My So-Called Life

Funny!

2011-10-02T13:10:00.001-07:00

Top 10 Reasons Why There Couldn’t Be a Filipino-American US President

By David Letterman

10. The White House is not big enough for in-laws and extended relatives.

9. There are not enough parking spaces at the White House for 2 Honda Civics,
2 Toyota Land Cruisers, 3 Toyota Corollas, a Mercedes Benz, a BMW , and
an MPV (My Pinoy Van).

8. Dignitaries generally are intimidated by eating with their fingers at State dinners.
7. There are too many dining rooms in the White House – where will they put
the picture of the Last Supper?

6. The White House walls are not big enough to hold a pair of giant wooden
spoon and fork.

5. Secret Service staff won’t respond to “psst… psst” or “hoy.hoyhoy!”

4. Secret Service staff will not be comfortable driving the presidential car with a Holy Rosary hanging on the rear view mirror, or the statue of the Santo Nino on the dashboard.

3. No budget allocation to purchase a Karaoke music-machine for every room in the White House.

2. State dinners do not allow “Take Home”.
AND THE NUMBER I REASON WHY THERE COULDN’T BE A FILIPINO-AMERICAN U.S. PRESIDENT IS…

1. Air Force One does not allow overweight Balikbayan boxes!

Cupertino Library membership

2011-07-27T16:34:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaMy summer vacation is almost ending. I have to say that I'm mostly disappointed with it. The two great things that came out of it was my sister visiting and the wedding. But other than that, I have found myself bored and actually wanting to go back to work. I will be getting my wish soon as I have a few weeks left and then its back to the long back and forth between SJ and PH. I can already feel myself feeling tired and stressed from the long commute but its better than being at home. I don't mind being at home. It's the person who's at home that I mind being with that's the problem! Enough said.

This is an ok city to live in but I think I have been spoiled with Cupertino with their nice, spacious and modern library. The library in the city where I live is tiny....that's about how I would describe it. I went there once and I was sadly disappointed. I did sign up for a library card since my library card privileges have been revoked due to the bad economy. Yes! Cupertino wants library card members to prove that they live in that city before they will give you a library card. If you would still want to have a library card there, you need to pay $80 dollars a year. The bad economy, that's what! I work for the school district in that city but I can't even get a library card there! I borrow books from that library to use in my class and now, I can't! Unless I shell out the $80 dollars. What I also like is being able to access for free bookflix and tumblebooks. The kids like reading stories online from scholastic books because I used to have a library card there. My husband said I should write to the city or the library and ask them if its possible to get a free membership. He said I have nothing to lose. I might, or I might not. Maybe I should write to one of those council members to visit the school periodically. One of the reasons that I hesitate is that a few years back, one of the CLIP kinder class was considering a trip to the Cupertino Library since the Calabazas Library which is part of the San Jose Library system has been closed for the last 2 years. What did the Cupertino Library say? Nope! Since the school was in San Jose, it should visit a San Jose Library. Hmm...that's sad.

I like the Cupertino Library, but in this case, I think there's no point in writing. But just in case you know anyone in the Cupertino council, maybe you can ask them why employees who work in the district and who will be using those resources to students who are in the district, can't be given a free membership.

A Year Without Writing

2011-06-09T17:51:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a year since I've written in my personal blog. I also maintain a special education blog, albeit anonymously. Not because I write crazy stuff in there, sometimes I am tempted to! But because, oh wait, that is why I maintain it anonymously. You never know what else comes up! Crazy!

I've been busy with work (as usual) and more importantly with more school work. This is the first time that I am actually looking forward to not studying again, but I have to. I started with clearing my credential last year but before that I had to do my CLAD coursework because my emergency credential for that was going to expire after a year. I did it with University of Phoenix and it was a lot of work! For those of you who think that online work is much easier, wrong wrong and wrong! There's so much work. A lot of work I think compared to gImage via Wikipediaoing to a regular class. If you enroll in the face to face class, you probably go to class twice or thrice a week but in an online class (depending on the class) you have to post 6 posts or more, sometimes daily and there are more readings (about 4 chapters a week) and more papers (one assignment and around 4 major papers) or more! Then what I hate the most in UOPX is the "group paper" which in reality just 2 - 3 people end up making anyways. That was what I disliked the most about UOPX. I wish they would do away with that because I think its a waste of time and its a lot of stress. Also, I understand the need to put references but APA is just a killer. Worse, other students do not even bother learning about APA. So in the end, one or two people do the APA references. And being that we're not experts at it, its even more maddening when a professor penalizes you for writing the wrong format!

So its been year since I've written anything in my blog because I'm swamped with another kind of writing. Oh well, I'm looking forward to completing it within the year...soon....

Writing

2010-07-02T20:46:00.001-07:00

One of the things that I really dislike, still do, a little is having to write. I'd hate it if I was asked to write something related to work. The more pressure there was to write (like having to submit it to a head), the more I hated it. Not to mention I'd put it off and procrastinate. Going to grad school cured me a little of that. I remember Ms. Babes (may God rest her soul), she told me that if I hated doing it, I should learn to like it so that it won't be a long drawn out and painful process anymore and it was apparently something that I would a lot of anyways. She gave very good advice, and no wonder, she used to write for the Manila Bulletin and worked in the Philippine embassy back in the day. So, in my first grad school, I had a lot of reporting and writing to do. I had to write my report before reporting it in class. I had to do a lot of readings and summarizing that information. Later on, I appreciate the work that I had to do. Next, in my second masters degree, the same is true! We would write papers and it culminated in a case study. Writing it was not as bad as I'd expected and it was an experience that I really like since I basically talked about my whole experience and not just some testing that I had to do. It was more of a story of a child.

Now, gasp...I am back to a job where there are lots of writing. I have to write a report about a test, observations, fill out an entire Webform and then as icing on a cake, I have classes to take to clear my credential. For my first paper for my first online class, I labored long and hard about what I was going to say. After awhile, it just came to a point where I wrote, checked for grammar and spelling, checked for plagiarism (that's why I love PlagiarismChecker) and that's about it.

I love the Library!

2010-02-10T19:20:00.001-08:00

Now more than ever (since I can finally drive!), I've borrowed a lot of books from the library. It finally came to a point where I could not request for holds because I maxed them out...hehehe...but I just love the library! I love the Cupertino Library because they're pretty quick with answering holds. I don't know if volunteers do it or their staff are just quick. Now I know why they are no. 1 in the Santa Clara county area. They are just great! Also, I think it has something to do with the fact that a lot of people, and I mean a lot from the Cupertino area really take time to go to the library. Last year, I had kids who told me that one of their favorite things to do during the weekend was to borrow books from the library. And they got that because of their parents. Not surprisingly, their parents were Asian...hmm...is there a trend here?

The next library that I love would be the King library because of their huge collection of books that I use as reference for my online classes. Sure, online books are good but there's nothing like the feel of a book not to mention less strain on the eyes.

I cannot help but compare both of these libraries though. Well, the West Valley library since that is where I pick up my books. I don't drive all the way down to the busy downtown San Jose just to get books. I must say that I am still not too keen on the West Valley library because of the experience that I had the first time that I was going to get a book that I had on hold. First, they have this sort of weird system of putting holds together. Up until now, I am not sure whether its by last name or by date from which the media is available. Hm....so just to be sure I scour my last name and then look at other sections when I have more books to take out. The second reason was that very unfriendly Asian girl who works at the West Valley library. The lady at the information was very helpful but she was just mean! Like a tiger about to eat a prey. I understand that they were closing but I was only asking a question, which by the way she did not answer! But she was just mean, mean! I am a taxpayer for the city of San Jose and I would just hate that those hard-earned tax dollars pay for her meanness. I hope she doesn't perpetuate it to other hapless and unsuspecting people like me, who just wants to know, what the heck is your system? Looking back, how did I figure out Cupertino? Simple, there was an explanation at the side of the reserves section. Duh....I can read...why don't they post the same thing in San Jose? I have yet to see that mean girl again and if I do, I will take her name and just drop a word or two about her meanness. No one should be treated that way, especially for someone who works in a public library.

Still, Cupertino is my favorite library. I just wish though that they had more references that I get from the San Jose public libraries. But still, she was mean mean mean!!!!!

Gas up!

2010-01-13T21:06:00.001-08:00

Today was the first time that I gassed up my Berting, lol. There I was, relaxed and on my way to school when lo and behold, when I checked the gas indicator, it was blinking!!! May day may day, help, help!! Almost megapanic...hehehe... I was blissful with the knowledge the day before that I could take it to the car shop and then leave it there to be repaired and then put gas in it afterwards. No such thing! There I was at the intersection staring at the indicator. Hmm...I could turn left to the nearest gas station then, but I was in the wrong lane. Or I could continue towards school and see if I could find a close gas station. So, on to the intersection I went to Moorpark and I saw the Valero gas station there. Yehey! Luckily, I had read the owner's manual a few nights before anticipating this great event...hehehe...And the gas station was deserted...yehey! At least if I did something embarrassing, no one was there to witness it. So there I was, getting my card and pressing in the zip code and doing this and that. Opened the fuel door and got the nuzzle. I tried to vainly make it into the hole...hehehe...but could not, so I had to press on the thingy to make it work....oh yeah. It took me awhile and I was starting to worry that the gas would overflow....hehehe...I stopped just in case and then loaded it up again and a few seconds later it was full. Oh yeah. At last the deed is done. My Berting is full of gas and ready to rock and roll...hehehe...So, I put back the nuzzle, got my receipt and drove off to work. And I have the receipt to prove it. Hopefully gas prices won't skyrocket...imagine paying for gas at $3, in pesos that would be??? Hehehe...times about 9....grrr!! Oh well. That's life.
Now my Berting is happy....gas wise. Now on to the repair shop visit. May they restore Berting's lost beauty...hay, sorry Berting nadaut ka ug sayo. Dili jud nako sala...sala sa Instik!!!!!

This reflects what I feel...

2010-01-08T21:25:00.001-08:00

Alicia Keys - Try Sleeping With A Broken Heart

I miss home!

2010-01-08T20:48:00.001-08:00

I've finally caught up despite this and that and had time to watch the news two days in a row. I miss home!!!

I don't know when I'll go home. Maybe next year...hopefully if my visa gets renewed. Or else I won't be able to come back...hehehe...so here's to the summer of 2011, when I'll hopefully go home!

Yeba!

The year that was...

2010-01-03T21:10:00.001-08:00

I usually start the year by writing new year's resolutions. I can't remember if I did last year, but I probably did not. I'm still debating whether I should. Maybe I should since pangga sent me an interesting article about keeping new year's resolutions. Hmm....let me think of one thing to do then. After all, baby steps...hehehe...

I'd have to say I will be more organized at home (my room) and at work. Hmm....

But other than that, I would like to look back at how 2009 was. It was a very interesting year. It was the worse of times and the best of times.

I will not dwell on what made it horrible but instead I will think about the one thing that I am very happy about right now is that I have someone whom I am looking forward to spending the rest of my life with. I'm sure 2010 will come and go and 2011 will come...crossing my fingers. And hopefully a very interesting part of my life will begin...

Firsts...

2009-12-01T20:35:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was the first time that I tried going home on my own without a GPS from Sunnyvale to where I live. Of course, I got lost. It was the first time I was driving at night too. I've never driven at night and so I was doubly nervous that I was going home on my own and on my own! No driving instructor beside me to tell me what to do, no GPS to tell me where to turn, lol. After three tries going back and forth, I finally found Hollenbeck and found my way to Cupertino. What happened there, well, that's another story. But that drive around Sunnyvale did me some good, to some extent. Since I got home late, parking was a hassle. I had to park a long ways from where I actually live. I was worried that the next day, my car would be gone and I wouldn't have owned it for 24 hours yet, lol. But there is a God and I found my hmm...what name am I going to give my car? Hehehe...secret...I found it in one piece the next morning although there was frost all around. Oh well, the joys of street parking. What to do? I sat in the car defrogging it since I had no wiper thingy, lol. Finally, I could not bear it, I wiped the front and the back with toilet paper, lol...I was going to use my scarf but I needed it more. So one thing more for my list, GPS and then a wiper/scraper, lol. And then I almost backed into a post...darned post, why was it in the way? Hehehe...

Then off to work I was! It was a liberating feeling. Being able to drive on my own, fidgeting with the radio controls, lol. I know, I shouldn't. And actually getting to work in one piece. Of course, I was the second car there so I had my pick of the parking spot, lol. Again, I had to back out and then park again since I wasn't near the lines, lol. Felt really great getting my stuff out of the car and then locking it and then going to work.

Going home was the same feeling, loading my stuff at the trunk and then I debated whether to take it with me to Trader Joe's. Figure I can't park with the very tight spaces there. Alicia suggested parking it somewhere closer so I could just walk. Nah, I figured I could use the nice cool walk...hehehe..the walk was nice but it was freezing! Made me wish I had taken her advice and now I know better. I have scouted a perfect spot to park it next time, hehehe...Going back was such a great feeling too albeit very cold. Loading my bag at the trunk again, sitting in the car, waiting for the other cars to go away so I don't back into them...hehehe...I was a little anxious about parking it in our tight little parking spot but luckily, cars on either side weren't there yet...hehehe...we'll see how it goes tomorrow if I can actually squeeze myself in between there. But oh, what a great feeling, to drive...drive...and not to freeze....I know this is a feeling that I will really cherish, a day of firsts...now how do I get to Target and avoid the cars? Well, go there late, lol. And that's another story!

Breakeven

2009-11-23T19:13:00.001-08:00

What am I supposed to do when the best part of me was you....

The Script-Breakevan With Lyrics

Thanksgiving

2009-11-23T19:04:00.001-08:00

Last year was the first time that I celebrated Thanksgiving here. There's no equivalent to Thanksgiving back home. So I was fascinated with all the tales of the turkey, cranberries, stuffing, etc. I had the opportunity to take part in Tita Novelle's Thanksgiving celebration. It was very interesting, it had both the touch of the American way of Thanksgiving and Tita Novelle's with the paksiw na bangus, yum and was that dinuguan? Well, something really sumptuous that only Pinoys could stand to look at and eat. I was apprehensive at first because other than Tita Novelle, I didn't really know anyone there. I liked the fact that I wasn't just a guest but I helped prepare the appetizers. It was easy work and I felt quite useful. Hehehe...I didn't just go there to eat but to help out as well.

It was interesting to see her family, well, her husband's side anyways. I think the best part was that after all that eating, Tita Novelle still managed to set aside Filipino food that we could enjoy silently in the kitchen. Of course, we couldn't really hide it, hehehe...plus I got to take home some of the food. I think that's Tita Novelle's style. You never go home empty handed.

This year, I am thankful for a lot of things.
I am thankful for my family who remained strong despite what has happened and to see things in a new perspective.
I am thankful that I have a job that is challenging and hopefully, I will still have that job next year.
I am thankful for my colleagues who I feel support me, despite my shortcomings.
Most of all, I am thankful for the people who love me. I wouldn't be here without them.
I am thankful for many many things this year! And that is why I am looking forward to next year...because it can only get better!

November!

2009-11-19T20:20:00.001-08:00

Half of November is gone and what have I done? Well, mostly work work and work. I'm just glad to have ticked off a couple of IEPs for November just to get it over and done with. Well, for now. Last year, I didn't realize the busiest time of the year was the end of the year when I did transition IEPs, report cards, progress reports, ESY documents, etc. But at the end of it all, there's nothing like a desk that you can actually see (at least the surface) and papers and files put away for the summer and ready and waiting for August again.

I admit that last year was definitely challenging (and I won't detail the how's and why's but suffice to say it was mostly people related challenges). This year, although it continues to be a challenge, I am thrilled by the fact that I am starting to think about what I can do for the kids that I have other than working on their curriculum but also making materials for them that is related to their IEPs as well as independent work that they can do. Again, there are a lot of ideas swirling in my mind, and no, I am not reinventing the wheel, but I didn't realize the resources that I have, or could have if given the time. Definitely I will start writing them down so that during the summer, when I only have to work half of the day, I can start working on these ideas. Hopefully, if I am still here next year, despite the budget cuts, I will have made something meaningful for the children and something that I have invested on and can take me whereever I go. But I am just thrilled and looking forward to using these resources and using my most beloved, laminator! I just love it. If I had all the time in the world, I would be laminating everything in sight. But since I don't, I just laminate what I can when I need it.

And now that it is almost December, it is now time to work on my report cards. I feel stressed out just thinking about it and reading posts by my fellow teachers about how they have started it but I know that the first step is almost always starting it. So I all I have to do is take the bull by the horns so speak and actually follow my own advice!

Nano wrimo month

2009-11-04T18:17:00.001-08:00

This is the first Nanowrimo month that I will miss! I'm thinking of how I could possibly squeeze it in, but I can't! In between writing reports, taking care of my credentials and other important things (like driving) who has time to write???

Ho hum...I'm a little bummed out, but there's nothing I can do about it. I wish there were more than 24 hours a day, lol. On the one hand, maybe not! Its bad enough trying to get adjusted to the fact that by 6ish, it gets quite dark, even around 5ish. Oh well!!!

Now on to a nap!! Nap cures all, lol...

Another song for my listening pleasure...hay...

2009-11-04T18:13:00.001-08:00

Rascal Flatts - What Hurts the Most - Official Video

Someday we'll know...

2009-10-20T00:11:00.001-07:00

[Mandy] Ninety miles outside Chicago
Can’t stop driving I don’t know why
So many questions, I need an answer
Two years later you're still on my mind

[Jonathan] Whatever happened to Amelia Earheart?
Who holds the stars up in the sky?
Is true love just once in a lifetime?

[Both] Did the captain of the Titanic cry?

Oh, Someday we’ll know
[Mandy] If love can move a mountain
[Both] Someday we’ll know
[Jonathan] Why the sky is blue
[Both] Someday we’ll know
Why I wasn’t meant for you...

[Mandy] Does anybody know the way to Atlantis?
[Jonathan] Or what the wind says when she cries?
[Mandy] I’m speeding by the place that I met you

[Both] For the ninety-seventh time...Tonight

Someday we’ll know
[Mandy] If love can move a mountain
[Both] Someday we’ll know
[Jonathan] Why the sky is blue
[Both] Someday we’ll know
Why I wasn’t meant for you...
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

Someday we’ll know
[Jonathan] Why Samson loved Dalilah?
[Both] One day I'll go
[Mandy] Dancing on the moon
[Both] Someday you’ll know
That I was the one for you....

[Both] Open up the world

[Mandy] I bought a ticket to the end of the rainbow

[Jonathan] Watched the stars crash in the sea

[Mandy] If I can ask God just one question

[Both] Why aren’t you here with me tonight?

Oh, Someday we’ll know
[Jonathan] If love can move a mountain
[Both] Someday we’ll know
[Mandy] Why the sky is blue
[Both] Someday we’ll know
Why I wasn’t meant for you...
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

Someday we’ll know
[Jonathan] Why Samson loved Dalilah
[Both] One day I'll go
[Mandy] Dancing on the moon
[Both] Someday you’ll know
That I was the one for you....

Someday We'll Know - Mandy Moore & Jonathan Foreman

Or maybe I'll never know...

Ally McBeal

2009-10-19T19:45:00.001-07:00

During the late 1990s, I was hooked on the television show Ally McBeal. It was played by Calista Flockhart and several interesting characters like "The Biscuit" and of course, the love of her life, "Bill Thomas" who of course died, so they never actually ended up together.

Looking back just now, it made me realize that what she said mirrored exactly how I felt. I looked it up, something about choices and how we are the victims of our own choices.

Ally McBeal:
Here I am, the victim of my own choices. And I'm just starting.

And while googling it, I found something even more interesting...maybe this one's meant for me...

"Ally McBeal: Once in a Lifetime (#1.15)" (1998)

Billy: Will you ever forgive my letting go?
Ally McBeal: I'll forgive it. But I'm still not sure I'll ever understand it.

Maybe I will never make sense of it myself. Who knows?

Ally McBeal: Looking backwards, many of the saddest times in my life turn out to be the happiest. So I must be happy now. Yeah. This is gonna be good. Why else would I be crying?

Until we meet again...

Sometimes words aren't enough, so I'll just say it in a song...

2009-10-15T18:31:00.001-07:00

Never Say Good bye by Hayley Westenra

If I could take this moment forever
Turn the pages of my mind
To another place and time
We would never say goodbye
If I could find the words I would speak them
Then I wouldn't be tongue-tied
When I looked into your eyes
We would never say goodbye

If I could stop the moon ever rising
Day would not become the night
Wouldn't feel this cold inside
And we'd never say goodbye

I wish that our dreams were frozen
Then our hearts would not be broken
When we let each other go...

If I could steal this moment forever

Paint a picture-perfect smile
So our story stayed alive
We would never say goodbye

Hayley Westenra - Never Say Goodbye

KT Tunstall - Other Side of the World

2009-10-14T18:01:00.001-07:00

KT Tunstall - Other Side Of The World

Over the sea and far away
She's waiting like an iceberg
Waiting to change
But she's cold inside
She wants to be like the water

All the muscles tighten in her face
Buries her soul in one embrace
They're one and the same
Just like water

And the fire fades away
Most of everyday
Is full of tired excuses
But it's too hard to say
I wish it were simple
But we give up easily
You're close enough to see that
You're the other side of the world to me

On comes the panic light
Holding on with fingers and feelings alike
But the time has come
To move along

And the fire fades away
Most of everyday
Is full of tired excuses
But it's to hard to say
I wish it were simple
But we give up easily
You're close enough to see that
You're the other side of the world

Can you help me
Can you let me go
And can you still love me
When you can't see me anymore

And the fire fades away
Most of everyday
Is full of tired excuses
But it's too hard to say
I wish it were simple
But we give up easily
You're close enough to see that
You're the other side of the world
You're the other side of the world
You're the other side of the world to me

*I love this song for a reason...because its true!

You know that I love you so...

2009-10-13T17:58:00.001-07:00

Love you enough to let you go...

I want you to know, that it doesn't matter
Where we take this road someone's gotta go
And I want you to know, you couldn't have loved me better
But I want you to move on, so I'm already gone.
I'm already gone....

Autumn is in the air!

2009-10-03T07:22:00.001-07:00

It started last week anyways, but I can really feel it. I'm using my heater at night, lol. Or maybe its just cause I feel cold real easily. Anyways, I'm going shopping, finally. Not shopping shopping but just shopping at my favorite haunts, ON, Payless and VS. Lol.
Oh yeah, my allergies are starting to act up so I know autumn is definitely here...grrr...

Random Thoughts

2009-09-26T12:12:00.001-07:00

It's almost NanoWrimo Month!! Whee...the joy of writing...hmm...maybe I should have an IEP related plot going on. Lol. I know I can write about that.
I will write notes to myself about driving....1) Look at the blind spot. 2) Don't make such a wide turn. 3) Look behind you before backing out. 4) One more hand on the steering wheel when I make my right turn. Lol...the list is growing!

Sometimes, I just wish I could just be selfish and say, "No, pick me, pick me instead!!!" Oh well.

And those are my random thoughts for the day. It's a good Saturday!!!

Driving = Freedom

2009-09-19T21:23:00.001-07:00

I had my second driving lesson last week. I am thinking that I am getting better. At least I hope so! I am trying, oh so hard!

The second day was definitely better than the first time. For one, I felt more relaxed and I actually enjoyed being behind the wheel. Looking at the road in front of me, at the signs, at the traffic light and at the people / pedestrians. Of course, I still have my usual turning problems or stopping instead of just going problem. I guess coming from a place where there are different rules, its just a habit that's difficult to break. But what the heck, I will do what it takes to try to pass the DMV test.

I can only imagine the things that I can do when I can drive. For one, I don't have to wake up sooo early just to catch the bus. I imagine, I will still go to work early, I love the fact that when I get there, there's only a few people around and you have time to think and plan what you want to do for the day.

Then, I can go back to school and start working on my credentials. That's the ultimate goal that I have when I learn to drive. I am counting the days and hours when I can finally take the test, or die trying! It'll feel infinitely loads better, for me! Not to mention more convenient! No more lugging around huge bags from Target or Walgreens or Trader Joe's. I won't have to wait for 20 minutes or so or worry that I actually had missed the bus. Oh well.

Hmm....better think good thought then so it'll all come back to me!!!

Goodbye my sweet angel...

2009-09-16T21:05:00.000-07:00

I never met you but you're so real to me.

I know you're an angel in the sky now, watching over your mom and dad and your big brother.

We love you very very much, good bye our sweet angel, Nonoy!!!

A lazy Saturday!

2009-09-12T13:08:00.001-07:00

Today, I had a moment to settle some of the bills that I have pending and I most say I hate bill. I really do...hehehe...I miss my paycheck but its still weeks before I get that.

In the meantime, roomie and I are just waiting in anticipation of that happy day. I probably will end up spending most of it because I have a balikbayan to fill but oh, it would be oh so great. I'm hoping that this box will leave and arrive in time for December. This is probably the last one that I will send. Not that I don't want to send them anything, but it does take time to fill and prepare. I know my last box was filled to the rafters and I must say, beautifully sturdy. I had to google on tips to make sure that the bb was at least "nakaw proof." Hehehe...it was wrapped in packaging tape from the inside and the outside. Hehehe...any would-be magnanakaw would have been proud to have breached its contents, lol. But alas, nothing to steal there but towels, the ever present canned goods (Spam), clothes, bags, wallets, some chocs and stuff for my nephews. This new bb would be filled with basically the same thing. Sorry guys, no electronics, lol. You're better off buying stuff there in case it breaks and you have the warranty to make sure you get something to replace it.

I think I will spend some of my afternoon just putting things away in my room. I was working on work related paper stuff and my room looked like a tornado just came in. Hmm...maybe there was I just didn't notice it. But all in all, it was well worth it since I got something done. Yey!! Tomorrow, to the school I'll go and finish my work related thingy, finish my lesson plan, make copies, go to Trader Joe's probably or Target if I'm not lazy and then spend the rest of the day being lazy, again!

What I am excited about is getting my laminator. It won't be the school's but mine, all mine. I'll have a fun time laminating all my icons, yes, they are mine since they are my labor of love, lol. And making more for some of the kids who I think will need it.

Oh yeah, I did have this crazy craving for ice cream. No particular flavor. I'm glad I don't have a car because that would mean walking to the nearest wherever I can get ice cream. Hehehe...oh well. By that time, the craving will be gone by then. Plus its so cold! Its been cloudy today and its supposed to rain on Monday. Oh no! I'm not ready for a rainy Monday...hopefully it won't be that bad while I wait for my bus then.

Right guy, wrong time, wrong place

2009-09-07T09:04:00.001-07:00

I met him many months ago, maybe six or five. He seemed perfect! He was cute, very tall, had a cute smile with dimples that just made you want to pinch his cheeks. He had a job he loved and he was dedicated to it. So dedicated that he has been pursuing is doctorate degree in physical therapy for years and years and for three years more. And there's the distance, what 6,000 miles according to him and even when he was closer (Texas) the distance felt even more. He was honest right from the start so I knew pretty much that he was never going to be more than a friend. It was the first time two nights ago that we stayed up late for 5 hours just talking in skype. We talked from Pinoy food which he loves and the Pinoy food that he tried like balut and durian but never adidas. Lol. We talked about places we had been to but at different times, Camiguin, Davao, Malagos, Eden, Philippine Eagle, Hot and Cold Springs, White Island, etc. He remembered Wowwowwee and Boom Tarat tarat for some reason, Super Inggo which he found corny but could not help laughing at even though he did not understand a single word. We talked about failed relationships and life goals. I will never stop him from achieving his life goals. I know I had mine and that was completing my masters degrees. But I know that I will never be able to wait for him for three years because its such a long time. Who knows what will have happened then. But it makes me so sad that I met someone who I thought would've been perfect but at the wrong time when something else is his priority and at the wrong place. I wish I could move to Ireland! Lol. But that can never be. I guess the real test of love is learning to let go, so that the person who you love will truly fulfill their destiny. It may not be with you, could be with someone else.
I rest my case. And now it's time for me to move on!

Now...

2009-08-23T10:05:00.001-07:00

I have no more time to spend on them except for one....hehehe...

Now I have more time to...

2009-08-10T23:16:00.001-07:00

FB
Farm town
Twitter
Twitpic
Tagged
Mafia wars

What else? I should add, blog, multiply and do stuff in my hobby, lol. Well, the 24 aint enough, lol.

Hmm...that's about it, lol.

This and that

2009-08-10T21:47:00.001-07:00

Last year, I didn't feel too anxious about my classroom simply because, I was still jet-lagged after having flown more than 12 hours on a two stop flight. I had to learn this and that and that and this. So, prepping my classroom was the least of my worries. But this time around, I have no excuse....hehehe...

Now, I wished that I had gone there as soon as I came back from vacay. Oh well. But going to the classroom and seeing it again has made me feel excited about the coming schoolyear. I feel like I want to do this and I want to do that. Definitely I have learned some lessons for next year on what to do. I must write that down in case I forget, lol. If all else fails, at least I have last year to look back on.

The other day, I was doing my usual walk around the neighborhood. I was debating whether to go to Walgreen's since I had been there the previous day and didn't find a 2 L Coke a Cola. Either I was going to get Pepsi or smaller soda bottles which were more expensive. There was also the Carneceria (supermarket / grocery in Mexican?) and thought I might as well make the 7-Eleven trip which was close to the park to check out what was there.

So there I was, for my "healthy" walk and just dying for an ice cold pop. Lol. Oh come on, its my one and only vice. Lol. I used to think, I can lose a bf, but not my soda...which is true. A day without pop, is like being punished. The only time I didn't drink was last year when I had my "juice" phase but that quickly went, lol. And the time that I had laryngopharingitis and the doctor said nothing sweet. But as soon as I got well, lol. I was back to my old habits.

Man, the prices there are way more expensive. I could get a 2 L Coke a Cola at Target for 1.89 + cv but in 7-Eleven, its 2.29. Wow!!! But beggars can't be choosers, lol. So, I have no choice but to buy some or else I wasn't going to have any. I still have it enough to last tomorrow. But I should get more maybe in Walgreen's close to school. That reminds me, I should buy drinks to bring in the classroom since the vending machine in the staffroom is not working at all. It's practically empty, lol. And there's nothing to eat as well. Hmm....Now I really have to get something from Walgreen's for lunch tomorrow because there's nothing in the fridge. Or I could always bring rice and hotdogs, lol. I am way overdue for food shopping. Nothing to cook and eat.

Yeah, one more thing, my heart is empty....but I hope not for long, I long to have my own blue Yaris sedan to fill my heart with, lol. Hehehe...hey, at least I can be miserable while driving around...I can only dream for now, but I know the universe will work for me....lol...

And a vacuum here, and a vacuum there

2009-08-06T13:17:00.001-07:00

When I woke up today, I had the sudden urge to vacuum my room. Not that surprising since I haven't vacuumed since I moved in, lol. My roomie had vacuumed hers several times and the living room as well, but me? Nah, wasn't inspired enough to do it. It's weird since at our old apartment, I would always want to vacuum every one or two months when I felt the carpet started to smell. What did stop us was the fact that we didn't own a vacuum cleaner. The apartment complex did and we had to lug it around (it was huge and heavy) from our apartment to the office to return it and we only had what, three hours to use it?

So, here I was debating whether to vacuum or not and I figured, since roomie wasn't around, then I wouldn't disturb anyone and it was past 8am, when we are allowed to make noise, hehehe...so I figured, why not?

I got the Dirt Devil out of the cupboard and started vacuuming away. Took out the shoes that I have lined up, my boxes, airbed, books and before you know it, I was vacuuming away!!! Yehey!! And man, was there a lot of dirt stuck in there. I had to clean it twice before vacuuming the living room. Also, it was an opportunity to rearrange my room somewhat.

It still looks messy, no doubt about it, but at least, looks airy, lol. Now I have more room to move around and the printer is out of the way. When I get my September paycheck, one of the things I am definitely buying are shelves and boxes that I can store my stuff as well as a nice thick clearbook for my files. I used to do that back home but since I've been here, haven't had an opportunity to be as "organized" hehehe...like I could ever boast myself to be.

Still, its something I am looking forward to doing. Now, I just have to figure out where to put some of these things in the mean time, lol.

Oh yeah, another reason why I suddenly feel the urge to clean up and throw things away? It's supposed to be our "monthsary." Now I'm off with the old to make room for the new...let's just hope the love karma of the universe works with me here...come on!!! You have got to be kidding me!!! Lol.

Las Vegas

2009-08-05T13:37:00.001-07:00

Went to Las Vegas last Thursday and came back Tuesday morning. Looking back there are two things I learned about the trip. First is, to fly instead of drive, lol. Unless you plan to sleep and stop somewhere because 8 hours of driving is just long, lol. Not that I drive. Two, go there when its cooler like the fall or winter esp. if you plan to be outdoors most of the time because the heat during the summer just makes you wilt. The weather there is extremely hot. And for someone who has no idea that it could be really hot, its 100s and when you go out of the house, geez, then you start sweating and you haven't done anything yet! Hehehe...still the trip was well worth it. I took a lot of pictures and the drive going there is pretty interesting. You can really see the change in scenery from California green to the sparse Nevada landscape. And feel the temperature difference too!

There was much to see there but so little time and not enough energy too! The heat just dissipates your energy. I cannot remember the last time I went someplace just to visit like what we did in LV but I also learned not to squeeze way too many things to see and do in such as short visit. After all, if the place really is worthy of visiting again, then go ahead and visit it. Some of my companions had a different philosophy and thought that you have to squeeze every teeny tiny drop from every place. The disadvantage is that you don't really see the whole place. For example, we didn't even get to see all of the Vegas strip. We only got to Caesar's Palace, the Bellagio, MGM Grand, The Mirage and Treasure Island. The whole strip instead takes a lot of time. We went there during our first day in the afternoon, which although I enjoyed, would've been better visited at night when it wasn't that warm and we could see the lights. We did see the Bellagio Fountains which was well worth it and came back another day at night to see it. And it is a much better sight to see in the evening with the lights on. It's really amazing! Along with the water which seemed to be dancing, there was also the music to go along with it. We also saw a free show, the Sirens at Treasure Island. Hmmm...very attractive girls dancing around. And they only have their show at night. So there really is a lot to see even at night.

But we didn't confine ourselves to just the strip. We also went to Lake Mead and Hoover Dam. People enjoy water recreation activities at Lake Mead but cannot fish. You can just imagine the abundance of fish there. You can buy popcorn or bread to feed them and they do "swarm" around. Lots of them!!!

In Hoover Dam, the view is simply awesome too! You can clearly see how much the water has receded the last few years. Makes one wonder, with the growth in population if the water there will be sufficient to supply those 7 states with water.

We saved the best for last when we went to Grand Canyon West. This is different from Grand Canyon South which is run by the National Park. Grand Canyon West is run privately by the Hualapi Tribe in Arizona with their Skywalker which you have to pay extra ($29+). We contented ourselves with the basic package tour ($43). If you plan to stay longer, might as well pay for the food as well which is about 12 dollars. We went to three stops. Eagle's Point, Guano Point and Hualapi Ranch. The view is just spectacular everywhere you look.

And on the last day, we went to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. For only $8, you could get a tour around one of the numerous tracks and who knows, even take a ride around the speedway. Wohoo!!! You really get your money's worth and more!

Whew, Las Vegas definitely is a place to visit, not only for its bright lights but also for nearby outdoor scenery.

Las Day of school

2009-06-12T07:59:00.000-07:00

Today is the last day of school and one more day til I leave. Anyways, I'm more sad this year. And a bit disappointed. I think I've worked really hard but I know I can't please everybody, so to those who are disappointed, ambot sa inyo, kamo kahay buhat sa akong buhaton ug tan-awn nato kung mabuhat ninyo...&^%$##.

Now, I'm getting off my soapbox and looking forward to the day ending.

The drain is fixed!

2009-06-09T21:25:00.001-07:00

It was the other day when the "drainage" to our bathtub got clogged up. Grr....so, being the shower person that I am, I had to make do with the sink, lol. Yeah, wash my hair? Sink, wash my underarms, sink, lol. If I could've taken a shower in the sink, I would have.

Stayed the same yesterday and finally, I could not bear it so I called the manager very early in the morning, hehehe...and thank goodness she didn't get mad at me since it was sevenish. And got the plumber in today. Wohoo...first thing I did was take a long shower. Hehehe...enjoying the whole shower experience. I'll never take it for granted ever again. Reminds me of when I went to SD during the spring break and there was no propane, I was screaming with cold when I washed. Hehehe...again, I will not take for granted hot water again....hehehe...and now I'm off to dreamland to sleep the night away...I deserve a break from thinking about report cards.

Back to 1

2009-06-07T13:08:00.001-07:00

I went to school today to move my "things" to Room 6. I've moved all my files / K books (which really aren't mine but will be using) as well as papers that I compiled throughout the year. I felt sad and yet at the same time, I felt that moving into Room 6 was a new start, which is what I really need considering the things that have happened this year. I felt particularly betrayed by someone. I won't give the gory details but enough to say that keep your enemies close but your "friends" closer. I've certainly learned my lesson from that experience! I'm actually a little nervous that although I have signed my contract, its not final because of what happened. It has certainly dampened my motivation to work considering its the end of the year. Now, I just feel like I want to get the whole week over and done with and stamp this chapter of my life "closed." Hopefully, not to be opened again.
After moving my things, I had a battle as usual with the shredder. I tried to follow the directions but it just died on me and it has refused to work. So now, I have a pile of papers to shred with no shredder, lol. I'm crossing my fingers that I can convince Leila to go to Office Max so I can buy a shredder to replace the one that I err....mangled? Hehehe...oh well, hopefully, a much better one that doesn't stop after two minutes and will need four minutes to rest in between. What kind of shredder is that? Hmmm...a word comes to mind. But I won't say it.
After the battle with the shredder, and a visit at the dumpster, yes, I was at the dumpster to throw away catalogues, I gathered my things together. Took the receipts that I had and filled out a form for reimbursement. With that out of the way, I was on my way to TJ to buy paperbags. On Friday, we're supposed to return everything to the children and we needed a bag for that. I saw in the other classes that they were using it, so I thought I'd buy some with the PTA endowment fund that we have left, which was $7.14. Hehehe...I walked from school to Bolinger. And that walk sort of reminded of the time when I first started. I would usually go to school on Saturday just to catch up on work and prep for work as well. I'd get off at Bollinger and de Anza, (I didn't know back then that Blaney and Bollinger was closer to school) so I would get off there and walk the rest of the way to school. I remember those days when I would lug around my Metrobank bag stuffed with papers very early in the morning, usually the first bus from Saich. Wow, that seems like forever. I wish I knew then what I know now. But then again, that is what regrets usually are.
So I walked, and walked and remembered the times when I had to walk when days were cold and when I'd get lost. I am always poor with directions. One time, I even ended up calling Leila for directions. Hehehe...oh those days when I was stupid and naive. I still am when it comes to work, but I'd like to think I'm a little wiser.
Finally, I ended up in Bollinger and off I went to TJ. I got some turkeyballs for lunch, reduced greek salad as my veggies for the week and instead of apples, I indulged myself in mangoes. I know, not as good as the ones back home, but they'll do. After a very difficult week, I certainly deserve a break.
And I headed to the check out counter in case my hungry tummy would get the better of me and I'd be grabbing this and that. Since I'm leaving on Sunday, I don't need to stock up on food. I'd be gone for the whole summer. I asked the cashier while I was checking out if paperbags were for sale so I could buy some for class. He said that they didn't but I could ask their manager and he hollered at her, hehehe...and she said, no problem. So I got 13 spankin' brand new Trader Joe's paperbags for putting things in for class. Thank you Trader Joe's. You're really my favorite place to shop for food.
With both bags on hand, I waited outside for the bus. The bench was occupied with a family, so I stood by the shade of a tree near the bus stop for almost 15 minutes. Not a bad thing, I texted, listened to music and watched people around. And by the time the bus came around, I was all ready to go home and to lunch!!
So that about ended the day, back to 1...next year is hopefully a new start for me. And I'm sure with even more lessons to learn! Hopefully, not one where I'd lose my job.
Oh yeah, I'm certainly keeping my "friends" closer this time around!

Overdue Haircut

2009-06-01T21:41:00.001-07:00

It was during dismissal and I was sending off the kids, one of the boys turned to me and said that I needed to get a haircut, lol. It's funny, I've thought of the same thing too since the weekend. I only didn't have time to go and find a suitable hair salon. But I would dearly love to get a haircut. I feel like one of those horror flick girls with the hair and all in front of their face...hehehehe...

So I laughed and replied to him that I'm a girl and I'm allowed to have long hair. He certainly didn't look pleased with my response...hehehehe...oh well. But it's true, I am a girl and I'm allowed to grow it. He answered that it was too long. Hmm...reminds me of my mom, who always wants me to get a haircut whenever she feels that my hair has grown too long. I must look like a wild woman or something. Hehehe...but I really need a haircut, its long overdue. As to when? Hmmm...maybe during the break when I don't have anything better to do.

One hour walk/jog

2009-05-31T21:36:00.001-07:00

Today, I tried as usual to live "healthier" by taking a walk / jog around where I live in. The walk was pretty good, albeit cold and windy. I tried to jog and wow, I'm outta shape....hehehe...I could feel the blood pounding in my head...hehehe..I thought I was going to pass out but glad that I didn't. Hehehe...I did like walking around but I think I overdid it today. I walked for about an hour. Usually I would only walk for about 30 minutes but today I felt, you know, what the heck, I'll shoot for an hour. After all, it was only 7 and it was still daylight. So I walked and walked and walked and before you knew it, it was eight!
I'll know tomorrow if I definitely regret this. But one thing's for sure, my legs are exhausted but my mind isn't. I think I'm going to sleep really well tonight. Hopefully, be up by tomorrow for work, lol.

Scrapbooking

2009-05-20T18:53:00.001-07:00

Today, I had to make a scrapbook part for my school principal who is retiring this year. This is the product of my "creative juices." Hehehe...hopefully, no one from my school knows about my blog and certainly not my principal.
I must say I'm quite happy with my handiwork if only because I'm not really that creative. While God was handing out creativity, I was probably lined up somewhere, lol. Oh yeah, I just printed out the names and the rest I got from Crista. Yipee!! Having things on hand just made this project a little better and easier to make.
Anyways, I'm very grateful to my principal for everything that she has done for me. I will really miss her!

Goldilocks Mountain View

2009-05-16T05:19:00.000-07:00

Last Holy Week, Leila and I went to Goldilocks with high hopes only to find out that they were closed, lol. So we went to Jollibee in Great Mall.

Today, finally, we went back to eat of course Filipino food. Well, I was hungry so for me, the food was good. But the ambience and the people there, hmm....could improve way better. Let me start with the people. If I had to compare with Jollibee or Red Ribbon for that matter, most of the people who work there are Pinoys. But there's a huge difference. I suppose part of the Jollibee's thrust is having people who seem to "ooze" happiness or seem to look like they're happy doing their job. But those in Goldilocks, yikers! It felt like they were there because they had to and not because they wanted to.

While taking my order, the lady who was taking it actually answered a phone call and then promptly forgot about my order. To top that off, the cashier then rang up what was on my tray minus the chicken barbecue that I ordered. So I had to tell her that I ordered it and then she had to get it and heat it. She didn't look too happy nor did she look happy at all that there were people eating there at all. I suppose I am used to people smiling, after all, I am the customer and I'm spending my hard earned money there. But no, she wasn't smiling at all. She looked like she wanted to be anywhere but there. I wanted to tell her, "Gee lady, be happy that you actually have a job, a job here?" Maybe she should get a taste of what it's like to be jobless back home and have to feed a jobless husband and six children, lol.

Anyways, totally seemed such a sad place to be in. So we finished our food and were off. If I were a reviewer, they would totally fail in service and generally the people who work there. Who wants to go back at such as spirit-dampening place? I certainly don't want to! I'll opt to go to Great Mall in Jollibee or Red Ribbon. At least the people there look like they're happy to see people who buy from them, plus you can go shopping afterwards.

So let me sum up my "review" lol.

Service * out of *****
Food ***** out of *****
Ambience ** out of *****
Restroom **** out of *****

But then again, don't take my word for it. Go there. It's near Costco.

Ughhhh!!!

2009-05-13T21:45:00.001-07:00

I think that pretty much describes the day in general. Now I'm nursing a headache and can't seem to sleep. Way too many things on my mind, although, I should be a bit relieved, but not so, since that work related thingy will have a part two.

I'm trying to remind myself of the good things that I have, but sometimes, you just get to a point where, you feel exhausted and you try to think of the good things in life that makes being here worthwhile. In the meantime, I miss my mom's cooking and my family. I envy Leila...as to why...its a secret...hehehe...not my beans to spill but good for her!!

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T14:40:00.001-07:00

There's my mom, there's my older sister and my younger sister..

Happy mother's day!

Hmm...it's only me who's not, lol....I'm not in a hurry though...lol...

Another busy Monday...

2009-05-04T21:02:00.001-07:00

My week started getting busy yesterday. I finally finished my practice test for CSET and not surprisingly, my weakest area is American history. Oh well...now back to basics and rereading it again, it is after all the second time that I've read it. I've started on one reviewer and will move on to 3 other books if I have the luxury of time. Doing the practice test was a good idea since it gave me a gauge as to where I was in terms of knowledge, or lack thereof, lol. On the bright side, it wasn't a total mess. I tried to make a "logical guess" if all else failed. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't but at least I had the opportunity to read the questions again and the right choices. I only have about a week to go other than this week. So I'm deliberately missing my favorite news from back home just to devote the time to studying.

After dinner today, that was what I did. I opened my book and started reading away. An hour later, I felt my eyelids feeling heavy so I took a nap, lol. Albeit a long one so now, I'm thinking that it was a big mistake since that would mean that I will have a difficult time sleeping. And since I've been taking the bus, sleeping through the night has been a challenge. I always wake up at different hours in the morning, sometimes at 2, 3 or 4 am and then I have no choice but to try to get back to sleep. And interrrupted sleep is not quality sleep, if you know what I mean.

At work, I'm catching up on doing re-assessment for a case load that I have. I have much to say but would rather not. You know how it is with work stuff and how what you say can be taken against you, by your employer...lol. So in that regard, my lips are sealed.

What I am happy about though is that this is my last IEP. Earlier today, I had completed paperwork for the previous IEP that I had. Whopee!! Definitely something to celebrate. I still have amendments but none as major as these cases.

So now that I've blogged, although I wish I could blog more, its back to the books for me. I'm trying a second computerized practice test. At least get my brain working a bit before the big day....

Leila's Lucky Day

2009-04-30T07:46:00.001-07:00

Today we had the usual bus ride to work. And lo and behold, the machine was broken which we use to put in our money. Leila had started worrying earlier that she didn't have enough money to pay for her second ride. She borrowed a dollar from me and that was the only thing that I had. The other bill I had was a 20 which I was going to use for pay for something school-related. She was thinking of asking the other person also in the bus stop for some change but changed her mind and then going to Safeway to buy something just so she would have change.

As we got in the bus, I was started to put in my dollar when the lady driver stopped me and said that it was broken and that we should just get it. She gave Leila a day pass as well before she could ask the driver if she had change, lol. Wow, talk about a freebie. A day pass costs $5 in pesos, if you multiply that by 45, that's a whopping 225 pesos....yikers! Anyways, we were so happy. Everyone who came in the bus looked dazed and confused from such a lucky break....hehehe...But I think that won't last long, I bet she will go back to the VTA garage or something to have it fixed.

But in the meantime, I will savor something so trivial and yet great for the day. There's payday and a free ride, whopee!!

Now, its back to work...yehey!!! At least I still have a job, and come to think of it, about 32 days? And then its summer break...whopee!!!

Second Week

2009-04-28T07:12:00.001-07:00

It's the second week of walking / busing to school. And, geez, it is cold! I know I've been complaining of the heat, but now I suppose its back to"normal" and coming from an abrupt change from hot to cold, it takes getting used to. But I guess I can't complain. I just have to wear more clothes, lol.

On the other hand, there's the flu going around which started in Mexico and has spread. One more thing to worry about when I take the bus. What can I do, I have to take the bus, or else walk a long long long ways.

I don't mind the walk sometimes, especially when the sun is out and its still nice and cool. But when its cold and breezy, burrr....then I do mind the cold.

And now, back to work, er...review...its not officially my time yet so I can pretty much do what I need to do, personal stuff...read read read!!!

Lazy Saturday

2009-04-25T22:01:00.001-07:00

Saturday has come and gone and what do I have to show for it? Absolutely nothing, lol.

I woke up around nine-ish with the sun on my face...grr...I did not pull down the blinds. So I got out of bed, and then pulled down the blinds and promptly went back to sleep. I got up an hour later to eat breakfast. I had the usual microwaveable food. I had the chicken spring rolls from TJ. They do not taste good. I think the leafy thing there, sort of like cabbage makes it kind of stringy. Plus the wrap was just way too thick. Anyways, beggars can't be choosers so I had no choice but to eat it. I have one left over for tomorrow. I had the turkey balls for dinner. Sort of better, lol. Like I said, I am too lazy too cook so that's better than going hungry.

With breakfast done, I went back to my room and fell asleep, lol. I can't help it. I think the week was just hard on me. I've been getting up really early to catch the bus and going home late just so it won't be very warm when I walk and wait for the bus in the stop. Although, when I go home, it's around 5, the sun is still out. Yeah, its because we have DST so now, in actualilty, its 4 and not really 5.

When I woke up, it was almost one so I had lunch, the turkey balls, and then took a shower. I was planning to read or surf the net or update my website but nope, I fell back asleep. Hehehe..I know, the cure for a lot of sleep? More sleep, lol. When I woke up, it was time for dinner. So I had more turkey balls, then watched Wish Ko Lang and TV Patrol Sabado.

As usual, it was the political bruhaha plus Daniel Smith's departure from the country. Oh well. The way I see it, that Nicole girl...hmm..I would probably say something unsavory so I might as well hold my piece. Lol. Not get on that soap box.

In short, I haven't done much during the day. No nothing, lol. So I'm trying to make up for it. I started reading another reviewer and then back to my other book. I might as well spread myself around here with books and more books and more reviewers. Especially the reviewer I'm reading since I can't renew it anymore. Apparently, its in demand, lol. Oh well. I have to return it by May 11 or else pay the fine. I think I won't renew it for awhile after that. The test will be May 16 so by then I can take a short breather before reviewing for the next tests. Or I can always order them online so I can take them with me during the summer break. Yikers...

So many things to do but so little time, but like everyone else, I need a break too...from everything.

There goes my lazy Saturday. I hope Sunday won't be the same thing. I know that I have to do something for Monday's IEP...gulp...oh yeah, get that CD....grrr...but on the other hand, its a good thing. I get to go to Target...hurray....

Anything and everything to blog about

2009-04-22T07:53:00.001-07:00

Since I got back from Spring break, I haven't had the time or energy or maybe both to blog about anything at all. You can't say that I don't have anything to blog about, I could go on and on about the trip this and that. However, the heat and work has just been keeping me busy...oh look, time to get ready for class. I'll be back later to finish this, if I get back my train of thought...

34 Things About Me

2009-04-11T21:51:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow will be, what else, my birthday! Minus my family. Oh well, there's always a balance between the good and the bad. Last year, I didn't blog on my birthday. Usually, I try to blog, or at least I think I try mainly because it is the time when I examine (naks) er contemplate how the year has been the last couple of years of my life here on earth. Lol. The only other time when I contemplate is when its December / January.

In 2008, there wasn't much to blog about. Mainly because back then, I wasn't working. So there was nothing to write about in the work department. Also, I was very much dependent on my savings to complete my savings and my mom's help as well, so that didn't really bode well for celebrations, lol, much less a birthday one. And at that time, I was busy writing my case study, hoping to defend it by June and yeah, I was working on my paperwork for my work application here in the US. So a lot of things in my plate so to speak.

Looking at the previous year, I did blog about 32 things about myself. And I thought I'd do the same thing this birthday, and obviously it would be more than 32, lol. It would be 34.

But age is just a number. Leila tells me that I don't look my age anyways, hehehe, thanks roomie! And I don't mind telling my real age, unlike other people. After all, I've earned all the gray hairs and I think that with age comes a certain freedom, that you don't care so much about what other people think. The only opinions that matter to me are my immediate family's and I am fairly certain that they do trust my judgement on certain matters, lol.

So, on this special day (actually tomorrow since I won't be blogging tomorrow, I'll be at Denver Airport running from one end to the other, lol), here are 34 things about me, and more, lol.

1 - I am still the middle child. Nothing I can do about that.

2 - We are all still girls. But interestingly enough, my sisters had boys. Hmm...

3 - Now, I eat vegetable salad. Nope, I don't prepare them from scratch although that is a fervent wish that one day I will learn to do that. But I eat vegetable salad here. I particularly like the Classic Greek Salad from Trader Joe's.

4 - I still love the color blue. But if I have no choice when it comes to clothes, I choose pink. Only because it makes choosing easier, lol. Sort of like a default thing.

5 - Cooking still hates me. That's why I love microwaveable food!

6 - Hmmm...I think its status quo when it comes to cleaning. I take out the trash when needed. My room doesn't stink so that's still pretty much liveable, lol.

7 - Yeah, I almost didn't go to college but I more than made up for it by going to grad school, twice. Lol. And it looks like I might need to go back again for teacher certification. Yikers.

8 - And yeah, more school eh?

9 - Now, like what I did before in my Dole days, I live away, much farther away from family. Sometimes, I think about going home like next year, but then again, I think, I'm here, I might as well use to my full advantage being here. Go see other states, other places. At the end of the day, or years, I'm going to have a home to come back to. Plus its a good excuse for my family to come see me here...hehehe...

10 - I'm still afraid of snakes. Eww...

11 - Yeah, I've been bitten twice by a dog. That hasn't scared me away from dogs though. I love dogs and cats.

12 - Yes, still a SciHi person lol. One of our batchmates made a compilation of our yearbook pictures and wow, I looked different, kind of funny different, lol.

13 - I still love reading romance pocketbooks. But I don't have as much time. Now I only have CSET in mind, lol.

14 - I still love Pretty Woman. Let me think, what was the last movie I saw on the big screen? Oh yeah, January of this year, the Day the Earth Stood Still with my bf. Lol. I did not dig the movie, just the company, lol.

15 - Sigh, Legolas now seems like a thing of the past. But he's still good looking.

16 - Yes, I still hate writing. But I seem to be destined to have to write. IEPs this time, lol.

17 - Yes, I'm still camera shy. But I love my Kodak camera!

18 - Still not a good conversationalist. I do look forward to calling and talking to my mom. Even though its expensive, its well worth it.

19 - I still get lost. The most recent time. I was on my way to school from the Library. I walked and I realized why am I taking like 30 minutes or so? Yeah, I got lost, big time. I was tired when I got back to school, I couldn't work so much, lol.

20 - There is still Order in Chaos. Take in fact my desk in the classroom and my room. There's chaos there and yet I can find the things that I want and need. But clean it up, yikers. It'll take me the whole night or afternoon to find one paper, lol.

21 - Still hate cleaning up and putting away stuff, but I know I have to.

22 - I still love rice. But sadly, not much of an appetite lately. So I'm down to one rice a day, only for dinner. I just have a sandwich for lunch. I miss mom's cooking!

23 - Love soda...still...

24 - I still eat and drink whatever I want, cause I only have one life to live, lol.

25 - Love my blog!

26 - Hmm...neopets? I think it was a phase, lol. Now, I love surfing the 'net. Watching the news from back home. That keeps me grounded.

27 - I miss the beach!

28 - Hurray for Cebu! Wala lang.

29 - Whoops, I did have alcoholic beverages New Year's hehehe...got tipsy and now I remember why I gave up drinking. Lol.

30 - I love cats and dogs.

31 - Hmm...let me think along the lines of a life long vocation. Yeah, vet, but that could never be. So I'm a teacher instead. A special teacher, lol. Cause I'm special!

32 - I'm still shy. Part of the reason why I hide out in my classroom during lunch. Well, mostly its to catch up on work. But it does feel awkward. I'll definitely make more effort next year!

33 - I have a PSP but I have to master Spiderman and Indiana Jones.

34 - Happy birthday to me, at the airport. I'll be traveling for the most part. Here comes SJ International Airport, then Denver then Rapid and then home? We'll see...

Have a great Easter!

And yeah, thanks Lei for the chocolate mousse. It was eternally sinful, lol but well worth it. I'm going to be working those off tomorrow at the airport as I run from one end to the other end. Yeah, from A24 to what 60 or 80 something? Lol.

One dollar bills

2009-04-07T13:00:00.001-07:00

I remembered an email that I got that we were supposed to give $10 for the end of year Special ed party. I knew at the back of my mind that I probably don't have that much cash, lol. I have quarters, $20 worth of them, but not bills, lol. Why? For laundry of course...hehehe...

So, here I am with one dollar bills in the wallet and nothing worth more than that, lol. I remember when I was back home, I'd feel so poor of I had less than fifty pesos. Why? That's because that doesn't really amount to much. Back then, lunch at the cafeteria cost something like sixty pesos. Yeah, that much. It was an expensive place to eat but beggars can't be choosers because I was too lazy to eat, lol. Worse was that sometimes, if you didn't reserve on time (in Munich campus), they would run out of food then you would have to go all the way to the main campus...and it was chaotic during lunch with tons of kids around. So again, that was a problem too. A place to eat in. Also, parents would swarm the area as well. These parents were too overprotective with their kids. Some even still spoon fed their kids. Yikers, and they were in elementary! What the heck! Tsk tsk tsk. And we wonder why kids are like what they are nowadays? That's because they've never had a hard life. And what do they do when they grow up and their parents aren't there to take care of their big and small problems? They're going to end up a burden to society. Tsk tsk tsk. I can imagine all those kids when they're all grown up....what a sad life....

What was I writing about?

2009-04-07T12:49:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, during lunch break, I was busily blogging when the principal and some important people from the district came into my room. Good thing I was working and typing and I wasn't lounging around playing music, lol. Although, technically it was lunch break so I could pretty much do what I needed to do while taking a break, unless I was breaking school rules, lol.

Anyways, I am trying to recall what I was typing because it had grown quite lengthy. But when they came in, I had no choice but to stop writing and talk to them a bit. This morning, as I was checking to see if my article was still in Scribefire, I saw that it was and probably, I clicked on the wrong x button and now it's all gone. Tsk tsk tsk. Now I have to start from scratch. I will probably remember bits and pieces of what I wrote but the thought is all gone, lol.

Hmm...oh yeah, I was reading this article on a couple and their house getting ransacked by thieves and as usual, they had expensive things stolen, one of which was a Macbook Air I think. Hmm...I totally can't afford that. So that must've really hurt, ouch! I know that the cheapest Macbook Air costs almost $2000. Yeah, starts out at almost $1800, but with additional stuff you put in and taxes, then it goes real high before you know it. I can't even afford the oldest Macbook model, lol. Which would cost almost a thousand. Ow!!! So, I had to settle with a Toshiba. Not as many features as the Mac that I use for school, but I'm totally happy with it for now. Last night, I actually didn't open my Mac at home. I settled in, opened my Toshiba and watched and did everything that I needed to do with my Toshiba. It wasn't a bad thing at all. What I especially love is the Harmon speakers. Much louder than the Mac. I do sympathize with people who have to work with Vista because it is just soooo slow. There's nothing basically in my laptop but it just takes a million years before it boots up compared to the MacBook. I sometimes dread just thinking about me putting more files in it, which I will at some point in time and then it takes what, twice the amount of time to boot in? Hehehe...tsk tsk tsk. This Microsoft thing is just over the limit sometimes, lol.

So, back to the stolen goods. Apparently, this person whose Mac got stolen posted the serial number of his computer online to warn other people that if they did buy something then it was something that was stolen and thus illegal. And true enough, people he knew told him that it was sold online. Being the person that he is, he just emailed the person and told him to return his stuff but sadly, this person (who was probably one of the thieves) didn't show up and he never got back his Mac again...sigh...what a sad story. I guess he should've entrapped them. At least give them a taste of Philippine prison and see how they like it there.

In between the studying, work, website, who has time? Lol.

2009-04-06T12:59:00.001-07:00

This morning, a friend of mine called me. I had called her Friday afternoon to ask her about taxes, since she also does taxes here and I never got a reply. So today, she finally returned my call. I know, she's super busy what with going to school, working on taxes when she has the time or other stuff she needs to do. But I really appreciated her getting back to me even if it was days late. She had what, 9 missed calls, lol. Talk about most wanted...hehehe...But who can blame her? I feel the same way too.

During weekends, when I'm supposed to be relaxing, I read / study, work on the IEPs (I did that yesterday from 12:29pm to about 6pm) and then there's the housework with laundry, putting away stuff in the room, etc. Just doing the laundry took time...hehehe...The luxury that we had back in Glenbrook was that the laundry place was just across the apartment block we lived in so we could just go in and leave our laundry and then come back when we had to move it to the dryer. Where we live, where the laundry is more expensive decided to do it at a bigger place. The drawback then is that we have to stay there, wait, and then wait again. Just doing the folding takes a long time. I think it didn't help either that we did what, almost a month's worth of laundry. Hehehe...so that pretty much took us about 2 hours just for laundry. By the time you get home, you have to make dinner (in my case, pop it in the microwave) and then eat. Then do the dishes, then back to the room to do whatever I need to do. Earlier in the day, I had gone to the library to pick up some book and then headed home using the bus. And that pretty much took a long time. Unlike back home where a bus comes and goes anytime, anyplace, lol. Here, the buses run on a schedule and if you miss it, then you have to wait for the next one, which in my case was 30 minutes after. So you can imagine how long one has to wait. And wait, and wait. Then there's always the possibility that the bus comes late. So it could be in fact more than 30 minutes later. Oh shucks.

So, in between the studying, working on paperwork, housework and then the website that I'm starting, who has the time? Hehehe....well, I try to make time. Hopefully, the summer will give me more time to do the things that I want to do as well as work on my interests, lol. The breaks in between help too...I am soo looking forward to spring break!!!

Wohoo!!!

2009-04-05T17:28:00.001-07:00

Umm...I'm not really celebrating anything, lol. Only that tomorrow is Monday and we get to work and then we have Spring break!!! Yebah! I am so ready to take a vacay!! Yes, I'm looking forward to not working, well, not all the time, lol and just lazing around (so I'm hoping) and catch up on my reading, not the leisure kind, but reviewing for CSET. Uh oh. I'm way behind my schedule.

Last night, I was so tired from doing superduper laundry, lol, that I just took the night off. What did I do? Hmm...watched Wish Ko Lang and then, umm...yeah, its official its a blank, lol.

Anyways, why super laundry? We hadn't done laundry in like 3 weeks so I had pretty much almost all my clothes in the laundry basket. I was hoping to start packing this weekend, but nope, nothing to pack except dirty clothes, lol. So, no packing happened. I'll do it Saturday morning instead and hopefully, will not forget anything, lol. That's why I like to pack early so I have the leisure time to pack what I need to pack and then think about what I think I'll need. Oh well. If I leave things behind, I can always buy, lol. Hmm...maybe not. I have to save for summer since I won't work.

So, what to pack? Well, winter clothes lol. Here we are enjoying the sun here in Cali while out there in the middle of nowhere, lol, (he won't read this anyways, lol), there's blizzard, snow, rain and yeah, what else more blizzard. He says it's blizzarding, lol. Yikers. So I'm back to my boots, puffer coat, sweaters, cardigans, and everything else I need to keep myself warm. But then again, with the snow, I probably won't get out, lol. Getting out of the car in freezing weather to go inside the house, just torture, lol. And I even almost slipped in the snow. Talk about the lack of dignity. So I can pretty much imagine myself, while at the airport, wearing boots and a puffer jacket while people are probably wearing shirt and shorts, lol. They'll probably think I'm crazy, hehehe...but who knows, I might not look so crazy when I get to Denver.

On the bright side, hmm...what is the bright side? Oh yeah, too many to mention. I mean, last year, who would've thought that I'd be hear. Last year, at this time, I was finishing my case study. Writing my paper and then scheduling my case study defense. And hmm, oh yeah, I did finally know already that I was going to come over here and work, but it just hadn't sunk in yet.

Leila and I are hoping that next year, during the summer break, we'd have enough money saved so we could go to Europe. Yebah!! It would be great to go to London, then Paris, then Italy, oh yeah, wishful thinking on our part. But it never hurts to dream and yeah, something to work hard for next year. Until then, I'll be happy just to get to SD in one piece, and hopefully, not get stuck at the airport because of a blizzard? Hehehe...yeah, now back to IEP writing....enough daydreaming and woolgathering...hehehe...where's the wool? There aint no sheep here...meahhhhh....

Today is Monday!

2009-03-30T19:39:00.001-07:00

Hmm....sounds like Eric Carle's story, but it's not. Anyways, one more day to go and then its April and then what? Oh yeah, one percent higher in sales tax for us here. So that's from 8.25% to 9.25% and I read that in some cities in Cali, even 9.5%. I'd say more but hmm...maybe not. I just want to umm..nevermind. You read about all those things that you write and then they come back and haunt you, with umm...very serious repercussions, if you get my drift.

So what does it mean, for us, seriously? No more shopping, lol. I wish! Just means to lessen the shopping and try to just do it, what once a month? Hehehe...that's the goal. Probably not for food since we do groceries every 2 weeks but I guess think about what you're going to buy and not just have second but third and fourth thoughts, lol. Do I really needs this? Do I really want to pay for the 9.25%? Can I afford that right now?

Hmm...maybe not. So the next best thing would be if its not on the list, then don't buy. Well, that's my thought anyways. Geez, I still have to get books for my CSET review. Better buy it now or forever hold my peace...sigh...I need books to review. I can't very well borrow from the library all the time. Unless they have one in town in SD. Oh well. Something to think about.

Yes, today is Monday. And whew, what a day is was. Another day and tomorrow will be a much much better one!

Saturday is here!

2009-03-28T16:21:00.001-07:00

I woke up after a fitful sleep around 8:30pm. I was hungry so I quickly defrosted my bacon, made steamed rice and fried the leftover rice. Then I had breakfast.

I read my usual book, checked my email and then decided to take a shower. My stomach was feeling queasy afterwards. I think its the oil from the bacon, my stomach just couldn't take it. So I took a pill, acid reducer and then changed into my house clothes (I was lounging around in my favorite robe) and then took a nap, hehehe...still not hungry, I watched Forensic files. Finally, my tummy couldn't take it so I heated the bacon and had a little rice and that was lunch. Went back to my room and back to watching Forensic files.

Leila popped her head in and asked if we could go to school tomorrow. And I said, cool. After all, my tummy wasn't in tip top condition so I might as well just laze around. Feeling guilty, I went about answering the Vineland Adaptive scale for the tri that I will soon have. That reminds me, I have to make a teacher's report. Then after that, I should have to prep the materials for the IEP on Monday. Time to do that tomorrow and yikers, better make a list just to be sure.

Then back to writing the IEP goals, just 4 of them because they're quite difficult to do, lol. And then back to reading my book. I've moved on to Social Studies and its interesting to read again about Rousseau, Locke, etc. I can't believe I have to remember them again. Oh well. Then more reading about the Industrial Revolution. Took a break just to write. And when I'm done with this, its time for dinner. I've officially asked Leila a taste of her food...hehehe...so much better than mine.

That reminds me, I should make plans on what I will eat next week. Lately, I haven't had much of an appetite everytime its lunch. I end up barely touching my food and that sucks! I hate wasting food. Think of all the people who actually don't have lunch and here I am, not touching mine. Grr...so I'm off rice for next week til I feel sufficiently hungry. I just might opt to buy bread and then cheese for lunch and apples again and drinks. If I get hungry, there's always dinner to make up to. But otherwise, I'm going to stay on the light side of food, and hopefully, get things back to normal. I think its stress related. I've got many deadlines (who doesn't have those, right?) but this time, I feel that it has affected my appetite and although I might not eat so much I'd rather do that than missing a meal and ending up with an ulcer! Much more expensive too what with medicatio and doctor's visits.

Time for dinner for me and then back to reading and reading and writing in my other website. Oh yeah, its my nephew's / inaanak's birthday. Well the celebration is on the 29th.

Happy birthday Dodong!!! Love from Auntie/Mama Ninang...hehehehe....

Jollibee Part 2

2009-03-28T16:12:00.001-07:00

We went to Jollibee again yesterday, minus the photo-op, lol. I wanted to order dinuguan from Red Ribbon but it came with puto, I think and I so wanted rice to go with it, I was that famished, plus there seemed to be a long line. Service seemed slow, there was just one counter open.

So we headed to Jollibee, which was just a few steps away. True enough, two counters were open, so I ordered a two piece burgersteak meal. The cashier looked like she really came from Pinas what with her accent...hehehehe...so we headed to the soda fountain and looked for an empty table. And by golly, it was full! I think there were people there just sitting...hello!!! You're supposed to be eating, not hanging it. It's not like the Jollibees in Pinas where its huge, bystanders can just sit around and not run out of seats. The place was tiny, more like should be for one place except it was divided between Jollibee and Red Ribbon. We ended up going to the closed section of the store and man, it was warm! Finally, after we had a few bites, them insensitive brutes left, lol. And we were able to get a nice seat.

I enjoyed my burgersteak meal. It was two piece not the usual one which I have in Pinas because its just so huge...hehehe...but I gobbled it all down, plus my drink. I had some leftover so I brought my drink with me while we wandered around Great Mall. As usual, we went to Old Navy, Hollister, skipped Gap Outlet, and then to US Polo outlet where they had a denim sale of $19.99. I thought it was a good deal. Usually, I never buy jeans more expensive than $25. Probably the most expensive pair that I got was from Mossimo when we were in Target one time and that was like $22. So I looked that their denims and found a nice pair that I liked for Juniors. I went to the dressing room and wow, it actually fit, a bit lose but at least it wasn't that long. My other jeans are superlong, since I'm obviously vertically challenged, lol and I've resorted to fold them many times over. I swear, I'm going to save up so I can buy a sewing machine from Target so I won't have to pay for alterations, goodness knows how much they'll cost, at the very least $20 I suppose. And I have more than 5 jeans that need alterations, uh oh, I'm better off buying a sewing machine at least its a long term investment, lol. When I'll buy it, hmm...that's the question. Before I go to summer break I hope.

Got the jeans that I liked, then we went to Guess. Hmm...I know in Pinas I told Leila I won't even dare go to their shops. But here, who cares? Lol. They don't know, hehehe...so we went to look at their stuff. I do like their watches. I remembered by mom. I thought I remembered that she had a Guess watch, or was that another brand? Oh well. We also went to H & M where there were a lot of people. I didn't really buy anything, just the jeans. Can't resist a good jeans deal when I see one.

Then we headed to Valley Fair. The trip going to Great Mall wasn't as long as last time probably because we didn't get that lost anymore. But going back, again, we got lost, lol. But it was okay, we still ended up going to where we wanted to go. Leila had to return clothes she ordered online from Charlotte Russe. And I just resisted the urge to go to Payless...hehehe..I think I have enough shoes to last me awhile. I don't want to turn Imeldific...hehehe...

After we went around, we went home where we missed our turn, but again, still ended up home. Hey, nothing like cruisin around. When I got home, I watched the usual TV Patrol, chatted with Maya and then went to bed. No work for me on Friday night...my brain and my body were just too tired. Til the next day...

Pinoy Food

2009-03-25T21:27:00.000-07:00

Nope, I'm not yet done writing, lol. I just have to take this Pinoy food fantasy that I have out of my system. I'm not really known for my culinary talents, ask my mom or anyone who really really knows me. The best I can do is fry hotdogs and try not to burn that, lol.

So this morning and it started even well before that, it was last night, when I had this Pinoy food craving. Yeah, my mom's cooking craving which escalated into a full out Pinoy food craving. I was on my way to Leila's car when I thought I smelled embutido being fried. It probably wasn't my fantasy since I know for a fact that I have a pinoy neighbor, umm....hello pinaybabe and gwapopinoy408, lol. Was either one of you cooking pinoy food? hehehe...How do I know, well they appear in the airport (not the place where planes fly but the one in the mac, lol). That pretty much lasted well into the afternoon. I didn't have much of an appetite for lunch. I barely touched my food. But going home, I just wanted to eat Pinoy food, dinuguan, giniling, menudo, nilagang baka, nilagang pork with pork and beans, ampalaya, mongo, you name it, I probably craved for it. Hehehe. Now I long for the carinderias here. Back home, if you couldn't cook, you can always buy, provided they're clean of course. Now I really wish I was going home, lol. If only to gorge myself with Pinoy food. I'm looking forward to going to Great Mall if only to eat again in Jollibee...sigh, I miss pinoy food. I haven't turned into a "kana" yet...ha ha ha and probably never will....oh yeah, I want buwad too!!!

Procrastination is my name...

2009-03-25T21:22:00.001-07:00

I should be writing goals for the IEP that I'm going to have for next week so I could send a draft copy to parents. But no...I've found excuses to not actually do them. From watching TV Patrol to watching documentaries to listening to music, reading articles online to hmm..going to the kitchen to get a drink of soda, eating cookies, texting my bf, you name it, I've done it...lol. It's not really unpleasant it's just admittedly a difficult task for me to do. And like my kids, I do my own share of work avoidance too. I just procrastinate and think about what else I can do other than the most important thing that I need to do, and that is to sit down, finish it and then send a copy to parents so that come Monday, I will be ready then. Oh well.

I rememer the thing which I used to avoid doing like the plague was to write. I used to have to write reports for grad school the first time I went to grad school. Lol. It wasn't like I could avoid that being that I majored in, hmm...yikers, I've forgotten what I first majored in, lol. Hmmm...yup, I ended up googling it, oh yeah, Language Education...something like that anyways, lol. And we had to write and write and write...and whadya know, write more, esp. when we had to take courses on Literature, World Literature, Philippine literature. All you had to do was read, analyze and yeah, write about it. What I loved about it though, especially when I started taking my majors was the discussion that followed afterwards. Since we were just five (we were lucky if we reached 6 or 7), we always found time to have discussions. And its not like they can skip you, you have to say your piece or else...hehehe...what grade would our prof give? Hehehe....so other than the writing that I disliked, there was the speaking part too. I would still get nervous when speaking in front of peers, but I guess, with years of doing it (since it took me 4 years to complete my masters), it was like, something I had to do even though I ddin't really want to do it.

Then there's also work. For some reason, there's always the odd report to make about this write up and that. Yikers. I'm used to doing a lesson plan, but trying to describe a program? Oh no...I have do dig deep into the coffers of er...my what the heck, let's just say its difficult to do. And then there was the research paper that we had to engage in at work as well. Wow, thesis in grad school, research papers at work and yeah, the case study for my Special ed masters degree. Sigh. I can't really say that I'm an expert at it because now, the only kind of writing that I need to do is write an IEP, which is not that easy, after all, down the road, this will spell out what the kid's future is going to be. Sheesh, put it like that, that feels even more pressure. Alright, that's it, back to IEP writing...

I miss my mommy's cooking!

2009-03-24T20:31:00.001-07:00

Today, I watched the usual TV patrol news (even though back home, I watch 24 Oras) and then Forensic files and whadya know, Foodtrip, lol. It just made me miss my mom's cooking, so so much!

I'm usually too lazy to cook, and more so here when you're so tired from work and at the end of the day, you just want to sit down and have food in front of you, lol. That's why, I have frozen dinners...heheheh..But lately, they just didn't seem enough for me. I don't even have much of an appetite for lunch anymore. There were a couple of days when I couldn't finish off my rice or my porkchop. Tsk tsk tsk. The same is true with dinner, I take a teeny tiny portion of rice and whatever I have that I can heat. And today, when I watched the cooking videos, it just made me hungry! But not just any kind of hungry but hungry for my mom's cooking. Sigh...I wish my mom was here. Then she could make my favorite tinolang manok, fried fish, or utan. Yum yum yum. Now I wish she could just send me food, lol. Hmm...Alicia was asking me today again if I wanted anything from the Phils and I just realized, if she can't take my mom with her, the next best thing would be my mom's cooking. How I miss the holidays when we had loads of food, lol. And even if its not the holidays. Mom has just a way of cooking that makes anything soooo delicious.
I wish TJ could have food like that frozen so I could just buy it and pop it in the microwave. Lol. But beggars can't be choosers so I'll probably just beg Leila a taste of her food, if only to spare myself the taste of my microwaved food. Lol. But I'm grateful I have food on the table, lol.

The Only Two Things Sure in this world are...

2009-03-21T18:38:00.001-07:00

Death and taxes.

Nope, I won't be talking about the former but the latter. Back home, we didn't really need to file taxes because our employee would do it for us. But then again, you don't really get tax refunds? What? Refund from the government? No way Jose!

But here, I have to file my income tax return. Yes, despite the fact that Uncle Sam has already withheld it from me, yes I do have to file my income tax. And its not just one but two, hmm....federal and state. So, a couple of weeks back, Leila and I visited an accountant friend of hers. I did learn a little bit about how to fill out taxes here but I guess there's always a first time for everything. For of all, you have to get the right forms. For federal taxes, I have to fill out the 1040NR, meaning non-resident. And then when I file that, I have to file another one for the state, hmm....I forgot which it was but I got a form from the post office.

We're supposed to fill it out and then send it out, mail it. And then hopefully, we get a tax refund...whopee...so now, I have to fill it out. Wish me luck! Hehehe....

The First Day of Spring and Jollibee

2009-03-21T18:33:00.001-07:00

Yey! Finally it's spring! Hmm...so why am I happy? Oh yeah, that means it'll be summer soon, oh, spring break first and then summer vacay. Yes! And one more reason to celebrate, yeah, report cards are done for the second trimester.

So, yesterday, it was actually quite warmer. Another reason to celebrate. Back home, I know its superwarm, lol with the start of summer. But here, burr...its been cold most of the time but with spring, I hope for warmer days to come.

With report cards all done, now it is time to move on to other things like reports? Hehehe...but the best part was actually going to Jollibee in Great Mall. Great Mall is in Milipitas and the drive was rather long but enjoyable, only because Leila's more confident in the freeway now. But geez, it is confusing when you have to find your exit and thinking about which lane to turn to when you come after the ramp, should you go to the left or right? Sometimes, the GPS tells it a bit too late, so by the time you realize that you should be in the other side, you can't cross the line anymore. And then you have to turn back somewhere else, etc. etc. etc. But at least we got there in one piece.

When we arrived, I remembered that that mall was where we had stopped when we got lost on our way home from San Francisco. Hm...back then, the person driving the car did not have a GPS. And decided to just ask directions and it was night time at that. Of course, we're going to get lost. I think that if you're driving, you should at least be responsible enough to remember where you're supposed to go and how you're supposed to get there and not just drive around and rely on directions given. Plus there's always the huge possibilty of getting lost, so, take a lot of patience and be calm when driving around.

So, we walked some ways from the carpark to the mall and we looked for Jollibee and yes, we found it. It was right next to Red Ribbon and opposite JJ clothing which I saw were selling Philippine shirts, probably among other things. In the mall, there seemed to be a lot of Pinoys walking around. Unlike the San Jose and Cup area where there are mostly Chinese. Also, there were Hispanics that I saw walking around.

We even saw another Pinoy teacher eating there, well, what do you know, small world indeed! So, I was thinking about what to order and although I would've wanted burgersteak meal, I figured, I might as well eat Meal#3, 1 pc chickenjoy with spaghetti and it has this huge coke to go with it. Yummy...

After the usual photo op, I started to dig into my food. Yum, yum. It tasted good. Although I must say, it can't quite compare to what I was expecting with the taste back home. But, what the heck. And yeah, the price? I was telling Leila that with the amount that I paid for, that could feed more than one person, oh well. The price of eating there....hehehe...it won't matter really since it gives you that nostalgic feeling...hehe..I know that when I used to have a job back home and I'd do my Sunday groceries, I would never fail to eat in Jollibee first with my burgersteak meal plus the soup. Yummy...didn't hurt my pocket as much. And then off to grocery shopping I go, with the advantage that now that I was well fed, I wouldn't get into shopping of things that I won't need but could just stick to my list. Oh wow, those were the days. Or when I lived with my mom, we'd use to go to SM in Dasma and eat too. Just for the heck of it and just to be out of the house. I know that's one of the things that I would do if and when I go home, go to Jollibee, order me my burgersteak meal and soup. If they still have it. I don't care that fastfood is bad for me. I only live once, so I eat what I want. Tha'ts my motto anyways.

Welcome spring, and I hope that I don't get allergic reactions to pollen and all the stuff that's floating around with the start of spring. Even the leaves of the trees are starting to look alive again with their green growth. Oh yes, I hope summer will soon be here. If only because I get to go on vacay, lol.

How much money do you have in your wallet?

2009-03-16T20:11:00.001-07:00

This morning, my alarm clock woke me. Well, the radio started playing anyways so that pretty much warned my stream of consciousness, lol, that it was time to wake up, or almost time, as I am always in denial that it is actually time to get up and start getting ready for work.

When I was my conscious self (and enjoying my bowl of cereal), their topic of conversation was, "How much money do you have in your wallet?" The woman DJ said that she was most comfortable with having $40 in her wallet. Hmm, that got me to thinking. $40? Did I even have that much money? Lol. Probably when I arrived here, I had more than that (which didn't really last long since I had so many bills to pay from rent, to buying things, etc. etc. etc.). Which brings me back to the question. According to a national survey, people had like $37 in their wallets. The female DJ was like in the usual range. I on the other hand, hehehe...had nothing like that. Not even half. I have quarters which are about $5 (I had to exchange them to quarters to use in the laundry shop yesterday and had spent an additional $5 to do my laundry) and hmmm...let me see, about $6 (all $1 each), hehehe...so I was nowhere near even half of what an average person here would have in his / her wallet. Hmm...and why not? Well, cash seems so difficult to keep track. When I use my debit card or credit card, they're all reflected in my bank statement and then its so much easier to find out where my money's going (what's little of it anyways) and cash, poof, they just disappear, hehehe...Well, they go to laundry or Mickey D's hehehe...so, I'm all for debit cards.

Back home, I'd have so much more in my wallet. Why? Because that's how people operated there. It's always cash, cash, cash. Sometimes, I'd use my credit card to buy big purchases. But for grocery, commuting, and everything else I needed to buy in the nearest sari-sari store, it'd have to be cash. I'd have like 200 pesos in my wallet. If its a hundred, I'd feel a little sad, if only because it doesn't take me anywhere as much. Just going to Manila from LP cost what, almost 40 pesos and that was just one way. So you can just imagine that it didn't really take you that far. Oh well. But here, well, I'm just glad that I don't go to the mall, well not this much since last week anyways or else I'm going to end up in ON hehehe...and spending my money there. But then again, I worked really hard to earn that money so I deserve a little something something.

So, I still have that $5 worth of quarters and $6 which means I have about what, $11 dollars. Translated to Philippine pesos? About 500 pesos. Hey, not bad. I'm still well within my means then, Pinoy wise...hehehe...

A Busy Night

2009-03-14T20:14:00.001-07:00

The day was pretty busy. I was making report cards and yep, I haven't finished them yet. And then I have to make the progress reports as well...arghhh....hehehe...I can do it, I can do it, I can do it!

Anyways, to take a break from a day of looking at samples of students' work, I decided to eat dinner, again. I had dinner around threeish...hehehe...yeah, dinner that early. Then I was hungry again sevenish so I decided to raid the fridge and see what else was appetizing. Well, I had siomai left which I had bought from Trader Joe's. Yum, yum, I love TJ. Interesting fact about it that I read somewhere, apparently, the owner started a chain in Germany, I don't recall which part it was, him and his brother. And they're both billionaires who made it to the I think the Forbes' list? Yeah, I'm contributing to their wealth, lol.

So, that was dinner, siomai with rice and of course, soda to keep me up. Dinner done, I did the dishes. Then thought about cleaning the bathroom and throwing away my trash. So I changed into my yoga pants and put on my down coat and took the two trash bags. And boy, was I glad that I bundled up because it was so windy and cold outside...burr...I just took it for granted that it would be warm since it was warm in the apartment with the furnace on. Burrr....then I took a detour to the mailbox and nope, no mail. I was hoping to get a notice from Amazon saying that the books that I ordered had arrived. Oh well, wishful thinking. And nope, they're not for me but for my class. With the budget cuts here, I figure I might as well buy something I could use for years to come and they're my personal copy as well.

Back at home, I got the spray and started spraying the sides of the bathroom to take out the scum. Left it for a few minutes and then started pouring Toilet duck over the toilet bowl. Again, letting that sit for a while. Then I went to the cupboard and took out a new sponge (thank goodness we have tons of sponges from Costco) so I didn't have any qualms about using them to clean the sink and the toilet bowl as well as the walls of the shower and the bathtub as well. Didn't scrub that hard but I did scrub and then started to rinse them with water. Cleaned the toilet bowl as well with the umm...scrubber, lol. Then flushed the toilet. Threw out the pieces of paper and hair at sides of the sink. Fixed the bottles in there as well and kept the hair dryer box inside the cupboard as well.

Then I proceeded to sweep the hair on the floor and threw them in the trash can. Then I got the Windex from the kitchen and cleaned the bathroom mirror as well. Whew, that was tiring. I think I pretty much cleaned it again. I don't really care much for the living room, lol, cause I don't stay there so much anyways, I'd rather hibernate in my room. But the bathroom? Yikers, I use it so often so I might as well keep it "clean" well according to my definition anyways.

And that was my "break" and now, I'm tired and my brain is tired as well. I might as well do the report cards again tomorrow. I know I'll be up early like today and I'm really looking forward to finishing at least the report cards tomorrow afternoon.

Now, if only I can watch "Wish Ko Lang..."

My arms hurt...hehehe

2009-03-08T20:19:00.001-07:00

I've been trying to work out, a little despite the cold cold weather, since I don't want to take the chance of walking around in the cold and in the dark, so I decided to work out when I can. I've been trying to stick to a balance ball routine for the abs and yeah, upper body. What I kinda hate about my arms is that they're not that strong, lol. More like softies I guess. So today, I tried the upper body work out and man, do they burn...hu hu hu. I'm sure tomorrow, my arms will be sore, and nope not from the heavy lifting, although I did lift heavy books yesterday bringing them home so I could so some work at home, which I didn't anyways.

So, back to working out, its fun with the ball and the band providing resistance. Well, I just started so I don't know if its going to make a difference. But I'm hoping it will, lol. It would be nice to have toned arms. And abs? Ha ha ha, maybe in my dreams. Speaking of which, darned it, where did time go? Now it's 8 and I have to make lesson plans for my oh so special kiddies. Tsk tsk tsk.

Oh well, whadya expect? Hehehe...

Moving the Clocks

2009-03-08T11:22:00.001-07:00

Yes, this morning, at 2 AM, was when we had to turn the clocks forward...hu hu hu. I already lost an hour of sleep and yet I hadn't slept yet. Hehehe...oh well. Lucky Arizona and Hawaii, and I don't know, is there another state that doesn't do that?

Oh well. On the bright side, hmm...it wasn't that bright when I had to get out of bed. Usually, the sunlight hits my eyes when I wake up. Hehehe...but today, no. The day wasn't that bright and yeah, my bf woke me up, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed while I on the other hand, just mumbled on the phone. Hehehe...that's just me. Takes me awhile before I get out of bed. But it was a good wake up call. After sufficiently warming myself, er, engine, I got out of bed, and made a good breakfast. I made fried rice, bacon and heated the leftovers that I had last night. I still had fried chicken and siomai leftover from last night. Plus apple juice, since I had ran out of Dole Juice, except for Pina Colada, which I just found awful, ughh...So I had me a nice big breakfast. Then another phone conversation and I was off gobbling down my food as best as I can. Did the dishes and the pans.

Then a long warm shower, well not that long anyways. And now, I'm just lazing away the day, well not exactly. But mornings are for not doing too much while afternoons are for catching-up-on-what-I need to do for tomorrow. In which case, they are numerous. I never run out of things to do. But on the bright side, I only do laundry now every two weeks. I really get my money's worth when I have to wash those dirty clothes. Lol. I can imagine my mom's face not being too happy with that. But let's face it, I don't really commute, the apartment I live in isn't really next to a major thoroughfare so I'm sticking to my story that my clothes aren't that dirty yet. Not my jeans anyways, lol. If they can survive in the Philippines for two weeks, well, a little less anyways, then they can certainly survive not being cleaned for about two weeks here too.

I had something interesting to read in Yahoo about leftover, er layover foods and about shopping. I agree, I do shop every two weeks. Shopping every week, seems to be a luxury, at least for me. But that doesn't mean I don't go to Target...hehehe...dang, I should follow my own advice. But usually, for food items, I like shopping at Trader Joe's. I don't know, after that "name of a place" where I got something that wasn't too fresh and I started breaking out, I just freak out if I have to eat something that's not from TJ. Or maybe that's just psychological. I should probably try something else, like fish, which I miss so much once in a while. We'll see where my courage takes me, lol. Or maybe something fillet in TJ.

But yeah, back to shopping, food shopping, yeah about every two weeks. That's when I look forward to eating my "salad." Hehehe, which I normally don't ever eat back home. I used to say, why would I eat them, they're still alive, alluding to the fact that they're not cooked. But here, that's the only way I get my veggies. I don't buy fresh veggies here because I don't know most of them. Hehehe...they all look so foreign to me, from zucchini, I can't even think of more at the top of my head just because they seem so foreign to me. I've been forever obsessing though with trying those different kinds of berries that they have. They all look so colorful and delicious that I'm just too afraid to try them out for fear that I might end up getting disappointed. They all look so good, but do they taste as good? Hmm...I can't bear to be disappointed for now so I'm not going to try them out. Not yet anyways.

Oh, time for lunch...

Oh what a night!

2009-03-04T22:57:00.001-08:00

I brought home work as usual, and as usual, they're untouched. Lol. Today was such an "unusual day" in the sense that work always is full of surprises. But then again, what's new about that? I won't talk about work in detail, only that, there's never a dull moment.

The tremendous growth that I've had in even less than a year since I've been here is incomparable to the six years where I used to work. There are just a lot of things to learn, keep track of, do...so the best thing to do about it? Take a breather in between. Listen to music, classical mainly, lol. Or just be crazy and start deleting stuff, lol. Well, online anyways.

I'm hoping to start my "pet project," of course, something about what I do. I'm so excited to start doing it. Among other things during the summer. It will probably be boring for other people who are not into the same industry as I am. Oh well.

I haven't done much tonight, other than install a software in my website, update it, tweak it a little, write bits and pieces. But what a night it has been. Almost as great as last night, when I finally was able to squeeze in all the things that I wanted to send back home. Well, almost, now that I think about it. Madel's shirt won't fit there anymore, lol. Maybe next time.

But oh, what a night! I'm so looking forward to the weekend...then I can add more to my "pet project."

What kind of music makes you think?

2009-03-02T23:39:00.001-08:00

It's elevenish and I know, I should be in bed, relaxing and trying to fall asleep. But no, I have to think of IEP goals to write. Hmm...I have the usual Pandora playing in the background with "Pink" radio. I don't know what it is about Pink that I like about right now. I think it must be her recent song, "So What" and "Sober" and "Who Knew" where she shows her softer side?

So, I'm trying to think and at the same time trying to keep my eyes open. I'm conflicted between listening to Pink or to classical music. I sort of subscribe to this theory that classical music (certain kinds they say, but I just pick any either Beethoven, Mozart and Bach) and listen to them and that supposedly helps me to think. Lol. Hmm...or maybe its just psychological. Whatever works, as long as I get the work done or the studying done, I don't really care. And now, I'm getting distracted watching Pink's videos...hehehe...forget about work. Have fun watching videos. I might regret it on Thursday when I have to pre-meet a parent for a TRI IEP. Uh oh. I hope I get those goals ready by then.

Ok, this is the last video I'm watching then its back to Mozart, lol, to help me think, well what's left of my gray matter that's still functioning at this time of the night and after that long day at work.

What kind of music helps you think? Or is silence golden? Probably the blare of the television droning on and on...

"Pet project"

2009-03-01T19:23:00.001-08:00

I was reading an email from a group that I belonged to, and I was inspired by what he wrote. So, I'm starting a website, which will be about what, I have yet to think about, lol. Now, I'm thinking about what software to write. I don't even have a clue yet as to whether its purely blogging on what I do or a website of some sort.

Why am I doing this? Good question. Well, I figured that I should do something while I'm vacay come June til August rather than expire from boredom, lol. Yeah, yeah, you probably think, hey you're not working so don't complain, well yeah. But that's because the summer would be the best time to spend time with someone, lol. Other than enrolling online and taking a course, which I'm also thinking of doing, I might as well do something that I think I am starting to like doing, writing of course, aside from staring into space, which has become quite a luxury now that the midyear break is over. This other "pet project" won't cost as much as going back to school and hopefully, I will have reaped the benefit of...wait, let me rack my brain as to what I'd benefit from, hmm..honing my writing skills? Lol, nah. Hmm...seriously, what? Err...yeah, I'll stick to honing my writing skills for now.

So, back to the drawing board although, I am very excited to start on it. Too excited that last Thursday, it took me awhile before I could fall asleep. That's a first. Unless its work that's bothering me. Hey, I used the word "bother," ring any bell? Hehehe...

Alrighty, maybe I've had too much soda to drink or maybe its time to hit the balance ball or the balikbayan box wrapping, lol. Or both...sheesh, its going to be a long night.

The Balikbayan Box, bow...

2009-02-28T10:28:00.001-08:00

Does the name sound familiar? The only time I remembered seeing one ages ago, and I mean ages! Was when I was young, probably first grade and my uncle, who was a doctor based in Saudi Arabia came home and he opened this huge box, well there were many boxes, but this one was special because I think there were chocolates there. That was my earliest memory of a balikbayan box.

And now, its my turn to send my family something that I earned and worked hard for and hopefully, they'll find as much pleasure as I did in buying them.

Before my actual packing started, I had read blogs and looked into forwarding sites to find some tips that a newbie like me need to know. I've read countless horror stories, so I'm crossing my fingers that the same fate will not befall my little balikbayan package.

I actually started buying things a month after I arrived here. I started with bags, canned goods, toys and even tried ordering online because thinking of lugging them around (since I don't have a car) was just too much of a hassle, not to mention backbreaking? lol. So, months came by, and my excuse was, I didn't have a car to buy a box, to finally, not having a box yet and now that it's here. I don't have an excuse. I just need the time to prepare my box and then send it home where my family is hopefully looking forward to receiving it.

There was this unusual tip (although, I haven't tried it) of a balikbayan sender, and I suppose he is an expert at it, was putting rice as a filler in between the nooks and crannies of the box. Other than the actual contents, you've given them rice too, lol. I'm looking into that. And then, there's one where you put a plywood at the side of the boxes as support. That, I can understand. Pretty much. Imagine your box at the bottom of what, 4 or 5 balikbayan boxes that are just as heavy as your box or maybe even heavier. Oh drat, I wish my box wouldn't be like that. Lol. I'd hate for the electronic toys to get squashed. The only thing I can do though, is make sure there's bubble wrap or wrap them around clothes or towels, which was also another suggestion. I've already eyed the old comforter that I got as a padding for the top. Whoopee, at least I don't have to throw it out. Oh yeah, ma, you need to wash that when it gets there, lol.

Alright, first step, the box which is double walled something something for extra strength. Check.

Next, writing the name of the recipient all over, check. Hey, did I spell the Philippines right? Or is that the right spelling of the recipient's name and address? Hehehe...I'm sending it to my brother-in-law in Metro Manila so at least I won't have to pay for provincial rates and there's always someone home because the nanny is there. Check. All sides have names. Hurrah!

Next, put a lot of tape. Again, the research helped me give an idea as to what kind to use. I would've used the 3M really strong one thing but it was more expensive. I still used 3M and it was the acceptable packaging tape. Duck tape or masking tape are not acceptable. Glad I read up on that. And yeah, use up all the packaging tape as much as you can. I know that they're going to strap it, but I want to make sure that if someone slices open my package to steal stuff (again, based on the horror stories that I've read on a forwarding company here and back in the Philippines, grrr...) then they'd know that it was tampered with.

And in relation to that, when i finish packing, I will take a picture of my box so I have proof of what it looked like and email it to my sister, the picture, not the package lol. And yes, I have a list of items that I sent which I will print copies of so that I have my own copy as well as the forwarding company's copy. And again, send a copy to my sister as well.

I haven't finished putting tape all over and that's going to pretty much occupy me in the evening tonight after coming back from school. (It's not a work day but my desk in school is just clamoring for attention. In fact, where's my desk? They're all papers!)

So that is the story of my balikbayan box, which is still a box for now, but hopefully will be filled of goodies for my family.

Now, off to shower, geez, did I just smell myself? Lol, kidding, I haven't broken a sweat in a long time here, its just so cold, yeah, I know someone who'd contradict me and say, that's not cold! That's sweater weather!! Nah ah....

To be continued...

Midyear Recess is over!

2009-02-22T13:02:00.001-08:00

Yup, the short, but well-deserved midyear recess is over! The next break would be in spring break, just in time for my birthday...hehehe...whopee...but back to the grind. Meetings galore, reports to make, plus oh yeah, report cards to make. Time to rack my brain then. Oh well.

Hmmm...what have I done during the break? Well, basically nothing, lol. That is what a break is for anyways. Not do anything, but just laze around the house, watch movies online until your head feels like exploding, lol. Oh yeah, see my doctor...glad to know that I'm in good health, well, before I went for my physical anyways, because my tummy lately hasn't been cooperating. Is it because I'm well fed? Lol and trying to purge myself of my soda habit. Bad tummy. Now i'm back to guzzling my favorite soda, well til supplies last. Hopefully, when I get busy with work, my tummy will be the last thing on my mind.

And what else? Listening to music til my ears hurt, lol. I think the best part was just to be bored. That's a luxury I haven't had in a long time. I would've wanted to start packing the stuff I would have to send in my balikbayan box but I don't have the 3M tape yet and the pentel pen. Hehehe...Learning as much as I can about packing. The most interesting tidbit I read was someone actually putting rice in between the nooks and crannies to stabilize the box. Well, what do you know, you're sending home too rice...hehehe...Or putting plywood at the sides of the box to make sure that it doesn't collapse. Try imagining your box at the bottom of what 5 other boxes? Well, something to that effect though. That did make me thing about the toys I was sending. Will they be squashed by the time it gets to my family? Lol.

Oh yeah, I did see a video that happyslip about these boxes. Pretty funny, sang to the tune of 12 days of Christmas. Of course it was paid for by a sponsor which suggested that sending money is the best gift rather than the box. But then again, what is the charm of the balikbayan box? It's the thought that counts, lol. I'm a horrible shopper though. Anyways, we'll see if I can actually fill the 20x20x20 box that I have. If not, there's the dollar store, lol. Or if worse comes to worse, the rice to fill out the rest of the space. Lol.

Times like these...

2009-02-15T15:17:00.001-08:00

Its raining cats and dogs outside. With the wind to match...lol. I think the last time I heard the wind roar like that was when I was in SD. And burr, was it cold then. It's also cold here but it probably doesn't match the coldness in SD.

As usual, I woke up late without the sun in my eyes since the blinds were closed and the sun never really came out. I listened to the rain and the wind beating on the windows in my room. All snug and cozy like a caterpillar in a cocoon, lol. And like the proverbial cocoon, what drove me out was hunger. Today, I decided to forego the usual rice and have my frosted os and milk. With that all consumed, my usual glass of juice. This time I had Dole Peach and Mango juice. Then I had my vitamins and calcium tablet. And then it was back to bed. Playing neopets and listening to music and watching Wish Ko Lang. Times like these, when the rain just seems to go on and on and with the wind too chilly to be out, Filipino programs transport me back to a time in my apartment in Las Pinas or being at home with mom. All I lack is the food, yummy food that my mom prepares. I can just imagine the "utan" or the sabaw, or tinola. Yum yum. I miss home when the day gets depressing like these. I wish for home, the noise, the cats, the dog, my sisters, my nephews, my friends...even SM.

But then again, what's to complain about? In hard times like these, I'm just grateful to have a job, for now. To be able to talk to friends even if its just online, or to simply annoy my bf on the phone, lol.

Thank goodness for the little things in life.

Kaiser Permanente

2009-02-09T21:15:00.001-08:00

Today, we left school early, nope, we weren't playing hooky. I even emailed the principal to sort of ask her permission that I needed to go with a friend for a doctor's appointment. Besides, we do spend more than the usual time in school when we have IEP meetings so I figured I will more than offset the time that I will leave early with the upcoming IEP meetings that I will have, mostly Tris too..uh oh.

So, we left, went home and then went to Kaiser Permanente. Wow, the complex was really huge. Practically everything is there, which is good. Parking wasn't a problem and they even have valet parking, talk about sorta like a hotel, lol.

We went to the second floor and we found Internal Medicine, 172. Our doctor, well, general physician was the same except that I had my appointment sometime next week during the break for a physical while Leila's was more of a more serious and urgent nature.

I wasn't that bored waiting. I had a magazine to keep me company. I just hate the smell of the hospital though. And at least the lines weren't that long when she had to go to the Lab to have her blood drawn. Hehehe...I did sneak in the wrong restroom. I should've used the other ones, but I just needed to go. Anyways, I am a patient there too, since I have a KP card, lol. Just not at patient at that time.

Ohh, no...

2009-02-09T21:10:00.001-08:00

Day 1

Oh yes. I am thinking of giving up my favorite pop. I know I can't go cold turkey so I'll do it slowly but surely, lol. First thing I've done is not to buy them when we went to Target today. Instead, I got something more nutritious? hehehe...like Dole juice and again with trying to lose some weight, hey, I look moon-faced, lol, oats, fruit loops, milk and hmm...yeah, the rest I got from Trader's like salad, sliced apples (I'm too lazy to slice them, lol) and soup. I still can't let go of my comfort food, lol. So that will have to stay for now. The next on my list? Well, as soon as the weather starts getting better, how about a nice walk around the neighborhood.

Day 2
I started the day with cereals and milk for breakfast and Dole juice...yummy...Soda, just for recess and lunch. Just a small bottle anyways. If I act grouchy the rest of the weeks, well I'm on withdrawal from soda...hehehe...uh, I'm just so glad next week is vacation. At least I will spare most of the kids, and er...the people I work with from that? Hehehe...

My Favorite Things

2009-02-08T20:59:00.001-08:00

The other day, I thought about the things that I like. Well, I'm a pretty predictable person, lol. Boring, some people might even say.

Favorite pair of shoes: Airwalk Tabitha boots
Jeans: Exhiliration skinny jeans
Shirts / Sweater: Anything Old Navy (I swear I've got all Old Navy tops, from tanks, shirts, cardigans, sweaters, puffer coat, bag. The only thing that I don't own that's not ON, jeans...)
Chocolate: Lindt Truffles
Phone: My Nokia Phone with my Fave 5 T mobile subscription
Thing to do: Go online, read, and just not do anything
Season: Autumn / Winter (Right now, I'm obsessed with keeping myself warm so all I do is buy anything autumn / winter which is on sale)
Song: Anything Pink (I think this is just a phase)
CD: Compilation of CD I got from SD (hehehe)
Grocery: Trader Joe's
Store: Target!
Clothes: Old Navy
Camera: My Kodak MX1063
Apple gadget: Macbook and my Ipod Shuffle (Hmmm...small but very handy)
Soda: Of course, Coke a Cola classic but I'm going to try my very best to wean myself away from it!
Car: Leila's Yaris (hehehe, I'm loyal but the Prius she got as a loaner was fabuloussss)

Oh yeah, I totally miss my family back home! (Not that its related, lol)

We have moved!

2009-02-04T17:59:00.001-08:00

Yes, we have officially moved in, and out our old apartment. Well, we moved most of our possessions yesterday but today, we went back to our old apartment, cleaned out some left over things aka leaving them in the dumpster or by the dumpster so other people can take them, like we did months ago. After which, we turned in our keys to the Leasing Office and then we were off, not to the sunset but to our new abode.

Moving was certainly a different experience, well, like Pinas, except we had to do it ourselves. First, Leila had to go to U-Haul in Mountain View, well it was more like in Sunnyvale. Her friend drove her car through the freeway and voila we were there in minutes. Going back, we took the safer route through El Camino and Hollenbeck. Then when her brother and nephew arrived, we started bringing our boxes to the U-Haul. The heavy items were the couch, 2 cabinets, and boxes, I know mine were my books/training materials. And then the luggages with our clothes. We barely fitted in everything. Leila left some of her food in the fridge. We figured we'd go back either in the afternoon or evening or Sunday.

Unloading it was much faster / easier. We borrowed our Manager's grocery cart and loaded it with lots of things. Then brought it upstairs. We have an upstairs unit, right above the manager's unit...hehehehe..no jumping up and down for Leila and me then.

While we were resting, we started checking the switches and outlets. We were baffled when the outlets were not working but the lights were on. Hmm...I know I called PG&E to start service on that day and when I checked their website online, it said that service had started on that day too. Uh oh.

Leila took a nap and I got busy putting away stuff in the kitchen from the cutlery to the plates, pots. And then I started putting away my clothes in the closet and emptying the boxes as well. I was tired but I
knew that I had to do it then and there or else I will end up with a disorganized room come Monday and it won't be til the weekend that I will be able to complete packing. Uh oh, that I wouldn't like at all.
So with things put out of the way, I decided to try to go online and find if I can hook through someone else's wi-fi connection. And yes, there was another linksys aka free connection close by. I checked PG&E, chatted with my bf to complain about the cold, Facebook and Friendster. Oh yeah. At least there was internet. I had to stop though when the battery was at 30%. Then I started to feel the cold.

Finally, I couldn't bear the cold so I called the manager even though it was late. She was also baffled as to why. I tried the circuit breaker, nothing. And she tried it too, and nothing. She turned on the switch for the meter and still nothing. She thought that maybe it would take 24 hours before PG&E would turn on the service. Oh no, it was really cold. So after Leila woke up from her nap, I told her we should probably to go our old apartment and sleep and at least we wouldn't feel so cold. She agreed and we started packing some stuff. I got my sleeping bag, a couple of blankets, a change of clothes for the next day, toiletries and my laptop and charger. Figured I should do that at the other apartment so when we come back the next day, I could still use the laptop.

So there we were, sneaking out of the apartment, like thieves. I was all bundled up wearing my long coat and sweats and jeans over my shorts so I needn't change when I sleep and Leila was the same thing too, with her huge luggage (she had brought dirty linen to wash), pail of toiletries and other things. We tried to be really quiet but ended up making a bit of a noise because we were just too funny. We stuffed it in her Yaris and ended up folding the chairs to make room for our things. I've never seen the Yaris filled to the rafters, lol.

The streets were deserted going back to Cup and we went through Blaney. There were lots of stop signs along the way and like the good citizens that we were, we did the "California stop." What is that? Well, where you stop and you actually end up moving forward, lol. That's what Alicia told us is the Cali stop and that's what officers look for. Hmmm...alrighty then, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. In this case, when in Cali, do it the Cali way. Light and bubbly, oops, not that.

So we got to our old apartment safe and sound. I spread my sleeping bag in the room, turned on the heater and went to sleep.

The next day, my body was aching from all the lifting and carrying and also from the uncomfortable sleep on the floor. I showered and started clearing up old stuff we had left behind. We finally left to go to church. We had lunch at our favorite TK Noodle. I ordered an extra wonton soup aside from our usual #24 since I felt really awful, with a headache to match too.

And when we got back, we talked to the ladies in the Leasing office about what to do about a left behind bicycle. Poor bicycle, abandoned by its owner. We didn't have plans of bringing it with us since we didn't own it. So we decided to leave it by the dumpster for other people to take. There was also the old table, electric fan (again, not ours to take), a couple of "urns" as i call it and then we threw the rest of the stuff away. I turned off the breaker except for the lights and then it was time for us to return our keys.

I went inside the Leasing office and gave the lady there our keys. From the mailbox, amenity keys, front door keys and also the storage keys. Apparently, an old room mate had not returned her keys even though she had "moved out." Well, what do you know? I'm not actually surprised. If she had left us in the lurch with her financial obligations, then a darned set of keys probably doesn't mean anything compared to hundreds of dollars. So, nothing new there. But the irony of that is that, here is a person, a teacher at that, who seemed to be God-fearing, and all that jazz, and she can't even extend a basic courtesy of returning keys for which she has no use of. One can only wonder at her motives? Why would she need to keep keys when she doesn't live there anymore? Oh well, I will not waste my time on a person who doesn't deserve it, certainly not my respect.

So off we went, to the jam packed Yaris and we went home to our New Home Sweet Home and it certainly is sweet. San Jose, our home sweet home...sweet!!!!

Oh yeah, we finally figured out why we didn't have power for the outlet. Seems like PG&E didn't turn on the other switch. There's supposed to be two. With that on, yeah, we have officially moved in...I love the heater, furnace...lol...

On the Move

2009-01-24T13:54:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, we had no internet and phone lines in school the whole day. I was going to call PG&E to start our service when we move to our new apartment and so I got out my lovely folder where everything was and dialled the number and lo and behold, nothing but a dial tone. And that was around 3ish. I went back to returning the WJ III assessment to the Conference Room in the office and ended up talking to another teacher for a TRI next week. Luckily, around 3:45pm, just as I was getting ready to go home, everything went back to normal and I was able to catch up on reading some email. Oh well. I figured I would have time or rather make the time to read them at home again and respond to those that were urgent, aka, have not been answered in the last 2 - 3 weeeks, hehehe. Ok, ok, guilty as charged.

So, we left school right away to go to DMV in Los Gatos. My roomie/housemate's temporary driver's permit was going to expire next week and we wanted to make sure that if she does drive, esp. when she does her practical test that she wasn't breaking the law. We left school, got gas and picked her up. It was so funny that she did not remember why we were going to Sta. Clara and not home right away. When we got there, the rain kind of stopped so we left Alicia in the car (she was expecting a call) and went to the office. There were a lot people but Leila quickly went about her business and it was all done before we knew it. I'm sure if that had happened in Pinas, you would take the whole day. Or at the very least 2 - 3 hours.

We went back to school to pick up some plastic containers that I would use when we moved. Then we were on our way home. We had dinner, then off to Target, our favorite place. Soon, gone will be the days when we could just walk to Target. I especially remember going there during the summer. When it was 7 pm and still it wasn't dark at all. Browsing and not really buying, lol, window shopping and then leaving and then coming back again the next day as if we haven't seen the place in a long time. It has such become a habit that I will really miss it.

Saturday morning came dark and dark, lol. It was another rainy / cloudy day. After a hearty breakfast of rice and bacon and sabaw from Leila's nilaga as well as left over potpot and danggit, we started packing. We took out the boxes from the cupboard and then started putting away some utensils and the pots and panks which we thought we wouldn't need. Then I started fillin the plastic boxes with the balikbayan goodies which I am supposed to send to my family, when? I don't know hopefully by February during the mid-year break. Filled 2 boxes since I didn't want to stuff them in one box. Heck, I can barely carry them myself, lol. Then another box filled with binders, notes from trainings that I attended. They're both good and bad. Good because it makes papers organized but bad because they really are very very heavy.

Then I took out my empty luggage. Actually, its my sister's hehehe...but I used it when I came here because it was big. I took out my clothes, the ones I thought which I wouldn't be using. I folded them and then started putting them in my luggage. It isn't yet filled to the rafters but I can add more clothes in them later in the week.

I also packed my shoes, well some of them and it looks like I'm well on my way to finishing what I need to pack. Comparing from the last time that I moved, this is certainly much easier to pack. Living in the same place for 7 years, you really acquire a lot of junk / things. From books, appliances like tv, computer, washing machine, toaster, etc. And clothes, old and new and there were my sister's things too. I'm trying to live up to what I vowed the last time I moved, and that is to live simply. Not have a whole lot of possessions so I can easily move. I know, since I am single, that's certainly easy to do.

And the next on my list, other than packing was call PG&E and make sure that we have service when we move on the 31st. When I called, I was in queue and they said that they would be calling back in an hour and thirty nine minutes. So I took a shower, and even cleand the bathtub/shower as well as enjoy a leisurely lunch and then vegetated in front of the laptop before I got the call. Yes, finally, we have power for the new apartment. Now what's the next on my list? Yeah, returning the books I borrowed from school so I don't have to move them to the new apartment. That should be easier to do the next couple of days.

Yey, another long weekend.

2009-01-17T11:16:00.000-08:00

Thanks to MLK, we don't have work on Monday. But that day is going to be pretty busy. We'll finally sign our lease (crossing my fingers) and then who knows what? Probably just go malling and savor the short time that we have living close to Target, lol.

The last two weeks have been pretty stressful with 2 IEPs and another TRI come the 28th. I have to find the time to really write the IEP, again, crossing my fingers that my muse inspires me to actually write it tomorrow and tonight. And then do some usual weekend stuff, like doing the laundry, putting away things in the room and generally just thinking about what to start packing.

It's amazing how much "junk" one can acquire even in the space of what, almost 6 months? I probably have mostly clothes. With 4 seasons here, compared to having just 2 back home, changing wardrobes to suit the season is understandable. Back home, you can usually use the same clothes in those 2 seasons. Shirts? Yeah, rain or shine. Jean? Oh yeah. Coats or cardigans? Well, probably only in December til February, if weather permits. But umbrellas? Oh yeah, rain or shine. I can remember the first time I used my umbrella here. People here usually wear jackets with hoods and that's all the protection they seem to need from the rain. But me? nooo...I need my umbrella. I probably looked ridiculous with my backpack and my umbrella walking close to De Anza college. But what the heck, my excuse here is that Asians, especially the Chinese use umbrellas too. And with good reason. Who wants to end up with a wet, sopping bag of papers. Use your umbrella. Lol. But then again, people here have cars, so they don't really umbrellas anyways. But I'm a public transportation person so my umbrella is pretty much attached to my hip, at least when it rained. My roomie mentioned that I seem to have a "hoodie" obsession. Hehehe, well there is some truth to that. Experiencing autum for the first time and being unprepared for it...ughh...I think the feel of the cold made an impact because I ended up buying turtlenecks and hoodies almost all the time for those months. When winter came, it was coats and boots. I think of it as investment though. Next time autumn comes around, then I'll be better prepared for it. Same with winter. But I just hate packing winter clothes for traveling. They just occupy way too much space. I'm looking forward to packing for the summer with just shirts, jeans, shorts, flipflops and sandals. Oh yeah. Hopefully less space
to contend with.

For the last couple of weeks though, all I've seen were either cloudy days and a lot of sunshine. Hmm...talk about the weather here being strange and all. But I'm not complaining. I love the sunshine and hearing about people in the Midwest suffering from the Arctic chill / wind, I'll take my sunny days anytime. There is however a disadvantage to more sunshine and less rain at this time of the year, and that is, a drought. But I suppose I'm not so worried about that, coming from a country where we regular suffer from El Nino. I know, that's horrible of me, lol. But having limits to water being lawned, well, I don't have a lawn so I guess that doesn't really impact me.

But yey, for the long weekend. Of not doing anything but lounging around in my shirt and jeans, eating when its time to eat and playing with my neopets or PSP, if I'm in the mood. Mostly, I'm looking forward to taking a walk. I know, my midsection needs it, lol and just enjoying the sun.

Do you know the way to San Jose? Yes I do!

2009-01-12T21:10:00.001-08:00

It's almost official, I'm moving out of Cup and live in San Jose. Yes! Well, granted that the place isn't as close to Target and Cup places but its still close enough to where I work. I just take one bus ride, and then walk some ways. Not that far and boom, I'm at work. Now, just to figure out what time to wake up and actually leave the house, well that's another story.

But at least one problem solved. I'm moving at the end of the move into my new home sweet home...

Where's my mojo? Hehehe....

2009-01-04T10:39:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, I flew back to Cali. Hmm...leaving was difficult, an understatement. That's why I'm sooo looking forward to the summer. It was much harder than I thought. Oh well.

The day I left Rapid, there was a snow shower. A fitting good bye I guess....hehehe...well, maybe something to be thankful for that the weather there was "mild" / less cold while I was there for about 2 weeks and that winter has finally come now that I was leaving. Lol. In Denver, it was actually sunny, though nonetheless still very cold. But not as bad as Rapid.

The trip was not as long as I imagined it would be. I though the trip from Rapid to Denver was less than 45 minutes, but it was about 54 minutes. We left Rapid later than usual since they had to spray the wings and tail of the aircraft with something to melt the snow. Yeah, it was starting to get that bad. The plane is rather small, by my standards. A propeller plane in fact, lol. I thought they didn't invent those things anymore or flew them here. But I was wrong.

We landed in Denver at around almost 8am. As usual, I was at Terminal A64 and my connecting flight was at A25. Whopee...good luck. I was thinking about running like last time but figured might was well walk briskly instead of run since they might end up getting delayed like last time. Planes in Denver seemed to be perpetually late, lol, that's my observation anyways, maybe they're not.

I arrived in good time, maybe around 15 minutes. And what do you know, they haven't even boarded yet. Yes! So I just stood around and waited for my seat to be called. For a change, I wasn't sitting way a back like my trip going there. I was actually sitting at 8 which was good and as usual had a window seat. I figured I might as well enjoy the view while it was still daytime and I could see outside, hopefully, not just the clouds. And I wasn't disappointed. The weather cooperated and it was sunny outside. I saw lots and lots of mountains though. I don't know if they were the Rockies or parts of Grand Canyon but they certainly looked like lots of mountains. I thought they kinda looked like terrain from Mars or something. Hehehe...and it even looked like we flew quite close to them. That, or it was just they were really tall mountains. Lol.

The disadvantage though of sitting near the window is that if you have to use the lavatory, everyone else sitting beside gets to stand up. Unfortunately, there wasn't much room to just pass through them, yeah, that's economy for you. So I just sat there and waited and waited and figured I might as well do my business when I got back to the airport where the restroom would be roomier, lol.

When I arrived in SJ, the sun was also out. I headed out to the restroom and then to the baggage claim and waited for my luggage. Before disembarking from the plane, I called the airport shuttle to make sure that they were going to come and pick me up or else I wouldn't know how to get home.

After getting my luggage, I called Sheldon to let him know I was back in Cali in one piece. Lol. It was strange. Just this morning, when I got up, he was around and now, I'm back in Cali. Sheesh...

I waited for the driver and finally called him. Turned out he was at the baggage claim and he probably missed seeing me. Totally my fault since I was on the phone when he tried to call.

Before getting on the van, I removed my coat. Man, it was warm in Cali...hehehe...First time in a long time that I was actually sweating in Cali. The trip going home was pretty short. No traffic here. Got my stuff out. Started putting things away. Cleaning up the kitchen and washing stuff. Threw away the garbage. The usual cleaning routine.

And now, here I am, stuck in front of the computer. Laundry done for the rest of the week (I did my laundry in SD but I still had left over dirty clothes here, lol). And yeah, room is clean, things put away, had a big breakfast and all set to work. But no, my brain is dead, no more mojo as Austin Powers put it. Hmmm..I'm just wallowing in sadness right now. It's not the same.

I know, think IEP, lol. Uh oh...think IEP and hopefully, that should help me get my mojo back. Or maybe call someone...hehehe...yeah...I think that's a better idea.

Burr Burr Burr

2008-12-30T08:00:00.000-08:00

I've been here in SD for about 9 days now. And that's pretty much what I can say...burr..burr...burr...and burr...lol.

But I'm not complaining. Back in Cali I was singing, "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow." And by golly, SD has not let me down. Lol. But not enough to build me a snow man or a snow angel. Oh well. Better luck next time.

Anyways, coming here, I was dreading the traveling because of the last time that I travelled. The long arduorous...hmm...is that the right way to spell it and very tiring trip from Manila to LA to SF. Lots of layovers and rather long ones.

But before I even got to the travelling, packing was another story. Packing for a much colder winter, as compared to California was certainly difficult and to think I would only be in SD for less than 2 weeks. For one, coats were bulky and clothes actually. I just couldn't bring one layer of clothing. There were turtlenecks, thermal clothes, socks, scarves, mittens, stocking caps, house clothes, jeans, and don't forget the shoes. Not just ordinary shoes but boots. I ended up taking out some of the things to make way for more important clothes. Towels were left behind and my fluffy bathrobe...hehehe..I'm sure they have towels there. Then I had my paperwork to bring too. (Just in case I would actually work, or rather, they were my security blanket...hehehe..and I haven't touched them yet. But they are out of the suitcase.)

I had to almost sit on my suitcase but luckily didn't have to. It was extended as far as it could extend...hehehe...I was just hoping that it wasn't that heavy that I had to pay for excess baggage.

So, with packing done, I had reservations for the aiport shuttle to come pick me up. Check. With that done, then I had my ID to bring. I still hadn't received my Cali ID so I had to make do with my passport. Plus there's my shuffle to keep me company, my trusty phones, and Goldilocks from Leila and yeah, Hershey's kisses in case I had craving for something sweet.

I was told that the airport shuttle would pick me up between 11:35 to 12:05 so I made sure that I was all dressed up by the time 11am came. I had checked in online in the morning when I woke up. Thank goodness for online check ins. I had printed my boarding passes as well as checked in my luggage and paid for it. The airline that I was going to fly in was cheap but required payment for checked in luggage. No was was I going to handcarry that. If there is one thing that I noticed, people around here do not really check in luggage. They would rather handcarry everything. In fact, it was the first time when we flew from LA to SF that there was actually no more space in the overhead compartment for my bag. I ended up putting it in the seat in front me. That was what I expected too.

I was sad though that there was no rice...oh no. So I ended up making rice but could not eat. Again, I had to content myself with a sandwich and soda and then after cleaning up and brushing my teeth, I waited for the airport shuttle to arrive. It was cold and miserable outside. It was starting to rain, not exactly encouraging so I made sure that I was all bundled up. I had my thermal shirt on, a shirt, a coat and then my puffer coat. And boots, socks and jeans. I was hoping that was enough to keep me warm. I'm sure the airport would be warm enough. Lol.

The airport shuttle arrived around twelvish so I said goodbye to Leila and got my luggage out. I was the only passenger and there was not much traffic going to the airport.

San Jose International Airport was much smaller compared to SF. There was a lot of construction going around. I went to the Frontier Airlines counter and checked in bag. I showed them my passport and my boarding pass and passport as an ID and I made sure that my bag would reach its final destination, Rapid City. Yeah...lol. Where is that? In South Dakota...lol. Hopefully, it was going to reach Denver first and then RAP. With my bags taken cared of, I went through the usual checks. Taking off my boots, putting my bags on the tray. There were a lot of Pinoys in SJ. How did I know? They were speaking in Tagalog. Lol. And one even said, "Salamat." Hehehe...that was fun. It was pretty quick so I looked for the gate where I was supposed to board even though I was way way way early. Like hours early.

When I got there, there were a lot of people around. Turns out they were waiting I think for Delta airlines bound for Houston and their flight was delayed. Go figure. Apparently, most of the flights were delayed. Oh no, that didn't sound good but it did say so far that Frontier was on time. We'll see.

When the Delta bound people left, the gate was quite empty. There were early birds like me and they were busy either reading a book, using their Macs or just chatting around. To occupy myself, I texted Leila or listened to my shuffle. Which reminds, I have to charge it or else...

I waited and waited and finally it was almost 2:20pm. That was the time were were supposed to board the airplane. But nope, we were late in boarding. But that didn't worry me that much. I figure I would still make my connecting flight in Denver at 7pm.

The trip was umm...quite cramped. I had a window seat and there was this father / daughter sitting beside me. The trip was almost 4 hours. Not much to see since it was dark when we arrived in Denver. When I looked outside, it did look very cold. Much colder. I could see the wind blowing and snow??? moving around, lol. But Denver does look beautiful from afar. There were a lot of lights. Very pretty.

We arrived in Denver around 6:10 pm but sadly, we couldn't go to the gate because there was still another plane. We waited and waited hoping for a gate that was available but no...we had to wait for that gate. Tick tock tick tock. People were starting to get restless. I think most of the people there were bound for somewhere else too so time was of the essence. I know I was starting to worry when 6:45pm came in. Yikes, would I make it to my connecting flight in time? I don't know if I was going to be able to run that fast. I was just glad that I checked in my luggage. And even if I did make it in time, would my luggage make it in time? Oh no. Finally, we were able to leave the gate at 6:50pm. We were at Gate 37A and my connecting flight was at A68. Yeah, thank goodness, at least it was also in A. Lol. There were supposed to be carts waiting for us to bring us to our terminals but what the heck. I just ran and ran as fast as I can. I was just glad that I didn't fall flat in my face. I was sorta imagining myself to be one of those people in those movies running after a flight...lol. It was funny yet really annoying at the same time. Oh well. I wasn't exactly looking forward to spending the night at a airport waiting for another flight. There were only 2 flights going into RAP with that particular airline. And mine was the last flight going in.

So there was I running and running. Hmm...hopefully not like the runaway bride, lol. I just hated all those numbers. Where the heck was 68? Hehehe...I was hoping they would be skipping numbers. But nope, there was 41, 42, 43, etc. etc. etc.

Finally, I see hope, lol. I saw 68. Whopee...turns out that they had started boarding but not everyone had gone in yet. Yipee...hehehe...at least I didn't get left behind. But man, I was panting like crazy. And it was very cold...burrr...I think the temp there was like zero celcius...burr...and only one door was open and yet I could feel the cold. There was this couple that I talked to and it turned out that their flight got delayed too. They were flying in from Sacramento. I made the usual call and complaints, but I was just darned glad I made it and I hope that my luggage did too.

As usual, I had a window seat and what can I say, the plane was even smaller. It was a propeller plane, lol. I know. I'm used to airbuses and seeing that teeny tiny plane...er...started to make me worry a little.

Well, turns out that all that running was all for nought. The plane left very late. They had a problem reconciling the passenger manifesto and the airport list and they didn't want to make the plane leave without making sure. Oh wow, they're very strict. I was just wheezing and had a difficult time breathing. I think with the altitude and worsened by the running, that just wasn't good. And my legs felt like jelly too. I've never run so much in my life. Now, I'm starting to worry about my flight going back. Will I miss my Denver flight to SJ? I hope not. Or else...how will I get home? Lol. The airport shuttle will have left already. Oh no...

We finally arrived in RAP around nine-ish. There wasn't that much to see. Not as much as Denver anyways. I did see more snow. Lol. Well, I'm just glad to have arrived. When I looked out the window, there seemed to be a lot of people at the terminal as well. Waiting for us I guess. Lol.

And that's another story.

Miserably Cold

2008-12-14T18:45:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, we didn't let the rain deter us from our shopping expedition. It did rain but today was the worse by far and what made it even worse was that we had to walk going from place to place. My poor shoes were just drenched. Lol. And we had to lug around bags.

I was all bundled up with my puffer coat, scarf, stocking cap and yet I was still so cold. Burr. It's miserably cold out there. I won't mind the rain but the wind...burrr...then you get so cold that you won't actually feel your hand.

This week, its supposed to be raining. Burrr....I just hope I don't have to walk around as much as I did today. It was just plain miserable.

The Real Meaning of Giving

2008-12-14T18:43:00.001-08:00

A couple of weeks back, Leila mentioned about a former housemate and how we would have an "exchange gift." Leila just scoffed at the idea. Well, I totally agree with her. Exchanging gifts is not really what Christmas is all about. As she puts it, real giving means not expecting something in return.

I heard something like, "Real giving hurts" years and years ago. What does that mean? Real giving means, when you have nothing and yet you still give. Like, having a piece of bread but someone else is hungrier than you are. Then you give that one and only piece of bread that you have. When you give because that's something extra, then that's not really giving. You just have something extra and may not have any use for it anymore, hence you give it away. But when you give something that you have even though you will not have anything in return, then that for me is real giving. But what the heck, you don't have to believe me. I aint no moral guardian nor will I pretend to be.

So, exchange gifts? Hmmm...so lame! Lol. It's either you give something or you don't. And that's that.

Lacoste and Pinoys

2008-12-14T18:39:00.001-08:00

Recently, Leila and I went to Valley Fair / Westfield to do some shopping. Leila wanted to check out some stores and I wanted to go to Roxy to find some shirts to give as a gift.

We had lunch at McDonald's, their mini-meal is one of my favorite, simply because I can actually consume it and it's cheaper too. Afterwards, we went around the mall. Checking the stores and lo and behold, we saw my favorite shoe place, Payless. I wasn't thinking of buying another pair of boots but I just had to. I got a nice pair of gold heels (my very first pair with heels up to here...hehehe) and good old boots for SD weather. I also wanted to buy a new puffer coat for SD weather as well. I knew I was going to freeze when I go there. California winter is nowhere near SD winter...just thinking about makes me shiver...burr...burr...

As usual, we hit Old Navy (which is personally, one of my favorite places to shop) because of their sale and I just wanted to see what they had. Luckily, their puffer coat was 50% off so I got a small white outerwear, plus thermal tops, again for SD weather and a bag which was on sale as well.

There I was, lugging around 2 bags (and believe me, they were quite heavy) and we went to find an ATM as well as the Lacoste store. Leila wanted to buy and check out possible gifts for her nephews. So in we went to the store when we found it. There were suprisingly a lot of people there. So I just stayed near the entrance. I didn't want to have to push and shove people around with my bags. I looked around and funnily enough (well, not so funny in away), I noticed that most of the people inside were Asians and not only that, they were Pinoys. How did I know, well I heard most of them talking and they just looked Pinoy and not Chinese or other kinds of Asians. There was even this one lady who looked at me and smiled. I guess she knew I was Pinoy too. The other guy standing near the door was Pinoy as well. There was this Pinoy dad too talking to his son, saying something like, "It's hot here. Go play der..." Yeah, the kid went running out the store and he followed suit. Just with that accent, I knew he was Pinoy. Then this Pinoy couple came in. How did I know? The woman was talking to her hubby in Tagalog, talking about taking a picture.

So I continued to observe the people around the store. They were all busy looking at shirts and things that the store had to offer. I guess there is something about Lacoste and Pinoys. What is it? Is it something like, now you're here abroad, then you can buy it and show how your status has changed? Hmmm...it's probably more of a status symbol more than anything. Just like Pinoys and their Nokias. Any other phone doesn't seem good enough, unless its the latest Nokia phone. Oh well.

It's sad though. They seem more concerned with outside appearances, your clothes, how you look like and the brand that you're brandishing about. Whatever happened to inner beauty? Oh well, I guess that's just %$#! Hehehehe...That is so pathetic but that's how it is here, I suppose.

Oh well. For the life of me, I can never imagine buying a $117 dollar shirt. Come on, gimme a break. But then again, what do I know? I aint a trendsetter nor a snob...lol. Well, thank goodness!

And nope, I don't have Lacoste in my closet and nope, I'm not jealous. I'm quite happy with ON or other brands from Target or something from Goodwill. Things, are just a means to an end. They don't make me what I am.

Thanksgiving at Tita Novelle's House

2008-11-29T18:24:00.001-08:00

I first Thanksgiving, ever, here was spent at Tita Novelle's house. Tita Novelle works with Leila, my housemate at John Muir and she teaches ELD at Muir. She is also a Filipina. What the occasion didn't lack was Filipino food even though its an American tradition. There was fried camote, empanada, bico, Magnolia ice cream (Jackfruit) and what we were waiting for, paksiw na bangus and dinuguan. Hehehe.

Of course, there was the star of the show, the turkey, gobble, gobble, gobble and there was ham as well. Who couldn't forget the cranberry sauce that went with everything as well as the gravy for the turkey, different kinds of stuffing, bread, pumpkin pie, and all kinds of pies. Food was everywhere. Yum yum. My only real contribution was helping to set up the hors d'oeuvre (I had to google to spell that). Putting the pitted olives, red, yellow and orange peppers, baby tomatoes, baby carrots on the lazy susan, putting candies on the serving trays as well as slicing the rolls and arranging them on a plate and yes, of course, the most tasking task of all, washing the green and purple grapes and cutting them into little clusters as Betty, Tita Novelle's sister-in-law said.

It was an interesting evening to say the least and I enjoyed listening to their stories. The main meal though, when Ivy was around and her family was the Filipino food that we feasted on, dinuguan and paksiw na bangus. Normally, I wouldn't eat paksiw, but this time, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to eat Filipino food. Yum yum.

When you're far away from home, eating a home-cooked Filipino meal is the next best thing to being at home.

Thank you Tita Novelle for inviting me to my very first ever Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to Christmas. Too bad I can't be there though, the tuyo sounds really good...drool...

The End of November 2

2008-11-29T13:32:00.001-08:00

I'm enjoying the last days of the long Thanksgiving break. I was planning to go to school today to work on the report card. But, I kept thinking about penny pinching and spending $3.50 on fare, hmmm...now seems a lot in light of $900. LOL. I know, I can't seem to get over that. And I don't think I really, will. Not anymore. I won't get over it, not until I stop paying for that exorbitant amount of money. And dang it, I don't care about that relationship anymore. As far as I'm concerned that's trash and will never be recycled ever again. I'm just too damned civilized and polite not to say that to her face. Mom sure taught me good manners, lol.

So, I'm at home, staying home and making sure that I save enough for when we have to move out and hopefully, not have to pay nine oh oh. LOL. Still can't get over that. The good news is, I did the lesson plan for the whole week, plus a couple of next week's lesson plans as well. I might just end up going to school tomorrow, but only if there's no fog in the morning, then I can walk to school and take the bus going home. But I've got a feeling tomorrow's going to be another foggy day too. And believe me, if you think that its a "cool" thing to do. It is not cool, but cold. LOL. You do get drenched. LOL. But it does look fun.

Today, I am going to Target and finally, finally, after a long wait, buy my long dreamed about skinny jeans. And I will just hunt for the clearance once. LOL.I'm not buying the expensive ones. I won't be able to afford them. Thank goodness for Target. And then, more walking around, just try to enjoy the day because the next couple of weeks will be busy before we go to the Holiday break. Wohoo!!! Vacay, here I come! Not that I'll be going somewhere warmer like home but actually someplace colder, burr....Hopefully, there's enough snow so I can make a snowman, or an angel, lol. If not, I'll be happy playing with a PSP or Nintendo DS...hint hint. LOL. On the other hand, I'll be thinking about work as well. Things I need to finish, I need to do, this and that. It just never seems to end, but then again, I'm not complaining.

The End of November

2008-11-29T13:25:00.001-08:00

November pretty much ended with a big bang.

The biggest being a bang on my wallet. Rent has just increased to $900. In pesos, if I used 50 pesos to a dollar, that would be, hmm....around 45K pesos. Geez, I didn't earn that much back home. Not even half of it in a month. Wow, geez....and its not in a good way.

What brought this on? Let me just say that normally, I wouldn't vent in my blog about this, but I'm just up to my ears, literally and I feel like my chest would explode. I know that the whole world, not just the US economy is in the throes of an R, recession and everyone's tightening to their belts, figuratively and penny pinching as someone told me. But geez, I don't understand why us single people, seem to be less worth, as people as opposed to married people. Sure, I can understand the I need to give my daughter this and that, but what the heck. Don't I, a single person have debts to pay too? I have family too you know, in case you didn't notice. I didn't spring out, full grown like Athena from Zeus's head. I have a mom, I have sisters, I have nephews. And most importantly, I have debts that I need to pay. Geez, are they any less than your family? Geez....

I know, I can almost hear Sheldon say, settle down, but I just can't. $900 is a whole lot of money and that's just rent. Geez, its so unfair. Let me say it, unfair!

So peeps, no Christmas presents, that includes you, penny pinching lady. The budget I have for presents, will all to go rent, no thanks to you, penny pinching lady. Well, there is such a thing as karma and one day, that's going to come back and bite you in the a**. And I bet its starting to bite you right where it hurts.

Grrrrrr........

The end of the month before you know it

2008-11-21T19:15:00.001-08:00

I can't believe that November is almost over. Next week, we will only be in school for two days, Monday and Tuesday and then its Thanksgiving break. Thank goodness!

It's my first Thanksgiving here and people are making plans. Well, my plan is not to have a plan. LOL. Well, probably stay home, ponder on the report cards that I have to make as well as start preparing for my next annual IEP.

The good news is that it is still in January but I can always start by preparing for the assessment that I will do, this time using the Woodcock - Johnson. And then there's the TRI coming up for another student. That's something else to prepare too.

November seems very short now that I look back. There was the Veteran's Day and the CEA Non Duty day. And now, Thanksgiving.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, let me think of the things that I am thankful for. And they are numerous if I really think about it.

I am thankful for my job, in light of the recession hitting the US as well as other parts of the globe. I am reminded of a poem about being grateful, or something like that. If we want to know how it is to have a job, then ask a jobless person who hasn't worked in a long time. Despite the seemingly endless things that I need to do, at the same time, I'm learning a lot of things that I wouldn't not have learned back home. A different perspective on things and see how things work here and the way things are back home.

I am grateful for my health. It is cold here and I am afraid that I might get sick and no one will take care of me. Unlike back home where I can call my mom and stay with her to recuperate. There is always that reassurance that someone's going to look out for me. Here, it's pretty much trying to fend for myself.

I am grateful for my family. I may not be there with them physically but my thoughts are always with them.

I am grateful for my friends and colleagues. They are always there to cheer me on and keep my spirits up. And its a great feeling to know that they're there to support me no matter what. It may be from something trivial like giving me a ride to Target so I could buy my favorite soda to thinking positive thoughts my way as I prepare for my IEP.

I am grateful to be here. That I continue to grow as a person, both emotionally, spiritually and career-wise. The last couple of years, I felt like I was in a rut. But now, I'm definitely out of the rut and its amazing how much I still need to learn. Not just about work but also more importantly about myself.

What are you grateful for this Thanksgiving?

Oh yeah, I don't think the turkeys will be grateful this season. I will do my best to steer clear of the turkey then. And just have pork, lol.

NanoWrimo month!

2008-11-02T09:07:00.001-08:00

It's that time of the year again when, we write the day away, hoping to reach...how many words is that? lol...I don't know, all I know is, I'm supposed to write about 1,667 words a day. Oh no, I'm way behind. The solution? Well, set one or two hours today to jumpstart on my writing. The good news, we've got 5 days of breaks for the month of November, so hopefully, I'll still be able to catch up. Woohoo!!!

Now, I better start writing...type type type...type type type...click click click...click click click...hmmm...what am I going to write about anyways? Lol.

Come and join in for this November madness!!!

NanoWrimo website:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node

Rain, rain, go away...

2008-11-02T08:27:00.001-08:00

A few weeks back, I was hankering after rain and now, it's finally here!

Hmm...I take that back, I don't want rain. Yes, rain rain please go away. And don't come back for a little while, lol. Well, that would be good for the watersheds so rain on there and not here. What I've learned about the rain here, well, I get stuck at home. Instead of going to school to do some work, I got stuck at home basically either sitting in the kitchen staring outside or inside my room, facing the pc (not that its a bad thing) or just sleeping the day away, which could be good but its mostly bad. Lol. Although my wallet I know is quite happy about that too. Saturday was over before I knew it and all I did was eat, sleep, sleep and eat...and not necessarily in that order.

So today, Sunday, I'm hoping the rain will let up enough that I'd be able to bring my laundry, still dry from the laundry place as well as walk to church and go back home, without being drenched and be able to go to the library and borrow more books. Please, please rain, go away, even if its just for a day.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T22:15:00.001-07:00

My first ever Halloween here! Yeah, I did have a costume. Our theme was San Francisco inspired, "Escape from Alcatraz." When we went there, we saw a shop with prisoner-type costumes but the prices were quite steep with a shirt costing $20 and the pants, something like that too. And spending $40 on a costume that will probably be just worn once a year (unless I turn it into my jammies, lol) and which I'm not sure I'd wear again the year after, its ridiculous.

So, we went to the next best place to buy something affordable, Target. Which is my favorite place too. Luckily we found that costume but 50% cheaper. Much better. At first, we thought there was only one pair and I thought I'd find another costume but when we went back, Alicia found another one hidden among the other costumes! Hurray!!!

The kiddies had the Halloween parade and party. There was expected rain that day and it did stop, thank goodness or else the whole parade would've been ruined. And our simple yet fun party. They decorated teeny tiny pumpkins, had cookies, jello, fruits, juice and had their pictures taken.

That was fun! Til next year then...

A Beautiful Day in San Francisco

2008-10-26T21:08:00.001-07:00

Since we had already been to the Golden Gate Bridge, we decided to visit other parts of San Francisco. Where else, yes, Pier 39 and Chinatown. First, we took a Cable Car City Tour (www.classiccablecar.com) around San Francisco. It wasn't the real tram but it brought us around San Francisco. The driver was Filipino of course, Ramon! He was so funny and it made the tour even better. We went around different parts of the city, from the 3 different hills, Nob Hill, Russian Hill and I don't know what the other hill is. To the gates of Chinatown, to Union Square where posh shops like, err...they were too many to name and remember, to the Episcopal Church which looked so grand, the Victorian Houses, to the museum where you see the umm...wheels that operate the trams go round and round. He said it takes about 3 days to tour around San Francisco and I'm inclined to believe him. It's a beautiful place with great places to go to and one day just wouldn't be enough. I also liked the different view of the Golden Gate Bridge as well as Alcatraz, and yeah, Oakland Bridge I think it was called, that looks the same as the Golden Gate Bridge, same model I think or whatever you call it.

But pictures say more than words...so let the pictures speak for themselves.

And oh yeah, best company ever. Lol. Thanks Alicia for taking us to San Francisco, I'm sure its not the same without us...hehehe...

SF pictures: http://pinyapol.multiply.com/photos/album/25/San_Francisco_-_Pier_39_Chinatown
http://pinyapol.multiply.com/photos/album/26/From_Leila_-_Beautiful_San_Francisco

Today is Tuesday

2008-10-21T18:57:00.001-07:00

Today was another busy day at work. Yesterday was busy. I can't quite make up my mind whether today was busier or yesterday. So it's a tie then. Both days were equally busy.

Let's see, yesterday I had notices to send, questions to ask via email and had to write some documents. And to top it all off, I had classes to teach. Oh no!!

Today was the same. I had classes to teach, assessments to administer, meetings to attend, a story to share in room 4, and messages to answer. Oh yeah, in between trying to relax, prepare for the next day and the coming days with the IEPs coming up. Yeah, today was a busy day.

Tomorrow, will be another busy day, a disaster drill to be in, a notice to fill out, and a final report to proof for another IEP amendment meeting. And tomorrow is just Wednesday. I wonder what Thursday will bring in.

Oh yeah, another IEP amendment meeting, and on Friday, oh yeah another meeting, I think. Hmm...my planner sure is busy. What I'm looking forward to? The weekend, I just might go to SF again, I can't wait to see the sights!!!

Meanwhile, tomorrow is another busy day and I have to stop procrastinating. I have to buckle down, start the document I am supposed to write and start on the lesson plan for next week.

My muse, where are you?

Lost in San Jose, where's the way to Cupertino?

2008-10-19T18:26:00.001-07:00

Today, we went on a road trip to the San Francisco International airport and then to the Golden Gate Bridge.

I was very excited to go and finally see the Golden Gate Bridge. I remember years ago, when I was teaching Social Studies and we would talk about the Golden Gate Bridge. Hmm...I don't remember much about what was in the handout except that it connected Marin County and San Francisco I guess.

So, the day started with me, going to work, as usual to get the IEP binder that I forgot to bring home with me. I was in such a hurry Friday afternoon after the Walk-a-thon that I just grabbed the stuff that I had. So, when I got home, and started to work on my IEP, I was thinking about looking up an item when lo and behold, I couldn't find the IEP binder...grrr...

But I didn't let that stop me, I started to work on my IEP and wrote goals for my student. I felt really good about that. It really is difficult to start writing something but once you get the hang of it, I suppose it comes easier in time.

The next day, I woke up around 7am (its still dark around that time so its hard to get out of bed) and then took my shower, breakfast of an apple and water and got dressed up rather warmly for the day.

My roommate brought me to school and it was around 9:30 when we got there. I started to go through my papers, put some away and looked for my IEP binder to make sure that I would take it home. I also made copies for worksheets that we would use on Monday. I would've asked someone to do it but since there's hardly free time in the morning, much less a lull in the afternoon, I decided to do it myself so come Monday, I wouldn't feel harrased about something so little.

Around 11:30pm, I left the school and took the binder with me. Gosh, it was quite heavy. Probably could use it as deadly weapon and it would've injured someone but I was grateful for that binder. It was really very helpful.

When I got to Trader Joe's, I got a basket and bought chicken, pork, biscuits, some easy to cook items like a packed Kung Pao Shrimp I think was the name, a microwaveable Thai Yo Yum I think was the name or something like that, broccoli florettes, raspberry fig bars and some noodles that looked appetizing, lol. I think I overshopped...lol. I had like a ton of things. What I also like about Trader Joe's, other than the price was that it had a lot of brands which you don't really see in other supermarkets, plus the fact that they're mostly organic stuff. Believe me, moving and living in a new country, you tend to find out that you have allergies which you didn't have before. So I'm just trying to be careful in not addin more allergies to my already existing ones, lol.

I waited for my roomie at the Bus stop (25) and it was fun watching the cars and I felt hungry. So I got my fig bar and ate one.

We went home just to have lunch and then we left around 2pm for the airport. We took 85 then to 101 then we ended up in the SF Airport, then went back to 101 to the Golden Gate bridge.

Seeing SF first hand was really exciting. I guess their skyline is much different from Cup. Not bad different but something really new to my old eyes...lol.

Most of the streets that we passed through going to Octavia had no left turns so I guess we really didn't lost, well, not yet. But we did get lost before we got there because we turned somewhere else but we did end up at the Freeway again, yahoo!!!

Oh yeah, the freeway, wow, the cars really zoom by. We were probably considered slow drivers, but what the heck, they're not the ones driving the car anyways.

So, back to my story, we finally arrived in Octavia and we drove on to Lombard. The houses, wow, they were really vintage I suppose. Like the ones you would see in the movies if the location was in fact San Francisco. I don't care if people thought we were crazy oohing and ahhing...lol.

Finally, we arrived at Lombard and again, wow the streets were like crazy. The inclines were like steep going up and then you had to go down too. Up and down and down and up. I think it was actually more exciting than Enchanted Kingdom. Luckily, my roomie's car was automatic so we didn't really go down the incline when we had to stop and yeah, we had to stop a lot at the intersections. I was worried that when we did stop, when we had to move forward, the car would roll down the hill. But we didn't because the car is automatic...woohoo...we'd have to return that way again...gulp.

We did finally get to our destination, the Golden Gate Bridge. Even from afar, going there, I could already see the ummm...what do you cal it? Like the support beams or something, whatever the name is. When we got there, there were a lot of people. There were a lot of cars and people walking around and taking lots of pictures. You can also ride a two-storey bus for a tour but we skipped that although it did look like a lot of fun. We could see, is that Alcatraz? across the bay and a lot of sailboats. We took pictures as usual although I just had one or two since I ran out of space with my digital camera. I should buy a new SD card but I don't think I can afford it just yet now.

It was quite cold and windy and I regretted leaving my scarf and gloves inside the car. So, we just walked the length of the bridge thinking that we could reach the other end and then go back. So could not do it...hehehe...it was cold and it seemed so far. After awhile, we decided to go back since it was I think almost 5pm and we wanted to go home since it was quite a long ways.

The drive back going to SF was uneventful. Oh yeah, the toll fee was quite expensive though, $6. We went through Lombard Street again and it was still exciting to go up and down, lol.

We passed SF International Airport again, then on to 101, then 85. It was a little dark when we saw the sign exit for Cupertino ahead and what did happen? Yeah, we got lost. We drove on and on in the freeway and ended up in San Jose. The man my roomie asked directions explained what we were supposed to do, but I guess since it was a new place for all of us, we got lost again. We went to South instead of North...and again, we drove on and on and ended up in Great Mall Parkway. We were tired and hungry so we went to McDonald's while our roomie asked for directions again. I had a mini-meal which is about $3, double cheeseburger, small fries and small drink. I didn't want to order the usual meal because I wouldn't be able to consume even half of the burger like what happened when we ate at Burger King. I ate the all the fries but like 1/4 of the burger. I ended up taking it home and putting it in the fridge and then forcing myself to eat it the next day...yikers...hehehehe...

We learned that we were in downtown San Jose in Great Mall Parkway, I think was the name. Oh well. Again, more directions, this time more detailed. Turns out we were a long ways from where we should've gone. It certainly taught us to pay attention to the right directions, not to take south when we were told to take north, crapola!!!

After dinner, I was the assigned navigator or something like that. I had to look at the signs and read them and tell the driver where to go and what. It was a difficult thing to do, since I'm not especially gifted in spatial intelligence. If there is a person who is destined to always get lost, that happens to be me. Hehehe...I admit I'm like that. Plus the fact that it was dark, so it was kind of hard to see. What made the problem even worse was that the windshield and windows started to mist and we couldn't see from outside. It was dangerous driving if you ask me, since we couldn't see the cars behind and in front of us. Yikers. Plus I had to make sure that we were in the right direction.

We did get to our final destination, we ended up in De Anza Boulevard after we took the exit and we headed to Target. We had run out of liquid detergent and Sunday was laundry day for me. I was especially worried since I wouldn't have anything to wear during the week if I didn't do my laundry. So, all's well that ends well.

And that was a great adventure, both going there, seeing the Golden Gate Bridge (which isn't gold by the way) and going back home. I was just so happy that we were back in Cup.

Hmm....

2008-10-15T20:59:00.001-07:00

It's been awhile since I've blogged. Yeah, I've been that busy with paperwork and more paperwork. In fact, so busy that I haven't even squeezed time in between enough to register for CBEST or review for it or to yeah, blog.

Thinking 'bout life here, it all seems fast paced and work work and more work. Funny though, I'm officially off at 3:05 and yet it seems like I still have a lot more stuff to do. Much more than what I used to do back home. Or maybe its because I'm still adjusting to work here and finding the right pace for me. Hmmm...maybe its that.

On the other hand, if I do work hard, I play harder. After a long day working on Saturdays, even though I'm not supposed to go and work, I take the time to go to stores and go window shopping or I read. So, at the end of the day, it doesn't seem that bad though. Still, I feel like the list of things that I need to do is endless. But then again, why am I complaining? I bet a lot of people are like that too. Ho hum...

Goodbye to a friend...Aylene

2008-09-26T22:17:00.001-07:00

Before I left for the U.S., I visited Munich campus and went to see my friend, Aylene. I had gone to see her one time and ended up not being able to, well just from afar because the teacher who was supposed to do the proctoring didn't show up, so she ended up taking her place, pregnant and all.

I've a lot of memories of Ays as I call her. We worked in Eli back in the days and when I first started in Eli, I really appreciated her kindness especially in preparing for activities and experiments in the classroom. I guess one of the memories that stuck was she would offer to buy gelatine (I think it was for science) since she lived close to SM and her son was one of my students, my first batch of kids way back in that school. She would always offer to do something, bring food for parties or to share with the kids. Or stay with my kids if needed.

When she moved to Munich campus when the classes were split, I was sad to see her go but I understood that she had to do that because then she would be closer to her kids who were then going to third and fourth grade. But I never felt like we drifted apart because whenever we saw each other, we'd always make "chika chika" and catch up on each other's life.

I guess that's why, even when I left, we still kept in touch. Through text, or if I went there for some reason, just to chat even for a few minutes.

I was talking to a friend this morning and I just said that sometimes, in life, there are just some things that we don't understand and probably will never understand. I'll just leave it to a higher being. There really is no explanation. But I guess I'll just think to myself that she and her baby are in heaven and watching over her loved ones.

Goodbye Ays, thank you for being a part of my life and until we meet again.

Capitola

2008-09-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

I'd call it a "sweet escape," from what? A lot of things. Primarily, because when I heard about what happened to a friend of mine, it just felt so surreal and unfair. But I'll talk about that another time.

So after work, a friend asked if I wanted to go see the beach and I said of course, "yes." And so they picked me up at work and we drove to, Sta. Cruz to Capitola.

The drive going there was interesting. I think that was real driving that I've seen. And I was amazed that a lot of people did really drive here, from work to home and home to work and I'm amazed that someone would drive that far for work. Oh well.

The roads going there were winding, I'd say. Sort of like driving to Baguio, passing through the side of the mountain. Interesting driving. I guess if I were a novice driver, I'd be driving slow. The trees looked tall and beautiful and the destination was well worth the wait.

Capitola is a beautiful place. Albeit, cold because it was windy because we were by the sea. I ended up borrowing my friend's thick jacket to protect myself from the cold. We went to a resto and stayed outside enjoying the breeze, the view and the sun. I could see there were a lot of seagulls and at first I didn't know what they were. I remembered Richard Bach's novel about a seagull for some reason.

It just felt so peaceful sitting there, drinking cold water and eating nachos (I think they were) while waiting for our food. The music was beautiful too. Eighties I think, lol. Reminded me of the past. Of friends in the past, of what happened in the past. Then I enjoyed my Margaritaville Pasta. It was just so good. I had steak to go with it too and the serving was huge, as usual. I ended up taking a box so I could take it home.

After dinner, we walked along the beach. It was funny, one of the seagulls was seriously looking and facing the people sitting and eating on the bench. Waiting for food, what else. I know I would be if I was hungry. lol.

I wanted to take off my shoes and feel the sand on my feet, but since I was wearing shoes and socks, figured, I wouldn't. But I would've wanted to.

Finally, we had to go cause we wanted to make sure that time wouldn't run out at the parking meter.

Going back home, the view was still spectacular, I could see the ocean from afar. Wow, that was beautiful. I guess a perfect day for introspection and just to appreciate what life has to offer, how short it is and sometimes, how it can be snuffed out when we least expect it.

Oh, I wish I had my camera with me. That would've been even better. But it's all in my memory...that I could go back to when I can.

I got books from the Cupertino Library!!!

2008-09-21T20:30:00.002-07:00

Today, I went back to the Cupertino Library. Last week, when I went to the Chicken Dance, I got my Library card and pin but didn't have the opportunity to go around and borrow some books.

This week, for our Shared Reading, we were going to read Mouse Paint. We looked for the book at school including the library but couldn't seem to find the story. So Friday, I requested that the book be on hold so I can get a copy. When I checked again today to see if the book was ready for pick up, it was still "In Transit" so I decided to go to the library Sunday. (I wanted to go Saturday but with my day pass fiasco, I couldn't). So today, after church and lunch and food shopping and relaxing at home, I decided that I had to go to the library or else the kids won't have anything to read tomorrow. So I left the house past 4pm. As usual, I was rushing when I saw the bus was heading towards the bus stop. I had borrowed Leila's monthly pass instead of paying $1.75 for a short trip. I could walk but I was afraid that by the time I got there, it would be a little late and then I'd be rushing and all that.

When I got to the bus stop, the bus stopped and the driver went inside, I assume Starbucks. We waited. By the time the bus was ready to go, there were like 4 of us waiting around.

Again, the bus trip was short and I walked my way to De Anza and then turned to Rodrigues. I arrived in the library without mishap and it was teeming with people. There were people inside and outside the library. People here are really into borrowing books, DVDs, and all kinds of media.

I headed to the Children's Books and started looking for the author in Picture books. I couldn't find it so I went to the second floor just to see what was in there. Then I went back to the Children's Books and finally asked one of the librarians there. We looked and looked but couldn't seem to find it. Finally, she checked the other books there too and saw that there was a copy in Concept pictures I think they call it or something like that. I was sure glad to get my copy of the book, yippee!!! Now we have a story for tomorrow.

Then I went back to the Fiction Large Print section of the Library and grabbed my favorite kind of book to read. Oh yeah, I checked them out too. I went to the express checkout since the queues upstairs were so long what with people borrowing a ton of stuff. As usual, it was something that I had to figure out on my own. First, I had to get my library card and let the scanner scan it, then the book that I borrowed and then waited for the receipt. As usual, I was still trying to figure it out but it was great doing it. Easier since you just do everything by yourself. I left the express checkout and then heard a sound, lol. Turns out that I hadn't properly checked out Mouse Paint. So I checked it out again and it went perfectly, lol. Always a first time. But I guess that happens to a lot of people too so the people there weren't reacting.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to borrowing other books in the future. I just love going to the library!!!

$5 is equal to how many pesos?

2008-09-21T20:11:00.003-07:00

As usual, I woke up early Saturday so I could go to work and catch up on work that I left Thursday. We had Staff Learning Day for Science so I wasn't around Friday the whole day. I was at Collins attending the FOSS Science workshop. It was something that I enjoyed especially the hands on part about Animals 2x2. There were real animals, red worms and night crawlers, guppy and goldfish, sowbug and pillbug I think that was called. Oh yeah, the water and land / garden snails too. That was kind of icky but we had a raise and my snail won, lol. I think the snail was special too, it had ADHD. In the table, we were special ed teachers so I think we also got special ed animals, lol. There was this snail with only one eye. Interesting. I don't think we see much of that.

We had lunch at school too, it was free. I had coldcuts and Frito Lays and water of course. I had left my sweater in the room so I was shivering with cold. This is the first time that I've experienced being outside with the sun brightly shining but at the same time, the wind is bitingly cold. I was at school one lunchtime when I thought how funny it was. There was this old lady, with her umbrella to protect herself against the sun as well as wearing a long-sleeved sweater to protect herself from the cold. It's now not surprising that I'm walking around around 12NN wearing my sweater and the sun is out. Believe me, it can get quite cold and since I don't seem to have a lot of insulation, I do feel cold really easily.

So, Saturday, I was up bright and early. I wanted to make sure that I got to school early like eightish so I woke up early. I had breakfast and wow, before you knew it, it was time to leave the house. So I hurried up because I didn't want to miss the bus. The first bus was like 7:50something and the next bus was like an hour later. So I walked as fast as I could and hoped and prayed that the traffic light would cooperate and not be go or else I could get stuck on the other side while my bus would pass me by.

There I was, rushing and I walked really fast despite the binders and books that I was carrying. I arrived in the bus stop and I saw that there were like 2 - 3 people waiting for the bus too. That was a good sign since that meant that the bus hadn't arrived yet.

I prepared by $5 so I could buy the day pass. I was planning to go to the bank to pick up my checkbook and then go back to school to work again. I got my money prepared and when the bus arrived, I paid for the day pass.

I got to school on time and started working. Whadya know, it was 9, then 12, then lunch time. I had missed eating my sandwich, which was funny since I had made sure that I got food in case I was hungry and look what happened, I got so busy I totally forgot about it. I had lunch, then back to work again. I felt that I had a lot of work done what with preparing for papers to be sent on Monday and preparing the lessons for the whole week for Kindergarten. I also brought home some stuff to read for behavioral strategies for one of my kids. And when I looked at the time, it was 5. I didn't want to break my momentum so I didn't go to the bank anymore. I figured I could go home earlier on Monday (earlier meaning like 5pm...hehehe) and then go to the bank.

I started putting away my books and getting my stuff together and I started to look for my day pass when lo and behold, I realized that, I didn't know where it was. So I went to my other classroom (yes, I have two) and retraced my steps from the Computer room to the Staff room, to the office and I still couldn't find it. It was starting to get late and I was starting to feel worried that I might not be able to go home by 6pm. So I looked at my wallet and had to take out $2 to pay for my fair. Since I didn't have any change, I had no choice but to pay the $2. Hu hu hu. I know, if you think about it, I paid for my fare for the bus $7 in total and in pesos that's how much? I shudder to compute so just do the math. Oh well. There goes my lovely seven dollars.

I felt bad about it for a moment but just refused to get depressed about it. I walked to my bus stop and checked the bus schedule. I got there late so I thought I should just sit down and wait for the bus to arrive. But, I was lucky...the bus was late and I was just so glad to see the bus.

I got home in one piece and told my housemates the sad tale of my lost day pass. The moral of the story? Umm...take care of my day pass next time, lol. I don't want to have to spend $7 in a day. I could've bought something else with it. Like food, lol. Oh well, I'm only human.

To unwind, we went out again to Mervyn's and to Target. And yep, I bought some stuff in Target...hehehe, go figure. But nothing in Mervyn's. But I did see nice bags that I wanted. That's why I can't wait for pay day!!! I need warm clothes now that autumn is right around the corner, like tomorrow, lol.

Chicken Dance

2008-09-14T20:48:00.002-07:00

Saturday, I didn't go to school to catch up on work. My kindergarteners were joining (well some of them) the Chicken Dance and I wanted to be there just in case they would look for me. They were scheduled to dance at 12:40NN and I wanted to make sure that I was there early and not miss their number.

So I woke up early as usual, had breakfast and then went to the bank around 10:30am. I had planned to go there after I went to the bank or from wherever I would end up. Leila went with me to the bank and we were able to fix some problems...luckily. Then we ended up at Mervyn's where as usual, I was window shopping. I thought that I should start buying soon for fall. The weather was getting nippy and windy in the morning and I don't think I'd survive that long without something warm to wear. I just wanted to make sure that I'd have enough money left for food. I'd rather be fed than clothed...hehehe...

Finally, it was 12NN so I decided to leave Mervyn's and walked my way to Rodrigues. Alicia had taken me there Thursday afternoon so I'd know where it was. My landmark was Symantec and the Cypress Hotel. I had no trouble walking going there and I was glad that I had taken the time to go there and tried to remember some landmarks to help me get there.

I saw the Cupertino library and I had planned to get there and get a library card before I went home since I was there anyways.

As usual, there were a lot of people milling around. I had no trouble looking for the area where the kids were supposed to dance. I just listened to the song they were going to dance to. When I arrived, it was Collins that was presenting their school. So I walked around trying to pass the time.

At around 12:30NN, the principal arrived and we started handing out the chicken hats. They were pretty cute which our fifth graders had made. I got a big chicken hat too and I wore that. My kids came but they were both crying. No wonder. They probably felt scared and disoriented seeing all the people around. One was crying the whole time and the other one, well, he cried but later on stopped when the music started playing and he other kids started dancing. It was fun to watch them.

After that, I went to the library and got my library card. I wanted to borrow but I didn't have time. But I'm glad that I do have my permanent card with me. I'm probably going to go there some time next week to get some books for leisurely reading. I'm excited to get books. It is not surprising though that a lot of people go to the library to borrow books, CDs and DVDs. I'm sure if you have those free resources available, you'd take advantage of them. I know I would be in heaven if I was a student doing research.

Going crazy in Stanford

2008-09-06T20:07:00.003-07:00

One of the places I wanted to visit when I got to Cali was to see Stanford U and yep, I got to see it. Well parts of it anyways. The campus is sooo huge and sprawling that you probably won't see the whole place in just a day...or maybe I exaggerate...hehehe...who knows. But it sure looked when I looked at the map at the Information.

Going there wasn't something that was planned. Alicia asked if I wanted to go with her and after a long hard week's work, yup, I wanted to go there and see it.

So there we were, driving to Palo Alto with its huge houses. We first went to Stanford Hospital, I don't know what the name is but it was pretty huge. All I know is, its a huge complex.

We got to downtown Palo Alto by accident because she wasn't sure how it was to get there. Well, I won't mind getting lost. It's all new to me anyways. And I don't get mind getting lost, as long as I find my way back to Cupertino.

When we finally got there, we looked for a parking space. They were all Permit Parking so Alicia was scared that she would get a ticket if she parked there. Luckily, the person we asked said that probably at 6pm, since there were fewer people around and parking was probably free then. And we were right, the parking was free after 4pm, wooohoo...Yes!!!

So we started walking around. I probably can't describe everything that I saw and felt while I was there. All I can say is, it made me miss my college Alma mater, Ateneo. I think there's this feeling somehow, of being peaceful and at the same time, excitement to be "matriculating" hehehe...that's why I love school. There's always this feeling of discovery of something that is about to be uncovered. And more importantly, the relationships that you form in that experience.

I probably will never get to study there, not in a million years anyways, LOL, but at least I had the chance to go there and see and remember way back when.

Target, here I come!!!

2008-08-22T22:08:00.004-07:00

The first time I went to Target, I had a lot of stuff I had to buy, from hangers (which I was obsessing), to the laundry bag, pillow, etc. Yesterday, I decided to go on my own and explore on my own Cupertino. I admit that I've not a lot of spatial intelligence...lol...but I wanted to see if I'd be able to do it on my own. Luckily, I have and I'm glad that I did it.

Its not a long walk going to Target from where I live. But, if you had to carry heavy bags, then the walk could be tedious. So anyways, I finally got around to looking around Target. I started with bags, wallet, clothes, shoes, electronics, books and finally, I bought soda, rechargeable batteries and a water bottle for my water. Hehehe...

The walk and the heavy load was well worth it. When I got home, I placed ice in my glass and had soda...oh, I love it. But sadly, it didn't last long. I was hoping to go to Target again today, but we had something to do. Maybe tomorrow.

Memorial Park

2008-08-22T22:05:00.004-07:00

There was this one instance when I had to check google maps for a place when I saw that we lived close to a memorial park. When I heard that, I thought it was like a cemetery....hehehe...alas, its not. Its just a park dedicated to Veterans. The park is close to the Sports Center and the Community Center here in Cupertino. What I like looking at are the ducks. They swim in the pool and they really look funny with their butts sticking out of the water as they look for food. Then there are geese too. We're not supposed to feed them so we don't promote agressive behavior and they seem to be well adjusted when it comes to people. If I'm curious about them, then I'm sure they are curious about us too...hehehe...

First Day of School

2008-08-22T21:15:00.005-07:00

I felt really nervous during my first day of school. But I must say my instructional assistants, Alicia, Zoe and Nancy helped me out a lot as well as Melissa, the teacher who's leaving. Our classrooms isn't perfect but its getting there...hehehe...after all, perfection is boring. Hopefully, as the days go by, we're going to have the opportunity to add something to the classroom in time for Back to School Night sometime in September.

Anywyas, I was up early and I got to school early (since I carpool with Alicia) so I'd feel prepared for school. I got the attendance, checked my box and made sure that come 8:15am, I was waiting with them for the children who come by schoolbus. There was another child who was an early bird so we waited with him.

Its different teaching kindergarten. I feel like I'm not really a preschool teacher. I feel more like a first grade teacher although in class, I have kids who are first and second graders. But since I have more preschoolers, then I am forced to do the routines more suited for kindergarteners.

What makes it the same though is that it is important to teach routines early on. Since the class is SDC, even something as basic as walking or sitting, we have to practice to. Slowly, we're getting there and I hope that at the end of the month, the kids will show some improvement when it comes to doing really basic stuff in the room.

Friday came and I think it was a little better than Thursday. There were still first day jitters and I don't think that will ever go away. In fact, I think that will always stay and will keep me on my toes.

Monday will be another first day of school...hehehe.