Things I Used To Do

Activities I used to do regularly which I wish I could do again:

1) Watching Repertory plays
2) Teaching in Ateneo
3) Attending one-on-one dance class every Saturday
4) Traveling to Sagada yearly, bringing friends who haven't been there before
5) Conceptualizing and executing a "Grand Prank for A Good Cause"

Elusive Macau!

Forces in the universe seem to be conspiring to prevent me from flying to Macau this December.

Each and every potential travel companion has backed out for varying reasons.

My family could not make it due to work commitments.
Sam wanted to, tried to make it work but things didn't pan out.
Steph said yes initially but had to back out because of personal stuff.
Rey said yes but had to take it back because of a darned Salary Review deadline! He would've been the perfect companion because he's already jumped off that tall building and has lived to tell the tale! He can give me the much needed moral support as I try it.
Anji, to my surprise, was raring to go with me, but also had to back out because of an unexpected change in family plans.

Aaaargghh. Why oh why?? Should I force the issue? Or is this some sort of message that going off to this lovely, lovely place when all signs point to stay would be a grave mistake? Sam's prophecy of doom is kind of scary.

Maybe I should just save my money for something else. :'(

The Last Two Weeks

...have been spent eating and eating. Good thing my metab is cooperating! Here's where I've been recently with family and friends:

Antonio's Tagaytay.
Perfect in every way! Wedding reception material.

Barcino, Julia Vargas.
A cozy date place. Yummy!

East Creative Asian Cafe, Rustan's Makati. So-so, not much of an impact on me.


[no photo] Sala Bistro, Greenbelt 3.
Delightful. I love its interiors, too.

Tatami, Serendra.
My mind wasn't on the food, but I suppose it was good. :p

Tropezz Restaurant Bar, Greenbelt 3. Novel dishes. I like.

Faces from Cooking School

Enjoying the brief calm before the storm...

Chefs doing what they do best (notice the big big pot)

My teammates in action (while I steal a moment to take a photo)

Me taking a picture of me

Past Life Musings - Part 2 of 2

I just finished watching a few episodes of Criminal Minds Season 1 with my sisters who are viewing it for the first time. This leads me to think about past lives once again.

I wonder why I'm so drawn to crime-solving. Back in college when I was taking up Legal Management and still planning to go to law school, I so wanted to specialize in Criminal Law. I love watching crime shows. I'm a big fan of CSI Las Vegas, Criminal Minds, and Without A Trace. I'm also into crime novels. I have all of Agatha Christie's 80+ novels and plays. It took me a couple of years and 4 countries to complete the whole set, but once I started I couldn't stop! (Trivia: Agatha Christie is the most published author of all time in any language, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare). I also have a Sherlock Holmes collection, as well as novels by P.D. James and Mary Higgins Clark, among others. Needless to say, I like watching and dissecting crime films which a lot of people find depressing, like the Hannibal series, The Bone Collector, Copycat.

I like the puzzles, I enjoy figuring out who the culprit is, but more than anything, I am interested in finding out the "why" behind the crime - the motive. There's just so much about human nature that's explained in these shows and books: how people behave under certain circumstances, what makes them behave the way they do. Motive could be money, love, pride, power, security, to name a few. Others couldn't help the way they are because of traumatic childhood experiences. I learned that the making of a criminal is rooted in childhood and family...Some criminals are born (because of physiological dysfunctions), but most of them are made early on in life. (Attention all parents...)

Hmmm...I'm not sure though which side of the law I was on in my past life. I could've been a detective, a law enforcer...or maybe a criminal? Yikes! Hehe :p But if I had a choice, I would love it if I were a Profiler. I prefer to call it "mindhunter" -- catching criminals by thinking like them, predicting their next moves. So fascinating. But also so chilling. Oh well. I wonder if I have what it takes? One has to be extremely, remarkably emotionally sturdy. I guess to maintain my poise and creepy positivism, I'd have to take unbelievably grand vacations every so often! :D

The Art of Soothing

According to Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence book, a key component of managing emotions is the ability to soothe oneself when needed.

How do I soothe me? Let me count the ways...

1. Having warm milk and cookies (or cake). Such a cliche, but it works for me! The best milk drink I've had so far is Lindtt's hot chocolate which I discovered in Sydney a few months back. Truly heaven on earth. Freshly-warmed chocolate cake is also my all-time fave.
2. Eating comfort food a.k.a. going on an eat-all-I-can Chinese food spree!
3. Shopping! This is a surefire pick-me-upper.
4. Organizing my closet -- as in arranging items by type and color, removing those I don't intend to use anymore, cleaning and sanitizing my shoe drawers...Very therapeutic!
5. Journaling. Writing down my thoughts and feelings helps me put things in perspective.
6. Going away. Going someplace I've never been to before perks me up, especially if it involves plenty of sightseeing, eating, and shopping! If I knew how to drive, driving off to a far place will be under this category.
7. Playing hooky! There's something about playing hooky that's so refreshing! (Maybe because it temporarily frees the rule-breaker in me?)
8. Talking to a trusted confidant. Praying is part of this. Being in the company of energy-givers is always helpful. Also, I steer clear of emotional vampires when I'm not in tiptop shape (because they only make a person feel worse)!

May we always be soothed when we need to be soothed...

Snippets from Cooking School

It was a grueling weekend of cooking at CCA...My classmates and I were so exhausted after each lesson we didn't have energy for anything else but sleep. Each day's session was intensive, simulating what happens in a professional kitchen. We were on our feet 9am to 6pm, putting together our assigned dishes, pressured all around! To think we didn't have actual customers yet demanding their food to be served pronto!

I like all our teachers so far, especially Chef Eric of Day 1. I like his down-to-earth and practical teaching style as well as his dry humor. His trivia on why a rat of all things was used as the protagonist in the film Ratatouille was an Aha! for me. A memorable scene from the first day was Chef Eric sampling the cream of celery soup I prepared. Here's the verdict:

Chef Eric in action

Chef: Ang sama ng lasa ng celery soup na 'to!! (imagine him saying this with a pained facial expression, hand slapping the counter top and dramatically pushing the plate away)

Me (to myself): Ay ang OA ni Chef! Hehehe.
Me (to Chef): Chef, sorry, hindi ko na natikman! Nakulangan sa time!
Chef (exasperated): Guys, don't ever ever serve anything na hindi niyo tinitikman. You should do that every step of the way, not when you can't do anything about it anymore!
Me (to myself): Oo nga naman! What was I thinking? I wasn't thinking at all!
Me (to Chef): Yes Chef. Sorry sorry!

Chef Chris in action

Chef Chris of Day 2 loves what he does and it definitely shows in the way he conducts class. He's crazy about butter, salt, and pepper. (I will never take these three items for granted again!) He's really OC about us keeping our workstations clean. I could still hear him giving us regular time checks -- shouting how many hours, then minutes, then seconds we have left before serving time. PRESSURE! Mercifully, he adjudged the two dishes I prepared "okay" though he said my pasta could be enhanced further with more salt and parmesan cheese! Whew.

I had lots of musings when the dust finally settled. :)

Decisions, Decisions

I'm waiting for a sign for a certain decision I need to make soon. It is also possible that circumstances will just make it for me and I simply need to wait. Or perhaps it will be status quo.

I've always been an intuitive decision-maker, especially when it comes to life decisions. Rarely do I go through the logical-rational process, do a cost-benefit analysis, or chart pros and cons. I go by my gut, by what I feel. Does it feel right? Will I be at peace if I decide to take this path? These are some of the questions I ask myself. It's certainly not scientific, but I can say I've managed to get things right somehow. :) So far, thankfully, I haven't had any regrets. Except maybe for this one thing that can be classified as "the thing that got away" :p

Anyway, I will know soon. Tomorrow will give me an initial idea if it's this or that. Good luck to me!

Heart to Heart Talk

Tomorrow I will undergo two tests that have to do with the heart, just to rule out some stuff (I'm sure it's nothing serious). In keeping with this hearty theme, I did a little research on the human heart and got some interesting tidbits.

• The heart is the most important muscle in the human body! We need to exercise it at least 15-20 minutes each day to make it strong. (Hmmm...most people are focused on working out their leg and arm muscles, but not their heart. Tsk tsk!)
  
• The heart is about the size of our fist. (Does it follow that if one has a big heart, one also has a big fist and vice versa? Heehee)
  
• An adult heart pumps 7,500 liters of blood daily. It takes 20 seconds to pump blood to every cell in our body. (How infinitely bloody.)
• The heart uses a network of tubes to get blood throughout the body. These tubes are called blood vessels. If we lined up all the blood vessels in our body end to end, they would wrap around the earth twice! (Whoa. So many things inside my body!)
  
• The heart beats on the average 70 times per minute. That's 4,200 beats per hour, approximately 100,000 beats per day! (So this is what the expression "My heart beats for you" means -- all 100,000 of them each day! Woohoo!)
  

I have other questions in mind to which I couldn't find answers. Maybe someone out there has them:

• Can one really get sick or die of a broken heart?
• Where do broken hearts go?
  
• How can one have a healthy heart and still be heartless?

Happy hearts' day every single day! :)

Favorite People 1: My Little Sister

I’m sitting here inside the cardiologist’s clinic waiting for my turn to be examined. This is the second time in 3 months I find myself dragged to the hospital. As always, my sister-doctor arranged everything for me so all I have to do is show up.

Nonet is the youngest sister. That makes her my little sister, though I'm only 2 years older than her.

Funny, she’s profiled us - her three sisters - on how she can keep us in line medically. Anne, the eldest, will respond to prophecies of health doom; fear is the key to compliance! Emi, the 2^nd eldest, is an all-around good girl, so she’s quite easy to deal with. I’m the stubborn and defiant one. I’m best handled with subtlety, and if all else fails, with combined mother & sister wrath!

Nonet is an Internal Medicine resident at Metropolitan Hospital, a Chinese hospital at the heart of Manila. She joined them 3 years ago because of their notable Internal Medicine Program. When I asked her why she chose to specialize in IM, she told me her decision was based on two things:
1) what would come in handy for our parents who are getting old;
2) what would come in handy if the family is in a plane en route somewhere and there’s a medical emergency with one of us.

I guess Internal Medicine was the answer. She’s set to pursue her sub-specialization next year, but she’s still choosing between Neurology (groovy!) and Infectious Diseases (interesting but lethal!). Doctors study forever, it seems.

Nonet doesn’t know it, but she is my favorite sister! I suppose this is how every big sis feels towards her little sis. I remember when she was a kid she would pronounce certain words incorrectly: bathrobe became bathrog, New Year was pronounced New Nyear, episode was ebizode hahaha! I also recall a time many years back -- the whole family was solemnly praying the rosary when suddenly and absent-mindedly, Nonet blurts with feelings: “Og og og og og!” What the?! When we were growing up, the two of us were roommates (this was my mom’s strategy for forging the bonds of sisterhood; our 2 elder sisters were roommates, too). Nonet and I had one and only one joint mission in life then: to get our hands on our sisters’ diaries so we could read them!! (By the way, we DID achieve our mission heehee.)

I realized she was not a little girl anymore one New Year’s Eve a couple of years back. I had a sudden urge to sort out her shoes -- out with the old, bring in the new! There were several pairs of shoes I wasn’t sure she was still using, so I called her up. She was on hospital duty that night. I asked her cheerily if she'd still like to keep X and Y shoes. There was silence from her end, then she replied in an extremely calm way: “Do I really have to decide on that now?” I said no, not really (still cheery), and said bye. I asked my mom afterwards where she was stationed, my mom said she was in charge of the ER. On New Year’s Eve. When emergency cases abound. Oops. Later I found out when she is “in charge of” or “on duty” in a certain area, it means she’s fully accountable for everything that happens in it – life and death. The buck stops with her. Wow. She's responsible for lives, my little sister. Saving lives and trying not to get people killed hehehe. And I was asking her about shoes during a highly stressful time, sheesh.

She’s a brainy one, my sis, but she also has infinite capacity for being silly. She makes me laugh like no other with her antics. She’s good with her patients, most especially the old ones. So gentle and charming. Even with me -- when I'm sick, she holds my hand, no matter how trying I could be. She will always be my little sister, though she's probably seen more of life than I have -- through the faces of her patients, those she’s helped get better, and also those she's had to let go. I'm glad she turned out to be a great gal -- a competent doctor who loves what she does and takes her calling to heart. I'm proud of her and I respect her ability. And I'm proud of how she can keep me in line!

And that's why I'm still here inside the cardio's clinic, patiently waiting for my turn though I'm itiching to go. Because if I bolt, I'm dead meat when she catches me! :p

10 Cardinal Rules of Shopping

I love to shop. I enjoy going on shopping marathons -- marathon being an entire day (or weekend) of hopping from one store to another, or hopping all around town from one mall to another!

Here are my own 10 Cardinal Rules of Shopping which I follow pretty strictly:

1. Shop alone. Shopping is purely "me time." That's why I also find it very therapeutic.
2. Eat before shopping. I tend to lose track of time and don't remember to eat when I'm already in the thick of things. :)
3. Be at the mall when it opens. Not only do I maximize the hours, I also get to shop without many people around.
4. Wear the right attire. My outfit should facilitate ease of fitting and shopping. This means:

• No hair accessories, no eyeglasses, no belt
  
• No jewelry except my watch (I learned this the hard way when I lost an earring after fitting)
• A top that's easily removed and slipped back on (no ribbons that have to be re-tied, no layered clothing, no buttons as much as possible, no jacket or any superflous clothing)
• Comfortable pants or a casual skirt
  
• Shoes that are comfy and are easily slipped on and off (no buckles, no laces, no heels most especially!)

5. Bring a big bag. It should be big enough to contain all small purchases so I don't have to carry them around separately on top of the big ones.
6. Never shop when in a hurry. Unless I know exactly what to get. I've made several bad buys because of this -- I tried to squeeze shopping in when I was already being fetched, or when it was near closing time. Shopping should be leisurely...even when it's a marathon!
7. When in doubt, don't. Here's what I tell myself: "I will not buy this today. When I come back for it it's still available and I still like it, it was truly meant for me!" (Hahaha, ang OA!)
8. When inexplicably drawn to an item, do. I rely on my intuition a lot when I shop, and I rarely regret the purchases I make intuitively.
9. Go for timeless and top quality. Fads are not my thing. I am not brand-conscious-for-the-sake-of-being-brand-conscious, but there are certain brands I am faithful to because over time, they have proven to be worth my investment.
10. Stay within means. I never buy anything that I cannot pay for immediately in cash, though I always use my credit card. I love to shop, but I won't ever let it drown me in debt! :)

Yipee am going shopping tomorrow! Happy shopping to me!