I wannabee a...

There's cool and fun website that has real rock stars teaching you how to play guitar and other musical instruments!
Now Play It has got KT Tunstall teaching you her guitar style!

Valer Kuberch

Bahay Kubo in gayspeak

Valer kuberch, kahit jutay
Ang julamantrax donchi ay anek-anek.
Nyongkamas at nutring, nyogarilyas at kipay
Nyitaw, nyotaw, jutani.
Kundol, jutola, jupot jolabastrax
At mega join-join pa, jobanox nyustasa.
Nyubuyax, nyomatis, nyowang at luyax
And around the keme ay fulnes ng linga.

(galing sa blog ni Jessica Zafra, at nakita ko kay Leaflens)

welcome back! grab a paddle, and start rowing!

Time files like the shinkansen.　I just realized that a week has passed since I, my partner and our good friend had a celebration last Saturday. Our friend is a breast cancer survivor. She's back into the daily grind and sporting a new look as well!

We had this photo taken from behind so she can show off her pixie cut hair next to mine! She's the one on the right.



I haven't had a buzz cut yet at that time so I was the butt of jokes, which I am used to already whenever my hair grows more than a centimeter. "Punch-pama" is the hairdo preferred by old yakuza - that's the tight, kinky perm molded into a small 70's-era afro. There's also "tawashi" - a multi-purpose scrubbing brush. hehehe... di lang nila alam sa Pinas, ang tawag sa buhok ko, "steelwool", hoistttt...wag kayong maingay ha!

シークワーサー "shikuwasa" - gintong kalamansi jus

Ang summer sa Tokyo parang nasa Maynila ka o sa Bangkok, mainit, malagkit at maraming kili-kiling nag-puputukan sa paligid ko kasama na rin ako dun pag nakalimutan kong mag deodorant... happy new yir, nyehehehehe!

Napabili si partner ng isang bote ng shikuwasa concentrate... titigang mabuti bago inumin... oo walang biro dahil sa presyo nito. Isang bote ng isang libong kalamansing piniga ay nagkakahalaga naaaang... tsarannn... ￥１２００！　Sa palitan ngayon, mga 450 pesoses po ito, mura na nga ito dahil may mga 500ml na bote x2 ang presyo.

Sa ganitong halaga ng kalamansi juice, eh siguradong biglang-yaman ang magiging exporter na Pinoy! Yun nga lang, kung papayagan kang mag export ng kalamansi juice sa Japan. At, kung pwede mo rin itong ibenta sa presyong local. Dito kasi pag local, mas mahal lagi sa imported. Katulad ng UNAGI, a summer delicacy, pag galing China, mura. Yung unagi-don, mga 750Y (290P) yan pag Chinese unagi ang toppping. Pero doble kapag local. Considering the food scandals sa China, magwawagi ang local na unagi ngayong summer.

水出し "mizudashi"

I have been cold brewing our teas here lately since the weather has been quite hot. Ubos ko na yung jasmine namin, and I just prepared banaba tea (I got as a present), masarap kaya ito?

Cold brewing tea is something I have just learned recently, "mizudashi" in Nihongo. There's even a special glass container for this, where you put loose tea leaves in and tap water then give it a shake and let it sit for 12 hours in your fridge.

Voila! Sa umaga malamig na tsaa! I found out that I could easily kick any habit I have, like my chimney-smoking 12 years ago! I still love coffee but not in this weather. Honestly I have been coffee-free for 3 days now. Anyways, the caffeine level in tea is quite strong so I am still blogging away at this time. Langya, gusto ko nang matulog!

I'll be stocking on my all-time fave Mugi-cha (barley tea) and this will be my pampalamig once the temp really gets high. So far, bearable pa naman, 32ºC lang... sows konting inom ng cha-a lang yan!

the city that never sleeps but takes naps

The fun in Shibuya (and anywhere else, for that matter) starts after the last train.

just roll with it

My morning started with a quite familiar rocking which I thought was one of those usually weak quakes we experience from time to time here in Tokyo. Still in the futon, and expecting for the swaying to end soon, I just waited.

The swaying (we are on the 6th floor) got stronger and I could hear things that are not supposed to make a noise and that totally woke me up but I was still in the futon. It felt like a biggie this time. My partner was awake all the time but did not bother to even budge --- she said... where will we go then? hehehe, true.

Our building was still swaying and our kitchen wares making like wind chimes, I got up to turn on the TV and check the situation since one can get earthquake data on TV a couple of minutes after a quake happens. Sadly, the epicenter was somewhere in Niigata - again. A whopping magnitude 6.6. Here in Tokyo, we woke up to an M3. I feel queasy from motion sickness.

It's a national holiday today. On a regular working day, I could have been in our office at 10am, enjoying a cup of coffee for a start.