will be back home
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i got a call from mom around 8.45am... i would have to fly home next week. its going to be a sad holiday season for me and the rest of my family.

weekend food
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i just stayed at home most of the time last weekend. i was expecting to come to office, i asked my boss if i should come, and if there is anything to do, he said no and that i can work from home. so last weekend was a lazy one, i just went to orchard last saturday to accompany trace to buy some stuff. she got her new sheets, and some xmas pressies for her family. got home by 6pm, and stayed in the whole night.

i also went to dan ryan's near regent hotel - had dinner with helen, mechie, sel and some of his office colleagues. mech and i shared food - we had this. mechie ordered long island iced tea for me, at wala pa ako sa kalahating baso tinamaan na ako. i dont like it, i didnt even finish it. **sorry the photo was taken using my iphone, kinda sucks**


cheeseburger. i love their fries, S$15.50


salmon ceasar salad, S$15.

--


sunday dinner was composed of quadruple honeyed ham sandwich and hot cheese doritos, with iced tea. i made it and made one for tracy too. i love staying home - i just wish i had tons of dvds that i can watch pa, pero ubos na. when i get back to manila, i will buy tons so i have lots of supply.

300th post
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twilight is showing dec 18 here in singapore. its such a good news, that am in such a great mood. yay!

please help me decide.
------

i am planning to treat myself for some major holiday in may or june 2009. yes, i am trying to push it mid next year, so i can try and save up some more for that expense. actually, we have a long holiday coming this january, but am not really planning to go anywhere because i am really trying to save up. here are some places i though of visiting:

1. china - specifically beijing and shanghai - for 10 days, i would be able to cover 2 major cities, shop, eat and do what i want. it will be stress free, thing is, i dont know anyone there, and i dont know who i would go with. thinking about it, i can go alone or with tita bot, i know she wanted to visit china too.

EST COST (flight and hotel): US$800
POCKET MONEY: US$600
TOTAL: US$1,400

2. new york - i have been dreaming to go NY for the longest time, but leaves are just impossible and i dont want to go there for 4 days naman, sayang ang pera. so i was thinking that this may 1-10 will be a good opportunity for me to visit NY. aside from it being one the must visit places, i have friends there - paulo, paul, kat. it should be fun to see them live there now.

EST COST (flight and hotel): US$2,500, budgeting US$700 for the hotel
POCKET MONEY: US$1,000
TOTAL: US$3,500

3. tokyo - well lately, all my friends have been going crazy about tokyo and i really want to go too. i plan to go with some singaporean friends, those who have been there, so at least they know the place already, cause i dont want to get lost. i want to experience some steam bath, though am not sure if i can handle it. haha.

EST COST (flight and hotel): US$1,400.
POCKET MONEY: US$1,000
TOTAL: US$2,400

4. sydney - i would love to see E, and visit my cousins. thats the only reason why i have entertained going to sydney.

EST COST (flight): US$600 **i might be able to stay for free**
POCKET MONEY: US$1,000
TOTAL: US$1,600


so, where should i go?

shiyet, natuwa naman ako.
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nagmeeting ako kanina kasama ang kliyente. kasama kong humarap si J (isang lokal na taga-plano ng singapore), pagkatapos ng meeting namin, sinamahan niya akong kumain dahil hindi pa ako nagtatanghalian. so, nagkwentuhan na din kami, at nabanggit niya ang pinag-usapan nila ni A (isa ko pang kliyente sa media side).

lumisan na kasi itong boss ni J na si L. si L naging matalik ko ding kaibigan dahil parati ko siyang ka-trabaho, masaya naman kasi katrabaho si L at J - kaya wala akong problema sa kanila, at madalas pagkatapos ng meeting, nagtatawanan na lang kami at nagkwekwentuhan.

nabanggit sa akin ni J ang napag-usapan nila ni A. kinamusta daw siya ni A, kasi nga baguhan lang siya at wala na si L. sabi ni J, ok naman daw siya at inaalagaan siya ng skincare team (kame, kasi ang parati niyang nakaktrabaho) - kumbaga, pag may tanong, nasasagot namin at may kunsiderasyon kame sa kanya.

ang sagot daw ni A, (i will not translate the statement, so i can remember this when i look back at posts - yes, this is for my own benefit, when i need to boost my confidence) -- "anton is one of the better people in CCT, i like him the most." pucha. galing ito sa kliyente namin ah.

nabanggit ko nga sa isa kong kasamahan na feeling ko, ayaw ako ni A nung naguumpisa pa lamang ako. ang sabi ko nga, ok lang, magtratrabaho lang naman ako, basta ba't ginagawa ko ang trabaho ko, at kahit papano ay gusto naman ako ng mga brand people, pwede na sa akin iyon. kailangan ko lang makisama. kaya't di ko lubos maisip na mababanggit ni A iyon. pero dahil don sa sinabi niya, natuwa ako at masaya ako.

ngayon, at least alam ko na may respeto at gusto ako ng mga katrabaho kong cliente - brand and media side. masaya din naman ako sa mga taong nasa taas ko sa team na ito. pero, yun nga lang, may mga bagay na pinagiisipan din ako, tignan natin, bahala na...

saturday night fever
-------

i went to helen's new home for their housewarming. they had a lot of friends over, people from STARCOM, MEDIACOM and MINDSHARE were there - it was like mediafest 2008. HAHA! i went shopping with teri earlier that day, so i had no time to change, i went to the party with my trusty slippers.


chiro, pat, helen and me @ helen's new kitchen. ganda.


pat, me, sandip and satya, chatting with other friends.


i took a picture of the beautiful ladies in the house.

after this, i was dragged or kidnapped by them to go to FORBIDDEN CITY in CLARY QUAY. i didn't want to go since i was wearing slippers nga, and my laptop was with me, dumaan kasi ako sa office. but it was all worth it, as we had tons of fun - we threw ice and snacks at each tower. they danced at on top of the aquarium and all those kind of things.


satya, chweeling and pat on top of the aquarium.


helen and me. i actually forgot that we had this picture taken.


playing with satya.


the girls. chweeling visited from malaysia.


everyone here ay nahatak lamang. super kaladkarin talaga kami.

my friends know me
------

R messaged me yesterday afternoon and asked if i wanted to have dinner. of course, not being able to see her for quite a while, i agreed to it. we last saw each other, august, during her birthday. so we decided to meet @ central in clark quay. we had dinner at waraku and just talked about everything that has happened - her trip and everything. everyone in my previous office knows that R and i are really good friends. one time, A, my AD, went to see her the day after i resign, and told her - "am sure, you were the first one to know that anton has tendered.." HAHA.

i had miso ramen, and she had this chicken soup, korean style. we also ordered scallops in sizzling plate and cheese asparagus gratin - which is oh so divine. i am only using my iphone for pictures, i would buy my new camera by 1st week december.





since R came from her tokyo trip, she got me some presents. i like that piece of cloth she gave me with japanese print. she has one too, only 2 of us has, and this piece of cloth is to be put around the head, when japanese fisherman would go and catch in the sea.


goodies from TOKYO.

--

after, i met M and T at coffee club - i havent seem M for such a long time already, he is now woking in manila, previously working in saigon. so there. funny thing is - we agreed to meet each @ around 8pm. he then messaged me:

"8.30pm na lang, nastress ako pag naghihintay ka eh.."-M

last month i met O @ orchard, she was walking so fast that she almost didn't hear me call her name.

"obee, okay ka lang, bakit ang bilis mo maglakad, may nang-haharass ba sayo?"-me.
"ikaw, ayaw kita paghintayin at pagagalitan mo na naman ako." -O.
"nye.."-me.
"tara, dun tayo sa aircon.."-0.

RT had a problem, so she was talking to C about it. C said, why dont you talk to A, he is just outside. so C called me, i saw the YM saying

"dont call anton, i have no problem na. ayos na ako. erase, erase, erase." - RT.
so i call her, after our talk, she emailed.. you always say the right thing, i know what to do.

and all of these instances are from my college friends. sometimes, i miss them, most of the time, i dont really care. but am pretty happy about the fact that we all still keep in touch in one way or to other. AND RT just emailed us regarding her engagement. saya!

so lucky
------

i met M for lunch, and we just shared stories as always. so when i got back to the office, guess what i saw on my table. H got me this from upstairs, she know i love them.


marmalade pantry's lemon butter cupcake and chocolate chip cupcake. a very beautiful thing to start christmas!

i went to dhoby ghaut yesterday to accompany my friend, she lost her HP, and we got a new simcard from starhub, and i chanced on this...


starbuck's toffe nut latte - is my all time favorite christmas drink. yay! christmas na! seeing the sign made me giddy and instanlty ordered a cup of this beautiful creation.

--

i like david archuleta's song entitles CRUSH - i am not a fan of american idol and i have never watched any performances ever, R downloaded this song in my iphone, and i listened to it for the first time, enjoyed it and played it over and over again. like, right now. HAH! i'm lucky to have chanced upon this song.

--

i kind of bonded with V yesterday, we were not that close really, but since she is just new here (less than 3 mos) and knew less than 20 people, i accompanied her to get a digital camera in funan and to shop (i kind of offered since ang bait kong tao).. we kind of spent the whole day together, and our stories were told from the most mababaw to things we dont really talk about everyday. i am quite surprised that we are the same in a lot of things, and i can honestly say that she is one person i admire, i'm lucky to have met such a wondserful person.

since we talked about everything, she kind of reminded me how lucky i was - having a great family (immediate + cousins who im really close too), friends (not a lot) - but friends that i can really trust, actually having just 1 friend who i can trust with everything is fine by me. a great team that i work with, and all that. in details:

friends - while reflecting on it last night, i kind of discovered that from high school, college, to the companies i have worked in, i have retained friendships that might possibly last forever (am still not sure, cause we will never know), and i am kind of happy to have that. i am not the most famous/fun person at all, and i really dont want that. i want to be the person who's there at all times.

cousins - i am lucky to have cousins who values family, might not be everyone, but its a great feeling spending time with this people. i am not close to every single one of them (we are like 30), but i have cousins who really know me, who i can really trust and am happy about that. i am just lucky that i grew up knowing my cousins, and grew up close to them. i kind of miss our weekend dinner and movie nights.

family - my family ain't perfect, and we've been through shit and back, but am happy that we are doing great now. even if i am far, i feel closer to them than before. of course, i still miss my kulitan moments with my siblings.

work - i am blessed to have this work, to be doing this job. i am surrounded by people i truly respect, and i super enjoy the company of my colleagues. in that aspect, i am still blessed.

so now, i feel the luckiest person in the world. ;)

project wall
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this kind of came out of the blue, but i have a new project. something that i never thought was for me, until now. it just came up recently, as i was able to talk to some friends and got their experiences and opinion on things - and i am kinda conviced that i want to do this, more than convinced, i am kind of excited to be doing that. only thing is, timing is very critical, and a lot of things has to be considered. well, its always been the case.

i hope that i can do it by next year, but realistically, i would want to do it by 1st quarter of 2010. i spoke to mom, and she said that i should do it next year, and she seemed relly excited for me as well. she said that both her and dad supports me in this - i kind of know that since back then, but i wasn't open to the idea just yet. now seems to be a perfect time, a much better time to explore and start working on that goal, and whatever comes with it.

i just hope it happens, i dont need to decide now anyway, most probably by mid next year or end year that project will finally happen. i am looking forward to it.