Halloween

It's Halloween today and it's pretty much an American holiday. I wanted to make it a very enjoyable one for my niece. And so we fetched her at 9 pm from my place and brought her to Greenhills.

But when we got there, she woudl not get out of the car after seeing a lot of kids in the area where the party was happening. When we were finally able to convince her, she would not go inside the party, but just wanted to stay outside. And to top t all, we were soooo late we were not able to get a lootbag. Thus, she has no Hershey's and Cadbury chocolates that she wanted.

In any case, we did go to McDonald's to eat a very late dinner and get her Barbie toy from the Kid's meal. She also got some Halloween cookies from the same store.

Then she went cruising about town with us as we went to first Libis, then Timog and then West Triangle along Times Street. Since she knew we were on our way home, she couldn't help herself from asking (by this time we were already in Gilmore) if there was no short cut on the way home because she was getting sleepy. In reality, we drove all over Manila, which is why it was taking us a long time to finally get home.

In any case, the reason for her question was she wanted to know when we would get home so that she can have her picture taken with that butterfly painted on her face. It was one of those free stuff you get when you go for the trick or treating event that she went to.

oh and i must say, some scary story was told over the radio that made us stick together instead of being dropped off while my friend was supposed to drive home alone.

new toys

today i got to watch Uptown Girls which could have been a good movie... i sooo hate false advertising! here i was ready to laugh my hearts out and maybe even feel a bit icky only to find out that the movie was not really what it was advertised to be.

Fine. It was funny - if you're the type who loves world plays and listens to each and every dialogue - kinda like how you watch XFiles... ummm... i mean how I watch XFiles. It had a great story in it, but it was not exactly THAT funny as they made it appear. Some scenes were actually funny and you ahve to admit that Dakota Fanning did well. But I would have enjoyed the movie more had those people in-charge of marketing the film done a good job of it.

In trying to advertise it as one heck of a funny movie, you actually could feel the bile in your mouth for not having laughed as much. bleh! i hate false advertising! The movie was about these two people and how they dealt with what life has given them and instead someone wants to put Jim Carey on the show! bleh! But honestly, if you want a movie that's mildly funny, but seriously on the level and even a bit touching, then this movie is for you,

Anyway, after having eaten KFC like a beast - i was soooo hungry -, I called Switzerland coz I was asked to call back. But I don't know yet what will happen to it since the person that I'm supposed to talk to was not there.

In any case, I bought a new toy today:

i think i would be able to start tinkering with it Monday next week since i have to spend Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 with family - with my cousins and aunts and uncles and all that. heee...

we're bringing my niece trick or treating by the way. wish us luck!

wow philippines

in its desperation desire to attract more and more tourists into the country, the department of tourism launched the Wow Philippines a few months back. And now, I feel like one of those tourism employees touring around an Iranian guy in the wee hours of the morning. For reference, you might wanna read alba's entries.

In any case, entertaining an Iranian guy who loves jogging at 2 am, eating at McDonald's at 12 midnight and at KFC at 3 am is not as bad as I would have thought. Partcularly when it comes to alba pulling her stint and pulling a complete Drew Carey Show (A show that I have only watched once) on us. It makes me think that my mumbling about her car during those three times that I woke up in the middle of sleeping was not so bad after all.

But then again... after losing sleep for more than a week, it makes me wonder if I should still continue being friends with Hamid since he does have a penchant to go dancing everynight. I cannot begin to tell you how tiring all this paper writing and going places is.

depraved sleep

heee.

For the record, I have not been intimate with my bed and my bedroom for 1 week. It’s official, my bed and I broke up.

Anyway, after getting 4 hours of sleep for the past 3 days, I have gone on with my life as a sleep deprived walking being. By Sunday afternoon, I was able to sleep through the car wash, to which I might say the Caltex car wash guy did pretty well as my friend said. While we were doing the famous paper, I was so sleepy that I asked for a nap. I am only to be awakened should sleep, I my friend have anything to ask regarding the Congressional Debate and the Parliamentary debate. Just as alba was typing and I was about to sleep, I heard her car's trunk close very loudly. I was so disoriented that I almost bolted from the bed. She looked at me inquiringly:

she: what's wrong?

me: I just heard Bembol's (her car) trunk close

she: soliloquy, Bembol is not here (in her room).

then while I was sleeping, I felt her sit beside me. Being the light sleeper that I am, I woke up:

me: what do you need?

she: what were the positions of the Democrats and the Republicans again?

me: it's in the matrix I made for you

she: yeah, but I can't distinguish which is which

me: The Democrats were... blah... blah... blah... car...your dad -

I drifted off to sleep and then bolted upright. she was looknig weirdly at me.

me: i just said something about your car and your dad

she: yeah...

me: ****! what did I say? .... I don't know what I said! *****

she was still looking at me weirdly until we both broke and laughed our hearts out.

on suicide: my comment on an artist's blog

If I could only find one point on which to turn the world around..." --- or something to that effect (disclaimer: i totally forgot who among the great many people who ever lived said this, but it sure didn't come from me nor any of my classmates)...

in any case, my stake at contemplating suicide is...

...don't be stupid! go up the highest tower you can find and try looking down and imagine your body splattered on the ground below with trucks, car, buses and motorcycles rolling on it and your intestines splattered all over the place.

better yet, get a pellet gun and put a pellet inside, get a pillow and put it against your temple. hold the pillow in place with one hand and the pellet gun with your other hand. the barrel should face the pillow. in short, it's your head > the pillow > the pellet gun. then try pulling the pellet gun and see if the pellet would give you an idea of how painful using a gun is.

If you're still not satisfied, go to your kitchen. sit down on the chair at the dining table. Then stop breathing for 5-10 minutes. And please, please, do not cheat!

Or, grab 7 buckets of water - from the pool, from the garden hose or from the sink -, sit down on the patio and drink the water one glass after another so you could try getting a taste of how it is to drown.

Another way is, put your hand on the table, grab a hammer and give it one huge pound or you can even go to the street and have your friend run your small toe with his mountain bike...

Lastly, just get married and try living with your wife/hisband and then with hoards of other relatives, particularly the in-laws. more mature people say that it's hell.

if those cannot cure you, then you may as well die from the pain so... go ahead and do it!

But seriously, everyone contemplating on suicide should try one or all of these things I mentioned. heee. then maybe people will realize what a less painful way of going about things and situations staying alive is.

for my friend

before i forget, i got to chat with a friend of mine yesterday. pls. pray for her very special intention. we're on the same boat, but of different make. please just pray for soliloquy's friend's intention so her life would be a bit easier, then don't forget to cram me in in those short minutes or seconds of prayer.

thanks!

3 girls and a man

After living at alba’s place for nearly a week, we went out tonight. We first went to Intercon Hotel for her niece’s 18th birthday. Now, you shouldn’t ask me what I was doing at a birthday party of someone I hardly know. heee. Remember that Flash software I fell in love with? well, that was for this birthday. Anyway, after going around in circles in Ayala, we decided to park at the Glorietta 4 basement parking and walked all the way to the hotel. I helped them set up the presentation and decided to enjoy the company of myself and ate at Tequila Joe’s.

Yep. Alone. And while some people consider this a date night, I actually like myself enough not to be bothered with the conventional practice of going out on a date on date night.

Anyway, I went on and had dinner and after reading a couple of pages from my new book and allowing my creative genius to once again start continuing with the story I left hanging a few months back and whose readers were emailing me to continue, I started writing the continuation of my fiction.

Then, of course, I went to have tea at Starbucks still waiting for my friend and her niece’s presentation to end so I could meet them to go on our way to Intramuros.

Now while I have been the designated navigator since day one of my friend’s driving stint, I can honestly say that I do not know Manila that well. I do not know which is where. And I am serious. What I do have is a good sense of direction and an uncanny knack for coming out of trial-and-error situations alive and kicking.

In any case, tonight, we picked up her niece’s friend and brought him with us to Intramuros, but it was so late that we only stood and heard three songs from the band before it was done and we had to go. Since this friend wanted to dance, we decided to go to Malate.

Guess what?! I’ve been to Malate for a night out only once and I do not know how to get there since I was so busy talking to friends when I went there the first time. And so we played it by earsight and looked for it as we drove along Manila.

Lo and behold, we were stopped by a patrol car after we had scratched the front right side tire against the sidewalk. I actually thought we were being stopped because my friend did not see that we were that near the sidewalk. But then, the police on duty along that street crossing San Marcelino St. said that we beat a red light…. duh?! we did?! what the heck is he talking about?!

To make matters worse, we were just 3 girls and we had my friend’s niece’s Iranian friend with us! And to make the long story short, while one of the policemen were friendly as we tried to explain that we were lost and he gave us directions, the other policeman wanted money so much that he was actually able to extract P 500 out of my friend’s wallet.

True enough, we were Pol Eco students and bribery is against any of our principles and morals. However, it was actually more dangerous for us if we had tried to reason with them for a longer time. The road was deserted and well, they were policemen with guns. I guess when you think about it and about how nervous everyone in the car actually was, P 500 is really very little money to pay if not giving it would have meant putting our lives in danger.

And so, we all decided to go home – but not without stopping by KFC first. Since the guy we were with wanted some KFC at 3am, we decided to go to the KFC which we know for sure is open for 24 hours – we went to KFC at the shell station in South Super Highway. Only after we have satisfied ourselves with hotshots and chicken did we finally go home and called it a night… but not after we had to pay P 43 twice to get to and from our KFC.

I should definitely become an agent

Yes. Definitely. I love discovering stuff!

See, I am so used t o video editing that I actually am taking a break from it all and I have not touched my adobe premier for a long, long, looooonnnnnggggg time. you can imagine.

Today, after some crazed friend to whom I have been giving advice on regarding her case woke me up an hour before I am supposed to wake up, I sleepily went with my friend (whom I wouldn’t mention anymore since everyone knows we’re always together) to her niece’s friend’s house to make some presentation for another niece’s debut tomorrow. And I discovered another breakthrough in the ICT industry/

See, I usually hate it when I go to websites and web pages containing presentations using this program mainly because kit takes up too much time to load. But my god, man! you would not believe what Macromedia FLASH can do! What it can really, honestly, no-holds-barred can do! It is utterly amazing how it can make still pictures into storyboards that you can make a presentation out off much as if you have done some video editing work! For a person who is so used to video editing, I was amazed, astounded and floored!

I was just told that there’s gonna be a version 7 so I am going to wait a little longer before getting one.

I love discovering stuff.

to be

As we were cruising along manila – the real honest to goodness City of Manila (not Manila, the capital of my country), I discovered something with the help of alba. I have discovered that I AM.

Now those who remember their metaphysics of man would understand fully what I mean. Being, a philosophical term meaning “to be” is applicable in its fullest sense only to the Supreme Being. And yesterday, I finally realized that I AM. Being, with a capital “B”, certainly applies to me. I AM.

We were cruising along Manila because we were looking for Becky’s Kitchen whose melt-in-your-mouth ensaymada makes appetizer seem like the main course and the heavenly blueberry cheesecake and its lemon square crust was just to die for. You can really die savoring each and every mouthful of Becky’s goodies.

Since we were losthaving a hard time looking for it, I was asking alba to make a right turn here, go straight, turn left there… at first she would not believe me. However, eventually, after making several wrong turns, my word IS. Whatever it is that I say, she was doing. I commanded, and it happened. It feels amazing to be god for just those two hours of driving, reaching our destination and savoring the Becky’s Kitchen goodies.

with Becky’s Kitchen clutched in my hands and hers, I can now savor the feeling of I AM!

The Agent

I discovered a new author!!!!

seriously, I now know how editors, producers and agents feel!

I went to Megamall to have the jump rope I bought last Sunday changed since it had some threads and stuff showing up. I had wanted to do some exercises at home, but I’m not one to do aerobics. I’d much rather have a punching bag or kicking pad. And so, I thought about jump rope since it would be a cardio exercise, which will enhance my recent penchant for the gym and add smile on my doctor's face.

but I digress, so I went to Megamall and had the jump rope changed. At the same time, I started looking for handrops, which after a year has still not reached the Philippines (do you think Thailand is really THAT far? I mean, that's the reason I was given once again), and my Taekwondo shoes (you do not know how hard it is to look for a pair!)

In any case, I passed by my second home (nope, not alba’s flat) and went through my library. Lo and behold! National Bookstore actually had some seemingly great new books! I was hunting for new books and saw this new author, Arturo Perez-Reverte. What drew me was the chessboard on the cover page, but of course I knew it was a novel. And then I read the backpart of the book to know what it’s about. But I did not stop there, since they had an old dented copy of the book. And so, I went to power books, all the while thinking of my wallet, and went through the fiction section. i never realized that there were so many books until I started looking for this particular one! Then I found it! The exact book I was looking for -
The Flanders Panel by Arturo Perez-Reverte

Off hand, I think it’s one of those books I like – mystery, with enough politics and bad men trying to control the fate of the world or at least the fate of a few people in their hands. In any case, I have not yet read the book and I have just started on it, but I think I shall like it…

…despite the fact that it contributed to my state of bankruptcy these days.

oh and elase do not forget to continue praying for me and my Switzerland escapade!

Second Extension of My Being

…remember when I told you my computer is the extension of my being? well… it is. and just when I was enjoying the extension of my being, the Manila Water Works company happened to choose our town to destroy fix the water pipes... ergo stepping on the second extension of my being.

…naturally, they started fixing it only a few months before the actual electoral campaign is about to start

…not withstanding the fact that those particular pipes didn’t have any problems with them

…never mind the fact that the broken pipe was within our street and not the whole baranggay

…not to mention that FPJ is supposed to announce his decision to run for presidency tomorrow. Can anyone please shoot me now?

so there you have it. the reason why I have been out of the blogging community is because of a water pipe.

now you might be wondering how a water pipe can affect my internet connection. here’s what really bugs me through this whole ordeal:

…NEVERMIND the fact that while they were fixing the pipes they deliberately happened to stumble upon the phone wire pipes.

ergo, no phone lines and no internet connection.

yeah.yeah. I live in the Middle Ages, but hey at least I have my money’s worth – dial up unlimited internet connection. and with the way computers are these days? I don’t really need that DSL or broadband.

My friend arrived!!!

Okay, the real reason I am ecstatic about this whole dealio is because she got me lots of pasalubong!!!! LOL

She got me tons of those indian stuff - the one that you put on your hair when you wear an indian outfit, a couple of those costume jewelries which pairs with earings that have long things like dangling earings (for lack of a better term) that you get to hook on your hair or on the earings' clasp, lots of bangles (candy, why do indians like lots and lots of bangles?), those sticker things that you put on your forehead as design, another set of bangles, and another and yet another.... i don't know how many sets i have! and a dress.

Yeah. yeah. i'm that kind of a friend. LOL.

Seriously, the highlight of our seeing each other for a good 45 minutes was she let me see her indian wedding gown and this other gown that she's wearing for that event on the guy's side of the family. and by God are they beautiful! the embroidery can literally make her rich if they were to judge stuff by their weight! Not to mention that the design and the execution of the embroidery itself was awesome!!!!

This makes me think that if and when I do get married... nah. I am not gonna have such a lavish dress. I'd go for the simple yet elegant type.

Setting my feelings and person aside, I'm sure my friend would look lovely in her wedding dress!!!

Have a happy life, Shals!

Test, test, test... not the academic kind

And so I took this test and God help me what it said:

(my name), did you know you are about 12,921,686 minutes old?
Now we're about to find out if you're in it for love or money...

(my name)when it comes to love or money, you're a Hopeless Romantic!!!

Hopeless Romantic

For richer? For poorer? It doesn't matter to you because you're the Hopeless Romantic. Whether your sweetie is an oil baron or a grease monkey, it's all about until death do us part.

Even if you haven't met "the one," you'll judge your soul mate by the love letters, roses, and foot massages — not the size of their bankroll. And even if their wallet is as fat as their sonnet collection, the toughest part of your relationship will be arguing over which charity to choose, who loves whom more, and who's the bigger Schmoopie. And if that diamond ring turns brass, no biggie — your love is totally not-for-profit.


... why do these things have to come out?!

grrr.... i hate you! i hate you! i hate you!!!!

I know. i know. i'm a hopeless romantic, but don't get onto my case, okay?! i'm no damsel i distress and prefer it that everyone knows i'm not such.

the funny thing about this whole test ordeal is there's this link at the bottom of the apge that sayd, "This isn't me! Retake the test."

LOL. i was rpepared tor e-take it, but that's like cheating on myself. Besides, I know something like this answer was bound to come out. heck if i know why i answered truthfully at my first try. i knew it'll get me to trouble anyway.

I guess this is just one of those things you already know, but had to be slapped right in front of you to accept.



And I repeat, I am not giving anyone permission to bicker with me on this. It stops here, you hear?!

nada. zip ir. NOT A WORD!

Crappy Day

After trying so hard and praying so hard just to pass an exam, I went ahead and failed it.

Yep! Why I ever chose to take up Statistics as a credited subject to wait out my MA degree from that university is beyond me! Now I have to suffer for it.

Jeez! Youd' think i would have learned my lesson!

So I AM feeling crappy and I don't wanna talk to anyone.

Songs and Maladies

This happened a couple of weeks back. I started singing Michael Buble's songs at home due to spending everyday with the exception of Sundays in a car whose driver is an addicted Michael buble fan.

Since the music is relaxing and sometimes totally upbeat that it could get us a ticket for reckless driving, we started listening to the Original Soundtrack Track of Love Affair (Annette Benning and Warren Beatty) and Moulin Rouge. We of course listen to music in between. But the gratest music of all time goes....

friend & me:

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

friend: Girls in white dresses - that melt into spring....
these are a few of my favorite things!

... hmmm. makes me wonder why she was feeling so good singing it.

WTO and Cancun Round

There was this guy (I forgot his blog address) talking about the failure of the Cancun Round with the détente, so to speak, among the Third World and developing economies and the developed countries. He claimed in his webpage that we should not be over zealous about the failure of the Cancun Round since it was also meant to tackle measures on alleviating corruption in the WTO member countries. In which case, I can vividly remember the cover page of the last publication of The Economist.

I am not one to say anything against the position of that guy. I’m sure he had thought about it and I have to admire his candidness in posting such academic issues in his blog.

I do have something to say about the topic.

The accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) has practically been a standard in this day and age. As we have discussed in my university before, there appears to be no other venue to bring your trade problems and trade issues other than the WTO. Any country wanting his trade issues settled has seen the benefits of the WTO. After all, WTO has been an effective mechanism in institutionalizing standards and practices on promoting the free market economy. Note: It promotes free-market economy, but it does not necessarily ensure it. Thus the war particularly on trade in agricultural products seems inevitable – with the agricultural countries lobbying for lesser barriers on trade in agriculture and the developed countries’ domestic politics calling otherwise. Being part of the WTO is a given. Unless you’re powerful enough to either sustain your own economy or engage in bilateral agreements all on your own and come up the winner.

Now the Cancun Round was seen by a lot of developing economies as a milestone. They have proven that together, they can call a halt to what would otherwise have been an unfair Round with the developing countries’ agricultural trade suffering. At least this was what they might be thinking.

This brings about several other instances in history wherein developing countries could have called a default. Most particular among all the historical milestones is the debt crisis. Sadly, the developed countries were too engrossed with their domestic problems that they failed to see the benefit of a multilateral approach to the problem.

In any case, the Cancun Round was not entirely disastrous as far as the WTO goes, as some members of the academe might think. True enough, there is a need to caution everyone on the failure of the Round. The failure, as much as it emphasized an idea, may bring about negative effects. However, the point of the matter is, the failure did EMPHASIZED an issue – an issue that is far more important to developing economies such as where I reside. Had the Round pushed through, the voices calling for a level playing field on trade in agriculture may not have been heard. In this case, it was heard and it was very loud.

As for the caution on the solution that the Cancun Round was going to bring about with the inclusion of corruption on the agenda… well, one can only speculate at this point in time since the Round had not pushed through. However, if it did push through, what do we think would have been the result of Cancun? Do we honestly think that the talks and negotiation would have paved the way for a more liberalized and transparent governance? Do we think that a few days of negotiation would pave the way for less corruption?

This is not the time for talks. This is a time for action and early wins. The world does not wait for each and everyone to show off what good ideas they had put on paper. And corruption certainly cannot be resolved by negotiations culminating with the signing of an agreement. Corruption breeds… corruption is in the system as much as it is in the culture.

The best bet to lessen corruption would be transformation – cultural, economic, social and political – engaging in not talks thinking that signing an agreement will actually change a lifelong practice. I would prefer and hope that showing early wins that bring about development and increased profit to the individuals and to the economies would provide the needed push for people to start engaging in legal and dignified ways of living. After all, peace talks (which is what the round talking about corruption appears o me) have no effect on a lifelong practice of free-riding. But increased benefits of engaging in legal and productive activity certainly can make a person change his or her habits.

Besides, as the cliché goes, “Rome was not built a day.” I guess when you think about it, it was build a day at a time, focusing on a specific sections at a time. Focusing on too many things all at the same time has a tendency to scatter everything. And for those of us who want results, we’d rather have one concrete result and work on the next step towards another rather than have several half-baked ones.