Give the Day a Chance to Start

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Peanut Butter, anyone?

Being the peanut butter monster that I am, I took it upon myself to whip up my own home-made version of the spread I actually spoon straight out of the jar. I've actually been making a healthier, preservative-free, sugar-free alternative to what's normally found in grocery stores for quite some time now, but my "products" never really make it out of our kitchen. My family and I would always scarf a whole jar down in a week's time. And I also didn't even entertain the thought of making a business out of it.

It was only by Ellaine's (that's her in the photo) prodding that I decided to "sell" my family-famous concoction. I didn't even charge for profit when I sold her my first jar, thinking that I enjoyed whipping it up anyway. I couldn't charge for labor now, could I? Besides, I was never really blessed with good business sense, so I decided to do it as a labor of love. Hehehe...

Thankfully, I got good feedback not just from Ellaine, but from my other colleagues as well. Now, I have five pending orders. Yehey!

The only thing lacking is a catchy label or brandname. Hmmm... Suggestions? I was initially thinking of "Marielle's Mani-an (Healthy Peanut Butter Spread)". But I know, I know. It's the lamest name and just goes to show how I can NEVER be in advertising!

Saturday, June 24, 2006

1:40 am

I'm uncharacteristically awake at this hour. My bedtime normally begins around 10 - 11 pm. I know, I know. It's dorky early for my age, but hey, I do have to get up to go to the gym at 6 am! So much for being defensive. I do have a point.

Everyone has hit the sack. The moon is out and the night air is still. What does little Marielle do now? Hmmm...

For lack of anything interesting to keep me entertained while I wait for sleepiness to come upn me, I found myself doing what I swore I wouldn't in a million years. I totally stalked an old "friend" over the internet. With the advent of friendster and blogsites, the opportunity to spy around was just too overwhelming. So, I clicked away.

Hmph... That friend hasn't changed. I even wonder why I wasted my late night energy snooping on such a person. In fact, I'm regretting it already. Yikes... I'm worried I might get tracked. The thought of this person knowing I've been looking around is just absolutely mortifying. It cannot be known that I was even remotely interested in updating myself with this person's life at this point. It'll just feed an already ginormous ego. Gosh, it's also just my pride talking, or maybe a tinge of paranoia stemming from the drowsiness that swept over me like a dark cloud as I started writing this paragraph.

I must admit, though. This stalking business has been quite fun. Maybe I should get myself one of these:

It may come in handy one of these days when I find myself bored and staring blankly at the computer screen in the wee hours of the morning. Hehehe!

Goodnight errrr g'morning, folks!

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Tension

The atmosphere in the office has been very tense. People who normally go about work with so much enthusiasm and zeal have suddenly been showing signs of exhaustion. Even the optimists of the group have been wearing such long faces. We're all burnt out. We're all feeling spent and spread out too thin.

I do hope this is just a phase our group will grow out of. We're a good team. However, how can a team, no matter how good, function efficiently if it is not lead by one who its members can look up to and respect? It's just so sad.

Just felt like venting.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Not so happy Father's Day

It's Father's Day today. My sister and I gave Papa a card and a whole box of sugar-free chocolates. We had a lovely breakfast as a family. We all went to church together. We stuffed ourselves silly at my dad's fave resto, Italianni's, for lunch. We headed straight for the mall right after eating to buy him a gift. We had a delectable late afternoon snack at our newest heaven on earth--a cafe called SugarNot, which serves a variety of the most delicious yet guilt-free sweets for the health consious.

It was an enjoyable day spent with Papa, but I couldn't keep my mind off another father I love so dearly--my lolo. It was impossible to keep my mind off the sad state which my grandfather's currently in. He's still in the hospital, and worse, his health seems to be deteriorating by the day. I've seen God's miracle at work in him so many times before when we thought he was as good as gone, but then he'd manage to recover by some unexplainable reason. Now, though, it's different. It's more real. Much as I would like to hope in another miraculous recovery, I know I have to prepare myself for the innevitability of him leaving this world and going home to God.

When we visited my lolo at the hospital tonight, I was so happy to see how his face lit up when I held his hand and greeted him, "Happy Father's Day po, Lolo." We chatted a bit, though he struggled with his speech. And when he was too tired to talk any further, he mumbled these words: "Masaya ako pag nandito kayo (I'm happy whenever you're around.)" I just smiled with a huge lump forming in my throat. You know that feeling when you're trying so hard not to cry, you hold back your tears, but they end up coming out of your nose? Gross, but that's what happened with me right there. I managed to hide it, but it was Niagara Falls in the car all the way home.

I don't know why I try to hide that I'm hurting. Maybe I just don't want my lolo to see me sad for fear that it may cause him to get even more depressed about his current condition. Or perhaps I just didn't want to be a wet blanket on this almost perfect day.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Last hurrah!

Some of my officemates, my sister, and I just came from Coco Beach at Galera. I can now safely say I've had my beach fix for the summer. That's it! No more excursions in the near future! Besides, summer's over anyway. Time to put all those bikinis back into storage and recover from too much unhealthy sun exposure. I'm red as a lobster again. Oh well...

It's just a tragedy that we all have to go face reality and report straight for work no less than tomorrow. I'm almost sure I'll be in too much of a holiday hangover to function properly. I have got to think of ways to snap out of this lazy phase I've been going through ever since I came back from Boracay two months ago. It's just not like nerdy old me! Help!

Friday, June 09, 2006

Basket case

My parents tell me that I didn't cry much as a kid. They say that I wouldn't even shed a tear when I'd get punished for being naughty. I probably should have done my share of crying back then when being a helpless child was excuse enough to bawl.

Now that I'm all grown up, tearing up has been my default reaction to almost every situation.

When I'm sad, I cry.
When I'm glad, I cry.
When I'm mad, I cry.
When I'm anxious, I cry.
When I'm annoyed, I cry.
When I'm flattered, I cry.
And the list goes on and on...

I'm not at all proud of it! And I'd hate to earn the reputation of being overly-sensitive, touchy, or thin-skinned. Just today, a not-so-nice issue about a colleague of mine was brought to light because I couldn't help crying about my frustration with her. I guess it was all for the best that her arrears surfaced at this point because the situation had already blown up without us all noticing it. Still, I hated the fact that the lump in my throat and the teary eyes prompted people to inquire about what was wrong, causing me to break down in front of everyone. I was a basket case, believe me. So, in between quiet sobs, I poured out. It ultimately caused others, who shared my concern regarding that colleague, to come out and tell all as well.

To make the long story short, we were able to fix the situation in due time because the truth finally came out. However, I find myself in that awkward situation of being the catalyst of it all. I know it would have come out eventually, even without my oh-so-humiliating dramatic performance, but I just don't want to be remembered as "Marielle, the crybaby."

Waaaaaaaaaaaah........

Saturday, June 03, 2006

The YanYan days

You were definitely born sometime in the 1980s if hearing the syllables "Yan Yan" can cause you to reminisce about recess time in school.

My officemates and I, one time during our many lunch break chats, talked about how Cheese Curls, Pasensya, and most especially, Yan Yan evoked so many wonderfull childhood memories. So, we up and decided to walk a little less than a kilometer to Cost U Less in pursuit of that yummy, no-fuss, kiddie snack consisting of bread sticks and either a strawberry, vanilla, or chocolate (my fave) dip.

To our surprise, the manufacturers modified the packaging a bit. Written on each of the bread sticks, which used to be so plain mind you, were little snippets of err... information (?) for lack of a better word. Here's what they say (My comments are in red):

Giraffe - Tallest Animal
(Well, yeah, that's true.)
Octopus - Lucky Number 8
(Indeed, they have 8 tentacles.)
Owl - Active at Night
(I wouldn't disagree.)
Elephant - Jumbo
(Uhh... and?)
Whale - Biggesy
(Aside from the fact that it doesn't make much sense, it also screams "TYPO!")
Golden Egg
(Where's the piece of trivia there?!?)
Mole - In A Hole
(It just keeps getting better from here!)
Cow - Muuuuu
(I guess the snack is for kids who are still learning about the different animal sounds. Maybe...)

And our favorite:

Chicken - Kokekokko (It's hard to imagine chickens actually making that sound.)

I couldn't but liken all that to the typical grammatically incorrect quotes and phrases found in Japanese, Chinese, etc. stationaries, clothes, notebooks, and what not? We were all giggling about it in amusement at the office. I guess our favorite midmorning snack still has the same effect on us. It can still make our day on way or another.