My Pink Shoelace

Teacher: Ni zai na li?
Me: Not here … [we both burst out laughing]
Teacher: Create two sentences using the words we learned today.
Me: Ni … ni hen chou.
Wo … wo piao liang.
Teacher: (laughing out loud)

A friend of mine from college sent me a message over at Facebook asking if I have the following movies:

1. Memento
2. Seven Samurai
3. Raise the Red Lantern
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey
5. Blade Runner
6. Goodfellas
I used to have the movie, Goodfellas but when my first 1 TB hard drive was damaged beyond repair I lost that movie along with so many others. She said she needed at least of these movies on September 5 as she will give it as a gift to a friend. I have been wanting to watch Seven Samurai but somehow I would keep on forgetting. It would always fall right back into the deepest recesses of my mind especially when I am deeply addicted to anime these days.
I have included it in my to do list to find Akira Kurosawa’s movies and collect them. I already have Seven Samurai, so that one down and tons more to go … lol

I haven’t been blogging for a while as I have been extremely busy. My hours are spent working on various projects and what little time I have left I use it to jog, attend my Mandarin class, visit mom and see friends. It has been a very tight squeeze and I am expecting to be a whole lot busier next week. Instead of the weekly class, starting Monday it will be on a daily basis.

Sometimes I wonder what have I gotten myself into …

Last Monday, our neighborhood was almost caught on fire. The fire started at a neighboring area which was way too far from where I live but the strong winds carried its flame to our direction. The people in my neighborhood were on panic mode and for the life of me I did not bother to pack as much. My neighbors all took their things out of their houses, appliances, bedsheets, clothes and just about anything you could think of.

The only things I secure for myself were my laptops, external hard drives, cameras, photo albums with photos of mom, my family’s closest friend helped me out in carrying all my boxes [containing my collection of books and manga] while I took my piggy bank. When the fire was too close say 4 houses away from my house I had no choice but to move out and stay on safer grounds. Panicking won’t do me any good, it’s not like if I panic the fire would stop right? So I took photos instead … someone actually mistook me as part of the media lol

And oh … the fire brigade managed to put out the fire and my house was saved. All Hail Buddha!

Monica has been trying to lose weight since time immemorial and she has always been the first one to learn of any new diet pill that’s making waves in the market. Her latest find is a pill called apidexin which according to her has gotten several rave reviews and since the reviews she found are rather great she ended up ordering a box so she could try it out.

We have been looking for some coogi t-shirts that are on sale and we found several websites that actually have then on sale. Luis have always wanted one and since his birthday is fast approaching, this might just be the perfect gift for him. We plan on buying it online and have the store ship to him directly and add a small note that it was coming from us.

Doi had been telling me about this nice place to chill out at IT Park, Cebu called Wanna Eat. She said the place offers good food at a decent price, the place is neat and they have free wi-fi connection. I said that definitely is a good place for bloggers and freelancers like us to chill. We went there after our short stop at SM and ordered Pork Belly, she said its yummy and recommended that I try it. It was my first time there and I ended up ordering it.

The food came, we ate and we started working. We did not use our battery chargers since our battery was full, a hundred percent full. Ed arrived and ordered burger and spaghetti while Doi and I ordered Tacos. Our battery went down to 30% and we started using our chargers, this was around 45 minutes before 11 PM. 30 minutes or so after this man came to us and said that they charge customers who charge their laptop batteries and thats 30 PHP per 30 minutes, so thats 1 PHP per minute.

I was disappointed and I found it rather rude that he approached us about 30 minutes after we started using it. I mean if its company policy they should have some signage informing the customers of this and that. It did not matter if you order food the minute that charger of yours hit their socket the countdown begins. Doi said at Coffifi the charge was 20 PHP per hour and there’s a huge sign inside the coffee shop informing customers of this policy, Wanna Eat Cebu does not have that. That’s a real bummer!

Blimey! I have been to several coffee shops in Cebu and none of them charged me for charging my laptop batteries. I spent almost every day during the summer of 2008 at Starbucks IT Park and never was there a fuss about me using their socket. It was a shame that Wanna Eat Cebu would have what I think a ridiculous policy. My biggest disappointment was that they didn’t inform us well ahead of time. They saw us using our laptops for two hours they could have approached us and informed us …. common sense would have told them that eventually the batteries of their laptops would ran out soon and they’d start charging. Don’t tell me they were busy … for crying out loud only two tables were occupied and there are plenty of them at the counter.

My first experience at Wanna Eat was a disappointment and here I thought I’d be chilling there from now on, bad idea. Stick with Starbucks Weng, they have the best signature hot choco.

August 2, 1948 was mom’s birthday. She would have been 62 years old today had she still been alive. Together with mom’s closest friend and together with another neighbor we went to the cemetery to pay our respects. It has been close to 3 years since she passed away and I still haven’t gotten over it fully. I guess it would some time … but I kept telling myself that where ever she is right now … she is in a much better place and someday soon I’ll see her again.

Make Your Own Havaianas is an annual event and several people would always flock the venue, this year was no different.  It was a weekend event and Make Your Own Havaianas 2010 was held at SM City Cebu and the number of people was just amazing. Kids, teenagers, young adults and adults alike were all there. Let’s take a look at some of the photos … now shall we?

~ Make Your Own Havaianas ~

~ Mix and Match ~

~ Havaianas ~

~ The crowd ~

~ My travel buddy, MJ ~

I did not create my own havaianas, the one I purchased a year ago is still working so I did not buy one. This year’s Make Your Own Havaianas is a first for me and I found it utterly enjoyable. I have always lived in Cebu and that was the first for me to attend the event. I look forward to next years event.

Mia and I were looking for modern office furniture at our favorite mall when we saw that some were on sale. The down side though was we were only window shopping and the pieces we love would surely be sold now that they are on 30% off. *sigh* The downside of being on a tight budget.

I am watching Sex and the City, TV series for the second time and I;m loving it. It’s actually nice and just like the first time I still get fascinated with the shoes and the dresses and the way they live their lives. Of all four women, I love Carrie’s work as a writer and Miranda’s strong personality.

I’d someday want a pair of Manolo’s … lol as if I’d have any place to wear it to. I have given my stilettos to a friend who is the same shoe size as I am …a after all since I am now working from home, I really don’t need them anymore.

I have been working as a full time freelancer now for over a month and I gotta tell you my work schedule is downright crazy. lol. Let me outline what I have been doing … this is the schedule I posted on the cork board in my make shift office.

8AM – 4PM : I work as a Virtual Assistant for a developer based in the US.

4PM – 8PM : I used this hours to write articles for clients based in Poland and India. Yes I have two clients who provide me continuous writing projects.

8PM – 4AM : I work again as a Virtual Assistant for an Internet Marketer based in UK.

5AM – 5:30AM : I use this time to follow a video workout which is a fusion of belly dancing and yoga.

5:30 AM – 7:30 AM : Sleep

7:30 AM – 8:00 AM – shower then breakfast

And the cycle repeats … I am only free on Friday and Saturdays. Now I use these days to cater to personal affairs [char!]. I have my Mandarin classes on Fridays at 5PM to 7PM and on Saturdays I try my hardest to jog around Abellana, offer my prayers and visit mom and chill out with friends.

Waaaaaaaaaa. I can no longer remember the last time I sat down and read a book!

I saw this news when I was about to log in and check my email account with yahoo and it caught my attention. Guess what??!! The maid is a Filipina … let’s read the content of the news now shall we?

I have ran out of ink again huhuhuhu. I hate going for refills as I was told they might damage the printer and buying the original ink is just expensive. *sigh* I have been printing out those ESL materials I have used with Monica last year so I could compile them in one folder but without ink, color printing right now using my HP printer is impossible.

So it’s either I finally take a leap of faith and use refilled ink or close my eyes and just go head buy brand new cartridges. Which is which Weng? Should I do this with a coin toss?!!! lol

Kokopelli is a fetility deity shown as a humpbacked flute player and is venerated by some Native American cultures in the Southwestern United States. Kokopelli presides over both childbirth and agriculture.

The image of Kokopelli is very famous and can be seen in almost every type of crafts, from vases to necklaces. It is also a famous design in tattoos and I got one on my right wrist.

Let’s take a look below:

Kokopelli On My Right Wrist

Kokopelli On My Right Wrist

What do you think?

I have this mobile phone that carries two active sim cards, my Smart sim which I’ve been using since college and my Sun sim for texting all those peeps at work. Just about two hours ago, it has been ringing full blast non-stop. Some guy said he wanted a friend … like I bloody care. He kept texting stating that he was only trying the number as we both have close to similar mobile numbers … the only difference is the last digit. And he’d like to have a friend.

Great! So this f^ck!ng idiot has been calling my number since 11PM … what a great way to make friends. Annoy someone in the middle of the night. Don’t you have a life or something? Grrrrrrrr ….

And oh … a friend said, that it could be a sign and a potential boyfriend. Riggghhhhtt …. I’d rather join the convent!!! Pissed Off mode.

As you already know, I have left the “typical call center” industry. I left my first work of four years and I am now working full time as a freelancer. A friend once asked, what I do now for a living and I responded that I am an all around freelance geek. This is something I have considered since 2008, right about when mom died. It took me two years to finally gather the guts to let go of my comfort zone and tender an immediate resignation. I miss my friends and the pay but I most certainly do not miss the ever increasing workload.

So to give you an update, I am now working as a full time virtual assistant. 8 hours a day, 5 days a week a total of 40 hours per week. My client is based in the US and is a quite agreeable fellow, I get to choose my own hours.
I won’t disclose the pay [hahaha], it is not as big as I am used to but boy I love it. Stress free! I mean literally, I get to divide my screen into two. The media player on the left side showing whatever anime I am watching and on the right, the excel spreadsheet or my browser working on a project.

My aunt asked me how I am, and I told her I love my new found work but I miss my old pay. She said life is all about choices. High pay + stress or regular pay + less stress. I chose the latter and she’s quite glad with my choice. Besides as she plainly put it … you don’t have to worry about your pay, you got your allowance from me anyway.

So that’s life for me now … full time freelance, working on my masters, my mandarin class and joining all travel escapades with friends from work and oh not to mention …. learning the arts of raqs sharqi.

Ssssshhhh … no laughing on the last part. I am dead serious!!!! *wink wink*

I have been wanting to get a sassy laptop bag since last year. I’ve had crumpler before when I got my mac but I realized it was too … typical. I gave it away to the owner who bought my macbook. So just last Thursday I convinced MJ to buy a Bratty Bonita Bag so we could both order it together. I showed her pictures of the ones I really like and we ended up ordering the following:

Pink Fashionista Travel Mate

Yellow Fashionista Travel Mate

- images taken from Bratty Bonita’s Website -

Size: 14x12x4

Since I am too lazy to photograph my bag, I am posting the images taken from the Bratty Bonita website. If you are looking for a laptop bag better check them out. They have tons of other designs … I chose the Travel Mate line as I intend to bring my notebook with me wherever I go … in future trips. I chose the Pink Fashionista Travel Mate and MJ got the Yellow Fashionista Travel Mate.

With the increasing number of older women worried about their looks, several pharmaceutical companies have emerged with products claiming to offer the best anti wrinkle creams, anti-aging creams and the best acne treatment there is. Most of these beauty products all contain close to similar ingredients with the rest available in the market.

Picking which beauty to go for needs careful consideration. You have to check with your dermatologist first to ensure that you won’t cause damage to your skin.

I have watched Street Fighter when I was a little girl and I have always liked Chun Li. You know how it is with kids, they like to pretend to be their favorite character. Just like with Sailor Moon, my classmates and I back in elementary grade had our favorite sailor star. I have always been Sailor Mars.

Now I just watched this movie, Street Fighter: Legend of Chun Li which stars Kristen Kreuk. Because of her role in Smallville, I would always call her Lana Lang. I find this movie really great and I am amazed at how Kristen spoke Mandarin with complete ease. The martial arts is not bad either.

A friend back from high school always had smooth skin. We used to envy her because while everyone was worried about zits and the like she had smooth skin. People said that the zits and acne would be gone as we grow old. Now that we are all in our mid-twenties, signs of adult acne are showing on her face. Late bloomer? lol But its kinda crazy how they begin to appear at this age. She has seek counsel from several dermatologist and right now she’s hoping the damage would not be tremendous.

The prototype 37c review is said to be best wrinkle cream on the market. It is said to be made up of close 99% concentration of peptides. The remaining 1% is a mix of oil free mositurizer and hyaluronic acid. Several people who have use it sure made a whole lot of positive reviews about it. Before purchasing this wrinkle cream, do a bit of research first and see what you can find or check with your dermatologist first to make sure it is safe to use.

With the demise of my previous work, I have somehow managed to catch longer hours of sleep.  I am hoping that this new sleeping pattern will eliminate my need to use the eye cream I have been using since a couple of years back.  Someone used to say that the dark circles under my eyes would probably lighten but traces would remain as they have been there since I was in high school. This is what you get for staying up all night reading who knows what. *sigh*

Just got home after watching the third installment in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga, Eclipse. I watched it with MJ at Ayala Center Cebu and it was full packed.  The last movie I watched this full was The Karate Kid still with MJ. The movie was okay, don’t get me wrong I was a huge fan back then, I’ve read the books long before they started showing Twilight. But now lets just say I’ve gotten over it and am just watching the movies now for the sake of watching them … lol

Several online retailers have used the power of wholesale shopping to maximize their profit. When you shop for items by bulk you get to save tons when you resell the items. There are companies out there that offer bulk discounts for small to medium sized resellers. Whats great about it is you do not have to go to the factory yourself. Just take a look at the online catalog, select which items you want, fill out the form and the company will take care of the shipping for you.  Isn’t this time and profit saving?

Weight loss is a major problems amongst people working in the call center industry. When sleep deprived it has been said that you indulged in binge eating. Exercising is only for those who are patient and disciplined enough to follow through. What most people now want is a quick solution to get rid of the excess fat. There are several diets for quick weight loss that one can follow through and with enough time and continuity the results might just show. But ruining the diet plan even for just a day would jeopardize the whole thing. So dedication and discipline is needed to achieve maximum results.

So I have been trying my luck at cooking ever since I’ve been home bound and I think it was fun, I hate the part where I have to wash the dishes after though. lol Nothing major really just frying and oh I made Mango Float yesterday afternoon and just earlier today I had Bena and Diva sample a huge slice. Hope they liked it. Hehehe

- Scrambled Eggs -

- Corned Beef with Eggs

- Sardines with Eggs -

When Stacy got pregnant she was given by her OB a set of prenatal vitamins to take for the entire duration of her pregnancy. It was a long shot but it paid off when she delivered a healthy baby girl. Her pregnancy was rather shaky and they were worried that she might lose the baby. She had to quit work as she gets sick all the time and had to be home bound with the occasional stroll outside. But after 9 months of care and encouragement she gave birth to a healthy baby girl who weighed 8 pounds.

Lie To Me is a tv series that was recommended to me by a friend back at work. I am now watching it and I love it … really. It’s like Numb3rs where they use Charlie and Math to solve crimes; with Lie To Me they use experts in lie detection to solve crimes.

I look forward to the start of Season 3 just as I am waiting for the start of Season 6 on Supernatural.  Resigning from work definitely gave me all the time in the world to catch up on my movies. lol .

- LG Cookie -

I’d love to have this phone … its just so piiiiiiinnnnkkk. But at the moment that is out of the question. I am the epitome of “no work” slackey. lol At the moment all I can do is just look at it from the web … *sigh*