bend like a pretzel

or at least i tried my darnest best! hahaha!

i barelysurvived my first Bikram Yoga class last night and i have to admit, sans the random nausea attacks on the first part, i loved it!

for a first timer who has no sense of balance and very limited flexibility, i lasted the whole 90 minutes class in an overly heated room. without fainting. ok, i almost fainted hahaha! but it was worth it. i sweated buckets. seriously! plus, the instructor was uber nice and the class was fun.

after my melbourne indulgence, a bucketful of sweat is what i need.

my muscles are in pain and i could barely walk down a flight of stairs but i will go to class again tonight with the hopes that one day, i too can bend like a pretzel or at least make my forehead touch my knees! hahaha!

funny conversation with papa

when i learned about yet another typhoon hitting the Philippines, i immediately called home.

here's how the phone call went:

me: there's a typhoon again. be safe all of you.

papa: yeah, i saw it in the news. tell your mama to stop cleaning!

me: hahaha! you tell her! i'm going home next week

papa: have you found a rich aussie boyfriend yet?

me: no eh.

papa: well you have one week!

you gotta love my dad! seriously, did you smell desperation? i did! hahaha!

guilt and irony

while i was watching the footy finals at the Federation Square. secretly having fun under the rain...

i wasn't aware that this was happening in Manila...

that's not right. that is so not right.

my heart goes out to those who were severely affected by typhoon Ondoy.

donations/volunteers can be coursed thru the ff:
Philippine National Red Cross - contact numbers: Pasay Chapter 8542748/4343751; Las Pinas Chapter 8734873/4689688; Pasig Chapter 6350922; Alabang Chapter 8097131/8506813; Bulacan Chapter 0446625388into NHQ Manila 5245787/5270864; Caritas Mnl 5639298; DSWD 9318101
Manor Typhoon Relief Drive

sources:
The Globe and Mail
more pictures from this blog

indulgence : coles quadruple chocolate chunk cookies

it is the best thing that ever happened to cookies i must say!
the packet says:


"Luxuriously decadent chocolate cookie laden with milk, dark and white chocolate chunks. Finished with a base smothered in creamy milk chocolate. Incredibly divine, so 
indulge yourself"
so i did.
and for someone who doesn't like sweets much, i couldn't stop.
i'm seriously thinking of filling my luggage with just these! hahaha!

fondness

it doesn't matter how long we've lost touch or how far we've fallen out.

i will always be fond of you. like i said, i was never away. i never left and will never leave.

i'm glad to see that you're ok. steady ok.

and yes, i miss you too.

maybe not always. but whenever we talk of how things were, a part of me aches. the nice kind of ache. the kind that reminds me of how beautiful things can be that it becomes a promise of more beautiful things to come.

you bring me hope and i thank you for that.

move over martha

so i've been cooking and i'm loving it!

steak with rosemary and buttered veggies buttered veggies pork schnitzel pork nilaga beef stir fry with asparagus in red wine reduction sauce fish escabeche adobong pusit

sleepless in melbourne

it's 5am now and i have not slept a wink.

since i got here, my body clock refused to adapt. i am still in manila time.

i know it's just two hours. but if your sleeping habits are anything close to mine, 2 hours is a lot. i sleep late in manila which means i sleep even later now that i am here WHICH MEANS i have to wake up earlier!

sleeping gods...can you be a bit nicer to me? plesae pretty please?

domestic diva

this little piggy went to Queen Victoria market
and then cooked adobong pusit!

i'm such a martha! my mom would be proud! hahaha!

haller from down under

i'm in melbourne. where its winter in spring and i don't have any winter clothes in my luggage. hahahhaa!

i'll be staying here for a month and if the rest of my stay here is anything close to how my first day went, i'm sure to have a blast.

in 2 weeks time, there'll be five other from manila who will come in but until then, it's just me and the fabulous aussies who seem to always have a smile on their face.

i love my job!

now on twitter

follow me

about a boy

here i go again...

on my way to heartbreak hill.

hay.

running

you know, the usual friendly run for a cause thingy that seems to be the buzz all around the metro? well a number of my friends are already into it and have constantly raved about it. i, on the otherhand, am not.

i.am.not.athletic.

i don't even know how to ride the bike. seriously. i never learned. never wanted to learn. the reason is very simple. i don't like scars. maarte na kung maarte.

last night, a friend showed me photos of him finishing a race. here's how the conversation went:

dan: did you see the pictures?
me: yeah. athletic much?
dan: you should start running too
me: nope, not my thing
dan: try it. it's fun
me: no thank you. besides, it's painful on the boobs!

nuff said.

perfection

my night so far...

bordeaux

and

Chinese acupressure massage.

of ASLs and LOLs

back in the day, back when facebook nor friendster has yet to hit the online community, chatting via MIRC was the in/cool thing happening.

online access then was also limited thus, if you're in it, you are sorta part of the elite so to speak. it was a whole new world of fun to say the least. i remember being excited to go home just to check if my online friends are in the room. to say i was an addict is an understatement.

who wouldn't? the thought of striking interesting conversations excited me to the core. it was, in a way, a means a channel to spar with somebody else's wit. and boy there were a lot.

it was fun. until the information highway peaked. suddenly everyone had access. the elite group became the norm. chatrooms got saturated and were overtaken by pervs and what nots.

the once staple asls and lols were replaced by sebs and sops and who knows how many other chat lingos. people started to become less interesting and the chance of finding a decent conversation was as slim as finding a needle in a haystack.

my addiction waned and my interest disappeared. oh, and i grew up and had a job. but that's beside the point.

suffice to say that i have not entered a chatroom for years.

until last night.

for lack of anything to do and my usual inability to sleep at will, i downloaded and installed mirc. it was like riding a bike as they say. once you know how, you won't ever forget. before i knew it, private chats started popping. sadly though, none were worth a single keystroke. the first line counts. a mere asl or hey there! simply wouldn't do the cut.

and then this guy messaged me and said something about my nick to which i replied with a bitchy comment. before i could type again, he strikes back in an even more sarcastic tone. i was pumped. that was what i missed! the exchange of sarcastic, obnoxious banter accompanied by funny witty remarks. i couldn't help but smile the entire time. nothing excites me more than a play on words. a mental foreplay if i may say. sarcasm, wit and charm is such good combination.

this morning he messaged me again, YM this time. i have to admit, it did put a smile on my face.

hmn...i have a funny feeling that i won't be missing facebook anytime soon.

if and when you don't know the answer...

DON'T ever pretend that you do. otherwise, you will just look like an effin idiot.

so please, please please! shut the hell up!

eating my words

so maybe i spoke too soon. and yes, over reacted to the whole Shanghai thing of not having my usual dose of entertainment.

it's day 4 here in Shanghai and it's not as bad as i thought. i'm beginning to appreciate the things and people around me more.

i guess now that the initial shock has subsided, i have started to see this part of Shanghai in a different light. the rain has stopped and the sun came out for the first time today which allowed us to walk around this beautiful man made lake near our office.

the food is exceptionally scrumptuous and does not leave a dent in the wallet. my mom would've loved it here.
as for work, after a series of unforeseen errors on my implementation, i am now back on schedule. if all goes well in tomorrow's agenda, the rest of the week should be a walk in the park but not without fingers crossed.

so there. life here ain't bad after all and i'm almost back in my usual happy bubbly self.

ps. i will post pictures soon. my bathroom has such an awesome character!

bitchings and musings in Shanghai

my hotel is uber nice with a glass walled bathroom to boot. which means i could watch TV while in the tub or in the loo.
--- BUT it is in the middle of nowhere. my view consists of trees and miles of roads and rows and rows of manufacturing plants, semiconductors and the like. the nearest place to eat would require a 15 min cab ride to the nearest train station.

internet is free. which meant i could surf all i want.
--- BUT all the sites i frequent are blocked. no facebook, no multiply, no twitter. i have to connect using a different proxy just to blog. and no, this proxy does not allow facebook and twitter as well
there is cable at the hotel.

--- BUT there's only HBO and CNN.
the people here are sooo nice. --- BUT communicating with them is a long and painful task.
on top of all that, it has been raining since we got here.

ibalik nyo ko sa Pilipinas! now na!

from nasi goreng to noodles and dimsum

China, here i come.
i'm leaving for Shanghai tomorrow for another project with crazed-up butterflies in my stomach. i learned about this assignment while i was in Jakarta and the panic button has yet been switched off since.
even as i packed my luggage, i still can't shake the jitters off. i should be excited. but i can't. not yet at least. i will be using a platform which i am not too comfortable with. hence the butterflies.
hopefully everything turns out fine. or at least better than what my uber panicked imagination keeps on telling me.
on the upside, i know imma like the food. hahaha!

Have I told you about the time I won a bottle of tequila...

over a beer drinking contest...happy times. really happy times hahaha!

when a somebody sends your table a drink....

NEVER assume that it's from some guy who has the hots for you. hahahaahahaha!