happiness is having a brother called Jorick...

... who was my childhood nemesis because he tortured my dolls by hanging them from our ceiling fan (that's traumatizing to a 5-year old)

... who ended up being one of my fave buddies in highschool (since we eventually ended up in the same grade level and barkada --- people for a while thought we were fraternal twins.... i would say he failed a year... in truth, his original school had a grade 7 where mine was only up to grade 6... i do believe ateneo only wants to hijack parents for another year of tuition, but i digress...)

... who ended up being more than a buddy, but a beloved brother --- when life threw curveballs at my face, he was there to take a swing at it (whether it be people who had hurt me, or jobs that had just sucked the living daylights out of me)

... who helped me get by when i had my I'm-an-NGO-worker-and-I-don't-have-money dry spells (which was for most of my working life in the Philippines)

... who is still only one yahoo messenger away, and I know I can drop in for a "hey pangit" - "hey taba" diatribe when I miss home

...who has Helen, one of the coolest sister-in-laws ever!

Happy Birthday Dick!!!

happiness is having a brother called Kiko...

... who, when we were little, unembarassingly played with me, his little sister, with the whole range of toys that we had -- cabbage patch kids, teddy bears, transformers, gi joe... etc.

... who even composed songs with me as we played with our toys... "sweets for my sweets, sugar for my mommy, compared to my daddy, i'm two feet tall!!"

... who comes to my rescue during IT crises, and lets me use the computer, and nag him into helping me find software programs that I need (wansapanataym, i left my mp3 player recording and i recorded my voice really whining at kiko to let me watch someting on the computer)

... who makes me laugh with his humor that is more on the witty-comicky side, calvin & hobbes weird side

... who makes burping fun, and farting hilarious! hahaha.

... who cooks a mean meal, from pasta to lucky me instant pancit canton... and willingly (though sometimes half-heartedly) letting me eat some of it (with thanks to che for convincing him to share, hehe)

... who bears with me and all the crap that i put him through... like having friends smoke under his window, buying feminie thingies from the sari-sari store

... who, in his own way, has been there for me and shown his support during trying times... like going to mass and just being together in silence or sharing the latest TV shows that I can be obsessed with

HAPPY BIRTHDAY kyx!!!

Aflatoun's "Royal" Campaign Launch

Drumrolls please... the Aflatoun Campaign Launch has been delivered! Her Royal Highness, Princess Maxima, graced the event. There she is with my boss, Jeroo Billimoria... and our cool Aflatoun letters at the back (I want to bring them home and make them throwpillows).

Wild three days! We were able to bring together about 50+ partners from about 40+ countries, along with various stakeholders to launch our campaign for Child Social & Financial Education. Wonderful wonderful partners!

Stories and pics to follow if I can muster the energy for it... but for now I will slowly float back into my life of normalcy.

campaign launch stress

gearing up for our big Campaign Launch on March 17-19. Big event. Big wigs attending. Princess Maxima as well. Must remember not to make a total fool of myself.

I remember, right before some big important event, when I would get all nervous... I would sms friends asking them to text back something reassuring. They always sms'd back... and I was comforted more by the realization that I am blessed to have such wonderful people as friends.