I Blog, Therefore I Am.

As a break from all the election talks and to celebrate a very tiring but fulfilling week at work, the boyfriend and I went to The Ultimate Taste Test 4.0 event of one of our favorite blogs, Our Awesome Planet. The event, on its 4th offering, was a gathering of the foodie community and up-and-coming food suppliers and their 'winning' dishes.

There were more than 50 food suppliers who gave portions and samples to the hundreds of foodies who attended. The foodies in return served as amateur "food critiques" for the night and rated the dishes. Food suppliers who will get high ratings will be featured in Anton's Our Awesome Planet blog.

The event started at 7:00 pm and it ended 10:00 pm. Though we were prompt, the registration lines at NBC Tent were already long when we arrived. It reminded me of the long election queue we had just last Monday.



The event is actually a very good venue to discover good and affordable food and restaurants in Manila. We only paid P200 ($4.43) each and we were able to taste and experience more than 20 different food choices and variants. It was truly a money well spent. We were stuffed from all the appetizers, main courses and desserts we had.

Less than 6 hours from now and the voting precincts will open for the very first National Automated Elections in the Philippines. Are we all ready? Are we all set? I cannot properly organize my thoughts on this election so I made a list instead for easy writing.



1. I want to be a Citizen Journalist or a volunteer for this election, I even filed a leave for May 11. But I was pulled for a special project at work (also related to the national event) which I cannot post here. So volunteering is not going to happen.

2. I'll try to vote early. We are not familiar with these PCOS machines so we better be there as soon as we can.

3. For those who will report tomorrow, one of the most important things you should do is to make sure that your gadgets and tools are all charged up.

4. The hashtags and keywords for election news monitoring for Twitter are #juanvote, #eleksyon, #halalan, #purplethumb. The most popular and often used among them is #halalan, thanks to ABS-CBN.

5. If you don't vote, you don't have the right to complain about the government. Your vote is your voice!

6. There's no such thing as a "wasted vote". Vote for whom you feel is right. Even if he/she is an unpopular choice. Don't be swayed by surveys.

7. There's no such thing as a "family vote" or "girlfriend/boyfriend vote" for us. We will vote as to what we feel and think is right. Fortunately, we will all vote for the same President and Vice President.

8. I am probably the only believer that one can win an election even without paying off people.

9. "Hoping for the best but expecting the worst" - my thoughts on these PCOS machines. I hope I am wrong.

10. My uncle, brother of my mom, is running for Vice Mayor of our town. It's a very competitive race. The driver/bodyguard of my uncle was even shot dead last week. Scary.

11. I will check the voting record of my Congressman after I made this post. Looks like he's a shoo-in for re-election since two of his opponents are unknowns. Nevertheless, I have to check what he did in the last 3 years. I can always pull a blank.

12. I will NOT vote for Estrada, Defensor, Enrile, Lapid, Revilla and Sotto. But looks like these ogres and entertainers will still be back in the Senate. Enough of these traditional politicians. We need new blood. Consider Alex Lacson.

13. I like Gibo. I admit that there were moments in the last few weeks when I want to switch to green. The only thing that is preventing me is the fact that Gibo will never turn his back on GMA. Ever.

14. I am mighty scared of Erap 2.0. Read this post of RJ Marmol and her valid points.

15. Gibo is leading the online surveys and even the online positive mentions since most of his voters are here. Internet penetration in the Philippines is still low even if 13.4 million Filipinos are in Facebook.

16. The only President I will fully accept and support is Gibo or Noynoy. Enough said.

17. I am Pro-Noynoy but I will not be Pro-People Power if he will lose in the elections.

18. I have a lot of reasons why I am going for Yellow & Blue. Here's a simple explanation and analogy:

During yearly evaluations in our company, we have our Key Results Area (KRA) and Behavioral Scores. Though KRA is very important, I always make it a point to give more value to the Behavioral Score of my people. I believe that you can always teach people skills, but you cannot change one's behavior and attitude that easily. As one article says, you cannot delegate sincerity and honesty. People may judge me but I believe that Noynoy and Mar are two of the most genuinely nice leaders that the Filipino people can entrust their future on. I am not voting for the lesser evil, I am voting for THE good one. We need to bring back the moral goodness in our government.