A love worth dying for...

So yesterday I found out at two in the morning that my Kinder Garten puppy love which lasted up until the third grade actually killed himself because, get this, he and his gf broke up. I later on I was informed he used a gun to and shot a bullet through his head. I still can't believe it though well, we were not close and the last time I saw him, he applied for the company I was working in 4 years ago but he didn't make the cut. He was with his gf and I guess I just forgot about him all this time. I especially made a blog about him because I guess he was one of my earliest childhood memories. My first crush, my first kiss, technically, my first boyfriend. Yup I had a bf when I was 5 years old but I didn't really understand what it meant back then. He just told me during recess, "You're now my gf" and I said, "Sure, as long as we break up when we go home!" and he said, "Deal". I still talk about the time when he kissed me I went home crying because I thought I was going to get pregnant and my mom laughed at me and said you don't get pregnant through a kiss. (Well, duh I was 5) I still remember we used to call each other on the phone when our parents didn't know. I remembered the digits still. Anyway, I can't believe he is gone. Do you know that feeling that you know there something that has been there your whole life and you don't really notice or care about it until it is gone? Well I guess this is that feeling I am getting right now. I guess I was used to his memory being someone from my childhood, that I just thought I might see him as I grow old probably laugh out the memories and just be friends or maybe not.

I never communicated with him after we graduated grade school. We went on to separate roads of our life and apparently he cut his way short...I can understand how much pain his parents are probably feeling right now as they lost their only son and for what? A girl. A girl, I heard, broke up with him after 7 years of being steady. I don't know what happened and I am not in the position to judge. I mean, you can't be forced to be with someone, right? Damn at the age of 25, we still are in that steep climb up the mountain of life, not knowing where to go , meeting new people, choosing careers, or to start a family and that's where the adventure lies and there's so many beautiful things in life that he won't be able to see or experience anymore. It is already too late.. he just had to make it too late.

I wondered the whole day, what was he thinking when he was holding that gun? I can imagine he was probably crying, shaking, almost at the point of puking. He probably thought, "It's over.. My life has no meaning." As he pointed that gun through his forehead, was he thinking, "I can do this. I can do this. I can do this." I think his parents must be devastated now. They really love him. Back then I remembered saying to myself, "Wow, He's so lucky he has parents who really cared about him." They always picked him up at school and he always sat in the middle of their jeep so he won't fall off. I am not a stalker but I will say I actually still remember the plate number. (Well maybe a little bit) When we carpooled to school, his mom would always give him his bag and lunch and kissed him goodbye. I was a bit jealous because my parents were both working so, usually, the maid was the one who made sure I got to school on time. Did he think about them at all? How they would feel if they lost him, did it cross his mind just one bit.? When my nephew died, it was only then I found out that when you die, everyone left here will spend P250,000 at least for your wake and burial not to mention the grief. Did he even consider that? I guess so many questions popped into my head, I will never get the answer.

The million dollar question is: "Was she worth dying for?", he clearly said yes. How can anybody who cost you your life be worth dying for? Anyway, it's a rhetorical question, no one should answer that. No one is to blame but him, he pulled the trigger, he chose to bail out and life goes on. She will move on. His parents will move on. I'll move on after I publish this blog. But him? He'll just be another memory with a bitter end.

I plan to visit him at his wake but I don't know where. I'm waiting for some of my friends to update me. It wouldn't be proper that I would not be there to say goodbye. Goodbye old friend. I'll say a little prayer for you tonight.. RIP "MRD"

How to cook rice perfectly?

Image via Wikipedia

Rice. The staple food of the Philippines. For us filipinos, we can't survive a day without rice. Have you eaten rice with TUYO or BUWAD in bisaya? Yumyum. Rice has many health properties and studies show that eating rice reduce the risk of certain disease. It also is a great way to boost immune system and good source of energy. Rice is food for the brain so having a "no rice diet" is definitely not recommended for people who are studying for the bar like me.

As important as eating rice is, the same thing as the value of knowing how to cook it to perfection. I may not be a chef but I can definitely teach you how to cook rice. You may say you can use a rice cooker but that's just cheating. :P I will teach you in this blog how to cook rice that makes people think that you ARE using a rice cooker. Especially in some situations where you don't have a rice cooker you going out camping, a rice cooker is not available. Cook rice with too much water, you get porridge, cook it with too little water and you get something so hard it hurts to swallow. Cook it with you fire too high, you get black, bitter or brownish rice and you don't want that. Of course, you should make sure it's cooked so if you cook it with too little fire you get something wrong and bad for your stomach. So my point is, I will now teach you simple methods to cook rice.

What you need:

Rice

Water

Cup

Deep pot with cover (preferably something especially used to cook rice)   

Stove (electric or gas)

1) Get your cup and use it to get some cup-full of rice and transfer it to your deep pot. Make sure you remember the number of cups of rice you used. Make sure your pot is AT MOST 1/4 filled with rice if you plan to cook a lot of rice.

2) Wash your rice. You usually do this by filling your pot with water and using your hand to wash the rice then draining the water and doing it again for at least three times.

3) Then after you are finished draining, get your cup, fill it with water corresponding to the number of rice you put it. Then after you are done, add an extra 1 1/2 cup of water. So the ratio would be one cup of rice to one cup of water. Don't forget to add the extra one and a half cup of water.

4) Cover the pot and place the deep pot or rice pot on the stove and turn it on the the highest flame and wait for the water inside your deep pot to start boiling. (around 5-8 mins from the moment you turned on the stove)

5) The moment it starts boiling, you have to turn the heat back down to the lowest heat and allow the rice to rise up and simmer. check your rice periodically to see if it is growing. it should grow the same as your water level.

6) If your rice has grown because it absorbed all the water already. Turn off the stove. You turn off the stove only when the rice has grown to the level of the water and it still is a bit moist. Let the rice settle and continue to cook without the fire. After about 5 mins. You may take out the rice and put it in a plate. The rice should like like moist but not wet. It will eventually dry up in about 3 mins and there you have it. The perfect rice. The point is you use rice's special properties of absorbing water and heat to cook it. Not so dry and will still taste great even after an hour or so!