durian and coffee is durian coffee

coffee makes me high and coffee gets me going...i like all kinds of coffee. i love caramel machiato, i like cafe latte, i desire capuccino, i drool over cuban coffee and i salivate over fraps. but of all things to have, i am actually having durian coffee now. yes, durian coffee and i am loving it.

this is the second time i am having this but this is the first time i am actually liking this. it has a distinct taste but without the distinct smell of the fruit. and surprisingly, no after-taste.

coffee never fails to make me high. i can never stress enough how much i love coffee because caffeine is my drug, regardless if it is a regular coffee or durian coffee. as i sip my almost empty cup of durian coffee, enjoying the froth that touches my lips, i watched as people talked and laughed about anything, i played with my cup wondering if i can still have one more then i cupped its sides with my hand. it stayed there and i felt the warmth and dampness of the cup while a drop trickled quickly to the surface of the table where i set the cup. lovely, i thought.

i've been here in this coffee shop in Davao for almost two hours now and people are still talking. i realized that a lot of topics are being covered here from cooking up another gimik, planning a wedding, to building a house.

i could sit inside this coffee shop forever because time seems to stop each time i'm drinking coffee...ok, durian coffee..listening to soft music and just watching people come and go.

great conversations are present in places like this everyday. people who have time to give and forget about being chased away by time are definitely my people. being able to stop and talk a while and just do nothing is just what everyone needs in a topsy-turvey world we live in.

because when you're with friends, or alone, as in my case right now, i belive, time does not exist. (unless you have coffee-to-go because you're such in a hurry.)

but then, i still have to work tomorrow. i am thinking, i should have another cup of durian coffee before i go back to the hotel.

anyone wants to try this out?

3 cups of coffee and almost a pitcher of iced tea later...

i feel light-headed and woozy. i can't think clearly. i can't concentrate on what i am doing.

i think i am suffering from caffeine overdose...if ever it does happen.

happiness is a journey, not a destination

a lot of times we convince ourselves that life will be better after we’ve accomplished the things that we’ve planned to do…when we have a good job after graduation and when we are already earning a good living for ourselves, then we get disappointed because it doesn’t always happen that way…when we get married, have a baby, then another, then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are. after that, we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. we will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage.

we tell ourselves that our life will be complete when we have built a big and beautiful house, when we get a nicer car, when we are able to go on a nice vacation, or when we retire.

the truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now. if not now, when? our lives will always be filled with challenges. it's best to admit this to ourselves and decide to be happy anyway.

so, treasure every moment that we have and treasure it more because we shared it with someone special, special enough to spend our time with. it must begin now and not a second later because time waits for no one.

so, stop waiting until your car or home is paid off or until you get a new car or home…until you lose 10 lbs. or until you gain 10 lbs….until you get married or until you have kids…until summer or until the rainy season.

there is no better time to be happy than right now. happiness is a journey, not a destination.

so, work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt, and dance like no one's watching.

attitudes

Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitude toward life.The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it. I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position. Attitude keeps me going or cripples my progress. It alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitudes are right, there’s no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me.

- Charles Swindoll

transformers...again

i know this will sound pathetic...but we watched Transformers for the second time.

oh yes, we did go to see it again at Gateway this evening with my family and the BOH Nomad team from the US. after a very warm fellowship-experience with ICS' Crosslinc this afternoon (thanks guys for the warm welcome), we went to Gateway with one specific goal in mind...that is to see Transformers. i couldn't get enough of it, i think i could watch it 10 more times and i'd still get the same awe i had the first time i saw it.

it's already on its second week but getting the tickets for the movie is still not easy. we were supposed to get the 7pm screening but there were only 6 seats available so we had to get the next available screening time which was 7:35pm. but we didn't mind waiting a few more minutes. we would have gotten the 9:10pm screening if it were the only available time. we were so resolved to watch the movie tonight we didn't mind the sacrifice we had to make.

as Sam Witwicky so clearly stated, "no sacrifice, no victory"

and hey...i am ready for my third screening anytime. any takers?

transformers...finally!!

i finally was able to see Transformers last Sunday night with Alice. and as everybody was saying, it is a great movie...no, "great" is an understatement, "awesome" would be a most fitting description.

after waiting for more than a week and being left out during friends' discussions about the film, Alice and I decided to be "transformed" just like everybody else. you know how it is when friends talk about something you have not seen. the tendency would be to somehow be carried away by their exaggerations and over-reactions about how the movie impressed them or touched them or excited them or even bored them. but man, they are nothing compared to actually watching this unbelievable film.

it is awesome how those cars transform before our eyes. i couldn't believe how they (the film makers) could make such a detailed transformations of those machines in a very impressive display of techy-mechanical stuff. but more than this showcase of holywood savy, i agree with most of my friends' observations that this robot-film showed more heart than any other human-oriented films we have seen in the past.

i won't say anything more about the film. my words will not give justice to it.

for those who have not seen it yet, don't pass up this chance to see an awesome movie and be transformed.

scent memories

tonight, i find myself wandering back to memory lane. why? because i smelled something.

have you ever had the experience of somehow being pulled back to the past whenever you start to literally smell something familiar...when you start to smell something nice and different, like some cologne a friend or a loved one used to wear? i feel that. sometimes i walk down the street or inside a mall and pass by some random stranger and smell something familiar. then i start remembering high school memories when i used to wear the same Johnson’s baby cologne scent...yes,i did wear that cologne.

there would be times when my mind would wander back during my even younger years when me and my cousins were playing street games, the moment i smell a particular scent of a flower.

i’d remember my youth days when i still didn't care and my life was still in reckless abandon. i'd remember friends. i'd remember the heartaches, the joy, the laughters, the fun talks.

scents really do trigger memory flashbacks. i’m not good at letting go of the past. maybe it’s because i had such a great time while living it.

Now I am "B-" in Lakbayan

I updated my Lakbayan map...now I am "B-"

My Lakbayan grade is B-!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.