Forevermore: The Wedding Diary Edition (part 8)

WEDDING INVITES’ OFFICIAL INSIGNIA

Thanks for all who voted on the Blog Pulse about the design. I can’t wait for the target 100 voters though, as our printers are rushing already. So I took the liberty of taking the pulse from non-bloggers, and they too made their own choices and ideas. So me and Cess agreed on the best of each design, got the best details of each, and came up with this final design for the wedding invitation’s logo:

UPDATES ON SCHEDULES

The countdown is now 38 days to go. Next Monday, me and Cess will be having our seminar over at the City Hall, a requirement for securing the marriage license. And then on the 25th, we will be going to Sta. Cruz Laguna for the much awaited “Pamamanhikan” with Cess’ parents and kin there. The folks at Laguna are very excited for this one. Over at Cess’ place, classic Filipino traditions such as this one are still strong and very much practiced. They still even do the “paninilbihan” in some barrios, but in our case, since we’re both working here in Manila, the tradition has been waived.

I’m excited at going over to Cess’ parents and asking for their permission to give away their eldest daughter to be married to me. And though these are just formalities, I would not want to go about without proving myself as a dignified, honorable man worthy of their approval to be their son-in-law. This whole process of taking a three-hour travel to Cess’ hometown is proof that I not only accept Cess to be wife, but them as well to be my own family.

Well, guys, that’s it for now. We’ll keep you posted for more exciting updates about RCandCess’ wedding in the making!

 

Blog Pulse: The Wedding Edition

Please vote for the Best Wedding Invitation Logo Design.

Design 1

Design 2

 

Forevermore: The Wedding Diary Edition (part 7)

Thanks to Tito Rey Gatapia for this one. It’s initial though, but nonetheless very exciting to look at:

That’s just page one of the invitation. Advisory: this is not the OFFICIAL invitation. So please don’t down load it, have it printed or distributed! We wouldn’t want a stampede on the reception now, right? =)

 

Forevermore: The Wedding Diary Edition (part 6)

Our CENOMAR’s are due to be released tomorrow morning. After this one, the next document we will be preparing for would be the marriage license itself.

Just in case you still don’t know yet, you need to secure and NSO-authenticated birth certificate and a Certificate of No Record of Marriage (CeNoMar) in order for you to secure the marriage license. In some cities and municipalities, they require the couples to go through a half-day seminar that serves as a parental advice/parental counseling which is required in the family code for the securing of the marriage license. This must be done in the municipal hall of the venue of your wedding.

Also guys, me and best man Crisant has found a nice, affordable, but classy hotel for the overnight stay on the eve of the big W.

Lourdes Suites along the corners of Kalayaan Avenue and Makati Avenue has, so far the most affordable rates as far as overnight stays are concerned. They’re at least a thousand bucks to two thousand bucks cheaper than the hotels within our area. When Cess found out that we’ve placed our reservations there, she wasn’t sure if she would be happy for me finding that place, or be envious at us because the hotel she’s supposed to go to is a teeny bit more expensive. Well, I promised her that I’ll take care of her and her mom’s stay there, just in case.

I already talked to one of my former high school students, Obed Cutaran, and he has agreed to be our official photographer. He’s got a good eye for taking shots, especially if you equip him with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, that we were able to borrow from our senior pastor courtesy of his son, Benny Fog, who happens to be one of the secondary sponsors as well. Hopefully, as soon as Cess’ schedule lighten up a bit next week, we can have the pre-nup photos shot.

We also got to talk to a good friend whose dad specializes in wedding attires for men and women. By weekend, she will be taking our vital stats for our barongs, and Cess and her bridesmaids’ measurements for their gowns.

Countdown is now down to 40 days!

 

Oo Nga Naman 23

Isang pastor ang malapit nang pumanaw, at bilang kanyang huling hiling, ipinatawag niya ang dalawa sa mga members niya, isang lawyer at isang sales representative.

Pagdating ng dalawa sa bahay ng kanilang pastor, agad silang pinapasok at pinatuloy sa kuwarto kung saan naroon na ang pastor at naghihingalo. Pagkakita niya sa dalawa, hiniling niya na sila’y umupo sa magkabilang tabi ng kama ng pastor. Sinunod naman ito ng dalawa at naupo na agad. Hinawakan ng pastor ang kamay ng dalawa, tumingala sa langit ng nakangiti, naghihintay sa mga huling hininga niya.

Bagaman nabagbag na ang kanilang mga damdamin, nagugulumihanan ang dalawa kung bakit sila ang ipinatawag ng pastor sa kanyang huling mga sandali. Di na napigilang magtanong ng lawyer.

“Eh, pastor, bakit po kaming dalawa ang ipinatawag niyo dito?” tanong ng abogado.

Huminga ng malalim ang pastor at sumagot,

“Hindi ba’t namatay ang ating Panginoon sa gitna ng dalawang magnanakaw? Yun rin ang nais ko ngayon.”

 

What A Way To Start This Week

And there’s really no better way to describe this day and this blog than the title itself. Let me elaborate further:

I woke up 5 AM for my regular one-hour walk. I brought with me my jacket so I could sweat off more while walking. The thing is, the zipper of my jacket was being difficult, and I had to turn the thing over and over from one direction to the other just to get it locked. A few minutes later, I managed to close it up, and soon headed to my regular walking route. It was supposed to be an uneventful one-hour walk. Or so at least I thought it was.

As I was walking halfway back home, my mind sort of ringed a whisper-out (opposite of a shout-out), reminding me that I was missing something. I tried to feel my jacket’s pocket, and my heart suddenly skipped a beat or two…

…my wallet was missing.

I went back the path that I had already finished, and to my dismay there was not a single trace of my wallet. In it were a couple of pictures, my driver’s license, TIN ID Card, some unreimbursed receipts, and 2000 bucks. I would have dismissed the disturbing thought of losing the wallet if my license and TIN were not included as its contents, but I just couldn’t. I felt a numb feeling overpowering me, even after I have sweated off some tension from the walking.

The meeting was about to start in two hours and I was still unprepared, as I was stuck in the house figuring out what to do. I started contacting some our church mates who can help me secure at least an authentic driver’s license receipt so I could still drive for the next three months while waiting for a new ID. I soon found out we had a friendly neighborhood notary public. 15 minutes and 150 pesos after, I already had a notarized affidavit of loss. Without wasting anytime, I went to our basketball-cum-staff meeting.

At Starbucks The Columns, while our meeting was going on, my mom (who was also a staff lile me) whispered to me something that felt like the burden of the world hanging on my shoulders were lifted up: somebody returned my drivers license!

After the meeting, my mom told me that a delivery truck driver chanced on my license on the street where they had an earlier delivery. This street was just a corner away from our house. They happened to know our place and went there as soon as they picked the card up from the road. Our good neighbor Kuya Arnold identified the card, got it and went to our house to give it to my mom, who incidentally was just about to leave for the meeting. Apparently, only the license was found. There was no trace that the wallet or its other contents were anywhere near the place where the license was found.

I was still thankful that the license was found. The others can be easily replaced, but the license will definitely cost me money, time and effort to secure a brand new one. I just consoled the fact that, maybe, the person who picked up my wallet must have been someone who was in dire need of 2000 bucks for some urgent matter, and that as he or she was praying to God for some help, he or she chanced upon my loitering wallet in the street. That must be God’s answer to the prayer.

Well, maybe I’ll just charge the 2000 bucks to experience.

 

Forevermore: The Wedding Diary Edition (part 5)

Not that I don’t agree, but I just simply doubt the absolute necessity of having to look good on your wedding day. But then, of course, the prospect of having your horrible look frozen in time through pictures and video footages are sufficient to dispel all the doubts. It’s just that having to do so means you have to spend; spend time, spend money, and spend effort doing so. Well, this only happens once, so I might as well muster all the encouragement and financial capabilities I can get from my own self to invest on image enhancement.

I am now undergoing a strict regimen of eating only two meals a day–brunch and early supper just before 6 PM. I have cut down on rice intake, or any carb source for that matter, to only one cup. Meats such as pork and beef have been crossed out of my RDA, and only chicken and fish are allowed. I’ve also doubled up on fibrous meals, and the only juice for me would either be pineapple or mango.

For the physical part, I’ve been on the regular one-hour walk from 5Am to 6AM everyday. This is in addition to my weekly basketball schedule with the Tropang Crosswind every Mondays and Fridays at 7AM, and my one hour walking every Thursday morning at 7AM as well. I’ve been doing the 100-second steady push-ups for more than a month now, and since last Tuesday, I clicked in a full minute more to the regular time I do the steady push-up.

Hopefully, all this will pay off before the Big W!

But for all honest reasons, I believe my bride deserves a better me when we meet at the altar on our wedding day. And the prospect of seeing a beautiful angel walking down the aisle to become the better half of my life is more than enough to encourage me to go through this tough, two-month ordeal. I just wish this will develop into a permanent habit even after my wedding.

The countdown is now 44 days to go before the Big W!

 

Happy Birthday Sesame Street

I have to admit: I love Sesame Street! I grew up watching the Muppets, their funny antics, and up to this very day, I still memorize some of the songs like “♪♫who are the people in your neighborhood♪♫” and “♪♫12345, 678910, 11 12♫♪.” I still remember the closing words that go “Sesame Street is a production of the Children’s Television Workshop.”

In fact, our very own Pinoy version, Batibot, actually borrowed Pong Pagong and Kikong Matsing from Sesame Street. In case you do not know, these two characters were original brainchildren of the father of all the muppets, the late great Jim Henson.

I don’t think it to be neo-colonial to watch these kind of shows that educate and instill moral values to kids as young as they are. Only that, there should be a healthy balance in patronizing our own curriculum being adopted into shows.

Allow me to post the following videos courtesy of youtube. This first one is the opening theme for the show, which ran during the 70’s. It’s almost nostalgic to hear this theme all over again:

Here’s one that’s a tearjerker, but definitely one that deserves a standing ovation from all of us, as much as it did from the people who were in this clip. This is a part of the memorial service given for Jim Henson in 1990. Watch it:

And finally, my most unforgettable episode or segment of the show, is this one, where the Count gets to sleep over at Ernie and Bert’s house. As a kid, I find this so hilarious!

 

Forevermore: The Wedding Diary Edition (part 4)

If you have plans of getting married, and you’re within the Makati area during your preparations, I highly recommend you secure some of the important documents you’ll be needing for your wedding over at the National Statistics Office Makati City Hall Branch. Yesterday morning, we applied for a new NSO-certified birth certificate and Certificate of No Record of Marriage (CENOMAR) there, and the birth cert was ready after just an hour of waiting. As for the CENOMAR, it will be ready for pick up after 8 days (the normal time of waiting usually is ten days). Isn’t that serbilis?

The next document we’ll be preparing for will be the marriage license over at the Manila City Hall. Included with that will be a half-day seminar that we need to attend (not that we don’t know what the seminar guy will be talking about, since our senior pastor has been tackling that and many other husband-and-wife matters in our church’s pulpit).

Also, guys, last night, the planning team for our wedding had a two-hour meeting until past midnight, just to finalize some of the photography and invitation details. My mom dropped by the meeting just to check on what we have talked about, as well as insert her assurance that, on my wedding day, she WILL look elegant like she’s never been. Naks naman inay!

We’re still looking for a house for our move-in, somewhere that’s within the vicinity of our church. We have three prospects already, all studio-types. That will do for the meantime, since we don’t have plans yet of having children within the first year of the marriage (that is… kung… atsaka… hehehehe).

That’s it for now, guys. We’ll keep you posted with new updates. Watch out for the new look in this blog as a wedding announcer. Soon!

Addendum: I found this picture, and I would love to have a pre-nup photograph patterned after this one.

 

Forevermore: The Wedding Diary Edition (Part 3)

With our regular Monday meetings moved from evening to just before lunch yesterday, me and Cess had some time together last night to sit down and finalize some plans for the big W.

Last night, we were able to finalize the number of invites we will be sending to those coming to the reception. At first we were worried that we might exceed our expected number of guests. When we looked at the details of the reception from Diners’ Dreemhaus, we found out we still have just enough for some late additions to those coming.

We also made an initial lay-out of the invitation that one of our guests (who requested anonymity) will be sponsoring for us. The only thing missing from the invitation is a sketch of the map going from our church to the reception place.

My best man Crisant and Onlee, one of our church members helping out in the planning of our wedding, came over to help us look for more ideas for the wedding. Sant had bought a very handy wedding magazine that contained all of the details of a wedding. It had everything from hairstyle, pre-nup photography, shoes, gown, reception venues, and many others. Although we already had almost everything covered, the mag helped us think of better ways to spruce things up on December 21.

Hopefully by next week, we will be having our first pre-wedding counseling with our Senior Pastor. We would not want to rush into being married without first of all hearing the words of wisdom from the man of God, who literally trained me and molded me into who I am today. As our father in the faith, his advice and opinion matters a lot into how we will live our lives together as husband and wife.

Tomorrow, we will be meeting with the design and decoration team for the church wedding, as well as with the music coordinators and the video and photography group. We will be deciding on the flower details for the church auditorium, as well as the details of the video coverage from the video and photography team.

Also, by next week, we hope to have the invitations sent to the printer, so that by the second week of December, the invites will be out for sending to our sponsors.

It’s 48 days to go before the Big W!