things to be happy about

as a song goes, you've got to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative so that's what i've been doing the past couply of days. my personal life took another dramatic episode. but instead of moping and sulkin, i learned that it's best to just look at the good.

so, here are things that i'm happy about:

after weeks of sucky turnover, i'm finally enjoying my new job. i feel like for the first time in years, i'm using what i learned in college and i'm so up for any challenge that may come my way.

i'm learning and i'm happy.

~~~~~~

pau's new car came today so it's time to enroll in driving school. she took me for a spin when i got home tonight and i must say, for a beginner, she drives better than some people i know.

we have yet to name her though. that's always crucial so we're gonna have to wait til she gets baptized. hahahaha.

~~~~~~

we're going home to bulacan this sunday for the annual town fiesta. i always get excited when we go back to my birthtown as i get to see my cousins who i grew up with. this year, it's gonna be extra special as kuya eugene is back and well on his way to recovery. we all have missed him so we can't wait.

~~~~~~

my sister and i have gone closer. she is my best friend as i am to her. and whatever drama that we're going through right now, i know we are each other's ally.

bring it on!

tickets for Avenue Q

i made ticket reservations last thursday and was supposed to pick them up the next day. however, since we were in the hospital til sunday, i failed to claim them hoping that i can still get tickets for the show on the 23rd.

so i called both ticketworld and Atlantis today and much to my utter disappointment, tickets are sold out on all the remaining shows. deng it!

all for the sake of beauty

since my sister had her upper lip waxed, she had been nagging me to do the same. she even volunteered to pay for the salon just so i can have them removed. personally, i don't think they're even that bad. i mean, i'm far from lookin like a man nor do i have the need to shave or anything. in fact, some even say it adds to one's sex appeal.

this afternoon, however, since she just got discharged from Asian Hospital (she had severe tummy ache thursday night so we had to rush her there), i figured i had to give in.

so, armed with Epilin, a lighter and a candle burner, i allowed my sister to have her way with my upper lip. i braced myself for what was expected of hot wax on skin and i was surprised that it wasn't so bad. in fact, we were laughing the entire time.

now, not only does my sister feel better, my upper lip is hair-free. what a weekend indeed.

sucky turnover

i was supposed to start with my new team last monday. but no! my former boss still wants to keep me for a few days more so i can make the proper turnover.

i have nothing against this. in fact, i have prepared the documents last week so transition would be a breeze. but what the heck am i going to do with damn documents if the person i was supposed to be turning them over to IS ALWAYS ABSENT! talk about irresponsibility!

now, i'm stuck doing my old job until he shows up for work.

patience was never my virtue ESPECIALLY when it comes to incompetent colleagues. whatever happened to work ethics????? grrrrrrrrr!!!!

Avenue Q

voted Best Musical in the 2004 Tony Awards, Avenue Q is a play where people and puppets share the stage. the story evolves around princeton, a college grad who went to New York in the hopes of making his dreams come true and the people who live in a neighborhood called Avenue Q.

i read about this musical thru bobby garcia's blog today and fell in love with it right away. i wanted to watch it so naturally, i went online to purchase tickets . however, since the venue is a bit small i found out that there are no more seats available on Ticketworld.

i'm keeping my fingers crossed that there will be seats left when i call Atlantis tomorrow (actually, i called tonight but it's past office hours hehehe!) as it only runs til the 23rd of Sept.

wish me luck!

bibidi-babadi-bu

ayi, pam, dennis and i watched Disney's Cinderella for Kids @ OnStage Greenbelt today.

the story is the same and the music, familiar. but Rep Children's Theater made it an interesting production as the audience became part of a few scenes. kids screamed and raised their hands when prince charming went around the theater asking lil girls to try on the glass slipper and when fairy godmother asked what the magic word was. everyone was singin bibidi-babadi-bu!.

a new take on a classic, Repertory Philippines version of the Disney animation is a must see for the kids and the kids at heart.

blogs ghosts of the past

i opened my old blog account today since i wanted to include the old entries in this website. since blogger is unable to import from another blog site, i had to go through each and transfer them one by one (unless of course, there is another way of doing it, which i didn't know about)

as i went from one entry to the next, i can't help but feel weird about it. it was my life in 2005 and boy, what a year it was.

-- had a boyfriend
-- fell in love (yeah, the falling in love part came in later hahaha!) -- fell in love with his kid
-- was confronted by the kid's mom
-- an ex got married (to someone who looked like me! hahaha!)
-- turned 30
-- found out the bf was cheating on me from the girl he was cheating on me with
-- broke up with the bf and never saw him again since

reading about the past brought back familiar feelings. while a bulk of what happened ended on a sad note, i no longer harbor such feelings.

but to say that i wasn't affected is an absolute hypocrisy. it was, after all, part of what made me the person i am today.

men...the need (or not) of them

here's what the quiz had to say...

You Don't Need a Man ... or Want One!

Generally, you're very happy being a single woman. And anyone who has a problem with that... well, that's there problem. Not that you wouldn't share your life with the almost perfect guy. You simply won't settle though. Your life is too good to share with some substandard man!

Do You Need a Man?

talk about self-prophecy! incidentally, i started reading Sexy, Sassy, Singularly Happy: The Savvy Girl’s Guide to Enjoying the Single Life. hahahaha!

hey don't get me wrong. i'm not brushing off men! i just wanna make sure that the next one doesn't turn out to be an ass like the last one.

blinded by love's sweet woes

love is blind goes one saying. another says something about it not being blind but that it just refuses to see. however which way one may see it, i don't get it. never had and never will. and i say that with utmost certainty.

it then comes naturally that i would say a thing or two whenever a friend falls into this shithole of a place. you know, that kind when you're so in love that even if everybody is asking what the heck are you doin, stop before it's too late, etc., you simply refuse to listen without batting an eyelash?

i mean, what's up with that??? i hate it when i see smart women turn into decripit individuals who always end up justifying whatever wrong their partners did. and not only that, they keep coming back for more.

the battered wife syndrome could very well be applied to such since abuse is not limited to that of the physical. anything that violates one's right as a human being no matter how trivial or small should never be tolerated.

it frustrates me when a friend is caught in this web. and no matter what us friends say or do, they still won't add up. coz in the end, it is their life. it is their choice. all we could do is pray and wait that they realize it before it gets too late.

window shopping (not!)

normally, i'm not a fan of mall sales. for one, i don't like crowded places plus i don't have the female genes of going from one shop to another just to browse or try on stuff.

april, on the other hand, is a self-confessed shopaholic. i stayed in her pad last night (read - we stayed up to the wee hours and woke up around noon) with the intention of going to the gym. but since we woke up late, we ended up going to the mall instead.

"let's just window shop", we both agreed. anyway, it's gonna be our "work-out" for the day. cardio in style hahaha!

of course in girl world, window shopping never happens. april wanted to look for oxford pumps and i needed to buy a pair of jeans.

so, what did we end up buying? a pair of jeans for me and fab fab wedge shoes each - mine, a metallic black, and hers a metallic silver just coz it matches her outfit!

whew! i wonder how much calories we burned with all that work out?

oh! and by the way, the vodka did kill some of the virus hahahaha!

under the weather

i've had colds the last couple of days and at the rate i'm goin', i may very well be in the verge of having a flu.

my nose and throat are still sore from constant sneezing (yes, even the softest kleenex can irritate huhuhuu) and my whole body feels as if i just had an entire day of workout.

that being said, you'd think i'd stay in and be done for the night. but no! i'm off to meet up with april for a weekend of cocktails and dvds at her pad.

it's the end of the week. it's the end of the month.
more importantly, i just got my paycheck.

so, before i start hearing christmas carols (i don't like 'em), runny nose and all, i'm headed out to have a fun time. all the while keepin my fingers crossed that all the alcohol would kill whatever virus i have.

happy weekend everyone!

Josh Groban tickets

so i called Ticketworld today (for the nth time) and much to my dismay, tickets are still not on sale.

bad news is that only 3,000 tickets will be sold. more bad news, it's gonna be the only show in Asia. and the worst news is, ticket prices are ridiculously high!

so now i'm thinkin, do i love him enough to spend 10K for 1 friggin show????

argh! if only money grew on trees!

career move

finally, the much awaited promotion was made official today.

woohoo! from this day on, i WILL NOT have to deal with my boss anymore!

cheers! cheers! i'm free!

3-day bum

today marks the first movable holiday mandated by Republic Act No. 9492.

while most people opted to go out of town or be somewhere else, for me, it meant catching up on sleep and just basically a chance to bum around.

dressed in my jammies and armed with a remote, a laptop, several DVDs and a good book, that is just what i did. and boy did i have a blast. well at least on the first 2 days.

now on my last day, anxiety is slowly creeping up on me. i suddenly realized i haven't been out of the house in 3 days! it's not that i don't mind being home, i mean, i love spending time with my parents. but i have to admit, i'm not built to just stay home and lay like brocolli.

being a weekend couch potato (minus the lazy boy and the chips), while fun to do once in a while, isn't something i'd wanna do often.

one good thing that came out of this though, i can't wait to go back to work tomorrow.

josh groban live in manila

i first saw josh in an episode of Ally McBeal and i've loved him eversince.

his voice is simply magical that everytime i hear or watch him sing i always end up with goosebumps.

to say i'm such a HUGE fan is an understatement. baduy and cheesy na, i don't care. i love him.

and you bet your asses imma watch that concert come october 18 at the PICC.

~~~~

8:52PM

called Ticketworld today and much to my dismay, tickets aren't on sale yet. grrrr!!!

the fuzz over a piece of doughnut

Krispy Kreme is finally in manila and people are lining up!

the branch at bonifacio heights was no different as we waited for our turn last night. kinda like how it was when Go Nuts Donuts came into town. i remember people going all the way to The Fort and waiting in line just to have a piece. even limiting sales to 1 box per person. these days however, sales aren't as high.

and as i bit into my fave melt-in-your-mouth original glazed, i thought, after all the fuss and ooohhss and aahhhs have died down, is it goin to be like the others? something that's so popular until a new one comes along?

imma just have to wait and see. for now, i'm just glad to have a new place where i can get my sugar fix.

small price to pay

tropical storm Chedeng hits Metro Manila

waist deep. that's how much water got inside our basement kitchen.

knee deep. that's how much water was on the streets on my way to work.

mile long. that's how terrible the traffic was on the road.

small inconveniences if they meant a few centimeters of water level increase in our major water reservoirs (Angat, Ipo and La Mesa dams).

our kitchen is a mess.
i was late for work.
my shoes are wet.

still, i have no right to complain.

on hobbies and passion

i've always loved talking to ayi. he makes sense. he doesn't judge. he listens. he does not give unsolicited advice. for years, he has been the designated dalai lama of the group. we go to him if we want to make sense out of anything. and the best part is, we listen.

this weekend however, it was my turn to listen. while pam, jacky, dennis and the rest of the new diving friends went to explore the open sea of anilao, ayi and i opted to just stay in the resort, a book each in hand - his, Warrior of the Light by Paulo Coelho, mine, Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic Ties the Knot.

a good hour or so and a few pages later, he sat down and said "i feel sad as i still don't know what my passion is". this not a new topic for us as we had the exact same conversation 3 years ago. only then, his question was "do you think i'm passionate?" of course, that time, i knew where he was coming from. he and april were still together and anyone who knows april would agree that she epitomizes what passion is about.

now, three years later, he is in that place again. only this time, his reasons aren't the same. he wants something that can make a difference and not just a hobby to while away the time.

a hobby is one that you do for yourself. passion is when you use that hobby as a tool to help or make others aware and in doing so, gives you a certain satisfaction that no amount of money can buy. it is when you take that extra step in the hope that at least one person is touched.

it is when scuba divers go out and clean the reefs; when bikers ride for cancer patients; when fashionistas and models walk the ramp to raise funds for AIDS; when teachers see the first sentence a student writes; when writers influence the way their readers think or take them places they've never been to; when musicians sing their heart out to feed the hungry; when actors and film makers bring tears and laughter which, for a brief moment, make the audience forget about the everyday drama of their lives.

when hobbies affect and inspire not just you, it becomes passion.

towards the end of the conversation, we both agreed that while for some, passion comes oh so naturally, it may not be the same for the rest. it doesn't come with a deadline like reports and budget proposals. nor does it come with a blueprint or manuals on how to's.

it happens when one is ready and while still in pursuit of it, there is no need to beat yourself up.

if marriages are made in heaven

"Papa Jesus, pa-expedite naman po yung sa kanya" (arms pointing at me)

i almost fell off 5 flights of stairs laughing as soon as mye blurted those words.

but then, come to think of it, if marriages are indeed made in heaven, what's taking so long for mine to be made? are there still papers needed to be signed? release clearances to be accomplished? heck, did i even place an order or fill out a form?

not that i'm in any hurry or anything. it's just nice to know that somethin's brewing for me. and when it's finally complete, i'd have the perfect fit.

still, it won't hurt to say, "Papa Jesus, pa-expedite naman po yung sa akin".

6 weird things about me

april tagged me so here goes...

1. i don't eat mangoes. ripe mangoes to be exact. and i'm talkin about anything that has the slightest hint of ripe mango in it...cakes, ice creams, crepes, shakes, candies. if there's ripe mango in it, i ain't touchin it.

2. i love goin to the beach but i hate saltwater.

3. i eat slow...very slow...i don't think it's weird but my friends say otherwise

4. i can't talk when i'm texting nor can i entertain anyone else when i'm on the phone...one at a time please! but when it comes to work, i can multitask.

5. i'm the eldest of three but my mom still calls me her baby...argh!

lastly...and probably the weirdest and most embarassing, if i may add...

6. the first thing i do when i wake up...right before i get off my bed, i FART! and i'm not talkin about a "lady" fart, but more like the oh-my-god-i-can't-believe-that-came-from-me kind.

hahahha so much for makin a good impression huh?

i'm tagging monay, frodo, ate bing, pau, shawie and mike