it's the trip not the destination

after my one week vacation, i am now back again to the usual grind. the days of not having to worry over what's in store for me at work is long gone. 10 days ago the only thing that we worried about was where to park the car, where to eat next and what songs to play during the long drive. now i am back to the reality that is WORK. the seven days was not quite enought to fit all the places that were initially on our itinerary, but the places we went to were fun filled enough to last until our next scheduled mini break.

armed with thousands of songs on vincent's ipod, we drove throughout the state of pennsylvania amidst rain showers. i just love it when it rains! i'd say long drives on a rainy day is the way to go when you want some form of relaxation. that is, if you're not the designated driver. i just find it very soothing to be riding shotgun while listening to the soundtrack of your trip (which in our case varies from the counting crows, to nyoy volante's songs, to the dixie chicks and maroon 5!)




we toured philadelphia, which is almost like new york with a little less traffic and a lot more historic sites to see.

we met with old time friends from our old job in pinas who were kind enough to adopt us for a night in lancaster (thanks to gay-gay and alvin!).



we shopped for chocolates and had a lot of fun (courtesy of pamela) at hershey park.




we defied our own deaths by being crazy enough to ride the storm runner (thanks again to vincent for not being a wimp and riding it with me!)



we burned a million calories by strolling through the whole strip of the atlantic city boardwalk and back.



we saw the house where one of the most powerful man in the world resides and who is now probably getting antsy of the john kerry candidacy.


we felt like we were in a disney movie when we ooohed and aaahed at the display of fireworks and fountains at the longwoods gardens.

we marveled at the great performances of the artists in cirque du soleil at their show Alegria.

we ate a lot...

we got lost in ghettos (courtesy of dennis' gps navigator he he he...)

we missed our exits on the interstates...

we catched up on each others lives...

and finally we dreaded the time when we had to bid each other goodbye.

to shiela, vincent, dennis and the rest of the poeple we met and made friends with during our trip, thanks a lot! it was a lot of fun guys! it was worth all the trouble of commuting by train to philadelphia and worth all the ot's i had to pass up just to be there.

and so my vacation has began

i did nothing but sleep all day today. it is the start of my 10 day vacation and i am playing the role of a bum to the hilt. tomorrow i'm off to philadelphia by myself. it would be my first time to commute by train and i don't know what's gotten into my head, that i told Dennis i would be alright even if i travel alone. i am crazy. remind me to bonk myself in the head in the future when i consent to traveling alone in a very foreign place. me, the person whose brain cells doesn't recognize directions even if her life depended on it... what the hell was i thinking?!

anyway, i still haven't finished packing for our trip. procrastination hits again. it is one of those things that i do whenever i am faced by a possible stressful situation. in college whenever we have a scheduled quiz on microbiology, anatomy, psychopathophysiology or what have you, i would always end up skimming my notes a good 30 minutes before the professor comes in and asks us to take out yellow sheets of paper. cramming...it always works for me.

so tonight, i am going to pack my bags and hope that i wouldn't forget stashing my toiletries in my backpack. tomorrow, i would figure out a way to reach philadelphia before noon. armed with what i hope is the latest njtransit train schedule and a lot of guts, i am hoping to reach my destination. wish me luck!

smug marrieds

finally! natapos ko na kahapon ang the da vinci code. pinuyat lang naman ako ng dalawang araw ni Dan Brown. pero oks lang, maganda naman ang story. intriguing, lalo na kung katoliko ka. last night, habang nasa trabaho, naglaro kami ni nancy (kasama kong puti) sa website ni Dan Brown, breaking the code ek ek. aliw, kung saan saan na kami napuntang website. tinawagan pa namin yung mga phone numbers na binigay sa mga clues. ang sumasagot si Robert Langdon... he he he parang totoo! two heads are better than one daw, kaya madali lang naming na break yung code. ang saya! parang wala kami sa trabaho...

the other day, tumambay ako sa apartment ng kasama naming pinoy dito. tumawag kasi sila, nagluto daw ng pasta. aba! libreng dinner he he he... baba agad ako sa second floor. ayun, kwento kwento, usap usap. sa gitna ng kwentuhan, bigla kong naalala ang bridget jones' diary. somebody from the group reminded me of the "smug marrieds". wala lang, naka-relate lang ako sa inis ni bridget sa mga "smug marrieds". sorry dahil medyo na bad trip ako, pero a wedding ring or even a man for that matter is not the only key to somebody's happiness. to each his own nga di ba? di naman ako nakikialam kung ano man ang nangyayari sa buhay ng ibang tao.

ok, bago ako ma-high blood countdown muna ako sa upcoming mini break ko. seven days na lang!!! seven days and we'll hit the road. excited na ako. sana lang hindi umulan....

the thing to blame

if i don't update my blog for a couple of days, you have to blame this book. i have spent an entire night's worth of being able to sleep in my bed on normal sleeping hours, wide awake and thoroughly absorbed in it's pages.

i had splurged on this controversial book, along with David Sedaris' new oneand an NCLEX reviewer i bought for my older sister the last time i went to Borders. three minutes inside the store and there goes my eighty dollars faster than i can say mona lisa. i was actually looking for it's paperback version because it's understandably cheaper, but i couldn't find one. the guy at the register told me that if i wanted the paperback i'd have to wait for a couple of months. no way will i subject myself to the torture of having to wait that long before i get the chance to read it.

anyway, i went to work last night an hour early because one of the day shift nurses is getting off earlier than her usual hours. i came in and found out that census is very low and that i shouldv'e been cancelled, this being an extra time for me. i was glad that they were going to send me home. i can finally resume reading the goddamn book. however i ended up putting in four more hours at work because my supervisor thought it wiser to make me stay until eleven o'clock. but i am not the one to complain. hey, four hours of sitting my ass off doing nothing other than chatting with the supervisor of engineering and being paid with my base rate plus night differential plus four hours worth of bonus is not bad.

i reached home at eleven thirty, watched some tv with my housemate and then decided to go to bed and continue reading chapter eight. this was the chapter i was on when i was so rudely interrupted by my work in the hospital... he he he. i kept reading until the wee hours of the morning when sunlight is already visible through the "makeshift" curtain we have in our bedroom. joyce, my roommate who worked from 11p-7a shift came home finding me still absorbed in my reading. i only paused to join her for breakfast. a cup of coffee and my nose is again buried in the book.

dan brown, nakakaloka ka! your'e giving me insomnia! i can't wait until i get to the final pages. the suspense is killing me.

i like

i just talked to my sister the other day about silly weird stuff that only the both of us can relate to. god! i miss talking to someone where i can just tell it as it is without having to explain it to him/her. i like how our mind wander in the same direction. i like how we are very similar in our taste for music, movies, food and in our passion for reading. i like it when i'd describe a pair of shoes to her and say "it's very you" and she'd know exactly what i mean. or when we are in one of our window shopping events, she'd point out to me a certain bag "with an attitude" and i couldn't agree with her more. i like how we complement each other, me with my utter lack of sense of direction and her with her talent for figuring out north from south. i like it when we never see each other at home for a long time because of our fucked up schedules(and to think that we live on the same house!) and she and i would be overflowing with interesting things to tell each other the next time we meet. i like how she makes me crash in her bedroom whenever i don't feel like sleeping in my own room. i like how she puts up with all the crappy, angst filled whining i subject her to, everytime i'm pissed with somebody from my old job. i like the way we would meet at the mall (always at National Bookstore filipiniana section, i don't know why?) after her work on my day off and run to the theaters with spaceburger bags on our hands to catch a last full show. i like how i shared with her the most fun bus ride to batangas i had in my life and the most hilarious mrt scene i've encountered, with her playing a big part of the scene. i like it when we're sitting on the concrete steps watching an outdoor gig, drinking beer and not having a care in the world. i mean, how cool is that to be getting drunk with your sister? most importantly, i like how we never let our being sisters get in the way of our friendship.

clutch break

i am bored. that was what my friend told me when i told him i wanted to buy a car. i have been considering doing it for the past three weeks and it's a good thing that i had talked to him. somehow he had drilled some sense into my SUV obsessed mind. i have to put a break on this obsession, lest i end up with a brand new souped up car but with no money in my bank account. i must take things slowly and just concentrate first on getting my driver's license. Clarisse was kind enough to offer driving me to DMV two weeks from now so i can get my written exam over and done with. i just love this girl to pieces. as for my friend who stopped my madness in wanting to buy a car, i found out he has other agendas in mind. he's asking me to go with him to london next summer. a new car? or a europe tour? tell me.

small world

i was at a filipino store with joyce the other day, buying my usual ration of Lucky Me pancit canton and Chippy when an american probably in his sixties came in and approached me. he asked if Ateneo de Davao was a coed while pointing to the shirt i was wearing. i answered him yes and he said that he taught at Ateneo de Manila for years. i replied that although i was wearing an Ateneo shirt, it was my sister who studied there. he went on to tell me that he studied in UP before teaching and that i probably wasn't born yet when he was in the Philippines the last time. this guy is cool, i thought to myself. he went on his way saying that he only came inside to ask me about the school. he looks like he's in a hurry, but he had time to approach me about a school he used to teach for, located in some faraway remote island. hmmm...he must be missing pinas the same way that i do.

the chair i emptied

this one's for HIM:

"i am not just an empty chair anymore... i'm different... punch me and i bleed."--- Peter Parker

of course it's too late. the chair that i've emptied before had been filled up by someone else's presence. damn! if only i weren't too uncomfortable in that chair before, i would be the one seating there. that should've been my chair. i miss that chair. now i'm not allowed to seat on that chair. i hope to find an empty chair for myself. something comfortable that makes me feel right at home. something sturdy that would stand me and the heavy weight i carry at times. something that would stay mine long after my need for a rocking chair is over.