a furry new friend
My friend gave me a 4-month old German Shepherd today. She's a complete darling! The dog, I mean. Though I guess I would have to say that about my friend as well for giving me the dog. Hahaha! :D I'm sure he's reading this right now. :P Thank you for Bailey! :) She's absolutely adorable! Got to play with her this evening and she's such a sweet pup!
But, as with all nice things, there has to be a catch. In Bailey's case, my Mom isn't too sold on her. For one, she's a big puppy. We've never had a pure-bred dog before so she isn't used to giant-pawed furry animals. And Bailey's arf throws more punch than a mean drummer. So I guess my Mom's kind of intimadated by it. Still, my brother and I are trying to convince our Mom to keep the dog. Right now she's on trial adoption. If Bailey wins my Mom over in the next couple of days, we get to keep the dog. If not... :( So, I guess tomorrow will find a crash course on manners and good grooming. I just hope that Bailey is a fast learner. :D
all fired up
It was around 3pm yesterday when I heard screaming outside the house. At first I thought it was the crazy neighbors again, trying to kill each other. The screaming continued and I noticed that I was hearing predominantly kids' voices. So, I thought it was the neighborhood kids running in the rain, playing tag or something. I was busy checking my email so I didn't bother looking out the window to check what the kids were up to. It wasn't until our maid came running up the stairs screaming, "Nasusunog yung kapitbahay!" that I finally knew what was really going on.
Shock...
Then more shock. I willed myself to run out to the terrace and see which house was on fire. The big smoke three houses away couldn't have stated it more obviously. The firetrucks started arriving. First there were two small ones, which weren't very reassuring at all. But, last count totalled 15. Wow. I thank the volunteer and local government fire fighters for responding in droves.
You know, it's times like these that will show you where your priorities lie. What would be the first thing you'll save from the house if you were to evacuate? Though this was the second scare we've had (the first time was new year's eve), I can't say that I've gotten used to it or that I've earned the composure or calm state of mind needed in such crisis situations. My head was in a daze! I didn't know what to save first. It's funny how I still managed to disconnect the modem and shut down the computer like I had all the time in the world. Then I said to myself, "Are you crazy?! There's a fire three houses away and you're worried about your fuckin' hard disk?!" It takes forever to shut down XP so, at that point, I decided to just switch the damn AVR off. I then looked around the room. "What to get first, what to get first?" I kept repeating in my head. I saw 500 bucks lying in one of the shelves. I snatched it and put it in my pocket. I was thinking, worse comes to worst, it can get me a couple of shirts. Duh. What logical reasoning.
Then shoes. I figured I needed to put on shoes. If I were to be running around, I needed reliable footwear. I was looking for my trusty old cross-trainers. Since we did some spring cleaning last week, things got rearranged. Realizing that I was wasting valuable time looking, I ended up wearing my Vans Compel Tones. For a second I was contemplating on wearing my skate-highs but that would've taken more time to wear and at that moment, time was of the essence. I looked at all the stuff we have in the room. It was overwhelming thinking of what to get first. Then I spotted the guitars. They would have to come with me. I picked up my bass and my hubby's guitar and ran downstairs to the garage. I laid them there. I rushed back to the room and my eyes landed on the CPU. Files, I thought. Important files are in the computer. I unplugged everything and carried the CPU to the garage. On my third trip, I was carrying a backpack with legal documents, bank records, wallets, cell phone, jewelry box, and cameras. I passed by the DVD player on my way out of the room and I thought, "Hmm, I can still carry some, what the heck." The player cost us a couple of thousand so might as well save it. It's not cumbersome, anyway. So I picked up the player. By the fourth trip I was carrying three bags full of CDs. I didn't bother clearing out the CD rack completely. I left the bottom shelves untouched. And it was only later that I realized what I left out was my friggin' Elvis Costello collection! Good thing the worst didn't happen! Argh, stupid me! :P Then I suddenly remembered our wedding pictures! My mind was a blank. I was going, "Where did I put those?" CDs! I suddenly remembered we have digital copies on CD. I got all the CDs near the computer and stuffed it inside one of the bags I was carrying. I thought the bags were going to give. They were stuffed to bursting with CDs!
And in between those trips, we carried our pet rabbits (Vanity and Cotton), adopted kittens, and housecat out to the garage as well. It was amazing how they were all very cooperative (i.e., no squirming, scratching, biting, and whatnot) when we carried them to their cage; as if they sensed that something was amiss. Maybe they, too, were scared.
So, we were on standby in the garage, ready to flee with our most prized possessions should the fire get out of hand. Luckily, we were spared. The fire was contained, and in less than an hour, was completely out. Thank God there were no casualties. That was the most important thing. Though I'm pretty sure that until now some people are still cursing fate and questioning their god why this had to happen. Like they say, "Manakawan ka na ng sampung beses, huwag ka lang masunugan."
Relief came with exhaustion. The adrenalin rush started to wear off and I suddenly felt very tired. Trying not panic must've have sucked my energy dry. We looked at all the stuff lying in the garage. Just the thought of hauling them back was exhausting. And with the adrenalin levels normalized, everything was twice as heavy. Haha.
Now, what did this crisis say about my priorities? Let me summarize the things I "saved" in chronological order:
1. Money (and that's just 'cause I happened to see it lying around)
2. Shoes
3. Guitars
4. CPU
5. Legal docs, bank book, wallets, cell phone, jewelry, cameras
6. CDs
7. CDs
8. And more CDs
9. Wedding photos
What I decided to leave behind (and was oh-so-stupid of me to have
done so):
1. My Elvis Costello CD Collection
2. 20K worth of mint-on-card toys
3. Our book and comic collection (the first fire scare they were the first we stuffed in bags)
4. Clothes (I didn't get any article of clothing, whatsoever. Not even underwear. I figured the P500 I snatched was going to cover a few pieces of clothing. Hilarious!)
So, what do my priorities say about me? I don't even want to think about it. I told my hubby that we should make a list of the things, prioritized according to importance, we should take with us in case of fire. That would definitely save us time and make evacuation organized and orderly. If we can't take everything with us, then at least we're ensured that we're leaving with the most important things.
rainy days and fridays
It's raining on a Friday the 13th. What an ominous combination. Though I have yet to see if it is indeed a portent of bad things to come as the day isn't even halfway through. At the moment, however, there is a wisp of sadness in the air...a forlorn sentiment pouring from the sky and being scattered by the wind. It's times like these that get me really down and maudlin. Rainy Fridays isn't exactly the perfect week-ender for me.
this poker game called life
Just when you think life is all peachy, something comes up that suddenly makes you realize that your peach is rotten to the core and infested with maggots. Reality check, as they say. And reality bites. It sinks its teeth real hard at times that it permanently leaves a mark. What happened two days ago is proof of that. I won't go into the ugly details as it should be kept in utmost confidentiality. But I'll say this much (and many have said as much as well):
That which can't kill you can only make you stronger.
You know, I am lucky that I have been given the strength to deal with the blows that have come these past couple of months and the resilience to go on with life. I realized long ago that you can't choose the cards you're dealt with so might as well play your hand as strategically as you can. Take note, it is not easy to bluff fate. Sometimes she keeps an extra card up her sleeve; she can be very tricky. You never know what surprises she might have in store for you so be prepared. Also, you have to be sure about the decisions you make because you have to stick by them. One wrong move can cost you everything that you hold dear. That's why I'm hoping against hope that everyone involved in this ill circumstance is playing his/her cards right.
I can say I've encountered so much of life in my 28 years of existence. I've chalked a lot of things up to experience that my blackboard is nearly full. Seems like I need to start with a clean slate very soon. If the compassionate forces in the universe are listening, I hope they grant my humble wish. I am wishing that on behalf of a couple of other people, too. I can only do so much! I can only give so much...and I can only take so much. And all things wear thin. Even strength.
Sigh. Just when I thought life was all peachy...
HTML (How To Mimic Language)
Alright! I finally added some stuff on the side bar. I guess I'm not such a dimwit after all. :D
I've not familiarized myself with HTML coding (okay, I admit, I'm sedentary) and this is the first time I've tried to do something out of it (at least now I get to take the previous remark back). But since I don't have a book nor some printouts from the web, I decided to use the "Create Post" window of this blog. Specifically, the Edit HTML box. How dependable it turned out to be! Suffice to say, I cheated. :p C'mon, cut me some slack; HTML is all Greek to me. So, what I did was copy the codes and post them on my template. It was pretty much a trial and error thing. I really had to start from scratch and I was afraid that if I accidentally deleted or added something on the template, my blog will look like garbld
Mssge
p o s t e d o n a m a r g i n l e s s p a g e .
Well, so far so good. And I am rather pleased with myself. :D
*haiku gives herself a pat on the back
Now, maybe that netizenship isn't far from my reach after all. Next up, my very own website. There's always the handy (open for debate) Microsoft Frontpage for that. Cheater.
shuttlecocks, sheep, and sleep
I have just woken up from a two-hour nap.
Having had only five hours of sleep, I surprised myself when I still managed to spend two hours this morning playing badminton with my bro and my cousin and his girlfriend. What a workout it was! Actually broke some good sweat which is real good. Haven't had any kind of exercise for weeks now. I used to do some crunches and jumping jacks in the afternoons, but I became too busy doing nothing that my daily exercise soon waned. After badminton, we went home to have lunch.
Then we played the ever-so-entertaining Star Wars Monopoly (this time my Jedi concentration didn't work so well, I lost) all the while snacking on munchkins and chips. I guess our metabolism was racing from all the running and smashing we did on the court. After that, I cooked tuna pasta. We ate around 6ish, afterwhich I soon conked out. I was so spent I think I fell asleep while my hubby was giving me a strip tease. LOL!
It was my first time to play badminton in a looooong time. Maybe in some 10 odd years! I never realized I love the game. It gets all your muscles worked up (not to mention your vocal cords when you passionately scream "MINE!") and you break out buckets of sweat you feel like you already lost a couple of pounds afterwards. I hope our plans of a rematch will push through next weekend. It's just what I need to burn off excess calories, and, hopefully, fats as well. :P
My muscles have started to ache. I'm sure as hell I'll be walking funny tomorrow. Especially when going down the stairs. And I have a strong feeling my right arm will stay glued to my side the whole day. So, if I bump into you, no hard feelings if I don't wave hi. It's better I don't attempt to do it than have my arm fall like lead halfway up and make me look like a complete dork.
******
I would've loved it if I could've slept 'til morning. However, I had to get up because I still had not brushed my teeth yet. Brushing before bedtime is one of the rituals of hygiene I never fail to practice. Even when I'm dead drunk (especially when I'm dead drunk) and I can barely aim the toothpaste on my toothbrush (the easiest thing to do would be to just smear toothpaste all over your teeth and gums and then start brushing).
Anyways, back to the topic at hand...I got back into bed, but I could not go back to sleep. I just kept tossing and turning, (displacing the bedsheets in the process) and computing how much money I would need to buy myself a car, a house, and all the toys my heart desires (my being jobless notwithstanding). IMHO, counting sheep is overrated. I remember one time I counted to about a thousand sheep. In the end, I couldn't sleep with all the "Baa-ing" in my head. Also, adding to the mental labor, I had to build them a corral so I wouldn't mess up my count with all the sheep running around. I had wanted to separate the males from the females, but I knew if I started that, I was pretty sure I would never have finished until daybreak. Now, with those sheep concerns, how could one sleep?
Anyways, again, as I was saying (geez, I digress too much), I couldn't recapture sleep because my senses probably got stimulated by the mint toothpaste. Or, in the short time that I made the trip to the bathroom and brushed my teeth, my body returned to its normal rhythm. When I checked the time and saw it was only 10pm, my mind probably then dictated to my body that it was too early to sleep. Now I'm afraid, having rested and all, I will continue to be awake, scouring the cyber wasteland for lost words until shut-eye automatically comes at 4am. Sigh. Bad habits are indeed hard to break.
to sleep, perchance to dream
I was supposed to write about something today. Alas, sleep calls. I've spent my time posting inane observations in various toy forums. I hope I remember tomorrow, er...later, rather, what it was I was supposed to tell you about. That is, if I can somehow squeeze it in between doing nothing and nothing. Sigh. The tiresome life of boredom. You know what they say about idle hands...Geez, wipe that dirty look off your face! ;p Yes, you. I know who's possibly having a green-minded moment right now. :p
Anyway, I shall be succumbing to the allure of dreamland. Good night, cruel world!
