The Comfort Rooms

Call this a lack of something intelligent to write about. But i thought of making a listing of the best summer bodies for a change. Male and Female, all based on my opinion.

Let's start...
Girls
1. Nicole Scherzinger (the one on the left) - Fil/Rus/Am singer
2. Jessica Biel - American actress
3. Maggie Wilson - Filipina actress and VJ
4. Maria Kirilenko - Russian tennis player
5. Lucy Liu - Chi/Am actress


Guys
1. Ryan Reynolds - Canadian actor (the one pictured on the right)
2. Josh Duhamel - American actor
3. Dwight Howard - American NBA Superstar
4. LeBron James - American NBA Superstar
5. Fernando Verdasco - Spanish tennis player




Do you concur with my choices?

How dare you Chink...

The Russians sank a Hong Kong freighter last month, killing the seven Chinese seamen on board. We can live with that—Lenin and Stalin were once the ideological mentors of all Chinese people. The Japanese planted a flag on Diàoyú Island. That’s no big problem—we Hong Kong Chinese love Japanese cartoons, Hello Kitty, and shopping in Shinjuku, let alone our round-the-clock obsession with karaoke.

But hold on—even the Filipinos? Manila has just claimed sovereignty over the scattered rocks in the South China Sea called the Spratly Islands, complete with a blatant threat from its congress to send gunboats to the South China Sea to defend the islands from China if necessary. This is beyond reproach. The reason: there are more than 130,000 Filipina maids working as $3,580-a-month cheap labor in Hong Kong. As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter.

As a patriotic Chinese man, the news has made my blood boil. I summoned Louisa, my domestic assistant who holds a degree in international politics from the University of Manila, hung a map on the wall, and gave her a harsh lecture. I sternly warned her that if she wants her wages increased next year, she had better tell every one of her compatriots in Statue Square on Sunday that the entirety of the Spratly Islands belongs to China.

Grimly, I told her that if war breaks out between the Philippines and China, I would have to end her employment and send her straight home, because I would not risk the crime of treason for sponsoring an enemy of the state by paying her to wash my toilet and clean my windows 16 hours a day. With that money, she would pay taxes to her government, and they would fund a navy to invade our motherland and deeply hurt my feelings.

Oh yes. The government of the Philippines would certainly be wrong if they think we Chinese are prepared to swallow their insult and sit back and lose a Falkland Islands War in the Far East. They may have Barack Obama and the hawkish American military behind them, but we have a hostage in each of our homes in the Mid-Levels or higher. Some of my friends told me they have already declared a state of emergency at home. Their maids have been made to shout “China, Madam/Sir” loudly whenever they hear the word “Spratly.” They say the indoctrination is working as wonderfully as when we used to shout, “Long live Chairman Mao!” at the sight of a portrait of our Great Leader during the Cultural Revolution. I’m not sure if that’s going a bit too far, at least for the time being.

The moment my pops ( my dad) brought home some freakin' halo-halo over the weekend made me realize that it was, dangggg, its summer na pala. Temperature has been scorching. Air-conditioning has become more heavenly and hot showers have started to become a freaking bad idea.

What's a simpleton (like me) got to do during the summer season? Here are some few nice tips:

1. Rent as much DVDs as possible. I'd probably do DVDs of TV shows I missed because of hectic schedule (or time mismanagement as mom would put it, lol). I'd probably do Entourage, Heroes Season 3, House, Gossip Girl Season 2 (seriously), and all the Amazing Race I could find.

2. Don't do Holy Week on some vacation hot spot! This is the best time to drive around the city! Serious! Wanna appreciate EDSA without the hustle and bustle of everyday life? Drive around town during Good Friday!

3. Pick a personal summer anthem! Last year it was Jason Mraz's I'm Yours and two years ago was Bamboo's Truth. What could be this year? Hmmmm. Danny Gokey's version of PYT comes to mind but its too premature for me to consider that.

4. Learn to save more for the off-peak season! I need to save more this summer so that I could add a few more stamps on my passport. Where to go? I dunno. Lol.

5. Do some freakishly nice charity work. Good for me, my Church puts a premium to that. Help Bantay Bata? Do ABS-CBN Foundation? We did Gawad Kalinga last year. And please, don't attempt to do that. It was a lecture on ultranationalism-cum-leftism!!! Violent pleas are welcome. I experienced GK myself. Haha!

Enjoy the summer!

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
Annex A
CITY OF MAKATI

I, SUZETTE S. NICOLAS, of legal age. Filipino, a resident of Zamboanga City, after being duly sworn in accordance with law, hereby depose and state:

1. I am a Bachelor of Science graduate, major in Management Accounting, of the Ateneo de Davao University. Soon after my graduation, I took up nursing in 2004 at the Ateneo de Zamboanga City and at the same time assisted in managing our family owned canteen located inside the military base of the Southern Command. My mother was a civilian supervisor of the Philippine Navy for 25 years while my deceased father was a Philippine Navy Officer.

2. Since our canteen also catered to American servicemen who stayed at the military base every time their vessels docked in Zamboanga City, my family came to know many American servicemen who would go to our canteen to eat and buy souvenir items. We treated them as family and we would go out of our way to talk to them, play cards and on many occasions, my mother would even cook special meals for them. They would even entrust their ATM cards to us to withdraw money for them from the bank. My former boyfriend, Brian Goodrich, is also an American serviceman.

3. After working in Swift Foods Inc. since January 22, 2007, I decided to quit my job as a Credit Accountant to pursue my studies in the United States through the help of my family, relatives and close friends. I know that they supported me so that I could finally move on after my tragic experience in 2005 in Subic, Zambales which led to the trial and conviction for rape of Daniel J. Smith.

4. Deep inside, however, I know that I may never be able to move on for as long as I continue to search for answer to so many questions that have lingered in my mind regarding the incident in Subic more than three years ago. Daniel Smith was convicted of rape because the court accepted my version that he took advantage of my intoxication in raping me inside a van that took us to the seawall located at the SBMA Alaba Pier at around 11:30 in the evening of November 1, 2005.

5. Daniel Smith’s witnesses said that while we were at the Neptune Club, I sat on Daniel Smith’s lap and that we kissed each other passionately. I remember that before I met Daniel Smith at the Neptune Club, all I ate was a slice of pizza at the Grand Leisure Hotel. After the pizza, everything else was alcoholic drinks from vodka sprite, B52, Singaporean sling, B53, long island ice tea to bullfrog all of which I drank bottoms up. I do not recall Daniel Smith having ordered any alcoholic drink for me. My drinks were all paid for by Chris Mills who invited me to go to the Neptune Club.

6. I had no opportunity to deny in court that I kissed Daniel Smith but with the amount of alcoholic mixed drinks I took, my low tolerance level of alcohol and with only a slice of pizza all night, it dawned upon me that I may have possibly lost my inhibitions, became so intimate with Daniel Smith and did more than just dancing and talking with him like everyone else on the dance floor. Looking back, I would not have agreed to talk with Daniel Smith and dance with him no less than three times if I did not enjoy his company or was at least attracted to him since I met him for the very first time on the dance floor of Neptune Club.

7. When I danced with Daniel Smith for the third time, my companion, Chris Mills has already left Neptune Club since he had to catch their curfew time at the military base. The lighting was sufficient for people to recognize each other and other marines were with their Filipino partners drinking, dancing and enjoying each other’s company and kissing and hugging among partners was a common scene.

8. With the events at the Neptune Club in mind, I keep on asking myself, if Daniel Smith wanted to rape me, why would he carry me out of the Neptune Club using the main entrance in full view of the security guard and the other sources? Why would the van park right in front of Neptune Club? Why would Daniel Smith and his companions bring me to the seawall of Alaba Pier and casually leave this area that was well lighted and with many people roaming around? If they believed that I was raped, would they have not dumped me instead in a dimly lit area along the highway going to Alaba Pier to avoid detection?

9. I told the court that Daniel Smith kissed my lips and neck and held my breast inside the van. Recalling my testimony, I ask myself now how could I have remembered this if witnesses told the court that I passed out and looked unconscious when I was brought to the van by Daniel Smith. How could I have resisted his advances given this condition? Daniel Smith and I were alone on the third row of the van which had limited space and I do not recall anyone inside the van who held my hand or any part of my body. What I can recall is that there was very loud music and shouting inside the van.

10. If the travel from Neptune Club took only several minutes and with the driver of the van trying to beat the curfew time of his passengers, how could I have instantly regained my consciousness and talked to the people upon reaching the seawall of Alaba Pier? When people gathered around me at the seawall, everyone seemed to have drawn the conclusion that I was raped except for one who called me a bitch.

11. Based on the account of SBMA police, I was very hesitant to board the mobile police car that brought me to the headquarters for investigation. I was so confused and the first thing that entered my mind was how would my mother and boyfriend react if they learn that I was last seen with Daniel Smith and that a condom was seen on my pants after Daniel Smith left the van? I was scared of losing not only my American boyfriend but the chance of living in the United States. In fact, I did not immediately tell my boyfriend that I was raped by Daniel Smith. All I said was that something bad happened to me.

12. I expect many sectors to question my motives in executing this statement more than three years after the incident. However, as I practically grew up interacting with American servicemen in Zamboanga City who treated me and my family very well, and thinking over and over again how I may have conducted myself at the Neptune Club, I can’t help but entertain doubts on whether the sequence of events in Subic last November of 2005 really occurred the way the court found them to have happened.

13. My conscience continues to bother me realizing that I may have in fact been so friendly and intimate with Daniel Smith at the Neptune Club that he was led to believe that I was amenable to having sex or that we simply just got carried away. I would rather risk public outrage than do nothing to help the court in ensuring that justice is served.

AFFIANT SAYETH NAUGHT.

SUZETTE S. NICOLAS
Affiant

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN TO BEFORE ME this 12 day of March 2009, affiant exhibiting to me her Philippine Passport No. PPO845449 bearing her photograph and signature, issued on 18 Feb 2005 at Zamboanga City and valid until 18 Feb. 2010.

Doc. No. 37
Page No. 9
Book No. 1
Series of 2009

ABRAHAM REY M. ACOSTA
Notary Public for Makati City

Can you tell me who the monkey is?

*taken from Ping Lacson's website.

Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson scored Thursday insinuations of “command responsibility” and “obstruction of justice” in supposedly helping former Senior Superintendent Cezar Mancao II hide from authorities in connection with the Dacer-Corbito case.

Lacson took exception to claims that he is responsible for Mancao and the other accused who were linked to the case because he was their commanding officer at the Philippine National Police and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force.

“It is wrong to claim that I am liable because of command responsibility. In the first place, I resigned from the PNP and the PAOCTF was dissolved shortly after EDSA-2 in January 2001, while these officers were still in the service when they left the country,” he said.

He also brushed aside allusions of obstruction of justice, supposedly because he knew of Mancao’s whereabouts in September last year but did not do anything.

Lacson said that as early as 2005, the United States government Federal Bureau of Investigation already knew where Mancao was because of a material witness warrant served on him, in connection with the charges filed against Michael Ray Aquino.



As such, he said the Philippine government through the Department of Justice was also aware of Mancao’s whereabouts.

“At the time I talked to him (Mancao), he was a free man and he was telling me about the pressure he faced. So what obstruction of justice are they talking about? If he fled from the Philippines, it is because he lost trust in the Philippine justice system. We have a double-standard justice system. If you are close to Malacañang, you can get away with billions. If you are seen as a threat, you face trumped-up charges,” he added.

On the other hand, Lacson branded as baseless claims that Mancao’s so-called affidavit would point to him as the mastermind of the Dacer-Corbito case.


reactions please?
“If that is indeed the case, they might as well make the document public so we will know who was really behind the disappearance of Dacer and Corbito,” he said

I was approached by a tourism official recently with a cast-iron winner for the title of Worst Idea in History. “Hey, you’re a funny guy,” he said. “Everyone’s really depressed just now. Nobody’s travelling. We should get you to write stuff for us so that people see the funny side.”

There was one small problem. Flaks like him want to focus only on the good bits, while Fearless Reporters like me have to follow The First Rule of Journalism: “Thou shalt emphasize bad news as it selleth more publications.”

I tried to explain this to him, using the classic intellectual debating technique of grabbing his jacket lapels and shouting in his face, but he couldn’t see it. “Just try it,” he said.

“Fine,” I said. “In that case, I accept the job.”

So I got together with a few regular contributors to this column and we wrote promotional slogans for the countries of Asia. In some cases, we thought of more than one. They are listed below in the random order that we came up with them.

Serious warning: Before reading the list below, please note. We do not intend to offend any particular nation. We intend to offend all nations. We are strictly an equal-opportunity offender. The Official List of Accurate Travel Slogans for Asian Nations:

* Laos: Landmine capital of the world.
* Kazakhstan: Visit us and feel better about your home country.
* Mongolia: Poor, cold and miserable, but mountain sheep like it.
* Maldives: Beautiful, clear blue waters, and islands shortly to disappear beneath them.
* South Korea: Right next door to a demented man making nuclear weapons.
* Vietnam: Not entirely sad, possibly.
* Sri Lanka: The world’s most glorious island, except for the war and the bombs and the soldiers and the guns and stuff.
* Taiwan: Shortly to be overrun by China.
* Bangladesh: Sometimes not flooded.
* Thailand: Come and see how long you can stay Prime Minister.
* Japan: You think our cartoons are weird, wait till you meet our people.
* North Korea: Proud to be the world’s maddest country.
* China: Home of Earth’s most polluted cities.
* Nepal: Compare the legend of fabled, exotic Kathmandu, with the grimy, bar-lined reality.
* Malaysia: Pitched battles over leadership, and that’s just within the ruling party.
* Kyrgyzstan: Proud to be the world’s least spell-able nation.
* Hong Kong: Quite nice, as long as you don’t breathe in.
* Pakistan: Visit us for the best chance of being part of the world’s first all-out nuclear war.
* East Timor: Now transformed from a violent, poverty-stricken, occupied land, into a violent, poverty-stricken, independent land.
* Philippines: Corrupt but cheap.
* Singapore: Now developing ways to arrest people for thought-crimes.
* Myanmar: Home of some of the world’s nastiest leaders.
* Brunei: Imagine a land totally free of pubs, nightclubs and alcoholic drinks.
* Cambodia: We now have electricity in places.
* India: Your upset stomach might not last the whole trip.

I delivered the list to him over a cappuccino at a little Italian place. “I see what you mean,” he said, eventually, his brow wrinkling and his dream campaign disappearing.

*copied from somewhere else.

I don't know what to blog about. As PogingPayatot would put it, writer's block. It is when you run out of things to write about. Ideas come to a halt. I got ideas, yeah. But i feel that I'm not really inspired to write about anything.

Sigh.

The same aforementioned person told me a few days back about getting rid of baggages. If they come in heavy, throw them out. Same with people, if they aren't liking you, so what?! Throw them out.

Ooooh, I think I got an article now to write about.

Stay put homies!

12:30 noon: We left the house. It was scorching hot. My younger sister took this photo to prove my point.




Here was my ticket. I seriously need to ask my elder sister where she placed my used ticket!!!




Around 1pm somewhere in Pasig. Monster traffic!





We arrived at MoA around 2:30 in the afternoon. 2 hours on the road under the scorching Manila summer sun? Not nice!





Yey! The concert started! The first song was ''Magasin".





All four Eraserheads were back in one concert! Amazingly amazing!





Ely!! Ely!! Ely!! That was the last song from their first encore performance. It was "Ang Huling El Bimbo." It was such a classic!

I feel better now.

I spoke with my best bud.

I cried, I poured myself to him.

He comforted me.

I shared everything that has to be shared.

There he was, a mirror to my concerns.

It's been a long time since I shared and cried my problems over to my best bud.

Thank God he's there.

I am happier now.

I just finished reading off Francis Magalona's Happy Battle blog and I feel quite teary-eyed after reading it. What if the same thing would happen to me? Perhaps life would come rewinding all of those highlights that I have had. All 24 short years.

When something major happens in a person's life, you go back to God and your family to anchor you through. And that's what I felt after reading his stories. Death is not the end of it all. It is but another chapter to your existence, be it premortal, mortal, or antemortal. You just feel that life has suddenly become perfect. You feel very grateful to your family and their love towards you.

After reading the Master Rapper's story, I have learned to love my family more. I learned to appreciate myself more. And most of all, love God more than ever. After all, our life is just borrowed from Him. You just feel and realize how good life is.

Thank you Francis for teaching me that lesson. Life weighs more than death, that's why you just smiled through all its pains.

I noticed you made a new post on your blog.


I heard your piece.








Amen to that.






I'm sorry too.

I'll copy this article about a woman who called 911 because she didn't get what she ordered from McDonald's! Amazing isn't it?

A Florida woman called 911 three times after she paid for a 10-piece Chicken McNuggets at a McDonald's but the fast-food restaurant ran out of them and refused to give her a refund.
Latreasa L. Goodman, 27, made the calls after she tried to get her money back from a Fort Pierce McDonald's and the cashier told her all sales were final. Police released the 911 tapes.
"This is an emergency. If I would have known they didn't have McNuggets, I wouldn't have given my money, and now she wants to give me a McDouble, but I don't want one," police quoted her as saying. "This is an emergency."
The cashier suggested she choose something else off the menu of equal value to the McNuggets, and offered the restaurant's cheeseburger called the McDouble.
"She's trying to force me to eat something off the menu and I don't want it," Goodman told 911.
The first dispatcher, a woman, asks if there's a manager there, but listens to Goodman's complaints and says she's sending someone.
The second, male dispatcher tells her he's aware of the incident and "we've got an officer coming out there to talk to you."
Police say Goodman was cited on a misuse of 911 charge. A current phone listing for Goodman couldn't be found.
A McDonald's spokesman said Goodman should have been given a refund, and she's being sent a gift card for a free meal.

Click here to hear the first 911 call.
Click here for the second call.
Click here for the third call.

If this ain't gonna shock you, I don't know what will!

I would like to write in BOLD right now. I guess that pretty much sums up my current state right now. Blogging has been my avenue to express my ideas. I feel happy after finishing a blog post. It's like finishing an artwork or a well-loved dish. I feel happy cos I gave my heart and soul into doing it.
I easily trust people. Not the type wherein I would compromise my security. But I trust people so easily as I may bare my soul to that person. I enjoy talking with just one person and even if a group would make my day (or night) energetic and happy, a single person accompanying me into some nice conversation is still what I prefer. Be it a physical conversation or over the phone or over the internet, I always value conversations with a single person.
I guess I'm always interested with the individual, rather than the group. It's nice if I get to know what's on the other person's mind and what would they have to say about me in return. I always thought of myself as a good conversationalist. People tell me that that would be one of my strengths. And I believed that as well. I pay close attention to what a person would tell me. And believe me, I almost always remember!
However, I feel a little short-changed. No matter how much I value people and the camaraderie that comes with it, I don't I really got close friends! I have a best bud, yeah. But, it's nothing too deep. I get to speak with him sometimes. But, I don't feel he's there for me.
Unfortunately, I'm quite surrounded with people who you can't trust completely. As I was speaking with my best bud's younger brother (who happened to be my younger sister's suitor), it should be better for me not to divulge anything to the people that surrounded us. True friends is what I really need. Not someone who you say everyday, thus automatically giving them the honor of being your friend.
I think I pretty much offended some people from the blogosphere and the forums I go to everyday and every night. I'm very sensitive that I might overdo things. However, I'm also a believer that each person has the right to say his piece. I'm not asking for your pity or what-have-you. I don't care. I'm not asking for your trust cos after you saw what I got to say here, I guess it is not really worth it anymore. I believe trust and friendship shouldn't be asked. It is earned.
I guess I just got to keep finding.