100th post

It's my 100th post since I started blogging. Not too much of a reason to celebrate, really. Nevertheless, I wanted to mark this one with a little something - I could do a Top 100 list about this blog, but that would be a tad too tedious and I'd bore you to death. So I'd just post some Fast Facts/Figures of my blog. This is as random as it gets. Here we go!

- Christened "Braving the Beyond" last July 29, 2005
- In only a matter of a fortnight, changed my blog title to "In Transit"
- Had 3 design face lifts in just a matter of 1 month since I started blogging
- A new design, inspired by the color palette of a pair of swimming trunks, has been in the works for four months now
- Posted 3 spa session entries, one of which was rather steamy
- Made 4 movie reviews - Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (wtf?!), L'Auberge Espagnole, and The Brothers Grimm
- Had 6 entries named after songs - Luxurious, Walk On, Crash & Burn, (Are You Ready To) Jump, Let It Will Be, (I'll Be) Anticipating
- Got gay bashed in my CBox, once
- 3 memes
- Got poetic once
- Logged 2 trip reports - Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong
- Did 4 TV show reviews: The Amazing Race, Lost, Pinoy Big Brother, The Apprentice
- Confessed Madonna-related stories in 7 entries
- Gave 2 concert reviews
- Rafael Rossell revealed in 3 entries
- Chris Evans torched us up in 1 entry, but with 2 photos of him in it
- Wrote 5 music reviews
- Embedded 1 video clip
- 29 beautiful people in my blogroll
- Highest number of comments in an entry: 17 - updated
- Last comment received: from a beautiful stranger saying, "Nice pics of Raf (Rafael Rossell)... He's gonna find out about this website soon!!! Hehehe..."

Bring it on, baby!

dog day

I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year of the Fiery Dog!


And speaking of dogs, I might be adopting a toy poodle pretty soon, courtesy of one of my colleagues at work. I am excited about this one, since the last time I had a dog, one of those mongrils though and not some swanky furball, was many years ago. I got some piece of dog petting for the last two days when my nieces' mini pinscher (pictured here) stayed in our home for some vaccination work. She's such a cute fella, highly active, and it just delights me everytime she wags her short tail.

But of course, it's not always pretty to pet dogs, like when they just shit wherever they want to - case in point Ella (the minpin) shitting on the carpet, near the fridge, by the foot of the stairs. Now this ticks off my dad, most especially, so I am kinda worried about still getting the toy poodle, which I plan to name Oslo by the way. Since I read that toy poodles are highly intelligent, I could probably just train him to go clawing on the door whenever he feels the need to poo. If only he could hop on the toilet, shit senseless, and flush afterwards, like that cat from the Meet the Parents video, then there would be no problem at all.

While Oslo is still chugging milk from his mom and his papers are well underway, I still have a few weeks to persuade my folks and drop hints that it'd be a lovely idea to have a toy dog running around the house. In the meantime, I hope all of you are enjoying the festivities as we welcome the Year of the Dog. Woof Woof!

mac-nificent!

Twelve inches. I'm gonna cream in my pants.

Before you think of anything prurient and hot, I'm referring to my newly-acquired 12" Powerbook G4. It's so *beeping* beautiful, that I could just as easily cream in my pants - with every brush of my fingers on its aluminum casing, just by looking at its striking silver beauty.


I am still learning the ropes since this is the first time that I'm using a Mac. If what others say is true, that "once you go Mac, you'll never go back (to PC, that is)," then I'm gonna be one happy camper.

Okay, back to my Mac. This night is gonna be long. Have a good night/day, everyone!

"pacman" bites and beats

I am no sports journalist nor a boxing enthusiast, but Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao's (Philippines) super featherweight match with Erik "El Terrible" Morales (Mexico) today in Las Vegas got me, pun intended, hooked in sports, even just for a day.

As there was no match title at stake, it was all about national pride. With Morales defeating Pacquiao in an earlier match, the whole nation was all fired up in backing up Pacman and in a shared vow to take down the Chicano hottie.

See, this is why I couldn't become a sports journalist. I would, in some way, always annotate my report with the words hottie, stud, cutie, or ripped god. Or describe in deliciously succinct manner the fluid flexing of the athletes' muscles, the visibility of bulge lines (love those Eastern European gymnasts or those synchronized divers) or better yet, the bouncing dicks of those playing the 100-meter dash.

Anyway, Morales fell down to his knees, twice, on the tenth round of the 12-round bout, with Pacquiao delivering punches to the face from all angles and hard blows to Morales' gut. Technical knock-out baby! That was the biggest blow in Morales' boxing career history, as he has never been knocked down in any of his matches before. What sweet victory!

Down boy, down!

So Pacquiao, national hero, is two million US dollars richer. If only he would give a handful of greenbacks to his cheering fans. I would definitely become a convert, not only for a day.

Photo credit: AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill

never gone tour in manila

It's Friday night and with Bangkok totally out of the picture, I settled for the next best thing - the Never Gone Tour of the Backstreet Boys in Manila.

The concert was a mish mash of their delicious pre-pubescent (haha!) pop hits (remember how skinny Nick C. was in their first video, and how the rumor that he's actually a woman wildly ran around, well in Manila at least?) and the recent releases from the Never Gone album. Clocking in at around 90 minutes, zero costume changes, a 100-pound heavier Nick Carter, still five cute guys, a thousand dancing cellphone lights, and an over-the-top decibel reading of screaming fans, Never Gone Tour Manila was a fairly fun aural/visual feast. Michael Buble's was better, in my O.

Picture time! Photos are of shitty quality, though. Ulk.

you know... stuff

Blog entries are getting sparse again since I have nothing interesting to write about for the last few days. So this is just gonna be a hodgepodge of stuff running through my life and inside my head.

It seems that my quickie getaway to Bangkok this Thursday thru Sunday won't push through after all. After three days of being on the wait list on two airlines (what the eff is happening over at Bangkok at this time?), my agent hasn't confirmed a seat for me just yet (well, I'm buying Economy, and Biz Class tix are still up for grabs, ulk!). I gave her a deadline - end of business day today - but she didn't give me a call or anything, ugh! Maybe I should check on her tomorrow morning and see if she has some surprise in store. It would have been a great four-day sojourn with two of my best gal pal-colleagues, one of which would be attending a business conference, the other just hitching for one crazy ride.

Finally, with much prodding by my colleagues, I had my hair cut tonight. But not in the salon I frequent since I would be late for my appointment and they wouldn't let me adjust it 15 effiing minutes later. So I just setttled with the neighborhood salon and pretty much achieved the same style I usually have for my hair, at only 25% of what I would pay for in Salon # 1.


I was totally unaware of the Golden Globes today so if it weren't for T's text message, I would not have seen Ryan Phillippe in glorious full-color screen time! His equally stunning wife Reese Witherspoon also won the Best Actress-Comedy or Musical award. Since I was rooting for Zhang Ziyi to win the Best Actress-Drama award, it was such a surprise that Felicity Huffman won for her role as a transexual in Transamerica. Not that I'm complaining. I love her. And I even bought the DVD of this movie over the weekend, which I haven't seen yet. So Heath Ledger lost, but Brokeback Mountain won four awards including Best Picture-Drama and Best Director. Woot woot! Love love love the presentation of Megan, Eric, Debra, and Sean (Will & Grace) for Best TV Series-Drama, which of course went to none other than... Lost!

I am gonna get that Dermalogica Normal/Dry Skin Kit (special cleansing gel, multi-active toner, skin smoothing cream, gentle cream exfoliant), since it seems that my trip to Bangkok ain't pushing through, thus can spend the money I have been holding back (for unnecessary expenses) until my flight has been confirmed, which apparently is not gonna happen. Blessing in disguise, eh? Right.

I am looking forward to the weekend so I could watch some of the DVDs I looted last Friday: Bad Education (Gael Garcia Bernal!), TransAmerica, and Jarhead (Jake. My. Gyllenhaal. to the intonation and stressing of OMG). I've already seen Memoirs of a Geisha (brilliant, just brilliant!) and Sugar Unrated Version (eh? such an ugly gay film).

American Idol premieres tomorrow!

sent; soon (i hope)

My Conde Nast Traveler January 2006 issue has finally arrived.

However, my Christmas/birthday gift from Knut is still out there somewhere. Hopefully, their postal system did not fudge it up. Hopefully, our postal office did not slash-open-like-keep it. I hope it's just the Christmas frenzy that's keeping it from reaching me. It was sent last fudging December 19! Oh fudge it.

man(ila)-o-mission takes off

I present for all your viewing pleasure Man(ila)-O-Mission, my quest for Manila's blood-boiling brood of men.

My first Man(ila)-O-Mission entry is Mr. Rafael Rosell. You've seen him twice before here in my blog. First was of him showing his pits. The second, his teasing tongue snaking out of his lips.

Now see more of the guy whose body has turned Manila's billboard spaces into fiery hot spots. Photos by Dave Fabros for Metro Him Magazine.

beautiful dream, eating out again

Stayed home all day and ditched skipped work due to some slight fever this morning. Woke up with a clogged nose, a sore throat, a heavy head and this beautiful man plastered on mind.


For some strange reason, he was in my dream last night. He's a local actor who has made the rounds of blockbuster films, and ehem, an alleged sex video involving him and another guy. Whether it's him or not, spread-eagled and getting the poking of his life, let's leave it at that. The poor guy even appeared on national television to bravely deny that it's him on the MMS (multimedia messaging system) clip that has made rounds in Manila's cellphone-toting denizen.

Too bad I can't clearly remember what we were he was doing in my dream. It could be the fact that I have seen his latest movie two days ago. He's such a beautiful imagery that never went away.

Anyway, with nothing to do at home, I watched Q. Allan Brocka's Eating Out again and it's such good news to read from his blog that there'll be a sequel to this smashing hit, tentatively titled "Sloppy Seconds". And it's even better to know that "...the plot of this one is even sexier and the climactic scene is steamy, hilarious, and downright nasty. And to all the people who hated the gratuitous nudity in the first one - uh, this one will only have more." Need I ask for more?

While we are anticipating the release of Sloppy Seconds, let us relish one more time a 'lil bit of Caleb (Scott Lunsford) and Marc (Ryan Carnes) with these hot stills from Eating Out.

so special

Thank you Shigeki, Mr. Brian, Mike, Paul, Moja, and Ash for your thoughtful greetings and wonderful well-wishes! I appreciate all the love you sent to me and to this part of the world. Never did it cross my wildest dreams that I'd find friends from different corners in this universe.

Thanks to my colleagues at work for throwing a surprise party for me, complete with the party favors. But Powerpuff Girls? What were you guys thinking? Hahaha!

Thanks to my family and closest friends for sharing an eye-popping dinner with me. Hehehe. It was such a treat to have all of you around.

Thank you for these gifts.


You all made my birthday extra special. You all made me feel so special. And for that, I am truly grateful.

I love you all!

20 + 2 + 3 = 24

Eh?

It's 20 minutes away before I turn 24. Twenty four.

And I am still here at the office, finishing some work.

All I have are my two gal pal-slash-colleagues.

And these three boys on my corkboard.

That's Ian Somerhalder, Rafael Rossell, and Chris Evans.

What a treat.

extreme self-improvement

Picked this up at Hong Kong, a crazy great alternative to the mundane, cookie-cutter planner/diary.

USER INSTRUCTIONS:
Congratulations! You are the proud owner of This Diary Will Change Your Life 2006, the very latest in the cult bestselling series from authors Benrik Limited. Follow its instructions to the letter every week of the year, and your life will definitely change. Please note that Benrik's philosophy is one of life-change at any cost: it could be for the better, it might be for the worse. Only one thing is guaranteed: it will make the year 2006 impossible to forget, even with the help of expensive psychotherapy.

Sunday, 1 January, New Year's Day
Mental Preparation Day
Before embarking on your new life, take a moment to reflect and find strength for the year ahead. Focus on how pathetic your life has been until now. How dysfunctional your family is. How miserable your friends are. How few of them still call you. How much you hate your boss. How much your boss hates you. How thin the ozone layer is becoming. How wholeheartedly you loathe everything about your current self. Once you have written off your old life, you are ready to turn the page. Good luck!

Told you it was crazy. Have a wicked 2006 y'all!