It's Raining!

Sarado lahat ng blinds sa office. Pero naramdaman kong umuulan. Binuksan ko ang blinds sa tabi ng work station ko.

Ulan.

Magandang ulan. Pero maaraw.

Walang ibang 'nakaramdam' na umuulan dahil sa mga nakatabing na bintana.

Tumitig ako sa puno ng buko na hinahangin. Naisip ko kung gaano kasarap tumambay sa bahay pag umuulan. O magyosi sa tambayan. Naisip ko yung maglakad ng naka-hoody lang sa ulan, habang nagyoyosi. Tas mababasa yung yosi. Maglalasang tubig. Malamig na tubig.

Wala akong malinaw na magandang alaala ng ulan. Pero ulan lang mismo, madami nang nabubuong magandang pakiramdam sakin. Positibo. Isa ang ulan sa siguradong nakakapagpaganda na ng araw ko. Pede kong sabihin na buo na naman ang ulan ko. :)

Tokwa vs. Tofu (sa pananaw ng isang matakaw)

Nagdala si Cha ng curry tokwa/tofu specialty nya nung Saturday sa birthday party ni Che.

Hindi ko natikman, kaya hindi ko alam kung tofu or tokwa yung dala nya. And someone would say "pareho lang naman ang tofu at tokwa" and I would always insist na hindi sila pareho. I was a vegetarian, and matagal tagal na din napamahal sa kin ang tokwa (ayoko ng tofu), bago pa man ako maging vegetarian. Hindi naman espesyal ang tokwa o tofu, mahilig lang talaga ako dun. Lalo na't wala naman ako gaanong choice sa kakainin noon. Kaya din minsan, hindi ko maintindihan ang mga tao na sinasabing favorite nila ang tokwa o tofu, especially kung di naman sila mahilig sa tokwa o tofu nang makilala ko sila. Hindi naman masarap ang tokwa o tofu. Sawsawan o seasoning lang nya ang masarap.

Simple lang naman lagi ang explanation ko sa usapin na "magkaiba ang tofu at tokwa" -- ang tokwa, when fried, matigas/malutong. Ang tofu hindi. Kahit sunugin mo ang tofu, hindi sya titigas or lulutong.

Sabi ni Cha, na isang chef, pareho lang ang tokwa at tofu. Sino ba naman ako to contest? Eh kumakain lang ako, hindi ko naman pinag-aralan at kinabubuhay ang mga kaalaman sa pagkain. Pero bilang isang kumakain, mali ba ako na hindi pareho ang tokwa at tofu base sa aking explanation? Totoo namang hindi mo mapapalutong ang tofu. Kung bakit, hindi ko alam.

Sabi ni Cha, may iba't ibang klase lang ng tofu. May silken tofu, may samting tofu... di ko na maalala yung iba. Silken tofu na lang naalala ko. Dahil technically, ang tofu na kilala natin at ang tofu na tinutukoy ko ay ang silken tofu! Ang tokwa ay ang firm tofu. So technically, pareho silang uri ng tofu. Pero hindi natin sila kilala na parehong tofu. Or at least ako, hindi ko sila kilala bilang parehong tofu. Kilala ko sila bilang tokwa at/o tofu. Kumbaga, by default, pag sinabi mong tofu, ang iisipin ko, yung malambot na bean curd (o para sa akin ay kung ano ang tofu, na definitely ay hindi tokwa).

Pag nakakita ka ng tofu cubes sa pinggan mo - yung malambot na kulay gatas, sasabihin mo bang, tokwa yun?

Salamat kay Cha sa pagpapaalala sakin sa silken tofu. So oo, pareho lang silang tofu. Pero hindi "pareho lang naman ang tokwa at tofu" dahil ang una ay firm, ang ikalawa ay silken, by default, sa pagtukoy, sa ating language game. Hindi mo naman nire-refer na 'tokwa' ang malambot na tofu, di ba?

So sa usaping ito, by default - ang tofu ay yung malambot na bean curd o silken tofu. At ang tokwa ay yung matigas na bean curd, o firm tofu. Pero sa normal na usapan, kaya mo bang kumain ng tofu't baboy na nakababad sa suka't toyo na may sibuyas at sili? Kung kaya mo, then, pareho nga ang tokwa at tofu.

Ermmm...

May interview ng artist today. Hm, ito na kaya ang ating iniintay?
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Kung wala kang sasabihin sa akin, wala din akong sasabihin sa iyo.
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Malapit sa puso ko ang Session Road na banda, dahil sa tatlong main reasons. Let's go to Baguio!
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With a love like that, you know you should be glad.
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Madami akong naiisip, gusto mo subukan magtanong?
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Nag log in ka na ba?
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Trabaho.

Work Resumes

Hey, Happy New Year!

Hope you were able to relax and recharge during the 23-day long vacation. I was, but not for the most part.

I am a person who finds it a waste of time when I rest when I am at home. Weird, I know. But when I'm at home, i usually tend to sort out stuff, organize things, or do accessories for Ananda Kanani. I want to write, draw, finish rendering the house layouts i've drawn in the past years. But I don't want to do stuff that needs me to think. Organizing and making accessories, however, relax me.

I needed to go to the salon for hair maintenance, but thought, I could do other things than that. I only watch TV and DVDs while organizing and beading, or when I am lulling my self. But yesterday, I called for someone who does dreadlocks and had 1/4 of my hair done. While he was doing it, I watched Project Runways Season 5. The guy left at 4PM, and I watched until around 7 PM, from 10 AM. That's the longest time I've been in front of the TV my whole life! The longest time that I was not doing anything else. Not sorting out stuff, not beading, not using my laptop, for nine hours straight! Of course I ate lunch and dinner and walked around to stretch from time to time. But that's still nine straight hours of pure bumming. It's kind of a waste of time but I'm proud of myself for staying put, and not getting bored in doing only one thing (watching) for a loooong time! Hah!

Now my butt's back in in my office chair and I like it. Bumming's over.

The Year That Was

I don’t really summarize my year into an article. But this time, I’ll try to write something about the highlights of last year. I will even enumerate them.

1. My dad had a series of acute strokes last march and april, and he just turned 65 yesterday! Yehey!

2. I went to Boracay twice in one month. One week apart. A record for a lot of firsts: first time that I traveled via PAL Express. Cebu Pacific is my airline of choice. First time I went to the beach and brought only a small bag, without any swim suits – because I was only there for an ocular inspection for a company event.

3. Girls, girls. Sneaky, sneaky. I cannot elaborate, sorry.

4. My parents finally decided together that we are moving back to the province! Yehey! I cannot wait to live outside the metro again!

5. Went to Puerto Galera with my whole family, it’s been a long time since the whole family’s been in the beach again because our annual vacation spot is in Baguio City.

6. Acquired Potpot, my macbook!

7. I went out of the country! I did not want to at first. Because I haven’t been to all 7000 islands of the Philippines. But I enjoyed Singapore, a lot. I even plan to go back this year!

8. I only had two cameras in my life – an SLR Pentax1000 (as I recall), as my mom’s birthday gift to me when I turned 18, that got lost. A two-megapixel camera that my sister gave to me when she accidentally broke my new silver hard cover luggage (that I bought from my tuition fee waiver) in the airport when she borrowed it for her first trip to Cebu. The camera broke after I used it in Boracay (2006). Used it only once. Then finally, here’s a camera that can last, the latest model, and I bought it with my own money. The best part is, it’s an underwater camera!

9. My brother’s been working out again – losing his weight through basketball. He lost a lot of his beer belly, I tell you!

10. First time I enrolled to a gym. I never wanted to, because I was active before. I had a couple of sports, which I was never good at, but at least, they kept me fit until after college when I worked, and gained weight and had to go to the gym for professional training. What a shame.

11. I’ve been at my heaviest. And I really am kind of ashamed to myself, as I’ve mentioned, being fit and active before.

12. We lost three people in the office, but gained four new ones.

13. We have acquired a really healthy working environment ever since our new artist, Hix, and our new account personnel, Mark, joined us. Every day is just lovely. Really lovely.

14. I felt betrayed by a close friend. Someone that I was really fond of. I shared a lot of things to her, and then sometimes, it felt like she’s using these against me. I’ve felt this way before, but I think it’s my fault for trusting too much.

15. Ah, all our friends in the SnL group have been almost, if not completely, taken. All of them except for the FATT.

16. FATT who? The band Flush and the Toilets was born! It’s been almost half a decade since I last played with a band, or last played on stage. It felt great. Thanks to the support of our friends.

17. I fell in love again.