Feed My Vanity

Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao alone has solved (at least when he has a fight) two things that a team of policemen and the whole of senate cannot do: eliminate heavy traffic and lower the crime rate. Whenever he has a fight, everyone is just glued to the TV, rich or poor. Me? I go to the mall and take advantage of the absence of the heavy crowds. I’d have found right away the results of his fight. One time I was browsing in Papemelroti and the girl in the counter practically screamed “He won! Manny won!”. Hahaha.

Anyway, I was expecting the usual hustle and bustle in the office but ended the day with this picture:

And I also went home with this:

Sometimes, unexpected overtime is a blessing after all. Anyway, Manny Pacquiao had a victory party at Passion Restaurant in Resorts World Manila. I knew he was having a party there but I had to go because of the media men that came to cover it. It was a fun night of food, laughter, and lots of singing! Hahaha.

I rarely have my photo taken with celebrities unless it’s for work, it’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that my priority is always my job. But this is one photo and autograph op that I didn’t want to miss. Anyway, I’m blogging this 4 hours after the event and I’m beat. Goodnight everyone!

…in the world will you see something like this?

Picadilly

We spent most of our time just walking to and fro the tourist sights in London. Above is a view of Picadilly, one of the major roads of London that stretches from Hyde Park Corner and Picadilly Circus. Pretty pretty pretty. And if you’re in London, prettiness is common sight.

After days of walking around with glassy eyes and messy hair, I was finally able to push through with my business trip to London. It sounds very glamorous to do so, more so because I was there for a luxury cruise, but I’m telling you it’s hard to feel glamorous when you’re jetlagged and you’re frantically shepherding people right and left, and yeah, my flight was delayed for three hours. The sheep was without a shepherdess for three hours. Not a pretty picture.

But it doesn’t take away the fact that I was there on a summer solstice so the Powers that be has made it possible for me to tour London at 9PM while I’m wired with coffee and the sun’s still up. Yes, the sun was still up at that time.

Since I don’t think I can make one megapost on my London sojourn. I will have to break it down in several parts.

Anyway, after a three-hour delayed flight, and being told off “Your room is not ready yet” at 2PM at Sheraton Skyline, which happens to be far from the action. Never stay near London Heathrow, it will take you an hour and a half to get to the generic tourist sights.

Starving and sporting eye bags, we were told that the nearest restaurants consists of a McDonald’s and a quaint pub serving fish and chips. Of course we wanted the latter, but the pub was so quaint, we couldn’t find it. So McDonald’s it is. Here’s my favorite shot of the burger, it is not very London-y, but it is pretty.

Not me on the background, but love the photo.

McDonald’s London has very healthy selections, with pita breads and healthy whatevers and the burgers are bigger than what we are used to here. Also, I love the fact that my companion was asked after ordering a soda “gas or without gas?” hahaha. I guess what the guy meant was if we wanted it carbonated, maybe, educate me.

After freshening up and almost a whole day of zero sleep, we hauled ourselves to Picadilly which happened to be a bus and a train ride away.  The train was London Underground, which reminded me of LRT but charming. It happens to slow down in the middle of the ride once in a while, and if you find yourself confused, better check how many train routes go through in one rail.

Another thing I love about London Underground are the posters! The Brits seem to love plays, books, and movies and this is prominently displayed in the staircases and hallways etc. Sorry no pic, I was too busy keeping my wits together (no excuse I know). Anyway,  just take my word for it. Here’s me at the train, also not London-y, please just watch out for future entries.

The exchange rate is P67.00 to a pound. One way tickets in the train is 4 pounds. Do the math. So don’t ever lose your ticket like I did because that will cost you another 4 pounds. However, if you know it’s going to be a commute-filled day, you can purchase the one day pass for 7 pounds. Not only can you use the pass the whole day, you can also use this in the buses. Neat right?

Anyway, that’s all for now. Have a lovely week.

In my previous post I posted a picture of the shapeless blouse from Maldita. I wore it today for work and after-work coffee chica with friends. I got so many compliments over it! Here it is as worn:

Yeah I know, it’s time for a digital camera and a tripod. My laptop is practically attached to my hip, meaning I just don’t don’t have enough muscle power to lug around my laptop AND DSLR everyday. Plus, I’m camera shy, although it’s not evident in the picture above. Haha. I’m thinking of gifting myself a slim and light digicam and just save my DSLR for travel, events, or whenever I feel shutterbugging.

It was raining so hard so the boyfriends were forced to drive us to our chica date. Hahaha. Anyway,  one of the  boyfriends’ current project is training a Cocker Spaniel. My boyfriend owns a Siberian Husky named Rocky, so-called because his mom is a Stallone fan. They once adopted an askal (dog from the streets), which they named Rambo, but Rocky kept beating him up so they had to return poor Rambo to his original owner.

Me and my friend had girltalk while the boyfriends talked about work which for some reason led to a discussion on pets.

Pets are wonderful don’t you agree? My theory is pets remain adorable no matter how old they get because they’re like babies that never age. Unlike humans that are so hard to please as they age, pets when trained and cared for tend to become loyal followers who go berserk-happy over a ball, a shoe, or whatever piece of junk they fancy.

Here’s Rocky. I love him but I wish I could have seen him when he was a puppy. He’s only a year and nine months old, but he’s such a big and strong dog! My boyfriend is quite a big guy, 6ft and 200 pounds yet Rocky can knock him down! Rocky’s fond of rough play which includes using human hands as a teether (he doesn’t actually sink his teeth in, it’s just his way of being affectionate). I only pet him when he’s too sleepy or lazy to move.

I’d like to get a dog also eventually (I want a pug or a Lab), but Lucy will get jealous. Lucy is our cat, but I don’t think she knows she’s not a member of our species.

Hahaha. Lucy is 12 years old. She grew up in Illinois. My grandmother brought her home here in the Philippines. We love her a lot, and fear the day we have to say goodbye. She recently lost a lot of weight and has been acting eccentric lately. Not sickly, or any manifestation of old age. Just weird. Let’s just say she likes her cat food, but is regressing to her primal ways. Hahaha. Here’s her at close up:

How about you guys? Do you have a pet and what’s the weirdest thing you have ever seen your pet do?

I try not to work in front of Lucy, whenever she feels that you’re doing something ‘serious’, she’ll get up and lie on top of your keyboard, or she makes a bed out of important-looking documents. Rocky in the meanwhile does a lot of weird stuff, I don’t have all day to blog about it. Hahaha.