It's Just a World Full of Wonder and Delight: Off ni Day at ni Dudung

I've always had this penchant for tagalog love stories. Oh well, call me corny, baduy, bakya, whatever, I don't give a single damn, I just love it---it's like Bea Alonzo and John Lloyd Cruz's tandem are giving hope for a hopeless romantic like me.

...and so we watched this movie of Aga Muhlach, Maricel Soriano and Angelica Panganiban---A Love Story--- if I'm not mistaken... Rasha didn't bother to join though I exerted all my super powers to pursuade her. Luckily, Gummy and Joey accompanied me. (sapilitan nga lang!) You would laugh when you see Joey's reaction! Sobrang hiyang hiya siya baka daw meron makakilala sa kanya. Oh well, inevitable dahil sa work niya magiging SIKAT ka talga! Pero sa totoo lang thrice palang (to date 14th of April) ako nakakapasok sa movie house dito sa Abu Dhabi, kasi naman ang mahal, Aed30, it's like approximately Php330. Dahil Chinese ako, likas na daw ang pagiging kurips...

Aba nagenjoy si Day at si Dudung sa palabas na ito!

Although saddened by the fact that my flatmate didn't join, Gummy and I just indulged ourselves into Joey's treat at Chili's. It was a delightful evening and our tummies were all full. The strawberry cheesecake was one of the best!

*************************************************************
One Sheesha Is Equivalent to Smoking 18 CigarettesMaha Akeel • Arab News Staff

JEDDAH, 16 July 2003 — In the last decade, argila (hubbly bubbly) smoking has become a popular pastime for many Saudi women. As cafes and restaurants that provide argila attract more and more customers, habitual smokers talk about the various flavors with excitement. Lately, argila has become a fashionable home accessory for women, and unique pipes, inlaid with silver, gold and precious stones, are prized possessions

However, there is little awareness of the harmful effects of argila smoking. Most campaigns against smoking are focused on cigarettes. Not much research has been done on argila and sheesha, and many assume that they are not as harmful as cigarettes. Maha is a young woman who began smoking argila 13 years ago with her friends. “I smoke about three to four a week in my free time or socially,” she told Arab News. “I don’t think it’s that bad for my health and I don’t think it’s addictive. I can quit any time,” she said.

The reason it has become so popular, she says, is because society is more accepting now of women smoking publicly even if some families still don’t approve of their daughters or wives smoking at home. Thirty or even twenty years ago, a woman who smoked in public was looked upon unfavorably, and her habit curtailed her social life. But now it’s the other way round. Asma learned to smoke argila from her husband over twenty years ago in the privacy of their home, and even though he quit, she still smokes at home and in public.

Men perhaps more commonly smoke sheesha. “It smells bad and leaves stains on the ceiling and it’s much stronger than argila,” complained Maha.

The dentistry department at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Jeddah is cooperating with The Nobel Medical Research Institute in Sweden on a study about the effects of smoking shisha and argila on oral health. The research team, consisting of five doctors headed by Saudi dentist Dr. Mostafa Baljoon, will conduct the study in Saudi Arabia for a month starting on July 15, 2003 and they are looking for about 300 to 400 volunteers, smokers and non-smokers. “We will be taking clinical measurements, x-rays, DNA tests and a clinical questionnaire,” Dr. Buljoon told Arab News. “The aim is to study the effect of different types of smoking habits on oral health. “There are conflicting theories on where the negative effects of smoking begin, and the weakening of the immunity system that can cause cancer — in the mouth or in the lungs,” he explained. “Many people here think that smoking sheesha is less of a health hazard than cigarettes because there isn’t much research on sheesha, but it has been found that sheesha has more nicotine in it and that smoking one sheesha is equivalent to smoking 18 cigarettes,” he said.

*************************************************************

There it goes... My first trial for sheesha... We're warned from the training academy, but I'm an explorer. I don't want to leave this country without even trying their 'pamosong' smoke-belcher-kill-your-lungs way of puffing.

The hit-hit-buga style...Of course I'm not a smoker and sheesha doesn't have any filter at all. The nicotine goes directly to your lungs and I hardly don't want to stain both!