Maya Angelou Turns 80!

In celebration of Maya Angelou's 80th Birthday, I am reposting a favorite quote from her. Happy Birthday!

"Have the courage to trust love
one more time,
always, one more time."

Check out JOHN WEST...

I am officially addicted to John West's music!

I'd make a great Boyfriend!

Fuck yeah! Like a gazillion percent true! Fact of the matter is, I'd make an AWESOME boyfriend! Let me enumerate some (just some) reasons why I would fuckin make an awesome boyfriend. First lets cover the basics. I'm good looking. There I said it. I take care of myself. I work out 4-5 times a week. I watch what I eat. I make sure I eat organic healthy food. I go to the dermatologist regularly to take care of my skin. Next, I am very fashionable. I keep up with the trends. I shop regularly for new clothes. Thats why you'd never be ashamed of being with me when you are out. Next, I have a decent job that pays good money. That just means, I can take care of my own tab when we go out. You don't have to worry about taking me to some fancy place coz I'd be able to afford it. Also, I have good social etiquette as well. In terms of intellect and conversation skills, damn I'm great! We could talk about politics, religion, worldwide current affairs or I could also name all of Brad Pitt and Angeline Jolie's children (Maddox, Pax, Zahara and Shiloh with twins coming!). In terms of attitude in a relationship, I take care of my partner. I know how to cook, bake, clean. In terms of personal traits, I bet I can fill up a pad with good traits you are looking for in a boyfriend (well, ill cross out "humble" in that list now...)

Yet, I'm still single.

What is This I'm Feeling...

I just can't explain.

LOL!

Baduy.

Anyways, seriously now. The past few months has been tough on me. As all my friends know, whenever I deal with matters of the heart, it just stirs up my entire system. I could be hyper and positive one moment and then totally depressed the next day. Hence, I've tried baking and cooking. Jun sent me his recipe for his Vegan Chocolate Cake and I also tried the sinfully delicious Peaches and Cream Pie recipe from Mikee's aunt! So it has been a couple of months now. I've tried to tell myself over and over again, that i should really stop feeling this way. I've even written post-it notes all over my office and my room that states "enough!" just to remind me that its never going to lead to anything. I guess I should change the color of my post-it notes now coz it doesn't do me any good now.

Ugh.

Para Sa Iyo (For You...)

Spring Fever!

Technically this is my second Spring in New York. Last year, I was so caught up with settling down, starting my new job and basically getting acquainted with the city, I never really got to enjoy the season or the proverbial phrase -- "stop and smell the flowers."

That is why I am excited to welcome Spring this year. As much I loved Winter, which may be a surprise to my friends as they know me to be bad with the cold weather, I really did enjoy Winter. Aside from the fact that I can dress up in my numerous winter coats and accesorize with scarves, gloves and other winter garments, winter depicts life in the United States. As I analyze it, when I was back in the Philippines, we usually connect snow, cold weather and winter garment with the United States. When I lived in Los Angeles, there isn't really a chance to wear the winter garments or even see snow falling. So when I moved to New York City, winter was an exciting season for me.

Today, as we welcome the official start of Spring, I see this time as a chance to come out of hibernation, recharge our batteries and welcome another chapter of our lives with enthusiasm!

Dennis Ferrer in New York City!

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Last Friday, I was feeling a bit depressed. I thought it might be a good time to try out Jun's Vegan Chocolate Cake recipe. Jun is the most amazing pastry chef in Los Angeles. He makes kick ass cakes and pastries. So I am a little bit scared to try his recipe as I might not be able to give it justice. But i did.

VEGAN CHOCOLATE CAKE

PRE-HEAT OVEN AT 350 DEGREES F.

2 cups brown sugar (dark is better)
1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

COMBINE ABOVE DRY INGREDIENTS IN A BOWL. MIX WELL.

1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup olive oil or vegetable oil
2 teaspoon vanilla extract

USING A HAND OR STAND MIXER, BEAT ABOVE WET INGREDIENTS FOR 2 MINUTES.
NO MIXER,BEAT IT BY HAND WITH A WHISK FOR 4 MINUTES.

STIR IN DRY INGREDIENTS TO WET INGREDIENTS.

1 cup boiling water

STIR IN BOILING WATER TO THE MIX.

SPRAY 2-9 INCH PAN WITH NON-STICK COOKING SPRAY.
DIVIDE THE BATTER BETWEEN THE TWO PANS.

BAKE FOR 20-30 MIN OR UNTIL TOOTHPICK IS INSERTED COMES OUT CLEAN.

VOILA! I think I scored an "F" for presentation, but I would give myself a B+ for taste!

Testing...Testing...1...2..3...

Back when I was still living in Los Angeles, whenever I'm on the freeway and i see a police car on my rear view mirror or maybe even just hearing the sound of the police siren from far away, I often feel nervous or guilty of some driving violation. I swear, my ass cheeks would just clench because of that unexplainable fear. Even if I'm 99% sure that I haven't done anything wrong and I've followed every single rule on the driving manual, I still feel a wee bit scared.

I felt the same way when a doctor friend of mine brought an HIV testing kit to our apartment a couple of nights ago. It was just a random thing that he thought of doing. Another friend of mine excitedly started doing the test. I hesitated. I was thinking this is something very personal and I wouldn't want to do it on front of my friends. At the end, I still took the test. But I wanted to do it by myself, inside the privacy of my own room and wait for the result by myself as well. I didn't want it to be some lottery show where everyone is watching for the winning combination. In this case, being positive or negative.

As my friend took the test, a couple of high fives flew in the air and some congratulatory cheers were mandated as he tested negative. On a personal note, i think the celebration was appropriate indeed, but as I ponder on it, being negative means you've been responsible enough to follow the strict instructions on the manual. Which should ALWAYS be the case. There is no other way but to ALWAYS be safe. I am glad that my friend tested negative. The cheers and celebration could pass, I would rather think of it as a celebration for the sense of responsibility and maturity for taking good care of oneself.

I tested negative as well.

The Last Lecture

Randy Pausch is a 47 year-old Professor of Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, and Design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In September 2006, he was diagnosed with metastatic pancreatic cancer. He pursued a very aggressive cancer treatment that included major surgery and experimental chemotherapy; however in August of 2007 he was told that the cancer had escalated to his liver and spleen. He then started chemotherapy intended to extend his life as long as possible, which was then estimated to be three to six months.

He delivered his so called "Last Lecture in September 2007. His talk was modeled after an ongoing series of lectures where top academics are asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical "final talk," i.e., "what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?"

I've watched this video before and clearly made an impact on my life. Just recently i came across a blog that talked about him againg giving a shortened version of his talk on oprah.

I urge you to watch the entire video as it would definitely inspire you.

My Failed Ski Trip

Over the weekend, I was so excited to go on my very first ski trip. My good friend Ben and his friends were going skiing that weekend and I joined in. I went to Paragon Sports and grabbed a couple of basic ski gear and of course my ski outfit. Damn! I didnt know ski outfits could be very expensive. I even booked a personal instructor for that day so I can learn the basics of snow skiing the right way. So off we go to Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort. It was a three hour drive, passing through Connecticut and Massachusetts. It was drizzling that morning. And yeah, it escalated to a full blown storm the rest of the day. Yup, they closed down the slopes by 4pm. So much for my first ski trip.

Next best thing to do. We drove to the nearest outlet shops. The trip wasn't a total waste!

Im worth $1,010 per hour in Bed!

This is crazy. People come up with the zaniest ideas. You can virtually put up anything on the web. The possibilities are endless. This website How Much Are You Worth? computes how much you are worth per hour in bed. You'd have to answer a dozen (or so) questions before they can assume your worth. Check it out!

Blog Power

It has been a while since I last posted a personal entry on my blog. I have been consumed by some issues at work, issues with life and also this very interesting blog that I stumbled upon.

I've read this blog a few days ago and decided not to write about it. But it bugged me so much and I really wanted everyone to know, not in the form of gossip but for information purposes. Its really very embarrassing and quite sad for every gay Filipino to read about things like this. Brian Gorrell hails from Australia and met DJ Montano, a member of the "Gucci Gang" apparently one of the high society groups in the Philippines.

To cut the long story short, DJ swindled Brian a whopping $70,000.00 through the course of their 8 month relationship. DJ convinced Brian to send him money regularly for a restaurant business that they are trying to invest on with the help of Celine Lopez. Since the "Lopez" clan is involved (one of the most affluent families in the Philippines), this is where everything becomes really juicy. Brian then moved to the Philippines, setting house in Boracay, he found out that there was no restaurant business, his money gone because it was just spent mostly for drug use and partying, and that DJ was cheating on him. He asked for his money back. Of course there was no money. So the entire high society gang made sure that Brian was deported back to Australia. Brian now has no money, aside from sending most of it to DJ, he also spent a considerable amount of money relocating to the Philippines. Oh and he's HIV positive.

Now, he started a blog. And he started spilling all the juicy, nasty and scandalous details of the high society life in the Philippines. Starting off with DJ, Celine Lopez down to all the members of the Gucci Gang. He then moved on to the families of DJ and Celine. In an effort to collect his $70k. He said he will keep on blogging and spilling more information until he gets his money back.

The blog has been threading on very dangerous waters since he included the Lopez clan. He's been getting death threats, Philippine consulate went to his house in Australia, confiscated his computer and jailed him for a day.

I hate to think how the world sees homosexuals and the kind of relationship that we have. As it is, the general notion of being gay is still tainted with a lot of negative factors. As we fight for our rights and equality, as we try to convince the universe that we are normal human beings capable of having a relationship based on true love and moreso worthy of respect from everyone, a story like Brian and DJ would come out. And we all know how the world reacts to stories like this. Its like wild fire going through a dry forest on a hot summer day. Hasty generalizations would come up and we could never change the way they think anymore.

So there. Read up on it on DJ Montano.

We Need to Change the Message...

On February 12th, an openly gay 15-year-old boy named Larry who was an eighth-grader in Oxnard, California was murdered by a fellow eighth-grader named Brandon. Larry was killed because he...was gay. Days before he was murdered, Larry asked his killer to be his Valentine...And somewhere along the line the killer Brandon got the message that it's so threatening and so awful and so horrific that Larry would want to be his Valentine that killing Larry seemed to be the right thing to do. And when the message out there is so horrible that to be gay you can be killed for it, we need to change the message.

My New Fave - Jason Castro

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by greateggs

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by greateggs