Finally, I have my face in my blog. A new blog design for the new year to come. Cool!

Thanks to Princessa, my blog now is the color, photo and layout of my choice. At last people would know at one glance that it’s my blog, and not the same as those who chose the same free blog theme. hehe!

Anyway, I just wanted you guys to see my new blog design (seriously, I’m very happy about this. So yah’all, indulge me puhleeze!) and I also want to greet everybody a very happy new year!!!

Note: It’s my mother’s birthday tomorrow as well. So…

To Nanay (tagalog for mother), happy birthday to you and I love you so much! *hugz & kisses*

Imagine a cylindrical shaped chunk of earwax with a height of almost an inch. Gross?! Well yeah. But the doctor got it from the ear of a friend of mine. (both ears!!!) I saw it with my own two eyes. It really got me rolling. hehehe!

After that she told me that she didn’t realize that the City is so ‘loud’.  Although she’s trying to be funny, she meant it though. I guess it’s not hard to believe either. I mean, she’s almost deaf with that kind of wax buildup in ear ears. Gosh!

I still want to talk about her earwax, but I don’t want to gross you guys out that much. hehehe!

Now, she’s complaining about the noise though. If that was me, I would be going for some hearing protection. Otherwise she might have some problems in the future. You know, it’s something we learned during primary school. Too much noise will damage our eardrums and affect our hearing.

So probably she should get those noise reduction things. » Read The Rest

I can’t believe I acted like a girl! Arg!

I went to play paintball at Tag Cafe today with Bubbles and his friends while Princessa blogs outside the field. I was so excited about playing paintball today. I even did warm up before going there by taking a jog. I was thinking it would be easy since I know how to handle a real gun. I figured a painball gun would be a breeze.

Well, it is. Easy to fire and very light.

But I forgot one thing… I’m not used to it!

It’s the first time I played paintball and I’m not familiar with the angle I should tilt my gun to be able to hit my target. Of course the velocity of the bullet is sooo far from that of a real gun. Geez!

This is not the part that I was disappointed though. I acted like a coward. I got scared of being hit.

So I went near, but I didn’t really come out of the open. For a moment I did, I even shouted orders to my team mates because they were acting like cowards as well yet they’re guys!

Then the back of my hand got it. It didn’t hurt. Yet I was still scared of doing stunts that I used to do when I was a kid. The game went on with me playing safe and just shooting those that I can actually see. I didn’t really charge.

After the game, the guys are all showing their bruises and cuts. I have a very pathetic cuts in my fingers, mud in my feet and the part where the bullet hit the back of my hand didn’t even had a bruise. It just turned red. And right now, I can barely see it. Doesn’t even hurt when I apply pressure to it.

And the small cuts? They’re all healed now. It’s as if I didn’t had a cut at all. Aaaah! Can you imagine the frustration?

I will not have a batter scar. And I don’t even have a battle bruise! All because I decided to play safe and I acted like a chicken.

Haiz… When I go back to the Philippines, I’ll borrow my brother’s gun and go to the shooting range. I think I’ve been hanging out with girls too much lately, and doing girly things. I’m losing the learnings I got from my brothers. Waaah!!!

Oh and by the way, a guy I used to date was there. It’s he-who-must-not-be-named. When I was showing Princessa and Bubbles my pathetic cuts, he asked me if I’m hurt.

I sooo wanted to punch him then and there. Yeah right! That’s exactly the opposite of what I’m complaining about. I’m not hurt. That’s the problem! Grrr! If he didn’t give me the vest that he used, I could have just punched him in the face. Okay I’m exaggerating.

I don’t want to discuss this anymore right now. I guess I’m still frustrated and still hyped out about it. The photos will follow as well since I still don’t have them.

I don’t know why but I can still remember the title of the first essay I’ve ever written. It’s “Drug - A cure or a menace”. I was in the first year, primary school. That essay was to secure my participation in an essay writing competition. It took me about an hour to write the whole thing. Then I read it to my grand mother who used to be the English Superintendent of our Province.

This took place a veeeery loooong time ago, yet I can still remember it. Probably because since then, I never stopped writing. All kinds of writing. Be it literary like poems and proses, or editorial news, or even Science essays. As long as there are words involved.

Then University days, would mean a totally different kind of writing. Operation Research Paper, Case studies, Market research, Feasibility Studies. All sorts. Of course the professors can guide us, but they are very conscious of committing the crime of spoon feeding coz they want us to be independent.

» Read The Rest

I hope by now I have established my certain fixation with calculators. Since I studied accounts during my University days, calculators are a very big part of my life then.

And I’m also very particular on the calculator that I use. The other day, I was going surfing the net and I found this poker calculator. At first I thought it was funny. Normal calculators can also manage to compute probabilities. The process would be long though.

This one is used solely to compute for poker odds. So yeah… for those who gamble online this would be a treat. I think it’s called a holdem calculator or something. Check it out for yourself.

Thinking about it now, playing poker would be so much easier. If you know the odds, losing would only mean you have a very tough luck. hahaha!

After two weeks of contemplating on it, I finally cut my hair. All the feedback from everybody is quite nice actually. So I guess no reason for me to murder the hair stylist who cut it for me. haha!

Princessa’s sister was the one who talked me into it actually. And I’m so grateful for it. Now I can confidently lie about my age. (shush!)

The decision process is grueling I tell you. I had to take a photo of me with my long hair first.

Then I folded it so I’ll be able to see what I would look like if I have a shorter hair.

After that, I guess I believe it kinda looks OK… so on an epileptic mood, I went on and finally did it!

I have short hair now!

I was a little bit apprehensive about it. While the hair stylist was cutting my hair I was silently praying that even if it comes out bad, I hope it wouldn’t be THAT bad!

In the end… well can’t complain really. I’m happy I had it cut. So much easier to manage. Oh and by the way, I didn’t just take these photos. I have lots and lots of them! Just to ensure that I’ll be able to say I did the right thing.

At least I have a new look to welcome the coming year!

Doctors might be able to save lives, but there’s more people involved in this whole life saving thing than just the surgeons and the other big guys in the operating table. They are the medical assistants. Actually, a lot of Filipinos go to the US and UK to work as medical assistants.

I guess that’s the reason why there’s a lot of people going towards medical assistant careers. Now I think this is a very honorable occupation. You can even consider it as a vocation. Depends of course on the reason for taking this path. hehe!

So are you considering the career now? Yeah right. As if I have that enormous convincing power. But seriously, if you are… Well there’s a lot of medical assistant training programs available now. But » Read The Rest

I signed up for Advertlets! Yup, I’m currently under their roof now. And this is my first entry for them. Cool right?! A new avenue to earn money for the new year to come. haha!

I just heard from a friend about it, so I decided to try it out. Besides, some of the advertising sites barely offers any advertising to write. So I looked for something else. I hope I’ll be able to get more ads from here though.

If you visit their site, it’s kind off user friendly. Easy to navigate and understand especially for a non-tech person like me (waaah). And it’s also easy to join. See, most of the time, Princessa would help me sign up for these kind of things. But for this one, it’s a different story. I decided to sign up for myself. Just tried to see if it would be easy enough.

And the admittance is not that strict. I guess one of the things I like about this advertising network is because it gave me the impression that they are willing to give newbies a chance to make money online as well. They accepted my request almost immediately. Unlike some where you’ll have to wait for weeks. That’s assuming you get accepted. But what if they don’t because your page rank is not high enough? Well then that means you’ve waited in vain. haha! Arg!

Then after a few advertisements, there wouldn’t be anymore. Shucks! Oh well, I hope Advertlets wouldn’t be the same as those networks. So far, I only see positive things. Which is normal. In all relationships, most common that not, the start will always be a bliss.  Then it would turn rocky. Both ends would stop giving and so they will just drift slowly apart.

It doesn’t have to be that way though. And it’s always free to hope for the best. Like I always do. So just do your best and God will take care of the rest! Anyway, I wish Advertlets would be able to grow and give its members more advertisements! I’m looking forward for the new year to come! *wink*

I wasn’t expecting it. Princessa and Bubbles brought me along to an early Christmas gathering. It’s a Christian sort of gathering.

At first I was joking that I might burn into ashes since I haven’t been to confession or Church even-for  a very long time. But when the program started, and they started talking about the real essence of Christmas, I felt melancholic.

When they started singing Christmas carols (with me singing along with the choir) that’s when my eyes got watery and hot. I realized I was starting to cry. I’m not the type of person that would show weakness in front of people so I bit on my inner lip so hard just to stop myself from really crying right then and there.

After the program, I detached myself from the group and went to the parking lot to cry by myself.

Then why am I posting this in the internet? Two reasons (which are also the same reasons why I wept). I want to declare my faith, and announce to the whole world how much I love my family.

I’ll discuss my faith first.  I have said it before and I’m saying it again. I am a very faithful person, although I’m not a religious one. I believe in God… in a higher being. An omnipotent and omniscient  being that is beyond my comprehension.

I feel like I haven’t been a good daughter, sister and friend for a very long time and I feel ashamed of it. I am an abomination to His creation, and I need not say more.

Now my family. Since I was a kid I knew I have the perfect family. My parents raised us in a home full of love and respect.

My brothers and I grew up in the province. I remember whenever there will be blackouts in our place, all of us would stay together in our living room. Father and mother would be telling us stories about their lives when they were young, and about our grandfather and our uncles and aunties.

We would also be talking about what’s happening with our lives, our studies and our aspirations and plans for the future.

Now my brothers are all married and living separately. But we are still very close. There will always be family gatherings and we would still be sitting down together and updating the rest of the family on each other’s lives.

Christmas and New Year would be a highlight of our year. As early as October, we would start to plan on how to spend these two holidays. The decision would be very diplomatic. My brothers and I will vote on it. The choices would normally be either to go back to our province or spend the holidays in the City.

If for some reason, one of us will not be able to go back to the province (that means no choice for that particular sibling) then that means no need to vote on it. We would all be spending Christmas in the City. The goal is for us to be together.

Anyway we celebrate Christmas in a very simple way. All of us would be hanging Christmas stockings on the wall (the moment we find a job after graduation means our right to hang a stocking is forfeited). Now of course only my nieces and nephews have the right to do this.

Christmas morning, we would all go to church together (we will be late, confirmed!). After that, head home to eat the sumptuous feast that my mother prepared with the help of my brothers and my father (I’m the only one in the family who can’t cook).

After that we will then go and visit our relatives. To kiss the hands of our aunties, uncles, grandmothers and grandfathers. And to eat too. So basically it’s a whole day of eating (it would be rude if we don’t eat in every single house we visit). Normally we would finish late in the afternoon.

My brothers would be cooking another set of dish. Something to munch on while drinking. hehe. The ladies (my sister in laws and my mother) would hang out together, talk and munch on something and make sure that the kids are not fighting with each other.

During this time, I would be hanging around the guys (my brothers and my father) while they drink. I would be eating what they’re taking with their drinks. I wouldn’t be drinking though. My father wouldn’t even allow me to drink champagne. I’ll just sit with them and listen to their stories and their jokes.

There will be a little bit of difference every year, but basically this is how we would be spending Christmas every year.

Together.

So when I heard the carols, I felt very sad. For the first time in my entire life, I wouldn’t be with my family during this special season. So I cried until my eyes are all red and puffy and there’s no more tears to cry.

The whole time, I was relieving fond memories of my family. I love all of them very much, and all of them love me as much. Although I wouldn’t be able to hug them this year, I will definitely make sure that this is the first and last Christmas that I wouldn’t be spending with them.

I have a beautiful family. For me it’s perfect.

I am blessed. And I am grateful.

Finally catch the Singapore Slingers again! It has been quite a while since the last. It was of course another blast.

(notice the intensity in which we were all watching the game?)

This time around, there were more bloggers who watched the game. Nic has been very nice to invite all of us. This time around, I would like to highlight the people who went there.

See here… basketball games are not only for the game itself. It’s also a chance to meet other bloggers. And of course to see Curly Tops. Oh..oh..wait! I have another photo of him. Thanks to Simply Jean for taking the awesome photos.

This is the last game of the year so of course I didn’t miss the chance to have a photo taken with him. hehehe! And some more photos with the bloggers of course. Precious was there along with Sheylara, Alice, Andy, Daphne, and a whole lot more!

Here’s a photo of the whole lot…

And another one…

And another… Well…What do you expects? Bloggers most definitely love to take photos. It’s as important as the air we breath.

Although the Slingers lost against the West Sydney Razorbacks, we can still say that we didn’t go home empty handed. Because one person in the group won $500!!!

You might be wondering why would he win $500 cold cash if he just went to watch basketball. It’s as easy as 1.2.3. And it’s called the Million Dollar shot. If you went there, you’d be able to know the secret question which would allow you to register to the Million Dollar site. But since it’s Christmas and so it’s the time of giving, let me tell you a little secret. Just between you and me. (hehe!)

If you go to the Million Dollar Shot site… Just think of 2 days before Christmas, say ‘Open Sesame’ and then that’s it! You get a chance for the Million Dollar$.

I just wish my arms are more powerful. Then I’ll be able to join with confidence. *sigh*

Oh well, at least my arms are strong enough to do this to Princessa!

Disclaimer: Santa, I wasn’t being a bad girl. She started it. Look!

And I have reason to believe that it will never stop. haha!

So anyway, want a Million Dollars? Then be sure to get your butts inside the Singapore Indoor Stadium on the 2nd and 8th of January and 13th of February. You don’t really have to attend all of these games. But if you want to increase your chances for the Million Dollars, then I suggest put more effort in joining us all there!

Oh and in case I haven’t expounded on how you’ll win the bucks… enough. I’ll leave you all this video.