"London familiarization tour" -- That was how we labeled Ate Shawie's movie, Caregiver. Sad to say, na-disappoint ako sa movie na ito na pinagkahintay-hintay ko.

Just so you know, about movies ang thesis namin ni Charm nung college. Dahil doon, we developed this inclination towards Pinoy movies, kahit mainstream. Napag-uusapan pa namin noon kung kailan kaya magkakaroon ng movie ang Star Cinema na "London," gayong meron nang Dubai at Milan. Tapos, in less than a year yata, nalaman naming may Sharon Cuneta movie set in London kaya naexcite naman kami. Nakakatuwa kasing isipin na nag-materialize pala yung what-if's namin.

Then, finally, I got to see Caregiver last night with my CX friends. Kung sa amin ni Charm, fascination for movie addicts ang pag-materialize ng London film na to, sa amin naman ng CX friends, London fam tour ang Caregiver. Bilang mahal ang long haul flights at wala naman talaga kaming panahon para mag-leave nang kaswalan at wala (pa) kaming UK visa, watching the film was probably the closest we could get to London (sa ngayon).

Kaya lang, ayun, the movie failed to impress me. Siguro, factor na rin yung katabi ko ang mahadera kong officemate na si Jerjer, na walang patawad sa pag-comment sa movie, kaya hindi ko na-feel yung overall drama effect ng Caregiver. Feeling ko tuloy, nakakainis kaming dalawa sa sinehan kasi akala mo, nanood kami ng comedy movie kung makapag-comment. Gusto ko pa namang maantig, tutal bihira naman ako manood ng drama movies. Pero the movie itself, despite the presence of Jerjer, was dragging and lacked the "kurot sa puso" factor.


(Spoilers ahead)

Dragging as I find it, may parts pa rin namang nag-enjoy ako sa panonood. Paano ba naman, nandoon sina Jhong Hilario, Lotlot de Leon, Monique Wilson, Anita Linda, Dexter Doria, Kuya Boy in Maximo Oliveros, Ella V, and Gary Granada. Hindi kasi ako aware na andun sila. Kaya nakakatuwa lang na kasama pala sila doon. Pati nga yung asawa ni Ai-ai sa Ang Cute ng Ina Mo, andun din eh!

At in fairness naman sa Caregiver, may funny lines din. Although hindi sapat yun para maging enjoyable for me ang movie. PERO NAMAN... sobrang naappreciate ko yung kinuha nilang Brit actor to play the role of Mr. Morgan. Siya talaga yung fave person ko in this movie. Yung mga linya lang niya ang tumatak talaga sa akin, lalo na ito:

Sometimes, when you least expect it, someone will come into your life, and make you feel less lonely.

Yang buong eksenang yan, ang sakit sa puso. Pati yung simpleng "Thank you" ni Mr. Morgan for Sarah's job, dama ko naman daw. (Mahanap nga transcript nito.) hahaha. Tapos may letter pa si Mr. Morgan kay Sarah na talaga namang napa-tears on cue ako. Narealize ko lang, that you really have to love yourself and find the path that your heart tells you to take. That you have to make it a point to consider what would be better for yourself before taking on other people's problems, or giving in to their needs. Pero hindi sa magpaka-selfish ka. Isa pa, it's not too late to show how much you care for someone; or simply, just show that you care and that you feel. Yan naman ang napagtanto ko sa mga eksenang coldness ni Mr. Morgan towards his son and Sarah. Basta, sabi ko nga sa inyo, si Mr. Morgan lang ang mabenta sa akin sa movie.

Kaya kung gaano ka-boring ang comments ko, ganun din ako na-bore sa movie. Ang laki kasi talaga ng inexpect ko dahil anniversary offering daw to ng Star Cinema, tapos comeback movie ni Ate Shawie, tapos set in London. Nag-expect ako ng mga linyang tatatak talaga sa isip ko, kaya lang wala naman. For that, Kung Ako na Lang Sana pa rin ang fave movie ko ni Ate Shawie. hahaha. On second thought, baka nga depende yan sa mood mo sa sinehan. Hihintayin ko na lang siya sa Cinema One, panonoorin mag-isa, baka sakaling maantig na yung damdamin ko pag pinanood ko ulit.

May nakita akong Biology Concepts and Connections by Campbell dito sa bahay. Naalala ko bigla na 2nd year high school na nga pala ang kapatid ko. At 2nd year high school naman ang darkest days ko nung panahon ko. Sa Bio umiikot ang 2nd year, and since hindi ako science person, my sophomore year was my worst, academically speaking.

Eto na naman ako. Times like this, when I'm alone, make me reminisce about the not-so-distant past. Pag mag-isa kasi ako, dun ako nakakapag-nilay-nilay. Parang last week, nung mag-isa ako sa Glorietta, at mag-isa akong nag-lunch sa Kenny Roger's... Mukha akong gago nun, mag-isa sa table, kung kelan lahat ng table ay taken ng mga pamilya, barkada, at lovers. Nasa kalagitnaan ako ng mabagal na paghihimay ng roast chicken nang biglang tumugtog yung Seasons of Love.

Flashback senior high, graduation day, overwhelmed sa vocal music class, dahil in fairness, magaling naman silang kumanta. Or maybe, it was the mere fact that it was graduation day and we were about to leave our beloved high school completely. Bilang UPIS batch 2003 rocks, mahirap talagang hindi ko ma-miss ang batchmates ko.

Sometime last month yata, Cza left for the US, tapos may despedida for her, siyempre. Pag bina-browse ko yung multiply albums nung despedida, tapos nakikita ko si Gian, si Bill, ang 10-Dao... nanghihinayang ako kung bakit ba hindi ako pumunta. Tapos sina Mei, Kitts, and FOTNM, laging may get-together na parang ang dali-dali para sa kanila ang gumala. Probably, it helped na lahat sila at nasa loob lang din ng UPD campus nung college, unlike me na in-exile sa all-girls' school along Commonwealth Ave a.k.a. AIT.

Eh bakit ba napaka-inggitera ko? HAHAHA. Ang tamad-tamad ko kasi. Pwede naman akong makipag-kita sa high school friends ko, nakakatamad lang mag-commute. Basta, promise na to, magplano kayo ng maayos at solid na get-together, pupunta talaga ako. Yung GSP All-Stars reunion, di na nag-materialize.

Dali, bago maubos yung five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes natin.

I've been to Hong Kong three times now, within the first two quarters of this year. I'm getting used to flying business class as well. Takot ko rin namang hindi makasakay ano. Last weekend's HKG trip with my CX friends was "Roster Magic," as we call it, thanks to the Roster King Jerjer who was able to manipulate our schedules for six of us have weekends off.

From what I remember, after coming back from HKG last April (overdue writeup!!!), we already planned on going to Macau in June. All seven of us agreed on that: Carla, Marie, Apol, Rozz, Yvette, Robee, and me. (Mas madali kasing mag-enumerate pag by DOJ!) But due to the increase in fuel surcharges, we decided to split into two groups: Carla, Apol, Robee, and I will be going to Ocean Park while Marie, Rozz, and Yvette will push through with the Macau trip. Nevertheless, we still decided to go together on the same weekend.

Roll call: that was 7 of us, plus Niko, plus Carla's mom and sis, and Rozz's mom and bro. I think that was the "biggest HKG trip" to date. So... we agreed on taking different flights because it won't do us any good if we insisted to travel together.



the Kumpletong Picture


I wasn't really planning to buy business class tickets for this trip, but when the Regal Hotels in HKG offered free accommodation for CX staff (w/ food vouchers, of course), I made up my mind to just spend on the tickets. After all, I didn't want to stress myself over not getting on the flight to HKG since almost all CX staff from MNL availed of the free hotel. So, we went hotel-hoarding that all of us had our own rooms, breakfast coupons, and HKD500 food vouchers.

I decided to take CX906 (11:05am) last June 13 even if it meant that I'd be traveling alone to another country for the first time. Prep for long haul flights! haha. A bit before 10am that morning, I got a call from Robee and the magic words came -- BN307, 88A. *ahem* I'll be having a window seat on the upper deck!

(so the adventure continues)


Pictures here:
Friday
Saturday
Sunday

It has been over 2 months now since our April Hong Kong trip. (Duh, siyempre 2 months. Eh April yun tapos June na ngayon. So two months nga. Binara ang sarili??) This entry has long been overdue and I guess it's time for me to tell you about my HKG escapades, and time for me to be masipag enough to write about it. Ang haba kasi talaga ng kwento at tinamad akong magsulat the past months.

We had this HKG trip planned right after we got home from our Feb/Mar HKG trip. We just had this feeling that we were compelled to go back to Hong Kong (ASAP) to get over the camera tragedy. It was all set then -- Robee, Aika, Lea, and I will be going back to HKG in April; plus Rozz and Yvette. After less than a month of preps, Aika, Lea, and Rozz backed out (hmp), leaving Robee, Yvette, and me still a hundred percent all-out for the trip. It was about a week before our HKG adventure when we booked our hotel and decided to just go to Disneyland. It was a little over a week before April 11 when I decided (actually, they convinced me) to buy round trip business class tickets instead of one way economy and one way business. By that time, my renewed passport still hadn't been released -- causing me panic attacks and occasional guilt, for I might have been the reason for our HKG Weekend not to push through.

Anyway... that was my 2nd ID90 trip and my first visit to HK Disneyland. It gave me a lot of firsts and I could go on and on enumerating "my firsts" here since pwede ko namang pilitin, masabi lang na first time ko yun. hahaha. So read on, strain your eyes, laugh at me, love me, bitch out on me, tell me how pathetic I am, or whatever. Basta ako, nag-enjoy.

The three of us got the chance to go online during our first morning in HKG (well, took advantage of free WiFi at the HKIA) and we were able to send a "letter" to our resa friends who were on duty that Saturday. That letter never fails to make me smile, since it really was a masterpiece of our joint effort to compose something worth reading. Yung mafi-feel ng officemates namin na ANG SAYA-SAYA NAMIN SA HONG KONG. Of course, I won't be posting it here since you can't relate to it anyway. But to create the same "garapal na letter" feel, let me tell you about our April HKG Adventure in the same jologs na kung jologs manner, at pagbigyan nyo na ako, I want this to make me smile everytime I read this. At nino-nosebleed na ako... *wipes off blood beginning to clot*



(Read More)

*phone rings with I Need A Hero ringtone*
*registered name: Charm - roaming*

Gdwn thinks: Ang yaman ng bruhang to, cell phone na ang pinapangtawag sa akin ngayon, hindi na landline na may prepaid card!

Gdwn says: Hello? Hello? Hello, Charm!

Charm: Gdwn, SI GRACE TO! Magkasama kami ni Charm ngayon!

Gdwn: GRAAAAACE!!!! Nasaan kayo?!

Grace: Sa bus! Ikaw na lang ang kulang! Sorry, ginagawa ka naming bridge ng messages ni Charm. Ikaw na talaga ang London Bridge!

Gdwn thinks: *tears on cue* hahahaha parang birthday ko tapos may phone patch!

Charm: Gusto lang namin ipaalam na magkasama kami.. chever chever...

WAAAAAHHHH!!! Ok, ok, aware akong may Heathrow flight si Grace ng 27. Nawalan lang ako ng sense of timeframe ngayon kaya na-surprise ako. OH.MY.GOD. Ang arte ko.

At dahil naputol ang phone patch nyo sa akin kanina, here's what I wanted to say:

Gracie, seryosong ang saya-saya ko na nagkita kayo. Kasi almost a year na kayong hindi nagkikita ni Charm! Tapos diba, Gatwick flights ka lang noon.. parang so close yet so far. Anubeh! At naku, sobrang walang kaso sa akin ang maging "bridge" no. (Ano ba kasi yung more appropriate term para dun? Baka isipin nila lesbo lovin kayo kasi may nagbi-bridge for you!) Kasi hello, naisakatuparan na rin (partly) yung plano nating get-together abroad! GRABEEEEE!!!!

Kinabahan pa akong maputol yung call nyo kanina kasi low batt na ako. Hindi ko makapa kung nasaan yung charger, ipa-plug ko sana talaga habang kausap kayo! Kung napipicture nyo lang ako na naeexcite dito. Promise, mukha akong cartoons. Na parang kinukurot yung puso ko in a way lalo na yung sinabi nyong "Ako na lang ang kulang." Alam nyo naman, pag si Grace ang nagbitaw ng linya, napapa-movie mode kami ni Charm! Parang shet, tears on cue talaga to! WAAAAHHH!!! Kelan naman kaya yung turn ko diyan?! Kelangan ko na magsipag mag-ayos ng documents!

Moving on... Kelangan ko na tapusin tong phone patch extension natin. Gusto ko lang sabihin na masaya talaga ako sa get-together nyong yan. Hihintayin ko sa Multiply ang pictures nyo. Shet kayo, phone booth photoshoot? Hmp. waaaaahhhhh group hug!