People don't need to give you compliments coz they'll give you one if you really are.

Living in my non-home

disclaimer: the following post is rated 35 and up. If you read it and you're not 35 yet, don't blame me for whatever pictures would haunt whatever it is you find between your ears..

As is usual these days when I’m not so busy with work or have a lot of spare time on my hands, I am again bunking in with a friend. If you bother to go and ask my mom, she'd probably tell you that I moved out of the house since September 2003 and that I merely use it as a hotel of sorts complete with maid service and everything else when I'm not out braving the Manila traffic with my non-good non-friend.

Change comes gradually as most poets have written in their, uh, poetry. And now, I have once again proven the romantics of this world right.

Up until today, I never noticed that my abhorrence for seeing any small amount of flesh that should be covered with clothing - (clothing hereby implies a shirt with sleeves and a pair of pants, shorts or skirt) - has been slowly deteriorating. I could actually stand being in a room while friends, or a friend for this matter, exchange stories with me with only a towel covering their otherwise naked chest... I normally squeal my heart out and beg my friend/s to please cover themselves up like normal people do. I am, after all, not their moms. I am a guest. A guest! Who socializes with guests clad in a towel?! Don't get me wrong, my friends are not my friends (hehehe), but... talking to me ina towel is simply... too surreal and... I never do nor do I intend to do that. That is, I USED to scream my heart out and cry for mercy!

Or how I could exchange non-intellectually stimulating, but sarcasm-filled conversation while watching tv and then stand up, walk towards the middle of the room before informing everyone, "i gotta &*%" and then walking off merrily into the bathroom.

Then, there's waking up and staying in bed because I'm too lazy to actually get up ergo having my friend try to conduct another one of those intellectually stimulating, but most hated conversations meant to wake me up. And believe me the topics range from the the comparison between Brazil and Philippines, Philippine Elections, the comparison between the US and UK debates on the War on Iraq, Policy formulation and implementation, Books (both academic and fiction) and the ideas it gives us, the types of make-up and what sorts of fluids to apply on your face at various times of the day and for various occasions while cursing my former professor to hell. Dude, before September of '03 and you wake me up from my deep slumber... during weekends... to try and talk about all these things before my 11am wake up time which means you're supposed to start talking to me only at 1pm, you're sure as hell gonna get an earful from me or have me shut the door in front of your face!

There's the classic: having to walk into the bedroom as I talk to my friend who, I thought, was brushing her teeth or taking off her contact lens, inside the bathroom. Just as I'm about to push the door open, I hear a deafening squeal coming from the other side of the unlocked door which informs me that I shouldn't go in there because my assumption on what she's been doing there is clearly wrong.

Finally, I can now, in all honesty, mischief (evil grin) and full of sarcasm, ask my friend, "do you wanna go with me to the bathroom and talk to me while i $%^?!" and once again walk in all confidence and rather gleefully into the waiting bathroom doors.

Certain green-minded puns might still escape me. And I may still be uncomfortable when a newly bathed roommate wrapped in a towel talks to me and suddenly lets the towel fall to the floor while i'm facing her ergo I suddenly have to look at the tv across the room to prevent shocking the wits out of myself. OMG! Who bares her soul right in front of you, right?! I have those myself, thank you, and I don't need to stare at someone else's! This was when I went for a seminar last November and there were 3 of us sharing the bedroom and we're not even good friends, just acquaintances!

As for my friend, she thought she could shock me before. And indeed she did everytime she pulled those eeky statements. But these days, change is a bliss!

...at least until someone strangles me after reading all these you-don't-need-to-know information. :evil_grin:

Random thought

If there are contests for all those damsels-in-distress who loves the color pink, wearing dresses, doing stuff with their hair, putting on make-ups, bringing their kikay bags, and do nothing but stand or sit and try to make themselevs pretty so they could get a boy friend...

... shouldn't there be contests for those who hate having the term damsel-in-distress applied on women, prefer to change (or at least try to) their own car's tires, love dressing in jeans and shirts and sneakers and do not know how to put on make-up?

If there's a hail-to-the beautiful-damsels-in-distress-whose-answer-to-the-world's-problems-is-world-peace contest, there should be a hail-to-the-beautiful-women-who-follows-their-goals-and-do-not-have-to-wear-make-ups-and-dress-up-in-frilly-clothes contest!

Can't the creative departments of these ontest makers come up with something?

dude, what happened to my your car?

I never thought that sitting alone inside a car you don't own while listening to the radio can be dangerous. That is, not until last night.

I was brought home by alba. Since it was getting late, I asked her to sleep over instead of going all the way home at that time of the night.

But see, asking albz to sleep over means going back to her place so she can get some clothes and her toothbrush even after offering some of your clothes for her use and an unused, ergo unopened toothbrush meant for guests. (She gave the contact lens excuse, but both you and i don't really believe her, do we?! hee.)

We had to drive all the way to her place and park her car in front of the building - deliberately right beside the NO PARKING and NO WAITING sign. There was no way we could actually leave the vehicle in this area and so she went inside the building to her place to get her contact lens case and glasses - at least i thought she did.

Since I was pretty confident that I could drive her car around should some policemen or patrol guy come by (of course, this would be if they didn't ask for my driver's lisence first which I don't have). And lest something happens to me while inside the car, i made sure that all the locks were secure. Furthermore, to prevent my catastrophe-thinking mind (paranoia, you understand) from doing just that - thinking of possible catastrophies and ghost stories (yes, it was that late), i turned on the radio, sat down and relaxed.

You can just imagine my shock when i felt Bembol shaking hard as if there was an intensity 7 earthquake rocking Pearl Drive! Of couse it took but a milli-second to note: This is not an earthquake! A goddang car hit Bembol and I'm alone, inside the car, which is not mine, without a driver's license, parked along a NO PARKING AREA! F***ing SH*T!!! These thoughts raced through my mind and I had not even turned to see what hit the left rear of Bembol.

F*&%^&* S%#T!!!

I didn't want to, but i had to - turn my head, that is. It was so surreal. I thought of all the things Albz would shout at me for not taking good care of her baby and not looking out for her beloved, much-in-need of cleaning and a paint job, Bembol.

I saw this Black or dark blue Pajero perpendicular to bembol's rear. I opened my door at the same time that the Pajero's driverside door opened and out came this girl, probably my age or a bit older, almost running towards me and crying, "Oh my God! I'm soooo sooooorreeeeee! I'm gonna pay. I'm gonna pay!" You're dang right you are!

Seeing that the very late night traffic of about 4 cars behind us was building, I had to tell the girl, "You might want to park your car first."

I know. I know. this is a serious no-no when these thigns happens. However, Alba's building's guard saw everything and had started jotting down plate numbers and car make and was on his way to call Albz from her place so she could come down and talk to this very frightened girl.

And so she parked her Pajero from where it was before - when i was still listening merrily to some alternative music over the radio. She walked and repeated the same tantra oevr abnd over again. I asked her in my most friendly manner (smiling eventhough i'm quite afraid of alba's distress when she sees this) if she was sleepy. She told me no, but that she actually DIDN'T SEE a red Nissan Sentra Parked in front of the Building one lane across from where her Pajero was parked eventhough I got a glimpse of her walking somewhere near Bembol when I looked earlier on the side mirror.

Great.

I thought, explain that to Alba. Where the heck is she?

Out comes Alba carrying a pair of shorts that I had used the previous night and her overnight toiletries. After putting the stuff into the backseat, she got a chance to talk to the girl, who explained everything with my help. What the - ! Albz was smiling and talking calmly with this girl who lives all the way in Pampanga and whose middle name is the same as Alba's last name. After exchangign the numbers and names and plate numbers and with the girl promising to pay for the damage, everything was fixed. The guard even asked us if we wanted to blotter the accident, but of course, there's no need since the girl did say she's gonna pay for it.

And so off we went again to Never neverland so we could rest our bones on each of the bed in my room at home.

You might ask, what's the point of going back and then sleeping over at my place, right? Well, there you go... that's Alba.

Ask Monk.

fear factor will give me a heart attack

i looooovvvveeee fear factor.

it's gross. i love calling those mean contestants names for bragging about beating their opponents only to leave the place because they can't get the job done. it's gross. i love seeing people eat balut (a delicacy here in the Philippines) and feel queasy about it when I know that most people here look forward to eating it. it's gross. i love watching people cross from one place to another 25 feet above the ground. it's gross. i love seeing a married couple get rouches from a heart-shaped container and transfer it from one another using only their mouth. it's gross. i love seeing people nearly puke on liver juice, goat's eyes and worms. it's gross.

i hate roaches. i'm afraid of heights. i hate worms and anything that crawls. i eat balut(only the yellow part). i think i belong to the only family who loves liver. this does not only refer to my immediate family, but to the whole clan of my mom's side.

fear factor is gross and i simply love it.

Can she please keel over and die now?

what si ti with this girl? what is it with these types of people? why do good people die early and bad people live for at least two centuries? ...errrr, most of the times anyway. I guess what I wanna tell this girl is, "ang bait bait mo! sana kunin ka na ni Lord!" ;)

heee.

The Multiple Intelligence Test

...you're smartest when it comes to visual/spatial intelligence

Others may take their environments for granted but not you. Because of your visual/spatial intelligence you really see the world around you. This strength often helps you better appreciate the beauty and detail in everyday things. From shapes in nature to the structure of a fine automobile, a countless variety of things hold your interest.

Having this particular kind of heightened awareness can allow you to form accurate mental images of existing places and objects. In extreme cases, one might call this strength a photographic memory. Being visually/spatially intelligent also means that you likely have a vivid imagination that can be put to use in a variety of creative or professional endeavors.

Power

I received several emails from the current President and Chairman of the Board of our organization asking me if i would like the position since he's resigning and I guess they'll have to settle for me rather than have that corrupt person in there.

Thing is, I don't want it. I am quite comfortable with my position now, thank you. besides, he's the one who started the organization. i believe that until we've achieved some of his vision of what the org can and will do, we shouldn't change officers.

I hate this Filipino crab mentality thing. And for what it's worth, this psycho of a eprson is just wreaking havoc in our organization because we found out all her lies and misrepresentation. So Carl, I believe that our organization is better with you as President and chair and I shall back you up.

All the scoundrels of this world ought to bury their heads 6 feet below the ground or I swear I shall not be responsible for what I shall do to this B**ch who's only after power adn who has been black-listed (as of lasy month) from the Department of Foreign Affairs so the international community shouldn't be seeing ehr face representing the country anytime soon.

Busy Week

that's the constant excuse I have for everybody these days after coming home from our Singapore trip.

In any case, if you wanna know what happened, you can just go check the itinerary from alba's blog.

A few days after returning from Singapore, my niece broke her wrist. That's alsoa few days from her 9th birthday... in fact, it was exactly a week - 7 days - after her birthday. I don't know what happened, I wasn't there so don't you go sending the police to my house for questioning.

Anyway, I had to bring her to the pediatrician who gave us the prescription for pain killer and a recommendation so we could have an x-ray and then bring her to the referred (if there is such a term) orthopedic doctor. Two days after, we found out from the doctor that she had a fractured wrist and the doctor needed to push it back and then put a cast on it. by Wednesday afternoon during the past week, she was confined into Mediacl City and was on the verge of crying and laughing in hysteria. I could not help but smile at her - not because of her predicament, mind you, but because of the way she was acting like she was on stage and gasping in horror at what would be her plight. And in between her acting prowess (e.i. crying out loud that she's going to die) and the doctor's explaination of the procedure, she was glancing behind her back and giving me faces and putting out her tongue as if to spite me. For whatever reason, I can only imgine. But it had me laughing the whole time we were with the doctor.

Thursday, I had to bring her home, but her mom was there to pick her up and so I went home. It was to my surprise that she was brought home by my mom who was ready to strangle my older sister, Adrielle's mom, to death for dropping adrielle to her (mom's) office instead of at home just because my sister was on her way to Enchanted Kingdom (a theme park) with her friends. To put icing on the cake, my sister didn't even bother to feed Adrielle some lunch and it was already 2pm. So off again, we went to the nearest eating place and grabbed some chicken and spagheti and sundae at Jollibee.

Then two of my friends stopped by to sign her cast.

great holiday

just got back from Singapore.

It was amazing! I'm sure to go back and maybe include Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta when i do so.

Will post the pictures some other time.

L O T R: Return of the King

I watched Lord of the Rings again.

Orlando Bloom looks greater than ever. My friend even described his stunts from LOTR 1 and 2 as comparable to Jackstones whereas in the return of the King, his stunts were
C H I N E S E G A R T E R. hehehe.

But my heart was thumping whenever they showed... F A R A M I R ! ! !





OMG! I thought I was gonna have a heart attack right there and then.


So gals, I'm lending Orlando bloom to y'all, but David Wenham is mine!

... my preciiiioouuuusssss!

birthday girl

this post is dedicated to...

C A N D Y ! ! !

ha-ber-day to you...
ha-ber-day to you...
ha-ber-day, ha-ber-day....
HA-BER-DAY TO YOU!!!!

H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y, C A N D Y C A N D Z ! ! !

country hopping

i thought that i would only be able to hop from one country to another while circling Greenpark Village here in Pasig (the street names are cities in different countries). But at long last, my much awaited vacation after nearly 7 years has come. We're bound to leave for Singapore on Tuesday, 13 January; Malaysia on Wednesday, 14 January; and Indonesia on Thursday, 15 January. Of course, our hotel is in Singapore and we'll more or less stay within the city the whole time.

I am so excited tog et the tickets!!!!

but first things first. i need to get my lay-outing job done by Monday.

niece's birthday

today is the family celebration of my would be 9-year-old-niece-on-January-12's (same day as Candy's) birthday. It was nothing extravagant. We just had spaghetti, grilled chicken, 2 types of cakes, and some grilled fish and grilled pork which were still being grilled by the time we left the house. i think i over-ate spaghetti. and as much as i only had a small square piece of the chocolate cake, it was still so heavy (and when i say chocolate, boy do i mean chocolate!). but the point is, my sister - my niece's mom did not even show up for he daughter's birthday.

i can remember now what my niece said last Christmas - how her mom didn't give her a gift and to think she's her mom's daughter. She said that even my good friend sent her a gift and my friend doesn't even know her.

what a bummer, huh?! i never thought i'd meet such a mom until my sister had a kid.

but you know what? i'm thankful for my mom. she bought some clothes for adrielle for her birthday and she said that one of them was given by my niece's mom. For those who sometimes watch the movies at the hallmark channel, this is the epitome of Hallmark for me.

Power corrupts

What do you do with people who misrepresent your organization?

In the past few months, our organization has been having problems with its country coordinator. She has not been very visible in our meetings and we’ve had very few updates from her, which I can count in one hand. She informed us that the international organization has appointed her as the country coordinator. Right after the change of officers and Board members, she told us that she has relayed the information to the international organization including the names of the new board members. The bad thing in all these is we’re dealing with several government agencies as well as NGOs. She has not been able to bring in resources for our disposal as what she should have done ages ago. There have been cases wherein we’ve received complains since she has not given our partner agencies the information and resources that she has promised in behalf of our organization. In fact, there’s a sticky situation wherein a government agency has been insulted since she has relayed several invitations to NGOs and localities without informing the national government. And although she attended the national convention, but has not resurfaced until this December when we gave her an ultimatum. To top it all, she misled us into thinking that she’s irreplaceable.

Since we’ve been having problems with her, the Chairman contacted the international agency directly. Lo and behold! Not only do we have the authority to replace her, but the international agency did not even choose her. She volunteered and so they accepted. But at any time at all, we could replace her. In fact, the international agency mentioned that it was high time we had a change in officers and even representatives. The agency also informed us that they were never informed of the change in officers. And once we have already replaced the country coordinator, who kept insisting she didn’t want to be country coordinator anymore and has told the international agency such, there arose another problem.

Apparently, she talked to a former volunteer and told him we instituted her replacement behind her back. She also informed him that we had some personal grudge against her. And now she’s even talking about how the Board members were illegally placed and whatnot wreaking chaos and havoc into the organization. And she says she wanted out as country coordinator. What’s up with that?

Whoever said that power corrupts, you're right. Absolute power does corrupt absolutely.

Of Resolutions and New Years

Yesterday, I was asked if I made a New Year’s resolution.

Well, I didn’t.

Come to think of it, ever since a New Year’s resolution has not been required by my school, I have never bothered making one… or many as some people do.

When I was in elementary, the teachers in my private nun-filled school, would always remind us to make our New Year’s resolutions and try to keep them. No. They never asked us individually what our resolutions were, but it was more of every 1st day of school after the Christmas holiday, our teachers would remind us that we made some resolution and we should keep them. Since this was a tradition, I got into a habit of making a New Year’s resolution for the same of having something I could strive to keep for the whole year.

Now, don’t get me wrong. These resolutions I made were real resolutions. However, the one pushing me to make them is the desire to have a resolution in mind so that when our teachers reminded us to keep our resolution, I have something to live up to. Yadayada. I know.

What twisted mind I have?! *snicker*

But for the last couple of years, I have never made any resolutions. And it wasn’t because New Year didn’t matter. I guess it’s because every minute, second or even millisecond of everyday is a time to change and make yourself better. And if only we would see that and remember that, then I think all these fuss about New Year’s resolution will be replaced by the natural high everyone gets in moments of epiphany. Maybe then the festive mood we experience around the world during New Year will be experienced everyday and people won’t feel the need to throw stones at each other. But who am I to tell how everyone should be, right?

As for me, I would bet my checking account to fulfill plans rather than resolutions – if I had one, that is. It’s the three-year planning as well as the long time planning, which is better. Your have the first year to start your plan, the second year to make it work and the next year to help make your plan sustainable and plan for the next three years.

things you learn from crazy female driver-turned-instructor

Since alba could not survive being locked up in her place for 24 hours, we went out last night to give her a breather from her thesis. The breather consisted of 2 huge packs of Barbeque-flavored Oishi Ridges, 2 cans of Q-Shandy and some pears and an apple for me.

After going to the mall, eating dinner and coming back to Ortigas Center, Alba decided that it was yet another night for my driving prowess. We exchanged seats along Josemaria Drive. Well, all I can say is I was more afraid of people crossing than anything else. I would go into 3rd gear again, which is really a great phenomenon since it’s me who’s driving. My usual range is second gear at most. Hehehe!

Anyway, just a few things I should consider:

1. Don’t be afraid to press on the gas pedal. The car won’t move if you’re not pressing on it and putting in power into the gear. (Now, why didn’t I think of this before?!)
2. Learn how to go to neutral from 3rd gear and then change into 2nd gear when going over a hump. The car bounces more if you would change into 2nd gear before the hump.
3. Remember your signals.
4. It should take only 3 seconds to look at all three mirrors in checking out other cars and not three minutes.
5. Never stop just because a pedestrian is crossing 5 meters away from you. Slowing down if (and only if!) you’re using the high gears will do.
6. Beeping when crossing the entrance of a basement parking lot is not necessary for your safety. You’ll know when someone wants to park since you’re bound to see anyone turning into the lot.
7. It’s not necessary to make a full stop when turning at curves. Just slow down and you’ll do fine.
8. When causing traffic as you make your three-point turn, remember that the car won’t move if you don’t let go of the clutch.

I might need to digest this some more. Oh and I don't think I frightened the wits out of her this time... or did I, albz?! *snicker*

Honestly speaking, I think I did pretty well.

New Year and New Skill

New Year's day was spent as usual at my cousins' place. Alba was with mom, Adrielle and me since she didn't have her family here in Manila and January 1st was also my cousin’s birthday.

We were at a farmland where 4 of my mom's siblings' family live - 3 live right beside each other while the forth one lives along the street perpendicular to the rest.

Alba and I drove what we call an "owner-type" of jeep. It’s seemingly like the Cherokee Wrangler Jeep, but it's stainless and it doesn't have any cover nor does it have the usual headlights along one of the top bars between the front seats and the backseat.

And this is how the great adventure began...

First, we had to get gas since this Jeep is usually used for practice driving and so it rarely has a lot of fuel. And since Alba was the only licensed driver, she drove it to town, which is a bit far. Now the jeep only had 1 liter of gas. It didn't have power steering for a steering wheel either so she pretty much sweated it out while I rode in front and my cousins - Jun-Jun and Chasy - rode at the back. Anyway, it was pretty wacky at first since she wasn't used to driving it.

About 20 minutes or so into driving, we were near the gas station when the jeep suddenly stopped running since there wasn't any fuel in it anymore and so we stopped... and it was just about the time when Alba was getting the feel of it. *snicker* We pushed the jeep to the side of the road while Jun-Jun got P 60 worth of fuel so we could bring the Jeep into the gas station and put in more into the tank.

After 5 minutes of sitting our merry way, I saw Jun-Jun walking towards us. And just as he got nearer, the left front tire burst and we had a flat. Nope, we weren't doing anything. We were just sitting. uhuh. We called my aunt using my mom's cell phone since I had it with me, but no one could bring us another tire. And since 4 heads are more than one, we filled the tank with the fuel Jun-Jun bought. I drove the jeep into the side of the road and up the sidewalk. Then we went ahead and hailed a tricycle to go back to one of my aunts' houses. We got Alba's car and went back to get the jeep.

Since we only had one guy with us, he had to use the non-cross bar to take out the dirty spare tire and put it in Alba' car's trunk so we could bring it to the vulcanizing place. We then borrowed the shop's jack and brought it with us to the jeep. Jun-Jun had to carry the dirty tire and the huge greasy jack into the trunk again before we drove back to get the jeep. June-Jun then had to use the non-cross bar to take out the flat tire and boy did he sweat it out!

I have to say that I was useful since I was able to figure out how to use the jack and where to place it under the car.

Then Alba and I returned the flat tire to where the spare used to be. Boy was the tire so heavy!

Once the tire was replaced, Jun-Jun drove the jeep into the nearby gas station, added fuel and washed the dirt from his hands. Alba and I followed them and we washed our hands because we were so dirty! hmmm... come to think of it, i think Chasy was the only one who went away with no grime on her hands!

Anyway, Jun-Jun and Chasy then returned the jack to the vulcanizing shop while Alba and I tailed them. We then went to Kalayaan St. and drove along the deserted elevated road of the farmland where we were going to practice driving.

When it was my turn to drive, I was doing so well - going from 1st gear to second gear and even third gear (woohoo! this was the first time i went to third gear) until I had to make a u-turn. It was a narrow road the sides of which slants into the ditch on both sides. While I was using all the strength I could muster, Alba got frightened because of what I was doing. *snicker snicker snicker* While I knew that I turned her hair white when it almost seemed like I was going into the ditch, I also pretty much knew that I would not be going into the ditch anytime soon. *snicker snicker snicker*

I was driving and trying my luck at making a u-turn, but I couldn't understand what they were asking me to do. The jeep would die and I had to start it pressing on the clutch and the brake or else I’d fall into the ditch. But then I had to press the gas so I can back up which will lead me to the other side and yet another ditch! I thought they wanted me to let go of the clutch when it was the brake that they wanted me to let go of! what a crack! Anyway, I managed to make the u-turn and frighten Alba's wits out of her! *snicker* See, I couldn't laugh since i was concentrating on what I was doing.

And then later on, I drove back to the aunt's place. Alba beeped from behind me. Since I knew she couldn't see me from her car, I let go of the steering wheel, put out my arms and make some boxing move like I was gonna have a boxing match with her.

Then there was another beep and I place my arms out again. I was gonna do the same move, but then my cousin told me to slow down and let the other jeep pass by. Heee. I thought it was just Alba again. And then off I drove on.

It was fun spending the day driving. I even parked the jeep!