2007: Fixing broken teeth, learning stuff and managing money

Those three take top priority as I slowly get used to 2007. I have a lot of exciting things to sort out this year. For one, my teeth need attention! Huhu I think I'll need to set aside time to see the dentist at least once a month for most of this year. How horrid. If only people didn't put so much importance on pretty teeth these days, I'd live quite a happy life as a toothless cackling wrinkled old lady. Hmph. Another dream frustrated.

Also I have loads of french review to go over, which will probably take up most of the year as well. I'm very forgetful and I like to put things off all the bloody time.

And it looks like I may stay on at this job longer than I had projected. Although I've started looking around, I'm not in any real hurry to go through the hassle of changing jobs again. I only found out recently that there's a few other useful bonuses that I was not aware of. Basically in addition to health care, regular employees, such as myself, are given a nice amount to cover extra medical expenses. Provided I keep the receipts of course, because I'll need to present those before reimbursement. But yeah basically my eye care is pretty much covered this year, including new frames and lots of eyedrops for my sick left eye. They even have something called an economic bonus. Hehe woohoo indeed.

Ugh I've grown bored with this post. Hmm ok just quickly now, other things I'd like to get started on are small investments, mostly to test myself and my money. We've never properly mixed before so I'm rather wary to proceed to the next step of its management. It's not as deathly boring as I had always feared. I'm actually beginning to be really interested in defining my spending habits and allocating funds for shiny things that I just have to have.

Call center agents = Endless Entertainment

The phone rings, someone picks up and then hands it to me.

(Surprised because no one ever calls me at home) Me: Hello?

Citibank Guy (at 70 words a second): Ma'am, this is so-and-so from Citibank and I'm just calling you to ask if you are satisfied with our service and whether you are receiving your billing statements on time.

Me (worried, absolutely paranoid about late charges): Yes, I have been, but last month's statement was late but I made my payments anyway, just guessing the amount due. Is something wrong?

CG: No ma'am we were just verifying (too fast to understand)...Bythewayareyouawarethatyourcreditlimithasbeenincreasedrecently?Youhavebeenselectedoutofthemanysubscribersofthiscardtypebecauseofyourgoodcreditstandingandyouhavenotincurredanypenaltiesorlatecharges...

Me (flattered): Oh yeah I know, yeah that's cool thanks.

CG: Notonlythatma'am,inadditiontoyournewcreditlimitwearealsoofferingyouanextra40,000pesosatverycompetitivelylowinterestratesintheformofamanager'scheck...doyouhaveanythingenrolledinthepayliteplanatthemoment...?

Me (getting confused): Actually yes I do, I've just bought a camera and..

CG: Wellma'amyouhavetheopportunitytousethemanager'schecktopayforitatalowerinterestrate...

Me (confused): But I thought the paylite plan allowed me to pay within a certain amount of time at zero percent interest? Are you telling me I am getting charged with interest every month? Why, that's misrepresentation--

CG: Well ma'am that's how some stores do it...(too fast)

Me: What stores do it? I don't understand. I thought it was a Citibank promo thing?

CG: Nonoma'am,Ijustmeantthatifyouhaveanoutstandingbalanceafterbilling,payingwiththemanager'scheckthatisonlyavailabletoselectedsubscribersandyouhavebeenselectedbecauseofyour goodcreditstandingalowerinterestratewillbechargedtoyou--

Me: But if I pay on time every month like I always do, I won't be charged the interest?

CG: That'srightbutma'amyouseethisisaspecialofferthatIthoughtyoumightliketoavailbecause (too fast again and lots of numbers)

Me: Well you just raised my credit limit, right? I don't think I need all that money right now, there isn't anything I want to buy just yet but thank you.

CG: Wellma'amwhilewe'reonthephoneIwouldalsoliketoofferanotherpromothatisavailabletoyoubecauseofyourgoodcreditstanding,whichisthebalanceprotector..

Me (curious): Ooh, Balance Protector. What's that?

CG: Wellma'am...

I'm going to spare you. Basically he wanted me to avail of this balance protector thing because should anything untoward happen to me and I have an outstanding balance in my account, neither I nor my family will be held liable for it any longer because that's how good it is. To make it short, I wasn't getting charged extra in my billing statement because I'm such a goody goody, with my good credit standing and all, so he was trying to charge me for my unbilled balances. Only he calls it a 'contribution'. It's not much, about 6 pesos for every 1,000 pesos worth of transactions that I make. But let's say I had 5,000 unbilled every month, that would be 35 and for a whole year that's 420. It went on for at least 30 minutes, him giving me the hard sell and basically repeating that something bad could happen to me at anytime. He even went as far as asking me for confirmation to go ahead with the pre-activation and I had to be clear that I didn't want it so I said, Hey wait a minute, I haven't agreed to anything. He was actually being very slick and I had to put a stop to it because I was going to be late for work. So I said:

Me: Well I don't think I'll need it right now, I'm not really interested in extra charges (being careful not to call it contribution even after being corrected at least a dozen times by him), but thanks.

CG (persistent bastard that he is): Wellokayma'am,butlikeIsaid,ifanythinguntowardhappens..

Me (laughing a little): I'm going to keep using the card and I'm going to keep paying on time, you don't need to scare me with the what-ifs.

CG (indignant): I wasn't trying to scare you, who says I was, I merely said that--

Me: Well you keep telling me I could die at any moment, basically making me afraid enough to buy just about anything--

Dial tone.

Happy first of 2007

I had a blast celebrating the start of 2007 with family and friends. Hope everyone else did too. 2006 was a pretty good year for me. Looking forward to another great one!

Internet disruption

My internet connection at work has been shockingly dreadful for the past two days. Several sites I use for translation don't work at all, including Google. It takes an eternity for one page to load, if it does work. I was using WebCrawler to do my research for crying out loud! And Alta Vista! Yes, it's still alive! Yahoo works very very slowly and it doesn't yield as many results as Google does. Then again maybe I'm just biased. I've also started using a ratty book dictionary! It was in such bad shape that I spent over an hour taping pages because they actually crumbled when I flipped too fast. It was literally falling apart. Teehee.

Since I can't surf the net properly and read anything, I only just discovered the magnitude of the damage caused by the recent earthquakes earlier this evening. My connection at home is fine but the one at work is truly fucked. According to our tech people, it's going to take at least three weeks to have everything fully operational. Three weeks! The misery I feel right now is beyond description.

Chrismiss, merry enough

I spent a quiet and very productive Christmas with my parents. We worked on my mom's project for three days and I was staring at the computer for so long that my right eye started twitching and wouldn't stop for two days. It would have been funny if it wasn't hindering my sight so much and I was actually worried that it might have been a developing psychosis.

It's strange spending the holidays without my sisters. They both got married earlier this year and for the most part I've felt like I've gained two brothers instead of losing both sisters. They've moved out since and I thought I took it all in stride. However, not having them around never had the sense of permanence that I felt over this past weekend. It was slow and took me completely by surprise. Without a warning, I just felt so depressed and I started thinking that maybe I did lose them after all. I guess that's probably why everyone's been solicitous towards me all year. Good thing there was that project to finish which kept me suitably occupied. Thegan arrived the next night and we had another dinner and while we still weren't complete, I took solace in the fact that we can still spend time together, albeit infrequently.

Three things and their lessons

Thing 1. I have a broken tooth that needs urgent attention. It's been broken for over a month now and it's beginning to hurt. It's going to cost me a lot of money. I consider it a lot since I expect to spend an amount roughly equalivent to zero on my health.

Lesson:
To chew food carefully and to take special care when dealing with tough bits of bacon. Oh but bacon, you hurt me so good.

Thing 2. I tore my left contact lens last night. It's a special one because it goes in the eye that has a scar on the cornea. A corneal ulcer developed in my left eye in 2005, leaving me with a scar right smack in the middle of the cornea. Therefore, everything that I see with my left eye comes with a fuzzy dreamlike appearance. The only way I can see clearly is if I get a corneal transplant, which carries a lot of risks. The replacement contact lens is going to cost me a lot of money.

Lessons:
a. Always take your time when putting in contacts.
b. The water in Boracay is swimming with all kinds of vicious organisms.
c. Do not swim with your contacts in.
d. If you insist on doing so, do not leave them in overnight.

Trust me on letter d, you do not want to get corneal ulcer. Without immediate treatment, it will make your cornea rupture until it eventually explodes. The treatment involves taking injections of special medication to your eyeball. I took two. It made my eye horror-film red for over a week.

Thing 3. I bought a little digital camera last night. She is called The Bitch. Yes, that is her common name. We have a loving relationship. She needs an SD card. I am getting one for her tomorrow in Quiapo. Why am I going to Quiapo in this season, you ask me? Because:

1GB SD card in Manila = 3,000
2GB SD card in Quiapo = 1,700

Lesson: If I am willing to go over the budget to get me a lovely little toy, then I am certainly not above trying to remedy the situation by doing something extremely stressful, possibly unproductive and totally asking for Murphy's Law to be all over it.

Partied out

I skipped two parties tonight and went home straight after work. Parties I actually would love being at because close friends will be there. I think I need rest more though. Work was a bitch (although I did have free pizza for dinner yay) and I've been having trouble sleeping of late. Ugh I feel older. I need to recharge. I can't wait for the weekend.

Catching up on Friday and Saturday

Last Friday, I called in sick at my family's insistence. Well I did have a tummyache the night before and I am sick of work after all. Anyway my family and I spent the entire afternoon together as we went to Eastwood to go bowling, play billiards and have dinner. At bowling, I was best as Mildred but I would have to say that Bertha is definitely my favorite bowling name. I didn't even break a 100 as Helga so I may never use that name ever again. After nearly tearing my arm out of its socket, I stopped to play billiards against Donoval as I teamed up with Dad. I still suck but I'm relieved to note that there are signs of definite improvement. I intend to play a little more regularly and a little bit better next year.

We had a lovely dinner at a Japanese resto. It has a good reputation but we had a major miso soup misunderstanding with the staff and there was a little bit of commotion that could not be sorted for the longest time. In any case, we finished our meal, paid the bill and left without leaving a tip, to my dad's dismay.

--

I was too lazy to get up early on Saturday plus my body was sore from the previous night's activities so I had to skip getting beauty services done, resulting in me looking like a complete troll for a party I had later in the evening and most likely for the rest of this coming week as well. I went shopping in Market Market! (I think that exclamation mark is a nice touch), thinking the crowd would somehow be thinner, but I was dead WRONG. Furthermore, I don't think some of them bothered to bathe. I did still manage to get presents for my exchange gift person. I made it to the party pretty much on time despite a little bit of rain and the rush shopping. Brought a friend with me and we changed into evening party wear in her car on the way over from the mall. My officemates were funny and we drank beer and ate loads of food. There was a bunch of parlor games with prizes for the winners (I snagged myself a cutie photo album which I will try to use but honestly hardly anyone prints photos these days) and people performed dance numbers. I had to participate in a guitar-accompanied, offkey-singing number and smoothly avoided playing the guitar. There was a pool and I went swimming with a few people and hugged dry ones whenever I was out of the pool. Of course a Filipino party is not complete without karaoke singing and dancing but I left early because I was too frightened to take a cab home and public transport going my way doesn't operate all night. I just found out that one of my sister's officemates was a victim of the taxi modus operandi going around this season, where the cabbie drives a bit off your route and two men get in and robbed you of everything. I really should sort out renewing my driver's license but a couple of nights at the beach set my detox period back so I will need to start over again. So wait I must, unless I decide to drink a glass of vinegar a day. I don't really know why that fixes everything but I'm very impressionable and heaps of people have sworn to me that it works.

--

I've also started getting very obsessed with increasing my fan ranking in the The Amazing Race Asia forum, which has risen from number 2500+ to 382 in just a few days. I accomplished this mean feat by uploading a lovely photo, voting for photos and videos and posting comments that are designed to instigate conflict, all with a cutesy attitude. Bearing in mind that most of the forum posters are 12 to 16 year olds hahahaha. It's all amazing in a very sad way. I feel strangely loved in that community of badly written English.

Mad month of December

So I'm back and December craziness has begun. Work has been understandably harrowing because I was away the first two days of this week. I haven't done any Christmas shopping at all and I'm putting it off knowing full well that I'm making it worse. Traffic is worse and a short trip to the mall can be very daunting on account of the crowd. Donoval are leaving this Sunday so there's a lot of mad dashing around for last minute dinners/talks etc. There's a lot of pipe installation going on where I live and although it's progress, it's really annoying the way they're making a lot of noise tearing up the roads. They'll probably be at it for another couple of months. There are heaps of Christmas parties to attend and I'm on the drinks committee for the one (office thing) on Saturday. They want me to play guitar at the same party and although I'm not looking forward to it, I'll probably still do it. And I need to buy presents!

I'm panicking!

Marriage of birthdays

My parents are celebrating their birthday today. That's right, they were born on the same day. When my sisters and I were growing up, we concluded that that's how people decided whom to marry. It was clear and made sense. Little did we know that things get a lot murkier in time.

I'm trying to remain hopeful about this weekend. Spirits are flagging.

I was at the mall on Sunday...

And this here was begging to have its picture taken:

Manny Pacquiao: Badass Boxer and Umbrella Holder

Initially I thought he was endorsing a brand of umbrella. Ridiculous yes, but he's selling pretty much everything else, I can't be expected to know any better. Hehe the sales people wanted to take the umbrellas out of the shot and I had to insist they keep them there as that was the whole point I was taking the photo in the first place.

Of course I caught the match on TV, like millions of others. I expected the Pacman to kick ass but I did not wish such a humiliating defeat for his opponent. TKO in 3 rounds! Of 12! I thought that maybe they'd still be at it by round 5 at least. Poor Morales was in tears.

Hardcore fans who went to venues airing the match on large screens waited for at least 4 hours before the big event finally came on. And then it was over in about half an hour. I'm pretty sure the singing of the national anthems took longer. He won yes, but most people felt cheated anyway because it was over so soon.

A volleyball default, airport arrivals and beer talk

Last Saturday, Donoval arrived with presents in the form of chocolates and clothes and books. I couldn't join them for a family dinner at home because I had that big volleyball game. My team was in the running for third place. I was actually looking forward to it, I've really enjoyed moving around and getting sweaty more than I expected I would. I've even looked into joining our building's gym and I have never worked out in a gym before. Hah. The match was at 6 and I went to the office to hitch a ride with my other teammates who were still working. We thought we had enough time to get to the place but no one knew that there was a huge midnight madness sale over the weekend and Makati was packed with mad traffic, presumably till midnight. We arrived at the game at a quarter to 6, the opposing team were all there already waiting. But the rest of our team didn't show up, who knows why. One of my teammates was on the verge of tears. So we lost on a technicality. We decided to play the 5 sets anyway, race to 15 points. We won without really breaking a sweat. Our team actually did pretty well, only losing once but then we got defaulted twice... Hehe sob sob.

I met up with friends for dinner. Ever since half my regular group migrated for a "better life" or for study abroad (deserters!), I've been going out with friends of friends. So I've been a party add-on for most of this year. But people have been kind enough to take in a drifter, a group extension, a loud and drunk one at that. And I am usually surprised to have such a spankin' good time. So I celebrated with a gazillion coco lychee drinks and heavily watered down cherry beer.

Some HC (hospitalityclub) people from Poland who had arrived in Manila a few days ago decided they wanted to join the fun but couldn't find the place. I was trying to communicate with them, and in my inebriated state kept fat-fingering my keypad. It was all good in the end, a super duper friend said we could take her car to pick them up. Hihi she was only a few drinks behind me after all.

Then it took a while for things to settle down as introductions needed to be made and new orders needed to be placed and people needed to get acquainted.

Got home at past 3, found my little sister at home and still awake. We haven't had a chance to talk since she moved out and it was good catching up with her from serious plans to the latest amazing race asia episode (Thegan know the rock climbing couple that just got eliminated). Yeah we knew which topics needed to be discussed. Finally got to bed at half 4, swimming in and out of sleep and feeling the onset of a hangover headache, which has persisted all throughout yesterday and is dying a very slow and agonizing death today.

Christmas in Manila: Taking before giving

Christmas preparations start at least 2 months before, well, christmas. Cops have become more vigilant in harassing traffic violators, for their "christmas collections". I've been hearing about a lot of mugging incidents lately, more rampant than usual. Just last week, my former professor in German was riding a bus from Laguna to Makati. Just as she was about to disembark at Ayala, four gunmen got on and started waving their weapons wildly and gesturing that everyone hand over all their valuables. My professor had 8k on her and she managed to slip 5k in her shoe unnoticed. She handed over the 3k and her cellphone. I consider hiding that money a brave thing, although if she had gotten caught and shot and killed because of it, most people would say it was stupid. After collecting everything there was to collect, one of the gunmen instructed the bus driver to take them to Cubao, where the thieves finally took their leave. No one was killed. My professor took a cab back to Makati because she had a class waiting.

Also I've been hearing reports of lone passengers hailing cabs and upon getting in, the driver asks them to move to the center "to distribute the weight evenly". The passenger, probably tired and absent minded, complies. When the cabbie stops at a dimly lit corner or a traffic light, two people appear out of nowhere and get in on either side, flanking the passenger, leaving no room for escape. They take what they can and drop the poor passenger off somewhere, sometimes giving him just enough money to get home, if they feel that they've gotten enough cash. Compassionate bastards.

If you haven't got enough cash on you, then they drive around till they come across a cash machine and instruct the victim to clean out the account.

This is very worrying considering I ride cabs all the time.

Keep your eyes peeled people. Buy pepper spray or something. And look poor. I don't know.

A bet on Borat

Earlier this week, at work and in training but on a coffee break, J and I were communicating via text and our conversation went something like this:

J: Hey! Do you know about this Borat movie that's showing right now? It looks hilarious, let's watch it!
Me: Of COURSE I know about it, I've known about it for ages (I think I communicated eye-rolling effectively)
J: I think it's by the same guy who did Ali G, Sacha something...
Me: Nonono it's by a British comedian who's only pretending to be Kazakhstani.
J: Yeah exactly, he did Ali G too. I bet you!
Me: Ali G's a real person. 500 pesos says you're wrong.
J: You're on! I know it's him, I'm going to check online later.
Me: Haha you just lost yourself 500 pesos.
J: I'll be the judge of that.

I got back to my desk after break and started my Borat research. It took less than a minute to realize that I was a BIG idiot. And that I lost a bet yet again. I have never won a bet on anything but I keep doing it anyway. I really thought I was right.

Damn you Sacha!

A plug: The Waste Trading Markets

Just passing it on.

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THE WASTE-TRADING MARKETS

• Every first Friday of the month at the Gold Crest Car Park, Ayala Center (along Arnaiz Ave. Makati )
• Every third Friday of the month at the Alabang Town Center (Alabang - Zapote Rd )

WHAT THE WASTE MARKETS OFFER

• Trade scrap paper for new (office/ mimeo) paper!
• Trade used ink cartridges for new!
• Sell your electronic waste (junk computers) and old / broken appliances
• Sell your used lead acid batteries
• Redeem the following for cash: PET plastic bottles and other plastics, aluminum/tin cans, scrap glass

Drop-off points also provided for junk cell phones / cell phone batteries / styrofoam

The Waste Markets aim to make recycling convenient and accessible, especially for those who frequent commercial shopping areas, and also to show that Filipinos CAN make recycling a habit!

Please help spread the word and forward this announcement to friends, family and colleagues.
For more information, contact Nancy Pilien at the Philippine Business for the Environment, telephone: 6352650.

Thank you!

Philippine Business for the Environment (PBE)
2F DAP Bldg., San Miguel Ave, Ortigas Center Pasig City
Tel: (632) 635 3670, (632) 635 2650 to 51
Fax: (632) 631 5714
Mobile: 0917 4059265
Email: ctem@csi.com.ph
Website: www.pbe.org.ph, www.iem.net.ph

RevoStyler

So my mom got herself a RevoStyler, the Amazing Rotating Hairbrush. She showed it to me this morning. I guess she saw me struggling with my tangled hair and decided to put me out of my misery. I wasn't really struggling with it, I think she was more afraid that I was going to go out looking the way I did. I fully intended to, in any case.

The brush is actually quite good but it takes a while to get the hang of it. I've seen the infomercial and have always wanted one. Infomercials have this mesmerizing power over me and I always feel compelled to buy whatever product they're selling, from car engine coolants (I don't have a car, but I rationalize that I can always give it as a gift) to black ant extract (potency for men, I was afraid I was frigid at one point but I realized much later on that a lot of the girls I knew were just loo-- erm, liberal hihihi) to magic ironing boards (I don't even do my laundry). I even get sold on the "if you call within the first 30 minutes you get this special cap/tshirt/another one for free" deal. I especially love them badly dubbed and poorly subtitled. The best is when they're endorsing breast enhancing products and the TV people put a floating flower where the model's nipple should be so as not to offend viewers. And each time she moves, the flower follows. It's absolutely hilarious.

The RevoStyler has got this amazing anti-tangle feature, where it stops automatically whenever great big clumps of hair get stuck and basically this feature stops the brush from rotating and keeps it from ripping your hair at the roots. Makes a horrible sound though. I never saw those TV girls struggle with the product though, and that disappointed me a little bit. Anyway, my hair did come out shiny in the end although I suspect the brush succeeded by tearing out all the dull ones. But whatever gives the desired effect right?

Fake coins!

Unlike most of the nation, I am not in a cemetery lighting candles today. I went to work a little after lunch with a hangover headache. Anyway I only worked for 3 hours or something silly like that and I am back home now.

I'm a little late with this but I just found out today when one of my workmates showed me a couple of fake 10 peso coins. They look exactly like real ones and the only way of telling them apart is with the use of a magnet. I suppose any regular magnet will do, and I've decided to take one of the refrigerator magnets with me whenever I go out. Paranoid, right? Hell yeah. I don't even want to buy anything now and risk getting fake money in change. Anyway what you do is, you take your coin of questionable authenticity and then touch it with the magnet. If it sticks, then it's fake. Real ones don't get attracted to the magnet. Apparently there's a shitload of fake 5 and 10 peso coins floating around the country. And if you should be unfortunate enough to have fake coins on you, you have to surrender those to the proper authorities. I suppose going to a bank would be the thing to do. BSP's going to try to take all the phoney ones out of circulation. It's absolutely crazy, here are two links that have more to say about it.

The News Today article

PDI article

Halloween

I am at work now but will be out and about in less than an hour yay! Then I'm going to a halloween party yay! Only things that dampen my spirits right now are my baby hairs. No matter how long I stand in front of a mirror and despite my best efforts at staring them down, they remain defiantly upright. Stubborn little fuckers. They shall meet the business end of my tweezers tomorrow.

Volleyball and beer

I am in a lot of muscle pain right now. I made it to our company volleyball tournament last night. I was in our white team attire, the official sports jersey of extremely heavy fabric and short shorts with a basketball logo on it. I wore shoes that matched my outfit horribly, a mistake I'll be sure to avoid next Saturday. Volleyball is my most favorite sport to play and I played quite a lot of it in highschool. I was, in fact, obsessed. But after I graduated, I just didn't seem to have the time for it anymore. I took it up one semester in university but that wasn't proper playing, the professor always reminded us to give the guys a wide berth because we just might "get hurt". So for the duration of our sessions, I mostly fantasized about slamming a ball in her sexist face. I never got the chance but anyway, I've had time to get over that.

We played 3 intense sets. Our team lost the first set, then won the second. I was getting very tired and sore (in the muscular sense) in the middle of the second set, I was so out of shape. Well to be fair, I don't go to the gym and the only exercise I get is from walking. Anyway the third set was agonizingly long, the closer we got to 25, the more difficult it was to score each succeeding point. And each one was countered by our opponents. They were good, damn them. In the end, we had 23 on the board and the other team had 24. One of our guys was up for service. He'd been racking up points for us, but I guess he lost steam because his ball met the net and that ended the game for us. My service had been very inconsistent throughout the game, so I wasn't about to blame him. We lost. But it sure was a lot of fun haha. I'm actually looking forward to the next game.

After that, I needed to relax and unwind before heading home and a friend suggested we meet in Beers Paradise.

Beers Paradise is located on Polaris Street, close to Makati Ave and Jupiter. It's a bit in the dodgy part of Makati, well it is in the P. Burgos area after all, very red-lighty area, and just down the block from that infamous Handlebar, er, bar. But if you're looking for fun with the DOMs, by all means Handle is a prime requisite. Well maybe Ermita is. Or Café Havana. IIII wouldn't know. Oh dear now I've made a mess.

Hastily moving on, I just tried accessing that url listed below the telephone numbers, and have found that it doesn't exist. Hm. The bar boasts 100 kinds of beers (sic) but regulars complain that a lot of those are not actually available. That may disappoint some but not me, the place is clean and I was surprised that it wasn't at all seedy, considering its location and there was none of that greasy food smell that sticks to you, long after you've left the place. Their beers are quite pricey, but then they are imported so that's to be expected. The staff were very friendly and pleasant, definitely made it easy for my friends and I to just kick back with our beers and have an hours-long conversation.

I'm not a big fan of any kind of beer, I don't go out of my way to look for it but I have had beer that I actually drank all of. So I started with a Cherry Kriek, very sweet and cherry-ish (of course), almost not a beer really but it brought back memories of Belgium and Amsterdam where I had my first taste of it. I took to it so much that I bought myself a six pack when I found it in a supermarket in Brugge, and polished off every single one on the train to Amsterdam. It was a very pleasant ride indeed.

I only had one more after that, also a Kriek but the St. Louis one. I forget that beer makes you feel bloated and full very quickly. It also made me feel heavy and tired, probably from all the volleyball action I had earlier that evening. So we called it a night at a very reasonable hour and I was home by 1 am.

Today, I haven't done much except to spend time online, listen to Fantaschtischen 4 (who are good) and drink my Coke. Pressing priority is to see about getting a massage, I'm in so much paaaain.

Light bulb moment and Cleopatra

Aha, I can't post videos here from YouTube because I switched to beta and they haven't sorted that out. They could have told me that earlier on. Anyway I thought Google bought YouTube. So what's up with that? Tch slow slow.

Anyway it won't be the same but this here is a link to the video I've been struggling to put here. Ghita is a song by 3 year old Cleopatra Stratan. According to my friend, the girl is singing about waiting for a guy named Ghita. I don't normally like children but she's adorable. And from Romania. Any country who comes up with a song like the numanumaei (Dragostea din tei) is okay in my book. Hehe. Heh. Hey come on, it's funny.