With Love From

 

From my family to yours <3

I Reek Of Airplanes

It’s great to be back home again!

But that’s not exactly what I want to rant about. Let’s rewind a couple of days, shall we?

December 20, 2010

Airports and I usually get along (See previous post). However, if there’s anything that makes my blood boil in that particular setting, it would have to be delayed flights.

As per usual, my parents were nagging me to leave at 1:00 for a 4:00 flight lest I get caught in the holiday rush. I tried to prove a point, so I left at 1:30. Finding the queue for Iloilo bound passengers proved to be quite tricky .. seeing as there was none (I gave in to the itch and sent my parents a subtle yet sarcastic text saying I was incredibly early to a point that no one wanted me there). I spent five minutes staring blankly into random people’s faces and sorely lusting after the reindeer headbands the Cebu Pacific employees were donning. To cut the long story short, I had checked in and paid all my dues by 1:45 .. 2:00 at the latest.

I always kill time in Mrs. Fields what with the free wifi with any purchase. I was sipping through my usual bitter latte (Don’t ask why I keep on ordering it) when lo and behold! My high school superior (a nun at that) occupies the table beside mine. We were never chummy. So, it did come as an amusing surprise when we ended up chatting about every imaginable topic — at least those “proper” for convos with the religious — for a good two plus one hours.

Keeping myself busy.

Which leads me to my point: my flight got held back for an hour and a half. We boarded at 5:00 and left at 5:30.

Honestly, it takes a rather saintly amount of patience to put up with these things. There’s only so much I can “reflect” on in the airport. By the time I was seated in the plane, I was dying to get out again. Besides, the lady beside me kept on giving me these weird looks. True, I was fidgety and I may have been shuffling in my seat a lot, but I found it rather rude. To make matters semi-worse, my iPod’s battery was drained so I was left with buzzing sounds more unnerving than the vuvuzelas during the World Cup.

Japanese (or is it Chinese) chocolate covered pretzels which my dad brought from .. well, wherever. It made for good snackin'. I was bored out of my life in the plane ride and it sort of helped .. err.

On an upside:

• I have a fettish with the on flight Smile magazine. I never read it from cover-to-cover, but I like sifting through what they have to say about Iloilo and more recently, Manila. What can I say? I’m .. erm .. patriotic?
• It was nice and cold in the plane and I was lucky enough to be wearing one of my thicker poncho-like tops.
• I was seated by the window. The clouds always look too surreal; it almost feels like you’re dreaming.

I've always wondered what it would feel like to sit on those clouds. But then I grew up and my teachers taught me that the clouds are basically just made out of vapor and aren't like cotton candy at all. Science always zaps the magic out of everything.

But I’ve never been Ms. Optimistic:

• It took me less than 10 minutes to go over that thing. Which left me with 55 minutes to shoot my brains out.
• Hardly any leg-room. But I blame that on my laptop.
• I needed to pee but it’s rather awkward walking past the other two people in your row. Do you pass them crotch-side or bum-side? So, I stayed put.

Night view of Iloilo! I wish camera took better pictures than these.

Alright. I’m over it.

Merry Christmas to all!

An Evening With Dionne

Dionne Warwick (November 27, 2010, Araneta Coliseum)

I never realized until after (and I suppose during, too) the concert how big a sage Dionne Warwick is in the music industry. She created hits, no less. It certainly came as a surprise how I actually knew most (and I do mean most) of her songs. And here I was proclaiming I wasn’t a fan.

To be honest, it didn’t kick off as smoothly as the audience would have liked due to some technical difficulties. But the concert certainly gained momentum. Granted, her voice wasn’t exactly the one she had circa a long time ago (Her songs were at least a key lower), but the magic is still there.

I love “meeting” the greats!

I’m bummed about not being able to find the setlist online (Anyone care to help?). I suppose this is why one should take notes.

And We Are Vagabonds

Uncanny

Our Com 12 teacher made us take a full-body picture of ourselves that best describes who we are.

Somehow, I find that this picture shows an uncanny likeness.

Hair in an untidy bun. Ill-fitting clothes. My baggy-looking eyes glued to the computer (why, I almost look dazed). Earphones on. Multi-tasking with a book in one hand and my laptop on the other.

I rather look like a hobo — a bum.

I’ve always found it rather ironic how despite my self-induced craze in fashion, music and the arts, I’ve always been just a homebody. I don’t mind staring at the ceiling and pondering on God-knows-what  for hours on end. I’ve always felt safest in in my head, left with my imagination to do with it as I please.

I suppose that’s why I’ve never liked the idea of mind-reading. Telekinesis — now that I could definitely jive with.

If You Could See Into My Soul

All Saint’s Day in pictures.

Die, I wan to die for something higher than myself.

Crawling my way back to the place I know that's meant for me.

We always have brunch in my tita's house in Oton, Iloilo. It's an All Saint's Day tradition in my family, after all!

Checking out the old-school loom in the Sinamay House in Arevalo while we were waiting for our Mama's Kitchen (They have the yummiest cookies in the city) purchases.

Chev, Royce and I took Trisha out to the mall then had some sweets at Nothing But Desserts.

Mom and her mom (my yaya who has been with the family for over 22 years) weren't so pleased with the idea of indulging her with chocolate and cream. But, just look at that face!

<3

She kept on running around a lot - on the street and (as you can see) on gravel. She was ecstatic when she saw the cow. I'm not sure the thing felt the same way.