lethargic

i was on the phone with my dear friend this morning.  she's in clark.

after her it was my best friend -> she's in nueva ecija.

just a while ago, i was talking to my high school buddy.  she's in mindoro.

hmmm... looks like i'm the only one who did not go out of town... : }

my high school buddy had actually invited me to go with her to mindoro.  i declined.  i don't feel like traveling.  i dunno.  could it be age?  yikes!

falling into place

i drove my mom and my aunts to the moviehouse this afternoon.  the same place where my batchmates and i watched a movie last saturday.  the classmate who has seen fewer movies than i have crossed my mind... and i thank our lucky stars i brought my cell phones that day otherwise we wouldn't have been able to hook up.

i was supposed to meet my high school buddy and her son, my godchild, that day.  upon setting the schedule, i sent an e-mail to our high school e-group saying everyone is welcome to join our get-together.  a classmate sent e-mail saying he would come if he does not forget.  (i didn't remind him and apparently he did forget, ha-ha.)  another said he'd be coming, too.

so meeting was 3 pm.  i arrived on the dot.  my buddy and her son, together with her sister and niece and nephew, were already there and they've just ordered lunch.  they said they had a late breakfast so are having lunch just at 3 pm.  i didn't anymore eat as i was just at another godchild's birthday party lunchtime.

after eating, the teens roamed around supposedly to go shopping.  we stayed behind at the restaurant for some adult buddy talk:  about life, about loves  ->  past and future, no present, ha-ha.  4 pm we joined the teens in their (window) shopping.  all along, i had my phones with me so my dear friend who was going to join us would know where we are.

my friend arrived past 5 pm and told me that a classmate told her another classmate was supposed to be joining us at the restaurant.  ooops... we left the restaurant 4 pm!  yikes!  it was already 5:15!  we went back to the venue but saw no one.  i texted her source about our situation and the source replied she didn't say the classmate was going.  she said the classmate actually has just recovered from sickness.  oh, ok.  sigh of relief.  we therefore proceeded to the venue where we were supposed to watch a movie.

while waiting for the movie, we decided to go to starbucks.  when i plopped my bag on the table, i heard a familiar sound, beyonce's check on it.  i moved my ear to my bag asking, "is that my phone?"  i'm not used to having my phones with me roam-around time, you see.  well, yup, the sound was coming from my bag, from my phone.  and, i had 6 missed calls and 3 text messages!  uh-oh.  they're all from the classmate who was supposed to have just recovered from sickness.  she was asking where we are.  she was at the restaurant.  eh?  it was close to 7 pm!  i started wondering what meeting time i wrote in the e-mail i sent out.  it's supposed to be 3 pm.  i tell her we're at starbucks and will be going inside the theater in a few minutes.  she follows us to the place... and watches the movie with us.  her first since 2004.  aaawww.  isn't that nice?

i was just thinking everything seemed to have fallen into place.  had my dear friend gone to the meeting place with me, which she usually does except for that day when she had to attend to something first, i would not have brought my phones with me.  i would have left them in the car as i usually do.  had i done that, my classmate wouldn't have been able to locate us and not seen her first movie in 4 years.  hmmm... hmmmm... hmmmm... yup, everything does work together in ways we don't really expect... some blessings indeed come in disguise...

rarer still

i watched my second movie for the year yesterday.  yup, less than a week to year-end and i've seen only two movies the entire year.  first was a very special love last august.  second was desperadas 2 yesterday.  neither would be a finalist as greatest movie of all time, ha-ha, but i'd also say neither was an awful way to spend time ; )

the second almost became iskul bukol, 20 years after, oh my.  good thing the group decided to break up for the movie and just get together again after.  the first group (my godson, his cousins, his aunt and his grandmother)  watched iskul bukol.  the second group (my high school buddy (my godson's mom), two batchmates, a schoolmate and i) went to see desperadas 2.

entering the theater i told one batchmate it was just my second movie for the year.  she counters the last movie she watched was in 2004 yet.  ooops... i told her good thing she followed us otherwise there would have been at least a five-year gap in her movie-watching : }

in bed last night, "i cried when i had no shoes..." lingered in my mind...

bananas

bananas from my best friend



i had fried bananas at breakfast today. no ordinary bananas. they're harvest from my best friends's husband's land. and they are really good actually.

last friday, i was surprised when my mom told me my best friend sent bananas to their place. i think i know why. a couple of weeks back, my dear friend and i were at my best friend's place and her husband was offering us fruits. my dear friend ate. me, i just said thank you but did not eat.

they offered some other.

no, thanks again.

how about this?

no.

that?

no, thanks.

(there's always so much food in their house. if you're hungry, that's where you should go. don't ever make the mistake of going to my place, you'd die of hunger, ha-ha. i am not a food person, you see. i'm a sleep person. before i got married, my sister told my fiance i am low maintenance. she said, 'you need not feed her, just let her sleep.' true, lol!)

anyway, my best friend's husband mentioned a number of fruits and i told him i don't eat them. i said it's just bananas that i like.

two weeks later they send a bunch to my parents' place. isn't that sweet? i truly appreciate the item, more so the thought. i feel so lucky having such people in my life. thank you, guys... : )

young and old

after the school presentation yesterday, i was fixing stuff in my bag before boarding my car when i heard voices saying "miss... miss..."

i didn't think i was the one being called so i just ignored it.  but then it kept on going and the voices seemed so near.  i turned around and saw two kids behind me.

i asked, "bakit?"

one replied, "miss, may boyfriend ka na?"

huh????!!!!  these are school kids, as in, 3rd or 4th grade!

there's a 30-year-old guy who's been trying to play cute with me and i just tell him off, saying he's too young.  now i have before me two grade school kids?!  yikes!  suddenly 30 seemed old... and 43, ancient!  ugh!

all the world's a stage

i'm supposed to have 3 meetings today, 3 simultaneous meetings.  now there's only one of me so yesterday, i asked my officemate to choose which ones they'd like to attend and whatever's left will be what i will attend.  well, guess what.  the one assigned to me has been set for the 23rd.  instead of attending either of the remaining two, i decided to attend instead the annual school presentation of my nephew and my niece held at the theater of a university near my office (my alma mater actually).

so there i was in the audience, seated beside my sister-in-law, waiting for my nephew to appear onstage.  then my sister-in-law tells me that the voice we're hearing is that of my nephew.  (the audio for the presentation has been pre-recorded and the actors were now just lip-synching their lines.)  i asked my sister-in-law where my nephew was as there were only a handful of characters onstage and i couldn't see him.  she says it's just his voice.  he won't be appearing in that scene.  oh, ha-ha-ha.  ok.

so watch, listen, watch, listen.  and then what we've been waiting for, my nephew appeared onstage.  it was a dance sequence.  goody-good!!!  he dances well  : )   true!!!  i'm not saying this simply because he is my nephew.  i was very happy.

i thought that was it for him so there i was awaiting the appearance of my niece when what do you know, my nephew again appears onstage.  there was a group of dancers on centerstage and there he was to the far side, holding a sign which read 'APPLAUSE.'  he would put it up every once in a while, ha-ha-ha.  it's part of the presentation.  he's supposed to be a floor director/prompter in that scene while another schoolmate was supposed to be a cameraman holding a cardboard camera making as if he were shooting the dancers.

i was actually uncomfortable in that sequence.  i was thinking my nephew would have preferred to be among the dancers in that scene instead of a floor director.  i just prayed that his young mind would understand that their group already had their moment earlier and now it's another group's time to take centerstage.  (it was a school presentation, as in, every class, every single student actually, teacher even, from nursery to high school, was part of the cast.  i was oh so amused by the presentation of the little ones.  sooo out of synch (every kid was dancing to the beat of his own drum, ha-ha) but soooo cute nevertheless.) 

anyway, i was just thinking, regardless of the number of people onstage, regardless of whether you are on centerstage or in the sidelines, the ones who love you will always have their focus on you... you'll always be the cast member who matters in their eyes...

gaming

i didn't go to the office today.  i still am not feeling well and i wanted to rest.  the thing is, i wasn't able to rest.  i wasn't able to sleep this afternoon as i was preoccupied with myminilife  : }  aaargh!!!  this is an addiction already!

saturday i was at serendra when my laptop's battery ran out.  could you imagine, for the first time ever, i went to netopia at market!market! to rent a pc to continue what i was doing.  i was there until closing (almost 3 hours!).

weeks back, i was at bonifacio stop-over to buy my weekend pizza meal.  i noticed that gloria jean's had free wi-fi.  guess what, i went back to my car to get my laptop and then stationed myself at a corner table to do myminilife.  (i did buy a tumbler of i don't remember anymore to sip while using their wi-fi.)  'twas just the second time in my life i ate alone at a restaurant.  usually i just buy take-out and don't stay at the place.

years back when computer games were still new, i got addicted to pacman and this certain driving game.  i would be up till dawn just playing and playing and playing.  then one night i suddenly asked myself, why on earth am i doing this?  right there and then, i quit, cold-turkey, and haven't gone back to gaming, at least, until september when i discovered myminilife.

i like that you have custom outputs here, that you go shopping, that you get to build homes you wouldn't normally afford to build in real-life, ha-ha.  i now have 35 lots, some with completed homes, others under construction, still others yet to be constructed.  i have more than 200 thousand minibucks and will be buying 5 more lots tomorrow (i like the date).

this one i don't really intend to quit.  but i sure intend to cut down.  that would be my new year's resolution.  no more than 2 hours of myminilife per day.  plus no renting of computers just to play.  i won't really be waiting for new year to implement the resolution.  i'll start tomorrow.

in case you want to see my homes, they're at http://www.myminilife.com/cynthia.  the more views i get, the more minibucks i earn, the more items i could buy, the less sleep i will have... ooops, joke!  i intend to keep my new year's resolution this time... : )

sick

i was running a fever last night.  on top of that, i had a runny nose :}

i would have skipped the office today except that we had a dance presentation in the afternoon.  my morning meeting i could have made someone else attend; the dance, however, would really have to be me.

in spite of not feeling well therefore, i still showed up at the office.  i attended my morning meeting, partook of a birthday lunch after, then participated in the dance in the afternoon.  the meeting was in another building within our office compound, the lunch and the dance in still another building also within the compound.

by the time i got back to my office, i was just so pooped.  i told my officemate i was just going to rest awhile.

i sat on my chair and rested my head on my desk.  my phone rings.  it's the manager of some project asking whether they could go to my office to discuss some things.  oh... ok.  so we met and discussed and adjourned.

i told my officemate i really wanted to lie down.  i formed three chairs into a makeshift bed and told her i was just going to lie down awhile as i felt like i was about to collapse already.

i haven't been there 5 minutes when someone comes in telling me that a korean was looking for me.  i thought it was one of our inter-agency project consultants.  ' turns out it was the malaysian from one of our other projects.  (yesterday my officemate told me that a taiwanese was looking for me.  i didn't know any taiwanese we have dealings with so i was wondering whether it was the taiwanese my best friend met while stranded in bangkok. but why on earth would he be at my office?  when i came out, it turned out to be the same malaysian.  he's so fair and chinky-eyed, malaysia's not really the first thing that comes to mind when you see him.)  anyway, we discuss some things and then he leaves.

soon after, i had to take the call of the head of one of our data centers.  much as i wanted to, i couldn't go back to my 'bed' after we hung up as some other officemate has dropped by and i didn't want him to see me lying down.

i was so happy when he left and i rushed to my 'bed' right away.  i haven't been there awhile when my phone again rings.  ugh!!!  it is again the malaysian.  we talk and after the call, i tell my officemate, 'i don't want to lie down anymore!!!'

she amusedly tells me, 'yup.  something always crops up when you do.'

i therefore spent the rest of the workday on my toes, eagerly looking forward to going home.

then my brother calls, he wouldn't be able to pick up my sister.  i would have to be the one to do it.

i tell my officemate i was going to pick up my sister at 5:30.  she reminds me, 'but you're coding today!'

ooops...  i forgot!  my car's not supposed to be on the road until 7 pm.  aaarrgh!!!  i couldn't wait that long!  i was going to drop dead already.

i told my officemate if i get apprehended i'll just ask the officer to touch my neck so he would feel my fever.  i suppose he'll let me off the hook that way.

my officemate tells me, 'what if he asks you instead how come you're driving when you're not feeling well?'

waaaahhh!!!  times like this i couldn't help but long for someone special in my life.  someone i could call and say, "sweetheart, i'm not feeling well.  kindly pick me up please..."

i wonder when he'll come.  i hope it will be soon...

sakto

we're supposed to have a provincial deployment today.  afternoon i texted the one assigned to the activity to check how he is and to remind him to ring me in case he encounters problems.

soon after sending the message, my phone rings.  i reject his call and then ring him back (so the charges will be on me not on him).

i go, "kumusta ka diyan?  may problema ba?"

"ma'am, naiwan po ako ng eroplano..."

ooops... i thought he was already in mindanao turns out he's still in manila.  i cut the call and dial his landline.

"na-late ka ng gising kaya ka na-late sa airport?"

"hindi po, ma'am!  eksakto po ako kaya lang naiwan ako ng eroplano."

oh... eksakto pala 'yun?!  hmmm...

resched... : }

pictures

at the christmas party last friday, a batchmate approached me and asked for a picture.  i said ok and went with him to their table.  they were ready for the shot and there i was standing still waiting for whoever it was who was going to take the vacant seat at the center.  i asked, 'how come there's an empty chair?  who's going to sit there?'

they said it was for me.  oh, ha-ha.  i thought they wanted me to take their picture.  ' turns out they wanted a picture with me.  lol!  comedy.

reminds me of the same group's christmas party last year.  my dear friend told me, 'you have pictures with so many guys!'

hmmm, i didn't notice that.  i checked out the shots and true enough, i had pictures with this guy and that.  uh-oh.  i told my dear friend they were the ones who asked for a picture not i.

she then chides me, 'how come you obliged them but not big brother?'  (big brother is someone who's been interested in me since high school.)

oh, so that is her point.  i told her we do have pictures.  she, however, wanted ones where there's just the two of us.  yikes!

when i was in the US, a batchmate was telling me that they thought big brother and i were an item.

i was like, 'huh?!  where'd you get that?'

he said from the pictures.

really?!  we have lots and lots of pictures but i don't think i can pinpoint a particular one which would lead them to such a conclusion.

last friday, a classmate suddenly asked us, 'what is the truth?'

i thought he was being philosophical or something, profoundly asking about truth during a supposedly light-themed christmas party, he-he.  ' turns out he was asking about the truth between big brother and me (we were seated beside each other, with a decent distance between our respective chairs, take note.).  this is his first time to attend a batch gathering and he has such a question?  what's going on here?!

to set the record straight, we do hang out but ALWAYS in groups, NEVER just the two of us.  and read this, and read this well, regardless of how things may seem in pictures, we were never an item.  to be blunt about it, we've never kissed, we've never hugged, we've never even held hands.  ' hope this clarifies things...

t not d

i attended my second christmas party for the year last night.  i got home 5:20 this morning : }

the party was supposed to start at 6 pm, my friends and i arrived close to 10 already  (it was my parents' wedding anniversary;  my best friend had another party;  my dear friend attended a political rally).  even if we missed a big chunk, we had a really fun and enjoyable night nevertheless  ->  talking, laughing, dancing, posing, ha-ha

one of my classmates, our first time to meet again since high school graduation more than two and a half decades ago, told me he really enjoyed looking at our pictures.

i went, 'really?  which ones?'

he goes, 'your shots...'

now my shots appear not just in my site but in the site of another batchmate as well.  she reuploaded more than a thousand of them to the site she administers (' am tolerating piracy here so no cause for concern).  i therefore ask, 'what site?'

he hesitates a bit then goes, 'front... back...'

i was like, 'huh?!  site! t!'

he didn't quite get it still so i said, 'sites, i, t, e... picasa, multiply...'

he chuckles and goes, 'oh, i thought side.  picasa.'

lol!  why on earth would i ask what side of my shots he enjoyed?  we're not talking chicken here -> leg part?  breast part?  ha-ha.  oh, guys... ; )

putting a smile to my day : )

i woke up to the following text this morning:

Gud mrning
... pretty, dazzling & stunning ...
...
Ingat s pagdrive, roads are slippery 2day.
Have a nice day.


nice way to start a day : )

sometime back i also received the following text from the same guy:

Gud mrning
... pretty, charming & flawless ...
(ok b s intro hehehe)...
...


i replied:  K. Ingat

his next text made me chuckle:

K lng? I was ac2ually starting a cnversation...
...
Pro oks lng...hehe. work muna.


ooops, i was ultra-busy that time so my reply was brief, ha-ha... he did pick up so i guess it's really ok.

i am grounded enough to know that there are elements of levity and exaggeration in such texts and they should not be taken seriously, they make me smile nevertheless.  thanks, guy... : )

i wish! ; )

the inter-agency meeting i attended last tuesday was in makati.  now, my car is coding tuesdays so from quezon city (it was an afternoon meeting), i took public transportation going to the venue.  first a jeepney (i try to avoid cabs when i'm alone), then the train.

there were only a handful of us in the jeep and to my right was a guy who gave his fare to the driver through me.  i noticed that he was cute, ha-ha, and a seeming gentleman, too  ->  he so nicely said 'thank you' when i got his money to hand over to the driver.  i liked that.  not everyone says 'thank you' for little things.

he, however, almost made me burst into a laugh when he suddenly started to sing along to the tune  playing on the radio.  he was unmindful of the other passengers and was singing as if he were in his own car!  (i do that in my car, ha-ha)  i couldn't help thinking, could it be his car was simply not available, too, that is why he is riding the jeep?

anyway, the song was vulnerable:

she's so vulnerable
like china in my hands
she's so vulnerable
and i don't understand
i could never hurt the one i love
she's all i've got
but she's so vulnerable

i first heard that song a long time ago and liked it.  i haven't heard it in a while.  suddenly this guy is singing it out so loud.  i was actually tempted to sing along, ha-ha-ha.  for a while there i wished he were singing it for me.  oh, well...

yes or no?

i was at an inter-agency meeting yesterday.  then, during a lull in the discussions, the presiding officer mentioned that our agency backed out of showing a foreign guest around.  i was taken aback, but kept quiet, amused at the statement.  and then what do you know, the co-chairperson pointed to me and said, 'you, it was you who backed out.'

huh?!  my amusement turned to embarrassment.  i said i did not back out explaining 'back out' is when you say 'yes' and then you change your mind.  i said mine was 'no' all along.

the presiding officer countered i reportedly said yes.

whoa!  we were meeting in their boardroom and we had a u-shaped table and all this was very well heard by those around the table.  this is an inter-agency meeting, attendees were not just from our office but from different companies : }  i really didn't want to talk about it but, to defend myself, ha-ha, i gave a brief of what happened.

i said i received a text message from my big boss asking whether i could show a friend of hers around and the friend was supposedly looking for a girlfriend and i just might like the guy.  i said i replied i could show him around but if he's looking for a girlfriend i'd rather not.

there were chuckles in the room.  end of inter-agency story.

now for the details:

my reply actually was:

Ooops... R u serious mam?
Pd k sana cya samahan para ipasyal
kya lng kng naghahanap ng gf
parang yaw k nmn.
Wa p po akong bf
pero my suitors p ako, haha.
Huwag n lng p mam ; )


(yup, i back up my phone messages to my computer.)

was i surprised therefore when following day my boss's secretary called me up about the arrangements for my supposed meeting with the foreign guest.  huh?!  i told the secretary i declined the night before.  the secretary got back to my boss and then came back to me saying my boss said i said yes.  she said my boss was going to provide a driver, etc.  huh???!!!  i reiterated i said no and forwarded to the secretary my reply to my boss the night before.  she confers with my boss and comes back to me saying it's ok, they'll just say i backed out.  yikes!

i showed the above text message to my officemates and asked them whether it meant i was going out with the guy or not.  every single one initially said i was not.  when i, however, asked them how come our boss was saying i said yes, every single one, ha-ha, dissected my text message and came up with the conclusion that it was a yes.  whoa!  it was a 'no' to me!!!

i kidded my officemates that's probably the reason my marriage failed  ->  i wasn't getting across  : }

the concern is mutual

the party i attended last friday had a red and green theme.  guests were requested to wear either of the two colors.

now, i am not really a color person.  i prefer my clothes in muted shades, subdued, neutrals.  whenever you see me in a colorful outfit, you can be pretty sure what i'm wearing is not mine.  it could be my mom's, or my sisters', or my sister-in-law's, ha-ha.  i often borrow from their closets  ; )

for a red or green outfit therefore, i had to again look outside my own.  i checked out my parents' place and found a few reds.  i got a simple one and brought another as well thinking  my dear friend might want to wear it to the party.

guess what, when i picked her up and pointed to the red top hanging in the car for her, she brought out of her bag a spare green top intended for me!  she said she was thinking i might not have a red or green outfit.  aaww... isn't that sweet?  thinking of each other.  i really am thankful i have such people in my life... : )

sticking it out

i attended my first christmas party for the year last friday.  it was actually the christmas party of one of the companies owned by the taiwanese businessman my best friend met while stranded in bangkok.

part of the program was a speech from the businessman.  he acknowledged the presence of my best friend and then went on to relate how things were while they were in bangkok -> eating, eating, eating, always eating, he gained so much weight.

what struck me most in his speech was the part where he said, during the time when flights were uncertain, his wife called him asking him to contact the manager of a certain airline.  one of their companies has airline connections and his wife told him the manager has guaranteed a seat for him.  true enough, when he called the airline, the manager assured him that a seat is available for him.  he could have left that friday but he could not bear to leave the friends he had made while in bangkok, i.e., my best friend, her officemate and a belgian guy.  amid the uncertainty of the situation, he opted to stay.  they all finally got to fly back to the philippines tuesday already.

(he said he told his wife about this only upon his return.  during the time when she called him in bangkok asking why he hasn't come back, he simply told her, "no seat.")

oh, that is so kind.  thinking not just of yourself but of others.  my friend got really lucky in bangkok.

head and shoulders

ha-ha, this text made me laugh:

hidden soldiers.



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V

pacman's reply to the question:


what is the world's number 1 anti-dandruff shampoo?



; )

unfazed

last night we were at my best friend's house to welcome her back after being stranded in bangkok a few days.  she had a lot of stories, good and bad.  apparently, the good very much outweighed the bad  ->  she was convincing us to join her on a trip to vietnam!!!  she was there just a few months back!  yikes!  not at all fazed by the bangkok experience : }

bangkok

i received a call from my best friend this evening.  she'll be back tomorrow aboard a special flight taking off from a military airport.

she is among those stranded in bangkok because of the closure of the Suvarnabhumi airport.  she left sunday on a personal/pleasure trip with an officemate and was supposed to be back wednesday except that rallyists took over the airport tuesday evening.

she was worried, irked and inconvenienced in the early stages but was already ok not long after.  i was surprised actually.  she kept on telling me before, she's a changed person now, strong and positive.  much as i would have liked to believe, i must say i was not totally convinced.  at least, until this bangkok experience.  i believe her now.  through it all, i did see someone strong and optimistic.  i am surprised and i am very, very happy.  keep it up friend  : )

i'm taking the liberty to share two of her text messages to me while there:

"Sbgay srap buhay dto dami fud kain tulog lng relax.pg dating dyan presured ulit sa work.me taiwanese bus.man p kmi frend dto gud thing di p alis n iwan kmi"


"U r rite bfrend i know everythin hapens 4 a reason n 4 d best.o positive na outluk ko di ba.thnx 2 u.sbi hipag ko pti usa n davao nkta me tv.dami pa love sa kin"



she got interviewed while there and the interview was shown in various newscasts.  my sister was saying so many people there, she was chosen to be asked and her portion was aired.  i didn't see it but a lot of people did.  she got a lot of calls and messages after that.  the calls, highly appreciated, of course, got us worried though.  she's on roaming and whatever messages and calls she receives, she gets corresponding charges.  we've twice made advance payments to her phone so she would not exceed her credit limit.  we didn't want her line to be cut-off, even just temporarily, as there would be delays in reconnection.

i was on the phone with her husband and he was telling me he was initially thinking his wife would get burned somehow and not go out as much after bangkok.  then when he talked to her over the phone, he said his thoughts changed to, 'aba, hindi madadala ito!  buffet, executive breakfasts, free accommodations... nag-enjoy pa!'

i'm not sure whether my best friend mentioned that the hotel is just across a mall.  and that they've gained friends, one belgian, the other taiwanese.  plus we discovered that it was so easy to send her money.  i sent through western union the money her husband gave and my best friend just crossed the street to claim it.  voila, her funds were replenished, ha-ha.  ooops, uh-oh?  ; )

anyway, this is not intended to make light of the current situation in thailand.  there is danger, there are risks.  there are lessons to be learned, agencies to be emulated and agencies to be rebuked.  not everyone is as fortunate as my best friend.  she just got really lucky but even then i think she'll have a mouthful to say, especially about her airline, once she comes back.  being positive does not just mean taking everything in stride.  it could also mean taking action so the negatives do not proliferate.

happy-sad

i received a totally unexpected text this evening, one of the pleasant kind : )

someone wanted to pair me off with a friend of hers.  that would not have been unusual, except that this someone is someone i would never think would bother about such things.  i am surprised... and i am flattered...

since i became 'single' again, there have been numerous offers to pair me off with this guy and that.

my cousin in the US e-mailed my mom asking whether she could set me up with a good friend of hers based here in the philippines.  my mom did not even tell me, i only accidentally discovered, she immediately declined on my behalf, ha-ha.

my aunt's friends, when we were in the US, said they were going to introduce someone to me.

a high school batchmate, also in the US, asked whether he could pair me off with someone there.

a friend of mine thought of pairing me off with her brother-in-law.

one of our suppliers wanted to introduce someone to me.

a former staff of mine wants to pair me off with his new boss.

i've been consistent in declining these things... i don't want set-ups... i want something spontaneous, unplanned...

given all this, i can't help thinking, all these people think i am a desirable and worthy partner.  sad that the one who actually bagged me was too busy to notice...

focus

i had ooops text encounters yesterday.

a little past 5 pm i receive text from someone saying, "Punta k makati mamaya."

i replied i won't as i was already there this morning and will be spending the night at my parents' place.  i further said i'll be at makati again the following day and will be sleeping at my place.

the reply i got was, "Ok. Hehehe.  Punta me glorieta."

ooops, so he was referring to himself not to me  ->  the k in his text meant 'ko.  i thought it was ka, ha-ha-ha.  am i self-centered or what?  i'd say what, ha-ha.  what on earth do i care where he goes?  i did not ask.  ooops, just ribbing, mon ami.  you've grown dear to me.  but that's as far as it could ever go  ; )

and then from 11:27 pm to 12:10 am, i received 5 text messages from someone explaining something that happened last friday yet.  huh?!  i did not get to read the 4 earlier messages right away as i forgot my phone in the car.  midnight i remembered and went out to get it and heard the notification for the fifth text.  only then did i see the earlier texts and was wondering what on earth the late-night/past midnight explanations were all about.  i told the texter i don't understand her texts and asked whether i should call.  she said yes so i did.

well, what do you know.  she says someone called her and read to her my blog so she was doing all this explaining.  really???  i couldn't believe someone bothered to read my blog late night and made it her business to read part of it to someone else.  whoa!  plenty of spare time in her hands with no better thing to do, eh.  enviable or pathetic?  ' am definitely not envious, yuck!

i tell the texter i wasn't mad at her.  i said my blog was actually a happy blog.  title was bad to good; last sentence was all's well that ends well.  she didn't have to explain/re-explain anything to me.  true i was irked initially, but it's not something i dwelt on.  i have better use of my time, you know  ; )

she tells me her caller did not tell her about the rest of the blog.  oh.

purveyor of good/bad news, next time you feel the urge to dip your fingers in other people's pie and relay things late night, whatever time of the day, actually, please include the context.  it was a long blog; it was a happy blog; why focus on the irked part?  context, ok... context.

oh, dear

i don't necessarily agree but this made me laugh:

sa pag-ibig,
ang dalawa ay tama na,
ang tatlo ay sobra,
kaya si misis,
dapat pauwiin na.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~



here's to our wives and sweethearts:
may they never meet!!!

; )

bad to good

i had what i'd call a turn-around night last night.  things started out not quite well but ended up very, very well : )

first, i couldn't log in to myminilife.  myminilife itself was ok, but then friendster was undergoing maintenance and i registered at myminilife through my friendster account so i couldn't get through... sigh...

second, i was supposed to attend something i wasn't too keen on attending.  i thought we really wouldn't push through anymore.  one of my companions, my best friend, had to attend an important meeting at the office after regular office hours.  another, my dear friend, had to be at the nativity-lighting ceremony at the city's commercial center.  both activities ended quite late and i was inclined to skip the scheduled gathering altogether except that my dear friend was tasked at the last minute to bring tickets to the gathering venue.  it was already very late so i asked them to check whether the honoree was still at the gathering.  i said i was going to drive all the way to the place for the honoree but not just to bring tickets.  these tickets could be distributed at a later time anyway.  they called and was supposedly told the honoree was still there.  ok, go.

upon arrival, i scanned the table for the honoree.  there was an unfamiliar face and i asked, "ikaw ba?"

she said yes.  beso-beso.

we had a short exchange of pleasantries and i couldn't help saying, "parang nag-iba talaga.  hindi kita nakilala."

well, what do you know, it turns out she wasn't the honoree after all.  huh?!  ha-ha-ha.

i asked where the honoree was.  she has left.  another huh?!  no ha-ha-ha, this time.

i turned to my companions saying i asked them to confirm whether the honoree was still there.  i wasn't too happy i drove all the way to the place just to bring tickets.  there were explanations, this and that.  ok, ok.

just then, one of the guys stood up to offer me his seat.  i declined.  still, he didn't sit back until i had left (i had to go to the car to return and get something.).  my piqued level went down a couple notches, ha-ha-ha.  i really appreciate gentlemanly acts : )

actually, three more guys at the table stood up to make small talk with us late arrivees.  i know they did it not so much for me as for one of my companions but i was touched nevertheless.  my irked level (at having to go all the way to the venue just to bring tickets) once again went down at the guys' reception, ha-ha

just the other day, another gentleman let me go ahead of him at the ATM line.  i didn't want to.  i honor queues.  he was insistent so ahead i went.  i was so happy, not because i got to go first, but because chivalry isn't dead  : )

anyway, time to eat.  i wanted jack's loft.  my companions wanted something else.  so be it.  we went to somethin' fishy.  before getting our food, we took pictures.  pose, pose, pose.  click, click, click.  a while later, a waiter approaches us asking whether we still really want the buffet as it is not going to be refilled anymore and the spread will be taken away shortly.  eh?!  we should have eaten first before posing, ha-ha-ha.  we don't want a rushed dinner so we opted to transfer to another restaurant.  guess what, jack's loft, my original preference : )

it turned out to be a really enjoyable night.  another one of those girlie, giggly get-togethers.  all's well that ends well : )

good teeth

i have just finished brushing my teeth when i stopped by my officemate's cubicle to say something.    a supplier who was there asks why my dress was wet here and there.  i reply i've just brushed my teeth.  he does not exactly see the connection.

i explain to him my mom used to say, had our house been a hut, it would topple down given the intensity of my brushing, ha-ha-ha.  i brush my teeth with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my might.  i think it has served me well.  i have a complete set of teeth, not a single one false... : )

birthday stickers

o81027aa27.jpg

my birthday fell on a weekend and following working day, i was at the office flitting so early from cubicle to cubicle discussing this assignment and that with several of my officemates.  then, as i was talking with one of them, i suddenly noticed that she had a piece of paper stuck to her blouse.  was i surprised to see that it read, "Happy Birthday, Ma'am Cynthia!"  whoa!

i looked around and saw that my other officemates, even the ones i was talking to earlier, had such notes on their sleeves, on their chests, all over.  yikes!  i did not notice!!!

they were laughing at my late realization saying had i really failed to notice they would be posting it on their foreheads already.  ha-ha-ha.

thanks, guys.  that was so sweet.  highly appreciated.  i am really, really touched... : )

preoccupied

i've received a number of queries on why i haven't been blogging lately.  well, the reason is not (yet) romantic, ha-ha.  it's just that i am engrossed with myminilife at the moment.

i now have seven minihomes, two of which are under construction.  i couldn't finish them because i keep on running out of (virtual) money  : }

i therefore would like to make an appeal, ha-ha-ha.  i hope you'd visit my minihomes (http://www.myminilife.com/cynthia) so i would earn points/money.  and then, in case you are feeling generous, you might also try gifting me with items for my virtual homes.  i'd prefer it if you'd give me items already in the homes so

1.  we'd be sure it will be in proportion with the rest of my stuff

2.  you'd be sure i'll like it, ha-ha

i'd just sell the ones i bought myself and then replace them with your gifts.

please... thanks... : )

excluding the originator

someone was inviting me to watch a movie yesterday.  i like the movie.  but at this point i have reservations about going out to watch a movie with any guy  : }

to allay my fears, ha-ha, he tells me to bring my dear friend along.  i say if the friend is there then, yup, we could watch.  and then it occurs to me that if my dear friend and i will  be there, my best friend should be there as well.  we're a triumvirate, you see.  coffee, sugar and cream.  it further occurs to me that if my two friends and i are going to watch a movie, then it might as well be just the three of us.  no need for the guy, ha-ha.

i tell the inviter this and he chuckles at the thought that he was the one who hatched the idea but now ends up being the one left out, ha-ha-ha

well, some company are preferred over others. that is how it goes.  no need to take it personally... ; )

favorite not

i was out of town last week when i received the following text:

kpg my
umaway syo
at snabihan
k ng "panget!"

 


sbihin mo s knla:




UGLY nvr starts in "I"
it alwys starts w/ "U"

 



nkganti k na,
nosebleed p sila!

the text amused me so i forwarded it to my mom and to my friends.

my mom texts back that the message was truncated.  that was tuesday.  i therefore tried resending, at certain intervals, at different locations.

friday, i receive another text from my mom saying the message seems to be my favorite as i have sent it to her six times already.  huh?!  of all messages, ha-ha-ha... i wasn't sure it was getting through, that's all...  ; )

special

a long-time friend texted me birthday greetings yesterday (so early!!!), noted that his mom and i have the same birthday, and surmised that that is probably why i am very special in his heart.  now, for years, whenever i come across the word special, egg immediately comes to mind, ha-ha.  yup, egg as in chicken eggs.  this stems from the porridge sold all over where if you want it special they'll add an egg.

so i texted back saying, 'special?  so there's an egg.  but i'm female, so they're in my ovaries.'

i got back a puzzled reply!  he didn't seem to know about the special - egg association.  all the while i thought it was prevalent...

i turned to my officemate and related the exchange.  she laughs and tells me my friend was probably thinking, 'what on earth is this cynthia talking about?! eggs in ovaries???'  she said my friend could now in turn be thinking sperms and whatever.  huh?!  yikes!!!

i right away text my friend explaining the special - egg association.  he finally gets it and texts back that if an egg makes something special then there should be two so 'twill be super-special.  ooops!  ha-ha-ha.

oh, well, at least everything has been settled fine.  whew!

take a break

my phones weren't within hearing distance from me for a big chunk of the day and when i finally got to check them, i had 2 messages on one and 5 messages and a missed call on the other.  i don't know what got into me but the missed call alarmed me : }  this is from a guy who's been texting me for a while but has never really once called, at least on a weekend.  i called back worried something was not quite right.  guess what?  he so coolly asks me something about work that is not the least bit urgent!  grrrr!!!  i was like, what the... stop thinking about work on weekends! i hung up.

i've reminded this guy about work-life balance several times already.  he wouldn't listen.  last night he texted me non-urgent work past 11 pm!  ugh!

i like to say that even God rested on the seventh day.  the lesser beings that we are, i think we should follow His lead.  we all need time to relax, to recharge, to clear the mind.  otherwise, we might lose steam midway and end up accomplishing much less than we possibly could...

paranoia

weeks back, i was conniving with someone to put some smile in my heart, ha-ha-ha.  nothing mischievous.  just a smart, subtle and harmless move to satisfy my curiosity about a third party ; )

and then shortly after initial implementation of our ploy, i receive a friendster invitation from  someone who had "Mahal CoHe Xya" in her name.  ooops.  suddenly i got nervous.  i was afraid the target was misinterpreted.  i asked my accomplice (ha-ha, partner in crime?) to check out the inviter, to see whether she is one of his own chicka-babes.  he does and tells me he doesn't know her.  still, i don't accept the invitation.  and i haven't been totally at ease, wondering who on earth this inviter could possibly be.

sometime later, i noticed that the girl had changed her name.  no more "Mahal CoHe Xya."  hmmmm... ???

and then after that, was i surprised to see that the same girl had invited a dear friend to be her friendster friend as well.  oh!  so the inviter was not from my accomplice's circle after all.  and her name was not really a back-off message for me after all.  whew!  was i relieved. 

morals of the story:

1.  you are not the center of the universe.  not everything is about you.
2.  just because two things happen at about the same time does not necessarily mean they are connected.
3.  if you are guilty or up to something, you do get paranoid.

; )

female



i am on training outside office for almost two weeks and in the white board where my schedule is written, an officemate wrote:  ":(  sad ako"

aawww... i in turn wrote, "wow, naman.  touched ako :)"

then yesterday i received the following text, also from the same officemate:

how can i spell
tr_st w/o "U"

h_mble, famo_s,
c_te, f_n, h_g

& how can i say



i love _ &
i miss _ !

hayy... nak_


hirap pla pg wala "U"



so cute...  and sweet...  sweeter though had the sender been a guy, ha-ha...

a league of their own

my friend and i were on the phone and i was telling her it's okay to have a much older man in a relationship but not a much older woman.

she objects to the double standard saying it worked for vilma santos and ralph recto, also for demi moore and bruce willis (she meant ashton kutcher).

huh?!  ha-ha-ha.  i was like, 'friend, get real.  if you're demi moore or vilma santos, then you can get away with anything.  but for ordinary mortals just like us, don't even attempt to pull it off..'  LOL!

kuya, tatay

a friend was relating how someone who was 69 years old has expressed interest in her.  she cringed at the thought, ha-ha-ha.  i admonish her, telling her that i myself married someone 15 years my senior.

she had a quick retort:  that's ok, 15 years is just like an older brother.  but 69 (25 years older) is already like one's dad.  she says she can see herself marrying someone the same age as her brother but no way someone the same age as her dad.

oh, so there is an acceptable range?  what if the daddy-age has elder-brother looks and the elder-brother age has daddy-looks?  which would she choose?  ooops, she couldn't quite say...  not that simple...

late night sharing

i was sorting out my mom's e-mails last night when i saw this in her inbox:

       "do not be so open-minded your brains fall out."

ha-ha-ha... funny... but meaningful... i liked it.

and then this one:

       "never break 4 things in your life:
        1.  trust
        2.  promise
        3.  relation
             and
        4.  heart.

        when they break,
        they don't make a noise
        but pain a lot."

hmmm... i also liked it.  in fact, i liked it so much i texted it to my friends and to my officemates.

then late night and this morning i received replies.  ooops, i didn't realize it was already close to 11 pm when i sent out my text.  some were still awake, others already asleep.  yikes!  i didn't mean to disturb anyone's sleep (not that anyone complained).  next time i'll check the time  : }

german

yesterday i blogged about french.  now let me blog about deutsch  : )

years back, a friend called me up at the office.  her call landed at my boss's room, as in, right on his desk, an arm's length away from where he was seating.  i don't remember anymore why i didn't transfer but i do remember that, to keep the talk private, my friend and i conversed in german.  ok, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

after we hung up, i thanked my boss and was making my way out of the room when... he made some remarks in german!  huh?!  yikes!  i find out later that he was a scholar of some german institution.  he understood every single word of the trivial, shallow, girlie stuff my friend and i talked about!  aaaaaaaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!  so embarrassing!!!

moral of the story:  some people know more than you think they do.  think twice before you assume otherwise...

SMB

someone texted me a french phrase yesterday. i asked whether he spoke french... in french. i said, still in french, that i know a bit, a teenie-weenie bit. he replied in french, complete with accents and markings, ha-ha.

i would have been totally amused, except that the reply included a question on whether i knew what a certain french sentence meant. the question was out-of-topic. my eyebrows arched, and i reminded him to stop these sorts of things. he tries to wiggle out. c'mon. that's a statement they teach you in any other foreign language class. in fact, you don't even have to take french classes to know what that means. you're young, boy... but your style is rotten. go peddle that to other mesdemoiselles...

going beyond the visible

yesterday as i was walking out of our building, an officemate greeted me with, "ang sexy talaga!"

i was initially flattered and then subsequently puzzled.  what on earth was he talking about???  i was all covered up!  my blouse, nothing form-fitting, was up to my neck, and my pants, although not at all loose, was far from skin-tight either.  could he be humoring me?  he seemed serious.

i remember a similar incident.  months after we broke up, an ex-boyfriend suddenly called me up.  i asked what made him call.  he tells me his friend saw me and told him, "ang sexy pala nu'n?"

i burst out laughing and teased him, "why?  didn't you notice?"  ha-ha-ha

anyway, i ask where his friend saw me.  he said at the bus.  i asked what i was wearing.  he said jeans and polo.  hmmm... i remember that.  i was wearing denims and a loose polo shirt, as in, really loose.  and the denims were not at all tight.

i don't understand.  me, i like sexy and all but there has to be some flesh visible.  you're all covered up, nothing figure-hugging, and i wouldn't think sexy at all.  i guess men are really wired differently.  i suppose they imagine things.  or maybe they see beyond the clothes???  yikes!

reality check

an officemate tells me they saw my ex at the supermarket.

another officemate right away asks, "was he with someone?"  ooops....

the answer was no.

hmmm... i wonder how i'd actually feel if the answer was otherwise.  i sincerely want him to be happy.  i want him to have someone.  i suppose my heart would ache a bit once i find out but that is only normal.  it doesn't mean i want him for myself.

i have no expectations at all of getting back and starting over.  funny but my officemates and my friends have.  (i don't even discuss my ex with them but they are the ones who bring him up.  my best friend even dreamt about us, imagine!  i've never...)  many times they've told me, in the end, it's going to be us still.  they talk about second chances.  i think the possibility is remote.  i like to say everyone deserves a second chance but not a third.  this one lasted more than six years, we've had so much more than just a second, a third, a fourth, chance...

pure heart

an officemate was telling me that he was curious about the caliber of guys that catch my attention.  huh?!  caliber, my foot, ha-ha-ha.  he wouldn't be able to make heads or tails about the guys i've loved in the past, ha-ha.  they go from one extreme to the other  --  from, 'good choice, girl!' to 'what on earth did you see in him???' ha-ha-ha

i have preferences, of course.  i'd like my guy to be dark, and like this, and like that.  but then, my heart sometimes chooses differently, disregarding whatever criteria i've set.  the only non-negotiable as far as i am concerned is falling for someone who is already taken.  no way. other than that, everything is fair game.

the sweetest loves, the greatest ones, are those decided purely by the heart.  not everyone, however, is brave enough, or foolish enough, to give such choices a go.  maybe because the deepest pains arise too from such choices...

broken trust

i got to talk to someone a lot recently and, in the course of the conversations, we've somehow exchanged confidences, mine, albeit a rather trivial one, on the condition that it will not be shared with others.  he made me a promise... i gave him my trust... he broke both.  so easily, so quickly.  i was surprised at how the threshold was just too low.  the pressure was not at all remarkable and the gain, practically non-existent.  what a letdown.  not so much because of what what was spilled as to what was broken.  it would have taken so much more and so much longer to make me back down, if at all.

if this were a movie, this development would just make the plot thicker and the ending sweeter.  but this is real life, actions alter the course of events this way and that.  unlike in the movies, the storyline is not predetermined.

one good thing though, unlike in the movies where the lead characters are confined to a select few, in real life, every single one of us is the lead character in the story of our lives.  we all have a fair chance at having our respective happy endings therefore... : )

trade off



someone left the following sticky note in my MyMiniLife minihome:

nice job. keep up the good work.
like how u built the place. it looks awesome
but whyd u put like the cakes or pastries or whatever on the floor????????ahahalol=)
but everything elses is just fine.
It looks cool ahahahlol=)


ooops... ha-ha-ha.  actually, i wanted to put the foodstuff on top of the table.  but then, i couldn't.  i don't know whether it's a limitation of the application or i just don't know how.  i therefore just placed everything on the floor, ha-ha.

i could just have made do without them so the house won't look a mess.  but then these ones are not really the sort of stuff you forego to do right.  it's okay to have them.  i'm willing to settle for some mess therefore just to have around these things i like.

some things are worth it; some things are not.  at least to me, these are... : )

asking for the manager

we were analyzing some slow performance at the office and i went, 'why don't we try re-crimping the cables?  i just had mine crimped by _ _ _ _ _ .'

my technical lead goes, '_ _ _ _ _  who?'

i give him the surname.

he was surprised, 'you were able to make him crimp, ma'am?'

'yes, why?'

'he does not crimp.  he's the one who orders people to crimp...'

ooops... it didn't occur to me that i just asked the head of our technical support to crimp my cable  : }

i explain that he dropped by my office, crimping tools and testers in hand, so i requested for re-crimping.  he readily obliged.  hmmm... suddenly my cable seems special, ha-ha

my economics professor told the class before, you don't use a diamond bit to pry open a peanut.  true, that is overkill, not optimal.  you should utilize just the right amount and the right type of resources to accomplish a particular task.  there is such a thing as too much, there is such a thing as too little.  and while we're at it, yup, there is also such a thing as too late...

birthdays

my technical lead was in a meeting yesterday so i was the one who called our support group for assistance.  i asked for the manager, ha-ha.  i apologized for bothering him instead of the point person he had earlier identified explaining it was the guy's birthday that day.  he said it was perfectly ok.

we were on the phone several times during the day and the last time, was i surprised to notice an e-mail from his birthday staff.  i blurted out, "nagtatrabaho pa si _ _ _ _ ?!"  (e-mail timestamp was already beyond regular office hours.)

he says yes and i chide him saying the documentation i was asking for could have waited after the guy's birthday.

he tells me his staff continue working and don't take a leave on their birthdays.

i kid him, "yuck!  what kind of manager are you???  there's a personal component to the managerial aspect, you know..."

he breaks into a laugh saying he was actually suprised i know about his staff's birthdays.

i ask, "don't you???"

he says he's just been finding out through me and it's not something he thinks about throughout the day.

ooops, ha-ha-ha.

1.  actually, i learned about his staff's birthdays unintentionally.

the first one last week, i called for a meeting with their group and, on the day of the meeting, one of the attendees tells me it was the birthday of another one of the attendees.  when the manager arrived therefore, i told him he should have told me earlier it was his staff's birthday so i could have excused him from attending.  he said he didn't know : }

and then the one yesterday, i found out through friendster and MyMiniLife.  he invited me to be a friend and friendster sent a notification while his MyMiniLife profile showed his birthday to friends.

2.  his staff's birthdays are not really things i think about throughout the day, ha-ha

it's just that one was at my office on the day of his birthday and another sent me work mail on the day of his birthday and such times, at least, i remember that it is their day.

if you are my staff, unless something is really, really urgent, i'll actually unload you on your birthday.  i'd like it if you go on leave but in case you don't, i'll make an effort to make your work day lighter.  work is work, it never goes away.  your birthday comes just once a year.  i'd like it to be YOUR day... : )

counterpoint

aaarghhhh!!!  the next-door neighbor is having a videoke session and i could hear, once again, if i could change the world.  ugh!

i had a fairly good night last night.  i don't want to spoil the day by going sentimental on a song.

i hope they sing bikining itim.  nothing biographical but that song never fails to make me smile, ha-ha-ha

e-kiss

ha-ha-ha... someone just blew me a kiss in friendster... it came with the smile he sent.  and in reference to the MyMiniLife kiss which leaves a mark, at least this one, he says, is not obvious, ha-ha.

the smile made me smile while the kiss made me wince initially but smile some more eventually.  i am amused.

thank you, ok.  but just like my MyMiniLife caveat, i'd like to emphasize you're allowed to do so only in cyberspace.  real-life remains something else  ->  off-limits...  ; )

again and again

when something catches my fancy, i am like a broken record, singing praises over and over again, ha-ha.

one time, a teen-star was shown on tv coming out of the pool.

my youngest sister asks me, 'is she sexy?'

i go, 'she's ok.'

'do you find her sexy?'

'just ok.'

'you don't think she's sexy?'

at this point, my other sister butts in, 'she does not! otherwise she would have kept on repeating, 'so sexy... so sexy... so sexy...''

ooops... ha-ha-ha

wanting and having

my MyMiniLife gift car brought to mind a somewhat similar real-life occurrence.

my ex and i were at Holiday Inn when we saw a Pajero Jr. at the parking area. i went, 'how cute!' and we checked the vehicle all over.

it was my first time to see such a small pajero and i must have gone on to gush about it even when we were already in the car.

some days later, as my ex and i were driving along C5, his phone rings and he excitedly tells me, 'babe, the pajero you like is already available. let's go check it out.'

i was like, 'huh?!'

he was going to buy one for me, just like that!

i very firmly turned it down, saying if he buys it, i will never ever use it.

my ex was downhearted. i was actually tempted to change my stand but i stuck to it.

things are not always that simple. just because i like something, does not mean i have to have it. some things you just have to forego...

new car



wooowwww!!! i just got a car gift in MyMiniLife : D i am so happy!!! first time someone ever gifted me with a car, ha-ha

actually, i asked for it, ha-ha. someone has been asking me what gift i want in MyMiniLife. that was the time i sold my cakes, chocolates and sushi so i could buy a bigger lot so i said he could just gift me those. and then, i don't know how, i suddenly had a lot of money so i was able to buy back everything that i had sold and more. i told him no need to give me anything anymore.

then this morning, someone hit my car as i was driving to the office (my real-life car, not a MyMiniLife item : }). the part around my left rear tire got bent and had scratches but nothing really major.

then while at the traffic office i got a text asking whether i was in makati. i replied i actually am at the quezon city hall as i've just been involved in a minor collision.

later in the day, the texter tells me to just buy a new car. i said i can't afford one : } and then it occurred to me that i could get a new one, even just in MyMiniLife. i told the texter i'm going to sell my white MyMiniLife car to represent my real-life car and then he could just gift me with a replacement. he said he will, and he did. i am very, very pleased. thank you very much :)

well, guy, since you just put a car in my garage, i won't mind this time if you again leave a kiss mark in my minihome. that only goes for MyMiniLife though; different rules apply in real life, ha-ha

flying kiss

i'm into MyMiniLife right now.  it's a cruder version of Sims.  i received the app invitation a long time ago but only recently did i click.  i enjoyed shopping and initially couldn't figure out how to build a house.  i would not have cared a bit and moved on, except that i saw that my best friend (one of the 9 friends that appeared right away as soon as i joined (i don't know how we became friends, i haven't sent out invitations that time.)) already had a nice house.  i was thinking, i'm the IT person here, if she was able to build one then why couldn't i?  i was challenged and now i have a nice house and a nice room, ha-ha.  (check out http://www.myminilife.com/cynthia or if you're my friendster friend, you may view my minihomes below the testimonials in my profile.)

then when i last checked the site, was i surprised to find my house all shiny and glittery.  i liked it except that there appeared, too, a big lipstick mark in the dining area.  huh?!  ???

i clicked around and saw that someone had rang my bell, cleaned my house three times, left a kiss, then cleaned the house again six times.  hmmmm.  so the shine and the glitter are from the cleaning and the lipstick mark was from the kiss.  ok.

i just can't help wondering though why he would clean my house nine times.  it wasn't dirty, was it?  i'm thinking maybe he got nervous when the lipstick mark appeared when he left the kiss and tried to erase it by cleaning.  it wouldn't go, ha-ha-ha.  you've been caught, guy.  there's no denying what you did.  am i right or am i right?  ha-ha

special request to visitors.  when you go check out my site, you may ring the bell and clean the house, but please don't leave any kisses.  i don't want lipstick marks all over the place, ha-ha.  if you really want a kiss, you may try your luck in person.  if it's your lucky day, i just might give you a flying one, ha-ha.  mwah!

; )

not yet

i don't know what's on tv but i'm hearing right now 'how did you know?'... with my 11-year-old nephew singing along, ha-ha

that song first caught my attention over a year ago and i was hoping it was going to be my song for someone one day soon.  well, it's been quite a while and i haven't yet found an object for the song.  not yet the right time, maybe...

this made me laugh

i just texted a batchmate to confirm whether he has received the money from my best friend and me which i had earlier sent to him through an officemate.  he confirms receipt and that should have been it.

but what happened next was i received another text from his number which went:

      nnay 2 ni _ _ _ _ _ _
      pls qng pede
      tigilan nyo n ang ank q
      s pgttxt sknya

      dhil sa brkda n yan
      nppbyan nya n ang knyang

 

      PAGAARTISTA!

      bket
      fans kb nya

huh?!  ha-ha-ha

for a while there i was afraid the mom thought we were debtors and mistook our donation money for loan payment.  whew!  ha-ha-ha...

thank you, vats



i've been sleeping over at my parents' place a lot lately and whenever i do, i park along the alley as there is no more space in the garage for my car.  well, last night when i arrived, was i surprised to see from the dashboard a parking guide painted on the wall.  it's basically a big letter H where i have to align my car's width on the vertical lines and hood on the horizontal line.  above the horizontal line was painted 'Park' and below, 'Iñgat' ~ Take Care.  oh... sweet  : )    morning i saw my dad with a can and paintbrush, i didn't know he was doing something for me.  i am touched and i am thankful.

my dad is not the touchy-feely type of guy, not big on hugs, not at all into PDAs.  but he takes very, very good care of you.

i remember vividly up to now something that happened way back in my college years.  i was supposed to go to class already but my dad hasn't come back with the car.  i didn't want to be late, so i decided to take the jeep.  UP was three rides away from our place, two very, very short rides plus one that's not really that long (the katipunan part).  so i was on the second ride and upon alighting from the jeep, was i taken aback when i saw my dad exaggeratedly waving at me, ha-ha-ha.  it turns out he arrived shortly after i left and followed me to the terminal.  he could have just let me complete my commute.  but no, he followed me and took me to my destination.

i felt so loved and so well taken care of... i am lucky and i am really, really thankful...

accessibility

i've been using my cellphone a LOT lately and just this morning, the thought of getting a sun line crossed my mind.  my best friend has sun.  my officemates have sun.  i'll be saving a lot if i also get a sun.

and then over pizza tonight, i learn that my frequent texter of late also has sun.  yikes!  suddenly i had reservations about the idea.

after pizza, i receive a call from a very dear friend.  guess what, she called to inform me that she has just gotten a sun and is convincing me to do the same!  ooops...

i don't know but instead of clinching it, suddenly i'm discarding it.  i love you, guys, but i'm sticking to smart.  it's nice to be not that accessible some times...  ; )

exercise

at a party the other friday, i joined a line dance and, ugh!, not long into the music and i was already panting like crazy.  my aunts were there, older than me, and they were dancing so merrily.  me, i was dancing and breathing from the deepest recesses of my core.  yikes!  so unfit!  i suddenly remembered how a couple of exes (ouch!) have made remarks about how soft i was.  well, maybe it's because the only exercises i've had in my entire life were confined to the P.E. classes i had in school. 

i've been thinking i better take up some form of exercise soon.

my officemates are into badminton but then i don't really like something that would require me to use or bring some sort of equipment.

they say swimming is good, but then you would have to do it in a pool and the pools in the city normally have chlorine and that is something i don't like.  plus, i want something that would make me sweat.  i think in swimming you'll sweat, if at all, only if you do competition-level laps.  that would take the fun out of the activity.  not the option for me therefore.

a gym class i am discounting because i don't see myself lifting weights.  if i'm going to lift something it might as well be a baby or some stuff or furniture but not dumbbells.

there was a time i really wanted to enroll in karate.  i never got around to it.  (karate was one of my P.E. classes in college).  i'm thinking maybe now i could but then at this point i want something i could sustain till my olden days.  i can't imagine myself doing hai! and kicks when my hair is gray.

enroll in a fitness class i won't because i don't want to shell out the membership fees.  i choose my expenses, ha-ha-ha...

jogging is free but then i don't want my uhm and internal organs bouncing up and down so pass.

dancing is fun but then at this point i don't know yet whether the guy i'm going to spend the rest of my life with will be into it.  if he'll be, well and good, dancing it would be.  otherwise, another pass.  i don't see myself going out to dance with a hired DI.  i can't imagine paying someone to dance with me.  pardon my conceited self but i'm thinking guys should be the one to pay for the privilege.  i doubt anyone can afford it though -- i am priceless, ha-ha

a remaining option is walking.  i have an officemate who walks around the compound after office.  maybe i could join her.  and then once i've found my love, we two could do it together, hand in hand, till we're old and gray.  that would be sweet... : )

dimples of venus

i was on the phone with a friend soon after i posted some swimming pics months back when she tells me, 'may dimples ka pala sa puwet?'  ooops... she was referring to the dimples on the arch of my back which were visible from the swimsuit i was wearing.

i was surprised, 'baket? ikaw, wala?'

she says no and was i all the more surprised.  all this time i took for granted that, just like our eyes, nose, ears, everyone normally had them.

a supplier who overheard our conversation later sent me a link about those dimples.  they're called dimples of venus and, yup, not everyone has them.  hmmm, logical.  not everyone has facial dimples so why would everyone have back dimples.  i just felt like a bit of a moron not knowing that at my age  : }

anyway, i didn't really give it much thought.  and then at the wanders show last wednesday, there were showgirls aplenty, bare midriff, bare back.  i noticed that, yup, not all of them had dimples of venus.  what more, i found the backs with dimples nicer to look at, ehem.  ha-ha-ha

suddenly, i was appreciative of and thankful for my dimples.  i just can't help wondering though what other things (or people) i've been taking for granted all this time simply because i didn't know any better.  i hope not many, and whatever there may be, i pray that someone or something will make me realize soon so i could rectify my shortcomings...

happy ending

pinoy dream academy was again on tv.  it's their penultimate show, grand dreamer will be announced tomorrow.

i had reservations about watching.  this is the show that oh-so-unexpectedly unsettled me how many nights back and i do not want a repeat of that.  but then, i wanted to see cris and hear bugoy.  said desire won over so i decided to watch, ready, however, to bolt out at the slightest hint of a meltdown, ha-ha

early into the show and i got a bit of a scare already.  miguel's graduation speech struck a chord in my heart:

     dahil pag gusto mo talaga ang isang bagay
     hindi ka susuko
     gagawin mo ang lahat
     upang makamit ito

something crossed my mind and i couldn't help wondering whether it was i who gave up or the other party.  anyhow, this did not make me leave.

i went on to watch and i survived all the performances nicely, thank you very much.  i got a bit tense with 'hard habit to break' but then i felt it was not so much my song as a song for me (ha-ha-ha, presumptuous!)

finally, there was bugoy.  i like his voice.  i like that he has come a long way.  and what do you know, a line in his song actually made me break out into a laugh... tatlong oras na akong nagpapa-cute sa 'yo... ha-ha-ha... it reminded me of someone (you know who you are, ha-ha)

well, at least the show does not leave me with bad memories.  i have my happy ending and, once again, i am thankful : )

freebie

my nephew and i have just bought a belated birthday gift for him.  his birthday was in july yet and i was asking him then what gift he wanted.  he couldn't think of any.  well, actually, he had something in mind but it was too expensive for me.  i told him, if it costs that much, then he should get it from his dad, ha-ha-ha

yesterday, i received a text from him saying that he already knew what gift he wanted.  he gave me the price.  i still found it a bit much, but then he said it's going to be my birthday and christmas present for him already so i said ok.

a while earlier, we went to the department store to buy his present.  he chose a color quickly and then the salesguy asked him to choose two games.  we moved to the games shelf and there he did choose two.  when the salesguy took them out, i saw that there were price tags for more than P500 each.  huh?!

i chided the salesguy, 'yikes, you shouldn't have asked him to get games anymore...'

the guy replies, 'part of the package, ma'am, they're free...'

oh, ok... thanks... ha-ha-ha

fat not ; )

my weight gain blog drew clarificatory statements from the guys involved, ha-ha-ha

the first one said he meant my new weight becomes me, pointing out he said i looked good...

the second one said he was referring to ancient times when important people rode carriages carried by four men...

oh... ok...

nevertheless, no problem otherwise... : )

different focus

i was on the phone with my friend the other night when her husband offered us two free tickets to the wanders show.

not having any idea what it was, only knowing that the tickets we were getting for free were  quite expensive, we went.

whoa!  the opening number was just a feast for the eyes.  so colorful, so lively, so many things going on at the same time.  i noticed, however, that the showgirls were on the lean side.  i prefer them voluptuous, ha-ha

next came the contortionists.  yikes!  i've never really been able to bear looking at them.  they actually scare me  : }

there were also the jugglers.  i actually liked their act best.  their outfit was mainly white and they kept on juggling beige-colored hats.  a lot of movements, nothing dangerous, the colors were subdued.  i liked it.  i don't want too many colors and i feel uneasy when jugglers use bottles and canes and all sorts of stuff.  this one was just right for me.

and then there were the aerial dances and acrobatics.  the performers used cords and sturdy cloth or had harnesses.  ugh!  try as i may, i couldn't fully enjoy the segments.  i kept on fearing for the performers.  they might fall, hurt themselves, break a bone  : }

the musical numbers were really good.  i would have totally swooned at livin' la vida loca, except that the skimpily-clad dancers were again on the lean side, ha-ha-ha.  oh, well, i guess if you do all those moves so many times a week then you would really lose the rubens in you...

i enjoyed a dancing/balancing act by a couple, as much for the routine as for the female performer who had a really rounded, really hourglass shape.  wow  : )

during curtain call, the pair took a bow and i whispered to my friend, 'what a good bod!'

she asks, surprised, 'the guy?'

i go, 'huh?!  the girl!'

only then does she notice her.  she agrees with me and we both laugh (the guy was not exactly trim)...

hmmm... interesting how two people could focus on different aspects of the same thing in front of them...

weight gain

i attended an inter-agency meeting this afternoon.  upon entering the building i immediately hear someone call my name.  it was my high school batchmate!

he works in that building, true, but then, could you imagine, so many people in that building, only a handful of us were in the lobby, and my batchmate and i chance upon each other.  a minute later and we would not have seen each other at all.  the timing was just unbelievable.

before disappearing in the elevator, he asked what my meeting was.  a few minutes later, he popped up at the venue.  we talked a bit and then he left.  shortly thereafter, i receive a forwarded message from my best friend, also our batchmate.  it turns out our batchmate informed her that i was at their building saying further that "She looks gud n 2mba cya."  huh?!  ha-ha-ha.  he could have stopped at i look good!

last night a supplier texted me asking whether i was already home.  i said still at the office explaining that when i went down earlier, there were floodwaters in front of our building so i decided to go back and let the waters subside first otherwise my feet would get wet unless i ask the guard to carry me.  his reply sent me chuckling.  he said, '4 guards dapat.'  ha-ha-ha-ha

since a line dance last friday, i've actually been thinking of taking up some sort of exercise for health and fitness reasons.  ' looks like i really have to take up one also for weight reasons  ; )

flee

as soon as i arrived at their house, i went straight to my parents' room for the customary mano.  on their TV was again pinoy dream academy.  yiiiieeeeeee!!!  i fled right away.  i don't want any more songs that might again turn unexpectedly heart-tugging at this time... ; )

timely

i have just posted my previous blog when the phone rings.  i pick it up and on the other end was my friend who right away asks me, "do you have a cold?  are you ok?"  ha-ha-ha.  my voice wasn't quite the same because, as i told her, "nag-e-emote-emote lang..."

i tell her parts of an aegis song that never really meant anything to me before, suddenly came piercing my heart big-time.  ugh!

while we were talking, i hear on the background another aegis song, ulan.  it was her officemate on the videoke.  i request luha.  the officemate obliges.

we both listen to the song and i ask her to wait for the last lines, the ones that used to bring amusement to me and my loved one.  i explain to her the laughter's naughty context and we both end up laughing.

i can't help thinking how good God is... He didn't allow me to sleep with tears tonight... : )

the laughter is gone

interesting how the same song could draw contrasting emotions at different stages in one's life.

pinoy dream academy was on tv and i chanced upon little dreamer philip about to sing the aegis tune luha.  i stopped to listen.  that song used to bring laughter to me and my loved one.  we liked the last lines, ha-ha-ha.  well, that was in happier times.

at this point in my life, it was another part of the song that caught my attention... and unexpectedly brought me a different emotion.  i am not laughing this time...

happy thoughts

i slept last night with a teenie-weenie bit of pain in my heart.  ugh!  i hate it how songs could just oh so suddenly unearth memories you'd rather confine to the backburner : }

anyway, i'd like to start my day now by thinking happy thoughts.  let me to go back to a party i attended last friday then.

it was a cousin's birthday and she celebrated it at a dance place. there were DIs aplenty and one of them had the fleshiest of legs.. and the shortest of dresses.  ooh-la-la... was i so happy, ha-ha-ha

a lot of times something catches your eye but you can't really ogle.  well, that night i could look as much as i want.  the DI was on the dancefloor, that is an excuse  ; )

and then yesterday we were looking at the pictures.  so there were pics of my mom dancing and my nephew asked who her partner was.  i replied it's a DI and then asked him whether he knew what a DI was.  he said no.  i told him DI means dance instructor.  he goes, 'i thought dance influence...' huh?!  ha-ha-ha...

if...

i am in front of the computer when i hear a certain song downstairs.  i take a peek and see the Pinoy Dream Academy finalists singing 'if i could change the world.'  ouch!  someone from my past liked that song...

      if i could change the world
      i will be the sunlight in your universe
      you would think my love was really something good
      baby if i could change the world

aaaaaaaarrgh!!!  IF...

of health and dying

my officemates and i were walking along the hallway when one of them pointed to a butterfly outside the window.  i was trying to locate the butterfly, and what first caught my eye was a cat, and then a snake plant on which was perched, the butterfly.

what happened next made me shriek.  the cat caught the butterfly with its mouth!  yikes!  i couldn't bear the sight!

i mumbled to my officemates i didn't know cats ate butterflies.

they chorused, "sure they do!"

ugh!  suddenly i felt like an ignoramus not knowing at this age that butterflies were in a cat's food chain  : }

when we reached the lobby, the cat was outside, butterfly in mouth.  i had to look away.  and then there were shrieks.  i turned and saw the butterly escape from the cat's grip.  wow!  i was so happy!

i told my officemate, see, if it's not your time to die, you won't die.

i've always believed that death is predetermined.  you can be at the safest place but if it's your time to go, you will go.  if your time's not yet up, you can be at the clutches of death and yet escape alive.

i believe, moreover, that unlike death, health is not guaranteed.  to me this explains why, under the worst of circumstances, others, when in luck, manage to remain unscathed or, out of luck, come out a vegetable.

not exactly the most pleasant of topics... end of post...

thank your lucky stars

i received a call from a batchmate from japan this evening.  i chided her with, "hoooy!!!  ikaw nasa japan ka na pinapaghintay mo pa ako!!!"



she knew what i was talking about right away.  she went, "sabi ko na nga ba ako idadahilan ng mga ito..."



we both had a good laugh.



last night, my batchmates and i went to the wake of a classmate's dad.  earlier, they were trying to set a time and i couldn't commit to a definite one saying i didn't know whether i'll finish early or late.  i, however, assured them that, finished or not, i'll be leaving the office no later than 9PM.  they were willing to wait.



around 8PM, i received calls and texts asking whether i was already done.  negative.



nearing 9PM, i texted my friend i'd just be printing something and then will be on my way to the meeting place which was near my office.  so i arrived, and no one was there, so i ordered a hotdog.  ok, eat, munch, chew.  i finished the hotdog.  and i waited... and waited... and waited.



i wasn't comfortable sitting there, without anything or anyone (ugh!), so, even if i wasn't hungry, i went back to the counter and ordered a burger.  ok, eat, munch, chew.  i finished the burger.  and waited... and waited... and waited.



i was thinking of ordering fries, but didn't really feel like eating any more so i just people-watched.



more than an hour later, my batchmates arrived.  they explained to me that the batchmate from japan called so they were late.  oh... ok.



then this evening's call.  the batchmate from japan tells me, "dati na kaya silang late nang tumawag ako."  aha!  ha-ha-ha... maybe i knew that.  but then last night i didn't really have the energy anymore to think or to get mad or to blabber so i was just passive.  it was their lucky night  ; )

joining the bandwagon

i am all alone in the bedroom and i was laughing to my core.



earlier, i texted my two city guys i won't be able to text them for the meantime as i was going to take a shower and then going to hear mass.



upon arriving home, i share with them the priest's homily.  the response of one of them brought me unexpected laughter.  he said he couldn't share with me the homily in the mass he, too, attended earlier, even if it was good, because... it was in the local dialect.  he said he knew it was good because the churchgoers were smiling so he, too, smiled... even if he did not understand a word.  ooops... ha-ha-ha-ha...

the earth shook

i am not a text person.  i rarely send SMS, at least, on a personal level.  if you text me, i either call you or text you to call me.  if there's no info needed, i actually don't even bother to respond.  baaad : }



today, however, i was texting from morning till night.  my first time ever, ha-ha.



i have four pairs of personnel going to different parts of the country for some installations.  6:30 this morning (!), i receive a call from one of them requesting that an activity scheduled for monday be moved to today.  huh?!  it's a saturday, supposedly a non-working day.  well, they're bored to death where they are.  these are two city guys i just sent to the provinces.  now they don't know what to do with their weekend, ha-ha.



i try to check whether our office in the next province is open/can be opened today.  i get no response  : }



i tell my city guys to entertain themselves by surfing the web. they tell me there's no wi-fi.  i ask whether they want me to send them an internet card.  they say the phone line's in the hotel reception area.  i tell them to roam around.  they say there's really no place to go.  i tell them to go to the market and check out the people, the merchandise.  one of them goes and comes back with liver spread.  later, the other goes and comes back with movie DVDs.  they saw at least 3 movies today!  i am amused, ha-ha-ha.



throughout the day, i kept on exchanging text messages alternately with the two of them  ->  about anything and everything.  at one point, one of them thanked me for being the only one who bothers to reply to their messages.  he says it's their only link to the "real" world as where they are seems to be in another dimension altogether.  huh?!  i reply i actually don't like pressing on the cell phone's small keypad but i do because i feel guilty tiring them (on weekdays where they've worked late into the night) and now boring them, ha-ha-ha.



8:06 pm i receive a text from one of them telling me there was an earthquake in their area.  "Wahh.  Lumindol d2 ang lakas.  Hahaha."  my initial reaction was to ask whether they're kidding.  they're not.  i move to fearing for them and being concerned for their safety.  they assure me everything's okay.  having that settled, i end up thinking mother nature probably lent me a hand in easing their boredom by making the earth tremble where they are...



; )

Someone's watching

guess what, my mom brought home a cake.  it's a chocolate roll.  i normally would have taken a slice right away, except that i feel full and do not have an appetite for anything right now. (i'm not feeling quite well and have just taken glasses and glasses of pineapple juice.)



i have in mind, however, my goddaughter's comment that i eat cake nicely and am curious now about how i do it.  i'm thinking of checking it out in front of a mirror (ha-ha) but then if i do i might fall victim to the observation-changes-the-observed phenomenon.  oh, well.  just let it go.



something to keep in mind though:  just when you think no one is looking, it could turn out someone is.  actually, Someone, always is.  another favorite:



          There was a young man who said "God,
          I find it exceedingly odd,
          That the willow oak tree
          Continues to be,
          When there's no one about in the Quad."



          "Dear Sir, your astonishment's odd,
          For I'm always about in the Quad;
          And that's why the tree,
          Continues to be,"
          Signed "Yours faithfully, God."

good thing

i was at an aunt's birthday and, of course, there was cake.  so i was eating and eating and my cousin calls me over.  she then laughingly tells me that her daughter, my inaanak, just asked her, "mommy, bakit si ninang maganda kumain ng cake; ikaw, hindi?"



i go, "huh?!  bakit?  paano ba ako kumain ng cake?"



i didn't know my godchild was observing me!  suddenly, i got self-conscious getting the next slice through my mouth, ha-ha-ha



actually, i have some out-of-the-norm eating habits:



1.  from childhood up to now, i've been eating with a fork and teaspoon, not tablespoon



2.  i eat dessert first



3.  i like to use straw on my soup : }



4.  i like to drown my rice in soup



5.  i 'drink' peanuts.  yup, not at all the dainty way where you pick up a piece or two.  i get a pack and, head tilted, chin up, i pour a LOT through my mouth and chew and chew and chew



so many not-to-be-imitated ways and my godchild chanced upon a good one.  we both got lucky this time... : )

the reason

it is raining and i am reminded of one of my favorites:



   The rain, it raineth on the just
   And also on the unjust fella,
   But chiefly on the just, because
   The unjust steals the just's umbrella.



; )

not "only"

last night, we had a get-together for a high school classmate who was visiting from the netherlands.  so there were stories of all sorts and the topic veered toward marriage and husbands and wives.



a pretty, pretty classmate related that her husband sometimes introduces her as "my one and also."  ha-ha-ha... 'twas my first time to hear the phrase.  was i amused  ; D

fortune smiles, er, laughs

a cabinet secretary came to our office today.



before his arrival, the organizers handed employees a rose each, with the instructions that we are to give it to him and then kiss him afterward.



i blurted out, "aay, hindi ako nagpapa-kiss!"



no problem, stay out of his way.



so the secretary arrived and, in every floor, employees would shake his hand and then give him a kiss.



at the third floor, spacious as it was, many as we were, he passed my way, i shook his hand, and then, he moved his face toward mine, apparently expecting a kiss!



what could i do?  i gave him a peck!



when he left our floor, i got a ribbing from my officemates:  "huuu!  hindi raw nagpapa-kiss; 'yun pala siya 'yung ki-kiss..."



: }

dolls


i usually stay late at the office but today i was rushing our supplier to go home, telling him, "birthday ng pamangkin kong manika."

he tries to correct me with "manika ng pamangkin."

but i reiterate it really is, "pamangkin na manika."

i explain to him that my sister has two dolls whom she considers our kin. these are trixie and noel, names derived from the names of my real, human niece and nephew.

today is the first anniversary of their arrival at my parents' house and today is the day my sister considers as their first birthday. (this sister is a regular, normal, sane person. she's so sane she actually edits publications of their office.)

last night, she was egging me to buy a gift for the dolls. i go, i'm going to bring home food for their birthday but not a gift-gift. i said i couldn't imagine myself buying stuff for the dolls themselves. at least food, it will be eaten by real persons.

i don't know what it is about these dolls that drives our normally sensible family to do seemingly crazy stuff.

my sister, who does not wash a single piece of her own clothing, takes the time and exerts the effort to wash the dolls' clothes : }

last year, my other sister bought them gifts for christmas.

then my mom and my aunt, with no special occasion whatsoever, bothered to check out clothes for them one time they went shopping. so there they were, looking at kiddie clothes, making comments that this one's somewhat big, this one loose, etc. when the vendor tells them, "it's ok... kids grow fast anyway."

they chuckle and tell her, "they're not going to grow -> they're dolls."

: }

ooops

my sister was giving my nephew a shirt.  he wouldn't take it.



she showed it to me.  it had a rice stalk design. i said, "i like that."



she smiles, then flips it, displaying a "Pangulong Gloria" printed on the back.  huh??? pass.



my nephew goes, "i don't like gloria."



hmmm... so young and yet politically aware.



then he adds.  "i like noli."



ooops...

unafraid

i show my niece the ghost at raffles place CCTV clip and she shivered.  i did, too, the first time i saw it and again this time.



my nephew arrives and we both show it to him, too.  unlike us girls, he reacts to the supposedly scary part with an oh-so-cool, "kampanerang kuba??  hindi naman nakakatakot."  ->  'hunchback bell ringer??  not scary.'



years back, my dad thought of scaring off the neighborhood kids who liked to roam around by telling them there's a really, really big dog in the area.  instead of backing off, the kids got excited saying, 'c'mon, c'mon, let's go check the dog...'



these kids are brave... : }

sexy

this morning, i attended our usual monday flag ceremony and, whoa!!!  the presentation was far from usual!  there were three young ladies in skin tight pants doing a fire dance.  as in, one of them was swirling a string on each hand with balls of fire at the end.  so daring!  and sexy.  i love sexy!!!



don't get me wrong.  i am all-woman, all-girlie, all-feminine but i really, really appreciate a good female shape.  i don't like the skinny types.  i like the fleshy ones with curves.



now it's not just the torso i admire.  i also like the lower limbs.  i have an officemate with really good legs.  one time, i saw her going up the stairs.  instead of turning right to my office, i turned right up the stairs, and followed her up, so happy just looking at her legs  :)



another time at the house, i was taken aback when my husband came rushing to the dirty kitchen, calling me to the living room, because some voluptuous celebrity was dancing on tv in some skimpy outfit.  he knew i'd like that, ha-ha-ha



the deed amused me, but touched me so as well.  i was thinking, some other guy would have remained glued to the tv to savor the sight, this one remembered me and bothered to fetch me so i too could watch the show.



well, yes... "there were moments of gold and there were flashes of light"...