The One with the TV Addiction

As much as I would like to say that I live a full life, I really don't. In fact, if you can't fin me sampling something delicious off the streets of Makati, Ortigas or the greater QC area, I'm probably at home, escaping into my own little world of comedy, drama and yes, sometimes, action. 

Why yes, this is what I'm talking about. TV! 

I've always been a fan of television. Whether it's trash TV (think Jerry Springer), to animation (Family Guy, The Simpsons) to action (NCIS, Criminal Minds, White Collar) to offbeat comedy (How I Met Your Mother, King of Queens, Gary Unmarried), to reality TV shows (ANTM, American Idol) to biopics (History Channel, River Monsters from Nat Geo, BIO)... I am simply a TV addict. I am actually one of the few people that subscribed to Sky complete with a digibox (think digital receiver) and I was darned proud of it. Think of how amazing the pictures are courtesy of the digibox and as an additional bonus, I get to find out whether I need to stay up for another movie on HBO or maybe because I'm waiting for more shows to come to the boob tube. 

My favorite is this one show: 

It's called Chuck and I keep realizing how much I love it, watching every season of it. Guess why I love it? I love Chuck's all-natural innocence and the way he tries to charm his way out of terrorist situations with his geeky, funny and amazingly cute side-comments. You have to love yourself some Chuck. 

I figured it has something to do with the fact that Chuck is hard to find, or you may have found yourself a Chuck and let him go. Or in my subconscious, I'm prolly Chuck and I'm still waiting for my long-legged blonde bombshell to rescue me (go figure...). In any case, go catch yourself some Chuck, you'd thank me later. 

The One with Everybody's Fine

Robert De Niro is one of the most amazing actors to date. He can do a dramatic scene like no one I know, and can be funny as heck. (You must be living in a cave if you haven't seen Ben Stiller's Meet the Parents, which had sequels like "Meet the Fockers" and another one that I forgot about...). 

And just like any good actor, you can really count on him to bring you into a role so convincingly that you will find yourself drawn to the character and forget that he was ever Robert De Niro or that he played Ben Stiller's less than cooperative father-in-law. 

Everybody's Fine is exactly that. It gives you a superbly dramatic but simple look on how a father deals with his everyday life when his children have all grown up. Frank is a simple guy that worked on wiring telephone connections for decades to put his children through school. David (played by Austin Lysy), his eldest son whom he thinks is a well-known artist in New York, Amy (played by Kate Beckinsale), his Ad Agency daughter whom he thinks has the picture-perfect family life, Robert (played by Sam Rockwell), whom he thinks is a conductor in an orchestra, and his youngest daughter Rosie (played by Drew Barrymore) who is a dancer. 

As he struggles to find out the truth about his eldest son, David who hasn't returned his calls, he sets off to visit each one of them, revealing little details about their lives that never occurred to him thanks to his wife, and his children's strong need to cover-up for their short-comings. It is revealed in each visit that he has missed particular chances to show them how proud he is of them and how they only wished they'd measure up to his extremely high standards. 

So goes an amazing story of how life is affected by communication. At the end of the story, Frank heads back to New York to purchase all of David's work. The lady in the store then unearths a beautiful painting of David of telephone wires, wires that Frank has built and has connected him to his family for decades and for more years to come. 

The movie is shot frame per frame without effects, not much sets, not much costume changes either. There is very little to almost no glamor in the shots they had for the movie, but they acted so beautifully that you can't help but cry so hard at the thought of a father losing his most beloved son. 

It tanked in the US and wasn't given much appreciation but it's actually one movie that allows you to see past the usual drama of Hollywood romances and lets you in on how it is to be in a family, which I think media shows less of. My theory is that it's a box-office bomb cos it didn't even have one kissing scene. While most TV series center themselves around families (Check out Modern Family, Two and a Half Men and even Gary Unmarried), they don't carry the social stigma of how children tend to want to protect their own parents from their misgivings. They also look at family in a hilarious, offbeat kind of way that becomes endearing. Families are sometimes gritty and sad, and here's one look at that sad yet poignant tale of how children rear their parents when they grow up. 

The One with the Dezzato

I've never been a fan of desserts. I know, that's odd for a woman and for someone my age, but I'd really rather eat a meal than spend for pastries slathered in whipped cream and chocolate ganache. 

This picture doesn't do anything for me, while it probably produces that feeling of longing for a lot of you... 

I have never been a fan of sweets, nor chocolates. In fact, I'd rather have some fruits if I really want dessert. What? I'm half-Chinese, we eat a banana and that's dessert! It's amazing to me though how my friends actually leave room for dessert and it's a must for every meal! (And in some cases, for my friend Irish, it's a must with every wine or alcoholic beverage). 

Historically, only Westerners tend to eat desserts. The word "dessert" is actually coined from a French word meaning "to clear the table" and "to serve". Amazingly, it's something we Asians have come to adopt and love. I've gotten all kinds of excuses ranging from the scientific - "it kind of signals our brain to stop eating" or to the odd - "I'd rather have dessert than steak cos I'm on a diet" down to the bizarre - "I'm very addicted to this cake, I can't stop eating it". Sometimes, I wonder why it's a tendency for most women to love desserts more than an actual meal. While an actual meal is consist of protein and carbohydrates and other complex vitamins which the body can use for later, desserts just tend to make one crave for more sugar, and can actually infect your throat. 

We also like Japanese food. Tempura's Menu. 

We headed off to Tempura. Amazing Japanese food, but you're probably tired of shots of raw fish so I decided to take pics of the desserts we had. 

This is how sushi starts out, you guys. Sans the amazing cutlery-work of sushi chefs. 

While most Asian desserts tend to be gelatinous or squishy like red bean paste buchi or almond jelly, Tempura went all the way Western and we were given a choice of highly decorated cake slices from a tray or plate. Knowing the dessert fiend my friend is, we had to make room for dessert after tempura and some amazing Curry Omu Rice, which was sooo yummy! We ordered from their dessert plate. 

I had a fruit-filled cake. It was a layer of chiffon topped with some light cream and lots of fruits. 

That's another shot. Dezaato is the Japanese word for dessert. 

Chloe had the sexy chocolate cake from the dessert plate. 

One more shot - it's got heavy whipped cream atop while fudge drips off its sides. 

I never quite understood desserts, I doubt I ever will, completely. But I know one thing for sure, people love them, people will love them for more years to come and I have completed something off my bucket list - appreciate new kinds of food!  

Picture of the raw fish on ice - obtained legally from Stock Xchng. 

All pictures of the food have not been styled. You can check them out at your nearest Tempura Japanese Grill. 

All pictures were taken with a Sony DSC cam. 

The One with the New Year

I'm born and bred Filipino but my blood is still slightly of the Chinese descent. I would always tell people that I'm a non-practicing Chinese. But when the opportunity to visit Chinatown on Lunar New Year came to me, I grabbed it by its horns. 

No city trip is complete without sampling its church. I know for a fact that in art class, we were all asked to take a trip down old Manila and simply marvel at the architecture, the facade and the intricate art that the church has to offer. There's so much about a church that tells you about the community. 

San Lorenzo Ruiz Church in Downtown Binondo

A church shows solidarity. It links tradition to community and sets the tone for the community. And entering the church, it was airy and light. There were sculptures of saints and intricate columns everywhere but what I loved were the paintings on the wall and the archs of the dome. 

Nice art piece on the wall. Nope, I didn't lie down to take this shot. 

After which, we walked from street to street, admiring the view, the people and the customs. 

Balloons being sold by the side street, covering the huge banner that says "Happy New Year" in Chinese. 

Colored chicks sold by the side street of Ongpin. 

History is rich in this part of town. There's almost too much history that we don't really know where to start. What's amazing about it is there are tons of people walking around, doing as we did - soaking up the heritage and the culture that is Binondo, while everyone eyes the dragon dances. 

Kid in a Cheong Sam

Charms and Chinese amulets

More charms and Buddha figurines. 

Part of that rich heritage is people dressing in red every Lunar New Year. Amazingly, we saw families and even random by-passers in red. 

Red was the color of the day. 

Check it out, one whole family wearing red! Nice! 

So apart from this, we had dragons dancing everywhere! And if you don't believe me, check out the pictures! 

That's a golden dragon, dancing outside President Restaurant. 

Red dragon reaching for a firework atop the building ledge. 

Pink dragon walking along the Ongpin side streets.

A big yellow dragon follows the pink one. 

More of the golden dragon we saw from President. 

Yes, non-practicing Chinese but absolutely appreciating the heritage. Happy Lunar New Year, everyone! 

All pics were taken with a Sony DSC Cam. 
No dragons were harmed during the making of this post. 

The One with the Portugese Restaurant

I originally started this blog to be a little bit more adventurous about food. I have been finicky and picky about food ever since I was a little girl. I would choose not to eat at certain places when I feel that it's too commercial (cos come on, who likes to eat fried breading when you're supposed to be eating chicken, right?). Amazingly, I found a restaurant right outside my office that offered great food. 

I'm someone that likes great experiences. I honestly don't mind spending for food if it means great company, amazing beverages and best of all, it's something I won't see off a 24-hour convenience store. Don't get me wrong, I'm not some entitled person that would only eat at the more expensive restos. I would gladly eat at a hole-in-the-wall place if it could offer me something good.  

Fast food burgers are fun only when you don't have time to enjoy yourself. 

I remember, while working for Merlin, I would eat burgers every single day. Why? Cos it's convenient. McDonald's was a 5-minute walk away. I would leave the burger joint with a whopping chicken sandwich (chicken fillet deep-fried to artery clogging goodness, dripping with mayo), large fries (dripping in bad cholesterol) and a huge Coke light (to which the lady in the counter would always give me Coke). It was almost too easy and too convenient to think of food as a way to get by the day and to give you a spurt of energy that you need to train someone, or to come up with a confounding 3-page report of which agent has taken what course or to compute for the ROI of getting people into some 100,000Php training in Ateneo. It's so easy to not think of yourself as a person when your work gets the better of you. Moreover, it's easy to always think you're invincible to artery-clogging elements in food when you're not really thinking of yourself to begin with. 

Now, I kind of know better. Working for StarTek, I'm glad I found people who appreciate good food like I do and tend to think that McDonald's and/or Jollibee would give us heart attack on a bun soon enough. I came in early to work one day and glad I asked a very hungry Belle to eat with me. 

The strip along Jupiter is peppered with date places. It's odd to ask a friend (or a couple of friends) to head into one of those restaurants and sample their best sellers, or to ask for wine and fish or steak. I have always had that mindset - that restaurants tend to be for couples and fast food is for singles. So, I'm pretty glad that people around me don't tend to be as narrow-minded as me. 

It's this nice place called O'sonho in Jupiter. It's got amazing food about and it's a Portugese fusion resto-bar that is open until 11PM (we know cos we stopped by at 10.30PM and it seems like they're about to close). The great thing I can tell you about it is the good service we got from the people. It seems almost too good to be true. 

O'sonho's Peppermint Fishbowl Iced Tea - great for sharing. That's Belle with the bowl. I was half-expecting fish, but hey... That would be a little bit freaky. 

Salmon croquettes as starters 

That's some dory fish fillet swimming in some great saffron sauce. Can someone say yum?! 

They have Peri Peri chicken which swims in some saffron sauce too, with some rosemary rice. I also got to sample some Spinach salad that was cooked to perfection.

It's easy to settle for everyday meals when you're single. I guess it's easy to settle for something when you're single, period. But sometimes, life has a way to let you experience the best in life, with or without anyone. So what are you waiting for? Drive your car to the nearest "date place" you can think of and sample a dish. Trust me, a love affair with yourself is better than no love affair at all.

All pictures of the food (and Belle) were taken with a NokiaE72. The only business phone which I will invest in. 
The burger picture was legally obtained from Stock Xchng. 
Belle is an LMS Administrator who has worked for StarTek for over a couple of years now. Belle has promised me that she will take me on more culinary adventures. 

The One with the Overrated Valentines

Ever wonder why every Valentine's Day is peppered with hearts and soft, sweet songs, with red petals everywhere and yup, cupids? 

Statue of cupid, thinking about who to shoot next. 

St. Valentine (yup, the guy that Valentines's Day was named after) was actually a Roman Priest. He's not some cupid with a bow, ready to shoot you at a chance. He's actually someone that performed weddings for Christians at the time that Claudius II (Claudius the Goth) was in power. Since aiding Christians were illegal and punishable by imprisonment, soldiers took Valentinus. He was asked to renounce his faith and he refused. He was beheaded for his faith and martyred in 262 AD. He became the Patron Saint of "affianced couples, bee keepers, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greetings, happy marriages, love, lovers, plague, travellers, young people,so amazingly, even epileptics and gals with fainting spells ought to be celebrating.

Oh dear San Valentinus! 

The amazing thing about it is people are cashing in on it. Hallmark with the expensive eCards with customizable music, flower shops which send you dozens of emails days before the day itself, restaurants, heck even condom companies. Is it me or have we lost our feel for actually celebrating love and have settled with marketing schemes and an all-too-powerful media inception of what Valentine's should be?

Images like this make you think that it's the perfect Vday date - sunset, by the beach, walking hand-in-hand... 

Red roses - passion, desire, love - Uhm, not really. Just says your guy has the "affordances" to purchase an uber expensive bouquet. 

Amazingly, as someone who used to play for the other side (yes, I once celebrated media Vday too!), I always thought it was always on 'roids or something. I can't enter one store without seeing heart balloons or rose-candies and chocolates are at an all-time high! Scallops are at their most expensive and yes, even Rockafeller oysters (which I can eat everyday!) become exotic aphrodisiacs around February. TV commercials are sexier and people tend to wear more make-up around this month. I would roam around some clothing boutiques and red is back, while the LBD (little black dress) is glorified as the "ultimate date dress" by Cosmo, Preview and all those other magazines women like me tend to subscribe to. Now, it's just plain too much. 

Sexy black dress! Bam!

Not to mention that there are probably 20 or so people on my Facebook list that update their status almost hourly with how alone and how eff*d-up their Valentine's Day will, should or is. Did I mention 20? Let's go for 30. It seems like singledom is doomed whenever it's VDay, and I just want to remind everyone that it's not  about being with someone, it's about finding love. And no, love isn't simply what you do under the sheets with some guy (or gal), it's a feeling, a commitment. So you can love your family, your friends, your God, your iPod or what have you. 

Sometimes, love can be a vision of the future. It doesn't have to be with someone. 

There could be a million things that you can do for yourself, with or without anyone beside you. Sometimes, it's even easier to find things to "fall in love with" when you're not hung up on someone.

Also, think of Valentinus (I know, I know, I'm not Catholic and I shouldn't talk about Saints, but hey...), that saint was beatified (read: martyred) for one reason - he died for the belief that an afterlife is better than renouncing his faith. So in essence, he died for faith, not for love. And if you really think about it, VDay should be all about faith - faith in yourself, faith in mankind, faith that life only gets better (with or without anyone).

No photographers were harmed intellectually during the making of this post. All pictures were obtained legally from Stock Xchng. 

My acknowledgement to a good friend, who thinks Vday is overrated but doesn't bitch about it, runs marathons and likes hot chicks. (PM me if you're a lady and you're hot, I'll have him call you.) There's about 10 minutes left til VDay is over. Lolz!  

The One with the Anniversary

I took a quick hiatus from the world of online blogging the past few weeks to focus on something I needed to do for myself. In case you're wondering if it's part of my bucket list, I would say it's part of my happy list. While most people have been wondering about what to do for Valentine's Day and how to find the love they long to have, I have been busy finding time for all the crazy activities I wanted to have for this month.

I still have yet to read Outliers. I know I've had that since December and I still haven't managed to read it. I have been meaning to get a massage and I just choose to waste whatever free time I have on either TV or sleep. I have been wanting to try out several restaurants and yet all I actually do is settle with some fast food quick fix (and the McDonalds Twister Fries are AWESOME!!!) and finally, I have been wanting to do the "in" thing and run a marathon (hey, a fun run would do) and my treadmill hasn't seen the light of day. It's still occluded (read: buried) under my clothes.

So ever wonder why I'm always busy? I have this conference call, that issue to deal with, this director to please and this course to deploy. 

An email I sent out to my entire team. 

I turned one StarTek year old! 

I wanted to thank my team for making me feel like I'm home. I have set-out last year wanting so badly to belong (ergo, almost getting married) and now, I feel like I do. I have wonderful mentors, like my mean best friend James and my "Positive Polly" Candy and I have a corporate US boss that I love a lot. I have Ivan who doubles as my son and my best friend at work at the same time (primarily cos we work in partnership a lot with some admin tasks). I have great friends at work and a lot of perspective. My SMEs have been great. There's Dan, the director of Human Resources, whom I have come to love and enjoy the company of, cos he's just a lot of ideas in an hour's meeting. There's Kevin and Judy from Finance whom I think the world of. There's a lot of development going on and if I can ask for one thing, I'd ask for one thing only - a higher salary, lolz. 

The One with the Hiatus

Sometimes, when you share a lot of your life online, you tend to forget what that life is about. For someone as private as I am, sometimes, it's hard to find things that you can share.

In this digital age, you kind of need a few days to think through what you want to accomplish. Because there is so much happening in the world, you tend to think of the future casually and documentation becomes only a second priority in your life.

There's a stop sign somewhere when you need to breathe. 

That's what I realized while I was on blogging hiatus. I didn't really quite force myself. I did get busy for the last week, running errands, doing things that I wanted without thinking of how I am going to tell that story to people.

I was on sick leave last night too. I have been doing too much too soon and I just didn't realize how it would affect my daily cognitive functions - functions I value a lot in my work.

So yes, sometimes, believe it or not, it's okay to hit the stop button once in a while. Maybe when you hit start again, things will go faster, smoother and way, way more interesting.

Booting up in a couple of mins... System downloading... 

No photographers were harmed intellectually during the making of this post. All pictures were obtained legally and safely via Stock Xchng. 

The One with the Sunday Trip

I love weekends, because as my bucket list says, I love reconnecting with people. This Sunday, I got to reconnect with me! For some reason, I just realized that I haven't really gone to other places. I'm so used to going to the mall I love hanging out in, we have an SM next to us which I frequent for groceries, toiletries and yes, even clothes.

So when the opportunity to go to Marriot was presented to me, I had to grab it by its horns. Chloe was kind enough to be my host for the amazing experience I was about to embark on.

First shot of the plaza. Amazing autumn tree with Chinese lanterns. 

Chinese lanterns adorn the facade, to celebrate Chinese New Year. 

Took a picture of the people right below me as well. 

Beautiful square next to the Casino. 

My trip, as usual is peppered by a nice dinner with Moussaka and some Chicken Gyro and pita bread. I can't get enough of the drinks though. I had a drink after weeks of preventing myself from doing so. I love, love, love Mojitos and I can prolly a drink a gallon of it. Along with the drinks came a show.

At first it was POSH, an all girl group that was scantily-clad (think Japanese schoolgirl costumes with butt cheeks showing and all and for their second costume change, they had on some glittering brassieres and silver stretchy pants... it's enough to make me want to crawl back into my oversized black poncho) but singing 70's and 80's songs. It's funny cos at a certain point, they went down to the audience part and passed the mic around. Renz, one of the girls sat beside me and made me sing "Can't Take My Eyes Off You".

Then came Prince of Persia, where there were, of course, scantily-clad women dancing a belly up routine which made me think that I should prolly take up belly dancing cos it looks so darned sexy! They also danced the cancan, which made me think that it had nothing to do with Persia. Another portion of the dance was a Latino Flamenco type of dance that I enjoyed so much.

As we were heading home, Chloe said that it was the perfect revenge, being happy without the guy that tore my heart apart and I looked at her. For a moment, I had to really dig through my mind... And truthfully, without any hesitation, I told her that I forgot about him. I think honestly, I've learned to let go and I'm moving on. It was a Sunday trip I won't forget. I may have lost something along the way, the man I was supposed to marry... but I gained something else - friends, family, my life.

Me and Chloe, hanging out at Cafe Med... Happy after Moussaka and Chicken Gyros. 

Watch out world... I'm back! 

All pictures from this post were taken with a Sony DSC Series camera. 

The One with the Pet Peeves

I can't believe I have to write something like this in the blog. I love nothing more than just praising and raving about things but for crying out loud, sometimes, when people really get into your nerves, it's time to really say something.

1. Texting while walking or driving 

Look where you're about to walk, for cripe's sake! 

This goes without saying. If you're walking around the mall and you're texting, you're prolly more focused on that SMS you're sending than where you're going. Sometimes, people in the mall are actually rushing to get their grocery shopping done, so please, for the love of God, watch where you're walking.

If you're a driver without a soul and you tend to text while driving, please check your rearview mirror for people like me that just want to overtake you but because it's a narrow street, I can't. For the love of all that's holy, please find a way to communicate with you BF/GF/Dad/Mom/Boss/Friend/Friend with Benefits that doesn't involve you being a complete turd on the road. I hope you never get into a road accident because you just have to SMS someone.

2. Loud, loud, loud and lousy music blaring off your speakers in the middle of the night, aggravated by the fact that you sing along with a mic. 

If you look and sound like this chick, I can and will forgive you but otherwise... 

If you're my neighbor, please have the decency to let me sleep in on weekends. Sometimes, I find myself waking up a neighbor's rendition of "Till My Heartaches End" in their scratchy cigarette-husky voices. And please, if you're a mom and you're celebrating your son/daughter's birthday and thought of "renting" a videoke machine to mark the occasion, find a spot in the street where it's not like someone died in your family and you're hosting a funeral! For the love of all that's holy, keep it down, woman! Keep it down! (Is it obvious that I am talking about one specific person?! Well, I am and if you're reading this, good for you! Go fashion forward this season, Madame, and please, take your friends or kids' friends to Red Box where chicken wings won't get you all oily and sweaty and where we won't hear your rendition of "Papa Don't Preach" whilst you dance thinking you're part of the Glee gang!

3. If you're a cab driver - DO NOT HIT ON ME! 

Cabbies - fast and furious, most of them creeps, some of them nice and it makes me want a car more and more. 

I understand the sad plight of cab drivers all around the Metro. I don't push for a discount, I hardly just ever pay the exact meter and I am super nice. Sometimes, when I actually have food, I share my food with them cos I know how hard it is to be working for so long that you don't have time for a little snack. Because a lot of the time, I'm on the road and a lot of my appointments are very flexible in terms of time, I even allow them to refuel, load water and yes, even make the trip to the john while I'm on the passenger seat. Heck, I even ride on the passenger seat, cos I'm not a snob. I like conversations with cabbies.

Some of the cabbies I've spoken with talk about the weather, politics, sports, showbiz (local), a few are actually amazingly elite (There was the one that would talk about his iPhone, while I only have an E71... One was a former Manila Hotel concierge that was just doing a favor for a friend... One owned the cab he was driving - come on, who uses an Altis as a cab?! There was that one guy that was rushing to go to Starbucks after he dropped me off the office cos he was going to meet a friend. Another one was a Spanish teacher in Telus that only drove cabs so he can mingle with the unwashed masses... ack!). A few are just plain creepy!

I have experienced riding with cabbies that would ask for my name, my number, my age, tell me out of nowhere that I'm beautiful, tell me off-hand that real men please their women and would even go as far as give me the "look" (the look that tells you that they're not imagining you in an apron... or maybe they are, except that you're nekkid underneath). Because I work at night and I get dropped off a call centre, there was even one that said that his former GF was from a call centre and that maybe I can be picked up later. I mean come on, guys, not because a woman rides a cab ALONE means she is alone (this is technically true for me). Saturday afternoon cabbie was extremely creepy. Old man with the goatee and the golf hat decided to chat me up in the middle of the road and told me that I was pretty, and raved on and on about how "smooth" I was and that he guesses that I'm smooth and fair all over, and went on about how he hopes that they guy that waited for the cab with me (James, my mean best friend at work) isn't my BF. I chose to ignore "Manong Driver" the whole time and played with my phone instead. He kept saying that he's old but his knees are still strong (Matanda na ako pero malakas pa tuhod ko... in the vernacular). I'm like, OMG, I have to get off this cab! Thankfully, I was a few blocks away and I decided to just get off the street next to mine, where traffic was abound and people were up and about. Mind you, this was at 5PM in the afternoon!

If you're a cabbie and you really need money, creeping lady passengers isn't the way to do it. And if you're a cabbie and you're not there for the money but for something else, please, keep your thoughts and your eyes off me! I don't appreciate it!

4. If you're a commuter and you have a soul, please bathe, brush your teeth and be clean before riding a train or jeepney and please make sure that if you're not fresh-smelling anymore, that you have the decency to at least close your mouth or not wave your pits at me or anyone else. It's nauseating. 

Are these for sale, cos sometimes, I think I badly need one. 

I'm not preggers and I'm not going to be in the next 5 years or so (ack, see how well I've planned my life out?!) but for the love of God, whenever I alight from a public commuter train, the only thing I wanna do is hurl. One, there's just way too many passengers. Apart from the immeasurable number of people and the heat and the dirt coming off the A/C unit of the beat-up carriages, the smell of people really troubles me. I tolerate sweat just fine, but come on... if you forgot your Rexona earlier in the day, have the decency to keep your arms on your sides for the benefit of those that breathe the same air as the one stagnantly staying in your area. Also, if you haven't brushed for the day, try to buy some candy. They cost 50 cents a pop, and smelling mixed saliva and red cherry candy may be better than smelling some rotting cabbage off your mouth. I smoke a lot and I am not fresh all the time but I will have the decency to keep my pits to my arms instead of waving it around, and I will also not open my mouth so close to another human being, especially if that human being is not a friend!

5. If you're ordering coffee and there's a queue, please freakin' make up your mind before you're in the freakin' queue!!! Also, if you're a mom, please don't take your son/daughter with you to the smoking area of the coffee shop and give me stares when I light up! If you're an older woman who have had your experience in the world, please don't judge me because I like nicotine with my caffeine. If you see me light up a joint, that's the time you should raise your eyebrows at me, old-timer! 

Getting coffee used to be fun until everyone else wanted in on it. 

I have almost had it with people who can't get enough of themselves, their opinions and their newest designer coffee! Starbucks used to be fun before it became the next MiniStop or 7-11. Imagine being there to start your day and you have to fall in line next to a mom on her cellphone with her 5-year old son latched on to her leg, a guy that's obviously just there to scope out the scene, a couple PDA-ing (Read: Public Display of Affection) and 10,000 other call centre employees. Then check out this other scenario I encountered last time I went to meet up with a friend - an older woman in the counter of Starbucks and using her senior citizen discount card, to the bemusement and puzzlement of the baristas cos they prolly don't know how to deduct a certain percentage off the actual price of the coffee... and I'm the next one. My friend had to circle round the place cos he can't even park his car!

What's worse is when you actually sit in the smoking area of some of the biggest Starbucks around. I experienced a mom staring so angrily at me cos she had her daughter with her in the smoking area. I mean, mom, seriously, there's a reason why it's called a smoking area. I wasn't gonna light up but then her husband alighted from their car and started lighting up too. So, is it a woman thing? Like I'm supposed to understand that the only second-hand smoke you want you daughter to inhale is your husband's? Let me tell you one thing, sister, they're all pretty much cancerous, so if I were in your shoes, I would actually take my daughter and sit inside, where it's cozy and A/C'd and I would kick my imbecile husband for exposing me and my daughter to that cancerous vice! Second of which, I won't even bring my daughter to a Starbucks cos what the heck is she gonna drink? Apple Berry Juice Freeze?! Why give her a 100 peso designer drink when I can take her someplace that has healthy options for her like an actual fruit shake with yoghurt?! Don't even get me started on the desserts there cos it just ain't the family place you think it is.

Also, people, if you smoke and you wanna take grandpoppy and grandmommy or mum and pop with you to Starbucks, seat them where they don't smell cigarette smoke, please?! I mean come on... There's this older woman that kept making unnecessary noises when she was left seated in the balcony of a Timog Starbucks once cos she kept smelling smoke. She would roll her eyes when I light up. I mean come on, Madame... It's a smoking area. If you didn't notice that off the sign, please look around and know that while I may be the only woman lighting up, I'm not the only one lighting up. It's not Victorian England. Yes, I can drive, I can earn as much as a male counterpart, I can shoot a gun with one eye closed and yes, I can smoke cigarettes when I have my coffee. If I choose to die of lung cancer, it's by choice.

No photographers were harmed during the making of this post. 
All photos were obtained legally via Stock Xchnge. 

The One with the Prodigal Friends

We tend to categorize friends. I think it's a fair assessment to say that we have really close friends who know every little dirty secret we've ever had (from the fact that you used to collect Peter Andre CDs as a 12-year old freckle-faced girl and dancing to the tune of "Mysterious Girl" in the wee hours of the morning to the most recent guilt trip your momma/poppa/significant other/sibling/boss gave you cos of <insert random reason here>). Then you have work friends who don't really have a choice but to take your crap every day of their lives cos you're there and they need to deal with you. Then there's your breakfast or common lunch buddies on weekends who prolly live the same lifestyle as you (which for me means work, head home, check FB and Twitter, perhaps read some Wikipedia entries, play some games online and on random weekends, have a friend over for lunch or head off to the mall and get cracking on some long overdue shopping). Depending on your lifestyle, you can have churchmates, drinking dudes, gimmick entourage, an arsenal of gym buddies, your team of sports fanatics, online fans who follow you on every social networking site but you've never actually met, your own league of warrior princesses and princes for MMORPGs and in some extreme cases, even an FB (friends with benefits, or FuBu).

I have amazing friends and I won't trade trade them for anything in the world. But I had the opportunity to reconnect with someone I have not seen for almost a decade.

Meet Ajeet, my crazy, sarcastic and amazing friend from 10 years ago...

Hawt right? Girls, this guy's available. We can talk about the price if you PM me. Lolz! 

And we had an adventure. I think it's amazing how when you don't really think about anything, you tend to have a lot of fun.

I actually spent 8 hours hopping from one bar to another on a Sunday night! Well, technically, it's just 2 bars, hahaha! 

I'm really glad that I spent that Sunday with Ajeet. We had coffee in Breton and then moved to the Blue Room (where Jazz and old 80's songs were playing) and then off to a place called Silya.

Silya... looks like a house but not quite... 

For those unaware and unknowing of the Malate scope, they have the high-end bars and then they have the bars that look like houses, and this is where you get the cheapest beers and the most affordable eats. You can also have people performing like crazy.

This is the first time I ever sang in front of other people holding a mic. Imagine my surprise when my once very shy and slightly angsty friend started belting out his rendition of a Filipino love song!

I had a wonderful night and I really wouldn't trade it for anything else! Cheers to reconnecting!

All pictures were taken with a Sony DSC series cam. 
Ajeet himself is a blog author. Check out his rants and raves at Read This and Die.