It's Sunday. Seven minutes to 3am. Might as well be a time to think about what I really want.
Here I am sitting in my bed in my small room in our apartment in Mountbatten. 13 months ago I was in a pretty similar situation; at a fork in the road, being utterly confused about what to do and where to go. As much as I would like to think that I'm a year wiser, I'm really still having a hard time making a decision on whether I should go back to Manila or have another go here in Singapore.
I have a lot of doubts and worries right now. I would just have to face up to each one of them one by one until my head is clear.
Maybe a trip somewhere where I can go offline and unplug from the rest of the world will help me. Or maybe that will make me go psycho. I think I should just watch Up In The Air and Midnight In Paris again.
Ok, I was supposed to talk about some other things in the last post, but I realized the previous entry has gone on too long (sorry, once I start talking about tennis, I usually don't stop)
So... here are the best of the others:
Best movie I saw this year: Inception.
It had everything, a great concept told in a very entertaining and exciting way, an interesting group of people you could root for, and if that didn't work for you, you could still take it as a great action/heist film with awesome visuals. And that top didn't stop spinning.
Best TV series: I usually just say The Amazing Race here anyway, so I'll just enumerate the 10 runner-ups:
Bones, Criminal Minds, Burn Notice, White Collar, Modern Family, Parks and Recreations, Cougar Town, Community, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Big Bang Theory.
(Note: not that I have a lot of time in my hands, I don't even download any of these via torrents. I just watch these shows whenever I catch them on TV.)
Best line from a TV Show:
"All I ask is one thing... and this is... I'm asking this particularly of young people that watch. Please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism. For the record, it's my least favorite quality. It doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen. I'm telling you. Amazing things will happen. I'm telling you. It's just true. As proof, let's make something amazing happen right now." (goes on to sing Freebird)
Well said, Coco. Well said.
Best Performance in a Movie:
Chloe Grace Moretz as Hit Girl.
*Don't watch if you're under 18 or are otherwise immature or have strong aversion to gore.
Best Viral Video:
I was tempted to give it to the Cebu Pacific's Dancing FA's, but I remembered this one. It was hilarious when I first saw it floating around on Facebook. Still hilarious now.
Top 3 Annoying Facebook Trends:
1. People saying "unlike" when they really mean "dislike".
2. People tagging me on pictures where I'm just a blur in the background.
3. People tagging others on pics of things that they're selling. (Thanks to Jun for reminding me of this!)
Since Inception blew my mind so hard, I thought I'd write about the most interesting recurring dreams I've had (that I can remember.)
The first one probably falls more on the nightmare column. It was a pretty recurrent dream a couple of months ago that involved skyscrapers falling over. In one dream, I'm watching the buildings tip over from the grounds of Ayala Avenue, admiring them while at the same time getting scared that parts of the falling buildings would land on me (and getting scared for the casualties who are inside the buildings too.) I watched Ayala Tower One fall over, then I saw my office building, Robinsons Summit Center follow it, in a very dramatic, kind of slow-mo movie-like way. Weirdly enough, my solution to avoid getting hit by the debris was to run to the nearest Ayala underpass and wait under there until things settled down. (I think the buildings were falling because of an earthquake.)
In another dream, I'm inside the building while it was falling. I was in the pantry of our company's building in Ortigas, even though I've never spent more than an hour there before. It didn't even look like it was the same pantry, but I knew where I was anyway. It was a pretty interesting dream aside from the fact that I was gonna die on it. My "projections" and I were all watching the other buildings around us fall one at a time like a domino, and then when it was our building's turn to fall, some people started panicking. I remained calm, although I remember actually getting that feeling of falling while our building did its fall-to-the-ground stunt. I could also see the angle from my vantage point to the ground get steeper and steeper, as we presumably got closer and closer to the ground. (I woke up right before we hit it.) Anyway, my solution to being inside the falling building? I surrounded myself with pillows, to cushion my bones from the impact. I'm hoping that works in real life too.
The second recurring dream that I have on my list is when I dream about doing everything I'm supposed to do for the day. I take a bath, take a bus to the office, get stressed from the awful traffic, call in to my meetings, prepare some documents and presentations, finish my deliverables for the day, get stressed from doing those deliverables, etc etc etc... Then I suddenly wake up and realize that it was all a dream and it's 11 am and I've overslept again and I'm gonna be late for the office and I haven't actually started any of the tasks that I thought I already finished doing because it was all just a dream after all (even though I felt stressed while doing them, in the dream.) /phew
That kind of dream is annoying.
My last dream is more awkward than scary or annoying. I would dream of walking around in a public place either only in my briefs or completely pants-less but with a shirt on and alternately feeling embarrassed and nonchalant about it. I'd also sometimes see friends and random acquaintances in my dream as they normally are (i.e. clothed), while I'm partly nude. That makes seeing them in real life a bit awkward for me.
Apparently, dreaming of yourself naked means that you are feeling particularly vulnerable and may be hiding something that you don't want others to see or find out (if in your dream, you are humiliated by your nakedness) or a feeling of unrestricted freedom because you have nothing to hide (if in your dream, you don't feel shame about your nakedness.) So in my case, it's a feeling of both? I'm not sure that computes.
So... yeah, those are the more interesting recurring dreams I have. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who dreams these kinds of dreams, right? Right?
Season 15, Dubai Leg Part 2: Mika and Canaan gets eliminated after Mika refuses to go down a 90-foot waterslide, allowing Globetrooters Flight Time and Big Easy to overtake them (this after the GTs fell behind by almost an hour when they couldn't figure out the right sequence that would open the combination lock of a briefcase that holds their next clue)
In second place:
Season 14, Beijing Leg Part 2: Kisha and Jen gets eliminated after Jen insists on taking a bathroom break, allowing Jaime and Cara to overtake them (this after Kisha and Jen gets U-Turned, and Jaime and Cara got lost for 3 hours++ finding a Chinese Opera House)
Most Unwelcome News of the Year:
Typhoons Ondoy (Ketsana) and Pepeng (Parma) Flood + Damages. :(
Well, no, that's not what he actually says, but it fits my narrative, so whatever.
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500 Days of Summer = Awesome Movie. In fact, it's the best movie I've seen this year. It's like the '00s version of Before Sunrise for me (the only other romantic movie that I actually like.) (Yes, I know neither movie actually ends up with anyone being together, which isn't really romantic, but that's what makes them awesome and true.) (and please don't judge me and my ideas of romance just based on the types of romantic movies I like) (yes I'm being defensive)
Also, Zooey Deschanel rocks my socks. Zooey is in a folksy band called She and Him, where she's all kinds of awesome.
See? Eto pa:
No wonder Tom went in and out of a couple of quarterlife crises because of her.
Caught The Simpsons last Friday night. Floooved the movie! It had me laughing out loud in some parts, and grinning from ear to ear on most of the others. (Some jokes fell flat though, like the "To be continued..." and the scrolling ticker at the bottom advertising a Fox show. Meh)
But otherwise, it was one hell of a funny movie.
He's not Spider Pig anymore, he's Harry Plopper. Wahaha
Things have been pretty busy over here the past week. As I've mentioned earlier in my previous post, some relatives are coming here from the US to visit us and to attend my cousin/their brother/uncle/son Kuya Ren's wedding. We've been packed with people and children over here, and with just a week away from the wedding day, the days were pretty hectic (with wedding rehearsals, trips to the mall, some shopping, reunion dinners, and even a weekend beach getaway.)
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Two Fridays ago, I caught the movie300with my cousins, brother, his wife and my sister.
That was one hell of an awesome movie! Aaaahhhhh! Love it! Awwoooo!
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Last night, We attended the wedding of my Cousin, Kuya Ren and his new wife Penie. Congratulations guys! They're now in Boracay.
I got to stay at the Manila Hotel the night before the wedding too, which was nice enough. The lobby looked really beautiful, but the rooms were just ok*. The ceremony was held the the San Agustin Church in Intramuros, both places very charming. The ceremony and the wedding reception went by quickly too, and the food was great!
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10 minutes ago, I tried driving my brother's car. And you know what I found out? I don't know how to drive a stick shift anymore. Waaaaah!!!
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Last Friday to Saturday, we went to the beach in Batangas to have some R&R just before the wedding. While the beach in San Juan doesn't compare to Boracay, it was nice enough and the waters were really, really, really clear! We took a boat ride and it was amazing because we got a great view of the beach and the hills and mountains behind it, while at the same time getting the chance to just view the crystal clear water right below us. We could practically see the sea floor! The resort itself was really nice too. The last time I was there I came with my officemates, and we checked in late and really just played card games drank the whole night, so we didn't get to enjoy the beach a whole lot. This time was definitely more memorable.
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It is beginning to get really hot now! AAAAhhhhh time to hit the beaches again!
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Last Sunday, Daniela Hantuchova won her second career title at the Indian Wells tournament in California! Woohoo! It's another Tier 1 title for Daniela (Tier 1s are the next most important tournaments after the 4 Grand Slams) and the win lifts her ranking up to 12 in the world! :D
Here's to hoping Daniela grabs more titles this year and continues her assault to the top 10!
It's already the middle of March and I still haven't posted anything here...
So here I go.
My brother left for the US (to Atlanta) about two and a half weeks ago for a project he's been assigned to at work. He'll be staying there for atleast three months. Ano kaya ang magandang hingiing pasalubong?
My favorite show of all time - The Amazing Race - is back with a new season... Woohoo! And it's back to the good, regular format of teams-of-two-racingaroundtheworld! (Good thing they ditched that completely sucky "Family Edition" racearoundtheUSandnearbycountries shit)
By the way, AXN just bought the rights to produce an Asian version of the Amazing Race. I'd join this, but I don't think I can take a month off from work... tsk tsk...
Finally got to buy the Up Dharma Down cd... Haven't listened to it yet though... I'll try to post my thoughts later... -------------------------------------------------------------- Hostel!!!
I scored two tickets for last night's advance screening of V for Vendetta. The movie was AMAZING. It's a really really really good movie (a timely one too) that I highly recommend to anyone. So watch it!
I shall die here. Every last inch of me shall perish. Except one.
An inch. It's small and it's fragile and it's the only thing in the world worth having. We must never lose it, or sell it, or give it away. We must never let them take it from us.
It's a really smart movie (I don't want to use "intellectual", because honestly, intellectual is such a blrergh word, you know?) that combines substance and style in an awesome way. It's a Vertigo movie is what it is. I could go on and on about how much I loved this movie, so I better stop now.
F1 season is back again! Great start of the season with the Bahrain Grand Prix too, with Fernando Alonso overtaking Michael Schumacher on his way out of the pitstop, at the most perfect time in the race! Kimi Raikonnen took third place after starting the race at the bottom of the pack after sufferring suspension failure during qualifying (again). Still, good race...
Last March 3-4, we at the office had our first teambuilding activity of the year (hope there's many more to come.) We had it at this resort at Balai, Indang, Cavite just a few kilometers off of Tagaytay. The place we rented was really nice, had very nice houses and rooms, good food, weather was great, it was a great weekend over-all... Except for one hilariously embarrassing thing that I did...
We were assigned our rooms and I was supposed to room with my manager, my team leader, and a teammate of mine. So we're four in the room right? Well, the short story is that I was the only one who actually got to sleep in the room because I fell asleep before everyone else and locked the door. Accidentally (y'all have to believe me on this). My three roommates (yep, including the manager) ended up sleeping in the sofas outside... So yeah... a little awkward seeing them the next few days...
