couch commando.

i remember now why i used to not gimmick saturday nights -- jack and bobby. been watching marathon episodes on studio23, and it still gets me teary-eyed.

and makes me wonder what i'd do with a genius kid.
and if i've been true (and good) to my soul.
and drool over matt long :)

shame it only lasted one season.

in other news, i'm wearing my new glasses, and kinda ready to puke. when i took that awful test (after 16 years, it's still awful) it seemed right, but now i don't know, things seem fish-eyed...not as bad as the first time i wore them, but then i haven't been outside (the last time i tried them on, i kept tripping). we'll see. maybe i'm just being libran.

and in other other news, guess which moron in the kitchen cut herself? aya. my left thumb, no less. so now it's a bitch to brush my teeth and flick off cigarette ash.

yuletide greetings!

hee-hee. kidding aside, though, this christmas --

i wish all near and dear to me (whether we are continents or highways apart) peace (in the brain and relationships), love, warm fuzzy thoughts, and the occasional endorphin kick.

i send a little prayer to the Big Boss in the Sky for all the people i see everyday but don't know--

the Hari ng TODA who, upon seeing me walking from the MRT, always shouts my destination to the troops;

the lola down the street who waters her super-taba plants every morning;

the woman in ortigas station who used beg, but is now selling candy and cigarettes;

all the taxi drivers who get me home safely;

and all the lolas who make tambay outside the ABS-CBN studios (why, i have no idea).

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY!

cyberhugs to all :)

pahabol.

Your Personality Is Like Ecstasy

You're usually feeling the love for the world around you - you want to hug everyone. And while you're usually content to sit back and view the world with wonder... Sometimes you're world becomes very overwhelming and a little scary.

What Drug Is Your Personality Like?

...so that's why i'm not into this (plus, i'm sorry, masyadong mahal).

thanks to kaye for pointing me to all these fun tests hehehe

Your 1996 Theme Song Is: Ironic by Alanis Morisette

It's like rain on your wedding day It's a free ride when you've already paid It's the good advice that you just didn't take Who would've thought ... it figures

What's Your 1996 Theme Song?

i. heart. youtube.

not only because they let me see logan everyday, but because i finally got to see nadia comaneci's perfect 10 routines in the 76 olympics.

this is the beauty of all this "it's in your hands" technology--as you wish talaga.

and check this video out! (wait i hope i do this right)

impossible is nothing

i never saw this on TV...kakilabot.

holidaze 06.

this is what we did last night, during our office xmas party.

(BUT, thank HEAVEN, we weren't wearing that.)

there were also several naughty santa baby moves (complete with chairs) thrown into the mix (c/o our producers, a.k.a. Santa's Sexy Helpers), as well as some good ol' "hey it's cold in here/there must be some taurus in the athmosphere" fun.

it's interesting, while we were dancing, pulling out of me for a bird's eye view i was quietly amused at how easily i slipped back into "just paste a smile on your face and don't look at anybody in particular" mode. i guess din the fact that i haven't done that in so long made me feel even more detached.

but it was SUPER fun! made me miss the foxy lady/CADS/RSG days. and i wonder if, back then, i enjoyed it enough. parang i want my non-backwalk-ing, non-fish-flop-ing, the-rain-makes-my-knees-ache 28 year-old self to go back in time to DLSZ Gym 1 or the AdMU doghouse or that dusty Rizal Gym and shake my high school/college self silly and scream

"you better be enjoying this, you little **it! because you won't be doing this forever! i've half a mind to haul your ass off to Dance Boot Camp and lock the key! and you know all those stretchy/pretzel-y moves you do almost every bleeding day? they've been around for AGES! and 14 years later you're going to be pulling every muscle you own trying to get back into them, because it's only when you're done with the Quarter Life Crisis that you realize those moves stretch your INSIDES, too! hay naku!"

when marga (fellow lifestyle network lady) and i started talking in eight counts, i felt like i was really back in school. i remembered how we used to have to translate our counts to bars for the boys...it was really our little planet back then, with our own language and culture and customs and myGAS i can't believe we used to walk home everyday and then practice for hours...

okay, that's enough reminiscing. back to work (KUNO! sobrang KUNO kasi halos walang tao dito at walang nagpaparamdam sa email o sa telepono! i LAB it! holidaze talaga)

happy birthday!

this blog is one year and eleven days old.

one year and eleven days later,

...the dude who was bugging me to get a blog has stopped blogging. (he's kind of hard to run into na rin, sniff)

...at least (i think) three good friends have left the country, and another one is on his way (anak ng jueteng, i didn't think i'd be that affected with the 4th creature satisfying his wanderlust...though of course am super glad he is--are you listening? fish need bicycles. friends need email updates).

...i've been to two continents (that's a winner development).

...i remain quietly joyful about the little things--as much as i can be, anyway (another winner development).

...i think am beginning to get the hang of maximizing my breath (except for the moments that i think about it too much i start gritting my teeth).

...am waking up early again, and the moments spent in silence or with music or morning coffee (okay, fine, a certain degree of procrastinating na din) rock my world.

...i still like doing the laundry (though handwashing towels can be hell on the wrists).

at the risk of sounding like a hopeless flower child, i hug the world.

frisk me, bebeh!

i have finally decided.

should i ever have a bachelorette party, i want an ethan hawke/papa logan/colin farrell/papa bruce look-alike in full-blown assault gear to be the hotsy-patootsy.

and he'll have to show and tell (properly dapat, no boyz in da hood form) load weapon, unload and show clear, etc.

he can bark stuff like "shooters, make ready!" at me, and if he's super hot, he can show me alpha, bravo, and charlie scores...

this is an interesting realization at 1am.
egad, thoughts like that will keep a woman awake.

ROAR!

books.

googled "top 100 books" and ran into lists c/o time, random house, bbc and the guardian unlimited. cool!

my list (again, in no particular order, read over and over, in bed, the beach, the plane, the train; whoever pops into my brain)

1. a separate peace, john knowles
2. to kill a mockingbird, harper lee
3. the bell jar, sylvia plath
4. gone with the wind, margaret mitchell
5. the kiss, kathryn harrison
6. jane eyre, charlotte bronte
7. the age of innocence, edith wharton
8. anna karenina, leo tolstoy
9. time traveler's wife, audrey niffenegger
10. little women, louisa may alcott
11. the silmarillion, JRR tolkien
12. emily, l.m. montgomery
13. the romantic movement, alain de botton
14. lovely bones, alice sebold (wait how come it's not on the shelf...)
15. angela's ashes, frank mccourt
16. the godfather, mario puzo
17. tale of murasaki, liza dalby
18. memoirs of a geisha, arthur golden
19. dracula, bram stoker
20. dear america: letters home from vietnam
21. a many-splendored thing, han suyin
22. piece of my heart, keith walker
23. nicholas and alexandra, robert k. massie
24. the bourne identity, robert ludlum
25. the grapes of wrath, john steinbeck

as for my secret shame list
1. zoya, danielle steel
2. wrong-way romance (sweet dreams # 176) - which, i just found out, got 5 stars out of 9 reviews on amazon.com
3. princess daisy - judith krantz
4. till we meet again - judith krantz
5. i'll take manhattan - judith krantz (shiyet nababasyo ako)
6. mistral's daughter - judith krantz (lintik why did we garage sale these dudes now i wanna read them again)

...i hope i didn't miss anyone...

oh! recently read KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL and it was so cool! i couldn't put it down, and i'm not even a foodie.

that's one thing i realized, reading the book. admittedly i have my favorite food groups (gummi bears, otsumami, cereal, chocolate, pan de regla) but food is more like fuel to me than anything else (except i guess when i'm moody)...kung gutom na ako pero wala pang handa, kahit ano lalamunin ko muna to tide me over.

my sister, the official foodie in the family, was in shock when i said it out loud.

i guess that's why i do the dishes...

FRAK!

slaybelle, you have the gratitude, love, affection and hero worship of every resident of our apartment (including ate's fish). bless your downloading heart.

the all-TIME 100 albums...

li...are on time.com, and i only own four of them. seven if you count the ones cybs owns and i hope to one day steal.

so it got me thinking about my all-time favorite albums...the ones that blew my mind away, that i listened to over and over, whether i was rich enough to get my own copy or not...

off the top of my head, in no particular order, and doing my best not to just list all the tori and sarah albums...

1. tori amos, little earthquakes
2. sarah mclachlan, fumbling towards ecstasy
3. counting crows, august and everything after
4. radiohead, pablo honey
5. hole, live through this
6. joni mitchell, blue
7. heather nova, oyster
8. indigo girls, rites of passage
9. 10,000 maniacs, our time in eden
10. veruca salt, american thighs
11. better than ezra, how does your garden grow
12. cynthia alexander, rippingyarns
13. the bangles, everything
14. sinead o'connor, i don't want what i haven't got
15. cranberries, everybody else is doing it, so why can't we
16. sarah mclachlan, surfacing
17. tori amos, under the pink
18. tori amos, boys for pele
19. tori amos, from the choirgirl hotel (yes yes i'm copping out but they're legit, promise!)
20. R.E.M., monster
21. heather nova, siren
22. fiona apple, tidal
23. fiona apple, when the pawn....
23. jewel, pieces of you
24. garbage, garbage
25. pearl jam, ten
26. cher, heart of stone (wow, i had to google that one pa, tape pa yun)
27. sinead o'connor, am i not your girl?
28. nine inch nails, pretty hate machine (skinny will kill me for that one, i think)
29. basia, time and tide
30. abra moore, strangest places

...and if SOUNDTRACKS count...
31. OST - last of the mohicans
32. OST - the piano
33. OST - china beach
34. OST - buffy
35. OST - crazy beautiful
36. OST - 10 things i hate about you
37. OST - cruel intentions
38. OST - a walk to remember
39. OST - party of five
40. OST - romeo and juliet
41. OST - stigmata

and if, ahem, cartoons and broadway and greatest hits (pero parang this one shouldn't) count,
42. little mermaid
43. miss saigon
44. rent
45. les miz
46. bjork
47. counting crows again
48. fleetwood mac
49. peter, paul and mary
50. james taylor

hmmm. a few observations:
- they're mostly all chicks
- they're mostly all retro...back in the day when paying for a legit CD was still part of my budget.

interesteenk! i think i'll do books next...

it's okay by me

the paper cuts, the cheating lovers
the coffee's never strong enough
i know you think it's more than just bad luck

there, there, baby
it's just textbook stuff
it's just the ABC of growing up
now, now, darling
oh don't lose your head

'cause none of us were angels
and you know i love you, yeah

speeding cars - imogen heap