Ibyang's PhotoCatalogue: CHILDHOOD

Photographs are all you have when you want to remember your childhood.

A few months before I turned 1...

One of my favorite birthday photos...

My PhotoCatalogue for this week is in response to Eve's tag called "Bata bata, Paano Ka Ginawa?".

Affirmation for the Week: Diligence

I

will

REVIEW

my LIFE

DILIGENTLY.

{Photo Source}

Finding Some 'ME time' Now That I'm Married

Nearly three months after Chris has arrived here in Sydney, time management-wise I'm slowly adjusting to being really married.

For the first two months that Chris was here, I was finding it very hard to inject some "ME time" due to a lot of reasons---parties to attend to, shoots, projects we acquired now that we are together, exploring Sydney, packing and unpacking our stuff, and household chores to name a few. Life is indeed so much busier now that husband and I are doing our responsibilities as husband and wife and as individuals.

And now I think, I'm really getting the hang of managing my time as for this weekend I was able to do a lot of "Me time": took afternoon naps on Friday and Saturday, briskwalk and jog at the park today, blog and surf the net, watch Koreanovela at night and read a chapter or two of the novel I'm reading before I go to sleep. So yay me!!!!

Thank goodness husband has been very helpful in the home (he irons our clothes, cleans the house and helps in the washing of laundry), never asks too much from me and always gives me space to do things I want to do like take afternoon naps, briskwalk/jog to the park alone or just spend 10 minutes by my lonesome while sipping green tea.

As early as now, I'd have to say that I'm lucky that I found a partner that respects my value for solitude. It is rare to find someone who understands and is sensitive to one's need to be alone. My need for solitude is not relative to alienation or loneliness, it is simply a need for me to reflect, meditate, talk to myself or simply stare into nothing and just breathe. Silence is golden for me and in that silence I always find my center...I'm more aligned to whatever directions I'm moving towards to. The solutide that I reward myself is one reason why I maintain a healthy soul and mind. And I'm glad my husband knows and respects that.

17th Month (Phantom of the Opera)

Last night we celebrated our 17th month a day earlier (today's our monthsary) by watching "The Phantom of the Opera". I realized that for the past 5 years of being together, I never introduced Chris to "my art", it's always been "his art"--graphic design, photography, exhibits, etc. And so I bought tickets to The Phantom of the Opera in February (tickets were selling like hotcakes, May schedules were already sold out!) so I can share my love for theatre with him.

According to him, the only plays he had ever watched in Manila was "Noli Me Tangere", El Filibusterismo" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and for me that doesn't count at all, coz they're the kind of plays one had to watch when you're studying Secondary School in the Philippines. So in effect, this was Chris' first time to watch a play--and I'm glad it was The Phantom of the Opera that we watched.

It was also Chris' first time to go to Star City (Sydney's Las Vegas), this was where we had dinner at Trophies.

Our dinner: some Chinese BBQ Pork and Roast Duck

Infront of Star City where they have this big Phantom of the Opera paraphernalias

Chris' first time to see a Musical Play...this was infront of the Lyric Theatre in Star City

Very excited to see The Phantom of the Opera as I heard it has the best production ever.

The Lyric Theatre was full even on a Thursday...there was not an empty seat on the theatre last night.

The Phantom of the Opera was the most spectacular play I've ever watched. It is indeed the musical that has the best production from costumes to stage set-ups for every scenes. The actors were sooooo good--all had equally powerful voices but it was The Phantom's voice that I fell inlove with. Other than the voices, all did well in acting too.

It is from this musical where the song "All I Ask of You" (which I've always loved since I was in High School) was from and now that I've seen it sung in this play, the song has more meaning to me, more heartfelt knowing why it was sung and which part of the story it was sung. I fell inlove with the song all over again.

Chris enjoyed his first musical (yay!!!!) and I'm so glad he liked it as much as I did. This morning when he woke up he looked for his "All I Ask of You" MP3 and played it while he was surfing the net. I guess my love for theatre rubbed off on him aye? Success!!!!

After the show, we hang out a bit for a hot chocolate at the Lyric Cafe and to end the night going thru the scenes we love best.

In Act One, these were the scenes that made an impact on us:

Scene 4 where The Phantom and Christine (the lead female) were in the Labyrinth Underground singing "Phantom of the Opera."

Scene 5 where The Phantom sings "Music of the Night" to Christine in his secret hideaway place.

Scene 10 where Raoul and Christine sings "All I Ask of You" on the roof of the Opera House.

In Act Two:

Scene 1 where the unforgettable and vibrant Masquerade was sung.

Scene 9, of course who would forget the last scene? This was where The Phantom had to let Christine go even if he loved her so much.

Since we had an advanced 17th month celebration last night, we stayed home today and only went out to do some grocery shopping. We also catched up on sleep...hindi na talaga ako sanay magpuyat.

Other than introducing Chris to my love for theatre I have decided that we should once in a while see a play instead of a movie. A different form of art, a more enriching learning experience. So next month, we are seeing another musical play.