More firsts (A 7-Month Roundup)

i promised myself i would take this weekend to do a roundup of everything i've been up to during the past seven months. it was one of the things i looked forward to all this hectic week. now i'm happy just to be curled up in bed, with the aircon on and a scarf thrown over the lamp, finally taking time for myself to just write. i can hear marlon watching wrestling in the next room, and i know my cat is lying in the hallway watching both our doors! all is good :)

my last post before i sank into radio silence last january was a list of all the 'firsts' i had last year. i had fun doing that -- so that's what i'm going to do to fill you in on the last seven months!

i got my first tattoo! this was the long-delayed mutual wedding gift marlon and i had agreed on.

i went to boracay with marlon for the first time. i had been there twice previously -- first as part of my freelance stint with the philippine star, and the second time to be a bridesmaid at julien and eena's wedding -- but i had always wanted to go with marlon. it was his first time to go too!

i went parasailing for the first time. fifteen glorious minutes riding the wind, hovering over the sea amidst a glowing dusk. it felt like being in a fantasy novel. 

i made my first attempt at skimboarding. this resulted in a grand buttwhacking on that fine boracay sand, which was, i realized, the first sports-related injury of my brief but sedentary life.

i appeared as an extra in one of my own promos! this was for a series of vignettes for season five of "the office" on universal. 

i dragged marlon into the shoot as well. 

his friend allan was a great casting find for this -- he was hilarious, with a perfect sense of comic timing. 

i saw wolfgang live! i know, i know, this is not a first, but it was just such a huge event for me! okay, it's the first time i've seen them in 10 years! is that better? 

basti *swoon*

i went to vietnam for the first time! hanoi was the minibreak of choice for holy week. hanoi's chaos and energy reminded me of manila, yet it also seemed like a city that manila could have been. 

halong bay, a dead ringer for neverland

luon cave, a surreal chunk of outer space carved into one of halong bay's many islets

spiced truffle fritters at our best discovery of the trip: the green tangerine restaurant

last afternoon having vietnamese coffee overlooking hoan kiem lake

first time to visit phuket, too. sorry, no pictures -- our beloved lumix died a few hours after we landed.

... to be continued