Walang Humpay Na Ligaya

That's my absolute favorite Eraserheads line.

I was ecstatic (picture me and Nards doing the dance of joy) when Gang texted us saying that the entire Team Lestat will be in Buddy's guest list.

We had minor delays at the entrance because of computer malfunctions (read: some names were not on the list because we were told that their servers crashed earlier).

Nards, myself and the rest of Lestat were in the VIP section (green band) while my lucky sister got herself on the SVIP section (gold band).

It was hard to describe what we felt during the concert itself. But let me just say that from the moment they opened with Alapaap, Nards and I sang word for word all the songs that were performed with enough gusto that wass borderline embarrassing (just like everyone else). We also danced along with the entire crowd. The stage was just incredible with the gigantic LED backdrop and lighting.

There was a twenty minute intermission, that stretched to about half an hour. Then Buddy, Raymund, Marcus and a young lady stepped on stage. The woman was Ely's sister and she read a statement that due to physical and emotional stress (his mom died two days ago), Ely had suddenly taken ill and was rushed to the nearest hospital. After they thanked everybody, they gave the floor to the concert organizers who requested a minute of silence from everyone to offer prayers for Ely. Then they apologized for cutting the performance short. Everybody was shocked. And the place was eerily quiet, considering the size of the crowd that was there.

We were in the car on our way out of The Fort that we received a text saying that Ely suffered another heart attack but that he was stable.

This morning my lucky sister (who enjoyed free food and drinks at her section) was telling me that the second set included a new arrangement of Spoliarium and Ang Huling El Bimbo. Sayang, I told her. But it doesn't matter.

I was just so happy to see them perform once again.

Thanks again, Gang!

One Page Down on the Invitation

We're still working on the entourage page (because it's not yet finalized). But here's the page with the actual invitation.

We're printing it on parchment paper, then mount it on folded corrugated board; so that the entourage page is on the left side, and this page will be on the right side.  RSVP card and map will be inserted inside the folded corrugated board.



Our envelops will actually be brown textured paper with a gold organza belly band.  We plan to put a small square of parchment paper with our initials (not really decided whether we'll put initials or our names) on a small square of red cardboard that will act as a clasp.



It sounds complicated.  But I'll post a photo once we've assembled an official invite.

Late Shoe Story

It was only a few nights ago when I was going through photos I took on my cellphone camera, that I ran across pictures of the various shoes I was trying on for the wedding. These photos were the ones I furiously MMSed to my sister while I was combing the mall.

This was the pair I really really truly wanted. The moment I clapped my eyes on it, I WANTED it. It's from Aldo's and was on sale! I couldn't believe my luck! Of course it ran out quickly, because this pair that the sales staff was holding was the last pair and it was one size smaller. Here, she was trying to call their other branches to check if they had a pair in my size. But there wasn't.

After going to Aldo's, we went to CMG. This is the pair I saw.

It's flat and the design wasn't so bad. It's bed was grooved to be snug on the soles of the feet. I liked it, but not as much as the pair from Aldo's. The strip of leather that went between my big toe and the weird looking second toe chaffed. It stung, and I barely walked around the store. Also, if you notice, my feet were sort of hanging out at the sides. This means it was either this or the next size, but the next size was too big. So that one was a no too.

After going to Sari Sari, Bass, Schu, Nine West, Wade, Jos�, Manel's, Cardam's, Mendrez, Celine, SM Department Store, I went to Centropell. The first pair that caught my eye was this:

I liked it (although to lesser degree than the pair from Aldo's), and I thought the retro design was really offbeat and fun. I was so sure that I would buy this for the wedding. Boy, was I wrong. When I fit my size, my heel started to pinch and hurt. And because the back part was stiff, it pushed my feet towards to front which resulted to my toes hanging off the edge again.

We were about to leave the store, and I was resigned to going to Marikina to have a pair custom made, when I bumped into a rack displaying this pair:

And that was that.

Cucina Gayuma

After a brief stay at the radio station, Nards and I went to Deepa's place at Little Baguio. I brought her dress for the wedding for her to try on. We were both giddy that it turned out very well, and fits perfectly. (She really knows what style flatters her body.)

We were planning to have dinner after calling on her, and we were trying to decide which places along Wilson or in Greenhills would be a nice place to grab supper. I had the brilliant idea to go to Cucina Gayuma which is right on Granada St. (If you're coming from Gilmore towards Greenhills, it's going to be on your left before the major traffic lights that converts Granada into Ortigas Ave.)

It was a nice place. The decor was very Filipiniana: window shutters made of capiz, antique oil lamps, a piano, rustic tables and chairs, and native placemats on very minimal place settings.

Their menu caught me off guard. It was a laminated single sheet with prints on both sides. It had their nifty logo (same as their outdoor sign) but what gave me pause were the prices. Considering their location and the exterior of their restaurant, one wouldn't expect a dish to cost around Php250. And this is just a single serving without any side dish of rice.

Nards ordered Fish Ratatouille, Php180

I had the baked fish in several cheeses, Php230.

For dessert, we shared a piece of turtle pie, Php95.

The food was without a doubt, tasty and delicious; and the portion was filling considering the size of the servings. It was flavorful and it hit you delicately as you (thoughtfully) chew every bite. The turtle pie was too sweet though. It was a very thick layer of chocolate mixed with walnuts, on top of a somewhat thick layer of caramel on a buttery crust. I thought it was like eating a Sneaker's bar (which would have been cheaper than Php95).

Seriously though I feel a bit hoodwinked by Cucina Gayuma. The surprise basically comes from this: it looks like an affordable place, but once you see the menu, it's not. I have no complaints about the food, or the smiling and courteous servers. But I don't think I'll be going back to that place.

Incidentally, they are not related to Gayuma that was previously on E. Abada St. behind Katipunan. I wonder what happened to that place. I've always enjoyed eating there.

Photos by Nards (using his lumix that has a low ISO) & Aggie (using her cellphone camera)

Rock Ed Radio's Focus Mindanao Episode

I picked up and drove Prof. Azurin from UP to NU this evening for Rock Ed Radio's Focus Mindanao Episode.

 

Gang, who tirelessly uses this hour to make the radio listeners aware of today's issues.

Lourd, her co-host, who was suffering from the "joys" (read: nanlalata) of a foot massage which he got prior to the show.  He was also followed by a gaggle of giggly teens (In Gang's words: buti pa si Lourd may fans).

 

Guest: Prof. Bobby Garcia

 

Other guests: Adel Tamano and Prof. Azurin.

Food Among Other Things

This blog entry will mostly be about food. You've been forewarned. :P

We had to run several errands today. First and foremost was to go to San Jose de Navotas Parish to get Nards' baptismal certificate that we need to submit to Sta. Rita as part of our wedding requirements there; as well to submit a copy to the Mary Immaculate Cathedral for his confirmation. (We were both surprised to learn he hasn't been confirmed.) Before we left the church we went around to San Jose Academy, the parochial school run by the parish, where Nards spent his entire grade school and high school life. He underwent "The First of May" (referring to the music here, not the movie portrayed in the link) syndrome for a while, but quickly recovered because our next errand was to buy Norma's Pancit Luglug.

Nards could not stop raving about Norma's Pancit Luglug. So we hurriedly went to a very nice house that Pancit Luglug built. While we waited for it, he told me of many parties where the critical elements were Norma's pancit, barbecue and puto. After a quick stop at the Mary Immaculate cathedral, we hung out at a friend's place and devoured it.

It's really really good. I'm not a big fan of puto, but Norma's puto was gargantuan and liberally sprinkled with cheese.

Off the dentist after that to finish my treatment. And in honor of the wonderful tradition of both our parents, we went to get ice cream after our visit to the dentist. We went to Kozui for Melon Anmitsu.

It's basically green tea ice cream with sticky taro balls (bola bola in other words), tasty sticky bean paste (that's the pink glob on the right), melon cubes, lots of green tea jelly underneath the ice cream and a small amount of crushed ice at the bottom. It's their japanese take on our halo-halo.

It was yummy, and absolutely perfect after a dental visit. But the jury is still out on their other dishes. Which means, we'll have to go back there. Yey!

Sockofizz*

You know how it is that you get so frustrated and angry that there are simply NO WORDS to describe how you feel, and you sometimes have, due to temporary insanity caused by whatever it is that stresses you out, to resort to invent words?

Two days ago, I was beyond words and beyond capacity to even invent words to express how I felt.

My laptop, through some clever programming of an evil person, contacted a worm and crashed. Up to now, I'm still at a loss on how it happened. I use a trusted anti-virus program. I only surf reliable websites via Firefox. I meticulously scan all external drives (including my iPod - that's how paranoid I can be) before transferring files. As for the games I play, I double scan it: once on the desktop, and another on the laptop.

Thank goodness I've always used a separate partition for my data files and my program files; so the photos are safe, as long as with all my other documents. But I am going to buy an external hard drive to back up and store everything. Also to give my 100 GB of data drive space some breathing room. (I only have about 25% left free. Photos take a LOT of space.)

The entire day yesterday was spent reformatting the program drive, installing windows, installing service pack 1,2 and 3, the various drivers, re-configuring my wifi connection, installing Photoshop CS3, Yahoo Messenger version 9 (Philippine Edition - so far no difference from the usual edition), Firefox, AVG, iTunes, Gom Player and Adobe Reader 8. I had to go to the mall today to purchase an MS Office 2007 installer, because the one I borrowed from Leslie was scratched to an inch of its life.

Microsoft 2007 is now fully installed. (And running.)

I can now pick up from where I left off pre-worm-crash. Time to catch up on photo editing, and writing; and to finish the sample pages I'm designing for a planner for a client.



-------

*Mitzie and I have a favorite book by Betty Smith entitled Joy in the Morning. It's a story about Carl and Annie Brown who got married against their parents wishes, and who still worked their way to a very happy marriage despite all the odds. Annie's mother wasn't able to go to school, and when she wrote Annie a very angry letter, she was pressed to invent words that sounded angry.


Like Sockofizz.

Props

Nards and I bought these props in preparation for our photobooth (both for our wedding reception and our business).  By the way, the cat is just a model.  He's not part of the props.  Well, technically he is.... oh, you know what I mean. :P

 

  

 

 

 

Divisoria is da Best

Take a look at what my Php100 got me.

 

 

Three pairs of thong slippers with funky designs (my favorite is the black and gold with butterflies).  They're so so so comfortable.  I've been on the lookout for cheap slippers that I can use around the house.  They're the cheapest I could find.  The design was a bonus.

Bridesmaids Dresses

I finally got them from a vendor in Divisoria. The designs were chosen by the girls themselves. Red chiffon over satin with champagne highlights. And they only cost Php700. Not bad.

Joey's

Deepa's

Cissy's

Leslie's

May's

Close up of May's bolero

Diabetes in a Box

After spending the day at my parent's house, I passed by my favorite bakery inside a subdivision along Commonwealth Ave on my way back to my place.  They make divine pastries that's simply perfect, neither too sweet or too bland.  And it's soooo affordable.  This box which contains: four revel bars, four cream puffs, three chocolate eclairs, two lemon squares and six mud pies cost a total of Php205.50. 



Php205.50 well spent.  

Indulge

Because it's Gang's birthday, I indulged in a lychee martini.  We watched and laughed at Temptation Island.  We had a videoke bidding party.  Everybody bid on people to sing the most baduy songs on the videoke machine.  As a result, Raymund Marasigan sang Careless Whisper, John Lloyd Cruz sang Bilanggo, Lourd De Veyra sang a Barry Manilow song, and so on.   I wasn't able to follow what everyone sang because Nards and I were busy with our photobooth where Gang charged everyone Php50/print.  (We got booked for a wedding there!  Thanks Dex!)



Para Kay Tara lahat ng proceeds.

A Perfect Day

Even though a lot of things went wrong.

Today, Beng, Nards and I went to attend Mae's wedding at Parish of the Immaculate Conception at Teresa Village which was followed by a reception at Gazebo Royale.

Despite a power failure, the consecutive mistakes of the wedding coordinator during the nuptial mass (mis-queuing the readers, singing of the Alleluia before the second reading, the lector calling on the secondary sponsors even if the priest was about to launch on his homily), the veil sponsor who was late, the disruptive jib arm of the videographers, and the priest calling on lay ministers from the wedding guests to help him give communion, everybody was happy and cheerful.

It was as perfect a day as Mae could ever want.

The Bridal March

The Laughing Bride (that's all she did)

Exchange of Vows

Magka-mukha ba kami? :P

The Dignified Pose

The Not-So-Dignified Pose

Calvin and Susie hitching a ride with the bridal car

The Reception Rules (click on photo to see larger image)

The lovely centerpiece. No numbers, just a word that describes the guests assigned to the table.

Playing hide & seek in the centerpiece.

The Kissing Bell. (Guess who kissed every time it rang? Not the bride and the groom.)

Photos by Nards and Aggie (but mostly it was Nards)

A (Not So) Auspicious Day

Today is an auspicious date.  08.08.08.

It is marked by the Olympics in Beijing.  (Good luck Miguel!  Make your Tita Gang and the rest of your countrymen proud!)

There are probably ten million couples getting married today.

If it is indeed auspicious, important business decisions are being made as well.

For me however, nothing quite auspicious today.   I just stayed at home, curled up in bed with a book, waiting for my dysmenorrhea to pass.  I was supposed to go to The Block today to buy a pashmina for my sister.  The gown she's wearing tomorrow at Menggay's wedding is backless; unless she wants to catch a cold, she needs a wrap.  It's going to be a full day tomorrow: Nards and I have a shoot in the morning, then the wedding to attend in the afternoon.  Beng, on the other hand, has training in the office in the morning, an appointment at the salon around lunch, and then off to the wedding with us.

I'm actually excited for tomorrow's wedding.  We're bringing Calvin and Susie; and we'll take their photo somewhere during the celebration.  I've also been itching to wear this maxi dress I bought online.  I haven't had the chance to wear it because of the heavy rains lately.

Having my period is always my excuse to eating something that will absolutely rent my conscience after.  I'm craving pizza.  Either Sbarro's white Chicago deep dish (out of the question today because Sbarro doesn't deliver -- and if I'm going to a mall today, it'll either be at gunpoint or be dragged kicking and screaming); or a five cheese pizza from Pizza Hut.  Sunday will be payback.  My fitness nazi of a fiance (whom I love dearly) will have us bike for hours in UP.  I don't mind.  I actually enjoy it. Pramis.  (Nope, I don't have my fingers crossed behind my back.  Neither are my toes.)

Incidentally, this is also my 88th blog entry for this year.

Cosplay

I've been hankering to have a decent photoshoot with some cosplayers.  And I don't mean taking snapshots at conventions where the backgrounds is just plain messy or where a million other photographers are taking the same photo.



I want an honest to goodness photoshoot, preferrably in a studio.  I'll leave it up to work some magic with his contacts to arrange this for us.



Being an avid gamer, I'm always thrilled to see photographs of cosplayers that are so carefully detailed that it genuinely duplicates the real thing.

Aya Brea from Parasite Eve (loved this game.  Been meaning to load it on the PSP)

Tifa (first photo from FF7 game--still haven't finished it, 

and the second one from FF7Advent Children--loved it!!)

 

Cloud from Advent Children.  When I showed this to Beng, she actually thought it was a poster.

  Rikku of FFX-2.  My favorite so far.  It's almost like the Rikku on the game came to life!