Back and Gone. Again.

I'm baaaaacccckkk! And I'd be gone again. Ang kumontra, walang pasalubong! Bwaha!

Sampung araw lang ang inilagi ko sa Dubai para magpasweldo at magsara ng libro. Magastos pero wala akong choice. Kaya kayo kapag nagkaanak kayo, pakunin n'yo ng Engineering para walang iniintinding monthend at yearend closing! Ang hassle!

Marami akong ise-share na pics sa inyo mula sa aking paglalakbay. Especially, sa Hongkong (*wink @ K.noizki). For the meantime, hayaan n'yo munang ma-miss n'yo ako ng konti pa. For sure, sa aking pagbabalik, bubulabugin ko na naman kayo! Har! :)

Bakit kaya hindi nakakasawang umuwi? :p

On Leave

...finally visited this place...i'm currently on leave and will reply to your messages as soon as i face civilization. bwah! :p

Gotta Get Get

Gotta get-get...gotta get-get...boom boom pow...gotta get-get.

H*yupness! Nae-LSS ako sa Voom Voom Fow na 'yan! Sheeeeezzz! Erase! Erase!

Anyway, 2 days ago, nagpaalam na ako sa boss ko na magve-vacation ako ng Disyembre. Pagpasok ko sa office n'ya, masayang masaya ko s'yang binati sabay:

Me: Sir, I'd like to file a leave on December. Can I?
Sir: No.

Sarap upakan! Waaahhhh! Anong gagawin ko? Nde pwede 'toh!

Me: Yeah?
Sir: You can not go.

Seryoso talaga s'ya...kaya with all the malungkot emotion I could plaster sa fez ko, lulugo lugo at dahan dahan akong humakbang palabas ng kwarto n'ya nang nakaharap pa rin sa kanya. Sayang kasi 'yung effort kong magmukhang nalugi kung hindi n'ya makikita eh. Pro bono pa naman ang acting ko.

Sir: Why December? Are you getting married?

Aray ko! Wala ngang jowa, papakasal pa! Nde ba n'ya ramdam na laging ok lang sa akin ang umuwi ng late galing sa work?

Me: Nope.

Sir: If you are getting married, you can go on vacation until January.

May pang-aasar talaga! At epektib kase hindi na talaga ako natutuwa.

Me: I'm not getting married. I just want to spend my vacation in the Philippines on December.
Sir: Which dates?

Ayuuuunn!!!! Hahahahaha. Sa totoo lang, mahirap umakting ng malungkot ka kapag bigla kang nagkaroon ng pag-asa. Pero sa ngalan ng convince-ation, pinanindigan ko muna ang lungkot lungkutang fez.

Me: From the 3rd to the 20th...
Sir: No.

Sasapakin ko na talaga eh! Pero naalala ko, mas mahirap palang umakting ng galit na malungkot. Pinili ko na lang na maging malungkot lang. Time to negotiate.

Me: But I will be back before the closing starts.
Sir: We will be busy even before that.
Me: Ok, until the 13th then?
Sir: OK.

Did I hear an OK? Gusto ko na s'yang halikan nung time na 'yun!

Me: What about until the 15th?
Sir: Until the 13th. Don't negotiate anymore. Get out of my office.

Tapos, gusto ko na uli s'yang sapakin! Hahahaha.

Pero hindi na baleng maikling panahon lang. Ang importante, I'm going home in December. I'd be celebrating my birthday there! Yiheeee!!!

At para mailabas ko ang kasiyahan ko, nag-diet ako nung gabi at gumawa lang ng veggie salad at nag-stir fry ng fresh mushrooms.

Alam kong irrelevant 'yung pagda-diet kaya nag-aya akong kumain sa paborito naming japanese resto the next day! Hihihi. I'm soooo looking forward to my birthday!

Gotta get-get...gotta get-get...boom boom pow...gotta get-get. Hahahahha!

18 days to go - *the rice fields*

I came from San Jose City ( the Tanduyong ( a variety of onion ) Capital of the Philippines ) in Nueva Ecija ( The Rice Granary of the Philippines ). In short, I came from the bukid area of Luzon. At sa kabukiran, walang kalungkutan ( Silvia Latorre, pasok! )

Sa bukid walang papel...kaya, wala ring monthend reports, walang credit meeting report, walang payment follow up form, walang PM folio, walang credit card batch send report o dispute, walang rebate, walang refund, walang pre-arbitration cases na dapat i-handle, walang aging analysis at kung ano ano pang sandamakmak na accounting reports... susme! Why did I ever come to Dubai?????

19 days to go! - *the mall*

Filipinos would always comment on how difficult life is in the Philippines, mainly complaining about their financial status. Mahal na daw ang mga bilihin ngayon.

But judging from the number of malls sprouting in the Philippines from, like, everywhere, and with every Filipino crowding up each one of them, anyone would think - nasaan ang kahirapan?

My friend Mitz told me that Dubai is arguably the shopping haven to beat. I have contemplated on that for quite some time because I have never really been to some other parts of the world except Philippines, Singapore and Dubai. So, I have looked up for shopping malls in the internet and found out that most of the biggest shopping malls are in Asia and that 4 in the top 10 can be found in the Philippines. Hmmmm, I wonder if that, at all, is relevant to dispute Mitz' contention...

Then, I went on to think further by recalling the times I went shopping in the Philippines and the times I visited the malls in Dubai. And that's when I finally managed my way to a Eureka!

You see, it is not the branded items that departs the Philippine malls from the rest of the world's. On the contrary, I think it is the availability ( or affordability ) of most of the items that endear most Filipinos to frequent shopping malls. It is that feeling of having bought any "something" that would sooner or later remind you of what happened on December 05, 2006 in Glorietta. Which, consequently drives me to my next point.

Most of the times I went out "malling" was with my friends ( or family or special someone ). Call it baduy but there is just so much fun and experience with malling. Siyempre, andun na rin yung pa-cute factor. There are a 1001 ( goodness, even more! ) activities going on in a mall everyday. And some of it would become part of those memories you would really love to recall. ( ok, confirmed, baduy!) Anyway, the point is, it is not just about shopping, it is the experience!

Ah basta! I can not wait to visit at least SM Megamall!

20 days to go! - * the rain*

...rain...
feel it on my fingertips
hear it on my window pane
your love's comin' down like
...rain...
wash away my sorrow
take away my pain
your love's comin' down like
...rain...

(lyrics from the song "Rain" by Madonna )

I guess I would never, ever outgrow my fondness for a rainy day. Being in Dubai for almost 4 years now, I think I have just counted 5 - 7 occasion of rain and I am left convincing myself that it couldn't be that sunny here...(oh well, you can't really have it all, right?)

It's not that I don't like a sunny weather ( although if it goes to extremes like a 50 deg. Cel temperature, I call it quits...), it's just that, there is something about a rainy afternoon that leaves me sooooo damn melancholic...while I'm stucked in my bed listening to Karen Carpenter sing "Yesterday Once More", I look back at my grade school days trying to remember all my classmates' faces, I try to recall the funny and sad memories of my high school years and reminisce the remains of just about anything that defines my yesterday...until I drift asleep...

It is during the rainy season that I enjoy tuyo and Payless (noodles) more. Oh, how I miss the raindrops falling on our rooftop...I miss just chatting ( wantusawang daldalan!!! ) with my family and friends because we got nothing else to do but to stay at home and talk about anything under the sun ( err, under the rain?). Yep! Bonding moments with your loved ones is more intimate during the rainy days...I dunno why but it's true...

Haaaaayyyy, I can't wait to go home and kiss the rain...

Gotta change that calendar ahead...

Yep! I told my friends I'm gonna try to publish at least one post a day...well, I got no post for 4 f**king days!!!!!! I've been seriously busy with training Dorothy so she can handle most of the tasks that I would be handing over to her when I go on vacation...

Speaking of my vacation ( of which I am really, really excited about! ), I got 20 more days before I see the Philippines again!

So, I'm gonna start counting down everyday by posting the reasons on why I would keep coming back to my homeland!