A Rogue in our home

there's a new member of the paul-plazo household. she's five months old, covered in sleek black fur with lovely white streaks from each of her eyes up to her ears, and a long hooked tail. her name is rogue, and she is a beauty. 

the cat idea had been floating around since late last year, when i realized that moving out of our askal-populated home in mandaluyong meant that i could have a cat again. though marlon has always been a dog person, he warmed to the idea of a cat when he took into account our busy schedules (cats are way more low-maintenance) and living space (70 sqm is not enough for an active pooch). so we both agreed to get a cat at some undefined point in time, but never really put any work into getting it done. 

then i got really bored at work. with my two big pitches and a couple of promo projects all finished last friday, monday was the first day ever that i actually spent a full day at work without actually doing anything related to work. after making the rounds of my usual online haunts (chuvaness, pep, facebook, et al) there was nothing left for me to do except... google "singapore cat adoption." patay!

the days that followed were completely cat-crazy. i looked at the spca and cat welfare society, learned about the horrifying tale of the cat hoarder,  sent links to marlon and discussed many a prospective pet over yahoo messenger with him. i must have emailed and texted over 10 cat rescuers and "fosters", mostly asking about pure black kittens aged 3 months to over a year old. 

hello charcoal

i got a couple of encouraging responses, but the one i really wanted to hear from was davis, foster daddy to a beautiful pure black cat named charcoal. to see the adorable-ness that sucked me in big time, check out the last cat posted on august 12 here.

and when i finally heard from charcoal's foster, boy was it a whopper of a reply. for a brief moment, i knew what it was like to be angelina jolie, or even madonna. because the adoption requirements and screening process was just... 

basta. as my boss james would say: "have a look."

Name : Charcoal
Age : 3 months
Sex : Female
Type : Mixed black tabby

Note : Needs patience & time to get her warmed up to you as she was a stray kitten and has no contact with human before at very young age. Near missed by a vehicle & rescued. Traumatized due to siblings knocked down by a vehicle. Probably weeks or months to get her warmed up. Once warmed up, she will be very friendly and will stick to you very closely and follow you where ever you go. Very nosy (kay po) & curious, and would like to follow you & see what you do everyday.

Favourites
1. Enjoys running around & playing with you or toys.
2. Loves to be cleaned on her head and face with your wet fingers.
3. Loves to be bottle-fed with milk before going to bed at about mid-nite.
4. Loves to sleep on a hammock.

Dos (Her Routine)
1. Litterbox / toilet trained but need to guide her initially before each meals to familiarize your place.
2. Litterbox : A tray with newspaper and sand (preferred brand : Fussie Cat - Lemon @$7.00 per 10litres pack).
3. Clumps to be removed from the sand (otherwise she will play with the clumps).
4. Clean her feets & bottom with wet serviettes after using the litterbox.
5. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner & Supper with dry food & water.
6. Dry Food (Science Diet or Eagle - Chicken Flavour) or whichever you can introduce.
7. Play with her after each meals as a reward.
8. After supper, clean her with your wet hands (with very little cat shampoo and anti-flea spray on your hands).
9. Feed her with milk in bottle max: 15ml at least once a day (Preferred Milk : Animalac Milk Powder)

Don'ts
1. Open windows and open doors that she will jump out as she's very nosy and curious.
2. Toilet bowls and plug holes to covered as she's very curious to jump in.

cue tumbling! may brand preference ang hitad. saan ka pa? pero siyempre feeling ko hindi na yan routine nung pusa kundi ng taong umampon sa kanya. 

at kung tumumbling ako sa listahan na yan, nag-nastia liukin floor routine ako sa listahan na sumunod.

I would like to know a little more about you as the caregiver to check if you're suitable to love & care for Charcoal. 1. Do you want the kitten for yourself or is it for a gift?
2. Do you have any experience with cat / kitten?
3. Are you above 21 year old? Are your working or studying?
5. Do you live with your parents, landlords or do you own or rent your apartment?
6. What's your working hours? Do you spend most of your time at home and how long?
7. How many adults & children live in your apartment?
8. Who will be responsible for the kitten & how long you or whoever will responsible will look after the kitten?
9. Do you have any pets now or in the past?
10. What are they and how long did you have your pets?
11. Will this kitten be an indoor or outdoor pet?
12. Do you plan on having the kitten de-clawed?
13. If you moved, what would you do with the kitten?
14. Does everybody in your family want an adopted cat / kitten?
15. Is anyone in your household allergic to cat / kitten?
16. Do you have carrier, harness & leash, enclosed yard, cat-proof fencing or enclosure?
17. Do you have the financial resources to pay for the kitten - food, litter, medical fees, incidentals & etc?
18. Do you plan to sponsor the kitten for vaccination (asap) & sterilization (6 month old) and regular vet checkups?
19. May I visit your home to see how and where the kitten would be living?
20. Will we or CWS members to visit the kitten / cat from time to time within reasonable limits to see if it is well-taken care of?

suddenly makes you wonder what the adoption process for children is like in the philippines and if it's even half this stringent. 

the next level

mejo nabuwisit ako sa simula, especially since hindi naman talaga kanila yung pusa. pero go lang, kasi ang cuuuuuuute cuuuuuuute cuuuuuuute niya talaga. so sumagot naman ako. and i realized marlon and i have lived with enough pets to open a small zoo. our combined pet history covers: one poodle, six spitzes, five german shepherds, one husky, ten mongrels, three rabbits, four hamsters, god knows how many fish, five turtles, four turkeys, four maya birds, a cage of parakeets, an indian cockatoo, a duck, a chicken, fourteen chicks and generations upon generations of rescued stray cats. 

so this super jologs version of the twelve days of christmas must have impressed charcoal's foster parent, because he replied quite speedily, revealing the next stage of the adoption process: a house inspection. sa tumbling na ginawa ko, i swear puwedeng-puwede na akong isali sa chinese olympic gymnastics team.

marlon and i hosted a lunch for his officemates today, so it was perfect timing -- the house was clean and we were in a rare social mood. at quarter to six (well over an hour after our agreed time of 4.30pm), davis and his wife jennifer brought over our little charcoal. at dahil mukhang pumasa naman kami sa mag-asawang umampon sa kanya, naging "our" little charcoal talaga siya in less than one hour.

in fairness hindi naman sila super lukaret, which i kind of expected after reading their lists. na-attach lang talaga sa pusa, at super concerned. they gave us a "starter kit" of packed kitty litter, food, toys and even lent us their cat carrier with the cutest DIY hammock inside. they even offered to accompany us on the kitty's visits to the vet. which was nice but a bit strange because i think if marlon and i can relocate, establish careers abroad, furnish our own place and manage our household siguro naman kaya naming magdala ng pusa sa vet diba? 

ewan. inisip ko na lang na super attached sila. after all, they did rescue the poor kitty at 5 weeks old from the middle of a major intersection... after its sibling had been splattered all over the street. they loved her and took care of her until she got over her skittishness and trauma. so i figured a little weirdness is justified. kahit pinapirma pa kami ng adoption contract. sige na.

kitten, thy name is rogue

as our new kitty quickly staked out its favorite spot under our two low, circular coffee tables, marlon and i lay on the living room floor thinking of a new name -- charcoal wasn't quite doing it for us. we went through a couple of names -- ash (after aishwarya rai, since the kitty was all eyes), pepper, even the completely silly beyonce, bulbol and kili-kili. then i saw the spine of one of the magazines on our coffee table, and knew we had the perfect name: rogue.

and so the evening has been a quiet one at home, as we let rogue get used to her new digs and to having the two of us around. she's warmed up quicker than i thought -- we had a great time lying on our stomachs on the floor, stroking her back and her jaw as she purred like a motorboat gone mad. she even let marlon carry her into the TV room for a little bit of cuddly while he watched wrestling. now she's back under the coffee table -- kind of an odd spot for a cat, but hey, who are we to complain now that we have her?

later i decided to tack on blair to make a full name -- blair after blair waldorf, my favorite character on gossip girl (pretty, snooty, naughty) and after the blair witch project, because this kitty can look absolutely creepy when she stares out at you from under the shadows of the coffee table. 

so her full name is blair rogue paul-plazo (ang landi!), but mostly she's just rogue. and just perfect. :)

oh and please excuse the crappy photo -- i can't find my digicam cable and we just have our camera phones, and this kitty wriggles like crazy!

Taka nga muna...

it's for events like 100 katao, 100 taka that i wish i were back home. after reading about it on carlos celdran's blog, i went to the website of manlilikha, the organization that's putting this exhibit together, to learn more.

100 katao, 100 taka brings together 100 people (mostly artists, but some writers, politicians, designers and random others as well) who have each painted a taka, or papier-mache figure made by folk craftsmen from paete, laguna. i actually checked out each and every one of the 100 takas (yes, i have nothing to do this week) and was blown away by quite a number of them.


some of my favorites, from left to right: (top row) juan sajid imao, kusina salud (two figures, a woman and a horse), josie sison, arturo sanchez; (bottom row) eugene jarque, ferdz valencia, tado jimenez and karen flores.

then i found out you can bid for them when the exhibit is over! dang, i really wish i was home. thanks to marlon's promotion, we have a bit of leeway for luho this month, and a bit of art would be just perfect. what particularly draws me to the taka project is its filipino and folk art character. and i loved seeing all the hundred different directions a simple papier-mache figure can go.

i actually emailed manlilikha to see how i can participate in the bidding from way over here, although i am rather dubious about getting an actual response from an "info@..." email address. fingers crossed for this month's art fix, and for this year's addition to my wee but growing art collection!

Winding up for the pitch

tomorrow morning will mark yet another first in my life as lilian and james have decided to bring me to a big client pitch. it's a pitch for not one, but two channel launches, the culmination of a currr-azy week where i crafted two pitches simultaneously. 

i should probably be nervous, but i'm ecstatic -- because i know they wouldn't bring me along without a good reason!

i'll have more to say about it soon because i should be getting ready for bed, but all i can say for the moment is: i've picked out a great outfit that hides my bilbil and involves a vintage dior handbag. what more could a girl need to kick some serious ass?

Boy-watching at Beijing

marlon and i spent most of our weekend taking care of the ironing in front of the tv, which was tuned into the beijing olympics. it's the first time i've ever really sat down to watch an olympics and it just blows my mind!

i found myself shrieking out loud when romania's poor marian dragulescu landed flat on his ass at the very end of his floor routine, and again when he went completely ker-SPLAT on his face on his second vault... after an almost-perfect, gold medal shoo-in first vault. my heart broke for him... and i'm not even really into gymnastics! i mean, we almost expect to be awash in glorious olympic moments that bring us to our knees in awe, but i didn't know olympians could fuck up so badly either! either way, it's great tv!

one more reason to shriek: spain's bad boy hottie gervasio deferr (okay ang bantot ng pangalan), who won a silver for his floor routine.


shet sana ako na lang yung medal.

In the mood for...

i thought of making a mood board to show what my morning at work (and a little bit of last night) has been like.


now that's what i call a mood board.

working on this new project has reminded me of a lot of things, and i'm glad the references are coming to me so naturally, for something i didn't think i would take to so well.

some of the things i'm drawing upon: morning classes back in college spent doodling eyes in notebooks with justine. the word malikmata -- i'm so frustrated that i can't find an adequate english translation. manila urban legends and my ghost stories, particularly one involving a keyhole that never fails to elicit the shivers from anyone i tell it to.

what are you in the mood for today?

Suddenly seeking singing

i don't know why, but this evening while getting ready for bed, i started telling marlon about john tavener's "the tyger," my most recent ultimate favorite acs song of all time. ah, i remember now -- i was reading tracy chevalier's girl with a pearl earring. i had spotted another tracy chevalier novel in the library, which captured my attention with its title: burning bright. yes, as in "tiger tiger" etc etc. which led me to thinking about the tavener piece. and of course once i started trying to describe it, marlon wanted to hear it, which is why i'm still online at two in the morning.

i miss singing that song. i found a clip of the acs singing it on youtube, and wished it could have been a clearer recording -- i was hardly satisfied and just wanted to be bowled over by the sound, as i always am.

sana meron akong pwedeng salihan dito na makakakanta nun ng maganda. pero parang wiz eh. 

sadness.

Breakfast in bed

it's saturday morning at around 11. mom is ironing more of marlon's shirts in the living room when he passes her en route to the bedroom -- with a glass of milk, a plate of toast and a smidgen of lime marmalade for me, his slumbering wife.

mom to marlon: "aba ano 'yan, service deluxe?! gisingin mo na nga iyan, at tuturuan ko siyang mamalancha!"

Cheap thrills

after dealing with an at-times-infuriatingly finicky mother during the week, i was chuffed to have finally hit upon a weekend activity that my mom loved: a little india afternoon!

i thought she would be bored going to little india again after we had already done a jaggi's lunch on racecourse roud last saturday, along with a stop at the touristy little india arcade. but no, i totally forgot about the powers of mustafa!

she went wild over the selection of bangles, just like i did on my first visit to mustafa (and to singapore) four years ago. i forgot how much alike we can be at times, and this was a great reminder. we spent close to an hour hunting through the racks of bangles, offering suggestions to each other and trying on this and that bunch, as marlon whiled away his time in the bollywood dvd section. he came away with a boxed dvd of om shanti om, shah rukh khan's biggest blockbuster and personally recommended by my cousin muniya. looks like next saturday night will be bollywood night for the now-nagtitipid paul-plazos.

my mom cried "iwan mo na ako dito ng buong maghapon!" when she saw the mustafa basement full of textiles and sari material. marlon quipped, "okay, i'll just go watch hellboy and come back for you guys in two hours."

now she is cooing over her bangle (and pashmina) booty in the guest bedroom, much like i do with my own bargain finds, and is an extremely good mood. nice to see her that way, and nice to remember that i am still my mother's daughter.

Lady of the house

it's midway through my mom's visit, and the house is cleaner than it's ever been.

consider: all my clothes are folded, which, if you know the usual state of the walk-in closet, is a blooming miracle. all of marlon's polos have been ironed and arranged from left to right by color, as well as in the order of my mom's tastes. "ito yung mga gusto ko," she said, pointing to the neatly pressed left side of the closet. "ito naman yung mga mukhang mamang-mama,"she said, turning up her nose and pointing to the right side, where the polos were not quite as wrinkle-free. 

the miniature payatas of grocery plastics we reuse as garbage bags have been folded into a single paper bag, the ripped ones thrown away. the bed is immaculately made every day, the cosmetics on my dresser lined up in neat rows. there are fresh rolls of toilet paper in both toilets and no dirty dishes in the sink at the end of a long workday. 

in fairness naman to us, we cook her nice dinners. it's nice to see my mom liking what marlon and i cook, and sharing the secrets of jamie oliver with her.

as my mom washed the dinner dishes this evening, marlon murmured "there's a new standard for the woman of the house," hugging me to soften his giant, none-too-subtle hint. 

"excuse me noh! she's had years of practice!" i protested. 

but it really is amazing. moms -- you gotta love them.

My first pitch

the biggest challenge of my first three weeks here at bda was learning how to craft a proposal, or pitch. and not just any pitch -- a galloping 96-slide powerpoint presentation on a full branding campaign for a completely new channel.

it was mind-blowing. at first i struggled to grasp the fact that james, the creative director, or lilian, the boss lady, weren't going to approve or disapprove my ideas. they just didn't say anything!!! kaloka!!!! then, when i figured out that silence meant that i should forge ahead in the same direction, i fought to overhaul my "creative diarrhea" style -- i vomit dozens upon dozens of options, you choose one -- in favor of the "you ought to know best, so just give us one good one" style that seems to work around here. and THEN i had to wrap my head around the fact that none of them intended to muck around with my ideas. ownership and responsibility were big lessons for me.

but the mind-boost! feeling ko maiiyak ako sa ganda when i read all the pitch presentations from our sydney office. i never thought i would ever be so inspired by a powerpoint, and wondered how i could ever conceptualize and write so clearly. (ganyan din ako when i first saw a promax showreel and charlie and ayee's enca plugs on my first day in gma.) and i really had to constantly plow through all my "am i doing this wrong? could this be better? is this good enough?" or i would have frozen up completely.

by friday last week, the powerpoint became so unwieldy with all its little parts and pieces that james had to keep kicking my ass just to make sure i had everything in place. (kakabilib siya grabe. hindi napipikon.) swimming in my gargantuan soup of bugs, straps, junction breaks, mockups, endpages and idents, i was forcibly reminds of my first days at gma when i had no idea what the difference between a rider and a bumper was, and wondered how the hell i was going to learn all the jargon. (answer: by osmosis, almost naturally.)

this resulted in my latest overtime ever in singapore... 8:30 p.m. isang malaking HA. HA. HA. overtime na raw ba yon?! flashback to countless overnights and sleeping under my desk at gma. apparently, yes. in fact, it was considered so bad that i was entitled to a glass (or two) of red wine while working. marlon also picked me up from the office and met the team, which was nice.

so imagine how i felt today when james texted me at 5pm.

"just got out from presentation. they loved it."

truly awesome.

i actually don't know if we're going to win it, since pitch period ends wednesday, but let me just hug this happy feeling to myself for a while.

and maybe have some more of that red wine. :-)

Update

isn't it funny how i'm quietest -- blogwise -- when i'm happiest?

just a quick update to relay the following bits of information:

i love what i'm doing at work. i love getting to know the people i work with, and finding much to like (and admire) about them. i love the mindboost i'm getting on a daily basis, and doing so many things for the first time -- crafting a pitch, brainstorming by myself (vs with a partner, like i used to do at gma), taking ownership of a project, going home early (before 7!), even having red wine at the office during the one time i had to stay past eight. love love love it.

my mom and sister came down from KL on friday night, and we had a fantastic touristy weekend -- little india, the night safari, orchard road, jumbo. i think marlon was a little shell-shocked with how much we shop/window shop. i have really missed spending quality girly time with my family! now my sister is back in KL and my mom's staying till next monday. i love having her here -- although she DID try to get me and marlon into bed at 9:30 p.m., saying, in a very mommy-ish way, "matulog na kayo, may pasok pa kayo bukas." hahaha.

i'm flying home to manila with my mom next monday to give a track (a.k.a. career) talk to jonathan's comm 100 class, and i'm totally excited to tell people what i do for a living! oh and to get my cheap fix of manila salon services! yay!

happiness all around :-)

Burning the midnight oil

magpo-propose ako ng bagong segment for cinemax.

it shall be called... chizMAX!

puro kabaklaan!

i probably should not be brainstorming past midnight. 

Morning walk

for the past two weeks, i've been working as a freelance writer for bda, a company i interviewed at way back in february or march -- a job that pleases me immensely, considering the, uh, rather bumpy history i've racked up with bda since then. 

i used to cab it from the somerset mrt station to bda's office on kim yam road, but taking a page out of french women don't get fat, i decided to start walking to and from the office daily -- a good fifteen- to twenty-minute walk, twice a day.

i seem to have made a good call. for one thing, my ass is getting smaller and i lost two inches off my waistline after two weeks. 

plus, there is so much to see on my way to work -- and i love all of it. the first time i walked to the office, i loved being surprised by all these little things. now i love that they have become familiar to me, fitting neatly into a regular routine that i've established for myself.

first is the skate park beside the somerset mrt station...

followed by a real park.

across the street is killiney road, with its strip of little restaurants and shops. my favorite is freshly baked by le bijoux (ang haba ng pangalan, diba), where i grab a hot-out-of-the-oven muffin (chocolate banana is my favorite) on my way to work if i've had to skip breakfast at home. they also make great focaccia, which i've only caught on my way home once -- they're usually closed by the time i get out work by seven.

i thought this sign was horrifically painted until i saw the lovely stencil graffiti underneath it. 

the area my office is in is called river valley, so named for the major thoroughfare which is river valley road. it is probably one of the most expat-infested areas in downtown singapore, and is just about fifteen minutes away from orchard road, which means bleeding expensive prime real estate. 

the condos whisper "my company pays for this" in a cornucopia of foreign languages and accents as i stroll by. my walk to work in the morning involves a large number of white mommies, yayas with prams containing white babies, and some really nice landscaping. these pretty flowers are from the urbana condo at the corner of river valley close and killiney road.

turning right into kim yam road brings me into what seems to be singapore heritage country. aside from a few apartment buildings, most of the real estate on this road is in the form of restored or preserved colonial shophouses, which i love. most of them are rented by small companies for whom funky office space is a must (like bda) or galleries. one of the galleries i pass daily has this menagerie standing guard at the door.

then there's the temple. all i know of it is that there is a giant gold buddha at least two storeys high, it smells of incense at certain times of the day, and that bda brings its paper waste there for recycling.

oh, and that it has very traditional chinese carvings on the perimeter wall.

after the temple comes a construction site whose middle-aged indian guard gives me a huge smile and a hearty "good morning" every time i pass.  then i reach the home stretch of my morning walk, which i daresay is the prettiest part of the whole exercise.

seeing this every day for two weeks has always gotten my day off to a great start. 

i consider myself extremely lucky -- because this is going to be my morning walk to work for as long as i'm in singapore. 

because this week, i'm officially on board as bda's new full-time writer.

Ang sagot... na hindi

tanong: ako ang trabahong inalok kay deepa. ano ako?

sagot: ako ang trabahong inoohan niya na tinanggihan rin niya pagkatapos ng isang linggo para tumanggap ng ibang trabahong biglaang inalok sa kanya.

bwahahahahaha!

kaloka!

Palaisipan

ako ang trabahong iniaalok kay deepa. 

ako ay may kinalaman sa isa sa mga naging trabaho niya.

ang kontrata ko ay may mga clause ukol sa pagraket, pagharap sa publiko, pagmomodelo, at pagtanggap ng pera o regalo. 

ano ako?

Cabanatuan City

kasalukuyan akong nagtatrabaho sa isang kumpanyang matagal na matagal ko nang gustong pasukan. may kinalaman ang trabaho ko sa dati kong ginagawa sa pinas, kaya masayang-masaya ako; pero tatlong linggo lang ang kontrata ko dito. bagamat maikli pa lamang ang pinagsamahan namin -- nakilala lamang nila ako noong pebrero -- ay naging masalimuot na ang aming kasaysayan nitong kumpanyang ito.

kaya walang kasing kapal ang aking mukha nung kausapin ko ang bossing dito nung miyerkules. nalaman ko kasi na ang tangi nilang manunulat ay lumipat na sa ibang kumpanya. kaya't tinanong ko ang mayordoma (lol) kung maaari ba akong magtrabaho dito bilang kapalit ng manunulat na umalis.

hindi niya ako masagot nang diretsahan. pag-uusapan daw nila ng creative director. (sorry, hindi ko talaga maisalin sa wikang pilipino iyon.) marami pa siyang sinabi na labis kong ipinagdamdam (ng saglit lang naman).

at kaya tayo napunta sa cabanatuan city ay... nag-a-ay-em sila ngayon. naririnig ko. at ako ang pinag-uusapan.

paano ko alam? tahimik ang opisina. kaming tatlo na lang ang nandito. malakas ang tunog tuwing may sumusulpot ng mensahe. nagpabalik-balik kami ng mensahi ni mayordoma. hinihingi niya ang dibidi ng mga gawa ko sa dating trabaho. pagkatapos naman ay sunod-sunod ang pagsulpot ng mensahe dito kay creative director.

ano kaya ang sinasabi nila tungkol sa akin?

abangan ang susunod na cabanatuan... este, kabanata.

yun lang.

Dessert, durian and danger

yesterday, marlon's colombian colleague paula hosted a dessert party at her flat in clementi. it was a smallish affair, just marlon's teammates from work, but very united colors of benetton: at the table were an indian, korean, colombian, japanese, colombian-canadian (paula's adorable 18 month-old son, daniel) and of course us pinoys. 

we decided to make something very pinoy and not too difficult: turon! actually, my mom taught me how to make leche flan like the day before i left for singapore, but i can barely remember what to do. besides, i haven't been able to find those oval aluminum dishes that we use for leche flan back home. 

so after lunch, marlon and i set up a two-man turon production line in front of the tv, and wrapped up those bananas while watching a couple of episodes of ranma.

first, i scored the lumpia wrapper down the middle to make two turons with one sheet.

then some brown sugar...

... and cinnamon sugar. would have used plain cinnamon, but cinnamon sugar was all we had. besides, you don't really expect anyone to complain about too much sugar at a dessert party.

then half a slice of ordinary yellow banana. haven't been able to find saba bananas here, which are best for cooking. for ordinary fried bananas, i found that green ones hold up better than yellow ones.

after a couple of test folds and test fries, the perfect pillow shape emerged. my years of gift-wrapping skills certainly helped; the ones marlon did turned out to be a bit messy. 

and this is what we carted over to paula's place. it's the first time i've actually made a filipino dish since moving here.

the spread included quite a few japanese desserts care of mayu, marlon's boss. there were rice crackers and japanese pancakes with red bean, plus this dessert that looked like fishballs --  except that they were sticky rice balls coated with a thick soy-sauce-and-sugar mixture that practically glued my jaws together. 

paula revealed the full extent of her foodie-ness with cheese fondue, a couple of wines, sweet guava pastries, and the real star of the show: empanada made by her mom. it seems colombian empanada is just like our own, except that the shell is thinner and is deep fried -- close to ilocos empanada, but without the orange colour and consumed with a hit of lemon juice, not vinegar. paula's mom also made rebajo, or beer sweetened with soda pop. really, really good stuff. lastly, paula served her favorite colombian caramels, tiny thumb-height cups of caramel so milky and rich that three of us couldn't even finish one cup. 

we had to walk off all that sugar, so after the gathering broke up, marlon and i joined paula, her mother and her son for a quick stroll around the bukit batok nature reserve. formerly a stone quarry, it had been turned into a nice little nature park with a hiking trail, small lake, some wildlife, and the apparent danger of a smelly, smelly death.

"there are even cliffs around here!" enthused paula. "singapore has cliffs?" i said disbelievingly. "okay, there is a cliff," she amended.

whereupon we saw it. presenting: the cliff of singapore!

as triumph the insult dog would say, i kid! i kid! it's actually kind of pretty. see?

little daniel was getting restless, so paula released him from his stroller and off he went with a delighted "wheeee!". here he is in full frolic mode.

happy babies are cute babies!

this is what marlon calls an "are you sure we're in singapore?" shot.

but when i stopped to think about it, we were strolling in a pocket jungle carefully slotted into a neighborhood of high-rises. where else could we be but singapore?

First official kitchen disaster

i decided to bake some cookies yesterday while watching little women at home. it must have been the preciousness of my chosen movie. feeling all meg-and-marmeeish, i sent marlon a syrupy text message, promising to welcome him home from the office with freshly baked walnut chocolate chip cookies. 

it's a good thing i didn't promise him a specific number of cookies, because all i had for him was a plate of four cookies. which we would have to share. 

because this is what happened to the rest of the batch.

the first half-dozen fell victim to a mis-conversion from fahrenheit (the package instructions) to centigrade (our oven). the second batch turned out perfectly -- they were the lucky four that ended up on the plate i presented to marlon. i left the third batch in the oven for a tad too long after the timer went off (you think it's easy to tear yourself away from christian bale??) and they just continued baking until... (see above).

marlon took it pretty well.

he just laughed and insisted on documenting the whole thing, saying he felt strangely relieved to finally have had a kitchen disaster. then it hit me -- a newbie cook like me, going six full months without ever having had a culinary catastrophe until this? i must be doing something right! 

Friends and strangers

spotted midweek at the mac store in cathay cineleisure on orchard: leo!

how i wish. but this random dude was a shockingly close doppelganger, down to that green t-shirt leo always wears. he even had a starbucks kwofi in hand! 

this happens to me often -- i've seen a spitting image of maggie crossing the road, a demi-pia in a magazine (wearing capri pants and a giant fuschia pink bag no less), a jett from behind (down to the shuffling walk, big jeans, and ponytail! marlon quipped: "well, it couldn't have been jett if she was awake"), a female jonel, even a male rina.

friends showing up in strangers, and the foreign almost always turning into a reflection of the familiar. i guess i must be missing home.

On the job front

things are getting really exciting. i don't know where to start! something new just happens everyday, and i find myself in a few situations that i've never been in before. these include:

• being offered a position and salary higher than what i applied for
  
• ... and seeing that there's more to choosing a job than that
• making human resources wait for my decision (four days and counting)
  
• ... and being nothing but completely honest to get that much-needed time
  
• working for a company that i told myself at the start of the year i would work for (this on  monday as i begin a three-week full-time contract with BDA)
  
• really making a choice based on long-term career plans (a true first!)
  
• considering things like love, ownership, responsibility, opportunity, work-life balance
• being made to feel that my being a foreigner was not a disadvantage
• hearing my three key buzzwords (fun, passion, inspiring) used to describe a job
• knowing that i have time and i can choose

i see now that the past six months of just keeping at it has not just netted me an offer (or two...), but all of these. and you know what? it's worth it.