I told him to give me a scary face and I got this blank expression, haha!
Also, all I had was shimmery black make-up so he's all sparkly today.

Omar woke me up this morning to do his make-up. There's a Halloween party in school and he'll be in his Skullzor attire until tonight's trick or treating. I was actually torn between walking him around collecting candies and going with Baby and her friends to the village, I'm guessing, to see the Manhattan Halloween Parade. Depending how long Omar wants to go around, I may be able to do both. I just didn't have the heart to tell Omar and I can't take him around as promised so I will do it and zip out to the city and meet up with friends. I sure hope the subway is friendly to commuters tonight. I can only imagine most people decked out in their halloween garb and scaring commuters and pedestrians. God knows I don't have the heart to withstand being scared at night.

Yesterday, I took one of the cars out and did my favorite chore...LAUNDRY! Haha! A big bag of sheets and comforters have been sitting in the back of the truck since I got here so I decided to do them already. I wanted to get beer since I ran out of Stella so I tried to drive to the supermarket but I got lost. I decided to get a slice a pizza before heading home when I saw there was a smaller grocery beside the pizza place. They didn't have stella, so I got ingredients I needed to make my own version of Bona's Breakfast Fruit Yoghurt Muesli! My version is better of course with an addition of fresh strawberries and blueberries. I had one this morning and I am so full since it turned out to be twice the size of Bona's.

The CW seems to be running out of ideas for tv shows. First, they do 90210, now they plan on doing a remake of this...

After seeing this, I just realized how Grant Show could very well pass for Viggo Mortensen. I wonder if he ever auditioned for Aragorn?

Grace, Sasha and Niki's turn...

(there was something wrong with my original embed..here it is again)

I'm starting to feel jealous that I don't have my own photos to edit. The only prints I have of mine were the ones taken in 2004-05 and we all know I no longer look like I used to.

Off topic...
Some people are taking Halloween a little too seriously. I almost had a heart attack while walking the dogs earlier this evening. On my way back to the apartment, I saw a woman waiting by the door of the apartment building. She was standing in a dark shaded area, had her back to me and she had a dog with her too. As I got closer to the door, she turned around and I almost screamed. She was wearing a very realistic Joker mask. (Bea, Paul, Niki: Naalala niyo yung expression ko nung nanood tayo ng El Orfanato? GANUN) I was so stunned that all I muttered was a faint "Heeey..." The lady laughed and waited for me to open the door then she went up ahead and I saw that she stayed at the apartment next to ours. They were the ones who set up a lit pumpkin head and a grim reaper by the side of their door that also startled me and Tita Chon the first time we saw it. Geeez....

Continuing my faux make-up frenzy...Scanned some prints of old photos I took from TPC and re-edited using new techniques I've learned since. Being unemployed affords me the time for research and new learning. I have a lot more to finish before I upload everything in Pbase. Each photo takes me about an hour. The one of Ella and Bea took a bit longer.

Click for a slightly larger view.

The original version of this can be seen here.

Bea, you look nice with lashes. You should start wearing faux lashes!

I can't keep track of my days any more. I no longer know what day of the week it is or how many days we have left until Halloween. I'll be spending Ol' Hallows Eve walking Omar a.k.a Skullzor from apartment building to apartment building collecting candies. I haven't decided if I'm to dress up for halloween. I half want to and half don't because of the creeping cold weather. Ellyn was quick to point out how enthusiastic I am when it comes to dressing up. Yes, I love themed dress ups. I fondly remember last years Halloween party at Paul's in Pilar. Wow. Has it really been a year since Dex dressed up us Pong Pagong? I miss our parties at Pilar. I miss the guys in Pilar. This year's birthday won't be half as fun as last year but I'll be with family and we might eat somewhere nice. My friend from high school, BabyG has promised me that she has requested my birthday off so we could go do something. At least I have something else to look forward to.

I've been staying in since that city day with Kelly. Without someone to hang out with, I'm finding less of a reason to go out. I told Bea that I'm wasting New York city by being broke. I can't help it. In the back of my head I can hear my mom saying "Wala ka ng pera, gagastos-gastos ka pa..." I normally don't listen to that voice but this time, she's right. I now feel guilty buying a $2 hair product. If I'm to go out at all, I will need to plan and make it a full day affair to make the most of my commute.

It seems that my aunt is unknowingly trying to get me fat. She has stocked the house full of pinoy junk food (Boy Bawang!), local chips and dip, ice cream (butter pecan, droooolz) and we also seem to never run out of apple pie. I have to start jogging...and soon. I try to walk the dogs longer and further whenever it's my turn, just so I get the extra exercise but it's been getting harder to do so when the cold night air nibbles at your ears and fingers.

I've been working on my online portfolio on and off for the last couple of days. My old photos have been getting new processing treatment courtesy of the new techniques I've learned over the past couple of months. I still have a couple more albums/photos to put up but you can view them at http://pbase.com/karilopez. They're nothing most of you haven't already seen but I've managed to arrange them into categories instead of seeing them jumbled together with my personal photos in multiply. Do let me know what you think and leave comments on the ones you like/dislike.

It's funny. After my recent break-up, one would think that a blog entitled "Heartbroken" would be dedicated to a long post on a supposed love that's been lost. Instead, the title has been reserved for my feelings about ANTHONY BOURDAIN BEING IN MANILA.

*insert weeping Kari here*

I woke up and found out this news on a friend's Facebook status message. I quickly googled it and confirmed that he IS in the Philippines. WHY? OH WHY of all the times for him to be in my country could I be in New York?!? Which is ironic since NY is his hometown. I will not hide it, a tear fell while reading a post I found online about his visit to Cafe Ysabel. She had photos!!! I.WANT.TO.CRY.

And here I was thinking, "Hey! I'm finally in New York! Maybe I'll rifle through my copy of Kitchen Confidential and check out the places he mentioned in the book. Maybe I'll see him around!" NOT!

Anthony Bourdain, THE man, THE food rockstar of our generation. My hero. The man who fueled my desire to travel the world and who taught me that there's just so much good food to be had to waste one's time being a vegetarian, is in my home country. This made me very, very sad.

Another ironic thing is, just last night, after staying up watching episodes of his show, No Reservations on my iPod, my last thoughts were (I kid you not), a mental note to blog about where I would take Tony if he were to visit Manila. What would I make him try? I started ticking off items in my head until the list of dishes lulled me to sleep like a child counting sheep.

*wipes a tear*

Updated:
Bourdain has a blog. How could I have ever missed this? I've been sad that he hasn't written a book since A Cook's Tour. So this should provide me with good reading material until he decides to write one again.

Louiie,

Since you're coming to New York for my birthday weekend and staying with us, I hope you don't mind the sleeping arrangements. We don't have an extra room so we can offer you the sleeper couch. Omar had to sleep in it tonight because his dad is sick and his mom didn't want him to catch it.

It's almost 2:30am and I had to take this photo because it was too cute!

Btw, Libby SNORES VERY LOUDLY so prepare yourself.

In case you didn't already know, these beautiful ladies who look nothing like me, are my sisters.

Kim

Tin

Ok, now back to working on the rest of my portfolio. I have a loooong way to go.

On a separate note, I'm starting to wonder whether it's a good thing or bad thing when people say that my photos are "Parang postcard lang..."

I kind of screwed up dinner today (I haven't done that in a long time!). Louiie, I put too much salt in the breading for the chicken and it was too salty! Tita Chon naman, put red wine on her garlic mushrooms and didn't flambé it so I could still taste the alcohol. Haha! We were so full after dinner that so Tita Chon, Omar and I went out to walk the dogs. Omar brought his scooter and I got to ride one for the first time! So much fun! Tomorrow we'll try to ride it out on the street again and flip ourselves riding it!

Louiie, check out the tags! Hahahah!

Omee in his undies

I'm talking about her make-up!
This was from an old photo shot in my room in Manila under fluorescent lighting! They weren't my best photos at all but I managed to make this one more arty. You can see the rest of the original set here.

Played around with photoshop to do her make-up! This makes me want to do a pink and purple shimmery combo the next time I go out.

Been fixing my photos for my online portfolio which I will launch hopefully within the weekend. My travel photos alone are a lot and I need to sift through the blah ones and choose the ones that speak to the general public. I'm trying to learn the art of NOT being trigger happy nowadays. When out in a new city, sometimes taking more pictures, and taking every single detail doesn't always mean better, sometimes it just means more. There have been countless moments of having to download hundreds of images only to see that barely a handful of them captured the same feeling I got when I was there.

How I wish I could just keep traveling. It's a dream I share with countless of other people. I've grown accustomed to moving around now that if I were to see myself back in Manila again early next year, it may not be for long. Niki....kunin mo ako ok? Payag na ko sa offer mo..hehe. We could try being au pairs in Europe! Paano kaya maging ganun?

Yes, you! You eff-ing LIAR!

Just when I couldn't think any less of you, I find this out?!? Naaawa ako sa girlfriend mo. Alam ba niya ang pinasukan niya? I hope she knows that she's dealing with one of the most unreliable people on the planet. You need to grow up, man. You didn't just lie to me, you lied to people who care about you! How could you?!? How could you treat your own family the way you do? You've been inconsiderate, irresponsible, thoughtless and insensitive. Wala na kong pake-alam sa sarili ko eh. I am partly to blame for my own troubles, it was my choice to come here with you after all. But THEM?! Come on! They are family, dude!

Your dad drove all the way from Las Vegas to come see his grand-daughter's baptism. But he didn't even see it! Because he had to pick YOU up because YOU MISSED YOUR EARLIER FLIGHT! Then barely an hour from your arrival, you rush him to leave because you needed to make your flight back?! MAHIYA KA NAMAN SA TATAY MO! Next time, if you can't make it to your flight on time (a flight, which btw, your sister had to fix for you because you were too lazy to do it yourself), make arrangements instead of hassling other people. The world does NOT revolve around you, so please.

I'm not even going to start about your mom dude. I can't. It hurts me too much knowing your mom is in pain. Sometimes, I feel, she's in more pain than I am. Your mother is amazing, man. You need to take good care of your relationships with the people who matter...and re-prioritize your life. I almost lost mine. I was already willing to risk it for you and I thank the powers that be for giving me the slap I needed to wake me up. Blood really is thicker than water.

I no longer feel anything for the past. Despite my anger, I'm now more relieved than ever. I do still stand by what I told you before though. You are a very smart person and you're capable of so many great things. I'm not lying. You REALLY ARE. You are one of the most insightful people I have ever met. When I told Louiie that I was so sad the man I married no longer existed, she said I might have seen everything good about you and must have taken it with me when I left. That man is gone. You blame a lot of things on your experiences growing up. You need to stop blaming other people for causing you to take the choices you've made. Straighten up! Don't do it for anyone else. Do it for yourself. You had so many plans, so many dreams. You still have the luxury of time. Don't take it for granted. Time to put your money where your mouth is.

*I apologize if I offend anyone else aside from my intended target. I had to say something. Hindi ako naghahanap ng resbak dito. I've disabled comments for this post because I don't want people adding any more to what I've written. I've said my peace. Tama na yon.

Central Park

Got lots of picture time again today. Please forgive my vanity. The next time I go back to the city, I will no longer have anyone to take my photos. Met up with Kelly near Madison Square Garden then we took the bus to Central Park. I don't know if she was excited or what because she made us get off 6 blocks short of our intended stop! We turned the mistake into an opportunity however, by strolling through the park and taking pictures!!!

(sorry, I have to make a new set of actions to remove my name on photos I obviously did not take...like the ones with ME in it!)

from Belvedere Castle with the upper east side on the background

the carriage driver said the "stars" live in this twin-towered building

Since we were both on a budget and I hadn't had anything to eat all day, we both had a hotdog by the Met before going in. Published admission prices to most of the museums in New York are suggested rates. Meaning, they are suggesting you give this much (for the Met, it's $20) but you can actually just state your own price. For example, (Kelly had to do this since I was too shy to do it myself) Kelly goes to the ticket counter and says, "I'm making a $5 donation for two people please." Hahaha! That's it! We're both in! My cousin's husband even has the guts to donate $1 for 6 people!

The Met was huge and there's no way to see everything in one day. I will not be a hypocrite and say I wanted to see it all. My interest in art have mostly been limited to 19th-20th century Impressionist paintings. I skimmed through the rest of the collections and even skipped some and spent most of my time in the galleries that featured Monet, Pissaro, Degas, Van Gogh, Seurat, etc. I took a few photos from the Egyptian, Asian and Greek collections and you can see them along with the rest of the Central Park pictures in this album.

Mr. Santiago,
Nakita ko na ang La Copa dela Vida

There were waaaay too many artifacts in the museum that it was exhausting trying to look at them all. Besides, I'll probably have a better appreciation of the statue of Aphrodite if it wasn't among 50 other marble statues in the room. They must have had about 20 displays of "Bust of Man." You see one, you've seen them all, no matter how different the size and features are. I was actually more taken with the damaged looking ones like these.

I will have to go back there again one of these days to see the rest of the collection.

the trees have changed into this golden shade

Every time I told someone I was moving to New York, the first reaction I got was "ANG LAMIG DOON!!" I keep telling them that I knew and that I could handle it. We are currently in the steady 50s and there's no where to go but down. The other night when we went out for italian dinner, Tita Chon was saying how cold it was and Tito Mo replied, "What are you talking about?! It's 50 degrees out! (he says it like in this matter of fact manner like it's really nothing) In Syracuse, it must be 10!! Syracuse is a city upstate where my grandmother and uncle live. We called them later that night and asked what they weather was like, they said thery were in the 30s. Crikey!

Tita Chon woke up with one eye shut (infected somehow) so she needed me to drive her around for work. She works for the Visiting Nurse Service of NY and goes from house to house to check on patients. She had three clients to see today so I didn't really have to drive too long or too far. I have to say that people in NY drive very differently from how I got used to in California. Maraming tarantado dito! We had McDonalds for dinner since Omar has been begging for it since I got here. He's allowed to go to McDonald's once a month only so he was allowed to have his junkfood today.

hilarious!

I forgot to bring my jacket out today and had to run through the biting cold since we parked the car a block away from the apartment. I got home and the dogs ran to me obviously needing attention. Libby was pulling a Juno (Louiie's cat), jumping to my knee and putting her paws on my hand as if she was saying "Touch me please.." I could see that the dogs needed to be walked already since Lucy was scratching the door. Everytime I walked the girls, Lucy almost always never poops. Tonight, she did her business twice. Picking up dogsh!t is something I'm still getting used to. In Manila, Max goes wherever and whenever he wants to.

I'm going back to the city to meet up with Kelly tomorrow. We might go to The Met to check out the Van Gogh Exhibit and walk around the neighboring areas. We're both short on dough so this will strictly be a walking-look-but-no-touch day, haha! We'll just have hotdogs and pretzels in the park or something similar like that. Hopefully I'll have a much more meaningful post and photos tomorrow.

Tita Chon wanted a home network in her house so she can print wirelessly from her laptop and access files from her desktop. I wasn't really sure how to go about it but I tried using the Network Setup Wizard in Windows XP. I followed all instructions and rebooted. But when it restarted, I got an error message saying something about invalid boot.ini and corrupted system32/hall.dll file. She no longer has her windows xp cd so I have nothing to reinstall this from. I am so effing pissed!!! I f*cked up her pc now and I have no idea how to restore it. She has no backup of all her files in that desktop so I need to get it back! AAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!

I HATE PC!!!

I keep saying I'm fixing my portfolio when I honestly have NOT started. It's so hard to start working when I have no desk and I need to set up my mac + hd on the dining table. My laundry basket is overflowing and will have to be attended to. I've introduced my tita to Boy Bawang which we bought at the asian store fo 79c. We're both craving for green mangos and she said she may be able to score us some. Omar finished the entire dish of apple pie and played Batman Lego for about 5 hours. I made sinigang and daing na bangus for dinner and Tito Mo brought home a box of Dunkin Donuts. I have so many reasons for not jogging but I know I need to get back on it soon.

Libby was extra kulit today too.

I say nibbling because I know the weather will only get colder from now. Its weird how it was so hot yesterday and really chilly today. I had 4 layers of clothing and I was still cold. Kelly, Kyle, Nikki and Ingrid got lost on their way to pick me up from Long Island and stumbled upon a bit of traffic on the way back into the city. I also found that I live quite close to Silvercup studios, where they shoot shows like Ugly Betty, Gossip Girl and movies like The Devil Wears Prada, Music and Lyrics and so on.

Ingrid and Nikki needed to be at JFK by 6pm to fly back to Washington so we had very little time to roam. We went to Chelsea to check out the Chelsea Market and their selection of eateries and bakeshops. I bought 3 brownie squares from Fat Witch because I was told it was supposed to be very good. I got 3 different kinds (walnut witch, java witch and breakfast witch). The Java witch had coffee chips while the breakfast witch had oatmeal, chocolate and coffee. I tried the walnut one just now and I have to say I was not blown away. I've honestly had better brownies before (Becky's Kitchen comes to mind, La Salle folks would know this place). I will enjoy the breakfast one tomorrow morning with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Maybe that will jack things up.

We didn't have GPS and the traffic to JFK was bad so we had a looong ride in the car laughing hilariously about child discipline, sex and the N word.

Currently re-watching season 1 of The Big Bang Theory. I love those geeks! Specially Sheldon! I wish they were my friends. Oh wait, I do have friends like them!! (*cough*jammi*cough*matthew*cough*ja*cough*)

Posing by the sign I'm NOT looking for

So I met up with Kelly today to wander Manhattan with her friends. It was not a great day for pictures since the sky was cloudy and not it's usual blue shade. Autumn has not fully arrived so trees are still green. The weather has been off these past few days and I expected it to be breezy and cool. I had double layers on plus a coat and my camel heeled boots. Heels? Yes...people in Manhattan walk around in heels all the time so I figured it shouldn't be that bad.

BIG MISTAKE. I was practically limping behind Kelly and her friends. Kulang nalang banggain ako ng mga taong naglalakad sa sobrang bagal ko.

I ended up cutting my day trip short and took the subway back to Queens. I was in such a hurry to get off that I even got off the wrong station. When I finally got to my stop, I limped down to the Payless Shoe Source store (which was conveniently located beside the stairs leading to the station) and bought myself a new pair of boots. I took my heels off and walked out with a new pair of shoes. It took me forever to move so Tita Chon ended up picking me up after she picked up Omar from school. We bought more groceries and headed home where I prepared dinner. We went to IKEA yesterday and bought their Swedish meatballs with lingonberry preserves and gravy. We paired it with my garlic cheddar mashed potatoes and a side of corn and peas. Tita Chon also got me some apple pie and vanilla ice cream when I told her I loved apple pie a la mode. Plus I got a 6-pack of Stella Artois! I've been undergoing some form of alcohol withdrawal (haha) and I missed it. Hold on, I'm gonna get myself one right now.

Mmmmm....

I tried my best to NOT look like a tourist but having a camera and a map in hand tends to give you away. I have a hard time mustering up the courage to get in there and take the photos I want to take. This is also the reason why I feel my dream of being a photojournalist will never be realized. I'm too much of a coward.

Walked through part of Central Park.
We even rode a horse drawn carriage, haha.
Think Carrie and Big the night Miranda went into labor.
Saw the chess and checker house, ice skating rink, carousel, etc.

One of Central Park's many ponds.
I think the bridge on the far left is where they shot Jenna Elfman and Edward Norton *swoon* in Keeping the Faith when they had the sex talk.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Times Square

This is just about the time that I gave up and went home.

I'm going back to the city with them tomorrow and I'm prepared with my new boots. Bring on the walking!

Oh, the highlight of my day was seeing Mary Louise Parker walking on the streets with a friend. I think she saw me do a double-take when I realized who she was.

Me=BIG DORK.

Kari: Nanonood ka ba ng Weeds?
Paul S: Hindi mashado pero nakita ko yung nude scene ni Mary Louise Parker
Kari: Nakita ko sya kanina naglalakad!!!
Paul S: Ulul! Ako nakita ko siyang hubad! Hahahah!

Trumped again!


Tito Mo scored me a subway and city map of Manhattan. I've researched museum hours, admission prices and reduced admission schedules for The Met, The Guggenheim, Museum of Natural History and The Museum of Modern Art. I've managed to come up with a route map indicating bus and train routes including round trip fares and consolidated everything together with the details I got about each Museum. I am such an anal freak but efficient nonetheless. I will also include in my itinerary the Banksy exhibition in the West Village that Jammi showed me. If I'm lucky, I may even be able to catch shows shooting in NY based on the filming schedules usually posted in Oh No They Didn't! My first priority is the Met because there's a Van Gogh exhibit that's about to end soon. I've loved Van Gogh since college and I can still remember tearing up when I saw Irises for the first time at the Getty in 2001. I would go to the library everyday and flip through books of his work even if I've already seen them countless of times. Van Gogh is one of the two (ahem) reasons I even want to go to Amsterdam.

Now excuse me while I finish my beer and plan my outfit for tomorrow. :p