post birthday blues

i think i was born in the wrong time. i was born a bit too early. browsing through the maiden issue of several new travel magazines, i find myself wishing i had the strength, resources and time to go to all the beautiful spots i see in the magazine. it's two days after my 39th birthday and while i am thankful that i have reached my age, i rue that i have experienced so little. a major setback that started 5 long years ago always seems to hold me back. does it? maybe, i dont know but why do i still find myself mired in the downward pull of quicksand? no branches in sight for me to pull myself up from out of the quagmire so should i just be content with being sucked in? ah...so unfair to just be floating and acquiesing with the flow. such a waste of time. hmmm ... it's becoming humid and it does me no good. i find myself dreaming of the beach whenever i stand on the yellow-edged platform of the mrt on my way to work. others avoid that spot because the morning sun would ceaselessly beat down on the right side of your face and body should you dare to stand in the sun's rays. but i make a beeline for it. sadistic? not really, i dont mind standing in the sun. but i should get some sunblock. yeah, i definitely should. and an ice-cold coke zero too...to go please...

first pics of the year...

as promised, here are the pics from new year :)

the holiday season that was...

i know i owe you some pictures of the holidays. it's taken me ages to post them so i decided to just create a slideshow (oh so lazy chie!). the holidays were the usual holidays we have, christmas being busier than new year...new year pics in the next post :)

make way for 2009

yup, it's a new year, literally and figuratively. well, as we say adios to '08 and hola to 2009, i'd like to say goodbye to bad luck and everything bad, negative and hopeless. i want, hope and above all, pray that 2009 will be a better year for my family and everyone reading this post. i pray that personally, it'll be the year that things start to get better for me in all aspects.

thank you to my family who never fails to pick-me-up everytime i talk to them or read their posts and messages here on balanced insanity. for my sister, who took me in for a couple of months, thank you for being a lifeline. i love you guys...

i say thank you to friends who have remained constant despite the squabbles and differences we went through. they say that you will know who your friends are when you go through difficult phases in your life. for my friends, especially the meanies, i know i'm a big pain in the ass and i give difficult an entirely different meaning when i'm in my not-so-nice moods but THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for staying with me.

for a Power unlike any other, THANK YOU for keeping that voice in my head and feeling in my heart that says "keep going"...don't ever let go of me....

hey, hey, hey....crazy!

oh my...i am so sorry :( i've been busy with a project that has taken up most of my time; so much that i haven't blogged for close to three weeks already!

well, things are definitely crazy, sometimes crazy good but most of the time, crazy bad *sigh* but, let's not get into that....

what happened since we last "saw" each other? well, the pac man has done it again! crazy isn't it? his fight against dela hoya was telecast sunday, december 7 and boy, you should've been outside! no traffic whatsoever; i bet that edsa was one hell of a smooth ride all the way from quezon avenue (because from monumento to north avenue, it's crazy what with the construction of the lrt - mrt link)to taft. restaurants had a tv set up, people indoors were glued to their tv. crazy. i wonder if his next fight (is it going to be ricky hatton?) were to be telecast during a weekday, would companies and businesses operate or would they close because everybody is on leave for the fight? hmmmmm ....crazy? maybe not...

it's that wonderful time of the year...

aside from my birthday, christmas has always been my fave holiday (yes, my birthday is a holiday, a personal holiday :) ). when i was young, i loved it because christmas meant trees, decorating the tree, making snow angels, snowball fights (rarely do i get into one because we weren't really allowed to play outside), fantastic lawn decorations, santa in the malls, the presents and so much more but most of all, i loved waking up and seeing our snow-covered lawn, unblemished with footprints, human or otherwise :)

when i came to the philippines, christmas took on an entirely different meaning. christmas starts on september one because it ushers in the BER months (septemBER, octoBER...get it?). nowadays, i get more text messages on september 1 than i do on december 25 (how's that for trivia? :)) in the states, there's still halloween and thanksgiving before christmas but here, there's only all saints and all souls day on november 1 and 2 so you can just imagine how early houses start bringing out the tree and wreaths. then you have your bibingka and puto bumbong vendors outside churches making your stomach growl with the aroma of those goodies and of course, the simbang-gabi. you really know it's christmas

in the malls, it gets crazy as well. i took pictures of landmark's area for christmas decorations at the ground floor. although there are more decorations in the home section of the department store, they of course, brought some of the stuff downstairs in the selling area right smack in the middle.

main thoroughfares in the city, ayala avenue, edsa, gilmore (where the spectacular lanterns are on display and are for sale...) even north avenue already have the christmas lights and decor in place. it really does lend some christmas cheer to an otherwise bleak outlook what with the economic setbacks everyone is facing

*sigh* it is christmas and i cannot avoid it. neither can i avoid feeling so sad about the season. up until 4 years ago, like i mentioned, it was my favorite season. now, it just reminds me of so much sadness and loneliness. this year, will i begin to look forward to christmas with anticipation? will i feel the excitement, happiness and cheer again? i know you're going to say that the true reason why we celebrate christmas goes beyond our personal burdens or situations. i know, but i'm just ... human.

the 44th

the people have spoken

adorable enzo

i'm a godmother again. saturday, october 11 was lorenzo antonio s. rivera's dedication; enzo for short. enzo is the muy gwapito son of my dearest friends ben & tess who got married in 2003 then migrated to canada. they were here two years ago and this year, they're back for the dedication. the occasion also served as some sort of reunion for the petiks gang.

i *heart* globe....

i *heart* globe. i do. i truly do. oh my god...i love my service provider, i love globe. yesterday, last night rather, i was at my wits' end on how i was going to get my moto razr v3x up and running as a modem. i needed, desperately needed, an internet connection. i didn't make it to the internet cafe and i had to send an assignment. aarrrgghh...what am i going to do? when i got home, i tried to set up my phone using the motorola phone tools program but, to no avail. i even used up my prepaid credits because i dialled the isp ergo, i was charged per minute for the rate of mobile to landline...AARRRGGGHHHH how stupid could i be? i called the globe hotline. the customer service rep couldn't really help me, i wasn't actually expecting he would solve my problem. truth be told, i was frustrated. i just informed the people expecting my assignment that i had trouble with my internet connection.

this morning, i went to my "satellite office", trinoma and first order of business: send my assignment with profuse apologies for the delay. once that was accomplished, i checked my mail. then, i received a call; it was from globe technical support. the tech rep's name was ron (ron, thank you so much!) and he guided me thru the process of setting up my v3x and internet connection to globe. it really helped that i was in front my laptop and my mobile was connected so the whole process was smooth, easy and fast. i gotta hand it to ron, he was patient with me. now, i wasn't an angry customer; i was nice :) believe me, i'm usually an assertive customer.

when we set-up my internet connection, he asked me to try connecting to the internet. naturally, i couldn't start a session because we were using the phone so he asked me to hang up, try connecting and he'd call after 15 (was it 15?) minutes. i hung up, tried to connect and OH MY GOD! it worked!!!!!

true enough, he called back and i immediately said "ron? it works!!!!!" i know he could tell i was sooooooo happy because i could tell from his voice and tone that he was smiling too because of my happy reaction. i said thank you over and over again and he said, "thank you ma'am for taking my call."

awwww....i'd like to shake the hand of his foundation (and/or soft skills) and product specific trainer; good job!

ron, thank you very much :) i can't thank you enough..i didn't get your surname ...

globe, you've got a happy and satisfied subscriber here :) (i hope it stays that way)...

oh and by the way, i got my assignment back and i needed to edit it. it's 12:04 a.m. and guess what? i just sent it back using my v3x, laptop and globe internet connection. I LOVE IT!

"hot" chocolate

for me, a good life has three C's: coffee, cheesecake and chocolate :) and i love my 3 C's. now what if i could combine one C with another C that i also like? well, i have been, for the past 3 months, on the lookout for the 4th C; "hot" chocolate. and by hot i don't mean the hot cocoa drink. i literally mean, hot as in chili hot. yes, my 4th C is chili. i'm looking for a chili chocolate bar.

it all started when i researched for chocolates in singapore that i hoped a very good friend of mine would bring home for me (he didn't but he's still a friend hehehe). of course in singapore, there's royce; also godiva and leonidas chocolates. all mouth-watering but not uber interesting. then, an online "singapore street directory" lead me to my first encounter with chili and chocolate; i was truly intrigued. next, i came across the chocolate gallery. oh dear, this for me was the best (website and selection) among those that i saw. imagine, espresso, raspberry truffle, hazelnut truffle, champagne truffle, coffee ganache and of course, dark milk with spice power (or is that "powDer"?) pralines! it is the second to the last picture but again, the thought of chocolate and spice (chili) was enough to set me on a hunt for something like that here...

i consulted my best friend, google (hehehe) and i learned that sarotti is available locally, in SM! alas, when we inquired at the snack exchange in megamall, the elusive chili chocolate bars weren't in stock :( i tortured myself some more and googled sarotti chili chocolate and found myself reading a blog that had a post on sarotti. more research and whattaya know, there's also Lindt Chili Chocolate!


oh dear... :( i gotta get my hands on one of these bars !







(l-r: the sarotti nuss chili bar; lindt chili chocolate)