Amazing List 4

1. A McDo in the neighborhood, which allows me to get sausage Mc muffin (among other bad stuff) on my way to work at any given day

2. Friends who can be as mean as or even meaner than you, like Paula, and together we bitch about how astoundingly dumb some people are in our previous employer, and the folly of people who live beyond their means and put up weddings they can’t afford just to keep up with the Joneses

3. Friends who wake you up with BlackBerry chats at 6 AM to bad-influence you into travelling to faraway continents, and when you complain about being all maxed out, they try to reassure you with classic lines like: ‘Invest in memories’. (Spoken like the 2001 No. 1 Bar Topnotcher. You da man, Jon!)

4. Friends who stay at your house way into the night to fix and update your boys’ gadgets. Only Thom visits while Ches and I are still in the office, joins us for dinner, plays with the boys in our bedroom, and doesn’t leave until they have every single app they demand from him, even if this takes him till midnight. Only Thom.

(Yoshi generously informs me: ‘Mom, ‘app’ is short for applications’. Grrr. I could’ve figured that out.)

5. Office staff who appreciate what you do for them and write heartwarming (fake) stuff in their evaluation forms. Sob.

6. Pollo Loco. Res ipsa loquitor.

7. Hearing your favorite song in the soundtrack of a movie that’s not itself half bad, like Viva La Vida in The Big Year. (“I hear Jerusalem bells a ringing, Roman Cavalry choirs are singing, Be my mirror, my sword, and shield, My missionaries in a foreign field …”)

8. A boss who bequeaths his kick-ass gadgets to me when he moves offices. I got a Canon SLR (you’ll probably make better use of it, he tells me, me The Girl Who Lugs Around Her Pink Lumix Everywhere hahaha), some brand-new computer accessories that I promptly turned over to Ches, and two celphone units that I gave to Anji and Thina. Winner.

9. The Kite Runner. Omg, why did I wait so long to watch this movie?! It’s an eye-opener, so heartrending yet still so beautiful. And I love that the actors seemed to be real Afghans as they easily switched from English to the native language.

10. We Need To Talk About Kevin. This is one of those movies that are too painful to watch but you watch anyway bcoz it’s just too darn good. It’s so disturbing bcoz it takes the nature side in the whole nature vs. nurture debate. Tilda Swinton is amazing, as usual. I guess you can do no wrong after playing The White Witch in Narnia so powerfully, right? The real stars tho are the little boy and teener who played Kevin. One word: creepy.

11. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. By far the most affecting 9-11 movie I’ve seen, next to Reign Over Me. I love how the film showcases the beauty of New York City despite the horror of the event, and how it shows that we can still find some goodness in us even after we seem to have lost all hope. I’ve been a big fan of Jonathan Safran Foer since Everything Is Illuminated. To think he’s only in his thirties.

(The Descendants, We Need To Talk About Kevin, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – it’s only February, but I already know it’s The Year of The Good Films.)

12. Three buffets in one week! There was the Cravings lunch with the soup and salad bar with my Legal gang, the dinner buffet at Zero Degrees with the PMS kids, and the seafood buffet at Macapagal with my boys. (Did I hear someone say ‘pig’?)




13. Catching up with dear, old friends - Babette at our favorite Cibo, Sherry my favorite SM friend at Chili’s, and Rosa and Gigay (the three of us together for the first time) at Sentro. I think the reason I am so brutally honest is that I have more than enough amazing friends – I don’t care if everyone else hates my guts and turns into my enemy.




14. Trying out new things, like Zero Degrees in Antipolo. It was Eycee who found it, and we all loved it. (Good job, Eycee!) The buffet was hit-and-miss, but at least there were more than enough dishes to choose from. We also went to the music lounge, where the band was no stronger than the vodka (hahaha). The main feature was the Ice Bar where the temperature was supposed to be – you guessed it – zero degrees, but we weren’t appropriately dressed so we had to pass. Haha. The best part was the view, of course, and hanging out with the kids. Robert and Eycee we get to see regularly, but it’s always special when Robby joins us. It’s an effort what with his work and law school, but that’s what friends do, right? Friends make the effort.

15. Perfect gifts, like the M&S Swiss chocolate from Babette, Cath Kidston toiletry and exotic jewelry hanger from Gigay, and a pink, floral compact mirror from Robert and Eycee (bcoz in Coron I always needed one to fix my contacts). (Omg, Gigay, you gave me a Cath Kidston?!)

16. Getting my corporate law right after all these years and my pretend legal advice affirmed by a kick-ass external counsel. It would be majorly embarrassing to be found out to be a poser by no less than my favorite boss, right? Groan.

17. Sharing good news with relatives and friends whom you know would share your joy and take pride in your little successes. Hats off to my Ate whose FB post was already trending according to Thom (hahaha) and who single-handedly reconnected me to cousins and other relatives in the US whom I haven’t heard from in ages. (Thank you, Ate! I love you.)

There was also the big boss in the office who found it in him to send me a lovely message even if he himself is on his way out. I told Ches, that’s what you call grace. That boss broke my heart. Sob.

My other favorite greeting came from an owner who called me ‘valiantly ethical’. Ok, I’ve been called a lot of things, but valiantly ethical? I’m not worthy.

Logos Hope

We finally got to go to the floating bookstore, this time called Logos Hope. We missed the first one a couple of years back, which is baffling considering all four of us in the family are heavy readers.

Logos Hope is amazing. It boasts of 5000 titles and young Christian volunteers from 45 nations. Most of the books are for kids – nice ones we don’t usually find in the bookstores here, and so much cheaper, too. Boots got two dinosaur books – plus a toy snake. Hahaha. Yosh was happy with the iCarly and computer activity book that I found for him, and the multiplication table thing that Ches didn’t give him a chance to refuse. Hahaha. Ches got his usual suspense stories and a picture book on supercars (groan), while I got girly stuff for Vada.




Beyond the book fair, there were also a lot of things going on in the ship. There was an art gallery where volunteers narrated the story of the prodigal son. There was also International Café where food from all over the world were sold, and I spotted a Chinese-looking duo serenading guests with Amazing Grace. We went into what they called the open ship, which was where we got to meet the volunteers in their native costumes, and there were mascots and games for the kids.




I loved the girls in their fabulous, flouncy outfits. If I had known I was going to meet the likes of them, I would’ve dressed up, too, beyond my usual pambahay shorts. Hahaha.





Boots loved simply being in the ship. He’s into big ships lately since he saw a picture of one in my Cape Cod book. He's all excited to ride three ships six times with Tita Jenny. Hahaha.



It was so cool and exactly the kind of place where you would want to bring your kids bcoz it’s educational and just reeks of absolute goodness. Haha. I wondered out loud whether they accept retirees as volunteers, bcoz I sure would want to join them when all my nasty lawyer work is done. Bootsie said: E di wala na kaming Mommy? And promptly burst into tears. Hahaha.

Thank you, Logos Hope. Till next time.

(Logos Hope is docked at the South Harbor in Pier, Manila, until March 13. P20 entrance fee for adults, free for kids.)

Bring Me To Life

I went on my long-awaited date with my brother to see Bush and Evanescence in concert. Like Ardo, he couldn’t believe that Bush is billed as a special guest rather than sharing equal billing with Evanescence. According to him, Bush has been around longer, and besides, Gavin the vocalist (with the body of a wrestler) is married to the hottie Gwen Stefani, which should automatically elevate the band to superstar status. Haha.

He sang along with all the Bush songs. Me, I just waited for Comedown and Glycerine. Haha. This last one is his favorite song, too. It’s his song for Grace, if I remember his love history correctly. (Glycerine sounds like Grace + Rin, get it?) They also did Come Together, which got the whole Araneta singing and dancing along.

Gavin is absolutely The Most Hyper Musician I’ve ever seen. He climbed down the stage, to the mosh pit, to the lower and upper boxes, and all the way to the gallery! The security peeps could hardly keep up with him. Crazy guy. I thought it was a nice, warm gesture, tho. At least he’s not stuck-up. And he’s not even from around here. Rino kept yelling: Gavin, nakakabakla ka! Hahaha.

Bush was on stage for a good, rousing hour. And that was good coz then it didn’t feel ike a front act at all. It was more like the first half of two equally good shows. As May Lee exclaimed later on: Bush totally rocked tonight!

I like May bcoz of her strong, distinctive female voice, like Dolores of The Cranberries (who Rino says is having a concert here when we’re in the US – aaargh), Sarah Mc Lachlan, Enya, Astrud Gilberto. I like that she’s Goth and not bright, happy people. In the concert, she wore a short, halter black gown with something like a tutu skirt, and knee-high black leather boots with metallic spikes. Coolness. (This was actually my one chance to let out the Goth in me, too – but Rino will kill me if I dress funny. He’s 10 months younger but has always acted like my strict Kuya. Groan.) Finally, I like May bcoz she has the ghost of a double chin and flabby-ish arms. To me this means she’s a genuine musician. I get suspicious when singers are too good-looking (like Taylor Swift or Justin Bieber), that maybe they got by on the basis of their looks rather than talent. (And besides, perfect-looking people are just harder to love, period. Haha.)

The technical effects in this part of the concert were amazing. The lights and Evanescence graphics onstage were perfectly timed with the lines of their songs. I guess this is what you really call A Production Number. Haha.

May had this quirky habit of drinking water after every song, or even in the middle of some songs. Funny, huh. She seemed perfectly fine, tho. Her famous voice rang clear and strong, she headbanged her long, black hair all around the stage if she wasn’t playing the piano. You can see that the woman was giving it her 101%.

I think some people were disappointed bcoz they expected the Evanescence portion to last a lot longer than that of Bush. But for me, it was worth the price we paid for the ticket just to see her perform Bring Me To Life in the flesh. Omg, I got goose bumps while holding my Lumix to record it! It was art in its purest form right there on the stage.

Rino for his part preferred My Immortal. He’s always been a sucker for the sad, quiet, mushy stuff. And I'm one to talk bcoz I'm not The Girl Who Screamed The Loudest at this part: I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone. But though you're still with me, I've been alone all along ... Hahaha.

I had to agree with him, too, with how he described her rendition of this song, which I think also fittingly captures how the whole concert was.

One word: malupet.

Lazy Sundays

Today was one of those perfect Sundays where we could just stay home (nothing to do until my concert at night with Rino), basically stay in bed the whole day, while sunlight streamed thru the windows and the curtains gently flapped in the breeze. Haha. So we had brunch at the neighborhood McDo (and Boots was endlessly fascinated with how big a Big Mac is), Ches surfed for Baguio hotels (bcoz Pops all of a sudden wanted to go next weekend for Panagbenga), I emotional-blackmailed Randy into meeting up, fixed a gimmick with the PMS kids, bugged Babette to go with me to India (fat chance – she’s been there and absolutely hated it), and emailed Kaye (The Girl Who Does Her Laundry In Tory Burch).

Sundays like this are made ever more perfect when my kids showcase Their Very Best.

I fix Bootsie’s school bag and find a strange-looking handkerchief in it. (Yes, in my utter OC-ness, I know every single piece of clothing and books and toys my kids have.)

Me: Bootsie, who owns this hankie? Why is it in your bag?

Bootsie: I don’t know. Basta na lang napunta sa bag ko.

Wow. It’s The Magic Self-Crawling Handkerchief, no less.

Yoshi: When I grow up, I want to be an actor, director, singer, or scientist.

Bootsie: When I grow up, I want to be a dinosaur, limousine, or Big Mac!

HAHAHA. Winner Boots.

Yoshi asks me how come some people who work hard earn less than people who don’t work hard at all. I ask him to explain and he gives as an example the security guards who have to stay up all night and guard buildings against criminals, but they don’t really earn a lot of money.

Me: And who are the people who don’t work hard but earn a lot?

Yoshi (deadpan but all serious): You.

GRRR. I should’ve known. I never, ever learn.

So I defend myself and tell him I work hard, too, and in fact I get stressed all the time at work so some nights I don’t have the strength to tutor him anymore and just leave it all to Daddy. He demands to know how come I don’t go to court like the lawyers on TV. So I explain the difference among a litigation lawyer like Tito Donemark, a labor lawyer like Tito Jon, and a corporate lawyer like moi.

He stares at me intently and I momentarily delude myself into thinking he’s trying to decide which legal practice he wants to specialize in.

Until he says: Mommy, you have a mustache.

Me (back to earth with a jarring thud): What? It’s probably from the milk tea I just had.

Yoshi (eyes eternally rolling): No, Mom. Dati ka pa talaga may mustache.

~!@#$%^&*!

Amazing List 3

1. Surprise weekend visits from friends who come bearing gifts, like Robby who brought us Moleskine planners

2. A sister who is not only breaking her back fixing our itinerary, making hotel reservations, buying groceries, and planning breakfasts for the boys, but also lining up all the outfits she’s going to lend to me when we visit her. My Ate is love.

3. A boss who takes all of us to Cafe (formerly Chateau) 1771 to give us a taste of power lunches

4. Occasional crazy splurges, like a foot spa and hair spa at Philippe’s Salon in Sofitel. This French guy with the predictably nosebleed surname is apparently world famous and does the hair of hotshots like Hillary Clinton. Not that Hillary is known for having enviable hair, right? Hahaha.

5. More crazy splurges, like the Sofitel sunset buffet. How lovely is Sofitel? It’s like a small-scale Mactan Shangri-La. And the food – too yummy. I was happy with the prawns, chicken, sausages, and lechon alone, but there was bibingka, puto bumbong, and halo-halo, too. I’ve done this dinner buffet before with my SM friends (yes, when I was rich and could afford to be crazy on a regular basis), but needless to say, it’s a lot more fun with Ches.




6. Burgers and bottomless French fries at Johnny Rockets





7. Great movies. New ones like The Help, Moneyball, The Iron Lady, and Horrible Bosses (surprisingly really funny). Indies like Greenberg and The Guard (too quirky and hilarious despite the thick Irish accents). Old ones like My Sister’s Keeper, Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (the original Swedish version), and Hang-over. And having the time to watch all of these films in a span of two weeks! I actually saw a few more, but they’re not in this list bcoz they’re not amazing. (Ah, the bright side of insomnia.)

8. Pasalubong from jetsetting friends, like the cashews from Thom from his Vietnam trip

9. A baby who is not only a certified heartthrob but also already knows how to read barely two months after his fourth birthday. (This is earlier than Yoshi, too. Which is a surprise bcoz Yosh loves books more than Boots, whose face is buried in the iPad half the time. Go, Bootsie! Nobody’s stopping you from being gwapo and smart at the same time.)

10. A Kuya who gets all the high grades and whose teacher reports to us that he is so responsible and always, always looks out for his little brother in school. (Sob. Thank you, Yoshi. I’m so not worthy of you.)

11. A pediatric dentist who has the patience of a saint and stays warm and soothing long after you would have strangled your own kids who just refuse to cooperate in all things related to dental health

12. The log cabin feel of our little country home on rainy days

13. Lunch treats from the staff. I think it’s sweet when they include you in their treats even if they know you earn more than them.

14. Kiddie parties!!! Our kids have fun and make fun of us adults in the games. Best of all, I get to catch up with all my favorite MWC friends.

Everyday Love Day

Ches and I, cheesy as we are, we don’t do Valentine. I’ve always thought it a phony occasion, just another excuse to go out and spend and pull off a date that’s more expensive than what other people are having. There’s also something that disturbs me about seeing all these couples stuck in the horrendous traffic together, jostling for parking spaces, all to get to some fancy candlelit dinner with mushy music playing in the background, grandly celebrating love - when a lot of them give love a bad name the rest of the year.

My suggestion is, only couples who are truly admirable and inspiring should be allowed to celebrate Valentine – couples who’ve been married for decades and go around acting more like siblings than lovers, those who stick together after going thru difficult times, those who make the effort to stay romantic and passionate after years of being together, those who are unfailingly loyal and honest to each other when it’s so easy to cheat and lie. Valentine should be limited to those couples we all envy bcoz we can tell they have a good love going, and when we see them together we know we want exactly what they’re having.

I’m a self-righteous bitch, I know. Haha.

So, anyway, Ches is only too happy to not have to line up and buy me flowers and gifts and make pricey dinner reservations with the rest of the masses on this one cheesy day. My aversion to Valentine is probably one of the few things he genuinely likes about me without me having to force him to. I guess it’s the one time when I turn into The Low-Maintenance Girl of His Dreams. Hahaha.

My husband, tho, is one of those guys who just happen to be true romantics and who never need to wait for a stupid day like Valentine to show some love. He’s the guy who, for no particular reason, surprised me with a huge bouquet of mums that could hardly fit in the door of the UP Law library where I was pretending to study. He located me in Pangasinan where I was spending Christmas with my Lola, knowing only the city we were in and trusting that enough people knew my grandparents to point him to the right direction. When we go on road trips and are in a deserted road somewhere, he rolls down the car windows and shouts at the top of his lungs, ‘I love you, Jewel!!!’ The boys and I simultaneously roll our eyes and call him crazy, but I think inwardly we are all screaming happy. Hahaha.

I think it’s infinitely more touching when people do sweet things for you not bcoz it’s Valentine, or Christmas, or your birthday, but on any old day, just bcoz they feel like making you happy, bcoz they love you in that way. And Ches – he’s like that to me all the time, all heart, without fail. So, yes – he definitely deserves a break on Valentine.

Dear Boss

So you’re moving to that other office and no longer my boss effective immediately. I know we would still work together – like you told me before, executives come and go, but the owners are here to stay – but it won’t be like before when I reported to you directly and we were thick as thieves (or so I’d like to believe).

I’ll let you in on a secret. I was actually nursing an angst against you the past few weeks. I didn’t agree with some of the recent moves you were taking, and everyone was nagging me to tell you bcoz they believed if there was anyone who could give it to you like that, it was me. While I didn’t nurture the same illusions about my own worth, I knew it was just a matter of time before I gave you a piece of my mind, me being me. I was also trying to be kind and biting my tongue bcoz I knew you had a lot on your plate. And while I was biding my time like that, what did you do? You went and promoted me as your replacement.

You don’t know it, Boss, but you break my heart all the time. Sob.

Thank you for giving me a way out of that conglomerate just when I badly needed it and hiring me even after you’ve already chosen someone else for the post. Thank you for being so supportive and open to my ideas. It’s bcoz you listened to me over and over and over again that I got to be my feistiest ever in any office I’ve worked in. You gave me the gall to stand by my own values and take anyone on – including you. Thank you for building me up to anyone who would listen and giving me more credit than I deserved. I have never felt more appreciated and valued in my career. You always rave about how I lead and manage our staff, as if you are not yourself the best boss I've ever had. Thank you for constantly looking out for me, right up to that call you made just to reassure me that you will still be watching over me even after your move.

We all love you more than you know, Boss. We’re all extremely loyal to you and would fight for you to the end. We’re so proud of all your hard work and brilliance, and we feel eternally lucky to have you as our boss bcoz you’re so warm and kind and generous. You willingly let us into your life outside the office and made the effort to get to know us even if we know how painfully shy you are. We’re the envy of the other departments bcoz of you. We just know that you’re going to show them all and be so good in your new role. We're sure of it.

I know that things are just not the same anymore, but I hope we will still get to talk about our perennial office issues and make jokes about them if there’s nothing else we can do. I hope we can still chat about good restos, promo flights, our families, all the usual non-work-related stuff we talk about. I hope you don’t just forget us and still take us to Circles like you promised. Oh, and I hope you still feel free to borrow money from me on the days you forget to bring your wallet.

In all honesty, I would’ve much rather stayed in my old post if it meant we get to keep you as our boss. I was quite happy right where I was, I was in no hurry to move up. But I guess that’s not the way things were meant to be. Sigh. I just hope your huge sacrifice is worth it, that it all works out for the best.

Thank you, Boss. It’s been an unbelievable ride.