F&F&F: Family & Friends & Fall

 

Yet again, the whole of Metro Manila was a bit gloomy this weekend. No typhoon nor any tropical depression, but there had been scattered rain showers since Friday evening. Nevertheless, I had a lot of things to look forward to for Saturday and Sunday – a lot of people to catch up with, and a lot of things to catch up on.

It has been almost a year since I left the humanitarian sector. I got the happy surprise mid-week that one of our colleagues from work was going to visit Manila from Nepal on a whim. I was very excited because she joined and I left the organization without seeing each other in person. Yes, pandemic woes.

She were to arrive Saturday morning, and my former colleagues planned a wonderful evening for her. The AirBnB she was staying in the same city as we were, thus it made sense for me to pick her up, unless she gets caught with the Saturday traffic of NCR.

Met with friends-slash-colleagues from my former humanitarian life

Met with friends-slash-colleagues from my former humanitarian life

We decided to meet early at around 5:00 pm, so we can evade the potential carmageddon 30 minutes after. While everyone was to meet at 7:00 pm in Shangri-La Plaza, arriving early and loitering was much better than just to sit in traffic. We reached the mall a few minutes shy of 6:00 pm.

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And just like that… we’re back in Singapore!

 

As mentioned in my previous post, we re-booked our flight to SG from October to September after our visas to South Korea were approved!

Aside from us not wanting to waste (yet again) a bunch of tickets, we decided to go overseas for our 14th anniversary. The last time we were out of the country for that day was way back in 2018 in Taiwan. We did not want this year to be the same buffet and movie. Besides, we jokingly justified that we had an unused Klook voucher for the Jewel Changi from our trip to Singapore last July to be expired!

Same as last time, Mon’s sister agreed to look after the cats for the next couple of days. It won’t be a very long trip anyway, and we’ll be back before the weekend. So bye for now, to our dear cats!

Unlike our previous trip to SG, we flew this time via Cebu Pacific, thus we had to go to NAIA Terminal 3 instead. I loved this terminal among the others because, well, it looked the most pleasant and modern. It was also the quickest trip from Makati from the Skyway.

Going to the airport… again!

Again, unlike last time, we made sure this time around that our Php 1,620 travel taxes were paid way ahead. There was already a long line by the check-in counter, but not as long as last July. It only took us 30 minutes to check in our luggage and get our boarding passes.

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Before 2019 Ends

Welp! My last post was exactly a year ago today! I almost forgot the password for BRYOLOGUE but here I am again with another mega post.

Funny how I keep on posting about religiously posting but haven’t got the chance for the past 364 days. To give a recap of my year, perhaps a mega post will make up for it?

So let’s have a look back at the year that was!

At the newly-cleaned Quiapo area ---- Mulberry Trout Scotchgrain Messenger Bag

At the newly-cleaned Quiapo area

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Update and Reset

It is almost the 6th month of the year, and nothing had taken place here since my holiday haiku. I’ve said this several times, but BUSY does not even begin to capture what these 5 months were. (Although, I have already updated my banner two weeks ago).

Before June starts tomorrow, I’d like to write a quick update.

Strike a pose inside the office

It has been 6 months since I started working with this team. They are undoubtedly the most intelligent and most down to earth people I have ever met. To think my two bosses have always been stellar scientists in the world, they still are as accessible, approachable, and not amiss with their funny bones.

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For the record(s)

The first quarter was about to end. I needed to use of all my leaves, but I did not have anywhere to go. For today, I took a day off to go to UP and request copies of my transcript.

It was not a chore before when I was still based in Marikina. But being from Makati on weekdays, I had to do the long traverse along EDSA just to reach Diliman.

While I love how vast UP Diliman is, it annoys me a lot why the cashier is at the far end of the Registrar. It is very counter-intuitive. There is a cashier downstairs, but it is often closed. Anyway, it was less tedious because I was with Ikle. We were done at around lunch time and had the whole afternoon to wait for the rush hour to subside. And that includes shenanigans around the campus.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee

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A presto, Agnese!

One’s workplace can always be surprising. While my year and almost three months at the organization is not without its roadblocks, I’m always delighted to be with a group of happy people.

One of my colleagues had to cut her mission to the Philippines short. With a heavy heart, I received her news thinking that it must be for the best. But before she left, she prepared a special meal for some of us.

Parting gift – look at the surprised faces!

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Wedding moments

I haven’t seen my office friends for a very long time. When I returned to work last year after a couple of months to rest, most of them have already left the company. So I highly anticipated the day that we’d see each other again for Ayen and Paul’s wedding. The sky was overcast and I was happy about it. I’m not a fan of wearing long-sleeves shirt because I’m a walking furnace. Mon and I dropped by Faye’s apartment to pick her up before going to the church in Greenmeadows.

Comme d’habitude, Monette was late. LOL The wedding march was about to start when she arrived. Looking ladylike, it was astonishing to see her in a long dress, with a matching gold belt to boot. ^O^ The altar of Christ the King Church was, well, gilded with gold. Good thing that it was air-conditioned because I was saved from sweating and fanning myself. Moments after, the entourage began walking down the aisle and we were waiting with bated breath for Ayen to enter the (sliding glass) door.

Waiting for the wedding to start

Waiting for the wedding to start

The Groom

The groom down the aisle

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What the black-haired stork brought in today

Serving Android17 realness

Serving Android No. 17 realness

My friend Ikle is back in the Philippines for a very short stay to get some things done (well, quite literally). He has to go back to China this Saturday, but he had to drop by our apartment in Makati to have lunch with me as we won’t be seeing each other until Christmas. The other day, he told me that he was in a salon to finally get his hair back to its original color. I can’t remember when was the last time his hair was black, but when I graduated in 2007, his hair had always been non-black It was a very nice transformation as the hair looked healthier than before. However, we must immediately recognize that the color and style was a dead ringer of a 90s Japanese anime villain. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Android No. 17:

I initially thought of Rihanna’s hairstyle circa 2007 (i.e. Umbrella era), but we nevertheless had a good laugh over the creamy garlic pasta with chicken that I prepared (Mon was out when Ikle arrived). Our chat got cut short, though, because he had a 1:00 PM doctor’s appointment somewhere in Makati. We then took a photo using his phone, as a souvenir until we see each other again about a month from now. However, I laughed so hard being unable to recognize myself with the filter he had used. A lot of Chinese people were apparently a bit heavy-handed with these apps that made them, well, look like a walking Photoshop’s Blur function. Observe the difference:

Before - Ikle and I. (We already have our miniature Christmas tree behind)

Before.  I think this one has a light filter to begin with. My skin does not look remotely pore-free like that. (On a different note, notice that we already have our miniature Christmas tree behind? ^_^)

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Measuring up!

Black is beautiful, but too much black is charcoal” — that was the tongue-in-cheek saying I immediately thought of upon receiving the Porter by Yoshida Company bag on the mail yesterday. I already have eight black bags but it did not prevent me from getting this briefcase/messenger bag. I was really happy because the bag was lightweight and both the straps and rolled handles are comfortable on my shoulders. The coated canvas gives off a leathery finish on pictures, but I guess it will hold up really well under the heavy rains.

Porter by Yoshida Company briefcase messenger bag

Porter by Yoshida Company briefcase messenger bag and Red Wing 8875 boots

Anyway, on my way to work today, I dropped by the Handyman store in Farmers Plaza to buy locks and bolts for the apartment we will be renting starting in June. I found the aisle dedicated to these items and I had a great time choosing what should be used to secure our apartment. At first, I was just looking for a traditional door knob but I remember Mon describing an alternative. He was not able to give its exact name but when I saw the ‘deadbolt lock’, I immediately sent him a photo to ask if it was what he had described.  I subsequently bought approximately Php 900-worth of items, which we would be giving to the landlady so that they will be installed during the repainting of the unit.

Locks and bolts from the Handyman storeSpeaking of repainting, I wanted to have the unit’s paint changed from yellow to at least off-white, just like what I’ve mentioned in my previous post. The unit is due to be repaired/renovated for occupation this weekend, so I also asked the landlady if she could have it repainted and I will just pay for the extra cost. I wanted off-white because that is the color of our walls in our house, so the color scheme is a piece of home away from home. Our extremely yellow roomSo during dinner break, Faye accompanied Mon and me to the apartment . We needed to give out the locks to the landlady, and I also had to measure the floor area so we can proceed in deciding what pieces of furniture to purchase/bring. I know that I should have brought a retractable measuring tape, instead of the one made for human/fabric measurements because my hands were a bit dirty as the place was still quite dusty. It was an oddly-shaped studio apartment (well, at least the area excluding the bathroom), so I have drawn a rough sketch on paper of the floor area to facilitate measurement.

Floor plan of the studio apartmentWhen I got there, my immediate decision was to use inches instead of centimeter. I normally use inch-foot when measuring bags and clothing, but I usually resort to centimeter-meter when measuring space or floor area. SO I had no idea why I immediately jumped the gun on inches, when centimeters could have given me a more accurate measurement, especially I needed every single space I could measure. Well, no good crying over spilled milk so I would just have to live with the measurement I have made.

From the sketch, I have generated this floor plan of the unit with approximate measurements of every single side of the polygon. The total floor area is 115.50 ft²! It was not much but I see it as a challenge.  I’m not big in interior decoration as I never had the chance to foray into tinkering whatever it is that we have in our house. But honestly, I see the limited as an opportunity and I was greatly inspired by this “IKEA Small Spaces – Small ideas” video.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQjBrt9LriY]

I love the idea of maximizing every bit of space available, and having items with multiple functions. What worries me the most is the amount of clothing, shoes and bag I have. I’ve been doing a mental inventory and selection of what items I will be bringing with me; and as much as I have pared down that list, I still could not think of how I will manage to properly fit them in the unit. We will be going to the Makati malls on weekend, and I look forward to seeing possible options for the bed and closet (if we will be getting one). I think our work would be easier because we have the floor plan with us. I just  hope we’ll find a decently-price sofa bed because that is the whole point of moving from Marikina to Makati —to have a decent sleep!