Life in Zambo

In another two weeks, I'll be seeing dear old Cebu again. I actually have plenty of appointments to attend, but other than medical or business appointments, I also have plenty of friends to meet, and of course, an anniversary with the boyfriend to celebrate. Although the anniversary is top priority, I also received an invitation from the Cebu Bloggers Society Inc. President, for the Social Media Influencers Summit (SMIS) . I am quite excited about the upcoming event. The last time I attended a bloggers' summit was back in November 2011 and it was by far the most successful event that the CBSi has organized through everyone's effort. Bloggers and non-bloggers alike attended the much talked about Visayas Blogging Summit 2011 . This year, the Theme is #TrendingForward As you can see, it's even hash tagged, depicting online presence. So what's the Summit all about? As the name suggests, it's a gathering of social media influencers. If you are on Twitter, F...

I once worked as a call center agent in Cebu City. As such, we were required to provide world-class service to customers all over the world. To keep our jobs, we were required to be kind to customers, to always keep in mind that the customer is always right, no what. When you turn down a customer, make sure that you are doing it for something bigger than a customer. A few weeks after I arrived in Zamboanga, I went grocery shopping. I had a small plastic bag which had one item in it. I could've stuffed it in my pocket, but I didn't, because I didn't want a bulging pocket. So I strolled into the supermarket, when all of a sudden, in the rudest possible way, "Pssst, psst, pssst!!!"

Every early morning, my dad would wake up, pray, and go to the store to buy some pan de sal . He used to do this every day before breakfast all alone. Almost a year ago, when I first came home, he's had companions do this task with him. I call them Choi-Choi and Chai-Chai. It's actually Tisoy and Tisay, since among the litter of nine puppies that April gave birth to, they were the only light-colored ones. At first, my dad was hesitant about letting me keep them, but I wouldn't hear of it. There wasn't anyone I could trust enough to keep my peace of mind intact. There wasn't anyone who was cheesy enough to do what my dogs can do. It's amazing though how my dad managed to train them to run into their, ummm, fenced space when there's bread involved. They become really smart when they see bread. I trained them to sit and wait, but my dad trained them to stay out of the house, and go to their room.

Zamboanga City's close to the sea, so going to the beach can become a daily occurrence. The water's cool and clear, unlike in Cebu, where you still have to travel quite a distance just to find some good spots to enjoy the seawater and at an entrance fee that's worth well, more expensive than Mother Nature intended for us to afford. After the marathon , the group and I headed to the Golf Beach , named as such since it's not just a beach park, but also a golf course. It's been a number of years since I last came here. I have been wanting to go to the beach for a while now, but unfortunately I wasn't ready for this trip, so I didn't take a dip in the water.

It's about time I featured Jardin Maria Clara on here since I've been going to that park a couple of times now. Anyway, in preparation for today's marathon earlier , I ran with some friends who were also fellow participants yesterday. On the last run , there were only three of us, but this time, we were joined by Jayson, who was supposed to come to the last practice run, but instead slept through the morning. Since this session was held on the afternoon, he finally managed to come. This park is famous for the Butterfly Sanctuary and umm, for couples who like to be lovey-dovey even during the day. Can you see the couple in this picture?

This is one of the things that I have been preparing my legs and lungs for for the past few weeks. The PhilHealth National Fun Run. For the moment, I can call myself a recreational runner, but I'm hoping that by the next year, I might actually stand a chance in winning a marathon or getting a good time worthy enough to be recorded. I was up as early as 4AM just so I can get something warm in my stomach. An oatmeal porridge in a cup was the best thing I can have before a run. Apparently, oats slowly release energy so you don't easily run out of gas while running. When I got to the track, I couldn't find the guys I'm supposed to be with. It took about ten minutes of waiting and texting before we managed to find each other. I'd tell the guys I was under the basketball hoop close to the stairs, and they'd say they were at the same place. Turns out, they were at the opposite end of the court.

I've been running at least every other day for the past few weeks, and every day last week, but for this week, the last time I ran was this day . My excuse would have to be because I had to do overtime at work and I didn't want to run when it was too dark outside. Another would have to be because my Mom and Dad went to Manila for about three days to see my brother off. I was the only family member who didn't get to see him off. But I sent him a present with my Dad. I promised him that I'd give him earphones to replace the one that came with his phone for Christmas, but I never got to give the earphones on Christmas. His birthday is on February 19th, so I planned to get him a new pair before then. I already bought myself a pair a week ago, which I've pretty much shown to everyone at the office. I was pretty excited when I got it. It didn't disappoint me. Everything got pretty much blocked out when I had those babies on. It was like, "DO NOT DISTURB...

It's been three days since I last posted. I didn't think that I was so busy that I couldn't even get one post up. Anyway, for Valentine's Day, my friends asked me to cook something up. Thing is, Valentine's Day is like a day before we get paid for work. So needless to say, I'd be out of budget if I tried to use my own money to cook for people other than my boyfriend on Valentine's Day. So they came up with the idea to contribute to the cause. LOL Yesterday, we went grocery shopping and I sternly told them that I will not be shopping for ingredients on  my own since we have a big group of guys, I was sure that they will be eating A LOT, which meant A LOT of ingredients. So I grabbed a couple of guys, one was enough, but he didn't want to be alone with me, with the teasing and all about us going on a date. I was right. The bag was heavy. Although manageable, but D**N was it heavy. Okay, fast forward to earlier today. I woke up 30 minutes earlier ...

I was invited on short notice by one of my co-workers, who also happened to be one of my batch mates in reviewing for the Civil Engineering board examination, to a dinner date with our exam coach and his wife. It has been more than two years since I got my own wings in the Civil Engineering world and I have yet to meet someone who can be a better coach than this person. He has a few branches of his review center scattered in the Philippines and nothing makes me happier than to know that they are doing better in their business at this moment. With all the hard work and faith in God that they have, nobody deserves success better than the Padilla couple. Just in case you're wondering who I'm talking about, it's Engr. Perfecto Padilla . We had dinner at Barcode , a local restaurant decorated with something so easily associated with Zamboanga City , the colorful Vinta .

I was reading another manga yet again and finally decided to turn in for the night when I noticed that it was way beyond my bedtime. Tossing and turning, I finally got annoyed with my restless mind and turned to Facebook. On my News Feed, a picture of an injured dog and its history showed. As an animal lover, of course my heart hurt for the poor thing. Scrolling past the images, my heart started feeling a familiar hurt. It's been almost three months since my April left me. I just thought about how unfair it was that I had to lose what I held onto to keep my sanity intact when I was going through difficult times, that I had to lose my speechless friend, who even without the ability to speak managed to keep my afloat from all the stresses my job, boyfriend and even myself, gave me. It was unfair that irresponsible owners, when their pets no longer serve their wants, leave their pets to die while I, who loved my April, was so desperate to keep her. She never failed to welcome me...

Long before I started running, like most fitness-junkie-wannabes, I have quite a number of applications installed in my phone. But, I never really used them, and they were just there, using up precious space in my phone memory. I even have a few applications that supposed to show me gym exercises, yoga exercise, and so on and so forth. But there is one app that, I am proud to say, actually made me start running. Being into The Walking Dead, my co-workers and I would make fun by saying that if we were trapped in an alternate universe with a reality of a zombie apocalypse, we'd all be fit from running away from the zombies. Check the apps out after the jump.

A few days ago, my co-workers and I made plans to go for an early run. We have a marathon to run this coming Sunday and we weren't planning on getting cramps or getting injured while walking/running when the big day comes. It was kind of going to be a picnic/work out session, because they asked me to bring along croquettes , hence the post about them last night. We decided to jog at the Jardin Maria Clara, where the butterfly sanctuary is found and where there was enough space for joggers to go around and around. It wasn't a sports center where you can see everybody doing various sports, but it sure was closer to home and the terrain is well, not easy.

It's been a while since I posted anything that I actually cooked. If I can just afford to cook all the time, I'd probably be posting everyday. But that's not the case. I'm sort of an anime junkie, and about a few months ago, I got into reading the manga Beelzebub too much and even watched the anime until I got to the latest episode. And one thing that stuck to me was the main character was always eating Croquettes, or Korokke , as the Japanese called it. The first time I made the recipe, people on my Facebook friends list have been asking for a taste, but seeing as I can't afford to feed the lot of them, I thought I'd post how I made it, that way they can always make it on their own. Forgive me for the poor lighting on step 8. The power went out while I was doing it. Recipe after the jump.

When I was a child, I loved to run. I'd race to the nearest store with my little brother whenever our mother would ask us to buy something.In high school, I altogether quit any sport that I almost got into. I almost got into basketball, volleyball, track and field, and even martial arts. Thing is, Daddy wasn't always open with letting girls do sports. So being a good daughter, I never really minded. In college, I suppose I was so busy with school that exercise was never a priority at all. Heck, I'd even forget about eating at the time. So by the time I started working, I was one big lazy office lady.