"Going back to the shoot, my scenes alone already required 3 different locations. I spent a day and a half completing my part alone. And i had to do it without my contact lenses because of an infected eye. How timely! I could hardly see the faces of the kids and people around me, mostly shapes only. Our first location was in Pila, Laguna, a very quiet town that clearly depicts the influence of Spanish architecture. Our call time was at 430am, so we had to leave Manila at about 3am. For my 2nd day, we shot in the pier area in Manila and in Sta Cruz. It was truly fun experience! Especially getting to interact with the kids. They were very 'makulit' and kept asking me questions. But having them around and looking at you as their idol, it really inspires me to do good and preach them the right values!" - an excerpt from his blog on it. The rest can be read here.

When I read that Comelec registration was open a few months ago, I told my son to register. He argued he didn't see the sense in doing so because all politicians are the same.

Yesterday, I was truly surprised when he told me to remind him to register before he leaves in August (aha, as if it's definite). I asked why he changed his mind. He has suddenly turned hopeful.

How did the change in mindset come about?

Yesterday in school, they had alternative classes. He attended a few talks and one had Noynoy Aquino for speaker. He said "mama, he's so boring". Then he added, "but in the open forum, he was so good. Ang galing. Ang talino. And he's running."

I asked for what and he said he didn't know. But Noynoy said he'd vote for Mar Roxas so my son will too, I guess. Then I told him about reading somewhere there was a chance Noynoy would run as vice-president, a matter of North and South, or more accurately south and north (Mar-Noynoy). Jaime Garchitorena also impressed my son? Is he running?

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I guess that the elections are drawing near can be attested to by the fact that last january 3, when we had dinner with college friends, politics was a topic. The other day when my sisters and I met, we talked politics too.

In the dinner with classmates, Mar's name again came up. They were saying he has no winnability, but well didn't they say that of Obama too? He seems the "cleanest" of all plus he doesn't need to steal. He was born wealthy (oops, that's no guarantee pala in the case of ... never mind. Everyone knows) and his mom is nice.

When my sisters and I met, one sister said a foreigner friend of hers was impressed with Loren Legarda.

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But the other night I was confused. See, in the news there were two parties: one with GMA and Ramos in Clark, the other with Loren hinting at running for the presidency. So why was I confused? Well, aren't Ramos and GMA at odds or is that a thing of the past? Another thing, what were Dureza and Duque doing at Loren's? Aren't they really good soldiers of GMA?But they were smiling broadly with Loren. Does that mean Loren will be an administration candidate? Ay.... if the saying is "tell me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are," eekkkkkk.

Following is a recipe I tried today. Got it from this site:

Today marks the 25th anniversary of Ninoy Aquino's death at the tarmac of the then Manila International Airport. I remember I was watching TV when a news flash reporting on his assassination interrupted my light TV viewing. I was dumbfounded, incredulous, aghast. I was mostly apolitical but a political killing was something I couldn't stomach.

What makes Chris Tiu appealing? What makes him tick? Why do posts mentioning his name get so many hits? Why do comments in his blog run to the hundreds, at least the approved ones? How many doesn't he approve? If he approved all comments, how many would they total?

Months back, I teased my son into conducting a poll among his contacts: who's better looking, PIolo Pascual or Chris Tiu? Only a couple of brave souls chose Piolo. The rest? They chose Chris Tiu.

When I posted this link on my multiply, a number suddenly visited my site and clicked on the link. In my other blog where I posted the same link, a number continue to click on it, day after day without let-up. I had a post that called the attention of "Chris Tiu fans, today only" several weeks ago, but that too continues to draw readers. That post meant to tell people who like him to buy a copy of the Philippine Star where CT was featured wearing angel wings!

So what makes Chris Tiu so appealing? His good looks, I guess? But there are so many young men out there who are as good looking, if not more so. His being a basketball player? But again there are so many basketball players around us. So what?

Do tell... (taken from http://phstars.com/index.php/2007/11/chris-tiu-kapuso-na/)

More pictures of Chris Tiu here.

This morning, at around 3:30, catching myself wide awake, as is  my wont I reached  for the phone to check on my credit card balances. I almost fainted when one yielded the info that I had used up my credit card limit and had gone over it by over Php150k. I calmly checked if my credit card were in my wallet, saw it and thought hard where I had last used it -- in a resto. Horror stories of how some waiters commit fraud by getting info from their customers' cards and using this flooded by mind but I prayed for calm.

I called the bank again and luckily a human voice immediately took my call after I dialed the right  numbers. She apologetically explained that transactions swiped using the BDO machine from 15 to 18 August were computed in dollars and reflected thus last night. She assured that corrections would be made within the day.

Whew.