Yesterday was my cousin Sheena’s kumpil. I was her ninang — and a clueless one at that. Attending this kind of ceremony was a first to me as I’ve never been to a kumpil before. Worse, I absolutely had no idea that according to tradition, the ninang is supposed to treat the whole family out to lunch! Lol.

FYI, Kapampangans love to eat as much as they love to cook. Yes, I’m half-Kapampangan. But, unfortunately, I only love to eat.

Sheena with the Archbishop.

The statue outside Sto. Tomas Parrish Church in Sto. Tomas, Pampanga.

With mama, aunties, uncle and cousins at Nathaniel’s in San Fernando, Pampanga.

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After months of putting it off, I’m finally releasing the WordPress theme I’m currently using on this blog. I called it “Stargaze” because, uhm, I couldn’t think of any other appropriate word. Plus the name “Nightsky” was taken, so, hehe. If you’re wondering where I put the old downloadable WordPress themes — I’m still working on my “portfolio site” (mind the quotes) and I hope to launch it in the near future (if I find the time in the midst of this crazy schedule). Don’t count on it to be anything big, though. It’s just an option for me to separate the WordPress themes / work stuff from my personal blog.

I realize that this theme is too girlie for guy bloggers — come to think of it, the past few themes I released are all too girlie. I swear it’s unintentional. Heh.

Stargaze Wordpress Theme tips:

• To center an image and put a blue border around it (see example screenshot above), use the class name “itemcenter“, e.g. <img src=”image.jpg” alt=”image name” class=”itemcenter” />
• To align an image to the left and put a blue border around it, use the class name “itemleft“.
• To align an image to the right and put a blue border around it, use the class name “itemright“.
• To center a text or paragraph, use the class name “center“.

Why use these classes when you can use the normal way of aligning an image or text? These styles validate W3C compliant, while the usual align attribute does not. But of course, you don’t have to follow those. Pardon me for being neurotic with codes sometimes. :)

:: Download Stargaze ::

This version is a valid xhtml with error-free css. Works fine with WordPress 2.3 to 2.3.3.

Can you imagine how awkward it was for me to shoot this picture? Lol.

Because it’s Valentine’s Day, I decided to have my nails and toenails painted bloody red. It’s no biggie, I’ll probably remove it after a day or two. I just happened to pass by a salon yesterday and thought of doing something out of the ordinary (I don’t normally get my nails done. Only when I’m attending a formal event). But just so you know, this act is already the extent of my 2008 Valentine’s Day!

To tell you the truth — and I mean this with no bitterness in my heart, haha — I don’t treat Valentine’s Day any differently than the other regular days. Why? Because I’m not used to experiencing anything BIG happening on this day. I haven’t received any serious “I like you, be my Valentine” flowers, or any memorable gifts in the past 23 Valentine’s days of my life. Not that this is a bad thing coz it’s really not, and I’m not bitter. I’M. NOT. BITTER. Haha.

I’m looking forward to at least having dinner with da boypren, just like last year and the year before! *Hint-hint* Boypren, are you there? :)

Nevertheless, we all know that Valentine’s Day is not exclusive to lovers. It can also be about friends and family. I used to spend February 14th every year with my best friends back home. We would go out, have dinner, give each other presents (Sometimes roses! How sad were we?), and be all singles together. Valentine’s Day a.k.a. Singles Awareness Day can be a lot of fun if spent with the right people you know.

I also have another one good memory of this day. For three years in a row, my guy classmates in college (who were only about 20% of our class) would prepare something sweet for the rest of us (the ladies) on Valentine’s Day. They would pool their money together, buy bouquets of roses and they would join with one of our professors in carrying out their plan for that day, Feb 14. The class would get interrupted, and soon they’d enter our classroom to hand each of us her own red rose. IT WAS REALLY CHEESY! But it never failed to make the rest of us smile and feel friendly kilig. They made it clear they weren’t doing that with any romantic agenda in mind — they just wanted to make all of us feel a little bit special on that day. Such a sweet gesture, don’t you think?

See? Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be about romantic relationships between two people. Me, bitter? I’m not bitter. Whatareyoutalkingabout?

If I say I’m not bitter one more time would you still believe me? Haha!

So what’s your unromantic memory of Valentine’s Day? :)