One Reunion I'll Never Forget

I've always been wanting to meet up with my highschool classmates/batchmates. Some of who I know and have been my friend through facebook and friendster tried to reach out and invited me to the first reunion held early this year, but I never had the guts to face them. It was maybe because of the trauma I had back in highschool. I was always like the odd man out, the unique one and the loner type. I had few friends that so few I didn't give myself a chance knowing and befriending other classmates/batchmates.
In my early years in highschool I've always been aloof and tried to perfect the art of invisibility. All I wanted to do back then is study and finish school immediately so I could go home, maybe because I wasn't used to the environment. At home, I hear neighbors screaming at the top of their lungs early in the morning, hearing ungodly words and curses. In school, you'll hear prayers each and every after subject, singing of my classmates during breaktime. At home, I do most of the housechores, at school, we concentrate on exams. It should be an enjoyable experience but for me, it was different. It's like living in two worlds at the same time.
I know at some point, some of my classmates did try to reach out, it's just me that won't take their hand and get to know them. I tried to burry my face infront of many books in the library instead of chitchating with them.
Another point I guess was our social status. Most of my classmates/batchmates are from the richest of Bulacan, some relatives of some known politician and next to kin of some known businessmen. I find it hard to enter their world as I come from a poor family with nothing to offer but simple friendship.
And after years of contemplating if I should attend a reunion if ever there will be one, I finally decided to attend this years' highschool reunion Christmas party. I must admit, it was fun, I thought at first they'll just not pay attention and would be the snobs that I have known back then but I was wrong. Some of them still know me and we're even happy I was there. Though I couldn't share stories of what happened to who and why, atleast I was there.
I finally proved to myself that I'm not that different from what they are, and now, I'm being my real self. That money is just secondary, happiness should always be my priority.
Thanks to Jeff for encouraging me to go and going with me as well. It was fun, I had fun and I'm hoping to attend the next parties/reunions that the batch will have.

New Template (cute)

Alright, got a new theme downloaded from the net, thanks to Google and Ipietoon. Finally, a non-black template that suits my next target subject, I'll be adding a new twist on my blog, aside from my marriage life experiences, travels, I'll be adding food as my subject. I've always had a thing for food, it shows in my huge figure, but I haven't been able to share it here, so I'll be adding a new post about food in the next few entries. For now, please enjoy the new template.
Also, the template still lacks some tabs so I'll try to tweak it a bit in the next few days.

Theme... Gone..

What happened to my blog theme?!?

I'll be updating and uploading a new theme tonight, hopefully.

Watch out guys. I'm still in the look though.

Any recommendations?

Mini IPhone

Last December 16 we decided to go to GH (GreenHills) to purchase Jeff's much awaited phone. Though we have some units in mind to look for, we were still hoping to find a good find, aka. great features and affordable. There was heavy traffic that day and we got to GH a little past 5 PM. We immediately searched through the stores and found several good finds but the budget is quite tight so had to find a good phone and within our target budget rate.

One seller was showing of their newly acquired MyPhone with TV, a locked phone through Smart, still within 1 year of warranty, although no box and no accessories, seller said we had to back the day after so we could get the box. I was salivating on this phone as it looks sleek and not a China phone, my primary requirement. The problem is that it's for P5K, way beyond our budget. So we head to another store.

We then saw this guy in orange and automatically offered us a mini Iphone (China) for a measly P2.8K. We checked it out, I find it really neat, although Jeff would have trouble texting (SMS) because of his huge fingers. The seller then offered him another phone, another China made but with so many features, TV, FM, camera, also a touch screen. While he's checking it out, I then forgot about the MyPhone and started salivating on the Iphone Mini, it was so cute and though I've had the N70 for years I would really want a second phone. But I was still having second thoughts, I mean it's still a China phone, we just decided to eat dinner at Brothers Burger so I could decide if I should get the phone or not. After much thinking, I finally decided to give in. Jeff decided to buy it for me.

Here are some of the pics, hopefully the phones will last longer than I expect it to be.

EchoLai Dinner Date

I'm not a huge fan of PBB Double Up, but I really enjoyed watching Melay (Melissa) and some of the housemates. Since Jeff and I have been going out quite frequent these days I failed to watch the primetime, so, just to keep myself updated, I check out youtube for the recent updates about Melissa. Lo and behold she had a date with Echo. Whoa, I'm not an Echo fan but their dinner certainly made me envious of Melissa, lol.

December Updates

I have not been able to update my blog as often as I wanted to, busy with work, busy with the season and busy with my life. I have so many things to think about, well, I'm done with Christmas shopping, dinner with Jeff's family and I thought I was near completing MJ's fixtures.

I wanted to focus more of my time saving for the future and my gift for Jeff. With the budget of minimum of 3K pesos, I wonder if the Iphone (China made) will be suitable. Think, think, think...

The dinner with Jeff's family was a blast. I may have not mentioned it ever, but I missed them. I think it has been months since I last saw his mom, brothers, SIL and nieces. The date wasn't the original plan but I guess they missed me too to have it moved on a Sunday.

Originally, I saved last Sunday to meet up with my Odesk friends, it's been exactly 1 year since we last met and I've been dying to meet them again. But sudden change of plans, I really had to attend the family dinner, so sorry friends, I'll make it up to you next time.

Also, last Sunday was Marsha's (Maricris' daughter) birthday celebration, I promised Maricris (my highschool friend) to attend the celebration, but due to the unforseen events we just had to drop by their house hours before the celebration, I hope Marsha enjoyed my gift for her.

After nearly a year of not wearing my favorite jeans, I did wear it last Sunday. It's still a little tight but thanks to my ever reliable no rice diet on dinners I survived the whole day wearing it. When I gained a lot of weight I started losing hope of wearing my jeans again and some of my tight blouses, but now, I'm excited to wear them again in the next few months (I hope).

Back in the years when the call center industry is the only source of my tight income, Christmas and New Year pays were my salvation. Now, from what our boss informed us months back, we will be given double pays for those who will be on shift on December 24-25 and December 31 and January 1. Yey!

Manny P!

After months of waiting for the much awaited fight Manny was again back in the ring to fight for Filipinos all over the world and for his 7th world title, he won!. I hope he knows how proud we are all of him and we're looking forward to a very good fight with Mayweather, let's teach his father how to keep his mouth shut.

Galing mo Manny!!!! Mabuhay Ka!

Hello Red Alert! I missed you.

After 2 and a half months, finally, my red alert is back. Just two years ago when I started noticing that my n0t-s0-normal menstrual cycle came from a monthly visit slowly dwindled to every 2 months to every 4 months.

My first visit this year was last April 20-24 (my birthday week), second visit was August 22-25. Now, I'm just so glad the wait time went down to 2 and a half months. That explains the heavy feeling I've been having for a couple of days. I kinda miss the feeling actually and I'm looking forward to a more considerably stable menstrual cycle.

Perhaps my weight gain was the culprit as I mentioned in my last blog I had stopped eating too much and started eating healthy food. A small portion of everything also helped me a lot. I'm hoping to normalize my menstrual cycle in a few months with the help of regular exercise and diet. I'm hoping this new habit would help me get pregnant, lol, I hope.

Once I get a new cam (my old one is damaged because of Ondoy), I'll post the before and after pics so I would know that it's really worth it.

Vain? Me?

After several years of forgetting myself, almost literally, I'm finally trying to go back to my old somewhat Kikay self. I'm just about close to curing my acnes, yes people, too many acnes from years of eating the wrong food, not watching my diet and too much exposure to sun's UV rays. Slowly but surely my acnes are leaving my not-so-lovely face with the help of RDL #3.

Last week I finally decided to watch what I eat and try to lose a lot of pounds, when I say a lot, I mean a lot. The last time I checked my weight before I got married, I was at 135-140 lbs, I was chubby, yes, but not obese, from my POV. That was my ideal weight considering I have big bone structure. Just months back I was at 210 lbs, it scared me to death yet took me months to finally realize that health wise it's not good for me.

You see, my side of the family has history of diabetes, an aunt of mine even got amputated because of diabetes, and even my mom has been taking medication and have been watching her diet because she's nearing the verge of having normal blood sugar. And now that I'm about to set to foot to being 30 next year I know it's gonna be difficult for me to lose these extra extra pounds pretty soon.

Apart from watching my food intake I also try to burn these extra extra fats by walking my dog every afternoon. I don't think I'm capable of jogging yet because of my weight.

Also, apart from watching my diet, I'm also beautifying myself and started taking care of my face and skin. Back in my younger days I'm not the type who'll instantly believe in TV commercials for whitening and anti aging. But come to think of it, I'm not doing it just so others would notice me, I'm doing it to make me feel good and happy. So, just last week I started cleaning my face regularly with the help of Pond's and RDL#3 and powder every so often. For my dark skin, I use Block and White whitening soap and lotion atleast twice a day.

I'm hoping to see these expected changes before Christmas and I'm hoping that I can keep this habit forever, it's not a sin being vain sometimes.

Ondoy Aftermath

Just want to share aftermath pictures of what was left of us. This was taken 3 days after Ondoy damaged our home. Flood water went to as high as chest level inside this bungalow. Good thing my father in law and Jeff went back the day after to clean the floor, it was all muddy.

We used to have 2 TVs, now the electrician was only able to resuscitate the smaller one. Good thing my ref and washing machine survived the flood and fall (we placed them both on higher ground but flood water managed to make them float). Jeff said they found them on the ground.

Our other computers in the office we're all soaking wet, I haven't checked if I can still salvage some parts, it's my schedule to check them on my day off.

My FHM magazines are all damaged, my books as well. 3 out of 5 electric fans got soaked pretty bad and took us days to finally drain the water from their motors. Our metal framed bed is now cramped with rust, we had to wipe oil to it every now and then to avoid more rusting.

We're still unsure if we can still use our sofa set, the matress is all soaked up as well. My ever lovely dining table, it's now a little out of shape, all of it's chairs floated, made me feel like being inside Titanic.

Our phone unit and DSL splitter stopped working, same as my small radio. Our gas tank and rice cooker submerged in water too. Our computer chairs and tables are now unsturdy.

These and more are the damages that caused us stress. But upon seeing other people who lost their homes and their family member's lives I feel lucky and blessed that we can still move on despite what happened.

That we have our families supporting us during the time that we needed them most and we still have our jobs to start over. How I wish I have extra money that I can give to the people in need.

With all of the things I've been thinking for more than a week now, I'm thinking moving to Bulacan is GOD's will. Attached is the video of the street where we used to live, which is just a small apartment with only 1 floor. I now feel lucky, so lucky that we've managed to save some of our stuff, probably, if we still live there, we wouldn't have had the time to save even a single thing from the house.

I'm Tired

It's been 5 days since the unforgettable typhoon. We finally went home yesterday. Nakakahiya na kasi kila mama. They were flooded too, kaya sobrang dami nilang pinapatuyong gamit and feeling ko nakakasikip na kami ni Jeff with our 2 dogs.

It was my day off yesterday and as soon as dumating yung electrician na kilala ni mama we went straight to pick up Jeff's dad na asa cousin ni Jeff sa Balubaran. On the road to Marilao bridge tanaw na agad yung mga families na gumana nalang tents sa street, nakaka awa silang tingnan lahat. Halos wala na silang natirang gamit kasi sila yung most affected because they live on the river side.

When we arrived, nagmerienda ng konti and went straight to washing our clothes na nabasa sa flood. Good thing naglinis na si Jeff and Papa the day before, I just had to start washing manually kasi wala paring kuryente.

Unfortunately, we cannot use the main wiring for a good one month, nalunod sa water ang mga sockets, kailangan daw patuyuin otherwise pwedeng magkasunog, di pa naman sa amin yung house, good luck naman. The electrician had to install a temporary source of power, 2 ilaw lang ang nakabitan at isang main socket, good enough for TV, electric fan and computer. We can't turn on our ref, nabasa rin kasi ang motor and yung transformer nya. Our washing machine is soaking wet pa when he checked, kailangan parin patuyuin, ganun din yung transformer nya.

Wala narin pala kaming TV, both TVs were wet inside, para kahit papano makapanuod kami ng news I borrowed my mom's small TV. We haven't checked our microwave oven, andun kasi sya sa dining table when we left last Saturday, alam ko inabot din sya. Good thing we have 1 computer set working, yung isa, basang basa yung AVR, mouse and keyboard, it'll take days siguro para marevive sila, kung marerevive nga.

We were left with 1 electric fan, sana di sya bumigay, thinking na 24 hours na syang ginagamit since yesterday.

After the electrician installed the temporary wirings kinailangan namin sya ihatid dito kila mama, which took us a good 1 hour sa sobrang traffic. We took our clothes na natitira, hiniram ang TV and iniuwi yung PC na dinala dito. We went straight to Puregold para mag grocery, I knew kasi lahat ng pinamili last week eh lumutang na sa tubig.

We bought almost everything we need including na yung hapunan namin for that night, pero ayaw na mag start ni MJ nung pauwi na kami. I cried, I really did.

Again, I questioned God kung bakit. I found no answers. Buti nalang at malapit lang dun yung kilala naming mekaniko, he somehow recharged the battery para lang makauwi kami, pero along the way, unti unti nawawala yung headlight, nawala na yung tail light and wala narin kahit busina, even signal lights. Nakauwi naman kami ng maayos pero inabot na kami ng 11:30PM bago nakapag hapunan.

Pag uwi, were a little worried na wala man lang kami mahigaan, buti nalang at di nabasa yung air bed namin, yun ang pinagtyagaan kong bombahan ng hangin para lang makatulog na kami sa salas. Papa sleft on a folding bed after they drank. I know they needed a drink or two.

Nagising ako kasi maliwanag na, in fact, maaraw na at 7:30AM. Naligo at nag umpisa nanaman akong maglaba, maga na ang daliri ko kakalaba, sugat na nga sya. Natapos ko ang ilang kumot at ilang damit, ng mapagod. Humiga at naghintay ng oras sa malamig na sahig kasi natanggal na ang air bed.

Pagkatapos kong mananghalian ng sardinas umalis ako agad kasi wala paring internet sa bahay at kailangan ko na mag online ng 2PM for my shift. Papalabas na ng village ang tricycle ng biglang umulan, naalala ko si Pepeng na pala ang susunod. Kinilabutan na ako, akala ko kasi delubyo part2 na.

Nakarating naman ako dito kila mama in 1 piece, hindi nga umulan dito eh, pero sa amin, pa ambon ambon na. I'm scared again, maghahanda na kami this time. Kailangan bukas ng umaga maiready na ang lahat at dito kami kila mama once dumating ang bagyo, mas madali siguro lumikas pag maraming kasama.

Pero now, I'm feeling tired than I ever did in my entire life. I'm emotionally drained, this whole event tested me financially, emotionally, mentally and even yung trust ko kay God.

I know I'm even luckier than other people, pero I can't help but think, ano nga ba ang message na ito for me or for us. Is it really climate change? God's test? Or both?

Di ko alam kung hangang saan ko pa kakayanin, I need to pay our utility bills, meralco and water bills are now waiting for us, pero our money is pretty limited for our food and other expenses.

Nahihirapan na ako and I don't know kung saan pa ako kakapit. God help us, para na akong nauupos na kandila.

We Survived Ondoy

It was one gloomy and rainy Saturday morning, roughly 3AM when I was awaken by heavy rains. I checked our Owner type jeep, the house and our dogs, they were all okay, though the sound of heavy rain made me shiver, I went back to sleep after making sure that everything's okay.

Around 6AM when I started working, Jeff, while preparing breakfast together with his father noticed that flood is slowly rising. I've seen it rise before and it subsided immediately so I didn't worry.

At 8AM, still busy working, I checked out the street again to see if the flood is going to get higher, and there I was, shocked at the very sight of the flood coming in to our garage, which never happened in the 6 months that we stayed in Bulacan.

It became a routine to check the flood if it's going to get higher, I went to the kitchen window to check the water almost every ten minutes. I also managed to put some of our things inside our cabinets and fixed our bed so it could hold other important stuff.

Around 10AM, Papa (Jeff's father) and Jeff decided to bring MJ to a higher ground, infront of another house a few streets away from ours. While away, I managed to prepare our lunch, to be sure that we'll not be starving when the flood continue to rise.

When they arrived at 11AM, they saw that flood water is indeed rising, really fast. They managed to put our washing machine up to a table, roughly my hips high. Around 12NN after taking our lunch, the flood water was nearly reaching the flooring of our house, an inch away to be exact.

Around 12:30PM, a small sign of relief shown when flood water started going down. We were already working through our different chores, at the sign of hope that we won't be flooded after all.

Came 1PM, when I noticed that our room is nearly filled with flood water, it came as a shock as I just told Jeff, "Andito na sya". He checked the room and found the water rising really fast. Then it went in to the kitchen door, then it came from the main door. I immediately stopped my work though my shift will end at 2PM, I knew something bigger is coming and I'm just keeping it to myself. I don't want Jeff to worry though.

We were still watching TV, probably hoping that it's all just our imagination, but it's real. I stood infront of our kitchen window staring outside, trying to search my brain for any option we have left. When I searched nothing, I prayed, silently praying for help.

In just about ten minutes of standing there, the water level rose from my ankle to my legs. A good 20 minutes when it reached my knees. I was so terrified, trying to get everything on higher places, we worked together and managed to get the ref on top of a sofa chair, the computers to the top of the highest cabinet we have. When I checked the office I saw two people riding a rescue boat, thinking it was already a sign that we have to move out, I hurriedly took the house keys, our important documents, took my phone, my wallet and Papa's cellphone, placed them in a plastic.

In a few minutes we were out of the house and the water is at waist level, I hurriedly took my dogs' leash to bring them with us, I know they're both terrified too and I can feel their eagerness to survive this tragedy. I also lost my slippers on our way out of the street.

Upon reaching MJ, the water was at knee level, a very unusual event, according to our neighbors. We hurriedly pushed MJ towards the main street where we know we are going to be safe, thank God for the man who helped us push MJ, he's God sent.

No place else to go, some village employees told us to go to the church but I can't leave my dogs behind. All soaking wet, we rested in the jeep and waited for help.

No one came, no one will offer anything. Jeff and I decided to go back to get some clothes to keep us warm, we knew this is gonna be a long night.

We had to fight strong currents and we held hands just to go back to the house. When we reached the house, I was again, terrified by how high the water is, outside it was at chest level, inside, it was nearly as high as my waist.

At that time all I was asking from God is to save us from this tragedy, I didn't mind our stuff, we can no longer save them, but our lives are more important.

We hurriedly took our food basket, a water container, some of our clothes with towel, a blanket and another pair of slippers. We also took our emergency lamp we had on top of my dining table. When we went out, the water rose an inch high, and it was nearly 5PM and we had to rush, we don't want to be left there finding out we couldn't get out because of the water level.

We noticed that Papa already moved MJ a street from where we left him, good thing MJ is still working though submerged in knee deep water. We were able to change our clothes around 6PM and settled inside the jeep, moving once in a while to find a higher place.

We had to settle in the middle of the main road because roughly 7PM, water from Marilao and Bocaue main road is already rushing towards the village. From where we were at, water is almost knee length. The street is packed with cars parked in the gutter, some even with families inside their vans, probably trying to save their own lives from the wrath of the flood.

Surprisingly we cannot sleep, we were checking flood level every now and then, we had no communication with anyone as both cellphones lost their charge. Our food basket is packed with noodles, something we can't prepare without our stuff in the kitchen, good thing there are "chichirya" left for us. We each had a small pack of cheese ring and gulped the only water bottle we managed to bring.

Around 3AM when the water from where we were is walkable, Jeff and Papa tried to go out of the village to get something for us to eat, upon reaching the guard house, the water was at hips level. They decided not to go out anymore as the people said, water is at chest high outside. At 5AM Papa and Jeff decided to go back home. Left with nothing to eat, dogs to take care of and just staying in the jeep, it had me think about what's going to happen to us. I wanted to cry, but no tears came out of my eyes.

We were able to eat probably around 9AM, only using plastic bags as our plate and hands as our utensils, I was then able to feed our dogs too.

Around 12 NN I decided to go back home to check the house. Water is still at hips level outside and above knee level inside, Papa is still trying to clean and revive our appliance, but I lost hope when I saw the damages. I found out that the water was at chest level the night before and most of our things are soaked.

Came 5PM we decided to just leave the village, brought what we can and Papa fixed MJ. Inside the village, it's as if no tragedy ever happened, except that there's no water and electricity, outside, the road is swarming with mud, soaked appliance and people trying to recover from the tragic event.

I saw houses that are no longer recognizable due to massive mud and some were not even lucky as they were washed out. I heard from some people that there were casualties, mostly from people living near the bridge. My heart broke that day, not because we lost everything we saved for, for 4 years, but because a lot of people have suffered even more than we did.

We managed to reach Mama's (my mom) house and settled for the rest of the night. I learned in the news that the typhoon damaged almost all of Metro Manila, Bulacan, Pasig, Marikina and Cainta. Also, mom's home was flooded too the night before. It was at waist level, luckily when we came their electricity is back and they have water.

From there I learned how bad the tragedy was and how people from Cainta and Pasig are needing more help than us. We may have lost around 80% of our stuff but good thing is we're still together and unharmed.

Thank God. Let's pray for our fellow Filipinos still fighting for their dear lives.

Best Whitening Lotion Please!

Since we moved here in Bulacan I noticed that my skin's getting darker and darker. I wasn't at my whitest back in Pasig, but here, it just seems like hell seeing my arms having different skin tones. My left arm is much lighter compared to my right arm. My legs literally has a line between dark and whiter complexion. I'm thinking it's probably because Jeff and I love to travel a lot without putting a sunblock before leaving the house.
Now, this is bothering me so much as it doesn't look normal. I would've wanted to put a whitening lotion, but with all the products in the market I'm not sure which to use and which to avoid. I don't want to waste money buying and trying all of them.
I'm currently using a Skin Firming Moisturiser from Nivea, Jeff's uncle from Austrilia bought a huge bottle for me. But I think I would need a different lotion to start my whitening goal. Please help me find the best, value for my money (if possible a little inexpensive) and promises a fast solution to my dark skin problems. Help!

Happy 4th Anniversary!!!

Whew, it's been 4 years now since we eloped and wed. 4 years and several pounds ago I was astonished and surprised that I got married at the age of 25, never had any idea years back that it'll be that early. 4 years ago, at this hour (9PM), we were at his family's house in Manila chatting about the silliest things we did during the wedding. How Jeff nearly dragged me to the altar and I was just so blank I didn't know what's happening.
It's almost like a whirlwind romance, 4 years were spent colorfully. There were ups and downs in our relationship, financially and emotionally we went through almost every trials there is. Some of our worse times we even thought of parting ways, gladly we didn't give in to the trials and we're still keeping our relationship stronger through God's help and guidance.
I'm looking forward to more best years to come Bebe. I'd always fall in love with you each and everyday of my life.

My PC crashed!

More than a year since I got my own PC, now she's dead. She just blew up then turned off by itself. Upon realizing what happened I immediately turned off the AVR and rushed to Jeff's PC to continue my work. I was so worried my boss would notice that I was no longer on line, good thing Jeff's PC is already turned on and it only took minutes and I was online again.

I never thought her life would be that fast, I mean, she doesn't have the best parts, nor the best software, and I guess she's more overworked than I am but I never expected her life would be just a little over a year. Oh well, she's probably tired of her daily routine. She never failed me though and I guess it's time for her to rest.

RIP my PC. Don't worry, in the next few weeks I'll resurrect you with a new power supply, mobo and proc. Till our next workaholic days.

The Best Road Trip

Wednesday is supposed to be church day for me and Jeff but since we've had difficulty going to Baclaran these past weeks it had been an on and off thing. So, after thoroughly thinking about our current situation with our finances we've decided to finally make Baclaran part of our weekly routine, again. Apparently, my salary got delayed for two days (thanks to my client) so we had to wait till it is reflected on my bank account. Luckily it did this morning.

Though with 2 hour sleep, Jeff readily dressed and had MJ ready for the road. This will be an experiment as we're not familiar with the short cut to Baclaran and we only saw the map with the help of wikimapia, which was really a big help for us.

After we passed by Kuya Eddie, the previous owner of MJ, where we paid the complete payment for MJ, we loaded her with P400 worth of unleaded gasoline.

Then the road trip began, it was fun and exciting, I just had the glimpse of the road through wiki and yet we managed not to get lost. We reached MOA just in time for lunch. For a change, we went to MannHann for a hefty meal, though I know it's just not right because of our current financial crisis, but hey, we already own MJ and this is a good enough reason to celebrate.

We went to Baclaran to pray to high heavens and I know God listened and he will provide for us. After an hour we're back on the road to Marilao, it was indeed tiring but it was worth it, it was even worth MJ's wait.

The best road trip so far.

Best Massage Ever!

After a very tiring and frustrating day yesterday, I opened a can of Red Horse Beer with a small pack of Rinbee. While munching and enjoying my can, I noticed Jeff was browsing through Imeem and Youtube for aromatic sounds, which reminds me of great time we had during our spa addiction. So, I mentioned this to Jeff and he seems to be very busy so I decided to rest and give myself a good sleep.

Then the last thing on my mind happened, Jeff gave me the greatest massage I've ever had in months. It was the best, dim light, aromatic spa-like music in the background and a great masseus. He even used aromatic lotion which happened to be a great combination. I definitely enjoyed every stroke.

I love you Bebe. Thanks for the massage of a lifetime.

28 Facts/Fiction

As I mentioned to Kuri I will copy his 28 Facts/Fiction post.

1. Hindi ako pala aral, swerte lang kasi pag quiz gumagana ang short term memory ko kaya mataas ang nakukuha ko.

2. Hindi rin ako mahilig mangopya nung high school at college, kapag kailangang kailangan lang talaga, last option ko na ang mangopya.

3. Trip na trip ko ang sounds na heavy metal since highschool, siguro kung highschool ako sa ngayong panahon matatawag din akong emo (kung ano ibig sabihin nun, hindi ko alam).

4. Mahilig ako sa out of town, kung mayaman lang ako narating ko na siguro ang Paris at New York, pero Pasig at New York street palang ang kaya ng budget ko.

5. Hangang ngayon hindi ko parin ma distinguish kung ano ang tiger at lion. Madalas nahihilo sa kanilang dalawa.

6. Hate na hate ko yung mga dumudura sa kalye, parang ako mismo ang nasusuka pag nakakakita ako ng ganung scene, kadiri kasi.

7. Mahilig ako sa pets, ultimo movies na merong kinakawawang animals sobrang tulo ang luha ko, I have a big heart for animals lalo na for doggies.

8. Napalo ako ng teacher ko nung grade 2, akala nya kasi ako ang pinag aawayan ng dalawa kong classmate na lalaki, ganun na ako ka cute bata palang ako.

9. Tabain na ako bata palang, pero di naman ako ganun kalakas kumain, mabagal lang siguro ang metabolism ko.

10. Maaga ako nagdalaga, grade 4 palang may boobs na ako, di na ako nagtraining bra, bra kung bra na agad pagtungtong ng grade 5.

11. Madalas akong mamanyak dahil sa boobs ko, siguro they're so fascinated kasi cute talaga sila.

12. Ayaw ko ng pinipressure ako para gawin ang isang bagay, gusto ko may sarili akong drive para gawin sila.

13. Late na ng matuto akong magswim, kasi nahihiya ako sa asawa ko, marunong syang lumangoy at ako hindi, sayang naman at malapit kami sa resort nakatira.

14. Ayaw kong makakakita ng bulate, ahas, higad at uod. Ni hindi ako hahawak sa basurang may uod na. Sabi ko nga, kahit bigyan ako ng 1 Million, di ako sasali sa Fear Factor.

15. Mas gusto ko ang matagalang biyahe sa bus kesa sumakay ng LRT or MRT. Mas masaya kasi mag travel ng marami kang nakikita and na eenjoy ang lahat ng bagay from the bus kesa sa LRT, madalas siksikan, tayuan na at nagkakapalitan na kayo ng mukha ng kapwa pasahero.

16. I hate being late, kung meron isang bagay na ayoko, yun ay pinaghihintay ako at may naghihintay sa akin. When I can't keep my promise I always try to make up for it.

17. Naging laman ako ng lahat nang big call centers sa Metro, call center hopping? Di naman siguro, gusto ko lang ma experience.

18. Mahilig akong mang ngarag ng local call centers, lalo na kapag sa ISP ang problema, asahan nila tatawag ako within minutes na nawala ang internet connection ko. Kung gaano katagal na wala ang internet ko ganun din ako katagal sa telephone with them.

19. Mahilig akong mag browse ng mga for rent na bahay, kahit di naman ako lilipat, ewan ko ba, I find happiness sa pagha house hunting. Samahan kita gusto mo?

20. Favorite place ko ang 168 sa Divi. Sarap mamili, daming mura at magaganda pa ang quality. Yun lang todo ingat sa wallet at cellphone.

21. Takot ako magdrive, kasi baka di na ako umalis sa driver's seat pag nawili ako, baka mamaya pag gising ng asawa ko asa Baguio na kami.

22. Addict ako sa facebook, plurk and blogger. Alam nyo na kung bakit. Addict din ako sa RC, Sorority at Farmville, ngayon may YoVille narin ako.

23. Paraiso sa akin ang Baguio, kahit may AH1N1 scare dun, willing akong tumira, basta may internet at walang power interruption mabubuhay ako sa Baguio.

24. After college, nag start na akong magcollect ng FHM mags, mas trip ko kasi na makita ang katawan ng babae kesa sa lalake, hhmmm, lesbo na ba ako?

25. Kaya ko ang hindi maligo ng 5 days, basta may aircon sa kwarto at magpapalit ako ng damit with alcohol on the side, baboy ko noh?

26. Mahilig akong magbasa ng books, basta hiram, at wag lang harry potter, kung bakit, obvious naman, sobrang haba, maiksi lang ang pasensya ko eh.

27. Favorite resto ko ang MannHann at Manang, sarap ng lemon iced tea, beef broccoli at letson kawali, sarap sarap.

28. Madiskarte ako pag kinakailangan, kayang kaya kong makipag bunong braso sa lalake para lang makasakay sa FX.

Parang marami pa, pero saka nalang ulit...

What are You Lucky to Have?

Because I've been feeling so down these past few months, I was just about to research and blog about how to be lucky and how to be rich. But then I realized that in order to change things around me I must make some changes to myself first. That I am in fact, already lucky to have these things/people that others don't. So, part of my "moving on" process, I'm now listing some of the people/things that make me lucky.

1. Jeff - I'm lucky to have Jeff as my husband. Not only that he changed my life, he made me realize how important I am in this world. He's also the reason why I still smile though I'm now facing life's challenges. I'm lucky that he takes care of me when I'm sick, he's there when I need a shoulder to cry on. He's there to scold me when I get into accident and he's there to calmly remind me that God will take care of us.

2. My Family - I'm lucky to have a very supportive and loving family. Though there are tough times and I tend to hate them when they keep ranting, still, they keep me grounded. They have very odd ways of showing their love and affection, but I still appreciate them in the littlest thing they do for me and Jeff.

3. Jeff's Family - I'm lucky to have my Mother-in-Law, I know it's been a known relationship problem between the wife and the MIL, but I can say that we have a pretty smooth relationship. Same thing with my Father-in-Law. They may not be able to help us financially, but they are always there when I we need them.

4. Our Home - I'm lucky to live in this nice home, I know it's pretty far from everything, but it keeps us safe and warm. It may not be ours and we still pay for the repairs but I've already fallen in love with the place. A nice home to raise our very own children, soon.

5. MJ - I'm lucky to have MJ, our very own owner type jeep. I remember that I got so angry last night I wanted to tear her apart because she just stopped in the middle of the village. I didn't realize that she ran out of gas, my bad. We're still lucky though, because two houses away from where she stopped, there's a mini gas station. Jeff and I are so lucky to have her because we can now go anywhere we want to, anytime of the day.

6. Full time job - I'm lucky to have a full time job. I've been researching about working from home since 2005, I knew it's possible but I just got to have an idea where to find one. Now that I've been enjoying working from home for more than a year, I can say that I'm content and happy to work while enjoying from home. Things may not be as great as before, but still, I'm employed and earning from home.

7. House Help - I'm lucky to have Ate Mylene as my househelp. I know, she's a headache sometimes, but still I'm not gonna be able to spend more time with Jeff while working if it's not because of her. She prepares breakfast each and everyday, takes care of my doggies when I'm away and feed them too regularly.

8. Aia and Kiko - I'm lucky to have them as my babies. I had issues with Aia months back but she's still my baby. They keep me happy everytime we play in the garage.

9. My Friends - I'm lucky that I still have friends. Though I don't constantly see them, they keep me company through Facebook, Friendster and Plurk. I appreciate everyone's comments, hi and hellos'.

10. The Bear - I'm lucky that we have bear with us. Bear keeps part of our savings, without her we're probably starving and we wouldn't have known where to find money to spend for our food during crisis.

These are the things that I'm still lucky to have, how about you, do you have your own list that you're lucky to have?

Update on My Crazy Life

Would you agree that sometimes life is crazy, fun and addicting?

I've had this terrible accident last Friday, I think I blogged about it already, but until now the wound is still in the process of healing, good thing my ring finger is no longer swelling and it doesn't hurt that much anymore.

My sister failed the nursing board exam, she took it months back and we all waited for this moment, but she failed. I'm gonna be honest about it, I cried. My family's not the rich type and we've all struggled so she could finish this course, I know she tried everything she can but still failed. Maybe it's not yet her time.

Mom is really depressed, so is my sister, she barely spoke to me when I called her. I brought her here last Sunday to console her broken heart, gave her all the encouragement she would need for the next battle on November. Told her to find a job while doing a self review, I know it's gonna be a tough fight but life isn't about being too comfortable. We brought her back home yesterday, knowing the battle plan isn't gonna be easy but happy because she knows that I'm always here to support her. I also told her to temporarily stop her hobby in photography and anime, she has all the time in the world after the next board exam. She needs to focus this time.

Last Tuesday, still part of the plan to console her and to get off the daily routine, we went to La Mesa Ecopark with her bf Carlo. It was a crazy ride not entirely knowing where to go. I only knew how to reach Novaliches but after that I'll be damned lost. So, the ride went smoothly until we reached Novaliches except for some car related problems which Jeff took care of.

We got lost approximately 10 times before getting to SM Fairview supposedly in time for lunch. We had troubles finding our way out the subdivision which is supposedly the short cut going to SM. 20 pesos left our pocket just so we could go back to the real non-mountain like road. After a hefty meal and some groceries we purchased for our supposed picnic we then tried to look for La Mesa Ecopark, voila, we got lost again, we even reached the far end of Kaybiga Caloocan, which is really far from Ecopark.

After a good 30 minutes we reached La Mesa Ecopark and it wasn't that fascinating, it's just like going to the province with all those trees and couples getting their prenup pics all over the place. We rested inside the bamboo house if I can call it that. When my sister and her bf got back from viewing the dam, we decided to go home.

The drive home is pretty okay, or so I thought, when this traffic guy in yellow hunt us down because of this crazy coding system (yes, coding kami that time, lakasan lang ng loob yan). This traffic guy took Jeff's license and took a really good luck at him, he said that he's probably his relative even showing the guy's name from his cellphone. Yes, he let us walk away just like that, he didn't even took Jeff's P100 offering.

After reaching Malinta Exit, I finally gave Jeff the freedom to use NLEX instead of going through the hassle and traffic of Mc Arthur's Highway. Jeff thought it was the best experience of the day, I loved it too. In fact, we're planning on going back to NLEX pretty soon.

One more update, my boss, finally gave me the afternoon shift. After nearly 2 months of working my ass off on the night shift they probably noticed that I was so getting stressed out. Now, I'll be staying in the lax shift for the next three weeks. I'm so happy because I'm able to sleep more than 8 hours a day now.

So sorry for the very long post, so many things happened that I wasn't able to blog about, I hope you didn't get tired reading it. So here, life for me is fun, crazy and addictive, these experiences make the ride really to die for.

SoundSkool

I woke up today with so many things to do, then I checked my email just now while working, and guess what, I got an email from Nescafe. Wondering what could it be and why I'm in their email list, I checked out the link they gave me, until I saw this video from their site. Pretty cool and crazy... Really made my day.

The Sneezing Baby Panda

I found this post in facebook and despite of me crying all day because of a cut on my finger, this really made me laugh so much, it made my day.

Walking Disaster

I'm now officially a walking disaster, I just murdered my left hand's ring finger using the plastic blades of our owner type jeep's fan. I first thought it was nothing until I saw so much blood coming of it, I was literally shocked and all I did was sob. Jeff was driving that time and I didn't want him to panic, so I took every courage I had to show him that I'll be fine and kept reminding him to just go on with his driving and I'll take care of it when we get home.

It just hit me, we've been in Bulacan for four months and I never miss a month that I'm not sick or I get into an accident. I can't imagine what disaster I'll be in next month.

Reasons Why I Miss Pasig City

5 Reasons why I miss Pasig City.

1. Very accessible to everything, malls, churches, market, 24hour fast food, 24hour Mercury Drugs, accessible rides (jeep and trycicle), 24hour lugawan in Jenny's (love their lugaw).

2. Near Eastwood, near Metrowalk, near Serendra.

3. I love the people, especially the vicinity where we used to live, they are so helpful, in fact, those living in shanties are more helpful than your rich neighbors. I miss the noise and the polution.

4. I miss not worrying about what to eat because there are food stalls every where I go, everytime I want to eat, whatever I want to eat.

5. Living in Pasig City is like living in Bronx (though I've never been there). You're just few minutes (?) away from New York. It's like living in the real world.

Oh... I dearly miss the Pasig City I love, I wonder why I ever ran away from your loving arms. Maybe someday, I'll try to go back, we'll never know.

Life Update

I'm neither loving or hating my life today.

I opened my eyes today with a wish that my buyer would reactivate his Odesk account, I was deeply praying for it because I know our finances will be deeply affected by a sudden change. It's a weekend and the chances are pretty slim, but I still prayed and hoped.

I still decided not to make amends with Jeff, I don't think I can handle that now. I only got one rule, please please don't do things that will irritate me and you'll see who I really am when I'm angry.

I plurked today and I hope my karma would go up up and away... Oh for the sake of karma. I getting tired of this..

I'm still not satisfied with our househelp's performance, maybe I should teach her my cleaning style tomorrow. I got nothing to do anyway. One more thing, I'm beginning to hate her adobo, a week will not pass without her cooking adobo atleast twice.

I'm about to let go a client, this Magento guy got into my nerves the other day. I know I need the money badly but I won't let this guy get into my nerves again, he's a walking stress for me.

I'm currently listening to Magic 89.9's radio portal, their songs relaxed me a bit, reminds me of early years. Hhhhmmm.. my prime years. Loved it, no regrets.

I just browsed Mama Sacha's facebook profile, finally after ten thousand years she approved my request. Well, I think she forgot her password that's why she can't log in for weeks now.

I'm still taking cetrizine daily before I sleep, trust me, it's making me cranky and unproductive. I'm just gonna let 6 more days pass then I'm hoping to be back to my old self without medication.

I miss my old self, my happy go lucky times when I didn't think about the future and just let my day pass without worrying anything. Now that I'm married, though without a child yet, I feel that I have more responsibility and that I have to work twice as much as I used to.

I mentioned to a friend today, life depends on your daily decision, if you fail to make the right one, there's a consequence bonus to that. I guess there was a day when I made the wrong one and karma is just trying to even out and decided that today's D' Day.

Sometimes life really sucks. This is one of the moment when life really sucks, and I do too.

Reflection and Rant (together in one)

I ended my yesterday earlier today (hhmm..), around 6AM when I ended my shift and drank a cetrizine, which the doctor required me to take right before bedtime. He said that though my ear infection is gone, he still cannot flush my ears due to the holes he found in them. Also my right ear is still extracting some liquid which I don't know what.

Anyway, due to cetrizine and my 3-hour sleep yesterday I immediately dozed off and slept like I've never slept before. I woke up around 11 AM, realizing that I missed the supposed chat with my newly acquired client at 9 AM, good thing he was still around when I went online. Until around noon we started talking about the task I just did last night. He thought it was okay, apparently he's asking to do a remote session, for some reason I didn't ask what for. So, while talking via skype he then said that I should do the task while we're on remote session on my PC and while talking via skype. Isn't that irritating? His job is not as hard as hell and I believe I can do it without him ranting and instructing me what to do.

After sometime of trying to work it out, uploading pictures in Magento encountered some error, I thank thee Magento for the glitch because I really had to eat lunch, for pete's sake it was past one already. He even blamed my PC for it, I don't mind, I just had to eat and stop the non-sense he's asking me to do. After he let go of me I immediately closed the session and ended the call, it was the most irritating work experience I've encountered, one of the reasons why I've decided to work from home is to get away from nosy bosses, but this client of mine is no exception. That's what the Odesk screen shot is for, so the clients can check if their providers are doing exactly they require.

During lunch time I took time to reflect what had just happened, he just said that the first sample jobs I did was fine enough and there's no other problem with it. So, why in the world would he watch my screen while we talk on skype and be on a scheduled job where it's just data entry, it's not even a VA task. I even asked my husband's opinion about it, mentioning that although what he did was it's still a job and we need it badly, but come to think of the situation, here I am working my ass off day and night, and yet this guy, out of no where would hire me but comes out as an irritant. It would definitely salvage whatever anti stress spells I have left.

Upon coming back from lunch I just told him I'll troubleshoot my PC and find out why Magento isn't taking any pics, but at the back of my mind I have a plan.

I slept for another 5 hours, again probably because of cetrizine, and when I woke up, I immediately wrote a letter to him, telling him that I didn't like what just happened and it's not my working style. Had I known that he'll watch my screen while I do his task I wouldn't have let him take control. It's up to him if he's still interested with my services, not to be proud of my skills, but I'm just one of the few who knows how to configure Magento and if he's not willing to compromise then I can let him go.

Hopefully God will bring back my old client Richard, he's the best there is. So, tonight I'll have to settle to my underpaid and over worked self.

Hole in Wall

I went to the doctor this morning according to my scheduled appointment, he checked my ears again and I was so relieved to find out that the swelling is almost gone. There are still few pain once in a while and some colorless liquid coming out of my right ear but other than that I feel better than last week.

I mentioned to him that I've been having painful reaction towards the liquid medicine (I forgot the name) that I put in my ears, that happened when the swelling subsided about two days ago, so I told him I stopped using that liquid drops. The pain will only go away after an hour and I promise you it's worse than a toothache.

Upon hearing this, he checked my ears and found out that there's a hole on each ear. On the left ear he found a hole which is around 20% of the size of the ear drum, the right ear has about 5% of the size of the ear drum. That explains why every time I put the drops it gives me one hell of a pain. So, upon learning this, the doctor could not flush out my ears just yet and I'll have to wait until my ears recovers from these laceration.

Also, he noticed that these holes were not from massive cleaning and it was in fact due to the infection from God knows where. So, I guess it wasn't my fault at all. He said that I stop taking the heavily dosed medicine he gave me a week ago and just concentrate on healing my ears and stopping the infection full time. He gave me another medication which I'll take for the next ten days before bed time. I'm thinking this will really doze me off so I'll better take this before I sleep this morning.

Then I'll see my doctor again next month, however, it things get worse then I'll go back even before the one month period. I wasn't allowed to swim, I'm so sad by this, if I would then I'd have to wear something to cover my ears, but I'm so afraid it'll just worsen the case, so I'd just skip swimming for the next month.

So, I'm hoping that these ears will heal soon and I mean soon.

Level 27 on RC!

After several months of pondering whether I should try out facebook or not I finally gave in not because my friends use it but because of the feedback I get from Restaurant City. So, last May I tried working out my restaurant, patiently waiting for my cook to get energized, trying to trade ingredients to my friends, well, most of them I don't know personally.

Now, I've reached level 27, and I've decorated it the way I imagined how my own resto should look like. So, let me give you a glimpse of Kikos Lubak Aia, where we serve fine dining food to our hungry customers. Try out our Sensational Lamb Skewers, Gourmet Lobsters and Sensational Pumpkin Pie.

Super Unexplainable Day

This blog is created as my own personal diary, where I can share my thoughts and experiences for an extra ordinary day, to separate a quite boring life and my uber active lifestyle.

I don't have the energy to fully explain what had transpired during the day as I only got 3 hours of sleep this morning after my night shift, I'm supposed to be sleeping but these problems kept me awake and come 10PM I'll be awake for the next 8 hours. That's 21 hours straight.

I've had so many rants last June and the early part of July, now, instead of ranting let me pray to God to give me the peace of mind I've been wanting to have, the patience and the perseverance to succeed. Please take care of my family, especially my parents' health.

Also, please do guide me and Jeff in our daily decisions. I guess that would be enough for today, tomorrow is a new day and I'm hoping to recover from my ear infection soon.

Take care guys.

I'm Being Taken for Granted

Do you sometimes feel like you're being taken for granted when you don't speak up?

I now feel that I'm being taken for granted. Since I've had this ear infection I decided to keep my mouth shut because it irritates me when it hurts when I talk. I think you're all aware that the ear muscles are somehow interconnected to the jaw, thus with ear infection, I'm having a hard time chewing and talking, things I love to do.

I wanted to rant about my current boss, my task is pretty simple, wait for a customer to request for a chat, support them with whatever their concern is about then end the chat when it's resolved, isn't that easy? I thought so too. Until I got to meet the other co-employee they hired a week after they hired me. They said this girl will take the afternoon shift just before I log in, originally, this shift belonged to my hubby, or that's just what my other boss had been telling me, apparently he's not always available whenever their supposed training is about to start, this irritates me too.

Then another irritation came when during the interview process they told me that we will have to do this outside of Odesk because they're not yet aware how Odesk works, but just today, I checked that they have been registered in Odesk since 2007. For the first week I didn't tell them that I have an ear infection on my left ear, my bad, apparently this other boss of mine wants to have a skype chitchat before I start working, so I'm forced to use the CDRKing headset, which is really tight. Until the latter part of my first week I had to decline talking to him and just use speakers, I let him do the talking, and I told him about my two ears being infected.

Going back to my first rant, apparently, they introduced her to me last Wednesday, I think she's nice but not too friendly, I don't care anyway. Then hours after that meeting I decided to check out Odesk for other job offers just to update myself on what's new in the job market, and I saw her name, applying for a job, so I took the chance and browsed through her profile until I saw that she was infact hired through Odesk and guess what, her pay is more than double than what I'm supposed to have, well isn't it fun?. At first I was hoping that it's not really her and that I'm mistaken her for another Odesker, until I confirmed it straight from her the next day.

Actually, I have no issues about my salary, I mean this is what I think is reasonable for someone who's just starting in their company, but my point is, if they are able to offer bigger pay and they think I deserve it, why would they let me settle for less? Come to think of it, this girl is in the afternoon shift and I work my ass off in the night shift. It's just so odd that my boss keeps complementing me on how fast I got the work flow and still hired someone else with higher rate and let me suffer in the night shift. Arggghhhhh..

One thing more, yesterday was my second week and supposedly my payday, which they promised when they hired me. I was about to discuss it with them but the other boss logged in just to give me my passcode for the night. I also messaged my boss about my pay, only, he answered when I was already sleeping, and the irritating part is I gave him my payment method just right after I was hired, when he replied, he was asking for it again. The entire day I was waiting for them to log in, missing out few hours of sleep, heck, I need my hard earned money, two weeks in the night shift is no joke.

I was even tempted to just log out last night because of the revelations that struck me, however, I still want to give the benefit of the doubt, but where are they right now? I even spoke to the girl they hired and she said my boss logged in but went off right away and the other boss didn't log in at all. So, there.. I'm now officially being taken for granted for being so nice and polite.

To end that first part, let me talk to you about the second rant, this is about the househelp we just hired, she was very nice and so hardworking at first but lately I've been noticing that she no longer pull her ass to work and do the cleaning. I don't really tell her what to do because I think she's an intelligent househelp, or that's what she's been portraying to be and I expect that she'd do things without us telling her. I told her many times to tie the trashliner because my little pup would eat garbage when he smells it. But for some irritating reason, she would not listen. Now, there are garbages in the lavatory and in the garden as well. I'm beginning to hate her. I just cannot force myself to speak to her because of my current condition. I don't want to add more stress to what I'm feeling now.

These people would really see who I am when I'm angry and I'm not gonna let them do these things to me just because I don't speak up.

Magic 89.9 Reminiscing

It's been more than a decade since I became addicted to Magic 89.9 (radio station), it was my summer vacation from my first year in college and I had nothing to do at home so decided to tune in to Magic.

I was a fan of Cadillac Jack (DJ) whose shift starts at 9PM and ends at 12MN. Aside from the usual music he plays during the night there were topics where we can share our two cents and this is where I would usually call and share my rants and raves.

Also, aside from tuning in to CJ (this is what I call him) I also make it a point to join different contests, where I won several tickets to movies and even a trip for two to a beach resort in Batangas (I forgot the name), since the only mode of communication back then is the telephone I'd usually keep our landline in my room so I could call them anytime there's a contest.

It was a great experience knowing the DJs of Magic, aside from CJ I've also met a few that I became friends with. Apparently I became so busy with school and new friends that somehow I lost touch with my Magic friends but I still make it a point to listen to them once in a while.

Now that I'm working from home and usually left here in the office without TV or radio every night (I work on a night shift), I decided to check out Magic's site and alas I found out that they already have their own radio portal, just click this link to listen live. I guess this is their way to reach other Magic listeners all over the globe. Enjoy.

Welcome Home MJ

MJ who? That's our new baby, our very own ride. I know I know she's just a second hand owner type jeep, but still, she's our very own first ride. She's one of the dearest possession we have right now and we promise to take care of her, very well.

We got her through Jeff's cousin who knew someone selling it. Since they're pretty much friends, the owner decided to give the jeep to us, though it's just 1/3 of the way of being paid. We bought her battery and gas and we're just trying to fix the documents, come Monday, it'll be registered to Jeff's name.

We already tried it yesterday, he drove me to the clubhouse to pay our water bill and the monthly home owner's dues. Though I know Jeff is still nervous about driving, heck, this is his time to shine and practice really well in driving, who knows we might be able to go to Baclaran come August or September.

Anyway, here are some of his pictures with MJ, by the way, we named her MJ to remember the Michael Jackson's death, same day we got MJ.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

We went to MOA earlier today to watch Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen through IMAX. It was uber expensive for P400, I'm not really used to paying that much for movies.

Anyway, the theater was great, they offered 2D (wide screen) of the film and it was well worth it. I find the movie overflowing with new characters and still great moves from the autobots.

We were nearly late because the movie starts at 10:15AM and we got there 10:12AM. Only 3 minutes to purchase our tickets, but the queue lasted longer than they expected so they had to adjust the time to 10:30AM, just right on time when we reached our seats, it started to play.

It was overwhelming but I still have so many questions. Though I wouldn't want to be the spoiler here, trust me, it's worth your hard earned money.

Dance With My Father

This is somehow a late post for Father's Day last Sunday. However, I felt like I really have to.

It had been a roller coaster life with my family. There were fights between my father and mother that I wished I never witnessed, so many tears were shed when I was little, which made me stronger, apparently a heart of stone for both of them.

Slowly I realized how wonderful it is to have them both while I try to build my own family with Jeff.

Though this year was traumatic, finding out Papa's condition with his gall bladder, which was removed months ago through surgery, now, he's facing yet another problem with his kidney stones. I wish he's here so we could get him to the hospital again and be checked, I wish we could do something for him to ease his pain.

I don't want to wake up finding out we're too late in showing him how we love him and how we care for him. For Papa, I miss you so much and please have yourself checked or go home again and we'd take care of you. I love you.

Just one last thing, I saw this video on youtube and I'd like to share this with you. Happy Father's Day to all fathers in the world.

HouseHelp

Finally, after months of patiently waiting for a much needed house help, she's finally here. Thanks to my ever reliable mother in law, she got Mylene to work for us. She's from Quezon (province) and same as my age and I'm hoping things are gonna be better with her working for us. I've been having troubles with household chores since I became very busy working (from home). Now, I hope she can really do the job I'd love to do but can't afford to.

I'll start briefing her tomorrow morning. I'm crossing my fingers for a good relationship with her, see, it's my first time to ever get a house help, all of us in the family are trained to work the household chores, but with all my tasks at hand I doubt if I can still handle doing the chores. Anyway, I'd work very hard to pay for her salary.

Ungrateful - Random Rants

I was keeping my cool for a couple of days now since "the incident" happened. I don't want to go deeper and I won't name names but honestly, I'm fuming with anger as I type this blog.

First of, when a task is given to you, it means you have to work hard and be determined to prove that you're worthy of the work entrusted to you. You were given the luxury to use your cellphone in between work and maybe chat a little "while" working, all we're asking is that "you" get it done correctly.

Next, it was "you" who came to us asking for help, not the other way around and you don't even have the courtesy to thank "us" who gave you what you needed.

Then, when we tell you that you made a mistake, don't take it personally. Instead of being defensive, why not ask us what you did wrong and try to make up for it. Don't act as if it's our freaking responsibility to constantly tell you what to do when you're already trained for the task. As you have always narrated to us, you're not a f*cking kid anymore.

Our clients didn't even know that we pass our jobs to you, so it's you're responsibility to take care of it and ask us if you think you're not doing it correctly. Again, you asked for help and we gave you what you need.

When you were told that there were a lot of mistakes in the document you made, you were so all out defensive and even had the guts to shout, whoa, that's very responsible of you. I think you even heard that what you did made us lose that client and you have no remorse, you just kept chatting and doing God knows what.

Next, when you left that morning without telling us, didn't you even realize that you left the door open? Who knows what could have happened to us the time you left. That's very irresponsible of you, don't you think?

Our life is no fairytale, we work our ass off to get food to our table, to feed you during your 1 month stay, to pay the bills and get our savings back up and running again. We don't stay at home just to log in to friendster or facebook or even chat with our friends, because almost all the time, we try to keep our life afloat by getting more jobs, this is no joke.

You're not a kid anymore, you can even start a family of your own but you won't take responsibility for your own life.

Today, Jeff was there at your home and you didn't even say sorry, does the freaking word scare the hell out of you huh?

And somebody even had the guts to brand Jeff as "Engot" for giving the job to you, whoa, so, it's our fault now that we tried to trust you with our work? And you are all blaming us for helping you, wow, what an inconsiderate act.

It's so sad that the guy all of you are belittling is my husband, because it's not acceptable. You never have shown remorse, never said sorry and all. If you had been my brother and you did that to me infront of my husband I would have slapped you so hard that you'll forget where you are. I think you should be thankful Jeff is kind enough not to throw you away that night because if I were him, the minute you shouted at me would be the minute your clothes and stuff is at the garage burning.

I'll only tell you this once, I never wanted to see your freaking face ever again. Jeff could forgive you, yes, because he has a good heart but never again that you'll step into this house, you ingrate. You're the most ungrateful person I've ever met in my entire life.

Kitchen Nightmares by Gordon Ramsay

I've just recently discovered a show that brings a capital F to *uck. It's the first time I've seen this show, probably because for the past months that we moved here we don't have our own cable subscription due to village restrictions, and unfortunately we don't have P6000 to have our own satellite cable (damn those satellites).

The show is all about the reality of life when establishing your own restaurant. Aside from the normal flaw of relationships between owner and staff, this show uncovers the truth on how our succulent food is prepared. It also reflects the sad facts that restaurants are shutting down not just the general fact that their food's taste is not even close to that of McDonalds, but because of bad management from the owners.

I'm beginning to get addicted that I'm beginning to really show passion for food and how it's prepared. This show really helps a lot of hungry young businessmen with how to properly manage a good restaurant, not just managerial wise but also with the quality of food they serve.

Have a look of this video I got from youtube, this is one of my favorites.

Repost from Bang's Blog

Early today I had the urge to check my other email account and found out that Bang (a friend and a colleague from Dell) created this blog and it had my name on it, oh well, I'll repost it here.

hi-five

June 17th, 2009 by bangreyes

It just hit me last night how lucky I am that I work from home, maybe because it was raining so hard and thinking I don’t have go out and hail for a cab to go to work.As I look back to the days when I was still a corporate slave you will always hear me say..”Can I just go home and still get my pay” funny it is but who would think this would happen for me.. I guess everything starts with a dream or in my case, whining (lol).It all started last year when my teammate Joan (“jown” – hi gel!) told me what she read on a forum about a home-based work. I was skeptical at first thinking is it possible? Questions starts to rumble in my head coz I know I want it but will it be worth it? As I kept on debating with my thoughts Joan learned about the glorified job and began working with some projects. Everyday I see her come to work looking wasted but was excited of how she’s doing so far with her odd job(not so odd for me now huh).Then one day she told me she was resigning.. Inggitera that I am applied for a dsl line and baam!… Im there. I cant say I enjoy having just a few hours of sleep but I know one day everything will pay off and true enough it did I resigned a few months ago. Now, I enjoy working while I laze around my couch lol watching tv and most of all I can stop if I want to. I thank God the most for not letting cynicism ruin my dreams I thought it was all a “moo point” but now its all worth it. Whoever is interested to be part of my funky work-world (if there’s such a word) just let me know and ill help you guys out.. hi-five! tata!

for a start check out these sites…

www.odesk.com

www.getafreelancer.com

goodluck!

Another Ear Infection

I started having ear infection back in my high school days. I've got this addiction of cleaning my ear on a daily basis, whenever I get stressed or irritated I pamper myself through cleaning my ears, I dunno why. I find myself getting relaxed when I do this.

Anyway, one time when I was trying to sleep I then felt pain inside my ear on the jaw line. It was so painful that my mom had to bring me to a hospital to be checked. We found out that it's an ear infection due to massive cleaning of the inner core. It took me a good 2 weeks to finally heal and several weeks after I tried to avoid my addiction.

Back in college I've had it again, every time it happens I always get scolded by the doctor that I must not clean the inside core, and never on a daily basis. I guess I'm not over the addiction because until now, I think on a yearly basis, it still hurts. Now, I'm beginning to hate cotton buds and I'm planning to throw them all away.

When it hurts I love to pound my head on the wall just to ease the pain, sometimes I can't sleep because of it. I'm just thankful my right ear is still okay. And one more thing, the liquid that I pour on my ear, it's even painful than the pain caused by the infection.

So, I'm hoping to get rid of this infection soon, before it's too late...

Why BF?

This is more of a politically inclined post, as we all know election is just around the corner and is coming pretty fast and many have shown interest in running for the highest position, as the presidential seat is up for grabs (hopefully before CON-ASS succeeds).

I've never been so interested with politics, probably because I give no damn with speeches that has zero action, because I do know everyone in the government is corrupt, because I've heard and experienced a lot to support my non-government connection goal.

Though I was forced to vote like 5 years ago, it didn't really sink in that it was a responsibility, it was more of a right. You're given the right to vote and the right to choose not to. However, as I probably have mentioned before to some of my friends, if ever BF (Bayani Fernando) would run for the president's seat then I'll probably give him a chance.

So, my friends would ask, why him? Is is because of the pink fences (I'm so in love with pink btw)? Some would say he's corrupt too, then I'd ask, who's not?

I mean, everyone in the government is corrupt, they just vary in the complexity of their corruption. I've heard numerous scandalous transactions regarding the government and their mini projects. Would turn out that they're spending millions just to put up a 4-storey building for a public school, where in reality, it just worth hundred thousands.

So, going back to the BF thing, him being a GMA follower doesn't change my ideas of him, that's his perception. Okay, he's trying to change the world, that's what I see in him. He probably saw a chance for Filipinos to change, things that I could not see anymore, probably trying to bring back the discipline we lost since we ousted Ex-President Marcos (I'm not Pro-Marcos, I'm just pointing out that somehow that Martial Law brought the disciplined Filipinos and went astray with Ex-President Aquino's regime).

It's not just about the pink fences, the foot bridge (which I think is a really good idea, especially in Edsa, I've seen a huge change since I started commuting from Valenzuela to Pasig in 2002), the MMDAs (though there are still good for nothing MMDAs) and clearing operation in bangketas' (supposedly for pedestrians but they turned out to be a selling venue for unregistered vendors before Bayani came).

He's trying to change the world by simply not going with the flow, no one has ever done things he did, nobody tried because they're afraid of what people would say, in return, people won't vote. know he's not gonna win, I don't think people in the squatters area would give a single vote for him because they don't understand that he's doing his job and they should do theirs so they don't have to squat. I know people in the province wouldn't know what he's trying to do in the Metro but they're still capable of voting, but then again, if ever I'll vote this coming election I wouldn't waste my time, money for transporation and my one single vote to someone I think is not worth my 6 years of waiting for some action (hate speeches).

So there, BF may not seem the superhero type, he's probably using us as labrats for all the rules and regulations he wants to implement, but I would love it that way than these good for nothing politicians leaving us dying and waiting after getting the presidential seat.

Go BF! You're my BF!