It’s funny how sometimes the same season appears in different lives at the same time. What do I mean by this? Like this year is a season for weddings. My friends are getting married this year while some are planning their weddings now for next year. Then a couple of years ago, it was a season for pregnancies. My officemates were pregnant one after another. It was not an unusual sight to see women in maternity clothes instead of office uniforms. Weddings and pregnancies are happy events so a season for weddings and pregnancies are most welcome. Unfortunately, there is also a season for death. Sometimes it feels like everybody is dying. You see white envelopes one after the other being passed around for whatever you can contribute to the family of the officemate who died or one who has a close family member who died. Whenever this happens, I’m just thankful that as in all kinds of seasons, this too also ends.
It must be very hard to be a celebrity. All the attention and publicity and pressure you have to contend with. It’s no wonder that those not strong enough succumb to alcoholism, drug addiction, gambling and other self-destructive habits that help keep the feelings of helplessness at bay. Over the last few years, we have seen how young stars such as Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears, just to name two, battle with substance addiction. They have been in and out of drug rehabs many times and all these struggles have been recorded and splashed in newspapers, tabloids and television for all to see. It’s just so sad. These things make me thankful that I’m just an ordinary person and nobody’s interested in my life. Hehehe
I love to buy the following products in Ilocos:
1. Ilocos weaved blankets – I already have four of them. I like the feel of the blankets, smooth and cuddly. I don’t really use blankets to cover me when I sleep. I like the feel of it when I snuggle my face in it.
2. Ilocos vinegar – I love vinegar, sugar cane or coconut or even commercially made. Some of my friends don’t like the taste of Ilocos vinegar but I like it, even the little bitter taste mixed with the sour. The only vinegar I don’t like is the vinegar smell in some people. Hehehe
3. Vigan longganisa – I just can’t get enough of the garlicky and slightly sour taste, tastes great with vinegar. It ruined my taste for sweet style longganisa from Pampanga. I also like Lucban longganisa from Quezon.
4. Ilocos empanada – Very delicious when it’s piping hot and dipped in, you got it, vinegar. Hehehe
5. Salt – I just think that their rock salt is very fine and very clean looking.
This year three of my close friends are getting married. One in April, another in June then another in October. I was very happy to announce their upcoming nuptials to my other friends and felt very priveleged to be invited to witness this milestone in their lives. My happiness was somewhat marred when friends began asking me, “What’s your role?” The first time somebody asked me, I happily answered, “Just a guest.” But when three more people began asking me the same question, it started me thinking, “Should I have expected to be part of the entourage?” “How come I’m not part of the entourage?” Then the realization that I have never been part of a bridal entourage for my friends. Would being a lector or commentator during my friends’ weddings count? In fairness, only very few of my very close friends have married and those who I think would be getting me for their entourage (you know who you all are…feeling…hehehe) haven’t encountered Mr. Right yet. So I guess I shouldn’t let the question of a role or the lack of it bother me. The only time I had been a bridesmaid was for a distant cousin’s wedding, and I was just a stand in for his sister 
Worse, my childhood has already been blighted because I have never been a FLOWER GIRL!!!!!!!! My paternal aunts and uncles who were unmarried when I was born got married only when I was already in high school and they did not require any bridal entourage. Hmphhh… As for my maternal uncles, I have no idea when they got married. Now, I can almost sympathize with my friends who are pushing me to get married so that their daughters would become flowere girls. What they do not know is that if I do get married, I don’t plan to have any entourage. Hehehe
I’d like to thank my friends Betchii, for making my new banner, and Neil for putting it up. Sometimes it’s really not what but who you know 
Thanks a lot for all the help and the support!!! Mwaahhhh!
Last Monday on my way home, I was unfortunate enough to ride beside a man who can’t sit still. He kept wriggling and checking his wallet, which he placed at his back pocket, as most men are wont to do. The ride was already uncomfortable with us four passengers squeezed together in the middleseat without him wriggling about like a big fat worm. I don’t know why he kept checking his pockets, it’s not as if there were people inside the FX interested in his coins. Not content with wriggling, he had to squeeze himself in so that he can rest his back on the backrest. I was already hunched besided him. Some people are just so grrrr….
Blogging is a great pastime. You get to write about the things you want and post it in the Internet. Now you can even get paid to blog about certain products or services. Advertisers can connect with possible customers through personal blogs. It’s a new way to advertise, advertise on blogs. In the old days advertisers pay top money just to drum up interest in their products through newspaper advertisements but now there are cheaper and more effective alternatives. Smorty is one such alternative. It connects advertisers with thousands of bloggers in their network. Now, advertisers can get their products or services talked about in different creative ways, they even get to choose which advertisements to accept or discard. Want your product to be buzzworthy? Then go ahead and try blog advertising.
As for bloggers like me, being part of Smorty makes it possible to get paid for blogging. Signing up is easy and best of all free. Smorty makes it possible for me to connect to a lot of advertisers whose products are related to the things I write about. It’s a great incentive to something I already love to do.
Isn’t it great when you earn money for doing something you love to do?
When my friends and I went to Singapore, we relied on the Internet to check out hotels suited to our budget. We made an online hotel reservation so that we can be sure that we had a place to stay when we arrived. Hotel reservations through the Internet make it easy to check out hotel accommodations in the places you want to visit, especially if you are not familiar with the place and you do not have friends who can advise you.
Hotelreservations.com is a one-stop site where you cannot only check out the different hotels, motels and vacation rentals but it also offers complete vacation packages. By online booking, you can avail of hotel discounts, which means big savings and more pocket money to spend on the different shops you want to visit. In order to help you in your choice of accommodation, not only are the rates published but also customer ratings. Furthermore, once you have narrowed down your options, you can click on the choices and compare amenities to arrive at the best possible deal.
Not only that, you can also book your flights through this site. Armed only with your flight schedule and preferred destination, you can check out a myriad of flight options from the lowest to the more expensive flights and book your preferred flight with just a click of a button. If your not comfortable booking online, they also have reservations agents that you can call, toll free.
Their service does not only end with your hotel and flight bookings. When you get to your preferred destination, you can also check the available car rentals on this site beforehand. You have a lot of options with competitive prices at weekly rates.
Now, the adventure of a lifetime, or a pleasant and hassle-free business trip is just a click away.
It’s really sad that we have to be always on guard about our belongings. Nothing is ever safe from quick fingers.
Earlier while I was in Megamall, I had two slightly embarrassing experiences. If I reacted to them then it could have been a lot more embarrassing. The first one happened in one of the restrooms. I was washing my hands (this sounds familiar?) and I had to reached out to get soap from the liquid dispenser. The girl beside me was combing her hair when she involuntarily raised her hand in the act of getting her cellphone that she placed in the sink in front of her when she saw me reach for the soap dispenser near her cellphone. I just ignored what could have been an insult because you can’t be too careful nowadays. I would have done the same thing in her place. I acted as if I did not see what she did and when I glanced at her casually after that without making any eye contact, I saw that she had on a sheepish grin. Good thing I don’t get insulted easily I think she was more embarrassed than I was.
The second incident happened in Sari-Sari. While waiting for my friend Beth to arrive, I tried on a blouse that I fell in love with and decided to buy it. When I got out of the fitting room, I saw that Beth had already arrived. So I went to the cashier to pay for my purchase. It was somewhat a slow transaction that when I looked around for Beth, I could no longer see her at the store. When I finished with my transaction, I walked to the door to look for her. Before I could get out of the store, the scanner sounded. It was quite a loud, annoying buzzing sound that people turned to look. I knew that it had to do with my purchase so I gave the paper bag containing the blouse and the receipt to the guard who was approaching. He was puzzled as he took the bag and saw that there was a receipt already. He took it back to the cashier. There, the two ladies who assisted me looked sheepish and very apologetic because they forgot to take off the scanning apparatus (is that the right term?) when they released the item to me.
I was waiting for a jeepney to bring me to MRT Buendia station when I saw an FX bound for Megamall pass by. I quickly flagged it down even thougn I already had a single journey MRT card for Shaw that I bought earlier on my way to Buendia. I was in Makati for a meeting.
Every commuting experience is different from one another. Sure some are more memorable than others but it’s always a different experience. Take for example my earlier commuting story. It was like short story that had comedy, drama, and even a little bit of song thrown in (no dancing-impossible in the very tight space). So there I was settling in my seat at the middle. A short while later, two passengers (male and female) got in at the back. The radio was playing and both of them sang along softly. I thought, “Weird.” But I just shrugged my shoulders (mentally). To each her/his own. Besides, they just sang a few lines. Anyway, another passenger also got in. When she sat down she paid P10 right away. The driver asked where she would disembark. She replied, “Guadalupe.” The driver advised her that it would be best if she took a jeepney because the fare for the FX was fixed at P25 whether your destination was near or far. She was very obliging and got off the FX. Another passenger got in on the same seat vacated by the previous female passenger. She paid P25 and told the driver that she was getting off at Estrella, this was way nearer to Buendia than Guadalupe was but, what the heck, she was willing to pay. So there we were coasting along nicely until we got to EDSA. I think the driver forgot about the Estrella passenger because when we neared the Rockwell Flyover, he asked us where we were getting off to determine what route he will take. It was determined that the nearest disembarkation point was Robinsons Pioneer. The old man sitting in front told the driver he was getting off at Crossing. The driver told him that it was ok since Crossing was further than Rob P was. Then just to make sure, the driver asked the passengers again if they agreed that Rob P was the nearest drop off point for any of us. Nobody answered, signifying our assent. The old man again piped up, “Crossing ako.” No one paid him any mind.
Just as the driver manuevered the FX so that we entered the Rockwell Flyover, a passenger spoke up that she was getting off at Estrella. We were already about 30 meters inside the flyover. The driver immediately stopped and started backing out of the flyover. Good thing there were very few cars entering the flyover that time and there were no policemen in the vicinity or the driver would have been toast. As he aptly put it, “Di makakabili ng gatas yung pamasahe.” (The fare cannot buy milk). The driver of course was pissed off with the passenger and complained but it was an understandable and he wasn’t violent in his complaints or anything like that. He was trying to avoid traffic at EDSA but if she had spoken earlier, he wouldn’t have entered the flyover. Fortunately, the passenger just stayed silent.
All throughout the travel, the driver was commenting that with the heavy traffic, it was very hard to earn money from driving. Nobody was paying him much attention. The singing passengers interspersed their conversation with some singing when the tune playing from the radio was catchy, e.g. Hotel California. And when there were passengers that got off at Robinsons Pioneer, the old man again repeated to the driver, “Crossing ako.” I don’t know if it was his first time to go to Crossing and was afraid to get lost or he just wanted to remind the driver that he was getting off at Crossing in case the driver decided to veer away from EDSA. When we reached Crossing, traffic was quite heavy and the red light caught the FX a fair distance from the Shaw-EDSA intersection. The driver told the old man that if he wanted to alight, he should do so now because once the light turned green, the nearest stop would be Megamall. The old man got off in a huff because I’m sure he felt it was still some distance away. Good thing he alighted from the FX when he did because when the light turned green, all the vehicles, including the one we were in, were racing to cross the intersection before the light turned red. It would have been impossible to stop someplace before the intersection and it was a longer walk back to Shaw from Megamall.
