No byline, but it's still my baby

Naiinggit ako sa portfolio ni Jonas so I think I'll also post some of the works I've done once in awhile.

This was, literally, my last project for Supplements. Check it out in the June 2005 issues of Preview, OK! Philippines, and Real Living.



Illustrator: Sonny Ramirez
Layout by: Dennis Lee

Another thing I don't get

I really, really hate people who don't bother to reply to text messages. Most especially if it's about work. You make your cellphone number known to your employer or editor, that means you are telling your employer/editor that you can be reached through that number. So I think it's just fair that when you do get a text, it's basic courtesy to reply. If you're busy, what's wrong with just texting, "I'm busy, text you later"?!

And there are some people who don't READ the messages that they get. A typical text message I've been sending my interviewees these past few days goes like this: "Hi [brief introduction about myself and the article I'm doing]. If you're interested, can we do the interview next week? Am free to see you any day, anytime and anywhere. Please let me know what's convenient for you."

The reply I get:

"Okay."

"Okay" what?!

So I send another message, thanking him/her and asking him/her for a date, time and place.

The reply: "Wednesday is okay." Ganun lang. If he's not sure, why doesn't he just say "Let me check, will get back to you."

ARGH!!!!!!!!!! At this point, I call the person. Or if I have a lot of other people lined up and I'm in a bad, unaccommodating mood, I drop that first person and just talk to the other potential interviewee.

But, unfortunately, I have had to swallow my pride on lots of occasions and just take deep breaths.

Just they wait. When I become a famous journalist, they'll all come begging to have me interview them, and let's see if I'll answer THEIR messages.

Everybody outta my way

Am in a bad mood today.

Last night, halfway through an interview I was doing, my tape recorder started getting all weird. Of course I only found out about this afterwards, when I was playing it back and the only sounds coming back to me were a series of high-pitched squeals. Shit!
I took down notes, but they weren't that detailed. And I didn't have time to go back and do the interview again, because interview #2 was waiting for me. Of course, I conducted that interview "manually," taking down notes all the way.

In bed later that night, I tried to console myself by rationalizing that the article for interview #1 was just a general feature anyway, and facts and figures weren't that important. As long as I understood the gist of what he said, I'm fine.

But still.... I have other interviews lined up this week. Quite a few of them are pretty complicated and I NEED a tape recorder. Shit, I need to buy a new recorder. Shit, where can I buy one that's cheap and has all the features I need? Shit, why didn't I just check the frickin' tape recorder at the start last night to see if was working?!

You can pretty much guess that I didn't get a good night's sleep.

The clincher: this morning, when I re-checked the tape recorder, IT WAS WORKING FINE!!!! The tape from last night was still ruined, but when I loaded a new tape and recorded everything I could this morning—from my brother telling me about the Thundercats episode he watched last night to Mike Enriquez' early morning radio program—the tape played back clearly! ARGHHHH!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE HELL---?!

So now I'm torn between throwing this alanganin tape recorder away and just buying a new one, or still use it for the next couple of days (because maybe last night was just a fluke) and just take notes all the way as back-up.

Tapos bad hair day pa ako today.

I'm going home early today, that's for sure.

Why it's important to have pictures on the menu

Ate at Sugi, Greenhills last night, my first ever visit to that restaurant. And like many other swanky eateries, their menu did not have pictures of the food.

The dish that I ordered under the Donburi (rice toppings) section was called "Tekka Donburi." The description was written as: Thinly-sliced tuna on a bed of vinegared rice. Served with clear soup.

When the dish was served, though, I saw that it was thinly-sliced RAW tuna on a bed of vinegared rice.

I like sashimi, but the amount of raw fish on the dish was just too much. I just know I'll get sick the very next day if I ate it all.

There was nothing in the menu that said that the tuna was going to be raw, so Eric and I called the manager over. He said he couldn't change our order, but offered to have the chef cook the tuna for me, which was what I wanted in the first place. All's well that ends well.

Still, I wonder if maybe "Tekka" meant "raw tuna," and that it was my mistake all along.

Watch: Hotel Rwanda

I had originally planned to spend Saturday afternoon reading Personal Finance for Dummies, but when Rainier came home waving his DVD copy of Hotel Rwanda, I had a change of priorities.

Rwandan History 101: There are two ethnic tribes in Rwanda--the Hutu and the Tutsi. When the Belgians colonzied the country after World War I, they applied the tried-and-tested principle of "divide and conquer" and picked Tutsis to preside over the colonial government. This was because they felt that the Tutsis were the more superior of the two groups--they were supposedly taller, had fairer skin, thinner noses, etc. When the Blegians left, they aggravated the racial divide by appointing Hutu administrators.

Through the years, though, majority of Hutus and Tutsis lived in harmony, working together, living as neighbors, even inter-marrying. But some radical Hutus still felt they had to avenge their oppression, and this animosity erupted into the genocide the wracked Rwanda in the early 1990s. In just three months, over a million Hutus and Tutsis were brutallly maimed, raped and murdered, by their co-workers, neighbors, members of the Hutu militia, and Tutsi rebel forces. And the rest of the world just watched.

Hotel Rwanda is the true story of an ordinary man, Paul Rusesabagina (played by Don Cheadle) who helped shelter over a thousand refugees in the hotel he was managing during this time. Paul is a Hutu married to a Tutsi, and it is his love for his family that compels (and inspires) him to save everyone that he can, whether young or old, no matter what race they belong to. The whole movie shows how Paul has to keep thinking on his feet, lying, bribing, and stealing to either buy more time or save more lives. And despite insurmountable odds—from the UN peacekeeping force abandoning the country, to having guns repeatedly shoved in his face—Paul maintains a stoic dignity that few men would possess under such pressure.

Hotel Rwanda is gripping and captivating. But unlike other war movies, it does not show much of the actual killing or decapitated corpses. Instead, the gravity of the genocide is reflected subtlely but powerfully—in the catatonic faces of each new refugee that comes to the hotel, in the chilling propaganda that the Hutu militia blares from their radio station, and in the quiet despair that Paul tries to hide from his family and co-workers with every passing day

The movie speaks out against apathy, about how not doing anything might as well be as if you are contributing to the problem yourself. In the first part of the movie, for example, Paul refuses to help a Tutsi neighbor who is taken away by the Hutu police because he does not want to get involved. And then there is the apathy from the rest of the world, and how this allowed the genocide to last for months. The one line in the movie that struck me most came from a European journalist who was able to shoot footage of the carnage. When Paul comes to thank him for exposing the genocide to the rest of the world, the journalist sadly tells him that he doubts the world will come to their aid. "I think if people see this footage, they'll say 'Oh, my God, that's horrible.' And then they'll go on eating their dinners." How many times have we did these ourselves while we watched CNN?

I think for every Star Wars that we all watch, we also have to make it a point to also watch movies like Hotel Rwanda. Because in real life, the guy doesn't always get the girl, the good guys don't always win, and not all families live happily ever after. These are the things that we have to keep reminding ourselves of.

Ano ba talaga?

Where do you draw the line between avoiding a potential argument because you think the issue is really petty and not worth the effort....

... And becoming a doormat?

Because some people advise that you HAVE to air out the littlest things that bother you. Otherwise, you become this walking ball of pent-up frustrations that will one day erupt into a full-blown tirade.

But others say it's better to "pick" your fights, because nitpicking can become tiresome and make you seem bitchy whiny a nagger annoying.

I'm probably thinking too much again, aren't I?

Congratulations, Carrie!

Okay, so I'll probably be the nth person to blog about the season finale of American Idol 4. But I think a reality show that got even my mom hooked (and she thinks all reality shows are shams), deserves a noteworthy mention.

To be honest, it really wouldn't have mattered to me who won last night. Because I think they were both very good and I think the judges were right in saying that the two of them were already winners in their own right. Besides, being #2 didn't hurt Clay Aiken's career at all (I think he's even doing better than Ruben!) so Bo fans shouldn't fret too much.

Finally, is it just me, or does Simon seem to get hotter with every episode?

Even the Church has red tape!

I'm so glad that I have nothing to be stressed out about over my wedding ceremony and reception preparations, because the paperwork involved in getting married is starting to piss me off.

Quick backgrounder: My dad's original surname is "Tan," so when I was born, I carried that surname. When I was baptized, my baptismal certificate also reflected "Tan." My dad got himself naturalized when I was 3 years old, and in the process also changed our surname to what we're using now.

Fast forward: Part of our church venue's requirements for getting married is to submit a baptismal certificate. So when I first went to the church where I was baptized (located in Binondo!) to get the certificate, I went armed with the photocopies of the following: my amended birth certificate; my parents' marriage contract; my respective parents' birth certificates; and the court order that allowed for our change of surname.

Strike One: My church tells me that I will need to show them my ORIGINAL amended birth certificate before they can make an affidavit, which I will then have to submit to the Archbishop's Office (in Intramuros!!) so that they can effect the change in my baptismal records and issue a new certificate bearing my present surname. Grrr.

So I took a leave from work today to settle this once and for all. Armed with the ORIGINAL amended birth certificate (and all the other photocopied documents that I brought along with me last time), I finally got the affidavit from my church and headed to the Arsobispado.

Semi-Strike Two: When my mom and I got there, the frickin' guard wouldn't let us in because, "Ma'am, bawal po ang naka-sando." My mom and I were wearing sleeveless tops. Not tank tops, not spaghetti-strapped tops. Just plain sleeveless tops. "Sando" raw suot namin?! Good thing my mom was teaching a Qi-Gong class that afternoon so she had some extra shirts with her. We just pulled the shirts over what we were wearing and the guard let us in.

Inside, we saw some women wearing mini-skirts! Not micro-mini, but the hemline was still above the knee! Okay, so apparently, mas nakaka-tempt sa mga pari ang braso kaysa sa legs.

Plus points to the Arsobispado: the line advanced pretty quickly. No one person took more than 10 minutes, so I was pretty optimistic that I would get my revised baptismal certificate, go back to my baptismal church to have it stamped with their seal, and be at my grandma's house in time for lunch.

Strike Two: The guy at the Chancery tells me he wants to see the ORIGINAL court order authorizing our change of surname! F**K! I knew I couldn't use the "Di ba puwedeng pag-usapan?" line, so I used my best "puppy eyes" and "puppy voice" and tried to reason with the guy. Why else would he want to see the original, when the amended birth certificate should already be proof enough that the court order was valid. I also said that my baptismal church didn't tell me I needed to bring that along, that I lived very far, and that my boss would kill me if I took another leave from work. He just said "Pasensya na," that rules are rules, that he would call my baptismal church to remind them of the requirements, and that it's okay, I can ask my representative to come back on my behalf with the complete documents.

Good thing I have a very nice mom who just offered to work on this for me on Monday. Pag mag-Strike Three pa, ewan ko na talaga.

My dad says it'll probably be faster if I just have myself baptized all over again.

Rainier says Eric and I should just get married civilly, at city hall.

City Hall. Argh, don't remind me. We need to go there in the next couple of months to work on our marriage license this time. I'm sure that's going to be another "adventure" altogether.

Just when I thought I wouldn't have anything to blog about today

Got this from John:

It’s not what you know

Being a writer for a business magazine, I've found out, is worth squat if you can't even find the the right interviewees for your stories. I'm learning this the hard way.

Millionaires under 35 years of age? Entrepreneurs who got their capital by liquidating their assets?... These aren't the kind of people I have on my Friendster list.

As an editor, I have the semi-luxury of passing on difficult, "Where-the-hell-am-I-going-to-find-someone?!" assignments to my contributors. I say “semi” because I still have to help them find a couple of leads; otherwise, if they come up with no one close to the deadline, they may just give up and throw the assignment back to me. And it's going to end up my problem again.

I have practically memorized the sequence of names in my cellphone phone book (both of them!), because the past few days, I have been repeatedly scrolling through its entirety, trying to think if this person may know someone who knows someone who knows the kind of person I'm looking for. So far, out of 50+ messages for help, I got a whopping positive feedback of....2.

Lesson learned: I need to start making more friends.

I held my pee for an hour-and-a-half while watching Star Wars: Episode III

Don't watch Star Wars if what you're after is mesmerizing acting or a well-written screenplay. We've never found those in all the previous Episodes, and we'll certainly never find them in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

But do watch Episode III if what you're looking for is:
-- Yoda talking trash
-- R2-D2 kicking ass (albeit briefly)
-- Closure as to why Anakin became Darth Vader. Trust my brother to snidely put things in perspective: "As usual, women are the cause of a man's downfall."
-- Breathtaking, edge-of-your-seat special effects. Before Peter Jackson's Middle Earth, not many remember that George Lucas was the pioneer in the "creating new worlds" department. The guy was (and still is) a visionary.

This is definitely the most malevolent of the franchise; the Star Wars of my childhood is indeed all grown up now. And while I'm no Star Wars geek, I feel sad that it's all over.

So please excuse me while I go and watch Episodes IV, V, and VI. I can't let go just yet.

Movies to watch

Found out that the Globe Platinum Cinema (with Lazy-Boy seats, and all the popcorn and softdrinks you can consume) of the Gateway Mall has already opened. At a "Are-you-kidding-me?!" P299 a ticket, I definitely wouldn't go there just to watch "Monster-in-Law" or "House of Wax." Here are some other upcoming movies that would probably be more sulit.

1. Mr. & Mrs. Smith


Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie play married assassins who don't know about each other's real identities...until they're hired to take each other out.

A trivia about the movie courtesy of IMDB: Nicole Kidman was originally cast as Mrs. Smith. Ditto Catherine Zeta-Jones.

2. The Legend of Zorro


Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones are back in this sequel that went through a lot of name changes, from "The Mask of Zorro 2" to "Zorro 2." (Source: IMDB)

3. Batman Begins


The story of how Bruce Wayne became Batman.

IMDB trivia: Katie "Ha!-I'm-dating-Tom-Cruise" Homles barely beat out Natalie Portman and Sarah Michelle Gellar for the role of Bruce Wayne's love interest.

4. War of the Worlds


Aliens are taking over the planet and Tom "Don't-hate-me-because-I'm-rich-and-good-looking" Cruise must find a way to save his family.

5. Fantastic Four


Four astronauts gain superpowers after being exposed to cosmic radiation. Men will also watch this for Jessica Alba. Am watching it for Julian McMahon. Although the guy who plays Johnny Storm looks pretty cute too.

6. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire


Harry competes in the Tiwizard Tournament for his school... and for his life.

From IMDB: Unfounded rumors circulated that both Rowan Atkinson and John Malkovich were being considered for the role of Lord Voldemort. Ralph Fiennes got the part.

P.S. The trailers for these movies rock! Check them out at the Apple Movie Trailers.

Rants of someone who inhaled too much second-hand smoke last night

One of these days, I’d like to write an article about a smoker… not a smoker who’s already quit and regretting what he did, but a smoker who’s still in his element. Preferably someone with a cushy, high-paying job in a Makati office, who graduated with some high-brow degree in some top university.

Because I really, really, REALLY want to know—“What the hell are you thinking?”

What on earth could possibly possess a well-educated individual to knowingly, willingly and so blatantly put a harmful substance into his body?

I’d also like my interviewee to have non-smoking partner (spouse, girlfriend, boyfriend, whatever). Because I’d like to ask that partner what the hell he or she’s thinking, allowing himself/herself to be surrounded by second-hand smoke day in and day out. And smokers perpetually smell like ash trays! How do they hug?! Or kiss?!

Finally, the interviewee must have a kid. Because we see if quite often—a dad who holds his four-year-old son’s hand in one hand, while the other hand is cradling a cigarette.

One of life’s biggest ironies: a guy who says he’s cutting down on meat and drinking only diet sodas because “It’s healthier.” But right after the meal, he frickin' lights up! I know a guy exactly like this. Makes me want to take off my shoes and pok-pok him on the head.

Me and "Nog-nog"

Ever since my co-workers expressed disbelief that Rainier and I were related because of the differences in our skin tone, I knew I had to take a photo of the two of us side by side :)

He was never as fair as I am, but he's never been as dark as he is now either. Ever since he came home for summer vacation, he does nothing but bake himself to a crisp by going swimming every morning. You'd think that for someone who's in medical school, he'd be more conscious of the dangers of prolonged exposure to UV rays. But no. In fact, when he went to Boracay and Puerto Galera (twice!!) this month, friends said he walked around the whole day with his shirt off. Just to maximize getting a tan. Actually, it's not even a tan anymore. He just looks really.... burnt. Nog-nog nga talaga.

Why I'll never be able to cover the war in Afghanistan and win a Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism

Found out yesterday that Entrep is sending me to Mindanao in June and July this year. Region XII (North and South Cotabato, Sarangani Province, and Sultan Kudarat) and Region XIII (North and South Agusan and North and South Surigao). Just for a few days each. "Oh shit," I immediately thought when I found out. "Eric and my parents are going to freak."

Well, my parents didn't "freak out." But I could tell they were worried. I tried to assure them that I would be with a Summit photographer (whom I've worked with for ages) and that the Department of Trade and Industry people from the respective regions would escort us to wherever we had to go. They hardly looked assuaged. "Who do we know in General Santos City?" my mom immediately asked my dad.

Eric... well, he didn't freak out as well, as he knew there was nothing he could do. But Eric being Eric, he already started envisioning every possible negative scenario that may occur. "Does your office have an insurance policy against kidnap for ransom? May signal ba ang Globe or Sun diyan? You and your photographer will be sleeping in separate quarters, right? Wag kang tatapak kung saan-saan, probinsya yan, baka may magalit na engkanto."

This morning, my dad told me that my mom is actually thinking of going along on the trip. And when I checked my email this morning, I saw that Eric had already sent me links he had researched on the Internet about Region XIII.

I don't blame them for feeling this way. After all, we're not talking about an afternoon at Enchanted Kingdom here.

But still...I wonder if Christiane Amanpour's parents and husband are the same way everytime she goes away?

Carrie who?

I take back what I posted last month. Bo Bice is the guy to beat in this season's American Idol. Carrie's a good singer, but she doesn't have Bo's showmanship and stage presence. Bo rules the stage—Simon was right when he commented weeks back that when Bo performs, it's as if he's already been doing it for years.

So go, Bo!

Not your average slumbook questions

Thanks to Paoyu for these questions. They seemed pretty intimidating at first, but in the end, I actually had fun answering them. Read the bottom part if you want to find out how you can “get interviewed” yourself!

1) What would you do if you win a million dollars today?
(This is an easy question, as I really plan to spend for these things once I have enough money :)

One of my goals since I started working is to save enough money to buy my parents something nice, something they would never spend on themselves because they’re too stingy and practical. Probably a top-of-the-line SUV for my dad, and really nice, expensive clothes and jewelry for my mom. And for both of them, definitely an all-expenses paid, first-class trip to Europe. For a month! With pocket money!

At the risk of sounding like a do-gooder (but so what, it’s my money, hehe), I’d also donate portions to:
-- My alma mater, the University of the Philippines. Get them to fix up our buildings, buy more books and equipment for our library, maybe even adopt a couple of students.
-- The Philippine General Hospital. Because they have the best and the brightest studying and working there but the conditions under which they operate are just appalling. And also because it’s part of the UP family.
-- The Philippine Science High School, Manila Science High School, Quezon City High School, and all the other public science high schools. Because they’re really good schools, maybe even better than the private schools that we have here, and the students deserve every opportunity to learn to the fullest.
-- Donate to the Philippine Red Cross, Unicef, the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF), the Save the Philippine Eagle/Tarsier/other endangered Philippine animals Fund, Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), and other noble but under-funded organizations.

Hmm, funny but I don’t know what I would spend on myself… Most likely knock myself out at Fully Booked one weekend… But apart from that, I’d probably save the rest in a bank or put it in some high-return investment. I’m really not the type to splurge on myself.

2) What's your dream job?
In general, my dream job is to be a hard-hitting international journalist. Like Christiane Amanpour of CNN. Parachuting into Afghanistan one day, interviewing Kofi Annan the next. But my ultimate, Ultimate, it-will-never-happen-not-in-a-million-years dream job….. Do you guys know of Jaime Flor-Cruz? He was a student activist in UP during the time of martial law, and to escape arrest, he fled to communist China. Now, he’s the Beijing Bureau Chief of TIME Magazine! That’s my Dream Job. To be next UP student-turned-Beijing Bureau Chief of a major news organization, whether it’s TIME, CNN or whatever.

3) In your opinion, what are the qualities of an ideal relationship?
Off the top of my head, there are lots. But here are my Top 3:

-- Honesty and openness. You don’t have to all the time, but when the need arises, you have to be able to tell each other ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. From how you feel when he does something hurtful, to how you feel when it’s the first day of your period. I think he has to be the first person you call to share good news or bad news with, whether it’s a gossip about a co-worker or when you get scolded by your boss. If you can’t talk to someone you’ll be spending the rest of your life with, who else can you talk to?

--Dapat hindi mawala ang kilig ninyo para sa isa’t-isa. An ideal relationship is full of physical contact. Frequent hugs and kisses… holding hands...tickling each other…. laughter… One married couple has told me that “mind-blowing sex” is one of the ingredients to a happy marriage, and while I may not know that for a fact (yet), I agree with them. You have to enjoy being with each other.

-- Respect and support. You have to be able to share your dreams and passions with each other, and if he disagrees, know you will only get honest feedback in return, not put-downs or judgments.

4) What are some things people don't understand about you being a girl, but they should?
That PMS is a valid excuse to be irrational, temperamental or outright weird on some days…. but at the same time, it’s not the only reason why we’re irrational, temperamental or weird on other days. Gets? Because sometimes, for example, I get upset over something Eric does, but all he responds with is “What? What did I do? Are you PMS-ing?” It’s annoying. Can’t I be upset for a legitimate reason?

5) What scares you about opening up to a man?
Am not sure if this question refers to the literal or figurative “opening up,” but I’ll play safe and respond in the figurative, hehe.

Coming from an all-girls Catholic school, with a relatively conservative Filipino-Chinese upbringing, I’ve been conditioned since I was a child on how to act properly in front of guys. Be ladylike, etc. etc. otherwise, “guys won’t like you” or “marry you.” So it’s always been like that. I always think guys are judging everything I say I do, mentally “rating” me on a scale of 1 to 10. So it's kinda hard to be myself; my movements are controlled, everything that I say is well-thought of before I say them.

The “fear” is not as bad now, because I’m more mature (ehem) and I have Eric, but there are still some instances when I feel that I still have to make a good impression when interacting with the opposite sex.


Now, here are the rules:
-- If you want to be interviewed, leave me a comment saying "interview me".
-- The first five to leave a comment requesting to be participants will be interviewed.
-- I will respond by asking you five questions.
-- You will update your blog/site with the answers to the questions.
-- You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
-- When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. (Write your own questions or borrow some).

New job, new playlist

I moved to my new desk yesterday afternoon, and the first thing I noticed is how noisier this new area is compared to my old workstation. Back then, we were confined to a little corner, and any noise was pretty much kami-kami lang. Now, I'm exposed to chirpy staffers of the three to four other magazines that surround me. It can get pretty distracting, so thank God I have my trusty mp3 player. I just plug on my earphones and I drown out the chatter all around.

Anyway, what does my song selection say about my personality? You tell me.

1) "Someday We'll Know" by New Radicals
2) "This Side" by Nickel Creek
3) "How You Remind Me" by Nickelback (aka "The song that cost Constantine his stint at American Idol")
4) "If I Am" by Nine Days
5) "Man Who Sold the World" by Nirvana
6) "Superman's Dead" by Our Lady Peace
7) "California" by Phantom Planet
8) "All I Want" by Reef
9) "Losing My Religion" by REM
10) "Save Me" by Remy Zero
11) "Come Around" by Rhett Miller
12) "Lonely No More" by Rob Thomas
13) "All The Way Down" by Ryan Cabrera
14) "Chemistry" by Semisonic
15) "Closing Time" by Semisonic
16) "All For You" by Sister Hazel
17) "Runaway Train" by Soul Asylum
18) "Hello" by Sugarbomb
19) "Could It Be Any Harder" by The Calling
20) "Clementine" by Mark Owen
21) "Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind
22) "All I Want" by Toad the Wet Sprocket
23) "Fly From Heaven" by Toad the Wet Sprocket (You guys HAVE to ask me for this if you don't have it yet. Ganda!)
24) "Cats in the Cradle" by Ugly Kid Joe
25) "You're A God" by Vertical Horizon
26) "Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down
27) "Ghost In You" by Mark McGrath
28) "Another Perfect Day" by American Hi-Fi
29) "Come On" by Ben Jelen
30) "Year 3000" by Busted
31) "Far Behind" by Candlebox
32) "Yellow" by Coldplay
33) "Hangin' Around" by Counting Crows
34) "Half Life" by Duncan Sheik (Ask me for this too!)
35) "Here's To The Night" by Eve6
36) "Out of My Head" by Fastball
37) "I Don't Wanna Be" by Gavin McGraw (I downloaded this after hearing Bo Bice sing it on AI)
38) "Hey, Jealousy" by Gin Blossoms
39) "Found Out About You" by Gin Blossoms
40) "As Long As It Matters" by Gin Blossoms
41) "Until I Fall Away" by Gin Blossoms
42) "99 Red Balloons" by Goldfinger
43) "Name" by Goo Goo Dolls
44) "The Remedy" by Jason Mraz
45) "Fly Away" by Lenny Kravitz
46) "Hanging By A Moment" by Lifehouse
47) "3 AM" by Matchbox 20
48) "Drift Away" by Dobie Gray (Again, after Bo Bice sang it)
49) "Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts (Carrie Underwood sang this a few weeks back)

Bad habits to break

Eric and I made a deal last night. I would stop adding "na" to my English sentences (i.e. "I'm here na" or "I'm so tired na") if he would stop using "mu" and "me" in his text messages ("Alam mu ba..." or "Punta me sa supermarket").

***
Other habits I have that irritate the heck out of Eric:

1) My sheer impatience. I'm the type of person who has to know the endings right away. I flip to the very end of books before I start reading them, or I scour the Internet for episode guides and episode transcripts of my favorite TV series in the US so that I don't have to wait for them to be shown here.

2) I tend to ask him to repeat questions he asks me, almost as if I didn't get them, but it turns out I do and I end up answering them in the same breadth. Example:

ERIC: Saan ka pupunta bukas?
ME: Ha? Ano?...May interview ako sa Makati.

I don't know why I only do it with him. I think it's because he talks too fast, and my brain takes longer to process what he's saying. Harhar.

3) I have to finish the food on my plate. Even if I'm so full to the point of bursting, I can't stand to leave unfinished food, especially if it's a portion that's too small to be wrapped and taken home. Most likely cultivated from all the years my parents guilt-tripped me about starving children in Africa. He thinks it's stupid.

4) I hardly buy original CDs anymore, because I don't see the point in shelling out hundreds of pesos for an album when I only like 2 or 3 of the songs. If I have a song that I like, I just download it on my computer. Eric says it's equivalent to piracy, but I tell him it's not because it's not as if I download the songs to sell them to others. They're all for my personal collection.

5) He thinks I'm too nice, especially with my friends, co-workers and parents. With everyone, basically. Eric's brutally frank, he'll tell people straight to their faces if they do something he doesn't like or disagrees with. I prefer to either keep quiet and just rant in private afterwards, or say it in a half-joking way (which means half the time, the intended doesn't get that I'm also being half-serious). Like the issue of his friends who smoke. Heavily. It irritates the hell out of me when they light up without so much as bothering to ask permission, but I don't want to come across as a killjoy, so I grin and bear it. The smoking doesn't bother Eric so much, ("Eh, ganun talaga sila e") so he tells me I either stand up for myself or put up with it.

Small steps, hon, small steps...

To leave or not to leave

Last night's episode of Y Speak: Live was about whether young Pinoys should go abroad to seek greener pastures, or just stay here and continue to work for their country.

I only caught the show's first two gaps, but the topic still struck a chord with me because I also encountered a similar debate at a party last Friday night. One of Eric's friends, who came home after working abroad for a couple of years, was emphatically declaring to all that one of her priorities now is to apply for citizenship elsewhere—anywhere!—because, and I quote her, "Anything is better than a Filipino citizenship."

On one hand, I thought it was a very cynical thing to say, and I felt sad that here is another talented Filipino citizen who's giving up on her country. But on the other hand, who am I to argue when she says that she feels she has no future here?

These were pretty much the same views of Y Speak's panelists. Those who were for staying said that people are leaving only because they are being choosy about their work. It's not true that there's lack of work here, they say, it's just that people don't want to start at the bottom. But those who wanted to leave countered that at least starting from the bottom abroad will earn you a heck of a lot more than what you'll earn if you stay here. There's nothing wrong with venturing abroad to improve your own life, and your family's, they added.

Before I switched the TV off to go to dinner, the divine Marc Nelson (who was one of the guest moderators on the show), presented an audience member who was all for going abroad. That student said that people are leaving because of two things: poverty and corruption. The country is hopeless, he said, so get out when you can.

But Marc said that you'll always find corruption anywhere. Maybe it's just not as bad as the Philippines, but leaving doesn't help make the situation better. Why not stay, he said, and use your skills and talents to help solve the country's problems. Instead of running away from it.

So what's my stand on the matter? It's hard to give a definite answer. On one hand, I agree with what Marc said (Yeah, baby! See why I'm so in love with the guy?) but at the same time, I'm thinking that maybe I have the luxury of thinking this way because I have a relatively cushy job and a relatively comfortable life. In short, I can afford to stay here. If I were to be living on a hand-to-mouth existence, my answer may be different.

Confessions of an idealistic romantic

Read an interesting article in Paoyu's blog today. It's from The Japan Times and entitled "Middle-aged men seek reconciliation with wives."

Condensed version: Japanese men are regretting how they've taken their wives for granted all these years, so now they're trying to bring the romance back into their lives by, one, "...attending support groups that coach these men on how to talk to their wives, express their emotions and rekindle the flame of love...."; and, two, renewing the courtship by spending on jewelry.

My first reaction was that it's a sad reflection of a certain society if its husbands have to join support groups to get tips on how to talk to their wives.

But then I also found myself wondering if I'm being overly smug for thinking such a thing. Because sometimes, I think I'm being too idealistic for my own good. Everytime I hear of couples splitting up, of spouses cheating on each other, of partners discovering they are incompatible only after 10 years into the relationship.... I always tell myself "Ha! No way is that going to happen to us." Because, to be honest, if anyone were to ask me right now, I would say that I am 100% confident that Eric and I will stay madly in love with each other until we are old and gray.

Because I don't see it going any other way.

Or...am I just refusing to see it?

It wasn't Boracay, pero pwede na rin

The whole team went to Enchanted Kingdom yesterday afternoon for work and, okay, for some much-needed R&R. We had a great time, mainly because (1) it was a weekday, so no lines at the rides!!! and (2) the skies were pretty overcast, so no need to worry about getting burned to a crisp.

Some pics from the day:


This is how we looked before we got all wet and sweaty.


The Space Shuttle, the very first ride we rode for the day. After that, it was straight to the Ferris Wheel to give our stomachs time to settle down.


At the Flying Fiesta, which we rode twice!


Dennis all wet after riding the roller coaster.... no, just kidding!!! It was after getting spun around at the Rio Grande Rapids.


Jonas and Dennis getting goofy over dinner at KFC.

Overall, I can't remember when was the last time that I laughed so hard, so often, and for so long a length of time. Thanks to Mari-An for setting this whole thing up. I'll miss you guys *Sniff*

TAR7 finale today!

Today, I promise to be a good girl and not sneak a peek at the CBS website to find out the results in advance. Good thing I'll be out of the office for most of the day today, so no temptation at all, hehe.

I just hope it's not Rob and Amber who win.

Please not Rob and Amber please not Rob and Amber please not Rob and Amber please not Rob and Amber please not Rob and Amber please not Rob and Amber please not Rob and Amber please not Rob and Amber please not Rob and Amber please not Rob and Amber please not Rob and Amber please not Rob and Amber please not Rob and Amber please not Rob and Amber please not Rob and Amber please not Rob and Amber please not Rob and Amber please not Rob and Amber.

You have to see "Saw"

Rainier had been bugging me since the start of his summer vacation to watch Saw, so I finally relented last night.

I don’t regret my decision… But let’s just say I’m glad I watched it in the comfort (and security) of my own bed.

The plot centers around a doctor and an amateur photographer who wake up to find themselves the victims of a serial killer called “Jigsaw.” Jigsaw, in his convoluted desire to make people appreciate life better, kidnaps morally wayward people (i.e. a drug addict, a voyeur, etc.) and makes them play horrific games for their survival. An example: one of his victims had attempted to commit suicide by slashing his wrists. So the killer places him inside a steel cage filled with protruding razor blades. Ironically, if the victim stays where he is, he is safe from the blades, but he will die of starvation; if he wants to live, he will have to go through the cage to get to the door, but will get himself cut up. Use your imagination.

Saw is twisted, gory, macabre, and nail-bitingly suspenseful, which is how I like scary movies to be. Not like all those zombie or The Ring movies where you know the monsters are the bad guys and the goal of the heroes is to find a way to exterminate them. Saw keeps you guessing until the very end, and just when you thought you could finally breathe easy, pow!, major plot twist.

I hear there's a sequel in the works. Can't wait!

Mind-boggling

How come some people can brush their teeth without all the toothpaste foaming and dribbling down their chin?

Somebody save me

AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! One of the motors of our office air-conditioning unit is broken. This means that since 830am, we have been working with sweat dripping from every pore of our body.

To make matters worse, the aircon of the mall has been affected too, so we get no reprieve at all when we go outside.

And to think I was looking forward to coming to work today because I thought I would have round-the-clock A/C.

I'm taking a long COLD shower when I get home later.

"Spirits" ending was a let-down

Eric and I came home especially early last night so that he could catch the series finale of Spirits. I wasn't as avid a follower of the show as he was, but I wanted to watch it anyway because I read in the papers that it was going to be a blockbuster ending, with a spectacular fight scene involving hundreds of thousands daw. Since the show is a fantaserye, I was looking forward to an ending full of special effects and maximum impact.

To say that we were disappointed is an understatement.

The first half of the episode showed the forces of good amassing to challenge the forces of evil in the final battle that was supposed to determine the fate of the world. There was a nice show of the good guys' allies coming from different sides to join forces with them. Giant rock-men. Hawk-men. Etc. I didn't count hundreds of thousands of extras yet, but maybe more will show up later, I thought.

The bad guys looked a bit frightened but overall, determined. "Anytime now," Eric told me. "They're going to start blasting each other way."

But no. Just when we would start seeing the special effects, there was another scene. Three fairies rose from the ground, each carrying one of three stones of power (the only things that could stop the evil demon). The fairies released the stones into the air, and the stones formed a triangle above the bad guys. There was a bright light.....

And The End. Definitely The End because the credits had already started to roll. Ganun lang. No blasting. No yelling. Not one iota of a fight scene at all.

Eric was so pissed. I'm just glad we didn't have to pay to watch it.

Speaking of sex

Bouts of "hormonal imbalances" aside, my mom is pretty cool. For one thing, she's very open about talking about sex. Case in point: she called me up at work yesterday to share some gossip about a neighbor. Apparently, the son (who's the same age as one of my younger brothers) is getting married in a rush this month because he got the girl pregnant.

My mom wanted me to call my two brothers to share this story with them, at the same time warn them about the perils of unsafe sex. She's particularly worried about my youngest brother, Rainier, because he's currently in Boracay and, according to her, "I bet he's having sex left and right."

I protested, not really over the "having sex" part, but more of the "having sex left and right" part. I think she's giving him too much credit.

Why I sometimes want to leave the country

From today's headlines alone....

From Philippine Daily Inquirer

Policemen in mistake shooting 'detained'
These were the SWAT cops who mistakenly opened fire on an FX because the car resembled the getaway car of some robbers. Given that every other car on the Philippine road in an FX, it should've been SOP that they check first if that was really the car they were after. But they didn't, they just fired away. It was a miracle no one was hurt. But now these cops are just detained?! DETAINED?!

From The Philippine Star

JDV invites Erap to political summit
Why can't we just lock the guy up and throw away the key?!

Government again eyes taxes on telecoms, beverages
It's not where you get the money, it's HOW you get them! Why don't they just concentrate on cleaning up the BIR?!

House bill seeks free parking in malls
Sa dami ng problema ng bansa....THESE are the laws they come up with?!

40,000 cops are obese, PNP admits
I thought these guys would be sent to Subic boot camp?! How come they're still around?!

I'm so hyped up, I need my comfort food....

Life, death, and what happens after

I read "I Have Lived Before" in one sitting and got goose bumps. It talks about the first ever documented and authenticated instance of reincarnation in modern times.

As early as when she was four years old, Shanti Devi, the subject of the book, already had a feeling that the house she was living in was not her own, that her parents were not the people she lives with, and that she is married and has a son. She didn't understand what was happening and everyone thought she was crazy. But she was so insistent that an investigation was conducted and even Mahatma Gandhi became involved. She travelled to the town where her past life had lived and knew things that only the woman she was claiming to be knew. Her claims were taken as valid.

While some would wish that it would be cool to have knowledge about one's past life, Shanti's story also shows that remembering too much is not always a good thing. Her past memories are so fresh, it was hard for her to live her present life to the fullest. She couldn't marry, for example, because her husband from her past life was still alive and so she still considered herself married. She eventually became a spinster-teacher.

It's a story that's straight out of Ripley's Believe It or Not.

But the part of the book that I remember most is not the story of Shanti's reincarnation per se, but how the author addresses the fear of death. If you believe in reincarnation, he says, you shouldn't fear death. He compares it to going to sleep and waking up the next day:

"...We go to bed at night to sleep, without any hesitation, in spite of our consciousness being extinguished, in spite of the fact that the world no longer exists for us even as an idea in our consciousness. How can it be that we feel so utterly confident [that we will still wake up the next day]?
The answer is, of course, that the experience is constantly repeated, that there is always the morning. That creates confidence and security.
What would happen if we had the same insight and conviction about the greater cycle of life and death?"

I think this is a nice way of looking at mortality. Something different (and more reassuring) than constantly worrying if we would go to heaven, hell, or purgatory. What do you guys think?

Wanderlust

Am craving for an out-of-town trip. I think it's because I keep seeing so many people in the office with tans and tanlines. Kakainggit.

Animal rights

I confess: I have conflicting emotions when it comes to zoos.

On one hand, I'm absolutely fascinated at seeing all these animals up close. Bonus if the zoo is clean, the cages big, and the animals fat, like what they have in Avilon Zoo and the Zoobic Safari.

But on the other hand, I can't help but feel guilty when I think that these animals will most likely spend the rest of their lives confined in their 10 X 10 enclosures. Not when they could be roaming freely in their natural habitat.

I remember the movie Planet of the Apes, which shows a reversed scenario: it's the apes who are running the planet, and humans are the slaves and pets. The humans there felt indignant and oppressed at how they were being treated. How are we to know that the lions, bears and eagles we have in our zoos now don't feel oppressed either?

I thought about this now after reading this article on Yahoo News. Short version: a great white shark was released from captivity because it killed two fellow sharks. Duh. It's a shark. What did they expect?

The article also says: The young shark spent a record 198 days at the aquarium -- besting the previous record for a great white in captivity of 16 days.

Maybe this is a sign that sharks aren't meant to be kept captive.

Finally, according to the article, officials plan to bring another great white to the aquarium. When they say" bring," I guess they mean rip another one from its natural habitat capture.

Maybe when we die, we should all be reborn as animals. Just to see what it feels like.

It can't get more official than this

In hindsight, I'm happy for Katie. I'm sure she, along with millions of other girls in the world, once dreamed of dating Tom Cruise. Now it's actually happening. Good for her. I think every girl deserves a chance at having her dreams come true.

Ode to Julian

Was channel-surfing last night when I came across a feature on Julian McMahon on ETC. Naturally, I watched, hehe.

Found out he's from Australia. Hmm, what is it about Oz that produces all these hotties? Mel Gibson. Hugh Jackman. Heath Ledger. That guy from Outback Jack. Ian Thorpe. Now Julian. Must be something in their water.

Anyway, Julian cooks! And he speaks Spanish!

I have such great taste in men.

Except for the part when I found out he's already twice-divorced. Oh well, crush lang naman.

He'll be in the upcoming Fantastic Four movie. Yay!

But he'll be playing Dr. Doom. Which means there's a chance that for 3/4 of the movie, his face will be covered by a metal mask.

Drats.

Hopefully there'll be a lot of flashback, pre-Dr. Doom-with-a-mask scenes....