it's all about the break

I've just had one crazy week.

From taking care of my Nanay at the hospital, to running errands for my Nanay because she's at the hospital, chasing after one particularly whizzing deadline, and then discovering that I had lost my Esprit sunglasses at Plantation Bay over the weekend (woops! don't tell my sis about it!) - I deserve a break, people.

Which brings me to this question: How exactly do you take an instant mini-break?

Do you, like me, engage in dvd marathons of your favorite TV shows (ooh, I can't wait to finish that first season of 30 Rock), or do you slap down hard-earned bucks at your customary watering hole and chug down alcoholic beverages like there's no tomorrow?

Or, like this friend I know, do you sleep off an entire weekend? Or do you suddenly go incomunicado to all friends, foes, and frenemies (people who pretend to be your friends but are actually your enemies) for a couple of days, maybe even weeks?

Or do you do all of these (won't that be just lovely)?

Or do you bang your head on the wall and then tell yourself: I think it's just a psychological thing; it's really just mind over matter??

i'm turning japanese

I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so!

For the instructions, add your name on the list and simply spell out your name using the given Japanese letter- translations below. Tag your friends and inform them of the tag. Have fun.

TRANSLATION:
A - ka -----G - ji -----M - rin -----S - ari-----Y - fu
B - tu -----H - ri -----N - to ------T - chi-----Z - zi
C - mi----- I - ki -----O - mo -----U - do
D - te----- J - zu -----P - no ------V - ru
E - ku-----K - me ----Q - ke ------W -mei
F - lu-----L - ta ------R - shi ------X - na


1. OSWALD - moarimeikatate (sounds like american and states har....har...har...)
2. JUNELLE - zudotokutataku (Thank God I’m a Filipino! sounds like sadako. nyay! hehehe)
3. JACQUELINE - zukamikedokutakitoku (Ayay!! Unsaman ni perti mang taasa..wa ko kasabot nyahahaha)
4. LERMA - takushirinka ( I’ll use this name if I’m in Japan!)
5. ELLAINE- Kutatakakitoku (Hala! Nagkalisod ko ug litok ani! Naunsa!)
6. NOVA JOY - tomoruka zumofu [nakakaluka, ano bang sounds ito? parang ang bantot naman...]7. Ester -kuarichikushi (ngeeee!!!!)
8. AGNES - Kajitokuari (uhmm... ok na lng. hahah!)
9. Zuin - Zidokito (not a bad japanese name ^_^)
10. Alrose - Katashimoariku (nyahahaha pwerte man ni ka japanese ui) hihi
11. Lourie - Tamodoshikiku (sounds like that digital pet game *grin*)
12. Chelle - Mirikukutataku (ayayay! murag man title sa horror movie oi!)

Tagging purpled-sky and diva wears nada.

We're turning Japanese, I think we're turning Japanese, I really think so!

link love: spread the love

Tagging is the name of the game this week.

Having been tagged by purpled-sky, I'm all for spreading the love. So here goes.

* start copying here *

Join the Worldwide Link Love!

Benefits of Worldwide Link Love!
1. Make new friends around the world.
2. Feel the Link Love.
3. Gain new readers and subscribers.

Rules:
1. Copy from ~* start copying here *~ to ~* end copying here *~ and paste it on your blog.
2. At the end of the list, put your name and the country your in, it doesn’t matter what’s your nationality just put the country where you are publishing your blog. Don’t forget to put links at your name.
3. If you have many blogs, you can link all of it, just make sure you post the same on each blog.
4. Tag your blog friends.
5. Tip for blogspot users: make sure you copy and paste the code in Compose mode.

Worldwide Link Love! Participants

1. Julia (Philippines)
2. Catherine (Malaysia)
3. shimumsy(u.s.a)
4. Mitch (Philippines)
5. Hailey (Philippines)
6. Sexymom (USA)
7. Liza (Philippines)
8. Geng (Philippines)
9. SunnySideUp Foodie (Singapore)
10. Caramelcorn (Singapore)
11. Constance (Singapore)
12. Hainankia (Malaysia)
13. Read my Mind (Philippines)
14. joanjoyce (Philippines)
15. Mckhoii (Philippines)
16. Gelestrada (Philippines)
17. Coatable Coats (Philippines)
18. Faery Dancing (Philippines)
19. Purpled Sky (Philippines)
20. Caffeinated Muse (Philippines)
21. YOU!

* end copying here *

I'm tagging she is kaith and blog gurl. Let's all spread the love!

how far would you go?

I know it’s a bit late for the greetings, but I just would like to say: Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas, nanays, and mommies out there! You all deserve to have one day each year especially dedicated to you.

*********

This weekend, I watched The Orphanage, a movie produced by Guillermo del Toro (of Pan’s Labyrinth). It’s a film in the horror-suspense genre (I know, I know, I shouldn’t watch this kind of film!), and if you’re not into subtitles, then you’d best search for other movies to watch as, like Pan’s Labyrinth, this is a Spanish movie, which means the dialogue is in Español, so you have to read the English subtitles to understand the story.

Perfect for a subtitle-freak like me.

Well, personally, this may be the best horror movie that I have ever watched yet. Granted, its lingering effects (on me) are not at par with Ju-on, which had me sleepless for several nights, nor The Sixth Sense, which, I think, was the sole movie responsible for triggering my fear of being alone in a room.

But in The Orphanage, the pacing, the build-up, and the seemingly trivial stuff at the beginning that lends to a heavier symbolization near the end – these elements all combine fittingly together, weaving a most unforgettable story.

And the story is just beautiful. Suitably for a Mother’s Day weekend, it tells of a mother’s absolute love for her child, the unfortunate circumstances that befell the mother and her son, and ultimately asks the question:

How far would you go to be with your child?

The answer is as spooky as haunted, chilly manors are.

MJ

Meet MJ, our long-haired dachshund who sometimes forgets she's a dog.

Haughty and a little bit on the stubborn side, too. But for whatever it's worth, she's never had a boyfriend all her life (and probably won't ever have any).

About a month ago, we almost had a fight.

I don't know why, but she always takes to staying under my bed in the mornings (and not at any other time of the day). And because sometimes she hasn't had her bath yet when she curls up under my bed, she has this certain kind of smell (you know that smell that dogs have? yep, that's the one), and on that particular morning, I was irritated that she chose to stay there again.

So I called out to her, telling her to get out from under my bed (yes, she understands what we say. well, most of the time, actually) and out of my room. While I was calling out to her, I had this slipper ready in my hand, intending to spank her lightly for her bad behavior (read: staying under my bed when she knows I don't like that).

There were some shuffling sounds while she tried to wriggle out from under my bed, but when her head poked out and spied me holding a slipper, the little brat understood that I meant to spank her and returned to her place under my bed, where I cannot reach her.

Of course my blood reached its boiling point.

I had to reach over to the other side of the bed (the side against the wall) and coax her to come out. Only when she understood that I was on the bed and could not harm her did she crawl out from under the bed, run to the kitchen, and hide under the dining room table.

I went after her, slipper in hand and ready to really spank her hard and good this time. When I reached under the table though, she bared her teeth at me and growled (read: don't you ever dare spank me!). Since I was angry, but also afraid she might bite me, I just resorted to banging the chairs around her and swearing loudly what a bad girl she was.

While at the office, I felt sorry for MJ. It wasn't her fault, really, that she didn't want to be spanked. Nobody ever does, right? I became worried she might skulk at me and never come near me again.

So it was with a bit of apprehension when I arrived at our house that evening and went slowly up the steps. Out of nowhere MJ came bounding out, panting heavily and tail wagging wildly. When she got near me, she sniffed delicately at me first, and maybe because she smelt the apologetic remorse on me, she licked at my big toe (that's her way of kissing me).

I sighed. All's well that ends well, I guess.

Note: No animals (specifically one stubborn long-haired dachshund) were harmed in the creation of this post.