Goodbye Xpress.

It’s funny to have mixed feelings, when I’ve wanted this for so long. I should be relieved and excited. Which I am, for sure. But I’m also scared and a teenie bit sad. I feel I’m being yanked out of my comfort zone and that’s scary stuff. It’s never sad about the leaving. It’s about letting go of the familiar, and moving to something I am not sure of what will happen. The people I’m leaving behind saw me at my best and worst, and accepted me for that. I’m not sure of how the new company will take the “badder” part of me. Also, I don’t know if you’ve felt this, but I fear I’ve got nothing more to “give”. I still question whether this really is where I want to be.

Well, that’s the scared side of me that I accept and acknowledge. But as I said, it’s just a side. The bigger part of me is excited and relieved, ecstatic and grateful. And I celebrate that because I know I deserve. Oh and have I mentioned reward? Hello iphone4! Swanky new gadget because I’ve reached part 1 of my goal.

My new “home” is a marketing consultancy firm. I’d like to believe that it’s a step up after my Pronove Tai days. (Previous company seemed to be a step down). I’ll be able to talk more once I start, but rest assured the moola is a definite plus. Do I hear a ka-ching??

That’s my latest. What’s going on with you?

P.S. if you’re on iPad, iPhone, etc, add Viber to your apps and add me there.

But anyway, in due respect to my chunk-change yearly domain registration, and to my avid reader (note: there’s no s in reader), here’s a slight update

• I currently live in Singapore - okay well not really an update since I’ve been here since March of last year, but just in case a reader/friend/family who happens to stumble by this blog and is still asking “Where the hell is Yevka?”, well that’s the answer. A happy update (from last November) is that I moved house – further away from the office and the town, but a better environment and way better facilities. Better facilities included a tennis court, a swimming pool, gym and, my absolute favorite, a jacuzzi.
• I also work in Singapore - again not much of an update. At the start of the year though, my boss resigned, making me and my teammate feel a bit like orphans. From then till now, we’ve been thrown around a bit, working with several people, following orders from various “bosses”, reporting to anyone or everyone, doing the odd bit jobs, until they finally split us apart and put us under two separate teams. I’ve had my qualms about the entire situation, but now our situation is much, much better.
• I joined a dragonboat team - pretty much the highlight of my year SO FAR. Will definitely make it to my 5 events at the end of the year. As invited by my friends, we joined Filipino Dragons Singapore, comprised mostly of Filipino professionals, and have been training with them since April this year. So far, I’ve joined in two races, have raised up my tan level (to quote my friend – I used to be mocha color, now I’m dark chocolate!), have also raised my fitness level, and lost weight. Or at least inches, coz I haven’t really weighed myself properly yet. We’re currently training for Sava Sprints, which is a 200-meter race in October.
• In relation to joining FDS, I’ve been to Rawa this July - Pulau Rawa is an island in Malaysia near Mersing. To get there, we rented a bus to Mersing, and then rode a 20-min ferry to the island. White sands, clear waters, yummy food, wonderful, wonderful place. With 39 other members of the team, a djembe, guitar, caracas, shisha set, volleyball, ipod with speaker, and loads and loads of drinks, we made a 2D-1N trip, that was a party through-and-through.

For now, that’s my highlights. Next time, I’ll try to post pictures.

How’s the rest of the world been? :teehee:

The news that I was flying to Phils for a short weekend spread in the office. I spread so many rumors* about myself, that they had to verify with one another whether I was really flying out, thus the *chismis* traveled. Upon confirmation though, my other-races-colleagues started asking me to buy this-es and that-s, specifically Filipino knick knacks. A conversation with one of them went…

Nat: Could you buy me cheese cake?

Me: Cheese cake? What cheese cake?

Nat: Cheese cake. Philippines is famous for it.

Me: ??? I don’t know what you mean. What’s cheese cake?

Nat: It’s cheese cake, Von brought it before.

(Went to Von)

Me: Von, ano yung cheese cake na pinagsasabi nya?

Von: Ah… ensaymada yun.

Me: Ah okay.

(Went back to Nat)

Me: Hey Nat. It’s not cheese cake. It’s ensaymada

Nat: Insamade? So funny ha….

Me: Ensaymada…

Nat: Insaymadeh?

*** tried to pronounce 3 or 4 times***

Me: No, no… It’s en-say-ma-da

Nat: Huh? That’s baby!

Me: What baby?

Nat: Insaydmader….

*** Eventually realized that she meant, *inside mother*. Laughed so hard. Wrote it on a piece of paper instead.

Whenever I see ensaymada, my colleagues and I call it baby. Hehehe. Recently stuffed myself with extra *babies*, so now, I’m sick of them.

Don’t worry, I’m not yet sick of baby Beau Bear.

The number eight is considered so lucky that weddings on Friday, Aug. 8 – 8/8/08 – are in high demand. Minutes after the city clerk’s office in San Francisco started taking reservations, the date was booked.

“There were people camping out on our reservation system, waiting for the clock to hit midnight,” said Karen Hong Yee, the director of the office, which takes reservations up to 90 days in advance. “We tripled our current capacity and are doing 128 weddings that day.

“Sometimes New Year’s Eve gets popular, and Valentine’s Day is always big, but we haven’t seen this much of a demand in a while.”

Suzanne Tran and her fiance, Conan Tong, chose the day for a number of reasons.

“It’s a lucky day, and eight is his favorite number,” said Tran, a 31-year-old San Francisco resident. “It is supposed to bring good fortune, and that will be a good way to start our life.”

The number eight is considered lucky by numerologists and is especially auspicious in some Asian cultures. In Chinese, a day is considered lucky if it sounds like a word that is positive. The words for the number eight are ba in Mandarin and paat in Cantonese, which sound similar to the words for prosperity, fa in Mandarin and faat in Cantonese.

Last year, 7/7/07 was an extremely popular wedding date, and planners say they are expecting people to choose 9/9/09 as well, as the word for the number nine in Mandarin sounds like the word for longevity.

Eight is considered the luckiest number. So the triple-eight day just might be the most auspicious day for believers of lucky numbers, at least those who won’t be around for 8/8/2088.

Other traditions include gambling – casinos will host special events, and people are expected to line up for lottery tickets. The Olympics are set to begin in Beijing at 8:08:08 p.m. on 8/8/08.

Jim Grealish of Daly City will celebrate his 88th birthday on Friday with a party thrown by his family. The event will have a Lucky Eight theme and guests will play the card game Crazy Eights, said Kathy Ciardella, his daughter.

“He has always thought of his birthday as a lucky day, but this year is something really rare and special,” Ciardella said. “He plans to buy lotto tickets at 8 a.m. for all of us, and I’m really hoping the luck thing works in our favor.”

Sally Faubion, a professional numerologist in San Francisco, said it is not uncommon for people to “go nuts” over a date.

“People can take these things to the extreme,” Faubion said. “I’m not going to negate that it’s lucky, but it’s in the mind of the beholder.”

Faubion said that in her opinion, it is not the best day to get married because eight plus eight equals 16, and “16 is known as a number that brings loss, tragedy and a lack of communication.”

“But eight is still a number that means money, power and fame,” she said. “It’s considered an equalizer because on its side it resembles the symbol for infinity.”

Normally, about 5,000 weddings take place across the country on a Friday in August, said Rebecca Dolgin, executive editor of TheKnot.com, a site that helps couples plan their wedding day.

“This Friday, we have seen a 400 percent increase and have 22,000 people registered to get married,” Dolgin said.

“It’s a popular date for Chinese couples, and for others it is a great way to have a fun theme. Instead of a color combo, people can personalize using the number eight on decorations, flowers and attendance.”

In San Mateo County, couples began standing in line and calling on the phone as soon as reservations became available, said Theresa Rabe, the deputy assessor, county clerk-recorder. The county is doing 19 ceremonies on Aug. 8 instead of the typical four.

“People have indicated they want that day because it is lucky,” Rabe said. “Others like it because it is easy to remember.”

In China, press reports show that people try to get phone numbers, addresses, license plates and floors in buildings with the number eight in them. The telephone number 8888-8888 sold for $280,000 at an auction in China, according to a report several years ago by the Associated Press.

Yank Sing, a dim sum restaurant in San Francisco, has been getting numerous requests for reservations. Tran, the San Francisco bride, made her reservation nearly two years ago.

“We will have eight line dancers, and we will pass out little red envelopes with $8 to everyone who helped us out,” Tran said. “We want everyone to be lucky.”

Going. Our “ampon” roomate who stayed a little over a month with us left last Saturday. For the past few weeks, its been such a treat to have her there, with her daily uppers, sugar high moments. Now with a week gone, I can truly feel the difference of not having her around. For starters, she’d always remind us to de-stress, and by that she means, let’s go party! So when she was around, we had several bonding moments and night outs, which was uber fun.

Marj… thank you for all the uppers, the sha-lala lingo, the haircut (sayang, hindi na natuloy ang bangs, bangs ever!) the spa and gym moments, the *shake-body-body-dancer-dancing”, the wa-poise laugh, and all the other wacky crazy times. For all that and more. I’m glad to have known you… and I will really miss you. I wish you success wherever you may go! *Bugis*

Coming and Going. Before Marj left, we met up with Mhinx, my friend from Dubai who came for a short visit. He joined my roommates and I in dropping of Marj to the airport, before we headed off to a night out, along with his brothers, Minx, Mingx (kulit nila diba?) and their friend. It was a crazy, fun, and tiring night. After the band in the first bar where we were dancing, took a 15 minute break, we hopped to another bar, and danced some more, only to go back to the first bar when the band got back. And of course, sayawan uli! Ang saya! Our cool down session was hopping to another bar, where we had another round of drinks and shisha! It seemed like such a workout because of the aching muscles at the end of the day.

Met up with Mhinx a couple of times after that, and was a great thing that I wasn’t as loaded in the office. I was able to bring him around to some of the places, most memorable was a food trip session for chili crab, and other *Singapore* delicacies. Lafang, lafang ever. He and his brothers left last Wednesday. Thanks Mhinx! Saya saya! Sa susunod, lakwatsa sa Dubai naman.

Coming. Business must be going well for our office, because this week, we had new people in our department, specifically one in our team. I don’t think I’ve talked about my office too much (unless it’s to complain that it was all I do). Although the department itself is big, our team is new. Since I started, my boss and I have been a 2-woman team, with me, being the “assistant”, left with all the nitty gritty, dirty jobs. Hence, the late crazy hours. With our new teammate on board this week, I feel that work is going to be easier hereon *cross fingers*.

In another team, we have another pinay on board, who happens to also be a photo enthusiast, and a certified party girl. Over the weekend, we were supposed to go dancing, but at the last moment, I remembered the age limit of the bar I was going to. I could have gone to another bar, but I was with my roomates who have become regulars already. Oh well.. don’t worry Jen, there’s other parties!

And finally, Going. Although our sales department has grown, our Pinoy friends from the other department will be heading back to Pinas. Last Friday was their last day in the office. They will now be based in Manila. It *might* now be a little harder because I super feel the lack of creative staff. With more people in the sales, it makes more sense to support the sales with more designers. But it feels a bit backward this way. Oh well, there’s still email…

So there. I’ll try to post some pics within the week also.

*** p.s. Ate and Chie… ayan na ang blog update. Hehehe! Mwah!

Thanks for shopping for me!!! Got some great deals!!!

A day of walking (truly singapura)

After the long walk, we didn’t make any effort to see the merlion up close

Apparently, we weren’t the only Caratos here…

Just found out our cousin Diorel also works and stays here – roughly 2 weeks already.

Until next time!!!

When I accepted the offer for my new job, I had one major problem. Where will I stay? It was a concern because, I was leaving for Dubai a day after I received the offer, and coming back just before the new work starts. So the looking for a new place was going to be difficult because of time constraints. While in Dubai, I searched online for possible places so that when I get back, I would just go straight. But it didn’t happen the way I wanted it to. I was searching and negotiating and emailing prospect landlords and roommates, but none of them seemed to fit my bill – decent price, close to work, available by mid April. I had to ask my friend who hosted me before if I could bum at her place for a few days, which thankfully she did. Heaven sent!

When I got back, I went to the office the very next day. Our HR said that I still needed to do my medical to get my work pass. I asked if I could just start the week after, so that I could look for a place as well, while waiting for the medical report. It was a go, so my next agenda was to look for a place. There were several places I went to. I must say that looking for a house is hard work. There are several factors that come to play… and it seemed that I wasn’t satisfied with what I saw. Didn’t like the location. Bathroom sucks. No aircon. Too expensive. Too far. No direct transpo. Didn’t like the housemate. General area was scary. Too many advance/deposit/agent’s fee. Etc.

The challenge was to find a place asap. And by the third day of my search, I wasn’t feeling too happy with the existing choices. I almost said yes to a decent location, own room, no aircon, and/or not an ideal housemate… until I chanced upon an ad by a pinay looking for a roommate. I saw the place and made a choice there and then. It’s a place very near work – just a bus ride away. It was in a secured condo with very kind guards who makes it a point to talk to the people going in and out. It was walking distance to the green line of the MRT (which links most of Singapore).

The room itself is okay. Our room is not that big, although we have a balcony for “alone” time if need be. I have enough place for my existing stuff (only because I don’t have that many stuff yet). It’s fairly cozy and quiet. The price is in the high side of, although still within, my budget. The kicker may be that there is no agent’s fee, although I still need to pay for my advance and deposits (now I’m broke). But really, frankly speaking, my ice breaker is the fact that I’ll be rooming with other pinays. It makes going home not so lonely, and not as boring. I’m hardly home since I started working. Only because it’s overtime galore. So for now, it’s really more of a place to sleep in. Nonetheless, I still feel happy with my choice. Below is the view from outside the flat. It overlooks the pool and the other blocks within the compound.

And here is a view of our balcony, which also faces towards the pool area. We hang our clothes in the balcony during weekends (or when we do laundry).

Next time, I’ll try to post some pics of the rest of the flat. Miss you guys….

Now I don’t know whether you know, (some of you know actually), but I’m actually a cheap drunk. I know that technically I only drank one cocktail and one shot, but if you count the number of alcohol that goes with that, well don’t blame me that the floor started to move under my feet.

I admit, damn… I was tipsy… but not yet the bad kind (I don’t think I embarrased myself yet). But another one of those B52s and I’d probably be doing something crazy. Anyway, it was definitely a night of laughs (the one where you just keep going and going) and major catching up with Poidy. I was thankful that I had that night (and was looking forward to another, had the scheds not been too hectic) as I haven’t gone out like that in ages. All of my friends in Dubai were in the family track, thus most of the discussions went around “grown up” matters. Which wasn’t bad. But just before I headed back to normalcy, I definitely needed a night where I could have fun as free as I could, without any holding back.

Thanks, din to you, Poidy, for such a memorable night. Love you girl!

I didn’t mean to go offline for this long though. I guess the “staying away” bit went longer than I expected. Initially I was trying to kick the habit so that the focus was on what I felt was more important at the time. Blogging, admittedly, became a bit of a time waster, ESPECIALLY when I had more time to waste. I felt that I needed to control it, otherwise, when I start working again, it would be harder to kick.

They say it takes 21 days to kick a habit. Because I took more than that, I now kinda feel out of it. My writing groove is either not there, or is just too overwhelmed with what to share with you.

===================

I guess a picture. A picture is where I shall start of with.

This is Baby Beau Cyrus. He is my newest nephew. He is also my main reason why my April was hectic and full of unexpected surprises. To date he is just a month and a day old. When he was christened around two weeks ago in Dubai, I made a surprise attendance, surprising even myself because it happened so fast.

It was a short vacation. Most of the time I was just home. And it was fine because I got to spend time with Beau. I helped feed him and burp him and play with him and put him to sleep. Mostly he was just sleeping. When Ate wasn’t looking, I tried to wake him up because I wanted to play with him. But he doesn’t usually wake up for me. Hehehe. So I just watched him sleep.

I miss him. I miss looking at him. I miss seeing him pouting, or smiling, or crying. And I’m going to miss him growing up. With everything that has happened so far for 2008, I think that I will only regret not being able to spend time with him.

For now, pictures (and stories) will have to do. So Ate… take loads and loads and loads. I look forward to more!

So that’s Beau. Sigh. My writing groove’s back because of Beau.

Anyway, this is my “Blue Paradise” layout. This wasn’t my first choice, mind you. Richard uploaded another layout for me almost a month back, but since I had so many adjustments that I needed to make with that layout (change this, do that, delete this, etc, etc) and didn’t know how to on my own (a friend actually told me to learn it on my own, but I was too lazy to), I looked for other layouts that didn’t need much changes. This layout was the only one that I can leave as is and love it like that.

Along with the new layout, is the new WordPress upgrade! I heard about this from Reg, in an uber funny post, but never really felt that there was much difference. Until Richard upgraded and in turn all his wordpress accounts, he upgraded as well. And it’s a beaut! I love the dashboard! Makes it so much easier to do my editing and stuff. Sorry if you can’t relate, though. Just trust me that it’s a wonderful upgrade. (Less the smileys as not yet as compatible). I miss my smileys.

Aside from the new physical changes on my blog, there are several new things with me as well. Loads in fact that I feel I’m going to be backlogged for quite a bit. The leave of absence was well worth it though. Had so much fun along the way.

In the meantime, I’m posting this na. If I wait to write down all my stories, then I’ll never get this blog up and running! Till next post!