Nice small green flowers.

Placed a bunch in a pitcher on my kitchen counter.

F placed a smaller bunch in a nice mug on his.

Labels: home

What I like best about Makati is that it's pedestrian friendly. I enjoy having real sidewalks and underpasses and skywalks that let me get to the mall or my office on foot in relative safety from motorists.

Now that I live here, I like it.

So, here. This is my neighborhood.

(I love LUCKY film! Yummy saturation, yeah!)

Lomo LC-A / Lucky200

Labels: home, lomo, photographs

Labels: books, home, photographs

Say hello to my new flatmates. They flew in from Osaka with my friend Watto. :D

Labels: home

Just a couple of shots in the condo:

Me.




And my food -- hungarian sausage and pesto spaghetti. I just threw things I had together. Sliced the sausage into thin discs, sauteed it with garlic, added pesto from a jar, then mixed the cooked spaghetti in it. Added parmesan cheese for extra flavor :)

And that was my meal.

Lomo LCA + Colorsplash flash
Fuji Sensia, cross-processed

Labels: home, lomo, photographs

It's been a week since I moved here and so far, everything's going well. It's a good sign that I like the place enough (I actually like it a lot. The turquoise still tickles me) to have to force myself to leave.

Here are what I've done in my new environment since I moved here:

1. Visited Fully Booked with a couple of friends in Bonifacio High Street. (No, I didn't buy anything.)
2. Bought kesong puti and mangoes in Salcedo Market.
3. Impromptu lunch at my folks at their place in the Fort.
4. Gym.
5. Dinner with Roxanne at Java Man in Powerbooks Live (biglaan lang, one of those 'Hey let's meet up!' kind of thing)
6. Finally got to try the gelato at Gelatone in Greenbelt 3. The past months I've been commuting back to QC, I'd walk past the ice cream place in a rush to the MRT.
7. Watched Ratatouille in Power Plant (just a quick up and out; and then back again right after the flick)

So far, the only thing I haven't gotten used to is the lack of light. It's so difficult to get up and I miss the morning sun. I suppose a few more weeks here will do the trick. And a nice breakfast wouldn't hurt, too. :)

Labels: home

Finally, the move that I've been blogging about for weeks now has happened and has been completed. With one last haul yesterday, I brought the rest of my things to the condo.



The first thing I did when I got here (and when my dad stepped out to pick up my mom) was to put my computer together and get the internet connection working. Yes, I sat there on the floor surrounded by boxes and I put every cable in its corresponding port. When I couldn't get connected, I even called tech support. Turns out that I had my cables mixed up, though it was my dad who told me that when he arrived again and I was bemoaning the failed connection amidst the boxes).

With my mom helping, I got the boxes unpacked and organized. I am pretty happy with how the condo turned out. I wanted it plain and boring -- cold and uninviting! -- with plain walls and basic furniture.



The bed is comfy. The bright lamp is perfect for reading (although I'm still looking for a chrome/aluminum lamp ala the pixar lamp for my bedside table).

It was a good first night :) Now on my second night here. I walked home from work today! Yey :)





These photos belong to my home flickr set.

Labels: home

I left my house at 8:30 pm last night to meet a friend in Chocolate Kiss in UP and I realized that pretty soon I won't be able to just up and leave for a quick bite in one of my favorite place. I will be relocating near a 24-hour Starbucks branch, but that's little consolation seeing as how I don't drink coffee. I really will miss my little trips to that tree haven. Where I'm going won't have as many trees. Just really tall concrete structures that soak up the sun's heat and radiate it to bake people alive. Fun fun fun.

Yesterday, I sampled the kind of strain that I'll have to get used to when I move. I got to the condo around 2pm and I worked on getting the books on the shelves up until 4pm. I felt really enclosed, and I lost track of time. It felt like it was already 7pm, because the light doesn't reach my windows much. When my cousin and I stepped out of the building, it surprised me to see that the day was still pretty light. I felt such relief being out.

No more waking up to the sound of the birds that hang out on the ledge above my window. No more watching the sky above my neightbor's roof change color from blue to purple to orange -- and on a freaky day, fiery red -- as I'm sitting at my computer at sundown. No more mornings listening to my violinist neighbor practice while drinking a cold glass of milk.

My mom treats my move as an upgrade. I hear it in how she speaks. I don't think she really liked where I live now. I guess in a way it is an upgrade -- the security, the convenience, and the yes, the condo is a much better unit even if it's old. My apartment is kinda dilapidated. And of course, there's the fact that it'll be rent-free.

But, I really liked it here. I liked living so close to UP. I liked the small village eateries. No Starbucks, just Brothers Kebab or Nanette's puto bumbong and bibingka. Fishballs at the College of Music. Palitaw at the Sunken Garden. Taho from the street vendor in the morning.

I guess I can't get the middle-class, village-living kid out of me.

I know Makati has its charms, but they're so different. But, since I am the type to always try to find and enjoy the best in things, I'm sure I'll enjoy living in Makati, too.

--------
NO SPOILERS

My first time to read Harry Potter was when a 5 and Up colleague of mine lent us a paperback copy of the book "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." Her brother, an airline pilot, had picked it up in the US having heard some kind of buzz about it. "It's all the rage daw," she had said. Around that time, HP-mania had not reached us full force just yet. And we passed the book from producer to producer, agreeing that yes, it was quite an enjoyable read!

After that, I eagerly read volume after volume of Harry's adventures -- some living up to the magic of that first reading. Some not quite. But, even with all my complaints about JK Rowling's style of writing -- especially her mandatory story-ending dialogue between characters that explains everything -- I must say that I loved this series.

I found thrills, adventures, and magic in those books. I found romance -- not the lovey dovey idea of romance, but high romantic ideals such as valour and honor and honesty. I found wizardry and witchcraft wrapped around a very human heart.

And I've always maintained, whenever critics put down Harry Potter as mere pop literature undeserving of such hoopla, that if it got kids to read, to imagine, to dream, and to stay kids just a little longer, then it has cast a powerful magic indeed. And if only for that, J.K. Rowling deserves all the success she has received.

Photo: A young Hogwarts witch chooses the right broomstick (HP7 book launch, Fully Booked Bonifacio High Street, 21 July 2007)

Labels: books, home

I am moving in slowly but surely! I brought my books, cds, and other junk to the condo so I could stow them away before we move in the bigger things. This way, I get to fix the place at a more leisurely pace.

My cousin Mayo helped me move the heavy boxes. He also helped with shelving the cds and dvds.


I'm putting my LOTR poster there for now. I don't want to drive holes into the wall! So I'll just let it lean like that. Above it are my Tolkien books. Ahehe, cheesy.

The final move is next weekend. I'll be glad when the transfer is over. It's tiring.

Labels: books, home

This condo was emptied of its furnishings two weeks ago, when my parents moved out. Soon after, work started on the condo -- the wallpaper was taken off and the walls prepped for painting.



I gave the painters a swatch of the color I wanted for that one wall (the one with all those socket thingies) and they got it! It looks too dark here in the photo, but in person it looks just right. Hopefully, everything gets done before the week ends :) Can't wait to see my white bubble lamp against the turquoise wall.

Labels: home

I've always been meaning to get rid of (some of) my clutter and streamline my life a little bit. This move to a small condo in Makati is the perfect reason for me to do just that.

I've started by selling things that won't fit in my new place. This is easy enough to do. I feel no emotional link to my TV stand, for instance. But I've also decided to let go of things that I do love -- because they were given to me by friends (like my horse bookends which remind me so much of Rohan's horses) or my elephant bookends (which remind me of Mumakil).

This is also why I opted to offer my stuff for sale to friends and peers, rather than hold a garage sale. I want to know that my things (no matter how shabby they are already) will go to people who share my interests. Maybe the new owner will see the bookends as Rohan's horses, too.

Standing in front of my bookcase, I also identified books that can be donated to my friend's cause (she's getting books for a grade school library in Marikina). I figured that while I enjoyed reading them, it's unlikely that I'll read them again. And I don't mind not having them in my own library. So, into a paperbag these books went and I gave them to my friend.

I am also considering (considering pa lang!) selling a few other items -- items that I own because I just like to hoard goodies.

1) Fellowship of the Ring movie poster (Argonath image) - still rolled and unopened.

2) The Two Towers movie poster (Barad-dur and Orthanc image) - still unopened.

I had meant to have these two framed. But only if I found an ROTK movie poster featuring Orodruin (aka Mt. Doom). I don't like any of the movie character posters. I didn't find one.

3) Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back jigsaw puzzle - completed and framed in acrylic panes. STILL thinking about it. If I ever sell it, there's only one person I would like to sell it to. I'm also considering of simply giving it away. Something like -- here, take care of it for me.

4) Sauron action figure and two ringwraiths (one horsed, one not). They are sooooo far from being in mint condition. They have the very dust of Gorgoroth on them.

Sting. Hmm, I think I'll keep the sword.

This is exciting. Not unlike cutting your hair super short after wearing it long for years.

I'll start putting the things I am taking to my new place in boxes next week. I've scheduled an ocular with the contractor for the wallpaper-stripping and painting (and perhaps a few carpentry work) . I hope the cost is within my budget (at the lower end of my budget!)

I've been living on my own for ten years, but somehow I feel different about this move. I'm a little nervous, a little excited, a bit wistful, but I am I'm looking forward to...well, i'm really just looking forward is all.

And that's always good :)

Labels: home

Soon, I'll say goodbye to the city I've called my home for the past 10 years. I'm moving out of my apartment (my 2nd one since I started living on my own) at the end of July.

My parents have given me their condo in Makati. They're moving to a new place nearby.

I'm selling a lot of my stuff (giving away some, I guess) because they won't fit in my new space. Gotta get rid of the clutter, which I'd been meaning to do anyway.

The place has a lot of built-in bookcases, so I'm not worried about my books or cds. The unit is perfect for someone living solo.

But I'll miss being close to UP (sunken garden! choco kiss!). And the little restos in my village (Friuli!). I really loved living in Quezon City.

But I won't turn down a rent-free condo. =)

Labels: home