Nathan's First

Mari, Paul, Sara and I went to Nathan's birthday yesterday (Sunday. March 30, 2007)

The Mommy and The Birthday boy. So cute!

From Left to Right: Sara, Paul, Mari, Gloria, Siela

getting into the party vibe.

Anyway, as any children's party syempre may games. And I have parlor games talaga. Suki kasi ako dun. For some strange reason, the host tends to pick me talaga pag turn na ng adults na mag-games.

And that day, I was sooo not in the mood for parlor games. Pag tinawag ako ng host, upakan ko talaga sya.

Buti nalang, si Glo, she warned the host. Sabi nya, wag na wag daw sila pagsasalitain sa harap. (Public speaking is obviously not her forte) So i took the chance. Sabi ko "Glo, sabihin mo rin wag kami tawagin sa games."

Sumunod naman yung host.So kids lang yung nag-games.

Anyway, yung isang game ng kids involves them removing their right shoe, walking towards the end of the room and walking back to search for their shoes.

Si Nicole, naka slip-on sandals. (which is very cute by the way) I can sense nag hesitate sya tanggalin. Tas nung pinag lakad na sila (barefoot na on the right) she didn't budge.

Tas umiyak.

My goodness. I totally understand how she felt. No way will I walk barefoot on McDonalds floor.

Nicole, pansinin mo na ko.

Wag ka na ma-bad trip. Okay lang yun.

mommy looking at Nicole from a distance

Yehey! After two thousand years, masaya na sya!

Towards the end of the party, sumayaw ang mascot. Don't know who he is. Kid Ronald daw...

Tapos namigay ng loot bag. Si Nicole was shy to get one herself so we asked Kuya Izac to get one for her. He tried naman kaso kelangan daw bumati ng Happy Birthday kay Nathan. So sasamahan nalang daw nya si Nicole.

Eh ayaw talaga.

So sabi ni Izac "Takot ka kay Mcdo?!!"

Natawa talaga kami. Kulang nalang sabihin nya 'Hello! okay ka lang?!'

All smiles si Kuya Izac.

Okay. Matt, ang laki mo na.

Bittersweet Victory

2007 Bar results came out yesterday.

556. GADRINAB, Fermin Nestor A.

557. GADUANG-ROJALES, Anita A.

558. GALA, Ana Siela M.

559. GALAURAN, John Michael S.

560. GALAY, Lani S.

(see complete list)

And this was from the Inquirer

Whoa. I made it.

Ancestry Facts

I went to clan reunion a couple of months ago.
Take note: CLAN REUNION.
Hindi lang ito simpleng family reunion. Clan reunion ito.
Meaning: mas marami kang hindi kilala.

We got there and whoa! Isang barangay ang nag-attend. No, not even. Its more like half of the people in the municipality went. Ibang level sa kadamihan.
At nag motorcade sila ha. As in. Ganon ka dami. Enough mag cause ng traffic sa national highway ng Quezon.

Anyway, what’s interesting are the giveaways. They gave out the blue print of the clan. As in it goes way-way back, mga 10 levels up my grandpa.
Grabe. This is my ancestry. Whoa.

So I discovered:

First, we came from the San Miguel clan pala.
But by some Spanish decree, “natives are prohibited to use the names of saints as their surname” San Miguel became de Gala.
Hamak na INDIO lang pala kami.

Second, the de Gala clan used to (not really sure if they still are) one of the prominent clans in the province. Ergo, the street named after them.
AND there was an exclusive room inside the venue which housed only the richest and elite in the clan. Syempre, kami nasa labas.
Indio na nga, commoner pa. Susmaryosep.

Third, I finally learned the real reason why Gala kami and not de Gala. There were two Marcelino (or it could have been Marcelo, I can’t remember for sure) de Gala in the clan. This caused confusion in the postal service. So because of lost mail matter, one of the Marcelo (or Marcelino) who happens to by my grandpa’s grandpa, took the ‘de’ out. So yun. Kaya kami, ‘Gala’ na lang. Which I think, sounds better.
Syempre, love your own.

Our little Embassy Adventure

Starring: Siela Gala, Eeza Ramos

Three years ago in Tagaytay:
Marl: Pare nagtampo nga si Pao nung isang araw eh.
Joel: Bakit naman?
Marl: Di daw namin sinama sa Embassy.
Siela: Bakit nyo kelangan pumunta sa Embassy?
And everyone within earshot broke into laughter.

Apparently then, Embassy was the newest gimmick spot.
And I was clueless.

ANYWAY, a couple of days ago, Monica invited me to her brother’s birthday party at Embassy.
Hmm… Why not? I haven’t been there still. (Surprise, surprise.)

So Eeza and I arrived at around 12 midnight. We texted Monica to meet us outside but no reply.
30 minutes, a million missed calls later, no Monica in sight and Nicky was still on her way.
Shoot, we might have to go inside on our own.

So we gathered our confidence and walked thru the velvet ropes.
We announced our names to the lady who looked at the guest list. Eeza got her stamp, but...

Receptionist #1 (to Siela): Miss wala ka sa guestlist.
Oh no... Syet pano yan?

Called Monica, no answer.
Syet, syet, syet. This is beginning to be embarrassing.

So I looked at my id and got a brilliant idea.

Siela (to Receptionists#1): Miss, Marasigan is not my last name, it’s Gala. Nakita ko kasi sa "M" ka naghahap kanina.
Receptionist#1: Ma’m importante kasi yung last name para malaman naming kung ikaw nga yung nasa guest list.
Siela:I know. Kaya nga, Gala is my last name so can you check again? Ang kulet ha.

Confusing kasi yung id ko. Buo yung middle name. Tas yung Gala nasa baba. (di na kasi kasya sa line) So siguro di nya nakita.

Eventually, she did find my name.

And now that we have our stamps, we got in.
Headed to the VIP lounge, Eeza got in and...

Big Bouncer (to Siela): “miss, di ka pwede dito”
what the F? Not anymore...

So Eeza went out, both of us baffled. We compared our stamps.
Sa kanya VIP, sakin tribal something. Kaya naman pala…
But aren’t we on the same guest list?

We decided to go back to the reception. Syet. Sooo kakahiya na ha.

Siela: Miss, can you check, we’re in the same guest list but we have different stamps. There must be a mistake.
Receptionist#2: (checked the list, got a stamped) ay sori miss ah. (stamped me VIP)

Good Lord! This must be punishment for going out on a holy Wednesday.

SO we finally got in the VIP Lounge. Hmm… Nice naman. But we can’t go past the crowd. Syet.
How on earth will we find Mon?
And my feet's killing me...

Rang Monica, no answer.
Shoot.

We find Nicky with a girl friend. After the introductions:
Nicky: O, where’s mon?
Eeza: can’t find her. Too many people.
Nicky’s friend: You guys want to transfer nalang? Mahal inom dito eh.

Everyone agreed. We head to Piedra.
There goes my first night at emba, I thought.
But I was just so RELIEVED to be out of there to even feel disappointed.

Minutes later, we find ourselves sitting comfortably on the couch, sipping our drinks, bobbing our heads with the music.
Haay… this is better.

We actually had fun that night, Eeza and I.
We met new friends. (Nicky’s friend, Nicky’s other friend, Nicky’s other other friend. Oh and Gino’s friend too. Don’t worry, at the end of the night, I did get to remember their names.)
I drank just enough to get tipsy.
And we danced ourselves silly.

Despite everything that happened earlier, the night turned out to ba a happy night indeed.

Oh! About Monica, she’s fine now. She just got a little drunk that night. Hihi.

Weekdays of March

so this is how it goes. every single day:

9am - breakfast while watching 10 year old cheesy cartoons at abs-cbn or Q-tv. I swear, I think abs believes that no one watch them during those hours. They just do whatever they want: repeat the same episode as yesterday, put a different show in the middle of the series... and feel that no one would notice. From Sarah, Cedie, Remi... walang natapos. So I switched to GMA. Doraemon. Kagaguhan in the morning. Sarap. (No, we do not have cable. We have something better: DSL and Utorrent.)

10-ish - mom finishes her daily e-mailing so it's my turn. will be working on orders

1030 to 11 - joel will be online so we will chat a little. lie-low muna on the orders. haven't perfected the art of multi-tasking yet.

1230 - game-ka-na-ba finishes so it's time for lunch.

2pm - work on orders again. joel would probably be in a meeting or will be working too, so I get more things done.

6pm - will either be finished or too tired to work. will chat with joel, shel or mon (depending on their availability) or will surf the net, or write blog entries such as this.

730 - dinner time.

after dinner - hate this time of the day. Faye's turn in the PC so I have NOTHING to do. I'd probably read, watch dvd... but definitely will not do anything useful. my responsible mode only lasts from 10 to 6. no overtime.

it's not much, i know. but i love it. extremely routinary with minimal if not inexistent pressure.

Reward Zero

So I was assigned a paper on animal sociology. I thought: kaya ko to. I’m from law school, studied gender, minorities… Di naman masyadong scientific. And true enough, with a little nose bleed, natapos ko sya.

Then 3 days after nag reklamo yung customer, it was unacceptable daw. I didn’t gave enough analysis, just quoted… blah… blah… Syempre na hurt ako. I’m like miss analyzer kaya! Analyzing is my past time!

So I had to let the order go. I did the best I could in that paper. I didn’t know what else to do. And I’m sorry, hindi ako pupunta sa Manila Zoo para mag observe ng mga unggoy.

Then I was notified that a ‘reward’ was taken from me.

Ganto kasi yun, in the site where I write, may point system in which they’ll base the upgrade of your status as a writer. A point is taken for severe negative feedback and a point given for positive. Since I was new, wala pa kong points. So because of this order, from ‘Reward : 0’ naging ‘Reward : -1’ Ang saklap no?

I got so upset over it that for the next 3 days, di ako makakuha ng bagong order. Feeling ko, I’m incapable of doing anything. So I just put all my energies to the other paper I was working on. Inisip ko nalang na babangon ako at dudurugin kita. Hayup ka, may araw ka rin.

A few days later, I saw the same order. Available na naman sya. Turns out, nag give up yung next writer. Masyado daw picky yung customer. Di maintindihan yung gusto. See! It’s not my fault! So I felt so much better.

Anyway, I got positive feedback from the paper I made while I was upset. Super natuwa sya and I’m his/her favorite writer daw. Whoopee!

So from ‘Reward : -1’ naging ‘Reward : 0’ na ulit. And kanina, naging ‘Reward : 1’ na! yehey!

Manaoag Adventure

Cast: Ace Bautista, Jay Castro, Marlon Castillo, Tin Delos Reyes, Anna Devanadera, Siela Gala, Joel Pagkatipunan, RC Posadas, Eeza Ramos, Jun Sanosa

Road trip soundtrack
Joel: “Ayos sounds mo p’re ah”
RC: “Embassy mix pare. Eto favorite ko” And changed the song to track 6.
‘Because of you’ by Neyo plays. And then the next track, and the next, and the next…
By track 9, RC goes “Pare, number 6 ulit ha. Ok lang?”
Hmmm… Popsy, favorite?

So 3 times naming napakinggan yung tracks 5-8 bago palang dumating ng NLEX. But in fairness, after nun, buong CD na yung pinapakinggan namin. From track 1 to 25 na. But since yun lang ang dalang CD ni RC, mga 6 times naming sya napakinggan.

Actually, may isa pang CD. MP3 ng mga love songs. As in oldies love songs ha. Parang pang prom nung 1980’s. Not that I know. 1997 ako nag prom. ANYWAY, thankful narin ako sa Embassy mix ni Pops.

Invading Tarlac
So we arrived in Tarlac. We went to Papa Jay’s head quarters first. We saw his office. Whoa. Kakabilib.

After that, we went to the house where we will stay. It was a 1 bedroom house. Super cute and cozy. Mukang vacation house nge eh. Coz though completely furnished, it even had utensils and plates, it didn’t have a gas range. So who ever lives there, laging kumakain sa labas. And mejo religious yung owner ng house ah. Maraming figure ni Mama Mary everywhere. Except sa bathroom. Doon, may wine and 2 glasses beside the bathtub.

Syempre, nag inuman sa house. We brought 1 box of canned beer (left over nung bridal shower ni fritz). But Papa Jay had his alalays buy more pa. And syempre they brought super dami food din. And di parin pala alam ni Papa Jay ang first name ko. So forever na Ms. Gala ang tawag nya sakin pag tatagayan nya ko. Yes. Sya ang nagtatagay. Sabi nga ni Marlon, kung boss si Papa Jay sa Tarlac, pag dating sa 4D, alipin na naman sya. Hehe.

After an hour or two, the girls called it a night. And we took it upon ourselves to fix the sleeping arrangements. Kasi, pag lasing na yung boys, kung saan saan nalang yun mahihiga. Baka mag-tetris nanaman sila sa higaan. Isang trait nga pala ng 4D eh magkasya matulog sa masisikip na lugar. There was only one bed but Papa Jay had some mattresses brought over so kung tutuusin maraming matutulugan.

And para dumami yung pwedeng higaan, we got the cushions from the sofa. Makapal, pero hiwahiwalay. At first, we thought na si RC and i-assign dun since ganun yun tinutulugan nya minsan sa Manansala. But no, di sya pumayag. Naghihiwalay hiwalay daw kasi yun. Shoot. Crucial pa naman na may humiga dun. So I told Dev, “Momsy, lagyan kaya natin ng blanket over. Para di obvious na hiwahiwalay.” Hmm… in fairness, it worked. Dun humiga si Papa Jay. But don’t worry, since hindi sya malikot matulog, di naghiwahiwalay yung higaan. In fact, ang sarap nga ng tulog nya eh. Sure ako dun dahil mejo lang, ang lakas nya mag-snore. But you know what? Ang astig ng hilik nya. Parang galing sa maraming tao. Actually, yung ibang sounds nga parang hindi galing sa tao. Tapos nagiiba-iba pa ng tempo and melody. Astig. Sa totoo lang, ang bilis ko nakatulog dahil dun. Promise! Tas hindi pa ko nagising during the night.

Dahil ang dami namin, and 1 lang yung bathroom, we had to make a schedule. Ang matagal maligo, mauuna. So kami nang girls yun diba? Sabi ni Dev, si Eeza daw dapat mauna. Sabi naman ni Eeza, mas matagal daw si Tin. Sige girls, magturuan pa kayo. ANYWAY, so si Tin na nga ang pumayag mauna, si Eeza, ako, then si Dev.

The following morning, I heard Tin get up to take a bath. I heard her finished and I also heard her wake up Eeza. So mukang gising na ko ng mga panahon na yun. Si Eeza naman, tumatawad pa. I thought na ako na mag-offer na mauna, pero syempre, kakagising ko lang, wala pa akong brain and mouth coordination. So naunahan ako ni Eeza. Sabi nya, I could go ahead.

So natapos na ang mga girls, so boys naman. Si Jun, ang nauna sa kanila since he was fully awake already. Yung iba kasi, totally asleep pa. Eventually, isa isa narin sila bumangon at kumilos. And may I just say, si Ace at si RC parang babae sa tagal maligo. Ang dami na naming na-okray, di parin sila tapos.

Since ang tagal ng liguan process, 1030 na kami nakaalis ng Tarlac. Di na kami aabot sa mass so we decided to have lunch nalang. We went to Isdaan. Sa entrance, may guard. Syempre, di namin pinalampas ang gaguhan opportunity:



And ang ganda pala dun ah. Parang theme park. So while we were waiting for the food to arrive, some of us went around to check-out the sites.

And because we are all waiting for the bar results, hindi rin namin pinalampas si Buddha.

You have to touch Buddha, make a wish then ring the bell.

Si Momsy, tuwang tuwa mag ring ng bell.

Ang saya no? Anyway, we went back to our kubo to eat. Mejo nakakahilo pala kumain sa floating balsa.

Manaoag

After eating, kahit anong saya ng Embassy mix ni RC, hindi nya kinaya ang halong puyat at kabusugan. I woke up nasa parking na kami ng Manaoag. Wala pa nga ko sa tamang huwisho nung bumaba ako. But anyway, nagising naman ako nung naglakad kami papunta sa Church. We got there 30 minutes before the mass. So we bought candles muna.

Ang dami ngang theories kung ilan kelangan bilin eh. Most of us bought 10 candles, one for each bar subject tas plus two para siguro sakto na sa suklian. Pero pwede rin 1 for happiness and 1 for world peace. Ako, 10 candles din, 1 for each bar Sunday, the rest para sa ibang intentions.
Marami kasi akong hinihiling. The best yung kay Marlon. Dalawa lang. One for him to pass the Bar and the other, for safety. Baka nga naman maka pasa sya tas masagasaan sya after. Hmm… May point sya. So yung isa kong candle, for safety narin.

We had mass first before we lit the candles. May blessing daw after the mass so we were thinking, we should have the candles blessed first before lighting it. Anyway, after the communion, dumadami ang mga tao na pumapasok at unti unting lumalapit sa altar. Sabi ni Jo, kelangan daw pumunta narin kami sa front kasi sobrang dami ng tao. We don’t want to end up sa likod na likod coz di na daw yun inaabot ng holy water.

So after ng final blessing, nakipag amazing race kami sa san damak-mak na tao na pasimpleng tumatakbo papunta sa unahan. Maganda yung spot namin. Di masyadong front, pero abot parin ng holy water. Sina Eeza, din a nabasa. Pero buti nalang, mag round 2 si father. Syempre, nagtakbuhan ulit kami dun. This time, para na kaming naligo sa ulan. Basang basa. O yan, Lord, pag di pa naman kami pumasa nyan ha…

We went to the lighting area. Daming tao ha. Yung spot nga na napili ko, halos puno na ng candles. At pati yung candle stand, nagliliyab na. Pero hala sige, light parin ng light. Mejo natakot nga ko ng onti. Mainit at mausok. Nun ko naalala na ayoko talagang mapunta sa hell.

After church, we went to Razon’s for merienda c/o Eeza.

We ordered the bilao for 16 people, halo-halo and some puto. 10 lang kami so baka nga sobra pa yun eh at may take home pa. But no. First round palang mejo paubos na. 4 nga lang ang naka second. Hanep.

Nang mabusog, at magamoy kornik, we went home. Balik sa pag aantay ng result.