Monday, October 30, 2006

octoberfest '06

Have you ever experience those times when you overslept, say you slept for over 12 hours? You woke up with a severe headache as if your head was hit by a raging stone? Then when you get back to sleep at night, sleep is an elusion? Saturday night was miracle of all miracles, I got to sleep at around 1:00am, that is way much earlier than my usual 2:30am sleeping time. I slept like a baby that I woke up around 4:00pm the next day, sunday. Inasmuch as i was happy I had a good long sleep, i was miserable i woke up nursing a headache. Apparently, my eyes were wide awake last night so i'm like a zombie right now. :P

Going back to the post title, niagi ug nahuman ang oktoberfest nga wala koy nakita nga kalingawan. Activities from previous years were usually held in SM Mall or Ayala Mall. But i guess since these two malls are busy reconstructing (adding new building), they pass up having the octoberfest held in their vicinity. So the octoberfest in Cebu this year was held in Colon, in the old SSS grounds. It was jampacked when I pass by the area but i guess the venue is not too auspicious to the 'conos' if you know what i mean.

Personally, i was never an avid fan of the octoberfest. I don't usually go out on nightouts. But in the long run, i came to enjoy going out once in a while since my peers are up to such events. Here are some photos from last year's octoberfest.


mga models sa RH! murag true sa? :D para lang ingnon nakainom! ehehe!


kumbate! :D


ngano man ka tish? hehehe!

I'm not so sure if this was the SMB octoberfest itself. I think this was just one of the events in Courtyard in The Village. By the way, The Village no longer exist today.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

P.S.


Pakapin sa Suwat

I could have written this piece at the bottom of my previous entry but somehow decided to write it separately to give emphasis.

I, Ylan, blogger for not so long ago, have met a couple of wonderful people in this beautiful world of blogging. People who are deem worthy of thy courtesy and respect. Confused on how to address them, I say, madame or maam. It's the simpliest manifestation. How would they know that i have such respect when the fact remains i talk as if they are of the same age as I am?

Initially, if i don't know the person especially if i have no idea how old she is, I also say Madame, Maam or Ms. I'm quite stunned when some of them also address me as Maam. I think i am misunderstood. I call them Madame because i cannot just say Leticia or Sophia or Linda. I could have used the word Ate but it sounded too oldy, worst Manang or Nang.

I would have loved to be just called inday or day. Really, it freaked me out when the ones i called madame also address me the same way. It negates my purpose of calling them such.

True enough, back here in Cebu, calling maam or madame to lady peers has become a sort of an ordinary expression, less with the true essence of the word. But it's not what i'm conveying when i'm speaking to dear blog friends....

What i'm just trying to insinuate here is that, ayaw pud ko ninyo tawga ug madame or maam ug balik kay manglingbawt akong balhibo! hehe! Believe that I address you as such because it's just the way it is - my gesture of respect. Okay ba mga maam? :)

porto fino

As promised, here are some photos taken last week. Enjoy!



alfer.macelle.me.iam.gugs | naghulat ug customer :D



wala pa gihapoy halin :P



muposing sa ko! lol!



wala ko kadaug sa akong lawas nahabilin ko ug ambak! nyehehe!



macelle&me | with my cutty godson & mom melody



mga batang yagit! | beachfront


ang kinabuhi nato... ana jud muhilak ta... ana jud mahigugma ta.. ana jud masakitan ta... ana jud GWAPA ko... siempre ana jud! sagdi na lang... ana man jud! =) -gkan ni sa txt, wala man ko piso para forward, ari nalang nako butang hehe!

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

what's up ylan?


I have been very busy the past few days that I never get to visit my online friends. Well folks, after sooo much effort in finding the magic stone, i finally got it! Ding ang bato! Darna! I am now your super ylan! Minus the outfit though. I wonder why the costume did not go with it? I should have been in a daring two-piece suit right? Magic must have known that i don't look good on it! LOL! (bilbil here, there & everywhere). Seriously, i'm so tired i decided to end my life and jumped off the cliff. Fortunately, i have 9 lives, i'm still up and writing this entry. :P Hey yoh people! juzt kidding! i'm out on the beach last sunday you know and i had my ceremonial jump as always! hehehe! :P (thanks to macelle and gugs for capturing the moments)

Indeed, it's been a pretty hectic week for me. Last friday i was almost awake for 24 hours. I had a deadline to meet, i went home past 9:00am the next morning, saturday. It was a good idea that we decided to go to the beach last Sunday. Today is a special non working holiday in the Philippines - end of Ramadan. I'm not so sure how our Muslim brothers call that. However, management in the office decided to swap tuesday to monday, that gave me a three-day weekend. How i needed it so much! It was Venly's despidida de soltera last Saturday. Venly's a friend from college. I slept at 11:00am, woke up at around 5:00pm and proceeded to a motel somewhere in Reclamation Area. Geezz my first time to be in a motel! Well you know guys, here in our country, the word motel has a different meaning. It's always referred to as a lovers' nest. The taxi driver gave me a huge grin when I told him i was heading to this motel. At first i had no idea what the place is. I told him i'm going to this blah blah. Do you know where it is? He was like of course i know it! (He probably was thinking i was about to meet someone). It felt uneasy i had to tell him i'm going to meet a group of girl friends for a shower party. The venue added a sense of naughtiness but they were too serious heheh. Anyhow, the get together was fun, not as fun as we always have with my officemates though. (wala sila laki!lol!) I do not know the rest of the girls aside from the bride to be but they were all nice. Best wishes my friend.

Back to my previous entry, I have here a picture of the yellow posts. Not so clear but it will give you an idea. Holy cow! Somebody said gipanghipus daw ang mga buang sa kadalanan, unsaon na lang, maau na lang wala pa ko nakit-i, naka update pa ko diri! samot na gyud pangitaon ko sa akong mga blogfriends anih!! tsk! tsk! Don't worry friends, as long as i'm not yet held captive, I will visit you as soon as i have the time. Okies? :) I will have to show you some more photos of the outing... next time.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Asean Summit Fever!

Woohhooo, residents of the b-e-a-u-t-i-f-ul province of Cebu can surely relate to what I'll be talking.

Cebuanos what's the fuss? Paguapahay ug island sa mga kadalanan ang drama sa gobyerno bay! Lapulapu City - what's up with those green banga (big jars) with matching bermuda grass? Mabolo? They have their own style of banga too! Ride a jeep from Colon bound to SM and you'll see the big pots with weave patterns alternate with a bangka (small boat) with ornamentals on it. Reclamation area? It sprouts with the stunning variety of green plants.

Here's the most interesting part around the city. What can you notice folks? Colorful yet no so colorful posts. Hmnnn how do i say this. Ang mga poste sa kadalanan kay gipintalan ug yellow! hehehe! Not the whole length of it but let's say 1/3 to 1/2 of it - poste nga kabang! :P

Well, in all honesty, it's nice to see all the roads being beautified and adorned. It's very pleasing to the eyes. But then again, why do we have to wait for an event such as the summit to do all these? It's so ironic.

I wonder what they'll do with the "small houses" near the main roads? Demolish? Conceal by covering? The convention center that they are building is not quite done yet, well I really don't care.

What i care for is that the no work schema on Dec 11-14 be pushed through! LOL! Long holiday for me! :P (way puamod nga bata! hehe!) Tsk dili diay ko magsuroy2x aning panahona kay basin naay bomba! scary! :P simbako lang! :)

Thursday, October 12, 2006

ulipon sa teknolohiya


Tsk! for the first time since i got my self a mobile phone, i left it at home today. I was charging it and I can't believe i just left it. I usually check my stuff before leaving home. So, I was caught in between traffic in banawa-capitol. I'm not so sure why there was a detour/reroute earlier - must be an activity in Capitol or the bridge widening in M. Velez St. While inside the jeepney waiting for like forever, I got so bored I opened my bag and realized I left my cellphone!

Now, i'm like an idiot. I kept on checking my bag only to be reminded that oh yeah i don't have my cellphone with me today! Not that i have too many messages everyday to be excited of but it just feel weird knowing that i don't have it. It's the same feeling when I don't have a hanky with me. Can I go home now?!? Arrggghhhhh!!!!!

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Solo pic above was taken last oct. 06, 2006 by the Chavezs @ Kaona Grill in AS Fortuna Mandaue...



asa kuno ko beh? :P


with Lenny & husband and Sintclaire (former officemate) & husband and the usual old timers :)

Monday, October 09, 2006

for the love of karaoke/videoke



videoke - pod5 in Banilad Towncenter

It's probably a thing in most of the Filipino households now a days. How everyone would love to grab the microphone and sing their heart out. Wherever you go, every corner, every street sprouts with a videoke machine. It's sometimes funny or even irritating to a point when you hear offkey singers hehehe.... Why are yuppies willing to spend some hundreds of pesoses just to hang out in videoke resto bars? Like in most gathering, be a fiesta or a birthday party, seem not to be complete without the videoke? I at home would sometime sing but without the microphone. Oh please i don't want to be a torture to my neighbors! :D



Videoke has been a part of our get together - me and my friends in the office. Whenever we have an 'event', Charo and Gug's apartment was always our ready venue for a night of fun and singing. But some good things never last. People come and go. Change is inevitable. I remember one time we don't have the magic-sing so we had to settle ourselves playing the videoke cds i brought along. It was fun because afraid of running out of songs to sing. We managed to sing all the songs in the cds available - did not single out any song not to sing! I miss those moments especially when people get drunk! har har har! :P

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My weekend was spent watching movies - of course not to miss out the koreanovelas i bought last Wednesday (Endless Love and Only You) plus the english movies Honey starred by Jessica Alba, Bounce (Ben A. & Gwyneth P.) and She's All That (Freddie P. & Rachelle Leigh C). I was yearning to watch the movie Honey because included in our christmas presentation last year was a song from the soundtrack.

Friday, October 06, 2006

wa sila k'yapi!

I was watching a nighttime documentary/public affairs show on TV some time this week and was amused by the stories they featured. The hosts themselves were kind of sarcastic. How can they not?

According to NSO (am not so sure basta government office), an average Pinoy only needs P8.00 per meal. So the reporter went to some squatter areas and asked people what they could buy for 8.00 for a meal? The reporter said "hindi sila naniniwala sa akin na ako ay isang reporter, pinagtatawanan nila ako, ano ba daw ang mabibili ko sa 8.00? Eh sa kanin nga lang, 5.00 na! Pero meron mga nagsabi, puede na daw kape at tinapay." Upon hearing it, i was really laughing and mocking! Where on earth do they get their data and come up with those statistics? 8.00 per meal? Now a days? Hello kring kring!?? Maybe if you live in the mountainous provinces of the island and settle with vegetables everyday you will survive. Anyhow, life in the province is simple and don't cost that much.

Here's another one. If a Filipino has P46.00/day, he/she cannot be considered poor. The reporter said "kung ang isang Pilipino ay may 46.00 at hindi sya mahirap, eh sino ang mga mahihirap?" Dios mio! Kulang ra na nako ang 46.00 para plete gani everyday! Asa kaha sila nangahuy ana nga statistics jud? The show clearly presented that 46.00/day and 8.00/meal is not a genuine assumption neither declaration that with it, a pinoy can never be poor.

I agree with the reporters. I disagree with the government. I rest my case.


last change of layout na gyud nih! magsineryus na ko kay sikla nya ko sa bunot nga bao ug sa giant! tsk!

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

carebears




If you know me, you'd surely realize how i like teddy bears. From stuffed toys to anything with bears. If i were sooo rich I would have a grand collection of stuffed bears. My friend Gugs gave me that blue carebear last July when she arrived from MI. How cute is that? Well, my dear friends, aren't you getting it? I'm giving you a hint of what to give me this Christmas! See, my blue carebear is so lonely, would you like to add one or two or more? :P

Monday, October 02, 2006

a post for the insomniacs

like me...

I got this from a forwarded mail... thought this might be of help to anyone out there. It's hellish when you wanted sooo much to sleep but you can't...

29 Secrets to a Good Night's Sleep

If you are having sleep problems, whether you are not able to fall asleep, wake up too often, don't feel well-rested when you wake up in the morning, or simply want to improve the quality and quantity of your sleep, try as many of the following techniques below as possible:

• My current favorite for insomnia is Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). Most people can learn this gentle tapping technique in several minutes. EFT can help balance your body's bioenergy system and resolve some of the emotional stresses that are contributing to the insomnia at a very deep level. The results are typically long lasting and the improvement is remarkably rapid.

• Listen to White Noise or Relaxation CDs. Some people find the sound of white noise or nature sounds, such as the ocean or forest, to be soothing for sleep. An excellent relaxation/meditation option to listen to before bed is the Insight audio CD.

• Avoid before-bed snacks, particularly grains and sugars. This will raise blood sugar and inhibit sleep. Later, when blood sugar drops too low (hypoglycemia), you might wake up and not be able to fall back asleep.

• Sleep in complete darkness or as close as possible. If there is even the tiniest bit of light in the room it can disrupt your circadian rhythm and your pineal gland's production of melatonin and seratonin. There also should be as little light in the bathroom as possible if you get up in the middle of the night. Please whatever you do, keep the light off when you go to the bathroom at night. As soon as you turn on that light you will for that night immediately cease all production of the important sleep aid melatonin.

• No TV right before bed. Even better, get the TV out of the bedroom or even out of the house, completely. It is too stimulating to the brain and it will take longer to fall asleep. Also disruptive of pineal gland function for the same reason as above.

• Wear socks to bed. Due to the fact that they have the poorest circulation, the feet often feel cold before the rest of the body. A study has shown that this reduces night wakings.

• Read something spiritual or religious. This will help to relax. Don't read anything stimulating, such as a mystery or suspense novel, as this may have the opposite effect. In addition, if you are really enjoying a suspenseful book, you might wind up unintentionally reading for hours, instead of going to sleep.

• Avoid using loud alarm clocks. It is very stressful on the body to be awoken suddenly. If you are regularly getting enough sleep, they should be unnecessary. I gave up my alarm clock years ago and now use a sun alarm clock. The Sun Alarm™ SA-2002 provides an ideal way to wake up each morning if you can't wake up with the REAL sun. Combining the features of a traditional alarm clock (digital display, AM/FM radio, beeper, snooze button, etc) with a special built-in light that gradually increases in intensity, this amazing clock simulates a natural sunrise. It also includes a sunset feature where the light fades to darkness over time - ideal for anyone who has trouble falling asleep.

• Journaling. If you often lay in bed with your mind racing, it might be helpful keep a journal and write down your thoughts before bed. Personally, I have been doing this for 15 years, but prefer to do it in the morning when my brain is functioning at its peak and my coritsol levels are high.

• Melatonin and its precursors. If behavioral changes do not work, it may be possible to improve sleep by supplementing with the hormone melatonin. However, I would exercise extreme caution in using it, and only as a last resort, as it is a powerful hormone. Ideally it is best to increase levels naturally with exposure to bright sunlight in the daytime (along with full spectrum fluorescent bulbs in the winter) and absolute complete darkness at night. One should get blackout drapes so no light is coming in from the outside. One can also use one of melatonin's precursors, L-tryptophan or 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP). L-tryptophan is the safest and my preference, but must be obtained by prescription only. However, don't be afraid or intimidated by its prescription status. It is just a simple amino acid.

• Get to bed as early as possible. Our systems, particularly the adrenals, do a majority of their recharging or recovering during the hours of 11PM and 1AM. In addition, your gallbladder dumps toxins during this same period. If you are awake, the toxins back up into the liver which then secondarily back up into your entire system and cause further disruption of your health. Prior to the widespread use of electricity, people would go to bed shortly after sundown, as most animals do, and which nature intended for humans as well.

• Check your bedroom for electro-magnetic fields (EMFs). These can disrupt the pineal gland and the production of melatonin and seratonin, and may have other negative effects as well. To purchase a gauss meter to measure EMFs try Cutcat at 800-497-9516. They have a model for around $40. One doctor even recommends that people pull their circuit breaker before bed to kill all power in the house (Dr. Herbert Ross, author of "Sleep Disorders").

• Keep the temperature in the bedroom no higher than 70 degrees F. Many people keep their homes and particularly the upstairs bedrooms too hot.

• Eat a high-protein snack several hours before bed. This can provide the L-tryptophan need to produce melatonin and serotonin.

• Also eat a small piece of fruit. This can help the tryptophan cross the blood-brain barrier.

• Reduce or avoid as many drugs as possible. Many medications, both prescription and over-the-counter may have effects on sleep. In most cases, the condition, which caused the drugs to be taken in the first place, can be addressed by following the guidelines elsewhere on this web site.

• Avoid caffeine. A recent study showed that in some people, caffeine is not metabolized efficiently and therefore they can feel the effects long after consuming it. So an afternoon cup of coffee (or even tea) will keep some people from falling asleep. Also, some medications, particularly diet pills contain caffeine.

• Alarm clocks and other electrical devices. If these devices must be used, keep them as far away from the bed as possible, preferably at least 3 feet.

• Avoid alcohol. Although alcohol will make people drowsy, the effect is short lived and people will often wake up several hours later, unable to fall back asleep. Alcohol will also keep you from falling into the deeper stages of sleep, where the body does most of its healing.

• Lose weight. Being overweight can increase the risk of sleep apnea, which will prevent a restful nights sleep. CLICK HERE for my diet recommendations.

• Avoid foods that you may be sensitive to. This is particularly true for dairy and wheat products, as they may have effect on sleep, such as causing apnea, excess congestion, gastrointestinal upset, and gas, among others.

• Don't drink any fluids within 2 hours of going to bed. This will reduce the likelihood of needing to get up and go to the bathroom or at least minimize the frequency.

• Take a hot bath, shower or sauna before bed. When body temperature is raised in the late evening, it will fall at bedtime, facilitating sleep.

• Remove the clock from view. It will only add to your worry when constantly staring at it... 2 AM...3 AM... 4:30 AM...

• Keep Your Bed For Sleeping. If you are used to watching TV or doing work in bed, you may find it harder to relax and to think of the bed as a place to sleep.

• Have your adrenals checked by a good natural medicine clinician. Scientists have found that Insomnia may be caused by adrenal stress (Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, August 2001; 86:3787-3794)?

• If you are menopausal or perimenopausal, get checked out by a good natural medicine physician. The hormonal changes at this time may cause problems if not properly addressed.

• Don't Change Your Bedtime. You should go to bed, and wake up, at the same times each day, even on the weekends. This will help your body to get into a sleep rhythm and make it easier to fall asleep and get up in the morning.

• Make certain you are exercising regularly. Exercising for at least 30 minutes everyday can help you fall asleep. However, don't exercise too close to bedtime or it may keep you awake. Studies show exercising in the morning is the best if you can do it.


when my mind is preoccupied with so many things, that's when insomnia sets in... i had probably just a total of 2hrs sleep last night... you would not wanna know how i feel today? :P