SURF's UP

Not too many people know about this small town called Baler (in Aurora, formerly part of Quezon). Baler stands proud on the shore of a horseshoe-shaped coastal valley overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the east. This is where I was born. It's also the hometown of the late President Manuel Quezon and Senator Edgardo Angara. Oh di ba, ka-level! :) He's actually my parents' kababata & classmate.

If there is one thing that this town is known for, it's the long stretch of beaches surrounding the town. Since i am not a swimmer or a water person, i wasn't that much drawn to it until I had Raph and Ronald who both enjoy hanging out in the beach.

This is Baler Beach in Sabang, the one nearest the bayan or downtown as city folks would say. When I was a child, I remember I was fascinated seeing tourists and foreigners surf the big waves. I wish I got to learn to surf too, but i doubt if i could, i don't even know how to swim!...Today, Baler is one of the most popular surfing destinations. I heard Jericho Rosales and his surfer friends have discovered the place to be a surfing bliss. Paolo Bediones and Louie Villaruz have been there too to cover a surfing competition. Surfers from Siargao, La Union and even from abroad troop to Baler for the yearly Aurora Surfing Cup every February.


It may not be a white beach but it's such a pretty sight just the same. The water is dark green, the waves are never calm, ideal for that perfect surf especially during surf months. Though when we were there, the waves are generally more subtle.

Here are photos i took during the all souls' day holiday break...

raph with his cousins aj & kuya benjo enjoying the morning dip

a lady surfer on the go!

wow! galing ng surfer!

whoa! big waves

raph, a fan of the movie Surf's up, was awed watching the surfers.
he wants to learn to surf too... pag big boy ka na ha!

20 Things About My Superboy

In the tradition of "30 things about myself..." which i posted a month back, and which my charmed friends followed, i made a list of random facts about my little boy Ronan Raphael...just for fun! Originally these were just 15 items which i posted in his multiply site, but i added five more...

1. His name Raphael was suggested by his Ninang Kris Aquino after i told her the result of my ultra-sound. St. Raphael happened to be my guardian angel too based on my birthdate, so i gave it a go! His dadu Ronald thought of the name Ronan. So that makes all of our names beginning with letter R. In school, he is Ronan as well as to most of his ninongs/ninangs. In the house we call him Raph.

2. He's not a meat-eater, neither pork nor beef, that's why he's a little bit on the thin side. But contrary to most kids, he eats vegetables and fish. Healthy di ba? He eats chicken too, but mostly just the crunchy skin part. He doesn't eat egg either. But as long as he drinks his milk three times a day, and he eats veggies, fish, rice and fruits, i'm okay with that! He's not sickly anyway and his pedia said his weight is pretty much okay. Although i would want him to grow a little bit bigger.

3. You can't touch his McDo Chicken, he has to eat it by himself. You can't even cut it into pieces or else!

4. He loves fruits- apples and grapes (minus the skin), bananas and pineapples. He also loves yogurt, cereals (without milk-he has to drink it from the glass), quaker oats, macaroni & cheese and his fave Taco Bell's cheese quesadilla.

5. He has a favorite pillow given by his Tita Tess before she left for Texas- a tazmanian devil which Raph can't sleep without. It was chaotic when we didn't bring it in our HK trip last year. We learned our lesson so in our trip to Canada, TAZ was the very first thing we thought of bringing.

6. He has a collection of hotwheels cars. And he knows where we bought them or who gave which. He's very interested in cars in general. He can spot expensive luxury cars on the road. His favorite movie is Cars which he repeatedly watches on DVD. He has already completed his collection of Ferrari car models from Shell.

7. He is soo toilet-trained that one time, he woke up at 3am and went to the bathroom by himself.

8. He likes to sing. He was already singing at age 2, i mean not anymore the usual nursery rhymes. His first songs were Because of You and Ikaw ang Lahat Sa Akin, the latter he would usually sing to his grandma. He even sang that song while mom was being laid to rest at the cemetery.

9. He likes cats, actually kittens. He doesn't want them to grow big. He's not so fond of dogs. He's scared of the big ones.

10. He has a photographic memory especially with road directions. He knows when i change routes when driving, he can even instruct or relay to dad whenever i get to discover a shortcut or alternate route.

11. His first crushy was Sofia, his favorite classmate in Nursery 1(last year). My heart broke when Sofia was transferred to another school.

raph with his crushy sofia, taken last year

12. Now he has this intense liking for Kim Chiu. I say intense hehe because he blushes and gets tongue-tied whenever he gets to see Kim in person, parang nato-torpe. He would even ask me, once in a while, to play Kim's album in the car on our way to school. They sometimes communicate on the phone. Kim said he's her boyfriend. That gave him a high!

awkward smile from raph kasi nate-tense sa presence ni kim

13. Raph never baby-talked. He was never bulol. Maybe because even as a kid, we talked to him like we're talking to an adult. He never thumb-sucked either.

14. Like any other kids, he is fond of Superman, his dadu's liking for Superman rubbed off on him. He got to watch all the Superman movies via his dad's DVD collection. He could tell which one is Superman 2 or 3, etc. Of course, he also likes Spiderman, Batman, Power Rangers...and Thomas & Friends trains.

15. He was awarded Outstanding Student last March. Gosh ganon pala feeling pag nagsabit ng medal sa anak! We're just so proud! This early his grades are all Highly Satisfactory. Great honey! Keep up the good work!

16. After a really tiring day, he would snore like his dadu and/or would grind his teeth like me when sleeping (oh i forgot to put that in my own list).

17. He loves the water...at least he swims unlike me (i'm not a swimmer, again, i forgot to mention that in my own list).

18. If you'll ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, he'd say he wants to be a pilot and a singer (Whoa! a singing pilot huh!)

19. He said he wants to take taekwondo and art classes next summer. He got his interest in taekwondo from his cousins Carlo & Felix who have already won golds in various competitions. Last summer, he had swimming lessons and he got to learn and enjoy indeed!

20. He's got wit and a good sense of humor. He never fails to make me and dad laugh everyday.

Global Fun

i've been hearing about Global Fun Carnival near the SM Mall of Asia...anything that would make Raphael happy excites me to death! so last Saturday, i thought of bringing my boys to said carnival. i told Ronald earlier on to make himself available for a weekend family day.

we left the house a little before 5pm...gahd traffic was horrendous! buti na lang while driving along santolan, i got enticed by a nice sky view, as the sun's about to set, so i took photos...wala lang inaliw ko na lang ang sarili ko.

eyesore ang meralco wirings, nakakasira sa view

while stucked in traffic...Raph & hubby entertained themselves by watching the movie Cars on ipod video.

Raph didn't know we're bringing him to the carnival so we could surprise him, he thought we're just going to MOA. upon approaching the area, he got really so excited, i could hear him scream in awe as he saw this huge ferris wheel and other carnival rides from afar. i said to myself, braving the traffic was worth it, because i knew Raph would love the place!

it wasn't comparable to enchanted kingdom and there were not much rides, but there were enough appropriate for raph's age so okay na ko don. unfortunately, i had the mistake of wearing havaianas high, mga 5 time s ata ako natapilok dahil sa mga bato sa grounds...

here are some of our photos:

the huge ferris wheel at the background (eto lang yung area na cemented)

raph r u trying to scare me?


raph's favorite ride, kiddie version of enchanted's flying fiesta

before the boat ride, raph insisted that he'd go by himself

on a choo-choo train (pa-cute wink)

raph dancing to "papaya" with neon light sticks

while dad takes his video, gusto ata sumali sa extreme papaya ng GKNB? hehe

all-smiles upon leaving the place around 10 pm...
yey! nag-enjoy si bagets! he said "thank you" to me and dad

to the left...to the left (my BEYONCE experience that never was)

it was my most-awaited concert...

the last time i got this excited was when alanis morissette came to manila for a concert at the araneta coliseum several years ago...which i did watch with some college friends. i remember we were in the front row although we only paid 500 each. i think it was a friend from a recording company who gave us VIP access. we surely had a blast!

when news reached me that beyonce will be having a concert here in manila, i told myself, it's something i shouldn't miss. aside from gwen stefani, i like beyonce a lot!

no prob about the tickets because hubby had some connections who promised to give him tickets. same thing happened with babyface's concert which i also got to watch for free.

i was rejoicing when i learned that my work schedule is clear on the night of the event...but for some "evil intervention",,,work suddenly got in the way! there was no scheduled taping but why on earth should we be there in the studio that same night? the hell!

even so, i was determined to go but i got a call from my EP. so hubby had no choice but to proceed to the concert alone...he even got late because of me.

i thought i could still follow and catch even just the closing part of the concert, but as i was leaving abs, i was told the concert finished already as it started on schedule.

so here's the ticket which i never got to use. not the complimentary kind but worth P5,500, i should have been seated at the VIP right section... sabi nga ni glenn, mabi-bwisit daw ang lahat ng beyonce fans who weren't able to watch for lack of available tickets...some would say i should have just given my ticket to them, but sorry that wasn't possible because hubby was only able to get hold of our tickets upon his arrival at the venue.

so why the title? aside from it's a line from beyonce's hit "irreplaceable"...
earlier on, i predicted that beyonce's opening number would be "crazy in love" and her finale number would be "irreplaceable"...amidst my frustration that night, i was too excited to find out if i was right so i texted hubby to check, when he wasn't responding, i texted one staff of VIP Pass who i knew was covering the concert, his reply was, "ang last song yung...the left, the left"... i laughed out loud and texted him back that the title of that song is "irreplaceable". he even didn't get the right line. i know some people wouldn't really know the correct song titles, it's just that, this same person had never failed to give me laughing moments in the past due to his "mali-mali" syndrome. hehe!

my next mission-- akon! but ronald already warned me that he might not give me a ticket anymore for i might not be able to use it anyway, sayang lang. last month we were suppose to watch josh groban's concert together but he ended up going alone and gave my ticket (again a VIP ticket) to garlic, his ASAP-mate. i was suppose to watch because i'm normally free on the day of the concert, BUT as usual biglang may schedule ng taping. haay!

until now, i'm still feeling bad...and frustrated!
but of course i should have long accepted that with my kind of work (TV job), things like these do really happen. most of the time, you can't plan your life or your schedule because you're always at the mercy of your program/s's schedule which oftentimes changes at the last minute.

but until i decide to find another job, most probably, i'll continue missing out on personal or family events whether i like it or not.