exhibit - draft of the leaflets

latest development on the exhibit. like i said, im not going to stop updating on this dream come true.


here's the roster of exhibitors:



can you see me?


and these are the images. my rep image is the parasol photo. it was taken a year ago in boracay.



feel free to click on the images for better viewing. ;)

my cantonese class

yipee! a class picture!

check out the fellows who are struggling with me on our freaking cantonese class:




i think im going to drop the class soon. social life nga naman. ;)

hey, im back

sorry if i have been invisible lately. you have no idea on the sudden change of my lifestyle for the past three weeks.

lemme do some bragging first:

1. went ice skating at one of the malls here. and i swear to god i will never do it again. boycott ice skating! it's the most dangerous past time ever! fine, maybe i need to get over the part where i fell flat on my ass. but still! it's a danger zone out there! redeeming part: feeling romantic with my friend who happened to ice skate for the first time. parang mga batang takot sa mundo at hawak kamay na sinusuong ang pagsubok. too bad, im not as skillful as he is, so he went around by himself while im left alone clinging for my life with the bars at the side. charge it to experience.

2. started Cantonese class. First meeting: epal si blsm to the max! being a language student, i want to prove to myself that i can be an expert polyglot. spanish is a bit easy for me to learn (note: learn, not master) since it's very similar to filipino. cantonese is another story. pero epal kung epal! i decided that i will be the most outstanding student come graduation and i think i did a very good start. Second meeting onwards: wala na! i couldn't even remember the lessons from the previous week. i couldn't even differentiate the pronunciation between monday and sunday!

3. finished reading Neil Gaiman's American Gods and Anne Frank's A Diary of a Young Girl. the former is an entertaining read. i want to name my adopted kid Shadow. the latter is another depressing novel. how could the world be so cruel to a teenager? she just wanted to live a normal life.

4. got excited that i would be sent to mexico. but it was cancelled. boohoo..

5. watched Fracture, a break from the brilliant non-holywood movies that i have been watching lately.

6. bought a new pair of rubber shoes. i am giving my skechers a well deserved rest. to my grey/red footwear, thank you for sticking with me through the good and bad times for three years. you have been a silent witness to all my adventures and failures, and i will be always be grateful for that.

7. party. party. party. from an anti-social geek, i am now a much-more-than-occasional-party-girl. it has been like this for the past three weeks. and a lot of things happened eversince. i really miss having to finish one novel per week, but a night with newly found friends is a good substitute. i'll post more about them next time.

hey hey

garrrr....

before i start with the rant part, i'll update you first on the good things that happened to me lately: i partied with UP alumni who are older than me.. but it was fun nevertheless. haha, partying with 80's music has never been so exciting. i also tried eating in an authentic persian restaurant. they even stage cool performances.. it's quite an experience to eat all those spicy lamb meat with girls doing cultural dances a few meters away from you.. oh, and we also tried one of the seafood restaurants along cheung chau strip.. i watched the dutch film "black book". superbe. there were too many twists, but they are presented in a very tasteful manner nonetheless.


now the rants:

i am unbelievably busy these days.. have i said i hate april? the two consecutive houseware fairs nearly killed me.. i am way overworked!

being one of the staff who speak better english, i am abused by my bosses during the hk fair! i always man the busier booth and now all the new clients are bugging me.and my bitch officemate had a miscarriage, so i am taking over her accounts! whew!

and what about canton fair? waaahhh!!! apart from paula and andres, there was another chilean client who speaks poor english.. so i had to be there for her to entertain her constantly.. waah!!! ang purol na talaga ng espanyol ko! she was like: entiendes mi pregunta? all smile lang ako pag di na kame nagkakaintindihan.

also, i went hiking last labor day.. my first off from work after almost three weeks.. at pucha!!! i have allergies/sand mite bites!!! ang dami dami!! i don't want to look at my legs now.. they're freaking gross.. and to think that i dug up my mini skirts for summer. shet talagang buhay to.

i messed up one of my orders big time. i allowed the goods to be shipped with improper barcode location. di ako makakain ng ilang araw after nun! galit na galit talaga ang cliente. naisip ko na ang kapalaran ko when i get axed because of this problem. i would never want to see barcodes again. and imagine the reason when i apply for other work: terminated because of barcodes. syet, walang kadating dating! career ruined by freaking barcodes!

stupid! stupid!

after too much exhaustion from the hong kong fair, only 5% of my brain is working when i reached home at around 9pm on a sunday.

i couldn't get to sleep so i explored my pda. the wireless connection was unbelievably fast so i was more encouraged to do some net surfing. due to lack of sites to visit, i opted to revisit my yahoo mail folders.

there's this one particular folder that i shouldn't have created and consequently shouldn't have opened. it contains some mails from my ex. the reason why there's is a folder there in the first place is still a big question.

i cried upon re-reading this particular email, the most heartfelt letter someone has given me:

i felt bad last night bec of what happened..
between us,it seemed like having so much fun always has a counter-part fight in the end..
maybe one big factor that contributes to the fire is we're both tired and ungiving at the end of the day..
we always tend to commit mistakes by attack-counter-attack moves..
and we end up hurting each other..
it always happens, isn't?
and i'm not happy about it.
i'm never happy to yell at you like that..
you know me, it's not my ways..
i'm never happy that i'm hurting you..
i'm never happy that you're hurting me..
if we don't shape up and start confronting difficult situations like adults,
i think our end is near..
as much as possible, i don't want to see our conclusion too soon..
i've still so many plans for us and you're the same person i would like to share my life with..
but this chronique sickness of us just won't go away..
we're trapped in circles and i'm tired of it..

let's talk it through..
i think that's the only way to break it.

i hope you agree with me on this.
let's meet half-way baby..


we broke up 3 weeks after this email. and my life went downhill eversince, romantically speaking that is.

a friend once asked me if there's a part of my life which i regret. i usually say there isn't anything that in the past that i feel sorry for, because if not for the bad experiences i won't be the person that i am now. true enough.

but if i were to have a time machine, i'd definitely go back in time.
i'd definitely talk it through. i'd compromise. i'd do anything to save "us".

God, i want to love again.

para sa mga nagcocomment

treat for you allan and nins!

para sa dalawang taong hindi nagsasawang bumisita sa blog ko paminsan minsan at magcomment.

mga kuha naten three years ago. nahalukay ko sa yahoo folders ko courtesy of allan's phone:


sobrang miss ko na kayo!


with the special participation of jr.

last night

Last night was one hell of a night. After promising Annie that I will help her on her MBA thesis, I found myself committing to go alone at a fine dining Argentinean restaurant. I only have HK$300 (no joke, I remitted my month’s salary since it’s my sister’s grad) to last me until the end of April, and the cheapest meal there costs about HK$140. And you still have to take into consideration that you have to order red wine, and don't forget about service charge. But a promise is a promise, right?

So armed with my last bucks, a pair of high heels white sandals and a dress with an unbelievably low neckline, I was off to La Pampa restaurant. The task is actually simple, eat (and pretend that you don’t feel ripped off) and then approach the master chef (who happens to be a Filipino) for a brief interview. I made it a point that I come there an hour before closing time so I can excuse him since he should be finished cooking steaks at that time.

So I ordered Brochette de Pollo, grilled chicken with skewers, bacon and mashed potatoes. That meal is the second to the cheapest - $148. It took around 30 minutes for them to serve the dish. It means I only have half an hour to strategize how I can approach Kuya Tito, and to think how I can survive two weeks with a measly $100.

I am really a shy person. I do not know how to produce a punchline to spark a conversation. I am an anti-social. After too much thinking, I decided to just come back some other time, or just lie to Annie that I had been busy with work matters that I didn’t have time to go there. But I was like: I can’t put my $200 down the drain. And I won’t accept the fact that I wore this dress for nothing!

While I was busy debating with myself, I see Kuya Tito leaving the premises with his backpack. He’s about to head home! And I was just halfway finished with my $150 meal! But I do not have much choice so I signaled for the waiter to give me my bill. But before he comes with my bill, I ran for Kuya Tito outside the restaurant.

And the interview just happened naturally. Of course I had to expose my half-bare chest so he can accommodate me.

Dig this: I did not pay for my bill! After my introduction, he said we can go back inside the restaurant and discuss the questionnaire. He then signaled for the waiter to waive my bill since he knows me personally. I suddenly remember a line from Ala Paredes’ blog when she described a bar incident that involved her friend. YOU’RE TOO BEAUTIFUL TO PAY.

And don’t forget the dress!
And it was so easy. I was able to ask him the questions in Annie’s list in less than ten minutes. He said he’s going to some inuman session in a bar nearby and he asked if I want to join him. He said I will not feel out of place since a Filipina will be there. I had to reciprocate the generosity that he showed, so I accepted his offer. Also, I suddenly realize that I can gather more information for Annie’s thesis when I smooth talk him over some drink.

We went to Empire Bar. And I was introduced to La Pampa’s Director, and the bartenders of Empire who happened to be Filipinas. I initially asked for an iced tea. Then Cristy (one of the bartenders) served me a glass of red wine. By 0130 I was too wasted and groggy to function, but I still manage to show an interested aura and hold conversations. The other bartender, a nice lesbian, is kind enough to talk to me. I found out that we even have common friends, small world, eh? She has friends who were my classmates in high school.

Kuya Tito gets his phone and rings another friend who happens to be a Filipino manager of Bacar Bar. He asks me to accompany him to Bacar and chat with Evan. I nodded. We were served another glass of red wine in Bacar. After thirty minutes of casual conversation, they decide to return to Empire. Both Evan and Cristy are from the Bicol region and it will be nice to introduce them to each other. Upon return to Empire, I asked for another iced tea. After that, Cristy served me a Frente Branca plus coke cocktail. It is horrible for a non drinker like me!

We rode the same taxi and I reached home at exactly 0330. I have work at 0900! I quickly brushed my teeth and headed for my bed. I forgot that I washed my sheets and I have yet to put new ones. But I was too tired to even bother that I just rested my body in sheet-less bed.

Suddenly, I find myself unable to sleep! It must be all the iced tea! I try to avoid caffeine as much as I can, so I really get sleepless nights if I have intolerable amount of it inside my body.

I wasn’t able to sleep until 0600.

I had to get up at 0730 because of grumbling stomach from all the concoctions I had a few hours ago.

Now only 15% of my brain is working. Good thing there isn’t much work to do.

But overall, I am happy because I still have my $300 intact, I have contacts from bars that I can go there for free and I helped Annie. So much for reciprocating her hospitality in my Macau hibernation.

By the way, Kuya Tito is 54 years old.

Sometimes, a woman is really too beautiful to pay.