It could have been My Carabao Life

For those of you who have been reading this blog since the very beginning know that CafeAmapola was not the original name of this site. It used to be simply called Don's Raves and Rants. However, after the first three or four posts, I noticed that I was neither raving nor ranting. So I decided to change it to Cafe Amapola.
So why the name? CafeAmapola is a screenname that I was already using in Yahoo and MSN. I'm using it as a tribute to my favorite watering hole in Baguio City during my college years. I also want to name my restaurant, if I ever open one, Cafe Amapola Bar and Grill. (Yes, I do have a dream.) I have a lot of memories in Cafe Amapola and had great fun in this restaurant/bar during my freshman year with my blockmates, dormmates and partymates from Alliance of Concerned Students. Unfortunately, the establishment came down with the earthquake in 1990. And after the quake, the building it was in was condemned and demolished and it never reopened, rebuilt or relocated for that matter. I eventually found other hangouts in the City, but Cafe Amapola will always be extraspecial to me.
I thought of and considered several names for this blog...and there were plenty. But there's one that still linger in my mind: My Carabao Life. Now, how does that sound? I thought it was cute because it reminded me of a cover we had for Habagat, the Filipino Literary Magazine I edited in high school (Yes, I considered Habagat, too.) But I decided against it since it didn't really relate to me. I was born and raised in Manila and I don't want to falsely project an impression that I grew up living and riding a carabao. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I wish that I did, but the truth is I just don't know much about our national animal (except that we use them for plowing the fields).
So there, now you know the history of the name Cafe Amapola.