Guitarchic Dot Net*

Remember when I said that the apartment I moved in to less than two months ago was, like, the worst thing that ever happened in my history of apartment-hopping? Well, I just left that apartment and found myself a new (more expensive BUT much much better) place.

5 different apartments in 2 years, take that!

Actually, I was still (kindof) enjoying going home to Caloocan and sharing my Mom’s bed with her (I had to do this for a week). I didn’t realize, though, how unbelievably messy I could be until one late morning in Caloocan, when I woke up in the middle of this *points to picture*, and found my Mom sleeping near the edge of her bed. I knew right then that I had no time to lose — I needed to spare my Mom from this mess.

Moving to the new place was no different, at least for the first night. I slept in the middle of a room full of moving boxes, but in spite of the mess, the place felt like home. :)

Even more now that everything’s right where it should be.

So yay, I found my home-away-from-home, and this time, I’m confident it will be for good. (What with that one year contract, and the expensive rent, I’ll sure make the most out of this, heh!) :)

Man I’m getting old.

I really should start collecting canceled plane tickets. I’ve managed to accumulate a few in a span of a month, and while it has brought me frustrations along the way, I now laugh at my apparent bad luck (for lack of better term) in flying.

If I may trace my flying misadventures, it all began in Legazpi where I spent a few days with USAP’s marketing mancomm last month. By the way, I almost forgot how much I enjoyed flying. I mean, seriously, while Mikey looked like he was gona puke the entire 30-minute trip, my only concern was how to get his face off the view so I can get a glimpse of the clouds (the bastard got the window seat, loser). Anyway. Point is, I enjoyed flying, in spite them saying how turbulent the flight was. And I’m really looking forward to the next opportunity I could get to fly.

Okay, wait, pictures first.

Marc, Francis, Rico, Ely, Mikey, Alvin and Mel

..and me, of course.

Sooo TGIS, I know right.

Anyway. Here’s where all the “bad luck” started flooding in.

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With my new apartment now officially the worst thing that’s ever happened to the history of apartment-hopping (no Globe Visibility signal in my room, landlord’s PLDT connection gone blpht, cable connections not compatible with the TV, not to mention the leak that drown our stuff on the first day but don’t let me rant about that one), I nominate last week as the newest candidate to my worst weeks ever.

But that is, until yesterday, when THIS was delivered to me. Waah. :)

Yup, that’s right. There’s my ticket to one whole week of Hillsong bliss at the Acer Arena, happening on July 7-11 of this year.

But of course, I’m still not even halfway through making it. It’s just that teh boyfriend and I registered for the early-bird promo around November last year, so I’ve been getting all these mails since the start of the year — (1) confirmation letter of my registration and full-payment, (2) support document for my visa application, and (3) just yesterday, the ticket to the Hillsong Nights which comes free to those who registered.

Just the sight of my ticket, and my very own seat (well, at least the seat number), has kept me elated until now. So.. up next, Australian visa application. I just hope my fingerprints starts to cooperate already. Uggh, the fingerprints? That’s another story.

Come to think of it, whatever happens within the next 60 days — I know for sure that in the long run, I can smile and be happy with the fact that I got this far. :)

I’ve looked everywhere — Odyssey outlets, music bars, department stores, etc — for any of Kendall Payne’s albums, to my own dismay. I even got some of my friends involved in the search, but unsuccessful we all were.

So imagine my delight when a package was delivered to my apartment last week, all the way from Staten Island. Yep, all three of them. *jump, jump* (Thanks, boyfriend, you’re super!)

So yeah. Since then, my playlist includes three albums worth of Kendall Payne: Paper Skin, Grown, and Jordin’s Sister. Happiness does come in small packages, huh. :)

I didn’t know that Kendall Payne’s a Gospel singer. I first got interested when I heard her song “Scratch” from a Grey’s Anatomy episode, and “Not Afraid to be Me,” also from GA. I later learned that she’s also the voice behind Felicity and Never Been Kissed’s soundtracks. I loooove her. Although she can be very well known in the pop slash country-music arena, a few of her songs have an obvious Godward message in them. Like her song Aslan, which, I reckon, was inspired by CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, where Aslan (the lion) symbolizes the Savior and the power of good.

So anyway. Enough blabbers.

There goes one little wish granted for me. This year, a lot of dreams will come true. Let’s start with the little ones. :)

Fine, the “Ala Riz” part is blpht. Not to hoard all the credit, I got this recipe from my brother, ergo, if anyone of you has come across this recipe from somewhere, then it’s my brother who got it from somewhere, okay? Okay.

Remember when I said I was looking at buying a bunch of cook books? Well, I actually bought some, hoping that I’d find myself productive in the kitchen during the holiday break. Sadly though, while the “buying” happened, the “cooking” didn’t. Haha. Unless you can call helping out and getting instructions from my Mom while in the kitchen “cooking”, that is. Boo.

I think I was successful though, making this no-bake preaches and cream cake (more popularly known as “refrigerator cake”, which is kind of weird if you would ask me because I think the term “refrigerator cake” is grammatically incorrect). See, the plan is to learn to cook backwards. Dessert first. Then main course. Then appetizer. (I’ll get to the real meal later, okay, boyfriend??). Okay, shutap nao.

What I like about this yummy dessert is, you don’t have to be an expert to do it. Here are the ingredients you will need. (Disclaimer: No one’s paying me to endorse these product brands.)

4 Nestle All Purpose Cream; 2 cans of Nestle Cream; 1 can of condensed milk (not in the picture); 1 pack of Grayham crackers; 1 pack of crushed Grayhams; 1 big can of Del Monte Sliced Peaches.

So.. ready? Make a no-bake peaches and cream cake in 5 easy steps. :)

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As for the few things that made me smile today (given that my mind is still on holiday mode and I have to go back to the office against my will), this one’s definitely climbed the charts.

I consider being friends (and meeting) with Liz of wellwhatever.com, Rhiz of guitarchic.net and Joni of taintedsong.com as the biggest blogging achievement I got this year. Blogging brought the four of us together, four different individuals sharing the same passion. — Mae, lastleaf.org

Who would have thought I’d be part of someone’s biggest blogging achievement this year? :) What can I say? Ditto, girlfriend.

So.. when’s the next kape kape? :)

Didn’t expect this would come this soon :(

Six months after his partner, Chichi, died, Chuchu passed away too. :(

More pictures HERE.

But at least I didn’t cry like before. I guess it’s mostly because I wasn’t there when my Mom and my brother found him dead. If I was there, there would have been a flood of tears.

He was still magulo last Monday, when I was home in Caloocan for the weekend. That was the last time I saw him. :( Sigh. Chuchu was a survivor. He was able to survive having bitten in the left leg by a house rat. He was always jumpy and energetic, even with a deformed leg, and even when his partner-in-crime Chichi passed away. I guess that’s one of the things I will always remember about him. Inspite of everything, he never failed to make me smile.

It doesn’t feel too long ago when I first got the hamsters, when I had to take them to my niece’s debut. Dad was still alive at that time, and was really amused as well. 10 months, gone in blink. Sigh.

I feel sad, but it was a good 10 months for Chuchu and me. I don’t think I’ll be buying a new set of hamsters anytime soon. But when I’m ready, or perhaps when I found the perfect pair, I will.

I got an email from one of the clients I was doing SEO with last night, just as the Makati coup was subsiding.

The Philippines is headline news here in the UK at the moment. I hope that all is well and that you were not in the Peninsula Hotel area of Manila yesterday. If, however, you are involved, then please, can I tell you that violence is never the answer, Riz, and I urge you to put down your weapons and get back to work on [inserts site name here].

Haha, really funny. Pfft.

Then again, this whole brouhaha is funny. Trillanes is funny. This curfew thing is funny. The Philippine politics is a laughingstock and is made of lots of funny people.

Boohoo. Welcome to the Pilipins. ;)

You know all those wish lists I used to make? Well, this is NOT like one of those. These items are MUST HAVES. And I don’t need to reach for the stars to have them. I’m getting these coz I need a break. And I need to do other things besides being in front of my laptop, doing SEO and wedding album layouts.

Filipino Cook Book. Que Horror!! I know, I’m shocked at myself too. I’ve always set aside the thought of doing some serious cooking.. until this certain someone started pressuring me to think of my future family, and what I’m going to serve them for dinner. I mean, yeah, my kids would probably love pizza and Jollibee everyday but that’s not exactly responsible parenting, right? Hence, the awakening: I need to learn how to cook.

See, I even had to take photos with my camphone to remind myself.

And what better way to start than learning to cook Filipino dish (let’s set aside Italian and Mexican for more advanced learning, shall we)? I think it would be nice to finally know what’s behind my favorite Sinigang. And Kare-kare. And Pochero. Man. I can’t believe I’m saying this, and blogging it for all the world to see. Pfft. Okay, I hide myself now.

Next item(s).

Kendall Payne CDs. Now this is more like ME. Music, yay. I didn’t know she existed until Episode 5 of Grey’s Anatomy. Her song, I Will Show You Love, was playing at the closing of the episode, and it stuck with me since. I downloaded an MP3 from iTunes, including two other random songs from her albums Paper Skin and Grown, (Not Afraid to be Me and Scratch). And I love all three of them. :)

Kendall Payne’s Paper Skin and Grown

I want more of her! Hence, the urgency. iTunes downloads can’t be shared, I want something I can share to people also.

So there goes my must-haves for this month this week. Watch me, I’m gona get these two (actually four) items SOON. ;)

And you could feel that the little puppy really lit up the whole place, making everyone take a break from their computers to watch the cute little thing run around with his tail wagging behind his furry legs.

The puppy kissed me. I’m in love. :P

So meet Spike, one of my colleague Christine’s Shih Tzu pups for sale. Someone already owns Spike, though *sniff*, so there was no chance I could take him home with me. Haha, I know, it’s not like buying a Shih Tzu is part of my plan (and my budget) right now. It’s just that.. I couldn’t help but wish I have a puppy myself. I held him in my arms and a big gunk of stress was suddenly lifted off my chest. I mean, seriously. Puppies are really therapeutic. I immediately fell in love with Spike that I had to spend a good thirty minutes off my work hours to play and take pictures of him. And in that 30 minutes, I just couldn’t think of anything else.

Owning a puppy (a Shih Tzu, for that matter), however, is not at all easy and cutesy. While it’s considered a stress-reliever, ultimately, it’s a responsibility too. Imagine all the dog poop. And shopping for pedigree. And giving him a bath and taking him to the vet. Plus, with a Shih Tzu (or a Poodle), there’s the regular trimming of fur, too. Initially, you have to spend several thousands to get yourself one also. (Shih Tzus and other similar toy puppies would cost about 8K up.)

On top of everything else, think about the emotional attachment. I cried over the death of my hamster. And so is Sheila. Gail is having a hard time getting over the death of her dog, Sheero. I mean, it’s impossible to not be emotionally attached to pets. Why, you invest not only time and money, but effort and emotions too.

Just the same, all the responsibilities attached to owning a dog doesn’t stop me from considering owning one someday. Not now. Someday. I nonchalantly told Christine to reserve me a girl pup on her next batch of puppies, if ever. I’m not ready now but who knows.. by then, I could be.