And again it's july

The half year just passed by so quickly, and I'm not really eager to add one year to my age. I'm officially kicked off the twenty-something age range. Whuaaa! :p

Today I declared myself on sick leave, my mind is just flying.

Excited to see mama and here's what I've got. Bongga! (never thought I'd be able to buy this)

A Different View on Birthdays

People who know me probably would know how I used to fancy birthday greetings and birthday parties and all. Being a person who claims to have passion for life, I’ve always considered birthdays as a blessing. It just happens once a year, it wouldn’t hurt to celebrate no matter how busy I am or how lack of money am I running through. Actually to be precise, I have witnessed the lack of it, and so I do cherish it more. (I am not a party animal either)

This year, I finally seem to relate to people who prefer to be low-profile on birthdays. I have a close college friend who took out all his birthday reminders registered online. I even asked him ‘mamatay ka ba pag binati ka’. He replied, ‘hindi naman, hndi ko lng feel, pero gusto ko rin malaman kung sino tlaga nakaalala’. I answered back with a joke, ‘hindi pa rin yan accurate, malamang naalala ka lng dahil may reminder sa cellphone. Khit ako bka makalimutan kitang batiin kung nalowbat ako kasi hndi ko memoryado ang bday mo!’. It was just a whim, what he said actually has a point, khit ba na celphone reminder may effort pa rin.

True, or should I say sadly, in the gadgets and dotcom world, no one remembers birthdays by heart anymore.

I don’t know what air brings me to this realization this year. It suddenly makes sense. I disabled all the reminders that I can remember to have registered online: facebook, friendster, yahoogroups, etc. I am not thirsty for greetings, but I can be honest to admit that I am still probably dying to hear sincere birthday greetings from a few bunch of people who really matters to me (say probably 10). And I really do appreciate people who remembered. Childish, but a fun gambling game.

And yes, to my disappointment there were like 3 or 4 people who still missed it! Better late than never, but I still appreciate people who remember on time. May konting kirot pero ok lng, it makes it easier to filter out which people takes a conscious effort and which don’t. hahaha. Just for a change. :)

Kidding aside, I guess at this point in time, this is what I can say in my blog:
The hardest person to lie to … is not other people, but rather, myself.

Have a blessed everyone, this year and all the nexts!

My Fan's Club

My fan's club has 4 members now! Cheers!

Ironically, in my generation, we were deprived of males. Now the next generation are all naughty boys.

And yes kagwapuhan runs in the blood! oops :p

P.S. My friend and I were humorously talking about medical benefits of our respective companies. Paid maternity leave goes up to 4 or 5 months for us. Geesh too bad if we dont get to use it! tsk tsk

It's About Giving

After my family went back from their vacation, my sister kept chasing me about the expenses that I cashed out, but I dont intend to let them pay. Yes it did quite rip me off big time. She insisted and argued, but I won. :) Anyway I did more stunner stupid things to other people. Below is another winning entry.

There was a time in 07 where i helped my barkada (from Manila) bought a laptop in the IT show here and 'abono' for it . Queues in IT show are really more than u can imagine. Queued in the cashier, queued in the claiming counter, queued in the freebie collection counter. After I went home then I realized the laptop was not booting up no matter how hard I tried. (I know I should have tested it, but IT show was so jampacked like sardines that I dont have space and lost the energy to test the unit!) Thanks to the big help from call center who kept asking 'is the switch on', 'is the power button turning red', 'can you reboot it' when I called for guidance. Next day I went on half day leave, returning the laptop back to the store and after some troubleshooting, the culprit was the installation of the free RAM upgrade. Sorry my limited knowledge doesnt include RAM installation. My other friend laughed at me and kept asking why. I just cant possibly ignore and send a crap back home, my reputation at stake you know haha. (Besides, what if this friend wont pay me back :p) Kidding aside, that same night I had to meet a common friend to send the (fixed) laptop back to Manila, and the tiring day finally ended. And till now this friend doesnt know how much trouble I went through. In fairness to Toshiba, I did everything to save its name!



No matter how the whole world goes crazy over Apple's ipad and iphone and macbook (no offense I'm just not a fan), when it comes to laptop. I will choose Toshiba. As I said, I will choose quality as usual. Long lasting - that is the word. Unfortunately, I am not using a Toshiba haha. Coz my 3year old Lenovo laptop is still kicking alive after my bro-in-law resurrected it from the slowless-of-a-turtle-state (thanks to Vista!) via repartitioning. (Sheesh I dont know if I am qualified to be in IT) :p


That is the last time I bought something for another person in an IT show. Only direct family members can now enjoy that privilege.

Enough of the unpaid advertisement, going back...

At those few times, it's something beyond words but the willingness to sacrifice to help people get what they want. I dont need you to know what I exactly did. But I probably felt you're worth it while doing it. Just a little subtle appreciation would do. Because..
能够為一件事或一個人執著, 那種感覺很幸福.
就算你不知道, 或选择看不刭, 也都無所謂了.
..我會記住那份美好

Goodnight world.

Bonding with Family & Univ Studio peeks

Finally had some quiet time to blog again.

My family came over end of April to early May, and this time even the kids tagged along! I already expected a mini-circus kind of thing going on everyday. Luckily, it all ended smooth and well.

I find it amusing to have my 7yr old nephew asking me about the aquarium. The house I newly moved in has an aquarium, unfortunately fishes died a few days after we moved in (oops talk about improper care/negligence :p). My nephew clearly told me this in a serious tone 'yi-yi, next time dont overfeed the fishes, take care of them and they will grow biiig, then you buy vitamins and then you can sell them...' I was surprised he knew so many things. Then he added 'You can check my fishes in Fishville'. :p This is a winner!

The highlights of the trip would be Universal Studios. It's also my first time there. I seem to have this funny fancy feeling about going to theme parks and carnivals. It gives me a sense of security and simple happiness. The warmth of family I guess (I didnt have a lot of such carnival memories in Manila when i was younger) Anyway, the best rides would be Rapids adventure, Shrek 4D, Revenge of the Mummy (just go google to see what they are).

Other places that we visited are the usual Sentosa, Esplanade/Merlion Park, Orchard shopping, gadget shopping in Funan, zoos. Foodtripping is, of course, a must, a priority. :)

As it was Mother's day then, I have been wanting to give my mom a surprise long back, the OSIM back massager. I know she will scrimp over the price of anything so I better let her try it before buying it. The moment she tried it on in the mall, I can see the glitter in her eyes. That's it, sold. And now back in Manila, she seems to be enjoying it almost every night. :) Hmm this is an unpaid advertisement but I do welcome people to keep hitting this post to increase my Google adsense points. :p

http://www.osim.com/

And also, look at what she got for me. Gifts are not about price tags all the time. The best. :D

Side note:
This is probably the first time I have to send my family back to airport. (earlier ones either I joined them in the flight back, or we parted some other place). I think I have become quite immuned about 'me leaving' (over the years I have been flying to and fro anyway), I didnt know sending someone off in the airport is rather saddening. Add to it my nephew asked me something I wouldnt expect to hear from a kid. I was waving at them as they crossed the immigration, smiling as they waved back. Till I got to mrt, I seemed not able to hold back. There goes depression for one or two days thereafter.

My Boyz

Admittedly, I might not be the type who is overly-fond of children and who cuddles each single kid who comes along...



but of course, there are always EXCEPTIONS to everything... :D



Meet my nephews... the cutest in the world :) Aren't they?!



They've grown so big and tall! But they dont know my name :(

I remember the oldest one used to be so extremely naughty. I was asked to 'bantay' him in an old parking lot in Binondo and I held him tightly in the hand. He was so swift that he bent down, got some big stones and threw those to the parked cars! It was like omg and I yelled a him 'Gago ka ba, yan ba gusto mo, maging gago?'. Hihi getting me furious is not really a good thing, and hey when I scold, it means I care enough. Good thing no alarms sounded, takas mode.

The 2nd oldest said he broke up with his gf already :)

And now these two seem to be okay on their own without needing anyone to tail behind. Time flies hehe. The two were wearing shirts bought by me, I love dressing them up! :p

Below 2 solo pix were taken by moi, ang gwapo!

Fun with Nephew

I heard from my sister that one of my nephews claimed to have a 'gf'. I think he's currently in Prep 1 or 2. Wow.

Here's our conversation last time:

Shoti, I heard you have gf na.

Yes, yi-yi (that's what they call me, fookien for little auntie)

What's her name?

Janica

Is she pretty?

Yes

Long hair or short hair?

Short hair

Eh how many bf does she have?

Gua lang (fookien-fil for me only)

His ahya was playing beside him and then he shouted 'I hate girls'. Then shoti answered 'I like girls'.

So I amusingly asked him, 'ay ganon, so when do you plan to get married'

He paused for 5 seconds, scratched his head, then he answered, '6 years old', together with hand gesture showing 6 fingers.

I broke into laughter, I asked his ahya how old is shoti now. He answered 'patawa, 5 years old na cya ngyon, he'll be turning 6 in a few months'.

and i wonder if he did. :p

p.s. here's a picture of him. Isnt he so cute and lovable!:p

p.p.s. does it mean it runs in the blood?! hihihi

Birthday Cake

I recently went to Macau for a short Vday vacation :p ....too bad it wasnt with a guy though lol... but with my kumare. Macau is definitely a nice place for sight-seeing, foodtripping and of course picture-taking. I'll blog about those separately.

My mom and her parents are good friends. I bumped into her Dad last December in Shopper's Mart (Binondo) during my vacation. Her dad was asking me about our vacation plans for Macau. It's actualy my friend's bday also. He was thanking me for being a 'maalaga' sister to her daughter. Then suddenly he took out some money from his pocket and asked me if it's okay to ask a favor that I buy her daughter a birthday cake in Macau. He wanted to surprise her. Awww that's very touching. I suddenly missed having a dad :(((

I didnt want to take his money, I smiled and said it's okay I'll find a cake and pay for it. But he insisted so I just took a small portion just so he wont feel embarrassed. I asked him 'do you know what does she like?' He answered 'actually no'. He suggested that maybe I can try asking her in a not-so-obvious manner.

On our flight back (we actually had the same flight then to Manila). So I started telling her that I just had so much cake because my sister brought home a lot blah blah. And pa-simple asking, how about you what flavor do you like. She answered 'Sans Rival'. I was quite puzzled, where in the world will I find a Sans Rival in Macau or even in SG? hehe I think it's only available in Phil. Haha I was expecting an answer like chocolate or black forest, a 'safe' mass favorite. Then I said 'anything else'? I think she answered 'Brazo de Mercedez'. hehehe another puzzling one. Lastly she also mentioned chocolate cakes, coffee cakes, etc.

When we reached Macau, we were always together and I had no idea how to sneak out to buy a cake in secrecy. I'm not a good surpriser (if there's such word). But I did keep an open eye to find where the nearest bakery to the hotel is. Okay fine I was running out of time that day as we still had to go to Venetian. We were about to go back to hotel then I said 'wait, I have to buy something'. I tagged her along (good thing I remembered where the bakery was), and I said I wanted to buy a cake, 'okay choose which flavor do you want hehe'. Anti-climactic as it may sound, but hey at least I'm sure she'll get something she really wanted :p. She was surprised and thanked me. We were both bursting into laughter. She chose this nice cake topped with strawberries and layered with fruit bits and crispies. And oh btw, two miss piggies managed to finish the whole cake in 2 days.

After paying for the cake, I did tell her that part of it was her dad's idea. And related to her the conversation that her dad and I had. Suddenly I saw her in tears and she was quiet for quite some time. I was also silent. Then she called home to thank her parents.

For me, it was a warm touching moment. Family values are such important things in a person's character. If I do have a family in the future, I also want to pass that kind of warmth to my kids hehe. Really such things in life are priceless, and you dont get to see it everyday.

Mom's Vacation 2008

My mom was here for a week and spent Christmas with me. This was our first bonding out-of-town escapade with just the two of us. It was the start of my 2 weeks+ long vacation, the longest vacation I had since I started working, soo cool! I tried planning the itinerary on things that were of interest to her. I had to take into consideration that she was quite old, therefore everything had to be the shortest possible walking distance. Suddenly I felt like a yaya with a bag of stuff (water, shawl, basic medicine, tissue paper, hand sanitizer, etc) following after her to make sure the trips are as smooth as possible.

Day 1 - Bugis and hotpot
Day 2 - Batam, Indonesia day trip
Day 3 - Sentosa
Day 4 - Zoo
Day 5 - Esplanade, Xmas Eve dinner
Day 6 - Orchard shopping, Xmas Dinner
Day 7 - back

I organized a Batam day trip with my friends here, which is actually among the few times she bonded with my friends. It was a fun trip, but the return trip got me so much nervous as the ferry bumped into a pole causing a loud bang. I was in panic mode thinking it might have caused holes for water to get in and shrink the whole ferry. Haunted by the fact that I have to be responsible for 10 other lives onboard being the organizer, including my mom. I myself was not ready to die! Thank God nothing happened. My friends were quite accomodating and I think it left a good impression on my mom. Probably it was her first time to interact directly with Filipinos and I even brought her to experience Noche Buena (we never had one back home) It was very amusing that my mom told me the next day that if in the future I came across Filipino suitors/bfs, she's okay with that as long as the guy is kind and industrious (masipag). Whahahahaha it kept me giggling. Wow as if an assumed ban has been lifted, can't believe it if I didn't hear it straight from her! But anyhow, I never really kept that 'unspoken ban' in mind before and I dont have any persistent Filipino suitor now, so it doesnt really make a difference on me. I kept teasing her the following days whether she'll take back her words. It was quite an amusing thing to recall, I felt moved by my mom's warmth.

She was quite proud seeing that I can look after myself well. I even cooked one meal for her (the pictures dont look appetizing though as I dont have time to 'decorate': buttered prawns, pork stew, spareribs noodles and some fried dimsum take-outs). She cant seem to believe that I can cook, wash dishes and iron clothes. :)


My mom's the typical old, traditional Filchi mom. I tried to hide the tag prices away from her whenever we're shopping as she kept converting sgd to php. A SG newspaper at 80cents is priced twice of Manila's cost of 12php, according to her. But we did enjoy shopping for her clothes and she bought one each for her close friends. I also bought her a handbag and a pair of shoes. She also likes the food here, including hawker.

We also met up with our neighbor who happened to be vacationing here as well that time. To my surprise, they wanted me to bring them to a Rolex store and was eyeing for a 450K php watch! Wow didn't know how ultra-rich these ppl are. Later she's asking me about where to buy LV bags. Hmm no worries, we'll get to that level. dan dan dan hahaha.

Highlights of food trips would be Pearl River Palace and No Signboard. Pearl River Palace is a must-try for all Chinese food lovers with its unique buffet concept and the exclusive Buddha-jump-over-the-wall soup. No Signboard resto has delicious but overpriced food. I'll blog about this separately next time.

Lastly this is one of my favorite pixs with her. It's not that I'm vain to like it because I am not the one blurred out hehe. I just like the effect. :) Cheers to 09!

My Wow Ph - Additional

Davao, Jul08


Matina Hills



Jack's Ridge



Show@Crododile Park



Pearl Farm



Pearl Farm 2



Philippine Eagle Center - Mulawin



Eden Nature Park - Skyrider



Eden Nature Park - Secret Garden

Davao, Jul08


Eden Nature Park - Matinlo Falls



Eden Nature Park - Flowers on a Well