curious baby llama =) 

kelangan ng proactiv! 

not soon enough. . .

ok. so it wasn't soon. . . it was more. . . eventually. . . i totally understand if you all don't read my blog anymore . . . (nag-drama). . .

still no internet in my apartment. i've actually resorted to sitting on the steps to my building where i could get a signal. i'm just too cheap to go to the cafe place and buy coffee so i could get internet. been getting strange stares though so i don't really stay there for long. . . anyhow, the past couple of weeks or so have been pretty boring. i've mainly been working and not much else. hanna (mbb 99) came here last week so that was pretty exciting. helped her settle into her apartment and all that. it was fun. i'm so happy i have someone to say 'ang taray' to. . . or 'kebs'. . . or 'wagi'. . . at iba pang salitang bakla. . . hehe.

this week was mostly spent in the TA training seminar. tuesday to thursday. 9-4. all day. ano bang ginawa ko at pinarusahan ako ng ganun? hehe. . . actually, nag-half day pala ako kahapon. . hehe. . . delingkwente

paul has moved back to columbus pala. . . and left again. . . for iowa this time. pero for 4 days lang. . .

and school starts next week. ang saya-saya.

still alive. . . no internet in apartment. . . will blog soon. . .

post na talaga

so i haven't been blogging in a while. even i think photo-blogging does not count as blogging. so here i am.

i have cable again! for a month at least. got another one of those try-it-for-free-for-a-month deals from time-warner. i was more than happy to oblige. i seem to be favoring E channel today. saw top 50 hollywood breakups, but in true tv addict fashion, didn't see who was no.1. . . because i was channel surfing. . . am now watching old SNL episodes with will ferrel and chris kattan as mango. . . funny stuff. . . but i stupidly missed the rockstar:inxs results show. aaaarrrggh! that's the trouble with having too many channels. . . but did you guys see mig's performance last night? wasn't that great! i never really liked that song but the way he sang that. . . ooohhh. . . so sexy. . . so i voted form him thrice!

saw phantom this weekend. it was gorgeous! even if we had cheap, nose-bleed seats so far from the stage that i wouldn't have recognized any of the actors had any of them fallen out of the sky and onto my lap, we were that far. first of all, ohio theatre itself is beautiful. it's an old theater with really fancy gold trimmings and chandeliers and stuff. feeling taga-bundok talaga ako nung pumasok ako dun. then of course, the guy who played phantom was really good, i liked him better than the phantom in the movie. also the sets and the costumes were so rich. sulit ba sa bayad. and of course i so love the music from phantom. i cried twice =) once during the rooftop scene where christine and raoul sing 'all i ask of you' (during which paul reached over and took my hand. . . awww sweet. . . insert puking sound here), and towards the ending. i still think the whole story of phantom is psychotic but they tell it with such beautiful songs that i don't really care.

speaking of paul, his folks are coming to town this weekend. scared! i'm kind of nervous about it. i'm just scared of doing or saying something stupid. should i really be this worried? is there really anything i should be worried about? if there is you'll tell me right?

sige. 'til next time.

the couple at the pseudo-bachelor's party/karaoke night singing "a whole new world. . ." 

yes, we do clean up quite nicely. . . 

my (2nd) favorite picture of the day 

the gang. . . all dressed up! 

the newlyweds (aren't they cute?) 

wedding party 

My favorite photo of the day!. . .how yummy is this? =) hihihi. . . yes, that's a chocolate fountain behind my boyps. . .

jazz! ribs! festival!

this post is actually one week delayed, but i might as well post these pix. i was pretty busy last week because i'm actually working now. surprising ain't it?

anyhow, we went to the jazz and ribs festival last weekend. americans have a weird way of combining stuff but i totally applaud this particular combination. the thing was held in the bicentennial park in downtown columbus. and of course it just had to be a 90+ degree day. the place was packed and it wasn't easy too get around, but being the edsa 2 veteran that i am, i had no problem squeezing through the throngs to get to what i wanted which were 2 things 1) funnel cake and 2) ribs. on that day, pretty much nothing could get in between me and spare ribs. i actually didn't have red meat ALL WEEK in preparation for this so i was psyched. there is of course the issue of picking which vendor to buy ribs from. they all had trophies and banners claiming that they won in some barbeque contest in wisconsin or wichita or whatever other places. that didn't really help at all so our method involved finding the one with a reasonable number of people in line. we figured you really coudn't get bad ribs right? and we did get pretty good ribs. i only had one regret and that's that i should've foreseen that barbequed ribs would be so much better if i had rice. . . but at least i know that for next year. . . and aside from cinnamon sugar elephant ears (very similar to funnel cake), i also had chocolate-dipped frozen banana. . . just typing that up makes my mouth water. . . hmmmm. . ."so, how was the jazz?" you may ask. truth is i really couldn't tell you because they could have been playing crap for all i care but i was too full and satisfied to notice. we actually stayed behind the stage so we could hear the band pretty well without being with the crowd in front. they were playing latin jazz fusion of some kind. i would've dance if my butt wasn't too heavy from all the food. and i wouldn't have had anyone to dance with, because as much as i'm crazy about that boy, i'm not that crazy about his dancing skills =)

on other things:

• i tested out of my written english class for the second time! di kasi sila maniwala nung una na marunong akong magsulat in english e. haaah! that showed you.
• do any of you watch average joe? because the guy who got picked is the nephew of one of our friend from cgsa. wala lang. ang cool. hehe.
• i now have a dress and shoes to wear to christina's wedding next weekend. parusa pala maghanap ng sapatos dito sa columbus! miss ko greenhills! anyway, i'll post pics next week. . . you might also get to see paul in a tux =)
• ohio state fair naman titirahin namin weekend after next. fried candy bars! corn dogs! caramel corn! . . . my dietitian won't be too happy.
• ang init pa rin!!!
• yun lang.

downtown columbus 

teka, may tinga pa ba ako? 

paul eating ribs. . . 

unang araw

sadya ba talagang ganyan
palakad-lakad ka't nakatungo
sa'n patungo?
ngayong wala ka na
kailangang masanay na muling nag-iisa
sa'n ka na kaya?

'wag mo akong sisihin
kung minsan ikay hanapin/kung minsan akong iyakin
ito ang unang araw na wala ka na
ito ang unang araw na wala ka na

nasanay lang sigurong nand'yan ka
'di ko inakalang pwede kang mawala
'yan na ngaNababato, nalulungkot
luha'y napapawi ng singhot
at talukbong ng kumot

wag mo akong sisihin
kung minsan ako'y iyakin
ito ang unang araw na wala ka na
ito ang unang araw na wala ka na

--sugarfree

no big update

nothing new here really. another start of the work week. i'm actually a bit more busy now though not terribly so. was out of the lab by 430 so still not bad.

the weekend was surprisingly ok. didn't realize how long it has been since i've spent the weekend by my lonesome=). i actually get a lot of things done like cleaning the kitchen, catching up on some reading (now reading wicked by gregory maguire), doing some laundry, cooking(ginataang tilapia! with kangkong! plus adobong kangkong!. . . big surplus of kangkong called for a second dish). so i did ok. except for the 18 bucks i spent at the cd warehouse. but it was for 5 cds!. . . what can i do? i miss the guy. . . trying to make up for it with john legend and robbie williams. . .hehe

speaking of the guy, got a card in the mail from him today. so sweet. i really should improve on my girlfriend-liness. so dropped by the bookstore to look for cards that won't make me puke. didn't know it would be an ordeal, what with it being timed too because the store was closing in like 10 minutes when i got there. ended up buying 2 'i miss you' cards that were pretty funny because i couldn't decide.

this is a lousy blog entry. i promise to do better next time. . .

the gang:) 

my first german beer, well, my first beer actually:) 

my first german chocolate cream puff 

2 days, 2 buffets. . .

totally unplanned but that's what happened. . . first buffet was at cici's pizza lunch at saturday. some people in my church threw a surprise birthday celebration for a guy in the music team which i was part of. leigh said that cici's can't be considered a real buffet coz they don't serve real pizza. well, what can you really expect from a $3.99 buffet? i was starving anyway, so the fact that the pizza was far from excellent was secondary. actually went through 4 plates so that's a buck a plate. not bad:)

today paul was back in town from omaha:) we (kev, leigh, paul and i) were supposed to go to a "peace-love-and-acceptance" festival (translation: gay/lesbian festival) at the park because there's bound to be cheap food there and the park's actually really nice. but it's like 95 deg outside and i very nicely demanded to be taken to an airconditioned restaurant. we heard that there was a haus and garten tour in the german village in downtown columbus so kev suggested going to schmidt's which is a traditional german sausage haus that has been around for 117 years. they also had a sausage buffet! and those were good sausages. i was thrilled to see that they also served fried rice. so all i needed was egg and i'd have enjoyed a german longsilog:) i also had my first bottle of beer. i picked a dark german beer that had "chocolate flavors and aroma", whatever that is. beer is definitely an acquired taste and i haven't acquired it yet. they all assured me that what i had was a very good beer but i'm not so sure. also had to have a huge chocolate cream puff because you could get any dessert for $1.50. soooooo good. . .

so i've decided that for this week, i'll only eat carrots. . . and maybe some tuna:)

taking taking it easy to a new level. . .

yep. it's my fourth day working in my lab and i'm still taking it easy. my boss said i would eventually get very busy soon. well, i'm still waiting. i'm so not complaining, mind you. this is really great! feels like that summer when i was working at msi. . .

i'm currently doing antibody staining of embryos which i've actually been doing for 3 days now. . . and would still be doing by tomorrow. this could conceivably be done in half the time (2 days) but you know those steps that say "incubate at 37deg C for 3-4 hours or at 4 deg C overnight"?. i (well, louise actually told me to) just happen to always pick overnight. and there are two steps like that in this protocol! ain't that great?!?

other work-related news. . . my desk is coming along nicely. i used my mini monet magnets to post photos all along the side of my desk. one side is wholly dedicated to leeron and zeth and the other side to family and friends. still lots of spaces to fill so if any of you would be so inclined as to send me an interesting looking postcard or photo or something that would be really nice. . .

boyps will be coming to columbus tonight! i'm cooking dinner since i'm woefully low on cash (or credit). probably breaded chicken of some sort and i'll try to make potatoes au gratin. and maybe coleslaw too. . . i'm actually cooking for another person. . . scareeee. . . for him that is. . .

aaaaarrrrrgggggghhhhh....

can't believe i have to start work tomorrow. . . i know i said i was actually excited about doing that but i've been on a week and a half hiatus that only involved movies, mario kart, frisbee golf, shopping and quality time with my boyps. . . which all required very minimal brain power. it's always tough getting my scientific juices (eeuw?!?) flowing after a break . . . speaking of boyps, he left for akron this afternoon which really sucks. so i ended up cleaning my apartment this afternoon which turned out well, i'd like to think . . .

saw miyazaki's "howl's moving castle" last night in a cute, little independent movie theater here in columbus. the movie was so cute. it's a fantasy/love story/ war commentary type of movie. usual anime stuff:) we say the subtitled version which had the voices of christian bale, lauren bacall, blythe danner and billy crystal. rather impressive cast list. the animation was so pretty. i've never seen 'spirited away' which was supposed to be a really good movie and seeing 'howl's' made me want to see it more. one more for my netflix queue.

brain is really not functioning. can't think of any other words to describe the movie other than 'cute' and 'pretty'. what is wrong with me? better stop writing then. . .

jealousy turning saints into the sea turning to sweet lullaby. . .

alam kong na-sentihan kayong lahat sa huling post ko. don't worry because not all my posts will be as sappy as that one:). starting with this one.

friday night paul and i (yiheeeee. . . hehe. . . couldn't stop that one) went to see the killers and hot hot heat at the promowest pavilion in downtown columbus. the ticket said 6pm but we got there at about 6:20 p.m. because i was at the lab til about 5:45 p.m. it turned out well though since apparently columbus time is much, much worse than filipino time. kasi pinoy time plus one hour lang. abah eto, pinaghintay kami ng 2 oras. it's a good thing we decided to sit on the hilly part of the pavilion (outdoor concert kasi ito) and not with the moshers. i really think i'm too old to mosh and it would just be too darn difficult to do anyway with all the gigantic americans there. anyway, the wait wasn't so bad since we were sitting on the grass and we had my labmates with us there who were all i varying states of drunkenness. they made for very good entertainment. we also didn't get dinner beforehand so we were just starving but we did find puny hotdogs (which paul inhaled in about 30 secs), chips and cokes. . . finally at a bit past 8, hot hot heat went onstage. they were pretty good but i think they got annoyed with the crowd because the crowd just wasn't getting into it. well for one, they mostly sang songs from their new album which i guess wasn't as popular as their first one. they did sing 'talk to me' which i really like. they played for a little less than an hour. then another hour-long wait before the killers came on. the oddest thing actually happened right before they started. because the whole time we were sitting there waiting, they were playing the oddest assortment of music including songs by elvis, david bowie and other old rock and roll stuff. and then when they turned off the lights finally signaling that the concert was about to start people of course started standing and applauding. and then "can't take my eyes off you" came on the speakers and people just went crazy! people were singing and dancing to it. this was a really old, perry como-esque version. that was pretty surreal but pretty cool too.

the killers were awesome live. brandon flowers is quite a performer and his voice sounds great. and he was wearing a pink coat! they played most of the songs from hot fuss. they didn't play 'everything will be alright' though which is one of my faves. i must admit that i didn't know all of their songs but i could sing along to at least 2 of them ('somebody told me' and 'mr. brightside'). so for the most part i would just jump and 'woooohooo'. they also sung a couple of new songs the only one i could remember went something like 'it's indie rock and roll for me'. . . it was pretty interesting. all in all, the killers gave a pretty solid concert. my only complaint is it was kind of short. they started at a bit past 9 and ended before 10:30. considering that they've only had one album (that made it big anyway) this shouldn't be a surprise. but i really think that they should learn a thing or two from worship bands who can sing a song that's essentially 2 mins long and stretch it to a 10 minute number. i mean, if people actually know the words to your song, it wouldn't hurt to just play it a bit longer. that's my opinion anyway.

was thinking about writing about the rest of the weekend but will probably do that later on. . .

yiheeeeeeeeeee! (at the asian festival). . . halata bang inaantok na ako. . . busog na sa bbq, pansit, adobo at turon e. 

taiko drumming at the asian festival 

somebody told me that you had a boyfriend who looked like the girlfriend. . .  

bad picture. . . but the important thing here is 1) he's wearing a pink coat and 2) the keyboard (and the stage actually) is covered in rhinestones! 

after a 2 hour wait. . . hot hot heat!!! 

he likes my nose. . .

he does. he told me so. . . you see, i hate my nose. i told him that it's the only thing about me that i don't like. . . you can tell i don't really have much self-esteem issues. . . he said that probably has something to do with my being the youngest kid coz his youngest sister is like that (my self-esteem issues and not my nose). . . he says my my nose is cute. like a button (a big round one if you ask me). so i'd wrinkle my nose and giggle. and he asked me how i did that. . . coz he couldn't wrinkle his nose. . . and i said coz it's too big. . . but he does like my nose. . . and i kind of like it now too. . .

sige na nga. . .

seeing as justine already "outed" me, i thought i might as well put in my two cents' worth. . . yes, yes, the seemingly impossible has happened. . . i am no longer single. you heard (read) me right, i, jona, have a boyfriend. . . i am not making this up. really. . . his name's paul. i met him first week i got here. been friends for a while. . . your typical boy meets girl. . .boy likes girl . . . girl likes boy . . . boy asks girl out (or other way around? still not sure). . . girl gets really dehydrated and feverish after vomitting and poopooing for 8 hours due to food poisoning (norovirus to be exact). . . boy brings girl to emergency room . . . and the rest, as they say, is history. romantic 'no?

what else can i say? been smiling and giggling for close to 2 weeks now. lots of people must think i've gone totally bonkers. but i've been bonkers since before him. only now i've a good excuse to be giggly and spacey. darn good excuse too. . .

in other news, got accepted to lab i want to join! so excited! one less thing to worry about. . .

happy! happy! joy! joy!

• got a PERFECT (23/23 baby!) score in my MG 715 Drosophila midterm!!!!!!
• boss was in california so no lab!!!!
• went to the zoo for the OSU late night at the zoo thing for free! . . . saw dugongs (finally). . . now i know who i was saving from extinction in msi. . . saw one eat a lettuce and fall asleep while chewing it. . . also saw the sillouette of an elephant, flamingos and lots of reptiles. . . and a couple of amorous turtles. . . great fun even if it was pouring the whole time. . .

watermelons

was walking by the union this morning. . . someone was mowing the lawn and for a while there i thought i smelled watermelons. . . hmmmm. . . got me thinking about summer again. . . i miss being warm. . . it's so frigging cold again. actually went out in slippers today because a) i'm almost out of socks (tagal na kasing di naglaba) and b) my slippers are sooooo pretty. . . bad idea. thought i'd end up leaving my toes somewhere. . . slippers won't be too pretty if feet have no toes anymore.

missing summer on a rainy day. . .

Rainday
Cynthia Alexander

Between breaths on a rainday
by smoky pane you'll find me
your eyes are diamonds
carving images on the glass

on a rainday a shard
of breaking light on a rainday
summer comes alive
on a rainday a fading blur
of colors streaming down my face

Between breaths on a rainday
silver beads and eloquence
draped on a web
by my window
for everything a reason

on a rainday a shard
of breaking light on a rainday
summer comes alive
on a rainday forever
you will see on a rainday
for everything a reason
on a rainday

a fading blur of colors
streaming down my face
cast upon the fates
for everything a reason
for everything a reason

dream come true #1

it was roughly thirteen years ago when we got our first cd player, which was in my dad's car. i remember the first couple of cds we bought. i'm not sure which member of my family had really good taste in music back then (could be my dad or my sis, whoever it is, i am awfully grateful) but we got james ingram's greatest hits (it has "just once" and "how do keep the music playing?". . . that was a good album. promise:) and sting's greatest hits: fields of gold. thus began my love affair with sting's music. i remember he went to manila around that time (or maybe it was a couple of years after) and i of course didn't get to see him because a) we went to the pahiyas festival in lucban, quezon and b) i was too young to watch concerts. anyway, i've been a huge fan ever since. and last night, my dream to see him live, finally came true.

when i heard the first notes of "message in a bottle" i swear, i almost fainted. now i know how those crazy michael jackson/beatles/elvis fans feel. i was laughing and crying at the same time. i did get a hold of myself enough to sing along (i mean, how could i not sing along? i'm actually singing along with STING!). we got surprisingly good seats on the floor, probably about 20 or so rows from the stage. i mean, i paid quite a lot for the ticket (grad student standard anyway) but i didn't really expect the seats to be that good. . . it's still weird for me though to watch concerts and be surrounded with lots of people drinking beer, and in this case, they were much, much older people. . . there was this older lady sitting beside us who obviously had too much to drink and kept telling me about her friend who taped oprah's interview with sting and how she has watched it over and over again. . .

anyway, he had a really simple set-up for the show, which i think is a lot different from his brand new day tour and way cooler. it was just sting on bass, a lead guitar, a rhythm guitar and a drummer. that's it. no keyboards with synths, no piano, no percussionists, no back-up singers. it was basically a straight-up rock concert. the stage was pretty bare, the lighting was pretty hi-tech though but in a very understated kind of way. the playlist was very unexpected. i at first thought this concert was in support of his last album sacred love which was why i was brushing up on my knowledge of this album a couple of weeks ago. but it was pleasantly surprising that he did more of his older songs as well as lots of stuff from the police. it seemed to me that he picked songs that were not necessarily his most popular ones, but songs that he really wanted to play. i mean, i thought i was a sting fan, but there were some songs there that i haven't even heard before. i really wanted to post a complete playlist but i have really terrible memory. and i was really too giddy to remember to write the songs down then. so the best i could probably do is rattle of a partial list of songs i could remember. and they won't be in any particular order too. although some songs will come in the order they came in (like the first three songs) but not like totally ordered. . . well you know what i mean. . .

message in a bottle

spirits in a material world (sting introduced this song by saying "madonna stole this song from me")

demolition man

i hung my head (this was apparently covered by johnny cash)

synchronicity II (didn't know what this song was 'til i looked it up)

the end of the game ("do you have foxes here?")

ghost story (he sang one verse because he felt sorry for a couple of girls who were holding signs requesting for it. . . he actually mixed up the words for that one verse too:)

heavy cloud, no rain

a day in the life (tribute to the beatles)

why should i cry for you?(really did make me cry)

fields of gold

king of pain

invisible sun

if i ever lose my faith in you (awesome version!)

voices inside my head /when the world is running down (with a little audience participation)

roxanne

she's too good for me (rockin' version)

lithium sunset

every breath you take

i'm sure i probably missed several songs but these are the ones i could remember. he ended the first set with "roxanne". he then came back for two encores and eventually ended with "every breath you take". . . with this concert, sting was probably out to prove that he was not satisfied with being the "old man of adult pop rock". i tell you, he can still rock with the best of 'em.

asides:

• phantom planet opened for sting. they were pretty good (and the lead singer was a cutie). it was probably a tougher gig for them what with most of the audience being around the age of their parents (yeah, i felt really young then). there were a lot of people asking "phantom what?". we only caught 3 songs from their set and they ended with, none other but "california".
• do you think i could go home now? i mean, this was what i went to grad school for right?. . . do you think msi would take me back?. . . hehe.
• i wasn't able to bring a camera in because they really do confiscate cameras here. it's still pretty dumb since camera phones seem to be ok. so i don't have any pictures but i took a picture of my gift for my sis. . .

proof that i was there at pasalubong ko kay ate. . . 

... it was the last signed copy there! 

more flowering trees 

weird pink tree 

study group on a beautiful spring day. . .