the year that was

a random recollection of my life for the year that was...

*back to being an application developer in my company. i wasn't relieved of my old duties so that's doubling the load. not only am i the senior helpdesk analyst, i am the only magic, the name of our ticketing application, administrator. remember why i went to the states? to train the basics of administering magic. when i came back, i was suddenly taken off the project. i was asked to sub-admin it last year & due to my absence for months due to pregnancy complications, management yanked me off the project. i was half delighted & half antsy coz first, it lightened my load & for the latter, felt undependable & misled {i was sent to the states to train right?}. so while i was shopping for rayne's birthday dress, my supervisor rang me up & relayed the news that our magic admin unanticipatedly resigned so i was handed back, forcibly, the project again. not only wasn't there a choice, i was the only one technically capable. with that role, i was the benefactor of the previous admin's laptop, was provided a new phone, given VPN connection so i can work from home w/c frees my father from paying the DSL bills coz the company will now pay for it, & in a few days, secure a free parking pass clearing me from paying a P130 daily parking fee. fun? no. i don't define these frills as fun especially when i get called up wee hours of the morning or while i tend to my daughter to work on program bugs, etc. oh, i was denied a raise when i asked for one. the reply that i took was suppressing my motivation to still work for our company. but i had to work, i am being paid well enough, enough for my old duties though. i can't resign like everybody else coz i need the steady flow of cash to support my daughter.

*celebrated my daughter rayne's christening last february at the sto.domingo parish & lunch at the shangrila hotel

*celebrated my daughter rayne's 1st birthday last november at max's qc circle

*was the event planner for our company's 2006the xmas party

*i flew to the united states last march! my first time to fly international on more than 8 flight schedules to california, dallas, pennsylvania and several other stop overs. i was scheduled to travel end of 2005th but was delayed due to my pregnant condition. twas my first time to drive an automatic as well & i got to tell ya, everytime i touch metal anywhere outside the car, i get electrocuted! my colleagues up in our PA HQ told me that it was from the static which the tires collect when they thread the streets plus the very cold weather.

ok, places i've been to. i went to the historic dealy plaza in dallas, texas. it's the building where lee harvey oswald situated himself and shot JFK. it was weird coz while i was viewing the photos at the walls dramatizing the sequence of events, i got teary-eyed! he wasn't even my president!

in LA, i've been to a 'krispy kreme' donut store, to costco, walmart, the famous burger chain in & out, target, melrose place *found here the kewlest shops! if i get a chance to get back to america, i'll run to melrose again!*. i went to hollywood w/ my older cousin jason whom i've seen for the 1st time since they left for the states back when i was only 3 yrs. old. in hollywood it was my 1st to eat an all-american pizza w/ the huge size & all & my cuz brought me to the hollywood wax museum & to the guiness world of records. our last stop was at 'the yard' to drink up. i've been to the awesome universal studios amidst the drizzle w/ my tita who eventually left me by myself to go to work but i enjoyed my stay so much i wasn't ready to leave when my tito arrived to fetch me. i missed my daughter more when my cousin mica & my tita brought me to disneyland. rayne should've seen the spectacular parades rather than myself! ooohh, i am so gonna bring my daughter to hongkong's disneyland in the next 1 or 2 years. & ofcourse, i've been to las vegas! twas a more than a 5 hr drive from LA but it was worth it.

*been single for quite sometime now. that includes parenting my daughter alone. i guess now's the right time to finally announce this to the world as well as the fact that we are surviving very well. our bed fits exactly just for the 2 of us anyways.. *:)

many are anxious why i've been losing weight tremendously. the primary reason is what you see above. i don't see getting thin as a downside. i am actually content that i am able to lose far more from my pregnancy weight coz alot of my clothes especially pants now fit. also, i feel & look better don't 'ya think?

i've been fighting for this family since day 1 & i am tired. it's just hard when you are aware that someone is depending on you too much you won't care how far & how stupid you can go to achieve what that someone expects. but i failed, there's no turning back, there's only acceptance ahead..& i am learning to...coz i've got to..

i must've disappointed several people, especially my relatives. hey, i've tried my best? i have my daughter & that's the ONLY thing matters.

mom & dad, that's the answer to your questions hours ago...

*was introduced to prison break, csi miami & csi las vegas. these 3 series' perfectly but temporarily dulled the blues 'ya know. they were & are my allies everynight before i go to bed.

i finished prison break's season 1 & the 10 episodes of season 2. apparently, the season 2 dvd was sold at the earliest convenience to the buyers while the taping for a few more episodes wasn't even done yet. so i'm still chancing up on buying another copy, a complete one hopefully.

done with csi las vegas as well & these few weeks i've began watching csi miami's, courtesy of my father, season 1 & 2.

*i finally got rid of my braces. would you believe i've had braces for more than 5 years! no thanks to my pointless brace adjustments w/ my ortho, who basically neglected important dental practices such as "cleaning" my teeth before replacing the rubbers, using gloves while penetrating my mouth, washing hands!?, scheduling adjustments regularly..etc..etc..so i moved on to another dentist whom i was required to pay a thousand pesos every adjustment. she just removed my braces after xmas. now i am wearing retainers & this particularly is more annoying & uncomfortable! i'll wear 'em for maybe just a month.

*been visiting the mall more often to go to the baby section rather than to my department. ahihi!

*made music once again during our xmas party after more than 3 years!

*started my blog

*began seeing old friends more often than the 6 years before

*lost my dogs nala & chami *:(

*i have my own room!

*won some gadget more than 20T, my sony cybershot w-50. i'll be swapping it w/ a black colored next week

what am i looking forward to in the year 2007? a complete family more than anything else...

the party i planned

as early as october, my boss pinned me and shaun to take charge of this year's company xmas party . it came a bit of a burden coz i was also planning my daughter's first bday party for november. nevertheless, i felt an incoherent thrill in me bein' in charge of the whole IT group's xmas party this year.

in a few days i started looking for the perfect venue....in makati. that became a problem. i admit my profound dumbness when it comes to the streets of makati. i can go to work and back home but why the heck should i know which streets i've crossed?? teehee...so i just had to copycat the venue of our xmas party 2 years ago, or was that 3 years?

ok. i called the makati sports club, made arrangements & closed reservations w/ the only date doable, dec. 17th {a sunday}. then i began diverting plans from the usual. it required a unique taste of entertainment, i went hunting for a band to play, for a minimum fee ofcourse. the genre should be generous enough to each & everyone's ears. i couldn't ask my brother who plays hardcore rap/metal or else my audience would flee as soon as their singer growls or sing gibberish--ly. i couldn't ask my friend ayn who sessions for skies of ember, scarlet tears, matilda & for alot more accountable artists or else my audience would probably mumble "whaddey singin' about?" or "what's widda dispiritedness?". so i had to find the right tune. i looked for reggae music {who dislikes reggae right?!}. shaun mentioned to me that a reggae band played during a recent company party at the heckle & jeckle bar in makati. we researched & learned that one of the members was a..well, an ex-member. the band's name was hemp republic. i was reluctant to go lookin' out for the agent who's the ex band member so i used to internet to contact the band. i found in the internet a tandem of sisters who manages the band & a few more others. i was shocked to be proposed with a fee of 30T for 2 sets so i coyly mentioned that they recently played for the same company at heckle & jeckle. we made major amendments on the price tag and set tons of meets to sign the contract w/c eventually fell 2 or 3 days before the main date.

next was the mobile ofcourse. one that equips a band setup. prices were way too high i got frustrated, almost cancelling the band a month before. not until i rang a mobile provider who charged 40% less than the standard. yipee!

ok, ok. here's the crazy part. since i was in control of the party, i mused, why not be part of it? recollecting from my skcablenet era, i wanted to play again! i played guitar with a bunch of boys from the NOC back in my former company so why not do it again?

i asked shaun first, who surprisingly can play drums, then pope, who was equally excited as me, & can play lead. from him he mentioned james who can play bass. tony & jenny got easily hooked as well & were assigned the singers. then there was the band. we had successfully set a few practices at rehearsal studios in shaw & makati. some of us would come from late night shifts, breaks from their actual shifts, and as for me, 3 hours early from my shift. i borrowed my cousin's guitar & james bought his own bass guitar. our discussions about what to play, when to jam..etc..was literally the longest email thread i have in my inbox! we finalized & polished 5 songs & best of all, played 'em live!

alright, inbetween the jams i was dealing with which buffet to choose, which games to play, which prizes to buy, reserving rooms at a nearby hotel for those who wants to stay overnight, doing math with the company money during driving, jamming & working, dealing with the accounting policies crap...etc,etc... shaun was busy working on the team building activities earlier so i kept some of the responsibilities solo but i have no complains coz the outcome was awesome!

oh by the way, hemp republic's manager changed bands the last minute replacing hemp with top junk, tuesday vargas' disco punk/rock band. the manager promised that top junk's genre is easy on the ears & 'danceable'. i initially got disappointed since the materials for the venue decorations were of reggae colors & touch. that includes the banner & invitation designs. for a second i was already contacting another reggae band {who does not answer their mobile phones..geez} but then i realized the leverage this new band can give to my guests. tuesday's a celebrity! that'll grab anyone's attention no matter what song she sings!

shaun ordered the booze & got beer kegs & tequila. had to be at the venue 4 hours before to check on everything, feed the mobile staff, the decorators, pay whoever needs to be paid, sound check with the band and a lot lot more.

the party started late. every break there were raffle prizes given away. & i got the 2nd prize whadya know! a sony w50 cybershot. it wasn't cooked i promise, it was fate! for all the hard work i've done!*:)

top junk

that's marizel aka 'tuesday' of top junk after their set

my newfound bandmates

that's tim, top junk's impressive guitarist

top junk

ma groovy room

i mentioned before that i was able to take possession of the studio room that previously housed my uncle's family. after they moved, the room was completely renovated and bridged to our main house. that's where my daughter & i live & breath for months now. i'm totally not an artist so my walls are still blank. i took advantage of one of rayne's ninangs gifts, hello kitty curtains, and hanged 'em over my walls. it gave my room this supa groovy touch. adding to that appeal are my daughter's stuffed toys which give mo color to the room.

i recently bought a carpet that contrasts the hue of every other stuff in my space. i went for black & white. it has become my daughter's crawling space apart from our bed. i got a small black bean bag from divisoria for P150 and laid it on top of the new carpet. one of my daughter's ninangs gave her a tiny pink couch which she can settle on while watching her sesame street ABC's on DVD. it sits on top of the carpet as well.

i bought these artificats from divisoria as well for very cheap prices. the mask at the bottom was a gift from one of my workmates which she got from venice

as you can see, rayne's stuff appears in almost every corner of the room. i've got very little space to lay my own stuff!..but i'm not complaining. her things make our space smashingly grooovy.. *:)

marking rayne's 1st birthday

11/23rd, that's when i gave birth to my baby. her birthday celebration was held 2 days later but ofcourse we had to mark the main day by giving her one small party at her lola's home.

ryan's tito manny & tita lydia fetched rayne from our house in the morning to bring her to her lola's. ryan & i followed a little after lunch time. the celebration started late in the afternoon.

ofcourse her dad blew her 1st candle while i take the pictures. she received her first few gifts from ryan's tito abroad (those she's sitting on).

my baby's 1st yr progress: 2 lower front teeth. she can stand up for a few seconds, crawls everywhere, feeds 5x more, crawls in & out of bed, can chew larger pieces of food, dances when she hears any kind of music including my phone's ringtone {so funny when she does it!}.

after max's...

some of my friends stayed and accompanied us back home. i had no after-party thoughts but on occasions like that, it was more of a tradition to have drinks with friends after the main event. but before i sheered my full attention from my daughter, we opened all of her gifts.

she got tons of cutie clothes, shoes, toys and books. it was not a surprise though that my daughter found the gift wrappers & ribbons more appealing than what were really inside them! our room is already starting to get flushed with all her stuff around you would wonder where i put my own things!

i gave my daughter to my folks after and served drinks to my friends around 8pm. the party ended before 3am and sent my guests home.

my little bubu with her cuz'n trish

Rayne's 1st Birthday

After long-term preparations, friend sleep-overs, neverending errands, my daughter has finally turned 1 and i've successfully thrown her her very 1st party.

held it at the max's quezon city circle branch at 3pm in the afternoon. i was still on track of the # of guests by noting all of 'em in my notebook. a few days before the main date, i already lost track. people started telling other people of the invitation. not that i'm limiting rayne's guests, there were simply people that i did not expect to come and...they came! which was wonderful and moving coz they have not seen my daughter since i gave birth to her and they were there.

i came to the resto 30 mins earlier to check the setup before any of my guests arrived. i had reminded my guests who have kids to come in earlier to get their little ones face painted. i hired a face painter, unlimited for P1500, and 2 clowns for P2500 for magic tricks and balloon twisting. i ordered 3 types of cake slices from max's to serve as my give aways for the families. i just asked alex to buy the boxes, ribbons, and i drafted myself the TY card/picture of rayne which sam offered to print 70 copies for free (thanks sam!).

the card shows snapshots of rayne's monthly birthday celebrations

as everything's setup, my guests started pouring in one by one. as soon as the room filled up, i asked the host of max's to start to show. the clowns started off with kiddie games and magic tricks. the food was served later, then the thank you speeches from the parents, myself and ryan. next were balloon twisting, candle blowing, then picture taking. the theme was "royal kingdom" so my darling wore a princessy costume. i asked the parents to dress their kids like princesses and princes as well.

these pictures will tell it all!

my birthday princess

i can't wait for rayne's 2nd birthday! san naman kaya? *:)