Jaws

I haven't watched the movie Jaws. I now it's considered a classis but that is the truth - I haven't watched it. So when I saw the book I immediately bought it. Just to know what the fuss is all about this killer shark.

I didn't know that it was such a scary story. The first chapter of the book had me waiting in anxiety how they will find out that the girl they were looking for was killed by a shark. I pity Chief Brody - his wife shouldn't have done that. It was such an unfair thing to do. I wish Hooper had not died and Brody had known what happened. I didn't understant the parts where the author attempted to describe the boat they used to capture the shark haha so much technical terms that I didn't know I can't even picture how the boat looks like. I think the last few chapters were hurried. It felt like the author wanted them to catch the shark ASAP. I'm sure the three of them - Brody, Hooper and Quint were bored to death aboard the boat waiting for the shark to appear but it didn't seem that way to me - as the reader. Or maybe it was just me..I was hurrying to read the last page of the book to see if they really caught the shark. Anyway, all in all the book did what it's suppose to do...it scared me.

Kreativ Blogger

Got this from Steph, who just had her funtabulous wedding. Thanks Steph!

The rules are:
* The winner may put the logo on his or her blog.
* Put a link to the person you got the award from.
* Nominate five blogs.
* Put links to the blogs.
* Leave a message to the nominees.

Now, I'm tagging Cheryl, Liz, Anna, EJ and Abbie.

The Two Mujeres

I’ve been behind my book reviews. I’ve already finished three books since Abundance hehe. So let’s start the ball rolling.

I’ve mentioned in my previous book review that I was already reading another book before I bought Abundance. It was The Two Mujeres by Sara Levi Calderon. What got me interested to buy this book is the text at the back cover:

- the long awaited English translation of the surprise Mexican bestseller.

Simply and sensually written, this love story between two Mexican Jewish women has been both scandalouse and celebrated since its first publication.

It even has a glossary of the Mexican words/phrases with its English translation at the back. It's set up in Mexico and it’s about Valeria…a lady who’s in a gay relationship with Genovesa. It tackles the problems they encounter with the people around them..Ginevra’s two son’s, her parents, her boyfriend (then). I think it was considered and maybe still is a touchy topic, especially with a religious nation as Mexico. I don't understand why the author added the storyline on Morena, Genovesa's cousin. Well, yes she was the reason the two ladies met but the thing about her heroin problem I think it was insignificant in Valeria and Genovesa's love story. Unless it mirrors something in their relationship that I was too dull to see hehe. Anyway, the book was an easy read...some short chapters. It's interesting to note that the author is a Mexican Jewish who has two sons, got divorced and fell in love with a lesbian. I wonder how much of the book is her story.

Kawawang Bata

Mukha kaming kawawa ni Joema nung Saturday. Ewan ko ba kung bakit wala kaming dalang pera non.

We first went to Denden’s to pick up our wedding rings. Remember, we weren’t able to get them because there was an error in the engravings? So we were finally able to get them with the correct engravings. They are beautiful. I love my wedding ring. It goes beautifully with my engagement ring.

We’ve also booked A Perfect Creation for the printing of our wedding invitation. We actually contacted another printer, that’s highly recommended by Pao but they cannot do the printing that we liked. I wanted the texts embossed and the design dry sealed. Iona of A Perfect Creation gave us a very reasonable price for the printing of our invitation plus they didn’t require a minimum number of invitations. Yey! Our invites will still be mostly DIY. We only booked them for the printing. I ordered papers from them for our envelopes but I will make those. It’s came out cheaper as the sheet was only P35 while if we have the envelopes custom-made they will charge us P20/envelope. I figured we still have time and we don’t have the budget haha so I better rely on my crafting skills! I will also printout the RSVP cards and the church/venue map as well. I think our invitations came out more expensive (per piece) because we decided to stick with our design, compared to just picking out readily available designs from other invitation suppliers but I’m happy with how our invitation looks like. No other invitation supplier (yung mga natanong ko lang naman) has a design like that.

Joema and I had lunch at Philcoa before we headed out to Kamuning. We went to Mands’ tailor, Knik, for Joema’s suit. We actually went to Onesimus the Friday before that and inquired how much the suit will cost us. Since we can’t buy their ready-made suits - Joema has a very small frame, even their small sizes don’t fit him properly – we had to have his suit made to order. It would cost us atleast 10k if we had it tailored at Onesimus. But at Knik, the price was only about 6k that includes labor and tela for the coat, pants and white longsleeves polo. Here’s the nakakahiya moment – when they asked us for money for the deposit, I asked if it was okay to pay only one thousand pesos (yun na lang buo kong pera). The old lady told me if we can make it atleast 2thousand haha. Omygosh! Kakahiya wala na kaming pera by that time. Ewan ko why it didn’t occur to us to withdraw money before proceeding with our other errands. Buti na lang Joema had 600 pesos pa and I had some one hundred peso bills on my wallet. It didn’t occur to me to ask if we could pay by check pero siguro kasi I thought they might want cash because theirs is a small shop, yung mukhang only cash payments are made.

So anyway, after that we went to my parish to submit our banns and get the permission from the parish priest. The form for the permission indicated that we had to pay P100 so I was expecting to shell out just that. But when we got there, the lady asked us to pay seven hundred pesos for the marriage banns. Ayayayay! Super walang wala na talaga kaming pera. We paid 6 hundred peso bills and then a fifty plus two twenty peso bills and two five peso bills. Haha baryang barya talaga! Joema and I were whispering to each other we didn’t have money to go home. Buti na lang the parish is just in the village next to ours. I told him we still have change for the tricycle and if we didn’t have enough change for the jeepney fare we can walk na lang! And if worst comes to worst, I would have called Penny and asked for money (she lives in the same village as the parish). Buti na lang din the atm machine outside the village was online. Joema was able to withdraw money kaya we had money na when we got home. Laugh trip talaga! Note that on our first two stops (rings and invitations) we paid by check haha. Note to self: always bring lots of cash when doing wedding related errands!



A Perfect Creation
44 Magiting St. Teacher's Village QC
Tel No. 9205910

KNIK
5 Kamuning Road, Kamuning QC
Tel No. 9284168

Business Loans

While I’m already happy with my job and I know that I’ll probably stay here until my retirement (we have really good medical benefits and a pension plan), I’m still thinking of starting a small business. And since I don’t have the money to start one, I should probably avail of business loans. There are some organizations that will offer you a business loan without any collateral. You will get your startup money without any problems. My problem now is what business should I put up? People always say it should be of interest to you, which is quite logical. You have to learn different things before you set up your business, it might as well be something you are really passionate about. So that leads me to…what are my interests and will they make me profitable?

Travel

I love to travel. And the few times I’ve traveled, I’m so excited about planning the trip. I am usually the one preparing the flight details, the hotel arrangements, our itinerary for the trip. One friend told me I should do that as a business, put up a travel agency or just arrange itineraries for people going on a trip.

Wedding

Even before we started planning for our wedding, I’ve already researched on the different suppliers in the industry. I wanted to know how much budget we should have for our wedding, what is realistic and what is not. And I’ve helped my friends who are getting married by referring different suppliers to them. I’m their wanna-be coordinators haha! Penny suggested I should do it as a side-line.

These are just two of the industries that I think I have a chance of doing something. Well, these are what interests me as of the moment. So if I do put up a business, it might be something related to any of these two – even if it’s remotely related hehe.

48 hours

Last weekend we’ve managed to attend a birthday party, squeeze in my third fitting, go to our friend’s despedida and then went to the province. All that in less than 48 hours.

Joema and I met up at Gateway around 11am Saturday morning. We were at Outback, Libis for Vitto’s birthday just in time. Most of my officemates were there already.

Birthday boy Vitto..happy 1st bday!

My father fetched us after the party and then we went back to Cubao to fetch my mother. We then proceeded to Dream Bride for my third fitting. We were late when we got there (almost 3pm, sorry Tria, my appointment was at 2pm). I’ll try to blog about that and my second fitting on a separate entry.

Anyways, after the fitting my parents dropped us off at SM North, MRT station. Joema and I were going back to Ortigas to attend the anticipated mass at Megamall. Before the mass, we had enough time to go around and look for a bed and couch. I really wanted to buy the sofa bed we saw at Play and Display. We’ll see, we’ll see. There’s just so much to pay for - the wedding, the honeymoon, the condo. Ayayayayay!

After the mass, Ja fetched us at Mcdo, El Pueblo and together we went down south to Joy and Mek’s house for Epoy’s despedida. Since it was his last day with us we didn’t bother playing poker but just went ahead and told stories non-stop. If I didn’t tell them (at 3am!) that we had to leave coz we’re leaving early for the province the next day (which is actually only a few hours away), no one would have gone home. We were all just waiting for someone to say they had to go home already haha.

Paalis na yung tao ginagago pa rin ni Tricio

When Joema and I got home, we didn’t have time to sleep anymore. I told my parents we should just hit the road than let us sleep for only an hour or two. We had a shower, changed our clothes and we’re back on the road again – this time heading north to Nueva Ecija with my family. Joema and I we’re both asleep the entire trip (which is not really unusual for me hehe). Because of my brother’s excellent driving skills we arrived at my grandparents’ house around 730am. It was the first time for Joema to come with us and of course the first time to meet my grandparents. My lola said that he looked younger than me. (Hay naku buti na lang lola kita hehehe.) Joema met most of my relatives there – titas, cousins, nephews and nieces. It was also his first time to get to see a carabao up close haha! You see my grandparents are farmers. There are rice fields in front of their house and even at the back. When we first arrived, I was joking Joema that we own the rice fields as far as his eyes can see haha feeling haciendera!

Takot lumapit sa kalabaw

We were bound for Manila around 130pm, had an early dinner at NLEX and dropped off Joema at the condo before finally heading home. Whew! What a loooong weekend it was!

For Liz

Here's my answer to your comment:

1. Pre-cana seminar - Villa San Miguel couples should get their seminar from EDSA Shrine. The seminar is a two-part thingy. First seminar is Christian Doctrine which is every Saturday 8am-12nn at the second floor (stairs going up the second floor along Ortigas). When you get there to register tell them its for marriage purpose since they also do this seminar for couples who are having their child baptised. You can just drop by they will let you attend the seminar. The second part is Parenthood which is every 4th Saturday of the month 8:30am - 12nn (but we actually finished around 2pm). This one you have to call first their office to register. It's usually done in the free clinic, near the women's rest room (entrance along EDSA).

EDSA Shrine
EDSA cor. Ortigas Ave.
Tel. No. 6315734

2. Delegation from Sacred Heart Jesus - just go the parish office of Sacred Heart and pay the fee of P500. Sacred Heart is near Villa San Miguel, just a ride a jeep going to Quiapo and tell the driver to drop you off Acacia Lane. You won't miss it because it's the corner where Jollibee is at, Jollibee is at the left side of the road. Ride a tricycle parked at Jollibee and tell them to bring you to Sacred Heart. When we went there the church was being renovated but the parish office is open. And we also went on a weekday so I'm not sure if they are open on weekends.

Hope this helps! Drop a line if you need anything else. :)

Abundance

I first got interested on Marie Antoinette when Kirsten Dunst's movie came out. I read in a few blogs about the positive reviews on the movie and on Kirsten Dunst as Marie Antoinette. I wasn't able to see it but was determined on getting my hands on a DVD copy. But as I don't really spend so much on DVD's I wasn't able to get it when it first came out. My brother kept on telling me it's not available in his "suking DVD rental place". While waiting to get my hands on a copy I indulged in reading this PBS site on her. But a few months ago Astrovision went on sale and I was able to finally buy my copy and watch the movie. I'm not really a fan of Kirsten but she was amazing in that movie. It's like she was really the fourteen year old Dauphine when she came to France. She was mesmerizing. Of course there was "Making of" in the special features of the DVD. Sofia Coppola mentioned there that she wasn't really making an accurate historical film on Marie Antoinette but that she was just trying to tell her story.

Anyway, I was already reading a book that's supposed to be next on my book list but I chanced upon this book Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette when I went to Powerbooks when they had their sale last July or August (Another sale! Got my copy for P99!). The author, Sena Jeter Naslund, wrote it in the first person - that way you're reading the events on Marie Antoinette's life as if you are her and it is happening to you. You get to know her from her journey to France to marry the Dauphin up to the last minutes of her life when she was getting ready to go to the guillotine. You feel elated when their marriage is finally consumated and feel sad at the death of her children. Among the personalities surrounding the queen, Count von Fersen intrigues me the most. Was he really her lover or just a really really close friend? In the book, there were no accounts of them making loving or even kissing, but Marie Antoinette loves von Fersen in a way different from her love to the king. It's almost as if she thinks/feels he is her soulmate. There were some pages in the book that made me real sleepy but there were more things to love about it. I love the chapters where Marie Antoinette writes to her mother and her mother writes to her. It made me miss letter writing. Imagine the days when we had to wait for a few days or even weeks before we get any letters from our loved ones. I love that the book showed Marie Antoinette's feelings for the people around her (although some of these might just be assumed by the author). I guess it made Marie Antoinette even more real and not just someone who lived in the distant past and we get to read in history books. This book just made me fall in love with Marie Antoinette more.

You Don’t Give Me Flowers

The other day, when Joema and I were together we heard this song being played over the radio. I told him that was my song for him although we have to change the word “anymore” to “ever since” LOL I know that’s grammatically wrong but anyway. For the more than eight years that we’ve been going out, he only gave me flowers twice. Not that I really care. I’m not really fond of flowers but of course if someone gives me I will definitely be touched. My father gives me flowers on my Valentine’s day and birthday. :D

So choosing the flowers for the wedding was a no-brainer for me. No-brainer in the sense that I wouldn’t care what flowers you give me as long as there are some haha. Some brides might have envisioned themselves walking down the aisle holding a bouquet with their favorite flowers or something that has sentimental value to them but I’m clearly not one of those brides.

My mother and I went to Mang Boy’s stall in Dangwa to get a quotation from him. He wasn’t here but Mang Dinan (his florist) brought us to Mang Boy’s house, thinking that Mang Boy was still there about ready to deliver some flowers. But he already left, so Mang Dinan and Mang Jon showed us their photo albums and asked us about my wedding motif and proceeded on giving us a package. When I told them my motif was plum (or kulay talong as Mang Dinan wrote hehe) they immediately told me that tulips will be good for my bouquet. I was happy with that because I initially wanted tulips or calla lilies for my bouquet. These were the only flowers I’ve seen with colors that are the same as my motif. When I asked them about the calla lilies they told me that the variety of calla lilies in plum color will have small flowers, hence it’s better to go with the tulips. Okay I wouldn’t disagree with that as they are the specialists. Then they showed me a bunch of other flowers for my entourage, principal sponsors and the mothers. I just agreed to everything they said. After a few minutes we were done. Their initial price was a bit steep. My mother was there ready to haggle and haggle she did. If I were the only one there I would have looked for another stall and asked for a different package or I would have agreed to their original price. Actually when they gave the original price, I initially asked them to change the flowers to lower the price but they insisted that I should get tulips for my bouquet as this will be my special day hehe. They eventually gave in to the price that’s within our budget. Hep hep hurray for the haggling skills of my mother!

Two weeks after I was back in Dangwa together with Penny. Now Penny on the other hand, definitely knows what she wants for her flowers. She even brought along a picture of the bouquet she wanted. She had some input on what colors she wanted for her entourage too. They gave her a discount because I was with her. Naks! I, on the other hand, asked them to add a flower as my hairpiece. They showed me a flower and then I agreed, again haha! On that second visit, I was able to see Mang Boy. He was there but Mang Dinan was still the one who made the package for Penny. I guess that's what bosses do you know - boss their people around hehe kidding!

Boy Mahusay
Jarielle's Flowershop
Stall # 16 Dos Castillas St.
Sampaloc, Manila

Church Requirements

We finally went back to Archbishop’s Palace to submit some of the church requirements – baptismal certificate, marriage license, license to solemnize marriage, delegation from SHJ Parish and pre-cena.

Baptismal Certificate

Joema and I got ours separately. No need to get it together since we actually weren’t the ones who got it. My mother and brother got mine at the Our Lady of Grace Parish in Caloocan. If you’re baptized there as well, here are their contact details:

Open Monday to Friday
Office Hours: 8:00 am – 11:30am, 1:00pm – 4:30pm
No releasing during holidays
Tel No. 634-5905
Fax No. 361-9515

If a representative, other than parent/s will get the certificate for you make sure to give authorization letter and photocopy of your ID.

As for Joema’s certificate, this was cause for an argument for us, simply because he kept on insisting that their church don’t issue baptismal certificates for marriage purposes. He kept on telling me that he will give me his original baptismal certificate while I kept on telling him that he has to get a new one. Oh well, atleast he was convinced to get it after our argument hehe. I think his mother got if for him as well.

License to Solemnize Marriage

This was easy to get since our officiating priest was easy to contact. He celebrates the first Friday masses here at the office so I just walked up to him and asked him for a copy of his license. He just faxed me the copy and we’re done.

Pre-cana Seminar

EDSA Shrine conducts their pre-cana seminar in two parts. The first part I blogged about here. The second part we attended last August 23. There were six couples in the seminar. The facilitators were a couple as well. They were married for 26 years already (if I remembered it correctly). They compared getting married to building a house with the pillars of the house, the stairs and the door representing the different facets of getting married (is it obvious I forgot most of it hehe). The latter part of the seminar we were asked to answer a questionnaire – the questionnaire was the same one we answered in the seminar held for our marriage license – and the answers were discussed.

************************

Rhoda and Jopen went with us to the church. We needed them as witnesses for our dispensation (mixed marriage). I’m very grateful they gave us their time (we all had to get off from work early to go Villa San Miguel). This dispensation as I mentioned before is sort of a contract that’s done between a Catholic and non-Catholic getting married in Catholic rites. The dispensation basically states that as the Catholic, I vow to remain a Catholic and to bring up our future children as Catholics, while he signs the contract in agreement. Both parties and the witnesses sign the contract and the parish priest as well. At AP, they have a stamp of Fr. Jun Sescon with his signature so he doesn’t need to be present there. The next day we brought the dispensation at the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila in Intramuros. They said to wait two to three days to pick up the document. I guess they will give us another document that we need to submit to AP. I will have to ask my brother to pick-up the document this Friday.

As for the other requirements, Brother Alexis gave us the forms for the banns and the permission from my parish. We already have the forms for the canonical interview but we have to schedule it with our officiating priest. We also have to get a schedule for my confirmation.

Quote from Joema

Ber months na...September, October, December