Sunday Blackout

Today was sticky and extra hot. Another scheduled power interruption gave us the sweaty, sticky feel for the whole 9 hours rendered for work today. I didn't feel as much heat today as compared to the whole summer season. I think it's already fatal to come out without any sun protection and it really hurts now compared to some other days...

Anyway, the whole east side (almost...) did not have any power today. Twelve hours of getting back to basics! How exciting and challenging...
As most people will do, a lot trooped to the malls and shopping centers expecting to be comfy doing their window shopping with A/C .But with the fuel prices skyrocketing, generators weren't of much help today. Others opted to stay home, hang out with family or friends, while some decided to spend on some cold beer, one or more probably - judging by the number of drunk men I came across tonight. Thinking about it now, I realize that all the men in the PUJ I was on tonight were a little tipsy.

***

Divisoria tonight was a little extra crowdy, and was glad to see my friend Micole with her hubby and very pretty daughter Circe. And of course, the regulars were all in attendance. From the "balut" and buko vendors, blind masseurs, street kids sniffing sealants from plastic bottles and young peeps sitting on benches (probably people watching) like Burger and I usually do while sitting on of those pebbled benches. We saw a couple of interesting people tonight.

Interesting Person #1: Nationalistic.
When he was about 10 feet away from Bonifacio's memorial, he stopped, put his bag down and stood straight facing Boni's statue. Closed his eyes and mumbled something, as if he was part of the late hero's army and was waiting for his command. After sometime, he opened his eyes as if he received acknowledgement from who ever he was speaking to and purposely strode off.

Interesting Person(s) #2: Couple in Heat.
I never really expected to see love birds in Divisoria that were so much in heat. You would really like to tell them to get a room in the nearest lodging place. Well, considering that the park is now well lit and rehabilitation has been done, I thought couples like this were forced to find some other more low-key and much private place to do their R-18 body language. Really, what I saw last night was not appropriate for a PG rating even. And if you know Divisoria's crowd, you would know young kids and toddlers also love the parks' charm. How child friendly...(?)

Painful and Sore

Been nursing a dry cough for almost a week now. I went to see a doctor last Tuesday and he immediately gave me a prescription but I don't see any improvements with my health. It's still dry, much painful and gave me a sore throat and worse, it rendered me "speechless", except for all the racket that I'm making when I run out of air.. I could not form a single word. I can start with the first syllable of any word and finish it like a whisper. I was on the phone earlier today talking to one of my friends at work and I can barely say anything. So this is how it feels like. I guess I have been too careless with my health and kept on forgetting that I'm no longer in my teens. I'm trying to consider getting a second opinion, although I'm just hoping for a more effective medicine so I can get rid of this fast.

Hetic Week

I think it was the first time today to rain this summer. It felt good as it cooled away the heat but I ended up having a part of my gums sore due to a probable lack in vitamin c and most likely from the crazy shift of hot and cold surroundings. I recently had a hectic schedule in preparation for our annual inventory. It's been long since I stayed awake for the whole night so I had a couple of nights practice before the scheduled count date. I watched videos on youtube until 4am and wakes up at about 9 am. Well, I think I had good practice then. (but actually, I was staying up late because I was watching the Korean drama, "Lovers" on youtube since there was this one super-generous user who uploaded high quality dvd version with excellent subtitles.. I couldn't resist! I'm tacky when it comes to things like this..)

Moving on.. - On the night of the count, we finished probably first out of 7 teams.. ( I just hope we didn't had that much errors in counting...) I went home at about 6am and tried to sleep even though the sun was up and the light was coming through my windows fast, only to be awakened by an insensitive neighbor who kept banging on the roof...( well, they didn't know that I was there trying to get some sleep, right? so sorry for calling 'em insensitive) hehe =) They had to do some finishing job on a slight controversial renovation done on their house, since that part of the renovation seemed to have neglected some part of our house with some needed ventilation and natural light. But that's another story once again. I guess I shouldn't complain that much since I don't spend too much time at home anyway...

My brother's birthday (beerday! LOL) is coming. This year's celebration is momentous! We're also celebrating his ending contracts with the university. Finally, my brother is done with school!
Congrats!

Rich Kid, Poor Kid

Sitting at one of the crowded benches of Divisoria last night made me witness to this sad picture. One kid is sitting on Bonifacios' circle, properly dressed,and he even had matching colors for his apparel and footwear. While another was lying on the ground, oblivious of his surroundings.
I watched the kid on the ground for a long time, waiting for him to come around from his late nap. He was probably tired from loitering the whole day ( but in his case, he might probably be for the rest of his life). Rich kid and poor kid instantly came to mind. It was so sad really to see two kids, almost of the same age to lead two VERY different lives. I am so thankful to have parents who never gave up on me. I am thankful that I have not been deprived of my childhood. I could never imagine myself to be young and become frustrated all at the same time for having to experience the hardships in life. Who knows how often this kid gets to eat in a day? Or does he even get a decent meal at all? Although he still has a family to call his own, but they can never be that family that you can actually define as one. Sometimes I wonder what could become of these children. Sure, there are still a few success stories that was borne out of poverty such as this but statistics are not that high. Do you still remember the SONA given a few years back about the infamous "bangkang papel" ? If all these children "launched a thousand bangkang papel" would they be able to lead different lives?

I remember rendering hours of work for social welfare way back in my senior year in college as part of my requirement for graduation. I chose the Home For Girls where they house minors who were abandoned and most were sexually harassed and abused by older men who were either a relative or someone they trusted. I could not help but admire those girls because they were still able to have a happy disposition after their cruel experiences. But I also observed how things are being run in our government offices. I kept telling the girls to take a bath everyday so that they can avoid whatever virus they might share from over-crowding the facility but they still smell and look like they have not taken a bath for days, even after I saw them took it. Well, the supplies and donations (bath soaps,shampoos, laundry soaps and donated clothes among others) for the facility did not reach our unfortunate children. They tell me that they see truck loads of supplies being delivered but to their surprise, they don't find them inside the facility. Hmm, where could it be?

If we still believe that the youth is the future of our nation, then we might as well invest in them.
Start them young as they say, but I think we're starting them young with the most cruel and corrupt way possible.

Photo Sessions

I have always wanted to capture beautiful pictures. Sometimes, I spend an entire afternoon browsing through pictures on the net and getting some fine ideas on how to take them. Just last week, my brother and I agreed on taking pictures of our plants. We had nothing to do anyway, since all malls were closed on Holy Thursday & Friday. We got our potted plants as subjects and all these are amateur photography. I don't even know what I was doing. I just set the camera to automatic and selected macro preset. Good thing, they had flowers!
Here's what we came up with:

Super Fast Internet Satellite Launched

I was reading the news when I scrolled to the latest in tech and got excited with the idea of a super fast internet satellite recently launched in Japan. A very promising 1.2 gigabyte per second is something to very excited about. It will first be available in the Asia Pacific region and it would make our DSL connection put to shame. Although its purpose focused more on connecting industries and medical institutions in a wink of an eye, it is not far out that it may also be launched for commercial use. Could it get any better than this?

High School Reunion - Class 1998

I saw one of my best girl friend from high school and told me that we will be having our 1st Reunion come April 12. It's been 10 years since we parted ways and it's exciting to see them all again. Things are being prepared and committees have been organized to handle the event. Aside from catching up, we look forward to finding out what became of our dreams and of us. Memories, good or bad will surely haunt us back and the camaraderie will surely be nostalgic!
Although we may not be complete on the marked date, surely everyone will be remembered. I will surely write something about it when the day comes.

My First Carbonara

Making my first Carbonara was a fun experience. While I was idly looking around the grocery store, I found this handy Carbonara sachet that promised me to be able to do an easy time cooking my first one, and it sure did. I was so excited when I had my day off and I immediately started cooking the pasta. While at it, I chopped bacon and ham and grated (cheddar) cheese. Although the recipe specified to use parmesan, I chose cheddar, for obvious reasons that I cant afford the former, lol. Anyway, all this time I was not sure if I'm doing the right thing. I kept on looking at the recipe to make sure I'm doing things correctly. Finally, after about 30 minutes or so, I had a taste of my very first Carbonara. And I have to say, it wasn't bad. Although the sauce was so rich because of the cream, it wasn't bad after all. I called my best girlfriend to judge my cooking and it passed by her standards. The best thing was, my father and brother loved it! We didn't have to keep leftovers for this because they kept on coming back for another serving. The same could not be said for my mother though, she's not much of a big pasta eater anyway. But coming from her, it passed her standards!