ah, beer.

my first beer for the year.

pop, gulp, aaaaaaaah.

my new project

i mentioned i got an iphone 4 in 2010, and i thought i'd put it to good use. the camera is wicked as far as phone cams go, and it'll do as a point and shoot.

one of my friends had a project last year where he took one photo a day for 365 days just using his N96. interesting, so i thought i'd embark on my own project.

so i'm on day 3, and here's my day 3.

2011

the new year is here and though i welcomed the year in a dirty shirt and shorts while grilling slices of pork belly, i somehow doubt that would dictate things for the coming year.

i've taken stock of 2010 and for the most part it's been good. let's not think about the other parts.

i have a lot to be thankful for. i got to spend a lot of quality time with almost all my sisters and the kids, my parents are still kulit as ever, and the work has been good, barring all the disappointments with the justice system.

met some new friends who became old friends in record time, learned how to make paella and callos (thanks ate mia!), baked a thousand or so cookies, and pretty much went back to cooking. got in touch with old friends, something i will always be thankful to social networking for.

of course it was also gadget/accessory year for me. got a 1 terrabyte hard drive, a kindle, an iphone 4, and an HD mini-cam.

but honestly, i'm not sorry to see 2010 go. i had a lot of realizations that year, and a lot of heartache. plus relationships gone awry, friends lost, money misspent, things said that should have been left unsaid, beers undrunk (is there such a word?), promises not kept, tears shed, flu that recurred....and the list goes on.

that's over and done with and time to move on to the next year. i am hopeful that it will be a better year, not just for me, but for everyone. and of course, da pilipins.

maybe this year i will also find a gadget bag to fit all my gadgets nicely (or maybe i'll just make one).

for 2010, i apologize for every unkind word and every uncharitable thought. i thank the Big Guy and the powers that be that i am still here, today, ready to face the world anew.

2011, here i come!

dear santa, i want a laser for christmas

 so i can cut out an apple logo on an apple pie.

photo taken from this site:

http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/ApplePie

u.p. naman

so maybe i'm a sucker for anything UP. shirts, jackets, bags, etc. pero naman meyn, ampanget naman ng 

 UP swatch.

*photo courtesy of spot.ph. see for full article and other school designs: http://www.spot.ph/shopping/46929/top-philippine-schools-collaborate-with-swatch

now i'm a believer!

the car's battery died on me today. i've been around enough cars so i knew what to check. the guard at western union was nice enough to immediately provide me with a screw driver and a pair of pliers. the guys at the pawnshop next to western union tried to help. (hmmm. i should have taken their pictures). they fussed over me, gave me advice.

eventually our own staff arrived with jumper cables, and the next thing to do was hail a cab or a jeep to do a series. after causing traffic, it turned out there was not enough charge in the battery to even do a series.

i caved in and called motolite delivery. they said it would take 30-45 minutes. lo and behold, arnel, my savior, arrived in 27. :D

he replaced the battery, and while i was wondering if he brought a franking machine, he brought out a swiping-machine-thingy!  he promptly swiped the card.

 in a few seconds the receipts were being spit out of the swiping-machine-thingy.

then i was on my merry way. oh, the guard and the pawnshop guy are in the background. :) masarap pa rin talaga sa pilipinas.

on being irrational

i am, generally, a reasonable person.

or at least i try to be. i have a friend who said i am most rational during those times when i should be irrational. perhaps.

right now i feel anything but rational. i want to pick things up and throw them around. i want to slap somebody till she bleeds. i want to pound her into a pulp, and i know i can because well, she's half my size. and guess what? i don't even know her.

irrational, yes. crazy, yes. and all because she can do things i'm not allowed to. details are unimportant. she's lucky she's out of the country because right now the only thing stopping me from carrying out my evil plans is distance.

a loooooong day.

yesterday was a hectic day for me. had a hearing at 830 that was supposed to have ended by 10, and i was going to go home, take my sweet ass time, and then head to the bus station for the 1115 trip.

made it to court in time, only to find out that my case was the 13th case in the calendar, which meant i would have to wait for several cases to finish. i waited patiently and told my client to just relax, not panic and have some tissue on hand because she might be a bit teary eyed.

taking a quick break and being thankful

it's almost 830 in the evening and i'm still in the office. had a quick shawarma dinner then went back to work.

it's been a full day. woke up a bit before 6 am, tried to sleep again, failed, and eventually got up at 730. silent steady rain greeted the city this morning and i wanted nothing more than to stay in bed and just go back to sleep.

i'm exhausted. so exhausted in fact that last night i threw my whole family into a panic because i wasn't picking up my phone, the bedroom door was locked, and no banging on it could wake me up. eventually i got up to open the door and i swear my sister would have strangled me if she could. i had 14 missed calls. bad. this -- of someone who wakes up with the single click of a message. how could i have missed 14 runs of hawaii five-0?

paella fever

some weeks ago my brother in law had his __ birthday. my sister asked me to cook paella, a request i answered with a desperate "i don't know how!"

however, remnants of the conditioning  to follow my elders unconditionally remained so i decided to look for a recipe and cook the darned thing. it was almost a disaster, watery, and well... watery. but it was a learning experience and the next try, and the next was better:

seeing the dawn

for the past several days i have been waking up very early. so early that i wake up to full darkness. i would have thought because of the medicines i'd sleep longer. guess i was wrong.

but then i like waking up early. it reminds me of how baguio used to be -- quiet, nippy, still. except back then the stillness remained till full light.

if i listen hard enough i could hear the birds waking up and chattering, households beginning to stir. the cold carries the sound and it's really nice to just lie down and feel the world wake up. my only regret is that our windows do not face east but i do see the light creeping up.

i like dawn. it's hopeful. so what if i wake up disoriented and wondering where i am?

time and making time

time, as we know it, is a finite thing. there are 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in a minute, and so on and so forth.

how many times have we said "there just isn't enough time!" with arms thrown up in defeat? how many times have we shaken our heads saying "there's too much to do and not enough time to do it?" how many times have we said "i was supposed to _____________ (fill in the blank) but i ran out of time."?

and so it goes. also known as another facebook post.

still on the self-adulation phase.

posted a  status message that said tinabee "is sure there's a billy joel or sting song to describe how she feels this morning."

somebody suggested "shameless" and i said that's for another phase of my life. well, here it is:

tinabee and on and on and on

so let's just say it's about time i had me time.

if you look at the sidebar it's a collection of slogans with the important words replaced with tinabee. (if you want to try it too check out the link at the bottom of the "me" part of the sidebar).

i posted that on facebook after being tagged and one reader said the title should be the tinabee effect. so... that's my new blog title. :)

call me vain, narcissistic, egoistic, and all that. it's my blog, and well, one of the few things i can really call my own.

first thing i did after i had decided on the name of my blog was look up tinabee in urban dictionary.

revamp

i've had this blog for almost 8 years, and over the years i have blogged less and less. i blogged so little i had to make it part of my new year's resolution to blog more this year.

apparently, i have not kept that part of my new year's resolution, as i have had exactly 7 posts to date.

this morning i woke up wanting to post. but before that i changed the name of my blog and changed my template. maybe this would get me out of blog retirement. :D