So I looked back at previous entries (likes decemebers of previous years), and man, my emotional incompetence is an open-book.  This is going to sound strange, and maybe evil with a dash of blonde, but I seriously forgot who I was talking about here:

i'm getting suffocated.  i need space.  i know.  strange thing to be coming from me.  suffocated?  space? me?  i tend to cramp on other people's space most of the time, so maybe this is karma.  i don't mind seeing you more than once a week, every freakin week.  but i do get busy sometimes.... remember how many jobs i'm juggling right now?  and sometimes i do want to spend time with other people. and i can't deal with you sulking while pretending to be ok with it but making sure i know you're not ok everytime i can't see you.

The year before that, my december was full of bb.  Gad!  Whatever happened to that?!  Honestly, I thought he'd be the one I would still be friends with, not ex.  I would like to believe things were left pretty much okay between us.  Oh well. 

Let's not look back decembers past that cos obviously it will be mostly some dramaramas involving ex.

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

There is this plan.  to write about the books I started reading last summer.  Unfortunately, I'm still not done reading them.

Ok, that wasn't enirely true.  I did manage to finish Chuck Palahnuik's Fight Club and Choke, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Vallgren's The Horrific Sufferings of Hercules Barefoot, Ami Sukarai's Innocent World, Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair, James Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice, Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors, and Max Brooks' World War Z.  I can include all four of the Twilight series, but I didn't really read them, they were audiotapes, except for the fourth which was pdf, so fine Stephenie Meyer's Breaking Dawn.

Except for the last one, I loved all those books.  And I will talk about them in my next entries I guess.

Right now I have four episodes of Chuck to watch.  My laziness includes not keeping uptodate with my series.

When I was around six or seven, my godmother asked me to be a flower girl at her wedding.  So I got fitted and travelled all the way to Bicol to attend the wedding.  When we were in the church, they asked all the flower girls to line up.  I noticed I was the tallest one among the 4 or 5 girls there.  Most probably the oldest too.  That annoyed the hell out of me.  So much that I refused to walk down the aisle (thank goodness I wasn't the bride di ba?).  The fact that I stood out from among the flower girls embarassed me too much to walk.  I don't get it either, irrational starts out young, I guess.  Of course, that time no one really understood why I wouldn't walk.  They tried to force me, but i threw the basket and the headress on the floor when they did.  Hair officially ruined.  They let me have my way after that, and agreed to let me just seat with the other guests.  I was embarassed to be the tallest, but I had no problem throwing a tantrum.  Yes, I make sense that way.

I never really explained to them why I didn't want to walk.  And for years they had no clue why I did that.  I have it in my head that they should know it already, and if they don't, well I'm not telling.  I didn't want to tell them cos I think it was a stupid reason, but stupid reason or not, I didn't like the sitch so, no.

Guess what?  That little girl is still here.

So friday was spent getting broke.  Why?  Cos once again I manage to hit a wall while driving a car.  yes I love those durn walls.  In case you're wondering, I was trying to park then.  Stress and going overboard with the shopping totally wasted though cos apparently I didn't damage the car in the least bit.

Oh, wait.  That's actually a good thing.

Moving on.

First day in World Trade Center Bazaar, picture sharing time!

First you buy your Php 25 tickets.  No line at 2 pm! Weee!

Ta-da! Ticketsssss

Shopping time!

There's really not much people inside.  But there were some awful people who steals clothes you want to buy. 

Then we came across the pet stall, with cute doggie shoes and dresses.  Of course I had to buy some for my doggie!

And lookie! they even had doggie hats!

Ria bought these party shades.  Cuties right?  I was talking about the shades, you can say "yes".

Then, we went to MOA, where they had red and green lights to help with parking!  'cept for that stupid non working one near the stairs

After alot more walking, I was feeling meh!

But chikon was good, even though it seems tiny.  And I got the wrong drink.  But food is good, so I'm happy.

THE END

photo courtesy of blogalog

Saw this at coffeecat's blog, and I WANT TO GO!

Heard about it a month ago I think, but we weren't sure when the thing is.  Apparently it's been ongoing for a while now.  Seeing coffeecat blog about it made me want to go there all the more!

Schedule: 9pm to midnight, fridays and saturdays.

We'll be there, yes yes?

'tis the season to be jolly, falalalala-lalalala.  Yeah jolly with the butt-numbing traffic, waves of of people shopping everywhere, broke-ness due to the endless streams of godchildren, pickpockets gaore, and evil cabbie drivers who take advantage of poor people who just wants to go home.

Let's talk evil cabbies.

How many of you have heard this excuse?

"Di ako dadaan dun eh"

"Pauwi na kasi ako, akala ko malapit lang."

"Magkano bayad nyo papunta dun"

"Php 150"

"Mashadong malayo eh, lugi ako, Php300"

I'm sure you could come up with more.

So I saw this past (as in 2 years ago) article in Manila Bulleti (full article here):

LTO-NCR Law Enforcement Service (LES) chief Bong Quiambao said LTO traffic enforcers are now helping the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC) in its "Oplan Isnabero" campaign due to numerous complaints the department has received from victims of abusive cabbies this Christmas season.

And there is an actual number you can call

Quiambao urged victims of erring cabbies to call the following numbers——9219071 or 09279366777—-so the LTO could act on their complaints.

The DoTC Action Center 24-hour hotline on the other hand is 7890.

He said victims should report the date, time, plate number, taxi company and if posible the name of the driver.

He said victims of taxi and other public utility vehicle (PUV) abuses could also report cases of overcharging, trip-cutting, and even discourteous drivers.

Refusal to convey violation has a penalty of R1000 plus one-month suspension of the driver’s license of the violator. The franchises of habitual violators could even be cancelled, LTO said.

I'm not sure if those numbers still work, cos 2 years is a long time; and I haven' really heard of anyone saying that something actually happened with their complaint, but it may be worth a try.

Yesterday, Abenson has invited the bloggers to a sneak preview of for sale items this holiday season.  So, off we went to

Abenson in the new Glorietta 5.  It's actually still being done in the inside.  Very few stores open (like 2-3 lang).  So every once in a while you'd feel the floor vibrating.  Skurreh!

They gave us a kit which contains the list of items for sale, a cd I've yet to open  (sorry!), and a Php200 GC(!) to start off the buying.  (Guess where Mr. Abenson is? I did not start that. lulz).  They also had us fill up a form so we can get an Abenson card.  It pretty much works the same way as those Laking National card.

And because I got Marco's GC, I "bought" this for Php35.  Unfortunately, ipod is arte and doesn't like being connected to a hub.  Good thing mouse and cam is not as picky.

So while I was being such a cheapskate, the mom was checking for tv.

While that big one is pretty amazing, and I'm sure my dad would love, I doubt my practical mom would go for it.  besides, there's alot naman too choose from.

Too bad there wasn't any videocams or ipods on sale though.  That would've made it alot better.

Thanks to Azrael for the pics.  See some more here.

After seeing alot of Christmas wishlists all around the blogspehere.  Even a christmas wishlist contest in Manila Freelancer's blog, I decided to follow Ria's example and write my own 12 books for Christmas.  Ok so maybe that's not a good name for my list.  12 books of Christmas sounds like something cheerful and lovely and wholesome and all that jazz.  Mine isn't... completely all that.  So fine, here's a list of books I would love to read.  I have to admit, I only knew about the first 7, the rest I got interested in after going through the recommended books in Shelfari.

After reading World War Z from the same author, I need to have this book, too.  How else could I know what to do in case of a zombie attack!  I think it's a must read.  Important for your survival really.

If you get attacked by zombies, and you're at lost what to do, and think "I should've bought the damn book."

This just got available in FullyBooked, unfortunately, it's out of stock na. sad.

 (click for the rest)

What's you christmas wishlist?

My dad got this GC for the Spa early this year, which he still hasn't used, so he gave it to us (my sister and I) instead.

I've never really tried going in there before cos it seemed alot pricey for me.  But hey, free is free, so why not, right?

To be honest, the place was real classy.  But I sort of expected more from it given how much more expensive it is from my usual php250 massage place just outside the subdi.

So we went to The Spa branch in Alabang Town Center.  We got in, got our locker room keys, towel, bathrobe and slippers.  Service people were really friendly.  There's a shower room, but we opted not to cos we just had one prior to leaving the house.  So after changing into the robe, we went directly into the lounge area.  Waiting did not take long.  We were immediately sent to the room.  Oh boy, room was cold.  We took the deluxe thing, so there were about 6 beds in the room I think.  Although I was expecting this, I was still disappointed with it.  To get a private room, you have to pay php200 more.  I was thinking, they could at least have afforded to put curtains in between beds you know.  Sunday afternoon was fortunately not busy, so we had the whole room for ourselves (maybe that's why it felt too cold). 

My sister got a swedish massage, and I tried the deep tissue massage.  It wasn't bad.  But they did the same thing for both of us.  According to the site, deep tissue massage is

"Energize with this invigorating massage technique incorporating elbows and forearms. This massage works on deeper tissues and is ideal for guests seeking deeper pressures."

I was waiting for the "deeper pressure", it didn't feel deep enough.  I did tell the massaeu to do it harder, which she did naman.  But it still kinda' felt bitin.  Wholesome people, let's not let ourselves be carried away.  Also I did not feel any elbows nor forearms.  Is it cos I look like I'd break in two if they do that?

So while the place and its amenities look like its really worth your money, for the massage per se, I don't think I'll be coming back.  I get more of the same thing in terms of massage in the places I go to, so yeah, I'm sticking to that massage place in the subdi pa rin.

Last saturday we went to

for this

We started off

This was our favorite

But after a while, things went downhill, until we

It was still worth it though.

And after a few days of recovery, everything's normal in my chocolate world again.

THE END.

p.s.  it shows a little too much now how I don't really write at all anymore no?

During one lunch with my friend, she suddenly announced to the group that she wants to get back to dating.  This was something of a good news to everyone there who knew her story.  Long story short: they were together for 8 years, guy lied to her all this time, she broke up with him.  Right after she made her announcement, two of the girls with us started to talk her into getting a profile in a dating site.  Talk about “Must Love Dogs” right?  So apparently, there is a lot of those around.  There’s eharmony.com, perfectmatch.com, and the likes.  So there are online dating sites, and online dating tips site, like OnlineDatingTips.org, which pretty much gives you popular dating sites online, tips to do when you’re out on a date, and the likes.  Yeah, got paid.

I’ve never really tried those out, and they’re really not popular here in the Philippines; but those I know who’ve done it said, signing up gets to be tedious.  I guess finding your perfect match is hard work.  Not sure how they do the matching though.  Is it like you input what you want, and you get results?

I’m not exactly sure if she did agree to give it a try; must check up on her one of these days.

Because I want to support Ed's contest, I decided to join his 12 days of Christmas, 12 Days of Giveaways at Music Blog Philippines. Surprise prizes awaits the winning uh, participant.  So, let us be surprised.

Whu?

Deadline is tonight, and of course, it took me the last minute to decide to join.  Talk about procrastination.

Last weekend I caught one those shows in TV5 hosted by Gretchen Barreto.  I rarely watch television nowadays, and when I do, it's usually stuck in CSI, Dexter, or some random movie showing in HBO or Star.  First thing I noticed when I saw Gretchen was that the upper part of her face was not moving at all!  It looked pretty scary.  She was there, smiling and talking, and her forehead does not crease at all.  In fact the only lines I see in her face is the laugh lines at the sides of her mouth.  Talk about wonders of science.

I don't really understand this need to paralyze your facial muscles just to look younger.  Aside from the injectibles, there are also skin products like resurgence, that uses creams to make skin look younger. One of those things that exfoliates, tones and makes your pores smaller.  Accordign to this resurgence infomercial, aging is not even limited to just having wrinkles.  Skin aging also comes with acne breakouts and facial hair growth.  And we thought that only meant onset of puberty.  Sucks.

Aside from murad resurgence, i'm sure you can think of a lot more products all targetting women, all dealing with ways on how to help women cope with aging.  Do we really need them?

Just saw that they made a movie of Veronika decides to die.  Before Eleven minutes, this was my favorite Coehlo book.  I love Veronika. 

For the longest time, I've never really seen the point of living a long life.  Of course I love my family, and I have my friends.  There is really nothing major to complain about with my life.  Sure, i've had my issues with myself, with people, with school then work; but it's nothing I coldn't deal with.  It's also not as bad as how other people had it.  So yes, the thought why I kept assuming I would die by 30 is a little baffling.

You know how when Veronika found out that she only has a week to live, she started really living?  The whole thought that you only have a week to live, makes you stop caring about what everyone else thinks, and just do what you feel.  It's a different kind of freedom.  I think I get it now.  There are times when finding things out by living it feels both great and sucky.

One of the good things with listing things down in my organizer is that I actually remember things that I did.  Having bad memory sucks.  Early onset Alzheimer's is that you?  I usually only rememeber the trivial, always.  Here is my 2008, both the good and the bad.

January: Sam's death brought with it mixed emoions from me.  I was sad because she left at the age of six; but at the same time, I was happy that she doesn't have to keep struggling anymore.  Sam had cerebral palsy.  She couldn't move her arms and legs, she couldn't talk, she ate through a tube in her nose because whenever she tried to eat food through her mouth her throat closes up and she asphyxiates.  She had scoliosis, asthma, and she was prone to pneumonia.  She was very sickly, and feeding and therapy was painful for her.  If you believe in the afterlife, then maybe we can safely assume that she's in a much happier place.

March: Passing the the jurisprudence exams, finally!  That was pretty much the last exam I had to take to complete my requirements in applying for work in far, far away.  That was when I started counting when I would leave.

(click for the rest)

Guess what this place is?

sofa in pic #2 made me think of dementia, something she would like; some people in pic #3 don't know what to do with their eyes *rolls eyes*

(guess!!!)