夢を見て

Like all my other birthdays, I woke up today to find the clouds are gray, rain threatening to come down, not to mention the humidity is driving me crazy (and my hair frizzy).

But thanks to all the lovely greetings via phone calls, birthday cards, emails, SMS, even a video clip from my family, friends, relatives and online buddies.... today is a really happy day for me! 

Yesterday, my friends/ coworkers surprised me with a yummy birthday cake with candles and a happy birthday song at the office! I wasn't expecting it because 1) It was the day before my birthday and 20 No one really celebrates birthdays at work. So I was surprised by extremely happy that they did that.

I just realized that I haven't spent my birthday back home in four years (or as G says, 20 billion years). But I'm thankful to have found friends here to celebrate with.

Birthdays are a time to be thankful. I'm so thankful for many things --- my parents who always love and support me, my crazy brothers, my cutie-pie niece, my Tatay, lovely friends who are always there for me (or even if they're not there, i still love 'em), good health, a "dream" job that allows me to do what I love, clothes on my back, a place to call "home" and all the happy pills that put a smile on my face.

Today's going to be pretty boring (no late night for me), but the real fun starts tomorrow!

ikimasho

7 comments

dream pearls

One of the things I want to get for my birthday is pearls. You know you're getting old when you "treat" yourself to a birthday splurge.

Last night, I was chatting with my best girlfriends and the topic turned to jewelry and pearls since I was planning on getting Mikimoto pearls for myself and my Mom.

R suddenly reminded me of the pamahiin about pearls: "Hindi ka daw makakapag-asawa. Tsaka di mo dapat binibili, kasi dapat binibigay sa yo."

What??? That's the first time I heard of that! I'm so clueless when it comes to these superstitions. So that's why I'm still single.note the sarcasm

As S said, "I'd rather be fashionable than worry whether I'd get married or not." I sooo agree. And who came up with these superstitions anyway?

Oh well, I'm still getting my pearls.

advice from a T-shirt

I definitely worry a lot.

It doesn't help that I'm a Type A, who wants everything to go perfectly as planned. But everyone knows that all the best laid plans can still get messed up by the littlest things.

One of my most unforgettable birthdays as a kid was when I turned five or six. I was supposed to have a wonderful birthday party complete with balloons, party favors, a big buffet and all those fun outdoor games. Everything was perfect except that a typhoon suddenly swept through the city, ruining my birthday party. The worst part was when someone opened the car garage, the balloons escaped into the pouring rain. I can't believe I remember something like this.

I should just take a deep breath, relax, cross my fingers and just do what the T-shirt says "Don't worry be happy." All this worrying is just causing wrinkles.

Summer is making me crazy. The heat, the humidity, the random rainshowers and the fact that some people in the subway don't wear deodorant at all.

The thing that drives me soooo mad is the fact that most buildings are so stingy with airconditioning. Some only turn on the airconditioning when it hits 25 degrees or something like that. Yeah, it's good to be eco-friendly and all, but it just sucks for office slaves who have to sit in front of a computer and sweat it out. Even the subways and buses don't turn on the airconditioning all the time. Sigh.

And it's only the start of July! How will I survive?? 

I think this heat is putting me in a bad mood. I'm really not a "summery" kind of person.

Anyway, this song has been on repeat on my iPod for the past week. :X

07 Love Story

Mariah Carey

This is probably my first proper fangirling K8 post.

meet eito

One of the things I'm most excited about my upcoming trip is that I'll be watching K8 at the Dome.

When I was planning my "birthday" trip a few months ago, I was torn between Tokyo or Sapporo (read: K8 and Arashi concerts were on the same weekend). Some friends (you know who you are) suggested, I go to both. Yeah but I maybe crazy... but not THAT crazy.

After thinking about it endlessly, I decided to go for K8. It was more logical to believe that Arashi would go on an Asian tour, rather than K8. (true enough, Arashi is coming here this fall.)

I stumbled on K8 just this year, thanks to lexibaby and worldawaits.

For me, K8 is probably the most un-cool group out of JE. They're so un-cool that they're... well, cool. They're crazy, kooky, loud, funny and annoying, and since they're JE boys, charming of course. They're cute but not too cute. Their stylist must hate them because they're always in these loud, colorful outfits. They give off this "approachable" vibe. And did I mention that they're loud?

Perhaps the most endearing part about them is the fact that the Osaka boys were such underdogs and worked hard to get where they are now. And I have a weakness for the underdogs.

So, what do I like about them?
Baru because of his voice and intense eyes. Yasu because of his warm, sweet smile and his quirky sense of style.
Ohkura because he's so quiet and can play the drums well. Ryo because he can be mean but still hot.
Yoko because he's so noisy and chatty. Maru because of his crazy expressions.
Hina because he's a good talker. And even Uchi (though he's not part of the group anymore) because he's such a cutie.  
 
I didn't even begin on how their music.They are idols, but they can play instruments, do pop, rock, comedy and those wacky EitoRanger skits (that had me scratching my heads at first).

I sooooo can't w8!

I'm addicted to coffee and Sho (and the rest of the guys too).

So what do you call someone like me?

According to this shop... I'm a Coffee Sholic. ^_^ 

another funny sign in the streets of seoul

I'm not much of a nature person. Nor am I Buddhist.

So I wasn't that excited to go on a templestay. But I couldn't think up of any excuse NOT to go. They were all saying, you're a foreigner, so you should at least try it once.

We went off on a road trip, which took us more than 3 hours to the temple, near Seoraksan. It was my first time to go off to the mountains. I am constantly in awe of how beautiful the mountain ranges are --- so green and full of trees. It reminded me of going off to Baguio, except the roads are perfect and there are more trees here.

The temple itself was nice and pretty, nestled in between mountains and surrounded by forests. The air was so clean and smelled of rain. There were some nice parts, like trying to ring the bell and hit the huge drum.

The dinner was quite a pain. There were specific instructions about how to eat the meal... no clanging of the bowls or sounds of chopsticks, no talking, no mixing of rice with the side dishes, and so on. You can only take whatever rice and food you can finish because you can't leave any morsels of food. It is a good idea though, to not waste anything.

BUT... we had to wash the bowls with the water, and drink the water afterwards. It tasted of wet kimchi and rice. BUT that wasn't the worst part. They collected the water, and the group that had the dirtiest water was "punished"... each member of the group had to take a spoonful of water from the dirty water and drink it. UGH!!!!!!!! EWWWWWWW ... I am normally not this squeamish but I nearly gagged.

The next day, we woke up at around 3 am for some ceremonies, which we didn't participate in! We just watched the other people present the candles at the temple, and do the 108 bows. Not that I envied them doing the 108 bows. Then it was breakfast and community work.

All in all, we didn't think the templestay would be that hard, but it was.

That's how it went... we were tired, wet, hungry and did I say dead-tired? I'll never do this again!

SQ as a tour guide

The LV Soundwalk is a pretty cool idea.

Got some of the best known Chinese actresses to do an audio city guide for Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Then sell it as a downloadable mp3 for ONLY $17. Highway robbery I might say, but I guess for "luxury" travelers, it's a steal to have ShuQi as your own personal guide (or at least in their imagination).

So I listened to the ShuQi guide for HongKong. Listening to her narrate a love story, while dropping anecdotes about the tea house or cat street market, can be a bit unsettling. It's like she's whispering at your ear, and the sounds of the city seem so realistic. It mixes reality with fiction. This is why the LV people said it's like being in your own movie.

It does feel like being in a Wong Kar Wai film. The music. The words. The sounds of Hong Kong.

Now if only someone would send me to HK. I need a leading man of course. Preferrably Tony! (Sorry Carina, he's not yet married!).

StrawberrySwing

Coldplay

It's such a perfect day, it's such a perfect day...

Now, the sky could be blue,

I don't mind,

Without you, it's a waste of time.

-Strawberry Swing, Coldplay

Songs like this are why I still love Coldplay.

I loved their first two albums, but I absolutely hated X&Y!

So I wasn't too excited about Viva La Vida. But once I popped in the CD they sent over (along with a shirt), they lured me back in. Listening to the songs (especially this one) just made my rainy day a lot brighter.

Now, I'm getting all jealous because Coldplay will be at Summer Sonic in August.

Why can't Coldplay come here? All those Coldplay rumors can't be wrong, right?