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!

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.

This is an e-mail that went the rounds of lots of virtual mailboxes. I got such a great laugh out of it when I first got the message in my inbox some time ago.

I am feeling a bit disillusioned with my home country, so I might as well share the reality and get a chuckle out of it.

Well, I shall not give away the punchline or anything. But be sure to look at ALL the cars, from beginning to end – in THAT order!

A side note: I took the liberty of editing the pictures and putting the captions on them, but these images are all copyright their respective owners. Just did a bit of tweaking for the sake of fun.

THE BEST POLICE CARS IN THE WORLD

Yesterday’s rather sentimental post prompted yours truly to go through some more folders of images downloaded off my first-ever camera phone, ye olde Nokia 6600.

I found some very interesting impromptu photos taken sometime in June 2007, featuring a stuffed animal I christened Bogart.

Bogart lives on the desk of my Mommy Lerma, a former colleague, a longtime neighbor, and a very cool mother figure who makes the best pork estapado in the world.

Bogart, full body shot

I am not exactly sure what kind of animal Bogart is supposed to be, but he seems to be a hybrid dog, cat and mouse. Now, that is enough to give any living thing an identity crisis.

Anyhow, he is proudly hand-made, as it is common in the Philippines for people to make stuffed toys at home as some kind of “sideline” business.

As I love all things cute and cuddly, I wholeheartedly support this up-and-coming cottage industry. Of course, I also have my very own collection of these homemade goodies, most of them lovingly created by my Nanay Pagit.

Over morning break one day, I found Bogart on my desk, smack dab at the center, sitting there like he owns not only the whole darned table, but the entire building and the ground it stands upon.

Bogart and Shi face off
“Grrrr…”

Bogart drinks coffee, right out of Shi’s cup. The nerve!

Bogart eats otap, a local delicacy biscuit made in the fair province of Cebu

Bogart chows on durian – the fruit that “smells like hell but tastes like heaven”

Bogart and Shi’s lavender Nokia 3530. Is he planning to send an SMS to someone? Or is he reading my sappy love texts? Ewww.

Really, who can resist Bogart’s hybrid charm?

Not a soul!

Shi and Bogart lurrrvvvvve each other

I last saw Bogart in September 2007 when I went to our office for the last time before my trip to Oman. He was still on my desk then, and I feel that he remains there until now, waiting for me to come back.

For a second face-off.

I was browsing through random web logs earlier when I read from one of them about a particularly “sassy” 404 error page. Gifted with insatiable curiousity, I, naturalmente, went ahead and had a look at the much-esteemed page myself.

Click the link that follows and find out for yourself: The page cannot be fucking displayed.

Especially recommended for those who are not very fond of the mega-empire Microsoft.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to share with all and sundry a preview of the new Philippine five-peso bill, graced by none other than Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao himself.

This meme was shared by a friend. Go ahead and try it yourself.

Instructions
1. Enter “(your name here) needs” in a Google search.
2. Read through the link descriptions, looking for those that actually form a sentence.
3. Post the first 15 results.
4. Enjoy!

· Shirley needs the Holistic approach.
· Shirley needs help.
· Shirley needs a dollar.
· Shirley needs overhauling.
· Shirley needs Supreme Court Reporter v.44.
· Shirley needs me.
· Shirley needs advice.
· Shirley needs the public to escape depression.
· Shirley needs love.
· Shirley needs more spells.
· Shirley needs the following: any donated items; volunteers to help with sales, inventory and pricing items; and help designing and distributing fliers.
· Shirley needs to be on the thoroughfare between the development and the car park.
· Shirley needs to remain free.
· Shirley needs more sand.
· Shirley needs Harvard.

I have just finished Sophie Kinsella‘s Confessions of a Shopaholic, which I got on paperback (contodos 20-percent Laking National discount) yesterday during my Graduate School lunch break.

The book is light and spirited, with a few emotional chords here and there. Overall, it is definitely chick lit. I highly recommend Confessions to those who want to experience unadulterated extravagant fun. Pun intended.

Amazon.com provides the following book summary:

At age 25, Rebecca Bloomwood has everything she wants. Or does she?

Can her career as a financial journalist, a fab flat and a closet full of designer clothes lessen the blow of the dunning letters from credit card companies and banks that have been arriving too quickly to be contained by the drawer in which Rebecca hides them?

Although her romantic entanglements tend toward the superficial, there is that wonderful Luke Brandon of Brandon Communications: handsome, intelligent, the 31st-richest bachelor according to Harper’s and actually possessed of a personality that is more substance than style. Too bad that Rebecca blows it whenever their paths cross.

Will Rebecca learn to stop shopping before she loses everything worthwhile?

When faced with the opportunity to do good for others and impress Luke, will she finally measure up?

Today, while listening to some rather old RAM files I found in an obscure hard drive folder, I was struck at how the theme of Jet Li’s Once Upon a Time in China series had so many versions.

I have seven of them at hand:
1. The original one, used in the opening synchronized forms sequences of the movies, with the heavy percussion and male choral voices
2. The instrumental one with the lead flute
3. The one with the Jacky Cheung vocals
4. Another instrumental dominated by a very heavy gong
5. The “pop” version, with a lead singer and some backup voices
6. The “Westernized” one, used in Once Upon a Time in China and America
7. Another Western rendition, less heavy, with a banjo for a lead

Shi’s suggested remakes:
1. By Rob Zombie, with the shrill voice of the White Zombie main man himself singing in Mandarin
2. Eminem remix
3. Charlotte Church and Andrea Bocelli duet
4. Westlife remake, as they are quite fond of coming up with their own remake of everything
5. N’Sync version, with the guys making a cameo in the next OUATIC installment
6. Shakira mambo, with Jet Li making an apperance in the video, riding charging horses (Ah-whah-whah.)
7. Carlos Santana acoustic
8. Elton John!!! Piano!!!
9. Linkin Park remix, to be included in their Reanimation album, with Jet Li to appear in the music video alongside Oriental members Mike Shinoda and Mr. Hahn
10. M2M squeaky, mellow number
11. Britney Spears version, with numerous “Uh!” gruntings in between instrumental refrains
12. By Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, love song style

For more information on the series, visit The Internet Movie Database.

Cold garlic bread and ice-cold chocolate milk tea is a very good combination for breakfast on a hot summer day. Everyone should try it. Just the right blend of sweetness and bite.

With today being Labor Day, there is no work and school for everyone.

As expected, numerous demonstrations and protest marches took place all over the country. Most of these were organized and attended by worker groups and labor unions, as well as left-wing groups that are proudly passionate in their perpetual “militant struggle.”

I spent the holiday at home, scouring through my bookshelves. I came across the entire X-Men: Fatal Attractions series set in the dusty stacks and, struck by nostalgia for love of this series, read straight through all six issues.

The arc, circa 1993, is arguably one of the most well-written X-Men sagas, alongside the classic Dark Phoenix saga written by the prolific Chris Claremont.

I was surfing through random sites when I came across an interesting list. It is from this blog. This is one of the best pieces I have ever come across that extols the virtues of being a coffeeholic.

Read away and thusly subject thyself to intense heart palpitations:

You Know You’re Drinking Too Much Coffee When…
1. You ski uphill.
2. You speed walk in your sleep.
3. You answer the door before people knock.
4. You sleep with your eyes open.
5. You just completed another sweater and you don’t know how to knit.
6. You grind your coffee beans in your mouth.
7. You have to watch videos in fast-forward.
8. The only time you’re standing still is in an earthquake.
9. You lick your coffeepot clean.
10. Your eyes stay open when you sneeze.
11. The nurse needs a scientific calculator to take your pulse.
12. You can type sixty words a minute with your feet.
13. You don’t need a hammer to pound nails.
14. You don’t sweat, you percolate.
15. You’ve worn out the handles on your favorite mug.
16. You’ve built a miniature city out of plastic stirrers.
17. People get dizzy just watching you.
18. People can test their batteries in your ears.
19. When someone asks you, “How are you?” you answer, “Good to the last drop.”
20. Your birthday is a national holiday in Brazil.
21. You go to sleep just so you can wake up and smell the coffee.
22. Your Thermos is on wheels.
23. You can outlast the Energizer Bunny.
24. You don’t even wait for the water to boil anymore.
25. You think being called a drip is a compliment.
26. You don’t tan, you roast.
27. You don’t get mad, you get steamed.
28. You soak your dentures in coffee overnight.
29. You think CPR stands for “Coffee Provides Resuscitation.”

Whoever wrote this knows me so well it is scary.

Giverius Navarroy and the Chamber of Surprises was recommended to me by a school friend, Meileen.

Right now, the site has an Oliver Wood poster feature, As Wood As It Gets. Droolworthy Oliver never fails to complete your day.

The site creates poster parodies from popular movies such as I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Planet of the Apes and The Lord of the Rings, among many others.

Wish they would make the parody posters as big as those in the cinemas and sell them commercially. You can also send spoof postcards right from the site. Naughty and nice.

In other book-related news, is Stephen King really that determined to give up his gory quill for a more quiet and less suspense-ridden life?

Come to think of it, the past few years have been eventful for him, and most likely draining as well. He had an accident and was convalescing for quite some time. He published a semi-successful e-novella and wrote a slew of books that still became bestsellers.

Presently he pens a show called Rose Red. What a life he leads indeed. He admits that he does not want to end up like Harold Robbins, who suffered a stroke and promptly burnt out in both his life and writing career.