Before I make any lists (the best of ‘09, things learned, favorite moments, wishlists/resolutions for 2010, etc.), or let’s just say before I plan to make any kind of list that I most probably won’t be able to finish and post here on time, anyway, I’m leaving you with this song from Rent.
“I can’t control my destiny. I trust my soul. My only hope is just to be.”
Here’s one to a great start of new decade for all of us. Good life, good health (with or without affordable health insurance), good a-lot-of-things. Have fun on Friday. Keep safe.
Every year, we notice a significant difference in the amount of Christmas lights and lanterns we see on the streets and in people’s homes. I know, because I’ve always taken a particular liking to bright lights every holiday season. There’s no question that the economic downturn of the past few years is taking a toll on how people celebrate their most favorite holiday (well, I guess this is true for most people). Why, we used to have grand parties and awesome yearly give-aways and raffle prices at our company. This year, they’ve scrapped them all; we don’t even get promotional pens. It’s partly understandable, and it shouldn’t make for a gloomy end-of-year atmosphere. I’m sure we can still be happy with what we have. Filipinos are resilient like that. And we’re easy to please, too. Sometimes, that’s not a bad thing. Enjoy your holidays, everyone! Cheers to 2010!
A couple of weeks ago, I willled myself to go to the Mall of Asia to check for a replacement phone for my defective P990i. I have been stalling in this regard, first becase I hate the heavy traffic during the holiday season and second because I haven’t decided yet what kind of phone - brand, model, features - I want. Of course, I want an iPhone, but its price kept it out of the running.
Truth is, I was only intending to get whichever is the best free phone for my Smart retention plan. I didn’t want to shell out any more dinero because I have long decided that the next time I replace my phone, I wouldn’t look for “awesome”, but free and functional instead. Never mind that I saw some really cool Palm Pixie Accessories on the display windows at the mall. Besides, from experience, I don’t really make use of the PDA function or the internet capabilities of my previous phones. I have a home computer for those.
Anyway, despite my fascination with the Palm Pixi Silicone Cases and all the other Palm Pixi Cases I saw, I decided on the phone which was free for my P1200 plan and one that I can readily bring home the very same day - SE W595.
So far, I’m loving the phone. The decision to get this one solved my earlier dilemma on choosing a phone with a Qwerty keypad or one with touchscreen (because these are the newest tech these days). Granted, they look wicked cool and high-tech-y. But let’s face it, I’d be more comfortable texting with the old trusty keypad. [But the Palm pixie and the new LG chocolate really look great! Well, maybe next time.]
I’m finding myself making use of my phone as mp3 player again in possibly unhealthy ways (long duration, loud volume). At least now I’m not doing it as a means of blocking off unwanted noises around me, but just because I’m actually missing my music. Watching Lea Salonga’s concert last Saturday, and it being so awesome, just made me all the more eager to check out the iTunes Store!
With Glee, which incidentally is also Ms. Salonga’s current favorite show, being so popular, you can hear the songs featured on the show everywhere. Of course, I’m trying to download all of them. Just today on Facebook, I saw an iTunes Fan Page. These pages are more than just that - they actually offer the ability to purchase and send online gifts to friends via Facebook!
Especially this Christmas season, you may want to consider giving out iTunes Online Gifts to your music-loving friends. And it’s not only music but also movies, TV shows and even audiobooks. Your friends will receive your gifts through their Facebook page. This service is available in the U.S.
Looks like I’m in for a TV-less December, at least in terms of what I call TV watching (that is, downloading episodes online and watching through my DVD player). With Glee wrapping up its fall season finale, all the shows I’ve been following are all on hiatus this Christmas season. Smallville and The Vampire Diaries will return on January; hopefully, the same is true for House, The Good Wife, Grey’s Anatomy, and Fringe. The two promising but troubled new shows FlashForward and V will be back on March 2010, while Glee returns on April.
Well, I guess this means I get the chance to put on my old DVDs of The X-Files and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, barring holiday work load. Otherwise, I think I’ll just turn on the TV and look for cable shows; just today, The Biggest Loser took my fancy, if only for a few minutes. I feel for those guys, but it’s easy to want to cheer for them. I wonder if going to a weight loss austin clinic will produce the same results.
There’s a new movie musical that is a sure must-see if only for the line-up of stars that it boasts as principal cast. It’s called Nine and was directed by Rob Marshall (of Chicago fame).
The movie centers on an Italian director who, at 50, is having a midlife crisis (played by Daniel Day-Lewis). His personal problems are causing troubles in finishing his latest film and the many women in his life - his wife (Marion Cotillard), his mistress (Penélope Cruz), his film star muse (Nicole Kidman), his confidant and costume designer (Judi Dench), an American fashion journalist (Kate Hudson), a prostitute from his youth (Fergie), and his mother (Sophia Loren) - are making things a lot more complicated.
Well, this had me at musical! I just recently rewatched Moulin Rouge and it made me wonder when the freakishly tall (obviously not needing hgh) Nicole Kidman will do another musical. Here’s my answer.
Whenever my sister rewatches episodes of F.R.I.E.N.D.S., I couldn’t look away. It doesn’t matter that she does it so randomly my head hurts trying to think from which season she got the DVD of the day from. We always laugh our hearts out to those old jokes and familiar lines. What’s more fun about randomly choosing episodes is that you get to see those six beautiful people age and mature before your eyes, what with the ten years the show was on. I actually don’t have a favorite “Friend.” I don’t think I’ll pick any of them as a real-life buddy. But they’re a whole lotta fun together.
Photo from apartmenttherapy.com
I’ve been wanting to buy a nice sofa since my sister and I moved apartments. I’m using this one as a reminder of why there is such a thing as furniture shipping. Some things, you can’t do on your own. Even if you have friends to bully ask help from.
Random flashback: When I was in college, I shared a house with a couple of veterinary medicine students who both, you can imagine, love to keep pets. They constantly talk about starting something one day or finding a business opportunity for pet lovers that they can manage while studying, like buying and selling pet food. Breeding dogs was also mentioned.
I didn’t want pets inside the house, but I was outnumbered. To my horror, one of them brought home a huge dog one day. I’ve been scared of dogs my whole life and had been disdainful of cats for a number of reasons; imagine my predicament when I saw the Rottweiler that my housemate decided to “station” by our front door. In time, he also brought an almost similarly sized Labrador Retriever that had been traumatized by its previous owner so it was very moody, not to mention constantly barking. My roommate, on the other hand, brought home two laboratory cats. Looking back now, I was either too embarrassed to be someone who is neither a cat person nor a dog person or I was too much of a doormat to allow them to do as they please regardless of how I felt about my share of space. For the latter reason alone, I sometimes want to go back to college and rewrite my history there. So now you see there is no way I can be an owner of a pet shop or a zoo worker, if and when I decide to change careers. I sometimes wonder about being some kind of wildlife tour guide, though.
