41 posts tagged “cher cabula”

time to link here my other blog which i had for quite a while now, because I've just recently purchased a domain for it. Don't worry I'm not leaving vox. I love my Vox neighborhood. I have mirror posts here as well but I'm establishing my Vox blog to have a separate identity. Check it out my other blog here.

Please make sure to leave me a comment if you like one of  my posts there. Thanks. :-)

Well, this was what it said on my shirt when I attended my Muay Thai class the other week (I missed this week's class). I got there very late, no thanks to the traffic in Ortigas and my hectic work schedule.

I'm finally getting the hang of doing my own handwraps, thanks to Maynard for helping me out this time.

Come and get me.

I still have to get my own gloves..in purple!

I was improving on my kicks this time. Well they tried to get a decent shot but well these are the best ones.

I'm so into this sport right now and I can't wait for this week's session. I hope to build my endurance and stamina as well as strength so that I can learn to defend myself. I wonder when we'll learn to tackle and grapple.

It's Good Friday today and for the first time in such a long time, the family is complete here at home on a weekday. When I opened my eyes today, my thoughts went as far back as Christmas last year. During Christmas, we take a four hour car trip going to Quezon Province where most of our relatives are. My dad will usually drive and my mom will sit upfront and me and my sister will be at the back, singing the hours away. While we were driving near Pagsanjan Falls, it suddenly struck me how proud of my parents I am.

Why you ask. Both of my parents didn't come from a rich family. My mom is the daughter of a farmer and my dad is the son of a small-time business man at Lucena city. As with poor families in the province, not everyone is fortunate enough to finish school, much less go to college. Both my parents strived hard to finish college. Both wanted to go to Manila to find better fortune and better living there.

From absolutely nothing, they struggled to give us, their kids, a good home and good schooling. We started out renting an apartment at Sta. Mesa and then moved on to have our own lot and house at Antipolo. We're not rich but we're not poor either. Our home is small but its pretty comfortable. All as a result of hardwork and of juggling 2 jobs each. I graduated from UP, one of the well respected universities here in the Philippines and my sister also graduated from UST another well-known university here.

I now have a pretty good career in Interior Design. I took the board exams right after I graduated and I passed! I guess my workaholic bouts came from them, I never sit idle for too long. I've got that itch to be productive each day. I also want to help in the everyday needs here in the house. I think they did a great job with my upbringing (I think :-P), I graduated at the top of my class and now I'm financially stable. I've bought my own car and saving up to have my own place. I don't do drugs, my friends are not of the wrong kind and I think I have a pretty sensible head in between my shoulders. My sister is continuing her studies to become a doctor and her schooling is getting pretty expensive but still we get by. I help out in ways that I can. I don't want my parents to bear the financial burden on their own.

Looking back at that car ride, I guess I was seeing my parents in a different light. We may have had arguments about petty little things but still we're still one happy family. They'll always back me up wherever or whatever I choose to do. I will always welcome their guidance. I'm lucky to have such good parents and I owe a lot to them.

It’s no secret that I love dogs. I’ve got too many dogs at home as proof. Hahaha So when Seraph invited me to go to a dog show with him, of course I said yes. Since we saw the calendar event at PCCI the day before, we decided to check this out since his friend will also be there to showcase his husky.

The event was held at Marikina at an activity center right beside a hospital. I heard lots of dogs barking the moment I parked my car, I got so excited. It’s a good thing the event was held in an open space and at least there was a cool breeze that day or else the dogs might get tired out from the heat. There wasn’t a diverse breed lineup that day but at least it included beagles, chow chows and huskies. These were the breeds that I’m particularly inclined to watch.

There were so many chows and huskies and I had to stop myself from just going over to each of them and give them hugs!!! Or else I would have been kicked out of the hall. hahaha Good thing I restrained myself. One thing I observed though, the owners really took a lot of time and effort on bringing their dogs there at their best. There were some last minute grooming everywhere. The dogs were obviously trained, hmmmm if I brought my dogs there, they would’ve ran amok…being untrained. haha

The dogs competed on 3 things: form and stance, alertness and obedience. First they’ve got to be presented to the judges in their best form then they have to go around in a circle with their handlers doing a kind of gentle sprint on four legs (not a gallop or else they’d get disqualified). The judge will then test for alertness using a squeak toy and right after the dog will do a final run. Lastly, they’ll do a breed lineup where the dogs will have to hold the proper pose again.

                                  A dog has to be able to hold a pose as dictated by the handler.

                                                                   A quick sprint on four legs.
                                                                           The breed lineup.

Here are the dog breeds that we saw. We didn’t stay long though. We waited only til the huskies were shown so I never found out who came home as champs.

Chowchow

                    Of course I couldn’t resist the “butt” shot. Plus the chow with bib was just soooo adorable!

Beagle

Basenji
I’m not really familiar with this breed, but I was told that they had similarities with Egyptian dingos, that’s why they look like egyptian dogs depicted in most heiroglyphs. They were really small and wth really thin legs.

Pomeranian

                                                                         One word – Fluffy!

Keeshond

Another breed that I’m not familiar with, I love love their silver and black coat. I was told that they were originally called German Spitz, resembling a smaller cousin the Japanese Spitz.

Siberian Husky

 This is basically a long overdue post. No thanks to my crazy schedule for the past months.  Last November my beagle gave birth to four very cute puppies. It was the 27th, just three days after my birthday. She underwent a very gruelling labor of two days. All members of my family did everything we could to make her feel comfortable during this time. She started giving birth a little past midnight and the first one that came out was stillborn. We had to wait at hourly intervals for the pups to finally come out. We barely got any sleep.

The picture on the left is kahlua and the ones below are the puppies when they were just hours old.

Of course I was so excited to name them all. All of our pets had the letter "K" at the start of their names except for Serene (my Siberian Husky), because I adopted her and I didn't want to change the name she was used to. I named the pups Kimono, Kayenne, Keira and Kung Fu. Unfortunately, Kung Fu died two days after because of dehydration. Since it was Kahlua's first time, I think she accidentally lied down on poor Kung Fu. I hope he's happy in doggie heaven now.

These are the pups when they were one month old.

Here they are at two months.

It was a delight when they started walking. At first it was just awkward steps then they learned to run. Then all of a sudden it was a beagle puppy pandemonium inside the house. They were so playful (up until now actually). They've really lived up to their reputation on being on the list of the most destructive dog breeds in the world. No slipper, magazine, throw pillows, towels and socks are safe when the pups are on the loose.

As they grew older, the pups began to develop their personalities. Each had their own quirky habits that we've learned to love.

Kimono, being the only male in the litter, is the initiator of all naughtiness and reckless behaviour.Kimono knows how to make puppy eyes when he wants something and it will take all your self-control not to indulge in what he wants. He's often the first one to fall asleep and the first one to wake up.

Kayenne, has very pretty eyes. When she was still nursing from Kahlua, she would whimper a lot (we don't exactly know why). It seems she's carried on her crybaby trait until now. She loves playing with Kahlua. The only problem I have with her is that there are times when she is very picky with her food.

Keira, I call her the ugly duckling. Not intended cruelly but because she is quite different from her siblings. She looked like a Rottweiler when she was still very small. She is getting quite fat because she loves to eat. It's really interesting watching her grow up because her face markings are changing and the brown is becoming more prominent now.

Just to give a little background, Muay Thai is referred to as "The Art of the Eight Limbs," as the hands, shins, elbows, and knees are all used extensively in this art. A practitioner of Muay Thai ("nak muay") thus has the ability to execute strikes using eight "points of contact," as opposed to "two points" (fists) in Western boxing and "four points" (fists, feet) used in the primarily sport-oriented forms of martial arts. Well that's how Wikipedia says it anyway.

I attended my first session last week without knowing anything about the sport. I arrived 15 or 20 minutes late (guess why) and donned my leggings and shirt ensemble. My first hurdle, I didn't know how to put on my hand wraps properly, much less doing it alone. It's a good thing the trainer offered to show me how. I don't think I was able to memorize the proper steps but I'm sure I'll get it in time.

The class was small, during that time we were only 7, two girls and five guys. I was there with my bestfriend and his wife.

As with any sport, we needed to do proper stretching. I didn't have much trouble catching up. Mostly we worked on flexibility and control. It's a good thing that I did yoga months before because the stretching exercises were a breeze for me. After stretching, since I was the newbie they had to assign a person to teach me one-on-one about the basics of muay thai. The first thing he showed me was the proper fighting stance. I tried to mimic how he looked as best as I could, sans the feeling that I looked ridiculous (which they assured I do not). I had trouble at first because I was so conscious with keeping the form but in the end I got used to it somehow. Next they taught me how to do straight and jab punches. Hooboy, my punches were weak during the first tries but it got stronger as I tried a few more. I also learned how to do left and right hooks and uppercuts. Whoopie! My arms were feeling stronger. Next I tried out some kicks. The kicking exercises were fun except that I was growing a blister on my big toe and I was having a hard time because it hurt a lot. I kicked high for a beginner. Yay!

There was a one-on-one review after the group exercises. I punched and kicked as hard as I could. They told me the trick was to channel my anger to my punches and kicks. Hahaha but it worked!

At the end of the session, my body wasn't surprisingly sore but I felt the effects a day after. It was a new and refreshing experience for me.I'm definitely going to keep this up. Next time I’m going take pics.

Time to buy purple gloves!!!

Thanks to my plurk friend DeRob (thanks I think...hehehe joke) for showing this to me. Now I want one. 

And so I'm back...I can't believe I haven't posted anything since December of last year. The first few months of the year had been both kind and cruel to me. My days are as busy as ever...a lot of laughs and major tears here and there but it's all worth it.

So just what have I been up to? Well, I'm close to finishing two residential projects that I started late last year and I'm just about to start working on new ones this month. Yay! Something to keep me busy again. Oh and I bought a new laptop and phone last January. What a way to start the year, right? The laptop I bought was a Dell Studio 15 laptop. It has these specs: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.1GHz T8100 processor, 2GB 667MHz DDR2 memory, 250GB hard drive, Intel GM965 chipset, 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400, Windows Vista Premium OS, 15.4" screen size, HDMI video, Dvd optical drive, 4 USB 2.0 slots, mem card reader, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled.

So far, so good. I'm enjoying the laptop. It's even more powerful than my desktop pc, which I have to upgrade soon if I want to continue doing 3d.  I got the orange-colored model but I really wanted the purple one. Sadly it was out of stock in that store. Oh well. I've got too many purple stuff anyway. hahaha

This is the phone that I bought. It's the Sony Ericsson G900. I had a choice between the black or the red model and of course I chose red! I really am not very not into black except on some selected clothing pieces. I am much more inclined to choose vibrant colors over black.

I love the phone! It has so many amazing features especially the card scanner. It can actually just scan a business card and it automatically processes the info into your phonebook. So smart!

I'm also into new things now. I'll be blogging about them soon. Heads up 2009, this year will be my year. Yipee! 

I would like to greet everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope everyone gets to enjoy the festivities of the season and spend it with loved ones. Indulge in the great food and have fun unwrapping gifts!

Thanks to Chris_J for the photo.