BuffyWorld -- A complete guide to all of the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" episodes

http://www.buffyworld.com
Whenever I missed an ep of BTVS, I usually came here before to read the scripts and just let my imagination run away and supply the scenes.

This was what I also did for other tv series I watched quite religiously before.

This is officially my 888th post in my Multiply site :-) Since its part of my fave numbers...am taking note of it.

Inspire - The World's Most Popular Quotations List

http://www.inspirelist.com/

Eek! The new word I learned today is ..."yaka-wow". I need to get back to the paper dictionary coz my vocab is screwed due to the internet surfing I've been doing.

May 3, 2010 is a regular non-working holiday in lieu of May 1, 2010. But...its not as if I have money (just got an increase in taxes) to go anywhere...and its a little late in finding this out. Hay..life in the Philippines....always surprising! Bleargh!

Water-murmuring

April 9, 2010
The Terraces
Cebu City

After eating at CYMA and almost bursting with Greek food, my mom and I did something together that we haven't done in a long time.

We sat by the ledge of the water fountains at The Terraces and just talked about anything under the moon.

This wasn't a talk about problems at home, health, Cebu, politics and elections or anything some people would say were important enough to warrant a spirited discussion.

It was just a conversation about anything and nothing..and it was relaxing doing so with the water singing its song while flowing into the basin behind us..and with the muted sounds of laughing diners at the outside tables.

I faced the water, while my mom faced the trees in the middle of the grounds. For a long moment I was lost in another world where all I could hear was the soft murmur of the water, giving me a gentle welcome back to my hometown.

Short photowalk on an errand

Makati buildings view from Magallanes Station

One day in April 2010, I went to pick up my Kodak V803 which was up for repair after its powerboard gave up the ghost in Sagada.

The top of a mall I've not yet visited

It was a sweltering hot afternoon, and I wanted to save money as the repair cost was already putting a dent into my increasingly thinner purse.

Magallanes Interchange view

That meant walking and taking the train for some part of the journey.

I wonder what these were for?

I brought my GE cam along as I always thought walking outside was something new for my eyes to look at aside from my work laptop.

Magallanes Station walkway

Along the way I managed to discreetly snap a few pics as I didn't want to be termed a tourist.

Train and cars go about their business

Going through our company's annual refresher course on ethics and compliance, I'm wondering why can't something like that be done frequently and forced on our politicians and the powers-that-be? Maybe a timely and scheduled refresher course is needed to remind them often that they are supposed to be serving the Filipino people and that there are standards of good conduct which they seem to have forgotten just because they are now higher-up than the common folk.Tch!

Basking in Batanes

Start:	Jun 24, '10
End:	Jun 27, '10
Location:	Batanes, Philippines

From wiki:
The Province of Batanes is the northernmost and the smallest province of the Philippine Republic, both in terms of population and land area. The provincial capital is Basco. Of this island group, the largest and only inhabited islands are Itbayat, Batan and Sabtang. The Batanes group of islands is about 190 kilometers south of Taiwan.


[Oldest house in Ivata, Batanes, made out of corals]

Am keeping my fingers crossed that the weather during our trip will be fair indeed.

Green to Yellow and Back

March 13, 2010
Near Cafe St. Joe
Sagada, Philippines

I am a lazy bum. I am an "automatic-settings" girl.
I almost never, never touch manual controls of my camera.

But I figured, maybe there was something to all those high-falutin terms of DOF and apertures and high-speed, etc.

So here I was - trying to experiment on the focus of my cam by looking at a pair of flowers.
Well, what do you know...it does have a different effect



Taken with a Fujifilm Finexpic S602Z. No modification.

A tip I gleaned from attending the recent high-school semi-reunion: gauze diapers are good replacements for face towels, especially if you perspire a lot. Thanks Gladys!

Songs of the Philippine Revolution

Start:	Apr 24, '10 6:00p
Location:	Salón de Actos, Instituto Cervantes

A Lecture-Concert by Raúl Súnico, Musical arranger-pianist-composer

Among the many testaments to the close cultural ties between Spain and the Philippines is a little-known genre of songs of the revolution with Spanish and Filipino lyrics that emerged in different parts of the country.

International Book Day

Start:

Apr 24, '10 10:00a

Books and Roses at Instituto Cervantes

This coming Saturday, April 24, come and join in celebrating the Día Internacional del Libro. Thousands of books in both Spanish and English, ranging from classics to children’s literature, and so much more will be on sale for as low as P20.

And following the Spanish tradition, get for every purchase a free rose. The first 400 visitors will also receive a free Miguel Hernández poetry anthology (courtesy of Fundación Miguel Hernández).

On the same Saturday, there will also be an Open House at the Instituto Cervantes grounds. Get a chance to mingle with your favourite authors as they grace this event, signing copies of their latest works. Festivities will begin at 10 a.m. Enjoy a day of books, poetry, music, dance, film, Spanish food and cap the night off with a Latin party.

Día del Libro is going to be a day full of excitement for all ages, with adventures to be had and prizes to be won.

You may get updates on the event by visiting and becoming a fan of our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/diadellibro/. You may also obtain more info and updates on the Instituto Cervantes’ cultural events by following its blog in http://culturaenmanila.blogspot.com/.

Thanks Anet & Cay for the red slippers!

April 9, 2010
Cebu City
Philippines


At last year's high-school Christmas cum reunion party, my batchmate Anet (I was her classmate though in one of our earlier years at STC), promised to give a gift to each one of us who were having after-dinner drinks with the other party survivors - an artsy pair of slippers was our reward! This is her business, btw.

Who in their right minds would refuse such a get-ready-for-summer gift?

Picture of Cay and me with Anet's given red slippers.            

So we each all wrote down on a piece of paper our preferred color mix for the slippers. Not surprisingly I chose my fave color red.

                                                

Since I had a flying visit to Cebu this April, luckily I was able to get my pair without having it shipped here to me in Manila.

Here is proof that I received it, courtesy (via-"tunol" or hand-over hehehe!) of Maricar.

I had a set of errands to run through this holiday, so I popped in with my mom to see her at Sacred Heart Center, where her child was attending summer swimming sessions :-)

I feel almost like Dorothy in the "Wizard of Oz" with her her red-ruby slippers clicking her heels away.

Thanks again girls!

Notes-to-self: How many terminals are there in Manila?

*sigh* I keep forgetting, except for the Centennial airport, where I ought to go..so am putting this here for reference...

There are three operational International Terminals and a Domestic Terminal no more than 1 kilometer from the International Terminals.

Terminal 1

Terminal 1 is the original International Terminal and is known as the NAIA Terminal where all international flights arrive except Philippine Airlines (PAL).

Note to self: this is the terminal I used for my trip to Singapore on Singapore Airlines.

Terminal 2

The second terminal is known as Centennial Terminal. It is for the exclusive use of the Philippines National carrier, Philippines Airlines (PAL). It caters for both Domestic and International PAL only flights.

Terminal 3

This Terminal 3 is significantly larger than Terminal 1 and was intended to take the place of the original terminal.

Note to self: this is where I take flights such as Cebu Pacific airlines.

Domestic Terminal

Approximately about 1 kilometer from the International Airport the Domestic Terminal is also along Airport Drive. The Domestic Airport handles all of the domestic flights in and out of Manila  excluding Philippine Airlines (PAL).

Note to self: Smaller planes I think such as SeAir take off from here. Probably ZestAir also.

Eating meat contributes to global warming - I'm conscience-stricken when I look at my luscious bacon.

Two things are certain - death and taxes.

Don't we just luv taxes....

...I began singing this song at the start of my working day...great motivation to be a taxman...LOL

[1,2,3,4
Hrmm!
1,2...
1,2,3,4.]

Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Should five per cent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat
If you get too cold I'll tax the heat
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet

Taxman!
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman

Don't ask me what I want it for (Aahh Mr. Wilson)
If you don't want to pay some more (Aahh Mr. Heath)
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Now my advice for those who die
Declare the pennies on your eyes
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

And you're working for no one but me
Taxman!

I got snagged by a few chappies of the manga "Kaichou wa Maid-sama"! its the romantic in me *bats eyelashes innocently*

Berso sa Metro: Poetry Travels by Jeepney

Start:	Apr 17, '10 12:00p
End:	Apr 17, '10 11:00p
Location:	Metro Manila

From Instituto Cervantes -

The International Book Day is around the corner and Instituto Cervantes is preparing SOMETHING MASSIVE for April 24 with thousands of books and roses, cinema, music, contests, dance...

But before that, if you want to taste A LOT of poetry, come to the Jeepney Poetry Tour this Saturday the 17th. A voyage of verse, this poetry recital will be divided into three parts, in three different locations of Metro Manila, with 9 poets, from 12 noon until 11pm.

A grand celebration of poetry, the event will feature Filipinos Alfred Yuson, Pete Lacaba, Marra Lanot, Ramon Sunico and Joel Toledo.

Renowned Spanish poet José Luis Gómez Toré will be flying from Europe to share his poetry in the three-part recital.

And to make the deal even spicier, Michael Coroza and Vim Nadera will engage in a friendly poetic debate in the tradition of the Balagtasan.

For more information on this event, you may get updates by visiting and subscribing to http://culturaenmanila.blogspot.com for a blow-by-blow reporting. But if you want to be one of the lucky few to experience first-hand this unique poetry tour, then come this Saturday and be part of the most fascinating poetry caravan in Manila to date.

Summer Breakout @ 9Waves Ciudad Christhia Resort

Start:	Apr 16, '10 06:45a
End:	Apr 16, '10 6:00p
Location:	Ampid San Mateo Rizal, Philippines

If I can wake up early or not get too embroiled with my work emails as I'm backing up another time-zone for this week..I'd probably be able to go to this place for our company's activities..otherwise, its *sob* work as usual...

their website: www.9wavesphilippines.com

Too engrossed in work, I only found out there was a fire opposite the street from where I was doing my phone conference tonight - through my mom who called me up to ask me how it was. I then imagined myself on the table with my back facing to the fire while I was setting up a meeting with people from all over the world. Tsk-tsk. No wonder I passed a security guard earlier running through GB park with a small fire extinguisher in his hand.

Earth Day

Start:	Apr 22, '10
Location:	Earth :-)

On a roll for camera repairs: my Fujifilm Finepix's battery cover is fixed (I can now throw away rubber bands and packing tapes), then my Kodak V803's powerboard is replaced (I can now go back to manual panoramic stitching). So its just my Olympus waterproof left. Gotta save up again.

Saw an excerpt of "Suroy-Suroy sa Sugbo" (from the year 2010 episode) on a channel here in Cebu City - concentrated on the Southern Heritage trail. I think I will try it if there are no elections or any other "pasikat" events..it was a bit boring seeing all these politicians doing an endless loop of song-and-dance numbers when all I want to see is the town and its attractions. *disgruntled hiss*

Sleeping 'Babe'

Taken on Holy Thursday.

April 1, 2010.
Bantayan, Bantayan Island
Cebu, Philippines.

Ah..the sleep of the just and the innocent!

Only in The Philippines? 2 of 2

continuation of an earlier post...

"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches"-- 
(Proverbs 22:1)

WHEN I arrived in the Philippines from the UK six years ago, one of the first cultural differences to strike me was names. The subject has provided a continuing source of amazement and amusement ever since. The first unusual thing, from an English perspective, is that everyone here has a nickname. In the staid and boring United Kingdom , we have nicknames in kindergarten, but when we move into adulthood we tend, I am glad to say, to lose them.

The second thing that struck me is that Philippine names for both girls and boys tend to be what we in the UK would regard as overbearingly cutesy for anyone over about five. Fifty-five-year- olds colleague put it. Where I come from, a boy with a nickname like Boy Blue or Honey Boy would be beaten to death at school by pre-adolescent bullies, and never make it to adulthood. So, probably, would girls with names like Babes, Lovely, Precious, Peachy or Apples. Yuk, ech ech. Here, however, no one bats an eyelid.

Then I noticed how many people have what I have come to call "door-bell names". These are nicknames that sound like -well, doorbells. There are millions of them. Bing, Bong, Ding, and Dong are some of the more common. They can be, and frequently are, used in even more door-bell-like combinations such as Bing-Bong, Ding-Dong, Ting-Ting, and so on. Even our newly appointed chief of police has a doorbell name Ping . None of these doorbell names exist where I come from, and hence sound unusually amusing to my untutored foreign ear.

Someone once told me that one of the Bings, when asked why he was called Bing, replied, "because my brother is called Bong". Dong, of course, is a particularly funny one for me, as where I come Faultless logic. from "dong" is a slang word for well; perhaps "talong" is the best Tagalog equivalent.

Repeating names was another novelty to me, having never before encountered people with names like Len-Len, Let-Let, Mai-Mai, or Ning-Ning. The secretary I inherited on my arrival had an unusual one: Leck-Leck. Such names are then frequently further refined by using the "squared" symbol, as in Len2 or Mai2. This had me very confused for a while.

Then there is the trend for parents to stick to a theme when naming their children. This can be as simple as making them all begin with the same letter, as in Jun, Jimmy, Janice, and Joy.

More imaginative parents shoot for more sophisticated forms of assonance or rhyme, as in Biboy, Boboy, Buboy, Baboy (notice the names get worse the more kids there are-best to be born early or you could end up being a Baboy).

Even better, parents can create whole families of, say, desserts (Apple Pie, Cherry Pie, Honey Pie) or flowers (Rose, Daffodil, Tulip). The main advantage of such combinations is that they look great painted across your trunk if you're a cab driver.

That's another thing I'd never seen before coming to Manila -- taxis with the driver's kids' names on the trunk.

Another whole eye-opening field for the foreign visitor is the phenomenon of the "composite" name. This includes names like Jejomar (for Jesus, Joseph and Mary), and the remarkable Luzviminda (for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao , believe it or not). That's a bit like me being called something like Engscowani" (for England , Scotland , Wales and Northern Ireland ). Between you and me, I'm glad I'm not.

And how could I forget to mention the fabulous concept of the randomly inserted letter 'h'. Quite what this device is supposed to achieve, I have not yet figured out, but I think it is designed to give a touch of class to an otherwise only averagely weird name. It results in creations like Jhun, Lhenn, Ghemma, and Jhimmy. Or how about Jhun-Jhun (Jhun2)?

How boring to come from a country like the UK full of people with names like John Smith. How wonderful to come from a country where imagination and exoticism rule the world of names.

Even the towns here have weird names; my favorite is the unbelievably named town of Sexmoan (ironically close to Olongapo and Angeles). Where else in the world could that really be true?

Where else in the world could the head of the Church really be 
called Cardinal Sin?

Where else but the Philippines !

Note: Philippines has a senator named Joker, and it is his 
legal name.

Only in The Philippines? 1 of 2

I've had this in different Inboxes of my different email addresses since I've been working and old enough to have an email address of my own *grin*

And now I find it again in gmail (my last "newest" email address).

Because it deals hilariously with food (especially the Filipino's relationship to it), I always try to re-read it especially as I crunch on my snacks - and laugh at how apt it all seems to be - yes, even until now!

For my fellow countrymen and friends of other nationalities who think I seem to be preoccupied with food 90 percent of my waking moments..let me share with you again this oldie but goodie (spacing/indentation are mine).

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The following is from a British journalist stationed in the 
Philippines . His observations are so hilarious!!! ! This was written in 
1999.

Matter of Taste
By Matthew Sutherland

I have now been in this country for over six years, and consider myself in most respects well assimilated. However, there is one key step on the road to full assimilation, which I have yet to take, and  that's to eat BALUT.

The day any of you sees me eating balut, please call immigration and ask them to issue me a Filipino passport. Because at that point there will be no turning back. BALUT, for those still blissfully ignorant non-Pinoys out there, is a fertilized duck egg. It is commonly sold with salt in a piece  of newspaper, much like English fish and chips, by street vendors usually after dark, presumably so you can't see how gross it is.

It's meant to be an aphrodisiac, although I can't imagine anything more likely to dispel sexual desire than crunching on a partially formed baby duck swimming in noxious fluid. The embryo in the egg comes in varying stages of development, but basically it is not considered macho to eat one without fully discernable feathers, beak, and claws. Some say these crunchy bits are the best.  Others prefer just to drink the so-called 'soup', the vile, pungent liquid that surrounds the aforementioned feathery fetus...excuse me; I have to go and throw up now. I'll be back in a minute.

Food dominates the life of the Filipino.

People here just love to eat. They eat at least eight times a day. These eight official meals are called, in order: breakfast, snacks, lunch, merienda, merienda ceyna, dinner, bedtime snacks and no-one-saw-me- take-that-cookie-from- the-fridge-so- it- doesn't-count.

The short gaps in between these mealtimes are spent eating Sky Flakes from the open packet that sits on every desktop. You're never far from food in the Philippines . If you doubt this, next time you're driving home from work, try this game. See how long you can drive without seeing food and I don't mean a distant restaurant, or a picture of food. I mean a man on the sidewalk frying fish balls, or a man walking through the traffic selling nuts or candy. I bet it's less than one minute.

Here are some other things I've noticed about food in the Philippines :

Firstly, a meal is not a meal without rice - even breakfast.  In the UK, I could go a whole year without eating rice.

Second, it's  impossible to drink without eating. A bottle of San Miguel just isn't the same without gambas or beef tapa.

Third, no one ventures more than two paces from their house without baon (food in small container) and a container of something cold to drink. You might as well ask a Filipino to leave home without his pants on.

And lastly, where I come from, you eat with a knife and fork. Here, you eat with a spoon and fork. You try eating rice swimming in fish sauce with a knife.

One really nice thing about Filipino food culture is that people always ask you to SHARE their food. In my office, if you catch anyone attacking their baon, they will always go, "Sir! KAIN TAYO!" ("Let's eat!"). This confused me, until I realized that they didn't actually expect me to sit down and start munching on their boneless bangus. In fact, the polite 
response is something like, "No thanks, I just ate." But the principle is sound - if you have food on your plate, you are expected to share it, however hungry you are, with those who may be even hungrier. I think that's great!

In fact, this is frequently even taken one step further. Many Filipinos use "Have you eaten yet?" ("KUMAIN KA NA?") as a general greeting, irrespective of time of day or location.

Some foreigners think Filipino food is fairly dull compared to other Asian cuisines. Actually lots of it is very good: Spicy dishes like Bicol Express (strange, a dish named after a train); anything cooked with coconut milk; anything KINILAW; and anything ADOBO.

And it's hard to beat the sheer wanton, cholesterolic frenzy of a good old-fashioned LECHON de leche (roast pig) feast. Dig a pit, light a fire, add 50 pounds of animal fat on  stick, and cook until crisp. Mmm, mmm...you can actually feel your arteries constricting with each successive mouthful.

I also share one key Pinoy trait ---a sweet tooth. I am thus the only foreigner I know who does not complain about sweet bread, sweet burgers, sweet spaghetti, sweet banana ketchup, and so on. I am a man who likes to put jam on his pizza. Try it! It's the weird food you want to avoid.

In addition to duck fetus in the half-shell, items to avoid in the Philippines include pig's blood soup (DINUGUAN); bull's testicle soup, the strangely-named "SOUP NUMBER FIVE" (I dread to think what numbers one through four are); and the ubiquitous, stinky shrimp paste, BAGOONG, and it's equally stinky sister, PATIS. Filipinos are so addicted to these latter items that they will even risk arrest or deportation trying to smuggle them into countries like Australia and the USA , which wisely ban the importation of items you can smell from more than 100 paces.

Then there's the small matter of the purple ice cream. I have never been able to get my brain around eating purple food; the ubiquitous UBE leaves me cold.

And lastly on the subject of weird food, beware: that KALDERETANG KAMBING (goat) could well be KALDERETANG ASO (dog)...

The Filipino, of course, has a well-developed sense of food.

Here's a typical Pinoy food joke: "I'm on a seafood diet. "What's a seafood diet?" "When I see food, I eat it!"

Filipinos also eat strange bits of animals --- the feet, the head, the guts, etc., usually barbecued on a stick. These have been given witty names, like "ADIDAS" (chicken's feet); "KURBATA" (either just chicken's neck, or "neck and thigh" as in "neck-tie"); "WALKMAN" (pigs ears); "PAL" (chicken wings); HELMET" (chicken head); "IUD" (chicken intestines), and BETAMAX" (video-cassette- like blocks of animal blood). Yum, yum.

Bon appetit.

Back from Bantayan Island...where I found out again how small the world is ....Happy Easter!