Goddess, I Am.

Once again, I am amazed at how quickly time flies when you’re having fun. I woke up this morning and realized that in 11 days, I will be back in Hongkong! To say I’m excited is an understatement. The Husband and I already have our itinerary all planned out; I just hope it won’t rain so much while we’re there!

This was me in Ocean Park back in October 2007:

Yes, I’m in a pumpkin!

Good God, was I skinny! At the moment, I’m going to need to bring out ‘em weight loss products again, if I am going to rock all the outfits I’ve bought . . . so far. Oh, well.

So the countdown begins today. And it’s a bit of a catch-22 because I’m also counting down to something that’ll happen a few days before the Hongkong trip that I’m dreading. On the one hand, I’m wishing time will hurry up somewhat so I can go a’traveling again, but on the other, I’m wishing it won’t! It really is a freakin’ emotional roller coaster, and I’m starting to feel a tad bipolar.

How about you? Have you ever felt this conflicted before?

I’ve said this once, and I’ll say it again: I love my job. And by extension, this means I really do enjoy working; hence, why I do little else.

These days, however, my focus has been quite off. Case in point – a task that would normally take me an hour to do now takes me about a couple at best, half a day at worst. I can’t help it. I’m now on vacation mode! The slightest reminder of the trips that I’m going to be taking within the next few months is enough to get me Googling like mad and planning our itineraries like a woman possessed.

Although Branson vacations are not part of the agenda right now, I am still heading to parts made of awesome.

Next week, The Husband and I are off to Donsol, Sorsogon for a couple of days. In case you’re wondering what could possibly be in Donsol that’s worth the excitement, I’ll give it to you in two words: whale sharks.

Oh, and we’re not just off to watch whale sharks, we’re actually going to SWIM with whale sharks. How cool is that? I’m absolutely DYING with excitement! So much so, in fact, that I’ve had my sister make me a special swimsuit that will guarantee that I don’t get mistaken for plankton. And yes, I’m serious.

I’m also looking forward to the firefly river cruise. I love fireflies, really I do, and I’m looking forward to seeing so many in such a romantic setting.

Next, we’re off to Singapore in April with The Family. I’ve never gotten around to visiting Singapore, even back in the days I spent gallivanting around the Southern Thailand and Malaysia, so I’m very much looking forward to this trip. Oh, I hope they finally open up the new Universal Studios by then!

In May, The Family and I will be going on a beach trip – probably to Bantayan again. If so, that would be my sixth time on the island, but hey, we all know that a trip to the beach is always something to look forward to, no matter what!

At the end of June, The Husband and I are going back to my favorite city (so far): Hongkong! I. CAN’T. WAIT!

I’ve been looking forward to going back since our first trip in 2007, so we’ve decided to stay a bit longer than we did the last time. We’re very much looking forward to exploring Macau some more and going birdwatching in the wetlands near Mai Po and, of course, getting back on The Abyss (THE mother of all rides, baby!) in Ocean Park.

Pardon the video. I was nearly 3 years younger, 3 years more stupid, and 3 years more O.A. The potty mouth hasn’t changed, though.

We’re yet to plan more trips for the second half of the year, but right now, I’m thinking of Coron (Palawan), Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia), and Jakarta/Bali (Indonesia).

Yes, it still amazes me how happy and giddy the prospect of traveling makes me. After staying put in Cebu for so long, I’ve almost forgotten how good it feels to be someplace new. Oh yes, I’ve missed being Wander Girl, I tell you! And the prospect of taking hundreds upon hundreds of potentially gorgeous photographs is absolutely exciting!

So how about you? Where are you off to this year?

I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. I do, however, make it a point to figure out my goals for the year. What’s the difference? I find resolutions more fleeting – insincere, even. Goals, on the other hand, are more concrete, serious, and often realistic, so I find myself more driven, more inspired, and more determined to achieve them. But that’s just me.

All in all, 2009 was quite a great year for me. No, I did not manage to achieve ALL my goals, but I did accomplish a great deal – some of which were totally unplanned and therefore, pleasantly unexpected! It only makes perfect sense that this year’s goals should be just a tad loftier. In fact, it seems like an insult to the year that passed to regress!

So enough babble. Here are some of the things that I’m hoping to accomplish this year, in no particular order:

1. Get my government paperwork FINALLY sorted out, so I can start processing the PAG-IBIG loan, which, in turn, will . . .

2. Start the house construction, and hopefully, let us . . .

3. Buy a car – nothing fancy, but something that works. I want a Suzuki Swift. The Husband wants a Honda Jazz, or a secondhand two-door Pajero. Whatever it’s going to be, it’ll most likely be secondhand for the rest of the list to come into fruition. (Read on, do!)

4. Have about a million (pesos) squirreled away. How we’re going to do that is beyond me, but it’ll happen, I tell you! And no, robbing a bank isn’t part of the plan.

This year, I hope to do away with unnecessary purchases – meaning, no more gadgets (unless necessary), weekly online shopping sprees for clothes, expensive dinners (do you hear me, T.G.I.Friday’s?), and two-way cab rides (one-way will do).

5. Build Innuendo, especially now that I own 50% of it (yey!). The company was fairly successful in 2009, and it gave us an idea exactly how huge its potential really is. We’re hoping to hit the ground running this year, what with Chris & Berns at Ayala Center’s The Maze now carrying our swimsuits and another bazaar in I.T. Park coming up on January 11 to 24 (I’ll see you there, yes?).

Progress is a bit slow on the Innuendo website, however. I’ve got so much work to do that I haven’t had a chance to sort out the ecommerce fulfillment and even the site design. Plus, we haven’t had a chance to shoot the new collection, so I don’t have photos to post. BUT all these will be sorted out before January ends, AND I’ll be doing a little giveaway on this site, so I hope you’ll watch out for the launch.

6. Travel, travel, travel. The fact that we traveled very little in 2009 was probably the year’s biggest disappointment, but we are determined to remedy that this year. We’re off to Donsol, Sorsogon for my birthday to swim with the migrating butandings (whale sharks), so hopefully the inevitable Mt. Mayon eruption won’t be too serious, considering that we have to fly to Legaspi City to get to Donsol. We’re also off to a 6-day Hongkong trip come June, yey!

7. Still on the subject of travel, another reason why I have to sort out my government and financial papers is that I’ll need them to apply for a Schengen visa this year, if we are to tour Rome (!!!) and the rest of Europe in 2011. I’m hoping the process won’t be too painful, considering that I am married to a British citizen, after all!

8. Invest. The thing about working online is that you never know when it’s going to end. You could be working on a project that you’ve been on for years, yet find yourself unemployed the next day. That’s reality. So though I know that my bosses intend to stick around for a long, long, LONG time (fingers crossed!), I still want to invest in something tangible. Presently, I’m considering a laundry franchise. (Just imagine: Iris, Goddess of Laundry.)

9. Get in better shape. Last year saw my weight going up and down like a freakin’ yoyo – literally. I was 102 lbs. at my thinnest, but I have now ballooned to 112 lbs. after the holidays. I intend to stay within the 100 to 105 lbs. bracket throughout the year. And. This. Starts. NOW.

10. Lastly, I intend to be more productive and better organized this year. Although I’ve worked extremely hard and gotten more things done in 2009 than I initially expected, I still have a tendency to slack, sometimes for days on end. I intend to do away with slacking for good. This means I will sleep earlier and wake up earlier to get more things done during the day. I will also learn to delegate more effectively, so I don’t end up climbing the walls in panic whenever I’ve got deadlines coming up.

So am I likely to achieve all my goals for 2010? The year is young, so we shall see. But if 2009 was anything to go by, I daresay, it’ll be a cinch!

A week ago, we got confirmation that The Husband’s non-immigrant visa was finally approved by the Bureau of Immigration after nearly 3 months of waiting (they told us it’ll be done in 60 days). This meant that he could stay for a year, free and clear, instead of having to extend his tourist visa every 2 months.

So off we went to Immigration Wednesday afternoon to have it implemented. All was well and good for a while – until we were told that we needed to pay for his overstay.

Now, when we applied for the new visa, we had to go through an interview with a Department of Justice fiscal, whose sole purpose was to assess if our marriage was not out of convenience. Naturally, we passed his scrutiny with flying colors – but that’s beside the point. I asked him as we were concluding the interview if we needed to extend The Husband’s current tourist visa while we waited for approval, and he said we didn’t have to because we already had an application for another visa on the system (or something to that effect). We thought that was the end of it.

Anyway, as I said, we were told to pay for overstay. I explained the situation, and they simply shrugged it off as misinformation. So I looked at the chart that showed the immigration fees, and I figured, P500 a month isn’t so bad. I didn’t want to argue, so I told The Husband we’ll just pay and get it over with. After all, a nearly 3-month overstay would only cost about P1500, right?

How wrong I was! Horror of all horrors, we were slapped with a P6000-something bill for the two missed visa extensions (that we were advised was unnecessary in the first place) ON TOP of the P1500 overstay! Again, we stated our case to someone who had the looks of someone more senior, who (predictably) shrugged it off like everyone else.

The Husband was ready to blow, I could tell, but I managed to calm him down. I knew that this being the Philippines, it’s never a good idea to piss off those who wield what little bit of power they have like it’s the freaking Excalibur.

Anyhow, we paid up, and were again slapped with another P8000 bill to implement the new non-immigrant visa and the ACR-I card. We were already expecting this, however, so we paid up without a peep. Still, it hurt.

But it didn’t end there. They required a ton of paperwork, and each sheet of paper needed a gazillion copies – copies that they don’t do themselves, I might add. I had to take frequent trips to the photocopiers outside the Immigration office and pay for the copies (and the folders and brown envelopes that they required at the very last minute) myself. For this visit alone, I spent nearly P200 on photocopies. Considering the exorbitant fees that they charge, you’d think that they could at least spring for photocopies.

So with our fees paid and enough paperwork to make the tree-lover in me cringe, we marched upstairs to get his ACR-I card sorted out. After The Husband was fingerprinted and had his photograph taken, we were told the card will be ready in two to three months. Again, considering the price and the effort we invested on this, you’d think they could get it ready quicker than that. Hell, we all KNOW it can be done quicker than that, but they’re too busy dilly-dallying. But hey, who are we to complain, right?

While we waited for them to do their thing, I asked the lady what the ACR-I card was for. She told me it would allow The Husband to go straight to the airport if we took a trip outside of the country, as opposed to having to go the Immigration office two weeks in advance to get an exit clearance. Naturally, my interest was piqued, what with our planned Hongkong trip in November. I pressed for more information, and found out that we had to pay a further P3000 for the said exit clearance! Oh. My. God. Do the fees ever stop in this place?

Well, apparently not. As we were getting ready to leave, we were asked for a further P200 as notarial fee! And that, my dear friends, was the proverbial icing on the cake.

We went home drained. We went home exhausted. We went home with a feeling that we’ve been violated somehow. I think it’s the same kind of feeling that rape and robbery victims must have after the fact. I wanted to cry, but couldn’t. Hell, it even felt like I suddenly lost a ton of weight in the most unhealthy way imaginable without the aid of weight loss pills! It was, hands down, one of the most unpleasant things that have ever happened to me and The Husband ever.

And so we were left with a ruined budget days before we’re scheduled to get paid again. Not only that, the Hongkong trip that we’ve been so terribly excited about will have to be postponed until January or so when that stupid ACR-I card manifests itself all because there is absolutely NO WAY that they’re going get another centavo off us for an exit clearance that we shouldn’t even have to pay for, if they could just move their lazy asses and do their jobs quicker.

I’m sorry, but if the idiots at Immigration (or any other government office, for that matter – not to mention the politicians in office) are any indication, it hurts me to have to say that the Philippines will never have a chance to amount to anything other than a Third World country whose biggest claim to fame is in being one of the most corrupt countries in the world. And as a Filipina who truly takes pride in the good things this country can offer, that makes me one very sad camper.

Recently, I splurged on yet another gadget, a Nikon D3000. This is because I somehow got it into my head that apart from being a writer, I wanted to be a photographer, too. It’s silly, I know, but after living a lifetime of not being able to afford so much as a stick of gum (okay, I’m exaggerating a bit), I figured I ought to go and seize the day now that I can.

I chose the D3000 because it’s the updated version of the classic (but now defunct) D40, which was the best entry-level camera that ever existed. The D3000 is meant to be fantastic for first-time DSLR users, and I completely agree.

For the record, I’ve never owned a camera before. Ever. I’ve only ever used point-and-shoot models that I’ve had to borrow from family and friends. So when I finally got Caesar (yes, that’s my camera’s name), I felt like a non-smoker who suddenly decided to spend the rest of my life smoking cigars out of the blue – meaning, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

Of course, the camera came with a manual, but it might as well have been in Swahili for all the help it gave me. I knew nothing about apertures and shutter speeds and ISOs, and oh, what a headache it was!

I’ve had it for nearly a month now, and I’m still not taking the stellar photos that I imagined I would be taking. But I’m getting there. I’m actually STUDYING, believe it or not, and quite diligently, too, much to The Husband’s shock. I bought Scott Kelby’s Digital Photography books (I’m missing Volume 2 out of a series of 3), which I’ve been reading studiously for the past week or so, and I’m actually having fun! The man makes the whole thing sound so easy. I really am learning plenty.

My goal is to learn everything I could before next month’s Hongkong trip so I can take nightscapes so fantastic that people will weep! Okay, that’s a bit much, but you get the picture (no pun intended, honest!).

It’s ambitious, yes. But hey, this is me, so you should be used to that by now (tee hee).

Check out my images efforts in Flickr. Oh, and I now have a photoblog, too.