friday to saturday

Reasons why I am smiling:

1. Lala of Panyero's rescued my Little Twin Stars pouch.

2. Spent time with Grace, my good friend--and favorite photographer.

3. I'd be watching Rod Stewart tonight!

4. I was able to get snazzy zippers.

5. The mystery of the missing iphone charger has been solved.

6. ha ppy :)

7. I have decided to let go of the hate.

hardest thing

I met a friend for lunch in a nearby hawker center to eat Filipino food. And anyone who has gone there to eat knows that you need to save seats. When I got there, I saved a table by leaving a Little Twin Stars pouch. So why am I writing about saving a table? I left my pouch! I was in a rush to get back that I completely forgot. I was already back in the office when I remembered. This is a sad day.

What is inside you ask? Well, I'm not saying, but it is something that isn't used by boys. I know of boys who abhor being asked to buy these. In fact, I know of a husband who claims that getting a pack for his wife was the hardest thing his wife ever asked him to do.

diane arbus

I'm not sure if I wrote about seeing the movie FUR a while back but anyway, it is a tribute to the photographer Diane Arbus (March 14, 1923 – July 26, 1971). It featured a whimsical love story driven by passion iced with unconventional beauty. It is a fantasy portrayal of her life, what could have transpired that made her the artist that she was. As expected, there are a lot of hate--and love for the film. Nicole Kidman played the photographer opposite Robert Downey Jr.

I wasn't familiar with her work until I looked up her photos post-movie. I was inspired to post some photos for as I reread a poem written by an unpublished gifted individual, I felt a strong nagging to revisit her art.

so...

I know. This isn't my story. If you go on reading, you'd know why I posted. I think it's kind of cute.

Girl goes on a date with Boy, her college crush. During the date...

(Silence. Girl feels awkward and wants to start a conversation--fast.)
G: So....
B: Yeah?
G: (panics) So, what is your favorite programming language?
B: Well, Java.

I think it helped that the girl was not bad looking, her nervousness sort of made her more adorable. They did go on a second date, if you want to know.

(Mine is COBOL. I wasn't called Mainframe Queen for nothing. Hahahaha.)

So, what is your favorite programming language? :)

some dirt on me

I'm not sure if it is common for people to have a track in their ipods that could ruin it for them.

I have one.

And I'm announcing.

It is Urban Flow's CTG.

Hahahahaha.

4 in the morning

I'm still up.

...

On my way home from a long conversation with a friend, I was suddenly reminded of The Five Stages of Depression and Death. As this was contrary to the conversation we had, it came as a surprise. Why the sudden shift? Maybe writing about it would help me figure out the great mystery.

What are the stages?
Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.

What am I thinking now?
I'm thinking that it is odd that Depression is the fourth stage of depression (and death). That is like saying that lace is a layer of lace and silk. Hmmmm. That sort of makes sense. I'm better with garments.

How am I feeling?
I'm feeling restless. During times like these, I think it is nice to have a stranger (with a decent brain) around to talk to. It is never complicated to talk to a stranger, mainly because they have an open mind. Plus they really don't give crap about what you are talking about--this means that they ask the right questions. Like why and how.

What is happening?
No idea.

Anything that relates to death or depression happen lately?
Someone died. I was not particularly close to her. We shared a few smokes, laughs and maybe stories once upon a time. She died. Car accident. I was dumbstruck. I thought to myself, she can't die, she is too much like me. It could have been me. No. I'm not panicking. I was just suddenly reminded that death is real. Real.

Is there a point to this entry?
I don't think so.

soft spot

I got this from Joyce, I think it is one of those Gmail themes. I wouldn't know as I never change the skin of any application. This is so cute, I couldn't not post it.

my 25 things

I am giving in to the 25 things entry people have started posting in Facebook. I decided to post it here instead as it is likely that people who would spend time reading these things about me would go here. I also don't feel comfortable tagging people into a note all about myself. Just so we are clear, let me reinstate, I AM NOT TAGGING ANYONE.

1. The two persons that I love most are my siblings. I don't think I could ask for a better brother and sister. As if I was not lucky enough, God gave me a wonderful sister-in-law and brother-in-law.

2. I love reading books. If I could have my way, I'd build a foundation solely for teaching street children how to read; not only would this improve their opportunities, but also enrich their lives. (I'd also do book reading for them--if they let me.)

3. I am a self taught seamstress. I think I'd like to sew forever.

4. When I grow up, I want to be the best wife and mom that I could be.

5. If you want a question answered, ask. I do.

6. I think the flaw in all my romantic relationships is that I am unable to "surrender" to my partner. I can't seem to entrust my life decisions to anyone but myself. My friends insist that I have a deep fear of com...commit...commitment (there, I can actually type it), I think it is a matter of chancing on an equal.

7. I can't run but I can walk for hours.

8. I enjoy socializing and don't mind talking in front of a crowd but I am an introvert. If you look it up (you'd realize that the "but" in the first sentence should be replaced with "and"), it actually means someone who seeks "alone time". I don't mind shopping, eating out or watching movies by myself.

9. I enjoy wrist watches especially those with complications.

10. Like most Filipinos, I was born into Catholicism. While I believe in the general teachings of my religion, I find that I don't practice it by the book, as my lola would have wanted. I have reached a point wherein I am very comfortable and happy with the relationship I have with the higher being.

11. I think it is weird to be referred to a "sis" when (a) the person is not your sister, (b) you are not a nun and (c) it is pronounced as ziz.

12. Respect is vital in any relationship.

13. I am fond of wearing white. If you look into my closet you will understand the extent of it. It would put Dolphy to shame.

14. Although I have changed a lot during the last ten years, South Park remains as one of my favorite shows.

15. It amuses me that saying something as simple as "you don't know that" can change a life.

16. I like "dad drinks" (pang-tatay hahaha) and waitresses/bar tenders always do double takes after I tell them what I'm having.

17. When it is time to move on, I'd like to live in a "home". It could be anywhere in the world, any structure imaginable as long as it is a place of refuge and love.

18. I count my blessings. During interesting times, I kick myself to remember.

19. I am probably the only person who thinks that the living room is not the place for the telly.

20. I love movies.

21. Decisions are hard only when you know what you have to do, but you don't want to do it.

22. My favorite children's book is Dumbo. Yes, the flying elephant. I remember crying each time my Yaya Anita would read it to me. I am still on the lookout for a replica of the copy I had of it as a child. If I get to read one book to children, I'd pick this.

23. I am terrified of frogs. I find that I am sometimes afraid of flipping through Nat Geo-ish magazines, as I might chance upon a frog photo.

24. I miss her. My Yaya Anita. I have hopes of seeing her again. She has been that person who always cheered me up and believed in me, sometimes even more that I believed in myself. She always insisted on making me the bida. Stage mother. I knew she always wanted the best for me. She religiously came with me to swimming lessons, volleyball games or whatever new thing I was engaging in. During my birthday, Christmas or whenever she feels like it, she would take her hard earned money and buy me something I like, she says that it made her happy. She really made me feel loved. Losing her was my darkest hour. It beat losing a boyfriend--or four. I wish I could have been more expressive of how I felt about her, I have a sinking feeling that I might have made it seem that I resented her. I pray that she is safe and happy where she is and that in any small way, she knows how much of an impact she had on my life.

25. I don't frequent the kitchen but I love to cook. Sometimes I run ingredients in my head and think of an occasion when I could prepare such dish. I also want to own a set of razor sharp knives (it doesn't have to be valyrian steel as I am not slaying the others) and copper pans.

what you reckon, ma'am?

I've started reading To Kill a Mockingbird and for some reason, in my head, I'm reading with a twang.

what about lunch?

It's Sunday. We usually go out for lunch on Sundays because Neneng is away socializing.

So, how was lunch?
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Food was good, as usual.
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Breathe's Hands to Heaven played and my brother, without missing a beat said "Wow pare, niiiiice...hands ON heaven", mimicking something he heard at a bar years before. Hahahaha. Some statements just refuse to leave your memory.
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The waitress, Kim came to me to say that some guy said I was pretty and was asking if I was single. I didn't even bother to look at him. I just smiled (at Kim) and asked for more popcorn.
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My brother was telling me about a conversation he had with my cousin and cousin's wife last night over drinks.

(A couple passes by)
C: How is Tracy and her boyfriend?
B: They are no longer together.
CW: What happened? Since when?
B: Just something that didn't happen.
CW: And then?
B: That's that. It ended.
CW: He didn't try to win her back?
B: He did what he could after they've broken up.
CW: Ohh. Maybe...maybe somehow, her heart has turned to stone.
(As if her audience were not able to capture her statement, she rephrased)
CW: Tracy now has a heart of stone.

(If you know me, you'd know how hilarious this conversation is for me.)
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The library had a book sale so I was able to get a copy of Bergdorf Blondes for the price of an ice kachang. I think this is probably the only chance I'd get a copy of this book as I am unwilling to spend money more than this amount for it. I also got a hardbound compilation of the fairy tales from Grimm for four times the price of an ice kachang--with ice cream. I would have spent more.

nightmHAIR in hogwarts

T: She says she copied here hair from Hermione.
F: Hmmmm.
T: The color seems the same...you know...brown with some streaks.
F: Does she know that Hagrid and Hermione have the same hair?

At this point, I was laughing out loud. Maybe not as loud as I was when I chanced upon a blog with a hilarious title. But loud. Trust me.

jap waves

I had drew some japanese waves on one shoulder. I intended to do something else but because of desperation (long story) and inspiration (from our soup bowl), I ended up marking the dress with rainbow patterns.
This was the project behind the zipper tutorial entry. The fabric is canvas, what is commonly used as flour sacks in the seventies. It looks crumpled, so I would probably wear this without having it ironed.

I know that the dress should be about the details but I am still to be convinced if it looks done. I might end up putting some more work on this.

in my shoe

I was deciding what shoes to wear when this fell on the floor. A heart.

what is "normal"?

I know, too much attention had been given to my ability to sew on zippers and just when one thinks I have written enough about zippers, I go ahead and make a blog entry relating to it.

There are two kinds of zippers. Apparel for women usually have the invisible zippers (pink one in photo) . As the name suggests, it is almost undetectable, the only give away is slider. This is sewn into the garment and when placed properly, is seen as a seam. The other kind is what I refer to as the normal zipper, as I don't have a clue what to call it. This would be the zipper as men (okay, most men) know zippers to be. Enough said.

Why the whole zipper tutorial? Well, I now know how to sew the normal zipper as well. I sew my first normal zipper yesterday. I had to tweak the normal zipper application though, as I was copying a dress that utilized the zipper function (opening the dress so you could put it on) and as an accessory. I haven't finished the dress, but I could hardly contain my excitement. I had to share the news (I know, you are yawning now, while shaking your head, while thinking "I knew the zipper image was a clear sign that I shouldn't waste my time reading this entry).

(Images from germes-online.com and img.asiannet.com)

for kemberlin's almost ate (hahaha)

Alteration

I didn't make these, I did however make the belt off the fabric from the sleeves of the berry dress.Roch was very kind to have polo dresses made for us in manila. She had two made for me, one in light blue with berry stripes and the other is berry with light blue stripes (I am quite imaginative with colors).

The leftmost photo is the before of the dresses. The middle is how it looks after I put on the belt (I'm still not quite convinced so maybe I'll take out the sleeves of the blue dress too). The rightmost photo shows the berry dress after I took out the buttons, fixed the overlap and took out the sleeves.

three straps

There was a cotton fabric sale so I jumped at the chance to get some. When I got home, I realized that I actually bought so much. My intention was to sew tops, but how many tan crumpled stretchy tops can one have? Soooo, I made this dress.

There are some details on the straps as well as on the dress but aren't evident in the photo.

let me count the ways

My best friend Cheng sent me an email around December last year telling me that she thinks I could replicate a top custom made for her sister by a Filipino designer. The top also came with an obi and some ribbons, apparently it was one of those "101 ways to wear" clothes. She sent a photo of the top too. It looked like a pillow case with holes cut out to serve as armholes. Here is a photo.Below is the copy I made. The fabric that I got is less matte but just as stretchy as the original. You'd also notice that I didn't double the material when I sew. I was afraid it would get too bulky. There are supposed to be a lot of other ways to wear it. As I already mentioned, it could be worn with an obi. It could also be worn with ribbons on the arms so that the sleeves show like fans. I took pictures of the ways I would probably wear it. I like it off the shoulder best.

popsicle dress

Finally! I am now able to sew zippers. This is my first dress with a zipper, which runs by the right side by the way. The cloth comes from the same series as the "into the blue" number that I made. I wanted to do tie spaghetti straps but unfortunately, I ran out of cloth.

I like to call this one as the title of the blog entry for obvious reasons. I'm not sure when I would wear this, as I don't really like to wear bright colors, as I feel that it strains my eyes. Seriously.

I still have a fading pink version of this cloth, but I haven't decided what to do with it yet.

I hate that I am not able to take a photo showing the full dress. Bummer.

hold me, frill me, kiss me

I thought the color of the cloth was very subtle so I grabbed the roll and bought some. I never thought I would turn it into something like this though.
I got obsessed making ruffles and I ended up making this frilly top. The fabric is a thin cotton tie dyed with pastel colors with silver pinstripes--not exactly the kind I would go for but somehow it worked with the ruffles.

into the blue

I like this long top/short dress a lot. I admit, I intended for it to be a dress that I could use when I go to church but after I was done, I realized that I used up a lot of cloth making the collar that it fell only a couple of inches off my ass. I could attach more cloth at the bottom but it would ruin the fading effect.

diggin' on you

I was chatting with a friend about...something I don't want to broadcast, when we hit on TLC's song no scrubs. She cursed me for bringing the song up as she couldn't help singing out loud.

There was a pause.

I was first to type.

T: I forget what my fave TLC song is. It is from the first album. The one with kool aid.
F: I can't remember
T: I WAS CHILLIN W MY KOOL AID, DON'T WANT TO PARTICIPATE
F: Ah yeah. Diggin' on you!
T: You got it.

"hi miss"

Okay, I know more than a few people who would be ready to smack me the minute they see this. But just because it's the month of February, I'm posting some lines from a well-forwarded email.

"Geometry b fave subject mo? Kasi kahit anong angle ang cute mo" <-- just warming up

"Hindi tayo tao, di tayo hayop. BAGAY tayo" <-- getting there

"Ako na lang mgbabayad ng tuition fee mo, pag-aralan mo lang na mahalin ako" <-- WAHAHAHA!

I know, these are just horrible (but undeniably funny).

the other sister

I am not writing about myself here. I'm writing about a movie from the late nineties.
Although the similaritty of the plot has glaring similarity with Benny and Joon, the tones are very different.

While there were tender moments in the movie and scenes that may you feel squirmish and almost embarrassed (that often make good romantic movies in the first place), I felt that the movie dragged on. Halfway through the movie, I wanted to fast forward.

The movie was a bit too heavy for me and somehow, I didn't feel much relief from my anxiety building throughout the movie. It was like a cocktail that is unbearable toxic and sweetness in your mouth did not linger as the aftertaste.

I don't think my heart could endure sitting thorough this again.

I would say however that the movie was well cast. Juliet Lewis and Giovanni Ribisi were SUPER B. Hahahaha.

new moon

I just finished reading the sequel of Twilight. The book is predictable, even the title by itself will tell you what it is about. And even if the title was Twilight II, the author did more than hint on what was coming in the succeeding book anyways.

There were less of the kilig moments. Hahahaha. Did I just type that?

I am still not convinced that she is a genius, but I would go as far as saying that I would be on with the third book soon.

twilight, the book

I just finished reading the book, and I can totally understand the reason behind the bestseller.

I will still not put it in the list of my favorite books, but I would say that it has an appeal.

I'm not sure if men and boys will enjoy this as much as girls. I wrote girls, with this I mean, young women as I am sure that it was the young woman in me who enjoyed the book.

It had a formula plot. The most good looking guy in school notices a clumsy, helpless--but very brave and supposedly unique individual who doesn't realize that she is special. She is oblivious to her appeal to the opposite sex and insists on selflessness (of course I would be the first to say that there is no such thing and that I could back that up with specific sections of the book, but as this is a book for young adults, and this is not the time to debate over technicalities, I will put a halt to that trail of thought). No serious creativity, but it had moments.

Overall, I'd say that it's not bad, I however want to point out that this is a mood book, I don't know if there is such a term. What I mean simply is that, you have to be in a certain mood to like this book. There would be books that you can't put down--even when you have to, this isn't--unless, as suggested by the term, you are in a certain mood.

(If you still can't get it, it is like the movie Sideways. The first time I saw it, I fell asleep, on my second attempt, I realized that I actually love it. Mood movie.)

vampires

I think there is only one person I told this to.

I guess it was just almost never the right time to talk about it.

When I was a kid, I imagined the fangs of a vampire to be hollow--with a vacuum. Think fountain pen. I imagined that with it, they would rip the skin, get into the flesh and the vacuum will do the trick--like twin syringes.

I realize of course that there was some over thinking there. The fangs are solid. And blood sucking is manually performed by the vampire. I haven't met a vampire, what more inspected vampire fangs. But I'm quite confident that those pointy things are not that complicated.

what do you know, jon snow?

I've had a copy of the Jon chapter that George RR Martin released a few months back, a teaser for A Dance with Dragons. This is the second, the first released chapter was Tyrion's. For some reason, I never got into reading it until today.

"Do not be so certain." The ruby at Melisandre's throat gleamed redly. "It is not the foes who curse you to your face that you must fear, but those who smile when you are looking and sharpen their knives when you turn your back. You would do well to keep your wolf close beside you. Ice, I see, and daggers in the dark. Blood frozen red and hard, and naked steel. It was very cold."

"It is always cold on the Wall."

"You think so?"

"I know so, my lady."

"Then you know nothing, Jon Snow," she whispered.

The last line gave me goosebumps. And just like that, I'm back anticipating the next book.

rafa in polka

Nadal <-- Australian open champion :)

I bet the polka shorts had something to do with it.

(Maybe I should wear polka to the gym, then I could be at it for more than four hours)