Santa's Christmas gifts preparation

Every child believes that there is Santa Claus and it's one of the childhood memories that all of us joyfully recall especially during the yuletide season. This belief on Santa's generosity to all the kids who have been nice through out the year makes Christmas as one of the children's most awaited season. They believe that when they wake up in the midnight before Christmas, they would see their mounted Christmas socks filled with candies or the Christmas tree surrounded by gifts. Even myself during my childhood, I was once a believer that Santa really existed and this belief became stronger when I woke up one Christmas morning seeing a gift box for me and through the convincing acting ability of my parents saying that it really came from Santa, I really had wished that I should have waken up earlier than midnight to catch Santa delivering my gift. This was really a happy thought that I truly cherished even until I grew up and discovered that the gifts were from my parents and not really from Santa. This discovery did not disappoint me instead, made me realize that everyone can be a Santa Claus. 

After finding out that our gifts were not from Santa , still, one of my joyful memories every time that Christmas was approaching  was the wrapping of gifts since it's been a family tradition to exchange gifts among other members of the extended family, my parents allowed me and my siblings to give them a hand in all the gift preparation after they shopped. It was fun folding, cutting, and designing the gift wrappers and fastening the wrapper edges on the boxes of the gifts. Of course, we won't be wrapping our own gifts and my parents had set aside those already before we see them or else there's gonna be no excitement anymore.

Until I grow old and earn my own money, it's my time to be my family's own Santa who would give them gifts on Christmas. It was tiring and at the same time fun shopping for gifts just by myself and hopping from store to store of the mall just to find out what gift would be suited for each of the family member. And, it's even more challenging to carry all the shopping bags by my two hands then walk through the hallway of the mall turning my head left and right on the store's windows just to check if I could find other possible gifts. After the endless walk for gift shopping, it's time to wrap those items using colorful beautifully designed Christmas gift wrappers. This is one of the pre-Christmas activities I really enjoyed doing ever since I was a kid. I can imagine how Santa enjoys the Christmas gifts preparation as I enjoy it a lot as well.

Greenhills escapade

It is the time of the year when people rush to the shopping places to buy Christmas gifts for their loved ones. And since madami ako loved ones, I wanna share my blessings to them even through simple gifts, ang importante naman jan eh yung thought, naks. So, after my Friday shift which was Saturday morning na, I met my brother in-law first at 711 Estrella along Edsa. Dahil galing ako sa shift, at ala pa tulog, I bought Cobra energy drink dun sa 7 11 habang naghihintaytay. May kinuha lang ako sa brother in-law ko then umalis na rin sya going to work pero ako I stayed for a few more minutes habang inuubos yung drink. While drinking, I was thinking if I would still go to Market Market where I originally planned to shop for gifts but then it was still too early, if I 'm not mistaken that was only 7:45 am. Para maiba naman, nag change plan ako and instead I decided to go to Greenhills kasi di ako nakasama nung pumunta ang tropa kasi nasa Ilocos ako, and bihira din ako makapunta sa shopping mall dun. So, kahit maaga pa eh sumakay na ako ng bus na dumadaan ng Ortigas Ilalim then from there, sumakay ako ng bus papunta ng Quiapo at bumaba sa may shopping mall duon. Since it was still early and the mall was still closed, and I felt that I needed to pee, I searched around for open food establishments and I saw Brother's Burger but to my disappointment, they have no CR. I went out and walked and fortunately, Chowking was already open. Pag pasok ko, I went straight to the CR area but the men's room is still closed so I thought someone was still using it. I waited for more minutes while holding on so hardly and badly, ahahahha. I even asked one of the crew if the CR was out of order pero sabi nya may gumagamit lang, so ayus lang ulit kahit hirap na ako, hahahha. But, still no signs of person coming out from the room. Buti na lang napansin na rin siguro ng security guard na kanina pa ako naka pila sa labas ng CR and he asked me kung sarado pa rin habang may hawak na set of keys. Siguro nag wonder na rin si kuya guard kung bakit d pa rin lumalabas yung nasa loob kaya inopen na nya using one of the keys, at nung bumukas yung door... shocks!.. OMG... grabe sa pagkagulat.... as in super.... wala naman pala tao, kaasar lang naman talaga di ba, hahahaha. Well, at least after that I felt so relieved. At dahil closed pa nga ang mall, naglakad lakad muna ako para hanapin ang Starbucks and ayun, nasa likod pa pala kaya medyo mahaba din inikot ko ha. I ordered Peppermint Mocha Frappe and Cinammon Swirl that were not so enough for my breakfast but it was fine since my main purpose of going to Starbucks was to kill time until the mall opened and secondly para madagdagan yung sticker ko for my planner. Habang andun ako sa loob ng coffee shop, check lang ng Facebook at post ng status. Ayun, pag check ko sa watch ko, exactly 10:00 am na kaya inubos ko na agad yung frappe at swirl then looked for the nearest mall entrance. After passing by bags section from the entrance, I went to the clothes section. Yung iba nagbubukas pa lang ng pwesto nila. Nag lakad lakad ako para makahanp ng mga pwede ipang regalo at to be fair, nakahanap naman ako ng ilan. At napagod talaga ako sa pag lilibot at halos lahat na yata ng stall eh nadaanan ko na. hindi ko napansin na three and a half hours na pala ako naglalakad at pa ikot ikot sa clothes section and that was almost 1:30 pm na.  

Naalala ko na malapit lang pala ako sa Arena where UAAP Volleyball games are conducted and UST pa ang naka schedule maglaro, so bago ako lumabas eh naghanap muna ako ng pede mabilhan ng maayos na shopping bag, alam nyo naman na puro plastic bag lang ang nilalagyan ng mga pinamili dun at ayoko naman pumunta sa Arena na may bitbit na malaking plastic bag, ahahaha. So, I found the store “everything@50” which was the store I was referred to when I asked a saleslady where I can buy a shopping bag. After buying what I needed from the store, I looked for a spot where I can sit and neatly pack inside the bag all the items I bought. I headed to the mall exit as soon as I finished but since hindi naman tlaga ako familiar kung alin exit ako dadaan para pag labas ako eh dun na sa harapan papunta sa bus area, lumabas na lang ako sa pinaka malapit na exit na nakita ko pero umikot pa rin ako kasi nga nasa kabila pa yung way papunta sa may sakayan ng bus. Buti na lang at air conditioned at wala masyado pasahero yung bus na nasakyan ko kaya medyo comfy. As soon as I get off from the bus upon arriving at the Arena, I went to the ticket booth and paid 80 php. I went through the bag inspection at the security entrance then headed to the courtside area to find an available seat. Since marami bakante, dun ako umupo sa pinaka harap malapit sa service area ng court so I can have the closest look at the players and at the play they were setting up. Pag pasok ko, nag wawarm up pa lang ang UST and that time, they were up against UE Lady Warriors who were warming up as well on the other side of the court. The first game usually starts at 2:00 pm and as soon as the clock hit two, the buzzer was on signaling that the game was about to start. Then they called the two teams for introduction then the announcer called the first six players of both teams. The first game was really a UST game since they swept the victory without giving the UE Lady Warriors a chance to take away a single set. And take note, UST’s scores was really way far from the UE’s which just showed that Uste was really a more experienced team and the defending champion. UST remained at the top of the team ranking gaining a 5 wins 0 lost standing. The second game was De Lasalle up against the FEU Tamaraws. I thought that the main game would be an easy game for the Lady Spikers since they were one of the strongest teams on the tournament coming from 4 wins 0 lost standing tied with UST before they won over UE. And, the FEU team was at the bottom of the ranking having 0 win 4 loses so it was a very predictable game for everyone. But, it turned out that FEU prepared for their game against DLSU giving them a hard time nailing a point and the tamaraws scoring. De Lasalle still emerged as the winner of the game but it was unexpected from the FEU team to steal a set from the strongest team La Salle given the fact that ever since the season started, on all of the team La Salle’s games, they only lost a set when they fought against Ateneo. Although FEU lost the game, they could say they had a good fight after taking a set away from a strong team like DLSU. After La Salle nailing the match point on the Tamaraws, I took my bags and headed to the exit then, crossed the road to wait for a bus and that was almost 6:00 pm na rin. By the way, the game was televised on Studio 23 kaya baka nahagip pa rin ako ng camera since dun ako naka pwesto malapit sa court, hahaha. Lahat ng dumadaan na bus eh halos puno so I decided to take a jeep na lang pabalik ng Edsa and may mga nkasakay pa ako na mga beki na hindi na naka get over sa games at pati na ata yung mga fans club ng mga artista at panunuod nila sa mga tapings ng GMA shows eh pinag kwentuhan na. Ganun kalakas mag usap ang dalawang beki na yun, hahaha. From Edsa, sumakay na ako ng bus papunta Alabang since ala dumadaan ng FTI bus, then bumaba na lang ako ng Boni since I was sure nay un lang yung daanan ng mga FTI bus. Kumain muna ako sa McDonalds since ang huling kain ko pa eh yung sa Starbucks nung umaga. My Greenhills escapade was really fun kahit na wala pa akong tulog nun.

One of my Christmas gifts to myself

It has been ages since the last time I wore a wrist watch, the last time I can remember was high school days pa. hahahaha, anong year ba yun? LOL.

Last December 8, 2010, before my shift started, as usual, nag aya bumaba tong si Bob mag yosi along with Emie and Niok. But, since ala may dala ng yosi, Bob decided to drop by at the 3rd floor to buy a pack so sinamahan namin sya. After we get off from the elevator, nakita namin ung stall ng watch republic ata yun then we went near and check the variety of watches there. After we inquired, we foung out that the sale would just be until Friday that week so nag decide na kmi na bumili at para na rin Christmas gift namin sa sarili namin. . Eh since lahat kami interested lalo na after kuya salesboy said na there is a free watch for purchasing a primary watch of AXIS, a brand of watch. He also said na what most of the buyers did was nag share sila in paying the amount of the primary watch para hndi mabigat then they got the free watch. So that really made us decide to buy and since Niok was about to use his credit card, we just asked him to swipe for everyone and just pay him on the pay day hahahha, nabudolbudol na naman, joke lang Niok, para at least one transaction na lang hahahha. Syempre we'll pay him this week. hahaha... So I asked kuya how to open the lock of the watch ksi it's been years since the last time I had one hahahha, and it's even harder kasi it has a double lock, hmmm, safe ang watch nila hehehhe...Then, we had the watches adjusted while Niok was signing the receipt, dalawa brackets din inalis dun sa bracelet nung watch ko.

Happy kami and we were comparing each other's watches habang pabalik na akmi sa office since nkapag yosi na sina Bob and Niok while Emie and I were waiting for our bracelets to be adjusted. And kanya kanya pagyayabang pag balik namin sa office, hahaha, well ako pala discreet lang.

80/20 Rule in a Relationship

I was just fascinated with the message of the article posted below which was forwarded to me by a friend via email. The message is so true and it really happens to tmost of the relationships. I just want to make a disclaimer that this 80/20 rule is not similar to the 80/20 Pareto's Rule which describes about the unequal distribution of wealth in a country. Enjoy reading and pondering.

The 80/20 Rule is simple. In a healthy relationship, you get about 80 per cent of what you need/want from your partner. They are caring, respectful and share a lot of the same interests as you, but then you meet someone who catches your attention for an unknown reason. It may well be because they fulfill the missing 20 per cent in your relationship – namely the sexual component. Because that 20 per cent has been missing for so long, you quickly conclude, “Hey, this person has everything I am looking for in a partner. ” This can be a relationship killer. Since you jump genitals-first for this new interest, you may have given up your 80 per cent loving partner for a 20 per cent fling. The regret automatically sets in.

During the good times in a loving relationship, the other 20 per cent doesn ’t really matter because you don ’t notice it missing. You are content and fulfilled with your partner. Your 80 per cent feels like 100 per cent. When you are in an argument, however, because your partner is too messy or something petty, then the 20 per cent is tossed into the limelight.

This isn ’t to say that you should stick with the current, thankless partner. You might only be getting the 20 per cent in the relationship, anyway. In this case, if you are truly miserable, maybe you should shop around. The point is to look at your relationship and really question if something substantial is missing. If this is the case and you feel unsatisfied, then move on and find someone who can offer you more. Remember, a key element to any relationship is honesty – not just to your partner, but yourself.

The 80/20 Rule explains some of the mysteries of relationships. It makes sense why cheaters go after the 20 per cent while trying to hold on to the other 80 per cent. The relationship crush (when you are in a loving relationship but have a crush on the local barista) often manifests because you see the other 20 per cent in the crush. And even the “players, ” who jump from one 20 per cent adventure to another in a vain attempt to eventually equal 100.

If your relationship is going through a rough patch, think about the 80/20 Rule. Before switching partners, be careful since you might be giving up more than you think. First look at what you have instead of focusing on what is missing. Just remember, don ’t throw away a good thing for a piece of new ass. We don ’t need the divorce rate to inflate anymore.