manila and the unbirthday
strangely enough, even with so much happening lately, i haven't felt like writing anything here. maybe my mind's still reeling. my weekend in manila after los banos to see people i haven't seen in awhile was hectic but fulfilling. after a long-awaited trip to the high school for the arts in makiling (wasn't as nice as i imagined it to be, but the view was nice enough), i proceeded to CCP to watch chin-chin guttierrez's UYAYI with cris, who fortunately invited me to the one-day-only show. we were so enthralled that we each bought cds. expensive (especially since i'm used to getting music for free =), but after listening to the 2-cd album, i absolutely have no regrets. the culture carmmed into those discs is absolutely overwhelming.
afterwards, with our cameras in hand, we tried to catch the manila bay sunset which, strangely enough, i've never seen. but we missed it by a few seconds because we were running to the malate church area to try to view it there =( incidentally, just the night before, a photojournalist friend of ours, gene boyd, was shot in jolo after taking a picture of the sunset. (you can view his photos at his pbase gallery.)
next stop was in makati to meet two other groups of friends. i even bumped into two of my high school teachers in greenbelt. went to cuabao after to sleepover at jemi's house, as well as be formally introduced to her precocious cat, Mole.
so the next day, i arranged all my appointments to be in cubao since i didn't want to be moving around manila with my baggage (actually just a week's worth of clothes in a backpack, my camera bag, plus my shoulder bag/backpack. still... just deposited my stuff at national superbranch for the whole afternoon). met with four friends from different groups in cubao (i introduced them to each other so i hope they're all friends now too =), including kikoy who's actually just a photographer friend of a writer/photographer friend. talk about networking and the six degrees of separation =) we all paid a visit to the outoor Fiesta Carnival. cubao has really changed so much...
then for dinner, went to Podium with my choir friends who picked me up at cubao, who also drove me to alabang to meet up with my cousins (from both father and mother side). that's where i stayed till my flight the next day. they--including their kids and "partners"--all brought me to airport, which is truly a great feat, i must say.
as for my birthday, it was probably the most unbirthday-like birthday i've ever had in my life. i totally didn't prepare for it and the people i had dinner with didn't even know it was my birthday. just went to bible study, where i found out that the pastor was celebrating his birthday the next day. eventually, they found out it was my birthday, so they made me blow the candle on his cake.
anyway, even though i didn't have any rituals this year (except for my usual--setting a quota for the number of birthday greetings to match my age), it was still good and i'm still thankful for all the people who i know love me.
yesterday, i had an unexpected bonding session with the younger generation WILA. there were just four of us, and we really don't see each other or talk that often or even know each other that well, but we ended up staying long after the meeting to talk about--what else?--love and relationships =P that was great, though, because the night before i was feeling so inexplicably hollow and lonely and panicky about my life and needed someone to talk to. God always provides. and that was probably my first time to bond with a group of women like that. usually i just talk one-on-one with people, and mostly with guys =P
afterwards, with our cameras in hand, we tried to catch the manila bay sunset which, strangely enough, i've never seen. but we missed it by a few seconds because we were running to the malate church area to try to view it there =( incidentally, just the night before, a photojournalist friend of ours, gene boyd, was shot in jolo after taking a picture of the sunset. (you can view his photos at his pbase gallery.)
next stop was in makati to meet two other groups of friends. i even bumped into two of my high school teachers in greenbelt. went to cuabao after to sleepover at jemi's house, as well as be formally introduced to her precocious cat, Mole.
so the next day, i arranged all my appointments to be in cubao since i didn't want to be moving around manila with my baggage (actually just a week's worth of clothes in a backpack, my camera bag, plus my shoulder bag/backpack. still... just deposited my stuff at national superbranch for the whole afternoon). met with four friends from different groups in cubao (i introduced them to each other so i hope they're all friends now too =), including kikoy who's actually just a photographer friend of a writer/photographer friend. talk about networking and the six degrees of separation =) we all paid a visit to the outoor Fiesta Carnival. cubao has really changed so much...
then for dinner, went to Podium with my choir friends who picked me up at cubao, who also drove me to alabang to meet up with my cousins (from both father and mother side). that's where i stayed till my flight the next day. they--including their kids and "partners"--all brought me to airport, which is truly a great feat, i must say.
as for my birthday, it was probably the most unbirthday-like birthday i've ever had in my life. i totally didn't prepare for it and the people i had dinner with didn't even know it was my birthday. just went to bible study, where i found out that the pastor was celebrating his birthday the next day. eventually, they found out it was my birthday, so they made me blow the candle on his cake.
anyway, even though i didn't have any rituals this year (except for my usual--setting a quota for the number of birthday greetings to match my age), it was still good and i'm still thankful for all the people who i know love me.
yesterday, i had an unexpected bonding session with the younger generation WILA. there were just four of us, and we really don't see each other or talk that often or even know each other that well, but we ended up staying long after the meeting to talk about--what else?--love and relationships =P that was great, though, because the night before i was feeling so inexplicably hollow and lonely and panicky about my life and needed someone to talk to. God always provides. and that was probably my first time to bond with a group of women like that. usually i just talk one-on-one with people, and mostly with guys =P
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