Mr. UN

Got invited by my friend’s son to watch him compete at his school’s Mr. and Ms. United Nations 2013. I willingly agreed.

And he won! Congrats, Detdet!

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Of flowers and a funeral

Went to Rosario, Batangas yesterday for the funeral service of Manang Auring, a neighbor and mother of my friend Mylene.

I don’t really attend funerals, but I knew I couldn’t pass on that one. Mylene’s so dear to me I just had to be there.

The commute Saturday morning was so fast. Barely three hours. Been there last year to attend Mylene’s wedding but we chartered a jeep that time.

We also chartered a jeep for the funeral but they left Friday night. Couldn’t afford an overnighter so I just went there alone Saturday.

It was an easy feat, I even altered Mylene’s directions so I could get there fast. LoL! Went near Lipa market where jeeps bound for San Juan pass, instead of waiting for the jeep at Robinsons terminal to get full.

Walking alone from where the jeep dropped me off to Mylene’s house made me nostalgic of my solo out-of-town trips. Passing by farms, the smell of fresh grass and soil, the sun’s heat on my skin… And then I wondered what K and the rest of the kids were doing in Anawangin that time. LoL! No regrets, though. I knew I’d regret it more if I went to Anawangin and didn’t attend the funeral. As much as I value communing with nature, I value my human relationships more.

Arrived at Mylene’s house a few minutes before 9 a.m. After the pleasantries and stuff, I joined my younger neighbors. Time passed by so sloooowwww. I just amused myself with the flowers and the trees.

And then I realized flowers were more beautiful in pictures than they really are in physical form.

Everyone got emotional at the church, especially when the casket was opened and everyone cried. Seeing Mylene, who’s an only child, crying broke my heart. Haven’t seen her cry before, not even during her wedding (I always see brides cry during wedding speeches but not Mylene). And I guess the fact that she’s 8 months pregnant with her first child made it more painful. Had her mom lasted even just a month and a few days longer, she would’ve seen her first grandchild.

Anyway, superstition prevented Mylene from going inside the cemetery. She just stayed outside the gate with some cousins.

Her mom just got sick for eleven days before dying. According to the family, Manang Auring was in an El Shaddai service that Friday when she found it hard to breathe. She was rushed to the hospital and they found out her hemoglobin went so low. She had blood transfusions but her lab tests showed a lump inside her stomach. Doctors said it was malignant but barely in stage 1. They advised the family, though, not to have it removed cuz it had already caused complications in other organs of her body. They were told she only had a few days left.

Even fireworks come in groups

After the Lucy Hale meet and greet at SMX last Saturday, I headed to the Seaside Blvd. of MoA cuz I was supposed to meet my friend Jonget to watch the first Pyromusical this year with.

It was actually the first time I would be shooting fireworks with a DSLR and I haven't tinkered with the camera much so I expected fail shots early on.

I didn't buy tickets since the SMX event ended at 6-ish and I knew the sea wall area was already full. Aside from that, I was still waiting for my friend and it would be so hard to meet inside the ticketed areas. (It happened to me and my sister two years ago.)

I watched the show beside the shawarma stand near the Ferris wheel amidst the crowd that would like to watch the Pyromusical for free as well.

Anyway, the show ended without Jonget showing up. The last I ate was lunch, but I didn't want to eat alone so I went home with a grumbling stomach. I really find it hard to eat alone in public places on a crowded day. Sitting alone at a table amidst groups of people in a crowded resto makes me feel more alone. LoL! Not that I have a problem with being alone. I just find it awkward.

Jonget texted sometime later telling me he's already on his way to MoA. I texted him back that I was already on my way home.

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Lovin' Tanduay Ice

Two weeks ago, on a Friday, I went to K's around 11:30 PM. After a while we both got hungry and went to Mini Stop. We decided to cap the night with a can each of San Mig light and went home around 2:00 AM.

The result: he overslept and wasn't able to attend his Saturday swimming class.

Last night, I finished my backlogs early and saw him online on Facebook. I told him I'd come over. It was just 10 PM and we ended up at Mini Stop again. He doesn't have Friday classes anyway.

The baked macaroni he got was stale. LoL! He exchanged it for hotdog sandwich. I didn't eat my baked mac anymore even if it tasted okay. I lost my appetite upon knowing some of them at the shelves were stale. And I made a mental note not to buy baked mac from Mini Stop anymore.

I just got doughnuts and C2 and I was a happy camper.

And since he could wake up late on Fridays, we decided to have Tanduay Ice. We sat at the table outside since you can't drink anything alcoholic inside Mini Stop.

Ang sarap ng kwentuhan with Tanduay Ice.

On our second bottle, the guard approached us and said they also don't allow drinking on their tables outside, explaining they don't carry permits for that. We told him we'd just finish the bottle off and go.

Nanay called me around 12:30 AM telling me to go home already. LoL! K didn't wanna go home yet, though, cuz we were so having fun talking about random stuff (mostly about mountains and... mountains). I told him we'd just do it again next Thursday night. His reaction: "Ang tagal pa no'n!"

LoL!

Vain!

It seems that Blogger won't upload pictures to its servers. I thought it's a problem with Windows Live Writer (which I use) so I logged in to my Blogger account to create a post the old fashioned way (thru an internet browser). But alas! Blogger still won't upload the pictures.

Anyway, Resty (Princess' dad) slept over last Monday. I was actually surprised when he called up and said he's here in the country. I eventually learned that he cut his vacay short due to some "technical glitches."

He brought with him a big bottle of Jose Cuervo. It was my first time to drink tequila. I was already numb when we finished the bottle.

The presence of Resty actually reminds me that I should be at least a little vain. I'm turning to look like his assistant with all the sun I get from mountain climbing.

Solution: I should get him to climb with me so he'd look ulikba as well.

And speaking of mountain climbing, I've been surfing TNF's website as of late. Been looking for a daypack with hydration system. And here are my picks (just picks, I still have no cash to spend):

TNF Animas 12 (bladder included) - $95-$99 (mall price here: P5690)
TNF Gunnison 18 (bladder included) - $115 (mall price here: P6590)
TNF Enduro 30 (bladder NOT included ) - $99

Well, for now, my Hawk daypack would do.

Defriended

An old friend of mine deleted her Facebook account and made a new one… and hasn’t added me since.

I wouldn’t know she deleted her previous account if I hadn’t noticed I was commenting with myself in one of my wall posts. She deleted her account, hence, her comments on her friends’ posts/pictures were also deleted.

Okay, perhaps she has just overlooked me when she was adding friends in her new account, but the incident – of when I wasn’t informed when she deleted her account (OC much?) – made me curious to find out who deletes me on Facebook.

Haven’t you ever wondered why at one point you have 980 friends, then all of a sudden it becomes 979? You can’t possibly go through all of your remaining 979 friends to see who’s missing, no?

I checked G about applications that tell who deleted me on Facebook, but everything seems to have already been disabled by FB.

And since I can’t find any app for that purpose, I’ll just say “WHO CARES IF YOU DELETED ME ON FACEBOOK?” LoL!

Okay I like being friends with everyone, it’s just that if you don’t wanna be my friend, so be it. But still, I wanna know who doesn’t wanna be my friend. Haha!

Bulacan!

I was in Pandi, Bulacan yesterday to visit Richard, a newlywed old friend who's just home for the wedding and the holidays. He's working abroad and will be going back there on New Year's day.

I went with other old friends, mostly from the neighborhood.

Reunions are really fun. The 6 hours we spent there was the best.

I couldn't help but eat chicken, though, cuz I had no choice. I should have brought some veggies. I was kinda lucky, though, cuz someone gave us chopseuy while they were drinking.

Imagine being in front of these when I was just starting to be a vegan again:

But it's all good cuz they didn't nag about my "no drinking" anymore. Although they kinda didn't approve of the vegan stuff. Oh well, they'll get used to it.

But I faced my first weird photo experience last night. I haven't had any orb in any pics before. But look at this:


This particular pic was taken by Danilo to prove that the orbs in the first pic (which I can't show) wasn't just an error in digital photo processing chuva.

Grabe I had goosebumps all over throughout the walk.

The ride home was smooth as it was a Sunday night, aside from the Bocaue part which was so slow. We originally planned to buy New Year firecrackers on our way home, but it was late and they were all drunk.

I wasn't able to go on the internet the whole day, only once to check my Facebook on my phone, but then I lost connection after that. And just when I was so itching to log on when I got home, PLDT disconnected on me right after I clicked on Facebook's "Login." Still no internet when I woke up this morning. I only got connected about 10 am.