big, red office.

It's been about three weeks since I started work and I am slowly trying to get used to the non-noise in the office. I was telling a few of the guys back in Manila how I found it a bit odd to have the same agency, albeit in different locations could feel so unlike each other.

I'm guessing it's the bigness (300+ staff!) and maybe culture, but really, there's still no place like home. :-)

The stuff I miss at the 15th & 9th floors, and the whole Salcedo block:

• 9am breakkie with Pepper (adobo flakes, garlic rice and malasadong itlog)
• brainstorm/yosi breaks with the Creatives
• Apartment 1B
• squeezing Gabi's udders
• scavenging for snacks in the afternoon
• our pantry lady
• cheap beers
• napping at Tina's office after spending stressful all-nighters
  
• a triple, grande caramel macchiato from Ryan, my favourite Starbucks barista
• chika at various parts of the day
• watching the yayas walk the dogs around the park on my way home
  

Now if I could only replicate at least half of what's on this list, I can say that the Manila-fication of Singaflor has begun.

Balcony scribblings, 8-something in the evening.

Aches in places I've forgotten

I've started training again.

It's been two years since I was last in a roda. Work got in the way of my going to class and often, I'm just too exhausted to even brave the traffic to get to it.

Moving to Singapore meant a chance at rekindling my interrupted love affair, sans the excuses (I'm keeping my fingers crossed). So train I did.

The morning after just left me stiff all over. But I felt good nonetheless. I needed that; the achy reminder of a relationship I begun and cut abruptly. A friend once asked how sore you can get from doing capoeira. Just enough that you can't even sit on the toilet to pee.

Check out the Association of Capoeira Argola, under the tutelage of Mestre Ousado. Classes at The Substation, Aremenian St. (weekends only)

the leap.

You never realise how big an impact a move could do until you find yourself feeling lost and disoriented even when things are pretty settled already.

I came to Singapore with a job waiting for me, a lovely place my husband thoughtfully fixed up, and friends I am fortunate to have met as a result of my frequent travel to the country.

The months leading up to the move was all a blur. I was still heavily involved in accounts that didn't seem to want to let go (bitaw na kasi, eh!), and I had no idea how I was going to manage organising the event in December.

But these things never wait, I guess. And you're forced to confront it, whether you're ready or not. It takes courage to say good-bye to friends and loved ones, and even more courage to embrace new ones.

Kitchen accident #1

My parents, especially my mother would freak out over an entry like this. As the perpetual klutz, I am hardly left to discover my inner Julia Childs in the kitchen, lest I end up grinding my fingers into sausage.

After getting married, I learnt that I am quite adept at whipping out hearty meals from recipes I remembered from memory. My husband has woefully complained about the quality of meals we have at home ("You're making me fat!" he would whine), and I would retaliate by offering to buy muesli for breakfast the next time we head out to the grocery.

Good meals notwithstanding, I am still quite the clumsy girl, who's slowly learning to use gloves to peel the yams (one scratching episode is more than enough, thank you), keeping an extra set of glasses (breaking two in a week is a tad too much), and wielding the knife well enough to avoid shaving off too many fingernails.



diyoskohpo, mashaket


what happens when you daydream while grating cheese

Shower-proofing my thumb, one Tuesday evening

on the third day...

...the Planner walks into a wall.


Ouch. Black-eyed P.