Crazy Good Movie

I saw the poster on our way out after watching Mission Impossible last month and told Rich: "Okay, that's a DVD material." Meaning, we just watch the movie when it comes out in bluray around 3 months after its movie theatre release.

Then I learned that Kris Aquino is in the cast.

As a Filipino living in Melbourne, I relish my Pinoy moments. I smile whenever I hear local dialects spoken on my trams, trains and even on the street. I never interrupt but I just listen and feel homesick. Sometimes "Are you Filipino" is a question I ask people who resemble my kababayans. Even camouflaged with thick make up and coloured lenses, as soon as they speak - I'd know. Nine out of Ten - a joyful YES to my q is the answer. One and only one in my 18 years in Melbourne, someone said, avoiding eye contact: "My mom is." So is your dad, mate. So is your dad.

I am Pinoy. I am a proud Pinoy-Aussie. And being proud means supporting Pinoy artists in a Hollywood movie even when it is just a cameo.

I admit I want to watch it in cinemas because Kris is there. The hype was strong on this one. So! On the 3rd day of its release in Australia, Rich and I watched it at Highpoint Hoyts. We love watching movies together. I go w him to his dude flicks so he comes to my rom-coms. :-)

It was a cold, wintry Saturday. The weather ignored the memo that it should be Spring the next day. We rugged up and went to watch early to avoid traffic and the throngs of crazy Asian movie-goers like me. :-)

The start of the movie gave me goose bumps. The entire movie captures the universal longing of being accepted. Lots of laugh-out-loud moments, tender and sweet scenes, roller coaster of emotions - even angst. It is a very relatable movie. I love it. I love it, I even cried at some scenes.

Kevin Kwan did a great job. I am in awe of how he pieced it all together in that book. The chaotic drama and the hard names flowed seamlessly. :-) (*applause*) Palakpakan.

Kris only had a couple of minutes exposure. I would have loved to see more of her. Long ago, she helped campaign for my father. That was a lifetime ago but that's my only recollection of us meeting in person. She is not a favourite actress but in the movie, I could not get enough of her and wanted to say: "Come back, Kris!" As would any Pinoys all over the world. I hope that they will cast her again on the next ones since this movie is a part of a trilogy. Princess Intan could offer loan to Nick if that helps w the plot! Paging Jon Chu!

Please watch Crazy Rich Asians. It is very good. I heard the first week was when we Asians went on full force, but the 2nd week and the 3rd - all other nationalities followed and enjoyed the movie. It is still going strong and knocked down big Hollywood productions.

“These character interactions depict a common experience for young Asian women entering a new family, that “every female in your family feels like they own you”. This hold that parents have on their children is a specifically Asian thing. It presents itself in really aggressive ways sometimes, but it comes from a place of deep devotion.” - Adele Lim CRA scriptwriter

To some who said it is Over The Top. I think this is a muted version of crazy rich Asians. I am a living witness that they are more extravagant, much more arrogant, more problematic and more hilarious than the movie.

About time we are represented without bones breaking, flying kicks and subtitles - although this one does kick ass. We deserve the exposure.

Everyone from the top - producers, cast, crew, down to the lowly water boy if ever there was one. To everybody involved with the production of CRA, please take a bow.

Coles Mini Toys

The Struggle to complete a set is real! :-)

We have been shopping at Coles for 18 years now. I was never a fan of their promotions. Until this time.

Last month when the craze started, I was on it right away. Coles mini toys are not just cute but well made, accurate miniature of the real thing. I am partial to toys because of my work. I appreciate things that make the little ones smile. I have 2 full sets and another one slowly getting there. Rich and I rely on our own shopping and the goodness of 2 Coles Staff (just 2, the others, nah) who would ask: "what haven't you got?" Then expertly put their hand in the bag, pull and say: "here ya go, shampoo, vicks & yoghurt." ☺️

I do have doubles and spares but I don't trade. I sent spares to friends before I decided to start a new set. 😂 I have other doubles which I am thinking of crafting into jewelry or visual aids at work to assist children's communication skills. 👍

A few days into the promotion, a young man in his 20's was at the checkout and said he doesn't need the free toys. I was behind, swallowed my pride and said: "Can I have it?" He said okay. Then another older man yelled: "No! I need it!" He was the dad, buying cigarettes. He was angry at his son! Oh dear. Drama.

(Thing is: he was that same old man who begged me during my garage sale last year and got an original prada bag, 5 brand new Nine West shoes for $15 because that's all he had. I remember him.)

Anyhow, Rich and I bought food storage and so much more to get the minis. Rich would get the heavy ones after his work, collect the toys and wait for me so we can open these small packs together. Pantry is full w sacks of rice, boxes of drinks etc just to get these minis. 😂

People are raking in money on eBay with full set up to a grand! The display box was $4 but selling at $75 in eBay! Binuang! 😡

I have heard: "I don't understand people's fascination w this plastic dumb things. So dumb. What are they going to do with it?" <--- This kind of negativity got Australia 7 Prime Ministers in 11 years.😒

But have you seen the tiny jar of vegemite? Omigosh gorgeous. 😍

Let's all just be little happy vegemites.

2 full sets and growing...

Almost complete!

Bit of an Angel

 

After a long day's work I stood in the cold for my bus. I just missed one because I was busy talking to parents & kids who were on their way home as well. A lady who waits on the same stop commented on my energy after work, laughing & talking to families as they picked up their children. She heard a few "love you Lena!" of former kinder kids picking up younger siblings. I told her, I am not always energetic but I always try to be cheerful.

As I boarded my bus I was so ready to go home, shower, eat Congee & sleep. I sat next to a pram with a little baby wrapped up so snuggly. I smiled and the baby smiled back making happy, gurgling sound. She must be about 3 months old. I looked away & my mind wandered to our warm home with steaming Congee that Rich just cooked. Baby kept on gurgling & smiling. A bit unusual on a cold evening out. I swear she wanted to talk to me! I looked at her again and said: "what a happy baby!" Mum said she is and slowly took her out to face me. Mum told me they recently just got back from Europe. She smiled faintly and said she has jet lag & migraine. I felt for her, she looked wan & pale. I suggested she press pressure points on her palm to help relieve the pain. She stretched out her right hand towards me with trust that I can help. I pressed it and spoke to the baby :" I am holding your mummy's hand and I am a good person." 😊 The baby giggled. I massaged her hand for a few minutes until it was my stop. The mum said it relieved her nausea and that I am an angel. 👼 I smiled and thanked her. An angel! 😂😊👼

I may have helped her a bit but she made my day. I had extra energy to pick up pork steaks at Coles to grill with Rich's congee. We had dins at 8:00pm and I had another one of my bus chronicles to share with Rich, who said, I really am an angel but also a silly wombat. Hahaha. That'll do. 😘 Salamat Lord for blessings.

Where Did the Holiday Go?

I am just going to post pictures and caption them. Life, with its twists and turns is beautiful. Happy New Year, everyone!

 

 

Happy New Year 2016!



Some of my pressies! Yay!



Christmas Dinner



Christmas Dinner dessert



We stayed twice at Crown Promenade, 3 days each visit. It was bliss.



We normally go to Crown Towers but this time tried Crown Promenade
Good times!



This deer is so Christmassy I want to take it home



I love seafood and we always go to The Conservatory, that way Rich can choose other fare :-)

 

This is my home made custard and fresh fruits - after the holiday feasts!



Another visit to the Conservatory, this healthy plate is just yummy



seafood - I was craving oysters but when I got there I was more into salmon and
prawns lol





I love Jo Malone





Messina - need I say more? :-)



uncluttered bathroom is what I need :-)



Boost juice and Youk Shimwon :-)



T2 - my favourite of all the Chrissy gifts I bought for me :-)



My Belen



hot choco at Crown's Kitchen Workshop



Prawn appetiser at Kitchen Workshop



Another stay at the Promenade



This ottoman settee is a relaxing spot of our hotel room

Sunrise



My Chrissy decorations. Although we did not stay long at home over the holidays I still
put up a tree and various holiday tinsels



My chrissy village SLC Utah



I love this simple healthy lunch

City Square



another stay at the Promenade



IMAX 3D for yet another of our many screenings of The Force Awakens. We are huge
STARWARS fans!



My Nando's bday lunch



me in the elevator



my bday dindin



My birthday dinner at Man Tong Kitchen at Crown. Very delicious.



Our kitchen library is growing with Adam!



BB8



Saturday lunches looking familiar



My customary lugaw.  A birthday must have.



Rich made some baked potatoes one night and around midnight when he finished
he woke me up and we sat down and enjoyed it. Simple bliss. Such love x

7- day Birthday

 

 

Early this year, we (mostly me☺) spent hours planning for our US trip on Rich's birthday. It was all carefully laid out. The only thing to do was to excitedly cross off days until November 2015 comes.

Then the exchange rate went funny and our health went crazy ☹.

We changed plans.

We thought of New Zealand. It's closer. Off to the Hobbits and Lord of the Rings for the big day celebration. I wanted to give him this and wanted to give him that. Rich deserves a great birthday.

But we changed the plans some more. There's no point rushing on to overseas holiday only to need more holiday to recover from it.

So we planned yet again. This time closer to home. We'd stay in Victoria. Why not play tourists on our own backyard?

The Aussie dollar still buys a dollar's worth of food, accommodation, air, road and rail travel right here. Fuel prices are low right now. Good time to explore this beautiful place we call home, just as many thousands of travellers from overseas are doing right now.

We do not need passports or visas, there's no long-haul flight, no worries about where to access cash. We can use data services with our regular mobile company without fear. No roaming charges! Yay!

Good, practical plan.

The best place will be: The Most Liveable City of the World!  Where else?? We chose and booked a nice hotel for a couple of days. The agenda is just to chill and relax.



Rich's birthday cake from Liz

Friday, 20th to Friday 27th November 2015 - we celebrated Rich's 50 years on earth. Yes he is 50, but he looks way younger. :-) He wanted it simple and quiet.

His mum Liz came on Friday 20th, with cakes, gifts and good wishes. We went to our favourite bistro for dinner.
Afterwards mother and Son watched a funny movie at home. Next room I could hear them laughing away. It was a great way to kick off the birthday week.









Saturday, we went to our favourite Dumpling Restaurant for lunch. Rich is a Duck Noodle Soup fan. Of course he got what he wanted. We also took the scenic road home, which our friend from the local Post Office said is romantic.☺☺☺





Quack






Lechon!

Saturday Dinner was Ward Luau at the chapel. It was a packed church activity that was fabulously orchestrated by Francine, Lana and Rey. I can still say that Rich got a LECHON on his birthday! (Not really, but hey... lechon is lechon!) Mama would have been impressed. Imagine a lechon in Australia?

My family thinks it is not a proper birthday unless there is a whole spit roast pig. It is the centrepiece of every Filipino celebration. Saturday Luau was good timing. It was a fun, yummy colourful time! Thanks so much to the organisers! Love you guys!




We made fresh pineapple, lemons, mint and passionfruit drink for our Luau. Yum!

Later that night I prepared my Relief Society lessons and snacks. We made ice cream: Oreo / salted caramel and also Nutella / honey. Sandwiches: Pork adobo /Tuna and pineapple. Left over Banana bread and Hungarian biscuits joined our basket for sunday snacks as well. Happy times!


Sunday : is always church. It was a good service. After I gave the RS lesson we all enjoyed the snacks. Everyone thinks I am fattening them all up. What do you think? :-)

Monday start of Rich's Mon-Fri off work! Hip hip hurray! Rich played with his computer games. Luke Skywalker seemed to find it hard to walk, jump or kick but Rich obviously had a great time playing StarWars.






 All ready!

Tuesday off to the City. We are taking the bus! We love it! City Bus is clean, mostly on time and not packed. It was just Rich and me. It took just half an hour to reach our destination. :-)







I love Public Transportation esp when it is empty like this :-)




Sunny Tuesday along the River Walk, Crown Complex.

Crown Resorts have 3 main hotels in Melbourne. Crown Towers - 5 Star, Crown Metropol and Crown Promenade both 4.5 Stars.

If you want quality stay in Melbourne you'll never go wrong with these 3. Last time we stayed at Crown Towers but this time we chose Crown Promenade. This is our first time at the Promenade. Very comfortable 4.5 star amenities. We requested a room with city view. :-)














Our room for a couple of days :-)












I do not know why I can be tidy in the hotels but not at my
own home :-(





The bathroom is very cute ☺

 



 

My favourite spot is this window ottoman where I can sit and stretch my legs
while enjoying the view below and above.

Wednesday : the big day.

Rich shares a birthday with our eldest brother Enrique who sadly passed away 5 years ago.

November 25 is always a special day in my life.

Happy birthday Richard and Mano Longkoy!

I woke up early and just watched the traffic from our top floor window. I let Rich sleep in. It is a rare treat for him because his work usually starts early or ends really late.

Melbourne is beautiful. The sun came out for the birthday boy with no signs of dark clouds. Good, because I did not pack a poncho. :-)

We gave Conservatory breakfast buffet a pass - big breakfast makes us sluggish. Other times we would, but we had so much planned for the day! ( BTW just to put it out there: Waterfront Cebu has the best spread of breakfast buffet in the whole world. )

 

So we got the next best thing. McDonald's! Hahaha :-) We had Soy hot chocolate, spinach, scrambled egg and feta wrap.


 



Then Rich blew his candle on a chocolate macaron.
He is not a cake person nor a candle person - but I have traditions to uphold here :-)

I read him all the well-wishes and he is grateful to all of you! Thank you especially to my brothers King and Mano and sister Ding.

We watched "Hunger Games" in Crown Gold Class. We are big fans of this action franchise. I like JLaw that is why I turn the other cheek on the gory and violent bits. We ordered Beef Nachos and finished our frozen Fanta :-) Happy are we!

Quiet Gold Class is just the way we like it. Good that our hotel is just next to the cinemas, I changed shoes, because I know that after the movies will be walkathons! Yay! 





I just love Melbourne Trams. They  brighten up our roads

We did roam like tourists. No stress on parking space or parking fee. No time pressure. We had the freedom to do anything we wanted in our own pace. It is liberating being in the busy Melbourne CBD not rushing to catch the tram for work! Try it! Savour the moment and I promise you that the spirit of gratitude will touch your heart.



Melbourne ceilings are gorgeous. Go around, find it out for yourself!

Town Hall today 28/11.  Last December, Anj, myself and King stopped by here to use the loo. :-) As
 proud City employee I have a badge and we were let in :-)
 

Myer Christmas Window 2015. I like it. Always have. My fave though was the one with the wombat a couple of years ago. It was so Australian. This time, window is so Melbourne! Love it.

Birthday Freebies! Boost and Nando's. I asked the birthday boy what he wanted for his birthday lunch. I asked him over and over this past month hoping for a different answer. Well, it is always: Nando's. "I want my free Nando's". On the day that he can choose any meal, no expense spared = Nando's. ROFL. :-)

Previous years we went to Conservatory and once in Kitchen Workshop (it was better then, than of late). But always Conservatory. I think Rich lost that lovin' feeling with Conservatory, lol.

 

 





4 personalised Nutella from Giftorium Myer! Very cute.

Earlier a resident Swan along the river had cygnets. They shared Rich's birthday. All cute.

Crown Signature Card promotions gave Rich $35 in birthday prizes too! We have Crown membership just for parking and restaurants (mostly Conservatory).We do not gamble at all.

Dinner.

We did not book anywhere else, we just followed the mood. Crown has dozens of places. There was a long queue but we were ushered in right away at San Antone. A new Texas bbq in Crown. It was good. Rich loved the chicken, the pork rack was okay. The serving was actually less than I thought being Texan BBQ.

We have had better barbeque in Melbourne but I think I was just expecting much. But dinner was quiet and okay. Staff were attentive and friendly.


After dinner, we took a walk on the Riverside. The night lights are amazing and river, tranquil. This is special. We are not night owls and not fan of crowds. But after tonight we thought of doing this again.

The breeze was fresh and a bit nippy. We shared Nutella and Timtam ice cream. I sat watching Rich take photos of the buildings and night lights. I grew up with close access to nature and I love it - but now that I am older, I like city night lights better.

 

The Famous Gas Fires along the Crown River Walk were not lit that night because of strong winds. It is always great up close, we saw it though the previous night through our hotel window. It was enough. For now.



Human eye is amazing - this camera could not even capture a quarter of
the night lights and the river's beauty.

Thursday it rained. I like sleeping in when it rains. We were chilled and relaxed. Later on we did a stroll around again.

Christmas Village City Square!

 

Friday is back home day. I had a medical appointment scheduled early morning.
It took a long time at the Doctors and I lost a lot of blood, so we re-scheduled Temple trip for another day.

Friday dinner was Domino's. We are not big fans of pizza but we are too lazy to cook or pick it up next door (it literally is!) It was fun checking our Pizza GPS delivery tracker. Who only took 5 minutes to get to us. :-)

Then we had a quiet night watching all the recordings of our favourite TV shows. Quantico, Blindspot, The Chaser (5 episodes!) and TBBTheory. We also watched old Star Trek and Star Wars. Our kind of marathon.

Mission accomplished. We had a relaxing birthday celebration.

We were blessed in so many ways this week. We feel Heavenly Father's love for Rich and also the care of our family and friends.

We are excited for our next trip around Christmas. This time for my birthday. It is still going to be quiet and simple, but looking forward for the 2 week break get away.

Meanwhile, we are still loving all the blessings we could get. USA or Europe is still in the vicinity of the plans but one thing for sure - Pilipinas anay. Salamat Lord.

.



Salamat for us


                                                    *****************

ps- Saturday, 28th Nov. I went with Rich to work, but asked to be dropped at the shops instead of the work site :-). In the afternoon, we visited Joan, a dear friend in the hospital. Joan is one of our first friends as married couple. She is in her late 80's but still agile, bright and cheerful. We love her very much.