Goodbye 2007

I wanted to write about the year that was but I guess I'm too much in a holiday mode today (although I'm here at the camp, working) that blogging seems to be a heavy task. hehe. :)

(Side joke: Since 2008 is the year of the rat, I suggest you do not put those waving gold cats in your home. hahahaha :))

Anyway, for documentation purposes, here's what my 2007 is all about.

January: Celebrated Padingtun baby's first birthday. :) Bought him small choco cakes. :) yipee! :) Aside from that (and also my Mom's birthday), I don't remember anything big from this month.

February: Being a lovefull, this is my favorite month of the year, next to December. Had my third Valentine's Day with Nixlove, and just like the past v-days, we had a blast. :) Lovelove. :) Bought him a book about Beatles while I bought Mom some perfume. :) Silly me, I can't seem to remember what I got from them. :&

March: Pre-election coverage started. Attended Media Nation 4.1 for the coverage protocol and had to share the table with media bigwigs from here and abroad like Charles Dickenson of Washington Post (an officemate of my writing heroes Woodward and Bernstein). Yipee! :)

April: Out of impulse, Nixlove and I went to LB. It was a very spontaneous trip. Also went to Bicol with Nixlove!! (this one is planned) :) Went to the beach and played with the waves like kiddos! :) I can say this was one of our happiest trips. :)

May: Joined multiply! :) Midterm elections. Again, this was a very busy month but I gained new friends from co-reporters covering Namfrel and Genuine Opposition. :) INQUIRER.net ed staff were all rewarded with an all-expense paid trip to Puerto Galera by the office. :) Yipee! :) Snorkeling fun, sun exposure, and shopping galore! :)

June: School year started. I wish I started my MA too. But that would have to wait. :)

July: Nixlove and I celebrated our third anniversary :D Lovelove :) Also had my first big story of the year: an exclusive about Jonas Burgos' abduction. Before that, I had my first ever super clandestine meeting with a source. It was a terrifying but rewarding experience.

August: Ho-hum. :) Highlight of the year. :) No, I didn't get married but it was more like it. :) Secret marriage? You can guess.

September: Estrada verdict coverage. Sunbathed in a rally with a crumpy face and a hungry tummy. :) The best thing about this month was when I met the rest of Nixlove's family at his Mom's birthday celeb in Leslie's, Alabang.:) All of his aunts and uncles and relatives were really nice. :)

October: Glorietta blast coverage. It was unnerving, depressing, tiring all at the same time. Good thing it didn't happen during Nixlove's birthday. :) We feasted on Nixlove's original pasta recipe . :)

November: Congress explosion. First time ever to see a dying person. Trust me, it was not an experience worth having. Oh, and the most-talked about Manila Peninsula siege. Yeah! One hell of a coverage! :)

December: As I've said, this is my favorite month of the year. :) Celebrated my 22nd birthday and had a series of parties for Christmas. :) Who doesn't love December? :)

It was a great year. :) I hope my lucky stars would stay with me throughout the coming year. :) Happy New Year everyone! :)

Spice Girls in Manila?!! :)

Ohmy, if the reports are true, I'm getting front row seats! haha :)) I actually found out about Spice Girls' supposed concert here in Manila in my friend's blog, where he quoted a celebrity's blog. :p Ohwell, I really hope this rumor is true and their concert could be one of the best events ever in 2008! :)

Gone are the days that I wore platform shoes like those of Emma Bunton (my favorite, Baby Spice) (hahaha!) but hey I still love Spice Girls! I never stopped loving them. :) Imagine, back in grade school and early high school, my room was so full of Spice Girls posters that my grandma even wanted my room repainted when I left for college. :) I also had every possible magazine where Spice Girls made it to the cover. Grabe, my notebooks even had Spice Girls postcards! haha :)) talk about being a die hard fan! :)

I cried when Geri left the group and I almost cried when I learned they got back together for a series of concerts. Hay. How I wish Spice Girls would really be in Manila, Promise, I'll even ask the office if I could cover the event hahaha so I could interview my favorite girl group! hihihihi :) Kahit hindi showbiz ang beat ko! :)

I'm excited, sana lang totoo. :p

Top 10 Most Read Stories, Columns on INQUIRER.net in 2007

MANILA, Philippines -- The standoff, led by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, at the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City last November 29 and the Chinese teen that killed himself when a blind date turned ugly topped this year’s Most Read Stories on INQUIRER.net.

Meanwhile, Dollywood reigned as the Most Read Column in 2007.

Below are the Top 10 Overall Most Read Stories and Top 10 Overall Columns on INQUIRER.net for 2007:

Top 10 Overall Most Read Stories

1. (UPDATE 18) Trillanes, Lim arrested; Makati standoff ends Nov 29, 2007 Nation

2. Chinese teen kills self when blind date turns ugly – report Jan 5, 2007 Infotech

3. June 2007 nursing board exams result out Aug 26, 2007 Breaking News

4. (UPDATE 19) Mall bomb blast kills 8, hurts more than 100 Oct 19, 2007 Nation

5. 48% pass nursing exams Aug 29, 2007 Nation

6. Cloudy skies may block RP view of lunar eclipse on Tuesday Aug 27, 2007 Nation

7. (UPDATE 3) Estrada guilty of plunder; perjury rap dropped Sep 12, 2007 Nation

8. Bomb rocks Congress; solon among 4 killed Nov 14, 2007 Nation

9. Pimentel son on embattled Abalos: ‘Karma’ Sep 18, 2007 Nation

10. ’07 nursing board results out in August Jun 29, 2007 Nation

Christmas and working (but I'm not complaining :p )

December 24 and 25 have been declared non-working holidays. But it doesn't have much effect on journalists like me. :) Long before I've been hired, I knew I had to share my time with the public.

So, today I had to stake-out at the Camp Crame Custodial Center where Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and his Magdalo followers have been detained since the Manila Peninsula siege. As we watched how sad families of the soldiers are, we reporters feasted on C2, Bravo biscuits and Vinegar Pusit snacks. Hahaha. =))  At least I don't have to help out preparing food for the Noche Buena at home. hehe :)

Ohwell. :)

I'm glad I'm done with Christmas shopping. Now I only have to wait for 5 pm so I can leave the camp, go home and enjoy the holiday with my family. :)

Now, I wonder what life would be like if I'm already married with Nixlove and if we have kids and I have to work on Christmas Day. Hmmm.

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IN YOUR EYES (George Benson)

:D

I think I finally know you
I can see beyond your smile
I think that I can show you
That what we have is still worthwhile
Don't you know that love's just like the thread
That keeps unravelling but then
It ties us back together in the end

(Chorus)
In your eyes, I can see my dream's reflections
In your eyes, found the answers to my questions
In your eyes, I can see the reasons why our love's alive
In your eyes, we're drifting safely back to shore
And I think I've finally learned to love you more

You warned me that life changes
That no one really knows
Whether time would make us strangers
Or whether time would make us grow
Even though the winds of time will change
In a world where nothing stays the same
Through it all our love will still remain

(Repeat Chorus)
In your eyes, I can see the reasons why our love's alive
In your eyes, we're drifting safely back to shore
And I think I've finally learned to love you more

How mad and stupid people can be

I was sleeping soundly on a Sunday morning (yes, my day-off, but I don't mind) when our editor-in-chief JV Rufino gave me a ring for a story. He asked me to verify a certain radio report that around 10,000 people converged at the Quirino Grandstand because some fool had promised to give them cash gifts.

I assumed it was just another ha-ha or exagerrated story, something not really worthy to write about, especially on a peaceful, sunny Sunday morning. I was dead wrong.

It turned out to be true, and indeed there were people mad enough to give false hopes during trying times (Christmas is coming soon and we know how sad Christmas can be for the less fortunate). What's more depressing is the fact that around fifteen thousand people actually believed they will be given a hundred thousand each! 

Hay. Last month, there's this guy who had the guts to use media as his human barricade while leading a revolt at the Manila Peninsula. Then there's this woman who had the guts to actually bring along over a dozen lawmakers for her Euopean trip while the country is suffering from its almost all-time low poverty state. 

What's happening to our country? It's irritating to hear all these news. And I'm telling you, it is more irritating to write all about these things. Grr. What an irritating Sunday.

--------------------------------- (Click title to view full story.)

Hope of cash gift brings 15,000 to Quirino grandstand
But go home empty-handed

By Thea Alberto
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 06:45pm (Mla time) 12/09/2007

MANILA, Philippines--(UPDATE) Around 15,000 people, mostly from Northern and Southern Luzon provinces, arrived at the Quirino grandstand Sunday, hoping for a P100,000 Christmas cash gift from a certain charitable foundation, police said.

But those who came eventually went home empty handed and hungry as the man who had promised them money holed out at the nearby Manila Hotel, said Chief Superintendent Roberto Rosales, Manila police district director.

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Transition group eyed had Trillanes succeeded, says document

(I wrote this story during my birthday--yes I was on duty--and a kind police official gave me the document I was quoting in this story as a birthday gift. Don't you think Trillanes was in his right mind when he planned all these? Your guess is as good as mine. =D )

---------------------------

 

By Thea Alberto
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 05:32pm (Mla time) 12/03/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- Had Senator Antonio Trillanes IV succeeded in toppling the Arroyo administration last week, a National Transition Council (NTC), would replace the ousted regime, the Philippines would have been put under a "lean and mean" military and police force, all bank accounts of middle-class families would be monitored, and media outlets would be "freed from the control of big advertisers."

In a five-page document entitled "Proposed Program," which police seized last Thursday from one of the rooms at the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City after the six-hour uprising led by Trillanes, the NTC would also implement emergency measures such as to "crush with iron fist all pockets of resistance by remnants of the old regime" and to “mete out severe penalties for acts of lawlessness that usually follow the collapse of an ancient regime.”

VIEW FULL STORY HERE: Transition group eyed had Trillanes succeeded, says document

Happy 22 :)

When I was at the Manila Peninsula covering the hotel revolt, I realized how important simple things are. Until then I didn't know that lack of water and air would bother me at all (you see, i'm a very happy-go-lucky person haha). But as police started their assault, with all the gunshots I was hearing, and when teargas fumes tried to get inside my body, I realized I was not ready to die yet. Not that way.

I still have a lot of dreams to fulfill..dreams for myself, dreams with Nixlove, dreams for my mom, dreams for my loved ones. I said that day, "uh-oh I'm just 21, please let me at least reach my 22nd bithday." I'm lucky heavens listened. :) Now I'm here blogging, on the first hour of my 22nd year. :)

In those hellish times at the posh Manila Peninsula hotel I was glad I had reporters-friends who made me laugh (terrible jokes, really hehe). My desk editors who helped me keep calm and who even prepared a lawyer just in case I'll be arrested. There were also police and military officials who even called just to extend their cares. And of course, there were those heaven-sent people who even texted me to ask if I was alright. Those texts fueled my will to live. :) Thank you, everyone. :)

Anyway, today I'm officially 22--a bad number for some because it's like the " kneeling position." I hope not to encounter bad lucks this year, oh please!! I'm very optimistic anyway so I would not let my age spoil this special day :)

I wonder what happens next. I'm 22; I have a good life, a good job. I have a lot of friends, I have a happy family, and I have Mommy and Nixlove. :) I could not actually ask for more.What's there to look forward to then?

Oh, maybe a masters degree in Journalism..how I wish I have the time. :) Marriage? hmm, you would probably be surprised if I tell you when.. haha :) Kids? Uh-oh, not now. :D Career shift? I don't think so. :)

My ultimate birthday wish? World peace. Really. :) I'm not a pageant candidate now but you have to take me seriously in this one because after covering a close-to-war scenario, I felt the need for a peaceful, worry-free life. haha :)

Ok, I need to get my beauty rest now because in the next hours, it's time to rock the world. :)