Loving the Long History

i brought my pair of shoes to Minutes to fix the sole. i got a look that says "hey lady, why don't you buy a new pair?". i just blankly stared back at him.... i love my shoes, even if it really looks worn and torn after years of loyal service. it's my fave shoes-- tangerine color, right 2-inch heel and it's just sooo comfy ;)


i bought a pair of jeans last 2002, and until now, it is what i wear for special ocassions... i have a purse given to me by riza's mom years back, which is now already faded and really old, but i haven't changed it since... my bible has been with me since 93 given by my bro, and i wouldn't trade it for anything newer... i've this red tops i bought in HK last 98 which until now i wear for casual ocassions...

unlike most people, when i've new things, i do not take care of it so much more than i would an old stuff. i am not very 'new' fanatic, you know the kind most people usually are when they have new bags, new shoes, new things, new phone, new gadgets, treating it like it's so fragile, so immaculate... i don't freak out when it gets dirtied. actually the more i'd want it to be dirtied, crumpled, faded... weird huh?

there's something about old stuff that endears me. i like the worn-torn look. i like the old yucky smell. i like the signs of the years weathering the storms. i like the scratches... maybe it's the long history we've had together. or maybe i'm just typically sentimental...

Alias

i started with season 3 last year-- the best season i must say! and i am hooked since then. i was so into the story revolving sydney who was back into the CIA but had severe memory loss specially of her past two years. and the first person that she saw? agent vaughn! cute ;) i learned from mano (who's the real avid alias girl) was that before season 2 ended, their love story really blossomed, but as usual, it went ka-poof! and that's why there is season 3 to keep all of us glued to the boobtube. the not-so-cute part is --- he is now married--- to a CIA officer! hmmm... very interesting twist and really keeps you at the edge of your seat..

so i watched season 3 almost non-stop (of course i gotta go to work as a break, hehe). it is about that love triagle, mysteries, espionage at its best and so much more in between. it is a well written plot and well written screenplay. i even borrow some of the lines which i use whenever it suits the situation (oh, yes, even during our ManCom sessions). it taught me also how to do the delegation thing, the interrogation sequences and most importantly, the separation of professional from personal life. tough! and after that, i of course moved on to season 1 and 2 (mixed up sequence? haha), and now i'm into the last part of season 4...

i like sydney's being the master of disguises. she's so cool in so many of the personas she's done. she has been a nerd, a nurse, a teacher, a bimbo, an argentinian, an american, european, etc. and speaking various languages! cool! and the coolest part is her fighting skills. i love jen!

i love the other characters as well-- they seemed to be cut to a T! jack bristow, the ever irritating arvin sloane, and another of my fave, nadia, sydney's sister. she's also great and really gorgeous to boot!

each charater has its own flavor and kick, especially the antagonists. oh, you'll really abhor them, and even dream about them!

so, when evenings allow me 2 hours of tv watching-- i go for my Alias dose! watch it and see what i'm talking about!

Hymns and Tears

i seldom cry. but if there's one thing that never fails to make my tears fall, it is hymns that tell of what Jesus Christ has done for the sake of undeserving sinners like me. it brings me back to that day in january 1992 when, by HIs grace, He has opened my eyes to the understanding of that bitterwseet cross of calvary... below is one of my favorite humbling and heart piercing-hymn... i hope you read and digest each word...

Words by Thomas Kelly, 1804
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/s/t/stricken.htm

Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See Him dying on the tree!
’Tis the Christ by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!
’Tis the long expected prophet,
David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
Proofs I see sufficient of it:
’Tis a true and faithful Word.

Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning,
Was there ever grief like His?
Friends through fear His cause disowning,
Foes insulting his distress:
Many hands were raised to wound Him,
None would interpose to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced Him
Was the stroke that Justice gave.

Ye who think of sin but lightly,
Nor suppose the evil great,
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the Sacrifice appointed!
See Who bears the awful load!
’Tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed,
Son of Man, and Son of God.

Here we have a firm foundation,
Here the refuge of the lost.
Christ the Rock of our salvation,
Christ the Name of which we boast.
Lamb of God for sinners wounded!
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on Him their hope have built.


who can fathom this great love? not i, for until now, it still amazes me, humbles me... there's so much depth in its beauty, and i only need to yield...

Coffee Talk: Central Perk in Jumeirah

this is actually long overdue! this happened end of june, and yet i will only be able to write about it only now. but i cannot NOT write about this too. because i would like to remember always how we can make our evenings different-- with friends!

all of us 4 love "Friends". even J now is addicted to it! so, where else is it fitting to grab a cuppa? at Central Perk!

after dinner, we searched for it within the inner roads of jumeirah. until after almost an hour of driving around, and close to giving up... we saw the wondeful sign!!!






they have magzaines, wifi, warm ambiance, very comfy couches, good coffee lines, and cool staff! i'm sure we found a gem in the city, specially on days when you needed to unwind...




















and as the pictures reveal, we had one crazy, make-believe 'Friends' night with the help of the friendly staff there! they said they have bands playing every saturday night, and movie nights every monday... so, i think we'd give our grand hyatt tables a rest for a while... ;) they also have in Uptown Mirdiff, which of course we already visited!

Close to You

have you had a best friend, with whom you've enjoyed times of platonic friendship with, until one day... things suddenly take an interesting twist? cliche-ish as it may sound, but this is the plot of one of my fave Tagalog movies, "Close to You". this stars the charismatic love duo of John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo. the plot is quite predictable, but the sequencing, the continuity and the scenes going to the ending keep you glued on the tube! a really feel good movie which i need after a hectic week!

i am not proud about this, but i admit i was not used to patronizing our romance films before-- what with the infusion of slapstick comedy, unrealistic plots, prolonged drama moments which isn't complete without a 'sampalan' scene, and the musicals!!! oh my! the only film i can remember liking in the 90s genre was "May Minamahal" which stars Aga Mulach and Aiko Melendez. for me, this is classic! but recently, i've noticed how tastefully Filipino movies are being made. the acting is so natural, the screenplay is well written and the cinematography is just superb, which usually becomes the platform for showing the interesting sites in our beloved Philippines.

so right now, i anticipate the latest offings from Star Cinema or Viva or Regal. jologs as it may sound, but i am not ashamed to say, the "Yes! the filipino can!"


here are my other fave romance Tagalog films... enjoy the movies!!!


1. Don't Give Up on Us (Piolo Pascual and Judy Ann Santos)

2. Blue Moon (Christopher De Leon, Eddie Garcia)

3. Dahil May Isang Ikaw (Aga Mulach and Regine Velasquez)

4. May Minamahal (Aga Mulach and Aiko Melendez)

Coffee Talk#3 and #4 Grand Hyatt

oh, we broke the rule of hotel-hopping!!!! as you can read on the title, it is #3 and #4! why there? oh, let me count the ways...

1) very nice lobby! huge expanse of space! this must be the biggest lobby i've ever seen!

2) very nice themening! if you do not have the real one, recreate it! from where we were comfortably seated (second level lobby), we can see the nature-themed back area where rows of great restaurants are lined up! they mimicked falls, lake and a lover's type bridge which serves as the passageway to the different dining options. the lushy greens (which are real plants by the way) makes you feel you are not in the middle of the desert!

3) very welcoming grand lobby! the front side which houses the piano bar, exhibits the grand staircase leading down to the main lobby, which is also by the way, huge in comparison to the others.

4) very relaxing mood music! the lobby reverberates the smooth piano and sax music. we've befriended also the resident musicians, so when they see us coming, they already play "moon river', as requested by Mano on our first visit!

5) very cheap valet! no problemo in parking!

6) good tasting drinks! on our second visit, it was not 'coffee talk in the truest sense of the word', as we experimented on other drinks, such as cocktail, hot mocha and frozen iced tea! we actually called it 'confused talk!' hahha! but the club sandwich is very poor! the smallest and most expensive club sandwich i have seen. and by the way, it also does not taste good!

7) very good place to take-off your mind from work! since the whole ambiance seems to take you into another dimension (wow!), you are assured of full mind relaxation... or stimulation, whichever you wish. for the later, make sure to bring with you well-equipped resource persons! and we had that for the past two sessions!

8) very good place for people watching, in case you have gone out of topics to talk about! poor guys!

9) very good reason for us to dress up a bit on a thursday night! who knows whom we may bump into when we stroll around the place?

10) spoilt for choice of restos in case we need a gastronomic challenge before a coffee talk! haha!

well... we have to hop on to other places once in a while... at least for now, we've found OUR PLACE under the mid east moon!

I'm an Addict!

i confess i am an addict. when stress at work is at the top, or when we are celebrating a job well done, each week, i should have a dose of it. otherwise, my withdrawal symptoms ranges from headache, stomache to complete insanity...


my complete dosage includes:

1 bowl of prawn wonton noodle soup with roasted duck (see the yummy picture!!)

1 serving of prawn bag

1 serving of chili crab fried rice

1 serving of roasted duck

1 serving of eggplant sambal

1 glass of sweet passion


all this, with a little help from another Noodle House fanatic (servings are for 2), will surely make my day!


there are 3 locations in dubai-- in the upscale Bin Hendi in City Center, at the elite Emirates Towers where you can be seated in a table with perfect strangers and still enjoy the meal, and at Madinat Jumeriah, where you have to wait for 30-1 hour to be served on weekends!


since they do not have table reservations, as soon as we hit the table, we already tick on the order pads which are readily available on the tables. using spiralized ballpen, we tick all those mentioned above and immediately give them to the waitress waiting. and then, the salivating begins as we anticipate the arrival of the dishes on our tables... with fun talks in between, we will always end up stretching back, sighing out loud, burping a bit, patting our tummies, and ultimately, smiling crazily at this experience!

there was even a day when i had it for lunch in City Center, and really pushed it also for dinner at Emirates Towers! talking about addiction...

well, i guess there are times when my 'sinigang' would have to take a back seat... hehe!

I don't wanna miss a thing...

if there is one love song that really pierces my heart, and can make me teary in an instant, it is the song "i don't wanna miss a thing" by aerosmith... yeah, you'd be surprised as i am no way a rock band fan...

maybe it's the wonderfully laid down words... very poignant, very real...

or maybe it was the way it was sang...very intense, very captivating...


I could stay awake just to hear you breathing
Watch you smile while you are sleeping
Far away and dreaming
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender
I could stay lost in this moment forever
Well, every moment spent with you
Is a moment I treasure

I don't wanna close my eyes
I don't wanna fall asleep
'Cause I'd miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing
'Cause even when I dream of you
The sweetest dream will never do
I'd still miss you, babe
And I don't wanna miss a thing

Lying close to you
Feeling your heart beating
And I'm wondering what you're dreaming
Wondering if it's me you're seeing
Then I kiss your eyes and thank God we're together
And I just wanna stay with you
In this moment forever, forever and ever

I don't wanna miss one smile
I don't wanna miss one kiss
Well, I just wanna be with you
Right here with you, just like this
I just wanna hold you close
Feel your heart so close to mine
And stay here in this moment
For all the rest of time


or maybe, it is the sweet remembrance of that someone... very nostalgic, very touching...

i guess all of the above...

Evening with Friends

it all started when Manoleth gave us a CD of season 1. i am not much into watching TVs or series for that matter. i am more of a channel surfer, and i don't like being tied down for sitcoms which keeps unfinished endings... but this one really hooked me! and the good thing is, it is on DVD so i can choose when to end! haha! the bad side is, this gives me bad mornings from sleepless nights of marathons! got to tell you this is my first addiction after TGIS!

season 1 was so nice, so young, so witty, so funny that i went on to season 2. and season 2 is kinda developing the plots of the rachel-ross thing, and building up the characters. that brings me to season 3... and before i knew it, i've been finding my way thru the hypermarket for the next season! whew!

aside from the comic relief it gives me, it reminds me about many episodes of my life! it's like "hey, i've been there!". i buy a lot of phoebe's weird but insightful ideas! ross' sweetness to monica is something that reminds me of my brothers. but chandler's commitment-phobia just nailed down what i have long-ago known about guys. monica's obsessive compulsive thingy freaks me out sometimes! joey's low IQ antics used to tickle me, but it gets somehow irritiating in the long run. and rachel's practicality as a friend sometimes turns me off.

above are just some random comments i have for the characters. but to the story, i am all sold into it! well, not all, but some. i am not comfy with how easy they plunge in and out of a relationship! i am not cool with a lot of pre-marital sex things...

but here are the reasons why i love Friends... (1) they show me in a third-person point of view that friends will never be perfect, they will have their own 'charaters'. so just shrug off deficiencies and don't make issues out of mole hills. i like the way they show how forgiving ang forgetting can be a great glue for friendships. (2) they showed me that friendship built over the years should not be broken because of a guy or a girl. in hindsight, it is true! (3) they showed me that being cool, and a lot of good laugh will make you look younger and your friendship thicker! (4) they showed me that relationships have their seasons in your life... some will come, and some will go. and lastly (5) they showed me that friends are so rare, so take care of what you have! we will come to a point where we are so set with our ways and our circle of friends, that nurturing new ones will be a lot harder...

season 9 had its awkward episodes, and i really hate the joey-rachel part 2... but then again, there are 12 pool of brilliant writers who had made me happy for the last 3 months, so this one is forgivable! last night, i'm glad at how things worked out in the ending. we've been together for the past 3 months, and glad that ross and rachel got together!

hmmm, so what's next???

My Comfort Food Ever

the mere smell of it makes me go .....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......... it can turn a worst day into an indulgence. everytime i go home from Dubai, i specifically request my mom to prepare this. Mano just taught me that it goes best with adobo, and yeah, it sure does... oh, my comfort food, my sinigang na buto buto!


people thought we do not have pork here. well, Dubai and the other emirate Ajman sure has plenty of it in selected supermarkets with "Food for Non-Musilm" section. so each time we have a chance, we go get those frozen (unfortunately!) pork bits, veggies, Knorr sinigang mix, and voila, we have our 'ohhlalal'! sans the kangkong, we have a different kind of lettuce that goes well with the pork. you won't believe how much i eat when this is the meal, it's like panic-eating!


Sinigang always comes with good memories... my best friend tina and i used to have our Thursday night sinigang sessions, especially made by Tita! ... every payday and 'bad-hair-day' used to be sinigang day made by Mom. and she says she likes seeing me ravaging a bowlful of this!... bonding time with my nephews and nieces is spiced up by it coz they share the same passion as mine, i guess most Pinoys do! haha!


besides that, here we also have our 'tuyo' and 'daing' sessions... with matching kamayan! wow! feels like home! then, sometimes, we also grab a dose of longanisa.... this ramadan makes me 'diet' a bit coz there are no restaurants open, and no Manang to supply our Pinoy food, so i just have to make do with what Spinney's supermarket offers, wherein my usual are the fried rice and the sauted veggies...


hmmm... im really getting hungry with all this discussion...i guess it's time to cook and put my 'rusty' BS Food Technology skill to test...

"Sort Your Life Out"

that's the copy written at the front page of IKEA Aug 2006-Aug 2007 catalogue. very befitting my current state this month of ramadan. i kinda have more time on hand than usual. more energy, more creative juice, and more willpower to put plans into action. i 've always enjoyed tidying up and decorating my space once in a while though i am not really a 'Monica' persona of the famed Friends sitcom. for me, there's just something therapeutic when i know i've uncluttered my stuff... (and not spend hours finding for something that is just right under your nose! whew!...)


I don't exactly remember when i started having this affair with interior decoration, but in my trip to the Philippines last June, I remembered having this collection of Real Living magazines. plus, i have been frequenting home and department stores than clothes and shoe shops! and it seems i have brought this li'l hobby of mine into the next level by seriously themeing our house... growing up outnumbered with boys (i've 3 older brothers) didn't present good opportunities for home decoration, if you know what i mean! so being able to experiment lately and mix-and-match properly and inexpensively, is sheer thrill to me. and the fact that my mom shares the same passion brings unparalled excitement!


IKEA is an intelligent furniture haven which had its beginnings in Sweden, and can now be found across the globe. My first trip to its store in Dubai about three years ago left in me an impressionable mark. i liked the way they creatively educate the customers on their pricing, on manning, and on the designs, making it very informative and customer friendly. every visit will overflow your minds with ideas that will really tickle your fancy. since then, i would regularly get my 'homey retail fix' and even snatch great ideas which comes free when you get their catalogues or when you see their showrooms. i love their smart ideas on how to unclutter your things, and keep a nice home at a very reasonable price! i hope they will have this in the Philippines too, and i'm sure of a friend who will be very ecstatic with this, right Armi? www.ikeauae.com


last month, i started working on my room here in dubai. my first choice for a theme was 'modern' with bold colors of tangerine, turqouise, teal and red. but another trip to IKEA made me think i want 'country'. but then, i really liked tangerine. and then i saw this very nice black and white ensemble for a room! wow, it did not help me 'sort out', but rather it 'confused' me with hundreds of choices... but the good news is, interior decoration is one area where it's ok to be fickle-minded. i saw in Real Living how you can achieve different themes inexpensively by keeping the big furnitures and just changing the decorative items such as cushion, curtains, bedsheet and decors! oh, pure bliss! so for one year, i will have four seasons: (1) tangerine, (2) country, (3) modern and lastly (4) Zen. just add a floor lamp and varied sized picture frames, i guess i am done... and guys im telling you, this is the closest thing to 'being home'...

Next would be my office corner... maybe it can increase my productivity level... hmmm whaddyatink? with just a few artistic touch to my bare back cabinet, i'd give professional interior decorators a run for their money! in the meantime, let me think what my theme would be... white? no, black? no, floral? no, modern?... oh, i call this a happy problem ;)