Friday, March 29, 2013

What dogs can teach us

Sometimes i wanna blog things as they are and as they happen in my life. Spontaneous as it can be but i'd want to be cautious since I don't lead a glamorous life but instead I have a intense filled family that I don't wanna expose to the world. So i'd like to be objective as possible.

Since the holy week is upon us, I'd like to have version 2.0 of myself wherein I'd improve in everything that I do and a huge task is to make people look at me in a different light. You see i grew up in a VERY VERY CONSERVATIVE FAMILY especially for me who's an only child of a single parent. Sometimes I wanna feel how it's like to have a loving family. A family that you can trust, open your problems and share your happiness. I'd like to be goofy and carefree under the sun coz my family will always be there for me. I wanna feel how it's like to be protected from harm and to be served my best interests. To be acknowledged of my achievements and downplay failures. To be given a chance to speak up rather than shut up. To look forward tomorrow and not digress & live in the past. To use someone's experience as a motivational tool for success. I've read before that people who discourage you to follow your dreams are those who abandoned theirs but I say people who push you into another direction want you to fulfill their dreams that they never tried to accomplish. People have the fight or flight syndrome well in my case i've been doing both. Fight in the sense make people believe in me and what I can do. To put their faith in me that I will be successful in everything that I do and I hope one day the family accepts and embraces my job as a DJ. Too much drama, stress, tension and negativity pulls me down and I would like to have a family that picks you up and not kick you when you're down. And for the past 4 years, I've been flight-ing. I would like to have a fun filled lunch everyday and a family day sunday. Yet i end up on a flight every sunday I'd be out on a dogwalk instead of spending it with family. Truth hurts but that's the tragedy reality. I want my happiness to be also their happiness and not be shared of miseries. I would like positivity that in every problem there's a solution. Whatever happens tomorrow is what we do today and if keep hurting each other in the past, nothing is accomplished. Everybody gets hurt, nobody wins. There is still hope for humans and they need not to look far for answers. All they have to do is look at my dog.


  1. Dogs live in the now. So live life today and forget the past. Always look forward to a beautiful future. Stop judging people just because they didn't follow your footsteps or made his own path.
  2. A dog is the only thing in this world that loves you more than they love themselves. Give unconditional love to your family. No but's and if's. Take the first step towards change and see how immediate the results are. Words if not used properly can cause pain and confrontations. Remember that it takes only one hurtful word for a person to have one year of misery. 
  3. Love, love and love. Sure it's an everyday chore to clean up poop, walk and feeding but I never complained of it. If you love a person, take him/her for who he is. Stop complaining on what he has done throughout the years. It's not healthy for both of you and chances are you'd end up having a strained relationship. 
  4. There is no evil dog, only a bad owner. Same goes to humans, there is no evil child only a bad parent. Discipline is only good when it's done the right way. A person pursuing a career other than socially acceptable professions such as being a doctor, lawyer or businessman can automatically be labeled as rebel. Remember that your children have minds of their own. Stop feeding your ego by thinking what others might think of your kids. Be proud of your kids no matter what. They might do things differently than you but that does not mean they're foregoing the road that leads to greatness. 
  5. A dog is always happy to see you when you get home. Learn from that mantra. Stop asking where they've been or what've done. It only shows you don't trust them and their judgment from what's right and wrong at all. Even as parents, you still need to befriend your child.
  6. A dog doesn't care of you're rich or poor. Money is all about status. Sure it's nice to save up for the rainy days or buy the finer things in life but we often work so hard that we lose time for family. One of the reasons I love my job is the free time that I have with my kid. I don't care how much I earn, yes we have bills to pay and it's forever there but if we lose track of our child as they grow up, you can never go back to the time when he had his first teeth or had his graduation and even have his own family.  
  7. Positivity is the key. You can teach your dogs lotsa tricks but it's how your reinforce their behavior that counts most. After a trick you can give them treats of punish them when they don't follow. We all experience that in life especially when getting a job and following what the family wants. Such that when we don't follow them, you'd be automatically labeled as a rebel. I really hate the emotionally blackmail aspect of it all. To make things worst, it's their so-called friends that they are always eager to please ends you suffering more. When the kapitbahay asks my family where i work or what i do for living, almost instantly expect a fight mode session in the household simply because they couldn't answer their pseudo friend's inquiry. 
  8. Dogs only bite when provoked or threatened. Human too, we bite by fighting back especially when something hurtful and untrue is said against us. More often than not, people talk first and put up assumptions to their heads. When they get mad of course I'd reach. Bad move. coz that will infuriate them further. But just think instead of getting mad on why people react that way they do, why don't you ask yourself if you threw the first jab. 

A person doesn't need to think or act like a dog coz that would be stupid and crazy at the same time. Just think on the good lessons that everyday life offers us. Just like what I've read before, Worrying is a waste of time as it keeps you busy by accomplishing nothing.



Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Why do Pinoys always Instagram their food?

You'd definitely know it's lunch or dinner time the moment your wall fills up with people posting their food. Instagram and food is love and hate relationship. While Americans have steak & fries as breakfast, we have our counterpart with good ole' tapsilog. Yet rarely we see them posting their food on an everyday basis as opposed to some of us. I must admit that at time I'd like to post my food for various reasons such as me having it for the first time, it's one of my favorite food or places to go to, massive and it's helluva expensive. But then again i'd stop myself coz' I don't wanna be "nang-iinggit". People are people and they may be posting their food for other reasons but still it's better to share it with a friend than online.  And yes don't eat that banana with mad stares at another person. So what does qualify to be food porn worthy? Here is my list:

1. SIZE. The average height of a Filipino is 5'6" and the average Filipina is 5'3 and a half with that in mind our staple food is rice. So if you can gobble down any food a la Epic Meal time without rice then be my guest post all that you can. While you're at it, beat the challenges of Zark's jawbreaker and Ristra's Jumbo Burrito.

2. COST. If you're having a fillet minion for breakfast, truffle mushrooms for lunch and foie gras for dinner then by all means yes. But if you're posting that Magnum altogether with that wrapper and stick then shut up eat your ice cream before it melts. There's a thin line between ballin' and being a social climber. And yes posting your Starbucks frappe with your name on it with the so-called stolen shot is one big epic fail.

3. BALIKBAYAN. If you're missing that home cooked meal that your mom used to make or simply craving for a Jollibee chickenjoy then it's pretty understandable why you have the urge to post a photo. Most pinoy tourists post their food and it's justifiable why.

4. PROMOTIONS. The best thing about social media is that folks like me working for a food biz such as restaurants, bars and superclubs gets to advertise for free. The best thing is your facebook friends is your target market. One of the best bar chows I tried is Excess Superclub's panga ng tuna and Izumi Sake Bar's Soy Chicken burger on rice with mushrooms in japanese curry.

5. FIRST TIME COOK. The most exciting part of cooking is when you go to the palengke or supermarket to buy all the ingredients. Next is prepping a complicated dish like kare-kare or kambing papaitan. So please spare us the chicken adobo and worst yet that tuyo or lucky me pancit canton.

6. MAD KITCHEN SCIENTIST. If you're like me and Iks who loves to experiment with food then by all means post galore! It can be that leftover that you repaired or a food combination like my kaldereta spaghetti or Iks' bacon log madness.

7. EXPERIENCE. Nothing beats eating out with family or friends especially when it's your first time to be there. Yes you may post those Al Capone doughnuts. Once is ok, twice is fine but thrice is exxageration. It's only here in the P.I. that J. Co is overhyped with super long lines and most recently that In N Out Burger.

8. YOU GOT SERVED. Aside from size, what makes a food pic worthy is the quantity that you consume. Viking's and Buffet 101 is buffet heaven. Better yet head out to Dampa sa Cubao as they have paluto after you scout the market's fresh seafoods. Buttered Garlic Shrimp is a best seller,

9. GOOD BANG FOR THE BUCK. Not all tapsilog are made the same. Paying a higher priced food doesn't make it better tasting. Who the hell would say no to a girl when she asks you to have SEx? Sinangag Express!!! Need i explain more?

10. 7,107 ISLANDS. Hide tide or low tide it doesn't matter. Every region has a version of a certain dish. Bacolod's chicken inasal, Batangas Bulalo and Vigan longganisa are just to name a few. But if you're like me who's stuck in the metro then you need not to go further as you can go to R & J's Bulalohan and JT's Manukan owned by Joel Torre himself has the best tasting chicken inasal compared to the commercial ones.

11. HOLE IN THE WALL. Food spots near your house or a spot the you would go out of your way just to eat there. Places where not everybody knows yet you have to be in the loop to know. Kanto Breakfast and Chekwa are the hole in the wall spots with their specialty of bacon and sizzling steak respectively.

The truth is every food we've tasted, cooked or bought makes us wanna post it immediately. Even checking in to the places that we go. I'm not saying that it's  bad or wrong to post pics of your food but moderation and interest is the key. After all, nobody wants their feed to be flooded with someone's chilidog from 711 as lunch. Don't get me wrong, i love everyday confort food but posting something that is affordable and accessible to buy is overkill. Think of GMs or group messages, a message that doesn't concern you and certainly don't give a damn about who sent that text on how many school projects she has, how many rides she had just to go to Trinoma and finally how tired she is coming home. Food instagram truly has evolved from this. Abundance of repetitive food photos are downright annoying and irritating. They say think before you click but I say Think before you pic. Just like what people say "39ers na nga kinain mo ininstagram mo pa!". 

checkin' in your residence and posting your ulam

Seafood Island's boodle feast

some girl's Jabi breakfast

Dampa sa cubao's 1 kilo buttered garlic shrimp, half kilo baked tahong, 1 kilo panga ng tuna, 1 kilo steamed oysters and yang chow fried rice for only 1300 ++ pesos. inclusive of actual market price and paluto 

some girl's breakfast tuyo and hotdog

Yuki's instaho

Iks' bacon log madness

Kung Fu Kitchen's dimsum all you can. 250 per head with bottomless drink

Kanto Breakfast's eat all you can. Bacon!!!

Pat-pat's Kansi 1 foot long bulalo

Izumi Sake Bar's Soy Chicken Burger in Japanese curry

*The author is not affiliated with the products and establishments mentioned except for Izumi Sake Bar in Burgos Circle, The Fort.