Nuninuninu... + Tagged!

It is not often that I get one whole weekend just to myself; in fact, days like this rarely come by. And if we were to roll time back to a couple of years prior to this day, one will never find me idle and free from any activity on such a nice Saturday. My weekends are normally fully booked out, just the way I like (or used to like) them to be. Out of town trips, a whole day of sports followed by evening tea with friends, movie nights, festivals, shopping sprees cum cafe breaks with girlfriends... things just keep on rolling. When I was still in university back in Manila, I would say a huge amount of my time was devoted to organisational activities, events plannings, and meetings, the occasional dates (tee-hee-hee!), just a tad bit more hours than my actual "studying" period. Often to my parents' frustration and obviously to my delight, my schedule's always overflowing. Those things fired me up, I couldn't stay still. I had to be doing something, and if I weren't I would find things to preoccupy myself before I go totally berserk. Quiet equated to boredom. During those days, New York was the place to be (or any city that can compare), a place to fulfill my longing for that fast-paced world, to fling the career aspirations into that direction.

Fast forward to this day. Waking up just a few minutes before 7am today, I allowed myself for more snooze time. Gone was that fiery instinct of jumping out of bed and mentally going through the list of things I have to do and accomplish for the day. When I felt like it, I got up and lazed around for a bit longer, had a leisurely browse in the market for fruits and fresh produce. A quiet morning. I let the afternoon breezed through without much of a disturbance, and while I slowly sipped my cappuccino that mellowness I needed kept me at peace. I had no conversations today, no discussions about work or current events, no dialogues about future plans, it's just a time for myself. And I like it. For me, tonight there will be no elaborate dinners, no friends over, no party... while everywhere else in the city will be all colours and lights, also with the celebration towards the conclusion of the Commonwealth games. The bars and restaurants and entertainment establishments will always be there, I don't feel the need to join in the merriment now. It's such a rarity to be in this kind of quietude, and I am resolved to have it all to myself. =) New York is no longer that ideal place where I've set my mind on years ago, in fact no one place has taken that seat yet. The times have softened me a bit.

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And now tagged again by my bosom buddy who recently celebrated her birthday. From Char, a dentist who wouldn't surprise if seen with a magic wand and waltzing around blowing out pixie dusts.

Four Jobs I've Had In My Life
1. Entertainer - once upon a time, the little girl who danced and sang for anyone, anywhere...even in a crowded mall.
2. Answering Machine - answered phone and took messages for my parents
3. Marketing Intern - In short, mega-slave in a marketing department doing anything and everything required
4. Business Analyst - previous and present job. Sigh I'm growing up!
Note: Notice the trend, the job cycle becomes less and less interesting huh? Dang! I want to go back to #1.

Four Films I Can Watch Over and Over
1. Sound of Music
2. You've Got Mail
3. Love Actually
4. Annie

Four Places I Would Have Visited, Had I Had The Money
1. Egypt
2. Switzerland
3. Italy
4. Antarctica

Four Websites I Visit Daily
1. Gmail
2. Bureau of Meteorology - seriously!!!
3. Yahoomail
4. My company website, section that lists the security prices

Four Of My Favorite Foods
1. Korean bbq
2. unagi
3. salmon
4. onions - the cooked ones ok!

Four Places I Would Rather Be
1. Queen's Theatre in London - watching Les Miserables
2. West 46th Street, NY - Beauty & the Beast on Broadway
3. In Auckland where Andrew is at the moment
4. On top of a hill where I could almost touch the heavens and see a sky full of stars

Four Bloggers I Am Tagging
1. Apple
2. Serene
3. Rhada
4. Boon

Tsup Tsup - Oh Jologs!

How well do you kiss? *Please rate from 1-10* I bet most guys would not admit to being inadequate in this aspect for the absolute dread of jeopardising his pizzazz and machismo. But anyway, this is no forum for male versus female lip-locking prowess. While in the doctor's office yesterday, bored to my wits while waiting and observing shuffling medical coats swish-swaying back and forth, I flipped through a magazine and an article caught my fascination. Has anyone heard of such a thing as Kissing School? Well, this "kissing academia" was founded by an American psychotherapist, and resulted from guess what... a not-so-electrifying kissing experience she once had with a former beau. Talk about an interesting business idea; with the right marketing anything can be an enterprise huh? I would have thought that smooching can be grouped with those other items in the list of natural human instincts... yes, something that takes a bit of practice but just like a child learning how to walk, he'd get it right after a few stumbles and falls. And all the rest, additional bits and pieces to further stimulate the senses are found along the way. But I guess not to all hey? To over-eager teenagers, maybe the most critical thing is getting on immediately and plunging right into the action, that pucker-smacker exchange of oral mucousy substance. Wrong! With no intention to offend teenagers by such a stereotype, I must add that it is my belief that there is a shocking number of terrible and inexperienced middle-aged and old-er kissers as well. And you, my friends, are most welcome to share your opinions, experiences, stories, and defence? =)

What is a kiss? A touch of one's lips to another's? A playful combat of oral muscles? An offspring of passion, lust, or romance? A seal for commitment? Maybe an accidental brush of two mouths from two intoxicated, fuzzy heads? Wherever or whatever from that action stemmed from, it is never complete with only the action per se. The creation and carrying on of the desired atmosphere, rhythm and coordination perhaps, the build up of intensity or keep-up of lazy, sweet dreaminess, many little things contributing to the overall fun of the game. And I'm not endorsing Ms Byrd's classes but it is exactly because of many a soul's cluelessness to what other things encompasses smoochy-mooch that her school exists. A short, interesting abstract of the curriculum, if I may call it such: Mouth to mouth rejuvination.

However the combination and mixture of tricks and magic for perfect puckering up, it is still very much a one's own personal experience (personal still even if preferred for the public to see! Mwehehehe!) and no one absolute concoction can be called standard for everyone. Just aim to be above mediocre if there's no way to be super-duper good ok. And here's a toast of well wishes to the knee-wobbling, head-swirling, dazzling smoochies.

An innocent 2-year old's wet, slobbery one still is the best! Ayayayyyy!

Weekend Update

Today is Victorian public holiday, Labour Day. Don't you just love long weekends? A short update... I just came back from a fun-filled, sun-filled weekend escapade with a group of friends. Getting away from Melbourne whenever there is an extra day to the weekend is one of the favourite activities of many Victorians. There are so many nice places to go to, from a short 1-2 hour drive to a long 5-6 hour trip. I am slowly getting into that habit of maximising my free days and exploring Victoria a bit more.

The past three days we stayed at a rented house in Marengo, a drive by the Great Ocean Road, and spent most of the time at Apollo Bay. No set activity plan, no set agenda, just a relaxing weekend free of any routine or schedule (except for the boys' network game session... yes, 5 laptops were brought to the trip and intense StarCraft games were played late into the night), can't be helped. Imagine a full two days just lounging by the beach, walking back and forth the beautiful crescent-shaped beach, discovering small crabs and mussells growing on sea rocks, and mucking around with good friends. It is also a place quite famous for nice waves, perhaps not at par with Surfer's Paradise up in the Goldcoast, but still good enough for a bit of body board surfing which we did! Riding the waves just feels amazing, having it crash at you feels like a big, fat, gigantic hand slapping onto your body. I will probably be an embarrassment if I have to go surfing, I already know because I can't skateboard and I am terrible at snowboarding; I think that sort of balance just doesn't agree with me... but body boarding is different, there's no leg coordination needed, just good enough arms and legs to paddle and kick. Aaaahhh can I just say again I loooove the beach.

Now I have a pretty bad case of sunburn... Saturday was a clear day with amazingly blue sky... no clouds, it didn't seem too sunny but lo and behold, that night we were all as red as cooked lobsters. Of course that didn't stop us to go back to the sand and water the second day, only that we've to endure the stinging sensation of the salt water and the slightly painful tingle of sand rubbing onto the red soreness of our skin. Sunscreen is really no fool-proof solution, and no sunscreen is asking for big trouble.

Totally satisfied yet very exhausted... I now need a holiday from my holiday. =)

First Offence

Attention to fare evaders, boarding without a ticket is risking a fine of no less than $154. Metlink, Melbourne's tram and train network, is getting more vigilant in tackling the number one cause of revenue leakage - fare evasion. Revenue losses to fare evasion alone is estimated to be around $50-$60 million. Now, ticket inspection have been more regular, and you'd think that this would have thwarted many offenders... but no. Still a lot of people take this risk because although regular, it is really not at all times that these ticket inspectors roam around checking for your ticket. There will be times when in a week, I've only had my ticket checked once. And a couple of times I've seen passengers scurrying to buy a ticket or try to get off the stop when those feared men in light green shirts, notepad and pens in hand, approach the tram. I've been witness to people being caught and pathetically making excuses as to why they don't have a ticket, some plead, some have an outburst of temper. These do not help, they will still be slapped with a big, fat fine. Trying to save $3.20 and ending up paying fifty times more. It'll be hard to break even after that eh?... unless you get to dodge inspectors again for another 50 trips. Now, that's a plan that has backfired.

Personally, I feel no sympathy for those who are caught. My view is, if you're gutsy enough to try, then you better have the balls (or the moolah) to face the consequence. Until one day... last Wednesday, I was travelling to work, still groggy with a bit of a headache from the past few days' stress and lack of sleep. Per usual, I try to rest my eyes for the whole trip, when after a few stops my quiet snooze was broken by a couple of inspectors asking to check people's tickets. Standard procedure, no biggie, and when it was my turn I reached for the wallet in my bag, and to my horror realised that I did not have it with me! Not even the small coin purse I keep with me that sometimes has an extra metcard ticket in it. Fished through, fished through, again and again, while the inspector was waiting. I suppose there was nothing I could do, I couldn't produce something that is not there. I wanted to melt and disappear from where I was seated. Just like in the movies, the camera zoomed to me frantically searching for my ticket, as the background and voices of other people faded into my own melodrama. Flashes of images came to my mind, I was trying to recall how I could have left my wallet at home. In a haste that morning, I just grabbed my bag and left without checking. Explaining to the men that I have a ticket, the only problem is that I left everything at home... it was a monthly ticket which I paid a friggin' $98.90 for, and I have a couple of weekly ones, daily ones, 2-hour ones, you name 'em I've got 'em. How can I be a fare evader? It was a simple act of carelessness that I wasn't carrying them with me at that moment. Nevertheless, to them it was no excuse, I was travelling without a valid ticket... and I didn't even have a single cent in me at that time to purchase another one right there on the tram because hey I left my wallet remember? What a humiliating moment that was, and an extremely infuriating one as well. The inspectors had to get my name and my address where they'd mail the infringement notice to. It was only after the incident that I realised they haven't really asked me for any form of identification (well, if they did I wouldn't be able to produce any as everything was in the wallet), and I gave them the real everything... real name, real address... holy cow!!!!!... silly silly silly! I could have given a fake name, a fake address and they wouldn't have checked. They didn't this time. Now I wonder, if and when I receive the infringement notice, I could easily contest it and say that there was no way it could have been me, and they wouldn't have a proof as there's no ID number or anything on their slip. Someone could have set me up right? We will wait and see.

There goes the Wednesday. Thank God it was 3 days before the weekend. If it had happened on a Monday, I would have thrown a fit! Ha ha ha. The moral of this story: guard your metcards with your life. I don't care for the fine I'd have to pay per se (as A would say, anything that can be solved by money is a trivial matter not worth cracking your skull for), but it is the fact that I do pay for my fares and yet got caught unaware, written a fine, and at one moment labeled as a fare evader, that annoys me. Well... my bad.