Jodythinks

Curled up with a nook

my favorite book on my favorite "gadget"

Yes. I gave in and got a Nook, an electronic reader. I am admittedly one person who loves the analog. I love the idea of Polaroids and film cameras. I jot down notes on an actual notebook. I love the smell of old books. But books are expensive now, and from what i purchase 12 books with, I got this, where I can store all my favorite books, and can read all I want. It’s perfect for the times I have to wait, it’s removed the cranky face from waiting for an hour for the inevitable late meetups, the hours in traffic, the idle times in line at a government offices.

I love my nook.

Jodythinks

An unremarkable photo with a remarkable story

jules!
A photo that took six years to come into fruition.

This picture would seem for most people, unremarkable. Albeit, it is a very pretty girl, with impeccable makeup. Yet, the lighting isn’t very flattering. The setting isn’t anywhere special, in fact you could even see that it was taken on a moving escalator on a random mall. Which for us on these 7,107 islands, is a picture taken by low resolution camera phones by high school students every day. But this picture is a very special one for me.

Because of the person in it. My best friend of almost two decades came to the Philippines for a short visit last February, which she has not done since 2005. I’ve missed her, and from the turnout at one of our get togethers, I wasn’t the only one. This vivacious, bubbly, exciting girl has been my friend since I entered kindergarten. In high school, we went our separate ways. She had to go to the US to join her migrating family.

We’ve grown up together, apart. While we don’t talk everyday, and as much as we would like since we both have our lives to attend to, when we do talk, it feels like we just saw each other the day before. We don’t have the exact same likes, but we’re interested in each other’s lives, and learn from each other (makeup i know nothing about, but her stuff was so cute!) about the different things the other knows more about.

It was almost a month of neverending laughs, giggling reminiscing, and sometimes dreamy conversations about the future. We caught up on things we didn’t have the time to talk about, and after a while, it felt like she would be here everyday.But after those fun three weeks, she had to go, back to her life, and me back to mine.

It was a bittersweet idea, of saying goodbye. Because we knew we couldn’t stay in vacation mode for the rest of our lives, and had to go back to being friends across thousands of miles. At the same time, we knew it wasn’t the last time we would see each other, and thanks to modern technology, had an easier way to communicate.

I love my Jules, and I will never stop being her friend, and she has been the same for me.

So look at this seemingly unremarkable photo. Now you know how incredible it really is.

What pictures do you have, have a special story between the seemingly normal image?

Jodythinks

Summer means sunflowers

sunflowers
If you go to UP Diliman in April to May of each year, chances are, you’ll see one of my favorite sights in the world, a row of sunflowers that are stunningly beautiful, really tall sunflowers on each side of the main entrance to the campus. Their beauty is fleeting although, as at most these blooms survive the summer heat is two weeks. This is the sight we caught last Monday, so troop to the campus before they die out. I swear they’re much more amazing in person. 🙂

Jodythinks

25 Things About a Girl Turning 25

I’m turning 25 in two weeks (April 13) and needless to say, this girl is iffy about turning a quarter century old. Breaking that age barrier into my late twenties, well, may not seem so scary for many people, but it sure is scaring me. Here comes the inevitable questions of growing up, that in my Peter Pan brain, is stubbornly shaking in its boots to answer. So instead, here comes twenty five things about this girl, turning twenty five:

1. I am currently obsessed with mochi, a sticky rice paste thing covering ice cream that is originally from Japan, which ironically, I get cheap (P35) at the nearest Korean Mart.

2. I will not eat rabbit or dog. However adventurous I consider myself to be, I will not eat these fluffy creatures. Plus, I have one of each at home.

3. I am a serious lurker of beauty blogs. I may not wear makeup often, or take that much thought or effort into what I wear, but I love reading about it. I check several every day.

4. I play Left 4 Dead 2. I consider it one of the best stress relievers out there.

5. I love swimwear. I am on the constant lookout for the perfect suit, but alas, have grown too many bulges to find the perfect one for me.

6. When I do wear makeup, I use cheek tint, concealer, and powder foundation. For days when I’m feeling up to it, eyeliner.

7. I don’t watch horror movies. I don’t like being scared out of my wits.

8. I was called “Walking Dictionary” by my classmates from elementary school. I have fond memories of looking up random words in our huge, Merriam Webster dictionary and checking their meanings and spelling. I was such a dork.

9. I am still a dork.

10. I hate the taste of beer.

11. I am a middle child, and have all the complexes associated with it.

12. I tried to smother my brother with a pillow at almost three years old. I don’t know why I did it, i just remember going in the room with the pillow.

13. My birthday has hit two fridays, and they have both sucked, so I believe in Friday the 13th.

14.  I have digipermed hair. Reading beauty blogs, I found a salon that earned a great reputation as the place to have it done, and in December, I spent five hours in the salon, to come out with fun curls.

15. At my seventh birthday, I wore a Princess Jasmine inspired outfit that prompted by late grandfather to exclaim “Bakit pinasuot ni Josie[my mom] sa anak niya yan?”. It was a purple skirt, pastel green leggings, and a leotard to match. My aunt (mom’s youngest sister) still laughs about that outfit to this day.

16. I love the rain.

17. I’m left handed. I used to be right handed, then there was a firework incident involving that hand, and I was told I didn’t want to use it to write. I blame this for my development.

18. The band I always wear has been with me since 1999.

19. Three things you will always find with me: lip balm, alcohol and keys to our gate.

20. I carry a knife with me always, one given to me by one of my dad’s friends. He said “Bigay mo kay Jody yan, matapang yun e.”

21. The 80s child in me will never fade. I love bright colors, prints and loud embellishments on stuff, even though I hardly wear them, they just look so pretty to me.

22. I’m very particular about smell.

23. I have a very husky sleepy voice. It freaks people out.

24. My favorite classic Disney princesses are Jasmine from Aladdin and Ariel from The Little Mermaid.

25. I love to read.

 

I’m checking back on this list after a quarter century and checking if anything still holds.

p.s. I’m terrified about turning 25.

 

 

Jodythinks

Disappointed at Banapple

**UPDATE**

I got this response to the email I sent:

hi ms Jody, just to let you know that we’ve issued a verbal warning to mylene and she has been reassigned to another department. upon investigation with our duty manager it was clear that her skills were not up to banapple’s standards. again we apologize for what happened and we hope that you will still give us a chance to serve you in the future.

Kudos to them actually giving a damn about their customer service, their cakes are too good to just cross off the list.

Now I can enjoy a banoffee again!

Today I met my friend K, and wanting Banoffee pie for the longest time, I asked if we could meet at Banapple, my favorite place to get it. Heading to the place at 1:30 in the afternoon, I was pretty confident we would get nice seats and better service than what we would at rush time, but we were sadly disappointed. 🙁

I’m attaching the letter I wrote to the email address on their website here:

To Whom It May Concern,

I would like to express my disappointment at the service we experienced at your Katipunan branch (the newer one with two floors) today at 1:30 to 3 pm.
First, we were told to order when there were still six people near the counter, saying that they were still picking out their items.
When we got to the counter ready to order, those who were picking their takeout were still served first, leaving us waiting while they do, while we had our orders ready (we were dining in).
I had personally ordered your iced tea and when it was served, had a dead ant floating in it, which I had fortunately seen before taking a sip.
I called a server to replace the iced tea, and she went over the counter to supposedly do that, but as she gave it back, the same ant was floating around the iced tea.
I called another server to have it replaced (again) and was handed back the same glass, without the ice, but had the ant still in it.
I called the same server (I unfortunately did not have the time to take down her name, but she had pale skin, a white shirt and a sullen expression) to direct her attention and told her that the ant was still there, and was handed back the same iced tea, now sans the ant and ice.
I called her back to ask for ice as I was already exasperated and hungry, to sit down and just drink the iced tea.

We noticed that same server sullenly regarding as every time she passed by, but ignored my friend’s attempts at asking for water, only turning to her when she was expressly called “Miss”, at the time several minutes had passed by.
After giving my friend water, she very hurriedly asked to clean up our plates, and picked them up instantly.
After which she still stared sullenly, which we thought was weird since it was already 3 pm, and slow in terms of foot traffic.
As we were planning to order cakes after a few minutes, we decided to just leave as we felt unwelcome to stay.

We were very disappointed as we’ve gone to banapple many times over the years, and have never been treated so badly.
We considered your restaurant a favorite and have recommended them to many friends, but would not continue to do so if this is the service awaiting them there.

Hoping for your speedy response

Jodythinks

The Christmas List

I am a lister. I list all things down, coz I tend to forget. I like seeing them in print, and if you’ve ever seen my tattered green notebook, you’ll know that I have dozens of lists about anything I might think of. A Christmas list, I have three. But here I just figured, I’d ask the Big Guy up there for a couple of things:

1. For the pater to quit smoking. It’s more than a pack a day methinks.

2. For glorious earphones for the pc. Sorry Est, I really, really don’t like the Kpop.

3. For another store room for all the stuff people keep stashing in my room. It’s insane I want to burn them, really

4. For more free nook books. i want it all!

5. For more instax film. (OR THE OHGOD POLAROID 300 in red)

6. To go back to my college weight. I really need God on this one

7. For an endless supply of chapstick. I needs ittt.

8. For people on the street to stop chucking firecrackers when people pass by. Not. Cool.

9. For endless toffee nut, all year round.

10. For the ability to teleport. Traffic, you waste half my life.

And a bunch of other material things. Mostly, to keep this happy. 🙂 And thanks Big Dude, you rocked this year.