A Break-up Letter


I never expected I'd be writing you this letter. We've had six years of wonderful memories but I'm afraid it had come to the point where you started to Read more

The New Yoshke.com


New look. New attitude. New experiences. Honestly, I had been neglecting this blog the past few weeks because of my awfully hectic schedule. Work had been unforgiving on weekdays and Read more

Sometimes We Burn to Live


Whenever I meet people for the first time, it always happens. When they start their sentence with "I hope you don't mind me asking but," I know they are going Read more

Fireworks, Hormones, and this Blog Post


You remember last week when I told you I found it difficult to blog since I met you? Since we became a couple officially, I have not had enough Read more

Do They Read Blogs in Heaven?


Whenever I say that the earliest memory I have is the accident wherein I had my left arm somewhat toasted, I lie. My earliest memory is, in fact, months Read more

Unusual Breakfast


Here we are again. In the usual corner. Usual table. Usual diner. Usual time. And most probably, usual meal. I'm getting tired of this really. Everything's a routine. And Read more

Top 10 National Stereotypes


Heaven is where the cooks are French, the police are British, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian and everything is organized by the Swiss. Hell is where the Read more

Why Nursery Rhymes Are So Violent


A few months ago, I was teaching my 4-year old nephew some nursery rhymes with a DVD. After a lot of singing, he slowly digested the story that the Read more

Top 10 Worst Things to Say During Sex


Sex is the art of love. It must be done in the most enjoyable and most satisfying manner. This act of love of two naked individuals reminds us that Read more

The Promil Kid Drops the Bomb


Of all the living things created by God, I love my nephew the most. I call him the Promil Kid. He’s the cutest thing. I’ve always written about him Read more

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My Top 100 All-Time Favorite Love Songs (Part 6)

Posted on April 2, 2011 by Yoshke in Entertainment, Lists, Love, Music |

Just this morning, when I opened up my laptop and launched iTunes, it randomly played Leigh Nash’s Need to Be Next to You. And in an instant, I was reminded of this list and that I had not posted a follow up since August last year. So here it is.

This is the sixth installment of my list of 100 love songs that I am completely in love with. This batch includes singles from number 21-30. Again, this is a personal list — songs that have touched me in many ways. (Click on the title of the song to listen to it.)

30. Leigh Nash – Need to be Next to You

I still haven’t seen the movie Bounce, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck, for which this song was written. But I don’t have to see it for me to love this song. Leigh Nash’s soft, sweet voice fits the melody and the lyrics of the song perfectly. The song is simple, talking about how she needs to always be with the person she’s in love with. But its simplicity makes the song more adorable.

I need to know I can see you smile this morning
Look into your eyes each night for the rest of my life
Here with you, near with you, oh I
I need to be next to you

Not to mention that I’ve always loved Leigh Nash.

29. Up Dharma Down – Oo

TAGOS! When I first heard this song, I was left speechless and before I knew it, I had set this track on loop. It’s just so honest and straightforward, it’s hard not to feel for the singer. The lyrics are brutal and the melody is catchy. So here’s for all who have patiently loved someone so numb, so insensitive and so thick.

Nagtapos ang lahat sa di inaasahang pahanon
At ngayon ako’y iyong iniwan
Luhaan, sugatan, ‘di mapakinabangan
Sana’y nagtanong ka lang
Kung ‘di mo lang alam
Sana’y nagtanong ka lang
Kung ‘di mo lang alam

Ako’y iyong nasaktan
Baka sakali lang maisip mo naman
Hindi mo lang alam
Kay tagal na panahon
Ako’y nandirito pa rin hanggang ngayon para sa’yo

I also love the “Sana nakinig na lang ako sa nanay ko” line. Teehee.

28. The Corrs – What Can I Do

This song is just sad and lovely. Loved it the first time I heard it. Loved The Corrs the moment I heard it.

I haven’t slept at all in days. It’s been so long since we’ve talked.
And I have been here many times. I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong.

What can I do to make you love me? What can I do to make you care?
What can I say to make you feel this? What can I do to get you there?

Read more Viewed 5311 times by 1511 visitors this month

5 Comments

Laughter on the Menu

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Yoshke in Humor, Travel |

One of the best parts of traveling is being able to try many cuisines. You walk into a restaurant, pick a table, sit, and ask for the menu. The menu will give you what that restaurant has to offer. But if you have crazy attention to details, sometimes you’ll find unexpected laughter somewhere in that list of gastronomic delights. Here are some examples:

Will you ever eat a cruel potato? Well, if you’re brave enough to face one of these insensitive potatoes, you better drive to the Mountain Province and find a restaurant that serves chicken with…

Harsh brown. I'm scared. :S

If you want more foodie adventures, down south there’s a resort offering scrambled eggs with tomato and

Unless it's a union of the hottest waiters in the land, thanks but no thanks. :P

But if you want the ultimate mind-blowing menu, try these dishes being served in one restaurant in Beijing. My bosses took these pictures and up to now, they still haven’t figured out what these mean. The problems aren’t the dishes, it’s what they are called.

Read more Viewed 24905 times by 3075 visitors this month

10 Comments

25 Months Later

Posted on March 20, 2011 by Yoshke in Love, Personal Life |

I don’t pray. I’m at the point of my life where I don’t really think about spirituality. This is something that I have to discover for myself and have yet to explore. I’m not sure whether I believe in God or not. I’m just not sure.

But I remember one night 25 months ago; I was walking from the MRT Ayala Station to Glorietta and I felt like with every step I made, I was losing every bit of confidence I had. I wanted something so badly that time and I was just not sure whether I would get it. I was not used to failure or rejection and it was not the right moment for a first time. Desperate, I whipped out my phone and texted a friend.

Yoshke: Hi Astrid. This is probably the most important night of my life. If God really exists, I doubt he’d listen to someone who, for the longest time, was doubting His existence. Please pray for me.

Astrid: Oh, alright. What do you want me to ask of God?

Yoshke: That His will be the same as mine. And that His will be done.

And with that, our text conversation ended. My cellphone’s battery failed me that time but I continued walking to where I was supposed to go. The evening proved to be eventful.

Read more Viewed 2277 times by 752 visitors this month

9 Comments

And We Wonder Why We Don’t Move Forward

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Yoshke in Blurts, Public Affairs, Rants |

Sometimes, we are THE problem.

Photo by Vky Mendoza

Viewed 3594 times by 990 visitors this month

11 Comments

Happy Birthday to Me!

Posted on March 6, 2011 by Yoshke in Blurts, Euphoria, Travel, Vanities |



Hey shorty, it’s my birthday! Today, i turned a-quarter-of-a-century old. So the people around me should expect some sort of quarter-life-crisis-related tantrums soon. Haha.

I’m celebrating a serene birthday here in the shadow of Mt. Hibok-Hibok in Camiguin. The place is paradise. Was in White Island yesterday and it was unbelievable! I can’t think of any place better to celebrate this special day in. Well, except Europe.

Will write about the trip soon but right now, will seize every birthday second as i feel like my younger days are over.

Quarter-life crisis starts now. Lol. Viewed 3503 times by 1010 visitors this month

23 Comments

The Nerve: A Laundry Service Washout Story

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Yoshke in Conversations, Rants |

Last month, I had my dirty clothes and two dirty bags picked up by a laundry shop staff. I gave a specific instruction that the bags had to be hand-washed.

A week later, I had my clothes and bags delivered. Shortly afterward, a delivery man knocked on my door with my newly washed clothes. I paid for the service and he handed me the receipt. But I noticed that the bags were not there so I courteously asked the guy. He looked shocked because he said, they did not give him the two bags. He offered to go back and check and he’d let me know.

Now, those two bags had been with me since college. One was a Jansport sling bag, which I used through my college years. The other, a Fila backpack, which my brother bought me in one of his trips abroad. The Jansport sling bag wasn’t really that valuable but the Fila backpack was. It was expensive and it was one of the few things my brother gave me. And not to mention, it was the only backpack I had since college.

Several minutes later, the delivery guy returned and apologized because he was told that they had not washed the bags yet.

Delivery guy: Sir, pasensya na daw po kasi nakalimutan daw po labhan. Kunin nyo na lang daw bukas.
Yoshke: Naku kuya, may flight ako bukas ng umaga. Kaya ko nga kinukuha ngayon kasi nage-empake ako.
Delivery guy: Pasensya na po, sir.
Yoshke: Sige kuya, okay lang. Kunin ko na lang pagdating ko.

I settled with borrowing my hubby’s backpack for my trip to Tacloban the next day.

Three days later, I needed to get the backpack again because I had a flight to Cebu the next morning. So I called the laundry shop and a woman answered.

Read more Viewed 3066 times by 848 visitors this month

22 Comments

HEY, YOU! (Aka My Shortest Yet Sincerest Blog Post Yet)

Posted on February 20, 2011 by Yoshke in Euphoria, Love, Personal Life |

.

.

.

.

We proved them wrong.

Happy Second Anniversary. Viewed 2388 times by 731 visitors this month

18 Comments

Movie Review: 127 Hours (2010)

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Yoshke in Entertainment, Movies, Reviews |

Genre: Drama
Directed by: Danny Boyle
Stars: James Franco

127 Hours is about mountain climber Aron Ralston (James Franco) who goes on a journey to a remote Utah canyon but finds himself trapped in a lonely crevasse after a boulder falls and pins his arm. What happens next is 127 hours of trying to survive and get out of the earthy prison.

So wait, wait, wait a minute, does that mean you’re gonna have to watch a man struggle to set himself free through the duration of the movie?

Well, yes. But thanks to Danny Boyle’s filmmaking precision and James Franco’s brilliant performance, what could have been a stagnant material becomes a journey to the soul of an individual who had been imprisoned in his solitary ways far longer than 127 hours — most of his life — and we see him break free and realize he has reasons to reach out to life, albeit with one arm.

James Franco‘s performance is central in the storytelling because there’s not much of a story. He is almost in every scene and without going anywhere, he has to win the audience over by creating a character that is distant and carefree but adorable enough for us to want him to get out of that solid rock predicament. And the Academy-nominated actor did not disappoint. He gives the performance of his life in this film, giving life to a brave character in the brink of desperation. His Ralston is real and believable as he delivers a performance overflowing with power and rawness. His face radiates the strength, the terror and the despair — all at the same time.

But Franco does not single-handedly carry this film. Danny Boyle was able to put the audience in Ralston’s shoes and see the world through his eyes. Although it is not always comfortable (or even bearable), the film encourages us to ask ourselves what we would do had we been in that situation. This kind of first-person approach works magically. Moreover, the guy sure knows how to tell a story, breaking the “trap tedium” with beautiful shots of the landscape every now and then and injecting enough humor to keep us entertained. The cinematography and editing make up for the absence of movement.

Read more Viewed 3397 times by 942 visitors this month

7 Comments

Movie Review: Rabbit Hole (2010)

Posted on February 17, 2011 by Yoshke in Entertainment, Movies, Reviews |

Genre: Drama
Stars: Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, Dianne Wiest
Directed by: John Cameron Mitchell

A couple struggle to go on with their lives eight months after their young son was killed in a tragic road accident. Cliche? Maybe. But that’s what is beautiful about Rabbit Hole. It tells the tired story of loss and grief in the most unusual yet true-to-life manner — silent, devoid of histrionics, and occasionally humorous. It’s a simple story made complex by the characters’ emotions.

Rabbit Hole revolves around Becca and Howie Corbett, played by Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart, and their difficult, almost impossible battle with grief, brought about by the death of their son after he chased his dog onto the street and get ran over by a speeding car.

While Howie comforts himself with memories of his son by watching old videos on his iPhone, Becca seems to be dealing with the loss differently. Becca seems to be determined to banish anything that reminds her of her child one step at a time, while being annoyingly critical of anyone that offers her a shoulder to cry on. She dreads support groups and refuses to talk about her feelings.

In one of the support group sessions they join, a couple try to console themselves by saying that the reason their child died is that God needed another angel. Becca, totally disgusted, spoils the moment by raising the question, “If he needed another angel, why didn’t he just make one. He’s God, after all. Why didn’t he just make another angel?”

Becca is seemingly strong. Seemingly, the operative word. And these differences between them are starting to take a toll on their marriage.

Read more Viewed 3201 times by 884 visitors this month

3 Comments

Movie Review: Black Swan (2010)

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Yoshke in Entertainment, Movies, Reviews |

Genre: Suspense, Thriller
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Stars: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel

The moment she broke her toe nail, it was on.

Directed by Darren Aronofsky (the same man who gave us The Wrestler and Requiem for a Dream), Black Swan is a passionate, tension-filled suspense drama about a ballerina named Nina (Natalie Portman) who is chosen to play the much coveted lead in New York Ballet Company’s production, Swan Lake.

The role calls for not just a perfect portrayal of the innocent White Swan, but also the much more difficult Black Swan. Although Nina performs the White Swan part faultlessly, she needs more time to perfect the more demanding role — the Black Swan. But as she struggled to get lost in this dark character and receives unsolicited help from the sexually charged Lily (Mila Kunis), she discovers more about her own dark side.

Without a doubt, Natalie Portman nailed the role as if the film was made so she could have her first Academy Award. She was convincing as the innocent Nina, wanting to meet her mother’s expectations and proving she deserves the part. She was also able to successfully transition to the rebellious woman, who would do everything to keep the role.

Read more Viewed 3418 times by 886 visitors this month

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