Thursday, January 24, 2008

50 More Things You Don't Really Need to Know about Me

If you opened this, FILL IT OUT! Learn 50 things about your friends, and let them learn 50 things about you!

1* Do you like cheese?
You can't go wrong with baked cheese with any food

2* Have you ever smoked heroin?
Naah.

3* Do you own a gun?
Aside from my Uranium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator, no I don't.

4* Your favorite song?
Off the top of my head, it's Under The Milky Way by The Church

5* Do you get nervous before doctor appointments?
Depends on what the appointment is for.

6* What do you think of hotdogs?
Yum-yum

7* Favorite Christmas song?
Pasko Na Naman

8* What do you prefer to drink in the morning.
Water or any type of fruit juice

9* Can you do push ups?
Yeah, I still can.

10* Favorite super-hero?
Haven't been into reading comics for quite a while but the last one I liked was Bishop (http://marvel.com/universe/Bishop_%28Lucas_Bishop%29)

11* What's your favorite piece of jewelry?
I don't wear jewelry

12* Favorite hobby?
PC Games, if it's a hobby at all.

13* Secret weapon to get the opposite sex?
The Gilroy

14* Do you have A.D.D.?
Probably. But it's just all in the head, in my opinion.

15* What's one trait do you hate about yourself?
Dangerously content with mediocrity

16* Middle Name:
De Los Reyes

17* Three thoughts at this exact moment
a.) Why doesn't the id field auto-generate?
b.) What to work on next
c.) What time will I go home later?

18* Name 3 things you bought yesterday?
a.) Bottled water, everyday
b.) Toiletries
c.) Chicken salad for dinner

19* Name 3 drinks you regularly drink?
a.) Water
b.) Season's Iced Lemon Tea
c.) Welch's Grape Juice

20* Current worry right now?
Cash flow and expenditures for the following year

21* Current hate?
That stupid leak in the bathroom which I don't have time to take care of

22* Favorite places?
I like all the places I've been to but Phi-phi Island is superb.

23* How did you bring in the New Year?
With a bang! Celebrating with family in Manila.

24* Where would you like to go?
Japan, Mainland Europe, Bhutan, Tibet, Palawan, Australia

25* Name three people who will complete this and return?
a) Shelley (maybe)
b) Nes (come on, Nes!)
c) Chale ('kaw na lang siguro, wala na eh! :P)

26* Do you own flip flops?
Tsinelas!

27* What shirt are you wearing?
Right now, light blue Banana republic shirt for the office.

28* Do you like sleeping on satin sheets?
I just like sleeping.

29* Can you whistle?
Yep

30* Favorite color/s?
blue, green, red, brown, orange, gray, yellow

31* Would you like to be a pirate?
In the 21st century? No thanks.

32* What songs do you sing in the shower room?
Any song I heard last

33* Favorite girl's name?
Catherine (and variations of)

34* Favorite boy's name?
Anthony is fine.

35* What's in your pocket right now?
Disposable facial tissue, and a couple of coins

36* Last thing that made you laugh?
More cowbell! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/More_cowbell)

37* Best bed sheets as a child?
Blue sheets with nightsky, stars and moon.

38* Worst injury you've ever had?
I'm glad it never got worse than sprain or cramps

39* Do you love where you live?
Singapore is a nice place to work in.

40* How many computers do you have in your house?
2. Nes's and mine.

41* Who is your loudest friend?
I haven't seen Duch in a while, so it should be Chrissie.

42* How many dogs do you have?
We've got one in Manila.

43* Does someone have a crush on you?
It'd be nice if there's at least one.

45* What is your favorite book?
I'm going to count graphic novels as a book, so hands down Alan Moore's Watchmen.

46* What is your favorite candy?
Hershey's with Macadamia (Yum!)

47* Favorite Sports Teams?
Los Angeles Lakers, Barangay Ginebra

48* What song do you want played at your funeral?
Angels by Robbie Williams

49* What were you doing 12 AM last night?
Surfing the Internet.

50* What is the first thing you thought of when you woke up?
Shit, late nanaman.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Get to know yourself better (from Noel)

For one thing, I didn't know myself to be answering such things. But hey, there's a first for everything.

From: http://www.quizbox.com/personality/test82.aspx

--

Get to know yourself better

Your view on yourself:

Other people find you very interesting, but you are really hiding your true self. Your friends love you because you are a good listener. They'll probably still love you if you learn to be yourself with them.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:

You like serious, smart and determined people. You don't judge a book by its cover, so good-looking people aren't necessarily your style. This makes you an attractive person in many people's eyes.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You prefer to get to know a person very well before deciding whether you will commit to the relationship.

The seriousness of your love:

Your have very sensible tactics when approaching the opposite sex. In many ways people find your straightforwardness attractive, so you will find yourself with plenty of dates.

Your views on education

Education is less important than the real world out there, away from the classroom. Deep inside you want to start working, earning money and living on your own.

The right job for you:

You're a practical person and will choose a secure job with a steady income. Knowing what you like to do is important. Find a regular job doing just that and you'll be set for life.

How do you view success:

You are afraid of failure and scared to have a go at the career you would like to have in case you don't succeed. Don't give up when you haven't yet even started! Be courageous.

What are you most afraid of:

You are concerned about your image and the way others see you. This means that you try very hard to be accepted by other people. It's time for you to believe in who you are, not what you wear.

Who is your true self:

You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

The Best Laid Plans for 2008

2007 was a good year for travel

In the office, I had printed out a 2008 Calendar. When I'm finished with it, it should mark all the planned holidays I'm going to take. It's really helpful especially in determining long weekends and sandwich days. I'm sure project managers also appreciate the advance notice.

So this is what I've come up so far (starting March, the new fiscal period). This is a very-very early draft.

March - around Holy Week, originally planned for Japan. Unlikely to happen now, so might go to Cambodia instead.
April - going home to Manila to attend a wedding. Might squeeze in beach plans nearby.
May - one sandwich day and one long weekend. No plans yet.
June, July, August, September - no obvious long weekends. Singapore National Day, August 9, falls on a Saturday.
October - one possible 5-day stretch, and one sandwich day
November/December - going home to Manila to renew drivers license
December/January 2009 - Hopefully, back to the U.S. for Christmas and New Year. 2 weeks or so.
Feb 2009 - No plans yet.

Of course even if I filled in those sandwich days, I'd still have about 5 or so days for anything unexpected. Also things, will probably be much clearer once I sort out my finances. I promised myself that I'd take care of my long-term savings (if any) this year. Although that might mean cutting trips, it might also give me a chance to look after my health instead.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

The days in between holidays

I've been up to a lot since I arrived back. Generally, it's fleshing out what the rest of the vacation would look like.

There's going to be a lot of family things, friends things and me things.

Family Things:
  • Spend Christmas Day at home
  • Visit my grandfather (and Lola Madre) in Bulacan
  • Go to mass
Friends Things:
  • Lunches, Dinners, and catchups
  • Go to Tagaytay
  • Basketball - not happening this time
Me Things:
  • Have jeans altered - DONE
  • Buy shirts
  • Buy (Filipino) DVDs
  • Buy OPM albums
  • Buy toiletries/groceries
Also, I need to be reacquainted with the food I haven't had in almost a year:
  • Jollibee
  • KFC
  • Max's - DONE
  • Teriyaki Boy
  • Charlie Wanton Special
  • North Park - DONE
  • Dunkin Donuts - DONE
  • Shakey's
  • Yellow Cab
  • Italianni's
  • Superbowl
  • Goldilock's/Red Ribbon
  • Razon's of Guagua
  • Various other eating places
All these activites could be a permanent "when-I-go-home" list so I'm keeping it somewhere.

--

However, next year might be quite different if plans to spend Christmas in the U.S. push through. It would be the first of its kind, a real winter Christmas.

--

Happy Holidays from our family!


Friday, December 21, 2007

Sa May Bahay

I just got back here in Manila. I really have to say, it's good to be back home. Not only would I get breakfast every morning, but I also don't need to wash the dishes, do the laundry, or iron clothes.

Two hours before the flight, the check-in queue was already snaking all over the departure area. 21kgs of luggage (all clothes) and I was good to go. Aside from that episode, the flight was relatively smooth. On the plane, I also got to watch perhaps the best blockbuster movie of 2007, The Bourne Ultimatum. [Spoiler] I loved that part at the very end where they reported that they haven't found his body and then the Moby music ("Extreme Ways") kicks in [End Spoiler]. You just knew you watched an excellent movie.

NAIA Terminal 2 surprised me in the sense that I didn't really expect it to be (just about) as orderly as it was. Luggage came out quick. There was no hassle at all at customs. Outside, the wind has that Christmas feel. And the best part was that there weren't a lot of people in the meet and greet area, unlike last year.

Traffic was hell, however. But I did spend a great time gawking at the billboards at EDSA, and looking at what buildings were newly-built.

I'll be using my old Globeline for now, until I have the line cancelled before I leave.

See you when I see you.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Winter Solstice

Me: that's the thing around here. it's not a Christmas party, it's a last party of the year
Office-mate (from another part of the world): so they decided to do a peter pan theme!?
Me: exactly, who knows for what reason

So much for our Christmas Party Last Party of the Year. I accept that I cannot celebrate a proper office Christmas party while I work in Singapore. The mix of cultures, and sometimes the dominance of some, makes it difficult to pull off such an event. Everybody has to be accommodated.

I didn't like the party too much. In fact some aspects to it are annoying, especially people who can't hold their drink and act downright stupid. Case in point some idiot who took to the stage and demanded that the entire firm wanted to dance to a lot of Indian music. Rightfully, he was booed off the stage. I mean -- shit -- I don't impose Pinoy novelty dances on everyone ["OK, everybody, let's do the ocho-ocho"], much less the tinikling.

In Singapore, you learn about other cultures and share your own. But you have to know you bounds. These people clearly don't.

Fucking ruining Christmas.



Not even Tinkerbell can save Christmas.

--

A too-little-too-late internal announcement that reminded everyone of holiday behaviour in office functions came a day too late.

The worst part is that I haven't heard any outrage regarding behaviour in the party. If anything, I think they want more Indian dancing music next time. Verrrry Christmas-sy.

--

I've seen The Golden Compass and while I believe that the mythology is rich, I didn't feel that I was really amazed by the movie. I don't think it was presented too well. Dakota Blue Richards would make a fine actress. But she has that smug in the movie that says "I've got two more sequels, so you can't kill me".

Anyway, I just felt unprepared for absorbing the entire thing at one go. Maybe subsequent viewings will help? I don't feel like reading the book, so nuts to that.

--

I've posted a calendar event on Jan 31, 2008 about Switchfoot performing here in Singapore. Should be good. I think SISTIC will begin selling tickets on the 26th. Looking forward to that.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Homecoming

This weekend, our high school batch of 1997 will have our 10th year homecoming. What can I say about it?

For starters, I was in danger of being sent to Aquinas School. No, this wasn't like when I started school, having a choice between Lourdes School Mandaluyong and Ateneo since I passed the tests for both. In this case, I was wait-listed in Ateneo High School (AHS) and we had to have a backup plan. Recovering from chicken pox, I worked hard to get the necessary grades to be reconsidered for eligibility. Then one day, they published the list of those that have been reconsidered. I was in that list of thirty-something names. Welcome to high school.

High school didn't start off well, academically, an effect of resting on my laurels. Eventually, I picked it up in later years to boost my chances of getting into college in the course I wanted.

There's barely anything I regret about high school. Well, at least nothing that turned out to be important. I mean, I don't regret the amount of effort I put in my studies. I felt that I had the right amount of fun and study. I remember that there is a gauge as to how to differentiate normal students to upperclassmen, measured by the amount of hours of study per day they do. (2 for normal, 3 for upperclassman. I think I was doing one and a half before attention-deficit kicked in.)

All in all, high school was pretty great. Everyday is a learning experience whether inside or outside the classroom.

With that, I leave to you, dear reader, to imagine how we went from pipsqueaks then...



...to fat fucks now.



--

Incidentally, my dad will receive the award for both of us being a Father & Son Jubilarian Pair

Dad: Grade School 1963, High School 1967, College 1971
Me: Grade School 1993, High School 1997, College 2001

Stupendous! It's even better than being valedictorian! (Not that I'd have a clue how that'd feel like)

Sunday, December 02, 2007

28

Northeastern monsoon has arrived. It's been windy in the recent days. For the first time, since I've been here, it's been comfortably cool, without the accompanying rains.

--

I don't know, I guess I just lost it.

The will to blog, that is.

The trip to the U.S. was a big milestone in life, and scratched a big itch, as I mentioned. There's probably nothing that could top it in the near future. So everyday just feels ordinary, events not so blogworthy, and pictures not flickr-worthy.

Nonetheless, I will attempt a post today just because I just celebrated (or not celebrated) my 28th birthday last weekend. This should cover most of the weeks I have missed blogging.

A special mention however to the trip two of my bestest friends took in Singapore. I haven't seen them in almost a year and I was glad to see them.

Jimelle, Me, Kat and gracious host, Dondi
--

It's not out of the ordinary to give yourself a gift on your special day. And for me, by virtue of good timing coinciding with SITEX, it only makes sense that I march off to Singapore Expo and buy something for myself. And that something turned out to be a Seagate FreeAgent Desktop Drive.

Sorry if I can't contain the excitement.

But like I said earlier, I've given as a no-occasion gift to myself that trip to visit my family in the U.S. How can I beat that?

I can't and I won't. Not in a long time.

--

I watched Enchanted this weekend. No spoilers this time. But I just like to say that I've known Amy Adams to be hot since Catch Me If You Can.

Ok, what I'd really like to say was that this movie had the potential to be the fairy tale to end all fairy tales. Unfortunately, it falters a bit at the end, to the cliche it came from. Still, it makes for a pretty entertaining movie, and Manhattan itself is ever enchanting.

--

Looking ahead to 2008, we're in talks to go to either Korea or Japan for a vacation. As it stands, Korea seems to be where we're headed.

I can't seem to get excited about a trip to Korea no matter how much browsing I do on Times (bookstore) or online in wikitravel.

--

God Delusion and The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. These are two of the books I have bought but not read yet.

D'oh.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Buy Then, Pay Now

<sarcasm>Don't you just love it when the bills arrive</sarcasm>

Bills, bills, bills. Big ones, little ones...

And yet, I just ordered Seasons 2,3, and 4 of Futurama, along with a good deal on Sealab 2021, season one from Amazon. It's scheduled to ship early-mid October, just around the time I need to pay for it.

Spending money you haven't gotten yet. Bad, bad, bad.

--

Current events. I'd like for Myanmar to get rid of their military rulers and try democracy, all for the selfish reason that I want to visit the Shwedagon Pagoda at some point in my life. Almost anybody can actually visit it anytime they want. But I personally don't want to go under this shroud of fear, and the idea of spending my hard-earned cash to support the junta.

--

One of the things that crossed my mind a few days ago, is thinking of the possibility of this life/work setup: Work for nine months of the year, Holiday/Study/Travel for the remaining three months. Sounds interesting, right? I haven't quite figured out how to pull off such a thing. Of course, you'd have to be earning a lot, and work on a contractual basis. The three months doesn't have to be all bumming around and doing nothing. I'd imagine, you can get special training, go back to school to teach and/or learn, set up a business, work a different type of job.

But let me think about it some more.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Aftershocks

Talking to a friend early in the morning:

Tonton (9/13/2007 7:53:16 AM): sheesh, lumilindol ata
Tonton (9/13/2007 7:57:09 AM): lumilindol nga, tagal din


If some experts are to be believed. There may yet be another big one coming.

--

It's been a lazy weekend that's always almost over too soon. I can't really say I haven't achieved anything this past two days even if I mostly just slept it off.

I got new glasses this week, after thinking it's the solution to my headache problems. Worked well anyway. I bought one with transition lenses, and I collected it a day later. I know I should have my eyes checked every year. This one's more than a half year due. So that's done.

As for the weekend itself, I was able to do way overdue house stuff. Washing/changing the bedsheets is one. Rearranging the bedroom is two. Bringing old stuff out is three.

The second one included printing out a lot of pictures to hang on the wall and to put in albums. Good memories. I'll print some in Manila to leave in an album there somewhere.

On that last one, I plan to send a big ol' box of junk home for them to give away or recycle or whatever. Junk would include clothes and shoes and whatever else I don't need.

---

Speaking of home, I made flight reservations to go home to Manila for Christmas and New Year. As usual, they've jacked up the prices for the holiday season. It's almost twice than what I would normally pay to fly back. Besides, I haven't gone back since January. My mom made me promise to go home, so there. They'll be back from the U.S. in late November, early December. I'll be there from December 21 to early January 2. I'm already planning side trips in Tagaytay and Subic. I hope Greenhills will already have iPod Touch units by that time.

---

Recently, I also realized that not only do I like Futurama, I love it! The problem is I only have season one and there aren't any DVDs of it in Singapore (as of time of writing). I've heard that they show it in Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, but I don't have the schedule.

SO. I'm seriously considering ordering seasons 2,3 and 4 online. Singapore Post has this thing called vPost, that allows you to order from U.S. online shops, have them deliver it at an address in the U.S., then have them ship it here for an extra fee.

As an added incentive, I think Amazon.com dipped down the prices for Futurama to about 40+% off retail prices. Think, think, think...

Monday, September 17, 2007

Sorry, I couldn't resist

*Disclaimer: I have friends and relatives who are De La Salle University Alumni including my sister.

You know, most of the people out there will never, ever understand the rivalry that exists between Ateneo and La Salle. So, not a lot of people will get why I find this extremely funny. But I just had to share.



It works on so many levels!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Jetlagged, so I might as well post something

So...

I arrived at two in the morning yesterday with one luggage more than when I left. The flight back was not so uneventful, but not too alarming either. It was bumpy going to and coming from Tokyo-Narita. I think there was also one passenger who fainted or something, which prompted the pilot to ask if there were any doctors on the plane. I just slept them off or ignored them totally while watching Ocean's Thirteen and Surf's Up.



I immediately went back to work a couple of hours later. The people in the office seem to like the 150 pieces of chocolates that I brought. And they have the impression that I just went to Las Vegas. I can't really imagine how you can spend more than a few days there.

--
Dear Ninong,

Thank you so much for flying over to see me and be my ninong.

...

See that? Not even a year old and she can write already. Just kidding. But I am looking forward to see her again next year, Christmas time. We're planning to have a Mickey Mouse Christmas.

This is a picture of me not knowing how to hold a two-month old baby:

--

The US 2007 photo collection is complete. I took pictures almost every day of nothing and everything. I should do a blog post on each set because I've got so much to say. I can do that this weekend, hopefully, unless my lazy old self takes over.



You might see some pictures there which are strange to the eyes, like Jollibee in one set. All will be explained in further detail soon.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Whoa-hoa

Hey, that was fast!

I'm off to the airport to fly back to Singapore.

I get to sleep a few hours after arriving home before bravely going back to work, jetlag and all.

So see you from Singapore, where I get to post more stuff like the trip to Yosemite Park.

It's been a great three week vacation! :D

Monday, September 03, 2007

Up to Speed

While I have all the time to go around, buy stuff, and do all the things that I want to do, what I don't have is the time to blog.

You can just about see what my camera sees, though, via flickr.

The last post in this blog was back in San Francisco, the second day I arrived. Since then, I've gone around San Francisco, touring the sights of the city and around it.

I also made a trip to various outlet stores. It's what makes the US so great to shop in, except that you have to travel a long (and expensive) way here to get to them.


And then there was the point of the entire trip, which was to be a ninong.

After that, it was off to scorching Las Vegas for a short two day getaway. I got to watch one of the Cirque du Soleil shows, Mystere in Treasure Island. I could've enjoyed it a lot more without the prevailing jetlag. Nonetheless, it was a trip to remember. And I'd gladly go back, maybe even if just to have fun and win some money. (I didn't get to gamble this time)

I had to shortly go back to San Francisco in order to fly out to New York because that's the way I arranged the trip. Las Vegas being a relatively last-minute decision.

And so, I am here in the Bronx, in the Hernandez household. Since I've been here, I somewhat went around Manhattan and had dinner with friends. The also gone around the uber-excellent American Museum of Natural History. Great stuff.

Another first for me is to be able to drive in this country. I drove some seventy-plus miles to Six Flags in Jackson, New Jersey. Also thanks to Noel for letting me borrow his brand new (just a 600 miler) Toyota Matrix. No problem with driving, just a little more alert with speed limits, stop signs, and merging lanes. That was a fun Six Flags day. We managed to ride on all the major thrill rides and get a sunburn as well.

And for those who see me online in Yahoo Messenger, you've probably seen me showing off my Homer plush toy, which I won in one of those water-shooting games. Woo-hoo!

If you haven't seen it, let me show it off one more time.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

First Family Picture in Years


Hey! So I'm here in San Francisco (after ten years). The flight wasn't so bad, except that it's really long (totalling around 17 hours). And since I'm just borrowing this connection from my sister. I've got to vamoose for now, and just hijack it again later.

For all my contacts around this part of the world, I've got myself a T-Mobile number which you can get on request ;)

Will upload pictures tomorrow.
Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

So...

Done packing.

I'm finally off to a three week leave, I guess :)

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

One Night in กรุงเทพมหานคร


IMG_7758, originally uploaded by ton2fig.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ton2fig/sets/72157601565188256/

Planned back in May, this Bangkok trip was a jampacked two-day getaway that covered a lot of ground. Arriving in Suvarnabhumi (which in Ancient Thai means "big-ass airport"), we headed straight into the heart of Bangkok.

I'll go into detail in future blogposts. For now, just have a look at the flickr album. I'm, uhm, a bit busy.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Get Away From It All

My sister brought up a most brilliant suggestion to our ever-evolving itinerary:
Kitty Anne Marzan: tapos check mo din online ang yosemite tignan mo picture then let me know kung interesado kang puntahan
She's talking about Yosemite National Park, of course. And I'm very much interested in going. It's one of those places where you'd like to stay after getting tired of the rat race. Probably, like The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. By the way, I haven't read the book, but would like to. If it's any good or bad, someone tell me. I'd like to have a good book to read for while traveling or commuting.


See, now who wouldn't want to gaze on this view? (photo credits from http://wikitravel.org)

Weather permitting.

--

Of course, all over the world, it's wacky weather time. Floods, heatwaves, droughts and typhoons.

Over here, near the equator, we could be thankful in between rain showers. Walking at night is pleasant with the cool breeze. The kids could sport their cool weather clothes outside the chilly shopping centres.

--

And speaking of clothes, I window-shopped today, checking out the general prices of clothes. This way, I'll be sure that I'm getting a good deal when going to the outlet stores in the U.S.

For example, Banana Republic just opened their first store in Singapore. It sits right in fancy-pants Paragon Mall. Boy, is it expensive.

Anyway, here's a list of things I need-slash-want to buy for myself:
  1. Belt - the one I'm wearing is a bit old already. A brown one would be good as well to match shoes (see below)
  2. More long-sleeved shirts - for the office, to go as far away from "common" G2000 office shirts. Also, try to find french-cuffed ones (see next entry).
  3. Cuff links - makes me look more respectable and dignified.
  4. Leather shoes - another pair of black office shoes and brown gimik shoes.
  5. Rubber shoes - for basketball, maybe another for running/all-around
  6. Casual clothes - stuff you can't find anywhere around Singapore (for cheap).
Sorry but buying love or happiness don't make the cut on the grounds that I don't know where to buy them. If I do, I wouldn't buy them on discount.

--

You could say I'm changing wardrobe as well.

Old clothes and things are being put in a box and sent home to Lita, who will gladly distribute it among her relatives. How's that for charity? I've actually learned to let go of old things; especially things that could be better left in somebody else's hands.

In return, I'll have more space around the house for more new things.

--

Less than 10 days to go. I've washed my jackets and sweaters, and I'm ready to pack. I'll run a couple of errands during the week, like paying bills, finishing work, getting money. Pre-trip tasks like printing tickets, vouchers and documents can be done during office break times. At home, I need to clear up SD card memory, charge cameras, iPods, and laptops. I also may need to charge my cellphones. I think I'll bring two. One for the office line, and another for the prepaid card I'd be buying when I get there. I also need to have my aircon with the busted remote receiver pulled-out and fixed while I'm away.

Just to complicate things, I need to parallel-plan going to Bangkok on Saturday and Sunday. It's something that was booked way before the U.S. trip. So I need to figure out what stuff to wear and bring on that weekend. And after that, I need to do one last batch of laundry before leaving.

Then Tuesday night, hours before the flight, I should finish packing and cleaning the room. Get a few hours of sleep. I'll wake up at around 2AM, have a nice bath, pack the toiletries and head for the airport.

At the airport, probably go around and explore the facilities including the massage/spa centres if possible.

Six o' clock, Wednesday morning, I fly out. Next stops, Tokyo-Narita and San Francisco International.

Sweet!

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Two Weekends To Go

Last night, we went to see Kjwan play near the Esplanade for Baybeats 2007. It was just a short set, running a little over half an hour. I thought it was really cool that they took the stage with a flag of the motherland.

A bit after the performance, I got to chat with Kjwan members and old classmates Marc and Kelley down at Glutton's Bay. They're hitting the road (flight) to Iloilo for another gig. So if you're in the area, go catch them.

--
The Summer months usually bring a vacation and you may be ready to make a big splash. With Mercury now moving through your 9th House of Journeys, it may be time to pack up and take that special trip you have been thinking about. Even if you can't get out of town, at least plan some activities over the days ahead that have nothing to do with work so you can enjoy yourself more.

Saturday, August 4, 2007
--

And just now, I gave up on joining the basketball team today and instead opted on staying home and watching TV and playing Wii.

Also, I'd be devoting some time on refining my trip plans for the U.S. Again, particularly, on the budgeting side.

And speaking of...

I still find it hard to believe that I'm going on that trip.