08.08.08

On Friday, the Summer Olympics well begin in Beijing, China. I have to admit, I nerd about this sort of thing all the time it's the Olympics. Not to mention it's the Summer Olympics, which I happen to slightly prefer over the Winter Olympics. In any case, it's been particularly exciting over the last few months, watching and hearing about the Olympic Trials and scoping out the people who will end up representing the country in August. I've particuarly been interested to know if Michael Phelps can top his performance in Athens, if the Men's Basketball team can somehow redeem themselves and reclaim former Team USA glory, if Shawn Johnson really is as good as they say she is and win the Women's Gymnastics All-Around, if Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh dominate like they did last time, etc. There's a lot that I'm looking forward to.

However, I do feel sad that a lot of the coverage isn't simply about the athletes, their preparation and representing their home country. There's been a lot of political stuff going around, and I'm a bit concerned. I know some people are really not happy about the Games being in China at all, considering their records on pollution (potentially harmful air for the locals and the visiting athletes), human rights (Tibet and dealings with Sudan) and worker safety (sweatshops). I get even more upset when I hear about protesters in the city, and denying the visa of human rights advocate and Olympic medalist Joey Cheek and the censoring of Internet sites. However, I still feel that the host country has, by their own inhospitable and paranoid actions, brought this attention to themselves and are making a political statement. I can only hope for the best and that we give the Olympics back to the athletes.

[Picture taken from The Guardian, Sarah Morris's canvas 2028 [Rings], from 2008]

The Wedding

The wedding was beautiful. Not without any problems, though.

BARONGS.Uncle Allan came back from the Philippines to bring the barongs for the wedding. Before he left for the Philippines, about a month before the wedding, all the men in the entourage were measured, to ensure that the barongs would fit properly, and to my knowledge, so they could be custom made and all the groomsmen would have the same barong. WRONG. The barongs were distributed after the wedding rehearsal/dinner and needless to say, they did not fit, or the fit was simply wrong. Even the slim people, like Uncle Jun, had a hard time wearing his. My dad's was rather tight on the arms. Bryce apparently could not even get his over his head. If you know anything about barongs, the thing is, the most important part in the measurement is the shoulder and arms, since the garment can be worn rather long and loose. Suspcicously,the barongs had tags on them, like S, M, whatever, meaning they were store bought, and they came to the conclusion that they were kids sizes. Nobody said anything to Aunty, out of politeness, but I heard that Uncle was REALLY pissed about it, since they paid for the barongs and they were well... not in wearable condition. On the Fourth of July, the adults came to Aunty's house for her birthday, and they came to discuss the barong situation. They came to the conclusion that the men were welcome to wear the barong provided, or just wear their own barongs. Thankfully, Aunty Rel's family owns like a bunch of them, especially from her own 25th Wedding Anniversary. Bryce got one from one of her nephews' barong, and she lent out Kenneth and Ryan's barongs. It all turned out OK in the end.

GETTING READY This is from my own personal escapades on the wedding day, and needless to say, it wasn't so easy. The day before the wedding, I decided to do my nails, so I wouldn't have to worry about them having to dry on the day of the wedding, rendering me useless to help or do anything. My mom gave me a sparkly, silver nail polish, and it was a bit goopy, I suppose from the glitter, and frankly, was a bit strong and tacky on my hands. So I tried removing it, and to my horror, there is no nail polish remover in the house! It's almost midnight and it's the Fourth of July. Nothing is open. So I set my alarm to wake up early to get the remover. So I wake up the next morning, and Jeff wants to drive, so he buys the remover, and I remove the yucky silver stuff, and try to put on a more subtle light pink color. I knew I had to fix my hair before I did my nails, so I did my hair first, and makeup, then nails. Waiting for them to dry was a pain, and I was irritated from not being able to do anything, so I partially ruined my nails, but I was over it already. I also think one of the heels on my shoe was sorta messed up, since I was making a clanking sound when I walked, like the padding on the bottom wore out. Le sigh. It was also a very hot day, so Jeff was complaining about the weather, and didn't want to wear a jacket with his shirt and tie.


WEDDING CEREMONYThe wedding was at 3 p.m. at St. Philomena, and of course, being Filipino, some people came late. My family was one of the first to arrive, so Jeff took the liberty in taking pictures of flowers, of my mom, of me, and he continued taking pictures of the bridesmaids and the groomsmen as they arrived. Surprisingly, the wedding party showed up a bit later than I thought, but they were fine on time. Aunty was SO beautiful. I was able to talk to her before the wedding. So Jeff and I argued about where to sit, as my dad wanted him to take a lot of pictures. Eventually, we got a spot, but the official photographer got in the way A LOT and we didn't get many, if at all, good pictures during the ceremony. OMG Father Dem was the one officiating the wedding, and it was like a whole Mass with readings and all... soooo long. Long, repetitive, and rather uninteresting. I also think he was hitting on Aunty Winnie- he kept talking about how she was glowing and talking about her eyes are those of a woman in love. I take it he did not listen to Aunty's request to keep it short.Jeff and I were SO boredddd. We kept looking around, and laughing since one of the Flower girls was picking her nose and looking down her dress because she was playing with the flowers and one of the petals fell down her dress. Some of the dads were totallly falling asleep and it was so obvious since we were facing them. Darren and John looked bored out of their minds. Aside from that, very nice.


The singer. WTF. I know I should be used to this by now, but it was a man that sounded like a woman. No joke. He sang the opening "You Raise Me Up" by Josh Groban, and man can he hit those high notes without a problem. Later on, Aunty and Uncle had to present flowers to the Virgin Mary and he sang "Ave Maria". Holy Crap. I thought it was a recording. He kept singing after they presented the flowers, and got to the really high part of the song. WOW. Especially for a man. I just looked at Ronna, and were like like "whoa". Apparently, that's his song during Christmas caroling season, and he's one of Uncle Allan's friends. Ronna, Waldo, Ryan, Kenneth, and Trisha came a little bit after the ceremony started, and they sat with me and Jeff.

POST CEREMONY & PRE-RECEPTION Afterwards, we saw that Angel and her boyfriend were there, we said hello, waited for the adults to stop taking pictures,the like. Jeff and I thought that it'd be fun to ride with people our own age to the reception, so Jeff rode with Darren and I rode with Waldo, Ronna and Ryan, as Kenneth still had to go pick something up. We were pretty hungry, and looked on, as my parents got food. We were going to get boba/fast food, but decided not to (I don't remember why... I was pretty hungry). We ended up waiting for the hors d'vours (whatever way you spell it) and I ate quite a bit of cheese and crackers. I still felt bad about not getting boba, especially since Jeff got In-N-Out with Darren, and my parents went to Carl's Jr. Plus, it was open bar at that point, and well, you get the picture. Turns out the that Long Beach Marriott right by the airport is pretty nice, especially the grand ballroom. Definite upgrade from the Holiday Inn that we always go to. The hallways have a lot of statues/figures and it gave the place an interesting feel.


THE RECEPTION All the Usual Suspects, ok, not really, were all at the same table. All the moms, were at one table, the dads at another, and the kids table, consisting of: Me, Ronna, Waldo, Angel, the boyfriend, Ryan, Kenneth, Trisha, Jeff, and supposed to be Camill, but she showed up late, and PJ was talking with me and Kenneth so he sat at her seat. Darren and John sat at the Presidential table with their parents. Nearby was a table of Uncle Allan's friends and when we were talking about things, PJ was giving me a nasty look when I said the word "gay"- "shut up! so loud- they'll hear you!" Needless to say, the dinner conversations were quite good. I was in a slightly nasty mood from being hungry, but I was appeased by the food. The salad was interesting, it was just like lettuce leaves and croutons, and you put on the dressing. Very odd, as the leaves were quite large, and there only like 3 leaves a plate. weird stuff. The bread was good. The steak.... not so good. It was really tough, and mine had a lot of fat. I ate waaay more of it than I should have, as I was very hungry. I paid for it in the end- the dessert was ice cream with some fudge or something. Quite good, although I only ate like 2 bites.


THE PROGRAM You know.. the DJ is always really cheesy and wants you to yell, or wave your napkin around, or whatever. So of course that happened. Uncle's niece sang a Tagalog song, I wasn't quite sure what it was, but I have heard it before. I think it gets played a lot in soap operas or something. They then showed a video of Aunty and Uncle's 25 years together, and they even had a video from the original wedding or something. It was really interesting to see. So cuuute. Surprisingly, they already edited the wedding from a few hours ago, and footage of Aunty before the wedding, putting her veil on, walking down the stairs in their house, and Uncle was waiting for her at the bottom, it was so cuute. Of course, no moment is worth unless Darren does something silly. there's a shot of two people holding hands and you can clearly see their wedding bands. Then they cut to it being Darren and Uncle holding hands and Darren puckering up for a kiss. Very funny. There was no bouqet throwing or anything like that. Just the cake cautting and the money dance. I didn't really know if I was gonna participate, since I didn't have any cash, and I wasn't going to give him my credit card. My mom gave me money, and I danced with Uncle. I realized that Bea was there at the wedding too- the line for the money dance was nearby our table. Ryan kept staring at her chest area. Oh, as an off-side, the waiter went around our table to pour champagne. Then he looked at me and then said "Oh, I'll come back for the Apple Cider for you". The table laughed. I was a little pissed. I mean, Angel, Jeff, her boyfriend, all get champagne and I didn't?! PJ thought it was too funny, and poured some of his beer for me. Cheers, indeed. Afterwards, the couple went up to say their thank yous, and there was a toast, by the best men. Aunty and Uncle thanked everyone for coming, for celebrating with them, for being special to them. But it was interesting that Uncle took that moment to really talk to his kids about raising them, and not always being there as a father, and saying how Aunty took over as the primary person caring for them, and how he was always trying to provide for his family. Very interesting. John spoke first, with a bit of humor, quoting from the movie "Chuck and Larry" about how marriage is like a circle, how it doesn't have sides, or something. Darren then said he couldn't possibly follow John's funny speech, but he gave a more heartfelt speech, spoken from the heart, he said. He talked about how his parents were an example of how love should be, and how he hoped that someday he would find someone to love him like that (It sounded a little desperate, but it was a good speech).

WAITNG AROUNDAfter the dance, it was time to do the actual dancing, and yeahhh. I bolted out of there, not exactly for the best reasons, as Ronna wanted to smoke with Camill, and I needed to get out of there. I was not going to be videotaped dancing. And I was not going to be dancing in the same room as my parents. Hell no. Camill was drinking it up though, even then. People were buying her drinks all the time. Like wow. It was getting pretty cold outside, so we went inside, and there was a lounge. We hung out there. Waldo left pretty quickly, since his friend was leaving to go somewhere, and so he left. By this time, I was with Ronna, Camill, Ryan, Angel and the boyfriend. We all kinda just sat around, Camill kept making funny remarks about the couple. Whatever she was drinking, though, tasted really good. I felt sorta bad for Ryan, since she kept asking to dance, go out for a smoke, get her a drink, whatever. Anyway, so Darren and John came out to talk with us, and Kuya Armie came pretty soon too. John and Kuya Armie scared me because I was sitting in this little sorta crack in the wall, and there was a nearby statue, facing straight ahead. They told me that they saw the same statue with its head turned at an angle. I was so scared. They said there might be a security camera inside. Ronna and I inspected it, and it didn't seem right. We looked at it for a while, and then Kuya Armie came back and said that there was a similar statue down the hall with its head turned. I was SOOO relieved. Bryce was with us for a while, and we got him to dance for us, although I wouldn't call it dancing, per se. We all started talking about break dancing, and asked Bryce if he knew how to do it. We told him to do the worm, and his version of the worm looked like he was humping the floor or something. Very sexual and just... bad. We got him to do the crab walk too, and it ended up more like the Exorcist when she came down the stairs. Needless to say, we told him not to do that anymore.


THE AFTER-PARTY So Camill wanted to hang out some moreafter the wedding, and honestly, I was pretty tired at this point, and I wanted to sleep. Everyone else though, was going to Darren's house, I'm not sure if she got permission first. Ronna was gonna drive to her house then go to Darren's. I told her I would go with her, so she wouldn't drive alone. But my mom kept asking a lot of questions, and I was getting pretty irritated, partially because I was tired and didn't wanna deal with it, and I think I gave the vibe that I didn't want to go, cos Ronna and Jeff kept saying "If you don't wanna go, just say so." Anyway, I was finally allowed to go, and so I went with Ronna. Jeff rode with Angel and the boyfriend, and Ryan rode with Camill. We all thought that Uncle and Aunty were staying at the hotel, but they went home. It honestly was a bit embarassing. Ronna brought the Hookah, so that's what was going on. Just that and a bit of smoking and talking. You could so tell that Darren was tired. Him and Kuya Armie sat with us and were pretty tired. I learned that Kuya Armie isn't really into drinking or dancing, and that Darren wanted to go back with him to the Philippines to get away.(Sidenote: He planned on doing that, but it ended up not going through, as the flight was fully booked) Angel's boyfriend apparently bought a green laser pointer for $60 and showed it off to us. Apparently the laser goes all the way up to 1 mile. I can believe it. You can literally point out a star to someone. Camill wanted to drink some more, but Darren was pretty adamant about not drinking anymore- if they were going to drink, he said I had to join in. Camill then took that to mean no one was drinking anymore that night. After they finished the Hookah, we all went home, or rather, Angel's boyfriend drove me and Jeff home. But we went to Famima!! really quick, with Ronna, as I was a bit hungry. And that's the end of it. I knocked out when I got home.

I will attempt to post pictures, when I get a hold of the files on my dad's computer.


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let the good times roll

Last week was pretty fun. And crazy.


During the week, I hung out with Darren, John and their Kuya Armie, who is one of the coolest people I know. He's easy to talk to, and very chill. Apparently, he plays the drums really loud too, evidenced by his loud drumming when we went to Sam Ash to pick up ear plugs for him. The loud drumming does take its toll.

Later that day we called Waldo and to be stupid, bought Morning Glories (basically a stick that has sparks coming out), Smoke bombs, and this flashing firework that's like a temporary strobe light. The boys danced in front of the flashing firework like in a club, and we lit the Morning Glories and ran around, pretending to be part of the crew for Captain Planet. Pretty embarassing, and the kids down the street were looking at us, as were yelling and screaming. Oh, and the smoke from the Smoke Bombs smell like roasted ham. Don't know what to think about that. Good times.

You know, there is an absolutely delicious ramen place that my parents found out about. Jeff and I are addicted. No joke.

I was really surprised that the week went by REALLY fast, especially at work. I think it's because I was really busy, doing something, and there was always some type of event going on. On Wednesday, we had our office potluck lunch together. The food was really good, and it was good to sit and talk together about things other than work related. Then, on Thursday, an employee from one of our departments was leaving, and so he was having a farewell party, so the office went, and spent a good hour or so there, just socializing. I'm gonna miss Ben, though. He always told really funny stories. He did tell this really scary ghost story, but I don't even wanna think about it. But seriously, on Thursday, the office was pretty empty. I spent a lot of time on facebook. Fuun.

Friday. 4th of July.Aunty Winnie had a little get together for her birthday around lunchtime, she turned 50. All the adults were watching old videos. So embarassing to look at that stuff. The kids just played Rock Band, or Call of Duty, or whatever. Later, the family had a little barbeque get together. My neighbors are firework maniacs. They smuggle them in from Mexico or something, because they're the nice kind, like at Disneyland. Aunty Amy brought these delicious cheese rolls from Porto's, along with Tiramisu and fruit tart.... OMG so good. I honestly think I ate 2 hamburgers that day. It was nice, not having to spend any money on fireworks, just pull up a chair and enjoy the show.


Wedding Day. This warrants its own post, so stay tuned!


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say hello to Peek AtchoOoOoO

w00t!! Viva Espana!

Congratuations to the Spanish squad for winning EuroCup 2008. Absolutely amazing. Funny how I talked to Aimz the day before and how Madrid was CRAAAAZY. I would imagine. It was funny when I was watching the game how I could understand why people around the world are so interested in football. It's very different for me, considering how I avidly watch basketball. See, in basketball, scoring is happening all the time and there's plenty of time-outs and commercials for you to use the restroom, eat, whatever. But, when I was watching the soccer game, it's different. You get really antsy waiting for the players to set up a goal, and for me, my pulse starts rising when they get close to the goal. And, I had to wait until halftime to do anything. Very exciting indeed. Congrats to the Spanish team and to the German team for their accomplishments and sportsmanship.

On Saturday, it was still a sports-filled day. Being Filipino, of course I watched Pacquiao vs Diaz. Of course. Extremely bloody fight and I don't want to post a picture, thanks. I went over to my friend's house, and he called me over to play Rock Band, as he bought it an hour before he called me. My brother has played it before, and he loves it. He hogs the drums. I've never played before, but being the only other person there, I was stuck being the singer. It's harder than it seems. But it is funny how I didn't really want to sing, but got stuck with it, but after two songs, I was ADDICTED. I score lower then the other band members, as they actually know what they're doing, but I still think singing is fun. As a joke, we made a band to "go on tour". The boys made it up, so I had little control. In any case, our band name is McGiggletits, and here's our band:

THUNDAAAA: Bass

SPARKZzZz: Drums

LIGHTNIIIIIIIIIIN: Guitar

PEEK ATCHoOoO: Vocals

This is what happens when you get bored and are on a high because Pacquiao won. Singing initially was pretty difficult, as a lot of the songs are sung by men, but you learn. When it's a Nirvana song, just mumble. If it's an Aerosmith song, get ready to play a marathon. I totally own "Learn to Fly" by the Foo Fighters, and "When You Were Young" by The Killers. For some reason, I cannot pass "Reptilia". Something about the tone is really strange.

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musings

I admit I've been blogging a bit more frequently than normal, but most likely I'm going to just forget that I own a blog in like a month or so. haha it does tend to happen, right? Then again, it's probably because I have quite a bit on my mind.

• Is the plan gonna go through and I'm gonna hang out with Jonathan tomorrow? Or will it not fall through?
• Is my brother wilding it out at Pepperdine since he's away from the family? And do I have to drive all the way out to Malibu to pick him up? Geez.
• Is our satellite TV gonna get fixed and we get a back alley TV system that allows us to watch all channels and get pay per view for free??
• Is Aimz doing ok in Spain? She's sick, but I hope it's not too bad.
• How's the Pacquiao fight gonna go down? Will Darren go nuts and bang on the cabinets again?
• When am I watching Wall-E?
• Is it possible to lose like 10 pounds in a week? LOL

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fuck yes.

Okay. Now I don't know. I want Spain by virtue of Aimz, but geez those Germans made that game so exciting. <3333 Philipp Lahm. Considering that I want Rafa to win Wimbledon, should I just Spain it out for all sports for the moment? Hmmm. Can't wait for the other semi-final matchup.

In other news, other aspects of my life are utterly uninteresting.

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updates

So here I am... a couple months later. Ehhh. Lemme see, what's changed since I last wrote here? Oh yes:

• Kobe won his MVP award. Thank goodness. The Lakers had an an amazing playoff run to boot. I am sincerely proud of them and their accomplishments this season, despite the final result against Boston. I'm honestly not too happy with the way the media's been really harsh on them, and saying that the entire team should be dismantled, or how Kobe's not MJ or his legacy is tarnished, blah blah blah. Kobe is Kobe. Stop with the comparisons, ok? Secondly, no one thought that the team would make it to the Finals. And they did. HUGE accomplishment. However, it seemed that some of the guys were content with just that, and lacked the "mental toughness" (LOL Doc Rivers) or aggression that the Celtics played with. The better team simply won. The media's just pissed that they made the Lakers out to win the series, and they didn't, and so they have to exaggerate everything. And geez people, now that the Celtics won the championship, does everyone have to sip on Lakerhaterade? Where were all these "fans" when the team was absolute crap last year? Oh bandwagoners. In any case, I am still very hopeful about next season. Bynum will be back. but, I'm still concerned about our prospects at the 3 spot. Can Lamar deliver? Will Vlad and Luke finally step it up? We'll see. In any case, good luck to both Kobe and Pau in the Olympics. I would love a USA vs Spain final.
• On the same note, I will have to look for a new sport to watch while basketball's taking a break. Too bad I'm not into baseball. I'm waiting for more Tennis tournaments, and it's good to know that the Euro 2008 cup is going on. GO SPAIN! And of course, the Olympic trials, and in August, the Olympics. OMG. That will occupy, like, my whole month of August. 08.08.08. w00t!!!
• I didn't end up getting the Peer Mentor position for Learning Alliance. The main reason I took that leadership class was to be one, but honestly, as time went by, I wasn't too sure if I was absolutely committed to being one. The people I know who did get it are great people, who can connect very well with others. I wish them luck. Oh, and I actually got an A in that class. A surprise, considering how I coasted.
• Aimmee is in Spain. I am SO jealous. Not even funny. She's staying in Madrid, and she's there for 2 1/2 months. I miss her terribly. We hung out like everyday since she got here from Berkeley, and she came over all the time for Laker games. Lots of fun. It was nice talkimg to a girl when we went to Darren's house and the boys played Halo for like.... forever. I hope she's doing well.
• I'm still working. Well, that's not a change. But the fact of the matter is, since it's summer, the office is less busy now, and honestly, sometimes I sit here for hours on end, sorta just... surfing the internet. A bit sad, yes, but I do the work that's asked of me.
• LOL I passed organic chemistry. Just barely, I think, or was it a mid-C? I don't remember, and honestly, I don't wanna think about it too much, although I might have to re-take that class when I wanna re-apply for grad school. I'll concern myself with that later. I got a B in bio. I was hoping for an A, but you know, something about this semester wasn't really.... good? I dunno how to describe it. It was like I wanted it to be over ever since it started. I was over school in the first week. not good. I'm much more optimistic about next semester. There's something about the fall semester that I enjoy more. Is it the colder weather? I dunno, but I also notice that it's my favorite time of the year.

Well, I suppose that's all that's really changed. I suppose. I dunno. The summer's just beginning, and I'm looking forward to spending it with people that I love, so I suppose that means long days at Dar's house, playing Halo, staying up and getting midnight snacks at Famima!! LOL. Hopefully not just that. I also wanna save more money. I want to travel, honestly. I guess it's inspiration from Aimz.

WORLD, YOU ARE NOT READY FOR THE AWESOMENESS THAT IS ME.

I kid, of course. But hey, a girl can dream right?

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