back from a "tour of northern luzon" : )

yay, i'm back from laoag, vigan & baguio!

i started my thursday rather early. nel woke me up with a call at 4:30, after which i immediately started packing my stuff. sabi na nga eh, crammer ako sa pag-iimpake. : )

in the end, maluwag pa ang bag ko. i had one big bag, & a small hand carry. here are the stuff stashed in my hand carry body bag:



i was supposed to meet nel and kuya arnold, nel's brother-in-law, at the shell station near pag-asa subdivision at 5:45. pero dahil nag-iinarte ang left eye ko, 5:45 na ako nakaalis ng bahay. i arrived at the shell station at 6:00. buti naman, nauna pa rin ako sa kanila.

since PAL ang sasakyan namin, hinatid kami ni kuya arnold sa centennial. because of the early hour, wala pang traffic. we were already at centennial airport at past 7.

when we got there, sobrang hindi namin alam ang gagawin! hehe! 2nd time ko pa lang kasi sumakay ng plane. the first time was when i was 3, so that practically doesn't count. si nel naman, first time sa centennial. kaya ayun, pumila na lang kami sa kung saan.

we ended up where we should be, buti naman. we had our luggage weighed. 5.1 kilos lang yung akin. yung lalaki na nag-weigh, bakla ata! nung tinanggal ni nel sa hand carry niya yung makeup niya, hinihingi ba naman! saan ka pa?!

we then got our boarding passes, which set us back by P200 pesos each. actually, hindi ko maintindihan kung para saan yun. nagbayad na naman kami ng P1766 for the plane ticket, right? ang gobyerno talaga natin. oh, well.

while waiting for ma'am maggie (our payroll officer) & kuya allan (our network engineer), nel & i ate sausage croissants from delifrance. ang pangit ng itsura! if you've seen it, you'll know what i mean. hehe. boring nga rin pala ang lasa. should have just ordered ham & cheese.

here's us just hanging out:



at dahil wala akong magawa, eto ang aming mga paa:



dahil maaga pa, we both needed a dose of caffeine. so we went to cafe nescafe. naaliw ako sa sign na ito:



how slang could one get?!

cafe nescafe features coffees from around the world. i got what i think is called cafe manila - a frozen coffee topped with whipped cream & pandan syrup. masarap naman.



in fairness nga pala, maganda ang centennial. i especially appreciated their small landscaped patches, which really broke the monotony of the place.



to pass time, i checked out the stores. we were waiting at s8, so i went all the way to the other end, near s1. doon ako nakita ni kuya allan. i asked him what he was doing there; after all, s8 kami dapat. as it turns out, s1 ang nasa boarding pass niya. he checked with the authorities, mali nga yung pass niya.

later, dumating na si ma'am maggie. wala lang, upo at kuwentuhan muna.




in fairness to PAL, on time sila. since our flight was at 10:10, we were asked to board at 9:40. unfortunately, s1 nga kami dapat. ang saya!

here's our plane:



at dahil ngayon nga lang ako nakasakay ng eroplano ulit, camwhoring na naman:




naaliw kami ni nel kasi may small screens na na ginagamit to demonstrate the safety features of the plane. dati kasi, stewardess lang ang gumagawa nun, di ba? at least, that's what i see in movies.



dapat, si nel ang sa window seat. pero inagawan ko siya. hehe!

i was generally restless before the flight. naaaliw kasi ako, e. i kept looking around. i observed how they were getting another plane ready for flight. i read the manual on safety tips. & of course, i took pictures.

i only started to get nervous when the plane was about to take off. hindi naman ako takot sa heights, pero i just didn't know what to expect. sabi lang ni nel, medyo nakahihilo raw sa simula.

so, how did i find it? it was scary for a while. first, the plane was just on the runway, then it gave a sudden lurch, & we were off to the sky, to an altitude of 26,000 feet.

after the initial scare, i started to enjoy the trip. it was so amazing to see the clouds up close. nakaka-addict! cumulus clouds look just like cotton candy - sobrang fluffy!





when i took this pic, we weren't so high up yet, so the land was still visible:



as the plane was going up, the types of clouds that could be seen were changing also. from cumulus, naging cirrus then stratus (cirrus ata yung parang feathers, then yung parang strips lang, stratus).





i think around halfway into the flight, they started serving snacks. natawa ako kasi eto yung binigay nila:



feeling ko tuloy, asa office lang ako. may happy peanuts din kasi ako sa doon, 2 flavors pa!

i think it was also halfway into the flight when the pilot announced that the plane would be descending already. naaliw rin ako, because i was able to take pics where the sky met the sea. ang hirap nga makita kung saan ang water, at kung saan ang clouds.




i also saw this long stretch of beach that was really breath-taking:



talagang blue-green ang tubig. unfortunately, i don't really know where this is. ilocos norte na, i guess.

since the flight was on time, we arrived in laoag at 11:10.




we were fetched by ma'am baby puruganan, the head of our laoag branch.

medyo mahaba na eto, to be continued na lang next time. ; )

= = = = = = = = = =

i took the lakbayan test again. may improvement na! i got a C- (D ako last time).

i'm actually looking forward to visiting other tourist spots here in the philippines. next on my list is boracay (bago pa siya lalong pumangit at ma-commercialize). tsaka na siguro ang puerto galera, malas ako, e. twice na akong hindi natuloy dun. : )

buti na lang, i'll be traveling this week...

My Lakbayan grade is D!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

laoag, vigan, baguio, here i come! : )

sasama ako kay nel at ma'am maggie sa laoag, vigan at baguio sa thursday 'til saturday. they will be setting up titanium (our online attendance & payroll system), while i'll be milling around on my own. i'm so excited!

i'm actually going on vacation! i'll be taking a leave! woohoo!

i'll be riding a plane (2nd time ko pa lang, 1st time was when i was three, so that practically doesn't count). yehey!

wala lang, i'm just so happy. : )

conversation with kiko

kiko (to mommy): where the one should we going?
me (to kiko): "where should we go?" o "where are we going?".
kiko: thank you for correcting me.
me: you're very welcome.
kiko: you're very thank you.

WAHAHAHA!

mukhang marami pang lessons kaming pagdaraanan. ;)

friendster pics

isang gabi na wala akong magawa at hindi ako makatulog, tiningnan ko yung friendster accounts ng madlang people. ang saya! eto ang mga pics na nanakaw ko. hehe!

from aiza mae: a pic with the dwarfs, my high school barkada. bago pa ata ito magpasko.



from crystal: management trainees, on the day of our final revalida. january 31, 2006 ata. ang formal naming lahat!




from de-anne: pic with soa during the 2004 formsem at the house of ginger's relatives. marami sa amin, hindi pa naliligo. isa na ako dun.


from de-anne again: soa eb with sir redg plopinio, after the soa launch. up to now, i still find this pic cool. asa floor lang ang camera nito. : )



from gel: pics with the musheez, first year and second year ata.




from guiller: i don't even remember them taking a pic! gabay christmas party 2005 ito. i just dropped by with gel.



from john: embryo christmas party 2003, in a venetto along alabang-zapote road. typical embryo shot, sobrang gulo! : )



from kamille: a pic during her surprise birthday party last year, which bobby and je-anne organized. we were in batang's. maaga pa ito, kaya konti pa lang kami. later, more people came, which meant more drunks. hehe! actually, tinamaan din ako nito but i drank a lot of water so it passed. i was awake all throughout, til 1 or 2, i think. : )



from kacey, nel and ma'am maggie: HR in subic, camayan resort specifically. this was just last february, during our outing.




ang saya! pag wala ulit akong magawa, gagawin ko ulit ito. hopefully, there are new pics for me to grab. haha! : )

bumenta ito sa akin : )

Save water.
Shower with your boyfriend.

The wise never marry.
And when they marry they become otherwise.

If your father is a poor man, it is your fate.
But, if your father-in-law is a poor man, it's your stupidity.

I was born intelligent.
Education ruined me.

A bus station is where a bus stops.
A train station is where train stops.
On my desk, I have a work station.
What more can I say?

How come "abbreviated" is such a long word?

Money is not everything.
There's Mastercard & Visa.

One should love animals.
They are so tasty.

Every man should marry.
After all, happiness is not the only thing in life.

Children in backseats cause accidents.
Accidents in backseats cause children.

Your future depends on your dreams.
So, go to sleep.

Hard work never killed anybody.
But why take the risk?!

Work fascinates me.
I can look at it for hours!

When two's company, three's the result!

A dress is like a barbed fence.
It protects the premises without restricting the view

The more you learn, the more you know.
The more you know, the more you forget.
The more you forget, the less you know.
So...why learn?

23 on 23

another year was added to my age, as i turned 23 last may 23. it was a rather quiet day. workday kasi, e. i originally wanted to take a leave, but i had to cancel that plan because of my turnover (which was from tuesday to friday last week).

nel (whose birthday was on may 7) & i had a joint blowout for HR. upon my request, may isaw at kwek-kwek! ang saya! buti na lang, mabait si ma'am cora (from IT; siya ang usual caterer namin sa office). unique tuloy ang menu ko: carbonara, barbecue, isaw, puto, kwek-kwek at iced tea. saan ka pa?!

in fairness, mabenta ang isaw at kwek-kwek. ubos agad! the barbecue was sold out also. everyone was quite full in the end. i even had some leftover carbonara that i brought home, & some puto that i gave to kuya jerry. when i got home, i ate chicken, liempo and cake with my family.

nung friday, blowout naman ng HR for me. may chocolate cake, siomai at spaghetti. in fairness, hindi ko in-expect yun. hindi ko rin napansin. masyado siguro akong aligaga dahil sa trabaho. basta, sinabi na lang nila na kumain na kami. nakahaing na pala lahat dun sa dating testing area na ginagawa rin naming dining area.

well, what's new with me, other than being a year older? as i mentioned in an earlier post, i would be moving to a new department. in a way, i guess the blowout of HR for me was also a send off. effective today, i'll be a project management officer (PMO) for corporate planning.

why? it was my request, actually. i spoke to my supervisor & told her that i felt that it was time for me to move on to something else. i felt that i've given it enough of a shot, as i have handled recruitment for over a year already before i came to this decision. even though i understand the importance & the impact of the job, there was something missing, as i was not happy.

being a psych graduate, i subscribe to the theory of job fit. i believe that there are certain jobs that are right for some people, but not for others. i believe that certain qualities make people right for certain jobs. & i believe that a misfit would cause the person to be unhappy & unfulfilled.

maybe recruitment is not the right job for me; i could only hope that being PMO is. but i know that i tried. i really did.

at this point, i pray that i will be able to do better as PMO. after all, there's no turning back now. i'm going to miss the company of HR a lot, but i will do my best to blend into corplan, my new family in the office.

= = = = = = = = = =

for my past six birthdays, you were around. this is the first time since then that you weren't. i miss you.

my visual DNA

Read my VisualDNA
Get your own VisualDNA

the idiot's guide to using a flash drive

after ten million years, i have decided to junk my floppies in favor of a two-gigabyte toshiba transmemory. hurrah to me! HURRAH!!!

you may ask, what prompted the ever-kuripot grace to buy a Php 1400 flash drive? well, i'm moving to a different department (more on this some other time), & my new position would involve doing some presentations. nahihiya naman ako sa boss ko kung forever ko na lang ipapa-email sa kanya yung mga powerpoint, kasi wala akong flash drive. ayun.

here's how the newest addition to my office stuff looks like:


at dahil medyo nakakaloka ang presyo ng device na ito, binasa ko ang manual. marami akong natutunang mga importanteng bagay tulad ng:

* accidental swallowing may cause suffocation or injury. contact a doctor immediately if you suspect a child has swallowed the product.

* the product shall not be used with equipment (including but not limited to atomic energy control, airplane or spaceship, transportation, traffic signal, combustion control, or medical instruments, as well as all types of safety devices) that requires extraordinarily high quality and/or reliability, or equipment a malfunction or failure of which may cause loss of human life or bodily injury.

* toshiba assumes no liability for damage or losses due to fire, earthquake, natural disaster, accidents, acts of third parties, or negligent or intentional misuse.

buti na lang, may manual. hahaha! :D

serving crazy with curry

"some love deeply, some love forever. my love for her is beyond tomorrow, beyond today, beyond forever. i will always remember her, always mark the day she came and the day she left. she will forever be inside of me, along with regret, which will not be as heavy because she will be there as well, easing this heavy load inside of me."

- devi veturi in serving crazy with curry
by amulya malladi

2nd day in mindoro: water fun!

our second day in mindoro was devoted to the beach. but before we attempted to frolic (& roast) under the scorching heat of the sun, we went around pinamalayan for a while.



we passed by the police station where lorryle's uncle works. akala naman namin, pulis lang siya dun. chief of police pa pala! eto, photo ops:



asa police station din pala yung may-ari ng resort na pupuntahan namin. sabi niya, maganda yung place, kaso hindi pa developed. may mga cottage nga raw na nasira ng bagyo. of course, that's okay with us. libre naman ang paligo, e. hehe! i, for my part, was really excited. this is my first time to go to an undeveloped resort after all. my mind was already conjuring up images of unspoiled beauty.

we passed by the plaza first kasi may moriones daw. surprise, surprise! hindi lang pala sa marinduque ang moriones.



nagpakuha rin ako katabi ni Jesus:



sabi nila, penitensya daw ng participants yung moriones. sa bagay, sakripisyo nga naman yun kasi ang init dun sa plaza!

tapos, namalengke na kami. they had picky me in mind, so they bought squid along with the fish. alam niyo naman ako, maarte sa pagkain.

we got to the resort after a very short drive. siguro, mga 20 minutes lang. these were the images that greeted us:





wow!

this was our cottage:


in fairness, cottage talaga siya.

naglublob lang ako sandali, kasi sobrang init. tapos, natulog na ako. hehe...when i woke up, it was lunch time already. yehey! unfortunately, they forgot to cook the squid along with the fish. so, nagtiyaga muna ako sa isda. pero touched ako kay tita lolit kasi nung naalala nila, niluto niya agad yung pusit. isa lang muna, para sa akin. pero nung naluto na lahat, eto na ang ginawa namin:



mga bona kids po yan, mga batang may laban. hehe!

siyempre, after stuffing our faces with food, lumangoy kami ulit. nakakatuwa kasi sobrang linis ng tubig. yun nga lang, mabato talaga pag nasa mababaw ka pa lang. we also tried to fit ourselves into this small boat:



ang sakit sa puwet, i swear!

later on, we also tried climbing a coconut tree.



the end result:



let me re-emphasize the word, "tried". hehe! (hindi ko kasi maabot yung susunod na hawakan)

after frolicking a bit more, we decided that we've had enough of the water already, kaya nagbanlaw na kami. ang hirap kasi isa lang ang shower! ma'am maggie, nel and i ended up taking turns using a hose, while a korean family was watching. haha!

when we were dressed already, we walked along the beach. i decided to take a couple more shots:























we went home before 6, i think. sobrang bilis magpatakbo nung driver! may libre tuloy kaming "natural powder" galing sa kalsada. grabe.

we proceeded to chief's house. since we were still early, we heard mass first. holy thursday nun, so they re-enacted the part of the last supper where Jesus watched the feet of His disciples.

naaliw din pala ako nung sermon ng pari. he mentioned JVP! that means na may JVP volunteer na na-assign sa pinamalayan, o sa isang malapit na area. ang galing! it also means na malayo na talaga ang narating namin (literally) kasi usually, sa malalayong area pinadadala ang jesuit volunteers para tumulong. hehe...

after the mass, we went back to chief's house for dinner. videoke naman after, but i didn't sing. inaantok na ako, e! we went back to the house of lorryle's aunt at around 10. if i remember correctly, we just freshened up a bit, then went to sleep.

zzzzz.....

= = = = = = = = = =

up next: last 2 days in mindoro - good friday and black saturday