Magnolia

In preparation for my boy's 1st birthday party this June, the missus and I needed to meet up with the caterer to conduct food-tasting. We skipped lunch last Saturday for this event which only started at 3pm ---needless to say na nanginginig na ako sa gutom when we got the whole thing started.

Since dessert was not included in the taste-test, the missus and I needed to pacify our tastebuds with something sweet. We ended up at Magnolia's Parfaits and Splits.

The place isn't as fancy-looking as the Nestle Factory across the street. But it was enough for me to reminisce that one time when I was boy that I went to the Magnolia Ice Cream Factory at The Quad, sipping on a thick serving of Choco Milkshake ---minus the brain-freeze.

The missus ordered a Goin' Banana Parfait while I opted for the Original Banana Split.

Heaven!

30 days after

A month after I declared my rice-reduction plan, I'm happy to say that I've lost 6 lbs. Slowly but surely, I was able to drop to 170lbs naturally, i.e. no use of diet pills or contraptions bought from HSN. My routine consisted of cutting my rice-portions in half, walking the threadmill 30mins 2 times a week, and sometimes playing basketball and badminton (whatever is available) once a week.

But the real reason for it all is the rice-reduction. I still munched on Granny Goose, Ube ice cream, Piknik Ketchup Fries, and the occassional Burger King value meal but cutting the rice was really the main contributor of the weight-loss.

I have to say that it's really difficult. As you know we Pinoys are known for having a hearty serving of rice during meals, and I'm no exception ---until now. Case in point, the Adobo Sulipan of Pancake House can be depressing to eat if there's still half-rice not to be touched coupled with the missus looking into having tasty portions of it with her Classic Pancakes. *sigh*

I'm targetting to reach 166lbs by end of May so that means loosing at least 4 more pounds or a total of 10lbs since I started. Slowly but surely, I hope to get my BMI normalized and, more importantly, show my 6-pack which I haven't seen since 3rd year high school.

Congressman! Congressman!

The missus and I watched the Pacquiao-Solis match live on Robinson's Galleria yesterday morning. The experience was quite different from the Pacquiao-Morales II match that we watched in Malaysia via Pay-per-view coz this time, we were among Pinoy Pacman fans. The feeling was exhilarating when, after Manny got the accidental-cut on Round 6, he started punching Solis away like a dog gone mad. All of us in the theater were shouting,

“Yah!”

“Mmm!!!!”

“Ayun!”

…almost in unison.

It was a wonderful experience.

As for those who didn’t believe that Manny will win, I give you caution. For if Manny sends his deadly left-punch to your face, you will feel, in the words of Manny Pacquiao,

“GROGEH.”

Sleeping With The Enemy

Ang iyong katabi sa pagtulog: Cimex lectularius.

Top 10 Tapsilog

My personal ranking of Top10 Tapsilog venues in the Philippines:

10. Goodah
9. Heaven N' Eggs
8. Jollibee
7. I Have 2 Eggs (along T. Morato; yup there IS such a place)
6. _____ <--that resto in UP Mall(?)
5. Chowking
4. Rufus
3. Pancake House
2. Sinangag Express

And my number one choice:

1. Tapaking

Maundy Thursday

From wikipedia.org:

"Maundy Thursday" is the traditional name for this day in England. It is therefore the usual name also in English-speaking Protestant Churches that originated in that country and even in some that originated in Scotland, although the Scottish Book of Common Prayer uses the name "Holy Thursday".^[3] Other English-speaking Protestant Churches, such as the Lutheran, use both "Maundy Thursday" and "Holy Thursday".^[4] Among Roman Catholics, except in England, the usual English name for the day is "Holy Thursday", in line with the name used in major Romance Languages.^[5] Presumably these modern names came into being before the Catholic Church changed the pagan names of the days of the week in Latin.

The word Maundy is derived through Middle English, and Old French mandé, from the Latinmandatum, the first word of the phrase "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" ( A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you), the statement by Jesus in the Gospel of John (13:34) by which Jesus explained to the Apostles the significance of his action of washing their feet. The phrase is used as the antiphon sung during the "Mandatum" ceremony of the washing of the feet, which may be held during Mass or at another time as a separate event, during which a priest or bishop (representing Christ) ceremonially washes the feet of others, typically 12 persons chosen as a cross-section of the community.

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world...

One of the things I like about eh movie LOVE ACTUALLY is the beginning of this film: Hugh Grant's monologue.

Watch below to find out:

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world,
I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport.
General opinion makes out that we live in a world of hatred and greed
I don't see that.
Seems to me that love is everywhere.
Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy but it's always there.
Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives,
boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends.
When the planes hit the Twin Towers,
none of the phone calls from people on board were messages of hate or revenge,
they were all messages of love.
lf you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually...
...is all around.

Rice Reduction

Percy, one of the engineers here at the office, has stopped eating rice for over 2 years now. He replaces the missing carbo by munching on bread, white or whole-wheat.

"Di mo ba namimiss ang kanin?"

"Hindi po," he replied.

He had lost 20-30lbs from this change of lifestyle.

Ayie, one of my staff, was a hefty 160 pounder before he started dieting via portioning his rice from his dish and refraining from softdrinks. He is now 140lbs.

No diet pills, no magic gadgets, none of that crap being sold at Home-TV-Shopping.

Just old-fashioned self-control.


So how do these stories relate to me?

Well, I hope I'll be able to give you good news after 2 months.

7.4.7

You're damn right I'm going to watch this movie!

Hero ng Bayan

The missus always had the upperhand when our discussion led to which university/college was the best. She would boast, "Bakit ba laging taga-UP ang kinukuha pag guest sociologist/psychologist, etc. when it comes to local talk shows? Wala na bang iba?"

A graduate of UP, the manner with which she says it is as if a patch of cloud went underneath her feet to levitate her a few inches up, a feeling that I observed similarly from Chico and Del who finished from the same university as well.

My life was going to be endless "UP is the best" cheers ringing in my ears until, finally, my day of reckoning arrived.

It was a Wed morning so I tuned our radio to 89.9WTM for the weekly "Forbidden Questions" talk show by DJ Mo. His guest, Hero Angeles, reported to have been a product of UP. His manner of speaking was very humble, likewise his English so much so that about 10-12 callers to the radio station requested (read: PLEADED) that Hero talk in Tagalog "kase di namen maintindihan ang pag-English nya."

But Hero, tried as he might, fell repeatedly into the English death-trap ---much to the embarassed giggling of the missus. You should've seen me teasing the missus relentlessly as Hero tried sentence after sentence to make sense, much like my Chinese vendors whom I always asked to draw on the whiteboard what they were desperately trying to say.

All I can say is, thank you Hero. For the missus has felt the ground again (and hard). :)

Pop! Goes My Heart

I can't seem to get over this song from the movie, "Music And Lyrics." A nice film in case you haven't watched it.


Doesn't Hugh Grant in this video remind you of Mig Ayesa?

EQ

I'm currently reading this book, "The 1st Time Manager" and came across the EQ chapter. I never knew the specific definition of EQ until I came across it in this book. Here's how it was explained:

Zen-ish

The missus and I were able to renovate the bathroom a couple of weeks back. Choosing and buying each and every detail was a very meticulous process, much to the satisfaction of Home Depot and Handyman.

But our "efforts" were paid handsomely in the end: a bathroom which is better than that of any hotel (that the missus has ever been into).

This album is powered by BubbleShare - Add to my blog

Sticker Happy

All cellphones will be required to bear NTC stickers soon. Click here for more info.

Boutique Bed and Breakfast, Tagaytay

For the missus' birthday, we stayed at the Boutique B&B at Tagaytay. Money well spent coz the service was great aside from the nice ambience. Read more here.

Annabel's

The missus and I made a good [random] choice last night for Valentine's Day dinner: Annabel's at Tomas Morato. It turned out to be a nice place because of the great dining setup at the garden, buffet dinner, and an all-acoustic band singing mostly, our songs.

Andy Mckee ---Africa

Ely's fine

Just read a column on the Philstar on Ely Buendia, ex-frontman of the E-Heads.

I'm glad he's doing well.

Pickup lines

In case you're thinking of what to say this coming Valentine's Day:

1. Minamalat na naman ang puso ko..
*** paano kasi, laging sinisigaw ang pangalan mo..

2. Ikaw ba may-ari ng Crayola??
*** ikaw kasi nagbibigay ng kulay sa buhay ko..

3. Uy picture tayo!!
*** para ma-develop tayo!!

4. Kung ikaw ay bola at ako ang player, mashushootba kita??
*** hinde, para lagi kita mamimiss..

5. Can i take your picture??
*** coz i want to show Santa exactly what i want forchristmas!!

6. Exam ka ba??
*** gustong gusto na kasi kitang i-take home eh!!

7. Lecture mo ba ako??
*** lab kasi kita..

8. Centrum ka ba??
*** kasi you make my life complete!!

9. Miss pwede ba kita maging driver??
*** para ikaw na magpapatakbo ng buhay ko..

10. Mahilig ka ba sa asukal??
*** ang tamis kasi ng mga ngiti mo..

11. Pinaglihi ka ba sa keyboard??
*** kasi type kita..

12. I hate to say this but... You are like my underwear..
*** coz i can't last a day without you!!

13. Ibibili kita ng salbabida..
*** kasi malulunod ka sa pagmamahal ko..

14. Pwede ba kitang maging sidecar??
*** single kasi ako eh..

15.Me lisensya ka ba??
*** coz you're driving me crazy eh..

16. May kilala ka bang gumagawa ng rel??
*** may sira ata relo ko.. pag ikaw kasi kasama ko,humihinto ang oras ko..

17. Grabe nakakatawa yung mga pick-up lines noh??hahaha! May alam ka pa bang iba?? Wala na akongmaisip eh..
*** coz all i ever think of is you..

18. I'm a bee..
*** can you be my honey??

19. Nakakatakot diba ang multo??
*** pero mas nakakatakot kapag nawala ka sa buhayko..

20. Am i a bad shooter??
*** coz i keep on missing you..

21. May lahi ka bang aswang??
*** ang pangit mo kasi eh..

22. Naniniwala ka ba sa love at first sight??
*** O gusto mong dumaan ulit ako??

23. Mabilis ka siguro sa mga puzzle noh??
*** kasi kakasimula pa lang ng araw ko, pero nabuomo na agad..

24. Excuse me.. Are you a dictionary??
*** because you give meaning to my life..

25. Bangin ka ba??
*** nahuhulog kasi ako sa'yo..

26. Pustiso ka ba??
*** kasi, can't smile without you..

27. Pagod na pagod ka na noh??
*** maghapon at magdamag kana kasing tumatakbo saisipan ko eh..

28. Me butas ba puso mo??
*** kasi natrap na ako sa loob, can't find my wayout!!

29. Anung height mo??
*** ha?? pano ka nagkasya sa loob ng puso ko..

30. Hey, did you fart??
*** coz you blew me away!!

31. Sana "T" na lang ako..
*** para i'm always right next to "U"

32. Are you Jamaican??
*** kasi Ja-maican me crazy!!

33. Nde tayo tao..Nde tayo hayop.BAGAY tayo.BAGAYtlga tayo.

34. Ako ay isang exam.kaya sagutin mo na ako...

Wallflowers

I attended our annual high school reunion a couple of weeks back. Since I still frequent my old campus during my Saturday football, I had already been aware of the many renovations that the school had gone through: a canteen here, a canteen there, a bigger school supplies store, aircons in all the classrooms, canned-drinks dispensers everywhere, decades-old trees pulled out from the park, and of course a newly-renovated football field.

The event was supposed to start 4pm so I knew that I would just be “fashionably late” if I arrived between 6-7pm. As I registered my name on the batch ’90 list, I was surprised to find that I was only the 3rd guy to sign in.

Since the tables were labeled according to batch-year, I looked around for 1990. After a couple of minutes, I was able to find our table situated near the rear.

It was empty.

I sat down for a few minutes and hoped that someone from my batch arrived. The 1st two guys must’ve left when they saw the empty table.

“If no one arrives by 7pm, I’m outta here.”

As the endless kumustas and hoy-pare-long-time-no-see emanated from the other batch-tables, I stared up and looked at where my senior-year classroom was. A lot of memories came to mind: the goofing classmate who wanted his candid yearbook pic to be that of jumping from the 2nd floor to the ground floor, the numerous times when I would run from the classroom to the entrance gate of the school so that I would be able to go home for lunch just before the Angelus, the time when I was doing impressions of our CAT Commandant to the laughter of my classmates (not knowing a few seconds later that the Commandant was actually behind me, watching how I made myself look like an idiot), a P100 weekly allowance, and so on.

The more I searched my mind for high-school memories, it led me to the fact that my highschool life was nothing more than bahay-eskwela-bahay. Except for my two seatmates that on occasion we would banda rito, banda doon the intro of the Tears4Fears song Head Over Heels while waiting for the next subject, I never really had a circle of friends back then. I didn’t experience having to attend a night-out or a lakwatsa at the mall or even having regular lunchmates for that matter (since I went home during lunchtime). I was frustrated by my section in particular. Kanya-kanyang group kase so there was really no class-unity. The groups were composed of the Mcdo group (those who’d regularly go out to Mcdo for lunch ---mostly aspiring to go to DLSU), siga-group (no explanation needed), bandmates (those who were members of the school band-club), and those that didn’t have no group at all (“wallpapers” as the missus would call it ---those that had nothing to do with school events, parties, gimiks, etc.).

Then, it occured to me: I was one of the wallpapers.

“Guys the Mass will start in five minutes!!!”

My reminiscing was disturbed by an announcement from the stage. As accustomed in every Don Bosco school, all events should start with the Holy Mass. I was still alone on our batch table and it was almost 7pm. I decided to stay on for the Mass.

As the Mass ended, my batchmates started arriving. By the time the actual program started, we were about 23. Not bad for a batch-turnout.

By 11pm and after 4 cases of beer-in-cans, we were still there partying and enjoying everyone’s company. Although the host batch (1982) didn’t really fire things up on the homecoming program, it was still worth it going there particularly for my batch.

But for my section, it was only me. It would’ve been great to see the guys again. But it was still ok since I knew my batchmates from the other sections as well. Frankly, most of the 23 who were there were wallpapers as well during our time.

But I was glad to know that these wallpapers have become loving dads and successful lawyers, dentists, doctors, businessmen, school-admins, managers, and senior managers (ehem) in their own right.

There was life after high school after all.