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!

COOKED!

Cooked Story #1:

One Tuesday night, I didn't have to choose between Red Horse and Red wine. Between Angus Steak and Sisig. Between French fries or French Chocolate Gateau. I get to be both the pretentious classy corporate chick I am forced to portray for that 15th-30th pay check and that high school kid who is not responsible for anything but myself and my personal satisfaction.

My boss took care of that fine dining experience at Enchante (by Chef Jessie of Le Souffle fame).

    Grilled Prawns Salad. Actually it has a fancier name, I just forgot what it is called. haha!=p

                                             Grilled U.S. Angus Black Tenderloin in Madeira Sauce. 

The waiter asked me, "How do you like your steak ma'am?". Guess what my bano, pretentious, masa reply? "Cooked!" Dear Lord, I even said it with conviction. The ever polite waiter retorted, "You mean well done, ma'am?". I nodded and smiled sheepishly.I was not born for this. In my vocabulary, well-done and cooked are one and the same.

                                                     French Chocolate Gateau

 
I am so promdi I got thrilled with their Legally Blonde restroom I just had to take pictures.


My friends took care of the Red horse and the sisig part.
I don't think I still have to tell you which of the two dinners that night I enjoyed and loved more.=p

High school may have happened 10 years ago (oh no! we are that old!) but still, I have great memories of it, my high school friends will be among my most favorite group of people in the entire universe!


Cooked Story #2:

Our helper at home prepared the usual lunch and dinner one Saturday. I love Ate Letty and Vangie for making our lives more comfortable but really, I don't look forward to eating what they prepare for us. My cousin's dissatisfaction made him buy a griller so he can have grilled salmon and grilled beef for his luch and dinner. 

                                               Lean's Lunch: Grilled Salmon

                                                  Lean's Dinner: Grilled Beef

The presentation looks the same but they were far much better than Ate Letty's tinola and pork chop. I ask him why he's not like us who eat whatever is prepared no matter how bland the food is. He says he's going against statu quo. 

I love stubborn young people! =p

GO WITH THE FLOW

One of the highlights of my 2009 was when I mustered all the courage to sign up to a 3-day retreat in La Union dubbed as Flow: Surf.Yoga.Samba by Monica Eleazar-Manzano. I do not know her at all or anybody attending the event nor have I told my friends I will be in northern exile for the long weekend. You see, I have no problems traveling alone if it means meeting interesting individuals (I certainly  did) and being in an unfamiliar territory gives me a mix feeling of fear (a tinge of it) and pure satisfaction.

I was super excited for the afternoon samba sessions by the beach (of the three featured activities, surfing, yoga and samba, samba was primarily the reason I went - I am a frustrated dancer!) but ended up loving surfing the most. I was all bruised at the end of the retreat (I still have it until today) and sunburnt because of an all-day surfing but I didn't care. I didn't realize how stubborn I was to not give up until I get up on the board with quivering knees and sail towards the shore triumphant. I laugh at myself remembering how I silently and persistently told myself, "I won't get out of this ocean until I get up. Stand up. Get up." And I did. I got up.

Compared to my lackluster real estate life, I was in awe of the many people I met. I was roommates with Nancy, a vegetarian fresh from a backpacking adventure in Europe. Marnie from Scotland who is a music teacher in IS. I met an adventurous couple who has been to a mountain climbing adventure in Nepal. Check out their blog here.  Then there's Monica, who has given up her comfortable city life to teach Yoga in Palawan and raise her family in a greener, simpler way.

Next time I attend another retreat, I hope to bring with me a story.

Inspiring!

*photo credit: Flow.Surf.Yoga.Samba facebook account