I seldom get the chance to talk to my friends and keep them up-to-date with what's going on with my life...
well, this is it. My online journal. Yah, another personal blog,just exactly what the world needs now. Let's be realistic, it's cheaper than overseas calls. Less tiring than novel-like emails.
About Me
Name: celgee Home: Philippines About Me: just read through my entries and you'll get to know me :) See my complete profile
Today is my last day at the first client engagement I have been with (which I have been with for 5 years). I have sent my farewell letter to my teammates, clients and friends yesterday and I was moved by their responses. :-) I am really lucky that I became part of this project as I have worked with talented and exceptional people in different areas of the world and I have learned a lot from this experience.
Of course, being the person who loves to take pictures (and be in pictures), I'd have to capture this moment -- This is me, before shutting down my DWS one last time (with Nats trying to squeeze his head in the picture) :-)
Yesterday I was having some tantrums about certain things that are happening in my life. And as you all might have expected, Jp is the 'lucky' person who gets all the heat. Not that I am mad at him or blaming him for anything... let's just call it displacement. :) There are just some things that are beyond my control and are bigger than me that sad to say, makes me feel helpless. Despite all my grunts and complaints, he was just there listening. He knew that it was all that I needed. He was right. I felt a bit better after that... :)
I woke up this morning with very nice message from him...
Life is like having a cup of coffee.
You sit by the window, lift the cup and take a sip only to realize that somebody forgot to put the sugar. Too lazy to go for it, you somehow struggle thru the sugarless cup, til you discover undissolved crystals sitting at the bottom.
That's how life is, we sometimes forget to make an effort to value what is around us. Look around, maybe the sweetness you are looking for is closer than you think. :)
It was already 12 midnight when they finished playing tong-its. Most of us are still not sleepy, so we decided to continue talking about (the person who is already sleeping), Jp. (hehe) Actually, he was not feeling well and had fever so we just let him rest. :(
Percy (I usually call him Perky), Jhim, Man and I talked about almost everything we can think of. Jhim talked about his old flames (take note, flames with strong emphasis on "s", hehehe), their heartaches and the other people who used to be part of their group ('barkada'). At around 2am, the topics switched to horror stories... and the cause? the alcohol bottle in the window. They were scaring me that a headless ghost will appear in the window and will try to get the bottle from me. And then different stories came up.. our fears so to speak. :) I had a hard time putting myself to sleep because of that.. I tend to be very imaginative at night and could picture the things they mentioned earlier. Aside from that, the people next door are sooo noisy.. they kept on singing (they were out of tune by the way) until 5am in the morning. (Yes, I was still awake at 5am). I think I was able to sleep from 2:30 to 4:30, and then tried to sleep again from 5:30-6.
We all checked out of our room at 8am. We had breakfast at the resort's cafeteria and then had a pictorial at the resort before leaving. :) Looking for our pictures? You can view them here.
I woke up early today... It was only 6:15am. After my morning rituals, I went outside to view the nice Batangas scenery. It was so quiet, peaceful and relaxing to just look at the trees, farm and cows... a lot-less complicated than where we all came from.
To start our adventure, we all headed to nearest market place to buy fresh seafoods (Tilapia, tahong and squid) and chicken. We also bought the other cooking stuff that we will need to marinate the fish, squid and chicken before grilling them. Jhim paid for all the items we bought in the market and we planned on dividing the expenses once we get to the resort.
We looked for the Aguila Beach resort in Anilao, which was recommended to us by Jhim's relatives. We stayed at the Maganda Class, which was an old West log cabin style house with a gazebo enveloped in verdant landscape and grilling facilities. Upon arriving, we immediately placed our bags in the cabinets, divided and settled the expenses
and then prepared the food to be cooked..
Soon after washing the fish, chicken and squid and marinating them, we started the "grill-fest". Despite the agonizing heat and smoke, it was fun cooking with these guys. Constant teasing about their old flames, high school crushes, "adventures" -- it was all to my advantage - I was hearing all the juicy stuff and at the same time getting to know how my guy was when he was in high school and how his friends see him. :) Some might say that the past should not matter, but for me that is important. I want to know when, where, how and why... because this completes the big picture. It explains why he is what he is now. We have been together for 6 years now (6years, 3months and 8 days to be exact) and things seem to be just like our first year. I never get tired of hearing stories about his childhood and elementary/high school days. I find it exciting to always be in a stage that we are getting to know more of each other. Each day should be like that... I guess that's one of the secrets of our relationship. We always find something new in each other. :-) While in the beach we even played "How well do you know your gf/bf?". Jhim would ask a question and I give my answer to Manny and Jp would give his response to Percy. It was fun... we were able to answer almost all of the questions correctly except for the month of our first kiss and the gift I got on our 3rd year anniversary. :) hehehe.
In the evening, they all played "tong-its", popular card game in the Philippines. It was sooo amusing watching them play and taking pictures. At the center is a sum of money (or should I say coins, hehe)used as the pot, for which one of them can take after winning for 2 consecutive times. They were using a small stone as a marker in determining who was the last person who won and who is eligible to take the prize money. :)
So, They were all protecting that "stone", we were actually referring to it as Darna's all powerful stone (Ding, ang bato!) ("Ding, [give me] thestone!").
Jp as Ding, Narda's brother and Darna's sidekick.
Jhim as Efren, Narda's next big enemy when he transforms into a snake after getting bitten/kissed by Valentina
Manny as Valentina, Darna's most famous and greatest foe - woman born with snakes for hair
Unfortunately, Percy was sleeping during the pictorial. He has already stopped playing after getting dizzy. Hehehehe... :)
I am on leave today. I spent my morning taking driving lessons. (It's my second session already.) We just went around Quezon City, doing basic driving stuff... so far I'd say I'm doing pretty okay :)
I got so tired after driving for an hour and a half, and since I woke up early today (7am?), I decided to take an afternoon nap.
When I woke up, I got the message from Jp that our out-of-town getaway with his high school friends will push through. I left home at around 5pm, and met Jp. We then went to Quezon Ave. to meet Jhim. After meeting Jhim, we went to Ortigas to pick up Manny. It was a bit traffic going to Alabang, and the guys were already teasing Percy since he has been waiting there for quite some time already... We were all supposed to meet up in Alabang at 8pm, and sad to say, we arrived an hour after. (Friday = Traffic)
After meeting Percy, we went to an eatery owned by Gladys' family (Gladys is Jhim's girlfriend). She was supposed to join us on this Batangas trip, unfortunately her parents did not allow her to come with us. Anyway, we just had dinner there and headed to Batangas.
We arrived at the house of Jhim's uncle around 12. They were all very hospitable despite the fact that they were already sleeping when we arrived. I got tired (laughing at their jokes, singing with the OPM songs, etc) that 15 minutes after going to bed I was already sleeping. :0)
Half a decade later, I found myself in my cube with a lot of little memorabilia and other stuff that I never had the chance to bring home. Giff helped my pack my things last Monday and luckily all my personal stuff was able to fit in 1 box. Yesterday, I worked on my second box. This one contained all of the binders from my vendor trainings and office stuff which I need to transfer to the next building where I will be deployed.
I find it sooo amusing revisiting the contents of the boxes (from my bin and drawer).
Here are some of the top 10 memorable things I plan to keep:
10) Orlando Bloom poster from Jett 9) Jerry Yan poster from Bibi 8) Love letters from college 7) 2 boxes filled with tissue paper (my collection of diff tissues from various restaurants, some of which came from my teammates) 6) Customizable Starbucks Tumbler from Pat 5) "Barrel man" from Giff (pull up the barrel and see something that looks familiar.) 4) My art materials (watercolor, fabric paint, glitters, paste, etc.) - I keep this in my drawer because I find them very useful whenever I need to prepare a birthday/farewell/any-ocassion card for a teammate or officemate 3) My magazines (I keep some in my drawer so that everytime my bf would wait for me in the reception area whenever I have meetings, I can provide magazines to keep him busy) :) 2) Back-up lipstick (for emergency and unplanned night-outs) 1) My bedroom slippers (I only wear them when I am just sitting in my cube. Sometimes my feet gets tired of wearing 2-inch closed shoes for more than 10hours a day.)
Nice, huh? :) Next thing I need to worry about is where to put all these stuff...
When we were about to go home (from Chiz's Party @ Mcdo), Jp and I decided to take a cab - He's not feeling well and it's hard to take the shuttle or jeepney when you have balloons in your hand. :)
While inside the cab, the driver suddenly started a conversion. He told us what happened to him - A lady passenger just got off at SM City, North Edsa (from Multinational in Paranaque). It was quite a long trip, and when they arrived at SM the meter was already 390 pesos. At first, the lady asked if he has change for 1000 pesos. But since the driver did not have any smaller bills, the lady just handed 500 pesos. Still the driver did not have any money to give as change, so he decided to go to the nearest store to have the money changed in to 100-peso denominations. Suddenly, the person manning the store informed him that his passenger already left. He was surprised that the lady did not wait for him... He was shocked when he got back to his cab only to realize that his passenger left with his cellphone. :( I could feel the sadness in his voice as he told us that his wife (who is working in Taiwan) sent him that cellphone (which costs ~16,000 pesos) just a week ago and he is worried of what his wife will tell him once she hears about what happened. He was even telling us that he did hear mass (it was Easter Sunday yesterday) and can not understand why it had to happen to him, given that he has been praying a lot and is a pastor for another religion.
I found myself telling him not to be sad, and just tell his wife the truth. Maybe the lady who took it needs it more than he does, and it's still a good thing that it was the only thing that was taken from him.
At moments like this, we can only get comfort by thinking of losing other bigger things in our life, and in the end still be relieved that this "small" thing was the only thing that was taken from us. I guess it's easier said than done.. and somehow I could relate to what has happened to this cab driver. Life does play a lot of tricks on us...and sometimes I can't understand why things end up the way they are. Maybe in time I will realize why it had to be this way... :(
One of my close friends from High School came back last week from Texas. She is a nurse in Texas, and has worked there for a year already. She's here in Manila to celebrate her son's 1st birthday, and also have a month-long vacation. :)
My boyfriend and I arrived early at the venue. Another party is still on-going, so we had to wait for that to finish. At 4 pm, we were finally allowed to go to the 2nd floor for Chiz's Party. My other close friends from HS, my "kabarkada - XTINCT", arrived - Anna, Tina, Anne, Nina and Rio. Conrad (Nina) and Jp, our ever-loyal boyfriends also joined the party.
Aside from seeing my very cute godchild - Chiz, I was sooo excited for this day to come so that I can see my HS friends again and hear their stories. I loved hearing how things are in terms of my friends' lovelife, work and adventures - :) Anna's intriguing new prospect, Anne's exciting ABNQ (Almost but not quite) and 'kilig' moments, the guy Tina's currently dating, Nina's wedding prep and our plans for her bridal shower...at a lot more. I really wish we had more time to chat.
As expected, our get-together will never be complete without the picture taking. Our boyfriends are soooo busy interchanging the cameras (each one of brought our own digicams and they had to take pictures using each of those)...
I did not have any specific plans this week. Given that it is holy week, and most of the people are out of of town and the malls are closed, I just decided to stay at home. I spent my time watching TV, playing with my nieces & nephews and looking for a new blog template. After checking several sites, I have finally found the template that I was looking for, a 3-column template that occupies the entire page, and uses not so vibrant colors. I just want it to look simple... something that captured my current mood. Wondering what's the name of the current template I am using - Lonely Template. :)
As you may have noticed, I have already changed the look & feel of my blog. Just in case you are wondering how it looked before, here's a screenshot:
It is Holy Thursday (another holiday in Manila). This year, I have promised that I will join the Penetential Walk.
Bisita Iglesia, is a Filipino tradition that is believed to be a form of penitence during the lenten season. In this tradition, you will be traveling to 14 churches and pray solemnly each station between churches...basically, hopping from one church to another, enduring everything and praying. It was my first time to really walk from one church to another... In the past I have joined my aunties in the Bisita Iglesia, and we usually travel by car.
My boyfriend and I went to Blumentritt at 6am. First stop, the San Roque church. We then went to Espritu Santo Parochial Church in Tayuman (It was in the ESPS also here that my honey's alma mater - Elementary & High School).Next stop was the University of Santo Tomas (the school that brought us together, seeing the Colayco park & the Main building made me reminisce our college days). After praying, we then went to the San Antonio Church. It was there where we met my bf's best buds from High School - Manny & Kid. Then we went to the Loreto church, San Sebastian Church, San Beda, and then San Miguel church. Jhim, my Hon's best friend also met us there and joined the rest of the walk. We then went to the Quiapo church and Sta. Cruz church. After 5hours of walking, we were given an hour to take a break and have lunch.
At 12noon, we started walking again... just 4 churches/stations to go. Whew, it was sooo tiring. I can barely feel my feet. I feel relieved to see the next church, because that would mean I will get a chance to sit at least for 5 minutes.
Despite the heat of the sun and walking a very long distance, I did not feel bored because of the people I am with. They are a group of fun-loving people, who always find something funny in almost anything. Everytime we transfer from 1 station to another, I always could not notice the distance because I am so busy listening to their stories and watching them tease Jp with the things he have done when they were still in High School.
We completed the last 4 churches - San Agustin Church, Manila Cathedral, Binondo Church and San Jose de Trozo Church.
This is how we looked after completing the 14th station:
Today is Marcus' bday - he is the son of my boyfriend's best bud from High School. My honey picked me up at 5pm. When we arrived at the place, the place was packed - not only with kids & visitors but also with the usual party treats - decorated palayok (for the pukpok palayok game), pabitin, cotton candy maker, magicians and a body paint artist. It was a really nice and well-planned party. :)
We had dinner and then went outside to watch the magicians as well as the kids as they participated in the parlor games. Jen (Marcus' mom) approached us and gave a stub for the body/face painting. Since we woudn't be able to join in any games, this is our only chance to be part of the fun. Jp and I were actually teasing each other on what to put in our body or face. Coming up with various suggestions - my name on his forehead, the word "honey" on my arm, Patrick (the starfish from Spongebob cartoons) and a lot of other stuff. And since I wanted to have something which represented us, and something close to honey (hehe) - I decided to get a bee. (He kept on teasing me that I can fit 6 bees in my arm. :) We're always like that.. we love teasing each other, and It doesn't annoy me or anything, it's our way of giving extra attention to each other and how we can make any moment fun! :)
and then prepared the food to be cooked..
Constant teasing about their old flames, high school crushes, "adventures" -- it was all to my advantage - I was hearing all the juicy stuff and at the same time getting to know how my guy was when he was in high school and how his friends see him. :) Some might say that the past should not matter, but for me that is important. I want to know when, where, how and why... because this completes the big picture. It explains why he is what he is now. We have been together for 6 years now (6years, 3months and 8 days to be exact) and things seem to be just like our first year. I never get tired of hearing stories about his childhood and elementary/high school days. I find it exciting to always be in a stage that we are getting to know more of each other. Each day should be like that... I guess that's one of the secrets of our relationship. We always find something new in each other. :-) While in the beach we even played "How well do you know your gf/bf?". Jhim would ask a question and I give my answer to Manny and Jp would give his response to Percy. It was fun... we were able to answer almost all of the questions correctly except for the month of our first kiss and the gift I got on our 3rd year anniversary. :) hehehe.
Jp as Ding, Narda's brother and Darna's sidekick.
Jhim as Efren, Narda's next big enemy when he transforms into a snake after getting bitten/kissed by Valentina 
Manny as Valentina, Darna's most famous and greatest foe - woman born with snakes for hair 
