Sushi

Just had some TERRIFIC sushi today.

There's a new sushi place/fish market on Yellowstone Blvd, which is just a couple of blocks from our palce. They don't have a menu or anything, but the chef is really nice so if you tell him what you like, he'll make you something you're sure to love. Great, great sushi! Super fresh fish with a very clean taste. Superbly done, and he's got an eye for the details. Plus he's really nice. If you're ever in Forest Hills, you should definitely drop by. Today he made us two kinds of rolls. The first kind consisted of slivers of spicy salmon and a tiny wedge of avocado wrapped in nori and topped with salmon roe. The second kind again had a wedge of avocado, but this time it was sandwiched between thin slices of spicy salmon and spicy tuna, sprinkled with some crunchy toasted sesame seeds.

Ah. Scrumptious.

When we went in today, this little white boy plopped on the bar stool in front of the sushi chef, counted out some dollar bills, and ordered some spicy salmon rolls. He couldn't have been more than 10 years old. It was really cute. Just goes to show that good sushi is transcendental.

I love sushi. Yum.

Krystal's

Inuman sa Krystal's kagabi. With matching karaoke. Sakto.

Cast of characters included me, Pat, Kat, King and Odin. A plate of sisig and lechon kawali. Beers galore and a videoke machine that played such memorable hits as Laklak, Princesa, With a Smile, and Toyang. The rain had me drenched to the bone. Bagyo at baha! Reminiscing high school memories. Pinoys as far as the eye could see.

I almost forgot we were in New York.

Hay.

Happy happy

In the tired but satiated residuum of Keka, I completely forgot that I had bought FIVE glorious books from a used book store near John's workplace in Brooklyn. So when I woke up today, I was pleasantly surprised by the sight of a black plastic bag full of reading material casually lying on the living room rug.

What a nice way to wake up.

And more Keka plugging: Watch it. Buy the damn DVD. Contrary to popular belief, it's not a skin flick. There isn't even a torried kissing scene. It's very amusing, it's very different from the usual Pinoy film, it's NOT at all preachy, it's funny, and it doesn't insult its audience. If you liked Kill Bill, you'll like this. (And it was released before Kill Bill too. And Ryan Eigenmann is really cute in this movie -- haha, me and my penchant for bad boy mestizos.)

I'm not being very articulate at all, I know. The books are taunting me. Off to read I go.

KEKA

I watched Keka at the Asia Society theater today and it was hilarious! So, so much fun. Loved the song and dance number scene.

Funny thing though. When it was about to start, this guy from the Film Festival announced that Quark was missing in action and they couldn't find him! At the end of the movie we saw Mr. Henares finally slink in (to not a few cheers and applause, I must say) for the Q&A. A lady asked him where he'd been and he said he went to St. Mark's to buy CD's. Haha, ditching his own movie for CD's. Cute.

Anyway, it was a really nice movie. Funny. Needless to say, I gave him top marks - they had a secret ballot thing for top director. I hope he wins.

Sorry the thoughts are scattered everywhere in this post. Kinda tired and sleepy. Watch Keka.

Affternoon in Pat's Place

Just some pictures from this afternoon. We watched this tagalog movie called Jologs, which I had never seen. It was really amusing.


Pat, me (in the back), and Ella in Pat's Manhattan-sized room.


Me in the middle of discussing something. I forget what.

So much world

There's so much of the world. Whenever my mood starts dipping I somehow always end up thinking of how very much "world" we actually have. Just looking at my friends who are spread out across the the globe makes the vastness of the world even more real. With the internet and all this global interconnectedness, it's easy to think of Earth as a teeny tiny planet, and in the greater scope of things it really is, but as a person, as a miniscule person, well, Earth is just vast and so full of possibilities, isn't it?

I have friends taking graduate studies in Germany, Singapore, France, Australia, in my native Philippines, and here in the US. I also have friends who went to schools (graduate or otherwise) in Switzerland, England, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and Hong Kong. I have friends seriously considering moving to Canada, Belgium, Italy, and all the other countries already mentioned. And you know what? In all honesty, even here in cosmopolitan New York, I'm one of the very few people I know, in my age bracket, whose friends have such international perspectives.

Maybe it's my particular batch. Maybe it's just the call of the times. Maybe everyone I know just has the same delusions of world domination. Whatever. Sometimes I just like mulling this over, because it puts the world in perspective for me, selfish and self-centered as I am.

The world is big, big, big. It's big enough to forver get lost in, big enough to find and discover places everyday, big enough take on new lives whenever we damn well please.

The world will not stop and implode just because my lifelong ambitions might never come to be. Life will not lose its meaning, just because MY own life seems insignificant. There's always some one out there, somewhere, who believes. My uniqueness doesn't make everyone else any less unique.

I'm not the only one who wants the world in the palm of her hand. I'm not the only one who wants to search, who wants to see the nooks and crannies.

And so forth, and so on. I can spend a whole afternoon just going with this thread. But I won't. After all, the world is calling.

Black Eyed Peas

Got this on Friendster:

As you know, the LUMPIA crew directed and produced the latest Black Eyed Peas music
video, "The Apl Song". Although the music video has been well-received in the Philippines with countless airplay, it has yet to debut in the country it was created in, the U.S. Since the song's chorus is sung in Tagalog the native Philippine language, the chances of the video hitting American TV sets are slim. We can CHANGE THAT!

On Monday, July 26, the number one video on MTV's Total Request Live will be "The Apl Song". Impossible? Only if you don't do YOUR part. Here's what you have to do:

More info at http://www.kidheroes.net/aplsong.htm

Now the big question: WHY JULY 26?
After watching the video, you'll have a better understanding of the underlying issue brought up in "The Apl Song" video. July 26 will be the 63rd year anniversary of the induction of the Filipino military organizations to fight in WWII under the U.S. flag. On July 26, 1941, President Roosevelt issued an Executive Order calling members of the Philippine Commonwealth Army into the service of the United States Armed Forces of the Far East . Under this order, Filipinos were entitled to full veterans' benefits. More than 100,000 Filipinos volunteered for the Philippine Commonwealth Army and fought alongside the United States armed forces. Today, a lot of these proud veterans have yet to be acknowledged and yet to receive their full benefits. For more information, please visit http://www.fullequitynow.com

Various organizations such as the Student Action for Veterans Equity are also holding their own events that day in recognition of our war veterans. We urge you all in joining us in this simple request. On July 26, an "invisible" community will yet take another step in being acknowledged. Good luck and start spreading the word!

Huay.

I just read this (July 14). It's true. Good fiction is always grounded on some form of conflict. Conflict almost always mars happiness. So all the stories you remember, all the great masterpieces, well, they're usually drenched in pain, in sorrow, in unrequited emotion, in a hundred reincarnations of conflict.

Happiness can be too trite, too innocent, too sweet, and when handled improperly, too shallow, even. I know most writers shun it. It's not the easiest emotion to pull off, it's not the easiest feeling to communicate. Happiness doesn't really push the story, it doesn't make characters go anywhere. When one's happy, one's usually content. There's no reason to change -- not in a big, intense way, anyway. One stays where one is, satisfied and smiling. So even when writers write in the happiness, it's used sparingly. A bit of it in the end, maybe, and a few other grains here and there.

But. Wouldn't it be great to prove them wrong? Wouldn't it be great to be able to write a story entrenched in happiness, and yet filled with as much depth and intensity as the best of them?

The Great Novel of Happiness. Huay. What would life mean for a character who was incredibly happy all the time, I wonder? Maybe she'd rather be dead.

Happy

For the past couple of weeks (months?) I've been waking up to an intense kind of, well, happiness. Not just passive contentment, or a mild sentiment of joy, but actual brimming over with smiles happiness. Grinning from ear to ear happiness. Almost kilig happiness. It's crazy, but it's amazing too.

It sounds a little weird, but I just wanted that on the record. This blog has born witness to so many of my gripes and rants, my confessions of inadequacy, my hundreds of catharses, my wallowing in various miseries, that I think a big dose of bliss should not go unrecorded. Plus I've got to admit, I like the absolute smugness of being able to categorically say that I am certifiably happy.

I haven't really written anything new recently, though, but that's just bcause my mind is still adjusting to the new atmosphere... I'm guessing there's a new set of electrodes and brain stem patterns controlling my cranium nowadays. I know the muse will be back, eventually.

So for now, I'm just going to wade in my soft, foamy, warm, fuzzy happiness.

Happy. Who would've thought.

Green card

I finally got my Permanent Resident Card from the USCIS in the mail today. It's actually from the Department of Justice, if you want to get all technical. Yay. Social security number shouldn't be very far behind.

Made abalone tempura for dinner. Was really good.

Drunken Weekend

Friday: Jubie's Housewarming Party.

Got DRUNK. Puking drunk. Disgustingly drunk. Burping dribbles of my dinner into my hair drunk. Not pretty.

Saturday: HANGOVER. Head not good, stomach not good. Nauseated, puky, and tired. Had to drink lots of multivitamins, lots of juice, and gallons of water in an effort to make myself feel better since I was having guests over in the evening. It sort of worked. Couldn't touch the alcohol even if I was in the middle of a Manila-style inuman, but that's what I get for metamorphosizing into such a wimpy, weak-stomached girl.

Cast of characters, some imported from Manila: Odin, King, Pat, Joy and Kat. Plus me and John of course. What fun. So very reminiscent of high school/college days in Ateneo.

Wish I had pictures to show for it, but the fact that I owned a camera just completely slipped my mind.

4th of July

So what have I been up to this week... watched Fahrenheit 9/11 las Thursday. Fun, fun movie that was. A fine two hours of Bush-bashing propaganda. Yay, yay, yay. Delicious.

Saturday we went to the Lower Eastside for Ravi's birthday. We went to this Moroccan place called Le Souk. Nice. They had belly dancers. I liked the decor - kind of like an eastern bordello. A bit expensive though. Dinner was pre-fixe at $30/person, and with the drinks and all, it went to more like $50 per.


My dinner - Lamb something. Scrumptious.


I don't know what my boyfriend is looking at either.
Me, John, Jubie, Rishi, Gigi and the birthday boy, Ravi


Me and Saba.

After that we walked a few blocks up to Horus, to smoke some hookahs. They had a belly dancer over there too.

I think we stayed a little too long though. People weren't really talking anymore, someone was even asleep, and after a while, I (and my impatient little butt) was just itching to get out of there. But then that's just me. It was fun for the most part - if a little painful for my wallet.

Sunday, we had lunch at John's mom's place. Food was really good. John, Sandy, and I took a walk around Flushing after lunch in an effort to speed up digestion, I guess. Stuffed we were. Very much so. Didn't really do anything by way of fireworks. Got too lazy (I blame my claustrophobia).

Numerology

Filched from Joey. Obviously, had nothing better to do.

Expression: 7
The Expression number shows us who we truly are, what we came into this life already knowing. This is where we feel most comfortable and how we automatically act. We attract people and situations to us that require our Expression so that they can further evolve. In this way we play the role of teacher. Naturally we are attracted to occupations that we resonate to, so the Expression number can be a strong factor in our choice of a career as well. Our Expression is the vehicle, with all its virtues and vices, that drives us along the path of our Destiny. It is the essence of our identity.

Yours is the path of the mind. Silence and solitude are your doorways into the deep recesses of the mind and the universe. You are the philosopher, the analyst, the seeker and if you'd be willing, the teacher. The time and energy that you spend discovering the microscopic core of things has gifted you with the ability to tap into psychic energy. It is with this energy that you can separate the true from the false.

Soul Urge: 2
The Soul Urge number has also been called Heart's Desire and Spiritual Urge. It is our secret, innermost longing. Our dream, our motivation, the fuel that energizes our journey. The Soul Urge number reveals what we secretly strive to be or accomplish. Some have said that this number tells us what we have been in previous lifetimes, the accumulated growth of our soul.

Peace and harmony is your desire. You are a natural mediator as you are genuine, tactful and adaptable. You tend to put your own will aside for others and it is difficult for you to make decisions. This may cause others to see you as shy, or lacking confidence. Your sensitivity and gentleness can be a great healing force bringing harmony and support to others.

Persona: 5
The Persona number describes the way we appear to the outside world, the first impression people have of us. We may not even be aware of how we are perceived by others because we are so often focused on our inner world, and many times the inner does not match the outer. Persona gives us a peek at some hidden talents we have. The talents that we use to get along in the world and in some instances, protect us from it. It is likened to a bag of tools (jewels) that we carry with us along the way.

You've got charisma, and a following to prove it. You live by your belief that change is progress, and so there tends to be a quick turn over in your relationships, jobs and even educational interests. You are the proverbial, " jack of all trades-master of none.", and this gives you a multi-dimensionality that befriends you to people of every walk of life. You are colorful in your dress and possess a magnetic sensuality.

Get yours HERE.