The Year End Post

This would probably be my last post for this year.

2005 is one of the worst and best years I've had so far. It was pretty fast, and almost every single day was well spent.

2005 was the year when I learned how to commute (jeepneys and FX) all by myself--sa Maynila!

2005 was the year when I realized that Chinese food is not so bad after all and that century egg is really really good.

2005 was the year when I graduated and the year when I passed the boards. I would never ever forget these moments. I call these, the glory days of Kutz.

2005 was the year when I finally had the guts to drive all by myself and I got Pido as a gift. My life has changed since then.

2005 was the year when I traveled alone for the very first time. I've never felt so independent in my whole life. Hehe.

2005 was the year when I was away from the Philippines the longest. And because of that, I felt that I am responsible for this country.

2005 was the year when I went clubbin' in New York. I never thought that a person like me can party hard and have so much fun. And I know, that level of fun will never happen unless I go back to New York. I heart NY.

2005 was the year when I weighed the heaviest. I weighed 135 pounds. Luckily, I was able to burn them all. Well at least most of them.

2005 was the year when I started working and earning my own cash *ching-chings*. And yes, I'll be working for the next years to come.

2005 was the year when I saw my favorite American Idol. Constantine, live and for free!

2005 was the year when I was able take my parents to dinner out of my own earnings. It's very fulfilling.

2005 was the year when I made a very memorable first inventory count--the condom warehouse!!!

2005 was the year when I was single the whole year, from January to December. I have learned to stand on my own two feet and I have learned that you can never count best on anyone else but yourself, that happiness could only come from yourself and that learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all. And oh yeah, always in God's perfect timing.

To everyone I know, to all my friends, family, loved ones, those who I only met this year, acquaitances, new found friends and everyone else I've encountered with, thank you so much for making this year a very meaningful one. To those people I have hurt, I just want to say that I am very sorry. And to those people who have hurt me, don't worry, everything's forgiven, and most importantly, forgotten. Let us all start with a clean slate and clean lungs for the year 2006.

Happy New Year Everyone!

AGA Christmas Party

Tuesday night, Gweilos.

The Lord Has Giveth. The Lord Has Taketh Away.

Early this week, a good friend of my mom from way back her elementary days had passed away after going under a coma for a month.

Days after, my best friend from kindergarten just gave a normal birth to a bouncing baby boy after being 2 weeks overdue and more than 24 hours of labor.

Updated Wishlist

Okay people. To save you all from the trouble, trying to think what gift to give me, I decided to come up with my wishlist for Christmas. And just to remind you, 2 days after that is my birthday, so I made a longer list--a little extra for you. Christmas is different from birthdays so allot a bigger budget for me because you would have to give me two. And I made this a little earlier so that people (ahem, like my kuyas) would not have any reasons not to give me something for my birthday and of course, to have you all saving up as early as now. Hehehehe!

If you feel like being generous...

• iPod Photo or iPod Nano (black). I love taking pictures, and sometimes, when I'm out, I ran out of memory! That's one bad trip. iPod photo would give storage to my photos while I travel and it keeps everything in order. This would become useful too everytime I go to the gym.
• Sony memory stick PRO 512 MB and up. Better storage capacity for my camera!
• Motorolla Razr phone (black). I just love this phone. I'm currently using a jurassic Nokia 7250 model that looks like it was used as a scotchbrite kitchen scrubber.
• Tripod for my camera. I'm just using a Sony Cybershot. Any tripod which can hold it will do.
• Shopping spree. I need clothes, for powerdressing. I would be wearing a three-piece suit everyday.
• Shoes. I need pumps to use at the office. Size seven or seven and a half, kitten heels only. I couldn't stand high heels. No Janylin's please.
• The basic black bag. Medium sized leather bags great to use at the office. White will be good too!
• Cross pendants. I love cross pendants especially those with fancy designs.

If you're a little tight on the budget...

• Movie tickets. Take me out on a movie. I'd love to!
• Jolly meal. I'm so craving for a Jollibee burger steak right now!
• Ice cream. Selecta's coffee crumble or anything with nuts.
• Slippers. I love flat thong slippers! No rubber flip flops please because I'm allergic to rubber.
• CDs. Original CDs. I'm against piracy, especially when it comes to OPMs.
• Paolo Coelho books. I've read some of them already, but I just borrowed the books. I love his books so much that I want my own copy especially The Alchemist.
• Pablo Neruda CD. This will make me melt!!!
• Coffee mug to use at the office. I can't stand the day without coffee.
• Starbuck's large tumbler. I only have the small tumblers, but I think I need a larger one because I've increased my caffeine intake.
• CD lists: Gwen Stefani's Love, Angel, Baby (or is it Angel, Love, Baby?), Black Eyed Peas's Monkey Business, and any BEATLES' CD aside from Beatles Regrooved, Beatles One, and Sargeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band!!! I'd like to have The Best of Beatles sana cause I only have a burned copy of it, which is currently missing.

My basic necessities. Which means the more, the merrier!

• Starbucks gift certificates. I need a daily dose of espresso, soy and syrup.
• Thongs. Heehee. Girlstuff. This is for my girl friends out there.
• Wallets. I just can't get enough of them!
• Soupy Snaxx supplies! Yummm!!
• Body Shop's cheek and lip tint.

Of course the list goes on. I'll update this next time. And don't forget, it's also my birthday two days after Christmas!

Flash Updates

Please support Filipino indie films and watch ANG PAGDADALAGA NI MAXIMO OLIVEROS.

It's like a mirror that reflects the Filipino reality to some of the neglected issues of our country. I just watched it last Tuesday and I couldn't help but feel bad because it is a low budgeted film, so not everybody knew about it. In fairness, it won an international award and it just proves that you do not need a big production for an award winning film and that the story is still what matters most.

So right now I am officially a working girl. Officially na talaga. I'm done with the training sessions and it's my first day to actually take a seat here in the Enterprise office. And yes, currently blogging. Hehehehe. Well, these moments should be appreciated because I am pretty sure that this is like one of the very few moments that I will actually be free enough to blog. Next week, seryoso na talaga.

Anyway, here is a picture of my group at our training graduation presentation. FYI, we won first prize--miniature crunch chocolate bars!!!

Precious Moments

A good friend of my mom sent a text message to her weeks ago, sharing a passage from Voltaire. I forgot the exact lines, but it goes something like YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE and that WHATEVER WORDS YOU WANT TO SAY, WHATEVER THINGS YOU WANT TO DO, DO IT NOW FOR YOU ONLY PASS BY THIS WORLD ONCE. A week after he said that, he had a stroke and currently still under coma. God please help him fight this battle.

The message is so clear that it is common knowledge to everyone, and yet we take it for granted most of the time. After the incident, I couldn't help but to always put into mind that we should not let a day pass by without actually doing something worthwile in our lives.

Funny enough, God always has this way of letting opportunities come into our lives in order to give way to whatever is bothering our minds. Last Friday, I just felt like rushing to the car to go home in order to avoid the annoying Friday traffic madness (what is it with Mondays and Fridays that makes all roads so damn traffic anyway?). A friend texted me inviting me to dinner, but something just tells me that I have to go home right away. Well, I could just stay in Makati and let the heavy traffic subside, but I just felt like taking the risk with EDSA. I just felt that I had to go home, and so, I declined my friend's invitation. Amazingly, EDSA was smooth flowing (which is like so rare on Friday rush hours) and I was able to reach Marcos Highway in less than an hour. I texted my dad where he was and he was at the mall with my mom, so I told him to stay there and wait for me. It was sweldo week, so I felt like being generous and told them that dinner's on me--anywhere they like. In fairness, they are not spoiled parents, ha. They just wanted to eat at Max's, and I'm like, "fine, minamaliit ang sweldo ko!", but of course, if they're happy with the house where fried chicken was built, that's very very fine with me!!! Why not, diba?!

Anyways, we had a great time. We rarely go out together these days, and most of the time, I only see them in the morning, where the three of us talk like we're screaming at each other, like a bunch of high blood families. "GUMISING KA NA! KAIN NA TAYO! UMALES KA NA, MALELATE KA NA! OO NA!" (Don't worry, that's normal for us). So I've realized that going out and doing something together out of the house is like therapy for our family. We're so calm and so happy. So the money that you would spend for your parents is totally worth it, and could actually buy priceless moments.

So while having dinner, I got carried away and told them that we should do this often--like every payday. Whoooooops!!! *GULP* Haha kidding.

The next day, I had some of my officemates come to my house to rehearse for our group presentation. Yes, career na career pati ang performance--the true test of being a professional! I never thought we'd have so much fun, from eating, to videoke showdowns, to the actual rehearsal (where hidden talents have floated out into the sea), and to our favorite, the photo shoots! Hahaha!

At the end of the day, I had coffee with some of them and had the privilege of getting to know each one of us more. Btw, I was surprised to bump into Diane at Morato. I missed her so much!!! We talked so much about many stuff and realized so many things. First is that, 99% of first impressions are actually so untrue, second is that life is all about balancing of things like holding books on both of your hands. It's not always work, though it's not always play. And in everything we will do, and in every task assigned, and to the busy season that is about to come, we will only say one thing--LABAN! Most importantly, we've come into a conclusion that no matter how different our trips or preference may be, topnotcher or topless, it is always important that you have this great interpersonal skill, because when the time comes when I know most of us will make it big, the greatest treasure you will ever posses is your friends. And without great relationships, you will never reach the top, or even if you do, you would leave happiness behind.

I told them that we should always savor these kinds of moments because time will come that such moments would be rare because for sure, we would always have at the back of our minds that next day would be work, work, work.

So let us not forget the importance of every minute of our lives. We may spend 2 hours preparing, 8 hours working, 3 hours eating, and so on and so on and those hours eat so much time of our every single day. We get eaten up so much that we think that our day is through, but all it takes is just a few minutes of your time, to do and make things that can actually move hearts, and even move worlds. And even giving up just one minute of your day for doing something great, is actually 365 minutes of your year or even 366 for some, which is more than enough to make an impact on someone's life, and even yours.

For we will never know, this day might be our last.

So what's the craziest and greatest thing you've done lately?