Suddenly Homesickness strikes me. Or is this just stress from being an adult?

After all those months. After all those months that I thought I finally feel "settled", homesickness suddenly strikes. The funny thing is, I just came back from shopping! My favorite sport. And just as I sat down, this ugly feeling came creeping in.

I don't know if it really is homesickness or if I just miss all the good times I've had in the past. Dang it, why did I ever look at all those pictures of a younger me. I miss going out with friends, I miss having fun on weekends.

I hate having to worry about bills, I hate doing laundry on a Saturday morning, I hate having to think about what I'll prepare for tonight's dinner, I hate worrying about adult stuff. Sure, I have way much purchasing power right now, but why do I miss those times when I have to beg my parents money to buy the most ridiculous thing that's the latest craze in school?

I just feel like getting away right now. It was so easy back in the days. I just call up a couple of my closest buds, and we just hop in a car and drive to the nearest place that makes us happy.
I miss them good ol' days. I miss those 2 and half month long summer vacations. I miss going to school knowing that no matter how many times I flunk a test, my friends and I will still have a good time "sa tambayan".

I miss them good ol' days. :)

Da Bears. Blame it on the rain.

It has been 2 days since that awful Super Bowl loss, but the pain is still there. I came to work yesterday and people were just ......sad. The complete opposite of how the whole of Chi-town was 2 weeks before the Super Bowl. The bitter cold that weekend was bad enough here in Chicago. But I guess the -9 degrees farenheit temperature with the -22 degrees farenheit wind chill was there to numb bears fans' pain.

I've had this ugly feeling days before the Super Bowl that I have been trying to shrug off. I've became extra superstitious in hopes that that can actually help The Bears. But the moment they won the coin toss, I knew that was it. From what I recall during the season, they didn't win coin tosses (except maybe for the game against the saints and a few more) but they won the games.

Devin Hester's touchdown was amazing! I think that was the first and last time I jumped off my seat during the game. The start was awesome for the bears and that's when I started to have what felt like a bad case of indigestion. The Bears did a lot better when they do bad in the first half!

You can't blame it all on Rex. Really. Defense wasn't as strong as they should have been. Sure there were plenty of times that I wanted to throw my food at the tv for those moronic things that Rex did but I can't say I'm mad at him. If anything, I feel sorry. I feel his pain. Of course he wanted to win. He's wishing he did better. He had that look on his face (during the game) that makes me just want to give him a (bear) hug.

Rex isn't that bad. He had good days and he had nasty ones. The Bears did make it to the Superbowl so we should be thankful for that. He's relatively a "new" quaterback as compared to Manning. He has been injured in the last seasons, and now that he's not, I think he did ok. I guess in Miami it was just Manning's time. He got the Super Bowl that he deserved. I guess Bears fans are just hungry for another 1985 Bears Team.

Would it have been different if Miami had a dome? If it didn't rain? If Rex didn't trip and held that darn ball like it was covered with grease?

Here in Chicago, there are polls left and right on whether Rex Grossman should be kept as The Bears' Quarterback. Darn right he should still be the starting quarterback! Seriously, I pray that they keep the team as it is. They have a great team!

Rex Grossman is a humble guy who's eager to learn and he knows he has a lot to learn. With a little more experience and practice, he's going to make it. The Bears are going to make it. I guess the season was fun. The fans had a blast painting the whole of Chi-town blue and orange. We just have to keep the faith. The Bears will be back. The Bears will be back! :)

Blog Revisited

I'm baaaaack! :)

Wow, it has been more than a year since I last wrote on my blog. Meaning, it has been that long since I last had the leisure to sit still for a while to blog. Reading my previous posts made me look back. I can't believe how different my life is right now compared to how it was in my previous entries. Hmmmm... what do I write about now? I can't list all the changes that took place. Where do I start? So much has happened and at the same time, so many things did not.

To fill in the gap, here are the things that kept me busy while I was away from my blog:

- I'm working now. Been working for more than a year in a hospital (I can't believe I survived that long!). Yes, I have rejoined the work force! Gone are the days when I can just lay in one place for hours doing doing absolutely nothing. So from being this shopping-crazy unemployed gal I've become a shopping-crazy employed individual. :). Wow, what an achievement.

- I have moved about 3 times since my last entry, and I will be moving AGAIN in a few weeks. :). My life is just funny. During the first 26 years of my existence, I have never moved. I practically grew up in the same house for 26 years. I finally made my big move when I was 26, and from then on, I have just been living out of a suit case almost. :). Pack, unpack, or partially unpack, and then pack again, and then move for the nth time.

Moving, and travelling is fun, don't get me wrong. But I just wish I can reach that point where I can stay in one place for a while so I can let my roots grow out again. :)

Well, that's it for now. One thing I forgot to mention is that I now have developed an allergy to too much thinking. :)

I Want To Buy This and That :)

Ok. *Cracking my knuckles*

It has been more than a month since I last updated my blog. Now that my head has been overflooded (redundant?) with thoughts, I guess it's just about time to let it all spill.

This afternoon, since Brian got home early, we decided to watch a movie. We saw "The 40 Year Old Virgin". The start was funny. But after an hour I found myself not laughing that much anymore.

We then ate at Pizza Hut for dinner. It has been a long time since I last ate at Pizza Hut, so it was nice to have their pizza again. After dinner, we decided to go to the mall across the street, where we spent most of our time at Best Buy.

Ah, Best Buy...... They wouldn't call Best Buy "Best Buy" for nothing. I love that place. Entering the store makes me wish I have tons of money to buy plasma tv, digital cameras, the baddest sound system, tablet PCs, GPS for my imaginary car.... heck, I would buy the entire store!

I wanted to go there to check out the VCR recorders ----- which I desperately need since WB decided to air Smallville on the same timeslot as The OC. Then I later found myself drifting to the Flatscreen TV section. "Ahhhh, nice. I wonder which of you guys (talking to the different flatscreen tvs) will be my very own first tv?". Ayan start na ng daydream. And what goes with a nice tv? A good DVD player, so off to the DVD section I went. And what goes with a good DVD player? The ultimate stereo system (speakers)! And what goes with the stereo system...... Ok, earth to Joni.

It was funny that Brian and I even had a little argument because of my daydreaming. He scolded me for toying with the idea of getting those little flat screen tvs as my first tv. I should be saving the money for something else daw. Saving it to pay for my rent, electricity, car payment, etc....... But I am just in the daydreaming phase of it all. I don't have the money yet so I can't look around the store through a practical buyer's eyes.

But I can't blame him for worrying though. I'm notorious for spending money like there's no tomorrow. I admit, I'm not careful with cash, I'm an impulse buyer, and I usually turn to shopping to find "tranquilitiy".

I told him not to worry, because if and when I start working and I have to shed my own blood and tears to earn money, I'm pretty sure, letting go of hard earned money won't be easy. "Let me daydream now before the time comes when I barely even have the time to daydream with all the worrying I have to do because of all the bills that would come pouring in my mailbox." :)

I'm sure when "real life" sets in, when the actual bills land on my hands, I would even hesitate to set foot on that store for fear that I might spend "hard earned money" on something I shouldn't be buying at the moment.

Though we left the store empty handed (Ok, except for Brian's NBA Live game for his XBOX), we had fun that night. The last time I remember being in a store for more than an hour and leaving it happy inspite of not making a single purchase, was when Trixie, Zachi, and I spent an hour and a half at Toy Kingdom (Megamall) looking around and playing with the toys on display ---- and that was after graduating from highschool. :)

Bummer

Last Wednesday, Brian subscribed to this online video game rental thing called Gamefly. Pick whatever video game title you want and they will ship it to you in 2 days (read: 2 days daw). Pretty much like Netflix for video games.

Anyways, so since that Wednesday night, I have been waiting for these two video games we rented. Brian got the Fantastic 4 game while I got the Crash Twinsanity game. I know it might sound too juvenile, but I am a huge Crash Bandicoot fan.

We expected the game to arrive either Friday or Saturday. Since it STILL was not in the mailbox last Saturday, I expected it to arrive today. I pretty much planned my whole Monday and I have reserved the whole afternoon to playing Crash Bandicoot. I did the laundry this morning. I even handwashed all the handwashables so I will have the whole afternoon free from chores. :)

At about 12 noon, I ran to the lobby to check the mailbox. Surprise, surprise, I caught the mailman distributing mail to all the mailboxes in the lobby. Yes! I almost ran an hugged him in joy. "Hi! Do you have mail for 412C? If you do, I could take them so you don't have to drop them there." I said, with a huge grin on my face. Then he said he think he does but they're in the pile so I have to wait a few minutes.

I grabbed a copy of the news ads to kill time. A few minutes after, I finally got the mail! It's here! I almost ran upstairs and started to open the Gamefly mail. There was only one envelope so I figured they must've place both games inside.

Bummer! The Crash Bandicoot game was not there! Rats! I was soooooo disappointed. Brian came home to have lunch and I can't erase the gloomy expression on my face. I know it's just a crummy video game but I felt like a child who didn't receive his favorite toy on his birthday when he was promised one.

Yes Gamefly, you said two friggin days!!!!! It has been 5 days and one of the video games is still not here. Sigh.

I decided to cheer myself up by buying siomai/potstickers at this Thai place just around the block. I was already calling the restaurant to order those potstickers when I noticed on their flyer that they are closed on Mondays. Bummer again!

Two whammies in one day! No Crash Bandicoot video game, no siomai either????? I can't believe this. No game, and no food to console me either. Dang, I knew I should've bought those chocolates last night. :)

I hope the game will arrive tomorrow. This is what I hate about myself. When I have set my mind on doing something and it doesn't happen, I drown in disappointment. No matter how big or small it is.

I guess today is a chore day afterall. I might as well clean around and do something more productive this afternoon. :)

Taste of Chicago

Yesterday we went downtown to the "Taste of Chicago" festival thing. Brian and I took the "L" (train) to meet Mabby and Nel in Downtown. "Taste of Chicago" is an anual food and music festival held in Downtown near the lake. Some of the restaurants found in the city would put up little booths where people can buy food of all sorts, hence the name "Taste of Chicago". So imagine a collection of 65 restaurant booths, more than a hundred thousand people, and little and big concerts all in one place. Doesn't that sound fun? :)

Click , here to read more about Taste of Chicago.


Just the mere sound of the name of the festival makes a foodlover like me weak in the knees. I have been secretly wanting to go to this thing eversince Brian told me about it. Hehehe. I imagined myself hopping from one booth to another, chomping on almost every food I can stuff in my mouth! Isn't that heaven???? :)

But what supposed to be a taste of Chicago turned into "Smell of Chicago". Why? There were tooooooo many people at the festival! The place was so crowded that it was too difficult to booth hop and eat. It was pretty much like EDSA during the People Power. No kidding. EDSA Revolution with white, black, brown, and yellow people, that is. :)

Bummer! I was so looking forward to tasting everything! Hehehe.

Santana was having a concert that afternoon so we thought we could skip the food (as if we had any choice) and just enjoy the music. The concert was free but since it was a first-come-first-served thing, the concert area was too full that they would not let us in. Bummer again.

I could see people walk pass by me with little white plates filled with pizza, cheesecake, grilled burgers, chips..... I was so hungry that I was tempted to just grab other people's food as they walk by. They won't notice anyway since we were packed like sardines. I could easily reach over the plate of the person beside me, grab a chip or two, an pop them in my mouth. I'll be moving again with the crowd before he can notice he's missing a few chips on his plate. Hehehe. :)

Anyways, since we were all hungry, we just went to a real restaurant instead to eat a real meal. We had dinner at Italian Village. Nice little place! Food was awesome too! The manager was also very friendly. He kept on unexpectedly popping at our table several times during our dinner (he reminds me so much of the butler in Mr. Deeds). When he found out we were all Filipino (I was guessing he is Italian), he started to tell us about his son (was it his son, or nephew?) who married a Filipina etc....... then a few minutes after that, he showed up at our table again and started to ask about Filipino cooking... :)

After our nice little dinner we had coffee at Caffe Baci.

That's it for me. I'm pretty exhausted with all the walking and eating we did today. Exhausted but happy. :)

Nice little surprise at the drive-thru

I remember this certain incident that happened when we were in Michigan last, last weekend. On our way to Cedar Point, we decided to grab something to eat at the McDonald's drive thru. We were hoping to still catch the breakfast menu that time. I was craving for the breakfast burito, while Nel and Brian were craving for some McGriddle sandwiches, (I forgot what Mabby wanted). But Erwin put our breakfast meal cravings to a halt when he pointed out that is was already 10:41 am, past the McDonald's breakfast time na raw.

"Darn!", we said. Anyways, we stared at the menu and tried to choose something else. I settled for the Chicken McGrill sandwich while the others decided on........ I forgot what, since I was too hungry that time to remember anything else.

So at the next window we ordered using the meal numbers we memorized. "2 number 3's, one number 8, .......".

When we got our orders in the last window, we were surprised to see hash browns. Hash browns???? They ran out of fries for the regular menu?

Nyak...... it was still breakfast! We ordered from the breakfast menu! Since we used numbers, we have no idea what breakfast meal we actually got.

To our amazement, we got 2 McGriddle sandwhiches, 1 breakfast burito meal, and another McMuffin meal. Those were the things we wanted in the first place! Amazing! We ended up getting what we have been really craving for. Now isn't that a nice surprise? God heard our little wishes and gave us our favorite meals. :)