338th Araw ng Makati

The Grand Parade during the Foundation Day of Makati City is the time of the year when the loud and outrageous are best appreciated. There were certain color schemes that I did not agree with, but at least this one does not pale in comparison with carnivals I have been to.

Slumber party, ten years late (2)

A and J fiddled with my camera, too. Here's some of the shots they came up with.

Slumber party, ten years late (1)

A sleepover in the middle of the workweek with three of my high school friends. Three of us being balikbayans to some degree, we had to meet up because we don't know when we'll meet again. Throw in American Idol twice over (we found out that we were all David Cook fans--could it show our age?), a huge pizza, mocha ice cream, beef noodle soup, and three shades of lip gloss. Could anything be more like schoolgirl fun? J provided the funniest highlights of the night: going to the balcony by mistake to change into her pekpek shorts, and turning the term "true love" into an inside joke.

the morning after: breakfast at Starbucks

Sweet

Just a couple of desserts for specific occasions.

Can I be the bad godmother and reveal my godson's name? Half of it in written on the cake anyway. It's Christian Maxleo. If you think "Welcome to the Christian world, Christian" sounds funny, holding the reception at Max's makes it twice as fun.

Tiny cake on the left is a souvenir from a wedding my parents attended. The cake was surprisingly good.

For your mp3 collection, part 15

Entertainment for the Braindead:"Sleep"-lull-a-high

David Wilcox:"Falling For It"-activism through music

Laura Michelle Kelly, Michael Rouse and Lord of the Rings Original London Cast Ensemble:"Lothlorien"-even more amazing with visuals

linus.maybe:"Not Another Football Song"-no go footy

Lisa DeBenedictis:"Cuckoo (His Boy Elroy passive-aggressive mix)"-richer than the nightingale

Mary Juane Clair:"Si Clair"-distinctive and filmic

Miranda Sound:"Take It Where You Can Get It"-unlikely wedding song

Orb Gettarr:"Dr. Hoffman's Epiphany"-a spark of imagination

Rika Shinohara:"Beautiful Day"-upbeat beginnings

Rilo Kiley:"Silver Lining"-hope and sunshine

The Search:"Distant"-Swedish pop rules

The Walkup:"Looks Like We Haven't Learned A Thing"-Saturday morning lesson

The 12th Webby Awards

The nominees and winners of the Webby Awards

This year's Webbys, honoring the best of the Web, have been announced. Congratulations to all the winners! Make sure your five-word acceptance speeches on June 10th are memorable. I'm counting on you, Stephen Colbert, Michel Gondry and will.i.am!

Violets are...

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

These guys are nuts. I love them. Listen to their songs here.

My other "baby"

Apart from this blog, I mean. I take on admin and editorial duties alongside another alumna (hi Jill!) for the Pinoy Erasmus Mundus blog. Do take a look around and say hi. It's my third group blog on WordPress and I have to say, I'm sorry, Blogger, but I would have switched to WP if I didn't have loyal readers on Blogspot.

Musical chairs at DFA

DFA auditorium ceiling, via my mobile

Not the rigodon of officials, mind you. Just the passport renewal process.

Although it's nowhere near the Guinness World Record for musical chairs (8,238 people at the Anglo-Chinese school in Singapore), the Trip to Jerusalem for passport renewal at the Department of Foreign Affairs is still quite a huge one at around 260 people at any given time. These queues are what pocketbooks and FM radio on your mobile were made for.

Ideally, you'd have an LED display with the number of the next available counter, but the level of service being less than world-class, finding out who's free is determined by clapping. No joke. Am not even sure if this is any good for the deaf-mute staff. I propose an inexpensive Third World alternative: paddles. Raising up a numbered ping-pong racquet sounds more civilized to me.

Even with an appointment booked online, it still took 2 hours and 45 minutes from arrival at the Libertad entrance to paying for courier delivery. It took so long partly because we waited through lunch break, when operations were only 25% of the capacity. There were signs for the steps in the process, but they were not clear enough. At every turn, you had to locate the next queue.

If you earn more than P1,300 a day, consider the fast-track processing. It might be worth it.

Remembering Teacher Glo

Mrs. Flores (top right) and the broadcasters in 1997

[In high school, I was the quiet nerd in the classroom; elsewhere, I was a radio broadcaster and a theater person. I didn't bother to ask the nuns for permission to go on air (educational=ok) or perform onstage (showbiz=not ok). It was cool to live a double life. In some ways, I think I still do.]

In freshman year high school, I tagged along with my brother to his school org and became an honorary member of the Don Bosco Young Broadcasters Club. It was quite a change from my all girls school because I was often the only girl in the studio.

For an hour every Sunday, we students discussed issues and gave out information on various topics. We recorded radio dramas, wrote scripts and became exposed to NGO work as well.

Mrs. Gloria Flores was our moderator, the driving force behind the radio program. Under her guidance, the program won in the Catholic Mass Media Awards and went on to become a CMMA Hall of Famer before going off the air. This was quite a feat, for we had no commercials and seldom had sponsors.

Teacher Glo had a long battle with diabetes and her health was always a balancing act of sorts even before her retirement. With her passing due to complications from the disease, I do not think that her life's work is lost. The ex-broadcasters and her students were the children she never had. Her legacy lives on in us--we who pursued careers in the media and NGOs. Those years with the program brought us where we are now and I know she's happy with what we've become.

Salvaging a kitchen disaster

My hilarious attempt to save a failed batch of baked goodies. My fault for using Dari Creme Lite and expecting something edible to come out. But with a knife and a fork, I transformed lacy oatmeal crisps into chewy oatmeal bars with a few masterful strokes. And they double as muesli alternatives for breakfast. Not bad at all.

Line republic

Buildings and wires caught during my in-car travels. Seems EDSA Shangri-La Hotel was the only one that escaped the curse of the power lines.