THICK ABDOMINAL FAT

Those are three very painful words. Especially when they are spoken by a 60-something doctor, whom you've only met for five minutes. My body was characterized as having thus.

THICK ABDOMINAL FAT.

I wasn't always a tubster my whole life. Before the age of 12, I was normal. Not extraordinarily skinny, but my body mass index (BMI) wasn't in the overweight range either. I guess I always thought I'd shed the pounds naturally, baby fat if you will. But as I grew older, I ate more. Sweets especially. Oh how I love downing a pint of ice cream after dinner.... by myself.... :)

So. Twelve years later, and this is where we are. THICK ABDOMINAL FAT. I had to get a physical for my new job. So after doing the necessary deposits at the medical laboratory (pee and poo, kinda gross I know), I had to see this doctor. She's not really ancient looking but the years certainly show on her face. So she's asking the usual questions. Any problems with eyesight? Hemorrhoids? Headaches? Skin disease? TB? No, no, no, no and no. Then she surveys my lovely self, pats my tummy and says those three painful words.

So since that day (yesterday), I resolved that no doctor will utter those words whenever they have to describe my person. It is going to be a tough road ahead. There will always be chocolate cake and ice cream and cheesecakes that go so well with fat-full frappucinos. Oooohh the agony! But diabetes runs in the family and Dr. Sixty over here says that with the rate I'm going, I'm going to get it early. So for health's sake, I'm going to try my damndest.

Whirlwind!

It's been a whirlwind of events these past two weeks. I've been on a total of nine interviews with three different companies. I know I prayed for my life to move forward but it has been a lot to take in. For a while it was a choice between two strong contenders. Let's call them Spain and China - from the country of origin of the prominent families that own and manage these companies.

On China - well, its hard to ignore your hometown. China is a FORCE to be reckoned with - in retail, real estate, banking. There are relatives, connections, people look at you, look at your last name, who you know. Sure, a degree from one of the top universities in the country are good. But WHO do you know?

Spain, well. Spain is Spain. One of the bigger names in the Philippines, a large conglomerate. HUGE. In telecommunications, banking, real estate, retail - its literally a market! Sure, they scared me with the work. With the long hours. With working on weekends but I figured... I can take it. I think.

So yes, I took the job at/in Spain yesterday January 27, 2009. Both companies offered an opportunity to gain a wealth of experience. I am sure that I would learn and grow professionally in either company, I rationalized, made pro-con lists, but in the end, I think my gut feeling won out and the question of: "Is this what Papa would have wanted for me?"

I will try to move forward from here. No regrets. Take everything as a learning experience. All that bullcrap. Its actually difficult to think that a week from now I will be in an office environment once again. I will have to learn how everything works again, I will have to start at the bottom, again. But strangely enough, my irrational fears are overshadowed by a sense of relief and gratitude. I have a job. I will be making a steady income. I will be able to contribute to the household - to my family. The economic climate inspires a reason of panic in me and finding employment, gives me comfort.

Guess who's 24?

It was a pretty uneventful birthday, I guess I finally learned to not hype up the big B-day. I've always thought turning a year older was HUGE. I made a big deal about it. At least in my head. I make a big deal about people I consider important to me not greeting me. Or I would have a big party to celebrate. But this year, I did not make a fuss. I spent the day and most of the afternoon in SM for job interviews and IQ tests, I paid insurance premiums, I bought chocolate ice cream, I went to mass, had a fantastic Chinese buffet for dinner and coffee afterwards. It was pretty low-key, and I'm glad I spent it that way.

Baking attempt # 1 (for 2009)

That's my first attempt to bake this year. Copied straight of Yummy magazine's December 2008 issue. It's a Warm Deep-dish Chocolate Chip Cookie. I used the ingredients for cookies but baked it like brownies. :) I topped it off with chocolate and vanilla ice cream. My brother and Gino seemed to like it.

Preparation took about... 30 minutes? I had a hard time with our ancient food processor. It was one of my dad's first "we're-married-now-so-we-have-to-start-buying-appliances gifts" to my mom when they were starting out. Right after I'd put in all the flour, the damn mixer wouldn't budge. I had to fold in all the semi-sweet chocolate chips myself. Baking about 30-40 minutes to golden chewiness.

Pretty good for the first try I guess. I should make it like a monthly thing. Try cooking/baking something at least once a month. :) I'll post all successful and failed attempts here.

My Hair, My Mom

I finally received my mom's college graduation gift for me (three years late). She's always been adamant that I have my hair "relaxed" or treated. My hair was getting wavy since it's always up in a pony tail and it has been her dream that I have straight hair with bangs.

I've always had straight hair. There was a disastrous year in my life when I had curly hair. It wasn't curly-princess locks, it was curly-clown hair. Like a wig. This was also my mother's doing. She took me to the neighborhood hairdresser and had them put all these curlers in my 4 year old hair.

When I was 9 or 10, my mom also decided I needed to have my bangs trimmed. And since it was just bangs, she decided she could do it herself. We set up a chair and ready the scissors for this seemingly simple task. We take almost an hour, with her chopping off most of my bangs, leaving only less than an inch on my forehead. It had to take my dad to stop her from her cutting frenzy.

There was a decade in between where my mom let me do what I wished with my mane. I cut it chin length, shoulder-length, had it layered. Never doing more than the occasional trim. But I've never cared much for how they looked. I inherited getting gray hair young from my father's side so I started having it dyed. But still, I was in charge now.

So I give in this year, 2009. I figured, new year, new hair and decided to take her up on her offer. But I did not say yes to bangs. Not yet any way.



Thank you Mommy!

So its a new year...

Ten days into 2009, I've finally decided to make this blog. For the past year, I've been posting on stealwifiwhenyoucan.blogspot.com, which was mostly a tech blog, my obsession with free Wi-Fi and a bit of my Sweden trip last May 2008. A lot happened last year. I resigned from my job, lost my father to cancer and I've had to relocate to my home town in Cebu, Philippines.

And this is where this blog comes in.

I'll be sharing a bit about myself: my misadventures, my job hunts, adjusting back to Cebu life, my attempt at budgeting finances, my long distance relationship, my fitness goals.... the works!

I only hope I'll be more faithful to keeping the blog updated. That's another one to add to my list of resolutions. Just to end this first post, I would like to wish everyone out there a very happy new year. I am hoping that this year is going to be MY year and I wish everyone the peace, success, health and happiness that we all deserve.