恭喜发财, Happy New Year.

Just wanted to greet everyone a very happy chinese new year. 恭喜发财。恭喜发财。[End of Post]

Nice Haircut !

A day before Chinese New Year... I had to have my hair trimmed (chinese tradition =P)But I did not want to walk far today... kinda lazy, so I decided to try the newly opened hair salon just around the corner.

The owner of the hair salon was a chinese who just came here in the Philippines, the salon was just built inside a residential house =D

Place was nice, cool (air conditioned), and well designed (it really looks like a parlor). I was asked to sit down and the owner started cutting my hair. After a few minutes (I did not even have the chance to take a short nap) she was done.. this is the fastest haircut I have ever had.

I went to wash my hair, and then paid the owner. Left the place, after saying my greetings "恭喜"

The haircut was nicely done ... I don't look stupid right... =D

my "Piggy Bank"

I have this big "Piggy Bank", coca cola shaped... bottle (stands up to my knees). Its pretty old and I thought how about filling it up with coins. So I started putting in 10 peso, 5 peso and even 20 peso bills on it.

After a while, I decided to take back the money... because of the following reasons:

1. A lot of money displayed is not a very good thing... i think...
2. Money inside the "Piggy Bank" won't grow any interest, who would not want to have that extra interest from the bank.
3. I kinda look like a kid putting coins inside this "Piggy Bank" =D

Anyways, since I have regret putting in the money inside I started prying on the bottle cap, and guess what... it won't open =( I spent practically 2 hours pulling, pushing, etc. (nice workout though... I sweat a lot =D) I even got my fingers cut =(

Finally a great idea came into mind.. since the bottle was huge, it also had a big hole at top. So I used a pair of pliers to remove each coin inside =P and finally, got the money back.

Today is Grand Ma's Birthday

Happy Birthday Grand Ma. Today, we ate at a local restaurant to celebrate her birthday, it also served as a time to get together within the family. Time really moves fast, my cousins were with their boy/girl friends now, some were even with their wife and children... goals have changed... priorities renewed =D

BTW, my grand ma is 90 years old now... but don't be fooled by that number... she'll still kick your ass when you do something stupid =P ... i'm out of words today.... =D Post finished !!!

Dinner with Achi Jack, Hiram Bro, Allan

This dinner has been planned a long long long long loooooong time ago, and finally.. it has been realized =D The idea came from Hiram Bro (Bro cause he calls Achi... Achi too ! there is yet another brother left to be found... wonder who he is... or maybe its a she =P)

The four of us met at Achi's office, before going straight to Sbarro. We chat along the way, made jokes, spilled some secrets (was there any? =P) and of course ate dinner. We also took some pictures.... however i can't post em here... because i'll surely be in big trouble if I do so =P

This was a great day. I hope we'll have dinner together again soon =D or perhaps an activity would be nice. =D

paraskevidekatriaphobia

If you are wondering "what the heck that title is ??" then let me tell you what it means/is..... it is the morbid or irrational fear of Friday the 13th. Why is Friday the 13th associated with bad luck.... we'll see...

There are a lot of explanations why "Friday the 13th" was considered unlucky, this can be explained by "friday" and the number "13":
Friday was considered lucky because the following events happened on a friday

• Christian Folklore: Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit.


• Christian Folklore: Great flood.


• Christian Folklore: Builders of Tower of Babel was tongue tied


• Christian Folklore: Temple of Solomon was destroyed


• Execution day in Rome


• Hangman's day in Britain

13 is unlucky because

• There were in all 13 people in the last supper, with one betraying Jesus Christ


• A myth in which there were 12 gods who were invited for dinner and Loki (13th uninvited guest) the god of mischief, gate crashed the party and incited riot.


• Associated with death in other cultures

There is however one day in history which is associated with Friday the 13th, Jaques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and 60 of his senior knights was arrested by King Philip IV of France on a Friday, October 13, 1307. That day thousands of Templars were arrested and subsequently tortured.

As for me though.... nothing really that bad happened today... i hope so... few hours left =P

Exercise and Diet !!!!

In line with my "New Year's Resolution" - getting slimmer (200 lbs), I have started with my exercise and diet. (I hope I'm not overdoing it =P)

Exercise:
Pant ... Pant ... Pant ... started jogging at our penthouse for the past few days, and all I can say is ... I hope its working cause its really tiresome =))

I jog three laps around our house , then I do 10-20 push ups to stop the panting and continue jogging again. Aside from jogging and push ups, I started climbing the stairs instead of using the elevator (umm around 20++ floors =P), I believe i'm slowly getting used to it as I don't pant as much as before =P. There are also times when I do a couple of situps and leg lifts... for my big belly. =P

Anyways, whoever said that a six pack (what is this a beer or something) is better than a big belly (which looks kinda like a "tai pao") =P

Diet:
RICE... I NEED RICE... =P that is what's happening to me for the past few days, you'll never know how delicious rice is until you start a diet.

I've started eating 5 times a day instead of 3, 5 smaller ones of course =), limited my rice to a scoop on lunch and none on dinner (exchanged it with more fruits and vegetables =P)

P.S. I have already lost 5 lbs!!!!! 20 more to go =P

Unexpected email.... a new friend

I received an unexpected email the other day, it read:

Hi there!

I read your blog,
Are you from (-) (can't divulge too many secrets you know =P)

Marj

My first reaction was.... did I violate anything !!! (paranoid =P), receiving an email from someone in the company I work for... and so I sent her back an email, it read:

Hi Marj,

Sorry for the late reply, was not able to check my mail for a while.
Yes, I am from (-) how did you know that…. was it too obvious =))
Happy New Year !
P.S. I hope I am not violating anything …. =S
Thanks and regards,

Jan
http://www.somethingididtoday.blogspot.com/

It turns out that she was just browsing some blogs and passed through mine. There I have a new friend =D

P.S. marj if you are reading this --> "huy dichi (marj), mano na kay ang kong (me)!" hahaha =P Peace ! joke lang =D

New Year's Resolution !

Welcome year 2006 !!! Today I'm gonna create my New Year's Resolution. It's the first time i'm gonna put it in writing (albeit computerized) so I hope I'll be able to fulfill them...

Learn a new hobby... without the computer
I recently noticed that i've been pounding at my keyboard whenever I had the free time (updating blog... checking mail... playing games). This year I hope to learn a new hobby away from the computer, photography perhaps.

Raise my confidence
uh huh. My problem forever =( I feel i've improved a bit but there is probably more to it like turning my volume knob when I'm speaking and be able to say things that I'd like to say... Stop being misinterpreted...

Better use of money
It's not like I have not been able to save any money, It's about putting it into better investments that could yield me greater returns. I'd probably take some risks this year... will ask friend/family advice =D

Finally start a sideline
I've been telling myself that I'll start that sideline months or even years ago. I hope I could start it this year.... even a plan would be great, cause frankly I do not have any idea on what to do.

Learn to cook !!
Regarding food, there is only one thing I know, EAT. I'd want to learn to cook, even a few simple dishes would be great. This is a basic ability which I should have learned years back.

Lose Weight
This has been my last new year's resolution... and here I am again at it =P anyways last year I was @ 240 lbs and now I've trimmed down to 225 lbs not bad really. This time around I hope to trim down a little bit more =P 200 lbs perhaps....

Healthy living
I've been sleeping 6 hours a day for months now.... lagging on my exercise... and eating too much. Maybe I'll try sleeping at 9 PM, wake up 5:30 am, exercise and eat healthier foods =P

Be liked ?
Is this even something I could do..... Jan idiot !

Act like an adult
For the past months, I feel I've been acting like a child... just a feeling though... am i...?

Kinda ambitious I think... is it??? =D

Last day of the year !

I'm still not feeling the new year, dunno why but I just don't feel it.... it feels like a normal weekend. Started the day by sending out food to my relatives (i'm the official messenger for today =P).

Saying my Happy New Year as cheerful as I could... to every person I meet. After lunch, I went to the Airport to fetch my Uncle and Auntie. They went to Disneyland with their kids and I hear it's great to go now... the money spent is well worth it.

I finally have Stefanie's latest album "A Perfect Day" (asked auntie to buy for me =D "Ta Bue") and it's hands down the greatest album from her yet. It's really nice (currently playing, play count : 10 =P) and there is no reason not to like any of the songs.

For Dinner, we went to my other Auntie's house. It has always been like that since I was a child and I can say its nice to get together once in a while. Food was great as always, especially when its shared with the whole family =D

Late night after fetching my sister from Podium, we had midnight snack with my Uncle and Auntie, then some other interesting facts about Disneyland again =D...

Finally the countdown to new year started. Started sending out my Happy new year. (It's good that my prepaid is currently on unlimited test message status for the next five days.)

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

Today is Tina's Birthday

Remembering I never got Achi Jack a gift for her birthday last November 23, 2005 because of my "manana habit", I prepared a gift in advance for my friend Tina. I got her a cute Hello Kitty "Ang Pao", with a gift certificate inside =P (not intel inside =P).

Days back, I was supposed to buy her one of those giant Hershey Kisses (bought one for my sister =D) but then I changed my mind for some reason(s) =D anyways, Happy Birthday Lulu !

Dinner with friends

I went out with some friends for an early dinner at Shanghai Bistro, the food was great and the price reasonable. We had singaporean fried rice, Sweet & Sour Pork (sidenote: this is my favorite food aside from noodles...=P), Beef Hofan, Hakaw, Sio Mai, Vegetables, Taro Puff (love this too), etc... ( i bet there were still other dishes just can't remember =P )

After the dinner, we moved on to SM Mall of Asia to watch the World Pyro Olypics... but we never got there in time due to the heavy traffic. Oh well, at least we had a glimpse of the few last fireworks... (you could get more information from the site I provided)

Maligayang pasko pinoy !

Today we had our company wide Christmas party at the World Trade Center. The party started at around 6 PM, sumptuos food was served, cool prizes were given away and ended with a "concert" featuring Hale and Bamboo ! Also, the party was hosted by none other than Miles from Magic 89.9.

As for me, I hitched with my friend's car (the whole team actually =P). The vehicle was so full that whenever we encounter bumps a "wooo" "ahhh" "nooo" was heard =)).

There was no doubt everyone in our table was expecting to win in the raffle, as every name called sounded kinda similar to our names =P. Who would not want to win cool prizes anyway =)

The grand finale of the party was the "concert" of bamboo !!! I was even given a task by one of our team mates to get a picture of bamboo himself with her k500i. Moving in to the crowd I started taking pictures, alas every picture ended up blurred... there was no time where the crowd was still.... I had to jump, sway with the crowd =P well at least it was fun... they even had to make the phone ring just to get the phone back =P

The party ended around 10 PM, a very fun and enjoyable party =D

Team Christmas Party

Our christmas party was supposed to be held on saturday, trip to Enchanted Kingdom then some activities there... however some of us were not available (guilty as charged =p) so we had to move it to another date, which after a series of surveys ended up today (It was so hard to pick a schedule where everyone was available =P).

After considering numerous suggestions we went to T.G.I.F (Thank God Its Friday) at a local mall. After dinner we distributed the last gifts for our Kris Kringle (organized by "big brother" Bernard), I received a stone coaster which had the following quote "Follow your dreams; for as you Dream so shall you become" (Nice). I also received two Paolo Coelho books (from my wishlist =D)

Speaking of gifts, I received numerous gifts today. First of all, I drank a starbucks Chocolate Afogato a gift for myself, then my officemate gave me a fruitcake, and last but not the least I received a golf umbrella and a jacket (cool =P)

After the Christmas party, we head on to timezone... played some games =D (its nice once in a while... but puts holes in my pocket... you know what i mean?)

My Favorite

Finally!! I've got my hands on the starbucks 2006 planner. It looks real cool, hard bound and the articles inside are nice =D There are also a few coupons inside to be used on specific dates of the year which gives you discounts. well it sure costs a lot too... 21 cups of coffee, not if you are a regular customer of starbucks of course =P So how did I complete the 21 stamps... heres what I did =D

1. I drank one cup of coffee or chocolate a day.
Believe it or not, this is the only thing you have to follow and you are sure to get the planner before December ends. (if you start now... then its too late of course =P)
2. Continue tip #1. You are sure to create a Starbucks craze in your office when you keep on drinking starbucks everyday, the more people who drink... the more stamps you get
3. Treat your family/friends to Starbucks. Since you would be spending money for 21 cups, why not share it with your friends, anyways its the Christmas season

Well thats probably what I did to get my Starbucks coffee planner. Gotta go to sleep now, I am very sleepy... I think my body is looking for that daily dose of caffeine I was introducing everyday for the past few days/weeks =D