Category Archives: abet

I could get used to this

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I was going through the pictures from our trip to Macau last October when I stumbled upon this:

Metropark Hotel MacauMy sister May lounging on the extra bed. Abet giving the receptionist an earful.
(Kidding, that’s a scripted shot, Abet was just calling for ice for our booze.)

I can’t help but reminisce about how nice our hotel room at the Metropark Hotel Macau was. That was the first time Abet and I stayed  at a real hotel — one with a pool, bellboys, bathtubs, toiletries, and buffet breakfast. I loved the room and its soft beds and bedsheets, and the bathroom with the nice sinks and bathroom faucets. It even had this little central remote-control panel on one of the side tables where you can control the room lighting, that was the first time I came across one of those things. The room and bathroom seemed even more impressive to the three of us because we just spent the last three nights at a cheap-ass hostel in Hong Kong.

I already mentioned this before: Abet and I are King and Queen of Cheap Accommodation. We’ll stay anywhere cheap, as long as the reviews are good, location is good, and there’s an ensuite bathroom, so we can spend the extra money on food or shopping. We didn’t do fancy hotels. In fact, the most memorable stay we ever had in our entire relationship was in a kubo in sleepy Dolores, Quezon in this amazing bed and breakfast called Kinabuhayan Cafe.

But after our Macau stay, I think I won’t say no to a fancy hotel stay every once in a while. Abet mentioned last weekend that he wants us to get an Accor card as a present to ourselves, so far I like the idea.

Does anyone have an Accor card? Is it worth it?

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I think I can live without moviehouses.

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I just realized that Abet and I have not watched a single movie in a cinema the entire year! We’ve turned into these big fat tightwads who no longer spend on movie dates.

Abet and I are the sort who can’t walk into a mall to just watch a movie — we need to have our popcorn and drinks and a pack of M&M’s for me, and sometimes we have a snack or light dinner before we head home. And then there are the little trinkets and what-nots that we pick up when we’re in a mall. Watching a movie in a cinema always costs us much more than the price of movie tickets, so we end up passing up on the latest must-see flicks and just wait for them to be available for download.

I don’t really mind, to be honest. I’m not much of a movie-goer, anyway. I’m perfectly fine with watching movies on Abet’s computer. I have no idea how they work and what they are, but he has this mixer and speakers for computer that churn out awesome sound which we use when watching flicks. Also, Abet’s mom has this electric popcorn maker, Abet makes a big batch of buttered popcorn — with real butter — everytime. That, plus a big bottle of softdrinks or a pitcher of iced tea, and we’re all set for our own screening of our choice title for the night in the privacy of Abet’s room.

I can see us carrying this habit over once we’re married. I wouldn’t want to spend several hundred bucks just to watch a movie at the same time as everyone else. We’d rather spend the money on a nice dinner out, or quality ingredients for a nice dinner in, or to add to our travel jar (yes, like in Up). We may be tightwads, but we don’t scrimp on good food and trips!

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Abet’s dad

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As the season for remembering and paying tribute to our dearly departed draws near, I can’t help but think about Abet’s father.

I’m sorry that he died so young, only 28 years old.

I’m sorry that he didn’t get to see his two boys grow up. He left when Abet was only fifteen months old, his younger son Obet was six months away from being born. He’d be so proud of how both of them turned out.

I’m sorry that he wasn’t able to live long enough to see how wonderful the woman he married is. Abet’s mother did a good job of singlehandedly raising their sons. She never remarried, and instead dedicated her life to taking care of her boys. Up until Abet started working, she was the sole provider for her family. I can’t imagine what she had been through. She was so young when she had to worry about funeral planning. She was 28, practically a newly-wed, a young mother, pregnant, and a widow. She is one of the strongest women I know.

I’m sorry that he didn’t get to meet his grandson Ycko, who is the apple of everyone’s eyes.

I’m sorry that he didn’t get to meet me. He would have liked me.

*pic taken last November 2007 when I met Abet’s dad for the first time

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It was a happy 4th anniversary

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Abet and my #1 mutual passion is food, hands down. Naturally, all our anniversary celebrations involve good food. Let me walk you through how we spent the last October 16′s:

2006

Dinner was at Galileo Enoteca, a lovely Italian resto/wine bar in Mandaluyong (Italian is our favorite cuisine). I remember this, our very first anniversary. It was such a milestone that I got two bouquets of flowers that day: the first was delivered to my house before I woke up, and he handed me the second one when we met for dinner. I didn’t get flowers this year, hmp!

2007

Anniversary # 2 at Spiral, Sofitel

We didn’t travel for our anniversary that year because we were saving up for an eight-day trip to Singapore two months after, so we splurged a bit for dinner. This was at Spiral, Sofitel.

2009

I don’t have a blog-worthy picture of the two of us because I had a bloody eye. We didn’t want to spend so much because it was just a week before our SEAsian backpacking trip, and we ended up at this awesome Mexican restaurant called Jalapeño Cantina Mexicana in Ortigas Home Depot. Our anniversary meal cost Abet less than P1,000.

2010

Oh, it was all about food this year! Here’s what we had:

I made these: hotdog, pineapple, cheese

lumpiang shanghai

shrimps

the best baked mac in the whole wide world

steamed lapu-lapu

steamed lapu-lapu

And the pièce de résistance:

CNT lechon Cebu

A whole CNT lechon flown in from Cebu. Yum!!! We’re lechon snobs, my family refuses to order Manila lechon, hehe.

CNT lechon Cebu

lechon + my dad and brothers

My sister had her celebration dinner for passing the nursing boards that night because my brother Joe is home on academic break . Since Abet and I are so kuripot right now, we decided to skip the fancy dinner this year and just celebrate at home. We didn’t spend a cent, even if it meant spending our anniversary with my family (and 30 of my sister’s friends). Anyway, even if we went somewhere else, no food we order could be as good as that wicked lechon Cebu. We’ll just have our own special celebration next weekend, just the two of us.

Oh, and Abet and I love our booze, and since it was a night of celebration, I drank more than I should. By the end of the night, I was this red:

Oh yes, my cat just had to be in the picture!

For our next anniversary, we’re going to have one heck of a party, and there’ll be awesome food as well. We booked the best caterer we can afford. Yep, we’ll be married exactly five years after our first kiss. (I made him kiss me, by the way, but let’s save that for another blog post.)

Happy anniversary to us, love! That was fun!

Now, excuse me while I click here, I ate way too much this weekend.

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I’ve always known that someday my prince will come

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. . . even if it meant that I didn’t have a boyfriend until I was 23. He was worth the wait.

We’ve been together four years now, and I’m still so head over heels in love. I thank the Lord everyday for this wonderful blessing I’ve been given.

Happy anniversary to us, babe. Thank you for everything. I love you.

*pic made by my brother Joe 3 years ago*

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Meet my favorite guitarist

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…who also happens to be my favorite boyfriend:

My officemates asked me if I have any videos of Abet playing, and I remembered this video that one of his teachers uploaded on YouTube. This was taken several years ago when he was still as student, before we got together. He looks so young here, but his playing kicks ass.

My officemates became instant fans after watching this. I’m president of the fans’ club, of course.

I’ve always loved ‘em musician boys. :D Being musically-inclined is what gets me most attracted to guys (that, and perfect teeth, good skin, and good English). And while I could probably be been happy with someone who can at least carry a tune and know the difference between an oboe and a double bass (given that he has perfect teeth, good skin, and speaks good English), I end up with an excellent musician- -who teaches music for a living! How cool is that?

Abet doesn’t need any kind of gayuma or maxoderm or potions on me, he just whips out his guitar and starts playing, and I’m all over him!

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My guitar man

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Abet playing Elegie by Kaspar Mertz

Abet didn’t qualify for the final round of the competition, but I’m still the proudest girlfriend on the face of the planet, and I’ll always, ALWAYS be his #1 fan no matter what.

I’m proud of my baby for giving it his best shot, for his grace and poise, and for seeing this not as a set back, but as a challenge to do even better in the next international competition. He’s actually practicing as I type. ;-)

I’m grateful to him for the opportunity to be in Thailand for five whole days together, just the two of us. This competition was a perfect excuse to travel, and we’re currently having a blast!

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Love + Cello

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Love is like anything; the more you nurture and focus on it, the better it becomes. You can’t expect to be a master cellist if you never pick up the cello. Do you think Yo-Yo Ma became who he is by laying on opposite sides of his cello in bed at night? Or by listening to the TV instead of it? I would guess not. I would think he held it. Touched it. Listened to it.

-from Gwen in Love, a new sex relationship blog I’m loving right now

–=-=–

This is Jacqueline, one of my loves. I miss her terribly. She’s in Baguio with Joe right now, where I’m sure she’s having a grand time with all the hunky boys around. :P

Seriously, I really do miss having the cello around. I miss taking lessons and practicing until my fingertips are sore. My siblings and I used to do these silly trios with May on the guitar and Joe on the violin, I miss that as well, those were fun times.

I really should buy my own cello, because I’m getting nowhere near my goal of playing Bach’s first cello prelude without an instrument around!

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Stinky puppy no more

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My brother Momon’s puppy Cello finally got his first bath!

Cello's First Bath

We’ve been itching to bathe this little doggie for weeks now, but we had to wait until he turned three months old.

Cello's First Bath
We used Django’s (Abet’s and my lab) shampoo on him, which Abet ended up giving to Momon. Tropical scent, mmmmm.

Three pairs of hands lathering him up right there. Momon’s fiancée Ros took photos.

Cello's First Bath
“The Circle of Life”

Cello's First Bath
Abet and I had blow-drying duties.

Cello's First Bath

Yay, Cello is all clean and fresh and fluffy now! Now that he no longer stinks, he’s more adorable than ever. I wuv you, puppy!

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Life as a Classical Guitarist’s Girlfriend

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I was chatting on Facebook earlier with a high school friend whom I haven’t been in touch with in a long time, and we discovered that our boyfriends are both classical guitarists/guitar professors. Pretty soon, we were talking about what it’s like to have a musician for a significant other. I found it hilarious that her boyfriend played for her Agustin Barrios-Mangore’s Julia Florida before they got together–just like Abet did to me before we got together! So now we know… that piece is the secret weapon of guitarists! :D Listen to Julia Florida being played by David Russell on YouTube and tell me if the piece doesn’t make you fall in love.

–=-=–

Our online conversation reminded me of this blog post I wrote on September 2007, written a month before our first anniversary, I’ll repost it here for posterity:

Some anecdotes from the past 11 months:

  • I now know what PIMA stands for, and what fingers they correspond to. As if I care.
  • I know all four members of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet by face. I can’t even do that for any string quartet.
  • I can impersonate Odair Assad. Maybe even Pepe Romero if I try hard enough. Yep, I know who they are.
  • I find it disturbing to watch him file his fingernails with utmost intensity. I feel like he’s going to pull out a magnifying mirror any minute and then tweeze his eyebrows. This still needs some getting used to.
  • The nail of his right thumb needs to be a certain shape and length for him to produce his ideal sound. I have taken it to myself to memorize how that nail is supposed to look, lest he get frustrated. I have even taken high-resolution close-up photographs for reference.
  • I can hum/sing the orchestral part/accompaniment of Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez.
  • He gave me the best birthday gift ever, on the day before my 24th birthday, the NAMCYA Concert of Champions. It was a moment I’ll never forget–Abet alone with his guitar on the stage of the CCP Main Theater, a larger-than-life sepia photograph of him slowly descending from the ceiling as his recorded self-introduction was being played back, which went, “Nais kong pasalamatan ang aking inang si Carmelita at ang aking kasintahang si Dea. Alay ko sa kanila ang aking tugtugin ngayong gabi.” I would probably have fainted if not for the reaction of the audience. ;-) He then played Barrios’ La Catedral and Koshkin’s Usher Waltz flawlessly.
  • A common message I receive:

    Mahal, bukas na
    lang ako tatawag,
    ha? Napasarap
    ensayo ko.

  • I have mastered turning pages upside-down. Sometimes Abet plays sitting on the bed facing me, with the sheet music between us facing him, so the music is upside-down from my perspective. I’ve gotten used to this arrangement, I don’t know if I can still turn pages right-side up.
  • He counts with his fingers the American way, i.e. thumb is 1, pointer finger is 2, middle finger is 3, etc. I think it has something to do with the PIMA thing.
  • He influenced me into loving four of the most popular musicians ever–The Beatles!
  • If I had a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup for every time I’ve heard him introduced as “si Abet, yung nanalo sa NAMCYA” or something along that line, well, I’ve probably had a lot of Reese’s by now.
  • He randomly checks the fingertips of my left hand to make sure they’re rough and calloused. He claims that he can tell if I’ve been practicing based on how rough they are.
  • He also does these random musical tests. One time, a drum corps passed us by, and he asked, “Anong metro ‘yan?” Or the time he asked what interval the ding-dong of the elevator was.
  • One time, we were arguing, nagpapayabangan kami, pataasan ng ihi ba. And when he was already hopelessly losing, he desperately cried out, “E bakit, marunong ka bang mag-Aranjuez?” Grrrrrrrrr! Get over it, that is so 2005! That was when I realized that it is possible to be annoying and adorable at the same time.
  • He was once in love with a girl named Mimi, and his ex-girlfriend that came before me is named Lala. Therefore, I have given myself the new nickname Dosharpdosharp, just to complete his A Major triad. Both our initials are A.M. after all.
  • A message I received yesterday:

    I love you so much,
    mahal ko. You’re
    the most precious
    gift He has given
    me, more precious
    than music.

    ‘Kung di pa ako matutunaw niyan, ewan ko na lang.

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Three and a half years now

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pic taken at Chijmes, Singapore

… and his smile still takes my breath away, his eyes still make me weak in the knees, his kisses still send shivers down my spine…

Ah, the world will pardon my mush cause I have got a crush, my baby, on you!

Yes, world, please do pardon my mush–it’s my favorite boyfriend’s birthday today! I think there’s a law somewhere that says one is allowed to write über-cheesy blog posts on his or her significant other’s birthday (also applies to anniversaries).

Happy birthday, love!

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A Good Sunday

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… is when the whole family is complete:

P3212580-edited

… because our baby brother is home on summer break:

21 March 2010

… and there’s good food, like takeout from Savory:

21 March 2010
(Doesn’t my mom look amazing? She’ll be 60 next year.)

… and my siblings and I can bond and have fun with each other:

21 March 2010

… and my dear boyfriend is by my side:

21 March 2010

… and even if he’s a wee bit distracted, I completely understand:

21 March 2010

Joe will be leaving in a couple of days, it will be several months again before we have another Sunday like the one we just had.

I am grateful for moments like these, when I am reminded of how fortunate I am to have a wonderful family and to live in a home that’s full of love and laughter and happiness. I’m blessed.

I’m already looking forward to Joe’s next vacation.

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My March

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Well, looky here. I can’t believe it’s the already the second week of March. Actually, I can’t believe that it’s already March, didn’t we just celebrate the holidays?

I’m loving my March so far! At the home front, it’s been very happy and fun lately, we’re really blessed. We’re all excited about Joe’s vacation mid-month, and we’re glad that he’s now a yearling or a third class cadet–that’s a second year student for us civilians.

This month, I’ve also been doing good with my fitness goals. I have a rather ambitious goal for this Lenten season, and I’m well on my way to achieving that by Easter. I’ve been trying to eat well since Ash Wednesday, but I amped it up at the start of the month by going to the gym after work. I actually went four times last week, and this week I’ll aim to go everyday. I’m on a roll! During lunchtime, I now utilize a phrase I didn’t really use before: “Half-rice lang po, ‘te.“I am so getting my sexy back this year!

Has anyone seen Alice in Wonderland yet? I’m a big Tim Burton/Helena Bonham Carter/Johnny Depp fan, so this is something I’ve been looking forward to since last year. The reviews on my friends’ Facebook statuses are mixed, but Abet and I are still looking forward to watching it in 3D. We’ll wait for a couple of weeks for a) our paychecks, because we’re currently poor; and b) the opening weekend crowd to die down (but it’s mainly the former, haha!).

Speaking of movies, I’ve been “craving” for some movies lately, I’m making Abet download random movies I’d like to watch again: Land Before Time, Fern Gully, The Cutting Edge, Drop Dead Fred, etc. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older (aren’t we all?), but I want to watch movies from my childhood again.

And speaking of poor, Abet and I have been staying in a lot recently. Weekends are now spent watching movies and TV shows on his laptop instead of going out. We take turns choosing movies. So far he’s picked Somewhere in Time, I’ve chosen The Graduate and Children of Heaven, a beautiful Iranian film about a brother and sister and shoes. We also make the other watch our favorite TV shows: he’s now watching How I Met Your Mother and Glee, and last night I watched the pilot of Ed (ancient, I know, but it’s his favorite). We just make popcorn with their cool electric popcorn maker. I guess we’ll be having more of these tipid movie nights in the next 18 months 20 years.

You know what I’m most looking forward to this month? My boyfriend’s birthday! Abet will be turning 29 this year–pwede na nang mag-asawa! :D

Have a good month, y’all!

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