...whew...

:-) been a while since I last blogged... you know how easy and quick it is to get caught up with Life. But here's a quick update on what's new:

> First & best thing: I got promoted!!! Yey! I'll be moving to Marketing at the end of the month! Received the fab news on my birthday - my best gift ever! *sigh* After 4 years in IT, I didn't really think I'd actually leave.. IT has been my beloved comfort zone, and yet here I am now, venturing off to something completely new & foreign to me... Have to learn the "marketing language" as opposed to the tech lingo that I've been used to... Have to alter my body clock as I'll soon be part of the "normal working hour" set - talk about rebooting the entire system there! So many things! I'm all excited of course *smile* but deep down I'm also nervous... Am I ready for this? Will I be able to handle it? -- Well I really do hope so!!! :-)
> As I found out I'll be going to Hongkong with my new boss next month for a job attachment & a 2-day seminar. Very nice indeed! I've never really been to Hongkong to visit! I've been there a couple of times but only in transit. I'm all excited to explore the place!!!
> I went to Anilao last Easter and went scuba diving with Alan & friends - finally!! Last time I went scuba diving was November pa... I saw a turtle (twice!), puffer fishies, lotsa clown fish, ribbon eels, morray eels, a lion fish, etc... I'm still learning the names of the fishies so I'll update you guys once I do know them already... Hehe. It was a great weekend! Had loads of fun diving & even more when I was logging my dives - yey! And I really do feel that my luck is changing - after my first dive, I lost my mask! Yes - my Mares' mask!!! You can just imagine how upset I was. But miraculously, my mask was found by a fellow diver! What are the odds of him being on the same resort! It's nice to know that there really are some good people left in this world. Felt so lucky indeed! Can't wait to go diving again soon!

:-)

That's all for now folks... Gotta get some sleep.
Ciao!

March 16!!!

=) Celebrated my birthday last Friday!
It never fails, I still feel like a kid on Christmas morning whenever it's my birthday. Excited about the gifts that I'd be receiving, and the greetings I'll be getting from dear friends and family... I love birthdays! Especially mine of course!

After work, I went to the spa and had a body scrub + massage + hair spa. It was bliss!!! It's a birthday staple for me now - pamper thyself on your big day! Then afterwards, I met up with my dear Mom & sister for a fab dinner at Bizu. Yummylicious! I had my ultimate favorite - strawberry shortcake!!! Then met up with the gang at Bamboo Lounge...
Last year, I threw a luau party over by Nash's place. Everybody got lei'd. Get it - lei? =) This year, I wasn't really planning on throwing a party/get together - was thinking of just having a quiet time. But I thought why shouldn't I - it only happens once a year, I should be merry. And merry Mari was indeed! I had an impromptu after-dinner drinks with some colleagues and friends at this cool place called Bamboo Lounge. My birthday party is becoming notorious for getting people drunk - I's take it as a sign of a good party. Hehe

My day and my night was going so well - perfect even! All except for one glitch later on in the night. Some people are really unbelievable. My regrettable-bad-experience showed up within the same vicinity. I'm not even going to bother to analyze the situation - because it doesn't make sense. My fuming friends who saw him were the ones who informed me about it. To be frank & honest, and just to make it crystal clear to everyone, and just so he knows, as well as her - and all of their friends, I am so over it already. I am so over them. I am so over him! So leave me alone. His presence is insignificant really, but he is like a VERY foul food. You can only ignore it for so long, because the longer it stays there, eventually it's stink will permeate the air and you have no choice but to acknowledge it. Of all the places, and of all days... Very nice.
I was nonchalant about it, I was fine - I am. Thanks to my dear friends for being so concerned, but no worries. He isn't worth the bother. =) Swoosh! So enough about him, and hopefully they can just leave me alone already.

Besides, no one could ruin my day. Not when I've received one of the best news ever earlier on that day!!! =) YEY!!!! I'm so happy about it!!! Will reveal it soon enough... But for now, let's keep it as one of my little BIG secret... Hehe
Let me tell you though, it's best birthday gift I received that day!!! =)

Happy Birthday to Me! A year older, and definitely wiser! Hope so!!! =)
Cheers to a good year! And more to come!
;-)

rewiring the body clock, & some not so bright & shiny moments

I can't sleep... I'm in the processing of resetting my body clock... As per usual, each week, as I change from one shift to the next, I have to alter my sleeping pattern in order to - well, in order to sleep more! It's tiring really...

My last post was all bright & shiny... But like all good things, I can't stay too bright & shiny for too long - else I might just explode or some sort. I feel crappy now. I did something really mean - extremely mean even in my own standards, and I'm normally mean... *sigh*
I have this tendency to get carried away with words when emotion are involved. Don't get too perverted now! Not in that sense!
I know I say very harsh things sometimes... And sometimes I don't mean it - and sometimes I do. But this is the one time I wished I kept my mouth shut. Or at least save it for some other day. But no, my mouth got ahead of me... *pfft* And like all things, I just have to deal with it. It still makes me as guilty as hell though...

Long distance relationship. Whatdya reckon about it?
I've had personal experience on the matter - mine didn't work obviously, but I still think that it's still possible. It works for some people. I have a friends who was in one for almost 5 years and now they're married... It can work... For some people, but not me...
I don't even want to try it... So why am I even thinking about it?
I have no idea.
Erase... =)

070307

Would you believe it but the first quarter of the year is almost over!!!
Grabe ang bilis ng panahon...
With the good times and the bad... The happy ones and the sad...
With everything that Life has to offer, the challenges that comes along with it, and everything else...
I wouldn't have it any other way. =)
Especially with the great friends that surround me... It never seems to amaze me how lucky I am really. I guess I must've done something right to have such dear friends. *senti mode*
But seriously though, I am really thankful for everything, and at how my Life is at right now... Where I am now, how I am, how I feel...
You know that feeling when you wake up in the morning and you just feel great about everything & you feel like today is your day - and that everything is really going your way? Well that's how I feel now. Dunno why, but I'm just thankful! Like the calmness after the storm...
I just know that things can even get better - I know it.
Some say happiness is a choice - well then I guess I'm definitely opting to have one.
Lovin Life I guess!
Mwahs!!!

A big good sigh...

*SIGH*
After all the "planning" and talking about having an out of town trip with Botchi & Nash, we FINALLY did do so this weekend! =) Spent the weekend at Tagaytay Highlands with some dear friends. It was definitely an adventure what with driving through the FOG late into the night in search for some serious FOOD. It was a weekend with great company, good food, booze, more good food & more food. =) Hehe. Must do it again soon!

On another note... I really am thankful for having such good friends at my side. Makes me wonder what did I ever do to have such blessings? I'm not that bad after all I guess, in fact, I know I'm not bad at all.
In a few weeks time I'm turning yet another year older, but most definitely wiser (& mature) & more responsible with what Life has to offer. And at this point in my Life (senti mode...), I really am happy & releived at the same time about how things are in my Life. Generally at how I'm able to rise through the challenges & find peace with it all. =)
I can look you in the eye and can honestly say (surprisingly I must admit) that I couldn't give a damn and that I am so over it.

Hmmmmmm...

It's the anniversary of the People Power Revolution, yet it seems like no one could be less bothered by it, and the nation is gripped with the Kris Aquino-James Yap-Hope scandal! Hmm... Just proves to show where the real interest of the people lies - SHOWBIZ! Hay naku... Poor Kris this and that... But honestly though, poor her... The thing that irks me most about this, is that people are concentrating more on the women who I believe are the real victims here - wether it be Kris or hope, they're both victims here! Everybody else forgot about James Yap who's the cause of it all!!! Haay... What can sorry do to anyone when the damage has been done already... Pfft!

On another note, I was chatting with a dear friend and of course, our topic of conversation veered to relationships etcetera... In Life, you just never really know... You're with someone for so long and you thought you know that person so well, but then something happens and boom! Sadly, these days cheating has become so normal... With all the distractions and all... Makes you wonder... And wonder and wonder... Life is indeed complicated... Haay!

I miss Boracay... Pwede dun na lang ako?

No worries... That is until you leave the Island... Haay! hehe =)

this month of Feb

:-D

So belated Happy Heart's Day to you all!
I hope everyone had a great time... I definitely did! Whoever did say Valentine was solely for couples? Not so! I must admit, I was dreading the whole V-day affair... But it all turned out pretty well... I received the biggest bouquet ever! Complete with all the trappings - balloons (3 of 'em), roses (of course!), a stuffed puppy doll, a box of the moistest-yummiest-gooeyest chocolate cake ever! I swear, this alone was enough to make one's heart melt... Oh, and the bouquet even had a basket big enough to use for a picnic! How's that to start a Valentine? It definitely made me smile (big GRIN), and feel warm & fuzzy inside... Thanks dear!!! Love yah for it. ;-)

I was on leave for a couple of days to entertain a good friend of mine who came to visit all the way from India! He's actually a friend of mine back from Guyana, but like everybody else (except me!) who's moving around the globe, he's currently assigned in India... I find it amazing that we kept in touch after all these years, considering our history... From Georgetown, to NYC, then London, then India, and then now... It was surreal to actually see him - after almost ten years! And then even more surreal to see him hangin out with my friends... My past colliding with my present... In a good way though. Definitely can't complain.

We were in Boracay over the weekend so I am all tan(very tan as my friends describe it!) and glowing right now! I feel great! Nothing rejuvenates me better than the beach - Boracay at that! Sun, Sea, good company, no worries - how can you ever go wrong! *sigh* Wish it was Boracay time ALL the time...

Feb is almost over - i can hardly beleive it... And so many things happening. You just have to breathe and take it all in one day at a time and just enjoy it. Wether it be good or bad. Experience it. Learn from it. And Live it. :-) Life is just too short.

Cheers! *klink*

The Holiday

I'm not exactly a big fan of lovey-dovey movies, but yes, last weekend, I was conned by my good friend Paul to watch The Holiday instead of Hannibal Rising!!! And I must say, I actually liked it - in spite of it all...

There were some lines in the movie that moved me... The best was:

Iris: It doesn't matter how many new haircuts you get, or gyms you join, or how many glasses of chardonnay you drink with your girlfriends... you still go to bed every night going over every detail and wonder what you did wrong or how you could have misunderstood. and how in the hell for that brief moment you could think that you were that happy. And sometimes you can even convince yourself that he'll see the light and show up at your door. And after all that, however long all that may be, you'll go somewhere new. and you'll meet people who make you feel worthwhile again. And little peices of your soul will finally come back. And all that fuzzy stuff, those years of your life that you wasted, that will eventually begin to fade.
--boohoo! I cried here... Si Paul kasi!!!

And another one:
Amanda: You know Graham, I just broke up with someone and considering you just showed up and you're insanely good-looking and probably won't remember me anyway... I'm thinking we should have sex... If you want.
Graham: Is that a trick question?

Funny one:
Amanda: Sex makes everything more complicated. Even not having it because the not having it makes it complicated.

And of course, how could you forget the opening lines ala Love Actually ang dating:
Iris: I've found almost everything ever written about love to be true. Shakespeare said "Journeys end in lovers meeting." What an extraordinary thought. Personally, I have not experienced anything remotely close to that, but I am more than willing to believe Shakespeare had. I suppose I think about love more than anyone really should. I am constantly amazed by its sheer power to alter and define our lives. It was Shakespeare who also said "love is blind". Now that is something I know to be true. For some quite inexplicably, love fades; for others love is simply lost. But then of course love can also be found, even if just for the night. And then, there's another kind of love: the cruelest kind. The one that almost kills its victims. Its called unrequited love...

Have you ever experienced such a case? Unrequited love? Made me think... Have I?
The last time I fell in love... Well, it's not worth mentioning really. Very bad experience, but I've learned my lesson, and that is: to be always on your guard - no matter what.
But back to my question about unrequited love... I dunno... I've felt loved although it was all a lie, so does that count? So I guess it's a bit of a yes & no for me? Oh well!
That must be absolute agony though... Damn... I wouldn't want to be in such a state... (knock on wood!)
This is why I don't like lovey-dovey movies, it makes me too sappy! :-p

Simple Thoughts

Got these from Joven!
They're so true...

life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets.  so love the
people who treat you right, forget the ones who don't, and believe that
everything happens for a reason.  know a good thing when you see it, and
don't let it slip away.  if you get a chance, take it.  if it changes your
life, let it.  nobody said it would be easy, they just said it would be
worth it.

if you give up when it's winter, you'll surely miss the promise of your
spring, the beauty oy your summer, and the fulfillment of your fall.
don't let the pain of one season destroy the joys of all the rest.   don't
judge life by one difficult season but instead persevere through the
difficult patches, and better ones are sure to come, some time or later...

:-)

... mobile blog ...

new year, so new layout... yep, I didn't have anything else to do today :-)

Check out my mobile blog.

Ciao for now!

... January 2007! ...

Happy New Year people!
2006 went like a blur...
I still can't beleive it's 2007! I'm turning twenty-something!!! :)
Good times! No worries.

January just started & it seems to me like so many stuff has happened already!
* Almost had an accident old year's night, but thank the heavens I made it... Happily broke the new year with my dear Lola, sis, & family in Laguna.
* I now drive a truck! A pick-up truck that is... For now that is. :)
* Laia turns 23! What a night at Bamboo Lounge I must say, and an even more interesting night after the party! January eh?
Mari, Joana, Laia, & Pia
the bday gal, Me, & Pia
my dear DBs - Drinking Buds!

* Joel & Rocky ties the knot! Congratulations to the love birds! Will definitely miss these guys... Hopefully I get to visit them in NZ soon. ;)

Good times...
Let's leave all the negative vibes behind please & start off afresh with just THE POSITIVE ones for 2007 puhleaze!!!