Never Eat at KFC

For the nth time, I have again forgone going for my training and it has been a month now!

In any case, I have spent a good deal of my weekend in bed - something I never thought would happen.

Last friday, I was running between two meetings and decided to eat at Kentucky Fried Chicken at Megamall with everything else I needed to do. First, I spilled my drink, which they never replaced when I thought it was store policy to do so since no one spills their drinks intentionally.

Secondly, and most importantly, after about 1 hour and 30 mins since I took my last bite (I didn't have any drinks since they didn't offer to give me one eventhough i had spilled my drink), my stomach started to get queazy. Thinking it was only hyperacidity, I bought Maalox and drank it. Luckily, I saw some friends and decided to go with them since I needed to get back to the office. Inside the cab, my stomach was really acting up. It felt like there's this acid knawing my insides in a tidal wave sort of pattern. By 5:00 pm, I could not move from my chair. I literally had to grip my table to hold myself against the pain. I asked our company nurse about it and she said that I ate something stale and I should rest and lie down and try to take some tea to cleanse it out of my system. Since I really couldn't hack it anymore, I called my mom. She redirected me to my aunt who works near my workplace. After some horrendous confusion (my mom made it sound like I was having appendicitis and my aunt was so worried about it), I went home with my aunt. I had an endless supply of tea and continued drinking. My cousin was so accommodating so as to let me take her bed while she slept in the other house (see, 4 of my aunts live in the same area - 3 of them living a stone's throw away from each other -with 2 houses being on beside the other and the 3rd house in front of them; the last house is about 5 meters or less from the other 3). My stomach would wake me up in the middle of the nigt coz it was really too painful. In any case, I could not eat anything. I was only drinking tea. Finally, I could get some bread in - a slice - by Saturday evening.

In any case, the headache i got plus the pain i experienced does not compare to anything KFC can ever give me. No I did not go to the hospital, but it's the only food I ate and so it's the only reasonable conclusion.

Fixing up the Stuff

Everyone seems to be getting stressed out because of this ASEAN thing. Dang! I was gonna watch Pirates of the Carribean! Oh well, I shall have to postpone going out with my friends - whom I haven't seen for a long time, might I add!

sigh.

huge sigh.

In any case, I hope that I get funding for our foundation since I wanna get a lot of our activities going, which entails a lot of funds!

When It Rains, It Pours... I Hope It doesn't Stop

Yeah, yeah. So it's not exactly the mind boggling quote that anyone has ever cited. In any case, I hope that it's true.

I came home today dreading the fact that I shall be out of work in a few days and also wishing that this International Organization funds our NGO really soon so I can start earning some money. By 11pm, my mom received a phone call from a friend. She asked my mom if I want to work for the United Nations.

You Have Got To Be Kidding Me!

Is THAT seriously a question?! OMBL!

THAT IS NOT A QUESTION!!!!! To top it all, she's shipping off the application to me ASAP and then I'm shipping it back to her!

I am seriously hyperventilating!

What A Good turn of Events!!!!

Nope. I haven't had any luck finding a job yet, but I am trying to look for one.

In any case, I spent yesterday with my old friend - we've been friends since 5th grade and so we're almost like sisters despite the difference in race/ethnicity. I accompanied her to shop since she's shopping for her trip to New York on January 2004 after her wedding this December. We got some blouses and skirts and some dresses for her - all girly stuff since this good friend of mine is my exact opposite. People wonder how we get along when we argue all the time. ;)

In any case, she told me she has her Christmas gift for me - sicne i ahve already given her my Christmas gift, I naturally thought that this was just some overdue gift she wanted to give me. Lo and Behold! I have an entire wardrobe!!! She did NOT give me a gift, she gave me almost AN ENTIRE WARDROBE!

What do I mean?

I am now the proud owner of a purple see through blouse with w satin tanktop as underlining of some sort. now this is a purple (my favorite color) see through blouse with the frills nd everything!

There's this printed blouse that I will never really buy for myself, but since it came from her, I am actually thinking of wearing the girly blouse since it does nto look bad. In fact, it's something that can be work with a skirt for work (now i only have to look for a job so i can wear it! ;) lol )

Then there's the usual Esprit long sleeved girl sweats that for someone as sporty as me is something to die for!

There's this knitted shirt - red, black and white which is something that's normal looking, but something that I would actually wear.

The best part is , I am now the proud owner of an indian outfit together with the wraparound skirt, the shawl - not the typical plain ones, but typically printed ones for Indian outfit and the matchign knitted top with embroidery!

Some other stuff included in my goodies are 2 different styles of belts, 3 different kinds of bead necklaces and a silver bracelet!

this was one heck of a shopping spree for someone who hates shopping! And I didn't even spend for any of these things!

What did mom say? She actually asked me if my friend has a sister (she knows my friend has 2 brothwers sicne they've been to our place). It was a rhetorical question since she's so used to my friend by now.

Don't you just LOVE surprises liek these?

...and that's coming from someone who hates shopping! ;)

As for today

Spent the day in a long meeting with this NGO that I'm involved in.

Board meetings are great since there are only 5 of us who get along pretty well who need to decide on things. But members' meetings are hell... and i do mean H-E-L-L!

Can you imagine spending more than 1 hour talking about 1 particular thing?! arrrg!

It's all good, though since it means that everyone in thye organization has something to contribute and it means that we crack each others' brains to get the best out of everything... not like other rogs where people agree all the time.

Between peace and differences? I'd go for differences!

Oh and by the way... who would have thought?

I AM GOING TO BE PART OF MY COUTNRY'S DELEGATION TO THE ASEAN MINISTERIAL MEETING ON YOUTH!!!!

OMG! this is like one of the dreams of a lifetime! I wanted to make it into the International COmmunity, but I never really thought that I'm doing so in my 20s!!!!!

whoooopeeeeeee!

From a friend

Just one of those getting to know you stuff:

i n f o r m a t i o n

Name: Audrey
Single or taken: single
Sex: Female
Birthday: 13 March 1979
Siblings: 1 sis and 1 bro

r e l a t i o n s h i p s

Who are your best friends?
Doesn't apply

Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?
I wish I had a boyfriend ;) lol

f a s h i o n | s t u f f

1. where is your favorite place to shop:
I prefer not to shop. I hate going fro 1 store to another looking for my stuff

2. any tattoos or piercings:
pierced ears

s p e c i f i c s

1. Do you do drugs?
Only when i need t take cold meds or paracetamol

2. What kind of shampoo do you use?
You know, you need to change shampoos every 3 months

3. What are you most scared of?:
Heights and cockroaches

4. What are you listening to right now?:
This music that I never know the title of but it's really a genre all on ts own

5. Who is the last person that called you?:
Yzo

6. Where do you want to get married?
Well, unless there's a guy out there who wants to marry me first and proposes, this question is totally irrelevant.

7. How many buddies are online right now?
I don’t really know

8. If you could change anything about yourself, what would it be?
Normally, I’d say nothing, but then… I’d like to change my godforsaken desire to want to be better. Why can people survive being a bum and I can’t?

f a v o r i t e s

1. Color:
Purple. When I was a kid people thought I had problems coz of my color preference

2. actor/actress:
Michael Weatherly, obvious ba?! Orlando Bloom, Jessica Alba, Julia Roberts and Angelina Jolie

3. Boys name: Leo, Joseph, Nick

4. Girls name: Nicole, Alexandra, Gabrielle, Danielle, Frances/ca

5. Subjects in school:
Cultural Foundations of Freedom and Democracy, Politics of the Knowledge Economy, Development Theories and International Relations, Governments and Politics of East and Southeast Asia

6. animals: I never took care of any

7. sports: Soccer, tennis, swimming, synchronized swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, karatedo, arnis, martial arts, chess

a r e | y o u

Understanding: Mostly

Open-minded: generally yeah

Arrogant: Maybe – when I think that someone should know stuff coz of their profession and they don’t

Insecure: soemtimes

Interesting: I don’t know. Better ask the people around me

Random: Yep

Hungry: nope

Smart: I don’t think so. I mean May IS smart

Moody: Yeah, sometimes

Hard working: Yep. I need to be stopped every so often and be told that I am again working too hard for me to realize that I am doing just that.

Healthy: generally, yeah

Shy: yeah, though people probably don’t know that it’s the reason why I don’t say hello.

Difficult: When it suits me

Attractive: I think I’m normal, but not necessarily attractive

Bored easily: I get engrossed easily not bored

Messy: I’m OC

Responsible: Yeah and I wish I’d stop being one.

Obsessed: uhuh. With things that I think I want

Angry: more like frustrated

Sad: As I said, more like frustrated

Happy: trying to be

Hyper: yeah when something sticks on my mind

Trusting: no

Talkative: yep

Legal: I don’t quite get this

w h o | d o | y o u | w a n n a

Kill: myself for letting stuff happen to me. Lol ;)

Slap: I could name 1 person, pero saying yung time ko.

Get really wasted with: I don’t want this to happen – ever. Or if it does, siguro si *** coz I know that that’s one person who’ll probably be very good at letting me go into my sane mode again

Get high with: Well, I generally “get high” when something frustrates me and I try to let myself enjoy life through caramel sundae from McDonald’s

Look like: I would like to have the body of Demi Moore in Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle

Talk to offline: ***

Talk to online: ***

r a n d o m

In the morning i am: sleepy and it takes me 3 times of waking up before I get up from my bed

All i need is: to get the heck out of here and go to OH Univ.

Love is: a confirmation of the mind that what you see or do is the One, True and Beautiful – with the necessary capitals.

w h i c h | i s | b e t t e r

Coke or pepsi: Pepsi Twist and pepsi blue, but I can do with coke light

Flowers or candy: Flowers

Tall or short: medium

n u m b e r

Of times i have had my heart broken: once

Of hearts i have broken: none

Of guys ive kissed: aside from family: none

Of girls ive kissed: friends so… I never count

Of tight friends: a lot

Of cds i own: I never counted them so…

Of scars on my body: one

Of things in my past that i regret: none. I don’t regret anything because everything makes me who I am today and frankly, I’m confortable with myself.

h a v e | y o u | e v e r

1. Given anyone a bath?
We’re one of the eldest among our extended family so I’ve given baths to cousins and my niece

2. Smoked? Yep. I used to.

3. Bungee jumped? Sheeks! I wanna do this!

4. Made yourself throw up? Nope

5. Skinny dipping? Eek! Yuck yuck yuck!!!!

6. Made yourself cry to get out of trouble?
That is so damsel-in-distress! I AM NOT a damsel in distress!

7. Pictured your crush naked? Another eek! Gross.

8. Actually seen your crush naked? Nope. And I prefer it that way.

9. Cried when someone died? Of course

10. lied: Like no one has ever done that in their entire life?!

11. Fallen for one of your best friends? Nope.

12. Been rejected? For jobs, yep

13. Rejected someone? A couple of times

14. Used someone? Not that I am aware of

15. Done something you regret?
Well… I don’t know yet. I’ll tell you when I regret something I have done

f i n a l | q u e s t i o n s

2. gold or silver?: Platinum… hehe, silver.

3. what was the last film you saw at the movies?:Finding Nemo

4. Favorite cartoon? Lizzie Maguire

5. what did you have for breakfast this morning?:
I didn’t take breakfast

6. who would you hate to be locked in a room with?:
No one as of the moment

7. who would you love being locked in a room with?
My friends

8. could you live without your computer?
Excuse me?! My computer is the extension of my being, if there is one!

9. would you color your hair? Yeah

10. could you ever get off the computer?: I have to

11. habla espanol? Un poco. Y tu?

12. how many people are on your buddy list?: I don’t count those stuff

13. drink alcohol? Yeah, but no beer

14. like watching sunrises or sunsets? Both

15. what hurts the most, physical or emotional pain?
Emotional pain. I can deal with physical

1. WHAT IS YOUR FULL NAME? Audrey Maria Medrozo Espinosa Codera

2. WHAT COLOR PANTS ARE YOU WEARING? Dark Blue

3. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Nothing

4. WHAT ARE THE LAST 4 DIGITS OF YOUR PHONE NUMBER? 7188

5. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner all rolled into one meal

6. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Purple

7. HOW IS THE WEATHER RIGHT NOW? Cool night

8. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
Yzo

9. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX? Eyes

10. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT YOU THIS? Nope. Lol. Loko lang Je!

11. HOW ARE YOU TODAY? Bummed! lol

I got sacked today

I was going my merry way when the HR Manager called me and told me i've been "weighed, measures, and been found wanting"... because she said they don't have the money to give me the benefits! who is supposed to follow up my committees? !!!

Dang!

After working so hard for it and now this? well, I of course want all this horrible experience to end, but God seems to think that playing with my delightful little life is very amusing so let's humour Him.

This is one of those days I want nothing but curl up and speak to one person about this. arrrggghhh!!!! I hate being needy.

albs is cheering me up, though.

huray! huray! huray!

Oh please don't let this be all a dream!!!

I was having a hard time conceptualizing how I could ever get the salzburg thingy done and also my OH University recommendation letters done. when lo and behold! Ambassador Romero gave me his recommendation letter, which as it turned out needs to be re-written because of the whole writing it on the letterhead of Ambassador Romero. Hopefully, I gwet the finished product by the end of this week or start of next week!

Then I just found out that good ole Doc T is done with my recommendation letter for both Salzburg seminar and OH University!

Now I only need Dr. Zeller's recommendation letters!

Oh please pretty please don't get my hopes up only to drop me with a broken body within the next few weeks! Dr. McDaniel is already waiting for me to send my recommendation letter and my letter of intent. Hopefully, he'll give me a scholarship or else I won't be able to go at all!:( I know that hope is for losers... but still... one can only do so much!

So for all those reading this out there, if you believe in any higher power or higher being at all, PRAY FOR ME!!!!!

Incidentally, I shall be going to NYC's 8th year celebration in Malate tomorrow night. :)

I was about to take a bath at my store's bathrom when lo and behold, I saw 2 centipedes going their merry way aroud the bathroom... and i do mean AROUND the bathroom!

so what's the recourse? I thought of shouting, but that would be too girly and the person manning the store would ahve to go into the bathroom. So I got some water from the shower and started splashing on them hoping that they would eventually go down the drain of the shower area. To my dismay, they happily wiggled their way about the water and went on to climb into the higher echelons of the 4 walls of the bathroom. Finally, I had no choice, I splashed some more water - yeah, yeah I'm the reason why the whole area will experience drought - to separate the two. I got two containers and used the back of the containers to squish them to death. ewlk!

It seriously felt like centipedes were crawling on my skin while I took a bath. ewlk!

gross.

Hmmm... am at work and alone... what to do? Lotsa things! :) lol

Dang it! I saw this news about my favorite tv couple splitting up... well, I guess I was prepared for that coz 2 people already warned me about it from before. I should have listened. Thing is, I've never seen two people so in love. It actually gave one of the conspiracy directions that my mind likes going into - that everything was a hoax right fr4om the start - it was like some sort of a Filipino soap opera thingies wherein the couple of the show should really be a couple in real life.

Then again, it got me thinking, but how can a person stand appearing to be with another person (not just for the more decent entertainment shows and magazines, but even for the tabloids) for three years when they don't like each other? eeew!

Good thing about it though, which almost (note that it does not say altogether) defrays the conspiracy theory from my mind is this girl actually going to a show with a younger cousin. :)

God! I cannot believe how people can be so political! ...and at such a young age!

I am a member o this youth group - first because of work and then because I do like the programme and so I decided to be a volunteer. So now I do it both for work and for my own personal reasons - simply stated, I do it coz I like it and I believe in it.

Anyway, since the Foudnation is just starting, there are still a lot of work to be done. What I have discovered though, is that people can be very political. So political that it is a downright insult to miost of us if not all of us!

Can you imagine someone attaching various position under her name in an email and even attaching the Chairmanship of this foundation under her name?! Honestly! Am I THAT dumb that I won't read through it?! To top it all, since this other person who has worked so hard on this particular project has reacted regarding this matter, this person claims that she has the political clout and the bearing that the international organizations actually take her name and agree on policy recommendation solely based on HER recommendation!

godddddddddd!

from what sort of mountain or cave did this person come from?! (without implying that people in the caves or the mountains are neanderthals)

First of all, UNHCR means United Nations High COmmissioner for Refugees. Duh?! If you're gonna use the name of the agency under your name, better make sure you know what it means!

Secondly, the United Nations does not just appoint someone, particularly if you never worked for AT LEAST 5 years in a relevant field (check admission or job postings at the UN website please!). And those 5 years will only make you eligible for being a UN Volunteer - according to availability in assignment.

Third, or you can always get you government to "vote" you into a position but that means that you have at least had some gray hair already and the Philippine government or the president has assessed that you are more than capable to handle the decision-making process as well as having enough character to make sound judgments.

Fourth, if you are a young person recently entering the workforce (at least 2 years relevant work experience), without yet having acquired a graduate degree, the JPO IS the only way you can go and work for UN for a period of 2-3 years, which may still not make you eligible to work for the UN if a person fitting your qualifications is still filling up the position that you are most eligible for.

all other matters concerning UN work, Internternational Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and ADB work should be coursed through their websites.

Then to say that "TRUST is a game of risk" ... trust is a GAME ?! what do you mean GAME?!

OMG! You have no idea what you got yourself into, girl! TRUST is never a game. TRUST is a verb - an action whereby a person regards another as having the same goal or same purpose thereby placing his beliefs and sharing his thoughts and feeling no holds barred with that other person! My God have you got no idea what you are putting yourself into!

grrrr! honestly, this is the most intellectually insulting person that I have ever met.

I was watching Life or Something Like It the other day - a movie that I did not bother watching even though I like Angelina Jolie because of the reviews it got. People said that it was supposed to be a comedy and it supposedly TRIED SO HARD to be one.

As for me, I liked the film.

No, it wasn't because Angelina Jolie was in it nor was it because this Edward Burns is kinda good looking. I normally watch films at least 3 times - that is if I get to like it the first time I see it. First, I watch the movie for its story and overarching theme - or lack thereof. Second, I watch it for the cinematography and the other elements, which I do pay attention during the first run, but never really focused on. Third, I watch it for how the character is being played and how everything else mixed up together contributes to making the film worth watching.

I know. I know. It's such a tedious and expensive way of watching a film if you talk about going to the movies three times - like I did for Tomb Raider and the Cradle of Life, which by the way is a lot better than the first one.

I shall spare you of my analysis of Life or Something Like It... except for one thing that well... can come as a food for thought - if people still believes in them.

Lanie, the main charcter raised the question, "Was it worth it?" She was asking if everything that a person gives up to be where he/she is is worth all the effort.

But then, what about the people who have tried so hard to help others and have gotten nothing in return? What about those people who have done a lot of good, but never really had to give up anything simply because they never had anything in the first place? Do we ask them the same question? Do we ask them if "it was worth it?" I don't think so. In the first palce, they never ahd to give up anything. They might have given up a higher paying job for something that would help people, but then they knew twhat they were giving up and they were giving IT up for a higher cause, so to speak. the ":Was it worth it?" question only applies to those who gave up the best thing that ahs ever happened to them. For those who knew and who willingly gave up something better just to help others, they already know that it IS worth it. They do not need such a question. What they do need is a bit of courtesy. No, they are not askign for it, but mostly the lack of coutesy crushes their aspiration to help more and more people.