Mga Assholes sa Jeep

Kanina sumakay ako ng jeep. Lima pa lang kaming pasahero, nakaupo ako pangalawa mula sa bungad tapos yung katabi kong ale nagdedisyon nang iabot ng maaga yung pamasahe niya. Yung matandang babae naman na medyo sa gitna nakaupo na nagtetext lang ayaw iabot yung pinapasuyo kong pera. Abala siya sa pagtetext nya kaya bumangon pa ako sa pagkakaupo para iabot yung pera sa kundoktor. Nasa sakayan pa lang kami noon, Sa JP Rizal pa siya bababa. Hindi niya muna tinignan na hassle pa iabot yung pamasahe niya.

Maluwag pa nun tapos may baklang estudyanteng sumakay. Uulitin ko, maluwag pa, pero yung bagong sakay naman na 'to ayaw umupo  kung saan maluwag. Sumingit pa sya sa pagitan namin nung katabi kong ale na maaga nag-abot ng bayad. Ewan ko kung bakit yung mga tao mas gusto talaga nauupo malapit sa bungad. Anluwag–luwag pa, hindi pa oras para makipagsiksikan. Dapat mamaya-maya pa yan pag pinilit na ng kunduktor na isa pa sa kaliwa o sa kanan kahit puno na talaga.

Sa kabilang side ng bungad, nakaupo naman yung isa pang estudyante na nagaaral ng pagkamarino base sa suot niyang uniporme. May sumakay na ale na may malaking bayong sabi niya dun sa estudyante na malapit lang daw sya. Natural matandang babae yun, malapit lang daw sya kaya umurong yung estudyante. Ang nangyari tuloy may malaking nakahambalang na bayong sa lahat ng papasok at bababa. Pinapaurong na nga ng kunduktor yung malaking sagabal na yun sa daanan pero wala rin. Nagbayad yung ale ng walong piso, sa Cherry Foodorama daw sya. Naisip ko, e anglayo pa nun e. Mula sumakay siya hanggang pagbababa angdami nang sumakay at bumaba ng jeep.

Bukod sa mga nabanggit ko, naisipan kong maglista pa ng ibang asshole na ugali sa loob ng jeep:

1. Ayaw mag-abot ng bayad(numero unong salot)
2. Nauupo sa likod ng drayber o kundoktor tapos ayaw magabot ng bayad
3. Kunwari tulog para hindi mag-abot ng bayad
4. Natutulog na nakasandal sa katabi (Maaring double standard kung chicks yung natutulog)
5. Tatabi sa iyo kapag nakaupo ka sa harap tapos ayaw bumaba muna pag pababa ka na
6. Yung may nakakalong na malikot na bata tapos madudumihan yung suot kong pantalon dahil sa sapatos nung bata

Before Midnight

They claim to be the lowest grossing trilogy of all time. When I heard they were releasing a third film I was excited. People may find it weird that a guy is the one who will ask his girlfriend to see this movie not the other way around. Hahaha. What is weirder is that I saw ladies watching this movie alone in the cinema, on the first day. The first day, I was there. I don’t usually catch a movie in the opening day. The lasttime I did that was for the third Harry Potter movie which was nine years ago. I was such a fan then so I guess I am really fan of this Before Sunrise series. Coincidentally, the last movie of this series was released nine years ago too.

I like it when Chast is happy if I bring her one of these kinda artsy-fartsy things, like going to a museum, seeing that Boldstar gig or Cinemalaya. She doesn’t really know what to expect but at least she enjoyed all of them. I remember like less than 30 minutes of the movie she asked me if are they gonna talk all throughout the movie. I answered yes with a grin. She had this "WTF" reaction but still get through the movie quite alright. I actually check on her every once in a while if she is sleeping. That was funny. I love it that I was able to enjoy this movie with her, and she enjoyed it too.

Source. Hey, they now have twins

I still enjoyed listening to their conversations. I have to because the movie is all conversation. The characters have grown up a lot and the conversations are pretty much about life’s realities, including death. Too much realism which was in order with what the story is going through. I like how they managed to pull it of, making a new story arc for Jesse and Celine. That cliffhanger from the second movie was brilliant. "I fucked up my whole life because of the way you sing." This line from the movie connects just fine with that cliffhanger. You can say that I am watchful for cool dialogues. That one kinda lingers like that line from The Silver Linings Playbook.

I like how these movies use different European cities and when the characters pass by some place cool, they stop and talk about it. Some trivia and shit. It might help tourism. I’ve been to Nami Island in Korea and that place generally capitalizes on the fame of a hit Korean drama and a Thai movie.

I still recommend this movie. If anyone would ask which is my favorite, I don’t know. Each is different from the others because the characters do evolve within the nine years in between and each define very well the mindset of the characters at that age.

Jon Snow the Unicorn

During the Minions fever I mentioned that the kid Agnes is cuter than the minions and I own a unicorn stuff toy, not the one from the movie but Buttercup from Toy Story 3.

Chast upon hearing that I own a stuff toy, unaccounted for, accused me of hoarding toys. Hahaha. I know I bought it the along with Agent Oso and the other character from the series, then a Mickey Mouse because of the Buy-One-Get-One promo in the Disney Store the time they Left Texas last year. I remember showing all of them in the webcam and telling her I the two bigger toys are for her, the Mickey for Angel and the unicorn I will keep for myself.

She forgot all of that and told me I am keeping the toy a secret. I brought the toy to her but she won’t take it. I asked her if I will just put it together with her other collection of plush toys but she won’t allow it too. Because of that, I call it Jon Snow. I ended bringing it home again. Poor toy.

Poker Face Fail

I was on my way home earlier when I fall in line in the shuttle queue in Robinson's Metro East. Being the last person on line, I was eager to see people keep coming in to immediately fill the required 18 passengers. A girl arrived then sat next to me. She was tall, skinny and was wearing a blue cardigan and skinny jeans. She was carrying a pink shoulder bag and a National Bookstore paperbag. I wouldn’t have paid attention on her appearance, not until I decided to write this blog, and I decided to write this blog because of the following incident:
 

I was minding my own business thinking of work and hunger when on my peripheral vision I noticed that from the paperbag my seatmate took out a black paperback book and started reading the summary on the back. Earlier that day, I was kinda checking out titles from the Barnes and Noble clearance sale online so I was a bit curious on what the lady next to me was reading. I took a glimpse on the book’s title with my peripheral vision on spotted it to be Fifty Shades of Grey, that disappointing piece of smut that women apparently adore.

Photo Credit

 

Upon notice, I tried my best to poker face as if I did not see something funny. Well, I am not good at that and I made face immediately. I know the girl saw my smirk or whatever that reaction was so she just returned her new book inside the paper bag. That face kept on and on, worth blogging about.

PhotoCredit. I think this was the face

Slapstick Minions

I am not fond of these minions. They are cute and all but I easily get tired of them. Unlike my facebook news feed which was flooded by these cute characters even before the Minions movie came up. Banana, Potato, pictures, videos and everything related to minions. I know the McDonalds happy meals are constantly sold out. Pictures of these toys are also constantly posted by people boasting how many they got already.

I watched the movie to see what the fuzz is about because I read somewhere the minions has some important role in the movie. Not really.

They were cute, yes but I still think the Agnes kid is cute especially in the first movie. I even got the ringtone and I own a unicorn plush toy lol.

 

photo credit: Most GIFs I see has violence in it

What bugs me a lot about these minions is the slapstick comedy they bring and I am not really a fan of violence just for the laugh. The people watching in the movie house find them funny because I heard laughter all throughout. I guess their type of humor is not for me. I like it when they are just there looking cute but getting hurt and shit is not funny to me. I also don't like much of the minion personality. I remember watching the first movie and got dumbfounded why the minions has to suffer so much physically to be cute. In the next installment I still felt the same. Others find them cute and funny.
 

photo credit: Hermione fans know this

I kinda compare the minions with the house-elves in the Harry Potter books. They were there as servants for the wizard families and they love what they do. As the hurting goes, Kreacher was used by Voldemort to drink the potion for that horcrux in the lake; Dobby used to hit himself when he made errors. I don’t like them get hurt too.

Anyways, it's just me. I don't know why I care a lot with these fictional creatures. What's important is that they are cute and selling merchandise.

My Cheesy Father

pictures on our living room wall

For the longest time, my father wanted our graduation pictures to be posted on our living room wall. The only problem is, we did not have any of those. We did not have the budget for any of that when my older sisters and I graduated. What my father had was those 2x2 pictures attached on our college trascript of records.  His plan was to hire some guy to blow those pictures up then like do some photoshop to make the toga full and fit better on a rectangle frame than the original square.  He got those photos. Hahaha.

I don’t even have copy of that toga picture. He is a little sentimental that way so it was a pleasure giving him that. I guess he is just proud of his kids. He had a picture of the four of us when we were kids in his wallet he kept through the years. That is one trait we love about him. One time he found a Valentines Day card from my oldest sister made when she was in first grade. The one made from a white typewriting paper folded twice then drawn with a big red heart in the front and an english dedication inside. He put it on a frame and displayed as well.  

When we had a vacation in Ilocos last March, I saw portraits displayed on Chast’s parents’ house. That was when I had the idea of making our 2x2 pictures into charcoal portraits. I told that to my father and he wa enthusiastic. Haha. I found this guy in Sta Lucia who does portraits. His rate was the lowest I know because I also checked in AliMall. The portraits went good. It looks like me. I paid for the portraits and my mother said she will take care of the frames because she knows a place in Quiapo where the frames are cheaper. 

From the portraits, to the frames then my mother had the wall colored to yellow. It took about three months. I also had one of his picture when he retired printed large then framed. The two pictures of him in the wall was taken 1997(When I graduated grade school), and the other in 2009. The family picture was shot Christmas Day 1989.

Hong Kong and Macau Family Trip

Planning family trips are always tiresome and costs a lot. I know I can easily do this Hong Kong trip because I have been there twice. I can easily go places just as long I have a map. I even used the map I used 2 years ago because It was better and the landmarks on that map was more familiar to me.there was never really a solid plan on this trip, I just asked my sister where in hong kong they would like to go. With that little planning, I know I made a lot of mistakes. First is the wrong date of our return flight. Instead of June 29, I booked July 29. Because of that I need to book a new one. The cheapest I found was a flight to Clark. 

Next mistake I made was not buying Disneyland tickets from the CTS booth at the airport. We bought our Ocean Park tickets there which was cheaper compared when bought in the park gates. Disney one day tickets sold at $380 only compared to $450 at the gates. We could have saved a lot.

We don’t know the exact location of the hotel so we just took a bus to Mongkok then walked about 5 blocks east when we reached Prince Edward. Five blocks is hard while carrying luggage. We also had a hard time searching for that hotel entrance. What could have been better is just take a cab; there were five of us so the total fare would be cheaper. Same thing goes to our trip to airport going home. The cab driver told us to pay him $250, which was cheaper compared to our total fare if we took the train. It turns out from the hotel to the airport; the meter only drops at about $180. I should have tried to bargain at $200.

We also got lost some times especially on our first time looking for our hotel’s shuttle bus stop at Tsim Sha Tsui. I thought it was Nathan Rd corner Peking but it was Peking corner Kowloon. My sister had this episode where she asked a cop for directions towards the "Sun Arcade". The cop didn’t understand her pronunciation and was a little annoyed. My sister was mad too which was stupid because the person she was talking to is a cop. I don’t want any trouble because I noticed my sister did not noticed the Police badge so I just show the policeman the map and when he read "Sun Arcade" he corrected my sister’s apparent incorrect pronunciation: It’s "Ahh- keyd" not "ar - cade".

The Royal Park Hotel was cool but really pricey. Getting there through train was tough. From anywhere, we need to go to Tsim Sha Tsui station, get out, and then walk further to reach East Tsim Sha Tsui Station then to Mong Kok East station. From there, there’s an exit going to the hotel, the farthest of all the exits. That’s too much walking. I asked for a hotel near a train station but this one is very tiring.

The Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery

It also sucked going to Hong Kong during the summer. It was hot and the theme parks are packed because of the summer break for the students. I like it better during our last visit when the weather was cold.

Going to Macau, I got our ferry tickets from a scalpel, $300 instead of $350 for a round-trip ticket. What I did not know is that the return ferry is on the other ferry terminal at Cotai. From Largo do Senado we walked all the way to the Grand Lisboa Hotel looking for a bus stop which may lead us back to the Macau ferry terminal. We ended riding this bus going the other direction first, going around then to the ferry terminal. There I noticed the ticket was for another ferry service. To get to the other ferry terminal, we rode the Venetian bus then at the Venetian we transfer to the other Venetian bus going to Cotai terminal.
 

Yes we also got lost inside the Venetian. I was not able to retrace our steps back to the west part of the hotel and we are not allowed to walk through the Casino. Everything else looks the same. It was lucky that a Filipina who works there helped us with directions.
 
 

Largo do Senado

Ruins Of Saint Paul's Cathedral

 

We were tired walking at this point

The trip was very tiring to my feet. Good thing I brought Katinko with me. My feet felt better in the morning and ready for more walks. What felt good about the trip is that even though food cost a lot especially at the theme parks, I know the feeling when a parent feels happy just as long as the kids are able to eat. It felt good to see my parents able to eat overpriced Chinese food in Hong Kong. At least we were able to bring them there. They mean a lot to us and we know the hardships they had to do just to be able to see us all graduate from college. It is good to see them "Living on Interest". I wish my niece will remember her experiences in Hong Kong too. For now we can bring her with us in these trips. It has been almost a month since that trip but my parents and my niece still has stories to tell. Hahahaha