the art directors at work, who, while deploring the color job, say it's a kick-ass piece of work. this is why i love working in an office full of kick-ass creatives -- my seatmate cecil did the layout for me for free. "maganda naman siya eh," volunteers jl. "itapon mo na lang yung original file."then i get online and, with almost eerie calm, proceed to inform the owner of the print shop of the matter. after checking the damn things, he promptly offers me a free reprint, which is just as well. dahil kung hindi, aba pucha, one email to the phalanx of bridezillas in my egroup can potentially derail his business for at least a few months. you have no idea how seriously brides take supplier reviews. really.
since he vows to personally take responsibility for the outcome of the reprints, i am placated. really, if not for the service given me by the owner, i would be bashing this place to kingdom come. which is a shame, actually, because i was pretty happy with them until all this happened.
the reprints are done in a week, which is still too long a delay for me but what can you do. the print shop's peace offering arrives -- the colors are still not true to the original file. at this point, i am still not happy, but not willing to put off delivering the invites for another week. so i simply choose not to feel bad about anything i'm going to give my nearest and dearest, and accept the prints. i tell the owner as much. he feels bad about the whole thing and offers me free thank-you cards -- a very gracious offer, which i am gracious (and penny-pinched) enough to consider.
now most of the invites are out, the guests are informed -- and on the whole, pleased and wowed by them (except for one major drama). and that is that.
Monday, December 3
Quote of the day
next up: the story of the wedding invitations that were delivered thirty minutes ago, were opened, and gave me a heart attack."It's really hard to idiot-proof wedding preps."
-- Jolly Picache
Marlon's high school friend
husband of Shar
and Weddings@Work egroup-mate
i'm still stunned, actually.
Thursday, November 29
Mirror mirror
presenting, the first-ever piece of furniture that we bought for our new life together!
ta-daaah!
you like? i like. i was surprised that marlon liked it, though. he used to be mr. zen/clean lines, but i guess four and a half years in a relationship with me finally wore him down.
it was a tough choice between silver and gold, though.
to date, the inventory of new stuff bought especially for the new place includes (in the order of purchase):
ta-daaah!
you like? i like. i was surprised that marlon liked it, though. he used to be mr. zen/clean lines, but i guess four and a half years in a relationship with me finally wore him down.
it was a tough choice between silver and gold, though.
to date, the inventory of new stuff bought especially for the new place includes (in the order of purchase):
- steel sunburst mirror (made in tondo, bought from a roadside stall in tagaytay)
- custom-made acacia daybed (in the works)
- 32-inch samsung lcd tv (guess who almost peed his pants buying this. really, what is with guys and big tvs????)
- lillberg two-seater couch from ikea, spray-painted white with black cushions (for the tv room)
- ludde sheepskin from ikea (for the tv room couch)
- ironing board from ikea
eek! ikea invasion. okay, testigo kayong lahat: i vow not to live in an ikea showcase!
Burning questions
should we get a cat?
one of the things i'm looking forward to most about the move is leaving five dogs behind. don't get me wrong, they're great, but i really just want to have a cat after all these years of dogdom.
i love cats. i'm a cat person through and through. i talk to them on the street in the special cuddly voice i reserve for shoes, dark chocolate and marlon. the stray cat in our compound just gave birth to kittens and i positively melt every morning as i pass them on my way out of the house.
one of the things i'm looking forward to most about the move is leaving five dogs behind. don't get me wrong, they're great, but i really just want to have a cat after all these years of dogdom.
i love cats. i'm a cat person through and through. i talk to them on the street in the special cuddly voice i reserve for shoes, dark chocolate and marlon. the stray cat in our compound just gave birth to kittens and i positively melt every morning as i pass them on my way out of the house.
this is what i did in the alhambra -- take pictures of all the catsmarlon is surprisingly (adorably) game. he's a dog person, but he says knows i'd be happier with a cat than he would be with a dog that has to be small enough for condo living. (personally, i think he's waiting for us to get a bigger space so he can get his dream st. bernard.) he even interrogated an officemate who has two cats of her own in singapore to see how we could work it out.
so what's stopping me is: can the perpetually out and about, workaholic, wanderlusting couple that we are really take tender loving care of a living creature at this point in time? can we risk the damage to our landlord's immaculate, newly laid wood parquet floors? are we ready to resign the fate of one of our first articles of furniture (a custom-made acacia daybed) to that of a scratching post?
does my impending cohabitation with marlon necessitate cuter pambahay?
i've seen marlon in his pambahay, but he hasn't seen me in mine. mostly it's really big t-shirts with no shorts (i live in a house full of women so this is okay). somehow i can't picture me being young wife-ish, chopping onions in the kitchen or whatever, in this getup.
so i'm thinking shorts and tank tops, or tank tops and pajamas, or smallish t-shirts and shorts... articles of clothing that are in short supply in my closet. (my glee club friends had to give me my first pair of adult-sized pajamas after one too many sleepovers where my giant t-shirts rode up in my sleep and revealed my underwear to them.)
it's strange, but i actually want to be presentable at home. is that weird?
when will trillanes grow up?
he's a senator now, for chrissake. he can't run around doing things like this anymore. what a creep.
Monday, November 19
Getting trippy at the Taj
i told myself i'd only blog if it was about condo-hunting in singapore. but when i came across these unbelievably trippy pictures of my parents, i couldn't resist sharing them with all of you.
these totally groovy hand-tinted photos were taken by "taj photo studio" at the taj mahal in agra in 1977. note that the colors of their clothes are different in both pictures. quipped my art director officemates: "inaantok na siguro yung artist."
and aren't my mom's wide-legged, high-waisted pants back in style?
truly kitschy classic. yeah baby!
these totally groovy hand-tinted photos were taken by "taj photo studio" at the taj mahal in agra in 1977. note that the colors of their clothes are different in both pictures. quipped my art director officemates: "inaantok na siguro yung artist."
and aren't my mom's wide-legged, high-waisted pants back in style?
truly kitschy classic. yeah baby!
Tuesday, November 13
Distract me
Name:
Deepa
Age:
26
Religion:
Roman Catholic
What are you passionate about:
Life
Favorite movie this year:
I really liked Stardust, although I'm saving the favorite spot for The Golden Compass
Most played songs on iPod:
Not on the bandwagon, sorry
Hero:
Nathan Petrelli!
Best quality about me:
I can kick ass.
The worst:
When I'm in a real snit, I avoid doing things and avoid people.
Do you have direction?
More than I used to.
Last semi-sensible purchase:
Wow. I really had to stop and think about this one. It seems I make very few sensible purchases. Okay, a prepaid MRT card.
If you could buy one thing right now it would be:
The four-poster wrought-iron bed Marlon and I saw in Rustan's
Beach or mountains:
Beach
Sport:
Boxing
Movie that makes me cry:
Dancer in the Dark
Apart from what you're doing now, what would be your dream job:
Promo writer or travel show host for Discovery
Temptation you have successfully avoided thus far:
Drugs and cigs. Nobody ever offered me any. Boo.
Temptation you have succumbed to recently:
To put off boxing.
The one thing you can never be:
Waifish.
The one thing you strive to be:
Loving.
The one thing you struggle with the most:
Myself.
The most beautiful woman you've ever seen:
Iza Calzado. Grabe.
The best thing your mom taught you:
If you really love him, panindigan mo.
The best thing your dad taught you:
Not himself, but via my mom and his side of the family: What you do for love makes a difference in people's lives forever.
The thing you surprisingly enjoy doing:
Sucking on ketchup sachets from McDo.
Last time you kissed someone:
Marlon, goodbye in the wee hours of the morning on Monday.
What turns you on:
Massive men
What turns you off:
Men without a passion
Most pointless thing a girl can buy:
An ill-fitting bra.
Best thing a girl can buy:
A fabulous pair of shoes that perks up any outfit. (Best to wear on "fat" days.)
Favorite sound:
Marlon saying "hi" in his cute and cuddly tone when I pick up the phone. (You're welcome to gag.)
Worst sound:
Joyce Jimenez's voice.
Favorite swear word:
Shet. The colegiala version.
When no one's looking I like to:
Rub my eyes.
What would the movie of your life be called:
Hmmm. I have no idea.
What is the most ironic thing about yourself:
I constantly think I can't do things, yet I am Superwoman.
What do you like most about yourself:
I have a passion for life, the world, and humanity
What do you hate most about yourself:
I'm lazy
Issue most important to you:
Now, gearing up for an adventure. In general, bringing people ways to express themselves in the world.
What is the bravest thing you've done:
Did something I believed in and NOT be liked
What is the one brave thing you've still yet to do:
Stop believing that I need approval
What's food for your soul?
Physical affection, discovery, travel, music, art and design, communion with God
If you were to enter heaven, what would you like to hear at the pearly gates:
"It's about freaking time!"
Deepa
Age:
26
Religion:
Roman Catholic
What are you passionate about:
Life
Favorite movie this year:
I really liked Stardust, although I'm saving the favorite spot for The Golden Compass
Most played songs on iPod:
Not on the bandwagon, sorry
Hero:
Nathan Petrelli!
Best quality about me:
I can kick ass.
The worst:
When I'm in a real snit, I avoid doing things and avoid people.
Do you have direction?
More than I used to.
Last semi-sensible purchase:
Wow. I really had to stop and think about this one. It seems I make very few sensible purchases. Okay, a prepaid MRT card.
If you could buy one thing right now it would be:
The four-poster wrought-iron bed Marlon and I saw in Rustan's
Beach or mountains:
Beach
Sport:
Boxing
Movie that makes me cry:
Dancer in the Dark
Apart from what you're doing now, what would be your dream job:
Promo writer or travel show host for Discovery
Temptation you have successfully avoided thus far:
Drugs and cigs. Nobody ever offered me any. Boo.
Temptation you have succumbed to recently:
To put off boxing.
The one thing you can never be:
Waifish.
The one thing you strive to be:
Loving.
The one thing you struggle with the most:
Myself.
The most beautiful woman you've ever seen:
Iza Calzado. Grabe.
The best thing your mom taught you:
If you really love him, panindigan mo.
The best thing your dad taught you:
Not himself, but via my mom and his side of the family: What you do for love makes a difference in people's lives forever.
The thing you surprisingly enjoy doing:
Sucking on ketchup sachets from McDo.
Last time you kissed someone:
Marlon, goodbye in the wee hours of the morning on Monday.
What turns you on:
Massive men
What turns you off:
Men without a passion
Most pointless thing a girl can buy:
An ill-fitting bra.
Best thing a girl can buy:
A fabulous pair of shoes that perks up any outfit. (Best to wear on "fat" days.)
Favorite sound:
Marlon saying "hi" in his cute and cuddly tone when I pick up the phone. (You're welcome to gag.)
Worst sound:
Joyce Jimenez's voice.
Favorite swear word:
Shet. The colegiala version.
When no one's looking I like to:
Rub my eyes.
What would the movie of your life be called:
Hmmm. I have no idea.
What is the most ironic thing about yourself:
I constantly think I can't do things, yet I am Superwoman.
What do you like most about yourself:
I have a passion for life, the world, and humanity
What do you hate most about yourself:
I'm lazy
Issue most important to you:
Now, gearing up for an adventure. In general, bringing people ways to express themselves in the world.
What is the bravest thing you've done:
Did something I believed in and NOT be liked
What is the one brave thing you've still yet to do:
Stop believing that I need approval
What's food for your soul?
Physical affection, discovery, travel, music, art and design, communion with God
If you were to enter heaven, what would you like to hear at the pearly gates:
"It's about freaking time!"
Move it
gasp.
the cost estimate from the professional movers just gave me a heart attack.
now, on to the unprofessional movers, i say.
the cost estimate from the professional movers just gave me a heart attack.
now, on to the unprofessional movers, i say.
Thursday, November 8
A flurry of firsts
aaaah! ang daming nangyayari!
life is hurtling forward at an amazing speed these days, and i'm dying to blog about it all. i've been thoroughly tempted to take a leave from work just to blog. but then the only thing stopping me is that my internet connection at work is so much better. mwehehehe.
i just want to call in the following firsts, really quickly. in the past five days alone:
marlon and i have made a deposit on our very first house, purchased our first piece of furniture (that we still don't physically have with us, yet), and bought our first piece of furniture that we actually carted home.
and i bought my very first painting, fulfilling a promise i made to myself to start collecting art this year. hurray!
i have no time to blog (or at least, in the detailed manner i love to blog in) and i'm totally exhausted right now. but it doesn't mean i can't love my life! love it love it love it!
life is hurtling forward at an amazing speed these days, and i'm dying to blog about it all. i've been thoroughly tempted to take a leave from work just to blog. but then the only thing stopping me is that my internet connection at work is so much better. mwehehehe.
i just want to call in the following firsts, really quickly. in the past five days alone:
marlon and i have made a deposit on our very first house, purchased our first piece of furniture (that we still don't physically have with us, yet), and bought our first piece of furniture that we actually carted home.
and i bought my very first painting, fulfilling a promise i made to myself to start collecting art this year. hurray!
i have no time to blog (or at least, in the detailed manner i love to blog in) and i'm totally exhausted right now. but it doesn't mean i can't love my life! love it love it love it!
Friday, November 2
Something new
first, jenny raved about the class.
second, she told me about the schedule.
then, she showed me this video of the teacher. (excuse the cheesy filter/color effects, i have no idea why they shot it this way.)
i actually didn't want to tell marlon about it. "why not?" he asked.
"baka kasi umasa ka, eh," i replied.
but what the hell. last wednesday, just about two hours after a particularly grueling session at the boxing gym, i went to try it for the very first time.
poledancing.
yes. me.
and...
it was fun!
i mean, never mind that all of the girls in the class are what i am not... which is extremely skinny and able to shimmy all the way up/dangle upside down from/use nothing but thigh power to hang horizontally from a 10-foot metal pole. i'm definitely coming back for more.
as i grunted and sweated to lift my legs off the floor from a bridge position, pole between my legs ("diyos ko! pinagpapawisan na ito!" murmured ed as he held up my butt), i really got how my utterly unworkable physique was the result of so many broken promises to myself. you know, those promises to exercise so many hours per week, to stay off sweets, to eat brown rice, to not attack buffet tables? i swear! they couldn't have been more real if they were in the form of lead weights attached to my ass.
strangely (and happily), i wasn't discouraged. i may have almost burst a major artery lifting myself up half a foot off the floor, but it doesn't mean it can't be done! so i promised jenny (who's quite the star of her class, i must say!) i would come back for at least two more sessions before i would even consider giving it up completely. i'm actually already looking at where to get the money for 10 sessions.
from tugging my shorty shorts down at the beginning of the class, to actually hitching them up by the end of it and prancing around in heels by the end of it, it actually felt great to just do something i had never done, and really push myself to do it. plus, after all the rough and tumble of boxing, it felt great to do something so unabashedly feminine.
and it's not all batting eyelashes and slapping butt, either -- two days later and i can barely move my arms without groaning.
but no matter. looks like i'm going to have a regular appointment with something long, hard and that makes me sweat.
jejeje.
second, she told me about the schedule.
then, she showed me this video of the teacher. (excuse the cheesy filter/color effects, i have no idea why they shot it this way.)
i actually didn't want to tell marlon about it. "why not?" he asked.
"baka kasi umasa ka, eh," i replied.
but what the hell. last wednesday, just about two hours after a particularly grueling session at the boxing gym, i went to try it for the very first time.
poledancing.
yes. me.
and...
it was fun!
i mean, never mind that all of the girls in the class are what i am not... which is extremely skinny and able to shimmy all the way up/dangle upside down from/use nothing but thigh power to hang horizontally from a 10-foot metal pole. i'm definitely coming back for more.
as i grunted and sweated to lift my legs off the floor from a bridge position, pole between my legs ("diyos ko! pinagpapawisan na ito!" murmured ed as he held up my butt), i really got how my utterly unworkable physique was the result of so many broken promises to myself. you know, those promises to exercise so many hours per week, to stay off sweets, to eat brown rice, to not attack buffet tables? i swear! they couldn't have been more real if they were in the form of lead weights attached to my ass.
strangely (and happily), i wasn't discouraged. i may have almost burst a major artery lifting myself up half a foot off the floor, but it doesn't mean it can't be done! so i promised jenny (who's quite the star of her class, i must say!) i would come back for at least two more sessions before i would even consider giving it up completely. i'm actually already looking at where to get the money for 10 sessions.
from tugging my shorty shorts down at the beginning of the class, to actually hitching them up by the end of it and prancing around in heels by the end of it, it actually felt great to just do something i had never done, and really push myself to do it. plus, after all the rough and tumble of boxing, it felt great to do something so unabashedly feminine.
and it's not all batting eyelashes and slapping butt, either -- two days later and i can barely move my arms without groaning.
but no matter. looks like i'm going to have a regular appointment with something long, hard and that makes me sweat.
jejeje.
Friday, October 26
A happy 26th
aiieeeeeeeee!!!!! dingdong dantes just called me to greet me a happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the story:
i had to reformat my phone a couple weeks ago and lost all my numbers. so a few minutes ago, this unknown number calls my phone. i put on my suplada voice, which i use for calls from unknown numbers (just in case they turn out to be annoying p.a.s or people selling me stuff).
"hello? hello! who's this?"
"e($)*&^(&-ong."
"who?"
"dong."
"i'm sorry, i can't hear you, who???"
"dingdong."
i immediately had an apoplexy caused by embarrassment and kilig. i fell all over myself apologizing about not having his number on my phone, and thanked him for calling.
"omigod! thank you. thank you! how'd you find out?"
"basta, i have ways. may nasagap lang akong info today." (i bet toni's h put him up to it. but still!!!!!)
"wow. hey, congrats nga pala. ang galing n'yo." (he's only the hottest leading man on the country's top rating show.)
"thanks. maganda kasi ang simula natin." (natin!!!)
"wow, thanks ha. okay! bye!"
*dies of kilig*
the story:
i had to reformat my phone a couple weeks ago and lost all my numbers. so a few minutes ago, this unknown number calls my phone. i put on my suplada voice, which i use for calls from unknown numbers (just in case they turn out to be annoying p.a.s or people selling me stuff).
"hello? hello! who's this?"
"e($)*&^(&-ong."
"who?"
"dong."
"i'm sorry, i can't hear you, who???"
"dingdong."
i immediately had an apoplexy caused by embarrassment and kilig. i fell all over myself apologizing about not having his number on my phone, and thanked him for calling.
"omigod! thank you. thank you! how'd you find out?"
"basta, i have ways. may nasagap lang akong info today." (i bet toni's h put him up to it. but still!!!!!)
"wow. hey, congrats nga pala. ang galing n'yo." (he's only the hottest leading man on the country's top rating show.)
"thanks. maganda kasi ang simula natin." (natin!!!)
"wow, thanks ha. okay! bye!"
*dies of kilig*
Sunday, October 21
One year old
wow.
time has gone by so fast. the two people who got engaged one year ago today seem so different from who we are today. in a good way, of course.
wow. ang lapit na. or, in the language of a couple who's had too many tearful farewells at airports, "just two more goodbyes!"
while sorting through photos of ourselves for the wedding slideshows, i came upon marlon's picture of our paris trip, which i had totally forgotten that he'd taken. reminiscing through the photos was a beautiful way to celebrate the one-year anniversary of our engagement, and i'd like to share some of my favorite shots with you.
(yes that's a gargoyle on the left. marlon took this from the notre dame church tower.)
Wednesday, October 10
Happy house
during the glee club’s tour of Europe in 2000, seventeen of us were thrown together into a multi-room nunnery in koeln, germany, left to fend for ourselves with no host parents – just a bunch of groceries, a kitchenette, the erratic and befuddled but well-meaning protection of a filipina we soon nicknamed tita lost (you can guess why), and each other.maybe it was because we felt we had to compensate for our kawawa-ness (“ang saya-saya namin kahit wala kaming hosts!”) or because we really did have fun, but we soon came to call ourselves the happy house.
since then, the term “happy house” has been passed down in glee club/acs tour tradition as a house, typically small, crammed full with too many self-reliant, noisy, happy ateneans.
i don’t know why i chose this title for this post. it’s funny that my idea of a happy house is one that’s stuffed full of friends. because pretty soon, i’m going to start making a happy house of my own, with just two people rattling around in it – marlon and myself.
setting up our own home is one of the things i’m really looking forward to about moving to
(yes, my one-way ticket has been booked. eeek!)
i’ve been hoarding house magazines (real living mostly – just tried out a new mag called homestyle and i don’t think i'll be buying it again anytime soon) and make daily pilgrimages to my favorite house sites: domino, apartment therapy, design sponge’s sneak peeks. at the bookstore, i make a beeline for the house and interiors books: the relaxed home, nest for two, and jeline’s fab flea market style book are all on my wish list.
for the meantime, i’m stocking up all this information and just waiting for a chance to unleash it. since we’re just renting, though, and are on a pitiful newlyweds’ pittance (good luck recovering from the wedding), i don’t know how much of my knowledge i’ll actually get to let loose upon our poor unsuspecting apartment. and a lot of the places i want to shop at – evangelista street in bangkal, cubao x, landmark – will be lost to me once i step upon singaporean soil. still, it’s fun to dream
i realized how house-happy i’ve become when the first thing i thought of buying on our honeymoon was block-printed indian bedlinen and table cloths, the handcrafting of which rajasthan is famous for. and i was thinking in exclamation marks: can you imagine?!!! our bed made with block-printed indian cotton sheets!!! block-printed by hand!!!
not to mention how i gushed for a full month, maybe more, to anyone who would listen, about the gorgeous, 100-year old, pure silk carpet that ambushed my heart in mumbai:
i swear, marlon and i sketched out living room layouts in june with this in mind. except he's stopped, and well, i haven't.
and i'm already eyeing my bookshelf and calculating how i'm going to arrange them into something like this (from the domino site) when marlon and i combine our sh*tload of books. di baleng marami, basta cute.
and after living with so many dogs for so many years, it's my chance to finally have a cat! then again, a cat toilet-training (can cats even be toilet-trained?) on 100-year old silk carpet from mumbai might not a happy house make.
Tuesday, October 9
Mommy in KL
my mom's visiting my sister in kl for two weeks. i chatted with my sister on gmail this evening.
me: como estas tu visita?
me: ay mas tama pala ito: como estas la visita tuya? (okay that's my quota of spanish practice for the week) or better yet, como estas mommy?
Sheila: muy bien. ella esta muy happy
Sheila: whats happy anyway?
me: FELIZ! (talagang showing off the free spanish lessons)
Sheila: she hasnt left the house in 2 days
me: hahaha
Sheila: pag iniiwan ko sya dito nanonood lang sya ng tv at naglilista ng mga kulang ko. at natutulog
me: hahaha
Sheila: the life of a bum! last night she cooked sinigang for me and my pinoy barkada. tonight we had dinner with my ofcmates
me: wow! nanay na nanay!
Sheila: now she's taking pics of my apartment. hahahah
me: hahaha. i'm sure papa-develop niya yan sa akin when she gets home
Thursday, October 4
Simple pleasures
two people telling me yesterday that i lost so much weight. guess last week's mysterious spotty illness thing was good for something after all.
gids last night at dinner: "i'm having deepa withdrawal!" (awww. i'll miss you too gids.)
two lovely compliments from arvy last night, also at dinner. "you have beautiful eyes!" (thank you, north park lighting!) and "i just discovered tonight that i love your sense of humor!" thank you, thank you!
alternately making aljor chortle and giving him the heebie-jeebies with over things the boyf and i say to each other when we get on it and fight.
the boyf's facebook photo.
(shameless confession: i'm so glad he's finally on facebook so i can go on the web and look at this picture at random times during the workday. isn't he hot? *all a-flutter*)
alicia keys' new single on the radio while driving to work. she's the shiznit.
the quick, easy and relatively traffic-free drive to the office, plus the perfect parking spot on samar street. wow, now there's so much incentive to actually be on time to work.
a whiff of newly mown grass walking from my parking street to the jamboree gate. i looooove newly mown grass. i used to stick my head out the window when the field was being mown back in high school. plus i used to have gap's grass scent. sana they start making it again.
(it's a) happy thursday, everyone :-)
gids last night at dinner: "i'm having deepa withdrawal!" (awww. i'll miss you too gids.)
two lovely compliments from arvy last night, also at dinner. "you have beautiful eyes!" (thank you, north park lighting!) and "i just discovered tonight that i love your sense of humor!" thank you, thank you!
alternately making aljor chortle and giving him the heebie-jeebies with over things the boyf and i say to each other when we get on it and fight.
the boyf's facebook photo.(shameless confession: i'm so glad he's finally on facebook so i can go on the web and look at this picture at random times during the workday. isn't he hot? *all a-flutter*)
alicia keys' new single on the radio while driving to work. she's the shiznit.
the quick, easy and relatively traffic-free drive to the office, plus the perfect parking spot on samar street. wow, now there's so much incentive to actually be on time to work.
a whiff of newly mown grass walking from my parking street to the jamboree gate. i looooove newly mown grass. i used to stick my head out the window when the field was being mown back in high school. plus i used to have gap's grass scent. sana they start making it again.
(it's a) happy thursday, everyone :-)
Friday, September 28
All tressed out
a freebie hair treatment from the kerastase institute last friday = an article that came out in the philippine star's ystyle section today.
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All tressed out
By Deepa Paul
Friday, September 28, 20076750 Ayala Ave. , Makati
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All tressed out
By Deepa Paul
Friday, September 28, 2007
It isn’t easy being curly.
Born into your curls? You are a rarity among the infuriatingly swingy- and sleek-haired heads of the typical Pinay — and prey to the caprices of stylists who seek to torture the curl out of your hair by all available means. That is, if you don’t already do that yourself.
I grew up with big fat sausage curls that distended into long, loose and oddly uncontrollable waves, so I get you loud and clear. I once had a hairstylist refuse to cut my hair until I had it relaxed, whereupon I marched out of the salon — and started learning how to use Mom’s blow dryer. It was an inauspicious start to a lifetime of manual and chemical struggle with my curls. Fast forward to the present day: my hair is alarmingly poofy when left alone and requires an armada of styling products and tools to sort it into an appreciable shape. I’ve grown to like my hair, sort of, but after all it’s been through, I don’t think it likes me very much anymore.
Or let’s say your strands are of the stick-straight variety in the age of the digital perm. You thought your hair was boring; you zapped some curl into it. People liked it; you did it again. And again. And again. Now you’re left with repeatedly processed hair, an amorphous form of curl, a ton of new hair products, a bone-crushing understanding of why your curly-topped friends used to stroke your pin-straight strands with such longing, and maybe the occasional itch on your scalp.
Congratulations, your hair is now not just curly — you might just have blow-dried, relaxed, rebonded, permed and possibly even colored it into dryness, too. Faced with stressed-out curls, what’s a curly Sue to do?
Rx for stressed-out curls
Stop experimenting with a new product every other week, give the ceramic iron a rest, and head to the Kerastase Institute, where science is about to become your hair’s new best friend.
Using the Kerastase Professional Diagnosis System, a trained consultant takes a camera to your crowning glory to decree, once and for all, the truth about your hair and scalp. Your days of frowning over the staggering array of shampoos and conditioners at the grocery and decoding which of the cleverly-cooked-up-by-marketing labels describes your hair (Spongy and puffy? Damaged or dry? Rebonded then permed? Colored but not highlighted?) are at their merciful end.
Seeing your scalp magnified up to 500 times can be quite disconcerting. I personally thought it was nice to have a scalp so blinding white — until I was shown a picture of a perfectly healthy and normal scalp, which was as smooth and pink as a baby’s bottom. Whiteness meant I had a scalp like the
Choosing your cocktail
After diagnosis, a Kerastase expert prescribes the right hair or scalp ritual for your particular situation. This is selected from over a dozen treatments for hair types ranging from normal to moderately dry hair (Aqua-Oleum, which uses nano-nutrition technology to zap instant shine and softness into locks) to the driest and most damaged strands (the heat-activated Kerathermie).
Got shiny strands, but a scalp like the
For frizzy hair, the Masque Oleo-Relax softens and nourishes hair while keeping it frizz-free — despite infuriatingly off-the-charts Philippine humidity levels. Addicted to rebonding or relaxing? This treatment is also a perfect breather to the chronic grip those chemicals have on your hair.
For starters, I was prescribed the Concentre Vita-Ciment ritual. Engineered for chemically-treated hair, this potent potion promised to fortify the cracks in my hair shafts, rebuilding them by as much as 56 percent. Plus, it would prep my hair to receive the full benefits of my Masque Oleo-Curl, whose curl cocktail of softening oils promised perfectly defined curls (or waves, too) and anti-deformation protection. Sounds good, I thought, but it was just about to get a whole lot better.
Reveling in the ritual
The Kerastase Institute uses the word “ritual” instead of treatment, and it was just as well. After all the torture your hair has survived, it certainly deserves to be given the royal treatment, nay, practically adored back to life. (And maybe you do, too.) This is where the fluffy robes, satisfying hair bath, mind-numbing, eyes-rolling-back-into-the-head scalp massage and sigh-inducing back rubs of the Kerastase Institute do their best work.
After your chosen product is slathered on, your hair is popped under the Kerastase Micro-Mist Machine to be softened like no other salon steaming machine can. A blast of cool air from the machine ends the ritual, fixing the product from within. An expert blowout from the adjoining Salon ESA reveals the results of the ritual — gorgeously defined curls and vibrant shine, as promised. And if you have any doubts about the efficacy of the treatment (or are just innately suspicious, as I am), you can always have your hair re-diagnosed just to check.
Baby’s bottom my scalp is not (yet), but it definitely isn’t the
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