That's hot!

Things that make you go mmmm...

When you're in the company of men... wait, let me rephrase that. When you're in the company of boys, be ready to talk about porn and basketball.

So last night, in another 4J get together, I wasn't surprised when the subject of the Paris Hilton's Carl's Junior commercial came up.

I understand why they we're so fascinated. She was after all washing a Bentley in a skimpy black bikini, soaping the car and her body, squeezing the sponge like there was no tomorrow while taking a bite of a burger.

I would've felt the same way if Ryan Reynolds did it too. Maybe not in a skimpy black bikini though. And I know I won't be the only one who'll enjoy watching it.

Carrie Wins!!!

It's official, Carrie Underwood is the new American Idol.

The Country Chick beat the Rocker Dude.

Although I'm a huge Bo fan, I have to give snaps to Carrie. She was great last night which probably tipped the scale to her side.

It was also a good show and I had fun watching it with my cousins. Went to their place for the finale. My aunt cooked tons of food for us! So there we were... seating all over the living room watching American Idol. Placing bets on who was going to win. I was rooting for Bo but I knew Carrie was gonna take home the title.

Well, Bo is no loser anyway with that red convertible!

Where's the silver lining???

All the planning me and Alisa have done for the past several months came crumbling down the other day. Having been denied visa by the German embassy, my Eurotrip is now cancelled. Poor Alisa now has to work around her tickets which she bought already for the first few legs. Well, having traveled extensively since I was ten, getting rejected never crossed our minds. It really came as a shock to me coz being a brat, I'm used to getting what I want otherwise I just throw a huge BF (bitch fit) and eventually I'll get it. But this is non-negotiable... so, I'm just having a BF right now.

Plan B for me is to go to Canada or US earlier. What else is there to do anyway? I'll just get even more depressed cooped up here at home. And my present financial situation prevents me from doing retail therapy.

MY suppose TO DO LIST IN EUROPE:

1. Drink German beers

2. Eat Danish pastries

3. Party in Stockholm where the sun sets after midnight

4. Shop at Mango and Zara in Madrid

5. Shout at the top of my lungs... Viva Espanya! once I arrive in Spain

6. Sit outside a French cafe

7. See Eiffel Tower

8. Visit the Vatican and see Pope John Paul II's tomb.

9. Buy Italian shoes in Italy

10. Wear my trendy coats

versus MY TO DO LIST IN US & CANADA:

1. Catch the Batmas Begins, Fantastic Four, and War of the Worlds

2. Become Ninang to my niece who I'll see for the

3. Get harassed traveling with mom and dad

4. Shop at H&M, Old Navy, and Gap (I'm cheap... what can I say?!)

I better find some new, exotic place to visit there. I really feel bad right now but I just keep on telling myself there's probably a VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY good reason this happened. Or else...

C: i'm just thinking it's a sign... baka something better is out there for us
C: kse kung wala... PUCHANG 'NANG YAN!!! BAD TRIP TALAGA!!!
A: let's just make do with what God has given us... we never know, there may be a silver lining in this cloud
A: but i don't care about the silver lining... i just wanna travel with a friend!!!

Need Prozac... NOW!!!

Those schmucking Germans! (Sorry Alex... Stefan...)

Ruined our plans totally!

Lord... don't care if I don't go to Canada and US... just let me see Europe!!!

Enough said. I'll just crawl in my hole and wallow in my depression.

MR. MARTIN GERARD HILARIO NAVARRO

I would like to congratulate Tini for getting accepted to the Masters in Development Management program of AIM and most of all... for being granted the Asian Development Bank scholarship for MDM this school year.

Intuition told me he'll get in AIM and get the scholarship. I was right!

So proud of you! I told you being thirty is just the beginning of bigger and greater things. I'm gonna say to you what each AIMer should keep in their hearts... Study hard, party harder!!!

Bonding Session

My family's idea of bonding every sunday is to pamper ourselves at home. Too lazy to drive anywhere, we have everybody else come over to our house instead. The day begins when the parlor lady arrives. She gives us foot scrubs, manicures, pedicures, and hot oils. Then by afternoon the derma comes with her machines and gives us facials and diamond peels. We finish the day with a massage from a blind masseuse.

My mom is so into this that she has all the equipment! We have the foot spa thingie and massage table too. I think she's also planning to buy a laser or something.

I enjoy it coz it's free for me. But I still don't let just anybody touch my hair. I still go to my favorite hairdresser to have a haircut. And I still go to my favorite waxing salon for my Brazilian. I need gentle hands for that!

Ssshhhh... it's a secret!

A couple of weeks ago, one of my AIM classmates told me about a blog called PostSecret (it's also linked below). The basic idea of the blog is to share your deepest and darkest secrets anonymously. People all over the world would send their secrets in a postcard and it would get posted on this site. Some are pretty funny, like some stupid stuff people did... some are sexual in nature... some are more poignant... but all are nice to read.

What secrets would YOU share????

Charmed on my butt...

... well, maybe a few inches higher. I'm so bored right now I'm thinking of putting a tattoo on my lower back. I want the triquetra sign from the series Charmed.

Good thing I'm broke or else I would've done it already! I know a really good tattoo artist too. He did my belly ring.

This is what boredom does to you people!!!

Whattya think?!


Triquetra... can you imagine this on me?!

My Babies Bit Me!

As a dog-lover, I always took for granted the possibility of getting bitten by a dog. Specially my own dogs! Well, Missy and her daughter KJ were playing, biting each other, while I was entering our house. I don't know which one of them did it but I felt a sharp pain on my ankle. When I looked, thinking it was just a scratch, there were two teeth scratches an inch long each! I was bleeding! I showed our maid and we cleaned it up with soap and alcohol. She also rubbed garlic... a home remedy from the province. Well, I didn't mind. I'd rather smell like sauteed veggies than get infection! When my parents got home I told my dad and he kinda panicked and called their company doctor. She suggested for me to have it checked and get anti-tetanus and anti-rabies shots. She warned us that depending on the gravity of the bite, the anti-rabies can be very expensive since it's a series of shots. I could just get the anti-tetanus only if it doesn't seem so bad.

After dinner, me and my mom drove to the nearby doctor. He said he'd feel a lot better if I had the anti-rabies too. We didn't know which of the dogs actually bit me. Although Missy had all her shots, KJ haven't had any. If I did have rabies, it might be too late to stop it. So tonight, my butt had two shots, both the anti-tetanus and the anti-rabies. I will have two more in the next few days. He also said that we'll just do three shots since the bites are far from vital organs and not really deep. And if after the three shots the dog that bit me is still alive, then I don't have to worry. Wow, that's such a comfort for me! I'm under observation... along with my dogs... for the next ten days.

I don't know why these things keep on happening to me! I mean... first the shingles and then this! I walk like a duck, I can't sit properly and have to sleep on my tummy. They probably think I'm so bony they'd rather give shots on my bum than on my arm!

Still love my babies though!

Just Visiting

I'm in school right now. I was suppose to meet one of our professors but he had to do something and cancelled. Instead of going somewhere else, I decided to spend a few minutes wandering around the campus. The last time I was here was during the graduation practice. There were a few classmates hanging out by the zen then. Now, looking through the glass in the library, I can't see any. Eventually the familiar faces of students will slowly diminish as new students come in next month. Until the time comes when the only people who will remember me every time I visit will be the secretaries or the guards that will ask for my ID when they never did before.

An old friend said that there are some places... and I guess some people too, that when you say goodbye to, you know deep inside that you're never going to see again. There are goodbyes that are forever, permanent, even if you know they're just out there... in India or Vietnam. We will valiantly try to keep in touch, putting up an eGroup and leaving messages in their blogs until we'll all be too caught up with our lives.

I didn't want to believe this. But I guess, it's true. Because I know there are some classmates that I'll never see again. Not that I don't want to, but because life is like that.

Life will happen to all of us.

Celebrity Thoughts

I ran across my friend's blog and she has links to celebrities' blogs. I scanned through them and I was impressed! I've always underestimated people in showbiz. I always think they're flighty people with nothing between their ears. Maybe bad to generalize. Glad to be proven wrong by these people.

I enjoyed reading Jim Paredes' blog. He has an entry there about his son Mio. It always gets me when a father talks about his children with pride. His daughter Ala also has a blog. She posted some of her artworks too. Again... impressed. But I guess I shouldn't be... this family after all went to Ateneo. Hah!

I also ran across Paula Paralejo and Lucky Manzano's blogs. Lucky has a lot of poetries there. Pretty good too.

Apparently this blogging thing is REALLY contagious.

My Chocolate dream melts... Part Deux

I won't attempt to make guys understand the importance of a warehouse sale...

It's a different level of sale.

It cannot be compared to a mall sale.

I won't even attempt to make guys understand the importance of finding the right pair of jeans that hugs our butts a certain way. Or flares a certain way. Or rides our hips a certain way.

So being depressed because I can't go to this sale is perfectly acceptable.

I'm so depressed I think I need a cigarette!

My Chocolate dream melts...

The Chocolate wharehouse sale is tomorrow and I'm getting depressed coz I've been waiting months for it but I can't afford to buy anything coz I'm broke. And I've reached my quota on my mom's credit card. Even reached my quota on MY credit card.

Those Mink jeans really made my butt look good.

This is one of those moments I wish I was working.

THE GOOD KIND - One Tree Hill OST

Do you wanna run away together?'
I would say it was your best line ever.
Too bad I fell for it...
And I walked along,
Waiting for you to come along.
Take my tortured heart by the hand.
And write me off.

Do you know I cry?
Do you know I die?
Do you know I cry?
And it's not the good kind...

You forced me to become strong.
And I just cried, being weak.
And you think you know.
And I would like to think so,
But do you know that when you go,
I fall apart.

Do you know I cry?
Do you know I die?
Do you know I cry?
And it's not the good kind.
No, it's not the good kind...

I'm tired of hiding behind these lying eyes,
I'm tired of this smile that even I don't recognize.

Do you know I cry?
Do you know I die?
Do you know I cry?
Do you know I cry?
And it's not the good kind...

Do you know I cry?
Do you know I die?
Do you know I cry?
Do you know I cry?
And it's not the good kind...
No, you're not the good kind.
Good kind
No, you're not the good kind.
Good kind
No, you're not the good kind.

The heaven is crying tonight...

... and its making me so happy. I immediately ran out to my terrace and listened as the first minutes of rain fell. Not that I'd want the summer season to finally end. But the sound and smell of rain always reminded me of my childhood... playing in the rain, eating champorado, and just simply staying in my room tucked in bed with a trashy romance novel to keep me company.

It makes me think of the heaven washing away all the dirt and grime in the world. A feeling of hope that eventually, everything will be okay.

Or the souls of heartbroken godesses crying for their lost love. And the only thing they could do was weep.

It's been an hour and the rain hasn't stopped yet. I think I'm finally going to sleep well tonight.

The Devil Wears Prada...

Ever since my six-year relationship ended the first time, I can count in one hand the times I've gone to mass. During the troubling times of our break up, Tini found solace in his faith. And I think, I lost mine. Even when we weren't together anymore, Tini would encourage me to go to mass, either with him or alone. I always found an excuse not to go. But the more he tried to convince me to go, the more I didn't want to.

Typical me... the more I'm pushed... the more I pull away.

But I was never a religious person to begin with. I found my own style of praying, of worshipping, of being one of Him.

I want to go to mass because my heart is answering His call.

I want to go to mass because I want to.

I will go to mass again... but in my own time. For me, praying is more spiritual than religious. I'd feel even worse going to mass without my heart in it. But I think I'm slowly finding my way back. Surprisingly, it's because of Tini. Maybe working on being at peace with each other helps.

I was talking to a friend about how much we admire people who have so much passion in their faith... I told her we have the same level of passion only on clothes, make up, and boys...

C: we're probably be going straight to hell... pero fashionable nga lang!
A: tayo yung bound to hell girls in LV bag, Burberry coats, and etc etc

Re. COMFORTING TALKS

Lately I've been chatting with a friend of mine from grad school. It's probably because we have nothing else to do at the moment that we go online the same time... which is most of the time. We never really had talk-talks. I didn't hang out with her as often as I did with others. But whenever we did find ourselves in the zen talking to each other, it was always about something deep, existential, or even philosophical. It was mostly about life.

It's no different now. We just do it online. Buzzing each other in messenger or reading each others' blog.

It's comforting to talk to someone who knows how you feel and understands where you're coming from.

It's just another Zen after all.

UNTIL I GET OVER YOU - Christina Milian

A friend of mine said goodbye to a special friend a few days ago. I know she's been feeling out of sorts about it. Maybe it was serendipity but I heard this song and remembered her.

Woke up today thinking of you
Another night that I made my way through
So many dreams still left in my mind
But they can never come true
I press rewind and remember when
I close my eyes and I’m with you again
But in the end I can still feel the pain ­ every time I hear your name

The sun won’t shine since you went away
Seems like the rain’s falling every day
There’s just one heart, where there once was two
But that’s the way it’s gotta be, ‘til I get over you…

Walked through the park, in the evening air
I heard a voice and I thought you were there
I run away but I just can’t escape
Memories of you everywhere
They say that time will dry the tears
But true love burns for a thousand years
Give my tomorrows for one yesterday
Just to know that I could have you here

When will this river of tears stop fallin’
Where can I run so I won’t feel alone
Can’t walk away when the pain keeps callin’
I’ve just gotta take it from here on my own
But it’s so hard to let go

My so-called Life

I'm getting fat.

I can hear my friends say "Ano ka ba, Conci?!"

But I am. And why not? My daily schedule is pretty much like this...

800-900 I wake up during this time. I spend a couple of minutes in bed trying to go back to sleep.

900 I go online while watching t.v. Check emails and my friends' blogs and photosites.

930 Press intercom on my phone and call the maid. "What's for breakfast?" Typical meal is spicy pancit canton, two pieces of chicken hotdog, one soft boiled egg, and a glass of ice tea.

1100 Press intercom on my phone and ask for morning snack next. Typical snack is chocolate chip cookies and coke. Still online and still watching t.v.

1200-1230 Press intercom on my phone and ask for lunch.

1500 Press intercom on my phone and ask for afternoon snack. Typical snack is chips and coke. Still online and still watching t.v.

1800 Pretentiously checking around the house. Ask what's there for dinner.

1900-2000 Dinner. Sometimes with family.

2100-200 sometimes till 500 I stay online chatting with Alisa.

Other than getting fat... I'm getting really bored. Poor me. Tough life!

One week down... three more to go before anything exciting happens to me.

p.s. After writing this entry, I went to the gym. Hoping to burn some calories. An hour later... I went to Pizza Hut. Sigh!

MBA 2005 Graduation Speech of Ms. Kathy Ponce

This speech was given last May 1, 2005 at our graduation ceremony. Ms. Kathy Ponce was chosen to render the speech in behalf of our class. I am proud of her, she has always been a good speaker, a writer who pulls words deep from her heart, and a loving person to all of us. The speech encompassess everybody's sentiments on our journey in AIM.


I’m not the top notcher of the batch if a lot you are wondering. Neither am I a class officer or an informal leader. I am just someone who remembers. Remembers seventy-five lives that have come across each other 2 years ago.

Where were we all then? As far as I can remember we were all itching to get into our respective seats. Quite irritated that we were such a humungous class. We all managed to fit in one classroom and give each other enough talk time until we discussed the case dry. We all wanted to edge each other on but at the same time we didn’t want to turn up the heat, so instead, we just turned up the volume as we battled our way through cases and presentations as amicably as we could. Some of us worried about how we were going to get air time with 75 hands flailing in the air. Some of us worried about how we’ll make it to the dean’s list. Some of us worried about how we will ever survive at all. Little did we really wonder about where the whole journey will take us. How our lives will be changed because of this boot camp.

Then we stopped worrying and just started living each day. We stopped counting how many times we CP-ed and how many times others challenged what we had to say. We stopped hanging out the classroom to flock around the professor thinking what we say outside the classroom will just be as valuable to him and maybe influence our grades a little. We stopped judging and complaining about our can groups and started working. Doing. We stopped criticizing others’ opinions and just started listening.

The tensions that were borne from pressures to excel and survive eased as we succumbed to it. To the stretching. To the bending. We no longer resisted. We had no choice. We were stuck with each for this 2 year journey.

When you are stuck with people for a long time, you find it difficult at first. You find it tedious. You find it such a task. Even more of task than all the pages you had to read till the wee hours of morning. But suddenly, something happens. Throughout all the rigor of work. Throughout all the beating and pounding of academic discipline. Something happens. Professor Manikan might call it grace. Grace coming from the power of the Universe that I call God. Professor Morato might call it a heuristic moment. The Moment when we allow ourselves to be lost in a situation so we can find out what it means. MBA gives many terms to define experiences, scenarios, problems. One thing I learned from Professor Gavino was to define something with just one word. So what happened? What happened to us? I’d call it rebirth.

Kept in a womb longer than needed…but somehow necessary. Necessary so that we come out the way we have been destined to be. Inside this womb we have been stretched and bent not only academically but also physically, mentally, a few can attest even psychologically…and for myself…spiritually. Little did we know that all the stretching and the bending and the pressing were actually what nurtured us and brought us where we are today.

I have seen each person in our class grow. I have seen some of you cry. Seen some of you in a fit. Seen most of you drunk. And just the same way I saw all of you then, sitting by the Zen or hurriedly rushing to class…I see all of you now. From up here. Different. Beaming. Accomplished. Proud.Like a troop of soldiers that have just won victory. But it’s not a victory of grades or any academic feat. It’s a victory we have won against the limits we have set for ourselves.

And that is what AIM, has done. We may have had a lot of issues. A lot of politics. A lot of debates about what makes our stay here good or even worth the money. But, we cannot deny, that we leave this place changed. Because of how hard we have been pressed. How hard we have been pruned. How hard we have been purged. How hard we have been polished. And for this we have our professors to be thankful for. Who have taught us that the strategy in life is not simply about our ideals, our thoughts or dreams. It’s how we implement them, how we carry them out, how we make them real.

And we cannot deny that we leave this place changed because of each other. Most of us have left and are not able to join us today. It is sad. But like we all got into this together. We may not end this together…but we remember it together. That’s why we have this moment today to remember everything we have gone through. To be grateful for each one around us before our memories fade into gray.

And so, I end this with an act of remembrance…to MBA Batch 2005.

We made it. For those who are not with us, we chant for you the last hurrah. Through it all we have lost and we have gained. But most of all we have changed. We had our fights. We had our misfortunes. But we also had our victories and our parties that got our hearts pumping and our feet thumping until all lines drawn around each other in the case room and the halls are gone. This is what we are. This is what we do. We dance.

We dance to the rhythm of the clock in the dorm. Or the sound of our can groups beckoning. We dance to the patter of the keyboard. Or the footsteps rushing down the stairs. We dance to the chug-a-lug of the bottle. Or the puffs of smoke that wade through the garden of Zen. We dance through a streamline of thoughts in a discussion. Or the blinking of the cursor on the screen. We have danced to the same rhythm of this journey. Always catching up in time. Saving quick side steps here and there but never missing a beat.

Now, we have reached the end and there is no rewind nor replay. There is only forward. We have kept up with the count and our steps are almost in sync. Now as we do this last dance of marching out to claim our destinies, let’s always keep the beat in mind, our feet in step, our hearts in harmony, to the same rhythm that kept us going. The same rhythm that has carried us through the hallowed halls of AIM will carry us through the rest of our lives.

And when the patterns of life changes the beat, let us not fall short, let us not give up, let us always remember that after every pounding, every pressing, that has gone through our brains and our bodies…the spirit of this boot camp will whisper a thumping and we’ll hear the clicking of footsteps in our memories…and we’ll remember that at the end of every endeavor is another victory, another party, another dance, where we will all celebrate the making of our lives…simply waiting for us in another Zen.

YOU ARE ALWAYS ON MY MIND

This letter was taken from the Lifestyle section of www.inq7.net. The topic was mostly about love. Alisa was actually the one who told me to check it out. There were lots of stories about different kinds of love. This is one of my favorites. I hope the recepient and the sender won't mind me putting it here in my blog. It's just so moving I had to share it. And this letter was written by the guy!

Dear Ophelia,

Goodbye, I think, is one of the hardest words to say. It is because, I think, of the memories we attach to it. In my goodbye, I attach memories of my friends, my family. I see fleeting pictures of faces and places that have had a place in my life. If it so happens that I am gone for a long time, then I will miss them. But of all that I leave behind it is you I will miss the most.

With you, I remember a host of things. I remember laughing with you and I remember crying with you. I remember useless arguments and I remember our tender moments together. I can still feel your kisses on my face. But what I remember most is how I'd come to you when I'm exhausted and find rest in your arms.

It hurts me that I have to leave, and I never even thought that it was me who'd leave. Didn't I always maintain that I want to live and die in the Philippines? Isn't it funny how life works? Funny, sure, but it hurts all the same.

I've said that only time and distance separates us when I leave, and I still believe it. What scares me is all the unknown factors that will arise when we're apart. I love you, and I want to be with you again. But what if fate is against us? What if March 3 is the last time I'll hold you? As much as I fight against it, there is a chance of that happening, and I must accept it.

All in all, I'm glad that you've been a part of my life, and honored to have been a part of yours. People say that only when you are in love are you truly alive. Well, I guess I've never been more alive than these past two years. These past two years have been sweet and would have been sweeter still, had we the time.

I've been searching for words to tell you how I feel for the past few days, and was surprised to find it in a song. It goes like this:

Maybe I didn't treat you, quite as good as I should have

And maybe I didn't love you, quite as often as I could have

Little things I should have said and done, I just never had the time

But you were always on my mind

Mr. Presley will have to forgive me if I take these words as my own, but they seem to fit me so well.

I'm sorry, baby, that I couldn't give you more. That I couldn't spend more time with you. I feel like I didn't show you my love as often enough. But like the song, you were always on my mind.
In closing, I'd like you to close your eyes as I kiss you goodnight (Mwah!).

There are no monsters, baby, for I've scared them all away (shoo mawnstews!).

And don't worry, everything will be all right.

And, yes, I will come back.

I love you, baby.

Yours always,
Dominic :)

Hot-ah! Hot-ah!

The heat is too much!

I'm literally melting just sitting down. I start sweating as soon as I step out of the shower. It would've been nice if I were in a beach not here in the city where there's smog and pollution in the air.

They say it's gonna be even hotter in the next few weeks.

Ugh!

MBA 2005 Graduation Ceremony

MBA 2005 ending this journey and starting a new one...


The 315 Girls -- sans Alisa -- during the final moments...