over the holidays...

NOTE: This entry was written over the past few days.Starting from my flight back to Singapore, and a little in my apartment for the past two days.

I don’t know why I didn’t think of this during my flight home. I was bored stiff then, not usually being able to sleep during my flights. But thank God for technology. Technology makes flying budget airlines much more tolerable. After this, I have several movies stored in my hard disk to choose from.

Anyways, more than three weeks have passed since I last wrote in my blog. I should blame it on the terribly slow dial-up internet back home. It’s tough once you get used to high-speed unlimited internet. So I’ll warn you that this entry might not be coherent. Somehow it’s hard compressing three weeks into one blog entry.

I was home for the Christmas break. And more. It was a little over three weeks. I know I won’t be able to take such a long leave again. It took discipline not to take any other leave during the year, making do with medical leaves and taking advantage of special leave to not use up my annual leave. It does pay to accumulate all your leaves in one go. I remember reading in one Singapore daily an article wherein the author was justifying why he chose to use up all his leaves during the end of the year, even if it meant he would be missing his family. I remember he mentioned that he treasures the holiday mornings that he wakes up with his kids. That was how I felt. Those days I was woken up by the cry or the laugh of my nephew. Waking up to breakfast that you didn’t even think of preparing. Just ready for you to feast on it. Not having to think about chores.

Some of my friends have observed (something I knew about myself for months now ) that I’m not used to going out, that I would rather stay home. And that’s what I did most of my time. Imagine that, more or less three weeks, but I just went out with friends, like what, 5 or 6 times? I don’t regret not going out more. I had my share of it. I saw the vital people. That’s what matters. I also suddenly just gave up on the idea to have friends introduce me to their guy friends. I thought it’s better not. What if I meet someone interesting? Wouldn’t that make leaving home harder? So better not knowing them for now. I’m still a believer of destiny.

Just to give a lowdown of my vacation, It seemed like I never got tired of shopping in Singapore as I went from Makati, Market Market, Megamall, Galleria, Araneta Center, and even to Robinsons Metro East and 168 in Divisoria! Imagine that! I don’t think I bought that much though. I guess sometimes the Christmas rush just dampens your feel for shopping due to the hassle of traffic and cramped malls. I was able to go to several ukay-ukay stores though and managed to find great bargains!

I went out with several groups of friends, The only regret was not seeing a couple of my high school friends who were also home for the holidays. Oh well, I always blame it on Boracay since they keep on spending most of their vacation there. It also doesn’t help that transportation is still my problem. If only public transport in Manila was as convenient and safe as in Singapore.

One thing I noticed was that I survived those three weeks with just checking my email or let alone logging into the internet just a few times. Not like here wherein I feel something’s lacking if a day passed without my checking. Goes to show that my internet addiction is relative to homesickness maybe? Most likely.

Then another observation was that Singapore commercialism is slowly entering the Philippine market. In food I was surprised to see Fish & Co. (but I've been told beforehand already) and Nan Ban Tei, both in Greenbelt. Then there's the Kopi Roti which is most probably of Singapore/ Malaysia decent, aside from the passe Bread Talk. With clothes, gosh it's come in bulk! For shoes there's Charles & Keith (been a while now), Pretty Fit, VNC and URS. For clothes there's iora, yin & yang, and the internation brands which just entered manila after I saw them in Singapore -- Dorothy Perkins and Zara. It's just a bit weird seeing all these in the philippine malls. Oh well, I guess it would make it easier for me to adjust from one to another.