Middle Ground (Not Middle Earth)

There are two kinds of people walking the world today: Harry Potter fans, and non-Harry Potter fans (a.k.a. Muggles in Harry's world).

The Harry Potter fans have all watched his latest movie. The Muggles have not and do not intend to. I've tried different sets of Potter fan-friends and they've all seen it, so no one is available anymore to go with me.

It's not my fault - I was there last weekend at TriNoMa but there were more people there than movie theater seats. My parents and I ended up roaming the half-unopened mall instead. I tried looking for office shoes, but went home empty-handed and terribly disappointed. I'll have to wait until the curiosity about TriNoMa dies before I can enjoy it. I happen to abhor queuing up for a parking space for close to an hour, and do not intend to do so on a weekly basis.

Back to Harry. The Last Book comes out today. As I have many friends who have pre-ordered their copies, I will just borrow from one of them once they're done reading it.

So I guess I'm a half-blood fan, after all.

MCLE Lecture Series For North America-Based Filipino Lawyers

Why Take the MCLE in LV?

• IBP members are required to take continuing legal education to ensure that throughout your career, no matter where you are in the world, you are kept abreast with Philippine law and jurisprudence and are able to maintain your good standing in the IBP.

• This is a golden opportunity for you to avoid being listed as delinquent members of the IBP.
• MCLE in LV has lecturers who are considered authorities in their own fields.
  

• The subjects are useful and interesting to Filipino lawyers in the North American region.
• This could also be a form of reunion with your peers and a venue for networking.
• MCLE in LV facilitates the processing of the MCLE compliance requirements so your Certificates of Compliance are delivered to you afterwards.
• This was organized by Ateneo Law School CCLER and CD Asia
  

Fee -US$550 for whole, 36-unit course, plus 10% MCLE fee

Hurry! Register Now and avail of 5% early bird discount until August 15

Seminar Fee includes seminar kit, processing and delivery of MCLE Certificates, snacks, and coffee

Date & Time: 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

on September 20-23, 2007

Venue: Palace Station Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada

Contact Information

Philippines -Adora

(+632) 634-3792

or 634-3793

USA -Beth

(+213) 487-8500

info@mclepro.com
www.mclepro.com

Isyu ng Babae

Isyu ng Babae
Ella del Rosario

Ang suwerte mo naman.

Sinamba ko ang iyong pangalan,

Hinintay kita bago ako sumakay ng MRT,

Ipinagtabi pa kita ng catsup sa McDo.

Ang labo mo naman.

Sumama ka sa ‘yong mga kaibigan.

Ano’ng gagawin ko sa catsup na ito?

At sana di ako nakipagsiksikan pauwi.

Ang tanga ko naman.

Ako ngayon ang pinagtatawanan,

Natuto raw akong magdasal at maghintay,

At hindi ka raw naman nagte-text.

Atsaka ko nalaman…

Malabo lang talaga ang mata mo,

Mahina ang pandinig,

At wala kang load.

A Plea for Better Mornings

This may be an exercise in futility, but I reckon a personal blog is as good a venue as any to air out my grievances, however useless they may seem at this point.

I would like to complain about the worsening traffic situation in Metro Manila, specifically along Commonwealth Avenue going to QC Circle. I know, I know, hundreds, maybe thousands, of motorists simply shrug their shoulders, doze off (if they're on a public vehicle), send text messages, fix their hair, pray the rosary, prepare for their work day, and find other ways to while away the precious time that is used up while stuck on the road.

I was going to send this via Citizens' Watch of the Philippine Daily Inquirer but I could not get a good shot of the traffic jam with my cellphone while avoiding getting side-swiped by drivers who refuse to stick to their lanes. On a side note, a Nissan Sentra drove too close for comfort one day and caused my right side mirror to flap close. The good driver then nosed his way onto the space before me, oblivious to what he had just done. Sigh.

I am a tiny voice in a world used to inconveniences such as this. Still, I refuse to go quietly into the night.

Six years ago, I started driving to work. Before that, I was an MRT enthusiast. The law office I worked at was located in Pasig then and it only took me 45 minutes each morning to get to work. Since June of this year when I started going to another office in Pasig, I noticed that it took me two hours to ply the same route.

Two hours, mother? What about our other duties?

The MMDA started digging along the rightmost lane of the portion of Commonwealth from PSSC up to the former Paskong Pasiklab, before Philcoa, about a month ago, and it made our lives hell. For some reason, that construction site had affected the whole of Commonwealth up to Fairview. It didn't matter if we left our houses an our earlier than usual, the result was the same. Commonwealth always looked like a parking lot in the morning.

I could not just groan and bear it any longer. If the city government, or MMDA, or other entities responsible for that construction site could read this blog somehow, I would like you to know how terribly inconvenienced a whole lot of people are because traffic is not properly managed along that area. Surely, with some coordination among proper authorities and a little careful planning, we could avoid this traffic jam. Please do something about it.

There was even one payday Friday when, on my way to work, aside from the usual crawl along Commonwealth, I saw three road accidents, Meralco doing repairs and using up one lane along Quezon Ave. thus affecting traffic along Elliptical Road, and MMDA cutting trees in the same area. By the time I got to the office, I was already late for my meeting and utterly out of patience.

I admit that I'm not a very patient person. I still get upset when my flights get delayed, for which my friends chide me, especially at night when I worry for my safety alone in a taxicab. Somewhere in this traffic experience, I know I should learn the lessons that so many others seem to handle well. It's just that I'm going back to the corporate world after two years as a full-time mission worker.

Things like these don't exactly welcome me back to the real world with open arms.

Food Trip!

This e-mail has been making the rounds recently. After receiving it thrice, I thought it would be safe to post it here. I'd like to thank whoever had a lot of time on his/her hands to prepare this list.

Friends, it's July. We can do walking tours of Manila and go on a Binondo food trip, or we can skip the walking and proceed to...

EAT ALL YOU CAN

1. Eat-all-you- can-pizza promo GREENWICH until OCT20.

2. Something fishy, (breakfast time) Eastwood Libis. 12am-10am

3. Kamay Kainan with bottomless Iced Tea, Market Market, 295/head.

4. Chinatown, Banawe QC, 400/head FULL MEAL!

5. Saisaki/DAD' s/Kamayan, 500/head

6. Dragon Prince, BF homes Pque. (Lunch Buffet) P180 per head.

7. Cabalen - all branches, P275/head.

8. RCBC Plaza Food Center, Makati 95/head (Breakfast) & 65/head merienda.

9. Blue Bay, Quirino Grandstand, 350/Head.

10. Brazil brazil - Metrowalk & Powerplant Mall (meat all you can 650/head)

11. Dimsun 'N Dumplings @ Shopwise (cubao) - Unlimited Siomai either P99 or P125 lang

12. Sweet Inspirations along katipunan, eat-all-you- can Mongolian Buffett php300/head

13. Seafood Club(Red Crab) Greenbelt3 - dinner 275/head

14. Chubby China(Greenbelt) - dimsum(fried & steamed) breakfast at 88/head. with yang chow rice, crisp noodles at single serve iced tea. order all you can lunch - 295, merienda - 88, dimsum all you can w/pancit canton, noodles and congee - sulit na 88 mo!

15. Red Crab (Greenbelt 3) - alimango-all- you-can

16. Circles, Shangri-la Makati, expensive but very large buffet!

17. Spiral, Westin Philippine Plaza, expensive din but bigger buffet than Shangri-la

18. Cravings, salad all you can Katipunan infront of Ateneo

19. Tong Yang Hot Pot, Eat all -

20. Siamese Grill, Pasta all you can, 85/head Bluewave Marquinton, Marikina

21. Tramway, Banawe, Chinese eat all you can, 160/head

22. Mongolian Stop, OJs Eastwood

23. Popeye's Chicken (seasonal)

24. Don Henricos, Eat all you can Tuesdays and Wednesdays

25. Kamay Kainan, Kalayaan Avenue, ~199/head

26. Red Kimono, The Fort, 499++/ head

27. Mandarin Palace, Ongpin, 150/head

28. Tokyo Tokyo, rice all you can (all branches)

29. Yamcha Teahouse in Timog (Lunch/Dinner Buffet Php349) (over 60 chinese dishes to choose from)

30. Aling Nene's BBQ/Ihaw, Eat all you can (Fridays & Saturdays), Magallanes, 200+/head.

31. Alba's Restaurant - Tomas Morato, Libis, Jupiter St. - Spanish cuisine -

32. Jestine's Restaurant, Jupiter Street Makati, Breakfast all you can, from 12AM to 12PM (tapa, tocino, varies) P99.00

33. Paseo, Mandarin Hotel

34. 7 Corners, Crown Plaza, Galleria

35. Heat, Shangli-la EDSA

36. karate kid (rice and drinks)

36. Cabalen (at the back of stalucia East Cainta) Eat all you can merieenda P88

37. Emperor Villa - ongpin st., binondo - lunch 180-200, dinner is seafood buffet at roastings (asado, lechon de leche) @ 350.

38. Paolo's Resto - - Kalayaan ave. QC... eat-all-you- can buffet breakfast

39. Una Mas at Greenbelt 2. Buffet lunch on weekdays and dinner (Weekends and weekdays).
475++

40. Dad's (Glorietta) - 95 ata (basta below 100) merienda, from 3-5pm

41. Kamayan (Glorietta) - 250-300

42. Oki-Oki (MOA) - Japanese - 375 - Adult - Weekends

43. Dimsum 'n Dumplings at greenhills - 100 pesos siomai all you can

44.Tramway, Timog, Chinese eat all you can, P178/head. Located between TPC HQ and Imperial Suites (Tomas Morato)

45. Mongolian Quik-stop Robinsons Ermita, SM MOA - 198 + vat

46. Steak MD, Tomas Morato - Eat all you can Steak (TBone) -500

Lakbayan Score Ko

My Lakbayan grade is C+!

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

Created by Eugene Villar.

Quotes from The Holiday

The Holiday. Major chick flick. Some unforgettable lines:

Arthur Abbot: Iris, in the movies, we have leading ladies and we have the best friend. You, I can tell, are a leading lady, but for some reason, you're behaving like the best friend.

Iris:

It doesn't matter how many new haircuts you get, or gyms you join, or how many glasses of chardonnay you drink with your girlfriends...

you still go to bed every night going over every detail and wonder what you did wrong or how you could have misunderstood,

and how in the hell for that brief moment you could think that you were that happy.

And sometimes you can even convince yourself that he'll see the light and show up at your door.

And after all that, however long all that may be, you'll go somewhere new.

And you'll meet people who make you feel worthwhile again.

And little pieces of your soul will finally come back.

And all that fuzzy stuff, those years of your life that you wasted, that will eventually begin to fade.

MCLE in Las Vegas Sept 20-23

I'm coordinating a project for CD Technologies Asia, Inc. in partnership with Ateneo de Manila Law School. We'll provide a Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) seminar for US- and Canada-based Filipino lawyers on Sept 20-23, 2007 at Palace Station, Las Vegas.

I will have a list of the speakers and topics next week. I hope you could help me spread the word and refer interested parties to:

Atty. Ella del Rosario
ella.delrosario@gmail.com

I will release more details regarding registration as soon as our website for this purpose is up. This seminar is open to all US- and Canada-based members of the Philippine bar.

Bowling Balls, Anyone?

Anyone out there interested to purchase used but high-quality bowling balls? A generous couple donated their collection of imported bowling balls to the youth of our parish, to add to the World Youth Day Fund that would send young delegates to Sydney, Australia in July 2008.

If you have inquiries, please call St. Benedict's Parish at (632) 932-6521. These are pre-loved bowling balls. Each ball comes with its own bag. They were all purchased from outside the Philippines by this couple who used to have a passion for bowling. They sell for Php500 each, negotiable. Proceeds will go entirely to the said Fund.

Thank you.

Amanpulo: A Real Steal!

Mga kababayan, DiscoverPH has a package trip to Amanpulo that's right on the budget! Do visit our brighter and better website for trip details. Or click on the thumbnail above for a larger screenshot of the tour flyer.

This is ideal for honeymooners or those celebrating their wedding anniversary. Hurry, available for a limited period only. This is a real steal!