My Mom is coming

My Mom is coming to visit me... Quite frankly, I don't know what to make of it. I want to see her, but I'm not looking forward to it. It's just a break from what I regularly do. And what I'm not looking forward to especially is the rants and unsolicited advice she'll give me. When I was a kid, I hated those.

I learned to tune out what my Mom would say to me. I didn't want to do what she said. I'm an adult now, and yet I feel like a kid when my Mom is around. The truth is, I don't know how to act like an adult around my Mom, or Dad for that matter.

And it's something I don't particular like....

They say that when you have acknowledge that which bothers you, then the healing can begin. I hope I can get to that stage. I have 1 and a half months to reflect on it...

Car trouble

It's 5am now. And before I sleep, let me write something to go. My roommate and I watched a move at around 4pm. After it finished, we decided to drive 30 minutes south to north miami beach and go visit this filipino restaurant that I looked up on the Net.

At first sight, I was kind of disappointed at the restaurant. It's front appearance wasn't classy, more like a mom-and-pop shop. We went inside and I was further disappointed at the limited choices of entrees. Eventually, I ordered adobo and sinigang. My friend ordered adobo and menudo.

After being completely full, we threaded northbound heading back home. I had something to catch and we decide to jet as soon as we were ready to leave. On our way back, the rain was a real downpour. I had my wipers in full blast, but the visibility of the road was still bad.

I finally exited the highway, and, after about 100 meters later, my car suddenly stopped. It went dead. I couldn't restart it. Stranded in the middle of the road, it felt really embarrassing. My good friend came to the rescue though. He helped push the car to a nearby gasoline station. Tthank god the car went dead close to one. If it died in the middle of the highway, it would have been a lot worse.

We called for a tow truck to pick up the car and we called a good friend of ours, Rain. He gladly accompanied us while the tow truck took long to get to us. After close to an hour, the tow truck finally came, and we followed it.

Rain took us back home after that. And stayed a little while in our apartment. Overall, I think the night was more adventurous. On monday, I have to check on the repair shop on what was wrong with my car. My hunch is that it's the battery, but I don't have the first clue when it comes to fixihng cars.

Anyway, that's about it tonight. It's funny how delightful a night can be despite the fact that your plans were disrupted and unexpected things happen.

Food!

I'm spending a long time trying to come up with a topic for my next post to my blog. So I finally decided to just write whatever I'm thinking at the moment.

I've seen a number of blogs, and they're all good. The good ones in my opinion are those that tackle the mundane stuff and just talk about it. It's not so much as the subject that enthralls me, but more because of the writer letting me a sneak peek into his/her world.

Now, if I can only do that....

Well, where do I start? I guess by introducing myself. I'm a software programmer here in sun-baked and hurricane-soaked Florida where the chicks are hotter than the summer sun.

I play a lot of games, go out from time to time and watch almost no TV. My roommate, who is Indian, is the one who watches TV in his 50" plasma. I occassionally catch sounds of what he's watching, but other than that, I leave him alone and vice versa. I would call my parent every now and then and catch up on news and on what's happening back home.

One thing that I am missing is the atmosphere back home. I, in an insane way, miss the polluted streets and choking heat of the city-scape. Given the choice between a $20 steak at the local Arby's or a stick of fishballs, I'll choose the latter. Don't even mention the sour mangos with alamang (shrimp paste) from the Philippines. OMG, I'm salivating as I write this.

But enough with foods. Talking more about it when I can't get it is just torture =)

...
(15 minutes later)
...

Ok, so I searched for some filipino restaurants in southern florida. I saw 4, but the first two I called didn't answer. So I found this one, called "Tatay's" in North Miami Beach. And it's not as far as I thought, only 26 minutes away. I'll definitely go check this out. Give my roommate a taste of filipino food. >:)

He liked my adobo btw, but calls it "odoyo", which is kinda funny. I just let him get away with it. He'll claim that my cooking sucks and will not admit that he liked my cooking and . But what's funny is that I haven't cooked adobo for a long time, and the last time he tasted my cooking was a year ago. He still remembers it regardless, so my cooking must have made an impression on him. =)

Anyway, I'm already talking to my roommate and making plans. We can do it either this weekend or the next. Can't wait to taste filipino food once again! Though I have nothing against Jamaican and Columbian cuisine (they're great!) nothing beats home grown food that tickles the soul.

Musings

So I'm here, sitting in my apartment in Fort Lauderdale Florida.

Writing what has transpired in the last two months would take too much time. So I'll just write things that are I'm dealing with these days. To begin with, I still can't get over the fact that Florida is B-E-AUTIFUL! It feels so alive.

My roommate is in the living room, watching something in TV. I'm here in my room, typing away, to the background sound of Howie Day's Collide. We bought groceries a while ago and I bought a new set of speakers for my aging computer. I'm sitting on this comfy chair that invites a little bit of slouching every now and then. The climate, though a little humid, is just appropriate.

The people are friendly and lively. My friend and I would sometimes stroll by the beach on a lazy Saturday afternoon, observing the beach goers. We'll go to the local Hooters overlooking the beach, watching the people below and without a care in the world. A cold mug of beer quenches the thirst brought about by the hot Florida sun.

Life, it seems these days is good.

And of course there's the nightlife. But we'll not go into that. That's probably another story on it's own.

... Well, f*ck it. I'm gonna tell it anyways :)

I've always prided myself for not being drunk for even once in my life. It gave me a sense that I'm always in control of my senses. But somehow, I question that and perhaps it's because this that makes me tight in social situations. So, on a whim, my friend and I went to this .... place.

There was Lola, Faith, Ayisha and Angelina. And no, I'm not making up these names. We actually met these lovely ladies (not at the same time though, but through the course of the night). I was only planning to drink one bottle, as I was the driver, and just enjoyed the music and sights on display--if you know what I mean. :)

But you have to mingle and mess with these ladies every now and then, and alcohol is the glue that holds things together. You drink *with* them.

You laugh at whatever things that you and the lady talk about--topics that will escape you in the morning except for the hangover that came with it.

Of them all, I was enthralled by Faith. I couldn't tell if she was a Latina or not. But she had long dark hair a cute face with what I think was a dimple. I couldn't really see in the dark. She had the cutest smile anyone can come up with.

For the night, I was happy. I felt wanted.

We talked a lot. About her and a lot about myself as well. When the discussion is going into "serious" topics, I'd stir it out and make fun of myself. To just keep the conversation light. It was just for the night, and it's a terrible thing to waste it on things like those.

In the end, it was only for the night. She liked me. But I didn't go and went to seal the deal. It didn't feel right. I wanted it to stay the way it was. We connected and bonded and I felt a sense of gratitude that we came here. When I go there again, I won't be looking for her. What's the point? But if I do see her, I'll definitely say hi. :)

Hitch'd and In Good Company

I've watched two movies the past few days--"Hitch" and "In Good Company". Let me begin with Hitch and then proceed with In Good Company. I'm excited to talk about these two movies for they are different and are both good in the aspects where they differ.




Hitch is simply one of the coolest movies around. Up there with "Chasing Amy". It's about this love doctor (Will Smith) that hitches courtship-challenge guys with the girl of their dreams. What I like about it is how Will Smith carries himself in his life. Eva Mendez was again stunning, although there were a few scenes that I felt she dropped the ball. I thought the movie would have been funnier if Meg Ryan or Sandra Bullock played that role.

A lot of guys can definitely learn something from Will Smith here. He's confident and knows how to talk to women. He also shows how he can handle himself in awkward situations.

Kevin James (the lead actor in "The King of Queens") was superb as a supporting actor and in some scenes he actually steals the show from Will Smith.

The only thing I didn't like with the movie is its ending. As with a lot of movies that appeal to the masses, this one opts for the happy ending even if it's not consistent with how the characters play out. Basically in the end, the characters realize their mistakes, and fall in love with one another, with the assumption that they all live happily ever after. It's all nice and sweet, but watch this kind of ending many times, and you begin to feel a sort of pretentiousness to it.

Now on to "In Good Company". At first I felt ambivalent about this movie. I thought it was a romantic comedy like Hitch. When I saw the ending, I was disappointed. I was asking myself "where was the romance?" Then it came to me that this was NOT a romantic comedy. And as I began to see the movie in that light, it's actually a good movie.

I like how the characters are real to themselves. No changes here. Even the ending, although probably scorned because of it wasn't a happy ending was satisfying to me. It showed that the hero doesn't always get the girl, and doesn't always succeed. The movie didn't portray life as glamorous, in fact I found myself thinking how hard their lives must be, but despite that, they continue to strive on.




I especially like it when Alex Foreman (Scarlett Johanssen) broke up with Carter Duryea (Topher Grace). You realize that they really weren't meant to be. And that their romance isn't the central point of the movie. Ironically, the central theme of the movie was Carter's and Dan Foreman's (Dennis Quaid) relationship.

But this too dies, and in the end, the movie ends up with it's cast of characters moving on with their lives, enriched (and wiser?). The ending was satisfying to me, as it wasn't a cop out.

Quote

Found this very nice quote from U.G. Krishnamurti

"We don't want to be free from fear. All that we want to do is to play games with it and talk about freeing ourselves from fear."

Made me stop and think about the nature of fear...

Recap

It's been almost a month since I last posted. A lot of things happened during that time. I wish I could write more often, but sometimes, time just seem to disappear and I find myself going on doing another activity.

I quit WoW finally. It's been more than 3 weeks now. I don't plan on coming back. It was a great journey, and I'd like to keep it at that.

I also went to Chicago during Memorial day. I have some pics. It was a blast, and everyone had a lot of fun. It was pretty tiring, but it was worth it. We went to museums, theme parks, boat rides. Chicago is a very vibrant city. You can feel the aliveness of that city and it's people. You can feel it's energy.

Here are some pictures from that vacation:




Here's one of our first pics. I thought naka-isa na ako e. Turns out the jokes on me :P




This one's a nice fountain. At this point (we just got here in Chicago), I was already amazed at how beautiful the city is. To my surprise, I was still to see the best.




Chicago is known for it's modern art. The structure at our top and back are prime examples of it.




This is us hanging out at the lobby of our hotel the next day.




Chicago's city sky line viewed from the famous Navy Pier.




Stolen shot. I wonder what I was thinking lol.




Falling in line at the science museum. We went to this "Body Worlds" exhibit, where dead people's body parts were preserve and on display. Too bad cameras weren't allowed. Here's the link if you're interested: http://www.msichicago.org/bodyworlds/gallery.html




After an exhausting day, a little fun during dinner. I like this pic, cause Ruby, the one at the right, still manages to maintain her pose despite hitting Francis with her glass. =P




Taking pictures at the top of the Sears Tower--the tallest building in America.

Oh well, that's was it. It was an exhausting 3 days of travel, adventure and discovery. We're planning on going to another place next time. Probably this time it will be Minneapolis, Minnesota. I'll post pictures when we do go. Ciao!