Naisip ko lang naman

Kung bakit ngayon kailangang lagyan nang 'bridal' chenes ang tawag sa lahat nang magiging accesories and eching ko for the wedding.

halimbawa--bridal bible, bridal suite, bridal house, bridal undergarments, bridal shoes...

medyo tuloy ang hirap mag isip at pumili.

para bang kelangan there's this element of 'first time', and rather 'impracticability' of anything I'll be using. Para bang it has to be super special na hindi ko na sya ulet magagamit.

Well, thats sad--don't you think?

That you'll be spending so much on something you'll find no use for, afterwards?

I mean fine--they're symbolic and all. Kaso, wouldn't it be ironic to call something 'symbolic', tapos that symbol will never see the light of day after the big event?

Naisip ko lang naman, kasi I think I've found my so-called bridal shoes last Saturday morning, while walking at Orchard Road. Actually, meron na naman akong nabili, last December pa--I call it my 'backup' shoes. Eager to 'break it in', I used it for my engagement shoot at Old Supreme Court last week. Okay naman sya, altho my sister finds it weird, or maybe not that reassuring enough to be 'that shoe'. So last Saturday I toyed with the idea of getting 'another option' from Isetan Shaw--I've been eyeing these 'collared' shoes with funky soles in red (whose brand name I forgot). But lo and behold--when I stepped inside Zara (which is on sale, by the way. bumula ang bibig ko, pramis), this sweet thing in suede said 'hello' to me instantly. I thought the idea was crazy, but I went on and gave it a fit. Naknampocha, it felt good. AT! I looked good on it. Bihira lang itong love at first site na ito. Ang unang pumasok sa isip ko, 'wow. ang gara nito sa skirt'. Tapos, biglang 'syet, at pwede itong ipang lakad sa luagr na--eherm--malamig'. So ayun. sa halagang 50% off, wala akong makitang dahilan para nde ako um-oo. While queueing for the counter, biglang naisip ko, 'ay--this is it.' (naknangteteng, why do I have to be so emo? hehe) So meet my so called bridal shoes. Happiness. :)

meet my back up shoes from Schu. :)

and... my bridal chenes chervalin...

from Zara.

Mga pahapyaw

i wrote this last night, but was not able to post right away. sori ha. :P

Habang ako'y naglalakad sa Kent Ridge, pauwi na matapos kumain nang lamb sa NUSS guild House...

1. natawa ako dahil naalala ko ang sabi ni Ron. Matapos ko kasi syang maisip i-aprove sa fezbook, bigla nalang akong nag sulat sa wall nya, with details on how i want their (AB Choral') 'help' for my wedding. Nag reply sya at sabi 'Direct to the point ka ah! chenes chenes...'sabay may ending na 'o, magkamustahan naman tayo--kamusta ka na?' ahaha. pwede na nga akong mag asawa. Kumakapal na ang mukha ko eh. (mental note: wag kalimutan ang pagbati at pangangamusta sa kada sulat, lalo na't patungkol ang sulat sa isang malufet na request na ikagaganda nang kasal mo)

2. Ngayon, nalaman ko lang ang tindi nang pangangailangan ko kay Ron nung tumawag sakin si Miro. Kaninang tanghali. Oo, ganito ang buhay ko ngayon. Bukod sa life sentence na pinagsisilbihan ko, salamat kay mayordoma-- tumawag ang bespren ko from HK at ang tanging nasabi ko lang nang matino eh 'Si Miro ba ito?' Yan eh habang naghahalungkat ako ng basura--este, estante--naghahanap kasi ako nang travel plug na all-in sa co-operative namin na ironically, nde cooperative sa kadahilanang sa iniliit ng pwesto nila sa Bukit Timah campus, magulo lahat ng paninda nila. Sabaw sabaw ako, nde ko nga alam kung paano ko naayos lahat nang pinapagawa ni mayordoma today. With matching preemptive measures pa ha.

3. tatlong araw akong andito sa Bukit Timah campus nang NUS. Humingi nang tulong yung isang alalay nang amo ko (tawagin nlanag natin syang mayordoma), at ako ang lucky draw winner. ngayon mali pala ang pagkakarinig ko--nde pala tulong ang kelangan nya. Katulong pala. :) diba ang cute? wala --okay lang ako, altho 2 straight days na akong badtrip come lunch time. I'll be fine. im not letting any wretched bitch spoil my last few weeks being single.

4. nako, OA na itong goodbye to singlehood chenes na ito ha. or yung idea na 'magpapatali ka na' na naririnig ko dun sa mga taong nde ko naman close pero iniimbitahan yung sarili nila sa big day ko. As if saying anything mean will get you an invite. Ako lang ang pwedeng mag joke about my state of distress, either present or future. Nyeta. :)

5. at...bumigat na naman ako. okay--nde as if nde ako mabigat ever. ang ibig kong sabihin eh medyo gumaan ako nang konti nung minsan (basta, minsan). as if nagtampo ang timbang ko. ngayon, imagine them coming back, merry and boisterous. they even brought MORE friends. egad!

6. ay! nakuha na namin yung iba pang kuha for the panelo.com 'free nap'. may mga magaganda, at syempre may mga --eherm panahon na huminga ako at nagpakatotoo. :P Mula ngayon--i'll try to hold everything in, at nde nako magpapakatotoo ever. wahaha. nde yata bagay sakin ang relaxed look. may isa akong picture, okay na sana eh, kaso naknampota yung braso ko, parang ewan. alam mo na--parang bagay na nakakasakit pag ibinato. :)

p.s. pramis, magpo post ako nang checklist for the big day. pati narin list ng suppliers ko. not that you may be interested--wala lang. mas fun yatang pakinggan yang mga details na yan kesa sa details regarding sa career ko. hehe. AT! i'll post some (more) pictures. sorry ha, baka may mga naiinis na at eto nalang lagi ang kwento ko. yaan nyo by next month, iba naman. Boracay naman. (yihee. may isang batang excited! oy, nde ako ha.) :P

pero..eto muna ang ilang keso-ness. (salamat ulet, jon--move over, mangored (joke, randall. joke! ))

another from the bridal front: 'ayun naman...'

after how many months of frustrations, constant self doubt and reflection ('so...bakit nga hindi kami na-post? hehe)--all we wanted was at least one 'finished product'. a hint, really--of things to come. Posing for enagement shoots--well, it took us some time to get the hang of it, so we're grateful to all our friends who subjected themselves to last minute shoots (they call it sessions), all pro bono (yogurt lang ang kaya namin pakain)--all 'practice sessions' so that sometime near February we get used to cameras clicking that we no longer freeze or turn overly conscious, nakakasuka na.

ay...at salamat kay panelo.com. We had our first engagement shoot with him and da labli fivefeetflat.com last night, followed by today's early morning (sort of) shoot.

in fairness, may finished product sya agad--as in oras lang. FIRST TIME ito sa lahat nang photographers namin (official man o hinde. AT! hindi pa sya ang official ha), kaya naman hands down--ikaw na, Jon--ang BERTDAY BOI. thank you.
wanna see?

pro bono ni John Panelo. backstreet boy--este,

back up photographer slash Bestman.

Happy Pill

Here's Ben Folds and his cover of Postal Service's 'Such Great Heights'. While I like the original version too much that very early in our engagement I asked Jay if we could use it for our 'impending' onsite video, come sometime next year (na malapit na!). Ben Folds is one fun and talented guy. And check out the 'ringtone' and 'guitar orchestra'. wah! asteeg po, mga tito at tita.



ngayon, kung super evolved na ang AB Chorale (na alumni version na nga pala, ohmaygad!), feeling ko mas magaling pa sila dito (wala akong makitang version na natuwa ako nang super--yung all girls ay masyadong pitchy at sapawan, at yung iba eh ewan ko, this one is kwela. the solos are okay though, so I'll make do with this. hehe):



I am thinking it's a sign that the freckles
In our eyes are mirror images and when
We kiss they're perfectly aligned
And I have to speculate that God himself
Did make us into corresponding shapes like
Puzzle pieces from the clay
True, it may seem like a stretch, but
Its thoughts like this that catch my troubled
Head when you're away when I am missing you to death
When you are out there on the road for
Several weeks of shows and when you scan
The radio, I hope this song will guide you home

They will see us waving from such great
Heights, 'come down now,' they'll say
But everything looks perfect from far away,
'come down now,' but we'll stay...

I tried my best to leave this all on your
Machine but the persistent beat it sounded
Thin upon listening
That frankly will not fly. you will hear
The shrillest highs and lowest lows with
The windows down when this is guiding you home

When in doubt...

1. take the test
2. answer truthfully
3. and...here you go..

You Are Ready to Get Married

You've done more than dream about the dress and the honeymoon In fact, you spend a good deal of your time thinking about what makes a relationship work And from your answers, it looks like you have the skills to say "I Do" and mean it You've dated enough, learned your fair share, and you're ready to settle down.

Are You Ready To Be A Wife?

okay...tell da Jay Im going :)

Whats your motif?

Eto ang isa sa mga pinaka gasgas na tanong ever sa taong ikakasal. I mean, not to say its not okay to ask, pero sabihin nalang natin from the 'to be wed's end'--na pwede mo nang i-record at gawing ring -tone ang sagot mo dito, kasi 'you'll get this everytime'. Minsan pwedeng 'small talk' lang ito--pwede ding seryosohang tanong, but its very likely an avenue to exchange pleasantries. Those who throw out the query would (seem to) always reply 'ay! ang cute!!'

So enter our motif: BLACK and purple and green. Nah, we dont get the same 'ang cute!' response, primarily because--its black. Never mind the purple and green---its black. Black is our common element. We love it--its modern stylish, artistic and classy but underrated. Its a good choice for accentuating and emphasizing, yet versatile enough to mix with anything. So black it is. Our other colours reflect personal favourites: Jay likes the colour green because its fresh and lively (Rica prefers it too, because she's into environmental politics.hehe), while purple has been Rica's favourite colour since the age she can say 'violet, lavender and purple' --thats waay even before it became vogue (it used to be 'kulay na pam-patay, diba?'). Jay 'thinks' he's into purple as well--probably to spite Rica.

Back to black--initial responses were a mixture of incredulousness and amusement. Some of Jay's cousins are of half- Chinese ancestry (and yes, they're based in Binondo), so you can imagine the 'wdf?' on everyone's lips. It took some time to sink in, and now everyone thinks its cool and er--different in a safe side sort of description (hehe). Hey, to set things straight--its not even an all-black affair. Well, the bridesmaids will be wearing black, and the guys in black suits, and aside from them (bunch, and I mean a big BUNCH. hehe), black will only be present as accents to either purple or green (appeased now?).

Now a simple advise to other brides in prospect: PLEASE, pretty please--its a colour motif. So use colours, like black, green and purple. Although midnight, steel, pistachio, uretane airbrush and what -have-you sounds poetic, they also sound vague. Like 'rose and wine'--so red rose ba, white rose...red wine ba, white wine? Ganon ba. hirap ma-gets eh.

Notes from the Bridal Front...

Choice #1 for first dance:
Raindrops
by Regina Spektor

I can imagine it...

in quick steps..

we were dancing to this lively song

not so heart wrenchingly romantic--but light, fun and sweet.

just how i pictured it to be.

never dragging, never fancy...

it was just you and me...


Was supposed to be another project of mine--kaso baka masuka na kayo sa pag mumukha namin, tapos panay pa kyut pa. So I got this--this video/animation (sorta) was made by serenerhapsody. so thank you, youtube.

p.s. eto po ay amin. kung makita nyo ito at masabi nyong 'ay, ako rin, yan din ang gagamitin namin...', malaman man lang po nawa ng lahat na itong idea nyo magaling ay galing sa 'amin'. :) Im not being proprietary or anything, because technically its a free world, and this is a public domain. In the first place, Regina Spektor is not everyone's cup of tea--very much like us. There probably are other people out there who thought that this is may be a good idea, at nauna sila. But we thought of this ourselves, may nauna man or wala. Kaya makunsensya naman ang manggaya. at wala pang attribution. well--bukod 'don, it's alright-- 'magtae sana kayo'. :) not for a lifetime naman...for a few days onli. there--I said it. (kidding!)

Prep #1: itchiness

wala lang, Ive been wanting to share our wedding invitation design for like--months now.

kaya naman nag tumbling ako nung binigyan ako ni manong Jay ng go signal.

Eto ha--I think our wedding theme is not just about travel per se, but more of those things we love--travel being on top of the list (that and good food). Then again there are other things: neoprints, cool weather and exotic views ( i mean helloo--its got a view of a semi-active volcano within a lake within a volcano), not to mention live music and soundtracks. It also revolves around the colours green (jay's), purple (rica's) and black (which we both love). Thats it basically. Aside from our desire to keep it 'a bit' unconventional (we have invited some tradition-laced (aka oldies) people which are truly close to our hearts, so we're behaving. 'a bit'.)

Naalala ko tuloy-- a couple of our friends whom we invited verbally would always joke 'pag may kasamang ticket yung invite, sige punta kami' (if an airtix is included in the invite, then we'll go).

Tsk tsk. Ayun naman pala eh. They better be saying the truth.

(front)
(back)

gusto ko nang mag post ng iba pa--yung map at mga chuva, kaso nek post naman. anu ako, excited? :) Ay, ito nga pala po ay DIY--credits to Jay for the design at labour. AT sa mga taong magsasabing 'ay, gudlak sa printing nyo', may maganda akong balita: na print na namin at maganda naman ang kinalabasan. (take that, ah yeah)

at dahil mahal ko kayo...eto pa:

www.tinyurl.com/ricajay

(look for the external link. kikiligin kang tunay (well, it worked for some))

nuninuninu...

Wala lang. Sa mga usyoseras, ito yung part na tinatawag na 'reject' -slash- 'inspired by'.

before anything else--and this is a rare occasion I tell you--I would like to thank that boy, Jay.

isa syang magaling na arkitekto. And by 'architect' i mean someone who makes things happen.

da best ka talaga, pare.

Walang awa mode

Kauuwi lang namin ng pinas.

araw araw kaming halos nasa divisoria,

kung hindi sa tagaytay.

Nagmistulang usual Singapore and schedule namin,

(inisip naming pwede talagang magpalipat lipat from one place to another in a short amount of time, at gawin ang isang damakmak na tasks sa loob ng isang araw. Eto pa--sa loob ng isang linggo)

at dahil dyan...

Pati sa toilet break, nakakatulog ako. 

sa pagod.

mukha akong hilong talilong, at malapit nang magtampo ang tatay ko dahil mala-driver lang yata ang papel nya. (na ni-reassure kong hindi naman--sabay abot ng suhol).

Nakakatuwang ang dami naming nagawa.

at nakakainis, kasi nde pa tapos.

may utang tuloy akong side kwento, pictures at voltron na hapy meal sa inaanak kong si raymart. ang masaya pa dyan eh this month is also a busy month (3 inaanak ang magbe bertday, isang bata ang bibinyagan, isang kaibigan ang nanganak, at bertday ng anak kong si jay).

Babawi lang ako ng tulog, lemme get back to you asap.

p.s. AT! nanalo daw ang team renault c/o Alonso and Piquet (sympre, kasama na si Piquet. Sya ang tunay na winner! haha). ang saya naman!

anu ba yun

I am so disappointed.
ayaw ng UST magpakuha ng litrato pag weekdays.
Kahit Saturday, di pwede.
Kasi daw? may nagkaklase.
as if papasok kami sa loob ng classroom at magko-kodakan.
as if hindi gumagala ang mga taga AB sa buong UST araw araw,
may dalang camera at videocams, para sa mga project nila.
hindi ba sila nakaka perwisyo rin?
as if manggugulo kami.
ang dami ko nang naisip na solusyon to 'get around' that vauge policy
na parang ni-invoke lang kasi bagong gising si manong secretary, at hindi sya naka-ano kagabi dahil inis sa kanya si misis (boring daw kasi sya):
1. ano kaya kung mag shoot kami na naka uniform?
2. ano kaya kung mabilis kami mag shoot sa kada lugar, tutal ang dami daming gumagawa ng ganyan araw araw dun, hindi naman sinisita?
3. ano kaya kung hindi nalang kami mag paalam?
4. ano kaya kung ako mismo ang sumugod sa opits, at kaladkarin ko with me ang lahat nang kakilala ko na may koneksyon, at ipukol sila sa ulo ni manong?
5. ano kaya kung wag na lang??

hanggang ngayon ba naman na grumadweyt ako, hindi parin ako pagbigyan?
this is so UST-- may identity crisis. mahilig sa koneksyon at sarado ang isip.

Kulto-rera

May isang kulto dito sa pilipinas.
Kulto ng mga babaeng nag aayos ng kanilang ‘second debut’ as misis ni kuwan.
Wala namang sanduguan na nangyayari gabigabi,
At walang layunin na para sa ikadadanak ng dugo,
Dahil ang kulto na ito ay high-tech. Online ang mga tita.
Dahil sa gusto ko ding makahanap ng mga taong parehong perwisyo—este karanasan ang pinagdadaanan ngayon,
Sumali ako.
At dahil bago lang ako,
Hindi ko na-‘digest mode’ yung kada post delivery.
Kaya kinabukasan, nagmistulang nagtatae ang inbox ko.
500 unopened messages. And counting.
Tae nga.
Ngayon, medyo nakaka-isang linggo nako sa samahan.
At naka-digest mode na ako.
Hindi na 500 messages kada araw.
50, or so—nalang.
Madami naman akong napupulot sa samahan na ito.
Mga suppliers na okay, feedback sa kung kanino,
Sa totoo lang, puwedeng pabagsakin ng samahang ito ang isang supplier
Nakakatawa ngang isipin, parang ang ‘nanay kong hoodlum—pero tsismosa’ ang dating.
Syempre, hindi din naman maiiwasan ang mga electric fan,
And mga hoover, at mga stove (masyadong mainit).
Si sister na kakantahin daw ang buong panata nya,
Si sis na pati panghinuli ni future mister eh babanggitin, dahil Lexus ang brand nito,
Si sis na saksakan nang yaman, parang pwede pa nyang i-sponsor ang kasal mo, times 300...
Ganon ba.
Wala lang.
Saya, diba?

--00--

Sa mga hindi pa nakakaalam,
At sa mga hindi pa nakakapick-up,
I just got engaged.
After 8 years.
Hindi po ako buntis (pwede ba, tigilan nating i-pressure at i-stigmatise yung mga taong porke’t buntis eh kelangang ikasal).
At tama po—yung boyfriend kong naging manfriend na (sa tagal)...sya nga.

ayaw nyo maniwala? eto ang pruweba...