We went to the Megamall on Sunday with one purpose in mind – to buy pants for the boyfriend. Soon as we got there though, we saw racks of CDs and DVDs on sale. We seized the chance to buy original at reasonable prices 🙂 Among the titles we picked up was Knocked Up. I forgot that I’ve already actually seen it! But it wasn’t a complete waste because I really liked it and didn’t mind seeing it again. After watching Be Kind Rewind on cable on Monday afternoon, we popped this Katherine Heigl starrer in the DVD player.
Soon I realized that I had already seen the movie! Does that mean it was forgettable? Hmm, I have to admit it’s not something you’d really remember, as if it was profound or because of cheesy lines, or quotable lines. But it was fun to watch.
Allison and Ben really were an odd couple. But it also just goes to show that when both parties are devoted to making a relationship work, then it might actually work.
All of my Project Wonderful ads have been deleted. As in. In violation of their TOS. I can’t argue against that, but I really wasn’t aware of the restriction agains sponsored posts. The thing is, sponsored posts have paid me twenty times more than I ever earned from PW so I don’t think I’m dropping that. And I take pride in posting some blogs that are sponsored without my readers actually noticing it. There’s a lof of fun in writing those. Haha 🙂
It takes awhile to earn from those anyway, but I still feel a little sad that that income stream is gone. Oh well.
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I subscribe to a newsletter from a business opportunities weblog and today, I read about how huddles or five-minute meetings are good in the workplace. I totally agree. I also don’t like meetings because some of them are just a waste of time, but preshift/start of shift huddles are good for making everyone aware of where we’re at and to drive stats or better productivity for the day. Conducting these pre shift huddles was something we were all doing at work upto maybe a month ago. Now, we have hour-long performance meetings for team managers, and though I appreciate the accountability it has developed in all of us, it’s not something any of us really look forward to. I think that we should go back to just having pre-shift huddles, and I’m all for the Tuesday shift knowledge sharing hour.
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While surfing through the Entrecard and Adgitize networks, I came acrosse this article about human foods that are deadly for dogs. It lists Macadamia nuts too. Are regular nuts okay though? My dog eats peanuts sometimes and I hope those are okay. The others on the list I’m pretty sure are out of reach for him and no one would ever give him chocolate. I’ve told my nieces and nephews about that too because they are always around here and sometimes with chocolate. I find that whenever Esban is unsure if something’s okay to give to Zune, he’ll stop and ask me first. Good.
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For digiscrapaholics, the site DigiscrapAddicts is hosting another round of their So You Think You Can Design contest and there are so many amazing freebie kits available to download in their members only gallery. I don’t know how many entrants there are, but Flergs and Redju Scrap, whose newsletters I receive in my Inbox are part of the competition. 🙂 I’m trying to find an announcement to post here but can’t find any so far… but here’s a link to the Week 1 gallery, but you’ve got to be registered and signed in to view them (I think): http://digiscrapaddicts.com/products/showgallery.php?cat=556
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I have another idea for a blog and I really, really want to do it. BUT I haven’t had much success in my photo blog (I mean, when was the last time I updated?) so I’m not very confident I’d actually do it well if I set this new one up. I’ll keep it under wraps for now. My blog development priorities should be in this order – redesign this blog, re-evaluate if I want a real gallery versus my photoblog, setup a new one. 🙂
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While at the mall on Sunday, I realized that I am not familiar with the Department Store inside the MegaMall at all. I mean, I can navigate SM Cubao and SM North pretty well, but the department store at Megamall? Not so much. I guess that whenever we go there (which isn’t a lot as it seems) we skip the SM part of the mall, if you know what I mean. So there was a three-day (or was it four?) sale over the long weekend and we just had to checkout the racks for men’s pants. It wasn’t as crowded as I expected, and the cashiers/counters are better structured than the regular ones at the other branches. Haha.
Anyway, there’s always got to be a Health and Beauty section at SM right? And now that they have Watson’s there, I always feel the need to pass through one when in the mall. I figured that then was as good a time as any to look for facial wash – I couldn’t find their Pond’s section! What the heck? I tried the Pond’s Age Miracle microdermabrasion kit and liked it. I wanted to get just a regular Age Miracle cleanser or something but since I couldn’t find any, I ended up making another Body Shop purchase. I ended up with a Tea Tree Oil with peppermint facial wash. It is so refreshing! I used this line before, because I wanted to get rid of bleshimes. I liked it. As soon as I used it though, I remembered why I wasn’t so keen on using it again – the tea tree oil smell can be overwhelming. Haha. But it is a wonderful product, so I don’t really mind.
My mom buys Garnier and I like the citrusy smell, and the facial scrub is also refreshing. Alfred likes it too. There was a Garnier booth at the mall and we approached it thinking we’d pick up a tube for him. As it turns out, they weren’t offering the facial wash tubes, they were eyebag roll-ons! Seriously! You know how we always think we have dark circles under our eyes and no amount of sleeping can get rid of? Well, Garnier has a new product that pledges to take care of that and instead of applying it on like regular eye cream, you roll it on. Hmm.
Anyway, I did not mean to sound like a promo girl for beauty products, but you should hear us at our room during the Youth Camp last month! I think it was Ate Chu and Ate Verns (both from PETA theater company) who commented about Joy’s Body Shop products, and then I chimed in because I had my rich pomegranate body butter with me there too. We sounded like we were trying to convert them to go for Body Shop! We talked about the membership card (which I have), and I even mentioned the company’s ties with NGOs and fair trade organizations. Haha.
Okay, I’ll stop now.
Whew, so much for a quick post. And I thought I had nothing to write about?
My Facebook and Windows Live contacts would have seen these photos by now, but what the heck, what’s another announcement right? Haha!
The FB album info says this:
I took these photos on Sunday evening. The boyfriend was in search for the perfect pair of pants, and I was already sleepy from having no sleep since setting off for work the night before. Since fitting rooms these days are roomier and equipped with chairs (and have excellent lighting), I figured I’d sneak in there with him and snap a few. Haha.
For someone who doesn’t like having her photo taken, I think I’m crazy for sharing these here now. Haha. But here, check out the slideshow.
I don’t think I’ve posted here yet about my pending plans to move to another company. I’ve already given 30-days’ notice to my current employer, but in the past week I’ve been having second thoughts about moving. There are several factors to consider apart from the salary increase I’d be getting when I move. I’d have to consider the additional medical and disability insurance that I used to get for my mom for free at my current workplace – I’d have to pay for that in the new one. It’s not too costly though so I don’t mind that so much. I’d have additional transpo and food expenses too. So when you think about it, the increase in salary isn’t going to be substantial. So for that, should I go jumping at the opportunity to start all over again?
Yesterday turned out to be Movie Monday. I was feeling so bad after sleeping for 12 hours (totally not the result I was aiming for) and had to puke twice. So I lay on the couch for the most part of the day and zoned out in front of the TV. The Bachelor was up first and, I must say, no matter how many times I see the film – I will tune in and love it all over again. After crushing on Chris O’Donnell and Renee Zellwegger, the dashing genius Jack Black was up with Be Kind Rewind. 🙂 If you plan on seeing the movie and you’re not interested in a spoiler, stop reading and grab a copy of the film already!
Set in Passaic, New Jersey, the story revolves around the VHS rental shop Be Kind Rewind owned by Danny Glover’s character Mr. Fletcher. The shop, along with the building where it’s situated at, is at a declining state. In fact, town officials have given Mr. Fletcher a demolition date and he can stop it only when he is able to make the necessary improvements before the set deadline.
Helping Mr. Fletcher at the shop is a young man called Mike. The shop is entrusted to him when Mr. Fletcher decides to go on a trip to scout the competition that has DVD rentals. Of course, he doesn’t tell Mike that’s where he’s going. As far as everyone else knows, Mr. F was off on a memorial for Jazz legend Fats Waller who was supposedly born in Mr. F’s building. Jerry (played by Jack Black) is high on conspiracy theories, and he believes that The Power Plant is messing with everyone’s brains. On the first night that Mr. F is away, Jerry convinces Mike to go with him to sabotage the Power Plant. While crossing over the fence, Mike realizes what Mr. Fletcher’s parting message was at the train stop: Keep Jerry Out. He decides to abandon the sabotage and leave Jerry to his crazy schemes. But an accident happens, and Jerry is electrocuted.
The next day, Jerry comes in to the shop in a daze and a bad temper. He kept on re-arranging the videos on the shelves and annoyed the sole customer in the shop that day. Mike manages to throw him out, but little did any of them know that the damage has been done. As a result of the accident, Jerry has become magnetized and all the videos have been erased.
In his fear of disappointing Mr. Fletcher, Mike was forced to come up with a way to rent out the Ghostbusters to Mia Farrow’s character in the movie. He dragged Jerry to make what they later called a Sweded version of the movie, armed with one camera and lots of imagination. The version gains popularity, and soon, customers were paying huge money to request sweded versions of their favorite films. The business was doing great, until there was hope that Mr. Fletcher may finally afford to pay for renovations. But the government came and destroyed all of the sweded movies for copyright infringement. All of the store’s assetts were seized too.
Everyone thought that was the end of Be Kind Rewind, and Mr. Fletcher’s building. Mike speaks up and says they could apply to declare the building a historical landmark being Waller’s birthplace. But that prompts Mr. F to admit that the story wasn’t true – that it was just a bedtime story he shared with Mike, and couldn’t retract.
The people of Passaic didn’t give up though, they were determined to fight it out. They decided that they needed to make an all original movie, and who else would it be about? Their hero, Fats Waller.
I read the novel last week. It reminded me a bit of The Devil Wears Prada. In both novels, the protagonist was at a job they didn’t necessarily want and they had dragon lady bosses. They also wanted out, but found themselves totally immersed in the work, unable to distance themselves easily.
And the movie version’s worth watching too. Harvard Hottie was yummy. hahaha 🙂
Nan was just like Andy – an achiever, does really well at her job. No matter how good she is at it, and how over-qualified she may be for a nanny job, this isn’t recognized by her employers. She also does not get the respect she deserves. At first I was thinking how the novel was placing Upper East Side moms in a bad light, how it seemed to have been passing judgement on moms who could not take care of their children full-time and have had to hire nannies to do that. But eventually I realized that it actually pays tribute to all moms – every single one. Moms like Mrs. X actually takes the time to choose the right nanny for her boy, which means she tries to find someone qualified to be her child’s primary caregiver. She wants someone who can help her son with his school work. I guess she admits she won’t do much good in a primary caregiver role, and that means she needs to find someone who can. Maybe it at least tries to open their eyes a bit to see how their kids need more of their attention, and that isn’t so bad.
I love kids, but I don’t think I’d do too well as a nanny. I can probably babysit for a few hours, but it’s not something I can do on a daily basis, and certainly not full time. Sure I’m looking forward to having kids of my own, but that’s different from caring for someone else’s.
There are Pinoy nannies the world over – rearing children of other families, while they leave their own kids back home thousands of miles away. Filipinos have learned to take pride in this fact. In fact, Princess Lara Quigaman won a beauty pageant where she was asked about this very topic. What’s to be proud of being a nation known for it’s nannies? Well, it means that we know children and how to raise them. It means that we can be trusted with the care of the most important members of families and societies. We can influence the lives of young minds. We play a big role in building future leaders.
