It's Christmas!

Spending Christmas or the December holidays away from my family has not been a strange thing for me. This is already the sixth year I've been away from home for the holidays but this is the first time that I have been the farthest. This is the first time I'm celebrating Christmas and New Year festivities in another country.

Manila--After celebrating Noche Buena in Cainta with some of my most awesome friends from high school, I dashed my way back to the condo at 3AM to get my baggage and headed to NAIA Terminal 1, which beeteedubz still does not look like an airport you'd want our foreign visitors to come through, but the restrooms look nicer than before.

We arrived at Singapore near noon but only got to leave the airport past 1PM because *drumroll* we wanted to exchange our money but we didn't ask around for directions/too oblivious from the signage. We trusted our instincts and it led us into having a tour of the Changi Airport terminals. Who gets lost while looking for money changers!! Haha the only consolation is that at least we got to see this:


Then, we finally checked in to our hostels, yes hostels with an 's' because we booked separate hostels for the prime reason that I didn't want to spend more cash for a bed I'll only sleep on at night. Most of the time, admittedly, I'm a cheapskate. Because hey, the price difference WILL add up especially in a trip like ours that has 10 days in it.

Dedicating this long overdue post to anyone who's sweet enough to give me a gift, a.k.a. myself. 

1.) I just realized I really w̶a̶n̶t̶  need a hardbound Harry Potter set in my life, preferably before the rumored (?) 8th book will surface because we all know that it will no longer be the same when the 8th book comes out.


2.) A ream of Dunder Mifflin bond paper, which I probably won't use. And yes, THEY EXIST FORREALZ!


3.) Urban Decay's Naked (1) Palette. Self-explanatory.

4.) MAC Retro Matte lippies. Nyx Matte lippies if on a budget. 

5.) Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. Because who doesn't love ice cream! 

6. It's in the only-in-my-dreams level, but I really want a trip to the Tomorrowland Music Festival at least once in this lifetime.

I suck at remembering friends' birthdays. I don't check my friends' About pages. I am almost always late. I double/triple book events, wherein sometimes I would just completely bail out on all of them just so I could watch Survivor (true story). 

~*deep*~

Whenever I see or smell the Sampaguita, I always relate it to the church, a Roman Catholic church to be exact. Don't ask me why because I don't know how this association came to be.

Earlier tonight, while my team is in a hotel in Makati for an after-party, I decided I was hungry (again) and I wanted meat so I asked two other teammates to accompany me in going to the nearest Ministop. Right after exiting the hotel, we got peddled by two kids, ages about 7-9 years old, with Sampaguita. Like always, I didn't buy, and so did my teammates. I also do not have a habit of giving out money to street children because most of the time, the money won't go to these kids.

We arrived at the Ministop inside the Atrium building, where the BIR is located. I ordered the famous fried chicken, which is known to be inexpensive, huge and delicious. We were told to wait for 15 minutes as the chicken just got in the fryer.

While waiting for the food to get cooked, the two kids from before entered Ministop. They excitedly went to the counter to buy those rather expensive candy, Push Pop. It costs 28 pesos each. The first kid got to buy hers but while the second kid was paying, the cashier said she didn't have enough money for the candy. The kid sadly stomped to look for a cheaper alternative.

I could have easily just paid for the extra 8 pesos she lacked. But I got curious. I wanted to know more about these kids.

For your reference, the first girl's name is Ashley while the second girl's name is Camille. Ang modern/sosyal ng mga pangalan, no?

Jenn: Bakit hindi ka nakabili niyan?
Camille: Kasi kulang yung pera ko.
Jenn: (to Ashley) O, e ikaw paano ka nakabili niyan?
Ashley: (shows her extra wad of 20's)
Bev (my teammate): Naubos na agad yung mga Sampaguita kanina?
Ashley: (smiles) Pinakyaw eh.
Jenn: (jokingly) May pera ka pa pala eh. Bakit di mo na lang siya ilibre?
Ashley: (smiles and then pays the cashier the extra 8 pesos Camille needs for the Push Pop)

I have done two NBI clearance applications in this lifetime and both were from that NBI office near Carriedo. It was a nightmare. No wonder when suspects are being flashed on the television, they really look criminal-ish. It's because by the time you get your photo taken at the end of the process and the long queues, you'll tend to look at your worst. (I dare you show me a decent NBI photo!) 

*I commuted from Ususan (Taguig) all the way to ATC and only spent 35 pesos in total jeepney fare instead of the usual 450 to 500-peso cab fare. For your reference, from Petron C5 to ATC, it only took 45 minutes via 3 jeepneys.  

1.) C5-Tenement
2.) Tenement-Alabang
3.) Alabang South Station Terminal-Alabang Town Center

Any fan of both The Office and The Newsroom--from casting, to love interests plots, to the smallest facial expression and quirks--saw it a mile away.

The most obvious similarity would be their first name: Jim

Their last names are ALMOST the same too. Too similar that you will think twice if you got the correct Jim.

Their phone calls are a serious business.

They are both too polite so they have this need to raise their hands when asking questions.

So pay this Tumblr page a visit, yes? The admin/s kinda stopped at five pages, probably because The Office is donezo while The Newsroom is between seasons.

Because it needs to be said and everyone who watches this would comment as such. How does one even audition to such a highly skilled team like this?



A quick Google search revealed that this routine was from the 2011 International Cheer Union World Championship and what a shocker! This team did not win the Gold.

*searches for more angles*

Ahh so maybe this is why they didn't place first. Another video angle shows the misses and drops that were made. But boy, even after getting dropped, they still continued as if nothing happened.



For comparison, this was the team that won.