Current Events

I have been running left and right with my high-heeled shoes lately. Me, who had shown resistance to this form of formality and bourgeoisie during my younger years. And since I cannot be contented with this little change, I had taken this bad habit of wearing skirts too. All that because of work. And all that to say, I miss my Mapuan attire so badly (read: pants, shirt and flat shoes).

Madrid and Bangkok has just been added on my next month's itinerary. High-heel or flat shoes? I think I still have to bring my flat shoes in case I have time to visit these lovely cities after work. And who knows, my boss might ask me to catch a flight to Manila. My flat shoes then, become indispensable.

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My mileage reward has not been updated yet and its been 3 months. I lost 80,000 miles which is equivalent to a round-trip ticket Paris-Manila. (In fact, I requested for a ticket for my Mom which I canceled afterwards, but the airline company pursued with the deduction. Now, they're taking time for the rectification!). Louna's first visit in the Philippines this year-end depends on this free ticket! Darn!

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November 1 this year falls on a Wednesday. Time to unwind, a 5-day vacation at hand. Louna's yaya asked for a vacation leave on October 30 and 31. Frenchguy and I thought we could go out on November 2 and 3. Bordel! I guess we still need to work on our organisation prowess. Now, we're blocked and need to reorganize everything.

Funny and Annoying Tidbits

I just received a notice from the Social Security Office asking for my renewed visa. Without it, my medical expenses won't get reimbursed. Same thing for the government aide for Louna's yaya. Here's the catch: Do I have to wait for a letter from the Revenu Tax Office asking me to renew my visa, otherwise, my payments will be denied? Duh!

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I was with my boss yesterday, right next to each other on the train bound to Paris. Both working on our laptop. He then started to talk to me in English. He does that all the time, by the way. I guess he wants to keep our topics secret. FYI, we're on board a TGV (fast train) first class where 90% of the commuters were wearing neckties (10% were females!) and working on their ENGLISH documents on their computer. Haha!

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The Dijonnais are not simpaticos! And I hate their parkmeters which doesn't accept visa cards! And I hate myself for not having any cash in my wallet! Yesterday, I left 30 minutes before the train departure (going to Paris) to be sure that I won't have any problem to park my car. Pas de chance, no place at the station's carpark. I then parked my car outside, approached the parkmeter only to realize that I had no coins. Worse, I had no cash. I ran to the nearest cash dispenser and withdrew some cash, then ran to the nearest boutique to ask for change, no change, f*ù^¨!, ok fine! Ran again to the neareast boulangerie, no change, again f*ù^¨!. I finally had some change after 4 boutiques, 10 minutes before the departure! I then ran like hell to catch my train. All that with my high-heeled shoes! F*ù^¨!

Last Taste of Summer

A freezing 6°C wind breezed on me as I walked out of the house this morning. If not for the green leaves still present on the trees around me, I would have believed it was already winter. But not yet. And I don't want to associate my mood on the daily weather. I'm not yet Frenched at that level. Here, they would normally correlate their daily mood on the quantity of clouds present on the sky and with that, they think that people from the south are more gay and relaxed because they normally have a good dose of the sun.

Tuesday last week, I left Paris with my Autumn attire. Enough to protect me from the 16°C outside temperature. 3 mid-season clothes were piled up inside my luggage for my 3-day stay. I know, I'm not very feminine in that aspect but I really hate over-charging myself when I travel. I believe in the saying 'Travel Light' hehe. Just before landing, the pilot announced that the outside temperature in Barcelona was 27°C! Huwattt? 27°C????? Oh dear, true enough, people are still half-naked along Barcelona's beaches. The frenchies have all the reasons in the world to envy these espagnols.

But wait. I was lazily looking at all the newspapers of the other passengers inside the Metro train and was surprised to read that there are 10% of the Spanish population suffering from depression.

Moral of the story: A somewhat perfect environment for one could be the complete opposite for the other. We can never be happy with what we have because we think that others have a better situation than what we have.

Moral of the story 2: Sa Pilipinas, siraulo or luka-luka ang tawag sa 10% na yan.

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It was my first time to travel with a girl colleague. Honestly, it was fun. After work, we had time to walk around a little bit and discover the other side of Barcelona which I ignored during the last visits - the shopping centers! And yes, the tapas, paellas and sangrias are just excellent.

Moral of the story 3: In France, one serving of alcohol = 1 glass. In Spain, one serving = 1 pitcher. That explains why they say that espagnols are hotties. As for me, one serving was enough to knock me off to bed that night. Not bad.