Kookie is gone

Goodbye kookie.i will love you forever...

vivo sólo la vida como no hay mañana

i am just living life like there is no tomorrow...but tomorrow i will be back...

soon again...

trying to come back

oh well...

it's been just a while since my last update. 'a while' means a few hundred years if you are a cullen.

but for me, it means more than a year actually. yeah, a lot of things happened. i made new friends and built hurdles to some. we learned to scuba dive and

introduced it to my sis and her son. had another pug, tyra black (jacob's sis). kookie laid four puggies and three died. read a few books, went to boracay, dove in dahwin, duka, manta and sipalay. climb bukidnon twice, took a few thousand pictures, ended a business, and eyeing another.

abandoned my multiply, friendster and

cmuans dot ning account, then made facebook permanent account... and well...it was such a fun year, all in all.

since october, i've been here and there. there means cagayan de oro to take care of some business.

every month i go home to cdo and i am quite able to manage my time with my family well enough. thank god.

so really, nothing much happened. except that i

am doing a construction... that i will post next...

bacolenia

yup, i know...it's been half a year since my last post. i feel so sad about having a blog and not being able to maintain it. but am all ok. not really busy, just into some stage in life (maturity, i guess and i will post those life stages this week). but for now i am so compelled to post something nice and wonderful. well, actually something like ZERO DEGREES AND FALLING.

this is a very promising alternative rock band from down under i tell you, specially for the filipinos. ZDAF formed their hard working band in 2005 and since then they have gone into the mainstream of canberra's music scene. check this out:

the lead singer is ferdie (short for ferdinand) whose brother's name is bongbong (the drummer). does it ring a bell? i guess their dad is a fan of the former philippine president marcos. well, their family name is LOUIS and their mum is a certified pure illongga from sum-ag.

in 1999, when i went to visit my sis in darwin, australia...i've met ferdie and another bro, murray and their sis rachel. they were my sis' hubby's nephew with three more siblings back in their home in tasmania. all so good looking. they were both teenagers at that time. aside from the common "g'day mate" greeting, ferdie taught me another slang that goes "how's it gawwn mate?" one time i was about to make my sis' porkroast and i can't reach for the turbo broiler, i was so glad ferdie dropped by and cuz he is 6-foot- something he just reached it simply and handed it to me.

and now they are so famous down under. i love their songs. it's the kind that gen X and my generation could get along well. my sis and i are their number one filipino fans!!! WAY TO GO GUYS!!!

the ruins, bacolod city

i have always asked why most of the streets in my country were named after people and wanted to know who they are...

last sunday we woke up early to send off our unico hijo, scott, on his first ever on-board training. we usually wake up very late on a sunday, so after sending off our son we were left with no plans the whole morning. driving back home, we saw this sign that says THE RUINS. we just suddenly turned left and thru the sign and my oh my... how clueless have we been... for almost two years living in this city only now did we unearth this part of bacolod city's history. not to mention that we were living just closeby, a couple kilometers perhaps. we only had our cellphone cameras with us so i used my sunglasses lens for a better old school effect. have a look:

this mansion was built as an inspiration after the death of his portugese wife in the early 1900s whom the owner, the sugar baron named don mariano ledesma lacson met in macau. this residential structure is of italianate architecture and was the largest at that time. but it has met its fate during the WWII when USAFFE burned down the mansion to prevent the japanese forces from inhabiting it and probably make it as their headquarters.

these days, it has become a cafe where people could dine and relax with its breathtaking view and sprawling gardens. it also has a mini-18-whole golfcourse which the don has made at that time.

lacson street in bacolod is the most famous street cuz it is the mainstreet of the city and in october, for a week, it will transform as an al fresco cafe and the site of the mardi gras during the MASSKARA festival. so i take to it that this must be the guy, or his dad's dad perhaps that was

named after Lacson street...

and so the tale of my family's "ruins" is a different story. here is a photo of our most embarassing thermo bottle. the one that travelled with us during many summer vacations. supposed to be ruined, forgotten, and left gone. older than our big brother. embarassing cuz everytime family visitors come by, we have to use it to serve coffee. and it is just very old, faded and hideous!!!
but when my mum retired and moved in the city, shockingly, they still have that old, loyal thermos with them. over the years, when we visit them, on the first breakfast we would all chorus "until now it's still alive!?!?what the..." of course it is alive, because the newer versions of thermoses and its copycats doesn't last long. when my kiddo was still a baby, it took only less than a year that his thermos broke. but this...this old, ragged, dark gray and red thermos is still alive and willing to serve even my son's offspring...and now it still shines...the mighty old embarassing thermos was there when i visited my folks last february, dutifully serving my hot coffee with BOB'S CAFE dinner rolls...now part of my family's heirloom. and bros and sis!!!doncha even evah think of it!!! it has now become an antique in its own right. a priceless possesion of mum and dad...it will live to tell a story...and connect the past to future generations...

that german friend...

remember that german friend i was talking about? ahhh... he was again talking about pinoys taking off their shirts in the middle of the streets showing off their big, fat tummy. that while he was in thailand and cambodia, no one ever was doing that thing AT ALL...well, he's got a point there. but he should just really leave things as it is in my country cuz he is a foreigner and he might bump on some abusayop, for sure he will be abducted!!! anyways, in fairness to him, he is really a hunk. great 6-pack abs, very athletic, and hey, he is single... my friends say he was cute before...hmmm...i think he still is...

but that is not what am up to... i just would like to say to those who are madly inlove with TWILIGHT... this german friend of mine bought for me the first three books @ $50 US only!!! all i needed was to text him to find me those books and he was more than willing to look it up for me. hahaha...see... grouchy people cannot be summed up by their burst of temper. they can be really good, too!!!
so sis,eat your heart out!!! i've got the third book ECLIPSE!!!

update: jan 20

kookie cuddled beside, the aussie open on tv, love me again now showing, so much things to do and plan, no housegirl of all the time... how perfect can that be??? with three thick books to go...

but anyway, i managed to tread until the part where edward takes bella to their baseball game...

&&& come visit this blog in a few days if you wanna see a photo of this german guy...

update: jan.25
photo added

feels so good

if i backtrack 20 years down my music memory lane now, i would find myself listening to some deep purple, van halen, bonjovi, seals and crofts, rick springfield, etc etc...but one of those would surely be chuck mangione's FEEL SO GOOD . but this song cannot even substantiate how...that i feel so good now...


i feel so good being a filipino. i feel so good that manny paquiao just became the world's finest fighter. even though i am not related to him, i feel so good that for one thing, the word FILIPINO would add up a meaning to just being a "maid". and i feel so good that pacman's roots also came from BUKIDNON, the place where i was born and raised. [a generic of western samar and zamboanga del norte]

when i checked on yahoo (not even clicking on the sports link) pacman was the headline. something that any filipino can be proud of. not somekind of a philippine headline that says GMA CONTINUES TO STRUGGLE WITH...BLAH BLAH BLAH...

not only did pacman win the fight and became the world's finest fighter...but also won it from the golden boy of boxing, oscar de la joya. the boy that made boxing popular even to hollywood celebs. the boy that i knew the name besides ali...that i am one guilty ass for not knowing a single filipino boxer back in those days...

i feel so good, too, that some of our expat friends show a sense of pride and a part of them now (even just one % of their body fats) says... "i feel good i am here in the philippines."

i have one german friend who cursed the smell of dried fish, although i am not a fan of dried fish, part of my heart was crushed hearing it from him. i felt that if you are a foreigner, you shouldn't curse a long time food tradition of that land, on that land. but this german friend of mine got stucked in thailand airport during the protesters revolt last week. and he was back the other night and he said, "after a week of thai food, it makes me want to puke...oh i miss filipino food!"

well, hearing it from him...i feel so good being pinoy! just a simple thing that makes you feel good.

malatan-og falls, don salvador benedicto, negros oriental

on all saint's day, our tennis group went trekking to a nearby falls. or so it seems near. on my first month here in negros island, we travelled from cebu to bacolod and made a stop at a viewing deck of malatan-og falls. it was so spectacular, so breath taking. i never thought i would really get near this falls in the future. well then, i just did.

the terrain was so tricky that if you'd miss a single step, you'd find yourself careening on the cliff. i don't think people pass those tracks everyday for there was not a trace. one could get lost without a guide. and our guides were kids, same kids selling us peanuts and banana chips at the overview.



i was not ready nor was i geared to do that trekking. i don't think anyone of us was, but ANDRE. he was our leader for that expedition (the perfect example of 'age is just in the mind,don't let it creep down your body')... i was only wearing flipflops and in muddy tracks, i slipped and slide and it was so difficult to go down and uphill. i just remember when i was a kid, we used to just run on these kind of trails...





how to get there:by bus, jeepney, or car

travel time: 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes from bacolod city

from the viewing deck, on foot: 45 minutes (aprox)

tagged !

i've been meaning to take on this tag few weeks ago but i went rafting with my tennis friends in cagayan de oro. i am so honored to have been tagged by adore lepug .
and to pay it forward, i would like to tag falcon 116 , a certified pugger like me! sis, you had better take this on...

Rules: Obey the Pug, answer the following, and pass on!

1) How did you first learn about Pugs?


The first time i saw a pug is from the movie MIB. But i really didn’t pay attention to it cuz i thought it was mechanical or an alien and such a vicious creature, cute though.

2) What made you get a Pug?

my hubby and scott went out to shop for a guitar and so i tagged along. But of course i went to shops where my foot fits and body squeezes...then they called me in such haste i wondered what they have to show me... a nice guitar that plays by itself and would have you thinking that it’s you playing??? oh no! It’s the alien from MIB!!! The alien then, we learned was a pug whose name was WALLY. Wally and i had this instant connection. I was inseparable to him already. While my hubby and son was busy looking for a guitar at the shop next door, i was busy negotiating with the owner from my mobile phone. Then viola! We took wally home. We had no idea he was gonna be our most loyal family member. He was the apple of everyone’s eyes. so cherished. So loved like one of my own... he made our home so happy.

3) Most memorable moment with your Pug (s).

So many memorable moments but one is so hilarious i still giggle alone as i recount what had happened one December morning in the year 2004. I’ll never forget this cuz this was also the date when my sister and my nephew jashkah from oz came for a holiday with us.
We were playing badminton outside the house and wally was with us on his leash. Then a man passed by on his horse with bundles of fire woods on his lap. Imagine a man riding a horse full of fire wood sitting on his lap... wally loves to chase big animals and for some unknown reasons he was off his leash! And went straight to kiss the horses’ long, tough leg! And a horses’ instinct was to raise its two feet and stomp and kick on the attacker. Wally, fortunately being so small wasn’t pulverized by the horses' wild reaction. But the guy on the horse went tumbling down, landed his bum on the ground and heaps of fire wood followed and landed on the poor guy’s head. We all watched awestruck, wally might get hit with the kicking and stomping. And at the same time we wanted to laugh cuz the man looked really funny but he was blazing mad!!! Oh boy what a scene!!!

4) What is the most important thing Pugs (or dogs) have taught you?

I have learned that i shouldn’t take my pet’s admiration [of me] as conclusive evidence that i am a good and wonderful person, although it has taught me to become one.


5) Best Thing You Ever Did For Your Pugs….aside from loving them, keeping them healthy & happy, and giving them a great life.

Wally was my total inspiration to have started this blog. Although kookie is my base, wally was the brainchild. Through this blog, i have met strangers who became my blogger friends and we got to share all things 'bout dogs and pugs and how to take care of them. I am now active against cruelty to animals... and i have given wally a decent funeral and grave at our yard.


6) Post your answers on why you “Adore Le Pug” on your blog and link to the blog who tagged you (or their blog post).

I adore my pug cuz it keeps me so grounded...it’s the most loyal being in this whole wide world. As my sister says; put your pet and husband in the trunk of your car and after an hour let them out. Your hubby will surely meet you with his fist landing on your face...but your pet will be so glad to see you back with wagging tail...


7) Tag 5 or more other bloggers.

i tag all pet lovers...most specially puggers who happens to come by.

*rafting @cdo river
*second pix, wally, my first puggy & chicken, my mum's cat
*third pix, wally's grave

a take @ macro

hybernating again? nope...just slightly engulfed reading john grisham's THE BROKER, another really good read which took me a month to finish while tackling a bunch of other homely stuff and making a few important decisions in life. whatever that means...

i woke up early this morning and cracked a few eggs, cooked hot dog in a special way (slit it, steam it, and pour evoo) for my three "guys". none for me, although brekky is my favorite time of loading carbs and fats...i have long dropped it in my routine. actually, i was so happy to find from a nearby store a weet-bix! the high-fiber, low-fat cereal..

then my usual fix: stare on my pc all day and i remembered to blog. it has been a month since my last post. i have so much to log that i don't know how to start.

first up: went home to visit my folks last june and reunited with the ever bubly arf. we were all so ecstatic to see him again...my bro came home for a holiday and we stayed @ chali. he had this paparazzi-like dslr which i was able to lay my hands on. we shoot a few thousand photos. amazing now how we take thousands of shots and not pay for every one of them to develop.

**then my hubby went to macau and bought me a cute red sony cybershot t300. (what a big irony to the nikkon). have a look at the photos which i all took with both cams and at first glance, tell me which was taken with a d40x and with a cybershot. i just love macros...

**then my loyal n73 is just about to die. selling it now for a few grands and i do have two buyers on the line for 150usd. because i now have a much better blogging digicam, i am eyeing for a windows mobile phone. particularly samsung i780. i do like the samsung f480(well advertised in the olympics) and definitely faster than iphone but... it's much on infotainment. no windows. i also don't like iphone cuz of it's obvious drawbacks. most iphone users are salivating for the samsung f480 and omnia now. it has a much better speed.

**then roger federer kissed his #1 world ranking which he held for 4 1/2 years goodbye. i feel so sorry for him but am just equally happy for rafa to be the new #1 now. i do wish he'll be able to hold on to his rank for as along as federer did. it will all be so exciting for the tennis world. the sport is getting so popular like football. the tennis stars were indeed a big name during the olympics. and i am still federah forevah!

** then my sis had a really good break in oz. job well done sis!!! and my big bro just changed his terrano to an fj cruiser.(well, this would sound good if you are in ph. but nope, he lives in dubai, the place where you could see feraris and porches parked side by side)...hmmm...my other big nurse bro just had a cute son sebastian...

and me? am just changing my phone. hehe...

**ahhh! our Red Roaster will be opening soon! watchout! we'll be giving away cellphones...cellophanepono!!!

**as for kookie: she didn't turn me into a granma just yet. my bad!!!

[green photos are part of my go green project.

&&& first pix of arf taken by my bro with a d300.no permission from the mum hehe. ok lang ...cute keu si arf ba?]

so the grass is just for cows huh...

a few decades after the 1966 wimbledon championships, some spanish tennis players claimed that the grass is for cows--on a no win-situation but now. being a good tennis fan (and a bad tennis player) the match between rafa and federer during 2008 wimbledon finals was an epic, i should say it is the best tennis match in my life by far. the clay-grass divide has ended!!!

this year's wimbledon was so memorable. with the chinese cinderella , zheng jie beating ivanovich in two sets and came close to beating serena, jankovic beaten by a thai, tanasugarn, sharapova beaten by a fellow eva, williams beaten by the older williams, and here's safin coming back from the dead,...etc etc...and to top it all, the men's final was indeed the best way to end the championships!

i have heard of borg and mcenroe and jimmy connors from my dad, but i wasn't of tennis age and interest at that time. satellite tv was not available at that time, too. all i remember was us kids running to our neighbor's house and watch wonder woman and six million dollar man outside the window. and if we run a bit faster we would be lucky to take the front floor seat in my neighbor's house. and when we did own a tv set, i remember someone would climb up the roof of our house to keep the antenna from changing direction. ha ha. funny to think now. anyway, i have digressed, so going back to the grass...

that the grass is just for cows, it is also for RAFA! now it is an addition to rafa's arena, clay being first. where he gave the number one tennis player in the world a dismantling upset of 6-3, 6-2, 6-0 during the french open few weeks prior. and here now, during the wimbledon finals.

my hubby and i and a few tennis friends got invited to watch wimbledon at our "neighbor's" house...oppps just kidding, not neighbor, at another friend's house where we watched the finals on a giant tv. thanks to manu and champa for the overflow of desserts and nice wine.

it was like watching a soap opera but the difference here is that there were two protagonist and no antagonist. oh yeah, the antagonist was the umpire who warned rafa of the 20-second time limit before serving. man, it's the finals! why warn now for just a few more sec? it was such a compelling match...we all felt that the second best, the number two in the world rafa would win but we wanted federer to win one more time. this is his territory. this is where he is invincible! but the drama kept on rolling. he lost the first two sets and he was in serious trouble. and there was a rain delay... must have helped him, though. he managed to pull off the third and fourth set. but the number one in the world of tennis faltered on the final set. he broke serve and stayed there. 6-4, 6-4, 6-7,6-7,9-7... oh my. this is definitely not the end of him. he was still strong though less offensive on that match. but still he managed to put rafa on the edge. and i was on the edge of my seat, too.

i love both guys. i have so much respect for them. fed is so classy arriving in his private jet. but the most talked-about cardigan for me was mediocre. no big deal. (i can sleep on my mum's cardigan) it's that white leather bag that disturbed me. but then he is swiss[made]. what can you say? the swiss are known to be makers of the best things in life. rafa, on the left hand, suited well with his pirate look. simple and down-to-earth and that's really what he is. even if rafa grabs his bum before every serve, i learned to get used to it. that is just one of his strange ways. but both have quality in the game, good character, win or loss, on and off court.
federer was magnificent in his defeat and the crowd's applause was deafening, i was sad to see roger's fading aura but my heart is for him. as simple and respectful as nadal is, he paid tribute to federer and calls him still the #1. this is what true sportsmen are made of... bravo guys!!! but i guess they both have to thank SAFIN, too, for getting novak early on in the championships. novak is also one hell of a gun, capable of firing till the end.

well, they say that the most constant thing on earth is change. yes. i do agree. but there are times i don't embrace change with open arms. just like changing xp to vista...it took me a while to accept but now i would never ever even think of going back to xp...see the change? but in rafa and roger's case...gut feeling...they'll meet again and be there for a long time...along with cocky novak...

so...i guess the spanish were right. THE GRASS IS JUST FOR COWS. i could see a BULL grazing on it now! bravo to RAFA!!! i so like you, too!!!

*pix taken from the net

*2nd to the last pix, rafa with secret gf

*all through the championships, kookie was content on haggling her bone.

boracay

there is this land right on the heart of my country called BORACAY. located at the western tip of panay in visayas island. long been renowned for its superb beaches and relaxed atmosphere. an island destination of tourists from all walks of life the world over.


no dress code! just informal. you'd be tempted to walk barefoot and tread the fine almost-baby-powder white sand where the mode of transportation is FEET.

night life can be wild and noisy tropical style, specially during the peak season which fall on holy week in march or april.
it has more than 10 diving sites around the island, 3.5 kilometers of balmy white sand washed by crystal clear turquoise water. so if you are looking for an all-in-one holiday destination, come to boracay. by plane, it's just an hour away
from manila.








boracay is a place where you can forget the word "cellphone". unless your cellphone is your only camera, that is.

business seems to be booming in this palm-studded butterfly-shaped island. western union and atm machines are available. restaurants and hotels are everywhere. shangri-la villas is under construction along with a hundred others. before long, this island will become overly crowded!!!

this has been my second visit but still i couldn't get enough. and of course i wouldn't leave without getting a henna tattoo...someday i will come back to this island that i call--- the nearest planet from earth!!!

go rafa go!!!

i didn't have the exact schedule of the monte carlo masters finals

with nadal against federer.

so i waited til midnight reading this book by deborah rodriguez, THE KABUL BEAUTY SCHOOL.

the first chapter is so suspenseful and yet colorful and funny. it brings us to the life of afghan women. there is this girl roshanna, matched with an afghan man who is an engineer in amsterdam. her mom-in-law-to-be was so sure there was no whiff of scandal about roshanna, the pretty, hardworking girl. but roshanna had this mystery lest her mom-in-law and hubby-to-be would find out she isn't a virgin anymore. so on their first night, several times roshanna's mom came out crying, waving a spotless white hanky. it signifies either the woman is not virgin or nothing happened. roshanna just wouldn't simply let it happen cuz she was so nervous to face the deadly truth...that she isn't pure anymore having cheated to all her in-laws. so her american friend talked to her alone and got the hanky and clipped her own fingers to bleed and smeared it on the white cloth. she told roshanna to hide it until they are "done"... and the next thing, while everyone was outside eagerly waiting for the "result", roshanna's mom came out joyful that the hanky was now bloody and shouted "virgin! virgin!"

i fell asleep and the match between nadal and federer passed me by.

then in the morning when i woke up...i found kookie by my throw pillow, a red spot on it! and i looked every where there were traces of blood!!! and i shouted wow!!!virgin!virgin! awww...i mean, she should go out and date now! hmmm...

then i learned nadal won the monte carlo title for the fourth straight time breaking a record from way back 1911. i like both guys federer and nadal really. good attitude, so much wit and power. and after the game they are so friendly. compared to novak diokovic who is so haughty...

although i love roger federer, i want rafa to win the french open!!!

hotel la kollaros

[world's biggest pair of shoes, riverbanks mall, marikina city .guiness certified]

it's summer all over again and being in a tropical country, it is excruciatingly hot. here in bacolod, we have a power sharing everyday. that means an hour or two of brownouts. i don't know exactly if there is low supply of power or increased usage. anyhow, we still get by. some folks hit the beach. some of my friends will go to singapore. we plan on going to BORA in May when the peak season is just about to settle down.

well, as for us. we did start our summer break with a big holiday visit to my folks. my mum, like i said was a traveller and my dad was the follower. but sad to say when we visited them i cannot believe seeing my mum limping, my energetic, workaholic mum! limping? oh lord! no way!

anyways, after having gone with them to get checked by a doc and making sure they are on track, scott and i head for the concrete jungle for the next leg of our break, our metropolitan holiday! manila here we come! and by all the getaways, we went fishing...errr again...@ the manila ocean park where i came face to face with nemo.

we enjoyed every single day of that whole week in manila. we were blessed to have stayed in a greek hotel, hotel la kollaros. it is indeed a great personalized hotel with wifi connection, a plasma tv, a bar of 1900s select wines, and a fridge full of swiss chocolates all for free! a wake up call for breakfast by this cute kiddo, nikos also comes very timely at 7:30am. the food was great with sweet potatoes and all!!!and redhorse at night...

plus a standby car and driver 24/7. who ever get to stay in a hotel with a good transpo slash driver slash generousity all in one? well, only us! eat your heart out sis!

so i would like to take this opportunity to THANK the staff and manager slash owner of hotel la kollaros for all the kindness, hospitality, generosity, et cetera etcetera. scott and i enjoyed our stay with you guys!!! bless you all...

but then it was not a mission totally accomplished. we didn't see arf. we miss arf so bad!!!

bar and fridge full of swiss chocolates hmmm yummy/the hotel heirs/the suite