I woke up last Saturday to answer a phone call from Isaac, my co-editor. He was in the office to process urgent requests and he asked me to go online to help him publish the solutions for my segment. He received a call at 6am and had to go to the office because he could not connect remotely from home. It was one of the very rare Saturdays when Ogie got to stay home the whole day. We were supposed to sleep until noontime but I had to work at 8am. I got the laptop, set up everything, got a small chair and worked quietly at the side of the bed. I finished the two articles after two hours, replied to the email and then ate Pastel (buns with yema filling) and drank choco milk drink before going back to bed. I actually didn't sleep after working. I just tried to rest my back a bit because it ached after sitting on that kiddie chair for two hours.

My Saturday went on as planned--we did the laundry, went to QC for the Christening of Gloh's (Ogie's friend) daughter and then did the groceries---and so did my Sunday.

This morning, I got to answer some more emails related to last Saturday's hullabaloo. Isaac decided not to go to work today since he spent his whole Saturday working. There were 'thank you' emails from the big bosses -- general ones -- thanking all those who worked on that urgent matter. Somehow it felt good. I was part of it! Then came this email from bossdudes:

I have a confession to make. I am guilty of not rendering quality work this week.

Monday - spent the whole morning whining about how my wrist hurts and then went to the ortho in the afternoon. Since I could not type properly, I just decided to read blogs.

Tuesday - wrist was still hurting. Went to the ortho before lunch to have the doctor put my splint on my left hand. Was still getting used to typing without using my left thumb so I ended up reading blogs and surfing the net again.

Wednesday - VL

Thursday - spent the whole morning resizing and posting pictures from Wednesday's event. Spent the whole afternoon chatting with officemates.

Friday - Friday is Friday.

Maybe it's the weather or my hand. But whatever it is, I hope it goes away next week. I need to do a lot of things.

It was last week when I first started feeling pain each time I move may left thumb. I thought it would stop over the weekend when I got to rest my arms, but it did not. Instead, the pain became more frequent yesterday.



I have an office mate who has a wrist issue and the doctor advised to conduct a surgery on her hands. That just made me go to the orthopaedic immediately.

The doctor examined my wrist and concluded that it is de Quervain's Tenosynovitis. It is a condition that causes pain on the inside of the wrist and forearm just above the thumb and is caused by hand and thumb motions such as grasping, pinching, squeezing, or wringing. She said that since the pain is just a week old, a fiberglass splint/cast (that I need to wear for two weeks) can heal the swollen tunnel where the tendons pass through.

So this morning, I went back to her to have my hand splinted.
It feels really weird. I realize how important my left thumb is. Now it's difficult to do just about every thing. Even typing requires a lot of effort. Doctor said I can remove this when I take a bath, though.


I hope everything goes well after two weeks. I can't wait to have this thing removed! I'm still a little lucky because I get to wear fiberglass instead of the ordinary casting material, which, according to the doctor and to many others, is much much heavier.

I think I'm loving twitter. It doesn't eat up much of my time. I can work and then visit it once in a while. I got tired of Plurk after a few weeks. I stopped using it a month or two after I signed up. It takes a lot of my time and I was uber busy that time. Problem was, I cannot find any delete button. I dunno how to delete my account. Maybe I needed more karma to do that. I've also forgotten my password. Now I have a Plurk account that has been sitting for almost a year and I still can't delete it.

I had an oven-feel weekend at home. The heat was just unbearable. If I stayed in my living room the whole time, Ogie would have found a crispy lechong bebi when he got home. But despite the summer heat, I can say that I enjoyed my weekend. Saturday was spent with my sister. We bummed in our room and watched as many dance videos (not including any scandalous dance videos) as we can in youtube. Ara's into dancing so there. She left and went to her dorm in the afternoon.

Ogie came home early and told me we're going out to meet his friends, Bong and Jong. We had late dinner at Gerry's in Silver City and then they updated each other over beer, lotsa beer, till half past 1 in the morning. We haven't gone out for quite some time so it was just fun to be with the guys. Bong already has two kids. The last time we saw him was on his first baby's Christening. It's been three years!

Yesterday, femme_ecrivain  and Jaemi invaded my niche. Jaemi wanted me to cook but I was too lazy I just ordered a bucket meal from KFC. We talked and talked and talked the whole time. No TV, no radio, just Mae's and Jaemi's voices. I didn't see Jaemi for more than five years. The last time I saw her was when she gave birth to Bea, my inaanak. berry_mix and I went to see her and her baby in their LB apartment and that was back in 2003. It's good to see us together again. We're planning on having dinner with our partners soon. I'm excited!

Why am I so sickly? Nun nagsabog ata ng sakit si Lord, nagdala ata ako ng batya. Bakit sobra akong sakitin? Aside from my usual cough and colds na lately naman, as in for the past year, e once or twice lang ata sumulpot, meron pa akong mga sakit iba't ibang sabit. Nakakapagod pumunta sa doktor at mas nakakapagod bumili ng gamot! Kung susumahin ko siguro ang nagagastos kong gamot yearly, pwede na akong bumili ng OMNIA, ermmm... or basta ng bagong cellphone na maganda. gggrrrr!!!

Wala naman akong bisyo, hindi ako umiinom or nagyoyosi. Hindi ko nga lang hilig mag-exercise. Pero gumagamit naman ako ng stairs everyday (11th-16th floor pababa to ha). Mahilig naman ako sa gulay at prutas. Pero bakit? Bakit? Bakit?

I guess summer is officially over. Well at least at this side of the earth. It's been raining since last night and today is just a gloomy gloomy Thursday. I hope I'm just home sipping hot chocolate and eating pancakes with Nutella.

Anyway, I went to the doctor last Monday. I was feeling awful. My head was aching since Sunday afternoon and I felt dizzy and I couldn't breath. Apparently, my blood pressure went a bit high at 130/100 (my normal PB is 120/80) and then the doctor said I had a vertigo. He gave me meds for the dizziness and then asked me to take vitamin B complex. I also think my heart issue is coming back to life again. Well I didn't really undergo medication when I went to the cardio 3 years ago since I was not able to complete the tests. This time I also had an ECG and 2-D echo. The results, along with my blood test result, will be available tomorrow afternoon. Let's see what I got.

I just realized the other day that I've been spending long hours in the office again. I filed for like 15 hours of OT for the last two weeks and that's bullshit. I need to get a life. I do not even have time to watch TV. :-/

Thank you to every one who spent a peso for me yesterday. I just thought it would be fun to list them down (in order of greeting time):

• Ogie
• Beng
• Ninang Nellie
• EJ
• Pia
• Ate Kadai
• (Missed call from Pipay - mukhang mag-gi-greet pero naliligo ako nun tumawag sya)
• Jenny Voice
• Jaetee
• Tita Pie
• Isaac
• Kakat
• Fifi
• Lolo and Lola
• Mae
• Ninie
• Kuya Eric
• Ally
• Tita Lanie
• Bheng De Los Santos
• Lorie
• Pipay (MMS)
• Babang
• Aya (called me)
• Raimon
• Shayne

Pahabol greetings from:

• Nikki
• Dianne
• Liana
• Ikit

I had a gluttonous birthday weekend. On Saturday, we had dinner in Kusina Salud. Sunday lunch in Kamayan sa Palaisdaan and dinner in TGIF.

I'll make a better entry before the week ends.

Mine are...


On the phone - calling Ogie's office

me: Hello, pwede kay Ogie?
person: Sino po sila?
me: Pakisabi si Therese.
person: Sino po?
me: Therese.
person: ahhh...

Heard the person on the line called Ogie.

person: Boss, phone po.
Ogie: Sino daw?
person: Charise daw, boss.
Ogie: (?)

me: Hi, my name is Charise. ;-p



Starbucks at Shell Gas Station in SLEX

barista: Ma'am can I have your name?
me: Therese

Barista wrote on the cup.

barista: Ma'am tama po ba.

Barista showed me the cup. She wrote: T-E-R-R-I-S-E

me: It's T-H-E-R-E-S-E
barista: oh, sorry ma'am.

Barista got another cup and wrote my name again.

barista: Mocha frapuccino and Mocha frapuccino with extra espresso shot for Therese!

My name on the cup: THERISE...sa tagalog...ang pagkabuhay (?)



In SM Marikina while paying for some purchase

cashier: Ma'am, may advantage card po?
me: Yes.

Gave my advantage card and credit card.

cashier: Miss April TERESITA Mendoza? [sabay smile :-D]
me & Ogie: (?)

I double-checked all my cards after that.

I was...sort of part of it. I was really meaning to join but Ogie texted me in the afternoon and told me we're going shopping. Anyway, I can say that I participated in some way. For one, I did not leave the light on in the garage. I usually leave it on when I go out at night. But since it was Earth Hour, keeping the whole house dark was the least I can do.

We were having dinner when Earth Hour started. The mall went dim and there were shops that really turned their lights off. Ang saya! We went to Ogie's cousin after dinner and the whole street was so dark, lalo na sa Greenhills area. I hope we can give Earth an hour every month. It will help a lot!

If you were part of Earth Hour, you should be very proud of this: Philippines Shines Brightest in Earth's Darkest Hour

If you were not, you can always join next time.

Sa wakas, nakatulog na ako sa sleeping quarter ng office. hehe. Hindi naman sya fab or anything. Condo unit sya sa Excelsior Tower pero puro beds lang. Two-bedroom unit pero maraming extra matress in case marami ang matutulog. Yun nga lang, bedrooms lang ang may aircon. Swerte ko naman kase may bakanteng bed sa aircon room so dun ak nahiga. Hindi ako actually nakatulog pero nakapahinga naman. As usual, namamahay na naman ako.

Feeling ko talaga babagsak na ako sa antok kanina after ko maglunch. Bad trip kase yang WORM_DOWNAD aka Conficker na yan. Matindi ang threat kaya kailangan namin mag-stay dito sa office. Kahapon, dumating ako dito sa office mga 6:30 am tapos past 8pm na ako nakaalis. Pero swerte pa rin yun na matatawag kase si Isaac, umuwi ng 6pm pero kinailangan bumalik sa office nun 11pm. Kaninang umaga na sya umalis - ngarag at may bigote na. hahaha! Tinawagan nya ako nang past 4am kase pagod na daw sya. Dali-dali naman akong ligo at punta sa office. At dahil sa pagod at medyo kulang na rin sa tulog, naisipan kong i-try ang sleeping quarter. Mukhang masaya naman pumunta dun. Sana lang wag ako matapat na maraming tao kase mamamatay naman ako pag walang aircon, mukhang sarado ang bintana eh.

I gave myself some early birthday gifts. I thought I should reward myself for being a dedicated corporate slave since the "reward" from the company did not equate the effort that I gave (recession daw kase).

First gift is this ipod classic which I named Ginnie. I got her on the first week of March and we're spending the best time ever!




For summer and for the Holy Week, I got myself a pair of sandals - Ipanema by Giselle Bundchen. My officemate, Isaac, said the green one looks really nice but I don't have many greens in my closet so I went for the neutral one.



They are made to make your feet live forever - super comfy! I heart Ipanema.

~~~~~~~

Ogie also bought me a gift last Saturday. He was telling me Friday night that he wanted to buy us another pair of jeans. He's so into Levi's lately and I can only say, go lang! hehe. We went to Megamall on Saturday night but we happened to pass by Lacoste first. I thought it would be nice to have a shirt from this store. Ogie agreed so we went inside. He got himself a white polo shirt and then I was so torn between a polo shirt and a bag. The bag won my heart.



It's pink plus it comes with a pink pouch. Lacoste is love.

I went to the dental clinic yesterday to have my teeth cleaned. I sort of don't have a permanent dentist lately so when dentists see that my front tooth is crowned, they always ask why. I bet they have to understand where their patients are coming from. So this Medicard-accredited dentist asked why I had my front tooth crowned. I told her the story and then she went on cleaning my teeth.

I realized that my teeth accident happened sometime in March but I wasn't sure if it was in 2007 or 2006. I checked my blog and saw my post. Yesterday was the 3rd anniversary of my root canal procedure. Three years ago, I still had my real front teeth. Now, the one is hiding inside a crown and then other is only 1/3 real tooth. Fake na yun iba. It's like yesterday was the death anniversary of my two front teeth.

After that experience, I almost never visited a dentist again. I think I only had my dental check up twice, the last one was before I left for Dubai. And now I am faced with several issues - need to extract my 3 impacted molars, need to change the fillings in two of my molars, etc. The filling is okay but tooth extraction? waaaahhhh! And to make it worse, the dentist has to x-ray my teeth to make sure no nerve or bone will be damaged. Otherwise, she's gonna conduct a complex tooth surgery. I thought I'd rather just let my bite and jaw be dislocated. I'll face this issue some other time.

My officemate, Janelle, and I are excited about the Crocs mega sale. I wanted to buy Cleo and/or Patra and she wanted the leopard print Malindi. So yesterday, we made a plan to go to the sale during lunch time. We figured we can leave the office at 11:30 and then come back at around 2pm.

We actually left a little earlier kase nga excited kame. But no, super traffic sa Ortigas. Yun normal na 10-15 minutes sana na byahe, naging 45mins to an hour - parang 1 hour nga ata. Pagdating sa sale, ang haba ng pila...as in mahabang pila sa katirikan ng araw! Nagtry pa kame pumila tapos nagpunta ako sa may entrance para maka-scoop ng info. By 20s lang ang pagpapapasok nila so sa tantya namin, kung magtitiyaga kame, mga 4pm makakapasok naman. Bale, either negra na kame kung makakatagal kame, or nag-colapse na kame nun. So hindi na nga kame nag-attempt pumila pero pinag-iisipan namin na bumalik pa bukas ng maaga kase yun mga lumalabas na maraming bitbit, mukhang satisfied talaga. Mga 700 pesos na lang daw karamihan. haaay.

Pero hindi pa natapos ang kalbaryo namin sa hindi pagkapasok sa sale. Kinailangan pa namin magpalakad-lakad sa kalsada kase traffic tapos walang cab. Nun finally nakasakay na kame sa cab, naisip namin na gutom na kame and we wanted to drink super cold Coke. Yun ride pabalik sa Eastwood was smooth naman at nagpababa na lang kame sa McDo. Parang inasam-asam ko na ang sarap mag-sip ng malamig na malamig na softdrinks pero sabi nun crew, "Pasensya na po Ma'am, naubusan kame ng ice." Waw!

I am a big omelet fan. I almost always have it for breakfast. The Manang in my office building sells tuna and mushroom omelet (with some other veggies) and it tastes really good. So yesterday, I tried cooking my own version of omelet. I have been going home on time (4PM) lately so I have plenty of time for cooking, reading, and watching movies. Anyway, I checked the available ingredients I have --- eggs, milk, cheese, mushroom, tuna, and corn kernels.

I cooked the filling first and then prepared the egg and milk mixture. I love love using my non-stick pan. It helps me with every thing I fry. I only got to cook the perfect sunny-side up when I used that pan. The first omelet was a disaster. I spread the egg mixture, cooked it, put the filling, folded and then tried to lift it from the pan to the plate with a turner. Bad move, really bad move. I had that fugly (but delicious) omelet for dinner. The next four omelets turned perfect. I realized that I was supposed to pour (slide) it to the plate from the pan.

I wasn't able to take pictures of my omelets, but they looked and tasted really good. I brought one to the office today and had it for breakfast. I was also supposed to cook instant mac and cheese but I got too tired cooking the omelets. I thought it's a breakfast meal but if I cook omelet in the morning, I'd probably be able to serve it by lunch time. Maybe I need more practice.

Yesterday I wrote:

Now that Ogie and I don't have much time for out of town trips, we sort of found retail therapy as an alternative. We seem to be spending on something every month. Last month it was on shoes/slippers and now, on pants. I love how small things make us happy nowadays. Spontaneous dinners and mall trips somehow relieve our stress. We went to SM North Edsa last Friday to have Tonying, our laptop, checked. He is having some monitor issue and we hope that it's just the cable that needs to be replaced. Anyway, we went to The Block afterwards and bought new pairs of pants at Levi's then we had dinner at Burgoo.

And now that I have a new pair of pants, I should NOT gain or lose weight. I need to use them pants as much as I can. hahaha.

Today I write:

Haay... I felt good last Friday, but not today. Today is a slow and lazy day. I feel sad and low and unloved. *Sniff*

I was reading my previous posts and came across my Christmas 2008 wish list. I'm happy that I got most of them.

• Shoes - I've bought 6 or so pairs of shoes since that wish list post. :-)
• Dresses and clothes - I went shopping last November, so yehey for me.
• Crocs Prima - got it!
• Envy Me by Gucci - I don't have this yet but Ogie also gave me another Christmas gift -- CK In2U.
• Loads of pretty things - pasok na dito ang mga pens, magnets and notepads. :)

So there, some wishes do come true. :-)

I am turning 26 two months from now and reading things about today's youth intimidates me. I feel so old especially when I think about the things that I got to do when I was in high school.

I read some things about open parties that high school students do or go to today. I only know a little about the Atenean who was beaten during an open party hosted by a group of students called STOYA. But hey, do high school students really get to go to such "parties" nowadays? Gawd! Aand they have the money to spend?

I am a certified 'probinsyana'. I was born, raised and educated in the province and these things are considered outrageous during my time. When I was in high school, I was not allowed to be out at 7pm. My dad picked me up when we had plays and had to stay late in school, or I had to excuse myself from the teacher in charge and go home at 6pm. I was also not allowed to sleep over at my classmates' place. I think I only did that a couple of times (but I had to be good for like 2 weeks before asking my parents to allow me to go to sleep overs). I also was not allowed to swim (in the beach) if we have outings. If we have pool parties (daytime lang ha), I had to drag my older cousin so my parents would allow me to go. Drinking alcohol was the worst thing I can do then (actually next to having a boyfriend), which is probably the reason why I don't drink now.

Don't get me wrong. I did not accept those restrictions with an open mind and heart, especially when my classmates were mostly free do those things. But those were far from outrageous. So yes, I also had my share of rebellious mode. But my rebellious mode did not do any harm so it was forgivable. I just can't imagine how much has changed since my high school/youth days.