Magasin

In 1992, my name was included in The Seattle Times as one of the students who was competing in the Regional Washington State Spelling Bee. (Geek!)

In 1999, there was a write-up about me in the local newspaper for being the Senior of the Month of my high school. (Still a geek!)

In 2007, I'm in a glossy financial magazine! (Geek next to tarsiers!)


Although, my dream is really to be a covergirl, I mean, to see my name in the byline...which I hope to be a reality soon. *Ahem to Mr. Editor-in-Chief!

Buy the latest issue of MoneySense magazine today and see me in my glossy magazine debut (then show the copy to your single, pogi male friends...because that's why I was included in the magazine in the first place! HaHa!)

Around the World

Besides seeing the world's wonders, I want to finish my SE Asia travels for one other reason: to acquire as many Starbucks City Mugs as possible.

Yes, as a recovering Sanrio/Hello Kitty/Little Twin Stars addict, I have now chosen to waste my hard-earned money on making Corporate America richer. Oh heavens!

So far, I have these:
- Manila (in Seattle)
- Cebu
- Hong Kong (in Seattle)
- Bangkok
- Kuala Lumpur
- Singapore
- Cyprus (hey, that's not SE Asia!)
- UAE (hey, that's not SE Asia either!)
- Beijing (it's not from the City Mug collection, but Lilian thought it would make me happy for Christmas)

I only acquired three of those personally; the rest are gifts from traveling co-workers here in Manila.

Mugs that I need because I've been to the places, but never got the chance to get the mugs: Guangzhou, Dalian, and Shanghai. If anyone is traveling to those places, please let me know. Pity the fool, please, pity the fool.

And for those people who live in countries with Starbucks, will you be my friend? HeHe.

Picture of a Desperate Woman

What does a girl do when her TV (which came with her furnished condo) suddenly craps out on her? Why, buy a pirated DVD, of course!

Yes, desperation leads to desperate measures. After dinner on Friday, I headed over to the piracy capital of Ortigas with Ate Jen and came home with an eight-in-one DVD of W1ll Sm1th movies for a total cost of P75 (that's about a dollar fifty for you international folks out there).

I finally got to watch "Hitch" and "The Pursuit of Happyness" (the latter made me shed a tear or two)! And sure enough, that DVD was only good for the weekend. I saw all the movies by Sunday evening.

Noticing a potential addiction, I'm now trying to figure out whether I should get the TV fixed or continue buying pirated DVDs to watch on my laptop. Mathematically, I can solve this and let you know which is cheaper to do. I just can't seem to put my morals anywhere in the equation. Tsk!

(By the way, if anyone knows how to fix a picture tube of a TV for free, please let me know. I can't live without a TV on the weekends and stealing is a crime...unless, they're Korean telenovelas in which case it's called "borrowing". Ha!)

The Lost Girl Finds a Lost Boy

Back in the late '90s (when I was dancing the most), I don't think I ever missed an episode of A.S.A.P, on TFC because of the Streetboys. They were awesome. I had a huge crush on Jhong, but the other seven members didn't look too shabby either (Meynard, Joey, Nicko, Michael, Vhong, Spencer, and Joseph...naaalala ko pa!). Come to think of it, they started my teenybopper days before The Mickey Mouse Club and 'NSync came into my life!

Well, twelve years later, who knew that I would see one of them in the flesh! Tonight, Alessa kindly invited me to watch Peter Pan at CCP and guess who was one of the Lost Boys? It was Meynard! Yeah, from the Streetboys to Lost Boys! HeHe. I quickly nudged Alessa and she asked, "Paano mo alam?" My reply? "E ayan o! Nasa harapan natin!" Baka may lukso ng dugo kaya nakita ko agad siya. HaHa!

Don't worry, I didn't pee my pants when I saw him. I've seen so many showbiz personalities in the span of one and a half years that I don't get starstruck anymore (The latest? SheryI Cruz at Shangri-La). But just like any reminiscing episode, it was cool to see something/someone that reminds you of your childhood and brings you back to all your kababawan-ness.

Saan ko naman kaya hahagilapin si Jhong para may closure na ang tennybopper days ko? HeHe!

Girls Just Want To Have Fun

It used to be that people came to see me; people were excited to meet the girl behind this website. They were the ones who used to go out of their way to have lunch or dinner with me (and for the unfortunate ones, they had to drive me home to San Mateo, Rizal after having lunch or dinner!).

Fast forward to one and a half years later, I'm now one of those who has to re-arrange my schedule so that I can meet someone who is in town before he/she flies back to the U.S. or Canada.

Last night was Ayeza's last night in Manila. After a last-minute text from Tet, I hailed a cab to go to Greenbelt, hoping that I would get there in time before all the plates were put away. Thank God it was not Friday and traffic did not hinder my chances of participating in some quality girl talk.

Usually, when I meet up with my fellow bloggers, it's a one-on-one event (Hey, we're supposed to be introverts afterall! Oo, introvert ako! Maniwala na kayo, please! HaHa!). Group EBs are a rare thing for me. I think dalawang group EBs palang ata ang napupuntahan ko in the span of *ahem nine years of blogging (Crap, ang tagal na pala!). Last night, there were five of us. Being all girls, we didn't have to be mindful of the topics that we talked about. Siyempre, lovelife ang topic na mas matagal na pinagusapan! And they even have a code name for the neverending search for my Mr. Right: Mission Possible. O, di ba?

Indeed, good company + good food = good time. Hooray for pasta and dulce de leche cheesecakes!

This night made me want to go back to reading websites of new people. I've been quite content with reading only my usual circle's for years now, but I think it's now time to expand my horizons. Please let me know if you have a website to share. :)