my holiday song list

I didn't realize that I was neglecting my blogging duties already. It's supposed to be the holidays and since we're all in the mood, I'm going to write holiday themed posts from now until the end of the festivities.

What better way to remember Christmas than with music? My proverbial LSS's would be songs from my mom's CDs. It has a really nice R&B version of "Hark The Herald", so it's too bad I can't post the song/singer profile right now since I don't know where the CD is and my mom's fast asleep right now. Next would have to be..*shudder* Mariah Carey's version of "All I want for Christmas". I'm not really a Mariah fan but my mom constantly plays the song (it's her favorite) that I sort of always remember it now. It's the holidays right? So I think it's not a crime to admit that Mariah is your LSS.

This year I'm glad there are some really great Christmas songs from Glee + Coldplay. These songs are practically the hallmark of my holidays because they're really good....so I guess this is the part where I count them off:







and this non-Glee song is probably my favorite since I love Coldplay and the song struck a nerve:



edit: AND!!! I just discovered this literally a few minutes ago! I didn't know the Coke commercial's theme song was sung by Train! It's pretty good! (I can't say amazing since I just heard it once, so it'll take time for it to grow on me)

gadget reveal

Riding home after buying my new phone yesterday, I thought about how similar my two gadgets are and because I'm my own psychologist and philosopher, I had my lightbulb moment.

I own a Panasonic Lumix GF1, a crazy little camera called a Micro Four-Thirds. Don't ask me what that means because I was so crazy for the camera that I never really bothered wondering what it was before buying it. OK, I'm joking. But the point is that this baby packs a sensor and capabilities that can rival a DSLR. In most respects I think it's really like a DSLR sans the bulk (and a mirror according to my readings). I love this camera to death because it's unobtrusive, easy to carry around, and most of the time, the pictures are stellar. I just wish I had optical zoom though, since its kit lens doesn't zoom and it doesn't have optical image stabilizer.




Two days ago I couldn't turn my old phone on, even after charging it for a few hours already. Since this isn't the first time my phone failed me, my mom and I decided to buy a new (albeit cheap) one. So after considering the big bulky ones with the QWERTY keypad and even a touchscreen (BUT I don't care for touchscreen phones though), I decided to get this....





This may look like your run-of-the-mill Nokia, but this new release actually has a touch screen AND the basic candy bar tactile keypad. I can access my facebook and twitter easily since this already has WIFI. It also sports 3G, Maps and Ovi (not that I understand what this is). And it's light weight, sleek and it doesn't scream for attention. I guess I can have the best of both worlds with this!

Anyway, given my taste for these particular gadgets, I sort of arrived at some conclusions about myself:

1. I like to keep a low profile (not that I didn't know this already)
2. Given plenty of options to buy a DSLR and a smart phone with a touch screen and Android ready, I guess I'm really not the person who likes takes drastic changes really well and I prefer being on the fence about some things.
3. I like to compromise
4. I like to keep things simple, easy, and most of the time fool-proof.
5. This isn't really a description but I think the phrase "So near yet so Far"/ "Almost there" still applies. Does this mean I'm half-baked? I hope not.

Some of these things I already know, some I'm not sure if I'm going to take seriously. Either way I'm having fun with both my camera and phone so I'm not complaining!

my fiesta in photos

It's really not about the golden week of peace I get to have every year for the past eight years.



I really don't care much for the torch lighting




...And I hate the parades when I have to participate (I leave when I get the chance)



It's probably about the support every one needs during an event or a riveting game...but, this isn't what it's absolutely about





Maybe it's because my friends are part of the bigger picture this time around....





But then again....no, that's still not it.

Maybe it's the fact that you're part of the victory



And in one of your grandest moments, shines not just a silver but overwhelming satisfaction


The lights make everything shine brighter during this time of the year



And once in a blue moon, magic happens



Friends? Victories? Lights? Pretty much part and parcel...yet not quite there.

Now THIS...

this right here, is what my Ateneo Fiesta is all about.



From this is plate comes the real magic...morsel after tender, salty, sour morsel.

photos taken using my camera and from Jam's facebook, with my thanks

The Silver has a Story

I currently have two silver medals under my belt. Both of which came from the Ateneo Fiesta Quiz Bowl. Both of them have their own stories, but I'd like to tell the story of the second silver, which I won a few hours ago.

I prayed to God to give me a gold this year. Since I've been joining the QB for three years now, it only seems logical for the gold to go to my team. But the gold has been elusive from Nursing's clutches for quite some time now. I felt it, with ever fiber of my being, that today's the day my team of three would win the gold. Yes, it's a feeling, and the feeling was strong.

But screw the feeling when my team got there.

It was not, in all aspects, an easy feat. First of, we started out shaky during the easy round, fumbling over questions that really didn't belong in the easy round. Like, one of our answers said "Camarines Sur, Region 2" (Q: Where is Mt. Bulusan?) - to that effect.

When the top three teams were announced, My team and with two others (High school and Education), placed third...So the judges subjected us to a cruel "sudden death" Tie - Breaker round.

It wasn't sudden death, since the questions kept on going and going. Almost all the time, all of us either got it right or wrong! But lo and behold, High school was eliminated first, which left us and Educ.

And on and on went the "sudden death" questions, until the Lit round, where they asked us about Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. The question was about which sphere has men-in-arms supporting Christianity or something like that. We answered Mars, Educ answered Jupiter. We got it right, so we advanced!!!! and it felt so good - the adrenaline rush coupled with people cheering us on. That was our shining moment right there. We made it just by the skins of our teeth. We were kick-ass.

So The Big Three: Accountancy, CSIT and Nursing made it to the difficult round. I told my teammates that we thrived on difficult questions, and we didn't disappoint.

CSIT, the leading team during the easy round, was eliminated early on, so they automatically get third. Which left Nursing and Accountancy vying for the gold.

Yeah, another fight to the "Sudden Death". And the questions kept on coming I couldn't even remember some of them (answers ranged from Albino, Hyme, Charter 77 etc...), until we reached English.

The question asked the case of "We" in the sentence "We blah blah blah". Thanks to my MS Word assumption, I answered "Sentence Case" (you know, upper case, lower case, sentence case? LOL!!!), when the correct answer was "Nominative case" and Accountancy got it right so they won.

I admit I felt defeated after that, but I had the whole day to realize that it's not every day that you get to survive two sudden death rounds in a quiz bowl. And it's not every day that you knew the answers to questions you never thought you knew. We didn't get the gold, but the experience was priceless. I couldn't have asked for a better time with an amazing team to win a silver medal. And it's still shiny right?

Looking back, I may not have given Nursing a gold, but I think I proved to myself that we can put up a good fight, and if there's a chance to go down fighting, then let's take that chance. I'm proud of myself and my team. We had a moment during that quizbowl that made me feel that we were definitely kick-ass. And I'll look back at that crazy moment to remind myself that we did accomplish something amazing. And you can't place a medal on that. So I admit...Miley Cyrus was right.

Simpsonized!

I didn't know this! well, until now of course

Easy tweeting

Tweeting is my best friend, though I'm still a wannabe active blogger. I always thought I had to use a smartphone, along the lines of a Samsung-ish, Android-ish, QWERTY-ish, Blackberry-ish, Touch-y type of phone to tweet and facebook effectively. It turns out Globe charges an exorbitant amount just so I can tweet from a smartphone, and I don't want to buy a smart phone right now.

There are just some of the times when I love my race (LOL). Tweetitow.com, a 3rd party twitter app for Filipinos, is godsend! After a supposedly easy registration process, I should be able to tweet from any phone (like from my Sony Ericsson phone whose model name I forgot right now).

So this is what happened to me:

1. The registration process seemed easy enough at first, and I followed the instructions to type "OREG mytwitter name and a random code" to a number (as in a Globe number/0905...). But lo and behold, I couldn't even send the damn thing. It always turns out "message sending failed".

2. So I went to the HELP section and saw that their instructions were a bit different. It apparently needed me to compose a message with my username and password and send it to a totally different number. I did it and I think it was sent properly, but when I tried to test tweet, nothing came out.

So with sheer luck on my side, I followed instruction 1.,, THEN sent it to number 2., and after a few seconds, I was mentioned and I can tweet from my phone already! No need for a smartphone and I'm stoked!!! So the Filipino's taste for the easy way out comes in handy after all!

facebook's a no-brainer

Let the heavens part! Apparently facebook's new gift for mankind is a revamped photo tagging feature and I'm definitely a believer!!!



Tagging gazillions of photos after I've uploaded them could be quite a bitch. At least before, I have good souls who help me do the tagging. Imagine the shock I got when I used facebook's uploader and my screen was filled with groups of pictures like the one above. Apparently, this groups faces together so you could tag with ease. It's amazing how now, more than ever, facebook thinks of our needs - like our need to be lazy and not think a lot.

There are a few hitches though. It can't group and recognize faces in odd positions so there's still some work to be done (Boo!!!!!) but at least now my pointing fingers (the one I exclusively use for typing) aren't worked up that much, so hallelujah for the no-brainer that is facebook!

Mockingjay reviewed

I don't think I have to put up a disclaimer to read Mockingjay (and the first two books) to understand what I'm talking about, but here I am, doing it for my first real "review" for goodreads.com


Catching Fire, the Hunger Games trifecta's second book, ended with Gale telling Katniss, that her home, District 12, is no more.

Now Mockingjay opens with Katniss surrounded by the ashes of 12, she's surrounded by a wasteland where those who were doused with flames lie as burnt remains, and those who were not so lucky to be charred lie decomposing, covered with cloaks of flies and maggots.

The war against the Capitol has now begun, and Katniss, star of the Hunger Games and the Quarter Quell, rises from the ashes to become the face of the rebellion, literally becoming the subversive brand to rally on the Districts to rise against the formidable Capitol. She knows President Snow must be killed, and she must prepare for that moment.

The was floored with The Hunger Games and Catching Fire because Suzanne Collins masterfully created a "what-if" world torn by war, thrown backwards and ruled with an iron fist. The premise of Katniss Everdeen's world isn't too far from where we stand right now. It's just that Collins had the skill, imagination and the balls to push the envelope and actually expose and create a possibility.

Mockingjay was able to properly continue where Catching Fire left off: the long overdue rebellion against the Capitol. Though there wasn't a lot of action during the first few chapters, it was necessary to build not only the momentum but also Katniss' image as well.

I particularly enjoyed picturing out just how she transforms into the Mockingjay. It's like shooting a commercial, only instead of products you'd see Katniss being videoed infront of a burning hospital, angry, making threats and igniting anger throughout Panem. Looking back, it was amusing how despite the terror and chaos, the "marketing team" thought of it as great footage, how every body loves drama so they're sure to react. Katniss is magical infront of the camera when she's spontaneous and unscripted. There was black propaganda for sure.

The ensuing war has changed every body for sure, but the person/s that affected me the most was not Peeta (though I'll get to him in a while), but Gale and Prim. Simply put, I saw just how Gale can be as cut-throat as Snow, he admitted it himself. He's so fueled with rage against the Capitol that when he talks strategy, you could either do one of two things: be awed by his cunning, or be afraid. Prim somewhat a voice of reason throughout the series. Sometimes, she becomes Katniss' rock of strength. She has an ambition to become a doctor, and she inherits all the good traits of the Everdeen family. Not bad for a girl who was supposed to be the tribute, not her older sister.

Mockingjay isn't for the faint of heart. The whole book practically screams "body count!". Collins' gift for graphic exposition shines throughout the book. We get to see more of it towards the end of the book, where Katniss leads a group to the Capitol, to hopefully kill Snow and end the war once and for all. This is where things get ugly. This is where the real body count lies. And most of all, this is where I realized Mockingjay's backbone: deception and manipulation.

Katniss was supposed to kill President Snow. She was almost there. But the hitch was that there was a human shield made of children infront of the President's home. Before she could do anything to get through, the pivotal point of the story begins with small white parachutes dropping from a hovercraft. The children expect gifts along with the parachutes (since during the Hunger Games, a small parachute is usually the way where a tribute gets supplies for survival), but instead of gifts, the packages explode. Not all of them do, but it's enough to cause Rebel paramedics to rush to the scene.

I thought it was heartbreaking enough that children had to die like that, but imagine a moment when Katniss sees her sister, Prim, among the medics seconds before the second wave of explosions begin. Prim indeed grows up, and like everyone who grows up, she dies.

Now that is the pivotal point.

There is chaos, followed by order. But for Katniss (and myself), there was only confusion.

The scene was disgusting, especially since children had to die like that. The children were used as pawns and payed the price for victory, which apparently the rebels from District 13 got. This is where Mockingjay and the first two books are so much alike: all of them depict the youth being used in one way or the other.

Manipulation was apparently the name of the game. Now more than ever, I saw how President Coin used every one to lay the groundwork for her hold to power. The book left me wondering who the villain really is. As frustrating as it may sound, that's the beauty of Mockingjay. It's a complicated chain, a web, where every body has a hand at creating the chaos. These were people driven with the lust for revenge, retribution and vindication. Because of that, every body was a villain in one point or the other in the game of survival.

Towards the end of the book, I was already frustrated at how the momentum was crushed like that. I expected Katniss to rise as the hero of the hour, but that didn't happen. If ever, the last few pages depicted just how damaged Katniss has become. She didn't win anything. She lost everything. Her life after the drama was practically a hopeless one, until Peeta returned.

Ah, Peeta. Honestly I don't have a lot of say about him, only that now, I know why Katniss chose him. As much as Katniss began the epic and horrific story of retribution, Peeta ended it. She said it herself, when she likened Peeta to a dandelion in the spring. No matter how denuded, damaged and demoralized Katniss' life has become...life goes on and there will always be a chance to start over.

I guess the whole point of The Hunger Games trilogy was to ask an important question: Who wins a war? Time and time again, the answer will always be: No one. People do the most horrific things when they're consumed with self-serving needs. People likewise do horrific things when they're driven by the lust for revenge. No one benefits from that. More than anything else, I think that's what I got from reading Suzzane Collins.

She's a genius.

Born to Move

Ok something really funny happened to me a few minutes ago

I joined National Geographic Asia's Great Migrations photo contest. It's basically a contest where a person whose photo has the most number of likes AND is liked by a panel of judges wins a Canon 550d! It's an opportunity I wouldn't want to pass up, so I joined right away.

I was really caught up with the frenzy of 'likes', I messaged and commented on photos of people I don't know just so they can link my photo that I kind of annoyed Facebook and it BLOCKED ME!!!!!! I'm so pissed right now and I can't believe I won't be able to leave comments on photos indefinitely! I can still post status messages and send private messages though so all is not lost. But still, damn facebook.

Anyway, this is my first entry under the category "Born to Move", entitled "Deep"


no matter how uncertain of my path, I will paddle through life's ocean, because I believe there's hope even in the depths


This hullabaloo over a photo made me neglect some things I NEEDED to do today:

1. clean my room, since I haven't cleaned it since the my final exams three weeks ago.

2. write a review on The Red Pyramid, and my thoughts on Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the 39 Clues for goodreads.com

3. sleep early for once! it's already 10:30 and I'm exhausted. Good thing my first class is at 9am, so I have time to rest, I hope. :)

So I'm hoping I'd get the chance to do these things tomorrow, since I need to get my life on track again. Yeah, I'm exaggerating again. This is me signing off!

Let them eat cake

Yesterday, I received an SMS from Riez asking if she, MJ and Juneth could go and visit me since apparently they were house-hopping. That was probably the last time I would see Juneth until the holidays since she's leaving tomorrow. Anyway, after having lunch at my place, I decided to go with them to pasonanca, the City Health office, Lantaka for snacks, and Tat's barbeque for....wait for it....more food.

Anyway, I'm gonna talk about what we ate at Lantaka, since 1. that's the only time I took pictures of food, 2. Tat's can wait since I'll probably go back there again 3. A SLICE OF LANTAKA'S CAKE COSTS AN ARM AND A LEG! Let them eat cake indeed!



Neth and I had the sugar-free strawberry and blueberry cheescakes, respectively. Those were the most expensive of the bunch, and a slices were so TINY!!!! I could easily devour three of them in 5 minutes. I was pretty happy at first when I knew they were sugar-free since they didn't taste like yucky cardboard, but when I learned they cost 100+ a piece, well let's just say I learned that health comes with a price. I savored every mouthful.



At first I felt pretty bad about eating a teeny slice of cheesecake because I forgot my wallet so Riez and MJ had to pay for me. But oh well, the bad feeling's gone now that I think of it. At least it's free





These were the cakes Riez and MJ had. They were pretty good, though MJ's cake (the bottom) had too much liquor in it and it wasn't even a black forest cake!

So the reason I posted this was because I was pretty pleased with how I took the shots. At least I think I'm getting the hang of composition more. If it doesn't work out at Vogue, maybe I could settle for Food or Yummy magazine! Photography and food is one sentence sounds tempting already.

passing on the Torch

I thought today would just be another random Berchmans (my high school class) get together every sembreak, but...NOOooo it wasn't!





Well, not in a really bad way. For one, there were only eight of us (Jam, Marko, Leonel, Neil, Juneth, Yana, Floyd and I) during the lunch out @ Mano-Mano, AND Floyd had to bail after since he had some major IT competition to train for. Afterward though, things got more interesting.

Yana told us that the high school would stage it's annual GreekFest today, so we decided to head on over to the Kreutz campus to see it.

The GreekFest is this annual presentation by each of the fourth year sections taking up World Literature. Blogfriend Dee, who's also a Berchmans from an earlier batch commented that Greekfest was actually an annual thing during their time, and yeah, theirs was the also the best. But apparently it was stopped and reintroduced during our time. Pardon the immodesty but I think the Berchmans diorama was the best. Yeah, it was a diorama during our time - where we dressed up a classroom to make it look like a museum with the statues of the gods suddenly coming alive.

I have no idea how the format has changed through the years but today was actually our lucky day. Apparently only one class was set to present today and we were fortunate enough to watch the Honors Class perform. Technically we were them, four years ago. I can't believe it's been that long!

Anyway, a lot of things have changed and for starters, THE VENUE ACTUALLY HAD DECENT AIR CONDITIONING, since they built a set in the AVR. When it was our time, we had to transform a classroom on the 5th floor into a set, and it was so hot with all the spotlights and the windows closed!



As for their storyline, it was more of a skit than a diorama, with the story of the Olympians as the focus, sans the Titans (we did Olympians and the Titans). Their story involved a lot of movement onstage, and the spacious set was to their advantage. The twist in the story was that they injected music in their performances, making it a semi-musical. Think Hera singing "I will Survive", Ares and Aphrodite doing "Iris", and Hades singing Rasputin's song from the Disney movie Anastasia. It was an eclectic mix of show tunes, adult contemporary and Disney.



The only hitch was the AVR's sound system - that was the horrible part. But as for the great singing, kudos to them. Most of them delivered their lines well, with enthusiasm and humor. They knew how to be funny, especially the witty one-liners. And the dialogue had some risque lines to them- stuff about losing your virginity and incest. My, have the kids grown.



Basically they knew how to tell the god's story with a beginning, a middle and an end, so props to them!!! (I know this part doesn't do justice to what I just saw but at least you have an idea of what happened - or not :)).

But still, I'd like to believe that our set was the best (of course, love your own) :) We even made a night sky. The costumes were no joke either!!!







there's me at the far left, with the glasses when I was still larger than life, appropriately cast under the Titans. I forgot who I played though.

Beyond the humor, looking at them gave me that poignant feeling I haven't really felt in a while. It's the fact that it's been four years and high school is a thing of the past. The proverbial Olympic torch (see? the imagery fits the post! :)) has been passed on so many times already. I felt....well, old. I know, I know, it'll happen eventually. But I didn't think it'll happen so soon. I'll graduate college in a few months and I don't want to look back with regrets. I know a few short months is well...short. But I'm determined to make the most of it and live it with all I got. I don't want to look back one day and regret not doing this and that. So saying "Yes" to every opportunity is a good, albeit late start.

(like just now. I won't spoil it since I don't know if it will push through but I'll post any developments! *fingers crossed! )

Parting shot:

I know "right now", my skills aren't exactly worthy of a magazine, but I'm having fun with my camera, and this shot is definitely a favorite of mine. I smell a photoshoot in the next couple of days...

Chicken with pesto

A week ago I was surprised to find out that the local grocery carried chicken breast fillets. I know, it's supposed to be like, a staple in the meat section but Zamboanga (where I live) is at the most, 5 years behind every city when it comes to things like malls and...chicken breasts. Case in point: the local grocery CARRIED breast fillets, BUT they don't bring it outside for display.

So it's been a week and the fillets have been resting in the freezer since I have no idea what to do with them. I wanted to make chicken galantina, but I remembered something: we don't have a proper oven! What do I do with chicken breasts that doesn't involve stuffing it with bacon, holding it with butcher's twine (not that we have it here), and baking it?

Then I remembered that although the grocery hides its chicken breasts from the world, they do put pesto on display. Thanks to Yummy.ph I found a recipe for pasta that only needed noodles, chicken and pesto.



I was halfway through mixing my chicken with the marinade ingredients when I realized I didn't have the time and the energy to cook pasta, so thinking on my feet, I decided that the chicken would be a stand alone dish.



The modification seems easy enough, since I really didn't have to alter the whole recipe. I just did away with the pasta part. I was pretty nervous mixing the marinade ingredients, since it's my first time to work with pesto and without a recipe, I just relied on gut feel to flavor my chicken with salt and pepper.



It really didn't take long for the chicken to cook, and I was lucky enough to avoid any cooking mishaps, like the chicken burning or turning out raw.




So I cut the first piece of meat that was done and saw the juices running clear: a good sign and a pat on the back for me! I grabbed a fork and impaled a small piece. I put it in my mouth. It was still hot, so a little back and forth motion with my tongue. When I got to really taste it, I was impressed! I never thought the chicken would taste like my favorite chicken my mom used to bring home from Manila.




The pesto really came through for me. It gave the chicken the fresh, sweet slightly nutty and aromatic tang that only basil could deliver. Pesto is my friend now. I was relieved that rubbing the fillet with salt and pepper and other spices did their trick as well.

I'm not sure if they (family members who subsist on regular food. lol) would appreciate it since the flavor is definitely not in our run-of-the-mill dinner. I wouldn't go as far as saying it's snooty. Maybe they just need to appreciate gourmet dishes more. Which I don't think they will but it's a work in progress!



I know, I still have to work on my food styling. But at least it's a start. I have Jaden's Steamy Kitchen to thank for the inspiration.



Chicken with Pesto
serves 3 - 5

1 kg chicken breast fillets, cleaned
salt and pepper to taste
1 - 2 tbsp bottled pesto (I have no idea how this dish would fare with freshly made pesto so don't ask!!!)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp anise seeds
2 tsp rosemary
1 - 2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1. Clean the chicken breasts and pat dry with a paper towel.
2. Rub the chicken with salt and pepper until thoroughly distributed
3. In a bowl, mix the remaining ingredients to form a paste.
4. Add the chicken and evenly mix and coat with the pesto paste.
5. Let the chicken and pesto rest for at least 30 minutes
6. Heat olive oil or corn oil in a nonstick pan before adding the chicken.
7. Once the pan is heated enough, add the chicken skin side down. Do not overcrowd the pan.
8. Cook each side on medium heat until golden brown, with slight charring (this is normal since the chicken is coated with basil).
9. Test if the meat is cooked thoroughly by slicing a piece in half and the juices run clear.
10. Serve with rice and or pasta.(I ate it without rice though. still tasted great)

I love Roti

I keep on finding myself blogging more about food lately!

My best friend Jam, who went on a little trip to Cebu, brought home Roti buns from Kopi Roti!!!! This is definitely an indulgence on both our parts, since these buns don't come cheap and it's a hypertensive's worst nightmare: bread generously glazed with coffee and inside is a generous serving of......wait for it.....butter. But it's soooooooo good when it's toasted and warm that a few years off your life is worth it. I think.

Horror boot camp

I always have this deep-seated fascination with horror media - movies, books, TV shows. Out of the three, I am almost always scared more with what I read than what I watch. I remember when I was in Cagayan de Oro a few years ago, a National Bookstore trip found me buying my first True Philippine Ghost Stories book. The funny thing is I never finished it because it creeped me out so much I couldn't stand being alone in a room, especially at night.

What's weird about me is that I'm a wuss when it comes to horror. True, I said I had a fascination with it but I almost always crawl back to my 'safe mode' everytime I watch a scary movie - my eyes semi-closed with my hands on my ears since I think a scary movie banks on its sound effects more than its' visuals. I did that with Ghost Whisperer, Nginiiigg, Phobia and even that Gabby Concepcion movie.

So where am I going with this?



Today, in broad daylight, I'll watch Paranormal Activity (the first one, not the sequel) from my laptop, WITH MY EARPHONES GLUED TO ME. You get the picture? I'm thinking this is a way to desensitize myself the hard way - through horror boot camp. Wish me luck and I'll post the experience when I'm done!

What I have for breakfast

I love taho and it would definitely be in my top 5 breakfast staples. It's a yummy mix of bland yet silky tofu/soy curd (the white stuff), heavy sugar syrup (arnibal) and little tapioca pearls served in a cup; either slurped with a spoon or drunk straight on. I used to think the mangtataho/taho vendors put too much syrup, but the sweetness really offsets the blandness of the curd. The sago pearls add texture and it's really the icing on the cake.

I don't get to catch the mangtataho every early morning because of school, but since i'm on break, I won't pass up the chance.

booklists!

As I'm typing this I am currently done with 3/4ths of The Battle of the Labyrinth. I can't wait to read the final book! And I'm devoured The 39 Clues in 2 1/2 days which just showed how attached I am to the series. Imagine how gargantuan my smile was when I learned that the 10 books were just the tip of the iceberg! There's a second series!!!!! I think I just wet my pants. I'll save Mockingjay for last, since I think it's going to be epic.

Anyhoo I'm not as obsessed as my buddy Dwayne (she's neurotic that way), since I gravitate towards children's fiction while she's showering herself with titles that either fall into the....wait I take that back. She reads a lot of books that I don't even know where to start classifying her.

I'm thinking of busying myself with goodreads as well. I need a diversion from gaping hole of nothingness that is my life. Maybe writing reviews could fill that hole with erm....books.

Oh and here's a picture of our house as of the moment. The structure is around 90% done already, and we're eyeing a December blessing. Just in time for Christmas. Irony comes in epic proportions in my life.

appendix-less

So it's been a few days since that day happened. If you're wondering what that day was, well, it'll take another blog post to really explain it in detail since I have a lot to talk about. Suffice to say this week was a mix of firsts and extremes. The way I'm spending my last week now was light years away from how I imagined myself to spend it. Now I'm rambling now and skirting away from the nonexistent question.

Well folks, a few days ago I woke up and felt intense stomach pain. It was enough for me to not go to school (which is not me at all), and one thing led to another, from the ER I was whisked to the operating room. What I thought was indigestion turned out to be appendicitis.

Now, I'm typing this post without an appendix, which could be likened to Tibet without freedom. OK, I'm exaggerating. Now how does it feel like? Like I said can't do justice to the feeling without devoting another blog post to this. But suffice to say, my inflamed appendix cost me more than comfort. This week is finals week and for the first time ever I was supposed to have three weeks of break. But I think I'll have to defer the happy thoughts until after I take my special exams. Typing without an appendix isn't really a big deal. It isn't liberating, since I'm homebound most of the time. It's a fact of life that we have to let go of certain things that aren't really of use. And since I have yet to read about the miraculous work of my appendix, I'm gonna say good riddance to the little tissue that almost became my death sentence. OK, I take it back, it is liberating. HAHA

Dollar redesigned

One of the featured topics on yahoo today is about reinventing the US Dollar. Well, I thought that the dollar was going to get a real major overhaul, but it's actually still a concept/project from a non-government site run by Richard Smith called the Dollar ReDe$ign project. I'm not sure if it has gained enough steam for it to reach Pennsylvania Avenue but it has gained a pretty hefty following. Basically the site lets anybody submit their modern interpretation of the US dollar, and the entry with the most number of online votes cast wins a....limited edition t-shirt? Richard Smith could do better. But it's not as if the stakes are so high, so I guess a cool tshirt will do.

The designs range from fresh and modern, to humorous to downright stupid. And I have some samples here, taken from the site of course...


this is my favorite among the designs. it's clean, fresh streamlined and easy on the eyes. plus the vertical orientation makes it unconventional.


old and new coming together in this design also makes it a standout



BUT this next design has to take the cake for its humor value...



homey, ya betta have my dolla. hahahahaha!

and I have no idea why this next one is even included in the first place...


We have to give props the brains behind this whole scheme. What a way to rouse America from its gritty recession slumber.

Now if the Philippine peso would jump on the bandwagon, that would be interesting...

flimsy

our lives are built on flimsy strands.

i am unsure, stoic, hanging on by a thread with no reason either to hold on and to let go. i am hardly there. i am silent, unobstrusive, and a minute impasse in life's grand construction.

*****
Don't get me wrong, I'm not morose. Just doing something out of character for once. Let's pretend it's just the string talking. lol. i took this shot at the back of our house, which is still under construction. I can't wait for the big move this October - November!

Gooood lumpia

I confess, I'm a lumpia freak. Throw away that bag of potato chips, give me fried lumpia and I'm all good. These tender morsels of finely ground pork (or beef) are wrapped in a thin flour wrapper and deep fried, best served with a thick homemade sauce of soy sauce, vinegar, garlic and cornstarch. But bottled sweet and sour sauce will do. Here in Zamboanga, there are a few note worthy food joints that serve really tasty lumpiang shanghai. And out of the blue (and because I just ate lumpia a few hours ago), I decided to name my top 3



1. Lejan's Ice Cream House - they're not really known for their ice cream though. I love their fried lumpia and I think that's what keeps their business alive. Juicy meat-y heaven served with sweet and sour sauce.

2. Aristocrat Luncheonette - I just ate their lumpia over lunch with friends. The taste is similar to the Lejan's variety, but the latter just holds a place at the top.

3. My aunt's homemade variety - The word 'extremely ground' meat is the best way to describe my aunt's lumpia. She makes this for us during fiestas and birthdays and most of the time it's through an order basis. The homemade sauce works best with this one. Plus she adds shredded carrots to the filling!

So what makes a "good lumpia"? Well it's pretty simple. The wrapper shouldn't take up 80% of the lumpia. When you bite into it, you should really taste the well-seasoned meat, not the wrapper. The filling has to make a lasting impression. Lejan's takes the top spot for me because even if I haven't eaten there in a while, I could vividly remember how juicy and tasty the meat filling was. Hence, balancing the natural flavor of the meat with salt, pepper (and other stuff) is key.

forever yearbook-ed

remember my previous post where I poured out my heart and soul about my hopes and dreams for a good yearbook photo yada yada? Pffttt....well....



I have no idea what the hell I was doing in this shot but like my philosophy essays, I still hope for the best! :))

The shots were taken using my camera. I think it's pretty clear that a guy with a sound mind will never ever think of using this for his yearbook shot. It was good that the photographer was cool with us taking photos of ourselves while the shoot was ongoing, as long as we didn't steal his thunder by using the flash.

And I liked the college yearbook shoots way way waaaay more than my high school disaster shoot. There was professional equipment and everything. Thank god there's chance my high school yearbook won't get published, even after 5 years of waiting. haha