Merry Christmas Beybeh

My most awaited vacation is here at last. Thank God I wasn't tempted to waste away all my leave credits last month or I'll be left alone for the holidays. My twin and I reserved tickets a week before our trip we thought it'll be such a hassle to get one on the day itself especially during this time of the year where everybody's going out of town for the holidays. I hate falling in line but we had no choice they don't have online reservations yet it's a long queue at the terminal. 

We waited roughly thirty minutes for the 6 PM bus to arrive. We arrived past midnight yesterday the bus stopped in front of our vacation house since it's along Marcos Highway it's still kinda dark the moonlight lighted our path. Sissy rang the doorbell our brother opened the gate it's good he's still awake. We're so tired but it's good to be home, I miss home, my family and real food of course. My parents are quite surprised and worried at the same time they haven't seen me in months they noticed that I've lost a lot of weight they thought I got sick or something but I told them that I'm okay I'm just on a diet because that's the truth. I'm not going to forget about my diet while on vacation but I promise to myself that I will eat properly I don't want to be so hard on myself. 


I need quiet time and I definitely will make the most out of this vacation. We slept early so we missed Noche Buena we opened our Christmas presents in the morning. We loved mom and dad's gifts, a cute rabbit coin banks, yay! We gave them a digital photo frame in return and they liked it a lot. I got my niece two pairs of baby leg warmers she's wearing it right now it fits perfectly. 


That's about it for now. Have a Merry Christmas to y'all. Cheers!!!

14 Days Before Christmas

Fourteen days to go before Christmas twin sissy and I thought it's never too late to hang our Parol (Pinoy Christmas lantern) that dad bought us at the balcony door. I haven't blogged a lot I've been quite busy. It's my rest day I stayed home all day and took my much-needed rest. We had "Amazing Race Asia" marathon in AXN because twin sissy's crush Richard Herrera happens to be one of the contenders so we're instantly glued to the TV. Whatever she watch, I watch of course.

Amazing Race Asia's 2 Richards'

I got the canon lens mug that I ordered online yesterday via Air 21, I liked it a lot. I give myself a little something every Christmas like some sort of reward for working hard. My gifts are all wrapped up and ready to be given away. I'll be away for the holidays I can't wait I badly needed this vacation. I needed some time to chill and think things over. I realized that life isn't all about work and money. What I'm feeling is that work has taken over me and I need some time to be with my family, glad I still have one to come home to.

Canon Lens Mug

Clickatoo

It's a sunny day today yay! Twin sissy's at work while I'll be spending my next few hours in bed I'm going back to work tonight as much as I would like to go on leave forever. I don't want to complain anymore 'since I'll be on leave again this weekend, great. Just in time for the 13th month. Three more days before 13th month I'm so excited I can't wait any longer. I can't eat, sleep, oh wait I'm overreacting haha! Sissy and I got new pairs of ear candies last night that we ordered it online they're so cute we're just happy. 


My newest addiction is online shopping I've never enjoyed technology this much, everything is just right at your fingertips how cool. I don't have to scour the mall to look for Christmas presents all I have to do is to sit in front of my computer and check online stores for cheap and cutesy stuff, pay it via Gcash or bank transfer and get my package delivered in few days it's so convenient. My Christmas gifts are almost ready all I need to do is to boxed 'em up. I'm just curious if I will I get any Christmas present but I won't feel bad if I don't get any, really. If you give something to someone you shouldn't expect something in return. Christmas is all about gift giving.


Off to bed. Goodnight.

Monday Sickness

It's a rainy Monday aftie. I stayed home and got myself real busy. I did a makeover of our studio-type room I hope that sissy's going to like the new arrangement. I re-arranged our furnitures so we can breathe a little we have so much stuff yet too little space for everything. The room next door is still under repair the family who lived there for almost a year left last week but already saw a couple checking it out yesterday. 


I did not go to the gym today but it feels like I did I had my muscles stretched when I moved some heavy furnitures like our wooden cabinet, fridge, etc. I still have colds but I'm feeling quite better after self-medicating like eating fruits and drinking lots of water for two days. I don't catch a cold easily but there must be a very strong virus at work. I hate getting sick it feels weird thank God I'm on leave last Saturday I was able to rest yesterday and today and it's still my off or else my flu could have gotten worse.

Boxing for Toughies

Manny Pacman Pacquiao as anticipated, won again by unanimous decision over cis Mexican contender Antonio Margarito before 41,734 boxing spectators at the Dallas Cowboy Stadium in Dallas, Texas yesterday. Pacman wins his 8th title and once again made Filipinos and the country very proud. 


I did not watch the entire fight and found out about his win over Margarito from my sister who got a text message from a friend. Pacman's fight is always like a holiday in the Philippines, no traffic, no crime, pretty amazing. I'm no boxing fan and I know nothing about the technicalities of this sport but every time Manny has a fight I also try to watch just like everyone else. It makes me proud to see a Filipino being admired by the whole world. I can't stand people hurting each other even if it's just a game I find it a little too much for me so as to why I chose boxing as my fitness sport remains a mystery, lol. I don't know maybe I just find this sport interesting. Boxing is a man's sport but now women are enjoying it as much as they do. 


I worked out earlier some girls at the gym still can't get over the Pacman fight fever, duh. I just had mini stop's tuna mushroom melt wheat bread sandwich for lunch so I'm kinda starving already but I'm waiting for twin sissy to get home from work so we can have dinner together I made us gourmet chicken sandwich. 

Troubled Me

Tuesday has become my least favorite day of the week. I hate the thought of going back to work. I don't feel good, honestly. I envy my sister she's moving on to a new department but same account just not as toxic compared to where she was for two years. Well, as of me I'm stuck. I have a choice to drop this if I want to but I don't want to do something careless at this point, it's Christmas time if you know what I mean. Two weeks before 13th month but I'm becoming more depressed as Christmas time is drawing near. Sissy's definitely going to enjoy the most important holidays of the year while I'll be praying hard that I'll have the same fate. I hope next year's a good year for a career leap. Change is inevitable and risky at the same time but without the risk, there's no room for growth. 


Whatever it is I'm up for the challenge.

New TV

Another busy rest day as always. I just had two hours of sleep but that didn't stop me from hitting the punching bag real hard I must say that I had a good work out. I had a bucketful of sweat gotta burn 'em all carbs. 


Twin sissy and I got home past noon, our two-year-old niece greeted us like there's no tomorrow hehe. Our elder sister told us that she is the only one supposedly coming over but dad, our other sister, and fourteen-year-old niece tagged along with her. Our elder brother drove all of them here so it's a family day affair kinda thing. Dad brought us  Suman (rice cake) fresh from Antipolo. When everyone's gone twin we head over to Robinson's Galleria and checked out Saizen where I bought a vegetable bag and key holder for myself. We're starving after strolling the mall for almost an hour and spotted Burger King so we had our uber late lunch. We haven't eaten in BK in years so we miss ed Whopper JR that's what we ordered but for some reason, it doesn't taste as good as the old Whooper anymore and the size of the burger is a lot smaller than it used to be, just saying. We miss the food in BK but our food trip at Brothers Burger last week was more satisfying. 


We went to SM Megamall later to scout for an LCD  TV our not so old TV is still under repair by Manong Guard who happens to be an electrician too but there's no update yet if he's able to fix it we don't want to wait for another week without TV, luckily we found one in Western Home Appliances. Our new sharp 22 inch LCD TV has a sleek design, we liked it a lot I think we found our dream TV. 


Sissy is fast asleep as of this writing and she wants me to read the manual to learn about the features of our new TV I told her I'll try because I hate reading manuals I find it boring plus she did TV support back in Sony so why would I bother? but I won't tell her that of course zip it, zip it! haha. I always tell her that she can count on me when it comes to troubleshooting our Internet or computer but TV is not my thing I find it too complicated.

Cable Signal Problems + The Myth of the Human Body Exhibit in Taguig

It's a rainy-gloomy Tuesday morning. It's All Souls Day but it's no holiday for me because I have shift at work. Holiday or not I still come to work I just care about holiday pay. When I was a kid I get excited about the holidays because there's no class. 


I woke up early so it wouldn't be difficult for me to sleep later since I've been off from work for five days and almost getting used to normal night sleep. Sad to say I'm back to being a vampire again. I'm going back to work whether I like or not. Yesterday was my interim off and tonight is the start of an earlier shift from 9:30 PM to 7 AM. At least I can go home before sunrise, great. 


Our cable lost signal again. An error popped up on the TV screen saying "e06 smart card failure." Every time I see this error on our TV I tell my sister if we can only buy that darn smart card I'll just buy that just to make it stop. I think we need to change our cable provider this is such an inconvenience, it's not funny anymore. Since our cable provider digitalized their system we've nothing but problems. I love the crystal clear reception with the help of our digital box but I'm not happy with frequent signal interruptions it's getting annoying especially when you're in the middle of watching something important. Poor customers like us can complain as much as we want but albeit that a big cable provider like them can't be shut down. I guess we're stuck with what we have. Actually, we've already switched providers before the one we had is far worse than this. What can I say? A song goes I'm just a small voice.

The Neobabylon Building

Let me talk about this interesting exhibit I saw in the news last night called the Myth of the Human Body. The exhibit opened on October 15, 2010, at the Neobabylon Building along Bayani Road in Taguig city and housed donated bodies transformed into art forms. Pretty scary right? I know, they're just wax-like figures but they're still cadavers so the thought of getting locked up in a museum like that gives me goosebumps. Kinda freaky and disturbing at the same time but I find it interesting because those are real bodies and parts I'm sure that it's truly a painstaking task to put them all together. I read from Jessica Soho's post on Facebook that the entrance fee up to date is Php 350 but I'm sure it's worth a try especially if you're up for something educational and far out at the same time. I'll check out with sissy if she'll be interested since it's a once in a lifetime experience. The "Myth of the Human Body" exhibit will be in the country until April of next year. For more information read the article from www.gmanews.tv.

All Saints Day

It's All Saints Day and it's a holiday. I like it when there's no traffic and the streets are not busy. It's drizzling when I left earlier to attend a week day mass in Quiapo Church. The travel time is only 30 minutes would you believe it? How I wish everyday's a holiday and the weather is humid so everyone's relaxed. I still get confused with November 1st as All Souls Day and the 2nd for All Saints for some reason. 

It's my first time to see an "e-burol" or electronic burol (wake) I saw this while watching the news on ABS CBN years ago. I just happened to remember maybe because it's All Saints Day. "E-Burol" was introduced by the St. Peter Memorial Chapels. It's an online viewing facility geared towards overseas Filipino workers who face problems on finances and proximity. Let's say an OFW family member dies and can't go home due to financial constraints, they can view the burial online 24 hours provided that they have Internet access from where they are just by simply logging on to St. Peter's website so it's like being in the wake too. When I first heard about e-burol from an officemate I thought it's kind of freaky. I mean seriously? So anything is possible nowadays because of technology? I think it'll be really beneficial not just to OFWs but also to families who are in the province who cannot travel to their far away loved ones to attend another family member/relative's wake. Although technology cannot replace the presence of a loved one but e-burol is quite practical. 

Happy Trick or Treat

It's a busy day today, twin sissy and I woke up early and work out together. Supposedly, we'll hear mass at Quiapo Church after our weekend morning routine but we had a change of plans when our elder sister texted me to meet up her and our niece at the mall. I hate going to the mall especially during the last day of sale it's too crowded not to mention that it's the eve of Halloween so expect kids in costumes, trick or treating. I'm just wondering why they call it "trick or treat" when obviously no one dares do to a trick. 

Today is the last day of my leave but I'm still off from work tomorrow so I can finally go to Quiapo Church to hear mass I had it postponed again today we left the gym around noon and I prefer a morning mass. I think I have accomplished a lot so my time off was worth it. Of course it's payday weekend, time for shopping yay!

Emoti-Me

Rest day + 2 days on leave + interim off, awesome! I filed my leave last week just out of whatever. Well, everyone at the office is going on leave why can't I? I'm supposedly saving my leaves for December but who cares now? I just wanna give myself a break. I'm no heroine I can't save the queue, darn it. 

I'll be real busy on my time off so I'm looking forward to it. Anyways, I got all the ear candies I ordered online via Multiply yay! I'm happy they're real cute,  I love all of it. I was scouring the web for some cool stuff when I came across these "emotibuds" from a Multiply site that sell Ipod charms. I got excited I fell in love instantly with these cute emotibuds so I placed an order immediately before they ran out. They're so cool and cute as a button I imagined myself wearing 'em on my headphones. 

It's pay day tomorrow, music to my ears. 

Here Comes the Rain Again

It's raining all day our weather notifier says that the sky is overcast and it feels like 29 degrees celcius today. It rained this morning just when I'm about to leave the house to go to the gym...great. But that didn't stop me from working out I feel like I need sweat out. So, I work out by myself despite the heavy rain. The sun came out for a few minutes then it started drizzling again as soon as I left the gym. 

I checked out Royal Sporting, a factory outlet in Crossing that sells brands like Reebok, Umbro and Vanss sporting shoes and other stuff like bags, shirts, etc. for a much cheaper price located just across Elorde. I had to use the foot bridge to get there I find it kinda scary it's like I'm going to fall or something. Anyway, I didn't find anything nice that's worth buying I head over to Edsa Central instead and bought myself a Celloshine from HBC. I colored my hair "red wine" I'm happy, I liked it. 

I had "tortang egg" with lettuce and crushed chilli pepper the one from Yellow Cab, we collect them it gives any dish a spicy twist. I goes well with toast for lunch. I finished all my chores early I had plenty of time to surf the Internet and rest. Sissy and I craved McDo for dinner we ordered twister fries and chicken nuggets. I miss eating fast food sometimes but I can't give up my diet, no way and not anymore. Losing this much weight never felt so good.

Ear Candy

I woke up early and finished my work out before lunch time. I had a good one it was worth all the sweat I feel light again. After my work out I dropped by at David's Salon to get a haircut I thought somebody else will do my hair thank God my hairstylist was just on time he arrived while the receptionist/assistant is blow drying my hair. I love my new haircut I'm happy with it so I gave my hairstylist a tip for a job well done. It's lunchtime when I got home I had my favorite Pecho meal or PM 2 to go from Mang Inasal. I got hungry from working out earlier I devoured my food immediately. Before leaving for the supermarket Manong guard hand me a package I got excited I hurriedly open it and found out that it's the ear candy I ordered online. I almost forgot I had I got excited I took off my old studs and put it on. I'm expecting another pair next Friday I'll be a lot happier if only I can get it sooner.  

Shoot, I forgot that it's the start of the three day sale at SM Megamall I fell in line for almost two hours to get a ride home. Bummer.

Toxic

Rest day + payday tomorrow, yay! Work is becoming so toxic, I hate it. I come to work just to wait for my days off and payday. Can it get any more obvious? I love my job (with much sarcasm) I say that while banging my head on the wall. Just how I'm feeling these days and pardon me if I've been ranting a lot I just have to so I can let this out of my head. 


I slept for a couple of hours but still a little tired. I'm enjoying my newfound hobby, shopping for cutesy earrings online. It's keeping me busy recently. It's like a therapy y' know. No better cure for burn out I guess but finding something that makes you happy than to dwell on nonsense. I'm excited I can't wait for my ear candies to arrive.

No Rice

Another rest day is almost over. As usual, I work out in the morning then finished all household chores a few hours ago so it's mission accomplished for me. I had 10 hours of sleep today I got totally exhausted from yesterday. Imagine, I worked out after my shift, bought groceries after and did our laundry. I swear to I'm not going to work out after my shift again. Rule of thumb, don't work out if you haven't had sleep yet or you'll end up ready to pass out good thing mind over matter prevailed I told myself I can't collapse at the gym that would be totally embarrassing. 


Tell you what, I survived without rice for a week believe it or not. I usually eat rice during my cheat day which is the day before I work out but I just don't feel like eating rice for a week. I lost a couple of pounds this week I'm happy about it.

Hello October

Oh great, the sun is finally out it's been hiding half of the day. I'm done with my usual day off routine: work out in the morning and house cleaning in the afternoon. I just had two pieces of Skyflakes for lunch I can't eat rice anymore I already did yesterday plus fast food because twin sissy and I went to the mall yesterday to buy some stuff. 

I filed my leave for November two days ago I haven't been on leave for a month to focus on my metrics... my what? yes, you read it right, my metrics believe it or not. I failed CSat last month so I was under pressure to pass this month. Here comes October, new month, new stats and new challenges. "Ber" month is up again which means that Christmas is just around the corner hopefully I don't get to work on Christmas and New Year's eve or else I'm not going to be happy I don't friggin' care about holiday pay at all, please. 

Best Cardio

I love it when I sweat a lot I know that I'm burning calories which is definitely a good thing unlike before I get totally irritated when I perspire especially when I'm wearing make-up it makes me feel like I'm melting. They say that wearing makeup while working out is not good for the face but I can't help it I look like a zombie without it. Going back to boxing, this sport did not just help me lose weight but it taught me discipline. I've been boxing for 8 months now, I'm happy with the end result. I feel stronger and healthier.

Coffee and Some Movies

Another gloomy day. It's been raining a lot these past few days according to the news that a typhoon or maybe it's just monsoon rains I'm really not sure. The weather is becoming more and more unpredictable, just like my state of mind. Maybe it's just lack of sleep or something. 

I was home by 3:30 in the morning then stayed awake for 2 hours thanks to 7eleven's French Vanilla coffee. I did my usual stuff online like checking my emails, my DeviantArt, facebook, etc. 

I saw an advertisement regarding getting paid just by answering surveys I got curious when I saw testimonials from people who started working from home and get paid via check just by answering surveys online. Sounds promising eh? My intuition tells me that I shouldn't fall for this crap right away so I did my own research and found out that there are scams. Some are for real but anything wanting you to shell out money is definitely not worth a try for sure there's something fishy about it. I decided to give it a try I signed up anyway for free to some websites I'll find out myself if this is all bull or if I'm going to get something extra out of it so I'll wait and see. 

I went out earlier to deposit twin sissy's check she can't do it she's kind of tied up this week she can't drop by at the bank. I checked out Liberty Center just a few blocks away I had lunch at Mang Inasal's Pecho Pac for takeaway I'm so stuffed I'm not having dinner anymore. I'll go boxing tomorrow to burn all the calories I put into my system this week.

I feel pretty despicable today. I watched the movie "From Within" (2008) that I downloaded last week I want to see how different is Thomas Dekker in this movie after I fell in love with his character as "Taylor," a cancer patient in "My Sister's Keeper" just to get disappointed with this one. It's another boring and lame suspense movie, really. I didn't like it at all I should've watched "Resident Evil" first even if the copy is not good yet it's a cam rip I can't find any DVD rip yet.

Work is becoming such a pain in the neck I only come to work for the heck of it, wait for my rest/pay day. Can I just get paid without having to work hard? 

Sucker

Home alone. I'm off from work God knows how tired I am this week. Five days of work is like forever because of the neverending queue not to mention the "snake seating" rule that's absurdly annoying to me. I hate the fourth floor  of our company's office it's too cold in there. There's no pantry and the noise is just unbearable. I'm also a little pressured with my CSat (customer satisfaction) score it's below the passing rate last month so I have to make up for this month. This whole CSat bridge (like a probation thing) doesn't make sense to me. I hate it when I worked my ass off just to get a low score for a misdirected survey. Well, at least I'm not desperate enough to do magic just to get a high score. My point is, I think the management should investigate agents who are getting very high scores and tons of survey returns because they might doing something. A song goes "I work in a call center, until something better comes my way," sad but true. 

I only had four hours of sleep. I took care of our laundry and cleaned the house as well. I can see dust crawling everywhere I can't stand it. I craved for Mc Do so I ordered cheese burger meal and caramel sundae from for brunch I don't know why I didn't enjoy it I'm thinking my appetite isn't happy with fastfood anymore? I don't know but if that's the case then good. I'm working out tomorrow so I'm not worried. We ran out of Fitshape my sister orders from her officemate and was promised that she'll get it tomorrow I hope so, I can't live without it anymore. 

Restless Rest Day

It's the second day of my interim off I don't want to be stuck at home yesterday so I met up with my elder sister at Robinson's Place Metro East to give her something important it was real quick we never had a chance to talk. Not to waste time since I haven't been to that mall for the longest time and I'm still feeling a little tired I decided to stroll around to see if I'll find any cool pouch bag but to no avail. I checked out Sta. Lucia Mall just beside this mall but I didn't find anything there that interest me either, too bad.



Commuting from Mandaluyong to Marcos Highway isn't very convenient for me anymore because it's going the opposite direction from where I live now. When my family still live near Antipolo Cathedral everything is pretty accessible. Jeepney and TX terminals are literally just a few steps away from our house but things changed through the years our main house is no longer a residential space it became a ladies boarding house/commercial space. My parents and brother are now residing in Baguio they come down occasionally if dad has some business to take care of in Manila or if he needs to check on my other siblings living in our house along Sumulong highway. I think if I have my own car things would be a lot easier.



I'm supposed to spend my rest day Sumulong to see my 2-year old niece and personally give her the cake I promised but my sister's got sore eyes again. I don't know how many times she had that sore eyes since she was a kid. She's very prone to catch all sorts of airborne viruses for some weird reason so I can't stay there. 




Before going home to the apartment that my twin sister and I are renting, I dropped by at SM Megamall and finally found myself a cute pouch bag in Bench, at last. I'm starving I thought I'd try the food at this new Japanese restaurant called Karate Kid where Ohana, the Hawaiian barbeque restaurant stood before. I loved Ohana's "BBQ porkchop" when they're still there, it tastes so darn good too bad they're gone too soon.


I ordered Karate Kid's "Japanese creamy chicken pasta" and I enjoyed it. The creamy part is good, the carbonara sauce has a good texture and the portion is not too big nor small for my appetite it's almost perfect except on the chicken part I noticed that they're not generous enough with chicken pops but it's not too big of a deal the taste compensated for it. I so love their iced punch tea I regret not having the bottomless option it left me wanting for more, sigh. If you're craving for Japanese food and want something more affordable than Tokyo Tokyo I suggest you try Karate Kid just for kicks, the food is just as good.


I did some laundry, had my nails done and last but not the least, movie marathon. Thanks to my friend who gave me two disks of movies I haven't downloaded yet. My favorite so far is My Sister's Keeper from the director of The Notebook Nick Cassavetes. This is a real good movie I bet even if you have a heart hard as a rock it'll soften and leave you mellow, in a good way. For the movie's synopsis, click here. By the way, Kate's (Anna's elder sister) boyfriend Taylor portrayed by Thomas Dekker, is a cutie despite his baldness and lack of eyebrows I kinda liked his character. I didn't know of his existence as an actor and that he even starred in movies like "Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) and From Within (2008) hadn't I watched this movie. Btw, I checked out the trailer of "From Within" I find it interesting I'm going to download it later.


I guess that's it for now.

Good food, Bad service

I had a real good workout earlier I sweat out a lot and it felt good. The gym isn't crowded but my twin sissy and I were not able to jog around some guys are playing badminton on the other side of the court I'm afraid I might get hit by a racket. I like working out on a Sunday so I a different trainer for a change hehe. 

It's lunch time when we finished our work out I have to buy stuff at the local mall called MP in Kalentong, Mandaluyong we went there after. Outside this mini mall we saw Mang Inasal's (Ilonggo for Mr.Barbeque) signage we decided to check it out. After the lady at the cashier took our order she informed us a little too late that they don't have available table for 2 anymore. The second floor is close for renovation so she suggested we share a table with other customers and we don't like that. It's not like we're being "difficult" or anything, we just don't like eating with strangers, period. The place is really crowded their tables aren't big enough it'll be really uncomfortable. We decided to have our food to go and ate it as soon as we got home. It would help if we're advised ahead of time that there are no more tables but I think it was done intentionally not to drive customer's away, talk about poor customer service. We're so stuffed we had movie marathon after and munched on chips that we bought from Mini Stop. I'm not worried eating junk once in a while we make sure we eat something healthy for the most part anyway.

Pasta and Gelato

I'm insanely tired today I just had three hours of sleep. I woke up early so twin sissy and I can work out together. We rested for at least an hour, had lunch at Sbarros which is my treat because I finally got my PAG-IBIG STL to check after four weeks. It's worth the wait though, it's way better than I expected. We ordered "baked ziti with meatballs." I miss having pasta at Sbarros it's been a while since we ate pasta. Of course, our day will not be complete without having dessert at Amici, our favorite place for gelato. I'm in love with their gelato cakes. We tried "banana blast" this time but I find it too sweet my favorite is still "sans rival" so far. My happiness is almost complete if only I got my 3k Sodexho pass yesterday I could've used it to buy groceries in lieu of cash hopefully I'll get it on Monday because I worked hard for it. 



Oh before I forgot, I missed blogging about the new Phillips earphone I bought last week.The left earphone of my old one went dead on me it's so overused it's almost like a rat had chewed on it. I love my new earphone it's actually better than the old one but I'm not sure how long we'll be together.

When In Baguio

Tuesday. 08.31.10

I just got home earlier. Twin sissy and I spent our leave in Baguio. I did not bring my laptop with me so I am not able to update my blog for a week so but I'll try to remember what happened during my short yet relaxing vacation in the summer capital, Baguio City.

Sunday. 08.29.10

It's been raining a lot here in Baguio since we arrived yesterday afternoon via Dagupan bus. I slept soundly last night because mom's comforter is the best! Sissy and I have to wake up early not to miss the 7AM mass at the Pink Sisters Convent. Our brother drove us to church we arrived 15 minutes before the first mass starts. It's our first time at the Pink Sisters I must say that it's a lot solemn to hear mass there compared to Baguio Cathedral. This church isn't spacious enough to accommodate many people so it's not crowded at all. It's really quiet there I can hear what the priest is saying clearly during the mass. It started raining after the mass so we're unable to take pictures outside. Dad and brother went ahead so mom and the two of us head over to "Cafe by the Ruins" for breakfast. I thought I'd have something exquisite to drink so instead of having coffee I chose this "mint tea" something from the menu and had the shock of my life when the waiter served me a glassful of hot water with what I suppose is mint leaves and a small cup full of honey to taste. To be honest, I didn't like my tea at all it tastes like toothpaste dissolved in water or something it's a little weird for me. I ordered the beef sandwich that got me even more disappointed because the bread is very hard to chew and the filling isn't generous nor tasteful enough. Cafe by the Ruins looked pretty enticing from the outside but the food is no winner to me or maybe I'm just expecting too much? Whatever, I'm not a happy camper so to speak. The weather is still not very cooperative so we went home after buying Ukay shirts from a stall fronting Prime Hotel. Let's hope that tomorrow's a better day.

Monday. 08.31.10

National Heroes Day


Oh, It's a holiday and another rainy day. Our first itinerary for the day is supposedly a trip to Bencab Museum we forgot about it yesterday for but according to the website they're closed on Mondays. Nevertheless, sissy and I never lose hope we didn't stop scouring session road in search of authentic-artsy places. Few days before my leave I breezed through some food blogs on the Internet and when I come across this vegetarian resto/art gallery called Oh My Gulay, located at the top floor of La Azotea building along Session Road. We got excited when we take a peek inside OMG, it's an art jungle in the amidst the city. A cozy atmosphere greeted us. We got a little intimidated by the place at first because we arrived early we didn't see anyone taking pictures so we chose a spot where we can take pictures discreetly. It's lunch time so we told ourselves that we'll worry about taking pictures later we better check out what's on the menu first. For our main dish, it's twin sissy's pick she chose Lumpia Salad. This salad lingered on our tastebuds, the vinaigrette dressing is so good we loved it. Then comes dessert my pick is called super sosy. Don't be fooled it's not like sosyal (fancy) at all, it's just the name. The yummy crepe is made of mango and peach it's not too sweet, just perfect for our diet. 

The rain poured heavily after we had our fill and more customers started coming in so when we saw them taking pictures of the place we wasted no time and did the same thing. We had a real good OMG experience. It's still raining when we got home. We had spaghetti and double dutch ice cream for merienda. We thought we've had enough until dinner and will not eat anymore but mom cooked our favorite dish Tokwa't Baboy (tofu and pork) so we had no choice but to eat again, I'm so stuffed. 

I guess that pretty much is everything.

Coffee and Movies

Time flies by so quickly it was just like yesterday I couldn't wait for my rest day now it's almost over and tomorrow's the start of another week. Thank God! Sissy and I will be going out-of-town this weekend, yay! I went to Baguio last month by my lonesome because sissy ran out of leave credits she wasn't with me during our mom's birthday she got envious she missed mom's home cooked dishes, what a pity hehe. On a serious note, I feel that I badly needed this vacation. Work is stressing me out so much lately I'm becoming too irritable and my patience is hanging by a thread. I don't think I need to go on a diet I'm just losing appetite because of stress. I'm not much of a coffee drinker and as much as possible I try to drink coffee only when I need to stay awake but I just can't help it good thing there's 7eleven's Blueberry tea and French Vanilla coffee available when I want something more than what our coffee vendo can offer. Hey, I haven't had Mc Cafe's Iced Mocha frappe in a long time too. My eye bags are getting worse I really have to make stress go away before I completely lose my mind. 



Sissy and I went boxing earlier as usual then come lunch time we saw an Andok's stall nearby we suddenly craved for Dokito Frito at first, but we changed our minds we agreed to have Porkcharap instead. I super love the gravy. We stayed home all day
and waited to have our faucet repaired by Manong Eddie, our resident Jack of all trade personnel. Our faucet's good as new again a few minutes later. I did some laundry too then we had a movie marathon after we watched tons of movies after.


Btw, I love these new pair of cute undies I bought from SM Department store yesterday they're so comfy my sister saw me wearing it earlier she said it's something I can wear at the beach, cool. 

DIY-ing

It's a rainy afternoon. I just woke up an hour and a half ago I got home past three in the morning from yesterday's shift.


I recycled the leftover brown rice from the fridge last Sunday so it won't get spoiled. I fried and topped it with corned beef and mixed vegetable. That's it, lunch is served! I still have some for my sister when she comes home for dinner. I stopped eating white rice not because it's not healthy since it has its own benefits but simply because my APE  (annual physical exam) result tells me that i need high fiber diet so I did a little research and found out that brown rice is rich in fiber which is what I exactly needed.


So much of the diet thingy, our kitchen faucet handle was broken we bought a new one but don't have the proper tools to replace it. Sissy thought she can do it apparently it wasn't as simple as she thought it would be. Since we can't use the faucet we filled our empty water container with non-distilled water that we can use to wash the dishes, it's kinda like our DIY temporary faucet.

Berry Sweet

Today is my 44th boxing session at Elorde would you believe it? It was just like yesterday when my sister and I paid for membership at the Shaw, Mandaluyong branch (now closed) and had our first shot at boxing now it's a weekly routine for us. Boxing did help me lose weight but totally useless if I don't pay attention to what I eat so let's just say boxing + diet did the trick. 



Sissy and I tried Califonia Berry's special frozen yoghurt to give in to our sweet tooth. CBS is topped with fruit flavors kiwi, mango and strawberry. CB claims that their frozen yogurt's low in calorie and 100% non-fat. 


Who says sweet can't be healthy? 

Siomai Sharksfin

At last Sat-Sun off. Sissy and I worked out together earlier yay! Since it's my first time to go to the gym on a weekend I didn't realize that it's a busy day there. It's a weekend, what was I thinking? or maybe it was lack of sleep that's why I missed that everyone has time to work out on weekends. I just had two hours of sleep before working out my Friday shift is 5PM-2AM I got home past 3AM. 




There's quite a number of people when we arrived in Elorde good thing we knew the drill already so there's no time wasted. It felt good to shake off those fats again. I skipped boxing for a week and have not eaten rice for a week too so I did today. I craved for Mini-Stop's Sharksfin meal (yum!) for lunch. I know, some people wouldn't last a day without carbs so imagine how I survived a week. well, I just did or let's just say it's a matter of discipline especially if you're aiming to lose five pounds in two weeks. Suicide? hell no, anything is possible. 

Overthinking

Today is my Interim off and tomorrow is the start of my 5 PM shift. Okay great, starting next week I'll be on Sat-Sun off. I'm kind of ecstatic because my sister and I will have more bonding moments. We can go on a lot of food trip and workout together. However, I still hate coming to work or going home on wee hours of the morning. I just thank God that in my seven years of work I've never had any worse experience yet except when I had my bag slashed off while on my way to work I lost my cellphone. My officemate once told me that she got robbed inside a cab on her way home. The taxi driver took all her belongings and asked her not to look back but didn't do any harm to her and it's just a few blocks away from their house. There are way too many horror stories for people who work at night since all the risks are there but still, most people prefer to work at night because they aim for night differential. Who wouldn't want a bigger take home pay right? Working in BPO indeed pays good money compared to other jobs but seriously, it's not an easy task to take the risks to go to work every. They say that prayer is the most powerful weapon a person can have and I believe that. You see, I'm not a religious person but I always keep a rosary inside my bag for protection.

Twin sissy and I heard mass at Quiapo church. We arrived thirty minutes late but just in time for the homily. It's so hot inside the church good thing she brought a fan to cool us down a little. The air coming from the wall fan didn't help at all. We decided to move towards the aisle when I noticed a statue of this little boy holding a tin can with words engraved under his feet "Pondo ng Pinoy." I seriously would like to take a picture of him he's like a celebrity status but I think it's a little awkward to do so I'm inside the church I don't want people to think that I'm not paying attention to the mass. When I got home I searched the Internet if I'll find a picture of him, unfortunately, there's none. Everyone who sees him can't help but drop a coin on his tin can like a real miserable kid begging for mercy just by the sad look on his face. After the mass, we had breakfast then come dessert we had Choco San Rival gelato (Gelato is Italian for ice cream) at Amici. Sweet!

I saw a real cute hoodie jackets in Lee. My sister love the black one I thought about buying the gray jacket but it doesn't fit me so I end up with the black one even if it's much more expensive. Anyway, it's worth the price plus I got a free bottle umbrella. Nice!

Chill Time

I'm so back. I haven't been writing because I just got back from vacation last Tuesday. It was for my mom's 64th birthday that's why I went on vacation to visit her. The original plan was a trip to our coconut farm in Quezon since I haven't been there but the rainy season is up it wouldn't be a good idea to go there. When it rains, the mud gets very thick and we have to pass by rough roads so my parents suggested for me to just spend my leave at our vacation home in Baguio. I enjoyed my stay in Baguio because mom and I were able to spend quality time together. My dad and elder brother were not there during my stay they have to attend the wake and burial of one of our relatives. On Sunday, Mom and I heard mass at Baguio cathedral. I didn't understand anything through the mass was in Ilocano so I just prayed in silence. We went to Session Road fronting Prime Hotel afterwards to shop for Ukay-Ukay. I bought myself some real cool shirts and a messenger bag. Mom got herself pretty blouses too. 

Bibingka Ilocos

Time to go home and while waiting for the Victory bus to leave, a lady hopped in selling Bibingka Ilocos. Mom bought five pieces I love its taste, It's so good it's different from other bibingka I've tasted before. When we got home, mom cooked "spaghetti" as her early birthday treat because I'll be leaving for Manila on Tuesday, her birthday. I just stayed home the following day to help mom out with her chores and I know it's not a lot but I gave our dogs a bath hehe. I guess we haven't had enough of ukay-ukay so mom and I went back to town. She suggested we check out Lola's (grandmother) Ukayan for a change located at the basement of one of the establishments near Prime Hotel. My mom calls the older lady owner of the store Lola. We are her frequent customers or Suki. Every time we visit Baguio we drop by her store even though her ukay-ukay is more expensive compared to other stalls in Session but she gives good discount sometimes. In the afternoon I checked out mom's new videoke machine. I noticed that there are new songs I found myself singing to some familiar songs that I like. I had a real good sleep at night I miss the cold and I love mom's comforters.

Ukay-ukay finds

Time to go back to Manila the next day. I'm back to the world again. Darn.

***

Back to work, same old thing. I wish I can go on leave for a month so I can get away from unresolved issues at work I'm too old for such. As usual, half of my shift is queueing as always, so when avail comes I kill time browsing anything. While checking out foodstuff I came across this real cool and interesting call center blog site it's so full of things I can relate too that I decided to share the URL to my friend and we read it together during our long avail time. I bookmarked the URL on my home computer and had my sister read on and she enjoyed it too so I thought I'd share this blog site http://callcentercon.travellerspoint.com.

Lastly, I super love my new haircut and color but I miss my deep red hair.