Late nights | Blind item

It was the female parental unit's birthday this Wednesday, and the male parental unit decided to take her out on a date. I gladly opted out (cause a date isn't a date with a third wheel), but the date soon became a foursome family affair. 

We were supposed to eat at Mesa at Greenbelt 5, but it was full when the parents came and the female parental unit wanted a healthy dinner. So, we ended up eating at *insert awesome flashy starry effects here* Sugi! 

itadakimasu.

gochisousama.

It was an AWESOME dinner. It's been years since I've eaten at Sugi, so I was very happy to be there last night. My favorite dish was the grilled mackerel. Excuse the ugly photos. I wasn't expecting to be part of the dinner last night so I wasn't able to bring Oberon.

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Paging REST. Where are you?! /cryfaise I need you now. For the whole week, I've been going home late. =(

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Occasionally, I do this. Bear with me for a while.

The simplest of things, the intricacy of things

I love bread.

I think my kind of love for bread was passed down from my lola. Everytime I was in her house, when she was still alive, she'd always toast some pan de sal (to the point that it's nearly burned), then she cracks it open (I love it when steam comes up out of the bread), puts imported butter (emphasis on IMPORTED) on the fluffy interior, then closes it and gives it to me. Kung walang gatas ng kalabaw at kanin sa umaga, this is enough to start my day.

Until now, I love bread and butter. I can live off of breakfast for weeks with good-tasting bread and butter. I guess I also got my "pickiness", if you will, for butter from my lola. Whenever I can, I buy imported (just like her).

I remember an interesting argument about bread that I had with the other Cinemalaya volunteers. One of them said that the best way to appreciate bread is if you have it with palaman. If you eat it on its own, you're not tasting the bread's true potential. You need an "opposing force", if you will, in order to judge how good it is.

But I argue, bread is supposed to be good enough to eat on its own. Unless you eat it as is, you won't be able to appreciate, say, the soft crunch of a ciabatta's exterior, the crisp of a french baguette, or the fluff of the simplest pan de sal. If you have palaman on bread, you won't fully appreciate its many intricacies cause it's likely that your palaman overpowers your bread. You'll just say, "ang sarap ng cheez whiz!" or "panalo ang hotdog!", maybe even "ang alat ng sardinas!". It will never be about the bread.

I love bread.

So much so that I had to make a post about it.

LOL

Super special awesome ultra special sexy transformation sequence, go!

"I'M BACK, BABY."
Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series, I owe you one.

Ladies and gents, I give you the camp post.


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"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me..."
Galatians 2:20

That verse pretty much sums up my entire camp experience. It was absolutely WRONG for me to think that it was the typical clean fun camp that I experienced during the camps that TFCA held for us. It was dirtier, messier...and I'm still not inclined to say that it was more fun XD. If they told us "This is like CAT/COCC camp" then I would have prepared myself mentally as well as physically.

I was not ready for mud.

In the previous post, I said that camp was a traumatizing experience. It was so much so that I completely broke down (as in waterworks talaga) on the last day. I had lost my voice, I had no wit left, and barely any reserve power to even will myself to eat. But somehow, I survived.

But more than these experiences, that verse really applied in the fullest force possible when it was time for altar call counselling. I had training (but I admit that I did not listen as well as I should be, HAHAHAHAHA!), but it still felt like I was coming into a battle that I wasn't prepared for. Yet, as I said in the post prior to this, I was fully aware that it wasn't me who was ministering to these people anymore, like...I became a vessel, and my self took a back seat. It seems unbelievable, I know...but it's an experience that one has to feel for himself, I guess. =D

Now that's been said, it's off to my personal best (and worst) experiences.

Randomness

My favorite yet overused blog title. Yes, yes.

And here we go.



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I have been on leave since yesterday.

I ate at the former Jo'nis for merienda when I went to Makati yesterday. Their puto bumbong, was super special awesome.

It's the kind of puto bumbong that will induce a reaction as epic as the not-so-extreme reactions from Yakitate! Japan (i.e. forgetting your name, being transported to a better place for a few seconds but absolutely not changing history or going on a field trip in space riding a train).



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Pansin ko lang na nauuso ang mga remake/remaster/rehash/whatever you wanna call it sa mga anime ngayon. Two years ago FMA Brotherhood started. Last year was Dragonball Kai. This year we're going to have this:

RUROUNI freaking KENSHIN!!!!!!! This calls for a keyboard smash of happiness!!!!!!! L;JE4FOJIOWNVOAEWNVCIOWEFOIACNEWFWA!!!!!!!

It wasn't until yesterday that I learned that RuroKen was cancelled/cut short due to the filler episodes. Well, I wouldn't blame the Japanese viewers back then...by the time it got to the Feng Shui arc it was utterly ridiculous that I wished for Shishio to come back to life so Kenshin could fight him again. But now that it's back...and it's been confirmed that the Jinchuu freaking arc will be part of this new anime, I'm like OHHH EMMM GEEEEEE. If the art and music will be as beautiful as it was in the original, there will be more shaking and crying from my end. LOL


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And to end this post, I will direct you to this awesome video.

Randomness

I survived a facial from hell tonight. As you can see, the damage isn't much, but it still hurt =/.  I was supposed to take some hormonal pills but I couldn't get a clearance from the OB-GYN. So, the dermatologist also gave me a natural supplement, but it costs Php1,800 for two months...and I don't know if that's cheap or expensive. =/ It's likely that I'll look for a natural supplement at Healthy Options over the weekend to end my fight against corruption acne once and for all. Until then, I gotta get through this. Le sigh.

This was tonight's dinner. Le sigh again.

I usually don't mind a Cup Noodle-dinner (especially if it's the Japanese kind), but this one wasn't so good. I guess it's because it's the Light variety? I dunno...I prefer the regular one. *shrug* Tinamad lang ako magluto kanina kasi 8:00 na ako dumating sa dorm at gutom na gutom na ako...

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So, I learned that this schoolyear, the school's anime org (for college) was established, and since it's College Week they had an exhibit. I went there. It was not bad for a first - of course it could be a whole lot better (and it pales in comparison to the NKK exhibits). I asked the students manning the exhibit if they have manga, and they showed me what they had. There was One Piece, Tsubasa...and I forget the rest, but they were all mainstream and...*drumroll please* ENGLISH.

And it dawned on me how much the fandom has changed with this generation (and here I start my lament on being old, hahaha!). Gone were the days that you'd have to be very creative to get manga in Manila; gone were the days of second-hand manga stores sa MCS that brought such joy to fangirls'/boys' hearts and souls. Now the titles are available at Powerbooks or Fully Booked. In Eng-freaking-glish. I think the fans who would sacrifice an arm or leg to get a Japanese manga are already a dying breed - moreso fans who are into non-mainstream series and would have to spend more just to sate their fix.

I offered the kids tips (oh gosh I called them kids...I'm old)...like stuff that we did during college days sa NKK. I also told them that had I known that there was going to be an exhibit like this I would have made a little contribution and brought some of my manga (provided, of course, that they worship it take good care of it). But probably, the most important advise I gave them was to not limit themselves to anime; and I seriously hope that they see why.

I sort of feel for them because they don't have a full-time adviser for their org, which makes things really challenging, especially for a newly established one. Sa NKK, we had our own problems, but at least we were not on a struggling probationary status all the time (on certain years we were but by gosh we pulled through and became one of the most active orgs, wazzup!). A part of me really wants to help those kids...just so I have something to work on that's not work per se...

Remedy

I'm still under the weather. I have different outlets - I turn to music or reading, or I splurge myself with food (not too much though, but I tend to eat small-sized expensive bites when I'm depressed).

So, here's what went down.

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I went to Caffe Ti Amo and bought an affogato. Their espresso was really good. I'm interested to try other flavors of their gelato some other time. But then again...there's Red Mango and Qoola and Gelatissimo! Oh the temptation!

Anyway, their affogato holders are heart-shaped, which were really cute! (Also, congratulate me on my almost-clear face since my facials from hell! WOOHOOOOWWWW!) Their affogato costs Php98, which isn't a bad price.

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After that I went to Powerbooks to see if there were any interesting books I could read (or purchase, if I like any well enough). If there was a book that I'd get right away, it would be Catching Fire, but they only hadve The Hunger Games in trilogy box sets, and the only ones they sold by the book were Mockingjay and The Hunger Games. So...yeah.

I did find this here - an excerpt from The Warrior Of Light by Paulo Coelho (not to be mistaken with Final Fantasy's Warrior Of Light)

For those of you who are too tamad to click on the pic and read, here's what it says:

When the master sees that the Warrior is depressed, he says:

"You are not what you seem to be in these moments of sadness. you are better than that.

"Many have left - for reasons we will never understand - but you are still here. Why did God carry you off all those amazing people and leave you?

"By now, millions of people will have given up. They don't get angry, they don't weep, they don't do anything; they merely wait for time to pass. They have lost the ability to react.

"You, however, are sad. That proves that your soul is still alive."

I will get a copy of this book. /mental note

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In an hour or so I'll be off to Makati to meet up with Annie and Miko at McDo Greenbelt 1. We'll be taking advantage of the promo at Wako and sing our hearts out at karaoke. =D

There will be pictures, and probably videos too.

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A few days back I fixed a glitch in this blog that only enables comments for those who have Google Accounts/LJ/what-have-you; now I've enabled anonymous comments, which means you can comment without logging in to some account that you have.

That's it. Hopefully there will be more happy posts in the coming days.

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Before I forget...
I♥U CHRIS WHITELAW PINE.

Ehem. I just finished watching Unstoppable. Heehee.