Signs

So lately I've been asking God, the universe for signs whether or not I should still go on with the nail spa and lately I've also been seeing more of these let go quotes, etc. But the internet, tumblr most especially is teeming with these so even if I feel they're God's answer to my question, I'm still asking for this one sign that I'm 100% sure is the sign I've been waiting for. 

via

For now, albeit these signs speak to me (or maybe I just want them to mean what I want them to mean), I'm still waiting for this unmistakable sign whether to let go or hold on.

Back to Life. Back to Reality.

The visitors have gone back to Canada. Summer is almost over. I'm back in my room (malinis pa siya but I'm sure it'll be a mess in no time). Now I have no excuse to dilly dally and fix the shop's papers and find manicuristas. Blech.

But Korea's only 95 days away! YAY! I'm so excited for Korea, but first I have to renew my passport and get a visa. Plus, I also need to lose weight. I look like a frickin' blob. I want pictures in Korea and to do so, I need to get down to a less-blob-looking weight. But OMG I am so so so excited to get my paws on those kimchi pancakes!

Last week, got to witness Pilipinas Got Talent's finals. I don't really watch the show but since mommy wants to watch and we have tickets, to the MOA Arena we went. But I wasn't really awed by the performances. I enjoyed watching The Voice's weekly sing-offs more. Plus, I don't like the winner. I would have gone for the fireworks-twirling talent or the contortionist kids. Here's the video of the winners:

First, I found it mahalay. Yes, this is Tita Prude talking hehe. Second, I don't find them graceful. Their dismounts weren't flawless. If the judges criticized the other groups for not performing flawlessly, I feel they should also call out this group on their far-from-perfect stunts. See 1:46 of the video. Magaling naman kung sa magaling pero hindi perfect. As compared to this performace...

Diba ang smooth ng transitions? Hindi parang naguumpugang bato? This is my opinion and I'm sure a lot doesn't agree with me... obviously, because they won. Again, I'm not saying they're not good. I'm just saying there were groups who performed much better, hindi lang kakaiba ang talent, ie. aerial dancing.

More updates...

I finally submitted my AFS. Huzzah :) So I treated myself to a Blk 513 frozen yogurt and this

I wanted this old document feel to my to-do notebook pero parang hindi pa din haha. I'll post a page when I finally attain the look I want. And oh, I also got a pair of Tom's on sale. They're more expensive than my pair of Le Bunny Bleu which I only got for 700, but still they're half the original price, plus I need new footwear.

Ayun lang naman. Half of the year is done. That was fast, no? So it's the second half in a few days which means I need to start production ☺

I just want to share this video I first saw on Facebook

Naiyak ako, promise. I was kinda losing my faith in humanity then I see this video... so medyo na-restore naman ng unti. You see, I really don't like it when people make diskarte cos for me, diskarte has a negative connotation. Hindi puede pero pag nadiskartehan, puede na. Ewan. I pray there'll be more of this homeless man in the world.

And on that note... only 107 days 'til Korea 

I Need To Read More Books

Nakakaloka kalahati na naman ng buwan ang lumipas!!! Seriously, I don't know how these days get by unnoticed. I need to pass my audited financial statements and GIS within this week at hindi ko pa siya nagagawa. FML. Though.... this is not actually a problem. Madali lang i-solve at gawin. Katamaran ko lang talaga ang kalaban. I'm still happy that life is good and orders are coming in. This is just an update post on my meaningless, consumer driven life. Hahaha.

So I voted. Big news. Whoopdeedoo. Haha. Anyway, I voted for who my instinct told me to vote for- si Madam. I was initially for Grace Poe because there's no way I'm voting for Mar nor Binay, however when I found out that the Cojuangcos are backing up her campaign, I had second thoughts whether or not to vote her as my president. My mom and dad are for Duterte and even if his promise to curb crime and the proliferation of drugs is very tempting, may reservations pa rin ako. But still, I'd vote Duterte over Mar. Yun lang his statements regarding rape, the Spratlys and that the stock exchange isn't real money- medyo may apprehension talaga ako. So I went with what heart (hindi si Chiz, FYI) and voted for MDS.

Date movie with AC. We watched This Time (claro que sí) and Just the Three of Us. Between the two, mas bet ko ang John Lloyd- Jennylyn movie. Honestly, hindi naman sila nagkakalayo. I found both movies lacking. I don't know how to explain- parang both movies were supposed to happen within this long time frame kaya medyo slow na masyadong quick yung transition between the scenes. I say Just the 3 of Us is better because it's more funny, kahit papaano may conflict at climax sa story although I still don't know when John Lloyd's character started to fall for Jennylyn's. That part of the story, for me, was lacking. With This Time naman, cute-cutan lang, eklavu eklavu and there was no real conflict. They were childhood friends and year in, year out they have had the same set-up. After the loooooongest time, they finally become girlfriend-boyfriend. Girl suddenly expects more- ayaw niya daw kausap ang laptop cheverloo. Umm, girl, you already knew what you were getting into. Anong gusto mo, magrelocate siya sa Pilipinas para sa'yo? Eh mag-jowa pa lang naman kayo. Daming emote. So ayun ang ayaw ko sa movie.

And just this Friday, had late lunch with Ama Jo. Para maiba naman, we had lunch at Quik Snack. This was what we had:

crispy oyster lumpia

pork adobo-ish with pakas

Wasn't able to transfer the photo of the duck misua. All were good, infernez, and of course the dishes had me at... wansoy. Well, my heart still belongs to Wai Ying but it's also good to try new things ☺ We had bingsu for dessert because they already have Hobing in Lucky Chinatown!

I think I've finally reached my saturation point for bingsu.

Umm, so that's it for now. I still have to have my AFS notarized somewhere...

Gratitude List

source

Again, I have soooooo much to be grateful for. Some things may not be going my way but generally, life has been good.

♦ THE ORDERS JUST KEEP ON COMING This year has been really, really good to me and I hope it stays that way ☺ I know I have to take care of my customers and ensure the quality of my products so they'll keep on coming back and also refer me and my services to their friends, acquaintances, countrymen... hehehe. I computed last month's sales and it was almost equal to my sister's bank officer salary but I don't have transportation expenses and food is on the house, literally. I know it's still not enough, that I have still have to augment my income if I want true financial freedom, but for now, I'm happy with what I do for a living.

♦ NEW EATS I love to eat! Obvious ba? Although people still get surprised that I don't eat that much. However, I've always loved trying out new places to eat most especially if there's cheese involved.

McDonald's BBQ burger. Lasa nga namang bbq, nagkulang lang sa presentation. I loved the cheese dip for the fries though.

OMG this Korean restaurant AC took us to- FTW. Lakas maka-millennial ng acronyms.

plain fried chicken and bbq chicken (ata)

snow cheese chicken ♥

and my favorite- kimchi omelette ganern

I wanna go baaaaack!!! Nabitin ako. Now I'm super craving for Korean food.

Another new burger place along Congressional road I tried with V.

these fries are to die for

but this burger, not so much. hahaha
we expected more cheese. 

Sabi nga ni V, buti na lang we ordered the bacon cheese fries which was the redeeming factor in our Cheddar Burst experience. The burger was okay although we were expecting a cheesier burger, hehehe. Well if you named your burger place Cheddar Burst eh dapat lang naguumapaw sa keso ang burger niyo. Verdict: tinikman ka ngunit kulang.

♦ FAMILY GET-TOGETHERS Because I'm cooped up inside the house almost 24/7, seven days a week- gala with my family is always welcome. One Sunday we had lunch with Manang C who was home for a two week vacation from Switzerland (taray). April 17 we had lunch with another cousin from Canada who's been assigned here for two years for work. Last week  was mommy's side of the family's reunion and although it wasn't really that fun, I had fun with mommy, ate, nephews and cousin in our after-party coffee session.

Puede ko na rin masali and lakwatsa and movie dates namin ni ate. I used to do this before with AB before she moved to New York. Buti na lang nakahanap kami ng middle ground ni AC kasi she doesn't like superhero or apocalyptic or zombie movies. So we watch Tagalog romcoms or comedies. Our latest watch was Echorsis which was a super fun movie and tomorrow is our schedule to watch Jadine's This Time.

♦ ANOTHER NIECE/NEPHEW ON THE WAY Ze sister is pregnant again. A baby is always a blessing. Sana lang matauhan na asawa niya na love only will not keep them alive. He was to find a away to financially support his family. We cannot live on freebies alone.

That said, thank You ☺ I hope You bless us more.

Hit-Or-Miss

Ganyan ang buhay ko ngayon. Not that it's bad but right now I am just taking things one day at a time. Well, it's how I've been living life since, umm, after I graduated from college? Haha. Bahala na si Batman. I'll do what I think I should do in this life- make a living, pay my bills, enjoy my time with family and friends, be happy. I've stopped taking things seriously when I've acknowledged that we can plan all we want but if things aren't meant to be, they will not happen and vice versa. Well yes, masyadong fatalistic but as I see it, it's pretty much what happens. I'm not saying I'll just wait for things to happen but I'll still put my best efforts in and in the event that it doesn't (or does) happen, then I'll have to understand that's just how the universe works.

So what's eating me these days? The same as to what was eating me 11 years ago- ze nail shop. Mantakin mo 11 years na pala siya at hanggang ngayon paikot pa rin ng funds. But to be fair, it was what paid for my Spanish language classes in IC. Anyway, after being evicted from original place of business, business has been slow that nail technicians stopped going to work (na walang pasabi!) and it's been a Herculean task to find new ones and equally difficult to make them stay. I tend to get easily affected by stuff happening around me so there was this one time I was venting out to my friend, C, how I couldn't get new nail techs and the good ones are leaving maybe because they want higher daily pay which I can't give but they won't take commission-based add-ons (because that means they'll have to work for it). C asked what do I get in return from all the stress the shop's been giving me, in other words- kumikita ba siya? I answered her, "None." Her advise was to let it go. And I've seriously considered doing so but I don't want to give up on it yet. I want a sign from God, from the universe. And recently I've been getting a lot of messages to let go like in that Facebook App where you get daily messages from "God" and from this article on Huffington Post.

Part of me really wants to give it up, let go. Part of me wants to give it one more try. Maybe it's my pride. Folding up would mean I lost the village spa wars- I wasn't the last one standing. Maybe it's also realizing there's so much potential in this business and it's actually my source of passive income (if there's any, haha) because I don't have to be there physically for me to earn. The business is heavily dependent on people with a specific skill which makes it difficult to find people who are good at it + honest + masipag + actually cares for the business. My cynicism has been actually brought about by people who have worked for me. Hindi na nga ako naaawa sa mga drama ng mahihirap. Haha. Maka-mahirap ako akala mo naman ang yaman ko, no? Ika nga ng kanta ni Jose Mari Chan, I've been hurt and I've been burned before. Maybe I'll give it until the end of the year.

To be honest, cuticle care hasn't been my passion. I rarely have my maniped done even if I own a nail spa. I'm also thinking that if I close the nail spa, I can focus all my time and manpower (my PA and I) on the scents biz, meaning joining bazaars more often.

Haaaay I don't know. As I've said, I'm just taking things one day at a time.

♦ ♦ ♦

Election day is on Monday already but I haven't decided yet on who to vote for as President. Definitely out na si Mar and Binay. Grace is it still my bet but I'm still considering Duterte and MDS. Si Duterte kasi although doer, napaka-unstatesmanlike. With MDS naman, I feel she's the most qualified for the position but alas, her health concerns concern me. A BBM vice-presidency is possible and if Miriam wins the election but loses her battle with cancer, then the country will have another Marcos as a president at hindi natin gusto yun. Hay, decisions, decisions...

♦ ♦ ♦

And oh, did I mention that we're finally going to Korea on September? Finally! I'm so so so excited ☺ I have to lose weight na talaga para hindi naman ako mukhang blob sa pictures. I'm so friggin' fat already. I'm doing a ClearStart colon cleanse right now and hopefully it works. It's been 12 days since I started and I'm still bloated (o baka taba lang talaga yun?). But hopefully this stuff works. 

So that's it pansit- ang mga ganap sa buhay ko. I'm writing another post on my recent new food finds ☺ and of course, ze gratitude list. Toodles XOXO