Found a clip of my first hiphop class at SG. Whoever told me that there wasn’t much of a hiphop community in SG — you and I need to talk. OSchool seems to be a fun place to learn & hang out, but boy, do they teach fast. The whole routine was taught in just under one hour — I think double the steps and half the time when compared to the classes I’m used to. I think I’ll stick to the beginner classes first. =P Don’t even bother to look for me in the vid — I’m the one messing up all the steps. =P

Yesterday, I would have celebrated my third year at HP. As it was a Friday and chance chose to smile upon me that day, I would fortunately remember it as my first clubbing night-out at my new post. Haha.

We were happy to show off Clarke Quay to Dino, my college blockmate, during the last night of his business trip here in SG. Our merry band was composed of the usual HP alumni (Ben, Mike, Donald and me) and Dino and Aimee, another college orgmate. Initially, I thought we would just be out for dinner, coffee and good chatter, but after one turn led to another, we found ourselves at China One, a bar/club/billiards-hall recommended by Aimee. As Aimee’s birthday had just past, she generously sponsored a bottle of tequila AND a bottle of vodka, with beers++.  The gapes on our faces must have been amusing. After several shots, we danced like there was no tomorrow and had a go at the billiards table. Niko, the eternal party animal, joined us a few moments later. After some more shots and chatter, we finally called it a night, but not without taking away some anecdotes from that night that we know will still be hilarious months from now (diba Dino? 🙂 ). Thanks Dino for letting our bunch of drunk delinquents crash your hotel room at 4 am. Thanks also, HP, for giving Dino that room. 🙂

But of course, most of all, thank you, Lord, for always looking out for me. I’m blessed to have a group of fun & amazing friends, a sister, relatives, and friends of friends of friends, right here with me who will never let me forget how thankful I should be. Hats off to you.

A fellow HP-graduate-now-in-SG told me that if you lasted for a month here without being homesick, then the chances are pretty slim that you’ll ever be homesick. If that carries a grain of truth, then I guess the worst is over. Last 13th was my first month-sary in my new job. Incidently, we also had an after-work bash on the same day to celebrate the completion of a project. Drinks galore, and free too! What did I do to deserve this?!

I usually go off with my Pinoy buddies during breaks and lunches, but this time, I went with my teammates (I’m the only Pinoy in the group) to the venue. They weren’t kidding when they said the bar will be at a place you least expected it to be. It’s on the top floor of a secluded furniture-and-tiles building at an industrial compound. Whoever discovered the place must really have been thirsty; at least I got to bond even just for a bit with my teammates during our excursion to find the place.

At the party, my teammate, Shiji, took it upon herself to introduce me to others. I must have met more new people that night compared to my entire first month at the office. I also got to mingle with some other Pinoys in other teams, and other non-Pinoys as well. It was interesting to note that the ones who brought their pimped-up SLRs were all Filipinos. =P All in all, it was refreshing to mix with everyone in a loose environment.

Pics to follow =P

there will be moments wherein you will find yourself asking, ‘Why not?’. Why not leave your stable job for something totally unpredictable? Why not splurge this ONE last time? Why not click on that random singles dating service link in Facebook?! Then, at some moments, you are suddenly reminded why.

i barely have completed all the fields in the sign-up form, when I already received 3 indecent proposals in less than 2 days. WHAT THE HELL. if for some reason, you just want to find out how many sleazeballs you can fit into a tiny island, go ahead and sign up.

Note to self — buy an umbrella. This morning, I was caught in my first shower during a commute. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I haven’t missed the company shuttle by a staggering THIRTY SECONDS. And it’s just 9 am in the morning. Great.

Yesterday, apparently a storm was also brewing over Manila. I missed how nice it was to hit that snooze button for that extra 5(/10/30/60) minutes in bed. By now, I would be getting a BCP message to stay in. Jan, I bet, is all giddy and giggly at the office by merely outside at the window.

Things looked up later during the day, however. Fortune was really picking on me, as I got lost trying to attend a newbie training located on another office site — instead of going to One Raffles Quay, I went to One Raffles Link. I finally arrived at the right building, just two stops away, and — lo and behold — it was in front of Lao Pa Sat! Look it up, it’s a well-known haven for foodies. It also houses Mang Kiko’s Lechon. Woot woo! Even if I had to pay double for a plate of lechon manok + sarsang-nilagyan-ng-kanin, it was well worth it.

I’m at a point where I’m missing OPM. This morning, I turbo-blasted my mp3 player with all the OPM songs I can pack in — from Eraserheads, to Alamid, to Stonefree, to even Nina.

I still consider myself lucky, though, that more or less I’m surrounded by Tagalog words (sometimes I even get to eavesdrop on Bisaya conversations). I didn’t realize the power of words until I sensed a wave of sound drown out how outlandish I felt.

Like turning right each time you go out of the restroom.

Like flashing your access card each time at the door, even if you don’t have to.

Like entering your old intranet password at each prompt.