Right now:

• My Internet is all sorts of wonky. Since Friday, we’ve been getting okay Internet during the day, a considerably slow connection in the evening, and almost completely naught past midnight. The Husband and I have now officially given up on SKY Broadband and their horrible service. We’re going to sign up with PLDT MyDSL first thing in the morning.
• I’m stressing out over visas. It’s hard enough to get ‘em with a Philippine passport, yes, but it’s even scarier when you work online and have no paperwork to speak of. It’s looking like I’m just going to have to wing it and hope for the best – not a good thought for this (somewhat) control freak.
• I’m finally in the process of creating my portfolio site, one that isn’t a sub-domain of this blog. It’s fun because I really do love web design, but it’s also giving me a headache. Right now, my head is filled with thoughts of document imaging, and it’s keeping me awake.
• Early this week, I decided to go for something very, very exciting. I’m about to go on the third and final step of the process, and I’m a quivering bundle of nerves. This step, by the way, was meant to be over by Friday night, but SKY Broadband fucked it up big time (see first bullet). Thankfully, I’ve been given another chance.
• The Sleepasil capsule I took is kicking in. It’s about time, too. So I’ma get some sleep now.

Goodnight, all!

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. . . The Husband and I are sleeping on the couch to make way for our guest. Thank heavens for electric, reclining ones – even if they are made of (clichéd) leather.

. . . work is kicking my backside.

. . . there’s way too much exhausting family drama.

. . . I haven’t been shopping for shoes or clothes or Povada Fine Jewelry. I’m hoping to meet most of my personal goals this year or the next, and I’m going to need the funds to do so. Wish me luck.

. . . I’ve been planning my Kota Kinabalu-Sandakan trip with The Husband next month like a woman possessed. The Kinabatangan (Sandakan) leg is particularly tricky because it looks like we may have to give up quite a few basic creature comforts to make the most out of the whole Borneo jungle experience (while paying top dollar, mind you). I am very ambivalent about the whole thing. I would never pass up the chance to observe primates and pygmy elephants and crocodiles out in the wild. But I can’t live without a good, clean toilet either. Go figure.

. . . I find myself hovering. Hovering between happiness and sadness, exhaustion and exuberance, hellos and goodbyes.

I’m hoping to get my blogging mojo back any day now. Sometimes it feels like I’ve inadvertently locked up my desire to write in one of those steel garages, and I’ve somehow lost the key. I hope you’ll stick around ’till I get it back.

In a nutshell, here’s what I’ve been up to:

1. I went to Palawan with The Husband. So many pictures, so little time to edit. But I’m getting there and I’ll be sharing them with you soon-ish, I promise.

2. I got older. Wiser, too, I hope.

3. I was in Manila for 33 hours last week with The Sister. We attended an awesome workshop (more on that later), and I exhibited uncharacteristic restraint in Forever 21 and all the other shops that I love so much in the capital. Yay for me! Wiser, I tell you!

4. I’ve been studying a new strategy that my boss wants me to implement, and it’s doing my head in.

5. I am off to Singapore on Monday night, again with The Sister. I am hoping for more of the said shopping restraint. Though if you ask me, a few pairs of designer chandelier earrings and new summer sandals won’t hurt, right? RIGHT???

6. I lost about a kilo after weeks spent on the damned elliptical. Dismal, if you ask me.

7. Apparently, I got another blog award, this time from The Reason You Come. Can I get a whoop? More on that later.

Believe it or not, I’m actually looking forward to staying put for a couple of months. But then, I won’t have much to blog about if I do, so that’s a bit of a catch-22. (That wasn’t meant to rhyme.)

You’ll be hearing from me again over the weekend. Don’t write off this blog as a lost cause yet!

Anyhow, I really can’t tell you if my efforts have paid off so far. Thanks to PMS, I’m bloated right now and I feel like a whale. Obviously, I’m not happy, what with our trip to Palawan coming up this Sunday.

What I can tell you is I may have overdone this exercise thing because I’ve somehow ended up with an injured left knee. It’s not remotely as tragic as Outer Banks foreclosures, but it does hurt enough to make me feel really bad about myself. I take things way too seriously sometimes.

It’s a good thing I’ll be out of town until next Thursday. I need to stay away from the gym for a while, unless I want a permanently injured knee. Here’s hoping it won’t bother me so much while I snorkel my heart out.

But really, I am quite proud of my new acquisitions. Not only am I so much more productive, I’m actually, umm, neater. How long that’s going to last, I have no idea, but hope springs eternal.

First, there’s my MTO (made-to-order) table.

I wasn’t going to post any pictures of it until I’ve finished prettifying my little workspace, but I couldn’t resist. It’s made of real wood, not those pre-fabricated faux wood things that you get from department stores, so I’m very, very proud of this desk.

I also found a very cool lamp to go with it when I went to Mandaue Foam over the weekend. I think that’s how a desk lamp should look like.

That same trip to Mandaue Foam, I also got a nice leather chair of the non-wheelie kind. (The Husband thinks a wheelie chair and me are one big accident waiting to happen.)

It’s a rather boring plain black and is honestly too plain for my taste, but it was just so comfortable! I couldn’t let it go! It supports my bad back perfectly, and it’s big enough for me to sit cross-legged on, if I want to.

Methinks I’m going to drape a colorful quilt on it to brighten it up some.

When we bought the lamp and the chair, we were still on our way somewhere else, so we had to pick it up the next day. Which was a good thing, too, because we found this great covered shoe rack that was exactly what I had in mind for my shoes. Just a few days before that, The Husband and I were discussing my shoe, umm, buying habits, and his main problem was that our old racks have run out of room. Well, problem solved, thanks to my shoe-rack-cum-dresser.

This one’s already running out of room as it is (I knew we should’ve gotten the really big one!), but, hey, that’s just one more reason not to shoe-shop, right? Right. I will keep telling myself that.

I think next time, I’m going to find us some contemporary sofas. Right now, we’ve got a bugly electric one made of leather in navy – a relic from The Husband’s bachelor lifestyle, ugh! I absolutely hate it (don’t tell him that), but he won’t part with it for the world. Men.

Honestly, now would’ve been a good time to go on one of ‘em Branson vacations, or even just to lollygag around the house. Unfortunately, I’ve been so ready to tackle my to-do list, and I’ve hyped myself up to kick my deadline in the teeth that it’s impossible for me to sit still. So I cleaned my closet.

No longer looking like a bomb site.

And spruced up my new shoe rack.

Running out of room.

The Internet better be back tomorrow because I really can’t do any more cleaning!

Eventually, we ended up getting a fine wooden one custom-made, and I couldn’t be happier. Now I just need to look for the perfect chair to go with it and spruce up my little workspace a bit more. Right now, it’s still looking a bit bare, so I’m not going to take photos yet. But I will the moment I get more organized.

The great thing about having a proper work desk is I am now scarily productive. I’m actually having to remind myself to slow down some, it’s crazy! That, and it definitely feels great to move out of the bed for a change, too.

I can’t wait to decorate!

I can’t sing, either. Or dance. My artistic skills are next to zero, so drawing, sketching, painting, sculpting, and the like are out of the picture.

Why, I probably can’t even change a lightbulb, or a shower nozzle, or a mop head. And I suppose it goes without saying that I’m more likely to probe a Martian than do rv repairs.

So I came to the conclusion that I need more life skills. Otherwise, I might end up spending the rest of my life writing inane things that don’t exactly do a world of good, or worse, shoe-shopping.

I’ve decided that I’m going to learn something new in 2011. I like the idea of knitting. Or making hats. Or even bikini waxing.

Where does one shop for a life skill, anyway?

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- Just when my to-do list was starting to look like I might actually finish it this year, The Boss piled up another truckload of videos and PDFs to study, blogs to set up, and clients to mollycoddle. I’m not complaining, however, because I would not trade this job (and boss!) for the world.

- I woke up to find a discrepancy in our bank account. Yes, a missing P2,000 (about $50), though not a lot, is enough to propel me into a state of sheer panic. I’ve filed a complaint with the bank, and hopefully they’ll find it. I can buy an awesome pair of shoes with that! Theoretically, of course.

- We got stuck in Ayala for hours and hours because 1) it was raining, and 2) the cab queue was absolutely horrendous. We passed the time with gelatos at Gelatissimo and wifi and coffee at Seattle’s Best. By 10 PM, the cab queue was still at a standstill, so The Husband made me walk half a kilometer to the main road . . . in my new boots, no less! So I ended up teeter-tottering and slipping and sliding until we found a cab, which didn’t take too long, thank heavens!

- We had to endure traffic jams to and from Talamban (where we live). The ‘from’ bit was expected, what with early Friday rush hour and all. But a traffic jam at 10 in the evening? That’s not good. We thought some vehicle might have broken down and may be waiting for roadside assistance or something, but no, it was VECO fiddling with the power again! So I am half-expecting yet another power outage as I write – the thought of which really, really pisses me off.

Good God, I threw so many hissy fits today that I could put my cat to shame.

Saturday night found myself and The Husband in the Urban Cellar, an English pub close to our house. The man was craving for his English pies and apple cider, and I could not not indulge him. And then there was gelato from Gelatissimo and Clash of the Titans on Blu-ray. I must say I enjoyed the movie more without the botched 3D. The butchered story, however, was still horrible. Obviously, Zeus didn’t hear me wailing to the heavens the first time around.

Sunday was spent with the girls. The Bestie, Sister, and I have been dying to watch Piranha 3D forever! (Yes, you heard me right!) We love our bad movies, and Piranha 3D is as bad as they come. So naturally, we wouldn’t have missed it for the world! If you ask me, though, it probably would’ve looked better if it was not on 3D. I really am going off this whole 3D crap. It gives me nothing but headaches. But Piranha 3D didn’t disappoint. It was completely gory and mindless – so bad that it makes Mesothelioma cancer look good! Honestly, what’s not to love about bad movies?

So that’s where my weekend went. It’s Monday again, and I’ve got deadlines left, right, and center. Methinks I’m going to be a hermit for the next few days. But, at least, I will be a hermit with memories of prehistoric piranhas to amuse me. That, and Sam Worthington’s upskirt shots.