In time. November 27, 2007

The holiday is long gone. I just got home from my shift last, the first one after the long weekend and it was pfft to say the least. It’s always like that on Mondays. My boss & I joke about it that what if it were the other way around - we’d have a 2-day work ‘week’ and 5 glorious days of week ‘end’, but still get the same pay, haha yeah, right! Well, it doesn’t hurt to dream

BF has been saving up for a Vespa PX150 for quite some time now and his mom giving him the remaining 35k he’s missing answered his prayers.

• Thursday (Nov 22) - Went to Motoworld, The Fort branch to look for a helmet. He saw the one he liked (which costs P11,600, btw; it’s roughly around $280) but the branch didn’t have it in the color he wanted. So they called their other branch and we had them reserve it for us when they confirmed that they had it there. So we went to their Greenhills branch and when they swiped BF’s Citibank it wasn’t being honored anymore - maybe because of the Nautica watch he bought using the same card - so we just left; but we still had them reserve the helmet for us. I treated him to lunch - we ate at Brazil! Brazil! in Metrowalk. When I got home, BF texted me that his new Metrobank credit card just arrived thru mail - hmm, coincidence or meant to be? Hehe..

• Friday (Nov 23) - Since the Metrobank credit card just happened to be mailed when he needed it, early Friday morning we headed out to Greenhills again to swipe away & whaddayaknow it worked! What’s great about this helmet, which is a Caberg, btw, is that it’s, uhm, one whole helmet (or shall I say full face? not sure) that you can remove the lower half (the chin part) and turn it into just a half face helmet for shorter/city rides. Then other than the clear visor over the front it has a ‘darker’ visor for the eyes that can be tucked in the helmet when not needed. Here’s a picture of me wearing BF’s helmet and gloves, hehe. Oh and I just found out the model of the helmet it’s a Cabert Justissimo with a unique double-visor system.

• After finalizing the sale we met up with our good friend (a fellow Vespa owner) for lunch. BF and I ate at Bacolod Chicken Inasal but our friend, M, already had lunch so he just waited for us to finish then he and BF drank beer to wile away the afternoon. We finished around 5pm-ish, traffic was really really bad at this point already. When we got in the car, mama (BF’s mom) called asking us to buy dinner since there wasn’t any ulam in the condo anymore. So we bought Chicken Inasal (again) and some veggies with pork (Adobong Kangkong w/ Lechon to be exact) then went to the condo. I feel asleep on the sofabed outside after dinner. I thought mama was staying for the night, uhm, fortunately, she didn’t. Hehe.. *Insert devilish grin here*

• Saturday (Nov 24) - the big day, for BF that is, well, partly for me too. We met up with J & M and picked up BF’s scooter, it’s a Vespa PX150. (Picture is actual unit) Partly mine also, haha, hey, I did give 10k of my 13th month bonus. Anyway, after paying and praying over the scooter J drove BF’s scooter first then we went straight to Camp Crame so that J can teach BF how to drive his scoot since J has the same exact unit. And they had to some lessons since the scooter is a manual transmission. After this, we had lunch at M’s house and that’s where BF left his scooter. We went home to my house then stayed there until around 6-7pm, I think. We visited the wake of our friend’s dad who died a week ago (the wake was just now because they had to fly the body home here to the Phils since he was based in Australia).

• After this, we went to a friend’s (T) birthday party which was celebrated at a new bar named I ‘heart’ (it was just a drawing of a heart) 80’s. It reminded us of sooo many 80’s stuff! McGyver, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Punky Brewster, Top Gun, Mr. T and so many, many more. I had to go home because mom was home from her flight already.

• Sunday (Nov 25) - Mommy & Daddy’s 25th Wedding Anniversary, yey! BF went ‘riding’ with A, J (brothers w/ A; same J from yesterday), M and G (G is M’s girlfriend; backride w/ M). They went to UP, had Starbucks in Katipunan, went ‘city riding’ and all that. Here’s BF’s picture while riding, I think it was taken by J. I felt sooo left out. I know I can’t go backride with BF yet but I can’t be following them around in my car either, that’s just plain stupid, weird and freaky. I just felt left out. I guess I just got so used to BF and I doing stuff together every weekend then all of a sudden it stops. There’s no gradual adjustment, just like that. It’s like going cold turkey. Oh well, the scooter is still new, so I guess in a few weeks or in a month things will be more smooth but it will never be the same again. How can it be when there’s a scooter to consider already. I’m thinking (conjuring, maybe) all these scenarios in my head that it’s making me bitch at BF already. What if instead of watching a movie or go out to lunch or dinner he’ll just spend the time to ride around the city - even if I can backride already it’s still different. I’m having mixed emotions about this, I found the helmet that I want it’s in pink of course then I also found the perfect jacket, and if I do buy a Vespa, the one below is what I want - I am kinda excited about the whole thing, in a way.

• We’ll know. In time.

11 Mistakes every woman should make November 22, 2007

at least once - and preferably soon! Taken from Glamour magazine August 2002 issue.

1. Having a big lunch before shopping for jeans. You’ll buy for the body you have — not one that never eats, sits or exhales.
2. Not checking in with work while you’re on vacation. P.S. Don’t feel deflated when the office doesn’t burn down in your absence.
3. Talking to a stranger. Especially if he’s hot.
4. Completely losing it. A well-timed hissy can be more effective than “please” and “thank you”.
5. Buying on impulse. Impulse is 90% instinct, and yours are generally good.
6. Rambling on in front of a new guy. If he thinks you’re adorable when you’ve forgotten your point, it’s a sign that he’s smitten.
7. “Forgetting” your cell phone. Imagine… giving the world around you your undivided attention!
8. Wimping out. Opting not to bungee jump or sky dive or otherwise behave like you’re on Fear Factor shows a healthy self-preservation instinct.
9. Having unsafe sex - the emotionally vulnerable variety, not the condom-free kind.
10. Making a fool of yourself in public. Wear a big foam finger at a ball game, or belt out “I’ve Gotta Be Me” at a karaoke bar. The joy of it will make up for any embarrassment a million times over.
11. Ignoring the old saying about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. Your enemies don’t like you; keep them far away. But friends - who can have too many?

I was initially looking for the 100% guilt-free page but for this issue it wasn’t there but I found this one instead - goody! Hehe

Storm’s a-coming November 22, 2007

It’s been raining all night last night (and most of yesterday afternoon) and it’s confirmed that there’s super typhoon coming in. It’ll make landfall by tomorrow - judging by how bad the rains are today already it’ll only get worse by tomorrow. I love the rain. I like it especially when it just hits the ground and you smell the newly bathed grass - hmmm.

Anyway, I was looking for a magazine to read while smoking and I just picked up this old issue of Glamour (June 2005 issue to be exact) and as I was browsing through it I came across the 100% guilt-free page and remembered why I love the magazine so much. Now, I want to find all back issues of Glamour that we have here at home and copy all the 100% guilt-free pages because they’re hilarious and most of all, they’re all true! And, uhm, I can relate, hehe.

Here’s the 100% guilt-free page from Glamour’s June 2005 issue:

Hey, it’s OK…

• if you’re secretly convinced there’s something to that whole hear-the-ocean-in-a-seashell thing.
• to own more eyeshadow than you can possible wear in one lifetime.
• if the only place you’ve had sex is in an actual bed. One location - but a thousand possibilities!
• to start your day with potato chips, ice cream & sausages - as long as you’re prepared to end it with Alka-Seltzer.
• to have a crush on your plumber, our hairdresser, or your daughter’s principal. You depend on them for a fully functional life - it’s only natural.
• to put your Michael Jackson albums away until this whole thing is over. (I guess this is talking about the case he has in court –??)
• to delete any all all chain e-mails - even those from close friends - without opening them (teehee, guilty!).

It’s Thanksgiving weekend, yey! I get 2 days off from work because we follow our client’s (US) schedule. Good thing I’m not a processor anymore because they have overtime until Saturday! Whew. Looking forward to spending quality time with BF.

BFFs November 16, 2007

I don’t know what I was doing at work but my bestfriends just popped into my head and I was taking a trip down memory lane and was laughing to myself because we’re all crazy. We’ve had our share of misunderstandings, but I think that’s healthy and part of life. At least we get to know each other better, discover what irks up who so we’ll be more cautious next time if certain topics are too sensitive for one. I was thinking up a list of things that are great about (girl) bestfriends and here’s what I’ve come up so far:

• I’m naturally mabalbon (uhm, hairy?) - arms & legs to be exact; so when I’m too lazy to shave my legs (and they just happen to drop by my place) it’s ok for your BFFs to see them in all their stubble glory.

• I can change my clothes in front of them and don’t worry that they’ll see my ‘back flaps’, love handles, arm ‘wings’, stretch marks and the like.

• You’re comfortable with each other that when you’re just staying at someone’s house and just watching DVDs and eating chocolates and/or chips you can remove your bra.

• You can be as bitchy as hell and as mean as an old man with hemorrhoids and you don’t worry that she’ll judge you for that - there’s a silent understanding that it’s just not your day.

• BFFs will binge with me on chocolate, cake, ice cream or whatever the craving is - and not feel guilty (or make you feel guilty) after. And there’s that silent understanding again that this is a ‘valid binge’ because there’s a very valid reason behind it - either you had a fit with your beau or your BFF didn’t get a promotion or you’re having cramps or just because.

• BFFs will really, truly be honest and tell you that whatever you’re trying on makes your arms or hips or legs or stomach or even your nose (?!) look humongous and gigantic. And it won’t be embarrassing even if they’ve seen it on you already.

• BFFs share sexcapades (or make out sessions) with each other and know that they won’t be called a slut by them - or a nympho if you’re committed.

• BFFs know your moods already - when you see each other, they can already tell by the look on your face if there’s something wrong or if you have some juicy gossip to spill.

• BFFs will watch that cheesy, romantic, corny movie with you - even if there’s the risk of people seeing you enter/exit the cinema.

These are just some of the stuff that I came up with in the office; I’ll just add along when I think of more stuff.

Speaking of BFFs, I miss the girls already!

PCOS November 16, 2007

or Polycystic Ovaries Syndrome. Defined in Wikipedia as an endocrine disorder that affects approximately one in ten women.^[1] It occurs amongst all races and nationalities, is the most common hormonal disorder among women of reproductive age, and is a leading cause of infertility. The principal features are weight problems, lack of regular ovulation and/or menstruation and excessive amounts or effects of androgenic (masculinizing) hormones. The symptoms and severity of the syndrome vary greatly between women. While the causes are unknown, insulin resistance, diabetes and obesity are all strongly correlated with PCOS.

I think that I got this because of my weight problem. Before, I just thought that I wasn’t “regular” which is common in younger women but as I got older I think it got worse. I can go 3-4 months without ever having a period. I mean, whew, right? No cramps, napkins, stains and all but duh, it’s unhealthy. And this can lead to cancer and if not treated it can affect my ability to conceive. Yikes. I’ve been to a Gynecologist already and had 2 Transvaginal Ultrasounds already (I tell you this is not comfortable at all).

This is the tool used (or shall I say, inserted to check the ovaries).

I have cysts or “follicles” in my ovaries - loosely described as blood not going through the usual cycle, its like their growth is stumped along the way and they stay in my ovaries.

This is not my actual ultrasound but this is how it looks like; the dark ’spots’ are the follicles. Mine are not as huge as this one, though and not as many. Thank God!

I’ve taken medications already and this helps my cycle be regular. But I for some reason I stopped taking the meds, I started forgetting to take them at a particular time of the day then I’d forget for as long as 3 days without taking them until it dwindled down to not taking them at all. Guilty as charged. I was supposed to go back to the doctor some time ago - I can’t even remember when that was scheduled. I also took meds for Type II Diabetes because when you have PCOS your insulin production is disturbed because you have hormonal imbalance so taking this diabetic medicine helps the production/balancing of insulin levels needed by the body.

I just thought of this now (which I should be doing already), but I promise (and I guess this’ll be one of my new year’s resolution) that I’ll visit my OB regularly already regarding my PCOS and have a yearly check up as any responsible woman should. Oh, and going ona diet won’t be bad either.*Nods*

Rainy Days & Thursdays November 15, 2007

When I left the house for work last night it wasn’t raining - yet. Almost always when I get in the car and start the engine I open my window, of course, the engine’s not heated yet so I don’t turn on the aircon until I’ve drove a bit already. I stopped by a friendly neighborhood convenient store to buy cigarettes, so naturally I’ll have to close my window — but nooo it won’t close! The, uhm, motor’s getting jammed so the window won’t close all the way and the glass is not going in between the rubber around the window. At this point, it has already started drizzling. I was, ok, it’s not actually raining, a light drizzle won’t get thru the itty bitty space of the window. It takes me about an hour - hour and a half to get to work, depending on the traffic but with my schedule it’s always traffic - rush hour sucks. So, it starts to drizzle harder. The car’s constantly moving so I really didn’t get wet. I got to the office safe & dry.

This morning on my way home, it was drizzling again so that’s fine because I survived last night’s drive. I picked up M (same M from previous posts) at Medical City because a processor from the office was rushed to the hospital for abdominal pains (it wasn’t gas, wasn’t the appendix - it was on the opposite side anyway, and popping a pain reliever and putting a hot compress didn’t work either). She was injected a sedative (lucky! haha) and they needed to wait before blood & urine tests can be done so M & I decided that I’ll just pick her up and have breakfast. Before leaving the office I tried my darnest to pull up my window as close as it can so that it’ll at least reach the rubber.

When it rains, it pours. Turns out there’s a low pressure area or something somewhere; that’s why we suddenly have this heavy downpour even if there’s no typhoon coming. We decided to have breakfast at McDonald’s. I parked the car and again pulled at the window (by this time it was raining hard already) attempting to close out the small gap between glass & rubber. I figured it was ok already. While eating, it really rained hard. Subconsciously, I was thinking of my car window and sure that my seat was getting wet already since the car wasn’t moving the rain would just drip in. After eating, as soon as I got to the car and opened the door - whaddayaknow, the seat is wet. Good thing I have a small rag in the car so I just sat on that. I brought M back to the hospital and went on my merry way.

On the way home, it rained even harder! I didn’t think that it would get worse, but it did. Didn’t really get wet anymore because I closed the gap already but still, I’ll have to have the window fixed. So I went to an uncle’s (dad’s friend) shop to have it fixed but the mechanic wasn’t there yet so I just went home and made sure that the gap wasn’t there anymore.

I still enjoy driving in the rain.

———————–

Our 13th month pay was credited today, together with our salary. Woopee! I borrowed P2,000 (rough estimate: $45.45) from M last week so when I checked how much salary I got, I withdrew 2k for her already. She treated me to breakfast though, so that’s nice. I ordered a Big Breakfast (1 sausage, scrambled eggs then muffin or rice - I had rice) plus a hash brown, hehe. Oh and hot chocolate too since it’s raining.

I just finished reading Killjoy by Julie Garwood. I looove romance novels and this particular one, I’ve read twice already prior to my reading it recently, so this is the 3rd already. I’m like that, if I don’t have new book I read old ones. And if they’re old ones, I usually read 2 at a time since I know the story already I just like reading mushy romantic stuff all over again, hehe.

Can’t wait for the weekend!

Import November 14, 2007

I am so happy with wordpress right now! I imported all my posts from blogspot to wordpress! Yey!ü

When I started this I was still not sure if I’ll “copy” all my older posts here - but that’d be so tedious so I just decided not to - good thing I just import them all. With just a click of a button, they’re all here.

Older posts are the ones after my first post here at wordpress (duh).ü

I <3 WordPress!

Kopi Roti & Som’s Noodle House November 13, 2007

After G dropped M and I off at Kopi Roti there was this group of people who were shooting, a segment, I guess of some show that was featuring the place. Their famous for their coffee bun. They heat it before serving then it has butter inside that’s really yummy when you eat it - or so I’m told. I was still too full from Chelsea to try the Kopi Bun from Kopiroti so I just ordered their Home Made Iced Tea. It wasn’t the typical Nestea Iced Tea and it didn’t taste like ‘real’ tea (teabags dipped in water then placed ice in it). I won’t write anything more about Kopi Roti since I only got to taste their Iced Tea.

After BF picked me up, we picked up a friend’s girlfriend and went straight to Som’s Noodle House. Now, here I ate. I’ve heard great reviews about this little “resto” in Makati and I was so happy that I was able to try it out first hand. It’s a little hole in the wall (authentic) Thai resto - now I say authentic because the cook himself is Thai. I love Pad Thai and obviously, that’s what I ordered. We also ordered (Beef) Tom Yam soup, fried fish (sorry, I didn’t catch what kind it was), vegetables (Thai’s version of chop suey), rice (but I didn’t have any anymore), and garlic chicken - really good.ü I didn’t order the milk tea anymore because I’m not much into it in the first place so I wasn’t going to try that now. All in all, the food was great. And what’s really unique about this is there are tables along the road, you just under a tent. It’s originally a house that they converted to this mini-resto. People from everywhere go to this place just to eat their yummy dishes. Oh, you can also opt to eat inside but you have to pay an additional 10% because it’s air conditioned. But that’s nothing compared to the delicious food that you’ll be served. I’m definitely going back for their Pad Thai. And btw, it’s c-h-e-a-p — see for yourself.ü

Lunch at Serendra November 11, 2007

I was supposed to post something last night but I was too exhausted to wait for my sister to finish using the pc.

The original plan was to go up to Tagaytay after shift for some lunch and ukay ukay (like a bazaar/flea market). We have a tech coach at work (my batchmate) who lives in Tagaytay and she raved about this ukay ukay there. She said that with a thousand bucks (roughly about $20) you can have a whole sack of clothes.

I get off from work at around 6-6:30 then the other one at around 10am (M) then the other girl at around 8:30 (S), the fourth one at 12nn (G). I drank coffee first at Starbucks to try and wait for 8:30 but I got dizzy already so I went up to the parking lot and read my book in the car to wait for S. S lives in a condo near the office so when she got out we went there and watched Prison Break, haha or we tried to rather because she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Before I turned off the TV, I went to the bathroom to pee and when I got out M knocked on the door already so I opened the door laid down and M parked herself on the pull out. She gets cold easily so after a while she put on her socks & jacket and slipped into bed with S and I. We were all huddled on the bed (good thing it was a big one, hehe ü)

After a while, the alarm went off already but G wasn’t messaging or calling us yet so we just slept. We even joked about it already that we might as well just have a slumber party instead of going out for food - by this time, Tagaytay was out of everyone’s mind already - we were all too exhausted from work to drive anywhere - plus, it was a Saturday, going up to Tagaytay on a Saturday is hell especially at around 1-2pm. We just decided to have lunch somewhere. I left my car with BF and he just went out to lunch with some of his teammates.

Us girls ended up having lunch at Chelsea Market Cafe in Serendra. Now, this didn’t come cheap. Or maybe because we ordered a LOT. Haha!ü We were hungry, you know.

For starters, they served free bread (it was focaccia, I think) with olives on it then there was rock salt on the side and a whole baked garlic on top - that was yummy, it didn’t taste like ‘garlic’, if you know what I mean, it was like it was mellowed down a bit.

Then we had Ceasar’s salad with Grilled Chicken & Crispy Bacon, it even had almonds in it. That was yummmmy. We also ordered Fried Mozzarella something but that was out of stock so we had Risotto Potato Balls with some cheese in it - talk about carbs! Haha ü For our main course, we ordered their Fresh Pasta maid daily with Tomato Pesto Cream sauce. It was really rich but it didn’t taste ‘heavy’. It had seafood (squid, mussel & shrimp) in it and big chunks of tomato - which is what I like. We also ordered Three Sausages (3 different kinds of huuge sausages) that came with a mound of mashed potatoes and saurkraut (which was good, by the way). And now for dessert, we had a ‘Smores cake! Yum! Flourless chocolate cake with graham crackers under & around it then marshmallow on top which they torch right before serving! It really tastes like ‘Smores with the burnt/smokey taste of the marshmallow on top.

We ended up shelling out P600 ($14.26/head) each times 4 that would amount to about P2,400 rough estimate is it came up to about $57. Not bad really, considering that the food really was delicious and there wasn’t actually a need to order something for each because the serving sizes were really meant for sharing, I think.

After lunch, we really needed to walk out all the stuff we ate. So we just went around Serendra and went inside these little boutiques that was selling really unique stuff. Then we went to Market! Market! because M wanted to buy grapes. G ended up buying 2 pieces of pears.

We still went around a bit but S and G still had overtime so we already headed home. M and I had G drop us off at KopiRoti (a whole new post on this) and waited for BF to pick me up.ü

*Photos I got from this site.

There’s always a first time November 9, 2007

Ahhh, there’s nothing like writing your first ever post on your newly setup blog. I think that there’s this high that comes with setting up a (your) blog. I know - I’ve had it before. Thinking of a name, choosing a picture, choosing a theme (! - the best for me), setting up your options, taglines, & everything else. It gives this giddiness and excitement in you and then comes the next part — drum roll, please — maintaining your blog.

This is my 3rd blog. Technically, this is my 2nd. 1st one was with blogspot then I attempted to transfer to livejournal (the layout was too busy for me) then I came back to blogspot. And now I transferred here because the original issue I had with blogspot when I first started is the same problem I’m having when I returned to it. Now, this may seem a wee bit too small for some, I’ll probably hear a “that’s it” from some but my problem was my paragraphs weren’t separating (tada!). I know, I know it can be remedied, but I didn’t want any codes or whatever to edit it. I just wanted spaces in between my paragraphs - shouldn’t just plain ‘entering’ do the trick? Apparently, not. I tried entering so many times, then when I post the blog, it’s one big jumble again.

I sometimes ramble about a lot of stuff and separating my topic/ideas/what have you into paragraphs is MY way. I may, or rather, I will ramble on about non sense stuff but I’m not having this published anyway. Well, not yet. I’m not sure about that - and for the record, I have never published any of my blogs. I don’t know if I’m still trying to find a niche but I admire people who can maintain, sustain, ‘keep alive’ a blog. I want to be like them. I wanted to be a food blogger (still do, actually) - still working my way there. I still get shy taking pictures of the food before I eat. It’s like I can hear other people’s voices in my head saying, “Ay, ilalagay niya siguro sa Multiply/Friendster yan.” (loose translation: She’ll probably upload those photos to multiply or friendster).

So there. Yey for my first post. So far, so good, don’t you think?

Now to figure out how to change my font. I’m a stickler for that too.