Procrastinating, big time!

Sunday, November 2, 2008

This is a very late post. And its gonna be a bit long since i have so many things to want to blog about; stuff that happened, what I missed, what I have been doing, etc. Why write about it, you might ask? Well, i tend to forget things sometimes and I would need a reminder in the future.  

Last August 13, my sister Mariel and I went to the hospital in Laguna for her operation. She had a masectomy done on her left breast to remove the rest of the cancer. She was diagnosed with Stage 1 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma which means the cancer cells were going to infect both breasts if not removed so she opted for a masectomy to prevent the cancer from spreading. Our ride to the hospital was very brief. When we got there, we were greeted by the resident doctor, (forgot his name)and most of the staff/nurses can’t believe when they learned why my sister’s scheduled for an operation. The next morning was nerve wracking, i think i was more nervous than her. We had to be up by 5 am so she can be prepped early. 

 

She had to lie down after a stupid nurse tried to insert the wrong size needle in , a few times before calling the doctor. Sorry for using the S word. The nurse, “Nikki” wanted to go home badly that she was’nt doing her job correctly anymore. Curse upon her and her would-be children.. just kidding!

It was a very cloudy day.. I took this photo from our room’s window.

 

By 6 am, she was taken to the operating room, i went with her as far as the nurses permitted me to. It was a very long procedure, it took them almost the whole day. Later that night, Kuya Mike, my sister’s boyfriend called to ask how she was doing and told me afterwards that his mom passed away. No wonder why it was a very cloudy day.

Anyway, the operation went well. A couple of weeks after, the surgeon gave us the good news that my sister doesn’t need chemotheraphy and that it wasn’t genetically inherited either(my aunt Roscel is a also a survivor). Now she’s taking some meds to prevent excessive estrogen and the doctor advised her to get married and have a kid soon. Apparently, pregnancy stops estrogen production, which explains the lack of female hormones. Here’s to wishing for a cute cousin/playmate for my Therion.

On a lighter note, the laptop Alan gave me for my birthday made things a lot more easier these past months. I got to reacquaint myself with Photoshop and designed a new web template, yipee! I also got to finish season 2 of Dexter. By now my laptop’s hard disk is almost full of photos and downloads. Next thing on my to-do list is backing them up, aside from so many to-do thingies.. 

Oh, and here’s what i missed last September:

The Avril Lavigne concert ticket prices sky rocketed since The Bonez Tour, it has quadrupled! So even if Alan was here to watch it with me, we wouldn’t waste that kind of money to that concert. But the second one; I was really looking forward to Graphika Manila. It was supposed to be a date with my younger bro Drexler, we both got artists’ hands (nax!) and we were very excited because one of the speakers was Simone Legno (the Tokidoki guy), even the guys from Pixar were there. Sadly, they ran out of tickets too early. Oh, well…

I have also been busy with the hobby turned lil business thingy.  Here are my favorites:

 

Right now i’m working on four more pairs then i’ll stop accepting commissions until January.  I have more important things that “i want” to do. First , organize our room; its been a lil messy , paints, brushes and shoe boxes stashed almost anywhere. I need to get ready because my Alantuts is coming home for the holidays! yay! I also need to finish the Twilight book before it comes in theaters this Nov. 26th. That, i want to watch, alongside  with  Let the Right One In and Quantum Solace which I have to put off for now because i want to watch it with my husband.  I also have to make time to attend a seminar/counselling at Commission on Filipinos Overseas so i can have my passport amended, it still has my maiden name on it. *Sigh*- I really need to make a “to-do list”..

 

As soon as i finish painting, I’ll take Therion to the cinema and watch Madagascar - Escape to Africa , he was a little disappointed on the last movie we saw (Igor), but this time i can tell he’s pretty excited. He had this “smiley-goofy face” thing going on when he saw the ad on the newspaper with Alex. Marty. Melman and Gloria’s faces plastered on it. He even dances with them when the Happy Meal commercial comes on TV.Therion likes to move it, move it.. ehehe..

This photo is a little weird beacuse he never eats pizza… 

Our Trip to Kidney

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Last Friday, my elder sister and I went to the National Kidney and Transplant Institute at QC to pick up the result of her Biopsy. She had a lumpsectomy 2 weeks before, there was a small lump the size of a marble found at her left breast. So we went there hoping for a good result, praying that tubular carcinoma would be ruled out and that the diagnosis of the Pathologist from Casa Medica was wrong. Apparently in Quezon City, when you ask for directions on how to get to NKTI, you have to ask where “Kidney” is or else no one can point you to the right direction; hence, the title of my post.
We went there as early as we could to avoid heavy traffic and to get ahead of those who will be in line to get their lab results as well. We didn’t wait long, within the hour, the result was handed to my sister in a sealed white envelope, with instructions for us to hand the result over to the physician asap. My sister Mariel had scheduled an appointment with the doctor later that day, so anxious that we were, we removed that tiny bit of staple wire that sealed the envelope and read the result. Diagnosis blah blah blah.. pathologist blah blah blah.. negative here and there.. We’re no doctors so we were not sure what most of the medical terms mean. So I told my sister, the negative result might be a good thing, maybe the lump is benign and no cancer cells were found. I saw her lighten up a bit. Our family has a history of Breast cancer, from my Grandma’s sister to my aunt in Guam. so a little lump in the breast is a very scary thing for us.

 

 People like us waiting for Lab Test Results

Ate Mariel, sitting far from me, I wonder why….

The old man sitting in front of me is almost done with his Reader’s digest

Ang Aking Mahiwagang Tsinelas na nakarating ng QC

 

We got back to Las Pinas quite early, so we decided to grab some lunch before heading home. Besides, its been a while since we ate out with just the two of us. We had Japanese, and it was really good seeing my sister enjoy her food. I finished mine early, so i busied myself snapping photos of my sis while she tries to finish her battle with the Bento box.

 

My Kani Crab Salad : Before

 

My Kani Crab Salad : After

 

 

 

Payt!

After lunch, we went home and I saw my little Therion enjoying a bowl of soup while watching Shrek for the nth time with his Grandma. I bathed him then we had a nice long nap that afternoon. I woke up later to find my sister back from the doctor’s office. Apparently, we were right. The first diagnosis was indeed wrong, tubular carcinoma was ruled out since its a type of cancer common to 50+ year old women, but the bad news is, she has invasive ductal carcinoma which is still, stage one cancer. She needs to undergo a masectomy and probably radiation therapy afterwards or maybe even chemo. I don’t know what to say to her, i just cried when i learned. we had a good long talk about what’s happened and how she’s going to face it. One thing i know is that she won’t face it alone. Its a good thing my sister is a strong person. All I can do is be with her and support her all through out.  

Tomorrow, we’re off to the hopital for the operation and I’ll be there to hold her hand. 

An update..

Friday, June 20, 2008

Here are photos of shoes/sneakers I made this past month. All of them were commisioned for clients from as far as QC, some in Paranaque, and Pasig ( I got paid, woohoo!)

 

It feels good that some appreciate my work. Nothing beats getting paid for doing something that you really want to do. Another great thing is I made those while taking care of Therion. I didn’t have to sacrifice time being away from him, just to work. I can paint while I watch him play. And being a good boy that he is, here’s his first reward: A jumbo Bedtime Care Bear. 

 It is 31 inches but Therion is still way bigger than him.

 

I also got an email from a writer for Manila Bulletin asking if she could feature my work in her column! I’m really excited! I  have to email her some of these photos too ( i’m doing so as I blog, talk about multi-tasking!).  Aside from that, one of the multiply moms is asking me for unique give-away ideas because her daughter is going to have her first birthday party soon, and she wants something designed or if possible, handpainted by me.

 

As they say, good things happen to people who does good things and vice versa.

And speaking of which, somebody’s been leaving nasty comments here on my blog and also at my mutiply account: http://ayinx.multiply.com . I have an idea who. She’s been leaving messages at about the same time she logs in at another networking website. (no comments for two days now , and she haven’t logged in on the other site as well for that same duration). She’s not a friend, nor an acquaintance  of mine. She haven’t seen me in person and i’m sure of that because she keeps commenting on my photos, or how I look.  Because if she does know me personally, and have seen me face to face. she would never have the guts to says those things. Right now, she hadn’t even mustered any little courage by posting her real name, or even a valid link. She even made a bogus multiply user id with nothing on it just to access mine.

Here’s something for sosorryforyou : 

I don’t know any reason why you’re taking time to view my website, post nasty comments and such. If i have done anything to upset you or if i have done anything wrong at all, we can be straightforward. Believe me, I’m that kind of person. You can email me, say anything anything you want, ask anything you want. I’m all ears. If you think that i look ugly, no harm done. You can tell me how you think my mouth is bigger that its actually is, or how ugly or inappropriate my smile is and for your info, i’m sure you already seen since  you’ve developed a hobby on snooping on me, but i’m still going to post it here. I am short and have little boobies, and my voice is a little squeeky too. But none of them matters, because i have a husband that loves everything about me. He thinks i’m beautiful and smart and a great wife and a mom. I am content with what I have : I can wear a swimsuit and not worry because I am comfortable with my body. My voice maybe squeeky but my husband loves it. I don’t wear those metal braces or cheap retainers because i don’t need to. I got pregnant but there’s no stretch marks showing on my belly, some girls already have because they just ate a lot or they were born a fatty. I can go on and on… I have a beautiful family and a wonderful life, well do you? 

As i  have said before, have a little courage and SHOW YOUR FACE dear. Because if you don’t, i would assume that you’re just a fat, flabby, ugly bitch who can’t get over the fact that somebody (not particularly me, it can be anyone) is better than you.  Or better yet, if i prove that you’re the person i think you really are, I just might have some very unfalttering photos of you stashed somewhere that i can post here. So that all of those people who are curious enough will see how “you” look better than me.  Are you up for the challenge?

 

Here:

 I can smile however I want to. You don’t have a say on that.  

 What’s important is, i won’t wake up in the morning  looking like THIS:

 

 

NEVER!

 UPDATE : My post was in response to some “uncalled for” comments made on my multiply site (by someone I dont know personally) and was addressed to the culprit. However, I received some response from somebody claiming that she/he wasn’t the person who did it and wanted to clear his/her name. He/she felt that all the things that i posted here was meant for his/her directly, which as I’ve said earlier, wasn’t the case.  If you were in some way affected, you might as well be guilty right? Anyway, the culprit was ratted out by her friend. Lo and behold, here she is:

TADA!

 Fits the description eh? I just love it when I’m right. If you have all the time in the world to surf the net and insult someone, you might as well FIND the time to have your own love life rather that getting involved in someone elses. Its just pathetic specially when everybody has moved on and doesn’t even knew you existed.

No wonder why your “lovelorn”.   

If I’m wrong (and I doubt it), don’t look at me. Blame your friend, or forgive her.

For Alan . .

Sunday, June 15, 2008

As I sit here thinking about how to keep my tribute to my husband short and sweet, I feel so overwhelmed.

As I think about Alan, my mind just fills up with wonderful thoughts, and I just don’t know where to begin. He is the most supportive and loving husband that I could ever have hoped for. His life revolves around making our lives, our family, better, and he continues to grow as a man each day. He pays so much attention to our needs and always puts in the extra bit to make it smooth at his own expense.

What I admire most in him is his commitment to me as his wife and to his son; to always be there to make us laugh when we’re sad, have patience when we are frustrated, and forgive when we need to be forgiven. He lets you know that no matter what happens or what mistakes you have made, he will never love you any less.

We’ve been together for almost 4 years now and my feeling of, “What did I ever do to deserve this man?” has remained. Now we have a smart two-year-old who adores him as much as I do, and we are proud and happy and proud to be in his life. He makes our lives better, happier and even more fun when he’s around. Therion has a huge bond with his dad. He gets very excited to see him and kisses the monitor everytime we talk online. Since I didn’t have much of a father when I was growing up, it makes my heart happy to see what a great father he is. Someone that our son looks up to, the one he loves and adores. I believe that Therion will have a good father to turn to as he himself grow into an adult.

We couldn’t imagine life without him - the distance makes it even more difficult. I wish we could be with him this Fathers’ Day or much more; every day so we can cherish his strong presence and unflinching love for us. It takes a good man to love, care and support his family but it takes a better man to give us all that even from a distance.

Alan, you will always hold my heart for the way that you are, a wonderful husband, and a father to Therion.

I wish you comfort and security in the life that surrounds you. And above all else, I wish Therion and I could be with you because you deserve all the love we can give.

Happy Father’s Day!

Beautiful..

Friday, June 13, 2008

Blythe Dolls are just so pretty..

and pretty expensive too! haha! 

 

I know I’m too old for dolls.. But what’s not to love?