Stressed backward is Desserts: The Traumatic Misadventures of the Davids

The past two weeks have been a pressure cooker--thus the lack of updates.

Our new boss FINALLY came in last September 15 and ever since he came in, I can never seem to have a slow day at work. There's always something to do EVERYDAY. Don't get me wrong. He's REALLY good and he knows what he's doing. Am very priviledged to work with him and in the past 2 weeks that we've been working together, I've learned a lot as well. He treats me as his right hand and at the same time, he gives me SO many things to do. We meet everyday first thing in the morning and we go through all the stuff that we have to accomplish within the day. It's great to finally have some sort of direction. Although the work that we've been doing means that there are a lot of things that we need to accomplish.

Am sure everyone has been talking about the typhoon "Milenyo" last week which caused widespread devastation across Manila and several provinces with Bicol being the worst hit. Leo's area was declared state of calamity due to the number of trees that fell around their subdivision. There was even this tree that fell but instead of falling on the street, it caught on some wires and was kept upright because of these wires. We had also to endure the inconvenience of no power as electricity was only restored at BF Sunday morning!

Oh and things got more interesting! The misadventure continues!

Last Tuesday around 3 pm, I received a call from my hysterical aunt saying that my sister, Cheryll (the mother of my adorable nephew, Miguel) got into an accident. In between her sobs, she was telling me that my sister fell off the jeepney, hit her head on the cemented road and that she's in the hospital in critical condition. By then, I was also getting worked up and trying hard to stay calm. I called her back on her landline and tried to get the whole story and calming her down as well. I just asked that I be picked up as soon as possible so we could go to the hospital and find out what happened.

My dad (who was also sick) and my brother, picked me up at around 4:30 in the afternoon. We proceeded to Chinese General Hospital and looked for the husband of my sister. We found him lining up to pay for the room of my sister. When he saw us, he started crying. We then went to the Emergency Room where we saw my sister all bruised and battered but fortunately, still conscious and most importantly, still alive. She started crying as well when she saw us. After talking to my brother-in-law and his mom, we finally got the whole story together.

My sister was on her way to Metropolitan Hospital for her 1 pm nursing shift. She was riding a jeepney and seated beside the back entrance of the jeep. When the jeepney was near the La Loma Cemetery area, the guy beside her suddenly announced a robbery and asked for her cellphone. Now, my sister is a very intelligent person and she has proven this by passing not one, but TWO different board exams (dentistry and nursing), but at the instant, she just panicked and jumped out of the moving jeepney. She landed on the road, rolled and eventually bumped her head on the hard ground. She then blacked out. Fortunately, there were no cars trailing the jeepney at that time and a jeepney stopped to take her to the hospital. When she regained consciousness, she was already at the hospital. She still managed to text someone which somehow led us to the information.

The whole thing was a very traumatic experience for all of us. I had to calm down my aunt and my mom who called from the States and was also very worried and frantic. My aunt even brought her own specialist (a family friend) with her to the hospital to assure us that my sister will be fine. My sister had bruises and wounds on her arms, where we assumed took the brunt of her fall from the vehicle. The CT-Scan also revealed a fracture on the occipital area of her skull which will also fortunately heal after 6 weeks. Her temporal lobes were also bruised due to the brain bumping the back of the skull as well as the temporal lobes. There's nothing to worry about neurologically. Her brain is okay and her spine is okay. We just need to take care of her fracture and ensures that she gets her rest. Am just so thankful to God that she's okay and not seriously harmed.

Oh, but the misadventures doesn't stop there.

When I got home last night, my cousin said that my brother, and his family will be sleeping over at BF. That somehow alarmed me and when they arrived sometime midnight, it seems that they're having problems with his wife's family (they live with his wife's family). There was some sort of big blow-out and either they were asked to leave the house or they decided to leave themselves. That was not clear. My aunt offered to take them in until they figure out what to do.

Am just so glad that it's Friday tomorrow. I've already calendared the First Friday Mass here at work so that my boss will know that I will be busy. Please pray for my family. We really need it now.

Clean-Up!

As one of the intiatives of our CEO, a company wide clean-up is now ongoing with a deadline tomorrow. As people beating deadlines, our department of 3 people but with legacy files dating back to the late 90's and owned by people who are no longer connected with the company, we had a difficult time sorting through the files and determining which should be shredded, which should be sent offsite, and which can be filed or kept on our workstations. One mandate was that we can only keep a maximum of 3 comstak folders in our workstation and not much personal stuff on our desks. Well, we managed to clean everything up in 3 hours and we have a small mountain at the corner of our floor for shredding tomorrow.

I also had a talk with one of my bosses this afternoon (yes, I have two direct lines and BOTH are expatriates. I don't know if that's good or bad). We were talking about issues and he suddenly asked me what my priorities are. While I was ticking everything down, I had the sudden urge to cry. He then noted that I have so much stuff on my plate and he took some of the stuff that he asked me to do.

On a lighter note, my aunt arrived yesterday from England. It was really nice seeing her. As a welcome gift for her, Leo gave her flowers (hay, my boyfriend is so thoughtful!). She got me two really nifty gifts. One was a bridal horseshoe (apparently, it's a custom in England) and another thing was a small mosaic cross from Rome. Now, I have to figure out where I can put the horseshoe and to find a chain or ribbon for my mosaic cross.

Clean Bill of Health

I visited my doctor yesterday and am happy to say that she gave me a clean bill of health. She's very happy over my recent blood tests and moreover the fact that I've been losing weight. She did say that when I get married next year, my husband and I should not wait to have a baby. In our original plan, Leo and I wanted to wait for a year before having a baby but she discouraged it and pointed out my age. So Leo and I would have to do some replanning on that.

School starts tomorrow for me and I just learned that we have a meeting with a regional visitor until 630 tomorrow night. Knowing my boss, it'll last until 7 or 730. I hope my professor won't be too mad that I'll be coming in late.

Updates, links and whatever

Ok, will try to segregate things.

All entries regarding our wedding preparation will be dumped in our wedding page. Feel free to visit that. It has a lot of cool stuff in it. Have updated that to include pictures from our pamamanhikan. It's only half of it though. Leo hasn't given me the pics taken from his camera.

It's Friday 8pm and am here at work. I actually came from the gym already. But I returned to do my web-related stuff. Am also waiting for the rain to subside. I just hope next year, it won't be this rainy.

I just want to share this picture of my nephew and niece. They're both very cute! Hmmm..wonder if we'll be able to get a picture with both of them smiling :)

Enter Sandman

I've been reading the Sandman comics by Neil Gaiman ever since I saw my my friends reading it in the student press during College. I borrowed one and I instantly became hooked in the stories and escapades of Dream/Orpheus, his family and cohorts. Back then, the comics were released monthly and I think it was only recently that they were compiled into 10 graphic novels that you can find in the bookstores. As they're quite expensive compared to the regular novels that I read, I collected them little by little until I completed them except for one (Volume Number 6!). Anyway, I bought volumes 9 and 10 yesterday and I was hesitant to go to work this morning as I wanted to finish both volumes.

While in the shuttle going to work, my mind kept wandering back to the stories. Neil Gaiman is indeed a genius. I wish he'd come back and sign my graphic novels. I'm only halfway through the 9th volume but I already knew that Death will be coming for her brother, Dream, so I cheated and skimmed through the last few pages. I promise to go home early so I have more time to finish that volume and start on the 10th.

I feel quite off today. As Leo will be off to some teambuilding this Saturday, I intend to pamper myself this weekend. I'll be going to work Saturday morning and then I'll probably spend the rest of the day at the spa.

Wedding Expo Adventure

As part of our wedding preparations, Leo and I together with my dad, Tita Rosa, my high school barkada Kay and Atha, went to the Wedding Expo at PICC forum last Sunday. Our objective was to book our photographer/videographer or P/V (John Mateos Ong) and hair and make-up artist or HMUA (Jesy Alto). Another objective was to find prospective suppliers for our on the day wedding coordinator, cake, invitation and give-aways.

Since we pre-registered, Leo and I got our wedding expo pack and ID's quickly. The entrance to the exhibit area are mostly cake suppliers. I finally saw one cake supplier that I was eyeing (Clay Cakes). I was very charmed by their design, especially their cake toppers, but I have to consult my mother-in-law first before we decide on getting one. Their cakes are also quite costly (15K for the one that I saw, but they can work within a budget).

Next to the cakes are the chocolate fountain suppliers. My companions were very delighted by the fountains and unashamedly gorged themselves of the free-flowing belgian chocolate dips (milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate). Kulang nalang straw!

We found my P/V and HMUA suppliers and we made our downpayment. We went to the other booths and we were drawn by the invitation suppliers. Some of the invites were really very creative. I was so envious! Although again, I have to check whether our invites will be acceptable to my MIL and if they're right for the occasion. H2B and I would need to decide on our theme (if we want one) and our motiff. For the motiff, we're already partial to sky blue (it's a morning wedding after all), but am thinking what to match it with. I was toying with the idea of having the entourage in different shades of blue or contrasting it with another color (pastel green?!). Any suggestions?

Anyway, we left the expo two hours after. Seeing all those things made me more excited in our wedding preparations and made me wonder why we set the date so far away. But well, maybe in hindsight, I'll be thankful for having a one year preparation period.

The Wonders of Yoga

In my search for relaxation, my high school friend Atha, BI'd me in buying VCD's of Pilates and Yoga. I haven't tried the Pilates CD yet but the Yoga CD did me wonders.

For the past few weeks, I've been stretched and stressed that getting a good night's sleep and rest has become unachievable. I keep on waking at 4 or 5 in the morning with thoughts of work tumbling into my head. I have to get some rest of I will just explode.

I was so stressed yesterday and when I got home, my stomach was aching. I didn't know if it was from the stress or whatever, plus, I was very very tired. In my experience, even if I'm tried, it will be difficult for me to sleep since work is still in my mind (case in point, my last week's massage incident). Desperate for rest, I put on the yoga vcd and followed the breathing and meditation techniques that was taught. Wonder of wonders, I almost fell asleep 10 minutes into the breathing exercises.

I quickly got up and got ready for bed praying that the movements of getting ready for bed will not chase away the lethargy that I was feeling. I put on some instrumental music, lied down on my bed and I immediately dropped off to sleep. When I opened my eyes, it was daylight!! That was the best sleep that I've had in days! Maybe one of these days, I'll get through the whole CD without falling asleep. Heheh. Maybe I'll be able to practice those medidating techniques here at work. I sorely need it.