Dapat Flat Affect sa DFA

Claiming of passport has never been this fast....or so we thought. We arrived in San Fernando around 1:30pm and were greeted by closed gates but lotsa peeps outside. Nasaraduhan na ata kami ng pinto ni San Pedro. It was like applying for a new passport, i.e., a horrible queue plus the scorching sun above us. The thing is we were outside the building just like the scenario before at NBI Taft or as if we were lining up to try our stake at a lotto branch. If the guaranteed price would be P135M, ok na kahit pumila pa ko hanggang gabi. But that was not the case. A pugon even managed to light a cigarette. Walang pakundangan!

Maybe there were 40+ people ahead of me and the movement was soooo sluggish. I overheard someone saying that the passports weren't there yet or they were at the point of arranging them still. Haay..sana tsismis lang ito.

Then suddenly the line proceeded forward, and this girl announced that we would have to enter the building by batch with a 10-15 minute interval. Grrr...pahirapan pala ang pagclaim. Had we known much earlier that agencies have started assisting with the processing kahit anong higpit ng DFA na dapat personal appearance dahil may fingerprinting involved, we could have chosen that option. Doble lang naman ang halaga ng processing fee pero minus naman the pagod, init, at sakit ng ulo.

So my turn came to go in. 10 minutes had passed then...Tadaaaaa.!!! At last! The passports are with me now. Nothing incredible really. And walang microchip nor a fingerprint visible. O baka naman invisible to the naked eye ito, nasa gitna ng fibers nung papel na mukhang nalaminate lamang.

brown passport (for a little brown American?)

look to the left, look to the right...may mukha ka!

yoohoo....ako ang iyong konsensya!!

Anyways, I consumed a total of 2 hours waiting time and 10ml of sweat. Dapat ang sinabi nila, passport release time would be a 1 to 5 hour wait, hindi between 1 to 5pm. Haaay...tapos walang Q.C., kasi nalimutan nilang alisin yung sticker note sa likod ng passport ni Kimi na dapat tanggalin bago i-release ito. *sigh*

Stick-O!

Ngunit, datapwat...di naman uminit ulo ko this time. Himala! Hmmm...mukhang unti-unti ko ng natutupad talaga ang New Year's res ko.

Don't wanna ruin my day that's it. At least, the entire time became fruitful...

..I was able to compose this post while in line. *wink*

PS: Sabi nga ni Sommer, "Welcome to the Philippines!"

"All I want for xmas is my 2 front teeth.."

Barely a week of teething, Kimi's upper primary teeth have eventually popped out. Again, the reason why yesterday, he's so irritable to the point of shouting like mad and at the top of his lungs. The lower teeth, however, are still emerging...and emerging...and emerging.

He feels better now I guess. I had to document but since he was constantly "tossing and turning", this was the best I can get:

SUPER LABO! pero kita naman..

Will try again...



P.S.
I didn't expect it will be this soon, soooooo...after 4 hrs, here's a crisper shot (might as well, make pahabol)

"Cheese!"

Self Review

I may be a home body now but it's not as easy as it seems to be. It doesn't help if you have all the time in your hands unemployed. Performing the protocols hands-on is more absorbable than merely reading the theory. I've been juggling 3 books and I have no plans of ordering the practice exam like the one TOEFL offers which is walang kwenta. Shhh...buti na lang may pirated version hehehe...kaso sa exam na 'to walang wala! *sigh*

I have decided to challenge this exam to gauge whether I have really gained knowledge the past years I've been working like a mini-carabao. Kaso di pako nagpapaschedule...sa ibang araw na lang. Hello..Kelangan ko tong ipasa, sayang naman ang tumataginting na ~$600!!!

Yikes!

I'm quite anxious. But, we'll see if it pays off. If it doesn't, may take 2 pa naman...or take 3? If not, I'll have to change profession na lang.

Routine lab? hmmmm....Why not?

Goodluck to me!!

I'm so excited..and I just cant hide it!

WHY?

4 days to go and DFA here we come!

Yes, makakakita nako ng machine readable ek-ek na pinagmamalaki ng ating makapal...este...mahal na ahensya ng gobyerno. Tignan nga natin kung gaano ka-amazing ang microchip. Well, yan eh kung meron nga. ;p

The long wait will be over soon and I'll let you have a glimpse.

Pasensya na, it's a big deal to me.

Promdi ngarud.

Crankiness

Kimi's lower tooth is starting to erupt. His gums look swollen. The real deal here, however, is his rollercoaster moods. It's so unpredictable! His cries are sometimes alarming, as if being pinched or hurt intentionally.

*sigh*

I would not have noticed the tooth yesterday had he not giggled and me on the otherhand, butingtingin ang bibig to the max.

Nakakaawa..but then, he'll surpass this stage eventually.

Sabi nga nila: "Been there, done that.." *wink*

The fact is..

There are times when you think everything is slowly falling into place. Then eventually something comes up and distorts the whole idea. Is it because you may have steered the wheel much earlier? Or it was just destined to happen? Perhaps, there's something more favorable in store for you.

You must go with the flow. Bawal ang counterflow!

It's indeed disappointing when you have already imprinted the diagram on your mind; how each tiny detail would work. Ayan, inunahan kasi! Na-drowing tuloy..

Anyways, that's how life is. You can't have all that you desire. But don't fret, the wheel of fortune may still pass you by.

Wag ka lang papasagasa..

If there's one thing in my life that's missing...

....hmmm, wala naman =)

Actually, there'd be a "translocation" but not so soon..ano yun?

Abangan na lang..

My NY's Res

Did your New Year resolutions make their top ten list?
1 Quit Smoking
2 Lose Weight
3 Quit Drinking
4 Go back to School
5 Spend more time with your family
6 Try something new
7 Work on Your Spiritual Growth
8 Take a trip
9 Pay off that Christmas Debt
10 Get a better job

Speaking of resolutions, I only have 1 in my list, and that is to have more patience. I can proudly say, mas humaba na ang pisi ko ngayon. I think? It was challenged yesterday when Hubi and I went to DFA to renew my passport and apply for Kimi. I was informed last December that San Fernando hasn't started issuing machine readable passports so we went there with the usual requirement - 3 photographs with white background. We were early anticipating a winding queue, but there wasn't any. We were only greeted by this guy who answered: "Nung December 3 pa ho nagsimula yung machine readable". I wasn't in the mood to make taray the people around so Hubi & I went straight to a desk outside the building. When I verified the requirements (as if I didn't know), the man seated there said, we will have to come back on March 3 to file our application. WHAT?!? The reason? Backlog! in that there were lotsa people who have filed before us. May schedule pa silang nalalaman para sa machine readable passports. So I merely handed over our application forms and he stamped the date when we will return.

We couldn't afford to wait that long. Time is gold as they say. We had no choice but to look for the friend of our kinakapatid and extend the letter of referral to a certain employee who could give it to him. We were barred from going up...strikto kuno sila. When that certain employee came back, he asked our forms and reviewed the requirements. He reminded me to have my photo and Kimi's taken there with the royal blue background, return to him all the papers plus the referral letter attached. Dadaanin lang pala sa kakilala! Kung wala ka palang kilala, babalik ka ng March 3. I don't like the idea; however, you have to join the band if you want to survive.

*note: Just imagine, 6pcs cost Php120.00, and it's just a simple procedure. Oh btw, "xerox" is P5.00/pc at sobrang labo pa. Some parts of my face were missing. =)

After acquiring my pics, next is Kimi's. So what on earth can we do? Drive back home and pick up Kimi? It would be time consuming if we did that. It would also be complicated if we used Kimi's pic and edit the background to blue. Sooooo, Hubi requested a friend to take Kimi's pic at home, use a blue cloth and email it to us. We drove around to look for an internet cafe and hurriedly rushed inside. We waited for a few more shots..the 3rd attachment looked better. We asked them to transfer the data to my SD card so we can ask the people where I had my photo taken to print it using their paper, but looks like the card is protected. It was strange as I had been using it to transfer stuffs to and fro my PC. *sigh* pag minalas ka nga naman..

We had no choice but print the pic there. The background deviated a little pero pwede na yun! It was already 11:30am, and the office shall close at 12. So, dali dali kaming bumalik sa DFA. Pinaakyat na kami sa 2nd floor and the lady there browsed over our forms. Pumasa na yung akin sa wakas! Yung kay Kimi ay, questionable pa rin daw. WHY? sobrang liit daw ng mukha sa picture at yung papel daw ay hindi pareho nung sa akin. Ang sabi ko eh, kuha yan sa Baguio at andun yung baby. So ang suggestion nya, instead of re-take, i-zoom na lang at palakihin ang mukha. And that's what we did. Balik kami sa cafe at nagpaprint uli. Haay...nasan ba ang laptop kung kelangan mo..grr! Malay ba namin na ganun ang mangyayari!

We burnt the remaining minutes inside the cafe before going back to DFA. Sa kahuli-hulihang balik, a different employee greeted us. He again commented that the background and paper were different and even added: "Tignan na lang natin kung papasa". I transferred to Table 2 (encoding data) then to 3 (fingerprinting) and received the same remark from this girl. Nagmamagaling na naman sila eh di naman makikita yun pag na-scan na sa passport. Umupo na lang daw ako at antayin na matawag ang pangalan para sa bayad. And so we waited. I heard my name so I approached the counter to give the payment. They said I have to pay for my application only as Kimi's papers weren't with them yet. I went back to my seat but felt a little anxious. What if they rejected Kimi's application? As the thought was running across my head, they again called my name. What a relief! *yipee* Papasa rin pala sa Grade 5! =)

I signed their logbook and had been kidded by the people there that my signature looked kakaiba. I just smiled.

As I walked away to Hubi;s seat, I just said to myself: "Lokohin nyong lelang nyo!"

It had been a tiring day. Disappointing yet fulfilling even if you have to use power. Pano na lang yung iba?

Well, nasa Pinas ka..

..It's given.

PERIOD!

60 Years of Marriage *phew!*

A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about.

For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover.

In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife's bedside.

She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box.

When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totalling $95,000.

He asked her about the contents. "When we were to be married," she said, "my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll."

The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness.

"Honey," he said, "that explains the dolls, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?"

"Oh," she said, "that's the money I made from selling the dolls."

A Prayer.......

Dear Lord, I pray for Wisdom to understand my man;

Love to forgive him;

And Patience for his moods;

Because Lord, if I pray for Strength,

I'll beat him to death because I don't know how to crochet.

Ratatatatat...

It's 2008...do we really need to make new year's resolutions? I don't know what to list now. *sigh* shhh...I can't keep them anyway hehehe *kidding*

hmm...tanungin natin ang bubwit..

BRB! isip muna ko!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!