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Feeling better, yes. I guess the hormones were the culprit. Now I know how to handle the swing of emotion brought on by my monthly cycle. Methinks the recent ones were up a notch, ruthless and icy, sending me into a weeping frenzy. It seemed a gloomy blanket had been cast over the world, shrouding the possibility of a sunnier day within reach. So there's that. And here I am thinking it must also be the years rolling in, making me a little less sturdy to those bursts of loneliness and boredom. But there will be more years coming in and we should be ready to tackle the battles that go along the way. Right? The long weekend was spent with young single friends at Zambales, and they are a brazen bunch from the office where I work. I was hesitant to join, telling the one who invited me that I didn't want to cramp their style, saying I'm going to be left alone like an old manangwho tended the kids (which was what happened when I unwittingly joined them for a Friday night drink at Ponti, and I found myself a clumsy oaf trying to dance to house music. As an aside the experience was fodder for a future story about the young and hip crowds in the Noughties.). But J insisted, said Nasasakyan mo naman trip namin, and maybe I was flattered by the comment. My mind interpreted it to my soft ego as "You're cool (enough)." I was the only thirty-something there in the group, all of them sparkling in their twenties. Their smiles were bright and full of promise, laughter burbling from deep (yet shapely) guts. Their bodies were young and vibrant, smooth and slick from seawater. The boys had abs that make grown men cry. The girls were lithe and beautiful, their voices sweet and lilting. I felt a twang of envy, but felt it dissolve quickly like salt in the infinity pool. We were too busy making each other laugh, or making digs, or ranting a little on workplace hassles, or drinking, drinking, drinking every precious drop of Jose Cuervo's gold liquid. At the late night drinking session, one of the girls drank too much tequila and gin. The inebriation loosened her lips to things she couldn't say when sober. In a little while she was shouting, disturbing the other guests, deliberately spilling drinks on her friends (who wisely contained their annoyance), quizzing everyone, even myself, on matters too sensitive to share. It was irritating, yes, but in hindsight, it was a sad sight to behold. The girl had problems she couldn't rise above from, and if I were her, I'd feel that the world was plotting my own failure down to the hour of self destruction. She is blessed to have friends who will (and probably still) stand by her, even after she had vomited on their sleeping bed. Let's all hope she realizes that. Apart from that depressing bit, all was well. The resort was breathtaking -- Capones was a surfer's swanky cove in Zambales. I didn't dare breach the shoreline. The sand dipped within three strides from the shore and I didn't pack enough courage brave the water. On the way home, I found myself recalling drinking in my twenties, which wasn't much, I tell you. I always fell quiet then asleep before the third drink, which made me a boring drinking buddy. I realized that my friends who initiated me to the wonders of alcohol could hold their drink and their dignity, like most of the young ones I had the pleasure of sharing the weekend with (except of course, the girl I was talking about). In both cases I had fun, just in different ways, but one thing remained. It wasn't the drinking, really, but the company that made it memorable. On other things, I bought new running shoes at the Nike outlet in Subic. Thought it was time to get a new pair -- I did maximize the old pair I think, been using it for over a year. Also, the pictures from the Zambales trip were inspiring. I knew I lost weight but when I saw pictures of myself, I was astonished by how much my face and neck shrunk. The running was doing me good. Took a long time, but I'm happy with the change.  | Rotten | Aug 7, '11 6:39 AM
for everyone |
It seems that nowadays, I am not in the best of spirits.
Last night I told my sister that I might be depressed, as in clinically depressed, as there doesn't seem to be any reason to be sad or down. My work was okay, my family okay... I have a little trouble with my friends (actually, just one friend, a dear one who I've shunned away because of my idiocy), but overall, my personal sphere didn't justify that weight I've been feeling. It's like a dark brooding cloud pressing on me. I try to explain the feeling as a result of my having to watch too much of current events -- CNN, BBC, GMA TV News... the news weren't, to put it mildly, providing any form of comfort in living in these times.
Weekdays, i think, are more welcoming than weekends. The daily grind is a wonderful distraction from questions that matter like "is anything you do worth your time?", "have you worked out your destiny yet?" and "what are you doing with your life?". All the more do I forget to think about the answer to "what have you done to make this world a better place?" when the monthly reports go marching in. (On a side note, I thought I had tackled these questions head on in my mid twenties, and when I had exhausted every philosophical muscle in my body when I hit my thirties, I foolishly thought I'd never have to go through another trying moment like that again.)
The next four-day weekend is supposed to be exciting, but only when you've got anything planned. As usual, I have nothing planned, and I fear that it's going to mess my head again. I don't want to go out on a holiday alone -- been there, done that. It's no fun when you don't have anyone to share it with, family or friend. (I could drag my family, but, my parents aren't too enthused going out on long drives, my siblings have their own families and lives, my friends from the office are all too young, and my college friends I suspect are gently phasing out that part of me.)
[I am putting the podcasts on hold, by the way, until I get permission for those stories I had been obsessing on. In no way is the delay connected with my current state. If anything it's helping me keep to a routine that doesn't allow time for pity parties.]
My sister tells me it's probably the hormones talking. I hope she's right. It's official. After basketball, boxing, and running, we are now football crazy. Two years ago, the only football we knew was the one played in the streets – kickball. In the 80s my elder brother was a star player in our neighborhood. He always kicked the farthest. He’d kick the plastic ball from our baranggay, past the riles, and maybe into San Ildefenso church. It would take the defensive team quite a while to retrieve the ball, and by the time they were back with it, we’d already finished eating ensaymada with coke. No surprise our only Kuya played varsity football when he got a little older. Even got one glorious striker shot of him kept for posterity in one of the nation's dailies. I never went to his games, I think, or at least I can't remember. But I do know my dad short of beating his chest with pride whenever he'd talk about (and my dad could talk until your ears bled) how he went to all my brother's games. Anyway, vuvuzelas. There should be a law against them at football games. It was the only reason, apart from the odd hours, unfamiliarity with rules, teams, and long play time, that I never watched the World Cup. If the Greek gods had it back then, instead of Plague, Pain, and Hunger, they would have stuffed Pandora's box with a fleet of self-blowing vuvuzelas. That's enough to drive anyone mad as a horse on meth. Anyway, again, vuvuzelas. They’re intended to annoy the opposing team, but they’re just as good infuriating the home team too. If in some not-so-distant future we end up at the World Cup Final, and we lost, it’s because of those wretched vuvuzelas. My suggestion is, get torotots. They’re cheaper, they’re sustainable, and should help the local economy of Tondo. (My dad and his siblings used to earn their keep by selling handmade torotots. Real and decent ones, ei? Not…) # And all my previous ramblings has led to this: Did you see the last night's Kuwait- Philippines game? Sad we didn’t win. Silent as a graveyard everywhere when the Kuwait team shot that second goal. What’s interesting there is that, while I was watching, when Kuwait made that stunning kick into the empty house that used to be our fortress, the camera panned to that small, brave contingent of five or more Kuwaitees. And I thought, Wow these guys, and gals, were pretty bold. They stood there, cheering for their countrymen, the visiting team, while hordes of Pinoys tried to shatter their voice boxes shouting WE BELIEVE. I’d be very frightened if I was them. I was so set on making them my role models when, the camera panned a bit to the lower left side of their box, and there were policemen, with their rifles, barricading the Kuwaitee cheer team. How sad is that? How paranoid are we of sports-based violence? As if the whole Pinoy cheer squad will descend on these brave folks and eat them for dinner? To be fair, the Kuwait Team was brilliant. And they did make splendid play. Great in both defence and offence ( this coming from a girl who almost failed her P.E.). And my heart just melted when a Kuwaitee player was caught on cam, bending Chippy’s feet forward to rid him off his cramps. What sportsmanship. This even after four half-bred Pinoys told one Kuwaitee to fuck off, get the fuck off after a foul call. Ack. Not very proud moment there. Who’s your favourite Azkal? Phil? Anton? Niel the Goalie? He was spectacular. Yeah, pretty good. And kept busy by the Kuwait team. Am wondering if the Kuwaitee goalie even broke a sweat. We were on the defensive All. The. Time. How about Chippy? Who couldn’t be more Filipino than Chippy. He’s one Azkal who’s not an askal. No halfblood Pinoy, tama ba? And he’s not bad either. He scored goals in the last matches before this one. I say we should all write to Bench Chan and demand… demand! That we get a Chippy brief billboard! Chippy! Chippy! Chippy! | Limbo | Apr 24, '11 12:09 PM
for everyone |
Ever since I hit my twenties, I have been vacillating in my beliefs, primarily those concerning the existence of God, the reliability of the cathechesis which the Catholic Church teaches, and even my everyday Christianity. I am always either in a state of faith, or in a state of doubt, and though it is easier for me to reason to my self that God does not exist (for what kind of God creates all things and leaves no proof of his own existence?), or that Jesus was just a footnote in history (were the others, like Confucius or Buddha, better in giving guilt-free advice in how to lead a better life?), an inner voice rejects these propositions, and hence I am left to search answers again from scriptures and non-Christian, and supposedly unbiased, moral writings. (Unfortunately the very little I have read has confused me somewhat, and now I am left with more questions than answers.) I would have liked to tell you that I am agnostic, and yet I feel that I am not. There are matters that I have come to believe because of unexplainable circumstances (unexplainable because, one, I do not have the words for things that only my heart of hearts can feel and comprehend, and, two, I do not have the courage), one of them being Jesus not just an interesting figure who lived way before moveable text was invented. I would like to be a better Christian, in the truest sense, if that is what eternal life demands, and yet the difficulty of being even just a good one increases by the day (to put things in perspective though, it is not as difficult as living in the age of early Christians where most of them were put to death), because the alternative, being an unbeliever (and I do not say this with judgement, you must understand), does not make hell, or its equivalent, imminent. There are truths in the world we seek, those that do not let us rest, and for me, this is it, just below the existentialist(?) questions that I've given up on. Well, at least for the moment. Not really a good thing to read on Easter, but, yeah, Happy Easter anyway. Somehow, this verse from Shakepeare's sonnets (S.116, to be specific) keeps popping like a mantra in my head. I don't exactly know what it means:
Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments.
And it's the only line by Shakespeare I know. I think I picked it up while watching the film version of "Sense and Sensibility". The rest of the sonnet is just mush, and cannot be recalled from memory. [But it is a wonderful poem, and if you wish to read the rest of it, you can find it here.]
Was trying to figure out if there were tagalog equivalents of this verse. I'm not going go off and transliterate it. If this is a universal truth, then, there must be a version of this locally. Unfortunately, the only one I can think of is "Kung ayaw, may dahilan. Kung gusto, maraming pwedeng paraan.
And yeah, I swiped that from Rico Blanco. [Edit Jan 25: I realize I made no sense when I wrote this last night.]
| Surreal | Jan 23, '11 9:29 AM
for everyone |
In one of the podcasts episodes on Pakinggan Pilipinas, I talked about how to look at Chinese paintings. When I saw this spot in the famous Yuan garden in Shanghai, I knew I had to have my picture taken there. Happiness. Picture taken by my sister, by the way. 
It's 2AM on the second day of the year, and though I would very much like to crawl under the duvet and dream about what to do and what to look forward to in 2011, my Good Side (who is actually a miniature version of myself in my head -- she's 3o lbs lighter and more disciplined when it comes to things) has urged me to write about what I am most thankful for in the past year, so that, she says, I won't forget. Think of it as insurance, she says. The future holds some dark days, but if I write the good stuff down, I could look back and believe that, as ludicrous as the thought would seem, hope and light will find a way to beat the crap out of my despair. Must thank God for: Opportunities at work -- I've been given the tremendous task of launching two major brands for the company, and, the fact that I am still alive and working for the same employers *until now* means that maybe hey, I'm doing okay. Losing 10 kgs -- I really mean kilos -- I did! Though it may not look it (I might have gained 5kg at the beginning of the year, before actually losing the 10; and then gained ~ 1kg over the holidays...), the scales do not lie, my friend! It was hard work though -- no magic pill to take it all away, no special diet. Sorry to break to you -- it's just exercise and a moderation of things you eat and drink. Running -- It's the one exercise I said, "I'll stickwichu." Thanks, Kuya, for the influence... although I don't think I'd be able to go 10k anytime soon. I don't have enough swear words for that long a run. The confidence to do Pakinggan Pilipinas -- The idea had been germinating in my head for a long time, and I'm happy that, with the support of friends and lovers of stories, the podcast site was born and is still kicking ass (at least my dad says so). They were all just scribbles on a page -- the pod schedule, the stories, the narrators. I can't believe seven episodes/months have passed since that early morning announcement, the one which announced the Coming of the Site. Am thankful to the contributing authors and narrators -- they are generous and wonderful people. What I also love about this on-going experience is that the creative process for each episode is different. Never fails to surprise me. It has also, as I confessed to Kate O., affected my writing in a good way. (Unfortunately this benefit only materialized at the end of the year. Better late than never though.) Stories accepted and rejected -- Any writer would be happy with an editor's acceptance letter. I sent out many stories this year and got accepted at one. (The other that got printed in 2010 was submitted in 2009.) Am also grateful for rejections since they are, *cough*, sige na nga, life lessons. Am also glad that some stories made it to certain people's lists ... at least I know for sure that more than six people get to read my stories. Discoveries -- Am afraid I can never ever tell you exactly what this is, but, what it just means is that some mysteries, about life in general, had been, uhm, demystified. Wingman -- My younger sister led me to this very cramped little restaurant? diner? on Malugay Street which served the best buffalo wings on planet Earth. It's the kind of stuff pregnant women will crave for in the dead of the night, and will keep their husbands awake for, until they get want they wanted. An X for the Big C -- We were all relieved when the tests for a family member came out negative for cancer. I don't think we'd ever be the same if it weren't. Writing as an Outlet -- Friends are also there to help, but when it's physically impossible to have a pow-wow over the latest "emergencies", I am thankful that I can write my heart out and feel the weight come off like nothing at all. Friends - From College who'd do the crazy, as well as the hard stuff; From Litcritters who are a lovely bunch to discuss stories, as well as sing videoke with; From Work who'd whine and dine with me and deliver anyway; New ones from Pakinggan who also believe in the power of the spoken word. I am also thankful for all the other things I didn't mention here (I wanted to talk about our recently installed Maynilad water line, but since most of you don't live in the South, I don't think you'd get what a big deal that is) ... My heart bursts with gratitude. And now, off to bed, to dream about the new year. :) My sister kept telling me to buy an iPad. "Para saan?" I asked her. "Para saan? Para saan!?" she replied. It was sort of hitting the back of my head with her palm. "You can do ANYTHING with an iPad!" "Oh, really," I thought. "I don't need an iPad to read books." "Why read books!?" she said. "Reading an e-book with an iPad will make you look cool!" She said that while miming the sliding action one makes with those apple gadgets. "You don't even need to *read* the book to look cool! O, ha? O, ha?" A flip of the imaginary e-page with every O, ha? It was annoying. * Christmas is coming. I'm so not ready. Years ago I used to reflect on my so-called life before the season arrives. Lately I think, my heart has begun to harden like a rock. This worries me. * Will be busy all month. The universe has decided that all my deadlines should fall in the first half of November with the intention of testing my tenacity. But it's a happy problem, I'd like to think. The deadlines involve projects I'd love to get my hands dirty with. The deadlines involve corporate and the artistic. It's a good use of time and energy. * Good heavens. There's the PSF 6 deadline on the 15th. I could write something by deadline, the problem is, will it be good enough. Word count to date is zero. * I have a lot of wishes for my birthday, but there's one wish that's almost always been on the list. And it's not an iPad.  You are deep in thought. I wonder. Not like Da Vinci's muse.
No escort? How brazen. In your time, I mean. But that is Paris, yes. Your hat and dress speak of summer. Exquisite, but can you breathe? The men in the next table -- they smile so. A storm comes for them. Exasperated, but alive. You wait for no one. The original "Parisian Life" painted by Juan Luna at the GSIS Museum. Picture-taking was not allowed, but I got away with it. Yeah you, got that something I think you’ll understand  When I say that something I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
I wanna hold your hand
From I Want To Hold Your Hand, The Beatles Art and collectors items from "With a Little Help from My Friends: A Tribute to the Beatles" exhibit, GSIS Museum, Pasay City. Dad insisted that Mom get her GSIS renewed on her birthday. Mom said, "Ridiculous. I don't think the government would allot only one day of the whole year for you to renew." Dad was pretty adamant, so instead of going to some place special that afternoon, we trooped to GSIS for a citizen thingy. While Dad parked the car, Mom saw this sign and told me to take a picture. 
I didn't have the heart to show it to Dad. The caps, bold font and underscore were just too cruel. Manic. That's me, for the past weeks or so. My day job is on a mission to drive me up the wall -- the systems change, the multiple deadlines, the line of people following me up for deliverables this and that... I used to think that a systems upgrade meant an increase in efficiency, and now, I feel like me and my team mates are underwater because we have to do everything twice (one in the old system, one in the new). One time this very kind planner came up to me to work on some stuff, and I may have already lost it that I snapped on the poor guy. So there goes my rant. I've a feeling it will get better, but I hope relief comes soon. On other things I am happy to note that even with my busy schedule my social life thrives. Nope, no boyfriends in sight, but I've been meeting some wonderfully interesting people because of Pakinggan Pilipinas, my little brainbaby. I wish I could tell you right now, here in this blog, but I don't want to ruin the surprise. (And I'm a bit superstitious -- ayokong mausog!) In a few months, for sure, I'll give you details. On the homefront, the black car is going to be sold. Mom's home for a two-week vacation and is all of sudden nagging us to go to HongKong (ano yun, parang probinsya lang? ora-orada pwede?). Still, I missed her a lot and I'm glad she's home. Dad's feeling under the weather...actually I don't know which weather he's under because he only felt sickly after gorging morning and night at the hotel buffet when he visited Mom in Cebu earlier this week. My sisters are tending to their own little circle of friends. My best friend has left for Malaysia, and with that I am left without a movie partner (Paano na ang Airbender? ang Despicable Me? ang Salt?). The rains are ruining my running schedule, and I am contemplating whether an expensive yoga class is worth my money. The upside is the rains have made it more bearable to write and think and feel how comforting a cup of coffee is. I'm beginning to worry about my stories -- I hope I can finish them in time and in good form. Anyway, off to chores. I am the designated cook for today's lunch. I hope the hito won't splash hot oil in my face while I fry it. At last! The 1st episode for Pakinggan Pilipinas (monthly podcast site for Filipino fiction) is up, featuring Dean Francis Alfar's Six from Downtown, read to us by Kate Aton-Osias and Blue Soon. CLICK HERE to go to the site! I had the pleasure of recording voices for the Pakinggan Pilipinas project over the weekend. Everyone involved (the names of whom I'm keeping to myself for a while, until we launch the site properly) had been quite helpful -- from the newbie web designer to newbie voice talents, as well as the newbie sound engineer (guess who). Though neophytes in this medium, we were all playing by ear (and sometimes literally) on how to make the future podcast worth listening to. We're all quite excited -- this is foreign territory for us, but the potential of building a community of volunteers to keep the momentum going is there. (Yay!) Why am I doing this in the first place? I could say it's because I want to promote our homegrown fiction-- that's 50% of the reasons behind this. We need to tap into potential readers who don't read filipino stories -- maybe it is not enough to get published anymore. We need our own people to know, especially those who feed on international/foreign bestsellers, that their own writers are worth listening to -- that they will find entertainment, action, love, science fiction, fantasy, etc that connect with them best, here in the filipiniana section. (Let me digress a bit -- our bookstores don't seem to put filipino books on window displays, nor do they put the actual shelves where people can see them! Will somebody please do something about this?) Maybe hearing our stories will put a fresh perspective and encourage our audience to look for more from the writer of the story, or this particular genre from Filipino writers, or just stories in general from Filipino writers. As to the other 50%, it's mostly personal (but not too personal that I can't write it here haha). Since the past year or so I have been a fan of fiction podcasts and I listen to these audio stories while travelling, or washing the dishes, and it's great because they take my mind off things and help me escape. Maybe you already know this, but, do you know that there are hundreds of stories and whole books from American and UK authors already in podcast form, free for download, and only a handful of stories from Filipino writers? (I actually only found one, and it's not even polished in terms of production value. So sad.) Also, I recently realised that I used to do fiction podcasts (sort of) when I was 8 or so. That was a long time ago... wala pa ngang beepers nun ("Beepers?") My sisters and I would gather around the bulky tape recorder, and off the bat would invent a story about a couple of kids who ran off and found themselves in a haunted house, complete with sound effects, all this while the recorder was pressed on. I wish I still had a copy of that recording. I have a lot of hope for this project (you'd probably fall off your chair laughing if I tell you some of my "grand plans" hahah), but really I'm ... correction, we, (since slowly but surely a loose team is being formed) are taking this one step at a time. *** This is also to formally announce that PAKINGGAN PILIPINAS will go LIVE in JULY 2010. ***  I've recently set-up PAKINGGAN PILIPINAS, a blog that aims to put together podcast links of Filipino works of short fiction (either Filipino or English). I'm accepting podcast link suggestions, up until May 31, 2010 for the first batch of stories. More details at the site.
 While waiting for lunch I caught the music video for Disconnection Notice, a truly danceable song from Pupil, which didn't feature the band at all, but showed the flash mob which Earth Hour organizers pulled together in honor of Earth Day at the SM Mall of Asia. I thought it was such a fun video, but the thing is, why did I see it first on TV and not somewhere online? Isn't being visible online the point of being viral?
I decided to look up how many hits the Youtube upload got. I was guessing it should have, maybe at least a hundred thousand hits, since that's the going rate for successful virals. Lo and behold, even with its Myx exposure and Earth Hour stamp, the video's got only about under 2,000 (as of writing) with no reposts from individual Youtubers. It's been uploaded last month pa... Oh, no! VIRALFAIL! Compare that with Lady Gagita and Mayaman University's parody of Lady Gaga and Beyonce's "Telephone" which was posted only in Feb, now garnering close to 250,000 hits, add to that a shoutout from the Lifestyle pages of the Inquirer just last week. Lady Gagita, in terms of average hits per day, has even trumped the Jollibee Flashmob Dance posted last Aug 2009 with around 200,000 hits to-date, in a mere days. It's true that a lot of Pinoys log on to the internet daily, what with the state of OFW's Skyping with family back home, as well as telecom giants offering cheaper, faster, and accessible wifi. However I don't think majority of marketers have cracked the code yet in terms of building brands through social media like Youtube, and yes, Multiply, Facebook, Twitter, and Friendster. There are views, yes, but really, given the chance to start over, is your brick & mortar company willing to invest time and money on this, if all you'll get are over two thousand facebook friends, and pithy comments from your own officemates? (Sorry I can't link you to a certain example -- they must have pulled the site out.) I don't think so, especially if your megabrand has had successes with tried-and-tested tools before, like price-plays and below-the-line promotion. What are the chances your brand will succeed online? While mulling over this, I came across this enlightening entry by advergirl (I usually blog-hop to advergirl when I need fresh marketing ideas), which says a lot about social media strategy. Hold on, don't tune out. This could be interesting. Advergirl quotes some hard facts from David Griner's presentation, Tipping Points of Social Media: "Key influencers (like the uber bloggers), he said, are largely mythological, citing Duncan Watt's fabulous quote 'Forest fires aren't spread by influential trees.' Intentionally-created 'viral' videos are highly unlikely to win millions of views" It's not very encouraging. Creating a page for your brand won't send it skyrocketing to super stardom. There's a lot LOT more work needed, and things really need to get thought through (kaya nga strategy e). Social media is a different creature, and according to Griner, "is very democratic - 'powered by the choices of lots of relatively-equal individuals.'" Behind this we have to go through the basics (understanding your brand and your customers), and understanding whether we need additional offline support. Take the case of the Little Debbie cupcake brand which Griner cited, which leapfrogged from 5,000 to 500,000 facebook friends in less than a month, but only after getting the right "gimik" that fits the brand, its potential customers, and the capabilities of facebook as an enabler. (Read it, it's quite interesting.) Griner, Advergirl and Tom Fishburne (a brilliant US-based cartoonist who uses the pitfalls in brand marketing as cartoon fodder) share the same opinion on what drives the success of virals -- the content has to be share-worthy. I.e. Is this something your sister/friend/highschool classmate/parents would repost on his or her social network site? Does it contribute to "user-happiness"? And user-happiness can be anything - is it inspiring? hilarious? relevant? entertaining? There's also the point of making content easy -- a lot of sites are burdened with too many messages that it loses the heart of what it's trying to say . So yeah, Lady Gagita's parody has become phenomenal because of content -- it made us laugh. It was so funny that we had to watch it again. And it was so funny we had to share it with everyone on our facebook network. (And it made me admire how pulido the editing was versus the original video, despite meager resource... but that's another blog entry.) Did the Earth Hour/Disconnection Notice viral-attempt do something wrong to deserve low page hits? My theory is, by the time they've uploaded the video, flashmobs were a dime a dozen. The choreo was so-so (the Jollibee gig was way better, but that too looked like it borrowed moves from the Oprah-sponsored, Black Eye Peas flashmob in Chicago). There just wasn't anything new. You know what could have made it work? Ely Buendia dancing with them. *You can see more brand-related cartoons, like the one above, on TomFishburne.com.  The goal, really, is to lose enough weight so I'd look better in a dress, so for the past weeks I've been trying to keep a healthier lifestyle by cutting down my calorie intake and keeping myself active.
The calorie cutdown has been difficult. No sugared drinks on weekdays, no designer coffee (except plain brewed coffee or bland cafe latte), no fastfood, no junkfood, just moderate, well-balanced meals (last night I fed myself with a small cup of yogurt; kawawa naman). I still eat rice -- I don't think I'm ready to live without it yet, but I've managed to cut down on the servings. The keeping-active thing, well that, that was much more daunting. The plan was to run three times a week, but so far for the last month, I've only been running once a week. Each time was just as painful as the last, and just as fun as a root canal without anesthesia. I'll get better at it with time, my sister says. Will someone please fast forward me to the future? Anyway the good news about the place I run around in, Ayala Triangle Park (methinks that's what it's called), is that it's better than one I ran in before -- Salcedo Park. Besides having a longer perimeter, the Triangle has flatter, wider, and sturdier surfaces, preventing little accidents like, oh, falling flat on your face, literally (happened to me once). The disadvantage here though, is that a lot more people crowd into your jogging space. There are many beginners like me, who keep a steady pace and try to get out of other people's way. However, there are just some who leave me breathless, and gad, do my insides boil for those runners with the fancy finisher jerseys and branded running gear who swoosh from the rear and go past me in a cloud of dust, just when the last 20 seconds of Boom Boom Pow was about to end. (I use 4-minute songs to keep track of my pace instead of a watch; mucho easier.) Makes me feel like an upturned turtle. Nevertheless, like the Turtle I have to keep plodding as much as I can. I'm not aspiring to be like my brother, who's made a remarkable transformation from couch-potato dad to half-marathoner, but I would like to see the day where I wouldn't have to dread physical activities so much. Sometimes while running I have fantasies that someone like John Lloyd Cruz or Piolo Pascual will come speeding from a blind corner and WHAM! run into me, like in those Star Cinema films (there actually was one movie with this scene in mind; it starred Juday and Piolo, but the title escapes me now). But hey, honestly I don't think I'd want to be run into when I'm stinking from sweat and looking like a tired horse from Sta Ana. Picture from Philstar.  | Pa-awtograp! | |
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elyss wrote on Jan 13, '09 Thanks, Sammie!
Actually, nagkataong may photographer na dumaan sa bahay. Syempre, pinagsamantalahan na namin hehehe. :-) |
 | Mas bagong greeting 'to.
Elyss, Mabiyaya at Manigong Bagong Taon sa iyo at iyong pamilya!
Ganda ng bagong profile photo mo! Magandang salubong sa 2009! |
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elyss wrote on Dec 25, '07 |
| Elysssss! Maligayang Pasko rin sa inyo dyan sa lupang tinubuan! Ang handog ko sa'yo: kapirasong linya mula sa awit ng Mabuhay Singers..."Ang bati namin ay magandang pasko, at naghihintay sa aginaldo nyo, kung sakali namang di'ninyo gusto, hwag lang sanang ipahabol sa inyong aso..." |
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elyss wrote on Dec 22, '07 Jing! Sorry at ten thousand years delayed na itong message ko. Merry Christmas! Kelan ka nasa Pilipinas? Nuod ka ng Filmfest? |
 | Hello Elyss! Andito ka din pala:) Kamusta na? Ganda ng pictures! |
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