GOOD NEWS (and sad news)!

nakapag-downpayment na kami ni lukring sa seven suites.
we paid 1,200 (room rate: 2,420).
excited na ako sa 2004 ganders xmas party,
which is one of the most anticipated events of the year for me!
this only shows how uneventful my so-called life is.
as in no xmas dinner or holiday getaway with boylets
(or boylet, ok fine, kahit isa lang) to look forward to!
2004 is sooooooo ho-hum!
2004 is sooooooo 1992.
chuks!

i just had lunch with my groupmate.
i usually spend my friday lunches with batchmates,
and we usually go out somewhere fancy for lunch.
but not today, or the last 6-7 fridays since october.
dyan lang kami sa 5th floor cafeteria kumain,
and good for my groupmate, nag-resign na sya 2 wks ago,
and he's going to new jersey this december for training.
mygad, super duper major inggit,
but i guess not so much deep inside since like what i wrote,
the 2004 ganders xmas party is one of my most anticipated events.
i've already spent one christmas abroad,
and it's not worth any snow in new jersey to miss belinda's gifts.
chuks!

i have three movie tickets for alexander (the movie) later,
and so far si lukring pala ang pwede.
si oche e 6 pm pa daw out, and lani wants to meet sa brickroad.
hindi pa yata sya over sa cute barista sa figaro,
whom i saw last sunday with his equally cute mestiza girlfriend.
although cute figaro barista boy > 1,000,000 mark carioca,
the fact that he's a barista (figaro, not even starbucks!),
takes a million pogi points off him.
yes, yes, i admit, condescending... but true.
sayang ang ilang cups of hot water na nahingi ni lani
for every 1 tea order nya.
chuks!

anyways, how's life belinda?
i read some of the archives and read your entry for jan 22, 2003.
may natupad ba sa mga expectations mo re: vietnam stint?

LUCAS is lukring's new boylet.
LUCAS stands for LUKRING and CASPER (the friendly ghost).
chuks!

mag-meet pala kami later ni cherryl, punta seven suites.
hopefully e mabayaran na namin ang downpayment.
pinag-usapan na rin namin ang activities for the xmas party,
and may 1 hour segment siguro na reserved
para sa pag-open ng mga gifts (yes, gifts!) from belinda.
chuks!

anyways, may nakabasa na ba ng blog ni breakupbabe?
super funny, i swear.
and kung walang magawa (like me), read this:

Things learned from intergender friendships
By Mariel G. Calalo
YOU contributor

THE PREMISE of this article lies on the principle that sometimes, loving a person doesn't mean it has to be romantic and loving a person for the rest of your life doesn't mean you have to end up marrying them. Can a man and a woman just be friends? I'd say yes and they should be.

Hindi dahil kinaibigan ka, liligawan ka na. Not every guy who befriends you has an ulterior motive. Get over yourself. Don't flatter yourself. There is a reason why he befriended you, but don't automatically assume that it's because he wants to be your so-called boyfriend. If this will be the principle you'll follow every time someone asks you to be his friend, you're gonna miss a great deal from the friendship.

Hindi dahil mabait sa iyo, nililigawan ka na. There are people who are naturally sweet and kind. There are people who are innately good and no matter how wicked you seem, they just find it so easy to be kind to you. It doesn't mean he is courting you. Don't put yourself through unnecessary stress trying to figure out if he's courting you or not. Because I think if he is, you won't have to guess, you'll know and you'll be very certain about it.

Hindi dahil he talks to you a lot, he loves you na. You don't befriend a person if you absolutely abhor him, right? Chances are you make sense when he talks to you, or you're probably very patient listening to him. The two of you probably connect on some level but why does it always have to be assumed to be romantic? Being two intelligent, mature human beings, you need to accept that it's nice to share a cup of coffee over a stimulating conversation, and that you don't have to automatically put romantic connotation to it. Relieve yourself of the pressure. It's just coffee and a shared interest.

Hindi dahil cute ang friend mo, crush/love mo na siya. This is the most amusing thing that hit me lately. People always assume that because your friend is cute or should I say, hot (because cute is a word you describe your high school crush while hot is a word you use to describe a hunk), "lakas amats mo na for repapips!" Let me just say this, at least from my own personal experience, I'm just nearsighted, I haven't gone blind. I can still appreciate God's creation! However, there will always be weird things, crazy things, stupid things that will keep you, believe me, from having a crush on him. First of all, you'd know his history with women, enough to judge what's good for you. Second, don't you just hate it when a guy who's absolutely always put together, who looks intelligent enough pronounces the word country as "kawntri" and the word mango as "meynggo." Call me crazy for judging a person just because he can't pronounce these words right. I admit, I'm crazy.

Hindi dahil you hang out with each other most of the time, you'd end up being boyfriend-girlfriend. Self-explanatory... There are a thousand, no million different reasons why things don't always turn out that way. There is no one proven formula. For all we know, the reason why he likes hanging out with you is because he likes getting kikay tips from you. He probably plans on being kikay himself and he needs a mentor.

A dinner with a guy friend does not necessarily mean equate to a date. Especially if you're paying for your share no. Hello? Three things to consider: the place, the topic and how the two of you actually planned to meet. First, how it was planned. If it were a date expect that he would ask you out at least three days before the actual date to give you some lead time, to give you the notion that you are not just a filler on his schedule. Second, the place. If it were a real date, the both of you would want real food and a place where you could really talk things through. Don't go out with a guy to a movie on Friday night if you're really serious about him. Going to a movie is more like treating him like a "filler" just because you had nothing to do on a Friday night so you might as well go out. Topic. Ha! You wouldn't be talking about chikang artista, chikang opisina or argue if the one girl's boobs are real or not. You would be probably talking about sensible, quite personal stuff.

I therefore conclude that platonic relationships are never complicated; people just have tendencies to complicate them.

im talking to oche right now...sino si LUCAS?

ei guys, sali kayo dito, super nice:

http://www.hospitalityclub.org

international network of travelers,
and pwede ka mag-ask ng free accommodation,
depende sa kung sino ang ma-meet mo sa country na yun.
nag-email na ako sa isang taga-beijing.
say!

hey guys! wazzup!?
chuks!
wala kong makwento. i just want to make my presence known.
yun lang.
mwah!

kasama ka talaga, kaya rin namin ni-set to dec 23.
nag-yes na si alie and oche, pero di ko alam yung iba.
pero wag din dapat tayo super dami kasi super halata.
may reason kung bakit seven suites ang tawag sa hotel,
and unlike sa dusit na pwede natin itago,
kitang-kita nila agad na madami tayo.
sana makatakas din tayo ng food,
pero let's have dinner na din sa grilla, tabi lang.
from what i know, may mga lecturers don regarding astronomy,
and wish ko lang cute para naman happy ang star-gazing.
chuks!

nakita ko sa cnn yung tungkol sa cambodian king,
and the first time na narinig ko na ballet dancer sya,
parang nagwala ang gaydar ko.
bihira kasi for asians ang maging ballet dancer and straight.
i think that can happen for westerners, pero for asians,
it's just not in our culture, same as theater actors.
anyways, i'm happy for him dahil buhay-reyna na talaga sya.
chuks!

prasong was here mga a week ago yata or so,
although i only found out through fabio.
may same government party sila na pinuntahan yata.
the last time i talked to him, mga early october pa yata,
when i texted him, then he called me.
i still call him prasong, so i wonder what's his new name.
masha-shock ba ako kung pareho na pala kami ng pangalan?
chuks!

super win ang original dvds sa russian market ha, super mura.
may copy na pala ako ng give it all, so wag mo na hanapin.
dito mo na lang panoorin, pahiram ko sa yo ang dvd.
i bought several dvds: dolls, steam, in the mood for love, bishonen,
my sassy girl, live flesh (almodovar), atsaka marami pa.
favorite ko e bishonen dahil super major cute ni DANIEL WU!
sila ni satoshi ang super favorites ko nowadays.

na-amaze ka sa before sunset?
pero according to reviews, it's somekinda chaka movie?
anyways, since na-amaze ka, do you think na-meet mo na
ang person na may special connection ka?
nasa new zealand ba sya ngayon?
chuks!

ay grabeh...i like the stargazing and the swimming pool part ha...sama ako if you plan to have it on the 23rd...my flight's on the same day...arrival is around 1pm...will spend the whole pm in duty free with my sis...she wants to buy some chocolates daw...then im off to leyte on the 24th...btw, who else is coming? sana naman shiela can join us...i think we can invite oche coz she lives in cainta right? sana sila alex din...and marj...ill go ask mamarts if she can...cherryl, can u try getting in touch with glo/lyn?

i just came back from a 3-day stay in cambodia...they have a new king there...i was with my boss, joe...he's really mean...coz you remember how in thai they have pictures of the king and queen all over the place? in PP, it's the same...but ive noticed that the new king's pic was not accompanied by a queen's pic...so i asked joe if he knew if the king had a queen...he said, maybe the king's the queen himself...natawa ako...gaging talaga yun...fyi, the king's more than 5o years old, he studied in france, he's a ballet dancer and he's single...i've asked some cambodians from the fieldwork company that we have outsourced services from and apparently, there are rumors that the king is gay...

anyways, so i went there to present the results of a couple of studies...had a meeting too with the team of our client...this is prasong's company btw...it went fine...and i was pretty comfy because we made some pretty good resolutions...then i was thinking, hmm...something is wrong with the picture here...i realized that i was the only girl in the room...actually, i felt quite lucky to be working with them people...and was thinking, this must be how amelia earhart and all those women who did the many firsts felt...hahaha, OA na ko...anyways, i felt that there should have been more women there...then we'd have made better resolutions...hahaha...

have you spoken with prasong lately? our colleagues from thai (2 of them) were there too...and they said that prasong is now sporting a new name coz apparently, the name prasong is not giving him much luck or something like that...

i've watched tfc...nakakaloca yung "it might be you" and "hiram"...what is happening to phil tv? oh well, it's depressing, what with bad acting, bad plot...i've also seen "pipol"....i remember that before, it used to give the viewers a look at how others live, by testimonials or by following the ppl around with a camera...now, it looks like ces drilon's own reality tv show a la "the simple life"...wacthed the star tv teen quest too...it was just awful and extremely painful to watch teenagers make a fool of themselves...

bought some DVDs there...coz in the famous russian market...they have original DVDs...these are sold at 3USD each...totoo talaga coz i gave some to my officemates and they reckon those copies were real coz of some embedded text/title in the disc or something...for myself, i bought a couple of jap movies: zatoichi and 7 samurai (an old b&w movie)...and then there's the spanish talk to her and...before sunset! grabeh have u seen that movie? it's just amazing...*sigh*...don't you just want to be with someone whom you have a connection with?

but thing is, the movie seems to imply that you can only have that special connection with only one person...in the course of your life, you will meet that person...if, for some reason, you lose that person, fate will give you another chance, perhaps, even several chances, to be with that person again...and it's up to you to decide if you accept fate's offer...if you don't, then you deny yourself the chance to have a happy, soulful existence...

i dunno, it just goes against my recently accepted belief that anyone can be the right person for you, if you can be the right person for them...:)

financial forecast

hey owl, alam nyo bang super pulubi ko until 2006 or so.
gumawa ako kahapon ng financial forecast and
super negative ang net worth ko, as in.
super daming unnecessary gastos especially sa credit cards.
minsan di ko na matandaan kung ano pinagbibibili ko.
pero i promised myself na by december next year,
kailangang super positive na ng buhay ko.
hay buhay.

lukring, kamusta ang pag-uusap nyo ni shiela?
sana maayos na natin agad kasi kailangan na bayaran
ang seven suites ng 50% ng room rate for reservation.
tsaka sino-sino pala ang kasali for more kamurahan?

uy may konting problema.... si shiela alis daw by dec. 21 or 22. ask ko sya baka pwede 23 or 24 na sya umalis pero di daw sya sure. sinabi ko na yung details ng hotel pati yung date ng pagbalik ni belinda pero parang pursigido pa rin syang umuwi ng bicol earlier. sa text lang yun. di ko pa nakakausap. anyway, i'll just try to talk to her later. yun lang.

christmas party

mode, inunahan ako ni lukring.
nagpa-reserve ako sa seven suites for dec 23,
kasi based sa blog ni belinda e dec 23 ang suggestion nya.
perfect na rin yun kasi wala nang pasok the next day.
sabi sa akin 2,420 ang room, with breakfast for 2 adults.
pwede gamitin ang swimming pool, jacuzzi and observatory.
meron silang mga telescopes sa rooftop, pwede mag-stargazing.
sa pagkakaalam ko, dito nabuo ang anak ni leng at kris.
chuks!

we need to pay 50% as downpayment.
kasi 3500++ ang totoong room rate pag di early reservation.
sana makasagot na ang iba para ma-confirm natin.
sayang din ang discount.

uy belinds salamat! kahit di masyado ganun style basta flat and cute. yun lang.

nga pala sabi ni marlon natanong na nya yung seven suites where we can celebrate our christmas party. kelan ka ulit dating mo dito? kasi baka magkaroon ng conflict sa sked nyo ni shiela. baka kasi early sya umuwi sa bicol. di pa sure pero dapat maayos sked natin lahat para happy.

wala na si rob, nag-resign na. not meant to be. and besides, kakaiba sya. yun lang. hahaha!