florida trip no more

okay so G and i will never be able to go to florida this week... boo hoo! apparently gina's schedule is as changeable as her mind is he he he. so instead of spending my money on some overcrowded theme park (can you sense the bitterness?) i'd rather spend my time going to the gym and get my money's worth. also lined up for my things to do this week (not necessarily in order) is to attend a christening, watch the da vinci code, go to new york to renew my passport, update my neglected blog, read the books i brought from the philippines, do my laundry and of course tidy up my ever disorganized room.

today me and one of my housemate went to buy some provisions for the house and decided to watch a movie. (aside: i mentioned that i was going to watch united 93 on my last post...well i did and i cried buckets of tears (exxage!)... i loved the movie but hated the fact that a couple of americans most probably in their 50's were giggling by the time the credits were rolling. insensitive. yes. end aside.)

anyway, upon learning that we had an hour an fifteen minutes to kill before the movie starts we decided to make tambay (how conio!) at borders. like i always do these days when i go to borders i, i got nick hornby's paperback of a long way down and settled myself on one of the couches by the cd shelves. after an hour i was halfway through the book. to nick hornby fans, i suggest you secure yourself a copy. it's an interesting book about 4 strangers facing varied kinds of problems who decided to end their life on the same night atop the same building. it's funny and sad with the usual hornby humor that people learned to love. i'd still have a couple more trips to borders before i finish it though...he he he.

now on to some things that i am contemplating about. o di ba? contemplating...big word. akala mo kung ano nang major life changing decision ang pinagiisipan ko he he. actually i'm just thinking if i should buy a guitar and continue to get frustrated about learning to play or give myself a bonk in the head and stop procrastinating about my pediatric certification application. basta i'm getting lazy these days that my mails have been piling up on my desk. i want to be always up and about, to do things this summer, to learn something new, to go places, to be on two places at the same time with enough energy to spare....alam nyo yon? i just wanna make the most out of every minute of my day and the exact opposite is happening. can somebody hand me a redbull?

eksayted

at about this time i'd love to be in new york, what with the weather being so nice and lovely and of course the tribeca film festival kicking off this week. but i have to spend my weekend working, which is a bummer. times like these, i remember my sister, who i know would enjoy watching those foreign films with me. in a way, it's a good thing i'm busy with work because i don't have a movie buddy to enjoy watching with.

speaking of movies, i am excited to see the movie united 93 ever since it stirred a lot of talks after it was previewed at the tribeca film festival. i heard a lot of people were speechless and in tears after seeing the movie. i'm going to try and catch it after the weekend.

i am currently keeping my fingers crossed that G's schedule will fall into place so that our planned florida trip would happen. i have already set aside six days for the trip and hoping that i'd have enough budget to spend those six days on what they call the happiest place on earth. ano pa nga ba, eh di disneyland! the possibility of not going still looms on the horizon and i'd be totally disappointed if we wouldn't be able to go but the money i would save by not going would be most welcome.

so, whatever happens...happens.

missed

it's been weeks since i came back from my davao vacation. ngayon lang ulit ako nakapag-blog ng matino. kumusta naman yon?

anyways, i thought that 4 weeks of vacation was enough for me. was i ever wrong! this vacation made me realize that i could use up all my PTO's, my holiday time offs and add to that the days on my extended sick bank and it would still not be enough for me. i am like torn between wanting to stay in davao and yearning to be back to the life that i'm beginning to get used to in america. *sigh* i guess we can't have the best of both worlds.

now on to the things that i miss...

i miss playing with my nephew. i miss when he would convince me to stay in their room and play with him and his numerous toys and when i'd get tired of playing, he would become this relentless little boy who would convince me to play some more as if i was the best playmate ever.

i miss the pandesal nights when we would be trying our hands out at piling pandesal dough on trays and the days that en-en and i would spend tending the mini bakery thinking of hilarious names for breads such as "choco something", "pan de cheverlu" and "cheesy chuvaness", among others.

i miss hanging out with my cousins be it at the beach playing labo-labo billiards.

at the arcade hogging all the bumpcars for ourselves and irritating the guy manning the controls.

or even at the memorial park hanging out with our departed "mamay".

i can't believe how grown up some of my cousins have become. some have actually graduated from college and have their own jobs now, while the others have moved on to college. these guys are the ones that used to hog our computer playing counter strike and starcraft whenever we have family gatherings in the house. now they talk about their lovelives or the lack thereof over redhorse and chichacorn.

these little things i miss. the constant interaction with the people i've grown up with and the people who are growing up, with me missing the fun of it all. i guess it's the principle of giving up one thing for another. we can't have it all. that best explains it.

i believe i am getting senti again, so i better end this post now.

ang utan na kayang bayaran

we were walking around matina town square one night looking for bargain finds at the mini tiangges that somehow came about like mushrooms in the area when we suddenly felt like eating at TAPS.

when i was in high school, the only TAPS i knew was the one on ilustre street or what is now known as duterte street. when i got to college and during my stint in davao medical center, more TAPS came about on different streets in davao city. i never knew that there was a branch now in matina where MTS is located and things haven't changed much.

anyway, TAPS has been serving "silogs" way before kiddie meals and happy meals were available in davao city. wala pa'y jollibee og mcdo niadtong mga panahona. that is why eating at TAPS that night kinda made me remember my high school days when we would troop over to the ilustre branch and order whatever "silog" we fancy just right after window shopping at gaisano ilustre.

so while waiting for our orders of lekasi (lechon kawali at sinangag) and primasilog (pritong manok, sinangag at itlog), my sister and i amused ourselves at the rest of the "silogs" on their menus.

me: miss unsa man nang tatosi?
waitress: tapa, tosino at sinangag.
sister: aw, abi nako'g naay libre tatoo samtang gakaon ta'g sinangag.

(katawa pud mo uy!)

digression aside, the thing that caught my fancy while we were dining at TAPS was their ad poster for what they call "ang utan na kayang bayaran". the intended pun surely didn't miss me.

the poster read:

Sweet Pikol Express

P10 lang - ang utan na kayang bayaran

Ang bag-ong pampagana sa TAPS nga tag-P10 lang: Pickled cucumber, onion, ampalaya, carrot & ubod. Tam-isun ug aslumun... makapaspas ug kaon!

things like these crack me up, but it surely makes me wanna be home more often.

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(also posted on Bisaya Bloggers)

no remorse about it

"time hasn't stopped for any troubles, heartaches or any other malfunctions of this world, so please don't tell me it will stop for you."

C. S. Lewis

this will be short and sweet.

people have differences. people have different priorities. my main priority maybe on the lowest rung of the ladder for some people but that's MY main priority, not yours. time is of value to me but if it doesn't mean anything to you, i respect that but just don't expect people to keep on tolerating it and move around their schedules just to accomodate you on a whim because some people would, other people wouldn't give a rat's ass.

but that's water under the bridge. i don't dwell on "teenage-immature-i-wouldn't-talk-to-you-stuff" because that would just be plain stupid. the world is too little for us not to bump into each other and bearing grudges is not my cup of tea.

on to the better part.

six days to go and i'm gonna be on board singapore airlines to be back to my native land of failed coup attempts. it's sad to come home to a state of emergency, but i'd take it any day if only for the fact that i'd be able to spend time again with my family.

so on the times that i don't update my blog, know in mind that i am counting the days til....

tragedy

i was sitting in front of the computer at the nurses station when the nurse i was working with came out of one of the patient's room with what i believe was an i-have-important-news-for-you look. "something tragic happened in the philippines!" she blurted out. in my mind i was thinking: "mother of god! what have the politicians done again this time?"

"come here, take a look. it's on CNN." she called to me.

and there it was on the patient's tv set... the wowowee anniversary stampede. such a sad way to realize that a lot of filipinos remain poor and that they would do anything, queue for hours even days and not mind if they end up hurting each other just to have a stab at luck.

if we come to think of it was abs-cbn really at fault for creating a show that promotes a culture of "pamamalimos" that dangling prizes of instant wealth and other promising stuff that would make life a bit easier have stirred up more hunger from most of these deprived people?

it's just really really sad.

the pacman delivers

i spent some of the time at work last night monitoring internet forums wanting to know what's happening with the pacquiao-morales match. good thing i was working with clarisse, a fellow pinoy, i didn't have to explain who the hell pacquiao is and why this match is such a big deal.

we were able to find a link to the RMN station doing a live coverage of the match. it sucks to be at work when all the guys at the apartment are over at ed and chris' house enjoying PPV on HBO. anyway, imagine our disappointment when the guys at RMN decided to stop live coverage because some network was probably waving EXCLUSIVITY to their faces. so we made do with some internet forum where somebody was patient enough (god bless his soul!) to give a blow by blow account of the match.

and so after 10 rounds, pacquiao won by TKO! clarisse called up her husband who was at the pay-per-view party and we heard how loud they've become because of the pacman's victory. i called up my sister in pinas to check if they already knew. she wouldn't believe me when i said that it was pacquiao with a TKO on the tenth round. apparently, the solar sport's channel that they were watching was still on the second round. sabi ko sa kanya sabihin kay tatay na humanap ng kapustahan.... he he he... you never know, somebody might still be up for a bet at that time.

so the philippines has again triumphed. i heard that politicians on different sides of the fence had set aside their diffrences in support of manny pacquiao. how sweet! (with matching rolling of the eyes) if they can be that passionate in their support for a sport that brings pride to the philippines, i just wish that they give the same amount of passion in doing what they are supposed to do for the country.

i got ticketed!

so what do i do on my second out of the three days off that i got? well get a freaking parking ticket of course!

i went to the bank this morning with my housemates jade and joyce to have some dollar bills changed into quarters for that household chore we couldn't get away from that we call the laundry. i parked on the side street beside the bank and completely ignored the parking meter on the right side of my truck as i made my way to the atm machine. i knew i should've used more braincells at that moment because when i came back from the bank with two rolls of quarters in my hand, there underneath the windshield wipers is a crisp yellow parking ticket reminding me of my stupidity. dammit! there goes my 18 bucks faster than i can say kaching!

so what have i been up to lately? i've been on a reading spree the last week. i was able to finish reading memoirs of a geisha before i went to the mall to catch it's film version and have finished terry mcmillan's how stella got her groove back which ultimately got me out of the foul winter mood i'm in these days. i have also been calling travel agencies for plane ticket prices because apparently i am going back home in march! so after a weeks of wheeling and dealing with travel agents it's gonna be singapore airlines for me baby!

another thing that's keeping me up all night when i am not up all night because of work is the new sims university expansion pack that i've installed in my laptop. it kinda revived my addiction to the sims 2. it's fun because my sims get to write term papers or better yet influence someone to write term papers for them, choose majors, apply for fraternities and sorrorities, choose to live alone or live in a crazy dorm, schmooze with professors and recite these funny sounding school cheers.

can you tell how i easily get bored these days? i've finished watching the season 4 dvd of friends last night, i watched charlie and the chocolate factory, christmas with the kranks and some hilary duff movie all in one sitting the other day courtesy of my friend's netflix subscription. she was supposed to get million dollar baby and some other dvd's today but when i went to get it out of the mailbox, the mailbox was empty and a note said that all our mails are in the apartment building's office probably because we got a shitload of junk mails that wouldn't fit into their tiny mailboxes. so i am left with nothing to watch tonight except for maybe reruns of conan o'brien (he totally cracks me up!) or some paid tv advertisement like girls gone wild (joke!)

so there, i'll post another update if something more exciting happens to my life like say i get another parking ticket or if my sims gets twins the next time they have a baby. sad, sad life, i know.