Another Trip

Off to a tiny city state for an almost week-long break. If you consider it a break. Already packed a backpack of clothes.

There's not much culturally or historically significant site that's worth going to there. And it has never been one of my target destinations, but I'll be there 'cause:

• a friend thought I should join her as she goes back to her old place of work to get her reference letter from her old boss for her UK post-grad app,
  
• round trip air fare is unbelievably cheap, and
  
• got a place to stay: my friend's place
• nice addition to the collection of stamps in my passport. cute decoration. lol.
  
• new place means new photo opps ;)
  

So it's just like spending about as much money as when we go out of town/Manila to another island/beach.

I'll just take photos and visit their very important zoo. And take photos of the animals there too. And hopefully get to see a polar bear there.

Apart from hanging out with buddies, other to dos for this trip:

• check out the IKEA store there
• find a new pair or two of Teva flip flops to replace my one and only old pair of Tevas
• go to a photo/camera store to get a lens adapter for my Olympus (stores in Manila don't carry any for Olympus apparently, and it sucks knowing so)
• go to Sanrio stores there and get stuff I might like with Hello Kitty, My Melody, and Bad Badtz Maru... probably something for my desk or car
• probably see the Raffles Hotel, Clark Quay, shophouses in Chinatown, etc. Any place worth taking photos of. I'm thinking night scenes might be better and more distinct.
• get my meals from street hawkers
  

I'm just disappointed that they don't have H&M yet there. A bit surprising actually. As they have Zara, Mango, etc. And Hong Kong has all 3 (I'd be totally shocked if Hong Kong didn't have H&M). I like H&M. Always left H&M stores in Europe with several items of clothing. 'Cause they can be here today but gone tomorrow. They have cheap throwaway clothes that are fashionable. And I'm not exactly a shopaholic/clotheshorse so H&M suited me fine when getting new clothes/wardrobe overseas instead for lack of time/interest back here/home. It's cheaper than Espirt or Zara but yeah you probably won't wear it again next year or so.

So, maybe I'd like the place enough to move and work there. Who knows. We shall see.. Hehe!

Should I or Shouldn't I?

But I already have! hihi! I just created a new account with Vox. So essentially, I just gave myself another headache since Vox does not cross-post with Blogger or Multiply. Hmmmm..

See a screenshot of my Vox site below (with its third template design in 2 weeks..., ignore the Mac interface at the bottom and top) with Firefox:

But I couldn't resist Vox's many different kinds of templates/themes which get updated with new ones. Argh! And I've since begun organizing my Vox site and hoping that yeah, eventually, I think, I might just continue my blogs there, instead of here. I can't find other interesting design templates here in Blogger anymore. And I'm getting tired of my current Blogger theme. :(

Vox also has communities. But unlike Multiply, has less control re privacy.

Sigh. If only I have more time, I hope to migrate all the posts I created here to Vox.

My Pets, January 2008

Took some photos of my pets Rainey and Whitey this weekend.. to test using the Olympus E510 DSLR camera I just got from the U.S.


Rainey is the small hairy Shih Tzu, and Whitey is the -- what else -- white mixed breed dog (siberian husky, poodle, cocker spaniel, and street dog mix). hehe!


That's Rainey complaining that she couldn't play with Whitey while she's tied up to the bamboo bench. hehe!

I brought out Rainey to the front of the house, but tied both her and Whitey away from each other. Rainey stays at the back of the house and Whitey stays at the front. But during the day, we take Rainey out front but within careful distance from Whitey.

Whitey is our male pet dog who's just about ready to do you know what to Rainey and we can't have him siring weird-looking puppies with Rainey. So we're very careful with them when they're in the same vicinity. Lol!



Seems the camera works just fine. Cool!

Hermés Silky Pop Bag

One of those nice to haves...

the Hermés silky pop bag

a reusable shopping bag: ideal for errand/mall shopping
(but not grocery for me... I don't think so.. 'cept for toiletries maybe.. hehe!)

folds and zips into this neat little leather packet which
you can bring anywhere with you, ain't that just cool?


in another design

I think it's a cute tote for when travelling, and yes, shopping, especially since I haven't seen any fake one of this around. Hence, no other clones toting the same style bag as you. hehe! Sometimes, I wish I had Paris Hilton's budget. Haha! This little thingie costs more than the latest Olympus DSLR E510 camera I just recently bought. Waaah! Better off buying jewelry I guess. I better luck next time.. *Sigh*

candle light

candle light
Originally uploaded by smintFreak

photo of one of the candles on the tabletop at my birthday party at home outdoors tonight.

I like how the light, color, and shadows came out.

Shot in macro mode using my Canon Powershot camera.

YM/Skype Statuses

Just wanna share some statuses I've encountered or put in in instant messaging (yahoo or skype):


"Energizer Bunny arrested and charged with battery"
- a friend's from the UK, funniest one I've come across so far..


"Life's a b_ _ _ _. Fill in the blanks..."
- mine when I was in one of my bad moods, and didn't want to really announce such to the whole world (i.e. people in my contact list who are sensitive to such pronouncements and might make all sorts of speculations..). I still like to keep my privacy. hehe!


"I don't even know my bloody blood type"
- mine.. taken from a line quoted by one of the characters in the Lost TV series... I thought it was quite witty.


"El Infierno es vivir dia a dia sin saber la razon de tu existencia"
- friend in Spain.... who loves to party... must be in a bad mood... hehe!


""Who has a friend, has a treasure. Quien tiene un amigo, tiene un tesoro."
- Spanish buddy in China


""zzzzzzzzzzz..."
- former colleague now based in the Netherlands

Too Many Links

"....wearing metaphorical friendship bracelets on the earnest Facebook, the punky MySpace, the careerist LinkedIn and the suddenly very Asian Friendster...As if that wasn't enough friendship for you, some of you have also asked me to be friends on the nerdy Twitter, the dorky-élitist Doostang and the Eurotrashy hi5."

I just read a rather amusing Time magazine essay by Joel Stein that I so relate to called "You are Not My Friend". It's about this outcrop of several networking sites online and having friends you would consider more acquaintances than friends.

All I can say is: I get similar invites too.. but I've opted not to sign on those additional ones. Maintaining one, two or three is a bit of a headache already and I don't see why I should add any more if it means more time online basically putting on the same information about me. Ack! hehe!

Blogging here is an exercise in itself already. And as I've stated in a previous blog entry, time, sadly has become a real luxury for 'lil 'ol office worker (read: me). Some things/activities are more important than having to maintain several sites with essentially the same info or set of friends.. ;-)

Now where's that DVD I need to finish watching? Time to go..

Some Nice to Haves...

1. this digital SLR camera with image stabiliser that's also light and small enough for travel

2. a CD of Christophe Maé's Mon Paradis album

3. stereo system in my room that's linked to and will play my archive of mp3s - need to research on this.. is there such a one by Bang and Olufsen? haha! Or will I end up with an ipod (noooo!! I hope not)?

4. three different pieces of furniture - one for my room, 2 outside my room

5. a new Macbook - but then again maybe not... as long as my current one still works fine.

6. a new mobile phone
- something as cute as the Sony Ericsson Z610i but with higher camera
resolution for those times when it's just easier and faster all around to whip it
(instead of a comparatively bulkier DSLR) out of my bag for shots/opportunities
needing faster response times

7. a new bigger bag
- but I just bought a leather messenger one that costs about as much as a Lacoste
shirt but which I can't bring to the office 'cause it's not that bulky enough for
all the stuff I bring to work; especially once I get the DSLR cam. :( *sigh*. It
looks great though, and I guess best suited for when going shopping. hehe!

- again I have to research on this one... am picky with bags but I prefer to spend
more on bags than on clothes. I usually end up looking for and buying a decent
bag/s more than for clothing when overseas (and so far, Italy wins for design and
functionality. haha!).

So Many Things to Do, So Little Time

So many things to do, so little time.

I think that's my motto right now. By this time of the year, I'd typically avoid commitments which can be postponed to next year. i.e., signing up for 3-month weekend classes for whatever subject.

Why? It's just a rather busy time with all those Christmas activities and traffc and events around the city. And me not being a mall or clothes-shopping enthusiast, I only go shopping when I absolutely have to, so when I do go, I end up making an errand out of it and ticking things off a checklist and end up with a lot of purchases 'cause I know it'd be a while yet before I'll be going back. hehe!

Lately, time for myself has become a luxury to me but I may have to restart thinking about staying home on Sundays if I need to get more things done.. arrghh! So I've signed up for driving lessons (on weekend mornings) out of necessity, to get that out of the way, and be a licensed one by next year. More about it on another blog entry maybe.

This month alone, I have two sets of relatives visiting from overseas (Hong Kong, and the U.S.). Then I think next month, I'll have two friends doing the same (from the U.S., and Australia). So I've been dining out more in the past few weekends. But enjoying it. :)

Maybe next year or the year after that, I should be the one doing the same - visiting friends/family overseas! haha! :P Which would mean I'd have to work myself to the bone and get my leaves in one go for that break. Hmmm!

Then I have some more stuff I need to buy for the house, my room, home entertainment, the kitchen, my pets, the list goes on...

Le Roi Soleil

Currently listening to some songs off the soundtrack of this French musical called Le Roi Soleil. Seems like a musical romantic/comedy of sorts re Louis XIV of France..
It's quite good methinks... especially Ça Marche with Christophe Mae (can't believe his voice.. hehe!). Sounds fun... La Vie Passe sounds good too. That was the first song I heard while I was listening to French radio over the Internet, not knowing it's from a musical until I downloaded its mp3 and saw 2 videos of their performances over youtube. Check it out..

Should get a CD of this musical.. Hmmm! Better yet, I should have gone see it when I was in Paris since the musical has ended its run last July. Dang! There went that chance.. hehe!

So now its soundtrack is on my playlist.. as well as some other French pop music (MC Solaar, Blankass, Koxie, Laurent Voulzy).. I have a cd of Pascal Obispo from long ago, bought in Canada... like that one too..

Hallow's Eve Break

Currently on a one week break from work, inadvertently. Was supposed to be at work for 2 days out of the 5 (the other 3 being public holidays). But stomach started acting up. That's what happens when you've got friends/relatives over from overseas (Hong Kong to be more precise) and you go out to dinner and drinks with them and family... and it's not even a hangover! grrr! It was a nice evening at the Fort Strip though...

But attended a Hallow's eve dinner hosted by a very good old friend at a small hotel restaurant near Casa Armas in Malate... The restaurant evoked scenes of an old Parisian bistro.. with the red leather chair against the dark wood-panelled walls, art nouveau motif on the walls, lighting, and ceilings, and black and white diamond floor tiles in a small setting with more hush (though we certainly made all the noise and laughter with both interesting and irreverent wit and conversation) and intimacy to hold a private dinner party with friends... unlike the usual places you find in the central commercial/business district... none of the loud bits you hear in restaurants in the commercial area.

Sometimes you need to take a break from those. I guess you can't really top Malate for genuine character. Strange how I remembered Malate when I was out with friends in Madrid, and in Princengracht in Amsterdam, and in Montmartre in Paris... made the the time spent in those places even more memorable if I may say so. Manila girl 'to! hehe!

I missed this place. Despite the hurly burly of Manila.. that's old Manila for you mixing with the new. hehe! The 12 of us exchanged stories and laughter over wine, great food, tarot card reading with a tarot card reader, candle fortunes, and some halloween lollipops of orange and violet color.

Hallow's eve is supposed to be new year's eve in the pagan calendar.. Learned that from them last night. Interesting.. Hence my friend hosted the dinner-cum-birthday party to welcome the new year and leave old baggage behind. Capped the night over at Cafe Adriatico a block away.. another old haunt, revisited. :)

Am glad I made it a point not to miss it. After some 1-2 months of having to beg off at the last minute from several invites (to 3 despedidas for two workmates leaving/resigning, and another for a German colleague who was our guide in Germany who was going back to Germany, + a beach trip over one weekend with the same German colleague, etc.) 'cause of work, am feeling a bit deprived, and this is indeed welcome and opportune. You can't just skip a an old friend's invite to celebrate her birthday and enjoy new and old company. And you can't come without a gift either.. hehe! Both are just not done. Old friend + new ones over an interesting dinner = great evening and experience. Should do this more often. :P

Current Cube

My desk at work, where I spent the afternoon today... me poor soul! :(

My Moo Cards..

Arrived via Royal Mail... Had photos from my Philippines Flickr account printed on them. =)

Buying Something One Hasn't Even Seen

Finally bought a car. And I haven't even seen it before I bought it. I don't know if that means I don't have time, or it's just that I need one and as long as it fits my idea of what I wanted to buy, it's fine. Hihi! Am not really a car person; am clueless about them 60% of the time. I only know about their manufacturers but not the difference of one model from another. My dad took care of checking it out for me instead. And I asked a trusted colleague as well about it since they know more about cars than I do.

What does my idea of a car I want to buy include? Well, it means I'd like an Audi basically, or a Range Rover. hahaha! I wish! Although that would be "bugbog-sarado" in Manila. I might just feel bad about using it here 'cause rest assured, it would really suffer a lot from the wear and tear of Metro Manila roads-driving. No flashy Beemers or other cars for me then. But since that's quite a stretch, the real idea (outside of an Audi or an SUV), is a sedan that's big enough that you won't be a tad bit embarrassed to drive one on the highway or to formal occasions (Sigh.. the pressures of an urban life...). So no sub-compact cars for me. I think they'd be too small, especially on those occasions when you have guests from Western countries with a larger anthropometric scale than your average Southeast Asian. And none that would have me indebted to pay for it every month for the next 3 years at least. Not wise, methinks. I hate to have debts to pay for years on end unless it's a mortgage on property maybe.

Ended up with a U.S. car that belonged to my uncle and it's not so bad. They hardly seemed to use it it's like new, especially when they have several other vehicles and just bought another one. It's cool. So I quickly decided to snap it up without seeing it first after learning about it and how much they are selling it to me compared with if I bought another car from a dealer with my budget (which would limit me to an older model that isn't as nice as the one my uncle sold to me, from an owner I don't know). Better that I bought it from someone I know who used to own it, than a dealer I don't know ('cept maybe if it were an Audi. Freak. haha!). This one I got is still considered a new car, for the price of an old one. Hence me getting it fast without seeing it first (but having my dad check it out and my colleagues' feedback). It's a steal basically. Lucky me. Hihi!

I've finally had enough of commuting home from work in cramped environs with the rest of the rat race at the central business district. And in a city of about 12m, that's one formidable rat race, with a thin veneer of civility when it comes to lining up, paying the fare, and taking seats. And when I say thin, it's really thin enough to make you want to live in non-urban areas with kinder people after years of such environment, or maybe to another country that's less populated. And in cramped environs, one is forced to, like, slouch when seated along with the others. And I can already imagine what that's doing to my back for the long term especially when I already have a back problem from carrying a laptop for work, and being seated for more or less 8 hours each workday at work. It really sucks. Apart from feeling dead tired from work with a headache to boot, having to commute in such conditions adds to the stress. I have to get to the public transport terminal first after a bus or jeepney ride and some walking. It takes about an hour and a half to arrive home after I leave the office when I take public transport. And I haven't been able to hack it in the past few months that I've ended up having to have an additional day off from work on some weeks and wishing we're allowed to work from home once each week at most maybe. I guess the office location is one of the reasons as well, since it's not in a central location. It sucks.

I suppose this says a lot about quality of life in Manila. I mean, if there is any at all. hihi! I don't know how to drive yet. I grew up having a family driver/chauffeur to bring us to and back to school among other places until I started working, when I decided it would be easier to take public transport and free up the car use to other family members who drive or need the car/driver (am the only one among my siblings who doesn't drive). So while I have yet to learn to drive, my dad will be the one driving me to/from work. And I'll see if I'll bring it myself once I know how. I think I prefer that I'll be picked up from work instead of me driving home, 'cause I'll be tired and can't drive with a headache in the evening in the streets of Metro Manila and along EDSA or the highway. I'll probably just drive it to work for practice after the driving lessons, then hand it back to my dad to bring home and pick me up later after work. *Sigh*

Okay enough about these boring bits.. Maybe soon I'd be ranting over owning a car. hehe!

Updates

That's the pattern of the rug in my room (above). I love running my feet on it when entering my room upon arriving home from work. And it's sort of a stress relief seeing it too.

On a side note, I took out a senior consultant/boss/colleague/guest from our UK office last Saturday (we just started a UK project), and met up with Norwegian colleague/senior consultant and his family too. We went on a day trip with a teammate (who brought the car, Norwegians have their own) and his girlfriend. Saw the sights, and had dinner afterwards at a nice and quiet restaurant with a great view from above of a lake with a volcano while the afternoon turned into evening. Cool. =)

However,

it made me seriously think about getting my own car. For when there's a guest and for those times when I wanna go out of town anytime. Argh! Maybe it's about time. But would not be driving it to work except maybe for practice since I don't know how to drive though our family driver tried to teach me long ago. Prefer that I be picked up from work instead of me bringing the car. I'd be too tired to drive going home.

Been putting off buying a car for so long 'cause it seemed that taking public transport is easier than me having to drive. But in the end, it seems, it's better as long as I am picked up from work. Shortens the travel time. Plus I won't be so dead-tired each time I arrive home from work. And my cousin/uncle is selling one of their cars, of a U.S. brand. So maybe I'd get that instead of buying a brand new one. *Sigh* We'll see.

Knick-knacks

ref magnets from everywhere

I got quite bored today. I finally started on the photo album of the photos of my Spain trip in 2005 and took photos of:

• the ref magnets on our freezer door in the kitchen (see above).
• the little bookshelf behind the door (when it opens) in my room with some snow globes I bought in Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain (see below).

little bookshelf in my room with snow globes from Europe

Finally

Finally, I was able to buy myself a copy of a CD of Sergio Mendes' album Arara. It's not anymore out in the market. Bought it second hand on Amazon.com. And it's like it's new and barely used. No scratches not even on the jewel case. Cool! It has Brazilian/jazz music instead of American mainstream pop. I remember playing this several times back in high school. And been looking for it eversince.

Sunday Musings

Nothing much new lately. And I won't even start about work. That's guaranteed to either bore or irritate you. And I'd rather keep work-related stories private if I can help it. Whether or not am happy with it or people at work. hehe!

The only thing that stands out lately is that it seems all my friends have been leaving the country one by one. Even some cousins. To the US, Canada, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia. That's just this year alone. I'm sad 'cause it'd be a while before I may see them again. Will miss them.

Am alone at home. With just the pet dogs Whitey and Rainey for company (but Whitey's at the garage, and Rainey's out in the living room). It's so quiet, the Sunday sort of quiet without anyone else in the house.

And I don't feel like going out because it's just too hot. And have been getting fewer friends to go out of town with since they are or have been leaving the country one by one. I should be next! hehe!

A uni in the UK wants me to send some documents for a post-grad degree. Not yet sure if I should take them up on that. Since London seems like a theme park, and not as safe as I'd like. Am not a big city girl maybe. :P Always enjoyed the smaller cities more in Europe.

rapeseed field in Germany, shot from a
train window. They use rapeseed for biofuels.

Stuff I miss in Europe:
1. the parks
2. the big trees
3. the walks in weather that won't make you perspire like mad
4. countryside scenes - i.e., little church and spire suddenly sticking out of a small community of homes you can see over the fields that a train whizzes you past.. I don't know what to say. It's very European. And quaint.

Visual DNA

Here's something quite creative that I found on the web, my visual DNA.

Based on the photos I chose for each category they presented, turns out that:

1. I have an Easy Rider mood.
2. For fun, I am an escape artist.
3. For habit, am a new wave puritan.
4. And for love, am a love bug.

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

New Web Presence

I just created a new web presence for me, at multiply.com.

I am thinking that it's one of those web things that would help me consolidate my blogs, and photos, etc. in one site, online. And make it easier for me to share my online photo albums with friends and family. But it won't replace my blogging here in this site. This is still my primary blog site, for now. hehe!

I named my new web presence at multiply.com centelleo. It's Spanish for twinkle. ;) Check it out.