Whatever Day

I didn't go to work today cos I had lots of pending work with my online job. I brought my laptop over at my boyfriend's place. We went to a "carinderia" for lunch and bought lots of iced tea and potato chips. I had sisig and rice for lunch. Cheap meals. Carinderias are really cheap places to go to eat if you want home cooking. My desktop PC is still busted so I'm posting from my boyfriend's computer and internet connection. This is a really really quick post cos my boyfriend's going to work in a while. Baboosh!

Dinagyang & A Busted PC

Photos stolen from various blogsites. Sorry I forgot to cite!

It's been a busy week and one helluva weekend. It's Dinagyang season here in Iloilo and when you say Dinagyang, it's the busiest and biggest festival here in our locale. It started out as a "religious" festival that of course got inculcated into the culture and is now just a big Mardi Gras party. Please see this article if you're interested in the background of the festival. In my opinion, the whole conception of this celebration is not based on any historical fact or event.

Legend has it that Panay (the whole island where Iloilo is a part of) was bought by Malayan settlers and for this barter, the Atis (the natives) celebrated and danced in the streets (which doesn't give any reason to celebrate in the first place), a story based on the Maragtas which claims to be a historical book but is also accused of being a hoax. In the 60's, an image of the Sto. NiÑo (baby Jesus) was given to a local Iloilo parish from a Cebu priest and the whole devotion to the Sto NiÑo thing was made part of the Dinagyang dancing with people dressed as Atis, dancing while raising Sto NiÑo figures in hand.

Today, you can still see Atis roaming the city and I tell you they're all nomads. They refuse to embrace the modern world (except for the love of rhum maybe - you see them gulping down bottles of Tanduay), selling broomsticks and turtles, settling in no permanent place. No dancing, no recognition of religion. They're still pure pagans and indigent people. The Dinagyang thing is just an excuse for a festival but that's not a problem with me. The problem is the whole pretention of offering the festival to the Catholic God and making it a religious activity when all the people do are drinking and dancing in the streets and getting laid in parties. LOL. If you ever fly by the Philippines, I suggest you make it to Dinagyang. It's a fun festival where the whole city parties (literally). It's fun. Oh yeah and my PC got busted so I can't share photos yet. Boohoo. And yeah, I miss you guys!

I loved the idea of the twin photos from The Clothes Horse so

I kinda tried to make my own using Paint. Haha.

Dumangas Lunch

My brother arrived yesterday for a short vacation here at home. He'll go back to Manila on the 21st so we're making the best to spend time with him. We journeyed to Dumangas (pronounced doo-mang-gas) for lunch. Journeyed is an exaggeration. Dumangas is just a 30-minute drive from our house. It's a coastal town with lots of restaurants-by-the-beach that serve the freshest menu of seafood. We ate grilled fish (called Bulgan), milkfish soup (Bangus Sinigang), fried shrimps marinated in garlic, grilled squid, and lots of grilled oysters! We had ice cream for dessert. We went back to the city after and hung out at the mall for a while. We're going out later tonight. I'm gonna catch some sleep for now. I'll be posting photos tomorrow of tonight's activities. Oh yeah, I wore my chucks today cos I'm planning to join the Good Luck Chucks weardrobe contest (thanks to Amelia by the way for the link) but I wasn't able to get good shots of what I wore. I don't think I'm gonna win ever but what the heck. ^_^

Sleep Deprived

I attended a pharmacy convention yesterday and went "clubbing" for the first time. I went with my office friends. It was a new experience. Human interaction is just interesting and intriguing especially in superficial settings. I really don't get the fun in gyrating one's body against a stranger while gay house music is playing.

Shirt: Guess (stolen from my brother),
Skirt: school skirt from Hiroshima (thrifted),
Tights: SM

Joodito!

It's been cold for the past days. I believe it's one of the coldest we've had for the past years. So when I was riding the jeepney this morning shuddering in the cold, I remembered Joodito. Joodito is one of the few crafsters I admire so much. I've been a big fan since 2007 when I first saw her jacket recons. I made a few jackets and blouses that were totally inspired by her. But I can't quite come up with something as perfect as hers. I can't even buy an original from her shop because the shipping fee would kill me. Her sewing skills are amazing. I'm a pretty big fan of her high collar design. Here are a few of her lovely creations and reconstructions:













Aren't they lovely? Photos were grabbed from her Craftster posts. Do check out her etsy shop and her website.

Five Days A Week

Here's what I wear most days: my uniform. I guess it would be nice to share what I'm always wearing. I'm a pharmacist in a hospital, by the way. ^_^

FIC

Butterscotch. Chocomint. Those were the flavors of ice cream my boyfriend and I ate the other night. We had ice cream before going to work at Crave. They have this great selection of gourmet ice creams labeled Fruits in Ice Cream. They cost way too much than the regular brands here. A pint costs P160.00 (at least $3.40) but a pint of a regular brand costs around P50-P60 only. See the difference? Anyways, we had a pint each. I had Butterscotch and he had Chocomint. Divine! We just sat around the wayside talking and laughing. After we finished our ice cream, we went inside this clothing shop called The Off-Price. It was my first time there and they had stuff from Zara and Forever 21. It was rare to find those brands around here. They were also reasonably priced. I'm definitely going there sometime to shop.


We also ate desserts at a new place called Nothing But Desserts. They were really overpriced but they didn't taste too good. The interior was nice though and the presentation of the food was sweet.

Later on, two of our friends joined us. We went back outside to sit around. One of our friends was already drunk. He had 5 bottles of Red Horse Beer before coming out to meet us. He was sleeping and snoring at the side of the parking area. According to friends, Red Horse has high alcohol content than any other beers out there. Oh well, I'm babbling again. Anyways, it was a fun night.

By the way, I apologize for the pics. I only had my phone cam with me.

Shirt: Artwork, Shorts: Surplus Shop, Stockings: SM Dept. Store

A Day With Bambi

Went to Duhwain's dad's farm last January 2nd to document the repair of some parts of the land that have been eaten away by the river. A mother cow and her calf came along to join us. The baby kinda looks like Bambi.

Everything we're wearing were thrifted. The rubber slippers
I'm wearing I borrowed from Duhwain's mom.

After A Long Time Away (Warning: Photo Overload)

It's been a while. Man, do I miss blogging! Summary of what happened: went to Dumaguete for the wedding I was talking about. Left Iloilo on the 26th because the wedding's on the 27th. The wedding was my boyfriend's cousin's from New York by the way. I decided to ditch my white-black shoes. My boyfriend bought me a new pair. Going to Dumaguete was really butt-numbing. We had to take an hour boat ride to Bacolod and from Bacolod, a 6 hour bus ride to Dumaguete. I couldn't feel my butt when I got off the bus. I couldn't even stand straight.

I love Dumaguete a lot. I want to retire there and do hippie stuff like dance naked on the beach while doing paintings and sell crafts. I am so in love with the city especially the restaurants and the food. It was like a European experience in an Island setting. We ate breakfast at Why Not?, which serves fresh cheeses and great breads and pastries and German, Swiss, American and Filipino breakfasts (lots of other places served these too, but we haven't tried all of them). The food was divine. We also ate at Sans Rival. They had really scrumptious cakes, pastries and coffee, and also delicious pasta. Plus they didn't cost too much. Aside from the darling modern food place, the plethora of fish and seaweeds abound the market!!! Delicious! Dumaguete's a really small place. You can just walk to get to anywhere. There weren't even jeepneys (the usual public transportation in the Philippines), just trikes/tricycles (small public transport bikes with three wheels).

I got back on the 29th and I had to go to work on the 30th. I had to attend post Christmas parties thrown by friends and do stuff for New Year's Eve's noche buena, so it was really busy for me. I haven't even transferred the photos from the camera yet. Oh well. I'll probably make a Flickr account so you guys can check out Dumaguete, too. It's a nice place to go to. Wish I could talk more. I'll post as soon as I get myself walking with regular strides. I still feel jolted from everything. I'm even typing fffaaassssssttttttt as if my brain's gonna explode if I even take time to think about how I'm gonna write or edit.

Happy New Year, Everyone!!!

Love,
Donna