My Facebook and Windows Live contacts would have seen these photos by now, but what the heck, what’s another announcement right? Haha!
The FB album info says this:
I took these photos on Sunday evening. The boyfriend was in search for the perfect pair of pants, and I was already sleepy from having no sleep since setting off for work the night before. Since fitting rooms these days are roomier and equipped with chairs (and have excellent lighting), I figured I’d sneak in there with him and snap a few. Haha.
For someone who doesn’t like having her photo taken, I think I’m crazy for sharing these here now. Haha. But here, check out the slideshow.
I don’t think I’ve posted here yet about my pending plans to move to another company. I’ve already given 30-days’ notice to my current employer, but in the past week I’ve been having second thoughts about moving. There are several factors to consider apart from the salary increase I’d be getting when I move. I’d have to consider the additional medical and disability insurance that I used to get for my mom for free at my current workplace – I’d have to pay for that in the new one. It’s not too costly though so I don’t mind that so much. I’d have additional transpo and food expenses too. So when you think about it, the increase in salary isn’t going to be substantial. So for that, should I go jumping at the opportunity to start all over again?
Yesterday turned out to be Movie Monday. I was feeling so bad after sleeping for 12 hours (totally not the result I was aiming for) and had to puke twice. So I lay on the couch for the most part of the day and zoned out in front of the TV. The Bachelor was up first and, I must say, no matter how many times I see the film – I will tune in and love it all over again. After crushing on Chris O’Donnell and Renee Zellwegger, the dashing genius Jack Black was up with Be Kind Rewind. 🙂 If you plan on seeing the movie and you’re not interested in a spoiler, stop reading and grab a copy of the film already!
Set in Passaic, New Jersey, the story revolves around the VHS rental shop Be Kind Rewind owned by Danny Glover’s character Mr. Fletcher. The shop, along with the building where it’s situated at, is at a declining state. In fact, town officials have given Mr. Fletcher a demolition date and he can stop it only when he is able to make the necessary improvements before the set deadline.
Helping Mr. Fletcher at the shop is a young man called Mike. The shop is entrusted to him when Mr. Fletcher decides to go on a trip to scout the competition that has DVD rentals. Of course, he doesn’t tell Mike that’s where he’s going. As far as everyone else knows, Mr. F was off on a memorial for Jazz legend Fats Waller who was supposedly born in Mr. F’s building. Jerry (played by Jack Black) is high on conspiracy theories, and he believes that The Power Plant is messing with everyone’s brains. On the first night that Mr. F is away, Jerry convinces Mike to go with him to sabotage the Power Plant. While crossing over the fence, Mike realizes what Mr. Fletcher’s parting message was at the train stop: Keep Jerry Out. He decides to abandon the sabotage and leave Jerry to his crazy schemes. But an accident happens, and Jerry is electrocuted.
The next day, Jerry comes in to the shop in a daze and a bad temper. He kept on re-arranging the videos on the shelves and annoyed the sole customer in the shop that day. Mike manages to throw him out, but little did any of them know that the damage has been done. As a result of the accident, Jerry has become magnetized and all the videos have been erased.
In his fear of disappointing Mr. Fletcher, Mike was forced to come up with a way to rent out the Ghostbusters to Mia Farrow’s character in the movie. He dragged Jerry to make what they later called a Sweded version of the movie, armed with one camera and lots of imagination. The version gains popularity, and soon, customers were paying huge money to request sweded versions of their favorite films. The business was doing great, until there was hope that Mr. Fletcher may finally afford to pay for renovations. But the government came and destroyed all of the sweded movies for copyright infringement. All of the store’s assetts were seized too.
Everyone thought that was the end of Be Kind Rewind, and Mr. Fletcher’s building. Mike speaks up and says they could apply to declare the building a historical landmark being Waller’s birthplace. But that prompts Mr. F to admit that the story wasn’t true – that it was just a bedtime story he shared with Mike, and couldn’t retract.
The people of Passaic didn’t give up though, they were determined to fight it out. They decided that they needed to make an all original movie, and who else would it be about? Their hero, Fats Waller.
I read the novel last week. It reminded me a bit of The Devil Wears Prada. In both novels, the protagonist was at a job they didn’t necessarily want and they had dragon lady bosses. They also wanted out, but found themselves totally immersed in the work, unable to distance themselves easily.
And the movie version’s worth watching too. Harvard Hottie was yummy. hahaha 🙂
Nan was just like Andy – an achiever, does really well at her job. No matter how good she is at it, and how over-qualified she may be for a nanny job, this isn’t recognized by her employers. She also does not get the respect she deserves. At first I was thinking how the novel was placing Upper East Side moms in a bad light, how it seemed to have been passing judgement on moms who could not take care of their children full-time and have had to hire nannies to do that. But eventually I realized that it actually pays tribute to all moms – every single one. Moms like Mrs. X actually takes the time to choose the right nanny for her boy, which means she tries to find someone qualified to be her child’s primary caregiver. She wants someone who can help her son with his school work. I guess she admits she won’t do much good in a primary caregiver role, and that means she needs to find someone who can. Maybe it at least tries to open their eyes a bit to see how their kids need more of their attention, and that isn’t so bad.
I love kids, but I don’t think I’d do too well as a nanny. I can probably babysit for a few hours, but it’s not something I can do on a daily basis, and certainly not full time. Sure I’m looking forward to having kids of my own, but that’s different from caring for someone else’s.
There are Pinoy nannies the world over – rearing children of other families, while they leave their own kids back home thousands of miles away. Filipinos have learned to take pride in this fact. In fact, Princess Lara Quigaman won a beauty pageant where she was asked about this very topic. What’s to be proud of being a nation known for it’s nannies? Well, it means that we know children and how to raise them. It means that we can be trusted with the care of the most important members of families and societies. We can influence the lives of young minds. We play a big role in building future leaders.
Seems I’ve been spending lesser time online this past week… While I collect my thoughts for a decent post (or two), I’d like to thank my top Entrecard droppers for April.
These days when there are people leaving EC because of the Paid Ads, it’s really great to know that there are people sticking around and still dropping. Thanks everyone!
Today I donated 490 grains of rice, and reached level 36 (out of 60) for English vocabulary. I noticed just today that you can now switch subjects! Cool, more fun while donating. hehe 🙂 Wait, while I was typing this, I clicked to switch to Math and now my donation is up to 520 grains! I’ll stop for the day though because I want to take a few more minutes to nap before I have to prep for work.
Now how exactly does playing Free Rice help alleviate worl hunger? Here’s what it says on their website:
Do I really make a difference by playing FreeRice?
The rice you donate makes a huge difference to the person who receives it. According to the United Nations, about 25,000 people die each day from hunger or hunger-related causes, most of them children. Though 10 grains of rice may seem like a small amount, it is important to remember that while you are playing, so are thousands of other people at the same time. It is everyone together that makes the difference. Thanks to you, FreeRice has generated enough rice to feed millions of people since it started in October 2007.
Now, let’s backtrack a bit. What is all this talk about World Hunger? For starters, you can read up some of the FAQs from the World Food Program. Yes, we all feel hungry – that’s when our body tells us we need nourishment. Or simply, that it’s been hours since you last had a bite of anything. But in many places all around the world, it’s not just about being hungry. There’s malnourishment and undernourishment too. Children of rural communities and depressed urban areas are most affected by hunger, but yes, those who are in the middle of conflict have less access to food as well.
Every year, the number of people affected by this phenomenon is increasing at an alarming rate of 4 million per year. It has become the number one health risk worldwide, greater than AIDS even. I guess one of the reasons why we have not been very involved in efforts to address world hunger is that we take it for granted – specially when food is readily available for us. Surely there’s more than enough food resources to feed the world’s population. What we forget is that equal rights to food does not mean that each person has equal access to these resources.
What can we do? You can give – time, effort, money – whatever it is you’re willing to give. Me? I write about it sometimes, I click the button on the Hunger site daily, and I play Free Rice whenever I could. I won’t save the world, but we all must do what we are willing and can do to help out. Every little thing counts.
So I was totally excited to post my P365 photo for yesterday but then I remembered that I wanted to post today in keeping with the Bloggers Unite theme, Unite for Hunger and Hope. And my photo isn’t really in keeping with the theme, if you know what I mean? It’s like saying I’d totally keep within my budget for this month, but seeing myself spending on too much food for just myself, or at a shoe store cashier and seeing the figure come up after my next purchase goes through the lady’s barcode scanners is just – ugh! But going back to what I reallly meant to say – please don’t kill me for talking about hunger and posting a photo of my latest guilty pleasure all in one blog post:
I’d been craving for Krispy Kreme’s Chocolate Carnival since I saw a poster somewhere a few weeks ago, I just never got around to buying any. Alfred was forced to go to Cubao yesterday morning just to buy dog food and grab a dozen of these yummies. Thanks dear! I knew you would have been well within your rights to choose any of the three nearby grocery stores to pick up what Zune needed, but you honored your promise to get me these sinful delights anyway. Haha 🙂
I am thankful that I can eat something totally unhealthy like donuts, or anything else for that matter, it reminds me that there are people out there that don’t have that. I pray for them, and I hope that WFP gets to them too. Not just because one is aware of these issues and want to help out doesn’t mean one has to starve right? 😉
