i was happily watching the season premiere of desperate housewives a few minutes ago when teri hatcher's character susan mayer asked her substitute ob-gyne about his credentials jand diplomas to make sure that he's "not just from a medical school in the philippines".
funny? i didn't think not.
over-reacting? not a bit.
darn. that killed my excitement in watching the shows that are premiering today. yes, including brothers and sisters. but i'm going to watch anyway.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
an attack on medical schools in the philippines?
Thursday, September 27, 2007
economic renaissance
that's what the philippines is experiencing right now, according to gloria macapagal-arroyo, who is in new york for the opening of the 62nd u.n. general assembly.
i covered her twice yesterday - first at the clinton global initiative opening where she was part of the morning plenary and the after-dinner coffee for community leaders in the east coast at the waldorf astoria.
she touted the country's unprecedented growth - the bullish stock market (which have reached record heights, she says), the strong peso (sorry na lang sa inyo, she says. yes, that what she really said. sorry na lang sa inyo. haha), and local and foreign investments amounting to billions and bilions of dollars. my goodness, that was dizzying!
outside the waldorf, a small group of protesters gathered. they denounced gloria's human rights violation record in the country, among other issues (corruption, killing of journalists, and the list goes on). their chants were drowned by the incessant blare of police cars sirens. there were a lot of street closures in midtown manhattan, and traffic was just crazy.
the highlight of my day?
gloria arroyo. not.
at the clinton global initiative, i got the opportunity to hear bill clinton speak. desmond tutu, yes, that bishop desmond tutu sounded very inspirational and funny. president hamid karzai had his funny moments too. al gore's still passionate about the environment. had he won - oh wait, he did win, the world would have been different. oh well, i guess we should all thank florida.
okay, the highlight/s, aside from seeing clinton. shakira! yes, she's here too, and she was part of the panel about teenage concerns. had a chance to talk a bit with petra nemcova (google it, just a little bit) without realizing who she was. brad pitt talked about how their foundation is helping new orleans.
for the longest time, i had been terribly unfair to her. i've been very supportive of her so-called nemesis (go team aniston!) but yesterday, i had a chance to hear her speak. i was mesmerized. i was charmed. i was lost. and now i'm found. haha.
she caught my gaze and returned it with a smile. i'm swooning.last night i tendered my resignation as a member of team aniston (sorry jen!) and today, i'm a proud card-carrying member of team jolie! angelina jolie rocks!
she's beautiful, no question about it. i was two feet away from her and i was just in awe looking at her. then she opened her mouth, and outright i saw, i felt the sincerity in her efforts to help the children where there were conflicts before. she talked passionately about the need to help nine million children displaced by war.
she inspired me. and now i'm a fan.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
morit?
for some reason, they call the 15-seconder TVC 'morit'. in my dialect, it could mean crazy. here's the commercial i was talking about in the previous entry. kudos to bbdo guerrero. hope you guys win awards at the ad congress this november.
and here's a 30-seconder, called "faith healer" and a part of the campaign. not as much impact.
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not your usual...
when i was in manila last month, i saw one commercial that was just downright kick-ass funny. it was very creatively done. a few minutes ago, i saw this on youtube, probably a new version. hahaha. brilliant! they made it a campaign. i'll look for the first ad i watched.
i know the second to the last person personally, if i am not mistaken. i used to work with her in manila years ago. she's the daughter of deo fajardo, the quintessential kontrabida.
Friday, September 21, 2007
one week. one week!
okay. so today marks my first week in the east coast. how was it?
well, it was a bit easier than i thought. the hard part, as i've been complaining about, is the adjustment on time. the first four nights saw me sleeping between 3 and 5 am. that's bad. so on the fifth night, i felt a tad sleepy around 8, i took the opportunity to catch some ZZZs. i woke up the following day at 6 am. which is so not me. i freaked out. me waking up at 6 am is not good. it's not natural. it's going against how nature intended it to be.
but how many times have i actually gone against how natere really intended things to be? exactly!
the past couple of days have been okay. i finished five stories for the paper. i'm working on another five. today's our first issue by the way. hehehe. if you're in new york or new jersey, be sure to pick up a copy of our maiden issue here in the east coast! hope it was all worth the wait.
maybe that was one of the reasons why i wasn't able to sleep early/well during the first four days. i was anxious about the first issue. maybe. or yeah, probably, it's science's way of telling me that my body clock was already attune to the california lifestyle. too bad.
Monday, September 17, 2007
what's wrong with god-damned?
i was probably one of the happiest people last night when sally field won as best actress for my fave show brothers and sisters. she delivered a very good speech, but somehow, somewhere, she was f**king bleeped? why? who knows?
maybe because she voiced her anti-war sentiments? because she said god-damned?
“If mothers ruled the world, there wouldn’t be any god -” she said when the sound went dead and the camera suddenly turned away from the stage so viewers would be distracted. Chopped off were the words “god-damned wars in the first place.” (The phrase was not censored in the Canadian telecast.)
i'm also happy that america ferrera won for ugly betty, katherin heigl for grey's anatomy. the rest? couldn't care less.
major adjustments
whew. i've been remiss again, but what can i do? i've been having major life adjustments.
the time zone's killing me. for almost a decade, i've lived in california, so pretty much, my body clock has been stuck on pacific time. now that i'm in the east coast, my body clock still screams LA, and for the past three nights, i have been sleeping way past 3 am. last night was probably one of the worst, i slept around 5 am!
that shouldn't be a surprise though, since 3 am is just 12 midnight in LA, and 5 am is just 2. but what can i do? i don't do catnaps anymore (unless there's a drive involved, like yesterday when we had to drive around 45 miles to old bridge township to attend/cover a wake. i slept halfway through the trip. don't worry, i wasn't the one driving. hahaha).
this morning, i had to force myself to wake up at 9, since i had plenty of phone calls to do. i brewed coffee, the strongest possible, to wake me up. i think that helped. i've lined up my things to do and on top of that list is to unpack, then fix my stuff then do my laundry. all my stuff are strewn all over the apartment it's almost unbelievable. thing is, this apartment is just temporary, because we're moving to a new place come november.
hah! just the thought of me packing and unpacking again makes me weak. and yeah, i had some bruises from the moving. yup, me, who never get bruised. ever. two on my left arm and one on my right. they look nasty.
Friday, September 14, 2007
south bend, indiana
this is day 03 of the great american road trip.
we're staying at the quality hotel and suites in south bend, indiana, a university/college town. quality hotel has become the official residence of this road trip. hehehe. with less than a hundred bucks per night, plus comfy beds and really fluffy pillows, plus breakfast and wi-fi pa, what more could you ask for?
we left nebraska early this morning, passed through iowa, then illinois. we've covered more than 2,000 miles already and we have more than 700 to go! we'll probably in new york by evening tomorrow, with god's help. we were supposed to take the 'lower' route from utah but then again, humberto manifested himself and became a full-blown hurricane. we would've been stuck in kansas or somewhere in oklahoma if we pushed through with what AAA suggested. thank god for the weather channel.
it's 230 am, eastern time. lost another hour, and now i'm a full 3 hours ahead of california. i need to get some sleep...
Thursday, September 13, 2007
north platte, nebraska
Day 2 of the New York road trip was fun and visually arresting.
left utah around 9 am. gained one hour since we were already on mountain time. had late lunch around 2 pm in glenwood springs, a sleepy town an hour away from aspen. it was a looong drive traversing the state of colorado and it was about 8 hours later when we crossed the border to nebraska. a couple of hours later, we stopped for late dinner in north platte, nebraska.
gained another hour. so we're on central time now.
two of my friends from work called and told me that they're already missing me. sigh. i am missing them too. but we all need to move on, right? literally and otherwise.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
cedar city, utah
the great american road trip is on!
after a lunch meeting in chinatown, we were off. this was around 1:30 pm.
seven hours later, we were in this small town in utah called cedar city. checked in a fairly decent quality inn by the freeway. $71 with AAA card. dinner at teriyaki stix along main street (very American!), $20. finally getting a decent amount of sleep, priceless.
or maybe not. spent two hours shredding and shredding old documents and bills. yup, i brought them all, and since i had no more time to do the shredding in LA, i am doing it during this road trip. and since utah is one hour ahead, i sorta "lost" an hour already. it's actually 1 am and i am quite sleepy. but i can't sleep yet...
even if my body aches like crazy. the past week has been crazy, very crazy.
i began packing about 10 days ago, putting my stuff in small bags, boxes, paper bags, any container. i've also been having lunches/dinners/coffees with my friends who have been so wonderful to me. then over the weekend, my bosses asked if i could join the trip to vegas for the wowowee event (oh no, not again!).
i couldn't say no, despite plenty of reasons i had. among them the fact that i haven't exactly packed all my stuff, and the three days lost would be, well, three days lost. and i wasn't exactly in the mood for a vegas road trip because i was already doing a new york road trip. and a friend of mine scheduled a sorta farewell party (on the side of a bigger party, a friend's birthday).
the opportunity to travel with a couple of friends beckoned because i know that it would probably take years before it would happen again. sigh. and a lot of my co-workers were also joining us. (the office rented a 15-seater van!)
the thought that i was leaving los angeles began to sink in on our way back. then i felt pangs of pain...
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
off to new york on 9/11
i find it eerie that i am officially moving to the big apple today, september 11, of all days.
nope, it wasn't planned at all. in fact, i was supposed to fly but when i found out that there was a possibility for me to enjoy the 3-night, 4-day road trip, i did not hesitate. i asked my bosses if it would be possible for me to just take the drive, rather than the flight. obviously, they agreed.
the fact that i am leaving los angeles didn't really sink in until a couple of days ago. i felt pangs of pain when i looked at my soon to be former room, now almost bare, with bags and boxes representing all that i have accumulated for the past 7 to 8 years. at first, i couldn't seem to accept the fact that i was able to literally box those past years of my life.
by friday, i'll have a new life.
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Friday, September 07, 2007
hello new york!
in a couple of days, i'm going to be officially an ex-californian. hehehe.
i've always imagined what life would be like in new york city. i've been there more than twenty times in the past eight years or so, but it never really crossed my mind that i would be working and living in what some as the greatest city on earth. there were moments though, when i would pause and think if i could survive the fast-paced life that the big apple has to offer.
until around may this year when the offer fell on my lap. like manna from heaven. i thought about it long and hard, and with a bit of trepidation, i agreed.
come tuesday, i will be embarking on an adventure of a lifetime.
it will begin with the drive, the really long drive. i had an option to fly but the opportunity presented itself. a van will bring my stuff (tons of it, accumulated through the years) to new york. the drive will literally be coast to coast, cross-country: the great american road trip! suffice to say, i am quite excited.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
adios los angeles
I am bidding goodbye to a city I never thought I'd love as hard as I did, to a city I never liked in the beginning, to a city that was my home for the past eight years. Goodbye, LA. It has been fun.
I'm going to miss a lot of stuff: my apartment on Hyperion Ave (the bomb!), my desk at work, my friends, relatives, co-workers; Sanamluang (!), Red Corner Asia, Thai BBQ, Full House, Pho Cafe on Sunset, Rene Cafe, 7th and Fig, Macy's Plaza, The Grove, Pampas, Coffee Bean on Hillhurst, Starbucks on Prospect, Albertson's, Point Point Vermont, Bahay Kubo, Jollibee on Beverly, Cha Cha Cha, Alcove, Milk, Urth (Melrose and Beverly Hills), pinkberry, Vista, MTA 26... my tears are welling up. Kidding.
When I moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles back in '99, I was apprehensive. I had relatives in SoCal but that was it. LA for me was so sprawling and the people, a bit cold...actor and model wanna-bees, waiting for their time to shine, or their discoverers.
Through the years, LA grew on me. I fell in love with the city as I learned more about it. It's not hard to fall for LA and it's no wonder that millions keep on moving to this great city.
For me, I think I've served my time. This is the longest I have stayed in one place, in one city. I will leave my heart in LA, but I have to move on...
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