Did You Know?

I don’t know if you’ve seen this video on youtube, but a friend of mine from work, Chris Evardo, showed this very interesting video to us.  It’s called Did You Know?  Contains very interesting facts and this video will make you wonder. This is the information on the video: “Fantastic video on the progression of information technology, researched by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and Jeff Bronman, remixed”

wisdom tooth

wisdom tooth

I’ve heard and read about other people’s experiences about getting their wisdom tooth pulled and all I learned was simply, it hurts! Growing up, I’ve never recalled myself going to a dentist and getting any of my teeth pulled out. All I remember was, every time I had a loose tooth, I did my own procedure. The procedure of just letting it be, and if I can pull it out, then I’d do it myself. But now, it’s a different situation. I had a problem with my lower right wisdom tooth, creating a pocket for food to get in. So I really had no choice but to take it out.

Four days ago was my procedure. It was early in the morning, still sleepy from sleeping late the night before. Didn’t like the people for they were somewhat unfriendly. With the slow service and unorganized help desk staff, I really didn’t want my day to start off in a bad/moody way. After at least 30 mins of waiting, I was led into the procedure room so I told my wife to come with me. “Ma’am, you can wait in the waiting area. It’ll be done in 20 mins.” the tech said to my wife. I was like “great!”. The only person that would comfort me throughout the procedure was not allowed to hold my hand. (ok i’m a baby, so what?! haha) Anyway, the dentist gave me a couple of shots to numb my gums and so I wouldn’t feel anything. But the injections alone gave me some painful stings. So after a few minutes the dentist started his procedure. He moved my tooth up and down, right to left, and up and down again. With my eyes closed during the procedure, I really was just imagining happy thoughts to alleviate the discomfort I was feeling. Then all of a sudden a sound of a drill starts, making it’s way inside my mouth as I hear the sound gets closer and closer. The dentist starts carving it’s way in, and the worse thing was I could smell the burning aroma. Not really an aroma, but u know what I mean. After hearing the freaky cracking sounds, more strong pushing left, pushing right, which led me into conclusion that this dentist was having a hard time pulling my tooth; it’s like a tug-of-war in there. My hands and feet started to shake a bit. But after a few more pulling and pushing, he stopped. I thought he didn’t take it out yet then he finally said, “that’s it!”. Finally, this awful experience is over! The dentist led me back to the help desk and gave me the prescription for the pain killers, hydrocodone, along with the instructions, ice pack and some gauze. We head home, and Alou stopped by the pharmacy to get the medicine.

It’s been four days since I haven’t eaten properly. I’ve only eaten soups, soft foods like my wife’s cheesecake and some tiramisu. The worse thing was, I had to be at my work’s surprise baby shower for my sister. It was tough being in a room full of good food and was unable to talk a lot. I still can’t open my mouth wide, and can’t even laugh the same way. The jaw area still hurts, although the pain is subsiding everyday. Just can’t wait for this thing to be over!

Celebrate!

February is always a busy month for me. Aside from the obvious, the Valentine’s Day, we have a bunch more celebrations on Feb. First, Popoy’s birthday on the 4th, my birthday is on the 25th, our wedding anniversary on the 26th, (we are one year married! time flies!), Alou’s birthday is on the 27th, and my niece’s birthday, Avery, on the 28th. That’s four consecutive days celebration! Well for our wedding anniversary celebration, my wife and I went to Poconos in Pennsylvania. It’s about 3.5 hours drive from Bmore, but it’s ok. I love driving anyway, as long as I know where to go, it’s cool. Anyway, Poconos is a great place to be. Lots of activities to do. It was great coz there were only a few people there, perfect atmosphere for lovebirds such as me and me wifey. lol But it would be great for family vacations during the summer. There’s a lake, there’s golf, tennis, volleyball, badminton etc. I really recommend it!

Our friends took us out to Fogo de Chao. It was the day of Alou’s bday and I surprised her for she didn’t know our friends were coming. She only thought it was just going to be me and Avery. So she was really surprised and I also got her some cake from of course, Yia Yia bakery! I got one of them cupcakes that are put together to make as one cake. But let me tell you about Fogo, I love that place! If you want to feel like you are a celebrity, wait, let me change that, to a king or a queen, you better go visit this place. If you live in Bmore, you probably already know where it is, but if not, it’s by the Inner Harbor where PF Chang’s is right across the ESPN zone. Anyway, dining at Fogo was an experience. I would love to go back there again. Although it is a pricy, especially dinnertime, but it was worth it especially if you love meat, meat and more meat. lol Anyway, we really have great friends! We also got free tickets to the Orioles game and also to the circus! Thanks soooo much to Evelyn, Yary(she didn’t make it though), Oscar and Grewlyn, we had a lot of fun!!!

been a loooong time

Wow, I really haven’t had time to post a new blog for such a looong time! I guess I was really that busy. Well anyway, I just want to give u guys a

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Hope you all have a great holiday and be careful out there, for the people who will be running around like crazy. Stay healthy, and take care on “Black Friday”. It’s going to be cold, so make sure you all bundle up…

sketchbook exchange program

I’ve joined a sketchbook challenge with Mr Jim and his online artwork friends. This is how it works. You get your own sketchbook and draw/sketch 7 pages and then you pass it along to the next person on the list. If I’m not mistaken, there are at least 10 people on the list. At first I wasn’t sure about it since I haven’t drawn anything since art class when I was a freshman in high school. But I’m glad that I did coz it’s a lot of fun. I even tried to use watercoloring again, and the last time I did that was probably when I was in 5th grade back in the Philippines. I’ll try to post some of my artworks here… Here are some I did for Ms Dawn’s sketchbook.

don’t touch my birdies bridge over troubled water Ryoma Echizen

Popoy waterfall in watercolor

april fools day

April Fool’s Day or All Fool’s Day occurs annually on April 1. The day is generally observed by playing a practical joke on a “victim” who soon becomes known as an April Fool. This custom is thought to have started in France during the 16th century but the British are credited with bringing it to the United States.

The commonly accepted origin of April Fool’s Day involves changes in the calendar. At one time, the New Year celebration began on March 25 and ended on April 1. However, in 1582, King Charles IX adopted the Gregorian calendar and accepted the beginning of the new year as January 1. Those who refused to acknowledge the new date or simply forgot received foolish gifts and invitations to nonexistent parties. The butt of such a prank was known as a “poisson d’avril” or “April fish.” <source>

also, happy bday to my bro, Hadji Malacas…

Have fun today everyone!

message from my wife

Buntis daw ako? Ilang months na kaya? At bakit hindi ko alam ‘to?

The answer to the question kung buntis ako is NO, I’m not Yet pregnant. Thank you to my trustworthy friends who want to confirm first before believing the gossip that we married earlier than planned because I was pregnant. I may not have told everyone I know the reason why we moved the wedding date, was to have my father-in-law (who is battling lung cancer right now) attend the wedding the best time he can. It’s a pity that someone just don’t have that level of understanding. It’s so sad yet it’s true that insecurities can make someone judgmental, narrow minded and a liar. How low can you go, just to pry on other people’s lives like your life is so boring enough you wouldn’t dare care about it? Obviously, someone wants to take advantage of the whole scenario, mislead people, just as always, but always ending up as a loser, too busy worrying about other people, feeling alone, got nothing better to do and simply living under false pretenses.

So to all my friends and to those concern, when I do get pregnant, believe it when you hear it from me and not some potty-mouth (her nickname). I do not use any spokesperson, though some have put themselves in that position.

– ALONA CO MALACAS

the wedding day

Brief update: 02-26-08

All I needed to say on that day: although it wasn’t complete, it was still one of the happiest days of me and alou’s lives…

and thanks to all the people who shared the moment with us…

we love u all!

before my wedding

In a few hours, I will be getting married. I’ve waited for this special day for a long time, and it’s finally here.

Am I nervous? Everyone seemed to ask me that question over and over, and I reiteratively say “no”. My friends do joke around and tell me not to become Ross (if u watch FRIENDS then you know what I’m talking about!). Why would I be nervous? I’ve been with Alou for at least two years now and we’ve never really separated since we started a relationship. We were not one of those couples that are afraid of spending too much time together because they might get tired of each other. If I’m not mistaken, for the past year, we were probably apart for no more than 20 days. Well, that’s just how we are…

It also never occurred to me that “it’s going to be hard” or “maybe she’s not the one. It’s never been an issue to me.

Anyway, in about ten hours or so, there are still some questions mark in the air – like how many people are actually going to show up in the restaurant? I know it isn’t as grand as our initial wedding plans but we might have overlooked some important aspects. Hey, it’s not like we’ve done this before right?

Well, pray for me and my nearly future wife to be, Alou, as we venture into a new life together. It’s going to be an exciting adventure!

Italy trip cancelled

Well, our hopes of going to Italy by the end of March are gone. Dad isn’t feeling very well, so he decided to tell us that the trip isn’t going to happen; at least for now. We still don’t know if we’re going to do it in the future. Mom is telling us that we should go to the Philippines instead, but that’s going to be hard for Dad as well. That’s all about Italy for now. It’s sad, i know. I guess Venezia, Milano, and Roma are just going to have to wait for our arrival someday…