The BER Months

August was a really busy month. As you may have observed, I only have one post for that month. A lot of things happened from a crazy Korn concert to a peaceful and fun Cynthia Alexander gig at Conspiracy. Things are going well and I got to replace my lost iPod touch with a 64Gb so I'm a happy camper :)

Now it's almost mid-September. We're having a team outing by October 1 and it's going to be Vince's first time to be out of the metro. I guess I'll be joining the Christmas rush when I survive Vince's first birthday in November. It's either time flies, or I'm blinking my eyes too slowly.

happy birthday prince!

Yesterday was prince's 36th birthday and we went to Yakimix Trinoma for dinner. Their customer service improved a lot since I blogged about the unfortunate incident and I appreciate it.

Way to go DFA!

July was a very busy month. It went so fast that I didn't even notice it's already August.

We had an appointment at the DFA to renew my passport and apply for baby's first one. It's nice to see that part of my taxes were used for a good cause as the DFA office right next to S&R is way better than the one I remember going to six years ago. I booked two appointments online: one at 1:30pm for my passport renewal and another one at 3pm for baby's new passport application. We arrived at 1pm and went to the table with the huge label "STEP 1". A guy in front of a computer asked how I'm related to the baby [which proves that some common sense isn't that common at all], so I said I'm his mother. He then asked me to go to the second floor where they have courtesy lane for infants [not more than 1 year old]. Both our passports were processed on the same lane for Php1,200 each and we're all done by 2pm. Now this is PUBLIC SERVICE! Precise, efficient and not complicated.

Our passports arrived after more than two weeks through LBC. :)

Goodbye Touchscreen Phone!

The first 'touchscreen phone' experience for me was when I bought my Sony Ericsson P1i in 2008. I loved it as it lets me choose to use the qwerty keys or touchscreen and the stylus can just be snapped at the back. This phone is the only touchscreen, WIFI phone I had that can take decent photos. The only thing missing is that this isn't a walkman phone but the audio quality isn't that bad at all.

Then the full touchscreen phones came out and I was into pink phones. It made me buy the Samsung Star WIFI which I only used for about a month and then accidentally left it in a cab when I was on my way to work with morning sickness. :(

I was then encouraged to buy a new pink touchscreen phone that has 3.5mm audio jack which lead me to an LG KM555e. Unlike other touchscreen phones, this one doesn't have any attached stylus so it pains to text, go online or do anything else that requires typing.

A few months after using this full touchscreen-WIFI phone, I realized that the full touchscreen isn't really for me. I then longed for the simple, bar type, non-qwerty, non-wifi phone that allows me to text and call without thinking of pressing the wrong part of the screen. Patiently, I waited for a white Nokia C2-00 to be available in the market and now, 3 years after my first touchscreen phone experience, I'm back to basics.

While everyone is into touchscreen and BlackBerry phones, I find nothing fancy about Nokia C2-00 and that's why I like it. :)

IKEA Philippines PLEASE!!!

When will we ever have IKEA here in the Philippines? I've been seeing a lot of online sellers that sell IKEA items 50% more expensive than it's original price [or more] and it's just not fair. :(

All the other stores we never thought would possibly be here - Muji, Forever21, etc. - made it so should we expect IKEA Philippines anytime soon? PLEEAAASSE?

Enveloped Ideas - A Tribute to The Dawn

Being one of the most respected bands in the Philippines since the 80's, I guess it's just time to pay tribute to The Dawn. The Enveloped Ideas album launch was held at the Hard Rock Cafe, Makati last Thursday, June 30, 2011.

The album packaging is really nice. Took me back to early 90's which is probably the last time I received a mail with this kind of envelope, hehe. :)

I may be biased but I have to say that Lip Service's version of the song Living Seed is one of the most intense track out of the album. It's evident that The Dawn themselves liked it when Buddy Zabala and Jet Pangan approached them after such a nice performance on stage. The band is just very vocal about being grateful to be part of the album. I also liked the performances of Enemies of Saturn, Flying Ipis, Rubberpool and Techy Romantics.

The night ended with The Dawn playing three of their most well-known songs Iisang Bangka, Salamat and Enveloped Ideas with a little version of Foolish Heart on the side, hehe. It was a fun-filled event and everyone just can't help but sing their hearts out as we look back at all the good things and, as quoted from Lip Service's vocalist, Pat Co, "Mabuhay si Teddy Diaz!"

A Rain Story

June is the official rainy season in the Philippines. My nieces stayed in our apartment for the weekend. Long weekend, that was due to our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal's 150th birthday. It rained pretty hard and I remember our youngest sister's story about rain.

My eldest niece's favorite color is pink. She would always be fuzzy and then turns bratty when she's given something to use that's not pink. All her clothes, shoes, bags, etc. has always been pink. One day, her mom came home with a new yellow dress for her and she started crying because it's not pink. My youngest sister then told her that, "If you would only choose pink, the other colors of the rainbow will start getting jealous and cry. Their tears will turn into rain, it will rain very hard that children will not be able to play outdoors." From then on, she stopped monopolizing pink. The end. Creative storyteller, hehe. :)