up fair amp11fied

february 11, 2009
up diliman
the up fair never gets old, neither do i...or do i?... sigh...
i joined my brother, plus my friend alex, to accompany & see my brother's childhood friend bjorn play for slapshock again.

we entered through the backstage as usual & eventually mixed w/ the crowd. it was past midnight when we arrived so all the established rock bands were already in the line up; that includes the band we chaperon(ed), slapshock. the rest were parokya ni edgar, kamikazee, cheese, chicosi, urbandub & moonstar 88.
alex & myself pigged out at the tapsilugan stalls w/ meat loaf + sunny side up egg + fried garlic rice & alex w/ tokwa't (tofu) baboy (pig meat) & lugaw (porridge). prior to settling at that tapsilugan, we shared a big slice of an all-meat flavor yellow cab pizza.

there were not too many tiangge stalls anymore as we noticed so after pigging out, we just returned to the backstage.

myself & alex were saying to each other every hour: "uwi na tayo (let's go home), i feel too old for this already!" hahaha

but ofcourse we ended up waiting for chicosi to finish for my brother ian & ariel agreed to meet up for some drinks after the show.

the slap boy bjorn on guitars *:)

bored, so we just took pictures of ourselves

including the folks outside the backstage & myself staring at a blank wall ahehe

sunday market

february 15, 2009
sunday market at the lung center

i wouldn't be able to appreciate this once-a-week extravaganza if i don't come from a night shift. i blogged months ago how mindless i was for several years where i constantly wondered while driving home on sundays, what the melee was & the traffic it was causing at the lung center (hospital). cars would pile up every early sunday mornings outside & inside the hospital. & now i know why!

i went with alex at makati's sunday market version here in qc at the lung center for my 2nd visit last sunday. i woke her up when i clocked out of work at 7am. got there 8am. we hardly found each other due to the thick crowd of buyers & persevering merchants. i noticed they extended the plant stalls & there were more who sold fashionable clothings, bags or shoes.

i bought skinless longganiza, garlic longganiza, boneless bangus (milkfish), green mangoes, lumpiang sariwa etc etc. alex stumbled upon the antique stalls & bought a few jewelry cases. she got for herself several bottles of carrot juice & 4 kilos of brown rice for her 'organic only' health regimen.

dolls dolls dolls!!!

i am falling in love with these dolls. if only i have money to squander...oh well...

...this is good stuff i'm tellin' you! oh how i loathe being poor ehehe.

price range: 5,000 to 6,500 pesos each

and this is the winner!

all found at http://gothicvanitystore.multiply.com

january movies & games (2009) continuation

rye & myself watched the underworld prequel, rise of the lycans. we didn't expect it to be that good. i still vividly recall the sequence from one of the original underwold chapters where the lycans leader lucian recollected the day the vampire king viktor condemned to death by sun his own beloved daughter sonja, lucian's secret lover.

the movie outlined the lycans struggle for freedom from the vampires who enslaved them, eventually triumphant, hence the title, rise of the lycans.

this prequel made me restlessly looking for the 2 underwold movies, which i couldn't find at home up to now. sigh...

i forgot to mention that one of my favorite video games is guitar hero. i had a taste of guitar hero's world tour version last new years on my next-door cousin's xbox, recently accessorised w/ a headset microphone & guitar. since what we have at home is a ps3, we're eyeing on getting the whole set for the ps3 console for ourselves & the kids this year.

the whole package...wow!

nik's 12!

january 21, 2009
nik's birthday bash at the luk foo chinese restaurant, commonwealth branch.

nik's wish got granted...she definitely has an angel brooding over her (kuya benjo?).

the air at home was all dismal just a few days before her birthday. we had to rush her yet again to the hospital for abnormally coughing blood, & i mean alot of blood.

at the hospital, she coughed for 10-15 mins non-stop almost filling up a quarter of a small cup w/ blood. it was terrifying to witness.

diagnosis was that it's a side effect of the medicine she intakes to prevent her from having a major stroke again. the medicine diluted her blood more than it should have. the only solution was a blood transfusion. the day after the procedure, she was released on her birth day. what sheer joy for her as she cried almost hysterically when the doctor advised to admit her, because she absolutely craved for a festive birthday w/ her family & not inside her teeny tiny hospital cubicle.

everyone came, everyone she wished to celebrate with. mother-side, father-side relatives were complete...well my dad didn't join us, but that was expected of him...but nevertheless, it was a full house.

mother-side; father-side

at right, the very relieved mom who only wished the best for nik

my rayne w/ 2nd cousin sway. sway taught rayne how to pose. the right picture was her first attempt *:)

her 2nd & 3rd attempts

my brother ian & his brood &my cousins jolo & badeth; tylord & sam

pose attempts of rayne & sway# 4 & 5

the miracle birthday girl & her yummy cake

the celebrant after her tita laced her face w/ cake icing; w/ her mommy
myself w/ kumareng irish & new born daughter shake; nik w/ cousins & sister trisha

myself w/ my very preggy sis; myself w/ the 'survivor' nik

nik's family

cousins

we had the whole 2nd floor by ourselves which gave a fairly enormous space for her complete family & for the kids to run around after dinner.

by an angel or none, it definitely is her conviction to live. i love you nik! keep on fighting!!!