A day in the life…

Woe #1: I’m here at the office, while my family’s at home enjoying the break. Darn. Wala namang ginagawa…

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This is basically a rundown of stuff that happened after the 23rd. Maraming nakakatwang nangyari… astig talaga ang Paskong ito…

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My grandma and aunt arrived early Saturday morning. Was roused by the shuffling of feet and sounds of voices. With barely four hours of sleep, I wake up to greet the balikbayans and my other relatives… with my ultra-hoarse voice. Obvious na galing Christmas party.

Everyone was feeling dandy that when they decided to eat lunch at Tiendesitas, I had to force the adrenalin rush inside my body. After lunch, we went to the mall and bought stuff in the department store and grocery. At 5PM, I was feeling groggy. Good thing it was their bedtime, too (jet lag pa ito) so we got home at 6PM.

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My sister and I had to stay at home while my folks went to attend Midnight Mass. As we were watching TV, she asked me to switch to channel 9, hoping to catch The Sound of Music.

To no avail. UFC was on.

Sheesh, they don’t celebrate Christmas like they used to.

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I consider my sister as a genius when it comes to gift wrapping. She liked to do those artsy-fartsy things.

Until Christmas Eve, when she had to wrap all the gifts for all our relatives. I woke up the following day, and she told me from that moment on, she hated gift wrapping,

"Nasusuka na ako." That’s enough statement.

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Before Christmas I had no watch to wear.

After Christmas I have three: my FMA pocket watch replica which I received during our office Christmas party, the Timex watch my SO gave me, and a silver bracelet watch from my cousins in Canada.

Hmm… nice situation.

Thanks, everyone.

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Yesterday, as my SO and I rode a bus to Greenhills, I saw this news about a one-storey grocery in Leyte that caught fire and killed more than 20 people, including a 3-month old baby.

What’s worse is that according to reports, the fire exit was padlocked. and some of them died not because of burns but because of suffocation.

Tsk tsk. A tragedy at Christmas day. When it’s supposed to be a happy occasion, many are drowning in sorrow because of a loss of a loved one.

May they rest in peace.

And may the guilty be punished.

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Today I arrive at the office and was kinda surprised to see newspapers taped on our glass door, covering the view from the inside.

When I went in, I realized that the repainting has begun since yesterday. Now our office looks like some of those Lego houses I used to make when I was a kid, with different colors for walls. In our case, it’s green, blue and yellow on the outside.

The creatives room is still the same. Tomorrow it’ll be violet and yellow.

Wait, what are we doing here again?!

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Hope you had a great Christmas. Let’s hope to have a happy New Year.

Zeth, Mike and I (and yea, including Ronnie, our boss’ driver) spent more than half of the day yesterday on the road. Not that we didn’t have work to do (good thing I just needed to proofread some things when I got back). We had an itinerary.

First off to Novaliches, Caloocan. Tita Becky’s place. We were to pick up the pastries that we ordered. Every year, Fluxx’s mom sells these cakes and stuff in time for the Holidays. Since Fluxx is in Cebu, we were the ones who’d get the food. 8 boxes of Blueberry Streussel, a box of Food for the Gods, 2 Fruitcakes, an Apple Pie, 2 kinds of cakes, and Gio’s Yema. Spent about 30 minutes there, and got my own cake server (which I wanted since last year, naunahan lang ako ng isang tao noon…) and a little red teddy bear.

Tita Becky also sells throw pillow cases, satin bedsheets and cutesy bags. I’m thinking of buying a bag and another order of Yema for the New Year. I can already hear her say, "Pasaway ka talaga…"

Next up, Ronnie was tasked to go to a client in Bulacan to collect fees, and at the same time deliver the Christmas gifts from our company. We had to wait for almost an hour (my boss calls Mike and Ronnie almost simultaneously, just to ask why we’ve already spent 3 hours on the road). Kasalanan ng client yun, tagal nila e.

The last part of our itinerary was Zeth’s request. We went to Almanz’s mom to give a gift and one of the Fruitcakes she ordered (pambawi sa ‘di natuloy na 8 Waves nung nakaraang summer). She was coloring her hair when we arrived, so it took a while before she came out of her room. She told us that she thought of texting us the other day because she was feeling sad, and that she was surprised and happy that we dropped by. She began to cry when Zeth gave her the gifts. She still misses Almanz, and so do we. It’s the first Christmas without the dude…

We went back to the office at about 4 PM, and had our lunch (yep, you read it right) at about 4:30.

Tomorrow, I ain’t gonna go a-visiting. Rather, someone’s gonna visit us… and stay with us for a few months. Cool. My lola’s back. In time for Christmas. This is gonna be a fun Holiday.

Merry Christmas, peeps. Keep safe, keep sober. At tulad ng sabi ni Jollibee, be happy.

Took the day off yesterday. The other day, I was having a fever. Stubborn me still went to work. Nighttime, complications came in.

Spent the day sleeping, eating and watching episodes 28 to 30 of Full Metal Alchemist, during my mom’s TV break (meaning the only time she doesn’t watch any talk or Koreanovela program).

Now I’m back, and my throat still hurts. Shit.

Videoke pa naman bukas…

Currently listening to an FM station… and they’re doing a CD review.

And as of this writing, they’re reviewing… Up Dharma Down’s Fragmented.

Which comes as a surprise to me. Why do a review on their album only now?

As far as I can recall, they’ve been in the airwaves, no make that the NU airwave (singular lang), since early this year. The very first taste of their avant-garde fusion of music was served through the song "Maybe." I remember the music video with Meryll Soriano being shown on MTV. And that was how many months ago.

Upon hearing that song, I’ve been very curious and interested in the band and their music, which led me and my SO to buy the Fragmented album middle of this year.  No, search is the correct term, because we had to ask the lady from Tower Records if it was available (the album wasn’t displayed on the shelves). During that time, they were still considered and underground act (under an independent label called Terno Records), and their single then was "Pag-Agos" (with those cutesy twins in the video… just admiring okay, ‘di ako obit).

Listening to their album is like going for a joyride on a traffic jam-free highway. Or probably relaxing on a rooftop (beer on hand, optional) during sunset while observing the goings-on of the people below. It’s kinda hard for me to define their music, as it’s a mix of electronica and alternative rock. To sum it up, Up Dharma Down’s sound is a refreshing change to the music scene that has been overly saturated with whiners, revival-ists and pogi "rockstars." Those unfamiliar may be at first alienated, but give it a try and it will grow on you. Oh, and watching them perform live is so cool. Wow. Amazing.

I may not be a legit music connoisseur, but for me this is one of the best albums to come out this year.

This CD review by this FM station may have been given a bit too late, but as they say, better late than never.

And this band indeed deserves the accolades.

I have a very low threshold for pain. Incisions, deep wounds and a huge amount of bloodflow can make my knees go wobbly (the monthly thing is a different case).

So when my friend called me up last week for an on-the-side writing task, the first thing he asked me was: "Takot ka ba sa karayom?"

Of course, my answer was yes.

He told me that if I wanted to, I was gonna do a PR for an acupuncture clinic. A free acupuncture session comes with it. I’d just have to confirm my attendance before the weekend.

I’ve never experienced acupuncture all my life. So it was kinda freaky for me to imagine myself with needles all over my body.

But that was extra cash, too. So I mustered as much courage as I can and confirmed our meeting.

Fast forward to Roxas Blvd., right across Ospital ng Maynila. My friend and I went into the acupuncture clinic and he introduced me to the doctor, the acupuncturist. At that time, she was giving a lecture on the history and principles of acupuncture. So I sat and listen so I could pick up stuff to write about.

Then came the moment.

During the break, she asked me if I wanted to try. I thought that if I could have a first-hand experience, I’d know more about acupuncture than only its theory. So I obliged. I told her about my pain threshold, and she assured me it won’t be as painful as I thought.

The doctor first checked my pulse on both wrists. She told me I was a "yin" person, described as being soft-spoken and all those "soft" characteristics, as opposed to the "yang" personality which is loud and outgoing (my friend was "yang"). Kinda hard to explain it in detail, so I’ll skip this part.

Then she checked my tongue. I forgot to ask her what she sees when she checks the tongue, but from her lecture, I learned that acupuncturists do that before they put the needles on you. Maybe they see vital signs there.

Since I wasn’t feeling sickly and all, she gave me an acupuncture treatment that could relieve stress. I lay down on the bed. "Breathe deeply," she told me, and she began putting the first needle on the top part of my head. Ooh. It wasn’t that painful, but I felt it. Then she put another somewhere in between my eyes, then on the right part of my head about two inches from my ear ("Eto, stress ito," she said. I smiled. She was right). When she put the needle on the left part of my head, that was when I felt some sort of electricity that flowed. "Whoa!" was the word that went out of my mouth. That was cool!

Then she put a needle each on both arms and both feet. I felt some sort of pain, like an ant bite on the last one. Then she told me to just relax, and that after a few minutes, they’d remove the needles.

All alone on the bed, with needles on my head and limbs, I relaxed and tried to sleep, but I couldn’t ‘coz I can hear her giving the next part of the day’s lecture on the other end of the room.

20 minutes after, the assistant removed the needles. My friend asked me how it was. Well, he was right. It was a good experience. I felt more relaxed afterwards. As we sat at the office, I saw a few more people coming in to have their sessions, all for different reasons.

Moreover, I found out that this was where Korina Sanchez and the Gokongwei’s have their acupuncture sessions. The doctor must be good. No, she IS good. And really nice, too.

It made me think of getting another acupuncture session, since I am always under stress because of work and a whole lot of other shit. Thing is, I’d have to have at least P900 to get a treatment. Hmm, additional stress. Buti na lang libre ‘to.

During a brain "drizzle" yesterday for a client, my boss did a sort of exercise on perceptions.

He asked my co-copywriter her immediate perceptions of me. So she goes: "Outspoken, witty, likes Pucca and Emily the Strange, madaling regaluhan…"

My boss then says, "What you don’t know about Dompy is that when she’s with Gio, she turns into a girl."

I told this to my SO last night as we were walking to our ride home. I asked him if it was a good thing.

He goes: "Kesa naman maging lalake ka pag kasama mo ako."

He has a point. Oo nga naman.

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Rocha: Oo, ngayon lang kasi ako nabangag ng husto para maging over-analytical sa mga bagay-bagay. Hehe!