Salamat sa skype...

... at kahit papaano ay hindi ako nabu-buang dito sa Israel kakaisip sa nurse ko... :)

hayst... LDR for 2 weeks ang drama namin ngayon.

Sana march 7 na. :(

Gusto ko na umuwi... Take me home!!!!

random tidbits...

• 11:54 @doilie welcome back metz!!!!!!!!!!!! :D see u guys soon sa end of march! #

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random tidbits...

• 18:17 Off to Israel... #
• 20:32 @rosemerry08 I'll miss u too nurse ko!!!!!! Waaaaaaaa..... #

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random tidbits...

• 09:01 Gimingaw ko ni mo... #
• 10:08 Yey!!! Uuwi na si nurse mamayang gabi from Cebu! Woooohooo!!!! #

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What she knows, what I planned, and what happened...

Last week, on the eve of my birthday, I invited Red to go out on a date. This was only our 2nd "official romantic date", since all the other times we hung-out, technically, weren't considered as "dates".

I wanted it to be very special, so I planned that day very carefully.

What she knows:

1. I'll accompany her to buy stuff at Bugis street.

2. We'll have dinner at Taste Restaurant in Ibis Hotel since it's also in Bugis.

3. We'll hang-out at our place 'til 12mn so she'll be the first one to greet me on my birthday.

But I have different things in mind....

What I plan on doing:

1. Book a room in Ibis Hotel.

2. Tell her I'm coming from the office, but instead I'll go to check-in to the hotel room to prepare it for our date.

3. Buy roses, candles, drinks, and grapes (her favorite).

4. Go back to the hotel room to put the rose petals on the bed and set-up the candles in the room.

5. Accompany her to buy stuff at Bugis street "after office".

6. Have dinner together at Taste Restaurant in Ibis Hotel.

7. After dinner, I'll go to the toilet of the restaurant to "set-up" my story for later.

8. Go out of the restaurant and proceed to buy things we'll need for the night.

9. Pretend that I lost the access card to the condo and tell her we should go back to the restaurant.

10. Go back to the restaurant and pretend to look for the access card in the toilet.

11. Talk to the front desk and pretend that they asked me to go to the 13th floor in the "admin office"

12. Leave my wallet with Red in the lobby while I go up to the "admin office".

13. Go to the 13th floor, to the room I booked, and light up the candles, play the playlist I created just for this day in my laptop, close the room lights.

14. Rush back to the lobby and tell her that I need my ID which is in the wallet I gave her (#12) in order to claim the access card I lost.

15. Both of us will take the lift to the 13th floor and then I'll lead her to the "admin office" (aka the room I booked)

16. Once she realizes the surprise, I'll hug her and give an eloquent "speech" on how much I love her.

But this is real life, and not all things will go as planned...

What really happened...

1. Yellow was very sad and asked if me and Red could meet her for dinner. I hesitated a bit, but it seemed that Yellow needed us at that time. So we planned to have the dinner, still at Taste, but this time with Yellow. So much for romantic dinner! -- FAIL!

2. I went to the hotel to book the room.

3. I went to Plaza Singapura to buy a ginormous Tweety stuffed toy, flowers, candles, drinks, and grapes. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the candles I wanted, so I just settled for the tealight candles. The supermarket also didn't have a lighter! -- FAIL!

4. I rushed to the flower shop to buy roses, the guy in front of me was taking forever to talk to the sales lady. I picked up 2 red roses and 1 white. In my haste, I didn't realize that I picked-up plastic flowers!!! -- FAIL!

5. On my way back to the hotel, I received an urgent call from one of our platforms in Australia. I had to rush back to the room to check on the issue! -- FAIL!

6. The hotel internet was acting up, but thankfully I had my mobile internet dongle with me. To make matters worst, there was issue in the VPN access in the platform. Instead of doing the workaround myself, I had to instruct the people onsite, which took forever!!! -- FAIL!

7. It was already getting late, halfway through my issue, I called Red to tell her that I won't be able to make it on time. Red was not very happy about it. -- FAIL!

8. While waiting for the onsite people to confirm the issue as solved, I proceed to get the petals from the roses so that I can scatter the petals in the bed. This is when I discovered that the roses were fake! -- FAIL!

9. I wash the grapes I bought from the supermarket, and realized that they were "seedful!" -- FAIL!

10. I went out of the hotel to find real roses. It was already almost 8.30pm, and there was no flower shop nearby. So I decided to just use the fake rose petals... madilim naman sa room, hopefully, di halata... :P -- FAIL!

11. The issue was almost near being solved, I call Red, and she just doesn't want to go out anymore. Nawala daw sya sa mood. -- FAIL!

12. I call Yellow to tell her that the dinner is cancelled. She didn't sound like she's sad, in fact she sounded pretty bubbly and happy. At this point, I was starting to lose it. -- FAIL!

12. I got the confirmation that the issue is solved. I call Red to tell her I'm already on my way to their place. Ayaw na daw talaga nya. At that point, I just broke-down. -- FAIL!

13. Naawa ata si Red dahil naiiyak na ako, she said that we can have dinner as originally planned. This is where things finally went right for me.

14. I took a cab to Tampines with the huge Tweety stuffed toy with me.

15. Once I reach their place, I apologized for being late, and she apologized for being pissed about it.

16. We got dinner at Taste Restaurant in Ibis Hotel as originally planned, just the two of us.

17. I went to the toilet of the restaurant to "set-up" my "lost access card" story.

18. We got out of the restaurant and proceeded to buy things we'll need for the night.

19. I pretended that I lost the access card to the condo and told her we should go back to the restaurant, because I probably dropped it there.

20. We went back to the restaurant and pretended to look for the access card.

21. I went to the front desk and pretended that they asked me to go to the 13th floor in the "admin office"

22. I left my wallet with Red in the lobby while I went up to the "admin office".

23. I went to the 13th floor, to the room I booked, and lighted up the candles, played the playlist I created just for this day in my laptop, and closed the room lights.

24. I rushed back to the lobby and told her that I needed my ID which is in the wallet I gave her (#22) in order to claim the access card I lost.

25. We took the lift to the 13th floor and then I lead her to the "admin office" (aka the room I booked)

26. The reaction from her face was so priceless that the "speech" I prepared vanished from memory... hanep talaga memory gap ko!

The day was so stressful and so tiring, but the moment I saw the look on her face, it was all worth it! It felt so great that even though a lot of things went wrong and didn't go as planned, in the end, it was still so special because I spent it with her.

random tidbits...

• 01:21 @rosemerry08 HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY din nurse ko! I'm happy you liked the flowers! :) #
• 21:10 There's so much crap in my room, I just don't want to clean it anymore... Going out to buy gasoline to just burn the whole damn thing... #

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The Great Bintan Escape...part 2!

Day 2: Feb 2, Sunday

Me and Red woke up early the next day, Sunday, since we got a lot of things planned for the day.

We prepared to get breakfast from Spice, and on our way, we snapped some photos... Adik din sa pictures yung kasama ko... :P

Now that's how you start a good morning!

"Chalet Guide" by the beach

The breakfast at Spice is buffet-style, so syempre PG-moment na naman for me. (Kaya hindi ako pumapayat e... hehehe)

Ang sarap naman... nung breakfast. :P

After the hearty meal, we went back to the chalet to put on some sunblock.

Yep, that's her real name... Isn't this the best way to know someone's real name? :D

Once we've put on enough sunblock, we decided to walk around the beach, and syempre, picture-picture! :P

The chalets

The beach

The beach uli

Batang naglalaro sa beach

Nag-e-emote?

The two reasons why I love Bintan: the hammock, and the person sitting on it. :P yikeeeeee...

Yey! Finally removes the cover :)

hmmmnnnn... a much more "interesting" shot of the beach... :D

Excuse me miss, maalon ba sa labas???

Relaxing by the shore

Pati kayak, di pinalagpas! :P

All that buffet-eating and beach-walking exhausted us, so after a few more minutes, we decided we needed wash-up and rest. (Buhay-baboy lang... :P)

By 12, we checked out of the resort, and then booked a 2.5-hour couple massage treatment in Aura Spa at Pasar Oleh Oleh. The package included a massage, body scrub, sauna, and body lotion, in short, 2.5-hours of mindless pampering. I need more of these... :P

kahit san, basta may camera, mag-po-pose at mag-po-pose talaga! :D hehehe...

(off-topic! in fairness, I didn't burst-out laughing when they started massaging me, as initially expected from my hyper-ticklish body)

After the massage, it was time to head to the ferry terminal.

We reached the ferry terminal and bought some souvenir items there, since we didn't have time to buy them elsewhere. We also had our very late lunch / very early dinner at the terminal. Thankfully, we booked the Emerald class on the way back to Singapore, so we were able to hang-around the Executive Lounge.

Sorry, Emerald Class passengers only... :P

After a few more minutes of waiting, and we're finally boarding!

I'm not so sure if it's because of the better seats or the better sea conditions or both... but Red didn't puke this time around! Yey! We slept most of the time we were in the ferry, so that might have helped aswell.

Ferry Ride back to Singapore... before sleeping :P

After 50 minutes, and we're back in SG... Back to work! and back to real life!
I already miss the hammock... hehehe...

The Great Bintan Escape...

Isang gabi, habang magkausap sa phone:

Me: gusto kong mag-beach...
Red: tingin ako ng flights to Phuket?
Me: hmmnn... Bintan na lang kaya? para malapit lang.
Red: sige...

And thus, that weekend itself... may dalawang batang pasaway na sumakay ng ferry papuntang Bintan!
...

Day 1: Feb 6, Saturday

Red has work until 1pm during Saturdays, so I picked her up at her office in Changi North after work. From there we head straight to their flat to drop my stuff and buy provisions for the trip.

Afraid that we'd be late for our scheduled ferry ride, we head to the Ferry Terminal early. We shared a bowl of Chicken Noodle soup for lunch and proceeded to wait for boarding...

ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! ALERT!
Ladies and gentlemen, we interrupt your normal reading for a blog-first! For the first time in this blog's history... may I present... (drum-roll)Red:

While waiting for boarding...

At around 5:00pm, we were already called in to board the ferry.

This is my 3rd time going to Bintan, and I've got to say, this has got to be the bumpiest ferry ride I've been in! It was so bumpy, Red felt woozy and puked during the trip. According to her, it's her first time to do that on a trip (should I be flattered that it happened with me? :P)

After about 50 minutes, we arrive in Bintan ferry terminal. A resort crew was there to assist us and pointed us to the correct bus.

While in the bus to Mayang Sari Beach Resort

After a few minutes in the bus, we arrive at my favorite resort in Bintan, The Mayang Sari Beach resort. We got the sea view chalet, which has a great view of the beach.

View from the chalet

Inside the chalet

It was already late in the afternoon, so we just rested for quite a while, cleaned-up, and proceeded to have some dinner.

Dinner at Spice Restaurant

Playing with the iPhone before dinner

Sambal Seafood

The Ginormous Grilled Ribs

Just how big are those ribs??? Observe...

They're as big as Red's head!

Takaw!!! hehehe... peace!

After dinner we walked around and finally settled in the hammock in front of our chalet. If there is one thing I love about Mayang Sari, it's this hammock and it's location near the sea. It's so serene, especially during night time.

We laid on the hammock and talked about random and funny things...

"Charge it to the hammock, please..."

That was my favorite part of the whole trip. We were just soooo happy and comfortable with each other. If there was one moment in my life where time can just stand still, I wish it was that... lying there beside her, underneath the stars (cheeeeezzzzzy...)

Thus ends Day 1.

random tidbits...

• 00:40 Just got back home from the airport... Mag-uli sa Cebu ang akong nurse (aka Red) for a quick vacation. Miss her already.... Waaaaaaaaa... #
• 09:08 Happy valentine's day nurse ko!!! #
• 16:23 is missing the nurse... :( #
• 19:47 Off to Jurong for dinner and a game of pictionary with officemates... #

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random tidbits...

• 18:54 It's official ;) #

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random tidbits...

• 04:32 @hammyspammy pilosopang bata! Hehehe... #
• 04:33 @wastefulspace parang mas excited ka tlaga kesa sa akin ah?! Hehehe... Thanks! :p #
• 04:35 Now if only we could spend each day like this... Thanks for the best birthday gift ever.... :) #
• 08:39 @rosemerry08 thanks nurse ko! Thanks for the best birthday gift ever! #

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random tidbits...

• 11:42 And we're off to Israel... Hmmmnn... Wait... What's in Israel??? #

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random tidbits...

• 23:00 @rosemerry08 sigh.... Miss u. I'm sorry.... :( #

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random tidbits...

• 08:22 Bintan!!!!!! Here we come!!!!!! :) #
• 12:24 My boss asked me how long does it take to process Israeli visa for me... Didn't even bother to ask me if I wanted to go to Israel.. Hahaha.. #
• 14:09 @kawa11 Sana nga jas... Dapat tlaga di ako naglagay ng post-it no? Hehehe... #
• 15:34 Off to Bintan! :) #

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random tidbits...

• 19:03 @rosemerry08 excited??? #
• 19:04 Konting hinga na lang, tapos na ang kalbaryo ko.... At Bintan na bukas!!!! Yey!!!!!!!! #

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random tidbits...

• 22:19 @rosemerry08 nakakahawa pla yun?hahaha... #

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random tidbits...

• 10:55 Currently in uncharted territory... Ano ba dapat ang tamang gawin dito? #
• 10:56 @rosemerry08 at sinong kasama mo sa bintan??? :p #
• 18:36 @wastefulspace wala pa atang map for this one... It's complicated ;) #
• 18:36 @rosemerry08 memory gap??? #
• 18:37 The stupid interactive client does not work!!! SOB! My demo's on friday!!!! #

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random tidbits...

• 14:03 ay naiinis........... #
• 18:30 @rosemerry08 nakalimutan ko na... Memory gap. :p #
• 19:37 Haaaaaaay nakooooooooo!!!!! #

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