The past two weeks have been pretty busy as I am back at work, with regular timings unlike our shortened hours during the Holy Month of Ramadan.

I have moved to a nice, big, spanking-new cubicle, after the long wait. Brushy even visited my office to have a look at my new workstation.

Brushy on the wheel of a Hyundai 4WD. Taken 20 September 2010, Shell Select, Al Khuwair Service Road, Muscat, Oman.

The above photo was taken during Brushy’s first trip to my office, when we rode the large Hyundai 4WD of a friend. We made a quick stop for lunch stuff at the Shell Select station on the Al Khuwair Service Road.

Of course, Brushy did not let the opportunity pass for a quick photo op. Perched in a precarious manner on the steering wheel, Brushy looks like he is navigating the huge vehicle!

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Happy birthday to me!

This is my third consecutive birthday that I am celebrating in Oman.

Two years ago to date, I spent an exorbitant amount of money to buy imported pork and cook and eat dishes of this all day long (more like all week long, to be honest).

As for last year’s birthday, Peter and I had dinner at Chilli’s in Muscat City Centre and went on to Markaz Al Bahja to catch the midnight screening of Inglorious Basterds.

This year, we did lots more of things together because we both had a day off work, thankfully, on the day before my birthday!

Taken during the eve of my birthday, 23 September 2010, on our way to Markaz Al Bahja for a late afternoon snack.

Again, we went to Markaz Al Bahja in Seeb to browse through the shops, spending quite some time in Muscat Sports having a look through their winter collection. Nothing of note, especially for ladies, since I was actually looking for some leggings and tops that could double up as casual and gym wear.

We then had a late afternoon snack, with sumptuous, affordable Chinese food from the Chinese Palace booth at the food court. I love, love, love Chinese Palace – it is my favorite restaurant in Oman, in fact. Not only are the prices wallet-friendly, the selection and dishes are fabulous as well. The Chinese people running the place are also very friendly and accommodating.

Corn soup from Chinese Palace, with carrot and chicken bits. Really smooth and hearty.

Chicken and vegetable combo from Chinese Palace, which has deep-fried chicken fillet strips, veggie balls in savory-hot sauce and oodles and oodles of stir-fried noodles!

After eating, we went downstairs to check out the movies running at Al Bahja Cinema. Sadly, all the tickets for Tekken and The Expendables were sold out for that evening. We decided to catch a show at City Cinema in Shatti Al Qurum on the following day.

We decided to make the trip across town to Rock Bottom Cafe, Ramee Guestline Hotel, Qurum. It was long drive, with the streets full of Thursday night weekend-revelry traffic.

At Rock Bottom, we didn’t pay any entrance fees, reward for arriving before midnight. The host led us to spacious booth at the dining area, which had huge LCD screens displaying UFC fights. We both ordered the steak-and-wine combo, just in time to have our dinner with the band’s first set.

After eating, we danced the night away until the end of the band’s third and final set, which was around 2:30 AM. We had a really great time, needless to say.

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I have been quite active on FaceBook during the past few days, uploading various photos from way back when and tagging people with whom I have previously lost touch.

Thanks to social networking sites and the like, I was able to reconnect with friends and acquaintances from as far back as elementary school!

I was tagged by the above-mentioned people in their own albums as well, much to my geeky delight. Hence, I would like to share these photos which I did not have in my own collection before, but am very pleased to have found online after all these years.

The Blue Quill Editorial Staff, with our adviser Miss Girlie Libutaque. This was our publication during high school and the photo was from my junior year days.

High School Senior Year Acquaintance Party, where I am posing with my perennial partner Ramon. We always end up together in photos, somehow. He hails from Ajuy, where I have tons of relatives – he’s the brother I never had!

During freshman year at University of the Philippines, Iloilo City campus. These are my blockmates, which includes a lot of close friends.

University junior year, when I won landslide as the College of Management’s representative to the University Student Council. During my term, our departmental sports teams Scions (Accountancy majors) and Tycoons (Marketing and Management majors) won first and second places, respectively, overall in the annual sports festival. Oh, yeah!

I really enjoyed cleaning up these photos and subsequently uploading them to share with my readers. It feels so good to revisit my school days – they feel like a lifetime ago.

Tomorrow is my birthday! Gosh, how quickly time flies. Tonight, I am celebrating with Peter by going out to the clubs for a high-protein dinner with drinks and music, of course. Perhaps we could also catch a movie, we shall see.

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This is one of the best videos I have seen this year!

Less than three minutes long, this anime-style short piece was shared by a friend a while back but I never did get the chance to see it in full until today.

Full credit goes to the brilliant Mike Inel, who is a Philippine-based digital colorist by trade. Visit his DeviantArt page for more samples of his brilliant work.

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This post is purely self-indulgent, I must warn y’all before proceeding.

Below is an amalgamation of pictures taken during various times of the past year or so. As such, it is a shameless expression of my unadulterated love for the color pink and its various hues, shades and tones!

I have mentioned many times, in different real-life slambooks, online social networking sites and my gamut of personal webpages, that I love this color so much that people have started associating pink with me, especially at work.

For instance, whenever they see a dominantly pink PowerPoint presentation or marketing primer, there is an automatic assumption that I either (1) designed the material myself or (2) seduced the poor man who put it together in a UAE promotions firm to cater to my whims.

A combination of pink done the old-skool and technology-era ways! My favorite Party Princess notebook, which has drawings of a funky royal fairy girl and her equally stylish pooch, together with my metallic grey and pink mouse.

A glittery stationery bag featuring a gorgeous blonde Funky Princess illustration. Its inside also has pretty pink stenciled cloth lining. What’s more, it can fit two A5 notebooks!

Shi at Starbucks, Qurum City Centre, Oman, circa 2009. I am wearing my favorite Adidas goddess-tunic style top. It has two shades of peachy pink and has Clima-Lite material to ward off the desert heat.

Shi at Starbucks (yet again, reiterating my love for Muscat coffee culture), Muscat City Centre, Oman, circa 2010. I have on my hot-pink Adidas baseball cap, newly bought for me by my baby from the Sun and Sand sports shop.

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Last 7th September, the pre-teen daughter of a friend celebrated her birthday.

Because I adore her and immensely like her parents as well, I had to give this young girl gifts to remember me by before she and her family move on to another country in the next few months.

After going shopping (doubtless my most favorite chore in the whole wide world), I went home to pack up my girly goodies. Brushy wouldn’t just let me be and participated in the process!

Brushy looking cool, wearing his dad’s sunnies. When I got home, he looked like this. Don’t know how he convinced Peter to let him wear this precious fashion statement.

Brushy posing with the assortment of girly gift items freshly bought from the store.

Brushy wants to get into the hot-pink “Sweet” carrier bag. He looks picture-perfect, like he’s from a shop window!

Brushy prodding the glittery rainbow unicorn card, trying the make the mythical creature come to life.

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This is a short, sweet but very meaningful response to one of the current worldwide Trending Topics on Twitter.

I would like to share a passage from Tsunetomo Yamamoto’s warrior treatise, Hagakure. This means “In the Shadow of the Leaves”.

This name served as the inspiration of the ninja clan to whom Kage-Maru, the Shadow Warrior, of Virtua Fighter belongs.

Kage is my favorite character in Virtua Fighter, both in the game as well as in the anime adaptation. In fact, he was the very reason why I fell in love with the entire series in the first place.

When I found out about that the Hagakure ninja clan’s name was inspired by the ultimate bushido manual, I researched the same and eventually got my hands on the full English translation of Yamamoto’s Hagakure. It makes for very interesting and fascinating reading.

It begins with the idea that the way of the warrior is death.

Stupendous. I love it!

In one’s life, there are levels in the pursuit of study.

In the lowest level, a person studies but nothing comes of it, and he feels that both he and others are unskillful. At this point he is worthless.

In the middle level, he is still useless but is aware of his own insufficiencies and can also see the insufficiencies of others.

In a higher level, he has pride concerning his own ability, rejoices in praise from others, and laments the lack of ability in his fellows. This man has worth.

In the highest level a man has the look of knowing nothing.

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Eid Mubarak to all my friends and readers in the Muslim world!

In celebration of the Eid-al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Holy Month of Ramadan, Peter and I went on a short trip to Qantab beach and village outside Muscat, Oman, yesterday.

Qantab is where a lot of expatriates and Omanis alike go during the holidays for boat rides, barbecues and picnics if they want something different from the usual Azaiba or Qurum beach sights in the city. There are also quite a number of local settlers in the village nearby, where a lot of residents source their livelihood from the small yet steady tourism industry.

The drive from the city took less than half an hour before we reach the hilly Qantab road, from which the famous Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa could also be reached.

The road to Qantab beach and village. Uphill all the way!

After a short spin through the village, where people were getting ready for the evening’s Eid festivities, we finally reached the popular Qantab beach.

The beach of Qantab, lined with small tour boats ferried by skilled Omani boatmen for touring visitors around the cove.

The golden, sandy hills surrounding Qantab beach.

Shi in Beach Mode! Tank top by Harley Davidson, pants by Nike, shoes by Speedo and sunglasses by M&S. Scarf a gift from a friend, all the way from Turkey.

After a short walk through the beach, we decided to go for a quick cove tour in one of the smaller boats ferried by the Omani boatmen. A quick deal with a gent named Abdullah cost six Omani Riyals for half an hour’s ride.

A very interesting small, cave-like opening has formed in the middle of the giant rock formation.

Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa, viewed from the open sea.

Our boat went past the private beach of Shangri-La and circled to the other end of the cove, where there were some more unique rock formations.

Rock formations looking gold and magnificent against the rolling blue-green waters.

Smaller cave-like openings have also formed in other rock formations.

A long, plateau-like rock structure, spread out for nearly a hundred meters.

When we reached the shore at the end of our boat ride, it was already high noon and the sun was quite painful on the skin. Even this did not deter me from taking more fun photos!

Shi on the beach, all smiles after the boat ride.

Shi and Peter pose for another picture against the sparkling shores of Qantab.

We spent another hour or two sitting under the big umbrella shades on the shore, going through an assortment of fruits, light junk-food snacks and cold drinks. Our Omani boatman had his generous share of choco-chunk cookies, Coca-Cola and grapes!

During the drive back to Muscat, we had another quick stop at one of the cliffside gazebo structures overlooking the coast.

View of a big wadi, or dry river, from the hilltop.

Shi and Peter perched like muscle-bound eagles on the cliffside railings overlooking the desert and the sea.

Shi and Peter by the hilltop highway.

After another quick but productive photo-op, we headed for Muscat and back home.

We both had reddish tans and loads of pictures from the trip, the latter I have uploaded to my Flickr account earlier today. Lots of cooling lotions would take care of the sunburnt skin, but I can definitely say that it was all worth the wonderful experience.

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I love dogs.

This is a simple, undeniable declaration of fact. I have even posted on this blog before how much I love my beautiful Japanese Spitz baby girl, Pikachu.

I have accumulated a small assortment of photos on various real and toy doggies that I found really, really cute and amusing and would love to share with people who stumble across my blog.

My proud, beautiful Japanese Spitz Pikachu. Taken 6 October 2006, Iloilo City, Philippines. This is one of my best photos of Pika-chan.

Jepsy of San Jose, Antique, Philippines. Taken February 2010. Jepsy is owned by a friend of my father’s, who owns the store which Jepsy faithfully guards.

A stuffed brown dog with the familiar “nodding” head, who looks quite real even if he is positioned at the rear window of a glamorous red car. Taken December 2009, Madinat Qaboos, Muscat, Oman.

My stuffed brown-and-white spaniel baby boy, Brushy, spends quality bonding time with his dad. Together, they surf the Internet and look at bodybuilding photos. They also love watching action movies, in this case, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. Taken 7 September 2010, Al Khuwair, Muscat, Oman.

Brushy and I love each other! Taken 28 July 2010, Al Khuwair, Muscat, Oman.

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Back in February 2010, I went home on holiday to the Philippines. My vacation leave was officially from 11th February to 26th March – around 45 days of work-free, worry-free, food-loaded days, most of it to be spent in my home country.

I never did get the chance to blog a lot about the trip. I’m sure that most of it I could not chronicle quite clearly now, nearly six to seven months later. However, I found some pictures in my cellular phone and digital camera and wanted to share these.

On the Cebu Pacific flight from Manila to Iloilo. Taken 15 February 2010. No, I was stubborn and did not switch off my cellular phone when I boarded the plane. I did eventually, though, after snapping this pic.

At the La Paz home of my paternal grandparents, with my uncle and mom. Brought loads of food and a cake to celebrate my grandmother’s 82nd birthday! Taken 9 March 2010.

With Peter in Barangay Nino, Concepcion, Iloilo, during our visit to my maternal grandparents. Our background was our trusty 4WD white Fortuner transport. Taken 14 March 2010.

Our farewell dinner shortly before our flight back to Muscat. We had a light meal with Melody and Genefel at Max’s Restaurant in SM Makati. Taken 24 March 2010.

For sure, pictures of smiling people are loads better to see on a Filipino’s blog rather than an angry rant on the August 23rd hostage crisis in Manila. Perhaps later?

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