because of the (premature) opening of SM Aura, droves have been coming to Taguig only to be disappointed because the new SM mall isn’t quite finished yet, honestly. i don’t know why they decided to open it with all the construction still happening. the people who come to see the mall end up crossing the street to Market! Market! and/or Serendra and/or High Street.

last sunday, A and I had to do the grocery at Market! Market! but we were quite hungry since we heard mass at 4:30 PM. meryenda time na eh! so we arrived around 630 already and decided to have early dinner. the problem was because of the large volume of people, our usual tipid-dates (i.e. in fast food joints) were full!

we decided to go back to the more ‘unvisited’ spaces in the mall, the ramen place Moshi Koshi.

we’ve been here before because after watching the Japan episode of Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations, we had a hankering for ramen and soba. my personal evaluation of the restaurant was great but A merely gave it a passing mark. it’s a little pricey but food is good.

anyways, we brought ourselves to the store and ordered Katsudon and Kara-age Udon noodles. A wanted rice as she was hungry and i just wanted the soup and to try the other noodles they offered. the Udon was firm and chewy and very filling. The chicken included was a bit on the salty side but went well with the noodles. The broth was familiar but i couldn’t recall where i tasted it before. (I just remembered, it’s like the miso soup from Tokyo Tokyo). the Katsudon the wifey had was really filling. and perhaps because pinoys, like the japanese, have a love affair with rice, it was quite filling and flavorful. (i sneaked in a scoop and a bite from A’s bowl. teehee). there was some tartness from the sauce. might be some mayo-cream blend or something.

the place was never full when we ate there. i dunno if people are intimidated of not knowing what to order or does the relatively expensive food put them off. i say it’s in a nice location but people just don’t come in and take a look. well, A and i did and i think it was a good decision to try out this ramen place in market! market! maybe soon we can try another japanese ramen restaurant and we could do something like a comparison.

i’m getting quite rusty with my programming skills specially since i’ve been doing mostly the same thing over and over again in FORTRAN. i guess it’s time to level up a little. konting galaw-galaw lang para sa brain cells.

i’ve been hearing about this Python language since college. i think that probably GIS adopted this as the language of choice because of its simple syntax and easy interpretation specially for figures that concern spatial data. (why do i sound like i’m writing a technical report!?)

anyway, ayun lang naman ang update. na-print ko na ang 90 out of 133 pages ng documentation and i’m in chapter 4. madami pa akong kailangang basahin and alamin at practice na gugugulin. i’d love to be able to practice at home para bumilis naman ang learning ko but i think i should squeeze that in between my new hobby and fixing some stuff in the house. (yes! i feel so manly!!! “fixing the house” FTW! lol)

also, been jogging almost regularly na. (i heard we shouldn’t use “jogging” anymore because it’s so~ retro. eh sa di naman talaga ako runner at di naman talaga ‘takbo’ yung ginagawa ko. bakit ba?) T-F ang schedule with officemates. syempre, like a big lump of lard during the cold weather, ang hirap gumalaw. nakakatamad lagi. pero kailangan laging motivated… pero ang hirap!

i’m already 102 kilograms. (well, 101 after doing #2.) and that’s not a good sign. sinabi ko sa sarili ko before na dapat di ako lalampas ng 200 pounds. but i went over that and more. kaya ngayon, ito muna gagawin ko. hirap din mag-cut down sa food. (hay, Lord help me with food!) pero kailangan eh.

anyway, part of my plan to keep motivated is to just blurt out my current weight. para mahiya naman ako kahit papaano. para naman maisip ko na ayaw ko ng ganito ako at gusto ko na hindi ko man maging kasing-katawan si Derek o si Chris, sana eh mas matagal naman ang buhay ko sa kanila. kahit di buff. basta fit and healthy lang.

however, nobody said a garden had to be 50 square meters of land. it could just be 3 square meters of wall space! so here i am trying to start my own garden at home.

i adopted the father-in-law’s plants in front of the house (2 overgrown Wax Rose bushes, and 2 others that i still haven’t researched on but i know them.) and water them regularly before leaving for work. then i thought of bringing some of my orchids from pampanga, so i brought 3 of them which i just cut from the parent plants (i think they’re dendrobiums). still, no soil in the hands yet.

as a start, i bought house plants one day: pothos for the bedroom (which ended up in the living room) and a sansevieria for the bathroom. i just said that this was cheaper and healthier than just buying flowers all the time and have them wilt and thrown away after a week.

then finally, last saturday, i went to Market! Market! and bought 3 succulents and an air plant. i chose the cacti and echeveria because they are low-maintenance and the air plant because i was just curious how it is grown. besides, it has a cute flower protruding!

i also bought potting soil for Php 25.00 and Php 10.00 worth of marble pebbles. i already had a shallow plastic tray/dish i found lying around the house so i turned that into a pot. i put the drain holes with a hot screw. then i eventually found out that i might kill my succulents if there’s too much moisture on the soil… so i had to look for some pumice stones which, fortunately, Ace hardware in SM Megamall had. it’s about Php 80.00 per 2 kg bag. took out the plants, remixed the soil with the pumice and the re-potted them.

as of now, i’m really happy with this small corner of green in the house. i’ve been getting great ideas from the practical gardening blog for the wall as a nursery/garden/work area at home. and it looks like things are just gonna get greener in this corner of the city.

aside from the butterflies, the minor attractions that greeted us were the turtles (which i didn’t get on camera) and the monitor lizard inside a large enclosure.

after paying the fee (it was Php 20.00 if I am not mistaken), we went into the hut through a rickety bamboo bridge. underneath, we saw the ‘minor attractions’ but my parents-in-law were too worried they might fall into it! lol. after crossing the small bridge, a whole bunch of framed and preserved butterflies greet you everywhere. in the middle of the space, more than 3 dozen butterflies are displayed between two glass panels. i wondered why these weren’t framed like the others with white opaque panels. i got my answer soon enough.

the staff let us have a look first at everything before he called us to have the obligatory “i got wings when i went here” shoot. manong took my camera and had us stand at the opposite end of the room as he positioned himself near the butterfly panel. not long after, we had proof that we were fairies.

not the perfect shot but you get the idea. the butterfly wings were a bit out of focus because of the camera settings. i bet i could’ve done a better job but i let manong do his job.

to the left of the hut, there were enclosures that resembled chicken houses in green plastic mesh. then manong started talking to us about the life stages of butterflies and moths. showing us the eggs, caterpillars and the leaves that each species ate, and the biggest surprise of my life was when he presented to us the chrysalis of a pupa of the Atlas Moth! it was so huge, it was the size of my thumb… including the muscle on my palm!

i’ve seen the Atlas Moth before quite often when i was a child. we called it ‘mariposa’ in kapampangan. but now, i’m not sure if it was just this or we called both butterflies and this moth ‘mariposa’. hmm…

i digress. finally, we went to the farm where there are live butterflies flying. our guide said that it wasn’t really their season so we will be seeing only about 10 to 20 butterflies that day. he also mentioned that during their peak season, you could ‘swim’ with butterflies around. of course, aside from the butterflies, one thing that attracted me was the beautifully cool garden they maintained for the butterflies and moths to breed in. it was along the highway and it was quite humid and hot outside but the garden was a wonderful spot to stay in and actually rest in. but we had limited time so we took some pictures and were quickly off to our final stop: the Sanduguan monument.

it’s gone now. we were advised in advance that multiply as a social network will be closing so i already made a backup of all my files on it. but i still visited it once in a while just to look at my page and reminisce at the old photos and blogs on multiply even if it were already stored on my HDD.

but then, this happened today. then i felt that pain in the middle of my gut. maybe a little to the right and in between my blood vessels near the kidney and liver. but i felt something. i just felt really sad. it’s gone. and it’s for real, this time. it’s really REALLY gone now.

so, a moment of silence, please, is all i ask for my old multiply page. even just 10 secs of your time that you’ll never have back again just to remember my page and perhaps yours as well.

The trip was a bit long from the Chocolate Hills view deck to the Tarsier Conservation Area but this was a pleasant trip.

We were first made to pay the entrance fee of Php 60.00 each (Php 50.oo for Senior Citizens) and wait for the next batch of tourists for a briefing on how to conduct ourselves inside the conservation area. We got another souvenir postcard from visiting this, an I idea I really, really like.

Not long after sitting in the waiting area, “Love Añover” comes out and introduces herself as Laiza, our guide. (I swear, they must’ve been separated at birth!) She discussed house rules and some facts about the tarsiers in captivity in the conservation area and that flash photography is strictly prohibited. it wasn’t long before we were ushered into the enclosed area to see the tarsiers. I was really excited to meet the little critters like i was going to meet a rock star. really!

during the briefing, we were told how to spot the tarsiers: ‘spotters’ of the conservation site had tied red bows on or near the tree trunks where tarsiers can be found. this was the deal-breaker for me. more on the later.

the trek was somewhat paved with concrete steps in some areas that were quite slippery (MIL had a little difficulty because of the flats she wore) but the rest of us were prepared with quite grippy shoes. (N.B. to those who want to visit!)

anyway, it was a quick tour, really. that’s the really disappointing part… i had imagined something that was straight out of a Steve Irwin documentary or one of those from National Geographic. instead, it was like i got into a big zoo with animal props. it felt a bit staged to me. plus the faces and posture of the spotters didn’t help — they looked like mall attendants at closing time who have been on midshift for two weeks straight. they looked awfully bored and tired! aside from “Love Anover”, only one other ‘spotter’ (who took our picture) was smiling during this trip.

so this experience was half-half for me. it was great to see this creature for once in my life in such a beautiful and safe place but at the same time, it’s hard not to think that they are also victims of commercialization.

and then all of a sudden a man went to the side and stood right beside the first guy in the queue. i don’t know what was going through my mind, really, since i would usually just let this thing pass and ignore it. but today was different. i tapped on the guy’s shoulder and told him, “ser, may pila po.”

his response was, “oo pero andito yung arrow eh. so dapat dito yung pila. dito yung tama.” pointing to the floor markings. “iyon, pa-ganun. ito, pa-ganun.” pointing out how the arrows indicate where those people should be going in and going out of the train. the guy in front of me concurred with me and said, “ser, sumunod na lang po tayo sa pila.” the middle-aged man repeated his reply and completely ignored us.

at this point, i pulled out my cellphone and took his picture. i’m sure he heard the ‘click’ sound my phone made when i took his picture. i wasn’t trying to hide the fact that i was taking his picture anyway. whenever he’d notice i put my phone up to snap a picture, he’d look away. probably felt guilty, i guess.

then the train came and he boarded. it was only enough to fit the two guys in front of me and him. while he climbed into the train, he took out his phone and attempted to snap my picture. even held it out and i’m sure i could’ve grabbed it from him the way he carelessly held the phone. hehe. i only wished i was smiling while he took my picture.

i couldn’t pin what kind of guy he was. he was wearing his gray shirt tucked into his jeans and wearing gray AND1 rubber shoes with something like pink piping. he carried a clear file case envelope with purple handles with lots of papers and keeps his wallet in his rear left pocket. office clerk? agent? desk officer in PNP? he had his glasses on a cord so that would mean he does a lot of reading/looking at papers, wouldn’t it? didn’t notice, though, if he wore a watch or not. my other regret is perhaps that i took pictures instead of video. i would’ve made him famous on the internetz if posted his video. almost became part of a new #amalayer trend. heehee

but seriously, after the incident, i felt some fear. what if he had a weapon? what if he was in a position to inflict harm on me away from the train station? what if he knew people who could? wouldn’t it be a stupid thing to die just because of not falling in a queue?

and instantly, i knew what i was doing wrong… and why i was making it worse for myself!

you see, on my way home from work i’d always treat myself to street food along Katipunan. it was the reward i’d have for having slaved all day at my desk. apparently, from my understanding of the article, this could be a short-term reward system for no apparent goal… i was simply rewarding myself or thinking i have achieved some form of success. but what was i rewarding myself for? making it through the day?

so this sort of realization popped into my mind after reading how dopamine makes us happy and how our brain is geared towards making ourselves want more dopamine.

better put that dopamine boost to better addictions and better goals than just going home.

i used to work my schedule around all the other days of the week and keep Sunday clear. when i still lived with my parents and would go home to Pampanga every weekend, i would stay in Manila only until Friday evening and would only sacrifice Saturday if it was only necessary. and when i started to work, Saturday mornings were for work and I would go home by lunch. it was important for me that by Sunday, I would be in Pampanga. i would refuse barkada gatherings that would make me stay late on Saturdays, even if it were for free.

it was not a conscious observance of the Third Commandment. it was just the way i planned things (note i use the word “planned” very very very loosely). i went to mass. i rested. but i still did chores — cleaning, sweeping the yard, gardening, bathing the dogs. and even if i did these things, i had enough energy to last the work week.

now, i could barely make it past Thursday. this week, in particular. today, i’m just draggin myself to the finish line and i’ve still got work to do!

am i just growing old? i don’t really feel old. i just feel tired. or maybe that’s rheumatoid arthitis. !!!

but i have this belief deep inside of me that i should just go back to what i always did and keep everything scheduled around that Sunday that was so precious to me.

i guess that’s my target for this 2013.

i usually pass by the grocery on my way home. besides window-shopping, window-grocery-shopping is another favorite pastime of mine. but sometimes, i couldn’t resist buying stuff that i intend to use for the week but end up forgetting about it. i once bought a bunch of basil leaves intending to cook pasta within the week. two weeks later, they’re black inside their container in the crisper.

which brings me to this unintentional thing i made at home:

yep, salsa.

i bought a bag of tomatoes one night because i thought we ran out. never bothered to check the fridge. when i got home, i saw that we still had one big bag of ‘em that were never opened! the thing was they were getting pretty soft and ripe. what to do with about two dozen tomatoes!? i decided to brace myself and make salsa. the next time we went to the grocery, i immediately looked for cilantro/wansoy to put it together.

i never made salsa at home because i knew it was hard work slicing all those ingredients. and i also knew that there was this different flavor whenever we would eat it outside. at home, when i mix tomatoes, onions, etc. together, i couldn’t imagine them to taste anything close to the salsa they serve in restos. i only discovered that the cilantro was key. not the chili peppers.

anyway, you just put everything in a bowl after all the cutting and slicing until you have kalyo on your armpits and your arm is fixed at a 90-degree angle.

about 2 dozen diced tomatoes
1 bunch of cilantro
1 white chopped onion
3 cloves minced garlic
4 green chili peppers (for sinigang) minced
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup cane vinegar

pretty simple because this was a recipe that wasn’t planned. whatever was available at home, i put in. the only ingredient i got specifically for this was the cilantro. i also substituted vinegar for lime juice. didn’t know it needed that until i searched for a recipe online! also, you have to chill this. salsa is meant to be served cold, i learned.

there were no nachos available at home so i decided to use cheese-flavored cassava chips we bought the other day. A thought of using the taco shells we were reserving for a different recipe so we made some sort of vegetarian taco and added grated cheddar cheese to it. it was a stroke of genius what she did! it was so good! tried experimenting further with the cheese spread but it wasn’t as good as the grated cheese.

so, if you find yourself swimming in a sea of tomatoes at home, this is my recommendation. *wink*