I love Italianni's!!

Have been feasting on their Sicilian Salad for the past two days now. Had one yesterday in their Greenhills branch, while waiting for a very late supplier to arrive. The waiters and managers of the Greenhills branch were so nice. It took them only 5 minutes to serve my salad. And I didn't have to call their attention each time my glass needed to be refilled. After I paid my bill, they gave me a free voucher for a Sicilian Salad. On my way out, they gave me another one. Yay! Plus, Italianni's is now serving breakfast at Greenhills, from 7:00 to 10:30 AM. Some of the items on the menu are: Eggs Benedict Florentine (yum!), Italian Sausage ROESTI Breakfast (yum!), Potato Frittata Italiano (I'm getting hungry just typing this!). I can't wait to try them all.

**Note: The voucher is redeemable only at their Greenhills branch, valid only from 4pm to 12mn, until February 10, '05.

Dinner with Mike was at, you guessed it, Italianni's. Glorietta branch this time. We ordered the Sicilian Salad since we were both watching our weight (harharhar). And the Pepper Crusted Pork Tenderloin. We liked both dishes, although the latter was a tad too salty for our tastebuds. It would've went well with good 'ol plain rice though. Service was excellent, as usual. Our waitress, whose name I did not get, was so nice too. For those interested, you can still avail of the Gold Card in their Libis branch, since it's their newest branch. However, the card will be valid only until June of this year. They will be replacing it with another type of discount card. In the meantime, the Gold Card is transferrable -- our waitress said they are not strict with name of cardholder and stuff. And before we left, she gave us ... tadah -- free vouchers again! For any one of the following: Linguine con Vongole, Mussels Lombardi and Pepperoni.

Italianni's is fast becoming one of my favorite places to eat out. Can't wait to bring my family there.

Raise Your Voice

I normally do not go for teen chick flicks. Hilary Duff, Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Byrnes.... I see their names on the movie posters and I think -- shallow. The only reason why I wanted to see this movie is because Richmond told me that he got teary eyed over it. Whoa! It takes A LOT to get my brother to be teary eyed over anything. So, armed with my new faux leather tissue holder and two movie passes to Ayala cinemas, Mike and I watched it to see what the fuss was all about.

I do not know if it was because of the storyline, or because of my PMS-y state, or because of my cry-over-everything nature, but I found myself getting teary eyed during the first ten minutes of the movie. The movie starts off showing the closeness Teri (played by Hilary Duff) shares with her brother Paul (played by Jason Ritter), but Paul dies in a car accident on the night of his graduation. Yes, all these in ten minutes. Movies which center on family issues have a soft spot in my brother's heart. So that's probably what triggered the tears.

The movie's tagline (according to this Yahoo site) -- Don't hold back. Don't give up.

Another wonderful line in the movie -- "Some people hold on, when they need to let go." Or something like that.

Fine, fine. The lines are cliche. But I'm currently at that point in my life where I'm contemplating about my life's goals and what's holding me back. So there.

I won't say that this is a fabulous movie, but it wasn't so bad either. The acting was good, and the plot didn't bore me. This movie had me in tears for 25% of the time because of the sibling's closeness aspect. (I was looking around the theater to check if there were other "softies" with tears rolling down their faces too -- there were none.) Other than that, it was so-so.

Ang cute ni Oliver James. =)

Do All Dogs Go To Heaven?

Our Japanese spitz, Law Pan, died due to heart failure yesterday morning. He was 15 years old. Law Pan is a Chinese term meaning "the boss." But Law Pan did not exactly live the life of a boss. Since he was the only male dog, he would hump all our female dogs whenever he could. And once, when we were trying to house train him, he ran around our living room and peed on most of our furniture. My mom didn't want new puppies that time. And she certainly didn't appreciate smelling pee after an exhausting day at work. So she sent Law Pan to live in our mini balcony. But the energetic dog that he was, Law Pan would wake us up early in the morning with his loud and continuous barks. So my mom sent him up to the roofdeck, where he spent almost 10 years living there with little human contact. Someone would put him in his cage when it rained, and would bring him food during meal time. But that's about it. Until our laundry woman, Aling Nita, came to live in our house. She took pity on Law Pan, and brought him to live with her in the maid's quarters. She would call him "Gwapo," play with him, and talk to him, and bathe him, and feed him. She would soothe him when he howled and limped in the middle of the night. The vets said the limp was due to painful arthritis. They soon became inseparable. Law Pan would always follow her wherever she went. And Aling Nita didn't feel comfortable without Law Pan around.

Aling Nita was inconsolable upon learning the news. She was crying when I left in the morning, and was still miserable when I came home at night. She laments that she now has no one to talk to. Come to think of it, Law Pan really was her only friend.

I wish I had pictures of Law Pan to post here. He was really a "gwapo" dog, with snow white fur that needed minimum attention. Sadly (and oddly), we do not have pictures of him. We have pictures of all our dogs, except Law Pan's. Haaaaay.....

*****

This is a picture of the mongrel who loiters around in our office compound. Her name is Chi-chi, but Richmond calls her "The Resident Evil." I'm not a fan of the game or the movie, so I don't get the humor. But I laugh anyway. =) Anyways, as you can see, Chi-chi is in a terrible state. Her fur is almost non existent, and she has scabs and galis all around her body. Her ribs are sticking out. I do not know what happened to her, but she started limping during the first week of January. A truck must have run over her while she was sleeping.

It's ironic that Chi-chi is in this state, considering that I work for a company where most of the members of the sales team are veterinarians or animal nutritionists. And I feel that I should do something about it.

So I plan to put Chi-chi, and another still healthy puppy in a cage. So that they won't drink the water coming from our chemical production area.

Will post pics of Chi-chi monthly.

*****

Woke up around 2:30am a while ago because Chan-chan kept licking my face. Okay.. gross for non dog lovers out there. Sensing something was wrong, I sat up and searched my bed for any sign of canine excrement. None. Hmmm... what could be wrong? She (Chan-chan) isn't usually that malambing. So I turned on my night lamp, and saw that Chan-chan threw up.. a little damp spot right at the foot of my bed. Aaaaargh. If she had peed on my bed, I would probably have spanked her. But she threw up, and that must mean she felt sick. I checked if she was feverish but she wasn't. Must have been a stomach upset. My sheets have just been changed, so I was hesitant about having it changed again. I entertained the thought of just letting the damp spot dry by itself, but it was just too gross for me. So there I was, at 2:30 in the morning, washing my blanket in my sink. Chan-chan followed me to the bathroom, and waited in one corner, while I washed and scrubbed the offending spot. Licking my face must have been her way of waking me up to apologize for the throw up.

From the mushy one =)

"Charlie, Cathy is not the perfect woman for you. Cathy, Charlie is not the perfect man for you..." I listened as Fr. Peterson Tieng went on about how there is no perfect person for all of us. He was giving a homily for Mike's sister's wedding. Hah... What a coincidence. Lately, I have been preoccupied with comparing my relationship with Mike to other couples who seem to have everything going for them. Typical perfectionist Virgoan that I am, I saw the flaws, and didn't see the bigger picture.

Until Sunday evening.

When I realized that love is not only in the things he does for me, it's also in the things he doesn't do. When I realized that love doesn't always have to be flashy and showy; it can also be quiet and simple. Sweeping me off my feet every once in a while is good, but making sure that I get home safely everytime is definitely better.

That's when I saw the bigger picture.

To the un-mushy one: Thank you for taking good care of me.

Necessary Evil

I came in to work today to learn that:

a. a police officer pulled over our delivery truck in the middle of South Super Highway because he suspected that we were transporting raw materials for shabu production (they were softeners for laundry use).

b. custom officers are delaying the release of our shipment again by ordering us to pay additional taxes -- even though I know we don't have to.

What's a stressed out boss to do?

I cursed, and called some people, and cursed some more.

What really, really irritated me about the whole thing is that these events are totally beyond our control. After all, I cannot hold a nationwide seminar for the local police force to educate them about the differences between laundry softeners and shabu, can I? And the taxes.... aaaargh!!! THE TAXES!!! I can graduate cum laude with a course on brokerage and still not understand the logic behind all the taxes Custom slapped on us. Tax for this... tax for that.. tax for that one too.... AAARGH! Those are not taxes... they're TONGS! Tong for merienda, tong for lunch, tong for their new cellphone. It's hard to compute for the cost of imported goods, when each shipment entails new err... "taxes"! Whenever I see the head of Custom on television, gleefully announcing to the nation that they have gone beyond their forecasted collections, I want to scream -- the collections came from honest, innocent importers, dammit! To add insult to injury, I hear of smug smugglers who are able to get away with taxes and everything -- just because they have the right connections and bribe the right people.

I have to unlearn everything I have ever believed in during my younger years -- that hard work is all one really needs to succeed in life. No! No! No! To get anywhere in life, at least in this country, one needs to learn the crude and crass art of corruption.

I am learning this the hard way -- the corrupt lifestyle is not a choice, it's a necessity.

With that shabu-on-the-truck incident, did I have a choice? Okay, I could've stood my ground and insisted that the goods aren't related to shabu production, allowed the police to call the press and blow the whole incident up. With the tax incident, I could've let them delay the release of the goods for one month, never mind that the goods are badly needed, and we will incur demorrage, storage fees and handling costs in the process.

But what kind of choices are those? Those are idiotic choices, and would probably earn me the title "Dunce of the Century."

So I opted for the corrupt "choice" instead. Notice, I did not type "corrupt lifestyle." I bribed. I bribed the police officers and the custom officers. This is not the first time I did it. But I always think and hope that it will be my last.
I am not yet that jaded and cynical to wholeheartedly embrace a corrupt lifestyle.

But I'm afraid I'm getting there.

The Sunscreen Song

I last heard this song last November, in one of RX 93.1's Midweek Monster's Riot. It was brought up again on RX yesterday, when Delamar quoted this song, saying that some of the most interesting 40 year olds still do not know what to do with their lives (see # 11). This whole song would be a nice basis for my new year's resolutions. And yes, I wear sunscreen everyday.


Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of '99.....Wear Sunscreen

If I could offer you only tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience...I will dispense this advice now.


1. Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; Oh nevermind; you will not understand the power of beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you'll look back at the photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked...You're not as fat as you imagine.
   
   
2. Don't worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.
   
   
3. Do one thing that everyday that scares you.
   
   
4. Sing
   
   
5. Don't be reckless with other people's hearts, don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
   
   
6. Floss
   
   
7. Don't waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind...the race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.
   
   
8. Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
   
   
9. Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
   
   
10. Stretch
    
    
11. Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life...the most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't.
    
    
12. Get plenty of calcium
    
    
13. Be kind to your knees, you'll miss them when they're gone.
    
    
14. Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't, maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't, maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary...whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either- your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's.
    
    
15. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can...don't be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
    
    
16. Dance... even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
    
    
17. Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.
    
    
18. Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
    
    
19. Get to know your parents, you never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
    
    
20. Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
    
    
21. Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
    
    
22. Travel
    
    
23. Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you'll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
    
    
24. Respect your elders.
    
    
25. Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.
    
    
26. Don't mess too much with your hair, or by the time it's 40, it will look 85.
    
    
27. Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.
    
    But trust me on the sunscreen...

Photo Bracelet

This is the memory photo bracelet that I am going ga-ga over. In fact, I am looking for a way to include photos of our seven dogs, my family, Mike, my HS barkada, my ADMU barkada etc., since I think there are only 6 frames available. If anyone knows where I can get this bracelet, please leave a message on my tagboard. =) I already have a supplier's email address, but she has not replied yet. Or, if you're interested in the bracelet, leave your email address in my comment box and I'll send you her email address.

100 Things About Me

1. I cry easily.
2. I hate snakes and earthworms. And eels. And water snakes. You get the picture.
3. I don't like getting mud on my feet.
4. Nor do I like the feeling of wet sand between my toes.
5. The first thing I do when I meet someone new -- check out their fingernails.
6. Both my exes are left handed.
7. And my current bf is also left handed. Hmmmm....
8. I do not think I'm short. (5'0")
9. But I do think I'm fat.
10. I love our dogs and can't imagine living without them.
11. I love the color periwinkle.
12. I loved accounting, op. mgt, bus. stats and all math subjects back in college.
13. I failed one Chinese subject during my freshman year in highschool.
14. I once got sent out of the classroom for being so noisy in the CR.
15. I have slapped only one person in my life.
16. No, I don't feel guilty for doing it.
17. I love rainy days... as long as the streets are not flooded.
18. I'm an altogether different person when I'm driving on the road.
19. I once sang "We Are the World" in front of the classroom... off key.
20. I studied ballet.
21. I took piano lessons.
22. I'm a frustrated chef and interior designer.
23. Although I don't show it much, I really love my family, and won't hesitate to hurt the people who hurt them.
24. I once fought with my mom and didn't speak to her for over a year because she read my diary.
25. I think abortion should be legalized.
26. When I was 7, I held a kitchen knife (for the first time) and threatened to kill myself in front of my relatives because my dad got mad at me. Nobody paid any attention.
27. I love our old house. I can still remember everything about it.
28. I once asked my Religion teacher if the world was really coming to an end the next day. (Grade three pa lang ako non)
29. I don't mind spending thousands of pesos for books.
30. But spending the same amount for clothes evokes guilt.
31. I have been to Europe only once.
32. I think I have a charmed life.
33. I love cream based anything -- desserts, pasta sauces, etc.
34. I eat tikoy with catsup.
35. I'm a shy person -- often interpreted by others as "isnabera."
36. I love observing people.
37. I believe in astrology and the tarot.
38. I do not go to mass. I do not think I will go to hell if I do not attend mass regularly.
39. "Conversations with God" (1 & 3) changed my life.
40. I find it easier to frown than to smile.
41. The emotion I find hardest to express is happiness.
42. I cannot put on a poker face even if my life depended on it.
43. I know that I'm spoiled. But I'd like to think I do not take advantage of it.
44. I pay for my own purchases. Am proud of that fact.
46. I cry for the littlest things when I'm PMS-y.
47. I do not drink softdrinks, except when it's the only drink available.
48. I'm a procrastinator.
49. I do not own any brown colored clothes.
50. I hate it when people do not do what they say they'll do.
51. I can sleep late and still wake up feeling great.
52. I rarely sleep in the car.
53. I'm a very judgemental person. Something I'm trying to change.
54. I do not think I'm mahinhin. But apparently, I am.
55. I'm a sentimental person. I keep things people give me for sentimental reasons.
56. I like nice and romantic surprises.
57. I sincerely wish that my dad had been an only child.
58. I love mushrooms! And rice and potatoes. And eggs.
59. I do not find men with six packs and bulging muscles attractive.
60. I can crack jokes even at the most stressful times.
61. I pray before going to sleep.
62. I drank 9 shots of tequila once.
63. Had my first ever hangover the next day.
64. I fainted while hearing the obligatory Saturday mass back when I was in 2nd year highschool.
65. I fainted the 2nd time when I was in 2nd year college.
66. My periods are unusually heavy.
67. I do not like sweat on my body.
68. Drinking coffee gives me headaches.
69. I cannot stand buying things from the mall, knowing I can get them cheaper in Divisoria.
70. Maarte people irritate me.
71. Kids love me. I do not know why.
72. I forgive, but I find it very hard to forget.
73. I love fruit scented shampoos, body washes,lotions and soaps.
74. I have a very low body temp. I easily get cold, but rarely feel hot.
75. I think I can survive anywhere.
76. My parents wanted me to be a doctor.
77. I do not want to live in a high rise condominium because I am afraid of earthquakes and fires.
78. I like receiving flowers.
79. I get a haircut when I'm depressed.
80. I have a hard time communicating with people.
81. I hate confrontations. I'd rather sulk in private than let the other person know what I'm thinking.
82. I'm terrified of fire. I am too scared to operate a matchstick.
83. Nor do I know how to start our gas oven.
84. I once almost burned Liza's hair with a lighter.
85. I tried smoking once. I never did it again.
86. I love my room. I designed everything in it.
87. I'm also a frustrated singer and dancer.
88. Poetry bores me.
89. Baking and cooking relaxes me.
90. I believe in the powers of visualization.
91. I want to spend one year in isolation -- to get away from work and to think about my life and where it's going.
92. I used to go to Westin's poolside area to think and to mull things over.
93. I can still remember the plate numbers of cars we had 15 years ago.
94. I have a knack for memorizing telephone numbers.
95. I love long road trips.
96. I regret not wearing braces when I was younger.
97. I love window shopping.
98. I have no interest in jewelry whatsoever. My favorite pieces are favorites for sentimental reasons.
99. I sometimes wish I was a bit darker. A bit lang.
100.I always take out the tomatoes and the cucumber in my sandwiches. But pickles I like.