maarte

umarte lang ng naaayon sa itsura.

'pag hindi masyadong maganda,

'wag masyadong maarte.

-alessandra de rossi.

mahusay! singhusay ng kanyang mga pagganap! matutuwa si zel, mylene at cathy rito. mabiyayang buong linggo! (",)

laundry

as i wanted november to come to an end as soon as possible, these 3 advices that were given to my UP blockmate, zoe librando is just so apt. heheheh!

1. Never judge a person by their laundry.

2. When in doubt, give yourself a time out...count to 30 seconds and ask
yourself " Will it really matter ____ years from now?"

3. Good food is not just sustenance but proof of a Maker's goodness.

zoe's right. these advices were never asked for, but there's absolutely no regret that we got these. happy weekend! (",)

beaches

i've been reading some back issues of men's health philippines. their march 2009 issue, summer ish, included a list of the top 10 must visit destinations in the country. in no particular order, here are the top 10:

- Caramoan -- Camarines Sur.

- Siargao -- Cloud 9, surfing capital.

- Cagbalete Island -- Mauban, Quezon.

- Panglao -- Bohol.

- Baler -- Aurora.

- Samal Island -- Davao.

- Sumilon Island -- Cebu.

- Calaguas -- Camarines Norte.

- Gumasa -- Sarangani.

- Palawan -- Puerto Princesa's Honda Bay; El Nido; Taytay and Coron.

they also included five honorable mentions, which are:
- Guimaras
- Dumaguete
- Siquijor
- Bantayan Island
- Boracay

i've been to dumaguete, siquijor, bantayan, boracay, panglao in bohol, and el nido, honda bay and coron in palawan. but based on the above list, a lot are still waiting to be discovered! with climate change, next year's trip should be well spent during the first 4 months of the year. rains now start to pour in may. there's a long weekend this november, so there's a good chance that we can sneak in to cagbalete in quezon, since this is the nearest, only 3 hours travel from manila. i hope that all typhoon ramil will be the last of his kin this year. biyahe tayo!

balls

kakaibang challenge sa mga olympic champions! hehehehe!

villar

dumaan ang dalawang bagyo nitong nakaraang tatlong linggo. bumuhos ang nakapagpapabahang ulan at humagupit ang hangin na nagpatumba sa maraming mga istrukturang gawa ng tao. halos buong luzon ang sinalanta nina ondoy at pepeng. sa benguet at ibang karatig-lalawigan, nabaon sa rumagasang putik at lupa ang mga kabahayan, habang ang mga bayan sa pangasinan ay nalubog sa tubig-baha gawa ng pagpapaagos ng tubig sa tatlong dam sa hilagang luzon. wasak ang mga taniman, nagmistulang karagatan ang mga palayan, habang sa kalakhang maynila, gabundok na basura at putik ang iniwan ng kalamidad. walang sinanto ang hagupit.

sa gitna ng unos, umusbong muli ang bayanihan. simpleng mga mamamayan ay nagsipag-ambag sa abot ng kanilang makakaya, naglaan ng oras upang makatulong sa pagrerepak ng mga pantawid gutom. maging ang mga biktima ng nagdaang mga kalamidad gaya ng mga mamamayan ng ginsaugon, leyte, nagbigay-tulong sa milyong nasalanta. magandang halimbawa, lalo na sa mga kabataang di pa nakaranas ng anumang katastropiya.

ngunit sadyang may mga taong pansariling adhikain ang nangingibabaw, maging sa panahon ng kalamidad. oo nga't nakapag-abot ng tulong sa pamamagitan ng ilang supot ng nudels at dalawang maliit na bote ng tubig, subalit kalakip pa rin ng mga pantawid-gutom na ito ang makasariling hilig na itaguyod ang kandidatura sa nalalapit na halalan sa pamamagitan ng pagdidikit ng mga istiker ng kanilang mga sandamukal na mukha't pangalan. gaya na lang ng ginawa ni manny villar. sa dami ng pera ng pinakamayamang senador ng bansa, nakuha pa nilang lagyan ng istiker ang bawat isang pakete ng nudels at bote ng tubig, gayong ang tulong ay higit na kailangan sa lalong madaling panahon sapagkat n'ung kasagsagan ni ondoy, maraming tao ang di pa nahatiran ng anumang tulong sa loob ng tatlong araw.

sabi nga ni jim paredes sa kanyang mga tweet, kung nais mo talagang tumulong... wala nang cheche-burecheng promosyon o anumang mababang uri ng advertisment. ihatid ang anumang tulong nang walang bahid ng pansariling naisin. anu't anuman, pasasalamatan ka ng tao sa anumang tulong na maaari mong ibigay. isang magandang halimbawa ay ang pagbibigay-kawanggawa ng pamunuan ng rebisco sa mga nasalanta sa aming barangay sa novaliches. di na nila pinadaan sa mga ganid na pulitikong-lokal, kundi idineretso na sa mga nangangailangan, nang walang anumang tokata o anunsyo sa radyo, pahayagan at telebisyon.

'wag na sanang dumawdaw sa ngalan ng bayanihan kundi rin lang taos-puso ang pagtulong.

handwashing

with so many bacteria and virus causing various illnesses, the most basic tool on disease prevention is handwashing. and today's is the Global Handwashing Day.

Philippines
A multi media Handwashing campaign was launched on Global
Handwashing Day to raise awareness among the population.
Key activities included: a press conference on September 12 to announce the
local coalition with a symbolic handprints activity and handwashing with
kids, held at Museo Pambata (Museum for Children). Furthermore, handwashing was promoted through a road show with different stakeholders: schools, businesses and media, prior to the official launch of Global Handwashing Day on October 15 at Makati Park in the heart of the central business district. Over 100 school children were invited to participate in the event and kick off the advocacy of making handwashing with soap an important habit. Starting October 1, there was advocacy for handwashing through press and media articles, TV interviews, banners and posters on Metro Rail Transit (MRT). Simultaneous activities were held outside Manila in other regions.

hugas na ng mga kamay! (",)

sled

for the second year in a row, one of my pics were shortlisted in our annual idg calendar contest! while both entries came up short as one of the final 12 (2010 winners has just been announced), i'm so glad that these pics were picked as one of the worthy ones to be considered. i'm using a lowly kodak cx7530, a model so elementary, i got it during a sale and was already in the market since 2004. this kodak cam is the same one, which i accidentally dropped when mark was giving it to me with the strap still around his right hand. this happened in shanghai in january this year and prevented me from taking any "spectacular" pics of shanghai's pudong area and beijing's historical sites. after 2 weeks, kodak repaired it to the tune of 1,600 since it was way past its 1-year warranty period.

last year, my "strike" made it to the shortlist...

this year, my "sled" was picked! yeheeey!

looking at the other entries, most of them probably used more powerful and sophisticated cameras. but my lowly cam allowed me to have a nice one. this was taken in the rolling hills of northern batan island, part of the capital basco, just outside the town proper.

big deal? yes! hehehehe! i don't have any budget for a nice dlsr. so i would still be stuck with my good old kodak for now. the right eye for a good angle and inspiration is already there (naks!), so i might need a good equipment in the future, so that colors and other features would be a lot better. till next year! (",)

ondoy-ed

last sunday, i wrote about ondoy wreaking havoc on metro manila, parts of central luzon and calabarzon. ondoy's great flood, the worst in 40 years, did not spare our home in novaliches. i wanted to go home immediately but could not due to dizziness. good thing, i was allowed to go home earlier last tuesday. the fx took the 'shortcut', which is actually the long route to novaliches proper, snaking through what they call SB way from talipapa to doña rosario.

during this ride, i saw trail of ondoy's destruction. home furnishings of mid-level income families were all put under the sun, outside their houses. nearing novaliches proper, even deeper level of destruction was seen. shantytowns that i've been used to seeing whenever we pass SB way, were completely nil. those areas looked like bangladesh-like flooded areas, debris were all over and people were trying desperately to salvage whatever they can. dried up mud covered half of the streets, trees uprooted and factory walls collapsed. garbage-hills were all over. grabe.

i was prepared to see the same gloomy picture when i get to our barangay. to my relief, everything seemed to be back to its normalcy, except for some neighbors who were doing their laundry outside. tita jo was busy taking papa's maong pants to and from a neighbor's house. apparently, she requested the use of our neighbor's drier since their electricity is free! our house was already cleaned, no more muddy waters, but the living room has yet to resemble its old form. sofas were still wet and they couldn't use some of the appliances anymore, like the washing machine and gas stove, and even the rice dispenser was nowhere to be found!

with all these, i'm still thankful that my family is safe. apart from minor damage to property, we didn't have to go through others' experience of being trapped on roofs with no food and soaked in rain. they were safe in our second floor and no untoward incident happened to anyone of us. we just have to be prepared, especially with pepeng (international name: typhoon parma), nearing super typhoon status, as it is expected to make a landfall this saturday.

pictures below were taken by my sis liezl on sunday morning.

ondoy

what a saturday to remember. no, it wasn't about a good gimik with friends or a nice movie. it was all about rains and flood.

ondoy brought a whole september month's supply of rain in just five hours to the whole metropolis, central luzon, southern tagalog and bicol region. the result... floods all over luzon, particularly in low-lying areas like camanava and southern metro manila. the worst hit however, was the marikina, pasig and cainta, where massive floodwaters submerged almost 95% of the areas.

in makati, where floods are already expected, sudden rise in floodwaters caused an almost complete halt in business activities. (thanks to aby for these pics!) even ayala area was flooded but the san antonio village was turned into a venice-like canal/ river system. i woke up at around 9:30 am to see waters already creeping in banuyo street. i went back to bed and decided to take a shower at around 10:30. after getting done, the flood was already knee-deep and the bldg admin staff were in a state of panic. apparently, the floodwaters already reached the building's circuit breaker and electricity needed to be cut off. ayun. after another 20 minutes, the water was already waist-deep. from 12 noon to 6 pm, floodwaters were only 2 1/2 steps from reaching the condo's floor level. this would've been a bigger disaster for me, as i stay at the building's first floor. thankfully, the rain subsided a bit towards the early evening. good thing that i had rice and canned goods, as i only had 80 pesos. i even used 40 pesos for e-load, so that left me with only 40 pesos for the rest of the day. there was no way of getting out of san antonio village, so tenants had to share food and supplies. some of them already had a mini-party outside my door, drinking and singing, so as to while away time and forget that their cars were completely submerged in the condo's basement parking. at around 10 pm, power was finally back. but cable was still affected so news were virtually nil. going online was the only way, as text messages were delayed.

in novaliches, floodwaters entered our house, waist-deep, while in the streets, it was up to chest level. this was the very first time that our home was flooded. i was born there, but we haven't experienced any flood ever. the sudden burst of water from la mesa, angat and ipo dams caused the tullahan rivers and other tributaries to overflow and flood half of our barangay. good thing that we have a second floor, so my folks can get to a higher level. but of course, the rise of the floodwaters were so sudden that they were not able to save most of the appliances and furnishings, both in the living room and kitchen. haaayyy. most of our neighbors evacuated to the covered court.

i only had 40 pesos but luckily, i had enough smart bro load to go online, even for an hour and a half as my batt was running out. from facebook posts and breaking news from inquirer.net, disasters like this is really an equalizer, even richer income levels were heavily affected such as celebs, politicos and those living in exclusive villages like corinthian gardens. not that i rejoice in what has happened, but this only shows that we have to be prepared and accept that fact that no one's invulnerable to nature's wrath. these days, even areas that are previously not flood-prone, can easily be submerged and swamped suddenly.

i really do hope and pray that we won't have to experience another ondoy anytime soon. better, not anymore in this lifetime.

pac-mom

the woman of the hour. ang bagong kinahuhumalingan ng kalalakihan! hehehehe!

flushing

i just had to re-post this ode to 2009 US open. read on!

Flushing Memories
by Highpockets

I have to confess I’ve been feeling befuddled;
My synapses aren’t firing; my mind is all muddled.
I want to say something; I want to be clear,
But all I can think of is “Yikes, what a year!”

I’ve considered retiring and then coming back
With my mind sharp and fresh and my mojo intact,
But I can’t give up, though I’m feeling uneasy,
So here is my poem and it will be cheesy:

I’ll remember this Open for a girl full of heart,
Who ambushed three Russians, showing grit from the start.
I’ll remember this Open for it gave tennis a spot
In the twenty-four hour, news-cycle plot.

I’ll remember this Open for a mom with a smile,
A steely resolve and a beautiful child.
I’ll remember this Open for Earley’s tough job,
And Federer’s tweener to Djokovic’s lob.

I’ll remember this Open for a buff, shirtless Spaniard,
Whose fan was ejected by a dude with a lanyard.
I’ll remember this Open for a tirade gone viral,
A champion’s rage and a media spiral.

I’ll remember this Open for Americans winning,
Until the fourth round; then they started the thinning,
I’ll remember this Open for Robin’s resilience;
He stood up to Roger and challenged his brilliance.

I’ll remember this Open for Gonzo’s deflation,
And Murray succumbing to stress and frustration.
I’ll remember this Open for foot faults and fuming,
Glorious weather and clouds ever looming.

I’ll remember this Open for Novak’s redemption,
J-Mac on Ashe, and NASCAR’s preemption.
I’ll remember this Open for an Argentine star,
Whose speech in his tongue was eclipsed by a car.

I’ll remember this Open for that dark day of gloom,
When everyone mourned, play would not resume.
I’ll remember this Open for Del Potro’s tears,
He slew two great dragons,impressing his peers.

But of all of my memories, the one that won’t wane
Are those two beams of light through that curtain of rain.

kimmies

it's the year of the kimmies! yes, eugene domingo's kimmy dora and the new grandslam winning mom, kim clijsters.

sept. 5, zel, cathy, mylene and i went to see kimmy dora. the movie did not disappoint. a good mix of slapstick comedy and deadpan humor was fused together to tell the story of twins kimmy and dora. what really carried this movie was eugene domingo's sheer talent - the plot itself has been used many times over and is too shallow, while the movie also failed in some technical aspects, especially when kimmy and dora were singin' in the rain. it was a showcase of how talented eugene is, way better than those comediennes she used to be a sidekick of. she easily shifts to kimmy and dora and the scene where dora pretended to be kimmy was the highlight! when asked by her dad: "anak, nagda-drugs ka ba?". dora answered: "i'll look into it. i'll get back to you on that. i'll give you an update." she definitely can carry a film all by herself, even without those cameos from other celebrities like regine velasquez, who by the way did the worst one in the movie! hilarious quotes were all over, one of my faves was this:

“Elena! Kunin mo ang cheque book ko at bilhin mo ‘yang bus sa labas.”

i wonder what kind of smorgasbord is in store for the next installment of this. obviously, they'll make a franchise out of this.




on the other hand, the belgian kimmie, kim clijsters, stormed through the US open draw and won her second US open title over caroline wozniacki. kim was given a wildcard coz she's not ranked yet, playing just two tournaments after a two year break to start a family. she lost to dinara safina and jelena jankovic in her first two tourneys in cincinatti and toronto. new moms rarely make any big impact on the women's tour after giving birth, with evonne goolagong as the last mother to win a grand slam title in 1980. kim defeated viktoriya kutuzova, no. 14 marion bartoli, kirsten flipkens, no. 3 venus williams, no. 18 li na, no. 2 serena williams and no. 9 wozniacki. she was tested by bartoli and of course, venus gave her a tough time as well. the match with serena was the highlight 'though, as the american completely lost her cool, getting a penalty on match point. of course, that is not to say that kim did not win the match entirely. according to tennis pundits, kim outplayed serena for majority of the match, shot for shot and power for power. against a defensive-minded wozniacki, kim was initially rattled, but ultimately won over the dane's patient play and the windy conditions.

kim's now ranked no. 19! she'll play a limited schedule but i hope to see her in big tournaments. it would really be wonderful if she can join the elite 8 women field in this year's season ending tournament in doha. she won the season ender twice, so she can definitely bang away with another title.

rascals

glad that i pushed myself out from the comfort of my bed to head out and see some movies at this year's cinema europa. since i woke up at past 10 am already, i missed rec, the spanish horror suspense film, scheduled for 12 noon screening. when i got to shangri-la cineplex, hordes of people have already lined up for the next film, rascals on the road or Mein Name ist Eugen. but due to power of pila i learned from UP, i got a ticket!

i enjoyed the film. it's all about the adventures of four swiss kids - eugen, wrigley, baschteli and eddie, who all set out from bern to meet fritzli buhler in zurich, with a 300-year old map of the treasures of lake titicaca in hand. told from eugen's point of view, the movie's all about kids' adventures and how things seemed simple and reachable when you're young. i think all kids at one point in our lives, felt the urge to leave home and do a stokwa, either due to whimsical desires, far-fetched ideas or just the thought of freeing ourselves from our parents 'laws'. it's the cinematic effect of having kids fend for themselves and succeeding in the process that influences such thoughts i think ,coz in reality, it'd be hard to survive on your own.

the movie was entertaining as all small details were fleshed out as part of the whole adventure, including the boat that destroyed the 3 floors of eugen's and wrigley's flats; eugen and wrigley ending up joining the summer camp; the 'kidnapping of baschteli; biking and camping across switzerland and reaching zurich; wrigley's discovery of young love; the boys' realization that they need each other's company and their bond as a whole. it's quirky presentation made it enjoyable and interesting, even saying that the movie has ended already, when in fact it still has around 10 minutes to show that kathrin went to bern to see wrigley.

shove

foot fault, then 2 break points = 2 match points for kim clijsters. next thing we knew, serena lost the match because of verbal abuse of a linesperson.

“I swear to God I’m… going to take this… ball and shove it down your… throat, you hear that? I swear to God,” Williams told the line-judge.

it's not nice seeing a hotly contested match end that way. of course, it's better to see a winner from the one with match point or end the match with an error after a good rally.

anyway, i still got the better result - kim clijsters in another US open final. i hope that she beats zel's chubita wozniacki. she deserves more than 1 slam to her name. go kim!

kiss

Q. What did you think when the man came out of the stands and came up to you?

RAFAEL NADAL: No, for me it wasn't the problem. The guy was really nice (laughter.)

Q. Did he say anything?

RAFAEL NADAL: Yes. He was a great fan. He said, I love you, and he kiss me. (laughter.)

Q. Was he speaking Spanish?

RAFAEL NADAL: No, in English, but I understand that. (laughter.)