It’s not Friday yet but I am already singing this song!
This maybe the only blogpost on the internet where this sweet old song is posted on a different day. I hope you have an awesome day today because I know for sure that you will have a lovely and brilliant Friday tomorrow.
And yeah, I know I am weird.
Weird as it may seem, dining out in a restaurant at this time of contagion would be like riding a rusty roller coaster, a rickety Ferris wheel or entering a spooky horror house. Dining out is so scary people don’t know if they would catch the deadly virus or would come out of the restaurant still hale and healthy.
But since I am in a state when I would rather go out and live a life yet would still observe extra precautions to prevent catching the bug, I decided to dine out here in Manila. The lucky joint I chose is the 36-year-old Bistro Remedios, an authentic regional Filipino restaurant in Malate, Manila.
And I was glad to know that on the day of my gastronomic consumption, the week-long citywide project of Manila City government called Restaurant Week was on-going. Bistro Remedios was participating in this initiative by the city mayor whom I predict would be the future president of this country.
I ordered and munched on these… 
As I was to finish chomping on my beautiful dessert, dining out at this time of pandemic was indeed like having a roller coaster ride. I experienced the thrill brought about by the visceral sensation of fear – pounding heart and faster breathing – when I was about to enter the resto.
Similar in a roller coaster ride, cheery attendants would ask you to sign a waiver and settle you down by putting on your seatbelt. It was so similar in Bistro Remedios because the smiling waiter asked me to fill out a health declaration and contact tracing form and sprayed a mist of alcohol on my hand before leading me to my table.
When I sat down and relayed my order, I realized the increased feeling of well-being and wakefulness. And when the food was served and had my first bite of the delicious meal, I closed my eyes, felt the busting of flavors in my mouth, my endorphins were high and was having a euphoria! Good thing I failed to scream when I opened my eyes inside that restaurant. Hahaha!
fasten your seatbelt!
Conquer your fear this time of pandemic. Dine out, put your seatbelt and be safe!
When a friend relayed that he read my recent blog post about my Osaka flight cancellation, he knew that one of my agendas in going there was to celebrate and attend again the big Halloween street party in Osaka. He then asked who would I be this time if my Osaka Halloween attendance pushed though. I simply responded King George.
I have been the Riddler and an Indian Warrior in the past Osaka Halloweens, but I was really looking forward to being the mighty and loony King George this year. But when my friend further asked why King George, I told him that we Filipinos seem to secretly yearns for a king and has the weird fascination towards noble families. Though our country is not under a monarchy, we are so in love with kings and queens!
crowned prince of the twisted! hahaha!
Here in the Philippines, every primary or grade school seem to have coronated their little prince and princess. Even rich and affluent people featured in society columns in the past were tagged “royals and royalettes”. And when people are elected to a public office, they have to go around with a whole battalion of body guards to signify how important they are, waving their hands to their constituents as if they are kings and queens of their barrio or little municipalities.
Classic examples are the effective portrayal of the late dictator Marcos and Imelda who depicted themselves as the modern king and queen of the Philippines. This outrageous couple thought that it was their obligation to the people to live a fabulous imperial-like lives for the poor. Hahaha!
Also, we are so fascinated with grand majestic coronations, that we look forward to the annual coronation of the queen of the universe (Miss Universe pageant) and we go extra crazy if the crowned winner is from the Philippines!
Now that I will not go back to Osaka, my friend still further asked what then should I do during Halloween? I told him that as a message to myself, I will have to settle singing the song “You’ll Be Back” by King George in the Broadway musical Hamilton. Hahaha!
You, who would you be this Halloween?
It’s the last quarter and when I realized that I haven’t gone out of the country this year, I got sad. When I counted that it has been close to eight months that I have been limiting my movement outdoors, I got sad. I actually got sad when I realized I got sad.
Gazing into the affirmative, bouts of sadness may be good for us. Can you just imagine happiness if there is no sadness? Life then would be so dull, nauseating and mind-numbing. Angels in heaven must have been so bored with happiness they prefer descending down to earth in search of sadness and turn the same into glee, delight and gladness.
Life is not about wishing storms to pass. It is about learning how to dance in the rain.
I am not saying that I would love to bask on sadness. I had so much of it already. But sadness as unwelcome and unwanted as it may seem is a life ingredient. And if bored angels up above ignore us, what is good about us being humans is that we cope. We have the capacity to manage, the ability to handle and the aptitude to deal.
Sadness is like a life’s unwanted storm. It can be intense, horrible and devastating. But life is not about wishing storms to pass. It is about learning how to dance in the rain. Therefore, we simply just have to dance if bored angels ignore us.
Let me be a little materialistic today! My avaricious stance at the moment is caused by the airline who texted me that my October 29 flight to Japan has been cancelled. And since I cannot take a trip to magnificent Osaka, I let bits and pieces of Osaka take a journey to me.
i love everything japanese! except for the karokke (croquet) chips, all these are actually available in my country. hahaha!
I have just received the package full of Japanese stuffs I ordered from my Japan-based niece! Yihee! These are the cheap Japanese junks, the absurd Nippon messes and the silly Japanophile stuffs I would have purchased in Osaka if my trip pushed through. Please excuse me but ordering and receiving these stuffs are my coping mechanisms in expunging my extreme frustration when I learned about the cancellation.
japanophile!
Let me then I agree if you find me so worldly and so twisted in this circumstance. Got to go! I need to do my airline refund! Haha!
Majority of the present male human specie – young and old – grew up playing with superhero action figures. Every one of these dudes can gleefully recall which among these animated crusaders was their favorite. I am part of the unfortunate, luckless and deprived minority. I never got the chance to play with a mini-Superman, Batman or the Green Lantern.
that’s me! hahaha! had a pretty twisted set of toys yet with awesome childhood
Instead, I can clearly recall that I and my siblings would play with canned goods and variety of grocery items of Nengkoy (my mother) from her pantry storage at the second floor of our house. We enjoyed rolling cans of Hunts pork & beans on the floor with the aim of hitting unopened plastic bottles of Jergens body lotions and Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific shampoos. We find excitement in stacking weighty tins of Spam luncheon meats. And we adored imagining fragrant boxes of Dove and Ivory bath soaps as mini cars.
Miniature sports figures (not the Hulk, Captain America nor other superheroes) would be so infrequent to come by because we would have to wait for the next can of Milo or Ovaltine to finish because the free promotional mini-sports figures are buried somewhere within the cans of these powdered choco drinks.
Don’t get me wrong. I actually had a balanced and awesome childhood. But unfortunately, I could not contribute or share a fun childhood experience when asked which among the superheroes did I grew up having as an action figure.
But now that I am old, people would seem to start contemplating whether they had a cool childhood as I did when I dare answer such question because my reply now would no longer be a boring “none”. It is only lately that I figured out that I actually grew up having a superhero action figure! It’s the supreme crusader in bright red imperial regalia that would beat even the chief, topnotch and paramount superhero a human animator has created. Nowadays – though I did not played with it, I actually prayed to it – my simple answer to this question is the little Santo Niño (translation: the image of The Child Jesus).
My very own Santo Niño in green imperial regalia was gifted to me by my mom more than 25 years ago when I decided to live on my own and be independent.
While looking into the product lines of Kiehl’s yesterday inside a mall, a stupid thought suddenly popped out of my mind. A silly light bulb moment which I think would make me heaps of money if I am a dermatological chemist.
If I am a skincare chemical expert, I would develop those firming, lifting and anti-wrinkle gels into a bread spread. I would create varieties of butter jams that would carry those line-reducing and dark spot-diminishing serums. My chemically concocted pates, tahinis and halvas would be dashed with ultralight daily UV defense systems for the skin. I know that there are organic foods that is good for the skin, but my preposterous objective is to develop bread spreads that are really intended for epidermal upkeep. Hahaha!
Can you just imagine how much precious time is saved in the morning and at night by the humankind if these formulas are incorporated into our spreads instead? It’s like having our breakfast or teatime while doing our skin care routine at the same time!
Overwhelmed with my ridiculous idea, I could not contain it. I brazenly asked the attendant if they sell skin moisturizers in the form of spreads for the bread. The attendant smirked and thought that me, her buyer, is a loony who was only there to try on the free testers.
How I wish this post is paid for by Kiehl’s because their efficacious products are not cheap! Stay young looking everyone!
I have just been in a zoom meeting and encountered a circumstance where I have been slightly wronged. Though I was not bestowed even a hint of apology, and since the concern at hand has been clarified, I simply let go of the issue and tolerantly charged it to experience.
This zoom meeting experience is nothing but bread crumbs if compared to a huge loaf of an intense situation others may have when it comes to the aspect of forgiveness. I read somewhere that forgiveness could be the most difficult thing many of us do in our lifetime. It is hard because it is against all our earthly impulses. I hope that there would not come a time when forgiving for me would be the hardest.
But I guess on undemanding situations, forgiving is easier than being too proud, too bitter and too loaded with angst and resentment. Being at peace is the benefit of being tolerant while good will is what you get from tossing away the negatives. Evil spirits abhor the concept of forgiving and during that specific zoom meeting, those dark hostile forces hated me.
Do you remember when was the last time you went out, go to a cinema and see a movie? I miss doing that. It is so long ago that I no longer can recall what was the last film I saw inside a movie house.
For me, going out to watch a movie is some sort of a social activity. It’s like having a mini-party that is to be attended either by a bunch of friends, family and even strangers. No thanks to the ongoing pandemic, I have yet to get inside a cinema and have this mini-social activity done this year!
Yeah, I too is a Netflix subscriber, but I miss the fun of falling on queue outside the theater, the buzz of selecting which time slot to watch at the box office or the angst of running in a hurry because the film is about to start. I also miss the delight of selecting what to binge and snack on – chips, burgers, hotdogs or a pail of buttery popcorn.
stuck at home, gone grumpy and mad… i wanna go to the movies!
Going to the movies is a perfect social activity for it hits all-encompassing purposes of having an enjoyment, relaxation, stimulation and a sense of belongingness. But this social communal pursuit seems dying. Aside from the fear of catching the deadly bug, human beings now prefer watching at the comforts of their home. Yeah, I know that watching movies at home is more convenient, safer and cheaper but it misses the mark in terms of us being social beings.
I’m betting my skinny butt, count forty or fifty years when people evolved and become solitary species, those cinemas can be considered dead, extinct and a thing of the past. Young folks by that time would be so shocked to find out that movie theaters run and existed and they would innocuously utter “ridiculous people of the past are so weird?!”
Enough said. I want to be that weird dude of the future and I definitely miss going to the movies!
Though I am not a writer, I think I am suffering from a writer’s block. To be more precise an “amateur writer’s block”. My trend of thought being so comatose disabled me from featuring something special or interesting on this blog for the past few days. And since I seem to suffer from this condition, I decided to shut up and just revisit my Secret Garden coloring book this weekend.
plants thrive in my secret garden! yay!
This old coloring book has been my laxative-like remedy each time my brain’s sewer line is clogged. Here’s the page I finished.
failed to do my weekend chores because of this! LOL!
I read somewhere that writing a crappy post such as this one is much better than not writing at all. I hope my loony trend of thought will soon be declogged and feature something interesting soonest!
Nengkoy 