UPTAKES

Earlier today, I heard some kid sing The Star-Spangled Banner on some tv show. It was a pretty good rendition, and I was instantly reminded of another great rendition of the same song–a reminder that then took me two years back when I would watch American Idol twice (sometimes, even thrice) a day and lurk in all the American Idol forums, all because of Bo. Yes, Bo! Sigh.

After Bo’s season, American Idol just isn’t the same, and there hasn’t been any contestant who has captured my interest and imagination (ahem) as Bo had. Bo with his long, unkempt hair. Bo and his many flip-flops. Bo and how he’d say the word ‘genre.’ Oh, well, before I reveal the full extent of my fangirl-iness, here’s the vid of Bo singing The Star Spangled Banner.

Don’t you think that was kinda hot?

Good night, all.

I know I must be the 3 millionth person to have said this already, but this song and this video just make me really, really happy … and really seriously considering getting the new Ipod nano (RED!) just so I can carry this wonder of a song and vision with me.

Feist must have already sold so many Ipod nanos for Apple, and she must be so big now with the exposure that the ad has given her. She totally deserves it, too, I think. I mean, I just got to listen to some songs in the album (The Reminder, if I remember correctly) from which 1 2 3 4 was taken, and they were just overwhelming.

Apart from 1 2 3 4, I’m also totally loving The Park. While Feist’s images are not neccessarily easy to put into some kind of order, interpret, and/or arrange into some meaningful whole–perhaps, they’re not meant to, and that’s part of the beauty and charm of it–there are a few lines in ‘The Park’ that I just totally get.

Here: Sadness so real that it populates/The city and leaves you homeless again/Steam from a cup and snow on the path/The seasons have changed from the present to past. Sad, right? And with her voice and her singing and the melody of this song, it just touches you and makes you ache. For some reason though, it also makes you hope. Or maybe, it’s just me.
Anyhoo, I didn’t really start out thinking this was going to be about Feist or her songs. I mean, I don’t really have the right to be reviewing music. Hehe. So I’ll just go back to where I started: I’m really seriously considering getting the new Ipod nano (RED!) just so I can carry this wonder of a song and vision with me. And, oh, by the way, I’m also open to the idea of having someone else get the Ipod nano (RED!) for me and make me really happy. Christmas, after all, is just around the corner. Ahem.

Good night, all!

I finally got to taste the donut of The Donut Factory. It’s okay, I suppose, if there’s no Krispy Kreme around. Hehe. I’ve been totally spoiled by Krispy Kreme, especially my favorite varieties: Original Glazed, Glazed Cruller, Glazed Sour Cream and Caramel Kreme Crunch. Oh, such yummy goodness. Can’t wait to be back home for Krispy Kreme (among others, hehe), and when I go back home in December, there will be two branches in Trinoma. Yahoo! I don’t have to go to Bonifacio High Street or to Megamall anymore. Krispy Kreme will just be, so to speak, right around the corner.

Going back to Singapore donuts though, I think there’s an even better donut brand here in SG. I got to taste it in one of the talks sponsored by the ARI. I don’t know its name though or where it’s being sold. The box simply said ‘Yummy’–or was it ‘Munchy’?–and I assumed then it was the donut brand’s name. It was so good I had, ahhmm, 5. Hahaha. (I didn’t have lunch, ok? And that was already between 5.30 and 6 pm. Hehe. Anyway, my favorite was the Cookies and Cream variety). I was tempted actually to ask the organizers where I could get the donuts, but was too embarrassed to ask. (I mean, I didn’t ask a single question during the talk’s open forum it just didn’t seem appropriate to ask about the food.) So, if there’s anyone who knows where to get these ‘Yummy’ or ‘Munchy’ donuts, please let me know.
I suppose I’m feeling pretty fine and quite back to my usual self now that all I can think about again is food. I’d been sick the past week. It started out with some occasional coughing that turned into an annoying sore throat that developed into a full-blown fever. Two nights, my fever was so high I was delirious. I didn’t really think I’d ever go back to being well. Being sick used to be fun when I was a kid or even a few years back. Well, yes, I’d feel really bad, but there were perks: I could skip class, have my mom come to Manila to take care of me, and get cakes and flowers and cards from loving friends. Ahem. Now, getting sick is just one big hassle, and it really takes its tool. Bawal na talagang magkasakit.

Anyhoo, I’m just glad to be well again, and able to move about–to play tourist guide to a visiting cousin, go to school and add to my collection of photocopies, go to Ikea and get lamps and have Swedish meatballs, and think and write about food again.

This isn’t really a legitimate blog entry, I suppose. It’s just I can’t get the lyrics of the song out of my head, and so I’m sharing it with everyone else. I don’t have the actual song here, but I know, for a fact, it’s floating somewhere here on the world wide web, in case you’re interested. It’s from Avenue Q, which is being staged in the Philippines right now (and which I’m dying to see, but, well, I can’t). It’s ‘There’s a Fine, Fine Line’ by Kate Monster of, yes, Avenue Q. I know some of you will find the lyrics only too relevant, so enjoy:

There’s a fine, fine line between a lover and a friend;
There’s a fine, fine line between reality and pretend;
And you never know ’til you reach the top if it was worth the uphill climb.

There’s a fine, fine line between love
And a waste of time.

There’s a fine, fine line between a fairy tale and a lie;
And there’s a fine, fine line between “You’re wonderful” and “Goodbye.”
I guess if someone doesn’t love you back it isn’t such a crime,
But there’s a fine, fine line between love
And a waste of your time.

And I don’t have the time to waste on you anymore.
I don’t think that you even know what you’re looking for.
For my own sanity, I’ve got to close the door
And walk away…
Oh…

There’s a fine, fine line between together and not
And there’s a fine, fine line between what you wanted and what you got.
You gotta go after the things you want while you’re still in your prime…

There’s a fine, fine line between love
And a waste of time.

What do I do when I have work due soon and I haven’t started it yet? I do something else. Just like today. Since I have an abstract due on Saturday and I’m already beginning to panic (because I have no idea what to write and the publication I’m sending it to, I’ve been told, is so discerning), I decided to divert my attention a little bit. I cooked dinner. (I suppose this is also my way of taking control of the kitchen again after the fiasco on Sunday.) I fried fish and garnished it with lemon and made a cream-based vegetable dish following a favorite recipe from my mom. Some pictures–because I’m kinda proud of my creation. Hee.

Do you see how perfectly fried the fish was? I did say I was going to go with low and/or medium heat after Sunday’s fiasco, but fish, if you wanted it fried, had to be cooked in high heat. That I got from a Kitchenomics show I caught years and years ago, which for some reason, I never forgot.

And do you see the fusion of colors in the vegetable dish? The reds and the greens combining gorgeously? Nigella would be so proud of me. Haha.

And for dessert, have you ever tasted real raspberries and blackberries? Not me, so dessert, which was bourbon fudge brownie with raspberries and blackberries in light cream (not so light actually, if you put all of them together) was just marvelous. I wish I could say I created it, too, but no, credit must be given where it’s due. It was Fama who made it, and it was her idea.

And because the berries in cream (note: in cream!) were so good, and we already ran out of brownies and still had some apple pie, guess what we came up with next? Here, which was, in fact, much more marvelous, and thus the already half-eaten apple pie:

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a fantastic cook. I’m more of a hit and miss cook. (Well, I do have my own house specialties, but that I suppose would be another story.) It’s most times too salty, most times overcooked, sometimes too oily, sometimes bland. But there are times when I get everything just right. I think tonight is one of those. Happy sigh. Now, if I could just write the effin abstract, it would all be perfect.

I wish I could burst out into ‘Good Morning Singapore’ today, just like Tracy doing ‘Good Morning Baltimore’ in Hairspray, but I don’t think I can. Today is looking bleak. It’s overcast. I have a full day: cook (and cook slow and right and safe) right about after I finish this, eat, take a shower and get dressed, go to school, download and print out a number of articles from an online journal, download and print out recipes, scan some documents, email said documents, pass by The Deck for take-away, and on my way home, drop by the supermarket to get cheese, tuna, broccoli, sage, potatoes, and pork chops. When I get home, I have to read the articles, read an essay I was supposed to have read yesterday, and go back to my transcription. With this kind of day, it’s kind of difficult to start belting out some tunes. Sigh.

Then again, Hairspray is still stuck in my head, and I just can’t help but smile. I haven’t had this much fun watching a movie in a long time. Well, I liked Bourne Ultimatum and enjoyed watching it, but Hairspray? It was just fun. Fun and happy and gay and inspiring and something I could and would watch over and over again. The moment Tracy started singing ‘Good Morning Baltimore’ and sashaying around, I knew the movie would rock and I would totally love it. There were many other delightful surprises in the movie for me (e.g., the black and white versions of ‘New Girl in Town,’ Christopher Walken’s and a transformed John Travolta’s ‘You’re Timeless to Me,’ that Cyclops and Amanda Bynes could sing, Queen Latifah’s poignant ‘I Know Where I’ve Been,’ and the ‘You Can’t Stop the Beat’ finale), but this is not a review. This is just to share my Hairspray joy. So, here you go (this one’s especially for those in the Philippines who start work today after a long weekend):

I love, love, love this whole sequence, but my favoritest part is at around 1:05 when she gets left by the bus because she’s strutting her stuff until around 0:45 when she gets on top of a truck and belts ‘I love you Baltimore.’ I suppose I’d be belting out some tunes this morning after all.
Good morning Singapore
Every day’s like an open door
Every night is a fantasy
Every sound’s like a symphony

Have a good day, y’all!

Today, I got one of the biggest scares of my life. I woke up pretty late, and was hurrying to get something cooked so I could eat, as I also woke up hungry. I went to the kitchen, took some sausages out of the freezer, got the frying pan on the stove, put in some oil, turned on the stove to high heat, then threw in the sausages. I knew when I did that, it was going to sizzle, because, well, I didn’t thaw the meat and the pan was very hot, so I backed away from the stove as far as I could. And sizzle it did. Smoke started to come out of the pan, too. I thought I should probably turn the heat off or set it to medium for a little bit, just for the smoke to go away, but the oil was sizzling so ferociously I didn’t want to get near the pan. I decided to wait for the sizzling to let up. Then, from where I was standing, a good four feet away, I saw that the fire under the pan was beginning to crackle. I thought, for a second, the pan would catch fire, but then I thought that wasn’t possible. And the moment I thought that, fire, about 6 to 7 inches, suddenly leapt out from the pan. For a second or two, I just stared at it, unable to think. It seemed all thought had left me. When thought returned, it was, “God, I’m going to die.”

I suppose I thought of more than that though, because the next thing I did was run to the stove and turn the burner off. When it did not put out the fire, I took the pan out of the stove and threw it on the floor. The sausages jumped off, the pan hit the floor, then almost immediately, the fire went out. I suppose, while all this was going on, I called out to my flatmate in what would be described as a terrified voice, because she rushed out, alarmed. When she got to the kitchen though, the fire was already out, and I was standing there, shaking, and still unable to believe what just happened. I still don’t know how the fire died just like that. I threw the pan on the floor, because I needed to find some cloth to put the fire out with and didn’t think I could do that while holding the pan at the same time. I didn’t know it would make the fire go out. Whatever. I’m just glad it turned out to be the right thing to do.

I can still see the events of the afternoon in my head, and the whole thing still scares me. The lesson? I’m not really sure. I just know, beginning today, I’d thaw frozen meat before I fry it, and go with low to medium heat. And if I wake up hungry, I’d go have cereals first.

Don’t you just think this is genius? You can exercise, learn English, and learn to defend yourself all at the same time. You can also pick up a nice little ditty along the way. Have a nice day, you all!

“It’s time for you to organize the different elements of your life and get things on a coherent schedule. Your work or school obligations, your friendships and your romantic relationships are all pulling you in different directions, and the problem will only get bigger if you put off getting things in line. Be a lot more structured about how you plan your days — get it down to the minute if you have to. These drastic measures don’t have to be permanent, but they’ll get you going down the right track.”

that chunk above is my horoscope for the day. it’s crazy how i’ve done nothing the past few weeks but try to organize my life, and and still, the horoscope i get tells me to do more of it. then again, as i begin thinking about how i’ve spent the last few weeks, i realize that, perhaps, what it’s telling me is to organize ALL aspects of my life, not just certain aspects of it, as i’m prone to do. in particular, i think it’s telling me to start attending to my school obligations–instead of organizing and re-organizing my photos and uploading them. ahem. i also think it’s telling me to start transcribing my data and writing my first chapter–instead of starting this. ahem. ahem.

cannot write, cannot sleep, can only do this, lah.