oh, hello weekend, are you planning to disappear on me

see this?

as i've blogged yesterday, my upcoming week is going to be quite crazy. and, oh, add to that a VA decision i have to draft for my boss BY MONDAY and clearly, the weekend of sleeping in bed, lounging about with a good book, and attempting to prettify my house just said sayonara to me.

oh, boo-hoo.

that said, i still can't get over the fact that my career drama, which hit an all time high last friday, has virtually dissipated. could it be the dinner with good friends vanessa and rey? could it be impromptu dinner with pazi and jen? or could it be yet another weekend spent lounging about in bed and cleaning the house in a mad dash to accommodate instant dinner guests? i don't really know. what i do know is that while my current work situation still leaves much to be desired, i am actually much better now, and cravings for comfort foods of whatever nature have virtually ceased.

i am thinking though if i should do overtime tonight -- i really have to get cracking on a whole lot of things -- so that even if really will do an overtime tomorrow -- decisions don't write themselves overnight -- i will be less pressured. with three pleadings i want to be able to submit by next week, plus this decision that i have to draft, i truly, truly, truly must get cracking soon (i.e. now na, ala krissie a.)

my contact lenses are giving me problems though, and there's nothing more i want than to remove them already and put on my nerdy glasses, and lounge (i clearly love lounging). but i musn't, i shouldn't, and i couldn't. work beckons, people, and this is me saying, goodbye weekend, it was nice having you last week.

p.s. could it be though that this positivity for work-related stuff is coming from the fact that i will be taking two days off in august to hie off to vietnam and that there's be two (two!!! oh how positively lovely) long weekends in august, one after the other that the craziness that is july is just oh-so-bearable. i dunno, but i am so glad i've got my mojo back.

the quest for metallic shoes goes on and on and on...

remember this? that day, after consulting a number of friends via text, i went to work, and actually attended a client meeting, wearing silver shoes with tiny silver balls and black grosgrain ribbons. and while those shoes died a natural death after being worn one too many times, my shoe closet has never been without a pair of shiny metallic flats - from bright palara silver to lovely matte gold. as a matter of fact, the other day, i barely restrained myself form buying yet another pair of gold flats. i so wanted them, but i couldn't afford them anymore, not with an upcoming trip to vietnam.

but then, i read anthology shoes's tweet. and i followed the link. and there it was: anthology's shanghai in gold.

ooooh. it's just too lovely to contemplate. and a size 8 at that. i'm beginning to think the shoe gods finally heard me.

*sigh* it would be perfect on the plane to vietnam, with a simple pair of dark jeans and a plain white button-down top. it would be perfect while eating those fresh spring rolls wearing a loose white summer dress (to hide the overstuffed tummy). it would be perfect walking around the market wearing cream shorts and a plain white tee. oooh... it would just be perfect anywhere, and considering that we're flying there and back with no check-in luggage, having one pair of shoes to go with every single outfit would just be heaven. and if i, the always over-packed shoe addict were to bring only one pair of shoes on a trip, then it would have to be something as fabulous as the shanghai in gold.

and did i say i was a size 8? at the risk of being repetitive ... it's just PERFECT.

back to regular programming

power's back on (at least at 3:45 a.m. in my part of the world) and with the sun out, life is pretty much back to normal. work clothes are ironed, drinking water is cold, and i actually saw myself on the mirror as i got ready for work. save for the extra couple of minutes (okay, the extra hour) that i spent in bed this morning (i just wanted to savor it a little bit more), i must say that i ought to be back on regular programming and i can no longer use the excuse of lack of sleep, fear of flying yero, and what not to prevent me from doing what must be done.

that said, here's what my work schedule is like (oh my):

♥ hearing at rtc qc on monday afternoon

♥ memorandum for the court of appeals on tuesday

♥ comment on a petition for certiorari with the court of appeals on wednesday

♥ motion for reconsideration for a court of appeals decision on thursday

♥ hearing at nlrc calamba on thursday afternoon

and, oh, take note, those are all different cases. make it work, rosa, make it work.

in between writing up a storm, i must:

☺ get my laundry done

☺ wash my suits -- i've really nothing else to wear for next week's two hearings

☺ sweep the front, sides, and back of my house to get rid of the leaves and other basyang-related debris

isn't my life pretty boring? thank goodness i'm not. hahaha.

anyway, i'm a bit sad cause yesterday, when i passed by subway, the sign for sub of the day wasn't there anymore and i was too shy to ask the counter guy if, well, there is still sub of the day. i'm beginning to think they recognize me already since i've eaten there at least twice a week since i've re-discovered the joy of subway. maybe later i'll ask. i'm too addicted to the sweet onion dressing to actually stop now.

and, on other news, i wore one of my new pairs of shoes yesterday, and another one today. so fun, i tell you. i know i am shallow, but what do you know, the drama of last week, including the "why am i a lawyer" and all that has all but basically dissipated. i do know that it'll take more than retail therapy to get to the bottom of things as deep-seated as that, but sometimes, it's the shallow things that count.

about last night

yesterday was a hectic day -- i had to present a witness in QC at 8:30 am and i had a hearing in NLRC Calamba at 2p.m. i guess it's understandable why i chose not to return to work anymore after the Calamba hearing and chose instead to be dropped off at alabang town center where spike was.

i was tired, and i wanted to be home early. and i was, if you could count going home after buying buy one take one philips cfl bulbs from true value, buying three pairs of shoes from francesco (they were on sale!!!), and quick dinner at burger king going home early.

anyway, let's just say that i was tucked in bed watching my dvd of drop dead diva by 6p.m.

by 7:30 p.m. though, the howling wind was so noisy that i had to turn on the subtitles, which i absolutely hate. by 8 p.m., i remembered to get the umbrella i had left out to dry in the garage, lest it fly to some far off place ... it was a coach umbrella, and i love it to bits. and by 8:30 p.m., i had to peek outside again to check if my house was still intact -- the wind was howling and i was scared.

i can't remember what time i slept -- it was after i had finished the last episode of drop dead diva. i left the tv on sleep mode and crashed almost immediately ... only to wake up at 1 a.m. i don't know if i woke up cause i had to pee (which was the usual case), cause it was warm (again, the usual case during the summer), or cause it sounded like yero was flying all over the place (which WAS NOT usual at all). this time around, i didn't check outside anymore. i was too scared i'd be decapitated by a flying yero.

the rest of the night i couldn't sleep anymore ... it was cool, cause of the rain, but it was also warm, probably cause of the mattress. it was relaxing, cause of the rain, but it was scary, cause of the wind. i tried drowning out the sound by listening to my ancient ipod, and i listened to worship songs too, believing that praying through song (or more likely while half-asleep) will help make the fear go away. i'm not a person who get scared easily, but for some reason, the thoughts of flying yero scared me big time.

i woke up with a start at 6a.m. because of the rain, i didn't want to commute, and since it was coding day, i knew i had to rush. i made it out of the house a little past 6:30 praying that the MMDA be driven indoors because of the rain. when i turned on the A.M. radio to listen to mike enriquez i learned though that there's no number coding today. that was almost enough to make me turn around and go home to catch some zzzzs. i think the only thing that kept me going was the knowledge that at work, there's going to be a generator set and i can charge my phone and my flashlight.

the trip to the office left my jaw slack -- trees were uprooted, steel gates were twisted, and one gasoline station near baclaran was left in near ruin. to think this was the typhoon that wasn't supposed to make landfall, according to kuya kim monday evening. i remember telling my brother that, and his reply was "weather's unpredictable"

as i struggled to get some sleep last night, i prayed that the security guards at our area were safe -- they were the nearest people i knew who had to be out in the elements while yero were flying about. looking outside the office window now, it seems that life is once more normal. then again, the aircon's off, we're running on a genset, so clearly, life isn't normal yet.

* image from Daphne Osena-Paez. Here's the original link --> http://tweetphoto.com/32542067

the weekend in numbers

11 a.m. - time i officially got out of bed on saturday

6/10 - rating for the new thai noodle place at the corner of tropical and el grande. sorely disappointed considering i had been wanting to try it for the longest time.

7 p.m. - time dinner with friends was supposed to begin.

1.5 - number of hours before dinner actually commenced

3 - number of hours before rey's kid asked why we were still there considering it was already late.

15 - number of minutes to get from rey's house to sucat where i was dropping off vanessa.

0 kph - spike's speed when the motorcycle with sidecar hit it.

1 - number of drunk drivers involved.

5 - number of policemen on the scene. it was right across a police detachment, thank god.

4 - number of references to Lindsay Lohan after they discovered that the guy was drunk.

Php235 - amount of money i spent to pay for the photos of the damage + the photocopying of my car's registration documents.

2 - number of times i went to rey's house -- realized i left my phone ... on the street!

5 - blessing i received that day: (1) car wasn't severely damaged; (2) vanessa and rey (separately) kept me company during the whole ordeal; (4) barkers prevented the man from getting away; (5) phone which was left on the side of the road at rey's village didn't get lost.

1 - number of drunk drivers i sent to jail. i was adamant i wasn't going to withdraw the complaint. what if he had killed someone instead of simply hitting my car?

0% - chances that a drunk driving charge will actually stick and that this guy will have learned his lesson already.

33 kms - distance traveled in one evening - house to SM Sucat to Conti's to 7-11 to Teoville to Sucat Interchange to Alabang to Teoville via Sucat to house. would you believe that that's farther than my house to UP Diliman?

4 a.m. - time i slept after the ordeal

8 a.m. - time i woke up the following day. turns out the owner of the motorcycle with sidecar was right outside my door.

2 - times i saw the mother of the guy cry.

2 - number of times i felt sorry for the mother.

25 - number of times the mother begged that i withdraw my complaint.

25 - number of times i said no.

3 - people who know about the ordeal

0 - number of times i want to discuss it after today.