where the moon shines

After weeks of cancelling and rescheduling, I finally got to meet up with my bestfriend on Sunday.  We met up, sat down for a snack, and then we stayed there for the next 4 hours.  It was nice catching up, and even more exciting to hear the good news.  She’s getting married next year!

Preparations are already full swing and I’ll try to help her as much as I could though, for the life of me, I have no idea about these things!

Anyway, we talked about things we’re up to and things we look forward to. It was so nice to feel grounded again; that’s what seeing her does to me.  She’s always a breath of sunshine, you know?  I guess because we’ve known each other so long, and were inseparable when our lives were so much simpler. 

We had spent the afternoon at this place called Secret Recipe at the Atrium in Megamall.  We had no idea what they served, but the cakes on the display just convinced me to step in.  Here’s the cake we shared (to be honest though, I ate most of it!):

See all those alternating layers of chocolate cake and mousse filling? Yummy, I tell you!  And we were so fascinated about the smooth thin layer of chocolate that coats the cake.  Ahhh this cake sparked a conversation on baking too.  We also talked about my new interest in photography, and my blogs!

But the most important news of the day?  Of course, it’s about her wedding in a little less than a year’s time.  Her fiance is currently working abroad (in Dubai, where her mom also works) and he hasn’t sent over the ring because he wants to give it to her personally (makes sense).  So she’s preparing for the wedding all by herself! Good thing she has a wedding coordinator friend who’s helping her.  And myself? Well, I’ll help in any way I can. Like I said, I have no idea about these things!

Oh well, I just hope we don’t wait another six months before we get together like this.  I’ve missed having girlfriends around all the time. I miss being a friend to a friend, you know what I mean? 

On tonight’s (Monday night, I mean) episode  of ABS-CBN’s Kalye, Atom Araullo featured Bingo and it’s seeming role in society.

It reminded me of Bingo nights here at home.  I know, gambling isn’t supposed to be good, but… Haha

At first I didn’t want to join in and spend my money but it looked so much fun so I eventually got hooked too.  Besides, how much do we bet? Probably nothing more than five pesos per game.  More than the Bingo itself, and how you’d never know when you’d win, it was the chatter that I liked most about those nights.  Sometimes my grandma would sit with us and join in, most nights Auntie Leesah would be there too.  We each had our favorite set of cards that we’d use night after night.  

Aside from my cousins, there’d be women from across the creek too who come over just to Bingo.

I don’t think any one of us actually play because we believed we’d win big.  Mostly, we just looked forward to getting enough to pay for a snack, or everyone’s snack.  I had winning streaks, and losing ones.  But those are not what I remember most about Bingo nights.  It was the stories each one brought to the table, and the laughter everyone shared in.  Those were long nights too. Nights when you’d find yourself fast asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow. 

These probably happened around the year we played Bingo for Christmas.  That was for free of course, but there were real prizes.  People donated prizes, including my mom.  It was so much fun. I think it was Auntie Leesah who won the grand prize, and Lola too. 

We should have regular Bingo nights again, not as often as we used to (which was every night), but a monthly or quarterly thing.  I’m not sure if my cousins would be up for it, but if we can organize it maybe they would be interested.

When March started, I made a cute little notebook that I hoped would get me on track with losing weight.  For the most part, I was doing well in staying within the recommended daily points for Weight Watchers.  But in the last week and a half – I just stopped tracking my points, and stopped caring about what I eat.  That is not good.

I know this failure in the system is entirely my fault.  It started with me being too lazy to prepare a meal plan.  

But it’s not too late, and I am not giving up.  My weight has been up and down all my life (but it’s mostly up, I must admit), and for once I want that to change.  

Last night, just before heading home, we stopped for dinner at Kenny Roger’s Megamall.  I made an adult choice and ordered Roast Chicken Salad.  It was great, I loved the dressing it came with, and the freshness of the lettuce.  I didn’t snap a photo though because I was disappointed at the service.  By the time I got my order, Alfred was already finished with his meal and it was 30 minutes after we ordered!

I was so disappointed because I was already thinking about how much I liked that branch. It was big and the seating was good for groups/families who dine together.  It felt so clean. And I liked the blown up photos of the food on the walls. And the colors!  But then the service sucked. Ugh.

I told Alfred that I could live on salad, if only it gets handed to me already prepared, haha.  I used to bring salad to work, I should do that again…

I swear, if I can’t stick to a healthy diet that I can work with, I’d probably be better off just reaching for the best diet pill and pop ‘em like candy.  But I can do this the better way. Right?

Don’t you just hate it when you’ve imagined what you’re day’s gonna be like, and then the day passes without it happening that way?

I was supposed to be in a meeting again today, the second meeting in preparation to the youth camp we’re having this weekend.  I had to skip that because I needed to take Zune to the vet this morning.  He had diarrhea all weekend, you see, and we just want to make sure he’s okay.  But when we got to the vet’s it was closed; the doctor was on a house call. 

After lunch, I was supposed to see my own doctor to follow up on my case.  I don’t think this one’s going to happen today though – I may not have enough time left in the afternoon.  I fell asleep you see. 

From the time we got back from the vet’s at around 1130am, until my brother got home from shopping at 230pm, I did nothing but sleep. Okay, I also tried to blog and I did successfully install McAfee on my PC.  But I was suddenly sleepy, which is a surprise because I had a long sleep last night.  I tried having ice cream to keep me awake, but it was of no help.  So… instead of heading to my doctor at 1pm so I could still have enough time to take Zune to the vet again, I’d have to choose one task.  So we’re going to see Zune’s doctor and maybe not mine.  

I haven’t even had lunch yet. Ugh.

You know how tool engineers use spring plungers so that tools or pieces of equipment would perform efficiently?  I sometimes wish I could something like that installed on my system so I’d get everything I want done right away! Hah!

Bongga yung dance number/entrance ng 26k girls for today’s show.  Apparently, it’s their last.  It’s our local Deal or No Deal’s last airing, how many seasons did they run?  Lately, it’s been really nice watching how Kris has been more comfortable and enjoying her time – dancing with the 26k or with her contestants.  

We’ve been hearing about the new show (Bingo?) that’s coming soon, but I thought that DND surely will be back  in a few months.  But as today’s show progresses, it looks like they won’t.  The other Kapamilya game show hosts are today’s contestants – Game Ka Na Ba’s Edu Manzano, and the Singing Bee’s Cesar Montano.  They’re playing for a community of aetas in Tarlac, who were affected by the Mt. Pinatubo eruption that happened a decade ago, but continues to cause challenges for so many families and communities.

Anyway…

There was a fire drill at ABS-CBN this morning, and well, Mother Ignacia was blocked off because there really were fire trucks (or maybe just one) for the drill.  My dad was picking me up and I had to meet him at the ELJ drive entrance instead.  Received a message from one of my agents saying he’s stranded outside the building until the fire drill is finished. Ugh. Had to call Workforce to let them know. 

When I finally got home, I realized that not only was Inday here for ironing day, there was Milo and his crew outside working on the roofing for our back porch.  I had anticipated some noise that will keep me up, but surprisingly, I fell asleep again on the couch without any effort. Another welcome surprise is that it wasn’t so hot this afternoon, definitely due to the rainshowers. 

We’ve had roofing installed on our doorstep and over the steps leading up to it, and then at our porch.  But after all these improvements we’ve not thought to finally put railings on the stairs. I guess it’s not that important now since mom’s potter plants serve to block any of the kids from getting too close to the edge.  Good thing I was blogging this because I just remembered that we’ve been meaning to have Zune’s fence properly made.  I’ve just asked dad now to ask Milo tomorrow how much it would cost to include fence installation this week.  Maybe we can finally give the makeshift fence some rest after two  years of service.  Besides, it’s high time we get something that people can open and shut conveniently when they need to pass, rather than step over like we do now. Haha.

I was at a leadership training all day at work, and I didn’t expect to, but I totally appreciated the theme of that particular training program.  If things like these are made available to more employees, NCO will really be loved better by it’s people. All day I was thinking about how I was going to blog about the experience, but too bad I didn’t take note of my thoughts and now I just can’t remember what they were! Haha.

Oh I did take a photo of my name tent. One thing that NCO invests in is an ongoing learning and development program for it’s managers and employees.  I’ve attended a lot of these trainings and everytime, without fail, we are asked to make name tents.  It’s become a tradition that starts from Accent/Foundation training.  I would write my name in so many different names, and include doodles. Today though, just a simple smiley was enough.

Mom is home from her work trip in Hong Kong.  But you know what?  I was more excited about having the camera back than the shirts she bought for us. LOL!