The Million Dollar Idea List

It's exactly what it is, according to the book Caffeine for the Creative Mind: 250 Exercises to Wake Up Your Brain. A list of ideas that if ever produced or invented, will make you richer by a million dollars.


First on my list is a battery-operated microwave oven.

I was going to write my second one but I was reminded I need to produce copy for an event invite for one of our banking corporation clients (which I’m sure has more than a million dollars’ worth of assets). They need it this morning, or else.

Hmm. Interesting how I’m doing something giving me a teeny fraction of a million dollars when the one I’m doing it for is probably getting millions more by the second.

Back to work so I can get back to my million dollar list soon!

The Afterparty

After about a month of fussing over our daughter Jaira's 3rd birthday party (that was Dora-themed, by the way) and laboring over it the whole day of the party done at Garden Ville subdivision in Calumpit, Bulacan, we took to drinking. It was Margaritas and Dry Martinis for me, my sister-in-law and a friend and cold light beer for my husband and the boys, at a place called Umbrella at The Cabanas in Malolos - pretty nice place actually, too bad I didn't take photos of the whole strip, will do soon.

Here's a nice photo of my husband and I. Hooray, and yes we didn't look as dead-tired as we really were.



As I write this, I'm trying to ignore a splitting headache, probably caused by too much thinking and writing for work since last week. I'm behind deadlines and I've a big zit sitting right beside my right eyebrow and I really want to sleep for about two days straight.

This is reminding me that marriage is still swingin' hot for me I guess - a good thing! - since things done with Raffy no matter how hard always come through on a high note, like cocktails.

That, or headaches is a way of life for me, less felt when happy things like Raffy or my dear daughter Jaira are around. :)

Two kinds of people in the world

"There are two types of people in the world. Those who come in the room and say, "Well, here I am!" and those who come into a room and say, "Ah, there you are."
- Frederick L. Collins, Writer

Got this from the book Ideaspotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea by Sam Harrison.

And just like that I've learned that I'm neither kind. I come into a room and just simply...do my thing.

Or maybe I'm realizing I really want to be the latter and not the first kind.

Which one are you?

Go ahead, I'm listening.

Behind the supposed Noynoy victory...

...is a whole lot of hoopla still, and burgeoning uncertainty for the Philippines by the day.

I am a self-confessed Noynoy doubter. My bet was actually either Dick Gordon or Gibo for president, though I know it's highly unlikely that any of them would make it. If you ask me, I'd say whatever comes out of the elections now is the government Filipinos deserve. Why? The majority of us just NEVER learn. I mean, come on. Erap on 2nd place? It's bewildering for me.

So anyway, back to Noynoy, who is supposedly a shoo-in for the win, at least as of the May 13 Comelec tally. I can say I am not happy he's going to be president, although I am relieved that it's not going to be a Villar presidency. But for sure I'm not looking forward to the political circus, which I'm sensing is just around the corner, since Gloria is (wow! diba?) congresswoman and a Marcos-trio is going to walk all over our laws and what-not, too.

Add that to the Kris Aquino madness. I read about this happening on Facebook, which was even reported by GMA News, where Kris allegedly declared she's willing to fly out if if she causes any distress in her brother Noynoy's presidency. Some clever Facebook-er had the grand idea of making a "Kris Aquino Despedida" fanpage out of this. Read about the rest of the circus on the news sites and all together let's say "Oh boy" with a dead fish face.

Oh well. What can I say. Good luck, Noynoy.

Photo courtesy of Philnews.com

Whad'ya know, Willy Wonka's flavor-changing gum has come to life!

Just read an NY Times article on gum ads particularly the ones by Stride, the gum company that also happened to bring to life the rather interesting piece of candy from the 1971 Willy Wonka (starring Gene Wilder) film: gum that changes flavor while being chewed, replicating a three-course meal by tasting first like tomato soup, then roast beef, then blueberry pie. Which by the way I always found cool since having seen the movie when I was 10!

Only Stride's gum creation was not really a three-course meal gum, but a gum that changes fruity flavors as you chew it - going from, say melon to berry, to citrous to mint (check out NY Times for details). But hey, it's almost the same idea!

(Aside: Don't you think though that this original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is way better than the Johnny Depp remake that focuses on Charlie's story? Plus, I really do believe that people who’ve seen the first Willy Wonka have more interesting personalities than those who haven’t. I’m convinced that it does things to your brain: the whole lot of the orange-faced Oompa Loompas that are throngs of real midgets and not CGI, the perpetually eerie expression on Gene Wilder’s face, the works. And aren’t you amazed at how vivid the imagery is, still, even after years and years since first seeing it?)

I just find it amusing that inventions that might have been unheard of many years ago are now mushrooming any given day. Childhood fantasies come true (and heck, who would have thought the Philippine elections a couple of days ago will be successfully automated despite booboos on the sidelines!)...and now I can’t wait for the day I Michael J. Fox’s flying skateboard-trolley-like bike in Back to the Future roaming EDSA’s sky space.

...well, that is of course if God allows it and the end days don’t happen soon.

Now I've two things to look forward to: the day Jesus comes again, or being as cool as Michael J. Fox. I'm okay with whichever comes first. Feel free to ask why.

SHE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED

Call me the fire beneath the waves,
the stillness in the storm

I am the claw of the crow,
the glide of the swallow

Call me Jesus for I love Him,
Call me the Fallen One
for I succumb to stumbling

Call me a flower,
Call me beautiful,
Call me a woman for I cherish my womb,
Call me an abomination
for my balls command

I saw heaven as I gazed upward
while my feet are in hell

I am an abomination,
I am a curse--
They call me poet,
they call me Woman.


Photo: "Woman In the Waves," a painting by Paul Gauguin, taken from www.1st-art-gallery.com