Random thoughts on Cory's death

Cory Aquino died yesterday. I woke up with a text message from dino, from jiggy which made it official news. Today, we all planned to visit lsgh where the wake was held to give support to Jiggy and his family. 

I always find it sad when the reason i see my friends are because of death in the family. 

Anyway, Kynan picked me up along Katipunan so i didn't have to go through the trouble of parking and such. Right before crossing edsa towards lsgh, there was traffic already. People were lining up from all classes and all ages. And it was overwhelming to see all these people wait under the heat only to have a 5 second glimpse of her later on. I was telling one of my friends, that I don't think any other politician in the Philippines will have that kind of response when they die and its such a sad thought. 

We finally arrived in lsgh and met up with dino, den and ruel. We got stuck for a while and had jiggy's family friend pick us up since the guards were a bit strict. We ended fighting with one of them since he suddenly became discriminatory because he wouldn't let us enter despite having a family representative with us. when he we asked why he would let the others go through without questioning them, he said they were VIPs! But to be honest they just looked old. what made us more upset was his gall to mention that they had cars! if we knew that that fact would make it easier to enter, we would have paraded all of our cars then! 

We finally got to see Jiggy and his family and chatted for a while among ourselves while waiting for our other friends to arrive. Popi, Rizza, Quains and her sister and sister's bf, Shiela and Paul with sister and mom came; we were one big party.  Saw several politician and celebrities in the process, like Anne Curtis, Sarah Geronimo, Maricel Laxa and family, Mikee Cojuanco, Sharon Cuneta, Kiko Pangilinan and family, KC Concepcion and i'm sure there were a whole lot more but considering i'm not much into showbiz, i might have missed them. 

Half the time Jiggy was circulating and doing his family duties and it made me realize how not only emotionally draining it is but physically as well. You're already grieving and yet because there are so many people sympathizing you end up  "entertain" them as well. Imagine 1 family member would be by the door welcoming the visitors, another would be at the casket, and another would be by the exit thanking them for coming. They do this for all the thousands of people visiting. They have rotations of course, but still, thats a whole lot of people! Its unbelievably amazing. I guess thats what happens when you're related to the first female President of the Philippines or you led a world-known historical event like the Edsa Revolution.

All i can say is that she was one leader who was really loved and i hope that at least in my life time there will be another like her. 

sick leave

i'm home sick with what i think is laryngitis... i can barely talk and i have a major headache... 

i'd rather be at work than be sick! it sucks. 

One of the reasons why i love my work. :)

I've been taking pictures of lizzie since she was i think 9 months old. :) i can still remember the day they stepped in TPC Rockwell and i met her very nice parents sir richard and ms. katrina. They always request for me and thats something i'm quite proud off. :)

After outdoor training we were required to submit our own outdoor shoot and since lizzie was of the right age (toddler) i decided to invite them for a session. It was later on used in our Candid's (outdoor portraits for kids and pets) display. Proud momma that she is, ms katrina shared her experience with us! :) I got this write up from ms. katrina's facebook album.

"This afternoon, I was feeling down. I decided to go to Picture Company Mall of Asia and see my daughter's poster in their wall. All along, I thought it was the same pic posted in Picture Company, Podium. To my surprise, was a very, very big poster! Whoah! I didn't expect it to be that big, it was almost half the wall of this branch, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing! I didn't know it is going to be a different picture too! I went inside and stared at her photo! I reminisced the day we did that shoot, and oh, she was very happy in that shoot that she was begging for more inside the studio, after! And Ara, whoever sees this photo, will surely want to laugh too! My worries, the lonely feeling I had before I stepped inside the branch, instantly turned into a big joy that I saw in Lizzie's picture! then, I was feeling okay!

Haaayyy!!! Maybe, Picture Company will never know how grateful we all are because of these wonderful portraits that never fail to bring happiness and wonderful memories in our lives. We are very thankful! All photos, shoots we had with you are priceless! We will keep coming back for more! Thanks too to Ara!! You capture beautiful portraits that are worth keeping in our hearts, minds, frames, and albums forever! Lizzie is saying thank you to you too :) She looks forward to another shoot with you soon! Thank you! Thank you!"

eye check up anyone?

I was going through my resumes today when somebody tells me i have a call. I answer and this person tells me she's from a eye specialist company.


Eye specialist representative: Hi maam, is this Ara?
Me: yes? what can i do for you?
ESR: This is (name), i'm calling for (company name). We were wondering if you'd be interested in availing of our free eye check up?
Me: ummm.. which company are you calling?
ESR: The Picture Company po located sa Robinson Equitable Tower.
Me: Are you sure? Cause we're not located there.. how'd you get my contact?
ESR: We called po your ####### and ms. beth po said to ask you.
Me: you mean ms. beta?
ESR: ah opo.
Me: ah okay. so what this about?
ESR: well yun nga po, our eye specialist will be in Robinson Equitable Tower po kasi sa monday so baka pwede po kayong daanan na rin.. you might want to have a free eye check up for you and your staff. Assessment lang po, no commitments.
Me: ah, pero kasi hindi nga kami sa Robinson Equitable Tower, nasa Jollibee Plaza po kami.
ESR: ay... wait lang po... oo nga, Jollibee Plaza nga po! pasensya na! naduling po ako!
Me: naku! baka kayo po yung may kelangan ng eye check up!

this absolutely cracked me up!

I couldn't concentrate after she said that.

no one was game so we never did avail of the free eye check up. oh well at least she brightened up my day!

Kiwi

i was utterly moved by this short clip.

An encounter

I haven't been blogging lately (okay, lately is an understatement) but on my way home i was triggered to write about my encounter with a snail. yes. a SNAIL.

I've been seeing them all over our sidewalk every time i go home at night, but today i was driving through our village, i saw an enormous one crossing the street. it left me wondering how long it took for it to get there. And considering that it was already in the middle of a 2 way road, it must have taken the entire night just to crawl that far.

i decided to research about snails.. (i'm nerdy that way...) apparently some snails can live up to 15 years! imagine what thats like in snail years! and to make matters worse they have a poor eyesight and cannot hear! how scientists found out about that beats me cause i doubt if they talk too! so they have it pretty bad i think. can you just imagine if you get reincarnated as a snail?!

Going back to my snail encounter, I keep thinking how sad it would be if after 15 years of crawling blindly and deaf, some car crushes you or you get smooshed and die. What then is the point?

Add to my bucket list.

I want to write a book. 

have several concepts in mind but don't know how to start or which to pursue. 

the closest i have to writing a book, is writing on my blog. and for starters, my blog reader base if i do have one is quite dismal. 

i should write more sensible stuff. 

lazy updates

i've been to lazy to write.... 

please refer to my multiply for holiday updates! hahahah..

TPC Ball 2008

One of the things i enjoy about work is our parties and how everyone gets creative when it comes to dressing up! :) 

Our theme for this year's Christmas party is Formal Ball and to add spice each s

tore thought of a certain concept! :) 

MOA came as Ms. Universe contestants in their evening gown :) 

Podium as the cast of Beauty and the Beast

Rockwell as December Brides

ATC in their Filipiniana outfits 

Fort in Greek goddesses inspired ensemble and Prod in masquerade - eek no group photo since they came in late! :p 

highlight of my night: 

* podiums laughtrip rendition of beauty and the beast

* i got two awards voted by the TPC people.. :) Scariest Person in TPC and Best Photog! :) i'm not so sure i should be happy about the former though! hahaha..

* moa getting store of the year award- thanks to all the former managers and staff- sara, niki, bea, steph :) - we enjoy the fruits of your labor! :) 

* tady getting pissed drunk!  

oh, and i was able to snag a bottle of vodka and tequilla! wooohoo! party up! 

more photos in multiply accounts of Lalie, Jace, Eds and Claude! :) 

would you bring your mother to work?

I've been hiring for TPC for quite some time now and i've encountered several peculiar and mind boggling situations, but one thing i don't get is how some people would involve their parents in their work situation.

I didn't personally encounter it but on different occasions, at least 2 colleagues have confined that an applicant's mother would call about their daughters situation. Whether it be the status of their application or anything about work in general. The mothers even had the nerve to lecture them about what we were supposedly doing wrong.  

I mean come on! We're not in school anymore! I don't know what's going on with these peoples' heads but to have your own mother, handle situations for you, is just immature i think. I mean if you can't handle your own affairs how can people trust you to get things done on your own. Would you also call in your mother to do it for you?