Day 159 - Day Before December

I don't know when you're supposed to start putting up Christmas decorations. For other households, it's pretty early, around September-October. As for us, we usually start today, the day before December.

That's a picture of the not-yet decorated Christmas tree in our living room. I think... it's our 3rd Christmas tree that we've bought. The first was plastic with detachable leaves, the next was a bit bigger, which we gave to my grandfather because his Christmas tree got stolen (or something, we're not really sure what happened to it. One day it was just gone). And we weren't even supposed to have this if I hadn't complained and whined like a spoiled brat about how we just can't not have a Christmas tree in the house.

Afterwards, this tree was decorated with orange/gold/bronze Christmas balls, ribbons, and Santa Claus stuffed toys at the bottom. Maybe that'll be my photo of the day next time. :)

Day 158 - Painting the Roof Red

New activity!

To save some money, my mom decided to not to hire professionals to paint our roof (it's not that hard to need professionals for it). Instead, Ate E, Ate M and their friend were assigned the job (they were still paid, but of course it's way cheaper than what a professional would've asked for). And so I got to help. They assigned me this part because it's at the least dangerous area of our roof. Isn't that thoughtful?

It was fun. :) Of course, I can say this because I was actually only painting for an hour and a half, and on this flat strip of roof, too. Ate M and Ate E were the ones who did the hard stuff. But I like to think I was able to help even a little bit.

Day 157 - College Friends

Today is M's birthday. To know which one she is, she's the one who's dressed like it's her birthday. Hehe. Although she's actually always well-dressed, so even on normal days, the three of us pretty much look like this still.

Anyway, they're only two of my friends from college. But I've actually very few friends from college so this is already 50% of our barkada. I never knew I'd miss college days (because college wasn't all that fun for me), but I do miss my friends. :) I'm really happy that M decided to invite us over to her house for her birthday. We hardly ever see each other anymore.

Day 156 - Textmates

I went to ATC today to meet with a friend. While waiting for her, I went to Starbucks. These were the people sitting across from me. I wonder if they're texting each other? Probably not, but anyway, they looked kinda funny.

Day 155 - Peering Out

Sometimes (actually very rarely), I go "jogging" at the park in front of our house in the morning. Our friendly dog always wants to come with me when he sees me leaving but he can't really go outside without his leash because he might get lost, and I can't really bring him because he's too heavy for me to control. And so he makes me guilty by sticking his nose out this space under our house's gate, this look of longing on his face.

Day 154 - Welcome Spring

Yet another item at our house. Am I treating our house too much like a tourist destination, taking pictures of every corner or novelty item? That's because I'm here all the time and so I've forced myself to think interestingly of things that I see everyday.

This is a sign in our garden. We don't really have Spring season in the Philippines, but we have the decorations for it. What, that's not weird.

Day 153 - Cleaning House

This is Ate E cleaning the porch with soapy water, a broom, and water coming out from that sprinkler thingie. It's the most exciting thing that happened today.

P.S. One of my favorite things about our house -- this red brick wall. They're fake bricks, but I think they look great.

Day 152 - Candy Christmas Tree

This is the Christmas tree displayed at SM Southmall today. I don't know if its only there for a program or if it's their decoration for this year. Anyway, candies!

Day 151 - Rooster on the Radio

Sometimes I just find the strangest things in the house.

Day 150 - 7 Part 1

Is it strange that when I woke up today, the first thing I thought of was that it was finally possible to see the seventh Harry Potter installment -- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part One)? The first thing I did today was turn my computer on and check the times it was showing at the mall. I was so eager to see it, I didn't even realize how expensive it was. -_- Lucky I got the Citibank coupons and got a P100 discount. And there's no use crying over spilled milk, so I will just convert the cost to US Dollars because that would mean that I got to watch the movie for only $5. Everything in life is just a matter of perspective anyway.

As for my opinion on the movie, well, just go to my main blog for that. :)

Day 149 - Stars and Chimes

The first Christmas decorations of our house are these orange stars that we put above the porch outside. I don't know why we put them up so early. We usually put decorations on the first day of December. I think it's because our house is feeling a little jealous. Our two neighbors have already put up their Christmas decorations for the year, so we figured we should put them up, too.

As for the wind chimes, well they've always been there. At least for the past 12 years or so. My mom loves them.

BTW, the orange stars are homemade. Ate M made them with ordinary glue, barbecue sticks and orange plastic. Looks professional 'eh?

Day 148 - Toy Soldiers

Why are toy soldiers considered as Christmas decorations? What do they have to do with Christmas? Is it because of The Nutcracker? Anyway, it's the main decoration for Ayala Malls this year. These are the ones at the entrance of Greenbelt 5 (obviously) but I also saw some soldiers at Glorietta and at ATC.

I went mall-hopping with my friend J today. We started at Greenhills where she picked up a toy she ordered, then passed by Megamall, Glorietta, and I was picked up by my mom at Greenbelt. You'd think that the same stores would be in all these malls and that we only needed to go to one to get everything we needed, but they really actually have different things to offer. Hence all the hops.

Day 147 - Why pay when you can climb?

So, there are several ways to watch a Manny Pacquiao fight here in the Philippines. You can pay your cable company extra to get it on your TV, buy a ticket to the theater that has it (e.g. SM Cinemas), go to a gymnasium/town hall near you where the government officials have set-up screens, eat at a restaurant with a TV (but they'll be charging you at least P200 more than your regular bill because they'll pay to get the Pacquiao match on their TV), or be ingenious like these guys, and just watch the TV of the restaurant from outside. You will have to go to great lengths to do that, though.

As you can see, they've climbed trees and electrical posts to look in the spaces between the gates of the restaurant, just to get to watch the Pacquiao match. Talk about wanting to watch TV. I wonder if this happens to people in other countries as well, when they really really want to watch something. Would they exert the same effort as these guys did?

We passed by this restaurant on our way home from the cemetery. We knew the Pacquiao VS Margarito fight had already started when we saw this. But we didn't watch the match until the delayed telecast, when we already knew (from information on the internet) that Manny Pacquiao had won. I don't know about you but I actually like watching contests better when I already know who the winner is. I'm not a big fan of getting nervous. And though I'm not a boxing fan who really cares about all this, I still think that it would be sad/disappointing if Manny Pacquiao had lost.

Day 146 - Starbucks at Christmas

I don't know what year the "fad" started but for the past ones, it's been a tradition of Starbucks to reward their customers with Starbucks Planners if they buy at least 18 drinks during Christmas season. This is a picture of the drink I ordered today (Caramel Cream Affogato) and the booklet to which the baristas put a sticker on to indicate how loyal a customer I am.

I used to have more enthusiasm for this "promo", but I'm not happy about the Christmas drinks this year. It seems there's a conspiracy to keep the Christmas drinks that I hate--Praline, Toffee Nut, and Peppermint, and get rid of the ones that I loved--Gingerbread and Dark Cherry. At least in the previous years, at least one or the other (Gingerbread or Dark Cherry) was available. But now, they're both gone and so I don't think I'll be able to collect enough stickers this year. Which is just as well because I'm planning on saving money anyway, and I'm actually not too impressed with the planner design for 2011.

Still, you never know. So I'll keep my options open.

Day 145 - Santa Claus and Manny Pacquiao

TV in the mall attracted a crowd because it was playing reruns of Manny Pacquiao's matches. It's just a coincidence that the Santa Claus decoration is facing the TV, but the thought of Santa Claus watching a Manny Pacquiao match amuses me. Look at his face, he's so happy. :) And his arms are raised as if to cheer for the people's champ. Hehe!

The country has Manny Pacquiao fever right now because he has a match this Sunday (11/14). And of course, Christmas fever as well, because it's November already. Can't wait for both.

Day 144 - Project Bus Tickets

I don't remember why but when I started taking the bus regularly to go to school in college, I kept all the bus tickets I got during my freshman year. (If this isn't proof that I'm a hoarder, I don't know what is.) I think I maybe had some kind of project in mind that involved using them, but lost the idea over the course of time.

Anyway, today I found one of my stock unused notebooks lying around and noticed that its cover had some dirt on it, so rather than try and save its original appearance, which I don't think I could've anyway because it was already ruined by the dirt, I decided to cover it up using these bus tickets that had been waiting in my drawer since 2001.

I rode the bus practically everyday then so even after covering this notebook with these tickets, I still have a bunch left over. Maybe I'll use them for my next notebook. Or if I ever remember my original project idea that made me collect them in the first place.

Day 143 - Pet Love

I should've realized that this was Day 143 so I would've come up with a romantic entry. Because you know, 143. Although 143 isn't actually specific to romantic love, so I guess putting this picture of our dog is just fine. We love him too, anyway. :)

This is our dog Brigham, currently taking his bath, assisted by Ate E. It's his first bath after he got anti-rabies and de-worming shots last week. Anyway, doesn't he look happy on the second picture (right-top)?

Day 142 - The Last Hour of Rock

Today is the last day of my favorite local radio station. Actually, the only radio station I really really liked. Okay, so I listen to other radio stations too, and for the past few years, the DJs on this station haven't been all that great, and so I haven't been listening to it that often, but... I used to always feel comfortable knowing that whenever I get sick of the mainstream songs that are so easy to get sick of, there's always that station on the edge of the FM spectrum, that plays rock.

But now, mainstream has won again. 107.5 will stop playing rock music, and NU107, the home of nurock, will be no more. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do without this radio station. This is where I first heard the songs that would become my favorite songs. This is the station that made me love music.

I couldn't think of anything to take a picture of today, because this day has been all about listening to the radio. So, my picture of the day is a screenshot of NU107's Live Access website. As you can see, there's a crowd inside the studio, and there are over 3000 people viewing the live stream (there's normally only around 100 or less). The jocks are saying their goodbyes and playing the best rock songs ever.

I think I'm going to cry, too.

Day 141 - Christmas Choir

After my class today, I stopped at SM Southmall to pay my cellphone bill, but wouldn't you know it, the Globe* office there is currently undergoing renovation so I ended up just watching this choir perform Christmas songs in the middle of the mall. Talk about having Christmas just around the corner, the malls aren't just playing Christmas songs anymore, they're actually having live performances of it. I didn't catch their name, but they were pretty good.

*Globe - cellphone service provider

Day 140 - Corn and Carrots

First: I should stop taking pictures of food, really. But sometimes, there really are no interesting subjects (that I can think of ).

Second: This is a picture of my lunch today. I'm trying to lose weight so I'm only eating vegetables today. I'm hoping that this diet works, but since I'm naturally a pessimist and always think that bad things happen to me (because they do), I don't have a very good feeling about it.

Day 139 - SET Solitaire

My sister gave me the SET deck as a gift. :)

Unfortunately, I've no one to play with. Only my family knows how and everyone is really busy. So I play it alone, with the delusional hope that it'll make me smarter somehow.

Anyway, if you know how to play, come around and let me know so I won't have to play solitaire. How many sets can you find from this sample? I only found 2.

Day 138 - Groceries on Grass

We went to South Supermarket today. As you can see, they've gone "environment friendly" and have changed their bags from plastic to paper.

I appreciate their effort, although it's not the best thing you can use to carry cans in, especially when you're taking the jeep to go home afterwards. By the time we got to the house, one of the bags we were carrying was completely torn, and these groceries just fell on the grass. Lucky we were already home by then. Can you imagine how it would've been if the bag had torn while we were still in the jeepney, or while we were crossing the street? I can, but I don't want to.

Day 137 - Bye Bye Blackfish

While the tank was being cleaned, we put our pet fish in this tub. If you met them before, you'd know that they're missing one black goldfish (apparently the goldfish specie has members that are black in color, despite their name). That's because he (she? how do you know when a fish is a boy or a girl?) died last week. :(

It's a shame. He was my favorite, not just because he looked different and so was easy to distinguish from the others, but because he was also the one who behaved the most differently, from swimming backwards to laying upside-down while asleep. I didn't actually see how he looked when he was dead, but that's a good thing. I don't like seeing dead animals. Even if they are fish, who I'm not particularly attached to anyway.