Grateful Journal Excerpts (1st Week of December)

I have so much to be grateful for.

1.) In my desire to earn extra case, I ordered eighteen (fake) LeSportsac pouches on Tuesday. To my surprise, I sold all of them at work the following day. I was expecting to keep unsold pouches for myself but the girls took them all. Before you congratulate me, let me say that these pouches are just fifty pesos a piece. They’re these small mini bags for organizing stuff inside your purse (something that I really need). I earned very little from it, but it was very fulfilling. Being the introvert that I am, I definitely lack sales skills.


It was Mapi who inspired me to try selling other stuff (besides glutathione). She told me she earns very little from selling pre-paid phone cards, but that hasn’t stopped her from pursuing it. She also just started taking orders for Dakki.


I admire her for her perseverance and her sense of responsibility. She is single, has no obligations, is able to save a lot from her salary, yet she keeps thinking of ways to earn. A few months ago she was also burning CDs as one of her sidelines.


I have a few more orders from some of the team members. I hope I can be as “matiyaga” as Mapi. She’s happy no matter how little the return is.

2.) Last Thursday, Mommy Doris (my favorite aunt) sent me an email. She said that she had just bought me a Tommy Hilfiger bag, similar to the one that I lost when I was held-up. I was so touched I wanted to cry. She was in the Philippines when it happened, and it was she who gave me that bag as pasalubong. When she found out I had lost my Tag Heuer, she gave me an Anne Klein watch.


I know these are just material things but her gestures just moved me. When she was here, she kept reassuring me that I’ll have other things to enjoy in the future and told me not to feel such loss for the stuff that were taken from me. She was also scolding everyone else at home for letting me out alone at the wee hours to catch a cab going to work. I’m very lucky to have family like her.

3.) Mama bought me new jeans. When she came home, she told me she couldn’t get skinny jeans in my size. After trying it on, we both laughed and agreed that my fat ass and thighs make them look like skinny jeans.

4.) After randomly being picked for an online survey, I earned a tall drink from starbucks. Yey!

5.) Mapi took my Starbucks promo card last Saturday and got me four stickers! Only three more to go and I get my 2008 Planner! She just saved me P620 (four grande Peppermint Mochas)!

5.) I made it to their promo! At past one, I was still rating calls in the office. After my fourth rating, I rushed to Starbucks before 2:00 PM for my second Peppermint Mocha for the day and they gave me two stickers for one drink! I’m getting sick of these Christmas drinks, I’m not even enjoying the coffee anymore. One more sticker to go and I don’t have to set foot in Starbucks for weeks.


I could still afford one drink today but for the first time I am refusing another serving of coffee. Still, I’m glad to get two stickers for the price of one drink.

Postscript
I got my planner.

Downtime

It is the eve of the love month. Once again, I find myself alone in Starbucks Silver City. I have no complaints about the fact that I am by myself. These are quiet moments that I actually enjoy.

Airborne Access conked out on me after around 15 minutes of worthless browsing. Worthless, because there was really nothing new to see. Most of my good friends seem to have very little time left for blogging. Third seems to be the only one who regularly posts new stuff, and I already read his last entry around three times today.

Why am I so excited to see excerpts of other people's lives? I'm not sure. I guess I am naturally curious when it comes to people's experiences. I am not like others who can go on all day surfing sites in search of gizmos and gadgets. I prefer viewing blogs. Somehow, it makes me feel real to read about how other people feel. They make me seem normal. Today is my rest day. After bringing Denver to work, I ran off to SM Hypermarket to pay my darned Meralco and water bills. I picked up some groceries before heading home and then took Ippo to the office day care late afternoon so he could have all the running space that he wants. He can now confidently walk up the slide on his own. Yup, he climbs up the slide. He doesn't actually slide on it. Too bad it was too damn cold in the day care. We would have stayed longer had we brought blankets.

When I couldn't take the smell of shit on Ippo’s pants any longer, I took him and his yaya home and went straight here to have the last two stickers affixed on my second Starbucks Christmas Traditions Card.

I've no plans of using two planners this year. In fact, my first planner is rotting inside my closet. The second planner is a gift for my Tita Dahl who specifically asked for a Starbucks Planner. I offered her a Gonuts Doughnuts Planner which I could have purchased for less than P300, but she won’t have it. Anyway, I am happy to give her what she asked for, even if I look rather silly to be alone with two drinks on my table. I got here at around 11:00PM and had only until midnight to fill the card. The queue was wild as usual, today being the last day of obtaining stickers. I didn't want to take a chance, so I went ahead and ordered one tall hot mocha and one grande iced mocha for myself. I must look like I've been stood up by my date or something.

My Tita Dahl is extra special. I never asked her to, but she took care of me and my son from the time I was in the hospital, until Ippo was around two weeks old. I was probably around 175lbs and couldn't sit nor stand on my own. I had a fresh cut and she was with me on every trip to the bathroom and even helped me put on my knickers. I'm sure she had a hard time but she did it anyway. Nobody else has ever done that for me, and for that I am forever grateful to her.

I am excited to see the look on her face when I hand over the planner to her.

Written on Jan-31