The Good, the Bad, and the Ugh

I wasn’t in the mood to blog the past 4 days, which explains the unusual absence of new posts recently. Here is a recap of my supposedly long weekend (funny how one feels even more drained after a “long” weekend as opposed to a regular one).

Thursday - My folks and I had dinner at Marina with a business associate from China.
The good: The guest had a healthy appetite and an even healthier loquacity, so it wasn’t that boring an evening.
The bad: My listening and speaking skills in Mandarin have always been weaker than my reading and writing, so I had to concentrate very hard to keep up with the conversation (and I hardly contributed to it).
The ugh: The sisig, my favorite part of a Filipino meal, tasted funny, so we returned it to the kitchen, complained to the manager, and had it taken off the bill (Gerry’s sisig is still the best).

Friday - We watched The Legend of Zorro at the Promenade.
The good: The movie was a rarity— a sequel that lives up to its predecessor. Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones have obviously grown into their roles and matured as both actors and movie stars (yes, there is a difference). The void left by Anthony Hopkins was surprisingly unnoticeable, thanks to spunky sparkplug Adrian Alonso, who played Alejandro and Elena’s son Joaquin. Looks like another acting career is to be launched by the Zorro franchise (and if Zeta-Jones’ career is to be any indication, little Adrian should be saying hola to more Hollywood blockbusters in the near future).
The bad: Or should I say “the weak”. Admittedly, the plot called for a lot of willing suspension of disbelief. And the whole saved-from-the-bullet-by-the-crucifix bit has already been done (does anyone remember Disney’s The Three Musketeers? Charlie Sheen as Aramis takes one in the chest but survives thanks to his being an ex-priest).
The ugh: We arrived late for the movie (I hate arriving late for anything, especially a movie), so I don’t know what transpired in the first 10 minutes or so. Anyone care to give me a detailed rundown?

Saturday - We attended the wedding of one of our brand heads, who also happens to be the daughter of one of Ma’s high school classmates (so we’ve known each other since we were kids).
The good: The ceremony was short, and the reception was short, so it was all over very quickly.
The bad: The church was as hot as a freakin’ sauna. You could see the poor ninangs (my mom included) sweltering in their gowns and guests furiously fanning themselves with invitations and mass booklets. You can be damned sure that when/if I get married, it’s going to be in a venue with A/C.
The ugh: I got roped into joining another lame who-gets-the-bouquet game (thankfully, I did not get the bouquet). When Claire gets back from her honeymoon I’m going to strangle her.

Sunday - We spent a lazy (that turned out to be not-so-lazy) day at home.
The good: We watched a few episodes of TNG (any day with TNG is a good day).
The bad: We got interrupted by Ma (who has been in a really foul mood lately… I suspect the onset of menopause, eek), who told Hanks and I to march upstairs and clean our room.
The ugh: We cleaned our room (the upside to this was that I unearthed a copy of the novel Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell in the box of books my aunt in Australia sent to us many months ago, and some letters from students that made me go “awww”).

Also worth mentioning:
The good: Finished reading Book 12 of A Series of Unfortunate Events. Lemony Snicket rocks my socks!
The bad (but in a good way): Started reading Wicked by Gregory Maguire. The title says it all (used in a British slang context).
The ugh: My sister the jazz junkie bought John Stevens' CD (the redheaded crooner from American Idol, that John Stevens), and I listened to it last night. The kid sings the standards quite well, but his version of Maroon 5’s This Love is really, really scary. Stick to Sinatra, Johnny boy.