Category: personal

cafe med + cheesecake etc

These food photos were from last week. Delayed post is delayed.

Anyway! The Podium on a Saturday. I loved this lamp inside Cafe Mediterranean:

GPOY (aka what kids call “photo of my face” these days):

I had Portobello Burger:

J had moussaka with Moroccan rice pilaf. Then we tried Cheesecake Etc. for the first time.

I want to go right back.

Love their Choco Dome Cake.

J had Belgian Double Cream.

*

Company anniversary party on Friday. My first, after only two weeks at the job.

(Photo credit: Reg. Thanks!)

(photo credit: Milton. Thanks!)

I still (somehow) feel like an outsider. Hope that changes soon.

various updates

  • Jaykie passed Exam P (the first in a series of actuarial exams) after days of studying and worrying. I knew this the moment he stepped out of the Ateneo Professional School – Salcedo building on July 28. I looked across the street and saw him trying to hide a smile. Of course we celebrated with food and drinks.

Congrats Jaykie, you deserve it!

  • We went to Eastwood on Sunday to watch Captain America. My first time in Eastwood! My Eastwood cherry’s been popped! I know nothing about Captain America, except that he has a shield and a possible hatred of the Soviets. And the Japs. And the Nazis. I think he’s boring, corny, one-dimensional, and a tad bit offensive. Oh look, the personification of America’s Messiah Complex. Certainly not the superhero I’d share an elevator with. But the film gives him  a plausible origin story. (Even the origin of the shield is explained.) He hates bullies. I empathize with him. I enjoyed the movie.

  • Stay after the credits for The Avengers trailer. To quote one enthusiastic YouTube commenter: “I nerded on the floor.”
  • Phil mentioned that adamantium (which makes up Wolverine’s claws and the rest of his bones) is the synthetic version of vibranium (which is used to construct Capt. America’s shield). So the interesting question of the night was, “Who would win, Wolverine, or Captain America?”
  • There was a bazaar, and I ended up buying two bags and a ring. (This was Jaykie’s fault! He’s an enabler!) I almost bought a new pair of shoes but I managed to stop myself. (And also managed to stop Jaykie from not stopping me.)
  • I’m in love with this ring, though.

  • Watched Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank with a large group of friends. (There were 13 of us! Lucky and very noisy 13!) Photo from Almi:

  • The film concerns three young, hopeful, awards-hungry filmmakers out to make Walang-Wala, an indie film about a mother living in the slums who is so poor she is forced to sell her child to a pedophile. How can you gauge sincerity in this kind of creative expression? Can we simply judge the final product and forget about the authors’ intentions? Are the filmmakers producing this film because they sincerely want to tell the mother’s story and inform the world at large of the level of poverty that exists in this country? Or are they doing this for the shock value, the chance to dig an award and travel opportunities from the grit? The filmmakers carry expensive gadgets and talk about poverty  in an expensive coffee place. Does this invalidate their art?  Does the fact that they are well-off reduce the value of the story they are going to tell?  I still don’t know the answers to the questions. But I’m glad an indie film managed to step away and ask them, and make me laugh in the process.

  • New job. I’m enjoying myself, so far. (Stress on the “so far”, as, directly or indirectly, my immediate boss is wont to remind me haha.)

pictures from home

Saturday to Tuesday in Bulacan. Ah, what bliss. I missed staying home. Stay home and just read a book or watch a movie and wait for my mother to call up the stairs: “What would you like to have for dinner?” I feel like a child again! One who can ask someone else to do her laundry!

For lack of anything better to do (or for being lazy to do anything better):

  • I re-read The Devil Wears Prada, and almost finished re-watching Project Runway Season 5. Omigod, too much fashion, my teeth are hurting.
  • Realized that: Smart Bro prepaid runs fast in Makati but can be infuriating in Bulacan, so I just use my brother’s Globe Tattoo postpaid.
  • I was finally able to watch Rango. I should have seen that film on the big screen! The animation is remarkable. And it’s hilarious, watch it!

  • I finished The Name of the Wind (and started reading The Wise Man’s Fear, the Kingkiller trilogy’s second book). Starts slow but around four chapters in (when the protagonist Kvothe begins talking to the Chronicler about his life and the University) it grips you and never lets go. I love the lore and the world and how magic is presented in scientific terms. It is Harry Potter-ish in the sense that there is a school, there is magic, there is the jerkwad teacher and the archnemesis and the two friends and the orphaned protagonist who is brilliant but helplessly idiotic at times, but unlike Harry, Kvothe is proactive, and unlike the Potter series, Name of the Wind begins with Kvothe a fully grown man. You don’t grow up with him. You sit down for drinks with him and he just tells you his story. (Thanks Jaykie for another brilliant recommendation.)

  • I may have added a page or two to the new story. Siiiiigh. I write so goddamn slow now. In the olden days I used to be able to sit for eight straight hours just writing, typing, typing, typing away like crazy.
  • Bought my father a new phone as his birthday gift. It’s one of the cheaper phones, he has no use for the touchscreen ones.

  • Saw the Nokia X7 and experienced sudden phone lust. I want it. I. Want. It.

  • But it retails at 18K! BUT IT HAS AN 8-MEGAPIXEL CAMERA! BUT I’M POOR!
  • GODDAMN IT!

This is Ming-Ming (Dynasty), the noisiest cat we’ve ever had.

She likes big bellies.

Famous Fathers with Cats, # 1:

We were watching Rango here, and my brother just knew I was taking a picture.

My brother, who has no choice but to be with me till Tuesday, suggested I download an ebook reader into my phone, and added Office Suite. So now I can read books (and write books ha!) on my teeny-tiny phone! I WANT AN X7! SHUT THE HELL UP!

Remember our pet chicken?


It gave us an egg! I almost rolled on the floor laughing at my father because he burst through the front door with it. He was that excited.

And now I’m here with Jaykie as he reviews for That Big Exam tomorrow. Prayers? Good vibes? Hope you are all safe and warm, wherever you are.

catching up with friends

Wednesday, met up with my high school friends in Sis restaurant in Dampa before moving to Starbucks in MOA for coffee, ice cream, and stories. In Dampa, you can buy fresh seafood from the wet market and have it cooked in any of the restaurants for a fee. My friends just decided to order in Sis hehe. No pictures because we were so hungry, but I assure you the food was great and affordable.

Photo source.
sugar overload in MOA
macadamia nut from Sasa
The closest name misspelling I've ever experienced was "Elisa". Oh, but then there's also the famous, "Elizabeth Toria".

A friend has moved to a new job in May, another will make the move next week, while two are contemplating working abroad (in Canada, in Singapore). Career changes! Life choices! Upheavals! I wish them all the best.

Thursday, Research sendoff in Chili’s Greenbelt 5. They handed me a copy of the Pretty Little Liars-inspired video. I’ll recap the shit out of that soon HAHA. (Or not, for the sake of my readers’ sanity.)

Camwhoring at Jaykie’s before leaving!

beeeeeeeeeeef
medium rare

Next: Weekend recharging with my parents. BRB.

on the last harry potter film, gifts, and goodbyes

Jaykie and I went to Greenbelt last night for the last full show of Deathly Hallows.

I couldn’t resist the new Mary Grace restaurant!

(Sorry for the low-res, cell phone shots.)

Beautiful, beautiful interior. I want a house filled with pretty trinkets.

Jaykie and his new iPhone.

Dinner!

Spicy lemon scampi and apple cinnamon honey iced tea

Now full, we’re ready for the movie.

The bulk of the story is in the first part, so this is mostly all action sequences. This is the shortest film in the franchise (a little more than two hours), with the least convoluted storyline. It’s a quest. Voldemort, the evil wizard, cut up his soul sevenways, and Harry and Co. has to find the objects containing pieces of his soul (the Horcruxes) and destroy them, so Voldemort himself can be destroyed. I believe this particular installment actually improved on its source material. Rowling’s narrative style makes it impossible for me to picture the fight scenes, and because of this, the character deaths felt gratuitous. In the film version, the deaths are more effective, more moving (a couple who can’t quite reach other during the fighting end up side by side on the floor filled with the bodies of the dead, their hands still not touching) and of course the visual medium is perfect for the chase scenes and wand wars. It’s also nostalgic. I missed seeing Gringotts and the Chamber of Secrets, and I was glad to see them in this movie. The special effects have improved – the detail on the goblins’ faces looked crisp and real onscreen – and the scenes are beautifully shot. It’s a fitting end to a decade of adaptations.

*

Last day at the office. Got lovely messages on Facebook and through text (hi Ate Julie!) and got this card today from Ate Abi. :)

rose quartz and amethyst - para swerte raw sa love life at career!

This is not a going-away gift because he’s not an office mate, haha, but thanks so much for this Charles:

(giddy)

My Research kapatids shot a video inspired by Pretty Little Liars –

but that we’ll keep to ourselves.

*

That’s (almost) four years of laughter and more nervous, stress-driven laughter. I will miss these guys.

Before I worked in advertising, I was a journalist. Newspapers have a lot of pages to fill, and I found that 95 percent of what I wrote ended up in the paper.

But in our business, it’s the opposite – 99 percent or even 99.5 percent of what you write ends up in the bin.

If there’s one thing that characterizes a creative’s daily experience, it’s rejection.

– Simon Veksner, How To Make It As An Advertising Creative (2010)

*

After nearly four years, I’ve tendered my resignation from the paper, effective July 28. Tomorrow, July 19, is my last day at the office. After that, I’ll use my remaining leaves to meet with friends, spend time with my family, fill up forms, take care of requirements, and bum around before I start working again. August I start work as a copywriter at this advertising firm.

Why the shift? I knew, even before I graduated, that I didn’t want to become a beat reporter. I admire the men and women who do this every day. It’s fucking hard. I love interviewing people and writing news and feature stories, but I don’t have the stamina and the drive (above all, the drive) needed to make it as a reporter. (I think the huge uncertainty in my choice of profession, among other uncertainties, resulted in that series of poems – “Reportage” – that eventually won me an award haha.) As a Journalism major, I found this realization embarrassing, and it took me a while to admit this to myself. But when I finally did, I was relieved.

When the paper’s Research department announced an opening in 2007, I grabbed the opportunity, because it meant working in print media (and the country’s best daily broadsheet! I said it!) without the daily mental pain of doing something I don’t want to do (i.e. beat reporting).

I became complacent. Then I started thinking of career mobility. Where will I be five years from now, in this company? I saw myself in the same job, the same position, the same daily drill. I became restless. I found myself looking at job postings and asking friends for leads to other jobs, and that’s never a good sign.

I’ve been restless for almost a year. I think it’s just time to make the move.

*

This is either the best decision of my life, or the worst decision of my life. I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime –

wish me luck?