Quest

nagkakalkal ako ng mga lumang pictures at nakita ko ito, noong nakaraang taon pa kuha ito pero natuwa ako sa title na inilagay ko sa litratong ito: Quest (parang knight na parang part ng kanta no?)

napapagusto tuloy akong kumanta, at mag-videoke mamayang gabi. kailangang magrelax muna kahit solo flight, andaming lalakarin bukas!

excuse me po, babanat na muna ako:

This is my quest to follow the star

No matter how hopeless

No matter how far

(napakanta kayo no? hehe)

....

Happy weekend everyone, next song, este, kanpai!!!!

Bridal Fairs

So far we’ve been to three, and I think that would be enough. Imagine walking into a place where everything that soon-to-be married couples will need were fitted into a scented, decorated, a bit noisy, and dizzying showground, these couples will be overwhelmed and overwhelmed, and in our case, multiply that by three.

A bridal fair can either be the couple’s heaven or their nightmare. If they have the money, going in these fairs is like preparing for their wedding in just one or two days. Why? Because everything can be found there: gowns, caterers, photographers, rings, invitations, make-up artists, flowers, cakes, event organizers, stylists, even dentists and dermatologists have already joined the pit. And if they have the moolah, their wedding will be headache and stressed-free, all they have to do is just affix their signatures and that’s it!

But, if the couple is on the other side of the fence and still decided to be tantalized by the dreamy atmosphere the fair can offer, going there is like having their dream weddings torn into pieces. Why? Simply because their dream wedding has a tag price, and it’s expensive.

While we’re neither of the above, we do have a budget to follow, and the accountant and banker in us keep us from going beyond the budget. We are aware that bridal fair is a big trap for over-spending on weddings but we are also aware that it can give us loads of freebies and in turn huge savings if we play our cards right.

In three separate events (and meeting and seeing the same suppliers, the same faces, and being greeted by the same enthusiastic smiles, some even know us), we were able to book the major ones and the free items, discounts and upgrades that we got were worth at least P30k! And with the expected increase in prices, and not counting the inflation, that means a lot of money and enormous savings!

While both Lyn and I do not possess the bargaining power of our parents (magagaling tumawad), magaling naman kaming magpakipot, we played hard-to-get and in turn, the wedding supplier will give in to our demands, parang nakapang-barat na rin kami hehehe.

Seriously, most wedding suppliers have a standing discount to couples who will book on site, say 20-30% discount, or a free this, or an upgrade to that, we took those discounts as part of the package and the wise thing we did was to look into the details of the package, crossed out those that will not be needed (like a tarpaulin or blow up pictures or a generic signature frame) or those that will have no purpose (like an ice carving or an extended red carpet) on the wedding and changed or replaced them with something that we need (like a bridal car or sound system or bubble machine). Trust me, a couple of hundreds or thousands removed from the package and replacing them with something that you will be paying if not included in the package can go a long, long way.

Why do I know of those things? Because I, and later on Lyn, belong to a group of “week-end” wedding coordinators before and our exposures to numerous weddings in the past gave us a firm foundation and idea on what to expect. So after the engagement, the hard work begins.

And did our being a “week-end” wedding coordinators worked on our advantage? Yes and no. And i'll post something about it later. :)

wedding dresses by Linoi

scam!

For the last few months, i've been receiving text messages from anonymous senders who seem to have unlimited text message allowance and a lot of free time to bombard everyone with their too good to be true "good news".

The following are some of them (messages typed/copied as is):

From +639105524575: CONGRATULATIONS!!! Your cellphone # WON TOYOTA ALTIS plus 300thou as HOMEPARTNER last MAY 21. To claim it, please call now BERT RAMOS of Phil. Com. Center (wow! homepartner kaya saan? tax-free ba yang altis na yan ha? me libreng gasolina na ba?)

From +639092603592: Get up to 2M LOAN,asLOWas.88%int, OR w/1mo PYMNT HOLDAY! 12-48mo!NO COLLTRAL!Cntct Kean 0928-9617484, (02)4618493, 4180720. Ths s an outgoing#. Pls dnt rply hre. Tnx. (whoa! where in the world can you get a 2M loan, with less than 1% interest, payable in 4 years without collateral? mayaman ha! i did call the number out of curiousity, it was answered by a professional sounding man but i didn't say anything to him, at least those landline numbers were legit wehehe)

From +639094747813: D' AUDITOR's of PHIL.CHARITY FOUNDATION nform u dat ur Celfon no. won Php950,000.00 2nd prize winner draw last: 01/05/08 Pls Call Me Now i"m Atty. VILMA Y. TUAZON (naku attorney, bakit di nyo pa ginawang P1 million para naman eksakto at masarap pakinggan dahil milyonaryo na ako! o pang-first prize na yun? kayo talaga.)

From +639297794433: Congratulations! Your cell # had won 1M pesos during the anniversary of the PGMA foundation raffle draw. DTI Permit # 2578 Series 2008 Please Contact Atty. VICTOR T. SALONGA jr. at 09297794433 for details (ayan, with DTI permit number pa yan ha and no less than the President's foundation ang involved, wuhoo! at eto na yung hiniling kong P1 million! hehehe. teka lang, hindi kaya si Victor T. Salonga at Vilma Y. Tuazon ay iisa? hmm, V at T.)

And the last one is the funniest, if not the most stupid: From +639182116931:

Gudpm,favor naman pkiloadan mu ko bgay ko din sau im4tante tlg lng kc d2 ko n0w s bus pauwin jan,e my kailngan ak0ng twgan pr msundo ako.tnx. (hanep, me dramang involve! sana sinabi na lang nya na "sunduin mo ako, now na!" hehehe. at pano ka makaka-text kung wala kang load? okay given na piso na lang ang laman ng cellphone mo, dapat sana tinext mo na lang yung susundo sa yo ng "hir na me, wer na u?" ayan, sa sobrang pagka-creative mo na-extra ka tuloy sa blog na to! next time, mag-seminar muna sa dugu-dugu gang ng istayl ha.)

kayo, me nagpasundo na ba, este, me nareceive na ba kayo ng mga ganyang scam? (wag na muna nating isama ang mga telemarketers, isa pa ang mga yun)

hostage

isa akong hostage.

sa simple kong pagkakaintindi, tungkol ito sa inosenteng biktima na napagitna sa dalawang mayabang ng pwersa, walang magawa kundi maluha at magmakaawa, manginig sa kaba at maihi sa takot.

isa akong hostage. katulad din ng mga ordinaryong tao. na napapagitna sa hirap. sa kalam ng sikmura. sa kawalan ng suporta. sa kawalan ng pera.

bukas, o sa makalawa, tataas ng P0.50 ang isang sakay sa jeep dahil sa himutok ng isang industriyang spoiled masyado sa kinauukulan, na kapag di pinagbigyan ay isang umiiyak na pagmamaktol ang ipupukol sa walang kalaban-labang si juan. tigil-pasada ang sagot, at sa mga pasahero, bahala kayo sa buhay nyo!

at ang gobyerno? kunyari ay astig pero kaagad-agad ding tutupi. at sa mga pasahero? ililibre na lang kayo sa trak ng basura, tapos bahala na rin kayo sa buhay nyo!

ang sarap maging ordinaryong pasahero sa bayang ito no? pipilayin ka sa taas ng pamasahe, papabayaan ka sa kalye, at ni isang hagod ng proteksyon wala kang maramdaman.

sa mga isyung tumutubo dala ng isa pang sutil na industriya ng langis, me konting paghinga ang naibibigay sa muling pagtaas ng pamasahe sa hanay ng mga tsuper at operator ng jeep, naambunan naman ng tila dugong grasya dala ng VAT ang bangkaroteng kaban ng bayan at sila'y nagbubunyi na ito raw ay naibabalik na sa tanan, pero teka lang, ang sa bugbug-saradong ordinaryong pasahero ba na naghihingalo na sa mga pasanin ay meron bang nag-aalala?

meron bang nagsasabi na karapatan naman ng pasahero ang dinggin? na mga pasahero naman ang bigyan ng pansin?

hindi ba isa yang uri ng panggigipit?

isa akong hostage na tinatadyakan ngunit di makalaban. iniipit. pinababayaan.

may boses pero naririnig ba? o mas tamang sabihing, may nakikinig ba?

suntukan na lang tayo! o di kaya ganito na lang gawin nyo sa amin!

Eyes

Look at me

and what do you see?