barangay cats megapost

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there are so many street cats in my neighborhood. These are just a few of the feline fun friends that i have met.

Groceries?

On a recent trip to the grocery store, I came home with this:

what have i become.

 yes, that is toilet paper, a jar of pickles, cheezee whiz, and doritos. I am officially a 16 year old boy, like the kind of 16 yr old boy that is living in the dorms and needs laundry detergent and milk and comes home with cheezee whiz and doritos. ughh i’m gross.

tea and flowers

Its a picture post! WOOOO!

the zombie lounge staff gave me a v-day flower, which I put in my cat vase.

my high-tech smog blockers!! aka tea set themed handkerchiefs

cucumber sandwiches, hooray!

Penninsula Hotel dried flowers heart display

Hong Kong II – I don’t like this

so yeah, I love your fancy octopus pass, your train system, your star ferry, your skyline, your ocean/mountain maginhawa feeling, but there was something that I really, truly did not like.

In Sha Tin, there is a Buddhist shrine on a hill which has come to be known as the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple. I think there are actually more than 10,000 Buddhas there, some big, some small,  and there are also some really great views of the surrounding area. As we climbed the 400+ stairs to reach the temple, however, we noticed something peculiar.

take me down!

you can see my 2 red candles really burning in the center

The warning sign is in tagalog. peculiar. It says (roughly):

  “to all those that would like to visit the temple, ESPECIALLY FILIPINA’S (emphasis my own). please do not make the temple into a park, as it is a place for prayer. Do not bring food or eat here, it is prohibited. please respect this warning, etc etc.”

The sign was also in english, but the english sign didn’t say the “especially Filipina’s” part. No Mandarin or Cantonese signage in sight. Seriously, why you gotta call out an entire ethnicity like that? I am sure that things like picnics/bringing outside food or meeting socially have indeed occurred here at the temple, but I am also pretty sure that Filipina’s are not the only transgressors. I don’t know what it is like to be an overseas worker like so many of the Filipina’s in Hong Kong are, but I imagine that it must suck to be away from your family, friends, spouses, kids, etc. for months or years at a time. Having targeted micro-aggressions like this doesn’t help.

with my offering of two red candles, I prayed that these signs would be fixed.

Hong Kong Nails

Before going to Hong Kong, I wanted to make sure that I at least had a nice manicure, so this is what I decided upon. The color is Orly Goth, which is black with silver glitter. To lighten up the look and make it more playful, I added these sweet little pink bow decals to just my thumbs.  I was satisfied with the overall look, especially when I overheard 2 Filipina ladies on the bus in HK say that my nails were cute in tagalog. VALIDATED!!

Also, imagine my delight when I found these babies in the local beauty supply/drug store in HK.

heart shaped mini nail polish

So cute i’m gonna die! Plus, they came in pretty much any color you could want. I just wanted to buy them all. I shoulda bought them all. Doh.

Hong Kong I

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ZOMG. Hong Kong. I have been wanting to come here forever! This place has consistently been in my top 2 places to go, right under the Philippines. Well lucky me that my relatives invited me to tag along with them … Continue reading →

Link

It started on january 1st. Thats when i started feeling under the weather again, probably from the previous nights  combination of lack of sleep and crazy particle inhalation from fireworks being set off from EVERY SINGLE HOUSE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD. I kid you not, the fireworks smog was so thick and obtrusive that it came inside the house, and caused flight delays at NAIA because of zero visiblity. Check out this Manila bloggers photo of the fireworks from her hotel window, you can see that they are literally being set off everywhere. In addition to crazy smoke and zero visibility,  firework realated injuries admitted to manila hospitals was over 400 people!! seriously, I don’t think I like this tradition, sorry Manila!

Anyways, I obviously got sick the next day with the sneezing and the runny nose, this lasted till about january 13 or 14th. On january 18th, I started having flu like symptoms – fever, sore throat, body aches. So instead of going to the library where the staff had pulled some materials that they thought I might be interested to look at, I was at home on my bed sleeping for most of the day. When I wasn’t sleeping, i was drinking gatorade and watching the real housewives of beverly hills.

Come on manila, help me out here. I know your vehicle emissions regulations are not regularly enforced, and i know this is probably helping to make/keep me sick, but for goodness sakes, I have work to do.

checkerboard nail tips

this is my second successful attempt with the nail stamp. although the pattern didn’t turn out quite as checkerboard as it should have been, i think it still looks pretty good! once again, sorry about the hangnails!!

checkerboard french tip (or basically half nail, haha)

fruit superlatives

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I was first introduced to lanzones last summer when I was staying with my relatives in Manila.  Not to be confused with Longan, Lanzones are currently at the top of my tropical fruit favorites list, bested only by my beloved … Continue reading →

sinigang

after picking up my magic jack in a totally legit transaction in the mega mall food court, I was able to have one of my favorite meals.

Sinigang, Fish, Rice

Sinigang has always been one of my favorites, even though when i make it myself its not quite the same as when i am lucky enough to get it at home. adding fried spicy bangus to the equation – or any fish for that matter – just adds to the perfection.