There's something about Bihon. Medyo natatawa ako sa sarili ko habang sinusulat ito, di naman ako gutom at natatakaw dito. Subalit kung meron mang isang pagkain na hinding-hindi ko pagsasawaan kesehodang araw-arawin ko pa ito, iyon ay walang iba kundi ang bihon. Hindi ko rin naman masabi kung ano ang nagustuhan ko dito, wala naman akong pinipili eh, espesyal o ordinaryong luto man, gusto ko pa rin. Sa totoo lang, noong nasa hayskul ako at madalas ay nagpupunta kami sa mga piyesta, madalas sa hindi, sa dami ng bahay na pinupuntahan, sa unang bahay lang kami kumakain ng ulam at kanin at sa ikalawang bahay hanggang sa huli, panghimagas na lang ang kinakain ng mga kasama ko. Sila
yun. Ako hindi. Lahat ng bahay, may isang luto sila na kinakain ko. Nahulaan mo, bihon. Walang bahay na hindi ko tinitikman ang bihon nila. Wala akong pakialam sa leche flan, buco salad, gelatin, o ano pa mang matamis. Kaya nga siguro, panahon na para magsulat naman ako tungkol dito.

Wala na nga ni munting alinlangan na paborito ko ito, pero umabot ako ng edad na dalawampu't pitong taon na di ko nasubukang magluto nito. Ngayon lang. Naisip ko kasi, siguro naman dapat na akong magsumikap na matutong magluto nito. Kaya medyo kabado ako ng napagdesisyunan kong subukang magluto sa unang pagkakataon. At talagang pinaghandaan ko ito. Humingi ako ng recipe sa kakilala kong nakapagtrabaho sa Chowking at tinanong ko ang mga sangkap at
proseso ng pagluluto nila. Kahit hindi man eksaktong nasunod ang mga hakbang, naging matagumpay pa rin ang resulta.Yun nga lang inabot yata ako ng ilang oras. Kasi ba naman, sa paghiwa pa lang ng carrots, baguio beans at cabbage, inabot na ako ng siyam-siyam. At ganun pala pag ikaw ang nagluluto, parang nawawalan ka ng tiwala sa sarili mong panlasa. Pakiramdam ko kasi di pa rin sya masarap nung malapit ko na syang hanguin, panay ang dagdag ko ng Knorr Ginisa Mix, napapraning ako. Ganunpaman, sulit na rin ang pagod at agam-agam sapagkat naging masarap naman ang kinalabasan nito.Nasasabik na tuloy akong magbakasyon sa amin at nang maipangalandakan ko sa aking mga magulang na marunong na akong magluto ng bihon. Yayayain ko silang magbeach at magboboluntaryo akong magluto nito at ng iba pang lutuin na natutunan kong gawin sa maikling panahon ng pamamalagi ko dito sa Pampanga. Pero
diyata't malabong mangyari ito. Sa tagal ng oras na gugugulin ko sa pagluluto, baka dapithapon na di pa kami nakakaalis ng bahay. Hhhmmpp... maghihintay na lang ako ng espesyal na okasyon.

Disclaimer: Whew! Thought I'd have a hard time finding a good pic for this. Didn't even take 3 secs. This pic is hosted here http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenilio/144023862/ . Thanks Flipped Out!

on HAPPINESS...

We were swimming yesterday (not in a beach, just a pool) when I thought how being near any body of water makes me happy. I had a blast trying to learn diving and swimming at the bottom of the pool, cos until then all I know is floating. I'm currently located in Central Luzon and it's a big mass of land, meaning no good beach without travelling for hours. Which was tough because considering where I'm from, Boracay is less than an hour away and beaches are mere minutes away. When I was working in Iloilo too, Guimaras island with all it's creamy colored sand beaches was a 15-min boat ride. So to never see a beach for 1 year and 9 mos was excruciating. I'd say despite the very long trip going to Potipot, Zambales last weekend, it was all worth it. Besides the beach, other small things also make me happy. And I'd list several of those here to remind myself happiness can be found in the littlest of things. I hope years from now and I reread this stuff, everything will still hold true.

1. Sitting on the shore, looking out to sea and feeling the warm sunshine and salty air on my skin, while listening to Big Mountain's Baby I Love Your Way. Watching the waves turn foamy white as it crashes into shore and walking barefoot in the sand.

2. DVD marathon of vampire movies and TV series (like Criminal Minds and Prison Break) and some feel good films.

3. When I'm at home,doing nothing and having your parents take care of you. When I don't have to cook my own meals, with somebody to wake me up, and with my little nephew to play with.

4. When I'm not at home, when I have to look after myself and be independent. It contrasts with No.3 but both are true. Number 3 happens very rarely now but it's always nice to be home from time to time.

5. Travelling to new places by myself. Going to new places where you don't know anybody and nobody close by to run to in case things go wrong can be exhilarating. It's exciting to just have information from the net and found out how far you can go with it.

6. When it's raining and I can just stay home and sip coffee and let time pass by idly.

7. Reading a very good book.

8. Floating in the water on a beach at night and gazing up at a star-filled sky, with only the sound of the waves as it hits the shore and the breeze breaking the silence of the night.

9. Listening to some hip-hop songs and dancing like crazy. And doing karaoke too.

10. Riding a bicycle.

11. Eating out with friends whom I don't see too often now.

12. Going to really remote places where the air smells of earth and grass. Where there are rivers and mountains and cows and chickens roaming around. Where I can hear crickets in the evening and the rooster's crow in the morning.Where people are unbelievably nice.

13. Getting an 8-hr sleep. When I can stay late in bed and wake up when my body is ready to wake up and not because the alarm clock says it's time to get up. I just love sleeping.

Disclaimer: The picture that appeared here is hosted on this site http://www.flickr.com/photos/psychojr/77488234/. Thanks PsychoJr

Potipot Island (beach, at last!!!)

And we finally did it. That is, pull off an AWOL on one another. Flashback maybe 4 or 5 years ago, two of my friends (Frenz and Francis) and I went to Boracay during Christmas break,and we had a great time. Until we made a joke on Frenz, pissed him off, and next thing we knew, he was gone in the morning.
2007,Baguio. The three of us went up to Baguio for the Panagbenga festival. We took the bus at 10pm from Pampanga and got there around 2 in the morning. Walked around for any inn with rooms to spare, found none ( which isn't surprising considering it was the day of the festival and every nook and cranny of the city is packed).So we ended up passing the time in a fastfood joint, then in a dingy karaoke bar, until 5am when we went up to Minesview Park and was rewarded with a pink moon. By noon, I got tired of pausing in the street to nab a shot of every flower float there is.Frenz is a photography enthusiast. I wanted to check out the trade fair and buy some home made strawberry jams as we have to head home by 3pm but they would hear none of it. There seemed to be a whole lot of flower floats that turned up in the park that we haven't seen during the parade, and they headed there like a pair of ravenous bees. Tired and sleepy, I told Francis I'd split and that maybe we'll just meet later before heading home. By 3pm and I havent heard from them, I went home by myself.
2008, Zambales. Another spontaneous trip. Frenz and I met up with Francis around 12 midnight (spent the whole day with my sister whom I was visiting, the initial sole purpose of the trip to Manila) and decided we'd catch the 3am bus trip to Candelaria,Zambales. Destination - Potipot, a really small white sand island.We missed the Express Bus for Candelaria because of the not so express Ticketing clerk and had to get the trip for the nearby town, and rode another bus from there. The whole trip took around 6hrs and by then I was thirsty as a mule in the desert. Unfortunately, the town's just been hit by a storm and they have had no electricity for two weeks, so I had to settle for a room-temp soda. Ok, i can deal with that. But, boy! Was I hungry! We hadn't had breakfast and had no sense to bring food with us either.It was noon by then so before we headed to the island, we asked Aling Minda, from whom we arranged the boat ride for the island, where we could buy food for lunch. And she said "Ay naku! Sa Dawal pa!" And it felt like a blow in my chest. I thought "s#it! so we have to travel again to some nearby town in order to buy food?" The same thought occured to my friends and panic began to set in. With a voice pitch higher than normal we asked: "So where is this Dawal restaurant and how do we get there?" And the reply: " You see that gate along the road where you just came from? You wouldn't miss it". We were shocked and thought is she kidding us? We went there and sure enough,the restaurant was just a stone's throw away from us, but from the way she answered our question, it sounded like it was in the next town. I don't know what happened, we weren't lost in translation cos we were talking in Tagalog. Maybe Aling Minda just haven't had lunch yet,lol! Within minutes we were at the island, which turned out to be so small, you can go around the island in less than half an hour. But the beach is divine. The sand is creamy in color and the water is so salty it makes floating so much easier.
We sat down to lunch right after getting off the boat and was soon into snapping and posing for pictures about an hour later. Me and Frencel, that is. Francis chose to spend his first few hours dozing which we thought was unwise after travelling for a quarter of a day.We were swimming when we noticed Francis talking to some men on the island and not long after, we saw him being ferried off back to the main island. We were confused to say the least. We kept on theorizing whatever it is that we have done wrong but failed to come up with any plausible explanation.We decided not to go after him, we thought he's a grown up and there must be a valid explanation for what he did, and although we might not hear of it soon, maybe sometime in the future. Oh well, for all we know, he just suddenly developed a flair for the dramatic.As for me, after being away from the beach for more than a year, I happily splashed away.
*** Thanks again to my friend Frencel for the pics, as usual. :)

when in a rut.. look forward to TOMORROW

Life's a real wheel. This is primarily the reason why I worry whenever I feel so happy over something. So I've never had absolute happiness, you know, being happy without a dark thought of "it" being gone tomorrow.Whenever I feel light and happy and carefree that I laugh over the most mundane of things, behind it all, I'm thinking " hey, maybe I shouldn't laugh too hard, I don't wanna be crying tomorrow.Believe me,call it superstitious but this happened a lot of times in the past.So it shouldn't come as a surprise then that while I blogged about being happy yesterday, I am feeling low and gloomy and disappointed today. I can't believe how things can turn around so quickly. It's nothing major but I guess I'm letting my emotions get the best of me. I just feel like I had to write about this, vent it out, get it out of my system. Cos this feeling is ugly and anything that's ugly and you let it simmer inside you will eventually nibble at whatever goodness you have in you. I hope this is making sense.

Anyway, what's gotten me feeling so down today has something to do with a person. You know when there's a person that you look up to, that you have so much respect for (even if you've only been with the person for a week or two, say in a convention), unfair as it may be to that person, we develop a set of expectations for them. So when they do something that we thought is so totally out of character(from our perception), we get DISAPPOINTED. And it's the worst feeling in the world ever. Well, next to regret maybe. I met this person in a group setting and I thought he's great, kind and considerate. patient. I can't go into the details but the thing is he did do something no one expected him to do. I don't know how the others felt about it but me, I felt let down. Gosh! When will I ever learn not to expect too much from anybody?I feel a little better now. Well, just look at the brighter side. From where I am now emotionally, there's nowhere to go but up.As always, when in a rut, there's one phrase that never fails to perk me up:

"This too shall pass."

- from the movie My Best Friend's Wedding

Viva la Vida!

Whew! I'm so happy today. First, coz we're finally done with this training that had been running for 2 weeks. Before that, I've been through week-long trainings too for 2 different projects. It's true what they say about this company that I'm working for, training never ends. And its fine, but sometimes it just feels like I've enrolled myself in a graduate school and all the jittery feelings associated with student life rushes back in. But all that's done, at least for now.

Secondly, I've finally watched Violet Hill's official video! Wow! Welcome back, guys! Not that they've been away but I've been waiting for this like forever. 3 years seemed like an eternity. I've read somewhere that Coldplay felt like their first 3 albums was a trilogy and they wanted something different for their 4th album. After I heard Violet Hill, yeah, it's a bit different but every bit as good as their past songs that I've grown to love over the years. Just how different this album would be from their past ones is still early to say as I haven't heard the other songs yet. All I can say is that I've never been disappointed with the band, I've loved them from Shiver days to Swallowed In The Sea.And I love Yellow, which incidentally,is my favorite karaoke song, lol!

It is pleasant to note too that there'd been quite a few nice other comebacking artists as well.I'm loving Jason Mraz's I'm Yours ( liked him the first time ) and Ryan Cabrera's Say ( didn't like him the first time ).

So, great music + laid-back atmosphere( for now, anyway) = a nice sunny life

Viva La Vida!

PS. lotsa thanks to emorix (http://www.flickr.com/photos/em0rix/2510019469), feishien (http://www.flickr.com/photos/feishien/2394698695) and tonythisismusic (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonythisismusic/2467331673) for the album pics.

IRON MAN: Downeyland

I went into the cinema not expecting much. After all, it’s ANOTHER Marvel comics adaptation. And yet, long before its play date, I have decided i'll be joining the long queues. I'm not a fan of Iron Man either. I have a vague recollection of it as a kid, but it isn't something that figured much in my early life. Sure, I love both Gwyneth and Terrence, and I'd watch any movie of theirs. But the sole all important decision-making factor this time is Robert Downey Jr. God! How I missed the man. Back from the brink, and how! I have loved Robert Downey Jr. ever since I saw him in the movie Only You, with Marissa Tomei. And he's up there in my list of not-so-Hollywood-handsome but charming and amazingly talented actors, along with Joaquin Phoenix.

So since I have a very flimsy familiarity with the character, I’d much rather talk about the movie’s star, Robert Downey Jr. He was just perfect for the character. Despite being a genius, he doesn't look geeky at all. For a playboy billionaire, he definitely walks with a confident swagger but not too much that he'd seem to walk with the hips jutted out at a 90 degree angle. He just seemed every bit the gifted, filthy rich individual who thinks who deserves all of it and more .He was convincing at this, and just as convincing when his character developed a heart, a conscience, and a sense of responsibility, in no particular order, during the latter part of the movie. It was very real I’d say, the display of emotion, how an utter genius can create such amazing technology. Although we have to overlook the fact though that it may seem a bit impossible to finish the metallic armor suit overnight, when they were given an ultimatum. Ah well, sitting back and believing wasn’t a big problem for me. Robert just made all of it easy for us, even to those strangers to the Marvel character. And as always, Gwyneth was marvelous. Can’t wait for the sequel, I’m pretty sure there will be one. Ain’t there always? It’s the decade of trilogies after all.

Note: Thanks to FLG8R for the pic. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ebuen/2462816829/.

DISHING ON GOSSIP GIRL...

XoXo! GG, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

1. Gossips! It certainly brings out the gossipmongers in all of us. Who doesn't love gossips and catfights? Girls who don't have the balls to bitch in real life gets their dose of daily bitching, thanks largely to Blaire and her posse.

2. The designer clothes! Blair and Serena never cease to dazzle in clothes that would turn Hollywood starlets to shame. And Chuck Bass! He single-handedly redefined the meaning of a seemingly mundane scarf.

3. Nate Archibald. Ahhh... you can wipe the drool off the desk now, it's gross.

4. Reformed bad girl meets good boy and lives happily ever after. Well, maybe that's too early to say. Let's see how things turn out for Serena and Dan in Season 2.

5. The parents! Now how weird is that? Gossip girl is perhaps the only teen series with the parents not only very visible but with their own juicy stories to tell. And such stories! I'm totally rooting for Lily and Rufus.

... All these, and more. I was actually skeptical the first time I saw Gossip Girl. They look too old, too sophisticated to pass off as high school students. And I've never seen a single classroom during the entire run of the first season, ever. But what do I know. Also, it isn't a reality show but oddly, I felt like a voyeur during the first few episodes. These Upper East Siders are totally different creatures and I felt like if I'm not careful, I'd be found out. But these weird feelings soon passed and before I know it, Gossip Girls blogging about me and my totally scandalous life... yeah, like, in my dreams.

* Thanks to sxy_shandy for the pic. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sxy_shandy/2083994332/