January...

Gotta be in CONTROL...
Gotta be FOCUSED....
Gotta GET THINGS MOVING...

On stun guns and pepper sprays...

My kind neighbor approached me this morning as I was going to work. She told me to be careful at night when I go home because there's this hold-up incident at 2am in our street. The victim was hit in the head by 4 men.... I got a text message this morning... my cousin... telling me to ride the tricycle instead of walking home from the kanto.

Then it made me realize na ganito na ang panahon ngayon... Hard times make people do the 'kapit sa patalim' thing. Buti sana if only the belongings are taken but sometimes when luck isn't there, your life can also be at stake. I dunno what happened to the victim but this made my reason for buying self-defense weapons stronger.

I've always thought of buying those stun guns and pepper sprays -- especially now that I'm practically alone and can't accomodate judo trainings anymore (since masyadong gabi -- anyway, at least I know the basics of throwing and choking and the technique they taught, seio-nage and tai otoshi worked for me during randori/close combat ). I've done a little research on the said items and they could certainly give you ample time to escape and get help (or better yet, beat the crap out of them). I'm not sure on the prices yet but one of my colleagues (si Irma, yung nakasama ko din sa Judo; she'a a proud owner of a gun) said that the stun gun costs around P1,000. I saw some pepper sprays that wouldn't go beyond P500.

In times like these... you need.... no! not a juicy fruit gum... but something to defend oneself from the masasamang elemento ng lipunan. Better safe than sorry.

Deleted

yup... I had to delete that one. Mahirap i-explain e. Pero sabihin na lang natin na this particular person -- not related to my family (pero somehow related na din kasi he's 'related' to my cousin) has been pulling off some crazy stunts just to get money from us... He may be able to fool my cousin... but he won't be able to fool me (because I'm an auditor...hehehe....

Ang sa akin lang, malalaman din ng nanay mo ang lahat ng kalokohan mo sa buhay. Kala kasi ng nanay mo, gudie-gudie ka.

The problem is....

Can't focus on what I'm currently doing. My mind is wandering off to the world of gardening. Found the website of Yates Co. kasi.... The brand that offers lots of nice seeds to plant... the brand of the sunflower seeds I bought the other day..

That's the problem with me... whenever I'm interested or excited in something, I just keep on thinking about it all day... leaving me and the job to be done in limbo. Parang during Christmas season... You can't think of anything else but Christmas and the gifts that you have to buy and wrap... the food you're going to serve...

Gawd! The thought of a new plant stand and where to put it is the 'analysis' going through my brain... instead of analyzing the 'figures' in front of me. I need to finish this!!!!

Ayan na!

Sabi ko na nga ba.... pero sige, ibibigay ko na at the end of the week. Para matapos na din lahat ng ito... Sana hindi na ko maassign sa engagement na ito... ever! sayang lang sa oras...

bahala na si batman....

I made it!

Yep! I somehow survived the weekend... I must admit that it's quite difficult living alone especially if you have a (220 SQ) house to maintain... 4 dogs and a guinea pig to take care of... the beautiful plants that also need love and attention... not to mention the mess that these living things make such as falling leaves, dog poop and stuff....

I guess I'll just have to be systematic in doing the tasks and still have time for 'ME' time. hehehe

New Weekend...

This is my first weekend without my mom... and I have a lot of activities lined up such as washing clothes, cultivating plants, throwing the trash and other house stuff... a busy weekend indeed... but I'll be going out on a date with the bear after lunch.

Lately, I've been having this thing for plants -- flowering, ornamental and surprisingly, vegetative. I guess I got this from dad. When we're still together back at our old house, we had mustasa, papaya, chesa, calamismis, ampalaya, malunggay, okra and avocado. So I'm planning to plant some myself too. Last night, I bought sili (yung mahabang pangsigang/paksiw), tomatoes and okra. I left them today to dry under the sun. Where to put them? That I still don't know. Since they're only gonna be seedlings in a few days, siguro pwede na sila sa mga lumang plastic na baso. I'm hoping to see myself one day harvesting =).

Gardening is a great stress reliever and a fun thing to do (especially if you've got great tools!). Too see them grow and beautify the surroundings is a wonderful thing. It's frustrating at times because bibilhin ko yung halaman na maayos ang hitsura pero itinanim ko na sa lupa, nalalanta... That goes for some flowering plants that I got from Tagaytay.

the day my mom said goodbye.....

5PM... Sunday... my mom's bound to go to US. As seen in my previous posts, it's the dreaded day I've been 'preparing' for. Seeing her wave goodbye through the big glass windows of the Centennial Airport really broke my heart... she was supposed to go out after checking in her baggage but for some reason, the guard didn't allow her. She signaled that she'll talk to me through the cellphone of Tita Vhie... I refused to get the cellphone. It's hard to speak especially if one is fighting the tears.

I took a leave Monday... to breathe a little. It seems that a big part of me has died because of her absence. Although I knew that this would happen, I realized that nothing can really prepare you for something like that. I spent the day fixing the stuff that she left... no tv, no radio... doors were locked... almost all day in silence and solitude. There were moments when I cried because of the realization that my best homebuddy is now far away... No more midnight chats when I'd wake her up and be next to her for a little day update... No more cleaning the house together... No more eye to eye contacts on things that only we can understand... No more 3 musketeers in church on Sundays...

After she left, I've been receiving phonecalls from my Nanay, Kuya Raymond and Kuya Robert... checking if I'm okay.... Actually, before she left, people around her would usually ask, 'Paano si Ann?'. She would always reply,'kaya naman niya yan.'

I'm thankful because before she left she saw me get employed in a stable organization and felt financially 'blessed' in 2008. The year has been good to us indeed. She even told me, 'siguro kung hindi pa ko umalis this year, I'm sure magiging masaya tayo nitong 2009.'

It'll be sad at first but it's gonna be okay.... hopefully soon....

Thanks Lolo!

I was in a meeting this morning... then I got the urge to go the restroom... I just looked to see if my area is still the same... and then I saw 'the package'....

total excitement because we've been wanting to meet since last year to exchange these special packages. then we decided that they're better off shipped due to our conflict of schedules....

lunchtime... I got surrounded by my colleagues who were eagerly curious as to the contents and about the person who sent it....

Lolo... thanks so much. I love it... =) Hope you'll love mine, too. the souvenir? hindi naman obvious na pang-pahiyas festival siya. hahahha....

Happy New Year

2009 is here! How fast really time flies. I know that this year won't be easy because I'll now be on my own (my mom is bound to leave on Sunday for the US).

For starters, I bought myself a new phone, the Nokia 7610 Supernova. It has this sleek slide design, 3.2 megapixels camera, radio and music player, 64MB memory with expandable microSD memory up to 2G. Just google the other specs if you wanna know more. I bought one because my brother (from Japan) wanted to have my Motorola v3i which I love so much. It's quite ironic because why would he want to have my old phone when he's in Japan where all the cool technology stuff are.

Anyway, buying a new phone is an agonizing process... especially if you have no idea as to what to buy and if you're on a budget... As to the budget side, I didn't really stick to it -- I was thinking of buying one for 6-8K only and I ended up purchasing something that's valued more. I really had no idea. I guess I've gotten used to my brother (from the US) buying techie stuff for me -- all my cellphones as in... and my beloved pocket pc.

Motorola's one of my choices because of it's tested durability but unfortunately units for this brand is not diverse and the ones I liked costs 17K which was way way way beyond my budget. No question -- Nokia has the most diversity of all cellphone brands... So there I was, reading every specification written on the cards of every cp. I dunno what brought me to end up with the Supernova... Probably because it's unique (with it's metallic/mirrored surface)... it's new.... and I dunno anyone who owns one. And maybe because the word 'Supernova' makes people wonder and wanna google it immediately. But frankly speaking, its functionality is almost the same as the other cheaper phones of Nokia. It doesn't have the QWERTY keys like that of the E71 and E63 (to which I was attracted to first kasi parang blackberry and very corporate looking and for P14,200 BUT out of stock).

I went into a momentary state of depression after I bought it because first, it's over my budget; second, just adding a little more could have gotten me an E63; third, I was so impatient in waiting for the new E63 stocks to come (which by the way is just 2 days); fourth, I was doubting if the Supernova is really worth the purchase price. .. and the list goes on and on.... but in the end I realized that my v3i is already in Japan and that I already bought this phone so I just have to live with it and learn to love it. hahahha... Siguro after seeing what I went through after the purchase, the bear won't accompany me to my future purchases. hehehe...

So much for my cellphone story... What else is in store for 2009? I'll be living independently. I've been drafting my to do's daily, weekly and monthly for the household stuff. Of course the bills are handled pretty well but as to the household, I really have to do some organizing and scheduling.... I have plants and animals to take of.... not to mention tending to the mess they make such as falling leaves, growing branches, piling poop.... cleaning and the endless disposal of redundant but usable items. Career-wise, I know that it will be more difficult because bulk of the reviews will be made this year. I just do hope that I'll be able to bring more bacon home. In love, cheers to more years of togetherness. Spiritually, I do hope that I'll be closer to God. Physically, more pounds to burn... hahaha.. hello fitness first!....

I just wish that I'll be able to survive this year just like the other years... I'd be needing a lot of FOCUS AND CONCENTRATION AND WILLINGNESS TO DO BETTER.