Turkey! Here I Come!

This morning, I received a SMS from my dear friend (hey is this a secret? i wanna mention your name hehe) informing me that her application for Schengen visa got approved, lucky lucky girl! Her company is sending her to Germany for an assignment, hay, some people are just born lucky. Well, even if she's just going there for a vacation, and without the company's backing, i think she'll get the visa. She had travelled a lot, she'd been to China, Bangkok, well Asian countries that is. But unlike me whose passport was a clean slate except for the Dubai stamp (i don't even have a Kish stamp, like most OFW's here), i really think i will be denied.

But that is unless i do something about it! So i want to really "beautify" my passport as soon as possible so the next time i apply for a UK or Canada visa then it will be a "APPROVED", wehehe.

I have been surfing the net the whole afternoon checking out packages. I initially checked Egypt, but i decided that can wait. Next I saw Greece, arghhh cruise ship thru Mykonos, blah, blah, too expensive, that can wait. Then... Turkey! Ah perfect! I'm still not sure if i'll go for a week-long package, but i asked them to quote me a package for like 3-4days only which will include Istanbul, Troy and Ephesus. Tomorrow they said i'll receive the email quoting the package's price!

I'm planning to do it this Eid holidays... yey! who want's to join me? tara!

My Priorities...

Lately i've lost track of my priorities, not actually lost track as they are still all there, but somehow they got mixed up, meaning by hierarchy as some which is on the top of the lsit should not be there. So i had a raincheck last night (thanks schmuck for pointing them out) so now i'm back on track...

Things to accomplish: (not in proper order as they interlap)
1. Learn HTML
2. Learn Photoshop
3. Learn Flash (not really imeediate)
4. Finish all my pending readings (the stand, vanity fair, the historian, viajero, those by abet ocampo's, etc.)
5. Get back to writing short stories
6. Put up a website (for my short stories
7. Get back to photography (but not as serious as riel's)
8. Save (for a planned trip (i'm going solo) to Egypt or Turkey this December to get inspirations and locations for my novels)
9. Travel more (this will depend on no.8) to "beautify" my passport so getting visas to other countries and possibly migrating will be easier... hay the problem with being Pinoy you cannot go places easily...

So far that's it, going back home can wait, but don't get me wrong as i really miss you all badly but i have to be practical and follow the dictates of my sane mind. haha!

And don't worry, Schmuck is not forgotten, he'll be in between all these haha.. whenever our schedules permit it..

I can't put "The Historian" down... check it out guys, it's about Vlad the Impaler, the inspiration behind Dracula.

Updates you want, so updates it is...

Riel had been asking me why i haven't updated my blog for the longest time, just a little busy i guess. Anyways here's a list of what's been happening and might happen in my life that had somehow kept me busy, occupied, and blah blah blah! (in other words, excuses) hehe..

- Last 15th August i celebrated my 1 year in this company, so my bosses decided on taking me out to lunch, we ate at China Times in Intercontinental Hotel, and i get to ride in my boss' Cadillac STS! Sweet! They gave me a little cash as gift hehe.. so because of that i need to make sipag-sipagan, therefore no excessive blogging na muna the past week..

- I wanna change my blogskin again kaya most of my free time i spent surfing blogskins.com for the perfect skin.

- New boss arrived, so i'll be assisting not only the GM and the Regional Manager as i used to, now i'll also be the utusan of the Senior Manager, so therefore added workload yet no increase in my salary.. haayy..

- I been thinking of learning web design for the longest time and have finally decided to push through with it. I will buy "web design for dummies" later hehe..

- I'm getting a little fat, i'm having a hard time deciding what to wear each morning as my old clothes are getting tight now. Still in dilemma as they say i look better with a little laman yet i can't buy new clothes with my budget right now so the more feasible option is to lose weight again. Arghh! And yeah schmuck's gaining weight too hehe..

- This morning my boss gave me a copy of the picture he had taken of me, remember my previous post wherein i told you about photography as his new hobby. Well, the picture's not bad, i'll post it soon as my scanner is still busted..

- Schmuck and I will be officially one month now on Friday (officially, though we've been together for like three months hehe).. galing! Schmuck? Looking forward to a lifetime of love, inner peace and happiness with you..

There, and you know what, it's getting more presko na, maybe winter will be here earlier than the last time. And i have read from 7days tabloid that the Labor Ministry will remove the 6months ban soon, so that means i can actually look for a higher paying job and resign without worrying about getting banned! Wahooo! That goes for you too schmuck. If that news is true, then we can actually go ahead with our plans of leaving this f***ed up country earlier than planned. Yeah! Keeping my fingers crossed..

just playing with a new html trick i've learned hehe

Tagging

I was tagged by boy toge so...

1. What are the things you enjoy doing when there's no one around you?

- Try clothes on

- Read books

- Write

- Self abuse (kidding) hehe..

2. What lowers your stress/blood pressure/anxiety level?

- being with schmuck

- cooking

- friends

- a hearty laugh

Ok, since I need to tag somebody (daw) so, I'm tagging balarns , apol tree , and riel

My Cooking Disaster

Let me start by saying this: I can cook! And i really believe that i cook well.

With that said, let me tell you guys what happened this past weekend. Let's just say i did something childish so schmuck was a little mad at me (but we're ok now). So i decided i'll make it up to him that weekend and make him dinner. I wanted him to see my effort to please him so i decided to cook laing which is his favorite. Since i've never cooked laing before, i asked a friend how to make it then figured that since i can cook basically anything, then this would be an easy task for me.

So left the place like 10AM to buy ingreadients, went to Choitram's (Bur Dubai) first but the taro leaves proved to be a hard find. So they told me that I can buy them at Karama. So off to the bus stop, which is mind you not a very happy walk as it was a scorching 35'C then, plus buses going from Bur Dubai to Karama was kinda scarce (or was it? maybe only that day..)

So I was able to get the ingredients, but i bought coconut milk in cans as it'll be hard to look for grated coconut here (there are freshly grated ones but walking to where they sell those is not in my agenda (again: it's so f***king hot!).

So with my ingredients in tow, i went back to my place, it was like 11:30am already then, prepared everything and started cooking. We'll it started out fine, but when i have finished adding up everything, i looked at what i had made and that was when i realized something's wrong. I remember schmuck saying before that he wanted his laing dried and oily, coz as the coconut milk dries up, it releases oil or something. But mine doesn't look oily at all, well it won't dry up, it's still swimming in coconut milk, so i thought okay a few more minutes in fire will actually dry it up, but after minutes of cooking, it's still not dry, it was creamier now, no actually it's pasty.. but not dry. I ended up overcooking it, arghhh..

Anyways, dinner time came, i brought my laing to schmuck's place, cooked him porkchops to eat with it. While waiting for him, i developed a terrible headache which i think was brought about by overly thinking about what his reactions to the laing will be, plus i think i kinda dehydrated myself cooking in a non-airconditioned kitchen for 2hours.

Schmuck came, schmuck ate... We'll he said it actually taste good (i believe he was sincere when he said that), he doesn't care if it's pasty, it's just that there's something missing, a certain "zing" as he calls it. Turned out after further deliberation that he's looking for the spicy "zing" of ginger which i didn't know is one of the things you put in laing.

We'll at least he ate it and even packed some for his lunch the next day. But i know the next time i try my hand at this laing, it'll gonna be perfect, just as long as schmuck will manually get the milk from the grated coconuts for me. Actually schmuck and I cook better together, we prepared the perfect pan-fried salmon with lemon butter sauce last thursday hehe..

(note: us after eating dinner, hehe.. why that face schmuck? hehe)

Captured moment..

I've been seeing my boss carrying his new camera lately. Not those small digital ones but the big ones used by photographers, with interchangeable lens, and tripod and all those technical stuff.

So i thought maybe he's taking photography as a hobby.

Now, in our office, the network printer is in my cubicle so whenever my boss prints something, i have to deliver it to him. So this afternoon, he printed a document, and when i entered his office to place the printed documents on his desk, i saw him with his camera in his hand, right there ready to take my picture!

I hurriedly left the documents in his desk and run so he was not able to take my picture.

But no! He printed something again, so i have to go in his office again, and there he was again poised to take my picture, so i looked at him with a questioning look, asking why he's doing it. I know i was half smiling as i was feeling a little shy and at the same time finding the situation funny.

Then i heard the shutter...

Hope he got a nice angle haha!

Who stole my sunshine?!

Woke up today wondering why the sun is not coming in through my balcony... "It's 6am already, or is it?" I rushed out of bed to open the balcony's sliding door. "Hmm.. moist in the glass, is it winter already?" I looked outside through the smoky glass. The sky is bleak, it's windy as i see a lady passing by try getting hold of her abaya (long black dress worn by arab ladies) as it was being tousled by the wind. It appears to be smoky outside, "Could that be fog now? It's only August!".

Intrigued, I hurriedly opened up the door, and what a big surprise it is (or is it really?) when a hot gush of air poured in the room.

Hay, turned out the dampness in the glass door was moisture caused by the hot air outside reacting with the cold glass as my AC had been working fulltime the whole night. Yup it's windy but mind you the air was more like the ones that comes out of my hair dryer. It's not really foggy, it's high humidity and sandstorm that caused the bleakness outside.

Well, two to three more months and winter will soon be here. And my indicator for it will be not those weather forecasts but seeing changes in display windows as they showcase their winter collection haha. (women!) Oh! Can't wait to see what colors will be in this winter? Hope black browns and purples again. Haha!

But as for now, I just have to learn to be tolerant of this weather. Why, at least i can wear those nice boho skirts and halter tops (that is if schmucky will let me hehe). Hay!

Hope the sky clears up soon, i miss my sunshine..

Just another post...

Yeah, took me a while to post something here, riel had been asking where my updates are, so is boy okoy, and lil_hon pa. It's not that i've been busy, dunno, just too elated lately to put something here other than i'm happy, i'm so elated, blah, blah, blah.. that would be overly redundant.

What's new about me? Uhmm, same old, same old. Still with my schmuck, here's our pic so you'll finally get to see this endearing schmuck who initially picked my brain, and eventually brought me back my soul. And yup he still picks my brain and give me those headaches i love having.

And yeah, i've finally found a new flat, moved in yesterday, damn, accomodations here are too expensive. The amount i'm paying for the bedspace was bigger than the money i'm sending back to my mom. But it's pretty much okay, big room, balcony, attached bath, only two of us in the room, 5 of us all in all in the whole flat, has cable TV (at last), no curfews, good location.. good enough. I'll post a pic of my room after i cleaned it up hehe..

I'll be one year in this office this 15th, boss told me he'll throw me a party, why can't he just give me a raise.. That i need.

My days start with checking everyone's blogs, i enjoy reading out on how's everyone's doing. Like: riel's sudden ideas on things and how she turns those normal happenings in our lives into something bloggable (new word! hehe), then there is lil_hon's day to day rantings about her sleepless nights and information overload (don't worry dear, praying for your board..), then there's blackout's blog, filled with little snippets of her (acads, love?!) life (miss that girl so much). I also check out frequently on boy okoy's very trivial and complicated life which i will not elaborate on as he will kill me if i do (arghh hard keeping my mouth shot..), then balarns tagboard haha, i love reading the exchanges there, And good thing telle's back blogging. Eyang's blog makes me water, really delicious template wehehe. We'll schmuck's too busy to actually update his blog, and then there's more of ye's rantings (office related usually hehe). I even read schmuck's sister's blog (is that possible? double possessive?). Dunno if she even knows i blog, i just chanced upon her blog one time, and i actually enjoyed reading her posts.

It's really getting hot here in Dubai now, the other day was 50'C, that and sandstorms.. hay. It's too hot to go out now, i miss the beach.

It's funny how schmuck & i never fight, we have disagreements sometimes about my childish ways (hehe, I can't help it, i'm only 23, and a spoiled only child hehe). But our arguments are more like civil sharing of opinions rather than an all-out shouting fight. We've learned to understand each other's ways that we've learned to compromise and meet halfway. We adjust, but we never change each other. We need not express feelings in words, perks of us having the ability to read each other's thoughts just by looking at each other's eyes. Enough of this, getting mushy hehe..

Anybody out there who can help me a find a way to access my friendster account? The friendster site had been banned by the UAE's network provider, along with other sites which i still don't see their point for banning them. Help?? Anyone??