Surprise Surprise Surprise

March 1. First day of the month. Again.

I was kind of dreading this day, or errr, every first day of the month, since that would mean I'm back to ZERO. Sales=Php 0, a BIG NO-NO. But i'm excited also of the potential projects that i would be closing, and the new opportunities that might open this month. I have 31 days(which is better than last month's 28 days.rah).

I thought it was gonna be a typical day in the office. Project management.. sales call.. client meeting.. It might seem a bit boring, but it's not. I'm on my feet all the time. I can't sit still (you can ask my team mates, they would probably agree).

Anyway, I wasn't really expecting anything that would surprise me today. I love a good surprise. 'Yung hindi ko nabuking, super unexpected. I could easily smell if there's something fishy going on eh, or if someone's prepping for something. But I would loved to be surprised even though I'm a surprise spoiler. It's hard to surprise me.

This morning, I was checking projects stats, when I got a really, really nice gift:) a SUPER KADUPER nice gift from my client (bribery! joke!). It was placed in this white paper bag. Inside that bag was a box with my gift inside. Kaboom! I was soooo happy!weeee!:). So that's Surprise No.1

When I got back from lunch, I got this call. A very important call. A feedback from last week, which I did not expect, although I was hoping. That's Surprise No. 2.

On my way home, I realized I haven't checked my other phone since morning, ugh. I got missed calls, and unread messages from a very, very important person which I did not expect at all. So when I got home, I called back immediately. It's been a year? I can't believe it. I was soooo happy and excited!:) Surprise No. 3 :)

Can I finally say, "This is IT"? Oh please:)

Tomorrow. Feb 28. End of the Month

Oh dear.. as they say, time flies (well, it really felt like it shoot out of the sky). My last post was dated, July 24, 2010. 7months?! haha. A lot of things happened since then.

I got a JOB. A REAL one. I'm now working as an Account Officer for Brushstroke Creatives, creative division of Union Inks and Graphics, Phil. Inc, Member of the Primer Group of Companies (and yes, I have to say that EVERY TIME). I've been with the company for 6months and 2 weeks. More on that later!

My mom and I went to mom's office to pick up some stuff from what's left of her desk. She retired from work last month. And now, she stays at home, constantly packing old stuff and cleaning every corner of the house (neat freak). And the most important thing I did was to buy Maddee supplies (na-bankrupt na naman ako ni Maddee)

Anyway, while I was on my way home, this kinda stuck to my head, "Tomorrow's Feb 28, end of the month. geez, what to do next? _______ " blank. oh no.

I have submitted yesterday my Sales and Activity Report (we have work on saturdays:( ). I will submit tomorrow my liquidation and reimbursement forms, Official Business Docs, etc; prep for another presentation, prep target clients. All deliveries and installations scheduled tomorrow, which leaves me with NOTHING. I got nothing else to do.

I was supposed to watch The Time Traveler's Wife on HBO, but my mom beat me to the TV in HER room.haha. I didn't want to watch downstairs so sa Wednesday night na lang for the replay.

My CityVille energy is down to 0. haha. sooo addicting. I check it in the morning when I get to the office, before I leave the office, and before I sleep. haha.

This post is going nowhere as you've probably notice. End of the month tomorrow. What have I been doing? What should I be doing? Sigh.

Please give me more time to collect my thoughts:)

Pizza Nights

Every Friday, my brother comes home and he always, always, always, always orders Pizza. He works at the Petron Refinery in Bataan, that’s why he only comes home on weekends or every other. I forgot where exactly the plant is, but it’s far away from the city area. The nearest fastfood resto, Jolibee, I think, is 30 minutes away (that is, if you have a car). From my place, the mall’s like 5 minutes away or even less.

So every time he comes back to Manila, he gets so excited about everything (he won't admit it, but it sure looks like it). Malls, restos, chill spots, and pizza - he can’t get enough.

I love Pizza too. But my brother, he love-loves pizza. He can finish a whole box of party size or even two. He craves for Pizza. His favorites - 1. Pizza Hut’s Supreme or Bacon Cheeseburger (my fave too!) with regular stuffed crust (this one’s a must!); 2. Shakey’s Manager’s Choice Thin Crust (he has a card, so it’s plus 1- Pepperoni pizza with Coke; 2 pizzas for the price of 1? You can‘t get better than that. Super sulit); And,3. Yellow Cab’s Manhattan Meatlovers (I don’t like YCab but this is one of their best).

What amazes me is that even if he comes home late, he would still be able to find a pizza place who’ll deliver. Mom and I would be thinking, “Hmm, may nag-dedeliver pa pala ng ganitong time?”

Every Friday Night, when he is here, we always have pizza for late snacks. I love that.:)

When he’s not here, we don’t have pizza, and I miss that :(

What I really love about Friday night, well, it’s not just having pizza. It’s spending time with my big bro. And I really, really miss that.

It might be cheesy but it’s true. Cheesy, just like my favorite pizza :)

MB
07.24.2010
13:30

Hmm

Hmm, I have something to say. If you’re gonna start reading, then don’t stop ‘til you finish.

Charles, my boyfriend (hmm, that sounded good:) ), had this thing with this chick. They’ve probably known each other right before I came into the picture. It was fine with me (just as long as his FB status says he's with me :P). Just as the good girlfriend that I was, when they’re having relationship troubles, he would call me up. Sometimes I even ask him, how they are doing (bummer).

Ever since summer, I’ve noticed they’ve been going steady (you’ve probably noticed that too). Well, I can’t do anything because I wasn’t in school anymore. So I let them be.

They spend so much time together- early morning ‘til school is over. And they couldn’t get enough of it, they spend Saturdays together too. So Charles and I were left with the Sundays.

I was a little jealous. Okay, I was really jealous. He promised me it’s gonna be over soon. I hope it will. By the way, did I mention the chick’s name?

It’s “Thesis”. Haha! You can stop reading now.

Here’s the real deal.

I just got a phone call from my baby. It was about their thesis defense. I was waiting- a bit anxious (you know how a defense goes, even if the thesis is good, the panel will still grill you as much as they can. And after the grueling experience- sweaty palms, stuttering, nudging thesismates for the answer, trickling sweat down your forehead or your back. It was all worth it.

Sleepless nights, no-taking-a-bath-because-we-have-to-hurry days (eww), slight inis with thesis mates about the workload and being neurotic about everything thesis. It was really all worth it.

I was waiting for his call. I tried texting and calling him, but he wasn’t answering (‘cause he’s probably busy, stupid), so I started praying. My mom even called and asked for Charles’ full name and the time they’re supposed to defend. ‘Cause she’s gonna pray for them too, just like what she did when I defended mine. (And look what happened with my thesis, good omen huh)

I knew he was gonna do well (of course, he will!). I believe in him. I knew he put so much work into it. He gave his full effort and his time, even our time.haha:P

He called me right after. I was so happy he called me first (thanks, babe! meant a lot!). I don’t know much of the details but they did well - a couple of revisions, but it’s nothing they couldn’t fix.

Congratulations! I’m sooo proud of you, baby! I love you to bits:)

MB
07.20.2010
12:40

Battle of the “Humans”:P

…because everyone, well, almost everyone is an animal. No pun intended.:P

Ateneo - Blue Eagles, UST - Growling Tigers, FEU - Tamaraws, Adamson - Soaring Falcons, NU - Bulldogs, and UP - Maroons? Obviously, I’m not sure what theirs is, other than it, being a color. It’s not an animal, and not even human. Everytime I see it, I always remember this certain character, alien dude from Fantastic 4, the Silver Surfer. ‘Di ba? They’re so alike!

Anyway, enough about my fascination with the Silver Surfer (I promise you, I will ask my friend, what “Maroons” mean and that popular humanlike figure, because I really don‘t have any idea).

As you’ve noticed, I’ve been keeping you updated with LaSalle’s gameplay and standing in the UAAP. I know you’ve got lots of things to do and maybe even too busy to watch, and since I’ve got nothing much to do, I might as well blog about it and keep ME busy, and YOU updated.

Good games from good teams last Sunday. They are the ones I usually watch. 1st game was the battle of the animals, Blue Eagles VS Growling Tigers. Ateneo won, but it’s actually a pretty even game. If they went into overtime, maybe UST would have won. As we all know, Ateneo lost their good players - Al-Husseine, Reyes and Baclao, but no worries (or is there?), ’cause they still have Salamat, Salva, Long, and Buenafe, who have all experienced being Champs. UST also lost key players - Ababou and Mirza but they still have Teng, Fortuna, the big guy, and the rookie (forgot the name, sorry! Will edit soon)

2nd Game - Battle of the Archers and the Warriors. It’s a very interesting game. LaSalle won with a whopping 19 points lead, 82-63. Everyone on court did their share, pretty even distribution of points, unlike the previous games.

A lot of players stood out, especially Paredes. He shoots, he scores. He assists, that person scores. Someone else shoots or tries to shoot, he gets the rebound. He did an overall good job, for a rookie. Here are some players that stood out and stuck to mind - Villanueva, Marata, Ferdinand, Andrada, Atkins, and Tolentino.

I think the reason why LaSalle won that game was because everyone really tried to contribute in terms of the offensive plays, and the defense was quite intact. Pretty even match-up in terms of height- everyone was as tall or as short(if you call 5’8” short) as everyone else.

With UE, one player obviously gave us his A-game, and that’s Paul Lee. When he had to take a rest because he suffered from an injury, LaSalle took advantage and scored some points. When he got back in, I think that’s the only time UE scored again. Unfortunately, his other teammates didn’t bring their A-game. You can’t always rely on one star player or go-to person when everything else fails.

Good job Archers! I just hope they continue the winning streak. I’m kinda worried that it might turn into a pattern: win-lose-win-lose, and 4th game is against their biggest rival. So good luck with that. It should be win-lose-win-win-win-win-’til the finals. Haha. Okay, take a rest and lose in some other games, but better get back that Final Four slot. Haha.

What I love about this game is that the Green Archers showed us that they believe they could win the game, they didn’t give up. That’s the attitude that we’ve been missing for quite some time. And I hope to see more of that attitude, and more of that belief in the coming games, especially the next!

And I really, really hope that they could bring their A-game this Saturday. Ateneo looks like they’re on rocky grounds themselves, just like LaSalle. That’s gonna be a showdown! (Hopefully!)

DLSU-ADMU rivalry- one of the best, for sure. I can’t wait to watch it.:)

July 24, Saturday
Games at the Araneta Coliseum
NU vs. UE - 12pm (2pm on Studio 23)
DLSU vs. ADMU - 4pm, live broadcast on Studio 23 (gates open at 3pm for the 2nd game)

MB
07.20.2010
8:35 am

What happened?

I did say, they might surprise us again, and so they did.
Well, I hope it’s just nerves. Yesterday, July 15, was DLSU’s 2nd game and it was against the NU Bulldogs.

Just a short background - the Green Archers last game, last season was against NU. It was a sweet victory for NU because in UAAP history (24 years since LaSalle came in), that’s only the 3rd time they've beaten LaSalle in basketball. Even if they won that game, they won’t get into the Final Four, it’s just ending on a high with bragging rights. For LaSalle, however, it’s such a sorry loss, because it’s the first time in their UAAP history that they didn’t get into the Final Four. I remember feeling sad and dismayed about the game, watching the Archers falter.

I don’t know what happened yesterday. Both teams scored very low, 59-55 if I’m not mistaken. And it’s not because of good defense, it’s more of poor offensive plays. The players weren’t at their best. First half, MBE, NU’s key player was just dominating it, drilling it, point after point. And it paved the way for a big lead for NU. They also got big men on the court. Of course, in person, I’m sure the Green Archers are also big but not as gigantic as NUs and I think they’ve used that so much to their advantage. And 3-point shooting wasn’t working at all for DLSU.

I was sad watching the game. I thought it was gonna be payback time but it just opened that big scar the Bulldogs left last season.

What I liked about the game was that we’ve seen new faces on the court. Pumaren was trying to juggle the line-up, probably trying to ignite something but it didn’t work out. They got good by the end though, but it was already too late and time wasn’t on their side.

Thing is, I expected so much because of what they’ve shown last Saturday. I really hope that it’s just the nerves. We’ll see this Sunday : )

MB
07.16.2010
11:30

What saved me from Brownout Boredom

It started Tuesday night, around 11:30 p.m., I was watching TV as usual, when the electricity went out. I knew that there was a storm coming (Basyang) but I didn’t expect that electricity would be cut off because it wasn’t evident yet.

When it hit Manila, it surely was one hell of a storm. You can really hear the wind, it was so loud and so strong. I was awake for about 2 hours ‘til I fell asleep. I wake up the next morning and found the car inside the garage drenched, seems like it got into a muddy, leafy carwash. Everyone was trying to clean up the mess.

I was waiting (so patiently-sarcastic tone) for the lights to turn on, but the electricity was still out and it continued ‘til the next day. I was so bummed because the houses along our street, before the bridge have their lights on already. And we had to wait for another 18 hours. It was from 11:30, Tuesday night ‘til 2 pm of Thursday. All in all, it was almost 40 hours, and I didn’t expect that at all.

So what saved me from brownout boredom?

1. Maddee - my puppy who’s 7 months now. She loves to sleep but when she’s awake, she’s always on hyper-mode. She and the other dogs kept me sane.

2. My sister’s Ipod. It saved me from hours of “got nothing to do ‘cause there’s no electricity” time. And it helped me sleep because I always have the TV on sleep mode, and that’s the only alternative.

3. Mom’s cellphone. Both of my phones failed me, they died just when I needed them. Good thing, my mom let me borrow her cellphone. I was praying that it had initial charge because it was still new, it’s still in the box. It lasted ‘til the electricity got back.

4. Emergency light. It actually saved me more from the darkness. I hate it, I’m afraid of the dark. But I enjoyed having it around, because every time I switched it to flashlight mode, Maddee tries to catch the light until she gets tired. Haha. Saved me from a few minutes of staring into space.

5. Cross-stitch. Haha. I know. So I bought this cross-stitch packet last week, and good thing it came handy during the day.

6. Piano. When the electricity’s out and Ipod’s out, you know you can always count on your good ol’ piano to make music. Guitars count too.

7. Eclipse. I read a few chapters that I liked. I love the story and of course, the love triangle (cheezy) and it saved me for hours.

8. Jo - one of my best friends since grade school. We haven’t spoken for 3 years and he called me last Wednesday night and it was so fun catching up. We reminisced about good old times and of course, dishing out on the love life.

There you go. I’ll probably keep them handy for the next storm, if the electricity will be cut off again, hope it won’t be that long next time.

MB
07.15.2010
19:00