MAJOR UNIVERSE

My blog's title "Miss Universe" is not in anyway influenced by Donald Trump's annual beauty pageant. A former colleague used to call me "Miss U" because she likes seeing me wear high heels in the office and that perhaps I always say "miss you". Also, I use the word "universe" in most of my entries so I thought it is just appropriate to adopt the title Miss Universe.

Wala lang.

Anyway, Venus Raj, the controversial beauty queen from our archipelago won 4th runner up from the recently concluded Miss Universe 2010 pageant and many claims that she has gotten the crown in the bag until the question and answer portion. Masyado lang siya siguro na-overwhelm sa "this is the moment" moment niya. Whatever.

I just want to play around so here are three versions of how three different Filipinas may have answered William Baldwin's question.

Question: What is one big mistake that you did in your life? And what did you do to make it right?

original version 

Venus Raj, Bb. Pilipinas Universe, Miss Universe 2010 Beauty Pageant:

answer: In my 22 years of existence, there is nothing major, major problem that I have done in my life. Because I am very confident with my family and the love they are giving to me. So thank you so much.

 movie version

I remember watching this before just because we only had Channel 2 in the province before.

Jolina Magdangal, actress, Labs Kita Okay Ka Lang? (1998)

answer: “Oh yes, kaibigan mo ako. Kaibigan mo lang ako…. And I’m so stupid to make the biggest mistake of falling in love with my best friend.”




syempre pa, I should have my own version

Kristina Bacud, feeling beauty queen, Little Miss Sampaguita 1990 Beauty Pageant

answer: My biggest mistake is being too lazy to brush my teeth because see now, I can not even smile in the picture because if I did you will see rainbow-colored teeth. I think I will wear braces in the future and I will use my prize to pay my dentist.










The best unpretentious, most sincere answer goes to (drum roll): Me! syempre naman!
I won the crown that night - my first and last and only.
Bata pa lang ako, hot na.=p

Venus Raj, take it from a 5-year old.

I thank you.
Bow.

GET DOWN

...and move it all around - Backstreet Boys

My rollercoaster ride has paused at the bottom, my hair touching the ground and my head swirling from being upside down. I know I should close my eyes to keep myself from feeling dizzy but I stubbornly refuse to. I need to feel the discomfort, see it, experience it. I need to drill in my consciousness that no, I do not want to be here ever again. While the rollercoaster's parts conk and bust, I surrender to this momentary glitch and lift all my hopes to Mr. Mechanic. He knows better.If all else fails, I would shake myself off from all the absurdity and pointless drama and say these kanto-boy style, "okay ka lang? eh kung tanggalin mo na kaya seatbelt mo at bumaba ka. ayan na ang lupa oh. geeezzz."

I'm scraping the last cents in my piggy bank and will try the bump cars next time.

QUARTER MATTER

Quarter pounder, not quarter life!

I am in full acceptance mode of my quarter life crisis and I am praying so hard for it to pass quickly (without fastforwarding to midlife, of course!), buti na lang, my friends make me feel like I am a superstar. We create threads for our birthdays and I am sharing some of mine.. :D

From Bes:
Kahit Friday na bukas (or ngayon if Friday na kayo nagbukas ng mail), pero August 5/6 na kasi at hindi na August 4. :D  Always the life of the party and witty queen of hirits! You never fail to make me laugh when I least expect it :D kasi pag nagdedeliver ka ng lines mo deadpan talaga, I love it! :) :) :)

From Nard:

Time ko na gumanti!
Si Tina ang feeling inosente na hindi.
Si Tina ay maarte mag English.
Si Tina ay barat kasi hindi manlilibre sa diamond hotel!
Si Tina ay KJ kasi hindi sumali ECOSOC!
Si Tina ay mahilig manlait.
Si Tina ay madami bulate sa tiyan kasi kahit matakaw ay hindi tumataba.
Pero kahit ano pa siya, love na love ko yan! Haha! Happy Birthday Tina! Nakaganti rin ako!

From Sielyn:

Happy birthday to the English Speaking Hour Society first president, Tina!!!

Love kita...
...kasi complet e spelling ka magtext
...kahit inindian mo kami ni Brian sa Sagada trip natin
...dahil ang ganda ng camera mo
...MTM
MWAH!!! :)

From Belle:
Kristina Bacud of Azukarera de Bacud Happy happy birthday!!!!!
Most memorable ko sayo is nung first year enrollment. Nung sabay tayo enroll and magkasunod tayo sa pila. Ikaw ang unang unang nakilala ko in my college life.
Thanks sa mga comforting words mo kapag depressed and stressed ako. Your words and cheerfulness make me smile.
And agree ako sa lahat ng sinabi ni nard hehe!
Looking forward to our surfing trip probably last week of August or first week of September.

From Ian:
si tina ay hindi magrereply o sasagot ng phone kapag may planong mag injan sa mga lakad.hehe pero pag sasama yan, todo din sa mga reply. ;D
miss you Tina! tama sila, life of the party ka nga, next to me.hehe

My reply:
Mapayat man ako pero pinataba niyo ang puso ko, come on! (naks!)

Don't you just love birthdays?=p

24!

Unedited write-up, written spontaneously.

I was planning for a Justin Bieber birthday party but my last two weeks have been crazy and the weather kept me from going outside and the whole universe conspired to un-cougar me (ang daming excuses!) so I celebrated it at home (double birthday bash with my cousin because it's cheaper to split the expenses - so Ilocana!). It was a simple lunch and we were in our pambahay outfits. Dishes were courtesy of our favorite Lung Center Sunday Market, it was raining that morning when we went to buy the food, but I just had to make the people at home happy with having a lunch not prepared by Ate Letty (hehe). She cooks food for us but she seems to have been running out of inspiration its affecting her cooked meals. Lesson number one: Happy people are productive people.

                                                        The V.Luna Brigade

Crispy Kangkong. We remember eating this 2 Holy week vacations ago courtesy of Mommy Egie. We had to download in the net still how it is cooked and it turned out the best seller of the day! Rewind 2 hours ago in the Lung Center Sunday market, I asked ate Ay: "Anong hitsura ng kangkong? Saan dito yun?" My ever reliable cousin didn't know how a kangkong should look either. Lesson number 2:Include kangkong in Bahay-kubo song.=p Also, not all promdi's know their vegetables.

 Isabel and Lean were sweet enough (for the day only =p) to research and cook Crispy kangkong for us.

 Ineng's Barbeque.

This catfish (hito, grilled to  perfection) died for us.

                                                                           Sinuglaw.

California Maki.

Ensalada. I am so proud of myself for having the patience to chop the tomatoes and green magoes and red egg. Lesson number three: Being domestic can be be fun sometimes.

 

Tikoy Roll.

I just had to take pictures of the food because this is one of the few occassions when I actually feel like I am capable of doing housework.=p I did not cook any of them, of course, but I actually shopped for them, cut and sliced, unpacked and supervised the presentation. This is the farthest I can go to being domestic. But I hope to learn how to cook one of these days. Independence, I can smell you.=p

Back to birthday business, the last weekend of July should have been my joint birthday celebration (again!) with Myrella but it was a bad timing for most of our friends since they either have exams (yes, I have friends who are still in school, I am going to be one of them soon!) or they are super busy with work. So we just had our usual dinner at Pino Bar and restaurant in Teacher's village (try visiting the place, ang daming pogi) and stayed in Jenny's condo for her wine and crepe (courtesy of her 6-month stint as an exchange student in France) and Abby's Vietnamese Chips (courtesy of her 1-week Splash marketing event). My friends are all jetsetters! I am sharing some photos:

                                                                   

We did not get in the restaurant right away as it was fully packed on a Saturday night. Lesson number four: Call for a reservation first! But it was definitely worth the wait. I did not get to take pictures of the food, I was so hungry to even think of taking photos. We had Kare-Kareng Bagnet , Beef Tadyang in Red Wine, Cheese Sticks and Breaded Veggies.    

Kids born in 1986!

Happy 24 1986-born children! We'll forever be kids, whether the world likes it or not! =p

HELLO MONDAY!

I am looking forward to that day when I will look forward on Mondays!