Ouchie
A portion of my face (specifically the area below my left eye, before the cheekbone and after the left nostril) has been numb since yesterday. I couldn't figure out why. Having my teeth cleaned 3 days ago couldn't have caused it, and my sinusitis never displayed such a symptom before. And in contradiction to the numbness when I press hard on the numb area it hurts more than the normal right side of my face, almost like it's tender.
When my folks brought me to their accupuncturist this afternoon he couldn't figure it out, either. Instead he gave me some Chinese physical therapy exercises to do and pressure point massages. He also gave me a 20 minute accupuncture session and stuck needles on my left forearm, right hand, left foot and my numb face. The initial needle push stung, definitely not like an ant bite. Got a nice nap out of it, though. Unfortunately I was also prescribed some ground leaf powder drink to be taken twice a day for the next 4 days. It was the same strong smelling medicine he's having my parents drink, only mine only needs hot water, not boiling water. Hope this goes away soon. The 'rents are going on a cruise for a week starting tomorrow and there's nothing worse than being sick when they're not around.
Feb 28, 2003
And You Thought Driving in the Philippines was a Pain...
Went to get my driver's license renewed yesterday with Aissa, who was renewing Wilson's car registration. Even computerized the Land Transportation Office still couldn't do away with the lines and the delays, presumably because they still entertain "fixers" who come into the office to sneak in the paperwork of their "clients," disregarding the people lined up outside (and the fact that it's totally illegal). Immediately after we parked the car a guy with a ponytail approached Aissa offering to speed up the insurance paperwork for 700 bucks. Meanwhile my journey through the "legitimate" process consisted to a trip to the doctor (2 minutes and 50 bucks), the drug testing center (2 minutes and 300 bucks), drug test proper (15 minutes plus having to pee into a little plastic bottle with the bathroom door open), picture-taking (1 minute), payment (1 hour at the cashier) and finally issuance of the temporary license (30 minutes). I don't know what's more bewildering: the fact that a cursory medical exam is a lot cheaper than being asked to pee into a bottle, or that the whole experience cost 402 pesos and 80 centavos more than the last renewal.
Went to get my driver's license renewed yesterday with Aissa, who was renewing Wilson's car registration. Even computerized the Land Transportation Office still couldn't do away with the lines and the delays, presumably because they still entertain "fixers" who come into the office to sneak in the paperwork of their "clients," disregarding the people lined up outside (and the fact that it's totally illegal). Immediately after we parked the car a guy with a ponytail approached Aissa offering to speed up the insurance paperwork for 700 bucks. Meanwhile my journey through the "legitimate" process consisted to a trip to the doctor (2 minutes and 50 bucks), the drug testing center (2 minutes and 300 bucks), drug test proper (15 minutes plus having to pee into a little plastic bottle with the bathroom door open), picture-taking (1 minute), payment (1 hour at the cashier) and finally issuance of the temporary license (30 minutes). I don't know what's more bewildering: the fact that a cursory medical exam is a lot cheaper than being asked to pee into a bottle, or that the whole experience cost 402 pesos and 80 centavos more than the last renewal.
Feb 25, 2003
Win & Lose
The auction period for a bunch of comics I put up on Ebay ended today. The biggest winner was the Flex Mentallo mini-series at 54 dollars (after an initial "investment" of $4). The biggest loss was the Promethea set with 18 issues for only $10.99, or a buck sixty-three per piece. Yeah, yeah, my orginal intent was to get rid of my collection, and if I happen to make some money out of it, then fine. Still, maybe this will teach me to start the bidding price at cost.
The auction period for a bunch of comics I put up on Ebay ended today. The biggest winner was the Flex Mentallo mini-series at 54 dollars (after an initial "investment" of $4). The biggest loss was the Promethea set with 18 issues for only $10.99, or a buck sixty-three per piece. Yeah, yeah, my orginal intent was to get rid of my collection, and if I happen to make some money out of it, then fine. Still, maybe this will teach me to start the bidding price at cost.
Feb 23, 2003
Easier Said Than Bought
Went to Virramall today in search of back issue comics to sell to Milehigh Comics. Their website posted a list of comics they would pay big (and little) bucks for, like early issues of Witchblade and Planetary. Unfortunately my search through the back issue bins proved fruitless. I did manage to find another issue of Supergirl and a couple of Hitman for my personal collection, though. And CATs finally got the long-delayed (from me) issues of Doom Patrol, except they hiked the price by 10 bucks. That tears it. I'm sticking to Filbar's from now on.
Went to Virramall today in search of back issue comics to sell to Milehigh Comics. Their website posted a list of comics they would pay big (and little) bucks for, like early issues of Witchblade and Planetary. Unfortunately my search through the back issue bins proved fruitless. I did manage to find another issue of Supergirl and a couple of Hitman for my personal collection, though. And CATs finally got the long-delayed (from me) issues of Doom Patrol, except they hiked the price by 10 bucks. That tears it. I'm sticking to Filbar's from now on.
Feb 17, 2003
Sunday Hero
The family (all 3) went to Greenbelt 3 for a family day outing. Actually I and the 3 married couples watched Hero (uninteresting 1st act w/c quickly redeemed itself in the 2nd but lt itself down again in the 3rd) while Boit and the kids arrived afterwards. While hanging around MusicOne after the movie mom decided to treat us to our choice of CDs. I got the Chicago OST and Tony Bennet/ KD Lang, while Sis got Sharon Cuneta. NOt sure What Wilson got. After all of us got together we killed some time in TimeZone before finally having dinner at Italiannis. For once I wasn't able to finish my herb roasted chicken. Damn appetizers.
The family (all 3) went to Greenbelt 3 for a family day outing. Actually I and the 3 married couples watched Hero (uninteresting 1st act w/c quickly redeemed itself in the 2nd but lt itself down again in the 3rd) while Boit and the kids arrived afterwards. While hanging around MusicOne after the movie mom decided to treat us to our choice of CDs. I got the Chicago OST and Tony Bennet/ KD Lang, while Sis got Sharon Cuneta. NOt sure What Wilson got. After all of us got together we killed some time in TimeZone before finally having dinner at Italiannis. For once I wasn't able to finish my herb roasted chicken. Damn appetizers.
Feb 16, 2003
"Hey....you."
Just got home a few minutes ago from another Sy Association banquet with the parents, this time at one of the ballrooms at the Century Park Sheraton (as opposed the the Century Restaurant itself). Before the program started I snuck out to Filbar's Harrison Plaza and bought the latest Punisher and Flash tpbs. Upon my return I was surprised by the presence of 2 familiar faces: Romeo Young (Rafael's older brother) Fai Ting Chua. The former accompanied his wife, who's dad was apparently the new president. It took me a while to recognize the latter (I was juggling with Randolph Ang and Armin Chua) so it's a good thing he texted his b'card to me in mid-conversation. Blah food and even blah-er raffle and "door prizes (200 bucks, a fake Gucci wallet and a pen with an "emergency light" attachment). The surreal moment for me was Ma borrowing the Punisher tpb to read...and actually enjoying it.
Now for horrible Valentine's stories courtesy of Rachelle: while having lunch at their home Rache and family were heard at the sound of a child screaming over their next door neighbor's. When mom climbed up the water tower to peek she started screaming as well from what she saw: 2 rotweilers attacking a child. Blood was everywhere. Mom asks Rache to get a pail to water to throw at the dogs while screaming for anyone next door to come help. Eventually the maid (Rache says its her kid) come out. Twenty-four hours later Rache says the dogs are no longer around and may have been put to sleep.
Her 2nd bit of bad news? Our old Communications teacher Mrs. Amy Lopez Forbes (first local Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? millionaire) may be going blind. It started with headaches, then next thing you know she's cancelling appointments and delegating schoolwork to other faculty members.
First house dogs doing dingo impressions, then old teachers going blind. I chided Rache for telling me news I couldn't make fun of.
Just got home a few minutes ago from another Sy Association banquet with the parents, this time at one of the ballrooms at the Century Park Sheraton (as opposed the the Century Restaurant itself). Before the program started I snuck out to Filbar's Harrison Plaza and bought the latest Punisher and Flash tpbs. Upon my return I was surprised by the presence of 2 familiar faces: Romeo Young (Rafael's older brother) Fai Ting Chua. The former accompanied his wife, who's dad was apparently the new president. It took me a while to recognize the latter (I was juggling with Randolph Ang and Armin Chua) so it's a good thing he texted his b'card to me in mid-conversation. Blah food and even blah-er raffle and "door prizes (200 bucks, a fake Gucci wallet and a pen with an "emergency light" attachment). The surreal moment for me was Ma borrowing the Punisher tpb to read...and actually enjoying it.
Now for horrible Valentine's stories courtesy of Rachelle: while having lunch at their home Rache and family were heard at the sound of a child screaming over their next door neighbor's. When mom climbed up the water tower to peek she started screaming as well from what she saw: 2 rotweilers attacking a child. Blood was everywhere. Mom asks Rache to get a pail to water to throw at the dogs while screaming for anyone next door to come help. Eventually the maid (Rache says its her kid) come out. Twenty-four hours later Rache says the dogs are no longer around and may have been put to sleep.
Her 2nd bit of bad news? Our old Communications teacher Mrs. Amy Lopez Forbes (first local Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? millionaire) may be going blind. It started with headaches, then next thing you know she's cancelling appointments and delegating schoolwork to other faculty members.
First house dogs doing dingo impressions, then old teachers going blind. I chided Rache for telling me news I couldn't make fun of.
Feb 12, 2003
Maybe I Should've Come In...
Yesterday I took a day off from the office. Sort of. Actually I recorded all the news the day before. With Aissa trying to get pregnant seems she's only available for part-time work at the Agno office, so I "volunteered" to assist Tuesdays and Thursdays. Day One did not begin pleasantly with Sis on the helm and bossing me around for the first half hour. Luckily she mellowed out later on, probably when she saw me telling Ma her people skills were miniscule. Work comprised of 2 trips the bank (for deposit and payment), dull paperwork and more dull paperwork. I lazed off after lunch and just watched Signs on DVD. Turns out this movie is like ID4 without the action.
Yesterday I took a day off from the office. Sort of. Actually I recorded all the news the day before. With Aissa trying to get pregnant seems she's only available for part-time work at the Agno office, so I "volunteered" to assist Tuesdays and Thursdays. Day One did not begin pleasantly with Sis on the helm and bossing me around for the first half hour. Luckily she mellowed out later on, probably when she saw me telling Ma her people skills were miniscule. Work comprised of 2 trips the bank (for deposit and payment), dull paperwork and more dull paperwork. I lazed off after lunch and just watched Signs on DVD. Turns out this movie is like ID4 without the action.
Feb 9, 2003
Don't Do Drugs (without Supervision)
Thanks to this cough I've had for the past week I finished off all the Robitussin in the house. Even with only an alcohol content of only 3% I might as well be drunk. My throat was itchy so last night Ma gave an antibiotic. Five hundred milligrams of Amoxicillin later my body later my body felt like a damp dish rag and my nose started to get runny. I felt so weak that I decided to turn in early (11:30!). It was weird lying in bed feeling your body relax and yet unable to sleep. My dreams felt like a long drug trip. Well, at least if that's what drug trips felt like it's a good thing I never started.
Thanks to this cough I've had for the past week I finished off all the Robitussin in the house. Even with only an alcohol content of only 3% I might as well be drunk. My throat was itchy so last night Ma gave an antibiotic. Five hundred milligrams of Amoxicillin later my body later my body felt like a damp dish rag and my nose started to get runny. I felt so weak that I decided to turn in early (11:30!). It was weird lying in bed feeling your body relax and yet unable to sleep. My dreams felt like a long drug trip. Well, at least if that's what drug trips felt like it's a good thing I never started.
Feb 8, 2003
Pre-weekend Update
Gaile Robredo finally wrote back. She said she was busy with last minute college work, with graduation coming and all.
John from the office upgraded our computers (except Joy's) to run Windows XP. A bit slow, but at least I got a bigger hard drive, so no more sharing disk space with Lala's computer. Got Imesh running again, and just in time, too 'coz I think John managed to wipe out the media files I stored in Lala's CPU.
Thursday night I had dinner with the family at Good Earth Tea House (Greenbelt 3) for Wilson's birthday. Even Sis and her family managed to make it. Familiar faces seen included Harvey (from my Taiwan trip days) and Aldwin who was giving a visitor from China (she works for a TV station there) a tour of GB3.
Am having trouble with the DVD player in the living room. Seems it's a bit picky with what DVDs it wants to play. Sometimes it'll play Aissa's bootlegs, sometimes it won't, with me experiencing more of the latter. I knew should've finished watching A Beautiful Mind last night.
Thanks to US Prez Bush's paranoia on Irag, war jitters dragged the peso-dollar exchange rate to P54-$1. Hell for me, the online shopper. Still I made the last Ebay payment with that rate. With Billpoint about to disappear and my Paypal account still "limited" my online bidding activities gonna be on haitus for a while.
Gaile Robredo finally wrote back. She said she was busy with last minute college work, with graduation coming and all.
John from the office upgraded our computers (except Joy's) to run Windows XP. A bit slow, but at least I got a bigger hard drive, so no more sharing disk space with Lala's computer. Got Imesh running again, and just in time, too 'coz I think John managed to wipe out the media files I stored in Lala's CPU.
Thursday night I had dinner with the family at Good Earth Tea House (Greenbelt 3) for Wilson's birthday. Even Sis and her family managed to make it. Familiar faces seen included Harvey (from my Taiwan trip days) and Aldwin who was giving a visitor from China (she works for a TV station there) a tour of GB3.
Am having trouble with the DVD player in the living room. Seems it's a bit picky with what DVDs it wants to play. Sometimes it'll play Aissa's bootlegs, sometimes it won't, with me experiencing more of the latter. I knew should've finished watching A Beautiful Mind last night.
Thanks to US Prez Bush's paranoia on Irag, war jitters dragged the peso-dollar exchange rate to P54-$1. Hell for me, the online shopper. Still I made the last Ebay payment with that rate. With Billpoint about to disappear and my Paypal account still "limited" my online bidding activities gonna be on haitus for a while.
Feb 1, 2003
"No Sale"
This morning (i.e. past midnight) I called up Dulcie in California to greet her Happy Birthday. About 40 minutes later (40 cents/minute at $1-P53.75...that's 860 pesos. Oooff) before I said goodbye. Cheapskate that I am maybe I shoulda just emailed. Then again she said she was touched and didn't expect it. Nothing like making a gal smile long distance. : )
My trips to both SM City and Robinson's Ermita mall-wide sales were a bust. The former only had a 20% dicount for comics (and 50 bucks each for year 2000 titles...yeah, right) while the latter didn't have a sale at all. Then again they had little to offer in terms of back issues of Supergirl, Black Panther or Captain Marvel so maybe it's just as well. I called up the Filbar's store in Robinson's Galleria but they only had the latest Flash trade paperback, so that kills my plans of going there. Man, I coulda just stayed home and watched DVDs.
This morning (i.e. past midnight) I called up Dulcie in California to greet her Happy Birthday. About 40 minutes later (40 cents/minute at $1-P53.75...that's 860 pesos. Oooff) before I said goodbye. Cheapskate that I am maybe I shoulda just emailed. Then again she said she was touched and didn't expect it. Nothing like making a gal smile long distance. : )
My trips to both SM City and Robinson's Ermita mall-wide sales were a bust. The former only had a 20% dicount for comics (and 50 bucks each for year 2000 titles...yeah, right) while the latter didn't have a sale at all. Then again they had little to offer in terms of back issues of Supergirl, Black Panther or Captain Marvel so maybe it's just as well. I called up the Filbar's store in Robinson's Galleria but they only had the latest Flash trade paperback, so that kills my plans of going there. Man, I coulda just stayed home and watched DVDs.