Kongkong

A month ago, my grandpa fell down and was brought to the hospital. After a few days, he was discharged.

A week or so later, my aunt, sent us a note that he doesn’t seem well. He’s having a hard time moving around. He can hardly get up from his bed. His right side seem to be really really weak. That same day, my aunt informs us that she and my grandparents won’t be coming to Manila next year for my brother’s wedding anymore.

He had a ct scan scheduled a day or so later. After few further tests here and there, apparently, he actually suffered a mild stroke. There was a blood clot found in his brain but thankfully, no surgery is needed. Since then, they’ve been in the hospital. It is actually a blessing in disguise because my aunt and my grandma can no longer manage to take care of him at home. Now that he’s in the hospital, at least able bodied folks, who knows what they’re doing are taking care of him now.

Around a week ago, he was transferred from VGH to UBC so that he can work on rehabilitation and therapy. His transfer here is a good sign, because now he is better, and he only needs to get the strength and mobility back.

Ever since this whole ordeal, my aunt has been giving us a day by day account (via our yahoogroups). My aunt’s a pretty good storyteller. Here’s one that cracked me up, but at the same time, if you reread, it’s quite sad actually.

Today he looks better but is not himself.  He told Mother that tomorrow he is facing the firing squad.  He told us to phone Edward.  We ask why are we phoning him.  He said to tell him that he is facing the firing squad tomorrow.  Skyped with Meya. He was watching his Pao Ching Tien.  I asked him do you want to talk to Meya. He said tell her I am going to die. Dinner time, we got him out of bed and sitting in his wheel chair.  Actually he asked it.  Then Malabon phoned, we asked him if he knows who he is talking to.  He said Ton which is correct but when he came to Edward, he said Chiang Kai Shek but later he recognized him and Di-so. 

…

I forgot to mention that the other day when we arrived and saw him being wheeled back in the room, Mother asked him where he went.  He said "chua ki tai tau"  (brought him to be beheaded).

Papa said that it sound like he wants to die already, that he might be having a really hard time now. Papa talked to my Amah (grandma) earlier via skype. They had the video on so my dad clearly saw how sad my grandma is. Kept wiping her eyes while they were talking about my Kongkong. Naawa sila kay Kongkong kasi he’s clearly very week, and very much out of his comfort zone and routine at home. You see, Kongkong is a very routine driven person. Him being in the hospital, not being able to stand up, and do what he usually does, is a very sad and discouraging feeling.

Although he is already 86 or 87 years old, we always saw him as this strong person, only limited by his weak legs. They just went to the Philippines early this year. They even have plane tickets already for their trip early next year for my brother’s wedding. And now, what a sad affair. I guess as they always say, nothing really prepares you for the worst. We’re still hopeful that he’ll recover. But you know, to be honest, death seem to be looming around. He may have a few more years ahead of him, maybe not. But the thought that he is weak, and saying all these things, it’s just strangely sad and worrying. I say strange because I have never been in this situation before wherein someone close to me is nearing his end. I may have had before with my lola, but I was very young back then and didn’t understand a thing of what was going on.

And you know what’s worst, my Amah. I cannot even imagine what she’s feeling right now. You see, my grandparents were one of those many people who had arranged marriages back then. Typical Chinese culture. But see how they turned out. After decades of marriage, their love for each other is clearly very strong. My Amah was the typical lady brought up to be the housewife she was obliged to be. And obliged she did. Oh how I see her selfless service to my grandpa. Now, many of us are even more worried about her, than my Kongkong.

I guess, each one of us goes through a little something like this every now and then. Things and events like these gives us the opportunity to rethink about what’s important in our lives. I know I did, and I still am realizing things here and there.

Skype

My grandpa’s been in the hospital for a while and thanks to the power of technology, we’re able to talk to him, see him in video, almost every day. I even signed up for a skype premium package, which is just very cheap, and allows you to call anywhere in Canada unlimited, plus we get to do conference calls anytime. We recently had a conference call from four different locations – 1 in Vancouver, 1 in Toronto, 1 in Malabon, and the other one in Talayan. Although we may not be physically there, but at the least, you get to see and talk to your loved ones just with just a click of a few buttons. It definitely bridges that gap. This is way better, than nothing at all.

Para akong advertistement dito.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

 

We have a “Ng Family” Yahoo groups where we send emails and updates to all Ng family members. This year, for some reason, each family started sending out their “Christmas” photos and so here’s ours.

One of my aunt said “para kayong  mga modelo ng Colgate whitening teeth”. Haha

Merry Christmas everyone!

Exercise

I’ve stopped going to the gym for around 2 months already. It’s hard to bring that habit back, and so here I am, starting December, I will be back to my old ways. Going to the gym, and exercising. I’ve attempted to replace my lack of exercise with badminton games every MWF, unfortunately, for the past two weeks, it hasn’t been a regular activity. If my parents don’t play, I don’t go.

I realized that an exercise regimen should be self surviving. I don’t have to be dependent on someone else for my exercise needs. In the case of badminton games, I’ll just consider them fun activities I do with my parents and sister, instead of my actual exercise regimen. As for going to the gym, or even going back to running, that will be solely up to me. No more lazy days watching tv series and being a couch potato.

And I write this post to remind myself that I will go back to the gym and make it a habit once again.

Hot Pot!

Our family loooves hot pot. Thus, to celebrate my twenty-nth birthday, I decided to treat my family to the wonderful world of Tong Yang Shabu Shabu.

Usually, we have hotpot at the comforts of our home. But to try out something different, I brought the whole family to the fairly new Tong Yang @ Eton Centris.

What I love about Tong Yang is the variety. There are rows and rows of ingredients to choose from! In fact, the pictures I have below are just two of four rows of ingredients that are available. You have your unlimited choices from the thinly and beautifully sliced meat section (lamb and beef), to various types of fishes (they even have fish heads) and shells. Of course, there’s no hot pot without the shrimp balls, lobster balls, etc. Endless. You wouldn’t even know what to get with the many choices there are!

Below is our soup pot. You can choose from their different types of soup. We got the Spicy and Chicken soup base. The waiter said the spicy was their “best seller” but I find the chicken soup base better, considering I am fond of hot and spicy food. The plate with shells is probably my Dad’s as he looves shells.

 

Aside from the hot pot, Tong Yang also has a grill… similar to Yakimix. I loved cooking the thinly sliced meats here.

Another thing I like about Tong Yang is that everything is unlimited. You know how buffets like Heat or Circles, you have to pay extra for the drinks. Here, everything’s free and unlimited. And for those who don’t like hot pot food, they also have a few “cooked food” choices. When we were here, there was Yangchow fried rice, and even crab! The dessert area wasn’t so bad either. I ended up eating two bowls of halo halo. Couldn’t help it. If only I had some space left in my tummy… I would have eaten more. The service wasn’t bad either. Maybe because the restaurant wasn’t full, but my mom didn’t have to stand up to get her drinks. The waiters got her what she wanted all the time. I guess the waiters thought that she was the one to pay the bill. Hmmm… too bad for me then! haha

Now if only I am willing to spend 600 pesos per meal, I would definitely go here all the time. But still worth the money. Everyone had fun, everyone enjoyed the food, and no regrets paying the huge bill I got after the festivities.

Naawa yata dad ko, kasi when we got home, even though it was just November 02 that time, he gave me ampao at once. Hahaha

Happy Birthday to me!

Phantom!

My first experience of watching a theater musical was back when I was in high school when my sister and I got tickets to watch a local production of the Little Mermaid starring Carol Banawa and KC Concepcion. I still remember that time, wanting to buy the CD of the show, but couldn’t because I was just in high school then and my allowance wasn’t enough to purchase that CD.

Fast forward 5 years later in 2008 when I was in Canada, I got to see the CATS musical when it went on tour in Vancouver! I only heard of this musical, but never knew what it was about until that time I watched it. Interesting story, very simple, but what really got me were the costumes, dancing, and of course, the music!

Ever since then, I began my quest to watch musicals. I’m thinking maybe because I now have the resources to watch it (they are quite expensive). I’m very blessed with opportunities that allow me to watch musicals. In Las Vegas, I got to watch The Lion King, and early this year, my friend and I went off to Singapore to catch the Wicked musical there!

And of course, when the longest running musical, The Phantom of the Opera, as part of their Asian tour, decided to drop by Manila, I wouldn’t pass up the chance. Well, I almost did, good thing they extended their show here.

We had tickets for last October 06, 2012’s 8 pm show. Tickets are expensive. But mind you, although tickets were expensive, the shows, I heard, were sold out. And that means only one thing – the show must be that good!  And I could tell you it was a great show. In fact, I ended up buying a program souvenir, which by the way, costs 500 pesos. I can only imagine (and compute!) how much they were earning per show! It’s all worth it after all, because this was a world class production after all!

I know when I really loved a show when I get home, I end up reading about its history, and even watching the 25th anniversary show, and the movie!

Anyway, going back, my favorite part was surprisingly, the masquerade scene! Aside from the catchy tune, I loved how most of the cast was out and about dancing and singing in their colorful costumes. I loved how the curtains dropped unexpectedly, showcasing the casts in their colorful costumes. Napa “Wow” talaga ako! My second favorite would probably be the scene where Phantom, Raoul and Christine were singing altogether! I don’t know how they keep their tunes correct, considering they are singing together, but different of songs and tunes!

So all in all, the pricey ticket was well worth it. Made everything even more worth while was when we were outside on our way to the car, Mr. Raoul shows up in the side stage door and I got to have a nice (but dark) picture taken! No thanks to the camera’s flash, which was, turned off.

Hi Raoul!

Tablet 2.0!

Last Saturday, I rewarded myself with a new toy!

A few weeks back, my ipod touch’s button decided to stop functioning altogether. I haven’t tried getting it fixed yet, although I still use it in my car for music purposes. And there’s also the assistive touch available, which I haven’t tried yet. In other words, I was just looking for a good reason to actually get something new, as a replacement for my ipod touch.

I use my ipod touch for a lot of things – checking my email, doing research, reading various stuff from the web (especially from Wiki), etc. So not being able to use it was quite a challenge at times for the past weeks only because I was used to not having to open my computer anymore to do these things.

For the replacement, I was thinking about getting something bigger than the touch. Initially I just thinking of getting a Kindle instead, something to get me to start reading again. But I’m not quite convinced with Kindle’s product yet (Kindle Fire, that is) and the simple kindle reader was just too one sided for me. It was good for reading, and only reading.

I didn’t want to get an iPhone or something similar because I didn’t want to spend that much and have another small device like the touch. And I didn’t want an iPad or something similar as well because it is quite big, and very expensive too.

And so, my brother suggested, why not get something in the middle then – and the search for the Galaxy Tablet 2 – 7 inches began!

It’s a tablet the size of Kindle, where you can read properly, not too big like the iPad, and not too small like the iPhone, and most important of all, it’s not very expensive at all. Affordable, and right enough size for me.

And I finally have it here, with me, for two days, and so far, I have adjusted to the Andriod experience (which I think by the way, is waaaay better that the Apple experience), and I’ve been enjoying so far. Definitely a good buy. It is deeply integrated with your google account, which is pretty neat, and at the same time, quite scary (as Rhys points out) because of the fact that google knows so much about yourself now!

So now, I’m back online, even gtalk’s available in my tablet now! And I can finally stop opening my laptop all the time just to check something in the web.

Weekend at Baguio

The family and I had a spontaneous weekend getaway to Baguio last weekend! Baguio has always been a nice place to enjoy the lovely cool weather and that’s exactly what we got and more!

My brother, while riding the bus last week, saw an ad some where (in one of the buses, I think) that was advertising discounted rates for the Manor at Camp John Hay. Upon checking the website (and after my officemate willingly covered for my on call work over the weekend), we booked a one bedroom suite plus an extra bed… all for the grand total of 5000+. Not bad at all! 50% discount.

It was definitely worth the price because the room was great! Two baths, two LCD televisions, a spacious living room and dining area, plus a nice cozy bedroom. Impressive. Without the discounted rates, we’d probably end up paying 8000 pesos – 10000 pesos for this room! Thanks to my sister, the pictures below are the only two good ones we have of the room! The rest are no good!

Of course, discounted rates are there in the first place because it is the rainy season after all. Thus, we couldn’t walk around the surrounding areas, but in return though, we did enjoy nice bonding moments while eating and hanging out together (even if it’s just within the confines of the Manor).

There’s really nothing much to see in Baguio these days, however, we did discover a new and highly rated place to go to in Baguio - BenCab Museum. BenCab is National Artist for Visual Arts. This, I would say is a really really nice museum, well maintained, has a clean look, and I can say, world class. 

The museum features various painting and art works from different Filipino artists. These were really good. And since it’s located by the hillside, you actually start from the top most floor, going down a floor at a time until you reach the base (which I believe is 4 levels down), where you are greeted to a nice quaint Café with a nice view of the mountains. Unfortunately, it was raining so we couldn’t walk out the open area. Fortunately though, we see the national artist himself down there and so we couldn’t resist not taking a photo with him.

The museum though, has an entrance fee of 100 pesos which for me, is pretty good price with what you can see around the museum.I find other Baguio attractions and Baguio’s beauty to be deteriorating so this was definitely a breath of fresh air. Beautiful and well kept. It has this high class feel to it. We definitely need more of these well maintained attractions in the summer capital of the Philippines.

All in all, the trip was amazing! Although it was only an overnight trip, I realized that family time is really something we need to set aside time for. Nothing beats hanging out with the family!

Food!

I attended my friend’s wedding a few weeks back and what I remember from the wedding, aside from me doing having to do a slightly impromptu prayer in front of a ton of people, was the food.

I’ve been meaning to post this (yikes! 1 month delayed) but just wasn’t able to. It’s always been in the draft of my live writer. So here I am, finally posting these.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the names nor descriptions of these food, but what’s important is that they were all really really good. I remember having soup too. No idea why I wasn’t able to take a picture of it. They all look sumptuous. Reminds me of the numerous times I watched Top Chef. Presentation is as important as how the food tastes.

Of all the food below, the steak and mashed potato were my favorites. The mashed potato, in particular was the first of its kind that I tasted. Texture was different, and very yummy too. The best by far.

By the way, the food here was from Crowne Plaza. Not bad. I thought it was better than the Lauriat I had at Edsa Shang. Or maybe it was just because I prefer this over Chinese.

Wimbledon 2012 Finals

I was meaning to continue my Wimbledon commentary post Day 7, unfortunately, was unable to. No excuses.

Wimbledon’s two week tournament ended yesterday with Roger Federer winning over Andy Murray. It was a very emotional win for Federer, having lost the past two years, and last year not even making the finals. But I think it was even more emotional for Andy Murray, who gave a very endearing and heartwarming speech after losing the match three sets to one.

I, for one, could not help myself and tears started coming out when teary Murray said “I’m gonna try this and it’s not gonna be easy”. I think a lot of people watching this would have wanted to give Murray a hug. Although I was rooting for Federer, when Murray was breaking down here, I almost hoped he won the tournament instead.

Both of them played exceptionally well. Murray was aggressive at the start of the set, even breaking Federer during the first game and eventually getting the first set. I though this would be a match similar to Federer vs Beneteau where Federer ended up digging a huge hole going down 2 sets to love. However by the second set, Federer started showing why he was a 6 time Wimbledon Grand Slam winner. His movement around the court was fantastic.

Second set went to Federer, and the rest, was history. Andy Murray couldn’t keep up with Federer’s on court finesse and he succumbed to losing his fourth grand slam final match. And Federer, winning his 7th Wimbledon title matches Pete Sampra's’ record ot 7 Wimbledon championship. Not only that, when the new rankings come out, Federer is back on top!

Ladies Championship

As for the ladies championships, it was the American Serena Williams versus the first time grand slam finalist Pole Agnieszka Radwasnka. The two couldn’t be more different in styles. Williams is the hard hitting player, hitting 24 aces on her semi final match against Azarenka (it’s almost equivalent to 6 games – one set!) while Radwanska does not have the power, but has the tactical intelligence (a lot of people are comparing her to Martina Hingis).

The first set proved to be an unworthy final with Williams overpowering Radwanska to a 6-1 set. While it looked like it would be a final to forget, the second set was a turnaround with Radwanska feeling more comfortable on the court fighting of Williams’ attack by saving the set 7-5.

While it looked like the third set was going to be pretty tight, at 2-1, with Radwanska leading, Williams set off to launch 4 straight aces to level the playing field to 2-2. Radwanska couldn’t even move to even try and attempt to return the balls. I, personally think this was the turning point of the match because it gave the momentum and confidence back to Serena Williams and she ended up winning the next 4 games to capture her 5th Wimbledon Championship. Had Radwanska won, she would have become the #1 ranked female tennis player. But nonetheless, she gave a good fight against the stronger Williams and she proved that she is definitely an up and coming force in the tennis Ladies field.

Again, congratulations to Roger Federer and Serena Williams!

Bev’s Wimbledon Commentary

We are now onto the second round and final week of Wimbledon. And day 7 of the tournament proved to be an exciting 4th round.

Current French Open champ Maria Sharapova lost to Sabine Lisicki in two sets. This was a repeat of last year’s semi finals match where Sharapova beat Lisicki. But this time around, Lisicki drew ground from her powerful serves and Sharapova just couldn’t handle it. Sharapova, having the “never say die” attitude tried to come back on the second set, but Lisicki was just too good. Lisicki’s win puts her up to a match against the winner of Kim Clijsters and Angelique Kerber match.

Clijsters and Kerber have never had a previous match before and I was surprised when I woke up this morning, that the younger Kerber put away Clijsters like a pro, winning 6-1,6-1! So sad for Clijsters, who never reached the finals of the Wimbledon Championships. Unfortunately, this will be her last as she’s bound to retire by the end of the season.

Another good match from Federer last night against Malisse. Scary first set, where Federer had to go on a medical timeout due to some back pains. Thankfully, the Gods were with him because the match was suspended a little later due to rain. Lucky him. Two great saves. Hopefully he can sustain his momentum until the finals. However, the draw shows that Federer can face Djokovic as early as the semis. I’m really hoping Fed wins this time around.

Just some thoughts…

These days, I find the women’s draw more interesting than that of the men’s simply because there’s no one (or few) person dominating the women’s draw. The past 6 grand slam events were won by different women! That’s how interesting it is. As for the men, it’s always been Djokovic, Federer or Nadal. Quite uninteresting.

For example, moving to the quarterfinals, even though we have three grand slam champs still alive – Azarenka, Kvitova and S. Williams, it’s still not guaranteed that one of them would win. Heck, we don’t even know if they’d all get to the finals!

Quarterfinals Tonight

Tonight, Williams will be squaring off against reigning Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova. and I am predicting Kvitova will take charge of the match from the beginning. Williams’ past two matches have been very very tight, going deep on to the third set. Thus, I’m not sure how she will fair against Kvitova. She has to step up her game or the reigning champ will overpower her.

Another match that is a must watch will be Lisicki versus Kerber. Both are German, up and coming tennis superstars. One has a huge serve, while the other can catch all balls that come her way. This is definitely going to be a yoyo match. But I think Lisicki is going to win this.

I have a strange feeling that the three ladies grand slam champs won’t win the championships this year. I have a feeling it’ll be Lisicki, or Radwanska (one of my favorites who is slowly but surely creeping her way on to the quarterfinals). Of course, I am biased. But then again, as long as they produce quality tennis, I’m all for it!

As for the men’s side, I’m biased. I’m going with Roger all the way!

Keratin Blowout

I had a terrible, terrible case of bad hair day last Wednesday, that out of frustration, I went straight to Piandre, Trinoma after work to get a nice and long overdue hair treatment. I had, what the stylist have been recommending for me for a while – the Keratin blowout.

Here’s a simple and well explained article about what Keratin Blowout is all about.

I have a slight natural curl/wave to my hair so it’s definitely a challenge to manage it all the time. Unfortunately, I am too lazy to even manage it so it’s always chaotic. Thus, getting this treatment, so far, has really helped my hair be less chaotic and more manageable. No need for a long time of preparation just to get it straight.

What I love so far for the blowout is that my hair still have the hair body that I want, not too straight and flat, which I think won’t work for me. This blowout works really well for my preference, however, the unfortunate thing is that, it only holds up for 6-8 weeks, and costs quite a bit. I’m still hesitant to get the longer keratin treatment which should last for up to 6 months. According to the stylist, the hair will be much straighter, and a little more flat, which I don’t prefer. But who knows, maybe another frustrating hair day will lead me to getting that treatment!

What I learned though from the stylist is that, one should use a sulfate free shampoo after getting a treatment like this. It helps make the treatment last longer in your hair. Perhaps it was a marketing ploy because I ended up buying this shampoo from them!

Updated Blog

I finally got to update bits and pieces of my blog. Blogger has improved a lot with its templates and edit tools that you really don’t need to do much. I’m no designer, thus, I was contented with the templates that blogger has to offer. After picking a red themed template, all I had to do was pick which fonts I wanted, what size, and viola, it’s done. But to add a bit of personal touch to the design, I created a very simple header. Took me a while to create it, had to revive my photoshop skills a bit too, though I used paint.net this time (I’m all for freeware now). The result is a bit better than a regular text, but I think there’s still a lot to improve. Maybe when I get blessed, for some reason, this late in the game of life, with some creative juices, I can finally turn this thing into something.

Next, to update and fix my labels!

Detox

I’ve been feeling quite unhealthy for quite some time and while reading through Patty Laurel’s blog, I stumbled upon Juju Cleanse. It’s a cleansing / detoxifying take for us folks who eat anything from deep fried food to sweet chocolate delights. I decided to try out Juju Cleanse as I heard some great feedback around it, and out of curiosity as well. And I wouldn’t mind the health benefits that it’ll give.

I ordered a Level 2, One Day Juju Cleanse. I picked it up from their pick up place somewhere in New Manila area. It comes packed in a nice bag.

The juices below, numbered 1 to 6 from left to right.

The detox process is easy to follow.

There are set times that you would need to drink each bottle. The bottles are numbered so you wouldn’t be confused as to which one to drink. You can learn more about the drinks on their website.

Detox Adventure

My detox adventure started out on Saturday morning with a tea provided by the Juju Cleanse team themselves. Tastes really good. I was sipping it while I was still doing my early morning Saturday work.

Afterwards, on to drink #1 – which is just by looking at the color, is a concoction of various green veggies. I didn’t like this much. Perhaps I’m not a veggie lover as much as I thought I was. The last few gulps were the hardest. You just wonder why the bottle just doesn’t get empty! The bottles are huge by the way.

Drink #2 is the red giant. This wasn’t so bad, but be careful, it stains though.

Drink #3 again was the veggie concoction. For some reason, this third drink tasted much worst that the first one. Very difficult to finish.

Unfortunately for me, the days prior was hectic so I ended up sleeping pretty much the whole afternoon (catch up on sleep!), which meant, I skipped two drinks during my sleeping beauty time!! It’s so hard to catch up, especially if you need to drink the greens!

Take note though that at this point, it’s dinner time already, I wasn’t even hungry at all. And I was, surprisingly, feeling refreshed. I don’t know if it’s psychological or not. So far so good.

I ended up drinking another bottle, before I went back to sleep. To sum it all up, I only finished 4 of the 6 bottles. Too bad. I should’ve chosen a better date to do my cleansing. Lesson learned for me was that when you’re going to go on a strict regimen based cleansing diet, be sure you’ve had a good night sleep the previous night. But other than that, the following day, I wasn’t as hungry waking up, and I wasn’t feeling bloated like I have been the past weeks! I’m definitely going to try this one out again.

Quick Pampanga Trip

We were thinking of doing something different to celebrate our parent’s wedding anniversary last May 27. They were suggesting going to Baguio, but that’ll entail a couple of days off which our schedule (mostly mine and my brother’s) won’t permit. But they didn’t want to just have lunch wherever in the city, so for a change, we decided, why not go to Pampanga and try out their food there? It’s supposed to be a haven for food lovers anyway! And thus, after a few google researches, we decided on a few stops in Pampanga.

Aling Lucing’s Sisig in Pampanga

Located in Angeles City, this small carinderia eatery is known to be the origin of our favorite and very popular dish - sisig! It’s supposed to be a must go to place in Angeles City. Although, we did warn our parents that this is not your typical restaurant and not to expect too much. From the pictures we found via google, it looks like a simple carinderia.

Aside from sisig, they offer different foods as well, but no order necessary. As in a typical eatery, you pick your choice of food from whatever’s available in the buffet food warmer containers. I think my mom picked a few from there but our main goal was to try out the sisig. If I remember correctly, a plate of sizzling sisig will cost you around 170 pesos.

My verdict? It was good alright, but I missed the crunchiness that perhaps, a Gerry’s Grill sisig would have. Nonetheless, this is probably still a place that you’d still want to drop by to due to its historical significance. After all, it’s supposedly where sisig originated!

Kabigting’s Halo Halo

We were thinking of either Razon’s or Corazon’s but we ended up at Kabigting’s. It’s located in Marquee Mall (Ayala mall), just by the NLEX Angeles exit.

Pampanga is known for their halo halos. According to what I read on various blogs, although there are various popular halo halo shops across the province such as Razon’s and Corazon’s, all of them share the same concept which is different from other halo halos. It is that they limit the sahog to roughly around four different ingredients only. The simplicity makes everything way better.

In my opinion, what makes this halo halo quite different from the other halo halos I’ve tasted is because of its pastillas ingredient. It is good, but it made the treat a little bit too sweet and creamy for me.

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Aside from just eating, we were planning to visit a few cathedrals and churches in the province too. Unfortunately, I had a terrible headache, and it was way hot anyway, so we just decided to go home and just save those for our next trip there. Based from my research, there’s still a ton of places to visit in Pampanga. Can’t wait for the next trip!

Lush

I’ve always seen and smelled the Lush store in Shangrila for ages but I never once attempted to buy one item from them since they opened shop in Manila. Lucky for me, a lush soap was the giveaway of my friend’s bridal shower last Tuesday night.

The smell, as expected is quite strong. The box in itself smells quite good as well, I gave it to my sister to use as a gift box for her “friend”. Anyway, so I decided to use it yesterday and am I impressed with it. The smells clings to you after you shower and the texture feels nice when using it. Two possible drawbacks though, mabilis maubos, and it could be quite expensive.

Let’s see how it goes after a while, and perhaps, maybe I just might buy from there again (in between safeguard soaps!).

Why I watch Corona Impeachment Trial–Reason 1

My work hours permit me to watch the on going impeachment trial scheduled every Monday to Thursday, 2 pm onwards. As the trial is coming to its conclusion, I’d like to share with everyone one reason why I watch this trial: It is Educational

Majority of those who watch this trial are non lawyers, which makes this televised proceedings quite interesting to those, such as me, who is quite curious as to what happens inside a court. Regardless of whether this is what happens in reality, or this may just be a special case of courtroom drama, one would still learn some things from this “show”.

Below are a few of the youtube videos that I found, that gives us a few bits and pieces of why there is still something we can get out of this trial.

1. What is the definition of a witness?

- A person who perceives (via 5 senses) and have to be personally be present at the scene of the crime

- Listen until 0:50 to get Senator Santiago’s explanation / definition.

Watch: 0:00–0:50

2. Impeachment is neither politcal and neither judicial in nature.

Impeachment is quasi politcal and quasi judicial. Quasi means – almost, but not exactly

Senator Santiago: “Thus rules of court do not apply totally to this proceedings, but lie to the discretions of this court.”

Watch: 0:20–1:07

3. The presenting lawyer of a witness must be bound by the admissions and statements of the witness presented by him/her.

Senate President Enrile: “That is the rule of trial. If you studied your trial technique very well, that’s the rule.”

Watch: 0:00–3:28

4. Excessive Entanglement

Lesson #1: Define excessive entanglement:

Excessive entanglement is a term of art in constitutional law that is applied in cases involving the separation of church and state

Lesson #2: If you’re not sure of what the meaning of a word or terms are, don’t use it! Keep it simple!

Watch: 01:55–03:14

5. Practice Diligence!!

Watch this video – it’s well summarized by the GMA News.

Negligence is not an excuse!

There are a lot more, if only I could find them amongst the thousands of youtube videos about the the impeachment trial.

You see, although one would say that this impeachment trial is a waste of taxpayer’s money, if we look at it from a different perspective, there’s still a lot we can get out of this trial. Good or bad, I cannot say. Good because we are learning about these judicial proceedings, bad because perhaps, now politicians know now how to be extra careful with their corrupt ways! Might be harded to catch them the next time around. And I guess now we know that it’s hard to be the enemy of no less than the president of the Philippines!

Reason #2 coming soon.

Twins at 2.5 months old

I haven’t really been in the mood or even inspired to write here in my blog for the past weeks or so, thus, I will simply write about two of the N things that are making me happy these days…

Last March, there were two new additions to our family, Gillian and Gail. And how fast time flies by, they’re now almost 2.5 months old, and getting chubbier by the minute. I can only imagine how fun (and probably annoying as well – dahil sa kakulitan nila, just like their big brother Grant) when they grow up.

No favoritism daw but Grant insists he loves Shobe Gail more.

Apps

Finally, after four years, I’ve been given the much awaited tech rollover, which means, I have a new laptop to replace my very reliable (but old) work laptop! And with the new machine comes with a freshly installed operating system, which means, I can start setting up my applications again, and finally organize my files and documents.

In line with this, I’ve decided to list down the must have applications I usually get for my computer and hopefully, the readers will be able to get something good out of the list below. 

1. Launchy is a must have utility for your computers! It’s a key stroke launcher that’ll save you a ton of time finding applications, files, documents, etc. All you have to do is index your file system, and launchy will be able to find it and you can do your search on the fly. If you don’t have this yet, you better get this now! Once I started using this, I got hooked!

2. FreeCommander is a file management application, which for me, is a very good replacement of the windows explorer. The best thing about free commander is that you can have two windows explorer-like windows at the same time. With that capability, you can easily click and drag files from one location to another, without having to change directories all the time. It sounds confusing, but it’ll look something like this:

3. Notepad++ is a great replacement for the ever lovable and simple notepad. This time, it offers you tabbed functionality, highlighting capabilities, etc. It definitely lives up to its name of notepad++.

4. 7Zip. If you want to zip and unzip pretty much anything, then get 7zip. And it’s free!

5. Google Chrome. I used to love firefox but when google chrome came out, and when I tried it out, I didn’t go back. Perhaps it has something to do with the usability and simplicity of the design. The feature I enjoy the most is its ability to do instant search in the url area of the browser. And for some reason, I feel like it performs better than firefox.

By the way, all these are free!

The applications I listed above are my must haves for any of my machines. But when it comes to work, there are a few more applications I would add to the list. Java SDK, Eclipse, Putty, Outlook (dreaded emails!), etc. But these are usually dependent on the type of work we’re doing too. Maybe I’ll have a separate post for my work related applications.

With this list, I hope I was able to share something useful to all. Feel free to share your must have apps as well!

Piri piri part 2

When I got home earlier, I was surprised to find a huge bag of my favorite piri piri chips in the sofa!

Apparently, my Auntie Rosie from Toronto recently arrived and when she went to visit the family here at home, she brought this along! I was surprised she even got me one. Turns out, my aunt asked them to bring home piri piri chips for me!

But here’s what surprised me more. I went to the other room, and I saw this unidentified box in the middle of the room:

When I opened it, lo and behold, they actually sent me 4 more bags!!!

I don’t know what my aunts from Vancouver and Toronto were thinking. The three of them are currently in Chicago and when I had a skype chat with them just the other day, they told me that they bough a bag of piri piri chips from Canada and brought it all the way to Chicago for my brother to bring home for me. But I had no idea that they actually got me a bunch already and sent them over here via Auntie Rosie! Crazy ladies!

But I’m not complaining! I love these! Now I just need to run longer distances starting tomorrow at the gym! 5km will no longer be enough!

Amah’s Siopao

One of the things I look forward to when my Amah (a.k.a. Lola) is around, is her siopao! She is an amazing cook and cooks pretty much anything you ask and one of her specialties (and she’s known for it around the Ng family and extended relatives) is her siopao! Yummy delicious homemade siopaos. And after a week of waiting, she finally made one batch this morning!

See, I already had one right after.

Truth be told, I only only eat her siopao, and no other siopao. Well, I did get to try a few siopao’s here and there but it just never really lived up to my Amah’s siopao.

Ask anyone from my family and relatives what they look forward to from Amah’s cooking? Siopao!

This very food actually helped them get through a rough patch during their mid years while in Manila. According to the stories of my father, there was once a time when my kong kong’s (a.k.a. lolo) hardware business failed and went bankrupt. During these hard times, my Amah utilized her talent and skills and started some food ordering service. And one of the favorites among her clients were her siopao (and lumpia if I’m not mistaken).

I always asked them why they didn’t pursue a food business of some sorts since she had the talent and skill. But they always said, that at that time, it was a good way to make ends meet, but later on, as they got older, it was just not something they wanted to stress over with. It was something she loved to do, and even loved it more when the grandchildren came and started asking for her cooking! She’s the type that can dissect a food that we ate from a restaurant and will cook it at home afterwards. She’s that good.

It is unfortunate though that at least from my immediate family, no one got her talent and love for cooking. haha! I guess the best I can do for now is just to savor her food!

Piri Piri

As much as I try my best to steer clear of junk foods, it’s just one of my weaknesses. And so when I learned that my grandparents are coming to the Philippines for a two month vacation, I took the opportunity to ask them to get me my favorite junk food – President’s Choice Piri Piri flavor chips!

If you love hot and spicy (very!) junk, then this is a must! I end up drinking a ton of water when feasting on this junk though. But nonetheless, I love it. On another note though, since I’ve been eating a ton of junk (and a lot of food lately), I have surprisingly gone to the gym and exercised a  whole lot more these past weeks. Just proves that we exercise so that we won’t feel guilty eating! haha

The Twins are here!

The twins are here!!!

The first time my sister gave birth, we were all excited. I even remember that she gave birth the day I arrived from Canada (my first trip then back 2008). They say, the second baby, the excitement is still there, but is much more subdued. However, for this case, we were even more excited for my sister to give birth because this time around, she’s having twin girls!!

They’re such blessings! Both healthy - Grant’s shobe #1 is Gillian, who weights slightly lighter compared to shobe #2, Gail, who weighed around 6+ pounds. And they have the exact same height!

We’re thinking that Grant, being the main attraction for a few years, may get jealous a bit, but they say that you have to make sure that he is always part of the activities so that he won’t feel left out. We’ll see, because when my brother in law showed the video and pictures of Grant’s younger sisters to Grant, he said “I don’t love my shobe!”. Hahaha

On another note, when I was in the hospital, the doctor said that it is very important, and highly encouraged that the mother breastfeed her babies. And the doctor said that she should do it the same time! What?? My sister is freaking out. Texting me last night and telling me with a worried tone that she’ll finally see the twins tomorrow (which is today) and she has to do this whole breastfeeding process. She actually did that before with Grant, but I guess it’s always different with having to do it for two at the same time!

Anyway, I told my mom about it and she said that she thinks my sister is actually scared – scared of the big responsibility that she now has of having to take care of two kids at the same time! Hindi biro. One baby is hard enough, but now two at the same time? Good luck to them!

Nonetheless, we are all very thankful that the twins and mother are safe and healthy. Two new additions to the family! I already bought two dresses for the babies, same style, but different colors. According to them, they didn’t want to dress the twins exactly the same! We don’t know yet if they’re identical. It would be fun though if they were! haha

cctv

 

Ok pala ang may CCTV cameras ah! That’s my car in screen 6. screen 8’s the street.

Actually, they recently installed CCTV cameras across the factory/house. We live in the second floor and the factory is at the back. Factory’s not ours but they linked up the cameras to our tv. Haha kinda fun to look at it every now and then.

On a different note, my brother is getting married too?! Well, he’s going to propose tomorrow, and then on Saturday, he flies off to Chicago for three months. He said not to congratulate him first, kasi hindi pa daw nag – oo. Haha

impeachment

Whenever I get the chance, and when the “show” is exciting, I watch the Corona Impeachment Trial on TV. Last night was delightful and fun to watch. Jinggoy showboating and getting angry with the very nervous PSBank manager about a document because the manager couldn’t answer the senator’s question. As it turns out, this is funny, no wonder the manager was so confused and couldn’t answer directly because Jinggoy was talking about a different document from what the manager was holding! Funny!! After mag showboat ng senador, nag backdown siya agad right after when they realized he was talking about a different document from what the manager was actually holding! hahaha

Unfortunately, my daily dose of entertainment ended early today as it was Valentine’s day as well as Enrile’s 88th birthday! Can you believe it? 88 and still sharp as hell.

random thoughts

I was asked, or let me rephrase that, I was forced to write an article for our department’s upcoming newsletter about a recent training that I joined. It was the OnTrac certification program that I opted to join, which kept me very busy for two weeks. I didn’t realize that writing a simple article would take up so much of my time today! I kept rereading that article and it sounded so… boring and confusing. Unfortunately. I have no idea how to fix it and deadline’s just around the corner.

Anyway, what I really wanted to write about was our experience last Saturday at Trinoma. After a long time, I finally got to watch a movie in a cinema once again! And I did not expect that a movie would now cost me 170 pesos (perhaps I should get back to downloading again). Anyway, we ended up watching The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo.

I’ve been wanting to watch this movie because for one, I’ve heard great things about the movie itself, and second, I am a fan of Stieg Larsson Millenium series. To be honest, I haven’t read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but I did get to read the second book of the series which is The Girl Who Played Fire, and I loved it! I was so intrigued by Lisbeth.

You might be wondering how I ended up reading book 2 over book 1. Well, at the time I was in Canada and I wanted to read the series so I ended up borrowing the book from my aunt, but someone borrowed book 1 so she offered book #2. She said it would still make sense even if I didn’t read book 1, and so I read it and loved it. Unfortunately, I was due back to Manila, thus was not able to get to reading book 1 again.

Anyway, going back to the movie… I really liked how Rooney Mara portrayed Lisbeth. It was exactly how I imagined her to be! And as usual, David Fincher created another masterpiece.

Although the movie was great, the night ended somber for the three of us as I lost my parking ticket, and worst of all, Vicky lost her cellphone. Two losses in one night. What a sad way to end the night.

But as sad as it was that night, the next day brought us good news. Someone in Trinoma found Vicky’s phone and returned it to us! What a blessing! Just goes to show that there still are surprises out there, and that honest people still exist!

Meeting with Vanessa

I have a meeting setup with Vanessa, a financial adviser, tomorrow. This prompted me to recheck my finances for the past year. Since I’ve met with Vanessa a year ago, I’ve started logging my income/expenses for the past year so that there’s something we can look back at after a year. And I just realized I’ve wasted a ton of money the past year alone. Ugh, let’s see what Vanessa tells me tomorrow.

Australian Open Week 1 Highlights

This week marks the start of the Quarterfinals (Top 8) in the Australian Open. And by the end of the week, we will know who the Australian Open champs would be!

I usually watch WTA more compared to the ATP. I find the women’s is more interesting and has a much more open field, not one dominant player. A lot of the players can take away the trophy. Unlike in the men’s field, it’s always the four of them – Nadal, Djokovic, Murray and Federer.

First few rounds was usually lopsided, except for a few nice matches and even upsets.

Round 1 proved to be a tough round for one of my favorites – Agnieszka Radwanska. She battled it off with Mattek-Sands from the USA winning on a very tight 3 set match.

Speaking of upsets on Round 1, reigning US Open champion Sam Stosur lost to Sorana Cristea on straight sets. Big upset here. I was hoping Stosur could move on a few more rounds, at least to the quarters. But things happen in these tournaments! There’ll always be upsets here and there.

Another great match during day one was Fernando Verdasco versus Tomic of Australia. 5 set match – and I felt bad for Verdasco because he was up 2 sets before Tomic made his comeback. I guess the heat was taking its toll on him because he’d wear ice packs around his neck and throw water at his face. Come to think of it, how can you survive playing top notch tennis under the blistering heat of the sun and temperatures in the near 30s? Tough conditions for sure.

Best Match So Far

Round 4 was a blockbuster round with reigning champ Kim Clijsters battling it out with our favorite Chinese tennis star, Li Na. It’s a repeat of the finals last year, and this time with Li Na, looking like she’s in way better shape, and much stronger than Clijsters.

Set 1, with 3 games a piece for each player, Clijsters rolls her left ankle during a rally point. Everyone’s heart probably stopped at that point (Clijsters is a very popular player in Australia, having even been dubbed as “Aussie Kim”, although she is Belgian). This is supposed to be her last Australian Open so she mustered enough strength to continue on with the match! She still lost the first set to Li Na who was playing superb!

Set 2 went into tie breaker with Li Na gaining ground having a 6-2 lead! That’s four match points!! And miracle of all miracles, Clijsters somehow manages to save those four match points, and score 6 straight points to win the second set!

I guess the disappointment of the second set proved to be too much for our favorite Li Na, as she eventually lost the set, and the match to the great and loved champ Kim Clijsters. Now Kim Clijsters is off a quarterfinal square off with the number one seed Caroline Wozniacki.

Highlights of Round 4

A Japanese by the name of Kei Nishikori has made history books by being the first Japanese man in the open era to move on to the quarter finals of a grand slam by beating fan favorite Tsonga of France! His powerful ground strokes proved to be too much for the big man Tsonga. That was a very entertaining match. Folks who bought tickets surely got their money’s worth.

Serena Williams goes down against Russia’s Makarova. This is the same woman who took out Kanepi and Zvonoreva! She’s definitely on a roll. Watching the game, Williams just wasn’t in it, she made a ton of unforced errors but to Makarova’s defense, she was hitting baseline forehands crazy accurate! Congratulations to Makarova. She’ll now be facing off with Maria Sharapova in the quaterfinals.

Quaterfinals

Quaterfinals is about to start and I’m waiting for two blockbuster games coming up – Azarenka (who could potentially win the grand slam) versus Radwanska (who I love watching because of her very calm demeanor) and then a little later, another blockbuster game worth watching: Clijsters versus Wozniacki! It will be a very busy day for me!

Angie and Vince’s Wedding

It’s really exciting to see one of your closest friends finally getting married! It was the first wedding of a close friend that I’ve attended. I find that it’s different if you’re just attending a wedding because it’s a family friend or relative who you’re not really close with, as compared to attending a wedding where the bride and groom are really dear to your heart.

My friend Sheila and I were a teeny bit late for the church wedding, half of the entourage already walked down the aisle before we got there. At least though, I still saw the beautiful bride make her wasy down the aisle, looking beautiful as always. And since we were in such a rush, we forgot to bring the camera to the church. Wala tuloy ako pictures sa Church!

The church wedding was held at Santuario de San Jose at East Greenhills (airconditioned!) and reception followed at New World Hotel in Makati. I didn’t realize the food in New World would be really good! I loved their hot shrimp salad (It was a laureate serving, by the way).

Here are a few snaps I got during the reception. The girls are looking very pretty!

And here’s how the ballroom was setup. Beautiful too.

It was kind of annoying that I ended up sitting right in front of the sound system. I cannot talk to my seatmate without having to either shout or speak close to their ears!

And you know during weddings, there’s always this part of the reception where they call in the single gals and guys? I ended up getting called up there, at bigla akong giniginaw sa stage ah! It was a nice game though. An envelope was passed around the the folks and when the music stops while you’re holding the envelope, you have to perform the consequence written on the note inside. And as the game progresses, the consequence gets tougher and tougher.

Lo and behold, for the first round, I ended up getting the envelope! I was so nervous, opening the envelope, so good thing, the consequence was easy – “give a message to the bride and groom”. Whew, that was easy, I have no problem making speeches! haha at napahaba pa, the host even told me that we should have had a toast to go with it! Ang daldal kasi!

As the game progressed, there were to more consequences, kiss someone on the nose, carry a girl for 10 seconds. And the last consequence ended up with this girl, who was asked to pick a guy. Sa sobra niyang kaba, hindi siya makapili. Finally, napilitan pumili ng isang guy. And well, it was a nice surprise because her consequence was actually “a congratulations as you and your partner just won an ampao worth 5000 pesos each!” A total of 10k! Why didn’t the first consequence contain that instead?? Haha great game though!

Overall, the day’s event was really great. Bride wore two gowns – her wedding gown during the church wedding, and her red gown during the reception (I guess to coincide with the chinese new year!). I had fun, and the reception did not drag on until midnight (which is good!). Good food, good friends, good laughs!

Oh, and I got to have Pat Dy take a photo of us, using my camera! That’s almost worth a hundred thousand pesos! haha

World Vision Philippines

World Vision Philippines is an organization that assists in child and family development across the Philippines. As individuals, we can help this advocacy by being sponsors to young kids who need our help.

Instead of buying a Mocha Frappuccino, how about setting aside that money to sponsor a kid? It’s only 7,200 per year, and you get to help a young one have a better future.

The nice thing about World Vision is that they provide you with regular updates about your child. In fact, Aira, who I’ve been sponsoring for a few years now, even writes letters to me, sends picture to me and I’m updated with her grades in school!

I am writing this because I want to encourage everyone to join this advocacy program. Let’s share our blessing to those who need it the most.

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace

^{1 Peter 4:10}

First 12 days of 2012

12 days into 2012, what have I done differently so far?

1. Bridal Shower

- The first of many friends getting married this year had her bridal shower last Jan 07. It’s the first official friends’ bridal shower that I was able to attend and a pretty good one too. They organized it quite well. It was fun! To be honest, I almost didn’t go because of my laziness syndrome. Thankfully I was able to pull myself out of bed and drive all the way to Linden Suites to join my friend on her memorable day. Korny yung gift na binigay ko, but now I know what to get my other friends next time!

2. Work

- I’ve been somewhat unsuccessful with my work life balance goal so far. I want to blame it on my work because they just keep on giving it to me, but in the end, it’s still me who will have to learn and know how to manage work properly. I need to learn to say no, I need to delegate, and I need lessen the stress. It’s not good for the health, and it’s not going to help me improve the quality of my work anyway. So, I need to work on this more.

3. Read

- I‘ve finally picked up a book to read! I have around 6 books in pending to read and finally got to finish one. I will try to finish one book per week moving forward.

4. Exercise

- Stopped doing circuit training with a trainer. I want to focus more on cardio exercises instead of strength and toning. According to my ipod nano tracker, I’ve done almost 20k steps in two weeks already – a 4km run in the treadmill will probably give me 6-7k steps. Not too bad. I’m hoping to log a lot more in the upcoming weeks. Unfortunately, my plan earlier to run was postponed, because I just had to take a nap this afternoon. Too sleepy!

- Aside from treadmill running, I’ve been trying to incorporate biking in my cardio. I’ve tried riding the new bike around the village. Unfortunately, every time I ride my bike, after only one round of biking around the village, my legs are already shaking. Only means one thing – the legs are not as strong as I hoped they would be. All the more reason to ride the bike!

Hopefully I will get to do more exciting activities in the next few weeks. After writing this entry, I just realized how boring my life is! haha