Standard Room

I was at Shangri-la Makati yesterday for the send-off/slumber party of my former colleague in Quorum. Che is going to try her luck in Israel, we all wished her bon voyage but more than anything else we also prayed for her safety once she is already in this unstable country. Quite a number of my former colleagues in this IT company are already scattered around the globe in pursuit of better living condition. Some are in Europe, Middle East, but most are in the US. I hope that they are all in good health and doing well in their new endeavors.

Anyways, I had lots of fun. It is always great to get in touch with friends and former colleagues. This particular group that I had party with are from the "Archive Dept." It also helped to make it more memorable that the venue for this get together is the posh Shangri-la Hotel in Makati. I now rarely step inside the 5 star hotels of this archipelago, unlike before or some 4 years ago when I was still connected with Quorum. I was then usually the one tasked by my superior to the guest relations assignments for our counterparts from the US. The task usually involves touring the guests in and out of the metropolis, dining with them, and doing activities even as mundane as taking a dip in the hotel pool. Our guests are always billeted in EDSA Shangri-la and I had the opportunity of soaking up on all the amenities the hotel provides from having daily breakfast at the cafe to having a chauffeur driven car take me home.

The slumber/send-off party was held in a "standard room" which is quite impressive in size. The room has a bed that can accomodate 7 people, it has a shower and tub, pretty decent bar, and a nice view of the Makati Shopping Center. The party started around 630 pm and ended in the following morning. Shalom ;-)

Haircut, Orson Scott Card, and Halo Halo

Today I was supposed to go to my former school to process the release of my TOR. I would like to know how many units have been officially credited to me a year before my graduation in nursing school. I have heard that some students learned belatedly that they are not qualified to graduate because of some uncredited units. So you can't blame me if I am scared as hell and really need to have my academic credits evaluated immediately. Unfortunately I was only able to escape from home around 2pm and was stuck in traffic for almost an hour via McArthur Highway. I decided to scrap my plan and transfer ride and take a bus ride to SM city via NLEX.

While in the bus I just decided to go and have a haircut at SM city so as not to waste my whole afternoon. The moment I got off the bus I immediately proceeded to David's to have a haircut. Unfortunately the salon was full of clients waiting for their turn to have a haircut. I was quite disappointed that my plans for the day seems to be going awry. The front desk clerk of the salon told me that I have to wait for an hour and a half for my turn. I decided not to list my name and just headed to The Block and go to Fully Booked.

I usually go to Fully Booked to torture myself...... mainly because the books on display are really nice but very expensive and I feel bad because I can't afford to buy even one book. So why not go there today when it seems that Murphy's Law is bound to happen for me today anyway. Why not cap it off with another depressing situation. So there I find myself scanning books one by one, shelves after shelves. I saw Cormac Mc Carthy's The Road... hmmmmm... I muttered... would like to read that one... Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss... yeah that too!.... Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner.... uh huh this one too.... Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys and Fragile Things.... by the time I reached Terry Pratchett's.... I find myself smiling and daydreaming. I am imagining that I am a security guard assigned in graveyard shift where everynight the book store is mine and I have all the books to myself.

After almost half an hour of lingering in an almost transcendental imaginations I decided to exit the store. But lo and behold I noticed a table filled with books on sale... checked the titles and the price... nah cant afford them either. However, I noticed that there were books underneath the table and piled on the floor. Went down on my knees and alas found three Orson Scott Card books and they are on 50% discount sale and I can afford them! Woohoo! The three books are part of a five volume "Homecoming" series. I bought volumes 1, 3 and 4, The Memory of Earth, The Ships of Earth, and Earthfall. I just have to scour all the Booksale store for the two other volumes, The Call of Earth and Earthbound.

Feeling somewhat victorious of somekind I decided to go to the new mall across The Block. Buoyed up by my precious purchase I felt like walking on sunshine even though it was already around 6pm. I have not yet fully toured Trinoma even though I have been to this mall thrice. It was a big surprise for me to find a David's salon right smack near the 2nd level entrance across the Block. To make things even better there were hardly any customers inside.

I was immediately ushered by an assistant to have my hair washed and shampooed. After washing my hair the stylist asked me if I would like to take advantage of their 50% discount on hair treatments. She advised me to have an oil treatment since my hair is pretty dry and coarse. It will only cost me 275 pesos.... by the way, the stylist is extremely pretty and her name is Beverly. So without hesitation I acquised with her suggestion. Her assistant...a very tall guy treated my hair with some paste like substance and then he wrapped my hair with a plastic wrap. He then started massaging me.... I am not quite sure with what he is doing... but it felt like he is squeezing me too much... my proud and mighty biceps and triceps seems to be losing the muscle tone I have tried to achieve with years and years of sweating it out at the gym. After 20 minutes or so... my hair was once again washed and the pretty stylist starts cutting my hair. After 30 minutes more I am already sporting a shorter do. By the way the discount is good only until the end of the month!

By time I left the salon I am already famish hence I immediately looked for a cheap place to dine. During our previous visit in Trinoma my brother saw a Razon's booth at the foodcourt and it has a long line of customers. I also remember my friend jtt telling me that we should try driving to Pampanga and try the pancit luglog and halo halo at Razon's. She swears with how good the food albeit the cheap price. I decided however to have the tapsilog and halo halo instead of the more famous pancit luglog and halo halo because I am extremely hungry. Anyways, the food was great the halo halo was extremely creamy.I will definitely go back there and try the other variations of sinangag at itlog, sisig, etc.. Big thanks to Trinoma... we dont have to drive all the way to Pampanga to dine at Razon's. Wooohoo! I had a great day despite the slight detours ;-)

Wanted: Vision Impaired Lady

Aha! Now I know what to look for in a lady to be attracted to me. She should be more importantly have a poor eyesight... then I guess she'll look at me in a different light...bwahahaha. I happen to stumble into this celebrity-look alike program/website and I used my blurry picture and the result were bewildering. I have never in my wildest imagination ever thought that I have anything similar in facial features with the celebrities that were selected. Geez I should also always set a date in a very foggy place.