TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE! =D

I'm addicted. =(

I've long sung praises for the R&D gods at Oishi, but this one really takes my bingeing dangerously close to the third circle of Dante's inferno. Sya, sya. I only meant to say (while pretentiously trying to sound more intellectual than I really am, haha) that it has taken my gluttony to a whole new level. It doesn't matter how many packs, I only stop when they're all gone. ACK! =(


Meet Marty's Vegetarian Chicharon. I first came across it in one of the lootbags that I got from the ASC (the new-generation Ad Board ;p). I was skeptical at first, but one bite turned me into a lunatic running up and down the cubicles at the Pineapple & Tomato Company, asking everyone to try! I think in one afternoon, I managed to create a cult. HAHA! =D

Somewhere along the way, some of the other folks "discovered" it on their own. And so it goes that, these days, everytime someone declares he/she is going to the supermarket (either for trade check or to buy product samples), someone inevitably shouts out, "Pwedeng pabili ng Marty's?" ACK! I say "Ack!" only because the National Sales Conference in Bohol is only days away, and this darn vegetarian chicharon isn't doing any of us any good. Haha! =D

It's not made with pork rind, but with pea powder cleverly formed into salty-sour crispy strips that resemble the honest-to-goodness chicharon. YUM! ^_^ It's also supposedly available as a salted variant, but I have to try that one.

Down it with diet soda and you could almost fool yourself into believing you're actually enjoying a healthy snack. Haha! NOT. The catch? When I looked at the nutribox, there it was, plain as day. Every serving will provide you with 20% of your RDV of fat. ACK! I knew it! It was just too good to be true. =D


Then again, everytime I see a pack and bite into one, I get tranced into thinking, "Heck....uh....I really don't care.....YUM! ^_^"


HAHA! =D


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Marty's is available in most supermarkets. If you're curious, try! BUT, if you're on a strict diet, STAY AWAY. Consider yourselves warned. Haha! =)

SLIPPIN' & KICKIN' IN LAGO / FEBRUARY 21,2008 =D

So the Hubby finally got me to take the 3-hour road trip back to Calatagan to watch him wakeboard. While I take sole credit for originally hauling him there (along with cousin Dooders and His-Special-Girl-MJ) because I thought I needed something exciting and new to try out, I pretty much gave up after two tries at the kneeboard. I soon realized wakeboarding ain't for me.

Hubby Sweet, on the other hand, got hooked. So hooked, in fact, that just as some of my friends are turning into golf widows (with their husbands hitting and chasing around a small white ball around vast green fields every Saturday), I have also turned into a weekend-widow-but-of-the-wakeboard-sort. Now, how cool is that?! Haha. =D

I don't go with him every weekend. I used to, but--rightly or wrongly--I have decided that I have better things to do. Besides, with all the late nights at work these days, all I really look forward to during weekends is SLEEP (yes, in BIG, BOLD LETTERS). *Sheepish grin =D* So the Hubby and I made a pact. I can have my regular Saturdays for sleep, House Better visits and whatever-else-errands I need to do for Barrioca and Buster J, but when there's a competition, I would have to find the strength to haul my ass off the couch and go with him to Lago. Hay...=) O, sya, sya. =D

After dropping the boys off at Lolo's and Lola's (haha), I slept all the way through the trip to Lago. I woke up to find the first welcome sight since I've been there last. Lago now has nipa huts/cabanas lining the lake. YEY! I don't have to stay under the intense sun all day. And, yes, if I get sleepy after lunch, I actually have a place to snooze in! Woohoo! =)

Turns out, this trip to Lago will be more enjoyable than the past trips. The Hubby has built himself a group of wakeboard buddies since I was there last, and I enjoyed meeting all of them and finally putting faces to the names (that until then, I would only hear about in his stories). *Run-on sentence alert, haha!* Some of them also brought along their wives, their girlfriends, their kids, etc., etc. Everyone was looking for Buster J and Barrioca. Sadly, dogs are not allowed in Lago. =(

And so, the day was spent alternating between watching Hubby Sweet compete (and taking pics), making tambay & kwento under the coconut trees with the other wakeboarders waiting for their turn, and lounging around in the hut making chismis with Ging (Tricky D's girl friend) and Andie Gurl, this adorable, chinky-eyed 5-year old who chatted me up all day, in between K-Zone reading sessions and teddy-bear-instructional-art-lessons. =D

Still, the priority of the day was to cheer our men on! By the end of the day-long competition (which had all the ambience of a big, barkada, weekend gimmick), wakeboarding guru C-Lo announced that Tricky D had won third place. WOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!! (Not bad for his first competition ever. Congratulations, Tricky D! =D) Jesse, the teen wonder, was called in as runner-up. Who emerged as champion of the Happy Thoughts Men's Division?! Why, it's.....it's.....it's....HUBBY SWEET!!! WOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! *Complete with tears in our eyes, haha! =D*

Congratulations, Sweetie!!!!! Here's to the 2nd and the 3rd Slippin' & Kickin' rounds! =D

Rikivon (the Hubby's bestfriend, Tricky D's neighbor and Georgie's ex-officemate) dropped by later in the afternoon with Evan, yaya and lola in tow. He missed the competition entirely, but managed to take some great pics of all the action that was still taking place when they arrived. He uploaded a video on Multiply and Facebook that pretty much captured the flavor of the day for me. (Great video, Riki! Lagot ka kay Emi. Pinakilala mo si Evan kay Andie Gurl. Mukhang na-in-lab. Haha! =D) Click here to see it. =D

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It just occurred to me, while chatting with some of the wakeboarders under the coco trees, that they wear their injuries like badges. Women's Happy Thoughts Champion, Alma, for e.g., showed me major scars on her legs and regalled me with stories about a 15-minute amnesia brought on by major spill that had her diving head first into the murky Lago waters. The others then proceeded to proudly show me their "battle scars" like it was graduation day and they all graduated at the top of their class. =D

Seeing all those scars reminded me of the BIG gash that Hubby Sweet has running like a snake practically on half of his left leg. He slipped and snagged it on one of the kickers or whatever-else-you-call-those-ramps. In any case, that was his minor injury.

In mid-2008, the Hubby and I spent 3 days and about P50 thou in Medical City where we learned a new medical term. PNEUMOTHORAX. Loose translation: collapsed lung. ACK! The day before, he apparently tried on a vest and snapped on the lumbar support too high and too tightly. Giving the raley a try, he jumped up the ramp, pulled on the cable, breathed deeply to be able to pull his legs up, and because he had on his vest too tight, his left lung was unable to expand properly and instead popped. Did I already say it? Let me say it again. ACK! =( We only found out the day after, with him complaining that the left side of his chest feels like there is a water bag slushing inside him everytime he moves, and that he seems to be getting tired too easily. The X-Ray at Medical City explained everything. There was air, not inside, but outside his lung. Hay! The doctor told us he was lucky because the puncture was not too big so the air release was gradual (think minor flat tire as opposed to a major blow-up), so she hopes that as they monitor and support him with oxygen intake (thus, the 3-day hospital stay), his left lung would be able to "heal itself". If that doesn't do the trick, they would have to operate on him to let the air in the body cavity out and to seal the hole on the left lung. The doctor said if the hole had been any bigger, he wouldn't have made it home because his left lung would have collapsed, causing his right lung to overcompensate and blow up too. Technically, therefore, Hubby Sweet is already on his second life.

After winning the competition last Saturday, Hubby Sweet exclaimed, "Tweet, this is for you! All worth it naman lahat ng sugat and hospital stays, right?" HAHA! Susko. =) But with the Hubby being required to move up to the Men's Open Division (i.e., if he wants to continue competing), it would mean that he now has to seriously master the inverts (yes, the moves that would require him to fly, flip mid-air, and hopefully land on his feet instead of his head). WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

God protect him.

Heaven help me. Hay! =D

ZSAZSA ZATURNNAH: ZE MUZIKAL! =D

With such a campy title, how could this be anything but FUN! Yes, FUN. In BIG. BOLD. LETTERS. Even that would be up for running as the biggest understatement of the year. HAHA! 'D

I had previously missed two runs of this darn muzikal (using musicale seems like a great disservice to the theme, haha). The first time, Hubby Sweet & I were getting married, and goodness knows where I was the second time it was staged, but I wasn't able to go either. Boy (or girl or gay!), am I glad I finally got to see it this time. =D

Zsazsa Zaturnnah: Ze Muzikal is based on a comic book by Carlo Vergara. Loose plot: Ada, a gay beauty parlorista gets hit by a stone that falls from the sky while he was taking a bath. Believing they were being stoned (as in, binabato ng mga kapitbahay, haha), Ada stormed out of the shower. After a hilarious dialogue with his/her sidekick Didi (also gay), they both discovered that the pink rock was actually labelled Zaturnnah-HAH(!). Getting the crazy idea that it might be like the famous bato of another popular Filipino comic book hero (you know...taking off from Darna), Didi managed to make Ada uto-uto into swallowing the rock.

Didi: Malay mo, may magical powers yan.
Ada: Eh, ang laki naman nito!
Didi: Eto naman. Parang di ka sanay sumubo ng malaki!

HAHAHAHAHA!!!! 'D And that was just the beginning of a shallow, mala-70's plot--complete with Darna-esque encounters with a giant palaka, zombies and aliens (visions of the young Vilma Santos in black & white, HAHAHA)--that was updated to the here and now into a colorful, entertaining muzikal with the wittiest, most hilarious lines I've ever heard on Philippine stage.

The dialogue was also aided by witty takes on special effects from beginning to end (translation: low-budget, pero bongga! Haha). Truth be told, they had me as soon as they transformed the darkened theater into a colorful galaxy with the witty use of lights, umbrellas and rotating what-have-yous. It was equally entertaining to look around the audience (to check if their reaction was the same as mine) to find the theater "glowing" with floating white teeth. (They used special lights that made anything white glow so the number of floating white teeth is equivalent to the number of people smiling in the audience, haha!) Yup, ZZZ:TM may not have the big-budget backing of Broadway productions but, as it is with Pinoys, they made something big out of what they had. Their hilarious takes on the aerial fight scenes, mala-Matrix bullet sequences, an abandoned Bulacan kakanin factory, etc., etc. had me not just rolling in laughter, but also ecstatically in awe at the brilliance that managed to think and put all of these together.

The cast was perfect. Eula Valdes was a revelation to me. Granted, she may not be the best singer in the world, but hey, I didn't even know she could sing that well! And, dang, heaven knows what kind of bribery she has offered to ze gods to have that knock-out body at the age of...uh...38(?)....39(?) ...40(?). LECHE SYA. And I say that will all the green envy I could muster in this world. Hahaha! =) Didi's part was beautifully written and I suppose that would mean that anyone playing him/her would upstage everyone else (to the nth millionth power in the whole wide universe). Shame on me, I forgot to note down who played it during the February 14 matinee show, but that said, whoever he was (*insert sheepish grin here =D*), ay, truly, ang ganda-ganda niya. Haha! =D Kudos too to those who played Ada and the villain Queen Femina and the Amaz(h)onistas! =D

Beyond the perfect leads, the company actors of ZZZ:TM was a truly talented and versatile bunch. They danced perfectly. Sang perfectly. Acted perfectly. Enunciated and threw their voices to the audience perfectly. As I sat through the entire production, I can't help but compare them to the company (and even the younger leads) of the recently-staged Hairspray (which was a disappointment to me because, heck, while the show was visually appealing, I couldn't understand what they were saying for most of the show! =(). Not the ZZZ:TM bunch. They knew how to bring it and, boy (or girl or gay!), they did! =)

I decided not go to to the details of the plot because I seriously recommend that you watch this one--if and when it is staged again. I'm actually hoping they will stage a fourth run. Because when they do, you can be sure, I will be there in the audience, rolling with laughter all over again. =D

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I had to settle for the crumpled flyer that I found in my bag because--learning from the Miss Saigon experience which was also staged at the CCP--we left all our cameras and cellphones in the car. We all thought waiting in line to get them back wouldn't be worth the hassle. (Besides, I'm not really one to take pics during actual performances, haha!) BIG MISTAKE. HUGE! Because after curtain call, the cast immediately proceeds to the lobby where the patrons can meet, greet and take pics with them. Ack! =(

Oh, well. I suppose I'd just have to do that next time. =D