All in but the kitchen sink

Packing is a lot like health insurance leads. It’s personal, customized to individual needs, certainly not a one-size-fits all thing. It’s like a discipline, packing. You get better with practice.

In all honesty, I’d draw flake for my packing skills, or lack thereof. While it’s relatively easy for some people to pack their things in an hour or less, it takes me weeks and weeks of notes and pre-plan planning to get my packing in order. Last-minute packing gets on my nerves and I snap at everyone for every little thing – for not making me dinner, for misplacing my stuff and for being annoyingly cheerful.

This week, I’ll be in Manila for one week. With everything so topsy-turvy and hectic, I barely had time to pack, with the end result of having my mom drone on endlessly about the importance of not procrastinating. But take note. I did NOT procrastinate. Endless office OTs and rotating blackouts stole my time away.

Being on the slightly heftier side of things does not help either. From my meager experience in traveling, I had to carefully plan out my clothes, making sure that they weren't too short or too tight. Unlike petite ladies. They can use anything and they'd still look adorable. Dressing rehearsals are a must in my packing agenda. I’d prefer shirts and jeans anytime, but when you have bosses and jobs, you do what you have to do, though you don’t necessarily want it.

It’s a miracle that I managed to pack all of my things for this week in one trolley. Everything’s neat, light and budgeted. I’ve even got some extra space. Either means I’m getting good at this packing thing or I left something at home. Let’s hope I did not, yes?

It’s going to be a busy week. Looking forward to getting through deadlines, going shopping, seeing Zamboanga again and finally claiming in those OT credits for a week-long vacation.

It’s one, two, three, and suddenly, I see it at a glance

During our trip back to Zamboanga from Dakak last year, my boss casually asked me if I cooked. A tricky question, that. If cooking means pancit canton, noodles and fried fish, then yes, I can cook. But if you mean cooking like mix, seasoning, flavors and spices, then that’s another story.

My boss, upon learning my specialty of fried fish, insisted that I learn how to cook.

So, now I’ve got my aunt teaching me simple recipes for desserts. On my boss’ suggestion, I’m learning how to prepare the fairly simple mango float. According to my aunt, I still need to perfect my pouring skills (I poured more cream on the table rather than on the bowl I was aiming for). But she’s promised to teach me more desserts next week. We’ll be starting with the easy stuff, nothing hard. It’ll have lots of cream, sugar and overnight freezing.

I think it’s about time that I learned to cook. And let posterity note that it’s got nothing to do with that bull that the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. This one is for me.

I’ve always depended on others to prepare my meals. I’m dependent on fast food chains, instant noodles and junk foods for sustenance. To finally be able to prepare a dish would mean that I am learning the art of decisions. In cooking, it’s the conscious decision of waking up, looking at the fridge, getting the ingredients, mixing it up and serving it with a flourish. It’s really a quite selfless act, to cook for the family for a change instead of waiting for the food to be served.

And isn’t being able to make decisions, no matter how small, the mark of an adult? I’m growing up and getting ready to become an independent individual, no matter how late I already am on that department.

Despite being a total noodlehead in the culinary arts, I do make a mean sinigang. It’s my mom’s favorite dish, and I learned how to cook it when she came down with vertigo when I was in high school. My cousin finished 3 platefuls of my sinigang today, and there's not a single dollop left for tomorrow.

The secret to a great sinigang? Tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes. As in life, give and take generous helpings of anything and everything, and you've got it in the bag.

So I’m learning to cook. Who would have thunk it?

In search of glory and honor, we walk in the garden of his turbulence

Being a pessimist has its benefits – it keeps you on your toes, gives you that extra eye for details. Tomorrow at work, all hell breaks lose, with all the bosses present, and with barely a week left for preparations, before we leave for Manila for a major event.

Truth to tell, I’m catatonic with fright. I’m already steeling myself for a bloody week, where my nose will be rubbed raw from all the grinding I’m expecting to take. My apprehension is more on the fact that I can’t seem to pull myself together for work, no matter how much I try to psych myself out, no matter how many post-its I leave on my desk, no matter how long I stay on my workstation, compulsively opening and saving files.

It’s as if my system has gone into hibernation, to prepare myself from the physical backlash that awaits me in the coming days. While I wallow in the calm that is before the storm, I list, rune and muse the things that need to be done, things that I should be doing instead of wiling my time away on movies, online frivolity and general fluff. I’m trying to change, but I’m big on procrastination and cramming.

And I can’t relax unless I’m on the same wavelength of hectic-ness as everyone else. I’ve got a list of things to do, and unless I can scratch some of them out, I’m a ticking timer on a countdown to hysteria. I can’t relax if everyone is busy and I’m not. I’m a dog with a serious case of flea infestation if I finish a job earlier than everyone else because I tend to believe in the adage that if you found something easy to do, you probably did it wrong.

I wish I can just sleep and wake up to find my deadlines and tasks done and over with. I want to do without this pressure, the feeling of air being sucked out of a room, leaving you in a vacuum void of anything but woe and bleak horizons. But if that were the case, how am I supposed to splurge in Manila next week? Every cloud has a silver lining. Mine is National Bookstore and Comic Alley. Hurhur.

I’m trying not to think of what will happen tomorrow, the day after that, the week after February. After all, I can’t change anything. And as what I’ve learned in OT last Saturday, there’s nothing you can do unless people learn the courtesy of replying to emails prompt and early.

Tonight, I pray for the Lord to take this nagging feeling from me, and as the prayer goes, to give me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change. I ask for Him to ease my worries, to find joy and satisfaction in a thorough job done. I’ll ask for a good night sleep, for a sound mind and a fit body tomorrow.

I’ll run through the forest to bury the acorn and forget.

Where do you expect us to go when the bombs fall?

A month ago, a bomb exploded, followed by another, early in the morning in the city. Thankfully, there were no casualties and no injuries, except for a couple of park bouganvillas gone to flower heaven. The incident hardly caused a fuss among Zamboanguenos. It hardly made the evening news, too. Some didn’t even know what happened.

Which goes to show how used we Zamboanguenos are to this kind of life. The worst bombing incident in this city happened when I was in high school. Bombs exploded in the middle of the commercial district, killing dozens and injuring millions. When you live in such a volatile area, you get used to walking around with eyes in your back. As time goes by, you develop a kind of bravura exclusive only to those who live in no-man’s land – a polished, sort of nonchalance, a frightening normalcy in the midst of chaos.

When the latest bombing happened, everyone went to work as usual. No holiday was declared. Just another day in Zamboanga. Doesn’t mean we weren’t scared. When things like these happen, you get scared and you think of the future. You think of things – the what-ifs, that car you wanted to buy, the book you haven’t read, the health insurance leads you were thinking of following up, your dream job. A couple of my friends have even thought of moving to another city with a more secure peace and order situation.

Whatever happens, though, we go on. The things that happen in this city do not define the people who live in it. Sure, we get scared. But we do the best we can with what we have.

And we hope for a better day tomorrow, where bombs don't fall anymore.

Do a little dance, give a little love

I have to hand it to my friends, we are really making good on our collective promise to be more socially outgoing twentysomethings. Now that we’re more open-minded about drinking, partying and stuff, we find going out for a weekend get together real easy. Being gainfully employed and experiencing a latent surge of hormones due to the late emergence of puberty are certainly contributing factors too, but I think it’s the habit of splitting the tab expenses between ourselves that makes us so willing to go out and splurge.

Take for example this month’s get together. We went for pizza and coffee, thinking that we were all full anyways, when we were really not. We ended up ordering two platefuls of pizza. On our last two slices, we learned that DJ is going to make it. It took all my willpower to leave them two pizza slices alone. I’m a considerate friend, you see. I want DJ to have something to eat when he comes. And besides, one bite and we’ll be splitting the tab fiveways instead of four. Teehee.

Total damages for the week: P 91.00.

The relatively cheap expenses for food (once split) notwithstanding, the conversations we have are always the best part of these social activities, the part that I really look forward to. Tonight, me and Toni talked quite a lot about mangas and animes. It’s nice to know that somebody shares my interest for Ouran High School Host Club and Hajime no Ippo and who isn’t completely baffled when I say things like shonen, forbidden brotherly love and Fairy Tail.

We talk about anything. We talk about work and how we want to be richer than we already are. We reminisce quite a lot, too. Reminiscing is way more fun when you had a quirky life in high school with equally quirky teachers who take offense when you laugh while they’re talking about siopaos.

And we talk some more. Of our dreams, of how we want to go to the gym to further support our blossoming social lives, of going abroad, of serving the country, of finding that someone, of being happy, of being proud of how we, in our own little ways, are successful in our fields. We gossip like old women. We make plans to travel to Boracay, Baguio and Hong Kong Disneyland. We bicker over pizza slices.

And we drink beer! Technically, they chug the beerz. I sip, make a face and order a tall glass of water.

Once, I got curious. Everybody else was drinking beer and apparently enjoying it. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against beer. I just can’t see why people enjoy it so much when it’s so bitter.

It’s like this, so they say. When you drink beer, you lose your inhibitions.

And that’s a good thing, right? I ask.

Of course. When you spend a week holed up in your room studying for biochem exams and you’ve got only one day to blow off all that steam, drinking the beers and getting wasted is the only way to go.

Interesting, I think. Justifiable. And plausible.

However, I prefer to have my inhibitions up and running. I’m anal that way. Also, when I need to blow off steam, I watch TV. Or play basketball.

And I'm struck with the realization that I’ll never finish a bottle of beer, never get wasted, never be inebriated enough to wobble clumsily down streets in my life. I think I’m missing quite an experience, yes? Note to self: try to drink more than 4 teaspoons of beer next time. I have low alcohol tolerance, so maybe inebriation is only a couple of sips away.

It’s a nice thing to have conversations over pizza and beerz. I’m not complaining. So chug away, guys.

Winter 2010: Durarara!, Katanagatari

Finally, an anime season that is worth watching! The previous anime seasons had nothing that really interested me. Lots of titles in varying degrees of suckiness. This year's Winter anime line-up may not be as epic as the 2007 season. And it will never be as epic because 2007 had Gurren Lagann, and 2010 doesn't.

But there are one or two titles that look promising. Huzzah!

Durarara!

Thinking, breathing, being bad-ass.

I initially wanted to watch Durarara! because it was from the same guys who brought us Baccano!. But after watching 4 episodes, Durarara! has got what it takes to stand on its own.

Durarara! channels a lot of Baccano! goodness, which is good and has me all nostalgic again, and it's unfolding to be a great story. It has a huge cast, interesting characters, a fair amount of gore and supernatural and fast-paced action. One would likely get lost within the frenzy of activities in Durarara!, especially if you haven't watch Baccano! yet (which is, trust me, even more frenzied than Durarara!). It's important to note that the story proceeds in a non-linear structure. Think one major event, different viewpoints.

This has the potential to be absolutely kick-ass. Or it can spontaneously combust. But 4 episodes in and so far, it has been great. Now I have to wait another week or so before the next episode comes out.

Damn, I miss Baccano! so much. I wasn't able to save a copy of the series from my laptop from my previous job. Ach, dang it, I miss you Ferio!!!

Katanagatari

Kawai, neh? *blink, blink, blink*

Interesting premise, solid cast, simple animation and clean lines. I just finished the first episode over lunch. It has all the right stuff in the right places. I appreciate the quirky comedy too. I lolled quite a bit while chewing on a particularly hard piece of meat. Here's the OP credits.

Katanagatari will only air one, 50-minute episode each month (!). Not good news for someone who's already hook and interested to see how things turn out. However, since it'll take a month to produce each episode, I prolly can expect great stuff to come, since the studios will have more time to do things right. One thing I'd like to see more are fight scenes because them fight animation rocks.

For now, these 2 are the only titles that have piqued my interest. I'm planning to give Ookami Kakushi a whirl because I need something dark to tide me until the next season. Will also catch up on Fall 2009 titles, especially Kimi ni Todoke. I need the fluffy romance factor too, now that February is here.