pakarazzi express no.4

Stayed at home the whole day. We planned to go out for groceries but decided to sleep the afternoon away.

********************************

Our cable service has been out for two days. Good thing GMA7's signal is clear so I was able to watch Survivor Philippines. The bad news is, Jace got voted out. I wish it was Marlon.

*******************************

Sophie and I started singing along with each other while eating dinner. She can actually carry a tune hehe.

*******************************

Just signed up for a Facebook account. I think it's better than Friendster because it has more interactive features. Add me up!

*******************************

Spurs lost in their first game of the season against the Phoenix Suns. Crap!

*******************************

I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow as I'll be going to the Libingan ng mga Bayani where my Lolo Maeng is burried.

*******************************

Ate Tapa and Eggs for dinner. Yum yum!

*******************************

Saw the last episode of House MD a while ago. Can't wait for the new season.

*******************************

Happy Halloween every one!

100th!

Oh my! This is my 100th post! I've been thinking about what to write in this post, this being my 100th and all. So I decided to write about a special event that happened today, October 30, 12 years ago.

12 years ago on this day, I had a date and a certain lady and I went out and ate at Shakey's Greenbelt, the one in front of Landmark, now being occupied by choco-resto Max Brenner. Everything happened so fast that the only thing I remember was, when I came in, I was with a friend and when I left, I was with my girlfriend hehe (read the story here).

Its been 12 years since Jan and I have been together. We've experienced it all. We had a lot of good times and certainly a lot of bad times too. We were, in a lot of ways, the same and in a lot of ways, different. I think what kept us together all these years is that we complement each other. We were not just boyfriend and girlfriend, we're and still are the best of friends.

We're both free spirits. We wanted to explore life together and we still are. 12 years ago, I never would have thought that we would be where we are right now, although I am very certain that I wished it. Thank God my wish came true.

12 years and going strong!

:-)

NBA na uli!

NBA is back in season! I'm so excited! I hope the Spurs make a good run this season. With Ginobili injured and cannot play during the first few months, the boys from San Antonio should step up. Even if the Spurs added some new and younger blood on the team, the core still remains the same and age is certainly a factor in this sport. The good thing is, the team's defense always, ALWAYS, works, even when their offense is on a slump. Their defense saved them from losses time and time again.

Other teams that I'm looking out for are:

Utah Jazz : Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer and Kyle Corver are the new Stockton, Malone and Hornacek. Not to mention Andre "AK-47" Kirilenko's shot blocking prowess and Okur's shooting touch that drives the defense (and often times, myself) crazy.

Phoenix Suns : Any team that has Shaq is a title contender. Nash is so amazing that and I enjoy watching him play.

Detroit Pistons: Good starters, solid bench. Sheeeeed! Sheeeeed! Sheeeeed!

New Orleans Hornets: Cris Paul. Need I say more?

Boston Celtics: Tittle defense run. Can they repeat? Lets wait and see.

GAME NA!

:-)

yaya woes

Its hard to find good help these days. We've only had 2 yayas, and our present one's been with us for more than a year. The problem with our present yaya is that she has a lot of personal problems, mostly because of her family and these problems affect us also. She's been taking days-off during our working days and sometimes she comes home with her small kid and sometimes kids (yep, 2 of them). There was even a time when her sister had to stay with us for two weeks because she had undergo tooth extraction for two consecutive weeks and she asked her sister to help out because she had to rest. Sometimes we go home and find some members of her family at home and she never told us that they were coming. Almost every Monday morning we get nervous because she doesn't come home on time and there were times that she doesn't come home at all, with no text or phone call to inform us.

This happened yesterday. I've been calling and texting her and I never got a reply. Now we're so fed up that I'd probably fire her today. She said "they" were coming over this morning, and I'm assuming that she has her kids in tow, so I said not to bother as we were dropping Sophia at my in-laws and we should just talk tonight.

Now I'm not a matapobre kind of a person. I treat our yaya like family. Her family has been servicing our family for the longest time and she even was my yaya when I was still a toddler. Her mother was my lola's labandera for years, and she still goes there whenever there are odd jobs available at the house. The thing is, she takes this for granted and to me, not texting us that she can't come is an insult and a slap on the face. The only reason why we put up with her is because I want to see my baby when I go home and when I wake up in the morning. But now, I think I can live with Sophie staying at my in-laws during working days temporarily until we find a replacement, just so I won't have these weekly yaya headaches.

I think that we've been kind and understanding enough with her but it has come to a point that we're being stressed out because of her. Its hard to be considerate to someone who is inconsiderate to you. I'm tired and I think enough is enough.

ako na bahala . . . (konting angst lang)

Eto lang masasabi ko sa mga makapal ang mukha. Kilala nyo kung sino kayo. Malapit na oras nyo. Matagal na ko'ng pikon at alam ko na alam nyo na mainit dugo ko. Pasalamat kayo at di ko kayo nakikita araw-araw at kung hindi, araw-araw nyo mararamdaman pagkainis ko. Kilala nyo ko. Wala akong sinasanto pag galit ako. Nakita nyo na kung pano ako mapikon di ba? May nagawa ba kayo?

Umayos-ayos kayo dyan. Marami na 'kong naririnig.

Alam ko na nababasa nyo 'to.

O, ano? Ano masasabi nyo?

Wala? E ganyan naman talaga e. Wala kayong yagbols. Magsamsama pa kayo.

manilenyo

I've always been asked what province I hail from. Its very typical for us to be asked this question, especially from people, mostly our senior, who knows someone who goes by our last names. My last name is very common and its very normal for me to meet someone who shares the same last name.

With all the years of hearing this question, I never really knew how to answer it. You see, I grew up in the metro and I've seldom gone to my provinces. Yes . . . PROVINCES.

On my father's side, my grandfather hailed from Iloilo and my grandmother came from Pampanga. Both migrants to the big city and I assume that they met here.On my mother's side, my grandmother is from Nagkarlan, Laguna while my grandfather is a very proud son of Pangasinan. They met during the war when my grandfather, who was a soldier and a PMAer at that, was in Laguna, being a part of the local guerrilla movement.

When I was growing up, my family seldom visited these places and I really don't know much about our relatives. There's a good chance that we'd meet and never know that we were related. It was very taxing for me to explain my "probinsya" situation and sometimes I wished that I really have one province to speak of. My wife's parents are both from Bacolod and for her, its very easy to say that she's Illongga. Me, I'm 1/4 Illonggo, 1/4 Tagalog, 1/4 Ilocano and 1/4 Panggalatok

Whew. Now you see how hard it is to explain.. Never bothered to learn the dialects though. It's ok since my parents can't speak them too.

To simplify my answer every time I get asked about it, I just say that I was born and raised in Manila, and only engage in conversations about my provinces when I hear an Illonggo, Panggalatok, Ilocano and even southern Tagalog accent from the person who's asking. Besides, I'm proud and happy to be a Manilenyo.

:-)

life is like a box of chocolates . . .

I never forgot this line from Forest Gump: "Life is like a box of chocolates . . . you never know what you're gonna get". Sometimes, things don't go as planned and it would bring us down. I myself have experienced my share of ups and downs. There are times when I would be at a very high point in my life, and there are times that I feel like I have the worst luck in the world. I have always looked back to these bad times and try to rationalize why these things happen.

I found out that good things ALWAYS come out from bad things that happen. We learn a lot from our mistakes and a lot of good things happened to me in because of some unfortunate events that happened to my life. Its very hard to go through the bad times but its something that we all go through. Its a good thing that we have God, family and friends to help us out.

We can never enjoy life without experiencing everything from all the good and all the bad that comes with it. Sometimes, I'd like to think that I'm a spectator of my own life, sitting back and just waiting for what will happen next, especially when things that are happening around me are beyond my control. Just like watching a movie or reading a book. Sometimes we like the ending and sometimes we dont.

We will never know what will happen next, even if we plan ahead. We may be thinking of one thing and then the exact opposite happens. You think that you're getting the mint chocolate but when you take a bite, caramel oozes out.

But one thing is for sure: I love chocolate. And if it takes me two chocolate caramels and one chocolate with nuts to get my mint chocolate, so be it.

:-)

survivor philippines

Ok, so I'm addicted to Survivor Philippines. So addicted that I joined 2 sites about the show:

www.survivorphilippines.com the unofficial site and www.survivorphilippines.tv the official site.

Both sites are ok but I guess I like the unofficial site better because I can watch episodes that I've missed thru video streaming.

My personal final three would be the following castaways:

1) Vern - the cutie taekwando coach is the heart of the team. She's always gets the job done and she gets along very well with everybody. She is a true warrior and I hope she wins the whole thing.


2) Jace - the youngest castaway and by far the most matured in my opinion. It's obvious that he's in this game to win and just like Vern, he's very effective as a team member. Puts the tribe first. Even voted off his friend for the good of the tribe.


3) Cris - the guy cracks me up! He's also a team player. Doesn't care what people think of him, even though he acts like a jackass from time to time (he thought he could maneuver a boat the way he drives a car) . Naak's Chitae will surely be there when both tribes merge.


Castaways that I'd like to see voted off :

1) Marlon - He just can't stop yapping and his bark is worse than his bite, as seen in the last two challenges. Yes, he is useful to Jarakay because he can cook, but anybody born in a country where rice is the staple food CAN cook rice, and, when the Jarakay peeps realize that, this dude's out!

2) Nikki - What is she doing there? Why is she still there? When will she be voted off? How can Jarakay win with her in the tribe? She's lucky John was sick or she would've gone home on the last tribal council.

3) Kiko - I don't know. Nice guy? I just don't buy his personality. He's got this "holier than thou" thing. I think its crap. The game is Survivor and to win you have to outwit, outplay and outlast. If he can't hack it, if he thinks he has values that cannot be compromised to win the game, then I think he should play Gobingo instead.

Oh by the way, I'm so glad that Patani was voted out, but I'm bummed to see her active on tv (seriously? SERIOUSLY??!!). Well, I guess she deserves to be on TV for a while, since she worked so hard just to get her "exfosure". I just hope she doesn't get "overexfosed" or her 15 minutes of fame will end very quickly.

I don't believe that people in reality tv are doing what they naturally do in their everyday lives in front of the camera. Case in point: don't we all smile or make face or fix ourselves so we'd look good whenever someone's taking our picture? Same thing in reality tv. Everyone wants to look good because they're aware that they're being filmed.

That's just my theory.

But hey, I do enjoy watching it and I hope things get more interesting as the days go by.

:-)

KBL

Isn't it weird that as we grow older, we tend to see most of our close friends during K - kasal, B - binyag (ng mga anak) and L - libing (grandparents or parents)? When I was younger, I never thought that I would hardly see my friends when I grow up. I always thought that we'd get to see each other as much as we wanted to. But, as they say, the only thing that is constant is change, and yes, a lot of things changed over the years.

While we do keep in touch, with the help of modern technology from pagers, to celfones and now through YM, it seems that we only see each other during special occasions, and its very rare that everyone's available. There are always one or two persons in the group who couldn't make it. We try to get together during Christmas but last year's gathering did not push through.

There's always a hight probability that all your friends will be there during weddings, but the downside is that the one getting married doesn't have enough time to talk during the reception and often times would just have time to say hello while going around each table. Real close friends would stay for a while, not minding that most of the guests have gone, just so they'll get the chance to chit chat as a complete group.

I went to the baptism of my friend Mark's 2nd child in Parañaque last Saturday. Its been a while since I've been to that area. I used to live there and our family left and transferred around four years ago. As expected, most our friends couldn't come because of various reasons. We talked about having a get together once every quarter. Most of our kids are girls and we think that the kids should get to know each other as they grow up, which is one of the reasons why we're planning this. Our wives said that they'll do the planning and all we have to do is do the spending. Personally, I'd rather plan than spend hehe.

I heard that the mom of our friend died a few years ago. This friend has chosen to be estranged from us for personal reasons that up to now, I do not understand. Had we known, we would have one there, but we found out much later. Death is a fact of life and we all go through it and I think that pain and sadness is a bit lessened when one is in the company of close friends.

It is impossible to have gatherings as much as we want to now that most of us have out own families, but I know that we try our best and that's good enough for me. I just hope that the quarterly thing pushes through.

Basta, sagot ko lechon manok hehe!

:-)

LSS

One song that I can't seem to get out of my head these days is this. I know that everyone is praying for this in whatever they do in their daily lives. We all need this from time to time and if you have faith, it does happen.

Pakarazzi Express # 3

Our Business Planning presentation is finally done and now I can get back to business! Been doing the presentation since Monday and its a good thing that it went well. I've been playing playstation every night since Monday just so I can loosen up and relieve stress.

************************

I'm looking forward to November because I have some out of town trips planned and Davao and CDO is in my itinerary. I always love going to Davao. Its one most beautiful places in the country! I've made some friends in CDO and I'm excited to have the chance to see them again.

************************

Today was very freaky! Freaky Friday! Still can't say why :-)

************************

Why do I suddenly have the urge to listen to this song?

To download, click here.

************************

I was talking to my friend about how God gives whatever you need whenever you need it, no matter how impossible it may seem. I agree. It's happened to me. Still happening, actually. Galing!

************************

Looks like its going to be a very rainy weekend. I certainly hope not. Rain or shine, have a happy weekend!

:-)

justice?

Went home a bit early because of some domestic brouhaha, but still needed to do some work for our presentation this coming Friday. I'm actually using my downtime to write this.

Anyway, I saw on the news that Claudio Teehankee, who was imprisoned for shooting and killing Maureen Hultman and her friend inside an exclusive subdivision back in the 90's, will be released from lifetime imprisonment because GMA commuted his sentence.

I really can't believe that they're considering to let him go. How can they release a murderer? Well, they released a plunderer so this really doesn't surprise me. I also heard that Teehankee was being considered because of good behavior. If only he was behaving the time he shot those people, then he wouldn't even be there.

I say let the f***er rot in jail. Otherwise, anyone will think that they can kill and pretend to behave inside their cells with the knowledge that they'll be out in a few years because of good behavior.

He took a life for pete's sake!

I don't get this at all.

Yup, I'm definitely buying a gun. Their letting killers out of jail now.

buzz on the bizz

No time to blog. Up to my neck for our biz planning this coming Friday. Nothing worth blogging anyway, unless you want to know our biz plan for next year, not that I have any intention of blogging about it.

What's on my mind right now:
- mktg strats
- sales targets
- industry movements
- swot analysis
- this year's accomplishments / revenues
- fearless forecasts hehe

This will be my longest week ever! Hehe

:-)

Sophie's early x-mas gift

I bought Sophie a 2nd hand battery operated 4-wheel motorcycle from an officemate for a really cheap price. I've been wanting to buy her that for this year's Christmas but the brand new ones are a little pricey at around Php 4k (minimum). Good thing my officemate sold it to me for just P1.5k, still a little pricey, but cheaper compared to the new ones. The toy is still ok, although the stickers on it are faded already, but its ok 'coz the important thing is the motor works and Sophie enjoys playing with it.

We were planning to use it yesterday, which was a holiday, but because of the rain, Sophie had to play it in-doors.

Here are some pics:

Sophie's new Harley!

Sophie: "Ang layo na ng narating ko a!"

Sophie: "Nawawala na yata ako!"

Sophie: "Kasya kaya si Barney dito?"

Sophie: "San ba gas station nito?"

Jan (before I brought home the toy): "Bakit ka bumili nun? Gastos lang yan!"
Jan (after I brought home the toy): "Kasya Kami!"

Jan: "Sophie, ako naman. Alis dyan!!"