Poetry reading

Last Sunday the 22nd of Feb was the reading for Barbara and Patrick Rosal at 2100 Grand. Unfortunately, we arrived late because the SO had to visit and chat with the parental units. The parental units had offerred two kinds of Marie Calendar's pies, one chocolate and the other a lemon meringue. Who can say "No"?

Patrick is a slam poet from New York and the part I saw was exciting. I specially liked his "Kundiman" poem which hopefully is included in his latest book. I was ready to shell out the big bucks to get a poetry book, but Patrick did not bring any. Next time, he needs to so that he can deduct the expenses for the trip in his 1040 tax forms.

For the following, I am not discussing Patrick because as I said previously, I only heard two of his poems.

The interesting thing about slam poetry to me is the rhythm. Many of the current slam poets usually cater to the rhythm to such an extent that even the words become a slave to the all encompassing rhythm. I have heard slam poets who seemed to have harvested the dictionaries of rhyming just so that they could find words that end in "-tion." Sometimes, the alliteration(?) works, sometimes it does not.

Another aspect of slam poetry that I have detected is the use of the "I" as protagonist (Ooops, time for work. To be continued).

(Lunch time the next day) Continuation. So, I was discussing slam poetry. I look at slam poetry and liken it to the movement of the beat poets. It will define the poetry that is written by a generation. I am wistful to a certain extent that my poetry does not belong to that style, but then again, I have never belonged in a certain sense to anything. Perhaps, it is appropriate that my poetry and photography will not belong to styles.

I do believe however that there is a new generation of Pin@y artists who are defining the golden age of Pin@ys in America. As I previously called them, these New Pin@ys are the children of immigrants who have had a chance to go to college and obtain their graduate degrees. It is only with the development of an intellectual class does a culture attain the ability to document and record its achievements. The alternative is backbreaking and near impossible archaeology.

As the SO wrote in her blog, we all ended up drinking some beer at a bar in downtown Oakland. These situations are interesting for me because social events sometimes makes me hide. It's hard to try and probe people for their interests and life. It's a good thing that Patrick's friends are Pinoys so we ended up discussing Filipino food and the various Filiopino restaurants around San Francisco.

We'll be heading on to New York sometime in April. Hope we'll get to see Patrick and the other folks in NY.

Shirts and the like Part 2

After one week of having to wear shirts at work, I decided that it might be time to buy into the corporate image and wear shirts as a daily routine. I figured that it would be more professional and more inoffensive. Besides, after wearing t-shirts for the last twenty years in America, I can begin a new phase in life.

But, work shirts or button shirts are not inexpensive. Whenever I have gone to Macy's, shirts usually are in the $35-$45 range. If you want brand name like Dior, Bill Blass, or Lauren, you might as well kiss your whole salary away. As I previously wrote, one option is to go to Costco a large wholesaler of merchandise from electronics to food to clothing. With the buying power of the store, the savings are passed onto the consumer. And what savings you can have! Typical button down shirts can be bought for as low as $13-$15. Name brand shirts can be as low as $20 to $25.

Another option is Ross "Dress for Less." It is a store that sells last year's clothing styles. But the bargains can be mind boggling. Dior shirts which cost $70 can be bought for $20. Some of the wool blend pants from other designers can be priced at $22 when they were originally selling for $90. I was in hog heaven!

The first Ross I went to was within walking distance of my domicile. I ended up purchasing five shirts for about $60. I selected shirts that were colorful but ones that did not cause the eyes to bleed. I went with mostly silk or silk blends that can be worn with jeans. I still have to buy pants. I can't believe you can buy silk shirts for $20. It used to cost an arm and a leg. As I was checking out, the cashier gave my taste a compliment. "I have to stop and give you a compliment because these are nice shirts," he said. I spoke briefly to him about my first day at work and having to dress professionally. He agreed that wearing nice shirts is a nice change of pace from wearing t-shirts.

The SO and I had originally planned on going to Ross in the afternoon. But I cheated and went in the morning so that she did not have to drive so far. It turns out that she wanted to shop for her clothes. So off we went to a larger Ross store. This time around, it was evening so it was not as crowded as usual. I ended up buying some more button down shirts and pants. The SO went on a shopping spree buying at least four pairs of pants and three or more shirts. The total damage was $100. I can't believe that it was so reasonable. Her shirts were even cheaper than mine.

God, I love America.

Why Pin@y businesses suck

Hay naku! It seems that the children of business owners are now taking over the grand Pin@y businesses in the Bay Area. How else can one explain the narrow-minded and dumb business operations that they are installing?

The SO went to Vallejo to buy some rattan sticks. Since she was in the vicinity she decided to drop by Valerio's and buy some pan de sal. But, she wanted to buy something special for the monkey so she decided to buy some turon. Now, turon is one of the monkeys all time favorites because it is pure and beautiful as a memory of the monkey's childhood in the Philippines. Furthermore, the monkey has gotten used to the SO's family's way of making turon in which langka is lovingly wrapped along with the banana.

Three days later, I see the grease stained white bag and decided that with the freezing temperatures in the bay area, aerobic bacteria could not have possibly increased exponentially upon the surface of said turon; therefore, said turon should be edible. Imagine my surprise into biting a three day old turon. No, I was not surprised that it was no longer crispy. I was surprised that the whole banana came out of the turon. Looking down onto the banana hanging onto my mouth, I realize that the proprietors of Valerio's cut the banana!!! Not only was the banana halved, the banana was f*cking quartered!!!!!

Hello? We live in one of the richest countries in the world. Restaurants are serving enormous amounts of food to Americans because the raw materials used are so cheap! Then F*cking Pin@ys QUARTERED a banana to make turon!

A curse! A curse upon your house! A curse upon your adobo! A curse upon your gods! May they not let you enter into peace until you stop Quartering bananas! May your business fail upon the sandy beaches of the hellion you have placed it upon. May people stop lining up outside your doors. May bacteria proliferate in numbers unknown. May the Health Department take notice of the rat droppings in your kitchen. A curse upon thee until you stop quartering bananas!!!!

I'm a little annoyed.

Weekends

Another weekend is upon us. The rains have come and are staying in the San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose area. I don't mind since the area needs rain for the water supply. I have given up on the umbrella because of the winds. I favor those sturdy black umbrellas that can cover two people at once. I don't care too much for portability of umbrellas when you end up getting wet. Portability defeats the purpose of an umbrella. Nowadays, I wear a huge yellow jacket with my Tilley hat. It protects me enough from the rain and winds.

It's poker night tonight! I took out fifty dollars since the minimum bets will increase in the last hour to four dollars. Poker is a game that tests your belief in luck. The numbers are easy to memorize, but at that instance when you have cards in your hands, you have to make a choice: Do you feel lucky, punk? Well, do you?

The SO's friend is the host for the scheduled third Friday of the month poker nights. I had thought that in graduate school, I would find my buddies/friends through poker night. It did not work out that way. I suppose I am too much of a private person.

As I previously mentioned, I went to Costco two nights ago. The shopping was fun because of the temp job. I can afford to buy things again. BUt I did not splurge. I have stopped since I have to consider the coming nuptials of yours truly. Now that I think about it, I really was not ready in the last fifteen years to have gotten married. It is only now that my senses are sufficiently dulled that I am a functioning gentleman. It took about twenty years of living in AMerica to teach me etiquette.

I used to think that saying the truth had to be done each and every single day. I have learned since that you can omit and ignore many instances in life which can lead you to anger. It will just make your life easier. Smile and the world smiles with you. Cry and the world will cry. I used to think that this mumbo-jumbo was made up by silly ignorant fools. After trying to go at life my own way and realizing that it was very hard, I have decided to go at it using all the techniques and lessons which touchy-feely gurus have used. And you know what? It works like magic.

May your weekend be a great one. May you find peace and happiness.

Wearing Shirts at Work

With the new temp job, I have had to start wearing actual real button shirts. As a graduate student, post-doc and an analyst, I treasured wearing t-shirts. White ones, plain ones, tie-dyed shirts, and any other amusing shirt were the normal uniform for me. But with this job, I decided that I needed to show some maturity and some class. Thus, I find myself scrounging around for a shirt I can wear.

Yesterday was Costco night with the prime activity of buying cheap shirts made by Kirkland. Imagine, each shirt costs $12. The brand name shirts cost $25 and $30. No thanks, I'll stick to the cheaper shirts.

Now, if only I can figure out how many shirts to buy. Do I have to wear a shirt everyday? Poor t-shirts. I guess I'll have to go to the gym to wear them.

Visiting Spain

Oh yeah, Barb just reminded me that I am planning to embrace the inner Spaniard in me. I want to go to Spain and meet the Pin@ys who inhabit the Iberian peninsula. How to do this is a mystery I will try to solve. Any stories from anyone out there about Spain?

First Day at Work

Wow, this was tough today with respect to transportation. As most of you know, I don't own a car and like taking public transportation. Well, today, my will was severely tested. I got off at the wrong subway station on the way to work. Since I was trying to catch a shuttle, I went on antoher station. Still wrong. Guess what. It was President's Day, celebrating Lincoln and Washington's B-days. No shuttle service. It was a good thing that city carshare was there and available. I ended up renting it for 8 hours. Work was uneventful although my calculated commute time is about one hour and forty-five minutes.

I'm up early so that I can write and tell you about my life. Can you imagine my dedication?

Gay Marriages in San Francisco

When I was in soc.culture.filipino, I always rose to the defense of homosexuals and lesbians. I particularly disliked it when arguments would descend into name-calling like "Bakla ka ba?" (Are you gay?). It is as if the posters would win the argument by deducing that one's opinions did not matter because one is gay. Fools. A lot of them inhabit soc.culture.filipino.

But this name-calling is a tradition in the Philippines a land where there is so much oppression that if one gets the upperhand, one must carve out one's initials on the person lying under your feet. Who knows? Tomorrow, you might be the one lying on the floor being carved into. One might as well use one's power to abuse others. It's a sad and pathetic state of affairs in my motherland. I hope it will change for the better.

In the past weekend, there was a line of homosexual and lesbian couples who got married in San Francisco. The city had allowed gay couples to be married even though California state law did not allow such a thing. The whole mess will have to be sorted out in the courts. Now, this last sentence is one of the reasons I love America. The court systems are effective given enough time. Sometimes, it takes fifty or two hundred years for the courts to act, but they do act. The courts finally gave the black man equality in the desegregation court cases. And the courts allowed a woman to have an abortion.

I saw on the television that gay couples were coming from just about everywhere. One couple came from Georgia. I guess the couples were coming because they wanted a piece of paper saying that they were committed under the eyes of the law even though SF is going against state law. The SO has made a statement that Gavin Newsom SF's new mayor is probably going for higher office because he seems to be letting the floodgates of politics open. If he continues it like this, he might as well. I wouldn't mind a governor of California who takes on incorrect public law.

Which reminds me of a story. One of the girls that I had a crush on during college got married. I attended the wedding and met a good looking Vietnamese physician who was working at UC Davis at the time. I challenged said female physician to dance with the bride during the money dance. I pulled out a $20 bill from my pocket and pulled out the camera. Imagine my surprise when the bride's eyes popped wide open and asked the female physician "You're not going to dance with me, are you?" Just when I thought I know people, sometimes, I still get surprised. It was about 1996. The times were very open. But I guess in a Filipino wedding, it is not that open. It was odd because in the Philippines, females dance together all the time.

Sinugba, Daly City

Sadly, I have to pull my recommendation for Sinugba in Daly City. In the last six months, there must have been an owner change in this veritable landmark of a restaurant in Daly City. What else can explain the decrease in food quality?

My unhappiness has been confirmed by three outings to Sinugba. Orders of a la carte dishes are smaller and not as consistent as before. In the latest outing even the pusitilog dishe did not impress me. Whereas before the squids were of consistent size and were cooked to firmness, the squids that were served looked like they originated from Safeway or any grocery store. I am quite sure that restaurants are given preference with respect to buying higher quality meats/produce/fish than general grocery stores. In fact, this is the reason that steaks in restaurants are so good. The restaurants buy steaks that are "prime quality."

Another thing to complain about is that the hours of the restaurant have changed. Before, service was up to 1 AM. Now, the restaurant closes at 11PM. This has had the result of changing the energy and the feel of the restaurant. Whereas before it was the destination spot for Pin@ys who are coming back from partying in SF, now the restaurant is dead by nine or ten o'clock.

I am not the only one to notice the changes. The clients have not been as numerous in Sinugba. The last two times we were there, we did not have to wait too long for an empty table. It used to be that one had to wait for the right time to go becaus the line would be out the door.

Sinugba had a great run of about four to five years. I will remember it well because of all the great time I had there. I once saw Maylene Briones a member of Pinay Divas going to Sinugba. I was excited because heck, celebrities were patrons of the restaurant.

Here's to the previous owners of Sinugba! Cheers! May you enjoy your retirement! But if you are charitable, can you please tell the new owners that they are messing up a good thing?

Filipino Food Anthology Submission Guidelines

As expatriates, migrants, settlers in a world that
insists upon our Westernization, we lose so much. Our
language goes, economics necessitates the breakdown of
our family structures, and many of our cultural
foundations break down.

Increased urbanization has altered our living patterns
and our palettes. But what remains, unswervingly, are
our memories of food. Properly and lovingly prepared,
linked to rituals, a sense of community, geography.
Food brings us back to ourselves.

Submission guidelines:

-Up to 3 poems, short story, and/or other fictional
work.

-Each piece must make mention to or be inspired by at
least one Filipino dish. For example, green mango
shake would be considered a dish, but mangoes would
not.

-Included with the submission should be a recipe for
the referenced and inspiring dish(es). If all pieces
refer to only one dish, then one recipe may be
submitted. Author may choose which recipe to submit
if multiple dishes are mentioned in one piece.

Example: If all pieces refer to kare-kare, then one
recipe for kare-kare should be submitted. If the 3
pieces submitted refer separately to adobo, laing, and
kaldereta respectively, then a recipe for each of
these dishes should be included.

-Literary work may have been previously published.
However recipes may not have been previously
published.

-Author of literary work and recipe may be different.

-Author of literary work should have gotten permission
from recipe author for inclusion in anthology.

-Cover letter should include: short contributor's
bio(s), titles of pieces, list of recipe(s), and
contact info (name, address, and email or phone #)

Send cover letter with 2 copies of literary work and
recipes to:

The Filipino Food Anthology
c/o Barbara Reyes
1461 Alice Street #205
Oakland CA 94612

OR

Emailed in the body of the message (no attachments)
to:

pagkainbook@yahoo.com

DEADLINE: December 25, 2004

Do not send originals. Submissions will not be
returned. Questions may be sent to .

Life in America

Went to a site where a fellow Pin@y has been posting about his American life. Check out Proceso Laman-Lupa's site. He must be reading the cartoons what with the Gropenfuhrer reference.

Lechon Kawali

The adobofest occurred at Pusod on Valentine's Day. Some would say that it was not very romantic to celebrate Valentine's Day by having a potluck. I tend to believe that if someone is going to feed you good Pin@y food, they must really love your butt.

The adobo party was to commemorate the adobo poetry written sometime last December. I imagined having to eat through 15 different types of adobo. Could you imagine adobo heaven? Sadly, the SO decided that people can bring other things besides adobo. With that in mind, I began to plan, plan and plan. What dish would challenge my skills?

I could cook kare-kare, but it would be too easy. Perhaps if I crushed the peanuts myself then it would be somewhat of a challenge. I thought maybe I could cook pinapaitan. Hmm, the main ingredient of pinapaitan is tripe which is one of the banned beef products due to the mad cow disease. Oh, the oxtails for the kare-kare were also a no-no because of the madcow thing.

Finally, I settled on cooking pork ala chicharon/lechon kawali as practiced by my mother and father in the 1980's Los Angeles. This was a challenge because I am afraid of getting hot boiling oil on my skin. Something about pain receptors being activated over and over again makes me cringe.

We shopped for some pork in the International Store in Union City. I boiled the pork in salted water. Dried up the pieces really well with paper towel. Measured four cups of canola oil. Set up the stove at medium/medium high. Sadly, I could not completely dry the pieces of pork. As I added them to the pot, the boiling oil would pop. I realized that I was ill-equipped for a grease fire. I had to be really careful the the popping oil did not accidentally trickle on the side of the pot and catch fire.

The lechon kawali turned out quite well. People seemed to enjoy their serving of heart disease. As the SO said, my gift went straight to the heart.

Adobo Day

It's the adobo day tomorrow. Some will know it as Valentine's Day. I figure V-Day is over emphasized in today's culture. On one day, one is supposed to be nice and loving to your partner. Isn't that supposed to happen everyday?

There have been reports that there are too many pit bulls in the SF area. I can just see it now. Pin@ys will be going to the dog pounds looking for some pulutan.

Good news. I got a temp job. I begin on Monday. Wish me some luck.

I am the champion, I am the champion

Hum the title above a la Queeen. Tonight, I won as part of three different teams in Cranium and Scrabble. I swear, I was never going to win in Cranium because one of the games is a humming game. Someone hums and you have to guess the title of the song. If you haven't noticed, I do not review songs or albums like the wily Filipino or Barbara. But tonight, we got lucky because the song was one by Michael Jackson before the whitening. I went through his songs: Thriller, ______ and finally got Billy Jean. In another question for charades, it was a Shakespearean play. The SO's cousin went on all fours and I started naming all of Shakespeare's plays. Which one had an animal? A shrew...The taming of the shrew.

The SO and I form a formidable team. But the SO with her sister is much more formidable since they grew up together and watched the same programs. In scrabble, we had a 51 point word score with jeery in a triple letter word score with a double point.

Yes, call me a wonk. Yup, told one of the other cousins to use that word and to do it with wok. 41 points with a triple letter.

Maybe in the adobo conglomeration on Feb 14, we can play cranium or scrabble?

Nader Supporters

I have this one great question for all those people who voted for Nader in 2000. How does it feel to have helped George W. Bush win the White House?

Yes, yes, it was a protest vote. Thanks to your protest vote, an idiot won the White House. We have invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. The economy is in a fucking recession. And the White House has acted unilaterally on world issues of terrorism.

Great job you Nader supporters. Yes, I guess that Gore would have done the same things that Bush has done. (Thwark!!!! Only an idiot would believe the last statement. Someone with a lobotomy.)

An interesting man

Lloyd is from Berkeley and doing an interesting thing with weblogs. The project he participates in is spawning a series of weblogs through former students.

Find the head

Megastina has a picture in which a human head is hidden. See if you can find it. It's in her 4 February 2004 entry.

Los Angeles, the Beautiful

I spent about four years in th city of Angels. If it were not for the hot weather in the desert, I probably would have stayed in LA. UCLA has the highest count of good looking women in a college campus that I have ever seen. While a high school student, I attended UCLA and used to count how many women were rated a 8 or above. In one day, I think I exceeded 100 every time I counted. You will not see that happen anywhere else.

For graduate school, I was recruited by UCLA's Molecular Biology Institute. I thought about being close to home. One of the things that dissuaded me was the fact that the MBI had the lawn in which co-eds would sit and sunbathe. I realized right then and there that I would be married in graduate school if I went to UCLA.

Go see Jet's page to see the tourist view of Los Angeles. You might see my childhood somewhere in her pictures.

Loving Spain

I am in a twelve step program. I am learning to love the wild Spanish in me. Perhaps, the Philippines has neglected the Spanish part of herself and that is why I find myself having to finally contend with this 300 years of history. What I remember of Spain from my brief life in the Philippines is what I saw in the movies and television. The rich Filipinos spoke in Spanish. Everyone else spoke Tagalog or Pilipino.

I bump or am slapped by reality here in America when I realize that the whole of South America from Mexico down to Chile speaks Spanish. That is a mind-boggling colonizing effort. It also means that if I spoke Spanish, I could become a tourist in all these places where my cousins live. It expands my horizon. Perhaps, I could become a visiting professor at their universities. That would help me travel more.

In a more practical way, Spanish is spoken so much in California that I feel I should learn the language just to increase the breadth of people with whom I can communicate. Three years of Spanish in high school is not enough however. I can read, but I can not understand by ear or speak.

I'll work on it. I'm currently reading Pablo Neruda.

Gay Marriage

The state Supreme Court of Massachussets has decided that gay marriages are legal. I personally believe that people should be allowed to marry anyone as long as they are human and not property.

I believe that everyone who denies marriage to a homosexual or a lesbian is depriving a person of their right. One essentially creates a second class citizen. This is in parallel to when the United States declared and legalized the second class citizenship of African-Americans during the 1800's. I am not so blind as to not see the parallels.

I pray for the soul of America to God. My God would not deny anyone their right.

I'm a damned Republican...

BUT, where George W is leading America is not where I want America to go. I expect the President of America to bring the United States as a leader and partner of the other countries. I don't want the President of the US to piss off and break the relationships that the US has with other countries. That is so basic that even a billy goat can figure it out.

I am a fiscal conservative. I want smaller government. Bush has increased the size of the government all in the name of SECURITY. This is bullshit. If the money makes everything so damned efficient, how come we haven't caught the terrorist who are sending out Anthrax and ricin?

The True Majority

A boob, somewhere a BOOB

No, not that boob! I am speaking about the super bowl boob that was revealed by a malfunctioning wardrobe/bustier. Hmm, malfunctioning bustier. This sounds like something that was made in America, more specifically by the Republican party. Snark!!!!

At the rate that news shows keep replaying the boob peek, of course the whole thing is going to be a big deal. Hell, they keep replaying and magnifying the microboob.

The SO reviews the boob as a "nice boob. Looks natural. Not wrinkly. It sagged properly. But then there is a star thing that was supposed to be a pasty. But some people say it is not."

My question is..."Does Janet Jackson's boob qualify as a weapon of mass destruction?" Seems that everyone is so focused on the boob issue that men are becoming dumber than ever.

Man's fantasy life

Maricar made a comment about how men view life. And yes, I have to agree that men do believe that someday, given enough time, days, months, maybe even years, a supermodel will come down from the limousine, saunter saucily over to where we are sitting comfortably, and ask..., no, wait, beg us to go with her so that she can be a love slave forever.

I'm watching "Third Rock from the Sun" and in one of their shows, that is exactly what happens. Men suddenly become irresistible to good-looking supermodels. And I will admit that a part of myself hopes that someday, Lucy Liu will knock on the door and ask me to be her private photographer for life. But of course, I have to bargain and make sure that I can cook adobo, bagoong and all kinds of Pin@y food.

I wonder how many supermodels have descended from a limousine and asked a guy to be her consort for life. I hear that stuff like this happens to women. Look at Princess Diana and Grace Kelly and the Jordanian Queen. Wait, it seems that all those ended with some sort of unhappy ending. Hmm, maybe I should rethink this fairy tale that has been sold to me since I was a little kid. Maybe the fairy tale does not work for guys.

Pin@ys Are Everywhere

I love the fact that just about anywhere I go, there are Pin@ys. Today, I was calling a shareholder company and I was connected to Customer Service who sounded like a Pinay. I was going to ask, but thought that since the conversation was being recorded that I should not. I did not want to make the person self-concious.

But guess what! In the middle of my wait, she asked, "Sir, can I ask you one question?" I replied, "Of course."

"Are you Filipino?"

"Yes I am. I was going to ask you the same question." I replied with a gigantic smile.

In that instant, I could feel a connection of being Pinoy with a woman who immigrated from the Philippines many years ago. In one question, we both made a shared the problems and challenges of living in America. In her nice Filipina way of speaking, I was reassured that everything was going to be alright in this confusing place called life. Hopefully, in my Filipino accent, she did not feel as alone in the US as one might think.

There is of course one caveat. What if the Filipina is actually living in the Philippines? There have been news about American companies moving customer service into Asia. I wonder if I made a connection with a Filipina answering phones in the middle of the night so that she would have a job for an American company.

Ay buhay!!!

Greed will kill you

There have been a series of cons out there in which they ask for one's bank account. They then proceed to drain said account. Oh, did I forget to mention that they ask that you go to some third world country where they proceed to murder you? Yeah, I should not forget that.

FROM: MRS.MARIAM SANI ABACHA.

PRIVATE EMAIL ADDRESS:$%^&$^&@()**&KJH:L.com

STRICTLY PRIVATE

Dear Friend,

PROPOSAL FOR THE RE TRANSFER OF USD$45.5 MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS.

I am Mrs Mariam Sani Abacha (Widow), the wife of Late General Sani Abacha Former Military Head of State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,who died while in office in 1998. After my husband's death and, upon the enthronement of, the present democratic elected government of OLUSEGUN OBASANJO in 1999 thus,started the probe of my husband's tenure as Military head of state over the years, during the tenure of my husband,he acquired and accumulated a lot of money while in office, stashed this funds in various banks in America, Canada, Europe and Africa but unfortunately,my husband died.

However, the present Government succeeded in discovering and frozening most of these accounts and have so far recalled some of these money back to the country, with exception of the above stated(USD$45.5 MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS) deposited with a Bank in Switzerland till date. However,due to restriction placed on my family by the present government, i have been unable to reach this money nor withdraw it to Nigeria for use.

To this end,the family jointly decided to relocate this funds out abroad for investment. This is the only way and means through which this money can be utilize. Consequently,i beg for your assistance in helping me transfer this money into your account overseas to investing this money ie. Purchase factory(s), Estates and any other viable venture you might suggest.

On how i got your contact, it was through the internet while i was searching for a reliable person that will assist me.For clarity, the family have agreed to give you 30% of the total sum once it is received by you.

Furthermore, all arrangement and logistics of this transaction have been putted in place to make you the beneficiary of this fund and you are free and secure in this transaction.It is note worthy that,at the end of this transaction, you will be glad you did and we shall remain grateful.

I earnestly look forward to hear from you.Please forward all response to my private email address(yabab@maildid.com)

Thanks in anticipations of your kind valuable assistance.

Best regards,

MRS.MARIAM SANI ABACHA

Fashion critic?

The cat is giving her opinion on the state of the union of America's remodeling and make-over shows. While in LA, I watched several makeover shows and I must say that sometimes, the experts are idiots.

One example is a show where the ex-girlfriend of a married guy redesigns the room. One suggestions is that the outline of the face of the ex-girlfriend should be used on a throw pillow. Hmm, is this really smart? Forever after, the wife will look at the room that was redone by an ex? Hmm, ground for divorce in several years, I think.

The cat also mentioned make-up. Now, I don't wear make up. Although if I did, I certainly would learn how to apply it and what color shades should go with brown skin. The SO and I have discussed this at length. As a photographer, I have seen way too many Pin@ys with fucked up make-up. Not just messed up make-up. Fucked up make-up. It's so fucked up that I would rather see LaToya's boobs pop out when Justin Timberlake pulled a piece of clothing.

We traced the fault with the make-up to Pin@ys following the advice of Caucasian experts in magazines like Vogue and Cosmopolitan. Inevitably, the advice is for a Norwegian face or someone descended from England or Germany. Since the width of the eye and the nose is different when comparing Europeans and Asians, the Asians eventually get fucked up results. For example, when plucking eyebrows, there is a measurement to look for the break in the eyebrow. Guess what! The measurement fails for Pin@ys because our eyes are larger than Caucasian eyes.

And let's add into this fray the use of mascara and eyeliner. Folks, Pin@ys don't need it because our eyes are huge and the follicles are black. We are beautiful in our natural state. When blondes are real blondes, they need mascara because their eyes tend to hide into their face and there's a weird fuzzy looking shit in their eyes where eyelashes are supposed to be. Yup, blonde eyelashes are freaky as hell!!

Oh, and let's not get started with the lipstick. All that weird color is great for someone pale. But with someone with brown skin, forgettaboutit! It just makes you look like you were sucking on a big ass lollipop.

Hmm, I'm exhausted with the ranting and raving. maybe I'll follow the cat and throw away some knicerbracks.

what did you say?

One of the favorite movies I had was "Say Anything." It was somethink like typical teen-age angst which is also portrayed in the movie "16 Candles" and any other Molly Ringwald movie. Speaking of which, Molly Ringwald was supposed to enroll at Berkeley during my time there. She was supposed to be my Brooke Shields.


Say Anything...


What movie Do you Belong in?(many different outcomes!)
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Elrond again

Geez, I guess I like bossing people around.


Congratulations! You're Elrond!


Which Lord of the Rings character and personality problem are you?
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Gimmicks and gimmicks

The gimmicks of a homebody in Canada are about to go to Las Vegas. Watch as a homebody becomes a Vegas showgirl. Pin@y Blog of the Day for the 1st of February 2004.