I just found out that I was included for week 2 (”bloggers”) and that I’ll receive a gift. I wonder what the gift is. Anyway, thanks to pinoytwitter for picking me. I do tend to twit a lot when I’m awake and online.

P.S.

If you want to add me to twitter, my addy is twitter.com/dementia

I was expecting my birthday yesterday to end crappy but it was totally the opposite. My staff threw me a surprise party at the office complete with embarrassing photo montage. I was really surprised and mom was so convincing. I went down to the 15th floor office and just blurted out “Bakit madilim dito?” but it never occurred to me that they were cooking up something the whole day. The thing that made it 100 times better is the fact that Bishie (you remember him?) was there and by the end of the night he dedicated songs to me, got my cellphone and email addy, had our photos taken, held both my hands at some point, and had me singing an awful duet with him (there was videoke). Well, booze was flowing and although I was perfectly sober, I doubt any of those counted since he was tipsy. Still, I was thrilled cos he’s so darn cute. I guess I can declare yesterday as one of my best birthdays. I’ll be celebrating again on Thursday night and I hope it’s just as thrilling

I had a short vacation last November 2 to 3 with my family and some relatives.

On the morning of Nov. 2, we visited the graves of dead relations in Binan, Laguna. After that, we had lunch at Rose and Grace in Sta. Rosa. My relatives love eating there cos the food is cheap. I’m tired of Rose and Grace. The food is so-so. After lunch, we went straight to Tagaytay Highlands.

I haven’t been there for more than a year. I thought that there would be something new and interesting there but there isn’t.  Oh, well there’s free wifi there but I left my laptop in the van so I wasn’t able to surf. I just used my sister’s Sony Ericsson P1i (it has WLAN), so I was able to twit some messages.

Around 2PM, we checked into our cottage rooms in Camp Highlands. There’s A/C and cable tv so that’s good. I slept until 5 PM then prepped for dinner.

Dinner was at the Tagaytay Steakhouse. I’ve tried it before but I read a lot of rave reviews about the Steakhouse so I wanted to try again. Maybe I just missed something. I ordered the rib eye but I didn’t like it much. I guess I’m not really into steaks. After dinner, we went to the entrance to wait for the driver. I noticed a familiar face. I was thinking that the guy looks like Ken Zhu of F4. So when the driver arrived, I asked my relatives if the guy was Ken Zhu and mom said it was him. I declared that I want to have a picture him but the van was already moving. I told the driver to go back but when we got to the entrance, Ken was getting in ride. Boo! I wanted a photo with him

We went to Starbucks (blech) but the place was packed. We also went to Figaro but it was full as well. It was no use so we just headed back to Highlands.

Back there, we dropped off my aunt at Belleview then the rest of us headed to Cottage Grove. I was tired and grumpy so I just went to our room and showered. I also watched some tv while snacking. When my sister was complaining about the sound cos she couldn’t sleep, I pulled out my laptop and watched Dexter. I slept around 4am.

I woke up early the next day. I think 7:30 am. I ate a quick breakfast then showered and dressed up. There was nothing much to do so I packed up my belongings. Around 10am, my sister woke up so I finally got to watch tv. We all checked out around 12pm.

I thought we would be having lunch in Highlands. I was looking forward to Highlands Bistro. But mom said that some of my relatives were in a hurry to go back to Manila. That made me grumpier. I didn’t partake when they had drive through  Jollibee food.

I think we got home at 2pm. I played with my cats and slept for hours after that.

See, it was really a short vacation and I didn’t enjoy it much especially since I’ve been since since November 1.

I finally got my doll, an Amos doll from Dollmore. I picked him up from the EMS office in Pasay. I was so worried on the way there because of the customs horror stories I read. I had to wait for more than an hour before customs inspected him and it was so hot there. Their office burned down Tueday last week and luckily my Yasu got here Wednesday. Anyway, when it was my turn, the EMS guy told me that someone got a similar doll recently. I got worried because he might know how much the doll cost me but he was nice. He called the inspector who just declared the doll as a figurine. Lucky! He told me to pay 35 pesos. That’s it. To think that I was so worried about the taxes. I documented how I opened the package and how I dressed him up. You can check them out here. I received a lot of freebies but I think his boots are too big.

I took the plunge. I hope I won’t regret it in the end.

I settled for this guy.

I had a crying spell during the dawn. Mostly a pity party for myself. Partly about thoughts on my future and how I don’t want to be stuck doing something I know isn’t right for me. I woke up mom and told her that I don’t her my heart really isn’t in the family business. She asked me what I wanted to do with my life so I told her that I want to create a store for plus size fashion. I need to study sewing and fashion design but I don’t have money to do that. She said that she would support me but I need to be focused and determined to make the business succeed. She would pay for the tuition and other things I need but she’s worried that this is going to be just a passing interest. I have a track record of doing that. I give up easily when I get frustrated with something I like. I’m worried too. I don’t want this to be just a passing fancy. I also have doubts if I can pull this off. I don’t know if I have the talent for this. So yes, I am very worried. At the same time, I’m thrilled and relieved. Also a bit guilty because I let her down, not succeeding the family business. That tarot reading really shook me. Right now, I’m just listening to my heart and it’s telling me that my decision is right. I hope the Gods are with me on this.

Tomorrow I will inquire and maybe enroll at the Fashion Institute of the Philippines. I think I’m ready. I hope I’m ready.

I had a mystical night tonight. I was with Jenny, Eric, and Erwin at Metrowalk awhile ago and the couple (Jen and Eric) treated us to a nice dinner at Capisce. After dining, we headed over to the nearby Starbucks. On the way there, I noticed a tarot reading booth. I inquired how much a reading is since I haven’t done my reading for this year. It’s only 300 pesos so I said I wanted one.

Before the reading, I told Jen to remember everything the tarot reader said cos I easily forget. I also instructed Erwin to take photos during the reading so I could document it for this blog.

Jani was the tarot reader. I will just give the gist of the reading. He said that I over analyze everything. I have too much baggage and that’s causing me to not achieve my full potential. I’ve built a wall, a really thick wall, around myself to protect me from getting hurt but it’s causing me to distance myself from others. He’s an empath and he almost cried while he told me that. He told me to be at peace with myself, to forgive myself and others who have done me wrong in the past. I should unleash my passion so the water (creativity and happiness) would flow. He added that I should be patient and to decide what I really want to do in life because when I do that, I will not fail even if I encounter difficulties because I’m doing something I love.

As for my being materialistic, he said that I should give away something and not expect any karmic gains in return. Through that, I will learn about balance.

For my love life, Jani saw a man will be a part of my life this year. He will be from another land, smaller than me, younger than me. But I need to break my thick wall first because even if I make an effort to become more approachable, my subconscious rebels and sends out the message to the universe, telling the opposite sex to back off. Ugh.

As for the enemies I made in the past, he said that I should just let them go. I shouldn’t worry about them. He said that the situation is very emotional at the moment but someday, it will be resolved.

With regards to my career, he said I should find what I really want to do and that should be something I will love even if there are difficulties. I would be successful and he said I would have a partner, a male partner. He could possibly be the guy from my “love life” question or somebody else.

I didn’t ask this one but he asked me why I didn’t want to have my own family. I said that I didn’t want children. He proclaimed though that I will find happiness in children. Plural, not singular. I will have kids daw. Oh my!

He said that only I have the power make all this possible and I’m the fairy godmother who can grant my own wishes. So for it to materialize, it is in my hands. I should start from the core and be at peace with myself, follow my bliss and stand by it, but I shouldn’t worry because according to the cards, if I really want it truly, madly, passionately I will never fail.

He gave me a red envelope (ampaw) before I left. He told me to keep it in my wallet and not to open it. I should only open it when it’s an emergency. Hmmm. I wonder what’s inside it. I think the gesture is sweet though. All these for only 300 pesos! What a steal!

These are Krystal’s xmas gifts for me and I love them all! Super thanks. I didn’t expect that you would send so much

After writing that post about not making money from blogging, I googled for ways to actually make money from blogging. That’s how I found out about Orble. It’s a blogging community with LOTS of ads. An Orble member can have several blogs but I only needed one. Everytime a member makes a post to his blog, other members can vote to show that they liked the post. I guess that makes the blog popular or something. I don’t really know. The Orble management keeps track of the traffic all blogs receive. If a particular blog has good potential and the content is good, they offer the member his own domain name for the blog. This ordinarily takes 2 to 3 weeks after the first post.
I started with Coffin Talk where I just posted about things which I find interesting (guro, Japanese wackiness, etc.). My first post was December 4 and I tried to post everyday. I just kept on posting and I even reposted my article on how not to make money from blogging and that drew a lot of attention from the community. I received a lot of votes and some comments. I guess that’s the turning point of my orble blog. Since then, I received regular readers. They don’t comment but it doesn’t matter. They still voted. And the blog’s traffic attracted the attention of the Orble team. One week after I started posting, I was notified by the management that they want to buy a domain for my blog. Yay me! I’m a rising star. LOL. Since coffintalk.com is already taken, she suggested that I use coffinconversations.com instead. I agreed and there’s nothing to lose anyway. If my readers click on the ads in my blog, I get half of the profit and the other half goes to Orble. I guess that’s fine. So if you want to check out my other blog, please try to click on an ad. Hehehe. Money is nice. I’m still transferring the coffin talk posts to the new blog. Hopefully I will finish soon so I can make fresh entries.