14 Days To Love - Prelude

Today is the end of January, which means Bash The Singles Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. *cue retching from too much reds and hearts*

I decided to do again a 14 Days To Lurve project that I did last year (like it was such a success). This time, instead of quotes from books, I choose quotes from movies and TV shows. Unlike last time, though, my posts will include notes/thoughts on the quotes I chose. In books, the emotions/feelings behind the quote are described by the author for the reader. This time, it’s merely dialogue, and unless you’ve watched the movie/TV show quoted, the meaning of the words might not be so clear.

You won’t see the usual quotes here, like the lines from Jerry Maguire or The Notebook, because I… haven’t seen those movies. I haven’t watched a lot of romantic flicks, so don’t expect fancy words that will make you swoon. I did not pick these quotes for the words itself, but more on how those words were said by the characters and how it relates to the whole picture. So please be kind and don’t harass me with comments like “But that’s not romantic enough!”.

Jen and Mak are also planning something similar, so don’t forget to check those out.

Comments will be nice, but chocolates on Valentine’s Day are just as good. (What?)

Phone-A-Friend

I have the DUMB today. Can somebody please give the closest English translations for these words?

• kilig
• tambay
• torpe
• kulit
• gunita

Double Entry

This is not a diss on all accountants, only on those who can’t think “outside the box” (this phrase is a cliché and I don’t like using it to criticize people, but it’s just appropriate). Plus, I promised myself I won’t get annoyed on the smallest things anymore but OMG this fried my brain!

I don’t get why a one peso (or in some cases, 1 CENTAVO) reconciling item should merit about four pages of e-mail exchanges (It started with something like “We have P1 discrepancy. For your immediate action” and then about 4 departments were copied in the email, in essence trying to assign blame responsibility). I understand the need to balance the books and to account for every single centavo, but if the difference is VERY CLEARLY due to rounding-off of figures computed when the accrual was made versus the actual billing statement received from the counterparty (which is the basis for payment), do we even need a discussion on how it must be booked? Or, as suggested in this case, pay the counterparty the difference of 1 FREAKIN’ peso?! Would booking the one peso discrepancy in Miscellaneous/Other Charges be such a big audit red flag? Yes? No? Maybe?

You know, this is one of the reasons why (as some would put it) I wasted my CPA license by not pursuing a career as an accountant. It’s mechanical and monotonous. It didn’t help that some whose thankless job is to book, balance and reconcile would only do those things and nothing more. A bit of analysis every now and then is not out of the scope of one’s responsibilities. Like in this case, what is 1 peso compared to the hours wasted in those email exchanges? Or in that gah-awful scenario when the counterparty gets a refund of 1 peso? We don’t even need some analysis here, only logic.

Again, I am not dissing the accounting profession in general. Even if I’m not a practicing CPA, I’m proud to be one and I have respect for most accountants. I have friends who are accountants and they are good in what they do. I just don’t like some corporate lackeys with bean-counter mentality. They give accountants a bad name.

Rant hopefullyover.



***
In other, more fun, news:
It amuses me no end that my officemates are listening to Arashi songs and are NOT COMPLAINING about it. I managed to sneak in a couple of songs in our department’s mp3 database and the songs have been randomly playing for quite a while. I guess they were already used to my random taste in songs (they’ve been subjected to System of a Down, Menudo and sappy OPM Christmas songs, to name a few) that they don’t care anymore what I play.

I – I’m yet to try playing Arashi songs in our car when my brother’s driving. It’s still my car, even if I’m not driving it, and I love it because the insurance and maintenance costs are OMG mahal too much to risk any damage my brother might inflict on it. I’ll start on his PSP first. (He used to like Jerry Yan in Meteor Garden, so my hopes are high.)

P.S. Aren’t you amazed how I can still mention Arashi in my posts even when I’m ranting? Yes? No? Maybe?

Cheesefest Again

Granted, it's still the auditions week, but I just can't seem to care about American Idol this year. There's just too much of the trainwreck auditions and not all of it is funny. Perhaps when Hollywood week starts?

I'm not sure that having a fourth judge is a move towards improvement. I don't think we really need a female version of Simon Cowell - I think what we need are more constructive criticisms from the judges. But that doesn't make an entertaining show, does it?

Hana Kimi Stole My Heart And Social Life

A year ago today, an obsession was born.

For lack of something to do, I decided to watch the DVD of this TV drama that a friend lent me. He first told me about this two weeks prior on our friend’s house blessing.

Friend: Do you like Japanese shows?
Me: Well, I watch anime.
Friend: Are you familiar with the human tetris?
Me: On youtube? Yeah! I’ve seen those!
Friend: Hilarious, isn’t it?! How about jdramas?
Me: Uh, no…
Friend: Good! I’ll show you something! Tell me if you don’t like it, but really, it’s awesome!

And then he made me watch on a portable player the first few minutes of the drama. It featured this cute girl dressed in a boy’s uniform trying to sneak in at a popular all-boys’ school.

Me: She’s a she, right? What is she doing there???
Friend: *smiles mysteriously*
Me: Right. I’m supposed to watch to figure it out.

I got until the part when the girl met the tall, somewhat arrogant athlete ("she disguised herself as a boy for this guy?!?!") when we were cut off by our friends. He promised to lend me the DVD so I can watch the full season. I was curious enough to find out what happens next so I said yes.

So – a year ago today, I watched. And watched. And watched. And finished all eleven episodes in one day. Didn’t I say that it was the start of an obsession?


By the way, that little drama that changed my life? It was called Hanazakari no Kimitachi e, or Hana Kimi for short.

I have to admit that it wasn’t obsession love at first sight. The show was weird! Why was it called a “drama” when it’s so anime-ish? How can the students of this exclusive school for handsome boys - them of the raging hormones - be so blind and stupid they don’t realize there’s a girl in their midst? And why is that girl so attracted to that jerk when the awesome Nakatsu is so willing to go gay for himher? It was crazy. It was full of crack. And OMG I love it.

The biggest reason for this mad love was Ikuta Toma. I didn’t know a thing about him before Hana Kimi. I didn’t even like him the first time I saw him on screen. But Toma’s turn as Nakatsu was so memorable and so lovable he ended up stealing the drama from the two leads. I couldn’t care less whether Mizuki and Sano hook up, I just want to see Nakatsu do his crazy monologues or walk around half naked looking for the damn shampoo. His homo janai dance was epic. I was flailing so hard when he decided to pursue Mizuki and damn if it makes him gay! I was flailing equally as hard when he discovered that Mizuki was actually a she and damn whatever her reason was for hiding her identity! And then he got rejected, and I love him for taking it like a true gentleman.

I ended up re-watching the jdrama for almost two months. I figured I could limit my jdrama intake in this lifetime to just Hana Kimi. And then other dramas and other Japanese boys happened.

Hana Kimi and Toma led to Hana Yori Dango and Matsujun. Hana Yori Dango and Matsujun led to various Matsujun dramas and Arashi. Arashi led to irreversible addiction on my part and bewilderment on the part of my friends and families. So far, my JE-fandom is limited to just Toma and Arashi, but I’m getting to know the other JE boys bit by bit. The sheer amount of media available (on Arashi’s part, especially) was scary at first, but I’m trying my best to catch up. It’s a long way to go for me, but I learned to just enjoy each TV show/drama/concert that I could watch, and not worry about the others I haven’t seen yet.

I love that this obsession of mine led me to this LJ-fandom where fans are friendly and helpful, where fans don’t have strange or crazy expectations from their idols, where the obsessives mock and poke fun at their idols at regular intervals (and not be accused of loving them any less). I may not be able to convince my RL friends to get into either Toma or Arashi, but I’m glad I get to meet others who are bigger fans than I am.


Happy anniversary to me and Toma and Hana Kimi! :D

Can't Wait For These Movies!

This is really late, but I saw a poster of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and decided I still want to do my list of my most anticipated movies for 2009!

2009, for me, is going to be The Year of Movies Featuring Hot, Gorgeous Men. I’m not saying I’m watching just for that, I just noticed it while compiling my list. :D

So, here we go!



Top 8 Most Anticipated Movies of 2009

1. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Is anyone surprised at all with my choice? This has been my most anticipated film of 2008 – I already made my plans around its supposed November release date – and what did the producers do? Delayed it until July 2009! My rage, let me show you it. The penultimate book in the HP series wasn’t the best, but who wouldn't want to see Snape kill Dumbledore on-screen? And just because my fave scene in the book (POTTY LURVES LOONY!) won’t be in the film, doesn’t mean I don’t look forward to hearing “WON! WON!”

2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Hugh Jackman! Hugh Jackman and his biceps! GAMBIT! Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool! Daniel Henney! Liev Sch-however you spell his last name! Hugh Jackman!

3. Public Enemies

This movie stars Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. They could have the two wash laundry for the duration of the film and I'd still watch it. But this film has a good plot and I'm watching it for it. Really. Really. Depp plays John Dillinger, public enemy #1 during the Great Depression and Bale is the FBI agent tasked to capture him.

4. Watchmen

The production of this movie was mired with legal battles between Fox and WB. I sure hope that the issues have been settled already because everyone's looking forward to this! Everything I've seen so far points to this movie being awesome. The League of Extra-Ordinary Gentlemen, this certainly is NOT.

5. Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen

Optimus Prime is back! Giant robots! I can't wait for the sequel to Michael Bay's best film yet.

6. Terminator Salvation

Another Christian Bale starrer. It's hard to imagine a Terminator without an Arnold Schwarzenegger, but Bale has proven that he can take on an iconic movie franchise and turn it into a blockbuster. Not even the fact that McG directed this film can dampen my anticipation.

7. 2012

Two words: John Cusack. Didn't I say I'm watching movies this year for the eye-candy? Okay, something else to convince you why this is worth watching: the movie is a post-apocalyptic thriller set around a Mayan calendar prophecy predicting that the world will end on December 21, 2012. Now THAT should draw your attention.

8. Sherlock Holmes

Based on the classic fictional character, this movie stars Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law, the sexiest crime-solving pair. I don't think this will be your typical action film and like everyone else, I'm curious as to what RDJ will do after his success as Iron Man.


Honorable Mentions:
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs; Arrested Development; A Christmas Carol (Gary Oldman!); This Side of Truth; Inglorious Basterds; Dragonball Evolution; Crank 2: High Voltage; Friday the 13th; Shutter Island; Ninja Assassin; Star Trek, Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Sleep For An Insomniac

Note to self
For the next three nights, I will try NOT to:

• Surf the net beyond 9pm
• Watch TV in my room
• Play video games before going to bed
• Read anything before going to bed

I need more sleeping time, precious sleeping time. And it’s totally my fault that I’m not getting enough!

Ever since I took that long vacation leave last November, I can’t seem to shut down at night. And while that allowed me to catch up on a lot of stuffs (like video games and TV shows), lack of sleep made waking up in the morning hard (and staying awake during the day harder). Combine with the cold weather we are experiencing, getting out of bed has become my daily struggle (my pillow, let me to hug it for few minutes more).

Obviously, I can’t do anything about the weather, so it’s my night activities that I need to change, at least for the next few days. If I can reintroduce my body to my old sleeping habits, then I can switch back and forth between staying up late at certain days and sleeping like I normally do on most days without a hitch.

Ang Huling El Bimbo - McDo Style

Aww... I like the new Mc Donald's advert! It's cute but really sad. I should have known - the theme song was Eraserheads' "Ang Huling El Bimbo"!

They first met as kids in Mc Donalds and the first thing he noticed about the girl is that she dips her french fries to her sundae (I used to do that, too!). Then she took his hand to lead him to the playground and it suddenly cut to them as adults, and she's still holding his hand to lead him to the playground - to meet her husband and kids! Ouch!

Then they sit together and she noticed that he dipped his fries to his sundae and they share a special look. Ouch! The first love, the one that got away!

Did I just talked about a television commercial? Well, yes, I believe I did.

"There's also the metaphor - a flower in the storm"

Finally watched Hana Yori Dango Final and… okay, it’s very cheesy and contrived and feel-good, but I like it! :D

This movie reminded me why I love the jdrama so much and why Matsumoto Jun will always be THE Domyouji for me. I love how he and Inoue Mao have so much chemistry together, I love how despite all the craziness and the presence of Hanazawa Rui (quite a leading man in his own right), I still and will always want Domyouji and Makino to end up together and live happily ever after – because you know they will be happy together, for always, constant bickering and Domyouji’s horrible Japanese notwithstanding.

And yep, even after finding the movie cheesy, I was a bit teary eyed at the end when Makino gave her good news to Domyouji. Domyouji’s reaction (“That’s UNBELIEVABLE!”) was so cute!

I… I, I think I might be in love with Matsujun again?

The sooner you fall behind, the more time you will have to catch up...

I’ve been cleaning up my emails and files (personal and work-related) since Tuesday. It was tedious work because… well, I’ve been too lazy to delete stuffs that I had accumulated so much emails and files.

I started with the personal emails and files. My friends and I had this habit of turning our emails into pseudo-YMs and being the lazy person that I am, most of the messages are still stored in my personal folder. It was both fun and sad to go through each messages before deleting as I reminisce about those topics that we talked about.

Another fun moment was reading stuffs I previously wrote, especially those unfinished drafts of blog entries that I did not post or abandoned entirely, for one reason or another.

This one made me go “aaww…”


Screw my rule of not going out with a guy to watch a movie. If he asks me to watch “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”, I am going to say YES. And he’ll be my boyfriend na. Hahaha…

That is, assuming we get past the “ngitian pag nagkasalubong” stage that we are in now. Also, assuming that he does like me and I do like him back, because I doubt whether I like him enough right now.

Wala, gusto ko lang ng may kangitian hahaha…



What’s funny was the line I bolded because as it turns out, I do like him enough! Enough that even a year after learning he’s very much married already, I still feel kilig when I see him. *bangs head against the wall*

Then I did something stupid and embarrassing with my work emails. You see, my outlook settings is such that even after reading an email, it will not be marked as “read”. So, I was mass deleting emails from 2006 and 2007 when an officemate called me to say something like “Whoa! You flooded my inbox with tons and tons of ‘deleted without being read’ receipts from you!” Even my boss called my attention because he received the same notifications! Darn it! So now I make sure that I mark everything as read before deleting anything.

Next stop – my yahoo account. Ever since Yahoo had that unlimited mail space I have not deleted most of the emails I received! The problem is that whenever I’m looking for an old email, I have to trawl through other useless stuffs before I find what I was looking for.

Obviously, my goal for this year is to be organized. It’s not really my strongest point but at least I’m trying!

Couch Potato Version 2009

So – for those who are expecting hoping against hope that my jdrama addiction will wane this year, you’re in for a disappointment. You’re free to wander, though, to more exciting places whenever I gush about my obsessions.

I’m excited over two upcoming jdramas – the one starring Ikuta Toma (of course) and the one starring Ohno Satoshi (the role looks hilarious and a far cry from Maou). Plus, I intend to finish my remaining jdrama DVDs before I buy/download new ones. See, I’m trying to be organized and in control!

I’m still playing catch up with my fave American TV series and starting on some promising and recommended series. Can you believe I have not watched a single episode of Prison Break season 4? I’m not exactly motivated to watch PB since the last season was a disappointment and I’m not particularly pleased with the Dr.-Sara-Trancedi-back-from-the-dead storyline, but I want to change my mind about this series, I really do.

Then something happened that made me weep – weep for my hard drive, weep for my couch potato time, weep for my soul. The Korean version of Hana Yori Dango/Meteor Garden is now on and I know I just have to watch it! Which reminds me – I still need to finish my HYD picspam. And finish reading the manga. And watch the movie.

I’m yet to start with anything and already I’m cracking under pressure. Damn.

Do Not Want

I'm not excited to be back at the office. The problem with long vacation is that it takes a long time for my body and mind to let go of its slacker status. Not to mention that I still find myself alive, alert, awake and enthusiastic at ungodly hours. And the weather is making matters worse by giving me more incentive to stay and curl up in bed and snuggle against my fave pillow. Who wants to take a cold bath at six in the morning?



Anyway.



As you can see, there's been changes in my blog. This is still under slow construction so please excuse the abysmal layout and ignore the "read more..." link because it's not yet working properly.



I'm not... happy with changing my blog address and title. My blog title, especially, since I always thought it described well the contents of this blog. "Incredibly Shallow" worked nicely with my other blog but I'm not sure if it's the right one for this, but for now, it stays.



I'm staying, too, for now. So please bear with me as I make changes here and there. :)