Day Seven

I slept for 12 hours and would have continued sleeping if Tita Nen hadn't woken me up. What can I say, cold weather is so conducive for sleeping!

Tita Nen and I then went to the Franklin Conservatory where we saw different kinds of plants in their "natural" environment.

I loved the rainforest and the pacific part! It was so warm and comfy there, I could have stayed there forever. This picture is from the desert station though, it was surprisingly quite cool in there. I always thought the desert was dry and hot.



The Conservatory also had a lot of Dale Chihuly's glass sculptures on display. But the sculptures weren't inside a glass box, instead, they were scattered all over the place, like these balls in the koi pond. Pretty neat.



Afterwards, we went to Ohio State University to pick up Kristine. It was a gorgeous university but we really couldn't explore it a lot because it was too cold and I don't think Tita Nen knew her way around enough to play tour guide.



We were supposed to walk about five blocks to this restaurant where Kristine left her phone, but after about a block, we both gave up and decided to go back to Kristine's dorm and wait for her there. I was freezing by this time and my toes were so numb. It was heaven to be back in the waiting area of Kristine's dorm, just thawing and eating chips and pretzels from the vending machine.

There were a lot of houses inside the university, they're rented out to students. I thought they were so cute! Actually, I think the houses here in the US are so cute. So model home-ish.



Tito Shunan prepared dinner so we went back to the house where a meal of bratwurst and spare ribs were waiting for us.



Tita Nen's bringing me to a thrift shop tomorrow to buy a puffer jacket (I'm always cold!). She said that the jackets there are just $5 or so as compared to $30 or more in a store. Sounds good to me.

The whole US is currently on a Superbowl frenzy because it's happening this Sunday. My very first Superbowl (or American football for that matter), can't wait :)

Day Six

I had a major booboo in the airport today, I was not immediately able to present my boarding pass to the Dragon Lady because it was inside my bag which was then happily chugging along on the conveyor belt, waiting to be x-rayed.

Dragon Lady: Boarding pass please.
Me: Ooops sorry, it's in my bag!
Dragon Lady: (Rolls eyes)
Me: (Grabs bag from conveyor belt and hands over boarding pass) Here you go ma'am, I'm really sorry.
Dragon Lady: Please step this way.
Me: (silently follows)
Dragon Lady: Do you travel a lot?
Me: No...
Dragon Lady: (Talks on her walkie-talkie) Inspector needed for female passenger...

So because I pissed her off, I was subjected to a routine check.

It was really no big deal, my bags were opened and wiped with this small cloth, then the cloth was fed to this big machine. If the cloth yielded positive results, then I would have probably been strip-searched and deported/jailed, but as it only yielded lint and Pinoy pollution, I was able to go on my merry way.

Thus, the lesson to be learned here is always have your boarding pass in hand and beware of Dragon Ladies who probably resent being at work at 7am.

Ok, bad memories aside, I am now in Ohio and am currently freezing in my room. I'm right beside the heating vent as I'm typing this and there's no more hot air coming out! Brrrr....

Anyway, Tita Nen and I had some photo-ops in the snow when we arrived from lunch at North Market. The snow here in Ohio is crazy! South Jersey had about an inch of snow when I left and I was already fascinated, but nothing prepared me for the blinding white sight in Ohio. It was like a snowy kingdom with some houses and buildings scattered haphazardly here and there.





I'm supposed to be making a snow angel here but my back was freezing na, hence no more wing flapping for me, just get me indoors puh-leeze.



I'm not sure what we'll be doing tomorrow but we're going hiking daw on Saturday then off to a Museum on Sunday. Yay :)

Day Three:

Sieg and I drove to North Jersey Sunday night. He's moving to Florida and selling his apartment, so the movers came over today to pack all his stuff.

We checked in at the Double Tree hotel and Sieg ate all the cookies (boo!! hehehe).

The packing and moving lasted the whole day so we basically hung around his apartment and got out of the movers way. I was able to finish a few ed notes while waiting too.



Can I just say that it's fantastic how the movers wrapped an entire couch with clingwrap?! And they had clingwrap and bubblewrap in these big rolls pa, utterly fascinating. I kept on "accidentally" stepping on the bubblewrap because it was fun to hear them pop hehehe (Me: (pop) ooops! (pop) Sorry!)

One of the movers was so chatty and even showed us pictures of her cats. She breeds cats for fun and has set cards for them. She would bring the cats to the studio and they would sit for their portraits. Sankapa?!

The packing and moving of Sieg's stuff to Florida cost $20K ++ !!! It's a good thing his company was shouldering the move otherwise, it would have been easier to just sell off everything and move to Florida with his toothbrush na lang.

Sieg and I were supposed to go to New York City and do some touristy things but then admitted that we were both tired and just wanted to sleep early:p So he bought a big box of pizza and we went back to the hotel and watched Seinfeld.

Day Four:

We left the hotel early and Sieg drove me back to South Jersey. After dropping me off at the Wawa near the turnpike (where his dad picked me up) he then went back to Newark for his flight back to Florida. The trip back to South Jersey is a good solid hour and a half, and the trip back is another hour and a half. Isn't it obvious that my cousin loves me? :)

Back at Blackwood, I did my laundry. In the Philippines, I usually have my laundry sent out to our neighbor's laundromat so I was totally ignorant with how to use the washing machine and dryer. But in fairness, ang dali lang pala gamitin ng washing machine and ang galing ng dryer, tuyo na ang damit mo paglabas (duh!) at mainit-init pa.



I also saw my first snowfall this day. It was really light though, just a few centimeters but it was the powdery kind so ang sarap tapak-tapakan hehehehe.

I have to make a quick mention of my aunt and uncle's obsession with daytime soaps. Their machine tapes it during lunchtime and they watch it during dinnertime. My aunt said that when she was still working, she would call my uncle at work and they would discuss the latest happenings in The Bold and the Beautiful hehehehe.

Day Five:

The snow storm came during the night and there were 2-3 inches of snow, everything looked so white and pretty from indoors, but outdoors was another matter altogether.

I tagged along with my aunt to her chemotherapy at the University of Philadelphia Hospital.

The hospital was really nice and it had a brand new wing just for cancer patients. My aunt's treatment took all of 5 hours siguro and that included the 2 plus hours of actually taking in the medicine intravenously. There were also some blood work and check-up done prior to the actual chemotherapy.

The nurses were very friendly and accommodating and most of them seemed to be on first name basis with my aunt. Weirdly enough though, I didn't see any Pinoy nurses. My aunt said that most of the Pinoy nurses were on other wings, and that there are hardly any Pinoy nurses in the cancer building. Weird. I thought Pinoys ruled the nursing front in the USA.

I finally finished my ed notes and sent them to my editor. Yay! Now maybe that nagging voice at the back of my head will finally be silenced:p

I'm going to Ohio tomorrow to visit Ninang Nen. I was initially supposed to take a bus there because my mom said that it would be a great way to see the scenery and stuff. But the trip from Philadelphia to Ohio was something like 12 hours!! No scenery's worth a 12 hour bus trip IMHO, and a quick check revealed that the price of a plane ticket was just a little more expensive than the bus ticket so i-airplane na ito!

My flight leaves at 8am tomorrow so it's going to be another early day.

Weirdly enough, I've more or less adjusted to winter. I still don't like wearing a hat (hindi bagay sa akin:p) but I used a beanie this morning because it was extra cold. I dress in layers now, take quick showers because warm water dries up the skin and slather on lotion like crazy. This is the first time in my life that I've put on lotion for 4 consecutive days. Back in the Philippines, my perception of lotion was the papaya whitening kind and never bothered because I think my skin tone is beeyootiful and lotion tends to be sticky in our humid weather. But here, lotion is a necessity, unless of course you actually prefer getting dry scaly skin and the dreaded winter itch.

Ok, must start packing for tomorrow's trip na. Hopefully, Scout will behave better in Ohio so I'll be able to upload the pictures.

Hope you're all doing well!

A quick update in list form

Day One

1) The flight went very smoothly although the Nagoya-Michigan leg was insanely long! Barely slept a wink so felt really spaced out when I finally arrived in Philadelphia.
2) The very cold weather slapped me in the face the moment I stepped out of the Philadelphia airport. Good thing the only time I spent outside was to go to the car.
3) I turned in early the first night and was sleeping by 8:30pm


Day Two

1) Scout still isn't cooperating so I'm using Tito Sur's laptop now. I don't think I'll be able to finish the last batch of ed notest :( or update KE regularly :( will still keep trying in getting Scout to work though.
2) We went to mass (and the seats were cushioned!) and after we went back to the house, I immediately put on leg warmers. Jeans are not enough. Right now, I'm wearing three layers of clothing, the fourth is my coat when I'm outside. They say it's even colder in Ohio and Chicago, so again, good luck to me:p
3) We ate at Red Lobster then went shopping. I bought stuff for the kids, my officemates, 1/5 from Mel2x's list and a thermal top for me.



4) I'm tagging along with Sieg to North Jersey tonight because he'll be directing the movers with packing his stuff. We're supposed to go NY City too so that's always fun.

Ok, gotta pack again.

My one checked in luggage is packed and ready to roll (note to self: put tableya under sweaters to prevent it from being pulverized).

My borrowed backpack is filled with my winter paraphernalia, 2 books and Scout.

I've endorsed Dagny and my cellphone to G (my personal secretary).

I've put my Pet Pupz in vacation mode.

My tickets are all printed out and I've photocopied the first page of my passport (but not the visa portion because the printer ran out of ink).

I have cash and cards for easy access.

That's it pansit. I think I'm ready to leave.

I'm trying hard not to fall asleep because my cellphone is with G and so I don't have an alarm clock.

Will take a shower na and leave in about 2.5 hours.

Signing off for now!

Ilang tulog na lang!

I'm not gonna act blase and sophisticated and say that it's no big deal, because for me it is a big deal. I'm gonna see snow dagnabit!!

Breathe out and relax.

:)

I've started packing my things just to see if the suitcase I intend to bring will suffice. So far, it's going well. I've packed several sweaters, thick pants, underwear, socks, 2 boxes of coffee and a blouse for my ninang in Ohio and there's still room left for my toiletries.



Tito Sur basically said to just come as I am (with a little winter padding) and they'll just throw coats, sweaters and other winter paraphernalia my way when I get there.

I have all my tickets printed up and will scrounge up the dollars needed to get by during my one month stay (everything else that can be charged will be swiped).

So there, excited na me :)

Girl meets Boy, they fall in love and get married.

Boy is bibo and always wants to be the center of attention, to cover such ego-mania, he says things like "I want to restore democracy" and "The Filipino is worth dying for".

Girl meantime is relegated to being Boy's sidekick and biggest fan.

Boy irks the Dictator and Boy is locked up for years.

Boy suffers in prison but is later released and so moves to Boston with Girl and their kids.

In Boston, Boy finds out that Dictator is already sickly and so Boy wants to go back to the Philippines because: "In the two years that I've been away, nobody remembers my name anymore", "I've worked long and hard just so that people will know my name".

Or something to that effect.

Girl is pissed because going back means more problems but what can she do, Boy is the boss and Girl is the doormat.

Boy goes back to the Philippines and gets shot.

Girl is persuaded to go against Dictator because this is the only way that Boy's legacy will be appreciated and for Boy's name to be up there among the greats.

Then intersperse a lot of forgettable music and lyrics and you get "Cory the Musical".

Pero in fairness, ang galing ni Isay Alvarez, Robert Sena and Pinky Marquez.

Hassle lang nga ang protracted song of lamentation ng nanay ni Ninoy (with mega shouting pa) and the scene with the angels where the mic totally failed and the picnic scene which became a capella and...

Basta, you have to be a die-hard Coryista to like it.

Obviously, I'm not.

Quick update:

1) We discovered that our favorite coffee shop with the free wi-fi, Perk, has blocked all forms of chatting, Facebook, Multiply, Friendster and I guess all other social sites! The horror! It's probably their way of discouraging people from staying for hours on end. Harumph.
2) Char and Mick celebrated their birthdays, on January 8 and 12 respectively.
3) I'm keeping my fingers crossed for something, but either way, it's still buh-bye to you know what in a few months time.


Hmmm...boring week.

With all the good things coming my way ever since the year started, it's so difficult to get back into my usual office-induced dour mood.

Every time I feel my temper rising, I just gaze at some distant object and tell myself that I'll be going on vacation very soon and my mood instantly transforms, complete with magical ponies and rainbows.

Then I've been receiving gifts this whole week, to enumerate:

Monday- The PR Firm Geiser Maclang sent G a gift pack but sent it to my house, needless to say, it's now mine bwahahahaha! Those cheese balls are evil because I find myself popping a dozen right before going to sleep.

Tuesday- Another PR Firm sent me a pair of Skechers slippers in our office. I gave the pair to Adrienne, Ate Norma's daughter, because she really likes Skechers daw.

Wednesday- The necklaces I ordered from Mau in Multiply arrived.





Thursday- A call I've been waiting for finally came.

Who knows what tomorrow may bring? But Friday is already a gift in itself and it's also turon-day in our office building so it's still good.

Aaaack! My boss is crazy!

But I can handle him and the growing workload because I'm an achiever.

Yikes! Ang daming assigned racket for this week!

But it's ok, I can finish them all because I'm an achiever.

OMG! Ang laki ng credit card bill ko!

But I think nothing of it because I'm an achiever.

I am an achiver.

A-chie-ver.

Achiever.

Own it. Live it.

Bow.

I love how it's already 8:20am yet I'm still at home with bedhead and blogging away, with an empty bowl of cereal and a glass of water beside me.

In about 5 minutes, I'll hit the shower and get ready for work. Then by about 9:15am, I'll saunter in the office and wrestle with today's to-do list.

Of course these slow and steady mornings are numbered because the moment the Writ of Possession hearings start again, it's back to 5am showers to get ready for 8:30am hearings in Malolos, Bulacan.

But for now, I'll relish these sloth-like mornings. Besides, those Malolos hearings are also numbered, well, at least for me ;-)

This is a little late but since it's never too late to express appreciation, here's a list of the things I'm grateful for:

1. Passing the Bar.
2. My tatay and Maddie's continued good health after their respective operations.
3. G's unwavering love and support.
4. A job that helped pave the way for my US trip.
5. Additional income to help supplement my US trip.
6. An office that's near banks, the mall, the gym and my house.
7. My laptop Dagny who is almost paid for (hi Santi!) and lets me manage my sites even if I'm already in my pajamas.
8. My car Toyang who was a "gift with strings attached" from my parents, so our initial encounter was hardly pleasant because I resented shelling out almost half of my monthly salary for her monthly amortization. But now, I've come to love my little starter car with the very economical gas churva.
9. The surprise packages from PR firms which continue to make my day even if I know I'm really supposed to review them. This came today:





Ok, so I'm kinda confused if I'm supposed to review these products or they're really just gifts. I think it's the latter because there's no unifying theme and they're from different companies. Besides, how am I supposed to review olive oil?!

Anyway, thanks so much Geiser Maclang, I've been lemming for muesli these past few days after my mom's stash ran out, so this really came just in the nick of time :)

10. My site which kept me sane during Bar review and continues to keep me sane while dealing with my day-job and all its accompanying nuttiness.
11. My charming and entertaining family. I never feel the need to go out and make friends because I'm already vastly amused with my family's antics.



12. My fat dog.


Killer and Lily together again after months of separation. In fairness, demure na si Lily and torpe pa rin si Killer. Sige na! Make babies na!!

That's all I can think of for now. Happy new year!!

I love the weather we're having now! It's so Twilight-y.

Speaking of Twilight, now that the ABS-CBN Takipsilim rumor has been quashed, rabid Twilighters can now rest easy. But as a final hurrah, if there was to be a small screen version, who would you rather see as Bella and Edward?

Shaina and Rayver?



or Marian and Dingdong?



Personally, I'd go for Ai-Ai and Janno.



Hehehehe. Peace!!

I miss doing self-portraits for Flickr!!

Yun lang.

Happy new year everyone!