Livin high and takin it easy

The last week spent shooting photos for Kikayism made me think about my old modeling photos. I was actually supposed to model too for Kikayism but we ran out of time. Since we were only relying on natural light, which, thank goodness, burst through that afternoon despite the cloudy skies that morning and the somewhat heavy rain right as we were arriving at Blue Ridge A where the shoot was held. More realistically, I could not model because we had no one else to shoot for me. If I was in front of the camera, who would press the shutter?

This was shot in 2004 by Ken Go. Orlan Lopez of Emphasis Salon of The Manila Peninsula did the hair and make-up.
More

My Mama was told that we should come at 4pm, but I had to take my nap and all that, so we left the house at 5pm and arrived at the exhibit some time before 6pm. There were still a lot of people. There was a registration booth where my Mama had to write her name down and this pretty lady behind the table gave me this Western shape pack of Silly Bandz.

I had a nice time running and walking around the exhibit.

There were a lot of people. Some girls were walking around with platters of food. One of them even offered me some chocolate cake squares but I was too busy with my silly bandz pack to get one. My Mama said no too because she was busy taking photos of me and running after me.

While walking around, there was this tall pretty lady with the beautiful smile who talked to me and showed me her silly bandz bracelet!

More

Lia, fresh from her visit at the Luneta Park and the Japanese Garden, came to see me at CCP, right after I was done shooting VLF6′s Set D. We decided to have dinner at Harbor Square before going home. Katte and other friends were also there to hang out and have dinner.

Lia and Katte were instant friends.

More

When I first saw Orosman at Zafira in 2008, I was utterly moved to tears. Though I was not a part of the production, it felt like I was, too.

I saw them through their movement rehearsals, their music rehearsals with Carol Bello, even the Cirque du Soleil DVD watching in Teatro Hermogenes Ylagan (THY) and I was with members of the production before, in-between and sometimes even after the rehearsals. For some reason, I was even at the cast party. (Yes, I had a tremendously huge amount of free time back then).

I must have seen the show in its entirety at least four times and never did it lose the magic for me. I was always blown away. I was always moved to tears no matter how many times I saw it. Orosman at Zafira of 2008 was one of the best plays I saw that year.

More

I actually do not have the right to write about these photos. I know nothing about them except..

… they were taken sometime between 2001 and 2003 when I was still in college
… they were taken for my friend Lorie‘s B&W film class

We were hanging out at the U.P. Association of Biology Majors (ABM)‘s tambayan and she said she needed someone to take photos of for her class. I was not doing anything so I told her I’d do it. (At least that’s how I remember it)

More

I know these photos are long overdue, but after week after week after week after week of being busy, I am finally sitting down to look at the photos from the Virgin Labfest 6 and post them. Here are some of the shots.

First, a few shots of the set.

Isagani
written by Alex Dorola Yasuda
directed by Vince Tanada

Stage Management by Art Gabrentina

Cast:

John San Antonio as Isagani
Kierwin Larena as Lalaki

A stand-up comedian in one of those tawdry sing-along bars in Malate harbors a secret. Only the mute Miraculous Grotoo beside Baclaran church hears his stand-up lament after his comical stint at the bar. His prayer turns into a confession to a drug pusher, who peels off his comic mask slowly revealing a dark and terrible past. Unable to run away from the past that just keeps catching up with him, he cannot extinguish with all his comic quips and gags the horror he seeks to deny. No matter how profoundly he expiates for his crime, he ritualizes this scene every night much like his performance in the bars. This is a story of religious faith and a profound desire for change, a solipsistic reflection on remorse and the difficult striving to be whole again.

More

Abet, Hush and Euan as well as Lia and I were at Vanny and Jay’s daughter Kria’s first birthday party at the Mayfield Residences Clubhouse last Sunday, July 11. I felt what is probably how it is to be a single mom at that party, since my husband only dropped us off at the clubhouse and then took off to bring our shih tzu Ewok to Tiendesitas for a smear. We want Ewok to have little pups as she is almost three years old this year.

Ewok, our shih tzu, December 2008

This was Lia and I having our photo booth time. It is quite funny. She put the funky glasses on me for the first shot. We were both unprepared for the second. We were kinda prepared for the third and it looks like she has got a nice expression on too, but its too small to see. We tried to have a solo shot of her on the fourth by having her stand on a stool but well, there wasn’t enough time.

Lia and her mama at Kria's Bday party photo booth

More

Baler, Aurora; April 2008

It was in Baler, Aurora that I learned to surf. I went with my grad school friend PJ and her boyfriend, Gerard. I met Daisy Valdez and Jefferson de la Torre for the first time. It was April of 2008.

Jason, also known as Balat and Jeff’s older brother, was the one who taught me how to surf – in Charlie’s Point. I was out there with them, trying to ride big waves for the first time with PJ’s flowered pink fun board. It was indeed, a lot of fun.

View the entire set on Flickr here.

More story on Multiply here.

Bagasbas Beach, Daet, Camarines Norte; May 2008

It was the first ever Bagasbas Summer Surf. It was my first time in Bagasbas. More importantly, it was my 26th birthday. This trip was a birthday gift to me.

It was also the first time Ryan drove the car all the way to Bicol and the very first time we took our dog, Ewok, with us on a long trip, or more specifically, a trip to Bicol.

View the entire set on Flickr here.

Clich here to view more photos of the Bagasbas Summer Surf event on Multiply.

Click here for [more narcissistic] touristy photos.

And click here to view the old blog.

Bacnotan, La Union; July 2008

In my first ever trip to La Union, I did not get to surf in San Juan. We were at Bacnotan for two days instead. First time in La Union, first time in Bacnotan.

We did stay at Hacienda Peter’s Resort in San Juan so I managed to take a few snapshots of the surf in front as well as the beautiful sunset.

Click here to view the entire set on Flickr.

Click here to view the story and photos on Multiply.

That surf trip would be the last one in one long year, as I learned I was three weeks pregnant in August of 2008, as I prayed and hoped I would be.

Urbiztondo, San Juan, La Union; July 2009

For this trip, the firsts were…

… first time for Ryan to go to L.U.
… first time to drive the car to L.U.
… Lia’s first time in L.U.
… first time surfing in San Juan

If it weren’t for this post, I would not have realized that I have not managed to upload the photos on Flickr. I did make a blog post of this trip here on this site and made a photo album through Smilebox.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Click here to go to old post.

I will work on posting the entire set for this trip to Flickr once I am done with this past weekend’s photos.

2008 was a great year for surfing. I went surfing thrice in three different locations.

2009 was dedicated to my daughter. We were literally inseparable for months.

Who knows what 2010 holds?

I do so many things with Lia. Well, it’s just the two of us here at home all day so.. I am glad she is all about helping out. You’ve seen the photos of Lia helping me out with decorating her Christmas tree. Here she is helping me out with wrapping presents. This girl!

Yay! We're gonna wrap Christmas presents!!

My girl is ecstatic about wrapping presents! So ecstatic that she is all blurry. Hahaha!

Excitement just makes me all duckied up! *clap clap clap*

“Baby girl you need to stay still so Mama can take a decent non-blurry photo of you…”

Uh okay, here I'll stay still. Very still.

***

These photos were taken November 30th.

Got to drive the car again today. Yes, we do have the car back. Dashboard gauges-less, automatic lock-less, digital clock-less, stereo and player-less but running. Got it back Friday last week. We went all the way to the shop (third shop and nth computer box after) in Banawe, lost Lia’s shoes to the taxi driver in the process, drove to Teacher’s Village to grab early dinner at Cocina Juan where after wards, the car just would not start and we had to wait for shop boys to come to our rescue. Ryan almost made Lia and I go home on our own but he could not find an empty cab.

So anyway, I finally got to drive the car again after so many months. I swear it’s more than three months. Getting good at shifting but still have to control my hands at the wheel, or so I was told. What do I know?! I just drove down Soliven because there was a lot of traffic today. The goal is to be able to drive on my own next year so I can take Lia along for when boredom strikes her. This baby can get so bored sometimes! I wish we did not bring her with us to Bohol, because now she is aware there is an exciting world out there.

Lia at the South Supermarket

We went to get t-shirts at some warehouse sale The Tshirt Project had going on, then did the groceries at some obscure little supermarket called South Supermarket along A. Rodriguez Avenue before driving to Eastwood to grab some dinner at Heaven and Eggs. A Caucasian family came in while we were waiting for our orders to arrive. They had two little boys and probably a three-month old baby girl. We saw the dad kept waving and smiling at Lia who I was actually teasing with my pretending to own her teddy bear. On our way out, Caucasian dad who had his back turned to us, stopped eating and turned around to ask me, “Hey, how old is your baby?” and he looked at Lia, smiling and waving goodbye and saying, “Oh she’s so cute!”

I remember on the Cebu Pacific plane to Bohol, one of the flight attendants who was initially pushing a cart down the aisle to offer snacks stopped in front of us and never moved on. She just kept talking to and playing with Lia. After they stowed the cart away, she came back and took Lia with her.

In Bohol Bee Farm, I was inside the store buying organic soaps when I saw Lia crying hysterically through the glass window. She was surrounded by a group of maybe six Koreans. Story was, one female Korean came out of the store, saw Lia, got all wide-eyed, came back into the store, called all her other Korean friends and they all went to crowd around the baby. One said, “Oh she’s so cute! Can we have a photo taken with her?” and Ryan said, “Sure, do you want to hold her?” and promptly handed her over. Well, of course, Lia was scared to death and cried hysterically. They were all oooh-ing in loud voices and telling her, “You’re so beautiful!” Poor baby was traumatized, she would not let her mother out of sight after that. I could not even brush my teeth or wash my face or take a bath.

In the plane going back to Manila, a young Caucasian couple was sitting on the seats behind us. The girl said, “How old is she? She is so cute!”

I don’t understand. I think all babies look the same. Hahahaha. But what is up with this international scene? I am beginning to think my baby is “exotic”.

Speaking of the baby, she is now asleep in our eucalyptus-scented room. Thanks Kiel. We are all sick with colds. Ryan and I do synchronized coughing. We think its from that amazing air-conditioning our room at Dumaluan Beach Resort had. Off to bed for now. I hope tomorrow is better. I am losing way too much weight, none of my pants or even belts fit.

Lia and Mama by the beach in Panglao Island, Bohol