Okay, so it's near noon in this part of the world, but I'm sure the rest of the world is either just waking up, or heading for bed. =P

It's Day Five of my imposed 'vacation', and I was tasked to make breakfast this morning: pancakes. It comes in ready-mix packages. What could go wrong? I don't really do the cooking in the house, and I haven't cooked pancakes in ages. Again: what could go wrong? ^^

The ingredients were simple: pancake mix and water. My intelligence felt slightly insulted knowing that's all there is to it. So I decided to add eggs and powdered milk. The eggs looked decidedly cute in the cup, I took a picture. I put it inside the red mixing bowl we always used for pancake batter because I liked the bright contrast of red and yellow.
 

Like I mentioned to my sibs while I was making them flapjacks, I'd rate myself "A" (as in Ass) in cooking, because the first batches ended in dark brown instead of the golden brown that we all love. One that I put cinammon chips in that almost got incinerated I christened, "Cinnamon from Hell". Hey, it wasn't that bad, though. It wasn't totally totalled--just that my sis put more syrup than usual.

The rest of the batches, middle sis decided to put all the ripe mango slivers into the batter, which wasn't part of the plan, since I wanted to make plain batches. I made mention of the mangoes because one little piece caused the batter to form the one below. Do you see it? ^_^
 

Just in time for the luurve month, eh?

This one I set aside for the Little Peanut.

About more than halfway through, I finally got the hang of cooking it right, as you can see. There were a lot of misses, and there were some hits. The misses you can see underneath them hits.
 

 
Who says cooking ain't messy business? =P

The best part of it all is that the rest of the family still enjoyed our simple fare. Hope the rest of you folks had a lovely breakfast! \(^_^)o

... I had no idea. No idea whatsoever!

Because my sisters hogged the internet the past weekend, we didn't think of turning on the TV to cut down on the electrical consumption. I had no idea we were so fortunate! I even thought of going to the mall, but the bad weather that Saturday morning made me change my mind. Thank goodness I didn't go, and also cancelled an appointment to the opthalmologist!

And when my coworkers and I were talking about it in the break room a few hours ago, I wasn't hit with the gripping reality until I wondered if we were ever ready for such devastation, and it chilled me more when I knew the answer to that.

I'm just thankful we are safe. But there are many, many folks who are not so fortunate. My thoughts and prayers to my fellow men who were devastated by Ondoy. God will help us through all this...

And yes, this is a sequel to the last post. You just gotta love how things work out sometimes!

So, this time, before I got off, I gave a little awkward thanks, checked his plates again, then walked-ran the rest of the way to the office. And I was not late.

So again, to the young driver of the jeep with license plate# DKB 490, THANK YOU for getting me here in the nick of time, and for your brisk and gracious demeanor. ^__^

Taking a page off of Angel of the Waters' post, I'm putting up my version of a wishlist. So from the doable to the far-fetched, let me play Material Girl for this one post and present---

My 100 Days to Xmas Wishlist!

1. Car, second-hand or not---preferably an Impreza, or a Galant from the 6th generation up. The big hulking 2010 Galant SE ain't so shabby, either... <3333333

2. Granada Sherlock Holmes DVD -- because I can never get enough of the loverly Jeremy Brett... ^o^

3. Nikon D40 or D90 with macro lenses.

4. A quiet weekend getaway with Gerard Butler (HA!!!) XD

5. Violin, and violin lessons to go with it, deQuervain's Syndrome be damned. ^_^

6. Compilation of any string compositions by the masters (Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn (sp?), Mozart, Vivaldi, etc.)

7. Wacom pen tablet, or any brand of good quality pen tablet.

8. Korg or Roland keyboards. XD

9. Durable earphones of good sound quality. I've gone through several now, and here's hoping my current Pioneer lasts more than a year

10. More pairs of shoes that I can actually use to walk with.

11. A world trip. Not just a simple tour.

12. Laptop or netbook.

13. An Aoshi Shinomori UFO doll.

14. A shelf to hold my little Transformers and car collections.

15. ... and a house to go with that. =3

... and most of all...

16. TIME in my young adult life to enjoy any and all of these.

nieshka

I'm not a blog-every-moment type of person (if my posts aren't testament enough), but this day just needs to get up there in cyberspace.

One: Subieeee sighting!! XDDDD

I spotted a silver WRX at an intersection on my way to work. It's the fugly GD model, the one with fugly headlights. It's very rare to see any model on display (except the GC8 and GDBF I'm ogling at every passing moment when commuting), more so on the road. Still, knowing it's an Impreza (and seeing the wicked-looking scoop on the hood) makes me drooooooooool. <33333333


Two: Nothing is sacred.

Got to work to find that my old CPU was hooked up in place of my new one. Long story short: old CPU was to be formatted to be used as a test unit. What they didn't tell me was that they formatted it on my station. Where my clutter and two pairs of socks (I used during gym) are out and about--of course, said recalcitrant socks are flung behind the old CPU, and... you get the picture. ^^;;

I'm torn between embarrassment and amusement as I picture the hapless IT guy who was working then. In my defense, my socks weren't smelly... much. ^^;;;;

Way to go, me!

It's done. A great Filipino leader has been laid to rest today.

The burial was done in my city, Parañaque, just roughly a mile (estimated)  from where I live. I was concerned that I'd be walking to my next commute (some 2 miles or 3 km?) if public vehicles won't be coming through because of the huge crowds. Luckily, there were, and I even got to work a lot earlier and managed to catch a few minutes of the mass at the cemetery on TV.

Yes, I'm ashamed to say that I'm one of the many who was too timid to take part of the crushing throng who braved the weather, the walk, and the long wait just to catch a glimpse of the hearse. I salute these people who had the guts to express their convictions and weather through the elements. Mabuhay po kayong lahat, mga kababayan ko!

And then there are the famed people that followed the funeral procession.

I heard that another former President, Joseph Estrada, and Senator and presidential aspirant Mar Roxas, were there waving and shaking hands with the crowd. It set people to thinking as to their true motive of being there. Be their actions innocent or otherwise, they should have had the decency to conduct their sympathy withthe crowd and the bereaved discreetly because they would have been misinterpreted. They would have served the long-suffering crowd better had they given away food and drink. *shakes head*

A stalwart of the Philippine democracy will be finally laid to rest this Wednesday.

It's like the burial of her late husband, Ninoy Aquino, all over again: hundreds upon thousands congregate to the streets to mourn a champion of the masses. History, indeed, repeats itself.

I was a youngster when the EDSA revolution broke out in '86. I don't remember much, wasn't fully aware of the implications of people's actions, but I vividly recall that innocent sense of pride I felt when citizens marched the streets to peacefully decry the oppression of dictatorship. How, people in linked hands and in fervent prayer had broken through the iron shackles of an iron-fisted government.

And, more so, how the leadership of the humble senator's 'housewife' had paved the way to make democracy possible.

I can still remember one of Marcos' ad campaign during snap election time. It was supposed to be Tita Cory's voice over a chaotic-looking scene of people (I can't really recall clearly). I do recall what her "last line": "Eh, tatapatin ko kayo. Panglalaki lang ito." (I'll be frank with you. This is for men). She was allegedly referring to the election, most likely.

Back then, I was thinking it was such a blatantly dirty and backhanded way to secure votes. It must have grated tita Cory's rivals to no end when all the rest of us watched how after every other coup attempt, this assassinated senator's wife weathered through all this violence and politics when she took over the Presidency.

And, like they say, you'll never know what you missed until it's gone.

I think I must be so inured to peaceful acts to resolve conflict, scoff at it and view it as some form of weakness. How foolish it is to think that way, when, if not for her taking the highest position in the land, having had no political background (when, in fact, she comes from quite a political clan!) had turned the government around in her quiet, but powerful way.

And now, to hear posthumous words of praise for her moral integrity, quiet strength and humility, I wish I paid more attention.

With her death, it was like Ninoy's death all over again: it's as if hope for a better country died with her. Who of moral strength of character, God-fearing, and of humble servitude, would come forward and lead?

Ninoy's old videos were played all over the media, where in one, he said that we must all be leaders. He said this in extolling everyone to be their own leader to bring this country back on its feet. Simple, yet strong words of conviction from one who had loved the land of his birth.

I pray that we all have the same strength to follow that conviction after this dark cloud.