Ang saya-saya kapag morning duty ka lang sa work. Na iyong-iyo ang hapon para magkipag-bonding with yourself. Parang yung Sacred Sundays. Pero Sundays are more for pahinga for me. Maarte? Yung afternoon off's at work naman ay for shopping. Quality internet time naman pag tinamad ako lumabas.

Saturday. Edi half day na naman. Nagpunta akong St. Francis square para mamili ng pang J-cls sa aming upcoming trip na nawa'y hindi mapurnada.

Flashback: Saturday last week, last leg ng pig-out week, sa North Park with Grace, Jer, Jay, & Rozz. Tapos nanood yung tatlo ng For The First Time sa Greenhills at sumama naman ako para mag-shopping.

Going back to my shopping chronicles.... ayun, bago ako mag-St. Francis, nag-Mercury Drug at Watson's muna ako para mag-replenish ng mga kelangan sa bahay at stock sa office: maraming shampoo, conditioner, toothpate, lotion, napkin, among others na animo'y magtatayo ako ng sari-sari store. Eto akong si tanga, dala-dala ko lahat ng yun sa mabigat ko nang bag habang nililibot ang tiangge. Seryosong nanakit ang likod at legs ko nun. To think na slacks lang ang nabili ko ha. At wala akong nabiling sapatos. For that, wala pa pala akong kumpletong outfit! At the end of the day ko na lang marerealize kung anong gaano kalaking kalokohan ang ginagawa ko. Dahil hindi worth it yung pagod dahil hindi ko naman nabibili yung mga kelangan/gusto kong bilhin.

Ang pili-pili ko kasi mamili. Yung feeling ko, hindi worth my money yung mga nakikita ko. Kaya ayun, leg work out ang drama ko. Tapos eto, narerealize ko na lang na too much stress on me yun. Hindi healthy. Kelangan dumisiplina.

Yan ang resolution ko for my next shopping escapades during afternoon off's. Dapat productive. Kung hindi, itulog ko na lang. In fairness kasi, feeling ko mas marami pa akong naaaccomplish pag half day. Yung mag-isa akong maglilimayon, nagla-lunch mag-isa. One time sa Kenny Roger's, tapos mapapa-reminisce bigla, movie-mode. hahaha. Yung mag-isa akong magmo-mall o magta-tiangge. Though Makati/Quezon City pa rin, at least hindi na within UP lang. Lalo pa't marunong na akong pumuntang Greenhills nang naka-pampublikong sasakyan. Pauwi na lang yung aaralin ko pa.

Next half day ko, malamang last week of September pa. At bilang magbabalik na ang Heroes on Sept. 22, I'd probably spend my half day downloading the season premiere.

Which reminds me about Prison Break. Hindi ko na gagawan ng separate entry, hindi ko naman re-reviewhin eh.

 

(onto the spoilers)

Last Monday, birthday ng aking beloved Nanay. So, since I'm trying to develop my EQ, binilhan ko siya ng cake. Yung Frozen Brazo de Mercedes from Dimpy's that I've been craving for. Php600 siya, pero birthday naman ni Nanay eh, kaya binili ko. Isa pa, hindi everyday occurrence tong ganito!

After work, sinamahan ako nina Aika & Kat (Cut. hahaha). Nag-taxi kami going to 1423 Acacia St. sa Dasma Village. So ayon, pagdating namin sa Dimpy's, lo and behold, ayaw na kaming hintayin ng lekat na driver! At ewan ko ba at hindi naman kami nagmakaawa masyado kay manong driver na hintayin kami!

For that, wala kaming ride palabas ng village. AT WALANG TAXI palabas, of course. Yun ang simula ng adventure... naglakad kaming tatlo palabas ng village. Ang concern pa namin, mukha kaming mga yaya na nag-day off at may idedeliver sa amo bilang may dala nga akong karton ng cake nun!

Pero pinanindigan namin ang paglalakad. Malay ba namin ni Aika na hindi pala sanay sa lakaran tong si Kat? Ayun, bumukas ang tahi ng gaga. Kaka-tooth surgery lang kasi niya recently; tapos may dala pang MALAKING bag dahil galing siyang province and that was a Monday nga. (And the humongous bag added the mga-naglayas-na-yaya image). But for the love of Nanay, I continued walking. And since Kat and Aika are such good friends, they walked by my side. Awwww...

*biglang may tumunog na motor*
Kat: Sis!!!! Ayan na, may tricycle!!!!
Aika: Sis, walang tricycle dito sa village!!!

Oo nga naman. HAHAHAHA. High-end village eh. Yung mga ga-mansion o ga-white house ang mga bahay. Yung pwedeng-pwedeng pag-shootingan ng hacienda o haunted house. Ako naman, tanggap ko na sa sarili ko na maglalakad kami hanggang MRT Ayala station. Si Kat, talagang nakabantay sa bawat sasakyang dadaan. "Ayun, Sis!! Matanda!!!" ang hirit ni Ate sa tuwing may makikitang kotse na feeling niya, pwede kaming isakay. Pero siyempre, hindi kami pumara. How dugyot naman, right?

Malapit na kaming makalabas ng village nang may van na pumara sa amin: "Lalabas ako, gusto nyong sumabay?" OMG. Pumatol kami. We were dugyot, indeed.

Mukhang hindi naman kami itatangay nung driver, at maganda yung van. Sorta like Jaja's, but a little more bongga. At wag ka, pulitiko pa raw pala ang may ari nung sasakyan. SHET TALAGA. Pumatol kami. hahahaha. Ngayon ko lang nare-realize na paano kung nalihis nang konti yung fate namin to the more negative side of things? Yari.

Anyway, we got to MRT Ayala safely naman. The cake was still frozen and Kat hadn't collapsed yet. We got home safe. Happy birthday.

*phone rings with I Need A Hero ringtone*
*registered name: Charm - roaming*

Gdwn thinks: Ang yaman ng bruhang to, cell phone na ang pinapangtawag sa akin ngayon, hindi na landline na may prepaid card!

Gdwn says: Hello? Hello? Hello, Charm!

Charm: Gdwn, SI GRACE TO! Magkasama kami ni Charm ngayon!

Gdwn: GRAAAAACE!!!! Nasaan kayo?!

Grace: Sa bus! Ikaw na lang ang kulang! Sorry, ginagawa ka naming bridge ng messages ni Charm. Ikaw na talaga ang London Bridge!

Gdwn thinks: *tears on cue* hahahaha parang birthday ko tapos may phone patch!

Charm: Gusto lang namin ipaalam na magkasama kami.. chever chever...

WAAAAAHHHH!!! Ok, ok, aware akong may Heathrow flight si Grace ng 27. Nawalan lang ako ng sense of timeframe ngayon kaya na-surprise ako. OH.MY.GOD. Ang arte ko.

At dahil naputol ang phone patch nyo sa akin kanina, here's what I wanted to say:

Gracie, seryosong ang saya-saya ko na nagkita kayo. Kasi almost a year na kayong hindi nagkikita ni Charm! Tapos diba, Gatwick flights ka lang noon.. parang so close yet so far. Anubeh! At naku, sobrang walang kaso sa akin ang maging "bridge" no. (Ano ba kasi yung more appropriate term para dun? Baka isipin nila lesbo lovin kayo kasi may nagbi-bridge for you!) Kasi hello, naisakatuparan na rin (partly) yung plano nating get-together abroad! GRABEEEEE!!!!

Kinabahan pa akong maputol yung call nyo kanina kasi low batt na ako. Hindi ko makapa kung nasaan yung charger, ipa-plug ko sana talaga habang kausap kayo! Kung napipicture nyo lang ako na naeexcite dito. Promise, mukha akong cartoons. Na parang kinukurot yung puso ko in a way lalo na yung sinabi nyong "Ako na lang ang kulang." Alam nyo naman, pag si Grace ang nagbitaw ng linya, napapa-movie mode kami ni Charm! Parang shet, tears on cue talaga to! WAAAAHHH!!! Kelan naman kaya yung turn ko diyan?! Kelangan ko na magsipag mag-ayos ng documents!

Moving on... Kelangan ko na tapusin tong phone patch extension natin. Gusto ko lang sabihin na masaya talaga ako sa get-together nyong yan. Hihintayin ko sa Multiply ang pictures nyo. Shet kayo, phone booth photoshoot? Hmp. waaaaahhhhh group hug!

It has been over 2 months now since our April Hong Kong trip. (Duh, siyempre 2 months. Eh April yun tapos June na ngayon. So two months nga. Binara ang sarili??) This entry has long been overdue and I guess it's time for me to tell you about my HKG escapades, and time for me to be masipag enough to write about it. Ang haba kasi talaga ng kwento at tinamad akong magsulat the past months.

We had this HKG trip planned right after we got home from our Feb/Mar HKG trip. We just had this feeling that we were compelled to go back to Hong Kong (ASAP) to get over the camera tragedy. It was all set then -- Robee, Aika, Lea, and I will be going back to HKG in April; plus Rozz and Yvette. After less than a month of preps, Aika, Lea, and Rozz backed out (hmp), leaving Robee, Yvette, and me still a hundred percent all-out for the trip. It was about a week before our HKG adventure when we booked our hotel and decided to just go to Disneyland. It was a little over a week before April 11 when I decided (actually, they convinced me) to buy round trip business class tickets instead of one way economy and one way business. By that time, my renewed passport still hadn't been released -- causing me panic attacks and occasional guilt, for I might have been the reason for our HKG Weekend not to push through.

Anyway... that was my 2nd ID90 trip and my first visit to HK Disneyland. It gave me a lot of firsts and I could go on and on enumerating "my firsts" here since pwede ko namang pilitin, masabi lang na first time ko yun. hahaha. So read on, strain your eyes, laugh at me, love me, bitch out on me, tell me how pathetic I am, or whatever. Basta ako, nag-enjoy.

The three of us got the chance to go online during our first morning in HKG (well, took advantage of free WiFi at the HKIA) and we were able to send a "letter" to our resa friends who were on duty that Saturday. That letter never fails to make me smile, since it really was a masterpiece of our joint effort to compose something worth reading. Yung mafi-feel ng officemates namin na ANG SAYA-SAYA NAMIN SA HONG KONG. Of course, I won't be posting it here since you can't relate to it anyway. But to create the same "garapal na letter" feel, let me tell you about our April HKG Adventure in the same jologs na kung jologs manner, at pagbigyan nyo na ako, I want this to make me smile everytime I read this. At nino-nosebleed na ako... *wipes off blood beginning to clot*



(Read More)

I've been to Hong Kong three times now, within the first two quarters of this year. I'm getting used to flying business class as well. Takot ko rin namang hindi makasakay ano. Last weekend's HKG trip with my CX friends was "Roster Magic," as we call it, thanks to the Roster King Jerjer who was able to manipulate our schedules for six of us have weekends off.

From what I remember, after coming back from HKG last April (overdue writeup!!!), we already planned on going to Macau in June. All seven of us agreed on that: Carla, Marie, Apol, Rozz, Yvette, Robee, and me. (Mas madali kasing mag-enumerate pag by DOJ!) But due to the increase in fuel surcharges, we decided to split into two groups: Carla, Apol, Robee, and I will be going to Ocean Park while Marie, Rozz, and Yvette will push through with the Macau trip. Nevertheless, we still decided to go together on the same weekend.

Roll call: that was 7 of us, plus Niko, plus Carla's mom and sis, and Rozz's mom and bro. I think that was the "biggest HKG trip" to date. So... we agreed on taking different flights because it won't do us any good if we insisted to travel together.



the Kumpletong Picture


I wasn't really planning to buy business class tickets for this trip, but when the Regal Hotels in HKG offered free accommodation for CX staff (w/ food vouchers, of course), I made up my mind to just spend on the tickets. After all, I didn't want to stress myself over not getting on the flight to HKG since almost all CX staff from MNL availed of the free hotel. So, we went hotel-hoarding that all of us had our own rooms, breakfast coupons, and HKD500 food vouchers.

I decided to take CX906 (11:05am) last June 13 even if it meant that I'd be traveling alone to another country for the first time. Prep for long haul flights! haha. A bit before 10am that morning, I got a call from Robee and the magic words came -- BN307, 88A. *ahem* I'll be having a window seat on the upper deck!

(so the adventure continues)


Pictures here:
Friday
Saturday
Sunday