Nuninu

PostSecret

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

My friend referred me to PostSecret, a blogsite where people can send their secrets while still maintaining their anonymity. Each entry is well-written and direct to the point. Succinctly said, I must say.

Visit their website and read about strangers' secrets.
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posted by Idj at 2:50 PM

Tagalugin Mo 'To!

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Ever tried one of those quizzes people pass around via emails? It always helps when one is bored and is just looking for something to do. The last time I saw one of those was during the SARS era, when we almost had nothing to do in the office. Online sales were at an all-time low and all CSRs were left twiddling their thumbs. It was during those times when the boss would see employees doing something else besides office work and still wouldn't mind. Don't we all want bosses like that? Hehe...

Anyways, one friend sent me one such quiz yesterday. The quiz is to translate all those English words into Tagalog. Being a perpetual Tagalog-speaker, I thought it'd be a breeze. Sad to say I failed the quiz, scoring only 66 out of 100.

Naman! What's announcement in Tagalog anyway? Pahayag? It didn't work. What about knowledge? Isn't it kaalaman? Or am I just stupid? Hahaha... What about sewerage? For that I absolutely have no idea =P

Here are the words I can't think the Tagalog equivalent of: announcement, approach, benefit, calf, care, city, customs, dictionary, erase, excite, feature, flame, gerund, group, guide, idiom, instruction, judge, knowledge, office, park, petal, refreshment, report, research, ribbon, sewerage, standard, suggestion, valley and window.

Would you know?
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posted by Idj at 11:49 PM

Too Much Time

Sunday, September 24, 2006

My mom always say, I must always find alone time to do things for myself, and I do. Yet, I find myself envying those people who never seem to run out of things to take care of.

I guess I spend too much time by myself, not going anywhere on weekends, unless it's absolutely necessary. I read books, I watch tv, I learn songs to play on my guitar, but somehow I still get bored.

I need a vacay, at least I think I do. I love the beach, but I haven't been near one for almost a year. I can go window shopping, but I get depressed when I see things I like that I can't afford.

I have too much time on my hands. I need to keep myself busy...
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posted by Idj at 11:04 PM

I'm So Bad...

When my brother was in college, he was the lead singer for a rock band. He wore plaid shirts, tattered jeans and had long hair that he'd always wear in a ponytail. When it was time for him to go on stage, he'd let his hair down and bang his head in time to the crazy music. I must admit they were good - at least being the loyal sister that I am, I must believe they were.

Eventually, he mellowed down a bit and went for the much subdued acoustic songs. He would play his guitar the whole day, tap his foot in time to the beat and sing his heart away. Occasionally, he would ask me and my younger sister to jam with him, and we always ended up having so much fun. Sad to say that with the re-emergence of alternative music, those jamming sessions were over. But not for my bro though...

You know how call centers come up with different activities to ensure their agents stay with them and have a good time throughout their tenure? One such activity is the battle of the bands, which my brother and his staff decided to join.

So here come practice sessions, with my brother on vocals yet again. He records those sessions and proudly makes us listen to how... ah... uhm... erm... let's just say they need more practice =D
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posted by Idj at 12:52 AM

Why is Barney Purple?

Thursday, September 21, 2006

I saw Barney again tonight, singing, dancing & hitting the drums. Isn't he weird? JC, our "adopted" kid, resumed playing Barney shows on dvd. For the past couple of months, we thought he outgrew these shows already as he would always insist on watching either Shrek or The Incredibles. Boy, were we wrong! And we really thought we'll never see that purple dinosaur ever again.

So there was Barney, moving in time to Dino Dancing Tunes & singing Baby Bop's Hop Song. I swear, soon I'll be able to sing all Barney songs by heart.

Anyways, the ultimate question that's been bugging me ever since I saw that thing on tv suddenly bugged me again -- WHY IS HE PURPLE? Why not a more acceptable dinosaur-like color, say moss green or brown perhaps?

Looks like I'm not the only one who's wondering why... I searched "barney purple" in google and it returned 1.68 million results! Here are some findings from my so-called research:
  1. Someone paid a fee to ask this ultimate question at answers.google.com. However, the asker rejected the answer. I think it was too serious for him to consider. It just said that purple is an appealing color for children and that it helps develop their imagination. If I was the one who asked, I would probably reject that too... There was another one who answered that Barney was supposed to be red, but since it was a threatening color and yellow and blue are out of the question, they opted for puple as a compromise. Furthermore, the color purple is easier to "technologically reproduce", especially for old TVs. Hmmm... are those enough answers for me to put the question to rest? Nah...
  2. In Urban Dictionary, they have accepted Barney Purple as an acceptable color "slang". They even used it in a sentence: "I had to get them to re-paint the whole room. I am NOT having my living room Barney purple!"
  3. Jihad.net has created a role-playing game called Destroy Barney! But since I'm not into role-playing games, I didn't explore this further.
  4. I found an archived short article in The New York Times' website which refers to a previously written piece titled "Of All Dinosaurs, Why Must This One Thrive?", referring to Barney as a "talking eggplant."
So there you have it... my attempts at having the "ultimate" question answered. But I'm still in the dark -- why is Barney purple again?!?!?
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posted by Idj at 11:34 PM

Cool Blog

Sunday, September 17, 2006

I stumbled across a cool blog a few minutes ago. From the moment I read its description, I was hooked. The blog is all about a collection of candid photographs of strangers, captured in the middle of doing whatever. The blog is participated by friends who share a common interest, and that's love for capturing moments in photographs. They call it Strangers Among Us.
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posted by Idj at 12:29 AM

And They Struck Again!

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Last year, my boyfriend introduced me to the wacky scenarios caused by Improv Everywhere - a growing "organization" (for lack of a better term) based in New York. This group was created by Charlie Todd in 2001, and has since then executed quite a few missions involving "secret agents". Some missions required participation from avid fans, while some were executed only by core members. Their tagline says it all - "We cause scenes" - and caused scenes they had.

I imagine that careful planning was always involved whenever the group comes up with a new mission - serious research, budgeting, some testing, composing songs and sometimes even rehearsals - the works! They exert all those efforts to "cause chaos and joy" to whoever is there to witness them accomplish their missions.

To date, I have 3 favorites so far:
  1. The Moebius - Undercover agents performed a series of events which lasted for 5 minutes, meticulously repeated 12 times, all within an hour. Patrons at that particular Starbucks outlet might have thought deja vu, or could've been weirded out, or if they were sane enough, have thought those agents were crazy.
  2. Best Gig Ever - Undercover agents headed to a club in New York on a Sunday night, at a dead time slot, to watch a band perform. They asked everyone who wanted to participate to download songs composed by the band and memorize its lyrics, so that they could sing along while the band performed. The result -- the best crowd reception the band ever got, a better time slot and more gigs!
  3. Even Better than the Real Thing - Agents performed on a rooftop and pretended to be U2! Undercover agents, strategically positioned a couple or so blocks away from the venue helped gather people to watch U2 perform live! The police had no choice but to make an arrest for the disruption of peace. However, even if it's clearly obvious that the band wasn't U2, undercover agents stuck to their "identity".
Take a look at their website, and have a good laugh while reading each agent's reports on their missions. The reports could be quite lengthy, but it sure is a fun read. :)
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posted by Idj at 1:56 AM

Masas - Greenbelt 2

Lean, Leigh & I headed to Masas in Greenbelt 2 to have lunch there again. We had a coupon for a free order of 1/2 crispy pata, which was given to us when last we brunched there. Take a look at the review I posted for Masas at The Makati Brunch Club...

 Dining at Masas in Greenbelt 2 in Makati is always a delight. Aside from the great food, it's also a great place to hangout with friends and catch up with each other's lives. An added bonus are occasional acoustic performances at night, which never fails to delight music-lovers, such as yours truly. Watch out for my friend Zion, who won last year's Next Big Thing - Search for the Next RnB Star. He sometimes performs at Masas, accompanied by his acoustic buddy.

Now back to the food...

Tina, Leigh, Lean and I headed to Masas in Greenbelt 2, along with a few co-workers, to celebrate Tina & Leigh's birthday. I hesitated at first because I know menu items could be a bit pricey - I didn't know they have "silog" items that are quite affordable (the most affordable being at P105).

Adobo Flakes

I ordered Adobo Flakes, served with fried rice, scrambled eggs, diced tomatoes & onions with 2 slices of salted egg and sauce on the side for the adobo. The food was hot when it was served; and the entire dish was not at all oily, at least not as oily as "silog" food served in other restaurants. The saltiness of the adobo, even with its sauce, was just right.

The service was fast. But that's probably because we went there early. The staff were also friendly, they struck a pose behind us when we took pictures of each other. I think they're quite notorious for that.


Take a look at those bartenders behind us...
This was taken last year when I had dinner with some close friends.

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posted by Idj at 1:12 AM

I Caught the Bouquet!!!

Thursday, September 14, 2006


Newly wed couples are getting more creative as they think of ways to ensnare their poor single friends to participate in singles' games during wedding receptions. If they do it the traditional way, they can expect none of the ladies to scramble for the flower bouquet, while men won't fight for the garter when the unlucky lady isn't a hottie. Naman!!!

As a result, newly wed couples have no choice but to come up with crazy games just to get all single friends to participate. Winners will be based not on who was worst or who was best, but on something only the newlyweds understand. It's getting quite predictable actually... so predictable that when I participated in such a game during the last wedding I attended, I decided to be the worst.

The newly weds started calling out names of single ladies "randomly". Right... they have all their single friend's names written in small pieces of paper, and they called everyone who's name is written on those. They weren't even drawing lots!!! So yes, they selected single friends randomly... When they called out my name, I boldly went up front. I had a strategy. I was confident. I won't be the "lucky" girl. The girl who can say "Congratulations" for the longest time wins. Two seconds into my congartulations, I choked. I asked for a second chance. Either the couple didn't hear me, or they chose not to. No biggie, I knew they wouldn't pick extremes - I was safe.

I was wrong! They picked the shortest time! It was me! Oh dear... I decided to be a good sport and participated for the duration of the game. No hard feelings towards the couple. Did I have a choice?

As soon as it was over, my colleagues started getting excited for another wedding they'll attend soon -- MINE!!! Are they crazy??? Catching the bouquet doesn't mean I'm next. Catching the bouquet doesn't mean I'll let it decide my fate. Don't get me wrong, I would love to get married - tomorrow, sometime soon, or in the distant future... It doesn't really matter when. All I know is that my boyfriend and I will get married when the time is right. Besides, we're still young... ;-)
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posted by Idj at 11:28 PM

Clients na Pasaway!!!

Sunday, September 03, 2006

It's weekend, and I'm stuck here at home doing serious office work -- unfortunately scheduled to do some operational stuff for the weekend. Well at least I don't need to come to the office just to do that. I could just stay home, hook-up my laptop to the internet and I'm all set.

I find it so amazing how some people manage to find themselves in the same situation over and over again. After educating them to prevent certain things from happening, one can't help but wonder how they can be so incredibly stupid to allow the same things to happen again. Yikes!!!

It's so frustrating when you find yourself in such scenarios. You think of ways to resolve the issue, sometimes you speak with their clients on their behalf, and slightly reprimand them for allowing it to happen. You get them to promise not to let it happen ever, but not even a couple of months later, you find yourself doing the same thing again.

Oh well... clients! Don't we all wish those difficults ones would just go away? But hey, we need them. And yes, let's admit it, we find ourselves getting stronger with every difficult situation we face, every impossible issue resolved. So I guess I should just stop complaining... Nuninuninu
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posted by Idj at 8:54 PM