This Blog is an outlet for the random thoughts of an amateur opinionator.
What's an opinionator?
An opinionator is somebody who has power without responsibility, and the ability to spout off on any subject without worrying too much about the consequences of what comes out of the mouth. All you need is an opinion and the opportunity to voice it.
TV is full of professional opinionators. The internet gives the amateur his chance.
> Lost Friends
Author: aLmich
Oh hey, it’s you! Musta ka na?
When I was in high school, I never understood how my parents could see friends of theirs after thirty-some years and act as if not a day had passed. After all, I hadn’t even been alive for thirty years and the idea of not seeing my friends for even longer than two weeks was frightening to me.
Once I went away to college, months of not speaking with or seeing friends seemed reasonable and normal. Shortly after some time, I got used to the idea of being out of touch with friends for years at a time and not being sad about it or feeling awkward when we finally did speak.
Recently, though, I’ve gotten back in touch with a couple of friends I haven’t spoken to for years, and it has felt like a long time [not just normal or something to get used to]. I just recently got back in touch with Deejay - my best buddy in college. We probably hadn’t spoken to each other in years. When we finally did catch up on the phone, she told me how she tried to be in touch with our other friends too.
We’d had some great times and shared a number of inside jokes together in school. I thought she already went back to Chicago and so I almost forgot her. But that’s one of those facts of life—you lose touch with people. Sometimes, you lose touch and it seems natural, since you were starting to grow apart anyway. Other times, you lose touch and it’s jarring. They became too busy, but you weren’t busy at all. They ended up not caring as much for the friendship as you did. They moved away and weren’t great about keeping in touch with people who weren’t physically close to them.
Now I’m missing my old friends and the funny thing, I miss my new friends too. It has not been quite the same for the past days. The things that have been happenning exhaust, drain and consume us so much. I need a breather. Sigh.
I suppose it’s one of the bittersweet pain-joys of being older—the ability to wonder about your old friends: What are they doing now? Why did we lose touch? Is it even worth reconnecting? Would it just be awkward? We would no longer have anything in common?
I may give in to the pressure and activate my Facebook. Or maybe I’ll just keep wondering…
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> You Think You're Fat?
Author: aLmich
A friend once told me, “keep in mind that each person’s body is unique and you will be happier if you accept yourself for the way you are. Do not compare yourself to others, especially models in magazines. Many of these models are either blessed with extraordinary genetics, living unhealthy life styles, or are air-brushed in magazines to make them look even skinnier than they actually are”.
I was watching the Tyra Banks show earlier through YouTube, it was about how people are judgmental about each other’s weights and how it would feel to walk in another person’s weight for a day. It caught my attention because I have long been dying to really lose weight. Some of my friends tell me that I don’t need to lose weight because I don’t look fat at all but my inner self tells otherwise. It was easy to comprehend how a skinny girl can wear a fat suit and some prosthetics to make herself look obese, but making an obese girl look skinny, that was a challenge. What they did was to make the fat girl look like she’s wearing a badly-fitting fat suit. She went to a party while “wearing” the fat suit, and showed everyone digitally manipulated photos of her looking thin, telling them that that was actually her true weight. The comments directed towards the obese girl [who everyone thought was a skinny girl in a fat suit] were really offensive. Comments like “she’s too fat for me to date”, and many more.
The skinny girl who was actually wearing a real fat suit was struggling to move around all day. Everything is a struggle, from finding clothes that fit, to walking, to dating. The skinny girl actually had the temerity to say that skinny girls like her face as much discrimination as the fat ones. Tyra made a good point when she said that yeah, skinny girls may get discriminated sometimes, but not in the same way that fat girls are. Especially not when all kinds of media print out photos of women who are skinny and pass it off as the only acceptable body-type.
People attempt to lose weight through many ways. Whether it’s a diet pill that works, gastric bypass, or doing it naturally, the desire to change the way you look is sometimes a bittersweet feeling to have. Your goal will lead you to a path filled with many challenges, and the easiest way to get through it is to have the support of the people you love. I have always been saying that you must decide to lose weight for all the right reasons. For me, it is primarily a decision you make about what kind of life you want to live.
Summer is already here and every one is trying to really look their best but let’s take your other view on these things. How do you feel seeing those not-so-sexy people on their swimsuits? bad? or you don’t even care? I think the best critic that we have is only our own selves. Other people don’t even give a damn.
> Sleep And Be Emotionally Refreshed
Author: aLmich
Sometimes your body knows what you need better than you do. If you’re sleep deprived, you’ll fall asleep in the strangest of places despite all physical [standing up] or aural surroundings [during a rock concert].
After only getting a handful of hours sleep the whole weekend, I crashed pretty hard late Monday afternoon after picking up some stuffs at the grocery store. There was some movie playing on the HBO Chaneel that I was half-watching. When I woke up two hours later curled up on the living room floor it was dark and there was a completely different movie playing. I had said that I’d need a nap sometime Sunday, but I don’t remember being tired at all. Quite a good nap to say the least, even if it was unexpected and someone disorienting.
Same thing happened on our Coron trip. I slept at the airport, aboard the plane, riding the banca and almost everywhere we’ve gone to. There were even pictures of me sleeping almost beneath a big rock while everyone’s too busy to pose for the camera.
The experience reminded me of those times when I feel so stressed, alone and emotionally beaten. I will just fall asleep crying and feel better the next day. It’s like going to the basic, it’s like going back to Him. Just feel His peace and comfort. Don’t worry much, you’ll come with better decisions. Avoid making things complicated. There are things that are not meant for us. Learn to accept. Everything will come to pass.
As I’ve said before, it’s the little things that amuse me. Observational humor about our quirks is no exception.
> On Street Foods
Author: aLmich
Burp! I’m full! I have large Fiesta Bowl and Root Beer in front of me and I just ate Hotshots and French Fries with Abhi. What a very good start for a tiring day.
I was about to order Pasta Alfredo earlier when the corn of the Fiesta Bowl caught my fancy. I missed the times when we [with my siblings] would usually eat sweet corn every afternoon on a summer season. Those were the times when we would hide from our Mama because she doesn’t [until now] want us to just eat anything from the street vendors.
I have a very weak set of digestive system. Street food was officially off-limits to me as a kid. I can still remember my Mama putting “bigkis” [binder] around my stomach because I can easily get LBM from eating oily, salty and even creamy foods. Between typhoid, cholera and intestinal parasites [just some of the supposed evils associated with street food at the time and, perhaps, still today], I was not allowed to buy anything from a street vendor, not even dirty ice cream. I can actually recall that the vast majority of street food on offer when I was a kid was not hot, fried [or grilled] and oily. There were several barbeque, fish ball and other ambulant vendors, but I remember mostly the fruit and snack vendors – street food was predominantly snack food back then. Outside Baste [our school] are vendors who would always be persuasive to kids like us. Without a doubt, my favorite street food is a crunchy sour green mango, sold with bagoong or shrimp paste. Despite the ban on anything streetside, I used to occasionally buy some green mango. I never did get sick but the dire warnings of the plague usually meant I enjoyed this snack at home in more hygienic conditions. The sourness of the mango and the jolting saltiness of the bagoong are a match made in heaven. I also liked the sweeter and less acidic indian mangoes with salt…
Corn was also a popular street food option as well. Sold from carts that also ply busy intersections, hot boiled or steamed corn was, and still is, a favorite. While on self-packaged fruits that are then steamed to kill all the cooties, how about steamed or boiled peanuts that are also sold streetside? Yum. Even better are their greasy version – fried peanuts with lots of garlic. Finally, my all time favorite cooked fruit is saba bananas and as street food they were sold as turon, banana-que or maruya… I thinks it’s Ron’s [our trainer] favorite also. You would even hear him saying these lines ala Mahal…
Saging na Saba, Masarap Kainin
Saging na Senorita, Itapon na natin? [tama ba Ron?]
The smell that comes from a boiling vat of fat with caramelizing sugar is burned into my memory banks forever… blindfolded, I would know if you walked me past a banana-que vendor!
Nowadays, these ambulant vendors can be seen almost everywhere. Even from corporate areas like Ortigas. Everything you want from dimsuns, sisigs, crepes and my new favorite - Hongkong Style Noodles will be there to put your senses in frenzy. And yeah the UP isaws - di rin papatalo.
> What's With Twilight?
Author: aLmich
It’s been a while since I posted about a book, so thought I’d catch you up to date on what I’m reading.I’ve been checking online about the most current [unfinished manuscript] of the Twilight Saga - Midnight Sun. A friend asked me, “What is it with Twilight that you guys are all dying for?” Let me tell you.
You pick up Twilight and wonder what all the fuss is about. “I’m not into romances,” you say to yourself. And you’re not, save one Harlequin paperback you read when you were fifteen, you haven’t touched a love story since. “But Twilight’s not a romance novel as per se,” your neighbor, an avid fan who’s read the whole series, tells you. You tell her you’ll try it. “Watch out, it’ll suck you in,” she warns as she hands you the book. “Yeah, whatever,” you scoff.
And then you read the first chapter.
You meet this Edward character who is beautiful in a weird non-human sort of way. What’s more, he seems to like an ordinary klutz by the name of Bella. You fall into the story just like the neighbor said you would. The kids walk in the room while you’re reading and you hardly know they’re there. They ask you questions that you ignore or barely hear. You forget to make dinner and send the husband to the store, grateful for the extra reading time. Keep your eyes on the page—you might miss something. Hastily eat dinner and then return to the book. Like a woman infatuated with a secret lover, you can’t stop reading. And when you must close the book to take a shower or to drive the kids to soccer, you can’t stop thinking about the story.
You fall in love with Edward. You think it’s strange to be so attracted to someone who’s...
a] not real
b] sucks on animal blood but would really prefer to suck on your blood
c] has the body temperature of a Frigidaire
d] has a body hard as rock, literally
d] won’t ever get a wrinkle, gain weight, or get a gray hair
e] thinks he can read a woman’s mind
You have no control over the fascination you feel. Even though the most the characters do is kiss, you are completely frisky and attack your husband on numerous occasions. Once, in the early morning, you wake him up and he rolls over, his eyes ringed in red and his skin pale. He looks like a vampire. “Edward!” you want to shriek.
There are times when the cat curls up around your neck and then bites your neck. It’s disturbingly familiar. Vampire kitty?
You read the second and then the third books, all the while breathing shallow. You stop breathing when Edward leaves in the second book, but start again when Jacob shows up. You didn’t think anyone could replace Edward. But then this Jacob fellow reminds you of a guy you saw back in college. You were hiking in the canyon with a friend when a tall Native American guy walked by. You both looked, your mouths agape at his beauty. His hair, black and silky, hung down his back. His copper skin glistened in the sun. His face was strong and narrow, his cheekbones prominent but not angular, his arms muscular and long. You imagined those arms around your waist. “Take me now!” you wanted to say, throwing yourself in his path. But alas, he simply walked by without a glance. And though you often looked, you never saw him again.
That is until Stephenie Meyer brought him back to you in the form of Jacob Black. You feel Bella’s conflict. Jacob, with his seventeen year-old hormones racing through his body at the speed of light, is dangerous, precarious. You never know how he’s going to react. Suddenly Edward seems old. He can’t kiss too passionately or he’ll eat Bella. But Jacob, now that’s a fellow who knows how to let loose. He’s earthy. Jacob, you decide, is granola guy, sweet and nutty and spicy. Edward is more like cream of wheat. Predictable. Bland. Fibrous…
You want to know how the 1st book was? Here…
> Hello! Kamusta?
Author: aLmich
I woke up today to the sound of my cellphone ringing. H.
Yes? Ei! Did I wake you up? Yeah, but it’s okay, wazzup? Nah, I’m just sayin hello, how are you? I’m good, you? Meet me for lunch, Mr. Choi? I can’t, I’m sorry. Okay, good to hear you’re fine though. Were you really at Greenbelt last night? Yeah! I was there but you didn’t reply when I asked you which bar. Oh, been pre-occupied. Next time I will. Alright, go back to sleep then. Thanks for the Hello. okay.
Hello, How are you?
It’s such a simple question, but yet, so many people avoid saying it.
I admit it. If I’m passing someone around the workplace, I tend to put my head down or fiddle with my cell phone so I don’t feel inclined to make meaningless chatter. Or if someone will just send an SMS and say “Hello, How are you?”, most of the time I won’t reply. After all, this person probably doesn’t really want to talk to me, right? or most of the time, if it’s from an SMS message, they just need something from me and I hate that. There are only few people who would usually text me and say how are you because they really mean it.
Sorry for the paranoia, praning talaga ‘ko. Well, too many people think this way.
What’s the harm in saying hello? What’s wrong with asking someone how they’re doing?
Nothing. This actually should happen more often.
I personally believe that many people feel as if it’s simply “easier” to keep quiet when passing someone, whether it be at work or school or even out at the mall. There’s that fear of rejection — the thought that this person may not remember you or even talk back.
Of course, most people are going to respond if asked how they are doing. If not, then at least you tried to be nice.
So give it a shot. Say hello, and ask someone how their day is going. I’ll give it a shot. It’s a Monday. I always think good things should be planned and started on a Monday.
You never know, it could make their day a little better and of course yours too.
