Sunday, October 24, 2004

off to the land of the perfect cone

In a few hours I will be boarding a plane for Bicol, the region that is home to the Mayon Volcano, a mountain that geologists and commonfolk alike love because of its symmetrical beauty.

Well, I would've written more about the region but I'm pressed for time; I still have to get ready. Just wanted to let everyone know that this blog will be inactive for a week, unless people tag me or post comments to entries, which you are all free to do so. :) So, that's that. Be good, everyone! :D

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

blog backlog

I have been going out more often than usual the past week--which is a good thing. Except that I didn't get to write as much as I should have, or at least, as much as I would've wanted. Gigs, malling, and a party were last week's day-fillers (aside from the infinite house chores). So this week will be my rest and preparation period before I go to Bicol next week. I'll be gone for six days and will be missing two gigs! One of which is the last leg of Oktoberfest. Waaah! They're getting someone to sub for me. Or I think the drummer will be playing bass and so they're getting a session drummer. I see they have a penchant for making life complicated. :p Then again, maybe it's a sound decision; after all, Joon (the percussionist) was the original bassist of the band. Only when the original drummer (who happens to be his brother) quit did he take the sticks, leaving the role of bassist open. That's where I came in. Whew, I guess I just gave you a bit of our band's history.

As I have been running about last week, I didn't get the chance to post the videoke pics. See, I have to upload the images during off-peak hours, meaning past 12mn, so I get to do it for free; else, I will be wasting precious internet time if I do it during peak hours. Everybody knows it takes forever to upload these things! Which reminds me, I have to make good on my promise to send Joon, via email, the pictures of the sing-along night. This note serves as my reminder.

******

Went to a party last Saturday--Dante's surprise birthday party. A very interesting night. I got to bond with a long-time friend, opts. Funny how we never really talked much about personal stuff before then. It was nice having gotten to know him better. And now I know his dirty little secrets which I'll be selling for $5 apiece. Hehe.

The thing about surprises is that I'm never really good at it. I tend to over-anticipate the surprise that by the time we get to "Surprise!" my hands are all cold and my heart's beating fast because of the anxiety of waiting in the dark. There have been lots of instances where I try to surprise my hubby but end up startling myself. Especially when I hide somewhere and wait for him to pass by; the waiting is unbearable with the tension building each passing second. So when he finally appears, I'm the one who jerks by surprise. I guess I'm a nervous person. :p

******

I'm back to reading books again from weeks of comic books. Right now it's Anne Rice's Violin. The first few chapters were spent describing the heroine's quasi-necrophilia. Not really my cup of tea. I'd reather read about blood and gore than someone romancing the dead. But, having gone past those chapters, I'm beginning to enjoy the book; it's picking up pace. Though, it's too early for me to recommend it. I'll just give my rating once I've finished reading it.

I never got to finish Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. I have to read his earlier books first. That one's a rather tedious read what with all the esoteric information supplied by the author, more than half of which is unfamiliar to me. So I decided to start with his less complex works and try to gather the guts to finish Foucault's Pendulum in the process.

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

oh, mandy...

Went videoke tripping last friday with bandmates and friends. Oh, what musical extravaganza that conquered the night! We sang the night away (and our money too), adjourning around 4am. It was a relatively reasonable price to pay for barrels of beer and laughter, not to mention the company of fabulous friends. I guess most of us needed that night to give rest to serious preoccupations, albeit momentary.

If you want to get away with singing cheesy and cringe-effecting songs, go to a videoke bar. Moreover, there you'll discover the guilty pleasures your friends are into. *evil grin* I will be posting pics as soon as I get to upload them. But first, I have to figure out how.

Saturday, October 09, 2004

i am quasi-evil

According to a test I took,

I am 55% evil.


I'm getting there. I haven't done all the damage I could do but I've done quite a bit. I'm just over the border into the Evil Zone.


Are you evil? find out at Hilowitz.com


don't rock my boat

There was an earthquake again. I was checking my mail and browsing through sites when a spell of dizziness washed over me. It took me a moment to notice that my monitor was swaying (I thought it was my glasses that was making me dizzy). That's when I realized the fault line's at fault again.

Whew, that one lasted a bit longer than the intensity-4(?) earthquake a couple of weeks ago. I woke up my hubby and told him there's an earthquake. He caught the tail-end. My Mom woke up too, and we decided to rouse my Dad as well. You see, ours is a pretty old house; earthquakes cannot be taken lightly. Thankfully, the tremors didn't get any stronger and eventually stopped in 15 seconds, give or take. No aftershocks, either.

On a related note, the first thing I try to sense during these times are the animals' reactions. I also try to think back if they had any premonition of the quake at all. Science says that if there's going to be any kind of natural catastrophe, animals go into a frenzy, or, less dramatically, behave oddly. But, during both quakes, I didn't even hear the dogs bark, or the rabbits scuffle, or the cats chase an imaginary foe on the neighbor's rooftop. Our housecat* did scuttle up the stairs to us. But that was post-quake--the feline was probably "shaken" by the
earth-rumble--so it doesn't count as a premonitory action. Hmmm...I'm onto one of my sensless musings again, aren't I? And because I don't know where this thread is going, I'm just gonna end it right after the ensuing punctuation mark.

*Who, because of his accidental adoption (we had no intention of keeping him at first, so we didn't really give him a proper name) and the lack of creativity of the household, has been christened "Kuting" (transl: Kitty). He'll be carrying that name for the rest of his life, unfortunately. Hmmm. Come to think of it, maybe tomorrow I'll give him a more decent name. :)

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

coffee jitters

That must've been some heckuva strong coffee I brewed. That's what I get for absentmindedly throwing sppoonfuls of coffee into the brewer.

A tidbit about me: I am caffeine-intolerant.

Can't type for long. Hands keep shhhhaking. Have a goood one...

Sunday, October 03, 2004

a virus [b]log

It's definitely been going around.

I was an unsuspecting audience when this virus hit me three nights ago. I was having a particularly good night watching the mind-blowing performances of the bands that played during the LFS production* held at Freedom Bar that night--the enjoyment heightened by the giddiness I felt after the kick-ass (hey, I'm not kidding!) set our band (Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man) managed to pull off (something that hasn't happened in a long time :p)--when suddenly I felt my throat go sore. Just like that; without any warning at all.

After the show, my hubby and I, along with some friends, went on a food binge. Something not out-of-the-ordinary for us. If it's not a post-gig drinking binge at Nakayama, it's a food-binge at either the said place or at a kabab resto. However, because I had started to feel really sick, we took our leave after finishing our kababs and keema and, sadly, before the crash course on gay lingo ended (dandelionfluff and her friend Jill were kind enough to give us some erudition; 'twas fun, like learning a foreign language!).

Upon getting home, I was thinking of blogging about the gig. But, with the my sore throat getting painful by the minute, I decided to just sleep it off. After all, it was already 4am. Little did I know that while I was slumbering, this scheming little sore throat invited an unwanted visitor. Come morning (uh, more like afternoon), I woke up with a sore throat AND a splitting headache. The tandem has been tag-teaming me ever since. Ugh. Though today seems better than the previous days. At least now I can move my head a bit freely without suffering sharp shooting pains. The sore throat is still there, and seems to have radiated to my neck muscles because now a stiff neck to boot. What's happening to me? And all these sans fever? Isn't it that fever is supposed to be the manifestation that your body's defense system is at work? Could it mean my immune system is not functioning properly? (Okay, the hypochondriac in me is getting loose. I don't really know shit about what I'm talking. :p) Or, it could be that this virus is of a hybrid strain. Whatever it is, I hope my immune system wins the battle. Meanwhile, I'll be stocking up my armory with Vitamin C. If there's one thing I like about being sick, it's binging on apples and oranges.

P.S.
By the time I finished writing this entry, I have already made three trips to the bathroom. I give you three guesses. I figure I've lost a couple of pounds already. Instant enema. Too much oranges and apples, you think? Hahaha!

*The bands that night included Imago, The Late Isabel, Pedicab, Matilda (for which I sessioned), itchyworms, and Musings of a Cigarette-Smoking Man.