Two's...

My trip to Puerto Galera was very enjoyable--stress and high prices aside. I swore that I will never return to that island during peak season. We paid Php11,000 for two rooms for two nights. That was horribly expensive considering that we spent only around Php1800 for one room for three nights during non-peak. If I wasn't desperate for a room, I would not have agreed to the rates.

Leo, Agnes and I left for Batangas pier around 430 in the morning. It was an uneventful trip since the waves were not that strong yet. The house-hunting stressed me out though. Allan, Rico, Ipe and Eddie arrived a couple of hours later. I got drunk the first night. It's been in awhile since that happened. Leo had to literally hold onto me to prevent me from crashing.

My officemates arrived around lunch time the next day. We spent the afternoon at Long Beach snorkeling and admiring the nifty corrals. Unfortunately, we had to leave early the next day. Leo and I need to be home early so we could get ready for dinner with Leo's family and hear mass as well.

Dinner was quite an event. The week previous that, I only spent time with his father. Now, I had dinner with his whole family. We had a table at Banana Leaf at Alabang. The place just opened a couple of weeks ago which explains their really terrible service. The food's ok though but it's not enough to compensate for the lousy service that we got. Nevertheless, I had a nice time talking with his sister and brother-in-law. His dad gamely joked with me (it was pretty easy since other than Leo, he has known me the longest considering that I was his student before), while I watched Leo's two cute nephews horsing around.

After kissing Leo's mom goodbye, I was surprised when the two kids approached me and kissed me as well. His mom was also very nice. She sounded like she wanted to get to know me better and I guess that's a good sign.

TERM 2 AND COUNTING

Oh yeah, I got my grades. I did surprisingly well. I got a grade of 3.0 for both subjects. Think of it this way, I'm still eligible for graduating with distinction. I'm ok as long as I don't get a grade of 2.5. Maybe I'll be able to do this.

TWO MONTHS AND COUNTING

Today is our two months together as a couple. Leo sent me flowers again. This time, instead of roses, he sent me Salmon Tulips. He was disappointed since the bouquet seemed rather small. I didn't mind. Flowers are still flowers and I'm happy with them.

This is the first time in my whole life that I've received so much flowers. I truly am very much blessed. Hopefully we'll stay together for a long long long and I do mean long, time.

Meet the Parents

Had my initial meet-the-parents session last Sunday at Leo's place up in Tagaytay. It was not as scary as I thought it would be because we spent most of it with Leo's dad (Leo's mom was unavailable and could not join us for lunch). Unfortunately, I'm not out of the woods yet. I'm going to have dinner with his family on Sunday and I'm a bit nervous about that because everybody will be present. From the sister to his brother-in-law to his nephews and most importantly, his mom, will be there. I still can't think straight because of it. It's a long story which I'll probably tell some other time. Another time when I can think more clearly. Right now, I just want to crash on my bed and sleep.

Oh yeah, leaving for PG with my friends on Friday. I'm very excited about that since Leo will be joining us. New people and faces will be joining our group as well. My officemates will be joining us on Saturday as well as another friend from Singles.

Makeover

No, nothing so extreme. After more than 4 months, I decided to seek out my hairstylist and had my hair done. It's not as easy as it sounds since he/she moved to another salon and I had to track the place down.

Anyway, I treated my hair to a hot oil treatment and had it styled again as well. My hair feels so much lighter now.

I'm a bit scared since there's a possibility that I'll be meeting Leo's parents sometime during the weekend. I don't know why I'm so anxious about it when I already met his dad before. Oh well, best advice I can give myself, is to be myself. Bahala na.

Finally!!!

Just finished my last finals tonight. It's such a big relief. There were so many shoulda, woulda and couldas this term, but at least I managed to pull through in the end. I think I did pretty well for both finals. Hopefully I'll get a decent grade, but I don't think it's enough for me to make it to the dean's list again this term. (Registrar's just released the Dean's List last term. Yep, I made it!) Looking forward to this vacation. At least I learned my lesson now on what subjects to take. Hopefully I'll do better next term.

My twin sister is getting married on Tuesday. I'm so happy for her. Her boyfriend proposed while we were at Pagudpod. He gave her this really nice .22 carat diamond engagement ring that costs half of my annual salary! They were walking along the beach Wednesday night and he creatively proposed. I give the guy credit because he obviously loves my sister. I do hope and pray that they'll make each other happy, with the distance and all.

I suddenly realized that I'm the only unmarried sibling left. It should put pressure on me, but I prefer to ignore it. At least I have a boyfriend now, although we haven't talked about the M word yet. Our relationship is still young (we're barely 2 months!). Heck, I haven't even met his parents yet! It does not stop me from daydreaming though :)

Pagod at Pagudpod

Got back from Pagudpod last 3 am Saturday. After spending almost the whole day on the road, I was so glad to sleep in my own bed again. I already managed to make a post regarding my whole trip but lost it due to a WIN XP system problem, I had to reformat my laptop. It's a new and fresh start. Hopefully, I've learned my lesson this time and will learn to back-up. Will make a new post after my finals.

Oh yeah, did I mention that it's our finals week this week? I'm so glad that it's going to be over. I just want this term to end. It's hell having two math subjects. Remind me never to do this again.

Leo and I have watched so many movies that I haven't been able to write reviews. Let's just say that some are really not that noteworthy. After "The Passion", we caught "Taken Lives" and "Peter Pan". It's ok, I guess. Angelina Jolie does have one breast-baring skin in her movie.

Back to Pagudpod, I did not enjoy my vacation that much. For one, I missed Leo so much. I did appreciate the sprawling vistas and wonderful waves, but there was something vital missing. I wanted to share everything with him, but he's more than 700 kms away down south. What made matters worst was cellphone signals are non-existent in that area. So much for nation-wide coverage. The scenery on the way to Pagudpod was also very beautiful--especially Vigan. Vigan is really beautiful. It's something like Intramuros but more authentic and more historical. (Didn't know that Quirino came from Vigan.)

Anyway, I have my MANSCI finals tomorrow. After that, I'm all done. Will schedule an appointment with masseuse on Saturday to celebrate.

Surprise!!!

We'll be leaving for Pagudpod tonight (back pain or no back pain) but unfortunately, our departure coincides with Leo's birthday. To make up for my absence, I planned 3 surprises for him.

First was the impromptu one. We had dinner last Sunday night at Burgoo's Podium and I had the waiters sing him a birthday song. He was pleased as punch and a bit embarrassed when the waiters clustered around our table and sang their birthday ditty. The next one was I sent him a balloon teddy bear arrangement at his office which earned him a teasing from his VP and which he just shrugged aside. Last one was I threw a surprise party for him last night here at home led by my very gregarious relatives. None of our/my invited friends arrived but I'm somehow used to that already, or maybe they just forgot and I was too busy yesterday to follow-up. Anyway, it was the first time that I saw Leo blush, to the amusement of my aunts.

So much for that. I have another year to think of another memorable birthday celebration.

On a sad note, one of the people dear to me suffered a miscarriage a couple of weeks ago. It gave my family momentous grief and made my parents think twice of pushing through with some plans. All the while, we just thought that God may have another plan for them and maybe it is indeed the wrong time to have a baby. I prayed for the little soul and asked God to bless him/her.

Weekend of the Passion

Much have been said about "The Passion of the Christ" and I don't know if what I will say will be something new. But it's still my two cents worth.

I have low tolerance for gore and horror movies. In fact, I close or cover my eyes everytime there's gory violence or scary monsters in the big screen. Heck, I watched The Sixth Sense with my eyes covered half of the time! But with "The Passion..", I forced myself to watch the torture that Jesus was subjected to. The most difficult part to stomach was the scourging scene and the crucifixion. I was gripping my boyfriend's hand very tightly as the whips, rods and scourges were used on the Christ.

I was quiet and reflective when I left the theater. All I could say was, "I'm so glad that I'm a Christian," for I have a Savior who saved me from eternal damnation.

Today was as stressful as yesterday. Leo picked me up at 930 in the morning and we proceeded to another baptism. Then we went to Dencio's Fort to have lunch with my sister's boyfriend who's currently in town. Afterwards, Leo and I separated from the group and went to Megamall to do some preliminary shopping and to hear mass. I was so apologetic to my boyfriend since I told him that we'll be celebrating his birthday today. But I was so harassed since I still have to shop for our Pagudpod trip on Tuesday that I had to postpone it till next Sunday. Anyway, I had the waiters at Burgoo sing him a birthday song and I gave him my gift already. We'll be leaving for Pagudpod on Tuesday evening. I'm very excited about it actually, even if Leo won't be able to join us. It's the first time that I'll be going in a long roadtrip with my family. I hope that my health won't fail me though. My back has been aching for a week or so and it's showing no signs of letting up. I have a bad feeling that it could be UTI (I have a history of this). I need to have a check-up before we go to rule that out. One thing I would hate to happen is to get sick in the middle of the boondocks with no decent health care in sight. The memory of the last time I had this illness is still fresh in my mind and it can be indeed very scary. It's the fever and chills that scared me though.

Hopefully it's not that and just muscle pain.