Friday Morning Madness

What a series of unfortunate events. Ang tagal dumating ni Uber dahil ang layo ng inikutan, amoy yosi sasakyan nya, ang tagal magstart trip, at ang pinaka sa lahat, naiwan ko lang naman ang sling bag ko where my money and cards are. Kaloka! Buti na lang di ko sinungitan si koya driver kaya tahimik lang sya nung sinabi kong kailangan naming bumalik hehehe. Pero yung totoo, nasungitan ko na sya ng ilang beses sa utak ko. Hay sana lang di pa gising si Renzo kasi super late na talaga ako pero wala pa naman tumatawag o nagtetext. Ewan ko ba. Sa lahat naman ng maiiwan ko, yun pa. At sa tagal kong naghintay sa labas, di ko man lang naalala. Grabe namang pagkaulyanin yun hahaha. 

On another note, there is an Ayala mall that's under construction along Meralco Avenue. That's 5 minutes walk away from my apartment. Hopefully, there's a cinema and a grocery with reasonable prices. New hangout place if ever. 

Malls are really everywhere now. Capitol Commons is also near my place but I still did not get the chance to visit it. This houses most of the high end brands. Plus I guess the restaurants there are expensive. Well, everything is expensive haha. So, maybe that's the reason why I haven't visited it yet. But they also have a supermarket. Unimart I think. That may be worth visiting one of these days.

2016 Week 17 Recap: Weekend Lakad

April 18-24, 2016

Last Saturday, a friend and I went to BGC to check out the World Street Food Congress. There were a lot of interesting dishes from the different parts of the world. Everything looks delicious. However, there were a lot of people, the order and claim lines were long in almost all of the stalls, the heat was just so unforgivable (at least to us) and the prices are abit steep for our wallets hehehe. A 500 ml Wilkins water alone costs Php50.00 hehehe. The cheapest I've seen if I'm not mistaken, was Php180.00. Setting aside the price though, my friend and I were willing to at least try some of the food stalls. However, it got a little windy and dust was all around hehehe. So we got disappointed and decided to just leave the place. 

From BGC, we went to S&R Shaw. We just missed going around the place and inspect each and every item hehehe. We also missed the pizza and chicken so we had our late lunch there. Most of my breakfast staples were also available and cheaper so did some grocery shopping. It's just too tempting to shop there though, so shopping discipline is a must, otherwise, you'll end up overspending.

I am a little restless these days because of a lot of things going on in my mind so I just stayed home on Sunday. I was about to go out in the evening but I remembered it was the 3rd and final debate of our presidential candidates so I opted to watch it instead. But politics is one that I am not that passoinate about. Let's just say I already have my choices and I respect others' choices. To each his own. Regardless of who wins, I will still continue to strive to be a good Filipino.

I also got hold of news in FB that my uncle in the US (my dad's brother in law) already passed away. Hay. Nakakalungkot. May you rest in peace, uncle. While you are already gone, I know that you will continue looking after auntie. It's time to party in heaven with all the other folks who went ahead of you. I'm sure they all welcomed you in style, I mean the Igorot way - dancing, gong playing, butchered pigs, and a merry feast! Til we meet again.

2016 Week 16 Recap: Weekend Getaway

April 11-17, 2016

Work

Last April 14, my boss asked me to attend a dialogue on her behalf, as requested by one of our partner schools. In summary, the school's goal is to get information and inputs from its industry partners so that they can bridge the gap between their curriculum and the chances of their students being hired after graduation.

It was the school's first time to do it, and it was my first time to attend such an event. It was an eye-opener for me, most especially on the difference of the academe and the industry. And while there are glitches, I'm happy to know that there are schools who initiate such dialogues for the improvement of their curriculum. I'll try to write more about it in another post.

Weekend

Finally had the chance to get out of Manila. A friend invited us to spend the weekend at their home in Lipa. We traveled to Lipa on Saturday afternoon. Sumptuous lunch was waiting for us upon reaching their place hehehe. Lamon galore ang weekend na ito. 

After late lunch and few minutes of rest, we proceeded to the Bluroze Farms Parks and Wildlife. It's a mini zoo in Lipa where the animals can freely roam around in their provided wide open spaces. The area itself is big. However, we were not able to roam around the place because we arrived there at 6PM and they close at 7PM, and even before 7PM struck, it was already dark so we had to leave hehehe. By the way, we paid Php120.00 entrance fee.

We proceeded to the San Sebastian Cathedral next. It is a big church with beautiful architecture. From the Cathedral, we went across the street to check out the night market. It's a mixture of cooked food and more food and more and more food and some stalls also sell mostly clothes. While we did not have any intentions of buying, it was fun checking out the stalls and be amazed by all the delicious looking food hehehe. In fairness, there were a lot of people that night. Maybe it's the usual time for the people of Lipa to spend time outside.

Because we wanted a sit down dinner, we avoided buying food at the night market. We went to LBN bar and restaurant for dinner. We wanted to order lomi but the restaurant only serves it until 7:30 PM. We arrived at 8PM. We settled for the usual pork sisig, grilled tuna belly and chopsuey. We also had one glass of margarita to cap the night. There was a live band while we were there so it must be our lucky night hehe.

On Sunday, my friend and I attended mass at the Cathedral. After a hearty breakfast, we proceeded to La Virginia Resort and Hotel for a much needed dip in the pool to at least beat the summer heat. Entrance fee for day tour is Php320.00. We did not rent a cottage since we did not have packed lunch. We just had lunch at their restaurant.

The place has 4 or 5 pools so even with the many guests, the pools were not crowded. We surveyed the place a little before settling to a pool with lesser people. We just wanted to stay in the water and exchange stories so the lesser the people, the better hehehe. We stayed in the pool for about 3 hours before taking our late lunch. We planned it that way so that we don't go to the restaurant together with the crowd. 

One store at my friend's place sells halo-halo in buko. The buko juice and the buko itsself becomes part of the hal-halo. We tried it even if we were still full from lunch and even if we also had halo-halo at the restaurant. It was my first time to see such so buy na!

We left Lipa at around 6:30PM and back in Manila by 8:30PM. Thank God for a quick and traffic-less travel. And thank you for generous friends who are willing to host you even for just the weekend hehe.

Some pictures of the weekend.

BluRoze Farms

Pinks and whites

Dusk at the province

San Sebastian Cathedral in Lipa

Overlooking Taal from La Virginia Resorts and Hotel

Castle at the resort. This is one of their accommodations.

Weeeee! Time to dive, oopps dip only. 

Halo-halo in buko! Yum yum!

Bluroze Farms
4217 Lipa, Batangas

La Virginia Resorts and Hotel
Brgy. Manggahan, Mataas na Kahoy, Batangas

Dear Mama #2

Source

Happy birthday in heaven, Mama. If you were still here, it would have been your 68th. And since it is a weekday, perhaps, I'm home bound this weekend to celebrate yours and bunso's birthday together. Kaso wala ka na hehe. Ikakain na lang din kita hehehe. 

I miss you and Daddy. Hi na lang din sa kanya. Sabihin mo ha, at baka magtampo na naman yun hehe.

2016 Week 15 Recap: Anyare?!!!

April 4-10, 2016

Puro work updates. The boss of the boss treated us to Chili's last Friday. Naisip namin birthday treat nya kasi birthday nya nung March pero hindi daw. Dinner lang daw. 

He was in Tokyo, Japan with his family last Holy Week. Kaya pala wala sya that week at di na nagfollow up sa tinatanong nya sa akin that time hehe. Or baka ok na sa kanya yung last reply ko hehe. Anyway, so syempre na-share kong punta rin kami sa Japan this July. For sure daw mabibitin kami sa 6 days pero ok na rin daw. At Summer daw non, mainit. Basta ang tip nya ay i-reseach daw namin ang most cost effective option/s for the train tickets kasi marami daw pero may best option based on our IT. Plus, sabi nya, use Google maps daw because it's so helpful. Just input your starting point and destination and Google maps will tell you what train line, and most importantly where to exit. Each station has so many exits daw kasi so nakakalito talaga if wala kang guide. 

And last weekend was the most stressful yet this year. Hay at sana hindi na mauulit dahil nakakawindang talaga! We had an issue with the system that processes our attendance data and since prerequisite ito ng Payroll, mas lalong naka kaloka. I spent my weekend waiting for updates and thinking of all other options we can propose just in case hindi talaga kakayaning maayos. Nakaupo lang naman ako sa bahay pero pagod na pagod ako kakahintay at kakaisip. 

It was the first time the issue occurred so clueless talaga kaming lahat anong meron kasi maayos naman syang tumatakbo ever since 6 years ago. 

Good thing na rin that our resources were committed to resolve the problem. Ang galing nung bata. Salamat na lang at sya ang resource. No findings after namin madeploy yung fix. Lahat nakahinga ng maluwag after magconfirm ni HR kaninang madaling araw na ok naman lahat. Don lang ako nakatulog ng maayos. 

Pinilit ko na lang din makapag laundry man lang at mag simba at maggrocery nung Sunday para naman may makabuluhang nagawa over the weekend. Pero iba pa rin talaga. Ang hirap magfocus. Sana hindi na namin danasin yun ulit. 

Until today, Monday, feeling lutang pa rin ako. Kung wala lang kailangan tapusin, umabsent na rin ako ngayon. Anyway, move on na. 

Ay gusto rin daw pala ng mga pamangkin kong magbakasyon at makipagsiksikan sa akin sa apartment ko. Gusto kong itake advantage tong stage na clingy pa sila pero hindi na ganon kaalagain since medyo malalaki na sila pero tignan ko muna if may time pa since di na ako pwede this April. If ok pa sa May, then baka ampunin ko muna sila. We'll see. 

Hoping for a better week. 

2016 Week 14 Recap: Ad hoc project = Hectic

March 28 - April 2, 2016

And just like that, we're done with the 1st quarter of 2016. Whew!

Work

The ad hoc project where we need to fix systems ASAP made the team busy last week. The kind of busy that you need to extend hours most of the days to get things done. What a relief when Friday rolled in hahaha.

Anyway, most of the target deliverable for last week were completed. The ones left were not really critical but still needs to be checked nonetheless. We are moving on to the next step this week and next week, and that's the end user's testing. Crossing my fingers that there will be no issues. Otherwise, it means we did not test well hehe.

Oh, and finally, the vendor for another project showed up. Pero hay naku pa rin!

Living Quarters

So it's really bye Sky Cable for me since last week. My digibox was pulled out last Wednesday. The coming bill should be my last.

Weekend

We availed of a promo at Lee Hak Korean Restaurant at Pioneer Center, Kapitolyo, Pasig. Php 322 for a weekend lunch buffet, unlimitted iced tea included. To me, the food was ok for the price (but I'm not choosy in general). According to my friend who is more versed in anything Korean, their food was somewhat "Filipinized". While the selection may be few for some, it was enough for me as it's not overwhelming which ones to choose. They don't have much dessert options though. I guess there were just 2 fruits. But for that price, I think we got our money's worth. 

We dropped by EDSA Shangri-la because my friend was interested to check out the wedding expo to get some ideas for her brother who sometimes does styling in weddings. While the prices were overwhelming, we enjoyed all the displays. We were especially amazed by the Ecuadorian roses displayed by one supplier. They had big, beautiful roses!

Beautiful Ecuadorian roses in different colors!

We were amazed by these roses in glass (or not sure if it's plastic) bubbles!

Golden Winterland, which I liked the most. Simple and clean. I'm sure your color motif will be highlighted if you have this setting in your reception. Ganda lang!

We also passed by a Starbucks event at the Shang mall so we spent a few minutes there. There were lectures about their different types of coffee and demo on their new coffee presses. We were treated to free coffee in different variety. It was good to know that the Kape Vinta coffee beans is from  the Philippines. 

From the Starbucks website

From the Starbucks website

Random thoughts while we were in that event.

Me: I want to get rich through agriculture. Why can some people do it and we can't?

Friend: You need to have hectares of land so that you can produce enough to supply the big chains.

Me: nuninuninuni

But let's see about this dream. There has to be a way.

We went to Megamall less than an hour before closing time to check out the treadmills. 

Sunday was spent doing some domestic chores and mass.

I hope you all had a great week. Cheers to another great week ahead.

Of Keeping the Faith and Second Chances

Her Bebe girl

I shared here the challenge I had with my niece and the resolution I had for the second semester. It has worked for both of us so far, although it's sometimes inconvenient for me to go to the bank and pay monthly. But that allowed me to keep track of the payments I made. I thought I still had one more payment to make based on the total amount of her payables this semester. However, I learned that she got a 25% discount because she was a Dean's lister last semester. While my only requirement for her was not to fail in any of her subjects, her achievement still made me happy and thankful. 

I am glad I did not give up on her right away after the fiasco we had last semester. I am happy I took that second chance. I am not expecting anything from her. I just want her to have better opportunities in life so that she can eventually support herself and her daughter. I want her to be able to stand on her own and not be forever dependent on others. I don't want her to be forever poor. I hope that she has learned her lesson last semester. I hope that she will stay challenged to continue working for a better life for her and her daughter.