hahaha. yay! i am showing my political colors.
the california democratic debate is over. i'm giddy and a bit disappointed because had i been in LA, i would have been there watching. yes, inside the kodak theater! we got invited by the los angeles times. it's our new reporter who covered it. boo! i'm happy for you. not.
"it took a clinton to clean up after the first bush. it looks like it will take another one to clean up after the second." hahaha. go hillary!
both barack and hill were pandering, almost pleading, for john edwards' supporters. wow. that was almost blatant. edwards withdrew yesterday, so this debate was technically the first one-on-one between obama and clinton so everyone was expecting fireworks. like mccain-romney? no. the democrats decided to be a little bit congenial and friendly with each other. sparks didn't fly, but the snipes were there alright.
obama has an undeniable charisma. watching it on tv live, it felt as if he had more supporters inside kodak than clinton. or maybe his supporters were just a tad noisier.
clinton was just calm, collected and confident. she won this one, i think.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
democrats rock!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
good night heathcliff
i was shocked when one of my roomies texted me when i was on my way back home battling traffic at the lincoln tunnel. "heath ledger is dead." i texted back. "how". then i was told that it could be accidental overdose. ah, the life of the rich and the very rich.
i had an event near tribeca this afternoon and on my way back, i strolled along soho, stopping by lafayette. less than 10 blocks away from where i sipped my coffee to combat the biting cold, almost 300 people congregated at 421 broome street. on the 4th floor of that building, police found heath dead.
i don't know if this will have a rico yan effect, or even river phoenix. he's really not the matinee idol type. that's not to say that he is a bad actor. on the contrary, he is really good. i was looking forward to his take on Joker and I have placed Dark Knight on my to watch list.
this is too tragic. mostly for his young daughter matilda who will grow up not knowing who and what heath ledger was. depression is an illness and many of us are ignorant to what depression brings. if indeed, this is suicide, then it's an utter waste of precious life and talent.
it's crazy how us normal people think that they have everything - fame and money included, but yet these tragic stuff happen. how we wish we could experience they kind of life they live and not work 50 plus hours a week just to get by.
a few weeks back it was brad renfro. then heath. ahh, the price of fame and fortune.
new york times article here.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
hiatus
after an almost two-month trip to manila, i am back. and boy it is cold. i was in LA for less than 24 hours (which was spent with friends having dinner at a thai-japanese place (it's confused!) in long beach and a cup of hot java at hot java also in long beach; then crashed at j's place, then ofc, then off to burbank for a flight to jfk).
the cold wintry breeze of new york greeted us at 5 am when we arrived. it was dark and it was still dark around 6ish. i missed the apartment, the subway, central park. hahaha. yeah, i missed nyu and the memories, too.
so i am almost nback from an almost hiatus. mom's better, she's in therapy. yes, she's still on prozac. anyone here who can hook me up with cheaper prozac? it's almost 150 pesos in manila (with the dollar @ 40, it's like almost $4 a pop. kinda expensive if you ask me). oh well.
i have been trying to readjust to my normal lifestyle here and it has been quite an effort. last saturday, we had an appointment in rego park at 1. it's a colleague's client and it's a chinese-japanese restaurant. yeah. so we got back around 4ish. i decided to sleep it out since i was too sleepy. i woke up 8 hours later. yes, shortly around midnight.
i forced myself not to sleep any further because it would definitely give me a headache. i tried to stay awake for about 3 hours, when i realized that if i didn't sleep, i'd end up sleeping the whole day sunday. which is not possible because i had appointments for sunday. damn jetlag.
so dunday, we were off to st. sebastian church in queens for the sto. nino feast. wow. ang daming tao! it's like they brought the sinulog to new york. earlier, we had lunch at thai chef, a french-thai resto. yeah, what's up with that? the food was great through, had green curry chicken which was very spicy and april had the sea bass, which was gloriously good. damn. it tasted like melting butter. it was that good.
so today, i am off to a meeting. i'm braving the 20 degree weather. forecasts of snow and rain today but so far, wala pa naman. i bought my second-ever scarf. which brings my scarves to around 3. allen and ana gave me a topshop scarf last christmas. salamat!
before, i found people wearing scarves around their neck maarte. hahaha. i'm from california (and before that manila) so you'd have to excuse me. i thought that scarves were nothing but accessories. i didn't realize they have their purpose. so now, i no longer find scarf-wearing people maarte. sorry about that.
i have to make a mental checklist of things i need to have before i leave the apartment. scarf, check. ear muffs, check. thick jacket, check. gloves, check. it's hard. sometimes i misplace my gloves, or one of them. or worse, my scarf. sigh. mental note: don't forget the necessities. it gets cold, really cold outside.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
new year
this is my belated new year post.
i didn't realize it has been days since 2008 arrived. my mom suffered a mild stroke and we rushed her to the heart center on new year's day itself. she's been staying there since then and i've been by her side every step of the way.
i was supposed to leave for los angeles on that evening but then this happened. at first they thought she had high blood right before they had media noche (i had to go to makati to fix all the stuff i was supposed to bring) so she took her meds. the following day, she felt weaker and her speech slurred a bit. that's when we realized that something was wrong.
except when she gave birth to us, my mom has never spent a day in the hospital. this is why she feels so helpless the past few days because she's just lying on her bed as we wait for her bp to stabilize. thank god, it did, eventually.
she's still in the hospital but today, she will start her therapy. the stroke rendered parts of her left arm and legs weak. hopefully, she'll be able to regain her strength soon. she's a strong woman, i know she will.
thank you to all my friends who prayed for my mom's speedy recovery. special thanks to friends who went out of their way to visit us at the heart center. you guys don't know how much that meant to us. salamat!
