Wall Lord 2010: The Biggest Graffiti Jam in Asia

The biggest graffiti jam in Asia is happening at the walls of Malugay in SAV Makati. And fuck yeah lotsa beer too! 8 of the top Philippines crew will battle for 1 spot for the Shanghai Finals.

Nothing Is Good Enough

Things I did or put off today so I can blog some more:

1. I told the landlady to STFU (not within earshot though)

2. Over @chatroulette "vous avez un grand ventre" - you have a large belly. It turns out he's only 7 years old. 

3. Deciding whether to cook Chachi's Indian Salt Crackers or Pigs in a Blanket for the next gallery talk at Ermita.

4.  I felt sorrow in an instant over odd bits of memories.

5. Finally found a hamster ball my pets Pickle and Star can roll around in.

6. Relieved that production work is over. Can now watch Fantastic Mr. Fox for the nth time. So don't point and cuss!

7. Inspected the carrots in the chiller for molds.

8. Sealed my ciabatta tight in foil like a Japanese submarine.

9. Configured emails. Drank more coffee.

10. Thinks moobs are in season. Why do pinoy men like walking around shirtless?

Fastfood Smiles

Hello fat fly, how's the fastfood life? 

I hate it when my takeout takes too long

My First Manila Cab Ride with the Receipt-Issuing Meter

Finally, rode my first Manila cab with the receipt-issuing meter. At first, I mistook it for the car radio. 

I politely asked Manong where the meter was and he proudly showed off the gizmo, he says he's one of the first cabs to have the meter. But it felt like a sucker punch for him to have one, he had to loan money from his OFW brother just to buy the mandatory meter which cost P13,500. All cabs must have one by December 2009 or else they can't hit the streets. They can get fined and the fines are huge.

Manong had a lot gripes. Instantly, I became his morning therapist. This was his cab, not owned by an operator or cab company who could afford to shell out the money for the meters. What are other cabbies to do when they can't make meet their daily boundary?

The Boundary is the earning quota Philippine cabs have to make per day to hand over to their operators. Once they reach the said quota, they can keep the rest of the money as their daily earnings. Manong Cabbie in this case would do double shifts and sleep at the gotohans so he can pay off his debts.

He's pissed that you can only buy the receipt-issuing meters at two shops right beside the LTO offices. Taga na nga sa presyo, lakas pa kumabig. These shop owners have the monopoly of the sales of the receipt-issuing meters. Imagine, the number of cabs in Manila required to buy from these shops. 

These are cheap in Korea, he says. He has had several Korean passengers telling him so. But the LTO doesn't allow Manila cabs to buy secondhand ones.

He thinks the government should at least subsidize part of the cost; it's not a realistic expectation that every cab could get one by December.

Manong Cabbie also dislikes Manny Pacquiao. Wow he's like the first Filipino I ever met who vehemently dislikes the Pacman. He says Pacman's cab company na sosyo with a certain politician has the monopoly of the airport. 

Bawal na kami sa NAIA. We're not allowed to pick up passengers at the airport, we can only bring them there. That single airport cab company now has exclusive monopoly of the terminals and they really have a hefty flagdown rate for OFWs. Yeah, I agree. My last airport cab from NAIA cost me P440 and my stop is just Pasong Tamo.

"Baket lahat ba ng umuuwi sa Pilipinas mayaman?" Manong gripes, "Maawa sila sa OFW"

Before I got off, he allowed me to take a picture of his meter. I'm not the first passenger, he says. People are so fascinated by it, they take pics with their cell phones to show to their friends.

I told him, "Manong,di bale sosyal na metro mo."

Oo nga eh, high-tetch na 'ito! He quips.

In Singapore, the taxi cab meter is a LCD screen. From Little India to Orchard Road with Yoshke it costs us $8 SG

In Berlin, a cab from Unter den Linden to the Hauptbahnhof station cost me around 15 euros (freakin' P900) but I love the rearview mirror taxi meter though, you can see the fare rate from any angle at the backseat.

Curfew Hours in Manila

'Tay ayoko pang umuwi, gusto ko pang tumambay

So what are the kids up to lately?

Sari-Sari Store Junk Food

When was the last time you've been at the neighborhood Sari-sari store?

The kids have it better now with the illegit movie tie-in merchandise. I used to buy Sari-sari store postcards when I was a kid which had frame by frame stills of movies like Petrang Kabayo and Inday Bote. Now they have more freebies at stake. 
These are not condom packs. But if they were, these would be king-sized Magnums.  

Hindi bato ang laman. But rubber bands, sugar balls and these candy-colored rings!

Ang tunay na sikreto ni darna! I love these!  

Candies in pill blister packaging. Kids do start early with the uppers.

Sends the wrong message to the kids, don't you think? The tots might think all pill packs are the sweet deal.

An anemic version of Chocnut. Cheap and bland. It made my teeth hurt. 

Mad Hair

I love bed hair. I adore helmet hair.

I have hair envy for Helana Bonham Carter's untamed 'do.

So I really love this quick messy bun which I found on onehotchildinthecity which links to a YSL post

I gave it a try and I was a bit skeptic on how it would turn out after all Asian hair is mostly straight and not that poofy. Not bad, eh?

I've always wanted a hot hair bun 'do with layers like an ensaymada, but looks mad enough like 'sinabunutan ni Bella Flores'.  Yeah.

And this is it! 

On Queue: Last Day Registration for 2010 Elections

We pinoys are definitely Vogons. Bureaucracy comes naturally to us, we like sending paperwork back and forth, we like signing things in triplicate plus making xerox.

I'm a first time voter (well by 2016 I will still be one) I have failed to register for a number of years now. And I have failed miserably today.

I have always been lazy at the idea of going back home to the province just to register. This is the only time I actually felt the election would matter.  So I got my residence certificate and passport and headed to the nearest voter's registry. Perhaps all this effort came in way too late. Well, so much for 2010.

Some people have been here since 5am at the Makati Fire Station. They were told to come back in the afternoon after all their papers have been processed. They came back around 1pm - no dice. The lines were still long and the paperwork still undone. More people even showed up, maybe half the population of Rembo Makati.

The second floor is packed tight like an MRT tram on rush hour and by 4pm, the staff stopped giving out voter forms. They told those who came in past 4pm to come back as early as 4am the next morning to get in line again. Though the official registry wouldn't start around 8am. It kinda felt like lining up for Wowowee.

Well, I'm not coming back to go through hell again. All I ever get at queuing at government offices are these horrendous varicose veins.

So Much To Tell

Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need.
                                                                                    -Voltaire

Blogging spares us from the same pitfalls.

MadManila is my blog for everything that matters or whatever concerns me at the moment. 

Right now, I'm craving for Taho and all I hear is that yodeling Balut vendor outside.