The Comfort Rooms

The Philippines was once Asia's richest nation after Japan.
That is something I learned early on in life from my grandparents (one of my grandfather's is a proud survivor of the Death March of WWII), parents, teachers in school, politicians, and even down to my yaya, friends, and mediamen. It is that knowledge gives me the assurance that hey, I guess we Flips aren't all that bad?! If we were second to Japan back in the day, that means we were richer than South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Thailand and Malaysia. Sweet!
That fact is evident if you would look at old pictures. A relative from Arizona pointed out that Filipinos loved to wear suits back in the day,unlike now that it is not everyday that you see people wear their suits (unless maybe if you're a top executive or your dad is, in some company).
The tranvia! Manila's own electric cable car system (back in the day) was a proud testament to that. My mom told me before that Sta. Ana (a Manila district) once had LPG transported thru pipes unlike right now that it's done through the rusting container. They had it before, not anymore.


They used to call Manila the "Rome of the Far East". We had huge buildings that remind people of the ones found in Rome. We still had most of those buildings. But what had added? People in the streets, huge billboards, smoke coming from old, rusty jeepneys and buses, sidewalk vendors, trash, men peeing everywhere, and pictures of politicians splattered all across the Metro. We didn't have those things before. We have them now.
I won't make this post long. In fact I wanna end it right now. Think of Old Manila and the Old Philippines. That's a sound idea to make one feel depressed.

Just the songs that I thought of listening into for tonight. Just before you go to school the following morning. Hayyyyy.....

Beta Blogger For Dummies is a blog specifically made for those who would want to widen their blog knowledge. It has been a good source for me to improve on my blogging. For me it is the HOLY WRIT of the blogosphere.

Beta Blogger suggested that I should...



there, I should make a facebook profile for my blog. And that's what I did. So on July 10, 2008 I made The Comfort Rooms its own Facebook profile. If you want, add to your list of Facebook friends! Let's all do the cyberlove lovin'!

Since Asians, Filipinos, and Utah friends are very easy to compel into visiting my site, I thought, why won't I target Europeans, South Americans and Australians? I tried facebook search terms that were not too obvious (university of oslo or universidad de buenos aires) to look for potential facebook friends and future visitors to my blog.

You know what, from the 50 Norwegians that I invited, 28 of them approved of my invitation! That meant more than the half of those I invited approved of my request! They weren't really snobbish at all although some did ask in English who I was. I didn't really mind their asking and I in fact appreciated it more!

Unlike people from other countries that I tried to befriend, people from this country topped it for me. Takk!

If my finger counting is accurate, the Olympics should be starting in 9 days. Hmmmm, when can I finally watch the games? Being at the Olympic Opening Ceremonies is definitely one of the things that I should accomplish during this lifetime. I first had my Olympic awareness when in 1992, the Games was held in Barcelona and that the Filipino bronze medalist in boxing was actually the classmate of my younger sister's yaya (He was Roel Velasco and she was Ate Edna or Mama Edna if you were my younger sister). It was during that time when I realized that the Philippines is not really a good sporting nation, except for boxing and billiards and bowling and basketball.
It was during the Barcelona Games that I became interested at the gold medal tally at the end of every Olympics. Since 1992, the United States has lorded it over the Olympics final medal tally except in 1992 when the Unified Team of the former USSR topped the tabulations.
For this year's games, rumors about a very interesting three-way competition between the USA, Russia and host China is rampant and all sports-loving people talk about it.
Will China finally make the breakthrough by actually becoming 6th nation to top the Games after USA, Russia, Germany, Great Britain and France? Or will the US still top the Games? Will Russia show the world that it is still there? Here are my fearless forecasts:

What I would like to happen:
1. China
2. Russia
3. USA

What WILL happen:
1. China
2. USA
3. Russia

WORST case scenario:
1. USA
2. China
3. Russia

What do you think will happen?

I know Google would be doing updates the past week so I was expecting a few positive changes on my blog. I know I'd get positive changes since number one, I made an entirely new page for all my outgoing links, thus preventing to remove some of my link juices.
So earlier tonight(the changes didn't appear yesterday), I noticed that I am now a PR 7!! Wow!
I made sure I was record it because that is very awesome development!
I'm not so sure if it's real! Its so like the ABBA song that goes like this: "Your just to good to be true..."
Enough of this chessiness, let's have Lauryn Hill do the singing.

Its not about The Transformers (which I enjoyed anyway) that made me write this post. I made an almost similar post a year back and what I will be doing will be recollection of what I did a year back. That blog and blog post is no longer indexed by Google, thus, I got no way to search it.

I imagine the future Japanese Royal Family of Prince Naruhito and Princess Masako as an ultra-luxurious Lexus sedan. Toyota's high-end car make, the Lexus is not for the ordinary man's budget (like me!). They're both sophisticated, squicky-clean, and you don't know that much about them (like me!). And oh, they're both Japanese.








Jie Zheng of China is the newest sensation that has graced the tennis world. Aside from notching up a victory against top-ranked Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, she made it all the way to the semifinals, losing on a tight second-set tiebreak against Serena Williams. It is not just Jie Zheng that is creating a statement here but her country's Chery Automobile as well. The official vehicle to the Beijing Olympics, Chery for sure will get a lot of publicity because of the Olympics.

Whenever I see SUVs, especially the American type, I also think of brawn, heft, and athleticism. It is so testosterone-filled that I really don't think girls should drive one (especially those big, muscular ones). That's why I thought of Reggie Bush, Kim Kardashian's current boytoy. Bush (not the President) has won several NFL Awards and is currently playing for the New Orleans Saints. His success, built, and fine ways is worther of a Lincoln Navigator, IMO the most flashy car of its size and class.

How about me? Hmmmmm, well, a Japanese pick-up doesn't fit my personality at all. Pick-up trucks are more domesticated when compared to my personality (which is pretty much very laidback). I'm thinking about a Honda CR-V, those ones that were made from 2002-2006. They're still athletically-built. But inside, they're pretty much homey and cuddly. There. I therefore have into a congruence that I am a 2002 Honda CR-V.

Thanks! Sorry for the dizzying lay-out though. :)

I love being a Filipino. I don't know, but that's just the overwhelming sentiment that I am feeling right now. The fact that my non-Filipino friends love the country more than we sometimes do (like this Thai-Belgian blogger friend's post) makes me love my country even more.
The fact that American friends dearly mention their love for the country most of us would so lovingly leave for the sake of greener pastures on more hallowed ground (or whatever the heck that phrase meant.) No matter how most of us think that the country sucked big time, i still have this firm resolve that i will never exchange my citizenship for anything else.
It is the people who makes the nation, not the other way around. If the people are proud of what they've got, it will reflect on the way they take care of their country. No matter how beautiful your coastlines are, the fact that you don't have enough balls to make efforts in bringing in more tourists or make better airports to accommodate more tourists or at least make your town more beautiful by cleaning it regularly doesn't help a bit in elevating our image in the world stage.
There is so much to rave about Pinas. We have the jeepney, the warm Filipino smile, Manny Pacquiao, Jollibee, the endless karaoke singing, the long Filipino Christmas, the chicken adobo and tons of other things that make Filipinos feel proud (I was gonna say San Miguel Beer but...).
I pity those Filipinos who think the country is a hopeless case and that the only way for them to be prosperous is to work outside the country. I commend those athletes who give time, resources, effort, heart and soul into giving the country that much-needed distinction. I feel sorry to those people who would outright lambaste the country and its people. I am thankful, in the other hand to those celebrities who continue to bring pride to the country.
I will never trade my citizenship in exchange of a bigger bank account. If people left their hearts in San Francisco, I for sure had nailed, glued, cemented, and welded my heart in my beloved country Pilipinas.

If you have a poor eyesight (like mine), you might need your glasses to see the data better.

This piece of data came from a Goldman Sachs forecast for 2050. Looks like the Philippines will finally join the big league after all! That is, if no DESTABILAZER would spoil the party...

I was inside this Chinese restaurant, eating my fill of chili sauce filled dumplings and making sips on my hot beef noodle soup when I noticed a group of call center agents were pretty much filling the restaurant with their noise and laughter.
On a quiet Saturday morning, a group of people with shades, jackets, and ID's worn outside of their offices will most likely be from a call center, the most in-demand job in the country for the past 6-7 years now.
I usually don't mind them but I can get peeved whenever they would use English to people you don't usually use English with. They have this tendency(in sickening British preppy look) to speak English with each other outside of the office. People speaking in English is so very common here in Manila, but it is also VERY EASY to spot a natural from a poser. And most of these people come in phony! I mean, can you speak Tagalog instead of a phony English in a phony American twang?
What happened inside the restaurant. This group of people (they were just A table away from me) were talking about how they despised a particular person. One of them (a gay guy) uttered something I thought was pretty funny.
With all angst and emotion, he muttered "break loose hell." I almost chocked a sago (tapioca) upon hearing that person say that. "Wasn't it supposed to be all hell break loose instead of break loose hell?" I couldn't stop laughing about it silently until I got home and talked about it with a friend.
That one phrase I heard that morning made my day. I hope I didn't get to offend anyone...

Just a short question...did you like it??? Thanks!

I was blog hopping a while ago when I saw this pretty interesting logo. Manila 2024 Olympics?!?! Hmmmm...

That is really something to look forward to. If Southeast Asian counterparts have also been busy creating their respective Olympic hosting stint as well, why can't we?

According to Manila2024, the government proposed to build large, spacious and better stadiums and other sport centers for the games and will be equipped with High- Technology Facilities to ensure fair and honest games. They will also build a comfortable and spacious Olympic Village for the athletes and a high- class hotel for the Olympic Family.

Will this be situated at the Bay Area? Would the facilities of the Pacgor E-City be used for this purpose? Would leftist groups find loopholes to this project, thus creating new mountains out of anthills?

Come 2024, I would be 40 years old. Looks like I got 18 more years to think about it...

Hey! Fast on the heels of my most recent post, I'm now gonna be posting anew with a question again on hand.

You notice the photo above? Obviously, it is a park situated in the middle of a busy financial district. Can you guess what city would that be? It is somewhere here in Asia.

I'll give you choices.

a.) Tokyo
b.) Seoul
c.) Shanghai
d.) Singapore
e.) Bangkok
f.) Manila
g.) Jakarta
h.) Kuala Lumpur

Which city could this be?

If Yahoo! Answers is a big hit for well, asking questions, let me make my very own version of it. :)

On an Asian perspective, which do you like better, North Americans or Europeans?

It's pretty much asking if you prefer soccer over football (which is the same thing!) or Bush over Sarkozy.

Which one do you generally prefer?!?!?!

People who gets to answer wins a special prize (a better life ahead of them)!

***May the owner of this picture forgive me for what I've done. Your picture is just a sound proof that the world is turning into a camwhore.

The hippest dictionary in the world, Urbandictionary.com, defines that a CAMWHORE is "Anyone, male or female, who is addicted to taking countless pictures of themselves to post on the internet.."

On a more Filipino context, it is anybody who floods his/her Friendster account with hundreds of solo poses, with pictures usually accentuate a person's pout or a girl's nail polish, or anything that they would want to emphasize.

Oftentimes, mobile phone cameras were used to take gazillions of pictures of themselves. After taking the photo, they would edit, animate, crop, brighten, sharpen, and whichever thing they thought of "pimping up" or "glamming up" their photo.

I've had my share of camwhore moments. I've tried different angles on my face as well. I became more conscious of my smile since camwhoring got me. But now? I enjoy taking skyscraper pictures more than taking a picture of myself. Or I would rather take a picture of others, have it photoshopped, and send it to them via IM, for free.:)

The Camwhore Phenomenon is actually one of the reasons why I learned to hate Friendster. Everybody's making the same poses! Even my youngest sister whom my siblings would also love to make fun of (She's CERTAINLY not the one pictured above).

Thanks to camwhoring, Friendster has been a very popular website in the Philippines.

Are you still a camwhore?

Don't cha think the image that I made was pretty lame? Hmmm, who cares ayt?! Its my 200th blog post and I know that that is some major milestone that I did.

From personal life, to opinions, and sports, to politics and food and to everything that I thought of posting, I think I pretty much covered all of 'em. Do I have to make a post about asbestos and stem cells? Probably, if I know that topic enough for me to write about it.

You see, I write here by impulse. I write and think about almost the same time. I do only minor editing (mostly typos) and I usually think of what to write just when I begin typing.

Only four months ago, I reached my first hundredth post. Don't you think its pretty early for me to reach another hundred?

In 5 weeks, I will be celebrating my first year of The Comfort Rooms. Can I make a pre-blog birthday wish? How I wish my blog would generate a huge number of hits everyday! 500 hits per day would be enough for me. At least I know that 500 different people are visiting my site daily. It has been a puzzle for me on how some blogs get that high of a traffic!

But anyways, instead of feeling a wee bit dissapointed, let me thank YOU for being a part of my blog. For you who keeps on reading and posting comments, I owe you...a kiss.:)

Earlier this evening, while eating my Mom's vermicelli soup, I cracked a joke at her that made her feel annoyed.

I was there, heartily eating one of my favorite comfort foods. Watching sports (more like warching the rain fall over Wimbledon) on our "environment-friendly" Samsung TV.

I asked my mom, "Hey, how much gas does your car eat up per liter?" She said, "Not sure."

"Isn't it like 12 liters per km?" I asked in return.

"Probably, why?", my mom retaliated.

"Coz I have in here a new car that eats 29.1 kms/liter gas consumption," I answered excitedly.

Mom didn't reply. She could be busy looking for some stuff over our piano. Or maybe she acted as if she didn't wanna know which car is that.

"It's actually an Audi A4 mom. But you have to pay like 2.16M pesos to get one."

On trying times like this, all of us would like to find ways to save up on gas. My dad interfered that the Filipino who "invented" the water-powered car went to our factory one day to show documents regarding his discovery. My dad then showed the said documents to one of his friends who's in the crude oil business. This friend of his said that a car powered by water is obviously impossible. And like I expected that oilman to give that answer.

But anyways, I feel bad for my mom for giving those false hopes. We'll just wait for the day that electric cars become cheap and mass-produced.

I was watching TV Patrol World earlier this week when a really catchy story glued on my attention. A former balut vendor and construction worker was currently making waves as a model.
I was like "hey, who could that lucky balut vendor be?" In all due fairness to my beloved balut vendors (I used to eat this [dish?!] almost daily, until I found myself having rashes and asthma attacks), I never saw anyone that was tall and bulked up or even one possessing a fair complexion. I was like "hey, there are moreno models as well."

The name of that balut vendor/construction worker-turned-male model was Rocky Salumbides (image on the right side). According to the blogosphere (especially those that fall into the GLBT tag), Rocky is a native of Cavite City and, as mentioned earlier, has engaged himself in manual labor before being discovered as a model. He competed in the MTV Fashionista competition in 2004 and was chosen to represent the country in the Best Model of the World competition in Istanbul, Turkey.

After being a popular sight in the Manila Fashion Scene, he tried his luck in the international scene by submitting his portfolio to Elite, an international model management agency, which gave him ramp assignments in Singapore. Since then, he has modelled for Versace, John Galliano and Jean Paul Gaultier.

Pretty much like Lesley Mobo who came from humble beginnings on his native Visayas, both guys have actually made it big after experiencing some circumstances that almost prevented them from dreaming big. Lesley is now one of the up-and-coming designers in London, which is one of the fashion capitals of the world. He went home to Manila a few months back and had his own fashion show. Just how would a kid from the Visayas make it big in London?

I know it all starts with a dream. I once joked to a friend, who is now enjoying a scholarship in Hawaii, that "some people dream while others can only do halfway." To dream is cheap. But the execution of it is a whole new different story.

Meanwhile, let me accomplish my dream while I let you listen to this track by Eurythmics called Sweet Dreams (are made of these). Thanks!

If there is one thing that my best friend from New Zealand loved to talk about, that would be the Haka dance performed by his country's rugby team. Sal (his name) is a big All Blacks fan, the national rugby team of New Zealand and happened to be the most successful team in the history of rugby.

The Haka is a traditional Maori dance performed by a group. The dance involves the use of the hands, arms, legs, feet, voice, eyes, tongue and the body as a whole combined to express courage, annoyance, joy or other feelings relevant to the purpose of the occasion. The dance is performed especially on important occassions.

There are different types of the Haka and the one frequently chanted by the All Blacks would be the "Ka Mate," a haka that celebrates life over death. I tried to put the chant and translation here but I got lazy and I will just give you a credible link to the Haka chant.

Meanwhile, enjoy this video instead courtesy of YouTube.

*The following article is a copy from ABS-CBN's News Article of the same topic.

The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) on Sunday advised relatives and friends of passengers on board Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight PR 105 arriving Manila on Monday morning to pick up their passengers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3, not at Terminal 2 where PAL flights operate.

President Arroyo and her party, coming from a ten-day working visit at the United States, are in the flight, coming from San Francisco, California.

PAL flights usually originate or depart from Terminal 2, also known as Centennial Terminal, which PAL exclusively leases.

In a statement, General Manager Alfonso Cusi advised relatives and friends picking up passengers from the said flight, which will arrive at around 2:30 a.m. Monday, to proceed to the NAIA Terminal 3, located along Andrews Avenue, Villamor Airbase compound in Pasay.

"Well-wishers can proceed directly to NAIA Terminal 3 arrival lobby. The usual security inspections will be in place," MIAA said.

"Everyone is encouraged to cooperate with our security teams manning the entrances to the Terminal 3 compound," the agency added.

Soccer’s new European champions speak Spanish. The victorious Spain team also speaks a different language on the field, and the rest of Europe better start learning it quickly.

Spain beat three-time champion Germany 1-0 in Vienna on Sunday, but a score like 3-0 would have been more accurate. The team coached by 69-year-old Luis Aragones showed how the game should be played.

Throughout the tournament, Spain used simple, close passing to cut through defenses and create top quality goals. They also were the masters of the counterattack.

The tactics drew many admirers. Among was former Scotland coach Andy Roxburgh, whose country has always underachieved on the international level. Just like Spain, which last won the European Championship in 1964.

Now head of UEFA’s technical committee, Roxburgh has been examining tactics and players for several years and has watched Spain’s emergence. He believes there is more to come after this European success.


“It may be interesting to know that some of us are not that surprised with the outcome here,” Roxburgh said Monday.

“For more than a decade now the top youth teams in Europe have been Spanish and we have been watching nearly all of this squad from a very young age. We just watched the last Spanish youth team because they just won the under-17s (European title) this year in Turkey and it was one of the best performances I have ever seen from a youth team. The Spanish are continuing to create the next generation.”

-copied from Yahoo! news