Worse thing that happened

It’s day three of no water, no electricity in our house.

We’ve stepped out of the comforts of the hotel already. My very young son couldn’t help but say in his usual candid way. “This is the worst thing that’s happened in my life!”

“What about you mom, what’s the worst thing that happened to you?,” he queries.
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In the eye of the storm

The whole family is now holed up in a hotel in Manila as a result of typhoon Milenyo (it was more like “Delubyo.”) Roxas Boulevard on the way here seemed like no-man’s land with fallen trees, non-functioning traffic lights and darkness even on the condominium buildings that dot the Manila skyline. Looks like power won’t be restored until tomorrow, or maybe two days depending on the situation. Without power and only candles to tide us by the whole night, we simply had to getout of the house.

This morning was really scary and baaaad. I haven’t experienced fierce winds in a long time and it mercilessly lashed on our windows, tore down roofs, toppled electric posts and TV antennas. I busied myself clearing out clutter in preparation for our forthcoming apartment move and there’s no doubt that my old clothes and things will go to victims of this typhoon. For once, I felt that even my own home wasn’t safe from nature.
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Go ahead amuse me: an email that throws me off kilter

One thing about being a blogger and being Google-able is that you get all sorts of comments and feedbacks. For example, I woke up early this morning to find an interesting email in my inbox (where else?) It’s the owner of “a start-up web design and development company” in Hawaii who was recruiting me as a web copywriter. The offer seems good since it is “work-from-home” with a promise to be relocated overseas, if all goes well, and of course I presume one will also be paid in $$$$.

It would have been one of those garden variety emails if not for the fact that the sender couldn’t help but make a reference to my blog posts, specifically my About section.

This person writes: ” Before I get into the details of the position I need to fill, let me comment on some of the things you wrote on your blog…”
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Seen & heard at the 1st Philippine BlogCon 2006

Here are some shots at the fun-filled 1st Philippine BlogCon which was held at Greenbelt’s National Sports Grill last night. I simply had to attend this event as a blogger and as a columnist. The bonus was seeing some people I’ve only corresponded with online like the charming Noemi Dado, unassuming Retz, Andrei of Eche..blah..blah; some other new acquaintances I was excited to see for the first time and biggies like Yuga, Jayvee, Marc Gloria, Jangelo and others who are literally rolling in their blogging dollars It was nice to see you all guys and I guess we have to thank the sponsor Globe Innove Communications for all of this.
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You gain some, you lose some

….. isn’t it such an irony that a few hours after I announced how I earned money from blog ads, I would lose my precious bag to a snatcher who came from behind me while I was about to close the taxi door yesterday?

The damage: my beloved Nokia 6230i (with MMC card) from where I have taken this blog’s photos in the past months, another brand new, barely week-old Nokia phone which my best friend has given me, close to P5,000 in cash, my credit card, ATM card, make-up bag and other what-nots.

Aaah, the hazards of living in this Third World!!! I choose to leave my heart in Manila but it doesn’t love me back

I decided not to bother telling the police anymore knowing how useless they’ve been in past incidents. I presume it is an effin waste of time recounting to them everything blah blah blah

I am just thankful that I wasn’t hurt or something. I just hope that the stash would feed one starving family for a while.

My relatives and friends could make my life easy by emailing your cellphone numbers to me. And yes, I am on a hunt again for a new (sigh) cellphone.

This single mom gets help: earning money from blog ads

Yay! It feels like Christmas in September as I finally got my first paycheck from this site’s ads yesterday, in US $$$ pa!!. I have to admit I was surprised to receive this mail from my stack of bills… bills….bills. Thank you Text Link Ads, thanks to you dear readers and muchas gracias especially to Yuga for putting the ads on my site and encouraging me to keep up with this blog ad thingy. As you know, Yuga is the Philippines’ main evangelist of blog advertising – so far, he has bought a car, a digital SLR camera and other luxuries with his earnings. Of course, I don’t hope to approximate his “richness” and I didn’t believe him until now. I figured that if this keeps going well, the $$$ revenues from this blog will be able to shoulder my five-digit rent in the tourist district of Malate. Kewwwwl! This is definitely better than other pyramid scams I’ve joined in the past, hehe. And just imagine if all of us can earn from our blogs, we won’t have to transform our young into nurses and call center agents.

My Google ads are still crawling at a turtle’s pace but it is also almost there. Life is good

Forget-your-diet, ultimate food trip: a postscript

From what I gathered, there will still be a third installment of our food trip in October. Hope more people will be able to join us then and of course I am keeping my fingers crossed that there will be no typhoons to cause monstrous traffic jams. I am sure that every member of our group is thankful of taking the time to discover the culinary jewel that is Pampanga, care of our tour guide Spanx.

Anyway, here’s a photo of a dessert specialty we tasted in San Fernando simply called “Aurely’s Special.” It is more easily described as brazo de mercedes turned upside down – meaning the yellow, instead of the white, part is on top. It is yellow because it is made up of sinfully rich egg yolks. Btw, for those who wonder about what brazo de mercedes is, I found this online.
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A taste of something exotic at Everybody’s Cafe, San Fernando

This is our group picture at Everybody’s Cafe taken by fellow blogger and foodie Anton. We just had an unforgettable dinner at this culinary landmark in San Fernando, Pampanga which prides itself for being “the home of authentic Kapampangan cuisine.” As usual, our table was filled with all sorts of goodies – some which smacked of down-home cooking and some which were simply not for the fainthearted. Among these were the fried camaru or cricket, the stuffed frogs and marinated carabao meat or pindang tapa , all of which we tried with initial curiosity and trepidation and finally with gusto. Hmm, some members of the group can definitely qualify for the Fear Factor
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Forget-your-diet, ultimate food trip to Subic & Pampanga, Part 2

It took someone like Spanky to convince me to embark on another food trip on the culinary paradise that is Pampanga, of course together with our usual band of bloggers. Along with an optimistic attitude, I brought along my son Paolo who I was happy to veer away from his favorite TV show and computer games for a while.

Spanky’s email a few weeks before the trip certainly had my appetite on a roll. He told us to try MeatPlus Cafe in Subic for one of the best-tasting cheeseburgers in town, the sinfully rich brazo de mercedes bars at Aurely’s Bakeshop in San Fernando and Everybody’s Cafe for a sampling of authentic Kapampangan cuisine. Of course we tried this all, and more! The trip would have turned out perfect if not for the monstrous traffic jam we encountered going back to Manila because of the heavy rains. It took us a horrible four hours to get from one point of Manila to the next and I was just thankful that we had our sumptuous dinner to tide us through the nightmare. It finally convinced me how foodies would go to such great lengths to try the ultimate chow of their dreams.
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Living happily with poverty

“Succulent Wild Woman,” a book I am browsing through right now, list the many ways by which one can live without money. I think this is relevant considering that all of us have been broke at one time in our life. I sometimes think what I would have been if I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth and money was no object. Would happiness come from buying all the Prada shoes and Louis Vuitton bags I want? Looking back, being born from an ordinary family has made me the person with a strong character I am now. It has taught me to treat money responsibly, plan my life well and nurture a positive work attitude. I am not a hypocrite to say that I don’t want money but I can live with less and this lack is what keeps me dreaming. I keep on dreaming because I don’t want my children to struggle as much as I had.
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