30 Seconds to Mars in Manila

      They say that the best things in life are free. And can I just say that last Friday was a testimony to that. Last Friday was the much-awaitd 30 Seconds to Mars in Manila Concert at the Trinoma Open Parking Lot. It was July 29, right in between my mom and baby brother's birthday. A month before the concert, Mariel and I decided not to go for we had so many things to pay for around that date -- Harry Potter Screening, Harry Potter Shirts, etc. Also, I was thinking that I would have to go home that Friday so we can celebrate my mom's and brother's birthdays. So I made peace in my heart that I wasn't gonna see Jared Leto in all his glory. Mariel and I have been fans of 30STM since we were in high school... way back when they weren't as popular.
      So anyway, the day before the concert, my friend Mado posted on Plurk that she had 2 free tickets to the concert. A friend of ours, July, got complimentary tickets from work, but he wasn't a fan of the band so he just gave it to Mado. I joked to her that she take me with her instead, and by the end of the day, I was officially Mado's date to the concert. Would you believe it, my first ever FREE CONCERT!!
      On the day of the concert, I lined up in front of Conti's at around 2:30 PM and Mado just arrived around an hour before the gates opened. I think I was the 20th person in line and my 4-hour waiting time was all worth it, for we were right at the barricade in front of the stage.

       
Mado and I in line outside concert grounds and a baller I got while waiting in line
      I was so happy we decided to buy raincoats for the concert for it was raining the entire week. As soon as we got to our place in the ground, the rain never stopped pouring the entire night. But can I just say, as soon as the concert started, it was like Mado and I forgot that we were together. We just spent the entire time staring at Jared and singing along with him.
      Despite our raincoats and zip lock for our cameras and phones, by the end of the concert, we were both soaking wet that our fingers were like raisins and we looked we just came out of the shower with all our clothes on. It was such a hassle 'coz we had to change our clothes for Carlo's birthday celeb in Malate (BTW, it was my first time to go to a gay club, and can I just say I had so much fun). But all I can say is that it was all worth it, especially since we didn't pay for our tickets. HAHAHA

       
Jared in all his glory, my ticket got torn and disintegrated after getting wet inside my back pocket

      Although the band only played around a dozen songs, I still think it was all worth it. I mean, Jared's and everybody else's energy level were so high I doubt it if I could've lasted the rest of the night if they did 20 songs. Jared Leto was so amazing I could've cried. He was a performer, more than anything else. If all singers were as good as him in terms of performance, I would lose all my money, just buying concert tickets.

My childhood has ended

      After 9 3/4 years, the last installment of the Harry Potter Series was finally released a couple of days ago. Although I've seen it twice already in the past couple of days, I'm still in denial. I don't think I can formulate the words I felt, ever. I probably won't watch it again for another 5 years or so, and even then I won't be able to explain it. There's just too many emotions and reactions for me to write about it. All I know is that my childhood has ended. We really have to move on... but I don't want to.

Mariel, Michi and I wearing our Harry Potter shirts during the UP LSAA Block Screening of HP 7.2
Photo taken by Sir Igor

What's mine is mine.

      You're not the boss of me. I don't have to answer to you or anybody else for that matter. This is my project. It was my project before you came along and got yourself in that position -- a position that was supposed to be mine. However, you being in that position doesn't give you the right to take this away from me. I've worked hard on this for months. You do not just go strutting around and taking it away. Tough luck for you, but I don't really care. So why don't you just stick your butt where it belongs and leave me alone?

SLIS@50 Opening Ceremonies

      I know it's lame and all, but I'm really proud of this event. Our team labored ourselves for almost a whole month preparing for this. We even stayed 'til 10PM in the Main Lib just to finish with the prep. I'm not complaining though. The event was such a success and all the pagod was worth it. We had so much fun during the prep and our guests really appreciated our efforts. Although I ended up crying over something worthless and being worn out, it was all worth it. The amount of people who attended and the smiles on their faces made up for everything.

SLIS@50 Log and Exhibit People the night before the event
Photo taken by Sir Igs

      But what I'm really really proud of was the programme for the event. Ma'am Rhea said that the programme will also serve as a souvenir in a way for the attendees so it had to be kinda bongga. Given our limited budget, I figured we couldn't spend much and time should also be considered since we had other stuff to do first. So I came up with this foldable thing. It opens up to show with the programme itself printed inside.

SLIS@50 Opening Ceremonies Programme made by yours truly

      I know it might look easy to make and all, but really it's not. I had to make three prototypes before getting it right. It was really hard with the logo since Photoshop auto-centers the image when you paste it on the page when I didn't really need it to be. Plus, my OCD was attacking me that week so I really needed to make it right. Not just because it would be handed out to 150 people during registration. lol

      After this event, all I can say is that I can now be a professional events planner. LOL I can even do the invitations for the event! Hahaha Anyone hiring?

X-men + Super 8 + The Hangover II + shopping

      FYI, I didn't watch all three movies in one day. Although it's not such a bad idea, staying in the mall all day hopping from one movie to another without paying for any of it. Michi, Mariel and I watched X-men First Class on Tuesday. Mariel and I had been on a movie hiatus since summer classes ended. I went home to Bataan and Mariel went to Beijing for a week. So as soon as we got back in Manila, we really wanted to catch up on the movies we've missed.



      So yes, X-Men. Well, people we're raving about it for the past few weeks on how awesome it was and after Tuesday I think I'm gonna say that I'm not one of them. I mean, yes the movie was informative in a sense on how everything started like how Professor X and Magneto drifted apart besides that one was evil and the other was good. It also showed where they met/found everybody else. But aside from that, it was like a doomed love story between Charles and Eric.
      They had so many gay/bestfriend moments we couldn't help but mock and laugh at them. The part when Eric was gonna leave and Charles stopped him, saying "You are not alone," we ended up singing You are Not Alone by Michael Jackson. And the part when they both cried, Charles sympathizing with Eric's horrible childhood memories, we laughed so hard I think the guy sitting in front of us got mad or something. But how can you not laugh at that?!? HAHAHA Everytime they both showed up we were whispering "McBender" to each other.
      I think the part that I really liked about it was when Charles tried out the cerebro and they started looking for other mutants; the part where they showed young Storm for like a split second and the other. My favorite was when they found Logan/Wolverine and he just said "Go fuck yourself" or something. Hahaha Very Wolverine of him.

      Today (Friday), Mariel and I planned on going shopping after paying for our tuition. I wanted to buy new pants and maybe a top or something to start off the school year. Mariel already a 2 pairs of pants on Tuesday on a sudden shopping urge after our movie, which I was not prepared so I said that she had to come with me when I go shopping. However, today turned out to be more than a shopping day for us. We ended up watching 2 movies, shopping and watched a little bit of Up Dharma Down's gig in Trinoma before we went home.



      We were just in time for Super 8 so after buying our food from Sbarro, we headed straight to the cinema. The movie, although had a not so unique plot, it was kind of funny having kids search for some alien/governmment secret instead of some duded with a dumb blonde on the side. It's funny how they react differently to the events/information that they find throughout the movie.
      What I liked about the movie though, are the actors. The kids were so funny and cute that it was kind of a preview of matinee idols 10 years from now. Joel Courtney who played the lead kid/guy really reminded me of Emile Hirsch. Oh and that hat kid on Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium was there too. :)
      But what really amazed me was how alike and different Elle Fanning is from Dakota. It's funny 'coz there were parts where you realize that Elle and Dakota have the same acting styles, although Dakota really is better after all those years of practice and stuff. And it's actually nice that their genre of films/roles differ so they kind of avoid being compared to each other. I mean Dakota has forever been a drama/serious actress and Elle is into the younger/action type of roles. So it's nice for Elle to be going off to a different direction and not be so overshadowed by Dakota's fame. :)
      After watching Super 8, we went straight back to the tcketing counter to buy tickets for The Hangover II. We had a 30-minute break which we spent on going to Powerbooks for me to buy the 2nd of the Mysterious Benedict Society Series, The Perilous Journey and went back to the movies later.



      Hangover II, well what else can you say besides that it was hilarious? I mean, the things that happened to them like the first one makes you wanna second guess about the ramifications of drinking and how f*cked up one night can get. But the way the movie presents it makes you think how awesome it was and that you kinda wanna be that hammered and all just to see what you might do. I can't really say which one was better, the first or this one 'coz all the shit that happened to them were entirely different given the different location and stuff. But just like the first movie, I think the best really were Mr. Chow and Allen. They were so funny and gross and weird all at the same time you can't help but love them.

      After the movies, we then proceeded to shopping for clothes and other stuff. There were so much stuff to buy we couldn't help but feel sad that we didn't have enough money to buy the stuff we want. I ended up buying a pair of pants, same as one the pairs Mariel bought last Tuesday and a new compact powder + the book from earlier in the day. Oh and yes, we did catch like 2 songs of Up Dharma Down while they were playing in Trinoma while we were walking back to the carpark. And can I just say Armie Millare has one of the most wonderful female voices in the Philippines. :D *insert fangirl flail*

      Okay, have to go start on my book now. :D

For the Love of the Game

      So Roland Garros started this week, thus marks the start of my yearly tennis insanity. Every year, my dad and I stay up 'til wee hours of the night to watch major Tennis tournaments live. Our favorite is Roger Federer and although Maria Sharapova doesn't win, we still always watch her games just to see her play with so much poise in her awesome outfits.
      I don't play tennis btw. My lungs simply cannot handle that much running for the ball and all. But for so years, my dad and I have always been fans of the game. We stayed 'til around 3AM watching Nadal - Federer fight for the 2007 French Open Finals. We know that clay really isn't Roger's forte, but we still love watching them battle.
      This year's Roland Garros has started out kind of disappointing for Tennis fans. First, the Williams sisters announced they weren't playing. Then, Ana Ivancovic loses on the first round. And Kim Clijsters, who was No. 1, now No. 2 in the World got eliminated in the 2nd round. However, this year also promises a good one for the newcomers, especially Caroline Garcia who's only 17. She had a game versus Maria Sharapova last night and although she lost, she still has a promising career ahead of her. I mean, even Andy Murray said on Twitter that she's good. I just hope that things pick up in tennis this year, unlike last year's Wimbledon which pretty much sucked.

      Our cable provider usually has Balls Channel so we usually watch on TV for tennis matches. However, this year, we do not seem to have it so I settled for live stream on the net. So for the next week, my nights will probably revolve around tennis and nothing else. With a pitcher of iced tea and popcorn beside me, I'm probably all set. :D Here's to hoping that this year's tennis season would be a good one!

      Have to end it here now. Must go back watch Federer kick Tipsarevic's ass. :D

Greenhills errands..

  nbsp   A couple of weeks ago, my parent sent me to Greenhills to buy stuff for my titas in the States. One of my uncles was home for a couple of weeks and my titas had some bilins.

• pearl necklaces, earrings and bracelets;
• daing at tuyo;
• corned beef and butter imported from New Zealand, 'coz apparently mas mahal sa States; and
• Tita Paring's Suman

Tita Paring's Suman comes in a plane-approved box
      My Tita Becky's friend Tita Anabelle told her about it and said that it was really good. It was kind of famous to Filipinos who live abroad. She told my mom about it and we actually tried it in one of our many Greenhills trips. Hmmm, how do I put this... well it wasn't to die for. Or maybe because we live in the Philippines and we eat suman every once in a while so we didn't find it special.
      So back to my story, the day my Kuya's flight to Kuwait, I went to Greenhills to buy the pearls and the suman. It was easy buying the pearls 'coz Mariel and I went there the week before already. After that, I went on to buy the suman for my titas. I bought a dozen suman for P500 for my titas and another one for me, for P45. I thought maybe I would like it the second time around. :)

suman for P45 each
      And guess what, the suman brought me more nuissance than satisfaction. When I was about to get in the MRT, the guard asked me to open the box of suman, which was packed already by the restaurant/cafe. The guard didn't even help me open the box. He just handed me a cutter to open the box and packaging tape to reseal it. Plus, he didn't even spend 2 seconds looking at the contents of the box. And then by the time I got to MRT Trinoma Station, it was raining so hard, the platform was flooding already.
      So I took a cab to prevent mydelf and the box from getting wet, but by the time the cab reached Parks and Wildlife along North Ave., it wasn't raining anymore. The cab driver even joked that it was storming in Trinoma only... yeah, funny. When I got home, I readily opened the suman. I only had brunch at 10AM that day.

Tita Paring's Suman Latik

      The saddest thing about it was that I realized I didn't really like the suman. I think that the reason it became famous is that not many people sell/make suman latik anymore. The only thing I liked about it was the sweetened latik sauce you pour over the suman itself. Haha I guess you have to be away from the Philippines for years to appreciate the food. LOL

HAPPIEST FANGIRL IN THE WORLD

It's bigger than Mer-Der.
It's more than Mondler....
more than Huddy.
It's Booth and Bones.
      I think I can say that this year's season finale made me one of the happiest fangirls in the world. OMG FINALLY!!!!!! After 6 years!!!! HERE IT IS!!!!!<333333 OMG I CANNOT EVEN BEGIN TO EXPLAIN HOW HAPPY I AM.

"I'm pregnant."

      OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG. HIS SMILE!!!! OMG IT'S LIKE THE WHOLE WORLD JUST... OMG. <3

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Two Movies in One Night

      A couple of weeks ago, Mariel and I were talking about how come up after almost 10 years of friendship, we've never gone out drinking or clubbing whatsoever. We figured that all we do is watch movies after movies, bad or good. We watched all Step Up movies together, the last 3 installments of the Fast & Furious franchise and Harry Potter. Then we realized that that was our thing. We watch movies like we have nothing better else to do.
      We've watched so many movies together, especially since she got her MTRCB Card a couple of years ago and we didn't have to pay for movies anymore. And the worse part is, we've seen so much stuff together we associate our real lives to the movies we've seen. A couple of days ago, we were in Span 10 class and there was an on going renovation in the room above us. We kept on hearing the hammers pounding on the walls, making some kind of a beat. And guess what it reminded us of... the orcs and trolls of the Mines of Moria scene in LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring. It reminded us of the drums the trolls were beating to signal the army or something. Hahaha
      So anyway, this summer is like one of those summers when you don't run out of movies to watch. There seems to be an endless list of good movies coming out over the summer we can hardly keep up. Especially this week, when we have meetings almost everyday plus schoolwork. But then, because we are bored and apparently insane, we ended up watching two movies in one night. You see, we already watched Fast Five last Friday in Greenhills, which was so awesome by the way, so we're supposed to be like no movie for now. And then today, I made the "mistake" of checking the movie scheds in ClicktheCity and saw that Priest was showing already. The moment I saw it, I readily told Mariel about it, who was seating beside me and made plans to see it in SM Marikina in 3D. You see, it was a Paul Bettany movie so we really had to watch it. We've loved him since A Knight's Tale.
      Well, so back to the movie. Given that it was based on a graphic novel, it started off with a background of the war between the vampires (who can I just say looked more like aliens) and the race of men. The production chose to present this through graphics ala Rurouni Kenshin with all the blood and stuff which I am not sure if I like, 'coz I kinda don't like the drawing style of the graphics. I'm not sure if they followed the style of the novel, having not read the novel itself yet.
      To be honest, it wasn't a spectacular movie. And we didn't really expect it to be, having been rated 17% by rottentomatoes. But we still, though it was okay considering that the concept really wasn't that unique to start with. What I liked about it was the thing about the concept of the Church controlling the people and making a new definition for the concept Priest from spreading God's words to being the "hands of God" and literally protecting the people from vampires. It's just like how it is today, only more exaggerated. How the Church is trying to guide or mold how the people think, to what they think is right for the people.



      What I liked most about the movie was its soundtrack. I commend the sound people for choosing the right songs and music for the movie. Though the story as I said was not spectacular, the soundtrack did not fail to set the mood for each of the scenes and conveyed the right mood for the audience. The song selection for the dramatic vampire attack and fight scenes were dramatic enough, but not cheesy.
      The CGI was also good in this movie. Notice that in most 3D or even 2D movies, they usually screw up the landscape CGIs and stuff.. the view. Like it's so obvious that the scenery sa computer-generated. In fairness to Priest's CGI people. They didn't mess it up. The depth of the background was just enough that we didn't even think of mocking the CGI, which we usually do.XD
      Thor on the other hand had probably one of the cheesiest, unoriginal movie soundtracks ever... or maybe because we've watched so much already nothing seems original to us anymore. Well anyway, now I see why people said that the movie was a bore, because Thor had so many emo, self-pity/self-esteem moments that it seemed like a triumph against all the hardships of life. He had a moment when he couldn't lift the hammer and it was raining. And then the moment when he talked to Loki about their dad dying. And then when he faced the giant fire-breathing thing and finally got the hammer. And when Loki died and then the ending.. I was kind of hoping that there'll be one or two momentous moments (does that make sense?) to define the movie. And the scores for those momentsss... well they couldn't be more dramatic.



      And the script. A friend of mine said he liked the script, but I don't know. We were already mocking the lines halfway through the movie. There was a part when Thor said, "This is madness!"and Mariel whispered, "This is Sparta!" and we ended up laughing. And then the part when Thor destroyed the Bifrost and can not come back to Earth and they showing the scene where Natalie Portman was just waiting, I was like, "He's gone. FOREVER!"and right at that moment, Natalie said, "He's gone." I mean, duh! It felt like they just wanted to fill the moment with a line and couldn't come up with anything better. They could've just left it at that, but no. There were other parts that either felt like the line was wrong or they were saying too much, over-explaining things.

Trivia:

• Notice that the Forst Giants looked like the Jeepers Creepers creature, only blue. Hahaha
• It was funny when the S.H.I.E.L.D. people thought that the fire breathing giant was one of Tony Stark's creations. LOL
• Asgard infrastructures looked like Protoss structures from StarCraft with all the gold. Hahahaha
• The rainbow bridge kind of reminds me the rainbow track in one of the legs in Mario Kart. LOL

      After watching Thor, we realized we should've just watched Something Borroweed instead. Haha Maybe we'll watch it on Friday. LOL

The Script in Manila

Am I better off dead? Am I better off the quitter?
      Last night was the most awaited The Script Concert in Manila. My Yakal friends have been waiting for this concert for months and bought our tickets ahead of time. We just got Gen Ad tickets, thinking that they're not Maroon 5 that we have to be so close as to I have to see the every contours of Adam Levine's abs.

      To start of the day, Charu, Ate Lea, Ash and I had a late lunch in Bigoli Trinoma before heading off to Araneta Coliseum for the concert. After lunch, we proceeded to searching for a nice polo for Charu's brother as a grad gift. However, our search was unfruitful is there such a word. We then left for the concert at a little over 5PM, since Cambels said that the line was getting long already.
      When we arrived at Araneta, the line was too long we couldn't even see the gate. We ended up stuck between this couple wherein the guy looked like his gay and the girl looked like a minor and then this mother and daughter where the mom looked so horrified of the couple in front. LOL When we got in, the huge mound of people got separated into 3 smaller groups going in separate gates so we still ended up sitting in the first row of gen ad. Lucky us!

me, ash, ate lea, charu
      The concert started around 8:30PM and ended past 10PM. It was my first Araneta concert ever and I think it was the first time in my entire that there was literally a ringing in my ear. The past concerts I've watched were in SM MOA so the fans' shrieks and everything get diffused to the air and the rest of the world. But this time, Araneta is a closed space so our shouts and shrieks just stay inside and reverberate coming back to our ears. HAHAHA It was a good ringing though. :)

      I would want to elaborate on the songs and the events of the concert, but I still can't put them into words. All I can say is that I'm so happy we went to that concert. Though our barkada wasn't complete and Nanay, meaning Ate Edge was there through phone patch, it was still one of the best nights I've had with my single ladies. :D So happy.

past-due rant

      I have been patient. I did my job. I did more than what my job description stated. I did everything I could to make things work and let you have the spotlight. I didn't take credit for anything though I know I should've long long ago thinking it's just part of the job just let it go. But man, do you really push my buttons.
      You have been the most irresponsible, worthless, common senseless, idiotic, freeloader, pain-in-the-ass person I know. And you call yourself a leader? What kind of leadership did you do this past year? Closing remarks? Taking credit for our work? my work? Showing up when people can see you, pretending you've been working your ass off along with us? Galavanting with your stupid, greasy, non-combing looking boyfriend?!
      My friends have been telling me to stand up and say something to put you in your place. I've been taking advantage of my friends' kindness asking them for their help to make sure things go the way they are. I figured I'm too busy doing everybody else's job to find the time to cut your stupid throat with my words. That would have been time well spent, seeing you curl down on the floor drowning with shame.
      Up to the last minute, I didn't want to say anything. After all, I survived a whole year doing what I do. But this, now, this is the last straw. After days of discussion, conversation and decision. You're telling me this now?!? That I'm not gonna get my way?!? No, no, no. I'm not letting you off the hook this time. You cannot just wave your stupid title on our faces, my face and just get your way done... or not get my way done just because of some stupid technicality you brought up a day too late. A DAY. After all the bullshit you've put us through, you're telling me this now!?! What kind of idiotic stupid bullcrap irresponsible asshole mind do you have? Or do you even have one, 'coz you sure are acting like you don't have one.
      You're not gonna get through me this time. This is the last straw and you're not gonna get your way not even if I roll up and die right now. 'Coz if that's gonna happen, I'll make sure you go first.

Food Trippings 04-09-2011

      School breaks are probably the busiest days in our house. All of us kids are at home and my mom can't get enough of us roaming around the house. Everytime we're home, we ask our parents to buy/cook us food that we don't get to eat when we're away and my parents oblige happily. Especially to me, since I'm the one who is always away and they feel like I don't eat well in U.P.
      Well anyway, a couple of days ago, my siblings and I went to Subic with our mom for grocery shopping. My Kuya and I picked up some microwavable mac & cheese, taco shells, taco mix and cheese to try out when we get home. And today we had the chance to try it. :) I bought some ground beef, white onions and cabbage to complete the recipe. Sauteed the beef with the onionsand taco mix, made salsa, grated the cheese, heated the shells and WHOLA! Instant home-made tacos for merienda. :D

taco assembly line
      The thing is, merienda is kind of a big deal in our family. It's like one other official meal. People could probably tell if they see our bodies. Haha Today our relatives came over for merienda and good thing they liked it else my Kuya and I were gonna be the only one to finish all that food. Three families ended up having the tacos for merienda.

my own taco with no gulay. hehe
      After a couple of hours, my mom and I realized we didn't have anything for dinner so we started thinking of food, 'coz last night we had Jollibee for dinner. We then remembered the Soy Chicken we had a week ago in SM Megamall at Kowloon that we really liked. And so I looked up the recipe on the net and bought the necessary ingredients. We already had half of the ingredients at home, so I just bought chicken, scallions and star anise.
      As soon as I got home from, my dad and I started preparing our own Soy Chicken following the recipe from Food.com. We kinda strayed away from some of the stuff like replacing the five-spice powder with ground black pepper, using 4 chicken thighs instead of a whole and ignoring the sesame seeds completely.

our very own Soy Chicken... yum!
      My dad was kind of skeptical about it, saying that it's just chicken dipped in soy sauce but it turned out really good even though we weren't able to thicken the sauce as much. Overall, I'd say our little experiment was a success! :D Hehe

      Tomorrow, we're gonna try the mac and cheese. If not, some spaghetti doesn't sound so bad on a Sunday afternoon. :D

My life's curse.

      To tell you the truth, although I always whine about so many little stuff, I actually am pretty happy about my life. I got awesome friends, great family and my parents give me pretty much everything I want and need. If there's one thing I would really complain about is my asthma.
      Asthma runs in both sides of both sides of my family. My Lola from my dad's mom's side died of asthma. My mom's dad had asthma and so does his sister. My cousins from both mom and dad side have asthma. And so on and so forth.. I still remember the "family nebulizer" that goes back and forth from house to house everytime one of us kids had asthma. lol
      But then, unlike my cousins and my Kuya who outgrew their asthma, I seem to be the only one who gets an asthma attack almost regularly. I first had to take steroids for my asthma when I was in Kinder II, then again when I was in Grade 3. At some point, I wasn't allowed to eat chocolates for they irritate my throat, therefore asthma. Two years ago, my cousins and I went swimming in Pansol, Laguna. In the middle of everything, I had this uber severe attack I had to take my inhaler twice or thrice before my breathing eased down. My cousins had a huge scare and only when I started drinking tequila and my breathing regulated that we kind of settled down.
    And now, my inhaler Seretide is steroids induced. This inhaler is usually sufficient to subdue my attacks. But then, there are times when I really cannot wait for the inhaler to take its effect and literally cannot breathe from coughing, so I resort to my ever reliable nebulizer.

      Just like now, my inhaler have run out and the Baygon stench in my room from earlier has not gone away yet. I couldn't breathe and my Kuya and I ended up going to the hospital to buy meds. Thank God for my ever so dependable nebulizer, now I have my life support.

      The last time I had an asthma attack before today, I ended up missing a whole week of class. I almost missed the LIS Congress. And that I guess is my only perpetual complain in life. I could've been allergic to strawberries or kiwi or something. But no, I have to have asthma for the entire span of my life.

Thoughts on China Drug Mule Execution

      Before you proceed, please don't judge me for my opinions. They're mine and I'm not imposing it on anyone. I will not however apologize for them.

      This is probably my first post that concerns politics or current events whatsoever. But OMG I cannot take it anymore. This issue should've been done weeks ago, but it still bugs me everytime I see something related to it. My friend Jane posted on twitter a blog discussing the unethical treatment of the media regarding the China Drug Mule Execution. This blog cited a newspaper article written by the awesome Dean of the UP College of Law, Raul Pangalangan. Here follows his article
Drug mules: Even in grief, we are confused

    Even our unrequited prayers for the three executed Filipinos show that we fundamentally misunderstand the problem that we face. We were half-hearted in objecting to the death penalty. We called the drug mules OFWs when in fact they were not. We lump them together with Flor Contemplacion and Sarah Balabagan, and fail to discern the differences in their cases, or ask if we could have timely asked the Chinese courts to mitigate the penalty. Protest banners call for “Justice for Credo, Villanueva and Batain.” I’m sure the Chinese will say, “Well, that’s exactly what we gave them!”, and argumentatively our only rejoinder will be to impose our own standards of justice upon the Middle Kingdom.
    Of course we must grieve that three Filipinos, forced by poverty to serve as drug mules, have been executed in a foreign land. As a nation, we must ensure that our government reaches out to vulnerable Filipinos on trial before foreign courts and ensure that they have proper legal assistance. As a people, we must look inward as well, and ask ourselves why millions of our countrymen sacrifice so much just to give their families a decent life, while top dogs in government corporations reward themselves obscene sums and top generals leave office with million-peso “pabaons.” All these, while a passive nation led by its ombudsman looks the other way.
    In sum, we empathized viscerally but maybe our brains lagged behind our hearts. We need to reconcile our official position which is to plead for mercy, with our public rhetoric which is that of moral outrage. To start with, we should have been outraged at the death penalty itself. We were not, because deep down within the Filipino heart, we actually approve of it in the first place. Look at the historical record. We abolished capital punishment in the 1987 Constitution “unless, for compelling reasons involving heinous crimes, the Congress hereafter [restores] it.” And in 1993, restore it Congress did, as a facile response to the rise of kidnap for ransom gangs. In April 2001, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo effectively suspended the death penalty by automatically commuting all sentences. By 2003, Arroyo lifted the de facto moratorium. In early 2004, Pope John Paul II asked us to stop all executions, and Arroyo obliged. In June 2006, on the eve of Arroyo’s visit to the Vatican, she signed RA 9346 abolishing the death penalty once again. There have since been periodic attempts to restore the death penalty.
    For us, the death penalty debate has been mere political football, bereft of any deeply held moral consensus. And for the current football season, the death penalty argument would not have swayed the Chinese, who apparently have the highest rate of executions worldwide and, even worse, are instinctively resistant to international pressure. But handled well, we could have capitalized on the global consensus against the death penalty, the same consensus that we mobilized to save the life of Sarah Balabagan, the Filipina in the United Arab Emirates who stabbed and killed her employer who was raping her.
  Two, there is a stark difference between the cases of Contemplacion and Balabagan vis-à-vis the drug mules in China. For Contemplacion, accused of murder, we argued that she made her first confession without the benefit of counsel. For Sarah, a rape victim, we argued self-defense. In none of our pleas to China do we even plead the innocence of the convicted Filipinos. For the Xiamen and Shenzhen executions, the best we could muster is to fix the blame on the drug traffickers fronting as job recruiters, because the actual drug carriers were apparently complicit in the crime.
  Three, I sense an initial ambivalence by our government on the issue of drug mules on trial abroad. Did we earlier give them legal aid during their trial? Even after conviction, was there any room for the judges to mitigate the penalty? Was there any room for executive clemency for the executive branch to pardon or reduce the penalty? The one-month stay of execution gained by Vice President Jejomar Binay was a feat, because China is itself building up its “rule of law” institutions, and appeals from the political branches of the Philippines addressed to China’s judicial agencies were an uphill battle to start with. In other words, the execution of convicted drug traffickers is what we call “national treatment,” i.e., how China treats its own citizens similarly situated, and what we were asking for was special treatment for our nationals.
    Fourth, I am troubled by protest banners that call for “Justice for OFWs on death row.” Genuine OFWs must object to being lumped together with the drug mules. For certain they have similarities: the pressures of economic insecurity, their vulnerability in an alien land, the spirit of self-sacrifice for spouses, children and parents. But the similarities end the moment the drug mules carry contraband on their persons and enter the Naia. By putting them all in one basket, we expose bona fide OFWs to increased monitoring (paid for by increased regulatory fees) for crimes not of their own making, and to increased harassment abroad by hostile and predatory airport officials.
    Moreover, we confuse justice with mercy, or to be more precise, the Philippine brand with the Chinese brand of justice. We were surprised that in the Chinese Supreme Court, decisions can be final. We have been so used to eternal flip-flopping, the Filipino notion that due process of law means endless process. We also mistakenly thought that an unabashed plea for mercy unadorned by legal argument would suffice, and that human drama would trump legal doctrine as handily in China as it does in the Philippines.


***
      The media kept on insisting that we Filipinos should sympathize with the 3 executed drug mules. And I get that they were Filipinos and they died. But why do we have to sympathize?!? They were criminals. More than anything, what this issue brought to the Filipino Nation was shame and disgrace.
ONE Why did they do it? Because they couldn't find a decent job in the Philippines to provide for their families. The Philippine Government could not provide decent jobs for its countrymen enough to have them stray away from crimes.
TWO They were not OFWs. Just like Dean Pangalangan said, it's a shame that they were likened to OFWs who work their asses off to provide for their families in the Philippines in a legal way. My brother will soon be leaving for Kuwait to work as a nurse and if I hear anyone say that those drugs mules were OFWs like my brother, I will probably punch him in the face or something. It's a disgrace to OFWs... or any Filipino for that matter who benefit from the Hard work of OFWs around the world.
THREE Why did this issue only come up when they were already sentenced to death? This issue should've been dealt with by the Philippine Government during the trial palang. If the government / media were going to get involved in this, they should've been there from the start. When they were arrested and presented to the court. Our government should have given them aid at every step of the way.
FOUR The government or anyone for that matter can ask China to bend their rules for them. A country's rules or any rules apply to everyone. No one has the right to make the rules work for them no matter what situation they are in. If you think about it, what if China repeals their decision on those 3 Filipinos? What would the rest of their country think of their government? How would the other Chinese people in death row think? Yes, we can plead but we cannot condemn China for not changing their mind.
FIVE This whole issue just gave the rest of the world a first row seat view of how skewe our justice system is. For the Filipino people to expect that the convicted drug mules can actually be "SAVED" from execution just shows how we belittle the whole justice system. Did we expect that China will bend their rules after VP Binay talks to them? Or did we expect that we can bribe our way through anything?
SIX The husband of one of the drug mules asked the Philippine Government to look after the education of their children. OMG. Your wife was a convicted criminal and you ask your country to look after your kids? Isn't it your responsibility to provide for your family? What are you doing in your life? And if Pres. Noynoy's administration sends those kids to school, he might as well send all those Muntinlupa prisoners' kids to school.
SEVEN The worst of all is how the media feasted on this issue like it was some celebrity divorce or something. First of all, they were convicted criminals and not some hardworking OFW who were abused. They are not alike and so we should not feel the same way towards them. They could have given the family some respect and privacy as they grieved for their loved ones. If I were one of the children of one of the drug mules, I could have punched the reporters who asked me how I felt about losing a parent. Of course I'm gonna feel sad. How else are they supposed to feel? All this uproar and misdirected sympathy is the media's fault. We cannot expect other countries to have the same faulty system as ours. Not because they hold on to their laws and principles does not give us the right to condone them. Not because we're the ones losing a fellow countrymen does it mean that we're the "dehado" side.

      Yes it is sad that they had to die. And that their lives were so miserable they were driven to illegal means just to provide for their families. But just like our parents used to say when were younger and get scolded when we did something wrong: "Kung ayaw mong mapalo, wag kang salbahe."

Home.♥

my uber cozy, green, softly lighted, awesome room
      So my semester is finally over. I've submitted all my papers and am just waiting for my grades to come up. I've been home the past 3 days and all I've done is sleep and eat and face the computer while watching TV. Check out my daily schedule. :)
10:00AM   Wake up and turn on laptop
10:10AM   Breakfast with Prada
11:00AM   Watch TV in Kuya's room
12:00NN   Lunch with family and gang up on baby brother
01:00PM   Watch TV or some DVD with my Tatay
03:00PM   Internet and merienda with Mom
04:00PM   Kwento with cousin/s
07:30PM   Dinner
08:30PM   Internet and TV
11:00PM   Lie down, read a book and sleep ♥
      So you see, I'm bound to gain all the weight that I can. My parents have this "idea" that when I'm in school, I don't eat properly so when I come home, they buy and cook stuff that I love to make up for the days that I "don't" eat well. And given the two-week break I get before summer classes start, I'm bound to gain all the weight in the world. LOL
      Plus, the only exercise I think I'm gonna get is swimming. But then, everytime our family goes swimmming, we end up bringing a lot of food and my cousins and I just eat the whole day non-stop. Hahaha Good luck to me!

It's Swatch Time

      I've always been a Swatch kid. My first wrist watch was a blue and green Flik Flak from the States. And then I had this hot pink and neon green Baby-G looking Swatch in grade school. My Kuya had a similar one with blue dial and translucent strap. My family are watch people... or whatever you call people who like watches. LOL We don't necessarily collect watches, but we don't buy watches for nothing. We have high standards for watches. My Dad has this Bulova watch that he's had as long as I can remember. And my Mom has the classic round Gucci watch with the changeable rings and this other Gucci watch. Plus, my parents have this matching pair of Longines watches my Mom bought.
      So my point is, we value our watches. yuck, parang insurance When I was a kid, I always thought that when I grow up, my Mom's gonna hand me over her classic Gucci. But then, as any other thing, her watch's latch/lock came loose through time too the point that it's too loose it falls off from her wrist. So goodbye dream watch for me.
      And then last December, my Mom and I went shopping and she asked me if I wanted to buy a new watch for myself since my Guess watch that I've been using has been with me for years already. And I was like, sure why not? But then for some odd reason when we were actually looking at stores already, I wasn't in the mood anymore. And I told her that maybe we should just by next time. may sakit yata ako nun
      So guess what... today is "next time". :D:D:D I mentioned in my previous post about my Mom asking me to go to SM Megamall to check out the watches on sale. So the thing is, when we came back today, the ones I wanted weren't there anymore. They got sold already. And then I was gonna settle for the gold version of the one I originally wanted from Guess and then my Mom was like, "Gusto mo magtingin pa tayo sa Swatch? Yung tiningnan mo kahapon." And who am I to say no?

      We ended up buying this Swatch from the 2011 Collection which makes me feel like a kid again, back to my beloved old watch brand.♥ Plus, we got it for its regular price so I'm like really thankful to my Mom and her conspiring love for me. Hahaha Before we parted our ways, her going to Bataan, me going back to UP, she told me tell my Dad and Kuya that the watch costs like 50% of its real price lang in case they ask daw. LOLz.

      I was gonna ask her to buy me clothes din sana from Forever 21 but I decided otherwise, since I was kinda feeling guilty that she bought me this watch already without any occassion or anything special.. Hahaha Just that I'm her child. Oh well, there will always be next time. ♥

Food Trippings 03-31-2011

    So my Mom called me at 8:30 in the morning to tell me to go to SM Megamall to check out this watch sale in the Main Atrium. Brands such as Guess, Timex, Esprit, Versus, Sketchers, etc. were having a sale on their watches. She wanted me to check them out so in case I like something, she can go to Manila tomorrow and we'll buy it. dapat talaga ibigay nya na sakin yung credit card eh
    Since it was for me naman talaga, and I really didn't have anything to do today, I left UP a little before 12nn and went to SM Megamall. Took the jeep and MRT, and when I got there, the Main Atrium was filled with people already. And then after picking and choosing and lots of pushing, I called my Mom to tell her which ones I like. I picked out a Guess silver watch with circular dial and had rings on it's bracelet. I also saw this other one from Esprit silver watch that has this really thin, rectangular dial and usual links. I like the Guess better, but it's like P1,000 more than the Esprit one, so we'll see tomorrow.
    After that, I went on strolling around SM Megamall A and B. Then I saw F21. It was my first time to go there, since Megamall isn't really in my usual route. No it's actually so far from my route that I think the last time I went there was when I was still in High School. Hahaha Anyway, so F21. OMG I've never felt so happy and sad at the same time. It's like finding treasure with poisonous cockroaches crawling on it. I hate cockroaches. So much stuff to buy... and no money. Good thing magkikita kami ng nanay ko bukas... HAHA
    Before going home to sulk around my moneyless state, I realized I haven't had lunch yet so I went on looking for a place to eat. Ended up at the end of Mega A building, the side going to Mega B ground floor. There was Wendy's, Pollo Roco, Kenny Rogers and Sbarro. I didn't know what to eat and I ended up going inside all of those restaurants before deciding to eat at Sbarro.

leftover half slice of pizza
    I ordered of course a slice of Supreme Pizza, thin crust because I never liked Pan Pizzas with so much bread. Also, out of hunger and because I was itching to spend on something, just not much. I ordered a Meat Sauce Spaghetti. I was so tempted to have meatballs on it, 'coz who doesn't love meatballs? But decided on the opposite, thinking I can't finish that! Hahaha As if the pizza and spaghetti weren't enough. LOL I ended up just finishing the spaghetti and only half of the pizza, thus the take-out bag.

    What I love about Sbarro is that it never fails. Everytime I go there, whichever branch, it's always good food. The thing kasi about restaurants is that not all branches taste good. Sometimes, their food differs per branch. Sbarro pizza aside from being huge, is that they never compromise on ingredients. There will never be a bite that's just bread and cheese. You get a pepperoni, as sausage, mushroom or bell pepper. And even though it's not always oven-fresh, when you order, they re-heat the pizza just enough that the cheese is melting and the crust is crunchy, but not too hard. Perfection.♥
    And if you're looking for real Italian pasta, Sbarro serves pasta with real tomato sauce made out of REAL tomatoes and not paste. You can actually see the crushed tomates swimming with the ground beef, mushroom and onions. The sweet and sour taste of the tomato combined with the beef plus Sbarro's arm-thick oven-fresh garlic bread..? Super comfort food ♥

    In fairness to my meal, it wasn't as expensive as I expected. Considering the amount of food that I bought and the quality, it's actually a good deal. :D Spaghetti + thick garlic bread + 1 slice of pizza which is like 2 slices of regular pizza + large iced tea = Sbarro love ♥

Love. Love. Love.

Courtney Cox and Josh Hopkins are together.

    I know we all felt sad and maybe shed a few tears when Courteney and David announced that they were separated after 11 years of marriage. I still remember the pilot episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Season 6 where they congratulated Courteney and David for getting married. ♥



    But then, although I was hoping that they get back together, I was really happy to see this on Just Jared ♥ I mean, Jules and Grayson.. GRAYSONSHIP ♥ hahaha



    I know it's sad and with Scream 4 coming up.. That's probably gonna be weird. But still I think this is me craving for reasons to find kilig.♥ Hahaha And this long Cougar Town hiatus... OMG I can't wait to watch a new episode!♥ Or maybe I'll just watch the old ones..Hahaha

Food Trippings 03-24-2011

    It's the end of the semester and Mariel and I had only one class that day. We were supposed to present our LIS 131 project and then head off somewhere for lunch. I was craving Ma Mon Luk mami so we decided to go there after Michi's practical exam. But then, Michi's exam took longer than expected so Mariel and I decided to just head off to Burger King Marcos Highway to have lunch and take advantage of their free charging and wi-fi.

Mariel doing her abstracts for LIS 64

    After stopping for gas, Mariel ordered her usual Mushroom Swiss Burger and I tried the BK Single Stack Burger (the one with bacon) with large iced tea and fries. I didn't know at first what the difference was between the BK Stack Burger with my usual BK BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger. Apparently, it's just the sauce/dressing. One had BBQ sauce and the other one had mustard and mayo on it.

going crazy after hours of thesis-ing

    After 4 hours of studying and discussing SLIS@50 stuff, we decided to go home to avoid the traffic during rush hour. We then went home to Mariel's house in Marikina, my second house to continue with school stuff and Korea stuff. After dinner, we ended up talking to Mariel's Mom, Tita Kyen about aswangs, manananggal, tikbalang, Neptune and Little Mermaid. Hahaha

    We went up to Mariel's room at around 9pm and after just 30 mins. we decided we were hungry... again. Hahaha You see the thing about Mariel's house is that most of the food they have, if they have any must be cooked first before consumption. And given our state and lazyness, we ended up making PB&J sandwiches and heated them up on the waffle maker. We were too impatient to wait for the toaster to toast the wheat bread. Haha

PB&J sandwich that tasted like wheat bread

    We kept on wondering why we go hungry so often even after eating so much food. Hahaha And we only had one explanation. STUDYING. Our brains burned up all the stuff we ate and so we feel hungry so fast after eating. Hahaha We know it's a lame excuse, but hell we just wanted to eat. Haha

Food Trippings 03-15-2011

    To start of my food documentation thingy, I took pictures of some of the food Mariel and I had today. We kinda had a longer than usual lunch break today, so we actually had the time to go outside UP for lunch.


leftover chicken tenders from flaming wings

    We ordered our usual chicken tenders meal, Carribean Jerk with honey mustard dip for me and wasabe mayo for Mariel. For some odd reason, the chicken tenders today was extra spicy that day that I couldn't even enjoy what I was eating. I ended up feeling full because I finished my pink lemonade halfway thru my meal to counter the spicyness, hence the leftover.

    After PE1 class, Mariel and I decided to watch Adjustment Bureau in Trinoma. The movie was scheduled at 3:00pm so we had time for Mariel had time to buy a new shirt to replace the one she was wearing [it had a hole kasi]. Before going in to the movie, we decided to go to McDo and buy some fries and drinks to take to the cinema.

    After the movie, we stopped by Cinnabon to satisfy my week-long craving for cinnamon rolls. I've been wanting to eat cinnamon rolls since last week and I only got the chance to buy one today, so Yay!


classic cinnamon roll from Cinnabon

    What we love about Cinnabon's Classic Cinnamon is that it's not too sweet. They pour melted butter on top of it, so it kinda nuetralizes the sweetness that comes from the cinnamon and sugar. [I first wanted to buy a Pecanbon, but the caramel they put on top is too sweet for my taste] Plus, they always serve it to you soft and hot, like fresh from the oven. :D But I guess the best thing about Cinnabon is that the cinnamon is actually there in the whole roll, and not just in the core/middle like other commercialized cinnamon rolls. It was P90 spent well.


check out Mariel's cheek with cinnamon in her mouth. Haha

    We got out of the cinema at 5:00pm, and Mariel had to be at choir rehearsals at 5:30pm. So I ordered the cinnamon for take-out and we just ate it in the car on the way back to UP.Since Mariel was driving, I ended up feeding her the cinnamon. Haha It was a good way to start the week. <3

Food trippings with Mariel

    This I think is my first blog post this year. Hahaha I seemed to have forgotten about this blog when 2011 kicked in and everytime I thought of posting soemthing, I couldn't think of anything to write about... But then, a thought crept up to me to start a sort of food blog of my food trippings with Mariel. :D So here goes...

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    So here's the thing. Ever since Mariel got her car, we've been going everywhere in search of places to eat... not exactly everywhere, but you know -- around UP. Every Tuesday and Thursday or any day during lunchtime, Mariel and I go search for new places to eat, which wasn't actually that special or out of the ordinary thing.

    However, around a month ago, I think it was UP Fair Week, for some odd reason, Mariel and I started craving for food and all. We had Wendy's on Tuesday, Box o' Rice on Wednesday, then Boulevard Diner in Xavierville on Thrsday. We ended up eating so much food that week that we felt so guilty and decided to eat like fish and salad the week after that. But of course, we didn't really do that. Haha

    And then there was this Monday a coupleof weeks ago, I slept over Mariel's house and on the way home we stopped by Rustan's Supermarket in Marikina and bought 1.5L root beer, 1 pint vanilla ice cream, a box of microwavable cheese popcorn [staple overnight food] and fish crackers.

    Last Tuesday, we had Sizzling Keema from Mister Kabab and Thursday we went to Trinoma for some awesomely good chili con carne from Mexicali. We even thought of starting a food blog just because we go so many places and we eat so much. haha

    So from now on, I think this blog will be dedicated to the documentation of our food trippings. Hahaha Majority.. Here's to hoping I can keep this up! *crosses fingers*