How much of me am I willing to reveal? How much do you want me to?

darn it. i still can’t get over the effect of what you said to me. you succeeded, happy? you don’t ever have the right to make me feel ugly.

somehow i know carla’s right. i am vain and bitter and those lines from "desiderata" are really mine. but i can’t help it if the comparison’s like an everyday necessity for me. it’s like my best friend and my worst enemy.

I caught the "bouquet"! And have newlyweds Ida and Andrew to strangle for this. They planned it! Evil couple! Haha.

Theirs was a wedding to remember. Really. First time I cried in a wedding ceremony. I had to fight the tears as I dared not ruin my eye make-up. But I failed. Tears were welling in my eyes. Then again, I would have cried just the same if I wasn’t able to attend their wedding. I love this couple! I sincerely believe they are truly for each other.

Part of their chosen wedding vow was the "love is kind, love does not envy… when I was a child, I spoke like a child" Corinthians reading from the Bible. And yes, it was my first time to cry as well for a Bible reading that I normally don’t cry for.

The ceremony was intimate, sacred and solemn, not a circus and attended only by their closest friends and relatives. The reception was light and the food was good. Everything was heavenly. It was truly a celebration of a union made in heaven.

Every now and then I would catch sight of Andrew kissing my cousin Ida on her temples as he held her close. Awww… There’s truly something about a guy kissing his girl on the temples. It’s so sweet, so sincere.

And for the "bouquet" part  -  technically it wasn’t a bouquet. It was a penguin, two stuffed penguins, one for each set of bridesmaids and bridegrooms to be passed around until the music stops in a game held instead of the usual bouquet/garter toss. And for the last two weddings where I almost caught the bouquet, this third time around, the penguin landed in my hands. So yes, dear friends, like a sign validating a prophecy of getting married sooner than I would expect courtesy of a P300/session psychic in the recent Psychic Festival in Eastwood, up on my leg was a wedding garter.

"Told ya, you’re next. Everybody’s been telling you," said my cousin.

… not my best virtues but I’m learning.

To all my girls: Never allow anyone to make you feel less of yourself. You are beautiful, smart, capable of doing great things.

No. This is not about the stress that’s often the cause of my blog updates. That’s a given and often unavoidable fact. This is the type of stress a communicologist, or according to Enj, a "cunning linguist", is concerned about.

The evaluation I had earlier with language consultant Martin gave me the opportunity to inquire as to why "stress", a speech communication or language acquisition jargon that refers to one of the four aspects of accent, seems to be the focus of the new language training manual we are using. I had to open that discussion as all of the previous trainings I attended and handled had either articulation or grammar as the important aspect to focus on or in aid of language acquisition, particularly English as a second language.

Martin explained that the focus on stress is actually something new in the field of English language acquisition. Stressing the correct syllable in a word or the correct word in a phrase is of primary importance as it paves the way for a clearer understanding or delivery of the intended meaning. An example I often use in class is the sentence "I love you". Stressing "I" in the phrase places emphasis on who loves somebody. Stressing "love" gives the receiver the idea that the message is really about love. And finally stressing "you" provides the message that the "love" is particularly directed to the person being addressed.

Another excellent idea that Martin came up with that is related to accent is "PREP" which stands for "Point-to-Reason-to-Example-to-Point". I don’t know if he just came up with the said idea but if he really just did, it’s an excellent one as it is actually based on a theory about efficiently stating one’s answer or standpoint about a topic. It was during my UP Law Aptitude Exam (LAE) review when I first encountered something similar to this idea. According to my tutor, an efficient way of answering both written and oral topics is to first answer a question head on without any flowery word to use as an introduction. The introduction should be your direct standpoint about an issue. Martin’s "reason-example" part is actually an expounding of your points. Martin’s "going back to the point" is the conclusion.

Pretty neat, huh?

And of course it doesn’t hurt at all that my efforts for today’s class facilitation was noticed by both Cecilia and Martin. For that I’m rewarding myself with two pairs of shoes. Haha.

"Switch it off!"

So goes my favorite phrase these days which the language trainers use kapag "low batt" na ang oral communication skills nila (kita ninyo naman, nagtatagalog na ako at tiyak mamaya nito, wala na sa tama kahit man lang ang Tagalog grammar ko).

Last week, naranasan kong sumaya at mairita all at the same time. Kapag nagkakaganyan na, that’s already a definite indication that I’ve already recognized that I’ve truly found a new set of friends, an additional family that I’d surely treasure and this new family is my L-PET (e-Telecare’s Language Pre-Employment Training) family.

Speaking of families though, na-miss ko ang mga Couchers, or now known as Naru’s hausmeyts. At kahit nagmukhang ang dahilan ko lang sa pagpunta ko sa gimmick noong Saturday ay ang meeting ko with another person, this I’d like to make clear: My enthusiasm in pushing through with the Saturday gimmick runs deep. Naks. Haha. But seryoso, I really, really missed them!

Siguro dala na rin ito ng drama kong "MIA" sa PEx. At siguro, talaga ngang hindi magandang manood ng "You Got Me" on a Friday night nang nag-iisa at sa Eastwood pa. E mag-iiyak ka ba naman sa gitna ng isang nakakatawa at nakakakilig na mga eksena.

So what else is new? Nothing much except for a P2K-worth of new hairstyle (don’t ask…) na inaalagaan ko na, ang mga multo sa ICITE Bldg. sa Eastwood na hinihintay kong magpakita sa digicam ko, ang pagpuslit ko sa Cybermall sa office nang walang dalang I.D. na may kasamang "distraction tactic" ng very cooperative/supportive co-trainers ko (thanks Pao!), ang "balls" food trip with the trainers as well (next destination: UP) plus the hiking trip in Makiling or Baguio with Cecilia, ang inaanticipate kong P1500/month off-peak gym sessions in Gold’s Gym (haha, I wish), ang "paghahangad" (naks ang lalim) kong makabalik sa home office ko sa PBCom for the sole reason na ironically, mas mahal talaga kapag nasa Eastwood ka kesa sa Makati (then again… I’ll miss the L-PET trainers… not fair! Nen, Owie, Noel would have each other’s company while Carla and I would be alone in Alabang and Makati, respectively), ang panghaharass sa Divisoria para sa gown ko for Ida’s wedding (lagot…haha), at ang pagtataglish ko ngayon.

Yun lang.

The long o’s are driving me so nuts… Arrrghh..

As what co-trainer Owie aptly put it, the shoe crazy in me definitely agreed that former Chalk colleague Pia nailed it right when she said:

Before you criticize someone,
walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile
away from them and you have their shoes.

Are there words enough
To describe the way I feel?
Can a silly crush
Turn into something so real
In a thousand ways
In a thousand hidden places
You have touched my heart
And the feeling never changes…

I’m crazy for, lonely for,
I adore you
Crazy for, craving more,
I adore you
If the world were mine
I would lay it at your feet
Just to see you shine
It’s the only thing I need..

With every kiss, every touch
Oh, you have the power
Oh, to lift me up
Oh, and I’m…

(Truly nothing like a feel good song to lift my mood… Oh, this is from "The Wedding Planner".)

How come some noobs were able to conquer the wall with the all the safety harness while yours truly who was able to conquer the steep and slippery caves of Banahaw some years back without the ropes was left frustrated for not being able to reach even the middle part?

Twenty bucks for knowing it surely ain’t the fear of heights. Twenty bucks for frustration.

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How come I still don’t get it? Or am I just plainly refusing to get myself in tune with reality? Quoting JLo in "Maid in Manhattan": "It was so real that it made me wonder how I was gonna give you up."

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Please dear tongue. Please cooperate. Please, please. I’m dreading the next four days…

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P2K for the locks… Please make it worth my impulsive while… please.

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As if my October-November nightmare wasn’t enough! Punk-gothics replacing the Salbakuta-types. Had it not been for Jay of Kamikazee and said band’s lead guitarist, not to mention Kiko Machine and Parokya ni Edgar, I would have seriously believed that UP’s already gone to the loony bin. Then again… nyahaha. (Sorry I just had to laugh after typing this one… And yeah, I just had to type it too!)