things happening behind your back

I attended a lunch meeting/ seminar today that's why I wasn't able to lunch with my co-committee members for our annual dinner and dance.

When they came back from lunch, two of the guys started crowding me. One guy was telling me that there should be something I should know, while the other was telling me not to believe what the other guy is saying.

Okay, before you get confused. Let's call Guy Number One as Ted, while Guy Number Two is Carl. Ted sits across from me in our office setup while Carl is just a guy who is active in the committee, and has semi-asked me out before. Physically, both of them are lanky, probably around 6 feet tall.

Then I'll introduce another character.Let's call her Anna. She's the office bombshell, having been drunk in two different office gatherings, cosmetically-enhanced-looking assets, and a bearing of what I find as typical among those who grew up in the West.

So going back to my story. Carl was telling me that while they were walking to lunch someone commented that many of the guys in our office have the same frame -- lanky. I can think of four guys that fit that description. Then, apparently, Carl commented to Anna, who was there with them that she had a certain built. But the way Ted relayed it to me, he said that both Anna and I had big builts unlike most Singaporean women (Anna's Singaporean!)

Fat, big built, gifted -- I really don't know what he meant but he later sent out a sticky note (like pop mail) to us involved. Except for the names I didn't edit anything else. So whatever grammatical error there is, it ain't mine!

Well well, I've spent the last fifteen minutes trying to write this sticky note and hoping to make it sound right but I still have this feeling that whatever I say I'm just gonna be chop suey when ____ (insert my name) and Anna comes onto stage for the final opening scene. Hmmmm….Lucky me huh? Pounded bat soup then.

But yesssssssssss, truthfully and honestly I have to say that tall women who I might add, having a big-built are rare in Singapore and I think they should be complimented here and there once in a while. But well that's what I feel anyway. Wouldn't you say? But unlike my sis who's tall and slim, she's always on a diet and stuff. It's strange I find sometimes that most local women are in fact tall...and sadly thin.

Correct me if I am wrong here but is it a fashion thing?

But I think confidence is the way to go and I think ____ (insert my name) and Anna exudes that sort of personality and characteristic each and everyday and with that aura of a 'never-say-die' attitude. A go-getter actually...
Okay there...I've said it. Can I go now?

Anyway Spongebob's dead so shoot me if I'm not making sense here....I’m in tears already. Sob, sob.
Please reply…somebody, anybody? Hello?

So there. Maybe you might get confused with the context of his sticky note but it revolves around our dinner and dance theme (It's cartoon).

Well all I can say is boys will be boys. I have no one but myself to please with the way I look :)

getting sentimental like a pregnant woman

This weekend was pretty busy for me. At least I was able to lengthen it a bit by getting medical leave for myself Friday afternoon (Yeah, yeah, I exaggerated a bit. But I was feeling lazy hehe). So instead of supposedly resting, I did some shopping for our annual dinner which is this Friday. I just hope our finance person doesn't check the time the items were purchased haha.

But while getting some stuff for our office, I ended up eyeing a dress that I didn't need. But it was just so pretty! And it fit perfectly on me! (despite the fact I have already stopped my diet) And it was reasonably priced for such dress in Singapore standards! I had to have it! But I'm proud of myself as I exercised discipline by not buying it immediately. I went home to think about it, consulted with my friends, my mom and my sister. And they all actually pushed me to buy it! (Talking about laying the blame on others! hehehe) But still, discipline. I said if I really missed it I'll buy it Sunday.

Saturday evening, after an afternoon of more shopping, I met up with friends, old and new. My high school friend pointed out that the Christmas decors make her homesick. Which I could relate with. Nothing like Christmas to make you miss your family and friends. So note to self: never spend Christmas away from your loved ones. Even if it means taking unpaid leave.

So what did I accomplish from going out with my friends and meeting their friends? The urge to watch Rent: The Musical. It just opened during the weekend. So the next morning I texted a colleague of mine. Luckily (or not?) she also wanted to watch it and was looking for someone to watch it with. Bingo! So that's another last-minute expense. Oh well, I'm sure I'm going to enjoy it anyway. Original Broadway case except for Karen Mok. Wow. It should be quite something!

Sunday morning, more shopping. My sister suddenly had me buy a digital camera for her. Then I finally bought the dress. Yes, I'm still happy buying it. I can't wait for my mom and sister to see it. I've only sent an mms of it hehe. Good thing the shoes I bought a few weeks ago match it quite well.

Sunday afternoon was mostly chores. I started packing my stuff for our move. Then while watching the opening fo the SEA Games in Manila, I was creating my costume for our annual dinner. I'm also quite excited for my costume! It turned out better than I expected. But back to the SEA Games. It was a bit sentimental for me watching it from a foreign country. I was a tad proud of my homeland though. I know there were some issues in the preparations but I think it turned out okay. I actually got a bit teary eyed when I saw Akiko Thomson getting teary eyed. I enjoyed the show of Rivermaya. Hated it when they cut for comemrcial during "Ulan" though. Stupid timing. But I'm so glad I'll be flying home soon.

As I was telling my friend, if only I can fly home for Christmas this early every year. Maybe, I could eh?

Oh, if you might be wondering about that guy who sent me flowers. He's an odd one. If his actions show his interest in me, I think it lived just as long as the life of the pretty flowers he sent me. He asked me out for dinner Friday night. I compromised by inviting him to join me and my friends. Then he backs out! Geez, he was the one who asked me out in the first place! Then since then he hasn't contacted me. Did I just scare him away? Thank goodness I'm not really interested in him. So all I can say is, "Tough luck for him."

far from being gilmore girls

I was chatting with a friend last night, and I was telling her about my mom's reaction regarding the guy who's been texting me and sent me flowers. She was quite surprised that I could talk to my mom about such things.

I was also quite surprised that I told my mom. I was a bit hesitant texting her when I got the flowers. But it was okay. She even had funny advice like "Don't be too harsh on him," and "If you don't like him just bring the flowers to church," haha.

My mom and I are far from being the Gilmore Girls. I think I gave her hell during my high school days when I mislead them on who I was going out with and where etc. There is a lot they don't know about the things I did during high school. And as for college, she had no idea that I was dating this guy and so and so was courting me, etc.

As I told my friend, if I were in Manila now I wouldn't be that open to her. There's something about being away from home that I actually take the initiative to tell them what's up with me. Funny how things turned out. But it doesn't mean that I tell them anything. They don't know about the guy I see once in a while for a "platonic" date, and they don't know bout my experiences of married men hitting on me and my stalker-turned-client from my condominium block. Hahaha.

But yeah, maybe it's a step forward that I'm beginning to be more open to her. Maybe I'm becoming more mature huh? And that they trust me more now. :)

reminder for myself

I don't know if it's just me. I have had friends wherein I feel like I care for them more than they seem to care for me. Maybe it's the paranoia in me. Or the selfishness. Or I don't know.

So the reminder for me is not to feel this way when I do have a boyfriend, and in the far far future of having a husband. I don't want to be a martyr.

it's tough for guys

I received my first bouquet of roses here in Singapore. I have received flowers before in Manila but if I remember right they were just from the guys who took me to their prom or grad ball.

He had it delivered to to my office. Dunno if that was why he asked about the address of my office.

Our office receptionist even read the card before calling me. Our office cleaning lady tried to look for a vase but the bouquet wouldn't fit. So right now it's actually in an empty dust bin. Hahaha.

They're beautiful flowers (with a rather cheezy greeting in the card). Half a dozen of pink and white roses. I know flowers cost a lot here. I'm truly flattered. Of course I wish it came from someone else, but I'm being unfair to the sender. It's just quite surprising since I hardly know the guy, he hardly knows me. I don't even know his surname! He hasn't made a good impression yet. But as my colleague teased me, "Interest can be cultivated."

I really don't know.

That's why I was telling my cousin that it's tough for guys. If the flowers came from someone who seemed more interesting to me I would have been swooning by now. But I'm not. My two male colleagues are even playfully bidding on it to give to their wife or girlfriend. And for a second I even considered taking up on the offer! Hahaha.

I'm so mean really. I know his intentions may be good. I guess it shouldn't be so bad trying to get to know him better.

stressing over the remaining days

Just a countdown. It's technically ten days till we move apartment (could be earlier or later by a couple of days) It's eleven days till our office annual dinner. It's seventeen days till I fly home.

I haven't started packing for our move. I haven't made my costume for the annual dinner. I haven't bought all the prizes for our lucky draw. The office hasn't reimbursed me for some of the prizes, darn them. I haven't started fixing the stuff I'm bringing home when I fly. And I have to clean my room and bathroom. Ugh.

So much to do, so little time. Of course I also want to meet up with friends before I fly home. I also want to do some personal shopping for my Christmas gifts, pasalubong and for myself too. I'm kind of thankful my client and contractor aren't replying yet to my emails so I don't really have any reason to work further on my project.

I just want all these to be over and be home with my family. So near yet so far.

It's raining men!

Unfortunately, not for me. But with the race for the integrated resorts is on, a bunch of foreigners (developers, consultants) come to our office for meetings and what not.

Foreigner testosterone.... hmmm....

i'm forgettable

I've experienced quite a number all times already wherein I remember meeting someone but they don't remember meeting me. Has happened again last night. I've met this couple a few months ago. If I'm not mistaken the guy remembers me, or he saounded like it last night. But the girl when we were saying our goodbyes, she said, "Nice to meet you."

Either I have a better memory than they do or I am just very forgettable.Which is fine with me, because there are times that I want to keep a low profile. But I hope that when it matters people would remember me. Maybe I should work on being more amiable or something. But then again, why shouldn't I be happy just being myself? Their loss they can't remember me. Hmph.

office hierarchy

Our department (architectural) is pretty much divided into the architects and the technical (read: the draftsmen). So basically, during design development, the architects work on the drawings, then the technical people help in for submissions and working drawings.

But it sucks when what happens to me -- architectural assistant ol' me -- is that I don't have the power to request fo help from the technical. If for the same project and work I ask for help from the technical director, they say the technical staff are busy. But when my superior asks them for the same thing they race around to find help.

Aaaaahhhh.... so I end up doing work that's supposed to be done by technical staff. I guess I can't complain since I sometimes do a technical staff's work for an architect's paycheck. But still... it feels degrading sometimes. But oh well, that's the corporate world. Hierarchy will always be there. And I will just have to live with it.

charity vs annual bonus

I was walking around the office (out of boredom?) when I caught sight of something in the pantry.

It was a plywood box with a giant NEON-lit chinese character in the center (my colleague said it meant 'boundary') with a brick on top of the plywood box. For a second I thought it was one of those that gets rids of mosquitoes. It was hideous!

But here's the thing. It turns out, our CEO bought it in a charity auction. For five thousand friggin singapore dollars! And what more, there are FOUR of them all around the office! That's twnty thousand dollars! Aaaahhhhh!

For one, they look like nightclub decorations with the neon lights and all. Second, the grand total could have been very much welcomed in our annual bonus. Really.

Charity is okay, but for hideous items? I wish I had a camera to take a photo. and you'll know what I mean. You'l hate him for it too.

the sign

I have this technicque (dunno if it's working) that to camouflage my browser window, I minimize it to fit my eudora/ outlook text box. So I can blog, write my non-office email, etc. Maybe the strategy is pathetic but at least it keeps the busybody behind me out of my case. (During the start of the year she was telling me I surfed the net too much, wahahaha. She's so old school.)

Anyways, now as I type this entry, there's an ad on my Eudora and there's a big font saying "PROCRASTINATION". Yep, that's exactly my problem right now. (I'm sure I'm not the only one!)

I've been spending half of the morning doing extra-curricular activities. I was creating a cartoon trivia for our annual dinner and dance (Did you know Road Runner's name is Mimi? Hahahaha) and I was pulling people to join our Laser Quest event this Saturday. There's like a million things I want to do than being here. Such a boring, lazy day.

I just look forward to lunch break, to after work, to sleep... hmmm...

sometimes i find myself weird

I attended two meetings this morning. The second meeting ended just a few minutes before our lunch break so I had the cab driver bring me to one of the malls adjacent to the office. Halfway, the driver started talking like a tour guide, pointing out the different spots we passed by, and even adding some trivia.

I don't know where he got the idea that I was a tourist. But crazy ol' me, when he asked me if I was here for work or for studying, I just replied "For business." Somehow Ididn't want to make him feel stupid for assuming that I was new to the city.

So he went on and on. He asked me several stuff like how long I was staying, and if it was my first time here. I played along telling him I was only staying for five days and indeed it was my first time.

Haha, I do have my weird ways sometimes.

first impression

Just right after I wrote my previous post one guy from last night's party sent me a text message. He wasn't one of the guys I mentioned who I felt were hitting on me. But I did catch him looking my way a couple of times. I think I've met him in another party some time ago, but maybe he didn't remember.

But geez, man, he doesn't know how to make a good first impression through text.

(Names have been changed. Have been rephrased but same gist.)

GUY: Hi, this is Mark from the party last night. How are you?

ME: Hey! I'm okay, just catching up on sleep (it was three in the afternoon).

GUY: Oh, did I disturb you? I'm here in the gym, burning calories. (eh? I swear that was more or less what he said.)

ME: (not minding his 'gym' comment) Nah, already got up. Had to be up early this morning so I decided to just take a siesta.

GUY: Ok. By the way, are you free Friday? I'm having a small gathering.

ME: Probably not this Friday. My colleagues and I are watching Harry Potter. Anyway, thanks for the invite!

GUY: Oh, yeah. I like that movie.

What the?

Talk about sounding boring already through text! We weren't able to talk much last night. And he isn't doing a good job getting my attention now. Sorry, buster. You have to find a way to eat my words.

crazy friday

Our organization (alumni association) arranged a last-minute fund-raising party last night to help in our aim to sponsor a scholar in our alma mater starting next year.

With the plans just started Wednesday night, it was a bit crazy. We didn’t expect much. I tried inviting my friends but one by one they came up with their excuses not to go. Karma for me, maybe, since I’m sometimes the one who comes up with the alibis.

But nevertheless, I compensated the lack of invitees by coming earlier to help set up. I have been trying to be active in the organization. It was the least I could do.

Anyways, it had a slow start but by eleven people started coming. And in a while the party was in full swing. People were readily paying the cover charge, donating for everything, and just plain having fun. I was even surprised to see some socialites known in Manila.

Even if I didn’t come with anyone to the party, I had lots of fun. I got along with most of my mates in the organization anyway. But there are still these creepy guests who I were or I felt were hitting on me.

One is this weird Brazilian guy (There were two Brazilian men, and the other was hitting on my friend) who told me he was chasing me, and he wanted me to dance with him. I told him I don’t dance. And when I couldn’t stand his pestering anymore I left him mid-sentence and talked to a friend of mine (a friend of my sister’s). Thank God she saved me.

Then there’s this guy in his 40’s. He’s actually part of the organization. His wife was well. His wife has been becoming active lately. But I caught him watching me several times (He was already drunk of course.) And at one point he suddenly gave me his name card and told me to call me. (What am I? A call girl?!?) So I just shrugged him off. Then later on when everyone was dancing he was dancing close to me and if I remember right he kind of took my hand. Which I pulled away quickly. Eek!

Then there’s my other orgmate who’s married and who has hit on me before while he was drunk but last night he was hitting on every girl. He was admitting he was taking advantage haha. But he was my semi-friend anyways and I know he won’t mean any harm.

There was another guy who was singling me out but he was decent. Just drunk that night. But it was interesting when we found out that he was a former officemate and a friend of my sister’s. Definitely a small world.

So indeed it was a crazy night. Got a bit tipsy. For a while I was talking senseless. But I had loads of fun. So now I understand that it could be actually fun getting a tad intoxicated. For those who do it every week or more often, I don’t quite understand why yet. But maybe it’s something you get used to.

But it was a successful night. We were actually able to raise enough for more than half of the scholar’s one school year. How cool is that? It exceeded beyond our expectations. Job well done!

So a few more of those fun crazy evenings, and we would be making a deserving student’s dream come true.

bummer

I received invites to this MTV event. Some Motorola Music and Fashion Show. Sounds fun.

I received it today.

And it's tomorrow.

And it's in KL.

If only I could just pack up and go.

push

I met up with an old friend from my grade/high school and her fiancee last Friday. It definitely was nice seeing old faces. I've known her for years, and we even attended the same college. Her fiancee was in engineering so once in a while I'd see her in our building.

We caught up on each other during dinner. Went to a bar afterwards. It was fun indeed. It made me feel okay for the weekend. That life isn't so bad. This month will be quick, then I'll fly home. Then next year should be quick too. Another 365 days of possible adventures, new friends, old ones, realizations, promises, and possibilities. Should be something to look forward to!

irky people

I was exposed to several irksome people for the past two days. Bless their souls.


CASE #1. Our landlord visited our unit out of the blue last night. Just to make measurements for the work they'll be doing once we move out. If coming unannounced (or maybe my housemate just failed to inform me?) was bad enough they chose to arrive when it was time for my Monday TV show (It's Project Runway Day!) They took their sweet time measuring. Good thing my housemate and I cleaned up the common areas during the weekend, but I wasn't prepared so I wasn't able to fix up my own spaces. Oh well, they're getting rid of us already anyways.

CASE #2. During lunch, I decided to pick up several stuff at the grocery since my resources were running low. I cook three times a day, so of course the turnover will be fast. I miscalculated my need for this week so I wasn't able to do my grocery-shopping during the weekend.

When I was on the lift going back to the office, one of my senior colleagues (the yucky guy who heads one of the projects I'm helping with) was there too. He was asking me why I did my grocery, blah blah. Maybe he was just making conversation but his tone always sounds like "he knows everything and you don't". Aargh. So what the heck. I try to avoid him in most cases.

He's just a sad fool.

CASE #3. Then there's my stalker (my makeup-loving stalker). I saw him, like after what, two months? Or more? He told me that the design I did for him is almost complete. Geez! I didn't even know that they have started construction! I bet he didn't even follow my design. He said he'll be sending pics. Yeah, right. But the good news is that he'll be flying home to the Philippines for good by this month. Whoopee! That's one worry down.

retail therapy week

I think I spent four of these five weekdays shopping. Mostly window shopping, but at least I was able to get some stuff for myself, my nephew and my sister. (See, I'm not THAT selfish. Hahaha).

Since I'm on a strict diet (Today mark's the end of the first week... one week more!) I need to do things that would keep me busy. To compensate. And I seriously think I've shed of some inches (or centimeters , or at least millimeters? hehe) cuz clothes fit better. Can you believe? In less than a week! Talk about willpower! But it isn't enough though.

I hope that this coming week would be as successful!

why am i listening to jessica simpson?

Today was an okay day. I guess it's because I was able to rest yesterday (and not to mention yesterday's retail therapy! That carried over to today when I shopped up a bit during my lunch break haha) and knowing I can rest again tomorrow. Woohoo!

And I'll say it again, there's nothing like a work day wherein you actually LIKE what you're doing. Which doesn't happen too often for me, haha. But it's okay, I count my blessings. That's why I can stand listening to Jessica Simpson's screamfest and listen to my officemate bitching my other colleague. (Welcome to the club, man. Her newest victim eh?)

Despite the gloomy weather. Today is good.