Food.

1. I love fizz too much. I need it. Fizz is for me as alcohol is for drunkards. I can easily give up coffee because it doesn’t do much other than give me palpitations (except if Starbucks brings back their Dark Cherry Mocha in December, but I can compromise).
2. I love sweets too much. Cupcakes are my weakness; red velvet ones with cream cheese frosting especially.
3. I love spicy foods too much, and I don’t know but spicy foods tend to boost my appetite.

Sedentary Lifestyle.

1. Much of my work is done seated in front of a computer at least 85% of my 9:00 to 6:00, and that can still extend 2, 3 or 4 hours more. And when I get home, I’m just too tired to do anything much else.
2. I hate exercise. Plus, I’m asthmatic. And I’ve thought about swimming, but the nearest pool is about 30-45 minutes away. That’s really far. Although there’s one that’s closer to where I live, but there are a lot of people going there already.

Anyway… I think I have found the perfect beginner exercise for me–brisk photo walking! Heh. That way, it wouldn’t be so boring. Kinda like retail therapy.

Here are some photos I managed to get during my walk with my mother the other day.

Photo Walk Sights

You would think I had to stop, find the best angle and take several shots. No, that wouldn’t be exercise no more. It was more like: brisk walk, click and snap, brisk walk.

It was a good start, I think, and I have been gradually decreasing my rice intake this week. Wish me luck.

White Chocolate Rice Krispies

My younger brother and I randomly stopped by at a local baking supplies outlet last Monday morning and I thought I’d make something. I didn’t even have any plan whatsoever of what I’d make. Ideas just pop into my head, based on the “inspiration” around me.

Here’s a simple no-brainer recipe.

Ingredients:

• White chocolate
• Rice krispies (the puffy ones!)
• Wax paper cups

How-to:

1. If the chocolate is kinda hard, have it melt a bit first, in a double boiler on the stove or in the microwave for a few seconds. But mine was kinda soft so there was no need to melt it. (Plus, if you had to melt it, you’d need to let it cool down which would defeat the purpose of a 15-minute dessert! It would also be messier!)
2. Shave or chop some white chocolate so that it’s “workable” by hand and roll it into the rice krispies (rather, press rice krispies into the chocolate).
3. Roll it into a ball and then coat it with rice krispies (again!) all over.
4. Place the chocolate balls into little wax paper cups. I used 3/4″ ones but if you feel like making big ones, be my guest. But little balls are just right.
5. Put it in the fridge for a bit so that it wouldn’t be soft to bite into.

As an option, I would recommend drizzling chocolate syrup on it or dusting it with cocoa powder or dipping it into melted bittersweet chocolate to balance the sweetness. I’m getting some over the weekend. I didn’t really know yet how it would turn out until we tried it, but my brothers said it was yummy but too sweet. My mom and sister loved it though.

My excuse is the same—I didn’t have time.

Well, now, I’m going to make time for it. Who’s gonna stop me?

I am not gonna live my life or spend my time according to how others demand it. Not entirely at least. I still have a 9:00 to 6:00 that gets me by from payday to payday.

So here’s the plan… among other things, I’m going to make this blog my to-do list for things that have nothing to do with work at all, and here are some things I want to do before this year ends:

• Prepare for a sort-of backpacking trip through Vietnam-Cambodia-Thailand early next year. I realized a love for traveling when I first went out of the country in 2009. I am a late bloomer, you may say that, because (to put it bluntly) I am not as fortunate as some people who have the luxury of time and resources to travel as frequently as they want. But it’s never too late for anyone to start exploring places other than their own. I have had two cancelled trips (local ones, Ilocos and Cagayan de Oro) this year because of weather conditions and budget constraints, and there’s no way I’m going to cancel that trip. NO. WAY.
• Start making money from my art, and my sister’s too. If there’s anything stupid about that, it’s not starting soon enough. I have had a few freelance jobs since I graduated from college back in 2004 (okay, go ahead, you now have a ballpark figure of how “old” I really am); among them were logo, web, event invitation and business card design. I’m not sure why I shelved that extra buck-earning capabilities aside. Probably because “I didn’t have time.”
• Learn a foreign language, on my own for now.

Now, those aren’t really ambitious goals, are they? I have more than four months to work on it.

On second thought, here’s an ambitious one:

• Lose weight, no shit. That’s the most difficult one yet. But what the heck, I’m winging it.