if you weren't out of the country, i'd tell you ...

{heels!}

* i'm totally loving my new job especially all the lovely lunch places (cheap and not-so-cheap) i've been trying out with my new lunch buddies. of course, i've challenged myself that i'd be svelte by the time i get my regularization papers but at the rate were attacking the makati cbd lunch areas, i'm beginning to doubt myself.

* then again, if i need a major motivation to diet, it's going to be the fact that it's soooooo fun to dress up at work, and wear major heels. it doesn't hurt that the commute to work is just too divine (so quick, so fast, so painless, and i'm dropped off five meters from the building's main entrance ... it couldn't be any more amazing except if i were to get a car that would drop me off five meters from the building's main entrance. in due time, rosa, in due time.) that wearing four-inch heels aren't really a problem anymore.

* a friday night chat with new friends made me finally realize that i've been short-changing myself all of these years. and while it did leave me sad for a bit, ultimately, i know that everything's for the best. i exchanged a bazillion text messages with tita mayu and gay about it (and with you probably had you been home) and they both said the same thing. ☺ of course, i didn't truly realize the wisdom of their words until i was at mass this afternoon. yes, i am a slow learner.

* i'm addicted to game of thrones which i watched straight through last weekend and bought the book last monday and i'm now planning to read more about medieval nights and what not and how good it is to finally be reading a lot again. been too busy with stuff that i haven't finished book 1 yet, but i am so excited to buy books 2 to 5 and can't wait to read them over the next couple of long weekends.

it's funny how you don't really realize how much you unload/share/text/rely on a person until that person goes on an extended vacation and it's not as wonderful sending text messages when said person won't really reply. so i pity that person when he comes back from vacation because his ears are so going to bleed.

faux-ductive weekend

so last weekend it was all rain and what not and definitely a perfect day to sleep in but for some reason i woke up early.

and even weirder was the fact that i felt compelled to take on a project. like organizing my closet. will wonders never cease.

it wasn't exactly the world's most organized closet. in fact it was far from it. and while i knew where everything was, it was horrible. so i took everything out.

when everything was piled onto my bed, i wiped down that closet, tried to figure out what would go in here, and put everything back.

it took a while - i was busy catching up on my internet reading and doing the laundry and exchanging text messages with my friends - but eventually, it got fixed.

put a rack inside so that i don't hang my cardigans.

and, viola, good job. an organized closet. *pats self on back*

then again, who am i kidding, my room's a horrible mess.

and i've got the other side of my closet to tacklet yet.
maybe tomorrow?

or maybe not.

p.s. here's a little something from my past which i've kept till now -- a calendar inside my closet where i list the day's outfit. something that prevents me from doing something i'm bound to do: wear my favorite outfits over and over and over again!

good girls don't finish last

{me and gay - nice girls both, except she's much nicer!}

dear gay,

on a particularly sad day, i remember you telling me that good girls finish last. and while i remember telling you that it isn't true, there have been bazillions of times when i didn't exactly believe that myself.

since i met you in 2005, we've been through good times and bad, including liking "mitsa", buying a "special" present from rustan's, waiting for the results of the bar examinations, and countless text messages. you were the one who encouraged me to leave the court of appeals to become a "real lawyer" and you were instrumental in helping me leave the firm when it was time to go. so i couldn't imagine a better person to share one of the most amazing weeks of my life than you.

thank you for your encouragement, for replying to my bazillion text messages, and for listening to me go on and on and on about probably the same things over and over again ... like the window with a view! and thank you for not getting bored even though i've discussed nothing with you but the impending move, the actual move, and the first week at work. thank you for your patience and your kindness and your understanding. after all, who else will i share solsagamnida stories and issues with except for the person who made sure to look up the korean word and actually memorize it?

neither of us know what the future brings - if the weather is unpredictable as it is now, i'm sure our careers will be unpredictable as well. but if there's one thing i'm sure of, it's that your september 16 and my october 1 are both proof positive that good girls don't finish last; good girls finish in god's perfect time.

much love,

rosa

here's to the new me

i don't exactly remember when this annual report arrived at my doorstep, but being the irresponsible homeowner i am, it basically stayed inside its envelope, right beside my front door (it got wet in the rain when it first arrived so i didn't want to bring it inside the house - excuses, excuses!) up until last sunday. so friends would come and they'd ask, "don't you want to bring that in?" and i'd say, "oh it's perfectly fine there." story of my life.

well, it stayed there, until last sunday. cause that's when i realized that inside that envelope contained information that -- given the career change -- is now important to me. so, as i sat on my doorstep waiting for a friend to pick me up, i started going each and every line of that annual report. but, while the figures and the information i picked up were interesting, i was taken aback by the words on the cover of the annual report:

it's not just about moving forward.

it's about changing the game.

and that, my dear friends, was how the past week was like.

i arrived a little before 8 am - the commute from home to work is now DIVINE i tell you - and the staff (who i met the afternoon of my orientation) welcomed me warmly and ushered me into my "room". now, it technically isn't a room - it's made of cubicle walls, but it has a free standing desk and visitors' chairs, and cabinets and what-nots - but 11 out of the 13 years i've worked, i've been ushered to either a desk or a cubicle on my first day of work. so imagine how it felt like to finally have a room where i can bring a lamp, a couple of personal items, and a hidden stack of shoes and not feel the least bit cramped!

but if having a room was the moving forward part, here's the game changer: i have a window. a giant kick-ass window, where, if i tilt my head properly, i'd see louis vuitton and if i close my eyes a bit, i'd imagine hermes calling out "rosa! rosa!". i have NEVER had a window, not unless you count the window near my desk at the CA which had a view of the green roof of the building beside mine. so no, we're not counting that. we're counting this giant kick-ass window with a view of louis vuitton as MY FIRST WINDOW

all shallowness aside - which is truly what the last two paragraphs are all about - indeed, this leap is life-changing (which, ironically is one of the company's taglines: "we're changing lives"). i get up every morning with a better sense of who i am, with a stronger belief in my own self-worth. i enter my room, and as i open the blinds to breathe in the view, i utter a short prayer thanking god for giving me this job. and all throughout the day, little things like budding friendships with new co-workers, a very pleasant boss, the male secretary strutting around in wedges (yes, and that's the subject of another post), and learning all about the business slowly but surely, i still can't believe that i have been blessed way beyond than what i deserve.

there was this minor hiccup in my week and i exchanged several SMS with friends over that. then came saturday morning and i saw something that felt like god's way of telling me that no, i'm absolutely forbidden to complain.

and you know what, god is right. i've moved forward. the game has changed. october 1 marked the switch to the new me. why should i even bother thinking about the hiccups?