Hale's Above, Over and Beyond Listening Party April 23, 2008

champ signing the twilight album

April 23, 2008

Molokai Grill

Festival Mall

 

It sure was a delightful afternoon, chatting with Champ, taking pictures and meeting fellow Halers (so much younger than me, btw).

 

Don't miss the album! Above Over and Beyond will be out on April 28. Hale will be at the Music Hall of the SM Mall of Asia on May 8, 2008 for the album launch.

 

"one for hale, hale for all"

 

 

Crash and Burn

You never thought it would happen to you, you always thought it would happen to someone else.

Yup, my PC (or my hard disk , to be more accurate) crashed last Tuesday. I was saving some photos when the monitor suddenly went black. When I rebooted, I knew I had a problem. Just a week ago, it was Joy (my officemate) who sent her CPU to our PC engineers. Luckily, the problem was only her motherboard, so she got 100% back. Mine wasn’t lucky.

Tuesday afternoon, when they said my PC was in ICU (50-50 was the Help Desk engineer’s term), I was 50% hopeful and 50% hopeless. When our PC at home crashed months ago, all our files were wiped out. I feared that the same thing was going to happen to mine. I prayed and asked for the intercession of St. Isidore of Seville (patron saint of computers and the Internet) and even that of St. Expedite. Even though I tried not to count on it, I prayed just the same. I tried not to think about it, all about the implications and consequences if the inevitable happens. All my outputs for the past 8 years in Insular Life as a marketing specialist were there inside that hard disk. Databases, statistics, research and studies, memos, simply put : just about everything. I was supposed to deliver a presentation on our website to Sales on Thursday. Oh my God, I don’t have a copy, just a print-out. I didn’t want to do the power point slides (more than 20, I think) all over again.

Wednesday, I got the confirmation that I wasn’t going to retrieve any file at all. I wanted to cry but what could I do? My officemates were incredulous, “What??? Couldn’t they do anything?” Well, I tried to reason out to myself that of course, they would have done everything to save my files - if only they could. I just joked about it the rest of the day, playing my mp3 files (the only ones I have in my flash disk). Yes, I do have a flash disk and we do have a DVD writer which I should have used to create back-ups. But I, who used to nag my husband for not doing so then, had to learn it the hard way, too. Hindi pa nadala. I told my officemates, mabuti pa yata magresign na lang ako. But then, I asked myself, who would have me, wala akong market value – I who have nothing. I passed by our VP’s office and announced, “Ma’am, please don’t ask anything from me. Because I won’t be able to give it to you.”

Later I texted my kumpare, one of our PC engineers, and asked if there was ever a chance that they could have been saved. He said that’s usually the case, but they really do check the hard disk drive and do the best they could. Ok. Case closed.

Right now, I am starting from scratch, slowly picking up the pieces, trying to retrieve anything I could – from my boss’s Outlook (good thing she doesn’t delete email messages so I was able to save some of my attachments), and from other officemates. But the rest have gone up to PC Heaven.  Including my emails. Sayang. I am like a new employee – with an empty PC.

And about that power point presentation, my boss emailed me the soft copy I sent her, which needed revisions but that was better than nothing. Sigh.

HALE'S ABOVE, OVER AND BEYOND

Start:

Apr 28, '08

Darating na. Malapit na.
Watch out for Hale's latest album above, over and beyond.
Ilang tulog na lang. Di lang above. Di lang over. Beyond pa.
I love you, Champ.

*hope to see everyone at Molokai Grill, Festival Mall on April 23.

Outing at Sigayan Bay Resort

annual double birthday celebration of Papa (April 11) and Tito Deng (April 10)
April 12, 2008 Sigayan Bay Resort, Laiya, San Juan, Batangas

Joy and Pam the Best

Another YouTube upload from Viane
1 vs 35 the Insular Life way
November 2007

Emcee Mode Medley

1 vs 35 at Insular Life, 97th Anniversary Week November 2007

Sweet Sixteen

Sixteen years ago, Alex and I sat on one of the benches at the UST Tinoko Park. The sun was beginning to set and suddenly, we asked each other, "Anong anniversary natin?" Initially, we thought of April 1, but decided on April 3. So that sealed our relationship.

Sixteen years is such a long time. We had chicken pox, tooth extractions, car accidents, pregnancy scares, miscarriages, heated arguments, among others. I'm sure Alex will agree that there were times we were ready to give up and "isauli na ang isa't isa sa kani-kaniyang magulang."

 

There were years when I looked so panget and unattractive, but I didn't know it at that time. I was busy being a mother and a career woman that I did not pay attention to my physical appearance. These are the same years that, if only for that "mistake" on my part (if you could call it that), I would either forget and throw away to the nearest memory bin, deadma na lang; OR store somewhere in my mind to keep me from being kampante. Those were the years I have lost and can never regain. Ewan ko. Pero minsan, pinipilosopo ko na lang and tell myself, you cannot lose what you did not have (or own) in the first place. May sense ba?

 

Like any other couple, we have our ups and downs. We have our happy and sad moments. Minsan ok, minsan hindi. Minsan naiisip mo, ganito din kaya yung ibang mag-asawa? Pero minsan, pag may accomplishment naman kami or may bagyong dumaan na kinaya namin, I would pat my own shoulder and say, "Kaya ba nila yan?" I never realized how tough I could be (lesser mortals would not have made it through) and at the same time be soft and forgiving. For this, I can only thank Him.

 

At the end of the day, I think what matters is that we are still together, we have become better persons, we have learned a lot from our experiences and mistakes, and we have a lot to be thankful for. Kahit parang sirang plaka na ko. On the other hand, sixteen years may be great, but lessons still come and challenges still grow. Nag-aaway pa din kami pero madami na kaming natutunan - that we were really meant for each other and that kahit baligtarin pa ang mundo, kami pa din. We can argue and have different points of view and interests, but that doesn't mean we love each other less. In the same way that we can be on the opposite sides of an issue but wouldn't debate about it, but that doesn't mean we couldn't care less. Even though we don't always hold each other's hands in public, it doesn't mean we don't, in private. Even if we are in our own respective world sometimes, it doesn't mean we don't think the world  of each other.

I also pray that the Lord continue to bless our lives together. Hindi man kami yumaman, matupad lang yung pangarap namin for Caitlin and Caehl, maintain the roof above our heads, maging writers pa din and still be together and grow old together like we promised to ourselves sixteen years ago.

 

Happy Anniversary, Dadi!

 

P.S. Happy Birthday, Tito Arnel!

 

Katorse

Cae turned 14 last Sunday.

• Tita's presents were a stuffed cat named Sweedie, a brand new Sony Ericsson cellphone and a trip to Tips 'N Toes Westgate Alabang where we all had manicure, pedicure and foot spa.
• Daddy's gift was a guitar.
• From Mommy, a postpaid extension plan.
• Pia and Meg gave her a shirt.
• Tito Deng and Ba's gifts were a pair of YRYS skinny jeans, a jumper skirt and a gallon of ice cream.
• Ate Ev gave her a prepaid SIM.
• Papa and Mama bought a Red Ribbon cake.

We had spaghetti, Andok's Manok, Greenwich pepperoni and Greenwich Special square pizza, and Goldilock's cake. Burp.

Chef Caehl

My fascination for Chef To Go and Chef Rob Pengson must have rubbed off on my son. Everytime I watch Chef Rob, Caehl would gather his "cooking utensils" and start stirring, putting "ingredients" onto his plastic tray and cups, tasting his concoctions, and saying "Mmmmm."

Look at his marvelous creation: coffee mugs with "plastic trees and people" inside and Ate Cae's ballpens as "stirrers." Mmmmmmmm indeed.