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Toobeedoobeedoo
Saturday, June 14, 2008

I am so glad to still live what resembles a life outside of the office and school. I have Joen to thank for, because if all we can do is play footsie under the table because our fingers are pounding over work or school stuff, he still gives me the occasional back rub and kiss on the forehead when he can. Thanks to Zoe because not a day passes that I don't hear from her. She has become sort of a part of my everyday and it doesn't hurt that there's always food when she's around! She has been sleeping over almost every Friday because of Ghost Whisperer. Anne and I got her into it. Speaking of Anne, Anne never fails to start our days with an email, just asking us how we are, and that propels a whole day worth of updates. She is the youngest yet the wisest. Lena, her sister, is funny, whimsical and uhmm, young! Yien keeps in touch too and I really appreciate that. She is a professional workhorse and it's always a pleasure being surrounded by her. The other men, Markus and Joe, give some balance to Joen, hehe.

Here are s
ome pics taken last May 19th. We celebrated Joen's birthday, Zoe's birthday, our first anniversary at the house, and Anne and Joe's wedding Anniv. Also Markus got his scholarship grant so plenty to celebrate for! The second one was a sushi day at the house. Zoe and I shopped at the Japanese store at L and we came home with empty stomachs and knives. Oh what fun!

Sometimes I imagine having my friends here spend some time with the Harem. We would so get along. WE all love food and good conversation and just being plain silly. The men have no problem either and it's always an experience. I hope that does happen one day. It would really be nice to have everybody together around our dining table in the house. Wishing, hoping... =) Hija L, come over na! I'm serious. God gave you that Visa so you owe him a trip! You have to come over before it expires. You have three more years! Sige na, before I start getting pregnant and having piglets!

Updates nasad
Saturday, May 17, 2008

It's been almost a month since I've blogged last and quite honestly, I feel guilty. I haven't been as reachable to both friends and family lately because my weeks have been non-stop hectic and stressful. How do I wrap up in one blog? I can try.
As for GMAT, UNO requires 2 conditions to be considered under "unconditional admission". First, you have to have a score of 500. Second, both your Verbal and Quantitative percentiles should be above 20. I got a 490 as a score (I was sooo nervous, my hands were shaking) but my percentiles for both V and Q are way more than 20. So now, I'm on the provisional status, required to submit a Letter of Recommendation and a Personal Statement. I already have a pretty strong Letter of Recommendation from Keith (loved his "Rockstar" reference to me) so I just need to make a Personal Statement. I won't go crazy with it ala Legally Blonde but I'll probably just make a video of my statement alongside my letter. Speaking of which, I need to be doing that like, now because deadline of submission is on July 2nd.
Statistics is still managable for now. I just hope I get the Lab over and done with faster instead of having to lounge around waiting for the clock to tick 9:30 pm. Just 5 more weeks and I'm done, that's what I keep telling myself. And if I paid $800 for this subject, I might as well learn a lot from it.
Celebrated Joen's birthday at guess where, Hiro Restaurant! Again! Haha. My hubby (hobby, according to Zoe), is now 31 years old. but he still has cheesecake skin. EVERYWHERE. Hehe. Screwed up my gift though. I couldn't buy ahead of time because we both check our credit card balances everyday. So I opted to do an online purchase the day before so at least there's a chance he won't see it. But my purchase got declined SOMEHOW and 2minutes later, Joen calls me up. "Naay nasakpaaaan". Wells Fargo called him up asking if he was just online, trying to buy golf shoes. He told them, "No, but I think I have an idea who is". Waaa!!! Nawala ang surprise. We went to Golf Galaxy instead and he still chose and got the same pair of shoes.
Last night was our first non-working, non-studying Friday night. Anne, Zoe, Yien, Markus and I went to the Dean's party at his house. It was a good day to unwind, very nice weather (70s!!!) and Joen went to the driving range for the first time. He loved the shoes! Tomorrow, the peeps will be here at the house for our group May celebration. Joen's birthday, Zoe's Birthday, Anne and Joe's wedding anniv, our first anniversary as homeowners, and my A in Economics. Plenty to celebrate!
Jones, Ate Joyce, Aj and Jaja were over last week. I think Jones had fun here in the US. She was able to ski, see a baseball game and do all sorts of things. Here, we ate almost all Asian food, we watched Ironman, and we went clubbing for the first time here in Omaha. Haha! It was at Nico, the no-food, drinks only club and we danced for 3 hours straight. It was a good work-out replacement. Their Chicago flight got cancelled Sunday night so they stayed for one more half day before lfying out. Jones' Minneapolis to Japan flight got stalled after they have already been mid-air for 7 hours! Hahaha. Wala pa gyud na-undang iyang adventure. Have some pics, just lazy to upload, you know how I am. Can't believe that today, last week, they were here. Time does fly.
Mommy's createnine is now 2.6 from 5.1!!! Yey!!! Megan has graduated and she looked absolutely gorgeous in the pics. Mamay did a good job doing the make-up. So so so proud of her!

I am soo going to fail the GMAT
Saturday, April 26, 2008

Today, I got a 490 at the GMAT. That means, I still failed. =(

Actually, Zoe, Anne and I took the test the entire afternoon. But as I was at my last question, the window just went poof! and went back to the first page. So after cussing and feeling depressed and just plain mad, I did what Zoe thought I should do. Retake the test and just plugging in the answers as far as I can remember them. So I did (I just did actually) and I got a 490.

What pisses me off was that this was supposed to be the first time for me to take the test with nary a distraction. The first time, I just rushed into it and did not take it seriously. The second time, I was uncomfortable with Zoe's table and chair. This time, I was comfortable, I wasn't rushing, I was doing what I should do and I wasn't distracted. And still 490. Damned stupid math questions!

GMAT is next Saturday. How the fudge am I supposed to pass??

Stressing out!!!
Sunday, April 20, 2008

As much as I love hanging out with the girls, I am starting to stress out over the GMAT. The passing grade is 500 and so far, in the two timed practice tests I took, I scored 440 and 470. I wasn't always trying my hardest (the first time, I was rushing into the verbal part; the second time, we did at Zoe's place and she has a high table and short chairs so it was uncomfortable) but what the hey, excuses aside, I am still not there. We have 1 more Saturday to go and the Saturday next to that is D'Day. I AM STRESSING OUT!!!
May 3 - GMAT
May 4 - start working on Econ paper
May 8th - submission of Econ Paper
May 9th - Ate Joyce, Jones, John, AJ, Jaja are coming over
May 13th - start of Summer class
Waaaaa!!!

Lucky me!
Monday, April 07, 2008

I just learned that friendship for the sake of posterity is like wearing skinny jeans that show more than they hide. Bottomline, who are you kidding? Really, as we get older, we know who really cares about us and whom we choose to care about. Who takes the time and effort to make sure you are ok just as much as you take the time to answer their call in the middle of the night before an early morning meeting. I am not saying that I only love those who love me but somehow, as time goes by, the list of those who take the 2-lane highway with you gets shorter and shorter. They don't take you over, they don't make shortcuts, they don't disappear on you and they don't stray from you. Instead, we are all driving to one parallel direction at different paces, sometimes ahead, sometimes behind, but never losing sight AND LOVE for each other.

Thank you for your gift of friendship. I should only be so lucky to have you feel the same way I do (You know who you are).

Time after time before time

Written Wednesday last week.

Time is not my best friend right now. If only time on weekends don't go as fast as they do on weekdays, I would be very happy with it. Friday nights are my favorite. We are fresh and rejuvenated from the gym and dinner is always good and Ghost Whisperer and Numbers is on and we can cuddle all night long and eat in the middle of the night and massage each other and just... enjoy each other's company. Weekends for me are now all about school and hanging out with Zoe, Anne and Lolita. Joen is only too happy to do some more work after having some of the lunch food. During weeknights, he and I are on each of our laptops either working or studying. And before we know it, it's time to sleep. Last Sunday, before heading off to Top of China Buffet with the marrieds and the chink (that means Anne, Joe, Joen, Zoe and I), we went to UNO's gym. As a student, I get in for free while Joen gets to pay $3. We had just gone the whole day studying for our Economics Mid-Terms and so it was time to kick some sweaty ass.

While Joen ran on the treads, Zoe and I had a fun fun fun time playing ping pong! After half an hour, this couple approached us. Zoe invited them to play doubles. So I, who sucks at ping pong, had to suck it up for a little "Asia vs. North America" match. The guy kept smashing balls on the table and so I ever so subtly told him that "My husband is going to kick your ass!" When Joen arrived at the pingpong place, I then turned the table over for a little one-on-one ping pong action. Joen whooped his ass! I finally saw my hubby play ping pong! After almost 3 years of being married and after his friends telling me just how good he is, I was able to witness the prowess of Joselito. He creamed the table at 21 to 15. Looooooserrrrrrr!!

Tonight, we will release something to Production so our time together will be short after hitting the gym. Tomorrow, I have Midterms at night and Friday, ahhhh, Friday I'm in love. Last Friday we were at Hiro Restaurant with Dennis and Cindy. I wonder what we'll do this time. Saturday, GMAT at Zoe's (which means Zoe food! Woohoo!) and Sunday, we all swim at the gym.

I need more time. Tiiiime. More time to have fun, more time to sleep, more time to chat with the peeps in Pinas, more time to just veg out. Time is of the essence according to those who have it.

Buh-bye FDR
Friday, March 21, 2008

It was Hoen's last day at First Data today but somehow, I'm the one who feels sad. Although we will still be hooking up with the other couples, it would be weird not to get updates on how they are from time to time. But change is good; I like change, as long as it's stable. Come Monday, he will be a Planeteer.

Bad Mom. Bad, bad Mom
Sunday, March 16, 2008

People who know me know that I dream the most bizarre dreams, and in color too. But last night marked an all time weirdness. I had my first dream about being a mother. I had a baby that I kept losing or dropping. I swear, I would hold it by the neck and drop it on the floor. I dropped it on the couch and so I picked it up by the leg and brought it back on the couch where I pretty much left it to be. One time I slept forgetting where my baby was and the next morning, it was on the crib crying. Hoen looks at me and assures me that IT (he or she) is ok and so I nod my head and went back to sleep. The last part was the weirdest. I was trying to breastfeed it but my nipples were not swollen at all. It’s almost as if I was never pregnant. So the baby, my baby, had a hard time trying to suck all the lactose out of me. I got so mad that I, get this, TOSSED it to where Hoen was and he feeds it through a bottle.

What does this mean? I don’t think I’ll ever know. But for what it’s worth, this just confirms that I’m not quite ready to be a mother just yet.

Pamawi

I miss blogging. The reason I miss it is connectivity. I feel disconnected every time I fail to chronicle any of my latest experiences that I would want to remember, 6 days, 6 months or 6 years from now. So much has happened that, lo and behold, it is the month of March, Winter is just about to end and Spring really wants to creep in and dominate the stage. But I heard that this weekend is going to be snowing again, or even tomorrow, Friday, and that just makes me mad. I am done. I am sick of winter. Please, dear Sir Winter, it is YOUR turn to hibernate. I want to expose my toes, arm pits and nape. Just … go away, please, I beg of you. People who have been born and raised in Omaha can’t get used to it, they just deal with it, and I guess I just have to.

Which state do we move to next? North Carolina perhaps? Anyway…

1) Work. Work has been great. After a rather challenging 2 months trying to pin down the Reinstatement Quotes project, we went to Production 2 days ago. Finally! After much liaising and asking the question, “What does that mean?” over and over I said it in my sleep, we went Live! Even if it took some 4 hours more to wait for the server and security problems to get fixed, we accomplished a huge thing that day. We have quite a long Laundry List to go and we will break it up between our April and May releases. But I’m really excited for the E-Payment and Fraternal Reporting System project. It will take some juggling but as Bret and Keith say, “We have complete faith in you.” Sher, why not.

2) Health. I still have polyps, yes, and so if this hormone therapy I have been on for 2 months doesn’t work, I am going to switch to these antibiotics in case it’s cervicitis. If THAT doesn’t work, ambut. I have maintained the 104 to 108 lbs. range so I am happy, happy, happy. One time I missed 2 days of weigh monitoring and when I got on the scale, I was a wussy 102. lbs! Ack! Hoen tells me my butt is firmer and rounder and that makes him happy and me, happier. When I try to fold my arms together, I feel some hilly contouring on my arms (goal: Jessica Biel arms!) and that makes me happy too. But the fact that I can get on an incline of 15, a resistance between 3-4, a heart rate of 162 for 30 straight minutes, is a milestone. I can hear my body thank me.

3) Family. My mom is doing better diabetes-wise. Her blood sugar has been stabilized for over a year now and she has been taking that Boston-C concoction which worked a miracle on her level of activity. She can sleep well now, 8 hours straight, and her feet are NOT swollen anymore AT ALL. That is such good news. The only clincher right now is that one night, my dad forgot to set the timer for the air conditioning and so my mom’s legs were exposed to the cold temperature the entire night. She woke up with a nagging right knee the next day. Her arthritis tends to last longer now that she’s in her 60s and so my Dad gave her a cane to support herself with temporarily. I send her rather authoritative texts and emails to “Move, move, move!” because she was never really the active type.

Megan has been sending me the sweetest emails. At an age where everything is going for her in school, her musical group and with her friends, the fact that she takes the time to send me rather lengthy emails just to tell me that she misses me or that she loves me just warms me up like a cup’a.

Jones just got her US visa! She got into this Rotary Club program and got the Exchange student deal for a month. She will be doing reports for schools in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. When her program ends on May 5th, she will go to Chicago to see Ate Joyce and Tita Joy and then quite possibly, Omaha after. I volunteered to take care of her Chicago-Omaha-Chicago fare so that Joen and I don’t have to pay 2 fares worth back and forth. Not in this economy, nosiree. We’re still finalizing her IT but we are so looking forward to her coming over!

4) Marriage. Hoen is still yummy, I still prefer watching him watch TV than anything in the world. I am physically and sexually attracted to him and I think that’s why I never get tired of looking at him. I also feel the need to always touch him. Is it the weather? Maybe. But I am getting needier and needier of his touches. It’s his fault, he is always warm, and so a snuggle goes a long way. Of course, it doesn’t go both ways, sad to say, but he is obsessed with me in other gestures, ahahaha. Just last night, I gave him a shampooing-head-massaging on the sink ala hair salon and he loved it. If not for the chair he was sitting on, it could’ve lasted longer. Too bad I let the costumer stow away the chair and towels after my “service”, hehe.

5) School. Anne, Zoe and I see each other every Saturday to study for the GMAT together. Last Saturday, they came over to the house and I served them escabeche fish, palabok and maja blanca. They loved it! And our GMAT studying that day was the best so far. It was so funny how with one question we would either have 3 different approaches and have 3 different answers or have 3 different approaches and the same answer. But Zoe’s strength is her ability to make equations right away (as a Beijing Chinese, she is predisposed to be good in Math). Anne’s strength is that she gets the question right away and she’s also quite good with equations. My strength would be arithmetic and spatial reasoning. So if you make me multiply 19 with 19, I can do it with no calculator help, but I suck suck suck at equations! Sundays are devoted to Economics. Zoe and I met up with Lolita for the first time last Sunday and it was just so productive that we intend to do it every Sunday. So Saturdays, we do GMAT. Sundays, we do Economics. And that’s how it’s going to be until the month of May. Poor Hoen. Our ECON professor, Scott, loves to single out a bunch of us in class and I’m glad I am one of them.

6) Friends. The other week I had a dream about a shoe shot. A Harem shoe shot that is. That was just it, a frame of a shoe shot. I didn’t quite understand what the point was until last night when Buttwipe asked me to look for this pair of shoes for her. I told her she would be a narrow while Leg, Doogie and I would be a Medium. And that’s when it struck me. Last week at the office, a former nurse colleague said that our feet, depending on the shoes we wear, and our age. I remember wondering whether the 4 of us would have the same feet size forever. And last night, after she asked me that favor, I remembered what my colleague told us. Could it be that Buttwipe has a different width size now than the rest of us?

I’m sure there’s lots more to say and blog about but that should about do it. ‘Til next month? Hehe. NOT!