This blog aims not only to make people laugh, but also to inspire others, instill positive values...in short, to make this world a little better, a little happier. This blog is meant to bless (in my own little way) all those who read it. It's my way of saying "I love you more and more".
Recently, I watched a nice movie in my favorite genre - romantic comedy. It has a long title which I can barely remember...something like "When He is NOT into You". There are several characters but the stars are Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck and Drew Barrymore. Not a dull moment. Interesting stories. Not everyone ended up happy which is okay and just like real life. My kind of movie.
I really enjoy editing and revising reports. Marica was pleased with my output she will try to resend one of her reports which I revised. Hopefully, we can work together in coming up with reports for her clients.
I started working on a project which is due September 10. Mostly, I downloaded stuff from the Internet. It's not my usual kind of thing but I am willing to do any kind of work these days...well, almost any.
Got the chance to chat with a number of friends today - with Jobert, with a Maryknoller, with a data processor, with a former student, with a Client-friend, with a college friend. Good to catch up on the latest.
This morning, mom and I went back to the hospital. I first had CBC taken. Then, we went to my doctor's clinic which was in the annex. Thank God, there were plenty of wheelchairs. I didn't have to walk!
But I had to wait as usual. I fell asleep. Then prayed the rosary. Mom bought me Wendy's shrimp sandwich and Pepsi Max. This time, Sharon found a vein in one try. Yehey!
There is a new supplier of Thalidomide. I will call them up tomorrow. Hope the price is the same if not cheaper than before.
There was no traffic to and from the hospital because it's a holiday today.
Nevertheless, I decided to "work" by revising the report of Marica, my friend and fellow consultant. I enjoyed changing the background, adding pictures, correcting the grammatical errors and other editing stuff. She is going to send me more reports.
Today is National Heroes' Day. My personal hero is my mom. She does many things for me. What would I do without her?
My aunt and uncle arrived recently from the States. They came over to bring their pasalubong of cookies, popcorn, chocolates, and soap.
We went to Gateway Foodcourt. We ate Lydia's lechon, pancit bihon, and fried rice. We also ate FIC (fruits in ice cream). I had mocha sugar-free flavor.
They brought me home. I took a nap.
My friend sent some sample reports. I saw some typos and grammatical errors in one report so I corrected them.
I woke up early because I had to be in McDo Crossing by 10 am. My son got me a cab. He thought there was no McDo in Crossing but there is one in Shangrila. It was a good thing the taxi driver was familiar with the one in Crossing. So I was there by exactly 10.
It turned out I had to wait because one of the people I had to meet with was late. Our client was there early also. I saw him but couldn't be sure.
We talked a while. Their company is in need of an analyst and I could come in as such. I ate Fillet O' Fish and french fries.
-------- Later in the day, I was fetched by Jobert and Lovely. It was Lovely's birthday.
First, we went to GSIS museum. There was an opening of an art exhibit. We looked around. Jobert kept taking pictures.
Then, we listened to a mini concert. Nice! Great repertoire. There was free food - pancit bihon, barbecue and iced tea.
We invited the pianist to join us for dinner. While going to Makati, Lovely said, "We watched Cats". The guy said, "I know only two songs from Cats. One is 'Memory', the other is - I forgot!" We all laughed.
We went to Greenbelt. We had dinner in a Japanese restaurant. I ate ebi tempura and sashimi.
We had a poetry session and our poem was "A Special Day". I also gave my poem to Lovely, entitled, "To a Lovely Friend".
It was traffic so I told Jobert to bring home Lovely first before me. He also took the chance to change clothes. He was going back to Makati for another gimmick.
What fun! ------------ Just when I thought I'm through with menstruation, I got my period back...with a vengeance!
Today, I worked on a project. There is another report but I will work on it tomorrow.
Another project came in today but it's rather difficult. I don't know if I can do a good job at it. Oh well, it's worth giving a try.
Back to the hospital we went today for another Velcade treatment. Oh! They made 5 attempts because they could not find a vein! How painful.
I rushed to SM The Block to meet my friend, Amy. We watched a dance movie. Nice but there were interruptions because there was a brownout. Then we ate at Flavors of China. We had birthday noodles and spareribs. Delicious! The problem was it was raining and everybody was going home. So we couldn't get a ride home. Amy had to leave me. I texted four different people to help me but they had legitimate reasons. I waited for more than two hours! Until a kind taxi driver took pity on me. He's heaven sent!
Now, I have to rest because I have a meeting tomorrow.
Today, after a lot of postponement, my date with my friend pushed through.
Her husband drove for us. We went to Gateway and decided to eat in Pancakes.
She ordered pancakes with bananas. I had taco, seafood gambero (pasta), and yogurt with bananas.
Conversation was about family, health, and work. She is a busy facilitator and writes FGD reports, too. But she has a lot of expenses. She is paying for a house, three cars, three children in college, and household expenses. So she has to "work to death".
--------- I have lots of spare time so aside from trying to improve my craft in report-writing/analysis, I have some writing ideas which I intend to pursue. Ha ha. You can say, when it comes to writing, I am a Jane of all trades, and a mistress of none!
Just last Sunday, mom and I watched a movie starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta. It is entitled, "The Taking of Pelham 123". In this film, Denzel as Walter Garber is a dispatcher while John plays the villain, Ryder. Ryder along with three other men take 17 people, mostly passengers of a subway train, as hostages.
It was a great movie. Mom and I were glued to the TV.
Yesterday, as the whole world knows, a real-life hostage drama took place. The hostage-taker was dismissed policeman Rolando Mendoza.
Let me do a bit of comparing...
...In the movie, Ryder gave a deadline of one hour to receive the ransom of $10 million or he will kill one passenger a minute beyond the deadline. Yesterday, the hostage drama stretched for 10 hours.
...In the film, Walter was not an experienced negotiator but he was a real hero, willing to risk his life. In the real drama, sadly there was no "hero" to speak of.
...In "The Taking of Pelham 123", only two hostages were killed...and, sorry to spoil your fun, Walter kills Ryder. Yesterday, several hostages were killed (last I heard, there were eight of them). And Mendoza himself was killed by the police.
Conclusions? Watching movies is fun and enjoyable. We love the suspense. And endings are almost always happy.
In real life drama, on the other hand, there is nothing enjoyable about learning that a hostage is taking place. You stay tuned to media because there is no script being followed, you don't know what will happen next. And sadly, we are not assured of happy endings in reality.
The question being asked is, "What can we learn from this?".
These days, people are saying that I am looking good, pretty, and similar adjectives. I could not help but agree. Ha ha. Vain as I am, it feels good to be complimented on my looks despite my age.
Furthermore, things are looking good as far as work is concerned. More and more clients and agencies are expressing interest in me as a consultant. I am more than eager to work with them. Some projects are in the proposal stage. Others are sure already to be passed on to me for analysis.
Since I have all the time in the world, I decided to embark on a self-improvement project. I resolve to be a better consultant and analyst/report-writer.
So, yesterday until today, I transformed a report in Word file into Powerpoint presentation, complete with pictures and photos.
I am getting resource materials from different people on how to analyze data and come up with better reports.
When we were growing up until we were grown up, we loved eating this brand of sardines called Mabuti Sardines. But it's not locally made, despite the Filipino name. It's Portuguese, or so I heard. I miss those sardines.
Today, my sister gave us Rose Bowl Sardines which is the closest to Mabuti. It's a bit spicy but I enjoyed it nevertheless. I ate three pieces and mom had the other three.
Next week, I have three dates - Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. With different friends. I will be watching movies and a musical and will be eating out. Yehey!
As mentioned in an earlier post, it's my turn to be charity patient. I received Velcade for free today. Even if it was directly administered, there was no pain.
To compute for the dosage, I have had to be measured - weight and height. My weight is 66 kgs. and height is 4'7". That's how heavy and short I am! Oh no!
I wrote a short report- part of a topline.
I was supposed to go out today with a friend. But our merienda and movie date didn't push through. Too bad.
So I just played online scrabble. Oh well...
Mom is out. She visited her sister to get the pair of pants given to her by her niece. She's on her way back but will pass by the market to buy fruits. I requested for pancit canton or anything that would be convenient for her to buy.
I watched a DVD today, entitled "You Don't Mess with The Zohan", starring Adam Sandler. Funny but green. No boring moment. --------- Last year, we were given eight checks of P2,000 each for my Velcade treatment. My mom was able to encash two only when she misplaced the other six. Then, about a month ago, she found the checks. But since they were a year late, the bank didn't honor them. Last night, I called up a friend to ask if the giver the checks would be willing to replace them. My friend said she will call up our common friend.
And today, I was informed that the giver willingly offered to replace all the checks. Praise God!
The other good news is that my brother is donating the money needed for my Thalidomide good for one month. --------- I chatted with my friend tonight. She was in need of some marketing research agencies she could contact. I gave her a list of five firms and they have hired me as consultant. So, I may end up working on my friend's project in the end.
I went to my two doctors today and they had two different diagnoses for my nausea. My Internist says it could be dyspepsia. My Hematologist says it could be my myeloma.
I was given some free Thalidomide. (Again. Thanks, God!). Moreover, I will be given free Velcade treatments. Last year, I was the one who gave extra Velcade to charity patients. Now, I'm the charity patient. (Thank You, Lord!)
---------- An agency sent the continuation of a project I have earlier started. I worked on it tonight. But some data are still missing. So I have yet to finish the report.
I might do some in-depth interviews among kids and teens. The schedule was supposed to be tomorrow, Tuesday, but moved to Wednesday. Hope the project pushes through.
Earlier today, this morning, a good friend asked me what my rates are for report-writing of FGDs. I gave her my usual rates.
My mom went home from mass and grocery shopping, anxious. She couldn't find her cellphone! She must have left it in SM.
So all through lunch, she kept praying, "Lord, St. Anthony, please..."
She was about to dress up again when she thought of looking through her other bag. And lo and behold! Her cellphone!
Turns out she thought she had her phone all along in the bag she brought but it was in her other bag. Thank You, Lord!
------------- Last night, mom and I watched an old movie. A movie so old we had forgotten, we had watched it already. The title? "Die Hard", starring Bruce Willis. Made in 1988, the year my son was born.
We didn't mind staying up late watching the movie. Very exciting, suspenseful, action-packed.
Yesterday and today, I worked on a rush report. I'm done.
But I had to give up a night out with some friends. I was invited to dinner and a concert. I had to turn down the offer because I was not through yet with the report.
Besides, I was waiting for a Client to arrive to give me the specs for another report. She just left. I'm not too keen on the study though.
A third reason I am giving up a night of fun is that I am still nauseous. By Monday, I hope to find out what's giving me this yucky feeling.
Today, I watched a DVD of "The Other Boleyn Girl" starring Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johannson, and Eric Bana. "The ambitious Anne Boleyn and her sister Mary rival for the bed and heart of King Henry VIII", says the DVD cover. An interesting, moving film altogether.
A friend visited me today. I couldn't offer her anything but a listening ear and some food. She wasn't actually sad. She just wanted to see me. My friend talked about her son, her family, her chatmates/textmates. I'm glad she passed by.
My mom is sooooh sweet! I've been begging her to make me spaghetti and her famous chicken salad. Today, she made both. The spaghetti isn't bad and the chicken salad is great as usual. I feel so blessed to have a mom like her!
For several weeks now, I feel like throwing up whenever I eat. There were times when I actually puked. What's wrong with me?
I checked with the Internet, and there could be a number of causes of vomiting. One of which, and the most plausible in my case, is diabetes (too high or too low sugar). I think, I am taking too many anti-diabetic drugs that my blood sugar is becoming too low. Well, I will find out next week when I have some tests and see my Internist.
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I just came from a meeting, a presentation of the marketing research agency I am a consultant of. I talked briefly about the company, discussed the market Client is interested in, and presented our proposal for a market study.
I think the meeting went pretty okay. Hope we get the account but there are two other contenders. May the best agency win!
"As I sing my heart's thanksgiving And my eyes look heavenward How the stars you flung like jewels Bid your welcome, shine your light
As I marvel at your moonrise, I'm in awe Yet I ask, "What am I that you should love me and hold me as your dearest love of all?"
...These are lyrics from a beautiful song by Bukas Palad. I feel like crying, or actually cry, whenever I hear this song. Because it reminds me of God's great love for me, for all of us.
It's been over two months since my last period. My OB-Gyne friend said that I might be menopausal already. If I don't have menstruation for an entire year, that would be official.
But so far, no hot flushes. Thank God.
I'm glad the Lord has given me one child. I will never have another. That one child is all the blessing I need. He is the joy of my life!
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Good news! My new project which came in only yesterday is officially approved. I will be facilitating four groups on September 10 and 11. And then I will analyze the results. Yehey!
I just finished reading another book by Dan Brown entitled, "The Lost Symbol". Last night, I couldn't put it down because of the suspense but I just had to sleep.
So today, I completed the book. Typical Dan Brown book with all the symbols, and myths, and legends...and the Masons. The only thing though is that it was anti-climactic.
I took a nap to recover lost sleep.
I have to work tonight on a report. Hope I can think straight.
Last night, I finished reading "The Great Train Robbery". Nice book even if it contained a lot of "antiquated" language because it was set during the Victorian times.
Today, I did a proposal based on our meeting yesterday. Hope we get the project.
Bad news. My mom's obstinate kidney stone has lodged on her gall bladder. She has to undergo still another procedure costing P50,000 to P70,000. Where to get the money?
Finally, our batch get-together pushed through. It was held at Meldy's place in Tierra Pura.
I was the second to arrive. The first cab I took got a flat tire so I had to ride another one. The first guest was USec Anneli Lontoc of DOTC. She was there by 1:30 pm.
Slowly, the other guests arrived. There were 13 of us but one had to leave early to attend an Iglesia ni Kristo service and later a wake.
Someone brought our yearbook and we had fun looking at old pictures. I asked everyone to write their contact numbers to update our list.
Food was plentiful. Before dinner, there was red wine, nachos with cheese dip, potato chips, Chocnut and Mentos, chicharon with vinegar (two types: healthy and unhealthy), garlic bread with pesto. For dinner, we had pizza, lasagna, puttanesca, barbecue, chicken empananada, and salad. For dessert, there was walnut cake and cassava cake.
Everyone brought home food, including the untouched ensaymada. I chose cassava cake and lasagna.
Rino gave away books because he works for Random House. I got five books including one by Dan Brown and another by John Grisham.
Cynthia, who had a driver, brought me home. Mom already texted me so I had to assure her that someone was giving me a ride.
We are planning our next get-together sometime November this year, hopefully double the number of attendees.
------------ Today, I continued reading "The Great Train Robbery" by Michael Crichton. I also worked on a report.
Tomorrow, I will be attending a client meeting in Makati. I will be fetched and brought home. Yehey. Work is work.
Another friend is asking me for help in making Powerpoint Presentations. My pleasure.
Hi I'm Nimia. Just turned 50. Single again. Not desperately seeking (but secretly longing). Notorious for my corny jokes. My mission in life is to be a joyful instrument of God's love and a loving instrument of God's joy through TAWASSS - teaching, appreciating, writing, affirming, speaking and serving with a smile.
