Iba Ang May Pinag-samahan

It was an off-in-lieu yesterday as Ramadan fell on a sunday.

Four days to go before our flight and my first working day of the week can't seem to go any crazier. Chaos was the order of the day and it didn't help that I was rushing up everything to make my absence of one-day- short-of-a-month less painful for my colleagues. Murphy's law ruled the day.

Extraordinary rotten day calls for extraordinary relief.

Since my wife and I did the grocery, I picked up a couple of beers and a packet of roasted cashew nuts off the shelf. And while waiting for my wife to finish cooking sinagang na talakitok for dinner, I leisurely imbibed.

See the mug? It's actually made of plastic with water on its hollow wall. Just keep it in the freezer and you will be always assured of undiluted cold beer.

Tama na yan inuman na!
Hoy, parekoy! tumagay ka
Nanabik na lalamunan
Naghihintay, nag-aabang

Happy Birthday My Abby

You're two years old today sweetheart!

I was there in the delivery room two years ago and I saw how painful it was for your mama to brought you out of this world. Mama and I were in tears, and looking at each other, we knew then you are all worth it.

I knew certain moments I spent with you will be deeply etched in my memory and heart for eternity. The best that senility could do later on in my life is blur the edges of these images but the vividness will be retained. You were always sleeping face down on my bosom during your first few days. My breathing certainly lulled you then and our hearbeats seemed to be in tune. Hahaha! Okay, you lulled me to sleep. It was nirvana I profess.

You may not know it yet but you are my antidote to my weariness, the only smile that can brings best sunshine in my life, has the kiss that I long for after a really rotten day.

But hold on there little girl. This doting father wil see to it that you grow up to be a really fine lady. Someone who I can be really proud of. I am privileged and grateful that God has chosen me to mould you and your brother's existence and I'll be trying my very best to be worthy of it.

Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the time so that we could always be together and you would always be my sweet little girl. But that would be selfish of me and of course it can't be.

I love you, you love me
We're one happy family
With a great big hug
And a kiss from me to you
Won't you say you love me too

I love you Abby...

Political Tomfoolery

The chameleon has finally shown it's true color, or has he?

The erstwhile chief political adviser of defeated presidential candidate FPJ, Eddie Angara, is ready to join the Arroyo administration. For the sake of national harmony, he is eyeing the financial portfolio currently held by Juanita Datumanong.

How patriotic!

I guess all the while Lacson was right. Eddie had cunningly lured the dumbass King to dream of presidency, effectively eroding opposition strength. With this, I'm grateful. At least we got the lesser of evil, or did we?

Politics is no doubt one of the banes of our country. Stinking to the core and there seems to be no respite in the horizon.

Truly Asia

Though it's a holiday here, we were busy packing for our Pinas vacation, and practically, the first half of the day was time well spent playing with the kids at the playground.

Our fridge run out of provisions so we just decided to buy cooked food at the hawkers centre nearby for dinner.

Essentially, a Singaporean hawkers center is a cafeteria with many different food stalls offering the holy trinity of local cuisine: Chinese, Malay, and Indian. "Cafeteria" might conjure up school memories of tasteless stale sandwiches or worse, tasteful meat loaf, but this is quite the opposite. A group of you can sit at any table and mosey around all the different vendors, ordering from any you please. Side by side you can have kway teow, roti prata, and nasi lemak. Deciphering these dishes should be the first step in gaining a foothold on the joys of Singapore. In fact, if you have a layover in Changi for more than a few hours, transit passengers are offered free city tours. Pleasant as that is, maybe you can ditch the group at some point and do your own food exploration. You won't have to go far. Food is everywhere, and Singapore's multi-racial composite, low prices and passion for good food guarantees a satisfied stomach.

Albeit (I feel like a well-educated idiot whenever I use this word), food court is a sort of more sanitary version.

Basically, once you order your food, you will be asked if you want to have it there (usual terms used are makan, eat here or having here) or take away or tapao. Take good note that the term used is not take out but take away.

If you look at the photo, those meat in bamboo skewers are pork and chicken satay. Satay originated in Indonesia and has since been adapted by many Asian countries, and obviously, including this little-red-dot country. It's like our own barbeque but marinated differently with turmeric and other Asian spices and ingredients. Beside the satays are sliced cucumber--usual sides.

Those gooey stuffs in 3 bowls are actually heavenly. First (from left to right) is the satay sauce. This dip is mainly, amongst the many ingredients, powdered roasted peanut, red curry paste and ground chilli. In the middle is achar. Guess our very own achara came to your mind, it's close to that. This is pickled veggies (cabbage, carrots, cucumber, etc.) with a bit of sugar and right amount of chillis.

Saving the best for last is, dyaran!... chicken curry!

Bon appetit!

Chilli is known to be an aphrodisiac. Well rested and just recovered from flu, I'm logging of this early for an earth-shattering event...;)

Equal and Opposite Force

How could Americans stomach Fallujah attack?!

Since the end of the 'cold war', the west gets bolder and bolder shoving to everybody's throat democracy as they see fit. Democracy my ass! That's total irony.

It's only when that we respect and tolerate each other's differences peace will happen.

Again, who will police the police?! Even the flaccid UN is now pathetically impotent, unable to restrain the all powerful bully.

I hope and pray that it won't reach a point that these people different from us will join together in arms. Individually as suicide bombers they put shivers down our spine, it's scary thinking that they will, and they can btw, do it in a collective and more organized manner.

No matter how they call their God, or how we call ours, there is no denying that there is only one Supreme being which makes brothers of us all. As to why He seems to be just watching by the sideline and just letting this happen--as with all the ills and evils of this world--only He knows.

Today is Deepavali day. An Indian festivity celebrating triumph of good over evil. Peace be with us all!

Bangag

Feeling ko nakalutang ako the whole day because of my medication. Tamang deja vu ng mga araw na ako'y patikimtikim.

Kaninang umaga bago ako pumasok, dumaan muna ako sa doktor na malapit sa amin. Unlike most of the doctors here na pupurgahin ka ng gamot at patitirahin ka ng antibiotic kahit na viral ang sakit mo, 'tong company accredited doctor namin ay pwedeng pagkatiwalaan. Binigyan nya ako ng pink tablet na may paracetamol at anti-histamine. Inabutan n'ya rin ako ng cough syrup just in case mag all-the-way 'tong flu ko, pero wag naman sana.

Mind over matter ang labanan sa trabaho. Just imagine, I'm doing not one, but two engineering evaluations at the same time which require attention to details and analytical skills, and there i was, parang naka "downers".

All's well that ends well. Natapos ko sila pero sobrang pungay ng mata ko na para bang na "shotgun" ni Maryjane.


Holiday bukas, Deepavali---festival of lights, triumph of good over evil. Sarap sanang mag two-bottles...

Down But Not Out

Dang! I'm nursing a nasty cold, not a good timing. Not that I run out sick leave to spare, but I really need to be at my best these days.

I'm hoping and working my ass off to try to minimimize the impact of my absence. Luck is playing tricks on me lately and every can of worms conceivable are popping out at work and I don't really find it funny. I do agree though that those work issues bring out the best in me. They are good mental exercise for an engineer...save for the crappy politicking.

If this follow the usual flu pattern that I have--year in year out--, I think I'll be well and fine in time for my Pinas vacation. It usally starts off with a runny nose and a lot of sneezing (hope you won't find any slime in your monitor...hehehe!). It's a good 2 to 3 days to really "ripen" and another 3 more days of nose blowing. I'll be damn happy it this stop on this. Usually cough follows, and we're talking about another 3 to 4 more days of hacking. I do hope that it won't really get nasty and wake me up in the middle of the night, or else I'm doomed.

Blame it on the erratic weather here in the little-red-dot.

I'm getting myself quarantined here at home to avoid spreading the virus. Hmmm....maglalapit kaya ako sa mga kulugo sa trabaho....Bwahahaha!

Ooops..He Did It Again!

Most analysts said that he wouldn't have won if the rest of the world voted--but 51% of Americans thought otherwise. Oh well, after everything had been said and done, he will be again at the helm of this world's most powerful country.

Like most civilized people, I cannot comprehend the rationale of attacking a sovereign country based on false and fabricated pretenses---against the collective wisdom of the rest of the world. Hopefully he now realized this and be less hawkish. The place is now a quagmire---today's Vietnam they say.

There's no easy way out for him. I'm sure that in his privacy he is biting his fingernails and hope that he had listened. But that's too late now. Pity on him!

Oil has breached the supply and demand balance. The finite supply is estimated to dry up in few more decades and this Texan, despite the high price, is busy filling up the 700 million barrel of reserve to fuel the engine of the biggest consumer.

Theoretically, someone powerful, wise, moral and righteous is necessary to control the world. But if this someone is only powerful and none of the rest, and only interested in his nation's interest, we begin to worry.

Who will police the police?

On Your Graduation Day

My eyes were almost wet while watching you on the stage this evening. Of course they were tears of joy. This is your first graduation, and next year, you will be in primary one.

You sure have grown kid.

From the time you first saw the light of this world, I was practically there every step of it. I hope you won't be annoyed by it, though I expect you will be as you get older and wiser. But by that time, I will be more than willing to let you tackle this world head on, and by your own. Just be patient, there's a time for everything.

To tell you frankly, one of the things that I always pray for is for the good Lord to give me a life long enough to see all the milestones you and your siblings would have. And maybe if it's not too much to ask for, I might as well hope and pray to see your own kids as well.

Education is the best gift that I could give you all. You may not know it, but no matter what, you are assured of a good education. Just a few more years and we're done paying the premiums of your edu plan. Lucky you! Me and your Mama, coming from a very humble beginning, did it the hard way.

Keep it up son!

Dito lang si Papa...laging nakatingin...laging handang tumulong...laging handang ituwid and iyong landas...at laging nagmamahal...

TAKE ME BACK IN YOUR ARMS MANILA

Ilang tulog na lang nasa Pinas na kami.

Makikita ko naman yung mga buwaya sa custom na kung makatingin eh para bang may kautangan ka sa kanila. Ewan ko ba, minsan nakaka-guilty rin na ikumpara mo ang Pinas dito sa little red dot.

Just can't help it!

Minsan nga sumasagi sa isipan ko yung sinasabi nilang wala raw kaming karapatan magsalita sa kadahilanang kami raw yung mga duwag na tumakbo. Sabi naman ng iba, kami raw yung mga bagong bayani.

Baloney!

Mixed emotions ako tuwing uuwi ng Pinas. Siguradong matri-trigger na naman yung allergic rhinitis ko kaya siguradong may baon na naman akong anti-histamine.

Kung talagang titingnan mo, di naman talaga practical umuwi ng Pinas. Bukod sa magastos, eh talagang hassle. Yung usok at alikabok na para kang sinasakal. Dahil sa wala akong lisensya at wala rin akong tsikot, ang hirap gumalaw kapag may gusto kang puntahan. Di ka naman makapag-taxi dahil paranoid ka na baka ka maholdap. Although hindi ko nilalahat, pero nakakaasar ring kausap ang mga taxi driver sa atin.

"Boss, sira ang metro ko...Traffic papunta ron 'pre...Malayo!, etc, etc..."

Pero kwidaw ka, despite of all its flaws and hang ups, I'm always looking forward to going back. Home is where the heart is. At gaya ng isang baliw na umiibig, patuloy kong babalik-balikan ang kaisa-isang kong pinakamamahal na Pinas.