Kissing taxi rides goodbye

I commute, everyday. If I am lucky, I get to hitch with friends. But more often than not, I take a jeepney ride home or if I can find someone to split the cab fare with, I take a taxi ride to the nearest place where a shuttle service terminal is. I was not born with a silver spoon. Don't be deceived by the fact that I graduated from an exclusive university. My family was able to afford it because my mom invested in an educational plan with the remittance my dad was sending us while he worked as a bartender in a cruise ship where he eventually met a girl and left us. Whatever school fees my scholarship did not cover was paid with the help of my supportive relatives. Yes I grew up with household helpers but not because my mom was too lazy to look after us but because she had to work. No I was not an english-speaking child, I may have a good command of the english language, maybe because I got into reading at an early age, with books that I borrow from classmates. We are not rich, comfortable yes, but there are times we also struggle to make ends meet.

Numerous facebook posts on incidents involving commuters like me disheartens me. Stories of taxi drivers working in connivance with holduppers, taking everything and forcing you to surrender your atm cards together with the security codes, taking all that is of value and leaving you in an unfamiliar place. Consider yourself lucky if they will not sexually assault you.

I take taxi rides not because I do not want to squeeze myself in an over-crowded bus but because I have had a long day at work and I probably don't have enough energy left to stand in a bus for at least an hour. I take taxi rides because I can not afford to buy a car. I take taxi rides because I do not know how to drive and even if we do have a family car, only my mom who will turn 60 years old soon is available to pick me up. Taxi riders are not from the elite, they are from the working class, who punches their timecards and takes orders from bosses. 

I'm not trying to say that the target for crimes like these should be those who are uber rich. My point is, those who take taxi rides are taxpayers and I hope that the government can help keep the streets safe for the riding public. Until then, I guess I will have to really save some energy for that bus ride. 

Sunday Secret - start today

My favorite secret from postsecret.com for this week is : 

What made this secret special is not the realization to be a better person... But the desire to start today. We all know what we want in our lives, to live a healthier life, to move on from a hurtful relationship, to improve our craft, to learn a new skill... But like participating in a marathon, we all wait for the gun start before we make a move. 

No more waiting for a sign, or for a better time, the time is now, today not tomorrow.  To get closer to what I want, to stretch further to reach my desires and to wake up and pursue my dreams. 

love at first oily bite

ZARK'S BURGERS !!! Got introduced to this place only last July when they offered the jawbreaker promo. A burger that has 3 patties,bacon,spam...the works, that normally costs 250pesos was being sold for only 150pesos. I wanted to try it, but it was such a great hit that we needed to find the right connection for us  to get to experience it.  I have to admit though that I was a huge failure with the jawbreaker.It was just too much for me. 

For my birthday, considering the huge appetite of my sister and my nephews, I decided to treat them to Zark's too.  

Situated just across DLSU, This place is filled with memorabilia and photos of archers in basketball action. I doubt if an Atenean will feel at home

Notice the catsup dispenser's missing nozzle? This is not a place for Posh Spice but a haven for hungry vikings!

The famous Jawbreaker! 3 patties, bacon, spam, tomatoes,cheese, lettuce, mushroom .... If you think you can finish this in 5 minutes (including the huge serving of fries and a glass of lemon iced tea), then take the jawbreaker challenge and pay nothing for your calorific meal! 

My personal favorite. Double cheeseburger, with mushroom,caramelized onions, lettuce and tomato! Just right for me. I was able to finish this thing without feeling like a bloated blowfish ready to throw up! 

This too looked promising! flame-grilled half-pound black pepper crusted patty. That crunchy looking thing sticking out is a slice of bacon... breaded and deep-fried to crunchy perfection. Got so inspired by this I am thinking of having deep-fried bacon for breakfast some time soon! 

I am not a huge nacho fan but this was a welcome treat too.

3 weeks after my dinner with my nephews, I also brought my airport staff for a very late September birthday celebration. There were 3 of us who turned a year older and the initial plan was to have a pizza feast at Yellow Cab. But we later realized Yellow Cab may not be able to satisfy the group's appetite and most of them got curious with my Zark's stories so we then decided to bring the group to Taft Avenue. Most of them tried the jawbreaker (but none was brave enough to take the 5-minute challenge) but only 3 guys were able to finish the whole thing. most of them left a patty untouched, there was even one who obviously got overwhelmed by the size and only managed to eat the spam! We ordered a total of 25 burgers (including take out for those who were on duty and were not able to join us)and paid less than 6000 pesos. Not bad since we all went home with overstuffed tummies! 

I have only tried 2 Zark's burgers so far, and I plan to try more! They have one wrapped in bacon, patties in between Krispy Kreme donuts, burgers with blue cheese dressing... but I doubt if I will have enough courage to try their tombstone burger! Does the name intrigue you? Have a look at their menu and see if you can handle it.

The "kabetching" Theory

"walang babaeng pinangarap maging kabit" -Sari (The Mistress)

Is there really no one who ever wanted to be a mistress? I will be risking my pristine goody-two-shoes image with what I will admit : Back in 2003, me and some of my airport friends, agreed  that being a mistress is far better than being a wife. We had plenty of reasons to believe so, and we called it our "kabetching" theory. 

• The "kabetching" or mistress is well loved by the married guy.
• She is always showered with gifts and presents.
• She knows what is going on with the married guy and his wife but the wife is blissfully ignorant.
• When the husband had a fight with his wife,be it about him womanizing or not, he almost always tells the mistress about it, and she has the chance to comfort him and this will endear her to him more.

... And so on...

I did believe those things back then, but as time passed by, and along with it came more responsibilities and inevitably maturity, I somewhat forgot about it. I never really had the chance to prove that theory. And after watching The Mistress, I came to the harsh realization that our theory might be flawed. 

"Limang taon. Limang taon na kuntento lang ako sa kung anung meron kami ni Rico. Di ako nagreklamo, di ako naghanap. Tapos dumating ka, nagsimula akong magtanong." - Sari 

The mistress will have to be contented with what the married guy can offer her in terms of time. Christmas, valentine's day and other events are always celebrated with the real family. They can't be seen together in public so they can only go to places no one will find. She can not ask questions about his family, she can only wait for him to volunteer the information.

"mahal ko sya" -Sari 

When she is not in it for the money, but because she has fallen, truly,deeply,madly,genuinely,head-over-heels,crazy... (you get the point) ... inlove with the married guy, the mistress is bound to get hurt big time. Because no matter how much she loves the married guy :

"as long as I am alive, you will never be promoted to wife" - Regina

 So I guess at this point it is safe to say that our kabetching theory might not be all that fancy after all. I hope that in a perfect world, there will be no mistresses. Because nobody, not the wife, nor the mistress deserves to be hurt. Because everybody, deserves to be happy and nobody deserves to feel unloved,unwanted and unneeded.

They used this song as background music, the orchestra version... It is a song from 2006 (?) and I only liked it now because of the movie.