Friday, October 22, 2010

Pilipino Ako!

I am proud to be Filipino. On the streets of my own hometown (city?), I have had my fair share of "Pinoy ka pala, akala ko Vietnamese/Thai/Japanese/Chinese/Singaporean ka!"

Granted, my eyes are a little smaller than the Pinoy norm, but I am still 100% Filipino - despite the Japanese-sounding surname, the German-sounding middle name, and the Russian-origin first and second names. I will pick
bihud (fish eggs) over caviar and ikura (salmon roe) anytime... well, most of the time. Nyahehehehe...

Anyway, Jeni collect cards - playing cards, that is. Most of the decks she has are Bicycle decks and I have gifted her with numerous unique, colorful, and delightful (for me visually, for her numismatic-ally) decks over the years.

So when she told me that the Pilipinas Bicycle deck has been launched, I naturally had to pay Cutting Edge a visit to procure said collectible for my sweetheart.

Bicycle Pilipinas deck

The Pilipinas deck is specially made for Cutting Edge Philippines, though I'm not sure if they are the sole distributor. The back is done in violet to red degrade with yellow graphics. Three stars and a sun, done in yellow, appears in the middle of all the numbered cards while a yellow sun appears on two edges for the royals.

This deck is a good way to express your nationalistic pride... after all, you can perform kick-ass tricks on a kick-ass deck of cards and be patriotic at the same time.

All this for Php500 (around $12). Go get your own deck. NOW!!!

Monday, October 18, 2010

I have a dream...

And that is to be...

*drum roll*


A housewife.


Yes, you got that right: the very thing my own mother warned me not to become. The very thing she chose to be when my younger brother was born into this world. The very thing she and my dad decided she would be to be there for our (their children's) growing years.


Momsie was on her way to a high-powered career. She was working for a multinational company, she had the brains, she had the skills, and she had that "corporate" attitude - something along the lines of "mess with me and you will rue the day your mother went into labor".


I got all that from her - my temper (more fiery and hair-trigger), my
taray looks, my ease when it comes to communication (even in a language I do not speak), my razor-sharp tongue (I have made onion-skinned people cry with my normal speaking tone), and lately my "more corporate" look (up until three years ago, my style of dress is more of "collegiate" but I digress").

What I did not get from her is the "corporate dream". I never dreamed of becoming a high-powered executive, driving a luxury car (I'd prefer a pick-up truck!), toting the requisite laptop-BB-handbag combo (a laptop and a non-QWERTY phone will be a-ok), dressed to the nines (this part I can do, hehe), and living in a penthouse condo unit (a home on a farm, please).


All I want is to stay home with my dogs, my (future) kids, my (future) businesses, and keeping house. I'd like to be blogging about my day, the stuff I cook, things from the market, the latest in dogs and kids... you know, a stress-free (in the office/corporate sense of the word) kind of life.


I was home sick a few days ago and, though my body was heavy and wracked with fever with eyes burning like it had ten chili peppers in it, I found I still enjoyed doing the dishes, thinking of dinner, sweeping up the millions of hair my dogs shed, doing the laundry and mopping the floor (my latest addiction).


Momsie said, to be a housewife is to not have your own money (that's why I will put up a business) and to be a victim to routine (which is why I will keep more than one blog, and take lots of pictures). Now, more than a quarter of a century after she first said that to me, I still say I want to become what my mother is.


** Oh yes, PMS-ing!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

The Food Blog is BACK!

Just a short break from my random ramblings about life to say:

My food blog is up and running again! Yey!

Do come by and leave a word or two!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

The Duck House

As I said in my previous entry, Jeni the macho woman was going to attempt to build a house for our little duckies. So on a Sunday she came back with pieces of wood and chicken wire - which she proceeded to saw, hack, cut, hammer, and staple into a duck house.

Jeni the macho womanNikka and Nadyne
1) With her assistant, Nadyne and a sleepy Nikka in the background 2) Nikka and Nadyne in the half-finished house

She wasn't kidding when she said she could do it. At ten pm, the last nail was pounded into wood and the little duckies had a home. The doggies liked it too!

My four babies Deedee and the Ducklings

Nadyne was very enthralled with the ducklings... the ducklings too, apparently, as they would rush over to whatever side of the house Deedee (Nadyne) was on.
Congratulations, my partner in crime. Next time, build a house for us and the four babies. =)

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Yes, I am still alive...

Much to the delight of my one or two loyal readers, and the chagrin of my one billion and one haters. Mwahahahaha!

Whew! Jen and I just finished moving to the new house one month ago. This is an apartment about twenty minutes from my place of work and 40 minutes from Jen's. It's not the same place I last blogged about. Yep, welcome to my (crazy) life: stagnant at some point then suddenly it changes at the speed of light.


So, we moved to the apartment a month ago, about fifteen minutes away from our old apartment. The price is Php1,000 (about USD30) more than the old apartment but the floor area is 3x more. Still small but big enough for two bipeds and two medium-sized canines (just recently: to avians to the tune of Anas luzonica). I suck at area approximation but I'd say it's about 40 sqm. It's still a huge mess; we have a lot of stuff to buy, fix and install... but all in all we're happy. The dogs are happy - they have a bigger place to roam in, they have playmates (the neighbors' kids), and they have their mommies all to themselves.

Jen just came back with more than 15 feet worth of wood, three meters of chicken wire, a new hammer and a bunch of nails. She's going to make a home for our two new babies - Patricia (Patty) and Dorothy (Dotty) - the wonder-ducklings! (A digression - Jeni will make it all by herself. I can hang pictures, scrub pots and pans... and mop the floor till kingdom come but I can and never will take up such a project. Jeni, my wifey, the macho woman! Hardeeharhar...)

We aren't actually sure what their genders are BUT we're hoping both are girls. I will be hard pressed to change their names to masculine if we're wrong. Patricio and Doroteo, anyone?

Anyhoo...

On the work front... hmmm, let's just say that I don't have much of a life outside work these days and that I spend more time at work than I do at home. Let's talk about more pleasant things, yes?

On the food front: I'm going to revive my food blog! Hurray! Since food is my biggest obsession and my greatest (non-living form of) happiness, it only makes sense for me to document and write about my best stress-reliever, yes? So I hope this is one thing that will become a reality really soon. I can imagine all the yummy pics (Bradir will teach me how to take good pictures, hopefully), the belly-busting meals (Jeni, my sisters and mom will help me chow down, that's for sure), and the trips to far-flung places in search of culinary satisfaction. Yowzah!

Another thing that I'm cooking up (that I hope will become a reality in about a year's time) is a store... I 've done two pilot runs (one successful, the other one less so) that convinced me that 1) it's possible, but 2) I need to prepare and study and polish my plans more. So yeah... despite everything that's happening in my life, I still have plans of adding more stuff to crowd my already crazy schedule. I'm masochistic that way, harrrr...


So yeah, I just wanted to check in to assure my two or three loyal readers that YES, I AM STILL ALIVE! So I will still be blogging about once or twice a week... and more frequently on my food blog. I HOPE!