26th birthday dinner.
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mom thought about having dinner on my birthday it consists of the people in the house - me, cheryl, tracy with them. its cool, since mom knew cheryl and tracy since way back in college, and since julette thought of doing a post-birthday lunch, i decided to just put it all together in one evening.

we had dinner in no signboard at esplanade. we met at around 7pm, its good that everyone was actually on time, even if it was a work night. HAHA!


the girls and me, with my birthday cake.


family from manila, and friends now based in singapore - who celebrated my birthday with me.


my birthday cake from canele, thanks to julette for getting this. when she first visited singapore, i brought her to canele for some really good desserts.


they all prepared a hand made card for me, signed by mom, aggie, cheryl, tracy and julette. i loved the cover of the card.


i also got a shirt from them, and it came in a really cute box.


i loved the shirt even more. tracy was asking me if i liked it, especially the color since i always wear blue, green, grey, and black. HAHAHA, my housemates know me really well.


2 weeks ago, while walking around marina square, we all went in to muji, and i told cheryl that i wanted this bag, and i will ask mom to buy it for me when she is here. now i have it as a present from cheryl, trace and julette.

--

i came back after a day of shopping, i got 2 polo shirts from TOPMAN, i really love, it was on sale from S$80 to S$50 each (thank to mom for buying it for me). also, i bought a delsey luggage @ S$44 from S$220, and it was really a big one at that.

pre-birthday present part 2
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my sister asked me what i wanted for my birthday, and it took me a few hours to roam around orchard and find something i really want. i remember, kevin poh, nas and i talking about porter, and how we wanted a porter bag that is made from japan - you can only get it in tokyo. you see, porter is a japanese brand, but when distributed outside of japan, it is made in taipei. i mean the country itself is not that bad when it comes to manufacturing (comparing it to china).

i really do have a wallet, but i need something more flexible and not that rigid, something i can carry when i need to go out and have fun, put in coins, cards and cash all in one pocket. so, i decided on this...


the wallet i chose, i really like it, and im using it today.


they have a nice loot that i can carry around, plus the SA gave me angpao's for mom to use.


i also like the layout of the porter store in wisma atria.


nice bags from porter, depending on the material, it varies from S$200 to S$700.

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thanks to tita bot for sending me my birthday angpao, it was really cool of her to do so.

pre-birthday present.
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so i have received my first present last friday, joyce gave it to me. she is a kababayan from the 7th floor office. i told her that she didn't have to give me such an expensive present (i don't know how much this costs exactly), but i am pretty happy receiving small thoughtful items.

i thanked her, since for the longest time, i have been dreaming of getting a new passport holder, and i was contemplating whether to buy it or not, since it doesn't make monetary sense - you use it once in a while and you pay a hefty sum for it.


i was surprised when she passed me the present.


the wrapping and all looked so premium, that i wanted to keep it that way and never open it.


its a montblanc passport holder. it looked and felt nice.

thanks to joyce! again, you shouldn't have spent so much. i am simple anyway, and i usually am happy with cakes, cupcakes, desserts and treats. HAHAHA!

pre-birthday bash!!!
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sarah and charlotte arranged this pre-birthday drinks for me last night. unfortunately charlotte couldn't join since she is now in dubai enjoying her holiday. my pre-birthday dinner and drinks, became such a fun and memorable birthday bash for me. my birthday is not until the 29th, but am having so much fun already. i am really lucky and grateful to have such great friends here in a place that i don't really expect to have good friends. i really could not ask for anything more. i am blessed and i can say that over and over again, actually more than saying it, i know it.


since its recession time, we tried to be different and be more creative, we had beer, satay (chicken, beef and mutton), plus chicken wings.


satya, chiro and helen soon followed us to LPS.


antonio - the nerdy anton, with eileen. i liked the frames, so i am thinking of buying one for me.


ryan with the rest of the media asses (assistants), i mean.

after LPS, pat and sarah was keen to go to ORCHARD TOWERS, cause they haven't been there. for the record, i have never been there as well, so we kind of decided that we should go and try it out. they stayed until 2.30am, and i left around 12.40 since mom and aggie is arriving that morning from manila. i had to be back home and meet them there.

when mom saw me, she asked me if i was drunk! hahaha! i was just red because of the drinks i had. sarah (my little dorothy dinosaur) kept passing me drinks that she bought for me. meaning i did not spend a single cent for my vodka cranberry, vodka redbull. helen even got all of us tequila shots! yay for helen!


helen, satya and me (without cheryl lee) from the original skincare team.


sarah grabbed me by the head while walking, and she whispered to me. "don't let this get into your head, but you are my favorite person in CCT." she is the sweetest girl. :)


we all had shots, thanks to helen!


this is the best picture ever, satya was high (drunk), and was pole dancing.


with pat and vic, its good that vic was able to join after her shopping spree at raffles city.


dancing the night away with everyone. i like it that everyone is up for it.


sid, satya and i posed outside NAUGHTY GIRL, at the 2nd floor of ORCHARD TOWERS.


there's a light on top of sid's head.


helen and sarah are the best dancers there, hands down.


at the bar, picture with the guys.


everyone having a blast, but helen took the picture, and sid was somewhere at the bar.


on the way up to crazy horse, 4th floor. i still vote for naughty girl, they have prettier girls, and very international, and they don't look like katulong.

i am with mom and aggie at the living room now, we are going to do some major shopping tomorrow. hope we can get a lot of things, and hopefully they are on sale. purchasing items on sale has much more satisfaction than regular priced items. i'll try to work on monday though, once i have all the data and plans in.

dilemma.
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i am kind of in a weird situation right now, i don't know who i will side with. i have my parents on one side, and my sister on the other side. background is that, for the longest time my sister would want to work here (in sg) too, and my dad would not allow it.

her work in citibank sucks, she has to do major OT, so mom and dad is trying their best to find her a new job. so she went for interviews, she wants to do treasury or investments. her work now is actually supporting citibanks austalia business, so it actually is a major shift. aside from her job, she is doing home study and review for some complicated test, that if she pass, it will be easier for her to work wherever.

i received a call from mom and dad today, seldom that i would get a call with both of them speaking to me. reason being is that, when the interviewee asked her on her long term plan, she said that she really would not stay long, and that she has plans to go to sg and work. of course, who the hell in their right mind would accept a person with that kind of plan.

mom and dad was so frustrated with her. so guess what, they asked me to just go back home. meaning, if i am back home, aggie will not leave anymore. dad asked me to tell aggie that i am leaving sg anyway, so no point of her going here.

well, thats actually a good plan, if and only i have something to do back in manila. anyway, i am not trying to side with anyone, but i just have to tell aggie the truth, that within the next year or two, the chances of finding a job here will be difficult. singapore is in a recession according to the government, and a lot of lay-offs are happening, so i don't know her chances of being hired here.

yun lang.

CNY update.
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its CNY and most of my colleagues are going to KL, we don't have work from 26-28 kasi, so most of them just thought of going around KL and maybe genting highlands. i will not go, mom and aggie will be here to celebrate the boring CNY in Singapore (yes, most of the establishments are closed during that time) - so probably will just roam around the streets and go to places that are open like mustafa and ikea. i have to relook at the thing i would need (shoe rack, etc). its good also that i am staying since i have to work and do some presentations that i need to share and align by the 29th.

i am semi-broke today, i paid my credit card, remitted money for something, paid my rent, and paid for my jakarta trip. i would have then to shell out money for that bintan trip for che's birthday, for the hotel during our jakarta stay. i also made abuno for mom and chicho's bilin to obee, so that she can get in paris. its way cheaper there. i kind of need to save up for the next few weeks actually, its good that mom will be here, she can sustain me for the next week at least. HAHAHA!

i had my pre-birthday lunch today as well, i was treated by vic and cheryl, we had lunch @ calzone. it's an italian restaurant, and i love that place. we ordered ceasar salad, baked mussels, salmon pasta in tomato cream sauce and black truffle pizza. its kinda early because cheryl is going back to KL tonight (thats where she's from btw), and won't be back here until week of feb 2. they are the sweetest, am kinda close to them actually.

i have a lot of things planned, and so much stuff to do. but its all good, i have to keep a positive outlook on life, we all should.

EDIT
after doing this post, i got a check from IRAS, refunding part of my uber-expenseive tax last 2006. GOD is good.

thinking about birthdays.
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so a few more days, and its my birthday. i'd rather forget the age, and just treat everyday as a blessing. well, i like the fact that i have something to celebrate about. cheryl and tracy has been bugging me regarding my birthday dinner, and they have been suggesting all sort of things. good thing is that mom and aggie will be coming over to celebrate it with me. i cant decide which place i want to celebrate my birthday at, so i have two here. help me decide, its gonna be a simple one with mom and aggie anyway.


HALIA, www.halia.com.sg


GRAZE, www.graze.com.sg

i'm leaning towards graze, i just have a feeling that its a great place, with great food. whatcha think?!

good start.
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may i say that i feel like am off with a good start. i went home around 10pm after that post-NY drink and chat session with my colleagues. i had a beer, coke light and long island iced tea. i can't even finish the iced tea as i was already as red as a tomato. am really not good in drinking anyway, i should have had coke rum, or better yet vodka cranberry. next time. anyway, i was happy i got to watch ugly betty (thanks to ryan's downloads).. its actually one show i really like watching, apart from all the bitchfest there is, they are still human and kinda grounded when the going gets tough. and it all boils down to their own set of values.

saturday was petiks day, woke up @ around 10am, helped tracy to mop the floor in the living room. i also cleaned my room and the toilet. i scrubbed it to perfect white, that was my cardio-exercise for the weekend. i changed and used the new curtain that mom got for me in manila. my old curtain is white, thus the morning sun would come in my room, and id wake up really early because of that. in case you don't know, i have to have all the lights turned off when i sleep.


thanks to SM, i woke up today with no sun in my room. YAY! and these curtains are way cheaper in manila, around Php 400 for one yard, on sale, 50% off. thanks to mom who got it for me.

tracy went to work, and cheryl and i waited for her so we can go and watch a movie. we had carl's jr for dinner, it was a happy one because of the onion rings.


i dont like it, as it was too heavy for me to handle.

mech got a new camera, and she sold me her old one. and now, i have a new camera that i can use. YAY!


canon ixus 70 from mechie.

welcome chinese new year, 2009.
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i have been checking my chinese horoscope yearly. in no way that i get really affected by this, its just something that is good to know. if you want to check yours, click on this link below, i got this from cheryl.

http://www.jmine.com/chinese_horoscope2009.htm

YEAR OF THE DOG

General

This is a good year for you in terms of your career prospects and receiving acknowledgment from your authority figures. However, as you might find yourself getting more responsibilities and getting busier at work, it will consume more of your time and affect your mood. You will also have lesser tolerance towards other colleagues and associates. Your wealth will be good and there will be a high probability for you to increase your sources of revenue. However, you will not be suited to make investments or getting involved in quick money schemes. Though you will be doing well in many aspects of your life, you will tend to feel lonely or emotionally detached. It might be that you become frustrated with people in general and there will be a high tendency that you will isolate yourself which might affect your relationship or potential relationship greatly. You might also become the victim of gossip and misunderstandings in that you might either be the person in which gossip revolves around or you might allow gossip to cloud your judgment. As long as your conscience is clear, you will not need to be bothered by gossip and you should also not believe everything you hear or jump to conclusions when you hear rumors. Your health will be average in general but you will need to be careful of health problems that are related to irregular meals and even of food poisoning. Apart from being careful of your own health, you will need to pay special attention to your elders' health and safety. Should they have health problems, try to get them treated immediately before it turns worse.

Career

You will continue to do well in your career this year as there will be many opportunities for you to show your strength and you will get recognition from your management. However, as your bosses realize that you will be able to handle greater responsibilities, more tasks will be assigned to you. With a heavier workload, you will need to work harder and in doing so might start to spread yourself too thin and this might greatly affect your health and mood. The challenges in your career this year will be to deal with gossip and people issues. As you will need to coordinate a lot of matters within a very tight time frame, you might need to be harsh on your colleagues or associates in order for tasks to be done. This might even offend some of your colleagues as others might not be able to understand the urgency and importance of getting things done. In some circumstances, you might also have to correct the mistakes your colleagues create and this might lead to a lot of frustration in you. Avoid participating in gossip at work. You should not get involved with matters that do not directly impact you as you might find yourself having to handle new assignments. You will need to find a balance between being diplomatic and being firm this year in order to get things done and yet not to offend people along the way. No matter how many challenges you might face, you will be protected by a lucky star and obstacles will be overcome or minimized. Be confident and optimistic. Although you might be a good team player, you will prefer to keep to yourself and have more personal space. Most likely, you will find that you can get things done faster by doing it yourself.

If you are in business, this will be a great year to look into further increasing your revenue and taking your business to new heights. You might also look into exploring new markets. However, you should avoid entering high-risk markets even though they might promise higher returns. You will be able to do well using your wisdom and intuition. There might also be more resource problems, quarrels or arguments in your company that might be due to misunderstandings or confusion about the direction of the company or the way the company is being run. You should not over-react but should simply and slowly chart out the direction the company is taking and to convince your business partners and colleagues. Keep your communication channels open and simple. The misunderstandings will slowly be resolved and you will get support from your colleagues and business partners.

Wealth

Your wealth luck is generally good. This will be a good time to look out for salary increments and for other sources of income. Though you will have good wealth luck, this will not imply that it will be a good time to be gambling. It will be easier for you to gain wealth through your primary source of income rather than through investments or gambling. You might also consider looking into other sources of making money. By evaluating different methods, you might be able to find new ways of making additional income. To increase your wealth, you should not depend solely on your salary, as it will most likely be fixed until management decides to increase it. At the same time, your expenses will continue to increase. Thus you should find new ways that are stable and yet will give you reasonably decent returns. Discovering new streams of income will enable you to increase your wealth over the longer term.

Relationship

For singles, the possibility of meeting your ideal partner will be quite slim. It might seem that you will be overloaded with responsibilities at work and also be quite worried about your elders’ health that you will not be in the mood or have the time to socialize. Apart from this, you might feel that you will need more personal space even though you might feel lonely sometimes. You should try to continue to do things that you enjoy and also give yourself some time to socialize. You will also be able to find peace within you. Avoid isolating yourself. If you are attached or married, there will be more tension and cold wars this year. The reasons for the disagreements or cold treatments will most likely be due to some gossip or problems created by ill-intentioned people. There will also be possibilities that your partner might be sent overseas or required to do tasks that will be result in spending less time with you. You should keep your communication channels with your partner clear. If there are any misunderstandings, try to resolve them soon and be patient and tolerant with your partner. Remind each other not to let gossip or other people's matters affect the relationship the both of you treasure. If your partner might have to spend less time with you, you should not let your imagination run wild and start arguments with your partner as your partner might be having an equally difficult time as you.

Health

Your health in general will be average. The potential health issues that you will face this year might be related to your diet. You might have irregular meals due to your tight schedule at work and there will also be the high possibility of suffering from food poisoning. You will need to be cautious of what you eat and the hygiene of the food- being prepared. If you need to travel, you might consider bringing Pro-biotics along to prevent diarrhea. You will also need to pay extra attention of your elders' health and safety. They will have a higher risk of falling ill or being accident-prone. Should there be signs of illnesses, try to let them undergo treatment before it becomes worse. Should it be possible, try not to let them go out alone or go out during rainy days.

People

There will be a lot of gossip and accusations thrown at you this year. Avoid participating in gossip corners. Although it might seem fun when talking about others, it might come back to haunt you and you will not want to be the victim of gossip. Furthermore when you hear gossip, you should not trust everything that you hear as it might leave an impression on you and you should not allow gossip to alter your judgment on matters or on people. You might find that it is frustrating to deal with people because they will not meet your expectations or even hinder your progress. Hence, you might show frustration towards others and this might offend or upset others who might in turn make nasty comments about you. Such gossip will spread around and this might tarnish your reputation. Isolating yourself from colleagues or friends will not help matters as it will be seen as an act of someone with a guilty conscience. You should not get annoyed and confront people. If you know that you have been doing the right thing and have also used a diplomatic approach, the gossip will die off eventually.

2009 na.
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i had fun during my holiday in manila, it wasn't that fun and exciting, but its more peaceful and being at home really. i spent most of my days with my family, especially with mom and dad. i felt like a little kid, and just following them around, parang buntot.

i didn't meet everyone in the world like how i used to - but i am happy with the people i've met, they are more of the constant people in my life. and i couldn't be any happier to see them. my meet up with college friends was fun, since half of us are not based in manila anymore. seeing my high school friends is just a blast, its like we evolved but still remained the same in a way. i met with some GASSO friend, though most of them are not in GASSO anymore. i felt that the meet up was really genuine kasi, and apart from not seeing each other regularly, there was effort naman talaga.

on the last day, we went for brunch with my moms side of the family. we had UCC, and i am glad they serve filipino breakfast.


UCC brunch, spanish sardines with scrambled egg.

now, i am back in the office, with loads of work. i have this thing, where the latest i would stay in the office is at 7pm. it makes me more productive that way.


chiro's desktop, my goal is that it should not resemble mine.

oh some news, my manager will shift to another brand, and a new person will be replacing him and i have to work with her directly. feeling ko made-dead ako kasi wala siyang experience, patay ako ng feb, march and april. blech, or maybe for the rest of my life here in this bwaka-ng-ahensya.

happy new year. oh, one more thing, i have this trip fund that i am starting this year, sana maka-quota ako so i can go somewhere outside asia. YAY!