Shake, Rattle & Roll 9

I'd forgotten how different it was to watch scary movies in theaters...the screams, the chills, the intense audience reactions, the laughter...

Wait... laughter?

For lack of anything better to do, Tere and I watched an official Metro Manila Film Fest entry, Shake, Rattle & Roll. The 9th in the long running series. It's Tere's first Filipino movie...no kidding! And my first MMFF movie. :)
All I can say is, it's so much fun watching films on the big screen. :) And Shake, Rattle & Roll was just laugh out loud funny at times, and scream your head silly at others. Mostly, it's a collective audience scream and then laughter follows. The cinema was packed, noisy but not too distracting. Now for those who are not familiar with the Shake, Rattle & Roll concept, it's 3 tales of horror in each film, kind of like a buy one get 3 concept. :) I was a fan of the series when I was a kid, I watched it on rented VHS tapes or whenever I could catch it on TV.

The first movie, Christmas Tree was highly entertaining because of John Lapus, John Pratts and that kid who strikingly resembles a Revilla... although the idea of a man-eating Christmas tree is really far-fetched, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

The 2nd movie, Bangungot, was in my opinion, the weakest of the 3... I think the idea was to make you feel disturbed about the ending... but it just struck me as odd. And some of the effects on this film weren't effectively used (like the cloaked figure appearing and disappearing), I've seen a lot of scary films and have seen this effects done before... and done better.

Lastly, was Engkanto, which was my favorite, thanks to the entertaining ensemble cast. :) Although I still say Jewel can't act... at least I wasn't annoyed with her in this film. This was the funniest and had the best effects of the 3 movies. Katrina plays a creepy engkanto slash vampire slash zombie maker... I'm not really sure what she is, but I liked this movie for the entertainment factor.

All in all, it was enjoyable, and I had fun. Although I probably won't be lining up for any of the other MMFF entries, but I would say Shake, Rattle & Roll is a great movie to see with your barkada/family. :)

VLMA Holidays

December 22, 2007.

I'm starting to detect a pattern whenever the VILLMA girls get together.

We eat, have coffee, hit the spa, eat, chat, talk, laugh and talk some more. It may sound routine to some but for us, these times are treasured moments and celebrations of friendship for 6 amazing women whose paths crossed in Sun Life. :)

Unfortunately, we weren't able to get together before Leslie left for Singapore... but still, Mich flew in from Malaysia and Louie just came from South Africa. :) Apple also joined us along with her daughter Yana. :)
We started the day at Gerry's Grill Insular life... Mich and I loaded up on the baked scallops, and of course, the usual sisig, squid and some kare kare and sizzling kang kong. Then, we had coffee at Starbucks (still trying to complete the stickers for that coveted Starbucks planner, thank goodness for double stickers!). Then, after updates, chismis and whatnot, we made our way to our favorite spa, Blue Water Day Spa for a foot spa, foot reflexology and a back massage...hmmm... relaxing. :) Then, we had a sumptuous and very filling dinner at Chili's.


We parted ways at around 8, Mich and I shared a cab and Louie and Apple did the same... a full day's worth of fun, friendship and relaxation... it's just a typical VILLMA reunion. :)

Out of the country naman sa susunod...Singapore/Malaysia, anyone?

Writing Booboo

Ok... I admit, I'm not perfect. :D

Apparently, I don't know the past tense of the word 'leave'. This was brought to my attention by fellow former Editor-in-chief (and know it all older sister), Maita.

The erroneous post has been corrected and I am now deeply humbled. And for some reason, unbelievably amused. People come to me for grammar checks and yet, hehehe... Oh well. :)

Happy holidays everyone! :D

Blogthings!

Xmas themed blogthings! Thanks to Mich for the links!

What The Holidays Mean to You

For you, the holidays are about emotional connections and bonds. You are happiest being around those you love. You celebrate the holidays in an over the top style. If something is cute, you'll buy it. People end up with a lot of gifts from you - and your house is like a holiday wonderland, full of decorations. During the holidays, you feel happily busy. There's so much do to and not a lot of time to do it. But you enjoy every minute of your holiday chores. You think the holidays should be energetic and packed with activities. You'll double up on caffeine and sugar if that's what it takes to get you through them. Your best holiday memories are of childhood foods and traditions. You secretly still wish you believed in Santa Claus.

What Do the Holidays Mean to You?

You Were An Angel This Year

You Were 20% Naughty, 80% Nice You know you've been a super good girl this year So good, that you may have missed out a little... Don't worry, Santa will make it up to you!

Were You a Naughty Girl or Nice Girl this Year?

Your Elf Name Is...

Sassy Candy Cane Lips

What's Your Elf Name?

5 Days till Christmas!

Before I start working, a short recap of the things that were, an update on the things that are and a post about the things that have yet to come...

On Thursday, I officially became a regular employee of Sungard System Access. Yay for me! Now I finally get to have my med card (which I missed, hehe) and most importantly paid Vacation Leaves! No increases yet though... I have to wait a few more months for that.

Then, JVC (Jeng, Van & Cess) met up last Friday in Greenbelt 3 for dinner. We ate at Krokodile Grill, and had some Frogs Legs, Sinigang na Liempo and Assorted Seafoods wrapped in Banana Leaf. It was so-so... although the service was good, the food just wasn't up to par. (Given the fact that we ordered the 'specialties' already). Even the presentation left much to be desired (esp for the Sinigang). For me it was just average.

BUT... it wasn't really the food, but the company that mattered. :) After dinner, we went to Cafe Breton for the usual crepe fix. Bumawi na lang kami sa dessert and coffee...

Then... on Saturday... I rewarded myself (again, as being single I have no one else to spend on but myself...which is fine by me by the way =D) with SE's latest Cybershot phone, the K770i. Although the chocolate brown color was a bit unlike me at first (remember, I had a pink Z610i), I've grown to love it. It's incredibly tiny (compared to my iPAQ), and light. Now, I just use my iPAQ as a standalone PDA. =D My new phone has a 3.2 megapixel cam, expandable memory (I have 1 GB now) and it's 3G capable already. Plus the usual bells and whistles of an SE phone that I've come to love.

Then, I spent the day hunting for something to wear for the company Christmas party, with the Casino Royale theme... this dress/gown hunting took until Sunday, and I still didn't find the 'perfect dress', so I just reused the maroon long dressed I've worn to several occasions already. Oh well, it's not as if I dress up often, but it took up a lot of my time...time I could have spent hunting for Xmas presents. :)

Oh and I forgot to mention Kumar's and Josh's bday treat at Modern China on Saturday night. :)

Then... Monday, Tuesday at work... well... I'm really not in the mood for work this week so I didn't get much done. Fortunately, the bulk of my work will start next year (after my 1 week leave) so I can still meet my deadlines for the year.

Last night was the Christmas party @ Fiesta San Miguel, Dusit Hotel. Being a new hire...of course we had to perform, it was a short performance, an upbeat version of 'Himig ng Pasko'. There was the usual raffle (I didn't win anything!), the band, performances, drinking...oh and a tequila toast. :D

And now, I'm back at work... obviously, with my head still floating from lack of sleep. Maitz is already flying back to Manila at this moment. Yay! Later tonight, we'll be taking Marta out to dinner. She's here for a few days so we're returning the hospitality she showed us while we were in Bratislava. :) Tomorrow, Maitz and I will be watching a movie after work, and on Saturday is the highly anticipated VILLMA (VLMA) reunion, with updates from Malaysia courtesy of Mich, South Africa courtesy of Lui, Bratislava courtesy of moi and Sun Life courtesy of Apples :D.

A lot of excitement in the coming days, and of course, the most highly anticipated event of all, Christmas! :D

I'm back!

It's been 5 days since I got back... and I guess I was just too lazy to update. :D

We left Bratislava at 5:20 am, I had to shift 2 kilos from my luggage to my hand carry at check-in, but I'm thankful that the lady at the check-in counter wasn't rude or anything... she was almost apologetic that she had to make me unload some of my stuff. It was a bit turbulent, but nothing too scary... we arrived in Prague by 6:30... we had more than three hours to kill before our flight to Frankfurt, and we just spent it waiting around at the gate.

Forty minutes before leaving, we found out that we had to get boarding passes issued from the transfer desk before boarding! So we ran like crazy to the transfer desk, and when we got there, they processed the request, and the printer jammed! Minute after precious minute passed... I was scared we might miss the boarding... Imagine, we were doing nothing for 3 hours and then now we had to rush like crazy. Thankfully, the people at the transfer desk were very efficient, and they handed us our boarding passes upto Manila with minutes to spare.

The layover in Frankfurt was very short, we were there a total of one hour max. And soon we were flying off to Singapore. I settled in for a nice, long flight, but there was so much turbulence, they had to suspend cabin services. Really, it's never a good time to hear the pilot say "Ladies and gentlemen...it's worse than I thought..." hehe. But we got to Singapore in one piece after 12 hours.

Then, in Singapore, Maitz picked me up and we took the train to the city. She took me to Suntec, and I was able to make a wish on the Fountain of Wealth... great timing since the bigger fountain was closed. :) We didn't do much, coz I was carrying a really heavy laptop and my handcarry. So, we just strolled a bit (shops were still closed) and had lunch... I only had 3 hours to spend with Maitz, but maybe next time it'll be longer... like days longer... :)

Anyway, I've kept myself busy tending to my vanity. :) I got my hair cut last Friday, I'm now sporting a chin length bob. Then I had a facial, and a manicure and pedicure. I would have loved to fit in a massage schedule there somewhere but I didn't have the time. On Sunday, I took my family out for some fresh seafood at Seaside... I missed seafood so much! Crabs and shrimps are so delicious!

Then Jeng filed for VL, and we went to MOA... I helped her run some errands (although I don't consider picking out clothes as errands), and we watched Beowulf on IMAX! For some reason... I found it really violent... for a CGI flick... :)

And now, first day back at work... and I completed about 1/10 of what I wanted to finish for the day... I have no one to blame but myself, I'm really not feeling up to working yet, but I know tomorrow will be a more productive day.

I'll be home... I'll be home soon...

Just two more days... and I'm flying back. :)

Can't believe how excited I am... :D I'll be meeting up with Maitz in SG for a couple of hours, so that's also great, I would have loved to stay but they couldn't find a return flight from SG to Manila, maybe next year.

It's times like this that makes me realize how many things there are to miss in the Philippines... sure, I love to travel, but this is the first time I've been away for more than a month, and it's made me realize that I'm just not ready to leave my life in Manila...not yet anyway. Close friends will know what I'm talking about... I don't know, maybe I'm just feeling homesick right now. :)

Anyway, 2 more days... and it's back to hot and humid Manila, and maybe next month, it's on to Kiev, Ukraine. :)