Halloween

Spent last night making a flash movie from the pictures from the planning session. It was more than 2mb so I had to burn it on CD.

Showed it at the dealing room and everyone had fun. Milette doesn't want me to show it to Mr. Lim because of the "love team" jokes... you click some pictures and a heart pops up over the "love teams".

A scanner, and a PC with Flash has just replaced my Photo albums.

Although the bank employees were allowed to leave early in relation to All Souls Day tomorrow, we at OPICS left at around 5pm or later.

Graham wondered if we celebrate Halloween like they in the US. Tess told him we do not, although in some villages, kids really go out for trick or treat.

Marlon's Funeral

October 22, Wednesday - Jon and I told Papa that we were going to watch a movie and buy a ceiling fan for the kitchen as well as wall fans for Jon's room and the master bedroom. Couldn't tell him we're leaving to go to the wake of Marlon Mayonte.

Jon and I got to the Holy Trinity funeral home in Paranaque around 1:00p.m. Found out that Marlon was thought to have died October 15 and his body was found October 18. The little mix up with dates maybe due to the fact that California is a few hours behind Manila time-wise.

Edith wasn't there and since we didn't really know anybody, we left the mass card, stayed around awhile and then took a lunch break at nearby Burger King. We returned before 2:00 p.m. to find Edith had arrived and that a group of people are gathered in the room praying the rosary. We joined in the prayer, which was almost finished.

The priest arrived shortly and mass started a little past 2:00. He finished at 3:00p.m. I had thought that they would start transferring the casket to the vehicle that will bring it to Manila Memorial Park, after all internment is supposed to be at 4:00 p.m. However, Marlon's friends from his charismatic group held their own prayer meeting which I think would delay the internment for an hour. Jon and I didn't attend the funeral itself because we didn't know what time the gathering would finish. Edith took some pictures of us before we left.

Jon and I went to Festival Mall in Alabang afterwards to look at some fans which Papa would expect us to be bringing home. We couldn't find anything we wanted. We went to SM South Mall Las Pinas afterwards but the choices were also limited. Unable to find any fan worth buying, I would not waste the trip to South Mall. We would watch a movie. Since it was 6:00 p.m. and the movie would start at 7:05, we ate dinner first at Yellow Cab.

I wished we were in Alabang Town Center where there are more restaurants. I wanted to eat in Saisaki. I would even prefer Friday's to Yellow Cab since Friday's has big salads in their menu. I kept wishing I had salad to munch on everytime I bit into the pizza - all pizzas are salty in my opinion (cheese and pepperoni are salty ingredients to start with).

I think I bored Jon harping about restaurants. At one point I promised Jon I'd treat him to Illustrado restaurant in Intramuros when he gets his medical license. I have eaten there just once and I want to go back - the food, which is Spanish-influene, is just immaculate. I also want another scoop of Sampaguita ice cream which I think one can only buy in Illustrado. Eating there's going to be expensive, but it's not everyday one gets his medical license, right?

A few minutes after 7:00 p.m. Jon and I stepped into Cinema 9 to watch "American Pie the Wedding". We enjoyed it so much that we repeated the movie. We left the movie house at 11:00 p.m. and got home past midnight.

Edith's surprise visit

As I spent another day of this 5-day leave in front of this computer, I thought I heard Edith's voice while tapping on the keyboard. I brushed the thought away and guessed it was a woman who sounded like her. When Jon knocked on the door to get my attention, I was surprised to find it was her indeed. She just arrived from the airport and came her on emergency. Later, Jon and I found out that she came home because her brother Marlon is dead. We were more shocked to find out he died from 9 stab wounds. Someone killed him in his house around Tuesday last week, but he wasn't discovered until Thursday. His neighbor noticed that the lights in his house were open for days, but he wasn't seen leaving the place. The neighbor called the police who were the ones who discovered his dead, bloated body. Edith thinks that Marlon knew his killer and that the probable motive was money.

I asked about his wife Keiko and their kids. Edith said they advised Keiko not to come to the Philippines but rather stay in Japan. They think it's not safe for them to come here. Edith also said the reason she came here alone was that she and Willy thought it wasn't safe to bring THEIR kids home. I can't figure out whether she meant it wasn't safe because there's a murderer out there who may pick on Marlon's relatives as next targets, or whether it wasn't safe to be in the Philippines in general. Truth be told, I will take offense if she meant the latter.

Edith said Marlon's burial is tomorrow. She asked us not to tell Papa about Marlon's death. She expects to be back in California this Saturday.

Edith also said that Aunt Mely and Uncle Ed Custodio are still in California. Uncle Ed had another check-up. The doctors discovered he just suffered multiple stroke and he wasn't even aware of it.

Fiesta

Today's the Fiesta in Pacita. Tessie came as expected and she brought ingredients to cook pancit. This means today's the last day of the fair with its noisy emcee and people screaming from the fast rides.

The only thing I looked forward to was the fireworks display at night. One can see it from our house. I wonder if my camera caught it - or will I just get a blank screen?

Late because of a good read

Woke up early but came to the office late. I just had to finish Dave Pelzer's book. Just in case you're wondering what "My Story" is all about, it's a thick book that puts together three of Pelzer's bestsellers - "A Child Called It", "The Lost Boy", and "A Man Called Dave". It's the story of how Dave Pelzer overcame child abuse under his mother and "broke the chain" of violence that started with his grandmother.

I had hoped to be just 10 to 15 minutes late, but when I got to the bus station, the line was long. I was able to ride on the third bus that came back from Manila. I was in Buendia around 9am and decided that since I'm already late, I better eat breakfast at McDonald's near La Salle. My log in at the office was 9:30 am.

New Toy

I woke up to find Jon had already cleared up the computer table in order to install the scanner. After about an hour of connecting the right cables and installing the drivers via the accompanying CD, the scanner was ready for use. I was still sleepy and left Jon to figure out how to use it. I went back to read Dave Pelzer's book.

Minutes after Jon had finished with tinkering with the scanner, I took my turn to figure out how to use it - particularly the part where one scans negatives and uses Adobe Photoshop to "enhance" or "develop" the scanned image.

Tessie came by and showed a picture Cely sent her. I scanned it before returning it to her.

After a while, I got tired of the new toy and went back to Dave Pelzer's book.

Dilemma

Jon and I went to Alabang Town Center today to buy that Microtek 4800 scanner. Unfortunately, the shop I had hoped carried it had none in stock. We found out that the shop had a branch in SM North EDSA which has one unit available. Jon reserved it and went there to that mall. He's buying a book that's available there anyway.

I stayed behind. Browsed at National Book Stored while waiting for Sam. She arrived past 12:30 and we met at Necafe Cafe - as usual. She gave me some dried plums as pasalubong from Singapore. She said she loved the place and would love to go back there. She wouldn't hesitate to leave the country and settle there. Next year she and her mother plans to go to Australia and New Zealand. I'm invited to join them. So I've got to start saving.

Sam gave me the invitation to her sit-down birthday party dinner. I'm still divided as to whether to go to the MART annual convention in Bohol or to her party. The Nov. 8 PHP200 dinner ticket I already gave away because it was the bottom choice. Being Vikki's alternate trader in the Peso desk, I had a sure slot in Bohol. When I hinted that I wouldn't mind not being in Bohol - Vikki thought it was unthinkable that I wouldn't be there because I'm actually trading peso, Jeng raised an eyebrow and thought no one in her right mind would throw away a weekend in Bohol worth PHP14,000. On the other hand, Sam would really be disappointed if I didn't go after saying months ago that I would. Last year, she got drunk during her birthday party because "I wasn't there" (Sam's effective putting me on a guilt trip here).

I would have to decide before All Saints Day.

After Sam was finished telling me about her vacation, she invited me to watch Sharon and Aga's movie - Ako na Lang Sana. It was a light movie - providing a few chuckles here and there. It wasn't something to want to watch again like Mano Po or Jose Rizal (I still have to find a DVD of that one).

We parted after the movie since Sam has to go to Ogie's baby shower.

I stayed around at Power Books. I bought Dave Pelzer's "My Story" and a reference book on Harry Potter.

Jon arrived around 11p.m. After canvassing the other computer shops in SM North EDSA, he still ended up buying the unit he reserved at DataCore's branch. It's a bit expensive by PHP300-400, but DataCore offers a one year warranty and even if the warranty expires, we can bring the unit to DataCore's Alabang branch which will bring the unit to a service center. In other words, we paid for the probable future service. Both tired, we didn't open the box tonight.

DLSU's loss to Ateneo - the Aftermath

Boss Boy, a full blooded Atenean, announced that he'd understand if the La Sallites would side with FEU at the finals. He he he! He's gloating that Ateneo got in the finals again. They're defending champion.

Text message from Cristy: Jane dpat pla s bnondo ako ng bet! Dun panalo lasale, d odd s 1-3 n plus 6 1/2 pts s lasale score b4 ateneo s declard winner. Yun mga prof d2 panalo cla, ako lang tlo!sent : 30-Sept-2003 19:44:28

That means Cristy treats whoever won to the bar/restaurant called Pier 1.

Text message from Rach: At least they put on a gud fight. Malakas na hangin d2, may sound na naman. Signal dat christmas is near. sent : 30-Sept-2003 20:05:24

"Brrr" months are really here. Colder nights. Should be much colder in Rach's place in Batangas. They're near the mountain. You really feel being in the province even though it's Ayala Heights - you'd find a white owl or a crow flying above at night. Not to mention having snakes crawling into your house.