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I used to have Jollibee’s Chicken Steak for dinner often more than a year ago. Back then, it was the only P39 meal (plus P10 if I needed the sugar rush from the softdrinks) that didn’t leave me wanting for more, at least not most of the time.

Sadly, they don’t sell it anymore nowadays. I did learn a month back that they still sell my second favorite 39-er: 1 pc. Burger Steak meal with 2 pcs. of shanghai rolls. Only on weekdays though, but still. It’s like getting each Shanghai Roll for 1 peso since a regular 1 pc. Burger Steak costs P37.

I’m not sure why they don’t advertise it that much, I’m just thankful it’s still available.

—

On the other side of things, I also found out some months back that a 1 pc. Chicken McDo with Rice and Coke float at P75 is cheaper than a 1pc. Chicken McDo meal (with regular softdrinks), which if I remember correctly is at P85. They have specific hours when this deal is in place though.

Oh, I don’t order this by by the way, haha! I prefer the chicken fillet with rice meal at P50 whenever I’m in the cost savings mode. I’m also not sure how the chicken and float promo lasts.

Never too late for a “Bye Bye 2008″ post, right? At least it’s just January 3, this would be a bit weird if it’s anywhere February onwards (second half of January onwards actually).

Anyway, most of this might sound like a cliché, they are actually, but this is what happened the past year so this is what I’m writing:

2008 has been memorable for several reasons - I’ve been to a couple of new places, had several adventures (and misadventures). I also met a lot of new people as well as made new friends.I even got to join an organized basketball tourney, first time in a long while, albeit it being just one month-long.

The year also showed me some new facets in life. How plans can go perfectly right as well as perfectly wrong (if there is such a thing). I also made several decisions on my life this year - some of them I know might regret later on, but hopefully when I look back, I made the right ones on most of them.

On the off hand, I also lost touch with some friends this year, while the distance between others grew as well. I’d like to see this as a normal part of our lives, but it saddens me that I can’t do anything about it. But I should at least try a bit harder harder this year.

—

So it’s “Bye Bye 2008, Hello 2009!”

Hope this year is even better for all of us!

We rarely had feasts during “Noche Buena” or Christmas Eve Dinner when I was younger. I remember being one of the few who insisted we at least eat something on those nights.

This was because the feast and celebration were reserved for Christmas Day itself:

I remember waking up early those Christmas days and going to the Christmas Tree to shake my gifts lying underneath - we can’t open them yet, there’s a designated time for that later on, so I just shake them and try to guess what’s inside.

People start arriving at around lunchtime. More gifts are placed under the tree (over the years I found out some of them were freshly wrapped, just before my aunts and uncles went over). After eating fried chicken, spaghetti, and whatever else was on the menu that day, my cousins and I would start to play (as we grew older, “play time” stared to become “catching up time”; and then we decided that “catching up time” is too grown up for us and we went back to having “play time” instead, haha!).

And then our parents would call us and tell us it’s time to open the gifts (finally!). We would segregate the gifts (on who the recipient is), and then open them all up. In the last few years though, some of my cousins would bring theirs home and open them there instead.

Then there’s more eating afterwards (lunch left-overs!), as well as more “play time”. On some years, there were parlor games (whatever would enter the minds of our parents that time), while on others, there were Bingo games. Sometimes even both, hehe. There’s no actual dinner as people eat and play as they please, as long as there’s still food left on the table that is.

People would then slowly start to leave, with everyone gone at around 9 or 10PM. All tired but happy from a day spent with family.

—

This wasn’t the case this year though, making it a mere memory of what the past was like. As well as a hope of what the future can be like, again.

—

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope your day was filled not only with fun and laughter, but also with the true meaning the season brings.

I started this “Ang Buhay Parang Gulong” (”Life Is Like A Wheel”) series at the office and while most of it are funny (intentionally and unintentionally), some have an underlying seriousness in them. This time, I came up with something serious in itself.

Background: It started with the saying:

“Ang buhay parang gulong, minsan nasa taas, minsan nasa baba. Pag nasa baba ka ngayon, wag ka magaalala, babalik ka din sa taas basta gumalaw ka.”

(Life is like a wheel, sometimes you’re on top, and sometimes you’re on the bottom. If you’re on the bottom now, don’t worry, you’ll get back on top as long as you move.)

And now I have this:

“Ang buhay parang gulong, kailangan mo ng iba para mapadali siya. Kapag mas mabigat ang dala, mas madami ang kailangan.”

(Life is like a wheel, you need others to make things easier. The heavier your load is, the more you need.)

It was Ateneo vs. La Salle for the Philippine Collegiate Championship’s National Finals - the tournament that supposedly determines the country’s top college basketball team.

Just that not a lot of people care about it; not until this year where sponsors suddenly supported the tourney and marketed it better. And what reward to have than the country’s biggest hoops rivalry in the finals match-up (and a San Beda - Letran match-up for third place). At least a  bit more people took notice - just not enough to make it as important as the UAAP or the NCAA, not even a close second-tier.

It was at least the fifth time blue and green collided this year with the Eagles having the Archer’s number, four games to none in the UAAP season en route to the Championship. And yet everyone who knows something about this rivalry know that numbers don’t matter when these two teams meet.

On this game though, it was La Salle who wanted it more. It was King Archer JV Casio’s last game against the Eagles and he redeemed himself from fouling out in the last quarter of game 2 of the UAAP finals last September with an amazing performance despite having to play off his usual position because of some missing key players.

Sure, King Eagle Chirs Tiu is no longer with the team, focusing now on the several paths to success he has in front of him. Super rookie Ryan Buenafe was also out sick. Minus it’s past and it’s future, Ateneo looked to it’s present - Rabeh Al-Hussaini, the reigning UAAP MVP. He didn’t deliver though, looking like his old self fron last year, making some wonder if it was indeed him who dominated the UAAP competition this year, sans UST big man Jervy Cruz who just didn’t have enough support. Nonoy Baclao faded in the second half and then super-sub Eric Salamat wasn’t his usual self. Only the smallest man on the court - Jai Reyes - fought with a champion’s heart in what ended up as a wasted effort.

The Archers wanted it more, maybe not only for the title of National Champions, but also to be able to say they got back at the Eagles. They hustled more, rebounded more, and fought for the ball more. They jumped higher, ran faster and played more intelligent basketball.

With that, it is only fitting to say that they deserve the ending they got for their roller-coaster year - as National Champions and the country’s representative to the Universaide Games in Serbia.

And they shouldn’t fret that this isn’t as good as the UAAP championship. Sooner or later, with the help of a little bit more marketing, more and more people will start to care about this tourney. More and more teams will want to be the National Champion.

And this year, it’s the Green Archers.

My mom and I made polvoron both afternoons this weekend. This is actually the first time we did such a thing since don’t really dwell much in that part of a meal, or a pastry for that matter (I usually make my presence felt in just the the eating part).

And yet those several hours where I could have been sleeping (yes, sleeping at 3 o’clock in the afternoon on a weekend is somewhat normal to me), watching TV or a DVD, being online, or out on a mall, I was instead mixing stuff (flour, milk, sugar and melted butter), making oval pieces of them and wrapping them in cellophane, occasionally grabbing a bite or two.

And despite all the other things I could have been doing (ok, this can be fun to some people as well, but I’d have to admit at first look, it wasn’t for me) it was actually great doing it. It was actually fun - not only because I love polvoron, but also because I was doing something with my mom, which rarely happens anymore since most of the time I’m either out of the house, or asleep.

And even though I have tasted better ones - especially those covered in cholocate - these were better. The task was fulfilling in itself and getting to eat them after made the whole thing even more perfect.

He came out to with a very big smile - seemed like a boy during his first time in an amusement park - whereas one would expect a more serious, “angry” looking entrance.

He was out there for the pride of his countrymen, yet more and more have become unbelievers. It was usually just “he should lose one cause his head has gotten bigger after every win” or “people are just milking him for money” but there was still that faint feeling that deep down in whatever was left in the patriotic part of their hearts, they wanted him to win. And now there’s the “every way you look at it, he’s outclassed” and “he is in for something to he cannot handle”. There was obviously less hope of him winning and it’s not just because his country likes underdogs.

And yet he came out with a very big smile, seemingly unfazed with the taller, perceived to be heavier, and whose reach was longer foe - three of the things that dictate advantage in this sport.

and then he proved the doubters wrong - both in his country and all over the world. He outboxed a boxing legend and put a stamp in his legacy. He won his biggest match so far and no one will, no one can, call it a fluke.

Manny Pacquiao went out of the ring with a very big smile - seemed like a bot during his first time in an amusement park - whereas people expected he’d be badly beaten by that time. He proved them wrong, and once again, he made the believers and his countrymen proud.

The hardest decisions to make are the ones that will affect or involve other people, especially people close to us.

There are times when they will not agree with our choices; sometimes partially, sometimes entirely. After all, we cannot please everybody.

But during such times, we can still hope that those whom we did not please, those whom we cannot please, will understand the reasons behind the decision that we made. We can still hope that despite disappointing them, they would still believe in us enough to trust that we chose what we think is the better option at that time.

Hopefully, even though these people do not agree with us, they would still support us.

It’s amazing how a single moment can change everything - either for better or for worse.

This single moment can consist of a single thought, a single intention, a single emotion, a single expression, and a single reaction and it will negate the multitude of things that happened before it.

Good or bad, happy or sad, it depends on how you look at it.

—

What’s positive about all these though is that if it happens to be for the worst, we know another single moment can turn things around.

This other single moment doesn’t always happen, but the hope that it can is usually enough to make us feel better.

I can’t remember the last time I played there, although I’m almost sure it was at night during one of the last IUM’s in a very long while.

Several things have changed - I noticed just one drinking fountain compared to two before, there’s a better looking IAC bulletin board, the shower/dressing room is cleaner looking and tiled up, not to mention all eight backboards are now made of fiberglass. But for the brief time I was there that day, it felt just like before.

It was peaceful.

The faces were unfamiliar - another indicator of my age, aside from my conditioning which while was never really good, is way worse compared to before. But the sound of the multitude of basketballs bouncing which were coming from all directions, the screeching of rubber shoes against the concrete floor, and the aura of competitiveness, determination and fun coming from the people there were the same.

Just like the times before when I felt lost, this place is still one among the handful where I can clear my mind of confusion, where I can find solemnity amidst the noise.

It was a sanctuary.