Oh... hi blog. What? Did you think it would be another... 8 months for an update? Pffft. I said that I'd be back soon, right? I also feel compelled to mention that my frequent blogging sabbaticals were in no way brought on by my wacky muse taking an extended vacation. It's really more a case of... choosing not to listen to it. But I've since realized that deciding not to blog is not always a good idea, especially when your blog gives you just enough pennies to refill your cherry cookie jar. 'Cause cookie addiction withdrawal is a bitch. BTW, my blog turned 3-years old this past August 29. Yay?! I didn't write a "blogiversary" post on that day, so consider this... it. Yup, 3 years and still kicking.

Yes, the title is a mix of Lady Gaga's song "Starstruck" and a Black Eyed Peas song.

I know that I previously wrote, "I've grown weary of Pinoy blog popularity contests...", but I promised Maria "Ria" that I would vote for her for Bloggers' Choice Award (Mindanao) in the 2009 Philippine Blog Awards. In order to vote, one must write a post. I vote for Life with Ria! Why, you ask? (Let's pretend that you did.) Ria, a self-described "professional blogger / researcher / speechwriter / marketing consultant / content manager / multitasker / wedding coordinator", manages several blogs. I can barely manage waking up early. What really impressed me is the fact that she can bake. (Sure. That's a legit reason for voting.) For example, she made that fabulous-looking Sans Rival (pictured above, click on the thumbnail to enlarge) - a popular cake in the Philippines. It's a sinfully rich torte cake made with layers of cashew or almond meringue, French buttercream, and chopped nuts. "Sans rival" is a French term for "without rival" (unrivalled, unequalled, incomparable). Pssst, I can be bribed with Sans Rival or cookies. Kidding. Maybe.

Remember when I wrote about taking a break from blogging to study French? Oui.

Back in May, I played an online Flash game called My Brute until I quickly grew disinterested in it 'cause the game (if it can be called that at all since it has severe lack of control) was... in a word, boring (not unlike this post). At the time, nearly everyone in my Plurk timeline was engaging in "friendly" smackdown talk and blogger-on-blogger violence. Sad. I don't know why, but the game's random algorithm often had my brute winning with a club. (Oh, you haven't stopped reading yet? But why not? I mean, seriously.) Janette Toral, Fritz, The Lady Programmer, Flair Candy, Jehzheel Laurente, and Batang Yagit get a smackload of wholesome clubbing here:

TURN UP THE AUDIO because in the last 33 seconds, I tell you the remedy for BLOG CONSTIPATION (a condition when you can't crap... I meant, "blog"). Did you know that eating fresh cherries is an excellent way of helping you to shit? The fibres help relieve constipation and the acids aid digestion. Don't say you never learned nuthin' from me.

Hover your mouse cursor over any image to read its description. To cycle through all thumbnails, click on first photo to view the full-size image. Nummy, yummy cherries:

1. Pac-Man Lemon Cake (the cake with cherry rum sauce in the first photo above). I made it on the day Manny Pacquiao (a Filipino boxer) knocked out Oscar De La Hoya (a retired Mexican-American boxer) in a fight called "Dream Match".
2. Bordeaux Cherry Ice Cream with Chocolate (inside a local Laura Secord shop).
3. Breakfast of Cherry Jam & Cream Cheese on Toasted English Muffin and hot tea.
4. Breakfast of Cherry Jam Cinnamon Pancakes (yup, that's Barnyard... the cat).

Bringing back the Cherry Cherry Boom Boom Pow flavour to my blog 'cause I miss it.

Adieu,
Massa P aka "fruity"

fruityÖaty.

Hello. It's been 8 months since I last blogged. I recently had a moment of clarity when I forced myself to sort out why I have this blog when I don't blog here. I'm writing today because to vote for a Bloggers' Choice Award (National) nominee in the 2009 Philippine Blog Awards, you have to submit a post.

My fruity oaty vote for the 2009 Bloggers' Choice Special Award (National) goes to... Billycoy's Blasted Brain Blogs, a blog written in Filipino (how well, I'm not entirely sure 'cause I'm not fluent in Filipino). Billycoy is quite a character, entertaining... and very Pinoy. OK, his blog sucks ass and reading it gives me a unholy nose bleed, but the narcissistic bloke deserves a few votes, eh? I hope you win, muddafucka bastard.

Maybe if Billycoy wins, I'll pay someone to pull a Kanye West. Bwahaha, lame joke.

I divulge that my blog is also nominated in the same category. Truthfully, I've grown weary of Pinoy blog popularity contests and all the "I'll scratch your ass if you scratch mine" games. But I do appreciate the social networking and community building aspects of these contests. Yes, I know who nominated me and yes, your joke got my attention. Tickles my funny bone. Thank you. (Is it just me who IMHO... thinks that the list of Bloggers' Choice Award nominees this year includes a lot of crappy blogs created mostly for Google AdSense? Please don't flame me... Yes, I did actually check out each blog.)

Anyway, a few days ago, I saw bits of the movie Girl, Interrupted (starring Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie, Whoopi Goldberg) on TV. I've seen the movie before, but not a bleep censored version. All that bleeping of verbal profanity was jarring and muddled the context of some of the scenes. Do you remember that scene where Jolie's character "Lisa" asks Ryder's character "Susanna" if she can bum a cigarette? Susanna gives her one of her French cancer sticks. Lisa takes a smoke and exhales it towards an older catatonic woman sitting next to Susanna. The old patient doesn’t react at all. After Lisa leaves, Susanna pulls the same stunt and blows smoke at the old woman's face. The woman slowly turns around, faces her and yells, "Asshole!" That old woman actually had one line (well, one word) in the entire movie, but the censored movie version bleeped out her one line. This got me thinking about self-censorship...

I have always tried to refrain from becoming one of those bloggers who share the blow-by-blow details of their lives and let their personal messes spill over to their blogs. You know the type - uses a blog as an outlet... a form of therapy for depression? Well, that's just not me because for me... trying to blog about depression when I'm depressed is, well, downright depressing. To quote Mark Twain, "The unexamined life may not be worth living, but the life too closely examined may not be lived at all." It's not healthy to live inside one's head, know what I mean? But I'm not implying that I've stayed away from this blog because of 8 months of depression. LOL. It's... complicated.

Sorry for not replying to your comments and e-mails. It was a hard decision to disengage (both from online and offline pals). I know I've lost a lot of readers. For the few who decide to stick around... thank you, twice. I will now try to reply and blog hop.

Wow, this post wasn't short at all. But it was a focused effort, albeit... muddled result.

OK, I'll be back soon with a full serving of fruity and a side dish of oaty. Literally.

Asshole.

Adieu,
Massa P aka "fruity"

P.S. Wince or mince words, but please don't throw flaming pumpkins at me. I prefer flaming marshmallows sans the burnt wooden stick. Mmm, oooey gooey goodness.

fruityÖaty.

This is my 100th post after 2 years and 5 months! The last time I blogged was 33 days ago... which was last year. Chuck out the 7 posts in 2008 and you could say last year was a non-blogging period. So, this being another comeback, one might assume I'd write something... special? Umm, no. But what's really grand is this fine day! Today is MY BIRTHDAY and my pal Jim Caro celebrates his wedding anniversary as well as his cousin's birthday. Oh, so maybe you're wondering the post title's relation to today's festivities? Well, not much. Today, I'm going to turn you on to the humble... pumpkin. Did you know that in a botanical context, pumpkins are fruits? In botany, a fruit is the ripened ovary - together with seeds - of a flowering plant. Pumpkins have seeds inside, so pumpkins are fruits. (I know, I know. Have patience. Read on, please.)

Don't worry, "Barnyard" and "B-Cat" didn't get their kitty paws on my sister's yummy frosted Pumpkin Pocket Cookies and Pumpkin Pancakes (recipe by Martha Stewart)! They were outside in the backyard garden porch, behind the closed sliding glass door. (I prefer food photography done outdoors in natural lighting or near sunny windows.) Kitties always seem to know when I'm taking photos of food and come running, LOL.

Pumpkins... as food. You either love 'em or hate 'em! I mean... unless they're mixed with spices or sugar or salt or cream or broth, who really wants to eat a steaming pile of plain pumpkins? Not me. But by the end of this post, I'll turn you on... to pumpkins.

"Today is the greatest - Day I've ever known - Can't live for tomorrow, - Tomorrow's much too long - I'll burn my eyes out - Before I get out - I want to turn you on"

The post title refers to the song "Today" by Smashing Pumpkins, but it's mostly about the delicious parade of pumpkin porn in this post. I axed the original title "Pumpkin Porn" after imagining the search engine traffic from weirdos with deviant sexual proclivities for gourd smut. (Did you land here via those search terms? Congrats, you're a pervert.) The song sounds upbeat, but the dark lyrics actually tell a tale of depression. Lead vocalist Billy Corgan wrote the song about a day in which he was having suicidal thoughts. Oh, relax. I don't mean I'm feeling sad today. OK?

Hover your mouse cursor over any image to read its description. To cycle through all thumbnails, click on first thumbnail to view the full-size image. Pumpkin goodies:

Info on the last 10 photos of pumpkin desserts, etc. above (from top row, left to right):

1. B-Cat begs for my sister's soft, moist cakey Pumpkin Pocket Cookies (with cream cheese vanilla frosting) and stalks a tin box of non-frosted cookies. Yum!
2. My sister's Thanksgiving Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie (pumpkinlicious!) and a steaming hearty bowl of my delicious Jamaican Pumpkin Beef Noodle Soup.
3. Tim Hortons' Pumpkin Spice Tea, Pumpkin Spice Donut, and Pumpkin Spice Muffin (seasonal items, sold for a limited time last Fall). Pumpkin Ice Cream from Ed's Scoop ice cream store in Toronto (OMG, tastes like pumpkin pie)!
4. My sister and I went to a mall where this cute guy (Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!) flirted with sis while she ate her first ever A&W burger (long funny story), then we went to Bailey's Farm in Caledon, Ontario (beautiful pumpkin patch).
5. More photos of my sister's frosted Pumpkin Pocket Cookies! Nom nom nom!

Lastly, have you seen the PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) ad called "Veggie Love" that NBC banned from airing during this Super Bowl Sunday? Racy! It features scantily-clad female models clutching, no... molesting various vegetables, promoting "STUDIES SHOW VEGETARIANS HAVE BETTER SEX. GO VEG." Oh, really? NBC e-mailed PETA a list of reasons for AD FAIL, e.g. "licking pumpkin". This video is NSFW (Not Safe for Work and Not Safe for Vegetables everywhere, LOL):

Oh yeah, did I mention that I'm going to return to writing more food porn memoirs?

Adieu,
Massa P aka "fruity" sugar 'n spice 'n everything nice

P.S. Happy New Year & Chinese New Year! *smashes sad pumpkins of yesteryear*

fruityÖaty.

This is my 99th post since my blog's inception 2 years and 4 months ago. It's also only my 7th this year. Ehrm, so I haven't actually been churning 'em out with great frequency and enthusiasm. Ho-hum. I meant to publish this entry on Christmas Day, but obviously that never happened. Ho-ho-hum. It's late, but I still would like to greet y'all a belated Merry Christmas! I hope y'all had a nice Christmas like I did. I would also like to thank my loyal few readers for tolerating my frequent absences and shitty posts. Your continued support and comments give me the warm fuzzies (sometimes, nausea). You guys (should) know who you are, so I'll skip the names and links love fest here. If you jump away from the rest of this post, you'll miss 8 LOLcat pics of Max, a short YouTube video of Max with his reindeer antlers, and a photo of fruity me. If Max had his way, this blog wouldn't exist and I'd be... dead, LOL.

Max with his reindeer antlers, purring (pump up the volume) and watching snow fall:

If YouTube is offline, download this QuickTime .mov video (29 sec., 992 KB).

Hover your mouse cursor over any image to read its description. To cycle through all thumbnails, click on the first thumbnail to view full-size image. Umm... Max demonstrates the themes of hatred, anonymity, prejudice, humour, futility, shame, intolerance and peace... the ingredients of an epic novel (yes, I am SO BAD):

I wanted to include a photo of me, but this grapefruit and cherries photo was less ugly:

Your comments which may or may not involve the themes of pride, hatred, anonymity, prejudice, humour, futility, shame, intolerance and peace are welcome. Wow, I do miss my blog, even the "you suck, you're killing Max, get a life" hate mail. Whirligig.

All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names. They never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games. (BRB next year with new games and 100th post!)

Adieu,
Massa P aka "fruity"

P.S. I have very little control over Max's feeding schedule. My over-doting (overdosing) parents dish out the food. And telling my parents to ease the food overdose... is futile.

fruityÖaty.

Yesterday, Americans went to the polls to vote in an historic election that saw the first African-American man in U.S. history win the White House 232 years after the nation was founded under the idea that all men are created equal. Progress springs forward. According to a recent poll, if Canadians could vote in the U.S. election, we would have chosen Barack Obama over John McCain. So, thank you America for getting it right! Unfortunately, my fellow Canadians got it so wrong when they shooed in Conservative bonehead Stephen Harper as our leader. We're often more interested in the American political carnival than the politics in our own country maybe because our gun-toting, war-happy neighbours to the south could nuke us one day. Sarah Palin, you scare me. But enough of this political talk! I don't blog to use my brain, so why start now? Recent events have reminded me of how fast time has flown this year. November!

Regarding my recent Halloween post, a quick easy read in comparison to my usual long winding ones, it garnered only 4 comments whereas I've gotten loads for much more boring stories. Huh, interesting. Well, thanks Ann, Joyfulchicken, Scart, and Sash for leaving your mark on my blog! It's been a battle for me to sustain my interest in public blogging. A huge part of me now just wants to blog privately. So when you drop a few words here, it strengthens the case for not closing up shop... not yet.

Hey, I've officially written more shit in the entire month of October than the combined total of 2 stinking entries from January to September! If you've been reading my so-called comeback posts, did you notice that I've been including more photos? Yeah, that's the new format around here. Less words and more pics to tell part of the story.

Last Sunday, I had to set all my clocks one hour back because of Daylight Saving Time. Spring forward, Fall back? Bleah... DST adjustments throw off my internal space/time continuum. Getting one hour extra sleep actually makes me feel more sluggish... My body is still adjusting. Anyway, the clock thing reminded me that this year is almost at an end. A glum year of dashed hopes and disappointments (many were of my own making). So I tell myself that I must still try to salvage what I can of this year, but time flies too fast. Or it sneaks up on you and pounces. Sigh. So tired.

Ah, yes... the photos. The 1st photo above belongs to the first set of photos I snapped of B-Cat this past Spring. He has grown a bit since then. The 2nd photo is currently the last photo I shot of the frisky fella, just a few days ago. Isn't he just so adorable?

Hover your mouse cursor over any image to read its description. To cycle through all thumbnails, click on the first thumbnail to view full-size image. Enjoy! The first 6 photos below were taken in the Spring. The last two were snapped a few days ago:

I know I probably come across as a Crazy Cat Chick. I really don't care. He's... cute!

Adieu,
fruity fell hard

P.S. For the record, I preferred Hillary Clinton based on the idea that all QUALIFIED men and women are created equal. But Sarah Palin... no. To paraphrase Sarah Palin, "I can see United States from my house in Canada!" And also those nukes.

fruityÖaty.