Falling off your horse 101.

This is a written and public lecture for myself.

1) Never lean forward when losing balance. Slightly lean backward.
2) Never EVER, EVER put your feet behind your body. homaygass when will you ever learn.
3) While falling, avoid making loud, ratty, "eek eek eek" squeaky sounds. It just brings everyone's attention to you. Ergo, everyone sees you fall. Ergo, nakakahiya.
4) Once you've realized that you're already at the falling point of no return, don't try to hold on for dear life. Dismantle. Just do it. It hurts less, I swear.
5) When you're already on the ground, just let go of the rein. Once you let go of the stirrups, let go of the rein. JUST LET GO. Because not letting go means asking your horse to step on you. Getting trampled on by a horse is not sexy. Nope... not sexy at all.
6) Once on the ground, do not forget to attempt a fake amnesia. It makes things more interesting.
7) Try to smell if you landed on fresh horse manure or pee. If you did, it's ok to cry. But if not, I guess it's still ok to cry.
8) When trying to deny your fall, please be reminded of this conversation:
     Groom: Ma'am, Ma'am! Ano Nangyari?
     Bea: Wala nagpapahilot lang ako, libre eh.
     G: Nahulog kayo noh?
     B: Hindi ah.
     G: Hindi daw. eh puro buhangin pa yung mukha nyo eh.
9) Lose weight, please lang.
And last but not the least:
10) Falling off is not a good enough excuse to call THE EX. It's pathetic. He'll feel sorry and be concerned, but it will be seriously awkward after a while. Seriously.

S.S.S. - Secret Society Sisig

I just twisted my knee from falling off my horse. So yes, I'm blogging because there's not much that I can do right now.

I might have mentioned S.S.S. here. It's the Secret Society Sisig. This probably the best sisig I've ever had, next to the family sisig recipe.

I think this is the most perfect sisig I've tasted in my entire life. A bit of crunch and a bit of meat here and there and there's minimal "taba". It's really well prepared and well concocted. If you like sisig from Pampanga, you'll love this.

Mila's Sisig

So anyway, it's not really called S.S.S. I just invented that name because nobody knew where it was and if somebody did, they don't know the name of the place. And since nobody reads my blog anyway, I doubt that this entry would change that. ajeje.

The place is called Mila's Store, located in Angeles City, Pampanga. I dunno the name of the street exactly, but it's almost behind Chevalier School, right on the entrance of Angeles City from San Fernando Pampanga. You drive past the school then turn right after a motor shop, and at the end of the street, turn right again and you will find the most magical pork you'll ever have.

Mila's Store, Angeles, Pampanga

I know most out-of-towners go to Riles, Pampanga's famous grill strip for their sisig. Aling Lucing is probably Pampanga's most famous. This place is takes around a 15 minute drive from that area. Trust me, it's really worth the drive. 

An order costs 200 pesos, already good for 3-4 persons. 

Bedtime Horrors.

I have taken babysitting to the next level--- I took Chanelle to Anilao with me for 3 nights. 

I bought her a complete set of gear perfect for the Anilao baby warrior.

I also bought her an inflatable boat that didn't have paddles with the set. BIG MISTAKE. She bugged me non stop until I was able to produce a definitely-not-kid-friendly paddle made from plywood. 

And you know how my mom denies her excitement for an apo? Tsk tsk. 

Poor Chanelle, by our second day she was literally running away from my mom. She hated the gigil kisses and gigil hugs. Kawawang harassed na bata.

3 nights = 3 bedtime dramas. QUE HORROR. 

Night #1: We left manila at around 1030pm. She fell asleep the moment we got to EDSA until we arrived at the resort at around 1230am. I was praying so hard that she wouldn't wake up because waking up means being up until 4am. But she woke up. and yes, we were up bargaining for sleep time until 4am. :|

Night #2: She took a nap mid afternoon but I made sure to wake her up and make her swim and play and scream all she wanted to make bedtime easier. Was it easier? NO. It took 2 hours of bedtime stories and questions and answers before she decided to sleep. Oh, and this is how she is when she's really sleepy and trying her best to be awake and entertain me. Mali mali na grammar mo, teh, tulog na tayo.

Night #3: War is war. She swam and ran around the pool THE WHOLE DAY. By 630pm she was already starting the drama at the dinner table. I fed her a little rice and a cup of yogurt. She was crying and telling me she wanted to sleep so I took her to bed. But uh oh, nakaramdam lang ng aircon new wave of energy nanaman. HUHUHU. She was obviously sleepy and was just trying to fight it. By 8pm she was complaining of hunger, so I had to be "mad" and told her that she had to eat when it was eating time and sleep when it was sleeping time. But I'm not a bad aunt naman, so I took her to the dining and gave her rice again, but this time, I left her alone on one table while I was on another. She was not allowed to speak to anyone (because if she was, she'd only ask for bottomless iced tea). She was "punished" for being difficult and for not eating at the right time and asking for food when it's bedtime. 5 minutes to her punishment, she was asleep. :| 

Crazy little girl. She's mastered the art of living the resort life, asking everyone to give her more iced tea and yogurt. She would go out on her own and ask someone to turn the TV on to Playhouse Disney.  She'd ask resort guests to fix her snorkel and swim with her. She's the definition of friendly. We were kinda worried that she'd feel homesick and ask for her mom and dad, but she never did. Nagtampo na nga mom and dad nya eh. HAHA. 

Ask her if she had fun and she'd say yes. She's willing to go 5 nights straight. But ask me the same? I'd say I had fun. But 3 nights is enough. Baka pumayat na ako pag 5 pa yan. ;)

I <3 Chanelle. Can't wait for the next love-hate trip with this kid. 

I'm Back!

I've been out for too long. Went to Batangas and Boracay to be with relatives. Will blog about it soon.

Toodles!

Bieber Fever

I totally get the Bieber fever, ok? 

So this morning everyone started posting videos from last night. The very first video I searched for on YouTube was the One Less Lonely Girl Manila performance. (don't judge. It just so happens that I watched the frickin' Never Say Never film, K?) Curious ako kung sino pinili nila to be serenaded by the Biebs. They say she's the daughter of Smart, or baka luto lang talaga ang pagpili. I don't know, but I hate her cap. And I don't know why she couldn't keep her mouth closed. Baka di na kinaya huminga sa ilong. ajejeje. 

Here's the video.

Nevermind that Justin suddenly disappeared right after the song, like ayaw nya na makipag mingle or to be at least nice and sincerely accomodate the not-so-lonely-girl-anymore. By the end of the video, I was seriously pikon at myself for not bothering to see him perform. Really, really, seriously pikon. After 10 minutes I still couldn't get over it. I called Meyrick and told him that I watched the video and got jealous of every single girl who was able to see him live. Meyrick shrugged me off. So I started to cry. 

No, I did not cry like Cody but I really cried. Like whinny, annoying, childish crying on the phone. For around 10 seconds. My heart ached for Justin Bieber. There. I said it. Hmph. 

I'm too emotional and yes, I'm a drama queen like that.

I think I'm PMS-ing.

Somebody's Home, Styrofoam.

Nancy just flew in from the US last weekend. I'm so happy.
I saw her Monday night, had a rainy evening dinner at C' and coffe/tang grape+cake at her place 'til dawn with the high school originals.
I pretty much spent my high school years with these people.

Me, Nancy, Ralph and Alexa 

Talking 'til the wee hours wasn't enough. We had to do round 2, now with Meyrick and Francis, alcohol, bottomless Roel's hotdog and S.S.S. High school favorites.

Spot those who aren't ready.

This is S.S.S.--- Secret Society Sisig. Best. Sisig. Ever. I'll blog about it soon.

Nancy coming home feels like home. I'm not excited for another separation anxiety drama when Nancy goes back on the 24th. 

Sigh. 

Sometimes growing up isn't fun at all.

Crowing Chicken

Once upon a time, way back before Red Mango, Tutti Frutti and California Berry took over Manila, there was a small soft serve FroYo place in Pampanga called Cold Spoon. It stood alone along Friendship Highway and was obviously owned by a Korean and people never really bothered to stop by and check out what they were selling. Until word got out that it was the most perfect soft-serve FroYo available in the whole country. Since then, a lot of people have given FroYo its much deserved attention and soft-serve FroYo, just like Cold Spoon's, became very much accessible in Manila.

Now comes fried chicken wings. There's Manang's from Mercato Centrale, Chicken Charlie, and Bonchon Manila. Way before all these yummy fried chicken with soy and sesame dressing came parading in Manila, there was Crowing Chicken. 

Crowing Chicken is a very small restaurant also located along Friendship Highway in Angeles City. It's so small, you won't even know it's there. I've seen its signage a lot of times before but never really went in. It was just a door beside my favorite Korean Grocery, Chukbuk Mart. 

So one day, while I was telling Victor how much I loved Manang's chicken wings, he mentioned that there was this Korean-owned fried chicken place in Angeles that nobody knew about. So he looked for it, found it, and tried it. Surprise, surprise. The place that's been ignored all these years served what we would go gaga over Bonchon and Chicken Charlie and Mannang's.
Meyrick and I went there tonight to try their soy and sesame dressing.

Crowing Chicken with soy and sesame dressing

Really yummy, if you ask me. Really, REALLY yummy if you ask Meyrick. A serving of 12 pc. chicken wings in soy and sesame dressing would cost you Php400. I find it expensive, given that the place is anything but fancy. Pero pwede na, masarap naman. Meyrick's sosyal, he didn't really care about the price. He doesn't even get why I'm comlplaining about the price.

In Chinese and Japanese restaurnts, they give you service tea. In this place, they give you service Coke. Oh, joy. I'm not a huge Coke drinker, but I think it's happiness to be given "service Coke".

Coke Sakto

They also serve chicken wings in Korean sweet and spicy sauce, but I like the soy and sesame a lot better. They also offer other parts, not just wings. You can order all legs, or half or whole of a chicken with the breast and thigh and pwet and all. The fried wings with soy and sesame dressing is very much comparable with Manang's but Crowing Chicken definitely is not just your ordinary fried chicken take away place. It offers tempura and other Korean dishes that I can't really remember. And while at it, don't forget to check out Chukbuk next door to get your fill of Korean grocery loot.

It's one of those days that I'm really glad Koreans are putting up businesses in Pampanga. Gives us variety, eh? Yehey 'til to the next food adventure surprise.

Sino to???

Di ko kinaya! hahaha! MALFUNCTIONS OP D FACE. win.

Today, I went back to Horseback Riding

It's been almost a year since i started yakking about horses. 8 months since I had my first taste of horseback riding as an adult. 6 months since I started taking formal riding lessons, and almost 4 months since I fell and hit my head hard, causing me to take a long break from riding.

Falling off your horse is quite normal. It does happen. It happened to me a couple of times before having that really bad fall on that really bad spot at a really bad time. That day was my last day of formal training. It was sort of my graduating day so I insisted to go out to the park instead of staying at the paddocks--- which is safer for falling because the sanded ground can sort of cushion your fall.  I was so happy that day I asked my trainer to jump Buddy, my schooling horse. I don't know what happened next, just that it felt surreal and like a dream waking up lying on the grass with my trainer and the stables' owner asking me to stay on the ground. I can't remember much about falling or what happened before and after the fall, but I do remember not remembering anything, and tweeting that I feel like suffering from memory loss. I remember getting the worst headache from trying to remember where I was and what happened and the way back home. I also remember putting my head inside a hospital trash bin to vomit my head off while I was having my CT scan. I remember my mom telling me in the hospital to never to go back riding again, and I fondly remember the doctor telling me that I can go back after 4-5 months.

After almost 4 months of rest, I finally decided to go back today. I couldn't be any happier. I used the helmet Meyrick had shipped from the U.S. a couple of months back. He gave it to me a month after the accident. Maybe to remind me that I can always go back when I'm ready. Or maybe wala lang. I've been itching to use it since. I seriously brought a camera with me today and seriously asked my trainer to take 100 pictures of me riding. Funny. He was able to take 97 photos. 

I think I appreciate riding now more than ever. I used to just go there, take lessons and be frustrated and impatient of both the horse and myself. I would try to force the horse to canter with me but he never did and he never followed. On the few occasions that I am able to make him pick up more speed, I instantly freeze and do all sorts of stupid panic sounds and make him stop. I wasn't really ready. My trainer, as well as other veteran horseback riders would always tell me: The goal is not speed. It's not about the ride. It's about you and the horse. It's a relationship.
And they're right. It REALLY is NOT just about the ride. It's discipline and patience and love for your horse. It's knowing your horse and knowing yourself on the horse that makes good horsemanship. I know I've still got a lot of things to learn, but hey, you gotta give it to me that I learned a thing or 2 after falling hard on the ground.

Buddy cantered with me for the first time today, the day I came back from the fall. I didn't force him and it was not out of frustration. I was able to direct him to. And he cooperated with me. It felt good. It wasn't perfect, but it was wonderful. I'm happy. Really, really happy.

Chanelle

Meet the world's most low-maintenance kid, my 4 year old niece Chanelle.

Last night, she decided to come to our house and have her first-ever sleepover. Yes, it was an exciting time for us because she just turned 4 and it's her first time to spend the night in someone else's house without her mommy and daddy. 

Watch how incredibly independent she is.

I think I have experienced the most drama-less babysitting in baby history. She was pleasant the whole time. She knew how to say please and say thank you. She'd automatically say sorry if she caused a little mess. And if it's not enough, she'd say "I'm REALLY sorry, aunty Bea". 

But the highlight of her stay was bedtime. I have never seen or ever imagined someone be this disoriented during sleep. :| 

Please watch til the end and please forgive the snickering and the snorting and the annoying background talking. 

I haven't laughed so hard for quite sometime now. Me and Iris were laughing for around 20 minutes. I was already tearing.

When she woke up in the morning, first thing she told me was: "good morning aunty Bea, it's already daytime. Can I play bubbles?"

hihi. I love this kid. I wouldn't call her baby or any other cutesy patootsie baby pet names. She's a big girl now and she's ready to have more sleepovers soon. 

P.s.

I really should be careful with what I say and do around her. She's a frickin' sponge it scares me. Her mom and dad might kill me eh. haha.