Picture Break

I know I should be above all this, because I will most definitely cross paths with more of her type in the future, but I just so wanna throttle some lady in Bulacan right now!

Grrrr......

When oh when will the turn-over happen?!

Alright my ranting is over, moving on to happier things, like my vacation pictures :)

This is my granparents' house. My tatay and his siblings grew up right in this very house. I remember being amazed at the sheer number of books, Readers Digests and National Geographic magazines in their bookshelves. I must have devoured so much "Laughter is the Best Medicine" in one summer that I actually sent in an entry which sadly did not get published *sniff*

The view from the front yard, Dalutan Island.

The first generation with their gold shirts.

The second generation in their blue shirts.

The third generation in our lavender shirts. My brothers and I didn't follow the color scheme for that day. That's right, we're the rebels! Grrrr...

The third generation sang a medley of songs as an intermission number. Sadly, Michie and I didn't know half of the lyrics, so we amused ourselves with some narcissistic activities.

Here's another such activity with Michie and Lee.

My parents dancing the cha-cha. My mom looks deliriously happy because my tatay finally agreed to dance with her.

Drago bugging our grandparents for the nth time.

Santi and I posing at a ledge in front of a cemetery. Part of the activities was a visit to the graves of deceased relatives. Fun times right there.

The extremely pregnant Menchu. Doesn't it look as if she's about to burst from the photograph?

There was even a musuem with pictures of the old folks when they were younger. My favorite though was the display of the past Reunion t-shirts. It's amazing that they were able to find a shirt from the very first reunion, way back in the early 80s

This was taken at the island in front of my grandparents' house. It's a 15 minute banca ride away and the water is just fiiiine.

After a quick dip in Dalutan Island, we went to the fishpond. The view on the way there is fantabulous.

The ride home.

Catching the sunset on our way home.

There are more pictures from the Reunion but these are my favorites.

I can't wait for the next mini-break :)

I'm Back!

So that was my mini-break. Thanks to Tatay's PAL Mabuhay Miles I had a roundtrip ticket to Tacloban to attend the 8th Family Reunion. And now that I know that these miles are transferrable... :) :) :)

These reunions are much anticipated events in my family. I think I missed the last two ones so I was more than eager to go to this latest one. As always, I was amazed by the sheer number of our family.

This year, the generations were color-coded into: gold-first, blue-second, lavender-third and pink-fourth. There must have been around 100 people present during the 3 day affair, so Agta Beach became a melange of bubble-gummy colors.

It seemed as if the each generation grew exponentially from the one preceding it. The first generation had ten(?) siblings. Now each sibling, together with their respective spouses, had an average of 6-7 children while those children (this time practicing restraint) had an average of 3-4 children. But it doesn't stop there because the third generation has also begun spawning...

Now I understand why at a very young age I was under the impression that I was related to EVERYONE in the island of Biliran :)

Pictures to follow soon.

Mini Break

I didn't think I'd be leaving Luzon the entire summer but admittedly, I could be wrong at times.

I'll see you all in a few days!

Block Ko 'To!

Toni Coo's block writeup for the yearbook. Needless to say, it was a labor of love :)

C2006 is all about the grand manner

Kakaiba talaga ang C2006. Madrama, makulit, makulay. A curious bunch of men and women, all very fascinating personalities were destined for great things together in Malcolm Hall. Fate brought the members of this block together by the simple expedient of choosing the "right" folder. How unique C2006 would become, no one knew. Nobody told us that the right folder would bring us to this point saying, "YEAH!!! Life begins at 4C!"

As a block, we somehow banded together and bonded together and became thick as thieves. Perhaps it was finding that life suddenly revolved around the 3-inch stack of consti cases broken only by sporadic banana Q, coffee, taho breaks. Mababaw lang ang kaligayan ng C2006. Mapa-isaw lang tuwing alas-kwatro, sabay dirty ice cream, solb na. By the end of freshman year, the block had been dubbed, care of our inimitable VP, "1C the best policy." That year, we found that professors enjoyed teaching the block because we would laugh unabashedly at whatever corny joke they could pitch.

We discovered denizens of C2006 had no compunction executing the legendary "radyo;" Such talents would help members of the block, and any wayward soul who eventually ventured into C2006 territory. The latter would find that Laban!! is a constant battlecry even with non-existent preparation for the day's recit; your blockmate/classmate will save you, kahit manggaling pa sa kabilang dulo ng classroom yung nag iisang kopya ng assigned reading..

Notoriety showed us that when it comes to unity, "2C is to believe." That was just the beginning of a wild ride in the rollercoaster that is Malcolm Hall. We learned that our block would do everything possible to help a fellow blockmate – even come up with a now infamous fact sheet. (Said infamous fact sheet became our ticket to notoriety.) Having just been the naïve freshmen we were, the backlash took us quite by surprise.

However, from the ashes of such naivete, C2006 Creates was born in every reviewer we came up for each subject that year. Determined that not another comrade would be sacrificed to the whims of law school, after two-hour "class meetings," C2006 got our shit together and appointed Digest Master Dextah. And more than that, under the aegis of Ang Batas prez, Kei, we threw the grandest Inter-C party in recent history. Said party solidified the wise saying found in the second floor men's restroom, "C lang ang marunong mag par-tay!" Forever after, we would set the bar high whenever C2006 executes an event. This was proven again with the Awards Night-themed Malcolm Madness. We take great pride in actually putting the madness in the College's annual presentations. We had ambiance, we had videos, but most especially, we had Cold Hard Cash to "donate" to Bar-ops that year. We didn't just manage to raise funds, C2006 also acted as Bar Secretariat under Woowee's OC-ness. Never had the secretariat's records been as organized and pristine.

As juniors, C2006 settled into law school life, if you can call what we did "settling." All of a sudden, individual members of the class started to make their mark not just in Malcolm Hall, not just in UP, but also to the world.

On the homefront, there was Jomi's "Pro Manalo Ako" Campaign for LSG PRO and later Aman's stint as LSG Executive Board President. Mr. JP Colet's controversial capture of the Philippine Collegian's Editorship didn't only bring the College of Law to University-wide spotlight, all the fuss has also taken JP to his fifteen minutes of fame on local tv.

It doesn't stop there – our Talented Mr. Rabe, as a member of the College's International Humanitarian Law Moot Court Team, brought home the Best Oralist from their Hong Kong competition. (as an aside, both UP's teams got the top prizes that year) Mark's debate feats don't end there, he's now part of the Philip C. Jessup Moot Court Team which won the 2005-06 National Rounds and is on his way to Washington. Now, if only Mark can end his constant struggles with OLA directors. Prez Kei also brought her amazing diplomatic skills to the General Assembly as Presiding Officer. Without realizing it, members of C2006 were becoming some sort of Ambassadors of Goodwill. We even had the heads of a couple of fraternities in the block. All these while C2006 carried on with the antics which kept classes hopping. That's "3C for you." We're crazy, but great.

At the start of senior year, while C2006 stands by the dictum "Life begins at 4C," the block can't help but lug around the moments that set us together on this part of our journeys. We've had some blockmates bid adieu, but we're like elephants, we don't forget. So kasali pa rin dito sina Ami, Ella, Tek, Jonep, Euge, Hannah, Elaine and Tatay Mon, pati yung mga nandito pa sa law pero nagsimula bilang C2006 like Bobbie and Dondon.

Part of how C2006 keeps sane is resident street dance goddess Heidi's infamous reminder – "I've got a life, too, you know." So it has been proven by the fact that the block has had a couple of weddings and a lot of babies. Individual lives beyond law school have become intertwined with the fabric of C2006 block personality – we're just as interested in hearing about Tara's six-year-old Toby's memorized NBA stats, gush over Jomi's toddler Julianna's pictures, visit Ella's ton-pounder Ryan, or play with Issa's brood.

Being seniors, OLA plays a large part in C2006 law life. We go to hearings that get postponed for the opposing counsel who is indisposed. We would like to tell them: Mommy Issa's astonishing post-natal recovery should be the standard for what constitutes being "indisposed." After giving birth to Daddy Prof's third Apo, Issa was back in Malcolm TWO days later. Nothing more can be said of our amazement.

It's difficult to identify exactly which part ensured that the block would become a block. Maybe it was that point when Agabin asked whether a death row convict had rights and the Goddess Juno answered, "Yes, they have rights to a last meal." Maybe it was that point when the Ladies issued the men of C2006 A Perpetual Invitation To Lunch and/or Dinner because they would be so madrama and whine about not being included in meal plans. Perhaps it was really those two-hour class meetings that did it, with Maha's tearful "wag naman tayo mag-away" as an award-winning moment. Or maybe it was that case that spawned the term of endearment, "Nagget." Actually, it could even be the out of town trips where the most pressing detail is where to stay that wouldn't cost the salt of the earth. Any which way we look at it, C2006 became a block to be proud of. Heck, we could even survive Tintin's homicidal tendencies. Di lang kami kapamilya, kapuso pa.

Surviving each other's quirks was not as difficult as surviving the rigors of school. More than the case digests and reviewers peppered with jokes and song lyrics, we've shared the tribulations and hilarity of Malcolm Hall. We've become besprens, bandmates, ka-batch, soulies and seatmates; we've found the charmed ones, the puppies, and friendship. We frequent Sabitskipoint. We are entertained by the Drama King. We are led by the Council of Elders. We are C2006. And thanks to boss Jong, we're going to have the best yearbook. Sabay-sabay tayo: Block ko 'to.

28 and Counting

We celebrated my parents' 28th wedding anniversary at Vivere Skyline last night.

The whole troop wasn't present because one boy was in Bacolod; the other in QC with his in-laws; and the other watched some violent, testosterone-filled match. In the end, only Krissy and I went with our parents for dinner.

I've always loved Vivere. It's the nearest hotel here in the dirty south and it has such a quaint feel to it.

The Skyline had a fantastic view of Laguna lake and there were even some fireworks midway through our meal. I wonder how they knew that it was my parents' wedding anniversary?:)







Happy anniversary mama and tatay!

More years, more love.

********

These kids crack me up :)

Gone Too Soon

For a few days now, I've been denying what was right in front of me. I thought that if I just gave it more time, things would go back to the way they were.

But it hasn't.

Soozy's gone :C

There goes my daily dose of tsismis. Once again, the upper echelon gets the final laugh. Palagi na lang ba ganito?! :p

Here is a cache of Soozy's old page, but I don't know how long it will last so better pounce on it as soon as you can.

Carlos Celdran also wrote about Soozy here and here.

G's take on it is right here.

I'm not sure if I'm just comforting myself, but I have a strange feeling that we haven't seen the last of Soozy just yet. Nosiree.

Stork News

It looks like the stork will be very busy this year.

First, my cousin's wife, Andrea, gave birth to a lovely baby girl. Everyone say hello to baby Sofia!

Andrea and Sofia

Kuya Oliver and Sofia

The good news is that both mom and baby are doing well, even if Sofia was born prematurely. She still had about a month to go left before her expected date of delivery, but I guess she decided that it was time to go out and meet the world.

Our family just keeps on getting bigger and bigger :)

The stork will also be making a stopover at the Camuas in about seven months time carrying with it Dean and Rosella's honeymoon baby.

It's still quite surreal for me that she's actually going to be a mommy soon. I guess I still think of Ella as my high school classmate who was once obsessed with Hello Kitty items. So much so that for her 14th birthday, everyone gave her Hello Kitty themed gifts (from erasers to stuffed toys). But now, the once Hello Kitty fanatic is going to have a baby by the end of the year.

That circle of life song sure comes to mind right now.

I wonder who's next? :p

*********

FINALLY! My Marie Claire May issue arrived today.

If a subscriber, who paid in advance, receives her copy in the middle of the month, what's the point in subscribing?! I might as well just buy off the newsstands.

Oh well. Let's just hope that this was merely a first-issue kink that will be more or less sorted out by next month.

Ever the optimist, that's me!

Addict

Hello. My name is Jill and I'm an internet addict.

I never really realized the extent of my internet dependence until we lost our connection last Friday. It was some techie, mumbo-jumbo explanation that I'm sure I don't care about but the bottomline was, we had no internet for almost 5 days!!!

That was really horrible and I hope we never go through that ever again.

At first we thought that the lack of internet connection was merely a disturbance brought about by the typhoon, so we all just laid back and brought out the CSI DVDs. But when Sunday arrived and everyone in the entire archipelago seemed to have regained their internet powers, except us, it was more than apparent that something was terribly wrong.

I felt so helpless calling the PLDT help line because all they say is that they'll forward the report. Although, in fairness to them, I knew that that was the most they could actually do. They couldn't very well fix whatever was wrong themselves because that was not part of their job description and I doubt they had the technical know-how to do so.

Anyway, this is all just deja-vu. All this has already been overplayed about two years ago.

I guess since time immemorial PLDT DSL has always had a few kinks to iron out.

******

Last weekend, I met the cousin of a cousin.

Actually, it's not really important whose cousin she is, just that her boyfriend looks like a certain Hollywood actor :)



******

Dear Santi,

You know that stinky, yucky, smelly wrist support you have for your PC in your room? Well it's gone. I hid it and you'll never be able to find it.

Instead of that aforementioned stinky, yucky, smelly wrist support, I bought you this super cute, glow-in the dark cow wrist support!



You can thank me when you get home from Cebu. But if you don't feel like thanking me, remember that KRISSY made me do it.

Hope you're having fun with your buddies in Cebu!

Love,
Ate Jill

Finally!

The rainy season has arrived!

Finally, a respite from that icky, muggy summer heat.

Excuse me while I run around outside in joyful abandon.













Okay I'm back :)

Seeing that the weather has become all gloomy and iffy of late, the question is will the Puerto Galera choir summer outing push through tomorrow?

Here's the weather forecast in Calapan for the next few days. (Please click on the picture to view in a new window)



Oh well, whether we go or not, thank God for the rains!

Lucky Girl

Yesterday, as I was about to pull out of the Malcolm Hall parking lot, I noticed that it was difficult to shift the gear into reverse. I tried a couple of times but it seemed stuck and even made this awful noise. A few tries later, the stick shift finally cooperated, or so I thought.

While traversing Katipunan, it became more and more difficult to shift gears. Finally, while I was going through the tunnel, difficult became impossible. Once I shifted to neutral, the stick shift would no longer budge no matter how much pressure I exerted on it. It was so bad that I had to move over to the side and put the hazard lights on, because I was obviously not going anywhere any time soon.

I then did what any independent, self-reliant and pro-active girl would do, I called my dad and my boyfriend. In that order.

While I was waiting for G to save my damsel in distress self, I realized just how blessed I was because even if the car's transmission was all fried and useless, it conked out in broad daylight within a stone's throw away from a Goodyear Servitek station.

I make the QC-Paranaque oddyssey several times in a week, usually during the wee hours of the morning and I've never had any accident or any engine failure. Then suddenly, the car breaks down at 2pm on a busy street practically beside a car repair center.

Yup, somebody up there loves me :)

*****

Is this for real?

Is there really such a movement? I don't like scruffy guys too, but I think that's taking it a bit too far!

Boys Talaga... :p

I was on desk duty this afternoon at OLA. That basically means that I would attend to the walk-in applicants, the clients making follow-ups and all sorts of humanity that enter our doors. It's not a difficult job but it can get hectic at times, particularly when the people drop by in droves.

Anyway, this afternoon was unusually slow so I decided to just use one of the unoccupied PCs to check on the latest hollywood news. I asked A, who was on phone duty, to just holler when someone walked in. He was engrossed in his reviewer so he just gave a quick nod and a dismissive wave.

A few minutes later, I heard him calling me. Duty called so I closed the open window and began to stand up. I was surprised when A suddenly told me that he'd attend to the new walk-ins. I protested because I knew he had to study, but he was adamant. "It's okay" he said "I'll interview them" while quickly ushering them to an empty booth.

Now that was very weird, to say the least. No law intern would voluntarily assume another intern's responsibility unless the latter was swamped with work. And as I already said, I was just hobnobbing with Britney and K-Fed when the walk-ins arrived. Yup, was definitely busy there. Obviously, this had to be investigated.

A quick peek into the booth revealed a very happy looking A, a middle-aged lady and a pretty woman in a tight pink shirt with very ample assets.

Normally, an interview would take 15-20 minutes but 40 minutes later, A and his new found friends were still deep in conversation.

N, another male law intern, passed by the booth, accidentally glanced inside and started grinning like an idiot.

Boys talaga, just show them some D cups and they'll be as happy as clams.

Awwwww.....

Pilgrims

We all need something to believe in and today, I went with my mom to Lipa, Batangas in an effort to rekindle that kernel of faith I must have lost somewhere along the way.

With regard to religion, I'll have to steal my cousin's statement and declare that I too am a Catholic with questions. Perhaps that statement itself reeks with a barrage of ironies because part of Catholicism (or so I've been told) is the full surrender of one's self to God and His mysterious ways. I find this difficult to reconcile with the concept of freedom and how God gave us this freedom as his greatest gift/curse.

Anyway, before I overwhelm everyone with my profound ideas (note the sarcasm!), let me just go back to what this post was originally about, today's road trip to Lipa.

So yeah, we went to Lipa for my mom's monthly pilgrimage. I almost begged off the trip because it was oppressively hot and my neck rash had worsened. Note to self: Never ever self-medicate again in the future.

I enjoy car rides outside of the city. Everyday, I see nothing but the concrete jungle and it's appurtenances, together with enormous images of Kris Aquino in various stages of undress. Understandably then, I yearn for a change in scenery, for a respite from the maddening everyday.

Car rides satiate that yearning in me.





I envy pilgrims and every person who actively seek for something. I envy the fact that they know exactly what it is they're looking for. You can only let the waves guide you for so long.



But I am not that arrogant to think that there is no higher power. I do believe and will continue believing. Although my search may take me to far flung places (figuratively and literally), I trust that my anchor will always bring me back to some safe harbor.

Today I lit five candles for the people I love, particularly those who will be taking the Bar this September. I would have lit more but there was a crowd behind me and I had ran out of coins for the "love offering".



Same time next month then?

Lunch Dates

The only thing worse than having lunch with the person you hate most in the world, is sitting between those two people who hate each other most in the world and then trying to get them to be civil with each other in order to come up with a compromise of some sort.

Well, guess who that third wheel was yesterday?

It was a disaster waiting to happen and I for one am glad that I'll be turning over this case right before it gets really messy. Good luck to the next law interns who will be fortunate enough to be assigned to this case :p

*****

While I could have done without my lunch dates from hell, I looked forward to my dinner date. Now that we're all grown up, I don't see as much of my cousin as I'd like to. So everytime I'm in Cebu or she's in Manila, we try to go out and catch up with each others' lives and adventures.

From snacks at this bridal one-stop center at the top of Glorietta mall to dinner in Kitaro (because Heaven and Eggs was full), it was fun, fun, fun all throughout. Good company is definitely priceless.

Taken a few years ago at a booth in Southmall

Clean House

Congratulate me, I was extraordinarily productive last night. Right after putting down the phone, I suddenly decided to clean out my desk drawer because I usually just dump things inside with the the thought of sieving through it later on. Of course, "later on" is very relative, and in this case, it has stretched to about a year.

So there I was, looking at past exams, medicine samples, scar removal cream samples, fiber drink samples (isn't it obvious I'm a doctor's kids), True copy of grades from undergrad etc. etc. When I'm in this mood, I usually keep a "ruthless" frame of mind. Nothing will be kept, nothing will be spared. However, I guess I missed a memo somewhere because I still end up with all sorts of knick-knacks from who knows where.

Anyway, while sifting through all that, I saw the scrapbooking materials I bought around a year ago. The original plan was to make a page on my then-unborn baby niece (we didn't even know then that she'd be a girl), however, she's now almost 8 months old and that page has still yet to see the light. The road to Hell and all that.

(clicking on the pictures will enlarge it)

I started this the summer before law school, around 2002

Baguio with Francis and Joacs. Hopefully, if my sched remains as is, I'll be able to make a trip north soon :)

I loooove Sagada! Can you imagine waking up to that view every single day?

Spelunking in a creepy cave with the lamp suddenly going off in the darkest, narrowest part of the cave. Later on, we were told that it was exactly in that place where the dead bodies of the foreigners were found the last time there was a flash flood and they got trapped inside. Argh!

My cleaning fit did not end there. After updating a few pages of my scrapbook, I still had enough energy left to go through a voluminous case file set for hearing on Wednesday. It seems that the client had gone on a suing frenzy so there were all sorts of pleadings, motions and their corresponding annexes in the file folder aside from our case.

After surveying the mess, I decided to come up with four folders. The first one contained all orders pertaining to Protection Orders and documentary evidence already presented. The second one contained all the transcribed stenographic notes (TSN). The third one had all the paperwork pertaining to the case history. While the fourth folder was labelled as "Miscellaneous".

If you put the first three folders on top of each other and then double their width, you'll have the fourth folder. Groovy.

Any one who knows me can attest that I'm not obsessive compulsive when it comes to organizing and stuff. I do not have multi-colored highlighters nor a pencil case full of assorted National Bookstore goodies. Instead, I have a much abused pink plastic case with two rats playing the violin in front and which contains 4 pieces of blue Dong-A 0.5 gel pens. That's it. My organizer is a freebie from Blessing's Copy Center and I think palms are what fortune tellers look at to see into your future.

But every now and then, a cleaning fit engulfs me, making me do things I normally wouldn't dare do, such as putting post-it flags on documents for easy perusing and making tables of contents. It must have been the full moon.

*********

Happy Birthday Riza!

The birthday girl in her transpo of choice, sandwiched between Randy and John.