The Day of the Bungisngis

To my Niece na ever BUNGISNGIS...

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY!!!

Camilla Elizabeth... We never call her that. Well, sometimes yeah. I call her Nene or Ineng, so does my parents, her elder brother Simon, my brothers, my aunt, the neighbors, our relatives... oh well, all of us.

I'm proud to say that I'm the one responsible for her name. =) I checked the Catholic calendar and found out that it's the day for St. Camillus and Elizabeth, yeah, if I remember correctly. Just like her Kuya Simon, whose name was taken from that same calendar.

We're gonna have the big celebration this Sunday. I still don't know what to chip in. Food? Cake? Balloons? Clowns? (Hell no!) I really don't know. I have a few days left.

Anyway, keep smiling and laughing my dear niece na bungisngis!

Faith to Last a Lifetime - Part 1

(This is the 1st part of 3 sessions for my tattoo - I'm not really sure though. =P)

I finally did it. After a few months of thinking and reflecting if I should do it or not, now it became a reality. Not to mention after a few instances of doubt by my friends, aheeem! you know who you are, that I won't do it.

My faith will be the only constant thing in my life. No matter what happens, I know what I believe in. To honor St. Jude Thaddeus - Patron of Desperate Cases, Jesus Christ and Mother Mary, I came up with this design. Tattoos may fade but my faith? It will never, never, never ever.

Check them out... More to come in the next few days...

Plain and simple back...

The last moment of being ink-free...

Letting the stencil dry-up first...

With the Master, Butch Bautista, doing what he does best...

I'm not making pa-cute, It really hurts...

Butch needs to always check the original art to make sure everything's alright...

Hey, that's a true smile coming from me... Yeah right Mac...

Butch - changing the needle on his tattoo gun...

1st image done...

2nd image done...

3rd image done... A lot, lot, lot, lot more to go...

1st Tattoo Session - Done.

Thanks so much Slinks... 'til the next session...

Bonus shot of the day... Hehehe, feeling winners.

To see more pics of the 1st tattoo session, visit http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j31/denmark21/My%20Tattoo/

Special thanks to Loren aka Slinky for being such a wonderful friend, who saw me through this whole thing. Sat by my side for the whole 4 hours, entertained me when I'm in pain, bought me some food and drinks - though I wasn't able to eat at first, took the pictures and rubbed my hands to comfort me when I needed it most. Wow... ang drama! Hahaha! Madami pa tayong next sessions. =)

And of course to my best bud, Christian. Read all the tattoo mags in the shop, bought the dinner with Yoji, gave me all the support and drove our van even if it's his first time to drive an A/T vehicle. Thanks so much man! I'm gonna wait for your turn to have one.

And who can forget about the best artist in this world? To one of the best people you could ever meet in this lifetime, Butch Bautista. Thanks for making this tattoo extra special and for being so accomodating all this time.

To check out some of Butch's works, visit http://s197.photobucket.com/albums/aa94/butchbautista

For his Wikipedia entry, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butch_Bautista

Butch Bautista

Fine Line Tattoo and Body Piercing

#25 Ortigas Ave. Ext. Taytay, Rizal

09174976117

See you in my next tattoo sessions... There's a whole lot more to do!

Play Ball!!!

Now, I don't think the title of this post is like my other ones...

You see, the other titles won't give you a clear idea of what you're about to read... But not this... I can't think of any other fitting title but the umpire's famous line:

"Play Baaaaaaall!!!"

Last May 5 was my very first, and official, amateur baseball game played in my entire life. Though I was present during the opening day game, I was not inserted in the lineup (for reasons you'll discover later... hahaha...).

Now playing... Right Field... # 58...

It's so damn hot in the middle of the day...

If not for the love of the game, the love for the Yankees and keeping my Lolo's legacy alive, I wouldn't have put my entire self into such a disgrace...

I suck playing this game. Well, yeah. I had no prior competitive experience before this. I played LF for 3 full innings. Was charged E9 twice, meaning Error on #9 position. I lost two simple flyballs, miscalculation of the ball's trajectory. I struck out looking on a 3-2 full count on my first and only at-bat.

Well, there you go. I hope to play one more game before the season ends. And I promise to be physically fit by next season, and competitive enough too. =)

Special thanks to Loren and Mariel for the pics and taking their time out in making the "surprise" appearance during our game. As if hindi ko nahalata Yel. =)

Mommyo... Mima... 'en na...

Mommyo is for Lola. Poppyo is for Lolo. Mima is for Tito Mac. Nino is for Ninong Dodie. Ot is for Lola Alud. Nene is for the younger sister. And the usual Mommy and Daddy of course.

This is how my dear nephew, Simon Peter calls us. It's his 3rd birthday today! I remember when he first came out to this world. I felt so awkward. First time to have a small voice that cries so hard a lot of times in a day. I got used to it though.

We call him with different names: Sai, Simon, Totoy, Toto and even Petutoy.

Neighbors, relatives and other people call him differently: Kulot.

Yeah... If not for his naughty antics and hyperactivity not to mention the desperate measures of my Mom to cut his hair often which I detest so much (Don't cut it! Don't!!!), you would mistake that boy for a girl. When we were not cutting his hair yet, he'd get that gesture from other people. My sis-in-law one time had to, you know, "show his thingy" to this woman who just won't believe her. Funny moment.

Sabi ko nga lugi ako when it comes to giving him and his younger sister things, gifts and supplies. Simon being the 1st nephew, the 1st grandchild of my parents or better known as the usual spoiled brat and his sister, Camilla, being the 1st girl in our family and my goddaughter too. Hahaha!

Some pics of Simon from before and to the most recent...

Simon at our Quezon House - Chillin' out..

Simon - 1 year and 1 month

Simon - Doesn't what his Mima was doin'

Simon, give me that matchstick...

Simon's 3rd Birthday Cake courtesy of Mommyo

The Long Wait is Over

6:30am: Cellphone alarm clock woke me up... Checked some text messages from last night, went online for a few minutes... Crap my Yankees are losing again against the Boston Red Sucks.

6:45am: Took a bath... Prepared my spare clothes... Filled-up the van's water reserve for the radiator...

7:10am: Caltex Taytay Hi-way, loaded 200 bucks of diesel... This gasoline boy is taking forever to clean the windshield... Hohuummm...

7:40am: McDonald's Marcos Hi-way, Sausage McMuffin with Egg and Orange Juice... 2 cars ahead of me... Damn, I hope I won't be late for the 8am call time, I still don't know the place...

7:55am: Marikina Proper... Asked a yosi vendor if the road I'm taking is correct... Yes, Sto. Niño Baseball Field is just near... Wikimapia.org is indeed correct...

8:00am: Just in time baby, just in time... But wait, there's already a group playing... Uh oh, am I already late? Can't be... I approached the field... Whoa! They're a bunch of Koreans practicing too... Whew!

8:10am: Sent Justin Austria (Titans Captain) a text message... He'll be there in 10mins...

8:20am: Justin has arrived, as well as some members of the Titans Alabang team... The Koreans? I didn't know some of them will be our team mates...

Oh wait, what am I talking about? This is about Titans Baseball League '07. I am gonna be part of this event, playing for the Titans.

8:30am: Getting to know each other... Talked about baseball in general, the other members and stuff... Stretching, warming-up, 2 laps of jogging... Oh goodness gracious, Cap handed over a baseball mitt and the ball... Let's do some catch! I dunno what to feel... Baka mapahiya ako, it's been ages since I last did this... Whow! To my surprise and maybe him to, I can catch and throw... The best part of playing catch earlier? Cap commended me. Ang lakas ko daw bumato ng bola... On to some batting practice and then scrimmages... I got to hit for the 1st time in a game... Played defense (which I sucked big time) on the infield and the outfield...

10:00am: First break! OMFG! This weather's gonna kill me... Good thing I was wearing long sleeves training clothes with NY Yankees cap and Rudy Project shades... Tommy Song, the Korean team leader treated us all for some refreshments... By this time, I was already feeling weak... My arms, legs and shoulders are getting heavy... Can I just watch baseball on TV? :(

11:00am: Finally, we're done... After a few defense and offense drills, we're done! Aaaaaargh!

Yeah. The long wait is now over. After almost 15 years of waiting, I got to play baseball again. I thank my grandfather for having this in our genes. He was a star baseball player in our province of Quezon back in the days. Did you know that he used to play the upright bass guitar? I play the bass guitar too. It's all in the family.

Catch more of the Titans Baseball League '07 from April to May, Saturdays and Sundays at the Sto. Niño Baseball Field in Marikina! For more info, log on to www.titansbaseballclub.org.