Drought

I don't know what's worse, having rotational brownouts or severe water interruptions. For the lucky, your area might not be experiencing any of the two inconveniences. Others might only have to worry about one of them. Our family, on the the other hand, has to struggle with both. The power outages don't come so often, and it's only about an hour or so per day. We had one today, right before we went out for breakfast. When we got back, all was fine. The brownout before that was last week.

The bigger problem we're facing right now is the water interruptions we're experiencing now. It's been a month since it started, and it's so frustrating. We lose water as early as 8:00 am and get it back really late. Tonight sets a new record; water started flowing at 12:00 midnight. I feel kinda bad for my mother since she's the one who washes dishes and collects water. I try to help, since the water pressure's so low, only one faucet can be turned on at one time. SIGH. It's such a big hassle.

With the temperatures constantly rising, it's so hard to cope with everything now. The heat makes your head even hotter. I can deal with an hour or so of no electricity everyday. When I get too hot, I would just wash my face and splash my arms a bit with some water to cool off. Now, I can't do that.

I commend Maynilad for trying to save water now that it's El Nino season. But I hope they can think of a better way to do so, instead of giving their consumers more headaches with water interruptions and high prices.

Insomniac

It's already 3:30 am and I still can't sleep. :( My eyes are already puffy, red and teary. I already spent more than an hour with everything off, trying to doze off. But no, I have to toss and turn and not sleep. I love my sleep, I really do, but my body isn't cooperating now. Jeez, this lack of sleep is making me even more incoherent. My sleep cycles are all messed up now. :(

Also, I have a canker sore at the back of my throat that is causing me mild discomfort. Talking, swallowing, even breathing sometimes bother me now. Eating is now a chore, as the food being shovelled down my throat pushes and scratches on the sore.

Two things I really love to do, sleeping and eating, I can't even enjoy right now :(

On a roll today!

Here's another post! I went to Megamall again today, with Mics. Where else would I go, but to Etude House? I went in with only a pump bottle on my mental shopping list, but I was drawn away for a moment! I got distracted by the O2 White line display. Is it just me, or is it a new? I asked the saleslady how much the O2 White sheet mask was, and she nicely beeped it on her register. After mentioning the price, which is P128, she then proceeded to give me a sales talk :P She told me that it was a new and improved version, with the addition of Vitamin C for better whitening. It also has anti-oxidant properties too, doesn't it? Well, I bought a pack to try out. Blame the gullible and  part of me, I'm keeping it in our fridge in case of a tanned beach face. Also grabbed a pump bottle, which was the original reason for my trip.

Sorry for the dark BG and my hands. I used Photo Booth here, and those little red dots on my fingernails are supposed to be tiny nail art hearts. I practice, yeah!

Vitamin C O2 White sheet mask, P128 and pump bottle, P178

total damage: P306

The pump bottle doesn't have Etude House stamped on it, so I'm not entirely sure if it's an exclusive product. Actually, there were two "designs" there. One kind has a flatter top, while I got the other one, with a rounder top. Makes sense? No? Sorry, haha.  Another thing, it was the first time for me to get a plastic bag! Paper bag? :( 

Mics got a pair of board shorts. It was a pretty nice pair, something I picked out and he chose. Teamwork, yei! Also checked out Bioresearch. I'm not exactly a fan of petshops, because I believe that they provide care inferior to that of an expert breeder or even an avid enthusiast. This trip gave me more reason to believe that.

We looked at some of the fish, they were pretty much okay. We didn't look at all of them though, and knowing how fish are treated, there were probably a few dead ones floating somewhere. Checked out the tiny, dirty, overcrowded lobster tank. At least 10% of the crustaceans were floating on their sides with no movement. Right above that tank, a few dead turtles were floating in their aquarium. A few of the more livelier ones were on forming a turtle tower on each of the two small rocks inside. 

I wanted another hamster, and Mics knew that so he was half-joking when he told me that he'd buy me a dead hamster. True enough, there was a rather mangled-looking one lying under the exercise wheel in the male teddy bear tank. It was kind of horrifying, with it's mouth looking like it was torn open.

I was really saddened by that. Based on experience, I didn't bother to tell the staff that they had a number of dead animals on display. They would just shrug me off or worse, make a scene and yell at me. I was in no mood for more negative energy earlier. I really don't understand how they can do their jobs everyday, and not notice anything wrong. The lobsters are severely cramped in that small tank, with dirty, murky water and other dead animals. Turtles suffer the same fate too, plus the lack of a suitable dry landing. Although water turtles live in mostly, well, water, they do need a dry place, like a rock or a platform to bask and dry their shells out a bit, or they may become soft and infected. The dead hamster on the other hand, is just being stepped over by the other furballs.  :(

Weekend Malling

Out of the four posts I've made, including this one, I've written about malls twice. Ugh. Don't I have anything else to write about? Well, not really, since all I've been doing lately is get up at lunch, eat lunch, go on the internet, shower, eat dinner, continue on the internet, sleep. Great, I inspire myself so much now, don't I? The most interesting thing I've done lately was change the bulbs on my parents' moodlights/Chinese lanterns that were high up on the ceiling. I got my fingers dirty. Woohoo~

Last Saturday, I spent my entire day at Tri Noma with my lovable boyfriend, Mics. Using Citibank charge slips, we got two tickets to watch Kick-Ass. We gave the nice ticket lady three charge slips, and only ended up having to pay P20. P10 per ticket, not bad! Since the movie wasn't starting until 2:30, so we ate lunch first. We decided to eat lunch at Gerry's Grill.

The time we spent outside waiting was rather long. There were a few big groups that were having lunch there, must've been a day of celebration for many. While waiting for our table, we decided on what we wanted and ordered even before we were seated so we wouldn't have to wait long inside. (We were practically starving already!) After a total of 15 minutes, we were finally ushered in. We just asked for cold water, as it was a hot day. Then, the food started to come!

My share of the two cups of rice we ordered

P29 per cup

Sizzling bulalo steak wasn't sizzling when it landed on our table. Gravy was pretty good though, with whole button mushrooms! Haha, I love canned mushrooms, yum, yum!

bulalo steak, mashed potatoes, buttered vegetables, mushroom gravy

P280

Baked scallops! I like the ones with the burned cheese on top best.

eight scallops topped with cheese

P225

Total damage was P563.00. I had a discount card from my cousin, which entitled us to 10% off. With a P500 gift certificate, we ended up paying onlyP6.70, plus tip, total P20 bucks. Cheapskates? Sorry, we're both newly graduates with no jobs yet! (unemployment blues a different story altogether :P)

At around 2:00, we went up to the cinemas to watch Kick-Ass! Mics was the one who wanted to watch this. My first reaction was kinda wth, but I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt. 

I wouldn't disagree with its R-13 rating.

Kick-Ass himself was a superhero wannabe with good intentions. Too bad he sucked. Now Hit-Girl and Big Daddy were the real thing. They had the moves and the weapons! *spoiler* Hit-Girl was a swearing, bad guy-slashing eleven year old girl who wore pigtails and a skirt. Red Mist used daddy's money to get his gadgets and a hot car. All in all, it was a rather gory film, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.  The official website has some movie-themed games here: 

I offered to pay for parking when we left, since he got gas. Only P35, since we parked outside for five hours. Total we spent for a lunch-plus-movie date that day? Only P75! One of the cheapest dates I've had in a looooong time. Gas was even more expensive than the whole day :)

When I got home, my parents promptly informed me that we were going to Tri Noma (gasp!) to watch Date Night.

The Fosters, a.k.a. the Tripplehorns

At first, I was bored and rather sleepy since the events were unfolding rather slowly. As the date night went on though, it became more exciting and fun! It was funny and I was laughing most of the movie. If you want a funny movie that's light and not too long, Date Night is the flick for you!

That day, Selecta has a booth set up near the cinemas and ticket booths giving out free ice cream. You just had to surrender your ticket to have it stamped, and you could choose between their new flavors Coffee Almond Cookies and Choco Almond Fudge. I was able to try both, and I prefer the coffee flavored one. Choco Almond Fudge was a bit too sweet and rich for me. Coffee Almond Cookies had a nice coffee flavor and a lighter aroma to it. There were lots of cookie chunks, and the almond bits were plentiful and crunchy. This is the next tub of ice cream our family is going to buy. :)

Babies :)

Nope, don't have kids yet. I'm not talking about my furbabies either. I had dinner with the extended family today, and my cousin brought his kids. The two boys are real fun and cute! They just ran and hopped around most of the night. My dad and brother each took a kid and gave them shoulder rides. They wouldn't stop laughing! Such happy kids :)

Weekend Loot and Family Mall Tour

It's not often that my whole family goes to the mall on Sunday. Blame it on my father's religious commitments and my desire for gossip, but we spend our Sundays together away from commercial money pits. Recently though, I've a noticed a trend: Dad now enjoys night time trips to malls, when the latest time we used to leave was 6 PM.  Before Dad's religious Sundays, we used to frequent SM Megamall. Trips to Megamall were usually twice a month, unless there was something wrong with us and we'd be there every week. Every. Single. Week.

Last Sunday, father, mother, brother and I spent the entire day at SM Megamall. We hadn't been there together in months, maybe even a year. It was their first time to check out the Atrium. A few of the shops we looked around in were All Flip-Flops, Supra (Remember friendship bracelets? My brother has friendship shoes from there. Go figure.) and La Senza. Guess where I headed first. :D

The La Senza Love Affair started after my aunt's trip to Dubai. She bought three pairs of bras that I absolutely loved. So imagine my surprise and delight when one day, while strolling in Tri Noma, I saw two words. Two words that made me swoon: La SENZA. Hello!! Ever since, I've been there countless times, sometimes just looking, most of the time leaving with a white paper bag. About half of my undergarments are from there, not to mention nearly all of my three dozen thongs. 

I heart cute undies!

dark beige 3-way bra, white push-up, two pairs of the same design in blue and pink

damage: about P2400 or so, I think

After La Senza and looking at some old Supra shoe designs, we headed down to Etude House. Mom was starting to complain about how far it was when she took sight of the pink door and lights.  We were greeted with, "Hello, Princess!" Hurray! The first time I was there, there was no such greeting. Probably since there were a lot of customers at that time. Our shopping inside was rather quick, because Mom hates it when we spend time inside stores. But since it was her first time there I let her look around and actually buy something for herself.

She wanted to get a new facial cleanser, so I pointed out the Happy Teatime shelf. Mom was amused, and smelled each tester before deciding on the Aloe variant. I grabbed two masks, one for her and one for myself. We then headed over to the nail polish, and we got three of the Petite Darling ones. Before heading to the cashier, Mom grabbed a blush brush for us to try out. See the Etude loot below.

I love how Etude House is so pink. Almost everything is pink!

Top row L-R: GWP-pink Lee Min Ho folder, Etude House paper bag

Bottom row L-R: Essence Mask in Collagen, Pearl Extract sheet mask, Petite Darling polishes in PK006, WH701 and PK008, Happy Teatime Aloe Tea Cleansing Foam, blush brush 

Damage: P786

After these impulse purchases we went to watch The Book of Eli using Dad's Citibank charge slips. Each P1,500 charge slip gives you P100 credit towards any movie at selected cinemas, so each ticket came out P50 after the credit was applied. (The Book of Eli at SM Megamall Cinema costs P150 each)

We then ate at Komoro Soba, which we discovered when we went to Etude House. My brother ordered a Tonkatsu Don Buri, P84. Mom got the Kara Age Bento, P114. Dad decided on an Ebi Tempura Bento, P140. Me, on the other hand, choose Zaru Soba, P72. Wallet damage was only P410 among the four of us. Not bad, considering the speed of service, the taste of the food and the portion size. Note that this was a late lunch-early afternoon snack; my parents and sibling are on the overweight side of the planet. 

I'd like to thank my mother and her credit card for all the things you see in this post. Thanks for sustaining all the Damage! A review of the Happy Teatime Aloe Tea Cleansing Foam will be up in few days.

Here's a Photo Booth photo of the pampered pooch Milo to end this long post~

Sunshine and Rainbows

Hi, and welcome to my blog! This isn't my first, since I've started blogging way back in highschool, or elementary I think... But they've kinda died and went to blog heaven, so I'm not entirely sure. That was almost a whole decade ago, yikes! So here's my introductory post, which I felt obliged to do... just because :)

Hello, I'm Denise, a recent graduate of European Studies, with a Minor in French Studies, from Ateneo de Manila. I'm struggling to hang on to my "student" status, while searching high and low for a decent job. On impulse, I decided to chronicle my bum life. Here, I will write about my being unemployed, a wanna-be make-up putter-onner, a dog momma, a gym goer and a misadventure-r. What a load, but what the heck, it'll be fun!