3 things that i did for the first time September 6, 2009
Posted by banne in biyahera, top ten list of everything.add a comment
traveled halfway across the globe alone
a two-week international assignment meant that i had to endure the 23-hour travel time from manila to lexington, KY by myself. having gone through the whole ordeal once before, my dread over traveling alone eclipsed my excitement of visiting the US again. but except for feeling sick and tired during the 11-hour flight from nagoya to detroit, the whole trip was not as bad as i had expected. at least i did not arrive in lexington totally wiped out. i welcomed any conversation that came my way – from chatty pinay teachers to burly old australian businessmen – just to avoid cotton-mouth. long flights will never be on the top of my list of fun things to do, but i came to know that travelling alone is kind of an adventure by itself.
the tunnel at detroit airport - the lights and music concert 
that's 11 hours of being stuck in the middle seat for you.
tried out white water rafting
friends from work invited me to go white-water rafting at Cumberland Falls, Corbin. We were four people from four different countries in one car, so conversation was interesting (to say the least) i think i did pretty well going over the Class3 Rapids. at least i didn’t fall off and got swept away i wasn’t able to bring the camera with me on the raft, so i have zero pictures of the ride. all i have to remember everything by is the sound of southern drawl permanently stuck in my head and a semi-serious back injury from all those rowing (sports injury: another first for me hehehe )
sheltowee trace outfitters - the rafting place (www.ky-rafting.com). the sign says "if you're smoking in here..you had better be on fire!"
cumberland falls - the "little niagara" of KY. we rowed as close as we could to the falls. photo taken from the sheltowee website.
malaysia, philippines, usa, nigeria
sunshine on my shoulder
jumped 15-feet off a huge rock straight into icy cold water
on the trip downstream we all stopped at a nice diving site called “jump rock”. the plunge looked like death to me but if i chickened out i would surely never hear the end of it from my officemates. i was so scared, my knees were quaking. a nice lady saw how terrified i was and offered to jump off the rock with me. i took her up on her offer, closed my eyes, and screamed all the way down. i hit the icy water a second later. it was so fun, i got up and did it again
pogi points March 22, 2009
Posted by banne in favorite people, top ten list of everything.1 comment so far
he is very polite about the icksterous things on your legs…even though you both know it’s killing him..bwahahaha +80,000 points
he puts up with your dark side +100,000 points
he dismisses all “not nice” moods as just pre-menstrual syndrome -25,000 points
he speaks to you in cantonese -5,000 points
he’s a better cook than you +40,000 points
he insists you see the doctor when you’re perfectly fine -10,000 points
he loves his mama and ate +100,000 points
he shaves when you tell him not to -3,000 points
he reads all the john gray and relationship books that you tell him to read..hehehe.. +4,000 points
he thinks john gray makes sense +10,000 points
he’s not into any form of dancing -15,000 points
he does not eat his dinner -3,000 points
he makes sure you get home okay +10,000 points
he gives you cute baboy stuff just because +13,000 points
he uses his award-winning debate skills against you -15,000 points
he forgives you completely when you mess up 
+100,000 points
he thinks some of the girly things you do with your friends are strange -800 points
he reads your blog..and only says the nicest things… +/- 10,000 points
when he says he’s sorry..you know he won’t do it again..when he says he loves you, you know he means it.. and all those cheesy songs that used to make you cringe now makes perfect sense because of what he means to you +1 million jillion points :*
top 5 things to do on a sleepover November 15, 2008
Posted by banne in top ten list of everything.13 comments
1. chika! we covered everything from “if you were an animal, what you would be?” to “who is your ideal man?” (interestingly, the answers ranged from sean connery to jose rizal…BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!)
2. watch a movie watch mama mia …it’s less uncool to sing along to super trooper when you’re belting it out with a bunch of squealing girls in their pajamas.
3. play card games uno and one-two-three-pass taught me that even nice girls have a dark side!
4. eat! girls will eat all the junk food they can get their hands on at 4:00 in the morning.
5. magic sing what party will be complete without karaoke?!
top ten things to do before resigning October 27, 2008
Posted by banne in the office, top ten list of everything.add a comment
(wrote this more than a year ago when i was resigning from my Former Office kids, don’t do this at home)
1. inform your girlfriends.
go for the dramatic and announce it during a payday-friday dinner. shocking news is always best served with chicken biryani. whether or not they’ll be happy about it, your loyal gal pals should be the first to know. it’s like, the rule of feminism.
2. formally tell your boss(es).
a tastefully written resignation letter will not really do anything to make them hate you less. but you’re probably required to do submit one. so it’s better to just get it over with.
3. turnover your modules carefully.
update all documents. organize your files and give it to your team lead. discuss in exhaustion all need-to-know details with the person inheriting your module. or code a bug that will cause the application to crash. it’s really up to you.
4. clean your cube.
or stick chewed-up gums under the desk. it’s really up to you.
5. avail of as much company benefits as you can.
if you’re provided with out-patient benefits, be sure to use it before leaving. free gas? spa? gym? dental? load? book allowance? claim them all. you are entitled to it.
6. pirate.
ask your co-workers for episodes of your favorite series. now is the time to be shameless and just broadcast your intent of obtaining unlicensed copies of software, music, or video from anyone who would care to share. who knows, you might even meet a new friend in the process.
7. forward interesting mails to your gmail account.
especially the ones about health and diet, romance and relationships, and showbiz.
8. exchange contact information with your officemates.
in the future it would prove beneficial to know and be known by people who belong to the same industry as you. it’s always wise to network.
9. reformat your workstation.
delete scandalous pictures or incriminating documents. erase all evidence. no one must know.
10. say good bye and thank you.
say goodbye properly. write a nice long e-mail thanking the company for giving you the opportunity to grow and learn. thank your groupmates for all the fun times you shared. thank your friends for being there for you. or just grab your stuff and get out. it’s really up to you.
top 3 discoveries within the 3rd decade of my life July 25, 2008
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3. ampalaya is okay – i had pinakbet for lunch yesterday. after i had finished off the good stuff (tomatoes, pork, ginger, and string beans), i reluctanly forked at the least offensive-looking ampalaya, closed my eyes, took a leap of faith and nibbled. i was surprised to discover that it’s not half as bad as i feared it would be. it was quite good actually. but don’t start thinking i have become an overnight convert. my tryst with the ampalaya was a one time thing.
2. it’s never too late to learn to play the violin – i actually started liking the violin when i was in kindergarten (and just because the word “violin” started with a “v”, just like “vanessa”. i was very much into letters when i was five). but it took me almost twenty years before i could afford to buy one and enroll myself in classes. today i’m twenty three and the only piece i could play decently is “twinkle, twinkle little star”. it’s kindergarten all over again
1. God is like a stalker – He will turn up again and again in all the places that you try to hide. He’ll find you and he’ll insist on surrounding you with people that will draw you closer. don’t you just love that about Him?
things to do in san pablo city – part 3 June 2, 2008
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5. see the lake. ask a local to show you around.
6. get drunk.
my tito’s wife’s daughter and her husband owns a neat little resto-bar right in front of the lake. it’s called “fat larie’s” and they serve the best potato crisps ever. they also have live bands. the placed is always packed and it’s open until the wee hours of the morning.
more san pablo pictures at my sister’s picassa
things to do in san pablo city – part 2 June 2, 2008
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flores de mayo is big in san pablo. we got there just in time to see the festivities.
the flowers of may. the girls were pretty but the gowns weren’t exactly haute couture (which is perfectly fine with me, for the record)
pink is the color of passion. i love love love the color of this girl’s dress! it looks like something out of my girlhood stationery days! yum!
angel of mine. super cute!
santa cruzers. homies waiting for the parade.
celebrity sightings. jao mapa and jordan herrera. jao mapa has been…period. and i don’t even know who jordan herrera is. but, and my friends could testify to this, i easily get star-struck around celebrities. we were inside a jeep once when we saw gma pass by in a van. i stuck my head outside the window, waved, and hollered “gma!!” enthusiastically. my friends in the jeep scooted as far away from me as possible. but in fairness, gma waved back at me. another time while attending the davide rally in fuente, cory aquino was leading the prayer and i kept tugging at gladys and saying “glad..si tita cory!” (notice how i was calling her “tita” all of a sudden). and once we saw caridad sanchez in ayala. gladys and i screeched to a halt when we saw her right in front of us. i breathlessly whispered her name, “caridad…”. she looked confused and then she hurried away from us. hahaha.
things to do in san pablo city – part 1 June 2, 2008
Posted by banne in biyahera, homies on the range, top ten list of everything.1 comment so far
last weekend i learned two new things about my father: 1) he split his lip while helping his cousin. the cousin was hammering something on a board that my father was holding up. the hammer head suddenly came flying off and hit my father in the lip. i asked him if he cried. he said he didn’t, but he said “ang sakeeeet!!” he showed me the scar from that misadventure. 2.) he failed his latin subjects but managed to squeak by because his teacher was “mabait”.
2. go swimming.
my tita has a friend who owns a nice little swimming place.
especially for dru. with amboy andrew.
sisterettes. ate wanted to try the karaoke but someone else beat us to it. we took pictures of ourselves instead.
cover girl. if you really know me, you would know why i’m wearing what i’m wearing. bwahahaha.
nipa hot. the cottages have screens. beaches in cebu, for your action.
3. go dancing.
palmera’s. on our first night there we had dinner at palmera’s, a resort-inspired garden restaurant complete with a gazebo and live band.
dance! boogie wahnderlaaand!
do that conga. our mini conga line.
kapamilya. in ascending or descending order.
strange May 15, 2008
Posted by banne in top ten list of everything.1 comment so far
1. sleeping at my desk for four minutes. the trick is to press alt-tab once in a while and then scroll down the window using the mouse. no one really knows you have fallen asleep if your switching between the code and the browser.
2. crying over a teri de sario song. until now i can’t explain why i cried very hard when i saw teri de sario perform “it takes a man and a woman” on myx, so don’t ask.
3. mentally doing splits. lately when i feel like i have messed up, an image of myself doing a split pops into my brain. i can’t fix this problem so we have to defer release <split>. i forgot about the shoes that i borrowed <split>. i got off at the wrong jeepney stop <ack! split! split! split!>.
playlist April 29, 2008
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top five songs to listen to when your boss is mad and your lovelife is sad (yey nag rhyme)
5. beat me by custom, last resort by papa roach
inside everyone of us is a blood-hungry mob cheering someone’s execution. here are some songs for the feeding frenzy. (note: beat me is actually kind of happy and upbeat, which is why i like it)
4. teardrop by massive attack
for the deep, profound, angsty side of you. for the side that searches for the message behind tori amos’ songs in songmeanings.net.
3. touch my body by mariah carey, stars are blind by paris hilton
pretty songs for pretty girls who forgot to mention where they uploaded their installer, thereby delaying project release by one day. shet.
2. aeroplane by the red hot chilli peppers
pleasure spiked with pain.
1. crimson and clover by tommy james and the shondells
it instantly lifts your mood and sets your spirit free. BWAHAHAHAHA! i laveht!!!
here are some songs that you should absolutely have to stay away from if you don’t want to plunge deeper into depression:
last request by paulo nuttini
the blower’s daughter by damien rice
high and dry by jamie cullum
