TV Series addict

Oh yea, I finished Grey's Anatomy's Season 4 in three days. And now I'm starting Gossip Girl. I just found out that there a lot of links online where you could stream videos, prolly TiVo-d episodes, and I'm enjoying it. No commercials, no fuss. I have to get a lot going on so I won't spend too much time looking at myself in the mirror and getting disappointed over my spots--which are now visible on my neck while wearing a t-shirt. Sigh.

Aaaaaanyway... I'm flying over to New York tomorrow and he's flying over too. Would you believe I'd wear a ring (that was in a jewelry set that my mom bought me for my 18th birthday) coz I'll be telling all the other crew that my fiance is coming over? Yea, to stop those gossipy gals from making a big deal out of boyfriends. They just don't get it, having boyfriends in another country. Oh well I hope NY weather cooperates and gives us just the right amount of shade to be in places we wanted to be.

New York. Haha. So Sex and the City. So Gossip Girl.

Bits and Bytes

Thanks to everyone who wished me luck and offered prayers for me regarding my last post. Anyway, as usual I'm trying to make the most out of everything and now I'm making PLEVA an excuse to wear those bikini tops (ahehehe Hun, peace!) and get a tan. Maybe I do need to be tanner. I used to be. Then winter came and US flights too... Hmm gotta be more conscious about that from now on.

I've started my six week work period about a week ago so I'm down to five. What is it exactly? Well I had my June days off starting on June 1 and won't be home til last week of July--that's what we call "back-to-back" work (there's also back-to-back day off which is you go home last week of a month and it continues to first of the next)--and that means six weeks of no Manila. Could've been waay too hard for me but I was blessed to soon be able to feel a sense of home as I'm gonna see Al three times before the six weeks end.

On other news, I've been studying Manhattan subway system and I really found it hard at first and then I dug deeper into research and it's not so bad at all. Though it might not be a no-brainer as the LRTs we use in the Philippines or the Metro Seoul in Korea, but a subway map and common sense would be all you need. Hah! Let's see where it's gonna take me on my next layover--New York!

On yet another news, I absolutely hate Vista now. I'm thinking about going back to XP. Any thoughts on that? I'm just adamant that I'm gonna put that genuine Vista to waste.

Oops my time's almost up I'm here at Shangri-La New Delhi, and it's awesome. It's not all the time we get to stay at real five-star hotels. Hmmm. Wonder where we're gonna have dinner now... Til next post you guys! Will visit blogs when I get back to Seoul.

Back to Spots

PLEVA (Pityriasis Leichenoides et Variolaformis Acuta) also known as Mucha Habermann's Disease is thought to be a disease of the immune system because of the white blood cells present. It is characterized by rashes and lesions, slightly raised red spots in layman's terms. It gets itchy when it's warm, spreads all over, looks like psoriasis and other people mistake it for chickenpox. It gets scabbed at times depending on how dry your skin or how much you scratch or pick on it. Predominantly on males but there are also women who suffer from the disease. Noticeable during the second and third decade of life.

I had this two years ago, right before I applied for my job. I went to three different dermatologists before someone actually diagnosed that I had PLEVA. Very little is know about the disease, the cause being unknown therefore the cure is too. Ultraviolet treatments help make the spots disappear for a period of time, going into remissions. Most antibiotics--oral or topical--are mostly ineffective. When the rashes flared up and I went on sick leave for a week, I went through steroids, creams, lotions and nothing worked. UV treatments at Makati Med are costly, so my dermatologist suggested I go sunbathing as often as I can since I'm always away on flights so I can't make it to the thrice a week treatments.

It went away after half a year or so, to my delight, because I'm already the color of wood from too much sunbathing. I never expected it to be back so soon, just a couple of years! Some people say theirs stay for years and some say they go away for years. Looks like mine's short-term.

It's depressing, yes. And I feel for those people (on blogs, forums and sites) who has had them for years. Yes, it does bring you down. The helpless feeling that you get when you're in a warm humid weather (a.k.a. Manila) and the rashes flare out, you're itchy but you can't scratch. The stares you get when you're in an elevator or riding the MRT and people move slightly away from you, thinking it's chickenpox. Oh yea, I'm getting depressed.

I try to sleep all the time to prevent myself from picking on it, from even remembering I have them. I stand in front of electric fans, under the airconditioning unit just so I'd feel cooler and less itchy. Pretty soon I won't be wearing sleeveless again or my signature V-cut blouses as the rashes would show. I kind of get why someone on one site said that if only the cure would be developed, he/she'd pay whatever the price just so he/she could live normal again.

I wonder why I get the medical stuff that can't be cured. Last week it was PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) which might actually lead to stage two Diabetes, obesity and a difficult pregnancy or infertility, and then now it's PLEVA's return...

Humps on my Vacay

I had been planning to go on a vacation on the last week of July connecting to the first week of August for so long. Planned to use our free tickets and tour my parents 'round Los Angeles and San Francisco (West Coast) but it seems it's getting difficult for us to do so.

First, I should request for a last-week-of-July days off in Manila and then do another request for the first week of August. The July ones got granted and then I heard that some pages of the request for August got lost... Nice. :(

Then as for my parents, I've been telling them to apply for a U.S. visa ever since the time I thought of this but they just prepared their stuff a couple of months back, and then a few days ago I learned they still haven't scheduled themselves for an interview so I pushed my mom to do it already... And I was right, there weren't any more slots for interview for June and July before our preferred departure! They got scheduled for July 28th.

Looks like I'm gonna go alone or something... Hmm. I'll have to wait for August schedule to come out and then I'll decide.

Lovin' Tabby!

My HP tx2000 series baby--Tabby--is a week old now :) I'm still figuring some things out but anyhow, I'm satisfied and I am actually browsing for a protector for its screen. I saw this website from a review and I'm thinking of getting it.. The price isn't so bad at all, compared to the price of those I saw on eBay and stuff.

I've been to two different locations today and spent ample time surfing the net thru Wifi for free and I'm happy about that! I'm definitely on the hunt for free wifi hotspots now. Hahaha. Cheapskate! Battery life, I have no idea whether to be impressed or not as my old laptop was always connected to power supply, hahaha.

Vista... Hmm it's my first time to use Vista and I'm lost! Seriously. Hahaha. I miss the desktop gadgets that I used to have on my older laptop as the World Time gadget available for Vista isn't as lovely. The notes too; I can't pull it and make it longer so I have to scroll downwards to see all my notes. I do like the calendar reminders though, more efficient than before. The Start menu feels like a mess and I'm still on the quest on clearing as much system tray icons as possible. My desktop is already neat except for the Recycle Bin (as always) and the desktop gadgets.

Yahoo Messenger for Vista, currently on its Beta version, is a no-go. I just have it coz I like how it looks. But feature-wise, it isn't so wise to use it now. Go back to the older YM version.

I still don't have a full-version of an anti-virus, I just have the pre-installed trial version of Norton. I'm also still running on trial MS Office version. I haven't bought any Adobe Photoshop
software yet...and I'm itching to. :)

That's it for now folks!!!

My Baby

I was back in SF after six weeks of waiting. Can't imagine how much I missed my Al. Ayun lang. I brought him some stuff I bought from Baguio, London, Manila and Sydney for him. Geez how many flights was it before I went back? And next month I don't even have an SF flight! Ohwell that's how it goes...

For other news, I got a new baby :) If last year it was D (my Nikon D40) and then a few months back it was Polly (my Nintendo DS Lite), now it's Tabby--my HP tx2000 series tablet laptop! I had been saving up for this baby for quite sometime now, and it was in and out of the market with its price going up and down. As soon as we got to SF, we headed to the only Circuit City store in a 30-mile radius where it was still available. And this is the last one in stock! Hahaha. Almost didn't make it!

We went in to the store, told the guy the model we're looking for, he says, "Yeah we have one." I go the counter, pay it and then leave. Yeah.

Anyway, SF layover was all about money this month. After paying a thousand or so for my laptop it was time to make tipid moves. Haha. I've sworn off being a nonchalant spender and keep in mind what my dad told me a few weeks back, "The problem that I see with you is that when you have excess money, you think of what you could purchase even if you don't need it; but when in fact you just have enough, you think of what you need and then you save for it." I'm quite guilty about this, especially this birthday month that I was home, I think I spent a month's pay in half a month.

So, enough window shopping for me. Will try to think of what I need instead of "browsing for what I need". Wish me luck!

Lips of an Angel

That song, by Hinder, makes me shiver every time I hear it.

I gotta whisper coz I can't be too loud
My girl's in the next room
Sometimes I wish it was you...

Fuckin' cheaters. I so hate cheaters, and just the thought that they're out there lurking plus the fact that anybody could actually become one pisses me off. As if cheating can't get any worse, it actually does. The worse part is when the person is married.

But girl you make it hard to be faithful...

If you can't be faithful with the one you're with right now, then leave him/her and go with the other one. There's no sense in being together when you aren't really in it. You have the guts, because you have the guts to go behind his/her back so use the guts and go head-on with your problem and tell your partner outright that you wanna see somebody else.

No I don't think she has a clue...

Knowing people cheat, that married people cheat, that some married people who you never expected could cheat are cheating makes me wanna throw up; kinda lost my faith on marriage for the meantime.