flipped & twisted: 2005

Saturday, December 31, 2005

nip/tuck marathon

because of my erratic schedule, and my extended stays in the philippines, i was not able to consistently watch nip/tuck, one of my favorite shows on the boob tube.

that is why i took the opportunity this weekend to catch up with my viewing and watch the entire season (a total of 15 episodes) in less than 24 hours. i thought my eyes were gonna pop out of their sockets because of what i did, but thankfully they did not.

the show is so addicting and i kept on telling myself "just one more, just one more" every time an episode ended until i realized that it was already 5:00 am and i have seen the first 7 episodes. the last 8 i finished after i woke up (slept only around six hours) which means that my first meal for the day was at 7:00 pm. yes, 7:00 pm. breakfast, lunch and dinner, all in one. to complete my meals was my dessert: the fact that i already found out who "the carver" was.

here's what the boston herald printed on the day that the finale aired.

i've been hooked on this show since season one and it was in the middle of the second season when they introduced the character of "the carver," a serial 'slasher' slash rapist who thinks that "beauty is a curse."

maybe because i watched it non-stop that i have questions in my mind about how the writers tied it all down when they revealed (do i need spoiler tags here? okay, spoiler, spoiler) that dr. costa is the carver and he is kit's brother. sorry, too late.

i have no idea yet if there is a season four. i think there is since there were stuff that were not revealed. or were there? i think i need to rewatch closely.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

sunset boulevard of broken dreams

i took this photo from the boardwalk of huntington beach two weekends ago, after a couple of my friends and i had a long walk on the beach, after a hearty meal of crabs and more crabs (and shrimps). for some unknown reason, i enjoy staring at this photo. the sunset was so fleeting, you can see the sun almost rushing down. it is very rare for me to witness sunrises (since i am so not a morning person), sunsets have become my favorites (sort of). well, that is if i ever catch one (and not stuck in the office, or somewhere else).

from my mailbox

first up, happy birthday to one of my good friends, pierre. where's dinner?

i don't usually do this, as in post stuff from my mailbox. for the past weeks or so, i've been contemplating about an article/essay about women and monogamy.

just that i've been talking with some women (some attached, some not) who are thinking of straying (while attached) and who have strayed (now not attached) and it led me to think, is polygamy no longer exclusive to men? what happens if an attached woman (married, engaged, with a boyfriend) gets sexually attracted to another man? and how many women have entertained thoughts of being with other men? so many questions. take it away, carrie bradshaw.

PRESS RELEASE

The Truth About Women And Monogamy:

What Do Women Really Mean When They Say They Are Unhappy?

Statistics on affairs are notoriously unreliable. Since Kinsey’s watershed study reported that 29 percent of wives and 50 percent of husbands had affairs by the time they were 40 years old, other research has put the stats as low as 15 percent of women and 25 percent of men to as high as 60 percent of women and 75 percent of men. The one consistent factor is the sense that women are more “naturally” monogamous than men.

A new report challenges that theory. Michelle Langley, author of Women’s Infidelity: Living in Limbo: What Women Really Mean When They Say, “I’m Not Happy,” conducted research over a 10-year period that indicates that women do, in fact, cheat as much as men.

Even more surprising, Langley says marriage and fidelity may be more difficult for women than it is for men because men who marry in their mid to late twenties are moving away from their sexual prime; whereas women of the same age are just beginning to move into theirs.

Additionally, society’s expectations of male monogamy are lower, so men have less difficulty reconciling sexual interest in other women with the maintenance of a happy marriage, she contends. Women, on the other hand, see sexual interest in another man as an indication that something is wrong---with their husband, with their marriage, or with themselves.

The changes in women’s hormonal balance as they age---specifically the unmasking of their testosterone have been drastically minimized. Langley said most of the women she studied were not prepared for the dramatic increase in their desire for men outside of their primary relationships.

Recently, the media has focused attention on relationships between older women and younger men. Langley says it is actually quite natural for older women to be sexually attracted to younger men because younger men have increased desire and stamina.

According to Langley, most of the prevailing beliefs we hold about women were created in order control the sexual behavior of females in an effort to ease paternity insecurity in males. She says when females give birth they know the children they give birth to are biologically theirs. Males, on the other hand, prior to DNA testing, had to rely on the faithfulness of their partners; which is the reason a sexual double-standard emerged.

However, over time, the sexual double standard gave way to a false belief that females were, in fact, naturally monogamous. Now due to economic freedom and DNA testing, Langley says we are beginning to see glimpses of women’s true sexual nature.

Restlessness, while long understood in the male context, has been little explored among women. Langley’s study shows that many marriages proceed to divorce without the wife ever having explained—or even identified—the sexual restlessness that is in fact the root of the problem.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

2005: A Year-End Review

Find the first entry for each month of 2005 in your blog. Post the first sentence/paragraph of that entry in your journal, and that’s your "Year In (Year-End) Review" (note: songs, announcements, surveys and blogthings do not count. they should all be legit blog entries).

January - a couple of my friends and i braved the rainstorm on the last day of 2004 to troop to the sin city and celebrate there the end of the year and welcome 2005 with a bang.

February - i had dinner with cher calvin last night. yes, the famous cher calvin. thanks to the owners of goldilocks for inviting me. cher's in town because she is moving to la-la-land. she is moving from fox 5 in las vegas to the wb [KTLA channel 5] network here in los angeles.

March - yes, i am back. finally.

April - nora aunor is in the headlines again. this time, however, is not about how she conquered cairo for her dramatic performance as flor contemplacion years ago. nor is she on the papers again for an upcoming concert somewhere in carson city.

May - this morning, i covered the launching of the 'asian pacific american heritage month' at the chinese-american museum in downtown. mayor hahn was there, with some of this year's honorees.

June - Consul General Marciano Paynor, Jr. and Deputy Consul Hellen Barber officially opened “Flavors of the Philippines, Part 2,” a gastronomic feast of Filipino cuisine at the New Otani Hotel in downtown Los Angeles with a simple ribbon-cutting ceremonies Wednesday.

July - i spent my entire morning (and some parts of the afternoon) covering the inauguration of the new mayor of los angeles.

August - it's the first day of the eighth month of this year.

September - less than 24 hours before my flight...

October - hi folks! i'm actually back in la-la-land once more.

November - yup. i am going home. again. by home, i mean manila. the philippines. [insert nostalgic memories here]

December - Spent only half a day at work today. The other half? I spent with my family who drove to the metro to bring my luggage and to see me before my flight this saturday. Friday was not possible since there was color-coding and the office christmas party was scheduled on that day.

(Saw this from someone's blog while I was blog-hopping and I decided to do my own version. While this was not representative of what happened during the year, this summary somehow provides a quick summary of what I did in 2005. When not covering celebrities (Cher Calvin, Nora Aunor) or politicians (former Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn and current Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa), I was out and about travelling to Las Vegas, Manila, Manila and yes, Manila. Not bad. Not bad at all.)

Monday, December 26, 2005

gifts galore

i may have sounded a bit bitter in my last post about white elephants. and lest i sound like a selfish man, i'd like to say that i am not usually bitter. just that, it was supposed to be an 'exchange gift'... oh well, don't get me started.

tonight, i opened each and every gift i got. thank you guys for the thought. i really felt special.

what did i get? aside from cookies and chocolates (yum and double yum) -- i got some underwear (both boxers and briefs!), shirts (probably a dozen), a sweatshirt, sweat pants, bottles of wine (i am no drunkard), a photo album, a tic tac toe game with shot glasses, comforter, books, dried mangoes (dried mangoes!), a ben sherman backpack, gift cards, rolodex organizer, and oh yes, i almost forgot, the hydragel massager.

thank you, thank you, thank you!

merry christmas!

christmas day was spent with friends, over a lunch of wetzel's pretzels and hotdogs. marathon time, as we watched 2 movies today: the 3-hour something king kong and memoirs of a geisha. both films packed in the folks. as in. sold-out screenings. damn.

i liked both. very much. zhang ziyi is very good, as is michelle yeoh. i was half-hoping and half-wishing that filipino actors also get good roles such as those from memoirs. wishful thinking? it's christmas.

got home after dinner at sanamluang: general's noodles and garlic/pepper beef. yum.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

hating white elephants

i am officially hating, hating white elephants and all its incarnations.

i just got back from a party hosted by a friend and his brother. they invited both their different sets of friends so these friends can meet each other. my friend j called me this morning to tell me that there was going to be a 'white elephant' in the dinner party. i told myself, 'oh no, not again.'

just like i am officially a non-winner (i refuse to use the word 'loser') in any (or all) of the raffles out there (another entry), i also end up as one of the non-winners every (single) time i join a white elephant.

why it is called a 'white elephant' in the first place is unbeknownst to me. the concept is simple: it is gift-grabbing.

this spices up the boring gift exchanges in the office. or any other party for that matter. the bottomline with these white elephants: every single participant goes home with the gift that s/he likes. everybody happy. except me.

i went to the party knowing full well what my close friends brought. they were great gifts (ceiling was $30) but when it was my turn to open/grab a gift, do i choose the great gifts? abso-freaking-lutely not. i choose the sealed ones, the wrapped ones, those boxes/paper bags screaming for me to pick them. and more often than not, i end up with gifts that i do not want. always.

tonight was no exception. to make matters worse, i picked the number "2" piece, which means that i was going to be the second person who's gonna open a gift. the only gift i could grab was that of the person who picked "1". but why should i grab her gift when there are 15 other gifts there waiting for me?

i know, i know. what i am rambling about is totally not in sync with the spirit of christmas. but since i have been severly unlucky with white elephants slash gift-grabbing, i am swearing off all kinds of exchange gifts. for now. until next christmas season.

now, excuse me for i need to use my homedics hydragel rechargeable massager. oh amazon, how dare you screw me like this!

[edited to add: i am swearing off all kinds of exchange gifts and its variations. for life.]

Friday, December 23, 2005

becoming biblical

i was browsing one of my favorite blogs today when i clicked on a link about the upcoming sundance film festival.

the article says, and i quote:

According to QT's careful research, there are a total of 14 "gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender films" at this year's festival, a number that includes features, documentaries, and shorts. Among the 14 are works from all over the world, including The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros, a comedy from the Philippians about a young petty criminal who falls in love with a cop, the Kevin Smith-produced Small Town Gay Bar, a documentary about gay life in the American South, and documentary short The Tribe, "an unorthodox, unauthorized history of the Jewish people and the Barbie doll in about 15 minutes."

Yes, you read it right. The movie is brought to them "from the Philippians." Goodness.

[Here's the link if you care to read the entire article.]

Thursday, December 22, 2005

winter wonderland

while temperatures in the east continue to drop, the weather in southern california gets, well, uhmmm not so chilly.

the past weeks have been cold, and those past weeks were the last portions of fall. winter officially arrived today, and boy oh boy, the weather's just fine, fine, fine.

this one's from my neighbors at franklin avenue. i've been reading mike and maria's blog for the longest time and they have inspired me many times to change my blog's name to hyperion avenue. so much about creativity.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

first look

the mascots for the 2008 summer olympics in beijing made their first u.s. appearance last week at the conference on tourism that i attended.

snapping away... here's your first look.

fun times

just got home from a night of fun with some of my closest friends. first up was the christmas dinner we had at j's sister's house in torrance. his sister is in manila, and he was left house-sitting. what does a guy do? throw a dinner party. hehehe. we didn't trash the house, we were good, no make that great guests. some gifts were exchanged. i can't wait to open my loot.

it wasn't as wild as last year's when we invited our friends, and our friends' friends and our friends' friends' friends and later realized that it was the perfect recipe for disaster. looking back, i think what happened during those previous huge parties was inevitable. put together a group of ten people and chances are, some arguments would arise. how much moe if you put sixty or seventy people with various opinions and beliefs. some saw the world as black, others saw it as white. it was crazy.

tonight's dinner was stripped to the most basic. seven friends plus a couple of new ones - friends' friends - having dinner and drinks not-so-enjoying a b-movie from dear old manila. goodbyes (for now) were exchanged by midnight as we all trooped somewhere to get more booze. there, we saw some of the same old people, including the roomie, roomie's bff and one of my friend's ex-es. sometimes it's hard to have many friends. hehehe.

Saturday, December 17, 2005

las vegas pics

posters for the manny pacquiao vs. erik morales rematch were all over wynn resort-casino, including this one, with the casino in the background. moments after i snapped this picture, a surly guy in uniform approached me and told me nicely that i cannot take photos within the "casino floor". okay. fyn.

the right side of the bathroom, with the huge and deep tub. the left side has the toilet (with a separate door) and the small flat screen tv and another sink (his/hers?).

my really comfortable bed. damn, i could actually live here for a year and you won't hear me complain. at all.

dusk outside thehotel but i couldn't care less. in fact, i almost never left my room, except during the conference proper and when i watched avenue q.

like the bellagio, wynn has an indoor garden area, with nice, bright lights.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

holy mary mother of god!

thank you almighty!

all the reasons why i love, love alias have been restored in tonight's episode. i happened to get home early after arriving from las vegas and after a nice dinner at zakuro in little tokyo with r and c. so when i got home, i still had time to spare to watch the penultimate episode of martha's the apprentice.

anyway. jj, my-good-friend, abrams delivered with a superb episode tonight that sorta tied up season 1's SD-6 stuff with prophet five stuff with the horizon. yeah, it's confusing. it's good to see vaughn back. and the montage-type of scenes he and syd shared before. the great thing about it was they seemed to re-shoot all those scenes from the previous seasons that are crucial to whatever intel they wanted to get from syd tonight.

i was already hyper-ventilating before the last gap so imagine my shock when the mysterious, blurry person earlier was revealed as irina derevko herself. and jack and elodie discovering an eerie nursery in hungary meant for syd and the baby. and syd out-smarting doctor zhivago by telling them the wrong name even if she were all under medication and hypnosis and what-have-you. and syd sticking a ginormous needle into peyton's black, black heart. and syd finding out, at the same time that all of us did, that she's in a middle of a moving ship in the middle of nof*ckingwhere. gee.

the worst thing about all these? new episodes will air starting february, something that alias producers decided to call 'the beginning of the end.' sigh.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

quickie in vegas

not that, you dirty little mongrel!

i am in las vegas to attend the 2005 governor's conference on tourism. there's like a thousand delegates and i am looking forward to meeting each and every single one of them. not. am doing a quickie post from one of the lounges.

i am kinda feeling anti-social these days. it's one of those days i have, when i don't feel like talking to anyone at all. sigh. i wonder what triggered this.

watched 'avenue q' last night. it cost me a hundred bucks but i am not complaining. i had a really great time. for the longest time, i wanted to find out how could this musical about puppets beat the tandem of glynda and elphaba in wicked. now i know why.

avenue q is a riot. the humor is irreverent. it's raunchy and raucous. it's so unlike every single musical that i have seen, broadway or off-broadway. it is edgy. it has a bite. it's different. and i like it. so much. so much that i forked out another 20 bucks for the soundtrack. something that i do not usually do. the musical has me hooked. given the chance, i would go ahead and watch it. over and over again.

i am staying at the fabulous wynn hotel resort and spa. is it a hotel? check. resort? check. spa? check. hence the hotel slash resort slash spa thingy. my room is fantabulous. i'll post pics as soon as i get back to la-la-land. it has a commanding view of the las vegas strip. it has a flat screen tv, a 30-inch one in the bedroom and a smaller one in the bathroom. and the bathroom. my goodness. sometimes i judge a hotel's quality based on its bathrooms. it has a huge tub. probably five more inches wider and it could very well be a whirlpool already. and this is separate from the shower, which by the way is also huge. it has a his/hers vanity. the toilet is located across the hall. with a separate door and lock. and a phone. damn. i could freaking live here.

steve wynn is a genius. he's been called the 'wlat disney of las vegas.' for a reason. he's the man behind mirage before it was sold to mgm. he's the brains behind the highly-successful bellagio. and now this. the 2.7 billion dollar worth wynn hotel resort spa. gee, i am gushing. and i don't usually gush. and i am sounding like a paid hack. which i am so not.

my words are not enough. for the pictures will tell a million more words! up next.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

s as in sam

my oc-ness got the better of me this time.

since my sked has been quite a mess, i have been quite remiss in the payment schedule of my bills, so when i finally organized my list a little over an hour ago, i noticed that my citibank bill is due on december 12. a monday. technically, it's already the 11th. so even if i used my bank's bill pay (which i usually use), my payment would be late. and i would be charged a late payment fee of $39. and my credit will be tattered. okay, exaggerating. but you get my point.

so i checked my bill and read all of the fine print. i have other options, hallelujah! i can go to their website and pay my bill from there. or i can pay through the phone and they can charge me $15 for that. i went to their website.

here's the irritating part. the freaking site cannot process my application to register (i need to register before i can pay) because it was asking for my "security password." now, i don't remember ever setting a security password for this account. but the freaking site says i did. obviously, i reached the maximum number of attempts to register. they had to shoo me away. but i can try after 24 hours. sigh.

so i got my cell phone and dialled their 1-800 number. an indian-sounding representative picked up my call (after me keying in my credit card number).

rep: zhenk yu for calling zitibank eh. zekyooritee password pliz?
me: i have a password?
rep: yes sir.
me: i don't remember ever setting a password.
rep: you have a security password.
me: really?
rep: yes. it starts with an s.
me: s?
rep: s. as in sam.

the s words as they paraded in my mind. shoot. shocks (ala sassy). shiyet. shit. shit. shit.

me: uhmm. i give up. i don't remember my password. is there any other way of verifying my identity?
rep: (pause. long pause) what's your address and home phone number?
me: i recite my address and home phone number
rep: okay sir, i will call you using your home phone number.
me: okay

line went dead. i waited for 15 minutes. blog fodder. i'll blog about this tomorrow. maybe i'll blog about this now. while i wait for the indian guy to call me.

i am freaking done blogging about it and indian guy hasn't called yet. i checked my watch. it's 4 am.

Friday, December 09, 2005

X3

i am done with my fixation with rent. on to the next one: X3. coming in 2006. but before that, i have my hands full with king kong, suriyana, narnia, munich, bee season, memoirs of a geisha, the producers, good night and good luck and munich. thanks, jared.

Thursday, December 08, 2005

alias marathon

it turns out i missed only 2 episodes of alias. so catching up was a breeze.

i have no idea why they moved the show to wednesday. to get the 'lost' audience like last year? too late, i think. you have been cancelled. back to the drawing boards and show us what you have left!

what? sark? sark. he's back. and he hooks up with the almost-sydney. oh well. and sloane? bad-good-bad-good. i'm tired. make up your mind, old man. and next week. vaughn's back. me to self: how could he be back? he's dead! self to me: yeah, he's dead. but this is alias. me to self: oh yeah, i almost forgot.

so next week, vaughn (i don't know how, i don't know why) is back. whether this episode is one long f*cking dream sequence or not, we'll all find out next week. can't wait.

Monday, December 05, 2005

jet-lagged

with my jet lag in full effect, i decided to catch up on my viewing.

first up. a desperate housewives marathon. okay, one show down, four to go. alec mapa in one of the episodes? wow. way to go alec! bree van de camp's son andrew is eeeeeeeeeeevil. almost like george.

next? alias. grey's anatomy, reunion and the oc.

sounds like a plan.

christmas party

i was feeling kinda light-headed when i was awakened by my ringing cell phone.

okay, so it's christmas party/lunch! we were kinda early and i forgot to bring the box of chocolates that we were supposed to bring to manila but it was already an excess baggage so we left it. and i was supposed to bring it today since the prizes for some of the games would we those chocolates. oh well.

by the time we got back, there were plenty of people already. i heard they were expecting a little over a hundred people to attend. that would be us, the staff, some of the boss' relatives, and guests, guests, guests.

lani misalucha was there and sang 'o holy night' with the society of seven. it was awesome. biritan sa tanghalian! goodness.

after the whole she-bang -- games, gift-grabbing, the usual stuff -- it was time to say adieu. jojo and the gang from the san francisco office wanted to have coffee with us, since they knew we were off to the grove to watch rent. we bought our tickets first for the 835 pm screening and went to coffee bean to meet up. we were later joined by mase and christien. it was fun. sharing and swapping stories while sipping hot white chocolate dream latte. the weather was cold and breezy. perfect.

jojo and the gang decided to split around 7ish. went around the mall to kill time. right before we entered the cinema area, someone said, "momar?" i looked around to see who it was.

small world ana. it was marivi. with her bf. we exchanged pleasantries. she told me she'll drop by my office next week to pick up the cd you sent. she says hi!

okay, rent moment.

i found some scenes funny (without meaning to). i give them 10 for loyalty to the material but i was hoping to see more. it was alright, the cast was good, specially idina menzel (maureen) and rosario dawson (mimi). i was crying in some of the scenes. in fact, the same scenes that made me cry while watching the musical.

star-struck moments. saw rachel ray (food network) by crate and barrel. hehehe. food network fans. and the bonus. on our way up to the parking structures. saw the hulk. lol. eric bana. fine!

Sunday, December 04, 2005

still a saturday

what really weirds me out everytime i fly from manila to los angeles is the fact that i may already have a really long day in manila, and i may have slept the entire 12-hour flight, but by the time we land, it's like, well, it's like travelling back in time. anyhow.

so there i was, with my last-minute shopping and stuff. all set and ready to go.

off to the airport we went. same o, same o. my boss was in seat number 2 something. and moi? some 79 rows down. 81A to be exact. the lady in the counter seemed to have liked and me and gave me a seat in the exit row. which means more leg room. which means ic an stretch, stretch, stretch. note to self: request for an exit row seat next time i fly.

and i thought everything was fine. mr. 81B, yes my seatmate, was having a problem. he got his foot sprained in some basketball game. like i cared. in the course of the flight, he stretched his right foot up and placed it on top of the plane's emergency exit door, which was right in front of me. i gave him the dirtiest look i could muster. how dare he invade my personal space! and he did this quite a number of time.

as if this was not enough. mr. 82A kept on nudging and nudging and nudging my back. he would use his foot, his knees, his hands to push the seat in front of him. that was of course my seat and it was not funny.

the only thing that kept me sane was 82C. Hah.

and i'm gonna stop right there.

so J picked me up. i so wanted to watch rent but our some of our friends were in a birthday party and J told them we were gonna drop by. drop by we did, and spent a couple of hours. there goes rent. i still have tomorrow.

after what seemed like eternity, J brought me home. this was shortly after midnight. i unpacked some stuff. cleared my bed. tried to sleep. good god, i can't sleep. one sheep, two sheep, three sheep, four sheep....four hundred six sheep. next thing i knew it was six in the morning.

and i was still awake.

Saturday, December 03, 2005

ang pagdadalaga ni maximo oliveros

i managed to crack a smile when i first read the title of this movie months ago. back then, all i knew was that the film has been scheduled to make the rounds at international filmfests. and it was directed by aureaus solito, a theater stalwart from the state university.

i missed probably the first five to ten minutes of the movie. bummer. no thanks to the slow-moving staff at tokyo tokyo.

the movie was simple and beautiful. no big-name stars. no dazzling special effects or computer animation. just a simple telling of a story about a young boy falling in love for the very first time. which happens to almost every single boy out there, right? except this boy was falling in love with a policeman. hence the title, nagdadalaga na si maximo. (they're calling the film 'the blossoming of maximo oliveros' in the filmfest circuit.)

the love story is universal. since almost every human being in this world goes through that phase called first love. and in this movie, the audience gets to see maximo falling in love for the very first time. the only problem? the policeman gets in between maximo and his loving family of small-time crooks.

nathan lopez was very good as the 12-year-old effeminate gay boy while jr valentin proved that he can also act, essaying the role of the principled policeman. and by the way, maximo has a blog! who knew.

the best scene for me? maximo doing the cartwheel after he stole a kiss from the surprised policeman. you could just feel him gliding, ecstatic and in love na in love.

ang pagdadalaga ni maximo oliveros will be the first filipino movie to compete at next year's sundance film festival in park city, utah.

the best part about watching the film? knowing that some of the people i worked with before had a hand at making this great indie film, including lily esquillon, who was the film's production designer. bravo, lily!

craving for camiguin's pastel

i had to make some last-minute shopping. and since i was particularly craving for the pastel from camiguin (which i left at, well, forget it). there was no way i was going back to the tiendesitas just to buy some. the good news was, i saw some at the market market. yes, the ones that sell stuff on carts.

so off i went to market market. bought two boxes again. hehehe. i wandered around the huge mall and i was led to the cinema level. and then i saw it. the film i have been reading about was showing here. at 12:05 pm, first screening. time check: 11:30 am. i had 35 minutes to eat my lunch. two floors down.

one of my favorite iced teas in town is tokyo tokyo's red iced tea. yum. so i ordered a big plate of beef gyudon. plus a large red iced tea. P79 for the gyudon plus P25 for the red iced tea. anyway, their service was kinda fast so after a follow-up, i got my meal at 12 noon. obviously, i had five minutes to finish off my meal. plus a dash two floors up.

the film was already starting when i entered market market's cinema 2.

on the second day of christmas

my true love gave to me: a party at mega saisaki!

yes, the second day of december saw us having a christmas party already at the sm megamall. and i thought our december 4 christmas party in la-la-land was way too early. anyhow, dinner was great.

rushed to greenbelt after the party to meet a friend at coffee bean. talk, talk, talk. on our way out, i bumped into c, a friend i was scheduled to have dinner with before i left but she was so busy. hehehe. and i was too busy. had dinner with her last month at the m cafe. after that, i bumped into her about three times at the coffee bean. tonight marked the fourth time.

anyhow, as soon as i got home, i started packing. i managed to sleep around 3ish.

Friday, December 02, 2005

family time @ tiendesitas

Spent only half a day at work today. The other half? I spent with my family who drove to the metro to bring my luggage and to see me before my flight this saturday. Friday was not possible since there was color-coding and the office christmas party was scheduled on that day.

Anyhow, met them at my cousin's store in QC, then we moved to Tomas Morato to have lunch. I've been craving for Ponciana's since my first trip to Manila last March. Ponciana's is a restaurant along Timog and they serve really good, yummy, home-cooked meals. My co-workers at ABS and I would drive to Ponciana's if we decide that we do not want to eat canteen food or delivery or aristo-carts or the pricier ones in the vicinity. It was like our comfort food station. And today, I introduced Ponciana to my family.

We had quite a feast. I ordered the boneless tinapang bangus (whole) which I later found out cost us P230.00. I also ordered lengua estofada, squash with okra with pork and shrimps, grilled pork belly with fried eggplant, puso ng saging with baby squid, and a couple more. The damage totaled P1,200 plus. Not bad. We were all full to the brim by the time we were done.

We were supposed to go to Divisoria to check out 168, which my former ABS colleagues have been telling me about. Woe to us, nobody knew how to go to Divi. I did not know how to go there since I have never been to Divisoria. Rather than risk getting lost en route to 168, I decided to just bring them to Tiendesitas.

Went around the various villages. When we were done, had some snacks such as puto bumbong, (the wait for the bibingka was quite long), fresh fruit shakes, vigan empanada, okoy and some fruits. awesome.

Bought two boxes of the pastel from Camiguin (which I forgot in the car when they left). Poor me.

Next stop was Market, Market where we did some grocery and shopping for the coming Christmas season. Got tired and hungry so off we went to Greenbelt for dinner. Parking was such a problem it took us more than half an hour circling the parking area. Had a quite pricey but delicious dinner for six. Yum.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

one-on-one

taken at the press room of the recently concluded 19th philippine advertising congress held at the waterfront hotel in cebu city. wala lang. mig ayesa is one cool dude.

Monday, November 28, 2005

let the countdown begin

six days and counting.

i'll be back in hell-ey by saturday night. in time for our christmas party on sunday. yes, christmas party. on the 4th of december. 21 days before christmas day. three weeks. wow.

grabe, it's called ratsada.

anyhow, had a great lunch and coffee with a some of my "oldest" friends. 15 years and counting. hah. met up with some of my freshman college friends. had lunch at masas in greenbelt 3. then coffee at cbtl, where else. the longest lunch/coffee in the world. hehehe. guys, see you wherever soon.

lagare

some of the best days in this trip of mine were spent at home, with my family and my nieces. sigh. too bad i didn't get to spend more time with them. oh well.

left manila early on sunday morning to have lunch and dinner with my family and come back to makati around 9ish in the evening.

need to write some stuff. blog updates to resume soon.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

st. louis loves dem filipinos

that's the title of the pinoy musical i watched at the afp theater today. it's a reincarnation of the straight play i watched in up more than a decade ago when it premiered.

the musical was very good and the actors who performed were good as well. i missed franco laurel though, since it was joaquin valdes, the other guy who performed the role of fred tinawid, the show's "story-teller." isay alvarez was very effective in her role as the wife of the protagonist bulan, performed by arnold reyes.

too bad, not a lot of people were at the afp theater when i watched. (it was the penultimate show)

taken with my camera phone. the producer asked us to move to the middle row since the place was not packed.

Friday, November 25, 2005

no freaking way

dunzo. that's laguna beach talk for 'the end'. and it's happening with alias which will air its last episode in may. which means there will no longer be a sixth season. dunzo.

i am saddened by the news, but as fans, what can we do?

could it be that our dear old j.j. has decided to abandon alias because he has landed this little-known movie called mission impossible 3 starring this little-known actor named tom cruise? or could it be because he has decided to concentrate on this little-known show called lost, now on its second season?

whatever the reason is, consider me pissed.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

happy thanksgiving people

'you're gonna miss your turkey this year,' my friend told me earlier.

i told her, 'there's not much to miss.'

i was half-lying. there is much to miss. not the turkey though. the sale! the freaking sale. at best buy, circuit city, fry's. and then the outlet stores at the cabazon or camarillo this weekend. gee, i am breaking tradition. sorry friends. just continue the tradition without me. and i wish you the best of luck in trying to find the best sale there is. j e-mailed me earlier and told me that our friend p is going to camp out at best buy so he can be one of the first hundred who can buy a laptop for $299. damn.

anyway, it has been a very hectic week.

arrived from cebu late sunday night. then monday, we went to tagaytay highlands for a meeting. had lunch there. salpicao. yum.

then tuesday was the meeting with department of tourism. small world, saw a college class-mate. wala lang. he works there. worked from 8 to 5 today. 8 am to 5 am the next day. i was close to clocking in 24 hours. damn.

since it's gonna be thanksgiving this thursday, the ofc in la decided to proceed with the go to press for the sf edition. too bad, manila was not advised about it. half-advised was more like it. so by the time it was 12 midnight, we were rushing like fools to meet la's deadline. got to my hotel shortly before daybreak. oh well.

i think i am coming down with a flu. i hope not. i don't wanna get sick. i hate being sick.

random thoughts on a random evening

my friends back in la will tease me as soon as they see me. they'd say i put on weight again. if that is at all possible.

oh well. why would i not. i've been eating the best food this planet has to offer. no kidding.

the past week has seen me eating with my various sets of friends and co-workers in different dining places that i definitely recommend.

this week, went to dampa in libis. first time there. the concept is the same with the original in paranaque. buy stuff (and by stuff i mean seafoods, meat, fruits, etc) at the market (located at the back of the place). bring the fresh food to the weighing station. choose which kitchen will cook your meal (at libis, there were l6 to 7 kitchens). leave the merchandise and get inside the dining hall and wait for your food.

what we had: a kilo of suahe (shrimp) deep-fried. yum, crispy! about a kilo of tanguige made into kinilaw. yum also. just like the way they do it in davao. a medium pompano became pinaputok na pompano. a kilo (mixed) of marinated pork belly. marinated in soy sauce and calamansi was yummier than the one mixed with garlic and pepper. a kilo of tuna belly became sinigang sa miso. plus a medium watermelon. had lots of left-over but the food was great. i broke into sweat when i sampled the kinilaw because it was peppered with siling labuyo.

then, with my dorm friends. went to pier one in tomas morato. i thought that pier one was just an inuman place. i didn't know they served food.

what we had: grilled pusit, grilled tadyang ng baka, sinigang na ulo ng maya maya, kilayin, gising gising and cripy pata. the guys had steamed rice, i opted for the aligue fried rice. everything was consumed fast, except for the stuff i ordered: kilayin and gising gising. their kilayin looked like tinumis, tasted a bit like kilayin but nothing compared to how my mom cooks it. the gising gising i ordered because i liked the gising gising at both sentro and recipes. who knew that pier one's gising gising is like everyplace's salt-addled chop suey. bad. i finished my aligue rice. not the kilayin and gising gising.

for dessert, we went to annabel lee. our friend e has been wanting to go there. when all of us saw each other last march, we wanted to go to annabel lee but for the love of god, we could not find the damn place. this time, we found it. in fact, we just walked from pier one to annabel lee. we had a host of different drinks and mango cheesecake and ube/pandan cheesecake. i thought. it was not cheesecake. it was almost cheesecake. it was good.

for lunch. gerry's grill on jupiter. what we had: oriental-style sashimi, mango salad, bulalo, tinomok, sinuglaw, puso ng saging. tinomok is like bicol express and laing. meatballs are wrapped in gabi leaves and then cooked like laing. sinuglaw (i think this is a dencio's word) is a mix of kinilaw na tanguigue and grilled pork belly. puso ng saging with ground meat is good. my mom's version? still way better.

met up with my "oldest" friend for dinner at megamall. went to rai rai ken. had sukiyaki and niniku garlic gyoza while m had katsudon. my sukiyaki was good. it also cost half the amount i would normally pay for a decent sukiyaki in little tokyo. not bad. the gyoza was flavorful. we were supposed to cap the night with a cup of hot chocolate at cafe xocolat but they were already closed by the time we got there. bummer. headed to seattle's best instead. had white chocolate mocha. i'm such a sucker for white chocolate mocha. it's the same stuff i ordered from annabel lee last nyt.

and i still wonder how i gain weight fast. hah!

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

huling hirit cebu

okay, before i leave all my cebu experiences and keep it in a vault, here are two photos. stolen, as usual.

here's drew arellano (in orange!) at the airport in mactan. he hosted a segment of the gma7-sponsored dinner at the ad congress with love anover. i used to see him a lot on tfc when he was still with wazzup, wazzup. such a dork. he reminds me of d. hahaha. there.

and here's mateo, the filipino-italian kid. he's one of penshoppe's club pen models (saw his billboard on edsa on our way to the airport, that's why i thought he looked familiar when i saw him in cebu boarding the same flight). my friend m told me that this kid, at 15 is also a racer and also endorses pepsi and swatch. some lucky dude.

okay. now cebu is over and done with. except for this beautiful scene. taken at plantation bay.

now that's more than enough reason to plan my return to the queen city.

Monday, November 21, 2005

heard in cebu

i'm not going to tell na lang which hotel, but in one of our meals...

my boss: (to the waitress) okay, i'll get this, this, and that.
waitress: okay sir.
my boss: oh, puwede palang makahingi ng cream of mushroom (pointing to the menu)
waitress: (in all seriousness) ay sir, hindi puwede.
my boss: bakit?
waitress: sir, may bayad po.

yun lang.

(how fun. just finished a meeting. i am at the coffee bean in greenbelt blogging. thanks wi-fi.)

scene in cebu, part deux

okay, so after the stressing part of the ad congress was over and done with, we hied off to the beautiful shangri-la mactan. we were sipping our frozen cocktails when guess who arrives, without much fanfare?

constantine maroulis. american idol finalist. the ayala group (i found out later) brought him to manila to light the ayala christmas tree (why him, i have no idea) and brought him to cebu for a special anniversary concert for ayala cebu.

anyway, we talked with the communications director of shangri-la mactan and she told us that constantine's manager called them up and asked for a massage. hah. perks of a semi rock star. shang mactan just launched its ultra chic spa earlier this year. heard it's really good there. if i have the time soon, maybe i'll try it. bottomline: constantine wanted a spa. he got one.

fast forward to last night at the airport. guess who we saw there again? constantine again, but of course. gee, i am having a constantine overload. enough. we went to the mabuhay lounge and guess who was there? eddie gutierrez and anabelle rama. hah. and constantine.

si constantine, sa mactan international airport. wala lang.

while waiting for our luggage, i noticed this guy who's face i have been seeing on billboards all over manila. he was in our flight din. i think his name is mateo something. italian pinoy who's only 15. he's one of the new faces of penshoppe. remember club pen?

Friday, November 18, 2005

rocking in cebu

okay, so finally i found time to write something.

actually, erase that. i have been writing a lot in the past few days that i have not squeezed in time to write something here.

anyway, i am in the queen city of the south. that's cebu, of course. the opening of the 19th philippine advertising congress yesterday was rocking! mig ayesa flew in and he sang about 3 songs. he brought the house down.

lea salonga completed the 1-2 punch. she had a duet with mig and they sang the congress' theme. it was a good show.

the sessions were quite long, and tiring. i'm not complaining even if i had to wake up at 5:30 so we could be at the registration early. whew. the organizers were kinda uhm, disorganized. not organized organized. we pre-registered but when we got there, they could not find our names.

so search they did. more searching. finally, they found our names. but no photos, even if we submitted the photos way ahead of the dealine. so we had to line up and have our pics taken. kinda high-tech. oh well.

saw some old friends, former co-workers and college buddies (and crushes). hahaha. i am so dead.

i am at the lobby of the waterfront hotel and i just finished emailing two stories to LA so it could reach them in time for the press day for the weekend edition. i did the stories this afternoon. met with j earlier. he's a friend from LA and i haven't seen him for almost two years. last time i saw him was in san francisco pa. did some catching up.

some kinda star-strucky night. drew arellano was in da house. wazzup, wazzup. hahaha. he was one of the evening's hosts at the dinner sponsored by gma. with him were love anover, jaya, allan k, some starlets...my ears are bleeding with the kapuso theme which kept on playing over and over and over again. also that theme from gma's new koreanovela called jewel in the palace. stop it. stop it. now!

they gave out almost a million pesoses in raffle prizes. i won. i wish. i have no luck at all when it comes to raffles, remember? tough luck.

okidoks, i'll continue my updating...maybe tomorrow. maybe not.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

scene in cebu

mig ayesa being interviewed in the press room by a local gma talent. after this interview, mig had a one-on-one interview. with me. and this is me grinning. wala lang.

Monday, November 14, 2005

regine reigns with 'reflections'

okay, so i caught regine velasquez' show at the aliw theater with a friend last saturday.

i had the 'okay, i've heard her a lot' feeling so i was really not expecting a lot from the concert. which was a good thing. a very good thing.

while she still had all those birit moments (what's a regine show without them?), the show had its fair share of silence and subtlety, which i loved as much as (if not more) than her vocal calisthenics.

it was money well-spent. 880 pesos. row v. not bad.

she must have sung close to thirty songs, if i am not mistaken. yeah, it was that sulit. she sang mariah and whitney, kuh and sharon, sheena easton, some of her own hits, barbra streisand. heck, she even sang spice girls, fer cryin out loud!

one more thing that i really loved? hearing her sing songs live for the very first time. which means that she decided to sing not those all-too familiar songs she used to sing, but the songs she grew up to, songs that have particularly deeper meaning for her, songs performed by the artists she looked up to when she was growing up.

and here's one of regine's guests: ai ai de las alas. she practically stole the entire show from regine with her witty antics and her birits as well. here, while singing on the wings of love with regine, ai ai glides with her butterfly wings (and harness).

damn blogger. i converted both this and the constantine poster to become vertical but it always uploads like this. shoot.

constantine & MiG

constantine maroulis and mig ayesa are in town. woohoo.

saw this poster of constantine's at greenbelt 4 earlier.

mig is going to perform at the opening of the ad congress in cebu. which means that i am going to see him. woohoo! and guess who else will be performing? lea salonga. hoot!

Saturday, November 12, 2005

sorry, martha

and now, this piece of news. nbc tells martha stewart: you're fired!

or rather, we're not going to renew your show for another season. sorry.

too bad, i kinda liked watching this show. i saw around 4 episodes, no more, no less. oh well.

jack's. just jack's

had a wonderful evening with a really great friend and her probee earlier at jack's (the fort strip).

it was dinner and dessert and we just stayed there for hours. for four hours! time flies fast when you're having a really good conversation about anything and everything under the sun. by the time we got out of jack's there were already a lot of people outside. hey, it's a friday and i guess people just want to hang out and de-stress themselves.

the only thing i did not like? traffic to the fort from salcedo was terrible. it took me forever (and a hundred twenty pesoses) to reach my destination. it's just great that i plan ahead, so i was not late. hehehe.

i had my favorite salpicao dish. yum. last september, i vowed to stay off from salpicao since i had a salpicao overload then. how could i say no? it's good i followed my instinct. their version was good, garlicky without it over-powering the beef's tenderness and flavor. oh goodness.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Shangri-la

Just got back from the grand launching party of St. Francis Towers at the Shangri-la Place. St. Francis is the second condo project of the Kuok Group after the Shang Tower in Makati.

Earlier during lunch time, we attended the media party for the launch. I won something! For once. Some stuff from Crabtree & Evelyn. Oh well.

The program earlier was hosted by Angel Aquino. I wanted to talk to her and reminisce (hah!) but we had to leave early. Saw some Pinoy celebs. Hahaha. Babaw. Mother Lily Monteverde arrived with a full force of starlets and wannabes. Some notables? Iya Villania, Paolo Paraiso, Tonton Gutierrez, Katya Santos, Ian Veneracion, Bianca King, Jeffrey Hidalgo.

The model units are beautiful. I am particularly smitten with the one-bedroom designs. The studio units were awesome as well. One studio unit costs at least 3 million pesoses! Damn. A total of 1,200 units (from studio to 2-bedroom units) will be delivered in 2008.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Bruno

That’s the name of my new friend. How I got top meet him? Read on.

I worked 24 hours straight last Monday (if you think that is not possible, in my world, I tell you it is) so after clocking in about four hours of sleep after a day-long work, I dragged my ass to Shangri-la Mall to have lunch at 3 pm. On my way there, I dropped by the StarMall (formerly called Manuela) to visit their cell phone district. I badly needed a charger for my Sony Ericcson since I brought the wrong charger. How stupid. Anyhow, with my bargaining talent, I got one for a hundred bucks. How cool is that. I hope it works.

I crossed over to Shangri-la because I needed some pampering. Hah. How fitting.

I went straight to the guard to ask if there were any salons in the mall.

Me: Excuse me, may salon po ba ditto?
Guard: Ah oo, meron.
Me: Saan po?
Guard: Sa fifth level po sir.
Me: Ano pong pangalan?
Guard: Shoe Salon

I think I fainted.

Shoe Salon. At Shangri-la Mall.

So I went up the different levels of the mall to see who could give me a decent haircut. My last two trips to Manila saw me going back to David’s my trusted salon back when I was still based here. The first one was in Megamall, the last one in Glorietta. Needless to say, I was left kinda expecting for more.

So this time, I was not going to David’s.

On the fourth level, I saw hope. Closer look: Ricky Reyes. Hmmm. No. Thank You. But I had to have my haircut. Now. So I relented, went in and asked. The people were snooty. “Wala pong available. Isang oras pa po!” So much for treating customers nicely. I said Thank God, and scurried outside.

An escalator ride up introduced me to my new friend Bruno. He was so inviting I found myself getting inside. I was not waiting long when my stylist uhmm barber appeared. He whisked me to my chair.

At first, I was taken aback when he checked my hair. I don’t know but maybe it’s my shampoo here or the weather or whatever. I’ve got flakes. Nasty flakes. “Ay, may dandruff kayo sir!” he said matter-of-factly.

Slightly embarrassed, I let out a silent “Oo nga eh.”

He asked if I wanted to get it treated. I might have said yes.

After my haircut, he brought me to the lavatories at the back and washed my hair. He led me back to my chair and showed me the oil/liniment he was going to use. He brought out a brush that felt like steel brush on my scalp and started scraping my head. At first, I thought I was gonna bleed.

He massaged my head with the oil. Brought out the heating thing (you know when people want to have their hair permed?) and asked me to just relax. He massaged my left hand, my right hand, my back, all while my head was being heated by this thing. After about an hour, he led me back to the lavatories, shampooed my hair, rinsed it, put some conditioner, rinsed. My hair was in nirvana. Never has it been pampered this way.

Back to the chair. He gave me a quick head massage that felt really good. Really good. And then he did the unexpected. He started kneading/mashing/massaging my face. It felt funny, but it was not. It looked funny as well. It was gooood. If I can, I’ll try to do it on my own soon.

Some more massage here and there and I was ready to go. Hello, world.

At the counter, I asked how much I had to pay. P590. 10 dollars and change. I pay this amount at Fantastic Sam’s and I get about a fraction of what I experienced with Bruno. Hay, life. Ang saya saya. I’ll try to meet with Bruno again before I fly back to hell-ey. He’s that good. I wouldn’t mind returning for a second round.

Happy

Had dinner with some ABS friends at Gilligan’s Island near ABS. We went driving all over Morato and Timog to find out where we’d eat. There were a lot of choices and we were tempted quite a lot but we settled for some place we haven’t tried. This was Guilly’s.

My friends decided to eat light. I was the only one who was hungry so I ordered what I wanted: bottomless iced tea (here I go with all my bottomless stuff), fresh lumpiang ubod and binagoongang lechon kawali. Yes, you read it right. The lumpia was delicions but the BLK rocked my freaking world. My friends who wanted to eat light ended up eating from my plate.

Among the stuff we shared: garlic mushroom, vegetarian spaghetti (for my vegan friend) and sizzling seafood. Yum!

I am happy that I am here, that I have time to spend with my friends again. Friends, old and new. By the way, I have a new friend. Nice!

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Sam Milby Overload

Yes, if there is such a thing: I am having a Sam Milby overload.

Let me tell you who Sam Milby is. He is one of the Pinoy Big Brother housemates, who unfortunately (depending on whose side you are on) got evicted last Saturday.

Jianne, my four-year old niece was somehow affected when Sam got the boot, according to my sister-in-law. She apparently remarked, “Ang cute niya no Ma?” My niece knows her boys. Hahaha. My two other nieces are also PBB viewers.

Anyway, Sam has been hogging the limelight from the moment he joined the house as a replacement for a housemate who had to leave the house to attend to her dying father. This Fil-Am looker (formerly based in Dayton, Ohio) has got it made.

[edited to add] Stayed up kinda late last night and I was able to catch Kontrobersyal on ABS. And what do you know, Boy Abunda has an interview with Sam. For the first time, they showed long video clips of him figure skating. He’s quite good, if I may say. Triple salchows, double axels, he nailed them all.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Blogging in Honolulu

That should sound sweet. Ho-no-lu-lu. But it doesn’t. Too bad. I’m here for the required “technical stop” for almost one hour. One hour!

They should just have allowed us to sleep. Or perhaps, outside the aircraft to smell the fresh air that Hawaii has to offer. But no, due to heightened security, no one was allowed to leave the plane. No one was allowed to leave our seats as well. Hah!

It has been a very stressful night.

It was agreed upon that we would meet at the airport at 6:30 pm. I was there with my friend J at 6:20. I was advised to wait, so wait I did. And wait, wait, wait.

Finally, about 7:15, I was told to have my baggage x-rayed. So I went to the X-ray are and had my baggage x-rayed. An airport employee then escorted me back to the airline counters. By now, I am no longer supposed to touch any of my checked-in baggage. I have 3. My usual 2 Samsonites and a small traveller’s bag containing chocolates (tons of Ferrero) from the office, chocolates for the Manila people from my former roomie M, P’s stuff for his dad and some other stuff.

By 7:30, my boss and his friends arrived. They went straight to the First Class/Business Class checking in. By now, I have let more than 10 people in my line to go ahead of me because I was waiting for them. My boss then motioned for me to join them in their queue.

Bottomline: I have problems with my tickets (as I figured the moment I got them). On departure and arrival, both said “OPEN”. I didn’t mind about my Manila departure being open, but my flight tonight should assure me that I am in. But it said, it was open.

It turns out that the flight is complete full. No, erase that. Over-sold. Which means that there will be a waiting list. And obviously, I was going to be in that list. The problem with waiting lists is the fact that they can kick you whenever they want to, whenever someone with a higher stature (i.e. Mabuhay Miles Elite or Mabuhay Miles Premiere Elite) wants to get in the flight.

I was not really keeping my hopes up. It didn’t help that between me and my boss, we had a total of 10 pieces of checked in luggage, 3 for me and 7 for him. In fairness, his 7 included 2 artist’s portfolio. But then again, that was five.

So we decided to just leave the chocolates behind since it would be costly for us to pay for excess baggage.

That was probably the longest stay I have had in front of an airport counter. No kidding. It was excruciatingly stressful. In the meantime, the plane has started boarding passengers. Okay, so I won’t make it. Big deal! Yeah, big deal. I’ve got almost everything planned already. Hate it when that doesn’t happen. Sure, I can be left oif from this flight but for sure, I’d be in tomorrow’s flight. How’s that for peace of mind?

“What? What do you mean I am not confirmed in tomorrow’s flight if I get bumped off tonight? What the flying f*ck?”

Expletives not actually said. I was just so frustrated.

It turns out that the problem lies on my ticket. My freaking tickets. Which arrived in my office at 3:00 pm. Less than six hours before my flight! The type of ticket that was given me was not “allowed” to be confirmed in events such as this. It’s like the bottom feeder tickets. Damn.

How pathetic was that!

Anyway, thank God for my angels. My name was called. My friend J was still there. I left him the bag of chocolates, I hope he doesn’t eat em all. Hahaha. Kidding! Thanks for staying with me.

So off to boarding.

There were only less than ten people in the line when I reached my gate. Tough luck, everyone was in the plane already. In the middle of the tube, there was this mean-looking rude guy (there’s a reason I am tagging him as the mean-looking rude guy). He had a weighing scale (uh oh) and he was asking a couple to leave more than half of their hand-carried baggage since they were over weight. I pitied the couple so I must have stared a little longer. The mean-looking rude guy then singled me out.

“Hey you!”

He was calling me. He ordered me to put my carry on luggage on top of the sacle. It recorded 26.5. By now, I was already furious, yet fearful. Furious because he let hundreds go before me (they were all still in the tube) and I know for a fact that these people did not have just 20 lbs in their hand-carried bags. Fearful because he might ask me to weigh my messenger bag.

Gathering all my wits, I told him that I had nothing there but this laptop. I showed him the laptop case. Thank God he did not see the rest of my bag’s contents. It was 18.5 when the guy at the economy queue asked me to weigh it.

So he relented. He said. “Over yung handcarry niyo sir Next time, bawasan niyo ng 6.5 pounds.” Okay, mental note.

I said, “Okay po” and he let me go. My problem was over. The couple’s problem was still there. I pity the person who would be nosy enough to stare at them on his way to the tube.

So I finally went to my seat. 34G. Aisle seat.

I attempted to put my luggage on the overhead bin when I realized that my contact lens stuff was at the back pocket of the bag. I brought the luggage down, and on its way to my chair came a loud thud.

“Aray, array, araaaaaay!” a middle-aged woman screamed. The corner of my 26.5 lb bag hit her head. I had no idea what I was gonna do. I apologized profusely. Others came to her rescue, asking her what happened. She pointed at me.

I felt as if I had raped her and the people within a few rows had dagger looks directed at me. Just my luck. I wanted to disappear!

I settled on my seat. I realize later she was seated behind me. 35H. I could feel her stares slicking my back. Stop it!

Then she asked for the flight attendant. She wanted ice. This was not good. She told the FA what happened and now her head, or at least part of her had was starting to swell. My goodness. When will this end?

Anyway, I decided to sleep but I couldn’t. I decided to watch what was being screened. It was ‘The Island’ starring Scarlet Johanson and Ewan McGregor. I’ve never seen the movie before so it was a pleasant surprise watching it. Some futuristic look gave me an idea what Los Angeles would be like in the next century. Not that I’d still be here. Oh well, I’m going nowhere.

That was the past five and a half hours in capsule.

And I am reporting live from Honolulu!

Friday, November 04, 2005

brokeback mountain

i brough my friend j last night to an advance screening of the film 'brokeback mountain' directed by the awesome ang lee.

the story is quite universal as universal is. the only difference is, this is a romantic love story between two cowboys who meet and fall in love while working together as sheep ranch hands near Wyoming's Brokeback Mountain. in middle freaking america. yeah, the red states. in 1963! damn. and the film follows this romantic tale between the two that stretches for 20 years! double damn.

it stars jake gyllenhaal and heath ledger. (i've seen jake quite a number of times, sipping coffee by fred 62 along vermont/los feliz.) he gave a very fantastic and really believable performance that i do hope he gets recognized by the critics. heath was very good as well, especially in the last few scenes. no, i am not gonna give away the details. click here for the trailer.

there are places we can't return
there are lies we have to tell
there are truths we can't deny

after the film screening at the fine arts theater in beverly hills, one of the people from variety (the sponsor of the screening) went onstage and called on ang lee. it was such a pleasure listening to this man who, with his brilliant direction of commercial and non-commercial films, has broken into mainstream hollywood. he's a role model, i think, for the thousands of asian-americans who want to make it big someday.

and my new favorite movie quote: i wish i knew how to quit you!

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

iSmell

nyak nyak nyak.

i knew someone would think of this eventually. iSmell, anyone?

thanks, jared.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

going home

yup. i am going home. again. by home, i mean manila. the philippines. [insert nostalgic memories here]

super short notice. i did not want to announce it because it might get moved to a later date (like what happened last week). anyway, to all my friendships in manila (and cebu!), i'll see you again soon. i'm leaving los angeles this friday.

i'm quite excited about this trip because i am making a side trip to cebu to attend the 19th philippine ad congress at the waterfront hotel. damn. i miss cebu. i've been there more than ten times in the past because of my previous work and i've been to every town and city, from mandaue to carcar, from bantayan island to moalboal. anyway, the trip will be short so i'll try to make the most out of it.

the past few days saw my relatives visiting me with their padalas. that is such a filipino trait. padala. pasalubong. i am all for keeping up the tradition, but then...

anyhow. belated happy halloween!

Sunday, October 30, 2005

ode to pain

i was cleaning my computer today when i came across this, which was sent by a friend from canada. wala lang. reliving the moment. he had no title back then. i suggested 'ode to pain'. hah!

dreamt of you last night
woke up sad, crying inside
thought i was sober and thru
i was left here still thinking of you

everyday i sat and start
forgeting things, going nowhere
imagining i was there beside you
never thought i'd hurt much but i do

wondering why, wondering when
when will i ever see you again?
why did we, have to end?
can the pain pass me by?
can my heart learn to fly?
can i let all my tears run dry?

Friday, October 28, 2005

because i'm an alias addict...

i got so excited when i saw these stills from one of my favorite blogs [thanks jared]. look closer. you can't miss it.

closer look at the middle photo. what's michael vartan doing there? could it be that he's aaalive? hmmmm. or is this a dream sequence? i really hate you jj abrams for playing with our minds!

anyhoot, he's there, in a scene with the pregnant sydney. what's a fan supposed to think, ha? jennifer looks good in a green sari. scrolling down, i saw this.

yay! methinks this is the planned beach wedding scene in santa barbara. sadly, i think sydney's character during this scene is hallucinating, thinking about what could have been...

Thursday, October 27, 2005

2000 and counting

here's the front page of the daily news today. 2000. that's the number of american soldiers killed in iraq. actually, using 'american' is a misnomer, since most of these brave soldiers come from different ethnicities. in fact, some of them are not even u.s. citizens yet. sigh.

i've personally covered a number of filipino-american soldiers who were slain in iraq and talking with their wives/parents/relatives is heart-wrenching.

when will bush realize that he is essentially killing all the few good men that this country has, in the name of his fight against terrorism. it's sad, indeed.

shock and awe. with the rising number of dead americans, who's in shock now?

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

a3m and lea salonga

the asians for miracle marrow matches held its eighth charity event last night at the cerritos center for performing arts. the night's big star? lea salonga.

lea signing autographs after the show. she waved when she saw me. o ha!

hehehe. people close to me know that i am a fan. well, not really. okay, fine.

i had no plans of watching because i had no tickets. normally, i have tickets but this time, i did not have any. it was a benefit concert so the tickets were kinda pricy. i didn't feel like buying.

so on saturday night, an angel named janelle called. she told me that someone was giving her a ticket for the concert. a ticket. one ticket. une. uno. isa.

i told her that i needed to find out if any of my friends will be there to watch the show. on sunday morning, i found out that i had friends who were watching, so it was okay if i flew solo.

anyhow, the show was good. it was hosted by abc-7's denise dador, another pinay who's making it big in the local broadcasting industry here in hell-ey. i sat beside cher calvin and her friend. the show, like a musical, had two acts and a 20-minute intermission.

i was not able to watch lea's concert at the universal amphitheater since i was still in manila for my vacation, but i heard she sang almost the same songs that she sang last march.

needless to say, i enjoyed the show. i loved her version of broken vow. and too much for one heart (the song that was cut from the original miss saigon soundtrack). and new york state of mind. and someone else's story (from the musical chess).

the audience gave lea a standing ovation after the show. actually, wala akong ma-i-caption dito.

there was a 30-minute autograph-signing session at the end of the concert. fans of all shapes, sizes and races took the opportunity. about a hundred people were 'turned away' because she was only scheduled to sign for half an hour. bummer.

Monday, October 24, 2005

sparkle, sparkle

i had a great night last night.

went to rex navarrete's show at the wiltern LG theater in koreatown. the show was scheduled at 9:00 pm and we were there few minutes before the clock struck 9 but the line was just too long it snaked down to the next street. lots of young people (read: college students from ucla, uci and various cal states) were there. i think they composed around 65% of the entire audience.

the long lines stretched down to denny's down the block. this show was a certified blockbuster. congratulations, rex!

the show was good. it was called 'badass madapaka.' it was (almost) a two-hour show and (almost) the same as the one i saw in manila (at the sm megamall) weeks ago. well, almost.

here's rex from where we were seated (mezzanine). i started singing 'muntik nang maabot, ang langiiiiiiit' and my friend started laughing. kidney aside, thanks for the tix winston.

as an added bonus, i got a kiss and a hug from iza calzado. woohoo. hello albert! iza's such a cool gal. i met her last week at the presscon for sigaw's participation at the screamfest. their group consisted of direk yam laranas and the film's editor manet dayrit.

the pretty pretty iza calzado after the showing of her movie 'sigaw' at the screamfest los angeles held at the loews universal citywalk cinemas. now i know why my friend albert is so smitten by her that he hasn't missed an episode of encantadia.

iza also introduced me to richard gutierrez, he of mulawin and sugo fame. hehehe. he was quite cool. my friend, however was not, when he met the former child star. he clammed up. he froze. almost.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

meet my new toy

ladies and gentlemen of the jury, meet my new toy.

i wonder how much bono got paid for this

i haven't thought of a name yet. baka sydney. hahaha. o kaya michael. shoot.

anyway, the first time i laid my eyes on it, i fell in love. damn. feeling in love with an inanimate object. i never thought it was possible. hahaha.

the road to me being happy with sydney/michael was not paved with gold, or silver, or bronze.

last week, my friend and i went to the apple store at the grove. i bought a white 60GB unit. however, when i got home, i found out that no matter what i did, the thing would not connect with my imac. it took me hours and numerous visits to various forums and websites to finally figure out what the hell was wrong. it seems that the unit i got was programmed for windows. whatever.

the left-most one is my first ipod. it's 2nd Gen 10 GB. the one on the right is my 4th Gen 20 GB. sadly though, it's dead. i think it's the battery. in the middle is the 5th Gen 60 GB that i bought and i had to return because it was a defective unit. what's wrong steve?

so i went back to the apple store to have the thing replaced. so the apple guy checked and checked and checked what was wrong with it. this was after i told him what was wrong with it. he was hell-bent on proving me wrong and make me feel stupid. so i went to the apple website itself and showed to him my diagnosis.

Your iPod isn't formatted for Windows
iPod for Windows Software only recognizes iPod for Windows. You cannot use iPod for Macintosh with a Windows PC. To see which platform your iPod is formatted for, follow these instructions.

so after what seemed like forever, he relented. we went to the counter and told me the good news: they have sold out of 60 GB units. he volunteered to call 2 other stores: santa monica and glendale to check if they have the units. they didn't.

then the clincher. he said that before he could replace my unit, he needed to go to the genius bar upstairs so they could check what was wrong with it. after a while, he was back to tell me that they could not make it work. in desperation, i quipped that out of a million units shipped, i get the most defective one. sucks big time.

anyhow, i ended up getting sydney/michael 30GB in black. i was so excited that the first thing i did when i got home was to check if it already worked. and yeah, baby! it freaking worked.

so all weekend, that was all that i did. i gathered all my CDs and ripped them using itunes. i used to own a second generation 10GB so i only selected which CDs to rip. now that i have upgraded, i can rip more CDs. now i have close to 4,000 songs and i am about to consume 20 GB of space.

damn, i should have stuck with the 60 GB. but then again, i wanted it now, now, now, so that's the price i have to pay.

Friday, October 21, 2005

am i the only one watching?

it seems that the apprentice: martha stewart has failed to to make the TV-viewing public watch the donald trump-produced show. it's on its 4th (or 5th?) episode and yet, the ratings are still not substantial. in fact, reports say that the premiere of this show posted the lowest ever rating for the apprentice franchise. ouch. to make matters worse, the donald now says that martha's show is dragging his own ratings down. double ouch.

come on, mr. trump. blaming good ol' martha for your miseries?

anyway, despite the low ratings of martha's apprentice, i still am hooked. why oh why? i have no idea. maybe i am curious about martha post-prison, and about the projects she would make these constestants do.

since i had stuff to do last wednesday, i had the episode taped. a revamp had to be done because one of the teams has been on a losing streak and they have ben decimated. for tonight, they were tasked to make a new flavor for wish-bone, a brand of salad-dressing.

bottomline: martha fired one of my favorites - jennifer, a DA from the OC over jim, a graphic artist who has proven in the past weeks that he is a pain in the ass.

what i like about martha's version is that she herself "breaks" the rules when she deems fit. normally, the project manager of the losing team brings in two of the team's weakest performers. in one episode, martha felt that the person she wanted to fire (the cause of the team's loss) was not in the three people who came back so she asked her secretary to ask the "safe" contestants to come back. in the last one, she felt that the choice on who to fire was on two contestants only: jim and jennifer. and she fired jennifer. damn. makes me not wanna watch until jim is still there.

hahaha. affected!

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

what the...

my 20-minute commute to work is usually uneventful that i spend it reading a magazine or listening to my ipod.

today, something ~~funny~~ unusual happened. there on the bus lay this huge girl. i had no idea if she was okay or not. when we reached wilshire, she got up, looked around. as if nothing happened. the people who got in the bus had varied reactions.

i sat there, wishing i had a video cam to capture the reactions of people as they pass by this view. thank god i had my cam-phone (phone-cam?).

Monday, October 17, 2005

hooked on: the reunion

okay, i am officially done with my catching up of this tv season premieres.

i am so hooked one. it's called 'the reunion' and it airs on fox. the network has aired only 3 episodes because of the championship of the baseball season (go angels! hahaha.) the show will return in november.

anyway, the premise is good. the show is about a group of six friends (like Friends). it traces their lives from the moment they graduated from high school in 1986. that was the first episode. every succeeding episodes will focus on the highlights that happened during a particular year. hence, episode 2 is 1987, episode 3 is 1988 and so on.

and the twist. one of the six friends is dead and one of the remaining five pulled the trigger. of course, they have not revealed who's dead but they (after 3 episodes) have focused on 2 of the friends, who are now suspects in the murder.

one thing great about this show is the music. the soundtrack is so cool. (80s music rules!) i hope they release these songs in one album.

okay, folks, meet the friends.

from left: samantha (alexa davalos), craig (sean faris), will (will estes), aaron (david annable), carla (chyler leigh) and jenna (amanda righetti).

the dynamics: let's divide the group of friends into two - samantha-craig-will and aaron-carla-jenna.

samantha and craig are a couple. craig and will are best friends. samantha and craig break up (told in a back story) for about a weekend. samantha and will hook up. samantha gets pregnant. whoa. f*cking friends.

the next half. carla is madly in love with aaron but he doesn't know it because he has his mind set on getting jenna. jenna, the ambition one, doesn't want to be with the "funny friend." mahal kita, mahal mo siya, mahal niya ay iba. so pinoy!

the season started with the friends having fun, since all of them are graduating from high school. at the grad party, craig had one drink too many and he asks will to go with him for a beer run. while driving, they meet an accident. craig, the rich boy suddenly feels his future crumbling. will, the sober one, decides to "save" his friend by telling investigators that he was the one driving.

complications arise when the driver of the car they hit dies. the simple accident became manslaughter. will was sentenced to 12 months in prison because of this.

3 episodes down. 17 to go. did i say i was hooked?

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