i had dinner at chophouse in trinoma last friday night. and although most people think negatively of the food and layout and service - i like that i could get a steak (medium rare- nicely done) for less than 500 pesos. i like that i spent the night with bestest friends.

if i can scrounge enough dough by march or april, i would like to eat at spirals in sofitel. liza told me it's so worth it but you have to relax and pace yourself and be really really hungry to get your full money's worth.

so anyway, about vday. my parents like the chocolates i gave them. and it was so sweet of them to buy me ice cream (rocky road and double dutch - before you ask, those are my favorites) and we shared them all together late last saturday night. bonding time with parents, nice way to spend my vday evening.

i also went to visit my lola, who is so hard to be with nowadays. she's so stubborn and set in her ways. but i brought her chocolates too. and asked about how she was and how she's handling being transferred to a new house. (we moved her from her place to one of the apartments at the back of our house) and she seemed quite happy that i visited. so i made a mental note to myself to always visit her whenever i go home on weekends.

finally, just today, we went back to trinoma to meet my brother's family and my two pamangkins. joaquin is still remembering that i liked his ben10 episodes (which we watched for hours last weekend in tagaytay.) and iya told me she won the gold medal in a singing contest in school.

hmm...i just thought that vday already changed its meaning for me. before, i thought it's all about lovers. now it's still fitting, and much celebrated - with loved ones.

i saw an officemate of mine reading 'wuthering heights'. this prompted and inspired me to go make a reading list. this is one of those resolutions of mine for the year that i will read less ebooks/stories off the internet and go old school and back to reading beloved printed pages.

nope, i am not going to read wuthering heights. i left bronte sisters behind in my victorian literature elective years ago. (i don't mind dickens, but bronte is not my cup of tea - though heathcliff is interesting).

so the plan is this: i will try to read 3 books (not downloaded from the internet). one from my usual genres, two from friends' rec.

here are the books i'm planning to read: the titles are typical of me...

January - finish the Anansi Boys (since i only have one day left to do this.)

February - Christ the Lord - Anne Rice

March - The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman

April - Eragon - Christopher Paolini

May - The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand (hope i can finish this...at last. i keep on starting and never bothers to finish it. 2009 is the year!)

June - Nation - Terry Pratchett (gotta wait/look for paperback)

that's it. i'll wait for your recs. :D

 

after i promised myself that i will express myself more often - in writing and to read more books, both of which i haven't gotten around to doing because of overall, general, true-to-form laziness. i looked at our pc and immediately go to different harry potter sites and not give one fig about my blog. i read other people's blogs and still can't get myself to write.

new year had come and gone and the chinese new year had come and i still can't write. tee hee. so here goes...i found some of my old writings and am going to go green and recycle! wee. was brokenhearted then. now, not anymore. am one of those people who writes when sad and can't express herself other than to say 'wee!' when happy and satisfied with life.

i don't know how long ago i wrote this, but back then, i get inspiration from quotes. (am such a geek! hahaha. good thing i haven't listed my movie quotes here yet.)

------------------------

Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought; our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks." - Samuel Johnson

Whenever we think of pleasure, or joy or happiness, we often associate it with things we worked hard for, or things we seek for ourselves. We often believe that there is no greater satisfaction than in being in a place we've been working so hard to get to, or in winning the rat race, against so many competitions. Yes, it's true, there is true pleasure and happiness we gain from these things. How can you not be happy when you are supposed to be happy? These are the things you want, right? And you're expecting that there is a big smiley face at the end of this rough road, so of course you're happy when you reached that destination. But sometimes, the happiness is not that great because the journey has taken such a toll on you that you just feel so tired to be so happy. Sometimes, in your quest for happiness you forget the simple pleasures you get in your journey.

I agree with Johnson, that our 'brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.' Mine usually is.

I'll have to dedicate another story for my life's simple pleasures, but these ones are my life's pleasant surprises: The surprise birthday party that you didn't really expect from family and friends. The card from that someone you've been crushing on for a long time but thinks he doesn't know you exist. The text message that says he missed you and he remembered your college days. The email that you're hoping to get, but not really expecting to, made your whole week. A startling smile from a gorgeous driver during a stop sign at an intersection in Makati. A sudden laughter from your audience when you made a joke and you're afraid it'll fall flat on your ears. Notes that say 'you brighten my day' and 'you're cute' when you're expecting to get some boring notes that says 'you're a good classmate'. A pat-in-the-back when you think you did a bad job.

A sincere compliment that came out of the blue from a classmate you've been bickering forever with, and there you are now wondering why you put up with him. That compliment probably started your eight-year friendship.

A hug, even when you're happy and you don't really need one. An 'I love you' from your parents, forgiving and full of love, at the time when even you wouldn't want to have a child like yourself. When you got a birthday song over a phone sang in a hoarse voice that is like a gift in itself. An animated conversation with an artist, who is not really that good at talking, which lasted for eight hours when you think the night will be like any other boring night.

And just the other night, I was thinking that my day couldn't get any more uneventful and boring. Just between you and me, I hate feeling bored. I think boredom is a state of mind, and you just need to change your attitude or outlook in life. So I really hate the day and myself at the same time that night. Just before midnight, while watching TV and waiting for myself to doze off, I got a text message from an old friend, saying something corny, funny and cute. It was such an unexpected little surprise that gave my heart a lift and saved the day. I slept with a big smile on my face. 

I can list a thousand things that bring me happiness and joy and pleasure during the most unforeseen time and place. It only tells me that although we can work our way to happiness, and we can seek pleasure in gaining material things, we should learn to appreciate the surprises of life. We should also take notice of the little things, the seemingly non-consequential things that happen in our lives, those sudden bursts of happiness, those are the memories you can keep forever.

We should always be ready to be surprised and be amazed, for we never know when life will suddenly give us the unexpected gift of happiness. And let me tell you, if you open yourself up and be aware of these things, I promise you that life will always surprise you.

Life always does.

so...haven't blogged in a while (when i promised myself i will despite work and hd fanfic). this won't be long, i just want to shout to the world that i managed to get a hold of a copy of amazing race 9 (where bj and tyler won! yes sis, i'll think of a way to send you a copy!) and i will most likely ask a copy of amazing race ten for different reason. yep. that's when the male models won.

anyway, aside from that, an officemate has given me a copy of the latest season of heroes, up to chapten 7. wee! i'm watching it with my parents - since it's the weekend and i get to go home and bond with them - and my dad's head is bursting with all the confusing elements and storylines and new characters. i love, love it!

and peter petrelli is looking better and better. (i lost isaac so i have to content myself with peter.) of course, i'm just watching heroes for hiro. tee hee.

back to heroes...we're now starting chapter 5...

after nearly two weeks (i can't be bothered to check if that's correct but i feel like it's two weeks, so there it goes) i haven't written anything, although i have lots of things to say and talk about.

i can write about seeing arni and enjoying ourselves one friday night. or talk about seeing spoliarium for the first time even though i am filipino and juan luna, was and still is, our greatest visual artist (though a dark one) - i'll put this in a separate entry later. maybe write a review of eating at holy cow which we enjoyed very much, (my medium rare steak is so juicy and soft and went very well with the mashed potatoes). but i wouldn't write anything about those boring topics. hehehe. what i will write about is the neglect my toe nails are suffering.

i haven't had my toe nails pampered for three weeks already. why? because i keep painting on them before, never giving it a break, and  three weeks ago, when i cleaned them, they turned yellow. so for the past weeks, i was hoping they'd grow fast and i can clip all those yellow parts away. it's so disgusting to be talking about toe nails and toe nail clippings, but what can i say? i woke up this morning and putting lotion on my feet and i still find the toe nails ugly. maybe that's why they're being stubborn and doesn't grow as fast as i would like them to and they are still sporting that ninoy yellow.

tonight, no matter what happens a week from now (if it turns even more yellow), i can't stand it anymore. i'll have my nails painted again.

the opening of the beijing olympics was spectacular. i admit, i was divided inside. half of me, (the practical, fair side) wanted the olympics to be successful just because it's for the athletes of each country. another half of me, (the unfair, biased and rallyista in me) wanted the chinese to fall flat on their face just because of their humanitarian (i.e. sudan, tibet, etc. etc.) and environmental crimes (i watched planet in peril of anderson cooper and almost every endangered animal can be bought illegally in china.) anyway, the opening ceremonies was fantastic, and all the superlatives we could think of. the footprints was amazing, and the synchronized movements of the performers was perfect.

before the olympics, i was watching closely all the preparations that china was doing. i love great architectural wonders and it seems china pulled all the stops on creating their own wonders. i added the water cube and the bird's nest on my list of places to see.

and i almost forgot about the athletes. i love watching the swimming events and tennis and diving. when i saw the athletes walking down during the ceremony, i got excited. until i realized that i won't be able to closely watch all these events. unlike the athens olympics which i watch from start to the end, this time, i have to be contented to seeing the medal tallies and key plays on tv.

btw, let me just say that i don't like m. phelps at all. the united states is making such a big deal out of most gold medals in a single olympic record that phelps wanted to break (mark spitz hold the most medals - 7 gold.) because they know that china wouldn't let them have the most medals tally. (the time i am writing this, u.s. inches forward to top slot with 29 total medals while china has 26.) but believe me, china wouldn't allow that. so they are hankering around phelps. gah. he's an arrogant son of a b-tch. and the olympic sized pool wouldn't be enough to handle his big head if he really get that 8 gold medals. (alas, it looks like he'll break mark spitz' records.)

anyway, back to china and the olympics. it came out that there were all these 'fake' effects that china used for the opening. well, i hope they let the little girl whose voice they used in the opening come forward and sing live for the closing.

i'll bet china wanted to end everything with a bang as well.

last thursday, after battling the heavy traffic of the metropolis, we labored to get to u.p. diliman because we want to see one cinemalaya mowevie showing in the u.p. film center. we chose the indie film 'the fake american accent' as the description says it's about life of a call center agent.

it turned out to be an okay film. the plot is not as tight and as catchy as i would like, or as i expected (i expected the movie to actually delve into the life of a call center agent, and give it meaning, whether it be a shallow existence or a difficult reality of life after college.) but it was a trivial portrayal of their lives, a caricature so to speak.

anyway, we enjoyed it somewhat, as it's different from the usual filipino movie of 'kilig' and such (like the one we're going to see later - the very special love') but still, with the technology available to indie filmmakers today, it lacks a certain 'cannes' or 'sundance' feel.

maybe next time, i'll get to see an indie filipino film in the same calibre as cannes-winning indie movies of the west or even of china (how about some filipino version of crouching tiger hidden dragon? is that still an indie film?)

sir george says he'd like to make a movie now that technology in filmmaking has come a long way. that got me thinking, i have been wanting to go back to writing. it seems that for several years, my writing got a severe block of mental retardation due to immense and exclusive reading of harry/draco fanfiction.

maybe i can write a story. or a script. or a play. or maybe i should start with drabbles and short fiction or poetry to get me going.

maybe i should just do it and stop thinking about it.

 

 

ever since i started applying for work, (even before i graduated formally from UP) we were advised on how to do things right, formally, the business-way. take note, those are just suggestions. we were stubborn, still wont to do things our way sometimes, but i take note of those that made sense, and scrap those things that doesn't fit me. how to write your resumes well, how to highlight the things that you need to highlight and sound impressive on your resumes, even though as my current boss will say, it's just a lot BS, it will get your foot on the door. the rest is up to you (if they don't find you impressive, then they will certainly think your resume is just bs.)

it served me well. went into multi-national companies and my brother thinks i should make resumes for a living (because they usually believed the bs that i wrote in my resumes.) maybe i can look into that raket. hehehe.

but anyway, back to my story. working here (you won't hear any juicy hr gossip..) is a learning experience for me. i worked in sales and marketing where budget, it seems, is no problem. we were pampered. company cars, transpo allowance, reimbursements of even your parking tickets, and so many giveaways. and the pay is high. (i gave that up. the high life is not for me. i enjoy this more. simple decisions to be made, simple tasks to do. lower pay, simpler life. it's just enough. i have rakets to think of. hahaha)

enough about the serious stuff, i found out, quite unexpectedly, that people post all kinds of info into their CVs or resumes. before, a friend told me that he put 'restaurant-hopping' in his interests section. we found it hilarious. another say 'proficient in human relationships'. what is that? hahaha.

i also found out that people don't generally post an id pic that is 'formal and business-like'. i usually have my picture taken and i'm usually wearing something with collar and with a white background. so formal of me. i saw pics here that is probably taken by a camera phone with various backgrounds (someone even had his photo taken in a car) and with different expressions. you'd think it was a friendster profile pic instead of a resume. (i'm half-expecting now to see people in a 'wacky' pose...)

but that is normal for hr people. my co-worker (who's handling the resumes) don't even bat an eyelash over those kinds of comments and photos and she had learned to overlook those minor details. she said some of the best 'technical' people (since we're in the IT industry) don't have 'formal' resumes.

and that is why i'm not in charge of resumes. i'll probably laugh myself off with the kinds of info i will learn on people. and i was in sales, where image is everything. if my former bosses see those resumes, they will be rejected on the spot. my mom, who was handling personnel in a United Nations agency before said she doesn't read past the second page of a resume. if it goes beyond 2 pages, the resume goes directly to the 'rejected' bin. (that's why up to now, when i could probably write my experience in sales in 4 pages, i still cut it short to 2). here, it's different. the longer the resume detailing every skill, every project, the better.

i learn something everyday.

i just want to add that i love discovery's new ad campaign. we've been watching it for weeks now, but i really want to post it now.

(Dialogue)
Astronaut 1: It never gets old, huh?
Astronaut 2: Nope.
Astronaut 1: It kinda makes you want to...
Astronaut 2: Break into song?
Astronaut 1: Yep.

I love the mountains,
I love the clear blue skies
I love big bridges
I love when great whites fly
I love the whole world
And all its sights and sounds
Boom de yadda - boom de yadda
Boom de yadda - boom de yadda
I love the oceans
I love real dirty things
I love to go fast
I love Egyptian kings
I love the whole world
And all its craziness
Boom de yadda - boom de yadda
Boom de yadda - boom de yadda
I love tornadoes
I love arachnids
I love hot magma
I love the giant squid
I love the whole world
It's such a brilliant place
Boom de yadda - boom de yadda
Boom de yadda - boom de yadda
Boom de yadda - boom de yadda
Boom de yadda - boom de yadda (until fade)

- Discovery Channel

one of these days, i'll come up with my own version. =)

according to yahoo! pulse, it's world beatles day. i didn't know they have their own day. but suffice it to say, i will celebrate with the rest of the beatles fan.

my mom is a big fan and so to make her happy, my dad always play beatles songs for her on the radio as much as he can. (in between cliff richards' songs as those are my dad's favorite.)

so we literally grew up hearing beatles music. and what's not to love, really? their songs are still relevant even if played today and will still be a hit even if revived by mymp (who sang revivals songs, exclusively. almost exclusively except for one or two songs of their own. how dare they revived 'waiting in vain' of bob marley?). if i'm an american idol contestant, it will be hard for me to choose which songs to sing when it's beatles week.

my sister and i love the movie 'love actually' and it made her want to put the song 'all you need is love' in her wedding songs. great use of the song by the way. and it made us fell in love with beatles all over again.

okay, here are the beatles songs i won't forget...here's a medley...

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
It's easy.

I'm so glad that she's my little girl.
She's so glad, she's telling all the world
That her baby buys her things, you know.
He buys her diamond rings, you know,
She said so.
She's in love with me and I feel fine, mmm.

If I fell in love with you
Would you promise to be true
And help me understand
'cause I've been in love before
And I found that love was more
Than just holding hands

If I give my heart to you
I must be sure
From the very start
That you would love me more than her

- oh okay it's only three songs. tee hee. i love if i fell. that's why i liked jason in american idol when he sang that song. (songs in order of the lyrics above: all you need is love, i feel fine, and if i fell by the beatles, all three songs written by john lennon.)

but there's another beatles song i won't forget just because my sister made it cost me 10k. it was a maalaala mo kaya episode, and you have to text first your guessed title. it was the first scene, just one shot of the strawberry fields in baguio and i told my sister, let me text, let me text. then she laughed at me and said, 'ate, mali yan title mo no. sayang text' geez. that episode was titled 'strawberry fields'. hay. i will never forget 'strawberry fields forever.' :p

so what's your favorite beatles song? or are you an elvis or rollingstones fan?

i'm going to start working tomorrow for liza's company. i will not be doing sales. (yipee!) and i won't use my brain too much. (that's what the manager said.) perfect for me, since i still have our business to run. :p

but if my brain will start to vegetate, i'll let you know and ask for brain quizzes and the likes. you know, just so i can exercise it again. hahaha.

(hopefully i'll last more than 6 months or 1 year in this job. i have a bad rep i want to break. tee hee. crossing my fingers!)

nadal wins!

i was so sleepy last night, and then during the third set when there was a rain delay, i slept, missing probably the fight that federer gave nadal for the third and fourth sets. eventually though, nadal won the finals!

but several things to note:

- nadal was in his top form and really wants the grand slam title so bad you'll see him leaping from one end of the court to other just to return the shot.
- federer made so many errors in the first two sets, and it gave nadal the edge that he's wanting
- i was rooting for nadal, but i feel sorry for federer. he just looks so forlorn and sad about the way he's playing last night. and he's not mayabang at all. and he didn't win the french finals and wimbledon. :p well, i'm just a sucker for underdogs.

don't worry roger! i'll root for you in the next finals -  US open. you'll be one step closer to pete sampras' records! hahaha. sorry peter. i just feel so sorry for him last night.

(i don't want nadal to win in all four surfaces. if peter doesn't want federer to win more grand slam titles in the hopes of preventing federer to match pete sampras' records of most grand slam titles won - i don't want nadal to win in all four surfaces - andre agassi is the only man who has achieved a career grand slam. his wife - who i also love - is one of the five women who had done so.)

i know we're not in the U.S. and we don't really celebrate our independence day on july 4th. (i don't even know when do we really celebrate it as the non-working holiday the week of june 12th keeps moving to different dates.) but we're still happy!

we sold some items today via our online store. and it seems that people likes the classic styles best when it comes to clothing. when we went basics or classic that's when we sell the most.

and there's something new with me. but i'm not yet sure. until i am v. v. sure, then i won't announce it yet. :D

just so happy.

so i'll leave you with some pics of my favorite things (from my favorite plus size store -aside from big girls! - torrid. i love that site. if only shipping fees to the phils doesn't cost an arm and a leg!)



i think i like the top best. really nice for those night outs at greenbelt.

I signed up with great encouragement from my sister who also loves to blog about her favorites because she knows that I love blogging. Blogs became my outlet, for all the things I want to say, share and let out into the world. So when my sister told me to try this out, I did some research (as I always do before doing something in the net. I'm a Libran, I always want to know the pros and cons.) and the verdict is: I just love this idea!

PayPerPost allows advertisers to go directly to the bloggers for advertisements. The advertisements pay out a minimum of $5 a piece, and there are very minimal requirements to apply to receive advertisements. You will get paid for every approved 'review' or advertisement you write about of a certain product or service in your blog. So the more you blog, the more you get paid.

I've often featured products and movies and some other stuff that I really like in my blog and it would be great to get paid for it. I was honestly concerned at first about blogging something that I don't really like and give positive reviews just because I'm getting paid for it , but PayPerPost solved that problem. They let the blogger choose what to blog about and be paid for doing it!

It will be great additional income for internet entrepreneurs and passionate bloggers like me! See? I'm perfect for this. I love to write and I love the idea of becoming a 'professional blogger'.

So check it out now.


make money

when we were children, i know that i wanted / dreamed to become a teacher. i used to have a makeshift classroom with only my little sis for a student who's always running around the room or wanting to get the chalk from me, her supposedly-strict teacher. then, when i went school and i loved the arts, i wondered if i could be a painter, or any visual artist, or even a writer since i have these thoughts constantly running through my head, begging to be put into paper and come out alive. but i was distracted by this other fascination. i see these vendors outside my school and thought, that looks fun. and so, during secondary school (or high school) i absorbed everything that interests me: visual arts, writing and literature (i was part of our school paper) and i studied business.

in the end, although i believe love makes the world go round, business is my high. i might not be as good in corporate sales as i have thought (i'm feeling humbled because i left that part of my life behind a long time ago.) but i know that selling is my drug. it's what keeps me excited and earning something directly from what i did, i love it. i like before when i was in corporate sales, but for all my efforts, i will receive a minuscule part of it. this time, from planning to advertising to actual selling, i am part of it, and it's difficult and challenging but the rewards are great. i haven't this great in quite a long while.

and so, with the inspiration of doing things i love, i went back to writing. and writing in my blogs have been my outlet for quite a few years now. from my first xanga to blogspot to this livejournal and finally multiply, i found my outlet. it might not always be great (as my thoughts are oftentimes more mundane that genius.) but it's always me.

my sister encouraged me to earn through blog posting and i'll see if i can find a way to earn a little bit through my blogs. (see? my business addiction is seeping through everything i do!)

now i want to end this entry by giving you a glimpse of my most favorite comics character : maxine. (i swear, she's the funniest, grumpiest lady i've met. i want to be like maxine when i'm older. grumpy old maid. hahaha) i was looking for maxine saying something about business or economy or something, but well, work is work and maxine at work is hilarious.


(taken from : http://www.hallmark.com/wcsstore/HallmarkStore/images/Maxine/Max03-18-06.gif)

i'm now eating something i've missed. nissin wafer snack. tee hee. i distinctly remember filling out a questionnaire (if it can be called that) that my sister forwarded to me, about snacks from our childhood that we've missed. (or was that an article and not a questionnaire? or was that from bob ong's abnkkbsknpla book? i'm getting old...)

anyway, yesterday, i've been wanting a cheap meryenda that i can buy (or ask someone to buy for me). i'm not a mommy so i wouldn't know what are the latest lemon square cupcake or snack that kids nowadays bring for baon. so i grabbed something from my memory bank and voila, nissin choco wafer.

here i go again. my top ten list. :d or top 5, whatever. the food /snacks i missed from grade school.

5. cheese curls na cheap na naka plastic... i remember, it was only 5 pesos and it's in a clear plastic sold outside our school and  the cheese curls that manong was selling was  a little bit saltier than jack and jill's.  and tastier. promise.

4. little blocks of chocolates from palengke... i can't remember the name! i'm sure some of you know about this, but  i can't remember the name. it tastes like milo /ovaltine in blocks of chocolates. it's so cheap. i used to buy from our neighbor's sari sari store (their store is actually their window...si mrs. chua) several blocks of it and then wait for my mom to bring home funny comics. so i can read bardagol and tsotso and niknok while munching on this chocolate blocks. i know it's still being manufactured because my mom brought some home from the market and i was so excited that after 20 or so years, i can taste it again. (and i still can't remember the name)

3. biskwet! my lola used to say. she has this one word for all kinds of snacks. eggnogs, pasensya, those toasted hard breads with sugar,  everything falls under biscuits. i like cookies and biscuits. i like marie, pasensya and these wafer snacks. and look, they haven't changed their packaging since we were kids! marie still looks the same and nissin still looks like this.

2. spaghetti with minuscule ground pork and lots of ketchup!
what can i say? we have spaghetti in our school for meryenda. you'll have to shell out 15 or 20 pesos though for a small plate of the stuff. and it's tasty (sometimes it's just too runny..tlagang pinuno na ng ketchup!) they'll even put 1 slice of miniature tasty bread.

1. candies no matter what they say, no matter how much you load them with cupcakes or healthy stuff like sandwiches etc. kids will always love candies. i love haw haw, butterball, football chocolates (goya), nougat, and goya chocolate blocks. i know, i know these are not much for snacks. but i really missed those nougat. and haw haw. and goya chocolate blocks. shucks. i really need to find nougat. manong used to sell nougat in front of our school along with stickers of letters (which you can paste on your notebooks - they have different designs!). but butterball and haw haw can only be found then inside the cafeteria. (funny how they never sell stationary - you know those scented, cute statio that we used to collect and exchange? parang treasured ang mga statio... well, that is a story for another entry.)

i'd better go buy cloud 9 now or baby ruth to satisfy my nougat cravings. (or i can just eat lots of this nissin chocolate wafer snack. =) )

supposedly belated but anyway, pahabol. i greeted you yesterday naman.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS!

i'm a great sports spectator/fan. i just never was in playing sports. hahaha. so lazy. so i like watching all those competitions on tv. from swimming (i had a brief love affair with matt biondi in high school during the '92 olympics. i've been eyeing him from the 88 olympic pics. alas popov outwon him during 92.) to tennis (i cannot enumerate all my exes who are tennis players. haha.), i even watched xgames (tony hawk and co. are amazing) there is one common denominator in all these...cute guys. :D tee hee. 

anyway, i was so sure that spanish football team that just won the euro cup 2008 had some cute players, but anyway, i'm just glad that they won. germany i think just got lucky against turkey, and then they faced spain and it was inevitable. link

on to wimbledon: although novak was dispatched early by marat safin, maybe i can cheer for nadal to finally win wimbledon. peter (my friend) has been cheering him on just so federer can't surpass sampras' (his favorite player) records. haha.

me, i was rooting for novak, but he's gone. so i'd better help a friend and root for nadal. though i was telling peter that roger federer will sooner or later, someday still break sampras' record. it's only a matter of time. he's just really that good. (although i hope he'll never break steffi graf's record of 22 grand slam wins. (take that pete sampras! i won't mention that steffi is only 2nd to margaret smith hehe - still i love steffi graf!) fyi here are the all time records for tennis...sadly, steffi graf's way to tennis greatness was just cut off short by her injury. she could easily won that extra 2 grand slam wins. :p wait, is this about steffi or wimbledon?

anyway, wimbledon updates: nadal and federer are still in the game. and uk's rooting for their own tennis player andy murray...(is he cute? i just don't really like those unruly curls of his...though just being british gives him points in my book!) novak, davydenko and roddick though lost early and even sharapova and ana ivanovic (women's) were already out of the game at this early stage. venus is still in the game though and bets are off on which of the two (nadal and federer) is going to win the wimbledon. i'm going to root for nadal, but i'm afraid that federer is displaying better performance so far.

finally, my last update... pacquiao will probably add another luxury car to his collection and his wife will probably buy new designer bags. our pinoy boxer, manny pacquiao won his 4th title. naks. we're so proud. go pinoy!

that's it. i'm going to watch tennis again later tonight. hoping to catch a glimpse of novak in the stands (even if he's probably crying his heart out!)

i'm choosing between writing something ominous (accdg to opec president, gas prices can reached mt. everest peak levels..$170/barrel before my birthday. gah! at $135 something per barrel we're already pushing P60/liter!) okay so i did write that down...still...i don't want to expound on that since that will be an early morning rant and i don't want to rant.

so to something mundane..(i know, hotdogs aren't mundane..this is even more so. hahaha) on what basis do you choose your passwords? are you geek enough that alpha numeric is the way to go even if you keep forgetting those hard to break passwords? or do you choose something you love, something you hate? just something that will resonate with you?

me, i'm a creature of habit. my sister knows all of my passwords because there's only one. liza found out too. they can write blogs on my behalf if they wanted to. hehehe. there's only one category with me about passwords, and it's about a fictional character. so there. hackers of the world, that's a big big clue! (and what info will they get in my multiply account? they will change my settings so i'll be flooded with those email alerts of everyone selling in multiply? they will invite everyone in my friend's list to be their fiance/fiancee, boyfriend/girlfriend? stop me from imagining ways to torture a person via multiply. i have a very active imagination. tee hee)

out of all the books i've read (and even though i haven't read any for the last year or so..- just a book or two -that'll be a lot) out of all the fanfiction i've read, (that will be too many to count), out of all the movies i've watched (pati mga minor characters kasama-) a character stands out, a name so unique, personality that fits, and voila! that name is my password for the next three years or so...

so really. my passwords are tighter than any alphanumeric thing that most are suggesting. you'll never know what goes on in my head, which character name suddenly pops out in all those stories. it's just that once you find out what my password is, you'll know i'll be using it for quite some time. hahaha.

as if it isn't that easy to hack into anyone's computer. if the techie geek has a will, there's a way. there are ways and ways in the computer. good thing that although i'm writing my journal in my pc, i still write more in my notebook. good old fashioned notebooks (steno, preferably) that cannot be hacked from miles miles away.