Toni's 5 Steps to Happiness

I love movies but I am not a fan of the common local ones. But its also not that I abhor them. In fact, I dig for Tagalog independent cuts whenever I have the time. But with the more common ones with the common artists, na-ah. Its like these faces are seen everyday, more than twice, and sometimes with programs coming after the other in local tv, so why would I still go to the cinemas and annoy my eyes more? That would be an expensive venue for sleeping. Its pretty hard to convince me to go into one, except of course if there is something in it to be curious about, id give it a shot.

But last weekend, I got out of my usual comfort zone. I watched “My Big Love” with a friend, and it was even me who invited her. For me, the whole objective was not more on giggling upon Sam and Toni, but to feel light after a heavy week. And we sure did felt just like that.

And I should say this, Toni was really pretty and acted as if everything was ordinary for her, and Sam, he’s hot, I admit. Oh, by the way, there was Kristine Hermosa too but I didn’t like her. Its kinda biased to say that since I never liked her way of acting even before.

I loved more the advice I got from the movie (I never could have imagined I’d appreciate something like this). It’s the 5-way step to achieving what you want that Toni used in handling her obese clients.

Step 1. Set your goal
Step 2. Start today
Step 3. Don’t take shortcuts
Step 4. Be motivated. Be inspired
Step 5. Be happy

These things are practically can be thought by anybody else, but its that nobody takes these seriously, and perhaps could be the reason why they don’t get to step 5 – happiness. When you want something bad enough, you have to set your eyes, mind and heart on it, and set goals. Goals are the beam lights. It should also be something that you do today. Don’t wait for tomorrow. There could be just hundreds of them. Today is always yesterday’s tomorrow, and you can never tick back time to get to yesterday. So, if you want to be happy today, do it right now. You might just wont have the luxury of time for tomorrow. And never ever ever take shortcuts. There aint no easy road to success but patience and hard work. And when the times that you get low, always get motivated. Look for something or someone to inspire you and set you back on your feet. Always feel motivated. And lastly, feel happy, everything will just dovetail behind. The law of attraction abides to the person who does something first about it.

Being happy is free. So do it now, do it today. Feel good about yourself, feel good about life.

the cardava recipe of rirayee-sama and roiroi-san

Anyone wants some cardava dishes fresh from the oven?

I did just make a food offer ayt?

No and Yes

No. Im not really offering you food, but Yes, i am indeed offering one.

Now, don't get me wrong.

Technically, what i got is really not the warm food, but the procedures how to make a good one, of course out from our own banana native plantain, Musa sapientum, better known locally as cardaba or saba. And its not just one recipe, but lots of them. Just recently, my Cardava Recipe Book has passed its last editing stage and is in the printing process!

Oi, it might seem that I'm bragging about having one book done, but its definitely worth blogging. Whew! What Ive been through to accomplish that wasn't a good road, mind you.

During the early months of 2007, i pretty got excited when this minor project under our 3-year project with B-ACE was designated to me, and in particular, that is to urge cardava communities, students and professional cooks to develop, and/or create, invent, then consolidate into a book all of the possible recipes, may be existing, indigent or new, cardava recipes. All my life, Ive only known ginanggang, bananacue, pinaypay, nilaga and niluyang as the recipes that can be made out of cardava. And it was astonishing to know that we can even prepare a good drink from that fruit. And much amazing upon knowing that its an everyday drink in South American countries like Ecuador. Its pretty much like as bagoong in the Philippines in terms of popularity.

My boss has already prepared his own Ecuadorian plantain recipes. But of course, its much different from our local plantain, which made the team decide to create a more Pinoy version of the recipe book. There was no difficulty in collecting recipes, as dozens of them were presented and tasted during cardava festivals hosted by municipalities and provinces. All of the recipe entries made from cardava were photo-documented and the winners made it into the recipe book as it is right now.

The part where i almost lost all of my patience was during the editing stage. Good Lord! Its a recipe book, right? Full of graphics and designs, and each should be detailed with proper lighting, positioning and spacing. With just the thoughts of these things, Im having headaches already. Its pretty hard editing materials in corel. im not gifted in that section. i cant even understand what are the icons for, though i really tried practicing using one. Swear! Sadly, my attempt didnt actually went succesful. Guess, im not for graphic designing stuff.

So the next best thing to do was to let somebody do the job, someone who was born with eyes that first saw things in its pixelized form. But that was the worst idea. That decision even made me understand things more vividly: that not all born with talents are useful. Especially those lazy ones, they should be burned in hell, then earth should settle for those hardworking ones. Grrrr! Reminds me of that, though undeniably talented with graphics, is the laziest monkey on earth.

Uneven color tones, crashing font sizes and styles, messy layout; Gahd! the first draft of the recipe book was a trash!But of course, there were pages that were so, so, yet i spent almost half a day coaching the artist on what to do on that page, on this page, and so on and so forth. Di ba, artist should technically know all of these stuff? like with just one set of instructions or two, he should get a picture of how the customer wanted his product done? Grrr, that monkey better look for some other job. He's not the worker type. So apart from the wasted time, money and effort, i did get bonus comments from the bosses.

The good thing is I had this friend who is a superfriend of a close friend, who is superb in editing graphics. And, yes, she was heaven's sent. I didnt mind sending the copy in Cebu, for as long as Id get a good service. She worked on the draft so good that every little correction was meticulously followed. There were times that i really got mad and was annoyed with those I thought were not 'so cool' comments, yet, eventually, she was indeed heaven's sent. XD

And we got that what we have planned a year ago: the release of the the first issue of the Cardava Recipe Book.

The book contains 36 cardava recipes, which are really good and can be served in a wide range of market: from rolling stores in front of schools or public markets, to small karinderyas, to elegant restaurants and five class hotels. The recipes are a mixture of Pinoy and Latin America flavors, which can definitely satisfy every race' taste buds. XD

Whew!Thank you Reerayee-sama for the editing.

Cheers to me and to all the people who made that project concrete!

random thoughts on Sweeney Todd and JDepp

Last Wednesday, February 6, the long awaited Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber on Fleet Street, was finally shown in the local cinemas. I myself have waited long; in fact, my eyes have been affixed with the cinema advertisement section of the office newspaper everyday since October or was it September?, when I first bumped into its trailer while surfing. It’s a JDepp, so it should be a must see for me, or else, id yet to lose another 10% of me. And more, there’s Helen Bonham Carter. JDepp and HBonham, for another movie, and this time, portraying the roles in the flesh (the last was The Corpse Bride, which apparently was an animation), what could be more perfect?!

My, my, the losing myself part was an exaggeration alright or I’d end up a Mrs. Barker on Bonifacio St. XD. But the JDepp part, that’s more than a hundred percent true! When it’s a JDepp movie, you’ll never regret it for sure. Among the Hollywood stars I’ve seen in wide screens, I bet he’s the wisest, ending up in roles apparently not just for the dollars but for the fulfillment of his job as an actor, and not as an entertainer. He’s really quite one with a silver rust attitude, as I may say. That could be the reason why TBurton, and other renowned directors fell in love with his style: there’s always something to look for after a marvelous performance. And that’s why I fell in love with him, head over heels too!

Hopes rose higher by early November last year when I already saw posters of Sweeney Todd hanging in the walls of SM. This is it! This would be the perfect Christmas gift for myself – a date with my Sweeney Toddy. *I just now feel I’m in Cloud 9, just by the thought, amp XD*

But getting that date wasn’t that easy really. It required me the patience, and the determination, and the persistence. Came December, but to my despair, Sweeney Toddy didn’t show up. There was also the urgent need to promote local movies, so foreign ones must be displaced for quite a while and give way for the MMFF entries. It made me quite sad, but for the benefit of the country’s entertainment economy, I, too must participate. And yes, I and my friends watched one entry, Bahay Kubo, which starred a local award winning actress, Maricel Soriano. She, too amazes me, so it was worth 80 bucks. Apart from that, the movie was also nice. There’s Eugene Dominggo too with her good Pinoy comedy.

i almost did succumb to hopelessness when it was nearly the end of January and i never did feel the presence of Sweeney Todd in the cinema malls. But right at the moment when i was about to give up, my officemate relayed the first bestest news for 2008: loi, showing na ang Sweeney Todd sa NCCC (loi, Sweeney Todd is already open at NCCC Mall). and woot woot! my heart leaped 5 times higher. its gonna be this Friday or no STodd at all.

i watched the movie with a cousin, and not expecting that its gonna be that morbidly musical, we brought in our dinner of spaghetti and burger. waw. we never finished a half of that meal. nevertheless, the package of the movie was a super go go!

I never could have known that my JDepp can sing well this good. Oh for that singing, I knew he’s a rockstar, and was a part of the music scene, and was even a once a perfect sculpt of its dogma of drugs and rock and roll. But JDepp into a musical? Are you kidding? Guess not, because I’ve seen and heard it myself! And the songs, looks like it will take long to change the music in my player.

and HBonham was pretty good too in portraying Mrs Lovette. her character was the most, uhm, eeky, of all. gross! serving into meat pies the not so lucky customers of Sweeney. the little kid was cute too. i loved his voice. though i didnt like that much the character of Johannah. i think she wasnt able to portray the character well, except that she's really an admirable singer. and it seems that she's had a bird stuck in her throat. XD . and BORAT! gaahd! that obnoxious guy! he also can sing? waw.

seems my loyalty to JDepp paid off. its a record breaking movie and even won JD a Grammy Best Actor. super!its a record breaking for me too. i finally finished a suspense morbid movie at last. and its because of JDepp. anything for him! anything. XD

id be stacking again one cd to my collection. XD but i wont see it again. il just have to listen.

dry beddings

now, lets see.

what do you normally do when insomnia bugs you again, and cant sleep no matter how many thousands of sheeps youve counted?

the frequent answer to this one would be, 'find something to busy yourself with, then eventually, you'd get tired and fall asleep'

as for me, i read, or drown myself with music. but since i got no new books to accompany me to bed, and i cant find the mp4 charger, id now resort to blogging. id blog and id blog till my fingers wont move anymore and eyelids swell red. then id sleep.

nah. trying to pull a not so good play of words there. and i get it. its a bad, a bad bad one.

*woot woot* i miss this one. i miss all of these writings and putting into concrete words what occasionally runs through my head. just like now. type what i want to say without thinking, without any hesitations at all. write to my mind's *or heart's* satisfaction. spill those that linger. and let them dry in virtual sun.

though, more often, it can really get detrimental to my mental health due to unwelcomed depression modes, writing, or should i say, ranting, is still the best escape from boredom.

uh-oh.

bad sign.bad sign

MIGRATION

im now permanently moving my thoughts on this new page. now, that statement gave me the picture of another dumpsite in the making. XD