I would think that France would be quite a liberal country, basing on it's influence on history specifically regarding liberalism. So imagine my surprise after reading an online news article about the issue of burgas being banned. I think the French government, and those who seem to think that burgas "make women prisoners" (President Nicolas Sarkozy), should just stop making excuses for their discrimination and covering it up by saying that to disallow wearing burqas would free Muslim women from whatever. Hello. There is such a thing as religious freedom. There is such a thing as freedom of choice.
First point: These women who wear burgas practice the Islamic faith. Part of their faith is to wear such clothing. Why stop them? Because it makes you uncomfortable? We should all look at where this discomfort stems from, and I don't think it's because you see someone garbed from head-to-toe. How can you teach your children to be open to the world when you're not even open to seeing Muslim women wear their burqas? Please let your actions be consistent with what you preach.
Second point: If you're not going to look at it from a religious standpoint, look at it as respecting their rights as citizens of the country--or even as human beings--to practice their freedom of choice. Not all Muslim women wear burqas. But there are those who choose to wear it. Operative word is CHOOSE. Where is freedom of choice when you are not going to allow someone to wear what she wants?
No wonder why there's STILL so much misunderstanding and hatred in this world. I want to go further with this but I'm just too pissed off right now to even continue writing. Ugh. Maybe later.
Could someone please enlighten me more about this issue of burqas in France? Is it just me who finds this issue disturbing, or are there those of you out there who disagree? Let me know what you think.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
I just wish...
...you'd get over yourself :)
On a lighter not, hehehe, I'm inspired to do an outfit post tomorrow because the past couple of weeks have been shopping heaven for me. My mom's here, thus the frequent trips to the mall. I'm surprised how many times we've gone to the mall in the past week and a half that my mom's been here. Will have to keep in mind that I do have to save up for our Laoag-Vigan trip at the end of this month and for the gift sets (that I have yet to organize) I'll be selling this November and December. Watch out for my post on the beauty goodies :)
On a lighter not, hehehe, I'm inspired to do an outfit post tomorrow because the past couple of weeks have been shopping heaven for me. My mom's here, thus the frequent trips to the mall. I'm surprised how many times we've gone to the mall in the past week and a half that my mom's been here. Will have to keep in mind that I do have to save up for our Laoag-Vigan trip at the end of this month and for the gift sets (that I have yet to organize) I'll be selling this November and December. Watch out for my post on the beauty goodies :)
Friday, July 31, 2009
A secret garden hidden in the Metro
My friends and I had dinner at the quaintest restaurant I've been to--Isabelo Garden Restaurant. It's tucked away in Brgy. San Roque in Marikina City in the compound of the Dee family. Run by Portia Baluyut, who co-owns it with her mom Stephanie Dee-Baluyut, Isabelo gives off such a homey, calming feel that you instantly fall in love with the place. Portia prepares the food which is why you can't just drop in. You have to place your reservation and pre-order your food. The menu is filled with mouth-watering options, and my friends and I were able to try a few. We were served bruschetta (which was just so good, by the way). Simon ordered Grilled Salmon Steak, Esther ordered Orange Herb Chicken (served with roasted vegetables like marble potatoes and carrots--which were really sweet!), and I ordered the Portobello Pasta. I found the pasta really good because I could taste the white wine used and even if the sauce is oil-based, it didn't seem to be too oily, for lack of a better term. It's a bit tangy, which really upped the flavor for me.
I can honestly say this is a restaurant I'll keep coming back to. It's a place where you can just dine, relax, and have great conversations with your girlfriends over a bottle of wine (I have to ask if we can bring our own wine, though...hoping there's no corkage :p). Isabelo Garden Restaurant is just so lovely! Yes, that's the word I've been looking for to describe the place. Absolutely lovely :)
Click here for more info on Isabelo :)
I'm actually going back this weekend. I'll be bringing my family so that they can experience dining at Isabelo.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
random weeknight blurbs
Fine, I can't consider it a week "night" because it's almost 3 in the morning. But hey, it's still dark outside and everyone's asleep. Anyway, here I am with my random blurbs about...whatever! :)
- I've been posting comments on a few of my friends' walls on facebook so that I wouldn't forget to remind them about what-not. And yeah, I seem to appreciate facebook more now that we can't access it in the office since my company's HK office (which provides our server) blocked it.
- I really, really, really want to take my cameras out and shoot Manila but I haven't found the time to do that and with the horrible weather we have no thanks to climate change, there's no way of determining when it'll rain or not. PAGASA, the weather and geographical forecasting agency here, isn't that reliable. They'll announce that it's going to rain, but it'll turn out to be quite a semi-sunny day. And vice versa. Or maybe global warming has almost totally effed things up so climates everywhere are going haywire. Yeah, that'd be the most logical conclusion. This is all our fault, honestly. I don't want to go on and on rambling about the environment but the main thing is that since we've been acting like all our resources are infinite...well, you know where this argument's heading.
- I hate cockroaches.
- Am semi-obsessed with freakangels no thanks to Gab. Hahaha kidding, dear :p It's actually one of the reasons why I'm all giddy every Friday--because I get to read the new episode (the author releases only one episode per week).
- I know Harry Potter 6 had mixed reviews, but I liked the movie. It does help if you watch it more than once so you can really appreciate it. I watched it again with my friends Mishi and Kaye this evening. We had dinner first at MongKok (sp?) then watched the 9 p.m showing. Twas a bit late, but it was the only schedule available after 7. The guy who played Cormac McLaggen was such a cutie. My gosh that guy has such a strong appeal. Though I find him quite hot, he's too pretty. Hahaha obviously I'm not attracted to guys who're pretty enough they could pass off as girls if you just put a wig on them.
- My boss is leaving, and I'm actually really sad about it. She'll be transferring to our company's Indonesia office because they badly need a senior research director. I know I've had my share of rants about her, but come to think of it she's a good boss. I'm really going to miss her, especially when the person who'll replace her will come in (I don't know when, though).
- Ugh. The day that person stops bothering me will be the only time when I'll stop ranting. For one thing, yeah that person and I should never ever ever be friends because the only thing that person seems to bring to my life is trouble. Blech. And yeah, that person's beau looks like a particular showbiz personality here in Manila but it'd be an insult if one were to be likened to that artist.
- One of my close girlfriends has been having trouble with her officemate, and I can feel her pain. It's annoying to deal with guys who don't get it that you're NOT interested. I don't want to go into the details, but she has every right to be pissed. Funny thing is, I actually know the guy. He was also from my university, but we weren't really like close friends. The world just keeps on getting smaller!
- The caffeine's just kicking in now. I drank a triple grande latte hoping it'd take effect quickly but unfortunately (again), it would have helped if this boost of energy kicked in EARLIER. Oh well.
- I got my Steve Madden shoes already (refer to this post)! I think my uncle gave it to me a couple of weeks ago so yeah, I've worn it twice or thrice already. The price I have to pay for wearing such pretty shoes: leg cramps. Nevertheless, they look damn good so I'll keep on wearing them :)
Okay, enough with my random blurbs. I should actually start working. I have to submit something this morning to my boss and I have less than 5 hours to finish everything...not considering I still have to prepare before leaving for the office so goodluck to me!
- I've been posting comments on a few of my friends' walls on facebook so that I wouldn't forget to remind them about what-not. And yeah, I seem to appreciate facebook more now that we can't access it in the office since my company's HK office (which provides our server) blocked it.
- I really, really, really want to take my cameras out and shoot Manila but I haven't found the time to do that and with the horrible weather we have no thanks to climate change, there's no way of determining when it'll rain or not. PAGASA, the weather and geographical forecasting agency here, isn't that reliable. They'll announce that it's going to rain, but it'll turn out to be quite a semi-sunny day. And vice versa. Or maybe global warming has almost totally effed things up so climates everywhere are going haywire. Yeah, that'd be the most logical conclusion. This is all our fault, honestly. I don't want to go on and on rambling about the environment but the main thing is that since we've been acting like all our resources are infinite...well, you know where this argument's heading.
- I hate cockroaches.
- Am semi-obsessed with freakangels no thanks to Gab. Hahaha kidding, dear :p It's actually one of the reasons why I'm all giddy every Friday--because I get to read the new episode (the author releases only one episode per week).
- I know Harry Potter 6 had mixed reviews, but I liked the movie. It does help if you watch it more than once so you can really appreciate it. I watched it again with my friends Mishi and Kaye this evening. We had dinner first at MongKok (sp?) then watched the 9 p.m showing. Twas a bit late, but it was the only schedule available after 7. The guy who played Cormac McLaggen was such a cutie. My gosh that guy has such a strong appeal. Though I find him quite hot, he's too pretty. Hahaha obviously I'm not attracted to guys who're pretty enough they could pass off as girls if you just put a wig on them.
- My boss is leaving, and I'm actually really sad about it. She'll be transferring to our company's Indonesia office because they badly need a senior research director. I know I've had my share of rants about her, but come to think of it she's a good boss. I'm really going to miss her, especially when the person who'll replace her will come in (I don't know when, though).
- Ugh. The day that person stops bothering me will be the only time when I'll stop ranting. For one thing, yeah that person and I should never ever ever be friends because the only thing that person seems to bring to my life is trouble. Blech. And yeah, that person's beau looks like a particular showbiz personality here in Manila but it'd be an insult if one were to be likened to that artist.
- One of my close girlfriends has been having trouble with her officemate, and I can feel her pain. It's annoying to deal with guys who don't get it that you're NOT interested. I don't want to go into the details, but she has every right to be pissed. Funny thing is, I actually know the guy. He was also from my university, but we weren't really like close friends. The world just keeps on getting smaller!
- The caffeine's just kicking in now. I drank a triple grande latte hoping it'd take effect quickly but unfortunately (again), it would have helped if this boost of energy kicked in EARLIER. Oh well.
- I got my Steve Madden shoes already (refer to this post)! I think my uncle gave it to me a couple of weeks ago so yeah, I've worn it twice or thrice already. The price I have to pay for wearing such pretty shoes: leg cramps. Nevertheless, they look damn good so I'll keep on wearing them :)
Okay, enough with my random blurbs. I should actually start working. I have to submit something this morning to my boss and I have less than 5 hours to finish everything...not considering I still have to prepare before leaving for the office so goodluck to me!
Monday, July 20, 2009
depp's fangirl forever
I've been Johnny Depp's fan since high school. He's such a good actor!! He's not afraid to take on roles that are deemed....strange. Hahahaha! Can't wait for the day that he'll accept a role that would require him to kiss another man or dress in women's clothing.
And oh...Public Enemies is finally out here in Manila :)
photocredit: piratefan60 at flickr
And oh...Public Enemies is finally out here in Manila :)
photocredit: piratefan60 at flickr
Sunday, July 19, 2009
PMS-ing
I'm not the type of person who enjoys drinking parties. Yeah, I do occassionally drink but I only do when 1) the party's at my house and I don't need to drive and 2) if the party's at some other person's place, I let the alcohol's effect simmer down a bit so I can drive. There are just days that I am in no mood to socialize and I prefer the company of a few good friends. I honestly would rather spend my weekends with a few close friends and have dinner, wine, and/or coffee and talk all night about whatever. I'm being a bitch, I know. But forgive me, am PMS-ing and I will justify being such a moody shrew so there's no use of anyone giving me a pep talk about how unreasonable I'm being or whatever.
The simplest things piss me off when I'm PMS-ing. This is so FUN.
The simplest things piss me off when I'm PMS-ing. This is so FUN.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)