down with a cold

i welcome this long weekend with all my heart. i appreciate it even more now that i caught a cold. the sneezing, sore throat and headache were eating up all my energy as i went through my classes.

as i walked and chatted with my friends after work, my energy seeped back into my system. i feel a little better after hanging out with them. 

laughter is still the best medicine!

and tomorrow, i'll go home and climb on our indian mango tree and eat as many fruits as i can. i'll even go to the farm and get some spanish plums if i can.

can't wait for morning...

ang manok at pabo

to the manok and pabo,

i'm thinking of you too...

i hope you'll still be alive after thanksgiving

keep yourselves safe...

hihihi

feeling hot, hot, hot!

i miss the cloudy and rainy days back in january and february. those days when the weather was cooler. i can walk outside without sweating profusely. those nights when i had to brace myself while walking to the atrium after work because of the chilly wind.


now, the heat wakes me up at 8. that's 30 minutes earlier than the time that i set on my alarm. i'd try to go back to sleep but the heat is unbearable that i have to get out of bed.

ahhh...summer! you are at my doorstep. how unbearable would it be when you'll finally get your way to my living room? don't be too harsh, please....

ain't that a kick in the head

i'm reunited with my ipod

i feel like i'm back in stryn,

walking up to the mountain with kuya oscar

while listening to mader kjersti's

choice of music

oh, and how i miss her music!

i miss those times when we would sit by 

the kitchen counter

and search for new or old songs on the net.

she introduced me to artists who've i've never heard

before.

i've been jumping on my bed when i heard these songs...

this is how it feels like to be reunited with my 

company back in stryn.

i feel so happy that i could die.

thank you, mader kjersti 

for sending your music back to me :)

for my ears and heart

i found these gifts on my bed when i woke up this morning.

i'm gonna wear those earrings while revenging with

nolan ross and emily thorn...yubeee!!!

thank you, housemates, for always giving me the 

little things that i want :)

one piece

ms. akiko and i talked about american tv series the other day. it surprised me how we have very much in common when it comes to the series that we like and the characters that we deemed high of. from desperate housewives, 24, grey's anatomy, revenge and so on.  then the conversation shifted to mangas. i don't have anything much to share about mangas but it helped a little that i've seen episodes of japanese animations like naruto, voltes v, ghost fighter and lupin the third. then i asked her about her favorite manga. she said, one piece. i was quick to bat in that i haven't heard of it. she told me that it's one of the most popular mangas and animations in japan. so i asked her to tell me about that manga's story. after a while, it still didn't ring a bell. but i didn't really considered it a big deal. ms. akiko wanted to practice speaking, so i just let her talk about mangas and i asked her to check on neil gaiman's sandman series coz i think she might like it.

while i was having lunch with vonne and sonny, the conversation with ms. akiko suddenly came back to my mind. it was just a passing thought so i asked them if they've heard of 'one piece'. they said 'yes' right away. they even confirmed it to me by saying all the things that ms. akiko already told me about the anime. i got alarmed. when andy came out of her cube i asked her if she knows 'one piece'. being a big fan of everything that's japanese, she got all excited and chatted for a while about it. then, i started to ask everyone who passed by the teacher's lounge if they know 'one piece'. i even asked our IT officer if he'd seen the anime. to my great dismay, everyone said 'yes'. 

that's when i felt so lost and stupid. how can everyone know about 'one piece' and i don't? where was i when everyone else was watching 'one piece'? 

hmp! i was determined to find someone who doesn't know about it. there must be someone or there must be people who haven't heard about it. i almost gave up when it was almost time to leave the office. 

after i logged out, i saw gl ingrid at the lobby and asked her if she knows about 'one piece'. judging from her blank stare, i knew that her answer would be NO. she gave it some thought but when she finally said the word 'no', i jumped with happiness. it just felt good to know that i'm not the only ignorant being about 'one piece' in the office. i am not alone...

here's the anime that rocked my friday...

One Piece (ワンピース Wan Piisu^?) is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since August 4, 1997; the individual chapters are being published in tankōbon volumes by Shueisha, with the first released on December 24, 1997, and the 68th volume released as of November 2012. One Piece follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy, a young man whose body gains the properties of rubber after unintentionally eating a Devil's Fruit, and his diverse crew of pirates, named the Straw Hat Pirates. Luffy explores the ocean in search of the world's ultimate treasure known as One Piece in order to become the next Pirate King.  

                                                                                                                    

                      thanks to * ( wikipedia.org ) *

nips

 this song just popped out of my kokote yesterday...

wanna see what happens in a bag of nips

what goes on before they touch my lips

they make a rainbow

chocolate nips

a choco rainbow

chocolate nips

and then they color all the flowers

and they paint the trees

they're sweet and delicious

look at all those bees

when i want some fun

i get a bag of nips

and make a rainbow

nips! nips!

that ad jingle from my childhood memories inspired me to paint my nails with all the colors available in balay jaro's mani/pedi box. oh, what happiness it brings it to me! i am so in-love-close-to-obsession with my colorful nails.

jmb is ready for summer!

my big eyes

ronald, my childhood mortal enemy / neighbor / guitar instructor, used to call me "bukaw" (owl) when we were in grade school. he would sneak behind my desk and tease me non-stop. our other classmates joined him, too. that used to make me so mad. i eventually got used to being called "bukaw" until i was in grade six. after grade school, the teasing completely ceased and i totally forgot about it.

until berlin reminded me of the memories that are deeply buried in my kokote. we were talking at the teacher's lounge after work, when she looked at me closely and blurted out, "your eyes are extraordinarily big tonight...like a "bukaw"." before i could say anything, andy also said something about how big my eyes are. ugh! 

we all went to the restroom and faced the mirror in a firing squad. me, andy, berlin, donna and rhea. "mirror, mirror on the wall, who has the biggest eyes of them all?" the answer was obviously "joanna marie"! how can i have the biggest eyes when back in Scandinavia, people usually greeted me with a "ni hao"?!

hmp! the next time someone will say "goodness! what big eyes you have!" to me...i'll borrow the wolf's line..." the better to see you with, dear!"

going back to storybrook

getting even

i may be the worst nightmare of cab drivers in the city. i cried and cursed out of frustration of being late for work and i unreasonably demanded some taxi drivers to get me to the office in an impossible 5-minute time. i know, it's a crappy attitude and i try to be nice and charming in my rush hours...or minutes.

and this is one proof that i've actually learned to tame my temper...just a teenee weenee bit...

i got off the jeepney at the corner of UP because, as usual, it would be impossible to get to the office on time in a jeepney. so i hailed a cab and asked manong driver, in a very cool and almost charming tone of my voice, to hurry because i'm late for work. i might have been too nice because he took the road frequently traveled by. in short, we were stuck in the traffic! manong driver successfully raised my blood pressure to 200 over 160 as the meter hiked up. i promised to keep my cool. so instead of asking him, in a, maybe sarcastic tone, why he took that road when he obviously knows that the  traffic is terrible on that area at that time, i just recited the prologue of "the beauty and the beast"...out loud!

                                                   Once upon a time, in a faraway land,

A young Prince lived in a shining castle.

Although he had everything his heart desired,

The Prince was spoiled, selfish, and unkind.

But then, one winter's night,

An old beggar woman came to the castle

And offered him a single Rose

In return for shelter from the bitter cold.

Repulsed by her haggard appearance,

The Prince sneered at the gift,

And turned the old woman away.

But she warned him not to be deceived by appearances, 

For Beauty is found within.

And when he dismissed her again,

The old woman's ugliness melted away

To reveal a beautiful Enchantress.

The Prince tried to apologize, but it was too late, 

For she had seen that there was no love in his heart. 

And as punishment,

She transformed him into a hideous beast,

And placed a powerful spell on the castle,

And all who lived there.

Ashamed of his monstrous form,

The beast concealed himself inside his castle,

With a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world.

The Rose she had offered,

Was truly an enchanted rose,

Which would bloom for many years.

If he could learn to love another,

And earn her love in return

By the time the last petal fell,

Then the spell would be broken.

If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast

For all time.

As the years passed,

He fell into despair, and lost all hope,

For who could ever learn to love...a Beast?

reciting that, made me feel relaxed a little bit. and i stopped myself from laughing when i saw the shocked reaction of the driver. hahaha! good thing, i had my sunglasses on. i enjoyed every minute of the confused-to-scared face of manong driver. and as if, the prologue wasn't enough, i sang " a whole new world " at the top of my lungs. that made him even more mentally disoriented. his eyes showed it all! if the driver wasn't brave enough, he could have stopped the cab and left a lunatic like me there. but he was courageous enough to drive me to the office. i'm thankful. i got even!

a date with the giants

i called my sister late in the afternoon to ask if she and the kids are free for dinner. i came over to their place and we went together to sm city. we checked the movies at the cinema and half-decided to see "Jack, the giant slayer". 

we had a hearty dinner and halo-halo for dessert at the food court. out of a sudden, kikay asked about the time. it was a quarter to 8 and without any second thoughts we left the food court and headed back to the cinema.

honestly, i was a little skeptic about the movie adaptation of the fairytale. plus, i was afraid that it wouldn't be suitable for the kids. the scenes might cause them nightmares. i actually asked them several times if they seriously want to see the movie.  after several times that i got yes-es from them, i finally bought our tickets.

once we were settled on our seats, we were carried away to the far-away place where a farm boy named jack, accidentally opened a gateway to the land of the giants and fought them to save princess isabelle and the kingdom.

i'm happy that my niece and nephew enjoyed the movie even though they screamed and squirmed at scenes that caught them by surprise. they were still talking about it while we were waiting for the jeepney. they kept on recalling their favorite scenes and characters.

as for me, my favorite character is elmont, the leader of the kingdom's guards.

elmont

one of my movie dates...