much as i wanted to write about this day for so long – and i so wanted to from that fateful evening 370+ days ago – but the months turned into weeks, the weeks into days, and the days now into mere hours…

but what’s blogging compared to what’s to come anyway…

this is it! wish us luck!

my problem now is what to do with them: i’ve bought a bodybag this year (of the same color), which looks to be much more serviceable than the company-issued one; i’m currently using a starbucks tumbler, with several other tumblers (seattle’s best, disney) gathering cobwebs at home.  and as a souvenir for watching the blueman show, i got myself knapsack/shoe bag, just barely 3 months ago!

not that i’m complaining, i know there are people who don’t get bonuses and stuff, so i’m extremely thankful for that, i just find it (worth blogging?) exasperating that i might not be able to put these goodies into good use after all.

at least there’s always next year.  if only christmas bonus are given every month…

as we left for our gate, i thought, there probably is a starbucks coffee shop near the gate, given how filipinos love to drink coffee (of course, part of my assumption was that, most if not all cebu pacific flights are routed through that gate).  true enough, a few stores from gate 49 stood the stall!  got my fix, got to spend hk coins that burdens my wallet, too bad they don’t have a sticker promo else i might have already been an owner of a chinese planner! :p

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a week ago i got my second random (nga ba) starbucks receipt giving a tall beverage free after i answer a survey from www.mystarbucksvisit-ph.com.  given how much coffee i buy from them, i should have had more than 2 free drinks by now! nevertheless, a free drink is a free drink, so yey, hurrah for free starbucks drink!

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speaking of coffee count, this morning i’ve just received my second 2009 planner, meaning i’ve collected 32 stickers since the promo’s start around nov. 4 (actually 31 stickers, since the first sticker was free).  given say, 5 of those stickers came from my “coffee-mates”, that’s 26 cups consumed by me.  26 cups in 23 days…

gimme more free drinks!

joyce and i decided to still wander around that night to buy dinner, and we landed into this foodcourt where she bought subway and i ate wendys.   no wonder americans are big, the somewhat regular burger i ordered was triple-layered.  obviously, some of it went straight to the trash bin.

we decided to take some pictures already, so mgm grand, and the new york new york area were made backdrops that night.  we then took the long route around mgm grand (unintenionally), and got back to our internet-less hotel.

our official first day was spent the same way non-gambling tourists do when visiting vegas, wandering around the vegas strip, taking snapshots after snapshots of the hotels.  flamingo, caesar’s palace, harrahs, mirage, miracle mile, and others, we visited, inside and out.  casinos are everywhere in the area that i could not identify one hotel from the next!   we tried to visit all free shows available, unfortunately most of them are closed (the lion habitat at mgm grand is under maintenance, start trek experience has ended since september 1, stratosphere rides were closed due to rains).  we also went to the freemonte experience (yes, that’s the street name), and saw the old vegas neon shows.
we ate fatburger for breakfast, mcdo for lunch, and i had panda express for dinner.  i got a taste of starbucks mocha frappucino vegas style.  we got to ride the monorail and the bus. we were out of the hotel hours before lunch and got back past midnight.

pics will be uploaded at the multiply site when i get the time.  although i’m not in most of the pictures, ending up being the official photographer.

anyway, having a book to read, i proposed that we exchange seats.  while reading the book, trying to sleep, and eating korean sambapp bulgogi properly, i tried to think of the immigration interview we will be facing (oh, i also managed to see a japanese movie starring who i thought initially to be itou misaki but she turned out to be another actress, who i’ve also seen before).

we got interviewed by this guy (mexican) named meneses, and thankfully the whole process lasted no more than 10 mins! after a little blooper with the automated check in machine, we find ourselves where we are now, munching on a regular cheeseburger from mcdonalds.

we’re back in america!

joyce and i have deplaned in the south korean city of seoul 30 minutes ago.  joyce just bought a sandwich and 2 cans of coke (what else?), using my credit card (7300 won! converter says its 306 pesos) we are now waiting for the boarding time of our connecting flight to los angeles, which is 1 hour from now (departure is 20:20, local time).

my sister said that the airport is just like what she sees in the koreanovelas (as it should!).  i think  it looks like centennial terminal 2.  the only diifference is that the people here have chinkier eyes, hehe.

the flight to los angeles will take 11 hours, and then it will be time to face immigration and the expected questions on why we are travelling to the us of a only now that our visas are about to expire.

joyce just went off to explore the airport.  i guess i’ll think of that problem later.  want to see what there is to see in this airport, too!

seems like most of my mishaps recently has got to do with contact with water. yesterday’s did not exactly start with water contact problem (i mean, i took a bath, and nothing bad happened!), however during the span of the day lots of bad luck happened culminating with – what else? – a watery conclusion.

i guess enumeration would be the best way to dole it out:

- woke up later than i intended.  i was planning to go to the office to complete some unfinished business, but given the time that i woke up, and the plan for the evening, there’s no way to push through with the plan.

- forgetting to charge my cellphone.  only 4 out of 6 bars.

- miscommunication with kyashi. we again originally planned to meet earlier as we want to get to the 8pm e-heads reunion concert in fort boni asap since that’s the only way we’ll be near the front row (we only got patron tickets).  we met in trinoma at 6:30pm.

- not getting to see e-heads perform. well at least that’s what i’m going to say to anyone who asks me how the concert was.  from our vantage point, we (i mean i, since i think kyashi didn’t even catch a glimpse!) can only see ely and the gang for just a few seconds every maybe 5 minutes, with all the people waving hands, or jumping up and down, or basically just having tall heads blocking the view.  before we went in i heard someone said, miss may ticket kayo? kami wala.  with the amount of live e-heads that we saw, it looks like the tambays outside got the better end of it.

- not being able to record lightyears on video.  my favorite e-heads song! for this one i really felt bad, because i had been planning on this the whole day. just when we decided to get some drinks and move to the sides, the band performed the song. worse, it turned out to be the last song they performed for the night!

- concert getting cancelled halfway as ely was rushed to the hospital.  more on this on a future posting.

and finally,
- going home to sampaloc via taxi, only to find it raining in the area and the roads impassable.  that was already past 1 am.  since i cannot force the cab driver to try passing through the flood, having experienced doing that before myself, i asked him to drop me off at the nearest 24 hour establishment, which turned out to be a mcdo near banawe. i waited for the rain to subside (around 1:45am) and gave the water time to drain.  by 2:15am i was on the move again.  i rode the jeep, only to have it drop the passengers near maceda due to the still flooded roads.  i stood outside the ministop shop for 30 minutes, while waiting for the water level to lower.  when some puvs started pushing through the water, i rode another jeep, whose driver suddenly decided to pass through a different, much farther route (good thing it had to pass through lacson, so i was able to alight there).  with the water lower, and no jeep to tayuman in sight, i decided to walk the last few blocks (~1 km) home.  of course, it turned out that the water near the lacson-espana intersection is still flooded ankle deep! feeling tired and resigned, i folded my pants and decided to wade my way through (what good folding my pants did i don’t know, the water went knee deep near dapitan, my pants still ended up wet).

if it’s any consolation, i found a trike willing to drive me through the flooded stretch of dapitan for a measly 20 bucks.  that was already past 3am.  also, i was half expecting my wallet or my camera to come off my pockets and find their way to the murky waters the whole time, fortunately, they didn’t.

depressing, isn’t it?  right now it got me thinking that it’s not even september yet, more typhoons are to be expected, more bouts with water i’m surely going to lose…

don’t crabs live in water?!

i’ve just received my internal jlpt score, and while it is more than what i expected (especially since i was not able to study, and that the night before the exam i spent the wee hours creating a monthly report!), i didn’t get the least bit elated.  i’m really not that confident that i am almost at the 二級 level (yes, my career high stil does not meet the company target!).  my main concern is that i could not really speak nihongo when the need arises (as compared with some of the people here).  i really wouldn’t mind my score if not for how some view the meaning of its value.  unfortunately, i believe there are those who would think that since one is able to get a certain amount of score, one should be able to read, write, and speak in a certain level.  the life of a japanese-owned company employee.

on the bright side, my ever-increasing score disproves my idea that i can’t progress with my japanese.  progress is slow, yes, but at least there’s still progress!

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