The Weekend, Scotty and Casey

There's something about the nearing of weekend that excites everyone as if it's happening for the first time; then we dislike it whenever the first day of the workweek is approaching as if we're not used to it, huh! Anyway, I'm just so happy that it's weekend already (note that we have Friday & Saturday as UAE's weekend). I felt that the concluded workweek was jampacked of workloads and other things. That's the beauty of a weekend, it gives us a break and we always have something to look forward to on a regular basis.

On new things that I look forward to:

1. Scotty McCreery's and Casey Abrams' performances in American Idol. I know that Scotty won't be the ultimate winner but he's definitely going to make it big sooner or later. He's too young to be my crush (LOL), but seriously, I'd buy his album as soon as it comes out. His country tone is soooo pleasing to the ears (and the looks, too) and I like that whenever he introduces his own version, he makes it really his own. As for Casey, I'm now a fan! After a number of performances, he has proven that he's really an artist (as if I'm an artist who knows how to discern my kind, hahaha!), can survive any song, and unique! Recently, he sung Elton John's "Your Song" very genuinely. I'm surprised that without his usual banging and squiggling, he can be really captivating by being "quiet" this time. I can't get over it that I taped it through my TV's personal video recorder + I recorded it to my handyphone in HD format so I can bring that particular performance and listen to it anytime I want. (Yeah, that's addiction.) It's sad though that our very own Thia Megia has been eliminated. At a tender age, she has exuded remarkable ability. She has a bright future.
2. To use the Dreamy Diana Lens with the SLR. I need to find time next weekend to test it.
3. Tomorrow's photo walk with my Iggy sisters. How cool is it that we are going to release our shutter bug the same day?!

Have a balanced weekend everyone!

This week's oozing with positivity!

Hearty breakfast. I really, really appreciate the gift of time because that's priceless. Couple friends whom I've not seen for over three months paid me a visit. They were not able to make it for my housewarming due to work commitment that weekend (booooo! that happens at times) and other things got in, but who cares about that? Finally, they were here! They had a sleep over and this morning I prepared for them a hearty breakfast: homemade beef tapa, fried rice, sunny side up and scrambled eggs, sausage, spanish bread, with coffee on the side and Datu Puti vinegar with spices (not shown in the photo).

Good things come to those who wait. My friends and I are just sooooo happy for our (another) couple friends since they made their announcement that they're expecting a baby! You might think that procreation and motherhood can come in an instant. Theirs was a case of "the wait is over". It's really touching in the sense that we've joined our forces in praying for it, well of course the other part of the work depended on them. I loved the part that their desire to have a baby made them more in love with each other and became more trusting in the will of the One up there. Faith can really move mountains.

To give back without expecting anything in return. Another friend who is getting married this year recently celebrated her birthday. She invited us to a dinner at her house and instead of receiving the normal gifts, she requested from us the basic bathroom supplies and other small (which are actually big for some people) stuff like toothbrush, sanitary napkins, soaps, etc. She thought of giving these to the runaway (overseas Filipino workers) OFWs who are sheltered in the Philippine Embassy - Abu Dhabi Office.

The friends I referred to in this post are all based in the UAE. When I think about it, the more I realize that I/we have a very strong support system, apart from other reasons, that our being away from home is more bearable for us. We may have our ups and downs wherever we are, but isn't it wonderful when the people around us are inspiring enough -- or that we get to inspire each other in our own ways.

Kizuna

I don't have any family member who's based anywhere in Japan, but I have a blogger pal whom I really consider a real pal though we've not seen each other face to face and she hardly knows specific details about my personal life. But that didn't take out my worries when I heard about the catastrophe (earthquake and tsunami) in Japan, especially that the eye of the disaster was near her residence. Finally, she replied to my email this morning and I'm so relieved to have "heard" from her that she and her family are sound and safe, including her son who's still an infant. Thank God! Incidentally, they are in Manila right now. We can only say enough about being at the right place and at the right time. But no one can really question God's own ways.

Anyway, I felt really inspired by the tweets from Japan which were said to have been tweeted in the midst of the life blowing quake. Thanks to Grace of Sandier Pastures for sharing those tweets. This got to be the most striking for me:

This earthquake has reminded me that Japanese goodness that had recently become harder and harder to see still exists. Today I see no crime or looting; I am reminded once again of the good Japanese spirit of helping one another, of propriety, and of gentleness. I had recently begun to regard my modern countrymen as cold people … but this earthquake has revived and given back to all of us the spirit of “kizuna” (bond, trust, sharing, the human connection). I am very touched. I am brought to tears. (http://twitter.com/VietL/status/46376383592677376)

More inspiring tweets here.

Smiley fruits

(Orange and apple)

Happiness is when you have a pregnant colleague-work pal who shares with you her food. Especially if it's so cheerfully prepared! I hope the baby doesn't mind. (*winks*)

Kabag

Mark this day, not only because it's Ash Wednesday but I learned something new --- that the English term for "kabag" is FLATULENCE.

That only means that I didn't find a need to bother myself to know what is kabag in English. But better late than never. It brings back those younger days when I felt that I'm a genius because I know the English term for kulangot, muta, and more.

Hello FLATULENCE! Today you made me feel ignorant and intelligent. Harharhar.

Geometry

Happiness is when you are able to make someone’s life easy by letting him/her realize that Geometry is fun.

Explaining 8 lessons in a non-conventional way, using almost everything that surround us on a daily basis as illustrations in understanding polygons, pi (π) (yeah, the 3.14159265 value) and other computations, identification of angles the simplest means without the aid of the protractor, prisms, and more.

I’m happy because I made someone’s life easy and took all the fears of Geometry.

And I thought that I didn’t like Math when I was younger.

I love how life bounces at us to make us realize the infinite possibilities.

I think that taking someone's fear without expecting anything in return would be a good part-time "job".

Cheer me up, Kitty!

I'm cool, serious, crazy, glutton, hungry, snobbish, friendly, weird, reasonable --- rolled into one. But in the office, my reputation spells regulation-authority-OMG she's here again-and so = some sort of boring person. Nature of the job, you can tell. I sort of transform depending on the hat I'm wearing.

Anyway, in one incident while I was engaged with the Blackberry, everyone seemed to be weirded out. My imagination even whispered to me that there's a shocking trigger for their giggles. Well, I forgot to take out the Hello Kitty case from the Blackberry which is supposed to be worn during weekends only.

See how influential Hello Kitty is. In a matter of seconds, it changed my reputation. LOL. I think, in a coooool way. :) If they find out about my metallic blue case for the iPhone, they might think I'm too old to be a rockstar wannabe.

Random cheers

Ola! Yeah, this blog has been quiet. But that doesn't mean that there were no sources of cheer in my life the past weeks. I've been too busy to bite a pandesal everyday. ;) Just to officially log them here, in random order:

1. I nailed the presentation to my big bosses (they're functionally a group). Until now I can't believe that I'd be that brave to respond to their queries during the presentation. The best part was that I didn't get intimated. Thank God.
2. Esquires Coffee Shop in Muroor serves rice. Plain rice! And we've tried Mongolian beef and spicy basil beef, both satisfying!
3. I've upgraded my receiver (box) from e-vision. So, I can watch high definition (HD) channels now + the receiver has a personal video recorder (PVR) utilizing its internal memory. Most of the time, I'm torn between two channels. Hence, I'm not missing the other shows/movies/whatsoever now. Yay for the PVR!
4. Finished reading Twisted 8 1/2, actually re-read majority of the pages. Finally, I've regained my affair with the books.

That's all for now. I'm watching Six Days Seven Nights (Harrison Ford movie) via Fox Movies while writing this. I've seen a number of movies lately. My subscription to Orbit Showtime Network is super sulit (worth it). Been tuning in to The Filipino Channel (TFC) only for a few series and local news. Let's see if I'd still need it.