Nuisance: Driver's license renewal at LTO-Tagaytay. I was there from 930AM to 3PM. And they had the gall the whole process 4-easy steps! If not for the lunch with the department mates, the day would have totally bummed! (The worst part was having the whole day immortalized in my license pix!! Now you know why you never see a pretty license pix. Deng!)

March 29 - Another day in hell, a.ka. government offices. First stop - police clearance. To "expedite" the process, they asked for a fee. Otherwise, I would have to go back the following day. In her exacts words "Kayo na po bahala, ma'm". Ow.kay. Second stop - NBI clearance. All the people I asked about this process all told me to go to Carriedo. I refused. For the simple reason that I've never ridden an LRT. And I'm scared to death taking a ride alone, with all the... Anyhoo, so I went to the kiosk at Park Square, only to find out that yeah, I needed to go to the main office. Stubbornly, I tried to take a cab, but nobody wanted to take me. The last taxi driver told me he'll take me to the Gil Puyat station, and I can just take the LRT to Carriedo. I told him I didn't know how to ride an LRT. And he answered "Ay naku, dapat kang matuto. Madali lang yan. Sundan mo lang ginagawa ng iba dun". So he lectured me about learning to ride trains, because in the countries abroad, they have trains. Ow.kay, again. The ride was not all that unpleasant, but stepping into Carriedo was a different story. Kids smelling rugby on the sidewalk, crazy men throwing sago on the streets, and a lot of not so friendly people. But the worst was yet to come - I got a hit! What are the odds, huh, that there is someone out there with the same name as me. I even tried to reason with the data checkers, and they just got mad "Nagkakamali ba ang computer??!" And gusto kong sabihin - Oo!! Oo!! Oo!!. Dern, so I get to do the whole thing again next week. So not looking forward to it.

But in the end, this week has been full of blessings. Of answered prayers, sweet friends, loving family and a loving boyfriend, who in spite of his booboo, is still a great guy ;-)

And oh, we're hitting the beach this Saturday. So that is yet another good thing!

Labels: birthday, blessings, family, friends, R, red tape

I was not going to miss it this time. Good thing it's a holiday today (thank you, Emilio!), so I was able to slot the event in my agenda. Actually, I changed plans altogether, crashing out my errands. Talk about priorities. Hahaha!





So I texted Ali (still fresh from work) and Jay, quite early on a holiday morning, and soon we arrived in Havi heaven. Yipey!







The wait was a little long, which I didn't expect since today was the first day. But my oh my, all those lovely colors. We oooh'd and aaah'd. Well, not really. But for a certified Havaianas addict like moi, I was definitely in one of my zen moments. Haha!





So there we were, choosing our own combinations. Jay with his halloween flip-flops and then some, and Ali with her brown and bronze combo. Then we lined up to have them assembled by really cute staff. I think I've found my calling - to be a flip-flop assembler, in the company of cuties!! :p





Pretty soon, assembler Carlo was almost done with pair #1.

Labels: havaianas

A little over a year ago, I said that this was my birthday wish: "I wish for a true love's first kiss". And by some sort of magic, I got my wish. I got my kiss but back then, I thought what I had was something just close to true love. I had just reconnected with R. Now, almost a year later, I'm very certain my wish came true :)

So it is with the same amount of faith, and belief in wonderful and magical things (that somehow happens on a birthday, or Christmas), that I will declare my wish for this year.

And I will do it via my horoscope for yesterday, the day they told me they wanted me.

" If you've been watching and waiting to see what happens regarding a certain romantic situation, well, look out! It's go time, with all sorts of possibilities on the horizon. What -- or who -- will you choose? "

Only it's not a romantic situation. It's something else. And I wish for things to fall into place. And I wish that it really is go time!!

Labels: birthday, career, R

It started with a very late dinner/snack ensemble of baked spag (c/o Conti's), some hotdogs, leftover Burgoo food (yummy fries! argh, and right after boxing myself out, too!), red wine and ever reliable soda ;-)

Then off we went for some serious prettying up c/o our budding make-up artist, Alina, with some girl talk on the side. Then came the photo shoots. Ali also served as the shoot director. We started with the casual shoot, then the sleepwear shoot.



We no longer had time for chick flicks, but it was a fun, fun, super fun night!!! I tell ya, girlfriends are the absolute best. Free therapy, free critique and what-not!

Here's to more sexy times together! If not, may our friendships last beyond the walls of our office and the boundaries of the islands.


Cheers to all my sexy, great, female friends!! May life give us all that we deserve! :)

Labels: girlfriends, slumber party

Labels: Boxing

A big blue light turned on, providing a glimmer of hope. If this plays out, I might have to believe in signs after all (and this story will have to be told another time, lest I give away more than I have to). Good luck, world.

Meantime, Operation Iwas was a success, but I was feeling guilty the whole week. Still am, but I don't know how I can mitigate the impact of the whole thing, or if I still can. He at least deserved.. some sort of decent uhm, rejection, for lack of a better term. But then again, he could have tried harder to "find" me, because I wasn't really hiding. Just kind of faded into the background. I guess I lost a potential friend. But this male-female friendship is really hard to play, especially if it started with an attraction part.

Oz is again in the picture. My cousin-in-law said they will be getting their PR soon, and they can sponsor me, if I still want to go. Hmmmmm.... I guess I'm not crossing this out of my horizon then... Not until I turn 35 anyways, and then I will have lost my chance.

Speaking of age, I haven't firmed up my birthday list. Not sure if I can get to do even 1. But I'll try. btw, thanks for the early birthday greet, Fudz!! Really appreciate it sobra. I miss you, and I hope you guys already pencilled me in!! Hahaha!! See you soon! :)

Labels: personal

I've been tossing and turning for more than two hours now. Can't sleep. Which is weird because my body is tired. And I slept late last night, too, owing to my weekend habit which I badly need to change, so I should have dozed off hours ago. But I didn't. I'm awake as a bat at night.

Could be either of these reasons:

1. I've once again learned the lesson on flirty vs friendly. And it's eskeri. So help me God. Operation Iwas in Day 1 worked. How about the rest of the week?

2. I'm still high on endorphins and energy due to a late, ehem, workout (haha! it was only really 40mins worth of cardio).

3. Haven't talked to R in more than a week. We last talked on Saturday last week. And he called @ 2AM Sunday, so naturally, I was right in the middle of my deepsleep mode. Whatever happened to waking up when he calls?? The spirit is always willing but the body is weak. I miss him very much and I really hope he calls again soon. I'm going nuts! And as an aside, it's been more than a month since he left. Time flies. And that's a blessing for lovers who only meet every so often.

4. I've been talking about moving on (to friends, family...), and I was so darn sure it's time. But lately, I've been rethinking it all. Oz is like shooting the moon. I have one known relative there (three, counting the hubby and the little baby), and they just moved recently. Quite a few people have some disappointing accounts - of discrimination, availability of "intellectual" jobs (or lack thereof) and then of course - the expected displacement of immigrants trying to have a clean slate somewhere else. And going back home - while the thought is definitely comforting, I'm not sure I can handle undoing my so-called independence. Lastly, shifting gears. This one appealed to me the most. But even the thought of an interview is making me nervous as hell. I can't help but think too much into the future. Am I really ready to let go of the life I've known for a decade now? Will change really be the nirvana I'm making it out to be? Or will I just reset the corporate cycle, and find myself in the same situation later, if not sooner?

Am I running away from something? Or towards something? Is this mid-life crisis in the works? Or birthday blues?

Or maybe it's just plain old insomnia.

Labels: mid-lifing, personal, R

And now, a break from the xy-melodrama :)

I admit to be such a junkie for quite a few TV series. But Heroes tops my list right now. Epi 17 was the best so far this season, but there's so much promise for the last episode before the season break (awww, that is really sad!!)... Apparently, there will be 5 more episodes before volume 1 ends, and there's no telling who will stay in volume 2. Anyhoo, enough future talk (apparently, also the theme for episode 20). Here's a teaser for next week's episode. Can't wait!