Divisoria - Where Life Gets Weirder

Testing, testing

2009-10-14T20:13:00.001+08:00

Trying out new blogging app ;)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Testing, testing...

2009-06-24T05:01:00.001+08:00

Trying out an iPod app for mobile blogging ;)

Lovely day for a cuppa!

2008-12-17T23:50:00.005+08:00

I've found the perfect gift for the caffeine addict in your life :)

How opportune that I wore my Starbucks t-shirt today! :D

No, it's not an actual coffee cup, but a planter cunningly disguised as one. (An actual coffee cup of this size would probably ensure wakefulness til the New Year) This comes with a matching saucer, but both were just too heavy for me to lift at the same time :D

Movie Day

2007-07-18T04:30:00.000+08:00

Met up with Betsy and Goldster at Galleria to watch 'Transformers' and 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' last Sunday. The Movieworld peon who gave Betsy the times got them all wrong, so instead of TF at 11am, we ended up watching HP at 11:20am (and scheduled TF for 4:30pm). Thank goodness we did watch them in that order - TF was a much better movie to end the day on than HP! (ducks beneath the hail of rotten tomatoes being thrown by hordes of Muggles) See the reviews below :)

More Than Meets The Eye

2007-07-18T03:12:00.000+08:00

Goldster and I felt a wee bit conspicuous when we walked into the theater to watch Transformers - after all, we were probably the only women there who weren't forced to watch it with their kids, boyfriends or husbands :p As it was, the theater was packed (ticket counter said standing room only), which made it a bit of a godsend to find a couple of seats sorta near each other (if in two different rows). However, a really nice dad sitting near Goldster made one of his kids move over and gave me a seat beside my pal :) Thanks, dude!

As usual, there will be spoilers! Bu-hahahaha! >ahem.<>Optimus Prime! YEAH!
2) The scene where Prime and the others try to hide around Sam's house - priceless!
3) A boy and his car. Awww...
4) Jazz had the snazziest car-to-robot transformation! A headstand and a flip? Neat!
5) Explosions galore! Blackout and the Qatar base attack, the highway chase scene, the showdown in the city... :D
6) Ironhide rocks :)
7) Bumblebee was so much fun at the start, when he kept tuning the radio to match whatever was going on in Sam's life. ("Baby come back..." rofl!)
8) "To punish and enslave." Funny, that reminds me of some of the cops over here...
9) "Are you ebay user Ladiesman217?!?" LOL
10) "Sorry, my bad." - OP!
11) When Megatron sees a human near him, he goes "Disgusting." and flicks the guy away like a bug. Hee! Nicely enough, you can see the cgi guy has some give to him and actually conveys a regular person's, uh...squishiness.

The Bad:
1) Starscream's original voice actor being dead. I would've loved hearing that guy on the big screen :) He's always been my favorite Decepticon...
2) What was the point of getting Hugo Weaving to be Megatron's VA? I mean, with all the synth stuff they did to his voice, he didn't even sound like himself, so Michael Bay could've gotten any schmuck off the street and through the power of technology made him sound like Megatron. Sheesh.
3) Sam and Michaela's making out on Bumblebee's hood. Eeuww.
4) Bumblebee's calling the rest of the Autobots in just smacks of the Bat-signal. Blech.
5) I missed Starscream's bright red and white paintjob. All the other Decepticons had such dark moody color schemes - Starscream was the snazziest of them all!

The Ugly:
1) Optimus Prime has a nose and a mouth? Weird!
2) I preferred the original eye design of the Transformers. The new eyes made me think of C3PO.
3) Prime's speech about Jazz's courage and etc. is all very good, but why did he have to hold him up in two parts? That...didn't look too good. I mean, they could've had him kneel next to Jazz or something...

Things That Made Me Go Huh?
1) When the Autobots 'scan' cars (to transform into) - how do they mimic it so exactly? I mean, look at when Bumblebee changes from old beat-up Camaro to the shiny new one; how does his paintjob transform along with him? Would this mean the Transformers have nigh molecular control over their selves? How do they get all their parts realigned to fit the new form?? And where does the extra mass come from (and go)? A Camaro can't be so much smaller than a Porsche, yet when Jazz transforms, he looks bigger than BB.
1-b) When Prime runs from his landing site, he doesn't look quite as bulky as he does when he and the other Autobots meet up with BB, Sam and Michaela. He only gains the extra bits with the red and blue flame job *after* he 'scans' the rig passing by him on the higway. Again, where did the extra mass come from?
2) When Section 7 snags Bumblebee, I can understand that the ropes might be hard to break (as BB is the smallest Autobot - intimating he's the weakest). However, when he's struggling against the ropes, why aren't the 'copters bobbing around trying to keep tension in the ropes so BB can't transform and escape?
3) No explanation for why the 'new' TFs (the cellphone, PC, etc. that got hit by the AllSpark) were always hostile. Is this because the AllSpark gives life, but not necessarily intelligence? (This sorta explains Grimlok :D )
4) How did BB regain his voice? First, Prime says he got hurt in a battle and Ratchet couldn't fix it; then he gets caught by Section 7, is tortured, escapes, gets the hell kicked out of him by the Decepticons, and >poof!< he can speak again?

Note: This post can and will be updated - if I feel like it.

WoW!

2007-06-30T21:39:00.000+08:00

Sorry about not updating sooner - World of Warcraft has eaten my life. (Not that I had much of one anyway.) Will probably be back-posting from December onwards when the WoW server is down again - but I'll be leaving this post up as a guideline to updates.

Wish me luck in WoW!
Or better yet, send WoW prepaid cards.
Kyerul, Level 45 Night Elf Hunter, Magtheridon

-----------------
Update:

Ghost Rider

2007-06-01T23:19:00.000+08:00

I watched Ghost Rider on dvd today instead of playing WoW - now I didn't read Ghost Rider as much as I did the X-Men, so I've no idea whether the story was faithful (or not) to canon. Knowing Hollywood though, it probably ain't ;) And yes, I watched it knowing full well it got terrible reviews - I just wanted to see what it was like for meself.

As usual, there will be spoilers!

The Good:
1) OMG, that is one shweet chopper! I want a motorcycle that leaves a fiery trail of destruction behind me too!
2) Young Johnny Blaze. Purr...
3) Where the Caretaker tells Johnny Blaze to sterilize a needle. Wahahaha!
4) "I'm good. I feel like my skull's on fire, but I'm good."
5) Clueless goth girl's tv interview and description of Ghost Rider - hee!
6) "I sold my soul to the devil." Aw, you just have to watch that scene...it's so funny :D
7) Sam Elliott (Caretaker/Carter Slade) is so cool!
8) Supporting characters like Stuart and Mack were, at times, more fun that the leads.

The Bad:
1) What's with the pointing thing??? Unforgiveable overacting or just bad camera angles?
2) The fact that Nick Cage's hairpiece took 3 hours to apply every day. The actual hairpiece was quite good :)
3) Roxanne's wardrobe: first she looked too girly for words (with all the dresses); then suddenly she starts falling out of her shirts...
4) Johnny Blaze's transformation into Ghost Rider in the holding cell - cheesy!
5) When JB first transforms into GR, I found myself wondering whether the reason why GR wears gloves is that his hands look too scrawny to be manacing...and why his flaming skull looked so tiny compared to his shoulders. At least they seemed to have remedied that in later shots.

The Ugly:
1) Blackheart and the Nephilim's fashion faux pas - all these long coats and the fake fur lapels on Abigor - ugh.

Things That Made Me Go Huh?
1) Ghost Rider stops a mugger and the guy stabs him in the shoulder; when Johnny Blaze wakes up in the cemetary, he has a gash on his shoulder that the Caretaker has to sew up. But when NYPD shoots him full of holes after the rooftop fight with Abigor, Johnny Blaze has nary a scratch.

*Post will be updated if and when I feel like it.

MMCD

2007-02-10T21:47:00.000+08:00

The Most Memorable Customer of the Day showed up around closing time.

MMDC: Magkano ang Gilbey's [gin]? (Do you have any Gilbey's?)
Nunkie: 120 [pesos].
MMDC: Isa po. (One, please)
*Nunkie starts wrapping it up.*
MMDC: Meron ba kayong lime juice? (Do you have any lime juice?)
Nunkie: Meron. (Yes, we do.)
MMDC: Anong flavor? Orange? (What flavor? Orange?)
Me: >Are you hearing the words that are coming out of your mouth?!?<

The Ozzies Come To Town

2007-01-13T22:49:00.000+08:00

Lucky and Desi came to visit for a whopping three weeks, in which they: ate, shopped, shopped, ate, sold hardware (Lucky), watched anime (Desi), ate some more, shopped some more, drank beer (Lucky), came down with some bizarre allergy/rash (Desi), and, I hope, had a fun time despite it all.

Here are a few pics from one of the dinners in their honor:

Lucky, Desi and Me

Mom, Sa-tsim, Lucky, Sa-chak & Ken

Mau, Merv, Go-tsim & Lucky

Should margaritas come with a straw?

Rail Rustling

2006-11-30T23:02:00.000+08:00

The rails on the Padre Jacinto Zamora Bridge in Pandacan are slowly disappearing - even the fixtures that once held them are also being pried out and sold for scrap.

Most Memorable Customer of the Taiwan Exhibit

2006-11-27T22:39:00.000+08:00

It was definitely the woman who walked up to our booth, looked at our wines for tasting and asked...

MMCTE: *points at red wine* "Is this fruit wine?"
Me: *diplomatically* "It's made from grapes."
MMCTE: "Oh, good. I don't like fruit wine."
Me: *thinks* >Aren't grapes fruit? Fruitcake.<

Christmas Bazaar

2006-11-26T23:52:00.000+08:00

After closing up at the Taiwan Exhibit, I dragged everyone to the Christmas Bazaar next door - ostensibly so that Mumsy could take a gander at the Tefal on sale, but also because I'm that kind of mouse.

Christmas decor from Idianale.

More from Idianale. These were so pretty, I just had to buy some!

Filipino Engrish is everywhere...even at the upscale-ish Christmas Bazaar.

Taiwan Exhibit, Day 4 (and last) - FINALLY!

2006-11-26T23:41:00.000+08:00

Last day of the Taiwan Exhibit. I was supposed to visit Ynee and EJ, but...

Wine tasting at our booth.

More people than you can shake a stick at!

Holy cow! This 2.5kg bag of rice cost 150,000 pesos?!?

The pastry booth isn't giving these out for tasting...

But the dude who was taking them out of the oven told me to take a pic of him and I scored a freebie! Whee! Too bad Mum ate most of it. >Weep.<

--------------

Later in the afternoon, Hippie Bourgeois stopped by with parents in tow. Ahia M spotted the expensive rice place and made my day with this comment: "If I eat that rice, I'm never going to the bathroom! I'm gonna keep it all in!" Apparently, he and HB's mom had a booth at the nearby Christmas Bazaar and they wanted to check on things, having left everything to expert minions. Wish I had more of those myself...

Taiwan Exhibit, Days 2 & 3

2006-11-25T23:10:00.000+08:00

Day 2:
The Hippie Bourgeois and I were manning the booth by ourselves (sans Mum) so we didn't really have the chance to roam around as much as yesterday. Sold some wine, talked, ate, sold more wine...yadda yadda. HB also took the time to raid my iPod for songs she wanted as she just got an brand-new 8GB nano to fill...2-gig mousie so envy! Putting the Chieftains' Christmas album on mousiPod took up all the remaining space but 15MB -- weep.

Day 3:
Mom and I brought Di-ku along with us (he wanted to see the exhibit and, possibly, buy some shabu-shabu ingredients sold at the stall next door). They ended up wandering around in a shopping haze while I manned the fort. So, no pictures from this day either. I did manage to score a nice set of speakers (for the pc) from the Kingcom/Asus booth.

Personal observations:
1) Never put out a bonbon dish at these kinds of exhibits. There are incredibly rude people out there who grab a whole handful of candy to stuff into their pockets. Then they pass by a minute later and surreptitiously pocket more candy. I hope all their teeth rot.
2) Children are infinitely more polite than their elders. It's true! Kids will walk up to the candy and either outright ask if they can have some or wistfully eye the candy but say nothing. And when you do offer them candy, they take 1-3 pieces and say "Thank you". I have to emphasize this because not one single adult thanked us for the free candy.

Taiwan Exhibit, Day 1

2006-11-23T23:20:00.000+08:00

So here we are at the Taiwan Food Products and Machinery Exhibit - exhibiting our Michiu (not the dog, the rice wine) and Shaohsing (and sneakily giving out free tastings of our Italian and Spanish wines as well). Don't worry, we weren't doing anything illegal, one of the guys on the Taiwan Association told us to go ahead and display as much wine as we wanted. So we did.

Yes, folks, that's the Hippie Bourgeois herself right beside me mum.

The square golden watermelon mentioned in the Inquirer. Weird, but pricey!

Pretty cakes from the food flavorings/colorings booth.

Asian pastries from the food flavorings/colorings booth.

Beading Frenzy 2

2006-11-19T23:27:00.000+08:00

My mom has this cute little pearl bracelet and choker set which, sadly, we've all grown too fat to wear. In the hopes of someday being able to use them again, mom had bought a newer, fancier clasp in HK some time ago and had planned on asking someone to redo the whole shebang (sized for wider people, natch). Unfortunately, she never did get the chance before circumstances beyond our control prevented us from going back there anytime soon.

While we were going through the jewelry box looking for stuff to wear to cousin Kris' wedding, I espied the old pearl set and decided to try making my own (out of pseudo-pearls, since I am a poor and penniless mousie). This is the result.

Shown on Dugong: Swarovski cream rose pearl tube bracelet with gold-tone clasp

Bored-As-Hell Pics

2006-11-18T22:43:00.000+08:00

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas:
Man, I hate the commute to work.

Take That, Manmade Billboards:
This tree withstood two super typhoons.

Filipino Engrish:
Sign on a parking garage wall.

Casino Royale

2006-11-17T23:59:00.000+08:00

Watched Casino Royale tonight...while my Cheese-o-Meter was set off a few times (hey, this IS a Bond film, after all) it was a good couple of hours well spent. Warning! Spoilers below!

The Good:
1) The ACTION. Boy, was it good. No resorting to ridiculous high-tech gizmos and doodads, just plain old-fashioned violence. Me likey.
2) Daniel Craig's wardrobe. He looked good in anything he wore. I especially liked his white polo & tan slacks at the resort...and at one point he had this great all-black (or dark colored, whatever) outfit. Even WBen liked his shirts enough to comment on them. And when a guy notices another guy's shirts look cool, they must really be something.
3) The construction chase scene was FUN.
4) Judi Dench's (M's) trenchcoat when she comes home to find Bond in her flat.
5) Actually, Judi Dench as M is always great.
6) Bond's change from thug-with-gun to the first glimmerings of the suave 007 we all know and love. That's is what Jason Bourne should've been in Bourne Identity. (Will post rant on that movie some other time.)
7) Attention to detail - when Bond beats up two mercenaries, he returns to the poker table and you can see his knuckles are all scraped up. The cuts on his face from exploding glass were a nice touch too.
8) Parking was never a problem. Is it a Bond trademark to always park cars and boats well?
9) A really good reason for Bond's dismissive (if not downright chauvinistic) attitude towards women.

The Bad:
1) Daniel Craig's hair. Oh, I don't give a damn if he's the first ever 'blond' Bond, he just had remarkably bad hair.
2) The requisite car chase scene wasn't long enough. What a waste of two sweet cars.
3) Vesper and Bond's one-upmanship in the train. While amusing, you almost expect them to start stripping off their clothes to compare scars (ala Martin Riggs and Lorna Cole in Lethal Weapon 3).

The Ugly:
1) I should change the title of this to 'The Cheesy'. The lines spoken by Vesper and Bond in the hospital garden after the torture scene made me cringe. (Hint: little finger)
2) When you realise his support team is shafting Bond - what is this, Mission Impossible 1?

Things That Made Me Go, "Hee!":
1) Le Chiffre has a Gullwhacker. (Fans of Brian Jacques' Redwall series, unite!)

This review is still in the process of being updated. Will add more when the muse (and my memory) cough up.

Beading Frenzy 1

2006-11-11T23:09:00.000+08:00

Shown on Kamidake: Gold Swarovski pearl bracelet and earrings with rondelle spacers and gold-tone clasp/earwires.

Interested in purchasing? Drop me a line at the comments link below.

Not-so-pointy dog

2006-11-11T23:04:00.000+08:00

Here's the latest pic of Michiu (mee-chew). The bright noonday sun kinda washed out her browner bits, so she looks like a giant cottonball!

Ynee Has Spawned!

2006-11-10T18:40:00.000+08:00

Ynee and Ferdie would like to welcome Baby EJ to the world. Vital stats are 49 centimeters, 6.3 lbs. I'd coo, but...I'm not that sort of girl. :D

Smurf Potatoes!

2006-11-08T22:19:00.000+08:00

Went to Shopwise - found the neatest weirdest potato chips :D

And they taste good,too. Mmm...

Happy Birthday, Sa-tsim-po!

2006-11-06T23:59:00.000+08:00

Congratulations, Kris!

2006-10-29T23:53:00.000+08:00

Went to my cousin Kris' wedding - reception was at the Wack-Wack Golf Club. Hope you and Mel have a long and happy life together!

Bad Hair Day

2006-10-25T21:16:00.000+08:00

If I were him, I'd boycott the salon that gave him such atrocious hair. Oh wait, endorsers can't do that, can they? Poor man.

When buffaloes fly..

2006-10-24T22:30:00.000+08:00

My driver was telling me this really funny story on our way home from work...he and his brother-in-law were driving a 10-wheeler truck at night, on their way back from delivering animal feeds to the province. As there are no streetlights in the province, it took them entirely by surprise when a young kalabaw bolted out of the tall grass by the side of the road. Unable to stop in time, they hit the poor thing and, in his own words, "--tumalsik ang kalabaw!" You have to say it in Filipino to get the utter hilarity of this, but the best I can translate it to is that the kalabaw bounced off the truck and landed a good five meters away (his estimate). It never stood a chance.

To make matters worse, they were in a province that was overrun by rebels. While they were driving away from the scene of the crime, a bunch of armed men in jeeps and on motorcycles began chasing them, presumably to make them cough up suitable reparation for the downed animal. The banditos/owners/thugs/rebels finally caught up to them on the highway and held them there until Nonoy and his brother-in-law could get in touch with the truck's owner in order to make arrangements for payment.

Who said a trucker's life was boring? :D

To Bleach Or Not To Bleach...Hmm...

2006-10-18T22:32:00.000+08:00

Went to 168 Mall today with Ynee to check out all the new anime merchandise - ended up buying a set of Bleach statuettes (that you have to assemble yourself), some assorted stickers and a gorgeous Bleach calendar for 2007.

After getting back to the office, Ynee and I started the ardous task of putting the statuettes together - my God, it was ridiculous! And really rather funny...

Ynee started out with Kuchiki Byakuya...and found out he had, distressingly enough, lost his left arm. The part wasn't missing per se, but the whole left arm was just completely ignored. I, on the other hand, began assembling Urahara Kisuke...and discovered my poor statuette had two left hands. Good grief!

Ynee gave up on Byakuya and moved on to Inoue Orihime, whose hair refused to stay on her head (until after numerous applications of hypo cement). Upon completion, Orihime had a decided list backwards (looking like she was a. standing on the deck of the Black Pearl during a storm, b. about to limbo rock, or c. drunk off her ass). Double SIGH.

After bemoaning Urahara's rather unfortunate deformity (which, thank God for small mercies, was handily covered by his voluminous captain's cape) I turned my attentions toward Kurosaki Ichigo. And had almost no problems at all, til I got to his right arm -- and the fact that it just wouldn't fit into his shoulder. Sooo...after whittling the square peg at the end into an L-shape (like it should've been in the first place, dammit!), I finished, and inserted his zanpakutou (sword) into his right fist. Where it promptly fell out. D'oh! Hypo cement to the rescue! Ta-dah!

Finally.

Ho-hum.

2006-10-17T21:55:00.000+08:00

Seeing as how nothing exciting* is happening at the moment (really weird, since this near to Christmas there should be scads of people running around Divisoria buying wine like it's anti-dengue mosquito repellant), I feel I should post something (anything!) just to keep the blog alive.

So here is a pic of Ynee at 8 months - it's her last week at work before she stops to rest up for the ardous task of bringing another poor sonovabee into this cruel world. :D

*Ynee and I would call this "Asking for Incident" :)

Signal No. 3

2006-09-29T21:38:00.000+08:00

After Typhoon Milenyo gave us a good sound thrashing yesterday, most of Metro Manila is still without lights and running water. Here's a few pics of the damage nearer to home. I actually took a movie of how strongly the wind was blowing, but I'm not sure youtube is ready for my amateurish efforts yet :D

Billboard before the storm

(Notice how the wall has become the sidewalk...)

Pointy pointy...

2006-09-20T22:21:00.000+08:00

Huh. Why is my dog so pointy?

Signs of the Times 4

2006-09-17T21:51:00.000+08:00

On my home from the market, I spotted these two signs -

On a wall facing the street: "Do Not Throw Your Garbage Here - Litters Will Be Prosecuted"

First thought: They can spell a hard word like 'prosecuted', but they have problems with the word 'litterers'? Second thought: if an alley cat gave birth nearby, would they put her kids in the clink?

At a carinderia*: "Goat 4 Sale: Live & Meat"

The grammar they're inflicting on the public these days...

--------
*roadside eatery

New addition to the family

2006-07-22T21:56:00.000+08:00

Ynee's sister Di gave us a cute chow/spitz puppy! Aww...isnt she adorable? Mum has succumbed to her ultra-cuteness and is actually letting her stay in the house.

What's a good name for her?

Radio Ga-ga (2)

2006-07-10T21:32:00.000+08:00

I was listening to the news on the radio - something about Philippine coinage being smuggled out of the country and into Japan, where they melt it down and use the metal for electronic parts and game tokens. It's nice to know that Philippine money is so undervalued, it's practically the same as play money now.

Before this newscast, however, there was a talk show wherein the hosts interviewed a lady from the Philippine Central Bank (which doubles as the Philippine Mint). When asked about the smuggling, she replied: "Oo, dinadala ang mga barya natin sa ibang bansa para gawing bagay na...pwedeng gamitin."* (Yes, our loose change is being brought to other countries so [that] they can make it into things...that you can use.)

Well. That was as clear as mud...was she afraid to give other people ideas, or just completely clueless? We may never know...

*Not the exact words, but the translation comes out pretty much the same as makes no never mind.

Superman Returns!

2006-07-09T22:49:00.000+08:00

Watched Superman Returns last night with Garric and WBen - here's my take on the movie (spoilers abound!):

The Good:

1) Kevin Spacey's portrayal of Lex Luthor is part homage to Gene Hackman but ultimately his own - he plays up the daffiness of Hackman's Luthor, yet has a beautifully vicious vibe to him that emerges when confronted with Superman (or any mention thereof).
2) I loved the scene where the bullet bounces off Superman's eye - it was more fun that the scene before it, where Luthor's goon uses a chain gun on him - we already know the Man of Steel can bounce bullets off his chest; it's visually striking (pun intended) to see him do it off his eye and really hammers the invulnerability point home.

3) Routh's goofy Clark Kent. He's a better Clark than the Smallville guy!
4) It just wouldn't be a Superman movie without John Williams' score.

5) The plane-stopping scene. Now THAT was Action! Also more realistic than just picking it up and completely ignoring the laws of physics.

6) No cheesy X-men III-like dialogue!!!

7) Casting was more or less good, with the possible exception of Kate Bosworth as Lois. She just didn't seem as 'tough' as Margot Kidder :)

8) Loved the 50's feel to the whole movie :) The bright, modern art deco Metropolis makes a striking contrast with the dark gothic/baroque Gotham City. It helps you see where both Superman and Batman are coming from.

9) After Superman gets the bejeezus kicked out of him on the Kryptonite Continent, you realize that maybe he should've taken some martial arts lessons from the Dark Knight. You see how versatile Batman looks in comparison? :)

10) The flying effects were great, looked effortless, and the CGI-ed Superman was nigh indistiguishable from the real thing.

11) The best part about being injured when you're Superman is that they can take the whole costume off, and your secret identity is STILL safe! Let's just hope a well-meaning nurse doesn't slick back that spit curl...

The Bad:

1) There is really no earthly reason to play sinister music upon viewing a whole bunch of stands with wigs on them. I mean, really. And if the musical accompaniment is supposed to signify Lois' reaction to seeing aforementioned wigs, then she should go see a shrink. (Although I must say the wig Lex Luthor wore to the museum robbery deserved it)
2) It doesn't take a genius to guess that Wheezykid is Superman's love child with Lois - and that's why she's so mad at him at the beginning. I mean, you have a one-night stand, the rotten (albeit gorgeous) bastich runs off the next day, leaves you in the family way, and doesn't help with child support for FIVE frigging years! SuperJerk.

3) Lois Lane's ridiculous dive into the ocean to save Superman. I mean, you're swimming hampered by an evening gown. Hellooo?

The Ugly:

1) Well, certainly not Brandon Routh :) Though not as classically handsome as Christopher Reeve, Routh's mug will sure sell a lot of collectibles. :)
2) Lex Luthor's museum-robbing wig. It reminded me of Geoffrey Rush in the Marquis de Sade movie.

3) I don't think Luthor thought his continent-growing plan through. It sure looked boring over there. I mean, not even a Starbucks to play cards in?

Things that made me go Huh?

1) When Luthor fires the kryptonite-encased super-grow crystal into the sea, why was their boat NOT affected by the electromagnetic pulse? Everything else as far away as Metropolis was fried...

2) The plane-stopping scene: If Superman was using enough force to stop the plane from falling at that great a speed AND he's got that ultra-dense Kryptonian physiology, then what was stopping him from going through the plane like a hot knife through butter?

3) I felt that Lois didn't really pay that much attention towards Clark - I didn't expect her to slap him on the back and yell, "Hey! Buddy!", but it didn't even look like they'd ever worked together from the way she treated him.

4) As Superman flies KryptoLand towards the sun, why were larger concentrations of Krytonite pushing their way through towards him? Is it denser than the rest of the island? Are inertia and gravity responsible for that effect? I'd hate to think they were just growing out there to spite Superman...

5) Superman's costume is impervious to re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere and gunfire, but some guy in the ER with scissors can just cut it right off???

*Author's Note: This review is subject to the insane whims of my Muse. Will add more if and when she whaps me on the head.

That's news to me...

2006-06-06T22:33:00.000+08:00

The Philippine Daily Inquirer's headline today read: "2 Leftists Killed in Wake".

Well? Don't leave me in suspense. Killed in wake of what? Wouldn't it have been more grammatically correct to write "...Killed at Wake"? Or even "...Killed During Wake"? Sheesh.

This is not the first time the Inquirer has had oddly misleading article titles. I had a small collection (which of course I can't find right now) where some memorable news item claimed "Truck Hits Girl, Dies". Also, there have been at least two (count them, TWO) articles that came out with the report that a man had killed/maimed someone/s using a samurai. So...they're saying the killer used a warrior who follows the code of bushido from Japan's feudal era? If so, is that considered assault with a blunt object? There's more, but I really need to find my stash of weird articles first...

X-Men III: The Last Straw (updated June 9)

2006-06-04T21:31:00.000+08:00

Okay, watched X-Men III again last night with Betsy and WBen and here's what I think of it (will contain spoilers):

The Good:

1) "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!" and "Are you letting me out? Coz I've got to pee."

2) Wolverine's cigar-lighting scene in the Danger Room. Betsy also pointed out to me that afterwards, Logan's stubble was shorter on that side. :)

3) The casual and slightly clueless way Wolverine wanders around the Danger Room with explosions going on behind him.

4) Kitty Pryde rocks! Go Kitty!

5) Jean Grey's hair finally looks like the comic version :)

6) Storm's wardrobe.

7) The far shot of Jean and Wolverine after he kills her - truly a "Drawing the Marvel Way" panel.

8) The lack of Cyclops (and accompanying angst-a-thon) in this movie.

9) Kelsey Grammer as the Beast. Nuff said!

10) Now I wish I had Arclight's power...being able to clap and smash any annoying public utility vehicles into smithereens sounds pretty good, especially during gridlock.

11) Daniel Cudmore as Colossus/Piotr Rasputin. Yum.

12) Angel's new improved 'rescue' positioning - it beats the usual comics pose that looks like a scene from a bodice-ripping romance novel. Besides, who'd feel comfortable holding their dad that way???

13) The Phoenix's powers were handled quite well (what with the taking-people/cars/buildings-apart-at-a-molecular-level) but I have to admit I expected more gloating. I was pleasantly surprised to encounter none whatsoever. However, now we're left wondering: what was Phoenix's motivation for tagging along with Magneto then?

The Bad:

1) Storm's complete and utter lack of regal bearing (remember, she's supposed to have been worshipped as an African goddess for crying out loud!) annoys me in every Halle Berry scene. At some points she also channels her other superheroine role, Catwoman. *wince*

2) Jean Grey's rather Galadriel-esque transformations - when the Phoenix takes over, she reminds me of the scene from Fellowship of the Ring where Galadriel is tempted by the One Ring.

3) Why is there no blood? Wolverine goes through an army of Magneto's mutant henchmen, and...no blood? Are his adamantium claws mono-molecularly-edged?

4) They glossed over the Cain Marko/Juggernaut-is-Prof. Xavier's-stepbrother bit and ignored all the history between them. Juggernaut should have been chomping at the bit to take Xavier down, not content to play tiddlywinks with Wolverine.

5) Storm's hair is white, not off-white and grey. Sigh. And they were doing so well with Jean's 'do.

6) No one actually says the words 'fastball special'. And why does the FS looks so weird? Mine Keetee says it looked like Piotr was throwing a discus.

7) Again, Marvel has shown that they just can't quite bring themselves to knock off major franchises -- er, I mean, characters.

The Ugly:

1) Consider the lineup of the X-Men team. There's Wolverine, Iceman, Colossus, Shadowcat, and Beast (all white, and although Piotr/Colossus was supposed to be Russian, he seems very WASPy in the movie) and Storm (African-American), Now, consider the lineup of Magneto's side. You have a leader who's Jewish, a couple of white henchmen (Pyro and Juggernaut), a couple of Asians (Spike and Psylocke) and a couple of Latinas (Callisto and Arclight). Now which team seems to speak louder for racial tolerance? The point of Xavier's second X-men team (from the comics) was that they were from different countries, promoting that fact that man-/mutant-kind can put aside their differences and band together for a common goal. I'm not getting this vibe from the movie. Where's the fuzzy German guy? The proud Native American? The naive Russkie? The regal African weather witch?

2) That dweeb they cast to play Angel. I am *SO* disappointed in you, Hollywood.

3) I'm all for a sensitive kind of guy, but...WTF??? Wolverine??? CRYING???

4) Still no Gambit. Oh wait, they royally messed up casting Angel after all...they're probably biding their time until they can use some sad geekazoid to ruin Remy LeBeau too.

The Funny:

1) "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!"

2) You can tell that Magneto is being played by a gay man -- I mean, what straight man in his right mind would turn away from a naked Rebecca Romjin???

3) Kitty outsmarts Juggernaut! That made the audience (and me) laugh. :)

Things that made me go Huh?

1) The new, improved Mr. Sensitive Wolverine - what's with the 'time to let go and get over Jean' talk with Scott??? So wrong...on so many levels!

2) I found it very strange that the 'mutants' who were protesting against the cure looked so...normal.

Author's Note: Will add more stuff if and when I think of something new to rant/rave about.

Auto error-ism

2006-05-28T22:19:00.000+08:00

While on my way home from the market, I noticed this sign on a shop that sells car accessories and provides other auto-inclined services: Body lowered/uppered

Uppered??

--------------

Went out with Mau and Merv, toured a couple of hotels (don't ask), had lunch at Dome Cafe (Mau's treat! Thanks Mau!) and watched X-Men III: The Last Stand. Which wasn't a bad movie, if you've never ever read any of the X-men comic books at all. Ever. While I know you need suspension of disbelief for most movies, this movie constantly jarred me out of it. I'm due to watch this again with Betsy and WBen this Saturday (June 3) and so will place most of my comments in that post.

Woohoo!

2006-05-25T22:17:00.000+08:00

I am famus! (and yes, that was deliberately misspelled) Check out the featured blog on the upper right!

Thanks to my one and one gradh for this utterly cool present! :)

Moving Week (2)

2006-05-20T21:39:00.000+08:00

Due to some legal brouhaha, the ownership of our warehouse passed into other hands last week, ultimately resulting in our having to haul stock out as the new owners had other plans for the space. As such, Ynee and I spent the whole week supervising the long haul, making sure none of the passing lookee-loos 'accidentally' walked off with our stuff. Thank goodness Ynee's parents lent us a couple of big trucks and a lot of extra hands or we'd never have finished within the one week time limit!

Moving Week (1)

2006-05-19T22:50:00.000+08:00

It's been a memorable week - what with the warehouse's accumulated dust, grime, cobwebs, broken glass, silverfish, cockroaches, the old wine stock we were disposing of to prevent anyone truly stupid from drinking it, unrelenting heat, lack of amenities (i.e., *bathrooms*) and so-so takeout from the little tea house a block down...Ynee has started to refer to it as being in hell.

Upon dropping Ynee off at their doorstep, I was unwise enough to yell (loud enough to be heard by the Baptist neighbors standing nearby) a cheerful, "See you in hell!" Boy, did they look shocked...

What in tarnation~?!

2006-05-16T21:51:00.000+08:00

On the way home, I heard this priceless piece of news on the radio: "MMDA* to give away free deodorant to jeepney drivers."

I guess the MMDA thinks having sweeter-smelling public vehicle drivers will somehow miraculously lessen traffic accidents, instill traffic discipline in the most reckless of drivers, improve hand-eye-foot coordination, and quite possibly, promote world peace.

While they're at it, maybe they can give away free shampoo that makes PV drivers actually use their signal lights before wildly careening into the next lane?

*Metro Manila Development Authority - a.k.a., the Manila traffic enforcers group run by the completely irrational Bayani Fernando -- most noted for his bright pink signage contributions to the urban landscape and for closing absolutely necessary u-turn slots and intersections, thereby forcing vehicles to take an extra 15-30 minutes to get to the 'designated' u-turn slots, thereby causing massive traffic jams to form. His greatest achievement might be that most Manileños hate him only slightly more than they hate the President.

Is Nothing Sacred?

2006-05-13T23:19:00.000+08:00

Today I just found the little piece of paper I wrote this particular MMCD on...

April 28

*MMCD enters store with friends, they all browse around, check prices, etc etc.*
MMCD: "Meron silang Absolut! Sarap, Absolut Mandrin at Sprite!" (They have Absolut! [It's] delicious, Absolut Mandrin with Sprite!)

Geez...why don't you heathens just drink Mirinda and leave the real drinks alone?

And they didn't buy the Absolut either. Jerks.

Late Most-Memorable-Customer-of-the-Day updates

2006-05-13T21:43:00.000+08:00

Y'all must be wondering by now where all the interesting folk in Divisoria have run off to - frankly, there was a positive dearth of them post-Christmas holidays. I did run into a few MMCs though...

Sometime right after New Year's Day
MMCD #1: "Meron ba kayong Black & Decker?" (Do you have any Black & Decker?)
Raul (my driver): "Di ba power tools yun?" (Aren't those power tools?)
MMCD #1: "Ay, mali. Black Label pala." (Oh, that was wrong. I meant Black Label.)

----------
April 18

MMCD #2: "Meron ba kayong red wine para sa babae?" (Do you have any red wine [suitable as a] ladies' drink?)
*Later, after a short sales pitch and one bottle of wine purchased/wrapped up...*
MMCD #2: "Pwede din 'to para sa lalaki, ano?" (Men can drink this too, right?)

Woman, why do you bother asking for a ladies' drink in the first place?

----------
April 18 (again)

MMCD #3: "Magkano ba 'tong red wine?" (How much is this red wine?)
Ynee: "Two-twenty." (220 [pesos])
MMCD #3: *turns to companion* "Ito, o...two-twelve!" (This one, 212 [pesos]!)
Ynee/Betsy/Cleod: *snicker*

>Blink.<

2006-05-12T23:47:00.000+08:00

This is why I usually take a nap on my way to work - to save myself from sights such as this:

I know this is an advertising ploy for Joy Bathroom Tissue, but...why put the dog? And is placing the whole schmoodle on top of a taxi really the best way to reach your target market?

Score!

2006-05-07T22:24:00.000+08:00

Ha! Managed to get my hands on Stephen King's The Dark Tower (VII)! Also scored a Gameboy Advance Golden Sun (which has been ridiculously hard to find) as well the first and third books of The Authority - whee!!!

Link Rules!

2006-05-03T22:17:00.000+08:00

Brought Ahia K to Carpaccio for a late (but great) Italian lunch :) Afterwards, we went to Megamall; wandered around the Cyberzone aimlessly til we got to Datablitz, where I found the Gameboy Advance's Zelda II: The Adventure of Link! I know, I know, it's not the greatest game in the world, but...it's LINK! (Plus, it was really really nice of Ahia K to buy it for me ^_^) I also saw Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, but for Gamecube! >sigh< It's not worth buying a Gamecube just to play one Zelda game, when the evil geniuses at Nintendo are releasing the Wii soon...

Three Cheers for Betsy!

2006-04-28T22:20:00.000+08:00

Just a quick plug for Betsy's newest triumph -

http://www.gmanews.tv/yvettetan/archive

Yeah, mo gradh's playing in the big leagues now :)

For Maryn, the Best 'Son' a 'Dad' Could Have...

2006-04-20T21:20:00.000+08:00

Happy birthday, sonny boy! Hope your special day was gosh-darned great! :)

Love,
Da

Probably the weirdest thing on ebay so far.

2006-03-04T00:49:00.000+08:00

I know I have weeks of updates to add, but while wandering around ebay earlier, I spotted this and had to share it with the world.

http://www.ebay.ph/viItem?ItemId=5870759035

2006-02-11T23:58:00.000+08:00

Met up with July and friends at Friday's Glorietta for his 4th and last bon voyage party. Bye July! Don't forget to write!

Kat, Elvin and July

July, Amy and David

Al, Nino, George, Maan, Gigi and Paul

Elvin, Me, July and Lynette

Sunday Lunch at the Village

2006-01-29T23:57:00.000+08:00

Got picked up by Vern & Ken after I came home from doing the Sunday marketing - went to Village to have a mostly Filipino-themed Sunday lunch hosted by Go-chak's family. Also, a few of Go-chak and Lucky's mutual friends were there too (Uncle Ricardo brought the fresh prawns and crabs...and the lechon (roasted pig)!!!).

The Ozzies were guests of honor and Lucky was the special guest chef! ! The man has learned how to cook!!! (This is a far cry from the tv dinners he used to buy all the time while he was here and his family in Australia*) Lucky made chili garlic prawns and steamed crabs. Unfortunately, by the time Vern, Ken & I got there, there was a severe dearth of prawns. (weep) Proving how favored I was, Lucky swiped a prawn from one of his buddies' plates and proudly presented it to me (well, more like stuffed it into my mouth, but I digress). Delicious!!! :)

After a ridiculously fattening and delectable lunch, all the cousins (I can't quite say 'kids' anymore, unless you count Desi) headed off to The Fort Global City to hit the bazaar. From there, we went to Rockwell, where we were supposed to meet up with Sa-chak/Uncle George, Sa-tsim/Aunt Vicky & Lucky for dinner at Rastros (Spanish tapas). Of course, the cousins all took the opportunity to hit Fully Booked (with Dots taking a sidetrip to do some harm at the local Zara) before meeting up with our elders and having dinner.

Walt, Lucky, Me and Mau (good God, I'm twice Mau's size!)

Ken, Sa-chak/Uncle George, Sa-tsim/Aunt Vicky and Vern

Desi and Dots

Dots, Mau and halo-halo dessert

*Also quite a ways from asking his niece Kat (who was 9 years old then) to cook an instant noodle snack for him.

Oz meets Divisoria

2006-01-27T23:50:00.000+08:00

Brought Lucky and cousins to the 168 Mall where they shopped until I was ready to drop. For lunch, fulfilled one of Lucky's must-dos for this trip by dragging them to Masuki for noodles and siomai. Incidentally, en route, noticed a familar face also heading to Divisoria for bargain basement shopping:

Hot damn. Winnie the Pooh shops in Divisoria too!

Left 168 at 5:30-ish for Eastwood - time to meet up with the rest of the family for a pre-Chinese New Year dinner at Shanghai Bistro.

Lucky, Sa-chak/Uncle George & Sa-tsim/Aunt Vicky

Walt, Dots & Desi

Me, Go-tsim/Aunt Naty & Go-chak/Uncle Mauricio

Di-um/Aunt Carmen/Mumsy & Me

Vern & Ken

Desi, Merv & Mau

Crikey!

2006-01-26T23:23:00.000+08:00

Mau took the Oz gang to Greenhills (The Emerald City - hee!) whilst I headed off to work today. Afterwards, rushed off to Makati to meet up with all the dJ kids plus Lucky to have dinner at Bizu Greenbelt. Hah! Managed to wrangle the check from under everyone's noses. Had coffee/tea at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, then hitched with Mau and Merv, who brought the Oz gang to their hotel and dropped me off at my humble abode.

Desi, Dots and Walt

Walt and Lucky

Me, Ken, Vern, Mau and Merv

Came home to find out the Ozzies (Aussies?) had left a wombat on my PC! Crikey! Good thing Dots slipped me a coffee stirrer stick when we were in CB&TL! (The next parts sound funnier if you say them like Steve Irwin, a.k.a. The Crocodile Hunter.)

Crikey! He's really pissed off now!

Look at the eyes on him. He's a real killer!

Momentarily stunned after the wombat leapt at the camera, I woke up to this...

The Boys (and Another Girl) from Oz

2006-01-25T23:59:00.000+08:00

Wandered aimlessly around the Greenhills bangketa (flea market) with Dots, pointed out a whole lot of stuff that was cheaper in 168, hit The Body Shop (on sale!) then went back home to eat dinner and change cars - needed the Starex as Lucky and the rest of Dots' family were arriving at around 10-11pm. Got them checked into the hotel, then brought them to a really late dinner/midnight snack at Pasto (El Pueblo).

Dots, the 168. 168, Dots.

2006-01-24T22:14:00.000+08:00

Brought Dots to the infamous 168 Mall – she had a heckuva fun time planning which ridiculously cheap knock-offs to buy when Lak-chak/Lucky (her dad) shows up with the rest of the family in tow.

The Girl from Oz

2006-01-23T22:05:00.000+08:00

Picked up Dots at the airport – was kinda worried I wouldn’t recognize her from the last time she visited (and I was semi-right, because I wasn’t expecting the short hair and glasses) but the jumping-up-and-down person who looked really really glad to see me kinda tipped me off. :)

Dropped off Dots' luggage at home and had lunch with Mumsy – Dots went with me to the mall to get Nunkie’s RAZR exchanged. The MemoExpress guys hemmed and hawed, and tried to figure out what was wrong with Nunkie's paperweight, but ended up giving me a new unit instead. Hah! Dashed into Powerbooks and got David Weber's "Shadow of Saganami" and Terry Pratchett's "The Pratchett Portfolio". Wound up the day by picking Mumsy up from the house and having dinner at Shanghai Bistro - dimsum, yum!

Hello Moto. You suck.

2006-01-22T21:58:00.000+08:00

Went to Megamall to get a haircut and help Nunkie decide what mobile phone to buy. We ended up in MemoExpress getting a Motorola RAZR V3 (in black) because of the quad-band capability and the fact that it was a very skinny folding phone. When we got home, we found out the damned phone wouldn’t charge, wouldn’t turn on for more than a minute, and generally behaved like a very expensive paperweight. Sigh. I’ll have to run back to the store tomorrow to get it exchanged. Give me Nokia any day!

Signs of the Times 3

2006-01-12T21:58:00.000+08:00

Working as I do in the nation's capital city, passing by one of the roads leading to Malacañang Palace (the Philippines' White House equivalent) is an everyday event. However, on one occasion, I chanced upon this sign:

It's like hearing an American say that George W. Bush lives in the Whit House. Sheesh.

For Chad

2006-01-07T20:48:00.000+08:00

A look at the local Starbucks' menu:

Yay is for Yaya!

2006-01-05T12:41:00.000+08:00

Our yaya (nanny) Emily came to visit us a few days before smallkitty went back to Dallas.

Signs of the times

2006-01-04T22:18:00.000+08:00

I read an Inquirer article the other day by a Filipino socieologist that said Filipinos keep their kids from misbehaving by putting the fear of the unknown into them. For example, when kids start acting up, their parents or yayas (nannies) warn them with "Hala!" (the nearest/loosest translation I can come to is "Watch out!" or "Beware!") -- basically telling the kid that *some* kind of retribution may come from acting badly.

On most major thoroughfares in most of the known civilized world, local governments (and law enforcers) are content to place signs that read: "No Jaywalking". In the Philippines, that aforementioned fear of the unknown is used to keep unruly pedestrians in line.

So far, the best translation I came up with was: "No Crossing - It's Deadly."

And you know what? Us stubborn folk keep on crossing that avenue anyway.

For the boys

2006-01-02T21:57:00.000+08:00

Here's another couple of pictures small keetee wanted them Dallas folk to see:

Note: No Shells!

The post-holiday lull

2006-01-02T13:21:00.000+08:00

Remember those pics of the unbelievable crowds of people outside my store? Check out these post-holiday snaps!

And yes, dammit, I had work on the day after New Year's.

Happy New Year!!!

2006-01-01T08:05:00.000+08:00

To all my loyal readers: Happy New Year!

Hurrah for Pinoy ingenuity!

2005-12-31T14:46:00.000+08:00

Some enterprising guys nearby have been busy fulfilling man's desire for a louder bang on New Year's Eve. Using lengths of PVC pipe, toy guns, cotton batting, lighter fluid and some epoxy, they've managed to come up with this:

And it does make an earth-shattering kaboom!

Mickey D's

2005-12-30T21:28:00.000+08:00

Because Tsi says her friends in Dallas don't believe her, here is proof that in the Philippines, Mickey D's does too have spaghetti and fried chicken.

Psst! Look, Chad! They have jelly, too! :o

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-25T09:51:00.000+08:00

Sorry about the delay in posting stuff to the blog -- I've been swamped with work (selling wine to the thirsty masses) and just didn't have any time to check email or aimlessly surf the Net. (go to work -> WORK -> go home -> collapse)

Anyhoo, Nollaig Chridheil Huibh/Maligayang Pasko/Kurismasu Omedetou/Joyeux Noel/Feliz Navidad/Merry Christmas to you all!

Here are a few priceless quotes from my Christmas MMCDs:

MMCD1: "May wine ba kayo?" (Do you have wine?)

MMCD2: "Yung white Carlo Rossi, may alcohol?" (Does the Carlo Rossi white [wine] have alcohol?)

MMCD3: "Meron ba kayong red wine? Yung Johnnie Walker?" (Do you have any red wine? The Johnnie Walker [brand]?)

Pre-Christmas rush

2005-12-24T21:06:00.000+08:00

The seething mass of humanity outside my store is almost unbelievable...

Happy birthday to me! (and welcome home, small keetee!)

2005-12-22T11:23:00.000+08:00

There should be some sort of law against working on your birthday...

At any rate, upon arriving at the office, Nunkie informs me that Tsi's flight has been delayed! Haha, only joking. Hweh.

At around 6-7ish pm, Tsi calls from Japan to say that her flight has been delayed due to heavy snow -- , she'll be getting in at almost 2am (instead of the infinitely more reasonable time of 10:30pm)!!! Argh! Nunkie jinxed the flight!

Ynee and Ryan bought me a birthday cake! ^_^ (ureshii*...)

Mmm. Cake...

*Japanese for 'happy'

Congratulations, Joy and Chester!

2005-12-16T23:54:00.000+08:00

Dolled myself up as best I could after work and sped off to attend Joy and Chester's wedding reception - the whole wedding thing, I have to admit, came completely out of the blue a few weeks ago, when Joy texted me with my invitation. I got to Father Blanco's Garden late, but managed to find a seat with MR, May and Luther. The decorations were gorgeous (very fairy-tale garden) and Joy looked like a princess!

The happy couple

May, Joy, Me, MR, Matet and Jaz

Jaz, Luther, MR and Matet

Me and MR

Airplane friends

2005-11-26T23:54:00.000+08:00

Met up with Margo and Derek at Rockwell and had dinner at Crustasia (a really great seafood place). The crab was delicious! Sadly, didn't get to spend much time with them as I was completely worn out from work. Well, here's to you guys -- and remember, I get to be a bridesmaid at the wedding!

Happy birthday Daddy!

2005-11-24T21:01:00.000+08:00

Naughty, or nice?

2005-11-23T23:12:00.000+08:00

While at Savory to buy dinner (roast chicken), Ynee and I browsed the counter filled with cheap toys and chanced upon the following:

At least she's not malignant. :)

The 3rd of July's Despedida*

2005-11-20T23:20:00.000+08:00

Or, July's Despedida Part Three: In Which We Learn That July Is Still Not Yet Leaving For California.

Met up with some friends for July's despedida at Cafe Bola in Greenbelt 3. The food was pretty good -- the fresh oysters with the Ilocano vinaigrette was particularly tasty ;)

From left: Amy, Maan, Cherry, Nino, Cleod and July

Despedida** = Bon voyage party

**Is the plural of despedida, despedidas or despedidae? Whatever.

Halloween aftershocks

2005-11-12T11:36:00.000+08:00

I've seen cars with stuffed toys stuck to their windows...I've seen cars with cartoon/puppy/kitten/floral sun shields...I've seen cars with chinese stickers that read 'Dragon', 'Luck', or 'Prosperity'...I've seen cars with huge spoilers projecting waaay above the actual car's roof...I've seen cars with custom airbrush art on the hood...I've even seen cars with a beanie baby horde on the dashboard/rear window.

This car was none of the above.

Requiescat in Pace.

2005-11-08T09:45:00.000+08:00

Just received some bad news this morning. My Lak-tsim, Aunt Dely, has passed away after nearly two years of fighting acute myeloid leukemia. She is greatly missed by all.

------------------
A stór mo chroí when you’re far away
From the home that you’ll soon be leaving.
Tis many the time by night and by day
That your heart will sorely be grieving.
For the stranger’s land it is bright and fair
And rich in its treasures golden
But you’ll pine I know for the long long ago
And the love that never is olden.

A stór mo chroí when the evening mists
O’er mountain and sea are falling.
Then turn away from the throng and list,
And maybe you’ll hear me calling
For the sound of a voice that I sorely miss,
For somebody’s quick returning.
A rún, a rún, won’t you come back soon
To the love that always is burning.

- Traditional Irish Folksong-

------------------

Lak-tsim - (Fookien) lit. "Aunt married to Father's younger brother, sixth male of the line."

A stór mo chroí - (Irish) darling of my heart

A rún - (Irish) my dear

Filipino Inglis

2005-11-03T22:07:00.000+08:00

Seen on a fence surrounding a building project on T. Alonzo Street, Binondo:

Okay. I can still understand the second one. But...how do you ban 10pm?

Black Thumb-ness

2005-11-03T21:51:00.000+08:00

It figures. I decided to give up on Zeish's 'grow-your-own-edible-mushrooms-at-home' project (which I've been trying for a month now) and chuck the starter mix into a pot for compost.

Today, two weeks after the fact:

Argh.

There are none so blind as those that cannot see

2005-10-22T21:48:00.000+08:00

Today's MMCD award goes to...

Lady: *walks into the store, peruses the wine rack, places a hand on the Carlo Rossi*

Lady: "Meron ba kayong Carlo Rossi?" (Do you have any Carlo Rossi?)
Lady's Husband: "Yung hinahawakan mo, o." (You're already holding it.)
Lady: *turns to us* "Ito ba yung grapes?" (Is this the grape one?)

Well, in the same way that I could hold up a cake and tell you it's a sack of flour, yes, it's the grape one.

Phone calls from beyond

2005-10-21T23:57:00.000+08:00

Today's most surreal phone call was from a lady who wanted raisins. Now, I know raisins are a natural byproduct of grapes and so is wine, but we are a wine store, not a grape and grape byproducts store. Sheesh.

Upon relating this to Ynee, I found out that this lady also called yesterday, also asking for raisins. What, she didn't believe us the first time?

Feeling Filial

2005-10-21T22:29:00.000+08:00

Today, I have done the most filial thing a daughter could ever do for her mother.

I bought her Tupperware.

Or at least, reasonable facsimiles thereof.

The award for MMCD goes to...

2005-10-20T22:43:00.000+08:00

The lady who walked into the store and asked us:

MMCD: "Meron ba kayong red wine? Yung lasang red wine?"

Or, for the non-Filipino-enabled, translates as:

MMCD: "Do you have any red wine that tastes like red wine?"

I swear, the closer it gets to Christmas, the more crazies pop out of the woodwork.

Gone in Five Seconds

2005-10-20T22:13:00.000+08:00

Ynee's cellphone got nicked practically from under her nose.

Whilst during a busy period in the store, Ynee forgot and left her cellphone on the counter (behind a wine display). When she came back, it was gone. Good thing the memory card slot has something wrong with it and you can't trade it in or sell it :) So take that, you light-fingered lot of bastards!

Customers of the Day

2005-10-15T22:40:00.000+08:00

And...the MMCD award goes to...

Customer 1: "Meron ba kayong red wine?" (Do you have any red wine?)
Ynee: "Doon po, lahat yan, red wine." (Over there, that's all red wine.)
Customer 1: *picking up a bottle of white wine* "Red wine ba 'to?" (Is this red wine?)
Ynee: "..."

----------

Customer 2: "Meron ba kayong red wine?"
Nunkie: "Marami~" (A lot~)
Customer 2: "Yung Hennessy?" (Hennessy, for the uninformed, is cognac.)
Me: *thinking* >Did I just hear that right?<

Michael Bublé concert!

2005-10-12T23:50:00.000+08:00

After work, burned rubber speeding to the Araneta Coliseum for Michael Bublé's concert. (I know we made a completely illegal u-turn at some point, as I'm sure it's not legal to go over the center island - ehehe!) Got there waaay after Betsy mo gradh did; by the time I made it to the restaurant (Cafe Bola) she was done eating her food. Good thing my pasta (which I asked her to order for me ahead of time) was still slightly warm. Finished bolting down dinner at 8pm, which was when the concert was supposed to start (yeah, but what concert actually starts on time?). Managed to find decent-ish seats (at the top of the freaking coliseum), from where the stage looked about postcard-sized.

Show started at 8:30pm, and Michael Bublé proved he's definitely an entertainer. I was most entertained, especially when he mocked the audience for taking pictures of him with cellphone cameras. "I can understand the guys over here (points at the front seats), but you guys (points at us lowly mortals in the upper boxes), you'll be showing it to your friends, 'Look! It's Michael Bublé!' and they'll be like, 'What? This speck?'" After which, he proceeded to flaunt his security, climbed over some railings and ran around the lower boxes posing for pictures. I did manage to get a shot of him, but it was still kinda far away, so all you'll see is his profile and a lot of screaming fans.

Also, the parts where he imitated an opera singer (singing the first line of 'I Will Survive'!), Prince (yes, that Prince) and Michael Jackson were most amusing :)

All in all, the concert ended at 10:30pm, and I had a wonderful time with my wuv (no! not Michael Bublé! Betsy!)

---------------

Interestingly enough, my Ixus 700 was delivered today, just in time for me to bring it to the concert :) Thanks to the Cititbank Rewards people for sending it pretty promptly. Now I'll be able to post better pictures (as well as capture some of the stranger bits of Divisoria life).

Otanjoubi omedetou!

2005-09-28T20:50:00.000+08:00

Happy birthday, Ynee!

Never discuss politics OR religion with your friends.

2005-09-21T22:34:00.000+08:00

Right before going to visit Garric in the hospital, Ynee and I had a religious conversation. And this is how it went.

C: Isn't visiting the sick some sort of good Christian thing to do?
Y: It's a sacrament, like marriage and baptism.
C: What?
Y: You know, anointing the sick.
C: I'm pretty sure that's something only priests are allowed to do.
Y: Really?
C: Uh-huh. *after some thought* I think it's part of the corporal works of mercy.
Y: What? *laughs*
C: No! I'm serious! There's something like...the seven corporal works of mercy.
Y: You sure it's not the seven really kind things you can do for someone?
C: ...pretty sure I would've remembered that...

After which, we closed up shop and went on rampaging acts of mercy.

WOOHOO!!!!

2005-09-20T22:10:00.000+08:00

Ynee and I went to the Divi Mall today, and a good thing too! Spotted Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children in the dvd stalls!!! Woohoo!!! Bought it, natch.

Couldn't help it. Had to watch some of it tonight, if just for a few minutes before going to sleep - Cloud! *SIGH* :)

Found it funny when one of the bad guys' cellphones rang with the FF7 victory fanfare - which is actually my sms alert tone ;)

Storming the Gates of Heaven

2005-09-19T21:31:00.000+08:00

Garric goes under the knife. Hope everything is okay -- didn't want to bother her as I'm sure she won't be feeling up to anything. Will try to visit her at the hospital before she gets kicked out by the docs.

Turning Italian

2005-09-18T21:44:00.000+08:00

Had lunch at Greenbelt 3's Grappa's with Amy, July and Niño - had more pasta, some pizza, and of course, some risotto. Still not as great as Carpaccio. Feh. Had a great time anyway catching up with old college classmates.

Bought Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time at Powerbooks :)

Girls Night Out

2005-09-17T22:07:00.000+08:00

Went out to dinner with the Clan (minus Maryn, plus Kim) after work. Had some pretty good pasta at Pasto's in Greenhills Theater Mall (not as great as the pasta at Carpaccio, but choosy beggars can't). I finally got my books and dvds back from the Kittin!

Garric broke the news to the others about the cyst/mass in her left cheek and told us the operation was scheduled for this coming monday! We'll storm the gates of Heaven praying everything will be alright.

See mousie see, see mousie do.

2005-09-14T23:18:00.000+08:00

Been rather absent from the computer lately as I'm trying to watch seasons 1 & 2 of Carnivale (the HBO miniseries) - it's really engrossing, and I am reminded of Ray Bradbury's "Cooger and Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show" - except not entirely, since the Carnivale carnival itself isn't evil. Also, the plot twists are kinda in the writing style of Robert McCammon, who is one of my favorite horror/fiction writers.

Have been beading up a storm - made a couple of bracelets for my mom and me. Mom's was made with white/gold swarovski pearls and greeny-gold seed beads, while mine was made with cream rose swarovski pearls and copper seed beads (shown below; click on the picture to view larger version).

Also, I've been wandering around the 168 Mall buying shoes. Yes, shoes. The people at my bank asked me to buy shoes for them, and I feel a bit silly walking out of the mall with 4 pairs in hand...good thing Ynee helped me out, or I'd look like Imelda Marcos (who I hear goes shopping at 168 too -- guess she can't resist the cheap yet beautifully beaded shoes there). I'll stick a pic of some of the really pretty ones on so y'all can see what I'm jabbering about.

Bellers my Jean!

2005-09-11T21:22:00.000+08:00

Happy birthday, ole buddy Bean!

Muoio per te. Dude.

2005-09-09T22:32:00.000+08:00

Happy birthday, Betsy mo gradh!

How Recycled is Your Paper?

2005-09-09T22:18:00.000+08:00

Truck that passed by me on my way to work:

Fugu Paper Products, Inc.

That's right, no more anthrax-covered letters -- we'll just send out tetradotoxin-laced envelopes and watch people keel over after they lick the flap.

Lingua Derelicti

2005-09-01T23:48:00.000+08:00

Sign seen on wall of a remarkably well-protected vacant lot:

KEEP AWAY

WALL IS DANGER

I'm hoping that when I pass by, the wall won't try to eat me.

Is Heaven a Place on Earth?

2005-08-26T22:50:00.000+08:00

Most Memorable Customer of the Day: "Saan yung Maria Clara Shangri-La [Sangria]?" (Where is the Maria Clara Shangri-La?)

No matter how many times Ynee corrected her, the lady still insisted she was looking for Shangri-La. Either already soused to the gills or just some elderly hippie type, who knows? Aren't we all looking for paradise on earth? ;p

Forget life, my toys are getting weirder

2005-08-26T22:38:00.000+08:00

Being throughly distracted by checking a couple of jackets for damage, it took me a while to actually see this:

Persuasive devil, isn't he?

DOH stands for D'oh

2005-08-25T22:30:00.000+08:00

Just watched this on the news tonight. A Department of Health or city official was being interviewed on the dengue outbreak in Valenzuela City and I caught the tail end of the interview as I was switching channels. I'll assume he was being asked on what the citizens of Valenzuela could do to prevent being bitten by dengue-carrying mosquitoes.

Nameless DOH/City Gov't Guy: "...mag-pahid na lang ng skin repellant sa mga kapwa." (Just rub skin repellant on your neighbors/fellow man)

Which actually sounds pretty painful as prevention goes. How does repelling your skin make you less attractive to mosquitoes? Who, in the first place, would want to repel skin? And why do I have to rub it on other people? Wouldn't they hate me afterwards, when all their skin falls off?

Most Memorable Customer of the Day

2005-08-25T22:25:00.000+08:00

I've been down with a fever for the past couple of days (since Monday night, actually) so today's my second day at work. It's great, though, to have met such interesting customers during my recovery period.

1st MMCD: "Magkano ang Fundador?" (How much is Fundador?)

Ynee: "Anong size?" (What size?)

1st MMCD: "Yung 1 ml." (1 milliliter)

Ynee: "One ml?? 1 Liter, 440."

1st MMCD: "Ah! Oo nga, 'kala ko gamot, eh." (Oh yes, I was thinking in medicinal terms.)

Well, in England, they do give you brandy if you're feeling faint...so I guess it could classify as medicinal...

--------------

Nearer closing time...

2nd MMCD: "Meron ba kayong dried hipon?" (Do you have any dried shrimp?)

I think this can stand on its own, don't you?