Seattle Living

I'm still in my "rediscovering Seattle" mode: doing things that I haven't done in a long time, or doing something that I have yet to do in my 18 years living in this city.

Today, I watched the Mariners vs. Padres game...at Section 109, Row 24. I've never watched a baseball game with such a great seat. Grabe, I was so sprung. This was a total redemption from my horrible nosebleed section seat last month when I watched the DalaiLama give his speech at Qwest Field (the seat was so terrible I never bothered to mention the event on here!).

With great seats, Mariners win, and awesome sunny weather, I'm falling in love with Seattle...until it starts raining again. HaHa!

Revealed

In all these years, I've made it a habit to be vague about the guys that I've written about on here. I'm talking about real life guys that I've come across in my daily routines. Well, for the first time ever, let me reveal. :)

Remember Dancing King from college? Go and rent "St0mp the Yard" and check out "Theta Stepper #14"...the one with the 'fro. Yup, that's him.

I didn't notice until almost the end of the movie so I had to re-watch everything. It's so amazing that some of the people that I've been in the same room with, whom I've taken dance classes with, are making their dreams come true in Hollywood. Even one of Rlhanna's backup dancers is from Seattle.

It never fails: passionate people make me smile.

Cruel World

High: Tennis Thursdays at work started today for the Spring Quarter. The instructor was hooooot...but married of course. I also realized that sweating profusely in front of a hot guy isn't a good thing. But hey, he's married. And I'm digging this morning exercise idea. Too bad it's only once a week.

Low: I got hit on by a 23-year-old during happy hour today. This, people, is another reason why I'm single.

Staying Alive

Observation for the day: The Philippines is singlehandedly putting food on the table for 1980s artists. I wonder if one-hit wonders from that era know that half-way around the world, there's a country that has local artists singing their songs every week...and it's 2008!

Jumong-ed Out

I did it! I finally finished watching Jumong, all 81 episodes! This is a big accomplishment from someone who starts getting antsy after 10 episodes of a Korean drama. So, how did I do it? Three words: Song.Il.Gook. Though, I only think he's hot when he's wearing his Jumong ensemble. (Anyone know who played "Songju" on the show? He's hot, too.)

I felt like half of my life passed by watching that show and I'm sure reading all those subtitles during a span of 6 months did something to my eyesight. I think I'll go ahead and find a new hobby for spring and summer; let's save Jewel in the Palace for next fall and winter. ;P

Destination Nations

For the heck of it, I decided to check out Cebu Pacific's web site, my partner-in-crime during my Wow Philippines travels, and see what's new over there. I can't believe they added more destinations since I left! They now serve Bangkok, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Guangzhou, Macau, Shanghai, Xiamen, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, and Kaoshiung!

Goodness! I could've finished my Asia goal this decade for a fraction of the cost if I had stayed a little bit longer in the Philippines! (And can you believe the number of Starbucks City Mugs I would've collected? HaHa!) *SIGH. You win some, you lose some nga naman.

TV Special

I just saw the "KC from Paris to Pinas" special for the first time. Hmmm...I'm inspired to do a "Mina from Pinas to Seattle" one (yes, feeling ka-level ko si KC. HaHa!). This reminds me that I still haven't uploaded all of my SE Asia pics. Sana naman before the one-year anniversary e magawa ko na rin yun.

Kasal, Kasal Ko, Kasal Nila

I spent the last three hours or so just watching Filipino wedding videos on YouTube, thanks to Raissa's and Pen's bad influence. The result? Naiyak ako...naiyak ako dahil hindi ganyang ka-gwapo ang mga naging ka-date ko sa Pilipinas in the almost two years that I was there.

At kung may hihirit ng "Bakit, maganda ka ba?" Aba, oo, maganda ako, magandang maganda. HaHa!

On a serious note, I still haven't been praying to God about "that person." Super tigas ng ulo, di ba? I actually have this touching explanation regarding this which I've told Ate Gemma one time at work. But explanations and excuses aside, I guess it's true that you really have to believe that you, yourself, deserve a great husband in order for it to come true. And I think that's what I need to work on more than anything else. Uy, finally, naka-emote na ulit about this subject. HaHa!

Sana lang that by the time that I do get married, eh meron pa rin akong kakilala na single pa rin to be my Maid of Honor. HeHe! Nauunahan na talaga ng lahat eh! I even saw the wedding video of a guy who I went out on a date with in Pinas. Hello?! Kung ka-batch ko kayong single, you're not allowed to get married yet! ;P

Poking Fun

I've always been against meeting strangers on social networking sites so whenever someone sends a message or asks to be added as my friend, I always just ignore him. But a couple of months ago while researching at work, I read this one article that made me re-think about my antipatika ways.

The gist of it was that you do have to add these "potential friends". If you're just going to stick with just having your real-life friends in your network, then you're back to square one: you already know the people you know. You don't need a third-party site to communicate with them; you can just e-mail them yourself. And if you're unhappy about the people that you already know (insert laugh here), then here's your chance to meet others to replace them (insert bigger laugh here). Talagang napa-hmmm ako duon.

So despite my little epiphany of two months ago, I was still ignoring those stranger-sters. What can I say, old habits die hard...at hindi sila pogi. HaHa! However, the other night, someone sent a smile...at may potential ang bata ha. I was telling Raissa last night that I don't look for geeks, they find me. HaHa! Anyway, so regardless of how dorky I think the "Send a Smile" option is on Friendster, what the hell are you supposed to do when someone does send you a smile? I swear, I'm sitting here baffled about this 21st century phenomenon of poking people online and sending smiles. It's like when guys used to send @->->-- back in the day. Crap, I think I just dated myself with that little tidbit. HaHa!

Whose House? Mina's House

As you may or may not know, I've had a goal since coming back here to Seattle which has been dubbed (in my head) as HH30: Husband or House by the age of 30. I've put all of my savings in CDs and I've been putting 25% of every paycheck to a savings account which I named "House" to help with the process of making this goal a reality.

I initially wanted a two-story house, but quickly changed my mind to a rambler instead. There's only one me and I don't want to scrub two toilets every month. That's how logical I am when it comes to decision-making. HaHa!

Last month, the house across the street from one of my kuyas went up for sale. When I saw the flyer, I almost fainted at the price: I didn't realize that's how much houses are going for these days. But even then, I do know that if I want to buy a house, it should be done within this year...while the market is down.

Today, I went online to check out houses for sale in the neighborhood and found some nice ones below $300,000. This is actually do-able. Well, I'll be a slave for 30 years until the mortgage gets paid off, but hey, anything to display my City Mugs prominently is all worth it. ;P

So while people my age are getting married and having babies, I'll settle for the white picket fence for now. Saka na yung 2.5 kids...kapag ready na si Piolo. ;P

Royalty

Watching The Royal Family Special on ABC last night made me want to go to London. Okay, okay, someone recently told me that there's a Starbucks store in the city that sells all the UK Starbucks City Mugs and that got me thinking about London eventhough I can't afford a European holiday with the current state of the U.S. dollar. And thinking about the Dollar made me think (too many thoughts, too many thoughts) about how quirky it would be to live in the UK, hearing people speak English, yet not being able to understand a thing they're saying. ;P

I so need a new stamp in my passport this year. Where to go, where to go.

The Wheels on the Bus

With the gas prices at $3.50/gallon for regular, I decided to finally take advantage of my employee subsidized bus pass for $30/quarter. That's three whole months for $30 which is the same amount I usually spend for a full tank that only lasts me a week when I drive to work. Talk about savings.

And while I enjoy using public transportation when I'm on travel, riding the local buses isn't my favorite thing to do. It's just that with our relatively cold weather, the windows on the buses always remain closed and thus trapping what I'd like to call "The Smell of Humanity." This isn't as bad as say riding the train in Singapore alongside "the wrong folks" (ones with body odor and you know what I'm talking about), but when you're nice and fresh in the morning from your hot shower, it's nice to keep that same feeling as long as you can. Unfortunately, all that stops the minute you sit down on a bus.

But oh well. If riding the bus makes me one step closer to traveling to Japan, why not, coconut!

Spotlight

While people in Pinas are still hung up on American Idol, I have my own favorite reality-TV-competition that I watch religiously: MTV's America's Best Dance Crew.

For me, there is nothing better than seeing awesome choreography executed perfectly...by good looking people. This show is so much better than MTV's first attempt in bringing dance on TV: The Wade R0bson Project. That show sucked (for oh-so-many reasons) and I never understood why Wade let that happen. But anywhoo...

As a former dance team member (long live sequins and spandex!), I'm glad that dancers/dance teams have finally been given the spotlight...and hiphop dancing is now on national TV...and without cr0tch-grabbing and h00chie clothes that it's always associated with. Love it!

RIP 99-cent Menu

Lunch will never be the same again.

Last month, I had lunch with a friend at Wendy's and as usual, I ordered my 5-piece Crispy Chicken Nuggets and small fries. Surprisingly, the total was a few cents than what I had expected. I passed it off thinking that it was no Biggie (did you get the pun?).

Yesterday, I had lunch at Wendy's again and I ordered a Jr Bacon Cheeseburger and sour cream & chive potato which all used to cost $2.16 including tax, but holy moley, it came to $2.34!

After much research (I was THAT affected), I found out that Wendy's replaced the infamous "99-cent Menu" with the "Super Value Menu" and you guessed it, not all of the menu items cost 99 cents anymore; more specifically, my beloved potato sides are now more than $1. What the heezy fo' sheezy happened?

Dave, whereever you may be these days, tell your people to re-think about this injustice they just did. Afterall, McDonald's now have a Dollar Menu and they're right: I'm lovin' it.

The Swan

Things that I used to spend money on, but don't anymore:

- CDs
- DVDs
- Sanrio stuff

Things that I used to not buy, but now I do:

- Coach purses
- MNG by Mango clothes
- Naturalizer shoes (comfort is #1)

Parang mas mura yung mga hobbies ko nung bata ako kesa ngayon na nagdadalaga na. HaHa! I spent this three-day weekend shopping, all three days of it. When the heck did I turn into a girl?!

I guess this is what happens when I can't travel as freely as I used to: naiipon yung pera pero hindi naman magamit sa gustong puntahan kaya kung ano-ano na lang ang binibili. Puwede din na wala kasing papa kaya hinahanap ang pagmamahal sa bag na lang...at mahal talaga siya. ;P

Mi Familia

Regardless of how early the concept of funerals was introduced to me and regardless of how many times I've had deaths in the two sides of my family, every single funeral seems "new" to me, never quite understanding the concept nor being comfortable witnessing all of it.

My Lola Inay was buried yesterday and the whole family came together to say, "See you later." And I know she went to a great place because it was sunny with clear blue skies the whole entire day eventhough we're in the middle of winter.

It's times like this that one can be thankful for having a family in more ways than one.

Words to Live By

I Heart Cebu

After the former co-workers visited in December, I found out that Starbucks released two new versions of the Manila and Cebu City Mugs and also created new mugs--Baguio and Tagaytay. Lilian ended up getting me the Cebu one for Christmas and I got it today. I'm so ecstatic that I even revamped the website. Check it out!

Chillin' Like a Villain

You know what I really miss about living in the Philippines? Tambayan: the ability to spend countless hours sitting around in a public place doing absolutely nothing productive with people that you love to hang out with. Promise, in the Philippines lang yan.

Last week, my two co-workers and I decided to go to Happy Hour to avail of cheap food and possibly eye candy. After venting about work and scarfing down my plate of waffle fries and chicken quesadilla, the girls started getting uneasy and wanted to leave because they thought the waitress minded us being there without ordering any more food. Sa Pilipinas? Walang pakialamanan dahil paying customers kami.

We window-shopped a little bit and we ended the night with a waffle cone full of green tea soft-serve (I've never used this phrase since the last decade, but it was absolutely "the bomb"). At 8:30PM, S quipped, "Should we start heading home now?" Ay nako, kung sa Pilipinas 'to, hanggang madaling araw kami doon.

Although unproductive as heck, I see tambayan as quality time. When you have already talked about the usual daily whinings and you're trying to find something else to talk about, you end up talking about real stuff to fill the dead air - real stuff that are rated R at times and are not for public consumption like in a blog. ;P

FREEdom

My current United Mileage Plus miles: 54,406
Total United Mileage Plus miles required for Japan: 60,000

Can you say, "Totally do-able"? I'm not sure about going to Japan with Co-worker S this summer anymore because I don't want to be all sticky when I finally hug the Little Twin Stars in Puroland, but it's nice to know that I can go to Japan for free...and spend all my money on useless things instead like a Hello Kitty wafflemaker. ;P

Lady in Red

It's been a little less than three years since I gave birth. I'm happy to announce that Papa and I have a new addition to the family. Meet Red:



It's the most adorable thing since...well, since Kulay. It's so small! The story behind this is that when I was walking around the neighborhood last summer, my pants kept falling down because Kulay was so heavy (remember, he's an iPod Color, waaaay before the iPods went on a diet). Hence, it was time for a new baby. Kulay will be used during travel and in the office while Red will be used during exercise. What's even nicer is I got a sweet deal on this: $48 including s/h. How sweet it is to be loved by you, Red.

It's Baaaaaack

The Filipino Channel (TFC) is back in our household, thanks to my mom requesting it as a Christmas gift. I'm hoping that I won't get sucked back in to the whole jologs/showbiz world; I've been quite content with my Korean TV shows all these months. God help me to resist all the temptation that is known as ChristianBautista! Keep me away from watching ASAP! HaHa!