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I think I am the only person I know who can't sleep on time if she'd had coffee in the afternoon or too many cans of Coke (3 today). They were actually to remedy the upset stomach that suddenly attacked me this morning.
It's close to 1am. I really wanna sleep now! Sigh...
I just noticed it today on my way to work, it seems like all the public vehicles have this on the back of their cars/jeeps/buses: "How's my driving? Call or Text LTRFB at... " What is LTRFB or whatever the acronym was? I guess this is a good service to catch those lousy taxi drivers! :)
1. Shampoo and Conditioner: Head & Shoulders (because I have dandruff! sniff)
2. Bags: Can't wear Blauorange so I choose Hedgren (a samsonite brand)
3. T-shirts: Arrow, M&S,
4. Pants: Liz Men, Dockers, M&S
5. Lotion: Ahh.. I don't use any
6. Shoes: Camper too. Still the best!
7. Socks: no preference
8. Toothpaste: Colgate
9. Facial Cleanser: Don't again.. maybe that's why I have pimples.
10. Make-up: Ok... really now.
11. Wallet: Same: Rolfs, Fino
12. School Bags: Same as above. Hedgren, but also used Kipling's Hacker Bag before.
13. Pens: hmm.. mont blanc? I wish.
14. Slippers/Sandals: Arena
15. Underwear: CK, Zara, Muji
16. Watch: Diesel, Omega!
17. Pillow Case/Bed Sheet: Sheridan, IKEA too I guess
18. Furniture: Dimensione, Our Home, IKEA
19. Caps: Souvenir Caps
20. Magazines: HOW, I.D., Fast Company, Real Simple, TIME, oh not enough space.
21. Car: Honda Jazz
22. Chocolate: Still Toblerone White
23. Candy: Kendi
24. Medicine: Biogesic
25. Popcorn: Orville Redenbachers
26. Motorcycle: Vespa or BMW (also dreaming!)
27. Cologne/Perfume: La Perla
28. Swimwear: Arena
29. Jewelry: see watches. :)
30. Hotel/s (that you've stayed in): Add Le Meridien to Via's List. Peninsula Manila too.
I got this from my friend Chris. I usually don't mind these survey things, but I was interested to see what you guys would put down. Besides, it looked like fun to do. :)
1. Shampoo and Conditioner -> Garnier and The Original Mint Source
2. Bags -> Blauorange!!!
3. T-shirts -> Zara, Bayo, SM (before it renovated and sent its prices up)
4. Pants -> Jessica, Benetton
5. Lotion -> Body Shop Body Butter
6. Shoes -> Camper
7. Socks -> Calzedonia
8. Toothpaste -> Colgate
9. Facial Cleanser -> Clinique, Darphin, Neutrogena
10. Make-up -> Clinique, Shu Uemra, Biotherm
11. Wallet -> Rolfs, Fino
12. School Bags -> Giordano backpack
13. Pens -> Pilot
14. Slippers/Sandals -> Converse and other beaded stuff
15. Underwear -> Etam, Marks & Spencer
16. Watch -> DKNY, Fossil
17. Pillow Case/Bed Sheet -> Sheridan, IKEA
18. Furniture -> Dimensione, Our Home
19. Caps -> IBM
20. Magazines -> Real Simple, In Style, Entrepreneur
21. Car -> Honda Jazz
22. Chocolate -> Kitkat Orange (which they seem to have phased out)Kitkat Cappuccino (new!), Maltesers, MILO Nuggets!!! (I guess I love chocolate!)
23. Candy -> Brach's SweetnSour Smarties forever!
24. Medicine -> Biogesic
25. Popcorn -> Orville Redenbachers
26. Motorcycle -> Vespa (dreaming!)
27. Cologne/Perfume -> Armani, Dolce and Gabba
28. Swimwear -> Calzedonia, Arena
29. Jewelry -> Benjamin Favored Son
30. Hotel/s (that you've stayed in) -> one of our faves: NH Calderon in Barcelona and Edsa Shangri-la Mactan
Oh my! Just finished a 2-day seminar at my old University- my goodness it was strange to be in a classroom there again. This time driving myself and not living too far away anymore. (This is a first for me since I've always lived far away from my schools in general)
Boy were these last two days eye-openers! The title of the seminar was Achieving Your Bottom Line: Managerial Accounting. Although our speaker was quite good, many of the terms and formulas were quite new to me. It was really a whole new language for me- a whole new world even! Luckily my seatmate was a Treasurer by profession who would patiently point out some of the things that were more difficult for me to digest. Good thing my business partner is a Management graduate. But this is a fear I must slowly let go of.
It has been a horrible couple of days as I struggle with this stomach flu (thanks to pepper for telling us what it was since she had it herself recently). I had chills the night before we went back home from Singapore. Yes we came from Singapore, more about that later, and it was probably something I ate. Was it the Almond Teh Tarik? or maybe the Teppanyaki beef didn't cook well. Whatever it is I still have it.
We spent the last night in Singapore with our good friend Jolet, over a Teppanyaki dinner at Bugis Mall. Then onto Teh Tarik (their version of iced tea with almonds) for our nightcap. This mall was interconnected with Intercon Hotel, which had a very grand lobby- complete with jazz singer and sweeping staircases.
But we barely got any sleep that night. Poor Noel was kept up with an awful bout of stomach flu- fever, chills, upset stomach- the works! :( And for the first time I was unequipped with my trusty first aid kit! So I had to call our friendly hotel desk at 3am for some paracetamol. They told me that they did not offer medicine for guests so I was connected to the Duty Manager. (Who we will always be grateful too as he went out and bought the medicine himself) And that helped both Noel and I sleep after he had some warm soup. Noel was finally able to go back to work yesterday, after battling with the flu for a week, poor thing. I was really worried when Noel was sick we were away and thought that that was probably what it must be like to be a Mom when your kid is sick. :(
Anyway, for those of you planning to take a trip to Singapore, we highly recommend Orchard Hotel They know what excellent service is all about.
I was glued to the Adventure 1 channel (A1) this afternoon. Something very unusual for the un-sporty me. But there was this swimmer who kept testing himself- swimming across very cold bodies of water. As in, the English Channel which was some 8 degrees, and this other Fjord (a painful 6 degrees) with matching ice glaciers! He was shivering so badly after one stretch as he looked so dazed and on the verge of hypothermia. According to the feature, normal people would probably die within 30 minutes if exposed to temperatures like that. And there were even icky jellyfish clustered together in some parts. And boy did he get stung! Somehow his friend managed to get a doctor to him. (His good friend would accompany his swims, monitoring for hypothermia from his kayak. What a friend!) As if these weren't enough, the speed of the currents would pick up and stronger winds would carry him backwards and he'd have to start all over again. This man did 3 weeks'worth of swimming (with pauses but some stretches would amount to 5 hours straight!) totalling to I don't know anymore how many kilometers. All to prove something to himself, push himself further. And I wondered, amazed: "why does he do this to himself???" Still I was glued.
It's amazing how determination can keep you going. I was getting goose bumps when he would describe how visualization was one of the most important aspects of his training, picturing himself making it through those icy waters. So when he made it to Norway (not really sure which European country was his starting point), the Norwegians went wild. Many boats were surrounding him cheering him on, when they heard about what he was trying to do. What an inspiration! Time for me to pick myself up and hit the tennis court again. What limits do you wish to test?
I'm semi-addicted to these chocolate-coated marshmallows!!! Auggh! Anyone tried Wiggles yet? :) I've been looking for the mocha variant too, but they're a bit elusive. Needless to say, this isn't the best way to ease back into South Beach and my new fitness regimen. Hehehe.
You know the feeling when you seem to be "here but really gone?" (As Alanis Morisette put it in one of her hits and one of our college staple songs Ironic) It usually happens when too many things are happening all at once or nothing seems to be happening at all. When you feel like things are flying out of control but you wonder what it is you were trying to accomplish in the first place. Or when there is something you are waiting to find out (which I think is the worst kind) and you feel as if your mind conjures things that aren't really there. And your dreams (as in the little movie screen in your head while you sleep) are all too vivid but kind of disturbing as well... And no one can give you any real answers.
(after how many days of not posting, due to my general lack of energy.. here is the continuation of our bangkok trip)
So in the late morning after our floating market tour, we went to an elephant show with a promise of being able to ride one. On the way there, we stopped by a local wet market where mum and dud bought lansones while we stayed in the car chewing on a sweet flat barquillios. It was hot and we were hungry. Once we arrived in the elephant show, we were treated with a nice thai/western buffet for lunch. It was great, I didn't touch any of the western stuff since we are in thailand.
We now head towards the show. We stopped over some baby elephants for some picture taking. I love elephants, they're big and cute.. (just like me). We then headed to the stands and sat down and watched a magic show while waiting for the elephant show to start.
So much for the suspense, the show wasn't that great. It had some boring narration of how elephants were used in the past.. bla bla bla. But it ended with a nice show where the elephants were dressed up as soccer players and were made to kick huge footballs in huge goals. The picture here is of one of those cute elephants who liked throwing her trunk around and around.
As if it wasn't a long enough day, we had reservations for dinner at "Thai on 4". This was the same restaurant Via and I had dinner 3 years ago when we had our honeymoon. It is located in Amari Watergate Hotel. Our very delicious dinner comprised of crispy shrimp salad, pomelo salad, pandan chicken among others. Plus their signature 4 types of unlimited rice: white, green, red, yellow. SARAP! and the price isn't steep at all.
I really get struck every time I see this plug promoting local tourism on TV, so I thought I'd look for the complete video on line. Had I seen this while we were still living abroad, I'm sure I would've burst into tears. It's quite well done, and the artists here did it for free. Go Philippines!
Check out the video from the link below. Halika! Biyahe tayo! (Come on! Let's go travel)
Day 3 started early as we had to make about an hour or more drive to the Floating Market in a province near bangkok. We arrived in this crowded market of mostly tourists. And walked through a few stalls to get to a river where a boatman was ready to let us in his boat. (I miss rowing..)
So imagine this: going inside a small boat that can fit 6 people comfortably. In a narrow river, filled with other small boats. The river was so crowded that you could barely see the water. We hop in and the boatman started to row.
Right there beside us was another boat selling spices and souvenirs. We went around the canals seeing more of the same boat shops and stalls. Mostly expensive tourist souvenirs, none which I was really interested in. I think we ended up buying just 2 things.
But it was a different and visually rich experience which made it worth the trip and the sweat. Via ended up buying some clothing not while in the boat but in the market right beside the canals. Come to think of it, how would you try on clothes while on a boat? I guess that's why the goods were limited to statues, souvenirs and kitch.