Everyday is a Different Story

Toy Sale!

2011-11-04T11:30:00.000+08:00

Today, I will brave the crowds and test my feet's stamina as I head on to this:

Okay, pamangkins, inaanaks and young-at-heart friends. I'm praying to finally cross you out of my list tonight. :-)

Spiral Downfall.

2011-08-07T12:28:00.000+08:00

"I hope you find happiness in what you're doing."

Geez.

But what if you can't find happiness in whatever you do? Sucks.

(Really not in the mood to write, I'm hungry and there's that KFC Tower Burger ad on TV again.)

Okay, I'll eat lunch now.

How To Be Single.

2011-07-16T21:44:00.003+08:00

If you're looking for tips on how to be good at this, no, you're on the wrong blog. It's just not what I do. How-to's and tips are not really my cup of tea. Because maybe I just can't figure some things out.

How To Be Single is the latest book I've been reading. Or should I say the first book I've been reading since I-can't-remember-the-last-time-I-have-read-a-book-for-pleasure. Yes. Emphasize on the last two words. i forgot how much fun reading was.

I've reached about a third of the book. I actually thought I wouldn't find it in the bookstores anymore since it's been unavailable in the last 3 weeks. So I immediately bought it when I found a copy last Tuesday. Pretty interesting though. I couldn't put it down. It's somehow Eat, Pray, Love meets Sex and the City.

Julie (the protagonist) is now on her third foreign city and so far, I've learned about pride, open marriage, slapping men, and even sleeping with prostitutes. (I've noticed it gets funnier and funnier with each lesson.) I'm currently browsing the website. Apparently there's a reel film about this. I should watch that when I have time. Enough time like now when I am just sitting in front of my laptop, blogging, and actually cleaning up my emails. (Sheesh. All these being connected with your friends drama is flooding my emails with lots and lots of notifications.) I hear the videos are interesting. Because they're real. And because the fictional book came from these non-fiction stories.

Do the lessons I've learned so far matter? I guess so. I'm still a mess, I have to admit. And honestly, I just realized I wanted to travel more now. Like for example, I just asked my friends to take me to the beach soon. And I am actually looking at all these websites recommending good places to go to. And speaking of my friends, last night I went to a friend's birthday party. She knows what I'm going through. And last night, yes last night was a blast because I remembered how good laughing feels. I got resurrected. I think I will be better now.

So if you're going to ask me for tips on how to be single? I have one: no man can ever define your happiness - you've got other people in your life to help you with it. =)

Steps. Stages. Levels.

2011-07-10T12:51:00.000+08:00

Why do people put off doing some things til later? Most are not ready. Some are stuck and can't imagine what it's like on the other side. There are also others who are just afraid to take a leap. We've all heard it: the first step is always the hardest. And as if pressure from other people who are expecting us to overcome whatever it is that we need to do isn't enough, facing the mirror and telling yourself you must do it is just a pain in the ass.

Yes, I'm talking about loss here. Loss of someone, loss of something, slap-in-the-face-somebody-is-no-longer-part-of-your-life. Why is it so hard to move on?

THE NILE.

Yes, I have been blind. Because I can't believe something that was making me happy suddenly turned out to be one of the hugest heartache I'll be going through in my life! That's why I refused to believe it was over.

ANGRY BIRDS.

It will never be fair. And people will always be to blame. Or maybe I am to blame too. Whatever. At least I know somebody is responsible for my loss. And just like the stupid video game, it would come to a point I would like to see somebody blow up just like the damned pigs of the game.

50% OFF.

It's true. Shopping and haggling skills were put to test as I tried to work out something that's not meant to be. Seriously, I've thought of giving up a lot just to have it all back. How pathetic. =\

PROZAC DEPENDENCE.

This, this stage has got to be the hardest for me. Come on! I've been sulking and disconnecting from love and affection. How sad is that? And yes, I do know what it feels like to sleep for 13 hours. Because being awake half the day is just sad, when I see nothing meaningful to make me want to live. And yes, I do splurge when I am depressed. Retail therapy used to work. I'm not sure now.

ACCEPTANCE.

Fine, I couldn't come up with my own term for this. Because at this point, I am so far away from this. With all the stupid decisions and self-pity I am doing, it will take too long before I can accept whatever crap happened to me. Okay?

I know I just ranted in the past 20mins. That's why I've been post-poning writing. Because I am having a hard time admitting to myself I am broken again right now. Because I don't want to be broken. Because I can't believe someone just broke me again.

Now, to go drown my sorrows with the rain.

Before I Do Bridal Fair Pre-Event Press Release

2011-05-12T09:24:00.000+08:00

Looking for the perfect wedding dress? How about a sumptuous feast for your wedding guests? Dreaming of dancing your very first dance as a couple to the soothing sound of a quartet? Are you now counting the days til you say “I do”?

This coming May, find all the things you will need for your very special day as VRC Creative Events presents Before I Do Bridal Fair 9th Edition which gathers over seventy wedding suppliers who are more than willing to extend their services to soon-to-wed couples and even debutants in making their special day a memorable one.

From May 14 to 15, 2010, the Megatrade Hall 1 of SM Megamall in Mandaluyong will be filled with seventy of the finest and most sought after wedding suppliers, as well as those neophytes in the industry, to help out all soon-to-wed couples make that dream wedding come true. Guests will enter a hall dressed up by Full Blooms Flower shop, while DJ Hitman and Andrew Que of Happy Events will play host during the fair along with a number of singers and performers who will keep guests entertained.

To better enlighten guests, The Wedding Planner Magazine, Wedding Flavours Magazine, BridalBook.ph and Kasal.comwill serve as guide on how to prepare for their special day. Proudly shown on the event’s posters is Nice Print Photography immortalizing a client’s wedding day. With a lot of options to choose from, guests will be treated to a lot surprises and amazing finds in this event, including discounts and special rates for on the spot bookings. These on the spot bookings are also the key to get a chance to 3day 2night stay at 7 Stones Boracay Suites with round trip boat transfers for 2 if luckily picked during the raffle draw at the end of the fair, along with the awarding of Best Prenup Photo Contest winners.

As for those still trying to get ideas and have not made a final decision yet on what they want for their special day, they still have a chance to win hourly the onsite raffle items from participating exhibitors. Not to be left behind, the exhibitor who gets the most number of bookings also gets credit and 3day 2night stay for 2 at Panoly Resort Hotel.

This event is also made possible with the following partners:MyBridalFair.com, Sulit.com.ph, Herword.com, Manila Bulletin, Business World, Megatrade Hall, SM Megamall and MSD Godspeed.

Soon-to-wed couples, debutants and guests can get in for free when they pre-register online athttp://bido9.doattend.com/.

Cliche.

2011-04-18T22:43:00.000+08:00

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

For a few seconds there I was blank. I scrambled my mind for an answer. I even tried to travel back in time when I was a child just to recall what I wanted to be. And just like that my brain cells were frozen. No process or thought was on my mind at that moment.

Nada.

Insert a cricket sound if you must, I could not give an answer to the question.

So ramble I did. Pathetic much. I'm probably the only twenty-something in the world who doesn't know what she wants to be. Who forgot the things she had always dreamed of. I have reached a point in my life where I do not know what to want, what to live for. I might as well be dead.

I do recall I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a five year-old kid. The thought of being in space with nothing blocking you, just you alone, was lovely to me. Then I threw the idea out a year later when I realized loneliness is just too sad and I have no idea how to deal with it. Fast forward through my formative school years, I decided that having a relationship with science is fun, exciting, which is why as geeky as it may sound, I dreamed of having a lab and becoming (genius) scientist. Or maybe I should blame that fantasy to overdosing on Dexter's Laboratory, because when I got bored with Deedee annoying Dexter and Dexter cleaning up after Deedee, I found myself being fascinated with the wonders of being a lawyer. For the love of argument maybe. Or perhaps I just like the glamor and authority a lawyer has. (Power suits also amazed me. I think I wanted a few in my closet then. I just looked at them, but not wear them. I feel old when I wear them.) I cannot remember anymore how or when I started to want my own business. And then when that phase had passed, I fell in love with the idea of being somebody's employee, and just getting up on the corporate ladder.

And today, I have no idea where I am. I feel like I'm in the middle of Shibuya. Stuck in the middle waiting for the red light to turn green, which apparently in the last two months won't, and I can't seem to cross the street without being ran over by a bus.

How morbid.

I would give anything just to know which way to go, which road to take, which green light to look out for.

It took me more than half an hour to come up with this whole entry. Kind of unusual for someone who's used to writing at the speed of thought. The writer in me probably got tired and must have died along that stupid journey of searching what to be. And I still do not know the answer to the question!

(This is frustrating. Really.)

In the middle of wanting to wrap this up and looking forward to sleeping, I suddenly remembered this song I used to sing from way back in 2004. (Please listen to the song, and do not mind the video. It's the most decent version I could find.)

So what do I want to be when I grow up?

You tell me what you want to be then I'll decide what I want to be.

Okay? Okay.

2011-04-06T21:55:00.000+08:00

In the midst of a very loud room, I can still hear my heart breaking to a million pieces.

About a gazillion thoughts ran through my head the entire day. The moment I faced the monitor of my laptop, everything just went away. Maybe because I can't bear to think about it anymore.

Here's the thing. I'm tired of the silent treatment. I'm sick of it. I'd rather hear you hate me, you're angry at me, I've hurt you than not being able to know what is wrong. It's just torture for me, it kills me.

So to sum it up, when I ask you to let go of me, please make it hard for me by asking me why. Not by agreeing to it, because that makes me feel I don't mean anything to you.

What does okay really mean?

Fortune Cookie.

2011-03-02T23:39:00.000+08:00

I was left speechless by this video today. Well written and you are just naturally drawn to the couple's conversation.

Watch and be left in awe with the end. I was. =D

Table 7 - short film from Marko Slavnic on Vimeo.

There's So Much Time To Figure Out The Rest of My Life

2011-03-01T09:03:00.001+08:00

Yesterday, two guys I like made me cry. The first one is Phoeben Teocson. It's not that he meant to make me cry, but hey, he's a wedding videographer so basically his work naturally makes some people cry. And after watching numerous videos done by him, I finally cried at one - his own wedding video. (More on Bim and his work in a different entry. I don't want to cry again this early today.)

The second outburst was because of this certain picture. It was posted somewhere on the net on a social networking site. And me being the lazy girl last night viewed it on my phone, and spent five minutes reading it. You have no idea how painfully small these letters were. I had to zoom a few times.

After wiping the tear that fell, I realize, I just had my heart broken. Again.

Watching You's the Only Drug I Need.

2011-02-20T07:47:00.000+08:00

This never fails to make me smile.

Jon-Abbie Onsite AVP from Raymond Fortun on Vimeo.

Wouldn't you smile too? =)

Of Hearts, Sappy Love Songs, and Princess Gowns.

2011-02-16T22:23:00.000+08:00

Ah.. Valentine's Day. Balentyms when I was a kid. Again, I am single. Because I choose to be. (Cue bitterness.) Haha.

Most people have their parents as their "sweetest" couple role models. Or maybe their grandparents for the longest marriage ever. I may not have parents to count on for any idea on marriage, or even love, but I do know my grandparents have been together long enough for me to have an idea of love.

But I guess an idea isn't enough. I need to see it. Feel? Had my share. And it wasn't all happy, happy, joy, joy. Because if it was, I wouldn't be sharing my bitterness here. I am happy, by the way. It's just that I am slowly losing faith in love. I think no such thing exists. It's probably all in the mind. (And at this point I would like to blame whoever cause this huge damage in me to stop believing in love.) Which is kind of ironic, really, since I am paid to I deal with people who have been in love for years.

And to them, I am thankful. Maybe, there's a part in me that still believes.There may be hope for me. :-) Allow me to share to you a video of one of my favorite couples.

fernando & abbie - same day edit from phoeben teocson on Vimeo.

Here We Go.

2011-02-09T21:33:00.001+08:00

Because this year I will get older again, and like everyone who's done something for the first time, I am making a list of stuff I want to do before my birthday. (Okay, the real "first time" part here is really this list. So don't go looking for lighting a cigarette here. Although, I haven't really done that. But that deserves another entry.) My birthday's in a little over two months. Let's see how far I'll go. I'll be crossing out stuff here to see my progress.

In no particular order.

Eat a maki/sushi platter by myself. I'm hungry and this is the first thing that came in my mind. Because sushi is love.
Lose at least 8lbs by my birthday. I am challenging myself.
Shoot at least 10 pictures everyday. And fill up my Tumblr.
Clean up the office/my own stockroom and keep it clean for at least a month. The longest it can go is 3 days.
Collect one set of Happy Meal toys. To the Fastfood god, please make McDonald's release kyoot and funny toys in the next 60 days.
Have a Facebook status with twenty likes. And it shouldn't be something about me being a loser. Haha!
Make at least THREE different cupcake flavors and repeating each flavor thrice. I am known not to repeat what I cook. Ever.
Remind the government that I still exist. And by that I mean renewing my passport, NBI clearance (and getting the renewal card), and finally getting a driver's license. Because some people do not honor my permit. Idiots.
Go on a roadtrip with my friends. Seriously. Ever since majority got jobs, we don't go out that much. We have to make time for stuff. I trust my friends to help me with this.
Eat Froyo and get all the toppings. Or at least half of what's being offered.
Save up enough money to buy a gold A ticket to the Maroon 5 concert. Somebody help me do this!
Buy shoes. Yes, shoebsession is back in my system. And I'm not just talking about one pair. I have 5 pairs in mind that I want to buy.
Have more than 25,000 tweets. I'm just on my 9,000-something. It took me a year to publish 8,000 tweets.
Eat something exotic. Something that will top jellyfish. Which isn't really that exotic. And no, intestines do not count.
Cook a meal for the family. I once said I'll try cooking Orange Chicken. It's been three months and I haven't even gone to looking for a recipe. I've bought oranges several times though.
Keep up with the apple detox diet, along with the weekend badminton-walking date with Monique and whoever we can drag. Yes, 2011 is healthy living year. Just so I can buy myself time to be in denial that I am getting old and isn't excused from being sick.
Have at least 8 blog entries every month. Reading my Multiply a few nights ago made me miss writing. And I think I know why I don't write a lot anymore. It's just too sad to tell. Which is why I want to write again.
Buy an LBD. Yes, I have been looking for a little black dress since I can't remember. If you're generous enough to give me one as a gift, please do so days before my birthday. I might just wear it. *wink*
Get a really, really expensive haircut. This I gotta do no more than two weeks before my birthday. And I'm talking about European hairstyling-runway look-head turning-chuvaness. Yes, I would splurge on my hair.
Go to the museum. Or watch a play. Anything cultural. I think I'm done with being a mall rat. For now.
Have my picture taken or portrait painted. Because people tell me I'm beautiful. I want a reminder.
Watch at least two movies every month. Now I need a movie buddy. Any volunteers? By the way, I'm not paying for you. =P
Read.
Send somebody a card, randomly. Wala lang. I just like sending mail. And receiving it. So if my recipient gets my card, please send me one too. =D
Eat a whole espresso mousse cheesecake. Or something less fattening. Haha!
Meet a celebrity crush and have them greet me. I have a list of celebrity crushes, so it's not impossible to do this. If you happen to know Ryan Agoncillo, Franco Mabanta, DJ Tonytoni, Jiro Manio, Phil Younghusband, Atom Araullo, Robi Domingo, James Reid, Billy Crawford, and the list goes on.
Write a poem. This I haven't done in years. Sad.
Get a massage. Period.
Call up an old friend and just chat. 'Nuff said.
Regain my old music library. And I am still open to suggestions for new songs. Help me build the playlist of a lifetime. =)
Get my name on Memento/Porch's hall of fame. Or at least just down one Boy Bastos without making a mess. Haha!

I can't think of anything more. So with my determination and a some help from people who love me, I think I'll be able to cross out more than half of this list. =)

For Everything Else, There's Mastercard.

2011-02-03T22:08:00.000+08:00

I just love that Mastercard ad. It comes in different versions (probably depending on the location it will shown), but it all depicts the same message: material things will always come with a price tag. Values, once-in-a-lifetime chances, and definitely time are priceless. Which is actually true.

But what about love?

Today, out of the many things that I do for my job, I learned one popular *cough*stupid*cough* church in this third-world country is charging Php34,000 if you want to get married there. Which. I. Think. Is. Inhumane. Seriously.

In the numerous weddings I've witnessed in my life, as a guest and a professional supplier (that felt weird to say), I've never cared about how much it costs to have one. Maybe until I was bored and started to really think about my own wedding that I realized it would cost an arm to have your dream wedding. (Actually, I figured mine would cost an arm and a leg.) Whenever I tell people how I imagined my wedding to be like, I would get reactions that just had pricey written all over it. And I am aware of that.

But after learning this morning how much this certain church charges for a ONE HOUR wedding ceremony, I just have to say that it is too impractical to get married there. Really. I do not get why it had to cost that much. By the way, the church staff informed that included airconditioning already. And what if I do not need additional cool air since it is cold nowadays in the Philippines? It is Php10,000 less. Still too expensive.

And no, being a popular wedding church doesn't justify a 5-digit ceremony fee. I know other "popular" and nicer churches all over the country that charge just half of this church's cost. A supplier friend told me it might be because of the long aisle or the acoustics that you're paying for. (Long aisle, great acoustics, we now have a give-away.) I'm still not buying that.

No wonder a lot of people still don't get married. It's just too pricey. And I thought the church was promoting marriage over live-ins! Bakit parang negosyo na yata ang kasal sa simbahan? (I have to stop ranting.)

I guess it's a good thing our client doesn't mind the cost.

Now Showing.

2011-01-29T23:38:00.000+08:00

Not so long ago, I was a movie buff.

From mainstream to indie films, I have watched movies which people would never think I would watch. Like for example, a Spanish comedy-drama with an R rating. (I think that was over sharing.)

Just like writing, I came to a point that I was either lazy or too busy to go watch a movie. I swear I suck at movies now. Recalling 2010, I have only seen one movie in the movie house. (And no, I wasn't even able to watch new movies in pirated DVDs or even downloaded from the internet.) Just one new movie for 2010. How pathetic could I be?

I don't really know why. Maybe I got tired of the same plots. Maybe I was waiting for it to come out on cable or local tv. Maybe I just don't have time to watch movies anymore. It's sad, really.

Tonight, thank you cable TV, I am on my 4th movie. Apparently, the first three are Tagalog movies. The current one is a horror/thriller I am not really fond of. Wala lang, sayang naman binayad sa cable, papanoorin ko na lang.

Four movies in a row is another first for me for 2011. Even if it is on cable. For the past month, my TV time was spent on series, news, MTV, and prolly cartoons. Since none of my favorite shows are airing today, and I am just sick of watching Glee over and over again, I sat down to watch a movie. (Actually I was planning on watching Black Swan but I still can't get around to doing it.)

I have suggested movies for other people to watch. I have made plans to watch certain movies with some people. But I still haven't gone to watching movies. So tonight, aside from rebuilding my music library, I am going to raid Alabang to buy DVDs of movies. (And no, downloading isn't an option for me. I don't have that much patience to wait for a file to download and that would just kill the internet I am sharing with two other users.)

I need movie suggestions. I don't care if they're too cheesy, too scary, to boring or just plain baduy, but I really want to watch movies. A lot of movies. So come on, suggest whatever movie out there should I buy first.

On Writing.

2011-01-29T20:38:00.000+08:00

I think I suck at being a writer.

Twitter has taken the best of me.

I hated one liner slash micro blogging before. Because I do not consider one-liners a blog.

But I have to admit, I was enjoying Twitter. And with the app on my phone, I find it really convenient. So much that I do not know anymore what to write here.

I should go to Twitter rehab.

2011, We Meet.

2011-01-14T00:10:00.000+08:00

Because December last year was too hectic I couldn't even find time to sleep, I am (on the 5th year, I must say) declaring my new year's resolution to get seven hours of sleep every night.

Which means I shouldn't be writing now and just shut down the laptop and go to bed. But I just can't. God, I miss writing, and doing it at the speed of thought. But I don't have time for that now. Or maybe I'm just too lazy again. Or probably there's just a lot on my plate for me to handle.

Oh well. First things first.

I am definitely one of those less fortunate people stuck with slow metabolism. And yes, I gained a few extra pounds over the holidays despite all the things I was doing. Stress-eating daw. Oh well. I am trying hard to get back in shape.

I used to do the Dance Revo on the PlayStation to keep in shape. It's fun, not boring and it's made for the young techie generation. Which is why I was able to lose 2 inches of my waistline in 3 weeks before. Now I really need to find time to hook up the console and move stuff around the house so I can play. I need to lose these inches I'm gaining.

Next: eating habits. I have poor ones. It's way to inhumane that I am now having problems with my digestive system and being the stubborn kid that I am, I refuse to see a doctor to find out what is really wrong. Now I'm starting to turn myself into a picky eater. Picky in a sense that I always read the nutritional content, particularly calories. Not that I always say no to high calorie, high fat, really bad food for me, I just said I always READ. But I try my best to avoid bad stuff. (You can see me mostly in the snacks section of the grocery store reading. And ending up getting chips.) Apparently, I haven't eaten a McDonald'd Cheeseburger and fries in months until last week. I just had to have it because I was craving.

Now that's a start: learning to avoid fast food. =D

Since I'm looking for ways to exercise and eat right, I am now looking for a role model/inspiration/motivation to live healthy. No, I'm not shallow to use a bikini as my inspiration. I'm over that. I want something bigger. That's where I'm stuck. I would usually switch to healthy living because a) I want to fit in this killer outfit; b) I want this guy to notice me; c) my console/exercise equipment is not a piece of art that's for display only; and d) because the doctor told me I need to lose weight.

I want a bigger motivation. I need something to push me. There must be something out there that should tell me I must be living healthy. But I am stuck.

So how do I begin now?

Hallooooooooo 2011! :D

2011-01-01T06:05:00.000+08:00

You know that feeling when you're just drunk enough to talk and talk and talk all night but not yet drunk enough to pass out? I am on that cliff right now.

But all's well. Hellloooooooooooooooooooooooo 2011!

Though, I must say I felt the Crhsitmas celebration more than New Year's, I still had a blast tonight, nonetheless.

Didn't start with a big bang for the year, but I'm definitely sure this year will be something I'll be looking forward to.

And since I can't write decently now, (you have no idea how many times I hit the backspace button just to get the last sentence right, so forgive for any other errors) here's something to show my big bang for 2011:

Polly.

2010-12-27T22:35:00.001+08:00

Early this month I got myself a Christmas present. Impulse buy, what my friends would say, but it's what I really wanted. I just got a later model. (And now there's a give away that I got a gadget.) Yes, I got myself a new digicam.

A few weeks before I got Blackie, I was already eying this gadget. Actually, the older model. I feel my old digicams are about to die any moment and I just had to replace them asap. But I just had to buy Blackie. So my imaginary savings account had to go into rehab for months.

Came November, I went back to the same store. I noticed the price had dropped. Not drastically, but hey, anything that helps me save money is a blessing. It was actually the same price as its predecessor. And I also noticed one more thing. Beside it, was a newer model. At the same price.

Since it was a payday (I think) and most Pinoys got their 13th month pay that month, people all over the store were buying cellphones. (Samsung Star at E72. Which in my honest opinion, would seriously go down the drain quicker than Apple can upgrade their iPhones. But my angst over cellphones deserve a different entry. Not this one.) No sales staff was around to assist me. So I just stared. And stared. Until a saleslady who just came out of the stock room was kind enough to talk to me. I instantly asked her the difference between the three models. Not that I really cared the predecessor, but all three having the same price tag just fed my now growing curiosity.

Unfortunately, she did not know much about the latest model. And she was only able to tell me the notable features. One's a 10mp, 12mp, and a 14mp. One's got a lot of buttons, one is touch screen. So I lost interest. And I went home. Googled.

I kind of forgot about the camera for a few days. But remembering how much I didn't want to use my old cameras anymore and Paolo breaking his, I suddenly felt like I had to buy it. For real.

Came the second week of this month, and I told Niq I just had to buy it. One, December is a busy month and it would just be a crime not to have a digicam to use. Two, it would be a great Christmas gift for myself. Three, I found out it's got a focal length of 5-25mm (which accdg to a photographer friend is considered ultrawide angle already). Four, this will be an "impulse buy" that definitely makes sense.

It was considered an impulse buy because I got the 14mp model. I figured if all three was the same price, I'd go for the latest model. And I have issues with touch screens so I'm really thankful the new model comes with buttons. =)

Oh well. It's a purple (thank God I got it during its first wave of release. Purple models of this brand sell like hotcakes!) Polaroid T1455. Not much reviews online, probably because it's not a household brand and it's not as techie-sounding like Monique's Ixus 130. And the cost? It's just 4 digits. =)

I created a new Tumblr blog just for the photos. I don't think I'm ready to revive my Multiply yet. Nor am I liking Flickr's interface. I believe Polly will bring me back on track with good pictures. And as we grow together, my adventures can be seen here.

Juggle Master.

2010-12-26T00:18:00.002+08:00

I'm not sure whether I should eat first or go to bed and get a decent number of hours of sleep.

Oh well.

Happy Christmas, everyone. :)

What To Do?

2010-12-14T22:41:00.000+08:00

Just when I thought I was all alone in the metro having huge courier problems (my bills and magazine subscriptions have not arrived! My goodness!), I get a call/email early this week that the invitations we shipped out last week for our client have not been delivered to the right people.

Not that I have anything against CSRs but seriously, these people really, really need a lot of training and orientation. Customer service in the Philippines was by far one of the worst in the world. Tell them your problem and they'll just give you a dumb-ass answer that even a five year-old would turn down.

I've had my fair share of dealing with CSRs. I turn to them whenever I find something wrong with a product or service, because really, they are the ones who we all should go to when there's a problem. That's why they're called customer service representatives. I know they're provided with cheat sheets. Or some sort of kodigo or what-not to help clueless customers as it would be too much human torture to memorize every single thing from verifying an information to troubleshooting the most complicated gadget ever. But have they ever tried to analyze the problem of a customer and just use plain common sense when helping out?

Today, my "inhale, exhale" theory was once again maximized as I tried to communicate with the CSRs of a local courier service company. Thrice.

Basically, I contacted them for the first time to see what happened to the invitations that were undelivered and delivered to someone but not forwarded to the right recipient. And then...

Exhibit A:
First call. I was inquiring what happened to my shipment.

Me: Ano yung reason bakit undelivered yung invitation?
CSR: Ma'am non-serviceable area po yung address.
Me: Pero nainform ako before booking na serviceable area siya. I don't want to hassle the consignee of going to the nearest branch to pick-up the invitation.
CSR: Ganito po ma'am, if nainform naman po kayo na serviceable area yung address, may two options po tayo: contact-in yung consignee para pick-upin sa nearest branch or ipadeliver natin sa address nya. Ano po gusto nyong gawin namin?
Me: Ayun naman pala e. Ideliver nyo na lang.

Exhibit B:
Second call. This time to book another shipment.

Me: Magpapadeliver sana ako. Gown siya.
CSR: Pouch size packaging lang po ba? (clearly there is something wrong with this guy. Gown in a pouch bag?!? WTF.)
Me: Uhm... Gaano kalaki yung biggest pouch?
CSR: Mas malaki lang po ng konti sa long brown envelop.
Me: Ay. Di sya kakasya dun. Pwede bang box na lang?
CSR: Yes po. Kunin ko na lang po yung dimensions.
Me: Nung gown?
CSR: Nung box nyo po.
Me: Ay. Wala akong box. Kailangan ba nakabox na?
CSR: Opo.
Me: Bakit? Wala ba kayong box na dala?
CSR: Meron naman po. Gusto nyo po yun na lang gamitin natin?
Me: Ayun naman pala e. E di magpadala ka na lang din ng box sa pick-up guy para dun ko ilagay pag dating nya.

Exhibit C:
Third call. In lieu with my first call, I am now providing them additional details with my undelivered invitations.

Me: Uhm, bakit kay (name) nakaaddress yan? It's supposed to be (name).
CSR: Yun po yung nakalagay sa consignment note nyo.
Me: E hindi naman ako nagfillout nun. May instructions ako.
CSR: E bakit hindi po kayo yung nagfill out? Kayo dapat magfill out nun.
Me: Uhm (CSR name) ganito kasi yan. Nung nagbook ako sa inyo, I stated magpapadala ako ng 20 items to VARIOUS destinations. E dumating yung pick up guy dito na 5 notes lang dala nya. Ayaw naman nya bumalik the next day para the next day ko i-ship yung fifteen. So binigyan namin sya ng COMPLETE list of consignees with complete names and addresses. E pano yan sya nagfill out tapos mali mali. Pati yung company name namin mali. Can you change that? Para alam din nung consignee kanino galing.
CSR: Ma'am nasa system na po yung name ng company nyo, di ko na po mababago. Sa next transaction nyo na lang po.
Me: At umaasa ka pang may next transaction pa ako with you?

Exhibit D:
This time, the pick-up guy came to the office, with my "non-serviceable area" invitation.

Pick-up guy: Ma'am, bad address daw po ito. Hindi maideliver.
Me: Ang sabi non-serviceable. Kasi yung address tama naman. So hindi siya bad dahil walang mali.
Pick-up guy: Paki-receive na lang po ma'am kasi return to sender tapos madami pa po akong hinahabol na office na pagpipick-upan.
Me: E sabi sa akin idedeliver daw uli ito kasi nga ang sabi sakin serviceable area. E ano mangyayari pag nireceive ko yan?
Pick-up guy: Hindi po namin madedeliver.
Me: O. Ayun pala. E bat ko irereceive yan?
Pick-up guy: Ay sige po ma'am ideliver na lang po namin.

Exhibit E.
Fourth call. I was told after my third call to follow up after an hour for an update. No update yet. So I told them the pick-up guy is returning the invitation to me.
Me: Kakagaling lang dito nung nagpick-up. E sabi nyo idedeliver nyo naman. So hindi ko nireceive.
CSR: Ma'am hindi ko po magaguarantee kasi wala pong update sa operations.
Me: I'm aware of that. Kaya nga sinasabi ko sayo na hindi ko nireceive para ideliver nyo. Kasi pag nireceive ko, di nyo na idedeliver.
CSR: Ma'am pasensya na po sa abala. Pero wala pa po kasing advice na madedeliver siya kasi yung operations po ang magdedecide nyan.
Me: E wala pa silang update. Hanggang kelan ako maghihintay for update?
CSR: Ma'am magfile na lang po kayo ng complaint.
Me: Bakit? Hindi pa ba complaint ito? Ano ba ito? Chikahan moment natin?

*All five incidents happened TODAY. I can still feel my teeth clenching and my fist shaking with all the stress and frustration these CSRs gave me.*

What's wrong with the picture? Apparently a lot. In the first call, I have no idea if that was a trick question, or she was just plain stupid. The second call is just plain pathetic as I don't get how he cannot offer me a box in the first place. (Sintido kumon. Gown, ilalagay mo sa pouch?) Third time, clearly these people do not know how to follow instructions. Naman. Fourth scenario, again, asan na ba ang common sense? (Alam mo na pala sa sarili mo yung mangyayari, itatanong mo pa sakin kung gusto kong madelay ang delivery.) And finally, this, this is the most common stupidity I always encounter. I don't know if CSRs were told to be always nice and lengthen their patience that they have forgotten what complaints are.

I know being a CSR is not an easy job, but I do know it's not a job that requires a superior IQ level. Plain common sense always does the trick and up til now, I am wondering why won't they just use common sense when asked a question? Pressure? I don't think so. They've become accustomed to answering questions by reading copies and manuals that they've forgotten they have brains to think for the right answer. Not everything should be done by the book.

This might sound like a hate blog but really, it's not. I've had a good serving of positive experiences with CSRs but this kind of answers just tick people off. You're not getting anywhere, and you're just wasting time.

I would love to see the day when customer service in this country finally improves. When you give them a call and they give you a straight answer. When everything is solved within a five-minute conversation. When you're not answered with another question. When your problem gets solved upon ending the conversation.

Clearly, customer service in the PH has a looooooooooong way to go.

It is Love.

2010-11-13T16:41:00.000+08:00

Tweeting really is fun for me. Basically because of the interaction.

Not really much interaction this afternoon, but as I was scrolling through the news feed, somebody tweeted: "My tree is finally up! Most wonderful time of the year!"

And me, being hooked on Christmas trees lately, checked out the picture. And something else caught my eye. =D

Take a look at his shelf:

photo courtesy of @gabvalenciano

Yes, it is love. =D

Bamboo.

2010-11-13T15:38:00.000+08:00

I'd like to say that I take back not enjoying microblogging but I think that's just wrong and so not me. Just look over on the right side of the screen and see the Twitter box I placed and you be the judge. *Tee-hee*

It's one of those lazy Saturdays again and I am home doing nothing but lurk the internet. I am kind of caught between hooking up the PS2 on the new tv mother bought just so I can work out and shed off a few pounds I am quickly gaining lately or just continue lurking on the now getting boring internet.

I know, I'm not a ray of sunshine right now. Because I am bored.

I do not want to go out for the very obvious reason that gift giving season is just around the corner and I have to save up for this present I want to give myself this year. Really, I spent an hour yesterday at the mall looking for it. The problem is, it only comes in red. They're out of purple. Boo.

And of course, payday is on Monday. My funds are limited as of today, as I paid some bills in the past week. Soooo. I have decided, and I am being firm with it, that I will be spending more days in the house just so I won't touch my imaginary savings.

And while we're at it, I will be spending time looking for my old cd of Bamboo. The one with Masaya in it.

I'll write again after finding it. ;-)

Freshly Squeezed.

2010-11-07T20:23:00.000+08:00

Yes, as the title implies, this is fresh and right out of the mind.

But it will also be a very short one (compared to my usual looong rants) because I only gave myself this much time to write about everything running on my mind.

~~~

As much as I hate to admit it, I am declaring Diana Glover's Thinking Over a part of my life soundtrack. Yes, the one from Raising Helen. And the one with the very cheesy line "Father, which way should I go? I cannot clearly see, oh, I love him so, But only you know if he'll be the one for me."

Even if I don't apply it romantically, I still need to think over a lot of ~~things~~ I am doing in life.

~~~

I am quite shocked with how these credit card people in Shopwise never fails to offer me a credit card at least once a week in the supermarket. They give me the creeps the same way real estate freaks and insurance ghouls do. At some point, it is flattering to be thought of by these people as somebody bankable but seriously, they just freak and creep me out. Like I would just give out personal information just to see if I really qualify for any of those offers.

And on the other hand, I really don't want to be slapped in the face that I couldn't meet their qualifications for their credit card. (It's a bank with really, really, really over the top requirements.)

I'm fine paying with cash, by the way.

~~~

Friends? I'm cool. I have a few. But each and every single one of that little number of friends I have care about me. Really.

And then I also realized that I have friends: who would go straight to our fridge and just drink our water; who would wait for two hours in the mall just to have dinner with me; who would drive up to my house at 3 in the morning just to give me a pasalubong.

Am I blessed or not?

~~~

A baby boy just gave me a big sloppy kiss. =")

Grocery Shopping for the Long Weekend.

2010-10-28T22:24:00.000+08:00

I was contemplating earlier tonight whether to do grocery shopping tonight or next week. I wouldn't want to risk the long lines tomorrow, with the long weekend and payday combo coming up. So I decided to drop by tonight at Shopwise Alabang to buy lunch baon for tomorrow and Tuesday.

Then I stopped when I saw this:

Yes, readers, Shopwise has done it again. Discounts are given to their Wisecard and Wisecard Elite cardholders. And it lasts for three days, beginning yesterday (27October) up to tomorrow (29October). I guess they really paid attention to people's cash flow this month. Way to go Shopwise!

And so did I panicked and gave in? My 35 day challenge last month taught me to say no to this event. A few months ago, I would've grabbed a cart and bought everything I think I would need and assumed to have saved on tonight. But willpower and discipline got over me. I just got what I need and paid at the counter less than I expected. Okay, I admit, I took a couple of items that are serious impulse buys but hey, I got them at 10% less. And since I have developed a habit to start Christmas shopping early, I realized they can serve as gifts for someone during the holiday.

Oh well. Tomorrow is the last day of the discount madness. Let's see if I will be able to hold off panic buying for one more day. To everyone else who would be doing groceries for the long weekend, GO TO SHOPWISE. It's just worth it. =)

On Killing Time.

2010-10-18T23:02:00.000+08:00

So, for the first time, I was too preoccupied with my life this morning that I packed everything in my handy-dandy bag but left behind my phone.

Yes, my current baby, Blackie the BB Curve 8520, was accidentally left at home.

Torture, it was, but I survived the day without him by my side. Although there's the occasional reach for the bag to "check" on the phone, I had to keep myself busy to forget about it. And I pretty much found quite a few things to keep it off my mind.

To my amusement, I can't remember how human beings survived boredom without technology. With no laptops, iPods, mobile phones, how did we kill time in the past? I remember killing time playing all the long but how did adults deal with it? Seriously, I would die of boredom if I lived fifty years ago.

Or probably not. If I can always pull off the same thing I did today. I just have to be creative. And I need to be talking. Constantly. :))

I currently am arguing with myself how productive I am today. Or not. It's probably me looking for things to do that pushed me to be productive. Or maybe I really just have a lot of things to do.

Either way, I didn't get bored today.

Presenting...

2010-10-16T00:56:00.000+08:00

I am too sleepy to write.

I can barely type a sentence without hitting the backspace button, let alone construct something decent for this blog.

To make up for my promise to myself of writing, here's what I'm supposed to write about:

Oh how much I miss writing right now. But for now, I really need to sleep.

Color Me Happy.

2010-10-06T09:08:00.000+08:00

I don't wear make-up. Seriously.

No, I don't mean I'm a make-up virgin but my skin and cosmetics just can't agree when they come together. I use cosmetics but only of certain brands and occasions. Honestly, my paycheck and pile of bills won't allow me to buy the kind of make up my face can take on a regular basis.

Which is why maybe, just maybe, I get irritated with women who wear uber coverage. Just this morning, on my way to work, I came across this girl who wore her blush on about ten strokes more than usual. Ate, nasampal? Yes, it was that ~~pink~~ red that I could see it even from 500 meters away. And gahd, does she have to apply it in the wrong direction? Seriously, she looked like a clown. Minsan kasi, alamin kung paano mag-apply ng make-up.

I can remember this one time last year when I arrived at work early and still had time to put make up on. (You see, in the Purchasing Dept., everything is just too busy and fast, you'd even forget to pee.) My kikay nurse friend was so amazed at how I was able to apply mascara on my lashes without blinking or even opening my mouth. (Try it. Most girls apply mascaras with their mouths open.) And she loved my eyes and of course the cheeks.

"Ano ka ba, syempre marunong ako maglagay sa mukha ko nyan. Hindi lang lagi."

According to some friends, I look mataray slash boyfriend-stealer whenever I wear make-up. And besides, I am already pretty sans the make-up. So I think I'm good to go. (Yes, I am boosting my confidence. I can't wear the damn thing!)

As of now, I am thankful to whoever invented mineral make-up. Doesn't itch and sting as much, and it's definitely cheaper than my brand. I just got news from a friend that it's not advisable for everyday use. Oh well, you can't have it all.

I think I'll go make-up shopping when Niq returns. I feel I need some encouragement when making PhpXX,XXX damage again on my account. Besides, every girl needs an opinion on what looks good on herself. ;-)

This Made Me Drool.

2010-09-30T08:49:00.000+08:00

Blog Designer.

2010-09-23T23:41:00.000+08:00

I love customization.

It just adheres to my lifelong relationship with uniqueness.

I used to customize my Multiply to my own liking when I was still in love with that account. I even went as far as trying to learn html and css language to get the "look" that I want. Honestly, it was fun. At least, whenever I end up getting the perfect look.

I wanted to do the same thing here. Redesign and make it look a bit more like me. It's just that I don't have time. And I am so lost and confused lately, I don't know how to make it look like me.

And besides, time is a luxury for me now. I have no idea where to begin learning again stuff related to customization. And even if Google made it a bit easier with their Design section, I still can't figure it out.

So please, if there's still any reader here who's got time, artsy-fartsy skills, and a lot of patience, drop by a line and help me out here please. =)

Sunday's Best.

2010-09-22T12:16:00.000+08:00

Out of nowhere, I just suddenly decided that I should learn how to cook one dish every other Sunday.

I'm starting with Orange Chicken in October. Wala lang. A friend posted on Facebook where he can get the best Orange Chicken in the country. Lemon chicken on the average is a staple in most Chinese restaurants but it is hard to find a good place that serves Orange Chicken. And yes, he is not considering Chowking.

And that is what I will consider a challenge to myself.

Aside from keeping me busy, I think going back in the kitchen will amuse me again.

Three-layer Wedding Cake Up for Grabs! :D

2010-09-13T22:34:00.003+08:00

Are you getting married in the Philippines between December 2010 and May 2011? Do you know somebody who is?

VRC Creative Events and Top Cakes will be giving out a three-layer wedding cake at the upcoming Before I Do 8th Edition Bridal Fair this November 19-21,2010 at SM Megamall to one lucky couple that has the best pre-nup photo depicting the theme "Before I Do".

Simply log on to www.mybridalfair.com to find out more about this contest and other helpful tips in your wedding planning.

Cosmo Bachelor Bash 2010

2010-09-10T13:04:00.000+08:00

I still can't get over last night's event!

Will be back later to write about it. Have to look for my underwear, I think I left it at World Trade Center after gawking and screaming at hot, hot, hot, H-O-T men. =D

1:45AM

2010-09-02T01:01:00.000+08:00

For whatever reason, I have grown to be accustomed to writing in the wee hours of the morning.

Yes, I blog whenever I want but when I really have to write, the creative juices only begin to flow at this ungodly hour. I could blame my student lifestyle of cramming way back but then again, I blog at the same time when trying to finish a paper due at 7 or 8 in the morning.

So why do I really sacrifice sleeping over writing?

I don't know really. Writing at dawn comes naturally to me. It requires little effort on my part. The unexpressed words during the day suddenly tell my fingers to type them instantly and they all get strung together as if it took me hours to form a cohesive sentence. But honestly, as in this moment, I am not doing any thinking, and just let everything flow. I might have hit the backspace key a few times but it was just all for spelling corrections. Mind you, I get my grammar right even if I just stare on the screen, letting my fingers waltz on my keyboard and tell you what is there to watch out.

I would write for hours, mindless of the time, even if the clock has been ticking loud enough, sometimes it's deafening. It gets irritating. But the sound of me typing and pounding on the keyboard is such a lovely music to the ears. It drowns down the irritating ticking sound that drives most humans mad.

I know I'll be sacrificing my sensibility and health when I wake up. As if staying up late isn't enough, I have to keep my brain thinking. But it's all good. When I hit save or print or whatever, go through what just transpired, I feel like I won an award or something. Because I had finally let out thoughts and turned them into something understandable by man. I got my point across.

Writing is my own form of relaxation. I have fallen into this addiction of writing at the speed of thought. It's as if my fingers are in a race with my mind. It just has to keep up with all the words scrambling about to get out. It's just sheer bliss. And believe it or not, when I read all this later when I wake up, I would have no idea where this came from.

34 Days.

2010-08-30T16:41:00.000+08:00

Four days ago I decided to become a wee bit better.

I challenged myself to this little game I created. The 34 day challenge.

My rules are basically simple. I have to hinder the urge to buy something impulsively, AND say no when the sweet tooth starts whining. Why thirty-four? Basically it takes 28 days to develop and, ironically, break a habit. Since this is a whir-of-the-moment decision and self challenge, I gave myself six cheat days. But that's the first six days.

I guess it should be pretty easy as the first three days are spent inside my house. So that should get me used to it. (Although I have to admit I made an impulsive online purchase on the first night.) Hey, we're humans. We're made to give in to temptation. And that's why I there are cheat days.

Oh well. This should be fun. I know so. Because aside from me trying to save up, this could also mean I could lose a few pounds as I have marked my trips to Seattle's and fast food fixes as "luho". As to how I came down to categorizing those as that, it's simple: whatever I can have cheaper, or in my case, free, when I'm at home, but still goes out and put an extra effort to get those, are counted as my inevitable luxuries that I should cut back on. Really.

And the real reason why I'm putting myself through this? I want to save up enough money to open up a new bank account. And that account will really be for my savings. I'm really serious now. Fourteen months of working and close-to-zero savings isn't no fun at all.

Today is day three. And thirty one more days later, I'm sure I'll be someone better.

Dumdedumdedum.

2010-08-21T12:51:00.000+08:00

I am going out with my girls today.

So there.

=D

The Shopaholic Monster Woke Up.

2010-08-14T17:57:00.000+08:00

I can't believe I have been window shopping for two weeks now. It takes a lot of will power just to keep myself from opening up that wallet, lining up at the ATM and making a purchase of another thing I don't need.

I'm so proud of me. But like all humans, I am bound to slip once in awhile. But not today.

Today I'm just sharing what seems to be cluttering up in my emails. Random sale notices and news I keep receiving.

If you've got extra moolah to spare, go indulge yourself. After all, it's a payday weekend for most of us working class. =)

Photo from the Alabang Bulletin blog.

Photo from Manila Shopaholic blog

And of course, my shoe heaven is now open. They're not participating in the mall-wide sale of Festival Mall (prolly because they're one of the newly opened store), but the prices are so much of a steal, you'd feel like you bought it on sale. =) (Pardon the noisy phone pictures. I dunno how to set yet my phone's camera settings! Haha!)

Best Advice. Ever.

2010-08-14T17:10:00.000+08:00

So yesterday, Niq said:

ONE GROWN UP THING AT A TIME.

Dirty Little Secret.

2010-07-22T22:01:00.000+08:00

For one, I think customer care in this country still has a long waaay to go. Really.

I don't know if I should pity the uninformed, albeit harassed, customer service representatives for not knowing how to handle well customer concerns or be insanely furious at the backwards system this country has. Whichever way I go, the customer still ends up not getting any solution hence diminishing that customer satisfaction every company out there wants.

So I was talking to a CSR one morning. I'm actually reporting an item which is probably lost in the mail, based on previous feedback, it's been to different addresses, and after daysss of updating me when I should expect it, it still didn't land on my lap. Ergo the conversation. Honestly, I wouldn't know about the house-hopping thing if I didn't call them. (What is wrong with these people? Why didn't they just call me in the first place to confirm the address?)

Anyway, I was almost in tears (I think one actually dropped) when I heard the CSR tell me "Ma'am I apologize for your inconvenience but according to the courier, wala daw po silang nareceive na instruction na i-redirect sa ibang address yung item. Binalik na daw po sa back office yung item." OMG. It's been with them for almost two weeks and nobody told me not to expect it anytime soon? I was really furious. What happened to system? Did people forget about communication? For real, I am one dissatisfied customer. And hearing "Is there anything else I could help you with?" doesn't make it any better because if you have been paying attention, the only thing you could do to help me is give me that item right now. As in literally now.

*Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.*

I've moved on to tonight.

You see, Globe Telecom has slipped into this habit of sending my bill a couple of days before the due date. (How sweet noh?) But checking your bill online can, well, let you view your bill even if it hasn't arrived at your place. So I checked and mine was already over the credit limit and it's due on the 23rd. (Not getting anything in the mail seems to be a fad for me these days.) I printed out the online version and went to Globe tonight. They told me to call them next Friday to see if the reversal happened. And then this was our conversation:

Me - Paano yan, due date tomorrow. If i don't pay this, you'll cut my line.
Globe Agent - Most likely ma'am. Pero next month naman po magrereflect ung reversal and ibabawas ung sobrang payment sa bill nyo e.
Me - I have no choice. Sige bayaran ko na lang lahat.

I think I just got bullied into paying more than I consumed (again). Haaay Pilipinas.

Anyway, that cash out was a bit hurting on my wallet. To make myself feel better, I passed by my soon-to-be new favorite store at Festival Mall. And oh yes did it make me feel sooooo much better tonight.

If the other night they had only half of the steel doors opened, tonight it's way way open. Open enough for everyone to see all the shelves of the store, which by the way, they're stocking with oh-so-pretty ~~merchandise~~ shoes. Definitely made me smile.

Just to confirm the news I read a few days ago, I approached the (now-eating) crew when they'll open. This nice guy confirmed the date. I asked if the price will be higher or lower than the published dollar tags. His answer gave me a huge smile (which he said like we're sharing a secret), and I think I hyperventilated a little upon hearing the news. Music to my ears!

"Yes. Even better! And the styles, it's just the same as those in the US." =D

Now the Beda jacket has a competitor in my wallet.

One Point Alabang!

2010-07-20T22:08:00.001+08:00

I am so excited right now, I'm not sure if I can even finish this post without babbling too much nonsense.

A few months back, this empty stall in Festival Mall Alabang was closed for renovation of some sort or some construction work in preparation for a new store. By the looks of the name, I thought it was another Factory-2-U cheap-ass copycat.

Fast forward to July, I began to be aloof about the construction. (Really. It was next to Shopwise.) And much more when Forever21 opened in Megamall early this month. How cruel it is to be living down south of the metro when all the *pretty good* shops are up north. As much as fashionistas would want to keep up with the northern dwellers, it's just too much for people down here!

Moving on to tonight... For the nth time, I passed by the store. And I was taken aback as they finally removed the wooden panels. Revealing the oh-so-shiny glass display windows. And oh, the logo. The logo was up on the wall and it was so freaking shiny!

I was excited. It actually all died down awhile ago but then I got bored and since I was online and Google-ing stuff, I Googled it. There's really not much to read online since most articles are dated back from December of last year, with just a snippet that Collective Brands Inc., is opening a franchise in the Philippines through Store Specialist, Inc.

I Googled some more and I found this article on Inquirer.net that Payless ShoeSource will be opening its very first branch in the Philippines at Festival Mall Alabang! Whoopdeedoodeedoo! That's one point for the south! =)

The store is said to open next week. I think half of my next paycheck will go straight to that store. But nonetheless, I'm just happy Payless has finally made a land here. At least I wouldn't have to worry that future paychecks will be spent on pricey shoes alone. With Payless practically being a neighbor to me, I can finally have cool and oohs-and-aah inducing shoes without killing my wallet.

For the rest of the article and the exact opening date, check it out here.

For the Love of Weddings.

2010-07-11T12:25:00.000+08:00

Can I just say how much I'm loving my job right now? First of all, my job keeps my bank account from closing. Second, It's really, really fun that I honestly shouldn't call it work. And third, it doesn't confine me in four walls. =p

For the past few months, we've been doing weddings in between office tasks. Tiring, but fun. You meet a lot of people, know their stories, learn from their experiences, and get wild ideas from them with how they want their wedding to turn out.

The last wedding we had was of Janice and Mike, both nurses from Canada. The bride was fond of purple (from what I heard from her guests, "Kaya mahirap ka hanapan ng regalo"), so she incorporated peacock feathers in her wedding. From the invites, to her flowers, even to her entourage's hairclips and buttonaires!

Not that I'm not hyped about the purple motif, but knowing she wanted a candy buffet for her guests made me all excited. :)) And come her wedding day, I found out she had Jolly Ranchers too. (I couldn't find a blue raspberry!) I think she had all sorts of candies that could make anyone with a sweet tooth's mouth water: lollipops, jellybeans, pastillas sculpted into roses, mints, chocolates, hard candies, there's even mini wedding cakes to be given out!

Since my PaintShop Pro is failing me right now, these are the only photos I can upload. =( But on the bright side, the wedding was really fun and memorable for everyone. I don't think my forty plus shots can give justice to what the couple actually had that day.

Btw, here's my best shot for that day:

But of course, my shots are nothing compared to what RF has.

Michael+Janice Onsite AVP from Raymond Fortun on Vimeo.

Ice Water.

2010-06-17T00:16:00.001+08:00

For some unknown reason, I went around the mall tonight to check the latest gadgets and their wallet-killing price tags.

A couple of days ago, I am getting deeper and deeper into confusion between two smartphones. As if that wasn't enough, my unplanned window shopping invited one more smartphone to join the fiesta of killing more of my brain cells. Apparently, HTC has been releasing mobile phones that are pretty competitive in price. And the greatest BB/Iphone competitor in my mind as of now is the HTC Viva. Price-wise, it's a bargain. Even when they offered it on credit card, it's still a steal!

Anyhoo. I lurked the mall for another thirty minutes and found myself being offered by a nice saleslady this Panasonic GF1 camera for less than Php3,000/month for 1.5 years. I have no idea why she's giving me that kind of offer but I know for sure that even if I had a credit card, I wouldn't let myself pay 3K every month in the next 18 months of my life. First of all, the camera isn't even the hottest gadget on the planet right now. Second, it's on a pre-order basis, which means even if I did want it now, I still have to wait til it arrives in the store. Third, I'm sticking to my Canon preference, even if I considered Nikon once (for financial reasons). And lastly, a camera isn't on my priority gadgets list yet. Maybe in three months.

I think I am heading to ranting. I don't even know why I'm writing about my window shopping. It basically didn't do anyone any good. But I'd like to believe that this will help me become a bit more frugal. :)) I do want these gadgets. But just not now. Maybe next month. :))

Eenie, Minnie, Minie, Moe.

2010-06-15T00:01:00.000+08:00

Cookie Monster: Me don’t know what me like better: Letter O or Number 0. Both look like cookies, so both okay in me book!

-Sesame Street on Twitter

Lately, I've been tweeting and basically updating people about my dilemma, which everyone (I'm assuming, as we all live in a very technology-based world) can relate to: the battle of the gadgets.

I've been putting off upgrading to a better mobile phone because: one, I don't have time to take a close look on gadgets and see if they can really cater to me; two, turn around time for gadget development is quite fast that I can no longer keep up with them (trust me, I've been aware since fourth year high school that Nokia can release a new model within three to five months that can make your current unit obsolete in weeks); and lastly, let's face it, my sanity would probably allow my bank account to dwindle down the drain on stuff bigger than a mobile phone. Until RIM's Javelin 8900 arrived Apple announced the birth of iPhone 4.

A couple of months ago, my boss lets me use her iPhone while in the office. Long story short, I wanted to throw the damn thing straight to the trash can for issues we can't agree on. (I don't have large, manly fingers; the keyboard is just freakingly too small to type on.) And I made it clear I didn't want an iPhone because of such arguments, and because I've had my heart set out on the Blackberry for months now.

But just last week, damn Apple emailed me the announcement of their newest toy. And I could only say one thing: ITSSOPRETTY!!!!

Til this moment, I am torn between the two phones. Both addresses my concern with connectivity, vast sources of applications, funtertainment factor, and most of all inbox storage. But since Globe will probably be charging everyone an arm, a leg, and the rest of the internal organs for the iPhone, I might settle for the BB instead and get an iTouch just for kicks. (Nah, seriously, the iTouch will support my need for Apple apps. But I guess you already know that.) But on the other hand, without the over-priced unlimited surfing, the BB would just be like any other smartphone contender out there. And I definitely want to maximize all its functions so that leaves me spending an extra Php1,200 every month. The cost would probably sum up to an iPhone. Which I don't want to wait for, by the way. Local techies on the look out for the new iPhone guestimated that it will be released late this year. Again, I don't want to spend the rest of my body paying for that, and I don't have the time to wait since I need the phone now. Although I do know somebody selling the iPhone 4 on pre-order basis, for less than Php22K. Too bad she lives in Davao. (Must talk to Telai on how we can get her to lower the price if we're both getting one from her. Haha!)

Spending a lot of time online researching, weighing, reading reviews, and asking for opinions means I am serious with this. I've never given myself a problem as huge as this. This is huge for me since I'll be spending a lot of money, so please, help me out here clear up my mind and pick the right gadget.

Petroleum Jelly.

2010-06-13T22:57:00.001+08:00

Huwag magmadali sa babae o lalaki. Tatlo, lima, sampung-taon, mag-iiba ang pamantayan mo at maiisip mo ang hindi pala tama pumili ng kapareha dahil lang maganda o gwapo. Totoong mas mahalaga ang kalooban ng tao higit sa anuman. Sa paglipas ng panahon, maging ang mga crush ng bayan nagmumukha ding pandesal, maniwala ka.

-Bob Ong

Almost a month ago, I was told by my mother that this guy on our street that I used to have a crush on (wait, I think I still have a crush on him :-D), got electrocuted. For obvious reasons, he was rushed to the hospital, and underwent skin graft. (Second degree burn, ouchie.) And so mother commented "Wala na, hindi na siya cute."

Not that I am vain, but a month ago, I burned myself cooking french fries for midnight snack. Of course, I lathered my arm with OTC ointments just to prevent further damage. A few days later, I was following an officemate's advice of putting petroleum jelly on the burned area to avoid scarring. And looking at my arm right now, the marks are not that visible.

Fine. I am a bit vain. But try dropping by three wakes in one weekend, and look at dead people, I'm sure you won't want to end up looking like them. (With all due respect to dead people.) So right now, I am really enjoying my youthful looks. (People tell me I look 16. HAHAHA!)

Err anyway... Tonight I saw him. He's drinking with his friends. He's okay. But as far as looks and vanity are concerned, he's not. The killer smile is still there, but let's be honest here, who would want to date a guy who's sooooo red, he looks like he's fresh from Bora, even if it's the rainy season already?

Haaaaaay. Oh well. He's a working guy, he earns XX,XXX pesos monthly, and cosmetic surgery is seriously improving, I bet he can get back his oh-so-cute-and-to-die-for face, or probably even better. If he's vain as most people I know.

For now, I'm gonna crush on other guys. Til he gets his look back to normal, I won't go out with him. =))

Hydrangea.

2010-06-02T21:10:00.000+08:00

I just have to say that I love the weather right now.

Really, really loving it, it made me smile since this morning. :-D

Daijobu. :-D

Me, Me, Me.

2010-05-26T09:58:00.000+08:00

In the midst of scouting for sponsors, I landed across this page. Sharing something that really inspired me today:

Minus One.

2010-05-22T17:31:00.000+08:00

So finally, two weeks ago, I decided to show up at a clinic to get the annual medical check up done.

Sad to say, I can only complete the whole "Basic Five" thing in more than three weeks, for varying reasons which include my whole body's system not allowed to take the urinal test due to that time of the month and the periodical maintenance of the clinic's equipments. Which I must say is quite a blessing. Because this whole medical show is taking up too long to be over, I get time to think over some things about my body.

First off, this is the first time I went over my "fat" weight. This infamous fat weight of mine is basically my hey-you're-already-over-indulging-in-junk-so-why-don't-you-try-exercising-instead warning. Back then, when I step onto the bathroom scale and see the fat weight screaming at me, I hop on to the treadmill and spend about three episodes worth of FRIENDS running on it or I sweat for about an hour doing inhumanly hard dance steps on the Dance Dance Revolution of the PS2. It's pretty much effective since in about two weeks I lose about a couple or a few more pounds. But this time, I really hit the wall hard. I went overboard, and until this morning, did no exercise whatsoever. (Except for strolling around the mall, I do not have any other physical activity that you can decently call exercise.) By the way, I am still within my BMI. That's my pampalubag loob right now.

Fat moment aside, I was also able to think about my blood. Come on. I was supposed to come back to the clinic last Monday but I had my period so I can not do anything about it. And why did I schedule my return on Monday? Because I thought my period would be four days earlier. And because I am so stressed and I think I am losing platelets, it took some time before my period came. (I'm thinking of setting my bedtime to 8:30 PM.) And when the blood extraction was done this afternoon, my left arm hurts... Til now. Really. This is actually my third blood extraction (the first one on my finger last year, and then the second one on the arm, two weeks later.) and compared to the previous ones, this one took about a minute longer. The lab girl was having a hard time locating my vein, and it took awhile to fill up the vial. Sheesh. And I was even thinking of donating blood.

So basically, I'm on a limb here. I can't figure out if I can be classified as healthy. And because I am scared to know that after ten more days I am sick, I'll be cutting back a lot of my luxuries in life starting today. As in my favorite junk and other "unhealthy" stuff would be out of my life. Not in one big go though, I'll be doing it gradually.

If you have any tips on how to be healthy, please, please, please suggest it to me. Hopefully I'm back below my "fat" weight again in two weeks (or maybe three), and I'm crossing my fingers that I am not ill. And hopefully, because of me cutting back on stuff, I can save up. ;-)

Craving Much.

2010-05-13T17:03:00.000+08:00

Here's a random thing about me and donuts.

So last week I mentioned to Niq that I want Starbuck's Top Pot Donuts.

And then during BOP week, I think most Amchamate would love it if Krispy Kreme became an official sponsor since the participants snakc on them every once in awhile.

On my last birthday, I had donuts from GoNuts Donuts.

Err. Random thoughts on donuts. Am hungry. Really want a KK donut. But apparently they don't have a branch anywhere in southern Manila, which is pretty ironic since they have a very, very far branch up in Angeles, Pampanga.

Oh well.

Will check out Festival Mall later to see if anything catches my attention.

Globe SuperTxt FAIL!

2010-05-13T11:04:00.000+08:00

Gee. And I thought nobody cares about me. :))

Apparently, the reason why I haven't been getting updates from Niq is because she can't receive my messages. And on top of that, the only reply she sent me last night from the only message she received from me never reached me.

Are we banned from Globe?

:))

I'm Gonna Marry You, Internet! =D

2010-05-10T14:34:00.000+08:00

The internet is really full of amazing finds. =)

Look what I found:

`http://www.videos.ph/frontpage/elections-2010-news-coverage-abs-cbn-live/&h=2f4f3

Elections 2010

2010-05-10T10:10:00.000+08:00

For once, I am frustrated I cannot vote.

How I wish I had registered.

Anyhooo....

I am praying hard for the country.

And trying to search for a reliable live news feed.

Apparently, http://www.gmanews.tv/ is too confusing to browse, especially if you're intoxicated. ;-)

Superfriend, please guide ALL Filipinos on Monday in choosing the rightful candidate worthy of their votes to lead the nation.

About Work.

2010-05-05T01:56:00.000+08:00

Basically, this is supposed to be a personal blog which chronicles daily experiences, amazing finds, and what-nots.

Ergo, whatever happened at work, or anything else that is work-related, can be read over this new blog that just got born.

Internet, meet The Kid Wandering in the Office.

Pet Peeve of the Day: Language Know-It-Alls.

2010-04-27T11:14:00.002+08:00

I don't think this is right, ranting early on. But since it is a different day than yesterday, and my pet peeve really did change today, fine, let's stick to it and head straight on to the point.

Far more worse than these so-called Jejemons (which according to my friend, he thinks is a form of bastardized, uneducated usage of the alphabet and numerals - yes, he is that brutally frank), are the English language know-it-alls.

Come on!

Fine, I won't be bragging about the proficiency and fluency I have for the English language, since the only valid proof I have expired two weeks ago. But speaking the language for twenty two freaking years may be enough to qualify me to be authentically fluent, right?

Anyway, I don't really care who speaks the language longer or more fluent or sound better (with an understandable, not to mention authentic, accent of course,) but it really, really, bothers me when people use English words but not know the meaning of it. Big words are only impressive if used properly. Otherwise, you are no different than the Jejemons out there who continue to patronize the bastardization of the human language.

Here's the thing, we're in the Philippines and you can frigging speak the Filipino language anytime, by all means. So if you have no idea what you'll be saying in English, just speak in Filipino and I'll try my best to understand you. It's easier for both of us that I do not understand you, than you not understanding your own self.

Okay. I'm done with my rant. Time to get back to work.

Birthday Extension.

2010-04-26T21:41:00.000+08:00

Maybe this is what I get for postponing my birthday and not announcing when the new date is.

Up until now, I've been trying to figure out what the "goody" bag is for. It's ten days past my birthday, I'm a Samsung user, and there's #1209 right next to my name on the delivery address label thing. Go figure.

Jejemonation.

2010-04-22T20:38:00.000+08:00

According to UrbanDictionary.com, a Jejemon is:

1) Usually seen around social networking sites such as Friendster and Multiply, jejemons are individuals with low IQs who spread around their idiocy on the web by tYpFing LyK diZS jejejeje, making all people viewing their profile raise their eyebrows out of annoyance. Normal people like you and me must take a Bachelor of Arts in Jejetyping in order to understand said individuals, as deciphering their text would cause a lot of frustration and hair pulling.

CAUTION: THESE INDIVIDUALS ARE BREEDING! THEY CAN BE SEEN WRECKING GRAMMATICAL HAVOC ON FACEBOOK TOO!

2) Jejemons are not just confined to trying-hard Filipino gangsters and emos. A Jejemon can also include a variety of Latino-Hispanic fags who enjoy typing "jejejejeje" in a wider context, much to the disdain of their opponents in an internet MMORPG game such as Ragnarok and DOTA.

3) Basically anyone with a low tolerance in correct punctuation, syntax and grammar. Jejemons are usually hated or hunted down byJejebusters or the grammar nazi to eradicate their grammatical ways.

On AIM or YM:

miSzMaldiTahh111: EoW pFuOh!

You: Huh?

miszMaldiTahh111: i LLyK tO knOw moR3 bOut u, PwfoH. crE 2 t3ll mE yur N@me? jejejejeje!

You: You are a jejemon! Don't talk to me, you uneducated retard!

miszMaldiTahh111: T_T

So in my words, Jejemonation is Jejemon Domination, as seen in my Facebook account:

There's no stopping them, really. To see for yourself, click on the picture to zoom. Or better yet, log on to your own Facebook account and change the language setting to "Leet Speak".

It's Your Day, Dear Mother Earth.

2010-04-22T09:33:00.000+08:00

Good news to all tree-hugging, coffee-loving afficionados out there!

It’s Earth Day on April 22 and if you ♥ Mother Earth, bring your tumblers to your neighborhood Starbucks and we’ll take P40 off your beverage. It’s a start toward an Earth friendly coffee drinking habit.

Promo is ongoing from Apr. 22 -23, 2010 at all Starbucks coffee shops nationwide.

Angat Pinoy Job Fair.

2010-04-21T19:44:00.012+08:00

For lack of time to write, I'll probably end up copying the post event press release.

Anyhoo, pictures muna. :-)

Sorry for the poor layout. I currently can't figure out my Google Chrome.

Coming Soon.

2010-04-16T00:53:00.002+08:00

Out of all the mishaps and rough roads traveled, something good has transpired.

A better entry to be posted in the coming days. ;-)

SUPER is Spelled G-L-O-B-E.

2010-04-06T21:39:00.001+08:00

Forgive me for being a little biased here. :-)

Anyhoo, in case I haven't announced it to the world, I have been a Globe Handyphone (GHP) subscriber since 2001. So curse the night I got intoxicated and went home without my phone. Don't ask for details, I can't remember even a single one of those.

Moving on, after six months with a new prepaid number, it all ended when Globe has finally given me an assurance that my next number will be mine forever: they approved my postpaid plan application. *WOOHOO!*

And what's really amazing (pardon me =P) about it, I got to avail of the MySuperPlan line.

And baby, I'm lovin' every minute of my unlimited service.

Moving on, I received a text from Globe yesterday stating my current unpaid bill and that I can view it online. And since I have no idea when my bill will I arrive, I checked it out online and was greeted by this:

Now that's what I like! =D

So if you're a heavy texter like I am (heavy, as in you have an average sent message counter of 200 daily), I strongly suggest you get this one instead of the regular plans. I currently availed of the text-only unlimited service so as to see if the call feature is really needed. (And to teach myself how to handle better my postpaid line for the nth time.)

I know people will have a lot of questions about this and since I am kind of getting tired explaining stuff to people (and convincing them to apply for one too,), I'll just ask you to head on to Globe's website to read on more about the offer or call 730-1000 on any landline and a customer service representative will gladly explain stuff to you.

And trust me, this is one postpaid line that's really worth it. =D

Sweet Tooth.

2010-04-01T16:57:00.000+08:00

Instead of being really productive, I am spending the day away searching for (drumroll please...) CAKES!

Birthday's just around the corner so I better make a quick decision on where to place my order. Quick history of me and birthday cakes: I usually have more than one. Really. Sweet ~~tooth~~ teeth, baby. And I know which ones are birthday-worthy. So, let's get down to business.

*Imma make this one quick. Promise. Fine. I'll try.*

During the last bridal fair I've been to, I think I found two or three cakes that I like. But hello to earth, I will not be spending five thousand pesos for a cake. :)) Maybe next time. :-P

So far, in the past two weeks, I've had my heart out for Babycakes. (The one in Alabang, and not in Hong Kong, ok?) These are my top reasons why I'd be willing to shell out moolah for their confections:

They have super kyooot cakes. (Really, Babycakes?)
Speaking of small/single-serving size, they're just about perfect to satisfy my craving of different cakes all in one day.
They make customized designs. And in you can choose from about a dozen of different cake flavors.
They're priced competitively! (2 points for this one!)

Anyhoo, my heart sank when the designs I listed down last weekend couldn't be made since they'd be using marshmallow icing. So I'm back to square one. Well, not totally. If all else fails, I'd be ordering from them. (For the sake of the Melt-In-Your-Mouth cake. Haha!)

I considered cupcakes. Ienne's Cupcakes are nice, but they look too ordinary for my birthday. But I loooove the mint flavor. Dilemma, baby. I checked Sweet Lorraine's, but I don't want a couple dozens of the same flavor! (According to her text message to me, she does mix in flavors in one dozen, but only on certain occasions.)

Going back to cakes, I asked at Aggy's, but to my huuuuuge disappointment, they would be charging me more than double the price Babycakes will be charging me. (This discovery makes me stick to Babycakes more. Haha!) So there goes the double cross for that store on my list. (Mean, I know. Haha!) But, I will still give in to their Frozen Mango Brazo (Yep, Brazo. Not Bravo.) anytime of the day. But, again, it's not for MY birthday, and besides, that was mother's birthday cake. And speaking of Bravo, I don't know why but of all the people in the south, I am not really a fan of the Mango Bravo from Conti's. Maybe I'm not really a fan of mangoes. Whatever. Niq once offered to drive me to Conti's to get that cake for my birthday, but for the nth time, that's not appropriate for my birthday.

And speaking of driving me around, Ms. Sam suggested on getting Alex Franco's Black & White cake if the Aggy's cake I want will be overpriced. She, too, offered to drop me by the pick up point for Alex' cakes. Btw, Alex did Ms. Sam's wedding cake. And Ms. Sam gave me a cake last year. So I guess it is just rightful to include Alex on my list.

And now, after Google-ing stuff, I remembered Chocolat. Sinfully good chocolate cake, baby! But, they only have stores up north. Nearest is probably SM Mall of Asia. Come on, I don't have time to go there nowadays! So I have to scratch it off the list. (Haaay. This is getting kinda stressful.)

Anyway, I'll be including my list the Go Nuts Donuts cupcakes too. Because they're just plain kyoot. Really. And they deliver. Ok? That's a point for Go Nuts.

Speaking of nuts, I am going nuts. Birthday in two weeks, and no cake decision yet. Please, please, please help me out here!

Amazing.

2010-03-29T21:14:00.000+08:00

So I'm blaming my divided attention at work today on this:

Amazed Cat @ Yahoo! Video

Seriously. I think I watched it like three or four times the whole day. :))

On Sharing.

2010-03-19T11:19:00.000+08:00

You see, this is one of the reasons why I am driven to write. Even if not on a daily basis anymore.

Kolgirl

We belong to the sleep-deprived, nicotine-inhaling, cab-riding new breed of Filipino youth. We infuse our anemic, caffeinated veins with ferrous sulfate everyday so we won't be NCNS (no call, no show) for our next shift. "Ginagawa naming araw ang gabi." [We make the night our day.]

Click on the link to read the rest of the entry. It was written by some call center agent (pretty much older than I am since she already has a kid who goes to school and her headache has the need for much more professional opinion, a.k.a. EEG and MRI's) with definitely a lot of angst and emotion about her work. (I wonder how much venting I can do if I pour out my heart after my event...)

Anyhoo, speaking of blogging, writing and ranting, I received an email from Nuffnang that comes with an exclusive invite. (Ahhh. The perks of being a glitterati member. Priority invites!)

I'm actually contemplating right now whether I'd be attending this one or not. (Boni High Street is pretty far from Alabang, you know.) But the miCoach is really tempting me. I'll be thinking about it til this afternoon. I know Glitterati members are allowed to bring one guest with them. Let's see if I can have someone tag along. Then I'll decide if I'll RSVP. :-P

Speaking of emails, I got another good news. Apparently, having 1000 Facebook friends comes with perks. Eastwood City had this contest thing last month wherein you just have to invite your friends to join their group, and the top five who can invite the most number of friends wins ten movie passes to Eastwood City's cinemas. Isn't that sweet? So basically, I won. Haha! :-) I'm just waiting for my cousin to claim the passes in my behalf, and then it's movie time.

Anyone wants to watch movies with me? :-)

There Is A Place...

2010-03-07T23:03:00.001+08:00

...like no place on Earth. A land full of wonder, mystery, and danger! Some say to survive it: You need to be as mad as a hatter...

...Which luckily I am.

photo courtes of siraquarius.blogspot.com

So it was a Saturday night, and I got to go out with my cousins! (Finally!) And we watched Alice. :-D

Basically I think it was not really a movie meant for kids, because it has somewhat deviated from the fairy tale version. Alice, who is now nineteen, returns to Wonderland, which, apparently, at her age, she believes does not really exist. (Oh yeah, we watched it in the normal theater. Which may be one of the reasons why I find this not-so-kid-friendly.) Anyway, what really made me excited about this movie is Tom Burton. Really. Fine, Johnny Depp made me excited. Haha!

With that said, I tell you, this version is not for those looking for glitzy and fun kiddie movie. (Come on, a nineteen year-old protagonist frolicking in a land where animals talk, cats smile, and food that can either make you grow big or shrink you to almost nothing?) I think I appreciated the movie because it's for the lost twenty-somethings a.k.a. those having a quarter-life crisis. Seriously. ;-)

Alice: But this is impossible.

Mad Hatter: Only if you believe it to be.

And perhaps, it is the twisted and un-prince-charming aura of the Mad Hatter that throws this movie off the fairy tale list. Princes are supposed to be really hot, neat and well-groomed, and above all, charming. Not dirty, mad and sarcastic. (But in the back of my mind, he's still hot. It's Johnny Depp, for crying out loud!!!)

In all fairness, Burton gave justice to the well-loved fairy tale. Wonderland is, well, really a wonder land, considering it's from the creative mind of this filmmaker. Now I'm beginning to wonder what it looked like on 3D. Hmmm. Could be better but then again, the 3D version wouldn't probably have the twist I was looking for in the regular film. And that, that twist, might give the happily-ever-after ending we all look forward to a bigger BANG!

I will miss you when I wake up. (Now, where is my Mad Hatter?)

Hooray for March!

2010-03-01T20:46:00.001+08:00

So it was a holiday. For Muntinlupa, anyway. But unfortunately, I have to go to work. Duty calls. ;-)

What a good, good day at work. :-D

Sponsorship proposals are flying, and a lot of clients are considering joining the event. Woot woot! :-D I can definitely the success of the job fair as early as today. *Oh please, oh please, Superfriend, that would be a nice birthday present this year. ;-)*

This is really getting me excited. I know we can do this. Wheee! :-D Baby steps! Last month I think we have a handful of premium clients and IBM wants to sponsor. This month, Jobstreet.com finally said yes! Woot woot! No to retrenchment, yes to more jobs for the Filipinos! :-D

*Insert happy plugging jingle here.*

On April 13 & 14, 2010, temperatures will rise as waves of eager jobseekers will head to the SM Megatrade Hall 3 in search of the hottest jobs and their dream careers at Viva Event's Angat Pinoy Job Fair. The two-day career fair will feature companies in the metro offering jobs for Pinoy expats, young professionals and first time applicants.

For inquiries, you can call 809 3119, 668 7787, 809 8707 or 403 3094.

For more details on the event, please click on the picture. ;-)

Anyhoo. Obviously, the building caf is closed for the day. So I have to find another place to get good food. I was craving for overly greasy and heart-stopping food so I called McDonald's and asked if they would take my order for both breakfast and regular menu. Unfortunately, they won't allow it as it would overlap things. My heart sank. So I moved on to Kenny Rogers, which at that moment, has a broken delivery hotline. *And at that point, I was waaaay too hungry to choose decent food. So we settled for Shakey's.

Thank God for pizza. And my collection of loyalty cards. Who knew I have one of those pizza card things? Anyway, the Shakey's pizzanatic card basically works like Pizza Hut's. Buy one pizza, add a 1.5L bottle of soda, and you get either a Pepperoni or Hawaiian flavored pizza of the same size. (And just about right now I realize that Shakey's sell Coke, not Pepsi. Pepsi's for Pizza Hut. Haha!)

Anyway, I got two large pizzas for the day. Which would be my breakfast, lunch and perhaps light dinner. So basically from 11:15 in the morning til about 5:15pm, I was eating pizza. (I shared, and it still wasn't consumed!)

I think I got tired of it, I gave away the last two slices to Ms. JC. Oh well. At least I finally satisfied my pizza craving. But there's this pizza flavor I wanna try soon. Something from TOSH. Anyway, that goes in a different entry.

For now, I have to think of ways to liven up the remaining 305 days of the year. Come on 2010, make it count! ;-)

Beep, Beep. Excuse Me.

2010-03-01T15:08:00.000+08:00

So that little YM thingy on the lower-right portion of my monitor? Very useful. I think I <3 it too.

In the midst of following up clients and thinking where to get new ones, a little window popped up and said hello to me. I have new mail. (Not that it's shocking, my Facebook notifications show up once in awhile.)

And the mail is a notification (again, from Facebook) that Cobra Starship will be here. In Alabang. Whee! Yay! Woooooot! :-D

I'm so gonna mark that on my planner. ;-)

I Love...

2010-02-23T22:21:00.000+08:00

Surprisingly, I don't love anything. Haha!

I was thinking a lot of things awhile ago of which I have strong emotions for but apparently, none of those seem to matter now because I have forgotten all about those. And when you love something, you don't forget just like that.

Anyway, in lieu with the post below this, I <3 SBC! :D

And here goes the first pin, and probably a thousand extra calories in my system. :-P

I am this close to my VIP card, and again back to square one for the second pin. When I got the pin last last week, I found it odd that it doesn't come in any packaging, or even those small plastic cases the cheap ones in the market come with. It's literally just a pin that you get after spending roughly Php600. Anyway, the pin is sooo pretty. I don't know what it's called, but the material is, again, not like the cheap plastic ones found everywhere. I think it's matte. Or something smoother than that.

Oh well, whatever the material, I like it. And while we're at it, there's still a few more days til I pick a winner. Or if no one else joins, this one automatically goes to Kristine. :-p

More on loving SBC... Seriously, I heart that coffee shop. Specially now that I realized that the cutie from last week is actually giving me extra perks. (Free shots, extra card coupons, additional milk to my lonely kiwi Italian soda, heck, he even covered my cup even if the cup covers are on the self-service counter.) Fine, I heart you na rin. Haha! :-p

And while I'm having raves for my new loves, here's the Bench alcogel I am loving:

This tiny bottle costs Php36.00 at any Bench store. I used to have the Mandarin Burst but I am somehow turning into a goldfish and I lost it last week at ATC. So I went out the other day and bought a new bottle. It's lavender this time. Personally, I like the scent of this one better. Although the Mandarin thing was refreshing to my nose.

I prefer spray hand sanitizers as opposed to gel ones because I hate the sticky feeling. (Which actually makes germs stick to your hands more rather than washing them away.) :-P

Anyhoo, what I am not loving right now is Stresstabs. Seriously. I keep getting sleepier and sleepier by the minute. Couple that with short-term memory loss. As I've said, I'm turning into a goldfish. I wonder how do I fix this. I need to get back to my old self stat. Whoever has any idea what happens with Stresstabs, help me out here. ;-)

And while I am on the subject, let me share how Joey has found his love too:

Yep, that's a fish bowl. The turtle used to live in there, but for some unknown reason, Joey finds comfort in staying inside the bowl. Haaay. I think my cat has some identity crisis going on. I think I should remind him he's a cat, and not a dog, rabbit, giraffe, owl, or fish. Oh well. Never mind. He's cute being all those.

So I'm thinking I have a lot more to write. Because I love so many things. But for now, I love sleep more than writing. Which means I have to stop.

For The L-o-v-e Of Coffee.

2010-02-15T22:39:00.001+08:00

Howdy-doo-di-do.

I dropped by Seattle's tonight for my B&W Mocha fix. Too bad I got torn between Chai Tea Javakula and my ever-beloved B&W fave. Which apparently was a good thing because this barista (who is just one fine line away from cutie-cute-crush status), offered me with the now-returning Spiced Berry Javakula.

Having been used to Starbucks' Frappucinos for years, I am not really a fan of SBC's Javakulas. Really. I like their iced mochas more than their Frappe counter-parts. Anyhoo, even if I am doubtful of the *berry* concoction, I tried it out. And suddenly, almost-cutie barista offered me the SBC Love Card.

*I am finding that girl awkward. It bothers me.*

In his best effort to keep the conversation going, he tried hard to explain the card's mechanics. *And in the middle admitting he has not yet read the card.* Oh-kay... He got me with "FREE". Hahaha!

And it's not just any free. Freebies range from upsizes to pastry to drink customization to even another drink. Whee! And the best thing about this is when you availed all four, SBC's gonna give you this I <3 SBC pin which basically gives you Php5 discount/cup whenever you flash it during your purchase. Isn't that cool? :-) Four drinks = discounts every purchase. Woot woot!

Oh, I really heart you. Really.

I am trying to google this promo but I can't seem to find it anywhere. Apparently, their website is not yet updated and doesn't feature the promo yet. So I am taking the liberty of writing them down here. :-)

The Card.

To bring awareness of the comeback of SBC's Spiced Berry Mocha, SBC is issuing its customers the Seattle's Best Coffee Love Card. The Love Card features four coupons which customers can avail anytime from Feb. 10, 2010 to March 31, 2010.

The Coupons.

I <3 Spiced Berry:

Enjoy a FREE upsize on your Spiced Berry Mocha or Javakula order.

I <3 Add-ons:

Make your drink more personal with a FREE add-on* on any drink.

*(Add on: Whipped cream, syrup or espresso shot)

I <3 Pastries: (I wished there were like five of this. Haha!)

Enjoy a FREE pastry of the day with any medium or large drink order.

I <3 Friendship: (My personal favorite.)

Buy an SBC Javajelly and get another drink of the same or lesser value to share for FREE.

The Verdict.

I, personally, am pleased with the Spiced Berry Javakula. It did erase all my inhibitions towards SBC's berry concoctions. I think my B&W Mocha now has to share my heart with the Spiced Berry. Oh well, I will always have room for coffee in my heart.

Anyway, I find this promo really sensible. I feel like I am really gonna get something out of my money. (Or maybe this is still the Javakula's caffeine talking. Whatev.) I am actually accumulating Php1500 for my VIP card. Turns out I can get more than my VIP card with this promo because I think I will be able to finish three cards. Which means, I'm giving out an "I <3 SBC" pin by the end of the month. <3 :-D

The Love.

Finishing three promo cards means I'll have more than one pin so I'm giving out an "I <3 SBC" pin by the end of the month. <3 :-D And since I'm ranting about coffee love after all, I am giving out my extra pin, or pins if I am that addicted to coffee, to whoever can tell me which of the coupons they ~~want~~ love the most, and of course, why. There's actually no other mechanics so you are free to express your own love for coffee, but I am out to look for the best reason. To join, simply leave a comment about the coffee lovebug in your system in the comment box below. (See, that's really really simple!) And oh, please do not forget to leave your email address so I'll know how to contact you when you win one of my pins, k? :-) Last comment has to be in by the midnight of the 28th!

<3,

Patricia ;-)

In five years...

2010-02-14T00:29:00.000+08:00

Here's the thing:

I want a black wedding.

I want a midnight wedding.

I want a wedding like nobody has ever thought of getting married.

I think I may have found my church. Too bad some people have banned weddings there. Pfft.

Come on! Shouldn't that be a privilege of alumni card holders? :-(

~~~

I am ranting. Oh well. I lalalalooooove Google Buzz. Woot woot! Google Buzz made Gmail so much more sociable than your average social networking website. I am loving the Google Buzz that I was able to buzz more than I can in my Twitter.

Panalo ang Google Buzz! *More rants later. I need to sleep. Work tomorrow. Yep, V-day work.*

So if you have a Google Buzz/Gmail/Google account, add me up. You won't miss me. ;-)

Ca-ching!

2010-02-09T20:41:00.001+08:00

People wonder why I have a bulky wallet.

Not that it's full of cash (that's a rare moment), it's full of my cards.

Name it, I think I've got it. Bank cards, debit cards, loyalty/privilege cards... And I forgot the reason why I have that much loyalty cards. Let's see... I have the Wise Card, Suki Card, Laking National, Powercard, Pizzanatic Card, TK Amazing Card, McDo Card, Bench Lifestyle Card, Gonuts Card... And I'm planning to get about a couple more cards.

I'm not going to explain each card's perks but when I got them, they all seemed sensible to me. (Now I'm thinking I'm too much of a shopaholic to be buying all those plastics.) And tonight, I think they all really made sense. I got to shop cashless! Wooot! (And I didn't use the debit card!)

I can still hear the Bench saleslady's question, "Mam, would you like to add more to your purchase? You have xxx left in your card." Music to my ears. ;-)

Anyway, when I got home mom ranted about Facebook. It only occured to me tonight that my account was updated. Literally. Overhauled. Made-over.

Pfft. Oh please Facebook don't copy Multiply's interface. I hated that one. (But I still love my Multiply account more.) Anyhoo. Speaking of cashless spending, I'm thinking of upgrading my Multiply from free to premium. And charging it on the debit card, of course. ;-)

Yeah, The Bad Boys Are Always Catching My Eye.

2010-02-08T09:07:00.058+08:00

And this is the daily dose of random Monday morning rush buzz. Yep, there will be random rants after this sentence, this will be a quick post and it's up to you if you care or not.

So it's Monday. I woke up late. But I got in the office on time. Buzzer beater, pare. ;-) I am sooooo happy to finally arrive on time, on a Monday at that. At this point, I want to blame my past tardiness to Stresstabs and the irritating urban traffic, and weird Pinoy human traffic. I blame Stresstabs because it has a weird side effect on me. I am more sleepy now than before. Therefore I've been oversleeping, I think.

Anyway, human traffic is when pedestrians just can't get over the average 5.3kph rate of walking. You know what I mean. Oh how I miss walking in the streets of Hong Kong. Surprisingly, Chinese people walk fairly fast (pretty much like the Westerners) and they don't bump into each other. Now that's the kind of human traffic I need in Alabang. Not that I'm against strolling or taking your time with walking, but I hope these people do mind not obstructing the whole sidewalk. They can do that in malls or parks. (Just not always at the mall.)

*Now I'm really missing Hong Kong. Better start saving up again.*

Speaking of saving up, I managed to lower my monthly spending by 25% and I am thanking the little game Niq and I have. They say it takes 21 days to break a habit. Every time I'm at the 15th, 16th or maybe 20th day, I revert and succumb to my old ways. Pfft. And last week I have to admit I did just that, and it's really because I couldn't resist it! I think this site should help in breaking the habit. :-)

You see I was psyched last year when a former co-worker of mine has this huge bottle of hand sanitizer that you can spray sitting on his desk. I was so hung up on the item that I kept bugging him to tell me where he got it, and he told me that it was bought at a department store. And I tried looking for it for a month in different branches of that department store, but unfortunately failed. And just last week, I finally found what I've been looking for. (Is that a line from a song?) Of all places, I found my new spray hand sanitizer at Bench! :-) I forgot to take a picture but it comes in three scents, lavender, mandarin burst and the regular scent. I got the mandarin burst.

*Will upload picture some time later. And probably a separate review. :-)*

I think there's still space for one more rant. ;-) And I just have to let this out because yesterday, I was working. (Pfft, I know. Haha! My fault anyway.) The laptop I was using yesterday was not installed with plug-ins for me to listen to Magic's Sunday countdown, so I resorted to tuning in to MTV. This is what I hate about mainstream. Whatever song you hear on the radio, is probably the same ones playing on TV, and everyone else's Ipod. And hearing songs over and over again, and literally everywhere, just makes me want to gag. (I support Indie and new artists more than mainstream artists. Hooray for originality and new blood!)

So after about ten minutes of Adam Lambert, Kris Allen, Lady Gaga and Beyonce, something new to my ears played. Which I definitely had to share with Monique. (And that's a different story.) You see, there's just this something in bad boys that really make my head turn and go after them.

As far as I know, Alexandra Burke won some reality show in UK a couple of years back. And this song just rocks my socks. ;-)

*Do the bad boys always get the good girls? ;-)*

And oh. On some random internet search, I found this:

Hooray for the Olympics! :-D

22.

2010-02-04T01:52:00.001+08:00

I'm making a list of birthday wishes this year.

First of all, I wish for sleep...

.....and I'll write the rest later when I wake up. ;-)

Feel free to wish for your own birthday. I am open to suggestions. :)

Tick Tock. Tick Tock.

2010-01-31T20:37:00.001+08:00

31 days into the year and my blog is gathering up dust and cobwebs.

Not that I'm complaining, 2010 is a great year for me, in fairness. I think I've met a lot of new and interesting people, as well as cutting off some who no longer deserve me in their life. So far, my project at work has finally picked up. I hope all goes well. ;-) But, I still need HR numbers. Haha!

So basically, my job is taking up most of my time, and I'm loving it. But I am still craving for more. And surprisingly I am doing a lot more than I have expected. But for the past week, I am just so tired. My time card at work is witness to that as I was five straight days late for work. I don't think I have the same stamina I had when I was in college anymore. :-( I'm missing the days that I would just go on and on working and studying without even sleeping. Now I can't even last a day without taking a nap at the office couch during lunch break. :-(

Speaking of a lot on my plate, Ms. Carol of John Clements is asking for assistance for BOP 2010. :-) Actually, I have talked to Ms. Anj (she's from JC too) a couple of weeks back about being on the subcommittee. I guess she was too busy to accommodate my inquiries. Haha! :-p Anyway, BOP meetings used to be on Tuesday mornings. I was informed tonight that they're on Monday afternoons. I really want to join the subcommittee this year. I wonder if Ms. Sam will allow me. (Oh Lord please tell Ms. Sam to consider my proposal.) And now I'm wondering if Ms. Carol would join my event. ;-)

But on top of being busy, I managed to create a Twitter account last week. Haha! It's not really a personal account so no one-liner rants there. But I do use the account to *sometimes* stalk my friends. *Bigger Haha!* Which is how I found out that this Gino Quillamor account on Facebook is actually an impostor's. Not that I know Gino personally, but I have friends who do know him. Actually, when I saw this account, I was sort of pissed. Man, how could this person even talk to the "friends/fans/followers" as if he was the real Gino? I don't know how that person could live with the lie of being someone he is not. But on the bright side, this means Gino is something big already that someone has decided to become his impostor. Ah... The silver lining in every dark cloud. Haha!

So for people wanting to stalk or dig up some dirt on me on the web, you shouldn't search in my Twitter. I created it for work purposes. I really am fighting the urge to post something personal there. Besides, from the definition itself, if it's personal, I'd rather to just keep it to myself or talk about it with people I know I can trust. So if you check it out, you'll find mostly events there. *And personal plugging begins.* For the latest and not-so-up-to-date happenings, check @PatsHappenings. Maybe you can stalk me here in knowing my whereabouts! Haha! ;-)

I may have a lot on my plate right now but I am certainly enjoying every single bit of it.

Anyhoo, 11 months to go til 2011. That means 334 more days of fun. Aymlavinet. :-)

On Working In The Middle Of The Night.

2010-01-20T01:59:00.001+08:00

How timely it is that I used such title for this entry.

I am still up, when I should be sleeping. Yes, I am sleepy but there's this sudden rush of adrenaline in my system that just won't go away. I've been online for more than an hour now. Doing research, basically. I just realized today in the office that I might have finally ran out of HR people to call. Or that I am just having another attack of procrastination. (Which, I know, is so not good for my job.)

Ok. I checked my planner (see, I'm using it) and found out that I have more than a dozen to call and send proposals to. And that's not enough for me. I need more. Literally hundreds. Because I can't stop this. I'm seeing something good out of this.

And that's what I need to cement in my brains. (Somebody stop me from ranting!)

Anyway, more than an hour into my research, I realized that Google has presented me with almost 1,170,000 results of job openings for Filipinos. And now I can't help wonder why there's still a lot of jobless people out there. Lazy, yes, I think I might be one of them (but I have a job). Picky... Hold it right there. Almost two million jobs out there (and not counting the ones that didn't make it online due to budget constraints), and you can't pick one? WTF man.

Seriously? You can't pick one? I'm barely twenty-two and have no idea what to do with my life but I suddenly had to fight this big urge of mine to apply for at least twenty different job openings out there that never in my wildest dreams did I imagined I would want to apply for today. (Because I realized that I looooooooove my job. Come on, does your boss let you view random job openings 24/7 and actually call up the HR people and get paid to do it? Didn't think so.)

I just don't get it. Getting a job interview is one click away, yet some people are too lazy, and inhumanly picky to do it. And this is just something I can't deal with. No, I abhor whatever attitude this people have towards working. Not that I'm the employee of the year or something, but is it really possible for someone not to find a single job out there that he'll really apply for? This is just too much for me to accept right now. Or probably for the rest of my life.

It's almost two in the morning. I now have a list of what seems like a line up of a battle for the best online job portal in the country, excluding Jobsdb, Jobstreet, and Jobmarket Online, of course. I think this will be enough to last me for the rest of the week.

I need to get busier. I need to remember that all of this will be for a good cause. I have to remind myself that this is my way of showing the increasing unemployed population of the country can find the job they'll like too.

Maybe I'll just look for one more contact number and then I'll sleep.

Kristin Singson's (FULL) Story.

2010-01-19T09:59:00.000+08:00

Well, what do you know? I'm off to procrastinating and reposting stuff all over my accounts again. I know I am busy and I was supposed to write again another sensible entry but I just can't do this right now. Anyway, I got this from Telai, and I'm hoping people can help spread out the word.

January 13, 2009
Superklasse Wednesday

After four months of not going to a club (LITERALLY), I finally did to show some support for one of my best friends, Mel and to see friends who I haven’t seen for the longest longest longest time. It was the first time I’ve ever set foot in Encore (to think I used to go to Embassy every week). It felt surreal to be out and without my boyfriend, LJ, who couldn’t come due to an early class the following day.

I only had 4 drinks: 3 Amaretto Sours and a Mai Tai. It felt good seeing a lot of my friends. We took so many pictures that my fully charged camera went low bat. Anyway, Mel and I decided to leave Encore by 2:30 A.M. Our friends stayed behind since the club closes at 3 A.M. Mel and I were taking separate cabs since she goes home to Mandaluyong and I to Makati. I WAS COMPLETELY SOBER. Not even a bit tipsy.

I remember telling her as we were leaving the club “It’s my first time going home in a cab alone from this club.” Mel was a bit concerned, even offering me to stay over her place for the night.. I told her not to worry, I ALWAYS get home safely.

So we went to get our cabs and I made sure Mel got into her cab first. Then I was looking for a cab who wouldn’t fix the price (you know how it is at The Fort) and there was one who volunteered that he’d use the meter. So I took his offer. I distinctly remember most of the waiting cabs were DAVIS cabs. Mine was not. And I was so damn stupid not to get his taxi’s name and plate number.

In the middle of the ride, I started changing into regular shorts and top. The driver wasn’t looking though but suddenly his hand reached for behind and I was surprised. He was saying, “MAY NAHULOG. Wallet mo ata.” I found a 50 peso bill on the floor. Then he said, “Ang dami mo sigurong pera. Mayaman ka noh?” I didn’t answer. I started getting nervous. I started looking for the cab’s number (which is usually written on the side of the doors). There were faint markings but it couldn’t be understood. The driver noticed my agitation and said, “Anong hinahanap mo? Plate number? Bigay ko sayo.” I was like, “Never mind.” I did NOT want him to know I was getting nervous already. Plus we were so near my house. I thought, what could go wrong?

But something did. Three streets away from my house, the cab driver “hit” a pothole or hump or whatever. He pulled over to the side and said, “Tangina, pano na yan? Na-lock yung steering wheel. Hindi ko maikot.” I was just looking at him, confused. I have no knowledge of cars so I do not know if he was bluffing or not. The meter was 75. I gave him a hundred. He had no change daw so I was like, “Fine, whatever. There’s nothing I can do about it.” I stepped out of the cab, in the middle of Bautista Street, a long street but near my house. It was almost 3 A.M. When I looked back, the cab was gone.

HOW IN THE WORLD WAS HE ABLE TO DRIVE AWAY IF HIS STEERING WHEEL WAS “LOCKED”?

I called my boyfriend up AND THANK GOD HE ANSWERED HIS PHONE. He was sleeping already, good thing the call woke him up. I was trying to remain calm. I told him my dilemma. Suddenly an empty cab drove by. A DIFFERENT ONE. I hailed it. I had probably less than half a kilometer to my house which was three streets away. The cab took me in and I ended the call.

Two more lefts, it was my house already. It was Camalig Street, then Bigasan Street. Suddenly the driver went left, the street just right before my house, Camalig. I said very politely, “Kuya, MALI. Atras ka, atras ka. Sa kabilang street pa. One more left.” The driver just kept driving like he didn’t hear. I said it again. Then he stopped and looked at me. Then he said, “Bayaran mo na.” I was weirded out. I was like, “Why? This is not even my house. It’s on the next street.” Besides, we haven’t traveled far. The meter was still at 30 pesos.

SUDDENLY, without warning, the driver grabbed my neck and jumped to the back. My first thought was, “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?!?!?”. But his grip was getting tighter and tighter. I literally couldn’t breathe and felt my consciousness slipping. As we were struggling, I kept scratching at his eyes and reaching for the lock of the left door. He was on top of me hitting my head repeatedly while his other hand around my neck. I was choking and choking when I realized the left side HAD NO FUCKING LOCK, which means I couldn’t get out. Which means I had to try my luck on the right side. Imagine my struggle to get to the other side as a full grown, heavyset man kept bashing my head, scratching my face, pulling my hair and hitting me. I kept scratching his eyes. It was all I could do. When his grip loosened a bit, I managed to open the right door with so much effort. Unfortunately he pulled me back with my hair. Imagine MY TERROR as the door closed again!!!!! I couldn’t scream anymore. Besides, who would hear me I was inside a fucking car. My neck was so sore and I was close to fainting. I kept scratching his eyes and reaching for the door until by some miracle, I opened it fully and screamed with what was remaining of my voice.

The driver said something like, “Tangina, it’s not worth it.” And literally kicked me out of the car. I rolled out onto the street with my shoulder bag which was slung around me the whole time with its remaining contents. The driver suddenly sped away. Till now, I don’t know his motive, whether it be rape or hold up. Or both. Or murder.

So there I was in the middle of the street, barefoot. Then I realized why the hell am I so wet?! I realized I was sitting in a pool of my own blood. There was so much blood dripping from the right side of my head, it was like a half-closed faucet if you get what I mean. I started screaming for help.

This time the apartment I was right in front of lights’ went on. Imagine the horror on these people’s faces as I literally crawled towards them bloodied and barefoot. When I reached out to them for help, I saw my arm. It was covered in blood. And I could feel that I was losing so much more. I asked for a cellphone. I still had the consciousness to call my boyfriend. The people who took me in were nice enough to let me call. They talked to LJ and informed him of what happened. They even cleaned me up. Suddenly there was the barangay people and witnesses. That’s when everything became hazy. The barangay people said that they had to take me to the hospital because I was losing so much blood.

I was taken to Makati Medical Center ER. I still remember as I was being loaded onto the wheelchair the horrified looks of the people outside the hospital. I even had a high school batchmate who was assigned as my nurse, Erika Bautista (THANK YOU SO MUCH). In her own words she said that when I came in I looked like I was already in critical condition. I am not exaggerating when I say this: I WAS LITERALLY COVERED IN BLOOD. Head to foot.

Everything was in a daze after that. All I remember was the blood. Under my nails, on my face, on my hair, on my neck, my chest, my legs, my toes. Even my armpits had blood. Truly, I have never seen so much in my whole life. My face started bruising up so much I could see my right cheek even if I look straight ahead. I also had so much hair falling out because the guy kept on pulling it. But what bothered me was the blood that kept dripping continuously from the right side of my head… and the pain. The doctor said the cut was so deep it LOOKS LIKE I WAS STABBED. It was really bad. I wouldn’t stop crying. I hate the sight of blood and here I am, a walking bloody blob. My first medical gown was drenched in blood. So they had to change it. I changed my medical gown four times before I was discharged. That’s how bad the bleeding was.

When LJ arrived the hospital, I forced myself to be cheerful. I smiled and said “HAPPY MONTHSARY!” It was our 2nd monthsary. Geez what a way to spend it. Till now this hurts me, thinking how ironic the situation is. He said the wounds on my head were like the claw marks in the Jurassic Park movie logo. B, no words can express what I feel towards the situation and how grateful I am that you were there. Basta alam mo na yun.

Anyway, after a few hours, I got a CT scan to detect hemorrhages and X-Rays. Good thing it all came out negative. But I had so many wounds and lacerations on my head. They had to STITCH THE RIGHT SIDE OF MY TEMPLE AND ANOTHER ONE AT THE BACK OF MY HEAD. But there are still minor wounds all over my head, even the inside of my ear has blood till now. Till now my hair is all stiff and sticky from the blood. They shampooed my hair in the hospital but a lot of it still haven’t come out. (I woke up today with dried blood on my pillow).

The first time I saw a mirror, I could not believe my eyes. I thought it was just dirt and dried blood but then I realized I had a giant bruise on my right cheek and deep scratches on my face. I got a Wet One but it just won’t come off. I had to face it, my face was really fucked up. My neck had strangle marks, my jaw was swollen, I had two semi-black eyes, my cheeks were patches of black and blue and the abrasions and cuts were deep on my face. I look like the Bride of Chuckie.

After they sutured me, I became delirious for sometime. Not knowing what I was saying to LJ but he said I was acting strange and started rambling about random things that I don’t remember.

The police came and they got the license plate of the cab DAW from the witnesses but they weren’t sure if it’s accurate. We’re still planning an investigation. I lost my school ID, cellphone, cash and camera. The only things that I salvaged from the incident were my shoes, a brush and a dress. They were covered in blood as well. Now, the question is, are the first and second cab incidents related? Is it a Modus Operandi?

Anyway, I’m out of the hospital now. My body is aching all over and my face looks like Pacquiao practiced on it.

The reason why I am writing this note is TO WARN EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU PEOPLE TO BE CAREFUL. I never ever thought such a thing could happen to me. I thought it only happens in the movies. Imagine, I was just a street away from my home and THIS HAPPENED. A STREET AWAY. Thank God I wasn’t drunk, Thank God the guy did not have weapons (I think), Thank God some kind souls helped me. Thank God I had the presence of mind not to remove his hands from my neck but to scratch his eyes out and reach for the lock. Some girls initial defense would be to un-strangle themselves but I didn’t. I let him strangle me. My main objective was to get the damn door open and escape.

The doctor told my boyfriend I was lucky to be alive, before leaving the hospital. As I was struggling inside the taxi, I did not see the whole “your life flashes before you when you’re dying” thingy.

NO. That’s why I fought against him as much as I could. I told myself over and over again, “NOT TODAY… NOT TODAY… This isn’t how I should die. I’m too good for this.”

I SAW the reason why I should keep on living. That’s why I’m still here today.

PXG 725 or PSG 725
White Taxi

Lethargy and Procrastination.

2010-01-12T12:51:00.000+08:00

Because my job requires me to be in touch with a lot of companies all over the metro, particularly the human resources department, I have been searching for telephone numbers and email addresses in the past three months all over. Directories, classified ads, websites, tv commercials, billboards, even asking my friends.

I realized last weekend that about 25% of my friends are in the human resources industry. Or maybe more, if I asked everyone I knew one by one. But as usual, I am too lazy to socialize with my friends lately, or to put it in a nicer way, I am too busy.

Anyway, I was browsing several sites all at the same time. (You have no idea how many tabs are there on my Firefox.) I checked out Air 21's website and one link led to another and I landed on their mother company's website and look what I found on the site:

Looky-look here, baby.

So yeah, I learned that among the services offered by the Lina Group of Companies, they are now offering to have your Transcript of Records delivered right at your doorstep. (And I thought 2Go's NSO document delivery was the coolest thing service ever.) Woohoo!

If you were anything like me who despised the looooong lines at the University Registrar's office during graduation season or accreditation season, then this service is definitely for you. It works like this; you call them up, you give important details, wait about several working days (depends on your school's mandated number of processing days) and voila. Your TOR is delivered at your doorstep. And from the site's FAQ's section, I proudly share to you the new found knowledge I got from procrastinating with my work:

Q: What is e-transcript.com.ph?
Posted January 3rd, 2008
A: E-transcription is a time-saving, efficient, and innovative service package designed to assist college graduates obtain a copy of their Transcript of Records, which can be delivered right at their doorstep.

Q: Who can avail of this service?
Posted January 3rd, 2008
A: All alumni as well as college students may avail of the service.

Q: What are the benefits of the service?
Posted January 3rd, 2008
A: SURE-A Process and delivery - Saves alumni time - Un-tampered records - Reasonable costs - Enjoy efficient pick-up and delivery - Avoid unnecessary expenses

Q: How much is the service fee?
Posted January 3rd, 2008
A: The fee will generally be dependent on the school and where the document will be delivered.

Q: How long will it take to process the request?
Posted January 3rd, 2008
A: Completion of the request is based on the schools’ normal procedures.

Q: When will it be convenient to request for the transcript of records?
Posted January 3rd, 2008
A: We receive requests from Mondays to Fridays between 8:00 am – 5:00 pm.

Q: Can the documents be delivered outside metro manila?
Posted January 3rd, 2008
A: Transcript of records may be arranged for delivery anywhere in the Philippines. We can also arrange for overseas deliveries if requested

Q: Is this service available on-line?
Posted January 3rd, 2008
A: We are continuously upgrading the service and currently developing a process for this to be made on-line available as well.

So if I still don't have my official TOR, I will be availing of this service. Seriously. Haha! (This might be quicker than actually taking a trip to my school.) And besides, I don't have time to go to school. I'm busy. ;-)

On Racing Against Time.

2010-01-11T02:08:00.002+08:00

Wouldn't it be cool if we get to have this reset button to hold on to everyday?

I don't mean like Adam Sandler's life remote control on Click, but just this one reset button. Which can make you go back to the moment you woke up and do everything you did, just slower or different this time, because you want to change something. Which can only be used once everyday. Which can only be used at the last hour of the day. Which goes off once in awhile due to exhaustion. Which can be accumulated when not used. Which will expire when not used after 72 hours. Which will have more rules than I have already listed.

Seriously, I am this close to not sleeping anymore. Even that I can't fit into the frigingly short 24-hour day we all live. (That ten hour sleep I got today? That's pretty much my rest for the coming week. I'm seeing 2 or 3 hour sleeps again during the next few nights.) On top of not getting sleep, I can't even take five minutes of the day to open up my planner and writing down everything that I have, need and want to do. Because I am already doing a lot.

I know, I know. I've been living this kind of lifestyle ever since. But I'm starting to get tired of it. Tired, not bored. I think I have finally learned how to love the life I've been living. Maybe I just need change. I think should run on a different track. Or maybe take a walk through life on a slower pace. Let's see if that will fix things up.

It's already past two in the morning. I am ranting, but not complaining. Maybe close to it, but not quite yet. I just can't seem to understand how some people can manage their time, let alone their lives and I can't. I am now entertaining this huge wondering why Monday is too far from Friday, yet Monday seems so near to Friday.

I'm off to work again tomorrow. And sometime this week, I have to squeeze in time for things I want and need to do for myself. I think I'll stop ranting and try to figure out how to write everything on my planner.

And if all else fails and I still can't fit everything in 24hours, I'll just spend the rest of the day sleeping. Aylavet. :-)

Down The Aisle.

2010-01-07T13:06:00.001+08:00

On New Year's Eve, Niq and I were having this random conversation about wedding songs.

Nothing special, really, because weddings are sort of part of our daily conversations anyway. And on that certain day we picked bridal marches as our topic. So in the car, we were listening to this song, which according to her, was the one used by her blockmate's cousin when she walked down the aisle.

Right now
Face to face
All my fears
Pushed aside
And right now
I'm ready to spend the rest of my life
With you
Would you look at her
She looks at me
She's got me thinking about her constantly
But she don't know how I feel
AS she carries on without a doubt
I wonder if she's figured out
I'm crazy for this girl
I'm crazy for this girl

Yep. That's Lifehouse's I'm Crazy For This Girl. Until now I can't picture out in my mind how a rock song can be used as your bridal march song. And of course, Monique had told me that it was sung in a slower version. But still, I can't imagine the scene. Even after listening to Evan & Jaron's acoustic version.

Oh well. I think any song can be your bridal march. For whatever reason you chose it, it must be something special to you, something that means a lot. And not just to the bride, but for the groom as well. And I now remember someone I know who got married last year used "Lost In Space" by the Lighthouse Family as her bridal march. (Which, btw, was an instrumental version of my Gaudete friends. Too bad I wasn't able to attend the wedding. Haha!)

So that conversation with Monique got me thinking. On top of everything you have to accomplish for your wedding, you have songs to choose. And as I said, it could be for reasons that only the couple knows why they chose the song. (And now my ranting begins which I have to control.)

Anyway, rants later. I was listening to my Lifehouse collection today (blame it on Monique for giving me LSS with ICFTG), and I came across one of their most beautiful songs. Minutes later I was singing along. As I sang the chorus, I knew it. This is my song. No matter what people say, what the groom will say. I want this song. And when I Googled for a music video, guess what I found. I won't say what the title of the song is, but it is also by Lifehouse. ;-)

How timely. :-)

And oh. I'll let you in on a secret. My eyes watered when I watch the video. ;-)

Maximizing Resources.

2010-01-06T11:47:00.002+08:00

Since I mentioned that my planner is just collecting dust underneath my pile of stuff on my desk (because I don't have time to write everything there. Boo! Ang loser.), I decided to use it as my mousepad.

Because Starbucks planners have textured covers, they make great mousepads. And I think dragging my mouse all over the planner will be a good reminder for me to use the planner for its primary purpose.

Galing noh? :-D

Stuck.

2010-01-06T10:19:00.001+08:00

I am declaring myself to be on an indefinite writing hiatus. And no, this is not because I am bored or I don't have time, but mainly because I have nothing to write. Or maybe I do. It's just that I'm too lazy to string up words that are actually sensible and decent enough.

I think I am procrastinating again.

Fine. I admit I am toooooo busy. I think my planner is useless. It's empty. And I know I have a lot going on. Pfft. A week into 2010 and I am lost in my own ways. I have some cleaning up to do.

Oh well. I've been spending time lately lurking other bloggers' blogs. So sue me. I like reading a bit more now than writing.

And while we're at it, I now have a Formspring account. Maybe the questions there will help me write. See the square thingamajig on the right where you can ask questions? I encourage you to please ask me questions. And help me break out of this hiatus. :-)