Simply Seph: March 2006

whew! it's been almost 2 weeks since my last entry here;

by the way, thanks to those who welcomed me into the blogging world! :)

As we are nearing the end of the month and would mark the end of 1st quarter (season-ender bale! hahaha), I would like to list down some of my memorable experiences for the past 2, 3 months or so...

Basically, during the first quarter, I encountered a lot of FIRSTs in my life... some could be shared but I prefer to keep it myself for most of them. haha! (hmmm... mambitin ba?!)

JANUARY 2006

> needed to come back to Manila on the eve of Jan. 1st since me and my teammates are "the lucky one", as usual - DM FOREVER! nothing else to complain since I didn't work that much during the Christmas break (thanks to Vlam and Ben for having the Christmas day DM shifts!); basically, I went home to Ilocos for the holidays and yes, my parent's 40th wedding anniversary! :)

> And since I didn't work throughout the Christmas break, mukhang nagtampo ang aking laptop! SAD! it's not working when I came back to Manila so I needed to use spare laptop for 2 weeks... (sooner or later, you'll know that the laptop I termed as "spare laptop" eventually became my own laptop, for how long? I don't know! it's a sensitive topic...)

> 1 of the FIRSTs experiences, to present to all the bossings in BI/DW: yeah, due to the 17x7 project. needed to present and get their approval for a business trip to Poland. (FYI to those non-HP: 17x7 project is a sort of resiting, adding 5 hours of support for operations here in Manila)

> Mich and I were sent by HP to Poland for a 22-day business trip (training, work, work and work... a bit of enjoyment!); My FIRST International trip (but not 1st time for an airplane ride! hehe. defensive!). My 1st int'l trip's route: Manila > China > Germany > Poland.

> FIRST time to check-in as business class in the Northwest World Perks even if we only have an economy ticket (thanks to ate Maan - sister of Marty)

> In Poland, had many FIRSTs as well:
1. 1st skating on REAL ice: haven't tried skating even in megamall

2. 1st travel by TRAIN: yeah, I only experience riding on LRT and MRT here in Manila pero hnd tlga yung mahaba-habang byahe, gumagana pa ba PNR dito sa Philippines?! hehe

3. drunk my 1st CUP of COFFEE ever: due to extremely cold weather in Poland (-10 to -25 degress celcius when we were there); got no choice but to drink coffee, walang hot choco e!

4. 1st time to be caught by a POLICE: yes! dahil sa maling ticket sa tram! damn it! kasalanan ba namin kung hnd marunong mag-english yung mama at ang ibigay sa amin na ticket e for students! well... there's only 1 thing I was able to prove, may "kotong" din pala dun! kinuhanan kami ni Mich ng 50 zlotys, that's around 800-900 pesos din!
5. 1st time na makakita ng KFC na may sweet corn (they call it as kolba): di ba along session road lang pinagbibili yun pag panagbenga?! ska sa ayala pag kagat ng dilim?!
6. 1st time na maka-experience ng WINTER at makakita ng SNOW: halo halo everyone?!

7. 1st time magpa-roaming: ignorant me! di ko man alam na 100+ pesos per minute pala ang charge! kaya patay patay nung pagkakuha ng bill...
8. 1st time sumakay sa taxi na MERCEDES BENZ at AUDI: sosyal! take note, naka-communicator ang cellphone ng mga taxi drivers... at ONCALL sila, hnd gaya sa pinas na abang ka lang sa kalsada.
9. 1st time magsubscribe sa ABSCBNnow: para lang makanuod ng pilot episode ng PBB! how pathetic!
10. 1st time to visit world heritage sites (aside from Vigan): salt mine and a concentration camp (depressing nga lang yung feeling! saka weird!)

FUNNY MOMENTS:

24 hours na CNN sa hotel!

>>> wla naman kasi ibang english channel na iba out of 20 na available!

ngCRAVE ako ng cup noodles sa airplane!

>>> kya pagdating na pagdating, ngpunta kami ni Mich sa grocery para lang bumili ng cup noodles.

ngCRAVE ako ng Mcflurry at 9pm at sa -20 degrees celsius na weather!

>>> kakaiba ang trip!

nagmukhang tanga kami ni Mich sa gitna ng daan sa kaka-sign language!

>>> pano e NO ENGLISH ang mga tao dun... just like nung gusto nmin punta ng mall, parang charades ba na ng-act namimili sabay hawak sa mapa at sulat ng question mark! hahaha!

excess baggage in going back to Manila!

>>> excess of 18kgs and asking us to pay $950!!! iniwanan ko na lang! not funny at all, just imagine me na nakabukas ang mga bags sa harap ng mga tao at namimili ng mga gamit na iiwanan. sobrang embarrassing moment for me!

magbalot ng green and red grapes every after breakfast!

>>> buffet e saka para may makain lang sa room! hahaha

tinaTRY namin lahat ni Mich ang food na nasa buffet table

>>> there's even a time na LIVER na pala yung kinakain namin e di pa namin alam basta para lang matikman lahat ng nkaserve kya kuha lang ng kuha. YUCK! FYI: ayaw namin ni Mich parehas ng liver

for more of mich & seph's poland adventure, you can check Mich's blog as well...

-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-

During this month, Martina Hingis (my crush! haha!) had a comeback to the tennis arena and proving that she can still do it! beeing a quarter finalist on the 1st grandslam of the year (Australian Open) and a finalist in Toray Pan Pacific (a Tier I event)! welcome back Martina! :)

-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-

Basically, that's all for jan'06, i'll just post top events for feb'06 on my next blog entry... masyado na 'tong mahaba e, baka kakainip na sobra basahin...

WOW! can't believe it! got a better blog now! haha!!! got interested of maintaining a blog just last March 17, 2006 while Alvin, Becca, Mike and I went to Coffee Bean Greenbelt at almost midnight (over a cup of coffee? nope! all of us ordered frozen drinks), after spending an hour or so at timezone (as always! my favorite past time ever!) and dinner at komoro soba glorietta (1st time for all of them including our manager).

1 funny thing when these guys mentioned about blogging that aside from them, Mich, Mia and Jan maintain their own blogs as well; and when I asked the blog of Alvin, they said that it's hellgod.blagspot.com.ph! poor and ignorant me! I trusted them so much that I believed them that there's a certain blog domain called BLAGspot and even with a .ph! hmp! can I just borrow a line from Camille, "gagaling din ako!" hehe. anyweiz, thanks guys! :)

I said earlier that this would be a better blog 'coz I had a blog via friendster but sad to say, it's not updated at all, i think my last post was made sometime around September 2005, it's called myBlog; you can visit it if you have some free time..

In the next few posts, I'll just publish some of the activities I had for the past few months... hehe. I'm not into writing journals actually, don't have the needed writing skills and don't even know if I would just be repeating all the never-ending stories I've been telling to my friends since I usually share all the things (big and small! corny!) that I've encountered in every single day to my officemates and some friends. my life is a open book ika nga! hahaha!

By the way, please check my Johari Window and pick those traits that best describes me.