Sadness, no wait I think loneliness is the appropriate word. I have been going through the entries in the site of a Taiwanese star and the feeling that I get after reading his articles is loneliness. Maybe it’s just me. I don’t know. But I do get a feeling that he was just trying to sound happy for his fans but with the words that he use I’d say he is lonely. One of his articles is about Michael Jackson and you could really feel his connection to MJ emotionally. MJ is a superstar but you could see that he was longing for something. Same for this guy, you would feel that he likes what he does but he is longing for something. I’m not sure if this is really how he feels but one thing is for sure though. That is how I feel. I like my job and the people that I work with but there is still one void there that I need to fill as what Kriste had told me. But I am not sure though if that void is finding that special person whom I have waited for for 28 years (going 29 years and counting) or is that void about doing what I really want to do? Sheesh and to think I am not even a star.

I watched Boys Over Flowers, the Korean remake of Hana Yori Dango, for the past couple of days (yup it was kinda long) and there was this scene where Ji Hoo (Kim Hyung Joon) told Jan Di (Koo Hye Sun) that he will be her honorable fire fighter. I know that it’s kinda impossible but I sure do love to have someone who will be behind my back no matter what. I mean even just the thought of having someone like “Ji Hoo” who seem to know exactly when to show up and helps without asking anything back is a very tempting thought. I mean I wouldn’t mind not having a boyfriend just as long as I have that someone like him. It’s just sad though that in this story, Jan Di was not able to reciprocate his love. Although he was Jan Di’s first love they didn’t end up together for by the time he realized that he loves Jan Di, she already fell for Jun Pyo (Lee Min Ho). Yup, it’s just like the song “I Love You Came Too Late” by Joey McIntyre. Tsk, tsk, tsk… Too bad. But nevertheless, he never stopped loving and helping Jan Di. Hay… I wonder where my own honorable fire fighter is…

I went through Wena’s blog today and saw her pictures with MJ.  Looking at the pictures it seems that MJ is a good travel mate.  And so I ended asking myself if I will be as good as a travel mate as MJ.  I once saw this add on a travel network that said “It will be better to travel alone than travel with a bad company”.  Well, from what Wena placed on her blog on her last travel abroad, I’d say MJ is a great company for they were able to meet new friends.  Imagine if that was me.  Like Weng, I am hesitant in talking to strangers even at work, I seldom talk to new acquaintances.  My friends are mostly friends of my friends.  I seldom make friends that are complete strangers to me.  Unlike MJ who is very out going.  Imagine how it would be like in a foriegn land.  I guess people will just see me come and go without knowing who I am or who I was.

I spent around 4 hours in Cebu Doctors hospital yesterday to visit my godson.  Syd and his mom came to Cebu to celebrate Sinulog but 8 month old Syd spent 5 days of his vacation in the hospital.  Tsk, tsk, tsk.  Poor kid.  And since his dad was not able to register him as a dependent in his insurance and his mom is out of work, he was placed in a ward with 20 other kids aging a little less than a year old to 5 years.  He shared a made shift room with a little girl who will be celebrating her first birthday on the 26th of January who has is having difficulty digesting her food.  She looked so frail and thin and only falls asleep after an episode of crying.  Hay poor kids! 

When I was sitting there on a bench, I realized how difficult it is to be a parent of a sick kid especially if the kid can’t even speak.  The mom of the little girl cried while I was there but she did so while hiding her face from her daughter.  I guess she didn’t want her angel to see that she was worried. Tsk, it really makes me wonder why a lot of kids get sick when from what I know, kids have a stronger immune sytem than adults.  Or maybe I’m mistaken?

You know one thing that I like about blogging is reading the thoughts of others.  It could be their own thought or they may have copied it from somewhere but nevertheless, most of the things that I have read are very inspiring and made me stop and think for a moment.  Here is one of the posts that really made me stop and think. 

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Nice huh?  It’s an old post from someone.  He said he got it somewhere, too bad though for he stopped blogging.  He’s more into posting photographs now.  Hope that enlightens you as it enlightened me.

The year is almost over and Summer will soon be knocking at our doors. We may be in some financial difficulties now but we have to admit, we will surely love to go on vacation every now and then to get some time off from our daily routine and spend time with our love ones. So it will be best to plan our vacations ahead. That way you will be able to put almost everything into consideration like how much are we going to save to cover the expenses, where to stay and which destination is the most practical destination to go to. Vacations don’t need to be expensive. You can just go to a local destination and explore its beauty. Like if you are on the East Coast of the US, you might want to consider seeing the Outer Banks in North Carolina. If you are in the Philippines, like in Cebu, you can go to beach resorts like Alegre (if you have a big budget), go to Moalboal or Kawasan Falls in Badian (where my team and I are planning to go to). My point, the important thing in having a vacation is not the destination, it is the quality time that you spend with the people that matters to you and have fun spending it.

Disney vacations could be the ultimate vacation that you can give your family ever!  Especially if you go to Disney Land in Orlando.  Well, yeah I know that we have Disney Land in Hongkong and Japan and honestly, I have never been to any of the three theme parks but I like the one in Orlando because of other options that you can choose from when you get there.  There’s River Ranch (which kinda rings a bell, hmmm was that in a Nancy Drew novel?), where you can do some horseback riding and if you are traveling with your friends, there are establishments where you can party the night away.  And it is close to SeaWorld and Universal Studios so what more can I ask for?

I have finally seen the 2004 version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera which was played by Gerard Butler (King Leonidas of 300).  Altough I appreciate plays, I am a bit choosy when it comes to watching musicals.  Espeially when they are made into movies.  But I would highly recommend that you watch this movie for Joel Schumacher, the director of the film, Emmy Rossum and Patrick Wilson, Gerard’s co-stars were able to appropriately deliver the emotions that the writer wanted his audience to feel.  The muscial scores were great although I believe they made certain changes on the music to make it sound a bit modern (you will have to correct me if I’m wrong for I was young when the 1980’s version came out), the voice of the singers were great (especially the one who sung Christine’s songs, it was so angelic).  After watching the movie, I have realized that The Phantom of the Opera is the most romantic movie/musical that I have ever seen.  Why, it’s even better than Casa Blanca (no offense meant)!  So to the actors, director, musical director and producer of the movie and to Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber…  Bravo! (as what they would say in the theaters) Speaking of which, I wonder if I get to watch the stage play version of this movie.

They describe the kitchen in hotels Las Vegas as one of the busiest kitchen in the world. With the number of people checking in and out of the hotels and casinos, I’d definitely agree to what they say. This could probably be the reason why, a lot of chefs want to go and work there. For this will be a good training ground for aspiring chefs. This will not just test your cooking skills but how you will behave under pressure creating and serving meals after meals while maintaining the quality and taste each serving. But personally, I don’t like to work there as a chef for it’s like a factory. Just dishing out meals after meals. I love cooking so much that I tend to spend a lot of time on observing how the ingredients changes its forms and smell the aroma as the it mixes together.