i always pass by Ikeda Hall or Balay Kalinaw in UP when i’m on my way home. now that i’ll be moving to another place (still looking for one, though) soon, i know i’ll miss it. it looks very Asian to me. well, a fusion of different Asian cultures perhaps but the way it looks, the roof is not like a bahay kubo but more of those from Indonesia. wide facade/base for earthquakes, a veranda and large windows both for hot weather, terracotta tiles, roof overhang… perhaps i’d want a house designed like this. it’s not just a building but a landmark of Asian culture and heritage.

and since the annual “Pag-iilaw” of UP commenced last December 2 (the same day i attended the Koro Ilustrado concert. tsk!), most of the buildings in UP are now in wonderful Christmas lights. this is the first one i saw and took a picture of. the cold weather last night only increased my anticipation of Christmas, more so upon seeing Balay Kalinaw in lights! Pasko na nga talaga…

it was one of those ‘bonding’ times again when we went to megamall and, of course, getting tired from all the window shopping (coz it wasn’t payday yet. all we could do is salivate and ogle at the stuff on shops in megamall) we were famished. and it has always been my thing to try out places we’ve never been to before, but A sticks to her ’sweet spaghetti’ places. t’was a good thing then that i convinced her to eat at Eskimo Bob. maybe it was the ice cream that got her attention. hehe…

the place was small and was easy to miss if you looked at the other stores around. it was bright and nice inside and the LCD TV (for the diners’ viewing pleasure, perhaps?) was thankfully turned off. i wasn’t in the mood for noisy places that day. and honestly, it looked kinda out-of-place. unless they were showing ads, maybe, so it could easily catch your attention. i just thought it could be like the ones in Burger King where they had a frame or case to put it in. it just looked weird in the diner.

A and i ordered a full meal, thinking we were really really hungry. I took the grilled porkchop thingy which had a signature drink — mango iced tea — and she took the spaghetti with meatballs, predictably. of course, i just had to try their pizza and soup of the day which was pumpkin soup. funny that it was a week before holloween and we were having pumpkin soup. baka ginamit yung ’shell’ para sa decors sa ibang bansa. yung kinayod sa loob, pinadala dito at ginawang ‘gourmet’ soup. But i loved it! really! nice and warm when served. creamy and smooth and just enough ‘bits’ to let you know that it’s the real thing (or at least i was convinced that it did come from real pumpkins. )

First off, the mango iced tea. i know it sounds weird. and it tasted weird too with my first sip. but after that, i thought of getting another glass! nasanay agad? i don’t know but i just enjoyed that one. iniisip ko nga kung pwede siyang gayahin or they kept a secret recipe for that alone. we’ll see.

The porkchop thingy (ok, i forgot what it was. sorry! i lost the receipt!) was just OK. the meat slice was too thin for me but what were you expecting for a P150-ish meal with drinks and 2 sides, right? the meat was not as tender (read: difficult to slice) but the sauce was strong and fragrant. the mashed potato was a joy to eat, even without the gravy! just because it was made out of real potatoes (i reckon) and not just made by mixing milk with powdered instant starch or something that turns it into a ‘mashed potato mush.’

A wasn’t happy with her spaghetti. just because it was the sour kind. LOL… she mixed some ketchup in it (gasp! the horror!!!) and she forgot she disliked it in an instant. but the pizza… OMG… the pizza? *thumb and index finger in an “O” and ‘kissed’ by lips* magnificent!!! or that could just be because i love cheese pizzas. hehehe…

only down side were the meat balls in the spaghetti. it was still raw on the inside! <insert loud scream and shocked face here> hay naku… i honestly didn’t know what to do. the 2 meatballs were already in shreds because i told A to just eat the outer ’shell’ of the meatballs. i swear, the meat in the middle was still bright pink and really tasted raw! blech! we were almost done anyway so i didn’t think it would be a great idea to notify the manager of this incident anymore. but now that i’m writing this, i guess it would have been just OK so they could get their kitchen do the meatballs right next time.

and after all that eating, being in an Icebergs diner, we shouldn’t miss out on the wonderful ice cream deserts they had in store… but unfortunately, we were too full! and we only had a slice each of the pizza we ordered! grabe… amazing how what i thought was generally ‘konti’ was actually super filling! so i’d say Eskimo Bob was a bad experience that way. they were cruel enough for us to get too full before we could get to their deserts. that’s not just bad… that’s evil!!! (lol)

sige na, sige… nobody’s perfect. ako din, i make spelling errors very often. minsan nga yung THEIR and THEY’RE napag-papalit ko pa ng gamit eh. pero i just couldn’t help it…

was on my way to meet A in Boni so from Katipunan, i take the LRT going to Cubao then take the MRT from there to Boni station. and i usually pass by some tech shops along the way inside Farmer’s cubao. syempre, kaka-silip, kaka-window shopping, nakita ko to. and i knew i had to share it.

pinipigilan ko sarili ko tumawa noon. i was merely chuckling when i was taking a picture pero nung nakita ko pa yung isang item nila on display with a label, i just had to let a big laugh out. isang malakas na “haha” lang naman and then i covered my mouth. i didn’t get to take a picture though kasi by this time, i was drawing some attention from the CD-R King customers doing some window shopping as well.

what i saw was another item labeled “VEDIO converter”. honest mistake, i thought. but another item had the word VEDIO in it, too! too bad i didn’t see an item labeled VEDIO ADAFTER! ay nako, tatambling na talaga ako noon! lol! i had quite some exercise laughing then. i wonder kung andun pa mga yun ngayon… hehehe

CD-R King Farmer’s Cubao, spell check naman jan!!!

what funny signs have you seen lately?

if i were at home in Pampanga last saturday, i would just be fine. i would be ok. being home leaves a feeling of security. i don’t know. it just gives me that. so after sleeping-over at the office because of the rains and floods, and hearing of the terrible traffic on NLEX, i went home to Pampanga on Sunday. i was expecting some water but i thought most of it would have subsided after 12 hours or so. so after breakfast at Kenny Roger’s in katipunan (thank goodness they were open! Jollibee ran out of food since the delivery van couldn’t get through the waters the previous day and McDo was closed), i took the bus home and what did i see setting foot on San Fernando? this:

SURPRISE!!!

i was  riding a padyak driven by a manong holduper. P40 for a length of something i could normally walk on an ordinary day. ok, fine, he saved me from getting wet. wag naman holdap na presyo diba??? hay…

i got home, saw that the backyard was flooded about 10 inches to a foot. but it’s ok. no electricity and water. but it’s ok. i’m home.

pero siyempre, i had to come back to manila for work. but it’s ok pa din. i know they’re safe. we can manage. we’ve been through worse.

if only i had internet for the 10-day training i had in tacloban, i would have had more things to write. andami na kasi nangyari. araw-araw, andaming impressions naiiwan saken ng siyudad na yon. andaming missed “Kodak” moments din. things that i now wish i could have taken a picture of to show what tacloban city was really like. not just the places we went to but also how it is at night when all is quiet na.

it may be a little futile to gather all the emotions i had when i got there. hindi na siya kasing-intense eh. mas may awe and wonder ka, coupled with fear and excitement pag first time mo umapak sa isang lugar. lalo na kung you don’t speak the local language.

unang lapag palang sa airport, sabi ko, dapat nakunan ko na ng picture yung grounds ng airport. it was flat (natural! airport yun diba?) and you could see a boat on the horizon. it was a beautiful combination of green, blue, white and the black tarmac. the airport itself is no 5-star hotel but that was irrelevant when we landed. what greeted us was this:

and it was absolutely breathtaking — a sign of good things to come during our stay in tacloban city in the next few days.

first thing we had to do, though, was get from the airport to the city proper to register and leave our stuff at our hotel. since taxis were quite expensive… Php 150 pinaka murang singil samen, naglakas-loob na lang kami mag-jeepney. being with a girl companion, sort of nag-alangan ako pero dahil first time din niya bumyahe, ang sabi ko na lang eh, “sige lang! adventure to!” half-lying about my courage to ride the jeepney to i don’t know where exactly. thank goodness nakarating naman kami sa registration and sa mga hotel namen. magkahiwalay pa kami! nevertheless, masaya pa din. and dahil di din namen sure what to sample and where to sample the local cuisine, we had to resort to Plan B — Chicken McDo. lol…

i am so~ going to McDo Megamall!!!

i just hope the cashier’s pretty when i come in and order.

thanks to my friend, Joseph Dizon, for taking this. grabbed it from his multiply account.

off the top of my head, bakit ba ang daming nagpupunta ng Baguio? well, i understand na mainit talaga ang panahon ngayon pero lahat na lang ng pics na nakikita ko sa multiply, puro na lang Baguio, Baguio, Baguio… i mean wala na ba talagang iba?

teka, bakit ba ako naiirita? inggit lang siguro ako kasi NEVER pako nakarating ng Baguio. Yes, you read that right… NEVER! capital N, capital E, capital V… you get the picture. bitter? hahaha… ah ewan. basta, sawa nako sa Baguio pics. sana yung mga kakaiba namang lugar makita ko pag may nag-update. Baguio + Summer? could you be more original? (shucks, may hangover pa yata ako sa The Devil Wears Prada)…

and speaking of Prada, kaka-nood ko lang ng SNN with Kris and Boy. OMG!? ganun pala presyo nun? 80 kiyaw for a Prada bag with matching purse? ohmegahd! and to think na binabalak ko pa naman bumili ng LV bag, kahit yung out of season na, somewhere on multiply. no wonder walang posted prices, laging PM lang. oh well, thank goodness He gave the Philippines Greenhills.

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pic from, obviously, www.visitpinas.com duh?!

just posting the few pictures during the convention i attended a few weeks ago.

mas mukhang promotion ito ng venue kesa documentation ng convention eh! hahaha… well, it was a nice place to stay. a bit better compared to the places i’ve stayed in during other conventions and workshops.

the Malolos Resort Club Royale has nice rooms. well, at least, the one i occupied. bed was soft. too soft i think but OK na din. the cabinets and shelves aren’t really well-maintained. even the TV had no remote and the buttons on it were broken. so channel surfing was actually a good exercise for me — stand up, change channel, sit down. (repeat as lack of entertainment sets in with the current channel.) haha… but as this was a convention and the rooms were really meant for just sleeping, it was OK. the CR? ummm… let’s just say deep red/maroon isn’t in my list of favorite bathroom colors.

the two-day convention served its purpose anyway. i got updated on what’s going around the circle of GEs, what i need to do to renew my PRC license, and how to pay my taxes as a professional. and being a first-time attendee, i met old-timers and many kagalang-galang (mano po lolo!)members of the profession.

but despite their age, it was pretty obvious that they take pride in being part of the GE profession. and somehow, with the younger generation, i don’t see that anymore. even in myself, prior to attending the convention, surveying isn’t exactly my profession of choice. i’d rather go into the modern fields like GIS and computer programming fields. but after that, i felt enormous respect for the men who continue the surveying profession. at nahiya naman ako sa sarili ko. why have i looked down on it and considered the modern fields as more lucrative, more exciting, and ‘higher’ in the respect ladder of professions.

i bought nga pala a shirt for myself during the convention. plain polo shirt with the GEP logo on the left side. no other colors were available in my size. so i had to take home on in Cory Aquino Yellow. but i wear it proudly.

my dad during one of their trips to Manila. nostalgia! haha…

i’m guessing this was in the 60s or 70s. wow! luneta’s so clean! and it seems that the roads were really wide enough for n0-hassle travel!

sigh, i wish i could have been there during that era. i could now only imagine how it was really to be there…

and my dad in that funny pose! hahaha…

so slim and young then. but just as guwapo as he is today. i love you dad!