WHATEVEREST

SEE YOU THERE

2007-08-27T05:13:40Z

http://ninomarksablan.livejournal.com/

LOVE LOVE LETTERS

2007-08-23T17:55:07Z

My cousing Trina caught me and Honeybun hugging last week and she gave us this weird grunt that confused us. We didn't know if she was jealous or mad or weirded out or confused. After the grunt, she walked out.

And then returned after a couple of minutes with a piece of paper. (Or you shur your in love with ate banie _____)

And another. (Or you in 1... 2... 3... love with ate banie)

And another. (Dear kuya Macie, kuya Macie and ate Banie siting in a tree k.i.s.s.i.n.g. and then you got marryed. Oy.)

How cute is that?

THAI FOR THE NTH TIME

2007-08-23T17:35:31Z

I was all alone at the mall yesterday and I decided to spend quality time with myself by having a super great lunch, which means Thai food.

Ended up at Dusit Thani. I ordered pad thai and Thai iced tea - both were expectedly yummers although the noodles were too much for me. Amazing how my appetite has gotten smaller and smaller.

I can't wait to go back to Krua Thai and Benjarong - with others. Food is so much yummers when you're with other oinkers.

IF ONLY..

2007-08-23T06:52:35Z

...I didn't watch "If Only," I could have had a more productive night yesternight.

I had a bunch of discs waiting to be watched: "Heroes" (yeah, I'm a loser for still not having seen a single episode), a new reality show called "Age Of Love," "Tudor" and "The Pursuit of Happiness." And I chose "If Only" just because 3 semi-credible people told me it's a real tearjerker. I'm a sucker for tearjerking flicks.

And so Honeybun and I popped it in.

"If Only" is the story of Samantha (the lollipop/spoon-looking Jennifer Love Hewitt), a violinist who feels taken for granted by her businessman boyfriend Ian (the Jude Law-looking Paul Nicholls). They have a fight one day which eventually leads to the death of Samantha. Ian wakes up one morning and realizes that he has the chance to relive the whole day and actually, possibly stop his girlfriend's death.

After forgiving the very dragging exposition (nothing seemed to be happening and the movie looked as if it was a TV series that had all the episodes in the world), Honeybun and I gave up and just wanted to finally see that bawl-inducing scene. We waited and waited and waited.

There's this scene where Ian makes it possible for Samantha to perform a composition in front of a huge audience, backed by an orchestra - and everyone loves her. I super love love performance scenes so I was near tears (shallow, I know) during this particular scene. But I knew this wasn't the scene my friends were talking about.

And so we did some more waiting.

Until we saw the end credits.

I hated the predictable ending. Not that I'm brilliant or wiser than anyone, but anybody can predict the ending: the accident still happens, but this time, Ian dies instead of Samantha.

You know what could have made it a little more interesting? The brokenhearted Samantha crying herself to sleep, only to wake up and realize that she can relive the whole day and possibly change the future.

Oh well, the credits have been rolled.

Can't wait to watch another disc tonight.

Photo credit: www.allmoviephoto.com

WHAT THE F

2007-08-23T05:16:45Z

Yesterday afternoon at Wendy's, while enjoying a cup of their yummy Frosty Jelly with the best boss in the wolrd, our eardrums were suddenly assualted by a very loud version of "Fuck It" by Eamon - the very dirty version, meaning come chorus, the f word was mentioned every 5 seconds.

There were kids littered in Wendy's and they - or even their parents - didn't seem bothered. I wasn't bothered because they weren't my kids.

After that song, they played "I Wanna Fuck You" by Akon.

What do you know, it's the Fuck playlist!

Now we were directly seated beside the speakers so we asked one of the crew members to lower down the volume because our eardrums were already bleeding.

Someone did. And then he also changed the playlist.

Sayang. I wanted to know what f song was next.

SO LONG, SUGAR

2007-08-21T15:48:59Z

After the best boss in the world treated me to a Brothers Burger dinner of Crispy Fish Sandwich and the best-tasting Serenity Green Tea from Nestea, we walked over to UCC where she got us desserts. While she had some coffee, I had a green tea milkshake. We also shared the crispiest, sweetest, yummiest Sansrival that I've ever tasted over the craziest, laughter-filled conversations.

I seriously need to say bye to sugar.

IKOY THE ROCK STAR

2007-08-21T06:20:35Z

My cousin Ikoy must have watched "The School of Rock" 50 times, along with his older sister Mika, who has seen the movie 146 times. Ikoy has watched it a lot of times that he has already memorized songs and scenes from the flick as the video below can prove.

I'LL MISS SUNDAYS

2007-08-21T05:24:10Z

Sundays have always been a family day for our clan. Even without planning or agreement, everybody just appears in our BF Resort house for lunch, chitchat, snacks, TV, naps and even more food.

Several years ago, it was just cousins and aunts and uncles – until everyone grew up and started dating. So now the family’s bigger and the house seems smaller.

Last Friday, it was my lovely lola’s birthday so we dropped by and gave her a roll of her favorite ube macapuno cake. Not everyone was there – because the scheduled party was the following Sunday – but we nevertheless had loads of fun goofing around, taking pics and stuffing ourselves silly, of course – with spaghetti and chicken lollipops.

Sunday came and it was an even greater party. A lot of relatives were there and there was (yay) more food: fried rice, barbecue, mechadong manok, potato salad, adobong balun-balunan, lumpiang isda, baked mac, minatamis na saging, puto. (I was so busy putting stuff in my mouth I didn’t have time to actually take snapshots).

Everyone was just so happy – exchanging stories, laughing, joking around, taking pictures and video clips. The younger ones were busy with toys and DVDs. My cousin Trina introduced her lovely little pets to us while we tried to enjoy Ratatouille.

Even after most relatives left, we still had a blast. My cousin Ikoy performed scenes from School of Rock. He’s such a performer I hope he becomes an actor when he grows up.

And then it was finally time for us to go home.

When I got home, that was the only time when I realized that since my aunt and her family will be planing to New Zealand pretty soon, Sundays will never be the same again. Gotta make the following Sundays really extra special then.

LATER LAPPYTOPPY

2007-08-15T03:09:38Z

I've been spending too much time with my laptop lately. I've been staying up late just surfing the net, checking out others' blogs and updating my several accounts. I can actually feel my eyes suffering from all the lack of sleep and my monitor's ultra brightness.

Concerned about my eyesight and the fact that I've been neglecting my other interests, I vowed to spend a little less time with my lappytoppy.

Awhile ago, I dropped by the heavensent Book Sale and was delighted to find out that they have new stuff. I instantly transformed into fight mode, like a super selfish brat in Willy Wonka-land.

My goal was to check if they have new issues of my favorite magazines: Domino, Real Simple and Blueprint. And they did!

And since I super love love Domino, I finally bought a couple of issues of its sister title, Lucky, which I am totally enjoying. I suddenly remember my friend Monique who's in Paris right now - she introduced the magazine to me a couple of years ago, back when we were still working for the celeb mag. We're Lucky sisters now!

To complete the mag reading experience, I also bought some munchies: dark chocolate-covered raisins, which are just heavensent.

Now you have to excuse me because I have to do some major mag reading.

M.I.A. L.O.V.E.

2007-08-08T16:22:08Z

I am super in love love!!! M.I.A. is so hooooooooot!!!

I have no words.

I wrote an entry about her minutes ago and then deleted everything. I did that 5 times.

I simply have no words.

I love love "Jimmy" I want to perform it in Philippine Idol I swear.

IN MEMORY OF ORB, OLAF AND AMIT (AND ULI TOO)

2007-08-07T15:23:02Z

Wrote about my Tamagotchi experience for the paper and it's out tomorrow (August 8, 2007). Read article HERE.

CHOCO DAY TUESDAY

2007-08-07T15:18:23Z

I super love love the Rum Raisins Hazelnuts variant of Ritter Sports chocolate. It's sort of a grown-up's chocolate.

I also bought my first-ever box of cupcakes from Gonuts Donuts. They look and taste amazing - and they have lotsa flavors it's crazy!!! Can't wait to taste all of them. Pretty good for something priced P100 for a box of 3 / P190 for a box of 6.

BEST DINNER EVER

2007-08-07T15:01:55Z

Care of the best boss in the world, of course. It was my first time at Benjarong, the Thai resto of Dusit Hotel Nikko and I stuffed myself silly with authentic Thai food.

We've been Thai resto-hopping for the past few days and I've got to say Benjarong's food is the best.

I love everything that we ordered: the catfish green mango salad, sweet and sour prawns, chicken with cashew nuts.

I especially love-loved their mee krob (noodles fried in ketchup), Thai iced tea and water chestnuts halo halo.

And how about their pad thai and tom yum, you ask. I'll tell you next Tuesday since we're going back on Monday to try their other offerings. Yummers!!!

THRILLING

2007-08-07T14:34:05Z

Part Two: http://youtube.com/watch?v=6meBUjMulr0

REUNITED

2007-08-05T17:00:02Z

Yesternight, I wasn't able to sleep much because I knew I'd see my godson Katsan in a while. I was so happy and nervous and excited all at the same time. I couldn't wait to see him again after he flew to Japan four years ago. However, I was also afraid of how he'd react upon seeing me. Would he be as sweet as he was several years ago? Would he even remember me?

Awhile ago, on our way to the birthday party of Hitomi (Katsan's sister), I got annoyed because it took Honeybun forever to apply her make-up so we were kinda late for the celebration. I felt like severeal seconds were wasted.

Our reunion was cinematic. My heart skipped three beats the moment I saw him again. He looked a little different: a couple of inches taller, teeth a little bigger, some pounds lighter. He even acted awkwardly, focusing on his toy robot and avoiding my eager eyes. I was heartbroken. But I didn't give up, of course.

It didn't take a while before he fully remembered. Who I am, how we met, what we shared, why we were together again.

We didn't have forever so I made sure we made the most out of the little time we had.

While I am a fan of theme parks and amusement centers, I am not a huge fan of actually riding the carousel, the bump cars, etc. But for Katsan, I rode each and every ride present - except for the rollercoaster. He kept on dragging me - saying no broke my heart - but I just couldn't.

When Katsan was small, he had a hard time communicating. He wasn't good with enunciation and he simply didn't talk a lot. Now he talks straight and so clearly - but in Japanese. It was so frustrating trying to have a conversation with him. Eventually, I just talked to him in English and he talked to me in Japanese. We didn't understand what the other was saying but somehow, we connected and just understood.

And then the time to say goodbye came. It was heartbreaking as usual but strangely, I didn't feel like crying. Katsan wasn't his usual crybaby self too. I guess it's because we'll be seeing each other again this Wednesday. I guess the tears will fall this Wednesday then.

I love my godson so much and I wish he were my own son. I can't wait to be with him again. I can't wait to have my own son.

SOLARIZED

2007-08-05T05:04:05Z

I WANNA BUY: SIMON ATKINS

2007-08-04T05:01:29Z

I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE CALLED...

2007-08-02T18:07:36Z

But they were sure moan-inducing. Cinnabon made me flutter my eyelids while nibbling on these mini-choco-cinnamon rolls.

CHAPCHAE TO THE RESCUE

2007-08-02T18:04:12Z

I was seriously ready to faint awhile ago (due to hunger and the worst headache in the world) when I spotted an empty Japanese resto - that served Korean chapchae.

My tongue is in love love with sweet potato glass noodles so I instantly asked for a plate. The serving was for anorexics, but I ended up surprisingly full. So I guess it's super-flling or I have the appetite of an anorexic (go Humamet!!!). Trust me, the pic looks bad but the actualy thing made me clap my hands while eating.

YUGGERS

2007-08-02T17:55:42Z

Had another Thai dinner with the best boss in the world awhile ago, but the food was far from being the best :(

A certain flavor or spice was lacking in their tom yum. The pad thai was bland. The spring rolls were so-so. I hated the Thai iced tea.

TODAY IS THE HAPPIEST DAY OF MY LIFE...

2007-08-02T17:41:36Z

Because I saw contact prints of SA's innerwear shoot.

I wanted to be evil and selfish and immoral and an asshole and just steal the prints or at least take photos using my cam phone, but I decided to be a stupid little angel and just giggle like a giddy gradeschooler while staring at EACH snapshot for approximately ten seconds. And there were lots!

I am officially in love love.

COMPLICATED

2007-08-02T17:35:14Z

I hate how I've been staying up very late every night to surf, blog and organize my accounts.

Awhile ago, I decided to retain just one of my Yahoomail accounts (there are presently ten), just so I can retain my Yahoo Messenger account, which I always use. I just woke up one day and suddenly realized how complicated and not-so-easy on the eyes Yahoomail has become.

Which leads me to Gmail which I love love. I have only one Gmail account (msablan). Naturally, I wanted marksablan or mark.sablan but some other Mark Sablans have beat me to them. I'm so desperate I emailed them and asked if I could have the usernames, in case they're not using them anymore. I guess they still are and are understandably slefish. Or maybe they haven't been using them for the longest time.

I don't really like the sound of my present Gmail address and since I couldn't use those that I like, I checked the available ones: 1marksablan, marksablan1, ninomarksablan.

The last one seems to be the best although I am a Niño and not a Nino. Sadly, Gmail doesn't allow ñ in log-in names. Now I am really torn because one letter makes all the difference.

And then I'm not too hot about using a number in a log-in name - it's so obvious someone beat you to your original choice.

Solution? I made accounts for all three. I just need to take time to figure out which I'll be using.

---

Yesternight, I was on the verge of deleting my Multiply account. I felt like it was useless since I already have my LJ blog, a Photobucket account for my pics (most of which I don't really like to share) and a YouTube account for my vids. And then I saw my contacts and just didn't want to cut my Multiply ties with them - yet.

Awhile ago, I was ready to delete my MySpace account when I decided to check out my contacts first. I discovered RH is one of them and after looking at all his pics, decided not to delete my account - yet. He looks so yummers and I'm afraid I won't see his new pics if I delete my account.

Looks like I've got separation anxiety. I seriously have to grab my shoulders and shake my self.

RECENT FAVE IMAGES

2007-08-01T18:10:32Z

Sleepy Jollibee. Jolly kid.

Easy access to heaven. Mannequin from the 80's.

TAPSI TURVY

2007-08-01T17:58:23Z

There's this cheapoid tapsihan Honeybun and Alma Aranaz love love and I finally caved in. I went there with them to have dinner awhile ago - and I was pleasantly surprised. The tapsilog was above average but the tofu was really something else. It's amazing how the tofu pieces were crunchy outside and the sauce was something else. I stuffed myself silly I feel stupid. I'm definitely not going back.

SEx (Sinangag Express) in BF Paranakyoo is still my favorite.

SEx tayo!!!

YUMMERS: THAI PAD

2007-08-01T17:48:05Z

Had dinner with the best boss in the world the other night. She was craving for Thai food and since Dusit Thani and Krua Thai were far, we ended up at Thai Pad. (Don't ask for the location because I'm street stupid, I just know it's in Makati.) We never knew it existed and just like an answered prayer, it suddenly made its presence known the moment my boss craved for Thai food.

A Thais resto's reputation is usually dependent on its tom yum and pad thai and basing on Thai Pad's versions, it's safe to say that the resto is okay.

Their green mango something salad, spring roll something and Thai halo halo (with langka and buko strips, gelatin-covered water chestnuts, cassava and even more gulaman) were all also decent.

And their Thai iced tea was also yummers, but nothing beats Krua Thai's.

The food's very affordable. Then again, the food's not very extraordinarily good. Decent is the only word I can come up with right now but I sure had a great time eating there. Then again, it's pretty easy to please me and Thai food's always yummers.