Glad that the first automated election was finally over, well except for a few percentage of canvassing left but the outcome for the presidency is pretty much decided and we are definitely ushering in the new government of Sen. (err, President) Noynoy Aquino.
I have been actively engaging convos with friends on how I support Noynoy and wish that indeed he becomes the next president. Well, majority of the Filipinos have decided and wish granted. Now comes the hard part. A lot would be looking at us some even with dagger looks I presume, telling us 'how could you?' or worst - actually coming out with a threat (at least one posted at Noynoy's Facebook page that all who voted for him better wear their yellow ribbons, ballers etc so that he can easily identify whom to blame). Wonder where that angst is coming from? I don't think the guy (okay, our President) deserves that when he has yet to assume office. Cynical much?
I think we should all be beyond sourgraping and resentments, for all those whose candidates did not make it, just take a cue from your bets who were sport enough to concede as fast as they can. Now more than ever, the Noynoy supporters are also put on the spot as one wrong move by the chosen president would have some people blaring in our ears 'see, what you have done?' or wearing their i-told-you-so looks (dagger looks). I'm sure some of these people also could not wait to see President Aquino falter in his first years so they can gloat and keep their chins up on the people who voted for the guy. Poor us? No, it would be poor Philippines if we maintain that attitude.
My mindset going into this election is that win or lose, I took a stand and if somebody else's candidate ends up as president then so be it. I always say, I'd rather be wrong than sorry. Meaning, if the candidate whom I have not voted won and actually did something good for the country, then I would have still remained a victor. In essence, let's just be hopeful, try to move forward and support the government any which way we can. In case there would be too much injustice or something worse, we are in a democratic country, so we can all rise again and march to our indignation.
I have to remind everyone, he may not be your candidate, but he is now our president. Ours. And if things turn out for the better, I'm sure you wouldn't mind being wrong as long as you are not sorry. Peace, love and success to us! Cheers!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
My Pinoy Version Kaya Toast
Had quite an appetizing meal (late lunch) almost close to 'merienda' time. Gave an old Singapore-style meal with a Pinoy twist. Ya Kun Kaya toast (using pandesal as my Philippine version) with semi-soft boiled egg. Yummy! Here are some of the shots I took while eating my lunch. Too bad, I'm just using a cheap camera phone (no SLRs for me) but hey, I'm just enjoying my food.
The ingredients: Ya Kun Kaya jam (a present from a friend who went home for a brief visit from Singapore, thanks to her), butter and pandesal (the pandesal is not the one from my favorite baker but i'm hungry so I don't mind).
Before toasting the pandesal, I spread the Kaya jam and topped it with butter.
The semi-soft boiled egg with about half a teaspoon of soy sauce to taste (this is what they do in Singapore instead of sprinkling with salt and pepper). For the Pinoy version, I used Datu Puti soy sauce. Couldn't get more Pinoy than that. A 'datu' with my egg, why not?? The egg was supposed to be really soft-boiled and a bit saucy and soggy but somehow I overcooked it. Or subconsciously perhaps I just enjoy hard eggs more (ooops!there goes the double meaning.wink!).
Here was my meal before it went down to my tummy.
And to cap it off for dessert I had fried bananas and voila! just finished my weekend lunch without rice for a change.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Novel-fail!
Once tried my hand at writing a contemporary novel, you know just writing everyday stuff and goings-on among friends and family. the characters I wrote then were spun off from me and my friend's characters. In telling each character's story, I even used the first letter of our names (my sister Leslie was incorporated into the pseudo-novel as Leila, our friend Ebot can be identified in the story as 'Eunice', Gina was 'Gladys'. No one really got to read the manuscript, well except for one of my brothers, and my sister, Leslie who happened to find some sort of a kick in reading about some stuff there (part fiction but partly a sort of tell-all, too). And that was long before 'Gossip Girl' as we know it was even conceptualized. My friends, Gina, Ebot, Ben and Jessie, even my brother, Bingo, didn't even know I was writing about them albeit using aliases or now they could be the first 'avatars', come to think of it. Those characters in my book were but a semblance of who they are, just an alter-ego or something though I knew they'd probably recognize themselves once they read it. I do plan to show it to them once it's finished but it never did reach an ending..
I was just longing for that story, that same passion I once had for chronicling some of the events happening all around me and turning it into a fun contemporary fiction. I even tried going inside the minds of these people by writing about what I think they might be feeling based on my own perceptions. That initial attempt to write a novel was made during the pre-USB or flash drive days. The first few chapters of that were stored inside some diskettes in all its MS Word glory.(yes, kids, there actually was a thing called diskette then). Now, if only there is a
way to retrieve those diskettes now, so I could perhaps review or laugh at my unfinished book and possibly resume writing about all the things that have happened with all the characters there and then some. I'm pretty sure a lot of new characters would be introduced by now..
Well, I never got around to finish that book anyway as I got busy with other things, a lot of activities have since occupied my mind and time. I even fell in love, broke my heart, fell some more and well, before I knew it, I couldn't find the time to continue filling in those aborted chapters of my so-called novel. All those friends and people close to me whom I patterned my characters after also have gotten busy pursuing their own destinies and since then it has become harder for me to keep track of what they are doing, much less be in tuned to what they are feeling.
Sometimes, I am starting to wonder if I just suddenly stopped caring at all or maybe I just stopped writing that book because I started to live some more..
We can never tell, really. My life after all still has a lot of unwritten chapters in it.. and soon it will all be over (but I'm sure it will not end as a bit of entry inside a forgotten and lost diskette).
I was just longing for that story, that same passion I once had for chronicling some of the events happening all around me and turning it into a fun contemporary fiction. I even tried going inside the minds of these people by writing about what I think they might be feeling based on my own perceptions. That initial attempt to write a novel was made during the pre-USB or flash drive days. The first few chapters of that were stored inside some diskettes in all its MS Word glory.(yes, kids, there actually was a thing called diskette then). Now, if only there is a
way to retrieve those diskettes now, so I could perhaps review or laugh at my unfinished book and possibly resume writing about all the things that have happened with all the characters there and then some. I'm pretty sure a lot of new characters would be introduced by now..
Well, I never got around to finish that book anyway as I got busy with other things, a lot of activities have since occupied my mind and time. I even fell in love, broke my heart, fell some more and well, before I knew it, I couldn't find the time to continue filling in those aborted chapters of my so-called novel. All those friends and people close to me whom I patterned my characters after also have gotten busy pursuing their own destinies and since then it has become harder for me to keep track of what they are doing, much less be in tuned to what they are feeling.
Sometimes, I am starting to wonder if I just suddenly stopped caring at all or maybe I just stopped writing that book because I started to live some more..
We can never tell, really. My life after all still has a lot of unwritten chapters in it.. and soon it will all be over (but I'm sure it will not end as a bit of entry inside a forgotten and lost diskette).
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
A Convenient display
I was on my way home last night and passed by a convenience store at a local gas station in Makati. At the counter, couldn't help but notice on display beside packets and boxes of flavored condoms that says 'lick it good' were elongated candy canes, lollipops with those really long sticks (incidentally the brand is called 'chuppa chups' or something), a bunch of fresh, big bananas, Mentos candies positioned in a way that the five packs were all standing (as if to say 'take me, or take us all!'). Somehow I find it amusing and sorta funny in a weird way. The packets of condoms seemed to be the main attraction there surrounded by all the other goodies (did I say phallic symbols?). And what were those bunch of fresh bananas doing at the counter? Hmm, the person who arranged that store's display must really have one naughty mind. Or was it me? ;D
I should have taken a photo of it but the sales ladies might not find that amusing at all.. I was a bit tired last night but that interesting display somehow eased the really bad traffic outside.
I should have taken a photo of it but the sales ladies might not find that amusing at all.. I was a bit tired last night but that interesting display somehow eased the really bad traffic outside.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Poli-tic.k..tock..
With less than two months left before the National elections, I have now reached a mindset where I would much rather prefer all candidates to stop their attacks on each other and get right down to the agenda of proper governance.
I mean enough already! The voting public already had our share of political maneuverings, the dishing of dirts among rival candidates. We’ve all had our fun and even laughed at some of those ‘interesting’ spoofs and giggled at certain behaviors of the candidates and were almost delighted in those bits of info gleaned from the blogosphere and traditional media (while others have grain of truth in it, others were just plain nasty while some are kind of exaggerated). We appreciated some of the information as they helped us too in discerning the rightful candidate – much like weeding out the bad seed from the good ones until we can get the finest of the crops. But there is also such a thing as overdoing it. And at this stage, a lot of what we see and hear are now beginning to sound trite and yes, they are becoming less and less amusing and more grating on the nerves.
Just to raise my point – Filipinos now are exposed (should I say over-exposed) to information and can get as much data as we can faster than you can say ‘tweet’. And when we reach info overload, sometimes we become desensitized and pretty much end up like zombies. And this might just cause our votes to go awry.
So a note of reminder to our candidates who wouldn’t want our votes to go to waste, time now to roll up your sleeves – enough of the biting comments against your rivals and let us know exactly what you are going to do with our country.
It’s now time for the aspirants to get down to the nitty-gritty and show us real substance and what stuff they are really made of in less than two months.
As we near the homestretch of your campaign period, it’s no longer about just color, party affiliations or relations. We also don’t care anymore if you were born poor or have struggled (we all have our share of that, personally). What we want from you, the candidate, is show us your concrete plans. Not empty rhetoric or promises. Sure, the electorate would sometimes hear music whenever you make those promises and so-called ‘commitment’ to your countrymen, but hearing about that day in day out generally loses its meaning and sincerity (much like an annoying commercial that keeps interrupting your favorite show). And for someone running for office, you wouldn’t want the public to perceive you as one inane and pesky TV ad, right?
And come to think of it, there is one candidate who has been barraging us with ads for as long as I can remember, in almost all forms of media including the internet and I’m beginning to see red (or should I say, ORANGE). READ: very MAD to the point of telling myself that I really am not going to vote for this guy! Repeat ads can only be so effective and too much of it is well, downright irritating.
The voters are not stupid, okay? When we hear someone is doing this or that, or got wind that somebody is corrupt or not such a great leader while in office, we can discern pretty well. SO it would now be pointless to keep reminding us that this or that candidate has not performed well in the past, did not do anything while in position, or has done really bad things while in position. Trust us, we already knew about these things before anyone of you made it the tagline or crying point of your campaigns. And we also knew deep down who we would and would not trust with our votes. So this is just an appeal to lay down your plans. You owe it to the people at least to get a glimpse of what kind of leadership we can expect or what kind of government we might deserve. In the end it would be all about our choice. OURS and not yours.
So tell us, what are your short-term and long-term goals for the country (an honest to goodness plan that is not just based on anyone’s wish list or promise)? We want to know your immediate plans after assuming office and then what you are doing for the next to 2 to 3 years. We need to hear what you will do with various matters that are vital to Filipinos. Your agenda and plans for the economy, the environment, society, Mindanao, the whole region, agriculture others. There are many platforms you can use to raise the public’s awareness of these by using the tools at your disposal. Try to maximize your presence online and on other media now to share your thoughts and help more people determine the kind of leader you would be. And hearing it will not satisfy us, we also want to see that you can actually make it work so it’s your call how to convince us.
Please realize that what the next government (i.e. your proposed government) can do is just lay the groundwork for future generations. In the long run, it’s the younger generation who will benefit (or suffer) most from your projects now and it’s not even this year’s voters, and certainly not you.
I am probably worth just one vote but I certainly am not the only one with these sentiments now. There are more like me who is just starting to get disillusioned with all these politics that has brought our country nowhere. And the worst that can happen is when people will not exercise their right to select the proper candidate because of mistrust in the political system. So spare us the dirty details (we have our showbiz tabloids and talk shows to provide us that form of entertainment), we just plain want to see you walk the talk. To offer a basketball analogy, your campaign should be all about showing the right stuff for the win and not play by trying to hurt your opponents and be called for flagrant and technical fouls that could ruin an otherwise exciting ballgame. Just as we don’t want to see players not displaying their full potential on court, we also don’t want our leaders in government to show immaturity and lack of respect for one another as that would ultimately lead us to lose our respect and we need a government we can believe in so we can also be obedient citizens.
I’m simply stating my case here. I too don’t know exactly what I would do if faced with these political problems and concerns, nor am I pretending to have an idea how to address each crisis, but hey, I’m not running for any public office.
I mean enough already! The voting public already had our share of political maneuverings, the dishing of dirts among rival candidates. We’ve all had our fun and even laughed at some of those ‘interesting’ spoofs and giggled at certain behaviors of the candidates and were almost delighted in those bits of info gleaned from the blogosphere and traditional media (while others have grain of truth in it, others were just plain nasty while some are kind of exaggerated). We appreciated some of the information as they helped us too in discerning the rightful candidate – much like weeding out the bad seed from the good ones until we can get the finest of the crops. But there is also such a thing as overdoing it. And at this stage, a lot of what we see and hear are now beginning to sound trite and yes, they are becoming less and less amusing and more grating on the nerves.
Just to raise my point – Filipinos now are exposed (should I say over-exposed) to information and can get as much data as we can faster than you can say ‘tweet’. And when we reach info overload, sometimes we become desensitized and pretty much end up like zombies. And this might just cause our votes to go awry.
So a note of reminder to our candidates who wouldn’t want our votes to go to waste, time now to roll up your sleeves – enough of the biting comments against your rivals and let us know exactly what you are going to do with our country.
It’s now time for the aspirants to get down to the nitty-gritty and show us real substance and what stuff they are really made of in less than two months.
As we near the homestretch of your campaign period, it’s no longer about just color, party affiliations or relations. We also don’t care anymore if you were born poor or have struggled (we all have our share of that, personally). What we want from you, the candidate, is show us your concrete plans. Not empty rhetoric or promises. Sure, the electorate would sometimes hear music whenever you make those promises and so-called ‘commitment’ to your countrymen, but hearing about that day in day out generally loses its meaning and sincerity (much like an annoying commercial that keeps interrupting your favorite show). And for someone running for office, you wouldn’t want the public to perceive you as one inane and pesky TV ad, right?
And come to think of it, there is one candidate who has been barraging us with ads for as long as I can remember, in almost all forms of media including the internet and I’m beginning to see red (or should I say, ORANGE). READ: very MAD to the point of telling myself that I really am not going to vote for this guy! Repeat ads can only be so effective and too much of it is well, downright irritating.
The voters are not stupid, okay? When we hear someone is doing this or that, or got wind that somebody is corrupt or not such a great leader while in office, we can discern pretty well. SO it would now be pointless to keep reminding us that this or that candidate has not performed well in the past, did not do anything while in position, or has done really bad things while in position. Trust us, we already knew about these things before anyone of you made it the tagline or crying point of your campaigns. And we also knew deep down who we would and would not trust with our votes. So this is just an appeal to lay down your plans. You owe it to the people at least to get a glimpse of what kind of leadership we can expect or what kind of government we might deserve. In the end it would be all about our choice. OURS and not yours.
So tell us, what are your short-term and long-term goals for the country (an honest to goodness plan that is not just based on anyone’s wish list or promise)? We want to know your immediate plans after assuming office and then what you are doing for the next to 2 to 3 years. We need to hear what you will do with various matters that are vital to Filipinos. Your agenda and plans for the economy, the environment, society, Mindanao, the whole region, agriculture others. There are many platforms you can use to raise the public’s awareness of these by using the tools at your disposal. Try to maximize your presence online and on other media now to share your thoughts and help more people determine the kind of leader you would be. And hearing it will not satisfy us, we also want to see that you can actually make it work so it’s your call how to convince us.
Please realize that what the next government (i.e. your proposed government) can do is just lay the groundwork for future generations. In the long run, it’s the younger generation who will benefit (or suffer) most from your projects now and it’s not even this year’s voters, and certainly not you.
I am probably worth just one vote but I certainly am not the only one with these sentiments now. There are more like me who is just starting to get disillusioned with all these politics that has brought our country nowhere. And the worst that can happen is when people will not exercise their right to select the proper candidate because of mistrust in the political system. So spare us the dirty details (we have our showbiz tabloids and talk shows to provide us that form of entertainment), we just plain want to see you walk the talk. To offer a basketball analogy, your campaign should be all about showing the right stuff for the win and not play by trying to hurt your opponents and be called for flagrant and technical fouls that could ruin an otherwise exciting ballgame. Just as we don’t want to see players not displaying their full potential on court, we also don’t want our leaders in government to show immaturity and lack of respect for one another as that would ultimately lead us to lose our respect and we need a government we can believe in so we can also be obedient citizens.
I’m simply stating my case here. I too don’t know exactly what I would do if faced with these political problems and concerns, nor am I pretending to have an idea how to address each crisis, but hey, I’m not running for any public office.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Topics, hmm...
Been trying to think of topics to post here the past few days. Not sure if I would do a photo journal or pseudo travel blog or something or a some kind of love column or about friendship and other relationships, whatever. Well, that would leave me a few days before I settle down on what to do with this so far $2.00 worth of blog ;D. will try to resume a more regular activity here in the coming days..
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Just Once
That song 'Just Once' by James Ingram pretty sums up the way my love relationship keeps panning out.. we always seem to try our best but there are times when we just can't seem to match the others' expectations. It just seems to be the case most of the time. With him trying to do his best, his own share to keep things light and going, while I fail to appreciate some of the simple things and end up criticizing. And then on other occasions, it would be me who is trying her darnedest but coming up short of his anticipations. I don't know how long this could go on but I get the feeling that there are still some bases uncovered as far as this relationship goes. And somehow we know there is just no letting go, not yet and that as the song says, we are just sometimes too proud to admit that we can't actually live without each other, no matter how hard we try to push each other away.. 'Why, oh why can't we just give ourselves a hand? Stubborn? Maybe. Still somehow we manage to stay together. But the strings are slightly unwoven now and not too sure how long it would unravel or if it would wove its way back to the spool for another long good spin-around.. sometimes it just gets so tiring but each time we get past it, the refreshing feeling and all that love make all those disappointments totally worth it..
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