And the Bangs is Back! But a Lit'l Traumatized

Going to the salon is equivalent to getting one's tooth pulled by the dentist. Yes, that's how much I don't like going to the salon. Every few months though (that's about twice a year) I force myself to go. It used to be easier since I had Inay, my hairdresser who's been cutting my hair since I was in high school. But he retired and has gone home to the province to set up his own parlor. Not that he was the best hairdresser, but at least I was comfortable with him.

My hair and scalp has been in a dreadful state since my trip to Legaspi last July. I don't exactly know what happened, but my scalp keeps drying up, resulting in falling hair and sometimes the dreaded dandruff. Ugh. I've always been low maintenance, so I've been unusually active in going to the salon. I've been orphaned by Inay, so I've been searching for a "home salon".

Anyway, so I finally found some time to go to the salon. I marked it as an urgent task since my hair and scalp has been going bonkers because of the change of weather. Going to the salon the day before Christmas isn't really the best time to go, but it was the only open time I had so I went with Sweetie to the mall and chanced upon this famous salon. I was already too lazy to the salon I originally intended to go to.

I just got further traumatized. I had a hot oil treatment, so I had to go under that weird contraption. After more than 20 minutes I felt like my brains were getting baked already and felt some hot water drop on my forehead. I looked at the mirror and saw that the contraption was about to rain hot water on me. I immediately got my head out and called the attention of one of the stylists. Good thing I got my head out and stood up because I was almost doused with hot water!

The same thing almost happened to me in Jakarta a few years ago, but the hairdresser was attentive and not multi-tasking like this salon's crew. To make matters worse, the hair dresser left me mid-way when she was cutting my hair and finished another client. I was told that it would only take me about an hour to do the hot oil treatment, trim and eyebrow threading. It took me two hours.

Oh well... I'm never going back to that salon and I think from now on I'll stick to the other type of hair treatment where you don't have to go under that scary hot oil contraption.

And well... the bangs are back!

Christmas is About Love

Being the youngest had its drawbacks. I was only in my early teens when my siblings both got married, leaving me un-coupled during Christmas. It was sad, but Miguel came so since then I always had someone to bug and annoy.

I am celebrating this Christmas like no other Christmas because I now have my own little family - Jay, Miguel and me! And we're doing the usual Pinoy stuff - noche buena and reunions! Thank God we finished wrapping gifts just in time.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Courtship 2.0

Being the youngest in our clan has given me the privilege to be exposed to relatives of all ages. I have nephews and nieces who are older than me, so technically I'm already a grand-aunt of sorts. I think I was in third grade when I was reeled in to help in wedding preparations of an aunt and a cousin. Eventually my sister, then my brother. During those times my parents, aunts, uncles and cousins would tell me love stories.

In the olden times (like 1950s). This was the time that guys would make harana to girls and according to my Mom it's true that sometimes strict mothers (or naughty brothers) would throw out the contents of the urinola (euww!). And during that time during dances guys would instruct their friends to surround their girl so no one else can approach her (being territorial huh!). With no telephone or gadgets, the best way to reach a girl was to send her love letters.

In the 80s. My Mom told me back then that when my time comes I should be courted properly, with a guy going to the house with flowers etc. and if ever we go out there should be a chaperone. I did play chaperone to my sister a couple of times (we're 16 years apart) and I often enjoyed the gifts her manliligaws would give me. They'd come to the house to pick up my sister and I'd usually be the first to say hi to them. Of course, they had to have pasalubong for the pesky little sister.

My worst nemesis then was my future-brother-in-law who forgot to bring me some cotton candy. I was so disappointed and cried when he arrived empty-handed. He came back a week after with two huge cotton candies for me. Oh I do remember my sister making telebabad in the wee hours of the night hehehe. My sister says she has a box full of love letters from my brother in law.

In the 90s. So things were a bit different in the 90s. Technology started to drastically change how we communicated. This was the time that the beeper was the in thing and in the mid-90s cellphones started to be popular. I remember when I joined Smart they had just marked their 500,000th subscriber. A lot of people though still burned lines at midnight and wrote letters.

The new century. The last decade has drastically changed the landscape of how we communicate, much less the rules of courtship. My Mom just shakes her head with how we "youngsters" communicate. Relationships are born out of SMSing, chatting, Friendster, Multiply, Facebook and other social media stuff. My friend in Pakistan told me that Orkut (Google's social media platform) really changed how men and women would meet in his country.

And based on feedback from my nephews, this is how one can find out if you're already "together"...

"Should I changed my Facebook status now?"

A Justin Bieber Jejemon Spoof (Funnies!)

Google Zeitgeist says that jejemon is the fastest rising queried word in the Philippines for 2010 (more about it here). Here's a funny video Sweetie showed me last night this funny spoof video of Justin Bieber's song "Baby". Go see it for some Christmas laughs -



You may also want to watch another one of their crazy videos, a spoof of Justin Timberlake's "Sexy Back".

My 12 Days of Christmas

I was just chatting with Juned and he showed me his post about his 12 days of Christmas. I said he missed his crispy pata, so he made another version of his list. Anyway, he challenged me to make my own list minus tech gadgets. So here it goes -

On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator


On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 
a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator


On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
three tickets to Bali

a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 

a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

four sets of bed linens

three tickets to Bali

a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 

a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator

On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

five pretty bags

four sets of bed linens

three tickets to Bali

a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 

a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator

On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

six OPM albums

five pretty bags

four sets of bed linens

three tickets to Bali

a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 

a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator

On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

seven pots of flower plants

six OPM albums

five pretty bags

four sets of bed linens

three tickets to Bali

a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 

a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

eight photo albums

seven pots of flower plants

six OPM albums

five pretty bags

four sets of bed linens

three tickets to Bali

a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 

a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

nine sets of curtains

eight photo albums

seven pots of flower plants

six OPM albums

five pretty bags

four sets of bed linens

three tickets to Bali

a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 

a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator

On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

ten fighting fishies

nine sets of curtains

eight photo albums

seven pots of flower plants

six OPM albums

five pretty bags

four sets of bed linens

three tickets to Bali

a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 

a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

Eleven bead boxes

ten fighting fishies

nine sets of curtains

eight photo albums

seven pots of flower plants

six OPM albums

five pretty bags

four sets of bed linens

three tickets to Bali

a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 

a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me

twelve loving family members

Eleven platters of spaghetti

ten fighting fishies

nine sets of curtains

eight photo albums

seven pots of flower plants

six OPM albums

five pretty bags

four sets of bed linens

three tickets to Bali

a two-night stay in Tagaytay and 

a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator