Have you noticed the growing number of movies displaying shirtless hot men lately? I'm not one to complain though and I'm giving this movie perfect FIVE STARS (★★★★★) for Jake Gyllenhaal's abs alone. The movie in itself was great but with Jake, it's sizzling! ;b
I just got back from a brawl. I had declared war against a gang of roaches that I had found lurking in the trash bin under my sink. (I swear I have no idea where these pests are coming from—I had looked everywhere for any possible entry way that these bunch of creepy crawlers are using to come inside my lovely new apartment.)
I've killed a bunch of them since I moved in but still they come and go as they please. So once again I was armed with my ever-reliable can of Black Flag Flying Insect Killer (I assure you this is not an advertisement), I sprayed them all without mercy catching some of them square in the face. If there's one thing I hate most of all in this world, that would be cockroaches.
My sister and I, back in the day, used to scream our lungs out whenever one would fly about. We'd quickly dash in our room and cover ourselves with blankets and cower away until the coast is clear or until our bully of a brother stop threatening us with it. He would pick one up by its antenna and dangle it for us to see; more often than not he would feign throwing it on our hair much to our horror.
Well, I had changed a lot since then, I decided to no longer flee in terror and I certainly refuse to be afraid anymore of this dirty little insect that had sometimes terrorized me in my childhood. I am now a cockroach slayer (evil bitchy laugh). But no slippers or broom slapping mind you! Oh no! The thought of the thing being flattened out with its insides oozing out with all its invisible-to-the-naked-eye-gazillion-germs is way too much for my peace of mind. In any case, the cleaning after part is always harder as well and so I chose--and had since then embraced--bug's spray as a more convenient approach of ridding my house of it.
Well, I think I may have killed three of them already when I happened to look up and there at the wall at the edge of the ceiling were two of them coupling, with their redder than ever rear ends attached gleefully at each other. I pulled a chair slowly near the wall and carefully positioned myself directly at them (I shouldn't have bothered they were too busy to take notice), aimed the can and sprayed. Gotcha! They were stunned and didn't move at first. In that split second, I could just imagine what might be going on in their little roach brains as their carnal joy was cut short by this pestering human who couldn't just let them be. Alas, who said that they should be out and about doing that in broad fluorescent light? Soon they were wiggling, still together for a while, clearly in a state of shock of what had just transpired but soon the poison was too much to bear and they parted ways running to die separately, each on their own.
I of course, heartless when it comes to these creatures, ran after them making sure that both their ends were complete. Like any pest controllers and embattled homeowners know only too well, cockroaches are supposedly handy enough to survive anything — even a nuclear war. Some even goes about saying that the roaches will inherit the earth. Well, not today.
Happy Weekend folks!
Trivia: Scientists are exploiting the roaches weakness which is their rampant sex drive to help consign these insects to oblivion. After a quest of more than a decade, they have discovered how to create an artificial version of the sexual pheromone produced by willing female German cockroaches - a scent so irresistible that even males close to death by starvation will pass up a lump of meat when they catch a whiff.
I got myself into a dare a couple of months ago, it was during our post New Year party with our friends. I didn't know how it started but as someone who never shies away from a challenge, I found myself signing up for a weight loss contest (concocted by our ever naughty group of friends) between myself and my friend Nina who has also been struggling with her weight for quite some time — she at least have two boys in her laurels whilst I had only myself to blame for being such an insufferable lazy ass.
With our friends as witnesses, both of us weight-in:
Me — 59 kilos
Nina — 67 kilos
Game rule:
The one who sheds the most weight until such given time will win either lunch or dinner in a restaurant of her choosing with her beau. The loser of course has to pay.
Our whole bunch of friends who are not included from the treat are still all excited and planning to come along.
Well, on my part, after two months of a few walks here and there, halfheartedly going to the gym for a while and trying to cut off with my rice intake with emphasis on the word "TRYING"—I lost...which was totally unsurprising.
Yesterday at lunch was the conclusion of our little game and we were all at Pizza Hut to celebrate our little contest. I of course paid. ;'(
Nina who looked a lot slimmer and had said to have undergone tremendous diets of salad and orange juice and has totally cut off her meals to meager portions has lost 5 kilos while I only lost 4. Not bad right? I was happy to pay, she deserved it.
I was shifting through some papers when I spotted my tax forms–the one that I wasn't able to file yesterday because the revenue office was already closed when I got there.
I looked up from what I was doing and informed my fiance.
Me: "Did I mention that I didn't get to file my taxes yesterday? They were already closing when I got there and it wasn't even five yet."
Him: "Nope, you didn't. But I already know from your blog."
Me: "Oh!"
Sooo, he was reading my blog I thought (smiling idiotically to self). I didn't know that he was. At least now I know that I have an avid reader aside from myself! Hurray!
There had been talk (or should I say hope?) about the dashing President Obama dropping by here on Saipan en route on his first Asia-Pacific tour. Unfortunately, the Saipan Tribune newspaper quickly dispelled that news stating that the president will be visiting only Guam and not the CNMI on his way to Indonesia and Australia. Too bad!
While I was driving the other day, I heard a DJ fleetingly talking about it in the radio and he was saying how our people here are all still hoping that he would drop by and are actually planning to generate a thousand or so signatures to be sent to Washington to make it happen. Why not?
It would be so great to see Obama, the first President that I will ever see -- if ever. Well not to count Palau’s then president Tommy Remengesau, Jr. who my colleagues and I saw jogging on his neighborhood once when I was there a couple of years ago, since it was too dark and I barely made out his face from the darkness anyway. I only know that it was him because my colleague who had been a reporter there for many years said so. If Elias Camsek Chin, who I have seen there a number of times had won the Presidential election that year in 2008 against Johnson Toribiong, then that would have count. Lol!
Anyway, President Barack Obama will be in Guam on March 22 and 23 en route to Indonesia and Australia, his Asia-Pacific tour will then end on the 26th.
Living in Manila has its perks…once in a while you’ll get to witness stick ups (back there we call it hold-up or holdap), or in my personal experience -- even a straight-from-the-movies-like-kidnapping complete with goons and guns sort of thing right at your very eyes, or having your bag snatched away with you still clutching on it for dear life as if it contains more than a compact powder and a cell that is actually already screaming to be replaced. Pretty action packed if you ask me.
On Saipan, let me see… other than some rather rickety old metals scraped together as a sad excuse for an octopus ride at the Liberation carnival being put up every year…there's not much around here to threaten your peace of mind. Not that I’m complaining.
Well except that one time at Pau Pau beach, however, where we used to spend our Fridays night swimming.
That day after a scrumptious dinner of carbonara that a friend made for the occassion with matching grilled chicken from Cost Co. (which never disappoints), we jumped to the water and snorkeled the time away happily until quite late.
The beach that night seems to have come straight from Japanese volcanic hot springs. It was a beautiful moonlit evening. The water was crisp and luxuriously warm, a more than welcome respite to soak the worries of the week away.
At about nine in the evening, there were only three of us left swimming in the dark. The rest were playing Bingo under a lamp light and the smiling full moon. We were having a laugh and a few giggles here and there (you know the usual sound girls make when they think no one else are within earshot) when one of my companions suddenly pointed something out in the sea asking what it was. I heard the urgency in her voice and when I turned to look, I saw something swooshed not far away from us making half a circle as it comes towards where we were. My mind went double time with thoughts of tsunamis, or humongous reptiles expecting to come any second to swallow us whole. Talk about paranoia on crack! But anyway, I heard myself scream and tried to run as fast as I can with my friends not far behind.
My whatever-that-is-spotter friend and I managed to reach safety of land first, but our other poor buddy had stumbled on her way and was crying for help. Despite fear for dear life, I had no choice but to ran back and help her up silently praying that whatever it was doesn't come yet to tear our limbs apart. When we finally reached shore again, we saw that she was sporting two scraped knees and a mantra to never swim in the beach at night ever again. Panting beyond relief, the three of us stood on the shore scanning the beach looking for any signs of whatever it was that we saw. Looking back, I could just imagine how comical we must have looked.
Yet, I didn’t know I was actually scared until I started shaking. But lo and behold, the scare wasn't over yet because the same friend who spotted the "thing" suddenly pointed out to the sea towards a slipper she left at her haste. It was floating quietly by itself and we all helplessly stared at it.
I didn't want to go back, to hell with the slipper, I thought. To my consternation, my friend insisted to get it. Loyalty won over good sense so together we huddled like conjoined triplets, went back in the water to retrieve it.
It had developed into a running joke afterwards when everyone else learned about it, until I heard some news of a shark attack in Hawaii where a surfer disappeared leaving his surf board behind with a huge shark bite as a tell tale sign of what had happened and I realized how it could have been really serious for us as well.
There are indeed sharks in these waters. I know it couldn't have been very big but it’s big enough to create a huge swish and scare the hell out of us and I’m sure am not a very easy person to scare.
Musing over what happened now though makes me wanna laugh. Anyway I’d probably still prefer to go swimming at night in Pau Pau rather than ride that piece of junk at the festival again. I’d much rather pick the adventure over an accident waiting to happen anytime.
Originally published at my Friendster sCUTEzophrenia blog on July 1, 2007
It's another beautiful morning on Saipan! I'm sitting here sipping my scalding hot coffee against my large bay windows overlooking the calm waters of Beach Road and the gently swaying leaves and branches of the trees lining the pathway. The sun had broken free of a few gray clouds as I write this and its warm rays filtered inside my apartment in cheerful greeting.
I had said it again and again, to my sister, to my fiance, to my friends, to anyone who would care to listen...
I had declared I wouldn't watch the movie Hachiko, a dog's story. I just ate my words yet again.
Indeed never say never, but it's not as if I had planned it. I had simply come to drop by my friend's apartment for a little tête-à-tête but lo and behold, the movie was on and just about starting. Scurrying away immediately had crossed my mind, fleeting it may be, but Hachi's cute puffy dog face nailed me to to my seat.
Well, lots of heart-warming Richard Gere acting and balls of fur later, I was sobbing non-stop—tried as I might not to.
Trivia: Hachiko is an Akita, a breed that has originated in Japan and is one of the most ancient dog breeds. It is said to be the accepted escorts of royalty and considered the first companions of men.
I had been on Managaha Island too many times to count. It is a flat coral islet that sits off Tanapag Harbor at the West Coast area of Saipan and is apart from its main land area that could be reached by a 15-20 minutes boat ride on the ferry. It is one of the main tourist destinations out here and boasts one of the finest white sand beaches around.
Every year, a celebration of a festival of sort is observed for its resident hero, Chief Aghurubw — a historical navigator who brought Carolinians to this part of the globe. He was buried in Managaha and is very important to all the Carolinians on Saipan. For them, Managaha—known as Ghalaghal in Carolinian—is a sacred and taboo place. A statue of the chief stood proudly on. There was also a tombstone that suggest that he is buried somewhere on that island—although no one knows its exact location to this day. Aside from him, there is no permanent resident there.
Last year in September 2009, my friends and I all decided to spend the night on the island. I was excited though it certainly wouldn't be my first time. We had to acquire a special permit to be able to stay there complete with warnings and guidelines as to what to do and what not to do. Managaha was just another one of the sanctuaries around and fishing of any sort was strictly forbidden.
There were nine of us that night: Three girls and the rest were boys. We came complete with food, booze, lights, mats, blankets, pillows, jackets — you name it — except for the most important thing, a tent. Something went kaput with the plan and so the tent went missing in action. It only meant that all of us will be sleeping out in the open under the stars.
Romantic you might say, if not for the ravenous mosquitoes that feasted on us for the rest of the night.
The boys elected to stay at a small shed at the left wing area of the island. We arrived shortly before 5:00 pm so it wasn't long before it finally grew dark. We girls had laid down the mats, blankets and pillows that we brought along and plopped ourselves comfortably while the boys built a fire from the grill pit where they cooked our dinner (as we had also left our butane stove in the car back on the docks) and soon we could smell the aroma of Chicken Adobo.
After dinner, while some went ahead to swim, the rest of us stayed put chatting and trying to scare ourselves with ghost stories. Jake who is a local have TONS of spooky tales that he would share in the slightest opportunity. Even up to saying that things unseen may be watching us at that moment. It was dark and breezy and there were the occasional sounds of critters right on cue to add to the plot. Perhaps I would have been spooked easier if the mosquitoes weren't having such a grand party of their own eating me whole. We had on mosquito repellent and we're already under some blankets but the pests had their way of getting to us girls that we were slapping ourselves all over the place.
Soon it was too much to bear that we all decided to take a walk on the beach and also check on our other companions. We left everything at our shed except the blankets and pillows that we took along with us and we walked towards the shore away from the cluster of trees and the ravenous mosquitoes that were eating us alive. A wide open space bare of anything but pure and beautiful white sand beach greeted us welcome while the moon shone brightly casting a generous glow on us. It was a beautiful evening with clear skies with the sound of water splashing against the shore not far away.. We rearranged our mats then settled ourselves besides each other staring at the vast evening sky and its gathering of stars. Since we can't do bonfires, we busied ourselves in eating and playing truth or dare. After sometime though, clouds drifted in and the sky let out a soft drizzle and we all jumped up and ran from it dragging our stuff with us back to our mosquito-infested shed.
On our way back though, the rain stopped as soon as it started. All of a sudden, we heard an ear-piercing scream that shattered the silence of the night. A weird sound of someone crying vibrated from the trees that stopped us in our tracks. It sounded like a cry of an infant, clear and loud for all of us to hear. We listened intently and looked around us trying to figure out where it was coming from. Back in our shed, I could see everyone was all alert undecided whether to be scared or not. All of us have different opinions of what we had just experienced. Jake especially had started again with his ghost and Tautaumona stories yapping nonstop about it which was seconded by the drunk Joven.
My mind was running double time trying to come up with a logical explanation for the noise. It wasn't an imagination, that's for sure since we all heard it loud and clear. And then I thought maybe some other tourist and their baby was also staying over that night on the island and it was its cry that we were hearing. I quickly brushed the idea off knowing for a fact that we were the ONLY tourists on the boat on our way there and we saw no one else staying behind but some skeletal crew of the island.
That left the possibility of the crew making some prank in trying to scare us a little bit maybe through some speakers. After all the cry sounded too recorded in my opinion to be the real deal. It was sort of repetitive. I turned to my boyfriend who had been quiet and merely observing the whole time what he thought and he said that he thinks it was an animal of some sort.
After a while, the cries started again only this time it was louder and more insistent. The boys decided to check it out but all of us decided to tag along, not wanting to stay behind not doing anything. We followed the sounds towards a cluster of trees and plants. The cries would start long and eerie and then it would stop abruptly only to repeat all over again. Our flashlights illuminated the trees and the surrounding vegetation very well but we saw nothing.
We walked further along and then suddenly the cries stopped altogether. We continued to look around and poked at some bushes and then suddenly, we spotted a bird that looked part gull and part duck with a long rather dangerously sharp-looking beak. It was sitting inconspicuously on the ground paying us no heed. All of a sudden it opened its beak and from it came out that same ear-splitting howl.
Back in our shed, Jake looked sheepish exclaiming that somehow he knew that it was a bird all along. I should tell you that all the while we were walking around looking for the source of the noise, he and Joven were calling out to the then unknown saying things like, "Hi! Hello! Show yourselves! We are friends! We are not gonna harm you!" over and over again while the rest were trying to stifle our laughter.
Trivia: Our "ghost" is called Shearwater Bird and it is using the island as a nesting site. According to Wikipedia: "Shearwater come to islands and coastal cliffs only to breed. They are nocturnal at the colonial breeding sites, preferring moonless nights to minimize predation. They nest in burrows and often give eerie contact calls on their night-time visits. They lay a single white egg."
Formerly Marianas Restaurant, Monte Vista is one establishment that is a little hard to find. My friends and I saw an ad one day in the paper and decided to check it out. Unfortunately, even though the ad indicated their address on Navy Hill, still they didn't include a map and we had a little trouble locating it. We had to call a few times on our way there because there was no signs to guide us along the way.
To find the place, you had to go up on Navy Hill and then turn left up at the fork of the road towards WIC. There's a baseball field in that area and you should just go straight until you see a white mansion and then turn right after that and look for the rather inconspicuous sign of the restaurant ahead.
The trouble was all worth it when we got there though. The place was fantastic and I love the huge windows where you can enjoy a beautiful view of the ocean and of the Managaha Island. The place was bright and very comfy too and I like the blinds and the overall look and feel of the place. I'm such a sucker for Asian designs and furnishings like their sofas that I didn't want to part with anymore as soon as I saw it. :)
They have a wide selection of dishes to choose from and every order comes with an all you can eat buffet of their soup and salads. If ever you find yourself there, I recommend that you try their potato salad which is simply delectable. ;)
It's a film guaranteed to appeal to tender-hearted pet lovers out there. It is a dog story that is more than a dog story. Marley we could say is the icing on the cake—the one who made an ordinary couple's lives extraordinary. It is a delightfully satisfying, heart-tugging surprise that made me teary-eyed.
I was supposed to be writing about Mariana Resort Hotel's restaurant today but our lunch plans there with our friends was canceled up until next week so we'll just have to wait until then. My fiancé and I had lunch alone at Diamond Chinese Restaurant in Beach Road Garapan instead and according to him, that would be the first and last time he will eat there. I felt the same way but I could hardly say the same thing since that was my second time there although the first experience was a hell of a lot better than what we just had today.
The restaurant looked pretty much the same from the first time I was there more or less three years ago, only their furniture of course looked older and the surroundings had the unmistakable impression of tiredness. The place was deserted except for a group of old folks eating near the entrance and two Chinese waitresses who seems to be having a bad day for they looked like they have the world on their shoulders or maybe they just hadn’t received the memo about smiling to customers.
The table we picked had a printed menu under its plastic covering aside from the back to back table tent card on it. I asked if that was all they have and she handed me a real menu in response. I scanned their selections and ordered the one that was described as “Celery Chicken, Beef or Fish” and opted for the chicken, while my fiancé asked for their “Scrambled Eggs with Shrimp.”
I commented on my fiancé that the menu listings should be Chicken with Celery or Shrimp with Scrambled Eggs and not the other way around. Well, how wrong can I get, the menu turned out to be correct as the realization came only when the food was delivered on our table. My order was indeed all about the celery as chunks after chunks of it was served to me while the chicken was lost somewhere under it. The scrambled eggs with shrimp were the same story. In any case the taste wasn’t so bad especially when we added Tabasco and soy sauce to the egg. Their corn soup though was a little bland.
What I particularly didn’t like was when the waitress had served the food on our table. She had just set down the plate when as an afterthought, she grabbed the spoon that was already on the dish and dissected the food to see if it was indeed the chicken that I ordered. I sat there in disbelief of what she did that she had already walked away before I had realized what just happened. My fiancé and I looked at each other managing to laugh.
Here's another inspirational thingy that my mom shared with me once while we were chatting online and I'd like to share it here for anyone who might come across it and needs a good word or two.
"No matter how our dreams may seem unreachable, dream anyway. No matter how we have been hurt by the people we love, love them anyway. No matter how hard life is, live it anyway. No matter how our prayers seem unanswered, pray them anyway. GOD will make a WAY."
A tsunami scare raged through out the Pacific in the wake of the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that shook and devastated Chile leaving hundreds of its people dead.
People all over the island of Saipan was alerted and a lot of them packed up and fled to higher grounds in fear leaving their homes and belongings behind. Everyone in our four story building allegedly left during the night, all except us who had no idea what was happening until it was all over.
It was already 12:20 in the afternoon when my fiance and I first heard about it. I had opened the door on an insistent knock from my friends telling me that there was a tsunami alert since last night after the massive earthquake in Chile. The tsunami was reportedly supposed to hit the island at 1pm and they are headed to higher grounds at San Vicente for safety. I informed my fiance about it and he looked it up in the net and he located a map of some sort that is monitoring the progress of the supposed tsunamis. For some reason, we felt safe in our building and we didn't leave. Eventually we read that the alert on Hawaii had been lifted already and I am thankful that 1:00pm came and went quiet, safe and without funfair.
I learned later on that the earthquake yesterday in Chile had matched a 1906 quake off the Ecuadorean coast as the seventh-strongest ever recorded.
Hachiko: A dog's story
This is one good movie that I have no intentions of watching. I don't want to cry and get depressed and ponder about it for days only to sniffle and remember it all over again whenever I see dogs and their dog face cuteness. No! Ah-ah!
My fiance and I saw its trailer on one of the DVDs we had rented a few weeks back and just by looking at it I know that I will love it. Love it so much that I will sure to cry buckets before the movie is probably done. I have no problem in crying on movies when you don't expect that you are going to cry but I just find it quite weird to rent a movie that you well know you're just going to be depressed about. I mean, isn't life's cruel jokes depressing already as it is that you had to go out your way and depress yourself a little more and even pay for it at that? Now I'm depressing myself with all this depressing talk! Isn't that depressing? Lols! My own sister who had proclaimed that she hasn't cried in any movies since the Titanic had admitted crying heavily on seeing this movie which made me all the more adamant not to watch it at all.
Anyway here's some of my personal dog stories that I found in my old blog and I thought I'd share here for a change since I don't have any reviews at all to give on this movie that I like but would probably never want to see...
John and the Barbeque Stick
Story originally published in my Friendster sCUTEzophrenia blog on February 10, 2008
It was Friday night and already late, our little crowd had trooped in front one of our friend's house where a booze party was going on. Our dogs that were still puppies by then were also there playing around except for the one that was named John who was being cradled like a baby by a friend while she fed him barbecue after barbecue.
John being John who doesn't know how to chew would just gobble down food one after another like some thing that was being starved for weeks on end the way he acts but that's just how he is and always will be. I remember I was by then sitting cross-legged on top of my car’s hood blabbing away with some people when suddenly the girl that was carrying John went ballistic and started shaking the puppy like crazy.
Everyone gaped as she continued to cry out for help calling to the owner over and over again to come and help while she hold out the puppy from her for all to see. The puppy's owner on the other hand had somewhat freaked out herself and instead walked away not wanting to see what’s wrong with her dog. I jumped from where I was sitting to see. The little guy turned out to have swallowed 3 chunks of chicken barbecue including the 3 inches barbecue stick he had broken off from the one the girl was holding. The pup being PG “patay gutom” (a running joke in our group) had allegedly grabbed the food from her and swallowed it before she could even react. She did try to pull it out his mouth but John’s “PG” super powers dominated.
Everyone was quiet afterwards, all eyes staring at John the puppy, expecting him to drop dead or at least heave in pain. But no, he just went on playing with the other puppies as if nothing happened and after two days… we found the broken stick lying inconspicuously inside his dog house with his dog puke that had already dried out. I say way to go John!
Now he is a huge monster of a dog that hasn't changed his eating habits one tiny bit! Well why would he? ;b
Have a heart. Have a dog heart.
Story originally published in my Friendster sCUTEzophrenia blog on February 8, 2008
I was at a store early one eveing to get some bread and I was just coming out of the door when a truck sped by like a hurricane right in front of me leaving clouds of dust and leaves at its wake. As it goes I heard a loud bang not far away sounding as if it had hit something on the road. There was some stray dogs barking by the trees and I was afraid one of them was the casualty. Sure was, when I turned to have a better look, there was a lone black object lying conspicuously on the road. I was praying it was just some garbage bin or something until I saw it wag its tail.
I was pretty sure the poor thing was hurt badly considering how fast the damn vehicle was going. The mother*%#@ driver didn’t even break his speed for a sec. I didn’t know what to do and I just stood there staring at it. Here we were, fussing up with our pets like mad only to see someone do a stunt like that.. arggghhh!!! I went in back to the store and told the Chinese owner what transpired.
I said, "A pickup truck hit a dog on the road just now."
Her reply totally blew me off, she said, "Oh dogs are tender and good." and she said it while smiling up at me.
WHHHATDAFUCK?
I stood there just staring at her, unsure of what else to do then. When I had pondered about it, the woman must have misunderstood me, after all she could barely understand English and maybe she thought I said "EAT" instead of "HIT". Whatever.
I know I could have done more but I didn't. That night I went home feeling really bad.
Hero Dog
I learned this story when I was in 6th grade and it broke my heart and wished I had never heard it. But the lesson in it was heavy and important that somehow it justified retelling the story even if it was sad and tragic.
There was farm dog whose name I could no longer remember, wasn't even sure if my then teacher had given it a name at all when he was telling us the story. This dog that we will now call "Bantay," a generic Tagalog name for dogs meaning "guard", for the sake of the story, is loyal and beloved by his owner and who Bantay loves back more than life itself. Now this farmer owns a large field and he checks it with Bantay tagging along with him day after day. The farmer also has a wife and a baby and there was a time that the wife had to go to the city for a while and the baby was left only with the farmer and Bantay. Noon came and the farmer had to do his routine check of the farm so he told Bantay to guard the child who was sleeping on his cot while the farmer went away.
It wasn't long when the farmer suddenly heard furious barking from Bantay and he ran back quickly home to see what happened and as he approached the house, he saw Bantay ran towards him with his fangs dripping with fresh blood. The farmer was besides himself and in his anger, he killed Bantay. When he went inside his home, he saw that the baby lay sleeping safely while a huge snake lies dead beside it. I hope you got the lesson. The end.
An Ode to Doggie 19??-2009 I saved the best story for last. Doggie was our dog of more or less 20 so and so years. He was just a mutt but he was a part of our family in so many ways than just a pet. He was there ever since I can remember and he was the one and only dog that was really THERE in every aspect of the word. He died on Christmas last year. I really don't remember anymore how we got him, I was still young then. It was just one day, he was there, a pup that somebody gave and the rest was history. I know that the typical lifespan of dogs varies widely among breeds, but for most the median longevity ranges from 10 to 13 years. We aren't sure just exactly when he was born but we know that he is more than 15 years old. He was already there when I graduated from college in 2003, he was there when I graduated from high school in 1998 and when even when I graduated in elementary in 1994 which makes 16 years total plus the odd years of my childhood.
I went away overseas in 2005 and I got to see him briefly in 2007 when I took a vacation for a week which was the last time I saw him. Months before he died, my brother took him to a vet because Doggie had trouble eating and he could barely stand anymore. Miraculously, he got well soon after that and I was happy with that news. On December though he was at his worst and we were faced with the fact that our beloved dog was old and dying and he chose Christmas among other dates to say farewell. He must have said that since we don't remember his birthday at least we won't forget his dying day. I love you Doggie.
Minami of Palms Resort Hotel in Pau Pau Beach is a beautiful Japanese restaurant set in a modern meets contemporary look that offers a variety of different ambiances within its premises to sooth your every mood. You can choose to dine either on the huge odd shaped table that is perfect for big groups of people, romantic dimly lit portions for two or my personal favorite – the tables propped against glass walls with an excellent view of the beach or the hotel pool and its scattering of trees and other greens.
The establishment's Japanese lunch buffet that is open from 11:00am to 2:00pm every Mondays to Saturdays ranges with a variety of different dishes from Sushi, Sashimi and Tempura as well as fish, chicken, beef and pork dishes. They also have various choices of salads, soups and desserts like the the Italian Tiramisu and other cakes and pastries that are simply delightful.
I have a streak for losing my sunglasses I don't know why. I just bought a really fetching pair before Christmas and just after a few days later; it was already gone never to be found again as what happened to all other sunglasses I had owned. Vanished. Disappeared. Gone to some parallel universe where I could never find them again and unsurprisingly the only one I have left is a white pair of shades that is still with me solely because of the fact that I barely use it.
I never ever buy expensive glasses. I had never done so and probably never will or else I might just as well throw the money to the wind. I'm not saying I don't like buying them though, I have a fetish for sunglasses especially semi dark ones that blank out my eyes a little from the world especially when I'm running late and I don't yet have my make up on and I know that I look more or less a disheveled witch who just got up because she had to. I'll just don them on the way to the office, make a dash on the ladies room when I get there and no one's the wiser.
Bad news is that I had been going through different stores and boutiques around the island ever since I lost my last pair but I couldn't find anything at all that I like. I'm really digging those really humongous aviator shades that could cover almost half of my face and it's so frustrating that the stores here on island offers so little choice on that area. I guess I'd just have to try and check out online stores or have my sister buy one for me back home and have it sent here. Let's see...
It had been a long time since I had last been in Tony Roma's and last two weeks ago before Valentine's I found myself inside it's cozy establishment at the Comete Building in Garapan to meet my friend Lein — who had just flown from Guam — for lunch. We were supposed to meet up with Phil — who must have overslept as usual and didn't at all showed up — to go about our plans for the upcoming events in May in which the we are going to help her spearhead much like we did last year. So it turned out that it was just the two of us for lunch and not our usual trio.
For appetizers we were served with bread and what they call Potato Skins shaped like a leaf or a tiny boat depending on how you look at it that were deliciously crispy and was covered with cheese and chives served with ranch dressing. It was so good, I swear I almost finished the whole plate. For the main course, Lein had baby back ribs while I chose Rosemarie Chicken which was just divine. I had been contemplating on where to go on Valentine's with my hubby and that place was definitely way up on my list.
From the place where Jollibee used to stand in it's happy grandeur is now occupied by Raffy's Diner, a definitely grown up and more serious replacement that offers a range of western dishes.
I had dinner lately there with Hayden a few weeks back but I prefer that place in the morning right by the glass walls where you have an unobstructed view of the Kristo Rai Church and the road. It used to be the place where my fiancé and I would rendezvous to meet and have breakfast together and I had enjoyed those times extremely especially when it drizzles and we would be inside sipping coffee huddled together while watching news or sports on their flat screen television or just looking at the rain and eating breakfasts the way they are supposed to be: heavy, greasy and cheerful sunny side ups with hash browns, french fries and sandwiches.
Tangji is just one amongst a number of Chinese restaurants clattered around the island of Saipan. It is small and inconspicuous beside the Mobile Gas Station across Pizza Hut and First Hawaiian Bank along Middle Road. Inside it looked like a windowless one room nursery with it's pink walls with nonuniform chairs and tables that screams at its total plainness. Though it is not necessarily the kind of place that will impress anyone, they certainly makes it up by the food they serve in an overly friendly price that ranges as low as $3.00 per order and a chili which I love that is only moderately hot just perfect for their every dish.
Among their selection, I had taken to liking their Beef with Scrambled Eggs that is served under piles of stir fried Chinese Pechay and reaming servings of rice which I again asks without fail that the Chinese waitress knows already by heart and would guess my order for me even before I open my mouth. My boyfriend on the other hand - a person of habit such as I - would also always ask for his favorite Shrimp with Scrambled Eggs while the rest of our friends would all opt for the place's infamous Beef Broccoli.
I myself do not tend to experiment with my orders at Chinese Restaurants for I have seen a number of friends who did and ordered something they aren't familiar with and ended up being sorry at the end. An incident such as that happened a few months back when one of my bestfriends Elle decided to try something new on the menu at Tangji without asking what it was and it turned out to be a soup that looked and tasted like plain water with salt and a dash of flour. Tophee and I at that time couldn't help but laugh and tease her as we shared portions of our regular but much beloved choices to her so she wouldn't feel half as bad.
Poon's Restaurant is a new Chinese establishment located also in Middle Road which definitely looks more classy in contrast to Tangji-a Chinese restaurant that we like and frequent. They have round tables to go with their black high back chairs that had caught my eye when we came to check it out. We came to visit when my colleague and friend Eve had gotten a $35 Gift Certificate from the restaurant and she called us all in for a lunch treat, otherwise I wasn't sure if I'd have the opportunity to drop in since its standing on an area where it is not much noticeable.
It was a pretty place with an all-year-round decorations we sure had fun pointing at each other. At first I commented how advance and ready they already are for Valentine's when we realized that other holiday decorations are either thrown around the room, hanging or plastered on the walls in greeting. They had Valentine's Day cut outs, Chinese New Year symbols and lanterns, Christmas wreaths and displays - you name it. Someone from our group then pointed out at an altar on a corner of the room and said out loud, "That one must be for All Soul's Day!" which got us all laughing. The food was good especially the deep fried chicken and the beef broccoli that we ordered in a very affordable price.
Costa Terrace Restaurant (Aqua Resort Hotel) is one of my true favorites which is open from breakfast to dinner all throughout the week with their special seafood buffet on Sundays. Their weekday buffet however is a wide selection of dishes of chicken, beef and pork and an even more impressive array of desserts such as ice cream, fruit salad, cakes and other pastries. The place is also a favorite choice for receptions and gatherings, in fact, one of my godson's Christening reception among others was held there inside a room adjacent to the main dining area.
They also have a pasta corner where you decide which ingredients among the choices there you'd like to put on your spaghetti or carbonara. Aside from the food, its the service in Aqua Resort that we love best with their more than accommodating staffs that are ever ready to assist you the best they can.
There are two J's Restaurant establishments on island: There's one along Beach Road and another on Middle Road. Among the two, I personally prefer the latter which I find cozier and more appealing in every aspect I could think of compared to the other. We consider ourselves genuine patrons of that place and more often than not we always asks for the same order over and over deeming the menu of no use to us anymore.
Both me and my fiancé's favorites are the crispy Chicken Chasers and Beef Bulalo that we always order without fail every time we find ourselves in those premises. Some friends of mine for example usually opts for the Crispy Pata and Sinigang na Hipon in which they never fail to taunt me with knowing full well I wouldn't eat it any way. I in particular like their iced tea and of course their cups after cups of coffee.
But it was more than the "comfort food" as we call it why we frequent that establishment, it has also become a "comfort place" to many nocturnal beings like us who sometimes drop by in the middle of the night to eat and hangout. What with their dim lighting and comfortable cushioned chairs placed strategically against the walls with large windows where you can view either the parking lot or the cars zooming in and out on the road or the extra dim elevated area with the television overhead so you won't miss any of the shows you like while you eat and stay hour after hour just chatting or idling away without anyone bothering you.
I thought I like Sushi but now I had come to love it after visiting Himawari — a Japanese restaurant in a rather secluded area in Garapan.
Himawari is actually also a Japanese store and the restaurant which was also named after it, is housed on its right wing area. The place was small but nevertheless attractive in its own right. Besides I had always like Asian decor especially the Japanese styles of clean, simple, serene designs although this particular restaurant is more in to dark wood when it comes to their furniture and some antiques for decorations.
My fiancé and I together with his family had decided to have dinner which was rather unexpected. We were just supposed to have an ordinary dinner at some restaurant we frequent but in a sudden inspiration my fiance turned towards Himawari out of the blue asking us if we cared for some Japanese food that night. So we said why not since we haven't tried the place yet and how glad I was that we did.
We ordered their specialty — a plate of Sushi in 12 different varieties and another plate of Salmon Roll plus a steaming bowl of Ramen. The Sushi variety plate was beautiful and very creatively made served with wasabi and pickled ginger or gari; the art in the food and how painstakingly it must have been done didn't escape me. I reached out with my chopsticks and picked a roll surrounded with tiny little orange gems that I found out was called Tobiko—a roe commonly called flying fish roe that is commonly used to flavor and enhance texture of a variety of sushi rolls which has a slightly salty taste—and popped it in my mouth where it melted in a surprisingly perfect mingling of flavors that was truly delicious. The next I tried was this roll with peach colored fish on top which I believe is white tuna and I was surprised on how delectable and fresh the fish was without the taste of rawness that I had to double check on what I was eating to check if it was indeed raw at all. I tell you every bite of that morsel of fish was heaven in itself and was a real treat to the senses. I had quite finished the thing already when I asked my fiance the name of the fish to confirm what I just ate and he laughed telling me that I should have left some for him to see. I tried all the other rolls that looked yummy and they were all fantastic except maybe the one filled with orange fish eggs which was actually Salmon eggs called Nigiri Sushi-Ikura that I didn't finish because I didn't like the way it all went popping inside my mouth when I chewed it. I scanned the remainders of the plate trying to decide which to try next and I could have gone ahead and ate everything if I didn't recognized the rolls that came with octopus and other sea creatures I couldn't fathom to eat and so I left the rest to my companions and eyed the other dish instead.
I tried one of the salmon roll applied with mayonnaise and melted cheese stuffed with avocado, cucumber and some other vegetables and once again it didn't disappoint. I think I finished three from that roll and by that time I was munching the third one I was already stuffed and couldn't have another bite even if I wanted to.
They haven't seen the last of me though because right now I'm already hankering to go back for more of those wonderful sushi!
Something peculiar happened to me one time that got me a little piqued. It was after two in the morning when a friend dropped me off at home from dinner after an event that we both attended. Before going inside, I went to walk at the back of my house to look for my dog Wangkers who usually waits for me besides where another friend’s pet dog Jakjak who is usually tied up. I was calling for Wangkers when Jakjak spotted me walking towards him. He was wagging his tail at first when all of a sudden, he straightened and barked furiously at me -- something that he has never done before. I reprimanded him to be quiet and to remind him that it was me he was barking at but as I went nearer, he got angrier and angrier all the more. What baffled me was when he suddenly stopped on his tracks and without taking his eyes off me, howled an ear-shattering cry.
Not wanting to wake up anybody, I quickly brushed him off and walked over towards my house where I saw my dog Wangkers right ahead. I called on to her expecting acknowledgment. I was perplexed when she suddenly ran away scared as hell and whimpering under a table. I suddenly became aware of my surroundings, aware of the gazillion ghost stories that circles that place in San Vicente. Though I wasn't at all scared, something told me that I wasn't alone or at least the dogs were seeing something I'm not. I followed my dog and called to her again, she came out of her hiding place under a table in front of my house, got a good look at me and finally came to greet me albeit halfheartedly. I picked her up and cradled her in my arms, watching for any more weird reactions. There was none. I walked inside my house firmly closing the door behind me. Whatever they saw was gone.
Story originally published in my Friendster sCUTEzophrenia blog on March 15, 2008
