Canon G11.

Woohoo, guess what I got for my birthday? 5 days before my birthday, I got a Canon G11 camera from Ian! So here I am, blogging and trying the camera at 10:00ish PM trying the different features of my tantanananan brand new camera!

Before G11, I loved my Ixus 90, it produced really good pictures! It traveled with me :)

The photos above were taken by my trusty Ixus 90, really nice, right? :) Now for comparison at low light condition, look at the photos below! Photo on the left is my Ixus 90, then photo on the right is my G11. REALLY noticeable improvement on G11, both taken at manual setting ISO 800! Click on it, so you'll see the picture closely and see the 'noise' in my old camera.

Can't wait to take pictures and bring my new camera to another trip! :D Thanks Ian! :) And so looking forward to nice pictures of Aleksa! :D

25 and then some.

I haven't done the birthday post yet :) I turned 25 last January, and no I don't feel that it's such a big deal to turn 25. No epiphanies, no grand birthday celebration, no feeling of having a specific turning point in my life. Just another year older.

Anyway, I just remembered having no birthday post because I just opened the letter from Ateneo. I'm perplexed that even after almost 5 years after graduating, I still get a birthday greeting from school. Hahahaha, and well, the letter's supposed to be from Fr. Nebres, but for sure the signature is digital and everything's a template for all the birthday celebrants. But I still appreciate the effort, imagine how many people actually graduate each year, and up to how many years do they actually send the letter. I wonder if other schools do this too? I receive this every year since I graduated.


Anyway, I know this is weird, it's Valentine's day and my post is about my birthday. That's why the title says and then some, for my other ramblings.

For one, no I haven't won the lotto yet! There's still no winner, and I guess I better stop dreaming of actually winning the lotto and shake myself to reality. I don't wanna waste more P20's hahaha.

Second, I am so raving about this Caramel and Cheese Popcorn! Chicago Popcorn Shops in Mall of Asia! After I read the post, it so happen that we were really going to MOA that day, so I was able to try it. I guarantee, it's better than Chef Tony's and Holy Kettle Popcorn (which I both love). Their popcorn is SOOO damn good. Seriously, sue me if you don't like it.
Lastly, I'm still not into the whole Vday thing. Love should be celebrated everyday hahahaha. Cheesy! :)

Throwing A Surprise Birthday Bash.

My post is a week late :) I wish I read a blog's entry on how to throw one so it would have helped me last week for Ian's birthday. Throwing a surprise birthday thing is nerve wracking I tell you. It's like taking a Philo oral exam, and you're nervous as hell because you don't know if you'll be able to explain and expound a thesis statement or you'll just end up having a blank stare and end up saying nothing.

For a surprise birthday bash, it's either the celebrant gets surprised or he doesn't. One wrong sms message can ruin it all. Paranoia can jumpstart your heartbeat to how many beats per second and the agony can really make you nauseous.

But yes, you do it in the spirit of Birthdays.

I'm not claiming any expertise on throwing surprises because for one, it's my first time to throw something like this, it's not even a party per se, because I expected the max would be 25 people since it's just his closest friends. But in case I can help, here's my two cents.

Some aspects of throwing a birthday surprise are no brainer, like instead of having a surprise dinner, why not try throwing something after dinner so people are more available, and it comes cheaper because it's just booze and some food. Well it actually depends, but more often than not, dinner would end up dinner and after-dinner-drinks, so that really might come up more expensive.

For the location, you can just go to different resto/bars to check with them, or call them and you can inquire.

But that's not hard part, the hard part is coming up with a reason on how to bring the celebrant to the place where he'll be celebrating his birthday. This is the toughest thing :)

And I've asked people on how to do that but it's always a case to case basis, and what other people have done might not work for me.

The answer? What I did was I came up with a pseudo Amazing Race. Yes, being a big fan that I am of the show. I gave Ian different clues and fake road block, it eventually led him to his friends :)

Although someone actually slipped something :P It was a success :) He was surprised! Yes! :)

Turning 23.

I just turned 23 exactly 7 days ago :) Although I don't feel that old, I know I'm not getting any younger. I don't feel like I'm "older" or anything, but after graduating college, it's like you're in the same state of being and age becomes just a number. Whenever I ask people their age when they're in the late 20's and older, they have to think and compute before they answer, I think when you get old you try to forget your age so you feel younger- concsiously and unconsciously. I guess I'd have to wait and see if I become like that. People shouldn't be embarrassed by their age, with years come bountiful experience and knowledge. Everyone should embrace their age with grace. (I wonder if I would still be saying this when I reach 30. :p)

Good and Bad Week.

My week's the combination of both, because I got sick Monday night, I had fever + cough + colds. Talk about the best combination in the world. Sickness that lasted until Wednesday, wow. So my vacation leave last Tues which was supposed to be put in more interesting and productive activities was put into a halt, and instead I ended up in my bed. And after being drugged, and still being on it, medication I mean, I'm now better :) Yey! I really need to get a flu shot, it's going to be available by the end of March according to the doctor. I really don't like being sick. I mean, when I was in high school and college, I get sick once every two or three years? Now that I started working, I get sick once a year. I'm hoping that this will be the first and last for 2006. I'm going to take my vitamins religiously!

The next highlight of my week, aside from getting better, well.. someone's celebrating his birthday today :p

To my favorite guy, childhood crush, good friend, movie partner, pig out buddy, beach baby, kalbo guy, happy thought, happy happy birthday! More surprises to come later ;) Haha.