Eto na

eto na...

eto na...

eto na...

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!

--

packing is miraculously done -- marlon and i did it over the phone last night (oooh yes hot i know), folding socks simultaneously with the receivers cradled under our chins. another reason to love my boyfriend: he listens to me agonizing over what bag to bring and solves the dilemma by asking stunningly perceptive, girly-like questions such as "but will that actually make any of your outfits look better?"

the end of my to-do list is in sight, and so is a wonderful adventure.

--

so here's the plan:

october 20 - finish off my last-minute errands, fly off from manila
october 21 - stopover in dubai/ arrive in paris/ somehow find marlon
october 21 to 27 - paris, france! concerts/ masses/ embassy visit/ rehearsals/ my 25th birthday
october 27 to november 1 - saint-lo, normandy, france! polyfollia choral festival/ concerts/ rehearsals/ hopefully some fun in the evenings
november 1 to 14 - pais vasco a.k.a. basque country, spain! tolosa international choral competition/ a couple of free days/ concerts in the region: pamplona, eibar, zarauz, borja

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PRAY FOR US

ON NOVEMBER 4!

4PM (10AM RP time) Folklore Competition

10PM (4pm RP time) Polyphony Competition

november 14 to 17 - the great grandada adventure! andalucia (granada and sevilla) with pia and jeline

november 17 to 20 - barcelona, spain with miikka and jonathan

november 20 - manila, i'm coming home!

bye everybody! will try to update on the road. pray that i don't get sick or too fat, that zara will be on some kind of megasale and that i don't run out of money!

Fasyon + warmth = impossible?

haaaaay. wish ko lang talaga na ganito ako ka-fasyon on tour. but i have this creeping suspicion that only people born and bred in cold climes can look this fabulous and still stay warm. woe to poor tropical me.

woe to poor denim-loving me, too. our super-fasyon vp and i had a quick chat in the elevator about my trip. she used to work for a prestige beauty brand, so she used to go to europe a lot, particularly paris. her mini-bombshell of advice before stepping out of the elevator: "oh, and don't wear blue jeans. they don't like it." gaaah. how can i not wear blue jeans and still stay warm?

i've been staying up till 2am every day for the past few days doing my packing in little chunks. clothes and makeup today, shoes and bags tomorrow, that sort of thing.

whenever i feel like just tossing random things into my suitcase, i call up images of the way i looked in my 2000 and 2001 european trips -- thinness squandered on katulong- and dyke-ish shapeless outfits *shudder* -- and the horror and shame spur me to be more conscientious. i want to try on all my clothes before i actually go, but i don't know if i'll still have the time or energy. i might have to look at actual photos of myself in 2000 and 2001 to find the resolve.

the photo of the fabulous outfit, by the way, is from hel looks, a site dedicated to street fashion in helsinki and one of my favorite sites. visiting this site is like going to an ukay-ukay -- you have to wade through a lot of crappy, so-so and sometimes thoroughly bizarre outfits to find real gems. the idiosyncratic english soundbytes ("my style idols are marilyn monroe and all smiling people") are also a blast to read.

Midnight at the Medical City E.R.

ok game! kwento na!

a.k.a., "the mysterious case of the midnight higad"

okay. for the past three weeks, i've been getting these weird pantal (is there an english translation that adequately conveys the ickiness of pantal?) on my tummy. they were especially weird because they would appear only at the office past 11 p.m. (apparently, i'm allergic to overtime.) and since i had no time to see a doctor, there was there was no choice but to itch and bear it...

until last wednesday. i was relieving my mounting work- and tour-related anxieties with the boyf over brownie a la mode at jack's loft. i had the itchies as usual, and was even talking to marlon about finding time to go to an allergy specialist before my trip. all of a sudden my face went numb and hot at the same time and within seconds, the entire left side of my face had puffed up like some freakish pink souffle.

so he drove me to the nearest e.r. while i entertained wild fantasies of rolling around on a very large sheet of sandpaper. at medical city, we spent a lot of time being disoriented by the sheer size of the place and sitting in the wrong room before we finally found the e.r.. we took pictures (of course) while waiting for a doctor. when we did get to see one, the first thing he said to me was: "you look familiar." my reply: "do you know anyone who looks this lumpy?"

since he couldn't determine the cause of my lumpiness (i'm allergic to virtually nothing -- i highly suspect it's stress-induced), he prescribed momentary relief via a shot of benadryl. no, not the cough syrup, but some kind of mega anti-inflammatory thing with a sedative effect. i didn't realize just how much of "sedative effect" the shot carried until i tried to get up to go to the toilet and found myself being pursued by two male nurses with a wheelchair. "i can go to the bathroom by myself. i'm not sleepy!" i protested. but the nurses wouldn't budge -- apparently i could just lose consciousness and crumple into a lumpy heap on the floor at any given moment! and so i got to take my first wheelchair ride, thoughtfully documented here by my paparazzi boyfriend.

i stayed at the e.r. until about 2am to sleep off most of the sedative, but the world remained a soupy fog for the rest of the day. i went to work literally stoned -- my vacant, unblinking stare unnerving my boss, who shouted "hoy! uminom ka nga ng tubig, nakakatakot ka!" at me during a meeting.

the sedatives were nice. last week was so hectic, i was almost sorry they wore off.

i did go to an allergologist for a follow up, though. much observation is needed for the cause of the whole blowup to be determined. unfortunately, i won't be here for the crucial observation period -- i'll be off gallivanting (and hopefully not itching) all over spain and france. but she did agree with my offhand hypothesis that it's most likely stress, and she did prescribe meds in case the itchies pop up again.

hmmm. i wonder if the meds she prescribed have a sedative effect too. i just might need them right before the competition.