*YAWN*

At the office checking my mail. No scary email this morning. Goody! I'm sooo sleepy...well, I'm always sleepy unless I wake up at 10am. We had our cousins' get together last night at Ted's house. We had lots to celebrate! Malen and Ryan's birthday, Malen and Ryan's engagement, Jan and Sands engagement. Imagine that! Not 1 but 2 engagements! Finally I won't be known as the 'dark horse' anymore. Hehe! I told myself I wasn't going to eat or drink too much but then I thought, what the heck! :p Got home at 1230 and had to get up at exactly 6am. SLEEPY!!

Sweet Tooth

My latest discovery - Skittles Bubblegum! I can't stop chewing these things! When you first bite into one you'll think that it's the Skittles candy and you'll want to swallow it. The crunchy shell and the flavor is the same as the candy's. It's deceiving. I have to stock this at home because I wouldn't want to run out and then have to go look for it. I just wish they'd take out the orange flavor and replace it with the green ones. Yummy!

I've also found my favorite See's Chocolate flavor...Butterchew. Hmmm...heaven! I don't know how else to explain it. You really have to experience chewing into this chocolate. This is the best description I could find and I quote...'The vanilla brown sugar caramel is an ideal firmness relative to the chocolate. Start chewing and the coating comes off, filling your mouth with one rich flavor; as that subsides, the buttery goodness of the caramel kicks in. It's like a fireworks display where just as you think the embers are dying, they explode into something new.'

Anyone going to Hong Kong? :)

Batangas

We went to Batangas yesterday. The contractor who's doing our house in Laguna, together with his wife, invited us to their farm. They also invited Malen to join. ANyways, I didn't know about the plan until Mom woke me up at 430am. Sheesh! The first thought that came to my mind was that she was waking me up for midnight mass (the traditional midnight mass during the Christmas season) but I suddenly remembered that Christmas is over. Then I realized that it was Saturday. So you understand my confusion at that early in the morning. It was a good thing though that I got up and decided to go with my folks. My grandmother was leaving at 5am and I had a chance to say goodbye. I had breakfast (a lot for someone who's on a semi-diet) and then got ready.

Taal Lake at 8am	We left at 630am for Alabang where we fetched Malen. We were to meet the Pinedas (the contractor and his wife) at 8am at Josephines. When we arrived at the restaurant we saw that they were offering a breakfast buffet. The food was different from any other buffet that I've been to. Everything was sooo good! So, as you might have guessed, I had my second breakfast. I ate a lot too.
Following the leader	After breakfast no. 2 we proceeded to the lot in Tagatay. We stayed there for about an hour since my parents consulted the contractor what can be done with the lot. Anyways, we got the farm at around 1030am. The main attraction at the farm were the 6 ostriches! My cousin and I have never seen that animal up close and in person. Hehe! Anyways, they were really big birds and when disturbed they were scary! I think they almost killed one of the farmhands in the place when he went inside their enclosure. Only one person can go in and feed them. We toured the 5-hectare farm -- the house, the animal pens, the fields where different fruits and vegetables were planted. At the farm I had another "snack" of corn, cinnamon sticks, and diet Pepsi. We had lunch at around 2pm at the Punta Baluarte resort.
Cable Skiing	On the way to the resort we passed by a Cable Ski place. It was sooooo cool!! I want to try it! At first I just saw a lake and then people skiing. I pointed it out to my parents and cousin but I didn't notice what was pulling them. Apparently this was somewhat a "tourist" site. Our convoy stopped by the outer wall to watch about 6 men skiing. They were being pulled by cables around the lake.

Anyways, we at our lunch and then went back to the farm. We shot some hoops (I joined the boys) while the girls collected the fruit and produce that will be brough home. Malen and I said our goodbyes to the group of ostrich (actually we tried to scare them into attacking. We were curious :P) and then headed home ---- but not before stopping about an hour later in Tagaytay for a bite to eat. One word to describe this trip = FULL

Food for thought

They say that not a single animal (well except for the fish that were left on the shore when the water receded) perished in the earthquake/tsunami disaster. As we have learned in school animals, especially pigs, can sense an earthquake or danger. They can swim, they have good sense of hearing and sight, they also have defense mechanisms such as spines and thick hides to boot. Man is said to be the more advanced animal. But if we were thrown in a jungle, I think that there's a bigger chance that we'll most likely die from hunger, predators, loneliness, fright. Hehe! Anyways, shouldn't the latest "models" have all the features?

During the early days of the laptop, this "portable" machine was bulky, heavy, most had external drives which you also had to lug around, and had 2GB worth of memory. But laptops today have improved in terms of capacity, functions, and size. Since man is an advanced animal (I liken him to the improved laptops), he should also have all the "features". He should at least know how to swim without being taught. I mean, a baby is inside the womb floating in water for 9months but you can't throw him

in a pool when he's 3-years old and expect him to float (I'm ranting about this since I don't know how to swim :p). I forgot where I learned this next interesting fact about defense mechanisms. A cat, for example, when he gets surprised or frightened his fur stands on end to make him look bigger to a potential enemy or to warm themselves when they're cold. When we get scared or cold we get goosebumps. The hair on our arms also stand. Question: does it serve the same purpose? :p

I know that there are theories about this. One small explanation being the theory of evolution. Hehe! I was just wondering why we couldn't have kept some of really cool features :)

Bork, bork, bork!

I'll share with you our new toys. I just won't share how much we had to shell out in a single night :p Can't wait for our new house to be finished. That's where I plan to assemble and display all the toys


Vince & I got really REALLY excited
when we saw this earlier tonight.
We thought we had to order this
from the US :p


These are really cute

Family Get-togethers

These are what makes the holidays special. Although we see my cousins/aunts/uncles from my father's side often (during weekends from the day we were born until my grandmother died last January), the holiday get-togethers are somewhat different and more fun. New Year 2005 was no different. The beer started flowing at around 1230pm, just before lunch. Hehe!


The older Gomez girls


My mom and dad (first two people
on the left), my dad's brothers and
sisters, and their significant others :)


8 hours and 3 cases of beer later...


New Year's Eve: My family from my
mom's side. We were almost
complete here...

Happy New Year!

Although the country and our continent has been bombarded by disasters and tragedies in 2004, we are still looking forward to 2005 filled with hope that this year will be better for everyone. Happy New Year!