16 Apr 2010
by angkuletin Uncategorized
Edwin Guillermo, my friend from college and a fellow U.P. Rep alumni, will wed his girlfriend of four years, Dece Anne Mondigo, my friend who brought and introduced me to the educational institution that is St. Paul College Pasig, today.
They will be wed at the Parish of our Holy Sacrifice at our alma mater and the reception will follow at the Balay Kalinaw. A true-blue U.P. wedding indeed!
I am looking forward to shooting the wedding and I am very happy for the two of them. I wish I were of more help during the wedding preps. I know how Dece has looked forward to this day and although the initial plan of August 8, 2008 or even September 9, 2009 (Were those the actual dates or I just made them up?) did not come true, here we are now.
Congratulations Edwin (like really! You are such a lucky guy with your bride!) and Best wishes Dece! I love you both as only a true friend would, does, will…. you know what I mean. *wink wink*
15 Apr 2010
by angkuletin Uncategorized
Ryan and I came home at seven-forty five this evening to see our daughter still awake, almost two hours past her bedtime, just because she was waiting for us. Earlier this afternoon, she had clung to me like a jellyfish when she saw that I was preparing to go out. Only when I told her Mama needed to work did she let me go and only after I told her, “You know Mama would be back”. That was after I gave her like ten goodbye kisses and after I let her wave goodbye at me outside our gate. It was totally heart-warming to see my little one wait up for me. All my worries and stress all disappeared into thin air when I saw a big four-toothy smile light up her face.
I left the office a little before six. I thought about going straight to Eastwood where I was catching Ryan for a ride home, or dropping by this nice BookSale outlet I happened to chance upon one crazily hot afternoon when I was looking for a taxi after going from one Starbucks outlet to the next at the Araneta Center, all in the pursuit of a refreshingly cool “tall blended whipped cream mocha frappucino”.
I decided I was gonna be a “No day but today” person and walked a few blocks to the little store to get my daughter some books. I came home with nearly-P700 worth of books. 
I got her these nice board books at P85 each.
12 pages of shimmery-petal pages filled with ladybugs, bumblebees, blue birds, butterflies, frogs and ducklings and a bright yellow sun. It would be nice to flip through this board book in the morning.
12 pages of Little Bunny hopping off into sleepy time.
Product Description:
Little Bunny loves to play, and bedtime always comes too soon! But it’s always nice to say goodnight as Mother hums lullabies under the moon. Snuggle up warm in bed with Little Bunny and go to sleep to the comforting sounds of your favorite lullaby with this book and CD.
24 pages of adorable little Leo transforming from pirate to sleepy-head.
Product Description:
IT’S TIME FOR BED, and Leo must get out of his pirate costume and into his pjs, and as he removes each item of clothing, Leo fondly says good night. (“Good night, green bandana . . . Good night, red and white shirt . . .â€) Meanwhile, his friend Teddy has other plans as he gets ready for a swashbuckling nighttime adventure. Young readers will love seeing Leo transform from pirate to sleepy-head with a cute surprise ending. This charming good-night book also teaches colors and object identification.
This book actually reminds me of another of Lia’s books…
Flip-A-Face: Big Little
Product Description:
This original and inventive book focuses on parts of animals’ faces, transforming big owl eyes to little chick eyes, pointy tiger teeth to nibbly mouse teeth—all with a flip of a die-cut page. These clever and changeable faces will delight both babies and grown-ups alike.
I got another board book for only P40.
Little One, God Made You (Inspired by The Purpose-Driven Life)
Written by Amy Warren Hilliker and illustrated by Carol Thompson
I loved this one the moment I saw it because it was very simple and it had little things that Lia and I could do… and illustrations of things Lia and I do.
God made you to love you, little one. There’s no one like you, no, not one.
No one has your tiny nose… Or your wiggly, squiggly toes..
No one has your silly laugh.. When you splash in bubble baths..
When you’re crawling or you’re creeping
While you’re skipping.. while you’re sleeping..
God made you to love you, little one.
Okay, I suppose I will post the other books I bought some other time, since all this looking at board books about sleeping is making me sleepy. I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow and I best be sleeping now.
I have not even packed! (panic mode) Maybe that’s just my subconscious expressing its non-desire to leave my little one. I am still very much pissed off with the Nikon service here in the Philippines. I am becoming more and more pissed off as each day, no, week, passes. I have a friend’s wedding to shoot tomorrow and I have no camera! I have got my schedule all messed up tomorrow to accommodate my borrowing of my sister’s camera.
Okay, I better go back to looking at these board books to get me into the calm, sleepy mode.
14 Apr 2010
by angkuletin Uncategorized
Many of my Travel Factor friends were in Baler, Aurora this past weekend participating in the 2010 Surfvivor Beach Games and someone posted a blog about how great her Baler experience was.
This led to discussions on when we should come back to Baler and where to stay. At some point I said, “I wanna go back to Baler and bring my short board with me so I can maximize my use of it,” or something to that effect, and someone said, “So you’re using a short board now.. The shortest I’ve used is a 7’10.. Tyx [another friend who happens to be a managing partner of TF as well] has a 6 flat board. Bongga.”
I didn’t know what to reply to that, because to be honest, I bought this fish from my friend who did not want it anymore and did not bother to ask about the specs. I did not even know the brand. *laugh laugh laugh* And of course, in this photo, I do not see a brand name anywhere..
My board resting against the wall of "The Apartment" or "Surfer's Inn" in San Juan, La Union
So the first thing I do when my friend from whom I got my board gets onto Yahoo Messenger is ask her the brand and the specs. And that led me to this:
And lo and behold, this specs (and original price):
2x 5’9 x 20 x 2 1/2
blue rail spray/blue rail & bottom spray
double wing swallow
polish
Php 17,500.00
Holy crap, I have got a 5’9 board!! No wonder I had such a hard time staying on top of it as almost 1/3 of my body was off the board when I paddled out. I should work on staying on it, balancing it while waiting for a wave, on top of being on a wave itself. Damn! No wonder I almost wanted to give up! No wonder I got totally wiped out at the Point in L.U. and for the first time in my surfing life, actually thought I was gonna drown! Good thing my instructor (who goes by the name of Anthony Valdez by the way) was cool and always rushed to help me out. *straight face goes here, like really*
I distinctly remember crying out to him, “Help!” hahahaha.. and clinging to him for dear life when he got to me instead of clinging to board (for dear life) only because he was nearer hahahaha. Damn it.
That whole experience does not mean I am giving up on this board. It only means I have got to get to Baler soon so I can work on my fish board skills. 
By the way, here is where I got the info about my Surfbum board.
13 Apr 2010
by angkuletin Uncategorized
After many, many, many months, or perhaps years, I finally got myself a student driver permit! I have been asking Ryan for a long, long, long time to teach me how to drive, I think before I even got pregnant, but we just could not find the time for it.
I remember asking my own father to teach me how to drive using his car, but he said back then, “I am surely not teaching you how to drive WHILE you are pregnant!” This inability to drive has been such a hindrance to my activities when I am in Camarines Sur. My parents have a car that I keep wanting to drive when I want to get a quick CWC fix or a little trip to Naga City, but alas, I have no license. Or more like, alas, I do not know how to drive!
So Ryan started teaching me last year, after I had the baby and every time we had some free time. At first it was just up and down the street, and then a little bit around the village, then he let me drive the car for maybe twenty kilometers on our way to Bicol from Manila last Christmas break down Almeda Highway and let me drive again for maybe almost an hour on our way back to Manila. I must say driving down that nice deserted highway was fun, only if I did not hold on to the steering wheel too tightly that it made my fingers sore! Hahaha.
Our lessons stopped in the aftermath of the great Ondoy as we did not have a car for almost three months! But after we got it back, I drove a little bit every now and then, in little increments at a time, like from the house halfway to the village gate, then up to the village gate, then up to Ortigas Avenue and then the farthest so far within Metro Manila, from Red Ribbon in Libis all the way to U.P. Yup, I have been driving around a stick-shift car without a license. *straight face goes here*
Actually, about a month or so ago, I went to the Land Transportation Office satellite in SM Hypermarket Pasig and was told I am supposed to go to the office next to the Ynares Sports Arena. I made it there two weeks ago, with my daughter in tow, and was told that the person in charge of permits and licenses only go to work in the morning. I was like, WTF?
So anyway, today I finally made it to the LTO office in the morning!! In less than an hour and P318 poorer (plus P25 for the plastic case) later, I had my student driver permit in hand! In a month, I intend to have my non-professional driver’s license in my hand, gleaming and proud!
A portion of the student driver permit
This is the procedure for Student Driver Permit application as published on the LTO website:
1. Proceed to the Customer Service Counter to have your documents checked for completeness, and secure a Driver’s License Application Form. (This form is available for download here. You can accomplish this form prior to transacting your business at the LTO.) Get a queue number and wait for your number to be called.
2. When your number is called, proceed to the transaction counters to submit all required documents to the Evaluator.
3. Proceed to the Phototaking/Signature Area to have your picture and signature taken when your name is called.
4. Proceed to the Cashier when your name is called to pay the necessary fees and obtain an Official Receipt.
5. Proceed to the Releasing Counter, present the Official Receipt and claim the temporary student permit/license.
This is the procedure I went through:
1. Get an application form from the guy on the table outside and fill out. Attach photocopies of NSO-issued Birth Certificate and NSO-issued Marriage Certificate. Present all forms to guy on table outside, who looks at original copies of NSO, takes the photocopies and application form and staples them all together and stamps them with, I assume, something that says “Authenticity verified” or maybe just “Verified.” He does not give them back to me but instead hands it himself to person in glassed-in counter.
2. My name is called out on the loudspeakers telling me to go to “Photographer A”. I see a sign overhead that says “Photographer A and B” with an arrow, and so I walk over. Get my photo taken, wherein guy actually says “SMILE!” and thus the big smile on my permit, and walks over to (wow, so sosyal!) WACOM tablet to give them my signature. I then walk over to waiting area to wait for my name to be called.
3. Person on loudspeaker calls out a list of names, including mine, to go to Cashier: Window 7. I go over to Cashier and pay P318.00. I walk back to seats and wait for my name to be called.
4. A person calls out my name in Window 8, no loudspeaker this time. She gives me my printed out student driver permit, along with my receipt and asked me if I wanted to buy a plastic case for my paper permit for P25. An image of Lia crumpling my permit and/or munching it in her salivacious mouth flashed in my head and very quickly, I say yes.
That had me walking out of the gate into the hot street that is Shaw Boulevard in less than an hour. Wow, that was really quick! I loved it! If only all government office transactions were as quick as that.
Related links:
* LTO services
* Quick link to the LTO’s Requirements for License/Permits Applications
12 Apr 2010
by angkuletin Musings
I was watching the news today about the usual, the elections, and of course, NAMFREL has something to say about missing registered voters’ names as well as un-updated voters lists, and someone was interviewed about checking his registration status online and not finding his name on the database… and we were like, “Wha…? You can now check your registration status online?!?”
But then I went back to my room, went back to processing and uploading photos and forgot about the whole thing.. until I went on my Facebook and saw my friend’s link on making sure one is on COMELEC’s registration list and checking one’s name online. Yahoo! I got the link and went on to check my name.. and this is what I got. *straight face goes here*
Well, so much for endeavoring to make it to until the May 10 elections, from my April 22 arrival (hopefully) with my daughter who I will be away from for three whole nights this weekend as we will be going on the Travel Factor trip to Calaguas Island. It’s going to be the longest time yet that I will be away from her. You would think this time I should be used to it but no I am not. The longest so far I have not been with her was two nights! My in-laws are picking her up Friday afternoon as we are leaving by bus Friday night going to Daet and we will be back Monday morning as the bus leaves Daet Sunday night. Technically, we will only be sleeping in the island one night but two whole nights are spent on travel alone. I really wish I could take Lia with me to the island (Calaguas) but we will be sleeping in tents and the boat ride might not be very safe.
I will, though, try my hardest to take her with me to El Nido on the 22nd. We are attending my students graduation. They were my students when they were only in 2nd grade, ages 7 to 8, and now they are graduating from grade school (ages 11 and 12). I wouldn’t miss their graduation for the world. It turns out though I don’t have to stay there until May 10th, as my registration has been deactivated for….
No, I have not been court-sentenced!! 
I came “home” late in 2007.. instead of making it to the May 14th, I arrived May 25th. I really don’t remember why. I do remember why I did not make it to the October 29th baranggay elections, I was a few islands away, in Coron! Oh my. Hahaha. 
Oh well, next elections I guess….
11 Apr 2010
by angkuletin Uncategorized
I have a pre-occupation with baskets, shelves, closets and of course, drawers – that has long been established. There is this surplus shop along Imelda/Felix Avenue that is very near Gate 2 of Pasig Greenpark Village and almost just across the Cainta Greenpark Village gate.
I make it a point to drop by every now and then to look at what they have, mainly furniture… cabinets, chairs, beds, tables, sofas. Sometimes they have computer chairs and computer tables too.. as well as stuff for babies and/or kids like strollers, car seats and cribs. They actually have car seats selling for P800-P1000 and we wanted to get one for Lia but Ryan could not figure out how to install it. They of course do not come with manuals and the stick-on instructions are either in Japanese or Korean or Taiwanese.
When we came home yesterday from Lia’s party and opened her presents one by one, we realized that she now needs a real cabinet – a place to put her clothes, shoes, accessories and stuffed toys in (so that they don’t accumulate dust easily). I asked Ryan if he had money to spare for her cabinet and we agreed to look at the surplus shops (there is also another one along Marcos Highway, right across from Sta. Lucia East Mall). We found this nice big chest of drawers and for P3,000 I did not want to let it go.
Chest of drawers from surplus shop at P3,000
It is now standing against our living room wall, sticking out like a sore thumb I know, but we are moving perhaps in two weeks or a month at the most to our “new” house and letting it stand there on the ground floor, instead of hauling it to the second floor, is practical and convenient for the pending move. It still has a bit of those glue from the packing tape that was used for when it was being transported from wherever country it came from and we are working on removing all traces of it.
I keep Lia’s collection of stuffed toys in the top cabinet. We just open it, and Lia points out which toy she wants to play with, and that’s just what I bring down for her. It’s nice that she does not see them all the time or she gets bored with them and does not want to play with them anymore. I keep her underwear, swimsuits, socks and hand towels in the little drawer on the right and her accessories and vitamins on the little drawer on the left. The next three drawers going down hold all her clothing, followed by a drawerful of her books and the last drawer holds all her footwear. I should get Lia her own bookcase because the books are too heavy to be placed in a drawer and also because I think it is better if she sees her books more often, that way she gets more interested in them. Maybe after we have moved and sorted out all our stuff, I can allot a bookcase for all of Lia’s books. I still have a lot of open bookcases that I think I am not maximizing.
Anyway, I love that this chest is sturdy… and huge!! I love it! I love, love, love that it has so many drawers! I wish I can have one of my own like it!! Actually, Ryan said I should start saving for my own cabinet or chest of drawers as there didn’t seem to be enough of it in the “new” house. That’s okay I guess, as long as it’s not something that’s gonna cost me more than P5,000….
I love these drawers! I sure want to get more.
10 Apr 2010
by angkuletin Uncategorized
49th Floor (Roof Deck) One San Miguel Avenue Building
San Miguel Avenue cor. Shaw Boulevard
Ortigas Center, Pasig
This was mainly organized by an events planner, who took care of talking to the caterers, cupcakes and cake supplier and the photo booth supplier.
Caterer: Baby Nathan’s Kitchen
**(view related blog entry here)
Photo booth: Funshots Booth
**(view related blog entry here)
Photo documentation: Cheekay Torres and other friends
The cake, cupcakes and decors as well as face painting and ice cream cart were also handled by our events planner.
09 Apr 2010
by angkuletin Uncategorized
I took off a moment to have a little bit of “Me time”… something I have not really done in a long time.
[more to follow....]
07 Apr 2010
by angkuletin Uncategorized
Today, I celebrate not only my daughter’s first birthday but my first anniversary as a mother. Today, I realized that I will always remember this date and celebrate it, not for my daughter, but for me. Every year my daughter celebrates her birthday, I will commemorate the day I became a mother – undoubtedly, the single most life-changing event of my life.
[more to follow....]
05 Apr 2010
by angkuletin Uncategorized
One of the things Ryan got me on his last trip to the U.S. was something he described as, “something you expressed a passing interest in,” the first time he told me about it on the phone. I express a passing interest on a gazillion things so I did not even bother to guess. But well, this is what he came home with:
A Balloon Animals Book and Kit that includes:
* 48-page full-color book featuring tips for getting started and clear instructions for inflating balloons, tying knots, basic twists, balloon decoration, and safety. You’ll also find tips for becoming a successful balloon entertainer.
* Colorful twisty modeling balloons to make the perfect animal assortment! You’ll find balloons in bright rainbow colors: red, yellow, green, blue and orange.
* A sturdy balloon pump.
Yes, at one point, I expressed an interest in balloon making, twisting and decorating. I saw one episode in Net 25′s MOMents a few months ago where they featured an entrepreneur mom who makes balloon decors as little hobby, something to entertain her kids, as well as something to earn a little extra money on the side from; and I remember getting brochures on balloon decorations to look into the cost and the possibility of having lots of balloon decors as well as balloon give-aways at my daughter’s birthday party; and I remember thinking of purchasing a kit in Shopwise once as we were grocery-shopping.
It was something I could not do while I took care of the baby or as she played somewhere near me though because I was afraid it would scare her or worse, hit her when the balloons burst as I was twisting them so the book and kit sat in its box for a few months, until recently, when my sister and my nephew came by to visit and my nephew Sean wanted to look at it and possibly, make his own balloons.
So anyway, I decided it was time to tackle this balloon twisting thing. And to my dismay, it was something I did not have the heart for. Hahahahaha!
My hands get all sweaty when I blow the balloons up that I can’t even tie the end, and I get so nervous when I try to twist it. Hell, I decided balloon twisting is not for me!
Ryan though found it very easy and entertaining, so I have formally given up on this balloon twisting and have gracefully conceded. Balloon twisting is not for me, that much I am sure of. I give up, final na! 
party hat
dog
bumblebee
Ryan made all these balloons. The balloons included in this kit are relatively low-quality in that they are thin and bursts easily. We are thinking of buying better, bigger balloons as well as a bigger pump too for when we want to make better designs or make some for the kids to play.
** Click on any of the “Balloon Twisting” links on this blog post to see related links. Each one is different, so you may click to see them all!
Previous Older Entries Next Newer Entries
Twitter
Flickr
YouTube
Facebook
RSS
