Do you throw away things that you think have already served their purpose? I usually don’t. I don’t like to trash envelopes even if it means crowding my drawer more. I don’t throw away custom presentation folders, one of which I got from an employer four years ago. I still use it when I carry around some important, must-not-be-folded documents. Paper bags? Yes, I’ve alloted a portion of my cabinet for them. The balikbayan box I sent from Japan had many paper bags in it. Many ads and discount coupons are placed in our mailbox but I still keep most of them until they expire, even if I only have 1% possibility of using those coupons. When I was still with Epson in Cebu, I was the one who kept the boxes of the omiyage brought by visitors from Japan. I’m pretty sure I’ve placed them in my cabinet at home but I haven’t checked if they’re still in good condition!
The other day, we received an email regarding this year’s dinner and dance. The venue has already been decided, at the newly-opened Resorts World Sentosa! Which specific hotel it is, I still don’t know. But the company’s annual big event will be in May and I’m already this excited. I was lucky last year because I joined the company on the first day of April, and the confirmation of attendance was due mid-April. It was held in Hilton Singapore Hotel.
My family encountered a tough time when I was still a child. My father was finishing college at that time while supporting a wife, three kids, two siblings-in-law and a step-mother. We rarely had red meat dishes on the table. Most of the time, we had herring either fried or grilled for lunch and dinner, and scrambled eggs for breakfast. Not the McDonald-style, rather it was often mixed with tomatoes and onions. I don’t like tomatoes, but it’s cheaper if cooked that way. I was not even aware there’s a thing such as sunny side up!
I had enough of scrambled eggs so I had lost cravings for it for quite sometime. When I went to college, I got introduced to sunny side up in “tapsilog”. It was so new to me, tasted really good, so I ate tapsilog more than three times a week! Eggs might be rich in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) but I think I had been taking in too much of it so I tried to get over my love of sunny-side-up. Years have passed and I’ve learned new ways in cooking eggs, I’m now back to the old habit. But it’s really hard to resist especially if eaten with pancakes. Yummy!
My mother is still in her mid-fifties. But she is already complaining about painful joints. In fact, when I was in my teens, she suffered a kind of arthritis that kept her bedridden for days. Thank God, she recovered from it. I didn’t know until I last came home that she had a little accident: she fell off from a habal-habal (motorcycle). My cousin told me that my mother had a painful dilemma after the accident, walking around like a 90-year old. Each step she made was clearly painful to her. She had to undergo therapy to make her walk normally again. Until now, she complains about painful joints, maybe also because she’s getting older. I want her to try out a joint supplement but I think she needs more than that. She moves around much but I think she needs to have some kind of exercise. I still need to convince her to do just that. Above all, she really needs to follow a healthy lifestyle.
My father was only 5 feet 4 inches tall. My mother stands at only 4 feet 11 inches. So, I’m not really surprised why I could not join beauty contests. As if I’d be qualified even if I get the minimum height requirement! Also, I don’t have the guts to wear a swimsuit in front of many people. But being tall really have its advantages. Like getting the luggage from the overhead compartment. There was one time when I was the last one to get off the plane because I couldn’t reach my luggage. I had to call a flight attendant to help me. I want Shaynna to have the height advantage. At least it won’t be difficult for her if she wants to be a flight attendant. But I’m not really sure if it is safe to let her take hgh supplements. If they are safe, are they really effective? With the help of such supplements or not, I just hope Shaynna would grow at least 3 inches taller than me.
My first visit to a “real” hair salon was six years ago. By this, I mean those salons that are air-conditioned with the comfortable, rotating chairs. Since I was little, I always went with my mother to her hairdresser. That hairdresser did her job at her house. That was when I was introduced to a hair serum. I did occasionally put on conditioner to my hair, but putting on that hair serum did better job to my hair. Now, there are salons and spas everywhere. When I had the worst acne breakout as a highschool student, I went to a dermatologist. That did not solve the problem. I still have acne. Will facials be effective against acne? I would like to find out but I cower each time my friends tell me how painful it is. A few years from now, I will definitely be introduced to wrinkle serum. I just hope that I’m done with acne before I start holding off aging. But are serums, creams, etc. really effective?
The school year is almost over in the Philippines and I’m looking at few activity options for Shaynna during summer break. She once asked me if she could join in one of those ballet dance lessons. She might have been bored last summer, but what attracted her most to ballet is the tutu! She even asked me to buy her one when she saw some tutus at the mall. If I were to decide, I would love her to take some horse-back riding lessons. Little girls really look good in an equestrian apparel! Unfortunately, there’s no such lesson offered in my hometown and if there were, it’s definitely costly. So I am left with: ballet, piano, painting, or swimming lesson. But for Shaynna, it’s definitely the one with the tutus.
Common TV advertisements in the Philippines are of hair products and food. Of course since the start of the campaign period and even way earlier, TV commercials are often those of the politicians. I don’t often watch local channels here in Singapore but when I do, anti aging products commercials are shown, like sunblocks. Must also be a reminder for me that I need to concern myself with these things. I don’t really like putting on sunblock even here in Singapore where it is a must. But if I don’t want to age real fast because of the sun, I should just bear with the sticky feel of the sunblock. I’m still looking for that brand that won’t add to the burden of my oily face.
Sunset now comes late, usually at almost 8PM. Sunshine at 4PM feels like it’s still 1PM. But it’s really nice to go out of the office when it’s still bright. At least my body won’t feel that it worked real hard during the day.
I actually had second thoughts about going to the airshow because I was alone. But having borrowed an SLR made me look forward to taking photos. I did not enjoy the aerobatics because I spent half an hour searching for a part of the camera that wasn’t there! (Ahh, in this case, ignorance was definitely not bliss). The aerobatics started at exactly 11:30AM, scorching hot that I had to hide in the shade. But there were some who really brave the heat. I lacked zooming power so the plane and the helicopter in the photo look like flies…
How did I get my hands on a ticket?
I was on my way to the conference room when one of the managers came out from their office looking for one of my teammates. Manager #2 couldn’t find that person, then Manager #1 just blurted out “then we have a winner right here”, looking at my direction. When asked if I’d be willing to go to the airshow, I immediately said yes.
How did I get to the venue?
My place is about 15 minutes to the venue by taxi, according to www.gothere.sg. There was a shuttle from the Changi Airport Terminal 3 but I was running late for the aerobatics so I took a cab. When the driver learned that I am going to the airshow, he grumbled all the way saying that all the other drivers refuse to take passengers there because they couldn’t get any passenger on their way back. Even referring to the trip as “buy one take one free”. I don’t really like hearing something like this so when I got off, I gave him twice the fare on the meter. After all those rants, he still refused. Taxi drivers here in Singapore might be very vocal but they are really honest. They don’t overcharge and they don’t expect passengers to give tips.
This doesn’t come often so I mustered my courage to borrow an SLR from my housemate. Thank you very much H for lending me your SLR! Will post the pictures soon!
It’s IT Show again from March 11- 14! This time, it would be held in Suntec. It’s only been less than 6 months from the last IT Expo, the third time for me since coming to Singapore, but I have not bought anything, have not taken advantage of the freebies. I hope that I could find good laptop deals because I badly need a new one. My current laptop suddenly turns off because it heats up quite fast. I could no longer enjoy watching a movie while doing some work a the same time! Anyway, if you’re planning to come to Singapore, make it so that you could visit an IT show, especially if you are planning to buy a new TV.
