Fire!

As I came home around lunchtime earlier today from Eastwood, we suddenly saw plumes of black smoke in the general direction of where we live.  And as if on cue, seconds after seeing the smoke, my sister called me up on my mobile phone telling me to go home as soon as I can because there was a fire very near our houses!  Thank goodness we were on our way as we spoke.  It would’ve been psychological torture if I were far from home when something like that was happening.  We got to our village at EXACTLY the same time that the first firetruck arrived.  We even had to pull over to let it pass.  We parked and ran immediately to the area just to see if there was any need to start moving stuff out from our houses.  Before we knew it, there were so many fire trucks clogging the streets, so much that most were just on standby as the first ones to get there did the job.  It was gut-wrenching to watch the firemen trying to put out the huge walls of fire coming out from the burning house.  And a lot of the bystanders were panicking because in the house next to the burning one, people were still inside, armed with garden hoses, trying to keep away the flames from their house.

We were just thankful that no one perished or was hurt in the incident.  And everyone breathed a sigh of relief that none of the connecting houses caught fire as well.  My heart went out to the homeowners who watched helpless as the fire gutted the burning one, while they hold their breaths hoping the fire won’t spread to their own homes.  Eventually, the roof caved in, the house was razed, and the fire was put out.  The firetrucks pulled out, the bystanders went home, and we all thanked the heavens that a worse tragedy was averted.

It’s just so weird that just the night before, Delle and I and some friends were just talking about the fires that have hit some of our homes and how traumatized we were about it.  In October 2003, we woke up at around 3am to shouts and banging at our gates to find our sister and her family asking for help because their house, which was 2 houses away from ours, was up in flames.  Thankfully no one was hurt as well in that incident.  We’ve all moved on, and left that incident behind us, but it still send chills up my spine every time I look back.  So our hearts go out to the owners of that house that burned today, because we know how it feels to watch a house we all grew up in, a house we all loved dearly, a house our parents built from scratch with their hard-earned money, burn in front of our eyes, helpless as we watch the flames reduce it to ashes.

We just wish that the owners of the house will have the strength and grace to rise up from something so devastating because we know how hard it is to accept such a loss.  It also helped that family and friends, and even neighbors and co-villagers, some of whom we hardly knew, opened up their homes and hearts to offer whatever help they could give.  It was really a great comfort to see so many people coming to our aid.  It started raining shortly after the fire was put out, which lent a lot of gloom to an already sad day.  Tonight I say a prayer for the family’s loss and for sparing our house and the other houses from any further damage.  And I can’t say it enough that thank God no one was hurt.  Times like these you really count your blessings…

The Best And The Rest 142

One of the crowd-pleasers: yaya quotes.  It doesn’t matter how often we revisit this topic, it always seems to sound fresh.  Yaya is a mainstay in the show, always a fixture in many entries.  So I hope you enjoy this as much as we did on air when this was our topic. And strangely, while reading this, there were so many texts welcoming me back.  Apparently I also just came back after 3 days from somewhere, as I just came back from vacation yesterday. Weird!

October 23, 2008 → The Top Ten Yaya Quotes – Boknoi/Jose de Vengenge

1. Frederique – We had a yaya who claimed she was being courted by a kapre in her province and wanted to take her to his kingdom.  Her reason for turning down the offer to be his queen? “Kapre yun ma’am, malaki ang kwan nun! Wag na tuy!”
2. Ivan – Kid: “Yaya look, boats!” Yaya: “Dows are not boats, they’re yachts.” Kid: “Yaya, spell yachts?” Yaya: “Yor rayt, dey are boats.”
3. Sam – Woman carrying sick baby enters doctor’s office. Doc: “Bottlefed?” Woman: “Breastfed po.” (Doctors squeezes woman’s breasts repeatedly) Doc: “Ayan ang problema, wala kang gatas, eh.” Woman: “Yaya lang po ako doc! Yaya!”
4. William & Luli – The eggs that yaya bought turned out to be rotten. She stormed back to the grocery and told the vendor: “Manong, ang baho ng itlog niyo!”
5. No name – My mom asked our yaya to buy Inquirer and Star. Our yaya came back and said: “Ma’am, wala pong Inquirer kaya bumili nalang po ako ng dalawang Star!”
6. Cutie Girl – Yaya: “Huhuhu…” Ate: “O, bakit ka umiiyak?” Yaya: “Kasi ate ang dami kong pimples!” Ate: “Eh bakit ka ba tinitighiyawat?” Yaya: “Kasi po di ako makatulog sa gabi.” Ate: “O, bakit ka di makatulog?” Yaya: “Kasi po may pinoproblema ako…” Ate: “Ano naman ang pinoproblema mo?” Yaya: “Kasi ate ang dami kong pimples!”
7. Curt Smith – (Earlier) Mom: “Yaya, lagay mo yung pesto sa ref!” (Later) Son: “Yaya, nakita mo PS2 ko?” Yaya: “Nasa ref, pinalagay ng mama mo!”
8. Fuzzy Secretary – Just now my maid burned a hole in my uniform. I angrily asked her, “Paano mo naman nasunog to?” She answered: “Secret!”
9. Dew Berry – After watching a movie, our yaya blurted out: “Ang pangit naman, happy ending!”
10. Ungazz – Sir: “Yaya, gawa mo ko ng kape. Yung decaf ha!” Yaya: “Siyempre naman, alangan namang de-baso!”
11. No name – Mom: “Yaya, magluto ka na pag-alis ko ha!” Yaya: “Ano po lulutuin ko?” Mom: “It’s up to you.” (During dinner) Mom: “Yaya, bakit ketsup at tuyo ang ulam?” Yaya: “Diba nung tinanong ko kayo kung anong lulutuin ko, sabi niyo, ‘kitsup tuyo’!”
12. Aries – Our neighbor’s yaya: “Junjun, chew your mouth!”
13. Abelski – Our yaya sa sari-sari store: “Miss isang Coke in can at isang Sprite na Coke in can…”
14. Ken -  SIR: “Inday, si sir mo to, nabangga kotse ko & I need cash!” INDAY: “Aru, dugo-dugo gang ka no?” SIR: “Gaga! Si sir mo talaga to!” INDAY: “Gago ka rin! Si sir ang tawag sa kin…kapkeyk…”
15. SC – I once asked my yaya where the Netherlands is located. She answered: “Diba dun nakatira si Peter Pan?”
16. No name – Ate: “O yaya, bakit ka umiiyak?” Yaya: “Ati, sabi kasi ng duktor, tatanggalan ako ng butlig!” Ate: “Eh yun lang pala eh! Bakit ka umiiyak?” Yaya: “Buti kung one lig lang, eh kung butlig, wala na kong ligs!”
17. Geyp – We saw our yaya staring intently at the orange juice bottle. Sabi namin: “Yaya, anong ginagawa mo?” Yaya: “Shhh! Nakalagay sa bote, ‘concentrate’…”
18. S44 – Neighbor’s yaya telling her ward to climb down the stairs: “Down to earth! Down to earth!”
19. Chester – My mom was going to buy our yaya a transistor radio. Before my mom left the house, our yaya said, “Ma’am, ang kunin niyo yung Ilokano ang salita ha!”
20. Astroboy – We paid for the tuition fee of our yaya’s son. So one day I was reviewing him: “The Earth is the 3rd planet from the sun. Ano ang katabi ng Mercury?” His mom, our yaya, answered: “Parang Watson’s yata…”
21. No name – Sir: “Yaya, natanggal mo yung mantsa sa barong ko?” Yaya: “Opo! Tanggal na tanggal!” Sir: “Good! Anong pinang-tanggal mo?” Yaya: “Gunting, kuya! Gunting!”
22. Ivan – Yaya to tricycle driver: “Magkano sa City Hall?” Driver: “Ikaw lang?” Yaya: “Ay bakit, hindi ka sasama?”
23. Jun13 – (Si Kuya pumasok sa kuwarto ni Yaya) Kuya: “Yaya…” Yaya: “Koya, wag po! Wag Pooooo!” Kuya: “Gaga! Uutusan lang kita!” Yaya: “Si Koya naman…nagsa-suggest lang…”
24. Mr. Perk – Kid: “Yaya, spell orange?” Yaya: “Depende. Yung kulay o yung prutas?”
25. Yñaki – Midget Yaya who was newly hired: “Suwerte po kayo, ako ang napili niyo. At least kung maibagsak ko si baby, mababa lang!”
26. Sawyer – Yaya to my brother: “Nag tothbrush ka na ng ipin?” Bro: “Siyempre, alangan namang mag toothbrush ako ng kilikili!”
27. Geyp – (after being scolded for breaking her promises): “Ma’am, hindi na po ako mangangako ulit…promise!”
28. Jose de vengenge – Yaya buys food at McDo. Crew: “Dito niyo na po ba kakainin?” Yaya: “Puwede sa table?”
29. Ivan – AMO: “Bakit namatay ang aso?” MAID: “Pinaliguan ko po ng laundry soap.” AMO: “Nakamamatay ba yun?” MAID: “Ewan ko nga po eh, pag-off ko ng washing machine patay na.”
30. Ehem -  Yaya picking up the phone saying: “Hilo?” We noticed that she was holding the handset ng baligtad. We told her, “Yaya, baliktad!” Then Yaya said: “Lohi?”

LATA Laguna (Non-People Pics)

Well, technically some photos here have people in them, but I guess it’s not mainly about the people.  They may be in the picture, but they don’t have the leading role, so to speak.

When we joined Lakbay Litratista Laguna, I distinctly remember telling myself that I should remember to take pictures of both people and non-humans (non-living things and other life forms).

I’m more at home with this aspect of travel photography because you don’t need to ask permission when it comes to shooting objects or animals or plants.  At the very least you do a tabi-tabi po.

It’s like training your eye to find something worth capturing wherever you may be.  Sometimes the whole place looks really sucky, but if you look hard enough, sometimes in the most unlikely places, you might find something pleasing in the midst of yuckiness.

Sometimes, you even find objects on humans that you find fascinating:

Or sometimes it’s one dark corner in a rundown shack that speaks a silent elegance.

It’s a nice exercise: to find beauty in places where you don’t expect to find it.  If I could only apply this outside of photography and into my everyday life, I’d be a happier camper.  Because mostly I find a lot of ugliness wherever I go.

Also, photography satisfies the voyeur in me.  Especially when you use zoom lenses to catch something from afar.  Not so much for puerile purposes, but more of to capture scenes without tainting it with self-consciousness, which pours in bucketloads once subjects realize they’re being photographed.

We’re planning our next photo trip.  I hope it’s somewhere challenging, a place that will give up it’s secret treasures with some patient prodding.  Travel photography is exhausting, but I guess we do it again again because of how rewarding it all feels after you see your photos.  I guess it’s like what mothers go through when giving birth.  In the end, the pain is all worth it.

LATA Laguna (People Pics)

It took a while before I was able to post my photos when we joined Lakbay Litratista (LATA) Laguna.  We basically went to the towns of Caliraya, Pagsanjan, Paete, Pakil, and Pangil. We went to the usual suspects, mostly churches, and so the task was to find something interesting in the everyday grind of provincial life.  Plus, since there were so many of us, it was a sub-challenge to find images that would be different from what everybody else was shooting (most photographers don’t want pictures that everybody else has), or at least put your own stamp on a commonplace image.

I’ve always considered shooting people as a personal waterloo.  I don’t like shooting people mainly because I don’t want them to pose, I want catch them unaware, as they do what they do in real life.  But there’s always the question of how ethical is it to shoot people without their knowledge.  Different photographers will give you different points of view.  I myself haven’t really decided on how I feel about the subject; I vacillate between arguments.

But one thing I concede, in the end after shooting people, is that I always love the result.  There something so strong in the image capturing the human face, freezing an emotion so real, and so complex.  The beauty of nature and landscapes is one thing, the beauty of the human emotion is another.

I went through the same thing went I went to Moalboal in Cebu.  I found that shooting people was rewarding to a different degree.  And studies have shown that the human eye is most attracted to: humans.  Between landscapes and flowers and animals and objects and all the possible photographic subject, we find pictures of fellow humans the most captivating.

So it was nice to get a chance to do travel photography again after so long.  It was nice shooting people again, and I tried as much as possible to let them know I was shooting, without affecting a change in their natural demeanor.  Tough challenge, but it was fun going for it.

Of course kids are the easiest and most fun to shoot.  They’re fascinating subjects because they don’t have as much malice and mistrust as adults do, so they have a more unaffected way of acting in front of a probing lens.

And sometimes it’s also a challenge to find something inspiring even in images that at first glance might seem too depressing or too in-your-face social commentary, like pictures of poverty and suffering.  You’d want to make a statement without necessarily putting off the viewer.

But it’s also nice to find images that have a quirky quality, and those are fun to hunt for.  It helps to have a nice zoom lens while you’re at it.

So I hope to join more of these trips because it takes us away from our safety zone, and it helps train us in the boot camp style of travel photography.  You have to be on your toes all the time,  always on the lookout for a great image, ready to snap that shot, and do whatever it takes to get it.

Tomorrow, the non-people pics.

The Best And The Rest 141

We stayed away from noisy neighbors and in-laws on this day, and stuck with creepy crawlies.  I’m not really squeamish with insects.  If ever I hate roaches, it’s more because they’re the germ equivalent of a nuclear bomb.  I’m a germaphobe, so I hate dirty insects.  What I REALLY hate with every cell in my body…are earthworms. Echh.  They’re the grossest creatures ever created.  You might as well include other types like ascaris and other disgusting varieties.

October 17, 2008 → The Top Ten Encounters With Pests – Acer

1. Jun13 – One day, I screamed in pain when I felt something inside my ear. It was an ant. My m0m, who’s not a smoker, grabbed a cigarette & puffed smoke in my ear. The ant came out.
2. Gony – When a mouse got caught in the sticky paper, I crushed it with my hand.  Then I felt a stabbing pain.  One of the splintered bones went inside my hand about an inch deep.
3. SPY Shadow – We discovered our boss’ secret when he found roaches in his toupee!
4. Dexter’s lab – After I woke up from a nap, I took off my shirt, and out plopped a huge centipede! It was inside my shirt the whole time.
5. Ken – We have pigeons in a cage.  One day, we saw 4 huge rats, each about the size of my arm, eating our pigeons.
6. Twylyt – This is how my mom kills roaches. She cups her had over them, she picks them up, then tears off its head with her fingers. She beheads them!
7. Capt’n – While driving at night, I opened the car window and in flew a huge cockroach! I panicked so much that I pulled over, and called my mom on the phone, as if she can do anything about it!
8. MasterB – I was eating monggo ice drop, and as I kept on licking it, what I thought was monggo, turned out to be a cockraoch frozen in it!
9. Automatic Allen – One time I woke up to find all my rabbits dead because they were eaten alive by ants. They must’ve been sweet rabbits.
10. Moonblaze - In my lola’s house in the province, one of my relatives found a decapitated field mouse and couldn’t find the head. They then found my cousin, who was then a toddler, in a corner with blood coming out of his mouth. It turned out that he was chewing on the mouse’s head.
11. Uglybelle – We were freaking out one night because the piano started playing by itself! When we had enough courage to check, we found the music was caused by bubwits inside the piano.
12. Dodge – We attended a wedding in the province. A whole litson was served. Kinurot-kurot ng mga guests ang malutong na balat. Then a man started chopping the litson in d middle, millions of MAGGOTS came out.
13. Alem – We found under the bed a dead rat next to the grad pic of my sister. Pamatay talaga ng daga.
14. Fat-free – Cum Laude friend advised: “ibahin ang ayos ng damit sa cabinet para maligaw ang mga ipis.” Weird, but it’s effective!
15. V55 – A friend poured gasoline on a rat’s nest in ther backyard and set it on fire. Ayun, burning rats started running inside the house, almost burning the house down!
16. J.Doe – A friend woke up from her nap and awoke to find a dead rat between her thighs, asphyxiated.
17. Sawyer – One morning I woke up with swollen lips! I had to be taken to the ER and given shots. The doctor said ipis bite daw.
18. Mockbuster – While having sex, we freaked out when a cockroach crawled between our naked bodies. It died when crushed by our thrusting.
19. Acer – During seminars I conduct about pests, I always say that the termite queen is edible & very nutritious, but I haven’t eaten one until last June. It was sauteed in butter, it was delicious!
20. Ginger – My sister woke me up in the middle of the night: “Ginge, get up veeery slowly.” I mumbled groggily, “Why?” She whispered: “There’s a huge rat on your chest…”
21. Glenn – One morning, I put on my skinny jeans, and after a few seconds I felt a blinding pain all over my body! Apparently there were thousands of red ants inside my pants. Good thing my nether regions were spared.
22. Chinese Cowboy – I hate rats. When I catch them, I inject them with toyo, patis and vinegar, using syringes.
23. Doorknob – My sister’s one of the smartest, most level-headed people I know. So I have no idea why she claims she’s heard an ant scream.
24. Geyp – Customer: “Waiter! May langaw sa sabaw ko!” Waiter: “Ay, haluin niyo lang sir, marami pa niyan sa ilalim!”
25. Maximo – Nahuling magnanakaw, pinapili ng hari kung anong parusa ang gusto niya: putol kamay o pasakan ng bubuyog sa puwet? Sabi ng magnanakaw: “Bubuyog sa puwet!!!” Sabi ng hari: “Mga bata…ilabas si Jollibee!”

Samar’s Hottest!

Hahaha, sorry for the crappy photoshopping! It’s the best I can come up with given my Z-grade photoshop skills.  Anyway, it’s time for me again to go on a break.  Tomorrow, I shall be off to some hopefully paradise-like getaway to get some much needed R&R.  I need to recharge my batteries to keep me going.  I promise to use my new D10 in the water and see what kind of shots I could squeeze off of it, and I will post them as soon as I could.  Hopefully the weather cooperates and I pray mother sun shines brightly on us for the 4 days we’ll be there.

On a very sad note, it’s a bit unsettling to receive such tragic news on the eve of our departure.  I just got news of a high school batchmate who lost 3 members of their family in the ferry that capsized around noon yesterday.  I pray they be granted strength and grace in such difficult times.  It’s a harsh reminder of how little control we have over the course of our lives on earth.  Some Higher Power that we hardly understand is at work here, and we just hope that we’re ready to face whatever lies in our individual futures.  They will be in my prayers tonight.

So I pray for safety passage tomorrow and for the rest of our holiday.  I hope we come back safe and sound.  I have a renewed appreciation of every single day that is given to us.  If you think about it, every single day we’re alive is truly a gift.  We do this waking up thing every morning that we forget just how easily we can lose it all.

Sorry for being such a downer, tragic news like this really hits to the core.

Anyway, see you when I get back!  I’ll be back to work Friday morning, May 29, 2009.  Actually I’m working on some posts that I can schedule to be published on the days that I’ll be gone.

The Best And The Rest 140

Would I say that I was happier when I was single, at least happier than now, when I’m a “double”?  Actually, no.  I won’t lie and say I was happier, bacause I’m definitely happier now, since I have someone to go thrugh life with.  Buy the point is, I could’ve been happier, or at least just as happy, if I was happy with myself.  The cause of my unhappiness was not my being alone, it was the self-loathing that was killing me, since I had to be with the same person everyday, and I didn’t really like him: myself.

October 16, 2008 → The Top Ten Tips On How To Be A Happy Singleton – Kendzee

1. Jose de vengenge – Pag malas sa pag-ibig, suwerte sa career.
2. Hajime – A heart can be happy in its solitude.  It ain’t so bad…sanayan lang yan!
3. Astroboy – Chocolate is said to contain “phenylethylamine”, the same chemical your brain produces when you’re in love. So kung wala kang lovelife, chocolate na lang!
4. Kaboosh22 – We can be happy once we stop questioning why life can’t be perfect and just accept the world just the way it is.
5. AJ – Okay lang ang single, basta maraming ka-mingle.
6. Kid Bukid/Abelski – Isipin mo nalang, pag single ka, wala kang biyenan!
7. Dorrknob – I learned to love being single. I took advantage and enjoyed every minute of it. And that, according to my now husband, is what made me so attractive.
8. Lheng – Wala mang dumadagdag na saya, at least wala ring dumdagdag ng problema.
9. SPY Shadow – Sa travelling, maganda ang single, para “baggage” mo lang ang iintindihin mo.
10. Astroboy – (From Sex and the City) “Maybe our girlfriends are really our soulmates and that men are just part of the fun…”
11. Mylene – A recent survey of 30-year-olds showed that smart men are mostly married, and smart women stay mostly single.
12. Morenang Kaligatan – Do you want to be like me? May boyfriend nga, miserable naman.
13. Jun13 – “Life may n0t be the party we h0ped for, but while we’re here, we might as well dance.”
14. Loi Mas Pogi – No one is born a couple. We are born single, therefore complete.
15. SC – Let go of the thought that being in a relationship is the key to happiness, because it simply isn’t.
16. SC – The best feeling in the world is realizing you are perfectly happy even without the thing you thought you needed the most.
17. SC – If happiness is a choice, then so is loneliness.
18. Chinese Cowboy/Specialist/Kristen – Being single means more money for yourself.
19. Ever – Being happy is our job. Don’t wait for someone else to make you happy.
20. Pinay Goddess – You will never be alone if you have family and friends.
21. Geyp – Stop treating being single as a negative.
22. Geyp – Sumama lagi sa couple friends mo na laging nag-aaway, para you’ll feel better not having to go through that.
23. Geyp – Isipin mo na lang: ang mataba pumapayat, ang may sakit gumagaling, ang single puwedeng maging attached. Eh ang pangit? Yun ang talagang kawawa!

Canon Powershot D10

I have zero will power.  I am a pushover.  I am a compulsive buyer.  I am weak.  I get dazzled by shiny objects and easily flimflammed out of my hard-earned money.  “A fool and his money are soon parted.”  Amen to that.  Sigh…I gave in to my shallow urges and fed my pack rat nature and went out and bought the D10.

While I beat myself up for being such a gadget slut, I’d like to thank everyone who gave their 2-cents worth regarding my dilemma.  It was really nice that so many gave their inputs, no matter how great or small.  After hearing all the arguments and talking to friends, I realized that I really need to buy a camera that I can bring anywhere, at any time, without any preparation.  What makes my Olympus so burdensome is the amount of time needed to set-up the cam inside the underwater casing.  It takes at least 15-30 minutes!  So I wouldn’t go through all that just to go snorkling, right?  So I need a handy point and shoot that will be my beach companion, and I found one.

As for taking pics while diving, I do have a camera already with an underwater casing.  And although the G10 is far superior than my 5060, my threadbare wallet will simply not allow for another underwater set.  What will I do with 2 underwater set-ups?  So I have armed myself with the accompanying rationalizations to justify my unnecessary purchase, and convinced myself of the urgency of my imaginary need.  So I immediately called the shop to deliver the camera to my house (see, I’m not only foolhardy, I’m lazy to boot!) and now I cradle the gadget in my hands, as I rub it erotically all over my naked, nutella-covered body…oops…wrong post…

And as I always flagellate myself after a major purchase, I am now in the throes of buyer’s remorse.  I start thinking maybe I jumped the gun.  Maybe I should’ve waited for a better model.  Maybe I should’ve bought the G10.  Maybe I should have bought the Olympus Tough 8000 instead.  Maybe I shouldn’t have eaten too much squid during dinnertime…

So it’s a vicious cycle.  I imprudently buy something expensive that isn’t essential to my well-being, then I regret it the moment I buy it, therefore draining all the pleasure from an act, whose only redeeming value is precisely to bring orgiastic materialistic pleasure, therefore leaving me feeling even emptier than I started with, without the purchase.  So…to fill up the gnawing void in the abysmal cavity of my bottomless hunger, I compensate by buying even more useless stuff to leave me feeling even emptier than ever.  Get it?

Hmmm…too much drama for a camera.  Anyway, here’s my newest baby:

The Best And The Rest 139

I hope I haven’t posted this yet. I have the habit of, whenever we do birthday or anniversary topics, posting them out of the chronology.  That’s why there was a Top Ten I posted twice (the anniversary Top Ten, if I’m not mistaken.  So I hope I haven’t posted this, Delle’s birthday Top Ten.

October 14, 2008 → The Top Ten Messages For Delle

1. Chronicles23 – Remember, it’s okay to be 35, as long as you look 25.
2. Jose de vengenge - Delle, hindi mo pag-aari ang katawan mo. Pinahiram lang yan sa yo. Kaya kung may nangangailangan, ipagamit mo.
3. Mitch – Thanks for creating a rightful place for female DJ’s in FM radio.
4. oBaDiah – Delle, may tinatawag na single blessedness, malay mo ikaw pala ang patron saint nila.
5. Gorgeous Bitch – People either love you or hate you, but only a few are lucky enough to be loved by you.
6. Tonks – The secret to being young: eat pr0perly, exercise, get plenty of rest…and LIE ab0ut your age.
7. Rookro – Honestly, malapit ka sa puso ko. Pagkatapos ng misis ko. Nanay ko, lola, mga tiyahin, mga babae sa PTA ng school ng anak ko, at mga babae sa homeowners association namin, ikaw na ang susunod.
8. Quicksilverbullet – Delle, ikaw ang laging iniisip ni Eggbird habang naliligo siya…
9. No name – Tubuan ka man ulit ng buhok sa kilikili, ikaw pa rin ang nag-iisang diwata ng radyo.
10. Ugly Betong – 5 years nalang, 40 ka na!
11. Treiz – I never thought that the person who would make me MOST believe in love, would be the person who I’d have thought was hurt so much by it.
12. Frederique – I smell a cougar in the making. You go, girl!
13. SPY Shadow – I wish that the RX big bosses grant you a month-long paid vacation to see the Northern Lights for your birthday.
14. Zane – Deeeeeeelle…wala na kong brieeeeeeeef!
15. SC – Nakakasawa na ang burger, kaya dahil birthday mo, pa-alak ka naman! ALAK! ALAK! ALAK!
16. Frederique – A problem is simply a solution in drag.
17. Capt’n – October 14, 1997, first time ko nakita si Delle sa booth. Crush na crush ko siya noon. After 11 years, marami na ang nagbago: hindi na siya masyadong iyakin, nagka-boyfriend na siya, lalaki na ang gusto ko…pero hanggang ngayon, I still consider her as one of the finest women I know.
18. Nine – So you’re 35. So what? Don’t worry, I got married at age 41.
19. Curly/Koshua Andrei – Kung naging straight lang ako, linigawan na kita!
20. Kaboosh22 – Life is good when you’re happy & blessed. But life is at its best when other people are happy & blessed because of you.

First Ever New Moon Poster

Okay, I’m NOT a fan, but I’m not a hater either.  I’m just thinking some fans might appreciate this.  I couldn’t even finish Twilight, the book.  Sorry, but it just didn’t grip me enough for me to finish it.  But I understand the appeal, it just didn’t work on me.  Harry Potter, on the other hand, reduced me to a quivering mound of jello, when I finally saw the trailer  of “The Half Blood Prince” on the big screen when I watched the disappointing “Wolverine” in the cinema.  Anyway, back to New Moon, I got this from Ryan Seacrest’s tweet.  Apparently it’s the first OFFICIAL promotional material released by the studio, and they released it online.  So to the fans, ENJOY!  And to haters, well, start grumbling!