coffee break

live simple. sounds easy but really, can you? before you draw another breathe and insinuate that it is so, i dare you to live without the very computer you are using to read this entry.

life is complicated as we know it. and ironically, as we move along and get a little wiser, we complicate it even more. we work 40 hours  a week, even more at times, to have the means to make life easier for we. we sweat blood laboring the days to finally have enough means to buy easy living. but most of the time it is that wanting for an easier life that makes it hard. a paradox, a conundrum. you need to wok extra hard to buy time with a ‘professional’ whose advise always read, take it easy cowboy, you’re not in a race. eehh? now you tell me?

life is a race. life is complicated, unfair and will beat you to a pulp when you least expect it. and yet they want us to believe that life is not mean. i know now realize and fully understand that life is what we make it. there is no zen or new-age class that can teach you what life is about or how it should be. in our thirst to make a meaning out of everything, we are left wondering and feeling unfulfilled. why should it mean something? there is no generic, cookie cutter, cardboard layout answer to it. you are not here to leave a legacy, to donate schools or help starving children.t now that would be cruel, setting expectations before hand. but it doesn’t mean you don’t have to help others.  as i see it, to make life simple, you just need to live it. no expectations.

listening to:  
Josh Groban – Josh Groban : Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)

i have been blogging since 2003.01.13. 6 long years. 6 years of telling the world intimate details of life, love, travel, wants, needs… all that memories written to remind me of how foolish i have been, life’s generosity, abundance, pain, lots of first things.

and who have i been? how about you? think 6 years ago, what was life then? i know life would have been different compared to now, but how different? presented with the same problems, would i’ve done better? i’ve told a friend that life would have been easier if i were young. decisions are made easily, maybe not the best one but you can make those bold statements and actually believe them. young and restless; the world is your oyster so to speak. everything seems to be good, or good  enough. then you wake up one morning and realized that you’d grown up. no more excuses, no more foolishness. you need to own up.

youth. what is it with youth besides that it’s wasted with the young? i’m not really keen to be young again. i’m fine looking back at it and having a laugh. a big one. let the memories be memories, looking forward to creating new ones.

listening to:  
Songs I Heard – Harry Connick, Jr: Over The Rainbow

p.s. i love harry connick jr’s version of over the rainbow. of course judy garland’s more smoky and sultry, but harry’s throw back to the rat pack era hits me with the right punch.

see you there

listening to:
believe – cher : Strong Enough

i have been blessed having an aunt that’s generous and kind to let me stay at their spare bedroom in san francisco. of course free of charge. my hotel budget got drained when i stayed at the marriott marquis for the new year bash. well i earned tons of hotel points in the upside.

both my aunt and uncle are retired so they just stay at home watching tfc all day. they are avid fans; i really don’t get it, why they pay us$25 for a channel i don’t even give the light of day back at home. and it’s free. the upside is that i get to enjoy home cooking, sorta since they all all this instant things like chicken broth in a can, frozen pizza and toast, even preboiled rice. the downside is, all eyes are on me, when i get home late at night after i roam the city, that shopping bag i have coming home, the delivery form amazon.com of tv series dvds i collect. i’m spoiled rotten here. i wake up to the smell of toast, freshly squeezed oj, and my favorite butter in the whole wide world, queensland. i eat, and leave everything on the table, go back to my room and enjoy high speed internet that’s good for porn. when i go out, uncle drives me to the bart, and i text him back when it’s time to pick me up. but i do chores here. techy stuff like installing software, configuring their wireless lan, tutorials, talking to customer/tech service.

after all of those healthy home cooking, i am craving from something greasy and unhealthy. i invited them for some, arguably the best burger  in the world, in and out burger, for dinner. i have to use smarts and ask tita to look for a table (since it’s full) so i can pick up the tab. just across is krispy kreme, us$6.69 a dozen, cheap if you ask me. i bought a box for breakfast to at least give them a day off preparing my breakfast. on the way home i asked them to drop me at starbucks to hang out as i try to finish my current book. saw this tumbler, got me interested and bought it. though i have 2 starbucks tumblers in manila, but this one is better for 2 reasons. first, it’s a twist seal so no spills even when travelling. and the most important thing is, 28% percent of it is made from post-consumer recycled materials. i somehow feel i’m helping mother earth  by using a recycled material and patronizing products that helps save the environment. hopefully my karmic score would improve to offset all the other things i did. and it comes with a free drink, got myself a venti mocha frap, extra shot of espresso with no whip.

finally, i got to do what i set out in the first place, i went on a training seminar for my iyengar yoga (instructor) at the iyengar yoga institute. getting rusty, but still good enough to teach.

listening to:
Victor/Victoria Soundtrack – Julie Andrews : Le Jazz Hot

disclaimer: this post was created on the plane, drunk.

The buzz word in the financial circle is recession. Unless you’ve lived under a rock during the last quarter of ’08, you’d know by now that Uncle Sam is pretty much in deep shit. And like everything else USA, it cascaded to the whole word; everyone is now in the same deep shit. Pardon my French but the analogy/expression nails it. My company, having been born and bred in obama’s backyard, had implemented strict cost saving measures that would make Scrooge look like the most giving person. Tough times, tough measures, tough love, tough luck. That warrants a post of its own should I decide not to be in the ‘boat’ (sorry, private joke).

Fast forward to now, lulling the time at the nwa lounge together with every Joe, Mate, lad and Papichullos. I noticed that half of the room is filled with Juans, your regular farm plowing Juan less the carabao. One trendy Juan was carrying the 2009 s/s men’s Gucci tote, although not in croc, still pricey (I know, I was eyeing that bag for myself), clad in last season’s Prada loafers and Dolce jeans. First reaction, color scheme is off, too dark; needs a touch of color. 2nd realization, wtf! Am I in an alternate/parallel universe? What recession? People have the money to fly business and first class, Not just anyone, Juans, cost cutting my ass. Though I feel that the airline did some cut backs as well, crappy food less snacks. The nwa lounge in Detroit airport is now a paid club, to hell if you paid hard earned, top dollars for your plane fare. Everyone is indeed feeling the crunch, should have flown SG.

Unlike those rica Juans, I am in denial. I feel the recession chasing my fanny, breathing down my neck, so I run faster and faster, deny more and more. Fuck recession, I’ma kick its nuts off. My company will try to weather this financial instability (who are we kidding, it’s a crisis) through whatever means necessary, even how unpopular. I’ll cut back on Starbucks and shoes, that should get me through this mess, crossing fingers. One bag every 6 months, and no more expensive trips, no more fine dinning. Goodbye Dunhill tote, goodbye Prada slip-on, goodbye good ol’ times. That’s my share, anything more is plain unacceptable. Why would I compromise my life for bad choices of not even even my leader (see, in denial!). No prisoners!

On a side note, as all nwa flights, we passed by Japan via Nagoya to change plane. I am flying a code share flight to Detroit, means it’s 2 flights folded to one, Delta and NW. It’s packed! They really mean lowering cost. Been mistaken as Japanese, Korean and Chinese again, but I’m used to it by now. Sometimes I even play along using my rusty and broken Nihongo. And I resent the kids beside me, they’re flying business while I have to slave for months to afford this flight. They don’t even know the difference of patte and liver spread. Darn spoiled brats. I’ll settle with Moet & Chandon, now let see those kids have a sip of that!