Gimme summa that

actual food item on offer in one stall at lau pa sat festival market, where marlon and i go for our stingray and satay fix. sorry to disappoint you all, but i did not try it. my engagement with this dish only went as far as taking a picture of it on the menu. gawd. you can see the actual brain. *barf*

my culinary adventures on this trip have been rather unadventurous so far in terms of restos. we've stuck to well-loved favorites -- dessert at bakerzin, indian food at samarkand in boat quay, drinks at indochine, crab at jumbo. just about the only new thing i experienced with stingray was being able to pet one befor actually having one for dinner, thanks to a saturday afternoon trip to underwater world at sentosa (more on this in another post).

however, the real adventures have been in marlon's kitchen, where, led by my dyed-in-the-wool houseband of a boyfriend and armed with a fabulous cookbook of my mom's called superfast food, i've begun to conquer my fear of cooking.

an example: left to my own devices, too lazy to scrub pans and cook brown rice, my lunch for today was a mixed green salad (out of a bag, haha) and a french dressing that i whipped up myself from scratch. i just tossed together the following odds and ends scavenged from marlon's cupboard: extra virgin olive oil, lots of freshly ground pepper, rock salt, a pinch of parsley and basil, white vinegar and wholegrain mustard (the closest i could find to a nice coarse dijon). stirred them into a paste (which, in retrospect, should probably have been less pasty) and voila! a yummy five-minute lunch! and no tutong to scrape out of the rice cooker!

to follow: currystrumpet in her own version of "the kitchen god's wife." haha! stay tuned.

Christening

in honor of the first and only playstation 2/rpg that i have ever completed, i dub my new baby

Lulu

final fantasy x (ffx) has been an integral part of my desperate housewiving here in singapore. i started it on my first visit to marlon over a year ago, and have played intermittently on my succeeding three visits. i actually took only a few hours longer than marlon to finish it, and with his coaching, ended up with characters more powerful than his. also helps that marlon plays it whenever he wakes up early (he's a morning person, i'm not.). by the time i roll out of bed, my characters have found themselves some cool new abilities.

the game has been a total blast to play, and has made me a statistic -- one more fan drooling in anticipation of final fantasy xii.

so why lulu?

1. >i've always thought she was the most kick-ass female character in ffx (there's a whole cult of yuna fans, but i'm not one of them). i wouldn't have finished the game if not for her doublecast. plus, she's quite hot.
3. >the colors of her outfit match my laptop.
5. >i think mages are cooler than warriors (boys welcome to disagree)
7. >i love alliteration -- i.e., lulu the laptop
9. >it's kikay (and depending on the stressed syllable, can take on a schoolmarm-in-flowered-duster flavor)
11. >it's not a mouthful
13. >it doesn't remind me of anyone i detest -- the only lulu i've ever met was a rather harmless, smiley but spunky nun with a quasi australian-bisaya accent
15. >the double syllable matches the name of my bonsai, gogo (named after another kick-ass femme in kill bill vol. 1).

>it's a reminder of something that only marlon could have gotten me to like.

>dorky as it sounds, the boyf and i really bond over ffx. we spent most of last weekend curled up in his 300-thread-count comforter sniffing out subquests, finishing the game. i guess it's a mark of how much we enjoy our time together, no matter how we choose to spend it. :-)

more on lulu here. to all who made suggestions, thank you! i'll reserve them for future toys. hehe.

Book nerd

yay mika for tagging everyone!

Total Number of Books Owned:

ugh. i used to own tons when i was younger, but we lost almost everything moving around. i was also a pretty irresponsible lender (or were other people irresponsible borrowers?). now i'm pegging my collection at about 50.

Last Book I Bought:

from loren to marimar: the philippine media in the 1990s. it's an anthology of reports by the pcij. we had to read something from this book for a class in sophomore year. saw it recently at mag:net and decided i had to have it. it's a really good buy.

Last Book I Read:

i started the taking by dean koontz before i left, but he's been really nakakawalang-gana to read.

Currently Reading:

from loren to marimar.

Five Books That Mean a Lot to Me that I Really Like:

a swiftly tilting planet by madeleine l'engle -- bought to enlarge the unicorn collection i had when i was a kid, only because it had a unicorn in it. now one of my most loved books.

indian style, edited by angelika taschen -- actually not a novel. it's full of pictures of art, architecture and interiors of india. i regularly thumb through it for inspiration on various things. i xeroxed a picture of a window onto acetate for one of the collages i made for marlon, and my color of my deep pink bedroom wall was based on the book's cover.

over europe by jan morris -- a huge, huge book of bird's eye-view photos of europe. i go through it when i feel senti. marlon bought it for me.

twisted -- the series. cheating, i know. i read a lot of jessica zafra in late high school. i think my early writing style was influenced by her -- opinionated, a tad acerbic (but not full-fledged bitchy) and slanted towards non-fiction. i migrated away from being a zafra clone as the twisted series progressed. i think both she and i mellowed and grew up. a note from doreen on one of my second sem, freshman year papers -- "you don't try as hard anymore."

the giver by lois lowry -- a serendipitous buy that has become one of my all-time favorite books. went into my philo orals armed with this book for pogi points -- doc garcia liked it when people quoted from books other than the assigned material. it presumably meant that you were seeing philosophy everywhere.

special mentions: the art of travel by alain de botton and the griffin and sabine trilogy by nick bantock. the first for its truth and the second for its unceasing ability to drive me to the sketch pad.

Tag five of your friends:

hmmm. i think i'll share the love equally. this is up for grabs, everyone.

---

i'm sorry. i'm being boring. actually, i'm being lazy. the past few days have been really great and i'm not blogging about them. i will soon -- i have to before they drift away into oblivion.

Day 2 as a desperate housewife

well, not really desperate. i just feel so housewifely sitting around doing nothing all day except have meals with your beloved. i lounged around by the poolside for most of the morning, cramming for my mediacorp test. felt extra housewifely as i was the only person in sight. not even the other housewives were by the poolside.

the big event of the day was the mediacorp test, after lunch with marlon. cabbed to the mediacorp hq on andrew road, which is surrounded by a singapore oddity: a whole stretch of houses. really big houses. maybe that's where mediacorp sticks all its 'artistes.' (they actually call them that by the way. the 'e' bugs me no end. so pretentious. can you imagine being asked what you do for a living, and replying 'oh, i'm an artiste', with no compunctions at all?)

after weaving through the maze that was mediacorp, i sat down and took my test. glad i did that last-minute cramming--the bulk of the test was about stuff that i read just this morning. and i think i actually took the exact same test as someone i know. there was a whole identification part that reminded me of the acronyms test at global sources, which i totally botched up. thankfully, i was better prepared for this one. missed three out of ten -- i had absolutely no idea what the anti-secession law, donald tsang and H2N1 were.

the other parts of the test were current events and writing tv news reports. i think i did fairly well, i mean i knew the issues they were asking about and i know how to construct a news report. but i can't help but think i could have been more articulate. (i often feel this way about myself after i go through something that's a big deal for me.) am i just being too harsh on myself? guess i'll have to wait out the week and see if mediacorp proves me wrong.

The kikay machine

the still-unnamed laptop is helping me get back to my rakets. just accepted an essay writing gig from my regular raket supplier... due tomorrow at 7am. while i feel slightly guilty at the thought of tap-tap-tapping away while the boyf is happily snoring, i couldn't pass up the work. after all, that's why he got me this thing at the first place.

i haven't made any headway in naming my new baby, although marlon already calls it the kikay machine. i'm inclined to name it after a character in a favorite prepubescent work of fiction. there are already some contenders. i was toying with elizabeth after the good wakefield twin, or ned after nancy drew's faithful boyfriend. (cons: elizabeth is a bit of a mouthful, and while i've always wanted to be nancy drew, ned should technically be marlon.) someone from return to oz perhaps: ozma (beautiful and good?) or mombi (beautiful and bad)? i've actually looked in a baby name book. the best i could come up with was mahalia, which means powerful and also connotes expensive.

stumped. suggestions are welcome.

I'm typing this post on my

brand






new






laptop.

marlon and i had actually already agreed on this anniv gift for me, but i was still so bowled over by it, i actually let him take my picture in this gnarly early morning hairdo.

i think my past year working for a computer magazine prepared me for this moment. i actually got teary-eyed when i saw the little intel centrino sticker and the one that said Intel Pentium M 740 1.73GHz, 15.4-inch WXGA wide LCD, 60GB HDD, DVD-Dual, FireWire, 256MB DDR, 802.11b/g WLAN, Bluetooth and PCI Express.

no joke, my eyes got misty. i turned to him and hugged him, saying, "wow. you really love me."

---

i'm in singapore now living my pseudo desperate housewives existence. (before anyone freaks out, this is not permanent ok? just here until next wednesday.) surfing around a bit before i go to meet marlon for lunch. just surfing--i have absolutely zero software installed on this thing and have to wait till i get back home to pirate-friendly manila.

i plan to take a stack of time and economist magazines down to the pool this afternoon in preparation for my test tomorrow at mediacorp's channel newsasia. i am so excited about that, and am trying to stay normal (i.e. not excited) so i won't botch it up. wish me luck.

---

the past weekend was long and tiring, but very fulfilling.

i said goodbye to the factory. but hopefully not to the friends i made there.

marlon and i celebrated two years together. and hopefully more.

more on those later. meanwhile, i have to figure out a name for my new baby.

=)

This is it

wow. i'm really leaving.

Meet my sister

now that her spanking new template is up, there's somebody i'd like you to meet -- my one and only sister, sheila.

yup, it's just the two of us girls. she is five years older than me and is the quintessential firstborn -- sensible (most of the time, except i think when it comes to guys), capable, responsible, and an almighty terror when she needs the phone. lest you think she is a stick in the mud, she is also the quintessential koboy party girl.

as you can see from her blog, she is -- as i am -- inflicted with wanderlust, a lover of the beach and of europe. must be some shared childhood thing. we spent an indecent amount of our childhoods at the beach, thanks to a self-employed mother who had steady stream of visiting foreign clients and friends (always a good excuse to hit the beach).

my sister is also half of the reason why my officemates think i own a ton of bags and accessories. (my mom is the other half. nako, 'yon ang marami talagang abubut.)

and yes, that is her eye. it is indeed green. my sister is the family abnormality.

---

yesterday was her birthday (so if you do stop by her blog, greet her! as an extended birthday gift i will share my readership with her). i was out of the country during her birthday last year, so i stopped by her beer-and-videoke gathering at parasol, an open-air patio on the 6th floor of her office building.

it was fun. her staff (yes, boss na siya) is a real riot. spent some time with my sister's best friends tricia and gorgeous gigi, who gave me the big butterfly earrings right off her earlobes. siyempre my sister was screaming from the rooftops (literally) that i sing with a globetrotting choir, so i had to take the mic. pero fun naman. my usual videoke repertoire -- time after time by tuck and patti, strong enough by sheryl crow, secret by madonna. parang hindi ako soprano, ano?


it was my first time to hear my sister sing. rocker pala siya. kumanta ba naman ng sweet child of mine, todo performance level. in some ways, she's like an axl rose version of my mom (who is herself an folksy version of vilma santos. haha do we analyze.) hindi ko kinaya. i felt like such a manang. especially when i started yawning at 11pm.

Wish ko lang talaga

You Belong in Rome You're a big city girl with a small town heart Which is why you're attracted to the romance of Rome Strolling down picture perfect streets, cappuccino in hand And gorgeous Italian men - could life get any better? What City Do You Belong in? Take This Quiz :-) Find the Love of Your Life (and More Love Quizzes) at Your New Romance.

---

had my teeth cleaned yesterday by a dentist friend. i must say sitting in the dentist's chair and not being able to say a word in reply to anything was highly educational. while blasting away my tea stains, mama rosa (dentist) talked my ear revealed to me that gums are alive (they move away from irritants), horizontal brushing is a major no-no, and that in forty years, i may find myself married to a toothless man. (the boyf grinds them in his sleep--they can actually erode away to nothingness. scary.) plus she taught me how to floss properly (it's ok to get a little vicious).

my teeth are now considerably whiter without being horrifyingly picket-fence white, which is nice. but it feels really, really weird to run the tip of my tongue behind my lower front teeth and feel the gaps between them. (yes, you're supposed to. if you don't, then its time to visit your dentist.)

i was aghast to learn i may have to wear braces. i have third molars, which are not actually supposed to be there. apparently, they may crowd my lower teeth and cause my slightly crooked front ones to become hopelessly crooked. (the current sungki level can still pass for cute and quirky.)

NOOOOO braces. i'd rather have all four molars pulled out. my bank account fervently agrees.

mama rosa's factoid about third molars: our stone-age hunter-gatherer ancestors used to have them. they needed more teeth in order to bite and chew raw chunks of meat, flesh, fruit and whatnot. third molars disappeared as man evolved, as utensils and processed food increasingly did away with the need for excessive chompers.

salamat ha. napag-iwanan pala ako ng ebolusyon.

Quick empowerment for fag hags

1. Wear makeup. Not lots of it, because you don't people to recognize you as a fag hag from 40 meters away. Just make sure your skin tone is even, your eyebags are sufficiently de-puffed, and that you have a nice healthy glow.
2. Eat sugar. The rush should give you a little adrenaline to get started with your daunting task. (This morning's dose was imported from Cebu -- butterscotch, ronquillos and pinasugbo.)
3. Wear pink. I mean fighting-form, strong pink. None of this sweet pastel claptrap. Remember, you are a bright, articulate fag hag! Not a pansy! Plus points if you can combine color with texture. A cotton-Lycra blend does not radiate power.
4. Bring on the black pointy heels. This will call up your inner witch, and mystically invoke outer ones if you are not the inner-witch type. Yes, I know round toes/espadrilles/wedges are the shoes du jour, but you are an empowered fag hag -- you don't play by the rules. Besides, an ass will hurt more when kicked by a pointy heel than by a rounded blunt shape bound in abaca. They don't call 'em killer heels for nothing.
5. Play your fighting soundtrack. The playlist really depends on you, but Kylie, Spice Girls and Wilson Philips are a must. (For the latter, I prefer the moody anthem of illicit love, Go Your Own Way. Their earlier stuff can be a little too people-pleasing for empowerment purposes.) My personal preferences run a bit earthy, such as Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood by Santa Esmeralda from the Kill Bill Vol. 1 soundtrack, as well as anything fast by Melissa Etheridge (yes, gay icon). After I Take You With Me, I felt like donning a fringed jacket and doing a weird, peppy kind of Navajo Indian jig as I entered the office. Beats clutching my swipe card nervously and shuffling in. I also like Battle Without Honor and Humanity, also from the Kill Bill soundtrack. This for a touch of masculinity tempered with camp.
6. And remember -- he may be a foot taller than you, but you're essentially two of a kind.

wish me luck.

update: i think i was a bit optimistic going in with an agenda when it was really going to be his show all along. it helped to focus my thoughts though, and helped me remember valuable points.

i spoke, and i faltered a couple of times. he listened, but i'm not entirely sure he heard. a few strokes of ink on a sheet of paper -- reason to feel optimistic? i did agree with him on some things he said, and recognized others for what they were.

(akala ba niya hindi ko mage-gets ang mga little slivers of daot? baka hindi niya nalalaman! ako si biba fag hag! kublihan mo man ng accent, daot pa rin yan!)

oprah/dr phil ang drama niya. kate hudson/jennifer connelly ang akin. therefore, mas wagi ako.

exit fag hag.

Dorkspree

i am now the proud owner of a flash mp3 player. an iPod it ain't, but it serves my basic needs for a flash drive (to transport my personal files and mp3s out of my office pc) and voice recorder (to monitor the progress of voice lessons). this is the very first gadget i've ever bought myself since i started working.

my boyfriend, meanwhile, is now the proud owner of a portable hard disk, mp3 player/4MP digital camera/digital camcorder, printer/copier/scanner and battery-free wireless mouse. with the exception of his second-hand playstation 2, these are the first gadgets he's bought himself since he started working. (as you can probably tell, his job pays infinitely better than mine.)

all in the span of one weekend, the nerdgasm in g's corner of the world must be catching.

--

in other news: another pinay designer makes waves in vogue. kewl. are her wares really this year's must-have? judge for yourself here.

the past two weekends' reads: audrey niffenegger's the time traveller's wife is highly original, luminous and wonderful. had me in sniffles from beginning to end. as you can probably tell from the title alone, claire naylor's love: a user's guide is an unwieldy pile of poop that hopes to ride the wave of bridget jones and berdorf blondes. (major peeve: it isn't even written as a user's guide, which would have been decidedly cuter.)

my sister turns twenty-... er, sweet sixteen on wednesday. i thought her birthday was today and gave her her gift already. dumdum. at least she liked the gift.

first day of classes today. can't relate. how sad.

Unwinding

what a week it has been. our acting boss was out of the country for a trade show, and our most senior team member was knocked down by an acute respiratory tract infection -- for the whole frigging week. so i had to shunt most of my job-hunting appointments to after office hours, resulting in a LOT of shuttling back and forth during rush hour.

thankfully, though i've been busy this week, i haven't been stressed. yes, i am officially on exit mode. still acting honorably though, much to my own puzzlement. when my alarm rings at 6am, i often find myself wondering why on earth i'm still making the effort to haul my ass to the office by 730am. and when having the overtime slip signed, i ask myself why i still care about putting our copy out on time, or putting it out clean.

but the fact is, i do. i get the itchies when i get my hands on dirty copy. pasalamat sila oc-oc ako.

meanwhile, i believe i have a date with a large, bald man on monday.

---

my room is a colossal mess. i'm making my second-anniversary gift for marlon, which is basically a series of collages. that's about as much as i'm willing to say about it, for now.

i'm doing something creative, which is making me quite happy. i'm doing something for marlon, which has made me very teary-eyed at least twice in the five hours i've been working on it. the weather is cooperating -- i hear rain and feel a cool breeze wafting in from outside my window.

it's a good saturday.

---

i just had the pictures from our one-year anniversary developed (we spent it in singapore together).

i would like to issue a public apology to anyone and everyone i ignored, snapped at, fought, and was generally nasty to for calling me fat at that point in my life.

you were right. i concede. i was indeed very, very, very fat.

*shudders*

i am so glad i don't look like that anymore. maybe the south beach diet wasn't that much of a failure.

on a lighter note, the fact that marlon and i have changed body types and hairstyles since those pictures were taken is a happy symptom of how long we've been together.

(ok so maybe we haven't exactly changed body types yet. we're just... a little less the gourmands we were last year. but getting there. hee hee.)

I will never know

• cutie lawyer’s name, if he is an atenean as i suspected, why he got a really deep tan, and why he suddenly seems to be balding
• whether singaporeans make good bosses (we have a new one coming in on my last week)
• whether the curse of the vanishing CP VM will hold claim yet another victim… moooahahaha
• who in f*ck’s name decides on the editorial deadlines and why they’re so ill-timed (sundays? good friday? christmas eve?)
• when erstwhile office crush strawberry will decide to take that stick out of his ass
• whether i really was supposed to be promoted in the second half of the year
• whether certain officemates who are long overdue for promotions will finally get them
• whether certain soul-searching officemates will find what they’re looking for
• whether certain underperformers will continue to get away with murder
• where on earth that hunky, well-mannered, broad-shouldered banker from the 2nd floor disappeared to
• who steals the toilet paper from my locker in the ladies’ room
• what makes zuma's favorite daughter so godawful self-righteous
• the full extent of ISD’s snooping powers
• whether the supposed “personal productivity tool” will ever serve its nebulous purpose, or whether it can be converted into a tool of rebellion as my boyfriend suggests it can
• why bowing and scraping/excessive honorifics seem to be de rigeur office lingo (why can't we just all talk straightforwardly to each other?)
• when HR will get a clue
• what exactly i should say when someone asks what this company does
• whether there is really a mumu in the ladies’ room
• whether there really is a hidden surveillance camera in the ladies room, and if so, who is enjoying the view and breaking the law
• who the mystery ladies' room foot-flusher is
• who the next EBU loveteam will be (if any)
• who the new EIC will be (nosferatu?)
• if the purported "bright future" in this company that so many people are dangling at me would really be that

well, as they say: ignorance is bliss. i ’d rather scamper away not knowing than stick around to find out.

but…

I will miss

• my friends. soooo many things about my friends. makes me sad just to think of it.
• the stability of a regular paycheck – i am addicted to making budgets, although i throw them out the window from time to time
• the security of knowing that i work at something i am competent at
• working with extremely talented and intelligent editors
• office parties that spontaneously arise at the drop of a hat
• conference room surprises
• my 2.6GHz processor, which has spoiled me for life. much to marlon’s consternation, i can’t imagine ever settling for anything lower than 1.8GHz
• my internet connection
• my roomy workstation
• working in 24/7 siberia (a particular relief this past summer)
• lunch at the citibank tower cafeteria – decent value for money, since i don’t eat a lot anyway. will especially miss the leche flan, sandwich bar, grilled tanigue and plump, sweet mangoes
• expat spotting
• the view of tower one at dusk when i round the corner to paseo from my office
• the thrilling possibility of bumping into JAZA in a paseo de roxas underpass
• model-hunting and chortling over the precious hearts titles at 7-11
• saturday lunches at the parket (term i coined to denote the market at velasquez park )
• paseo center, where i procure my monthly magazine fix, plain cotton tees and various tiangge finds, and drool over get happy’s gorgeous trinkets (reminder to self: buy From Loren to Marimar at Mag:Net before i go
• the quick, happy stroll from the office to manila pen and old swiss inn
• stolen lunches – to record VOs, to hie off to glorietta, to have lunch with mae and various makati denizens
• the cute, clean-cut banker DILF at citibank tower
• the ease of intra-company stalking on Exchange
• the cheerful, deep-voiced pin-your-ID man who does his job with such gusto
• monthly avalanches of toilet paper
• comic relief from china

I saw the sign

"...and it opened up my eyes
and i am happy now living without you
i've left you, oh
i saw the sign"

tee hee. couldn't help the retro reference. which reminds me... whatever happened to ace of base?

but. this is for reasons that i've rehashed with various listeners over and over. and for reasons that the people who work with me know all too well. maybe more on this later. or maybe not.

UPDATE:

gosh darn. that there was the cheeriest string of comments i ever did see.

wonder what that says about... never mind.

Paradise at a steal

Approximately three hours from crowded, sweltering Manila is an island getaway where the seafood is fresh, the sand is dazzling white, the water is a beautiful clear turquoise, and good vibes abound. It is a getaway for adventurers of the 'strike anywhere' variety, who think nothing of hopping on a bus on a whim, armed with nothing but a swimsuit and a pair of flip-flops. It is a refuge for the low-key urbanite escaping the frenzied crowd at Manila's latest 'in' spots (the same crowd that currently overpopulates Boracay). It is my paradise on the cheap—Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro.

Centuries ago, during Spain's colonization of the Philippines, Puerto Galera was a historic port of call for Spanish galleons plying trade between Mexico and Manila. Today, it is a popular summer haunt for young, middle-class Manilans. The opening of an affordable ferry route to Boracay via Mindoro has also made Puerto Galera a pit stop of choice for those proceeding to the upscale island getaway.

Life in Puerto Galera revolves around White Beach, where a significant number of affordable, frills-free cottages are available for rent. I'm often asked how to book reservations in Galera. The answer is, you don't. (This answer often leaves born planners in a cold sweat.) Upon stepping off the ferry, visitors are besieged by a number of resort owners calling out rooms and rates-the Galera equivalent of Manila's street hawker. For those who absolutely must have their fluffy bathrobes and room service, upscale private villas are located on the other beaches of Galera, such as Coco Beach, Big La Laguna and La Laguna.

The denizens of White Beach, however, are happy where they are. The white-sand beach has remained amazingly clean despite the tourism boom. Outrigger boats are moored close to shore, giving swimmers welcome refuge from the sun. These boats can be rented for jaunts to nearby reefs, where the snorkeling and diving are excellent. An ice-cold dip in a nearby waterfall, Tamaraw Falls, is only a tricycle ride away. After a typically spectacular sunset, beachside bars open for business, allowing you to swig an ice-cold San Miguel or shot of Mindoro Sling right down at the shoreline, beneath the stars.

Rewarding patrons
For the past five years, I've been a regular visitor to Puerto Galera, mostly during the off-peak months of October to February. People remember you, and reward you in the most unlikely ways for your continued patronage. While I was haggling with a henna tattoo artist, a wizened local masseur sitting nearby cut in. "Hindi mo na maloloko 'yan (Don't think you can cheat her)," she warned the tattoo artist. "Madalas 'yan dito (She comes here often)." Or, you just might get a special invitation to Lasagna Night at Italian Corner Pizzeria, a literal hole-in-the-wall eatery off White Beach. Home of fresh-baked Italian bread and crispy, thin-crust pizza, this bamboo shack is manned by an Italian adventurer and his friendly barkeep Josie, who speaks fluent English with a quirky Italian-Batangueño accent.

Aside from the peace and quiet, the prices are simply the best thing about off-season. Cottages are available for P400 (about $7) per night, four to five times less than what they would cost in summer. A full meal of grilled tanigue, rice and ice-cold Coke can be had for about P40 (about 70 cents). For the same price, a tall, frosty ripe mango shake is an inexpensive indulgence, especially when the sun gets fierce. Boatmen will fall all over themselves to sell you an eight-hour snorkeling jaunt for P750 (about $13), boat and gear included. A five-day stay for two off-season will barely reach P5,000 (about $89), which is what you would spend on airfare alone for Boracay. No wonder the place is a favorite of twentysomethings and backpackers.

However, while I am a fan of the quiet off-season months, White Beach simply explodes into life during the peak months of March to June. Makeshift stalls selling colorful cotton sarongs, pearl jewelry and beachwear abound. Henna tattoo artists ply their trade alongside local masseurs who proffer hour-long, full-body massages on the sand with fragrant coconut oil. Colorful friendship bracelets are thrust at you every now and then by the local children, who sell these to augment the family income. Somewhere along the shore, browned yuppies are setting up a beach volleyball game. And something about the summer sunshine just turns the water into an insanely bright, sparkling shade of aqua.

While prices may change peak or off-peak, the natural beauty of Puerto Galera never does. Neither does its appeal to those looking for a patch of sunshine and an easy getaway. Puerto Galera's turquoise waters, white sand and poignant sunsets are pockets of paradise that are accessible to all. Indeed, the best things in life are free.

-----

this came out in yesterday's issue of company's weekly email bulletin, which is manned by j. got a lot of good feedback on it, which made me quite happy. i haven't written an article for fun in a while. and the demands of this particular job tend to bury one's own writing style.

funny: j wanted to replace the original title "paradise on the cheap", which makes the place sound, well, cheap. at the end of a long day, these were the only suggestions i could muster up:

• paradise at a discount
• paradise on a shoestring budget (which makes me sound so poor)
• paradise at a steal
• puerto galera: paradise gets marked down (or with a markdown)
• puerto galera: the only paradise lowly copy editors can afford

sensibly, j decided to go with "paradise at a steal" before my suggestions got more ludicrous. thanks for printing this j. i owe you one, literally -- my article on bintan next monday!

as for the pics, you've seen those before, but i wanted to mockup the published layout as closely as i could.

Star Wars and my lola

my lola (whom we call nanay) is turning 93 in september. i am especially proud of the fact that, despite reaching this venerable old age, she is still quite sharp. plus she can be really funny without trying. this usually happens when you expose her to technology.

my sister brought home vcds of star wars episodes 4 through 6. (this was after watching episode 3, not in preparation for. she watched the prequels without having watched the originals. yes, i know. it must be a girl thing.) being some kind of special release, the first cd had a long-ish docu on the making of star wars, complete with george lucas interviews. as my sister had to make a bathroom dash, she hit the pause button on the player and left her seat in front of the tv.

enter nanay. she took my sister's place in front of the tv and looked up at george lucas, frozen in mid-gesticulation. she frowned.

after a couple of minutes, she began to giggle. my mom asked, "bakit po, inay?"

she answered tartly, eyes twinkling, "ano ba itong palabas na ito? ang artista, hindi kumikibo!"*

household full of females bursts into laughter. as you can tell, my lola has yet to become acquainted with a remote control.

the movie begins. after about ten minutes of sweeping galaxy scenes, i begin to wonder if my lola knows that man has been to space. she probably heard about it back when it happened, but that was thirty years ago and i'm not sure if she remembers. or if the concept of space was real to her at all, or if it made sense. she comes from a different time with very different realities.

and all of a sudden, at that moment, my nanay seemed very, very old and very distant.

so after all these shots of deep space, robots and laser-beam fights, nanay started to gather up her paraphernalia (brush, face towel, walker) and hoist herself creakily up from her seat.

"ayaw n'yo na, nanay?" my sister said.

nanay answered, one hand releasing her walker momentarily to give a vague, dismissive wave with her face towel. "hindi ako magandahan."

sorry, george lucas. wala ka sa lola ko.

---

another generation gap tidbit, also while watching the star wars vcd.

my tita raquel, 60-something maiden aunt, asks: "ano'ng pinapanood niyo, betamax?"

silence, as the prospect of explaining twenty years of leaps and bounds in video technology pops briefly into our heads.

"oo", my mom answers quickly.

---

and in case you're wondering: no. i haven't seen episode 3 yet. i'm waiting for all the people to go away.

---
*this is not actually how she said it. i feel like i have to say i'm translating from batangas tagalog. despite living in manila for over two-thirds of her life, my lola never lost the punto. she would say ari instead of ito and nakibo instead of kumikibo. she has never, however, uttered the stereotypical batangueño ala-eh.

An Ateneo survey

ripped from the friendster bulletin board. posted a kicking-self-in-head type of post earlier, but i lost it. glad i did because i'm feeling much better now.

i miss school. sort of.

---

What's your ID number?
991874

Passed or waitlisted?
Passed

How did you know about the ACET results?
i asked my childhood friend chiara (then an incoming junior in ADMU) to go check them with me on the day the results were posted. then i got an after-the-fact acceptance letter via my high school guidance counselor. i still have the letter somewhere.

Was Ateneo your first choice?
yes. i had been brainwashed by my sister since seventh grade. briefly considered junking ADMU for UP when i passed the UPCAT, for the mere fact that i thought there was no way i'd pass it in a million years

Do you know what your ACET score is?
they told us much later but i forgot the details. basta excellent yung english and abstract reasoning tapos very poor yung math.

What course was your first choice?
comm

Second choice?
commtech (we might have been blockmates, jayme!)

Ano course mo ngayon?
bachelor of arts in assembly-line manufacturing

Do you have any plans of shifting?
never did. when i thought of taking up music, it was too late to leave and start all over again

Chinito/chinita ka ba?
obvious ba, NO. what kind of question is this? dahil ba maraming intsik sa ateneo?

Taga-Ateneo High?
uh, no. babae po ako.

Did you have fun in your OrSem?
i did, except it was so freaking hot. missed part of it because it was the graduation of my playgroup kiddies.

Saang gate ka pumasok nung first day?
Gate 2, siyempre.

Are you staying in a dorm?
didn't, but always carried a huge bag to compensate.

Ever had an F in your grade report?
no way, i would absolutely die if i did

How about an A?
yes, at least one per sem :-)

Highest grade?
A

Lowest grade?
D -- in math 11!

Worst experience in ADMU?
a couple of broken heels, nothing really major.

Do you always attend class?
yes, like a good little nerd. i tried to cut INTAC as much as i possibly could.

What's your org?
ateneo college glee club for a SOLID FIVE YEARS! also did some stuff for COSA's mag, adDimensions, Aegis (the yearbook) and heights.

How many units have you passed?
um, all of them? don't know how many but max 21 units every sem.

Nangangarap ka bang maglaude?
no, but when i found out i would graduate 0.01 short of cum laude, it really pissed me off

When will you graduate?
graduated in '04

Fave subject/s?
doc garcia's philo classes, fr. nick's filipino and european film classes, brendan's art class

Worst subject/s?
math 1, math 11 and math 12

Fave landmark sa ADMU?
glee club/galian room, fire trees near the chapel, comm dept, manangs during bananacue time!

Fave kainan?
caf during freshman and sophomore year, caf up during junior and senior year, galian room in supersenior year when i had no more friends haha

How do you get to school?
commute to death. had to take the goddamn bus before the MRT opened.

Are you always at the lib?
yes, to sleep.

Ever gone to the infirmary when you were sick?
nope. only to get band-aids for the blisters i developed commuting in heels

Do you have a crush in campus?
utang na loob. i had at least six active crushes per semester.

May balak kang mag-MS, PhD?
nope

Have you ever watched a graduation ceremony?
mine and my sister's, siyempre

Do you know the "Song for Mary" by heart?
yes, i had to as early as freshman year because of glee club

Memorize mo ba ang Fabilioh? ...ang Halikinu? ...ang Blue Eagle Spelling?
yes. my sister took me to ateneo vs. la salle games as early as seventh grade.

Are you part of Team Ateneo?
god no, i'm the most unathetic person ever. briefly considered joining the rowing team with justine and anj, except we were one person short of a crew

Who's your fave UAAP basketball player?
never really had one, although that chris tiu is some kind of a cutie. plus anj and i were classmates with rich alvarez in math 1, and he was really sweet.

Ever had a perfect score in an exam?
i think so. as a comm major, i had very few written exams. had a couple of perfect papers for fr. nick's class.

Ano ang ayaw mo sa Hell Week?
lagi siyang kasabay ng hell week sa glee club!

Dito ka ba natuto uminom ng beer?no. but it was where i learned to mix silly concoctions like tabasco, hershey's chocolate syrup and vodka. and where i developed my habit of taking of my shoes whenever i get drunk (justine was my faithful shoe hunter.)

What do you like about our school?
a beautiful campus, philo classes, mark escaler and doreen fernandez, the wonderful people at the OSA and OAA, teaching people how to think

Ano ang ayaw mo?
a track record for producing/coddling spoiled kids who don't know what to do with their lives, a certain comm teacher who deserves to be hung by the toenails

Have you ever bought anything at the A-shop?
an ateneo umbrella and sticker for my planner

Maganda ba ID pic mo?
only my supersenior year pic. i already had bangs then :-)

Done anything illegal on campus?
nope

Bought anything at National Katips?
i bought, like, everything at national katips

Ever gone to Starbucks Katips?
yes, although i could never study there like everyone else. maggie, anj and i fed our thesis panelists with hot cinnamon swirls and caramel macchiatos from starbucks :-)

May nakaaway ka na ba sa school?
yes, that horrid little man in the library who accused me and justine of being bastos and making a ruckus

QPI?
went up to 3.9 one glorious semester

Scheduled maintenance, part two

no, my boyfriend isn't coming home again to spoil me. he flew back to lah-lah land last monday, leaving me to face an empty weekend alone. this after three weekends packed with activities designed to max out quality time.

so part two of scheduled maintenance is an entire weekend of "me time", which is one of the things that really keeps me going. being the demi-type A personality that i am, i actually get depressed when i'm not doing anything. so i think of filling up free time with things i enjoy.

provided the heat doesn't debilitate me (as it has all summer long), i am actually getting excited about:

organizing my post-college files -- mostly old resumes, job-related documents, and lots of collage materials that have piled up from recent trips.

writing -- i have two or three topics that i want to blog about, plus the puerto galera travelogue that i promised j. actually, kung ganahan talaga ako, j could find himself with a sheaf of contributions on monday. (oy pero j, wag umasa! hahaha)

singing -- practicing my solo pieces and proving to my voice teacher/friend na hindi ako chaka! my lack of practice last week was mortifying. i don't want to feel that way again!

weeding out my closet for the nth time -- my closet needs breathing room. my plain, bright-colored t-shirt compulsion drove me to pick up a few new ones (white, emerald green, saffron--yes, only girls describe colors this way) at paseo center, which wins the award for my favorite tiangge because of its proximity. i also picked up some cute tops at my new ukay discovery, makati cinema square.

reading -- chatting with my favorite book nerds maggie and gutsy the other night inspired me to hit the books again. my sister, queen of the fluffy paperback, lent me her copy of bergdorf blondes by plum sykes--a perfect destressing, brainless read. the first few pages have been surprisingly entertaining.

watching dvds -- i have a whole caboodle of dvds waiting to be viewed. i keep borrowing stuff from officemates but never work up enough gana to watch them. sitting in front of the tv is not my favorite weekend activity. on the list: house of flying daggers, the final cut, collateral, finding neverland, kung fu hustle and battle royale. i lent my newest find, the machinist, to rose this weekend.

planning out my 2nd year anniversary gift for marlon -- it has been conceptualized over dozens of trips to the ladies' room, just needs to be fleshed out. maybe i can shop for materials this weekend. (trivia: i've only given marlon a store-bought gift twice in over two years, including no-occasion gifts and cards. kinakarir ko ang pagiging girlfriend.)

going over my artwork -- rose and i scheduled a show-and-tell day for our stuff next week. i've been eyeing the InK site lately and asking myself "why not"? crossing fingers for cooler weather this weekend -- that would provide the perfect working environment for a new collage. or maybe something in acrylics. :-)

hmmm. this is starting to look like a lot for two measly days. i must be more type A than i thought.

maybe i'll just scrap everything and go to sleep.

;-)

Weekend indulgences

a choice purchase at mango. hello. i am currystrumpet, a spoiled girlfriend. i think the boyf would actually disagree, since i don't demand these things or stomp and pout if i don't get them. he just sort of springs them on me.

although the hat i'm wearing below is not my choice purchase, i had fun with it anyway. it's so stariray.

no autographs, please

chocolate buffet at the manila peninsula lobby. after two plates of various bite-sized chocolate desserts plus crepes, fondue, homemade chocolate ice cream, fudge pudding, a cherry chocolate cordial (served in a shotglass) and truffles, out came the cameraphone.

guess which one of us is the chocoholic?

tee hee.

on the same day, i had the biggest be still my beating heart! moment of my life. as we were making our way to the buffet, semi-blind me pointed out a short-haired skinny tisay woman to the boyf. "what a fabulous outfit!" i whispered. the woman turned slightly, revealing her true identity: lizzie zobel, wife of jaime augusto zobel de ayala (JAZA).

leche. kaya pala maganda suot niya. it probably cost more than my college education.

(fyi, JAZA is my destiny. not an obsession. my destiny.)

anyway, the boyf led me to the front desk, where he had to change some dollars. and leaning casually against the marble countertop, facing me, WEARING A TUXEDO FOR MAXIMUM DILF* EFFECT, was JAZA HIMSELF!!!

i cannot even begin to describe how starstruck i was. every step i took towards the front desk turned me more and more into a lead-footed, breathless, wide-eyed, blithering idiot (and the boyf into a large green-eyed monster). when i got close enough to actually see his face, he treated me to a regal, benevolent (if a bit generic, as in "i am radiating benevolence to all my loyal subjects"), richard gere-ish smile.

within seconds i stood within pickpocketing distance of my destiny (think how rich i'd be if i had actually picked his pocket). i probably looked very giddy.

he smelled very good. like centuries of accumulated wealth.

be still my beating heart!

*DILF - dad i'd like to f*ck. actually jaza could also be a GILF, or gazillionaire i'd like to f*ck. the possible acronyms for this man are endless.

The spin doctors must be working overtime

philippine daily inquirer headlines for the past three days (in random order):

Get Esperat slay mastermind, Arroyo orders
Arroyo orders all government agencies to cut red tape
Arroyo launches P5-M 'freedom fund' for newsmen
Social reform next on Arroyo’s agenda -- Bunye

such crappy headlines are a comfort in the sense that i'm not the only one who's overworked. in some stuffy PR office, the spin doctors are going into overdrive. and some poor gofer is furiously clipping her boss' triumphs from a stack of newspapers.

I had brain freeze for lunch

since my sister is off gallivanting in boracay until thursday (for free, the minx), i was the lucky homepartner who was tasked to pay her bills, all due today. so at lunchtime, i slunk down alfaro street in the scorching heat to line up at a rather dingy branch of rcbc.

brain freeze hung in the air like a wi-fi signal. there were signs that should have leapt out at me, but coming from a mind-numbing morning of uninterruptible power supplies, i was hardly in tip-top mental condition.

the prehistoric atm by the door was offline. actually, offline is an understatement. its guts were practically hanging out.

i stood dutifully for ten whole minutes where a sign said "line starts here." several meters away, two office drones sitting on a couch gave me a strange look.

after ten minutes, i squinted at the two drones and saw that they were clutching deposit slips and wads of cash.

"miss, nakapila ba kayo?" i asked.

one of the drones nodded, except without the downward part.

i paused. whatever happened to line starts here?

line = here. couch = there.

go figure. i sat down beside the two drones and tried to look apologetic. meanwhile, the three available tellers performed some top-secret banking rituals that took the greater part of an hour. i couldn't tell exactly what they were doing, but it definitely involved texting and hair flipping.

thankfully, my wait was peppered by cheery, nasal "correct!"s. yep, lucky me. game k n b was on the telly in the lobby. i secretly prayed for some interesting trivia to protect me from the deadly onset of brain freeze, which was assaulting me from all directions.

final round. kris yelped: "sa tagalog animal names, kung ang kiti-kiti ay mosquito larvae, ano sa ingles ang TIKI-TIKI?"

silence as the contestant, studio audience, and the entire rcbc alfaro branch pondered this question.

said the drone beside me: "gamot!"

silence as brain freeze tickled my nose hairs.

drone: "tiki-tiki -- gamot!"

pause.

"ay ingles pala! vitamins!"

then i think the teller called me. or the contestant answered "spider." or maybe alients took over my body and shot laser beams out of my eyes, incinerating everyone in the bank instantly. i'm not entirely sure. my brain must have frozen over.

update: thankfully, i believe i am starting to thaw a bit despite mitigating circumstances at work. i think it's because i'm listening to "all i wanna do is make love to you" by heart. with lyrics like, Oh, he did everything right/He brought the woman out of me, so many times, easily, and I am the flower you are the seed/We walked in the garden we planted a tree, how can you not emerge from a stupor and giggle?