Nightmares

I had another nightmare. It's my second this month.

The first one (warning: graphic) involved throwing up a chock-full of slugs and other wriggly things from my mouth (eoww, I know) :'c When I finally woke up, my palate felt extremely dry and swollen, as if I've just been gagged.

Early this morning, my 'breakfast' involved some major slapping from my mom (gee, thanks, haha). It was her loving way of waking me up and stopping me from my screamfest (sorry, neighbors). In my dream, some unknown dark entity was trying to strangle me right on my bed. I prayed so hard, half-aware that I was in the realm of dreams, and that I needed to get out.. fast!

What could these nightmares possibly mean?  Are they really manifestations of certain thoughts or unexpressed feelings? Are they opposites or mirrors of my 'reality'? Or, maybe I'm over-analyzing. Maybe they're not supposed to mean anything.

When I was much much younger, I also used to have somewhat similar nightmares.  One of the most recurring involved being trapped in a world of deafening silence. In that place, time seemed slow and infinite. Somehow, it even had texture... viscous, I would say, like honey endlessly pouring from a funnel.  A nameless girl would always welcome me in this world, much like Charon in Greek mythology.

Although her face is no longer as clear, I distinctly remember how she would ask me, without saying a word, to choose between two roads. Until now, I haven't figured out what those two options meant. Life and death ? (which felt like the most logical explanation back then) Good or evil? There was just something ominous about that place.  Often, I would find it too much to handle so I wake up, still half-delirious from my creepy dilemma.

This nightmare (among others) continued from grade school until high school. It occurred less frequently in college, and stopped (or so I thought) when I graduated.

Thankfully, I don't sleepwalk (or levitate! haha) whenever I have nightmares, but sometimes, I do tend to sleep talk. For sure though, mom always found it difficult to wake me up. Shaking me hard or carrying me to another room were sometimes not enough.  When I open my eyes, mom said I would look at her in a daze, exhausted from my 'otherworldly' experience.

Scary stuff, right?

Maybe I should get myself a dream catcher. Or maybe I should start writing a dream diary and one day, ask someone to help resolve and explain the cause of these nightmares to me.

I just hope that if I will have one again (I really hope not), someone is going to be there to wake me up.

Oh, and definitely not this guy:

Afraid! :-s

Sweetest dreams to everyone,

Viva, Vouchers!

I just realized that I've been voucher-free for two months (and counting). Yay, me! :)

I used to be so addicted to these vouchers.  I get the usual shopping symptoms--wobbly knees, heightened 'giddiness' without the drooling (thank goodness)--when I spot a good deal, haha. The thought of snagging a specially-curated, discounted item that on a regular day I wouldn't consider burning my pocket for just thrills me.

These days, I haven't really seen a deal that got me as kilig as before.  Either today's deals really aren't as enticing, or my interest just waned considerably, or both. I read somewhere that discount sites like Groupon will soon die a natural death because their business model isn't sustainable; I'm inclined to agree.

But before that happens, here's a quick list celebrating my favorite purchases *drum roll please*

The Farm (Deal Grocer)
I’ve been dreaming of visiting this place for the longest time. It’s a world-class health and wellness spa in my beloved hometown, Lipa City, Batangas. It’s a short drive from our home, but I never had a chance to see it even though it's been there for years. The main reason? Well, just like its facilities and services, the fees are also world-class (dollar rates!) :s

When this deal came out, I immediately bought it for my 27th birthday and boy, was it worth it. The promo included a lovely overnight stay in a nipa hut, free coco-based products from the sprawling hacienda, use of facilities and participation in farm activities. I joined their yoga/meditation class while J checked out their ‘jungle gym.’ We had fun dipping in their infinity pool and feasting on food with ingredients that came straight from their organic garden. We were even serenaded by local talents. Cool! :)



Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu & Muay Thai Sessions (Cash Cash Pinoy)
My friend and bought a few vouchers in an attempt to "get healthy" in 2011. At P100 (82% off per session), how could I resist?


When we first visited KMA Martial Arts Academy, there was only one other girl in the class. We immediately figured she's a regular because she was already wearing her Gi, and even had make-up on. Talk about sparring in style, haha.

As for me and my friend, just imagine this: two semi-sedentary newbies hopelessly trying to understand what arm bars, body locks, and other what-have-yous are, getting explanations and advice from a pool of burly, sweaty, professional male athletes. Downright crazy and fun!

Food 
Food vouchers probably comprised 90% of my voucher purchases.  Here are just some of my favorites, in no particular order:

• L’Incontro (Deal Grocer) - Seven-course Italian meal! I was feeling nostalgic when I bought this deal a few months after coming home from Tuscany.  Dining at this charming place really brought back happy memories of my trip.

• Terry’s Bistro (Deal Grocer) - It’s right in front of Salcedo Park and Makati Sports Club, but I would probably remain oblivious to this place if not for the deal. This bistro not only offers good food.  Check out their third floor where they have a wine bar, delicatessen and mini convenience store of Spanish delicacies.

• Sonja’s (Twangoo) - Box of 6 cupcakes for P200++. How's that for a quick sugar fix?  Too bad  it’s strictly 1 voucher per person. I would have bought more! PB&J, Vanilla, Red Velvet.... Yummm!

• O’Sonho (Beeconomic/Groupon) - This Portuguese Fusion resto is a gem. How many Portuguese restaurants are here anyway? We should have more. For some odd reason, it was a slow night when we went to this dining place along Jupiter, but I liked it. It was as if we reserved the restaurant to ourselves. 
• Relish at Ponte (Beeconomic/Groupon ) - This place along Valero, designed by its interior designer-owners, was nice and neat.  The food was just as good; our assigned wait staff was exceptional in his suggestions. Before we left, the owners even mingled with us while they were setting up the area for an afternoon tea party. Neat!
• La Tienda (Beeconomic/Groupon ) - It’s tucked in the Polaris area (very near Burgos, Makati’s red light district) so it’s one of those places which I probably wouldn’t visit on a regular day. I’ve tasted better paella elsewhere but for the deal with the homemade ice cream, I enjoyed the experience. What I liked the most was the ambiance--bright, airy, very international. I see myself having good, lively conversations with families and friends here.

Once in a while, I come across missed opportunities.  I hope these sites will come out with these superb deals again:

• Spiral Buffet at Sofitel (Cash Cash Pinoy) - Last time this was offered, they had a bug in the system so I wasn’t able to buy the vouchers. I really miss eating here. I adore their cheese and dessert sections. Sinful kung sinful!

• Bellarocca, Marinduque (Deal Grocer) - Gone in minutes. I was just talking to two friends to confirm if they wanted to come since it was a deal for four. I refreshed my screen as soon as they said yes and it just went *poof* Sold Out. It was offered again in other deal sites, but the terms and restrictions weren’t as good.

• Misibis Bay, Albay (Deal Grocer) - If I'm not mistaken, this was the resort that my ex (haha) Leo was supposed to visit, until the whole PR thing blew up. I found out about this deal too late. 

• Massage - The name of the establishment and the directions were misleading. I seriously thought that this was a deal for a nice spa place along Jupiter St. When I visited that spa, I was embarrassed to find out that they only had somewhat similar names, but were actually different, totally unrelated establishments. Ugh. It was also a pain to book for a schedule. I had to talk to the manager directly and tell her that I’ve been so unsuccessful in booking an appointment so many times, I’m beginning to think their offer was a scam.
• Hair Spa - A haircut was part of the deal but I decided to skip that service since I just had my hair trimmed. I thought they would at least put a little something extra on the hair spa massage but no. There was nothing special about the experience which was odd for a new business trying to win customers. Any kanto salon would have done a better job.
• Yoga - Forfeited.  Not the instructor's fault but mine. 

Lesson learned: Think twice about buying vouchers for services again or at least be prepared to get sub-par performance for what you paid for.

xxx

What are your favorite deals? Do share! :)

The Journey is the Destination

We just discovered that our watches match! :)

No matter how tempting, I would never wish for us to just wake up tomorrow with all goals achieved, our dreams already fulfilled.

In life, the journey is the destination... I want us to keep on dreaming, and I want to fulfill these dreams with you.

Lippy Level

People say that the number of lippies you have is generally, a good indicator of your kikay level.

For instance, if you have at least one lipstick, then you can already be classified as kikay. But if you have two lipsticks, then you are kikay to the second level. And so on and so forth...

Then I suddenly realized, uhhhh...

Kikay to the what level? (And this isn't even the complete set yet, haha)

I love my MACs and YSLs like I love my Maybellines. I adore my NYXs as much as my Human Natures. It doesn't matter whether it's Lancome, Revlon, Fashion 21 or whatever Korean brand. As long as it's the right color and formulation, then I don't mind giving these magical tubes a try.

In my defense (haha), I don't think this can be tagged as an obsession. Obsession is like that case of a teenage girl who was obsessed with Louis Vuitton bags, hoarded a thousand pieces, and convinced her her parents to buy a flat as storage for these luxury bags.... right? :s

Right. Fine. Maybe I'm just a 'little' loco over lippies. Safe. Harmless.

Thing is, I used to suffer from anemia as a child. Wait, was it just anemia? Mom used to tell me it had something to do with my bone marrow not compensating and red blood cells  not maturing on time; I was too young to understand. But all I'm sure of is that I used to get the "bakit ang putla mo?" (why are you so pale?) question a lot. Growing up, I would have annual 'reunions' with the laboratory for my CBC, just to keep my RBCs in check. (No trypanophobia, yo!)

Must have been the reason why when I learned all about lipsticks, well, it was practically love at first swipe. For many it might seem really superficial, but I think, one shouldn't underestimate the power of color. It's amazing how color can brighten one's day! :)

I'm partial to hot pink lips and sometimes, to bright orange-y hues.  I have a classic, resplendent red  (MACs Russian Red) in my stash (a must!) which I reserve for very special occasions; as an ex-officemate once told me, this kind of red needs to be "earned" by its wearer. In the hierarchy of lip colors, it's way up there in terms of required confidence, haha.

Lately though, my appreciation for nudes have grown.  Now that I'm pretty sure my RBCs are healthy and stable, I don't worry as much that I would look ghostly (and ghastly) in more muted, sheer tones, yay!

So... wanna go lipstick-shopping with me? I promise, I've done this so many times with friends. And whenever I see how flattering a color is on them, I can't help but gush. It's a fun girl-bonding activity! :)


P.S. In my defense (again, haha), many of these also came from friends.  It helps exercise my memory;  each shade helps me remember the people who gave each lippy to me.  :D


Kisses,

"Kumbinsing"

But since I'm a happy customer, I'm dedicating this post to Motolite's 'kumbinsing' and efficient call center and delivery service.

The other day, I made the expensive mistake of leaving my lights on since I was rushing to work. My friend and I were supposed to leave early for Quezon City when I discovered my original car battery's demise in our office building's carpark. I'm just thankful that it all happened in our parking lot; imagine the hassle if my car stalled in the middle of nowhere.

I tried to jumpstart Pol (my car's name) with the help of another driver and my female colleague. After trying for a few minutes, we had to give up. It seemed there was just no way of reviving the poor thing.

RIP to Pol's original battery. 5 years old.

Good thing Kuya driver made a fantastic suggestion. He told me to head up to the 5th floor, where most of the embassy drivers are, to ask for reinforcement.

And so, up we went to look for help and I found myself walking up to a group of men playing cards. Awkward. When I asked where I could possibly buy a battery for Pol, one of the drivers was nice enough to stand up and usher me to his boss' car. He told me that recently, he was in a similar predicament.  After searching for a few seconds in his glove box, he handed me a receipt and there it was---the best number combination of the day. I was so desperate to get my car up and running again that I swear, learning these seven digits almost seemed as sweet as having the winning lotto numbers! Haha :)

• Enduro (15 months) - reliable starting power for everyday driving conditions
• Gold (21 months) - long  lasting power for high performance vehicles. Covers requirements of Japanese, Korean, American and European makes and model
• Excel (24 months) - For motorists who require uncompromised and long lasting performance.

My "knight" for the night (haha) unloading my new battery.

Kuya Arnel at work.

Motolite guy completing my warranty documents and preparing my official receipt.

Satisfied customer!

Touchpoints

A friend and I were discussing about brands we trust and customer touchpoints when I realized how many complaint letters I've sent last month. 

Paper Fetish

And no, I don't mean <this kind of fetish>. I just happen to love paper per se.

If I were to have a business, most likely, it would heavily involve the use of paper (e.g. recycling, publishing, special paper production/distribution, etc).

Although I haven't gotten to the point of visiting libraries and stores for the sole purpose of sniffing books, I do like the scent of ink on fresh paper.
I love how texture (e.g. silky, corrugated, etc) and weight (i.e. light as a feather? heavy as a board?) make subs extra special, as if each has a back story, emotion, character assigned to it.


Paper-based artworks (e.g. origami and paper tole) and games (e.g. paper dance, that paper opening 'quack quack' thing) excite me, for some reason.


Just recently, I realized why I love desktop publishing too---it basically deals with paper, just onscreen!


After years of winging it, I successfully enrolled and finished a real refresher course on Adobe InDesign at the Philippine Center for Creative Imaging a few days ago.

I learned to use its ancient predecessor (Adobe Pagemaker) back in college out of spite sheer necessity. I knew nothing about professional desktop publishing software back then, but was relatively adept in using Microsoft Word.

I distinctly remember that our advertising class professor  required us to submit a magazine mock-up for our midterms. We were given freehand to choose whichever software was easily available to us as long as we could deliver the required specs, so I submitted my piece which was entirely done in Word.

After reviewing and comparing my work with a classmate's, my professor only had one question---"Which software did you use?"

Since we were made to follow a template of sorts, I made sure that I had the same no-fuss, standard design like my classmate. I swear, if you place our  layouts side-by-side, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. But guess what my professor's decision was? To give me much lesser points after discovering that I used MS Word, not PageMaker.

Word?! :s

I wasn't being competitive or anything like that but seriously, I was so frustrated at my professor for judging my and other classmates' work based on our knowledge and use of a software that 1) he NEVER taught or encouraged us to use, 2) he couldn't operate himself and 3) wasn't readily available and 4) was super expensive--definitely wayyyy beyond what I could afford as a regular college student.

Thing is, all layout artists would probably agree that it's far  more challenging to move around elements in Word.  Considering MS Word's constraints, I reckon that they'd even commend someone for having the patience to finish a mock-up comparable to one that was done in Pagemaker.

It's funny how something as petty could make it to one of the most 'scarring' memories of my journ life, haha.  In hindsight, I'm glad such an injustice led me to download the trial version and rabidly study the software on my own---challenge accepted.

And the rest, as they say, is history. I may not be an InDesign expert, but at least I can get by with the basics and come up with a few simple templates on my own.

Now, I wish I could learn more of its interactive features. Somebody please help me raise the funds so that I could enlist in that Pre-Press essentials class? *wink wink*