Oh, joy

instead of going boxing today (the trainers were busy with an inter-gym boxing tournament), i did some "maintenance" on myself.

first, a haircut at profiles on katipunan, where i was reminded how much i love my salon and my stylist, jenny. i like the color job azta did on me, but sheila, nice as she was, totally botched up my bangs. i managed to do a bit of repair work on them, but i swore then that nobody but jenny would cut them ever again. i love her, plus she's cheap too. and i tipped the shampoo guy extra to give me a nice long scalp massage with their minty creme rinse. mmmm.

then, off to mama rosa's for the long put-off double tooth extraction. it actually wasn't painful or uncomfortable, but it was rather terrifying.

maybe it was the needle being poked into my mouth in three different places (for anesthesia), or the screwdriver-like tool my dentist used to loosen the offending teeth, or the pliers she used to finally rip them from my gums. not to mention the fact that all these implements of torture seem to scale up to horrendous proportions as they approach your mouth. or maybe it was the loud wrenching sound my teeth made, which seemed horribly deafening. maybe it was because said sound was amplified by bouncing off the walls of my oral cavity.

mama rosa (tugging with pliers): grabe ha, ang tigas ng buto mo.
me: rrrrffff aaaaaaa uhhh ngggggggd iinggg? (is that a good thing? -- because with all the tugging she was doing, i almost wished i still had milk teeth.)

at any rate, it's over, i have two giant (or so it seems) holes in my mouth, and am now two small, ivory-colored steps to catching up to the rest of you evolved homo sapiens. and i have to spend the rest of the evening eating very soft food with an ice pack pressed to my cheek. sana pumayat ako.

me (to mama rosa, who is applying some kind of tool to my displaced tooth): patingin nga.
mama rosa: teka lang ha. aalisin ko muna yung mga nakadikit na bits of your gums.

eeurrrghhh. two down, two to go.

since i can't eat any real food at the moment, i shall enjoy a food meme instead.

Foodie meme

from toni.

How do you like your eggs? I hate eggs. I actually get annoyed whenever I go downstairs in the morning to find that my mom has made me egg sandwiches for breakfast. If I’m to have them at all, they should be scrambled or omeletted.

How do you take your coffee/tea: Two sugars, one cream. Preferably brewed, but I usually make do with Great Taste Sugar Free 3-in-1. I’ve given up on the industrial sludge Nescafe tries to pass off as coffee. I miss Indian coffee.

Favorite breakfast foods: At home -- two slices of bread with butter, peanut butter or Nutella (if we have it). Coffee or hot chocolate if I have time, water if I’m running late. At the office – coffee and a banana or mango.

Peanut butter: smooth or crunchy? Smooth.

What kind of dressing on your salad? Vinaigrette in any of its tasty variations (I love the poppyseed vinaigrette from Goolai)

Coke or Pepsi? Coke.

You’re feeling lazy. What do you make? Lucky Me Pancit Canton, chilimansi. Buttered toast.

You’re feeling really lazy. What kind of pizza do you order? Yellow Cab Four Seasons or plain pepperoni. I went through a very long Pizza Hut thick-crust, ham and cheese phase as a pre-teen. I can still see the effects on my thighs.

You feel like cooking. What do you make? Why on earth would I feel like cooking?

Do any foods bring back good memories? Bruschetta brings back wonderful memories of my mom’s Italian business partner, Joseph. We’d make them at home, in the oven toaster, to use up leftover sauce from his fantabulous pasta dishes. When I took to bringing bruschetta to school for lunch, he would sometimes insist on bringing a Tupperware of freshly made bruschetta to school at lunchtime so that I (and my classmates) could have it hot. (He did the same for his fluffy Spanish omelette.) I thought that was really sweet.

Canapes de jamon at Dulcinea, as well as bibingka at Via Mare, always calls to mind weekends at the old Greenbelt (when there was just one of them) with my family. Spaghetti Bolognese, of family lunches at the old Café Elysee in SM. Yes, SM!

And pesto, of my first date with Marlon. Because, silly me, I ordered pesto on a date. And he never told me I had embarrassing green bits stuck in between my teeth, but still kept asking me out. The rest, as they say, is history.

Do any foods bring back bad memories? None that I can think of.

Do any foods remind you of someone? Red meat (particularly liempo) reminds me of my sister, the carnivore. Squash seeds too. Corned beef reminds me of Marlon. Vanilla ice cream reminds me of Dima. Friday’s food reminds me of my ex. Cucumber, of Patrick (my mom’s ex-fiance’s youngest son).

Is there a food you refuse to eat? Ay ang dami. Bopis, bulalo, lychee, lanzones, rambutan, chico, santol, liempo, okra, ampalaya. Foods with overly fleshy/fatty textures make me feel like barfing.

What was your favorite food as a child? Spam with ketchup and rice (which I still love). Spaghetti Bolognese.

Is there a food that you hated as a child but now love? Leche flan. I have no idea why I hated this as a kid, but I’m making up for all the lost years. And strawberry jam – the strawberry bits/seeds used to gross me out, and I once tried picking all of them out.

Is there a food that you loved as a child but now hate? Nope.

Favorite fruit & vegetable: Mangoes and bananas. Brocolli, baby corn, carrots and peas.

Favorite junk food: Cracklings Salt and Vinegar. Doritos and its poor relation, Tostitos. Boy Bawang and Kettle Corn, which I can only get at the office co-op. Rebisco Chocolate Crunchies and Choco Sandwich. Pucha ang dami ah.

Favorite between meal snack: All of the above. In times of desperation, I dip into my stash of ketchup from McDonald’s.

Do you have any weird food habits: I can’t mix food – if I have several items on my plate, I’ll finish one before I move on to the next (this also applies to fast food meals – the fries go first.) I cut food into even slices and geometric shapes. I was horrified the first time I shared a slice of cake with Marlon and he forked it up with the tip of the fork instead of slicing a piece away neatly with the side of the fork. I dip fries into ketchup two at a time; if it’s a long one, I fold it into two. I snack on uncooked Lucky Me noodles.

You’re on a diet. What food(s) do you fill up on? Carrots, broccoli, cauliflower. Plain nuts. Brown rice. Fruits.

How spicy do you order Indian/Thai? I don’t specify spiciness. I take it as it’s served.

Can I get you a drink? One Cerveza Negra, please. Then something creamy like Baileys, or any drink with Baileys in it. Or maybe something girly, like a frozen Strawberry Margarita.

Red wine or white? Red, most of the time.

We only have beer: Isang Negra nga diyan. Pero kung wala, isang San Mig Light.

Favorite dessert? Something rich and chocolatey, or chewy, bite-your-tongue lemony.

The perfect nightcap? Dark chocolate in bed while reading a book.

Jun-jun update

warning: kabakyaan moment fast approaching!

last year's campaign to return primetime tv to the jun-juns has gone splendidly. i'm happy to report that jun-jun will make his primetime tv debut in the next few weeks.

and from my initial, furtive survey of the promo pics, somebody has been doing his pushups very faithfully. somebody who is at his jun-jun hottest. -er na -er ang dating!

o ano, jd? pwede na ba siyang i-cast sa movie adaptation ng obra maestrang, "ang pinakaguwapong magbabalut sa balat ng lupa"? vannessa would be so proud!

incidentally, he will be paired onscreen with the starlet whom i supposedly resemble. yay! so maiisip niya ako palagi!

okay, moment of kabakyaan over.

update (update on an update -- meta-update?): saw jun-jun in the caf last night! exchanged quick hellos and sailed right on. right before i stepped out the door, he called, "yasmien!" (yes, abovementioned starlet.) sabi na nga ba eh! maiisip niya na ako palagi! yay!

oh, and incidentally -- minor celeb also known as creepy thin man (remember him?) co-stars in jun-jun's primetime gig. 'twas bound to happen sooner or later. small world, this.

Out of juice

there's a crapload of things i both need and want to do -- from work to a first-time raket to blogging -- all involving writing. and i can't bring myself to do any of them.

i've been sitting at my desk for about an hour, trying to whip myself into picking up any one of the writing tasks at hand . i even tried the "ditch it" method of creative stimulation and went downstairs to play a crazed movie fan for a colleague's shoot.

it's just not happening. instead of scripts, cohesive blog posts and lifestyle articles, all i managed to scratch out is this procrastinatory brainfart.

--

looks like a short-lived victory for barcelona in the travel bug contest. there are some new contenders, and they're looking pretty strong: seville, cordoba and granada.

--

i am sooo out of it. someone plug endorphins into me, please.

i feel about as dead as that butterfly splattered on the boardwalk up there. o diba? kahit patay, maganda pa rin.

Merienda at Tiffany's

on my most recent weekend jaunt to singapore, marlon looked me in the eyes, took a deep breath and popped a question.

"would it be totally unromantic if i asked you to go to a jewelry store with me so i can finally find out what your ring size is?"

(bestill your beating hearts -- it's a question, not the question. but this tells me that the question will be hurtling my way very soon.)

so saturday morning before hieing off to sentosa, we dropped by one of singapore's ubiquitous lee hwa jewelry stores.

how in-your-face jewelry stores are was one of the things that first struck me as bizarre about singapore. the same two or three jewelry stores that are practically on every corner of every mall also paper the city with ads, promos and big screaming "sale" signs. they even do tv commercials, which tells me that singaporean tv is just swimming in what is probably relatively cheap airtime. but i could be wrong.

anyway, the ring size question was quickly taken care of (i'm an 8), and we proceeded to peruse the rocks. it was really quite sweet to see how marlon has transformed into something of a walking diamond encyclopedia -- he did most of the talking while the store personnel just stood there and served us tea. he could even name the color grade and carat before the salesperson turned over the little tags attached to each ring. nerds -- you gotta love them. :-)

we also stopped by the window display of larry jewelry, which sounds like it sells puwit ng baso but is actually a swanky hong kong jeweler which deals in nothing but major ice. obviously, hanggang store window lang talaga kami.

engagement ring mecca

then, after a long humid afternoon in sentosa, marlon indulged my curiosity about the mecca of engagement rings -- tiffany's. i expected to feel awed as we made our way up the plush carpeted steps of tiffany's at takashimaya, but instead i just felt very young and scruffy.

i was also subconsciously bracing for some sort of discrimination, since marlon and i obviously don't look like your typical tiffany's customer (make that young, scruffy and filipino), but i was pleasantly surprised. the young, spike-haired sales representative gave us the smiliest and most gracious service i've ever had from a singaporean as he brought out ring after ring for me to try.

i must say, them tiffany rings seem to be worth every pretty penny. one of my hugest fears is that clumsy me will knock the diamond out somehow (especially when i think of those rings where the diamond sticks out from your finger). but tiffany has these settings that are not only gorgeous but feel almost industrial in their security.

size doesn't matter

okay, i know carat size is the name of the game, but as a edsa-plying pinay urbanite trying on diamonds for the first time, i realized something important. i don't want to wear anything that will get my throat slit or my finger slashed off when i'm commuting home from work. so marlon is lucky to have a girlfriend who is literally deathly terrified of anything over 0.7 carats -- and even 0.7 is walking the edge.

but the rings were lovely. so much so that in spite of all my jewelry-related hangups (knocking out the diamond, getting mugged) i couldn't help sighing as i slipped on the tiffany legacy ring (pictured above). "ang ganda," i marveled.

our young sales rep brightened. "yes," he nodded, "maganda!" and i felt, even as i stood in my ukay-ukay top, free levi's (yes, i won them at an event) and landmark slippers in one of singapore's plushest stores, that i was young and girlish and, yes, maganda -- and on the brink of something as delicious and sparkling as tiffany's finest ice.

"bye-bye! salamat!" he called with a cheery wave as marlon and i walked out the glass doors.

i can't wait.

Rrrarr

random procrastination from jeline, to fill the space while i'm off wrestling with work.

got lots to write about, lots of new pictures, but even more to do at the office. gotta tiptoe around everyone's sensitivities while attempting to blow them away. ah, the travails of putting another long-running show to eternal rest.

rrrrar.

Big dad Wolff

you'll never guess who emailed me about my cellulite display.

August 3

Thank you for another insight into my son's lifestyle.

My son is not a lalaki talaga... just a boy... only recently twenty-one and Keena is old enough to be his mother but I can assure you she is not!! I have a little more
taste and am not so keen on silicon in my sandwich.

My son left a top university here in the UK to be with *one of his exes*, after he met her on his gap year so I am not amused by my son's current career. He has a fine brain and it is being wasted in Manila.

Thanks for the amusing tale.

*Big Dad* Wolff (UK and Cebu)

grabe mga mare, nawindang ako doon. pero sumagot pa rin ako.

August 3

Dear *Big Dad*,

Gee. Is it really you?

If it is, I'm happy to have entertained you. How many fathers nowadays Google their kids? I'm slightly embarrassed though -- I may have been a bit too candid in my
appraisal of your son's fine... brains. But then such are the hazards of blogging.

So he's cute and smart, but as you say, a little addlepated in the decision-making department? I guess God is fair. LOL. Or chalk it up to youth.

At any rate, thanks for your email! It was a little bit out of the Twilight Zone to get an email from someone's father, but it was very nice of you to have written. It's good to know though that we non-siliconed women have our share of champions as well.

Be a good dad now.

*Currystrumpet*

o diba ang saya? big dad sent me a way longer and chattier reply which i won't print here. but now i think i know more about andrew wolff now than i ever did. i can now write a tell-all brochure. (wala pa sa level ng tell-all book.)

i say, if you can't make friends with a hunk, chat up his parents instead. haha.

thanks for your emails, big dad wolff! they were nice. surreal, but nice. keep on reading. :-)

'Tis the season

ano ba?!?!??!?! bakit ba ang dami-daming SALE? kung kelan pa nagtitipid ako! mango, zara, debenhams, terranova and powerbooks!

i've been making a sisyphean effort to watch my spending lately. it's only a little over two months (and six paychecks) to europe, and scrimping for pocket money starts now. with sales beckoning left and right, though, it's so easy to spend on things that i "need" for the trip, like a roomy messenger bag, low-heeled boots, sweaters and a warm hat. (the other things are not quite so exciting to shop for: thermal undies and a rechargeable battery for my camera.)

but i try to remind myself that every early-evening cab or late-afternoon snack over here will cost me a museum ticket in paris or a fabulous pair of shoes in barcelona.

haay. tipidity na ito!