2011 Goals

1. Lose 10 lbs. (always one of  my new year’s resolution, but almost always never gets accomplished)
2. Go backpacking in Europe
3. Learn Mandarin
4. Spend for a child’s education
5. Specialize in property law
6. Marry Leonardo DiCaprio

Middle-Aged Sloth

I woke up at 7 this morning to take my mother to her doctor’s appointment.  Since I would be waiting for her anyway, I decided to have myself checked, too.  I felt the need to finally consult a doctor after I felt pain somewhere between my nape and the back of my head.  It got me quite concerned since hypertension runs in the family.

So before 8 a.m., mother and I were already waiting in the doctor’s clinic.  When it was my turn, the doctor checked my blood pressure, my heartbeat and pulse.  He found nothing wrong, until he asked me about my health (rather unhealthy) habits.  He asked me if I eat salty or fatty foods.

Me: Fatty foods, yes.

Doctor: Do you crave for chocolates?

Me: Yes.

Doctor: everyday?

Me: Yes. ( Slightly embarrassed by my answer. )

Doctor: What type of physical exercise do you do?

Me: I don’t exercise.

He said I’m lucky I don’t get fat.  If he only knew where I deposit my fat.  After a moment’s hesitation, I confessed that all my fat is stored in my mid section.  My arms stay thin so people don’t notice I’m fat.

Doctor: Do you have shortness of breath when you take the stairs?

Me: No.. ay, yes, when I climb more than three flights of stairs!

Doctor: That’s because you don’t exercise.

Me: [Eeep!]

Finally, the doctor advised that I should exercise, have my CBC tests done. No hurry, though.  He said I could take the tests after the holidays — perhaps to make the results more alarming.

He says I’m approaching middle age (or did he say I AM already middle-aged?) so I have to be more cautious about what I eat.  Ouch!! He also warned me that, because of the nature of my profession, I should expect to wear prescription glasses soon, pointing to his own glasses with a grin.

I left the doctor’s clinic in a state of disbelief.  I feel fine except for the occasional pain here and there (and the noise which only I could hear when I flex a joint in my body).   I couldn’t be that old.  But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t heed the doctor’s advice.

I will start working out.. next year.. I’m tired just thinking about it….

Is there a magic pill I could just take to stay young?

Down With My Best Friend

I’m spending the night at my best friend’s house to watch the comedy love story tv series from Taiwan, Down With Love.  So tonight is all chips, strawberry juice, and Jerry Yan.   I never thought I would appreciate Jerry Yan’s looks until I started watching this series.

I enjoyed the series very much and fell “in like” with Jerry Yan in the process.  I have always been a Ken Zhu fan, but I don’t think Ken would mind if I liked Jerry Yan just a little bit.

The Drunk Lawyer Who Ruined Christmas

I was having a blast at the IBP -Misamis Oriental Christmas celebration tonight.  I received a very useful present from my secret santa/ kriss kringle, plus I won an overnight bag for door prizes.

At one point during the party, I brought the presents to my car so I won’t have to lug them around for the rest of the evening when a SUV drove up the driveway of the hotel where we were having a party.

The driver’s window of the SUV rolled down and a dark stocky man appeared behind it.  He asked me if this [venue] is where the IBP party was being held.  I replied in the affirmative.

Before I could say anything more, the dark character parked his vehicle on the driveway totally blocking other cars from going through.  As he quickly stepped out of his vehicle, I told him, “Sir, I don’t think you can park your car on the driveway.”  Then he retorted, “I don’t care.”  He was obviously very intoxicated.

As he walked past me, I thought his face looked very familiar.  Later, back in the IBP party, I learned that he was Atty. xxxxxxxxxx, whom we will call Atty. Jack Daniels.  No wonder he looked so familiar.   Back when I was still in law school, students had to appear in court to defend pauper litigants.  Of course, we had written authority from the Supreme Court which allowed graduating law students from my alma mater to represent these indigent litigants.

I distinctly remember Atty. Jack Daniels attack our authority as I appeared to represent our pauper client.  Despite my vehement argument that we had the proper written authority to appear before the Honorable Court, Atty. Jack Daniels insisted that “they (referring to the graduating students) are making a mockery of the judicial system, your Honor!”  He claimed that he cannot argue against mere students of law, suggesting that we were way beneath him.

At that time, we were among the first graduating students in our town to actually appear in court to represent real litigants.  I was not surprised why the judge reset the case to another date when a licensed legal practitioner could appear for the litigants.  We suspected Jack Daniels wasn’t ready for the hearing that day and so he had to challenge our authority so as to have a resetting of the hearing.

I told my closest classmate about what happened in court that day and she swore she would hunt him down and spill acid all over his face.

That was about 4 years ago.  This evening, he came to the party drunk and obnoxious: some things never change.

4 a.m.

Mother woke me up at 4 this morning to ask one of her annoying questions again.  She always does that – wake me up from deep sleep practically in the middle of the night to remind me of an errand I have to run in the morning (or forgot to run the previous day).

Unable to go back to sleep, I decided to do some research on a lecture I have to deliver in a continuing education program for brokers hoping that I would bore myself to sleep.  Instead, after about an hour of reading, I end up adding a new post to my blog — way more fun than researching, I should say.

Prayer

I led the Toastmasters in prayer this evening. We had three causes for celebration during our educational meeting tonight: Christmas, my chapter’s first anniversary, and our chapter president’s birthday. It turned out to be an evening of words, wine, and laughter.

However, it was not all that fun to begin with. I was anxious about preparing the invocation. Although I’m in a profession which requires me to constantly write and speak publicly, I often suffer from writer’s block. Preparing a 5-liner speech is already a daunting task for me. I usually pull it off at the last minute.

Today’s meeting was no different: I managed to compose a simple invocation right before the meeting was scheduled to start. I just got it over and done with.

Not surprisingly, because I pulled off a simple task, one of the members urged me to deliver my first prepared speech by next meeting… I might just.

Thai Ladies Triumph in FIDA Christmas Pageant

The five finalists of the FIDA costume pageant who awed the crowd with their retorts in the question and answer portion

This year, the Federacion Internacional De Abogadas – Cagayan de Oro Chapter celebrated Christmas on 03 December at VIP Hotel.  Every year, FIDA holds a beauty/costume pageant among its members – always the highlight of the evening.

This year’s theme is Asian.  As expected, the lady lawyers showed up in their ostentatious Asian-inspired costumes.  Most of them spent hefty sums on custom-made outfits just to have a chance to win the “Lady of the Night” crown.  Two winners emerged in this year’s pageant.  Coincidentally, both winners wore Thai costumes.

Last year’s winner is a city prosecutor (who will remain unnamed and) who somewhat protested in her farewell speech against the rule that past winners will not be qualified to join the subsequent pageants.   Nonetheless, she relinquished her throne (but not her crown) to the two new winners.

A Place To Chitchat In Malaybalay City

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I went on a business trip to Malaybalay a few days ago.  For those of you who do not know, Malaybalay is a city in Bukidnon Province just 1 and a half hours south east of Cagayan de Oro City.  I started my trip in the morning and reached Malaybalay at around 9 a.m.

When I reached Malaybalay, the weather that day was perfect– breezy but a little bit sunny — so I didn’t really mind walking around the city.  That noon, somewhat tired from going around, I met some of my old friends from college in a charming cafe called Bukidnon Brew.  Locals call it BBC.

The place doesn’t look very inviting from outside, but once inside, you would notice its rustic charm and pops of modern furniture.   It is tucked in one of the quieter streets in the city.  The cafe serves not only coffee and other beverages, it also serves light meals and pastries.

Lawyers frequent the place as it is just across the street from the courthouse.    BBC is also a place where the next door gym’s health buffs grab a quick snack.  Patrons could choose to sit in the cool indoor dining area or enjoy the warm weather in the cafe’s covered garden at the back.

Too bad I ordered only tea and blueberry cheesecake the last time I went to BBC.  Perhaps next time, I could make a review of BBC’s food.

Love and Sacrifice

I spoke with the groom a few weeks before the wedding.  He announced that he was finally getting married.  The couple had been together for 10 years and had planned their wedding for ages.

The groom confessed that he wanted to earn a master’s degree, but is willing to sacrifice his dream in order to start a family with his bride.  He said that he knows that he loves his fiancee because he is willing to forgo his interests as long as he sees her happy and comfortable.

He wanted to do something extra special for her on their wedding day.  So he secretly called the wedding planner and ordered more than a hundred dozen roses which will cover the church aisle she walks upon on their big day.

Bukidnon High

Malaybalay, Bukidnon Province, Philippines — The Province greeted the first day of December with a tree lighting ceremony.  Several companies participated in this celebration.  Each participant company  was to decorate a tree in the Provincial Capitol grounds in Malaybalay City.  Word has it that some of these companies even spent hundreds of thousands of Pesos (in Philippine currency) just to decorate their respective tree.  Can you guess which is the most expensive one?

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