Bring IT On, Bitches!!!!

Yep yep...I'm baaaack.

Well, at least for now.  Tomorrow I'll be back at work.  Back to silya elektrika na ulit huhuhu....I took a day of leave from work muna.  Nakakaumay na magtrabaho ng tuloy tuloy.  And of course, the stress is absolutely overwhelming.  You can see it from the zits on my face right now, and I think I've aged  in like....4 effing months.  Crazy, I tell you.  Ewan ko ba.  2.7k definitely not worth it. :(  Won't even be enough to cover my hospital bills pag nagkataon. Oh God forbid.

Kaya heto...hanap ulit work....

So I was sending out cvs like crazy awhile back, mega compose pa ko ng cover letters.  I did this one HUGE mistake by forgetting to delete a previously sent cover letter while i was doing it on word. SHyet.  And sure enough my application will go right through the bin.  Hay.

Mike and I went to Mustafa Centre this afternoon.  Akala ko kasi parang marereminisce ko yung Dubai days ko since Mukha daw Karama yung place.  I was craving for some mean chicken shawarma pa naman!  Mukha lang extension ng little india e. Ala pang makainan kasi puro Indian restaurants yung andun.  I was desperate for the nearest McDonald's. Tsk.  We should have gone to Arab Street instead. 

Pucha. Mistake after mistake after mistake.  Well, I was able to buy Rainbow Milk naman so...not bad.

Yun lang.  Goodnight everyone.

TIRED IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT.

MY HANDS ARE SHAKING UP TO NOW!!!!

I got it!!! The MOM has approved my application for twenty-four months.  It’s here (well, again, hehehe..but that’s another story) FINALLY!!! My heart is doing cartwheels over and over and over.  I don’t know what to say, really. 

I am just…extremely thankful for this, Lord.  Salamat po.

Current Mood: Just grateful. ;)

This morning, just when I learned that Hotmail has upgraded it storage capacity from 2GB to 5GB, I also found out that Yahoo has been providing free unlimited space since May 2007.

Tsk.

Curse you, yahoo. You win this time.

Omigod. omigod. omigod.  A DPA guy called just a few minutes ago and was asking if I have a job already. Puchaaaa DPA yun! Eh bakit naman kasi hindi nila pinansin yung e-mails ko before.  It took them a month before that phone call.

Ayan tuloy I had to turn them down because I was offered a post by one of its competitors!  Pero gawd pinansin din nila yung cv ko after 10,000 years. Hay. At least.

*kiligs*

It was like turning down a potential suitor. haha.

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Anyway, thank you, Lord.

We've been here in Singapore for two months already.  Two months.  And yet it seems like I'm still a stranger in this place.  I don't even want to call it home yet, and would take aeons and aeons before I could call it so.

What makes me so distant and depressed with this what I have wanted in the first place? Am I starting to regret my decision? Do I want to leave -- AGAIN?

This WAS my home. Back in the early 80's my dad used to work for a French construction firm here in Singapore.  I think my Dad, who would have earned himself a Singapore Airlines' Super Frequent Flyer Award then (he came home more than twice a year) finally resigned to the fact that he had to take us with him down here.  We stayed on for more than three years I think, until he decided to leave his post to open his own engineering firm based in Manila.

And then twenty-two years after, I came back. And it doesn't feel the same anymore.

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In November of 2004, I came to Dubai after 4 months of looking for a job (and an H1-B sponsor at that) and vacationing.  The decision to move seemed to be the most logical thing to do anyway since: 1.) there was no job waiting for me back in Manila, 2.) apparently, the more willing sponsors in the are based down in SF or LA (this I just found out a couple of months ago), 3.) I was practically a charity case, and 4.)  Mike was paying for my tickets.  Who wouldn't say no?

I knew I was in for something that would change my life forever.

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After a few months of working, I was earning more than what I needed and more for someone as young and inexperienced (in my field, at least) as me.  I was able to open a bank account and avail for a credit line to my name.  And I was able to send something back home.  Mike was with me, and most of our friends in college were there as well.  I couldn't really REALLY ask for more.

I honestly gave myself a maximum of a year stay over in the Gulf.  Until it stretched for another year.  And then a couple of months. 

I guess we were slowly starting to get tired with the place and all.  We were earning, yes, but were we happy?  When you hear yourself complaining how the early morning or night traffic sucks, when you fear driving down Sheikh Zayed or Emirates Road because of the 1:2 chances of an SUV ramming you in the rear, or when a short trip to grocery store upsets you, and weekends are spent fighting or sleeping to get some days over with, when you know its a matter of months before your rent increases, it does make you swear.  And when you come to a point where you just see your life pass you by, you know its really time to go.

Maybe the bulk of it was my fault, of why we ended up here.  I just wanted to pack my stuff and get out Dubai, period.  I was fed up having to be extra-patient of other people because it was "their country" and here I was feeding off of the palm of their hands.  I was just fed up.  And more so was Mike (I never heard him curse THAT much in two years, by the way).

I wish there wasn't as much angst, since it was my home for two and a half years.  Although I do think if I didn't feel all that, I wouldn't have enough drive to leave.  Maybe if Mike and I stayed, yeah, there would still be a steady income, well-paying job, albeit a faint possibility to be promoted, friends (and well-loved by us) and a roof over our heads but I deem the consequences would even be greater. I did not want to stick it out there for another two years or so if it has any bearing whatsoever of increasing my chances of obtaining a Canadian Visa.

"Hindi ka dapat magsisi," Kuya Al said,"kasi pinag isipan mo naman yan."

I can't help but get a wee-bit annoyed when get asked why I transferred here. "Hindi ba mas mataas kita doon?  Kami nga dito gusto pumunta doon eh, ikaw gusto mo naman dito."

Naman. As if everything in this world depended on money.

I often answer this way: "In the end, parang quits-quits lang."

It is true though, we get paid better, a lot better in Dubai.  But there are things we have to pay for as well:  rent (which as I've mentioned earlier is going sky-rocket high) plus, there is no efficient means of transportation yet (the Railway will be completed around 2009), so its either you go around via bus, which is too risky though especially if you're a girl and have to travel all the way to places such as Al Quoz, therefore you might want to get a car of your own. Magastos din yun diba?  

When I decided to tell our office manager, Madam (we just got used to calling her that), of our plans to leave Dubai in less than a month or so, she asked,"Sigurado ka, Vivs?"

I was inclined to answer with a definitive yes but then again, life-changing situations as such cannot be answered simply with a yes or a no.

I don't want to regret what I have now, because it was what I have asked for all this time.  It's hard enough to leave your job, pack your belongings, sell old stuff and say goodbye to old and new found friends and loved ones. Yet its even more difficult to settle in a new place, find a new job with no friends nor family to share all the anxiety with.

Was it worth giving up all that we had for this?

I honestly don't know.

We'll see how it goes.

Where is your favourite place to be on a sunny Sunday afternoon? 
Submitted by Rev Stan.

It would have to be in our house in Antipolo.  I don't think you'll ever experience Sunday afternoons there elsewhere in the world.  I still remember my routine by heart -- after eating out for brunch, we'd watch TV (me, my dad, my mom and if we were lucky enough, kuya ko).  I know I'd be drifting off to sleep by around 2:30 or 3....and I'd wake up just in time for the local enternainment show's voice-over intro. I'd indulge in on three basic things for an hour and a half: chismis, my mom's company, and a bag of potato chips.

 *Sigh*  I do miss home.

I am beginning to love this place. As you can see my post statistics, August 2007 is still on an all-time high.  I signed up just a few days ago, and I am posting entries like crazy.  In a few days, I will have to report to work again...so here, relishing my remaining days of freedom.  I think I know how it goes though,  excited kasi bago pa. And in the next few days or so, lie-low....and within the next few months, almost no activity.  I've signed up with services like these in the past, so trust me, I know how I'll go.

In the meantime, I am enjoying how things are set up.  I love the anonymity of this blog. Hell-may-care if someone comes along and accidentally stumbles through this (which I doubt!!!).

So ikaw, if you see this, swerte mo!