Old Habits Die Hard

As usual, I vowed to wake up at 4 a.m. to write my report.

And as sure as the day is long, I woke up when the alarm rang at 4 a.m., and promptly returned to sleep at 4:01 a.m. Damn.

Pinoy Dining Habits

You know you're a Pinoy...

when you sip the contents of Coke or Sprite from a cellophane plastic with a straw;

you don't mind eating pansit or noodles with rice;

you wonder and complain loudly why the rice comes in last in a Chinese lauriat dinner;

you eat ice cream "sandwiched" in a bun;

you order green mango shake inside an Italian restaurant;

you combine peanut butter with bago-ong or fish paste (kare-kare, yes?)

you don't drink wine to accompany the food, you drink wine to get smashed;

you have sinigang several times a week;

you always have sawsawan (mix of condiments) consisting of soy sauce, vinegar, calamansi and those infernally hot chilis;

you hesitate to eat the last remaining morsel of food on the table;

you look for "toothpick" after the meal even when dining outside;

while dining abroad, you have difficulty explaining you want an extra order of "plain rice";

you go to the restroom when it's time to pay the bill; (OK, hindi lahat)

you feel no remorse whatsoever when you gleefully point out to people that they have gotten fat;

Changing of the Guards

So who do I think is going to be the next US President?

OBAMA.

Coming in the heels of an on-going economic crisis, Obama does seem like more capable of handling the economy than his Republican counterpart whose main strength lies in foreign affairs.

D' Opis

Here's a vid taken inside the office, con mis compañeros de trabajo. As I have mentioned before, the decrepit place resembles a barangay health centre more than an office setting. Courtesy of Marvs and Barnz.

Fish tea

I never realized how fish-crazy the Japanese are until I finally opened Jun's pasalubong from Japan, the powdered Green tea.

For some reason, the taste and the aroma reminded me of, well, fish.

CHOPIN: Ballade No. 4

One of the most beautiful compositions in the piano repertoire, Chopin's 4th Ballade, interpreted splendidly by Stanislav Bunin. The music strikes a balance between a languid nocturne rich in melody and a virtouso display of technical prowess.

Again, Chopin like Rachmaninoff, was an exile, and his music-- especially in the difficult passages-- evokes visions of leaving bodies. His music is a creation of a severed soul, always trying to reconnect with his past through his Mazurkas and Polonaises, as well as his Ballades, like this one.

Tribal Pix

My "tribe" for the past two-and-half-months. Pix courtesy of Barnz.