I will no longer blog here. I've had this blog for the longest time. I need a change.

My new blog is at: http://songsonshuffle.blogspot.com

It was a good four years, LJ. =)

VILLAGE VOGUE PROUDLY ANNOUNCES A MODELING, ACTING, AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP FOR 3 years old and above.

MAKE YOUR LIFE WORTHWHILE THIS SUMMER

THE WORKSHOP INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING:
- Artistic Drama Workshop (Includes stage, TV, commercial and film acting, hosting, personality enhancement and modeling)
- Speech and Personality Development

Workshop Fee: PHP 5,500 for 15 sessions

Mode of Payment:
Initial Payment of 1,750.00 upon registration
Every session: P250.00

Registration starts: March 9, 2009
Classes start on: April 13, 2009

FOR INQUIRIES, CALL:
414-0961/ 633-4560
0916-3843879 / 0917-5004560
10 West Capitol Drive, Barangay Kapitolyo, Pasig City

Re-post from Facebook:

OA!!! THIS IS LOOONG. TAGGED BY: NEI, LIEZA, SAM, SHARA, ANGEL, TIM, TRISH, AND WENG!


Once you've been tagged, write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you.
If I tagged you, it is because I want to know more about you.

To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on you profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type 25 random things, tag 25 people in right corner of app then click publish.



1. I don’t eat disgusting-looking food. For example: tahong (because they look like cockroaches) or dinuguan (because it looks like mud)

2. I don’t have a birthday this year. Again. The next one’s on February 29, 2012.

3. My Korean students cannot believe that I’m Filipino. They think I’m Japanese. In fact, one of my male students kept staring wide-eyed at my legs and he said in disbelief, “You’re white!” What the hell does that mean?!

4. I’m a misunderstood and underestimated person. Only a privileged few ever really see that I can be sagacious and sensible when I’m in the mood, and that I’m not always just fun and games.

5. This happened years ago, but this is still worth mentioning. Jay Manalo wanted to go out with me. Wahaha! He kept texting me late at night saying, “Coffee tayo” and when I said, “Ano ka ba, may asawa ka na!” he said, “Bakit? Bawal na ba makipag-friend ang may wife? Tsaka malay mo, hindi na masaya ang pagsasama. He he he.” Manwhore.

6. Even after performing a million times, I still get stage fright.

7. When I was a child, I was TERRIFIED of the sound of church bells. We lived near the church and every time I heard the bells tolling, I would hide under the table, cover my ears, scream, and shake Emily Rose-style. At one point, my mom thought I was possessed by a demon.

8. I eat every three hours because I get bored easily.

9. I’d like to be a voice talent. I think I can nail it. I can be a baby, a lola (with the matching expressions like “aru!”), a slut (I’m just talking about the voice here!), or a Brit (or Britney, pwede rin). In fact, I used to be able to imitate the voices of all the Meteor Garden characters.

10. My sometimes bad hearing is the reason why my “inner jologs” comes out. Like when Ingkay said, “Meet tayo sa SICILIAN Express” and I said, “Sige. Saan ba yung SINIGANG Express?” and when she said “Nung birthday ko, nag CASINO ako,” to which I responded, “Wow, sarap! TOCINO!” Napghahalataan! Wahaha!

11. I have a LOOOT of nicknames coined by a lot of people: Nadine (Scott Moffatt. Long story), Dindin (my childhood name), Takawtina (c/o Dale), Bogart (c/o Bundi), Honeypot (c/o Marichit), Wildchild (c/o Tot), Susan (c/o Jim), Poohkies (c/o Jim. Bwiset ka!), Binibining Alas Kwatro (c/o Jim again. Nakakarami ka na ah!), Pukelya (c/o Ellen), Britney (c/o the freshmen batch 2005? 2006?), etc. Whew!

12. I know this is so OFW, but I really, really dream of working in another country and living there by myself, even for a while. I believe that one will never truly attain independence until he experiences being a fish out of water. And what could be more “out of your comfort zone” than being in an unfamiliar territory?

13. I’m really anal about grammar and spelling. I stress about the smallest details like knowing the difference between “filling up,” “filling in,” and “filling out.” It’s a gift, I think. An annoying one.

14. I used to annotate my books (not textbooks ha, as in my novels!) because I love beautiful quotations, and then Daene pointed out that that was too geeky of me, and I realized I wanted to preserve my books, so I stopped adding footnotes. However, I could not help it, so now I just have a notebook where I write down all the quotes. Does that make me less geeky?

15. Here’s the real reason why I became a Christian: it was because I thought I was living the life (parties, boys, etc.) then I realized that “pleasure” does not exactly mean “happiness.” In short, I asked, “Is this all there is?” Then I found God. Or He found me.

16. Summer na! Eh ano ngayon? I’m not a beach person. I will only swim in the beach if it’s already past 4:00 because I don’t want to get dark. (Hence, the nickname “Binibining Alas Kwatro.” See #11)

17. Since I became single in ’05, I made sure that my Valentine’s Day would still rock, so they were always themed (except for last year because I made other plans). I’ve tried “New York Style,” where I forced myself to cry over a sad movie (Wicker Park) with Chinese takeout and ice cream, and “Rebellious,” where I went to an artsy party alone, not knowing anyone, then getting drunk by myself in a bar in Makati.

18. I’m hoping my Valentine’s Day this year wouldn’t have to be themed because I’d be spending it with the guy I’m super smitten with. I’m very, very happy with this guy.

19. I check out girls sometimes. Those topless girls in the sauna in Fitness First have no idea...

20. I am currently looking for more sidelines... singing, writing, hosting, whatever! If anyone needs a raketera, I’m just here!

21. I don’t smoke and I don’t drink much. I don’t have to. I already act as if I’m stoned, anyway. Besides, I got traumatized after I puked all over the floor of Royal Subic.

22. When I was still a student, I made money out of being a “ghost writer” for my classmates. They would pay me as much as P500 to do their papers! I brought Recto to St. Paul!

23. Heartbroken people seem to be drawn to me. For the past two months, random people have been contacting me, asking me out for coffee or dinner because they needed to vent their woes. Do I look like an expert on the topic?! Oh well, I’m not complaining. I get free coffee and dinner for my, er, services.

24. I love babies and little kids.

25. Confessions of a shopaholic: I love dressing up, so I love shopping... but only in bazaars, thrift stores, and stores on sale. Gotta be practical! Besides, why buy a P700 dress from Mango when you can get one that looks EXACTLY the same for P300?

Studying and learning are two very different things. Learning is discovering, unfolding, expanding your knowledge. In short, learning is fun. But studying?! Ack! Noooo! It is SO not my favorite thing to do. When I was taking up my first semester certification courses in UP, I did not complete my requirements without tears. The first half of that semester, I was still slaving off in advertising and sometimes did not get to go home until 10:00 PM or later, and the other half of it, I was with my new company, teaching English from 1:00 to 9:00 PM. That means I had very little time – and energy – to study and write 40-page papers after work. I expected the worst and thought, “I’m not going to make it...” P13,000 down the drain, I thought. That sucks, considering I worked hard for that money.

So I had the shock of my life when I saw my final grades: 1.25 and 1.00 for Psychology of Reading and Second Language Teaching, respectively!!! I blinked about 10 times just to check if my eyes were not deceiving me.

A day before that, I e-mailed the UP Open University Registrar’s Office to ask for a copy of my grades. So they finally sent it to me:

( Read more... )

I'm not exactly superstitious, but since last year, I've started to believe that what you do on the first day of the year determines what you will do for the rest of it. In 2007, I spent New Year's Eve partying at Mati, and that year was the pinnacle of my partying. In 2008, I was crying over a boy, and he was the reason for my tears until about the half part of the year. So for 2009, I decided, superstition or no superstition, I would start it right so I could live it right.

And what could be more right than to introduce the person dearest to you to your family? =)

I'm writing about this because this is something I want to remember forever. I want to relish every single detail about it because for me, it is one of the rarest and boldest things I've ever done... and because it was, without question, one of the happiest nights of my life so far.

I've been going out with someone who I feel is God's gift to me. I will even go as far as to say that this is the person I want to end up with someday. But "someday" is still too far away, so I'm taking it one step at a time. In 2009, my wish is for us to be together this year, so we thought that that's how we should start the first day of the year.

The thing was, we usually have our family reunion every January 1, and my mom thought that bringing him along to meet the entire family was not a very good idea. "I haven't even met him yet and you're introducing him to everyone else already?" That was her concern. In the car, she was even asking me, "Ano ba yan, boyfriend mo na ba yan? Seryoso ka ba diyan?" And without flinching, I replied, "Oo." She finally resigned but I could tell that she was not happy with my decision. At that time, I admit, I was getting a little miffed with my mom and felt that she could not understand that this would make me happy.

I have dated so many guys in the past and have never brought them home to meet my family. I did, once, but we broke up after that so technically, they did not really get to know the person. In a way, we were all considering this as a first. I was still unsure up to the very last minute if this was the best move, when I realized that, if anything, I was doing the proper thing by letting him meet my family. It was my way of telling them, "This is the person I want to be with. I hope you're okay with that."

On our way to my uncle's house, I was being eaten alive by worry. My heart was thumping so hard and fast, I felt like it was going to burst. I was afraid of two things: one, that my family would not like him and would slight him, and two, that he himself would realize that he does not need to do big things like this for me. I sent him a text message that said, "I appreciate so much that you're doing all these things for me and trying to understand me. But I'm worried that you might be fed up one day and realize that you don't need to subject yourself to this." I didn't get a reply.

About an hour later, he finally arrived outside my uncle's house and I went out to get him. We had a little discussion before going inside because I wanted to prepare him, and also at the same time, I wanted him to assure me that whatever happens, he will not back out of what we have already started to build. He jokes me about that, how I always need his assurance on things. That time, I really did. So with a deep breath, we both went inside.

All of them were eating in the dining area when we walked in, so when we got there, all eyes were on us. On him, rather. Major awkward moment. And because the whole "introducing to the family" thing was new to me, even I lost my composure and started mumbling in a barely audible voice, "Umm... umm... friend ko po." I even forgot to mention his name. So for a while there, they thought his name was "Efren" until one of my cousins said, "Hindi Efren! Sabi ni Ate Nadine 'my friend'!" Hahaha!

Of course, I pointed out my mom to him first, then everyone else. Attempting to break the ice, my Tito Jun asked him, "What are your intentions with my niece?!"... in a joking manner, of course!

They told us to go out first so we could eat. I think that was their way of saying, "Go out so we can talk about you two!" I let them, hoping and praying their first impression of him was good and that they were not being judgmental.

I bumped into my Tito Randy (the owner of the house we were in) and asked him if we could go up to my cousin Matt's room. To my surprise, he started speaking in English in a call center agent kind of way (suma-slang si Tito!), "Yes, yes, you can go up this way. Feel right at home!" I burst into laughter and said, "Wahaha! Bakit mo siya ini-English?!" My Tito said, "Bakit, marunong ba siya mag Tagalog?" I was like, "Huh?! Oo naman!" And he said, "Ah, akala ko kasi Fil-Am siya." What the hell?! He SO does not look Fil-Am! I'm even more fair-skinned than he is! Wahaha! Crazy Uncle!

After spending a few minutes with my cousins in one of the rooms, we decided to go down and join everyone else. At that time, I told him to go ahead while I talk to my cousins, Christel and Angel. They told me what the Titos and Titas were saying after they met him. Nothing negative, thank God! They just said, "Wala naman. Nagulat lang sila kasi hindi ka naman daw nagdadala ng lalaki sa pamilya" and "Nagtuturuan pa nga sila. Parang, 'Oy ikaw, i-entertain mo!'" Hahaha! When I finally stepped out to stay with him... ABA! They were all drinking and telling jokes with him! They were actually making fun of my mom, who was singing along with the Videoke and totally botching all the songs. They were all telling her, "Hoy! Diba inyo yang Videoke? Mag-practice ka muna sa bahay niyo!" and then telling my guy, "Baka akala mo ganyan pamilya namin ah. Siya lang yung ganyan." I forget what else they were talking about, but they were telling all these crazy jokes like this one that my Tito cracked: "Dati pumunta kami sa Macabebe, tapos may kasama akong Kano. Sabi ko, 'We're going to Macabebe!' Eh slang, sabi ba naman 'Oh, Make-A-Baby!'" Bwahahaha! Winner! Then my Tito warned him, "O ganito dito ah. Laging may inuman. Kaya sa susunod na gathering, maghanda-handa ka na." To which my Tita replied, "Sana buhay ka pa nun!" My Tito then said, "Sana hindi ka pa busted nun!" And then my other Tito said, "Busted, eh umaakbay na nga eh!" Then they all roared in laughter and yihee's. So I whispered to him, "Huwag tayong masyadong mushy!" Hahaha!

While they were all busy guffawing and being men (even my Titas were being men), my very soft-spoken grandmother who was beside me, holding my hand, asked, "Kailan ba ang date?" Date of what? "Aba'y eh di yung date ng kasal!" HU-WAAAT?! Hahaha! We aren't even officially in a relationship yet, and they're already hearing wedding bells?! Although there was one very special moment there when we were talking. My grandmother, fragile and somewhat innocent, asked me, "Siya na ba?" and gave her the answer that came straight from the heart: "Sana."

In the end, everything went pretty well. My Tita Cynthia even brought him home.

I know I did the right thing by bringing him to my family reunion. =)