Braising my Beef

finally, a year in the same address! wow! i cant believe i have withstood about 6 addresses in the last two years! hahaha. since then, i have officially declared myself as a very good new york city apartment hunter!

my mom has finally met my bf, and oddly enough, he likes him. i guess my mom hated all the assholes ive gone out with — most of them without her knowledge. hahahaha.

ive learned to throw a 5 course family dinner, and a 5 course pulutan party! wahoo! martha stewart, I DONT EVEN HAVE ASSISTANTS!!! (except for cleaning up because ive never been good at it. see my room? yeah, that’s what i mean!)

ive finally fully understood the meaning of kariño brutal. the reason why i havent understood what i meant it is the fact that ive been living in that same form of love that i have nothing to compare it with. now that ive seen the other side of the spectrum, i will keep my mouth shut (and complain about it to my friends, NYAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA)

going to a gay party will always make me saner than my usual self. i love gays, and i will always be the great fag hag. if you cant live with it, YOU HAVE TO! and now we know why they are gay, no matter what, they are always happy — i speak only for the ones i know.

ive given my mom the best gift ever. roundtrip tickets to see me! (and realized that experiences are better gifts than an expensive purse!)

my kuya, as his exgf said, is closet thoughtful. inspite of him being the biggest snob (me being the second biggest snob) he is very very thoughtful. one of the best things about him is his sense of humor. it is mean, it is sick and it is true. and love every bit of it.

ive eaten the rhode island clam chowder twice (and taken the water taxi once), eaten fried clams from a clamshack in martha’s vineyard, tried going up the top of the cock in chicago, carried the world over my back in queens and gotten sick and tired of seeing washington DC three times.

ive eaten the best ribs in my entire life in wes’ rib house in providence, rhode island… and eating the second best ribs in my life in the second greatest city in the world. dinosaur barbeque at west 131st street and 12th ave. yes, it is under the highway. its always full and the rib eye is good! mm mm good!

the taste of chicago is one of the best reasons to keep the word DIET out of vocabulary. the best one would be pigging out with pauline, but you probably dont know her. oh… and the pancakes at nookie’s in chicago IS THE BEST. havent found one that rivals it here in new york.

i learned that my cooking and weight watching dont match. eat and you shall be happy. worry about the weight before bikini season.

and the best thing i learned this year is love yourself, and love everyone as much as you love you — and remember, NO is a good and acceptable answer. everyone should learn to deal with it, including you.

happy new year! (keep in mind that gatorade is a good cure for hangovers. i like grape!)

although i have been whining again and again about getting old, it has finally hit me hard.

i congratulated budj on his new comic and i must say i am proud. finally after a long time i get to read more of his stuff — not that i havent, its just that finally, it aint stuff for the globe ads.

then he said about andre getting married, and pictures were in his blog. clickety click i went and there it was, everyone i used to hang out with in college and in the first few years of my assorted job titles. pig out and watch movies with. nitpick on stuff to nitpick on, and pig out some more on g-days. (gluttony day)

everyone has moved on, gotten married, moved out of the house, had babies and all that. including me. im not there anymore, and i dont go on g-days anymore — instead i throw them now. though i have done that before — feeding them my well renowned escallion, i havent exactly fed them a 5 course meal… i remember it well when budj was volunteering everyone, himself included, to be my test kitchen official tasters.

i have been officially in denial of the age piling on meself, but if anything, its not only me who has been denying it. my cousin told me yesterday that her father is in denial of the fact that she is almost turning 30.

and then there is the numerous askings of the same question:
"when are you getting married?"

another cousin, who is married and has a daughter said the term where we used to belong — "the kids."

for crying out loud. i cannot believe that im not in that category anymore?!

i think it is weird. i am now officially in the limbo of britney spears. "im not a girl, not yet a woman"

• 3 names you go by: janjan, telly, ate
  
• 3 physical things you like about yourself: nose (when it aint runnin), my  smile and my calves
  
• 3 physical things you don’t like about yourself: fat arms, big belly, big belly.. (yeah, its big enough to be counted twice!
  
• 3 things that scare you: sore throats…
  
• 3 of your everyday essentials: moisturizer, hairdryer (during the winter) and lotion
  
• 3 physical features of the opposite sex that attract you: cute smile, nice butt, nice hands
  
• 3 careers you’ve considered: md, food stylist and chef
  
• 3 kids names you like: offspring one, two and three… lol
  
• 3 things you’d like to do before you die: travel, have kids, see grandchildren
  
• 3 ways that you are stereotypically a boy: i love the hardware store, i own a toolbox and i actually know how to use everything in it. (and i want a cordless drill!!!)
  
• 3 ways that you are stereotypically a girl: i cook, i hate cleaning and i hate doing the laundry!! (oh, and i complain a lot!)
  

finally, the threats of the NYC subway strike has come to fruition! hooray! thanks to the strike my office didnt exactly open. after 45 minutes of travel time to manhattan (which is usual for me) with a 15 minute cabride (costing 15 bucks) and 2 hours of doing nothing really productive in the office, my boss finally gave up on trying to get to manhattan.

i swear to god, after all that contingency plan things done, i dont get why people get into the mess of a 4 hour commute to the city… then again, thanks to their bad luck and semi incompetence, i got off at 2pm!

i thank the numerous strikes in the philippines for such a skill and patience. i left late so i dont have to be killing the other straphangers to get in the train — and have all the time in the world to just lay down on my soft warmy warm bed. i did what the contingency plan said — take shuttle trains from metro north railroad (which is a 15 buck cab ride away from my house) to get into midtown. lucky for me that there is a grand central terminal entrance 2 blocks from my building.

save for the expensive trains and cabride, i didnt really feel any difference to my morning commute. in reality, it was quicker than normal by about 5 minutes, i guess. hahaha.

now, i have stationed my ass in very accessible westchester county. now, i really feel sorry for the people who live in brooklyn.

oh yeah, i salute mayor bloomberg for walking the brooklyn bridge span to work. also, i feel sorry for his escorts, walking in that zero degree temperature. i hope this strike lasts longer than the 11 day strike 25 years ago. that would serve the MTA right, and piss off my boss and annoying coworker. haha. long live the strike!

today, as i was getting out of the rockefeller center subway station i experienced the most familiar hunger pang.

i need my krispy kremes.

a couple of months back, there was a deli at the concourse of the rockefeller station that closed down and was replaced by a dunkin donuts. this particular site was the neighbor of my great love kleespees. when they opened, i was aghast. THE NERVE OF DUNKIN DONUTS!!!! (yes, i am against their donuts because they are not soft-melt-in-your-mouth kind. how a bakery product melts in your mouth escapes me, BUT IT DOES!)

of course there was always a longer line at dunkin donuts — for the sheer fact that a lot of new yorkers are friggin ignorant of the heavenly glaze on that soooooooft ring of bread. i hate dunkin donuts. I HATE IT!!!!

and now, my craving wasnt satisfied. no more 7 dollar a dozen donuts. no more 13 dollars for 2 dozen deals. no more small nook with the best donuts in the whole world!!!!!!!! no more flavor of the month donut!! (even if i never try it as i remain loyal to my original glazed!!!)

the nerve of dunkin donuts to shut down my little home of sugary sweet donuts. THE NEEERRRVEEEE!!! THEY PULVERIZED MY DONUT STORE TO SMITHEREENS!!!

i hope dunkin donuts is happy. I shall never eat a dunkin donut for the rest of my life!!!! I HATE THEM!! I HAAAATE THEM!!!!

now, no more fresh baked donuts. i guess i will have to rely on au bon pain to supply me with my sugar high.

i hate dunkin donuts!!! now all i have is a hole. grr.

im always at awe at how i could actually live in new york city and survive it. everyone says its expensive to live here, but i most certainly disagree.

here are the reasons why its very affordable to live here

1. 76 bucks a month for public transportation. living anywhere subwayable is the best thing ever. 76 bucks, unlimited bus and subway rides. (forget living in nj. rents are cheaper but the transportation cost more than makes up for it, plus, the public transportation over there does not run 24hours everyday, including sundays and holidays)

your car doesnt define you, no insurance, no gas costs and no toll to pay. best of all, YOU DONT EVEN HAVE TO BUY A CAR!

2. patience is a virtue. having 4 seasons, stores are always on sale every couple of weeks. NEVER EVER BUY ANYTHING ON RETAIL. (yes, even saks fifth avenue goes 40% off — but i never shop there) and that does not mean you should sacrifice style over price. (style is an entirely different thing — i dont think i can help you with that.)

3. groceries outside the island of manhattan drop in prices once it gets on to the boroughs of brooklyn, bronx, staten island and queens. also, if its non perishable like laundry soap — buy only when it is on sale, even if you dont need it yet.

4. eating out in manhattan is fairly cheap if you know where to go. (8 dollar entrees, hello?)

5. cook your own food. food shopping is always cheaper in an asian store, and if you can cook it, then you can eat it. although eating out is much more convenient, cooking your own food can sometimes cost one buck a meal. eating more adds up too. 8 dollar entree meals come with tax and tip — and realistically, it should cost you about 12 dollars.. and drinks… and cab rides when you get too drunk… which might run you up to 300 bucks or more.

6. entertainment is free. the new york public library lends out dvds and vhs tapes for free for a week’s duration. 2 weeks for the books… (there’s always speed reading at barnes and noble for free!) central park has shakespeare in the park every summer, and the new york philharmonic plays there too — all for free!

7. information is free. there are many newspapers given for free — the village voice, am new york, metro, new york press… take your pick.

8. culture is cheap — museums have pay-as-you-wish nights (guggenheim and moma among others) and suggested donation museums like the metropolitan museum of art only SUGGESTS your donation. giving the museum attendant one dollar for everyone in your party will get you a dirty look, but that’s about it. sure beats the $7.00 SUGGESTION.

9.  your relatives and friends will always come to visit you (or the big apple… whichever is appropriate). well, when they do they will always reward your tourguiding skills with free meals — free meals and always having a full social calendar and almost always negating the feeling of loneliness is always good, isnt it? (and you get so much photo opportunities too!)

10. you dont have to follow the fashion trend- new york is home to apathy!