out of sight

friend:  'so <first name>...'

friend:  '<first name> who?'

friend:  '<nickname>!'

friend:  '<nickname>?'

friend:  '<first name> <last name>!'

me:  'oh...  ok...  what about him?'

wahaha...  the guy is miles away...  he was definitely not top of mind...  i wasn't expecting him to be part of the conversation...  :"}

give it time

friend:  'how come when i click this the picture does not get bigger?'

me:  'you have to select the sender then click the message...'

i do it and the picture is enlarged...

friend does it herself...
the screen remains blank...
immediately she goes, 'it does't work!'
and then she clicks Back...

me:  'don't!  wait for the pic to load...  it's just slow...'

she tries it again and tah-dah-ah-ah-ah-ahhnn...   the pic loads after a while...

patience is a virtue...  ; )

omission

friend:  'i wasn't able to tell your brother his co-biker passed away...'

me:  'oh...  he knows...  he went to the wake...  actually he told me someone was looking for you...'

friend:  'i wasn't able to go...'

:'(

straightforward

overheard:

♩ ♪  so, baby, pull me closer
in the f*ck seat of your rover  ♫ ♬

:"}

addition and subtraction

someone borrowed a dress from me then returned it with a package containing a pack of pistachios, a pack of snickers and a giant hershey's chocolate bar.

as we were eating the choc this evening, i told my mom:  '<toot> sent so much...  she could just have sent just one...  actually, she need not have sent anything...'

mom:  'it's her way of saying thank you...'

me:  'yeah...  i appreciate that...  but really, it's enough to me that she returned the dress...  <toot 2> borrowed a headpiece from me before then just informed me afterward that she forgot it at the venue and lost it.  that was it.'

mom:  'oh?'

me:  'stark contrast, hehe...'

do and don't...  ; p

simple joys

i went to a bank and saw a mini balloon arch on one of the tables.  if you are seated behind the desk, you will be framed by the arch.

me to teller:  'why do you have balloons today?  can i have a picture there?'

teller:  'sure, ma'am...'

so after my transaction, i walked over to the balloons.

me to guy seated behind the desk:  'can i have a picture here?'

guy:  'yes, ma'am...'

me pointing to his chair:  'can i sit there, please?'

guy:  'sure, ma'am...'

guy vacates his chair...

me: 'can you take my picture, please?'

guy:  'okay, ma'am...'

i hand him my phone...

he takes my picture.

i was so happy...  : )

uhm...  i am so shallow...  ;"p

zoom in, zoom out

last holy week, i took group pics of the guys who represented the twelve apostles.

i had a couple of pics of them during the Holy Wednesday procession but it was nighttime and they were walking so i wasn't really able to get a good shot of their faces.

Good Friday when i saw them in front of the church therefore, i requested them to stand in a row of 12 (wahaha...  yup, firing squad shot) and then in 2 rows of 6 each.

guess what, when i uploaded the pics tonight, one of them had what seemed to be a big blue halo behind his head.  when i checked, it was because someone far behind him was standing under an umbrella.

waaaahhh!  i did notice that before i took the shots.  it did not, however, look to me sans cam the way it was captured through the lens.

yup, things don't look quite the same when viewed through an eyepiece or a small LCD.

be mindful of your filters therefore so you don't end up with unexpected results.

cover up

i wore a loose, ankle-length dress to mass today.  since it was sleeveless, i also put on a sleeved mini-coat.  guess what, this little old lady at church found some issue with my cleavage instead.

waaahhh!

you think you've done your best, still it's not enough.

my neckline actually wasn't low, at least to me.  there was no fleshy bosom on display.  it's just that my cleavage goes up high, some part of it is visible even if my neckline's not low.

normally, i don't bother about what people think of my outfit.  since this is church, however, and i don't want to be a distraction to prayer, next time i'll drape a scarf.

there are times when you stand firm.  there are times when you adjust.

the way i see it

friend:  'you spent holy week in <place>, right?'

me:  'yes...'

friend:  '<toot> was saying you spent it in baguio.'

me:  'haha...  i know why...'

friend:  'because the pics you've been posting in facebook were taken in baguio!  i told her you post pics late!'

uhm...  yeah...  it's already april 2017 and i'm still uploading february 2016 pics...  :"}
->  i have so many pics and i don't want to bleed the feed and i want the uploads chronological and from just one place as much as possible.

not a few have been misled into thinking the pics are current.  actually, i put the date when the picture was taken when i do the upload.  it shows when i view the pic on my laptop.  on my phone, however, it is just the upload date that is displayed.

1.  just because you don't see it doesn't mean it isn't there.

2.  what you see depends on what you have.

chronology

me to little boy named ezekiel:  'did they get your name from the bible?'

kiel:  'no...  from the court...'

me:  'court?'

boy's grandma:  'he meant basketball court...  he saw it there...  but no...  it's from the bible...'

me:  'haha...  yeah...  the name was probably written on the court after you [little boy] were born...'

; )

versions

i was walking along a street parallel to ours when i saw this guy who regularly knocks at my parents' gate to ask for money.

he seemed surprised to see me and must have been unable to place me right away so he blurted out this story that does not at all dovetail with his narrative when he goes to my parents' place.

ahahahahaha...

when you lie, you're bound to weave stories that are different, inconsistent and worst, contradictory.

speak the truth  ->  even if your voice quakes.

subtle

in my parents' house there's a bowl filled with coins.  it's been like that from my childhood.

it's a stainless steel bowl pretty much like but slightly deeper than a soup bowl.  if you need coins for anything, ambulant vendors, beggars, fare, change, parking attendant, gasoline attendant, you just get coins there.

my dad refills the bowl regularly.  he even goes to the gasoline station to exchange bills for coins.

palm sunday, my niece gave me a P50 bill as payment for something.  since i didn't have a pocket, i put it in the bowl then forgot all about it.

guess what, today when i got coins, the P50 was still there.

me to mom:  'this is the P50 <niece> gave me, right?  i put this here before holy week yet.  no one got it!'

mom:  'they get coins...'

me:  'yeah...  but you also could have gotten this since it's there but no one did...'

mom:  'if you get the bill it's very obvious that you got P50.  if you just get coins no one knows how much you got...'

haha...  as if someone's keeping tabs...  ; )

menu

mom's friend:  'someone was telling me all she can cook is pacham...'

me:  'haha...  i know pacham now...  you told me last time...'

mom's friend:  'yes...  pa-chamba [hope to get lucky]...  there's another one, pangat...'

me:  'is that fish?'

mom's friend:  'it's pangatlong init [third heating]...'

wahaha...

Q:  'what's cooking?'

A:  'take it or leave it.'

;"p

cooking

cousin and his ladylove dropped by the house...

ladylove:  'are you cooking?'

me:  'huh?!  haha...  no!'

ladylove:  'you're wearing an apron so i thought you were cooking...'

me:  'oh...  i'm hosing some stuff and i don't want to dirty my shirt hence the apron...'

uhm...  i've said this countless times:
if the shortest way to a man's heart is through his stomach then i definitely would have to take the long route.

two things i know though:

1.  i can fill in the following blank with so many other verbs:

"I ________ better than I cook."

2.  the secret ingredient is always love  <3 <3

: )


blessed sunday

before the mass ended, the priest announced that the Catholic Women's League will be giving away easter eggs.

no need to hunt.  the eggs will just be handed to the churchgoers.  all they have to do is fall in line.

i did not join the queue anymore.  all i intended to do was take a few pics while the eggs were being given away.

click, click, click.

then i stopped to check where my mom could be.  so there i was just standing scanning the church for my mom when one of the CWL ladies handed me an egg.  whoa!  i wasn't even in line!  blessed, favored, loved!!!  i was sooo happy...  i was sooo thankful!

the Lord is risen...  joyful resurrection sunday...  : D

ghostbuster

i was tinkering downstairs around 10:25 p.m. when i suddenly 'sensed' 'something'/'someone.'  (uhm...  nothing new to me.)  the feeling was sooo strong!

i said a little prayer then quickly wrapped up what i was doing.

then i went upstairs.

ei, 'it' disappeared!  : D

i went out the bedroom to check something and slowly i started sensing 'it' again...  : }

i went back to the bedroom then lay in bed.  the feeling was still there, so much weaker than downstairs earlier though.

i pulled on a blanket.  for some reason, i feel safe whenever i'm under a blanket from the neck down, hehe.  mosquito nets make me feel safe, too.  if there's a mosquito net, i can usually forgo the blanket unless 'it' is so strong in which case i'd just put my feet under a blanket.  that's enough to make me feel safe already...  : )

anyway, so i was lying in bed lights on covered by a blanket from the neck down and i can still sense 'it.'

it was like that for a few minutes then suddenly a gecko started making noise:

"tuk-ko!
tuk-ko!
tuk-ko!"

guess what, suddenly everything felt normal again!  'it' disappeared oh so quickly!  : D

hmmm...  ghosts afraid of geckos???

yay!

; p

response

last april 8, i blogged about my experience at the PhilPlans branch in ali mall.  i was just going to make a payment and i was being asked to write my name on a logsheet with the header "Free Personal Accident Insurance Certificate."  actually, this was not the first time it happened.

well, yesterday i received the following response from the Vice President, Customer Value Management Division of PhilPlans:

"Thank you for bringing this to our attention.  I apologize for the inconvenience this has brought you.

I completely understand your concern and I agree that changes has to be made.
I’ve discussed this with our sales and branch team to implement changes immediately.

Please don’t hesitate to email me if you have other concerns.

Again, thank you for the feedback."

thank you for the response.

i'm looking forward to the changes.

contrast

for two consecutive days there was a carpenter at my parents' place making all sorts of things:  benches and tables and these ceiling stuff and mini-chairs, etc.

the carpenter came to my dad to ask for work and like the other times he's done so before, my dad had a lot of things for him to do.

my dad actually has so many things he wants done, and i mean SO MANY.  from the time i was young up to now when i'm over half a century old, he's always had these projects, big, small plus everything else in between.  big?  think mountain top.  BIG.  small?  half a dozen tables.  in between?  planting 20, 30, 40, 50 this and that here and there.

he's in his mid-80s and he hasn't run out of things he wants done, by himself, me (waaahhh!) or someone you'll have to hire.

anyway, that is not the point of my story, hehe.  it is that this old carpenter comes to my dad to ask for work.  i admire that.

there's this other guy, so much younger, so much healthier, so much stronger, and he knocks at my parents' gate to ask for money.  yeah, he'd fake this cough then ask for money.  one time he was at the gate as i was about to enter and i smelled liquor!  could you imagine!

i believe in alms-giving but not to this type of people.  so strong and yet so mendicant!

and he asks regularly.  how regular?  one time he came over and my mom muttered, 'he hasn't been here in a while...'

my sister went:  'what are you talking about?  he was just here last week!'

mom:  'but he didn't show up for several days...'

aaarrrggghhhh!

they tolerate him so he just keeps on doing it.  he's been at it for years!

me, i won't tolerate something like that.  unless you're sick or frail or incapacitated, i'd rather that you learn how to fish than regularly ask for fish.

make it worth it

mom shows me a photo of a crew in the restaurant she and my dad have been frequenting lately.

mom:  'when i told him i was going to take his picture, he took that tray and raised it so it will be part of the picture...'

me:  'how come the tray is barely shown in the pic?'

mom:  'it's there!'

me:  'yeah, but you can barely see it...  that's not even one-tenth of the tray...  is it shown completely in the digital file?'

mom:  'i didn't notice...'

me:  'check...  if it is then have it reprinted asking the printer to crop on top instead of at the bottom...  the proportion of that printed pic is 4x6...  the digital file is bigger so usually when you print there's cropping...  but you can choose where to crop:  top, bottom, both...'

mom:  'that's okay already...  the lights look good anyway...'

me:  'yeah...  but if he made an effort to lift that tray wanting it to be in the pic, don't let that effort go to waste...'

you are not alone

i replied to a message in facebook last night.

ta-daaan!!!  the sender said it's okay, they're done with the activity already.

oh?

i re-checked the message.  it was sent february 10 yet!  i replied april 8.  waaahhhh!!!  sorry.

i like to say, if it's important, text or call me.  if you don't have my number, then we probably don't have anything important to talk about, hehe...

but yeah, this guy does not have my number so he would not have been able to text me.

i don't have messenger on my phone.  i intentionally uninstalled years back.  so even if you see me online and send me a message, i won't really be able to read it.  i'd see the message notification but when i click what i'll get is "Install Messenger."

i could access the desktop version on my phone but i really don't want to bother.  i could check the messages when i do facebook on laptop evening anyway.

when i was still with my former office, we were supposed to respond to calls and texts and e-mails within a certain period.  and we always had to have our phones with us.

when i retired, i found it so liberating to finally not be required to read messages right away.  i consider it one of the perks of retirement.

right now i have more than 44,000 unread messages in gmail and more than 73,000 unread messages in yahoo.

don't feel slighted therefore if i haven't read your message.  it's not you; it's me...  :"}

misleading

i paid my sister's insurance at philplans ali mall today.

upon entry they'd ask what your purpose is.

i always reply with payment.

sometimes they'd give you a number.
sometimes they'd just motion you to proceed to the cashier.

if they give you a number, sometimes they'd ask you to log.  sometimes they won't.  if they do, the logsheet has a header that says Free Personal Accident Insurance Certificate.  the first time i noticed the header, i told the guy how come the header is like that when i'm simply logging for payment?

he said that's the form they were given.

i told him maybe they should just cross out the header for those whose only purpose is to pay.

he said he'll tell management.

months after that, the form remained the same and sometimes when i notice (wahaha, sometimes i don't), i tell the guy i don't want to be logging in a form with such a header and he'd just let me.

today, however, there was someone else at the desk.  a girl this time.  she asked me to log.  i was going to be first.  when i again pointed out the header, she said it's okay, the header is really just like that.

i said i'm not comfortable signing under a header that says Free Personal Accident Insurance Certificate when all i'm doing is paying.

she replied no signature is required, just the name.

i said regardless, i'd still be writing my name on a doc with an inaccurate header.

she said it's just a log.

i said it's a misleading log. i said the header should be accurate.

she repeated it's just a log.

i said if she wants me to sign then i'll cross out the header myself.

she just looked at me.

so i crossed out the header by drawing three lines over the text.

suddenly the girl was miffed.  why did i trash the doc?

really?  crossing out text is normal editing practice.  you draw lines over the text so others would know it does not apply.

she said i should just not have signed anymore.

i said she should have told me from the start because there've been times when i really did not log because i have issues with the header.  would she, for example, put her name on a list that has a header saying Free Gift Certificate when all she did was pay?  that is analogous!

calling philplans.  please revise your logsheet for payers.  make the header accurate.

thank you.

right and wrong

i applied for a COMELEC Voter's ID years back, 2011 or 2012 maybe?

october 1, 2016, the COMELEC generated a letter notifying me that my ID is "now available for pick-up."

the system-generated letter was received at the QCCPO on february 3, 2017.

march 7, 2017, i received the Registered Mail.

today, april 7, 2017 i went to the COMELEC office at the quezon city hall to pick up the ID.

ta-daaan!  there was an error in the address...  : }

i told the girl i'll have it corrected.

she tried to dissuade me.  she said it will take long.

i said i'm willing to wait.

she tried to convince me to settle for the available ID.

i said i'd like to have an error-free one.

she left with my ID for a while then came back to tell me it was a typographical error.

i said i thought so as i was not going to write my address that way.

she repeated it will take long to have it corrected.

i, too, repeated that i'm willing to wait.

she approached this guy who waved me to his desk.  just like the girl, the guy tried to convince me to just settle for the available ID as a new one will take long.

i said i'm willing to wait.
actually, this is my standard line, too, whenever i try to get my favorite chicken thigh in fastfood chains.  every so often they'll say, thigh part will take longer.  i'd go, 'i'm willing to wait.'

anyway, the guy said it will take five years.

i said it's ok with me.  i'd rather wait for the right one than settle for a wrong one.  [hahaha...  i could also be talking about love here...  <3 <3]

the guy tried to dissuade me some more.

i told him i used to meet with comelec before and i am aware of their problems so i understand.  i am willing to wait for the correct version of my ID even if it takes years.

the guy finally agreed.  he asked the girl to give me a form.

ooops, it was a long form with the word "TRANSFER" stamped on top.

i told them i needed to pick up someone so i'll just come back to fill out the form some other time.

i hope when i get the next one everything will be correct already.  if not, i'll request for a correction again and wait again.  sooner or later, they will get it right.

best of luck to everyone...  : )

let me scare you a bit

i had my oil changed today at the gasoline station where i usually gas up.  the mechanic said he'd just get me 3 liters of oil as i still have a container in my trunk.

me:  'you're going to mix them?'

mechanic:  'yes...'

me:  'that one's some other brand...  i want everything the same...'

mechanic:  'you don't want to mix brands?'

me:  'no...'

mechanic:  'because your car smoked?'

me:  'huh?!  my car did not smoke!  did you see smoke now?'

mechanic:  'oh...  it wasn't you...  it's <toot>...'

whew!

courage

little boy wading in a basin and splashing water all over...

boy's grandma:  'don't!  would you like me to feed you to the shark?'

boy enthusiastically replies:  'yes!  where's the shark?  where is it?'

wahaha...  toinks!!!  ; p

reminds me of something similar from years back...

my dad tried to scare neighborhood children by telling them there's a really big dog in the area...  the boys excitedly went:  'c'mon, c'mon, let's go check the dog...'

to be young and wild and brave...  ; p

overlooked

i received a call asking whether i was already in megamall...

me:  'aw, no...  i didn't go anymore...'

caller:  'i was texting them but no one was answering so i called you...'

me:  'oh...  per <toot's> text around 6:35 p.m. they were at ooma at mega fashion hall, 3rd floor...'

caller:  'where the church is?'

me:  'ooops...  i didn't know there's a church there...'

i've been there a lot of times i never noticed the church...  bad...  :"}

tastes vary

my mom wanted to get someone chocs.  i dropped her off at the mall entrance, parked then followed her to the store.

me:  'what did you get?'

mom:  '[malagos] 65, 72 and chili...'

me:  'theo & philo?'

mom:  'yes...'

me:  'the labuyo?  would oldies like chili choc?'

mom:  'it's for me...'

me:  'aren't you old, too?'

ooops...  wahaha...

sorry!!!

peace, mom...  mwuah!!!  :*

if you only knew

mom's friend giving me something in clear packaging.  it looked like a piece of clothing and its color was orange.

my mom knows i'm not into bold colors so she told her friend:  'she's miss blue [my favorite color's blue].  don't be surprised if i'm the one you see wearing that.'

mom's friend:  'oh, it's alright.  i know mothers and daughters borrow each other's stuff.'

when we opened the package at home, it was a flimsy beach cover-up.  vava-voom!

ok, mom...  let's see you wear this one...  ; )

inexpensive

i was wearing a shirt with children printed all over...

well-heeled lady:  'i like your shirt...'

me:  'thank you...  i got this online...'

well-heeled lady:  'i like the dress you were wearing at my birthday, too...'

me:  'oh...  i ordered that online, too...'

then she moves closer to look at the prints on my shirt...

she goes:  'that's peanuts, right?'

me:  'no...'

well-heeled lady:  'no?  that's one of the kids in peanuts!'

me:  'haha...  the shape is just similar but these are generic children...  this shirt's not branded...'

i'm cheap...  ;"p