Christmas 2007

This year's Christmas celebration has been relaxed and easygoing. We went to midnight mass at All Saints and had Noche Buena with the Basilios, a young Filipino family we recently met. Christmas Day itself started with a good ole lie-in and opening of pressies. I got a new digicam (yay!) which is perfect for times when I just want to take a few quick snaps and not really need the SLR. The photo on the right is me attempting to do a stylized photo and failing. LOL. P got a Wii, which entailed the rearranging of our living room furniture. It was a good thing though, because playing on it made me break sweat! Could this be the gym of the future?? I included a clip of Jack channeling Muhammad Ali.


This horsing around was followed by lunch, this time at the Basilios apartment which is just a few minutes away from our place. The rest of the day was spent eating, chatting and more eating!

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Boxing Day, I resisted the strong urge to be one with the shopping crowd and take advantage of the numerous sales going on. Instead, we opted for an after-lunch walk in Burnham Beeches, a natural reserve in Slough. It was named as such because of the Beech trees found in the reserve. The air was crisp and fresh, perfect for walking off that crispy pata.

Our First Tree!

Little Christmas tree, no one to buy you
Give yourself to me
You're worth your weight in precious gold you see
My little Christmas tree
- Nat King Cole

Here's a picture of our Christmas tree. It was on sale at ASDA and I felt the flat could do with a bit of festive color. Needles dropping all over is driving me crazy but nothing the vacuum can't handle..

A Perfect Day-Out

After learning from the news that some West End tickets are being sold for a bargain, I went on to browse the internet and successfully secured two tickets for a tenner. We're going to the circus! P always had a fascination of Cirque du Soleil and luckily, there's a show by a troupe of ex-Cirque members currently playing in London. As opposed to Cirque's elaborate performances, Loft by the 7 Fingers is set in a flat with the artists doing stunts in their underwear. You can't get more 'anti-Cirque' than that.

We knew we're in for a good time when we entered the theatre from a refrigerator that was a part of the set! Highly unusual... Watching circus up-close, to watch muscles twitch and catch hand signals before somersaults, in such an intimate setting as the Roundhouse Theatre, is breathtaking. I would've been planning on training for the circus if I was a bit younger. :)

After the show, I managed to convince P to pay Foyles, the bookshop, a visit. It's a famous London bookshop located near Tottenham Court Road station and apparently, a booklover's dream. He originally did not want to buy anything because Amazon still proves to offer a better deal but the temptation was too much. The place had corners and turns you can lose yourself in, not to mention an impressive catalog. So he and I ended up buying some titles.

A feast for the eyes, then some food for the brain, we now seriously needed some 'propah nosh'. In comes Whole Foods, who recently opened a 3 level store in High St. Kensington. This time around, I was the one who felt a bit iffy because Whole Foods has a reputation of being expensive. But, my God, wow! The cheeses, the bread... yummy! We had a very good meal in the large food hall and capped it with a shared scoop of Italian gelato. I even bought into the all-natural thing and purchased some supplements that I hope will help with my skin problems. It wasn't cheap but the food tasted very good.

All in all, a very good day.

The President in London

Jack and I had the opportunity to attend an investors' forum presented by Mrs. Arroyo and a delegation of foreign and local businessmen and government officials. It was refreshing to spend an afternoon hearing nice things about the Philippines for a change. GMA seemed tough and passionate about the Philippines, which is good. However, she also looked tired and a tad humorless. Tsk, mahirap siguro talagang maging presidente ng Pilipinas.

The plans till 2010 look impressive, though. There's the new expressway from Pampanga to La Union, the additional MRT lines from Cavite to Monumento and the reopening of the railway to the north and south of Metro Manila. A multinational even braved the stormy part of Bicol and established a call center in Camarines Sur. Oragon!

Driving Ms. Charina

At last! Ten or so years after getting my driving license in Manila, I finally bought my first ever car here in the UK. Yey! Getting my license in this country has been a journey in itself but it's now done and the road awaits.

Contempt

Jack is reading Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, a book I've read in the past. The theme of the book is our ability to make split-second assessments. Really interesting. We were talking about a part in the book where a psychologist claimed that just by eavesdropping in a couple's conversation over dinner, he can accurately assess if the relationship will last over 5-7 years and no more. Top of his list is contempt. If he spots contempt in the way the couple treats one another, it's doomsville for them, he says. There is a natural aversion to the word "contempt". It's sounds so nasty, doesn't it? I'm assuming people don't like to think they've done anything contemptuous, particularly to their partners. However, the psychologist claims it creeps easier and more frequent than people are willing to acknowledge. I tell you, it made us look at ourselves and ask the hard questions.

Marketing 101

I am really amazed by this new promo from Citibank! (click image for a clearer image)

You get a free 1-liter milk!

• when you have a minimum purchase of 1,000
• but only on Puregold, Robinsons and Waltermart supermarkets
  
• and not just any old Robinsons, it has to be Ermita, Lipa, Metro East or Novaliches

You can't just redeem it in your friendly neighborhood supermarket or grocery store, you have to :

• go to the Citibank Redemption booth
  
• only on Saturdays and Sundays
• and of course, there is that 'promotion mechanics' that you have to further comply with.

Simply amazing! Though of course, the requirements when applying for an NSO birth certificate is more complicated, isn't it. For that, you need to present proof of identification and ah... um..

Anyway, I'm sure there are more requirements to claim a government certified document from such bastion of government bureaucracy like the NSO compared to the multinational agents of market efficiency like the Citibank.

====

Freefall asks, is this an obvious spawn of a market segmentation study?

Lets understand the target customer of Citibank:

• a person living in Ermita, Lipa and Novaliches
• who shops in bargain grocery shops (you shop in SM? sorry, no milk for you)
• who spends at least 1,000 per grocery trip (in waltermart? in puregold? you mean the bulk buyers for sari-sari stores?)
• is willing to go to the Citibank Redemption booth (in Libis?)

And finally, this target customer is someone who thinks that a liter of milk is worth all this effort. [Di bale, Nestle naman].

Bravo!

Eat-Thai...in moderation

On one of our weekly dates, Jack and I decided to try out Eat-Thai, a restaurant we usually drive past and have heard good reviews of. The food was very good. Jack had impressive looking spring rolls for starters while I had soft shell crabs for the mains. I ate so much that I had a tummy ache. Really, it's no joke, I was short of breath and felt woozy. Jack joked about how we went out supposedly to have fun as I was squirming in my seat. After dinner we learned that the resto had a Michelin star to its name. Hm, why did the fact make me think how pedestrian my tastes are? Hahahahha... Lovely food, good wine and nice, clean surroundings. We'll definitely go back next time, hopefully with good enough sense to eat in moderation.

With the cinema a 15-minute drive away (it's further than you think) and effective implementation of zoning laws (walang kang friendly neighborhood sari-sari store), we often have to be creative in how we entertain ourselves. We suddenly unearth otherwise hidden curiosities.

For example, one weekend, P and I decided to hunt down a farm selling game meat. So, rabbit, pheasant, guinea fowl, you get the idea. After driving through a small single-lane country road (Beamond End) and a small English village straight from a picture book (Little Missenden), we ironically found Manor Game Farm in slightly populous Chesham. They organize shoots resulting to a catalog of game meat, such as partridge, rabbit and pheasant, and yummy meat products like partridge and pear sausages.

This morning's cab ride

Had a crazy cab ride this morning. I was hoping to catch the 7:27 from Bourne End but found myself being educated about skin cancer instead. Apparently, my cabbie, Sally, survived it twice. Hollywood more or less stuck with the reserved, tight-lipped stereotype of the English. They haven't met Sally, obviously...or heard her describe how she watched as the doctor put a scalpel to her face.

Did you know that...
...there are 40 types of skin cancer?
...a lot of them can be superficial (meaning, it just sits on your skin and spread increasingly in area, not in depth)? These can be extracted by surgery quite easily and you're (almost always) good as new.
...you should watch your moles? Especially if they're raised, have gone black and/or edges have become faded or faint. If they start getting inflamed on the edges, go to the doctor quick. According to Sally, it's a sign that the mole has started going into your skin.

So, I missed my train and held up training for 2 other participants for more than 15 minutes (I know...yaiks!). It gave me time to jot this down, though... and do an impromptu inventory of my moles. Time well spent, if you ask me. Slather on that sunscreen!

Food...

Physalis. Thats was the name of a pack of fruits for sale in our local Tesco that caught my eyes. A small but sweet and tasty fruit that, a long time ago, my playmates and I would find in abundance in the the perimeter of local um, pigpens. A fruit that I have not seen eversince I moved to Manila for school and work. And now, thousands of miles from home, I am holding a bunch of them "glossy, sweet and spicy berries. try dipping in chocolate for a touch of decadence". Hmmm. Buying them for a few pence was very cheap for the memories. Albiet, the pigpen was not exactly the "chocoloate for a touch of decadence" that I remembered.

...

Last weekend, freefall and I went to London for some Filipino food auction that aims to raise scholarship funds. An interesting twist is that there was an adobo cooking competition and I was one of three judges. One entry tried to be posh by incorporating white wine in their adobo. But of course, the traditional entry with simple toyo-suka-paminta carried the day.

After the foodfest, some of us decided to have a walk in the park and ended up in a dessert place that offered very good cheesecakes and tiramisus. £1.50 each. Good conversation with new found friends. It was wonderful.

Ahh, the simple pleasures...

Happy Easter!

We just had a 4-day weekend break from Good Friday to Easter Monday. It's the longest series of bank holidays in the UK so we decided not to let it pass especially since the BBC forecasted good weather. Well, if the BBC said so...

The holiday place of choice is the city of Bath in Somerset. I've been there once and was quite excited to go back to get to know the city better. We had great fun looking at old buildings, searching for restaurants tucked in corners, walking the city streets and mainly sleeping in the park hehehe.

We did have some great eats:

Sally Lunn Buns - operating in the reported oldest house in Bath, this place is basically famous for its bread. I did not actually get what's so special about its taste, but I did find the story of Sally Lunn's name quite amusing. Apparently, she was a French woman who migrated to Bath. Back in France, her trade was to sell light and dark bread which she called "Sun and Moon". Naturally, when she tried to carry on selling in Bath, she marketed the breads the same way, by shouting "Soleil et Lune" (soo-ley e loon). So people thought her name was Sally Lunn! Nutter.. Hahaha!

The Old Green Tree pub - real nice pub. smallish, cozy. Jack tried the milk stout -- dark beer to, like Guiness

The Wife of Bath resto - named after a character in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, it is a brilliant hole in the wall type of resto. The kind that will make you extremely proud of yourself if you discovered it all on your own. Kaso kami ni-research namin hehe. Super sarap ng lamb shank dito!

The Walrus and the Carpenter cafe - reminded me so much of a university cafe with all the posters and friendly staff who look like students. Go for the beefburgers and you'll never go wrong. Just now, I've realized that our waitress was one of the owners. Real nice girl, told us that the place is named after the Lewis Carroll poem.

The highlight of our holiday was a 2-hr stint at the new-ish Thermae Bath Spa. It's supposed to be the modern Roman Bath, which was a tall order, in my opinion. It did good, though. Despite getting the basic package for 20 quid, we were treated to 4 steam rooms, a heated pool in the basement and a gorgeous rooftop pool overlooking the city centre at the, well, rooftop. If you find yourself in Bath, you'll be kicking yourself if you didn't go. Bliss...

Sabi ko nga kay Pargad, pag yumaman ako, mukhang magandang magtayo nito sa Laguna ;)

For Easter service, we attended the one in Bath Abbey (para libre kami sa entrance hahaha! That was a joke, I think.)

Bean's Holiday and our night out

My friend Cherry decided to hold an advanced celebration of her birthday by inviting a few friends for a movie and coffee. We saw Mr. Bean's Holiday since she wanted to watch something brainless and, of course, the movie rose to the occasion. :) Rowan Atkinson's comedic timing is a classic and having the movie set mostly in France gave a peek at the French countryside and the Riviera. Ah, c'est tres tres magnifique!

Cherry, Jack and I decided to meet up a couple of hours earlier to have dinner and catch up in this wonderful Thai resto we found just a couple of hundred yards to the left of Odeon cinema near High St. Kensington. We had stir-fry, sweet and sour and curry dishes, yummy treats all! Call me stereotypical, but nothings beats a good main dish eaten with fried rice.

Though the movie was for cheap laughs, the company was heaps better. They were a bunch of very interesting characters, none of which I would mind seeing again mainly because they graciously laugh at my lame jokes (I'll never forget it *sniff*). I think the coolest conversation topic was about the metal music scene which definitely perked Jack up since he was a metal fan back in the early 90's. This then resulted to a music download spree til the wee hours of Sunday morning and my iPod being infiltrated by Queensryche, Metallic and others.

Overall, it was good fun. Thanks again for the invite Cher!

First and Second Life

It's my first day at work after a two-week absence due to chicken pox.

It's currently 2:19 in the afternoon and I have a headache. It's probably due to staring at a monitor and doing one single task for the past couple of hours.

Must..concentrate.. must..not..fall..asleep..

Dang I miss my siestas.

It's scary how your brain shifts to low-batt mode after going on a holiday from work. Surely if you stay away long enough it'll grind to a complete stop? Must keep on exercising the old girl, lest I go batty. There goes my future great scientific contribution to mankind. :))

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I'm trying to go to bed early, from Sunday to Thursday, from this week onwards hoping that it will help me get up early. My target time is 11pm. So far, here's how I did:

Week 1 : Mar 25 - 29
Sun - 10:00 went to bed at 10 but tossed and turned til 1:30am I think
Mon - 11:40 er, got caught up in Second Life. Met a guy from Holland in a beach resort.. It was quite nice actually. Name of the place is Golden Sands. I'll definitely go back.

Is there a doctor in the house?

When I came over to the UK, one of the things that I found highly unusual was the national health system. In the Philippines, and even Singapore, I was used to being able to walk into a hospital or a clinic and request to be seen by a doctor. Not in the UK, apparently. To be seen by a doctor in a hospital, one has to:

1. Register with a surgery house (clinic).
2. Set appointment for preliminary check-up. For me, this was four days after I registered.
3. Set another appointment to either see a doctor or a practice nurse. This was another week of waiting.

Only when your GP feels that you need specialist help, will you be directed to go to the hospital.

WHEW! It took me 2 weeks to see a GP. Something I could've done in 2-4 hours in Manila or SG. You can just imagine my bewilderment on what the fuss was all about.

I do realize that it is important for a doctor to have a patient's complete medical history before treatment but I sincerely believe this is a bit overkill.

Also, my surgery has this annoying rule of only being able to set an appointment the morning of the day you want to be seen. Now, I think that is totally absurd, given the fact that they seem to be driven by appointments. Arrgh!!

Taking out a private plan is starting to look reeaally good..

Downtime

I've been down with the chicken pox for the past two weeks. I know, I know, I'm too old to have chicken pox and I'm not supposed to scratch 'em. (But it's sooo ITCHY!!) So that means I am left to my own devices for over ten days.

So what have I been doing?

1. I spend most of my time online, watching movies, clips, etc. on peekvid.com (yes, it's back up) and youtube.com. I am amazed on the time I spend on these things. I suppose I should be regretful because it is not exactly time well spent, is it? But, I'm not. Chicken pox gave me the license not to care. To be extravagant with my time.. to bum around. Bliss..

2. I did not do a single housechore. Not one, even though I'm feeling ok, just spotty. Haha!
I even let P do the cooking. Sama ko 'no? Abusado ba?

3. Nothing much! Oh, I did finish a book. Other than that, nothing much!

I'm going back to work next week.. it must end sometime.

Rock-ed

I don't know why I spend so much time online. I spend hours on the net each day, Googling.

That is why it's such a relief to come across something worth shouting about to at least make it worthwhile.

Visit the site. Support is needed.

http://www.rockedphilippines.org/index.html

Review: The Good Shepherd

Warning: Some spoilers. If you plan on watching The Good Shepherd, move on. Go see it and come back. Nothing interesting here til then.

Jack and I went to our weekly movie date last night to catch "The Good Shephed". I wasn't particularly keen on seeing it because something about its trailer did not sit well with me. It was boasting of its star-studded cast and I was unsure of Robert de Niro as a director. Nothing against Mr. De Niro, but very few have successfully crossed the great actor-director divide. I decided on giving it a chance since I read in a feature in the Telegraph that Matt Damon, the lead actor in the movie, came across the screenplay even before being offered a part in it, when he asked his manager to give him the top 5 best unmade films in Hollywood that time. Ok, so it had big shoes to fill in my book.

The movie had good intentions but I found it meandering at some point. I knew there was something wrong when I distinctly remember thinking to myself, 'This is taking too damn long.' There were a lot of subplots that I knew were designed to enhance the characterisation for Edward Wilson, but it just didn't do it for me. So the movie built up how Wilson transformed from a poetry student who wins his teacher's affection, to a CIA top dog who barely speaks and can watch a man being tortured without flinching. This builds up for most of the movie only to have a final conflict of Wilson having to choose between his work and his son. I felt shortchanged. Don't get me wrong, choosing between family and something else is and will always be a powerful theme. However, I think, it could have been done in an equally dramatic, but more succinct way. Think "Road to Perdition". In The Good Shepherd, there were also some cliches that did not exactly make me wince but made me go, 'eh'. In the end, it can be considered as a good script, not the best in my book, but definitely has the potential of being an unforgettable movie. Now this is where direction comes in. It was a good effort for De Niro but I feel he went a bit ambitious on this one. It made me think how a good screenplay does not guarantee a good movie, which totally opposes my current view. One scene that I felt was particularly self-indulgent was when Matt Damon's character burned his father's suicide letter. All of a sudden it was slow motion up to the point when he threw the ashes complete with swelling background music. So 'Godfather'. So in the end, I concluded two things for the screenplay: one, it's not a good enough script to survive a novice director (harsh, i know) and two, I would love to see another director remake this film.

With my naysaying done, there are several things that I liked about the movie.

Matt Damon, in my opinion did a good job in this film. He has that inherently quiet person look, something, I fear, Tom Hanks doesn't have. Despite this he manages to give humanity to his character.

Angelina Jolie. I particulary liked her performance. Although, I was in doubt if her acting was indeed good or if I was just fascinated by her. What is it about this woman?

The guy who played Damon's assistant. I wished there was more of him. I feel he could've been a better foil character than that Hayes character, or that British spy.

Final verdict:

Top Rating *****
Screenplay ****
Director **
Cast ***

Unlocking the Trade

Something has to be said about the cost of services here in the UK. They're bloody expensive!

During our move to the new apartment, we misplaced the key to the storage room of the old flat so we had to change the lock. When phoning around for a locksmith, the cheapest I found was Pro-Mac, who charged £49.99 for callout charge on a Saturday morning. Add to that the price of a new lock which is around 27 quid plus VAT of 17.5%. I was expected to pay almost £100 to change a lock! Now, I may be new to the country but I think it's fair to say that that is @%$&% ridiculous! Fortunately, Tim, the locksmith, had a brain wave and said he could remove the lock pop to the shop and cut me out a key. Also, cutting a key just costs £7. Hallelujiah!

My colleague only confirmed the fact that being in the trade is very lucrative business. He's even heard of people leaving the IT industry, which already has good earning potential, to become plumbers, electricians, etc. Now, I have to agree with P when he says that there's something f@cked up about that.

Me got an iPod!

It's a beautiful little black number, 30gb. Given by my lovely hubby on Valentine's Day. I knew I shouldn't have settled for that cheesy singing card as my gift for him. Oh well, ganyan talaga di ba? Minsan papalya ka talaga sa pagreregalo hehehe.. :) Pero ok lang, it has taught me to be more mindful next time. Bawi na lang sa susunod.

Anyway, he also bought me a £15 iTunes card which I know is a big gesture because we've almost always accessed our music in a different way (ha? ano, pirated? sino may sabi?? uy, orig ang mga opm ko ha..). I was so excited to buy from iTunes but had a difficult time choosing songs to purchase because I knew I could get most of them using torrent. So I ended up buying the music video of Mika's Grace Kelly. Looovve this song. He reminds me so much of Freddie Mercury.

I can see how someone can get addicted to this gadget. What kind of music do you like? Which songs do you listen to the most? The iPod becomes an extension of who you are. For example, I've just realized that the kind of pop music I like the most is of the gay camp variety. Hence, Scissors Sisters, Queen and some Steps songs currently reign supreme in my iPod. Oh, and 1 Aqua song.

Top songs:
1 - The entire Scissor Sisters debut album topped by Take Your Mama Out
2 - The entire Queen Greatest hits album topped by........(sorry, please don't make me choose)
3 - Steps - Last Thing On My Mind, Tragedy and 5,6,7,8
4 - Aqua - Cartoon Heroes

Yeba!

Mobile Weekend

Jack's due to work in Oxford for the next few weeks so we tried out his driving route yesterday. After covering 30 miles in 40 minutes and marvelling at how 60mph (100kph) still relegated us to stay in the "slow" lane, we reached Oxford and, after a few minutes, his client site for the next few weeks. Pa, magugustuhan mo dito magmaneho. Relatively maganda ang kundisyon ng mga daan :) We really planned on having lunch in the city so we parked and proceeded on foot. Our feet eventually lead us to the pedestrianised city centre in search for some grub. I found a sign saying 'Covered Market' so we decided to check it out.

What a treasure!

Butcher Shop
One of the first stores we saw was a butcher shop. This one had several deer (yes, deer, Bambi) hanging on a hook: head and hooves are chopped off and innards extracted through a clean cut slicing the animal's stomach lengthwise. The animal still sported its coat and was freshly gutted judging from the small pool of blood on the floor. We assume it's waiting to be butchered. Amazing. The shop also sold other game: guinea fowl, partridge, mallard and other interesting birds. The shop also sold other meat such as rabbit and hare. P practically salivated! So we vowed to comeback and buy our fill of game. We had to because our fridge is still sadly packed with Asda supermarket meat.

Cheese Shop - Stinking Bishop
As we moved further along, the smelly of old sweaty socks brought joy to my heart. A cheese store! I wouldn't say I'm a connoisseur but I do like my cheese. Naku, Airyn, you'll love this shop. It was even selling cheese covered in mold! (Uh, Not today, thanks. Maybe never.) As I was deciding whether I wanted an Oxford Blue, I heard a man ask for the Stinking Bishop. I believe it is the favorite cheese of Wallace of Wallace and Gromit fame, thus making it celebrity cheese. Of course I had to have it! Our verdict: it's a split decision. Jack likes it, I don't. I find the flavor to be a little too strong plus it stunk up my bag!

Browns
On to the important business of lunch, we decided on Browns. I had my first ever Shepherds Pie which didn't appear to be any kind of pie at all, to my surprise. What I had was a bit of mushy minced meat dish but I liked the taste of it anyway. Over all, not bad.

Oxford's Covered Market is definitely worth a visit. Next time, I'm going to try one of the milkshake stores and Ben's cookies. Hm, cookies.. Gutom ako hehehe..

Another site

Peekvid update: It's not available for now. Some strange message saying they're going into beta. Wha-eva!

But this one, is totally here: www.meebo.com. No need to download any of the IM clients. This site handles 'em all. Check it out. Chat anytime, anywhere.

Again, courtesy of my beloved P.

The holy grail that is credit

I've been living in the UK for over a year now. I would say I'm in a pretty good position. I am employed and earn enough to rent a place of my own in the South East which is relatively close to the town centre and rail links to London. That's the reason why I can't believe I'm having such a hard time applying for a credit card! I have been turned down twice: one by Tesco (like their SM Supermarket here). The other by Lloyds TSB, my very own bank with whom I've been banking for over a year! They sure know how to foster customer loyalty.

I apologize for my morose tone but I've just received the decision letter for my appeal (yes, I am not above appealing) and got this:

Thank you for writing to me about your recent request for a Lloyds TSB credit card account. I have reviewed your application, taking your concerns and the additional information you sent us into consideration, but unfortunately I have not been able to reverse the original decision.

Now here's my favorite part:

Whilst I am in no way criticising the conduct of your current account, I regret that the information which you have sent us does not carry the weight we would need to overturn the credit scoring result.

Don't you just love British English? I'm sure Mr. Whats-his-face is a good guy and is just doing his job. Bless him, he also sent me a personalised letter rather than a 'We said you're rejected, oryt?!' computer-generated, no signature needed rubbish. However, while reading the letter, all I can think of is "I can't believe I got rejected..There are companies offering credit lines to criminals and bankrupts and I cannot get my bank to give a credit card. What is up?!?"


It would have been ok. I would have just felt indignant for a while and sadly continue to live on my cash-basis world, had Jack not been approved for a credit card by another bank. Ok, he had a token amount for a credit limit (£200), but I would have settled for £100! So I am now seriously thinking of switching banks because of this.

If you've never grovelled in your life and want to try it out, I suggest going to the UK and try to establish a banking relationship from scratch. You'll plead, beg, threaten then beg again.

Barely legal

I have been living without television since August last year. Did I just hear a sharp intake of breath? Yes, that's almost 6 months of no-tv time and I'm about to tell you how I survived.

There is this website called http://www.peekvid.com. It provides links to a lot of shows and movies. They even have Korean telenovelas and movies! P, surprisingly lit up when he saw "My Sassy Girl". Apparently, this series is big in Pinas.

Now this site is as the subject states, barely legal. It doesn't actually host the files but links to sites like YouTube, etc. where 'copyright' means post a clear video hehe. So enjoy it while it lasts.

So, there you have it. Before you go to this site, make sure you have time to spare as it will definitely make you lose track of it.

Henjoy chickenjoy.. (hmm..chickenjoy..)

Piccies from the church

Arrgh, Spongebob!!

I am not a gamer. There are only a handful of games that I really liked, mainly because they made sense to me. For example, when we got Nintendo's family computer as a kid, everyone else was digging Super Mario. I dug Tetris. You see the pattern.

However, recently, my sister installed a sample game in my laptop for Spongebob Squarepant's Diner Dash. Firstly, I looovvee Spongebob. Oo na, matanda na ako para maaliw sa cartoons...pero anong magagawa ko, natatawa ako sa kanya e. :) See, just thinking of him makes me smile/laugh/guffaw. :D Secondly, when I got around to playing it, I got hooked because I was breezing through the stages. Now, I'm on the last stage and I can't clear it!! *sob*

If you know to earn 45,000 clams for Mr. Krab's Le Krab resto, please leave me a message and tell me how! I'll be grateful from the (bikini) bottom of my heart.. (sorry can't resist.)

So it has been a month

Jack and I got married in Manila last 27-Dec-2006. It was a wonderful event. Fernwood delivered. The combination of the venue and the magic that my florists made brought us to another world.

I loved my caterer (Josiah's), makeup artist (Julie Baun), couturier (Tet Hagape) and church florist (Scenta Flora) the most. Special mention to Julie, Tet and Scenta Flora, if you manage to read this, I am blown away by the level of service you gave me and my wedding party. Hats off to you!

I also adore the Discovery Suites in Ortigas! I could live there hehe. We stayed in their 2-bedroom suites and they were exactly what we needed. We had enough space to move around and go crazy. Plus if we needed anything, the Podium and Megamall is just a short walk away. Perfect.

My next post will be the pics. Abangan!

Why

Being part of the Pinoy diaspora, I have friends and family everywhere. The world sure is getting smaller by the minute. This blog is for whoever wants to know what's up with me and my family. I've tried the anonymous blog thing and found that I am neither eloquent nor pensive enough to keep a blog that people will want to read despite a dogdy pseudonym. I still have it though. Keep the dream alive and all that :)

Of course this still won't reach members of my family who always act as if it's the first time they saw a computer (Hi Ma!) but I am still not losing hope.

So beware, all this is personal. If you came here by mistake or by a random act of fate, welcome! I've decided to make this public for now, a decision I may or may not regret in the future. So, leave comments if you want.

Pero kung kapamilya/kapuso/ka-whateveritscalled.. leave me a note! I'd love to hear from you.

Or kung anak ka ng kapatid ng asawa ng uncle ko sa kapatid ng lolo ko, message me as well and let's sort out that spider web of a family tree :)