how to make someone’s day

by sending them a pack of yummy biscuits along with boxful of files.

for meow, who loves detail:

one of my co-workers in the czech republic had mistakenly forgotten to send me some binders. she was so apologetic. completely unnecessary, but she sent them to me straight away. i got them today, and in them, was a pack of cookies taped to the inside of the binder along with a note:

ay. : )

Remembering food from UP

Not really a definitive list of the best food from UP, but just my personal list, of what I used to eat and remember.

1) in the shopping center, they had the most addictively yummy eggplant dish... what was it called??? i remember you were able to work out how to cook it moo... do you remember the recipe?
2) carioca after mass – sarap!
3) that summer drink that i can’t remember the name of... summer splash? summer cool? ugh. why can’t i remember the name?
4) tapsilog from rodics – firm molgen favourite!!
5) tom yum soup from that thai place near balara – another molgen favourite!
6) boxes of strawberry nerds from the coop
7) fish balls from the vendor on road near MSI
8) drive through Jolibee to get chicken joy
9) turon
10) ice cream from that place where you can go on the computer... what was that called.. hmm.

No, i’m not hungry at all ;-)

another brilliant piece from ee cummings

pity this busy monster, manunkind,

not. Progress is a comfortable disease:
your victim (death and life safely beyond)

plays with the bigness of his littleness
--- electrons deify one razorblade
into a mountainrange; lenses extend
unwish through curving wherewhen till unwish
returns on its unself.
A world of made
is not a world of born --- pity poor flesh

and trees, poor stars and stones, but never this
fine specimen of hypermagical

ultraomnipotence. We doctors know

a hopeless case if --- listen: there's a hell
of a good universe next door; let's go

another thing that makes me smile while driving around

sunny fields as you drive past

how cool is this?

http://www.myearthdream.com/#root

rolling eggs down a hill at bantham

what a way to spend an easter sunday!

musical of the month...

Just got the tickets today at work... PJ is really excited to see this one! He's a big fan of the musical score, and I must admit, so am I.

And feeding my Wicked addiction, we snapped up the last two tickets being offered at work. We'll be watching Wicked again on 23rd May!!! It'll be interesting to see how the new Elpheba is doing. She's gotten good reviews, but with such a high standard set by Idina Menzel, I hope she can deliver. Poor PJ is so Wicked-ed that he catches himself using catchphrases from the musical in daily life. That's why we have a Wizard...

anniversary pressies.

you know how much of a fiasco the buying of the watch was. the company (http://www.blitzwatches.co.uk/default.asp) that i ordered the watch from was amazing. they said it couldn’t be done, but they’d try. and they did it! the watch was with us before 9am! how’s that for s speedy service? bought it online at almost 5pm, it was delivered to the house by 9am the next day.

with present in hand, i demanded that pj come into the kitchen to see it. i wanted him to wear it to devon. plus didn’t want to have to open anniv presents in front of all the family. kakahiya no! so he did. kunyari pa siya na ayaw. sus. he absolutely loved it. he’s mr. “i am always on time”. time is so important to him. you have no idea. time, and time management obsess him. and i said that it would always remind him of how completely not on-time i was on our first date. (i was 2 hours late).

then he came downstairs with mine. and i love it. i’ve been bugging him for one since last year. and he finally conceded. a playstation in the jenkins house! unthinkable! sacrilege! anti-social and rots your brain! which makes his gift even more special... he’s so against computer gaming and to actually buy one for me? love niya ako no?

have a good easter moo. chat you next week.

meebo and me. (should be i, but it wouldn’t sound the same)

my wunderwhiz of a brother clued me into meebo. and it’s fantastic. i can log in, and every single messenger service i ever use is on the thing. if i could remember my ICQ password, i’d get on that as well! cleverly getting round all sorts of firewalls, it doesn't need you to download a thing onto your pc. all of it is online! cool cool.

best bit? i can now get meows at work.

thoughts on the city versus country debate in the jenkins household

i’ve always considered myself a city girl... growing up in metro manila, am not used to a quiet and peaceful pace. i’m so used to being surrounded by people and bombarded by all the sights, sounds and smells associated with living in the crazy city. i have come to re-evaluate this since i came to live here.

in the philippines, the cities are THE place to be. in fact, i would consider metro manila really as the only big city. cebu, i like, but it doesn’t have the scale. and i think growing up in the philippines where everything centres on cities (e.g. businesses and job opportunities, good schools, good hospitals, variety of food and entertainment available) just drills it into you. i have to admit, i had come to dislike the idea of ever living in the provinces. i used to live 5 days of each week for 2 years in bolinao, a tiny town on the northwestern tip of luzon. i really could not see myself settled anywhere like that permanently. bolinao had its charms (see my blog entry on it) but i just felt that growing up with the city, i missed having it when i was away. the best mix for me was work week in the city, weekends away. i suppose it’s all a matter of the manner you grew up.

here, it is completely different. they place a higher value country properties more than most city properties. i have no sound evidence to back this up, but it’s just a feeling i get when i watch their property shows or hear people talking about homes... fair enough, flats in south ken will always be more expensive than a similar property outside london. my theory is that culturally, or historically, the wealthy (going back to victorian days) lived outside the cities. their stately homes were in the countryside. cities developed around industries. all these rows of cottages and terraced homes were homes for the workers. so maybe there’s something in their psyche that longs for a country estate, because that is what was prized generation after generation. maybe it’s in their blood?

here’s the thing. it all boils down to quality of life. in the philippines, the quality of life in the provinces is poor compared to that in cities. in the uk, for the most part, the quality of life in the “provinces” seems to be better than in the cities! schools are better, healthcare is better (they actually know your name and have time to see to you) and because their transport and roads are so good, a big city is never far away.

so i’ve slowly been tempted to live outside “london”. shocking i know. but the more time i spend thinking about it. it just makes more sense. i think in the next 3-5 years it’s definitely a move we’ll make. we’ll still have to be within easy reach of london though. as pj works in central london. which is fantastic because that means i can still go into london easily for the shops, theatre, etc. but i am definitely more open t o living outside this massive city i find myself in, and not dreading that move at all. it’ll be quite an expensive move... but, in fact, i’m quite looking forward to it. someday.