Artscooking New Home

At last! Artscooking has found its new home. Complete with all the facilities (the kitchen is still under repair), we have now all the freedom to move and less mindful.

It's yet to be completed though. Patikim pa lang!

View from the door

Panoramic view 1
Panoramic view 2
The stockroom

I shall post the developments as they come. 42' TV LCD is in the can. Wink! wink!

Cheers

Oohed!

Yeah, there is truth in it. Pero mabuti rin tingnan yung pinangagalingan ng salita.

Our own version of pocket gardens

Mr. RV's New Room

Surviving Evil

This one will showcase Philippines' unexplored natural beauty, and our own concept of Aswang will find its way as subject of an international movie. Having our very own Joel Torre side by side with Billy Zane and Natalie Mendoza is cool too!

Marge Simpson on Playboy

Behold! Our beloved mother of 3, shows her stunning curves as the very first female cartoon character featured in one of the most popular adult magazines on earth.

Read whole article here.

This is actually a breakthrough. My guess is in no time, we will start seeing X-men's Storm or Jean Grey gracing the cover of FHM or Maxim, or even Sports Illustrated for that matter.

Cheers!

Transformers, pinoy version

Behold and believe.

yes he can!

i am still at the stage whether to endorse nonoy aquino (as if naman, my opinion matters), at least to my folks and friends and those you-know-who's. nevertheless, i so much agree to what mr. conrado de quiros wrote on his column the other day.

true. perhaps, at this point, we do not a 'ceo-like' president to run the country. we are at an extra-ordinary time in history when what we really need is a 'janitor-like' leader who will clean up the mess of previous administration, and who would make the country habitable to say the least.

click here to read the article.

parent and kid

tamang-tama. i was just listening to chico and delamar show the other day. in passing, del mentioned how parents and kids shift roles at certain point. and i realize it really is true. at one time, we were kids, rowdy, makulet. yet, our parents never waiver in showing their love for us.

then, we grow up, we become busy. and our folks grow old thru the years, and start demand our care and attention. will we be the same in giving them the attention they want from us, the way they gave us theirs? will we show to them our love and understanding?

warning: emo mode eto.



you may find similar entry in kapengarabo blog.

keeping things in perspective

i have moments in my life where i take a couple steps back and look at where i am. i think everyone has these moments. i don't know however if everyone intends to but in my case, even when things are going ostensibly well, i do it. just to make sure I have things in perspective.

in addition, maybe being away from home, and trying to psyche myself up to write book 2 of KAPENG ARABO, that i do this now more often.

last night, while lying in bed, i had one of those moments. i realized I've been working more over the past couple months than i have in a long time since i stepped foot in the hot desert of saudi arabia. while work at my regular job has slowed down, but moonlighting (sidelines) picked up remarkably, which is a good thing. it makes me feel a little more secure, at least to distance myself from boredom and loneliness?

on top of that, i'm helping a buddy here during thursday and friday,and sometimes during working days. which basically means i now work seven days a week.

but realizing this, i had a moment of hesitation about it. i thought to myself whether i could really handle that or not. though in my mind, i really admire american president obama's inaugural speech (huwat! bkit naman eto nasali?) for acknowledging 'progressive spirit' as all about 'hard work'.

the first part of my life in saudi arabia was very much family-centric. i spent money i even didn't have trying to sustain the family's need. while i don't regret those decisions, i have come to realize my follies in not putting everything in perpective. i should have not encouraged them to become too dependent, and i should have acted with more wisdom knowing this thing i enjoy now is not forever.

in order to make sure the rest of my life goes the way i want to, i'm willing to bust my ass now. i'll drag myself fully out of debt, create savings for myself, and put in the effort to deserve the good things i want later.

i know it sounds simple,but harder to live, right? for myself and the rest of the nation. I think we'll all be working harder in the days ahead. perish the thought. ;-)

other than that, life goes apace. i guess my point is that things are good right now. i feel good about working more. i feel good about putting money with purpose and making healthy choices. i feel good that i'm planning a little more for my future.

i guess i've reached a sort of fork in the road in my life, and i think I've chosen the right path. maybe not the easier one for now. but so it goes, right?

hala! midlife brain menopause ba eto?

Underwear sales: New Economic Indicator

i actually heard this mentioned on the CBS early show.
accordingly, underwear sales is a good predictor. since hardly anyone sees it, people feel they can delay the purchasing. click here to read the news.

my own experience can verify this theory. it took me more than a year before i did my next purchase of underwears when i first stepped my feet in saudi arabia. those times, nagbabayad pa lang kasi ako nang utang, and i was recycling my 7 pairs of underwears back then.

but i swear, i met people who don't have as much, yet spend so much on underwears. to quote one of them, "yun ang pinakamalapit sa katawan mo, kaya dapat pinakamaganda ang bilhin mo."

i also know some people who have all sorts of underwears, from hipster to boxers, from g-strings to t-back.

ha! amazing how different variations of underwear one can put on, only to hide them from people who could not even care less.

Now, this one is really a rant!

i have similar entry in kapeng arabo blog. i just couldn't let this pass. i am really mad. damn!

don sa caller, pwede ba evaporate!

Chocolates

i know this is not the ultimate brand, but certainly one of the most famous and easily accessible belgian chocolates around.

i luv eating chocolates! i know that if there is one thing i'm gonna miss jeddah when i finally decide to exit, it's C H O C O L A T E S ! read my lips cho-co-lates!

i am also aware of possible ill-effects of eating so much. but let's not get started with this.

but what is this? i opened a small box of guylian choco (not that i am endorsing the brand, btw), and look what i found...

a small brochure talking about 'project seahorse'. this is guylian's commitment to conservation of marine animals especially the seahorses. that everytime, you buy a box of the brand, you are guaranteed of participation in this conservation effort by contributing to the cause.

kitams, another reason why we should all go gaga about chocolates.

kaya naman pala ang gaan-gaan ng loob ko sa chocolates na eto. :>

to me, chocolates is one of life's greatest equalizers. life maybe hard. challenges maybe tough. but with sweet and mucho delicioso chocolates around, i can hang on.

'lika...help me eat these babies. cheers!

dancing and travelling

you wanna dance and travel the world? do it matt's way. his videos took more than 14months in the making; traversed 42 countries;and, casted thousands. beat that!

i wonder how and when will i start doing the same?

concentrate...concentrate!

just when i am trying to psyche myself up to write part 2 of the book 'Kapeng Arabo', this horoscope found me today:

Monday, August 31:

"When all else fails, break out a pen and paper and start writing it down. Before you know it, you'll see an interesting story begin to unfold -- and it's all about you! If you haven't considered writing a memoir before, try it. You have lots of great experience to share."

coincidence, i guess : )

at natuwa ang bata

it's ramadan and people here in the middle east are practically like vampires creeping out of their shelters and partying at night. and while there's really nothing productive else to do (aside from blogging, of course) i and my friends decided to hit the streets once again.

we passed by the same street where i got those water crystals. and i just couldn't resist the urge. just like in the play 'Oliver', i was like that little boy asking and begging "i want to some more."

i don't really know what, but there's something engaging with seeing a thing growing before your very eyes. oh oh! not that...you sleaze bug!

look! they are this small at the start. and then you put some amount of water, wait at least 30 minutes, and...

dyaraan!you can tell, i use old coffee glass jars. i even had to empty half-full of coffee just to accomodate them all.
i swear they keep on growing. this morning, i picked gel crystals on the floor, one by one, since the jars couldn't contain them. it was like picking 'alatiris', philippine version of cherries.

if only i could eat them. i swear they look so yummy.

Nobody Dance Tutorial

i've always wanted to learn the new trends. syempre, dapat nasa uso parati, para cool. so, this video is so fitting coz it's kind a slowmo in a way, mas madali ma-follow yung steps.



after watching, you probably realize that the people in the video are but one and the same person... additional coolness, huh!

Meow Song

in no.6 of my things to do before i die, i said i'd like to watch a full broadway production play. i welcome the idea of watching 'the cats' as it is the longest running broadway production onstage. to me, it must have that charming and powerful effect to be able to last that long.

it is about cats if i am not mistaken ;). but if i am to find out is similar to this video, i guess i'd better skip no.6 on my list.

Astroboy trailer

damn! that kid in me really surged in once again. my eyes were wide open and i was almost holding my breathe the whole time i was watching this trailer. i really wish they'd release the dvd soon.

gallup strengths finder survey

this is my clifton strengthsfinder certificate. i got this after taking an online exam in gallup website. accordingly, your instantenous answers to posted questions within the allowable time reveals your inner and true characters.

just like any personality tests, there is no right or wrong answers. gallup however prefer to use the term strengths instead, since the purpose of which is for you to find out how well you can cope to the different demands of a job.

conversely, by knowing the strengths of an employee, the company or the manager maybe able to use well employee's talents and maximize his potentials. well, that's the idea :>

the exam is not free though. i am lucky i represented our group to gallup engagement survey conducted at that time. and as a pre-requisite, i had to know my own strengths by taking the exam.

the good news however is by purchasing the wonderful book entitled "Know Your Strengths" by Marcus Buckingham, or its audiotape version, you will be given access to the site. the code is inserted somewhere, so be careful not lose it.

now, here' s the tricky part: I had no idea of my strengths until the results were presented to me. apparently, more than 90% of takers had the same experience. unwittingly so. this is because our employement fails to see who we really are; our managers were not able to tap our potentials.

talking about mismatch between talents and nature of job.

water gel crystals

this thing amazed me. i saw this from one of those street vendors in jeddah. what really caught my attention is the label 'water gel crystals', which if you are into gardening, you'd know that this is one those expensive water substitute sold along the walkways of big malls.

could it be?

so i got two pouches, orange and green, and paid two riyals. the size a pouch is even smaller than a half of sachet of shampoo. i thought then that if this is really water gel crystals that i knew, then i got myself a good deal. but if not, it is as if i threw roughy 25 pesos.

i did not read the instruction, and soaked all the stuffs in cool water. anyhow, it's made in china. for all i know, i might get even more confused.

after more than 30 mins in water...whalla! it really is!

it's like 'sago' to make an analogy. but more shiny and and if i couldn't help myself, i guess, more gummy and chewy.

and since i was right, what else to do but put them to where they can fulfill their purpose. cheers!

Into part 2 of Kapeng Arabo

I'm on it again.

I just hope i find that much needed inspiration.

I'm just thinking just how can one happy soul try hard to get along with the bitter ones. Yaiks! Hmm...emo conditioning mode eto!

Things to Do Before I die

List of things I want to accomplish before I die. The list is not exclusive though...


1. Meet "the one," marry and have a happy family
2. Visit Japan
3. Roll and throw a snowball
4. Be a teacher even for a day and inspire at least two souls
5. Swim with dolphins
6. Watch a nice broadway play
7. Write another title (apart from KAPENG ARABO)
8. Patrol a forest reserve
9. A live concert performance(and beat Martin Nievarra who still holds the seat of having been accompanied by 81-piece orchestra)
10.Experience Slurpy brain freeze with that "special someone"
11.Exhange lives with someone for a day
12.Compose a song
13.Go on a safari tour
14.Cry over (as in)a really good movie
15.Milk goats
16.Stay in a 'duyan' with nothing on but undies
17.Interview someone famous
18.Count stars till I doze off
19.Sign books at Powerbooks Makati or Fullybooked the Fort