thirtytwo

Welcome Back

2011-04-03T19:41:00.001+08:00

Dear My Love Just want to say welcome Back to your blogs again now you can post and post untill u get dizzy and good luck with your blogs also change your status your love

the rebonding process

2008-09-27T14:18:00.006+08:00

what girls would do for the sake of that elusive something called...."beauty".

yesterday i had bonding moments with my girlfriends cum housemates at the salon to have our hair done.

we started at 1:30pm until 6:30pm, lorie and i had our hair rebonded while marianne and bernie had the hot oil treatment (they had their hair rebonded weeks ago).

let me explain to you the complicated process of rebonding....a guy friend from facebook asked yesterday "isnt rebonding about relationships?". Its funny.... you can almost consider it as such...because it took such a long time to do...you'll probably end up developing a closer relationship with your hair dresser...ha ha ha Anyway, this is how its done:

First the apply something from the roots of your hair until maybe about mid lenght and cover it with plastic. You have to stay that way for hours..mine took 2.

Then they open the plastic and check your hair...pulling a few strands ...i dont know what this is for...but it seems as if they are gauging the elasticity of your hair.

Then they put white stuff again on your hair from mid length to ends and then they wash it.

Afterwards they dry your hair, in my case the salon was so busy i had to dry it myself with mariannes help.

When the hair is dry already, they press it little by little with the hair press...aww this is painful...its hot and it feels as if theyre pulling my hair out ...like im going to loose all of it.

After this, they rest your hair for a few minutes to cool it, then they put another white something on it, from roots to ends and then, they comb it straight all the way from top to bottom. They leave this white stuff in for 30-45 mins before rinsing it.

Once rinsed, they blow dry again...and then press it again. Then they trim it a little ...just a snip here and there..

All in all, my hair took 5 hours... i was the last to finish among us 4. This is the finish product... can you even tell the difference?

the 4 of us at the fish roundabout intersection... from left marianne, me, lorie and bernie

dinner at chowking, algurair...well 5 hours can make you really really hungry...

but the most difficult part is not that yet...it is not being to able to wash your hair for 3 days...whaaaat?? how am i going to survive that?

side note : i was able to practice my mandarin at the saloon because all the hairdressers are chinese...i think theyre from taiwan. it was fulfilling to see the look on her face when i said... "shui de hen re" (the water is hot) while she was washing my hair.

88 days after

2008-09-25T12:42:00.004+08:00

this is me, 88 days after i started dieting....17.6lbs lighter....i coudnt tell the difference though just by looking....i feel lighter, my clothes are definitely more loose (not the ones im wearing on the picture because those are new), i even thrashed a few blouses because theyre too big....i used to be a size 16-18 ..now im size 14-16. imsometimes 12.

im not asking for much really, i just want the universal XL to fit me. my friend once asked "whats a universal XL size?" i told her its when you walk inside any store in any country and you asked for "size XL please" ..then you try it on and it fits perfectly....ideally, some would probably be larger but none should be smaller. she said "why not go for a universal L?"

maybe in the future, ill aspire for a universal L ...but for now lets go for the universal XL. aja! gambate ne!

thai massage in dubai

2008-09-21T13:18:00.003+08:00

im the type of person who liked to be touched....*get your mind off the sewer... let me re-phrase that...im the type of person who enjoys a good massage...there...better? :)

last friday i went and had my regular thai massage ...in the spirit of curiosity and adventure...i tried their 2 hour thai massage with herbal ball.... wow......damn...its hot...yes literally...ha ha ha... at one point i had to say "ah ah awwww!"....because it felt as if im my thighs are burning! but it was good.....and i would definitely recomend it to others.

Ofcourse i had some bruises when i woke up the next morning...behind my neck...on my back...but it will be gone in a few days.

heres the link of "bliss relaxology" where i go for my massage in garhoud...i suggest you get an appointment 2hours before you go because the place is always full.

http://www.timeoutdubai.com/dubai/components/tools/print.php?tbl=venue&id=572&email_section=charity

im looking forward to my next session, maybe in a months time...hmmm...i wonder what i should try next?

iftar party

2008-09-18T01:48:00.004+08:00

i had my first annual iftar "breaking the fast" party given by our office tonight. lots of food, good company....ruined my diet....again....for the nth time this week .... ate lamb...liked it....what else? hmm...saw some pretty interesting folks....exchanged lots of side comments with kaye....ha ha ha...it was lots of fun :)

FMS

2008-09-15T19:16:00.004+08:00

Today im wearing my 4” ridiculously high heel shoes….its a plain, dark brown, pointed, sling back, stiletto….. my boyfriend calls it FMS (yes, you can guess the acronym…and its not nice…).

It was love at first sight, I fist saw it on the display rack of 9 West a few days ago. I walked up to it and tried it on. It fits perfectly! ...mmm....uhhh…theres just one itsy bitsy teenie weenie problem….i cant walk on them.

…i said to myself..."i will practice"... so I tried walking around the store a couple of times...ok that wasnt so bad...but i have this limping feeling whenever i close a step.

...i need a second opinion, so i asked a friend i was with at that time “marianne, do I look as if im limping?” she said “no ate lei it looks good on you”….i like going shopping with Marianne because she always ..always agree with everything i choose….shes very positive…so I always end up spending so much when im with her.

in short i bought the FM shoes...everyday i would put it on and walk around my bedroom.... today is the first time im wearing it out.

I almost stumbled on the sidewalk and slipped on the carpet. It took me twice as long to reach where im going....and i can see a beginning of a blister forming at the side of my toes...but in spite of all that.....the FM shoes made me feel really pretty, sexy, girly, elegant, confident...and most of all it has achieved what cherifer and star margarine has failed to do for years....it made me feel tall.

So this is what it feels like …..............to be 5’4” tall! wow!! ...Ouch!!

a rude awakening

2008-09-10T19:48:00.001+08:00

Last week was one of the worse week of my life. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, I feel restless, I feel depressed…my heart is pounding like crazy on my breast ….and I there’s a distinct ringing that just wont stop.

No matter what I do, nothing seems to be fun and exciting anymore…..everything seems dark and gloomy… I don’t feel important…nobody seems to need me….i feel that my work is worthless….my boyfriend is busy with his own stuff…im physically alone in this place...and nobody cares about what happens to me. I know that everything is just so terribly wrong but I have no idea what it is…or where its coming from….

I did all sorts of stupid things…... I thought that if I do all those, it would be ok…it will fill out the missing piece…and that it will bring back what ive mysteriously lost…but it didn’t…. in fact it only made me realize one thing….im the same as everybody else….i have failed my own expectations of myself, of my code and what I think I should be….it was a slap on the face to realize that I wasn’t as pure and as good as I thought I was …and I that can also be greedy….. selfish….bitchy….inconsiderate…insensitive…..just like the rest of the human race…. I fell off my ivory tower big time and I fell hard…

..i guess its about time….now that ive figured that out …im starting to feel ok….i think im slowly getting back to my normal peaceful cheerfull life…my appetite is back…im sleeping soundly….and the ringing and the beating is gone…. Will it come back? I hope not…but if it does…I think it will be ok…because like everything else ….this also shall pass….

Feb 16-17, 2008 - Bye Bye Philippines and Helloooow Dubai!

2008-08-28T20:58:00.002+08:00

Warning Rant Ahead!! You may skip this blog entry!

My MNL-DXB flight is the most stressful flight of my entire traveling history…it started with the long snakelike line at the airport check in counter. It took me more than an hour maybe even two just to reach the counter.

They weighed my check in baggage and …ooops it overweight… I told the ground steward…

”its fine, ill just pay for it”

“Mam, its more than 100 dollars” (with the look that says…its expensive ..im not sure if you can pay for it)

i told him “yeah its fine, ill pay for it” .... then they weighed my check in bag….

”mam its also over weight! What’s in it?”

My eyebrows are starting to raise by 3mm (in my head : what do you care?) ”books?? can I just pay for it?”

”mam if you’re carrying a laptop we may allow it, but since you’re not we cant”. (imh : where was that written???)

“im a licensed diver, can you allow me a few additional lbs?”

“does your luggage contain diving equipments”

“no”

“then we cant, if you can fit it in your check in baggage you can pay for it, otherwise you have to remove the stuff to lessen the weight” (imh : f.u.!!!)

So I pulled all my bags in the corner and rearranged some stuff. I transferred some on my check in luggage then the rest I placed in a separate hand bag (thank God I brought a spare) and hid it in the trolley under my jacket. Phewww!! I was perspiring like crazy opening luggage, squeezing them shut…transferring stuff here and there….So now I ended up carrying two hand bags and a mini trolley hand cary bag and one big luggage for check-in.

They weighed it again…”mam you have to pay 121$”

“No problem, ill pay for it”

Then they weighed the small trolley bag and said “ok, mam”…then he tagged the bags and said “ you can pay on the counter at the end.”

“cant I pay here”

“no mam” (imh: f… 2x)

I moved to the next counter…theres a guy paying before me…and they were having some problems…blah blah blah…I was looking at my watch and thingking “geez one more hour before my flight…and I haven’t been to immigration yet im so f**k”

Finally its my turn…”im here to pay for my excess baggage”
“mam, that would be 121$”

“ok heres 200$”

“mam don’t you have an exact change, because we don’t have loose coins”

(imh: halleur its not like I keep all $ denominations in my bag…) “sorry I don’t have a smaller bill”

“mam can we just give your change later before you board the plane”

“ok, how will you do that?”

“we’ll page you”

“ok , that’s fine then”

Finally im done with the check in, I moved to airport tax…yehey special lines for OFW….finally I can use that line…ive always wondered what that line is for ….yehey FREE!! I saved 750 pesos today!!

Next : immigration…another long line…

I passed through in a breeze…I was just stressed because of the bags…I have to lift it to the scanner….then they have to scan it and open it and so on.

I thought finally I can be at peace…I just need to go to the gate and board the plane….

I spoke too soon…

I carried my bags on the heavy escalator …that’s when I saw it….i have a tear on my shoe….Oh no…this shoes are new…not even a week old…how can it have a tear??? I want to cry…because I don’t have a spare shoe in any of the 3 bags im carrying. Thank God I can still walk…although slower than norm….”Leah don’t panic, maybe this will hold until I reach dubai”..fingers crossed.

When I reached the boarding gate….”what the f_**!! Another security check????” ive been throught many airports, but the phils is the most OA when it comes to security check. 3 checks before boarding???

I bravely walked over and when I lifted all my bags for inspection, the guard said “mam you have 3 bags”. (imh : I know I can count…)

But instead, I said In my most pitiful, smiling, cute face I can come up with… “manong im so sorry, but these are the stuff that I really need to bring with me, ive already paid 121$ in excess baggage but these are the stuff that wont fit on my check in luggage. In fact here is my receipt and im waiting for them to give me the change because they don’t have loose $$”

“ahh…is that so?”

“yes po”

“whats in the bag?” (imh : why do you f* care??? Its not a deadly weapon”)

Continuing to be cute…while my heart was pounding like crazy..i said…“my Korean grammar and language books, I know for sure that I cant buy it in dubai. They don’t have it in the Philippines either. I bought them in Korea, here manong look o…….”

they looked at each other and said “ok mam I will let you pass because youre nice! Normally we only allow one hand carry, occasionally 2 is ok….but 3 is just too much. but we will make you an exception. Mam, do follow up your change….sometimes they forget. Btw how much is your change?”

(imh: thank God! Wow this manong is nice… ) “ Manong thank you po! its 79$, ill check it with them later”

“no mam check it at the counter now, I will go with you”

(imh: wait a minute this sounds fishy…why is he overly concerned….i think he wants me to give him some $$ from my change....what a scumbag…@$%@#$^%$^.)

So we went at the boarding gate counter and asked for my change.

“sorry mam they haven’t forwarded anything yet, let me go check. ” The stewardess called somebody…blah blah blah…then she said “sorry mam nothing yet”

So I turned to the guard and said “ manong, im sorry but they don’t have it ready yet”

“ok just stand in the corner and hide your other bag, someone else might see you and our supervisor might ask how you were able to get in’

(imh: you corrupt security guard..hmfft ) “ok po thank you”

So I stood there …looking scared as hell thinking…”Lord help me get through this….i promise next time I will travel light”

After 5 minutes, the same guard came back “mam check the counter again if they have your change”

“manong its only been five minutes, ill check it later”

“no mam its better that you do it now” he said a little forceful than norm.

(imh: yaah!!!…youre just scared you wont get $$ from me….you a.h.! ) “ok po”

So I went to the counter, but still nothing. i told manong guard …so he have no choice but to leave

Finally its time to board. When its my seats #s turn to board.. I walked slowly towards the tube with my heart pounding, trying to hide my other bag …(imh : please please let me pass…) ….. still being careful with my shoe…one step at the time….phew..finally im inside the plane…what a relief!

I walked inside the plane, found my seat and then I looked up….how am I supposed to lift my bag up there? Luckily a stewardess was walking by so I asked her to help me. She’s more than happy to do it. Afterwards I asked her for my change. She called somebody and after a few minutes shes back with my change. Wow good work ms. Stewardess!

I sat down feeling smug, because i don’t have to give $$ to the manong guards…belat…:P

I relaxed for awhile, waiting for the take off announcement. Then an announcement came…”goodevening…thank you…blah blah blah….the flight is going to be delayed because …t some suspicious person trying to board the plane …..we have to take their luggage out …from the compartment …..” what?? Delayed….aish! It took them 2 hours to do what theyre supposed to do ….then its time for the plane to finally take off.

The flight was smooth…but I couldn’t sleep…it must be because of my bad experience at the airport…compounded with the fact that I have my monthly period…plus im excited…and scared…and all those things. I was wide awake for more than 9 hours…just watching movies…while I worry about the guy from the hotel who’s supposed to pick me up from the airport?? He wont be stupid enough to leave me…right? He would check if my flight was delayed…right???? But what if he does…what then???

A little over midnight dubai time, our plane landed flawlessly in the middle of the runway….yes “middle”…apparently the airport is under construction ..(like the rest of the entire city..as I found out later on) So we have to take the airport bus from the runway to the airport building.

Bringing my luggage down from the overhead cabin, hauling my 3 bags along the narrow isle of the plane …then down the stairs of the airplane (we’re in the middle of the f____ runway remember…so no tube!! )…and then up on bus …was extremely exhausting, not to mention the fact that I have the tear on my shoe which will give out any moment.

In the midst of all that stress…I did feel a little excitement, because finally…Im stepping on Dubai soil !!! (well its technically concrete coz were in the runway)

Wow so this is dubai!!! Brrrrrr its cold! Niceeee!

I got off the bus and entered the airport building …. a conversation on my head is happening at this point …

”Whats that?”
“Whats what?”
“That?”
“That what?”
…… “That smell…its weird”
….”ahhhh … that’s the distinct smell of dubai”
Without sleep …exhausted and stressed … how should I say it….it made me feel as if Im going to pass out any minute..

Continuation of my conversations with myself…
“where is my giga no pain…headache balm”
“its in the luggage..checked in....its jelly like you ..know”
“fine ill just breathe less”

So I walked inside the airport....exchanged some $$ to dirhams…. then walked toward immigration to fall in line….” Wait, why do I get the feeling as if im missing something ” i remember I made some notes on my cellphone about the step by step procedure at the airport from my PDOS seminar…...it says there….”original visa…and eye scan”….”ohh shoot where do I get that?”

So I left the line and took the escalator down to the visa counter after asking 5 people for direction. Yehey I got my entry visa…its so so…so…PINK!! Then I walked over to the eye scan booth which is just next to it.

The technician was amicable at least….hey its 4 am in the morning my time and I haven’t slept a wink….and he said “please open your eyes”. I did…
” Ms please open your eyes”….i did again…
then again he said “open your eyes wide”

“its open and its open wide. if you noticed my eyes are naturally small..im chinita….”

We tried a few more times and finally they did it. Phew!

I walked back to immigration. All lines were long. Wow… im seing real life Arabic men and women…with authentic dress and stuff….Cool!

The line was really long so it took me an hour and a few minutes to get through.
Next luggage….umm…”where are the luggage converyors?…oh there it is…! But where are the luggage from my flight…?? Nowhere?? ” I walked back a few belts and then back again a few more times just to be sure but I coudnt find it anywhere. Finally I saw a mountain of luggage at the back…not on the conveyor.. then I saw my luggage with my cute teddy bear dangling from the handle..…yehey!

I slowly walked out of the airport…. “Wheres the guy who’s supposed to pick me up…how come, I dont see my name in any of the cards….hu hu hu..i want to cry!!!”

A guy walked up to me “kabayan, may problema ba” (is there a problem?)

(imh: he speaks Filipino) “kuya dapat susunduin ako kaso di ko makita” (somebody is supposed to pick me up, but I cant find him)

“ sino ba susundo sa yo, may cell number ka ba” (who is he? Do you have his phone number?)

“it’s the hotel driver and this is the number”

“ok lets call him….blah blah blah blah …(&*(#&$(#^%*(*&“

“nako umalis na daw kasi di ka daw makita…inaway ko nga e kasi di man lang chinek kung delayed ang flight” (im sorry but the guy said he left early coz he didn’t see you…I even quarreled with him for not checking about your flight before leaving”

My tears are about to fall off…”pano na yan kuya” (so what shall I do?)

“its ok you can take the taxi just tell them your hotel and they’ll take you there….thats the line o”

“kuya thank you po”

So I walked over to the taxi stand…guess what??? Another long queue…so it took me another hour…

Ive reached the hotel way past 3am…I set my luggage down…unpacked a few clothes for the next day (technically next few hours)…which is my first working day in Dubai….the company is sending somebody to pick me up at 8am…so I only have a couple of hours left to take a nap…ive better make the most of it…bzzzzz

That day was 193 days ago…..but the first time I set foot in Dubai will always be memorable....

Half a year went by so fast and believe it or not...everyday im growing to love Dubai more and more…

Feb 15, 2008 - My 35th Birthday and Send Off Dinner Celebration

2008-08-28T15:23:00.005+08:00

Where was I on my “catch up post” …hmmm…February…??? Yup, February is always an important month…nope not because of valentines day…but because its my birthday month. Argh I gained another year…and im sure another wrinkle somewhere…lol!

Since im leaving the next day for dubai…ive decided to combine my birthday dinner with my send off dinner…hmmm…which means I gave myself a send off party???? …huwaaaatttt???? LOL! I don’t mind I just want to be with my relatives on the eve of my departure….
We had dinner at Trelli’s in Kalayaan Ave, QS….with the everpresent “Kill me!!” sisig at the table.

Afterwards we had coffee at Figaro’s near Ever Gotesco mall in Fairview courtesy of Ate Arlene…thanks Cozz…

It was a happy day, my family was there, and so were my closest relatives. Hope we can have another one soon…a welcome one when I go back home for my annual vacation….which is 6 months from now????

Operation 32 update as of August 5, 2008

2008-08-05T19:42:00.007+08:00

Today is the 51st day of my self imposed weight loss diet… and so far its trending well. I’ve lost 11lbs so far, on average, that’s around 0.22lbs a day or 1.54bs a week….which is within the ideal range of 1- 2lb per week.

Im not sure if you can see the 11lb decrease from these pictures….but a lot of my friends seem to think so…

June 14, 2008 - 2 days before I started the diet at 189 lbs

July 10, 2008 – 25 days after I started the diet at 182 lbs
July 30, 2008 – 45 days after I started the diet at 178 lbs

Anyway, just an update on how I lost the first 11 lbs. Ive modified my initial plan (blog post dated June 16) based on my own analysis on what I think would work for me and what woud not…and they are …. :

COUNTING CALORIES COUNT! If weight is a number…therefore, manipulating it will involve some math. After extensive googling of the subject, here are some of the facts that support my theory…

Our body needs energy to live. This energy is measurable by a unit called CALORIE. We get it in a form of food..we eat the food and the our body transforms it to energy. In order to compute our TOTAL CALORIE REQUIREMENT PER DAY we need to know these two things :

BASAL METABOLIC RATE (BMR) in calories per day… is the number of calories a person need to perform day to day internal body functions e.g. breathing, digestion, blood circulation, perspiration, …etc etc…need I say more? in short, even if a person lies in bed all day and doesn’t do anything he/she would still consume this much calories. So what is this magic number? Googling BMR will direct you to various sites that will compute it for you (ex: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ ). BMR is a function of a person’s weight, height, age, and gender. Male BMR is higher than Female...i know that is so sexist…(hahaha). The heavier a person is the higher his/her BMR. The older the person is, the lower his/her BMR. That’s the reason why people gain weight as they age. Ideally, a person should decreases his/her calorie intake (food intake) as they grow old to maintain his/her current weight. You can also compute your BMR using the Harris Benedict formula…or Mifflin http://health.drgily.com/basal-metabolic-rate-calculator.php

Now, since we don’t really lie in bed all day…it means on top of the BMR, we consume additional calories to perform task like…sitting, standing, walking, chewing…etc etc… What is that magic number? If you want a really detailed analysis, list down all your activities for 24 hours, from sleeping, sitting standing, walking, and exercising, then compute total approximate calories spent per day. Sometimes this is given as a % of our BMR depending on our activity level starting at say 15% upwards depending on how active a person you are.

In order to track the energy we get from food, it is important to list down everything that we eat and drink (except water which is zero calories) on a daily basis. Calorie equivalent of food can be obtained from the labels (always be mindful of the serving size portion and the unit whether kj or kcal)…website…e.g. http://www.acaloriecounter.com/ or by simply googling it.

BASIC ENERGY EQUATION

Energy in from food = Energy out from BMR + activities , if we want to maintain our current weight

Energy in from food should be greater than the energy out from BMR + activities , if we want to gain weight

Energy in from food should be less than the energy out from BMR + activities , if we want to loose weight. Obviously, I fall into this category. How much calorie deficit do I need? That would would be answered by the next equation

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CALORIE AND LBS: to loose 1lb of weight (hopefully mostly fats) = 3500kcal decrease in calorie intake (deficit).

So if I want to loose 1lb of weight per week I need to decrease my calorie intake by 3500kcal per week divided by 7= 500kcal deficit per day.

IDEAL DISTRIBUTION : where will I get this 500kcal per day deficit? Ideally 50%(250kcal) should come from food deficit, and 50% (250kcal) from activity deficit in layman term….exercise….yup unavoidable sad fact..:(

Food : from my 2018kcal requirement per day I would subtract 250kcal. Which means I can only eat 1768 kcal worth of food maximum per day. Make sure the calories are from healthy foods (not fatty), fruits and veggies, wheat bread, lean meat, fish, so that you still get the nutrients that your body needs even though your dieting.

Remember :

Don’t starve yourself…eat small meals every 2-3 hrs.

Drink at least 2L of water a day.

Sleep 7-8hrs a day (this is just way too hard to follow).

Make sure we consume at least 1200kcal a day (minimum).

Exercise : I need to consume 250kcal per day on exercise. Im really not a sporty person, the easiest sport I can think of is walking (if it can be called as such). If I do brisk walking for an hour everyday, that would cover the 250kcal I need to spend on activities daily. There are many websites that give calorie equivalent of activities depending on a persons weight (ex http://primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/jumpsite/calculat.htm ). The heavier you are, the more calories you spend to do a certain activity.

RECALCULATE ! I want to emphasize one thing though… daily calorie requirement is a function of a persons current weight…so if our weight change significantly (hopefully decrease in my case)…. our calorie requirement will also change. So, calorie requirement computation should be updated from time to time…say monthly. In my case I update it weekly because I’ve preprogrammed my excel to do it everytime I input my current weight at the start of each week.

I still have 21 more lbs to go to reach my initial goal of loosing 32lbs. *siiigggghhhh.

Unfortunately my weight has been stuck to 178lbs for the past 17days. This is what dieters call “plateu stage”…and im beginning to hate the word more and more…especially every morning when I step on the scale …They say it would last for 3-4weeks. Apparently my body needs something shocking to dereail it out of this mode. I should start going the gym... and I should do it soon… *double siiiiiggggghhhhhhhh…

February 8 to 11, 2008 I Love Singapore Lah! Part 3/3

2008-07-08T14:19:00.010+08:00

Feb 11

Feb 11 was our 4th and last day in Singapore :( sad...but all good things must come to an end…its not like we can live there… LOL!

Our flight is not until late afternoon, so we’ve decided to maximize our time in the morning and do some last minute walking tour at Orchard Road...

First, we had a leisurely paced breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Were trying to savor our last day at the buffet table, when my friend Moren, who currently works in Singapore, magically appeared at our table giggling “Ate Leah..Ate Leah!!” . “How did you get in?” I asked her. I was puzzled because the receptionist were always meticulously checking our room number against her master list every time we enter the restaurant. She said “nobody was at the reception, so I simply walked in”.

I was so happy to see her, because I haven’t seen her in 2 years, eversince she left to work in Dubai, and now in Singapore. …Minus the braces and except for a few pounds, she still looks the same, I hope she is also wiser and more experienced .

She toured us along Orchard, but we didn’t really go very far, because we got stuck in a store somewhere. Ditse just cannot leave Singapore without buying tons of clothes.

We went to Plaza Singapura and took some pictures.

Moren and I just coudnt keep up with my Mom, Ditse and Sister’s shopping powers…so we sat on the floor and waited…. At this point my legs are numb and tired from too much walking…

We went back to the hotel around 2pm. The reception wanted us to pay for an extra 2 hours for both rooms, because we checked out late…I had to argue that when we checked it they made us wait for more than 2 hours and I didn’t complain. Now they’re charging me? So they agreed to just charge 1 hour for 1 room. When I saw the billing, they included a bottle of mineral water in the charges. This again raised my eyebrow a few inches so they agreed to take it out. Moral lesson…always check your billing statement.

While I was arguing with reception, my mom sister and evita were taking pictures at the lobby…

This is our hotel ..except for the charges they tried to pin on me…it wasn’t so bad…in fact I liked it …simply because its clean…the foods not bad…the facilities are complete..and its near SMART station.
As part of the package, somebody picked us up at the hotel to take us to the airport…

Queuing to check in at the PAL counter at the Changi airport

Last minute pictures at the airport

Waiting to board the plane…

At the plane back to Manila

At Naia 1, Waiting for our ride to take us back home

We were hungry so we had dinner at KFC in cubao before we went back home.

This trip was a dream come true for me, and although it wasn’t cheap …..it was worth every penny.

February 8 to 11, 2008 I Love Singapore Lah! Part 2/3

2008-06-30T15:44:00.012+08:00

Feb 10

I woke up early, but I didn’t get up right away. It was too early, not even 7 in the morning, and everybody was still fast asleep. I quietly lie in bed, staring at the ceiling planning our itinerary for the day. After a few minutes, I coudn’t stand the inactivity any longer so I walked over to Evita’s bed and woke her.

“Evita…evita…wake up…do you want to go downstairs…? Lets try the swimming pool. Wake up!!” .She immediately opened her eyes at the mention of the magic word… “swimming pool” she has this affinity with water.

We immediately changed clothes, then we went downstairs to check out the hotel facilities …first we looked at the gym, I didnt pack any gym clothes, so we have no choice but to skip the work out part…next we took a dip in the pool …bbrrrrrr the water in the pool was so cold…so we transferred to the jacuzzi instead….it was very very nice..warm and soothing..just what I needed for my tired and aching leg muscles….. hmmm...last stop …sauna for 15 mins… Afterwards we went back upstairs, to our room…to get ready for the busy day ahead.

We took the usual buffet breakfast at the hotel…the mix of food wasn’t so bad….(The Manila Peninsula buffet breakfast is still on the top of my favorite list....because of the danggit and tocino in the menu …plus the fact that its in the Philippines) …there’s a choice from the usual bacon, pancakes, eggs, hash brown, cereal, ham, sausage to congee, noodles, pasta, smoked fish, cheese, salad and fruits…so everyday there is something that can pick our fancy..

After breakfast, we toured the lobby and then the restaurant adjacent to the hotel

Next, armed with the free map from the airport, we walked from our hotel Rendezvous in Bras Basah Road to the Merlion Statue near Fullerton with many many stops and detours in between..

Bras Basah Road corner Bencoolen St.

Fort Canning Road in front of the National Museum

In front of Singapore Art museum

Chijmes

Stamford road

Capitol building

Since its Sunday, my Mom and Ditse have only one condition for today’s itinerary …we must go to a catholic church. So I’ve included St Andrews Cathedral in our itinerary…ive seen some pictures of the church somewhere and I’ve always wanted to visit the place.

Along the way, we saw a small church, My Mom who’s ever persistent, insisted we stop and hear mass right then and there. I told her not yet, because were going to St Andrew’s which is much better…so we continued walking but she was nagging me non stop along the way…”why do we need to go to st Andrews, when there’s a church we can go already…what if we cant find st Andrews…what if there’s no mass…what if its not a catholic chuch .. and she went on and on …what if…what if what if…. until we finally reached the church….. Then she stopped…maybe because she realized that what I said is true, st. Andrews is much beautiful and bigger…. I stoped myself from saying “I told you so” …simply because she is mom…har har
We went inside the church and attended the mass… afterwards we took a short break in front of the church….before we continued with our walking tour.

Foot ball field near City hall

Chinese, Korean Festival celebration of some sort at the park.

Evita trying to be jang geum…
Me beside my Chinese horoscope

My mom doing her favorite thing and having the time of her life shopping for some Chinese trinkets. She was smiling so happily… probably because she made some good bargain with the store owner.

Still at the festival while taking a short break from the hot Singapore sun

Me at the creek

At the tunnel

At the other side of the river opposite Fullerton Hotel

In front of Asian Civilization Museum…we went inside to pee…lol…

At the bridge ….crossing over to other side of the river (Fullerton Side)

At the other side of the river

At the fountain in front of Fullerton..

Finally at the Merlion

Resting at the gardens of Esplanade Theater

Walking towards the train station….

We took a train to Mustafa Mall…where we shopped shopped and shopped….we went back to the hotel around midnight…geez I was so tired …it feels as if im going to pass out …

February 8 to 11, 2008 I Love Singapore Lah! - Part 1/3

2008-06-29T16:44:00.009+08:00

A week before I left for Dubai to be an official BNB (bayani ng bayan), my Mom, sister, cousin niece and I embarked on a last minute family bonding trip in Sing.

We have planned and planned in the past, but up until this trip none of the plans have ever materialized. So this time, in the midst of all the preparations I’m doing for Dubai, I’ve decided to prioritize this trip because I wanted to give my mom and sister some happy and unforgettable memories since I won’t be around for a year.

Why Singapore …again? This is already my 3rd time to visit Sing, but still, I never get tired of going back. …Hmmm…for a bunch of reasons…
• Its safe and clean
• Everybody speaks English…and sometimes if im feeling a wee bit adventurous I can also put my mandarin to test…
• the transportation system is easy …trains, buses or taxis….so its easy to find your way around the city…I love the EZ card which never expires..…It always makes me giggle whenever i tap the card on the card reader while its inside my bag…
• the place is not so big…its small enough that you can see all the famous tourist spots in just a few days….which leaves more time for shopping…which is the next reason ..
• Shopping is always an experience… there are malls everywhere… gadgets (cellphones, mp3, pda ..etc etc) and perfumes are relatively cheap…there are expensive places too where you can buy original signature items.. but there are also some great bargains If you know where to go..like Mustafa mall, in little India.
• the food is great…my all time favorite is charsiew pork or roasted pork with noodles (dry and hot). Yummy! I never miss it whenever I visit and its available in every foodcourt.
• the whole place is hitech…credit cards are accepted everywhere…you can even pay your cab fare with it…
• the Airport, changi is one of the best I’ve been to ….
• Last but not the least Most Singaporeans are honest people, although there are some that can be a bit rude at times…honesty alone more than compensated for it.

We booked a packaged tour which includes airfare via PAL which leaves in the morning of the 8th, hotel accommodations at rendezvous hotel along orchard, daily breakfast at the hotels buffet table, and a half day guided tour.

Feb 8
About to fly out at the naia terminal 2

Its evita and my sister's first time to fly on a plane...and im pretty excited for them...
Just landed in changi
We checked in at the hotel, rested for an hour then went out again.

I played tour guide and took the train and then the bus to Singapore zoo

We didn’t go inside, it was late when we reached the place, so we just had some pizza and went next door to…

Night safari ..we took the tram inside…and saw some giant rats …as big as pigs…ngiiiii..
Feb 9
Today is our half day guided city tour which is part of the package.
First stop Buddhist temple in china town……
Boat Ride at the Quay
Read street

Mt faber – I saw this place a few years ago in a Bea, Johnloyd, Sam movie and have been looking for this place eversince. I was jumping for joy when I climbed up the stairs and saw this familiar place.
We took the cable car from Mt.Faber to Sentosa Island.
We landed in Imbiah lookout, sentosa.

Watched a 4d movies about a pirate..a kid and some animals.... Take my advice and don’t miss out on the 4d magix cinema at sentosa ..its an experience you wont forget.
Took a bus to fort siloso beach and rested on the beach for a few minutes
Walked across the street to underwaterworld to watch the fishes

Took another bus to watch the pink dolphins perform…I didn’t look because for some reason they make me cry…so I just sat on a chair because im too tired to take pictures…

we went back to the entrance bus station and took more pictures….

we queued on the long long long line for the bus that will take us back to Harbor Front. We’re so hungry so we had dinner at the only open food court in vivo city…half of the food is not available since its closing time. TG! I got some leftover charsiew pork and noodles ..yummy!

OPERATION 32

2008-06-16T20:57:00.003+08:00

I will take a break from posting back logs to give way to something BIG… HUGE … ehrmm…... Literally…

… it was after dinner yesterday,when CJ, Boyet’s kid, suddenly barged into my room shouting “Tita Leah..! Tita Leah!” i affectionately hugged him and he was laughing as if there’s something really amusing …in between giggles he said…. “Tita leah you look bigger and bigger every time I see you” …i being big from birth was already immune to these remarks….so I just laughed back and told him “ you know what CJ, you’re the same ..you’re also getting bigger and bigger every time I see you” …he continued to giggle then he went to the next room and played computer games with the other kids… I, unaffected as always, went back to watching “city of angels” on my computer

….early this morning i was doing my usual morning routine of getting ready for work….towelling my hair ….choosing clothes….trying them on…taking them off…choosing another set of clothes….trying them on….then taking them off…again...and so on…untill a small mountain of them has already accumulated on my bed…and still…I couldn’t decide which one to wear…..i felt like crying so i helplessly looked at the mirror to ask myself “how come nothing looks good today????”

….just now, I was browsing at my pictures taken last weekend ….when a thought suddenly struck me….in bold letters , Arial font 72 in red, all caps…. THEYRE RIGHT (CJ, the mirror, and the picture)!!! IM WAY TOO BIG AND I SERIOUSLY NEED TO START LOOSING WEIGHT!!! …I stared at my picture for a long time ……is that me? Or is that the blob? How many chin does a person supposed to have in this lifetime?

Ok Ive Identified the problem statement …now.. “how on earth do I do that?” Any 7 year could answer… “diet and exercise”…duh? If its that easy ….then I could’ve had the bod of Jessica Alba ages ago….

Here’s the plan ive come up with .....no aero class….no gym….no fancy recipe….no 3day, 7day or 30 day diet… ill try to keep it simple and flexible …something I can stick to until I achieve what I aim to do:

1. goal : first thing first…how much do I weigh today? A few weeks ago..i was 85kgs or 187lbs..the lowest weight I can recall, maybe back in 1996 was 155lbs…not sure if that’s possible, but lets make that my target for now… which means, I need to loose approximately 32lbs … in …lets say.. 6 months ( Dec 16, 2008) …so that’s 5.3 lbs per month….1.33 lbs per week… I guess that’s manageable… (fingers crossed)

2. diet :

a. No rice on weekdays, but I will allow myself to eat one cup once a day on weekends …that way, I wont crave it as much and I can still eat my favorite food like sinigang which only goes well with rice.

b. On weekdays I can eat anything for breakfast …lunch….and dinner …except rice….in fact I shoudnt skip any meal…I can also substitute a piece of toast for rice

c. I will eat more fruits, raw vegetable and juice (pure only) - I should keep this in mind when I do my grocery shopping

d. Try to avoid chocolates, junk food, fatty foods…I said try….so if I cant..im allowed to eat a small piece…that way I wont crave it obsessively… if I can I will avoid buying it altogether

e. Drink at least 2 liters of water a day – this is easy coz ive been doing this for awhile.

3. exercise : Awww…do I have to? All that sitting in front of my laptop because of watching too much Korean dramas ( the recent 77 episodes of yi san…dig that??) has caused all the lindt pistachio…almonds …lays..doritos…hardees….to be stuck in my butt…belly…arms ..legs .. and chin (geez I cant get over the chin…lol!)…the sad truth is that I can only get rid of these if…I exercise… so consider it making up for the years of inactivity.. so what exercise can a lazy girl like me do?

a. Walking – after much googling, ive settled for a 10minute brisk walking on the first week, then additional 2 minutes after each succeeding week, until I reach 30-40 minutes…. Make sure I do a 5 minute warm up before the brisk walk and 5 minute cool down afterwards. I will use music from my zen to time the walk …ive choosen some really good ones (yes korean..and japanese) ....to make it more exciting

b. Use the stairs whenever possible (except when im carrying heavy stuff like groceries)…this is easy because I live on the third floor…therefore in a day I can do at least 6 flights up and another 6 flights down unless I don’t leave the house..

4. Control Monitor : this is the easiest part…I do this all the time at work….but in a different context…I do money instead of lbs and time instead of food….lol

a. Create an excel worksheet of the plan (check..did this already)

b. Monitor progress 3x a week every Monday, Wednesday and Friday

c. Watch out for the plateau stage …then do a 2day juice fast when that happens..

Now the hardest part….doing it… . I forgot to bring rice with my lunch today, so I ate lunch without it…which means ive already started “operation 32” (for 32 lbs) unconsciously ....the only thing thats left is the 10 minute walk…which I will do later tonight…

See even the numbers are in synched with my blog…that’s a good sign.. isn’t it?

To those of you who actually reads my blog……just wish me luck!!!

January to February 2008 -- “ Despedida “ ( hindi de soltera ha!! )

2008-06-10T15:16:00.000+08:00

January passed by in a whirl…my social calendar was filled with either “shopping for stuff to bring to dubai“ or “despedida/send off - party, overnight, lunch, dinner, merienda”…..you name it.. we had it…not to mention the non-social stuff …which nevertheless has to be done before I leave for dubi.....like…

• Write a resignation and talk to my boss 1x1 about it…. I have never been good at heart to heart talk….so im definitely not looking forward to this…
• Turnover my work load to whoever is replacing me… which literally means squeezing what ive learned in 3 years to 3 days (coz my replacement arrived only a few days before my last day)
• Last minute meetings and AR (for your info that’s Action Required) closure
• Approve all pending shopping baskets, change orders, RFA, billing…in my queue …
• Re-assign all my computer system access …yipee! Im so glad I wont have to see the “my contingent workforce” and “PIT” (which literally is the pits!) program for the rest of my life!
• Start the clearance process…sign some confidential stuff…answer some surveys to the tune of “why are you leaving? …blah blah blah…”
• Return all my work provided equipment…like laptop…cellphone…pldt weroam (my precious !!)…. ill miss IBM…weve been together for more than 3 years…huhuhu… 
• Inform my landlord that im moving out …and my housemate ofcourse..
• Move stuff from cavite to manila …and some manila stuff to nueva ecija….that was hard…I didn’t knew I acquired so much junk over the years…and its hard to segregate which is which and then throw the junk away…painful ..hmmm…just like breaking up…lol…I admit that’s a bit exaggee!
• Get a body scrub, a massage, a facial…foot spa pedicure… a series of happy hair and scalp treatment, a haircut…and a mild hair straight….phew!
• Set up bank accounts…joint accounts with my sister…supplementary cards....
• Finish all the dvd’s I haven’t watched…last 2 episode of heroes … sweet relationship …and why why love….havent even advanced on my grey’s anatomy..i wonder if I can bring this dvds? Naah…
• Get the results of my ultra sound …thank God ….the suspicious thing in my uterus or was it in my ovary?… turned out to be nothing…I think it was washed away when I got my period.
• Get an all out medical for my POEA documentation…dental..physical…blood…eye..chest x-ray…urine…stool…aids…herpes…hepatitis... pregnancy…and psychological …tests… my second in 2 months…since I have just finished my annual physical exam at the company a few weeks ago…
• Have my picture taken…printed in different sizes 1x1s, 2x2s, passport size…
• Attend orientations …pre documentation orientation….pre departure orientation…etc etc
• Submit all requirements for the visa.. e.g. transcript..diploma…
• Replace the PC at home and check out internet access providers
• Book the singapore vacation with my family

Tian Na! .. I was so stressed out with the hundred and one things to do and the limited time I had to do it...just like when you hop on a treadmill that goes on and on and on and you just keep on walking and walking and walking….thats what it was like for me back then…now..looking back ..i realized it was actually a good thing….because I never had the chance to feel a wee bit lonely that im going….. 

Despedida lunch with Project Controls Group (PCG-our group) at Josephine’s,Tagaytay.

Me and Matt (my boss)….it has been a pleasure working for you matt……

Me, Mae and Ate Beng …the girls of PCG…

Surprise Despedida …from Construction Functional Group (CFG) ..on my last day of work , Feb 7, 2008.
It wasn’t really a surprise because I knew they were cooking something…I just didn’t know it was this big….thank you guys…. At that time.. I just coudn’t find the words to say how thankful I was for making my last day memorable…maybe because I was choking with my own tears…lol…why am I such a crybaby????

My cake…awww…chocolate with caramel dip…yummy….love you too guys!

A mini presentation….oopss..where on earth did you get my picture on a 2 piece bathing suit…??? Hahaha

CFG..or whats left of it because so many people left already….they call it “the exodus”…

My QS buddies….james and Anthony…ill see you in dubai…

Florence good luck on your new role as me…( as I write this entry…Florence already resigned and left the company …sad )

My sisters thien and ate beng..

Gifts… Notes…

The Structural Team at work, also gave me a sendoff lunch…at Kukbo, Korean Restaurant in Manggahan….unfortunately we forgot to take pictures…we were too engrossed with the food…specially the samgyupsal topped with bean paste…wrapped in lettuce ….AAAAAHHHHHH! (open wide!) yummy!

Ditse’s Dinner treat at Conti’s, Trinoma
We always like to try different restaurants….yup were pretty adventurous when it comes to food….this was one of the last one we visited ...before I left … I love Contis..the food is good and the price is reasonable….i forgot what I ate …but I remember that everything was delicious..

Farewell Lunch for me and Welcome back lunch for Ana …with my college friends at Gerry’s Grill, Araneta Center, Gateway

i do have pictures but I coudn’t find them anywhere….not in my flash drive…not on my external hd…hmmm…

It was my first time to see Ana again after…maybe almost 10 years…and that made it special… Leng, Mean and Janice meet each other often enough…like once a year?? Lol.. but seriously we were always there for each other if one needed a friend…

since we met back in third year college, way back in 1990 .. until we graduated and took our board exam…through every step in our career…through marriage ..and separations … we even became Godmothers of each others kids (well im just a Godmother coz I don’t have kids…yet!?!?) ....our friendship have endured so much … fights…jealousies…distance….but weve managed to get through them and remain close friends through the years.

TEC’s despedida overnight

Don’t ask me what TEC means….that 3 letter acronym has a story worthy of a 300page paperback.....from egroups…to boy bands…idol drama…..to Chinese garters…to travels …and movies….to wedding gowns , morning sickness and breastfeeding….???? Suffice it to say that these are my dearest dearest friends that I met through the net…I don’t know how I could have survived the last 4 years of my life without them…they have seen me at my lowest..last March 11, 2004 (see I still remember the date…)….and I am so thankful that it was them…I was with at that time…

Anyway…I had an overnight despedida with my TEC friends at the Penthouse of Makati Prime Tower near Kalayaan ave in Makati.….the event have many highlights …including the “out of order sign” at the bedroom toilet......why me????? (You know like there was a list of scenarios in life that you don’t want to happen to you.. but it ends up happening to you anyway…lol!)

We ordered food …buddy’s pansit lucban ( wow I miss this now that im in dubai) with crispy pork and vinegar…..Amber’s pork barbeque ( given the opportunity..i can eat a dozen or so) and pichi pichi….im not sure if it was this time when bambie cooked toboki (spicy rice cakes)…and beef with asparagus or was it broccoli? …. Later that night we also went to “dontellmama ju-sarang Karaoke”….to sing some Korean songs (waah another thing I miss in dubai….i wonder if they have it here? But who will I sing it with?? ), I sang my favorite namjadabja (like a man by “fly to the sky”)……we also visited a korean bookstore along the way….cutee Korean stuff on display…but Korean priced also…ha ha ha…

We exchanged gift (Christmas gifts…yup it was late..)….played some videos (Korean, japanese, Chinese) and talked till morning….most of the people have to go home…so they did at around 12 or so..…except me, bambie, Camille, eve and tina.

The next day we went to a Korean restaurant for some lunch….ate some stir friend beef and a huge plate of jajamyong….(Korean black bean noodle…yum yum…miss this as well ) before we went home to our own home.

Although we talk to each other on the net everyday …. I miss you guys the most…more than jajamyong…more than buddys pansit lucban…. and even more than “dontellmama” lol!

December 3, 2007 “should I stay or should I go ???? ”

2008-06-09T18:23:00.001+08:00

…. 3 days after “the less than 15 minute interview” I received “the offer” . should I accept or not??? I’ve tried to be scientific about it, as I can…. I did research thru the most handy tool ever invented…” the net via google”… I emailed a few friends…to answer some of the basic question in my mind :

• whats the place is like?
• whats the company like? Is it stable?
• Whats the project like? Is it a landmark?
• Whats my job going to be?
• whats the people there like?
• whats the weather like?
• whats the culture of the country like?
• Is it dangerous for someone like me to be there?
• Whats the cost of living…from prices of commodities to rent to transportation?
• Given the offer…how much can I save in a month…in a year? Is that satisfactory enough? Is it worth it?

…once I have all the information … I did the math…then I injected some factors that money cant buy…like…….
• timezone ..(hahaha yup timezone is important to me…lol)…
• can I live without my mom’s cooking for a year?
• Is “mysoju” ….(yes the site) banned in UAE??
• Can I survive without seing my friends and family for a year?
• If I don’t go…whats life gonna be like?
• What are my other options?
• What else do I plan to do for the rest of my life?

…I thought real hard…then I made one of the most life changing decision of my life…ive decided to accept the offer…and move to Dubai to work….

..its not as easy as I made it sound…it’s a bit scary to leave everything familiar and take a big leap to an unknown territory…but I will welcome the changes…I needed something this big …after 35 years (symbolically I fly the day after my 35th birthday..)

….moving to dubai is just the first of the many decisions that I made that day…..next ive decided to like whatever is out there…. And finally ive decided to be happy no matter what…or where...

December 2007

2008-05-12T21:19:00.002+08:00

A month of shopping, eating, celebrating and bonding with friends and family …that’s what Christmas is all about….being with the ones you love!

…taken outside the sari-sari store beside our house…my mom, evita and my sister…while waiting for ditse to pick us up

One of my favorite shopping place in town is Market market at Forth Bonifacio. The mix of goodies here are quite good, from the cheapest (sometimes even divisoria like) to kinda expensive...to expensive. If we’re too lazy to go to divisoria, we would end up going to Market Market. They also sell some unique goods, that you wont find in the usual tiangge....like plants…fruits…and ofcourse the normal goods like clothes, shoes, jewelries and gift items.

We took a stroll at Serendra and then had coffee at Starbucks inside “fully booked”. As usual it took us forever to get a seat. At this point ive completed my starbucks sticker set so they gave me my new planner. Which reminds me….where is that planner now? Hmmm..

Trinoma! Another favorite place of mine 1. because they have sbarro 2. they have Fridays 3. what else….because of Landmark! And it so near our place…just 10 minutes by cab.

Sadly Friday's took out the chicken barbeque from the menu...how come? Its so good tender chicken thoroughtly marinated in bbq sauce roasted and served with garlic vinegar dip..and cucumber sallad (or was it atsara). And when you take a bite..it melts in your mouth...yummy! ..unfortunately is not available anymore :( otoke otoke!!!

… at the deck…

TEC Friends Christmas party. In the previous years, we usually do overnight christmas parties, only this year, its hard to get everybody at one place at one time, so we’ve decided well just do a simple dinner, so that those who wanted to leave eaerly can leave after dinner…...ironically the dinner lasted until morning..(not sure whether its 1 am or 2am).

We started adventurously around 7 at Bollywood, Greenbelt, to try some Indian Food, then we went upstairs to Figaro to for coffee, then we went to mcdonalds near AIM for some spaghetti and chicken????

As usual we were talking non-stop the entire time…one time, it came to a point when the waiter at Figaro came at our table to us to ask us to lower our voices down a little. It was a bit embarrassing.... but were not the type that would get embarassed and wont get even…so on our way out I complained that their blenders are are too noisy :P Ha ha!

Star city for the kids…and adults…. There were too many people in star city that day…we went inside together but we lost the kids along the way (they were probably busy queuing for the rides..unlike me whos scared of anything that moves..)…so its just me and my sister who roamed the grounds took pictures of each other..After awhile we saw mom and dad eating in one of the stalls...then the kids...lol!

…..as you can see, some of the pictures were a bit blurred…December is the time when my cam started deteriorating from bad to worse..…ironic…just when I needed it most… I tried to have it fixed in hidalgo st, quiapo…it was ok for awhile but after a few weeks it just stopped….the LCD just went black….i could’ve returned it to quiapo again, but I just don’t have the time.

….so no chrismas pictures this year…for a change…lol!

November 2007

2008-05-08T21:45:00.003+08:00

All Saints Day!

For the past 3 years that Emir and I have been office mates, he was always saying “leah im coming down to nueva ecija this weekend. Will you be there? can I go visit you? I’ll bring my wife and kids with me” and my response would always be “Sure, you know the place right? just give me a call if you get lost, ill ask my mom to cook something nice” …but you know what? Not even once did he came to see me…except this day... Probably because he thought it might be his last chance. He resigned from work recently and is leaving for Dubai in a few days.

So early that day I told my mom that a friend is coming with his family. She said ill cook lomi and spaghetti for them. I told her why cook 2? She said that the spaghetti is for the kids and the lomi is for the adults. I asked her “wouldn’t that be too much”…she said “no, if they cant finish it all, we have the entire neighborhood to send it to”.

Thank God for Mom’s foresight..because as it turned out Emir brought lots of kids with him...and the spaghetti was a big hit! 

When Emir and the gang left, I got ready to go to the cemetery…every year im the last one to pay tribute to the dead…as you can see in the pictures…it was quite dark when I reached the cemetery.

The agony of commuting back to manila after the “all saints day” holiday.

For those of you who have relatives in the province and often goes there for special occasions like Christmas, New Year, Holly week and All saints day, you’re probably familiar with this scenario.

On the last day of the Holiday, you’ve decided to go back earlier than usual to get ahead of the many people who are also planing to go back to Manila that day. You packed your bags which mainly consist of 20% clothes and 80% left over foods from your Mom. You said your goodbye but end up chatting for a while, eating some more and before you knew it..you’re already behind schedule. You rode the tricycle to the highway bus stop to wait for the bus. Around 50m from the bus stop, you can already see a crowd of people also waiting for the same bus. You were thinking, it would probably take you ages before you can get a ride, and even if you did, you’ll probably stand the whole trip back, until you reach manila. NO no no no…You smiled and looked a wee bit and said to yourself…”I will beat these guys…ill go to the bus terminal instead!”, that way you can surely get a ride and sit comfortably. You ride a jeep to the bus station, but around 500m from the station, traffic is bad. Hmmm…Why is that? You reach the station after more than an hour…is this the bus station or the market place? Why are there so many people? And why are there no bus? What is that “snake like thing” that goes round and round the building…you get a bit close and you see….WHAT THE HECK??? IS THAT THE LINE??

ARGGGH…!! I want to cry  I should have left earlier ….

You know what the funny thing is? This happens every year without fail…and I ve been doing it since college days….some things you just don’t learn..and for me this is it…lol!

See you soon Emir! Why soon?

People are resigning left and right…now you see them..now you don’t….its like people are playing iniminie minie mo..and who ever gets the finger leaves… this time its emir’s turn to go. We did the traditional despedida for him…at magdaragat no less… food….videoke the works….i wonder who’s next ???? 

Visit sa "bahay ni kuya"

Finally were visiting big brother's house…well not actually the inside of the house but "big brother gate". Well.. the house is off limits, so there….

We also roamed around the grounds of abs …its almost Christmas so the decorations was really nice..so christmassy…

The interview!

I was in the middle of the meeting with my boss when I got the call. I saw an “unknown” number flashing on my phone. I though it was my boyfriend because he’s the only one who calls me from abroad. So I smiled mumbled something to my boss…something about its important and I need to take this call….but in my head im preparing to talk lovey dovey with mahal (that’s what I call him..i know I know ..its chessy…and I don’t care..lol! ) … at least for a few minutes....so I stepped out of the room and said “hello” with my sugary voice.. and the other line said…”hello? Is this Leah blah blah blah”….hmmm..its a girl? Who could it be… I said “Yes? Whos this?” And she said this is “blah blah blah..from blah blah blah..you have an interview on blah blah blah…ill send the details thru your email…whats your email?” and I gave it to her…

in a few days I had “the interview” … It’s a video conference somewhere in makati that lasted not more than 15 minutes… it took longer for me to choose the new blazer I was wearing that day…or even the red head band im wearing for luck!! I wonder how I fared??

Monster Debut!

My niece, Evita turned 18! . I ve been with her since her baby days…took care of her…changed her diaphers…feeded her ...gave her countless baths… and now look at her…shes all grown up…but in my eyes she will always be a little girl. I love you evita and I will always be here for you. I only ask and pray for one thing. Magpakabait ka na….(be good!)

Monster is evita's pet name, because shes known for her brattiness, stubborness and bitchiness...but shes not bad...shes just that...

We celebrated it in one of the private resort in pansol, laguna. At this point my camera is ruined (probably because its overused) but im glad I was able to salvage a few good shots! Argh..now I need to buy a new one..

October 2007

2008-05-01T17:55:00.006+08:00

Mushroom soup at pizza hut.

I don’t have a picture of the soup, but ...I have pictures of my friends who had the soup with me. Yes were into soup too, not just coffee…and we love pizza hut’s creamy mushroom soup topped with freshly baked puff pastry. Try it the next time you visit Pizza hut!

...And nope this is not a paid advertisement! :)

Guess who's back?

He left us last April to work in Dubai!

I was surprised to get a call from an un-identified number saying..
“Hello Leah whats up?”
i would know his voice anywhere, so I said..
” Boyet!!! asan ka?” (where are you?)
” andito.. sa Pilipinas!!!” (here in the Philippines)

that was my cue, i immediately told him about my problems at work...the very recent incident happened only the day before. One manager wanted me to do a report I don’t like, because i just cant see why I have to do it. But in the end i was forced to, simply because hes the boss. It was so infuriatingly frustrating that I cried at my desk after sending the report :(

Now..Boyet being in the Philippines at this time is just perfect timing...or was it fate? he has always been my boss, my mentor, my friend ...and although hes not much older than me...sometimes I feel like he’s my dad…ha ha ha!

..blah blah blah...i went on and on, like a little kid bullied at school …
“boyet he made me do this …boyet he made me cry…boyet im so pissed…etc etc…

..finally I said “kunin mo na ko dito!!!!“ (Get me out of here!!!)
At this point he was laughing at me saying “ I thought you don’t want to leave!” …
“Noon yon....gusto ko na ngayon!” ( That was before... but now I do!)

And after 4 months it happened…I’ll write how on my next posts.

Boyet visited us at the office to give out pasalubongs (gifts)…then we had Lunch at Tempura Sam.

And ofcourse our usual “magdaragat get together”

Abe restaurant, Serendra, The Forth – SMG Office Project team dinner

To celebrate the completion of one our most problematic project, we satisfied our tastebuds with dinner, at Abe restaurant in Serendra. Abe serves Filipino dishes i would normally cook at home, like fried tilapia, sinigang, ginisang gulay...but taste much much better than when i cook them at home. Does that mean im a bad cook? lol...Anyway they also serve some exotic stuff like "buro"..for desert they have leche flan, turon, ube, and macapuno. The food is good …well it should ...for the price we paid for it.

I love their tamarind shake….its something different..

Korean cultural festival

Lets talk about one of my so called life’s obsessions ….named “Hanguk” ….in English Korea…yes its korea the country…and anything korean related!

It started with my fondness of watching KDramas…which gradually expanded to KAartist, then KPop Kfood and now Korean language.

I said to myself since im so obsessed with anything Korean, I might as well get something productive out of it. So last June, Ive decided to formally study hangugo, or hanguk mal or Korean language…in a real school...with real teachers and real classmates. It was funny because me and my friends were almost 2x as old as our classmates and even our teachers but I don’t really mind. Being with the young makes me feel young! Ha ha ha !

We were taught to read and write hangul (Korean scripts) …and ofcourse speak and converse in Korean ..it was so much fun! One of the activities we went to is the Filipino Korean cultural festival. It like an exchange of culture program…like Filipinos will sing Korean songs and Koreans will sing Filipino songs. There were contest and prices and speeches from the Korean ambassadors and some Philippine congresman. They also give out free kimchi’s on the way out..Yummy!

In our school, we do lectures and exercises but there were also games, field trips, skits, presentations and unfortunately like all classes…quizzes, long test and exams! I guess a little pressure is unavoidable to push us to learn more. The hard truth is that, learning a new language requires lots and lots of dedication, memorization and practice. As the lessons progress more and more students are dropping out until its just me, uchi, ella, patty and issa. Eventually I had to quit too, because I have to leave the country. *Sigh… uri sonseng nim, chingu…bogoshipoyo!

Fifteen hours of bliss

October 30, 2007

1800 Your plane landed at the airport. I got your sms and my heartbeat went half a bit faster than norm.

1900 We met each other again face to face after 3 months of waiting…its as if the months flew by and this is just a continuation of the last time we were together.

2000 We had dinner with my cousin and niece … I feel so happy because you wanted to meet the members of my family. You have conquered them as you have conquered me.

2200 We walked back to the hotel with my niece and took pictures everywhere we go. Im content just to hold on to your hand and smile into your blue green eyes. I don’t mind if other people are staring because I’m proud to be with you.

October 31, 2007

0600 I watched you shave through the mirror, trying to memorize every nook and cranny of your beautiful face, so I can use the memory whenever I’m feeling lonely for you.

0730 We had breakfast at the café. You were reading the papers while I pick on my food. I enjoyed the view more than the meal because the view happens to be you. We ate in poignant silence, smiling in between sips of coffee.

0930 Time flies so fast when were together. We said “goodbye, ill see you soon” …while I try my bravest and not cry because I don’t know when “soon” is going to be.

1200 Your plane flew back to HK, while I cried at the cab on the way home… because… I am missing you already. I wish soon would come sooner than soon…

My sister and her weird snapshots

This is just a sample of the many weird snapshots that my sister likes to do. She looks quiet on the outside, but that’s misleading because she totally not…shes funny and witty and weird…and im lucky to have her…

sister wala kang kakupas kupas! ….now I don’t know how to translate that in English. Hahaha!

September 2007

2008-05-01T14:19:00.004+08:00

Hanging out with friends!

As far as I can remember we have always preferred hanging out at coffee shops instead of bars or discos. Coffee or tea over liquor. For us, chatting for hours over a steaming or frosted coffee is the definition of 'night out'.

Take pictures while you work day!

On a normal working day you’ll either find me in front of my laptop crunching some numbers, or laboring on some powerpoint report or attending some boring meeting. But once in awhile, its nice to have a break from the routinary stuff and just go someplace exciting.

This picture was taken in one of those so called days, in a scary place we call “interstitial” (a place between the roof and the ceiling)…very cold, very dark and very dusty. Armed with a helmet, safety shoes and goggles…we climbed, we crawled, we took pictures, we had fun and most certainly we did some work!

Bong is back!

After a few months (cant remember how long exactly…it wasn’t that long for sure) of working in Ireland, our good friend Bong is back. And following the natural order of things….its only natural that we will have one of those “mandaragat get together”… where we eat (more like pig-out on buttered shrimp, calamares, liempo and sinigang sa miso), drink and sing!!! …And who ever is not earning in Peso takes care of the bill!

Bong our favorite song….somehow this always reminds me of you…..SING IT!

Someone told me long ago theres a calm before the storm,
I know; its been comin for some time.
When its over, so they say, it’ll rain a sunny day,
I know; shinin down like water.

I want to know, have you ever seen the rain?
I want to know, have you ever seen the rain
Comin down on a sunny day?

Yesterday, and days before, sun is cold and rain is hard,
I know; been that way for all my time.
til forever, on it goes through the circle, fast and slow,
I know; it cant stop, I wonder.

August 2007

2008-04-28T19:18:00.003+08:00

Tsinelas festival

Every year in Gapan, Nueva Ecija the town people celebrate an event called “Tsinelas Festival” (slipper’s festival). Slippers\Sandals manufacturers in Gapan and other neighboring towns make their own giant slipper models which they line up at the city’s main road to serve as attraction for tourists and locals.

In return the manufacturers were each given slipper stands near the display area where they can sell their products. Not sure how long this lasts, Im guessing from a week to a month.

As a good citizen of Nueva ecija we contribute to the Festivities by doing what we know best … SHOPPING!!! It was exhilarating to walk the long long line of shops filled with beautiful slippers. We look around, fit here, try there and ofcourse my favorite bargaining! If you’re good you’ll get a really good priced slippers starting at 20 pesos to 100 pesos to 200 pesos.

Chuvi’s farewell dinner

My intel circle of friends are getting smaller and smaller….its now Raymunds turn to say farewell. We had 2 dinner in his honor before he left. The first one was held in leslies tagaytay with mike, steve, thien, emir, and one in our usual “Magdaragat” with the rest of the gang. My cigarette budy is leaving …I guess this is the best way to quit the nasty habit. I’ll miss you chuvaness!

Tagaytay

Magdaragat

Naic, Cavite

Another one of our “lets go away this weekend” habbit….”go where??” ..” I don’t know, just somewhere south for a change.” …” somewhere south is big… so where?” ….” I don’t know …will you just drive….” …so we ended up in this town called Naic, in Cavite and in a beach resort called…”Aroma” It was nice, not the place....we don’t really care….it’s the conversation, the laughter, the people we are with and the togetherness that counts.

july 2007 white beach, puerto gallera

2008-04-28T17:39:00.002+08:00

A few weeks before my aunt died…me, mommy, sister, ditse, jopen and evita went to white beach puerto galera…it was one of those spur of the moment, unplanned “lets go away this weekend” thing our family is famous for.

We stayed at Lan-sei Beach resort in white beach, beautiful place, clean, complete facilities, reasonably priced, very nice people, and excellent service. I guess the only catch is, its not along the shore…but its ok the pluses more than compensated for it. It was my second time to stay there, and it has always been consistently pleasant.

We went there separately because mommy, sister and ditse will be coming from QC, jopen from Laguna, and me and evita from Cavite. those from QC took the early morning bus from Jam terminal near Edsa, Kamias and was at Batangas City pier around 9am. Jopen was early too. Surprise of all surprise Us who’s the closest to Batangas were late…blame it on the colorum van we took from Robinsons place dasma to the pier…it was hot...crowded and very slow. I called my mom to just go with Jopen to white beach and we will just meet them for lunch in one of the restaurants along the beach so that they wont waste time waiting for us.

The boat ride was exciting, even though im used to to riding them when I go diving, I would have to admit that even I still felt a wee bit nervous…when the boat driver suddenly stopped the engine, in the middle of nowhere because the wave was just too strong. Everybody( maybe 40-50 passengers)went still for a few minutes as the driver and his assistants tried to maneuver the boat manually using just a long pole. One of the passenger (a foreigner, maybe European), sitting maybe 5 seats away from me….got totally drenched with sea water. One minute she was just sitting there then a wave from the window suddenly hit her from the back causing an isolated shower just on her spot. She was shocked and speechless for words…the passengers beside her were quick to hand out tissues, towels and clothes so she can dry herself.

We had lunch at a Korean Filipino restaurant near the shore…service is slow …and food is so so… 50% of the food in the menu is not available….but Im just too hungry to care.

We walked around for a bit, took pictures then we went to the resort to rest.

I slept on their beautiful open lanai area made of bamboo and shingles, while the others sing out to their hearths content at the free videoke.

I woke up almost dinner time. We’ve decided to just eat at the resort rather than go restaurants near the beach. We swam on the pool, played billards and tried the Jacuzzi before we finally retired for bed.

Early the next day we went to the beach to eat breakfast afterwards we swam on the beach until the sun gets too hot. It was my mom’s first time to swim in an open water at the age of 68. Me and my sister persistently asked her to try the water until she finally joined us. then we hit the shops to buy some trinkets for ourselves and for pasalubong. I cant remember which boat we took back …my guess was it’s the 2pm boat to Batangas city pier.

1 new visitor!

2008-04-28T17:36:00.000+08:00

YES! ITS ME! …and Im like a visitor on my own blog… Why? Because I haven’t been here in months and I haven’t posted anything substantial eversince my aunt died last July.

It took me 2 tries just to get my own password right…thank God! I didn’t get locked out of my own blog… but that’s not really new for someone who has been locked out of her own Internet banking account and has to call the bank to unlock it…how embarrassing ..Pabo!

At times like this I can only say ….2 words….General Anesthesia! I was once under it when I got operated due to acute appendicitis when I was 12…now after 23 years its still affecting my brain…lol!

Im probably having a….(2 words again)… “BB” Bloggers Block…if there is such a thing… I just cant find the time or the urge to write anything for the past 9 months. Why is that? Although so much has happened in my so called “life”…some ordinary usual stuff …but there were some that are just so unexpected that if a fortune teller said all this things to me 6 months ago..i most likely wouldn’t believe her…

Hmmm…where do I start?? lets do this one month at a time like a year end countdown, only its not end of the year…errr not even close…

…oh well…its my blog…i can do a year end countdown in April if I want…lol!

365 days ago...

2007-10-23T13:31:00.000+08:00

i love this place...and i wish i can go back again soon..

... " arirang arirang arariyo...arirang kogeru nomo kanda..."

..in memory of my nanay juling (july 4, 1935 to july 9, 2007)

2007-07-15T10:52:00.000+08:00

"nanay why are you frowning?..come and give me a big happy smile" -- taken last June 10, 2007 in north palm beach resort, bauan, la onion

This is my nanay juling, she is my mom's older sister and my second mom. She doesnt have any daughter only 2 sons, thats why she has always treated me and my sister as her own. Eversince her husband died years ago, she has lived in our house, although she has her own home(next to ours).

She has always been there for us eversince i can remember...shes does stuff for us the my mom hates to do...like transforming my messy hair into an extremely complicated braid,..she also cuts my hair even when i was already in college.... she loves doing my home economics projects..stitches, embroidery, crochet, doilies and such (yes believe it or not H.E. is one subject i suck at next to P.E.). She does the marketing for us every single day except when shes sick and cant get out of bed...she always brings rice cakes, corn, pineapples and bananas whenever she goes to the market...and she never gets tired or ever complained of going back and forth from the house to the market no matter how many times she has to in a day. Her passion is traveling, not the stylish plane hoping form one country to another but just sitting in the car and going somewhere...or anywhere for that matter. She also loves to watch other people gambling.

I have many funny stories of nanay but its not approprite as a blog article... i prefer to remember her that way, funny, smiling and happy...and i hope and i pray that you are, wherever you are right now. we love you nay...

TOGETHERNESS - by anonymous

Death is nothing at all.

I have only slipped away in to the next room.

I am I , and you are you.......

Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me in the easy way you always used.....

Put no difference in your tone,wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together........

Play,smile,think of me. Pray for me. Let my name be the household name it always was.......

Let it be spoken without effort.

Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was.

Why should I be be out of your mind because I am out of your sight?

I am but waiting for you,for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner.

All is well,nothing is past,nothing is lost........

One brief moment and all will be as it was before,only better,infinitely happier and forever.

We will all be one together with Christ.

pictures at the wake:

...we stayed up to 530 am on the eve of the funeral...and these are the friends thats with us the whole time...we did everything so that we wont fall asleep and that includes picture taking....

*lovely, ede and neneng

*lally and lorna

*me and patrick

pictures at the funeral:

*taken at the cemetery....my aunts, cousins, nieces,

*nanay's only living son and his family...

road trip la union and baguio - June 9 to 10' 2007

2007-06-11T13:41:00.000+08:00

my mom is in one of her road trip moods again..she usually gets this way whenever theres a long weekend ahead...in this case, its the independence day holiday which was moved from june 12 to 11 to give us a 3 day weekend..

a few days back she texted me to say..."come home this weekend were going somewhere"...i asked "where?"...she said "oh i dont know yet, but we will."... now i know where i get my impulsiveness from :P

so friday night me, my sister and niece went home to nueva ecija, where my mom stays....so i asked her.."where are we going?" and i found out that up until that day she doesnt have a plan yet...shes deciding between...pangasinan, la union, baguio, ilocos, vigan...etc etc...

the next day, sat, we packed up our stuff bright and early, climbed the van and started our roadtrip to nowhere..lol

on the way....mom finally decided that we will go to la union, because weve never been there......but where in la union? my cousin said...oh how about bauang... its near baguio, just at the foot of the mountain so it will be easy for us to go to baguio the next day..so that settles it..

we rented a cottage in la union, the beach was clean, nice, private and quiet...because i think most people are already in manila to get ready for the first day of school...so we have the beach to ourselves....yipee! too bad i forgot to bring my swimsuit, because originally i didnt plan to swim....but then it seems that the sea is calling me so ive decided to take a dip early the next morning, wearing shirt and shorts....oh it was so nice...we took a walk along the shore, the water is not cold and there are only a few people around because its still early... i love the sea... just looking at the waves and the sky is very peaceful...just what i need after a stressfull week at work

the next day we went to baguio...with our picnic bags and had lunch at burnham park... afterwards we toured the usual spots like wright park, mansion house, mines view....there are just too many people around...traffic is bad..and its not cold ... it doesnt look like baguio...except for the flowers...lol...but we did enjoy ourselves..

we bought some silver jewelries, t shirts....food...etc etc..then we headed back home...

it was tiring but definitely worth it..now my mom is looking forward to the next long weekend..which is.....????? i dont know....but i hope it comes soon...i cant wait ... :)

angelic wedding

2007-06-03T15:17:00.000+08:00

phew...finally mike and angel tied the knot last saturday, june 2, 2007 at the don bosco church in makati. the couple looked very happy to finally did it...i dont think they ever heard of pre wedding jitters because none of it showed in their faces...they just cant wait to be married...and even after the wedding...they were just too sweet for words..sweeter than the table full of desserts at the reception which was held at the intercon hotel ballroom..

the celebration was a huge success...the church was solemn and the reception was light and happy...tears of joy were shed on both sides... i was specially touched to see angel dancing with his dad crying while his dad wipe her tears away with a hankie...i was thinking to myself..thank god for waterproof mascara..

i wasnt bored at all..in fact i enjoyed everything, from the mass, to the singers, the orchestra, to the food, to the sound track, to the picture presentation, to the messages from the ninong and ninangs.....btw im the official MOH so i was so busy arranging angels trane and veil at the church....no wonder they call it MAID of honor....she said she knows what to do when its her turn to be MOH..so i told her when i do get married (????????) i will wear a mini skirt...to spare you....lol..geez did i get myself in to another dare???

actually it started with a dare...a few years ago, angel and mike just had their first date where i played the official chaperone...and i were just kidding around with her about her supposed to be wedding in the future with mike where i will be the offical MOH (maid of honor)...i dared her that if that ever happens i will wear a tube to her wedding...and it did! if i knew then what i knew now i never would have dared her on the dress...lol

i did learn something though...and it was very important...if you do plan to get married...hire a wedding coordinator..its a huge help...lol they were so cute wearing matching blue outfits, belt bags and and ear pieces...running around making sure that everything will work out smoothly.....they were the heroes of the celebration...

best wishes to mike and angel! may you both continue loving each other everyday just the way you did on your wedding day. Congrats!

an open letter to my soulmate

2007-04-30T11:12:00.000+08:00

Dear soulmate,

Thank you ..

For finding me even though im halfway around the world
For reading my blog from start to finish because you want to know everything there is to know about me
For spiritually being with me every time I have to make a particularly difficult presentation at work
For being my friend first in the real sense of the word
For being honest and truthful even though you know the answers will hurt
For helping me get over a particularly bad phase of my life
For saying I love you without expecting anything in return
For arguing with me, matching my temper with your own then saying sorry afterwards and making excuses for my bad behaviour even though its really my fault
For staying up late at night just to talk to me
For letting me have the last word whenever we chat even though you find it hard
For calling me when I need to hear your voice
For singing me a song even though you say you cant sing
For insisting that im pretty, beautiful and gorgeous everytime I say that im not
For all the surprise messages that I get from you at a time when im not expecting any
For telling me where you are and where you will be at any point in time so I wont go crazy
For giving me 22 hours of your time at a time when you're most busy
For traveling miles and miles just to see me
For lighting my cigarettes when I want to smoke
For feeding me sushis and sashimis when im hungry
For insisting on giving me a massage because I need it
For rubbing my tummy because I have my period
For giving me a bath just because..lol!
For combing the tangles out of my hair because I cant reach it
For letting me to sit on your lap and saying im not heavy
For keeping me warm when my hands and feet are cold
For patting my bottom so I can sleep
For turning on the aircon even though you're cold
For all the hugs and kisses that makes me feel so secure and loved
For comforting me, making me smile and crying with me when I cry
For assuring me that you are taking care of yourself because I worry about you
For making and keeping your promises
For saying "see you soon" instead of "goodbye"

And most of all...thank you for making me love you, because by doing so I finally found peace.

love leah

"tayo na sa antipolo" - march 3, 2007

2007-03-05T18:13:00.000+08:00

i actually planned to just stay home the entire weekend and catch up on my sleep....but i guess some things are not meant to be because at around 2pm my cousin gave us a call and told us she'll pick us up at 3pm...then she just hanged up...without even telling us where were going. ....i woudnt be surprised because impulsiveness runs in our family so this kind of thing is considered norm.. :)

as it turned out, she wanted to go to antipolo...we've realized it when we passed robinsons-cainta, sta lucia mall and when i saw the familiar way to antipolo church...with kids trying to race with cars asking the visitors to follow them, so they can lead them to the parking lot...in one condition...visitors have to buy cashew nuts from their store....so familiar :)

it was family tradition to go to antipolo church every may of each year...but its only just march ..kuresoh..weoh?? (so, why?) hmmm...maybe my cousin is praying for her upcomming operation this march...hmm... there's something wrong with her back, when she slipped in her own CR a few years ago and it has been bothering her eversince.

it was raining so hard when we parked in church...luckily there were spare umbrellas on the van...but were 4 (me, cousin, sister and niece) so we have to share....i told my cousin..."now were really going to be blessed because were having a hard time just to go here" ...actually we were literally blessed by the pouring rain....

after the mass, we bought roasted cashew nuts to eat on the way home...yum yum...

this is the altar inside the church

from left to right , is my cousin (we call her ditse), my sister (lally), and my niece (ditse's daughter evita)

and this is me....outside the church

friday night out - Feb 23' 2007

2007-02-28T17:07:00.000+08:00

ofcourse when me and my friends go out theres an unwritten rule that well do something korean, maybe because were a korean crazy bunch... so last friday when we went out we did exactly that...korean dinner and noraembang.

at sansung restaurant, where we had our sit down dinner...literally...(oh! so thats why my back hurts up to now)... rica, elle and me ate egg jin, sondubuchigae, chapchae, while bambie and anne had dolsot bibimbap .

its our first time to go to dontellmama without uchi, so were kindda lost ....ofcouse we have our own favorites like "bring me to life", "perhaps love".."snow prince" ..."like a man"....which we sang ....after that we have to struggle with our limited hanggul knowledge to find the song that we want... and rely on our creativity to come up with a lyrics...lol..whatever word that sounds like it will do.

we sang "lovely day" with camille who's in pampanga via speaker phone...i called camille and asked her..."camille are you busy? " ..she said "no"...."ok then sing 'lovely day' by super junior with me"..she said "whaaat?????"....i told her "yup were in noraembang and were next, just after this song"....i know she knows the lyrics so well coz she recorded i once....it was fun...we were laughing and singing the whole time.

if this picture could sing it will go something like this "show me your eyes and give me your love Nan nega johungol love you forever come to my heart listen my song for you boyojulke nol hyanghan mam gobeghalke gudemane wangjarangol "
and these two represents the land of the rising sun....japan! they sing japanese songs so well....so im starting to like jpop more and more....my friends are sending me jpop mp3s so i cant help it...im doomed...hmm..i should study japanese too...to add confusion to my mandarin and korean ...
singing sisters anne and rica.... hitsura na lang ng wea twins at aldeguer sisters....:)

how come theres no picture of me singing.....well its because im taking the pictures..lol

group pictures at the lounge...with the restroom at the background...after 2 hours of singing were still looking very energetic....maybe we can still go on for another 4 hours...except it would cost us a fortune...lol!

excerpts...

2007-02-19T15:30:00.000+08:00

"how do you want to go there, the hard way or ...the easy way?"
"trust me, this is my country"
"stop, stop, stop... i dont want to hurt you"
"where's your wallet?" "in my pocket" "front or back?"
"mommy! mommy!"
"hmm booksale...do you want to go inside?"
"look, thats your book..an old woman's..."
"i could spend a fortune here"
"so where's the key?" "you have it" "i dont, you have it"
"can you give us 10 minutes"
"marriage is not a guarantee that you'll stay together, i was married once and look what happened to me...its your commitment to the relationship and to the person that counts"
"what do you want to eat?" "anything, what do you want to eat?"
"everything here is cheap". "i know". "isnt it nice so here?....you can actually live here"
"what time are we getting up?" "hmm...later"
"i though were going out" "we are!"
"im ugly" "who says youre ugly?"
"you should be really really nice to me today because its my birthday"
"happy birthday darling"
"i hate your watch"
"yes mother"
"you're bossy!"
"you're weird!"
"you're old!"
"delete, delete, delete now!"
"im protected by the cold shower"
"you mean youll forget all these... and me in a week?"
"no slapping of butt in public" "why not?"
"what do you mean you cant?"
"i know what my zen has that your zen doesnt..."
"i cant sing"
"i dont get hungry"
"im hungry"
"what does resonating mean?" "i cant explain.." "are you sure your english?"
"thats scary" "no its not" "it is too"
"i sing all the time" "i noticed"
"why are you afraid of the cleaners?." "im not!"
"ill do it in a minute"
"if you're with me you'll have to study your advance course" "i dont want to do anymore skills"
"you're stomach is so big, you can rest your hands on them when you're tired"
"are you complaining?" "no"
"because you're white"
"you like kissing me, dont you?" "yes"
"trust me"
"im lazy"
"women!"
"because i'll miss you"
"ill miss you too"
"ill see you soon"
"i think. . . . "

Bonding with an Angel

2007-01-15T12:05:00.000+08:00

angel was back here from uk for almost a month and we almost missed seing each other...we have to rush until the last minute (the day before she flies back) in order to meet, simply because our schedule just dont match. she works at night because she still works in UK time while i work phil time plus she's in makati and im in cavite most of the time.

we met in glorietta and were supposed to get a masssage or facial in suriraya spa (or something..forgot the name), but we have to change plans because i was adviced by their staff not to because of my period....so we went to david's and pampered our hair instead. she had a back massage and an olea hair treatment (im not sure of the spelling, all i know is its close to oreo, you know i only remember stuff thats related to food), while i had hair spa, hair cut and eyebrow treading (one word "painfull"..hu hu hu)

... it is so nice to see her again, she was the one who actually influenced me to do kikay stuff like massages, facials, hair treatments and make up... we used to live together because of work and we often get massages together, or go to the parlor together at least once every two weeks. now that she's based in UK, she misses all these stuff because its very expensive if you do it there.

..afterwards we ate dinner at tgif's...and continued our girl talk...about life, about her upcomming wedding in june....where ill be the MOH (maid of honor)....about work, about our love life (our long hair..lol!)

ill miss you angel..and im looking forward to seing you again this june :)

kwentong jedi

2007-01-12T14:43:00.000+08:00

i got a marriage proposal yesterday....yup i did on the phone....i was talking to this old friend on the phone yesterday (he calls me once in awhile...to check up on me....even when he's in vietnam working or wherever...so he can pester me with his "kulit" ways).

....so we were just chatting randomly about work, life, love...and he casually asked me hows my love life..so i said..."good"...he said "you mean you have a boyfriend ????" (... why it would surprise me is beyond me)..but i told him sort of....and he said "why didnt you wait for me? i was just saving money and im going to marry you!" ...i said "what??? when did this happen? but anyway its good that you didnt ask me to wait....because i have no plans of waiting for you!" and he goes "no im going there tommorrow and were getting married! and were going to make a baby and start a family" ...and i said "no way...get married by yourself...ill never marry you!" ...then he went on pestering me who the guy is...and stuff....i told him...."its nobody you know"

so the 5$ question has been answered....he really likes me THAT way....i refuse to believe it before because im trying to avoid the truth...theres no way to avoid it now....so i guess i have to avoid him instead.... *sigh

SSM!

2007-01-12T14:06:00.000+08:00

SSM stands for "Somebody Slap Me"! im about to do something crazy and im acting out of character so i really need a good slap right now. my mind was telling me.."do this and you're going to be in real trouble"... but my heart doesnt want to listen...

sometimes you see other people doing things and in your mind youre saying..."i will never ever do something like that ..duh?" but when find yourself in that situation.... you find all sorts of reason to justify going in to that same direction. its like seing a cliff and willingly jumping into one, knowing youre going to die....thats probably too melodramatic...(too much doze of kdrama talking)

is it a beautiful dream or a nightmare? who can tell?

sometimes we need to take BIG risks in life in order to be happy....im just going with my instinct (its reliable 80% of the time)...i hope it wont fail me this time...*fingers crossed* .....so im going through it...unless someone would slap me now....

first time

2006-12-19T16:09:00.000+08:00

15 december 2006, tagaytay

last friday we had our 2006 team building and christmas party in tagaytay.

we started out at around 10am with a boat ride from taal lake yatch club resort to the foot of the volcano...then we climbed the volcano for about an hour....had lunch and picture taking at the top....went down...... took another boat ride back to TLYC, had heavy merienda and a few beers at leslies... then headed off to days hotel to party!

over all the event was a roaring success...everyone had so much fun....specially me ...i would never forget that day because of the many "first time" that happened ...... first time to:

1. wear a life jacket while riding a boat..ive had my share of boat rides but this is the first time i had to wear a life jacket...maybe people thought my "sam gyup sal" can serve as life jacket during emergency (non korean crazy people wont get this joke!)

2. get thrown off a horse...oh horsey...wherever you are im soooorrry! its my fault..really! too bad we dont have this in film....i was just too shocked and out of my wits shouting "mommy mommy" and elbert was too busy holding on to me when it happened ..so we were not able to take out our cameras...the video could have made it to bitoys funniest...oh well...better luck next time.

3. ride a horse .....i kinda like the bouncing sensation you get when riding a horse....i think its a great stress reliever... and although i was scared and kept on chanting "horsey be nice...nice horsey" (there was one time it felt as if the horse is going to go straight and jump off the cliff.)..i really had a good time.

4. climb a mountain (although technically its a volcano) .....i can now relate to the satisfaction climbers get when they climb a mountain....it was so difficult...(correction it was darn difficult)... but the view at the top is definitely worth it

going up..we stopped to take pictures but its more of... "were too tired so we have to stop and heck..might as well take pictures"..and although im smiling...im actually hyperventilating in between pics

midway

at the top

going down

5. not finish 1 mcdonalds quarter pounder burger - because im too tired to eat when i reached the top

6. visit days hotel in tagaytay (and actually took a shower in one of the rooms...i didnt answer the phone..swear to God!)

the party was a blast...we were singing, dancing, eating and drinking non stop... one thing unique about this crowd is that everybody was game enough to sing a song...dance or simply jump up and down!

7.hmm....hmmm...sigh...sigh....ill keep this 7th first to myself for awhile.... :)

...it was such a fun filled day....they said we'll do it again this april...but this time we'll go to the beach....yipee! ...so..PUERTO GALLERA WATCH OUT , HERE WE COME!

stalking activities

2006-11-21T14:36:00.000+08:00

finally...i can see some light on my stalking activities...if you can call it that..LOL!

im actually stalking somebody in friendster...yes its a boy...and yes he's someone i know and knows me in return. anyway i've bookmarked his page for a year now and since then i havent seen any change, until recently where he made some new friends...although his status is still "in a relationship" (...it would be quite interesting to know with whom, though--mind boggling stuff)

maybe i should change my view profile status from "anonymous" to visible so ill know if someone's stalking me to...nah...id rather not know...LOL!

anyway im glad to know he's still alive and seems to be doing well...whoever you are..and if youre reading this...i sincerely hope youre okey.

a corner

2006-11-03T14:05:00.000+08:00

im sharing a picture of a corner of my office desk...and the weird stuff in it that is sooo me:
- my plant named "shin goon" is there...getting bigger and bigger everyday..before you know it he'll turn into a tree right before my very eyes.
- my "smile" stickers...well i put them everywhere on my phone on my lapt top on my table, on my mouse...and sometimes when i feel really naughty i put them on my chrush's replicator.
- my spiderman marvel mug which i bought last christmas at market market...what a bargain! yee!
- my QR award...naks....i want to thank the academy...blah blah blah..
- my KL magnet..given by Evar...actually... i used a little force so he would give it to me
- and last but not the least....is it a plane? is it a bird....its...."rain" ...inside the picture frame i got free from a 7-11 store in hongkong..isnt he cute??...damyong damyong niga....for those of you who havent bouht his 4th album yet...well do buy..its a good cd...thanks bambs for convincing me..

shanghai and hongkong sept 12-16 part 5

2006-09-20T19:03:00.000+08:00

mid level escalator

ladder street

jade store owner

hongkong by nightfall

back to hongkong airport to take the 10pm flight back to manila..

i was so tired, every part of my body was sore...i almost slept the entire flight back except for those times when my american NFF charlie was talking to me, he actually told me i was snoring...i hope he's just kidding...ha ha ha

shanghai and hongkong sept 12-16 part 4

2006-09-20T18:55:00.000+08:00

early sept 16 is my scheduled flight back to manila, but ofcourse i have to stop by hongkong. originally i created a 12hr stop over in hongkong from 10am to 10pm, but my evil plan didnt go as scheduled because my flight from pudong to hk was delayed by an hour. we have to wait, then transfer from dragon air to eastern airline...geez i was kindda looking forward to the breakfast that dragon air serves (they always serve good food)...at least its good for my diet...i get to eat less.

hongkong is busy as always...this time around i decided to spend the day walking and literally that's what i did.

shanghai and hongkong sept 12-16 part 3

2006-09-20T18:41:00.000+08:00

more pictures of shanghai:

shanghai and hongkong sept 12-16 part 2

2006-09-20T18:24:00.000+08:00

i just love my hotel room, queen size bed, bay window, and a view of the river

here is a miniature of pudong shangrila, my room is on the 10th flr of the left building

what's great about the shang is that its right next to the tv tower, superbrand mall, jinmao building and mtr lu jia zui station.

as soon as i reached the hotel, i just dropped my bags and headed off to buy an mp4 player and wireless mouse at digital plaza.

i was so happy not because i got a good bargain but because my mandarin is improving...wo juede hen gao xing! anyway back to the stuff i bought..i got 4 logitech wireless mouse for 240RMB each and a 1 Gig Mp4 player at 280RMB..wo zhende hen hao! how did i do that? first i bought the 4WM on one store and then i asked the owner of the store to look for an mp4 player and buy it for me at the price and specs i specified. since they cant speak english...it was really a challenge on my mandarin...ha ha ha...in the end..i got what i want..and that what counts.

shanghai and hongkong sept 12-16 2006 part1

2006-09-20T17:41:00.000+08:00

after 1 year and 2 months im back in shanghai for 4 days...wow! it a spur of the moment thing so my head was spinning on the visa applications, reservations, packing and so on...waahh i was so stressed!

sept 12

my flight was scheduled early morning of sept 12, 645am ...its the first flight out to HK via cathay ..i intentionally scheduled it that way so that ill be in shanghai around 2pm.

it was rainy in hk that day, i took a peek outside and this is what i saw ...a wet airplane..hahahha

inside the airport is business as usual

pudong arrival area is crowded. shanghai is really popular with the tourist nowadays..except me coz im here for business

i took the maglev to Long yang station, then i took the taxi to pudong shangrila

speechless

2006-08-08T19:14:00.000+08:00

the other night...i was in my cube working late ( actually, i was alternating between work and youtube) and all of a sudden he came up to me...and asked me a few questions (work related)..and i was like staring at him...trying so hard to understand what the heck is he saying while thinking at the back of my mind if my face looked ok.

..so there i was smiling and looking dumb, while he goes blah blah blah...and i was nodding, somewhat agreeing to what he is saying, whatever that is....oh boy...i wonder if its obvious??..geez i hope not...coz after a while i was able to come up with some intelligent answers....which he accepted before he went his merry way.

ha ha ha...i should stop this...its not doing me any good...the guy doesnt even know i exist...plus the fact that he's leaving very bery soon....duh!

he's leaving...

2006-07-03T19:22:00.000+08:00

ive realized something today...i found out i have this itsy bitsy teeny weenie crush on someone...well its more like the elusive "kilig" feeling for someone...ha ha ha (i know i'm acting like a teenager...)..it was sad because i found out today that he's leaving the company for good..... hey hold your horses,. there's really no love story here..to speak of...were just office mates ...we email each other (about work ofcourse), we attend meetings together...we greet each other in the hallway....as far as im concerned that's IT...i dont even know his work cellphone number( i think he called me once on my cell...geez i should've saved his no. then) or whether he's married, single or gay...ha ha ha ha... i remember i saw him once outside the office, i was eating BCT in "tokyo tokyo" and he was there too, alone just like me... we just waved and smiled at each other...but we ate separately...

im sad because he's leaving but i wish him the best of luck... i hope he'll be happy...and maybe, just maybe we'll see each other again...

to my officemates who were reading this....shhhh...:)

at last after 13 years

2006-06-30T12:59:00.000+08:00

i havent done it in quite a while, 13 years to be exact...the last time it happend, i was still in college...i never thought it would happen to a level headed person such as myself...but it did, because last friday...i got mind numbing, world spinning, hearth pounding, gut puking drunk!

it started as an innocent relaxing night out with my officemates at our house... a guitar, a couple of song book, roasted chickens, bbq, cigars..a few bottles of beer, a shot glas and a bottle of absolute vodka...then as the night went on...we sang a few song, exchanged a few jokes, laughed a lot.. and before i knew it...i was heading to the toilet to spill my breakfast, lunch and the vodka out...until nothing else can come out...Yuck!! what happened to my "general" anethesia theory ? (i had tons of theory which i call "nasusulat" one of them was that its hard for people who were once operated and injected with general anesthesia to get drunk.....i also have a "sex in the workplace" theory but thats another topic altogether...so ill post about it some other time..har har.:))

the rest of the night happened in a blur...i can hear voices, and people singing and laughing (maybe they're laughing about me..who cares??? intoxicated people dont really care about these things)...i was dizzy as hell, my throat hurts, i cant barely keep my eyes open... wondering when i have to go to the bathroom again to do another round of puking.....

so whats the moral lesson of the story? "ill never drink a drop of alcohol as long as i live" --- nahh...maybe for the next 2 weeks...but after that who knows? LOL!

villa escudero - may 27'06

2006-06-05T19:31:00.000+08:00

i had a non planned, spur of the moment trip to villa escudero with my niece and friends last last saturday.
an office mate from penang was here for the weekend and he wanted to do some sight seeing while he's here, ...i actually have no idea where to take him...i just know that it has to be somewhere filipinoish, near enough so we wont waste too much time traveling and unique. i usually rely heavily on the net whenever i travel and i spend hours and hours of research before the actual date.... but this time i had to come up with something fast ..... so when he called me up that saturday morning... i told him...lets go to villa escudero... and he just said ok lets..

its been years since i visited the place...so i only have a vague memory of what it was like...

reception lobby:

museum:

shhh...im not supposed to take pictures inside...but i found out too late...so might as well put it to good use and post it here.

off limits mansion...sorry cant go inside..

carabao ride, with matching folk singers at the back.

buffet lunch at the man made water falls

i really enjoyed the cultural presentations..sorry im too far...

these kids...can dance the "tinikling" very well

my favorite place....the lake

the park

..although the trip was kindda tiring because of the traffic ( we travelled 4 hours on our way back)..we did have so much fun....

penang, april 17-22

2006-04-28T21:46:00.000+08:00

this is going to be a short because...i actually did nothing in penang but .. eat, attend some trainings and ..work. we had this 4 day development day for senior analysts which was held in evergreen laurel hotel in gurney rd, penang malaysia.

my movements were kinda limited to....airport, hotel, gurney mall, hawkers, hotel, airport...that's it.

at least the view from my hotel room is refreshing..

hotel lobby with other phil analyst

during the cultural night, were in costume because we danced a medly of phil folk dances, we did pandango sa ilaw, maglalatik and jota de manila.

dinner at nando's or was it nardo's..their chicken is great..yum yum..one of the best ive tasted since birt.

pictures on the way to gurney plaza...we walked all the way because taxi fares are not reimbursable...hahahha and we need the exercise...

on my last night in penang...me and my buddy zaini...to celebrate the day we met face to face....though weve been talking to each other for ages...

the end...see nothing much happened in penang...im looking forward to another trip there...im keeping my fingers crossed. :)

singapore - april 14-17, 2006

2006-04-25T18:34:00.000+08:00

day 1 - april 14
its good friday, i flew in to singpore with let. jeanette picked us up at the airport and took us to their flat to drop off our stuff.....it was raining pretty hard so we grabbed some umbrellas and headed to the nearest church to hear good friday mass..the service was solemn and very peaceful

....afterwards we walked on the nearby mall (parkway ), had dinner (noodles).. before heading back to jeans home.

i met jean's sister, mom , dad and their adorable cat gucci. they were all so nice and hospitable. jean's dad even took us to the hotel ...it was so touching:)

after checking in to our hotel (perak lodge, in little india), we rode a taxi to visit the night safari...wow..awesome place... we rode the tram, walked the trails, and watched the show. we saw some pretty rare animals ..

we went home around midnight coz we were trying to catch the last bus...then we took the last train...until we ran out of tranportation and finally gave up and took a taxi...

day 2 - april 15

let and i woke up around 8am...took our breakfast consisting of toast butter and strawberry jam...simply because there is nothing else to choose from. then we headed off to sim lim mall (which is only a few step from our hotel) to window shop, lots of it stuff there, digicams, computer stuff, ipods, cellphones, flash memory, mp3 players......and relatively cheap too...afterwards we had lunch and headed off to sentosa.

sim lim is the building on the left....i think.. :)

while waiting for the train to harbor front at little india station

while waiting for the bus that would take us to sentosa

and finally sentosa...

outside merlion park..

dolphin show

underwaterworld

beach outside underwater world...actually we got lost and found this one...nice view huh..

sijori resort, nope we did not stay there...we only used their restroom...hahahha :)

siloso beach

we left sentosa around 7pm...we missed the musical fountain show....because it began to rain...again...

we went window shopping in one of the malls..i think suntec...(sounds like it)...then we headed to esplanade theaters by the bay

we saw some bikers on the subway...hanging out and playing around with their bikes

and meet my boyfriend in singapore.....he's brave and strong...but not that tall...hahaha

this is the famous raffles hotel...i guess this is the side view..not the normal view that you see...because were just too tired to go the other way and settled for this view instead...let and i were practically dragging our feet...

but we realized we can still squeeze a few more shopping hours so weve decided we'll visit mustafa mall ...and golly we were there until 2am..this is the height of shopping for me...hahahha

day 3 - april 16

i dont have many pictures for this day....because i can summarize this day in just one word ... SHOPPING....

we bought perfumes, jewelries, jades, cellphones, bags, shirts, watches, mp3 players etc etc etc...then afterwards i had the gall to ask myself... where did all my money go???? ha ha ha...

we went to lucky plaza...where most of the shoppers are filipinos, you go to the restroom, foodcourt...youll see our kababayans smiling at you...its just like being in a local mall.

we went back to sim lim...an realized we could have bought a cheaper 512mb sd card....for 35s$ instead of the 40s$ i bought....sheezz...

this day we slept a little early because we have an early flight tomorrow to penang.

..these are our changi airport pictures...

i just love singapore.....i will miss it, would definitely go back someday...once ive recovered financially...hahhaha :)

mainit, cathedara underwater pics - 18 march 2006

2006-03-24T13:15:00.000+08:00

this is me while waiting for the others to finish with their underwater pictorial session...

look mommy no reg...hahahha

group picture

mainit sea scape

my favorite soft corals...i just love touching them....oooppsss i've just remembered, im not supposed to touch anything.. this is the cathedral's cross..

all pictures courtesy of our DM , thanks neil.

mainit (again), cathedral march 18, 2006

2006-03-20T14:12:00.000+08:00

after 3 months and 5 days...i was able to dive again. i was a bit nervous to jump into the water because its been awhile, but except for the usual me having a hard time sinking...there was no major problem, i adapted to the water effortlessly...

i do miss diving a lot...and ive realized that, the moment i touched the water.

dive 1 : mainit
in this dive i saw another shark...and my divemates were teasing me endlessly because only me and the dm saw the shark. they were puzzled because the person who least wanted to see a shark which happens to be me, always ends up seing one. i told them that the bkm (best known method) is to always stay close to your dm...so you wont miss any of the action.

dive 2 : cathedral to eagle point
i had minor problems with my mask on the second dive..no matter how hard i clear..the water keeps comming in...i was a bit annoyed...because of all the skills during training, the mask clearing is the one i hated the most, so if i can avoid it...i will...teacher if youre reading this...dont spank me..

anyway i saw the cross which was blessed by pope john paul and was placed there by ex-president ramos. its a concrete cross in between two huge rocks...maybe that's why the place is called cathedral. when we reached the cross...there were many divers there, so its a bit crowded...just like going to church on a sunday.

we also did some fish feeding...so many hungry fishes..i think they can smell food a mile away...

we have 3 underwater cameras but unfortunately im not one of those who have them...so ill just post first our land pictures then later on ill do the underwater ones.

before we leave for the dive site...fist thing first...picture..picture...:)

during our safety interval..in one of the islan of anilao...sorry i dont know where exactly...in fact if they left me on that island..i wont be able to find my way home.

right after lunch...at the outrigger resort dinning area...i think this is around 3pm already.

we left the resort at around 6 and had to stop by boyet's brod's place nearby.

i reached the house around 11 pm....headed straight to bed...dreaming of our next dive.

bitter thought for the day : love fades

2006-03-20T12:54:00.000+08:00

so true...indeed!

so this is what it felt like to be part of just another stats... its almost official, its only just a matter of time....

pre-dominant emotion : relief

major thought : so many options on how to live the rest of my life

i know im talking in circles here...but for those who know....shhhhh :)

bangkok, thailand - feb 24-27, 2006

2006-03-03T14:12:00.000+08:00

the first thing i noticed about bangkok is the distinct smell...i dont know how to explain this but ill try anyway....overall its smells like food (probably because street food is present everywhere) ....and once in a while i would smell chinese balm\ointment...(if you are familiar with 'salompas').

DAY 1 - Feb 24

our first tuktuk ride with mai our thai friend on our way to MBK plaza to have dinner.

our first night, we had dinner at "black coffee" resto in MBK plaza with friends. the food is a mixture of american and thai... almost everything is flavored with lemon grass' which im not too fond of.

the pink girls out to have some fun ...and what do girls do to have fun?? yeah...shopping. this was taken at the red light district called "pat pong". the goods are priced really expensive so we have to use our bargaining skills to the hilt...thank God were women.

after looking at girls clad in skimpy outfits dancing and parading their wares. we sad down to have some non alcoholic drinks (pine apply juice and iced tea) in a "music" bar along patpong...this is an honest to goodness bar ...not the same as those bars patpong is famous for.

DAY 2- Feb 25

half day city tour with boat ride to the temple of dawn " Wat arun". this place is pretty amazing in person. too bad we were not able to get off the boat, because according to the guide we cant.

then we went shopping again at chatuchak, but i have no picture of the market...just the park accross the market which is called "chatuchak park". the market is a heaven for shoppers....i could probably spend 2 days roaming it. nice goods and the prices are affordable too...in fact some are really cheap.

standing along BTS "mo chit" station waiting for our train to arrive. who's that guy? good question..i dont know...i just find him kindda cute so i took his picture...ha ha ha...hey if this happens to reach you..im sorry ....feel free to send me a note ;-).

rainy day bangkok at impact stadium

this picture has a story, it was taken in the middle of an argument, and confusion...but whe i said..hey picture picture.... the girls still made an effort to smile .

dinner out with other rain fans...thai food ...still with the everpresent lemmon grass flavor ...

DAY 3 - Feb 26

floating market with a malaysian friend whom i just met on the tour.

afterwards i went to sukhumwit to experience an authentic thai massage for only 250baht for 2 hours. i only have two words to describe it...." painfuly delicious "

last dinner at an italian resto near patpong...i ordered "tom yum" soup with noodles...very spicy and still with lemon grass flavor...i can still taste it if i imagine hard enough.

street food composed of various crispy fried insects....anyone??

DAY 4 - Feb 27

at the airport on our way back...as they say..all good trips must come to an end. bye bye bangkok..bye bye lemon grass...ha ha ha :)

t4 x 4 as tagged by patty

2006-02-17T13:33:00.000+08:00

... 4 Jobs I’ve Had In My Life

-structural desig engineer -this is right after passing the board exam back in 2004, we basically design 2-3 storey residential houses/bldgs.

-quantity surveyor/estimator - this is for a tripple a construction company, we do mostly quantity take offs for bidding...i can remember the pressure up to now.

-office engineer -same tripple A construction company, i do all the office engineering works, from contract management to quantity take off to scheduling, claims, change orders, reports..etc etc..we constructed 2 major malls, one in bacoor and the other one in manila.

-cost engineer /analyst --handling finance portion of construction projects of a manufacturing company.

Movies I Could Watch Over And Over

-pretty woman -

-matrix

-kungfu hustle

-die hard

4 TV Shows I Love To Watch

- csi

-friends

-pbb

-meteor garden

Places I’ve Been On Vacation(the last four)

gosh i cant remember when was the last time i had a vacation but anyway...

- anilao batangas - everytime i go diving, but these are mainly day trips...so i dont know if you can call it a vacation

- jaen nueva ecija - i went home for the holidays --where else would i spend xmas and new year

-baguio - this was ages ago

-sagada-banawe - this was ages ago too

Websites I Visit Daily

- our intranet site - to check our stock price

- this blog - although i dont update

- meebo.com - when i have to chat using ym

- friends blogs - randomly chosen

4 Of My Favorite Foods

-sinigang sa bayabas - according to some this smells like an armpit

-chocolates - in a form of cake, cookies, pies, drinks...or pure

-my mom's version of dinuguan - she does not use vinegar but sampaloc leaves

-me or mom's adobong sitaw

Places I’d Rather Be Right Now

-in my bed sleeping -

-at home watching a korean vcd series

-at the spa having a massage

-under water --scuba diving

4 Bloggers I Am Tagging

-im not gonna tag anybody coz i think im the last one to do this.. :)

approaching 33

2006-02-10T11:28:00.000+08:00

in a few more days the inevitable will happen again...its not like i can postpone it...and im not sure that i want to...but as D day approach i became more and more pensive.. i find myself doing stuff, i dont normally do... mostly stuff related to aesthetics, relaxation and hedonistic pleasures (get your minds off the sewer...i dont mean "that thing") ... simple things like having my first facial treatment (ouch!)...hair treatments....and indulging in whole body massages ( i tried the volcanic one and oh my!...was it worth it). i often find myself looking at the mirror... counting wrinkles...looking for gray hairs....and it makes me wonder if unconciously im really scared to death to grow old?

...nah..i guess what im really scared of is growing old and not living my life to the fullest...waking up one day only to figure out my life has passed me by with nothing to show for it but a few wrinkles...

...hey leah cheer up! (am i really having a conversation with myself here??)....with the average life span of our family ranging from 80-94 yrs (which has something to do with the size of our ears) ..i still have (carry one time 2+1 raised to the nth) 50++ more years to live...isnt it great!

but more of the stats....i choose not to be sad, not to be sorry and not to look back....ill just live each day as if it's my last ...

..argh! enough talk about birthdays....lets talk about the day that comes before my bday......and thats...valentines day....sigh...that's another day worthy of another lengthy blog post.... it reminds me of a line in the movie "rumour has it" that goes...."im not saying.. i can't live without you, ...because i can... i just don't want to" .... my life is the opposite.... "im not saying.. i can live without you,....because i can't....i just want to".

end of 2005 to january 31, 2006 update

2006-02-06T12:19:00.000+08:00

my best friend is complaining that i havent been updating my blog recently.. so here i am back ..and trying to cram 6 weeks in one post before my lunch break ends.

lets see where do i start..

christmas in nueva ecija with family

my cousins, my mom, aunt and nieces

this is me suffering from indigestion for eating too much

dec 26'2005 at burgoo, gateway with mean and leng
...my dear dear friends from college

tec's christmas party and morens despedida at avenetto g4

after the party me and moren while waiting for a cab along makati avenue

new year's eve in sikatuna village with my aunts and cousins

playing binggo outside while waiting for midnight

this is supposed to be a sexy pose...but it turned out like this..

12 midnight!

family bonding in tagayta to celebrate lally's birthday - jan 7'06
my family at josephine's tagaytay...

people's park in the sky

my good friend raymund will be in new mexico for 3 months...and this is his despedida party -- jan 12'06

this means no free cigarettes for 3 months..

chinese new year in binondo with mom and sis
dragon dance

eating lunch at wai ying..

whew...i think that sums everything up...

no ive got to go back to work...

TEC's attempt of a christmas party but only the 4 of us showed up

2005-12-29T13:37:00.000+08:00

instead of parlor games we decided to have a pictorial...armed with joy's new 7mpx digicam and my delapidated one...we went for the "year end photo shoot of the season" .. :)

the view from radison's balcony...simply breathtaking...its good none of us are afrain of heights

after the gift giving....ofcourse is the gift wearing...it makes me wanna sing "oh baby baby baby .."

more group pics at the veranda..

at the lobby under the christmas tree

me and the view

coffee break

2005-12-23T09:57:00.000+08:00

this december is one of the busiest month(workwise)..at least for our department...while everyone is taking the yearly vacation and preparing for the holidays, were soo busy with audit, bidding, recons, planning, forecasting...etc etc...

but in the midst of this busy schedule we took time off and went to starbucks tagaytay

look at us, laughing our hearths out in this picture...except for dennis...hmm...i wonder why???

my isnt it cold in tagaytay, look at boyet he's freezing

btw...we want to thank sheilane for the treat

CFG christmas party

2005-12-21T13:02:00.000+08:00

we had our construction functional group christmas party last dec 16 in ponggo's grill, mandaragat, cavite.

while having lunch

extension party

group picture

aquaventure, mainit, bahura -- dec 13'05

2005-12-21T09:51:00.000+08:00

recently me and my diving buddies are getting more bolder in exploring new resorts in anilao. we used to go to "outrigger" all the time and although we were quite satisfied with the service, people,food and place...we've decided, to be adventurous and try other places.

last nov 28, we tried "el pinoy" beach resort, according to sources it was previously owned by gabby c., but is now being run by a korean guy which they all fondly call "tatay". its a bit far compared to outrigger and you have to pass through a rough road, and 200 step-stairs to get there. the place is so so, a bit small, with lots of people (im not sure if its just coincidence)...resort day trip fee including buffet lunch is the same at around 600++ per head. excluding boat fee, dm fee and rentals. although i always rent my bc, reg and tank, this is the first time i actually used a difficult reg. i had a hard time breathing, i can feel the resistance everytime i breathe. now i know first hand what they mean, when they say "the last resort is the resort rental". all in all i spent 2300++ including the 2 dives.

next on our resort hopping is "aquaventure" resort. comparing aquaventure and el pinoy, i personally prefer aquaventure. for one its cheaper, you have to pay 400entrance fee - consumable. you can use it to pay for your buffet lunch which is only 300 or use it to rent equipments. i especially like the shower rooms because its bigger, and if you want to have a massage, there are masseurs available for 400/hr. most of all you only have to climb a few steps to get there. all in all i spent 2600 including 2 dives, lunch and massage.

this is elbert doing is own imitation of richard gomez's bench commercial. anyway he built his very own kayak with his own hands..wow.

lunch at the aquaventure indoor dining

me and baby on the boat

hanging out at figaro tagaytay

2005-12-07T17:39:00.000+08:00

its been awhile since the 4 of us were together. maybe its because jopen just came back from australia, while me, patty and joy have no excuse except were just too busy and to far away.

yesterday, just like old times, they went out of their way to visit me here in cavite.

thanks guys for the visit, specially to jopen who drove all the way from laguna to mandaluyong to cavite - tagaytay then back to mandaluyong again, i really need that break no matter how short.

seasons of "planning sessions"

2005-12-05T12:31:00.000+08:00

oakie, eagle's ridge

layag layag, bebot - nov 28, 2005

2005-12-05T12:28:00.000+08:00

el pinoy beach resort

eagle point in between dives

the myth

2005-11-26T11:52:00.000+08:00

since the age of 10, ive always fancied myself half inlove with jacky chan, i dont think anyone can blame me.....1. he's cute, 2. he's funny, 3. he seemed nice 4. he's very good in martial arts...sigh...hey i would mary the guy anytime...as if ???

yesterday i watched his latest movie "the myth" and it was realy good. i specially liked the fight scenes, the leading lady (she's so pretty) and ofcourse jacky. ***spoiler comming up*** i dont like the ending though, and for those who know me..you know why :)

my favorite scenes:
a. when ok su danced for meng yi wearing a flowing gown with the mountain as a background.
b. when general meng yi died - i was surprised that i liked this scene at all, coz its quite gorry for my taste.
c. when jack jumped off the falls - maybe because this reminds me so much of doing back rolls whenever i go scuba diving...although what he did was much much difficult
d. fight scene on top of a very sticky machine floor - hilarious, typical jacky chan signature fight scenes.
e. when jack fist saw the floating palace/castle

in this movie, jack lives on a ship which he converted to a house. this ship is anchored in hongkong near this landmark.

leslie's tagaytay, nov 15'05

2005-11-16T07:43:00.000+08:00

good food, good company, good view :)

the taal volcano which i'll never ever get tired of looking...

trivia : did you know i was conceived in tagaytay? its true, i was born Feb 15 which was 9 months from my mom and dads may 28 wedding the previous year and they had their honeymoon in tagaytay.

cms and pcg guys

i dont know what were celebrating...i think its boyets post birthday celebration cum shellane's welcome party

the gels, thien, shellane and me

bahura, batok and beatrize

2005-11-09T16:40:00.000+08:00

i went diving again last Oct 29, and this time we visited 3 dive sites that starts with the letter B.

we started out with "bahura" - this is one of the nicest dive site in anilao. one thing i noticed about the sea scape is the color....everything is either violet, lavander or purple...the corals, the plants, the sea floor... i dont know if its just the lights playing with the sea effect, but every single thing out there is violet inspired.

our maximum depth is 106ft, the water is very cold, and there's mild to moderate current everywhere...we have to crawl near the flr most of the time...our exit and safety stop was quite exciting...we were holding on to each other's bc, twirling round and round in "blue water"..it was quite scary.

our next dive is at "batok" all the way to "beatrize" - our max depth is 80ft, the water is cold as usual. one thing i remember clearly about this dive are the fishes. i saw a school of small identical fishes swimming around me in an identical motion...every 15 seconds they would do a sudden turn and they do it all at the exact same time...it was adorable.

and now for the pictures:

this is mike (our dm) teaching baby (boyet's wife) how to dive, while boyet watch on the sidelines

we passed a cute island along the way ..and when i asked what its called ..they said "sombrero island" ..hmm.. how appropriate

this is me underneath all that sunscreen, taken by my official photographer

me again at the outrigger deck taken by my official photographer

..and this is my official photographer, CJ (boyet's kid)...in one of his inquisitive moments he asked me if i have children. i said "no, im not even married yet", he said, i should get married and have children...imagine that! a 6 year old giving me advice...on my love life...:)

2005 All Saints Day

2005-11-07T11:19:00.000+08:00

we spent last all saints day the way we've always spent it... at the cemetery, with friends, relatives...unfortunately this year, i had to leave early because nov 2 is not a holiday and i have to go back to work.

the traffic is starting to build up

my titas and cousins

me and andrew

korean inspired celebration

2005-10-20T12:50:00.000+08:00

last Friday, me and my friends decided we'll do a korean inspired celebration for tina's despedida and rica's birthday party.

we started out having dinner at "san sung" restaurant in makati ave. It’s a cozy korean restaurant near the makati "red district". The owner (I was just guessing she's the owner), is very warm and friendly even though she cant talk much english or filipino….although we did catch a few "anyongaseo…and kasanghamnida". She's also very generous and gave us so many free "side dishes"....at the end we were begging her to just give the food to the other customers because were just too full.

Its my first time to eat korean food except for "kimchi" but I found myself liking the 'sweet-garlicy-chilly', taste very much. We had tofu soup, steamed egg, hot squid, fried sweet pork (which you have to eat with lettuce and bean paste…I think), rice and lots and lots of side dishes.

As expected most of the customers that night were koreans, so our group was like the thorn among the roses, but ironically we're the noisiest bunch…imagine 12 giggling girls all talking at the same time….what a riot…but we were so unaffected, that one of the waitress asked us to lower down our voice because the other tables were complaining. Ha ha ha whats new?

After dinner we decided to go to a korean videoke place called "dontelmama" , don’t ask me about the name because were out of our wits trying to figure it out. We rented a room for 1000pesos an hour(but we got a 20% discount…how? Secret…:)) the room was great, It's so big we can dance jump or run around if we like, there's a private cr (but they only have urinals no toilet bowl), a huge sofa that can probably seat 15 people, 9 tv screens stacked like a video wall, disco lights, mike stands (if you're in a concert mood) and my favorite tamborines. We sang korean songs (uchi has her own songbook with romanized lyrics) and english songs (I can still hear papa don’t preach on my head until now), we danced (pbb dance steps), we laughed, we joked around, and we partied until morn.

It was a grand time... tina already left for the US…"tina enjoy your stay there and see you in 2 months"…rica's birthday is over…"happy birthday rica, wish you all the best" ... but I will never forget that "korean night"…..guys, guys... lets do it again soon :)

mainit and mainit school

2005-10-07T11:32:00.000+08:00

after only a week, me and my friends went diving again last sunday, 2 Oct 2005. i guess nitrox has an addictive component and we cant get enough of it...we just had to enhale it again and again...LOL!

this time we visited the dive sites "mainit", and "mainit school"...you're probably wondering about the "school"...it was named that way because there's an elementary school at the shore opposite the dive site...the "mainit" i cant expalin because the water felt really cold, it was chilling down there...its ironic.

depth is 106ft...its my first time to reach this depth, i didnt feel anything out of the ordinary though. i saw a shark...but i didnt know it at that time, for me it was just a huge fish..i even thought it was a baracuda...but when we surfaced i asked mike...'what was that fish you were pointing to me earlier?' ...he said "thats a shark"...and i said something like "ngii...a yon ba yung pating?" i guess i wasnt born with "fish sense".

my skills are improving specially my bouyancy, that's what everybody was saying so it must be safe to believe them.

i love the sea but i hate the sun....so here i am sitting in the boat shed between dives...it might be hard to recognize me with all the sunblock on my face, i looked like a ghost...

since its not soo hot..ive decided to go and play with cj...plus i have to do something in the water..guess??

after 2 dives...i looked so tired..i can stay in that chair for days

view at the deck of outrigger resort...i love this view

i wish i have an underwater camera...calling my fairy grand mother..yooohooo!

just another update on my "star wars" series

2005-10-05T17:13:00.000+08:00

i was talking to the jedi on the phone earlier and you know what he told me? naging kami daw in the past... i told him HUUWAT??? DEFINITELY NOT!! but still he kept on insisting that we used to have a special romantic relationship.

...so i told him "ok just for arguments sake that we really had a relationship...have we ever kissed? held hands? or touched?"

...after a long pause..he said "nope" but added "its because you had a boyfriend at that time and you dont want to be unfaithfull"

...again "HUWATT??" (i can feel my voice raising and my blood boiling at this point...hope the next cubicle didnt hear me) talk about wild imaginations.

...so i told him..."how can you even think we had a relationship and for the record and just so you know, we will never have one now or in the future"

...he said "thats brutally frank of you"...well i had to do it the guy didnt give me any choice...there's a limit for my being nice.

lessons learned : be careful how you act around guys, some of them can have really sick minds.

kilig

2005-10-03T11:55:00.000+08:00

its been along long time since ive felt this "kilig" feeling...

im glad i was wrong...and that my heart has not turned to stone...it just needs a very special person to make it work again... too bad he cant be "the one"... but i wanted to thank him just the same, for making me realize that im still a normal.

blind item

2005-09-27T18:10:00.000+08:00

have you ever had an experience where people are telling you that "this certain guy really likes you" ...but you kept on insisting its not true, and youre just friends.. blah blah blah....then..something happened to prove that its really true..and that he really likes you "that" way.

....now you see everything that he did in a new light with motives and vested interest... and its annoying the heck out of you...

haay...after all this time, why now? ...i just realized that maybe i was denying it too much, because i dont want it to be true...

i think my heart has turned to stone...

sounds like a blind item? ... hmmm...

where have i been this past few weeks

2005-09-19T17:03:00.000+08:00

i havent been posting for the past few weeks, because i was so busy with work, deadlines, trainings, emails, the usual...been going home late almost everyday. but still i was able to squeeze in some play time..

sept 6 - we had lunch in leslie's tagaytay with my office mates to welcome dennis our versapro trainor from the US. he's half korean and half filipino and speaks tagalog and korean fluently. i was always pestering him about korean stuff, like how do you say "i miss you in korean"..etc etc....so he gave me korean language cds to shut me up..thanks dennis.

sept 15 - we had lunch again in leslies tagaytay, this time with marsha, gopee and dennis again

Sept 17 am - is world coastal clean up day..boyet and i went diving with marsh, dennis and leo in anilao. it was their first diving experience and they love it.

Sept 17 pm - we had dinner at a japanese restaurant in g4, i forgot the name..kimpura or something similar..where they cook the food in front of you..the food's ok, but relatively expensive.

now im back to work...busy busy as usual...

jopen came... and jopen went

2005-09-05T12:02:00.000+08:00

jopen was here last last friday...stayed for a few days and went back again to australia last saturday...but before she left we had a small party at prince plaza, makati, last thursday night.

what do you expect when 13 girls get together? as always... a riot... combination of fun, food, laughter, shierks, stories, secrets, pictures...and speaking of pictures...

hai "yong yuan fsi" ma?

...jopen we miss you already...see you in three months.

Must love dogs

2005-08-29T21:35:00.000+08:00

im the type of person who likes watching movies a lot, i make it a point to watch at least 1 movie a week, and ill do it even if i have to go to the movie house alone. (ive actually mastered the art of watching movies on my own, ive been doing it since i was in college).

last friday night i watched the movie "must love dogs" ..it was a typical love story movie but the story line is close to my heart...its a story of a girl and a guy recovering from a divorce...moving on, dating and eventually falling in love again.

i enjoyed the movie, i like john c, and i love the dogs..i dont know what breeds they were, but they're adorable

i also like the soundtrack ...specially the opening song....

for more lyrics go to : http://www.stlyrics.com/m/mustlovedogs.htm

Aug 27'05 dive: darilaut and sepoc wall

2005-08-29T12:33:00.000+08:00

went diving again last weekend, still in analio but this time we visited the darilaot ang sepok wall dive sites. nobody has an underwater camera so im posting land pictures instead taken at sepok island.

the usual group... with aj, allan's son..he's the youngest diver i know..i think he's only 10...wow!

with my scuba batchmates under a tree...how cozy...we didnt know we have to pay for sitting in this bench...and we didnt bring any money so we gave them coke in cans instead.

the beach..one thing i like whenever we go diving are the places we visitin between dives...so peaceful..almost untouched..

finally my underwater pixs

2005-08-24T16:28:00.000+08:00

taken last aug 6, 2005 in gamao, bonito island and mainit, anilao, batangas

i look much bloated underwater...but who cares...ha ha ha

parang wala lang...pero naka pose pa din

me and teacher allan who's also my buddy for that dive

ang mga isda...dont ask me their names...coz i dont know...

wish i have an underwater camera..sigh..
all pictures courtesy of janet, thanks so much janet.

9 Waves - Aug 20

2005-08-22T18:28:00.000+08:00

it almost didnt push through..no preparation, no reservation, no nothing, but i guess some plans are just meant to be despite the odds.

FAQ 1: 9 waves? i thought its called 8 waves? yes there is a resort called 8 waves in san rafael, bulacan.. but we didnt go there. we went to 9 waves resort in san mateo rizal. its a 20-30 minute drive from our house in project 2, qc via fairview.

FAQ 2: why is it called 9 waves? 9 refers to the no/type of artificial waves that the resort can generate. so 8 means 8 types and 9 means 9 types and so on.. the waves occur every 40-45 min interval and last for 15-20 minutes.

FAQ 3: how much is the entrance fee? 225-250 per head, cottages and huts excluded and priced at 350 up. food and drinks are allowed except softdrinks and liquor. there are 3 pools including the big one with the artificial wave.

all in all it was ok, specially the wave part...i wasnt able to take pictures of the view because it was dark and my camera is not that hitech. we stayed there from 8pm to 1am.

taken at the open cottage :

me and evita at the pool:

the nerve!

2005-08-19T08:17:00.000+08:00

the jedi is asking me to go to Dubai with him....as if i would...i told him no because i like it here...haler...im even having second thoughts on whether i should meet him or not, and just the thought of going with him into another country to live there with him knowing where i am day in day out... is scary....he just doesnt get it....argh!

return of the jedi

2005-08-15T17:12:00.000+08:00

someone from my past is back...someone i havent heard from in awhile is here...doing the usual rounds, calling, asking to see me.

... should i go or not? do i want to go or not?

... maybe it would be fun...i used to enjoy hangging out with him in the past, until he turned too irritating and annoying for his own good.

... did he change or did i? i never really looked back to analyze what went wrong between us. one day i woke up thinking i dont wanna be friends with him anymore.

... should i go or not? i still dont know.

... such a simple decision and i cant even decide....

... he called again....waahhh...i still dont know :)

If You Forget Me - Pablo Nerudo

2005-08-12T12:06:00.000+08:00

I want you to know one thing.

You know how this is:
if I look at the crystal moon,
at the red branch of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch near the fire the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners
that passes through my life,
and you decide to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land.

But
if each day,
each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine.

--thanks to a friend for introducing me to this poem,

totoy salamat sa dos :)

Aug 9

2005-08-10T12:04:00.000+08:00

aug 9 used to be a very important date to me, even more important than my birthday. i can fondly remember the excitement i would feel every year whenever this day is approaching.

today its just a date, just another day on my calendar nothing more nothing less... nothing is permanent in this world...seasons change, people change, feelings change....if we let it, if we allow it, if we make it.

i guess im not making sense, only those who really know me would truly understand...sigh...

Diving in the middle of the storm

2005-08-08T07:42:00.000+08:00

It was raining continuously last Friday night and were worried about the scheduled day-trip dive the next day….we were thinking is it really ok to dive in this weather? is it safe? How's the water visibility? Are we going to see anything interesting? We consulted our teacher, Allan and he said…its fine, its only drizzling in Batangas and he assured us that diving is a year round activity. We'll he's the expert, so we trusted his judgment, and headed off to Batangas in the middle of a raging storm.

We arrived at the resort at around 9am, it was raining, it was dark, the sea is far from calm…..but allan's firs words were…."don’t worry we wont dive here…well go to the other side of the island, where the water is calm"…we said ok…whatever. We immediately changed into dive gear after putting our bags down, then boyet, janet and I hopped into allan's starex to go to the other side of the island. Being the "pasaway" me …I kept on asking him.. "where's the rest of our gear, bcd,tanks, weights? why do we have to travel by land? Where's our boat?" ..he answered me back…"mam remember you’re sea sick, I don’t think you can handle the boat ride in this weather"…."ahhh…ok"…I mumbled…closed my mouth for awhile then continued pestering him with endless questions like…"is it ok to dive in this weather? Wont people think its crazy if we dive while its raining so hard? Are you going to make me perform water skills this time?"..and i went on and on…and he just patiently answered me....while were waiting for the boat to meet us on the other side of the island. Its really strange but the water there is so calm… I guess you could say "the sea moves in mysterious ways".

From there, we traveled by boat for 30mins to the first dive site, called Gamao, in Bonito island. This is my first fun dive after graduation and I really enjoyed it. First I don’t have to do any water skills (yehey no mask removal!) I just have to concentrate on having fun, so that's what I did. We entered the water by doing back rolls, by this time I did it without effort. I had a hard time sinking because my wet suit is dry, so I had to add additional weights just to sink. Our max depth is 80feet, which is my deepest dive so far. The water is so clear you can see way way below, up to the bottomless pit of the sea, its like being suspended on a cliff…..just like flying…I cant explain the feeling, all I know is it felt great. I saw different fishes, huge blue starfishes, a green eel, … but I love the seascape more than the fishes…there were flowers everywhere in different colors, corals swaying with the water, plants…its simply breathtaking. I fell in love with bonito island right then and there, its my best dive ever.

In between dives, we visited an island near bubbles which is famous for their hot springs. We saw other divers on the island, most of them are foreigners, I think koreans and japanese. Some were friendly enough to say hi, others are just plain shy. I saw a hot spring around 1.5m in diameter and half a meter in depth. The water is boiling and the place smells like sulfur. They said we can actually boil an egg in it. Janet, one of the divers im with, said not to sit down near the spring because if we do, they'll charge us 50 bucks. So we just looked around for a few minutes and left.

Our second dive is in a place called "mainit"…its not hot, in fact it’s the fist time I felt really cold underwater…..we entered the water the same way, and we descended thru a line….underwater we encountered a drift current and just went with the flow for awhile..…I saw a scarry looking fish called barracuda … i managed to shierk underwater when allan pointed it out to me, it has its mouth open as if waiting for a prey. The other people were with saw a shark... I didn’t…maybe because the shark know's im scarred of him. Boyet there's nothing to fear because its not big enough to swallow me. I was the first to go low on air so I shared allan's air when my gauge showed 500psi. I don’t know how they do it but when my air is 1500 allan's air is still full. He was telling me to practice deep breathing. At the end of the dive we encountered another current, but this time its against us so I had a hard time swimming. we ascended thru a line. I was gasping for air when I reached the surface. Allan had to tow me near the boat, I think someone removed my bcd because I just don’t have the energy to do it. Maybe because its almost 3pm and my stomach is looking for lunch. It was raining so hard during the boat ride back, I cant even open my eyes because the water is getting into my contacts.

We were back at the resort at around 330pm, we were wet, tired and oh so hungry. I don’t even had the energy to change and went directly to the dining table…and ate away all the calories I lost during the dive.

One of the best part about this dive is we had our pictures taken underwater care of janet's camera. I don’t know how the pictures will turn out but it was really funny posing underwater. Will post it as soon as I have it.

free dinner at yellow cab tagaytay

2005-07-28T12:25:00.000+08:00

last night we had a free dinner at yellow cab tagaytay courtesy of our boss. I dont know exactly what were celebrating.. maybe its his new car, or his promotion, hmm.. it could also be an advance birthday celebration...whatever..im not very particular as long as its free. thanks boyet!

hongkong day trip - july 16' 2005

2005-07-18T19:14:00.000+08:00

avenue of the stars :

the peak :

view of hongkong taken from 'star ferry'

pudong/shanghai july 12 to15' 2005

2005-07-18T19:13:00.000+08:00

im just too buzy to write something...for the meantime ill just post my pictures and edit them later. :)

nanjing road - one of the busiest street in shanghai:

sundial in pudong:

a friend say's this is a museum or something:

tv tower:

the bund:

yu garden:

team building dinner:

hidden talents

2005-06-30T12:02:00.000+08:00

Last night, I was invited by a friend (van) to watch their acoustic performance at frio mix, Dasmarinas. ... she’s the girl I work with day in, day out and I didn’t even know she can sing….talk about hidden talents….whew! It made me stop and think if I have any hidden talents of my own…hmmm…

a. I could probably sing a tune …im far from being a “diva” …just the average “videoke” kind of singing, and as long as there’s no extremely high or low note, then I guess I’d be fine.
b. I could cook… according to some people my “sinigang” is really good. I could also bake …cakes, pasta…the works.
c. I can dance…cha cha, boogie, swing…and the usual “maskipops” (maskipapano)…I just don’t know if im graceful enough.
d. I can play the piano…”can” is the operative word here… I only know one piano piece ‘somewhere in time’…which I haven’t played in ages
e. I can braid my own hair, cut my own bangs, put my own nail polish,
f. I’m ambidextrous
g. I’m good in math…well this was based on my math grades back in hs, college and ms.
h. I do everything fast…I work fast, I eat fast, I do everything fast
i. Im kinda artistic…I can draw and I can take good pictures
j. I can speak and understand mandarin…. just barely enough to survive and not die in a place where nobody speaks english.

..ok…so I do have a few…but none im really good at…frown, faraway look, sigh… what the heck!…I refuse to be sad…I wonder if staying happy is a talent? If yes, then that’s probably one thing im really good at…ha ha ha

Our frio mix pics :

check-out dive, anilao, batangas

2005-06-27T18:06:00.000+08:00

Day 1: June 25, 2005

Im riding with boyet and his family (baby and cj) to the resort. We met at around 730am infront of robinson’s pala pala…we got a little lost somewhere between bauan and anilao…but we eventually found the correct way and arrived at our destination, “outrigger resort, anilao, batangas” at around 10am.

..after checking in, our scuba teacher, allan, asked us to relax a little before our first dive.

Dive 1:
At 11am that same morning, I had a taste of my first "open water" scuba experience and oh boy was it great! Allan said we'll start with a "fun dive", no skills, no worries, just relax and have fun.

the “outrigger house reef” is near the shore, so we entered the water by walking from the shallow portion until we reach around 40ft depth. since putting on my wet suit takes so much energy, i was really tired when I reached the water. I had to stop and rest for awhile…our dive master, mike was worried, he thought I was running out of air…I told him "nope im just tired" (using a sign language not found in any scuba manual...but luckily he understood)…he reached for my arm and towed me underwater...so i wont get left behind by the group. I saw the reef, fishes of different sizes and colors,... it was quite an experience.

We surfaced before 12noon. Im carrying 16lbs of weights on my waist (excluding bcd and reg), that's why im just too tired to swim back to the shore....then too late i found out that my BCD is not working...so I had to ask our FDM, Ed to manually inflate it to gain bouyancy. Mike again towed me the shore. When I reached the shore I did the unexpected and threw up all over …I see my breakfast slowly being washed away from the shore.

Im scared to eat lunch, but mike said I had to try, because we still have another dive in the afternoon and I need all the energy I can get. “loss of apetite” is alien for someone who loves food as much as I do…but on that day…I just forced the food down my throat. After lunch the rest of the gang (rexy, ed, boyet, and Benjie) went back to our rooms to rest until our next dive.

Dive 2:
At 330 pm we rode a boat to our next dive destination “dive and trek”. When we reached the site… gosh my head was spinning like crazy…talk about being “sea sick”… before that I didn’t know sea sickeness actually exist. Argh…mike was asking are you ok? I just mumbled 2 words…”im dizzy”…and all hell broke loose… allan said…"everybody put your gear we have to get leah in the water"…I vaguely remember putting on my gear, weights, bcd, mask, snorkel, fins…then they asked me to sit at the side of the boat…then they said “do a back roll”…back roll??? “stop…wait..how do I do a back roll??”...they said “just simply roll back out of the boat”…”what???…could you repeat that”….ha ha ha..maybe its because im so dizzy so I just followed the instruction ..normally I woudn’t be this amenable… So backroll it is..The minute I hit the water..i sunk around a foot, then I surfaced back...hmm…backroll wasn’t so bad after all… then I saw allan’s face in front of me signaling we should all go down…I positioned myself and slowly sank. Once I reached the bottom…all dizziness disappeared… the real thing is more beautiful than any picture…we saw giant clams, stone fish, corals, sea cucumber…and all sorts of fishes, big, small, blue, orange, yellow…etc..etc..…wow its breathtaking.

Since this is a check out dive, we’re expected to do water skills, cramp removal, pin pivot, partial mask clearing, full mask clearing (I hate this…at first I told my teacher no….ha ha ha..im such a bad student…I told him im not being disrespectful…im just scared to do it…har har har…imagine us having an argument at the bottom of the ocean…exactly the same one we had at the bottom of the pool), throwing your regulator out of your mouth, finding it and putting it back.

We swam underwater for awhile, then after 30 minutes we had to go up coz were all low on air. Once I hit the surface from below..my dizziness came back in full force…I went up …actually, I think I crawled to the boat…upon reaching it, I saw someone throwing up, …..i kneeled and threw up beside him… the only sound that you’ll hear is the lapping of the waves and alternate gwarks and argkhs coming from me and benjie…ha ha ha… Now I know why diving is good for someone who’s trying to loose weight…

We went back to the resort around 6pm….we had dinner and coffee, while the advanced divers went out to go night diving(were not allowed yet coz were not yet certified)..…when they returned after 2 hours, we had a chat about tomorrow activity, while watching terminator 3 on tv . we retired at around 1130 pm.

Day 2: June 26, 2005

Dive 3:
Our third dive is scheduled at 8am, but we actually started at 8:30am. Actually, I was up at 6am because I wanted to eat breakfast 2 hours before the actual dive….i was hoping my stomach would at least be able to digest the food before we dive. Too bad breakfast wasn’t served until 7am…..im worried sick that history would repeat itself, and I would throw up again, but mike, pulled a few strings to get me bonamine so I wont feel dizzy…guaranteed "hilo free" …har har..

Dive destination: "twin rocks"… we reached the dive site at around 900am…..allan said we have to do skills again...…first skill: putting of gear (bcd, weights) while in the water… I was the first to get off the boat (mind you…it took a lot of convincing from allan, boyet and mike before i actually jumped..they repeatedly reassured me that I won’t sink, and drown myself to death). Putting my gear on water is a strenuous activity...almost comparable to wrestling ha ha ha…with mike and dick assisting me left and right…i still had a hard time…I screamed, kicked and drank gallons of sea water in the process, but in the end I was able to do it. This dive is much deeper than the previous 2, I think we reached 50-60 ft depth. I saw a sunken barge, and scary looking fishes. We fed the fish with bread, and they were so hungry some even bit our fingers, thinking it’s still part of the bread. It was quite scary…I was thinking, what if they eat me too…har har har…. After that, allan asked us to do the other skills, like…..mask removal underwater, and controlled emergency swimming ascent, CESA…We surfaced after 30 minutes….and headed off to a nearby island, to practice our compass skills.

Dive 4:
This is our last dive for the weekend, destination: “cathedral”.

Our dive started at around 11am…we did a back roll (again), but this time, I was able to do it with ease…..I think.. Depth is 60 ft. At one point, I thought there was something wrong with my finning skills, because ive been kicking and kicking, but still I continue to remain stationary…they said it was because we were caught by an underwater current…so.. that marks my first "current encounter"... it was scary and tiring. We did some compass reading skills and hovering underwater…..which I sucked at btw, that’s why I have to take extra make up classes to perfect my skills. Im trying to protest.. so I told my teacher…"my compass skills sucked coz im using a compass im not familiar with"…he just laughed and said…no you still have to take the make up class…ha ha ha you cant say I didn’t try. I always want to live up to my reputation as the ”pasaway” student all the way through.

We surfaced before twelve and headed back to the resort….i was feeling a little dizzy but I didn’t throw up…I slept under someone’s fin on the way back to the resort. We cleaned ourselves and our gears (allan said we have to do it this time, its part of the training).

Lunch was a fun filled affair, allan gave our temporary license, (yahoo!) we filled up our diver’s log book and had it stamped and signed by our dive masters. We exchange funny stories about our experiences underwater, and when and where do we plan to dive next. We’re thinking of going to Puerto gallera by end of july or early august. I was so tired...i couldn’t eat…I swallowed a few mouth fulls, just for the sake of eating.

We left the resort at around 330pm…then boyet took me home. I reached the house at 6pm….i just had time to hang my wet stuff, then I dozed off…the next thing I know it was 6 in the morning…june 27….time to go back to reality…. rise and shine and go to work.

Argh..i ache all over….any movement is painful…even swallowing is painful, I still have no appetite… I miss diving…I’m already looking forward to my next diving adventure.

a year ago

2005-06-22T07:24:00.000+08:00

yesterday i turned a year at my job....hmmm...time really flies when youre having fun...

a lot has happened to me in just 1 year..to name a few...a year ago...:

...i've never been out of the phils....but since then ive been to china twice...going on 3 this july
...im in a relationship, thinking that it would never end, thingking this is the person i would grow old with....now im not...ive let go...ive moved on
...i've never swam out of my depth....now not only have i swam out of my depth im even taking scuba lessons
...im 160lbs ...now i hitting 180 on the scale...20lbs in a year...argh..that is so sad
...i dont even know who jung ji hoon is....now i even know who so ji sub, jo in sung, lee dong gun, kim sung su is...
...my 2 aunt grand mothers are still alive....now they're not
...i spend all my time in metro manila....now im only there during weekends...coz i spend weekdays in cavite because of work

all that in a year...... yeah... i wonder what the next year would bring????

Yahoo! i passed my scuba WRITTEN exam!

2005-06-17T12:11:00.000+08:00

yeah before you ask...there is such a thing as written exam when studying scuba diving. In fact, we have 4 quizzes and 1 final exam....take note...there is computation involved...you have to compute how deep and how long you should dive and how long you're supposed to rest in between dives and stuff...pretty confusing if you ask me... i totally lost my math wiz ability.

now my next hurdle is the practical open water check out dive..which will happen next weekend in anilao...haaay i was never a sporty person, but you could say im adventurous...ha ha ha i hope i dont damage any coral reef ..or cause harm to marine life.....that would be sooo bad.... im excited and scared at the same time... anyway as long as my mask is in place and my regulator is working...i guess i can survive...

i wonder what sport i should try next ? how about figure skating? hmmm...gosh...the thought of me in that cute little skirt just makes me laugh....har har har :)

Lessons from the movie 'a lot like love'

2005-06-16T10:58:00.000+08:00

You'll never know who you'll end up with…it could be some guy you had sex on the plane years ago or it could have been someone even worse.
Sometimes you think you're in love but actually you're not.
Some men are really workaholic…they would choose their career over you…but it doesn’t mean they love you less.
Sometimes it hurts when you see your x happy with someone else, but it doesn’t mean you're still in love with him.
You're pretty, you're smart, your sexy…whatever…but you can still get dumped…for the simple reason that some guys are just jerks.

The movie is really good, I had a few laughs….but haler ..what's the possibility that a love story like that would happen in real life? …. hmmm..Get real!

talents and dreams charity event

2005-06-14T09:24:00.000+08:00

zhu ni sheng ri kuai le!

2005-06-09T07:19:00.000+08:00

zhu ni sheng ri kuai le! zhu ni sheng ri kuai le! zhu ni sheng ri kuai......... le! zhu ni sheng ri kuai le!

zheng ri kuai le zai zai!

bz saturday

2005-06-06T12:37:00.000+08:00

my mom had an attack of her famous spur of the moment decisions and decided to spend the weekend with us here in qc ...im not complaining in fact i love having her with us..the house is more organized, the place is spic and span...not to mention the food is great... my mom was the type of person who has no hang ups....she's funny, honest and frank...she doesnt worry about things she cannot change....she likes to go out...she loves to shop because she's OC when it comes to color coordinating her outfits (rule no1: shoes and bags must always match)...

anyway..we started the day eating breakfast at "something fishy" ..a resto somewhere in eastwood...for only 80bucks you can have a hearthy buffet breakfast...highly recommendable...not only because its affordable but the food is also good.

next stop is eastridge fiesta resort in angono, rizal ..we didnt bring our swimming gear so after pretending to do an occular inspection of the place, and having our picture taken, we thank the guards and left...har har..

next stop..fiesta casino inside eastridge also....its a newly open casino in the middle of nowhere...i dont know if its a good casino coz its my first time to be in one. we're just supposed to try their buffet meal...but it turned out they dont serve lunch but only dinner. too bad i cant take pictures because...they said its not allowed...i wonder why...hmm

next stop...antipolo church....we prayed awhile then bought casuy nuts and sinigwelas.

next stop...greenhills shopping center...finally i was able to buy the b&b cologne i was looking for...

finally we went home at around 8pm...it was raining so hard and the traffic was really bad..

what's making me happy?

2005-06-02T18:08:00.000+08:00

im just happy these past few days...i really dont know why?? i may be stressed out with work, i may worry constantly about my BC (biological clock), i have no lovelife to speak off...but strangely enough im happy...yahoo!!! maybe its a combination of the ff that's making me smile all the time.

a. friends - tec friends, net friends,officemates...

b. family - they're all in excellent health

c. scuba - i think im doing pretty well....finally i can swim horizontally under water...Alien! and i can finish an entire pool session without swallowing a drop of pool water...ewww

d. bodyshop - it simply lifts me up...har har...

e. bi - his smile, his songs, his moves...ahhh...what more could a girl ask for...

f. work - believe it or not

Happiness is a decision, we always have a choice!

jopen's despedida

2005-05-30T13:04:00.000+08:00

taken last friday...or was it early saturday already... at starbucks 6750

after starbucks we transfered to solas...a bar somewhere in timog qc. what's a despedida without alcohol..har har...

One rainy weekend

2005-05-23T13:53:00.000+08:00

a picture of me and my friends going gaga over jung ji hoon..taken last may 22 (wrong date on my camera)

The keys to your heart

2005-05-23T12:35:00.000+08:00

because tina dared me, i took the test...and it turned out to be so true.. thanks tina

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to those who are unbridled, untrammeled, and free

In love, you feel the most alive when things are straight-forward, and you're told that you're loved

You'd like to your lover to think you are loyal and faithful... that you'll never change

You would be forced to break up with someone who was emotional, moody, and difficult to please

Your ideal relationship is open. Both of you can talk about everything... no secrets

Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment

You think of marriage as something that will confine you. You are afraid of marriage

In this moment, you think of love as something you don't need. You just feel like flirting around and playing right now

Scuba.... anyone?

2005-05-18T12:46:00.000+08:00

If you asked me 2 years ago if I would be willing to try scuba diving, I would probably say…nah I don’t think so. But recently I found myself enrolling in a scuba class in scuba world, reading scuba stuff and planning scuba trips har har har.

I just need to try something different for a change, im not getting any younger and I want to live my life to the fullest…besides I wanted to take my mind off "stuff"…ok don’t ask …:)

Sino gusto sumama???

A not so comprehensive study about koreanovelas

2005-05-12T07:11:00.000+08:00

for the past two years ive watched a few koreanovelas.. The truth, hearts in bali ,save the last dance, lovers in paris, all about eve, summer scent, full house, sweet18, beautiful days, stained glass and winter sonata. I was going through the stories in my head and ive realized they have a many things in common.

Airport scene - there's always an airport scene, all the series above have thembut for me the most striking is where a girl threw the ring in the fountainI just cant remember if its in winter sonata or beautiful days...
Girl best friend with character - if you remember the girl with the orange hair in lip or sandy's best friend, or erica's curly friend in hearts in bali..well this is it.
A pesky relative who likes to spend money - who could forget vivian's uncle, or ericas brother or jamies brother.
Engagement, wedding or almost scene - carlo's almost engament party to donna and then to vivian, eugene and adrian's engagement party, the almost engament party in summer scent that didnt push through because the girl passed out, traditional wedding in sweet 18, full house.
Office romance - I have another term for this but never mindanyway ..this is where the lead actor and actress work together in one office, where romance develops and love blooms..yihee..all the serries above have this except sweet18
"Kaladkad" scene - all the lead actresses have been dragged at least once in each serries.
Shower scene - this is the part where the lead actor gets to show his stuff...need I say more???

Cant think of anything more...maybe you have ideas of your own..:)

where i spend 35% of my time

2005-05-05T19:42:00.000+08:00

this is my office desk......there's my laptop , papers all over, pens stabilo, double clips, green tea with lemon by twinings, para mi bebe cologne, pucca on a powerpuff mug, and ofcourse the finishing touch..zaizai's pic..yeah i know its cluttered but believe me i know where everything is..

i've just realized this is where i spend 35% of my time....the remaining 65% is spent:

34% sleeping

6% traveling

9% working at home while watching tv

4% malling or watching movies

3% going out with friends

3% doing household chores

1% doing religious stuff like going to mass, lighting candles or just praying

6% unaccounted

hmm...that's my life...pretty boring huh?