a simple civil celebration

my cousin aris and my newly official cousin-in-law jen celebrated their civil wedding on their first year anniversary as a couple. they had a simple ceremony at the celebrant's home (attended by their immediate families) and had a simple celebration after at kuya dennis' home in baulkham. we had roast pork and beef and salad to feast on that day. the titas and titos and some cousins, not to mention my husband, played mahjong the entire time. as per the bride's request, almost everyone wore white with jeans, except moi who came in a pink top (knowing that the bride's fave color is pink). we had them do a cake cutting ceremony but declined our request to feed each other with cake. oh well, at least they did the cake cutting...

jen's mom came over from the philippines to witness her only daughter tie the knot with my cousin while jen's cousin who is working in the hayman islands flew to sydney to be with jen during this time (she needs all the support she can get...hahahahahahahahaha :-P).

they'll be having their church wedding on july 21 in manila (reason for us to be in the philippines!!!). ceremony to be held at santuario de san antonio while reception will be at the manila polo club.

goodbye unit, welcome home

last thursday, we picked up the last few remaining items left in the unit. we made sure that we left the place in a state pretty much the same as when we got it last august 2004. it has been our home for a little over a year. the unit welcomed three visitors from the philippines who stayed with us during their visit to sydney and hosted countless beerfest between eric and aris.

as what they would say (with me making changes to it), when a unit closes...

7/10 albert st., hornsby nsw 2077

a home opens.

35 foxglove road, mount colah nsw 2079

hooked on ellen

i chanced upon the show just yesterday...

and i was laughing all throughout.

she's just so funny. she even dances impromptu in the middle of her show.

her guest today is sean hayes who plays jack mcfarland in will and grace. can you imagine just how hilarious they are together?

benvenuto a turin!

i opened the telly as soon as i woke up to watch the opening of the 2006 winter olympics being held at turin, italy. i remember from last night's news that it was to start at 5:30am sydney time.


we were able to catch a group of women (with susan sarandon and sophia loren in it) carrying the olympic flag, to the singing of the national anthem of the olympics and italy, to yoko ono opening the performance of genesis founder singing "imagine", to the acrobats, to the lighting of the olympic torch, to the athlethes and judges taking their oath, to pavarotti singing and catching the "sparks of passion" (choreographed exhibition on skates, in which eight ice hockey athletes will race at 50 km an hour inside the stadio olimpico. the uniqueness of this exhibition is also guaranteed due to the sparks of passion, generating red flames 2 metres long).


it was amazing.

how we wish we could be there. how we wish we were already here in sydney during the 2000 olympics.

some facts:

the olympic ceremonies will be followed by 35 thousand spectators at the stadio olimpico and by approximately 2 billion television spectators the world wide.

some of the logistics for the ceremonies:

6,100 volunteers and 240 professionals
15,000 days of work
100,000 meals
6,100 scene costumes during the two shows (opening and closing ceremonies)
500 pairs of skates
32 television cameras present at the stadio
4,000 m² of stage purposely designed
10,000 m² of back stage
more than 150 lorries to transport the stage, structures, lights, audio, and special effects
more than 100 km of cables

more pics of the opening ceremony here.