From the monthly archives: August 2009
I used to have this notion that whenever I plan something, I need to plan it with someone else because I have a jinx in planning. It just seemed like everything I planned back in college always ends up being cancelled, regardless of what it is. It took some time before my confidence in planning things grew, and if it wasn’t for some of my friends who didn’t believe in this “jinx”, I wouldn’t have initiated any other gimmicks or outings.
I suppose you could say I am a bit of a control freak when it comes to things like this. I like it when there’s some semblance of a concrete plan whenever I go out with friends. I wish I could say I’m more spontaneous, that I can do things on a whim every time. I can do things on a whim from time to time, but every time? I’d go crazy.
But I digress.
It’s fun to organize little gimmicks like that, especially when people have fun when they come. Like beach trips, for instance. Most of the time it’s fun. But you know what sucks when you’re the organizer of events?
When people do not show up.
This is the time I wonder if my supposed jinx back then was really a jinx, or if people I invite were just into ditching, of leaving other people behind, up in the air. Who knows?
I know I’m not the perfect person who is always present in whatever my friends plan, but I try as much as I can to be present. Or when I can’t, I try to tell the persons involved that I can’t go and why I can’t go. Sometimes the reasons are valid, and yes, there are times when I’m just simply not in the mood. But still I try.
Which is why I can’t understand sometimes why other people confirm for things, but do not show up. You text and text, sometimes call, but there is zero reply. How annoying is that? Is it so hard to hit reply? Or leave a message in Facebook or YM or something?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pissed. At least, not anymore. I was kind of annoyed yesterday about some things related to what I just wrote, but now I’m not. Maybe I’m still a bit annoyed, but I had too much fun yesterday to forget about all of that. Sort of.
That doesn’t stop me from being friends with them. And honestly, I have a feeling that the people involved may have forgotten about it, and think that it’s nothing. Well, it’s not nothing, but I’m not really the one to make such a big fuss about it. But I probably would think twice in inviting these people again for another gimmick. Maybe if they plan things, I will be able to go. I can invite them again, but I wouldn’t keep my hopes up.
Oh so negative. But a word of advice? Out of respect to your friends who took the time and effort to organize fun things to do for everyone, please don’t ditch them. If you can’t come, regardless of the reason, it shouldn’t be much effort to tell them that you can’t come, so they’d stop expecting you there, yes? You need to have pressure washers just so you can tell your friend that you can’t come. Because really, being stood up sucks, big time.
The Cast of Pixar's Up
I watched Up earlier today with Gel and Cors (thanks again Gel, for earlier :D), and I asbolutely loved it. I’m a big fan of Pixar films, and most of my favorite movies are Pixar animated films — Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc, Cars, Wall-E to name a few. But Up just blew me away.
Up‘s trailer really does not do justice to the film. I was expecting something just simply comical, like what you see is what you get type after I saw the trailer and nothing really with the story. I was prepared to be amazed at the animation, and the funny moments and just that. But Up has a cute little story, and solid story arcs for each of the characters in the movie that it all just blends together beautifully. I can’t even decide which of the main characters is my favorite…but I’d have to say I’m partial to Dug the dog. Especially after you hear him say this after Carl drives him away by telling him he’s a bad dog:
I slept under your porch because I love you.
It makes me want to hug my pet dogs again. :)
It’s just simply wonderful, including the little background music they play everytime Carl remembers Ellie. :) Awww, to have a love that lasts like that. ♥
And this is probably the second Pixar film that made me tear up (first was Cars)! Not only once, but twice! It’s such a great movie, really, and I can’t wait to watch it again in 3D this weekend. :) If you haven’t watched it yet…well, what are you waiting for? Watch!
* * *
Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the LORD it will be provided.” – Genesis 22:14
Two credit card bills arrived yesterday, both of their due dates coming quite soon. Earlier this month, I had to pay an insurance fee which comes twice every year, and I also had to pay for my phone bill and another insurance.
All these bills would have been okay if they had come during my “rich” months, sometime around April or November. However, they all had to come durng the poor months of July to August, where I am always at my lowest when it comes to funds in the bank. It doesn’t help that the time between June and July paydays were excruciatingly long, and that I had a huge credit card bill last June too because of our Hong Kong trip where I swiped some stuff (not the smartest idea, I know).
So, now I just paid for one credit card in full, and a part of the other credit card, and it’s still roughly two weeks until next payday…and my bank account does not look pretty.
It’s not that I am totally and absolutely broke. I still have some funds, and it’s not really dismal or whatever…it’s just that it’s dangerously low. I’ve learned to set a certain threshold when it comes to my accounts, and I try as much as possible not to go lower than the limit, because if I do, I feel like I won’t have enough in case of emergencies and all that. Admit it: there’s a certain security in having enough money (and enough is subjective, I know).
I’m not broke. I’m just dangerously low on funds, and I can’t help panicking at times. I mean, what if something happens? What if I need something? How will I survive with this amount until next payday? And what about next month, when my salary comes, and I’d have to pay the bills? Will I survive on each paycheck until bonus comes?
It’s enough to make me panic, really, especially when I kind of find a sense of security in knowing I have enough money, sometimes even more than enough to be able to lend to people. Or splurge on something for myself, you know? And it’s not that the things I paid for in the card are mindless spending; some of them are really good investments, but that doesn’t make it less of a pain in the pocket.
Hay.
I remember writing about God’s providence a couple of years back (here’s the entry), and I try to remind myself of the lessons I learned during that time. I guess in a way it’s harder this time around because I no longer ask for money from my parents, and all the things I paid for were not for YFC or padugo, even.
I guess the root of my panic is really how I put some sense of security in the money that I have in my account(s). Money is just money. It’s something that I may need, but it shouldn’t be something I lean on to in my life. It’s not something I should get my security from.
God will provide. I’ve got to believe that. A few weeks ago, I heard Mark Hart say in his Sunday Sunday Sunday podcast: God will not only meet your needs, He will exceed them. And when I really pay attention to it, He has always been exceeding my needs, even when I don’t need to. So why should I believe that less now that I know God knows my panicked feeling?
God will provide. Jehovah-jireh. The Lord will see and the Lord will provide.
Please calm my heart Lord, and help me to trust in Your providence.
“And God is able to fill you with every good thing, so that you have enough of everything at all times, and may give abundantly for any good work.” - 2 Corinthians 9:8
I’d like to think I’m a true-blue animal lover, and that I can cuddle any kind of animal, regardless if they have furs or scales or not.
But I’m not. I mean, not a true-blue animal lover. I do squee over different animals I watch on TV, but I can only pick up animals when I’m assured they wouldn’t scratch, bite or go ballistic on me…namely, our pets: two dogs and two six cats (our cat gave birth to a litter of four kittens yesterday). :D
But then I come across books and movies like Marley and Me and trailers like these:
Hachiko: A Dog’s Tale
After this, how can you not love animals then?
Okay, I know the American version of movies like these usually sucks…but I can’t help but feel weepy when one guy tells the dog, “You can stop waiting now…he’s not coming back.” Awww. :,-(
Marley and Me had me crying with the book and the movie (and I mean CRY, serious waterworks!), and I have a feeling I’ll be crying buckets when I watch this.
I can’t believe the past week is almost over. Despite the numerous holidays this week, this week went by a bit too fast, don’t you think? Maybe it’s just because I haven’t been at home during any of the holidays and it made the time go faster than normal.
So what have I been up to, anyway?
WEDNESDAY. Wednesday was Quezon City day, one of the days when I’m really glad to be working in QC. I decided to take advantage of the QC-only holiday to do things that I should have done ages ago: register for Comelec and renew my driver’s license.
I woke up really early on Wednesday to avoid the lines but ended up leaving mid-morning because of some things that I’m not in the mood to talk about. I got to the Municipal Hall with my passport by half past ten, and then went for registration. I was done within an hour — really quick and easy! I am now a registered voter, five years late! I’ll write more thoughts on this on another post. :)
After that, I headed to the nearest LTO satellite office to get started on my driver’s license renewal. I almost decided to skip it, but then my mom told me to go through with it because it will only take a while. So I did.
A while. Right. Apparently, since all LTO offices in QC are closed, a lot of QC residents decided to renew their license where I am renewing, which led to a bottleneck at the drug testing center. I started my renewal process at 1:30, and by 4:00pm I still haven’t been called for the picture and fingerprints. :| The estimate was another hour until I get called and so I decided to just go back for it the next day since I still had somewhere else to be.
The missed renewal kind of made my day even more tiring, especially since it meant I had to wake up early again the next day. But such is life, I guess.
THURSDAY. One of the perks of being a Fitness First member is that I can go in the mall where the gym is really early because of my ID. That meant I could go to the drug test center really early to get the rest of the process done. I got my results by 9:30, and then debated if I wanted to get the rest of it done (I had an appointment at 10:30), and then went ahead. By 10:20 I had my shiny new license, and finally it says female instead of male! I can now use my license as a valid identification! (Because one really needs a valid ID that can be whipped out immediately, like when you’re trying to get auto insurance quote or something)
Now the next step is to actually drive…but yeah, baby steps. I’ll drive soon. :P
Thursday at work was quick and kind of distracting because we were in between holidays. I was so itching to be off work because I needed to get ready for the beach trip…and I ended up spending for a bit of stuff (which is, thankfully, reimbursible) — like contact lenses. :) Yeah, I’m back to contacts again.
FRIDAY-SATURDAY. Spent the first part of the holiday with friends at La Luz Beach Resort in Laiya, Batangas. I finally hit the beach for the second time this year! What’s even more interesting (at least for me) is that I sort of planned the whole thing. I mean, I got the reservations ready and all that. But I couldn’t have done it all alone, especially without my friends from work who joined my three friends/gym buddies and I to the trip. :) The food wasn’t really as good as Balai Laiya‘s, but there were a lot of firsts for me: first time to go kayaking, first time to go snorkeling and swimming to really deep water (with a life vest of course), and my first time to get slightly er…drunk. Okay, more like majorly tipsy. If you think I’m noisy when I’m sober, wait till you see me tipsy. Heh.
After Batangas, we drove to Tagaytay to have lunch and just hang out and buy tarts…and then went home. I was still strangely hyper and still not too tired when I got home — maybe that’s what happens when you got the much-needed relaxation?
Oh, on the downside, my diet was totally non-existent during the two days of vacation. :| Guess who hit the gym by Sunday?
SUNDAY. After the gym and talking to Pau, I went off on my own for a bit and watched The Time Traveler’s Wife. I was alone in my area in the cinema which somehow made me appreciate the movie more. It wasn’t exactly the same as the book, but the ending made my heart hurt just a tiny bit…and yes, I did cry while watching the movie. I’m not all eager to read the book again, though.
And that was my week. Sort of. I’d post pictures but my Internet is uncooperative again, so I’ll go and post pictures on another post. :)
So what about you? How was your holiday weekend? :)
I didn’t have a good week last week. It wasn’t really that bad, but it was kind of depressing for reasons that I will probably discuss on another post. I couldn’t wait for the week to end and just laze around over the weekend and for the next week to start, because it’s got to be better, right?
Oh, but there was one thing that made me look forward to last week: payday. Finally.
However (don’t you just hate howevers?), I’m not exactly in the richest mode now, regardless of the pay. August to October are usually my poorest months because of all the bills I had to pay (phone bill, credit card, pension plan, term life insurance advice…wait, I don’t have that) and expenses that suddenly come up, so I usually avoid spending so much during those months.
But again, I wasn’t feeling my best, and I couldn’t exactly go on a food trip anymore because whenever I go on a food trip, it’s bound to be unhealthy and all my efforts at the gym would be wasted. What else can a girl do to cheer herself up?
Go shopping.
Friday found me roaming around Eastwood with my officemates in search of things to buy that can cheer me up. It was also the end of season sale at Eastwood, so it was just the right time to go shopping. I’m not exactly a seasoned shopper, though, so I didn’t brave the tiangge in the Central Plaza. I was looking for something more specific that I really needed then: a new pair of rubber shoes and a gym bag.
Of course those things were expensive, and I was hoping for unrealistic prices, so I had to let go of one. Plus, Fully Booked in Eastwood Mall was on sale too, and I just can’t not go in!
So at the end of the night, here is my stash:
Retail Therapy ♥
- Pink and gray Nike rubber shoes (I’ll have to look up the exact name of the pair)
- The Miracle Girls and Breaking Up Is Hard To Do by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt (long recommended by Camy!)
A little background story on the rubber shoes: The first pair of rubber shoes I wanted (the cheapest one) did not look good on my feet. The other one that I really wanted was the pink Nike Free 7.0 Trainer, which was really cute but too expensive. I almost went home defeated but after catching G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra, Grace and I went back to Nike and I found that pair of gray and pink rubber shoes that looked great on my feet and well, costs halfway between the two pairs. SOLD!
The bag I wanted was too expensive, though, so I guess that could wait. At least until it goes on sale or I get my bonus, whichever comes first (and why not both? :P). But I’m really glad to have a new pair of rubber shoes again; the last time I had rubber shoes was in college, when I owned about three pairs. When I started wearing Chucks, I hardly wore rubber shoes anymore so all of them broke. I’ve been borrowing my mom’s rubber shoes (which met an unfortunate fate last year and never recovered) and she’s been asking for them back…so there.
And you know what? It’s true. I did feel happier after going shopping. I don’t know if there’s a scientific basis on that, but my little retail therapy worked.
I can’t say the same thing for my wallet though. But oh well. :)
I planned to post this one yesterday, but my Internet did not cooperate with me. As usual.
Surprisingly enough it’s cooperating now, so yay!
But you know what’s weird? It’s how I don’t spend as much time online on my computer when I’m at home as I used to compared to before. Back then I’d be online all day at work, and then when I go home, the first thing I do is open my computer and go online again. That’s weird because our Internet at work doesn’t restrict any of the websites I visits or applications I use…so what do I do when I go home and go online?
Other than downloading stuff…absolutely nothing else. It’s not like I continue to work when I go home, or spend a lot of time checking out books or AEDs, or whatever, you know?
So maybe I’m just too addicted to the Internet.
I don’t know when I stopped doing that — maybe when I went full-time on midshift, or when I got Teo, or maybe even when I signed up for the gym and was simply too tired to go online when I get home. Or maybe it’s because Macy is giving me my online fix whenever I get home without the hassle of booting up Aslan or Teo. I mean, all I check are Twitter and Facebook and my email and I hardly stay up late to chat anyway.
Maybe that’s it.
Yeah, most definitely.
Anyway, tonight I shall share what my desk looked like last night, when I couldn’t go online to blog about this. It’s not as good as how Riz does hers (seriously, how do you do that?)…but effort should count. :P
What's on my desk on a Saturday night?
So, what’s on my desk?
I finally watched Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince last Saturday.
And I’m sorry, but I found it boring.
I tried as much as I can to avoid the reactions of the other people after they watched the movie. Some people told me they loved/liked it, some people said it was meh, but I never asked for details because I wanted to see for myself. I loved the sixth book; I honestly thought it was one of the best books in the series, and it had me crying at the end (of course). I was kind of expecting the movie to be good…but that just shows that I haven’t learned how to lower my expectations of the Harry Potter movies. :P
I just thought it was too long and dragging. I may have a short attention span with the movies I watch, and anything that is beyond 2 hours is already such. a. long. movie. for me. However, I found Transformers 2 and The Dark Knight quite long too, but I liked it. Maybe it’s because there’s more action there than Harry Potter 6?
I have a feeling I’ll be watching this one again and my opinion will change, but my first viewing was kind of a disappointment. Halfway through the movie, I wanted to just fast forward it and get to the end, just to get it all over with.
This seriously reminds me of the third movie, which I really didn’t like. Hay. So sad. This makes me want to read the book again just to console myself.
Anyway. That’s really not the point of the post. I found this little Harry Potter questionnaire from Candymag.com’s blog, and I thought it would be a fun thing to answer. Credits to them, of course. :)
1. What would amortentia smell like to you?
Ralph Lauren’s Polo Sport for Men (the one in the blue bottle). Strawberry-watermelon scented perfume. Freshly brewed coffee.
2. If you looked into The Mirror of Erised, what would you see?
As in right now? Okay, me with the my guy (whoever he is), spending time together and doing things that I couldn’t do on my own or didn’t have the time to do when we aren’t together yet. Like traveling with friends, or watching a movie on the opening day despite the crowds or going on a date on Valentine’s Day…or going to bookstores together and giving recommendations to each other as we browse around the store. Ask me again in a few days and it might change. :P
3. Which particular memory would you focus on if you had to create a Patronus?
My family and my brother’s girlfriend on our way to the gates of Hong Kong Disney Land last May. :) We didn’t get in but it was so much fun running around the trains on the way to Disney Land. Oh, another memory would be the day I got my job offer at where I work now. :)
4. If it was possible to accio people, who would you summon right now?
My dad, most probably, who works in another country. Also my grade school best friend Jamie, who I haven’t seen since she last visited during junior year in high school. Or even just my college best friend, Bea, who I haven’t seen for months because of our busy schedules.
5. Where would you like to apparate to?
NYC. Or Australia. The places I have been aching to visit since last year.
6. What would your boggart look like?
Flying roaches and frogs. :/
7. If you drank a vial of felix felicis for breakfast, what would happen for the rest of the day?
It would be a sunny-but-not-too-hot day, with a slight breeze blowing every now and then. I’d be able to go to the gym and have a good work out and then chance upon a friend who’d give me a ride to work. We’d have a relatively low volume day, and our team would go out and eat lunch together. Later on, my friend and I would go visit the bookstore and I’d be able to get the last copy of the book I’ve been looking for with a very good discounted price. I’d give myself time to eat some ice cream for a change with some of my office friends that I haven’t seen yet, and then discover that I have some money in my pants pocket that I totally forgot about. I’d get a good commendation from work, a nice text message (heh), and then my brother would call me and say he’s driving by to pick me up from work. :)
Okay that was actually quite fun to answer. :) Ah, the magical world of Harry Potter. I don’t think today would be the same without these seven books, yes? What’s your favorite book? And what would your answers to the questions above be? :)
Okay I need to know the truth here. Be honest: have you ever Googled yourself?
My teammates and I were doing that earlier, just for kicks. Obviously, doing a search with my name will give you this site as the number one result, followed by my Facebook account and other places in the web where I managed to leave a footprint. Or when people leave a footprint for me (like this GroupCard that was sent to me for my 23rd birthday). There are also blogs that re-posted some of my contributions for Didache and Jun’s e-newsletter, too. And…so…much…more.
Just a few days ago, I realized that I’ve been online for 10 years now — the first time we had Internet was 1999, I think, right after first year in high school. I can’t believe it’s been a decade since I first got connected to the Internet, which means I’ve also been “webdesigning” for almost ten years too! How about that?
It’s really no surprise if it’s so easy to find me in Google (or Yahoo, or BING, even). Which then leads me to think…how many accounts have I set up all over the Internet ever since I started? Let me try to remember them:
- Hotmail – I think the first ever account I signed up for when I got connected was my old, old hotmail account. It’s the time when the only thing you can collect online are email addresses, you see. I got my first email address there — kylie108@hotmail.com. I can’t log in to that anymore. :P
- ICQ – I got introduced to this after I got introduced to mIRC (oh the memories), and I remember loving the typewriter sounds and the cuckoo alert. I can’t remember my number anymore, so sad. Is anyone still using ICQ?
- MyOwnEmail – Now this was fun! This is like the coolest email service I ran into way back then. MyOwnEmail provides custom domain names for emails, and I think what sold me for this was the @backstreet-boys.com email. :P I had purplegal@backstreet-boys.com! Haha!
- Angelfire – This was where I first made my own website, an Animorphs fansite. I taught myself HTML from scratch, and used to code only in Notepad. Haha geek!
- gURLpages – After Angelfire, I got to gURLpages. I don’t know why or how I found out about this, but I stayed in gURLpages for almost a year before moving to Geocities. This was one of the free website places that offered ad-less hosting. I think my URL was http://www.gurlpages.com/writing/purplegal7 . Hah!
- Dreambook - My first guestbook. I left this one after I realized how limited it was.
- Bravenet – I wanted a better guestbook other than Dreambook, so I went to Bravenet, which seemed to provide everything a website owner could possibly want at that time. I got a guestbook, email form and polling system, all from Bravenet.
- girlslife.net mail – Can’t remember where I found this site too, but this was my primary email for a while – mihana@girlslife.net. I think I signed up for this after I moved from gURLpages, and gURLmail is already too cluttered for me.
- Geocities – I signed up for Geocities because I wanted my website to be hosted on a domain. It worked. :P
After this, I honestly can’t remember what other free services I signed up for. I remember having web hosting accounts in envy.nu and virtue.nu, as well as gbook.nu (don’t you remember how this seems like the coolest guestbook provider before?), scribble.nu (a journal provider), pitas.com, diaryland.com, signmyguestbook.com, diary-x.com, and one free forum provider. I also signed up for webrings, created a webring of my own, and signed up for so many online forums (and met a lot of good friends there too).
I’m pretty sure most of my accounts on the sites above no longer exist — some of those websites no longer exist, either! That’s web-life for you, I guess?
Okay, now for a more current Internet inventory. Where have I signed up now?
Dreamhost. Google. Yahoo. Livejournal. Multiply. Facebook. Friendster. Flickr. Goodreads. Listography. Twitter. Plurk. Vox. Uh…what else? Oh yeah, the newest one: Tumblr.
Whew. That was hard to remember.
Okay, I think it’s just about time I blog about this (plus I admit there’s a certain excitement in blogging when you have a shiny new theme).
I used to go to Gold’s Gym early 2007, because my office friends went there and we had a company discount. It was okay at first, and I enjoyed going there, but I didn’t last. Mostly because there’s no one to go with, plus my schedule has been always hard to deal with that I eventually let go of the membership. I’ve always been trying to lose weight since…well, since junior year in college, probably, but I never had enough discipline to stick to any of the weight loss programs that I have heard/read/watched.
I tried, really. I got myself a copy of Hip Hop Abs but was too conscious to do it whenever there’s someone at home. I tried boxing, bought gloves, but was too lazy to go and always used my money for boxing for other things. I’m not sporty, and I can only control my diet so much…so yes, I tried almost everything, but nothing really worked.
There’s only one thing left to do, and it’s to sign up for the gym and be motivated by the fact that my gym fees get charged in my card every month.
And what do you know, it worked.
So I’ve been a member of Fitness First for almost two months, much thanks to Toni who convinced me to go (after making our gym days hell for me haha). It’s one of the biggest non-gadget investment I have ever made (and believe me, it is), and right now I’m wondering why it took me this long to actually invest (oh wait, I know, budget. :P). Seriously, though, I’m actually glad I invested on this.
My initial weigh-in results were kind of scary — how bad were my results? Okay, not exactly bad, but you know, there’s a lot of things that I need to do to get back to my ideal weight. I knew it was going to be hard work. I just didn’t know how hard…but again, nothing worth having ever comes easy, right? (Thanks, Ginger Foutley)
I wish I could say I’ve lost like so much pounds already that it’s almost a miracle. I’ve lost about 5lbs for the past four weeks, which according to my friends, is just all right. I’ve started being mindful of the things I eat, like eating every four hours, portion control and eating more veggies, too. I’ve started to like the feeling of sweating it out, and I love getting my dose of endorphins. :D Yes, I’ve been feeling healthier, too.
Again: why did I wait so long to do this?
Oh yeah, budget.
I’m not saying that it’s the only way to lose weight and be healthier, of course. It’s just the way that is working for me, and for others it could be totally different. I still wish I can get into any sport (which…I’d say impossible, but who knows)…but I’ll take it one step at a time. :)
And honestly? I’ve never felt better physically. :D Save for the muscle pains, of course. ;)
