Magaling-Magaling

Japanese service never fails to amaze me. Last night, I realized my new phone still had no email service, when I asked Dan how to get one, he said we have to go to Softbank office to have it set up. But after our Ichiran Ramen dinner, he had to rush back to the office so he no longer had time to take me to Softbank.


I want to live a normal life here in Japan, I mean, I want to go to places, get basic services without Dan's help. So I decided to pass by Softbank and try as much as I could to have my keitai email.


When I entered the small shop I went directly to the anime looking lady and managed to say "sumimasen, watashi no keitai no emairu wo setapu shitain desu ga, do shitara ii desu ka?", in the middle of saying this I forgot that I don't know the nihongo for setting up my email. The anime lady didn't understand what "setapu shimasu" means.. so I tried different ways of pronouncing it like "shetap?", "shitappu?" but to no avail, at last she understood me when I said, "emairu wo tsukuritai desu"... nagsisisi na nga ako bakit pa ako pumunta dun. She got my keitai and did something to it when she stopped and asked what my phone's ansho bango is (PIN number). Dan bought the phone so I didn't know, baka isipin niya na ninakaw ko yung phone, I explained to her that it was new and my husband bought it from me. She asked a lot of things which I didn't understand so "hai" lang ako ng "hai". Then her phone rang and she excused herself to answer it... I thought wala na syang silbi sa akin since hindi rin namin alam ang PIN, umalis na lang ako na hindi nagpapaalam kasi may kausap pa nga sya sa phone.


When she suddenly appeared to me at the bicycle parking lot, running and asking "daijoubu desu ka?" (Okay ka lang?). Imagine she got out of the shop and followed me, just to make sure I got the best service.


Only in Japan...

F4 Stopover

I am here in Taipei, the land of the F4, for my stopover to Fukuoka, I arrived too early so I decided to roam around the international airport and look for that blind massage coz I badly need a massage after that panic packing I did.

On my way to the massage center, nauhaw ako, I looked for a water fountain pero wala, naisip ko tiisin ko na lang.. pero ndi na kaya, tuyo na talaga ang lalamunan ko. At napabili ako ng USD2.00 na bottled water, most expensive water na nabili ko sa tanan buhay ko! (OA). Buti na lang talaga may $50 akong dala. And then napadaan naman ako sa Duty Free Shop, and I decided to check it out since I have a lot of time to kill when I found the pot of cream Arlene was telling me about... which I wouldn't say muna kung ano. It's not available in the Philippines and baka wala rin sya sa Japan and since nabaryahan na yung $50 ko (excuses, excuses)... binili ko na sya for $18. Ang saya pala gumastos in USD kasi ndi mo alam na hundreds na pala ginagastos mo hehehe. After I paid for it, the chinese saleslady told me in her broken english that the cream is indeed good... sabi niya "it will make your face pink, I put too". Sus sana sinabi niya yun habang nag iisip-isip pa ako kung bibilhin ko yun para ndi na ako nag isip pa! hehehe... Hay ang arte ko talaga!


And then while watching the runway, natulala ako nung dumaan yung Eva Air na Hello Kitty yung paint sa body ng plane. Gusto ko picturean but I was too excited to get my camera from my bag. Nung bumalik na ung ulirat ko, nakalipad na yung plane... tsk tsk.. sayang! ang cute talaga ni Hello Kitty!

So that's what I did during my stopover... and you guessed it right... ndi na ako nakapagmassage (naging beauty cream na)... kaya nag iinternet na lang ako ngayon. hehehe

Vanity

You Are 64% Vain

You're a little vain, but you also work hard for your good looks.Just remember, everyone knows you are a total hottie. You don't have to remind them.

How Vain Are You?

Mirisi

I got stuck on the road in the middle of a temperamental storm, wet and confused on how to reach the condo which is barely a kilometer far and I have finally ridden a pedicab to save myself from skin disease brought by the infamous flood in Buendia/Washington street. All because Georgia and I wanted to watch the new Star Cinema movie, A Love Story. It was all over the news that strong rain will loom over Metro Manila until Saturday but still we went out to catch the 10:55 last full show, but it was because the rain stopped by that time. You know naman, Pag-Asa can be hopelessly wrong with their forecasts.

But no, when we left Glorietta the predicted rain was in full force, buti na lang I brought my umbrella kaya naunahan namin sa taxi yung mga sosy na walang dalang payong at ayaw mabasa. But the driver just dropped us at Petron Station because the road along our condo is unpassable because of the flood.

Para kaming basang sisiw dun amidst the rain, strong winds, thunder, figuring out how to get home. Nakakatakot pa yung dalugdog coz I remembered this news I watched in TV Patrol a long time ago, where two friends got struck by a lightning because the tip of the umbrella they were carrying was metal. The friend carrying the umbrella died and yung isa naman tumalsik lang and lived to tell the story. Since I was the one carrying the umbrella, ako yung pwede matamaan ng kidlat... and si Georgia naman tatalsik sa hanggang bewang na baha at matetepok din sya due to elephantisis or Leptospirosis. Sus wala pa tawon mi liwat!

Buti na lang may dumaan na pedicab and our problem was solved. But my heart went out for this manong who make a living out of transporting people stranded in the flood. Nung dumating na kami sa pinakamalalim na part, bumaba na sya sa pedicab at nagtulak. Half of his frail body was submerged in the filthy water of Makati from sewage and canals. Basura everywhere, for sure may mga ipis and daga pang nag sscuba diving dun. He was so thin, so I imagined him to be the usual padre de familia I see in documentaries, who bears long hours of dirty jobs to feed 7 mouths waiting for him at home. It was one humbling experience, thank God my Dad is not one of those and at this time, comfortably sleeping on his bed.

A Love Story is one movie worth crossing that flood waters for. Yun bang kahit binagyo na kami eh we didn't feel na nalugi kami. Beautiful. Ang galing ni Maricel.

Papa Josh

When I saw in the news that Josh Hartnett arrived in Davao, I got excited with regret that I didn't go home for a vacation. As in nakakaloka! Among all the hollywood actors, si Josh Hartnett talaga ang crush ko since 40 days and 40 nights. I think kaming mga Chiztiks like him a lot even before. My kuya works as a writer/press for PIA Davao, so I thought they will have the usual press conference there and he will get to meet him. Kung andun lang ako, sasama talaga ako sa kanya kahit na ako na bibili ng bagong cellphone niya. But then I saw in the news that the bigtime networks couldn't even have a decent interview with him (that they even had to make abang for him outside the airport toilet!), so I assumed baka walang press conference ang magaganap because of the OA security.

But when I received a text from my brother saying "kainuman namin si josh hartnett ngayon", naloka talaga ako lalo! waaahhhh! I almost died from inggit!

Then I learned, it wasn't a press conference, he just knew some people from the production team and he wanted to meet the director coz kuya is also into filmmaking and scriptwriting kaya mas interesado sya sa director. Kung ako pa yun, makikiusap ako sa kilala ko na ibugaw ako kay Josh.. bwehehe.

When he went to Mt. Diwalwal, it was their Wrap Up Party that is why he was not only able to meet the director (ano nga pangalan nun) but also the hollywood hunk and the japanese superstar Takura Kimuya. So nakiinterview na rin sya dun for his article. Josh was really down to earth daw, unlike Takura na maarte. Well siguro nanibago ang hapon sa surroundings and maybe he thought "kangitngit ba diri!"(translation: "it's so dark here!" if you don't get my joke, it's because people around him are brown colored mao ngitngit).

Since it was too late to fly in, I just asked him to get an autograph from Josh for me. But he gave me more than just an autograph, may dedication pa! =) Nagkkwentuhan kasi daw sila while he asked that, the actor even told him he has also been to Japan and he thought it's too cold there. Thus, the content of the dedication. It was written in a torn page from his notebook, in a typical american handwriting (mukhang left handed sya noh?) nonetheless I still treasure it coz hiningi yun ni kuya for me.

Awhile ago, kuya asked me who Takura Kimuya is, coz he learned from the producers that it was so hard for them to fly him from Japan coz nagkagulo sa Narita Airport. Bakit daw ganun? and bakit ganun ka arte? It just now that he knew how popular the actor is, sayang nakihingi rin sana ako ng autograph kasi crush yun ni Georgia, tsk tsk.

Haay, the perks of his job. Gusto ko na mag career change.

my bro at work

perks of the job... PRICELESS!

Little Miracles

Due to the countless demands for our field(thank God!) job interviews has become part of my profession's culture. I like job interviews, although scary, especially when it's the part where you get to meet the top guns because it's usually not technical and you are free to ask whatever about their company. But I hate virtual interviews aka via phone or web cam, I don't know why but it scares me a lot. Phone interviews make me tongue tied, that is why I think I don't have a future in call center.

Yesterday, the Japanese manager sent me a mail about my scheduled interview for today (the previous one I wrote about has been moved). And it would be via Skype (uggh!). I was hoping I'd have the interview when I get to Japan so it will be more personal. So I panicked, and asked my hubby last night to practice again with me coz my tongue needs to be twisted enough for nihongo. Then my hubby's collegue in the land of the rising sun tipped that there will be very technical questions. And so I panicked all the more... imagine a TECHNICAL interview via WEB in NIHONGO! How can all the things I hate come in one dreadful morning. What a luck huh?

I panicked (again) and became restless, I wasn't worried about how much I know, but how I'm going to express it in a language I just started to REALLY learn.

And then I realized that there is something bigger that all of those things I was so worried about. I was so ashamed to admit that it never crossed my mind before I started panicking and feeling angry to my hubby (wala lang gusto ko lang magalit sa kanya) when it has always been there all the time. So I got my pink rosary and said my prayers, for the interview, for my family and my friend's father's health as well. Coz you know when you start to say it, your problem feels so small and you tend to remember others to create one collective petition that can come close to its greatness.

So the day of the interview came, and it turned out it was going to be a panel interview by 4 japanese engineers and managers who don't understand english. My japanese manager was so nervous and my hubby too (natatae daw sya sa nerbyos). It should be enough to turn my knees into jelly and back out, but thankfully, it went good. Not very well, of course as expected my nihongo grammar went circus, but they understood me and I was able to answer their questions.. including the technical ones! (OOP, TCP/IP, DBMS, Postgres, CUnit, ...). Good thing, I wasn't asked about stuff that I don't know.

Everything went well today.

I've never written about my faith practices but I guess it is but right to share something that has become a big part of me. Praying the Rosary have been a savior to me ever since. During my father's kidney operation, a painful breakup from a long term relationship, discerning if Dan was the one, a day and another, hours before my wedding and even in simplest times like riding a taxi alone at night or even before a big date.

As we go through our ever afters aka adulthood/parenthood, we meet obstacles in different shapes and sizes but we should always remember that there is something greater that these and it's just right there with you all the time.

Strictly Girltalk

This afternoon Georgia, Rose and I went to SM women lingerie department because the expensive Wacoal brand is on sale. We dug in to their array of colors and styles in 50% off the tag, good deal indeed. But what makes it interesting is, the saleslady gave us a tip on how to properly wear a bra. You should bend over, push your excess fats on both sides to fit everything inside the bra cups, before joining the hooks. You'll know if it fits well when there are no longer visible extra fats near or under your underarms.

If Georgia didn't convince me to fit the bras I was about to buy, I wouldn't know my right size. Because I insisted I was B80 but when I fit it the way the saleslady told us... it was bad. So the saleslady suggested another size, it was my first time to fit a size D75 coz I thought pang amerikana lang yung ganung size. But it was the most perfect fit! I loved it... nawala yung extra fat sa tabi and ndi ako parang naiipit. Relax na sya kung baga at may added cleavage pa.

All these years I was wearing the wrong size, maybe I got these fibrocystic cysts from wearing a support that is too small for me, lagi pa naman akong may underwire, so lagi silang naiipit ng mga wires and I know coz nag iiwan sya ng bakat. Plus I thought I was just too fat that is why I have those extra fats on the sides. tsk tsk.

So ladies be sure you are wearing your perfect size. Do the bend over thingie. Coz this is not just for vanity, for the cleavage or anything, but more importantly for your health.