hooked

I know I said that I'm NEVER watching The O.C.... EVER. Looks like I am going to eat my words.

Well, just recently I became a Rachel Bilson fan and I thought maybe I should give The O.C. a try. And now I am hooked on the series and...

I LOVE SETH COHEN!

Sawasdee Ka

I originally wanted to write a lengthy, blow-by-blow account of my Thailand trip but I am super lazy to do so. I enjoyed the trip but every time I try to put the experience into words, tinatamad na ako. Maybe because the memories aren't as fresh anymore. It's been a week since we arrived from Bangkok. I miss Bangkok. I miss tom yum.

Bangkok is actually very similar to Manila. Only, Bangkok has way better infrastructures. They have an efficient BTS and they're constructing an MTR which will go all the way to their HUMONGOUS airport. They have wide streets and wide sidewalks. Almost everywhere you go, you could feel the presence of their king and queen as their pictures are everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE. Well, if your king and queen do everything to make things better for their country, why not? Dao, our guide, even said, "Before, Thailand used to study how to produce rice from the Philippines, now the Philippines buy rice from us." Tagos sa laman. Parang napag-iiwanan na ang Pilipinas. Huwag naman sana.

I loved everything about Thailand! The hotel where we stayed in (PJ Watergate) is very near the Pratunam tiangge. Shopping's great although it is actually a bit depressing for fatty girls like me. Most clothes come in one size- "free size"- that doesn't actually freely fit everyone. And since almost everyone in Thailand seems anorexic-thin, it was hard to find stuff that comes in my size. There's this one word that we kept hearing over and over during our entire trip that we have incorporated it in our daily lives as well and that word is kenat. Also known as cannot. Every time my sister asks they have a specific style in my size, the answer is "kenat." When asked if we can fit the clothes. Kenat. When asked if we buy "many- many," will they give us discount? Kenat. We're going to buy a dozen of bags, will they help us bring the stuff to the taxi bay? Kenat. Eh, ano na lang puede?

Malls in Bangkok are HUMONGOUS. Almost all the malls I've been to are as big as Megamall. Even high-end malls are big. This made my sister and I assume that there are a lot of rich people in Thailand. Despite the gargantuan sizes of their malls, I still prefer our malls here in Manila. And if the price of stuff are cheap in the Pratunam area, inside the malls they cost ten times that. In the malls, the average price of clothes (a simple t-shirt) is 1,000baht. Mahal. Babalik na lang ako sa Pratunam. And that was one thing I oh so regret. While in Pratunam, I was too stingy and refused to buy anything above 200baht. I came across this very, very nice blouse that costs 500baht, but since it is twice my allotted budget per article of clothing, I decided to think it over. But due to time constraints, we weren't able to go back to the area and now I know that I really, really like it. Sayang. And I had a lot of moments just like that. I was able to buy only 3 shirts for myself. But I just would like the share that I was able to buy 3 Wacoal bras for 1,000baht. What a steal! And even just for those 3 bras, I'm already happy.

My most favorite (most na nga, favorite pa... sobrang gusto ko nga ito) bit of Bangkok is the... FOOD. Ever since my sisters brought back those spicy dilis, sampaloc and instant tom yum noodles a few years back, I knew I had to go to Thailand. My sister and I were trying to figure out how to order bagoong fried rice but gave up since we don't know what bagoong is in Thai. I had tom yum soup almost every meal. Except breakfast, since breakfast's served in our hotel and paradoxically, they served American breakfast.

Aside from the fact that Thai cuisine is scrumptious, it is also cheap. An order of (authentic!) tom yum soup, which serves 4 persons, only costs 80baht. A value meal only costs 40baht. Large pa ang drink sa lagay na yan ;) And amazingly, in a country where delicious food is EVERYWHERE, the people have remained super slim. All I can say is Thailand is food trip heaven!

This was a first for me: first time to travel to another country and I bloody loved it! This way, I could see how other societies live and compare it to how we Filipinos live. Being able to visit Thailand was a great experience for me although it also made me feel how much left behind we are. I hope that there would be already that someone who would make a change and help the country get out from its comatose. If given another opportunity to visit Thailand, I would go in a heartbeat. I have yet to see the Floating Market and The Elephant Show (but did see a real, live elephant roaming the streets of Pratunam). And I would love to try more of their cuisine.

gg: the ex files

Well, well, well, look who's back. Serena has finally reclaimed the Queen Bee status. Blair's army was seen hovering around Serena. Well, I don't blame Serena. Dan has been acting all weird and been blaming her for all the series of unfortunate events between him and his date, Amanda. He should have known better and thought that those could have been Blair's idea. Nakakainis si Dan.

Bitin! This episode left me looking forward to next week's episode. A good sign. So how does Serena van der Woodsen transform, or should I say revert, to her old ways? And as we thought Chuck's devious schemes were becoming ineffective, he comes back with this master plan to retaliate and dethrone Blair.

I knew it. This girl Amanda's bad news. When she invited Dan out and said that "it's time that they send a message," I sensed that there's something fishy with this girl. And I initially thought she would be perfect for Dan. Turned out Amanda was one of Chuck's character in his grand scheme to provoke Serena and bring out the monster within.

Anyway, I don't care if these girls are filthy rich... what sad, little outfits they have.

And what was Chuck thinking?

What's with the Barney outfit? Barney, as in the purple dinosaur.

This week's BUSTED moment: Nate's azucar de mama and Blair's Lord Marcus are indeed hooking up. And to make things even more yucky, they're stepmom and stepson. íQue asco!

So it looks like the powers of the universe are on Nate and Vanessa's side and are conspiring to make things easy for them. Then again, maybe not. Nate found out that Vanessa lied to him about the real reason why Vanessa left him at the party. What's with the trust issue? It's obvious Nate's not exactly Mr. Honesty himself. Oo nga pala, galit ang magnanakaw sa kapwa magnanakaw. Sad. And I was excited pa naman to see them together.

GG is getting better and better. Just how I like it.

Serena's unleashed her inner monster.

Blair's demoted to minion status.

And we know what that means... the resurrection of a relationship that is both mutually beneficial or dependent while being competitive, fraught with risk and mistrust: frenemies.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=frenemy

gg: the dark night

I'm still in disbelief how these kids have so much weight on their shoulders. Most especially Chuck Bass. Chuck, a 17-year-old, has got the problems of a 65-year-old DOM.

And the King & Queen of PDA strike again. I swear they have got the weirdest of relationships. If they're so in love (as evidenced by their constant PDA fest), why can't they leave the past behind?

Serena said she has forgiven Dan and Dan said he has forgiven Serena. If all's supposedly forgiven, what else is wrong? From watching all those Audrey Hepburn movies, Serena has failed to watch the one movie that could have saved her relationship with Dan Humphrey- Ryan O' Neal and Ali McGraw's Love Story. Love means never having to say you're sorry. E may sorry na nga malabo pa din. Tsk.. tsk...

Forget what I said last week about still wanting the Nate-Blair tandem. I am so for Man-bangs and Punky Brewster. I swear Nate and Vanessa would make a good source of kilig this season. Haha. I was a Vanessa- hater before, most especially when she was a threat to the Dan-Serena pairing. Ano ba yan?! Masyadong madaming baggage si Nate. Just when Nate finally realizes he really likes Vanessa, azucar de mama steps into the scene.

The picture below taken from the party during the black out (in NYC, unbelievable how the people didn't panic. If it were me, I would have thought that it could have been another terrorist attack. But that's just me.) That was my favorite scene in the episode. Vanessa just found out that Nate's whoring himself out and you can see the pain in her facial expression. I love it.

"I didn't sign up for some creepy love triangle

with you and someone else's mom."

As with Blair. As usual, I loved her hair. And clothes.

And this episode's BUSTED moment was Blair's...

Ang daming baggage! Haha. I think Dan Humphrey should cut his hair. Masyado nang malago. It could already rival Serena's waves. Also, I liked the guest appearance of the Junior Plastics, hehe.

And to cap this entry off, the picture below is my second favorite scene from the episode.

i don't want my MTV

Just finished watching the 25th MTV VMAs. Well, I didn't exactly watched (oops, wrong grammar) watch its entirety, I skipped to the performances. No thanks to MTV Philippines. I downloaded this one again from handy dandy mininova. And the best part of not watching it on tv is I could skip to the good parts and there were no commercial breaks.

It was okay. I mean, I think they could have done much better given that it was their 25th video music awards. The performances were a little less-than-stellar. The only performances I liked were Rihanna's opening perf (Disturbia) and Christina Aguilera's. I was kinda excited for Katy Perry's number but it was not as I expected it would be. It would have been waaaay better had she performed on stage with the works! Also, I was expecting a performance from Britney Spears but there was none. She only did the opening spiel/remarks/skit. I was looking forward to it pa naman. Pero wala. Keri. But I must say, standing ovation and Lola Britney mo paglabas sa stage.

Well, AD said that she's happy for Britney din naman since she has straightened up her act already. Let's just hope that she maintains it.

My favorite song as of the moment is... Miley Cyrus' 7 Things. I love it!

Well, I was a Hannah Montana/Miley fan even before. I just got disappointed at her when she started acting like a diva. Hello! She's only 15 years old, 'no? Sige siya, pag pinagpatuloy niya yan, mas krung-krung pa siya kay Britney pagtanda niya. Anyway... I really like this song. It's a catchy tune and I love how she says "and the 7th thing I hate the most that you do..." With emphasis on most talaga.

Another favorite song of the moment is Pussycat Dolls' When I Grow Up. It's no secret that I want to be a Pussycat Doll. If I were to be asked again what would I want to be in a perfect world, I want to be PCD. When I Grow Up was my LSS last Saturday and so I kept annoying my sister by singing the first two lines of the song over and over. And what annoyed her most was the line "what's up, sexy" uttered by some male voice na parang lasenggo. Hehe. We also had a small discussion on the lyrics. My sister said that it's "when I grow up I wanna have boobies." That's what I initially heard but then I checked it on the net and on Myx and according to both, it's "groupies." Sabi niya sino naman daw ang bata na may concept na ng groupies. Sige, boobies na nga lang.

I must be getting old. AD asked me if I knew who Boys Like Girls were. I said I don't know them but I saw their billboard along C5. AD said, "Tumatanda ka na nga. Hindi mo na rin kilala yung mga banda." Well, ewan ko. I still maintain that they're not that popular for me to know who they are. Feeling. Haha. Eh kasi I don't listen to the radio that much. I don't watch MTV and Channel [V] that much, too. AD said that the band had lots of audiences daw last Saturday. So they must be popular. But if they're popular, how come I don't know who they are? Maybe they appeal to a specific group of people (ie. punks, emos, goths, etc) Of course ayokong aminin na gumugurang na din ako. Excuses.

Late na. I think I should go to sleep already kasi nagugutom na ako uli.

gg: never been marcused

That's the way aha, aha, I like it! Haha. Last week's season premiere fell short of my expectations but this week's episode, Never Been Marcused, didn't disappoint.
So we pick up where we left off -- with Dan and Serena on the beach. Yes, that's them, the King and Queen of PDA. At hindi pa sila sa lagay na yan. What more kung sila na uli.
I really love Blair and her wardrobe. If I could have another person's wardrobe, it would be definitely Blair Waldorf's. Or Rachel Bilson's. I don't know if I will ever like the Blair-Chuck pairing. Well, I'm not really sold on the Blair- Lord Marcus pairing either. I still like Nate for Blair.

Speaking of Nate... I LOVE NATE! During Season 1, Dan was my character crush. I thought Nate was too pretty and clueless. This season, Nate's still too pretty pero super crushable na, haha. And as their riches were going to be seized by authority due to his father's embezzlement cases, etc. he and his mom were in danger of being left with nothing. And this has resulted Nate to go into some kind of *gasp* prostitution. Poor Nate, so distraught...

Plus, he gives us the most scandalous angle this season. Nate's involved with an older, married woman who just happens to be the stepmother of Blair's current object-of-affection, Marcus. And Nate was Blair's ex-boyfriend. Scandalous.

SO BUSTED...

Tsk..tsk... I still can't believe they're just high school students. Catherine (Nate's sugar mommy) supposedly didn't like any of Marcus' girlfriends and as predicted, didn't like Blair most especially when Blair described her as Botox-ed. But then Blair caught Catherine and Nate in a very compromising position. So ayun, Blair's madrasta issues solved.

I also loved how this episode featured various NY cityscapes.
I can't wait for next week's episode.

Goo Goo Dolls- Black Balloon


I could finally say that I don't have a crush on HMT anymore. So my dear friends, please forgive me. Yak! Haha! Kahit walang closure. Echos!

Kahit ito ang song ko para sa kanya na may pagka-sumpa ang dating... haha! Pero seryoso, hindi ko na siya crush. Ang pangit niya!

Brow House will opening soon, according to my sister.

I'm growing my brows out that's why they're all bushy and in a state of disarray. But they'll soon be plucked (or threaded or waxed, I don't know) clean.

Happy happy joy joy!

We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same.
— Anne Frank

I'm 26 years and 3 days old. I still can't bloody believe that I'm in my late 20s already. Anyway, I don't feel old. As usual, I am my old, retarded self. Haha. Sabi nga sa commercial, it's okay to be 40, as long as you look 30. In my case, it's okay to be 26, as long as I look 14. Not. I don't even know if I look old or young for my age. Some people comment that I still could pass off as a college student, while some get surprised that I'm only 26. I often get the surprised-that-I'm-only-26 comments from salesladies, etc. who get my info or something-- they don't know they look way older than me yet they're younger. Whatever.

For my birthday, we just ate lunch out- courtesy of AB. I thought it was mommy's treat, hindi pala. It was more like an ordinary Sunday since it was also overshadowed by another event that was to happen the next day. There were times that I'll even realize that it's my birthday pala. Pero keri na rin. I was happy that day. Maybe you would just have to decide to be happy. Plus, there were no expectations, right? Most often than not, the expectations I set are high that things often fall short if it. Better to not have expectations or expect nothing much from people, things, etc.

I'm trying to be happy. I guess effective naman siya since I feel happy nowadays. I take pleasure in the simple things in life. A lot of people greeted me on my birthday and even just for that, I am happy. There were other factors but mainly I have to attribute it to the decision I made. Oo nga pala, although I was happy there was a part of me that was sad for this one particular reason I would rather not discuss here. Keri.

The Thailand trip is already next week but I am not 100% sure if it will push through since there's some kind of political unrest in the country. I hope that they resolve that before the week ends. Ano ba!?! I'm so looking forward to this trip since it's my first time to go to a foreign country, plus I've been pining for loads of spicy dilis and sampaloc and tom yum soup for years! Please don't deprive me of this. I'm so so so excited!

feliz cumple

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to, cry if I want to...

For the first time in years I am awake at the onset of my birthday. For years, I see to it that I am asleep before clock strikes 12 since I want people to greet me when I wake up in the morning of my birthday. Mas feel ko siya baga nang bonggang-bongga. After days of anticipation, it's finally here. What now? I don't really have an idea. Most especially that we'll be having another special event on the 7th. Basta I'm happy :D

I'm happy that I'm happy. I hope I'll be forever happy. I hope from now on I'll only have three moods: happy, happier and happiest. Ya esta. No mas.

summer, kind of wonderful

After a gazillion light years, the Gossip Girl torrent has finally downloaded completely. Is it just me or this episode was really a little boring? None of those big opening act drama, being the first episode of season 2 and all. I was expecting more. Haay nako, me and my expectations.

Even after a whole season of watching GG, it still hasn't sunk into my brain that these kids are supposed to be in high school. While watching this episode, I was wondering whether or not what was happening was fictional or really happens in real American lives. I can't believe they're 17-year-olds! When I was 17, my classmates and I would still play Langit Lupa during lunchtime.

This has got to be my favorite scene in this episode. Not for anything else but the scenery. I'm not a fan of the Chuck and Blair tandem (or Chair, as other GG fans would like to call them-- stupid name compounding). Mare, ang gulo talaga ni Chuck, eh. Maybe if Chuck stayed true to that he'll love Blair and be loyal to her as what he said during the very last episode of s1, I could've been a fan of the tandem. But no, he had to live up to his reputation.

At the beginning, I was starting to get annoyed at Dan Humphrey. Yes, the Dan Humphrey I used to adore. Haha. Na-feeling-an ako sa kanya since he was dating girls left and right, as if he hadn't just broken up with his girlfriend recently. I was sort of relieved when he said that he was doing it to distract him from the recurring thoughts of Serena. But Dan succumbed to his feelings and went to the Hamptons to see Serena. Cece answered the door. I thought Cece would shoo Dan away like she did last season, but surprisingly, she did not. Instead, she lent Dan a white ensemble so he could go to the White Party. Happy ending na sana but...

BUSTED

he came just in time to see Nate and Serena kissing. Although it was only an act to make Nate's azucar de mama jealous. In the end, Serena and Dan reconciled and so we will have a 2nd season full of Dan and Serena PDA-galore moments. That's another thing I hated in this episode, puro halikan. If you combine all the kissing scenes, if must have taken up 10 minutes of the an episode's 40-minute run.

what i currently like

• Rachel Bilson's style. I love it, except for the hideous ugly gladiator sandals. I never watched OC (and never will) but I liked her on Chuck. Clothes always look good on her.
  
  

• David Archuleta's new single Crush. I didn't like the kid during his American Idol days. I always thought he looked strange and a bit gay. I didn't like his singing style back then. Well, I don't know if his singing style changed or maybe I was just biased since my bet was David Cook. Plus, I always liked the lesser popular beings. I thought Archuleta was overrated but this song has converted me from being an anti. I love it.

this is my september

Inevitable first-day-of-the-month post alert!

Parang kailan lang ako nagsulat ng first-day-of-the-month post ah. So here goes the default that goes with first day chuva posts - "Grabe, time flies even when you're not having fun." :P Not that everything has been crappy. There were highs and lows and steady moments.

September has always been my favorite month. I don't know if I'm biased since it's my birth month, but I always thought that September is the most beautiful name a month could have. Speaking of birthdays, I'm having mine on Saturday (already!) and I don't know how I'll celebrate it. One thing's for sure, it'll be spent with my family. Kung saan kami kakain, yan ang hindi ko alam. AD suggested a newly-opened Thai restaurant somewhere in the Ortigas area. Ewan ko pa. Bahala na si Batman.

I was excited for my birthday, but then Vicky had to point out that I'll be 26 soon. Chet. So now I'm kinda dreading it, but I'm excited about it at the same time. Nothing really happens on my birthday, just the default: eat out with family and maybe a movie. Pero I look forward to my birthdays EVERY YEAR. Masaya kasi mag-countdown. So after my birthday, I'll count the days til Christmas. Lapit na rin Christmas. Just the idea of that Christmas is just around the corner excites me.