i didn't feel like going to work today but i had to, since i needed to finish some stuff.
anyway, i've been kind of sleep-deprived the past weekend, due partly to my fixation to the australian open championship (which was aired live from melbourne on sydney during the wee hourse of sunday. wee = the match ended, with safin winning, thank you very much, around 4:00 am). hewitt won the first set [6-1] but he fell on the second, third, and fourth [6-3, 6-4, 6-3].
had dinner with a couple of friends at the curry house in west l.a. at first, i thought it was an indian resto. turns out it was japanese. who would've thought. anyway, so i had beef curry (yumyum). it has another branch that is close to my office (little tokyo) so i will be bringing my co-workers toe at there soon.
nothing much happened over the weekend. not much tv, too. except for the tennis part.
humor me!
friend: [cough, cough, cough]
me: wow, that is bad. what are you taking for that?
friend: well, i have this thing that was subscribed by my doctor...
me: <>
friend: wait, that didn't sound right. prescribed. yeah, prescribed...
[at least he caught it]
on tv, over the weekend --
the guy who won abs-cbn's singer search, season 1: ahh, please don't forget to watch the primer of our show, that's tomorrow na po, search for a star in a million...
[primer, premiere, what's the difference? hah!]
the girl who people thought would win abs-cbn's star search, season 1: magandang, magandang hapon po sa inyong lahat. nandito po ako ngayon sa loob ng bulacan.
[where in the world is "sa loob ng bulacan"?]
Monday, January 31, 2005
monday blues
Friday, January 28, 2005
australian open finals
slept late -- really late last night, well this morning, trying to finish the hewitt vs. roddick match-up on espn2. i checked my watch, it was 3 am: third set, with roddick winning the first one [6-3] and hewitt taking the next [7-6 (3)]. it was 5-5 when i finally dozed off.
turns out hewitt won the third set [7-6 (4)] and screwed roddick to high heavens by convincingly winning the fourth set, 6-1. take that, andy! well, i was rooting for roddick. too bad.
the finals will be a match-up between safin and hewitt. my bet's on safin. he ended top-ranked federer's 26-match winning streak. [i was kinda hoping to see another federer-roddick championship.]
on the women's side, i think it's s. williams vs. davenport in the finals. whatever happened to sharapova?
btw, work brought me to this chinese restaurant called yong zhow in arcadia (210 north, exit huntington).
yang zhow restaurant in arcadia
they prepared dinner for me to write about it for their press release. okay, so what did we have? first up was french-style diced beef followed by chinese broccoli with dried fish, fried crispy whole sole fish in sweet & sour sauce and the house special shrimp.
feast fit for a king (or queen)
it was a really filling dinner. i liked the shrimp and the fish. the shrimp tasted really good, it was succulent and the same time crispy. the fish was good, they tried to make a variation from your typical chinatown fare. the beef? well, not too much. the broccoli was great too. it's like having daing flakes with it. it was good.
being the oc-type that i am, i had fun browsing through their take-out menu and found some funny typos/misspelled words.
well, among the dishes they serve are: chicken with mushtoom, dry veef chow fun, chinese water crest with garlie, fish filler with hot bean sauce, fresh squid with chinese broccolic, hose special frensh squid, fresh aspareagus with chicken.
i know, i know. i can't help it. <insert naughty smile>
Thursday, January 27, 2005
sharon galvez
a few days ago, i wondered if my interest in american idol has started to wane.
apparently not. because in last night's audition show, i saw this frail, petite, pinay-looking gal who belted her way out of whitney's 'saving all my love' and boy was she good. in fact, she got a 'yes' from all the four judges.
i really do hope that she makes it to final 32. by then, we'll see if the fil-ams get united once more because of yet another singing sensation. and believe me, she is waaay better than...what's her name again? oh yeah, jasmine trias.
[p.s.] a friend of mine texted me early this morning [yes, 8 am is still early] to ask/tell if sharon galvez used to be zhar [or czar] santos of smokey mountain [chedi vergara's batch]. that is worth looking into. because if she is, then she has an edge already. but then again, she's already 28. too old? not for me, and i am sure not for the hordes of pinoys here.
[p.p.s.] what's with the name sharon? how come there's a lot of pinays named sharon? in my office alone, i work with two sharons, and we differentiate them by incorporating the first syllable of their last names, thus, we have shaba and shabu. then there's this sharon who is keena's friend. she was our table-mate at the wedding. then there's sharon t., a 'dance diva' here in la-la-land who is trying to be the next jocelyn enriquez...there's sharon santos, the fil-am lady who was missing last year. police later discovered her body inside her car's trunk in chinatown. how many sharons do you know?
[p.p.p.s.] i got excited when i went to one of my fave sites, TWoP and saw this in the AI thread:
"Then a stereotypical 1970s streetwalker comes in and busts it right out, blowing everyone's mind, and she's great. Her name is Sharon Galvez (28), and the deal is that she's a Vegas cocktail waitress, so she unavoidably has Vegas all over her, and that's why she looks like that, but really she has a heart of gold. "
coffee table
my former roomie, his cousin and a friend of ours picked me up today for a quick lunch at this place in silverlake (near my place). i asked him if the food there was good, and he replied in the affirmative, adding "and their tables are pretty too."
ok, fine. pretty tables.
anyway, we got there a little after twelve. the place is called coffee table, and yes, they had really cool tables, which are all works of art. we fell in line, ordered our stuff and went to the prettiest table. well, we got the one by the porch at the back. the place is huge. it didn't look huge from the outside.
i got myself a chicken salad sandwich (choice between rye, focaccia or sour dough) plus a side (mashed potato, potato salad, pineapple slaw and chips and salsa). surprisingly, my former roomie got the exact same thing i ordered, from the bread (sour dough) down to the side (pineapple slaw). our friend got a silverlake omelet (with stuff in it like tomatoes, avocado..i dunno what else...it looked like a burrito to me) and my roomie's cousin got cheesecake and ice blended coffee drink.
my take on the food: the chicken salad was good, really good. the pineapple slaw? not too much. it's like your ordinary slaw with slivers of crushed pineapple. my friend did not like his omelet that much. he did not like it THAT much that nothing was left on his plate.
next time, i'll try one of their omelets, or the asian chicken salad. i wonder how that would taste.
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
changes
i've been quite busy trying to learn the 'html stuff' involved in making this blog more entertaining, more me. hehehe. thanks to my techie friend who studies it first for me, then just shares stuff to me in layman's terms.
it's alias night tonight. and yet another american idol. i think my interest in the show is kinda waning. but we'll see in a couple of weeks.
it was kinda stormy again this morning and i had to bring my dear umbrella once more.
my heart goes out to the families and relatives of those who were killed and/or injured by the derailed metrolink trains this morning in glendale. some moron wanted to commit suicide by parking his car right by the railroad tracks (how lemony snicket, buy yourself some originality). when the train was near, this deranged person panicked and abandones his car right there. now, there are ten people dead and hundreds more are injured because of this person's sheer stupidity.
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
angels & demons
finally, after three days and a lot of distractions in between, i was able to finish reading dan brown's angels & demons. yes, all 569 pages.
i intended to finish reading it a few days after i finished reading the da vinci code. well, i tried, but i just couldn't. i think i was a bit worried that if i do read both books back-to-back, i'd end up killing more than half of my brain cells from exhaustion. i did not want that to happen.
anyway, thanks to my colds, i was at home over the weekend., well, mostly. (this is where the distractions come in). in between, i was able to accompany my friend to faraway Gardena to pick up his rebate check (unfortunately, the person we were supposed to meet was not there). then we went to Jollibee in Carson (he had 3-pc chicken joy, i had the spaghetti and the buko langka pie. yum. while we were eating, something happened to his braces. off we went to the city of Montebello to see his dentist and fix whatever was wrong with his braces. after that, we went to costco in Los Feliz and i bought some stuff i'd be bringing home soon. then, we went home.
a couple of my friends arrived, and another one brought tons of food from a birthday party. we intended to eat out but he brought tons of food. we went out for coffee instead.
got home around 10 pm and i resumed my reading. my only distraction yesterday was when another friend of mine and i went to hollywood and highland to do some shopping. got myself a pair of jeans for nine ninety nine. not bad. we then went to westwood because he was craving noodle planet's thai spaghetti. i first brought him there with another friend after our office christmas party last year. he seemed to love the thai spaghetti. anyway, i ordered their grilled pork chop (my other favorite their is the garlic spare ribs).
got home before 9 pm. watched tv (must-see tv sunday): desperate housewives and nip/tuck. resumed my reading.
monday. went to work. read, read, read. got home, my friend bought dinner for me. i only had around 30 pages remaining. went bowling with joshua and pierre (yet another distraction). i couldn't probably beat them. damn hustlers.
got home. finished my reading stuff. i am happy. dan brown is agenius.
Friday, January 21, 2005
warm and cold
i went to the bank today and the lady who checks the line to see if everyone has properly filled up the right form approached me. she noticed the tissue i had on hand and my red, red nose, and she asked, in an incredulous tone, "you have a cold?" and pretended to stay away from me. it seems that she could not believe how i could get a cold virus when the weather is oh-so-warm.
that was the same question that has been bugging me. it would have been fine if i caught the cold virus during the nasty rainy days a couple of weeks ago. but no. i caught my cold during the time when the last drop of rain fell almost a week ago. well, i could blame the hot days and the cold nights.
i've been a sneezing bandit at work (excuse me!). i pity my co-workers. they'd probably have colds by tomorrow.
colds, coughs
i am under the weather. i didn't go to work today because when i woke up, i had difficulty breathing. turns out my colds got worse. i dunno why. hate it.
so what did i do today? nothing much. i slept and i fixed some of my stuff. i cleaned my room, somehow. emailed some of my friends. watched tv. what else? i saw the o.c. and the premiere of the apprentice. gee, time really flies so fast. we're on the third apprentice, sixth amazing race, fourth american idol and nth survivor. well, about survivor, i couldn't even care less. i stopped watching after...well, i don't remember. maybe 3 seasons ago. that was when i gave my loyalty back to friends. not that they were asking for it.
what is the best remedy for a stuffy nose? i wish i knew. so i can sleep well tonight.
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
oklahoma blues
last night was the opening night of oklahoma at the pantages theater in hollywood. watched it witha couple of friends. what can i say? it was good, but it was not able to sustain my attention from start to finish. somewhere in the middle of the musical, my mind began to wander. and wander it did.
the second act was better. well, i think the problem was that it had too much talk and less of the musical part. there's a reason why i do not like straight plays that much (pun intended). anyway, it's gonna run for two weeks here in LA, and off to the next city.
for that, i missed the season premiere of american idol (which i taped) and amazing race (which my friend taped). got home around past eleven and caught up with my soaps, plus the 2 hours of AI. time check: 3:00 am. no wonder i was so sleepy this afternoon. oh well.
got to run. i have an event at the philippine consulate.
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
10 worst snack foods
i came across this article on the msn site that caught my attention: the 10 worst snack foods, it says.
i opted to quick browse it and i noticed that out of the 10 worst snack foods this nutritionist mentioned, i regularly consume around 5 of the 10, plus the runner-up. ouch.
oh well, here's the list...in order.
1. french fries
2. donuts
3. chips (potato or corn)
4. soda
5. cupcakes and snack cakes
6. candy bars
7. pork rinds
8. fat-free cookies
9. crackers
10. pretzels
runner-up: " Those creamy, carmelly, coconutty coffee mocha-latte-frappe drinks that are taking over the universe. I love my Starbucks too, but 20 ounces of caffeine, sugar, whipped cream and milk taken once or twice a day does not a lean waistline make!"
time to rethink my options.
fickle
no, that's not the thing that you put in your salad, or deli sandwich. not funny? yeah. and so is the weather, which has been very fickle these days. what a segue.
a few days ago, it was raining cats and dogs (and kittens and puppies). yesterday, mercury shot up to mid-80s and it was hot, hot, hot. it was one of my co-worker's birthday and we went out to have buffet lunch in eagle rock (pinoy town). the food was okay, i had 4 pieces of tuyo and a couple of the really red hotdogs with my fried rice. and oh yeah, i took a small portion of the sardinas, too. what else did i have? a little of dinuguan, a little of pinakbet and a slice of daing na bangus. for dessert, i had a slice of leche flan. yum.
we then had coffee at my favorite coffee place near my place. coffee bean, of course. i haven't been there in a while (maybe a week) and i think i missed a lot. one of our favorite baristas, a reserve at the marine corps has been sent to iraq and they gave him a farewell party of sorts there last week. there was a message board there where people left messages for him. well, i just hope that he makes it back here in one piece and i hope that the war in iraq would soon be over.
for dinner, a couple of my friends picked me up and we trooped to thai town, to our favorite hole-n-the-wall resto called sanamluang. i had morning glory over crispy pork belly. i dunno why thai people call it morning glory, but we pinoys fondly call it kangkong. on pilipinas, game ka na ba last night, they said kangkong's english name was swamp cabbage. oh well.
Sunday, January 16, 2005
about last night
i have a few more additions from last night's gimmick with my friends. here goes:
we were having dinner at the wood ranch grill at the grove and we were talking about weight and carbs and stuff.
friend a: yun ang reason ko kung bakit hindi potatoes ang sides ko kundi corn.
me: paano yung bread mo? eh andaming butter non? baka naman gusto mo nang mag pa upgrade sa double xl.
friend: hindi no. kaya nga low-carbs na, para ma degrade.
(degrade is now the opposite of upgrade)
and after a few minutes, my friend's phone rang. he answered it. it was one of his friends asking if he could join them in watching a movie at 12:20 am at the promenade. since we carpooled, my friend asked.
friend: okay, i can join. but who will drop off... drop me off...uhmmm who will bring me home?
later that night, we went to a bar and met up with a couple of friends. talking with this guy named seth, who is from salt lake city, our conversation veered towards the mormons.
me: so, ur from salt like. are you a mormon?
seth, new-found friend: no, but i can be one, if you want me to.
friend a: hey, did you see this movie about mormons?
seth: yeah, what is it called again?
me: uhmm, it has 'latter' in the title.
friend b: (proud na proud) yeah, latter day saints.
(the movie's title was latter days)
Saturday, January 15, 2005
more humor
friend: uy, you know what? a friend of mine just gave birth.
me: really? that's cool. how is she?
friend: ayun, may down syndrome.
me: what?
friend: oo, lagi siyang down. laging depressed. iyak nga ng iyak eh.
(finding a new meaning to the term down syndrome)
yet another friend was on the fone once...
friend: yeah, well, that's what's going on right now
(a new caller calls my friend, and he was going to ask the other person on the line to hold)
friend: uhmm, there's another call...can i hold you?
(realizing that what he said was not, well, right...)
friend: i meant, can i put you on hold?
and there's this friend of mine, who just arrived in the us of a from dear philippines. friend a wanted friend b to do the booking for the hotel they were supposed to be staying when they visit another city.
friend a: just make the reservations for us. call the hotel directly at 1-800-HOLIDAY
friend b: ahm, ok.
(after a few seconds...)
friend b dials the phone. 1-8-0-0-0...pauses for a while, and in a perfectly modulated voice, says "Holiday?"
there's more to come. i have a bunch of really out of this world and unique friends and i hope they forgive me for this.
everyday humor
i was talking with a friend of mine last week and it hit me, i should start listing down my friends' (or people around me, for that matter) boo-boos and compile it to build a book. here's a sample:
friend: hey momar, alam mo bang tapos na ang initiation ni (name withheld). grabe bugbog na bugbog siya.
me: talaga? okay lang ba siya?
friend: oo, pero grabe talaga yung mga hataw sa kanya, lalo na sa hita.
me: black and blue ba siya?
friend: tange, hindi black and blue. violet!
sometimes, humor is lost when translation is involved, so i'm just gonna leave it like that for now. there's another one:
friend: uy, may bago na akong boyfriend.
me: that's good news. kumusta naman?
friend: okay siya. he's thai.
me: wow, so madalas kayo ngayong kumain sa mga thai restaurants?
friend: ha? bakit?
me: kasi nga di ba sabi mo thai siya?
friend: oo, THAI-wanese.
may pahabol pa...
friend: thai din ba ang food nila?
challenges
i dunnow hat's been happening but i have been getting tirivial challenges lately that have been testing my patience and my belief in world order. my friends tease me that i am an obsessive compulsive freak, or well, i can be. that holds true to my iTunes collection in my Ipod which i have been slowly building up for almost two years now. piece of trivia: i just got my iMac fully paid last month.
anyway, i got yet another surprising development this morning when i clicked my iTunes icon and it was asking me to register once more, the same thing it asked me when i first use this damned thing. by then, i already knew that all my playlists are gone. it's been ages since i updated my iPod, so i wouldn't know when this happened. this is the thing, i own one of those first-generation iPods and its capacity is only 10 gigs. the mp3s i have have reached way more than 10 gigs so there is absolutely no way they can fit in my iPod.
there's not one freaking song in my iPod now and that is making me mad.
Friday, January 14, 2005
victoria gardens
my countdown continues. fifth day without cable. how am i surviving so far? let's just say that the customer service people at adelphia already know me on a first name basis.
my co-worker and i went on a road trip yesterday afternoon to rancho cucamonga to attend the opening of her a restaurant (her client) and for me to write about it. the trip was kinda long, we got stuck in traffic, even if we were on the car pool lane already. the place is about 50 miles from downtown los angeles.
it was kinda late (we were about to exit already) when i noticed that the mapquest printout i had did not reflect the actual place that we were going to but the center of the city (in this case, rancho cucamonga). anyway, to make a really long drive (story) short, it took us almost two and a half hours to finally reach our destination.
it turns out that the restaurant is inside victoria gardens, a $200 million project encompassing more than 150 acres. the place is huge, but it was very, very pretty. specially for a shopaholic like me. the mere size of the outdoor shopping center mesmerized me, and i liked the wide open spaces as well. it's like the grove, only 20 times bigger. that's how huge it is.
anyway, the reason why mapquest did not recognize the street was because of the fact that the "streets" were "streets" within victoria gardens. and they were "made" only a few months ago, so online maps probably do not have their updated copies yet.
anyway, i had my fill of sushi and sashimi (thank you kabuki!) and the asparagus wrapped in beef, and the dynamite, and the eel roll, and the soft shell crab roll, and the calamari-stuffed eggplant. this was worth the long trip. but then again, we need not drive that far next time since there's one in hollywood, another one in burbank and one in pasadena too.
i dunno when i will be back to victoria garden again, but i do hope it would be anytime soon, so i can walk along its pretty streets and shop in its cool stores. oh well, that is if i have enough money to spare. good luck.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
star-struck
am still pissed at adelphia (see previous entries). it's the third day and it's very frustrating.
anyway, i got a call this morning from this lady network executive (overseas from the philippines) asking me if i was going to cover the presscon of manny pacquiao today. i said yes. she then asked a 'huge favor,' that is if i could cover the presscon for their news show. i said yes.
one of our drivers brought me to the beverly hills hotel around 12:30 (the event was to start at 12 noon). when i got to the rodeo ballroom, bob arum, one of the organizers was already in the middle of his speech. everyone was there, including manny pacquiao, his opponent erik morales and their respective coaches and teams.
i looked around to see if the cameraman was already there. to my surprise, i didn't see him.
since today is a press day, i opted to leave early and i decided not to linger anymore. on my way to the restroom, i saw maria shriver talking on her cell. i was struck, i must've stared at her for about a minute. she caught my gaze and she smiled and said, 'hi!'. and all i could muster was a faint 'hello!'.
on my way to the lobby, i bumped into kate beckinsale. she looked so simple sans make-up, wearing only sweat pants and a hooded sweater. she's pretty, that's all i can say.
hate, hate, hate
question: what is a couch potato's worst nightmare?
answer: blackout can be accepted but since that does not usually happen, i can give the next best answer. nothing on tv. by nothing, i mean absolutely N-O-T-H-I-N-G.
that, ladies and gentlemen, has been causing me stress the past two days. due to the torrential rains, my cable company (paging adelphia!) has not been able to provide me with its services which i have pre-paid for the month only last saturday. i know hate is such a strong word and i seldom use it (i swear) but i am using it now. i hate adelphia.
my cable channels are gone. my premium channel (the filipino channel(tfc) hah!) is gone. for crying out loud, even my local channels are gone.
i've missed a hell lot of my fave tv shows and i have no idea ho adelphia is gonna pay me for all these stressing out. i know, i know, it's trivial, and probably not worth it for some people but then again, i am not just some people. i am a couch potato. by the way, i offer my apologies to everyone who is undergoing through much more difficulties in life. i am so sorry.
however, this is my blog so i have every right to rant.
because of steve and keena's wedding last sunday, i was not able to watch desperate housewives and nip/tuck, my regular sunday evening fare. and the season premiere of 24. thank god for the vcr, i was able to tape all three shows. i have yet to meet tivo. i heard he's a darling.
the upside of not having anything to watch the past two days? i was able to catch up.
in fact, i just finished watching the 2-hour sunday premiere of 24. good lord, it was very good. as in the previous 3 seasons, i swear i am hooked. the downside? not being able to watch the next two hours during monday's premiere. which sucks. big time. i hate it when i miss 24 episodes. i've been a big, big fan since the show started with only a handful of people actually watching it.
i have been calling my cable company incessantly for the past 48 hours or so. i think, one time, i even came to a point where i actually pleaded to the customer service to please do something about it. they told me to call again tomorrow. and i promise, i will be calling. again, and again. until they restore their service. so i can move on with my life once more.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
yes, sunshine!
good morning sunshine!
for the first time in about a week, the sun shone brightly this morning. as i was typing this around lunch time, sun was still there. it's good to see the sun again. i am not a rain person, i think i've said that before. there's something about the rain that depresses me. rainy days make me really blue. i dunno if it's just me. that's why i was kinda happy when i woke up this morning with slivers of the the sun passing through my room's windows.
i am kinda pissed that my cable's not working. i've called adelphia more than a dozen times already and they can't seem to find the root cause of my problem. maybe it's because of the rain? i tape some shows during the afternoon (yes, soap opera!) so my roomie and i can watch it when we get home. my roomie called me up last night while iw as having dinner with a couple of friends. he goes, "hello? i have bad news" and i went, "hindi nag-tape?"
it's funny how people close to me already know that i get pissed by small stuff like this. he then says, "sorry if i disturbed your dinner. i just wanted you to be prepared". hah.
the cable guy will be doing the rounds this weekend, according to the customer service person i talked to on the phone. weekend. it's just tuesday. which means i won't be having my tv fix for a few more days.
sunday night on tv was just hectic. i had to tape from my room and from the vcr in the living room. in my room, i taped desperate housewives and nip/tuck while the sala vcr taped the season premiere of 24. i've seen desperate housewives and i am going to watch nip/tuck and 24 this weekend. i missed the second night of premiere (another 2 hours) of 24 last night because of the cable problems. it's tuesday night: amazing race. last week, gus and hera got eliminated.
Monday, January 10, 2005
monsoon wedding
first off, keena, one of my friends, got married last sunday, which was probably the rainiest day in los angeles history.
one of our friends, freddie, flew in from the bay area to attend the festivities. we were joined by a good friend of mine, richard, who i take my hat off, for braving the nasty weather and the torrential rains that memorable afternoon.
the church was at the wayfarer's chapel in faraway rancho palos verdes. the scene was just absolutely breath-taking. imagine a small chapel, nestled on top of a hill, overlooking the pacific ocean. it was beautiful. the chapel in itself was a gem of a beauty. the walls and the roof were all made of glass and the trees outside made it look all the more artsy and pretty. i could just imagine how keena wanted the perfect scene to be, with the beautiful sunset capping the wedding ceremony.
because of the rains, the picture-perfect scenery was somehow, well, i can't find the perfect word. it wasn't destroyed or something but it was not what was originally conceived of.
on our way to the church (which was roughly 70 miles from where i live), we passed through puddles of water along the freeway and some parts of the streets in san pedro. it reminded me of the strong typhoons back home, and the floods that used to torment commuters in metro manila. it was a long drive, made even longer by the uncertainty of the fickle weather. by the time west 25th st. in san pedro became rancho palos verdes drive south, we encountered yet another stumbling block. the road was closed. with the street being all slippery, i could just surmise that there was an accident somewhere.
we were all unfamiliar with the place and it took us a lot of effort to finally find the church. let's just say that from my place to the church took us more than two hours. anyway, it was all worth it. the wedding was at 4:00 pm and by the time we got there at 4:30, i saw steve, the groom. he told us that we have not missed a thing since it has not started yet. after about an hour, the beautiful bride made her entrance.
the entire ceremony was simple and sweet. the couple looked really happy and so in love withe ach other. to keena and steve, congratulations and best wishes! your wedding was indeed unforgettable.
Saturday, January 08, 2005
the deep end
finally, i saw the deep end on dvd. it has been raining so hard the past few days and i have not been going out. my roomie was inviting me for a nightout tonight but i just couldn't drag my ass off the couch. woohoo.
saw a couple of mtv shows. caught up with the real world philadelphia...the one about landon's drinking problem. oh well. later in the evening (as in right now), the battle of the sexes 2 is on. it's down to the final six members each. i don't care who wins, as long as it's not coral or tina. i hate loudmouths. can't these people get a life? (in the same wavelength...can't i get a life?) hah!
a good friend of mine's getting married in a couple of days. best wishes keena! i hope it won't rain THAT hard this sunday. i am keeping my fingers crossed.
Thursday, January 06, 2005
'alias' is back!
as soon as the new year set in, all i could think about was my favorite show's 2-hour premiere in its new time slot. yehey, alias is back!
the first 20 minutes of the premiere totally rocked for me. jennifer garner was just fantastic. michael vartan was back to his brooding, non-smiling ways. the rest of the cast was very good as well. i am gushing. i am looking forward to having more good episodes.
this sunday (and monday), my other favorite show, 24 is going to have a two-night premiere. this concept totally baffles me. how can something have a two-night premiere? the first night IS the premiere. but the second night? how can it still be a premiere when it has in fact, premiered the night before? oh well. i hope it's gonna be good. i am keeping my fingers crossed.
of course by now, people already know that i am a couch potato. that i love my tv. it's mid-season and my two fave shows have just premiered. wait, american idol will premiere in two weeks. hmmm. looking forward to that too.
i hope that there's another pinoy (or more, possibly) who's gonna make it to the Final 32. well, on second thought, i think jasmine trias (and okay, camile velasco) are enough. Next year na lang uli.
Monday, January 03, 2005
feliz anonuevo
it's the freaking new year. i feel old. sigh.
spent the new year weekend in las vegas with a couple of my good friends. yes, i was a frikkin' third wheel. the countdown was fun. the city government spent millions of dollars for the fireworks and laser show since 2005 is the city's centennial. tons of people...drunk people. i had one huge drink (imagine a football-sized container, filled up to the rim) i bought from the coyote ugly bar in new york, new york. it set me back $18. not bad. one drink would normally cost around 10 bucks, this one was definitely more than two drinks. which was why i got tipsy. i am funny when i get tipsy. hehehe. funny because i do things i do not normally do. let's just say i was a bit way too friendly to strangers.
the $18 drink @ coyote ugly
the travel back to LA went way too long. we left around past one and we arrived in hell-ey after eight. to make matters worse, our rental card had no cd player. that sucked.
anyway, i am looking forward to the new year. i hope that it's gonna be good, if not better than 2004 for me. over all, 2004 was not a good year, especially the tsunami/earthquake twin tragedies that happened a day after christmas.
new year countdown in las vegas
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.
we were supposed to leave around 9:00 am to avoid the mad rush to vegas but we ended up leaving around lunch-time. traffic was bad, not because of the horde of cars but because the hard rains prevented motorists from driving beyond the legal speed limit. by the time we reached victorville, the sun started showing. hah. thank you mother nature.
las vegas boulevard (aka the strip) was already teeming with pedestrians by the time we got there. the last time i was here during new year's eve was during the millennium and the year after that. next to new york, i think new year in vegas is the next best thing. we checked in our hotel and had our power naps. it was going to be a long night.
aside from welcoming 2005, las vegas also welcomed the new year with a big bang since 2005 is also the city's hundredth year. knowing the fact that the city spent more than $50 million in fireworks alone, it made me think about how far this amount could go if it were donated to the tsunami/earthquake victims in southeast asia. i know it would probably never happen but i really wondered.
back inside the casinos, drinks were overflowing, people were everywhere and gamblers were having a good time. i observed an asian couple, probably tourists, who were betting $1,000 a hand on black jack. and they had two tall piles of $1,000. they did not even seem to mind if they lost five, six, seven times in a row. sigh.
i lost 20 bucks when i played the slot machine. i felt bad. that's 20 bucks down the drain. oh well.
