The inaugural season of Ru Paul’s Drag Race Philippines may be over but it’s not over for us here at Amiciness. We’ll be doing a re-watch of the whole Season 1 of #DragRacePH every Wednesday, starting with Drag Race Philippines S1E1. We’ll be reminiscing the drag excellence, all the drama, and any- and everything we missed. So buckle up and may the best Filipina drag queen win! Again! Mabu-Heeey!
House rats are a common problem especially for old houses. I moved to our old home last year for my sister to have her own bedroom. During the first few months, wala namang problem. Then I started hearing rats scratching my ceiling. Minsan, ginagalaw pa nga nila ung light bulbs. As in parang exorcist! My lightbulbs would tilt in different directions overnight. Iskeri. Ok lang naman kasi di ko naman sila nakikita pero after a while di na sila nahihiyang magpakita even when the lights are on.
I tried rat repellent sprays and Baygon sticky fly traps. Whenever I see a mouse, I immediately catch them using the fly trap, even if walang bait. I just put the fly traps on the corners of my room na di masyado nagagalaw. Or dun sa mga lugar na nafi-feel ko na lagi nilang dinadaanan. I think I have a calling in pest control. Did I mention that I have an unbroken streak of slapping flies in one hit? I wasn’t really that aggressive catching them. (Nakakaguilty kaya pag nakakahuli ako. Sana di ako ma-reincarnate as a daga.) This was the case until two months ago.
The mice sightings became so frequent that I had to outsource my dad’s services. I bought this harmless mouse trap from Shopee. Harmless kasi di masasaktan ‘yung daga pag nahuli siya. Unlike the fly trap na masakit ‘yata sa balahibo niya. Or the traditional mouse trap in Tom and Jerry. Oops nakaka-tanda.
The harmless mouse trap. It comes in three sizes. This is the medium sized one. So ibibitin mo ‘yung bait sa alambre. Very sensitive siya kaya sasara agad ‘yung pintuan.
So ayun, may trap na, and the next thing we had to prepare was the bait. According to my Internet research (char), peanut butter is the best bait. Buti na lang may expired kaming Skippy! My dad would make the peanut butter pandesal sandwiches tapos ilalagay sa trap.
We would carefully place the trap in a dark area pati kung saan ko sila last spotted. I believe that like us rats are routine people animals. Well, like any science experiment, one should note the controllable and uncontrollable variables. When a certain set-up works, why change it right? So far it has been working. I haven’t caught a rat for two weeks straight. Hopefully wala na, puhleasee!
PS. As the rate of my success rate slows down, palaki din palaki ang daga na nahuhuli. I guess sila ang parents. Someone introduce birth control pills to house rats!
My friends and I had constantly traveled since college graduation, but the pandemic put a halt to this. Our last trip together was Bali in 2018. It was memorable because we went mountain biking. Medyo buwis buhay. We biked on highways and roads in between rice paddies. One wrong turn and crash! Anyway, for our first post-(hopefully, post-)pandemic trip, we decided to go local, primarily because the airfare was on sale. Off we go to behold… Bohol, Philippines!
My friends and I have been surviving the pandemic thanks to ABS-CBN’s Ang Sa Iyo Ay Akin. Ellice and Marissa’s rivalry have become our lockdown guilty pleasure next to Tiktok storytimes. (I am speaking for myself on the latter. My friends hate it when I send Tiktok links in our group chat.) Actually, we just want Ellice to suffer. #TeamMarissa. We live for Marissa and Ellice’s linyahan and lakihan ng mata confrontations , Gabriel and Hope’s slang Tagalog lines, and of course, Nanay Lucing’s proverbial monologues and occasional makatanggal-wisdom teeth sampal scenes. Being slapped by The Diamond Star is both an honor and a responsibility pero mukhang masshhhakit.
And did you notice that Ellice and Marissa were named after the producers. Yeah. Eagle eyes.(more…)
A year into the pandemic, I think I had already ordered and tried so many different types and flavors of cakes and desserts for friends and family celebrating their birthdays. The challenge for 2021 is to push the boundaries even further.
I don’t bake but I like to conceptualize cakes in my head. Luckily, a friend of mine has been catering my requests (most of the time a little out of the box) and has been executing it perfectly. Just like how I imagined.
