Christmas lights are blinking!

Sunday, September 30, 2007

October starts tomorrow and I can feel as the days go by that Christmas is just around the corner. I now observe that some homes have put up their colorful landscape lighting and running lights as they do each year, giving their houses that festive mood. I haven't experienced spending the Holidays away from the Philippines but a lot of those I know still prefer to spend it here, with all the hoopla and more. Afterall, there is no place like home.
By the way, in case you need to know, a friend said last week that the lantern stores along Granada in QC were being asked to close shop. The local government apparently would like to avoid heavy traffic jams along that street especially when the holiday rush starts in November.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Got my copy. Found one among the badly organized shelves of Fully Booked in Promenade. Believe me, I had to check and look around almost all the shelves because even if the labels said "Fiction A-P", the books were not placed where they should be. Hhhhhmmmm.

Anyway, I started with it right away over a hot frothy chocolate drink from Xocolat, then later while eating Banana Jones from Cerealicious. Li'l bro and I were early in Greenhills so I had a lot of time to read before playing some badminton sets. Into Chapter 3 and I was already having goosebumps. I texted RA to thank her for the recommendation because "gripping" is such an understatement for this book. It's a pageturner that all you'll want is to read what happens next. Before the night ended, I was done with 3/4 of the book.

One of the things that struck me is when the boy asked his Baba about sins and his Baba said that the only sin one can commit in this world is "theft". He explained further that ,"When you kill a man, you steal a life...you steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness..." Makes perfect sense to me.

Some of the plots are shallow, something that one would not expect from a great writer only because it is way too common (i.e the main character's true relationship with his humble and loyal servant). Something that is common in our local telenovelas, I'd say. But then, as I went along, that seemingly shallow plot is just the tip of the iceberg. There's more to it in the story than the friendship that flourished between the two kids. The story, IMO, is actually about forgiveness and making up for a mistake, no matter how long it takes to realize that, yes there is a way to be good again.

I have a few pages left and I'll finish reading this tonight. When I finally close the book, I will sigh because a good experience would have ended. I will recommend this book to my sister, especially that the main character spent some good years in the Bay area -- San Jose, Fremont, SanFo, etc. It's all familiar. It's all good.

Relocation

Saturday, September 29, 2007

If you are in the States and planning to relocate, maybe this featured article I read on Yahoo's front page today will help. The article lists the most expensive and most affordable housing markets. Beverly Hills in California falls on the most expensive area for 2,200sqf houses (4bedrooms, 2.5 bath) with $2.1M average cost. The top ten most expensive markets are found in California cities while the more affordable ones are found in Texas. Phoenix real estate lists houses on the average. Where do you wanna live?

Books, books, books!

What am I doing blogging at 821 on a Saturday morning?! Oh you bet I wanna go back to sleep but I'll do that in a bit. I have a deadline, see.

Anyway, yesterday I was scheduled to take a commute going to the garden. My brother dropped me off on North Avenue. Before going to the fx terminal, I paid some bills and dropped by NBS to look for the book RA recommended, that one by Khaled Hosseini "The Kite Runner" but ended up buying his other book "A Thousand Splendid Suns". Now reading the reader reviews over at Amazon of this second book, I feel it is not a waste to buy it. I will drop by FullyBooked later to check for a copy of Kite Runner. Maybe I should read it first before I start with Splendid. I'll probably borrow from RA if I don't find the book by Wednesday.

And then I could not resist getting more books that I took and paid for three novels by Neil Gaiman (Stardust, American Gods and Neverwhere)! I've been hearing about this guy for a while now (He was in Manila last year?) but never got around to buying any of his stuff. Reading for me is a passion yet I am just beginning to broaden my choices. I am thankful that I am given the opportunity (and extra money) to buy books. Books for me are investments and am not so much of an e-book girl. I started with Stardust yesterday and I will just post insights about the books I listed once am done with them. ♥

Four books! And not done yet book shopping?!? You bet Ane almost had a heart attack when he learned about my latest purchases. He'll get over it, hehe.

Hoodia, anyone?

Friday, September 28, 2007

Before I clicked on the link, I thought I am gonna write about some garment/clothes. Nyay! So I got to the site and realized that hoodia is actually a plant (similar to the cacti family) originating from South Africa. It was found out that this plant has something in it that can suppress appetite, thereby promoting weight loss. (Oh no I can't belive am talking about weight loss again when I haven't lost a pound yet! Ugh!) Last I heard, weight-loss enthusiasts are clamoring for this supplement because of it's effectiveness.

Comedy Bar & Tagalog jokes

Ane snagged four tickets to a show in that Comedy bar in Greenhills. Since the tickets fell on a school night, li'l bro decided not to go with us anymore. So Ane, Ry and I went on Wednesday. We arrived at 11pm (I had to work til 10pm) and we arrived just in time for the primetime show featuring Jose Wangbu of the local Eat Bulaga. Then a bit later, K Brosas with her powerful low voice. After her, was supposedly the time for that crybaby Sugar who seemed like the baklas' alalay, mwahahaha. I think the food and drinks are overpriced (for normal food and local beer and instant iced coffee) but since we got in for free, we shrugged it off. The overall experience was okay, just okay (I had to endure the second hand smoke from the neighboring table heheh). It's nice to watch an uncensored for mature persons only show. No nudity of course, but the jokes are green ones! Total laugh trip. Am sure if the jokes were delivered in English, it wouldn't be the same. Would be glad to go back but I'll definitely pass on sitting on the front row, hehe.

We ended the night at 2am. Sheesh.

Hoping for better service.

I went to one of the branches of my mobile phone service provider this morning to pay the bills. Take note that this is the company that I used to work for, that's why I am kinda disappointed. I inquired with the cashier whether there is an existing loyalty program for subscribers. She told me to call the Hotline. I said, why do I need to call when I am already in the Business center where they're supposed to provide service, ayt? So she asked me to get a number a talk to a CSR instead. So after paying, I went back to the greeter where I was told to just call the Hotline. I reasoned the same thing to her. Why talk to someone else when I was right there already. She gave me a number but before she handed the number to me, she said something like, the CSR will call the Hotline anyway. That's clearly disappointing. In my opinion, an employee is supposed to be enabled in order to give the best customer experience. That's what I learned in that company, especially during trainings and market research week when mystery clients are deployed in the centers. One is deemed useless if that person cannot even decide right there and then. So I left. I'll take care of that when I have more patience.

Techie stuff that amaze me and LO share

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

I admit I spend so much time on the net everyday. I am always amazed by how much I can learn and snag (oh freebies!). Anyway, I've had Lightroom installed in my laptop months ago but never got around to tinkering with it. Until this week when I tried to open it and allowed myself to be awed by what it can do with my photos in, literally, a click! Not to mention that today, I learned to load presets, hehe. I was about to post a new topic over at the Bebots' forum on how to load presets when I thought of doing some research myself. I have a lot to learn!

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Yesterday, I logged on to blogger and noticed this new feature posted as a bulletin. Well, have you heard of Blogger Play?!? It's a slide show of the photos and graphics uploaded to blogger in real time. It's a pretty distracting site yet I cannot stop looking. The snoop in me kicks in! Hehe. I find myself oohing and aaaahhing and sometimes asking "WTF is that?!?". Harhar!

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Tonight, I installed in our PC ACDSee9. I've heard a lot of raves about this product and the moment I opened it, I understood. It is so much friendlier than the older versions, IMO.

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It's amazing that a client (my BIL) would pay big and hardearned bucks for a service that sucks! Of course we didn't know that at first. But as the days went by, we realized that it is so unreliable to upload files for sharing. Ugh. I hope my BIL gets a money-back, he still has 79days left but we decided not to use it anymore.

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Lastly, I finally scrap! You can view it here in my "creative" blog .

Teck or teak

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

While resting between games tonight, I was chatting with Donna. She was sharing how packed their Sunday was (and I thought ours was too busy!). They were somewhere in Olongapo, after their errand, when they decided to check on some furniture for their new home. In the second store that they went to, they found this nice piece that suits their taste. The salesman told them that it was made from "Teck wood". My dear friend got confused and asked again. She heard it right when the man said, "teck wood, from teck". Later in the car, her husband got this lightbulb flashing in his head and blurted, "Oh the man meant to say TEAK!". And they laughed. :)

Speaking of teak, I found some teak outdoor furniture on the web that is perfect for our balcony. Hhhmmmm, if only we have the budget to have the whole area roofed...it's perfect for inviting friends over.

Avenue Q..take two!!!

Yep, I just found out that Avenue Q will have repeat performances in December. Same place, same actors. It means that the play was overwhelmingly received. I would love to experience it again. When I found out, I immediately asked Ane if he would go with me again. Hehe. Maybe the second time around, we can tag my brothers along. Exciting!

For more details, visit The Bachelor Girl.

Gift recycling

Sunday, September 23, 2007

One of hubby's friends is getting married this weekend. We cannot attend as hubby has work and I am not really that close to them to go alone. We were supposed to just send a gift but somehow didn't get around to doing so. I'll be honest. We thought of giving them a duplicate item from our wedding presents for what else can we do about the stuff, eh? This is what happens when a couple does not apply for a gift registry (only because we did not expect our guests to shower us with gifts! Plus we literally asked those close to us to give us what we want and need hehe). I remember one of our couple friends got 3 microwave ovens on their wedding and ended up using all three at the same time. How funny can that be? :)

So the question still looms (at least for me), is it acceptable to recycle gifts?

Dropping in.

Just got back from four sets of badminton game and dinner with the E's. Fafi J and Mamita brought us to this Chinese Restaurant (Mien?) in Granada. It is the first time I ate there. Ane was not able to join us because he was too sleepy (got home late last night after attending a friend's birthday party). The food was delicious and cheap too! (I only paid P140!) We ordered some Chopsuey with pork (turned out to have some seafood too) and the spicy fish fillet and tofu. Yummy yum yum!

I don't think I'll be sleeping early tonight (it's midnight!) because I slept the whole day (!) and I have to do this design for my sister :) I just hope I won't have to drag myself from bed at 9am later, must be awake by then.

Missing the Movies

Friday, September 21, 2007

Before we got married, we would watch a movie at least once a week. Once married, we continued with the tradition but only for a while. Catching a movie took a backseat for three reasons: no time, time constraints, and no common time. Hehe. See, hubby works 12 hours a day, 4 days a week. The three days-off, on weekdays, have been dedicated to errands (my errands especifically), regular badminton games, and his badminton training. On lazy days, we'd prefer to stay at home, or sometimes I leave him at home while I work.

In times like that (read: bumming), I wish we have our own home theater system. And I mean, the works! We do have a big tv set and surround speakers but it would be better to have LaZboys and the correct home theater lighting, ain't it? Ambience makes it perfect, don't you agree?

Avenue Q, Amici, Three-day malling and a new book

Thursday, September 20, 2007

The past few days found me sleeping early at around 1am (early pa yan!) and getting up later than usual (read: noon or later!). Is that being lazy or what? I dunno, I just feel that my body is tired. Yesterday, Ane was waking me up at 930am for our errand but since it was raining, he let me sleep until 10am. Later we had lunch at Jabi coz I as craving Chicken Joy which I did not finish. We got home around 2pm, with me planning to go to work, but I fell asleep again! Sheesshhh.


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Anyway, I have a lot to share. My weekend was packed as well as the days that followed. Think of it as having a very long weekend. And since I need to note it down for the sake of my memory, here goes (I will try to make it short and precise)...


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Saturday was Avenue Q day!!!! The show was at two pm but I have an appointment at 8am in Ortigas that day. My meeting ended just before noon. Mitch was there to ride with us to Makati. We did a short stop to Mercury Drug to get my vitamins/some meds. Lunch was at World Topps in RCBC Plaza where I had Thai Bagoong Rice (oh I missed this, since the place closed down in Greenhills...I was however disappointed with the smaller serving and miniscule amount of mango strips). Around 1pm, Ane stayed at RCBC to wait for the others (remember there were 16 of us) while Mitch and I took a trip to MMC ER (nothing serious!). We got back to RCBC just in time for Starbucks green tea frapuccino samples before the show.


We entered the C. Romulo Auditorium and the Balcony is literally up there! It got me nauseous, really. The show was excellent. I found myself singing along, I had to keep it down! Rachel Alejandro did a very good job playing Kate Monster and Lucy. Trekkie Monster was a R-I-O-T! Aiza as Gary Coleman was a revelation, at least for me, as it was the first time I saw her perform on stage. There was something lacking about Frenchy Dy's portrayal of Christmas Eve I cannot really pinpoint, but her voice is powerful (I like her wedding gown! Haha!). You know, listening to the songs have always been enough, but seeing the actor's facial expressions as well as the puppets' actions (again, Trekkie!!!) made it even more wonderful for me.


There was a short meet and greet after the show (aawww the pictures suck, I used my mobile phone):





And then there was a booth to buy the program, the button (Team Kate), and the pink shirt that says 'It sucks to be me'. Teehee. Mitch and I wore our shirts to the badminton later that night.

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Some of us braved the heavy traffic just to eat at Amici de Don Bosco in Makati. One question: Why didn't I discover this place earlier? I was missing a lot! I had an order of Lasagne (too rich but yummy yum yum!) and their thin crust pizzas are to die for (wow, exagg). Never too full, I had some mint chocolate chip gelato for dessert. I brought home some chocolate covered cream puffs, hihi.

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The next day, the brothers and I were in Glorietta after mass (ane had work). We had a little bit of weekend money to spare but for the first time, we did not splurge on food! We had a simple lunch at Kaya (beginning to be a fave!). We did buy a pair of Havaianas each (yay!), a CD for Li'l Bro, shirts for the two of them, and I got Ane and myself a book each. We capped the day off with Starbucks caffeine fix each, the usual thing we do before going home on days like that. We didn't go straight home, we delivered a Bizu cake to our wedidng Ninang in Greenmeadows because it was her birthday :) The brothers were supposed to bring me where I can ride an FX to work but since Ane was out at 6pm (ordinary time 830pm), I waited for him and we went to the garden together.

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On Monday, we were up early again. We drove my FIL to his HQ in Libis. It was also important that we start the day early coz we had three banks to go to. It gets crazy every Monday not to mention that the 15th fell on a Saturday. After dropping FIL off, we grabbed some breakfast and our bank hunt started afterwards. We started along EDSA, then in Mandaluyong and finally finishing it off in Makati. We should have gone directly to Makati as the bank rows along JP Rizal are the ones that didn't have long lines. Sheesh. Then off we went to Mall of Asia to have Ivy, my laptop (yeah, I just gave it a name!) serviced at Lenovo. Just before we left for our vacation, I noticed an ugly vertical line on the monitor. I was resigned to it not being fixed anymore but Ane insisted that Ivy is still within the three-year warranty. I was corresponding with the technician last week and he assured me that if we go on Monday, the parts will be available. Why MOA, you ask? Well I already had a problem with the laptop six months after it was purchased and it was fixed in G3 but that outlet closed down this year and the person who fixed it is already assigned in MOA so obviously, we'd want him to take care of my problem once again. So anyway, Ivy now has a spankin' new monitor and am grinning from ear to ear :) The service and labor were free. To show our gratitude, we bought some coffee buns and cheeserolls from Delifrance :) I brought the boxes back to the store and it makes me happy to see people smile at me :)

Our MOA adventure didn't end there. It was still too early to go to Greenhills to fetch li'l bro. We grabbed some lunch at David's Tea House. The food seemed expensive but since the servings were big, it was alright. We weren't able to finish everything, so the food was wrapped and later was on the hands of the sampaguita boy (who has no feet and has only one arm, no kidding!) on the intersection of Ortigas and Granada. I swear, he smiled! My heart ♥ goes to him. :) We didn't leave MOA right away, as there was a lot of time to spare strolling. And stroll we did. We were looking for a sturdy table to place our CPU on (so it doesn't sit under the table) but in vain. But my Ane bought me a collapsible study table (so I can use Ivy beside our bed)and a table lamp (so I can use the desktop even if Ane is already asleep at night).

I was supposed to play that night but my legs were about to give up on me after two days in the mall! (Hi Donna! You weren't jinxed, dear, heheh, hope to play with you next monday!) Ane still played and he brought me Buco juice that night :)

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Can you believe that on Tuesday, we were at the mall again?!? This time, it was SM North/The Block. We finally found a nice table (and within budget, hah!) and later we did some grocery shopping for the garden. I went to work while Ane went to his Badminton Training. :)

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The book that I got on Sunday is the book the my sister recommended. It is The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. It talks about a Bengali couple who migrated to the United States and their two children were born there. It talks about the struggles they had to go through and teaching their children the Bengali culture even if they are half a world away from their roots. But it proved to be hard for Ashima and Ashoke since their children grew up in the harsh realities of their surroundings. The story focuses on Gogol, their first child, who felt imprisoned by his own name. It is a good read. I'd recommend it as well. I finished reading it on Tuesday evening.

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There, if you got this far, I salute you! My eyes are hurting and I am hungry. Hehe. TTFN!

Illogical fears.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

I am afraid of heights. You bet I will never ever ride the Soarin' Over California attraction again (Hubby tricked me into riding once!). Sure I do roller coasters but the speed I can take. Never ask me to ride a Ferris Wheel. And you will find me stiff in a cable car ride if I have no other choice.

I am afraid of open staircases. Everytime we encounter one, hubby will have to go ahead of me so he can cover for me, hehe.

I can get claustrophobic at times. I do not like flying cockroaches.

These are some of what I fear most (Hah! I just revealed myself!). But guess what my mommy is too afraid of? Anything that has fur or feathers, may it be alive or inanimate. Try throwing her, for instance, a gund toy and she will squeal even before it lands.

I learned in college that some phobias arise from experiences as early as childhood. Oh well. Mommy once shared that when she was younger, she fell down the stairs, fell on top of a cat and killed the poor animal in the process. That must be traumatic for her since she carried that memory into adulthood. I wonder if there's anyway I can help her overcome that fear. Or maybe I should think of overcoming my fears first? :)

Feast One Hundred-Sixty (3)

Friday, September 14, 2007





Appetizer


When was the last time you visited a hospital?
About two weeks ago. I accompanied hubby to see a doctor for some tests :)

Soup


On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how ambitious are you?
I'm a ten! If it's simply ambitions we are talking about. I imagine things in my head, looking ahead 5 to 10 years from now. Realizing my ambitions and things is another thing, hehe.


Salad

Make a sentence using the letters of a body part. (Example: (mouth) My other ukelele tings healthily.)
Hand - have a nice day!

Main Course

If you were to start a club, what would the subject matter be, and what would you name it?
Lumberjack Club! It's a game in PSP that some of our friends got addicted too! We can even have tournaments for this hehehe.

Dessert

What color is the carpet/flooring in your home?
No carpet at home. The floor is bluish off-white (is there such a color, I cannot describe it!) :)



Grab the feast here.

I feel old.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Currently watching the UAAP Basketball game between DLSU and UE. From our team, I only know Tang and Casio. I can't believe it's been *ages* since the last time I went to watch a DLSU game, I am not familiar with the team players anymore! Ugh. I know the coach though, Coach Franz. Because he's cute. Teehee. DLSU.Must.Win. So they will have to play it off in three games against Ateneo. Hehe. Riot! Haha.

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An incident happened when one DLSU player committed a foul and a brawl was almost uncontrollable. Just too happy to see MANG JACK, the D.O., still present during games. You're not from Main if you do not know him, I tell yah ;p

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There. UE is in the lead by a point (at this time). I cannot watch any longer. The suspense is killing me. Brother and cousin are watching. I'll probably peep in a while. Hehe. Right now, I am amazed with Bloglines, which I "discovered" only last night through the Bebot forum. Since after lunch today, I've been clicking the feeds button every five minutes (or less!). How pathetic can I get, huh?

Blankets

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

I bought a book, a graphic novel (a first!), after a friend recommended it. She said the reviews are great and that it will remind you of childhood. It did. I was with hubby that Monday afternoon when we visited Powerbooks and saw a copy of the said book. But, I wasn't planning on buying an expensive book (Php1500+).

The reviews printed on the back cover, however, gave me goosebumps when it said something like "...brutalities parents give the children...". No I wasn't a battered child at all, but that phrase somehow made a homerun. I was mainly looking for my memories of childhood and of first love. And there I found it. My Ane bought me the book and I was engaged on reading for a few hours. I finished it, all 600 pages, after about 7hours. The book is currently with Mitch who promised to cover it after Lara finished with it too. I haven't brought it home yet.

The book reminded me of childhood -- the times when my siblings and I shared the same bed (accidental pees!), when we fought (brother hitting me with a small glass bowl when I was sick!) and even the time I almost cut my left pointing finger. It was also true for me that the book reminded me of my first love as I narrated briefly in my other blog. Go check it out :)

In the Bag


Things you will see in my bag minus the trash hihihi -- money, pens, eraser, prayerbook, mobile phone, keys, memory stick adaptor, kleenex, lip balms, watch, floss and hand sanitizer. I came across pampastor's blog and saw an entry on Face your pocket project that started in Russia. The process? Place everything on the scanner bed, and your face too and then scan! Had to try it, even if my eyes started to hurt from the light (hehe)...and still my output is blurry. Hhhmmmm. Fun! I like this entry.

Trip to Avenue Q

Sunday, September 09, 2007

in six nights! Yay! Eversince I heard the OST of this musical play (courtesy of DEP), I've dreamed of watching it in Broadway. And hearing that this will actually run in Manila, of course, we can't just miss it, can we? Even if we are gonna catch it from 'up there', I don't mind at all especially that we are watching with a group of sixteen! Good show, good E company...perfect! :)


There are rave reviews of the show, from those bloggers who were invited to watch the final dress rehearsals on Friday evening. The Bachelor Girl (Lorna Lopez) provided us with the links to these reviews. I also swiped the image above from her blog, I hope she doesn't mind, hehe.

Notes from the Atlantis website:

"AVENUE Q, the phenomenally inventive musical that combines people and puppets, is about real life. It's about finding a job, losing a job, learning about racism, getting an apartment, getting kicked out of your apartment, being different, falling in love, promiscuity, avoiding commitment, hangovers, Internet porn and discovering the world. It has music and lyrics by Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez and a book by Jeffy Whitty. It won three Tony Awards in 2004 including Best Musical. AVENUE Q is directed by Bobby Garcia and Chari Arespacochaga, Sets and Costumes by Mio Infante, Lighting Design by Jay Aranda and Puppet Design and Execution by Samuel Fuentes and Marvin Choa based on Rick Lyons original Broadway designs. It runs from Sept 7 - 23 at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati.For tickets call Atlantis Productions at 892-7078 or Ticketworld at 891-9999. "

Oh my! Can't wait for September 15 to arrive :)

Leak.

I took a shower and realized that the shower knob is loose. The water won't stop flowing unless I push it and turn it. The next person to use was my li'l brother and he went knocking on our door saying he can't turn the water off. We need the repairman soon. Sheesh.

About a couple of months ago, the sink in the bathroom was leaking too, even destroying the ceiling downstairs. Now it is useless since the repairman's solution was to cut the connection altogether. It probably needs new pvc tubes and Delta faucets. There's also a problem in the Master's bath, that my other brother is using, because his toilet watertank doesn't stop from running water. We turned off the water connection and then we found out that there could be a problem in the tubes as well since there are ugly water marks on the wall downstairs coming from the ceiling even if the toilet is left unused.

Honestly, this aparment is in need of some serious repairs and renovation. I hope our landlord will do something about our concerns soon. It is getting inconvenient but we heart this place (big and secured) too much, something needs to be done asap.


Baby Blues

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Just wanna share with you some of the amusing things I heard this week, on Babies:


The Department of Health (or at least the featured Hospital, can't remember the name) considers the month of September as the Month of Baby Deliveries (or something to that effect). Think. If Babies are born in September, they were probably conceived during the holiday season which is usually cold. Hehe. Makes sense. Especially if the parents have nothing else to do.

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While bloghopping, I came across a mother (Marj), also a doctor, who went to see one of her patients just before getting admitted to the hospital for labor. She even did her rounds prior to her trip to the labor room. Dedication! :) She did give birth hours after that.

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A Senator's wife gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, after seven years of waiting. Bliss!!

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A young local actress, Camille P, admitted that she is 4mos pregnant. Her manager said that her ward is young (at 22) and the pregnancy was unplanned. She fled to the US and will stay there until she gives birth. If it was unplanned, why engage in unprotected Pre-marital s*x in the first place?

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Nature has a funny way of teaching lessons. Those who doesn't want kids get pregnant so easily while there are those who after so many failed attempts (like us) aren't blessed yet with a child. Those who can't afford to give shelter, much more enough food to all their children, have more than six kids (side: I have an uncle who has TEN kids and figured he has one too many AFTER the tenth kid was born! duh?!). While there are some who are capable of raising kids (financially, emotionally, physically and psychologically) miscarry or lose the child after birth. We are so ready yet God is telling us to wait. As a friend once told me, "Be patient, maybe your angel is also still waiting in heaven to be dispatched." Funny way of putting it, huh? So wait it is. :)

Give-aways.

Friday, September 07, 2007

Christmas is just around the corner, don't you agree? The nightly news actually started with the countdown on the night of September 1. The season of giving is back. This year, I asked hubby if we could do our Christmas shopping earlier (one the side: I've always thought that giving wrapped gifts and a little money is more practical now since we have a combined number of about 60 godchildren... and they're not the only ones we give gifts to, ayt?) because towards the beginning of December, I might be busy preparing for the employees already, not to mention the give-aways for frequent guests and trusty suppliers. Last year, we gave out some personalized bags of goodies and some pens. Am not sure if we can do the same this year as we are very tight with budget. Maybe we can order some personalized cups. We sell coffee anyway. We'll see.

My loot.

Last week, I was wondering why my Digital Scrapbooking Magazine August - September issue isn't delivered yet. So we sent a message and we were informed that my subscription will start with the October - November ish. I asked Ane if it's okay to buy the missed ish instead and he gladly said yes. Yey!


Yesterday, I received THESE from the courier:





I bought these (online! hehehe first time!) using some of my earnings from blogging. Imagine Ane's surprise when he saw the thick bubble envelope thinking that I only bought a magazine. Hehe. Of course he can't do anything about it anymore especially that I didn't use his credit card to pay for those. And he'd probably roll his eyes once he finds out that I bought these kits too:




Impulse! But my purchases are yummy looking. I haven't been scrapping but I figured purchased kits will inspire me. Hehehe. And the books? I can keep them anyway. I love books. However, I should really stop myself from buying online impulsively, no matter how 'addicting' it could get. I should save the money for a new camera. Teehee. ;)

Apprehended.

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

This afternoon, I was apprehended by some traffic enforcer in Malabon. It was the first time in five years since I started driving that I got asked to yield. My violation? I was driving a vehicle with plate ending in 3. I know today is a Tuesday and the truck is "color-coded" but it was two in the afternoon! So I stopped, asked the man why I was being hassled when I was still within the window 10am to 3pm. He said, "wala pong window sa Malabon, 7 to 7 po ang coding dito (there is no window in Malabon, the coding law is in effect from 7am to 7pm)," while handing me a few sheets of photocopied city ordinance. Wondering when this took effect, I called my brother, who I was in convoy with to return for me. Even he was shocked. I called my husband who lives in Malabon eversince and he also had not idea.

By this time, my blood was really boiling. I was told this ordinance was signed in Feb of this year. I know ignorance of the law excuses no one but is it supposed to be my fault when they suck much in information dissemination?!?! My FIL who is friends with the Oretas, had no idea either! Honestly, I am a law-abiding citizen (I know Makati, Pasay and Pasig have no window) and I felt really bad that I was being apprehended for something so shallow! But I've never seen a signage or a streamer informing the motorists of this city ordinance. We pass by the same route all the time going to EDSA. We were told that there is a lone streamer attached somewhere near a bridge. We saw it later on, alright, in its raggy and unreadable state on the area where they usually put the sorry greetings from all the politicians. Tsk.

I felt bullied. I knew they were bullying me when later I was informed that traffic enforcers like those aren't supposed to do that (like the MMDA) and that they don't do this to all vehicles (we saw a lot of violators later on). They didn't confiscate nor suspended my license but they did write a some kinda warning at the back of my license receipt.

There, I was supposed to write about Brus the Toyota but I feel bad I can't compose anything. I'll be off reading some article about seagull lighting.

Ta-ta!


Today's lessons

Sunday, September 02, 2007

  1. Pay attention. Listen.
  2. Be patient.
  3. Say sorry if a mistake has been committed. And mean it.
  4. Do not shout.
  5. Be grateful.

I am hurting because I let myself be hurt by things I should have controlled in the first place. Tonight, I feel like I am really a bad person, that even if I was brought up to be good (heck, I've learned the lessons listed above not from school but from my Mom), I've let myself be bad. Gets? Sigh. If only *this* person will stop making our lives miserable, then probably I'll be alright.