February 29, 2012 - An Extra Day For Everyone!

Because it's February 29, 2012, I decided to share this article with everyone. I normally don't notice leap year days but today, since I was just blogging, I thought it interesting to find out why we have this extra day!

Leap year trivia you might want to know

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Cherishing Family and Friends on My 41st

Well, my forty-first just crept by quietly this month and I decided to celebrate it this time with family and friends instead of hieing off to HK, which has been my normal way to celebrate during my 30s.  I guess when you get older, being with family and friends becomes more important.  Anyway, I only picked a few pictures here but we took so many of them and my friends especially liked the candid ones where we took 10 shots!  It was really a lot of fun posing for the camera - just for those 10 shots.  As for me, well, good health tops my wish list this year, and more opportunities to make money is number two.  Here's looking forward to a great year for me again!

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Brunei Darussalam's National Day

I really had fun tonight as I attended the Brunei Darussalam National Day along with Mama and Ate Mimi.  It was actually Ate Mimi who gave us the invitation, since she had a friend in the Brunei embassy.  The affair was held at the Rizal Ballroom of the Shangri-la Hotel in Makati.  Our very own Department of Foreign Affair's Secretary was there along with Brunei's ambassadress to the Philippines and they made speeches and cut the cake for this 28th year anniversary of this tiny country's nationhood.

I really enjoyed the food and even if there was no pork, there was still meat in the form of the chicken.  Their noodles was also pretty interesting, although it tasted different from our more tasty mami noodles.  I also got to make friends with some young kids whose parents worked for the embassy.  It was great to see them in their national costumes.  I was actually curious about the malong which they placed around their waist.  Apparently, you'd have to put a belt around it so it will stick, otherwise, it would fall. 

Of course, we had our pictures taken everytime!  The "Brunei-ans" were very friendly and hospitable enough to accommodate our endless photo requests!

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My Own Fight Against Belly Fat

I came across this facebook post of a guy who took pictures of himself as he tried to lose his body fat - and the results were pretty astounding!  I think in a matter of 8 months, he was able to lose the belly fat and even achieved a six pack!  So it got me thinking, what if I use the same tactic so that I could really see my own belly - and see how ugly it really looks like - and implement some sort of diet plan and exercise and see if it changes - month by month.  The next photo will appear on March 26, and hopefully, there would be some changes in the contour and largesse of my really ugly looking belly fat!!  Good luck to me!

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New Zealand Film Festival 2012 | Movies @ Juice.ph

Ok, I am a certified cinephile and it's great that our Kiwi neighbors have decided to bring their movies here to the Philippines! I only know one movie here and that's Whale Rider. The actress there was nominated for an Oscar years ago. I hope I can catch a movie or two here. I'd love that!

View the schedule here - New Zealand Film Festival 2012 | Movies @ Juice.ph

Forty Thoughts: Not Fretting Over What Have May's

I read an article by Jim Paredes two Sundays ago where he enumerated 25 things that has made his life and that of his friends richer and kept their cups full.  I am using his list as a springboard to my personal thoughts, especially now that I am really IN my forties!

"1. To desire something or someone so badly and not get it, but to live long enough to talk about it without the pain of loss or disappointment"

This one's easy.  I can easily talk about it now that I've really disliked my college years.  I feel I really wasted that time in my life, studying a course I hated and just doing what I could to keep sane all those 7 years.  Sometimes, I wish there was a genie who could take me back to those years and allow me to relive it.  Of course the impact would be incredible since my life right now would surely totally change but you never know!  I wish I could've just taken European Languages before or Creative Writing or Art History, but knowing our financial situation then, that would've been unacceptable.

Oh well, good thing is, I have already done the European Languages part - I can freely write and talk in both French and Spanish.  The only goal left undone is the Creative Writing part!  But that would be another article.

As for love, I only regret breaking up with Ronald, this very handsome and kind guy I met 14 years ago.  He is still the kindest person I have had a relationship with and in a way, I do regret being a prick to him.  I was a terribly insecure young person then.  And the bad part is, I haven't seen him since.  But I take that all that in stride right now.  That was also a long time ago and who I was then, is a bit different from who I am now.

Theatre Review: Find Your Kind of Love in 'Fireflies'

With cast member, Dave Fabros

With Dave, the head of the Japan Foundation here in Manila, and Tanghalang Ateneo's Artistic Director Ricky Abad

Mama with Dave, the head of the Japan Foundation here in Manila, and Fireflies' director Ricky Abad

With cast member Mirick Paala

With cast member Katskie Flores

Cast members Mirick Paala and Ella Palileo

With cast member Ella Palileo

With cast member Xander Soriano

With cast member Atrio Hapitan

I don't remember ever watching a contemporary Japanese play, and that does not count the noh play I saw in Tokyo years ago.  So when I saw that the Tanghalang Ateneo was staging one as their final piece for the schoolyear, I decided to watch it, given that most plays shown here are written either by local or Western authors, rarely by our fellow Asian playwrights.

As what we would expect, the play's set design was minimalist at best and just like Carlos Celdran's Livin' La Vida Imelda, it used four different smaller stage sets to mark the different scenes and the different couples in the play.  Interestingly, with the theme of love being universal and all, it wouldn't be surprising to discover that even our local couples feel the same way as the couples in the play.  Actually, when I talked to Dave Fabros after the play, I told him that there are times when I do what his character does, just for the sheer fun of it!  Well, that may not count as love, just fun really.

There are three other couples in the movie, each at their own stage of loving, and for someone like me who has gone to Mars and back when it comes to love - I have experienced all of those emotions - that's why the play is something I can appreciate. I am just amazed though that the very young cast can do the same, knowing that maybe, just maybe, they may not have yet experienced what their characters have gone through.

My favorite couple in the play is the Husband and Wife, played by Xander Soriano and Katskie Flores respectively, who both seem very comfortable with their roles, exchanging banter effortlessly, which sometimes become tense then tender within minutes, just like how couples who have been together for a long time, talk to each other.

The young, flirtatious couple played by Mirick Paala and Ella Palileo is the most fun to watch since they are still at that stage of sizing each other up and trying to make the best impression, carefully constructing their words into sentences that should not offend but regale the other.

And of course, there's the 'madrama' kind of love which we usually see among young-ish couples in their early to late 20s, depicted in this play by Nicolo Magno and Cindy Lopez.  It's tentative yet full of wanting, the urong-sulong kind, the one where "I miss you" when you're not around - but I can't stand you when you're here type of love.  They don't get any resolution as the play ends which is just as well, because even in the real world, we know of couples who take forever to admit to each other that they really love each other.

Finally, there's the flirtatious kind of love, well, maybe not love, more of lust really, as played by Dave Fabros and Cindy Lopez.  That Cindy's character actually agrees to this date just shows how she is undecided on her true feelings for her lover, or maybe, she just needs her job so much that she has to say yes to the boss, or else....

All is not lovey-dovey here because with love also comes loneliness and isolation which is par for course for people who fall in love.  You are in a high when you're together, while you go mad when your object of affection is not around.

You can be at any age in your life right now but I'm sure you'll find that kind of love for you when you watch this play.

Algunas razónes como español habría ayudado los filipinos

Imaginate si podrías hablar en español, podrías hablar a un machote como Christian Meier quien es peruano! Y no es una imposibilidad porque nuestro pais había estado bajo dominio español por 333 años, entonces, es una lástima que no podemos hablar en esa lengua.

He pensado de tres razones como sabiendo español habría ayudadonos.

#1 Se habríamos vuelto muy  único porque habría sido la gente solo que hablan en español y ingles! Y no eso incluyen nuestras idiomas local. Habríamos sido los políglotos del mundo!


#2 En el mundo mundializado de hoy, habríamos tenido más opciones donde podriamos trabajar.  Todo de Sudamérica excepto Brazil habla en español, y hay muchos Latinos en America.

#3 Nuestro propio idioma, Filipino, habría sido más rico y más interesante.

Pero ahora, es muy bueno ver más filipinos estudiandola para avanzar en sus trabajos y buscar oportunidades tambien en otros paises. 

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Theatre Review: Not crazed enough in 'Doc Resureccion'

I actually missed this play due to some scheduling problems so it's great that I found a review about it. It does seem to be like a very serious play!

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Nepal actor welcomes home transgender daughter

It's great that even supposedly Third World countries like Nepal are recognizing trasngenders as individuals and as human beings - and not some circus freak! The truth is, it's not easy for someone to feel different from others and to assert it to one's family, friends and to one's society at large, is an act of courage! He's very lucky, rather, she's lucky to have parents who really love him (rather her!)

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