i kind of felt sorry for my mother when she arrived last april 5. she's gotten used to cold san francisco - and then she comes home to the philippines at the peak of summer heat. >.>

was worth it though, she said. she came home for kuya mox's graduation, and took enough pictures and videos of the event to provide as evidence to our relatives in the US that yes, it really has finally happened! rofl.

we all fooled around taking turns wearing kuya's toga (yes, including my mom O_O) and taking pictures, which i will not post because we all looked so silly. >.> when it was my turn, i tried to pose seriously, but then my mom took a whole-body shot, and you could see my slippers under the toga. o_o

( but here's one picture, during the graduation itself, just to mark this joyous event (and in which i think i look fairly decent). )

the day after the graduation, we went to the beach at real, quezon. the sea was amazing. it was cloudy so the sun wasn't searing hot. kaida absolutely enjoyed building a huge sand structure (which could either be a fairy castle or Minas Morgul, one can't be entirely sure) and splashing about the shallow waves.

the next day, we held a small dinner party in celebration of the graduation. thanks to all who came, even with such short notice! the text on the cake read, "way to go.. at last!" rofl.

my mom's flight back to the US was april 18, the day after the party. the two weeks she was here just flew by, it was depressing she already had to go.

it was particularly heartbreaking for me to see her off at the airport. she's been burnt out with work in the US and really needed this vacation. i can tell from her body language that she didn't want to go back yet. it was what made me cry when we got back home from the airport.

but i'm sure the next months will zoom by, and it will be december, and not only ina will be coming home to the philippines but ama and abram as well. i'm really looking forward to all of us being together again.

i actually got a lot of rants/worries to spew out, but at the moment i want to focus on the good things.

my mom's coming home from the US first week of april. this wasn't really planned, but i guess she wants to come home to see the first of her children graduate (not me). lol.

she's bringing the graveyard book with her, yay. abram got a secondhand hardcover copy on ebay for only $9.00, which is really great. i don't mind secondhand copies as long as they're in good condition, and abram showed me the book via webcam this morning, and it looks mighty fine. ^^

ah, the weekend is here, thankfully. i can rest properly. i'll need all the rest i can get before my mom arrives - there'll be mad shopping sprees during her first few days here, i'm sure. ^^;;

ROFL! i'm back to being losethesmog. XD

( the whole hilarious story! )

oh hi.

in case you were wondering how the hell i got into your flists, i used to be losethesmog. XD

i just wanted a shorter username, that's all. i wanted to have my full first name as a username, but someone took it and I DON'T REALLY KNOW WHY.

but a 4-letter username is fine by me.

i used my younger brother abram's (ILUSM ♥) paypal account to buy the rename token. i convinced him to apply for a paypal account for his credit card because it's safer for online purchases, and recently he's been buying more on ebay and amazon. i helped him with his paypal registration and he went directly to ebay afterwards to look at more stuff. XD

i tried to save face (BECAUSE I SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF MYSELF BEING THE OLDER SIBLING HAVING TO USE MY YOUNGER BRO'S CREDIT CARD) and did the sisterly thing: warn him from getting too tempted to buy lots of stuff online.

..a warning which i'm not really listening to myself, going and buying a rename token, of all things. =_=

addendum: abram's also buying a hardcover copy of the graveyard book for us, in time to put into a balikbayan box they're sending next week. he should be sainted, really. ♥

best gift this christmas: time with my family.

can't get over the feeling of bone-deep satisfaction - being able to play for a long time with kaida, and cooking noche buena with aru (without help from anyone!), and exchanging gifts with aru and kuya mox while drinking red wine/rhumcoke. haha! it was amazing.

first thing on my agenda list for the christmas break: sleep. yes.

happy christmas, from our house to yours. ^^

as it happens, i didn't choose either of the Toshiba or HP. XD

a series of (unfortunate?) events led me to the Dell Inspiron 1525. it was first suggested to me by edvardian. (thanks again! ^^)

at that time, i was pretty bummed because after looking at the HP and Toshiba models, my mother informed me that those models were not available either at BestBuy or CostCo, since those stores were near their place and convenient to go to.

but the Inspiron was available at the BestBuy website for $499.00 with better specs! the Inspiron already has 2GB RAM / 160GB HDD, while both the Toshiba and HP each had 1GB RAM / 120GB HDD.

i was psyched, and immediately asked ina about it, but it wasn't available at the BestBuy store near them. i tried to convince ina to use her credit card on the BestBuy website, but she's currently netophobic due to the breakdown of my brother's laptop. i think Vista is my brother's problem, but my mom is convinced it's a virus from the net. (would you believe i am the least technologically-challenged member of my family? O.O they're pretty helpless over there.. i even had to call ina overseas and walk her through installing YM on her new desktop pc. O.O she was demanding to be reassured that it's okay to download from Yahoo, of all freakin' websites.)

in any case, to sum it up, my mother told me to wait instead for availability of the Inspiron in a store near them.

then it went out of stock at the BestBuy website. ;_;

then the price soared from US$499.00 to US$649.00 at the BestBuy website, while still being out of stock. ;__;

i really was losing all hope of getting it for a good price, since all these limited time offer discounts were quickly disappearing, and if you will look at the price at Dell.com, the model i wanted starts at $599.00, but it had a lesser HDD capacity of 120 GB only.

then two days ago, a feed from Engagdet showed up in my Gmail. it seemed mildly interesting so i clicked on it. then my eyes were riveted to the right hand side, and this was the sight that met my eyes..

( ..a ray of light bursting from an otherwise stormy sky.. XD )

kuya moxitus' chili con carne was so hot it blazed a trail of fire down my throat and sparked a revolution in my stomach. @_@

my parents and youngest brother are here, all is right with the world. :)

a friend of my parents' made music videos for two songs by their band, ang grupong pendong.



ang grupong pendong - dito sa lupa



ang grupong pendong - sanlibutan


would appreciate you guys watching and/or commenting. ^^

personally, i think the videos need a bit more work. from what i understand, though, these aren't the final versions of both vids.

but really, all the while i was watching i was really just amazed at how my parents can still be at it at their age. XD ang galing talaga nila, i'm so proud! ^^; they make really good songs.

speaking of which, ang grupong pendong will be on a 3-month US tour around late may of this year, and my parents are bringing aru along with them as session guitarist. i'm dying with envy. D: i miss both my parents and aru's the one who gets to be with them, on real gigs no less. =_=

the holiday season plus one earthquake later, i am finally able to lj!

..happy new year!

(late much? o_O)

---

ang grupong pendong performed their last gig last wednesday. too bad i didn't have the chance to advertise because of stellar internet.

their subic gig was also great, after which we were able to go to the beach. it was kaida's first time to swim in the ocean! will post pics as soon as multiply cooperates. (i still have to upload her birhday pictures, too. ~_~)

one thing i found out about my mom: she developed a taste for starbucks during their first months in the US (most probably because their coffee shops are literally everywhere in that country). during the road trip to and from subic, she kept stopping by starbucks and buying coffee for the whole band. i suddenly found myself clutching a card 8 stickers short of a starbucks planner. shrugged and filled up the remainder of the card myself. yay instant planner. XD

---

i really am particular about planners. a simple one would have sufficed, but the starbucks planner appealed to me because of the wide space for entries. however, i did still buy a complementary papemelroti month view mini-planner and attached it at the back of the starbucks one because i just have to have a month-view planner.

am geeky. i know.

---

aru finally bought his own pc! thanks to louie and slaves for helping us buy chedeng. XD

yeah, you got that right: aru bought a CPU case with the logo of mercedes benz on it. ROFL.

he got (more or less) his gaming specs for a relatively cheap price, but what i'm really drooling over is the 1GB ram he splurged on. *O* the speed combined with his processor is just.. gah. *throws old P4 1.8GHz processor out the window*

---

will be buying tickets (hopefully today) for the january 27 showing of zsa zsa zaturnnah (ze muzikal)! *is excited*

ang grupong pendong @ the 70s bistro tonight!

then tomorrow all of us will be leaving for subic because agp will be performing there also.

then their next gig will be at the makati new year countdown at ayala. :D

work finally eased up a bit so i have more time now, but then family demands more time now, too, with shopping and going out and general bonding. wala rin. o_O

my mom sent me an sms about a week ago that they will be able to come home for the holidays YAY~ \o/ sadly, my youngest brother abram won't be able to come home with them because of school and his part-time job. D:

anyway, my mom's next sms made me panic: "tell us your bilins! what do you want for pasalubongs? shoes or something?" for the non-filipinos in my flist, pasalubong is a general term for the gift one takes home, be it from another country or even just from the office.

so. it made me panic because i had absolutely no idea what i wanted. well, there were some things i wanted but it's not your general pasalubong type requests and are not remotely within the price range of shoes, and most of them can be bought here in the philippines anyway. >.> my older brother moxitus immediately asked for original copies of video games and/or a spiffy new stethoscope and sphygmomanometer for nurse duty, while the husband settled for small guitar gadgets (he's a bit embarrassed to ask for extravagant stuff from my parents XD), and then i asked my mom to get some sturdy shoes or sandals for kaida.

but for me? guh. i was stumped.

today, though, i texted her that i could settle for an original copy of a software i needed for work, the latest version of an electronic drug reference. and that is just so corny of me. ~_~

any recommendations? T_T

as to what i really want, let me do that meme-but-not-really-a-meme that's been circling the flist to give you all a general idea.

( the holiday wishlist )

other gifts, of course, are appreciated and expected, since about two-thirds of the list is really rather expensive. XD

What Your Soul Really Looks Like

You are a warm hearted and open minded person. It's easy for you to forgive and forget. You are a grounded person, but you also leave room for imagination and dreams. You feet may be on the ground, but your head is in the clouds. You believe that people see you as larger than life and important. While this is true, they also think you're a bit full of yourself. Your near future is still unknown, and a little scary. You'll get through wild times - and you'll textually enjoy it. For you, love is all about caring and comfort. You couldn't fall in love with someone you didn't trust.

it's easy for you to forgive and forget.

it is? o_O

i'm kidding. XD

okay, i'll give in to half. i forgive, but i don't forget. lol.

while this is true, they also think you're a bit full of yourself.

ROFL.


on a totally random note, earlier today i threatened my brother, moxitus, that i would use his sterile bandage scissors to open the seasoning for my pancit canton.

wala lang. XD

i just want to greet my brother a very happy birthday in the dying minutes of august 4.

ok, this entry is backdated because i was too busy fan-girling over monica bellucci and almost forgot to post this.

anyway, since i have zero cash to spare, i'm giving him an LJ as a gift. ^^;;

so, happy birthday moxitus! use your damned journal, ok? XD