MMMiii!

…are pretty convenient, right?

The common ones here are 7-11 and Mini Stop. Mini Stop is just relatively new here compared to 7-11. I can still remember when I was young… A Slurpee would be an ultra extra wonderful treat.. even for just the small one. It would be like my Sunday ice cream that I could only get once every couple of months.

Well… the 7-11 that I used to pass by everyday going to work (not the one near PBCom, but the one that used to be in Kamias Rd. Cor. EDSA) is gone. I don’t know why the closed. I know they’ve had a lot of robberies in the past… but I really never expected them to close. It didn’t seem like they weren’t getting a lot of customers either.

Yes, I’m really sad. And it is very inconvenient for me.

Their location was also very nice. If only I had a lot of money, there are a lot of products or stores that I could have franchise opportunities … but said money is non-existent for me …

I wonder if a Mini Stop will replace it? Because there’s no Mini Stop in that area. Mini Stop has better food, I think… But it doesn’t have Slurpee. T_T But it’s got Ice Cream :D

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I will admit. Whenever there’s a new product that interests me on the shelves, my tendency is to go and get them. I’ve probably tried all kinds of local shampoos, conditioners and soaps. I’ve tried almost all facial washes (that I can afford) and lotions and hair stuff. I’ve tasted all of Century and Blue Bay and 555 Tuna flavors. I’ve tried all flavors of Lipton and C2 iced tea. I’ve tasted all the instant noodles that I could get my hands on. I’ve also probably tried all the sanitary pads and pantiliners that are usually on the shelves.

And what’s funny? For the non-edible stuff, I end up not really using them, or they just become a part of my collection. I guess I’m easily entertained and convinced by ads (but now I don’t really watch TV or read newspapers, I get blinded by packaging).

Recently, I just bought the Clean and Clear Active Clear Pimple Clearning Speed Gel. I’ve already tried all the Clean and Clear products. This one was just a little too expensive… but my officemate uses this other brand and it doesn’t seem to work. I know C&C works well on me so today I finally got one. I do have an acne treatment cream that Eelai gave me once, and wonder of wonders, I know where it is. It’s just that I’ve only used it once. And I’m not really sure if I’ll be using it again.

You’d think that with all the creams and lotions and stuff I’ve been buying for my face would ruin my skin. But no. Fact is I hardly use them. It’s wasteful on my part. That’s why recently, I’ve been sharing extras.

But I’m proud to say that I’ve really been controlling myself with those stuff. Like really really, to the point that I run out of shampoo and conditioner now (I used to have at least 2 bottles in stock). I don’t buy tuna anymore. Of course, there are still some things that I would prefer not to run out of, like noodles. For shampoo, there’s always Taba’s shampoo for backup (it’s human shampoo that I use on my dog).

Now, I have to be practical if I really want to go to Hong Kong and meet Mumu this year or Japan next year or around the world in the years to come \o/

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I wrote this while waiting at SSS for the ID Picture Capture thingie.

I learned today that in government offices, people are equal. You’re not a minimum wager, you’re not a yuppie. You’re just any other citizen doing what you need to do.

i learned today to be thankful of what i have. An amount that you take for granted is something very important to someone else.

i learned today that pregnant women have something like an affinity with each other. They tend to want to talk about their pregnancy and stuff.

i learned today that you have to check on your salary deductions because apparently it’s common in this country for the employers not remitting your contributions.

i learned of a place that they call a hospital where pregnant women go to for their deliveries and you could share a bed with up to 3 people.

i learned that just because there is wifi doesn’t mean there’s internet. This was something that i really forgot and got excited about because of extreme boredom.

i learned that factory workers are like the machines they control. They are practically the machines.

i learned today that the SSS IDs are now sent through the mail and it won’t (or shouldn’t) take two to twenty years anymore.

i learned today that i really should keep all my payslips. I really should look for that one payslip that i misplaced.

i learned that no matter how hard you try to look nice on government taken pictures, it won’t ever be possible.

i learned that the best way to kill time in a long queue (5 hours and counting as i write this) is either to chat with complete strangers or eavesdrop on other …People’s conversations.

i learned that the maximum message length for my phone is 1600 characters.

i learned that i should believe government officials sometimes. The question is who to believe and when to believe.

i learned that it’s bad to count your chicks before the eggs hatch. Or in this case, count the minutes before you actually see or know where you are in the queue.

i learned what my salary deductions are actually all about and that you really do have government benefits.

Anyways, this seatmate or linemate who I never really asked for the name, she was actually the first who approached me. She badly needed to go to the restroom and asked me to save her seat, so okay. When she got back, actually, I still had my mp3 player on, and with my in-ear earphones, of course I wouldn’t hear anything else. But she started talking to me again when she came back and I sort of got annoyed because I didn’t want to talk to anyone.

But soon enough, I found myself talking WITH her and we were kind of sharing stories about our lives. It even came to a point that she asked for some advise regarding her younger brother who is planning to work at a call center and stop studying for the meantime. The brother is also taking Education… She was asking what kind of call center job would make the most money.

I told her that the type with sales jobs would probably earn a lot of money since for every sale you would also get a commission, however I also told her that there are other jobs that would allow her brother to do part time and at the same time earn money. There are a lot of online english teaching jobs for Koreans that are around and the pay is good enough. That way, her brother could still continue studying while working.

We talked about a lot of other stuff. I got to know more about her as well. She’s 28, 5 months pregnant, and working in a factory. She always applies for factory jobs but most of the time she doesn’t get it because of the height issue. She’s only like 4′10″. But she works hard…

Around noon, I was already getting hungry so I asked her to save my seat and I went to KFC to get some food. I kind of found her inspiring because she was running after P1500 worth of contributions over 6 months so that she could get a maternity loan… and that’s just my monthly transportation allowance.

I got her some food from KFC too, and forced her to take it since she also ate like ages ago and it wouldn’t be good for the baby. We talked more and more and more. Until another pregnant woman came along and they talked about babies and pregnancies.

I was able to finish with the ID thingie at 2:30pm like the guy from earlier predicted, the one who told that we could go home and just go back tomorrow. Soo… 8-2:30 is good enough to process the government ID?

But in any case… it was an insipiring and tiring day.

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When I re-arranged my room, I found out that I had a lot of girly pampering stuff. I had a lot of facial washes, lotions, moisturizers, acne clearer, shampoos, hair conditioners, powders, and so on. Some even had doubles of the same brand and kind. They come in large, small, and packet sizes. I realized how bad that habit of mine is–buying stuff that I think I need and end up not using them.

These products are just the things that I have accumulated in less than a year for most of them. Some I’ve had for 2 or more years and I’ve barely touched.

I’m crazy and stupid and wasteful, I know.

Read more »

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I love Taba, my dog. Everyone knows that. I’ve spoiled him a lot. He’s my life right now. I’d figuratively die if I lose him.

Two days ago, I woke up with my bed having wet splotches here and there. At first I thought Taba peed. I switched on the lights and saw that there was pee and poo on the floor. Amazingly, I didn’t step on any of them.

I went back to my bed and was about to check on Taba or spank him for peeing on the bed, but I saw him drooling. Salivating. Excessively. It wasn’t like how Bokbok drools. It was like a leaking faucet. My heart started beating fast. It was 3 in the morning and the Animal Clinic next door wasn’t open yet.

I cleaned up his mess. I was hopeful that he’d stop salivating in a couple of minutes. He didn’t.

I went online and searched for the symptoms he was showing. Excessively salivating. I checked for more possible symptoms. His eyes were a little teary.

The things that I found were scary. Horrifying.

He probably just has an upset stomach.
He probably has been poisoned.
He probably has bloat.

Upset stomach, probably. He didn’t eat anything since the morning the previous day and refused to eat the night before. … And then I realized that was another symptom.

Poisoned. Mama just put flea powder on him. But he’s been using that for months. I don’t really know but it was the most possible thing I could think of.

Bloat. I read that even excessive intake of air can cause bloat. And a dog could die within minutes.

Read more »

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Last Tuesday, I was so frustrated with my last call and the new announcement that I was crying at work. Two weeks ago, our new schedule was announced and that the change of schedule would be from Saturday to Sunday, so from closing shift to opening shift, we’d kind of have a day off. So, I announced this to my Amigaz and since this would be a good time to go out with them because it’s Lori’s birthday the next day. But that day, they announced that it was going to be Sunday to Monday instead… I’ll talk about my call in another post… but in any case, I was so frustrated that I was crying.

On the way home, I sent a message to my Team Leader and whined about it.

When I got home, I got a message from my teammate Melvin with a message from TL asking me to call him. At first, I was stubborn and didn’t want to call him because I already told my Amigas the bad news… but I called him anyway.

He asked me what was I whining about and I whined some more. Then he asked me, “Don’t you understand why?”

“I don’t understand it that’s why I’m whining!”

He explained and explained, but I still don’t understand. I still think it’s unfair. But he suddenly told me that someone canceled a leave that was already filed and approved… and he said if I wanted, he’ll file it for me! W00T!?

Sooo.. I was able to go out with the girls.

We ate at Cyma (Read Sarah’s review] and interestingly, with my camera phone, I only took pics of the food. And Lori asked me to do the honor of the prayer before meal for her … she called it my once-a-year prayer (which is true =X)

After that, we had too much time to kill before we could go watch The Dark Knight. We went to the restroom and the girls prettified themselves while I only washed my face with paper soap (coz I came straight from work and I look haggard already). I’m glad though that even with my ungodly work hours, I don’t get a lot of pimples so I don’t really need major treatments for acne and I don’t need a lot of makeup because I’ve got a natural blush (I’m vain) and I also don’t need to use a comb to get my hair to behave because I can just run my fingers through it and it behaves (and I always tie it up anyway).

Enough of my oversized vanity.

We went to Starbucks to kill time. I got Lori White Mocha Frappe and a brownie (Forgot what it’s called) and I drank Whole Milk (It’s free!)

We went by Burger King because we’re supposed to get a free meal there, but we kind of decided to just drop by after the movie. Because I asked them what do we have to do, and the girl said we’re going to be given a free meal each and then we need to eat it there, and we need to observe their service, the food, the place, and answer a survey afterwards.

Going to the theater, we passed by AstroVision and Lo and Behold, the earphones that I’ve been drooling over for more than a year and been searching for months was in stock. Without really looking at the price, I said I wanted it. I only really looked at the price when I was getting money from my wallet and realized that I didn’t have enough cash (hahaha)! Good thing they accept EPS so I just paid with my ATM card. It’s a Philips in-ear ear-hook earphone thingie. Having the best of both worlds! (And yes, it sounds great, and No, I won’t leave it lying around anymore for my dog to eat).

And off to the movies! I realized that I don’t know how to do math anymore because I was insisting that 180*4 = 640 and that we got overcharged. Until I actually brought out my phone and did that math -_-;

The Dark Knight movie was … disappointing. Maybe because of what happened that night… I’ll just link that post here. But nonetheless, I came home happy! It’s so nice to be with friends after a long long time!

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I have a new bunk bed! It’s so BIG! It fills almost half my room XD

The good side of it, it’s big enough that I can stretch comfortably withing feeling cramped (except when my dog decides to sleep in the middle or on top of me). The bad side of it, some of my stuff had to be moved outside because they won’t fit in my room. Another bad side of it, I’m so lazy so … they’re still outside. And some inside… my room’s a big big Mess.

I love my new bed except that I don’t have a decent cushion for it yet. Of course I love it. I bought it with my hard earned money (and OT). I also bought a swivel chair (which I’ve barely used because of my vegetable of a computer).

Anyway, I’d think that this was enough to feel more relaxed and have better sleep, but no. With stress from work, what I would really need is a vacation. A long (paid) one. I’d love to check out possibly some Vegas vacations but I don’t have enough leave credits for an overseas trip (not to mention money!) ~_~

*sigh* Life. Wonderful.

And it’s like a Melody :D. Here’s a song by Lia from the game “Tomoyo After ~It’s a Wonderful Life~ Shokai Tokuten”

Lia - Life is like a Melody

And here’s another song that I’ve been listening to a lot recently, also by Lia.

Lia - I dream

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My bed was due to be delivered today and I’m using it right now. I can blog while sitting down on my bed!!!

Anyway, I already told my boss that I need to leave right after my shift because my bed’s gonna be delivered so… just my luck, 5 minutes before closing, I got a call. Within 2 minutes, I was able to figure out that it was a computer issue already and exactly, by 12, I was referring out.

But nooooooo the customer wouldn’t take that. She said we should give extra service and fix her computer, send out someone to make sure it’s working. I told her that we’re in DSL technical support and even if I sent a tech, he wouldn’t know how to fix her computer AND she will get charged. I told her that I would send her a tech if she really wanted but she has to make sure that the tech wasn’t going to touch her computer. I asked if she wanted to continue troubleshooting instead.

In the middle of troubleshooting, she SCREAMED into my ear that she has done this, done that, a million times already and that she knows it already. So I asked her something and she said she didn’t know it. Then I asked her if she wanted to continue troubleshooting. This went on like 3 more times.

We went on Safe Mode with Networking and I proved to her that her internet is working. It’s her computer that is not. I was ready to put on some tactical gear or heavy artillery armor if she still wouldn’t take that.

But… She calmed down… A lot … and I wasted 30 minutes proving it to her that it’s her stupid computer that wasn’t working. Then she brought up again that we should give her complementary service since she’s been paying for her internet for 18 months without actually using it.

WHY would anyone pay for 18 months for a service that they’re not using? WHY would they only call 18 months later and tell their ISP that their service is not working? WHY would they call only 18 months later and ask for the refund?

I do NOT get the logic. If they’re so keen on the money that goes out of their pockets, shouldn’t they have paid attention to this not so little detail? This is over $30 a month that we’re talking about, times 18. That is NOT a small amount.

In the end, I told her to call the billing department, ask them to contact technical support and check the notes that the customer really did indeed just call last month, after 18 months of paying for the service, and just actually started using it. That way, if she gets credited of refunded, she can afford the additional fee-based service her ISP has to offer to get her computer fixed. And then I told her that she needs to restart her PC because she shouldn’t stay in safe mode. Then she said, in a child-like voice as if she got scolded, “Can I at least check my e-mails?”

I said yes. But make sure to restart her PC so as not to make it worse. Then she said thank you a lot.

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My mother always tells me that when I need to buy some things, make sure it will last because it’s going to be my investment.

I bought a bunk bed 2 days ago. Originally, I was planning to get something cheaper but I figured something P1200 more expensive but might last longer would be better. Not a lot of difference really. I might have it delivered next week.

I also bought some clothes. They’re not really expensive but Mama thinks they’re investments too. A good set of clothes is always an investment. A good pair of shoes is also an investment.

I opened an account on BPI Direct instead of BPI Direct Save-Up which is the automatic savings account because transferring money manually online is not really a big deal, and the interest is higher. I don’t plan to touch this account at all.

Maybe in 10 years, I’ll look for a nice small business for sale, check out the odds of this earning me money and think about getting it. OR if I’m amazing enough, I’ll just start my own business. I don’t know yet what kind of business though.

Right now, I’m thinking of getting the e-load retailing thingie for Globe. I need more details on this though, like how much is the start-up. I read from Fitz’s blog that the initial load is just P1000 which is the same amount I load up every month anyway. So I’m really considering it.

Anyone doing e-load retailing?

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Apartment B might give up the place. They’re 5K behind May’s rent and they haven’t paid June’s. It’s already July and Mama’s predicting that they might not stay any longer soon. If they do leave, 1/3 of the house income will be cut and that will be a serious difference especially with the current trend of prices of commodities and other stuff. What’s funny is we haven’t increased the rent in like 10 years and they’re having troubles paying that amount.

But then, the rent in different places just keep going up. A lot of contact centers and offices are moving out or cutting down floor area because of the increasing rent. At the Philam Life alone, according to Vani, their rent will double. My company will also be moving out of our floor and will move to Glorietta (Or was it Greenbelt?) 5 once it’s finished. Loraine’s client gave up a half floor on the PBCom Tower because of the rent as well.

Now, if Apartment B gives up their space, it will be really hard to find a new tenant. The place is s run down and it will be unlivable for normal people since A and C are night clubs. The rent for our apartments are dirt cheap considering they’re on a main road and near an intersection…

I’ve been thinking about redoing the whole place–the apartments and the house itself–that is, IF ever I did have the money. The house is also very run down. The walls are termite-eaten and the roof is so rusted that when it rains, it’s also raining inside the house. Water seeps in the walls. Worst of all, what I hate the most, it floods inside the house, in my room.

I want to tear down the whole place and build a condominium. Maybe a 5 to 8 storey one will do. The floor area is large enough. And when it’s done, we could have a better chance at renting space out. Maybe one floor could be a dormitory. Two or three floors could be offices. I’d like the top floor or a penthouse for myself. We could probably do this through mortgage lenders … Borrow some money for a major reconstruction. A~ah… I do wish I had the money for that. I really hate this place.

Another problem though, even if I had the money to have this place torn down, where will the people live? Not like everyone will agree as well. It’s my grandfather’s house (he’s dead) and his wife is still alive. All their children are still alive. I doubt they’d agree to it. And if they did, they’d all be fighting over shares of the house income.

*sigh*

I do hate this family as well.

I need to work hard so I can move out to an elevated place where it doesn’t flood. Where I don’t have to hide food from my cousins or brother (because I hate them). Because I hate this place.

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