tigdas updates

i'm just at home. all day and all night. what could i possibly write about but my tigdas...

so i went back to the clinic for my cbc count. i waited for an hour for the results. in the meantime, i watched dozens of kids waiting for their turn to be checked as well. doc is actually a pediatrician and so there were tons of kids there. i thought sobrang tiba-tiba si doc dito ah... hehe. that clinic is always that packed! everyday!

after an hour, i have the results and brought them to doc. she said that the platelet count is a bit low: 176. the normal value is 140 - 440. she asked me if i don't feel drained. "a little," i answered. so she wants me to be back on friday for another cbc count. she said she just wants to be sure the count is not dropping.

i'm not 100% dengue free. sheeez. ayaw ko na magka dengue. it's a traumatic disease for me - it almost killed me once way back 3rd yr hs. well, maybe because it was too late when we found out then. i've been having fevers for almost a week before we consulted the doctor. today is different. daig ng maagap ang maingat. maagap na ako. hehe.

i didn't get feedback from big boss about that vpn account so i don't know how i could work from home today. what keeps me busy?

matulog

at matulog

mag sudoku

manood ng tv

mag-internet

kumain

masaya diba? btw, i asked doc if it's german measles. yes daw. i also asked if i could take a bath. yes daw! yehey! and i also asked if nakakahawa pa ako by friday. yes daw so i should take friday off as well. haay. i miss my new cube.

meron akong...

tigdas hangin... sabi ni doc. viral exanthem - sabi sa medical certificate ko.

di ba masyado na akong matanda para magkaron nun? i thought. "uso ba yun ngayon doc?" i asked. yes daw, kahit matanda kahit bata. where the heck did i get that communicable disease? syet.

last sunday, my lymph nodes were swollen. particularly on the neck and behind the ears. i was feeling unusually tired. i thought all that sudoku made me drained haha meron na pala akong slight fever.

when i was about to take a bath yesterday,i noticed some rashes on my chest, neck, and arms. i thought those were just plain rashes and i went to work anyway. maria noticed my eyes were peachy in color... and true enough, my eyes were a bit swollen. when i got home last night, i had slight fever again.

mom said it looks like measles. i searched for symptoms and super swak sa mga symptoms ko. so i went to a clinic nearby and doc confirmed that it was tigdas hangin nga raw. i have to go back tom for blood tests just to be sure it's not dengue. not again, please.

so i'm on a three-day sick leave. i haven't earned that much leave credit yet so i requested for a vpn account so i could work from home on the 21st and 22nd.

hay. bawal magkasakit eh!

greatest gift on valentine's day version 2.0

it has always been a tradition for kuya to give me and mom flowers on valentine's day. i thought this year that it will be different and incomplete. kuya is away, so there will be no more flowers on vday. when i got home last night at 1:30am, there was this bouquet of red roses on my bed. in the card, it read:

dear ate/cat,

happy valentine's day!

love,
erwin/kuya

it was from a flower shop nearby. and i figured that kuya must have been the master mind but win was the implementor. hehe. i was teary-eyed. you thoughtful guys you... hihi.

it's not so much about the grandeur of the bouquet of roses thing, but who wouldn't want to receive roses, right? but for all i care, it could have been a mini cloud 9 chocolate, a bazooka bubble gum, a pretzel stick. wehehe... whatever. the thing is, he's far away and he still thought of giving us something. touched... sofer. mapalad ang mga babaeng iibigin ninyo at malas ang magpapakawala sa inyo. bwahahahaha!

greatest gift on valentine's day version 1.0

the greatest pre-valentine gift i probably received was the gift of forgiveness. a good friend has been aloof for a couple of weeks now. prior to that, he has been a great colleague. we shared sincere laughter, sentiments, and real friendship. he would pass by our work area to just fool around and laugh with us and, believe it or not, to impart the greatest lessons in life.

he started to avoid us all of a sudden. we didn't know why. we had a few paranoid clues but they were, for us, too shallow to repel him like that. we exerted effort to hopefully bring back what has been lost, or to simply know why he has been acting that way. but he continued to avoid us... said he was just too stressed with work. and we took it that way and we respected his indirect request for space. we found ourselves avoiding him just the same, bowing down whenever we see him just so our eyes won't meet, and yes, lousily pretending that we didn't see each other. it sucks.

we learned that yesterday was his last day at work. we received an email from him. he was apologizing and he told us that things were out of his control, but he promised us that he would keep in touch in the following days. we were in tears - a mixture of sad and happy tears, and every emotion imaginable.

thank you for the gift of friendship and forgiveness, given on the 13th day of february, year 2007. you can't get back what you have already given, and we'll keep this as long as we can... no matter what. we love you and you'll be a friend for life. 101.9

ulirang empleyado

whoever said that drinking on a monday night is ok? not that i had too much to drink. it's just a bottle, but we stayed out until 4 am. and i woke up this morning with a light head... and that's not good. i should get a plaque for being model employee. hey, i was able to balance social life with work! that's tough job!

the buzz

my current hit list:

heroes - is at the top of my list woohoo! i definitely love heroes! i'm aching for more every time i watch it. the twists make me feel bad at the end of each episode, and at the same time i feel good with longing for the next one. i used to not like claire. but now, i think she's very pretty and smart. peter is eventually getting control over his powerssss and i hope it'll be all good. my favorite character is hiro nakamura. he's so adorable! with that gigil look on his face every time he tries to control time, he looks like a baby. heroes... is simply the best. i wish i had an ability too. hehe. save the cheerleader, save the world!

prison break - i used to only roll my eyes when kuya would watch the first few episodes of prison break. he explained with eyes wide open that michael had the map of the prison tattooed on his body to save his innocent brother. lame, i thought. boring, more thoughts. but i was eventually forced to watch it. and there were two discoveries i made about myself. first is, i'm so in love with wentworth. hehe. and the second is, i probably missed 3/4 of my life had i not hooked up with him.. errrr with the series, i mean. there are so many twists as well, but i wonder how they could further prolong the story when the concept, really, is just prison break and man hunt. we'll see. i'd watch it forever if i have to. oa.

the holiday - is the latest movie i saw. fresh na fresh. something new for cameron - her role's not so kikay. kate was so pathetic at first - three years to get over someone?! and it's not even a relationship! jude was simply... yummy! overly perfect, though. he can't exist in real world! jack was cute! "boob graze!", i think, was his best line. mr. abbott's scenes were very touching. i would want to meet someone like him someday... someone who will make a difference in my life, and vice versa. there were a couple of good insights about relationships. very light, funny in some sense, romantic, cute film.

the messengers - haven't seen it. probably won't. i'd love too. but my movie partner doesn't want to see it. although i gave assurances that i'll hug him for the entire duration of the film, pat his butt so he can just meme, do whatever it takes to make him watch it with me, he wouldn't watch it. it'll give him nightmares daw. according to him, he'd rather watch it on dvd at home (where screams are allowed, probably). i'll take his word for it. just wait till i get one. just wait! and we'll watch it no matter what.

smallville - has been evicted from my list. i stopped seeing it. i used to love it, but it became this dragging piece of crap. how long till i see him fly with that spandex costume? argh. too much. win convinced me that the story's becoming interesting again with the justice league in the scene... so i watched the 2nd to the latest episode last night. it's becoming cute again but i'm still not that interested. giving it a chance though, so i'm putting it back at the semi-bottom of the list. we'll see.

maging sino ka man - dang. i used to watch it over youtube at the office (i'm not alone with this ordeal ha!). hehe. bad. but they probably found out about the mega bandwidth so youtube was blocked. clever. i sooo love celine and jb. not so much for bea and john loid. too mushy. all i could do now is ask cecil about it. what happened? so it's like this big jigsaw puzzle with too many missing pieces. i won't probably fill them in. sad.

on stepping stones

i know we all have a common goal and it is to be successful in life. we have different definitions of being successful.

to some, success is having megazillions of money in numerous bank accounts. the more money they gain, the more secured they feel, the more power they think they have. have an overflowing pocket and you own the world. the possibilities are endless. there's nothing you can't do or have, and they are happy that way.

others equate success to a happy family life. to have a decent and comfortable, if not luxurious life. putting the members of the family in a state where the necessities in life are handy is the priority. there might be a few room for the secondary pleasures, but everything could eventually come smoothly. what's important now is the family is there with a sturdy foundation.

to some, success may mean you are the apple of your boss's eyes. "yes, boss" is a staple phrase of the mouth. be good to big boss and you secure yourself of a good position in your job. you get good promises. you get to be the right hand. you get to know the headlines. you become almost immortal... almost. give boss a few "useful" information and you might have yourself grinning for some great surprises.

i recall that someone defined success as being anywhere you want to be at any given time. sweet! i like! hahaha!

people have different definitions of success and different strategies in life. we all have unique ways of reaching that end line. others are kind-hearted, others are built for the kill. when grasping for that medal we call success, we may step on other people, knowingly or unknowingly. we get what we want at the expense of stomping on other people's rights, make that SIMPLY stomping (not just stepping) on other people. and the others are just helpless and clueless that they're being treaded on. "i don't care, as long as i get there".

there's this game in takeshi's castle that's so like this concept. point A and point B are separated by water. player starts on point A and the goal is to reach point B by using the stepping stones. some stones are real stones, others aren't - they're merely floating and will pull the player along with it once stepped on. so you just hope that you get to step on the real hard stones. when you step on the fake ones, you fall. beware! you just might step on one of those and you too just might be engulfed by the murky water. game over. dead ka na. sa presinto ka na magpaliwanag. oh, it's just worth mentioning that this game on takeshi is sooo fun to watch! :)

lovers in bali

last saturday, after reggie's birthday party (salamat kay aman for the ride!), maria and i weren't in a let's-go-home mood yet. we decided to just stay somewhere where there's coffee and couch. and cafe bali it is (cafe bali nga ba?). it's a small cafe in megamall, really cozy! we had these potato balls with cheese stuff... and we swear manong's tukneneng tastes a lot better than those! i had strawberry with nut something coffee and maria had melon shake... and something else after that haha!

an acoustic duo was performing that night - the long haired gay-guy (ganda ng kutis!) was the vocalist and guitarist and the chubby guy was the hmmm... anong tawag sa parang tambol na kahoy na inuupan? so... the gay-guy was trying to make conversation with everybody in the room - over the mic! there were only a few of us anyway. so he asked for our names and asked if we were lovers. yes naman kami ni maria...

thus the phrase lovers in bali. duh. hindi ako masyadong natuwa sa mga talks nya. mas natuwa ako sa kanta nya. pwede bang kumanta ka na lang? if we wanted okray stuff, sa comedy bar sana kami pumasok diba? hehe.

he asked if we have v-day dates. and i said, yeah, kami nga ni maria e. LOL panindigan! and he said ang sweet naman daw namin. his partner (i think he's referring to his tambol guy partner) was never that sweet with him.

pwede syang mag sideline sa comedy bar... medyo dull nga lang mga jokes nya.. hehe good voice, though.

so, when we had the chance, we fled for dear life. haha... and we called it a night. lesbos!

"i don't drink coffee"

if this statement is true then the fact that i love to make coffee and everything about coffee doesn't make it false.

i may love the feeling of putting in half a teaspoon of coffee, a tablespoon of creamer, a tablespoon of sugar, and hot water in a cup.
i may love the aroma of coffee - be it instant or brewed.
i may love the sight of that dispenser filling in that paper cup with the essentials of coffee.
or i may love the ambiance of that darn coffee shop, along with the coffee mixes they make. i may even spend the entire day in a coffee shop, i won't mind!
i may love the act of gently stirring that lovely concoction to transform it into the most perfect coffee blend.

for all you care, i may - with a true smile on my face - lift that cup, put it near my lips... BUT I MAY OPT NOT TO DRINK IT. thus, making my statement, still, so true.

so what's the point of acting like a coffee enthusiast if i don't even drink coffee?

of course this is not about coffee! this is about something else. i absolutely drink coffee! i'm just making my point on when statements are oh so true or oh so false. and i'm oh so true! i bet ya! woohoo!

bitchy ulit

what's with the prudential life staff? they keep on calling you even if you explicitly stated you're not interested with their stuff.

this morning a new character from prudential called up again. and she was explaining the same crap. i cut her off... i'm doing her a favor - i'm helping her conserve energy and saliva.

so i stopped her... i told her, "hindi na ako interesadong i-avail yan."

"why po?" she asked. ay irritating pa rin ang tono. prudential agents have this common denominator of being irritating people.

i told her sweetly, "wala lang. :) hindi lang ako interesado."

tapos na naman ang usapan. hihi.

keywords

surprise, make up, white lies, ashes, night at the museum, gonutsh donutsh, laughs, getaway, skyway, mcdo part 1, reunion, mc, not so comfy foam, cramps, what are they doing?, creaking cabinet with mumu, broken remote, alone sleepless, making of night at the museum, 9th gate, hugs, mcdo part 2, someday, what if, pact, there's no sense, quiet storm, reality check - happy?, what to do?, dunno, tears, stop for a while, dead cats, accident, drop by, naps, phone call with tears, patol, haircut, happy this way, national bookstore, skrib-age or scrabble, skrib-age it is!, drive home, happy!

skrib-age - with practice, you get perfection. 'til the next match! hihi.

getting some sense from booba

i was up a little early this morning 'cause i wanted to see erwin before he leaves for school. i was channel surfing when i saw the show sis. ruffa mae quinto was there so i thought, hey, this probably is a fun episode. so i watched on.

the topic was about making mistakes in life. they asked the guests to think of a song that they think is most relevant in their lives - for the biggest mistake they've done. and what she said awed me.

the song she chose was all this time by tiffany. and she sang a few lines...

all this time
all in all Ive no regrets
the sun still shines the sun still sets
the heart forgives the heart forgets

and she further explained what was rather obvious about the lyrics. i thought that i never really processed the meaning of this song. all in knew all along was that it was an 80's song by tiffany. a song that i would sing along with but only in my mind.

now, i think that it's a wonder how 4 lines could briefly explain how we should - make that i should - have this very good disposition in life. make that every aspect of life... love, work, family, everything!

thanks to booba for putting some sense in my life today. *getting an mp3 of the song... ssshh... hihi.

make it or break it

one lesson he indirectly taught me a few weeks ago was: if you find yourself unhappy in a relationship, you work hard to either make it work, or end it. focus on doing just one thing: make it or break it.

it's not an original line, though. he heard it in one of the tv series he so diligently patronizes. i asked him why share a quote like that? is his relationship becoming blurry? and he said he just felt like sharing it.

a few weeks after, he tells me he's having sleepless nights giving every ounce of strength he has on devising a plan and script. he's breaking up with her. he said he'll be lost without her but he can't play blind that nothing's changed. he said it breaks him more to see her transform into something she's not. so the executive decision is... to end it - after sessions of is-there-something-wrong?-NOTHING talks.

i didn't expect it from her. i know she's the most affectionate lover... so affectionate it crosses the borderline of being possessive and jealous. so why the sudden change? i asked him if he feels there's someone else, he told me he's not sure.

if he didn't baby her too much, if he didn't tend to all her needs, if he were not the most thoughtful partner then i will not be this affected... but he is all that and i love him dearly. hurt him and you hurt me. i asked him if he wants me to talk some sense into her. he declined. he'd rather do it his way, i guess. i told him i support his decision all the way... if he thinks that's the right thing to do.

this post is a little biased... i only heard one side of the story. but if you could see just one side of the wall, and if it's the side where your loved one is, i guess that's all that matters. break it kung break it. :(

bitchy ata?

there's this agent from prudential who called me up last friday and told me that i won a personal accident plan. all i have to do is sign some docs and it's good to go. although i know that this is just one of those you-don't-have-to-pay-anything-NOT! schemes, i said that i'll go on monday (yesterday). besides, i had a tiny glimpse of hope that this is different since i'm a plan holder.

so yesterday, i forgot that we were also scheduled for an APE at 3pm. agent called up again, confirming my scheduled appointment. so i told him i can't come because i have this APE thing. so he starts harassing me... "pano po yun mam? nakaschedule kayo? pag di kayo pumunta, kami ang malalagot sa head department... si sir jay, kakausapin kayo.." and the voice was really irritating! he was trying to scare me! who the hell is sir jay? and i told him calmly but i was a bit irritated na rin... "e anong gagawin ko?!!?" and he started to oblige me to go there to have the plan transferred to an immediate relative.

and i was pissed off... i told him, first of all, i didn't ask you guys to give me this plan so don't oblige me to do stuff that i don't feel like doing. i haven't confirmed and signed anything so don't harass me like hell. and... second, it's not my problem! ok?!?

and he was like... ay ok po mam. thank you.

madadaan ka naman pala sa maayos na usapan eh.

fiestah

what's with the title? duh.

3rd week of january = fiesta. the day started with the 9am mass. bishop jesse mercado was here so the lectors had to dress up in filipiniana costumes. i think my barong-style top was a bit big for me. it is dencia's and it still looked big on me. how thin am i?

it was a 2-hour mass. there were dozens of sto. nino statues in front of the altar, all waiting to be blessed. i have a confession to make. i'm not too crazy about religious statues. sometimes they scare me... especially the super old ones. maybe i've seen too much images of dancing sto. ninos on tv when i was young. and i was really scared of it... i still am. i mean, i don't need dancing statues to make me believe in God. the sight of it just scares me. maybe because i know that there is a human behind it all... and it just looks, uhh... scary. gives me goosebumps.

the entire aldaba clan was invited for lunch to introduce them to tito danny. it was a good lunch, with too much food, the usual magic sing galore, my uncle's persistent requests for me to sing (i rarely give in), a few ballroom dancing for the oldies, the evening procession, and that's about it.

oh i forgot to mention the post drinking chaos... right now, i could hear a couple of drunk men fighting, or almost fighting outside. this is the 2nd fight session for the night. it never fails. give them bottles of beer, and there's a series of war afterwards. and i don't really get it. and the barangay tanods will have to work overtime to stop the sabong. argh.

but yeah, all of these trips make up the fiesta... take one away and it's not fiesta.

the sweetest thing...

read on the rear window of a car somewhere in sucat...

"I LOVE MY WIFE"

awwww...

on the brighter side of life now

our request has been granted! we're on 4pm to 1am shift now. i'm at the office now and i feel great!

guess what? it's now 551 pm and i just saw the sun set among the tall buildings. it's not the most spectacular sunset. the best i've seen, i guess, are puerto galera sunset and manila bay sunset. but this can pass as one of the best. it's the first i've seen in ages.

and when i look behind me, my shadow was there. i was alone and i was savoring every moment of it... the setting sun, my shadow behind me, the sun tranforming from bright blue and white to gray and orange. aaaah. i love it!

and i'm beginning to sound freaky. not freaking out, just enjoying the days more than the nights now. i love my life!

abot-tanaw na ang liwanag

i don't have a problem. it's not one of those moments when there's a crisis that's coming to and end hehe...

what i really mean to say here is... we asked our boss if we could work on an earlier shift - 4pm to 1am. sure going home will literally be thrilling, but it's worth the risk. i've been on night shift for more than a year now. it has become evident on the dark circles under my eyes and the raging moods i've had and the general feeling of being unwell. i just noticed i've become more irritable and grudging lately. it probably doesn't show yet but maybe in the long run, i'll be feeling something wrong with my health.

i know i've been the most diligent advocate of the "it's not what happens, it's how you take it" motto, but darn it... i give up. this is an exception. syet. i hate night shifts! and i can't help but feel pessimistic about it now.

try it. stay awake at nights and sleep on days and you'll know how i feel. argh. bad.

we're crossing our fingers that the request will be approved. otherwise, i'm doomed. but what can i do?!? syet.

makulit

may mga tao talagang makulit no? duuuuuh.

[04:39] manongkulit: hehehe
[04:39] manongkulit: musta na?!??
[04:39] manongkulit: wat tym is ur shift nyway ba??
[04:39] cathscamacho: 9pm to 6am forever
[04:39] cathscamacho: ano ba ang kulit mo kanina
[04:40] cathscamacho: a regular person... will somehow think that if one doesn't respond to messages, she probably doesn't have access to her phone...
[04:41] cathscamacho: probably away from phone... probably sleeping
[04:41] cathscamacho: and will probably get back to you... once she wakes up
[04:48] manongkulit: hehehe, bakit ka naiinis?!?? hehehe
[04:49] manongkulit: *giGgLe!*
[04:50] cathscamacho: e ang kulit mo eh
[04:50] cathscamacho: diba alam mong night shift ako!?
[04:51] cathscamacho: edi siguro tulog ako nun!
[04:51] cathscamacho: may mga taong nagigising kahit sa little beeps no!
[04:51] cathscamacho: at isa ako dun
[04:55] manongkulit: hehehe
[04:55] manongkulit: 'di ko mapigiLan yung tawa ko ah =D...
[04:56] manongkulit: cge, 'di na mauuLit ...
[04:56] manongkulit: peace tayo ah, caths ;D...
[04:56] cathscamacho: 2nd time na to no
[04:56] cathscamacho: hmp
[04:57] manongkulit: o cge nga, keLan yung 1st?!??
[04:57] cathscamacho: nung holidays
[04:58] cathscamacho: kaw p galit na d sinasagot ang call duh
[04:58] manongkulit: ows?!?? yung nasa singa ka?? hehehe
[04:58] cathscamacho: oo kaya
[04:58] manongkulit: hehehe
[04:59] manongkulit: oo nga naman... duH!
[04:59] manongkulit: hehe
[04:59] manongkulit: o cge, 'di na taLaga mauuLit...
[05:00] manongkulit: napangiti mo ko dun sa mga hirit mo ah...
[05:00] cathscamacho: ewan
[05:01] manongkulit: hanggang ngayon gaLit ka pa din dun sa nasa singa ka?!??
[05:01] manongkulit: cge na nga tatahimik na nga ko ...
[05:01] cathscamacho: naalala ko lang
[05:02] cathscamacho: kse makulit din nman ako.. pero medyo marunong nman ako mag translate ng signs no!
[05:05] manongkulit: I was never any gud w/ the signs ...

thirteenth of january...

is not a very good time to put up updates on the happenings of my life for the past few weeks. rather late, i'd say but better late than never.

i guess the highlight of the year 2006 was the singapore vacation i had with my family. yes, my brother is an ofw in singapore haha. it's the first time kuya is away for the christmas and new year holidays... so if he can't be with us then we'll be with him!

it was wawin's first out-of-the-country trip, so this made it more exciting for all of us... besides the fact that we'll be together, of course.

we were there from the 23rd of dec 'til the 2nd of jan. every moment was a blast. kuya's housemates all went home to pinas so we had all the freedom that our hearts desired inside the house - errrr dirty house?

we went to the usual spots. we were amazed by the efficient systems that are in place in that small country - from transportation to laws to cleanliness to big vegetables to meeting some people from the past to lqs to everything. we were hoping to stay (make that come back), if only i could find a job there - but i'm guessing it's not (yet?) written in God's planner.

but those are merely trivial details of the trip and i'd rather not elaborate on superficial stuff. i guess, more than all the glitz and radiance of the travel, i'd rather make a detailed account of how kuya has been at his best.

he took charge of everything. he cooked dinner for us for the first night - something he would never do had he been stuck in pinas. and yeah, even if it's just fried instant chicken tempura and maggi noodles, it is by far the best meal i've had in singapore.

having stayed there for only 3 months, kuya's a tourist himself. but he did his best to be the best guide there is (next to camille hehe. camille's still the best tour guide!). he didn't visit certain spots with his friends 'cause he said he wanted to experience the first time with his loved ones. awww.

i say he's at his best because he personified the word "kuya". he's characterized it perfectly it's almost close to representing the word "father". he's so responsible now. i bet papa will be so proud of him if only he could witness all this.

the only negative feedback i have now is... his nasty yosi habit. break it or you'll be damned. you're damned, we're damned. as simple as that.

overall, i give this experience a five-star rating. call it the first time we're complete as a family on an out-of-the-country trip. call it special because we felt reunited after three months. call it memorable because we opt to make it memorable. call it perfect. this is one of the moments that will always give a dreamy look on my face. and it's not oa. :)