The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn 2

After nine days my daughter and I finally watched Breaking Dawn 2.  We are both not die-hard fans of The Twilight Saga but we like them.  My daughter likes Taylor Lautner.  I like the story of Edward and Bella and the rest of the Cullens and the human Charlie and the kids in the first movie, Twilight.

One good "find" in this saga is Anna Kendrick.  I like her as Jessica in Twilight, Bella's frenemy.  I love her as Natalie Keener in George Clooney's Up in the Air.  She's so good.


Save for the fight of the Cullens and their vampire allies against the Volturis, this last installment of Breaking Dawn I consider light compared to previous movies, Eclipse and New Moon specifically.

I don't gush about the books/movies but there's nothing in The Twilight Saga that I don't like.  I take each book as it is, a fictional tale of a mortal and a vampire who fell in love with each other along with the complications that go with it.  Nothing profound. It just wants to entertain. And yes, I was entertained.

I felt sad the saga has ended.  I could just imagine the super fans of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan.

What I like about Breaking Dawn 2:
1.  It's humor.
2.  The new characters.
3.  The cinematography.
4.  I find the child, Renesmee,  mysterious and beautiful but a little creepy at some point.
5.  The great fight between the Cullens/Vampire Allies and the Volturis.

I downloaded all Twilight books from the site of a famous radio and television personality a few years ago. I enjoyed reading them all.  Eclipse is my favorite up to now.  But I did not finish Breaking Dawn, the book. I was disgusted on the first few chapters taking up the intimacy between Bella and Edward. No, it has nothing to do with "morality" issues as they were already married here. Just that the book took too much space for this. I just wanted to move on, haha.  I stopped reading.

Watching Breaking Dawn the movie, part 1, was a lot better. At least the movie gave each scene more creativity and yes, the cinematography was still breathtaking.  As in all books turned movies, it just choose highlights and let go of too many unimportant details that's why I appreciated the movie this time more than the book, at least for Breaking Dawn.

Comes now Breaking Dawn part 2.  I enjoyed watching it with my daughter.

I also like the OST (official soundtrack) of the movie.  I think this is the first time that I took notice of what's playing on the background.  Even Bella's Lullaby in Twilight did not make me swoon, haha.

I like Christina Perri's A Thousand Years. It just suits the scenes very well. :)


I told my daughter it's sad that the saga has ended.  A few minutes later she said, "I started being a tween during the Twilight years...Twilight was part of my tween years." It was like she was recalling how it was when she started liking Taylor Lautner during her late tween years.  She was already a big Nickelodeon fan - Hannah Montana, The Suite Life of Zac and Cody, Raven, etc - and of course, Justin Bieber, even before Taylor Lautner came into the picture.

My daughter is fourteen, officially a teenager since a year ago.  Nostalgic. So Twilight is like the end of an era for some.  Oh but that's forcing it, haha. Let me settle with the end of their being tweens. :)

What Customer Service - PLDT and Destiny Cable

I don't know why on earth are the customer service hotlines get so busy.  "Hotline" - misnomer.

Try calling PLDT's 171 and it will take you forever.

Now, I am calling Destiny Cable, 418-0000,  but it's just busy.  Their call center starts at 7AM.  You mean to tell me there is a surge of calls at exactly 7AM? Or they lack the manpower to accommodate the calls they are getting. Or they are blocking calls because they are having technical problems.  I checked the television at around 5:30 AM for my usual tv fares at this time but all channels were not working.

So much time is wasted just calling them.  The sad state of customer service in the Philippines.  Let me edit that out.  It's wrong to generalize.  For one,  Bayantel's customer service is good, not perfect because I've once encountered a rude customer service agent and before,  it also takes forever to answer a call, but they have improved a lot.  Prompt answering of calls and customer service agents are efficient.

It's not just customer service that is an issue but also PLDT's technical service (well, this is also customer service).  We have been in our place since 1994.  Since then our PLDT landline goes dead during brownouts.  Long hours of brownout especially in the night and during storm - these are times when communication is very important but PLDT landline in our area is inaccessible. Yes, there are cell phones but see, the batteries get drained after a few hours if they will be the only means of communication.

I have emailed PLDT several times but they cannot fix the problem.  Of course I also called their 171 about this concern.  They did check but well, still no resolution. Their technical said the battery somewhere in the cable is being stolen.  Huh?  Is that crazy or what? Then find a way for it not to be stolen.  I just gave up sending them this complain.  1994 - 2012, 18 years. Will soon switch to Bayantel.

During the first two weeks of October, our PLDT landline was down for no apparent reason.  PLDT said it was a system error but they cannot provide specifics.  The customer service agents promised me thrice they will give me a call as soon as they get to know from their technical what was wrong. But no return call happened. There was nothing to do but wait.

I also emailed their so-called customer care about it but I only got an automated response that they will get back to me blah blah blah.  But of course, no one got back to me.

I remember when I complained this dead-landline-during-brownouts a year or so ago.  Someone from their customer service called the house and asked me what exactly was my complain. Huh? I just have to repeat what my concern was about.   He asked me to call them back because he will be coordinating with their technical about my concern.   If my memory serves me right, it was because I will be out of the house so if I want to know their update, I should call them.  Huh, again. Anyway, the mere act of asking your irate customer to call you back is just not proper.  This concern is more than a decade old and I have been asked to call back if I want to know the update.  Hello, customer service 101?  I know when an employee is new and he is definitely new and arrogant the way he asked me to call back, like I owe them a lot.  But being new is not an excuse.  There are trainings before one goes on board especially if the job requires customer interaction.  Anyway, he could very well do the effort of calling me through my cell phone. And yes, no one called me back.  Customer service disaster.

Just two days ago our PLDT landline was not functioning.  Nakakadala talaga. My parents call us through our landline almost every night.  They are not techie to use Skype or Viber.  They still choose to use the landline.

How can a big company like PLDT serve their customers like this?

And now, it's Destiny Cable. I know they are already being managed by Sky Cable.  I wish for a better customer service.  If their cable is down and they don't want to be inundated by calls, they can just leave a recorded message apologizing for any inconvenience because their system is down and they are working on it.  Gad! That is better than getting a busy tone - at the start of their office at 7 AM and after endless tries.

Customer service of what I have just posted here - a misnomer.

Happy Birthday, Hubs!

It was the husband's birthday a few days back.  We decided to spend it by going to church first and attend our worship service.  Give thanks to the Almighty for the year that was in my husband's life and another year (bound to be fruitful) He has given to him.  :)

We dropped by the salon before heading out to have our dinner.  It was supposed to be me and daughter that will have our hair regimen but the hubs decided to have a haircut too eventually lured by the salon staff to have his hair dyed. Haha. My husband's hair has always been light brown especially when he was younger.  White hair are all over in different parts of his hair now.  This was his first time to have a hair color.  The result was actually good.  He looks his age, as a matter of fact, even younger.

My daughter and I were finished ahead of the husband's hair dye so while waiting, we did our usual photo opp. 

Since it's halloween, the salon's staff were dressed up and made up to be monsters from the dark. Haha. The fun part was the customers' participation of picking the top 3 scariest.

The salon staff gamely posed as we picked the top three scariest. 

The renovated salon has a frap bar, what do you know.  The husband and the daughter bought theirs but I know we will be eating out so I declined.  I had a sip from my daughter's cookies and cream frappuccino and yes, it tastes good just like how it is in other coffee bars.

We stopped by Tous les Jours to buy the husband his birthday cake.  I've been wanting to buy here and now is the perfect occasion. A few days back my daughter and I have already checked what we will buy. Wow, it's delicious! I like it because it's not too sweet but the icing is so creamy and the belgian chocolate, just divine.

Dark Glaze Chocolate from Tous les Jours, the husband's happy birthday cake. :) 

Eating time finally.  I was starving! We had our dinner buffet at Yakimix.  Good thing there was not much people. There were some vacant tables when we arrived.

We enjoyed the buffet at Yakimix especially the Korean bbq we cooked. :) 

I was not able to get a picture of the buffet table and our food because we were all busy eating. We were full if I must say that after just a plate or two of the different kinds of food we availed.

Just  a few notes about Yakimix, SM North EDSA:
1.  Food:  Good. The buffet for dinner is at P620 without drinks. Additional P75 per head for iced tea.
2.  Customer Service:  Fine. Nothing note worthy but staff were efficient.
3.  Cleanliness:  This is where the restaurant should improve. The wash room's cleanliness can do a lot of improvement considering the restaurant was not full at the time we were there.  There was also no tissue available.  The back area going to the kitchen, where their buss window is located needs a lot of sprucing up.  Makes me wonder how is it inside the kitchen.

*I was searching for the official web page of Yakimix but there seems none so I settled for the link I had above.

Will I go back with my family and friends? Well, this is my second time and there will be a next time and a next and a next....  I just hope they do better in cleanliness.

Anyway, it was a whole afternoon till night time that we spent out.  We were tired but happy, of course. :)

Happy birthday again to the hubs! :)))

At the Gym

It was my daughter's first time in a fitness gym.  I brought her along with me yesterday, a Saturday.  Being a teenager, she gets conscious now of her physique.  It's natural to have baby fats at her age.  What I am inculcating in her mind is that it's better to lead a healthy lifestyle while at a young age.  Eat healthy foods, exercise regularly, get adequate sleep, drink lots of water.  :)  I really need to guide her on this. Good thing she is not into sweets.

She has a tutorial class in the morning so after bringing her to school, I went to the gym by my lonesome.  I finished my set target for my core exercises in the morning so that I can concentrate in assisting my daughter in the afternoon.  That's just what I did.

She did the treadmill gradually increasing her speed from 2 km/hr to 5 km/hr for a total of 30 minutes (divided it by 2 consecutive 15 minutes so she can rest a while as this was her first time to try a treadmill).  She did a walk/run in the treadmill. Nice.  She did it herself.  I did not tell her to do it.

She tried on the triceps pulley but of course at a very light load.  She also did some weights at 2 k per arm.  We tried on the stationery bike.  She set bike's effort at 6 but reduced it at 4 after about 15 minutes.  6 is quite heavy for a first timer.

She also tried the leg push equipment (honestly, I don't know how the equipment is called).

I was careful in what she's doing as I am not a PT.  We just tried basic exercises to let her warm up at the gym.  Next Saturday, we will be joining Body Vive as this is easy for her but requires a lot of movement.

We spent the whole Saturday bonding.  After the gym, we headed to the salon and had our nails pampered.

We had fun! I love it that physical fitness is added to our bonding moments. :)

Taking A Break, I Need This

I love movies, yes. I am just not sure if I can be called a movie buff.  I know and have seen a lot of movies than the average movie-going person but I fare low compared to some people I know who loves movies to the core.  I just love entertainment!  I particularly love some actors.  Sure I like the likes of Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, George Clooney, Richard Gere, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon but there are certain actors I give my precious time watching their movies, reading articles about them and going over YouTube for some more stories about them.  I also check how their movies are rated in Rotten Tomaotes.  In short, I am a fan girl of these wonderful breed of actors.

ETHAN HAWKE

He is my number one!  :)))

I have always liked him since I have watched Dead Poet's Society as the painfully shy Todd Anderson.  I have not seen him in any movie after that until the youth oriented film, Mystery Date. In the 90s, he was perfect as the slacker Troy Dyer in Reality Bites.  Falling in love with Ethan Hawke as Jesse in Before Sunrise is just essential.  Before Sunset made me want to be Celine (go, watch the movie, if you don't know who Celine is and if you haven't seen this movie - dear Lord, you are definitely missing a lot!).

The thing with Ethan Hawke is there is something beautiful about him.  It's not just his great looks, his eyes, his height or built.  Call it an X factor but Ethan Hawke is beautiful. Angsty? I don't think so.  I don't know.  Ethan is my favorite actor of all time maybe because we grew up in the same generation, the Gen X.  Reality Bites and Before Sunrise are two movies I will always cherish.

It gave me a different kind of excitement knowing that he was the main actor in Sinister. Yes, of course, I watched it.  There is a scarcity of Ethan Hawke films for years and I will not  miss a movie of him.  I cannot wait for Getaway and Before Midnight.

And look at Ethan here - seems to be shooing away paps and seems to have just gotten up from bed.  Still adorable specially because of the cute daughter on his lap and the dog beside.  He is aging gracefully.  Fatherly.   :)

Photo from Just Jared.

KEANU REEVES

I'm trying to recall when I first liked Keanu.  It's not in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure nor in My Own Private Idaho.  It was in Brotherhood of Justice where I liked him first.  Then there's Speed, The Devil's Advocate and of course The Matrix series.  I hope to see Keanu spruced up and raring to go again in the big screen.

Speaking of My Own Private Idaho, if RIVER PHOENIX is alive today, he'll be in my list.

River and Ethan were together in a movie as kids, Explorers. 

RYAN GOSLING

There's this movie called Stay which stars Ryan Gosling, Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts.  I have watched Fracture where he starred with Anthony Hopkins.  I liked both movies but have never really took note of Ryan Gosling, not until I have watched Ides of March.  Man, was he good there! Then I watched Crazy, Stupid, Love -  he was the epitome of coolness.  Drive was a good movie in my humble opinion.  Ryan was also good there.  I backtracked his movies and appreciate them more. :)

Ryan Gosling is your nice, romantic guy, generally.

CILLIAN MURPHY

Oh the accent, and the eyes! Just wow! Among the three - Ethan, Ryan and Cillian - Cillian is the best actor.  I am still looking for Peacock where he played dual role.  One was the painfully shy husband whom you wouldn't think is Cillian.  I loved his bad boy character in Red Eye which he played so well.  I watched through YouTube his movie, The Wind that Shakes the Barley where he as a different accent which he did so well.  I wish to see him more in the big screen.

And who is this man?

Cillian Murphy as John Skillpa in Peacock.

What I like most about Cillian Murphy is that he can play any role without being conscious of how he looks. In this aspect he reminds me of Johnny Depp.

JOHNNY DEPP

Why wouldn't I like him?  I liked him already in his very forgettable role in The Nightmare on Elm Street. Haha! And then there's another 80s television series, 21 Jumpstreet he topbills with spike hair full of gel.  He metamorphosed into a really great actor.  Until now I still love watching him in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (together with the very young and handsome Leonardo DiCaprio). Johnny Depp is like a chameleon.  I love him as Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  I didn't know he can sing in Sweeney Todd. He was funny in Sleepy Hollow and just himself in The Secret Window, haha, or maybe in Pirates of the Caribbean. :)  I love him in Donnie Brasco, Public Enemies but I love him best as Edward Scissorhands.

Johnny Depp, the chameleon.

Two other actors which I like somewhat like the four above but not as much but going there (just let me be, hahaha) - Josh Hartnett and Ezra Miller.

JOSH HARNETT

Josh -  because he is wonderful to look at, haha.  Yes, I admit I have not found anything about Josh yet the things or qualities I have found with Ethan, Ryan and Cillian.  But I like him.  I particularly like his role in 40 Days and 40 Nights.  Funny! I have watched him in Wicker Park and 30 Days of Night.  I have bought the DVD of The Black Dahlia.  He was wonderful in Lucky Number Slevin.  Like Cillian, I hope he makes more movies.  He deserves to be in the big screen.

EZRA MILLER

Now, Ezra Miller I took to liking when I watched him as the transgender Patrick in The Perks of Being a Wallflower.  So good!  In my search of him over the net, I found out he was the evil kid in We Need to Talk About Kevin.  Now, I need to have a copy of that movie.  :)))

Runners up would be CHACE CRAWFORD, the Nate Archibald of Gossip Girl. He was the reason why I got hooked with GG before.  I also like IAN SOMERHALDER mainly because of his good looks. I wouldn't mind if he will be Christian Grey in the movie version of Fifty Shades of Grey. ZAC EFRON is also a good choice. I like him since High School Musical days.   He seems to be a nice guy on and off the camera.  It's a nice feeling that he appreciates the beauty of the Philippines when he visited a few weeks back.

If ALAIN DELON happen to belong in this generation, I guess we wouldn't see RPatz as Edward Cullen. In my humble opinion, it would Alain Delon or Ethan Hawke.

Alain Delon, then and now. 

Oh well, let me not be confined with actors.  Let me say this is a list of personalities I really love.  Sharing the number one spot with Ethan Hawke is ANDERSON COOPER! Need I say more?  He is intelligent, he is good looking, very dignified, a great host!

Anderson is my wallpaper. :)  I took a screenshot of it and posted in my Instagram account.

Mr. AC! I'm loving my wallpaper.  

Next break time, I will be sharing the women I adore.  :)))

*Picures I used in this post are not mine. I got them as stated and from Google search in Images. If this is yours and you stumble upon this post, just tell me and I'll acknowledge.

Saturday Bonding Time

It was a fine good Saturday for me.

I was preparing to bring my daughter to school for her Math tutorial and head to the gym after.  I read my friend's status via foursquare that she was in her yoga class with another friend of ours. I immediately told them I'll drop by if they were still in the area. I texted them too as soon as my daughter was already inside the school.  They were having breakfast at McDonald's. Yay!

They waited for me and we spent the rest of the morning till lunch at McDonald's catching up. I love my girls! We were not complete as this was an impromptu meet-up but we'll find time to get together for breakfast or lunch or dinner. :)

The gym can wait.  I want to be with my friends. :) (Photo below grabbed from Cess.)

Nice to see you, girls! Chats, Cess and me. :)))

After our meet-up I headed to another McDonald's branch to wait for my daughter and her best friend.  After we all had our lunch we proceeded to the mall to buy our movie tickets. There's still a good one hour before we can enter the theater so I took the time to squeeze in my workout.  I had cardio (treadmill) for 40 minutes. It was good! I burned the calories I just had from McDonald's. Haha! While I was at the gym, my daughter and her best friend went to the grocery to buy some of food for her (the best friend) stock.

We met at the theater lobby and yes, watched Sinister, and enjoyed it. Yep, enjoyed it.  We had a pretty good scare.  My daughter though is not really one to get scared by horror movies.  But the best friend was really freaking out. Haha! It was also a good time for me because I have watched an Ethan Hawke film after so many years. I didn't know he was in Total Recall.  

And the kids goofed around the standee of Sinister. 

Watching Sinister with the kids. 

My daughter and I ended the day by going back to the grocery for our own groceries.  

Meeting friends, squeezing in my gym, going out with my daughter and her best friend, groceries....it was a really good Saturday I don't mind repeating.  :)))

Movie, Books and Dining on a Saturday Afternoon

I have not been in this blog for more than two months! Being busy is not an excuse. Well, there is no excuse. But I meant to be back. :)

Yesterday, a Saturday, was bonding day for me and my daughter. I was really looking forward to it because I marked my calendar for the day to be our much awaited movie date. Her mastery examinations at school and the weekend should be relaxing for both of us. We watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower. We both love the book. I bought the book around 2000, maybe early 2000. I checked my book but unfortunately I was not able to jot down the date which I religiously did earlier in my early years of love affair with my books.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower circa 2000 

Anyway, last year or early this year, I handed over the book to my daughter. She learned about it I think because Logan Lerman will star in the movie. I let her read it and she loved it! Her best friend and one of her teachers borrowed it from her.

 A good book, or a good story, spans generations. From my generation, the Gen X to my daughter's generation, Gen Y or the Millenials, The Perks of Being a Wallflower appeals to us. We both love the movie too. Logan Lerman definitely fits the role of Charlie to a T! Emma Watson is beautiful. I really wanted to watch her apart from being Hermione Granger. She did not disappoint. But the best performance goes to Ezra Miller as Patrick, the transexual friend of Charlie and stepbrother to Sam (Emma's character). I now have a new favorite in the league of Cillian Murphy.

After watching the movie my daughter and I did a little shopping. Among other activities, this is one thing we love doing. On a general sense, what mother and daughter are not into shopping together? :) Starving we scouted for a restaurant. We don't have any dining place in mind.

We settled for Yoshinoya. I ordered for Gyudon. I must admit it does not look appetizing unlike how it is presented in Teriyaki Boy but I gave it a try. Hmmm, I didn't like it. It's not terrible. I just did not like it because I was hoping it will be at least somewhat like what we usually order at Teriyaki Boy. How do I describe the taste? It was like it only had a dash of soy sauce, a pinch of salt and it was served. It has nothing like the blend of Gyudon at Teriyaki Boy or Kimono Ken.

Gyudon (Regular), P115

My daughter ordered the Chicken Bento. The sticky Japanese rice was cooked well. The dessert - fruit salad - is also good, just like your normal, home made fruit salad. The mixed vegetables we did not touch. The four pieces of deep fried chicken is good too. I just don't know how it was a Japanese chicken when they tasted just like how I deep fry my chicken. :) It was good trying Yoshinoya but I don't think we will be back soon.

Chicken Bento, P159

Now, our favorite dessert the past weeks - brownies from Brownies Unlimited. We had our dessert there and I must say these brownies always satisfy us. :)

Box full o' brownies

Oh yes, finally, I have the book of Joel Osteen - I Declare. There was still no stock at Fully Booked but I saw it displayed at National Bookstore so we had to go inside and ask for a copy. I haven't started on this but of course, I will. I'm still in Paulo Coelho's Aleph.

I Declare! 

We went back to Fully Booked to check what notebook my daughter can buy. I think she got encouraged again to have a journal because of Charlie in The Perks of Being a Wallflower. :) I love this kimmidoll products. It's cute! I really want to buy more kimmidolls but they are pricey.

kimmidoll journal, Fully Booked

Busy writing on the first page of her new kimmidoll journal.

Our Saturday was really well spent. There's nothing in this world I love but being with my daughter. :)

Me and my daughter. :) 

HAPPY WEEKEND! :)