The Phantom of the Opera Exclusive Meet and Greet Promo

Get a chance to win an exclusive pass - a pair of orchestra tickets to meet the stellar cast of The Phantom of the Opera on October 9, 2012, Tuesday, right after the 8:00 pm show.

To join, 'like' the Concertus Manila Fan Page on Facebook, post and share a photo or video of your favorite song or character from The Phantom of the Opera, and tell them why. Deadline of entries is on October 8, 2012, 12:00 noon, and winners will be posted on the same date.

A Time to Move

My cousin has been bugging me to inquire about getting a tourist visa from the US embassy, for the longest time. She left for the States more than seven years ago, where she worked as a nurse for different hospitals in Arizona. She wanted me to visit her, show me around the state, take me shopping (which she knows I love the most!), and visit our relatives too, in San Francisco and California. It’s a long overdue invitation, but until now I haven’t gotten the time and energy to even ask about the requirements. I’m still tied at work and don’t know when I will finally get the chance to plan this escapade. 

She and her husband built a beautiful home. Whenever we receive photos of her big yet cozy place, I couldn’t help but admire how she designed her home so tastefully. They are still waiting for a baby to finally come and complete their lovely family though. But for now, they have their hands full of adorable pet dogs that fill the place with warmth and delight. 

I know she loves her home and is very much happy where she is right now. But the last time we talked, she was searching for ShipSmart testimonials online. According to her, she is keeping it a secret for now, but judging by the excitement in the sound of her voice, I suspect it has something to do with a big career move she’s been gushing about for the past months. My best guess is that maybe she has finally decided to accept a better offer in another hospital that requires her to move out of state. Well nobody knows for sure, until she finally announces it. 

Good thing I have yet another reason to put my plans for visa application on hold, until I’m sure where the trip will bring me in the future. For now, I will save up to make sure shopping in that undisclosed destination will be truly worth it when the time finally comes.

That Thing that I Don't Do

My two babies turned one year old just recently.

I got my Sony Vaio laptop as a gift from an angel for my birthday last year, while I got a Blackberry phone as a gift for myself (truly deserved and long overdue!) after finally moving on from my handy white Nokia of 4 years, that hanged frequently simply because I refused to delete 1,500++ messages from my inbox I felt were too precious to be erased.

Yes, I’m sentimentally foolish like that.

Just like I fill my drawers with personalized table napkins I take from restaurants I have fond memories of, bits and pieces of mementos from happy occasions I’ve been to, baby stuff— like the umbilical cord clip, locks of hair from my Little Lady’s 1st, 2nd, 3rd haircut, baby nail clippings, and the teeth that fell off before she turned 7, these little reminders of her milestones are tucked away safely in my memory drawer. Some people may consider it accumulated trash, but the sentimental ones consider them a treasure chest of memories meant to be cherished.

Anyways, back to one of my babies. It’s funny how a year passed by quickly and still I haven’t used my laptop as I intended it to— for writing my thoughts and translating them into blog posts. Sure, I have used it for a multitude of things like surfing the internet, watching movies, playing music and games, designing in Photoshop, writing sponsored posts, and it had also been useful to my Little Lady for making reports, other assignments and her own blog posts, but not as I originally planned, dreamed and imagined.

Remember Doogie Howser? The TV series of a whiz kid who became a doctor at a young age? It was watching him then that inspired my fascination of having my own desktop computer and typing my diary entries instead of writing them by hand on a notebook, at the end of the day.

I still remember vividly the first computer I bought from a surplus shop (fuelled by the same dream). The CPU was a big IBM-XT with really sturdy casing and a wide floppy disk slot, with the corresponding CRT monitor with a chunky back. Sturdy as it looked, it’s quite sensitive on the inside that’s why I had to be careful not to move it unnecessarily or shake it, or else the hard disk will malfunction.

I intended for it to become the realization of my ‘Doogie Howser dream’, but I ended up using it to record my sales when I had a small business stint selling sleepwear. Now I realized that I’m quite consistent with getting distracted and putting things on hold, so I decided it’s time to get things actually done and be more productive.

So what I’m actually trying to say here after 460 words of flashback and storytelling is that, this is my very first official blog post from my laptop and I’m very happy to have finally ticked this off my THINGS TO DO list. :)