2009 Wishlist (Take note Universe!)

1. Travel alone (almost there :)
2. Break ties with you-know-what
3. Start anew in another field (finance or government)
4. Be a full-time pro-blogger for at least month (I'm kinda iffy about this though, we'll see what happens).
5. Lay the foundation for having my own address
6. -
7. Be more patient.
8. Go to at least one Asian country.

G and I went to a birthday party in Storyland Southmall last Saturday.

It was Ramboy's first birthday party, and after seeing his mom obsess over the birthday preparations for the past few months, I just had to see the final outcome:p

Kinilig ako sa cotton candy

With Vic and Aggy

Afterwards, G and I spent the whole day just looking at the home and appliances section to satisfy our nesting instincts. His was appliances and cookware, while mine was house stuff.

Someone was vastly amused

Tee-hee :)

I ended up buying this fabric box which can be stored under the bed (but which I'll use to organize the stuff inside my closet).

Question though, why are bedsheets so expensive?!

A flat bedsheet costs around Php500 and duvet sets are from Php2,000 upwards. Aren't those just plain fabrics?

Even the bedding sets (1 flat sheet, 1 fitted sheet and 2 pillow cases) in Amazon range from $50 upwards. yikes! No wonder my mom got pissed when I ripped one bedsheet for a Halloween costume years ago:p

Daphne Osena has this bedsheet line in Our Home which I really like but the price ranges from Php4,000 to Php9,000! Yikes!



They're hotel quality sheets with high thread count and I'm sure they're worth every peso, and it doesn't hurt that they're endorsed by Daphne Osena... hehehe. Maybe in the future when I actually have a house and my own bed to adorn with hotel standard sheets, I'll splurge on my very own Daphne Linens.

But for now, patingin-tingin lang muna ako.

Long distance relationship. Sigh.

Here's another case in point of how arrogant and bloated with self-importance our politicians are.

Actually, there's something already wrong with a person spending millions upon millions just to be elected for a seat which will technically pay him only a handful. Where's the return you might ask, why there it is, in the drawer or in the attache cases dropped off at his house or in the vast parcels of land bought for peanuts.

No wonder lives are spent trying to keep the seat of power (and wives are fielded after the three-term limit is up).

I don't want to generalize, but politicians are yuck.

The sites are bleeding!!

And it's all because people only surf the internet during working hours (and update their Facebooks first thing upon logging in at work ;-)

Oh well, I know that this is only temporary and that there's nowhere to go but up from here, but tell that to my sobbing heart. It's like I'm repeatedly stabbing myself every time I check the stats.

Sigh. Sigh. Sigh.

But onward to better things, I always say.

Have to get ready for a 1st birthday party in SM Southmall then G and I are off to Sta. Rosa to visit his bestfriend (and ogle at the cute houses!!).

Chickenjoy and peach mango pie!

and cute houses.

Great way to spend a day :)

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Some random pictures that will have to do because I've been too lazy to document moments. Will post more once my sisters in law upload their photos... (hint! hint!)


My dad with the two girls in Town. Maddie always strikes a pose while Julia can't be bothered to do so:p


A sumpungin Maddie during my office Christmas party in Poquito Mas. My guests that evening were Santi, Char, Mick and Maddie. Mick must have won around Php2,000.00 that night from the games! It just goes to show that being bibo pays.

Post-Christmas is usually such a downer. After all the rushing and gift-wrapping, you're left with cleaning up the discarded wrappers (recycle!) and looking forward to New Year.

This year, our Christmas dinner was slightly more bongga than the last few years, where we'd heat leftovers from an aunt's birthday-Christmas dinner and fry luncheon meat:p This year, the Bacolod people came over and brought turkey with them! Gobble-gobble.

The turkey was brought over to the Pantoja household for some baking action and it came back all brown and tender and with baked potatoes pa.

So the highlight of this year's Christmas for me is turkey:p

Among the kids, only Maddie seemed to take the gift-unwrapping seriously. This was mostly because Mick was grounded and seemed to be making a protest, and Julia couldn't care less about the gifts and was perfectly happy just gnawing at boxes.

Among all the gifts, I was most curious with what Mike gave Julia. Last year, he gave her this crying doll which totally traumatized her, so I was of course excited to see what he gave her this year. Tito Mike C(orleone) gave Baby Julia a High School Musical band set, with drums, maracas and a horn. It looks as if this year, Baby Julia's parents will be the ones traumatized with all that "music making" at all hours of the night. Next year, I think Tito Mike should give Baby Julia something a little more subtle, like a flamethrower.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

I just finished extending my Northwest ticket to the US by one more week :) It cost me an additional $75 but whattheheck, pikit at lunok na lang:p

And here's how my itinerary looks like:

January 24- ETA: 1530- Arrive in Philadelphia
January 25-
January 26-
January 27-
January 28-
January 29- Leave for Ohio (bus/train)
January 30-
January 31-
February 1-
February 2-
February 3- Flight to Chicago
February 4-
February 5-
February 6-
February 7- Flight to Dallas
February 8-
February 9-
February 10-
February 11-
February 12-
February 13- Flight to Philadelphia
February 14-
February 15-
February 16-
February 17-
February 18-
February 19-
February 20-
February 21- Flight back to the Philippines

Jampacked much you say? I really hope there'll be "do nothing" days during my stay there because I don't want to have to take another vacation from my vacation when I go back home.

So far, here's what I want to do:

1) Watch "Wicked" in Broadway (because the final showing in Chicago will be on Jan. 25 :( )
2) Watch "Chicago" in Chicago.
3) Go on the Sex and the City bus tour.
4) Go to Central Park
5) Visit a library (nerd!)
6) Visit a university town
7) Go to Woodbury Commons (may Longchamp outlet store doon!!)

That's about it for my "must do and must see" list. Everything else will be gravy. Oh! and seeing the Ugly Betty cast filming would also be cool :)

Sigh, the sites are down :(

Some registrar/domain thing.

But on to better news, I finished wrapping all my presents! I got outed a few weeks ago (because I kept them in Toyang's trunk) so everyone knows they're getting water bottles for Christmas.



But what kind?! What color?! The mystery still remains. So there.

Isang tulog na lang!

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My upcoming US trip is becoming more and more concrete, mostly because all the bills have come in (ouch!). I've paid off my share of the Manila-Philadelphia Northwest ticket (I went halfsies with my mom) and the bill for the US domestic routes came in yesterday. Thank goodness for a sudden surge of unexpected generosity from our bosses, hence a 14th month pay.

*************

Maddie slept beside me last night, so it was either her foot was in my face or propped on my neck.

Fun times right there.

But that's still a marked improvement because the last time she slept beside me, she kept on kicking my back AND wet the bed.

I ended up positioning myself at the foot of the bed in a fetal position because she was spread eagled and took up 3/5 of the bed.

It's a good thing I decided to declare the 24th as the start of my Christmas break since I'll probably be sleeping in the whole day :)

And eating. And doing a bit of work, but not the icky legal kind, so it's still fun.

Happy holidays to everyone!

I'm all choired out today.

We sung in the dawn mass, served in our usual 9am slot and visited 3 houses to accompany the lectors in giving communion to the elderly.

I was just dead tired when I got home and promptly fell face down on my mom's bed with a pillow on top of my head (yeah, that's what I do with an extra pillow, put it on top of my head).

Sometimes I would just like to give up choir service in church altogether because it really eats up a lot of time, like tomorrow we have to serve at the 4:30am mass again. But I just can't throw away almost fifteen years of friendship and service because I want more sleeping time.

The visit to the elderly and sick always gets to me no matter how tired and sleepy I am. Last year we visited 5 or 6 households, while this year we only went to 3 because the ex-government official (I think he was an ambassador) and the OFW guy who suffered a stroke both passed away this year.

This year we again visited the two old ladies (sisters) who live with family (one of the old ladies' daughter is also a lector in church), an ex-lector who I think suffered a stroke and a a bedridden old lady who has a swero on her nose.

The two old ladies are actually the luckiest in the group because they have family around them and the house looks like a happy one, while the last two live in very lonely looking houses. Last year, the ex-lector had his daughter and son-in-law there too during our visit, but this year, it was only his wife and grandson around.

The bedridden lady seemed to be alone in the house with only a helper around, but there were a lot of cards and stuffed toys around her bed. She couldn't talk anymore but would hold up her hand so that we could all "make mano". She had some pictures around and she was one shushal lady pala! As in groovy floral kimonos and jumpsuits.

Last year, the ex-lector cried the moment we sang our first song, this year he kinda held back and only started to tear up during the second song. While the other sister started crying while singing "Our Father". The bedridden lady didn't cry, but she kept waving her hand when we finished our final song.

We flubbed a few notes, ok more than a few, but it somehow didn't seem to matter (except to our choir head who pointed that out, anubah! Get in the moment kaya!!).

Old people in lonely houses just get to me.

Guess where I was the whole day yesterday:





If your answer is the Quezon City Hall of Justice, you're absolutely right!!!

The fourth floor (Office of the Prosecutor) had a circus theme going on. Which is just apt because of the many clowns and magicians roaming the hallways there...

This is why it does not pay to be litiginous. Chances are, your many cases will just end up in the "alternative" filing system to be found all over the Hall of Justice.



My sad, sad lunch of chicken galantina in Fersal Inn along Kalayaan Avenue. There's something really wrong with your food if the buttered vegetables taste better than the chicken. At least they served ice cream with the set meal, so it was not all a loss. But the next time you have some hankering for bland, hospital food, you know where to go.

Anong gym-gym?!

You don't mess with perfection.

Every day is a struggle but it becomes doubly so on Mondays.

Why am I here again?

I haven't gone to the gym in 3 weeks!

On a regular day, I can imagine myself getting fat (which honestly is the least of my concerns. Thank you alien-like metabolism!) but when I get one of those moods, I imagine my arteries getting filled with plaque (or whatever it is that causes heart attacks) and my muscles atrophying.

Eeep.

The thing is there's just no incentive for me to go to the gym. When I did go regularly (regular=2x a week), I lost weight so fast it was scary. The last time I lost weight that fast, I was in and out of the hospital for two months for dengue fever and then amoebiasis. So I really couldn't understand why my (semi-anorexic?) friends were all ecstatic that I lost weight. I never had any weight issues (save with being too skinny) so I was honestly appalled that they were happy that I dropped 10-15 pounds in a span of 1 month. One even said I can now wear mini-skirts and other mowdel outfits. Weirdos.

Aside from not being able to afford a membership then, I think my non-love of the gym was further emphasized when I read Mireille Guiliano's book.



Among other things, she said that the French don't feel the need to sweat it out in a gym because of their active lifestyles and healthy eating habits. Gymming is pas tres chic! The French would rather walk for 30 minutes than spend the same amount of time on a treadmill. At least with walking you get to see the sights of gorgeous France but doing the same on a treadmill leads you nowhere.

I believe that I am too French at heart to enjoy going to the gym.

Of course, I don't walk everywhere like the French (but I used to before I got Toyang) neither do I eat healthy (but I try to). I even have these French lessons CDs which I pop in my car's CD player en route to hearings (which strangely enough are missing from my car. Umamin na yung kumuha!!! Leche.).

In short, I'm a second-rate trying hard wanna be Frenchie.

Sayang talaga yung one year membership ko sa Gold's. I was supposed to go this morning but I'd rather sleep in. I usually go before work because there's no parking space after work (it being the prime time) but I've had morning hearings for the past two weeks, so goodbye pre-work workouts.

Or maybe I can still go after work and just leave Toyang at the office (which is a 5 minute walk away from Golds). When there's a will there's a way. I just don't have the will.

And that's the bottom line.

Ever since I changed my Globe pre-paid to post-paid, I've received countless unsolicited text messages which NEVER happened when I was still in pre-paid. Text messages such as:

"Get a No Collateral No comaker Cash Loan, up to 2M, for as low as 1.28% int. per mo! Call _____"

or

"You have been pre-approved for a Citibank, HSBC, BDO, Metrobank, Chinatrust, Unionbank credit card. Please call _____"

But this one takes the cake:

"Lashanda yup, Tita Sylvia said she won a Mandarin Oriental Spa prize or something. She said she textd TREATS to 2346 :-) "

I know creativity is needed to stand out among the spam text messages, pero naman, LASHANDA?!

Another time, I received something like:

"OMG!! Tiffy won Ralph Lauren GCs!!! And all she did was text TREATS to 2346"

Right.

Dear Globe,

Please stop using my number for unsolicited text messages. And please stop with the contrived text messages, you're not convincing anyone, particularly Lajilla.

What a crazy week!!

These writ of possession cases are really getting out of hand. I was in Malolos Bulacan three times in the last two weeks and either in Bacoor or Imus everyday of those two weeks.

I've become the WOP machine.

Sigh.

At least a pay raise is in the offing (dapat lang no!!).

On to more pleasant news, I've finally told the partners about my upcoming US vacation. I can't say that they took the news of my 3-week leave lightly, so let's see what they'll say when I decide to extend my leave to one month...

If worse comes to worse, they can attend the WOP hearings. Kaya na nila yon, big boys na sila. Tanggap sila ng tanggap ng new cases...

Starting to plan my US trip now and it looks as if I'll be going to five or six states in one month. I'll be landing in Philadelphia, then crossing over to New Jersey. Also on the list are: New York, Ohio, Illinois, Texas and possibly, Florida. I have close relatives in those states whom I HAVE to visit (their words, not mine). I just hope I won't be too tired from this vacation by the time I return to the Philippines.

Have to get my itinerary checked by Kuya O pala so I can book my domestic tickets this early.

Busy busy.

So there, I'm still alive but not really kicking. Just trying to get through one day at a time.