Liv in a Life Well-Lived

I was pissed and I was hungry. I needed good food fast. After a particularly boring seminar in Makati, I decided to pick up my sister in her office along Jupiter Street with full intention of drowning my malcontent in grub and fodder. At around 8 p.m. we walked along Jupiter towards the direction of the MRT and decided to choose a restaurant we haven’t tried before – Discovery Day for Sisters. All my sister knew was that there was interesting Portuguese place that starts with an O. It wasn’t hard to find. After passing Gerry’s Grill, we found O’Sonho. O’Sonho turned out to be Portuguese for the Dream. In fact, that’s how they advertise their food : Dreamy. I am inclined to agree. I admit I have difficulty distinguishing Portuguese cooking from the more common Spanish fare. But having eaten at O’sonho taught me that Portuguese love their spices, and they aren’t as tomato-based as most of Spanish dishes are. The menu offers fish, meat, salad and desserts. Price was not unreasonable. The ...

Dates could get a tad bit routinary, I realized. But then again, nothing's wrong with routine as long as you know how to color it up a bit. So I have a plan that every month, my friend and I would hold a Discovery Day and visit restaurants I researched on the net. The first on the list is Cafe Juanita. The original restaurant is in Kapitolyo and I was told it was homey as it was Oriental-esque. The Cafe Juanita we went to is the one in Burgos Circle, The Fort. My companion and I never even knew there were hidden gems in Burgos Circle. The restos up in Bonifacio High Street have been hogging all the fame. Parking was convenient (underground) and since we were early for the lunch crowd, we immediately found space to park. One short flight up (this was important to me and my friend), and we were on the right side of the circle and gustatory delights were at hand. Upon entering the restaurant, one would be accosted by color -- LOTS of THEM. There are chandeliers with fabric hanging art...

Book in Hand: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Burbery Song in Mind: Today Was a Fairytale by Taylor Swift The other day, Sex Education for Children was mentioned in one of our office lunch conversations. It seems there's a disparity in opinions about what age should sex education be taught to children. Some say be as honest about it as early as the first time they ask about it (that could be as early as 4 years old when they ask how are babies made) or as late as 12 years old at the onset of puberty. Funny enough, the topic came up again during a ride home with a friend. The discussions reminded me of my own childhood where sex and anything pertaining to carnal activity was screened by my parents with utmost vigilance. Yes, they were the type to cover my eyes when actors kiss on TV. They only bring me to movies advertised in posters with a minimum of 54 bright colours and always has some sort of fluffy animal or an adorable kid with freckles featured in it. I was always sent...

Book in Hand: Whodunit? edited by Philip Pullman Song in Mind: Love the Way You Lie - Rihanna My name is Olivia and I am a Facebook Status Update addict. They say that acceptance is the first step to overcoming any addiction; so here I am. How I came this far, I have no idea. It was only 3 years ago when I thought Facebook was for the social degenerates of society – attention whores and oversharers of information. Maybe my fall from grace was meant to happen --- I admit my point of view was a bit harsh and needed a bit of revision. Well, a lot of revision. But I never meant to fall so hard. Not to the point of compulsively checking new status messages from people I’m connected to every ten minutes. Not to get to the point of no return where I start thinking in 420-character mode. Not when I annotate my life in 5 lines or less. Not the fact that those little red flags on top of the page excites me more than a smokin' hot photo of Paul Bettany. Sure, brevity is a skill for writers, ...

The new people at work are starting to realize it. I'm actually a loner wearing the shell of an extrovert. I made no move to hide. I never misled anyone. I don't pretend to be hyper. I just have, within myself, the capacity to function as an extrovert. But at the end of the day, I always return to my loner self. There are days I just need to be alone or to be with the people I can be quiet with. My family understands me. I hope some day, you will too. It is my fervent wish you will not tire or get bored while I get used to another life being led other than the way I live it. You said you're mostly quiet too... just be patient with me while I get used to our being silent together. I'm really looking forward to that. The kind of silence where words are not really necessary, accepting of the fact that we are different from each other but knowing of the fact that we have found something stronger than words to connect us. I hope we find it, that binding thing. I hope someday...

Continuation of yesterday's post.... 4. A Yes-Friend / The Faithful Sidekick Who doesn’t want to have a superbly faithful friend? That one person who you could run to and tell all your morbid secrets to and all she/he would say is, “it doesn’t matter, I love you anyway!” It can happen right? But I kind of overdid it, inside my head. Aside from faithful, I also wanted him / her to be blind to my mistakes, supportive to the point of suicide, domesticated more than docile. In short, I wanted a talking, walking shadow --- seen but ephemeral. But instead of lap dogs, God gave me friends. My friends are the most sober, intelligent people you will ever meet. (Well, let’s re-think sober). They are GOOD. Not to mention practical. And sometimes, the imaginings of wild nights out and professions of undying friendship are nice. But again, not necessary. It’s enough that they’re still here. It’s enough that they love chatty nights in coffee shops, and dinner in decent a...

Happiness… it’s been weighing on my thoughts recently. After 28 years, I believe it’s time to understand that defining what makes you happy is, in one way or another, defining who you are. I’m not getting any younger, and I am tired, no, exhausted, of being at the mercy of trends or clichés or tiny boxes inside people’s head. I have watched enough Hollywood movies and God knows how many thousand books to infiltrate my subconscious; perhaps most of them radically revising what is true to me and changed it to what is true to conformity instead. Until now, I have so many frustrations in life --- the downside to a relentlessly overactive imagination. In some ways, what I have always considered as my greatest gift, has also been the biggest leech sucking life from, well… my Life. And I’ve had enough. Watching Christopher Nolan’s Inception last night sealed the deal. I will not live my life in a dream within a dream within a dream. I will know what makes me Happy in this Life. And yet, I wan...

For the past 2 weeks, I have watched surprisingly entertaining movies (A-Team), to expectedly great films (Toy Story 3) and unfortunately, lackluster ones (Karate Kid). Yesterday, chalk one up for surprisingly disappointing. Gosh, I feel like a traitor to Tom Cruise. He who I deem as one of Hollywood’s best actors, Scientologist and couch-jumping included. And Cameron, awww shucks, right? Adorable, slightly ditzy but incredibly hot and surprisingly smart Diaz who is just exactly the kind of girl I want to be. God, what happened? First of all, I’d like to know why they bothered with the script at all. It was, by far, the most disjointed movie script Tom has ever done, and that’s including Vanilla Skies and Eyes Wide Shut. So it’s saying something. It must be written by somebody who has influence over the both of them, someone with chops in the maneuvering department. It’s like watching Sarah Geronimo perform for Loren Legarda. You just got to say – WTF? Why did she sell herself so short...