Holler.

I have a confession to make- I slept at 4 am watching the AlDub concert on YouTube. No denying the pair has chemistry but I still am baffled as to the HUGE popularity of their loveteam. I tried watching the Kalyeserye chuva online cos I really want to get what all the fuss pero parang hindi ko talaga siya ma-gets. My cousin who watches this religiously said that you'd have to watch it from the start to 'get it.' After watching the concert last, I think I just might. Haha!

***

Remember my friend who died last June? Her father also died just last week. Very sad news and I'm affected because I also knew him and he's my father's friend, too. This friend of mine, we were not very close but we were neighbors and she's my client too so we still get to talk to each other once in a while. Her death was so sudden and that's when you suddenly feel that life is really short. Ako, feeling ko hindi ko kaya when my parents will leave us and it is not a matter of if but when. I love life but I don't think I can handle such heartache and so I would always prefer to leave this world before any of my parents do. But now I'm changing my mind. I don't want to be selfish. I don't want to subject my parents to such heartache. After what happened to Mang Raul, I don't think I'd want my parents to undergo such sorrow.

Ang lungkot. I feel sad, most especially for the wife. Two losses in a year, plus she has to stay strong for the grandchild. I will include them in my prayers. There's a reason for everything. I hope this family find their silver lining.

***

Joining two bazaars this year- high five to me! I'm excited but at the same time SO scared about it- scared that I won't recover and ROI on my investment, scared that I won't be able to meet the demand. I'm just praying that I'll be able to sell everything and more! Natatakot ako cos my pouches aren't here yet :( Packaging is a big factor and my philosophy this year: meron lang only if they ask. Kami rin kasi nangagarag. Kaya in my pictures I didn't include the pouches. But I hope and pray I still get to sell plenty this year :) This is for New York 2016 (totoo na talaga 'to, hehe).

***

Two of my friends have been abroad this month and that means... pasalubong!

stash from Europe

stash from Thailand

Huzzah! I can't wait to try the loofah soap and also can't wait to make my own loofah soap :)

I also bought craft supplies from Deovir. Waaah! I will post my harbat next time together with my projects. I spent almost 700 worth of craft supplies in a heartbeat, without thinking... eh I couldn't get myself to buy a pair of flats from Payless. Priorities. Ha.

So there pader. And that's what's up with me lately. Not much, I know but that's how I roll. Pizzout.

Wanted: Good TV Series To 'Ship Anew

I used to loooooove fall cos it meant my favorite TV series are coming back with a new season. Ah, those were the days. But most of the series I loved so dearly were already canceled or have already concluded. Boo. I don't think I'll be watching Scandal's last season- boring na. And also Bones has become, um, I don't know, it's just that aside from the crime-solving aspect of the show I've had it with the characters' lives's stories. They're now all happy and have settled down- where's the drama? The kilig? Wala na eh. 

Ergo, Scream Queens. Just finished watching episode 5 and I'm still undecided whether or not to watch episode 6. A little contrived if you ask me. If ever I decide to continue watching, it's because it sort of reminds me of the whole Gossip Girl dynamics.

The Queen Bee

and her minions

but Chanel Oberlin isn't Blair Waldorf. Blair's minions want to be like her but they don't want to overthrow her. Chanel's minions want to be her as in get rid of her and take her place. But you get what I mean by the Gossip Girl dynamics thing. 

And this guy reminds me of Dan Humphrey...

during his curly, feeling-bad-ass days which is not a good thing. Man, why no eye candy? 

I think I'm just going to re-watch Gossip Girl, Smallville and Dawson's Creek this production season. 

2015 Reading Challenge: The Elite

It's been a while since I last posted a book (non) review. I've been busy with "production" and my handy dandy Kendall is not salvageable anymore so even in my downtime, I can't do any reading done. Well, sometimes I use my phone when I'm on the train but it's just not the same. Plus, the ereader app drains my phone's juice quickly. So anyway, for this I'm thankful for audiobooks :) I finished two audiobooks the past week HUZZAH! Now I'm only 13 books behind my goal.

I liked Kiera Cass's first book of The Selection series, The Selection and I thought well, I would definitely love the second book as well cos, love triangles. Haha. So I had my hopes up which I should have known better not to do.

The gist is from 35 "contestants," the number has been whittled down to six. Originally, America was only in it for the money and she also successfully formed an alliance with Prince Maxon being his "insider." Of course at that first meeting medyo gets ko na type ni Prince Maxon si America. She'd feed him information regarding the girls which made her sort of spend a lot of time with him which sort of made her eventually fall for the prince. America's now a member of The Elite.

To make things exciting, Aspen, America's boyfriend before the entered The Selection entered the army and is now stationed in the castle (castle nga ba?) and *surprise! surprise!* sometimes, outside America's room. How convenient.

So here's why I sort of didn't like The Elite as much as the first book. Everyone's so indecisive. America went into this thing all reluctant and just after a few months, she begins to fall for Maxon. Well that happens when you're cooped up inside a space without much interaction from anyone else- think PBB. When she's with Maxon, she feels she wants to spend the rest of her life with him; but, when she's with Aspen, she feels the exact same way with him. Anubeh.

The same goes with Aspen. He broke off with America so she'd enter The Selection, knowing fully well that means if ever America's wins the thing, they can never be together. So now here he is a member of the king's army, within the king's walls, near America, he decides to pursue her. Tapos ngayon magseselos- selos siya?

And Prince Maxon. Isa pang pabebe. Haha. I mean, if he likes America, why not choose her? He knows she also sort of likes her and while the poor prince doesn't know his rival is just around the corner (parang Christmas lang), he gets the upper hand in this situation. Why not decide, once and for all, to choose America so they can live happily ever after? It's so easy for Aspen to fade into the background once he chooses America. America only remembers Aspen when she's with him. Eh kung bakuran na ni Maxon, wala na yun.

So I'm frustrated. Lahat sila urong-sulong. Nevertheless, I still will read The One. Tingnan nga natin ano ba talagang pinaglalaban nila.

Ilabas Niyo Ako Dito!!!

Speed bagal mode as always. RAWR. 

I'm supposed to email Christmas product emailer by tomorrow and guess what... I'm not yet done. It is essential that I wake up early tomorrow so I could start production early and get a lot of things done. That emailer has to be disseminated by October 15 (deadliest deadline, kumbaga). 

You see, I, too, am a social being. I need social interaction. So I am very easy to coax out of my bubble by friends and family when it comes to lakwatsa, well, maybe except if its crunch time. So when Jo texted that she's in Manila, I replied right away- that I'm free Friday ☺ Isasabay ko na ang "shopping" sa pleasure.

Lunch at this new ramen place in Lucky Chinatown, Ramen Kuroda.

Kuro Chashumen  aka Kyusyu Tonkotsu Garlic Flavor

gyoza

We were lucky to have stumbled upon the place just in time before most of the people swarmed into the newly-opened ramen place. Both of us ordered the Kuro Chashumen which is exactly the same as the Kuro Ramen except it has four (or five, I can't remember) slices of tonkotsu versus Kuro Ramen's one, measly piece of pork slice. With only a 50-peso difference, siempre we opted na for the one with more sahog. And of course, gyoza.

Ze verdict: umm, it was okay. I found the broth too rich to the point na nakakasuya na. Maybe what Jo and I could have done was order a bowl of ramen, gyoza and a rice meal with ulam. Even with gyoza in between spoonful (and chopstikicks) of ramen (and COKE!), hindi nawala yung umay. It was okay but there are other choices, I'd pick the other ramen places I've tried. 

And today (SUNDAY!), I asked mommy and AD to take me out, for the sake of my sanity ☺ I want to go somewhere that's not Megamall, Glorietta or Divisoria. We went to UP Town Center.

Original plan was lunch at Silantro but we were Number 15 in line which could mean lunch at 3pm, so we had to look for another. We ended up in Backyard Kitchen + Brew. Food was center-served, to share. I had no idea what AD ordered but here are some pictures

perdón the crappy image quality

I didn't like the chicken dishes we ordered. I liked the pork belly bbq dish and the salad with tinapa flakes achuchuchu. I should've ordered burger instead. Laging nasa huli ang pagsisisi. LOL.

Coffee after lunch, supposedly in our favorite coffee place but deviated a little from our usual and had coffee in St Marc's and AD ordered churros from La Lola. I feel like I've betrayed Sancho's, my original churrería place, by saying that La Lola has better churros than them. Sorry, Sancho! 

Best churros in the metro, so far. Although Casino Español's chocolate is richer and thicker. 

So ayan, paano pa ako papayat niyan? 

So my dear blog, I bid you adieu while I try to go to bed early. Early daw. Okay, fine. Baboo!

Time Space Warp... Ngayon Din!

Ang bilis bilis bilis ng panahon. Parang kailan lang I was counting the days 'til my birthday and now September's almost over. Kalurks.

So here's where I write a rundown of this month's "happenings." At least for me, happenings na yun so forgive ol' boring me. Nyehehe.

Birthday Bongga

My birthday fell on a Sunday. I really wanted lechon for the longest time and what's the best justification for lechon- handaan! So for my 33rd birthday, I asked my mom a lechon for my birthday. And this was before I accidentally dropped Kendall... e di sana Kindle na lang, diba? Anyway, had a good time with my family and cousins and nephews and, OMG, food! Almost all my favorite dishes were served (lengua, dinuguan and lechon... YUM ☺) except for Becky's Swiss Choco Cake but everything's all good cos I got this from my nephews

'HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY, TITA JOY!
WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH
MWAH MWAH TSUP TSUP'

Siempre my cute nephews wouldn't come up with such corny dedication. Kagagawan yan ng nanay nila, sino pa? When people ask me how old I am, I ask them, according to my cake, according to my nephew, mental or chronological age? If according to my cake, it's 8; according to my nephew, 13; mental age is 24 and chronological is 33. So there.

And oh, here are the birthday cards my nephews gave me

Met up with friends on separate occasions to celebrate my birthday. Magastos. Haha. But we all get to celebrate once a year kaya keri na din.

So anyway, on my 33rd year, I'd like to thank God for ALL the blessings ☺ Sometimes I may feel inadequate, unsuccessful, kawawa but then I try to remind myself to count my blessings and be grateful for what I have. Currently, I am thankful for:

1. Very supportive family, most especially to my parents and AD. And of course, I am thankful that my parents are in a position that they are capable to support and sometimes, provide financial help. They subsidized my printer + plotter cutter purchase this year and allowed me to use muna their money that they made me safekeep. Of course I have to return it but it's like getting a loan without having to pay interest. O diba? 
2. Continuous influx of orders. Seriously, it's like magic ☺ Haha! Aside from bulk orders for birthdays and events, I also get order na for personal consumption. I really get kilig every time I get a text message or an email. I hope and pray simula pa lang 'to.
3. Working at home and not having to experience horrendous traffic in the city on a daily basis. Super thankful I got to dodge that one. In fair, I can allocate my dilly-dally time to time wasted when one is in traffic, para parehas pa rin ang productivity level. 
4. My assistant aka the Yaya Dub to my Lola Nidora. Haha! She's not perfect and sometimes (most of the time, actually) nawiwindang ako sa pagka-arte o pagka-slow sometimes, but she's been a great help to me and I can trust her with money matters. 
5. Finally finding tenants for our room for rent ☺ 

The abovementioned were the ones that come to mind right away but I'm sure there are much more things to be grateful for.  

Horoscope on Point

Remember my horoscope reading last Feb 2015 which was the main reason why I took the risk of renting out a space at 15K monthly. So far it's been okay, we're surviving, napaiikot naman ang pera but of course we want to actually have an ROI. It was a good thing our landlord understands our predicament and suggested that we sublet the available room. At dahil mabagal akong gumalaw, I was only able to tend to things just recently (to be honest, it wasn't me who tended to it... it was daddy who facilitated the move of the double deck beds to the room and made the signage). To cut the story short, we now have a tenant which subsidizes our monthly rent and according to my September reading, something will happen on Sept 12 (give or take five days) which was related to a decision I made early this year...

"Pay very close attention to the eclipse of September 12-13 to see if you get any news. If you do, write a short sentence on your calendar about what news came to you (if anything). I will continue to ask you to look back at every eclipse in the series. For now, just pay attention to September 12-13 (doubly so if your birthday falls near this date) and to what, if anything, occurred last March 20, the first eclipse in the series. See if you can find an association between the two days." (source)

Grabe, as in spot on! I didn't make the decision March 20 but we started moving around that date and both dates had something to do with the rented house. So if before I didn't believe in horoscopes (I have Inquirer Libre's daily horoscope to blame haha), now I'm a believer ☺ Although I do not make all decisions based on it. Actually, the last time I checked the website was last April and I only checked two weeks ago when I was looking for an explanation why my electronics were suddenly dying on me which leads me to my next topic...

Gadgets Gone Bonkers

So my Kindle's broken, my phone's audio is busted and it's superkaduper slooooow as in sloth-like pace and my sister's S4 which she already agreed to give to me died on her one week after she told me she'd give it tmercuro me.

That made me check my horoscope. I need some sort of explanation why this is happening to my electronics and believe it or not, I got my answer :P My sign is on a mercury retrograde and according to Susan Miller's video, electronics are affected and even advised to avoid getting new electronic devices until mercury is not in retrograde anymore. It ends on October 9. I'm getting a new phone anytime after that date. I need a new phone so bad.

Recreation Therapy 

Because it was my birth month (or malapit na sa birthday ko), I indulged a little bit and went on lakwatsa engrande. Here's a mini(non)review of the movies I saw in the cinema:

The Love Affair Because I love watching local films, most especially those by Star Cinema ☺ Um, it was an okay watch. I was just annoyed that the husband was accusing the wife of adultery when it was him who engaged in an adulterous affair. And what was that love scene between Richard Gomez and Bea Alonzo's character? Um, I guess they were going for an artistic shot but really? On the rocks? As in, literal na on the rocks. Kalurks.




Ex With Benefits Almost didn't see this movie because I don't really like the lead actors, but the movie had me at "plot twist." And I must say, I liked the twist. My friend said that the girl could have done something about it but I think she believed that at that time it was a case of your-word-against-mine and people would most likely believe the one in authority, which made her do what she did. So this movie caused a little stir when med reps denounced it for putting them in a bad light. Personally, I believe hindi med reps ang dapat mahiya. Mas dapat mahiya sa balat nila ang mga doktor na pumapatol.

Heneral Luna A depressing movie because it shows that we haven't, as a nation, done much of growing up even after more than 100 years of "freedom." An eye-opener if your eyes are not already open. Sa Walking Dead, hindi zombies ang main enemy ng survivors, kundi ang kapwa nilang survivors. Parang sa ating bansa lang, ang kalaban ng Pilipino ay kapwa Pilipino. Ang pulitiko 'pag tinanong kung bayan o sarili, malamang ang sagot ay, "kailangan pa bang i-memorize 'yan?" Alam mo na.

Anyway... I finished one book. ONE! Isa lang. Boo. Now I'm 13 books behind. I don't think makakahabol pa ako, not when my Kindle went kaput.

Jesse's Girl Miranda Kenneally
I thought it had promise. Nakakadisappoint because I got really bored with the story. Um, yeah, so the rockstar country star fell for her, now what? Parang wala masyadong interesting in their story. Mas engaging pa ang P.S. I Love You ni Gabby at Sharon. And at the very least they could have made the book cover consistent with the book and made that girl on the cover wear purple cowboy boots similar to what Jesse gave Maya. And oh, masyadong pabebe si Maya. Maya sort of reminds me of Kathryn Bernardo's pabebe acting in Pangako Sa'yo.


O, October na. Tama na 'to. Nyahaha.

2015 Reading Challenge: The Exiled Queen

source

It took me more than 60 days to finish reading this second book in the Seven Realms series. Don't get me wrong because I liked the book, the story and the characters... it's just that I'm swamped with more pressing stuff to do like, um, work. Plus the fact that I don't have a Kindle anymore (BAWL!). If before I can read anytime & anywhere, now I can only read my books in my laptop and I can't lug it around, can I? What. A. Bummer.

So back to Hanalea and stuff.

Finally, that thing I've been wanting to happen- Han and Raisa in a sort-of relationship ☺ Perdonamé if the highlight of the story, for me, is the relationship between the two. Remember, I live for kilig. Nyahaha. However, I feel they could've banked on the love triangle of Amon-Raisa-Han a bit longer before Micah took action.

Speaking of love triangles... I'm still a little conflicted between Han and Amon. Naks, feeling Raisa. I know there are rules on who the princess can marry and if we are going to follow the rules, Raisa can't be with Amon and can't be with Han Alister, as well. So I'm wondering how this will all pan out in the end.

As for our antagonists...Who is Crow? I'm dying to find out. And Fiona Bayar, I had a sliver of hope that she was going to side with Han but turns out she wanted him on her side so she could be queen of the Fells. Tsk.

Which makes me want to start Book 3 already but since I need to pick up the pace to catch up with my 2015 Reading Challenge goal, I need to read books less than 500++ pages. Ha.

Cumpleaños 2015 Wishlist Continuation

Total andito na rin naman tayo, let's update my birthday wish list...

First and foremost, (5) a new Kindle

I'm perfectly fine with the model I have but I guess if I have to buy a new one, eh di I'd have to upgrade na din. Although I really prefer the PagePress than Touchscreen- Kendall isn't touchscreen and I guess I like pressing more than swiping, hehe. Leche, what's funny? #inaatakenanaman

to be continued...