girlaloo

break time

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:02:39 GMT

It is dinner break right now but before I go back to writing technical matters, I would like to share a story by my very creative friend Jeff...

Ang Alamat ng Electric Fan
(The Legend of the Electric Fan)

Once upon a time, there lived a young boy who walks from home to school and vice versa everyday. One day while waiting for the green light on a pedestrian crossing, an old lady stood beside her. When it was their turn to cross, he offered his arm to guide the old lady across the street. Upon crossing, the old lady turned into a beautiful fairy with a magic wand and said, "Because of your kind gesture, I will turn you into ... an ELECTRIC FAN!" From then on, we have electric fans.

Hahaaaa!

Anybody want to hear The Legend of the Hanger?

Nice dive

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:47:25 GMT

Thursday night. Selda casa. Proper dinner with Buhay & Hyden. Bought raw bulalo (beef shanks) and some fish from Karama Fish Market. We met with our good old vendor pals in the market. The Pakistani guys in the meat shop usually add a few pieces of beef taba (fat) and laman (meat) to our papaitan set upon request. The papaitan guy makes his eyes bigger as he says 'Tabaaah'. The guys in the fish shop greets us with 'Pare & Mare' and give us tips on which ones are the freshest. The Indian guys in the vegetable shop across the fish stall would always say 'Long time! How have you been?' After we've paid for our vegies, we'll say goodbyes and see you next times. That's your friendly Karama Fish Market!

Buhay will boil the bulalo tonight so we can have a savoury soupy lunch tomorrow with Papa Mar, Say & Jeff. Caught my mother on YM and had a nice brief inspiring chat. She's been working late - both Dubai time (10:40pm) and Phil. time (around 3am). She said they're just finishing something. Indefatiguable is how Red Constantino describe her. The adjective was very much in action a few minutes ago. Good thing my brother Giting fetched her so now she's off. I hope she'll sleep immediately when they get home. My brother is nearing his exam days. Goodluck & God bless!

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At home relaxing before bed time, Muffin copied Dale's whole collection of Janis Joplin to my hard drive. And there's more: Sade, Basia, The Who, Jun Lopito, Joni Mitchell, Dazed & Confused Soundtrack and even Coltrane! They've got an intensive collection of really good music that you don't need to go to Virgin.

John Coltrane, the acclaimed jazz artist, is of some significant interest to me mainly because i'm curious why they say his music is great. I tried his greatest hits collection a few years back and i must humbly say that it was too early for me to appreciate that kind of jazz on the deeper spectrum of freestyle. It was like there was no chorus or middle part or any trace of the usual song format we're used to. I do like jazz but most of the ones I have found to like are standards. They are easy, accessible, familiar and easy to nibble. Coltrane, on the other hand, is way up and out there. Maybe if I listen to it again this time, i'll feel some heart in it to me. Or maybe it will just elude me. Whatever it is, I've got the company of Ms. Joplin tonight.

Hot & Bitter Charm

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:14:39 GMT

Dubai felt relatively warm the past few weeks and there is a seeming sigh peeping on the minds of its constituents with the thought of summer creeping in. Add the sandstorm over the weekend and it could be a cry. Exaj hehehe.

This week though, is heaven. It got cold again but not as cold as the months before. It is just perfect. I wish it could be like this till the end of the year. But ofcourse, it will no longer be the Middle East without its hot charm.

I remember my father laughing at us when we were kids eating a salad of fresh ampalaya (bitter gourd) over lunch. We were cringing and complaining why it has to be so bitter. He said, 'Syempre mapait, ampalaya nga yan e. Pag di na yan mapait, di na yan ampalaya.' (Ofcourse it's bitter because it's a bitter gourd. It will no longer be one if it's not bitter at all.)

Syempre!

write write write wirte witre

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 13:41:03 GMT

There are & have been lots of thoughts but not much is written. I would like to keep blogging to exercise & stimulate a writing mind. I need to write something - many things. Something really important. Something to look forward to. I need to get down & dirty writing and reading and writing and reading ... and discussing! No photos necessary. Just words words words wrods wdors wrdos...

As my mother said: 'Edited or unedited, you have to have something written as a start.'

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We saw the Chinese State Circus at DFC last night. It was fantastic! First time for me to actually be in a circus. There was the bicycle act - where up to a dozen ladies rode a single bike. The double pole stunt - they looked like ninjas in a bamboo forest hanging by the arm & torso and swinging from trunk to trunk using only their thighs. Jeff and I called it pitpit-itlog (crush-egg). Those guys must be very very strong. And there were many more. It was a very good show. Timings are 6pm & 9pm at the Dubai Festival City. Today is the last day though.

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and i haven't moved yet.

moving

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:24:36 GMT

girlaloo is contemplating on a move back to blogger since it is getting hard for her to edit this page. she is feeling quite outdated and has to rehash some web edit skills... among other things. it is not final yet but this is the possible new site:

http://www.malayawrites.blogspot.com

+++++++

it's funny this spice girls song is running in my head:
... soooo tell me what you want, what you really really want
iiiii'll tell you what i want what i really really want
you gotta uh gotta uh
<music music music> dadadadat
ahhhhhh. if you wanna be my lavahhh...

i'm excited to go home (to our house in jumeirah) because i will be listening to basia on cassette on the way! haha! now is the tiiiiiiiiiime for me...

++++++++

I spent this morning trying to recover from a really bad headache. Jeff, Jeck & Pao called & asked to join them for breakfast. Having breakfast out with friends is always a delight. We have this special place in our hearts we go to in Al Ghurair Centre Deira � Mugg & Bean. They serve breakfast all day and aside from their Famous M&B breakfast, there�s a lot more to have. Bottomless coffee or iced tea comes with each breakfast order. But it�s not only breakfast they have. They�ve got lunch platters (Chicken pot pie & Munich), deserts, and most of all, a staff that feels like family. The caf� faces the nicest pedestrian strip of Al Rigga road and you can always have your breakfast al fresco - except maybe during summer.

I sound like plugging now. But hey, it�s a real nice place to have breakfast. The cheapest one in Dubai perhaps is in Ikea (for only 4AED! � that�s their recession rate) but you will have to drive to get to DFC. The nearest ones to our house is Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (just right serving & price), Lime Tree (too Brit for me), Shakespeare (costly), Chowking (for the famous Pinoy breakfasts starting 430am � tapsilog, bangusilog, & hotsilog sets with coffee), Al Fai (same food like Chowking but cheaper + plus there is the friendly Babu!), Fiesta Caf� in Mercato (a bit costly for me too), Le Notre (they say this is very nice but haven�t tried � might be expensive for me) & of course, Spinney�s � where you can buy fresh food from morning to night. Haha! I live in breakfast heaven! These companies must pay me for this�

Oh food food food! You are good!

something for august

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 16:12:34 GMT

... toink toink... back home, august is usually the 'end of the world' month - typhoon plus some earthquake. in dubai, it usually is the hottest month - not this time though... ummm, climate change. in our small villa, august is the birthday month. happy birthday daisy, noel, papa mar. at any point in my short spanned memory, august has always been so fast. next month, will be jerico's and hyden's month. ++++ type type type. click click click. blah blah blah. more nonsense. ++++ China Sea restaurant along Al Maktoum Road near Clock Tower in Deira offers very good chinese food. Their menu board takes the 'breaking-through-language-&-cultures' chinese way of presenting their dishes further through open chillers containing the actual dishes for everyone to view - price included. You stand infront of the chiller with the waitress and point what you want, then go to your seat. Very smart. I felt no traces of MSG by the way. Ayos na ayos. Oh and they also have karaoke inside their private suites so you can sing before, during or after eating. Or even all the time. Just don't spill some food... It can create negative audience impact.

Wake up, blog!

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:29:03 GMT

Good morning! Wake up!

This blog is beginning to get dusty, cobwebby and oh so empty.

Wake up Malaya Inday! Hi friends! Just resuscitating my dear old blog. What happened the past few months? days? A lot - unexpectedly. All I can sum up for now is I'm happy to be back in finer condition compared to last Saturday.

Today... I just learned from my Senior this afternoon that one of our projects will have to stop and might not be constructed anymore because of money things - the combined effect of inflation, stricter regulations, MEP loads, plus fees for LEED (2%!). Money. Money.

Dr. Jones proposes viewing measuring sustainability in terms of carbon consumption besides monetary units. Mr. Clark (Atkins, CEO) wants to see the future working with that approach. Hmmm. What if money gets out of the equation? Could we go somewhere with that setup? In our last module, we learned the drivers of sustainability - economy, technology, environment, society. Nobody mentioned that economy should be like money based.

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Our class in BUiD went for a summer trip in the UK for 6 days. We visited the Cardiff University, London, and Greenwich University. One of the highlights I like to share is the tale of 3 people from the three different towns we visited.

In Wales, we met Phil Jones. In London, we met Keith Clark. And in Greenwich, we met Keith Jones. I wonder if these three guys have been present in one room already. It would be nice to take a picture of them. I'm sure Dr. Jones have met with Keith Clark already.

Dr. Jones btw, is head of the School of Architecture, fantastic person with nice hair, contributor of environmental design sections in the Time Saver Standards for Architects. He gave us some presentations and treated us to lunch and dinner. Keith Clark is the CEO of Atkins, down-to-earth person. He treated us dinner. It was in that dinner that I tasted the best salmon steak (as how I imagined it to be) but was not able to finish the whole of it because Mr. Clark was infront of me. Oh, I forgot to ask if he would hire me, hahaha. He was very nice though - very nice. Keith Jones is a team leader in the College of Architecture in Greenwich Univ. He showed us some student works - even one that used Dubai as his site. I had my eyebrows raised (internally) with the project, I'm not sure how it went inside my classmates' minds.

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I exchanged beds with my brother. He used to sleep in a loft bed on top of Noel. I used to share the queen-sized bed with Diane. Now that it's summer and Diane is in Singapore, my brother started crawling down to sleep beside me in the big bed - and then snore late at night.

I'm fine with the snoring because I can always nudge and bug him till he gets to a quieter position. I really needed a quiet nook (plus away from TV) to study and concentrate on my study obligations i.e. thesis! I was able to put together a small shelf-turned-desk, a lamp, earphones, box file and some outlets within the confines of the 900X2100mm bed around 1.8 meters above ground. An electric fan was installed on one side to supply cool air (no one can sleep there on summer without it). I hope I'd be able to work there better (our library hours were shortened so I was in a semi-desperate hunt for a sensible study nook outside office hours) and maybe sneak in some more posts here.

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I hope a lot of people had a great time today. Cheers! :-)

Magsulat!

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 21:24:18 GMT

Aaaaantagal ko na hindi nagsusulat. Madami na nangyari. Masaya, magulo, madami, nakakatuwa. May mga na-fifinal answer ng unti unti. Nailing them down one by one. Unti unti din na-dedefine ang mga dapat tahakin pero dumadami pa din ang pedi at kailangan gawin. Masaya. Nakakapagod. Minsan nakakainis, nakakainip. Pero masaya pa din ang buhay.

Kagabi kumain kami sa piiinaka masarap (as of now) na Chinese restaurant sa Satwa - ang Noodle Bowl. Masarap duon ang Beef noodle soup at Yunan noodle soup at braised dumplings, mga salad at kung ano ano pa. Panalo doon. Sana lahat ng kilala ko dito ay kumain doon. Panalo.

Pagkauwi, bago ako pumasok sa bahay namin ay tinawag ako ng kapit bahay naming nag-iinuman. Sabi niya inom muna. Tulungan ko daw siya ubusin yung isang baso. Gin pomelo. Matapang pala. Lagpas ng kalahati nung malaking baso ang nainom ko sa isang taasan kasi uhaw na uhaw ako. (Umiinit na kasi sa labas dahil magsusummer na). Boom ayun nahilo ako pagkatapos ng ilang minuto.

Pagkatapos pa ng ilang minuto ay namamaga na ang tiyan ko dahil sa sobrang busog at hilo. Ilang minuto pa ulit ay naisuka ko na lahat ng nakain ko pero mas gumaan ang pakiramdam. Paalam noodles, seafood, sabaw at gin pomelo. Next time ulit ay magsama sama tayo.

Masaya ang buhay. Lagi nating alalahanin ito. :) In english: Life is fun. Let's always remember this. OOOhaaa. Kampay.

Sit down patterns

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:20:26 GMT

Many or maybe all of the things that happen in life start out as ideas while sitting down, concepts, suggestions, possibilities. Then it leads to trying it out looking where it could lead you. When you're there you say, "Oh so this is it." Followed by "Wow, it's great!" or 'It's fine, but not as great as I though it could be. Atleast now I know.' Then you sit down again and think of the next journey. The ball keeps rolling.

You learn more about yourself through the process. You start off young wanting to do a lot of things but don't know where to start. As time goes by, you get more defined. Through each journey, you add to your own 'life list' the things you want and eliminate some. Things you are willing to do and not. What is acceptable and not. Situations you cannot allow yourself to be in and situations you wouldn't put others in. You learn more about honesty, courage and respect. You also have to decide everyday. 'Do I do this?' Yes or No. 'Do I say this?'Yes or No. 'Do I stay?'Yes or No. You answer these everyday questions with reference to your values and the things that are most important to you.

There will be times when you feel just plain tired or whatever negative. And you will always have to be honest to yourself about how you feel.

I would like to start saying, 'Oh so this is it' again soon. Ultimately, I need to sit down again.

chat

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:33:14 GMT

I wish you were here so you could take care of me.

I do too, however, I'm not good at taking care of people.

That's fine. You can start from scratch.

You can scratch my back, my scalp...

Hehehe.
Get well soon.