IBM Daksh Christmas Party 12/10/06

jp and keoni's visit to hawai'i - october 2006

recent adventures

it's been a while since i last posted.......so busy! here are my latest adventures:

anghie and i hung out at rizal park 11/5/06:

here's us in the calesa:

city hall:

rizal monument:

at the famous manila hotel:

in the lobby...waiting for mr. right? wrong.......:

syed's back! celebrating at watering hole...it's about 7am!!! 11/9/06:


at pagsanjan falls 11/12/06:

see the raft behind me? someone had the bright idea of taking a raft of people right under the waterfall and charging P90 for it!!!! and i can't believe i did it, too. tourists...[rolling eyes]. and as i was walking from the canoe to the falls, i was wondering why everyone was coming back completely drenched. :)

banaue rice terraces

a day at the salon

like mcdonald's says...I'M LOVIN' IT!!!

went to jamie's mom's salon yesterday. got my hair colored and eye lash extensions. my color is different and it still takes some getting used to...i still get shocked when i look in the mirror! at first i didn't like it, but once the brassiness washed out, it's starting to look natural. or maybe i'm just getting used to it! either way, i'm loving my new look!!!

india pictures slideshow

manila pictures slideshow

exercising

we have been going to the gym quite frequently...okay, we went twice. :) my knee got swollen, so that prevented me from continuing. but today, gracee and seti have convinced me to go to a belly dancing class! oh boy...we'll see how this goes....

tagaytay excursion

on sunday, did a day trip and went to tagaytay, about a 2 hour drive outside of manila. it was nice to be outside of the city. taal volcano is waaaaay in the distance, blocked by clouds.

miss "universe"

i don't know how they can have "universe" in the title...the contestants are really only from one planet. the whole universe is not represented. where's miss mars? miss jupiter? miss sun? just like in baseball, they have the "world" series. really, the teams are only from the US, and a couple from canada. so in reality, it should only be called the north american series. c'mon, let's call it what it is.

i was extremely disappointed this year. i got back from breakfast just in time to see the top 10 announced. sadly, my countries weren't represented...miss india and miss philippines didn't make it. (yeah yeah yeah, miss usa made it...whatever). then they had the evening gown competition...i was ready to be blown away. unfortunately my hopes crashed and burned. i was really turned off by the "fakeness" of it...too much posing, too much effort to look sultry and sexy, too much deliberation in their walk. i longed for someone to be natural, to be free, to be...REAL. it didn't help that the singer was awful, too. they needed andrea bocelli or josh groban. was nice to see an asian, miss japan, amongst all the latinas. and she made it to top 5! oh wow...down to top 2, and she's still there...

announcing the winner now...congratulations to miss puerto rico! oh yuck, she did the ugly cry. i saw oprah describe that on her show once. what was up with her dress??? she looked so uncomfortable in it...and i was uncomfortable watching her. her walk is the most robotic i've ever seen. oh well...i criticize that which i envy.

props goes out to miss philippines, lia andrea ramos, for winning miss photogenic! my people are beautiful! but have you seen aishwarya rai? hands down most beautiful woman of all time, all galaxies, all universes.

wishes and misses

happy birthday to alexandra! sometimes it seems alex and i are the only 2 single girls left in the world, but remember...things happen when you least expect it! here's shae, alex, & i celebrating her birthday last year:

congratulations to tracy! she and her husband shondee are expecting their first child anyday now. here's us hiking at makapu'u in december 2003:

miss you nayners! i miss our conversations in person, not just over messenger! there's so much we still need to catch up on. here's nayns and maks on a recent girl's night out:

i miss you lawrence!!! i miss working with you, eating lunch with you, and going to zippy's with you! life is so dull without your presence. keep those updates coming!

finally, miss you tee! i know i've posted this pic b4, but it's one of my faves so it deserves to be posted again. here's alex, tee, & me from merrie monarch 2001:

exciting weekend

what an exciting weekend i had!!! i got to catch up on my movies. saturday night, i had all intentions to go downstairs to the block party that happens every weekend and hang out and listen to the live band (by myself no less!). but alas, i took my usual afternoon nap and could not wake up!!! :( i could not keep my eyes open long enough even to go out to get dinner...even to order room service! now that's bad...so of course i finally woke up around 9pm and then couldn't go back to sleep. grrrrr....i ended up watching "the last samurai". i've never seen it before, and i enjoyed it so much! it was so moving...and so many asians! i think i'm getting my taste for asians back. ken watanabe was hot, especially since he had a shaved head (thanks to joy for that one), and he had that smoldering attitude going on. i even was digging tom cruise, and i don't normally care for long hair and facial hair.

then tonight, we couldn't go anywhere cuz it was raining, so we stayed in and watched "the breakup" with jen aniston and vince vaughn. i think they make a cute couple, but i hated the movie! well, more specifically, i hated the ENDING!!! if you can even call it that...it raised more questions than provided answers. blech, i hate that. we also watched "hitch" after that...now that is a movie i enjoy and can watch over and over! my favorite is when kevin james is showing will smith his dance moves. hilarious! ah, i needed a good laugh. :D