Apartment-hunting

I am so stressed! We are in the midst of apartment hunting and it hasn't been easy to find a good place. It's a landlord's market through and through and rents are up across the board by $600-$800 in the categories and location we are after. And to top it all, there aren't many properties to choose from at the moment too. Ack!

This move will be my third, if ever -- this after 4 years in this current condo. This place is great, location-wise, for me as it is just 8 minutes away from my office in a cab. But this place is a bit out of the way for my relatively new housemate, the hubby, who just has to go to work in the great beyond that is Jurong. And so it is that we are looking for a place that is about halfway to both our places of work.

I initially harboured hopes that our push to live further from central Singapore would redound to rent savings for us! Well, like I said, so NOT! And this house hunting has to happen just before Christmas too! Egads!

Stress, stress. Is there no end to stress this year? Even if this is my supposed year (Dog), I can't wait for it to finish. My toes and fingers are crossed that Dogs will have a better year in 2007, the year of the Red Pig.

Orchard Rd in Nov

Was in Orchard Rd last Sunday with the hubby and couldn't help but feel like an excited kid once again when I saw all the Christmas lights glowing in the night. The street was definitely buzzing with activity with so many buskers, shoppers and (sadly) survey-takers.

Some pix we took:





The three-storey-high Christmas tree at the lobby of Ngee Ann City.














Street-level, Orchard Road







Another one,
outside Takashimaya

Paragon Shopping Centre




Sunday traffic along Orchard Road

Tang's Dept Store




Junction of Orchard Rd and Scotts Rd

It sure is beginning to look a lot like Christmas, duh?!

I LOVE IT!

The Luli Arroyo incident at NAIA

The Luli Arroyo incident at the NAIA, where she was arrogantly and rudely dismissed by an immigration officer after she confronted him for allowing a foreigner to cut the immigration queue, is one story that I've been closely following for 2 days now.

Just in case you missed reading about this, let me narrate to you the story.

Luli, the only daughter of the Philippine president, was in the airport early this week and was being the usual low-key woman (bless her soul) that she always is: meaning she queued up with her sis-in-law with no hoopla, no PSG escorts (nothing visible, at least), nada. She was just being an ordinary Filipino like you and me going through the NAIA and immigration procedures.

So there she was in the immigration queue, minding her business, when she saw a foreigner jump said queue and get service immediately from the immigration officer attending to her line. (Luli would later say that she even saw the foreigner entering the officer's booth!)

The first daughter immediately complained to the immig officer, asking him why he allowed the foreigner to go ahead of everyone.

The officer, who probably never watched The Amazing Race episode where the Luli once said Mabuhay, Welcome to the Philippines! to the racers beside host Phil, and thus was clueless about the identity of the woman he was about to brow-beat, snapped loudly in reply: 'Di ka ba marunong maghintay?' ('Don't you know how to wait?')

(The man doesn't know it yet but he just started to dig his own grave right then. But such arrogance!)

Luli answered back: 'Bakit kaming mga Pilipino ang pinapagalitan mo? Bakit hindi yung foreigner?' ('Why are you scolding us Filipinos? Why not the foreigner)?'

By this time, the reports said, the immig guy's colleagues were trying to get his attention to subtly tell him that he was exchanging words with the Prez' daughter. To no avail.

The officer continued his tirade, still clueless. According to Inq7, he even told her that she shouldn't be in his lane because it was meant for VIPS and diplomats. Hah!

Finally, the guy's supe arrived and explained to Luli that the foreigner was allowed through before everyone because he was already late for his flight. Finally!, Luli must have said. An explanation!

After clearing immig (attended to by the same guy who would have only then seen who he had just berated upon opening her passport), Luli went to file a formal complaint about the incident.

Postscript, the guy has been temporarily relieved of his duties and put on 'floating' status while the incident is being investigated.

Meanwhile, Immigration Commissioner Alipio Fernandez Jr has given the grave digger 72 hours to explain why he should not be administratively charged with discourtesy and violating a standing policy prohibiting immigration officers from giving preferential treatment to passengers.

Ha! Vicarious vengeance for all who have been wronged by the immigration people!!!

Way to go, Luli! Thank you for standing up for Filipino travelers who have to suffer the high-handedness and rudeness of many of these immigration officers. I've witnessed many instances of power-tripping by some of these front-liners, once even witnessing a Chinese man in front of me hand over a wad of peso bills to an officer. I stared at that officer long and hard, wanting him to know that I saw the transaction, and you know how he reacted? He just stared back at me while accepting the wad, his look daring me, seemingly asking, Ano ngayon? (What now?)

Many of them treat lowly-looking OFWs (overseas foreign workers) shabbily too, thinking nothing of slamming back the passports on the counter once they've finished with it, all the while keeping their uniform bored looks.

I wonder how the Immigration Bureau came about to choosing just about their unfriendliest-looking people to man many of their front line counters?!

Anyway, back to the grave digger. What now? I say investigate the matter and when just cause is established (notice pls how I say 'when' just cause is established and not 'if'), let the schmuck sit at home for many moons. So he can ponder about the consequences of being rude and ignorant.

Awww!

Text from Jean, sent from HK where she is on a business trip: 'I just ate the same food we ordered before in HK and it didn't taste as delicious as when I was eating with friends. Have a great day.'

Awwww, how sweet!

And I know exactly which meal it was that she was referring to, a meal which featured this bird (quail? or pigeon? can't remember) that is eaten with a bit of salt if you like. The Macau fare from that resto in Tsim Sat Tsui. It's a die-die-must-try kind of place.

Feed me, I'm on holiday

Some people just don't have manners. Grrrrr.

A long-lost high school friend (who is not the subject of this rant) is in town from Manila for a short visit this weekend. So of course, I invited her to dinner, right? A dinner to welcome her to Singapore, to allow her to taste the flavours and spices of this island. (And since she is travelling with a colleague, we extended the invitation to this stranger too. Out of courtesy.) I haven't my friend, K, in 20 years, so I was very excited and looking forward to catching up.

So, dinner. My husband and I arranged to meet K and her colleague/travelling mate at a Starbucks along Orchard Road after their Night Safari jaunt, after which we were to proceed to Lau Pa Sat, a popular night-time, street-side hawker centre eating place here that serves all kinds of Chinese, Malay and Indian dishes and desserts.

A few minutes before the meeting time and the hubby and I were already walking toward Starbucks. I was craning my neck while I walked, scanning the crowd sitted outside the coffee joint for a glimpse of my friend. I immediately saw her and her male colleague, who I saw was talking animatedly to another man. My first thought was, wow, he sure made friends so quickly at Starbucks!

When we got to the table, we said hi all around. I couldn't help looking inquiringly at the other man there, so K's colleague (let's call him C1 for Crass No.1) introduced him and said he was also from Manila and was in town on official business.

Curious, I asked the second guy (let him be C2) how he came to be in Starbucks with his friend and K. Did they bump into each other here of all places, I asked. His reply just floored me: 'No. I've been waiting with them for you guys. C1 invited me to dinner.'

INVITED YOU TO JOIN US FOR DINNER, DID HE? WTF? WTF?

I couldn't help but hyperventilate in silent anger. Who the fruck asked this sampid guest C1 to invite more sampid guests to my dinner treat for K?? I mean, hello, when did it become open season to invite your own friends to a hosted dinner without you asking your hosts first if it was okay?

The hubby saw the extreme annoyance in my face and knew immediately that there was going to be hell to pay soon. So he took my arm and said, 'Hey, didn't you want to go to the loo?' while dragging me to the general direction of the pee-place.

He: Hey, relax. Relax.

Me: @%^&@#$*#$&#%. Who does he think he is? Tell me, can you just invite other friends with you to dinner hosted by folks who have just invited you out of frucking courtesy! Invite him to dinner, did he? Why stop at one, tell me? Why doesn't he call more people so we can have a party on my account! The blinking nerve!

He: Whatever it is, don't put K in a spot. It's not her fault that her friend is misbehaving. Remember, you haven't seen her in years! Just focus on that. She could be ill-at-ease about the whole thing too, you know!

Me: What are you suggesting? That I just grin and bear it?

And yes, folks, because I'm Pinoy and long-suffering and unable to say point-blank to C1, 'I see that you have your friend to keep you company tonight. You won't mind then if I steal K away from you for a few hours so we can catch up, would you?', I ended up playing hostess for the night to a friend and her buntot and his buntot. To get through the extremely grating crassness of C1, I just took my hubby's advice -- I just concentrated on K and made sure she had good food and was enjoying her time with me.

Eto pa. To top off the C duo's hateful quotient, when it came time to paying the bill, well, you would expect that C1 and C2 would at least make a show of reaching for their wallets to insist kuno on paying for their share, right? (Lalo na dapat si C2 kasi I didn't invite him at all.) Well, walang balak ang mga kapalmuks to pay -- no overtures, no moves, no inquiry later to ask how much their share was. Grabe.

But really, this isn't remotely about how much it cost to feed the C men, cos it's a small sum and is beside the point. This rant is about the utter gall of a stranger in taking liberties of a stranger's generosity.

But I admit I am the bigger fool, for allowing the evening to start and end without me saying anything to protest the imposition on my time, space and resources. I should have uttered the dialogue I wrote a few paragraphs above but in my defence, I was totally caught unawares and left shocked in the face of brazen bad behaviour.

You can bet however that if such a situation should present itself to me again, well, I've got the scenario studied and the quips readied. So be warned, crass creatures! Don't you start on me or boy, are you gonna get it!

It's raining MAC

Two weeks before my birthday in Sept, I was in a cab on the way to Paragon in Orchard Road here to catch a shuttle service that would take me to my acupuncture session in Spa Botanica in Sentosa. I was stewing there in the cab, willing it silently to go faster so I could make it to the 11.30am free service to the spa. If I missed the shuttle, it would mean I would then have to cab it to Sentosa to make it to my appointment, which would be a waste of my $10-12!

When the cab finally pulled over at at the back taxi bay of Paragon at 11.31am, I tried to do three things at once in my hurry: gave the driver my fare while trying to close my bag while opening the cab door to start a mad dash for the shuttle bay in 5 seconds.

All to 'disastrous' results, of course!

The driver was paid, I catapulted my body out the taxi in 2 seconds ala Flash, but I would know soon after that I didn't complete the simple task of closing my bag because a few seconds later, my bag's contents spewed forth onto the pavement.

It was so embarrassing! My make-up stuff went flying all over, my utility bills, pens, my wallet burst too, scattering my coins. Eeek! I had to pick these up one by one, in front of many cabs queued on that bay too!

It took me awhile to do this and when I had ensured that I had my wallet, house keys and phone inside the bag, I left the scene, thinking that whatever else of my possessions I may have overlooked and left on the sidewalk can easily be replaced.

It was already 11.45am by then and the shuttle that I had been hurrying to catch was long gone. Still a bit shaken and adamant not to cab it all the way to Sentosa, I called the spa to ask for the possibility of a one-hour delay to my noon appointment. Thankfully they said ok to that, giving me more than enough time to regain my composure and catch the next shuttle run at 12.30pm.

While waiting, I decided to rummage through my bag to see what I could be missing. Pen (a gift from a friend), check. Checkbook, got that. Mints, dental floss, ok. Office pass, here.

Relieved that I had all my stuff, I decided to go to the loo to freshen up. And that's when I realised I was friggin missing a MAC pressed powder compact that I had just bought 2 days prior!!! Argh! How sad is that? In trying to save my $12 fare to Sentosa, I ended up losing a $45-compact. And to think that I will have to fork out another $45 to buy a replacement! boohoo. What bad luck!

I had time to spare before the bus was due so I decided to cross the road to Ngee Ann City to buy yet another compact from MAC in 2 days. While high-tailing it there, I just had to send an sms to a girlfriend to tell her of my make-up misery.

Text to Shanana: Aargh! I lost my new MAC compact. Must have left it in cab or got thrown to pavement with my other stuff. Tell you more later. And my compact is so new! Arrgghh!

Her reply: Sorry to hear that. Can I get you the replacement? Been trying to think what to give you for bday. This saves me the agony. Pls?

My reply: Just ask me what I want. If you really want me to be happy, just get me a Chanel bag. Black. Thanks, you're a darling.

Her reply: You're so funny you make my toes laugh.

Anyway, I bought a new compact and made it to the next shuttle to the spa. On the way, I mentioned to the hubby my small misery re the missing compact and he said, don't worry, let's get you more this weekend, before we went on to speak about more important stuff.

I completely forgot about that non-episode until my birthday week when I came home one time to a surprise from the thoughtful hubby who said he got me a small gift, one that he knows I really needed. The surprise really surprised me, for it turned out to be a compact and lip shiner. Wow, how the heck did he have the guts to march into the MAC store and talk make-up with a sales crew there? He isn't the type, see. He is a proud man's man who won't be seen in MAC stores. Or so I thought.

Then a few days after, I arrived in my office to see a stack of MAC products from Shanana! Wow, talk about it raining MAC!

Between the hubby and Sha, that's my haul in the picture up above. As you can see, I have more than enough powder and blusher and lip glass to last me a whole year. Now, if only someone would give me that Chanel handbag, then life would be a really rosy. ;-)

Haze-free Sunday

Today was a good day. Singapore woke up to clean air again.

For many days now, we've had to breath in air with smoke (above), the smoke courtesy of Indonesia who is now watching hapless as forest fires rage in Sumatra.

Its an annual problem, this haze in Singapore. When it is slash-and-burn season in Indonesia, the small fires that farmers and plantation owners start to clear more land soon enough become huge, uncontrollable fires that eat whole forests, generating enough smoke that choke neighbouring countries Malaysia, Singapore and even some parts of Thailand in turn, depending on the direction of the wind.

I thought it was bad on Friday night (Pollutants Standard Index of 80), when the air was just so thick with smoke that my nose twitched no end from the acrid smell. But as it turned out, that was nothing compared to Saturday, when the PSI just doubled to 160! (A reading over 101 is unhealthy, necessitating the gov't to issue an advisory that cautioned against vigorous outdoor activity.) Me? I felt like a smoked chicken sitting at home and started to cough.

Looking out into the smoky horizon last night, I couldn't help but think how true the adage is about people not knowing how good they have it till they lose something. As I was gingerly breathing in smoke into my lungs, I longed for the clean air here that I had taken for granted all these years.

And so it was that when I woke up this morning, the first thing I did was to look out the window to check the cityscape before me for haze. I just had to whoop with joy when I 'saw' clean air again. No burning smell to every breath, no haze visible to the eye. PSI Index was at 27.

Welcome back sweet, clean air. Singapore missed you!

'Do not embarrass nation when abroad'

Above is the exhortation of the Chinese gov't to its own people who are poised to travel abroad during the week-long National Day celebrations this week.

Due to increasing affluence, more and more of the 1.3 billion China Chinese are now travelling abroad for holidays. Following various criticisms from tour agencies and host countries, however, about -- well, let's just say those unendearing peculiarities of the mainland Chinese -- the gov't has issued said guidelines.

The official Xinhua news agency on Tuesday said, 'The move aims to promote civilized behavior among Chinese travelers and restore the country's image, which has been tarnished by the behavior of some Chinese tourists.'

The list of dos and don'ts include orders to speak quietly, respect queues and put litter in bins. Also, to be polite in public places and observe the rule of 'ladies first'.

And what's at the top of the don't list? Spitting.

Xinhua quoted an official as saying uncivilized behavior is becoming a real embarrassment for China.

I say this is a step in the right direction for China. By making the public aware of everyday 'bad' habits that destination countries may find objectionable, the gov't is in fact hitting two birds with one stone: refining the rough edges of some of its globe-trekking citizens AND continuing the education campaign for the Chinese people who are soon to host thousands of athletes, officials and spectators during the summer Olympics in 2008.

Hmm, I wonder what the Phil gov'ts do's and don'ts list would look like if they were to do such a thing?

Photo credit: Liao Yusheng

Stocking food for emergencies

I just left a comment on Market Manila's post on panic shopping for canned goods after the latest typhoon in the old country left Luzon without electricity for a few days.

The subject of stocking up on emergency food supplies has just been in the limelight here in Singapore. You see, about 2-3 weeks ago, from out of the blue (at least for me) , there with our September utility bill was a flier that exhorted the merits of always keeping in stock at home a 2-week supply of food for use during emergencies.

I felt anxious when I read the flier. What emergency kaya? I also couldn't help but wonder what the powers-that-be must be preparing us for.

For those interested, here is the Singapore govt's recommended emergency foodstock list meant for two weeks PER PERSON:

1) 3.5 kg of rice
2) 1 bottle (250gm) of cooking oil
3) assortment of 7 cans of meat/fish/beans (abt 400gm/can)
4) 2 packets assorted biscuits (210gm each)
5) assortment of 7 cans of vegetables
6) 1 tin (400gm) of malted beverage
7) 500 gm sugar
8) instant noodles (3 packs of 5)
9) milk powder (2 tins for babies up to 6 months, 1 tin for those who are 7 mnths to 6 years)

Here is the brochure the gov't sent us.

Not wanting to take it too seriously but obviously curious enough to know what the hubby and I may be feeding on if there indeed was an emergency, I took a look inside the kitched shelves where we store some canned goods and other foodies.

Here's what we have:

From left: Splenda, rolled oats, Japanese bread crumbs, mayonnaise, veg noodles, fruit cocktail, tuna in olive oil, Del Monte sardines.




Iced tea mix, tomato sauce, ketchup, luncheon meat, canned button mushrooms, Carnation evap, bottled sardines from Manila, pasta, Quaker oats, assorted teas.




Cashews, popcorn, Kambly biscuits and Skyflakes, burrito pack, Cadbury chocettes, dried mangoes and Schweppes.



Hmm, it's clear from the above that if there was indeed an emergency (touch wood), I would have gained weight after two weeks of feeding on what's available from our shelves while my husband would be emaciated from having only vegetarian instant noodles and mushrooms (which he hates) and okay, cashews and pop corn.

I see now that I must correct this food imbalance in our larder and go buy another pack of veggie noddles for him. hahaha. JOKE lang!!

36th!

Every year on this day, I try to reflect on my life so far. By reflect, I mean I go through the past year again in my head, identifying the big, defining moments, the struggles and how they were hurdled (if at all), the small and seemingly inconsequential moments that filled the days. At least those that I can remember anyway.

I go through this exercise because I want to remember as much as I can about what has transpired in my life. In the daily hustle and bustle of living, it can't be helped that days are sometimes counted and marked out on calenders only as a way to get to a particular date coinciding with work deadlines, the next payday, the next vacation or the next trip home. I tend to do that too, sadly, a habit I'm trying to curb. For who was it that said that life is what happens when you are not looking?

I also reflect to 'look' for moments I may have forgotten or overlooked that should make me ever more grateful for the blessed lot I have been handed. From my stormy growing-up years, through severe insecurity, early tensions and despair over academic difficulties while in college (ack! Engineering! in UP! Don't even ask.), heck, I've come a long way, baby!

So, for giving me material comfort, where there could have easily been dire want, for a life of quiet joy and contentment where there could have been desperation and helplessness, good health where illness instead, love, care, acceptance and friendship where loneliness could have been, I walk around with a grateful heart -- most of the time. (Who doesn't get whiny every once in a while, huh?) And so to stock my heart's armory with big and small instances that inspire gratitude to the Giver on days when I can't help but be difficult, I scour through years gone by for my own ammunition -- countless proof of blessings.

I also have this habit of trying to kill myself trying to remember exactly what I did last year, on this very day. Of course I always get frustrated because I am someone who can't even remember what I did this day last week! I always attempt to start a diary too, to save me the trouble of mental calistenics next year about today's events, but so far, all I have are unused nice notebooks and a few diaries that have barely anything written on them lying about in my bedroom.

Towards this end, let me just say that I remember that on this day in 2005, I had a huge chocolate cake with lots of fluffy white icing from my hubby (then fiance) which we finished eating only after about a month. (Ew! Too huge! And I didn't want to throw it out.) He got me a sexy, red divan too, which he said was to be my throne after a long day at the office, but which became his favourite chair instead until it gave him bad backaches. So now I get to sit there finally. The 18th last year was a Sunday, so we spent the day together in town meandering about.

This year, he got me a smaller cake, a mango torte, a light, yummy creation that is not cloyingly sweet. I reckon this one will be polished off in 2 weeks tops.

I went to work today though, this being the eve of the 2-day IMF and World Bank annual meetings here. So no fancy dinner date. The hubby did come by my office bearing a special takeaway dinner for me and promised a better meal this weekend.

Looking forward, I hope for 3 major things this year: having a baby and going on a proper honeymoon, whichever comes first. And world peace, of course.

Cheers!

Where does the time go?

From that initial online chat with some of my old high school friends a few weeks ago, the group has now expanded to include a few more people who had just dropped out from everyone's radar to 'resurface' now after so many years.

My amazement at how we've managed to be located in so many parts of the world has just grown. Ah, the wonder of technology really. I may never live to see all these names in my Yahoo Chat box in the same physical room again, but at least online, we are able to gather like high school kids again every few weeks to chit-chat and reminisce.

Those who can't be online when we gather write-in via email and what wacky emails they send. You know you're old(er) when you can't remember half the stories that are told about happenings in high school, and its specially strange but a bit melancholy too to hear a friend now living in UK sing to you via Yahoo Voice your alma mater song that you've completely forgotten about.

As Julia Fordham sings so plaintively in a song, I likewise ask: Where does the time go?

Off to HK!

I'm off to HK with girlfriends for an impromptu trip. It will just be for the weekend, from early Saturday to late Monday to be exact. I don't have an agenda while there really, will just bum around, hopefully with ad-man extraordinnaire Lester for a while.

The girls I'm travelling with are former HK residents so they know where to eat while in Hong Kong. And I can't wait to have dimsum!

I'm so excited! And I just can't hide it! :)

Photo credit: BLOOMBERG

A case for saving

Whoopeedoo! I have an extra $6,000 in the bank!

No, I didn't win the lottery nor the sweepstakes. A never-known rich uncle didn't die and left me with moolah. And nope, I didn't have to hock my furnitures or my baubles for extra cash either.

The money is from a designed-to-be-forgotten automatic savings programme that I committed to just a little over two years ago. And why is the money out of the savings programme and into my bank, you ask? In my bank where its oh so easy to access via direct debit in stores?

Okay, relax. This post is not a confession about an imminent shopping frenzy. (I haven't done anything remarkable these last few months to merit a shopfest. And I'm not depressed too, my trigger to go crazy.) From the title of this post, you can see that this is my testimony to saving.

Over two years ago, I was whiling my afternoon in Borders here, and as is my wont, I soon found myself with a financial self-help book titled The Automatic Millionnaire by David Bach.(I'm such a sucker for these kinds of books!)

After speed-reading through the book, the author had convinced me that I could save money without hardship if I capitalise on the automation of the ways of today's society by setting up a savings plan that I can forget about. This is done by allowing a bank or a financial institution to deduct a specified sum from my payday account, for example, every month without fail, right on the time when pay is banked in.

By doing this, saving is made automatic -- eliminating the usual excuses to not saving, like the Oh-I-don't-make-enough-to save or the I-just-don't-know-where my-money-goes, to I-forgot-to-transfer-the-money excuses. The rationale is, you won't miss the amount that is not even in the account that you work with every day. The author said this is the practical application of the Pay Yourself First motto of saving, which essentially means that one must pay oneself first (by saving or socking away an amount) before one pays the utility company, the credit card company, the grocery, the car company, etc every month.

And so, I soon called up my insurance agent to ask if they had such an automatic savings/investment plan that I could sign up with. She said yes, they do have it, asked me how much I was keen on saving a month, and voila, a few days later, I actually signed the paperwork for the scheme.

True enough, I soon forgot about the $250 that was deducted from my account every month since then. Until recently, when I remarked to my insurance agent-friend that I was financially gearing up for my first balloon payment in Sept for a condo we are paying for in Manila.

May: 'I think you have enough in your investment plan with me to pay about half of the P500k you are preparing for.'

Me (all agog): 'WHAT?!!! I do?'

May: 'I'm sure. Just do your sums. $250 over more than two years.'

Me: 'It's been two years since then? I can't believe that.'

May: 'Time flies when you're having fun, my friend.'

WOW! And just like that, I have an extra $6,000 in the bank! And it's all going toward an asset too!

Reflecting on this later, I couldn't help but be grateful and awed at the blessings I have been provided. I'm in no measure financially rich, but I have been blessed tremendously and right at the opportune moments too to have more than enough in the pocket to cover all of our requirements. To all these, I say, Thank You, My Lord. All glory and honour be unto You.

:-)

Diaspora and YM

I have a date to chat with my grade school/high school friends this Friday, 9pm-ish Manila time. It will involve 7 people located in 6 countries, good old Yahoo Messenger, and hopefully, not much lag time and disconnections.

I haven't seen 4 of these people in a long time. At least not since university. Makes me wonder what we will talk about, who we will talk about, how we can get each of our stories in. Hmm, with a lot of difficulty, I should think. But it can only be fun and I am looking forward to it. Thank God technology now enables people to reconnect this way, on cyberspace.

Of course, chatting online is nowhere near the real thing -- when you sit with good friends and talk and talk over food and wine. But for someone who lives away from old stomping grounds, chatting will have to do. Afterall, it is still time spent with friends, right?

Anyway, when Hannah sent the email to the 6 of us informing us of the chat date and time, she indicated there the participants' locations: NY, CA, UK, HK, and SG, plus Manila, of course.

In a subsequent chat I had with her over the email, I mentioned how sad in a way it was that we were all scattered around the globe now such that the hope of ever meeting up physically together was remote.

And then she said something that's been in my mind for days now. She said, 'It's too bad our country is not well enough to keep us all here.'

Han, that's the lament of most non-resident Filipinos.

If only things worked in Manila, if only there was a decent government in place. If only I could make the living I'm making here there, if only I could feel safe. If only everyone followed rules, if only everyone had fair opportunities to make it in life. If only people respected each other, if only people really cared.

If only.

Then I could come home and live where my heart is.

The song in my head 2

The song Overkill by Men at Work is lodged in my mind lately, coming soon after I saw Colin Hay of the disbanded Men At Work in an guest star appearance in Scrubs recently.

In the show, he was following JD around, strumming his guitar, singing the very familiar tune. I went online, looked for a video of it in YouTube and voila! here it is. I also resolve to go to HMV this weekend to buy the group's greatest hits album if its available.

80's music. I heart them.



OVERKILL by Men at Work

I can't get to sleep
I think about the implications
Of diving in too deep
And possibly the complications

Especially at night
I worry over situations
I know will be alright
Perhaps its just my imagination

Day after day it reappears
Night after night my heartbeat shows the fear
Ghosts appear and fade away

Alone between the sheets
Only brings exasperation
It's time to walk the streets
Smell the desperation

At least there's pretty lights
And though there's little variation
It nullifies the night
From overkill

Day after day it reappears
Night after night my heartbeat shows the fear
Ghosts appear and fade away

I can't get to sleep
I think about the implications
Of diving in too deep
And possibly the complications

Especially at night
I worry over situations
I know will be alright
It's just overkill

Day after day it reappears
Night after night my heartbeat, shows the fear
Ghosts appear and fade away


Now listen to the acoustic version. It's just superb too!




The song in my head 1: Eraserheads

Back from MLA

I just got back from a week's vacation in Manila. Boy, it sure was raining out there! But notwithstanding the occasional flooded street that caused traffic jams, I liked the rainy weather and the umbrella-busting wind action. Sure beats the sticky heat that was the daily experience when I was there earlier in the year, in late Feb to early March, to be exact.

Ditching my usual Jetstar Asia for Philipppine Airlines this time around, I thought the baggage collection at the Ninoy Aquino Int'l Airport would be faster since the terminal only serves PAL flights. Wrong!

After breezing through immigration, my fellow passengers and I soon found ourselves stuck in baggage collection, jockeying for spots near the conveyor belts with passengers from a PAL flight from Japan. It seems that those who flew in from Japan have had to endure more than an hour's wait for their baggages by then, triggering loud exclamations of dismay from Singapore-arriving passengers. If an earlier flight had yet to fully empty its cargo, what more us?

Despite the huge numbers of Filipino workers coming and going through our airports, airport management apparently still does not have an efficient plan to make baggage collection smooth and fast, rain or shine. What will it take to make this people remotely interested in drastically reducing the long waiting time a traveller must endure to retrieve his bags and boxes? Hello, this isn't rocket science, Mr Airport Manager! Surely you can do something to fix this?!

I could only sigh. Welcome to the Philippines. What else is new?

Anyway, after an hour of waiting, spent quietly observing the people milling around me -- most distinctive of all being the ladies who obviously were 'cultural entertainers' in Japan (they all look alike somehow: slim with long, straightened hair, tight jeans and shirts, high heels, many clutching Louis Vuitton bags, a brash, defiant sort of confidence) -- I finally had my luggage. Yey!

My 7 days home were a whirl of activity, as most vacations are wont to be. I won't bore with details but suffice it to say that through my packed days there, I was also filing away in my heart new, warm memories of unconditional love and kinship from family and good friends.

Some thoughts that crossed my mind while there:

1) Any meal, any activity that involves family members is a chance to reconnect.

I am so happy that I was able to spend most days with my sickly mother. We went to the hospital for her check-up together, went to the malls, watched a movie, ate food that we both missed. All the while, we also talked, catching up on each other's lives. She told me about the recent weddings of my cousins, her various ailments, her recent trip to Cebu while I told her about my new life as a wife, apprised her about my job and plans.

I was also so happy to see and hug and cuddle my 2 nephews and 1 niece. They are growing up so fast, their antics multiplying by the day!

Spent time too with my siblings and my SIL and BIL who are like my own sister and brother to me now. These folks always make time to see me, take me around, do errands together. Bless their hearts. I miss them already.

2. I am truly so blessed to have great friends.

As I only had a week, I didn't call most of the usual suspects to schedule a lunch or dinner. I knew that I was going to be tied-up with trips to the hospital so just sent word to 3 ladies, to see if we could have a quick catch-up over coffee.

As it turned out, I got to have lunch with Weng in Saisaki on Tuesday and a couple of drinks with Hanabanana in Giligan's Malate on Wednesday.

The show stopper was a text from Malou saying that dinner had been set for Sat night at Mard's place.

Now, if you were invited to Mard's for dinner, please don't say no because the food she prepares with my other mates is just YUMMY!!! And boy, was it good that night -- we started off with some ulang tom yam soup (made from scratch, pls), pako salad (delicious. I gotta try to make it myself, I think I can live well with just that!) and then pritong lumpia and humungous, gigantic, gargantuan crabs!!! For sweets, we had a heavenly chocolate caramel cake.

Through all the munching and slurping and glogging, 6 batchmates and good friends exchanged news, joked about, planned, reminisced. We didn't part until it was 4.30am on the day of my return flight to SG.

(We missed you then Anna, Kathy, Jasmin, Jean and Alma. Let's all come home at the same time one day soon!)

On a lighter note,

I watched Sukob ni Kris Aquino. (Pls don't pelt me with rotten tomatoes. I knew I was in for at least an hour of Kris and her idea of acting, so I knew I was in for torture.) Anyway, the movie is really scary, not because the plot is scary, because it ain't. Kris didn't disappoint. Her acting is still scary. She only has one expression on her face, which to me looks like she's found out she has an STD again.

And may I know how come the idea of 'sukob sa kasal' now involves death, death, death and more deaths? From old wive's tales, someone who marries on the same year as another sibling only has financial bad luck to possibly contend with. Certainly not death!

Wow, ang jologs ko!

Thinking about Filipinos in Lebanon

While reading today about how foreign governments have been working round the clock to find ways and means to evacuate their citizens from war-torn Lebanon, I couldn't help but feel sorry for many Filipinos still left in panic in the area.

For while Britons, Americans, French people, Russians, Greeks and Australians are waiting their turn to board the luxury cruise liners, or helicopters or coach buses that their governments have rustled up to ferry them to safety, my poor countryman have largely been left to fend for themselves.

Philippine officials have been quoted as conceding that they are unable to evacuate thousands of people on their own and have asked foreign governments for help.

Gloria Arroyo herself has asked that 30,000 Filipinos trapped in that land be spared. Yeah. Like Israel can programme their bombs or the Hizbollah their rockets so that these stay clear of those with Maharlika blood!

Trust them to remind us always how perfectly inutile they are. In every crisis it confronts, it seems that all the government can do is just wring its hands and say, 'Somebody help! We can't take care of our own. Help!'

How utterly pathetic.

In the meantime, let's all say a small prayer for Pinoys still in Lebanon at this time. I hope they all safely find their way home soon.

On S'pore salaries

I get many queries from friends and friends of friends asking about the Singapore salaries of varied posts, all linked to a job seeker's desire to write down a realistic figure in the 'expected salary' portion of his/her Singapore job applications.

As can be reasonably expected, all I could offer in this department were intelligent (hopefully) guess-timates based loosely on the extrapolations one can make when reading local newspapers about the salaries and financial habits of all sorts of people in the news, among other things. It's not a scientific figuring out of salaries for sure but I've always taken time to be extra careful when quoting a figure. I don't want to cause one to lose his or her chance at a job because of a laughably high expected salary, much less cause one the distress of finding out that he had priced himself too low due to ignorance or plain laziness in finding out for sure what his post's salary rate should be (as I strongly think was my case when I started here).

But now I think we can all kiss my guess-timates goodbye in favour of actual survey results. The Ministry of Manpower here has on its website the 2005 Report on Wages in Singapore. Browse it and see the mean (or average) and median salaries of selected occupations in all industries, sorted by industry, gender and age.

So if a graphic designer, for example, were wondering what average salary his compatriots were earning here, a quick check at Monthly basic and gross wages of selected occupations in all industries, June 2005, would show that for his occupation (listed under Technicians and Associate Professionals), latest data shows an average basic salary of S$2,419 and an average gross salary of $2,562. He can cross-refer also to the age table, and see what graphic designers in specific age brackets earn on the average.

Neat, huh? (God bless Singapore for their transparency and efficiency!)

Here's a list of other occupations and their average salaries from the same table. (S$1 = Php33.08):

Advertising and PR Manager - S$5,403

Creative Director (Advertising) - $4,907

Engineering Manager - $6,224

Marketing Manager - $6,190

Accountant - $3,844

Dentist - $4,637

Editor (Newspapers and Periodicals) - $5,177

Mechanical Eng'r - $3,634

Network and Computer Systems Administrator - $3,279

Systems Programmer - $3,436

Teacher of the mentally-handicapped - $2,303

Medical diagnostic radiographer - $3,005

HR personnel - $3,074

Bank clerk - $1,832

Seaman - $1,455

Store hand - $1,297

Do check out the resource and the Ministry's other publications online.

I'll google you

Well, what do you know!

'Google' has found its way into a US dictionary so quickly. According to an AFP report, the 2006 fall edition of Merriam-Webster will carry the verb, which means to search the Internet -- made popular with the launch of the famous search engine.

Of course, this isn't the first trademark that has also been transformed into a verb. There's Xerox and xerox (to photocopy). Know of any other?

Other new words in the dictionary: spyware, supersize, ringtone. Say hello too to 'mouse potato', which means someone glued to the computer screen the same way that a couch potato is someone glued to the telly.

One person in my neighbourhood

There's this character from the office who is always assigned to the same van I take when going home. He lives in central S'pore, like I do, and since we finish work at roughly the same time most nights, we always get assigned to the same coaster which the company provides to ferry those of us who end our workday when the MRT and public buses have parked for the night.

Being the naturally friendly fellow that he is, this man chats up whoever is sitted beside or near him, me included. In about three years of sitting with him in the van, he's told me many stories about himself and his family -- like the sickness and subsequent death of a brother, his daughter's university education in Australia, her graduation, her moving back to Singapore to look for work and her plans now to go back to Australia.

He's also told me about his political views, his comments on the day's burning issues and his struggle with the new programme installed at the office that was supposed to make his work easier but which only succeeded in making his blood boil during the early weeks. (I think I can safely say that he's over the hump now where this change is concerned because he has stopped trying to think up nasty meanings of the programme's acronyms. He used to say that NICA, the new programme, stands for Now I Can't Access.)

He's apprised me about his health woes and the medical expenses that he has to contend with, as well as his unhappiness over the early morning noises in his block that rouse him from his precious sleep. And who can forget the ghosts he saw while doing his NS in what is now Sentosa, and how his dad used to bring him to the area where I now live to visit a good doctor who has since passed away.

Yes, I now know so much more about this guy than I do any of my own uncles. Funny huh?

He narrates stories the way my dad does: in a winding, nostalgic way. I guess that's how it is when one is getting on in years.

There's a thing that worries me about my transpo-mate though.

He can tell me a story today with all earnestness and re-tell it again the next night without remembering that he had already told me the exact story less than 24 hours ago. When this happened the first time, I brought it up to him and told him, 'Hmm, didn't you tell me this last night?'

He said, 'Really?' and then kept quiet the rest of the way. I must have embarrassed him, I don't know, but since then, I've never had the heart to try and stop him from re-telling his stories again and again.

An example:

Transpo-mate: Did you know that the daughter of the sherpa (Tenzing Norgay) of the first man to climb Mt Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary, married a Filipino? The daughter married Noli Galang, who used to be with this company.'

Me: Oh. (Oh no, here we go again. I've heard this 4 gazillion times! How do I stop him without embarassing him?)

TM: Yes. They met in England. Noli was one of the best guys I ever worked with, you know. He was very good at his job. It's a pity he has passed away.'

Me: Oh. (Help! How do I stop this? If I tell him the truth that this is my 4 gazillionth-and-one time to hear this, will he start to question his sanity? Help!)

TM: I kept in touch with him when he went home to the Philippines for good, you know. Those were the old days. Did you know Noli?

Me: I didn't know of him until 3 years ago, when you first told me this story. (Ooops, that just came out, honest! Shit, shit, shit! Why can't he remember?)

TM (pointing to area near my house): There used to be a doctor here who was very good. My father used to take me to see him. You won't get that kind of doctor nowadays.

Me: Oh. (Sigh.)

Repeat the dialogue exactly the next night and feel my pain.

But really, I just hope nothing's seriously the matter with him, health-wise. Altogether, he's a really nice, friendly chap.

Anyway, this past week hasn't been to bad for me. He's just come back from a vacation with the family to Switzerland, Germany and France. And boy, does he have travel stories to tell! He's been telling me about Switzerland so far, about how beautiful it is there.

I'm hopeful that with his Germany and France exploits untold to me so far, it will be a long time yet before I have to sit through another retelling of who married what where.

Bye, bye bag

I got my new weekend bag last week but I had to promptly send it back after two nights of mulling if it was a keeper or not.

It looked really nice and all the girlfriends who saw it said it was a head turner. It was roomy too and could fit a small elephant into it. But try as I might, i didn't like the way the bag stiffly held its U shape even when I filled it with my everyday bag stuff. I would have preferred it if the canvas was softer so it would just sort of collapse into a comfortable lump swinging by my side instead of it standing proud and U-shaped.

Also, the material, which was white canvas interweaved with a matted gold thread, rubbed not so nicely on the skin. All told, it didn't feel right on me.

And so, the bag's snaking it way back to the US as I write this. Boohoo.

But I have to commend Hayden-Harnett for their excellent customer service. When I wrote to say I would be returning the bag, I got this email from them:

----------
Hi, Joanne-

So sorry the MOSA didn’t work out for you! Of course, you can return the bag, no problem.

Just a suggestion, but we do have another style, the MALIA, that is a very soft city basket with woven trim...these
Are also a limited edition of 50! Anthropologie just bought them from us for their catalog/website....very cool bag and I think the
Strap, fabric, etc. would work really well for you this summer.

If you are interested in the exchange, then please let me know and I’ll hold a bag for you...maybe I can throw in a handful of goodies for
you also :)

Best,
Toni

----------

Now THAT is great service, huh?!

For that alone, I will continue to look through Hayden-Harnett's bags for a possible replacement to my Mosa. (I don't like the Malia bag they recommended. It is too tribal for my taste, not to mention that I think I can get something similar in Manila for much much less.) AND recommend the site to other girlfriends.

As for me, it's back to oogling weekend bags!

What's your net worth?

I was desperately looking for the name of the woman who started the Jimmy Choo luxe shoe business yesterday and so went online to hunt for the elusive name. After a few seconds, Google Search not only spewed out the name (Tamara Mellon), but also this interesting story: Bloggers open up about money matters.

Read the story here.

I love stories and books about financial planning, personal finance, and anything that teaches me how to up my financial intelligence quotient. I devour these kinds of reading matter. I get excited reading about the ways of the frugal millionaire next door and want desperately to be money savvy like them so I can hope to retire early.

But of course, reading about being frugal and actually living like that everyday is not for the weak. And anyway, I don't want to be frugal to the point of excluding all of life's little pleasures, like holidays, the occasional expensive latte, or a lunch or dinner at a nicer place with loved ones or friends during weekends. A balance must be struck, right?

Will write more on this in another post. For now, check out this Net Worth Calculator I found in the course of looking for Ms Mellon's name. This one's real easy to use, with the accounting terms decoded into language we lay people understand. Check it out and see where you stand financially at this point.

Photo credit: designershoes-uk.com

Strong arm tactics to get a treat

Yesterday midday, the hubby casually mentioned during a phone conversation how he had bumped into a former landlord/casual friend who, after the usual pleasantries, asked him how come the hubby (and by extension, me) never even called him after our wedding to invite him and his wife out for a treat. (The friend said something like 'Hey, how come you never organised something? Surely you could have organised a dinner, at least!)

Say what? Did I hear that correctly?? Did I really hear someone demanding to be fed?

I couldn't believe it! Somebody actually had the gall to chastise us for not treating his ilk to dinner just because we got married!! Now we have to pay 'toll' to him for getting hitched?

Errm, we signed papers to be able to have sex and hope for progeny with the church's blessing, you know. NOT win the lottery!! HELLO!

The scary thing is, his wasn't the first 'demand' for a treat after the wedding!
The hubby's ball mates also prodded him many times to host a drinking party cos he got married. And this from people who never even sent a small note to say, hey, heard you are getting hitched. Congrats! Or something like that. (Ok, the hubby's reacted to this. He said his mates DID send us congratulatory notes on our wedding website. Oops! Sorry babe! My bad.)

(Hmmm, I seem to be typing wEEdings instead of weddings. Could it be that I view weddings as the weeding of unsuitable people from the happening dating scene? Hmmm. Freud, was that a slip?)

Anyway, I am incensed because of these demands! But the hubby, when asked if he was annoyed by it, said no. Why? Because well, it's how it is in their popular culture.

Can't help thinking now that this behviour is so like the Filipino penchant to tease, hint, badger, demand (depending on the time of the day) for a treat from a person celebrating his birthday. I've always thought it was strange that in the Philippines, a person who is celebrating a birthday is the poor shmuck of the day who is pressured and expected to produce the gimmick, the food, the spirits. The person just turned older, for crying out loud! Isn't that a bit sad enough? Wouldn't it make more sense then for friends and family to give the fellow the treat instead? It being his special day and all? (Of course, it's a different story altogether if the birthday boy or girl insists on throwing himself/herself a bash.)

Anyway, I've told the hubby that he is free to give a treat to his entire community if he feels like he should or must do so. But I also told him to please, leave me out of it. As far as I am concerned, I had a reception exactly to make merry after our union and if friends didn't or couldn't make time to attend that, well, then, they sure missed our party, didn't they?

Harrumph!

Enuff said.

Photo credit: weddingfads.com

My bag's left the US!

I'm tracking the delivery of my weekend hobo online. As of last check, it has left the US! I hope it gets here tomorrow, the weekend! I'm so excited :-)

On being a soccer widow

With the start of the World Cup 2006 at 00:00 hours last Saturday, my hubby has effectively 'moved out' of our bedroom to camp instead in front of the telly in the living room. He's traded our matrimonial bed for a red divan in the sala where he now sits or slumbers or munches for most part of his time at home while watching the soccer games.

Yes, I have become a soccer widow. During this month when the games are on, I must fend for myself, amuse myself, make do without a coherent chat partner at home. I must not include him in plans that may take him out of his divan during evenings nor expect to get proposals to do something fun during the weekend. The day, after all, is when he catches up on his sleep.

All told, its pretty much like being single again, only this time, I have no TV privileges.

I still don't get though how he can say that he is watching the game when he's dozing most of the time. You know how it is. I catch him dozing and let him be, thinking he needs the rest anyway. Then a long moment later, I go check on him again and find him still dozing. Thinking that he might want a deeper, more refreshing sleep, I wake him up to urge him to move to the bedroom instead. He awakens and looks blearily at me and announces that he will stay where he is, thank you very much, because he is still watching the game.

Watching the game? Who's watching the game? His toes, maybe? Cos he surely wasn't! Is dozing in front of the TV really considered watching the game?

Which reminds me that this isn't my first experience with men slumbering through some game and then refusing to budge when you ask them to relinquish the seat or the remote. My own brother (when he was a boy) grew up practically hogging our only TV for his sports and detective serial viewing.

When we were kids, he and I had a rule about control of the TV for the day. We agreed that whoever got to physically plug-in the set every morning would have control of TV channels for the day. I thought the rule was fair, especially during summers when we got to watch a lot of TV. I thought it would work too since my folks insisted that we unplug the set after every use. So it was just a matter of getting up early every day to plug the set first, right?

Wrong. My brother found a cunning way to gain the upperhand. One summer day, he woke up really early and plugged the set in. Then he just camped in front of the TV -- ate there, slept there, kept it on when he was bathing, whatever. The set could be off but the plug stayed in while he went biking with his friends, played marbles, getting into his many scrapes. The plug was never unplugged for much that summer and many more summers after that. If I unplugged it or if my folks did, he would claim that since he didn't unplug it himself, then it was still his turn at the TV. So practically no chance for me to watch what I wanted!

And yes, even when I'd quietly turn the channel (no remote then) to watch a variety show while he was sleeping soundly, he'd still wake up right then, insist that he was watching his show and promptly turn the channel back.

Now my sympathies go out to my sis-in-law. I sure hope she gets remote control privileges once in while. :-) (And pls don't allow Waji in the future to hog the TV to the displacement of Jela! Cos I swear, if that happens, I'm going to buy her her own huge, kick-ass TV myself!)

Anyway, lets see how this World Cup schedule pans out for the husband. All told, I really have no cause to complain. He's home, he's happy and content. That's all good to me. After all, as he often reminds me, the World Cup comes only every four years.

Bought me a new weekend bag!

Been oogling this bag from Hayden-Harnett for many weeks now. It's a canvas hobo with leather trim and my, I do say it is eye-catching!

I didn't want to rush a purchase, so I just calmed myself and thought I should look at it some weeks later to see if I will still like it then. Well, after many visits to their site and other bag sites, I really still like it!

So what's a bag person to do?!

Ask the girlfriend, of course!

Sent Shahnana (who is back from China) the link to the bag and asked her what she thought of it. (She's in the office while I'm at home.)

She immediately emailed back: 'Its gorgeous!!! Elsie thinks so too! buy! buy!' (Elsie is her fashionably hip colleague.)

That sealed it. When a girlfriend plus a fashionably-hip colleague give their seal of approval, it's a go-go-go!

Here's a pix of my soon to be weekend bag.



It's lovely, right? It channels care-free weekend so well, right?

I don't know about me and hobos lately. I'm just so besotted with the style at the mo. The other contender for purchase is the bag below but it lost out due to price (as usual in my case).



If interested, Bergdorf Goodman is still selling it at US$725.

The exodus continues

I received word from my good friend Sandra early this week that a fervent prayer of hers had been answered. She's off to Medan, Indonesia, at the end of this month to start work as a grade school teacher in an international school there.

I'm very happy for her but sad too for purely selfish lessons. She's one of my close friends from uni who I always look forward to catching up with whenever I go to Manila. With her in Indonesia for at least 2 years, well, that's one less friend to go home to.

But I really am so happy for her. Really! She's wanted to have her own adventure abroad for quite a time now and finally, it beckons! The perfect time and perfect opportunity has come!

Those Grade 1 kids in the Medan I.S. are sure lucky! Their teacher is going to be one funny, selfless, dedicated, intelligent woman. What's more, they can expect their English and Math foundation to be sound cos my friend has grammar and math whiz combined. And I'm sure I can't emphasized enough how important that is.

Have a great adventure, Sands! I will wait for your visits here in Sing.

While on the topic, two more good friends have also set their minds on leaving Manila and making their way to the US.

K is already in the West Coast sussing out the area while A is getting ready to quit her post early next year to start a new life in the US of A.

Just like Sandra, these two single, beautiful career women in their early 30s are looking forward to a new chapter in their lives. And for them, the world beckons too.

The exodus continues.

June!

I can't believe its mid-year already! Where did the time go? Not that I'm complaining, of course. Like most Pinoys, the 'ber' months are my favourites and this means it's just a short 3 months to the first ber month - September!!

And to reiterate that we are halfway through the year, the Straits Times today reported on their front page that civil servants will receive a mid-year bonus of half a month's salary plus an additional S$220 in July.

The report quoted the Public Service Division as saying that the higher payout for the 60,000 strong civil service comes on the back of a strong economy. Last year, government employees received a 0.4-month bonus plus S$200 also in July.

Hmm, this is good news in that the company where I work seems to follow (I think) the general trend of the government when determining bonuses, i.e., when the civil service gets an increase in bonus, we also are so blessed at year-end. Of course, this is true only for the across-the-board type of bonuses. The merit bonuses are an entirely different matter altogether. As the name implies, these bonuses depend on how one performed for the year, give or take maybe the number of apples you polished or left to rot during the year. (Yes, apple polishers do get their way sometimes.)

Anyway, back to it being June, I haven't started yet on some items in my to-do list this year!

1. get married
2. learn how to scuba dive
3. go to a new place
4. lose 15 pounds !@^&*#(*(&#%^@
5. read Lee Kuan Yew's memoirs

I must hustle!

Now who wants to learn how to scuba dive with me. :-)

The weekend that was

Just had a great long weekend.

On Saturday, I had a little excursion alone to Batam, Indonesia (click to see map), where my college buddy Jean was waiting to take some Manila visitors of hers and moi to a spa for some pampering.

The day turned out to be just perfect! Despite the 6am start to my day, I was happy and content to be watching the people who were up early like me riding the MRT train to the Harbourfront station. Once there, it was only a few minutes before I was comfortably ensconced in my ferry seat, music blaring into my ear from my mp3 player.

After a short uneventful hour on the seas spent mostly dozing, I was in Batam mid-morning. Jean was already waiting at the ferry terminal. After a quick stop at her hotel to grab a bit of breakfast and to fetch her visitors, we were soon on our way to our massage appointment.

My 2-hour turn at the massage table being kneaded, scrubbed and polished and then soaked in something milky and honey-smelling was just heavenly. I could have stayed there to sleep the whole day if they let me but too bad that we all had to rush soon after to the ferry terminal again to catch the 2.45pm trip to Singapore. Jean's visitors still had to do Sentosa and Night Safari (the usual kamikaze skeds of rushed visitors) so we couldn't linger.

Suffice it to say that I slept like a log that night.

Sunday was another slow day. The hubby and I woke up late, pottered around the house, watched TV, read the Sunday papers and ate lunch at around 3pm. We both had Monday off to celebrate his birthday, and so we didn't feel hurried to accomplish some things-to-do then. At 6pm, I went to mass at the Cathedral.


The big news of the day was I got me a new phone! A Nokia 6880. And it cost me all of S$98 (Php3,280)! It's cheap cos I used a $100 voucher from M1 and because they signed me up to a 2-yr contract again. Upgrading was the farthest thing from my mind really, but what helped cinch the deal was the hubby's insistence that we were losing money by letting the resale values of our phones drop rapidly without a counter plan from us.

(As of last weekend, the resale value of a black Motorola RAZR v3 here was S$100, down $50 from only a weekend ago. My Nokia 6220 was a paltry $50. boohoo.)

And so, moi, who is soooo not into phones, have a new 3G phone. I'm still fiddling with it, alternately loving it and wanting my old 6220 back. The hubby loves it for a car-racing game and for the camera (2-mega pixel). Whatever it is, at least this phone is again forcing some sleeping cells in my left brain to wake up and figure out this new gadget. And God knows I need these mental teasers!

Monday was hubby's birthday! We were both off like I mentioned earlier, so it was a happy day from the start. But since everyone else was working and we have no relatives here, well, it was just us meandering in Orchard until dinner, when good friends joined me in 'surprising' hubby.

As it turned out, I was the one surprised cos the hubby later said he knew all along that something was up, that I was a dead giveaway in my actions and constant answering of a suddenly always-ringing phone. Mwehehe. I think I need coaching from some of the best party-organisers around -- my Kalayaan friends and Shanana (when she's in the mood). :-)

Best news of the day: hubby got his first floral bouquet ever fr J and E! Now that surprised him!

Aircon tales

It was time to have the aircon units in our place checked, so the men from the usual aircon servicing company I hire were here yesterday morning. Ordinarily, I would have left the 2 youngish Chinese-speaking workers to their tasks uninterrupted (usually takes an hour to clean the covers and water trays and vacuum the drainage pipes and check the gas of 2 window-type and 2 split-type ACs). Yesterday, however, I had to engage the more senior-ranked-looking of the two in conversation to explain to him, in very plain, and sometimes almost broken English (so we could understand each other), that the aircon in our computer-cum- ironing cubbyhole didn't respond anymore to the remote control despite the latter having new batteries.

Me (pointing to the aircon with remote in hand): That one, not working. See? (While aiming and pressing remote. Deadma ang aircon, no reaction.) New batteries here. (While pointing to remote.) This remote ok with other aircon. (Walks to living room and demonstrates. Aircon turns on with one click.) So how?

Technician: Ah. Signal receiver. Not working. $120 only.

Gastos na naman!!!

Ok, it's not so much the cost of replacing broken-down things in this rental condo that gets to me. It's more the idea of having to call the not-so-nice real-estate agent of the absentee owner of this condo that makes my heart drop. You see, our contract for this place spells out that any repair over S$100 that has to be carried out will be borne by the owner of the condo. A repair costing less is on my account. Ergo, dahil $120 ang new signal receiver, I must call the not-so-nice agent to tell her that hey, the owner better pay for this.

I don't like this agent very much because she is unrealiable, mostly unhelpful, and generally don't care much about this condo. (If only the absentee owner knew how she has left the bathroom ceiling slowly and surely warping despite my repeated entreaties to her to get someone to poke their head into the ceiling for a possible water pipe leakage check.)

She's the type who doesn't call back when she says she will, who immediately puts me on the defensive when I call about something needing attention in the house, as if I have nothing better to do than sabotage the appliances around here. She dilly-dally's about getting me a plumber when water is already flooding the kitchen and seemingly wants the perfect alignment of the stars with Jupiter and Neptune before she will call an electrician to check why our ref short-circuits and leaves our place without electricity.

Anyway, so I had to call this lady, who I shall call Lynette. When she answered, I explained to her the problem.

Lynette (the she-devil): Why $120? It was only $80 the last time the other aircon also had this problem.

Me: Of course it wasn't $80 or I wouldn't have bothered calling you that first instance, right? If it was just $80, I would have had to pay it myself hence there would have been no reason to call you.

Lynette: Ok then. Pay $100 and then we will pay the $20, to make a total $120.

Me: Don't be absurd! You pretty well know that is not how it works! The contract states that anything that has to be fixed that costs over $100 will be paid by the owner. Don't try to pull a fast one on me cos I am not falling for it! And tell the owner that both our responsibilities re the unit were spelled out in the contract and his include paying for anything needing fixing or replacing that exceeds $100. He signed that contract first too. And ask him if he has heard of the concept of maintenance costs when owning a house? His unit is 8 years old and he can only expect things to be starting to break down around here.

After a few more to-ing and fro-ing, she finally relented and gave her go-ahead. (Aba, dapat lang!)

It's nice to have remote-controlled aircon units again but these battles of will with Lynette must stop soon. I don't like the idea of moving again after 4 years in this house, but I think the she-devil leaves me with no choice. I just can't stand her any longer! Anyway, I've been dreaming of a condo with an ocean view. Might be time to look into the possibility of that.

Hear, hear, the taxman's here

When I saw the unmistakable envelope from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore a few days ago on the dining table, I immediately set out to open it. You see, I was expecting a bit of reduction in my income tax assessment for last year given that the government had lowered the top personal income tax rate in early 2005 to 21% from 22%. Also, 2005 was the first full year that I was going to be assessed as a permanent resident (PR) here, so I was naturally curious if the change in status would have an effect on my tax rate.

Just as an aside, the taxman here doesn't withhold tax monthly from employees the way the BIR does in the Philippines. So for the whole of 2005, I received my pay sans tax.

Then came mid-April and everyone who earned S$22,000 and above from Jan-Dec 2005 had to file their returns with the IRAS. A few months hence (a little over a month in my case) and they come back to you with their assessment which states how much you owe the government.

A taxpayer then has the option of paying the owed amount in full or in 11-12 monthly installments by direct debit from a taxpayer's specified bank account. And so goes the cycle.

And so I was in a hurry to open the envelope in my hands. And boy, did the taxman deliver good news! My tax due for income earned in 2005 has been almost halved -- from the usual 4.8-5.5% rate to just 2.7%!

(I can't help but remember at this point how the BIR used to take almost 30% of my measly income when I was working in Manila. What country! (Translation: Ano ba yan?)

A low personal income tax. Just one of the appeals of Singapore to me.

For you Kat!

Hey Kat,

Check out this video I found. Now I miss our karaoke sessions back home. Remember the usual last song in our final set with Anna? Wilson Philips! Those were the days.

Hope you are having a blast over there. Don't worry too much, remember that when God closes a door, He opens another. Have faith, my friend.

Dead over $2,000 loan

Be warned. This may be a disturbing post to some. Words like chopped up, human limbs are afoot.

In The Straits Times on Friday was the news that Filipina maid Guen Aguilar -- she accused of killing and chopping-up her fellow maid and good friend Jane La Puebla on Sept 7, 2005 -- had pleaded guilty to and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.

And for the first time on Friday, those of us who wondered what could have transpired on that fateful day finally got to read the details of the case.

To wit: The two domestic helpers were good friends. On Sept 7, Jane went to Guen's employers house to prepare lunch with her friend. They were chatting while working and everything was fine until Guen brought up the matter of the S$2,000 (Php66,360) loan she had extended to Jane, S$1,000 of which was loaned from a local loan shark.

(For perspective, a Filipino maid typically earns S$350 a month here in Singapore. In today's exchange rate, that is about Php11,600.)

Guen, 30, was said to have suggested that Jane, 27, sell her video and digital cameras to partly repay the debt, which made Jane agitated and she started raising her voice, according to the paper. Guen then tried to placate her while still attempting to settle the matter. But when the suggestion of selling the cameras was again mentioned, the two started to really fight.

They hit, scratched, pulled each other's hair, lunged for the other's throat. Guen bit Jane. The struggle went from the laundry area to Guen's bedroom where somehow Jane's blood got spattered on the walls, floor and mattress. And when Guen got the chance, she grabbed a cushion from her bed and smothered her friend.

After a few seconds, the report said, Guen lifted the cushion and she started sobbing because she thought she had killed Jane. But then Jane stirred so Guen strangled the younger woman until she finally stopped breathing.

For 2 days, Guen kept the body in her employers' house, inside a travelling bag in her room. On the third day and after her employers had left for the office, Guen then went to Mustafa Centre in Little India where she bought a cleaver, an axe, gloves, wallpaper, detergent, pillowcases, a bedsheet and some garbage bags.

Back in the flat, she then started the horrific task of dismembering the body. She placed the head and each of the limbs in separate plastic bags. These were then stuffed into a bag together with some newspapers.

The torso she wrapped in newspapers and a garbage bag which she also then stuffed into another bag.

That done, she then cleaned up the blood traces with the detergent, put up the wallpaper over the spots on the wall that remained stained even after her clean-up and changed the bloodied sheets and pillowcases.

By midday, she took the bag with the head and limbs by cab to Orchard MRT Station, where she dumped it near a mural wall.

She went home, took the second bag with the torso and this time went to MacRitchie Reservoir in another cab. When she got there, the cabbie was said to have even offered to help her carry her bag, an offer she refused. Alone later, she took the garbage bag out of the travelling bag and dumped it along a footpath.

She was back at her employers' condo by almost 3pm, her last act to conceal the crime being to dispose of the second travelling bag at the lobby of the building's basement carpark.

And how was Guen immediately tracked by the police? Inside the garbage bag containing the torso were newspapers, one of which was an International Herald Tribune page bearing the name and delivery address of Guen's employers.

For manslaughter, Guen faces either life imprisonment or up to 10 years in jail. She initially faced a murder charge but this was reduced to manslaughter early in the year due to her mental condition at the time of the killing.

Sentencing will be on May 29.

Blog roll, pls

Despite reading in the newspapers and hearing about the rising popularity of blogging for years, I never really went around looking up how a blog would look like and read until late last year.

It happened innocently enough. During dinner at the office one day, my colleague excitedly told those of us working the night shift with her that she had stumbled upon this blog written by a Malaysian young adult who detailed his almost daily drug use and experimentation.

Of course, our interests were peaked, mine especially (but not because I secretly long to be a drug addict, duh. I'm too vain to sport the drugged out, crazed, lost look). I was fascinated because while most drug abusers will go to great lengths to hide their problems from society, here was this rich, young man going against the code of druggies and detailing his downward spiral for all to read and pass judgement on. Maybe he was longing to be found out?

Anyway, because of the young man's blog, we had a great discussion going on round the table that night, which ended with the young interns trying to one-up each other on who has read the most bizarre blog.

Of course, the next time I was online and surfing, blogging and bloggers were on my mind. I googled blogs, Pinoy blogs, Filipino blogs, just to know what is already out there. And know what? There is a LOT out there. Blogs written by countrymen from all over the world, sharing their stories, thoughts, observations, travels, jokes, recipes and more. Some are good, some way better than others. Some are funny, irreverent while some are deep and insightful.

In the few months since I started blog reading, I've come to be a regular 'lurker' in about 6-8 blogs -- I say lurker because I always read their entries, but I don't make my presence known by writing comments and such. Until I started my own experiment of a blog two months ago, of course.

If you notice, on the right hand column of this blog is a spot for links to blogs that I often read. For two months until last night, I left it unedited, showing Bloggers' default link to Google News. Then last night, I thought, why don't I finally email the bloggers whose entries I read almost daily to tell them how much I enjoy reading their blogs? While at it, maybe I could get their ok too for me to link to them from my site, right?

So that I did and woohoo, the links now featured on the 'Blogs I Read' spot are the first of the good people I wrote to last night who responded immediately with their okidoki. (Much appreciated, guys!) If you want to read something more worthy after my drivel, check out those links (and their links in turn) and get to read the many stories of the unfolding lives of the people who are online.

Ah, blogging. It's been fun so far learning the ropes. I think I've awakened one or two dormant areas in both my right and left halves of the brain while trying to grapple with HTML, Photoshop and pointing my camera in the right direction. But alltogether, its been good.

Home till the cows come home

I received an email from a long-lost friend last weekend and one of the things she asked about my life now in the little island that is Singapore was what my home looked like. It was the first time for anyone to ask me this question and since I'm not one to quash curiosity about my domecile after having been asked nicely enough, I dutifully took photos of the flat. (Click each photo for a bigger view.)

And now it's your turn. To the faithful millions who read this blog (that's right, you and you. Haha!), won't you please take photos of your living room and kitchen too and send the pics to me? I will put it up here just for fun, our kind of virtual home visits, eh?

Do it! Just do it!

Phrase of the day: Till the cows come home = for a long but indefinite time. (from The Phrase Finder)

Rain and Essec

The weather here in Singapore has been fantastic of late due to intermittent rain. And so we've been spared (for now) the really humid heat that is usual in these here parts at this time of the year.

I love this kind of weather -- cool, a bit wet, the sun hidden behind clouds. It's perfect for just staying in, curling up with a book or magazine or sprawling self across from the telly.

Wish it could be like this for a few more weeks. I certainly am hoping we won't have to contend with 36 deg C temperatures like we did last year.

-----------

I'm so excited to know that Essec, a prestigious French business school established in 1907, has finally opened its Asian centre in Singapore.

The school's MBA course is a short 6 months while their executive programmes are typically 4 weeks. Six months for an MBA! (Halleluiah! Someone finally got it. That busy rat racers simply can't afford to be away from the cubicle farm for too long, damnit.)

I can't wait to see their curriculum. And of course, their fees.

According to the Straits Times Interactive, the centre here will also develop research in areas including luxury brands, biotechnology, innovation in services, urban management and risk management. (Research in luxury brands? Aba, winner!)

When INSEAD opened their Singapore campus last year, I also checked out their curriculum for the executive MBA course. The 14-month course would have been perfect for me if only I had 85,000 euros to pay for it. :(

Paging Bill Gates or Mr Mittal of Mittal Steel. Can you folks please, please, please sponsor my EMBA?

I'm craving, I'm missing

I want!

1. Lanzones (called duku here)

2. Banana cue, banana cue, banana cue

3. Yellow, sweet mangoes (plentiful in Mla at this time)

4. Chiko (chiku here)

5. Pork barbeque fr Market! Market!

6. Sisig

7. Andok's manok

8. Grilled tilapia, daing na bangus

9. Zesto dalandan drink

10. Chicken joy


I miss:

1. Waji, Juancho and Jela (our second generation)

2. my Dad and Mom, my bro and Net; my sis and Noli

3. hanging out with my UP friends, SMC ka-pamilya, friends from the media, high school barkada

4. 500-peso massages

5. 100-peso manicures and pedicures

6. driving

7. the stress that came with my wedding preps (strange but true)

8. Tagaytay

9. Boracay!!

10. David's Salon (Edmund at Mega)

The song in my head

Have you ever woken up in the morning with a song in your head that keeps playing for the morning or the day, or worse, for days on end?

I don't know why but for the past 2 weeks, I've woken up with Eraserheads' tunes playing in my head.

I've pondered about what could have possibly brought this on given that I haven't heard about the group or their songs in gazillion years. (The last news I heard about them was that Ely had left the band and the group was being fronted by a woman na.) I couldn't have 'picked up' the song unconciously from a radio somewhere rin kasi they're not played here naman.

And so it was that for 2 weeks, I was humming Pare Ko, Toyang and Huling El Bimbo to myself while making a mental note to ask friends here if they had visitors arriving soon who could possibly buy me some E-heads CDs in Manila.

Then on Monday, I had to go to Lucky P -- the weary-looking Orchard Road mall that houses many Filipino stores, restaurants and remittance agencies -- and remembered one store there selling VCDs of Pinoy movies. I went to the store on the off chance that they would have music CDs as well and what do you know?! They do sell the E-heads' 2-CD Anthology! Happiness on earth for $29.90!!!

After listening to this for 2 days now, I think I have a new E-heads favourite song -- Minsan. The lyrics are a beautiful ode to friendship that I can really relate to.

Audio:eraserheads - minsan.mp3
by acegaddi

Eraserheads - Minsan Lyrics

minsan sa may kalayaan tayo'y nagkatagpuan
may mga sariling gimik at kaya-kanyang hangad sa buhay
sa ilalim ng iisang bubong
mga sekretong ibinubulong
kahit na anong mangyari
kahit na saan ka man patungo

chorus
ngunit ngayon kay bilis maglaho ng kahapon
sana'y huwag kalimutan ang ating mga pinagsamahan
at kung sakaling gipitin ay laging iisipin
na minsan tayo ay naging
tunay na magkaibigan

minsan ay parang wala nang bukas sa buhay natin
inuman sa magdamag na para bang tayo'y mauubusan
sa ilalim ng bilog na buwan
mga tiyan nati'y walang laman
ngunit kahit na walang pera
ang bawat gabi'y anong saya

repeat chorus

minsan ay hindi ko na alam ang nangyayari
kahit na anong gawin
lahat ng bagay ay merong hangganan
dahil ngayon tayo ay nilimot ng kahapon
di na mapipilitang buhayin ang ating pinagsamahan
ngunit kung sakaling mapadaan
baka ikaw ay aking tawagan
dahil minsan tayo ay naging
tunay na magkaibigan

Wax job

I went for leg waxing on Friday morning, my first time to have a pro do it for me after a spot of DIY-ing at home some weeks ago. I figured a pro job's cost of S$30 (Php981) was well-worth the money, inasmuch as it took me an entire evening of stop-and-go labour when I did it myself kasi I had to accommodate intervals of rest from pain.

Anyway, little did I know that I was soon to be not only de-haired in Fave Nails -- I was also de-skinned (meaning burned!!!).

The session started ok enough: the pain was bearable, the lady worked briskly with an electric wax applicator but i noticed soon after that she would stop every so often to go stir the pot of hot wax plugged to an electric container located maybe 5 steps away from us. I was just observing her but didn't say anything until I saw her plunge a popsicle stick-kind of applicator into the hot wax and pulled a thick glob which she then started to take to me.

Me: Wait. What's that?

De-Fuzzing lady: I wan to try like this. To see if faster lah.

Me: Wait. Won't it be so hot?

De-Fuzzing lady: No lah. Same as that other wan.

Then she smeared the glob on my shin.

Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAW! Shit, that's very hot. (while shaking legs)

De-Fuzzing lady: Hot ah?

WTF??!!! Is she psycho, or what?

When she peeled the wax off, the skin was smarting and was tender. When I walked out of that place an hour later, an angry red welt was already visible and it was really smarting so my next stop was Guardian's at Far East Square to get BurnAid and some gauze.

Here is the welt after 3 days. (It looks gross but that's how burns look. The burnt skin is now a bit flaky and will probably peel away soon. I just hope I wont get a scar for my vanity.)