Le Besoin de Réponses

Le Besoin de Réponses http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/ Bonjour, chacun! Bienvenue à mon emplacement! Enter a world filled with music and mischief as you join me on a journey that explores the very depths of human imagination. There are no rules here; just keep yourself open for the next adventure. Merci de la visite. Sat, 5 Jul 2008 20:38:41 -0000 Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:38:00 -0000 Le Besoin de Réponses http://images.yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/logo http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com 100 100 Yes, I STILL Hate Colegiala Girls... On the first of October in 1998, I went to work thinking that it was going to be an ordinary day.  I was, of course, wrong.  An officemate came running to my desk, waving the day's issue of The Philippine Daily Inquirer.  An essay I wrote in a fit of pique with one of the account executives (a convent-bred bitch with the look of an angel and the personality of Satan himself) was featured as the day's essay in the paper's Youngblood section. Two years later, the essay was featured in the Youngblood 2.0 compilation. I thought I'd share it with you today.  I just realized that the angst of ten years ago, still holds true for the youth of today. Why I Hate Colegiala Party Girls By Midge K. Manlapig I hate colegialas, those convent-bred denizens of high society who tend to overwhelm the brown-skinned majority with their Castilian features and porcelain-like skin.  The same girls you see in the party-hopping photo spreads of all the upbeat/upmarket fashion rag... http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/journal/item/129/Yes_I_STILL_Hate_Colegiala_Girls... Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:38:00 -0000 Wanted: Illustrator for No Need for Normalcy! Hi, everyone!  I'm still working on No Need for Normalcy, but I was thinking of doing a little experiment by re-doing one chapter in comic or manga format. This little brainstorm came from a comment made by my good friend <a href="http://nixcn.multiply.com/">Nix</a> on Chapter Four.  At the same time, I'm also trying to find a good publisher for this particular tale.  Suggestions welcome.  ;) If you're interested or know anyone interested, please feel free to <a href="mailto:midge.manlapig@gmail.com?subject=Illustrator%20-%20No%20Need%20for%20Normalcy%21">email</a> me or call/text me at 0915-8517362.  As a point of reference (characters, character interaction), please refer to the story's <a href="http://vanillamarmalad.livejournal.com/24191.html">Prologue</a> to get acquainted with the five main characters (Gilbert, Luce, Bettina, Shinichi, and http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/journal/item/128/Wanted_Illustrator_for_No_Need_for_Normalcy Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:09:00 -0000 This Modern Girl's [Sorta Old-fashioned] Med-kit <a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/vanillamarmalad/pic/00018q7h/"><img width="320" height="240" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/vanillamarmalad/pic/00018q7h/s320x240" /></a> I don’t mind getting sick; in fact it gives me a break from all the stresses I have to face every day. At the same time, it allows me to indulge in a number of pleasurable remedies that should really be part of any girl’s home medical kit. That might come as a shock to many of you as you may see no true pleasure in getting sick, but being ill is no excuse for feeling sorry for yourself or for depriving yourself of even the simplest treats. As with virtually every other pleasure in life, the key here is moderation. With all that said, here’s my list of the things that we should keep in stock: An Oil Burner This is great for diffusing essential oils into the air either as vapor therapy or for general area disinfection. Essential Oil of Bergamot The citrus scent of this popular essential oil is said to promote optimism as it helps clear the mind whenever diffused via an oil burner. At the same time, it is a key element in aromatherapy for depression, the common cold, influenza, and sea... http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/journal/item/127/This_Modern_Girls_Sorta_Old-fashioned_Med-kit Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:37:00 -0000 VAMPS - LOVE ADDICT The new single from VAMPS, a team-up between J-rock icons Hyde and http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/video/item/19/VAMPS_-_LOVE_ADDICT Fri, 13 Jun 2008 22:00:22 -0000 The Brownie to Beat All Brownies  Cross-posting this from my food blog... <img width="320" height="240" class="aligncenter" style="vertical-align: middle; " src="http://usera.imagecave.com/scintillation/sybdive/09-06-08_152727.jpg" alt="Brownies!" /=""> Seriously speaking, who doesn't like brownies? I have yet to meet anyone who hates these rich chocolate squares, either the satisfying cakey sort or the tempting fudgy kind. I hadn't baked brownies in quite a while and, since Monday was a holiday, I decided to march into the kitchen to make a batch. Unfortunately for me, I peeked into the jar of unsweetened cocoa and discovered - horror of horrors! - that there was scarcely a little over a quarter-cup of the stuff left. Now, what's a girl supposed to do in the face of such a dilemma?Why, augment the cocoa with a couple squares of unsweetened chocolate, of course! The resulting brownie was a cross between the cake-type and the fudge-type: an incredibly satisfying chocolate square that was neither cloying nor insipid. I should tell you at this point to:<ul style="text-align: justify; "><li>Add a tablespoon of instant coffee to the batter. You can barely taste the java, but it adds a smoky richness to the finished product;</li> <li>Add c... http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/journal/item/126/The_Brownie_to_Beat_All_Brownies Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:55:00 -0000 No Need for Normalcy! - Chapter Five My I just say that my life has been totally topsy-turvey this past week? In the meantime, I leave you with the next installment of No Need for Normalcy! This time, we spend the day with Gilbert... Chapter Five: On Saturdays and Caramel Corn Saturday afternoon. Gilbert heaved a sigh of relief as he switched off the projector. Truth be told, he was bone-tired and his throat hurt. He had no regrets, however; this was what he wanted after all. He spent the morning facilitating an awareness training session for some of his colleagues. Some were newbies who were completely in the dark as to how Info Architects performed certification audits. Others were old-timers who simply needed to refresh their knowledge about the various processes related to the act of certification. Since Ravi was out of town, Gilbert took over for him. He was scared to death when he arrived at the office that morning, mortally afraid that his audience probably had a stash of tomatoes hidden somewhere to throw at... http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/journal/item/125/No_Need_for_Normalcy_-_Chapter_Five Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:56:00 -0000 Sir Rollie's Birthday Photos taken during celebratory lunch at Kenny Rogers Roasters, Quezon http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/photos/album/8/Sir_Rollies_Birthday Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:13:08 -0000 Marga Manlapig on Booksie Most of my stuff was originally posted either here on Multiply or on LiveJournal. This nifty little site helps me get my work through to a larger http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/links/item/9/Marga_Manlapig_on_Booksie Sat, 7 Jun 2008 23:28:18 -0000 SpellSpace Just the most frighteningly accurate Tarot readings http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/links/item/8/SpellSpace Sat, 7 Jun 2008 23:24:14 -0000 No Need for Normalcy! - Chapter Four And so, my dear Vanilla Marmalade / Le Besoin de Reponses readers, I give you the next exciting chapter of No Need for Normalcy! Chapter Four: [Don’t] Get Thee to a Nunnery “Oh m’gawd!” Luce didn’t have to turn to know who just screamed. She would know that incredibly nasal, rather effeminate, yet utterly charming voice anywhere. She spun around and waved at the speaker, a wide grin threatening to split her face. “Yuya-chan!” she shouted, pushing her way through the wave of new arrivals at Narita. Yukinojo Yamazaki – nicknamed Yuya – was Pleiades Project’s lead guitarist and one of Luce’s closest friends. Back when Luce was still the band’s publicist, they had tons of fun playing pranks on everyone, shopping in Harajuku, and pigging out on the magnificent tonkatsu over at Tonki in Meguro with the band’s rhythm guitarist Shura Hasegawa. Even after she left, they’d kept in touch and he was always the one who picked her up from the airport whenever she came to Japan for her summer vacat... http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/journal/item/124/No_Need_for_Normalcy_-_Chapter_Four Tue, 3 Jun 2008 23:33:00 -0000 No Need for Normalcy! - Chapter Three Hi, everyone! I apologize for the delay in updating this particular story. Things have been totally insane at work. (More about that soon as I find time to post about it.) In the meantime, if you were wondering what happened to Gilbert after Chapter Two, look no further as the answers are all here... Chapter Three: Advice from Those who Matter <a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/vanillamarmalad/pic/00023229/"><img width="320" height="240" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/vanillamarmalad/pic/00023229/s320x240" /=""></a> It was Sophia Kua’s 85th birthday and she summoned her remaining children along with her small army of grandchildren and great-grandchildren to Hong Kong for what she hoped would be a magnificent celebration. The elegant matriarch had commandeered the Spring Moon at the Peninsula for her birthday banquet. About an hour before the festivities, she had her chauffer drop her off at the Pen to personally supervise the final arrangements. She was overseeing the placement of the towering floral centerpieces on the tables when Gilbert Huang, youngest son of her deceased favorite daughter Anastacia, arrived. “Syoti!” Sophia exclaimed as she hugged her y... http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/journal/item/123/No_Need_for_Normalcy_-_Chapter_Three Thu, 29 May 2008 18:23:00 -0000 ONCE: Falling Slowly One of my favorite tunes; the 2008 Academy Award winner for best Original Song for a Motion http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/video/item/18/ONCE_Falling_Slowly Sun, 25 May 2008 21:48:35 -0000 Vanilla Marmalade My literary blog. I usually post most of my stuff here and it automatically gets cross-posted here on Multiply. The usual barrage of poems, stories, and essays make their debut http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/links/item/7/Vanilla_Marmalade Sun, 25 May 2008 12:03:33 -0000 Stradcom Outing A resked; the last typhoon left us pretty much http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/calendar/item/10010/Stradcom_Outing Sun, 25 May 2008 11:59:48 -0000 SQPM Night Out! Pics taken just before we went to City Best along http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/photos/album/7/SQPM_Night_Out Wed, 21 May 2008 12:56:59 -0000 I am Green Tea Pocky... "Filched" off <a href="http://karadin.livejournal.com/profile"><img width="17" height="17" src="http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif" alt="[info]" style="border: 0pt none ; vertical-align: bottom; padding-right: 1px;" /></a><a href="http://karadin.livejournal.com/">karadin</a>'s LJ: <a href="http://sugardew.com/bloggalicious/quizzies/pocky/pockyquiz.htm"><img width="300" height="150" alt="" src="http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j284/faerieberry/tea.gif" /> what flavor pocky are you?</a> <a href="http://sugardew.com">[c] sugardew</a> http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/journal/item/118/I_am_Green_Tea_Pocky... Wed, 14 May 2008 21:38:00 -0000 Swirl <a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/vanillamarmalad/pic/0001ye74/"><img width="320" height="240" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/vanillamarmalad/pic/0001ye74/s320x240" /></a> you have set my mind reeling from shock: my heart is pounding, my thoughts swirl through my head like galaxies whirling through space. i feel like dancing, pirouetting on my toes and letting the breeze catch me up and spin me like a top. love makes me go around in circles, spirals, whorls, curlicues... i am dizzy but just too happy to care. http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/journal/item/116/Swirl Thu, 8 May 2008 15:09:00 -0000 Murray Head - One Night In Bangkok One of my favorite songs from the '80s! Murray Head doing a song from the soundtrack of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Chess http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/video/item/17/Murray_Head_-_One_Night_In_Bangkok Sun, 4 May 2008 09:51:13 -0000 Je suis une Femme Potelée <a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/vanillamarmalad/pic/0001xdf5/"><img width="180" height="240" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/vanillamarmalad/pic/0001xdf5/s320x240" /></a> (The title translates as "I am a Chubby Woman" which is, alas, precisely what I am.  The following poem is a rant against the image of women being promoted through the media.  You do not have to be skinny [scrawny] to be beautiful, ladies!  Our bodies were actually meant to gain flesh!  I call for a return to appreciation for the good things in life and a totalitarian ban on anorexic models.) yes, i will not deny the fact that i am probably heavier than most of you. my figure is fuller, my face rounder - but really: i would rather be me than you. i evoke peaches and plums at the peak of ripeness, the lushness of mangoes honeyed and golden in their ripeness. i am more in tune with the earth and sky, cold sea and raging inferno. mock me if you think you need to - but i know the truth: my beauty - and that of those like me - will outlast yours. http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/journal/item/115 Fri, 2 May 2008 21:14:00 -0000 Moonlight This is definitely not your average, ordinary supernatural series. In Moonlight, the vampire Mick St. John works as a private investigator in the Big Apple. His unusual nature allows him to gravitate towards some of the more baffling - oftentimes gory - cases that have left others stumped. The series is something of a journey towards self-discovery for Mick as he interacts with both humans and his fellow vampires. Indeed, what sets this show apart from most of the usual supernatural shows is its highly introspective focus and its obvious emphasis on morality and the various ways by which people - and vampires - are judged by those around http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/reviews/item/12 Sat, 26 Apr 2008 22:24:28 -0000 Été Dans les Tropiques <a href="/photos/hi-res/upload/SBOljwoKCkUAADh9IRk1"><img class="alignmiddleb" src="http://images.yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/SBOljwoKCkUAADh9IRk1/07-04-07_062926.jpg?et=7ErV1HhCWFREkba1DTDe9A&nmid=" border="0"></a>refresh me with the succulence, the honeyed tang of ripeness, the wild, sharp flavor of the sun. as my teeth sink into golden flesh, i close my eyes and sigh... ...wishing you were here to share my pleasure. http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/journal/item/114 Sat, 26 Apr 2008 22:13:21 -0000 Douceur D'Écarlate <a href="/photos/hi-res/upload/SBLOkwoKCkUAADAifXU1"><img class="alignmiddleb" src="http://images.yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/image/1/photos/upload/300x300/SBLOkwoKCkUAADAifXU1/07-04-07_071132.jpg?et=2VZHqeUeZ6REVMV4%2CtrIrQ&nmid=" border="0"></a> the scarlet sweetness lingers on my tongue like a memory on my mind, like a song in my head... it entices, quenches, soothes, chills, excites my senses - and i am ready for the next adventure. http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/journal/item/113 Sat, 26 Apr 2008 06:45:30 -0000 Thé Glacé <a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/vanillamarmalad/pic/0001wws6/"><img width="180" height="240" border="0" alt="" src="http://pics.livejournal.com/vanillamarmalad/pic/0001wws6/s320x240" /></a> soothe my parched soul with honeyed words, cool my fevered brow with a breezy whisper. slake my thirst for love with slow kisses tasting of strawberries and wine. save me from the ruinous heat of anger and passion untamed; rein me in, make me your own. http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/journal/item/112 Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:04:00 -0000 The Gilding of a Most Unusual Mother: A Daughter's Sentiments on her Mother's turning Fifty Author's Note: I wrote the following essay at the behest of one of my mother's classmates back in 1998 as Mom got ready to celebrate her 50th birthday.  Mom's turning 60 next month, so I opted to do a reprint as a tribute to her.  Many things have changed since this essay was originally written, but I still think my mother is one of the coolest women I have ever met. I think I was about seventeen or eighteen when I realized that my mother was not like everyone else's. Come to think of it, it came at the time when I also realized that I wasn't like everyone else either. I must admit that I hated my mother while I was growing up.  Until I turned eighteen, everything wrong that happened to me was my mother's fault.  I felt that my point of view was justified because my mother would scold and she did believe in corporal punishment whenever my brother and I did anything wrong.  It was so frustrating. However, what I didn't understand was why I wasn't going cr... http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/journal/item/111/_The_Gilding_of_a_Most_Unusual_Mother_A_Daughters_Sentiments_on_her_Mothers_turning_Fifty Mon, 21 Apr 2008 03:05:53 -0000 Across The Universe, in Theaters 9/14 Jim Sturgess sings Girl, a classic Beatles song from the fantastic film Across the Universe http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/video/item/16/Across_The_Universe_in_Theaters_914 Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:39:05 -0000 INFJ <a href="http://margakm.mypersonality.info" target="_top"><img border="0" src="http://badges.mypersonality.info/badge/0/6/65923.png" alt="Click to view my Personality Profile page" /></a> http://yaminoshuuen.multiply.com/journal/item/108/INFJ Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:58:00 -0000