Lent is already halfway through and before you know it, it will be Easter once again. I hope that our Easter celebration this year will be more joyous than last Christmas. Maybe a visit from the Easter bunny will liven up the celebration. I sure hope he’ll be bringing more than eggs to the party. A bunch of online shopping coupons would be fantastic. My brother would love to have a laptop so a Dell coupon wouldn’t be amiss. Mom, on the other hand, would love a great HomeDepot deal so that she can finally buy the automatic washing machine she’s been harping us about. As for me, I’d love to have a more sophisticated camera. Well, if only wishes were coupons…
I don’t know what got into me while I was in the city of my birth but i committed more than a couple of booboos (aside from the airport incident).
First off, I had dinner with my friends Melai and Kate at Casa Verde on my first night there. Whenever I’m in Cebu or one of them comes to Manila, we almost always meet up. Anyway, the food was great and a real value for money. It helped me forget that we had to wait to be seated and we learned patience while waiting for the food to be served. It was my first time to eat there so I tried their specialty, baked pork ribs.
After dinner we decided to go for a massage. On our way out of the parking lot, I told Melai, who was driving, that I wanted to take a picture of the name of the restaurant. So when we reached the gate, she paused so that I can take a shot. I was bewildered because all I can see was the address so I asked them why there was only an address and no resto name. They exclaimed, “Ha?!?” It was then I realized that the name of the resto was above the address. Unfortunately, a line of departing vehicles was already forming at our back so we had to go without me getting a good shot.
The misadventure did not end there. On our way to a massage place, I requested that we drop by a pharmacy because I had to buy my turbohaler. We left Emily to wait for a parking space while Kate and I went inside the pharmacy. I approached the counter and the sales lady asked me, “Naa kay SM card?” (Do you have SM card?) I replied, “SM advantage card?” She said no. What can I say, I’m an SM advantage card fan 
It turned out what she was really saying was, “Naay KSM card?” (KSM card?) I’m not sure what a KSM card is but I think it’s the pharmacy’s discount card. Suffice to say that I was able to buy my inhaler without getting a discount.
The next one was more of a booboo thought than an action. After a lot of cancellations and missed opportunities, I was finally on my way to Tops, courtesy of Melai and Carlo. It almost didn’t push through because Melai suffered from a stomach bug earlier but she was very insistent that I would finally see Tops during that visit. By sheer will, rest and some medication, she felt good enough to go to Tops. On our way to Busay, we passed by a resto/internet shop to buy pizza to take to Tops. It was another old house turned restaurant. Cebu is full these kinds of restos.
From the name Tops, you can already guess that we were going to a place overlooking the city. So up we went. It seemed an endless uphill climb. When we were nearing the top I noticed that dust was floating in front of our vehicle. I was wondering why the dust would have been disturbed when there were no vehicles in front of us. Then Emily commented something like, “Naay fog.” Of course! It was fog not dust. How slow can I get?
We stayed there for more than an hour but we were not able to see the city lights very clearly because of the fog.
The last booboo happened in the plane going home to Manila. I arrived early at the airport so while waiting for my flight to board, I worked on my laptop. My laptop’s battery life is just an hour (low tech) so when it was near boarding time, I decided to switch to the adaptor to conserve the battery. A short time later, an older businessman sat down near me and charged his cellphone. We got into a conversation. Suddenly, our flight was called so I hurriedly packed my laptop. The man asked me what my seat number was, I said 16 while his was 7. I took my leave and hurried away leaving him still charging his cellphone. When I got to the plane I hurried to my seat, I chose a window seat and when I got there a man was already occupying the aisle seat. He had to stand to let me in since he was a big man. Just as I was starting to feel comfortable, I realized that I got the wrong seat. It was 7H and not 16H. I hurriedly stood up and had to ask the man on the aisle seat to stand again so that I can pass. I was full of apologies and he was very obliging. Good thing I realized my mistake quickly before the rightful owner of the seat arrived to boot me out. Hahaha. Sometimes my mind can really wander. Hehehe.
It was during the flight that I realized that the airlines seat women passengers together with other women and men with other men. So my fantasy of sitting beside a handsome stranger is not bound to happen. Too bad 
Another fantasy wasted. Hahaha
The saying “you can never go back home” is true. When I went off to college, I remembered that there were very few malls, hotels, and places to hang-out, and no fly-overs in Cebu City. I even remember only one casino, which was located near what used to be Cebu Plaza. During that time, that location was already considered far from the city. Only very few jeepneys plied that route and I don’t think the patrons of the casino would get caught arriving in a jeepney.
Now, a lot of hotels with casinos have been built but still no self-respecting high roller would be caught arriving in jeepney. Casinos still remain the playground for the rich (and those feeling rich). However, with the advent of the Internet, gambling became more accessible to the rest of the populace. The proliferation of online casinos and other online gambling sites made it possible to gamble anytime and anywhere as long as there is Internet connection. With thousands of online casinos and a lot of games in each casino, a player would have hard time choosing where and what to play.
Online casino reviews greatly help in choosing the best casinos and casino games on line. With the right review site, choices are narrowed to the best choices. Not only that, you’ll be better informed on the advantages and disadvantages of each online casino and online game. Better information makes for a better online gambling experience. Now you can beat the house, without setting foot outside your house.
Last Thursday, while I was waiting for our flight to be called for boarding, I went to the restroom to freshen up. After washing my hands, I tried getting a papertowel from the nearby bin. I had a hard time getting the towel because it was stuck inside the bin. I tried inserting my fingers so that I can pull one for my use. However hard I tried pulling, I can’t get hold of the towel. Suddenly, a woman approached and she pressed the lever located at the upper right side of the bin. Lo’ and behold!, a sheet of paper towel came out. Yikes! I quietly thanked her then quickly hurried out of the restroom in chagrin and laughing at myself inside. Would it help if I say that I’m used to papertowel bins where you just tear-off the sheet(s) you need? Hehehe
I heard about PayPerPost from my friend Neil. He was the one who convinced me to drive traffic to my site and that I should be a more serious blogger. I have been blogging sporadically for four years already but I’ve kept it private and only a handful of people knew about it. I finally gave in to his persuasion and said, “Ok, I’ll do it.†He arranged for everything, I just gave him the domain name and template I chose. He even paid for the membership fee and monthly rental. So my first earning would go to paying him and treating him out
I haven’t fully explored PPP yet but so far I’ve found it to be very user friendly. It’s easy to register and waiting for blog approval did not take long. Another thing is that there are almost always alerts from the administrator about updates and tips. I feel very cared for.
I look forward to making new friends and adding their links to my blogroll. I read that more links mean increased page ranking and increased earnings. Boy would that be great! I plan to use my earnings to travel to different places and write about these in my blog, maybe I can visit first the Disneyland in Hongkong, then in Japan, then US and all the Disneyland in the planet. No, I’m not obsessed with Mickey Mouse; I just want to make comparisons. (Yeah, right!)
If you’re in a hurry, never ever ride a public transportation that’s empty or nearly empty. You’ll just be late because nine out of ten times, the driver will stop for every passenger, possible passenger or by-stander along the way. It will even stop in corners to wait for other passengers. And have you noticed that whenever you’re running late, the driver almost always takes time to drop by a gasoline station for a refill of gasoline or water, or exchange big bills for smaller bills?
Earlier this evening on my way home, I was riding the FX (front seat) and traffic was quite heavy. I just finished eating my french fries (broke my vow not to eat inside public transpo,hehe) when I noticed the driver of a nearby FX hurriedly getting off his vehicle. He did not even take off his seatbelt all the way. He was still wearing it when he stood beside his FX, with his door open to shield him from view, then proceeded to PEE right there in the middle of a busy avenue. I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing (actually, I just saw his movements from the back). It was quite a long flow. And when he finished, he did the “shake that thingy” thing that guys do. Hehehe. Lucky he finished when he did because the vehicles started moving already. Our FX moved ahead that’s why I wasn’t able to see the marks on the road to verify if he really did what I thought he did.
In fairness to the man, he looked to be in his sixties. His hair was very white and he reminded me of the late House Speaker Ramon Mitra, Jr. I don’t know why he waited until he was already on the road before relieving himself. Maybe he has a problem controlling that bodily function and it just comes to him all of a sudden with no warning. Whatever the reason, he managed to provide me with another entry. As they say, don’t hold it back, let it flow. Hahaha
If you ask me what I like most about Singapore, my answer would be their public transportation system. I already rhapsodized in my previous post about their train system. Now let’s talk a little about their buses. Bus stations are near MRT Stations. Their buses look a like but not mirror images of each other. There are double decker buses (my one regret was that I was not able to ride at the second floor), the usual bus we see here in the country (single decker? hehehe), small buses, long buses, old buses, sparkling new buses, etc. I saw them all while waiting for our bus to Jurong Bird Park. 
I’m not quite sure but I think their buses were color coded. Every bus route corresponds to a number. So if you don’t want to get lost, make sure to check out their bus route information so that you’ll be able to ride the right bus.
The first time I rode the bus was when we were going to the Night Safari. We got off at the Ang Mo Kio station and walked to the Bus Terminal. At the bus terminal you can see directions to the bus you want to take. Very organized, surprise! We fell in line at the SBS Transit Bus #138. While still in the MRT, we were worried that the Zoo would be very far since it said in the brochure that it was going to be one hour bus ride from Ang Mo Kio. We were thinking like we were still in Manila. The reason why it took an hour to get to the Zoo was because the bus travels slowly and carefully. No need to compare it with the buses found in Edsa There were also a lot of bus stops along the way. My friend taught me how to use my Eazy link to pay for the bus fare, same way it’s used for the MRT. Very convenient. There is no bus conducter heckling you for your fare and conveniently forgetting to give you your change.
We also rode buses around Sentosa. The kind we Filipinos love, free rides. Hahaha. We could have had our chance to ride at the top, which was even better because there was no roof, but we were afraid that there would be no available seats, so we just stayed below In hindsight, we should have taken the chance. Everything is so clear in hindsight. Hay.
My last ride was from Boon Lay station to the Jurong Bird Park. As I mentioned earlier, we waited for a long time at the station before our bus came. Other buses came and went, still we waited and waited and waited. We were very sweaty and our legs were already aching when it finally arrived.
The inside of the buses were very different from our buses. The seats were spacious and some facing each other. The seats were few and the arrangements were different. Seats of the buses here in the Philipines are all facing front, arranged like the economy class of airplanes, and quite cramped. Unfortunately, I can’t describe it all very well and I don’t have a picture of it, except this one, inside a Sentosa bus. 
And the biggest difference is that the buses in Singapore, like everything else there are disciplined, efficient and organized.
Based on my observations:
Busiest MRT Station: Cubao, I never saw this station empty. There are always snaking lines to the cashiers and multitudes of passengers are either embarking or disembarking to or from the trains. Next to Cubao are the North and Pedro Gil Stations. A friendly tip – when you’re going to Cubao and you have to go back the same way you came, buy two tickets already from your station of origin to avoid falling in line to buy a return ticket in Cubao, unless you have the stored value ticket.
Least Utilized Station: Santolan-Annapolis Station, hardly any passengers there.
Most Inconvenient Station: Ortigas Station, very near the Shaw station and very far from the Ortigas and EDSA intersection, bad planning or politics? Hmmm…I think there was an issue about it before. Can’t remember what it was now…
Most Convenient: Shaw Station of course! This is usually where I embark and disembark so it’s very convenient for me. Hehehe. It’s connected to Shangri-la Mall, Star Mall and that EDSA mall in Crossing (the name escapes me now) and near SM Mega Mall also. Ayala Station is also very convenient. One can say that the Ayala station is the gateway to the Makati business district and the more high-end malls coming from EDSA highway.
When riding the MRT or LRT I get irritated with passengers who lean with their whole body on the vertical handrails, making it difficult to impossible for others to hold on to the rails. There are very few handrails and for people like me who have a hard time reaching the circular things hanging on the horizontal handrails parallel to the seats, vertical rails are the only things that keep me from intimate encounters with the floor whenever the train lurches. Don’t people get it? It’s a handrail and not a backrest or for some, a substitute boyfriend to hug! For the hands my dear…for the hands. I don’t know if these people realize how inconsiderate they are being. Maybe they don’t have any idea because they were not taught at home or in school. Maybe they don’t have any idea that other people are entitled to use the handrails also, that these handrails are public property and not for private use. Whatever it is, maybe I can start educating those I see hogging the handrails like their own private treasure, about the proper etiquette so that they’ll know better. Or maybe I’ll just continue to stew inside whenever I encounter such people. Better yet, why don’t I send this post to DOTC or whatever agency of the government that oversees the MRT and LRTs and they can make a public service commercial to educate commuters on the proper etiquette on riding a train. They can add another reminder “No hogging the handrails” to the “No eating, drinking, and smoking inside the train, No pets allowed in the train, No drunks allowed, etc.”
