happy fathers' day

photo edited by John Go

i know it's 3 days too late, but who says i can't celebrate fathers' day in my own time? :P

the last gift i could ever remember giving papa was a sculpture of poop from blue magic almost a decade ago. it wasn't as dramatic as i hoped it would be, but that was grade 6 nikki.

it took me 9 years, a new house, his passing and a furniture change in my room to dispose of it. i still wonder why i never noticed how off it looked on my study table. talk about a table full of crap. :P

but material gifts won't do anymore (especially NOT generic gifts from the infamous blue magic), in my case, at least. so i guess a gift of words will suffice... with a little help from my amazing friend.

let me quote a comment he wrote on his site:

"The answer is heaven, by the way. Or to where ever your heart is."

...and i couldn't agree more. :)

meet my brother, gabe

since i sleep in ahia's room, i have to put up with a lot of his annoying ways to keep me awake at night. his alphabet games, knock-knock jokes, impersonations, blah blah. i tried to make my own games like first-one-to-sleep, one-arm's-length-away or no-touching-til-tomorrow, but somehow, he manages to make his own rules and wins in the end. at some point, giving up was the wisest thing to do. so here i am, struggling night after night until i gather enough courage to sleep in my own room. that won't be long, i hope.

but he's not all that bad. we do have meaningful conversations, sometimes. allow me to share with you the one we had just last night...

me: why are you staring at me?
ahia: you're so cute, achi. can i call you cutiepie pretty?
me: ok. good night.
ahia: good night who?
me: good night ahia.
ahia: you should have a name for me, too.
me: good night, prettypie handsome?
ahia: i don't want to be pretty.
me: good night, cutiepie handsome?
ahia: but you're the cutiepie.
me: good night, sweetiepie handsome?
ahia: ahh, that's better.
me: k.

P.S.
if you think i have a crazy brother, wait til i tell you about the other two.

3 totally random thoughts before i sleep

1. Some people are greater than they think. Never underestimate the power of reassurance. They deserve to know. It is up to them to believe.

2. "Because the world will die without it, go with love." This is and will always be my guiding principle in every decision that I have to make.

3. Happy fathers' day to all the dads in the world and beyond! Show some love while you can. It never gets old.:)

so long, sweet summer

if it were any year in the past, by now i must have made my goodbye-summer-break/back-to-school blog post. but this year's summer break isn't like any other. i couldn't quite decide whether it's indefinite or simply non-existent. there's no saying goodbye to breaks or saying hello to new class scheds anymore since the day Fr. Ben handed me that rolled blank piece of bond paper that they made everyone believe was a diploma. yes, my friend, i survived 4 years of trying to make sense out of studying management and chemistry simultaneously.

so consider this my "goodbye summer and hello to rainy days of more bumming" post. and what better way to tell you why bumming is so much more fun under the scourging heat of the sun than to give you the top 5 reasons why summer 2010 rocks my socks.

1 the mis-adventures and everything in between

the girls and i planned a dvo-cdo-cbu trip for our "last hurrah" since it would probably take one of us to marry for us to see each other again. but due to "unforseen circumstances" (shobe getting grounded after a drunken night *haha* and kim being exiled in tagum), i ended up having mia, the coolest tour guide of davao, all to myself. and we just couldn't get enough of those unforseen circumstances, that the cdo airport's runway lights chose to add some more. i got to spend 2 more crazy days in davao, but this time, with kim. :) haze, trish and shobe joined us in cebu where we got sunburnt after braving downtown and invading pandanon. i'd have to say the whole trip gave justice to our final goodbyes. rolling down a hill, eating crocodile and ostrich, racing and bumping cars, walking on green water, getting stuck in the airport after a last-minute cancelled flight and fitting 11 people in a car make complete sense when you're with the people who made you love your college years.

2 sand, waves and the setting sun

summer would never be complete without the beach. since this was the first time i didn't have summer classes/ojt, i got more than my fair share of salty water and fish bites. i can't complain, though. cebu beach is like no other. the breeze, the food, the sand between my toes and the company of family and good friends--everything reminds me that i'm finally home.

3 tuesday lunch with my loves

for college graduates who don't know what to do with our lives, it's comforting to know that we're not alone. that's pretty much what tuesday lunch is for... updating each other about recent job interviews, random business ideas in case no one hires us and what we make out of our boredom. that's for the sensible part of lunch. the rest of the time, we just make a mess in the restaurant like shoot rolled tissue paper in a glass of water or make faces out of cigarette foils and tissue wraps. i'd like to think that someday, i'll be having tuesday lunch with rommelle the president (or house husband), rose the lawyer and stage mom, jeeboy the rich bachelor, kim the preschool teacher and owner of a cute children's hospital and john the father of 20 little chinese children. that would be the day.

4 BS emergency meetings and making fun of ditchers

you don't need to be einstein to know that darlene was the one who ditched us that night. i love how i flattened her butt in this picture (thank you, judith's photo-editing skills). i can attest to how much we've grown (or not grown) since high school... grown up. grown in size. whatever. i'm just glad we haven't grown apart. :) it's been 4 years since we've led different lives. fastforward to present, and we still got each other's back. that's no bullsh*t.

5 my favorite wedding

ok, so there isn't any bride or groom in the picture above, but i just had to post it. i think the wonggoys-julian rendition was the best version of "i'm yours" so far (beat that, jason mraz). on a different note, since auntie my likes to think she was prettier than me that day, i'd give her that.

favorite wedding. favorite couple. i'm proud to be a witness to their exchange of i do's... because that night, nothing else mattered.