not an ordinary pond

my shell-carrying friends -- pong, squirt and pochi -- will all be delighted to know where i am going to tomorrow afternoon. its a 'sacred' place for them reptiles, a quiet zone where even music playing is prohibited. kind of like the tibetan lhasa, or a mecca which can be a place where all turtles can go on a pilgrimage at least once during their lifetime. dogs are not allowed to go playing or running here and im pretty SURE penguins are prohibited either. it will also be interesting to know that this place is in front of an old castle called the Belvedere which was built in 1872 to ornament the scene. i don't think i have ever been to a castle so im truly looking forward to this trip. i hope things go as planned. sounds really delightful.

anyway, click here if you also want to find out where this place is.

-ooo-

turtley trivia: the upper-shell on a turtle is called a carapace, the inner layer of which is made up of about 60 bones that includes portions of the backbone and the ribs, meaning the turtle cannot crawl out of its shell. i honestly didn't know this. i thought somehow they can crawl out... seriously...i should be observing my friends better, hehe. should you have turtley trivias, please share them to me, ok?

have a good weekend and God bless!

blurry and dali

thought id post my current playlist, something i would enjoy looking back years from now, and my current desktop wallpaper (nope, tiger woods is not in here). i wish i had done this dati pa. it would have been quite a trip down memory lane as i go through my archive. no, seriously :)


"metamorphosis of narcissus" by salvador dali

not sure where i got this, pero ive always been able to appreciate the works of dali, of which the most popular i guess would be persistence of memory. im not a dali fan, pero certainly, his paintings are amongst those i look long and hard when i go visiting art museums. contrary to what i had assumed before i saw his paintings in person, his works are crisp, the lines or strokes are sharp, as a whole very polished. there's seldom any layering or texture to it (unlike van gogh's), it's very two-dimensional, yet its so alive that if you turn away from it for a few minutes and look into the picture again, it would feel as if something had changed; a head lifted, a shadow shifted. if there was a dog or an old lady in the picture, or a hand or clock, it was something he had planned on putting there; not to hide something or merely improve the work aesthetically or create a vague impression but it seems to me he was telling something. although it is seemingly incoherent at first, his paintings usually had a story, an idea, and only he can put the pieces of that story in that manner. fortunately, dali does not leave us clueless -- which is something good about him, unlike other artists. for example in this painting above, dali wrote a poem about it. nice, huh? being a surrealist, his themes are seldom popular, unlike a madonna and her child or a quiet landscape, but i would like to believe that somehow i can relate to them. its like being in one of my dream sequences, his paintings are vivid, moving, kind of twisted, always mesmerizing. i like it.

-ooo-

anyway, here is my "blurry" playlist, i listen to these songs whenever im home these days. it's not yet in my ipod but hopefully ill be able to upload them soon, in time for my flight to philadelphia and new jersey next week. my ipod playlist still has songs which i downloaded from year 2000, back when napster was still exciting and nokia 3210 was the latest and greatest gadget, hehe. in case you want any songs from the playlist, just let me know and ill send it to you. no, seriously :)

  • Puddle of Mudd - Blurry
  • Jewel - Near You Always
  • Aimee Mann - One (Magnolia Soundtrack)
  • City On A Hill - God Of Wonders
  • Cold Play - Shiver
  • Five for fighting - One More for Love
  • Five For Fighting - Easy Tonight
  • Five For Fighting - Maybe I
  • Nickelback - Far Away
  • Sting & The Police - Message In A Bottle
  • Switchfoot - Learning To Breathe
  • Switchfoot & Jars of Clay - Let That Be Enough
  • Switchfoot - I Dare You To Move
  • Pussy Cat Dolls - Stick With U
  • Sixpence None the Richer & Jars of Clay - With Every Breath
  • Guster - Hang On
  • Howie Day - Collide

'yun lang. have a good day everyone and God bless!

the layas in me...


...is nangangarap to visit this place in miami. my co-worker told me im welcome to stay at their place anytime. this is their pool, and this is his view. he even said that i might be able to see dolphins in the bay... and that we're only 10 minutes away from the beach....hmmm... im already thinking grass skirts, hawaiian shirts, palm trees, coconut juice, hammocks and yukelele, hehe....wouldn't that be nice? baka naman i'm just imagining things again. baka iba naman ang hawaii or carribean sa miami ano... have to check the travel sites and then call united to see if i have earned enough mileage... stop muna with daydreaming... erase, erase :)

but look at the picture... it's so pretty out there...

-ooo-
earlier today, nangangati yung talampakan ko, parehong talampakan, literally! haha! maybe it's a sign that i should really go on a vacation while im here in the US -- either that or dapat e nagtsi-tsinelas ako palagi ano?! anyway, we'll see if I can go to miami. it isn't really a place that i had always wanted to go to but it's really difficult to resist a generous offer. let us think about it...


still thinking... :)

something red

kiss me
kiss me,
originally uploaded by gezelle.
i recently joined a group of learning photographers in flickr to showcase some of my work, get to know people who are as enthusiastic about photography as i am, to be inspired and be challenged, and to be able to see how much better i can still be. hehe. gagaling nung mga members, nanliit ako and at first was shy to join. pero i have to be kapal and do this so i can learn more and build a much better portfolio. i know that i have a lot of unlearning and learning to do, pero im patient and im passionate about this... i want to be really good at this.

we have an assignment this month to post a picture of something red. i have three candidates so far but i will try to come up with something better. if wala, i will submit this picture as my entry. i took this one in indiana at the motor speedway early july. this guy and his iguana are team ferrari fans, i saw them walking around shopping for souvenir items with many other fans at the end of the qualifying events. they both are adorable.

i dont hope to win, but i hope to be noticed and get votes kahit paano. kahit isa lang, hehe. we'll see.

still

when we feel that we have nothing left but Him, we often find that God is more than enough. i have written this countless times before and i have found this true in my life over and over. some things will never change, some things will never fade even for a little bit, some things will never falter. some love never fails.



photo taken from the chicago cares after-event party, may 2006

Hide me now
Under your wings
Cover me
within your mighty hand

When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with you above the storm
Father you are king over the flood
I will be still and know you are God.

Find rest my soul...

With Your faithfulness, how can i remain sad; with Your quiet embrace, how can i remain troubled?

eight weird habits

because i was tagged by misterclay, here goes:

1. numbers. when commuting alone, especially in heavy traffic, i play with the numbers in car plates and try to come up equations that will make use of all digits. these equations are seldom complex, for example, 758 would be 7+8=3x5. pwede na yun, hehe. wag na pahirapan masyado ang sarili.

2. dreams. i have colored and vivid dreams and they are somewhat prophetic. these dreams are usually trivial, of little importance and i can't tell which parts will come true so they haven't been of any benefit to me or anyone i know. if i can remember something truly vivid and detailed about my dream, i have the habit of telling that dream sequence to people who are close to me or the first person i meet when i wake up. usually my mom or my cousin or my former dormmates. within a day or two, what i told my friends or my relatives would often come true.

3. too childish. since childhood, i have had this habit of playing with my nails and cuticles. hehe, yuck no. that's why my nails look really bad, well not all ten fingernails. but still, dyahe.

4. of tsinelas and ballpens. i have this bad habit of using someone else's tsinelas and ballpen. in the office, if people are missing their pencils or pens, they would come asking me if i have it. immediately. without second thoughts or consideration. right, dino and lee? and often enough, they are with me. wahehe. sa bahay, my nanay would often come knocking at my room, asking if her tsinelas was under my bed and ayun nga, usually they are. i dont know why i do this. trying to be more aware of it so i can avoid it, don't mean any disrespect. just being naturally weird :)

5. when i feel that the world is conspiring against me (i like this!), i would often find myself go to powerbooks. i find comfort in books, they are good friends who entertain me without expecting anything in return :) nothing bad about that. what's bad is that i would often start reading a book and not finish it then move on to the next one. right now, im reading so many books. very unfulfilling. should strive to finish this one i just started to read two days ago which so far i find really good: atlas shrugged. sana, sana.

6. i like changing my msn or ym status to something that would reflect how i feel, which pretty much changes more often these days. is that bad? i have good friends who look forward to it and ask me what they mean or what happened. hehe. at least im entertaining them and i know which of my friends care enough to know. may pagka-ksp ang dating. hehe.

7. i have a bad habit of heating something up in the stove and forgetting about it. my lola and dad hates this habit most of all the other bad habits i have. im such an asyang aksaya :(

8. bathroom post-its. i have this weird habit of forgetting my wednesday 8am morning conference calls. hindi ko alam bakit, pero i keep forgetting this one! i should get my post-it and write something about it, put the reminder in my bathroom so i can see it the night before when i brush my teeth. so far i have other post-its in my bath room which reads: drink plenty of water, do some jogging, and other quotes i hear from tv or read somewhere :) do you put post-its in your bath room? is that normal? anyway, im putting it here... i still think its kind of weird.

okay, so this was somewhat fun so im tagging 8 friends too: katrin, lee, amy, emie, ria, vince, anthony, jaylord. sige na, share nyo naman your 8 weird habits to us. looking forward to it.

'yun lang, have a good weekend!

life in monochrome


trying to see life without the blinding colors.
sometimes, it's easier and much better that way.

the shorter story

And so it is
Just like you said it would be
Life goes easy on me
Most of the time

And so it is
The shorter story
No love, no glory
No hero in her sky

I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes...

And so it is
Just like you said it should be
We'll both forget the breeze
Most of the time
And so it is
The colder water
The blower's daughter
The pupil in denial

I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes off of you
I can't take my eyes...

Did I say that I loathe you?
Did I say that I want to
Leave it all behind?

I can't take my mind off of you
I can't take my mind off of you...
I can't take my mind off of you
I can't take my mind off of you
I can't take my mind off of you
I can't take my mind...
My mind...my mind...
'Til I find somebody new

tell me about high maintenance

because i know you love grapes, here's another bowl: with my permission this time... hope you...



what? don't tell me...

thank you would be really nice, you know... they're not the freshest but at least, they are seedless...

sheesh...

should change the title of this entry: penguin for sale, anyone?

tsk, tsk...

penguins...never had this problem with sea turtles, you know.

something wickedly good


wicked, the musical

last saturday, i went to see wicked with shellane and her mom at the Oriental Theater here in downtown Chicago. to those of you who are not familiar with it, this is the untold story of the witches and the wizard of Oz and all the other characters from that familiar story -- except the little girl from Kansas and her dog. it's a story about good and evil, expectedly, but it is also a story about true friendship and accepting how limitless you can be if you remain true to what you believe in.

i can't begin to describe how good this musical production is and how much i loved it. to me it was awesome, every aspect of it: the story, the costume and the set, most especially, the music. i loved almost every song and during the play i would often find myself clap at the end of a scene and even cry at times as well. for two hours, i was completely absorbed by it, amazed to say the least. when i got to the theater, i didn't know what to expect because i didn't read any reviews nor haven't read the book. although i have been hearing from everyone who has seen it that it was good, i didn't expect it to be THAT good. for two days now, i can't stop listening to the soundtrack which i immediately downloaded when i got home. i was also lucky to be able to download a full video of the play: someone was pasaway enough to capture it with a digital camera and upload it over the internet. the video is really big and i don't think i can share it here but i uploaded some of the songs which i loved so please feel free to listen:

I'm Not That Girl
(Elphaba singing)
Ev'ry so often we long to steal
To the land of what-might-have-been
But that doesn't soften the ache we feel
When reality sets back in


Because I Knew You
(Elphaba singing to Glinda)
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend

im always like that when i watch musicals, i get completely blown away and changed in some way, as if i had been taken on a magic ride in a broomstick or a balloon and sent upward to defy gravity and go to a happier place for just a little while. if you get the chance, go see it because i truly believe it's worth your money and your time, even if you don't particularly like theater. without exaggeration, i can say that, "Wicked" is truly and wickedly wonderful.

appear, disappear, appear!

...so medyo nahuli pa ako ng entrance...

"i would like to greet my nanay and my friends!!!"

tama ba na magsisisigaw kami sa likod ng reporter na ito?! ay, kebs! it was fun! click any of the images above and try to observe closely. if you recognize who the crazy people in the back are, you could find yourself laughing so hard! i used to be annoyed by people who do that lalo na if they frame their faces with their thumb and fore finger and especially if it was a live report on something that's supposed to be serious. kaya naman may hint ng hiya on my part to announce to people that i did the same. but at least, in our defense, this time what we were doing is somewhat appropriate naman 'di ba? and i really think, nakadagdag pa nga sa "celebrative" mood. hehe :)

video courtesy of CBS Chicago and was taken after the fireworks display at Grant Park near the Lake Shore during the eve of the Independence Day Celebration. the guy in yellow is vince and yung nasa kanan is pads, somewhere there makikita mo rin si ria. ako yung naka-white na naglakad from the right. obvious naman di ba dahil nilagyan ko na ng box ung sarili ko :) so what do you think about our tv appearance? fun 'di ba?

thanks ria for sending the link, this made my day and i now have something new to tell my relatives paguwi ko that will make them laugh so hard. hehe. anyway, enjoy viewing!

TGIF

its 5am and i havent slept nang mahusay... i just know something's missing in my life and im not quite alright. started talking to my friend from Manila and told him im sad. he tried to cheer me up by sending me an emoticon of a dancing rat. hehe. its silly but somehow made me smile. then while talking to him, i realized how much i miss being with people who knows me best, how much i miss being home, in our house with my parents especially my mom. i was watching tv kanina until 1am, and i recall watching late night tv shows with my mom and dad as the three of us try to fall asleep. tabi-tabi kami sa sala, we prefer to sleep there than in our rooms dahil mas presko ang hangin. usually, my mom would be in the middle tapos kami ng tatay ko sa gilid. we would turn on the sleep setting of the tv, para it will automatically shutdown when we're all finally asleep. usually, im the last to fall asleep, nauuna pa nga yung tv mag-shutdown and all channels would start signing-off.

hay, grabe...i just want to be home kahit sandali lang... kahit one hour lang. im wishing tuloy, sana i have sabrina's magical power to transport herself to different places. ill take myself back to that old familiar place with both the two people i love most in life.

naiinis ako when i think about it...feeling ko kasi we should be allowed to fly back home kahit once lang. my friends say that its in the policies, pero i am not granted that privilege due to budget concerns. kaso ang masakit, my managers here are going to Manila for two weeks this month... maiiwan ako... naiinis ako, pero what can i do... even if i ask, hindi naman iga-grant for sure. dapat hindi ko na lang isipin, di ba... sasama lang loob ko if i think about it. isipin ko na lang na at least pwede akong makapagpadala ng stuff sa kanila... pero kahit na, kapos pa rin... ahhck.

so tonight, or today, because it's 530am... ang theme song ng buhay ko ay:

somewhere out there
beneath the pale moon light
someone's thinking of me
and loving me tonight

hehe...korni no? anyway, ganon talaga. accept the things we cannot change and focus on what blessings we have. at least i know nam-miss rin ako ng nanay at tatay ko back home and that we are looking at the same set of skies and stars, im just seeing them from the other side of the world. kaya for now, i should be content and try to get back to bed and get some good rest. napuyat na ako ng husto. oa. buti na lang friday na.

a greeting from godzilla

ana, tito roger, and godzilla
07/04/2006


surprise! happy birthday, tito :) wala naman akong masabi masyado kundi happy, happy birthday! im praying that all your wishes for the year -- for your family, your career, tita violy, your friends and co-workers -- come true. praying for more blessings and more smiles to come your way kasi you truly deserve that and so much more :) thank you for welcoming all of us to your home and to your life, salamat for all the kwento, the pabaon, for cooking delicious food for us -- i love your laing and sinigang and pot roast, for teaching us how to cook (pasado ba?), for showing us your old photos (hehe!), for driving us to the Outlet Malls and CostCo to buy clothes, groceries, and pasalubong, for the genuine friendship and the countless other ways you make us smile :) thank you for being the coolest and cutest tito in town! my stay this time here in Chicago is certainly several times more memorable and more enjoyable than the first because i came to know you and your family.

God bless! May you truly enjoy this day!

the one with tony danza

Hold me closer tiny dancer
Count the headlights on the highway
Lay me down in sheets of linen
you had a busy day today
by elton john


this song has been playing in my head and my media player for two days now. heard it on FOX channel while watching "Friends". it was funny because Phoebe replaced "tiny dancer" with "tony danza" and was insisting that hers was the correct version :) i have been so addicted to this song kaya i managed to download the different remakes of it. so far i have the version from almost famous, the one by ben folds five and also the one by red hot chili peppers. all good. haven't downloaded the one by elton john though :) because of this song, i kept picturing myself dancing all night long and being lost in the music. kaya naman i was SO glad to be invited by a friend to go out with him and his friends tonight to this place called "howl at the moon", which has a live band (composed of 3 pianists, a drummer and a violinist) and a floor for dancing -- i got his call as i was writing this post! and you know what, the band played "tiny dancer" later on that night. haha! my friend and i was so happy and kept shouting "tony danza" rather than "tiny dancer" during chorus :)

last time i went out with friends to go dancing was mid-march at this place called Transit, i was lucky enough to be invited to layla's birthday celebration who offered to pay for our entrance and drinks. it was the first time i met layla who is lianne's friend and it was the first time i went clubbing in the US. clubbing. hope im using the right term :) we got there pretty early and left at almost 3am. sinulit talaga namin. hehe. here are some photos from that night:


me, lianne and amy


me, che, jaye, allan and ana at the dance floor

suddenly i am reminded of my closest friends from Manila, whom i had shared a room with in Makati for a year or so and whom i miss....i think they would be happy to go clubbing or dancing with me tonight if they can, just like what we had planned on doing several years back but never pushed through... sayang... maybe one day when i return, just let me know because that would really make me happy and im sure it would really be fabulous :)