... unstable PLDT DSL connection, with server breaks every other minute
... etc!
... 2nd avenue!
... wowowee!
... eat bulaga! itaktak mo!
... a taxi with a door that i had to "lift then pull" before it could be closed
... the same taxi required the driver to open the door from the outside, with me pushing from the inside
... 20 minutes by taxi through a jammed makati avenue - would have been 10 minutes if i walked
... bag inspections and visitor IDs
... "good afternoon sir, please pin your ID"
... chickenjoy!
... jollibee spaghetti!
... chickenjoy+spaghetti = 143 pesos
... cashier at jollibee asks you, "sir, do you have 3 pesos?"
... wendy's frosty!
... cashier at wendy's asks you, "sir do you have 5 pesos?"
yes, i'm definitely back in manila!
am i in manila?
ang malayang ensiklopedya
OMG! kamerang pangmasid (surveillance camera), bakterya (bacteria), pakakawalang-panig (objective), himnasta (gymnast) ... and more!
this so reminds me of textbooks in high school when the government first shifted to using filipino as primary medium of instruction for majority of subjects. that was painful (and laughable) - the overly-thought and oftentimes literal translations ... geesh!
home economics in filipino was ok, but gosh, world history? asian history? economics? glad we didn't have to go through statistics, math (alhebra according to wikipedia tagalog), physics, biology and chemistry in filipino.
HIMYM
i haven't been buying into how i met your mother lately. although i still follow and like the show. the punch lines haven't been as funny as before the f**king writers' strike.
i like sarah chalke and she was great in scrubs. but i think the obsession with stella being the mother - or not - storyline just drained the show of it's magic.
i wish they just close that arc - with finality - and get on to what we really love about the show: a group of friends simply having damn crazy fun with everyday life and love situations, especially the awkward and stupid ones.
but there's still ... wait for it ... hope!
Confirmed: Heidi and Spencer to Guest on HIMYM
Kim Kardashian Joins Speidi on HIMYM
new star world logo ...
... sucks. rather than looking contemporary, it so reminds me of something that came out of decades past. it looks even worse on-screen.
they were doing a saturday rerun of friends when i first saw it. and i actually thought they were airing an episode from the early 90s!
the only saving grace? star world's new station id is refreshing and dynamic.
... oh and did i mention i'm hating the chinese subtitling! soooo distracting!
$4,000
i rarely check my monthly credit card bill ever since i started settling it by autopay. not exactly a good practice, but ...
anyhow, in one of those rare moments, i took a glance at my october bill. and to my surprise (really), i found out i only have about $4,000 in charges - inclusive of all octopus automatic reloads and utility bills, plus a few dinners and CDs on the side.
with the cost of living and inflation here, i couldn't believe this is possible. i guess, the psychological impact of a crashing stock market helped keep my expenses in check.
don't ask me about this month though - need to start shopping for christmas gifts, there's the onset of cool weather, and some pent-up shopping energy ... yaiks!
halloween
i wasn't really planning to join the revelry. just the thought of the huge crowd scares the bejesus out of me. but lou gave me a call and prodded me to join them at LKF. ok, i said, i'll just join for dinner then i'm making an escape before it gets really crowded.
but lo and behold, the crowds were already thick as early as 7:30pm. and by 8:00pm the overzealous crowd control measures were already in place.
we initially planned to hang out at hong kong brewery for a good view of the costumes. but there's not a single spot left. so we instead found a nice cozy spot at post 97 a few meters away. it doesn't have a ground-level view, but we do have a top view of the revelry - plus it's airconditioned!
by the time we finished dinner, we were practically stuck - i was stuck (there goes my escape). it was really crowded. so we just chilled at the resto - with plenty of food, "toys" and cameras to boot!
so after a couple of drinks, i transformed from being an office junkie to ... you make the call. check out the photos here:
it's a spade, stupid!
RP finishes 21st, gold-less in 1st Asian Beach Games
I think Pinoys should just stop rationalizing and patting ourselves in the back for what's clearly a bad performance ("This is a good showing for us. We did our best").
Let's call a spade, a spade. Sino bang niloloko natin kundi mga sarili din natin?!
surplus or stupidity?
i couldn't believe the hk government actually spent money to create a public service announcement - using licensed animated characters - and airing it (twice so far) during primetime in all local channels ... all this just to remind people to be careful so they keep their fingers from being caught between the gap of lift doors ... it's either the hk government has tons of excess cash or there's just too many stupid people here in hk ...
free fallin'
... i hope it's about john mayer's song, but it's not ... the stock market blood bath continues ... it's 3pm, the hang seng index just breached 11,500, down 9% compared to friday's close ... this is really bad ... i'm getting even more concerned about the future ...
Thinking out loud
random thoughts go through my mind at different times of day. that's why i've decided to use the email to blog facility. this is me, thinking out loud ...
il padrino
it's been quite a while since i've been curious with the resto that replaced our old crispy pata haunt. so i decided to invite some friends and give it a try over the weekend.
the resto's name is il padrino located at wo on lane in central.
upon entry, i immediately felt the place was pretentious. it was trying to have this italian al fresco feel but trying to be high-class as well.
i had a booking, so the lady front of house led me to our table. it's a pizzeria so i was wearing simple shirt and jeans, and i was tugging along my gym bag as i always do for saturday dinner.
i sat down and settled in, then instead of handing me a menu, a waitress approached me and asked "do you have a booking?" as if questioning why i am there. note that the place is practically empty and that there's only 5 of us in the booking list. i said yes and she went to get the menu.
i booked a table for 4, but since friends cancelled, dinner ended up to be a "date" with lou. unfortunately lou fell asleep and left the house late.
i waited for lou for about half an hour, but that was okay. what i didn't appreciate was the look i was getting at the resto. there were these two papa bears - one chinese and one caucasian - who kept on giving me a look that says "are you going to order or what?". we reckon they are either the owners or managers.
you see them look at your table then check the pos terminal then have a heated discussion with the wait staff. hey, all these in full view of all customers.
throughout the night, these negative vibe from these two papa bears - especially the caucasian - was a cloud over your head that prevented you from enjoying your meal. in tagalog, masyado silang maligalig. papa bears were wearing black t-shirts. they kept walking back and forth looking stressed and concerned and grump. you just end up feeling uncomfortable and unwelcomed.
it doesn't help that you notice these papa bears give personal treatment to caucasian customers, and do not attend to asian customers unless they're with caucasians. the chinese papa bear spoke to the chinese sitting behind us, but i guess that's because they were dressed-up to the nines.
as for lou and i, we weren't dressed like trash, but we were made to feel like we weren't supposed to be there. and when we left the resto, the chinese papa bear said goodbye without even facing us or making any eye contact. ang bastos!
some of the wait staff saved this place from becoming a total crap. the lady fronting the house was smiling and was always helpful. the pinay who served most of our dishes was very helpful too (except that she kept on calling me "kuya"!). the rest were indifferent.
i know, italian meals are supposed to be about fun and family, not snobbish. the food at il padrino was great. but the place was cold and unwelcoming.
so if you're looking for good pasta and pizza, and nice warm service at a place that's very welcoming then il padrino is definitely NOT the resto to go to.
revitalization
the past 5 months or so have been bad.
had my share of personal setbacks. work has been terrible, stressful and challenging. to some extent, i've lost confidence. i've been bleeding financially due to a miscalculated investment. then i got sick. and got sick again - and again.
the gloomy, freezing winter weather this year didn't help, nor the current dreary spring weather.
i've been quite bitchy, irritable, impatient. i haven't been smiling much, feeling grumpy and depressed a lot of times (especially when i'm on my own). i've been running low on energy.
i've been pulling away, preferring to hide, hibernate and be alone rather than have fun. i've lost passion in things that i do. and i've been disoriented, disorganized and just all over the place.
what's happening? i used to have this "spark" ... or at least i believe i had it - i felt it. but where is it now?
would (another) holiday help? a break from work? meditation? exercise? dancing? a change of environment? i don't know. what i know is that i am in bad need of revitalization.
new toy
ladies and gentlemen, meet my brand new toy...
... a juicer.
yes, it works wonders (read, freshly squeezed juice with minimal effort). and the damage, only hk$9.50.
now i can enjoy freshly squeezed lemon juice that i kept on craving for ever since i came down with a flu and suffered a bad sore throat last week.
silence
so this is how it feels to be mute and silent.
over the chinese new year weekend, i had allergy rhinitis which turned bad. and i came down with a flu. by tuesday, post nasal drip have set in and soon i was suffering from a sore throat and dry cough.
with the sore throat, my voice became hoarser and hoarser by the day as well. and today, i lost my voice - almost.
well, all the talking i've done over the past two days have taken its toll, and my sore throat has turned from bad to worse. recognizing this, i decided to give my throat a rest via a self-imposed day-long silence.
who would have thought that staying silent for a day required a lot of effort. my golly gosh, it was soooooooo freakin difficult!
i must admit, i love to talk. and even with a self-imposed silence, i find myself trying to talk by whispering.
my colleagues and friends we're quite not used to me being silent. some commented that they're not used to not hearing my voice. although most really enjoyed teasing me the entire day.
and now it's the weekend. for 2 days, i'll practically be on my own: no colleagues to talk to, no meetings to participate in, no orientations to give, no phone calls to respond to.
i really hope my throat gets better 'cause i couldn't stand to be silent - i really couldn't keep my mouth shut!
cold brrrrrr!
21 days and counting.
we're on a prolonged cold spell and the hong kong observatory confirms that this is the longest cold spell in 40 years.
it's no fun, and it's wreaking havoc on everyone's health. i, for one, have been downed with a flu over the lunar new year weekend, and am now suffering a bad throat from the very very dry air.
i'm seriously hating it!
rat
the year of the rat is officially here!
today is chinese new year. and the atmosphere in hk is simply electric. malls and groceries are abuzz til past midnight. restos are filled to the brim. and new year fairs are fully packed.
seeing all these plus feeling the chilly winter breeze, you just can't help but feel quite festive too - not exactly party-hearty festive, but more like high-serotonin festive.
i don't think my friends are feeling the same festive high as i am. plus i think they'd prefer to just rest (we're all dead stressed at work).
so as much as i'd want to in the middle of the festivities, i don't want to be in it alone. i'll just feel like a loser. so i opted - reluctantly - to just head home.
now, here i am, home alone, munching on low-fat popcorn, sitting in front of the computer, answering random just-for-fun quizzes from blogthings, and blogging. so much for being in the middle of chinese new year's eve festivities.
kung hei fat choi! 恭喜發財 萬事如意! prosperity and success in the year of the rat!
gotta snooze now.
can i cheat on my guy?
blogthings says:
| Guys Think You're Easy to Be With... But Not Easy |
 And you're crafty enough to get away with it! But you probably wouldn't cheat... (Unless the relationship was pretty much over) |
thanks missy!
bumped
today was simply a crazy day. i had to deal with a late taxi pick-up. a delayed flight. a urgent email that needed to be transmitted. and fr**kin cold weather.
was returning to hk from a business trip in manila. tried to get into the 9am cx flight, but the agent said it's fully booked so we opted for the 11am one, the next cx flight out of manila.
having checked-in online already, i planned to arrive at the airport around 1.5 hours before departure, which means i need to leave the house at 845am.
my lola was supposed to make me hatid to the airport but the driver was unavailable. we learned about this past 630am. my mom roused me from sleep to inform me of the bad news. so i immediately scrambled to get a nissan airport taxi service. all this time, i was half awake and grumpy.
i asked to be picked up at 845am. they're usually on time. but today, the taxi got stuck in traffic at shaw blvd. then got lost finding our address. about 30 mins of agonizing paranoia, i boarded the nissan taxi and headed to the airport.
the airport was noticeably slower than 2 weeks ago. breezed through oec validation and security check within 5 mins. i wondered why can't it always be this way.
knowing it was a full flight, i tried my luck at check-in. this despite having checked-in online already.
"hi. is there any chance for me to get bumped up to business?" i asked. "wait lang sir, check natin," she responded then checks her terminal.
"sa china po worksite nyo?" she asked while looking at my china visa. "hindi sa hong kong po," i clarified.
now, she locates and reads my hk work visa. "nagwo-work kayo sa hong kong?" she asked again. "yes," i replied.
she typed something on the computer then commented, "green member pala kayo. wait lang ha." she ran to a business class counter, grabbed a boarding pass then handed it to me.
voila! i just got bumped up to business class! yes, my very first time on business class.
and it's not the regular business class with only bigger seats and roomier legrooms. you see, we were on a boeing 747-400 that is used for flights to london. so their business class seats were their new seats designed for long-haul flights. and i got a seat on the upper deck.
i just felt claustrophobic with the way they designed their seat cubicles. but overall, it was a fun experience. cool!
taking stock: the bloodbath
worldwide stock markets are going down ... no, crashing ... no, plumetting. it's a bloodbath out there. and the future remains volatile, at the very least, uncertain.
i've just lost at least 16% of my portfolio's value and it may take some time before i recover. well there's no use fretting about it. so while in recovery, i'll just busy myself bargain hunting.
sunday night dead air
"... but at the end of the day, the fact that when we show up for each other, in spite of our differences, no matter what we believe, is reason enough to keep believing."
and with bailey's voice over, the 2007/08 tv season finally came to an abrupt end. thanks to the f*ing writers strike.
there goes my weekend nightcap.
you see, i look forward to sunday nights, no, i eagerly anticipate sunday tv night -- that special post-dinner, pre-bedtime block when i run a back-to-back-to-back marathon of how i met your mother, private practice and grey's anatomy (yeah, i lead a *sad* life).
i've been sorely missing himym - sorely. i'm also quite bitin with private practice especially now that i'm just starting to get invested with its characters. but with the airing of the last completed episode of grey's anatomy, the reality of the writers strike really hit home big time.
i seriously hope an end to the strike is within sight.
there's always american idol, the a daily show, and the colbert report to fill the dead air. but nothing beats capping your week with three of the super best scripted series currently on air.
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