People have the impression that I don't like to cook since I've always said that I'd rather eat than cook but it doesn't mean that I don't enjoy the latter. It's just that I grew up with a father who's great in the kitchen and ended up marrying a man with the same talent so it's safe to say I'm pretty spoiled in that area.

But what really keeps me from ruling the kitchen is that I hate being told how to prepare a dish and I hate having it compared to someone else's. For reasons I won't get into, I have a big thing against comparisons and I'm forever trying to assert my individuality in everything that I do.

Back when I still lived at home, my Papang, who is such a control freak, would always be hovering every time I would attempt to cook something. It didn't help that some of my tastes were so different from my family's. I remember how mad I'd get whenever he'd try to steer me into preparing a certain dish his way. So, to avoid that, I got into baking instead. I tired of it though because in baking, everything has to be so precise and I'm more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of girl. In the kitchen, anyways.

When I got married, I thought I'd finally have the freedom to do things my way but nooooo! I remember getting pissed off at J several times during our first year because he'd either compare the dishes I'd prepare to his or to his mom's. Grrr. He wised up eventually but I sort of lost my enthusiasm and just let him do his thing.

Lately though, I've started cooking again. This time, I've decided to try and stick to recipes that no one else in our family makes. This way, I get to avoid any comparisons or getting unsolicited directions about how and what I cook. It's going well so far. Eventually, I hope to find my own niche and finally be able to enjoy cooking without any reservations.

This was my favorite on PostSecret last Sunday.

When something isn't right with our bodies, we're the first ones to know although lots of times, we ignore the message. We convince ourselves that it's nothing because we're too lazy to go and have a doctor check us out or we're too scared to find out that something really IS wrong and we resort to denial. Wrong move.

Fortunately for me, I've always been very vigilant and proactive when it comes to health-related matters. And both have definitely saved me from the biggest health scare I've had in my lifetime.

I've been a contact lens wearer since I was 17 (I would have started using them earlier if my parents had allowed me) so I've always known that I was at high risk for developing eye infections if I wasn't careful in handling them. Fast forward to 6 days ago when I started feeling extreme dryness in my right eye. At first, I thought it was just due to the arid climate here. The following day in the afternoon, I noticed my iris was a bit red-rimmed and that there was a small white spot on its surface. By evening, bright lights began to hurt it so I told the hubby I wanted to have it checked so the next morning, he brought me to the ER of the Ophtha/ENT hospital where he works.

Barely 10 seconds after the ophthalmologist examined my eye under a slit lamp, I hear him mutter, "bacterial keratitis". After checking it and interviewing me about the symptoms for a few minutes, he told me I was lucky. Bacterial keratitis is a sight-threatening condition that develops very quickly and, with certain virulent bacteria, it can destroy the cornea within 24-48 hours. EEK!!!

It was a good thing that I didn't wait until I felt my eye was worse. I could have easily brushed off the dryness, redness and photophobia to just some irritation caused by my contact lens wear or the climate or eyestrain. But somehow, I knew there was something off and I played it safe by going to the doctor and was able to have it treated immediately. My eye is still on 2-hourly antibiotic therapy till next week and a steroid for a month but the doc said there should be no lingering after effects. Thank God!

And best thing is hubby has decided to let me get LASIK surgery to correct my myopia once and for all. Hopefully, I'll be able get it done before the year ends or maybe by early next year.

If you ever feel that there's something wrong with you health wise, don't be scared. You'll have more peace when you get a medical check up and the doctor gives you a clean bill of health. Money paid for that is never a waste. And if there is something wrong, early treatment is always the best thing.

I watched a rerun of one of the episodes from last season's So You Think You Can Dance and I remembered just how much I loved this particular lyrical hip hop routine. The choreography was great and the dancers, Chelsie and Mark, hit every move and nuance perfectly. I didn't really like Leona Lewis' song Bleeding Love much at that time but after watching this, the song kind of grew on me.

I had no intention of writing about the passing of an icon whose music transcended the boundaries of culture and color and was a true global celebrity. But after watching a tribute dedicated to Michael Jackson tonight, I felt compelled to say something, anything, to express the inexplicable sense of loss that I feel. I guess a big part of it is because his music has been a part of my life, the way it has been for countless others, and his passing is a sad reminder of time gone by and our own mortality.

Much has been said about him in the almost four decades of his career, both the good and the bad. In the past several years, he has almost completely fallen from grace but, as Jessica Zafra said: "Was my enjoyment of “Thriller” in any way diminished by the public perception of Michael Jackson? The answer is: No."

NO.

He said if people wanted to really understand him, they should listen to this song he wrote. It made me tear up. Yes, I'm a sap so just shut up.



Have you seen my Childhood?
I'm searching for the world that I come from
'Cause I've been looking around
In the lost and found of my heart...
No one understands me
They view it as such strange eccentricities...
'Cause I keep kidding around
Like a child, but pardon me...

People say I'm not okay
'Cause I love such elementary things...
It's been my fate to compensate,
for the Childhood
I've never known...

Have you seen my Childhood?
I'm searching for that wonder in my youth
Like pirates in adventurous dreams,
Of conquest and kings on the throne...

Before you judge me, try hard to love me,
Look within your heart then ask,
Have you seen my Childhood?

People say I'm strange that way
'Cause I love such elementary things,
It's been my fate to compensate,
for the Childhood I've never known...

Have you seen my Childhood?
I'm searching for that wonder in my youth
Like fantastical stories to share
The dreams I would dare, watch me fly...

Before you judge me, try hard to love me.
The painful youth I've had

Have you seen my Childhood...

"Music has been my outlet, my gift to all of the lovers in this world. Through it, my music, I know I will live forever." - Michael Jackson

Yes, you will. Rest in peace.

Me and my Papang. We may not see eye to eye on a lot of things, there've been times that we may have disappointed each other, and I may now have a family of my own yet nothing can ever change the fact that I'll always be a big papa's girl.

When I was younger, he used to take me out on his tiny motorcycle and buy me young coconuts because they were my favorite (and we wouldn't share!). In high school, I rebelled against his guardia civil ways by not making much of an effort to bring home the best grades that I could. In college, as he gave me the money for my enrollment, he'd ask if my "kupit" was already included there, hehe. When I started working, he made the mistake of teaching me how to drive and I learned how to stay out until the wee hours of the morning before I came home to his sleepy glare and severe tongue-lashing. When I left to work overseas for the first time, I was so scared that he'd have to be taken to the hospital with the way he cried. When I got married, he all but gave me away, to my now husband, boxed and wrapped with a huge red ribbon because he'd been so terrified that I might end up a spinster. And now, since I made him a grandfather for the first time in 2007, he's stopped focusing on me but is now head over heels crazy with my son. Yet he says I'm still his girl.

To Papang, thank you for being all that you are and all that you're not. I'll always love you.



And now, for the father of my son. He may balk a little when it comes to changing nappies, giving baths or brushing Jeolo's teeth but he never says no and does it happily. He's changed his lifestyle, and keeps trying to change, to make him an even better role model for our little boy. When he sees me starting to go nuts from being stuck with Jeolo the entire day, he'll take him out for a walk or just out of my sight so I can have some peace and quiet. I'm so proud of him for being such a wonderful, involved and loving father. I love you, Dada.

To all fathers... Happy Father's Day!!!

I've been waiting for this movie to come out since I read the book, The Time Traveler's Wife, about a year and a half ago. It will finally be released around August this year and I'm hoping that it'll meet, or even exceed, my expectations.

Here's the trailer: