Bente-seis

I do hope it's going to be an uneventful (read: no unfortunate events!) day for me.

[Ngarks, I did invite bad karma again last night, when we were "talking" about certain people while we cooled down after our basketball practice. (Mantakin mo yon, ako? Nasa bball practice?!?)]

I'm looking forward to dinner because my mom will be preparing a feast! Yippee! 26 years old and I still can't get enough of my mom's cooking :D

I do hope somebody surprises me! Hehehe, feeling ko talaga.

First and foremost nga pala, I don't want to be late for work on my birthday, so I gotsa go sago.



Here's to my 26th!

A Series of Unfortunate Events

What goes around comes around
What goes up must come down...
Alicia Keys, "Karma"

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I got sick three times. Once because of a headache which was making me dizzy already -- no, I'm not pregnant. Then a few days after that, I woke up with a stomachache, feeling bloated and unable to burp or fart properly. That same day, my wisdom tooth with a cavernous cavity started throbbing. Then two days after that, my wisdom tooth with a cavernous cavity started acting up, shooting down currents of pain through my jaw and head [I am not exaggerating about this -- that's how it felt!]. Oh, and sumakit din ulo ko non.

I had to take three half-day leaves of absences for all those "afflictions". And another three half-days lost to nursing the pain at work :(

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I lost 500 pesos.

I think this is how I "lost" the money: The cab fare was 125 pesos. I knew I had 2 50-peso bills, and a 500-peso bill inside my wallet. I had a few coins inside my coin purse. So I gave the taxi driver the 2 50-peso bills (folded) and 5 pesos from my coin purse and asked him to wait while I get 20 pesos. As I waited for the elevator, I was rummaging thru my wallet and saw that I had 4 5-peso coins. So I rushed back outside, and wala na yung taxi.

I thought at first, "Ang bait naman ni manong, iniwan na lang nya yung bente na ibibigay ko sa kanya."

But then I looked again at my wallet and the 500-peso bill was not there.

I'm just thinking that if ever I mistakenly gave it to him, and he didn't return it to me, I really do hope he needs it and will use it for a good cause and not for drinking or gambling or whatever. Haaay.

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Oh, and during that time I went home with the stomachache and a toothache, it started to rain while I was walking from the office to the shuttle station (which is a good 5-10 minute walk). And I didn't have an umbrella.

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And, Friday morning, on my way to work already, I found out I spilled the salad dressing INSIDE my bag from the day before! So it was smelling really *sour* and all my metallic things had chemical reactions with the vinegar. And everything inside my bag was oily. Waah.

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I will have to go under surgery because of -- guess what? -- the toothache. Yes, the wisdom tooth with the cavernous cavity is impacted, and an ordinary bunot will not do. Ang sakit sa ipin, pati na rin sa wallet :(

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I must've done something really bad these past couple of weeks. Tsk tsk tsk. These are the strike-of-lightning's I've been waiting for every time I make those really mean snide remarks to people behind their backs :(

Scrapping and Tumbling

I'm tripping on something new! :D

Well, this started when an officemate of ours resigned. Our office agreed to give her a Starbucks Memory Tumbler, with a photo insert. I volunteered to do a collage layout of office pictures for the tumbler. It was kinda crude at first, because I was just guessing the dimensions of the tumbler, but it looked great, and everybody loved it!

And so when another officemate of ours resigned, we gave him a Starbucks Memory Tumbler too! Again, I was the one assigned to make the insert, and this time I was ready. I did some Google-ing and found a template for the tumbler! Yey me!

Click here for the bigger picture.

This is a very simple collage done in Photoshop. I just cut the pictures, gave them a white border [don't ask me why but I really love it when the pictures have a white border], and laid them out using the template as a guide. The denim fabric as a background was found using an image search in Google.

And so I was hooked.

I wanted a tumbler of my own! And I wanted to do more layouts and collages! I had so many pictures to use (from the prenup, wedding, honeymoon) and I've collected so many digital scrapbooking kits already -- now I can use them to create layouts for the tumbler!

Last December, I finally found an excuse to buy a tumbler -- I gave it to Dar as a "monthsary" gift [yeah, yeah, we still celebrate that, sometimes :P] because he can use it for his new work :)

Click here for a bigger picture.
Background papers and blue and green pebbles from Happy Together Kit by Katie Pertiet.
"Wow" bottlecap from My Retro Kit by AJW.
Blue ribbons by Hetty Deboer from the DigiDivas RetroKit.
Alphas from the Groovy Kit by Kellie Mize.
Silver star from Seeing Stars Ding-a-ments by Suzanne C. Walker.
Gold star from Lullabye Kit of Sarah Barber.
Black wire heart from Create Page Kit by Lauren Bavin.

He's been using that for a month now, and mejo nagsawa na siguro, so he wanted me to do more layouts. Here are two more tumbler inserts I've done for him, but I haven't printed them out yet.

Click here for a bigger picture.
Background papers and photo slides from Soft Sherbet Kit by Heather Roselli (from thedigichick).
Star from Laura's Lullaby Freebies, created by Jamie Rousselle (from digitalscrapbookplace)
Zigzac stitching from Like Magic Kit by Valerie Fowler (from thedigichick).


Click here for a bigger picture.
Digiscrap elements used from "Mishmash Collection" by Sara Carling.

Since I was so happy with the ones I made, I bought another tumbler, this time for my parents! :D But I was soooo busy around that time, that I was only able to make a layout for them this month.

Click here for a bigger picture.
Old recipe card from Granny's Pudding Add on Pack 01 by Meryl Bartho.
Striped paper from, brown and pink floral paper, pink and brown floral paper with white background, paintchip, pink and brown ribbed papers, dark pink flower chip - all from One by Angela Barton of AngeDawn Designs.
Pink tag, eyelet, staple and brad from Sunny Daze Mini-Kit by Nancie Rowe Janitz.
Photo prongs from Album Kit.
Photo corners from Baby Blues Kit by Valeri Brumfield.

And then while I was doing this, Darice was complaining why the hell wasn't she in the layout! Hahaha, so I made another one for my parents pa rin.

Click here for the bigger picture.
Background papers, ribbed ribbon and bow from Zooey Kit by Clara Wallace of Matterofscrap.
Word art from Diva Kit by Daniela Peuss.
Pink broach from Little Miss Kit by Dana Robinson.

Sadly, there is a shortage of the memory tumblers at Starbucks Metrowalk and at the Blue Wave Mall. Sigh. I really want to buy a tumbler for myself already!!! Maybe I'd have a different design every week for my tumbler, what if?!? Hahahaha :))

Evidence of an addict tripping on digital scrapbooking and memory tumblers ^_^

Heel

Before lunch:

Me: Anong oras ka pupunta sa Manila?

Him: Mga after 1 siguro.

Me: Anong oras ka uwi?

Him: Mga 9.

Me: Oks.

---

Around dinner time, through text messaging:

Me: Wat tym ka uwi? :) [I knew that he wouldn't be really going home at 9!]

Him: Alis ako d2 kina r ng 10.

Me: K.

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10:14:57 PM, through text messaging:

Me: Dapat paalis ka na. I'm w8ng 4 u. Sabi m0 nung hap0n 9pm ka uwi. Ngaun 10 na. Pag di ka nakaratng in an h0ur, kukusutin k0 ung mga pantal0n na pnlantsa k0. Hmp.

Him: Wat?! Andito p ako s shop. Hinatid ko c j. Alis ako in 10mins.

Me: Hmp. Bahala ka. Nagsabi ka ng 0ras.

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a little over 11pm:

Him: Honey, I'm home!

Aysus, natuto rin! Plantsahin lang pala ang katapat? :P

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Side kuwento lang. After that message saying na he was still at the shop, he called me up to confirm nga na he was still at the shop -- para siguro marinig ko yung mga boys at si J at kung sino pang tropa nya don.

And so I went on a calm tirade, telling him that he shouldn't be telling me what time he'd be coming home if he's not going to do it rin naman, just so that I'd think he'd be coming home early pero he plans on going home like 4 hours after the agreed time. Basically I told him to go home. NOW.

When he got home, he told me that it was J who told him to call me up -- he was going to ask if he can still play one game of DOTA. When he got off the phone, J asked him, "O ano, pinayagan ka?". My hubby could only answer sheepishly, "Eh hindi na nga ako nakapagsalita eh".

Ha!

How to Play Basketball

from a totally clueless girl's point of view!

Aim the ball at the white box on the board.

If you're near the ring, and you're kinda on the side, aim for the corner of the white box on the board. Boarding daw ang tawag don.

Bend your knees! And make that arc with your hand!

Don't guard the other team if your team has the ball. [Aba malay ko ba, nung sinabing bantayan ko si J eh di bantayan ko, di ko nilayuan kahit hawak na ni L yung bola hahaha]

Position yourself where you can make an attempt to shoot the ball. But always remember the 3 (or 5?) second rule -- which is you cannot stay inside for 3 (or 5?) seconds.

When the ball gets passed to you, if you don't know what to do, just pass it on to the next available player.

Travelling - Don't make a step while holding the ball. Just use your pivot foot (that is, your right foot?) to make ikot-ikot to see who you can pass the ball to, if the other team is making bantay.

Double dribble - have no idea yet, but I heard this term from the girls haha.

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Methinks I need more aggressive power as I am too shy and unsure on what to do inside the court. I hope I get to play more so I can learn the rules!!! I get too conscious about the rules -- because I don't know a damn thing!

Also need to learn "destroyer" moves, so that during the precious few seconds I get to play for our team, I could hurt somebody from the other team, haha!

Then I get thrown out of the game for the rest of the season, ha!

One of the Boys

During one sleepy afternoon at work, the pop session suddenly turned to the question of how to answer a kid's query of "What's an erection?"

Somebody answered with this. (Slightly NSFW, teeheehee!)

I would think that the boys would leave me out of the thread, but I was the only girl who remained in the group.

Huh.

So I replied with this: "Ang liit naman". *insert naughty grin here*

To which R replied: "Haha, naks, well-endowed pala si Daddy Darius".

Ha. No comment :P

And then the other boys started "making" their own versions of this. I couldn't open my pop window without seeing that drawing! It would be quite embarassing to open your pop window with your guy seatmates stealing glances at your monitor and seeing this.

So I made a new message for the boys, and said: "waaaah! tanggalin nyo nako sa thread na'to! everytime binubuksan ko pop ko yan yung nakikita ko!"

P answered: "Ano, eto: *insert picture here*"

J answered: "as if naman hindi ka pa nakakakita nyan mare!"

Hmp.

I answered: "ayoko ng mga drawing nyo noh!"

R replied: "haha, yung may pre-cum ata yung gusto mo eh!"

I think that's when I stopped reading my pop messages. Hehehe.

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This was not the first time that I was the "lucky" girl left in a very male-oriented pop conversation. I don't know if it's because I am officially married, therefore officially having sex with my husband, that they can discuss such things with me. Or baka bastusin lang talaga ako. Hehe.

The Bad Morning

Gawd, I cannot believe the morning I had.

I'll spare the details, but it involved bread, cellphone load, and taxis.

Aargh.

I was thinking on the way to the office, "If I get my period right now, as in right now that it stains my gray slacks, I am so going home".

Well, I didn't get my period that day. Good thing, because I had a load of work to finish. Filing a leave just because you're having a bad morning -- nuh-uh.

Eventhough I had to come in at 8:40 a.m.

Haaay. It was one of those bad bad bad mornings.

Aargh.

But if you notice, I keep saying/writing that I had a bad morning.

Yup, because I made it a point that the "bad-ness" would only last in the morning.

I just... let everything... go.

I let go.

Took a deep breath.

Thanked God that I didn't get my period yet that day.

Had a nice conversation with my friends.

Had a nice laugh with coffee and cigs.

There were worst things that could've happened that day, and I thank my lucky stars that they were still working overtime, even if my unlucky stars are working their asses off too.

All I had to was let go. :)

And everything turned out fine.

Ang Leon Na Ka-boses ni Sean Connery, Ang Bruhang Kamukha ni Galadriel at Isang Napakalaking Kabinet

Darius, Darice and I watched The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe last night. To say the moviehouse was jampacked would be an understatement. People were already seated on the steps! My vegetables, this was a mall along Marcos Highway! Nilalangaw ang mga foreign films sa mall na'to tapos biglang SRO sa Narnia.

Anyhoo, seeing this movie without having read the books is quite liberating because there are no comparisons to be made. I was just sailing along the story of four siblings trying to find their way about a magical place inside an old antique wardrobe. And I absolutely adored the story.

It feels good to suspend your belief for a few hours, and just let yourself be amazed by talking animals, especially by Aslan (Kaboses pa ni Sean Connery! Although, it was Liam Neeson who voiced the lion) and those cute beavers, centaurs, unicorns, dwarves and fauns! Then be scared of the bitchy white witch (who suspiciously looks like Galadriel from the Lord of the Rings, but it's actually Tilda Swinton, the one who played Gabriel in Constantine), and wonder if somebody can be that evil in real life. And then just simply be fascinated with the triumph of good over evil, in a land full of magic and joy and hope and childhood dreams, all behind an old big cabinet.

The best part about this is, when your daughter asks, "Mama, di ko gets" when the kids tumble out of the wardrobe at the end of the movie.

And you get to explain logic, share observations, and talk about the lion who sounds like Sean Connery, the witch who looks like Galadriel, and the big old cabinet, with all the seriousness of a five year-old kid.

Weekend Update

It's so hard to go back to work after the holidays. 'Di ba?

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I've been running an audit program at work, and it seems that I'm auditing too many records every batch job, so right now, I've only audited 8,000 out of the 210,000+ records. Yeah, good luck to me. I hope I finish this audit thing before the month ends.

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I got pissed off at him this week. [Kelan ba hindi?] I just feel guilty I get pissed off because of that. Then I get mad at myself for being guilty! Haaay. Rollercoaster of emotions. Always because of him.

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I spent some alone time last Wednesday at Starbucks Metrowalk during our lunch break. Ang sarap. Basically defrosting [because of the winter temperatures in our office] and destressing, drinking my latte, smoking my cigs, and writing down some stuff. I might do this every week. It does my body good :)

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Last Thursday, I made cheese pizza for Darice's breakfast. I sliced some QuickMelt cheese, put them over some sliced bread, and toasted them for around 3-4 minutes.

To say that Darice liked them would be an understatement. She's been requesting for cheese pizza for breakfast since that day.

Here's the pandesal version of her cheese pizza today. And there she is enjoying every bite.

Unfortunately, she's had her fill already of these cheese pizzas, because she only finished two out of the four I made for her. I guess I won't be slicing cheese any time soon ;)

According to the Stars, 2K6

Every new year, I make it a point to visit astrology sites to give me an idea what the stars have in store for me. The following forcasts are from Astrology.com and AstroProfile.

Career Creativity with simple practicality will have you chewing up projects and spitting out results.[3] You're pioneering and innovative ideas are the underlying reasons for your marked career and professional success this year.[4]

Finances 2006 will give you a bigger everything: larger sales, promotions, honors, recognitions, income. You have been focusing on it for the past few years and it finds you in every way possible.[4] However, by spring, it will be a good time to ask for financial assistance,[4] as surprise expenses pop up.[3] Someone you love will need your help and assistance around this time, and you will need to step up and do your best to do right by them.[3] Just be sure you really are helping them, not enabling them to continue down an unhealthy path. You know the difference.[1]

Love and Relationships Moodiness, pouting, sudden flare-ups are abundant this year. You come to realize that you don't understand others and that they especially don't understand you.[4] This moodiness may surprise some, particularly those who have loves you, attracted to you, or are interested in you. However, you won't really care about other people's reactions.[2]

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So basically, what I'm getting here is that professionally and financially, 2006 rocks. However, relationship-wise, I might be on the rocks.

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Plan your year ahead with AstroProfile's 2006 "Bad Hair" Days!

According to the site, "When the Moon travels through a sign of the zodiac that is of an element that is antagonistic to the element of our sun sign, we have the "blahs" or a bad hair day."

Some examples:

Your Sun Sign is in Fire Element, Moon moves through Water sign: Water puts out Fire = Bad Hair Day

Your Sun Sign is in Earth Element, Moon moves through Fire Sign = Fire scorches Earth = Bad Hair Day

Your Sun Sign is in Air Element, Moon moves through Earth = Earth traps Air = Bad Hair Day

Your Sun Sign is in Water Element, Moon moves through Air = Air dries up Water = Bad Hair Day

Anyways, the site clearly explains the concept, and has the calendar of the blahs for each group of sun signs.

I realized that Dar and I have the same sun sign element, Air, so we both have the same "bad hair" or blah days. Could explain the monthly PMS-like attitude from him. Hehe.

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[1] Aquarius 2006 Yearly Horoscope: Overview
[2] Aquarius 2006 Yearly Horoscope: Love
[3] Aquarius 2006 Yearly Horoscope: Career
[4] The Year's Annual Sun Signs Horoscopes Predictions: Aquarius