Update!

Seriously, I suck at blogging.

I always want to write down things and chronicle my life but I end up doing something better than writing things down.

Being that it’s past my bedtime and I’m still not a bit sleepy, I thought I’d write in here instead of working on that short story I’ve been meaning to write. Obviously, I’m a procrastinator.

Hmm… So what have I been up to lately?

Been to two awesome but completely different concerts the past two weeks. Went to see Lifehouse in Araneta with Kim last May 26 and then got to see NKOTBSB (New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys) concert over at the SM Arena. Had so much fun!

I lied.

I wanted to write here to clarify something after a certain realization hit me. I’m writing this down way too late and way after the fact but I thought I’d write it down nonetheless.

A few months ago, I took down a post about regret. I thought it was way too personal to have it on the internet. I took it down maybe a few weeks after I put it up.

Anyway, on that post, I expressed regret over something/someone. A couple of months after that post, I realized something: we weren’t meant to be. And I’m not sour-graping or being bitter or trying to make myself feel better here. I’ve realized something:

• Knowing myself and how I can be a bit of a workaholic, we wouldn’t have worked out anyway.
• I was just feeling lonely and I missed my friend and not the lovey-dovey relationship I thought I wanted to have with him if he wasn’t already married.

With the state of mind I’ve had for the past couple of months, I couldn’t possibly be in a functional and stable relationship. I’m too involved with myself and my work and my friends. I cherish the free time I have to read and just do nothing.

But don’t get me wrong. I still long for company and await my Prince Charming. Hopefully, the wait won’t be long. :)

My Prediction for my 2012

This year, 2012, with God’s graces and blessings, I predict my 2012 will be much, much, much better than my 2011.

This 2012, I claim,

• GREAT family relationship between myself and my parents.
• Better health for myself and my parents and for everyone near and dear to us.
• More bonding time with my friends with college.
• Better work experiences.
• More money this year because I need to pay for my last big purchase.
• Better health for my dogs.
• A thinner and more fashionable me
• That I will finally meet “The One” guy who will sweep me off my feet with romance and kindness and love and be with on the way to happy ever after.

 

Again, thank you Lord God for ALL the blessings you have given me and my family – whether we see it or not.

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

Ok, so I was reading last year’s year-ender post and my first post for 2011 and I realized that I got really blessed by God this 2011.

My 2011 year-ender post was a bit sad as I was trying to get over and move on from a really bad relationship. I was in a relationship with a guy who wasn’t into it and into me as much as I was into it and into him. What made it worse was that I was trying to make it work when he just gave up and started telling lies. When I found out about the lies, I finally couldn’t take it anymore and I just broke it up with him.

Enough about that. I’ve moved on from him. And starting this December, I thought I’d try to start to forgive him and myself for insisting on staying in that crappy relationship. It’s a work in progress that’ll spill over in 2012.

This whole 2011, I consciously didn’t try to date. I tried an online dating site but that didn’t work out. While I was an internet junkie, I was too lazy when it came to check my inbox. Plus, it didn’t help that the guys who messaged me were either way too old or weren’t my type. I didn’t try to date because I wanted to try being single for a while. Now that I’ve been single for a whole year, I might consider going back into the wading pool of dating.

Oh wait. I did go to ONE blind date set up by one of my friends. It was fun. The guy was nice. But there were just no sparks.

Also, this year, I think I was made to face a wrong decision that I made a few years ago. So, recently, I felt like I was moving on for the second time around from someone whom I really loved and I currently really miss. But I got to thinking about it and I realized that maybe I him more as a friend than as a lover/boyfriend. I don’t know if we could’ve lasted a long time. His schedule would’ve killed me and would’ve been the source of fights. Probably. Or we could’ve worked it out. Maybe. I don’t know. And so I just need to move on.

Work has been pretty interesting. Workmates have been fun and interesting to work with. I’ve become close to one more team mate aside from Charls. I’ve gotten a little wittier too. LOL. Or maybe C sets himself up too often and too much. I learned a lot. The learning process is a continuous process. And just when I think I got the hang of it, something happens and the learning starts all over again. At times, I’ve felt like I’ve made one step forward and two steps back. But I feel like I’ve learned from some of my mistakes and avoid them. Work-wise.

This year was also a good year for my relationships with my friends. There were some bumps along the way. There were times that I was upset or disappointed with some of them and I didn’t tell them about it. But I’m not perfect. I may have been overreacting at times or too sensitive about some things. And so I try to rationalize stuff to help me cope and get over my feelings immediately. Also, there were more good times than bad, like when I went to Singapore with two of my closest friends. That was a lot of fun.

Family life was good. Pretty much. It wasn’t all that smooth. But then it got better. And I am thankful to the Lord that my family is with me and we’re all still together. 2011 was a pretty peaceful year for us and so much better than the previous 5 or 6 years.

This year was a pretty good year for me. I got a lot of new things --- so much more than maybe last two or three years combined. I was able to afford more stuff, thanks to my well-paying job. This year, I got myself a new phone, some clothes, two pairs of branded jeans, five pairs of footwear, two bags, new underwear, an e-reader and a new TV.

The great Lord God has blessed me and family tremendously. He has given good health and love. And yes, a little bit of wealth through my job that I really like and almost love.

Thank You Lord for everything. May You continue to bless me, my family, my friends and their families with health, wealth, love and happiness in the coming 2012 and always.

Tomorrow, I will post my hopes and wishes for 2012.

For now dear readers, stalkers and blogwalkers, happy 2012.

Bruno Mars Sunday

I’m having a lazy Sunday. Well, a sentimental and lazy Sunday.

I wanted to listen to Bruno Mars’ Grenade. Then It Will Rain. Then The Lazy Song.

So, here’s all three videos for everyone who’s enjoying a sentimental and lazy Sunday.

 

 

iPod Touch vs Kindle Touch

So I’ve had my Kindle Touch for more than two weeks now and I must say I’m enjoying it so far.

But the screen refresh is still an issue for me. I might return it. Or not. It depends.

Anyway, I decided to write a short blog entry comparing my reading experience on the iPod Touch and my Kindle Touch.

Truth be told, what got me into the whole e-book reading experience was my iPod Touch. The iBooks app was pretty cool for me and I got to read maybe 4 or 5 books on my iPod Touch. I enjoyed it for a while. But it did give me eye strain. I experienced head ache some of the time so I would stop reading for an hour or two and then resume reading.

With the Kindle Touch, since it does read like paper, I don’t get the headaches as much. Not when the turning of the page works properly. When there’s a glitch and the Kindle refreshes the page every time, that’s when I get the headache. Probably because I find it annoying. Otherwise, I’m fine.

By the way, the Kindle Touch is only supposed to refresh the screen every 5 or 6 pages.

This is it for now. I’ll be going back to reading The Great Gatsby.

Inheritance: The Last Book from the Inheritance Cycle

I just read a book review right after deciding to write one and just before writing one. I’m afraid it might’ve clouded my thinking and thus producing a review a little less “epic” than what I was gunning for.

Image owned by Amazon.com

 

Okay. So what I wanted to initially say was that I enjoyed the book and it had such an effect on me that one day, I woke up worried/paranoid that someone was attacking my mind and I needed to sleep again to protect myself.

I enjoyed the book. I couldn’t put it (well, my Kindle) down for days. But it did have some flaws. A lot of the mysteries that were uncovered in the first three books remained unsolved and a lot more questions were raised in this book.

You see, I’ve waited for this book as soon as I finished reading Brisingr. Worth the wait? Yes. But it kind of looks like the whole thing was rushed and I am just a smidge disappointed that things ended the way they did. Although, I must admit, that whole fight scene with Galbatorix was satisfying, save for the fact that there was Dauthdaert. I think it should’ve maybe been Zar’roc or Brisingr who killed Shruikan.

Anyway, this book is a must read only if you’ve read the first three. Otherwise, you won’t get most of what’s in it.

The Kindle Touch: Good for Reading But Needs Improvement

This week, I also got the new Kindle Touch (yes, I got a lot of my online shopping items this week) and the amFilm Premium Screen Protector.

Since I marked it as a gift (for myself, obviously), it came in an unmarked box. And inside the box, was well, the box for the Kindle Touch (KT).

No, it didn’t come that way. I was too excited and immediately powered it up and I was only able to take some pictures after two days.

To be accurate, the one I got was the Kindle Touch with Special Offers. As you can see from the picture above, that’s how the ads are being displayed when the KT is in sleep mode.

When I took the picture, I took off the flash because there was glare from the flash. Yes, there’s glare. I haven’t tried reading under the sun but I did read by the window yesterday. It was perfect and I did feel like I was reading a book.

 

If you can see from my poorly taken picture, the display from my KT looks like as if it’s really ink on paper. The very small triangular thing on the upper right hand of the KT is for when you bookmark a page. What you do is you tap on the upper right hand and it automatically bookmarks a page for you. You can go reading another book or shop on the Kindle store. When you tap on the book that you bookmarked, it’ll go to the page you bookmarked. This whole bookmark thing, I found really clever. I used to do it with my own books – fold a small part of the page of the book I was reading so that it formed a triangle. I wasn’t fond of the real rectangular bookmarks with ribbons then and I’m not now. I also tried reading on my iPod Touch and when you bookmark that, a red bookmark thing appears. But this bookmark thing on the KT, I thought was cute and clever.

Anyway, the KT is NOT perfect. I have several concerns:

• The page refreshes! Every. Single. Time! In the three days I’ve owned the KT, there was a time that it didn’t do that. I don’t know what happened. I haven’t dropped it and no heavy pressure put on the KT to make it behave that way. I made sure to turn off the Page Refresh option but it still does it! It is an annoyance to me.
• I found that the KT isn’t as intuitive to the touch and I feel that it is a little slow. But that’s coming from someone who’s used to the intuitiveness and fast response of the iPod touch. But this is not to say that it’s not useful. I do like the tapping on the margin for page turns and I do like the convenience of tapping on a word to see the definition. I can’t imagine pushing on some buttons to get to a word.
• I wish there was something for adjusting the contrast/brightness. While I think that the display is clear, don’t get me wrong on this but I do think/wish that there was something for adjusting the contrast. I personally might’ve adjusted the contrast a tiny bit just to make the ink darker. But that’s just me.
• The Kindle Store is a little weird. So I saw an ad for the Best Books of 2011. I tap to it, right? It redirects me to a page that says that an email has been sent to me. I go to my email and click on the link. Then I check out the titles and see a book that I might be interested in. I go to my KT and click on the Shopping Cart icon. I type in the title of the book I’m interested in (The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan) and I was surprised to see that it didn’t come up in the search. Weird. Why advertise something that won’t come up in the search using the KT?

Overall, the KT delivers in it’s promise of being a great ebook reader. It does fast page turns, connects via wi-fi fairly quickly and easily and you can lose yourself reading (save for that annoying refresh thing that it does). But I think it can use a software upgrade to maybe fix the whole contrast thing and being able to find things in the Kindle Store.

Do I love it? Because I don’t like it refreshing every page, no. But I like it enough to give it a 4-star rating.

Shoe-pping Online with Shoe Room

I don’t like shoes a lot and I guess that’s the reason why I don’t have a lot of shoes. I stick to flats and sneakers and rarely do I go out in heels nowadays (but let me admit that I do miss going out and walking in high heels). When I go into the mall, I still gravitate towards high heels and rarely look at the flat shoes.

But Helga Weber blogged about Shoe Room and I was intrigued. The designs she picked and blogged about were super cute that I had to shamelessly copy them. Not all three that she got, just two.

I took some pics to show you what they look like:

This is silver with red lining.

 

An all black pair of shoes for when I go to the office.

Blue and red shoes for an outfit that doesn’t exist in my closet.

Finally, the shoes come in this reusable bag.

Shoes cost less than Php 400 each and shipping for all three shoes was Php 60.

To be honest, they fit perfectly but I haven’t been able to walk around them yet. And since I haven’t walked around in them yet, I’m hoping they’ll be comfortable for walks around the city.

Check out Shoe Room. Abby is really nice and accommodating.

RIP Steve Jobs

Due to complications from pancreatic cancer, Steve Jobs passed yesterday, October 5, 2011 at the young age of 56.

I was surprised to be really affected by the news of his death. I wasn’t expecting to be saddened this much. It’s almost as if a long-lost friend had died.

I owned the first two generations of the iPod Nano. I was given these and when I finally was able to afford to buy myself an iPod, I opted to go with the iPod Touch 4G.

And like any geek, I cringe every time somebody calls it the “iTouch”.

I never hesitated buying my iPod Touch. I thought it was cool. I could read books, watch movies and listen to music – everything I like doing. I use my iPod touch every day during work. Music kept me awake whenever I felt sleepy. Or when I didn’t feel like talking at work since having the iPod plugged in your ears basically says “I’m a loner and I don’t want to socialize”.

While I loaded music videos and movies onto my iPod touch, I never really watched them. I felt I’d rather spend the time listening to music. My music library grows everyday and I hope to fill it up with more songs through the years.

Without the genius of Steve Jobs and his team, the world would’ve never experienced the simple pleasure of having portable music. Yes, we had the Walkman back in the day but it was an effort just to lug cassette tapes and/or cds around.

Steve Jobs once said that design “is not just what it looks like and looks like. Design is how it works”. Truly, Steve Jobs was a wonderful designer by integrating sleek looks and functionality in almost all of Apple’s products. His genius and creativity is now evident is present in almost all of latest gadgets. Steve Jobs helped shape our modern world. For this, we are thankful.

Steve Jobs, you will be truly missed.

The All New Kindle

When I first logged onto Amazon today (yes, I log on quite a few times in one day), I was surprised to see a letter. I quickly scanned through it and was excited to learn about the all new Kindle Touch.

Yes! A Kindle that has a touch screen instead of the keyboard. I’ve been hoping Amazon would release one. But Amazon didn’t only launch just a Kindle Touch. They also launched Kindle Fire, a Kindle Touch with Color, something I’ve also been hoping for because I’d really like Kindle to have because I want to see book covers in color instead of just black and white.

From the looks of it, Kindle Fire will have the same capabilities of other tablets already in the market – the iPad, the Galaxy tab or the Playbook. It’ll have apps and media playback. It boasts of cloud storage, something I’m not quite sure if it’s available on the other tablets.

I’m quite excited for reviewers to get their hands on these new Kindles. From the reviews, I’ll decide if I’ll get just the Kindle Touch or go ahead with the Kindle Fire.

Your thoughts?

Remembering 9/11/2001

Thank God my family and I were nowhere near New York and Washington DC on that fateful day, September 11, 2001.

I remember that night vividly. I was sitting around in my dorm when George, my landlord said in a rather casual tone “World War III na” (World War III is happening now). I was alarmed and we immediately switched the TV to news.

And there it was, the scariest thing I ever saw: the first of the twin towers on fire, smoke and fire everywhere. Commentators were narrating that an airplane had crashed into the twin towers and that it was a terrorist attack.

Moments later, we were horrified to see a second plane crash into the second tower.

My dorm mates and I were staring at the TV stupidly. We were all kinds of scared. We watched in horror as we saw the first tower crumble down, shortly followed by the second tower.

I remember praying for the lives lost and for the people who were determined to rescue lives. I remember panicking inside and thinking about what I had read in the bible and wondered if this was really the start of WWIII. After all, everyone knew that the great country of America would not take this attack sitting down.

Indeed they did not.

Almost 3,000 lives lost. Families broken. Dreams shattered. Parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, fiances and fiancees, sons and daughters, friends and loved ones lost.

Luckily, more than 3,000 heroes emerged. Yes, these are the men and women who saved other lives in the midst of danger. Yes, these are also the men and women who stood up to against terrorism. And these are also the people who helped the bereaved and grief-stricken survive.

September 11, 2001 was the worst day and the best day of mankind --- so far. It was the worst as we have seen effects of extremism and the suffering and violence and evil that comes with it. It was the best day because on that day, we showed what we as members of the human race, are capable of. We are capable of great acts of love and courage and kindness and bravery and heroism.

#Wewillneverforget

Something Borrowed, Something Blue

I spent a few days and a weekend with Emily Griffin’s “Something Borrowed” and “Something Blue”. What made me read these books? I had just finished watching “Something Borrowed”, a movie that came out earlier this year.

As what it usually is, the book is better than the movie. No surprise there. The movie did have some nice quirks to it but not enough to compare it to the book. The book was well-written but had some dragging moments. Despite these dragging moments the book, it was infinitely more entertaining than the movie. I wish the movie was more faithful to the book. Now that I think about it, I hardly recognize the book after seeing the movie. Ethan wasn’t supposed to be that prominent of a figure in the movie. He wasn’t in love with Rachel at all. Claire wasn’t this crazy girl who was in love with Ethan. Somehow, Dex and Marcus wasn’t as annoying in the book. Darcy was likable in the movie but very annoying in the book. The confrontation scene was all wrong too. It might’ve been way better if they stuck with the book version.

The movie version keeps all the significant moments intact but I wish the scriptwriters found the perfect balance between movie writing and the book.

“Something Blue” for me is far more entertaining than Something Borrowed. I actually chuckled at one point. This is the book where Darcy realizes she’s been shallow and where she begins to mature and actually know what love is. Something Borrowed created the perfect back story for Something Blue. It’s definitely a better read. Funnier. More heartwarming. Ingredients to the perfect chick-lit.

My recommendation: Read the book, then watch the film and then read Something Blue.

Here’s the trailer for Something Borrowed, out on DVD since August 16, 2011.

Adele – Someone Like You

Tonight, a BBM contact was listening to Adele and I could see what he was listening to. So out of curiosity, I checked out Adele’s discography.

“Someone Like You” was the most interesting title to me and so I went to a site that could play the song for me.

Listening to the lyrics reminded me of my great love so far.

I was asked by a new girl friend last Friday night if I ever really thought of us (him and me) getting married some day. I answered truthfully and said that it did come up in the conversations we had then. I did like the idea but I don’t think I could’ve married him.

I didn’t believe then that he was the best match for me, hence our break up. Plus, thinking about it now, it wouldn’t have worked out anyway. I know myself. I’m secretly a workaholic but lazy at the same time. I’m thinking that I couldn’t have possibly fit him in with the life I had after graduation.

I had gone to Phoenix One where I met some of the most talented people I know. I wasn’t even able to finish the two year course because I went to the US for a couple of months. When I came back, I was expecting to go to the US again within the year so I decided to work in the BPO industry while waiting. I worked nights since I had to work US hours. What was supposed to be a few months working the night shift ended after four years and two companies.

I loved the night shift for a short while but I was tired all the time. I really can’t see how we could’ve fit each other into a schedule, especially now that I know that he works in the BPO industry as well. We probably wouldn’t have the same rest days, hence we couldn’t really spend time together.

I work days now. He still works at night. Knowing myself, we probably would’ve broken up sometime in the last three years. And I’m not just saying this to console myself. I know it. Because he tried really hard to keep us together but I wanted to do nothing after work. I still don’t want to do anything after work except Friday nights.

In the end, he is with the best girl for him because she gave him what I couldn’t or wouldn’t.

This realization, my friends, is what I can call closure.

What pops out most from Adele’s song? This part right here:

“Never mind, I’ll find someone like you. I wish nothing but the best for you two”.

And it IS over for me.

Suits

Suits, a new USA Network series starring Gabriel Macht (Because I Said So) and Patrick J. Adams.

Gabriel Macht plays Harvey Specter, a hotshot undefeated lawyer and senior partner at the Pearson Hardman firm takes on a talented and smart new associate Mike Ross played by Patrick J. Adams.

I am seriously loving this new series. The episode airs Thursday nights at 10 pm.

The episodes are cleverly written, full of wit, sarcasm and charm.

Currently, it’s six episodes in and will run until the season finale to be aired on September 8, 2011.

Really hoping it’ll come back really soon for a 22 episode Season 2. :)

Best Meal of The Week

If you’re like me and you just LOVE Chinese food, I highly recommend the following restaurants in no particular order:

• Mongkok (you can read my review of the resto here)
• HapChan
• Gloria Maris
• Super Bowl of China

Best meal of the week came from Super Bowl of China. :)

My family and I first ate together at Super Bowl of China just last week before seeing the “It’s Complicated: A Valentine Concert in July” by Jose Mari Chan and The Company (wonderful concert by the way) at the SMX Convention Center. I’d always gone to this resto with other friends but never with my parents.

My dad brought home some food from Super Bowl of China last night. Imagine my delight. He got us the following:

(pictures taken from Super Bowl of China website)

Yang Chow Fried Rice

Eggplant with Minced Pork Hot and Spicy

Steamed Fish Fillet with Garlic

Deep Fried Cuttlefish with Spicy Salt

You guys reading this, I’m telling you. The combination of these dishes, it was like an orgasm in my mouth. And you know what? We ate these unheated. And it’s been sitting in our kitchen table for at least 2 hours before we ate it. Add to that maybe an hour for traveling from the SM Mall of Asia to our home. It was THAT good.

By the way, if you order food for dining in or to go, you get a pair of coupons that you can use on your next visit. I don’t know how long this promo goes on but we’ve gotten it twice and the it’s the same pair. You get a coupon for free Yang Chow fried rice for a minimum order of P750 on your next visit. You also get another coupon for P200 off your next delivery bill for a minimum order of P1000. Fabulous marketing strategy, I must say. :)

Battlestar Galactica: Cylon

This is one of the best rides in Universal Studios Singapore.

If you’re visiting, I highly recommend that you go on this ride. In the meantime, here’s a first person view of the ride:

The Avengers Official Trailer

It’s basically nothing. But it’s the first one. I’m sure the succeeding trailers will be awesome.

 

Who else is excited??

I miss the days when I had nothing to write about yet I had a lot of blog entries.

Compare that to having a lot to write about and yet having no time to write.

Tragedy.

Singapore for the Weekend

So I went with two of my closest friends (Carla and Royce) to Singapore recently for the weekend. We had so much fun. At least I did. But I think they had more fun than I did since they got to experience the night life at Clark Quay.

But before I share what happened in Singapore, I just want to acknowledge God’s blessings on me and my friends for letting us take this Singapore trip. There are people who can’t afford a weekend in Singapore while there are some people who can afford a weekend but don’t go due to time constraints. My friends and I could afford it and we had the time to do it too so I just want to thank God for it.

So here’s what happened:

• Tickets: I got my plane tickets from Cebu Pacific who, at the time, was offering the lowest ticket price. I chose to pay for a specific seat going to Singapore (P100). I paid around P7950 in total. Don’t forget the terminal fee (P1620) and another fee that I forgot what it was for (P750).
• Taxi: I arrived at the Budget Terminal of Singapore at around 1 am. I had to go to Terminal 2 in Singapore from the Budget Terminal to meet up with Carla before going to the hotel where Royce was checked in. The bus going to the “main” terminal was free. It arrives every ten minutes, I was told. The trip was maybe 10 minutes short. After meeting with Carla, we took a taxi going to Little India. The entire trip cost $69.80 SGD. I was told that was pretty normal because taxi fares after midnight is calculated this way: Regular Fare + 50% of Regular Fare + Night Differential + $3 SGD.
• The Hotel: We stayed in Hotel Aspinals in Little India. The room was neat. The bathroom was really small but I’m happy to report that it didn’t clog. The hotel fee included breakfast for two. Let me warn you: eat your breakfast somewhere else.

Mustafa Center was right across the Hotel and we bought some chips and bread and some jam because we were pretty hungry. We got red wine at the nearby 711. We got bottled water too which cost a little over $1 SGD. We drank the wine and slept at around 5 am. Woke up at 10 am, got ready and headed on to Universal Studios.

• Cable Car: We took the MRT to Harbour Front and walked around and decided to take the Cable Car ride ($24 SGD for a one way ticket and $26 SGD for a roundtrip ticket) to Sentosa. We walked all the way to Universal Studios which was a pretty long walk.
• Universal Studios: I committed the mistake of just purchasing the Express Passes ($48 SGD for one) for the three of us thinking it would be cheaper that way. When we got there, we were told that we needed to buy the regular tickets and that the Express Passes were an additional service. We all decided to just buy the regular tickets. We did the following:
• Revenge of The Mummy (must!)
• Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure
• Lunch at Marty’s Casa Del Wild
• Canopy Flyer
• Shrek 4D Adventure (must!)
• Enchanted Airways
• Battlestar Galactica: Cylon (must!)
• Battlestar Galactica: Human (must!)
• Monster Rock

We ended up leaving the park a little past 7 PM and took our cable car ride home.

Carla and Royce went to Clark Quay for some nightlife and I opted to stay at the hotel because I was so tired from all the walking we did.

Sunday morning, we woke up pretty late and had lunch at a nearby Chinese stall. We then went to Sim Lim, the place where they had the Merlion, had ice cream, then to Lucky Plaza, Chinatown and then to Clark Quay for dinner. We headed on back to the hotel to get our bags by 8pm and we were at the airport by 9:30 pm.

Useful tips for Travelling to Singapore:

• If you plan on doing a lot of walking, wear the most comfortable pair of slippers or sneakers that you have.
• Change your money for at least $200 SGD ($1 USD is equal to $1.20 SGD as of writing). Believe me, you’ll need it for transportation, food and shopping.
• Book your hotel early.
• Go to Clark Quay. They have excellent food choices. They had like a tent full of food stalls for relatively affordable prices.

That’s it! :)

Planned next stop: Hong Kong with Carla and Royce. :)

My First Time…

I’ve been wanting to do it for at least a year now. But I held off and tried to distract myself away from the temptation. It was dangerous, possibly addicting and so I tried my best to avoid it until I couldn’t hold off any longer. It was satisfying. Very satisfying.

Two words: online shopping.

Got to experience online shopping with Amazon.com for the first time. And I have to say the experience was a pleasant one.

What made me do it?

Well, remember my post about Sweet Valley Confidential (here and here)? Reading that e-book made me want to revisit the books I missed and loved. So I got me four books:

And since I also wanted to start exercising, I got me these dvds:

 

Regretting that boot camp DVD (the one on top), loving the 5 Day Get Fit Mix (right) and thinking I must have been crazy to buy a Jillian Michaels work out. It will probably be the death of me. Yes, I’ll look great but I’ll be a dead sexy person. LOL.

And so far, these dvds remain untouched and unused. I only watched the work outs but never did them myself.

Had these goodies delivered to a US address and then had Johnny Air Philippines ship them here for me. While I thought the service fee was a little expensive (a $20 consolidation fee was charged because the books came from different vendors on Amazon.com), the service was good and it came earlier than expected. It came four days after I gave my go signal to have it shipped.

Will I use Johnny Air Cargo again? Yes.

Will I be buying stuff from Amazon.com again? I’m trying not to or I’ll risk maxing out my credit card. :)