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So the Punzalan clan dragged itself out of Metro Manila over the weekend in order to attend my brother Petrik's wedding celebration to his wife, Yas. They've already been civilly married for the past five years now, but you know how it goes with us Catholics: it's the Church wedding that seems to mean so much more.
It was a pretty relaxed departure, actually, the most relaxed I've had over the past few years. I got to sleep for as long as I want, and then my mom and I ambled down to the parlor a few streets away from our house because she wanted us to get our nails done. She also wanted me to get my armpits waxed, which was actually pretty nifty and didn't hurt nearly as much as everyone said it would. In fact, it barely hurt at all - or maybe my tolerance for pain is just freakish. orz
Nifty, though. I've never seen my skin this hairless since... well, ever.
[/girl talk]
Car ride going there was a little cramped - Dad was driving the Volvo, and Paolo stayed in front, but that still left me, Mom and Peter in the back with stuff at our feet since the trunk was packed beyond capacity. Still, a road trip's fun for the conversation, and we did get to talk a lot. Things only soured up a little when we reached Taal, and it wasn't because of any family Awkward.
Dad and Mom have been shuttling back and forth from home to Batangas in order to oversee the renovations they've planned for our ancestral home - I'll go into the details of that later. Anyway, a few days before the road trip, one of our workers got electrocuted and rushed to the hospital. He was supposed to be discharged the day we arrived.
Good thing, at that, because the hospital decided to ding us and wring us out for all we were worth. The anesthesiologist charged us 6k, which was reasonable enough, but the surgeon wanted us to choke out 18,000 bucks. And there wasn't even any surgery involved; he just cleaned our workers' damned hand wound. THEN the hospital itself wanted us to pay 12,000 for a frigging two-day stay in the ICU when our guy didn't even need to be there.
Suffice to say, my parents were shocked, but we really couldn't do anything but pay up.
Lesson: never, EVER let people down here catch wind of you. They think all of us folks are hellafuckingrich or something, and that it's apparently okay to cheat us.
ANYWAY.
Philippine Koushien folk, the Gar House has changed a lot from the last time you guys were here... we're working to pave a bit of the front yard, and we've installed an air conditioner in the sitting room beside the kitchen. There is also a bathroom in the masters' bedroom, tucked right into the neat little corner to the left of the door. Sliding door was wonky while we were there (it took two people to open it from the outside), but it should be fixed by the time we go back!
Best of all, we had a steady internet connection there - the only thing that ever killed it were the brownouts, which kept coming up sporadically during our stay. Suffice to say, the first night was pretty damned relaxing for all of us.
Mom and I went out at a reasonable time the next day in order to get our hair and make-up done... we managed to go to a David's Salon branch in Lemery, and get fixed for a steal. 550 pesos, for hair AND make-up, AND the people who did it for us were really good. After that, we rushed back to the house to change, pick up my brothers and zip off to the wedding.
Petrik and Yas had their celebration at the Chapel on the Hill, which is this srsly beautiful place in Tagaytay - the view was already beautiful on an overcast day, so I can only imagine what it must be like in good weather.The only annoying part of the celebration was the priest's homily, which was made of utter fail. I will never, ever agree with anyone who thinks that no marriage is a real marriage unless it's done in Church. They had their reception over at Sonya's Garden, and it was a really quiet and intimate celebration. Food was surprisingly good, and this is coming from a bonafide carnivore. |D
Our last day in Taal was taken up by a tour which my family hosted for Yas' side of the family - they're a really nice and down-to-earth bunch of people, and the tour was quite educational. I sort of had one already with the Barrion-Banaag Clan, but this one had a slight twist to it.
Some highlights:
* Apparently, the Punzalan side of my family comes from Barangay Balisong - a balisong, for the unfamiliar on my flist, is the native butterfly knife that Batangas, the province of the paternal side of my family, is known for. ...I guess that explains more of the Gar in my family.
* There is an in-joke involving the crest of Taal City: it's a shield seal, with a balisong on the lower right (to represent the knife smithing), a barong on the lower left (to represent the embroidery industry) and Taal Church on the top. It's said that it reflects the Batangeno spirit: run a guy through with your knife, slip him in a barong, and then go straight to Sunday Mass after. The other guy version is that you run a guy through with your knife, go home and dress up in your barong, and go to confession when the deed's done.
The girl version is even better: hold a knife to the back of the guy you're into, dress him in a barong at knife point, and go to church to get married. XD
We all split up after the tour was done, and the ride home was relaxing in spite of the traffic - we ended up sitting around through it and talking again, of course. :3
I woke up to my dad telling me that the internet connection was apparently back to its usual speed - testing it out downstairs verified this, but I went with him to the office anyway because I figured that it could be a serious fluke.
Apologies to those I didn't tag or talk to the whole day today: I was hacking away at my fic backlog, with moderate success. Dump's in the last part of this post, for the interested. ♥
The internet connection was down when I got home, as predicted - it only came around maybe an hour or so ago, and it seems slow again. I'll be staying home tomorrow because the PLDT folks are scheduled to come here and rig us up with a new plan.
Also: seriously considering dropping some RPs sometime soon. I'm also lazy to fix the app that I sent in since it's in need of some minor revisions... I'll prolly get to it once I've cleared out more of my writing backlog.
Head's up to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rainy_takako and mlina for this set. I'll be working on things for akaru_hana, yukitsu and maybe redmoonmurder and mlina again for the rest of the week.
It was a pretty relaxed departure, actually, the most relaxed I've had over the past few years. I got to sleep for as long as I want, and then my mom and I ambled down to the parlor a few streets away from our house because she wanted us to get our nails done. She also wanted me to get my armpits waxed, which was actually pretty nifty and didn't hurt nearly as much as everyone said it would. In fact, it barely hurt at all - or maybe my tolerance for pain is just freakish. orz
Nifty, though. I've never seen my skin this hairless since... well, ever.
[/girl talk]
Car ride going there was a little cramped - Dad was driving the Volvo, and Paolo stayed in front, but that still left me, Mom and Peter in the back with stuff at our feet since the trunk was packed beyond capacity. Still, a road trip's fun for the conversation, and we did get to talk a lot. Things only soured up a little when we reached Taal, and it wasn't because of any family Awkward.
Dad and Mom have been shuttling back and forth from home to Batangas in order to oversee the renovations they've planned for our ancestral home - I'll go into the details of that later. Anyway, a few days before the road trip, one of our workers got electrocuted and rushed to the hospital. He was supposed to be discharged the day we arrived.
Good thing, at that, because the hospital decided to ding us and wring us out for all we were worth. The anesthesiologist charged us 6k, which was reasonable enough, but the surgeon wanted us to choke out 18,000 bucks. And there wasn't even any surgery involved; he just cleaned our workers' damned hand wound. THEN the hospital itself wanted us to pay 12,000 for a frigging two-day stay in the ICU when our guy didn't even need to be there.
Suffice to say, my parents were shocked, but we really couldn't do anything but pay up.
Lesson: never, EVER let people down here catch wind of you. They think all of us folks are hellafuckingrich or something, and that it's apparently okay to cheat us.
ANYWAY.
Philippine Koushien folk, the Gar House has changed a lot from the last time you guys were here... we're working to pave a bit of the front yard, and we've installed an air conditioner in the sitting room beside the kitchen. There is also a bathroom in the masters' bedroom, tucked right into the neat little corner to the left of the door. Sliding door was wonky while we were there (it took two people to open it from the outside), but it should be fixed by the time we go back!
Best of all, we had a steady internet connection there - the only thing that ever killed it were the brownouts, which kept coming up sporadically during our stay. Suffice to say, the first night was pretty damned relaxing for all of us.
Mom and I went out at a reasonable time the next day in order to get our hair and make-up done... we managed to go to a David's Salon branch in Lemery, and get fixed for a steal. 550 pesos, for hair AND make-up, AND the people who did it for us were really good. After that, we rushed back to the house to change, pick up my brothers and zip off to the wedding.
Petrik and Yas had their celebration at the Chapel on the Hill, which is this srsly beautiful place in Tagaytay - the view was already beautiful on an overcast day, so I can only imagine what it must be like in good weather.
Our last day in Taal was taken up by a tour which my family hosted for Yas' side of the family - they're a really nice and down-to-earth bunch of people, and the tour was quite educational. I sort of had one already with the Barrion-Banaag Clan, but this one had a slight twist to it.
Some highlights:
* Apparently, the Punzalan side of my family comes from Barangay Balisong - a balisong, for the unfamiliar on my flist, is the native butterfly knife that Batangas, the province of the paternal side of my family, is known for. ...I guess that explains more of the Gar in my family.
* There is an in-joke involving the crest of Taal City: it's a shield seal, with a balisong on the lower right (to represent the knife smithing), a barong on the lower left (to represent the embroidery industry) and Taal Church on the top. It's said that it reflects the Batangeno spirit: run a guy through with your knife, slip him in a barong, and then go straight to Sunday Mass after. The other guy version is that you run a guy through with your knife, go home and dress up in your barong, and go to confession when the deed's done.
The girl version is even better: hold a knife to the back of the guy you're into, dress him in a barong at knife point, and go to church to get married. XD
We all split up after the tour was done, and the ride home was relaxing in spite of the traffic - we ended up sitting around through it and talking again, of course. :3
I woke up to my dad telling me that the internet connection was apparently back to its usual speed - testing it out downstairs verified this, but I went with him to the office anyway because I figured that it could be a serious fluke.
Apologies to those I didn't tag or talk to the whole day today: I was hacking away at my fic backlog, with moderate success. Dump's in the last part of this post, for the interested. ♥
The internet connection was down when I got home, as predicted - it only came around maybe an hour or so ago, and it seems slow again. I'll be staying home tomorrow because the PLDT folks are scheduled to come here and rig us up with a new plan.
Also: seriously considering dropping some RPs sometime soon. I'm also lazy to fix the app that I sent in since it's in need of some minor revisions... I'll prolly get to it once I've cleared out more of my writing backlog.
Head's up to
rainy_takako and mlina for this set. I'll be working on things for akaru_hana, yukitsu and maybe redmoonmurder and mlina again for the rest of the week.Fic Dump!
Chaos Rising
+ A pomegranate lamp (Toshihiko & Minako, for
Gintama
+ Dysfunction is a function (Kondo - Hijikata - Okita, for
+ Inflate my ego (Otae & Kondo, for
+ When the darkness falls under your hair, there I'll be (Takasugi x Katsura/Bansai x Takasugi/Gintoki x Takasugi, for
Ookiku Furikabutte
+ Neglected souls (Tosei, for
+ As I break this chair... (Akimaru, for
Persona 3
+ Ignorance is not stupidity, but it might as well be (Shinji/Akihiko/Mitsuru, for
+ Strangers in the dark (Minato & Ryoji, for
+ Taking time out to forget (Akihiko, for
Persona 4
+ Collapse unto me tired with joy (Daisuke & Kou, for
+ Dopplegangland, (Kanji, for
Soul Eater
+ Nothing could be better than that (Soul & Maka, for
+ Your road to freedom that you build with flesh and bone. (Mifune, for
+ Takes one to know one (Tsubaki, for
+ Ten out of nine times (Spirit & Maka, for
+ Nothing could be better than that (Soul & Maka, for
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
no subject
I'm envious of how you guys are sprucing up your family home. My family tends to let our houses rot. XD And to think, you have internet there already! *amazed*
From:
no subject
Weeell the ancestral house means a lot to us. As for the internet connection, it s a Punzalan trademark. orz
From:
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From:
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I'll let them know you wished them well~ they were really cute during the celebration!
From:
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From:
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waxing isn't supposed to hurt, i think - unless you use the cheap wax. which burns like hellfire.
Apparently, the Punzalan side of my family comes from Barangay Balisong
ahahahah. things make so much sense now XD
/stabbed
From:
no subject
H-hellfire. /hides--
...
/and stabs you for that comment B|
not that I can deny it but aaaah--From:
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I shall forgive you since you tagged me. BUT ONLY THIS ONCE.
From:
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Always so demanding~! ♥
From:
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From:
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That, and I'm pretty damned busy most of the time. This fic dumping definitely isn't normal. XD;
From:
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PICTURES PLS \oAlso: *CHU* thank you again for the fic* <3
From:
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NO UYou're welcome, bb. I only wish I could write more.
From:
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YES \o NOEY WANT SEE PAM IN DRESSHush. Am still spazzing over this one. ♥
From:
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BUT PAM DOES NOT WANT NOEY TO SEE PAM IN DRESSLmao, ;;
From:
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I'd like to see the ancestral home after the renovations. It would be mighty interesting. We really didn't get to have a chance to walk around either. Maybe next time...
From:
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Yes, we can walk around~ I can get information on tours from my dad, now that I've seen the circuit for myself.
From:
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n-not a creeper k
From:
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From:
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a-am not ;-;
From:
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From:
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/feels loved
a-also. i'd like to rp with your hibari. someday.
From:
no subject
SURE. Where and when? :3
From:
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... ummm idk yet. DD: I'll be free around the second week of May, so maybe around that time? a-also who do you play? i know you play hibari, but who else? >__<;;
From:
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Lesee... I've RPed Gamma, Byakips, Mukupine, Tsuna, Yamamoto and Shouichi. Looking to try Chrome and Xanxus out sometime~
That's just for KHR though. XD
From:
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From:
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nom onplay with her!A young Squalo could lead to interesting possibilities too. Been meaning to try Dino out someday~
From:
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I played with this young Dino in the dr for a while. *A* A Dino is fine; I think I'd be pretty beat up by Hibari if I rp'd as Squalo with him. >8(
From:
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Nyufufufu. I suppose this is my cue to make a Dino account. |D
From:
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Congrats to Petrik and Yas~
From:
no subject
Thanks. I'll let them know~