Honestly, I don’t really believe in horoscopes and predictions. They never come true and quite the opposite of what is happening in real life. Here are a few things my zodiac sign says about my personality. Some are true. Some are not.

Very organized My sister thinks I’m messy. I coudn’t count the times when we fought about the “not-so-arranged” books in the shelf. I still keep my collection of Sweet Valley High, Hardy Boys, Are you afraid of the dark?, Goosebumps, etc. (at my age?! haha!) I read them again every now and then and I have this bad habit of not returning them on the shelf. Mom told me that if I’m not going to take care of those old books, I might as well give them to my younger cousins.

Like boundaries This is totally me. If you are frequenting this blog, you would have read a previous post that says highly territorial. I am the type of person who wouldn’t interfere with other people’s lives, unless, it’s a matter of life and death and I expect everyone to do the same. My rule is to mind my own business and what is happening in my neighbors’ house has nothing to do with me

Bossy Huh? This is very funny! I actually keep a pretty low profile especially at work (I’m just a rank and file employee haha!). I never raised my voice at anyone. Well, I can’t seem to remember an incident when I yelled at a friend, colleague, classmate, etc. As far as I understand, bossy is someone who is happy to give orders by force and I’m not like that. I actually consider myself as shy and demure

Like to help others Sure. But please don’t ever make me feel that you are dependent on my decisions because that is something that would piss me off. Of course I want to help but you have to help yourself too! I just don’t like it when somone is asking for my assistance and would leave everything to me

Generous Yes. After nearly four years of working like a dog, I still don’t own a savings account. Many times, I tried to save a small part of my monthly salary but there are always reasons for me to withdraw my money and close my bank account. Common reason is I want to give a special gift for a loved one’s birthday. I know it’s not a valid reason. But it’s a nice feeling when they appreciate my gift

We never had a mailbox in our house and so we collect our letters and utility bills from the home owners association office. Every 5th and 20th of the month, my younger brother would drop by the office to ask if they have something for us. You see, mom’s elder sister works as a special education teacher in San Diego, California and they want to keep in touch through snail mail. I already suggested to Mommy and Aunty Letty to go high-tech (such as broadband) but they still prefer the handwritten letters over the electronic mails. I think they simply appreciate the personal touch of writing and signing on post cards.

We are now thinking of buying a stainless steel mailbox for our mother so it would be easier to receive the posts. And besides my brother is already complaining of his monthly routine. We want stainless so we would not have to worry about rust and the heavy rains.

I came home from a long workday and found our windows decked with purple curtains. I’ve been insisting to my sister that purple would look great in our little green home which she disapprovingly questioned (As always hehe! She doesn’t like my ‘taste’). How can purple and green look good together? She said those two colors will never match and that we should stick with neutrals such as white, beige or something that won’t contrast green. Guess I was really born to be stubborn. Payday last week, so I went to Divisoria Mall and bought new curtains. The price was a bit expensive for 280 pesos so I asked the sales lady for a discount. Sometimes bargaining can be stressful. It brings out the warfreak in me. The sales lady looked at me from head to toe, as if assessing my capabilities of buying their products. NyaNya! Anyway, it doesn’t matter because I always walk away with winner savings haha! I got it for 230 pesos. Woof! Woof! I loved the fabric, not too heavy, perfect for summer. I thought it would really look nice on our windows but I was disappointed to see that it looked odd Now my sister is laughing at me. But hey, experimenting is not bad

I don’t really believe in horoscopes and astrology but it doesn’t mean that I don’t read It’s fun and entertaining especially on days when I’m bored. Below is my feng shui predictions for the year 2009:

Name: Sterndal
Favorite color: blue [pink was not available for this game]
First initial: S
Month of Birth: August
Black or white?: white
Name of a person: Mary Mateo
Favorite number: 8
Boracay or Baguio?: Boracay! [i'm a beach bummer]
Lake or Ocean?: Ocean!
Wish: monetize my blog [wishful thinking!]

Results: Your soul is relaxed and you are laid back [but i'm starting to get paranoid because I'm 25 and I still have no definite plans for my future!]. You like to help others and your future lovelife looks very good [buh-bye zero lovelife!]. You will have a great year and will experience a major life-changing experience for the good [how cool is that? haha!]. You will have a friend who completely confides in you and would do anything for you, but you may not realize it [makes me think of Felly...I miss you friend!]

mary mateo is your Best friend. “8″, This is how many close friends you have in your lifetime. [I have less than 8]

You like adventure. You are spontaneous and like to please people. [no comment ]

“monetize my blog” this wish that you made will come true only if you send this to five people in one hour. Send it to ten people, and it will come true before your next Birthday!

belated happy chinese new year!

I almost had a heart attack when I woke up this morning and saw that it was already 4:40AM. I forgot to set the alarm clock last night and work starts at exactly 6:00AM. Showing up late for work is the last thing that I would want to happen (liar! liar!) so, I made a mad dash to the bathroom to take a quick shower, got dressed and didn’t even bother to eat breakfast.

While I was on my way, I was constantly glancing at another passenger’s wrist watch, praying hard that I’d make it on time. I remember I was teary-eyed when the FX driver pulled into the gasoline station to refill his almost empty gas tank (well, he had to explain because the other passengers were complaining). The cashier asked the driver for a smaller bill because she had no change for P1000 and as if the whole world was conniving against me, the cashier and the driver had a small debate about this! Aren’t gasoline stations operating 24/7? Good thing, it only took a few minutes.

I logged in at exactly 6:00AM. Buzzer beater! Hehe! Has anyone out there experieced something like this? I was running late for work and everything went wrong except for the fact that I was able to make it on time

“If only you knew, how my heart overflows with love for you. If only you could see the way you fill my hopes and dreams. You’re the owner of my heart, the ruler supreme. Even in the dark of night, I’ve only to think about you to feel your loving light and from this world I drift feeling as if I’ll never touch the ground again… If only you knew. If only you could guess how I hear your voice when others speak; for you hold the key to my happiness, and it’s always you my soul seeks. If only you could feel, how your very presence has the power to heal, all the wounds inside me. You’ve made me abandon the pain of yesterday, and you’ve shown me that the past can no longer stand in the way of what I hope to achieve… If only you knew.”

~ is this original? A guy friend gave this to me and I’m wondering if he was the one who wrote this. It feels awkward to ask, anyway, I’m flattered. lol

Just a few facts about me and my friends

Rhea: Full-time housewife, mother of two
Belinda: Civil Engineer, just got married
Mary: Industrial Engineer, a bride-to-be
ME: Content Analyst, a certified old maid

Classes we used to hate: Physical Education because we were super lazy to bring our PE uniforms lolz. And need I say? – Physics! haha! No. We never liked scientific experiments. It bored us to death. But let me clarify that the teacher was really gooood! kami lang talaga pasaway hehe! Would you believe that two years later after ‘the incident in her class’, she saw me in my college (PLM) uniform and she seemed very happy! She even told me to study hard Teachers, indeed, are our second parents…aawwww!

Teacher we love: Ms. Lanete, our teacher in World History. She has this way of narrating World War II in a-not-so-serious-manner. I remember as she was discussing the horrors of Death March, there were a lot of “AAaaaahhs” reflecting the students’ amazement. It was like she’s just telling the story of a war-flick movie with lots of special effects! We simply love her! Had it been another teacher, we could have fallen asleep hehe. By the way, we never skipped her class

Fave merienda: Fish balls, kikiam, tokneneng, McDonalds

Fave hang-out: Mary’s house, Robinson’s Place

Shameful acts: (1) The Physics Crime (2) One time after the class, (I wasn’t IN for this) they headed off to Mary’s house and drank Gilbeys. They wanted to know how alcoholic drinks taste like. Five years later, I got my first taste of beer. I was already working and it was awful! Makes me wonder why lots of men love to get drunk?

Our music: Mary likes “Points of View”, Belinda is a fan of BackStreet Boys (Nick Carter), Rhea loves WestLife, and me, I like Dreaming of you, Selena’s version.

What I miss: endless conversations about our crushes, dreams and ambitions

Picture! Picture! That photo below was taken during our graduation day! We only wore school uniforms but it was a fun night From right to left: Me, Belinda, Mary and Rhea. After that, we went to different universities. They all took up engineering courses while I got a scholarship for Business Administration. Initially, I wanted to become an English teacher, but I realized that I wasn’t cut out for that.

So there, so much for high school life!

Next time, iba naman! haha!

Cheers!

I don’t understand why it’s so difficult for me to get a job with a decent salary. I’m not bobo, I’m kinda sure of that. But I can’t even pass a simple job interview…

here’s the question:

what was your most challenging experience on the job?

and my answer:

My most challenging experience on the job is learning how to work with people who have prejudged me as weak and incompetent. I am a naturally quiet person and most people think that I am somewhat snobbish. And the worse part is people assume that I am not competitive for the position just bacause I don’t talk a lot. I typically handle it by going above and beyond any expectations that have been laid out for me. This allows my superiors and officemates to see that I would excel even if others think I would fail. I have learned that people will always prejudge you and your success is the best comeback. I’m not saying that I’m already successful but when people see that you are continuously striving to improve your skills, that’s success. I also learned that it is vital to find friends on the job. And if others don’t like me, it is up to me to show them that I am the opposite of what they think. Finally, do not let anyone or anything hold you back from reaching your dream.

nyek! me masabi lang? ang layo ng sagot eh! toink!

hahaha

september 27, I really forced my self to wake up at exactly 3:00AM. I’m a heavy sleeper and getting up that early was such a torture call time was 5:00AM and the last thing I wanted was to come late. there are more or less 600 employees, including the higher ups, who participated this once a year activity — team building!!! it was held in a resort in Batangas and I must say the company really spent a lot of money for this outing – they paid for literally everything! They rented the whole Kabayan Resort so the employees could have some privacy hehe. the cottages are clean and beautiful although not spacious, delicious food from morning to afternoon, free t-shirts, lots of games (sack race, tug-o-war, obstacle, beach volleyball etc.), and for a company that is not very ‘rich’, the employees really appreciated all the efforts Personally, I was very happy that they chose to hold it in a beach resort. unlike last year, just swimming pool, needless to say, it was very crowded. and I loved the feel of the sand on my bare feet it’s tickling! Plus my office friend Shiela told me it is healthy for the soles chasing the big waves with my officemates reminded me of childhood memories in Cebu, sweet it was pretty tiring and a bit painful at the back but we really had a great time!

Looking back, I’m glad that I was a part of this activity that promoted a harmonious relationship between employees … even if I had to wake up very early on a Saturday morning, it’s worth it

cheers spi!