I owe fries.

I lost a bet today. Not really a bet. It's a result of my initial gullibility and subsequent skepticism.

Dens claimed that McDo has introduced a new menu item called McPorkchops. He said it's like porkchops covered with the same breading of Chicken McNuggets and served with the same sauce options, i.e. barbecue, honey mustard, sweet and sour.

Since I haven't been to McDo in a while and I don't have popular tv channels, I don't get to view many ads and it was very likely that I missed this new menu from McDo.

Eventually, Dens admitted that he was just pulling my leg and told me that actually it was Jollibee that has a new 39ers meal. Calamares. And it was so convincing the way he told me about how meager the serving is. Six or seven rings of squid, he said. The name escaped him - probably not jollycalamares or jollysquid.

And I have to admit, I almost bought the story. >_<

Finally, he told me about the new french fries size of McDonald's. The small one is still small, the old large is the new medium, and the new large is a very large serving. I said I wouldn't fall for it a third time. And agreed to treat him to three supersized fries.

I can't decide whether Dens is just smooth or I'm just easily duped. Whichever the case may be, I have to pay up with unhealthy carbohydrates.

Mothers' Day

On Sunday afternoons, I try to sleep. Sometimes during those moments I am about to transition from sleep to consciousness, I sense my mother's presence. I am dreaming, of course. I know it. But I feel comforted to imagine that she is seated at the base of my bed, watching television like she used to. I actually leave the TV on while I sleep so I could feel less alone.

For the past couple of weeks, advertisers have capitalized on the approach of Mothers' Day. And every print, radio, or tv ad of mother and child remind me of how much I miss my own mother.

I used to get her something every year. I guess I totally bought all the advertising pitches. When I was in high school, I'd save up on allowance and buy her roses from one of the flower stands behind our campus. Those that sell for P50 or so. In college, I also get her cake. The year I did summer OJT, I sent her a collection of CDs of piano instrumentals. And when I eventually got employed, I usually got her kitchen gadgets which she really liked.

My mother was a very appreciative and affectionate person. She'd hug me whenever I brought her anything. Even if it's just MacChicken sandwich takeouts. But well, all mothers are that way, I guess. You just get home in time before the heavy rain pours and they're thrilled. You just offer to do the dishes after dinner and they're happy. Mothers are easy to please that way. In fact, you just have to be. And you're loved.

There's a part of me that could never shrug off the feeling that I could've given her more while she was still around. Came home earlier. Took her to a vacation. Done more, said more.

But now the cards and CDs are dusting in a corner of a cabinet and the appliances are placed back in their boxes for storage. And today seems less special for me. Like last Christmas or New Year. All other occasions or long weekends. I try to cope with sleeping and the drone of television in the background.

Enough of that. Just please do me a favor and hug your mothers for me. Thanks.

Surf and Sniff

My colds has progressively worsened the past couple of hours. Or regressively, I should say.  Yesterday morning, I just had a sore throat and a manageable sniffles. Today, I'm a full-blown, wheezing, snotty-nosed, raspy-voiced, sick person. And what a pretty picture to paint for all you wonderful people in this beautiful morning. Sorry, enough of grossing you out.

I only managed three hours of uncomfortable sleep. The rest of the time, of course, was spent on the internet. Yeah, I know, I know. Did I think that I could surf my way into sleep? I just have the lame excuse that there was nothing else better to do. And if you want some tips on doing nothing on the Internet, welcome to the club.

Traveller IQ Challenge

I spent a solid hour playing the Flash game Traveler IQ Challenge. It's a very simple game of identifying in the world map the city capital or famous place shown to you. You just click the map and it automatically computes how many miles you are from the actual location. I was never very good in Geography, but I know the general (very general) area of most countries.

I got pretty adept at zoning on the European countries bunched up together. I have a lot of trouble with the African and South American continents, though. I know if a country belongs to either one, but they're big masses of whole continents!

Sometimes, I'd guess way off and the distance computing window would flash a wisecracking comment: "This is Earth. You know that, right?" or "Holy geez - You're terrible!" What a smart aleck.

I reached level 6, which is midway of the range. Maybe I'll try it again later and see if I can do better.

tell me what you believe now

I also stumbled upon this website that lets people complete the sentence: "Right now I believe ---." They post anyone's answer and you can just refresh your browser to view a different one each time. It's uncensored so you may come across loads of senseless twaddle -  but sometimes you can find an interesting post every now and then.

"Right now I believe that I may have HIV, but that life is beautiful anyways."

"Right now I believe this website has poor spam detection. This message has been posted 137 times. "

"Right now I believe facebook took my life."

And we segue to...

Facebook

I spend some time browsing through my friends' Facebook status and wondering about the results of quizzes they posted. It's funny how we all get amused with all those personality tests that attempt to sum us up through the answers we provide in a series of questions.

And the Mafia Wars - what the heck is happening in that part of the online world? People are exchanging Jack of Hearts and Poker Chips and Orange Trees and Sheep. Oh, wait. That's for Farm Town. And the Farm Town - what the heck is happening in that part of the online world?

Last weekend, at a children's party I attended, someone nonchalantly apologized for attacking me. As I had zero recollection of being mauled in the recent past, I responded with a puzzled look. It turns out, the victim was my Facebook vampire character or something - which I didn't even know I had. Go figure.

I have been contemplating whether to create my own Pick Five list. I was considering "Five Blogs You Follow", but the available options are too limited. In any case, my answers would be: Karina's Buried in Cliches, Jason Mraz's Freshess Factor Five Thousand, Chico Garcia's Strange Fruit, Rye's The Lead Character Chronicles, and Bo Sanchez's Practical Soulfood.

Twitter

It's true. Sometimes all you need to say can be said in 140 characters or less. (So unlike this blog that has been dragging you all around needlessly.) Twitter is the venue for those wit in brevity. And! It also gives you the chance to "follow" the thoughts of well-known people like Neil Gaiman and John Mayer. And I had no idea Rob Thomas is very opinionated.

I am not sure if Plurk is better than Twitter, and frankly, I'm not too keen in finding out. Technology can be stressful if you let it overwhelm you. Look at me - (sarcasm alert!) I have simplified it to this: my blog entries in Multiply are cross-posted to my Blogspot account which is cross-posted to my Facebook. My Twitter auto-updates my Facebook status, too.

The thing is, I think there's a problem with the Multiply-Blogspot cross-posting tool. And I don't want to reconfigure the settings because there's a chance that I will spam all of you when the system reposts all of my six years' worth of blogs. You don't want that to happen, trust me. A barrage of angsty, immature, and whiny blogs from my old self is the last thing you want in your inbox.

Hmm, I guess my personality's been pretty consistent these past few years.

I'm off to wallow in my state of wooziness, people. The discarded tissues are starting to form a new landform here in the apartment. I wish you a virus-free day. And if anyone needs me, I'll just be around - guessing which part of Russia the Battle of Stalingrad took place.