pimple free

i have three BIG pimples near my jawline that are now just coming off. i haven't really had pimples in a looooong while and i was surprised those 3 suddenly appeared. i was wondering what could have triggered them. i really don't put anything on my face. i don't wear make-up. i haven't eaten anything unusual. hormonal changes? late nights? hmmm... the only unusual thing i could come up with was that i slathered some lotion on my face before they appeared.

for years, i've been using only eskinol naturals cucumber facial cleanser. i use it nightly before going to sleep. but then i was given a freebie pack one time i went shopping at market!market! the pack contained 4 sachets: two different brands facial lotion, shampoo, conditioner. not wanting them to go to waste, i decided to use every single one. on hindsight, i should just have given them away.

i didn't shell out a single cent but turns out i'd pay with my face. hmmm... sometimes free things cost you...

very specific

i was on the phone with someone but i cut short the conversation when i found out he hasn't had lunch yet. (he was the one who called, actually.) i teased him i wasn't as insensitive as he is.

you see, one time we were talking, i told him several times in the course of the conversation that i was hungry already. he wouldn't hang up. he just kept on talking! ok, ok, we just kept on talking. we were on the phone over an hour, ugh!

the next time he called, i chided him for being insensitive. i said he kept on ignoring my declarations of hunger.

his response? i didn't say i wanted to eat.

huh?! so aside from saying i'm hungry i have to also say that i want to eat?!

yes. just because you are hungry does not mean you also want to eat.

really???!!! aaaaaaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!

pricing

i was telling someone i have a new 8GB flash drive.

he asked where it came from.

i said it was given by a high school batchmate.

his response surprised me: 'never mind... i'll give you 16GB...'

huh?! one-uppance eh. LOL!

i must admit, material stuff are nice. but they're not mandatory. gmorning, have a good day and gnyt are enough for me. i come cheap to those i love; priceless to those i don't ; )

risky

i just blogged about the stuff in my bags and this afternoon i received an 8GB flash drive from a high school batchmate. he told me he was giving me one when he was here. i said thanks but told him to just give it to someone else. well, turns out he still decided to give it to me.

hmmm... i now have 250GB worth of storage in my bag: 2 120GB, 1 2GB, 1 8GB. add to that my memory cards. that seems like a lot of storage now. i wonder up to when.

' calls to mind the time when a diskette was enough for one's files. now you can't even fit a single full-resolution pic in one. i know someone who, two years ago, already had a terabyte drive in his pouch. such big amounts of storage/data moving around. i sure hope they don't fall in the wrong hands.

bag inventory

inspired by the SNN bag raid, i decided to have an inventory of the items in my bags.  i have 3 at a time:  my regular bag, my techie bag and my laptop bag.

my regular bag (denim eddie bauer given by aunt 1) has the following contents:
  • wallet (given by aunt 2)
    • money (bills and coins, almost always no more than P200)

    • a piece of paper on which is written my mom's ISP's bank account number

    • TIN card

    • credit cards

    • ATM card

    • pizza hut palm card

    • shopwise wise card

    • SM advantage rewards card

    • jollibee bee happy card

    • smart buddy club card


  • psychedelic pouch (free from eskinol) containing office and car keys

  • cell phone holder (given by officemate 1) with slots for two cell phones:
    • sun

    • smart


  • brown floral pouch (given by officemate 2) containing memory cards

  • blue pouch (given by officemate 3) containing a 2GB flash drive

  • green floral organizer (given by officemate 4)
    • tweezer

    • mini-sewing kit

    • 3 traveler tooth picks (given by cousin 1)


  • pink plaid mini pouch (given by cousin 2)
    • mirror

    • mocha cardholder (given by aunt 3) with 2 ATM cards

    • blue cardholder
      • mercury drug suki card

      • healthy options green card

      • 3 business cards

      • dakki membership card

      • abenson rewards card


    • blue organizer (given by biogesic sales rep)
      • 2 razor blades

      • tape measure (given by aunt 4)

      • 6 tiny nikken magnets

      • 11 safety pins

      • 5 buttons

      • 1 automatic



  • multi-colored knitted pouch
    • toothbrush

    • toothpaste


  • comb

  • tissue

  • camera

  • mini-tripod


the second has:
  • mini optical mouse (given by officemate 1)

  • 2 120GB USB drives (a total of 240GB containing mostly pictures : })

  • pale mustard organizer (free from sustagen)
    • card reader (given by cousin 1)

    • camera cable

    • battery charger

    • nokia phone charger

    • sony ericsson phone charger



the third has:
  • laptop

  • power cord


whoa!  i didn't realize i had so much in my bags  : }

anyway, i'd like to take this opportunity to thank all those who've given me stuff.  i appreciate everything.  i use them you see.  thanks again  : )

nothing definite

i just watched my first movie for the year last night.  bff (best friends forever) starring sharon cuneta and ai-ai delas alas.  uhm... ah... uhm...

my dear friend liked the title and thought it would be nice if we three close friends watched it together.  so we did.

i didn't tell them but even before we scheduled the movie, i already knew the ending  : }

last week, my mom and my aunts were talking about it saying the ending surprised them.  i asked what it was.  they didn't want to tell me.  i said i definitely wasn't going to watch it anyway so it's ok for me to know.  so tell me they did.  that was nighttime.

guess what.  following morning, i was awakened by a text from my best friend.  her message?  our dear friend wants us to watch the movie.  ooops...

moral of the story:  you cannot be too sure about the future.

mon (petite) amie

my officemate needed to call someone so i lent him my phone.  naturally, it was my number which registered on the other end.  he said he didn't speak right away and the one who answered kept on saying, "mon amie... mon amie..."

my officemate asked what it meant.  i said it's french for my friend.

background:  sometime back, the one he called referred to me as mon petite amie.  i reacted violently, ha-ha-ha.  he was surprised i understood.  i corrected him saying it should just be mon amiemon petite amie is my sweetheart.  just mon amie is my friend.  big difference the petite makes.  BIG.

don't make readily available

i was browsing the may 2009 issue of Women's Health and there was this tip from margot irwin, new zealand editor-in-chief:

Go out to eat cake or ice cream.
Don't keep danger foods at home!
You can't eat half a container of ice cream that's not there!


hmmm... those chocolates in my ref will not be replenished when they run out.

wedding and songs

i was in front of our building with my officemates when one of our contractors came out the front door. he saw me, smiled and went, "how are you?"

normally i would just have replied, "fine" or "ok" but since i was wearing something not quite appropriate for the office, i told him, "i'm getting married..."

he went, "you're getting married???"

me: "nope... just kidding... ' am going to attend a wedding..."

he went, "oh..."

then suddenly, it occurred to me that he might think i simply don't know english enough to know the difference between attending a wedding and getting married. he's australian. i sure hope it came across that i was kidding, not that i was unable to express myself correctly : }

= = = = = = = = = =



in the van to the wedding, love is all that matters played on the radio:

Love is all that matters, faithful and forever
Keepin' us together, love is all we need
Prisoner of illusion, sentence is suspended
Loneliness is ended, love has set me free


that was one of the songs during the couples' dance at my wedding. the first song was sunrise, sunset from fiddler on the roof:

Is this the little girl I carried?
Is this the little boy at play?


I don't remember growing older
When did they?


When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he grow to be so tall?


Wasn't it yesterday
When they were small?


it played while my groom was dancing with his mom, and i with my dad. when the music segued to love is all that matters, we changed partners: i with my groom, my dad with my mom, my groom's widowed mom with my groom's uncle.

memories...

= = = = = = = = = =



at church during the wedding, there was the usual, "what God had joined together, let no man put asunder." the priest talked about husbands and wives supposed to be staying together and holding on  ->  no matter what.

ouch!

= = = = = = = = = =



at the recepton, ikaw filled the air:

Ikaw ang bigay ng Maykapal
Tugon sa aking dasal
Upang sa lahat ng panahon
Bawat pagkakataon
Ang ibigin ko'y ikaw

...



Ang lahat ng aking galaw
Ang sanhi ay ikaw
Kung may bukas mang tinatanaw
Dahil may isang ikaw
Kulang ang magpakailan man
Upang bawat sandali ay...
Upang muli't muli ay...
Ang mahalin ay ikaw.


i unexpectedly shed a tear. yikes!

an instrumental version of the song was playing when i got engaged.  it also was sung at my wedding (i think it's a staple in every wedding...).  ugh!

a while later, pangako came up:

Pangako hindi kita iiwan
Pangako di ko pababayaan
Pangako hindi ka na mag-iisa
Pangakong magmula ngayo’y tayong dalawa
Ang magkasama


i told my officemate, 'that would be my next song...'

no more tears...

dog sense

i was at my best friend's place twice last night.

early evening i went there to drop off something. i presssed the doorbell but no sound came off. thinking it would be impossible for those inside to hear any calls from outside, i inserted my arm between the gate's railings intending to just throw the non-fragile item inside the garage. just as i was aiming at a safe spot, the help popped out the front door. perfect timing! i handed her the package then left.

upon arrival at my parents' place, i rang my best friend to tell her that i had dropped off something at her house. we talk awhile and ended up setting another meeting later in the night.

so from my parents' place, i again went back to her place. i was about to press the doorbell when the help again popped out the door. so timely!

so my best friend and i were at their house, uploading pics, talking, laughing, giggling, when their dogs suddenly started barking. she said, 'maybe that's xyz ...'

i didn't really pay attention. a while later, we hear the sound of a tricycle in front of their gate. she goes, 'that's xyz.'

then someone enters the house and she goes, 'see! it's xyz!'

i was like, 'huh?! how'd you know?' there's been some interval from the time she first mentioned the name to the time the guy actually walked in the door.

well, it's supposed to be the the dogs. she says they start barking whenever someone they know is about to arrive. she said the dogs went noisy prior to my arrival that's why the help was already at the door even before i pressed the bell. really?! i was inside a car! they were able to sense me from so far? i am impressed! it's not as if the person arrives right after the dogs bark. there is some interval, a considerable one.

my friend points out that the dogs are already quiet. she reminds me that it was only from the time they first sensed xyz to the time he actually arrived that the dogs were noisy. hmmm... true! she says that was the case with me, too.

she says further that you can tell from the barking of the dogs whether the arrivee is a 'good' one or 'not so good.' ooops... how was it with me?

she says the dogs' barking indicated that i'm a good arrivee.

gee, thanks... : )

don't sweat the small stuff

my simple curtain



from the time i moved in to the place in october 2000, i've always had floor-length curtains in my room. then two weeks ago, i changed my curtains to short ones, the ones that go just a few inches below the window pane. i was shopping around and decided to make my life easier a bit more by switching from long, heavy, layered curtains to short, light, single-piece ones.

already a week since i changed my curtains but mornings when i woke up, nighttime when i came home, i still felt like i was in a strange room whenever i saw my bedroom curtains. that was just ok. i knew that sometimes it really does take a while to get accustomed to things. by now actually, my room again feels home.

the thing is, up to now, i still am not that pleased with how my window looks. not sure whether i simplified too much; not sure i'd like to get used to it. so yesterday while shopping for a gift, i decided to also check out valances, nothing high maintenance yet something that could prettify my window. i looked around and looked around and looked around but did not find one that would match my curtains.

i am again supposed to buy another gift. i plan to go someplace else so i could check out a different set of valances. if after this i still don't find anything, i'll live with it. in the grand scheme of things, my curtains are just small stuff. no need to sweat them out.

understood

i attended a children's party this afternoon.  the invitation said, 'Pls. wear something Mickey!'

one of my favorite shirts is actually a mickey. but i've had it so long and worn it too much, the shoulder's already torn. so yesterday i went to my parents' place to borrow my sister's mickey shirt.  guess what, going to the party, there were 11 of us in the van, i was the only one in a mickey outfit.  ???

i asked my officemates why they did not don a mickey.  they said i was the only one who was given a formal invitation so i was the only one who saw the mickey note.  ooops...

= = = = = = = = = =


along the way, the conversation veered toward a certain topic.  one of them asked, "ma'am, si ano ba ... ?"


without her specifying what, nor mentioning who, i understood what she meant.  i said yes and discussed it no more.


= = = = = = = = = =



on our way to the party, someone asked about a certain resort in the area.

our companions mentioned several resort names.

nope, not those.

so we were wondering which one it could be.

the one who asked said, "hmmm... letter E... letter E..."

another right away went, "Club Manila East!"

the one who asked replied, 'yup... that one!!!'

huh?!  so that is letter E?!  and one of us actually got it right?! guffaws in the vehicle...

not anymore

i was absent from the office yesterday.  morning i could hardly open my eyes, i was sooooooooo sleepy.  i was afraid if i got up and drove off, i'd fall asleep at the wheel.

i think this can be traced to the saturday morning texts which woke me up followed by my late saturday night out with a high school best friend which saw me coming home past midnight.

add to that sunday.  i sent out mother's day greetings in the morning but the thanks and acknowledgments came throughout the day, even up to evening.  my phone kept on sounding off, my afternoon sleep kept on getting interrupted.  evening i met up with someone to discuss something, then off to my parents' place to greet my mom.  i drove back to my place almost 1 am.

monday i was at the office.  after office i went to my parents' place; after that to my best friend's place.  again i got home close to midnight.

you have these young ones going through the day none the worse for their late nights.  i am not like that, not anymore.  only reminds me that with me it is now 'young once'  : }

do not disturb

i was awakened by text messages thrice this morning.

first a little past 6.  true to form, i replied with, "Waaah!  Ang aga!  Nagcng me..."

the texter apologized but 7 am he texted again saying he was about to have breakfast.  i was again awakened, told him so, then went back to sleep.

what do you know, 9:30 he texts again telling me to wake up.  huh?!  aaaarrrggh!!!

i appreciate these texts but next time, unless it's an emergency, nothing earlier than 10 on a weekend please.