Delinquent Bloggers

We are.

Since January kicked in, we've both been busy. Well, Joven's mostly busy with work stuff while I am busy with mundane stuff.

So, here's a short recap of the things that happened in the past few days...


Saturday, January 6

Since I've been busy the past week, I decided to pick up my free spa gift certificate from Manila Bulletin Saturday morning. The contact person, Sarah, was nice enough to wait for us since it was already nearing lunch time. We almost got lost, thanks to the taxi driver who brought us to the Manila Times. Haha! Fortunately, Intramuros is small enough for us to find our way.

After, Joven and I plus my mom went to SM San Lazaro to watch Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo. The movie won over Shake Rattle and Roll 8. The movie was surprisingly funny although by the title alone, you'd expect it as mushy. All in all, I enjoyed the film because of Gina Pareño. Hehe.


Sunday, January 7

With nothing better to do, Joven and I went to Tutuban Mall and 168 in Divisoria to shop. I was able to buy 2 blouses and a pair of pants in less than 30 minutes. Since we have time to kill, we went to 168 to see if there are anything we can get our hands on. After going around for almost an hour, we decided to buy DVDs. I bought an 8 animated movies in one CD and 8 action movies in one CD. I got lucky with the first one. The second one was a different story. Audio was terrible! Oh well, that's what we got because we only paid P75 for it. =P

Ang saya mag-Divisoria two weeks after the holidays. Konti lang tao! Hihi!


Monday, January 8

I was running like crazy in the office. I had four meetings with different groups. Kapagod! I missed one meeting because the previous meeting extended for over an hour. Haay. I had to have my boss attend on my behalf. He was nice enough to make notes. Hihi!


Tuesday, January 9

First day of my Spanish class. The teacher was early and the classroom was still half full when my friends and I got in. I kindda enjoyed it... sort of washed the anxieties away. It's actually easier to understand because of my background in French. I just hope it wouldn't be so difficult towards the end and the teacher would remain as nice as he is.


Wednesday, January 10

Big shout out to my sister: Happy Birthday Tita Dap! Hope you had a good one. See you on Saturday!

After work, Joven and I met at the MRT station to have dinner at Kalye Juan @ Tomas Morato. We're to meet SML sans Ryan (Cors, Benj, Beej & Richie) because he has a Baguio thingy. Richie will be leaving for the US next week and it won't be until summer of 2008 we'll get to see him again.

The night ended at Baang coffee (which we were not initially sure if it's Baang or BangBang. Haha!). According to Richie, the coffee's not "Wow!" but it's not bad also. I ordered a Chai Latte which for me was a bit sweet.

Conversation was from "What's new with you?" to "What's new with blah-blah?"

We had to end early because of work the following day.

Ingat Richie! See you soon!

Pics here.


Current

I'm busy reading Gap Creek by Robert Morgan. I got it in Booksale at a very reasonable price. I usually look for books that has the Oprah's Book Club seal because I usually end up liking the book - The Pilot's Wife, What Looks Like Crazy On An Ordinary Day, She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True - to name a few. This one, I can't put it down. I'm not finished though but I'm really enjoying every minute of it. Another great find for me. I have yet to devour Icy Sparks, House of Sand and Fog and The Poisonwood Bible. =)

Chocolat, Calauan, and Caramel Mocha

Finally had time to blog. I just need to be sick to update our blog. Honestly, I feel terrible. My whole body aches, I have colds and cough. Worse, I need to go back to work immediately. Haay.

Enough about me. Lemme tell you about our weekend.

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Saturday was set to meet Trisha. She came to Manila for a visit from Iloilo. Together with Pearli and Vin, we had merienda at Chocolat at MOA. We almost finished the whole cake of chocolate if not for the sugar rush. Yummy cake!

The conversation was peppered with laughter while Trish recounts her quest for THE ONE. The boys were very interested in what happened and what will happen next. Getting up to use the restroom is very difficult. Nobody wants to miss anything!

We ended the afternoon with a promise to go back to Bora and Iloilo to visit Trish on May next year. Can't wait!

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Sunday was set to check out our place at Calauan. Milenyo definitely made its mark on it. 3 big trees fell down... the building was left in shambles... almost all the fences flew to the river. The caretaker told us it was really scary. Oh well, nothing we can do except deal with the renovation.

We had lunch at the building (or what was left of it). Jef was almost bitten by the caretaker's dog (almost because the dog's teeth just nicked his hand). We still decided to have him injected of anti-rabies in Manila just to be sure. He didn't cry because of the dog bite, he started crying because everyone was telling him that he'll turn into a dog soon. Hehe!

That didn't dampen his spirits though. He went to the river to bathe. Nakakatuwa talaga ang bata.

After an hour or so, we decided to go home but not with a quick stop at the pasalubong center in Los Baños. =)

More pics here.

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It's adjustment stage again for us. This time I think Joven is making a lot of.

His new job doesn't entail him to be early at work. We're used to waking up at 5AM for him to get to the office before 7AM. Now, no need to rush. We can leave for work together instead of him leaving very early. But, this also means he comes home late than usual.

He's used to coming to work in jeans, t-shirt and rubber shoes. Now, he dons a barong/polo, slacks and leather shoes. This also means we have to shop for a new pair of leather shoes, undershirts, etc.

He's also used that he brings lunch to work. Now, he eats at the nearby fastfood or canteen there. He's planning to return to his old ways though, probably next week. Meaning, I have to cook again. =P

He used to carry a laptop with him everywhere. He didn't have one for the last 3 days (hell for him), fortunately as of writing, he is tinkering with his new one.

His biggest regret, I think, is that there's no caramel mocha coffee there. =P

Senti

Last night, before going to sleep, it begun to sink upon me that today was going to be my last day at PBG. It's been almost three years, the longest I've ever stayed with a company.

Wow. It has been a long time.

I used to be a job-hopper, as much as I don't like it. One time, when I told my boss about a job offer which I'm thinking about, I also told him that I don't really a reason for leaving. It's just the salary being offered. What did management do? They matched it (and more)! Much to my delight. And that was just on the first year.

I sure am going to miss a lot by leaving. Here are some of them:

1. Laptop - It'll be the first time in so long that I won't have one by the bed. I will be getting one when I join the company. It's just that I won't have one this weekend.
   
2. Food - Whenever there's a birthday or promotion or a new employee gets his/her first salary, people would tease that person to pauga. I have no idea where that term came from, I just stay for the food.
3. Downloads - Rates of almost 300kbps. Enough said.
4. Petiks - This is the most relaxed environment that I've worked with. Deadlines? Bah! Pressure? What's that!? Heck, I even had time to go out on dates... Hehe.
5. People - Being with the same group (for the IT team mostly; call center people come and go quickly that we sometimes never get to learn their names) for that long endears them to you and you to them.

By Monday, I'll be joining a new/old company. Old, because my boss is a previous employer. I already know most of the people there. New, because we will be establishing a new company of which I am hoping to be a major contributor. It's risky I know. But, as my very supportive wife has been telling me, it's an opportunity that's very hard to pass up on. There will be people who'll help me so I need not be worried of being in the dark. Let's see where this leads me.

Going back to last night. Before going to bed, I set up my laptop for an all-night download spree. All torrents set at "Forced Downloading". This was the last night that I'll be using it so I better abuse make the most of it.

And then I slept.

4:50 AM, I wake up, go to the bathroom. When I looked at the laptop, it's displaying a different screensaver...

And when I disabled the screensaver, it displayed the Logon screen!

What happened? What about my downloads??

I logged on to check what happened. Only one file was completed. Tough luck. Then, Windows displays a balloon, with a message like "Security patch was applied. Automatic restart was required."

Just great. Thanks Windows. Hmp!

But I digress. In a few moments, I'll be walking out of here. Thanks PBG. *sniff*

Amused

I was on my way to our office on the 5th floor from the 14th when the elevator doors opened. Two colleagues from the Department came in. D lightly touched my tummy (to my surprise!) and said, "Pregnant ka na?" What the?!! I answered in an amused tone. "I just gained weight!" Realizing her booboo, she jumped up and hugged me, "Sooorry! You got married na kasi eh." To which I retorted, "It doesn't follow, noh!" We ended up laughing in the lift.

I was not the very least angry nor annoyed. I was amused. Very amused. I couldn't believe that some people are like that... just plain tactless. She even touched my tummy, mind you! Sheesh, I ask permission from pregnant women before I touch their tummy! I think it's only polite to ask. It's still a body part and a sensitive body part at that. Nakakaaliw lang. =P

Good looks, boots and work

After church yesterday, Joven, my mom and I went to see the mega-hyped Superman Returns. Joven and I had little expectations of it as a result of former mega-hyped movies we were disappointed with. We did not even reserve tickets anywhere.

Joven came out of the theatre very much satisfied. He liked it! The effects and all. =) I came out of the theatre very much in love! Hahaha! I liked the movie of course. When I saw teaser pictures of the upcoming Superman movie last year I thought that Brandon Routh will not be able to come close to the image Christopher Reeve left in my mind. I even thought he was fat. =D When I saw him present at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards looking like Clark Kent, I was so surprised.

photos grabbed from: Christopher Reeve Homepage and Superman Megasite

New crush. Haha! Can't wait for the next installment. Superman and Superboy? =P

BTW, the boots... argh! Pambaha! Sheesh!

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I just came out of weekend work from Eugenio Lopez Center in Antipolo. The sessions turned out well. We got great speakers (Monette Hamlin, Cory Quirino, Jaime Licauco and Rosario Manalo) which kept me interested the whole time. I was so interested, I wanted to take them home. =P

The participants were supposed to return to Manila on Sunday morning although the sessions ended Saturday night. I opted to go home early which was a first time for me. I miss my husband. Since the boss supervising us there was leaving early too, I got the nod from my boss (who was not there) and the boss (who was there). =D Good thing we had colleagues covering for us. =)

It got me thinking about how difficult it really is to be in long distance marriages/relationships. I salute those who survive them. I was just away for a night. What if I go on scholarship? Joven would of course understand. Nuninu.

Let's see. Hahaha!

The Boss

Today, I got news that my colleague had to give up his laptop upon request of one of our bosses. A new one will be purchased for him. The reason for this urgent request? The boss's kids need a machine for their games... Wow.

As in, wow.

W-o-w.

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On other, more relevant, news, Dionne and I went to Rustan's Makati last Sunday, April 2, to avail of their Bridal Registry services. We will go back by the end of April to select the items to be included on our list.

While at Rustan's, I was intimidated by the different items on display, always thinking that they're too expensive for me... But Dionne proved me wrong. They were actually reasonably priced. During our rounds, we spotted a pair of Bass shoes that could be used for... nuninu. We delayed the purchase until after we went around the Glorietta shops. Lucky us, the Bass shop at Glorietta was also on sale, with an additional discount if paid in cash... As I was about to get up and withdraw some money, the salesperson said that EPS (Express Payment System) is as good as cash. Wow, talk about convenience. =)

From Glorietta, we went to Greenbelt 1 to visit Tie Line, where we purchased my tie... As for my suit, we already scheduled a visit to Namel's for my measurements. 2 months to go... ;)

Groom's shoes - check!
Groom's tie - check!