Another Lacuna

Okay, here I am again on a break from blogging. It's a bit of a personal problem and well, I'm kind of out-of-sorts recently.

Let's just say that... Okay, let's just not say anything. Things are going a bit meh and might get worse, so I am a bit anxious and worried about what the future will bring. My friends and family are very supportive though, so I'm not THAT worried. But still, when things don't go your way, you can't help but feel a little bit lost.

I'm not sure how long this break is going to be, and I don't want to imagine any reasons why it should be so. I uhh... I'm just sad that there might be things I may not be able to have a chance to do anymore. And no it's nothing about my health or anything, I'm perfectly healthy and very genki! Not missing any body parts nor will I go to jail... I mean, how unlikely is that? It's just that, something that has been nagging at my mind for months now have been realized. And the repurcussions aren't reassuring.

But I will not give up. Nay, this will be nothing but just a stepping stone to much greater heights. I will overcome this and still be in time for the cherry blossoms to bloom!

Till then, I hope you guys would still stay tuned once I come back.

A Flying What?

Okay, this is not actually related to anything anywhere, but I was just shocked when I found out that there's something out there, in the world, that's completely mind-boggling and that can shatter your perception of everything in but just an instant.

I mean, WTHROFLOLMAOBBQ?! Flying nun?



Okay, to fans of this show, I am entirely sorry. I just can't comprehend it right now. But give me a bit of time to swallow the idea that the scriptwriters actually made realistic dialogues for this show.

I found out that the show finally ended when the writers began to have problems coming up with situations where Sister Bertrille would be suddenly caught up by an unprecedented wind that would allow her to fly off because she weighs only 90 pounds and her headgear provides some fantastic aerodynamics.

And the actress who played the nun had her own problems too. What with the way everyone had typecasted her to the role. There was a time when she was offered another show where she would have to play her previous Bertrille role. Only this time, she'd be older and she's supposed to be the Mother Superior who is jealous of a new nun because the new nun can fly while she can't anymore, because she's put on some weight over the years. They said she vehemently rejected the offer.

Oh, and during the filming of the last few episodes (it went for three seasons), they had a problem covering up her belly because she got pregnant, and nuns really can never be pregnant. That would be against the order of the universe! But so does the flying thing... Anyway, so they just used backdrops and flying body doubles and stuff.

All in all, I think the show is quite intriguing. The stories of both on and off the set has gotten me raving for more of this show, and I'm particularly sad that it didn't happen during my lifetime. The episodes were in technicolor too!

100 Q&As

1. ONE OF YOUR SCARS, HOW DID YOU GET IT?
My brother and I tried to do an acrobatic trick. Almost got my skull fractured

2. WHAT IS ON THE WALLS IN YOUR ROOM?
A lot of things: picture frames, calendars, clocks.. usual house stuff~

3. DO YOU SNORE, GRIND YOUR TEETH, OR TALK IN YOUR SLEEP?
Only on a tiresome day...

4. WHAT TYPE OF MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO?
Mostly anime and Jpop

5. DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU WERE BORN?
Oh wow no... I'll ask later.

6. WHAT DO YOU WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING RIGHT NOW?
To pass the Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 2

7. WHAT DO YOU MISS?
My family and my room back home...

8. WHAT ARE YOUR MOST PRIZED POSSESSIONS?
PSP, iPod, computer and cellphone. Gadgetry stuff, they're expensive!

9. HOW TALL ARE YOU?
5 feet 11 inches

10. DO YOU GET CLAUSTROPHOBIC?
Haven't yet, I might though

11. DO YOU GET SCARED IN THE DARK?
Only if I was imagining scary things~

12. THE LAST PERSON TO MAKE YOU ANGRY?
It's hard to make me angry, almost impossible. But I guess nothing's impossible for my brother.

13. WHATS YOUR WORST FEAR?
Not realizing my dream to come true...

14. WHAT KIND OF HAIR/EYE COLOR DO YOU LIKE ON THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Dark colors

15. WHERE CAN YOU SEE YOURSELF BEING PROPOSED TO AT?
I see myself doing other things, not this though.

16. COFFEE OR ENERGY DRINK?
I like creamy, milky stuff. Coffee it is.

17. FAVORITE PIZZA TOPPING?
MUSHROOM! Oh that soft chewy texture~

18.IF YOU COULD EAT ANYTHING RIGHT NOW, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Well that last question's about pizza...

19. FAVORITE COLOR OF ALL TIME?
Supposedly it's green. I'm slowly turning blue though.

20. HAVE YOU EVER EATEN A GOLDFISH?
Not that I'm aware of

21. WHAT WAS THE FIRST MEANINGFUL GIFT YOU'VE EVER RECEIVED?
A Go-kart my parents got me for Christmas. *teary-eyed*

22. DO YOU HAVE A CRUSH?
Now? None.Except the occasional someone on the train~

23. ARE YOU DOUBLE JOINTED?
What?

24. FAVORITE CLOTHING BRAND?
I don't look at brands. As long as I like it.

25. WHO IS THE HOTTEST MALE CELEBRITY?
Me.

26. DO YOU HAVE A PET RIGHT NOW?
Pets. Lots of it.

27. WHAT KIND IS IT?
A dog, a three-legged cat, a stray cat, her litter, 6 lovebirds, and a dozen fishes.

28. WOULD YOU FALL IN LOVE KNOWING THAT THE PERSON IS
LEAVING?
It depends, it really does.

30. SAY A NUMBER FROM ONE TO A HUNDRED:
73

31. BLONDES OR BRUNETTES?
Dark haired

34. HAVE YOU BEEN OUT OF THE COUNTRY?
Currently

35. YOUR WEAKNESSES?
Japan, food, and computers

36. MET ANYONE FAMOUS?
A president, a CEO, and a lot of actors/actresses

37. FIRST JOB?
Associate Software Engineer. Sounds important no?

38. EVER DONE A PRANK CALL?
Nope

39. DO YOU THINK EVERYONE OUT THERE HAS A SOULMATE?
I'd hate to think that there's a chance people might not get the chance to meet theirs.

40. WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE YOU FILLED THIS OUT?
Breakfast.

41. HAVE YOU EVER HAD SURGERY?
The usual guy surgery. *wink*

42. WHAT DO YOU GET COMPLIMENTED ABOUT MOST?
My smooth, shiny, straight hair~But recently my eyes.

43. HAVE YOU EVER HAD BRACES?
Nope

44. WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY?
A new iPod Nano!

45. HOW MANY KIDS DO YOU WANT?
Hmmm, two?

46. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
My dad. I was supposed to be a junior, but they omitted a letter...

47. WHAT IS THE BIGGEST TURN OFF OF THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Attitude.

48. WHAT IS ONE THING YOU MISS ABOUT HIGH SCHOOL?
Not much, other than the school food~ Mmmm~~~

49. WHAT KIND OF SHAMPOO DO YOU USE?
I only use conditioner... always forgot to buy shampoo LOL.

50. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
Yeah~

51. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAL?
Bunch of Lunch from Shakey's (chicken, spaghetti w/ garlic toast, pizza, and mojo potatoes)

52. ANY BAD HABITS?
I bite my nails

53. ARE YOU A JEALOUS PERSON?
Nope

54. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Yep! I love me. Yey me!

55. DO YOU AGREE WITH FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS?
What does that mean?

56. DO LOOKS MATTER?
Depends on what kind of relationship I'm going to have with them~

57. HOW DO YOU RELEASE ANGER?
I will it to be gone, and *poof~*

59. WHATS YOUR MAIN GOAL IN LIFE?
To establish myself in Japan!

60. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TOY AS A CHILD?
Lego.

61. HOW MANY NUMBERS ARE IN YOUR CELL PHONE?
*hands over phone* Count it yourself.

62.WERE YOU A FAN OF BARNEY AS A LITTLE KID?
I live in a 3rd world country

63. DO YOU USE SARCASM?
Only in writing.

64. MASHED POTATOES OR MACARONI AND CHEESE?
If it has gravy, mashed potatoes.

65. WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A GUY/GIRL?
Personality, and she can be pretty too~

66. WHAT ARE YOUR NICKNAMES?
Megane, Meganekodomo, Neko, Meg, Jon, Chenes

68. WHATS YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOW?
I buy them on DVD.

69.WHATS THE BEST WAY TO DEAL WITH YOUR ENEMIES?
Turn them into a friend

70. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?
Anything vanilla-ish

71. DO YOU HAVE ALL YOUR FINGERS AND TOES?
Ohhh yeah...

72. DO YOU HAVE A COMPUTER IN YOUR ROOM?
YES YES!

73. PLANS FOR TONIGHT?
Watch 'Friends'... then sleep.

74. WHAT'S THE FASTEST YOU'VE EVER GONE IN A CAR?
Haven't looked, but I drive slow.

75. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS?
I wouldn't read all of their answers though.

76. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO?
My head.

77. LAST THING YOU DRANK?
Autumn-freezed water

78. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
My friend who lived next door.

79. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE IN THE OPPOSITE SEX?
Their candid face.

80. WHAT DO U LIKE TO DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME?
Watch anime/TV series on my computer, surf the net, blog stuff.

81. FAVORITE THING TO HATE?
Responsibilities

82. FAVORITE MONTH OF THE YEAR?
December

83. WHATS YOUR FAVORITE TYPE OF CANDY?
Lollipops

84. HAVE YOU EVER REALLY AND TRULY HAD A BEST FRIEND?
Yeah

85. WHAT IS YOUR HAIR COLOR?
Dark brown.

86. EYE COLOR?
Dark brown.

88. FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE?
KFC. Overflowing gravy... mmmmm~

89. FAVORITE RESTAURANT?
SBARRO. Uber-thick pizza... mmmmm~

90. DO YOU LIKE SUSHI?
Most of it.

91. LAST THING YOU WATCHED?
An episode of 'Friends'.

92. FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR?
New Year's Eve!

93. PLAY ANY MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS?
Piano, flute, and the violin.

94. REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT?
...............?

95. KISSES OR HUGS?
Hugs are comfy, kisses are too personal.

96. RELATIONSHIPS OR ONE NIGHT STANDS?
Umm, I find kissing personal.

97. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU BOUGHT?
DVDs~

98. DO YOU HAVE A LOW SELF ESTEEM OR A HIGH SELF ESTEEM?
Depends on my hair.

99. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?
Kanzen Master. A Japanese learning book.

100. DESCRIBE YOUR LOVE LIFE:
Very fattening.

Out of the Blue

I was born in Manila, Philippines on September 13th of 1986.

Now you know, but you'll have to compute for my age hehe. I like the year I was born, in the Chinese Zodiac I am a Metal Tiger~ *rawr* (my brother is a chicken LOL)

My mom says I was born during a troubled age when tanks roam free in the streets and the whole country suffered under a dictator in the capital of Manila. They said that the hospital lost electrical power while she was giving labor to me. Not that I caused it or anything, it was a really troublesome era in my country. =__=;;

I'm a premature, menopausal, blue baby.

I was born a few weeks earlier than my expected delivery date, and my mom gave birth at such an old age. Probably that's why I was so small when I came out... you could fit me in your two hands! And being a blue baby (actually it was yellow, then blue, then violet), I was immediately sent to an incubator. My mom was sent home earlier than I did, and she came to visit everyday making sure I'm still alive.

Well I grew up okay anyway, I'm pretty lucky I guess. I've heard that menopausal babies either becomes really stupid or very smart...

Not to brag or anything~ Gahahaha!

December

The weekend went by then poof! It's December~

Recently, I realized how being in Japan has affected me. December is slowly becoming just a normal month.

DECEMBER... December... December...

Man, the more I stare at the word, the meaningless it becomes. It used to be one of the most exciting anticipated part of the year; with my family setting up the Christmas tree as early as October, the lights wound around the bushes by November, and finally decorations in every room by December. The air would begin to cool down (just a teeny bit) and the breeze would come in through the windows. Winter in my country means that the temps would go down by a couple of degrees. *shrug*

It was the time when people would have an extra smile, a bouncier step, and wallets flapping in anticipation of year-end bonuses. I remember when we would always plan to go on a trip to Hong Kong for the Christmas vacation, my mom going as far as renewing our passports. But as the -ber months roll by, so does the possibility of ever buying those plane tickets. And then it would finally come down to not mentioning it at all. I guess we're just not yet ready on spending too much cash just for a trip to another city. When we have our own an hour's drive away.

It was quite a surprise when I found out that the Japanese Winter Christmas extravaganza I always see in animes and J-doramas actually is just a commercially consumer-directed fad, celebrated just for the heck of it. That we have to go to work on a Thursday Christmas morning, go to a late-night Nihongo class, and probably buy a slice of strawberry cake to munch on the way home before crashing on the bed then go to work again tomorrow is a bit depressing to actually process right now

Me and my friends have even resorted to postponing thinking about Christmas. But seeing as how it's just 3 weeks till those carolers back home would start ringing doorbells and singing mangled hymns, we should probably get started on planning our plans for the holidays so that we would have something to report back home. Otherwise we would just end up depressed.

This will be our first Christmas here in Japan, we should also make it the best. But not "too best" so that we could still outdo it next year. I wish it would snow... minus the sludge.

Mala Doufu

"Delishas!" as my friend blurted out. Yep I make a mean, mouth-numbing Mabo Tofu. Actually I've read that Mabo Tofu without meat is called Mala Doufu, but nobody cares about that.

I've been lazy these few days and have been eating microwaved pre-made stuff from the grocer. So I finally kicked myself out of this unhealthiness and decided to cook something wondrous, natural, and spicy. And tadaa! Mabo Tofu! Actually I have to confess that I did cheat and that I just bought the sauce, but at least I compromised by doing a no-meat thing and served it only with mushrooms, onions, and various veggies. And of course, tons of hot peppers.

Mabo Tofu is traditionally made with a special spice, Sichuan pepper. It's not really hot like a regular pepper should be, rather it gives a numbing effect. So since I don't have any, I settled to recreating the said effect with peppers, crushed chilis, and a large dollop of jalapeno hot sauce.

It was so hot and spicy it melted my bowl and turned it into a plate. Okay that was a joke, but it was OH-GOSH-ARRGGHH. I loved it. And I also loved how the tofu squares managed to retain their perfect symmetrical shape even after all those boiling around with the other non-symmetrical veggies. They were so soft, bouncy, and totally tasteless, balancing out the powerful sauce.

"Delishas!" and very cheap to make too. I made gallons of the stuff, enough to feed me through the week. Thankfully, spiciness acts as a preservative and a great substitute for numbing peppers.

I now have something to make for Christmas. Something to make my friends appreciate my choco custard more.

Hitsumabushi~! Cheaper and more Fowl!

That is not an actual pic of what I ate today at lunch, I wasn't able to take a pic at all of what I ate actually. Anyway, it looks somewhat like that minus the miso soup. It was delicious and very fulfilling! And replace that eel in the pic with chicken.

I would like to explain how to properly eat hitsumabushi first. So I'm going to introduce another kind of Japanese food: okazuke. This may seem confusing at first, and may keep on becoming so, but I assure you, it's fun and delicious, and did I mention fulfilling?

Okay, where were we...? Right, "How to Eat Okazuke". Basically, okazuke is rice in a bowl, then you add some savory toppings (seaweed, pickles, meat, sesame seeds, seafood, etc) and then you pour either green tea or soup stock over it. I prefer the soup stock though, I mean, green tea plus seaweeds and sesame seeds???

Anyway, it's kinda like eating breakfast cereals with milk, only with rice and soup. I wasn't aware of this Jap dish until recently, it sounds so outrageously Japanese though. My coworkers surprised me when we went to a restaurant and they said that the dish is green tea over rice. I was like WHAT??? and they were HAHAHA but the waitress was like BEEF OR FISH STOCK? and I was OOOH!! BEEF!

So now that you know how to eat an okazuke, be rest assured that hitsumabushi is eaten just like that too. Actually, it IS exactly like that. I'm not sure why they made a whole new name for it, and I'm not sure of the difference, now that I think about it. I even asked what the name means and they said it was just a name, so didn't fuss over it too much. The name is actually 日妻武士 which reads hitsumabushi. 日= Sun, 妻 = Wife, 武士 = Warrior.

Soo... yeah. Sun Wife Warrior. Delicious.

Hmm, hitsumabushi is supposed to be okazuke with eel, but what I had was grilled chicken... maybe it wasn't hitsumabushi that I ate. But it said so in the menu...

If you haven't have one yet, you could try the fish stock. My coworker was spouting Jap slangs all over it. Oh and he was smiling, so I assume it was that good.

Not Quite Handy

Didn't think I'd do it but I did it again. I bought something to warm me up... only it doesn't.

Oh sure, the scarf actually does warms me (it even makes my neck sweat) but I'm still "cold". So I consulted my friends and they said that actually the body is the last one to freeze. The first to tingle with the cold are the extremeties.

AHA! So that's why my fingers go numb first, my knees, then all of the sudden, my chest muscles vibrate. And then that's when I'll get really colddd...... I need gloves! Quick! So I dropped off the train at some station somewhere along my route, walked a couple pounds off, then found these pair of black leather gloves for only ¥1000! May sound expensive, but it's not. These are leather gloves we're talking about here.

Anyway, I wore them right away and lo! My fingers froze. I thought that maybe hey, I should give them some time to warm up to me first. But things, or should I say temps, went downhill from then on. There were times I had to look down to make sure my hands are still clutching my bag. Although since they're locked into a closed position, I didn't have to worry anyway... but you can never be too sure...

My friends then suggested that maybe it "traps heat" inside and that I should wear them when my hands are warm before going out to the frigid chillness. So I rubbed up my hands, blew hot breath on them, wore my gloves, got my hand stuck AND cold. So I guess that idea's off.

Then I tried to buy another pair, just for comparison. Maybe mine's defective and has missed a quality assurance inspection somewhere. So I got myself some new cotton gloves (or should I say mittens... with fingers, yes they were that thick, and these are my second pair of cotton cause the first ones didn't work either). Woo! They WERE warm! It got so warm that I rushed to the cashier with glee. But my glee was short lived when I stepped outside and wore them back on. Apparently, when you try something on inside a warm store, it would usually feel warm itself.

The cotton disappointed me too. Bad cotton. Again.

Oh well, sorry for being so cynic in my post here but I am really sad that none met my needs. Though I still wear my leather pair because they look too cool not to. My 2 pairs of cotton ones are somewhere... in the house...somewhere. I'm just wondering though, if they managed to make thermal undergarments as thin as stockings, yet can still leave your valuables in heat, why can't they do the same with gloves?

Or maybe I'm wearing them wrong. You DO put your fingers inside right?