my pups
a month ago, i decided to adopt a puppy. a professional staff here in the office is giving out puppies on a regular basis. he takes care of more than a hundred dogs which he usually breed for competition.
i got lucky to be a recepient of one puppy. He is a three month old
basenji. I named him OBI, short for OBIWANKENOBI of Starwars. Starwars was showing on cable tv when i got OBI, thus the name ;0)
We actually lost OBI while he was staying with a friend of mine. but luckily, we recovered him and i brought him home. OBI was really active. when we reached home, he just ran and ran around the house, and he just couldn't contain himself. He is also very playful. If he's trying to get attention, he climbs up my shoulder and bites my hair (kulit di ba?)
I took this picture of OBI during one of those rare moments he was calm ;0)
Last night, i had to put him on a leash because he's tearing our house down (pero love ka pa rin namin OBI) and he pees everywhere! (parang tamang tambay sa kalye, no pun intended street boys!) that's why i had to contain him. (i also learned from Jai Rodriguez of Queer Eye that dogs should be put on a leash to "regulate" behavior) He really doesn't like being on a leash. He struggles by biting the leash, going round and round (which does more trouble for him as he ends up entangled in the leash).
Last Wednesday, i got my second puppy. i sort of "applied" to be a mom (again) to another puppy when a friend of mine Candice mentioned she was giving up some pups for adoption. Last Monday, i got the news that i "passed the screening" to be a mother to one of her pups (Yipee! thanks again Candice!) So last Wednesday, after class, i fetched my new daughter. I instantly fell in love with her. She was sssssoooooooooo cute!! She wiggled her tail when i held her in my arms. I named her YADA (after Master Yoda of Starwars. I'm actually thinking of getting another pup, a pitbull perhaps, and i will call him Darth or Vader ;0 ) does it look like i'm building an empire? ;0)
isn't she a charmer? ;0)
YADA is "low maintenance". She doesn't run around that much (except when she's running away from OBI). But she has some appetite! YADA actually eats more than OBI does.
The first time they met, OBI was just wrestling YADA. So i had to hold her to keep OBI away. But they are slowly learning to be playmates. Now that OBI is on a leash, YADA does her vengeance. She barks at OBI, and i can see that OBI is quite intimidated (atta girl YADA!), OBI doesn't bark eh.
these two pups are keeping my hands full these days. I have to feed them, play with them, cuddle them, scold them as needed. Now i get up in the morning earlier than before, as i had to give them breakfast and prepare them lunch (mommy-ing mommy ba? hehehe!) and sleep late coz i have to spend quality time with them. but i really don't mind. it's really so fun having them around. Welcome to the family OBI and YADA!
hot air balloon part 2
as mentioned in previous post, we stayed at blue bianco. it was one of those quarters of the US service men which was transformed into a hotel when the Philippine government kicked Uncle Sam's a** and got control of these bases (the same goes with subic). It was really ordinary, but good for the price: 2 big beds, a tv and an aircon, quite big dining and living area and a toilet and bath. It was nothing fancy, it was really ok for the price. the only complain i have about it is that it had low water pressure, and the heater was not working.
i had a good night rest ( i must have been tired of driving) i had to be the first to get up (as usual!) as i take the longest bath time (this was according to the survey we did before calling it a night) i had long been awake when jimmi got off the bed, and the first thing that he did, was to take a picture of us!!! but luckily for me, i was able to hide under the sheets when he was taking picture, hehehe!
as a gentleman, (hehehe) i allowed jimmi to take a bath first. as i was in the mood for a little stretching. while waiting on them to finish, i went down to check on the car. it was sooo cold outside! mas malamig pa sa room namin na may aircon! no wonder gen advised us the night before to bring some jacket.
we hurriedly left blue bianco to catch the take off. on the way, we saw some balloons airborne already. there were so many people and there was heavy traffic on entrance. we can actually feel the festive mood already. we had to park far away from the entrance, as there were really many vehicles. (i haven't seen that many cars!) we had to walk a good 50 meters from where we parked to the entrance.
jimmi already started clicking his camera and we willingly posed for him ;0) i don't know, but the mere sight of the balloons delighted us ( parang ngayon lang nakakita ng hot air balloons noh!) the size and the colors i guess woke the child in us, promise! nakakaaliw sila tingnan!
after having breakfast, we walked around the area, and there sooo many people, from all walks of life. there were families, friends, riders (with those big bikes and leather suits!), men from the uniformed service, old, young! it was just a huge celebration. and like everybody's clicking their cameras to capture the fun of it all! many people posed beside the planes and choppers displayed by the Philippine Air Force and the Philippine Navy.
we settled to one place and see the acrobatic airplanes and all we could do is watch in awe and applause for the great acts!!! there were also some skydivers who had their colorful parachutes on. what a sight to see! we didn't mind the pain in the neck and the nape when we watched the skydivers and the paragliders go!
the program was really packed! there was activity after activity. the people continued to pour in. however, we decided to go back to blue bianco because we had to check out. the sun is now up, and there was scorching heat when we left the festival area to get to the car. and when we we're back at blue bianco, we had to freshen up as it was really hot outside.
while i was waiting for them to settle our bill, i had the biggest suprise! i saw my long lost daddy (as in father figure ha!) of the airforce, Gen. Oban! the last time i saw him, he was a Lieutenant Colonel, and it's only during the festival that i saw him again, and now his a one-star General! (yes! it was that long!) we had a short chat as he was also hurrying up because some VIP from the Air Force and the AFP was going to arrive and as a matter of protocol, he has to receive them. (boy, am i glad to see this brilliant man again!)
we went to lunch at SM Clark and did some shopping (hindi ako, sila lang, hehehe!) and since we thought it will still be hot in the festival area, we decided to see the PX goods shop. we went to Puregold and bought some chocolates and a whole lot of Spam (right rocel? hehehe!) and then we were off to the show again. we waited for the night glow part as the balloons will light up as it gets darks, and when we saw it, it was worth the wait. (i will try to post the video of the night glow in my next post).
after the night glow, we thanked Gen for the help he did, and we had dinner at El Mexicano. the food was great and cheap! ;0) after a sumptuous meal, we were off to manila.
til the 12th hot air balloon festival!
philippine products on Queer Eye
last night, i was watching the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy as i was trying to make myself sleepy. I have always loved watching them, because of their great ideas about "make overs" and the characters... they are simply hilarious!
Last night's episode was about an african american guy who has a big event in his life. he was about to introduce her girlfriend to his godmother. as the guy said (i think his name was reuben, i'm not sure) two of the most important women in my life were about to meet! (naks! how sweet!)
Anyhow, each gay has a chance to give his tips to reuben. the first was tom felicia whose expertise is on interior designing (sssooooobbbbbrraang galing niya promise!) since reuben had an "ethnic" side, he was brought by tom to a place selling "ethnic" furnitures. as he was describing each furniture to reuben, tom pointed to a very nice dark wooden table and tom said it was from "the philippines!" galing di ba? and then he went on to show reuben some more stuffs from our country. he showed him the people chair ( i am not sure if this is how tom termed it). it was initially a wooden sculpture of a man ( i think this is the equivalent of our anito statue) turned into a chair. then, tom showed some fish baskets made to be hanging lamps, also from the philippines!!!
i really felt good and proud, having to see products from our country appreciated by other parts of the world (not to mention the fact that it was appreciated by a "celebrity"). this is a proof that the Philippines is world class! proud to be pinoy! ;0)
11th hot air balloon part 1
kuya jimmi posted this event a long time ago, but it was only 2 weeks before the event that the group finally decided to give it a go. we were 6 in the group, me, rocel, mia, rhoda, brye and jimmi. but survey said brye won't be able to come because of prior engagement (daw! ;0)
i called up gen, a friend from the airforce to arrange for our billeting. he was kind enough to reserve a room for us at blue bianco (more about blue bianco on part 2) and because he sponsored us, we got a good discount for the room.
i took a leave friday to attend to personal stuff before i went on a little get away during the weekend. i had to make sure that the house was in order before i left. i picked up the rest of the gang at the office after going through hell traffic! i travelled 1 and a half hours from manila to ortigas!!!! (para na kong nagpunta ng clark nun ah!)
anyhow, after suffering from traffic, i reached ADB (thank God!) i grabbed a quick bite and we're off to Clark. we were all excited about this activity, as it was our first "official" out of town gimik as a group (though we weren't complete. last minute, mia had to back out of the trip because she wasn't feeling well) it was a surprisingly smooth drive from along edsa and of course NLEX.
we we're planning to gas up at shell station along nlex, and to have dinner there as well. unfortunately, i guess because i was enjoying the smooth drive and the chat, we missed the shell station! (wah!) when i saw the shell station on my right, i was in the left most lane! and it would be a disaster if i even tried changing lanes! my first concern was the gas i had, kung aabot ba kami ng clark if there was no other gas station along the way, or magtutulak na kami to reach clark! hehehe. but i assured my passengers that we can reach clark without the scenario of pushing the car to reach there ;0) and so we continued the drive. at san simon, we saw a total gas station and we decided to gas up, even just for a little (as i usually gas up at shell), just to make sure we reach clark by riding a car and not pushing it, hehehe.
i think the gas station was fairly new, some of the establishments were still under construction and/or were still putting some finishing touches. as we were deciding where to eat, we saw an andok's restaurant. di ba the andok's that we usually have here in manila are take out counters only? but this one's a "full-blown" dine in resto! ang galing! sayang nga lang we didn't eat there as they opted for tapa king.
so we ended up gasing at total san simon and we decided to have dinner there. it was interesting because we saw an andok's resto there (yes! as in pwedeng mag dine in!) they usually have take out counters lang in manila. but we decided to eat at tapa king. after dinner, we headed to clark. we exited angeles and asked for directions from the toll guy, he just said just turn right and to straight. and that's what i did. thank God for signages we were able to find our way to clark.
from the road, we saw lots of tents in the festival area, but we decided to check in first. we met up with gen late in the evening, as he was still in the festival. he asked us to go to Coffee Overdose (which i had a hard time finding: it's either i was so bad with directions or that gen was not good giving them- later we found out that it was more of the latter! hehehe!)
it was a long time since i last saw gen (the last time was when i was still working at the little palace by the river and he was still aide to CSAFP). we brought him an oreo cheesecake from the ADB cafeteria as a token of our appreciation. we discussed what to expect from the festival. he asked us to be early in the venue so we can see the balloon take off. and so at 12, we called he a night. and before gen left, he gave me a free ticket for the show! yipee! thanks gen!
we headed back to our hotel with a warning from kuya jimmi that we should not sleep early as he was going to take our pictures. unfortunately, he was the first(!) to sleep, now who's picture was taken? hehehe
huli ka! .... really?
last night, i thought i will make history. i thought i will remember 6 february as my first traffic violation. I just came from the in house tournament in the office, left at 9:00PM. i have this route for home - greenhills-wilson-san juan-erap bridge-home. but i noticed that my right wheel at the back needed some air. i checked on the gas station in the office for some air, but unfortunately it was closed already. so on the way home, i took a little re-routing. instead of turning left going to wilson, i went straight to pass by a gas station.
i was at the intersection of wilson and ortigas, i was following a cargo truck (that was quite long). the light turned green and so i went ahead. there was some traffic in the area, and when the light turned yellow, i was in the middle of the intersection. so i had no choice but to go straight rather than stopping in the middle of the intersection or backing up (i think the former was the wiser thing to do) and then there it was, behold! the blue-uniformed man, who came out of nowhere signaling me to stop! and so i stopped, put down my window and said my most "innocent" "yes sir?" he said that the light was already red and that i beat the light. calmly, i said no and that it turned yellow while i was already in the middle of the intersection, and that i had not much of a choice but to go. he insisted that it was already red, but i stood my ground (at this point, i was actually thinking of who to call if worse comes to worst!) and then he asked for my license. i gave my license to the MMDA but i reiterated that i did not beat the red light. He said that upon confiscation of my license, i will have to pay at Metrobank so i can claim it back. Calmly (i was surprisingly calm! really!!!) i again told him that it turned yellow when i was in the middle of the intersection. He said that i can contest what he thought was my violation. so i replied to him that i will really contest because i was pretty sure of where i stand. so after exchanging our views on the alleged violation, he gave up. he handed me my license back and said to be careful... his exact words were "ingat na lang kayo ma'am, may banggaan na po kasi kanina" and i said thank you sir.
after leaving the "scene of the crime" , i told myself was it really my ability to argue with him that got me off the hook or was it because i was wearing shorts at that time? hehehe! whatever that is, i am sure glad i still didn't make that part of my driving history where i am caught with a traffic violation ;0)
