Hanging out with the Mean Girls


Thanks Margot for the photos!

Krissy!!!!

Mike "The Other Asian" Chang was in Manila recently!!!!

http://www.candymag.com/magazine/lifestyle/gleek-spotting-other-asian

I know I have already said this before, but I think it bears stressing that I really love G's neighborhood.

It has the feel of a Sims game, with G occupying a starter house, and is so tiny you can go around it in a leisurely 15 minute walk.

The row houses still predominate, with the only difference from one house to the other being the curtains the homeowners chose to put up, but the personalized homes are already sprouting with a few gorgeous ones already in place.

We took our walk right a few minutes before the sun was about to set, so please forgive the dark pictures.

The house in front of G's little house. It has the ubiquitous balcony common in most of the houses in San Jose. It has the same lot size as the typical row house but the homeowners added a second floor and a one car garage, as well as maximizing the use of the lot.



The house beside G's house. We already met the homeowners and they're a young couple who work right within the area. They also have unsecured wifi which they allowed G to use. Now why can't all neighbors be as generous as they are?! :p





This is the most gorgeous house in the village IMHO. Check out the capiz shell windows! Absolutely beautiful.





This one has big windows with no curtains whatsoever in the first floor. It's almost as if the homeowners do not care who sees inside their house. But hey, if my interiors were as tastefully done as theirs, I'd showcase it for the whole world to see too.



I totally fell in love with this house the first time I saw it because it was so quaint and charming with the purple flowers planted in front. But now that the flowers were rudely removed, the house lost its luster. Very sad :(



Check out the cute wicker furniture.



Row houses all set in a row.



I like how they jazzed up this corner house.





A three-storey house with a very Christmas-y entrance.





Alright, so here's the game plan. After I'm done with bootcamp, I'm going to find employment in Alabang again and by then, hopefully, the SLEX will be all cleared up and so the 30km journey from Sta. Rosa to Alabang will be a cool 20-30 minute no-sweat, cruising experience. Leaving me ample of time to enjoy my little modified row house in Laguna.

Do you hear that Universe? Now make it happen.

It started as a photoshoot for the Kikay Exchange Christmas postcard.



And it then evolved into a camwhorage session with Maddie, which was promptly stopped when Julia suddenly showed up.






Somebody's loving her spaghetti noodles.



Exchange gift time which of course included the requisite "You share! You share!" exchange between the two girls with one (or both) having a meltdown. This time around, it was Julia who threw a fit. Poor baby :(

Note to self, kids would rather receive toys than clothes as presents.

This year, Cebu Pac decided to bestow the quarterly gift checks allowance even on the lowly probationary employees. So on top of the Php500 GC I won, I also received Php800!



Now the problem is what to spend it on. I initially thought of buying something practical like curtains or groceries, but then I remembered that Topshop, Warehouse and Dorothy Perkins were also part of the JG Summit kingdom and so it became crystal clear exactly where I'll be spending my GCs. I think I'll wait for the post-holiday sale to maximize my GCs :)

Moving on to another pleasant topic, I totally love my new camera! I'm still on full auto mode though since the manual mode is different from that of my past camera. I guess I have to crack open the provided manual very soon to make the most out of its features. But for now, I'm very happy with Cammie the camera (that's what I'm calling it now until the perfect name comes to me).

It takes great night time and indoor shots.



Although I'm not quite happy with how this image turned out. I used the tungsten light option for this macro shot and it looks like crap. Auto and natural light pa rin talaga for the win:p



Sen. Bong should fire whoever did the lay out for this poster. He/She paid too much attention to his arms and pecs that he/she forgot to do something about the proportion of his torso to his lower half. Now Sen. Bong looks like a gym crazed midget.



Gotta love the Zoolander stare though. NOT!

The road home. Hello holiday traffic! No wonder my usual half tank of gas doesn't last as long these days.



It was nice seeing old and familiar faces tonight and I think they were also equally glad to see my mug.



I know I made the right choice of moving on but I do miss my bosses and their steady and predictable ways.

Oh well, this here is me learning about different personalities and how to adapt accordingly.

I won a 500p gift certificate in this year's company Christmas raffle!

It may not have been the top prize but I'm still psyched I won anything because I've never been lucky when it comes to raffles. I'm not exaggerating when I say that this is the first time I've ever won in any sort of raffle, unless of course it's one of those raffles where everyone is supposed to win something.

What makes it even more amazing is that the raffle involved all the Cebu Pacific employees in the Philippines, not just the ones in the Pasay office. So I guess that's 5,000-6,000 employees? And Sherine, our legal assistant, also won but she was luckier because she snagged the 1,500p GC.

But 500p IS 500p and so I'm still feeling the love from Lady Luck :)

My mom considers "tubo" as the reason why she and her sisters all have strong jaws and teeth. She said that they used to peel off the sugarcane's skin using only their teeth and then they would chomp and gnaw away, spitting out the dried out fibrous bits afterwards.

There's probably some truth to that because unlike her and her mighty teeth, I had two impacted wisdom teeth which had to be surgically removed (ouch!).

Our generation also had our fair share of sugarcane while growing up, however, these were already skinned, chopped to bite sized pieces and left to cool inside the refrigerator, a refreshing treat to munch on during those long and languid Cebu/Ipil summer days.

I've seen some sugarcane juice stalls in the mall and I've had a glass, but really, nothing compares to the real thing. It must be all that crunching and spitting that makes the difference.

Best things about out of town hearings:

1) sleeping on smooth sheets (TC 300++ ba?:p) with a really fluffy blanket.
2) watching TV while lying in bed
3) soaking in the bath tub
4) hot showers in the morning
5) buffet breakfast
6) time away from the office!!

I'll also be able to do some Christmas shopping in Ayala Cebu while waiting for my afternoon hearing.

So it's not really all that bad all the time. Little perks like these make my work week bearable.

Super athletes sighting during the Sunglass Hut launch.

Leo Oracion of Team Mt. Everest

Gabby dela Merced the race car driver

Alia is also a super athlete, she just doesn't have major endorsements:p

We also saw Hayden Kho in Resorts World! And although he's not a super athlete in the strictest sense of the term, I guess he can also be deemed an athlete in other arenas.

The hilarious thing was that the performer inside the casino was belting out cheesy songs and so it was entirely possible that "Careless Whisper" would also be in her setlist. How awkward would that be right?!

Awkward but very interesting :)

It's actually been a week since I last blogged! So much for promising to be more conscientious in blogging:p

Quick updates coming up:

1) The Canon S90 that Char and I ordered (one for her, one for me) is now at her mom's house in San Jose, California and will hopefully be with us in time for Christmas. Now, what do I call her? Yes, babae ang camera ko.



And I paid off my Metrobank credit card to make way for the yet unnamed camera's billing statement.

2) I'm not yet finished with my Christmas shopping.

3) The Christmas tree and bough on the stair banister are now up. But mama had the "snow" removed because Julia and Maddie kept on frolicking in it and my mom was scared that they'd end up eating or inhaling the styrofoam balls. Sayang, I wasn't able to take a picture of the tree in it's (fake) white Christmas glory before the snow was recalled.

4) My first out of the country trip was reset to a yet undetermined date. At least that gives me enough time to save up. I hope it will also be set on a Friday so I can spend the weekend in Hongkong. And I also hope it will still be cold by then.

5) Mama finally laid down the rules after a certain Mean Girl saw something she shouldn't have and promptly reported it to her Loola. Buti nga.

6) It's the DLSZ Homecoming this Saturday. I'm going although I don't know anyone in my HS class who's going. Oh well, if it sucks then I'll just go over to Margot's house and play with Julia.

7) Friday na!!!

8) Happy birthday Sieg!

So here's how G's rented house looks from the outside:



The yard obviously needs a lot of work, but the house per se is a cute bungalow with a high ceiling, obviously to give way for a second floor or an attic if the owner is so inclined.

This was my biggest challenge. The icky bathroom with dead insects inside the toilet bowl.



But after some mopping, scrubbing and lots of water, here's how it looks now:



Not bad eh? It still lacks a towel rack and a medicine cabinet but it is now officially serviceable and non-icky.

The refrigerator and the metal rack are also in place. G fell in love with the metal rack when we were at Handyman and I can now see why, it's industrial chic and really does cut down the clutter.



The couch will go on the left and the dining table on the right.



The rooms have bare walls and the floor is also bare, however, I really don't see the point in bothering with paint because he'll only be there for a few months. Besides, that's extra expense that could go to much better use, like eating out:p

Anyway, there's still a lot to be done but things are falling into place and we might be having dinner guests very soon :) But nobody panic because he'll cook and I'll just wash the dishes:p

Somehow, somewhere G conned me into helping him clean his rented house in Sta. Rosa. So today will be spent sweeping away cobwebs and getting down and dirty with muriatic acid.

Fun.

But seriously, the idea of getting that little house cleaned and laying out furniture and buying home stuff gets my nesting instincts all a-flutter. It must be all those hours of watching Clean House and Lifestyle Network:p

I even bought Real Living's Room by Room Makeovers for inspiration.



I'll post before and after pictures soon :)