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Testing if this one would work.

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Catching Up…

I just got the pictures from Charmy’s hard drive, so now that all the images I needed are at hand, I can now start the recap of my past weeks.

This’ll be another long post, brace yourselves. =)

22 August 2007 (Wednesday)
When I handed Charm the box of royal bibingka I bought at Marsha’s Delicacies (Vigan) as my belated birthday gift yesterday, she informed me that we will resume our walks today. And walk we did.

Normally, we would just go to the next subdivision and do some stretching and walk back home. However today, she asked me if I can still manage to walk going to the next subdivision. I said yes. I didn’t know she’d take so seriously, because when we passed by the park, she continued walking.

Walking to the next subdivision had many routes. She chose the normal route whenever they will go to the school her mom is working at. We surprised her mom when we got to the school.

Tita Cora (the mom) bought some breakfast for us. I ate my share though I was not supposed to, because I don’t want to hurt Tita Cora’s feelings. I just said to myself I will walk off the oil that was present on the pancit she bought for us.

Tita Cora told me about my sister’s confirmation papers and asked me if I can process it myself for she got swamped with work and cannot attend to it anymore. Charm and I walked to the parish church and processed sister’s papers.

While walking, Charmy shared so many stories and called me her new best friend. I was touched.

23 August 2007 (Thursday)
Again, we walked to the school (using a different route) and ate breakfast at the school’s canteen. The canteen owner became an instant friend.

I finished sister’s confirmation papers.

Charmy invited me for some singing at Tom’s World (SM Fairview) because she had some tokens and would like to celebrate her post birthday party with me.

Together with Jay, her sister Czarina, nephew Hero Miel and nanny, we sang our hearts out. Then, we had snacks at Tropical Hut (located on the food court) where I had spaghetti.

I also had the films from vacations developed.

24 August 2007 (Friday)
Charm and I didn’t walk today, but we both went to Lagro where I had my new eyeglasses made and she paid her sister’s insurance. After which, we went to SM again to some grocery shopping. We were supposed to eat snacks, but we decided not to anymore for it’ll only mean added calories and fat. I think this new bestfriend thing is getting so cool!

25 August 2007 (Saturday)
No school today, so instead of going to the school, we went to another place. Charmy and I had this plan of opening a small business, and she told me the new place we went to will be the best place to do it. There was a small wet market there, and I decided to buy some fish for lunch.

Mom went to their organization’s Lord’s Day, and I am left with my sister.

26 August 2007 (Sunday)
Charmy and I decided not to walk anymore on Sundays for we both will hear mass. I went to church with mom only, for sister attended the Catechism needed for their confirmation.

27 August 2007 (Monday)
Today was a holiday, so sister went with us as we walk. We cannot go to the school yet, so we went to the new place again.

When we got home, mom informed me that the optical shop already called to say my eyeglasses were ready for pick-up. All of us went to the optical shop and had lunch at Jollibee.

We also did some clothes shopping, and I bought a pair of jeans and a blouse. Mom had to alter the jeans for it was a little big for me.

28 August 2007 (Tuesday)
Charm told me someone told her about a resort in Amparo Village. We decided to check it out so if we loved it, the neighborhood friends won’t have to travel far to enjoy some cool water. Jay walked with us today and was our tour guide.

We were surprised to know that the resort was already an abandoned place. It was beautiful, but a little messy. Still, we told ourselves we would be back tomorrow to do some photo shoot.

When we got to the school, Tita Cora informed us that Hero Miel (Charmy’s nephew) got so sick. Charmy’s late father was a faith healer, so they grew up believing in paranormal things. Tita Cora asked us to look for a certain person within the area to check on the sick kid.

I also started, finished, and uploaded my layout for the PS Blog Kaya Challenge.

29 August 2007 (Wednesday)
Because Hero was still sick, Charmy asked me to postpone the walk today for she will take care of the sick kid.

Voting for the favorite layout started at PS Blog.

30 August 2007 (Thursday)
Charmy now got the flu.

Since I have no walk buddy, I just walked to the nearby plaza and did aerobics with the help of my MTV Grind VCD.

31 August 2007 (Friday)
I woke up to Diane’s message telling that my layout was voted favorite at the PS Blog. This was the first time my layout won and I was extremely happy.

Lee informed me that her sister sent some scrapbook papers for me (thanks, Manang Marissa!), which I can get at the Pinoy Scrapbookers’ EB. Yey!

01 September 2007 (Saturday)
My sister and Charmy’s sister Czarina had their confirmation today. Charmy was still sick, so I became their official photographer.

Bishop Antonio Tobias (diocese of Novaliches) celebrated the mass with the help of three other priests. It was the first time I saw him, and he was kind actually.

After the celebration, mom cooked pancit and gave some to the neighbors/godparents. Tita Cora gave us some cheese sandwiches and a liter of softdrinks to go with it.

02 September 2007 (Sunday)
Ate Indang celebrated her birthday today. If last year she celebrated it at McDonald’s, her party this year was just in their house. They served quite a lot of foods, but I tried not to eat much for most of the foods served were oily. I did taste most of it, though. Just a taste, okay?

They had this videoke disc and we all sang to the top of our lungs! I got a little pissed that I sang quite well yet my score would only be 87 at the most. What pissed me more was my sister won’t sing well, but her score was 97.

Mom and Tita Cora had a little song showdown (each singing the same song), but mom lost both rounds because her voice wasn’t loud enough. But all was okay, we all had a great time!

Mom left after the showdown, while sister and I stayed ‘til 8pm.

03 September 2007 (Monday)
Charmy’s fine now, so we set to walk a little past 7am. We were supposed to leave earlier, but Jay still hasn’t arrived. The sun is getting warmer, so we decided to fetch Jay instead.

We walked directly to the abandoned resort and we took quite a lot of pictures. Jay was such a funny photographer that he took even different pictures of us walking.

Instead of going to the same route we took the last time we went to the resort, we went to a different one. We saw some lush greens and took the time to take pictures with the cow. Then, as we walk, we saw a lagoon and again, we took pictures.

We reached the school tired and sweaty all over. After taking some 30-minute break, we decided to walk back home, this time taking all the short cuts we knew.

The sun was shining so bright, causing us to get tired way too fast. Good thing we saw a shed and sat first. When I checked my watch, it was already 10:30am. What? We were gone that long?

We finally got home by 11am. I was thirsty, hungry, and tired, but it was a great day. In four hours, my pedometer hit a record high at 10,120 steps made.

04 September 2007 (Tuesday)
I was so mad at my sister today, but I rather not divulge about it.

05 September 2007 (Wednesday)
I got the pictures from last Monday’s walk. It was all funny. Another pile of pictures to be scrapped. Yey!

Today is daddy’s 6th death month-sary.

I am a bit sleepy now (this post written 10PM of September 05), so pardon if my recap was too short.

Jayne *

Whatever Happened to Jayne?

I went home from my extended vacation in La Union having very slow internet connection, so it was just now that I finally had the urge to type down bits and pieces of my vacation. This would be a very long post, so if you got nothing to do and want to wind off time, then continue reading. =) If you’re busy, I still encourage you to read. Hehehe…

04 August 2007 (Saturday)
I left the house past 6am, hoping to catch the 7:30am bus trip to La Union. My sister wanted to come with me to the terminal so she could take some bus pictures, but she was moving like a snail. We got to the terminal quite late, and the guard informed us that the bus just left. We could still see the tail of the bus, but I decided not to run after it anymore. We waited for more than an hour at the terminal, and sister was so guilty she cried. I still haven’t eaten breakfast, so she voluntarily went to 7-11 to buy me asado siopao and a big cup of drink.

The ride was okay, but rains started to pour when I reached San Fernando city. Brother said it was raining way too hard in Bacnotan, so when I got there, we decided to go home immediately. Brother had promised he’d treat me to Hen Haw restaurant as soon as I get there, but he said he’d just cook fettuccine pasta for me.

05 August 2007 (Sunday)
Market day at Bacnotan, La Union, and aunt told us to meet her there so brother would carry all the foods she planned of buying. We didn’t bring our cell phones, so looking for her became a task. Good thing about this was, brother treated me some breakfast at the Hen Haw restaurant and for the first time, my pedometer reached it 6000+ steps and we were just walking around the market for 2 hours!

It was dad’s 5th death month-sary today so brother and I went to the cemetery after lunch to visit him. I managed not to cry while I talk to him and gave dad a prayer, but somehow, I wasn’t able to prevent little tears from falling. To break the ice, brother and I took pictures.

Raindrops started falling, so we said daddy goodbye. Brother and I went straight to CSI Mall (Cost Saver’s Inc.) to do grocery shopping. We toured the big supermarket – as a form of adding steps to my quota for the day, and for snacks we had fresh lumpia at Goldilocks.

06 August 2007 (Monday)
Nothing definite, we just stayed home and did some house chores.

07 August 2007 (Tuesday)
Using my aunt’s glucometer, brother checked my blood sugar. The result was 93, a very good result considering the limit should be 120. However, I was pissed when brother’s result was 88. How can that be? He was eating way too much starch and drinking way too much softdrinks and juices than me? Anyway, all is good. It’s a relief that I am far from being diabetic.

After breakfast, brother and I went to check the stall we plan of renting. It was way too big inside, but we are still considering it, for the owner said she can divide the stall and the rent would be a lot cheaper than other stalls. What’s great is that there is a comfort room in the stall.

08 August 2007 (Wednesday)
Cousin Theresa dropped by in the afternoon, she said aunt Julie texted her to say we will all be going to Manaoag Church tomorrow since it’s aunt Julie’s day off. Theresa just had her license in nursing so I asked her to check my blood pressure. It was high – 140/90, but she said it’s probably because I am fat. If there was any consolation, she said, it was that I lost weight, for sure.

It started raining hard come late afternoon, and because we had a tin roof, sleeping was so hard for all of us as the rain falling on the roof create loud noises.

09 August 2007 (Thursday)
Rain hasn’t stopped since yesterday afternoon, so aunt cancelled the trip. She said we will just do it on her next day-off. This meant my trip back home would be cancelled, too, and I had to extend. The typhoon caused so much problem, and aunt feared most roads would be flooded. Much better to stay longer than to risk life traveling back home.

Theresa went back home in the afternoon, she said she will be back next time.

10 August 2007 (Friday)
Rains subsided a bit, so I was able to go to an Internet Café to chat with Doc. Before I went back home, I bought pancit bihon for kuya – just a thank you offer for the goodness he has done for me.

My blood pressure shoots up to 150/100, but aunt immediately took one again to be sure. It went down to 130/90. I said I was feeling scared of her taking my blood pressure, and I really am. Aunt Julie is a friend for all of us her nieces and nephews, but there was a distinct amount of respect for her. At times, I am afraid of her because now that daddy’s gone, she acts as our second dad.

11 August 2007 (Saturday)
Aunt accompanied me to the hospital where she works at to have my blood extracted. They all have bugged me to have my cholesterol checked following the heart attack of my dad. Aunt said that the family’s medical history is way too bad – twice the risk for me for my mom’s family is hypertensive, too – and that we all have to be sure what my cholesterol level is, just to be sure.

The medtech was a bit hesitant to extract my blood for my veins in my arms were too small, even though she already wrapped a rubber tube on my arm. She wanted my aunt to extract my blood, but my aunt didn’t want to because I am family, and there is a bit of emotional tension in my aunt’s part. The medtech tried getting blood, and she had been turning the needle left and right trying to locate a vein but failed. After some minutes, she gave up.

On my other arm, aunt Julie finally decided to extract my blood. She is one heck of nurse when it comes to needles – she’s the best in the hospital when it comes to vein hunting. However, she, too, had a hard time locating a vein in my arm and the fact that I am looking at her while she was doing it made her feel uneasy. She was asking me not to look at it, but I really wanted to. I said it wasn’t painful, but whenever she would retract the needle to look for another path, that’s when it pained. She, too, showed some signs of giving up.

She took off the needle and checked my hand. There was a big vein in my hand, but she said it wasn’t that visible. She checked my other hand and seeing that the vein was bigger, she gave it another shot. She said it was easier said than done, for even if the vein in my hand was bigger, it was still hard to locate. When she was on the verge of giving up, she finally hit a vein and out comes the blood.

Finally! =) they used up three syringes on me just to get my blood.

When it was done, I told that it didn’t hurt that much. An elderly man who was in the room, too, commented that I am way too fat and big to feel anything. My aunt got mad and yelled at the man, “What do you think of my niece? She’s still alive you know? She’s just one brave girl, compared to you!” I was touched. Aunt really assumed the role of my second dad now.

Aunt’s duty was 3PM – 11PM, so when she got home, she already had the result. It was too bad. My total cholesterol was 214.4, 21 points higher than the limit of 193. My bad cholesterol (LDL) was too high as well. Aunt advised me to go to an Internal Doctor for some prescriptions. I said I’d do that on Monday.

Come afternoon, my arms are bruised.

12 August 2007 (Sunday)
Brother and I attended mass at the Balaoan Church so he could take pictures of the church for his Visita Iglesia album. The gospel talked about death coming like a thief in the night, so I made sure this day would be very great. After the mass, we went to the Tree House (just across the church), and before going home, we stopped by Nips Land in another Barangay.

In the afternoon, we went to Puerto de San Juan resort to see the beach and take pictures. If I am to die today, at least I could say I lived my last day well.

13 August 2007 (Monday)
Aunt gave me two options. Either see Dr. Cariaso or Dra. Cruz. Dr. Cariaso is a family friend, and I don’t want him to know another one in the family having cholesterol problems, so I went to Dra. Cruz’s clinic.

I found out I already lost weight. That’s good to know.

She prescribed me a medicine to lower my cholesterol. The medication will last for one month, and after the medication, I was asked to have another cholesterol check. She said that my cholesterol wasn’t that high, and medication wasn’t really necessary, but the result also gave out my LDL/HDL levels. Seeing that my LDL is way too high, a medication is needed.

My medication started today, 10mg a day of the Statin drug.

Theresa was here again, it was aunt’s day off tomorrow, and since skies are kind on us, we decided to push through with the Manaoag trip tomorrow.

The bruises on my arms were way too dark now. Brother and Theresa can’t help but laugh hard at me. I just put on a good show and acted like a maltreated person. The act got them laugh harder.

14 Tuesday 2007 (Tuesday)
We left house late, and like what happened when I went here, we all saw the bus pass by our eyes. Aunt only takes Viron bus, so we waited more than an hour for the next Viron bus to arrive. We got off at Binalonan, Pangasinan where we took a jeepney going to the church. The last mass would start at 11AM, and the jeepney driver was driving too slow. We just commented amongst ourselves, “Are we there yet?” LOL

The priest was already giving his homily when we arrived, so we didn’t take communion. After the mass, the priest gave out some blessings. We went upstairs to the church shop, where I bought an image of Our Lady of Manaoag. Theresa bought some rosaries and guides. Maybe she’s giving some to friends.

We lit some candles and said some prayers.

There were no jeepneys available, so we took the tricycle from the church to another town – Urdaneta. We ate lunch at Chowking located at Magic Mall. To walk off the calories consumed, we went to the department store where aunt bought some clothes.

It was 4PM when we left Urdaneta. While on the bus, we had our snacks – muffins and Zagu pearl shakes, but I only consumed half of my drink. It was too sweet! The bus also shows some movies, and we got to see “Mr. Bean Holiday” for free. It was funny, and it seemed as if we owned the bus for we laugh hard and make comments loudly.

15 August 2007 (Wednesday)
After some time of not chatting with Doc, we finally chatted. Today’s our 13th month-sary, and it’s great that we got to chat.

Levi texted me to say that his mother-in-law’s kidney just failed. Doctors advised them that she will die anytime soon, and the family already signed a waiver not to resuscitate the old woman anymore.

Typhoon Egay just hit Metro Manila and is on its way north.

Brother and I went to San Fernando to have the film developed and to take pictures at the Ma-Cho Temple. We also checked some furniture for the shop.

16 August 2007 (Thursday)
Market day again, aunt bought some sea cucumbers as a side dish for lunch. It was the first time I ate this one, and I loved it!

Doc and I chatted today, this would be the last chat we had until I got home.

17 August 2007 (Friday)
I am actually all set for our Vigan trip tomorrow, when skies showed bad signs. Typhoon Egay was already ravaging parts of Northern Luzon, and aunt advised us to cancel it. After all, pictures won’t look good if there would be rains, right? I texted Raissa immediately to inform that it would seem that I won’t be going to Vigan after all.

Sister told me that the mail Doc sent for me has already arrived. I am intrigued as to what he sent so I asked my sister to open it for me. It was a booklet of 12×12 scrapbooking papers – Hot Off the Press Paper Pizzazz (more ephemera background papers). I don’t have any idea how it looked like, but sister said it’s perfect for nostalgic pictures. I felt excited to come home!

My money is running out because of my expenses – Internet Café rentals, cell phone loads, and now medicine. I told brother whatever happens, as soon as the typhoon exits the country, I’d be heading home.

Today was my walk buddy Charmy’s 26th birthday. Happy birthday, Charm!

18 August 2007 (Saturday)
Rains have subsided, and once more, I am hoping I could go to Vigan. Aunt was asking me not to go anymore, but seeing an episode of Lovely Day (GMA 7), I decided to go to Vigan no matter what.

I texted Raissa I would be there tomorrow, but she informed me their place was having heavy rains. I decided to go there Monday instead, hoping the rains would not pour, since the weather news already assured clear skies by Monday.

19 August 2007 (Sunday)
I attended mass at the nearby church – St. Michael the Archangel Parish – and happy that although the whole mass is spoken in Ilocano dialect, I was able to understand it all. I guess my Ilocano vocabulary is now catching up.

I was supposed to visit dad at the cemetery today, but as I was walking towards the highway, sudden rain poured that made me soaking wet. Because of how I look like, I decided not to go anymore, and found myself inside an Internet Café chatting with Doc. However, I felt so sad that Doc found it funny that I was soaking wet – telling me I looked like I peed on my pants. That’s a very lame joke and I was hurt. I was wet, cold, and looked awful, yet for him, all seemed to be something worth laughing at.

If there would be any consolation, brother treated me to a bowl of hot mami at the New Society Restaurant.

All is set for the Vigan trip tomorrow. My plan was this: carry all my luggage and leave them at the terminal since I will take the bus back to Manila there as well. Aunt hugged and kissed me goodbye, and I thanked her for all the goodness.

20 August 2007 (Monday)
I woke up at 4am, and we left Bacnotan at 5:15AM. Bus arrived late and we got stuck in traffic at Candon City, Ilocos Sur, but we were thankful to get to Vigan by 10AM. The people from Viron Transit were so kind enough to keep my big luggage in their custody while brother and I set out to walk around the city again.

We first went to Ruby’s Pottery and blessed to be in the company of the nuns. If not for them, brother and I won’t be seeing how burnay (clay jars) are made.

Next, we went to Baluarte. It was so great there!

After eating lunch at Jollibee and some Vigan foods (Okoy and Empanada) at Plaza Burgos, we went to Calle Crisologo to meet up with Raissa. We were both sad that the photo studio was closed. Instead, we went to two museums – Crisologo Museum and Syquia Mansion (the residence of former Philippine President Elpidio Quirino) – and checked out Villa Angela, a heritage hotel where Hollywood actor Tom Cruise stayed at while filming “Born on the Fourth of July.”

Raissa treated us some snacks back at her place and stayed there until 6PM. After which brother and I went back to Calle Crisologo for some pictures.

By 8:30PM, the bus going to Manila was on its way, I admit I felt so scared to be traveling back home alone (brother got off at Bacnotan). God had been so great to me, I got home safe.

21 August 2007 (Tuesday)
By 5AM, I was already in Cubao. I went home immediately, because I asked my sister to wait for me before she goes to school. I gave out the presents to neighbors, and started doing chores. Happy to be home, at last!

Levi’s mother-in-law died today. More than anything, he said that the whole family was relieved than sad.

>>> So that’s how my vacation went. Tomorrow, I will share what happened from August 22 – September 2.

Jayne *