SYNC Concert - Final Piece.. A Trip to the Nails Spa.. Walking Is A Great Exercise.. 7 Months..
Contents:
SYNC Concert - Final Piece
For those who didn't make it to the concert, I just thought I'd post the Stylettos' final piece. Can't wait til next year's concert! It's already cooking. =D
A Trip to the Nails Spa
My colleague, Gen, kept on raving about her recent trips to a nails spa and I often find myself being jealous of her pretty nails. Hehe. I was extremely busy the whole summer that I never had the time to pamper myself so I finally gave in to Gen's invitations to come with her and get a manicure and pedicure treatment.
Believe me, I am not a big fan of spas as I always think it's over priced and besides, I usually don't have the luxury of time to lie down and be pampered anyway. It was a day before Jon's birthday and the first time I'll be treating myself since my salon trip last summer (I got blonde highlights before our concert) so I considered it a valid reason.
That's my french tip done at the California Nails and Day Spa in SM Hypermart/Tiendesitas. It took almost two hours--it was not only my nails that were taken care of. The manicure and pedicure treatments included a heavenly hand and foot massage. I highly recommend this to all hardworking ladies out there. The treatment may be a bit pricey than the usual salon manicure and pedicure, but you sure get your money's worth. I'll definitely go back!
Walking Is A Great Exercise That's Jane, Dianne and I as we walk our way out of the Ateneo De Manila University grounds after our dance recital last May31. As soon as we everyone has left the theater, we realized we were car-less and extremely hungry, thus, we walked and hailed a taxi cab. So much for being CEOs (ehem!) of our own company. This was our first major event for the year--took us 6 months to prepare for it. I will be posting the recital photos soon. =D
7 Months
I was cleaning my Yahoo! Mail Inbox and I've stumbled upon Meg's email entitled "Stylettos Concert". It was sent on October 7, 2007 and is the first of many emails we have sent to the group regarding our concert. Her next emails were sent from New Jersey. Meg was appointed as the project head, thus, she was planning for the concert despite the distance until she got home on December. We initially planned to hold it the concert on Feb 2008 then it was later moved to May to give us enough time to look for sponsors (and learn the new choreo!). We have also managed to partner with the Cross Effects.
We were all acting by faith--many have discouraged us and asked, who would watch the concert when nobody knows us? We would tell them: "We can fill the theater with our family and friends--we just want to unite the group." Silly as it may sound but for us it was enough of a valid reason to exert all our efforts for this.
We are three days away from the concert and I can say that the past 7 months have been a roller coaster ride. Since that first email we've lost a few people, but gained more. Most of us didn't get enough sleep as we would've wanted but I can barely remember anyone who complained. We not only stretched each other's skills but also our character.
It was a struggle for us financially, considering we had to pay for studio rent, fare/gas, etc. We've cried a few tears as well, occasionally raised some voices and have shared countless laughters and bruises. And most especially, we've found new friends we can share our lives with.
I am extremely nervous, having rehearsed only on weekends and holidays. I was almost discouraged because of recent events that I didn't expect to happen. However, I am determined to dance my heart out on Saturday--not with a heavy heart but with a heart full of joy and gratefulness. And so do the rest of my 31 friends who will be on stage.
This Saturday, nothing else would matter but to please my Creator with my talent and I am DETERMINED to do it--whatever it takes.
I try to dance despite my full-time, odd-hour job. Grabbing every holiday and free time that I could to work out and practice what I have missed during the rehearsals. I only attend rehearsals on weekends and holidays, thus, I try to make the most out of it despite the lack of sleep and bruised knees. One day, I would dance all day and work part-time. Hehe. It isn't bad to dream, eh?
31 people more share this passion.
2 dance groups. 1 stage. SYNC. A Stylettos and XFX Dance Collaboration. May 10 at the Henry Lee Irwin Theater. For ticket reservations, PM me or contact Jaja at 09052979479.
8PM: Memorized the Jazz Choreo 5.30PM: Same Stuff. Different Day. Taught street dance class to irresistibly cute kids. Went to the bank to get my Credit Card replacement (I lost it 2 weeks ago) then drove my brother to work while nagging about how odd his work hours are.
I came from my first street dance class in Megamall, and having eaten nothing for breakfast, I was starving. Not wanting to walk because I was carrying my clothes and laptop, I took a taxi from Megamall to Galleria to have lunch at the Bean, thinking of ordering my favorite Chicken Sausage Sandwich (in Foccacia bread with cheddar cheese and scrambled eggs).
I was disappointed when my favorite baristas told me that they have phased out the Chicken Sausage Sandwich, however, they offered an alternative. So I ordered Brek O' Day instead--it's sausages, bread and scrambled eggs. My order took a little longer than usual and I just thought that it must be something special for them to take so long to prepare, and considering it costs a whopping P229 compared to the P169 chicken sausage sandwich that I used to order.
When my order arrived, the eggs were cold already and they are not the same sausages that I love. But because I am so freaking hungry, and I went all the way here, I ate it anyway! I didn't want to throw a tantrum and complain to the baristas here because I understand it's not their fault that my favorite meal was phased out. And like I said, they are very nice people who I like seeing at this branch. Thus, I am ranting now (oh, I love freedom of speech LOL).
Don't get me wrong, I love CBTL, the baristas here are very friendly. Perhaps someone new was manning the kitchen when I ordered and she forgot to bring out the food? Argh. I can't help but feel robbed, considering I am pressed for time but I still went here and now I have to walk all the way back to Julia Vargas Avenue where I work. And I could've bought a small pizza from Yellow Cab with the money I have spent here.
I have finished eating and I am still hungry. And pissed off.
Summertime... Is that you?
It has started to get really hot (I mean the weather) which makes me feel that it's already summer! I am really excited for this year's summer season, as my friends and I have cooked up something really big with the dance workshops that we will be organizing. (Find out more about the summer dance classes here: www.actsworkshops.net) It's our 5th year now to do this and I can't help but be ecstatic yet nervous at the same time. I am going to teach three different street dance classes for kids at different venues which I am foreseeing will be a challenge in terms of schedule. I'll be in constant Busy Mode for the next couple of months. Exciting! =p
I do have a lot of things to look forward to this summer--new things to learn and relationships to build. God has given me a lot of open doors, favors and opportunities for me to grow, thus, my arms are wide open to embrace these.
I'm Flickr-ing! A recent acquisition of a pretty DSLR named Lilo (hehe) made me even more "click happy" than I already am. I am uploading my artistic efforts to my Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/llainey/.
The rest of the ugly photos will be still be uploaded to my Multiply account. Hehe.
Photos taken using a Nikon D40. Its name is Lilo, short for Little Olsen (named after Marielle's D80, Olsen).
Facebook Addiction
I've had a Facebook account for a while now, but I never really paid attention to it until quite recently. I was and still am overwhelmed with the number of Notifications/Requests I have received from a handful of friends that I have in Facebook. Last week I had over a hundred, and I am proud to say that it's down to 56 today. Thus, I have added loads of applications to my profile and accomplished a dozen other quizzes and tests. I found it annoying at first, having to respond to all those requests but it has recently become therapeutic and relaxing for me. It's fun to do no-brainer quizzes every once in a while--especially during my lunch break here at the office. Hehe. And speaking of which, my lunch hour is almost over and I am off to work again now. =D Here's a screenshot of an application/quiz I added to my profile yesterday:
Finally, My Drivers' License
Almost a year ago, I blogged about learning how to drive and getting my student permit. I did not apply for a non-professional license until about two weeks ago when I actually had the free time to do so. I waited this long because I really dread going to any government office as it's always a bad experience when I visit one. I knew that it's going to take me hours to process that, so I gave my boss a heads up that I might be late for just a few minutes. I start work at 4:30pm and since we are planning to be at the LTO office by 7:30 am, we might be done by lunch time or 3pm at the worst.
It was a Friday, and my dad and I were at the LTO licensing center in San Juan by 7:30 am. We really wanted to finish early so I could make it to work on time. I even wore a nice, decent outfit so I can go straight to the office as soon as I get my license. I timed everything so could blog about it as I am doing now. Hehe.
7:45 amDRUG TEST. The LTO offices are still closed at this time, and it's a good thing that the drug testing clinic was already open. I got the result three minutes after I submitted my you-know-what. I paid P250 for this.
8:00 amMEDICAL EXAM. Well, it was more of an interview rather than an exam. The 55-year old doctor just asked me how old I was, how tall I am, and if I wear glasses. He even cursed while he was writing my (long) full name. But I did step on the weighing scale. He filled up the certificate, signed it and gave it to me. I paid a hundred pesos for that.
9:26 amPHOTOSIG. After almost an hour and a half's waiting, my name was finally called. There I had my photo taken and my digital signature saved. The lady at the window told me to wait for my name to be called at the cashier. So I sat down and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited.
11:27 amPAY FOR APPLICATION FEE. Finally, my name was called! I was at the verge of throwing a tantrum and creating havoc. Two precious hours of my time have been wasted sitting down and doing nothing but play the boring games in my cellphone. There was only one cashier available, who operated a computer and a dot matrix printer that prints the receipts. All payments for license renewal, application, and other license-related fees goes to just one slow cashier. One receipt is printed every 2 minutes or more. I asked some people why it takes them so long--most of them said that it's because the computers are slow. Aren't computers supposed to make everything faster? I really wanted to volunteer and help out the lady at the cashier, or donate a faster PC. The irony is that I paid a small amount of P96 which covers the application fee and the COMPUTER FEE. Yes, I waited almost 2 hours to pay P96. (I can teach a dance class that runs for 2 hours max, where I get paid about P500-P1000 per hour. Or I would've slept the whole afternoon instead and wakeup feeling refreshed. So you could imagine how I considered this as a waste of time.)
11:45 pm WRITTEN TEST. I was called for the test shortly after I paid the silly fees. Obviously, the cashier has really been the cause of delay the whole time. I took the test which I already know the answers to (thanks to the reviewer!). I only took about 20 minutes to do this because the government employees in the testing room are talking and laughing out loud and they started to annoy me. After the test, I went out to meet my dad and we had lunch together.
That's already half a day down the drain. I noticed that at around 12:30pm, the people are being ushered out of the waiting areas--the office will be closed because the government employees are going to have lunch. That really pissed me off a bit.
1:56 pm ROAD TEST. I was already in panic mode by this time. I realized I won't be able to make it to work on time anymore at the rate they are going. I have managed to speak to a few more people and they said that it would really take me the whole day, because everything is computerized now. It doesn't make sense, right? My anger was just fueled when I heard these comments, thinking that my hard-earned taxes go to these people plus I had to pay a computer fee to keep their slow computers going. Argh! Anyway, the road test was quite easy especially if you already know how to drive. My heart was broken further when I was told that the next step was to pay at the cashier again.
3:35 pm PAY AGAIN AT THE CASHIER. This is for the license fee and COMPUTER FEE. I really don't understand why this was not charged earlier. I really wanted to cry while I was waiting. My dad and I are trying to entertain ourselves by telling each other corny jokes and talking about Popi. I was really dismayed and frustrated at the whole process, and it reminded me of why I sometimes want to move out of the Philippines. The system is so rotten.
3:45 pmGOT MY LICENSE! My dad recognized someone he knew who is working at the LTO--the guy pulled out my papers and had my license printed out right away. It was still warm when he handed it to me.
Because I already smell of smoke and sweat, I decided to go home first before going to the office. I was a couple of hours late. If I was working 9am-5pm, I would've missed a day's work already just to get my license. Is that even fair at all? It really sucks.
