trying my luck with technology
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as i have been saying over and over again, i ma the most untechy 25 years old there is. its just so hard to understand and adapt, though i dont think i will have problems with it, its just too tiring to learn. i think it was better if i was born on the 60s or 70s.

anyway, my contract with singtel is due, and i checked out new phones. was supposed to get NOKIA 6500 slide phone, but the SA told me that, its not advisable to get such an old phone in this generation. whatever that is, it feels like he's judging me while i inquire about it. then when he asked what i look for in a phone, i replied that call and sms it is. he just told me to look around as all phones can do that. malamang.

with selwyn's persuasion and mechie's patience, i decided to get this


Apple iPhone 3G 8GB, with contract, S$348.

before they swiped my card, i was hesitating already, cause i would then need to adjust my contacts one by one. but sige na nga, fine, lets try. i was so stressed with it that i had 2 glazed donuts and 1 cafe latte. punyeta.

if i give up on this phone, i will sell it to either aggie or cho. good thing though may ipod siya, and i lost my ipod diba, so i can use it na din for gymming purposes.

EDIT: thanks to ryan for uploading songs... :)

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i got my haircut for $10, yay! same hairstyle, i dont need that stylist from downstairs. she is nice, but the haircut is like S$30. that $30 can pay 3mos worth of haircut, plus the fact that i need to do some cost cutting.

fully booked
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so its 5pm, and i am feeling terribly bored in the office. i have a lot of things due - but my local counterparts haven't reverted on anything yet, so i can only start on a bit of things. i am just afraid that they will disregard the timeline given, and its going to be out head on the table.

i will be working over the weekend, its ok, i have expected this anyway, no big deal. but i want to do so much more than just being stucked here, or i have to do certain things, i have to remind myself to:

1. clean my room since some friends are coming over next weekend for the F1 night race.

2. go to chinatown point, to buy lester's watch.

3. go to the gym.

4. i want to go to borders and buy me some books and DVDs, though i just watched the first 3 episodes of ugly betty season 1. i still have to watch GG season 2 ep 1-3, and i still have to finish breaking dawn. maybe i can postpone this to next week.

5. go and buy me an iPod video, i lost my ipod in HK kasi. arg. actually, am thinking whether to get the new nano, S$248 (8gb) or the video S$355 (80gb).. contemplating, but ryan told me that baka mas ok daw video, and its a plus cause i can watch movies or series. mas ok cgro?

6. pay my credit card bill, but i can do this next week to.

7. go to singtel and get a new phone for FREE. i need to update my plan, as my contract with them has expired (2 years na kasi)

8. have to do laundry tonight before cheryl comes back from bangkok.

--

sana december na, btw, 8 of us (from the office) will be going to phuket for the 3day weekend in december, dec 5-9, i am excited, it will be lots of fun. i cant wait for that.

i also can't wait to go back to manila and celebrate the holidays, then 2009 na! ano ba... ang bilis ng panahon.

hk resto 3: somewhere in TST.
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there's a lot of small restaurants around TST, parang turo-turo sa dami. although, i really enjoy eating in these places, cause you will sometimes find the best eats around, for a more local fare. like, how i like to eat sisig in DLSU area. HAHA!

i think it was around 9pm, and we were hungry from all the shopping that we did around kowloon, and we were supposed to go to mongkok pa after. i said NO, after dinner, i went straight to the hotel.


aggie's favorite barbecued pork rice.


i ordered my milk tea and aggie had her iced lemon tea.


mom had this fish noodle, that according to cho doesnt taste that good.


mom and i ordered gulay.


we also ordered roasted duck. look at the amount of fat.


i ordered shrimp wonton mee.

--

i am very sleepy today, must be the fact that cheryl (my seatmate) and i had foot massage over lunch. i read breaking dawn while having the massage, i felt like putting down the book and sleep, but nakakahiya. HAY! it was very relaxing, and it was long overdue, we got the coucher like 4mos ago pa.

i am excited to finish the book, but i will be working this weekend, i have a lot of things to do, and i cant wait for september to end.

HK resto 3: HAPPY GARDEN before
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this is one of my favorite place in kowloon area. before this resto was called HAPPY GARDEN, in canton road, near 7-11 and DBS bank. now, its called something like china restaurant or something like that, but the food is the same, it was good, even better than how i remember it to be. the place looks more premium now than before.



stir fried beef hor fun, we didn't finish this, since we ate so much.


i ordered another round of charsiew, because aggie and cho finished the first order, and wants another one. takaw tinggin ang dalawang iyon, we didn't finish the second plate either.


i ordered this for myself, egg omelette with onion and chives. i like this, especially if they are made like pancake, much lovely.


i ate a bit of fried rice, just to taste. i missed eating rice.


i ordered roast goose, i order this everytime, and this is the best i have ever tried. next time, i go back to HK, i will definitely eat here again.

good part is, we paid around HK$500 for these 6 orders, with coke light, not the cheapest but pretty ok. usually kasi if you eat at those other places, for 4 pax, would cost around HK$300.

HK resto 2: HOTPOT dinner
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mom and dad both love hotpot dinner, and we are all used to having it for dinner, either a simple normal one, or something special. here in singapore, hotpots are famous, but i haven't tried a good one worth raving about. my chinese-malaysian and singaporean friends would have hotpot during chinese new year, used as some sort of celebration with the family. we do too, i guess any chinese families would do this.

mom love hotpot so much that she even bought a device that would stimulate that, we would usually put greens, raddish, squid balls, pork cutlets, shrimp, mushroom and chicken balls, and all that.

this place in causeway bay was great, i had to say it was one of the best hoptpots i have tried in my life, except for those that mom made (it doesn't beat having hotpot at the comfort of your own home).



i can't read the name of the restaurant, but its in one of the side street of causeway bay. thanks to mom and dads friends in HK, they were the one who brought us here.


ags and cho in the picture, while the waitress did her magic.


mom's friends ordered a lot of food, that we were surprised by what she ordered. our bill amounted to HK$1,200 for just the 6 of us. there was a lot of food.


i love scallops, this plate costs HK$280, the most expensive of the lot.


boiling soup, we ordered 2 kinds of soup, one was the plain one and one was satay flavored. mom and i liked the satay better, while ags and cho loved the plain soup. the satya soupd has much flavor, tangy and a bit spicy, its just different from the very plain beef broth. we have platters of bacon, beef, dumplings, shrimps, scallops, fish fillet, lahat na ata.


my cup of hotpot, i loved the fresh shrimps, they were skewed alive, kawawa.

HK resto 1: ITAME SUSHI @ CAUSEWAYBAY
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so while ags and cho went to disneyland, mom and i went shopping spree, bonding ika nga nila. she went with me to the MARC JACOBS flagship store in kingston street, near fashion walk in causeway bay. we arrived a little early, 11.30am, it was still closed. so we went to have coffee @ starbucks muna. we were not really hungry and decided to have lunch @ around 3pm.



salmon sushi.


salmom mayo roll (first time, i have tried a sushi where they used ricepaper)


some unagi roll with vegtable, using ricepaper as well.


softshell crab hand roll. mom tasted this when we ate at ichiban in singapore.


i ordered grilled foie gras.


grilled salmon head, mom ordered this.

TWILIGHT
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TWLIGHT

stop muna on the posts regarding HK. i am sad. ive been crazy on reading the books from stephanie meyer the past few days. i finished the second book 'new moon' this morning, reading it for only a day and a half.

so i saw that movie will be show on the 21st of Nov in manila, first showing worldwide ata, at wala ako sa manila. then, it will be show in singapore naman on the 25th of Dec, at shempre wala din ako sa singapore. ano ba!!!!! am afraid, that by the time im back in manila, hindi na showing, and by the time im here in singapore, wala na din. :(

paano ko maabutan the movie? im seriously considering if i can fly back home over the weekend to catch the film. should i? i need help. if not, then what should i do? i have never been this crazy over a film. arg! well, there is always a first time.

maybe, i should go buy the 3rd and 4th book 'eclipse' and 'breaking dawn' tonight.

EDIT: i bought the 3rd and 4th book na over lunch, ECLIPSE and BREAKING DAWN. i can't wait to read it tonight.

hong kong sep08 part 1
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i have compared HK and SG too many times, and even SG won on most counts - cleanliness, safety, etc. there is still some part of me, longing to be living in HK. i just want to try, maybe for a year or two, like what i promised myself here.

anyway, right now i dont want to dwell too much on these things. i am fairly happy to be where i am right now, and it matters to me, cause for my entire stay in here, this is the much better place i was wishing for.

some more HK photos that were quite memorable to me...


sgt pepper's chicken rice, HK$28 at food republic. SG has this too, but i love HK version, i dont know why, i haven't tried the one here kasi for the longest time.


chocolate is currently one of my favorite stores in causeway bay area. they sell clothes for guys, in plain, dull colors - which i like - grey, black, dark blue and white. i was contemplating on getting the hoodie at HK$348, but did not na lang, since i have so many hoodies and i seldom use it.


my saving grace, muji bag. it looks very clean, simple and yet so useful.


after going around and shopping for 5 hours straight, mom and i decided to take a break and have some snack - egg tarts, portugese egg tarts, HK$8 each.


inside GOD dressing room. it was the coolest dressing room i've been too. walang sinabi ang ibang high end brand. i guess thats why i impulsively got 2 shirts from there. HAHA!


either ags and cho took this picture of mom and i, while walking around TST area, it was really hot.


somewhere around west kowloon, where shangri-la was near. we were lost na, buti na lang we found a cab stand.


SEE's are bad chocolates. why? i feel so guilty after eating them, unlike ROYCE where you would not feel any guilt, very light and flavorful. SEE's are more of all original american chocolate = fat, cholesterol and all that.


i didn't bring any luggage lock, since mine is too big. cho lent me one of his cute locks, i forgot the name of this pokemon, i remember pikachu (yellow rat), and the rest of the gang, but i forgot his name.


aggie took this funny picture of me, waiting AGAIN while mom goes shopping inside the stores.

--

next post, will be all about food in HK.

snippets of hong kong (sep 2008)
------

because we mostly used chicho's camera, plus his camera is much better, and my canon is bulok na, i have very limited shots of our trip.


grilled foie gras, HK$45. (cheap but good)
while cho and ags went to disney, mom and i went to causeway bay to do some serious shopping, this was our late lunch. went to laforet where mom got some nice outfits, also went to kingston street for some MJ stuff. dad and i have the exact same polo tees. black and blue for me, white and black for dad.


view of kowloon island from our hotel, its the second time i stayed in HK island. my last 2 trips to HK, i have always stayed in TST.


canton road in TST, mom, ags and cho waiting to cross the street.


at the elevator, i liked the cap, got it from H&M, HK$50. saya!


city super mango desserts. HK$30. i had loads of this and i introduced ags to it, at first she doesnt want to try, but after tasting it, saying that it was like mango sago, she ordered one for herself din. HAHA!

i will upload all photos in multiply na lang, and some here in blogger. oh, i did some serious shopping, it made me broke, thank GOD for credit cards, cause cash is not enough. haha! here is a list of things i got:

- 2 delay no more shirts (from GOD in kowloon)
- 2 H&M caps (from queen road central)
- 2 H&M long sleeve polo (from elements mall)
- 1 H&M short sleeve polo (from elements mall)
- 2 H&M tee (from queens road, central)
- 2 MJ stinky rat polo tee (from kingston street)
- 1 MARC by MARC JACOBS strip black jacket (from harbor city)
- 3 UNIQLO tee's (from causeway bay)
- 2 GIORDANO shirts from tung chung (outlet mall near disney resort)

ate good:
- yam tsa (quarry bay) - overdose sa dimsum, thanks to dads family friend for taking us out.
- good hotpot in causeway bay (i have never tried a better version even here in sg)
- japanese resto near laforet. super busy during lunch time.
- good chicken mushroom rice and pork spareribs with chicken feet in causeway bay ( i ate rice na, leche, but hopefully it ends there)
- ate at my favorite resto in TST, dating happy garden but they renovated, they have the best goose.
- shrimp wonton and nai cha at TST.
- mango desserts around.
- maxim's bread.
- popeye's chicken.

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ooohh, on the plane back, i thought mamamatay na ako kasi alog ng alog yung plane, and they were announcing stupid stuff, buti medyo nasanay na ako sumakay ng plane. dati kasama ko si marj papuntang cebu, muntik na ako maiyak. this time, it was serious, kasi napatalon ako from my seat. blech!

buti na lang, the whole time, i was reading stephanie mayer's twilight, its one of the best reads i had, its the first time that i cannot put down the book and slept at 3am because of that (from airport to home). this morning on the way to work, i read lang din, even when walking to the office. if you see some stupid looking person reading while walking, that would be me, multi-tasking.

see ya, off to client for some preso.

big mama's place
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bede and i have been friends since high school, and then we attended college together at DLSU, and then became colleagues at GASSO for a year, before i left for singapore. back then, i knew her mom loves to cook, they would join this food bazaar at mary the queen(MTQ), and i vividly remember how we all trooped down to MTQ just to show support and of course enjoy the food they prepared.

i believe that this place has been open for quite a while, but it was just last tuesday that i was able to visit the place - with bede, jeff, les and jas. next time, we go there, we have to make sure bon and marc will be there too.


i had this peppered chicken steak, comes with tomato rice, but since i dont take rice, i passed it on to lester.


tita bonnie made this for us - dory fish with garlic and olive oil - this dish is not yet available, as she is expanding the menu by next month.


chicken rice, lester ordered this, and i love this. i ordered this at MTQ before, when it was still in a ricebox. it sucks, that i dont want to take rice na.


thai bagoong rice, no green mango for bede.


jas ordered liempo fried rice.

we ordered 6 dishes and paid Php875, so an order would be around Php150-250. you guys, can go try their place.. i promise that it will be different experience altogether.

BIG MAMA's PLACE
Along N. Paterno St. San Juan, Metro Manila
Opens Tuesday to Sunday –11am to 9pm