Limbic's Musings&Whimwhams

Whim Wham: Ta dah!

noreply@blogger.com (Musing_ngera) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 18:04:00 +0000

Hello there, babes!

urgh. How many years did I last blogged? Seriously, I haven't found any interesting topic to write about. Heck! How could I ever have topics when my life is wrapped in work and in the flat but in every nook and cranny, eh? I am just so glad, though, I am in a 3-day off!!! yoppee!!! Partey partey!!!

Naaahh!! So where am I gonna go? First, on my very cozy bed, then my ever relaxing computer table and seat, next will be on my well-loved kitchenette then to the comfort room where sh*ts always happen.. Where else? Like, HELLO! I am in the Kingdon of Saudi Arabia, as much as I want to dawer* on my own, I can't. I'd be badly needing our driver's help, which, apparently, a NO-THANKYOU! yaknow, it's just so hard to trust him. He might leave me in the middle of nowhere. AGAIN. geez. So, NO! I'd rather rest for all those FOUR DAYS to the comforts of my turf. It's snug as a bug in a rug to be just here in the insides of my abode. I can infact, tour around the world, just sitting here. Thanks, my dear wifi connection.I can have a stint through the world wide web. geez! and let me not forget that I actually can sleep for llooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnngggggggggeeeeeerrrrr hours without minding my ever-loyally-nagging alarm clock, which, more often than not, I click on Snooze button to beg it for another 2 snoozes!

I forgot to mention! Last Saturday, I've received a very lovely post-birthday gift from my homie, Carmie. geez! thankiu, coocoo! I've used, abused and ruined already 2 of my data travellers so I've decided not to buy another one which I could use and abuse the third time. Knowing such for eons, Carmie gave me this:

Kingston 4GB flashdrive

I never expected to receive a late birthday present..So yeah, my thankyous!

Ta-dah! Alas! I am able to blog again. Freedom, oh sweet, freedom!

*dawer - an Arabic term for walking/going out/lollygagging

Milestone: Story Behind My 27th Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Musing_ngera) — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 10:14:00 +0000

Okay. As promised, I'd be sharing my 27th here

I'll start with 9:30PM, Thursday, November 4. After a very tiring workday, me and ate Dina decide to go to the mall. I want to buy some stuff that I need for our mini partEy the next day. Here in KSA, we, singles, can't share a ride with just anyone. With the company we are working for, we can't, by ourselves go to someplace else riding just a cab. Perhaps we can go out but with the permission of the manager and accompanied by the company's driver OR we can tell the manager that we're going out, riding a couple's car. When we say couple here, it means that they are married and has proper documents to support their marriage.

Going back, that Thursday, the mall was uber jampacked. Because I haven't had a cake yet and haven't seen any cake shops, we stumbled upon the hailed, Krispy Kreme. Talk about nomnomnoms! I hurriedly went to the counter and to my disappointment, the salesman said only 6 were left! Whoaaaa!! It couldn't be! I was expecting like, 9 guests! Gas! He said they would open the next day @ 2pm. Okay. I've just lost my hopes of having my most precious beloved and missed, Krispy Kreme. Since we were in a hurry and our driver beforehand told us that we should be heading home by 11pm, I opted to go to McDonald's because I was ravenous to the highest power. I looked at my number and was shocked to find out that I was the number 13th! Yah see? Some holocaust coming alert at that! I was patiently waiting for my turn since I learned they were serving number 80-ish! So it mean that if their number ended at 100, I'd still wait for those 30 persons ahead of me. I became agitated plus the woman at my back was annoyingly pushing herself towards my back and I could almost bathe on her bumper! Duh! (I am not a man, It wouldn't turn anything on me. duh again! ) So I asked ate Dina, who looked so irritated that time of the people flocking, to instead go with me to buy myself a gift (hehe. yeah right!). We went to Extra, a popular shop here for gadgets and whatnot and found this Canon Ixus 130. Super love!

It's a 14.1 megapix, 4x zoom and its design is very sleek; just what I want for a digicam. It is cost-efficient. It is, I think, more than its price. The only downside though, it doesn't have an internal memory apart from that, I'm so happy with it :)

After going to the gadgets store, we went to Hyperpanda to buy some stuff. Without us knowing, our kuya Noel was gwaning in impatience. Fourteen minutes passed eleven: ate Dina called him after getting a hold of her mobile because we were done. Lots of missed calls from him. She called him for a lot of times. No answer. Later did I know, he left us. In the middle of the night. In the mall. We cannot ride a cab. No cabs for us females, that wee hour. My last resort was to call our ate Beth. Upon knowing the situation, she got alarmed. ~~How could he?~~ (*boohoo*). Then she eventually thought of a solution. She called one of our friends, who happened to be closer to her, Engr. Don Ramirez. She asked him to fetch us to the mall. Thank God! No hesitations. He brought with him the couple who are also our friend. He had to bring them to avoid being questioned further, in case, by the police. I couldn't explain beyond as to why was that. That's the law here, they said. After 20 minutes of waiting in vain, we finally got on his ride smoothly. Sigh.. okay, lemme sigh again. I'm relieved. Thank you, Ate Beth, Engr. Don, Kuya Mark and Ate Cha :)

Engr. Don :)) to his wife: Ma'am, I'm sorry I have to put his pic for all the people to know how wonderful your husband is :)

Jason and Kuya Mark at the hanging bridge... ate Cha is always camera shy :D

We came back home, thankfully, safe and sound. It was around 12:30 AM. I didn't know the boyfriend was trying to reach me and he wasn't able to, at exactly November 5 @ 12 midnight due to the very toxic instances. Instead he left me this.. (hahaha) I know, I know- don't say it.. but heck! I loved it! :)) They are so beautiful! :)) I mean, him and the flowers.. (wweeee.. it's my birthday okay, just lemme say what I wanna say.. no objections. pls! haha)

I know I haven't talked about him yet. He is the boyfie. I'm so blessed to have him..:) LOVE x10^nth

November 5 - ish mah day! :)

ate Dina knocked at my room. She said I had to prepare since it was already 11am. I prepared the very sumptuous (teehee!duh! hahaaha ) spaghetti for the partEy later that day in the park, just a stone's throw away from my place. Later Camz woke up and helped me with the spaghetti while ate Dina packed everything. I haven't gone to that park in my 2 years here.

I received a text message from my only baby girl, sister, best friend and best enemy :) I bragged about my new Canon Ixus and we skypeD for a while. She told me to check her tumblr. Ah! Ninsylaosyspider's Cobweb of the Day: "My Sister's Birthday!" wweeeee *me kilig much* check her tumblr: here.

She's a 2nd year college student taking up BS Psychology in one of the universities in Manila..We don't look like sisters haha..She's prettier, I know.. :)) and I'm so proud of her..love her to the zenith!

Ate Beth and her hubby, who came from their weekend house (30-45 minutes away from our flat), fetched us to go to the park. It was all well because they arrived just after I finished fixing myself. Call it a light toxic day again :) Nonetheless, I was overwhelmed that day.

Mom and dad called me and sang their happy birthday song to me :)) I missed them so much.

We went to the park and prepared the table.

nom nom nom.
Me and Carmz cooked the spaghetti. ate Dina prepared the fries and broasted chicken. ate Beth made the very palatable fruit salad and maja de blanca. Kuya Noel brought the shanghai. Renzo painstakingly waited for the Krispy Kreme to open and bought donuts..The skittles, my personal favorite candy, was given to my guests as my thank you for coming gift :D

Thanks big time!!! love this momma-baby stufftoy! ate Dina gave the necklace I'm wearing here.. this is one of her gifts. the other one is a green lime colored Havaianas flipflops. I gave her a riyal for it, haha :)) Ate Rose and ate Lucy, thanks bigtime sa gifts :) lablab.

fRiEnDsHiP & love :) with ate Dina, our very own fashion icon and guru :)

yeah, It's their Park!

It's just a rabbit statue wehehe

Saudimen's head dress

lafang, yawyaw. chika. :))

Star Circle Quest? LOLs

with Carmie..she's the one who gave me 1 kilo of Spag pasta. big thanks, girl! :)

top view... nice, eh?

Swatch lovers

smiling our pounding-heartbeats away.. the hanging bridge

bbbrrrr love love love our trekking and hiking :) duper!

Proud, yeaahh!

This was the last picture taken. After that, all of us went home and rested. At long last! It was the first time that I celebrated my birthday with friends in a park. It was a great picnic-like party. I realised I have so much to thank for in life, including the friends I gained here. Albeit I'm away from my family I have my second family here who understands me and who had been with me through thick and thin days. I had a grand birthday blast, indeed. happy happy :)

Before the night totally ended, I got to skype with my very bestfriend, Jasmin. She and Inkay (my other pretty girl friend) were the firsts who IM'd to greet me.

Jasmin. I asked her to redo her grade 6 graduation pic pose. Believe me, same smile, same face, same hair! haha! She never looked old, really! hahaa We were friends since grade 5. 16 years of friendship. Not enough. I still miss her to bits!

I thank my colleagues, flatmates and friends who made the party a blast. I couldn't thank them more, really. I am so delighted and none could ever replace the happiness of celebrating life's goodness, with these people around me. My thank you's to you, you know who you are, guys! Thank you again and thank God even more!

Fin.

PostScript:

Stranger: Who are you?

Me: I am TWENTY SEVEN. FABULOUS and STILLL VERY YOUNG (at heart) :))

right. I've had so much blahs o'ready... There you go. Thatha~

Milestone: Twenty-Seventh Fabulous Year :)

noreply@blogger.com (Musing_ngera) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 21:52:00 +0000

thanks ate Beth, ate D, Carmz, kuya alan and Ren :)

I know, I should be resting by now. The day was a total baeeennnggg! My birthday celebration was a bash! I couldn't thank my homies more.. I wanna tell you how my day went by bits but I'm too exhausted to type.. Here's the preview, though..

View from the top. Hiked and climbed big time but it was all worth it :)

my first and second batch of guests.. wweee may third and fourth pa tlga yan! waaahhh :D

Another year.. I praise you, my dear Lord! thank you thank you and thank you!!! :D

On my next post, I'll be telling you the whole story. Imma sleep for now, yes? :)

Musing: Life in Their Kingdom

noreply@blogger.com (Musing_ngera) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 22:17:00 +0000

Why am I here?

Evening view outside my abode

I've been practically living here in the Middle East for almost 2 years now. Two years at that, I still nag the same question whenever I remember to. Two years and I howbeit find those women full-covered in black with their faces hidden, peculiar. You could barely see their eyes. I so wonder how they'd run if a situation calls for it. Their abaya literally sweeps the floor. (urgh)

Living here means embracing their cultures. Thus, I also have to wear the abaya (black, long sleeved cloak) and hijab(hair scarf/ head dress). To them, wearing those body and hair covers keep a woman's purity and dignity thus, she is less likely be harassed by men who seek worldy pleasures. Verily. Local men here are not accustomed to women who don't wear those covers. It's so biggie-deal to see strands of hair since those are so precious. Good grief! For us Filipinas, though, when we are within Filipino/Western communities, we opt of not wearing the hijab but the abaya.

on my abaya minus the hijab

left - right: wearing the abaya and head dress. inside the abaya is a comfy casual wear.

When I go to markets/grocery stores/malls, I should consider the time since almost all establishments close for more or less 30 minutes during their sallah (prayer). Here in the Kingdom, they strictly abide with it. I see men outside,stop their cars, park and pray facing altogether the direction of their Ka'aba from their location point. Ka'aba is a building in Mecca where they roam in circle 7 times during their pilgrimage. Muslims pray 5 times a day. There's one prayer at dawn before the sun rises, another at noon, then in the afternoon about 3:45pm, after sunset then lastly at around 7:30pm. It's hard to shop when I only have 3 hours and betwixt are idle times when I have to wait until shops open again after the prayer. These prayers also are the culprit why I wake up during their prayer calls, about 15 minutes before their prayer. Mosques are in every nook and cranny here with those megaphones which, gracefully (gggrrrr), wake me up amidst my slumber.

Ohmeegedz! It has always been a culturally-shocked day *whole day, everday*. For two years, eh!

Men here are naturally overprotective of their mom and sisters; even young boys are, to their elder female family. In this place, sexism is socially legal. Men dominate. Women cannot drive their own car. Young boys can snap their fingers to their moms and tell the latter to hurry. (aba! aba! aba!) I find the whole thing unfair since I hail from a democratic country, where feminism is being fought for most especially by the infamous group, Gabriella. I understand though, women here don't have their version of a Gabriella Silang at all (pardon me of my assumption..heheee). :) The good thing about their valuing to women is that we get the attention first. For instance in banks and cashiers, even with the very lengthy line, women who are at the end of the line get served first!

I've had enough rants already and I wouldn't fill the entire page should I keep on truckin'. Again, why am I here? Apart from the reasons that the Philippine's nursing market is plummeting and very low wages for us, nurses, I am here to contemplate on life (LOL! I'm kidding, silly!). Kidding aside, o'course, I'm here to work and earn for a decent living. Earn, what a word! Honestly, I don't even know where the hefty part of my salary go. Prolly there's some kindov an evaporation in my wallet. They all evaporate through the thin air. hehehe.

portion of my breads go to my basic stuff: cologne, alcohol, perfume, moisturizer, lotion, lip balm..so, where else?!

I blingbling. for some reasons, I love a bunch this green necklace with an M :) prolly it secretly spells, L-O-V-E :)

When I went here, all I ever thought of was to earn and buy all the things I could ever want. Why am I here? All along, I've always thought that money is the sole reason why I'm here. Enough with the dependence to my parents, enough with earning a meager and since it didn't suffice my lifestyle at all- I still had to ask for breads to my loving folks. Enough is enough.

I haven't learned much about life and living until I came here. I thought my life was always about me. I didn't care much about the people around me. I was used ever since to having a nanny and doing nothing the whole day. When I went here, a lot of my prospectives have veered to thankfully, something beautiful for me. I believe I'm more mature now (aayyiiiiee!) Am I talking about MYMP's? Absolutely, making my momma proud. big time. yay! :))

The whole process, though, wasn't easy at all. I had to cry a pail of tears and wound my hands. I cried since I missed my parents. I missed the comforts of my own home. I missed my only sister, who I used to hang out with. I cried because I have to wash my own clothes after a very draining work.

On the brighter note, I learned a bundle of pretty things: first one is the art of saute; (LOL! What ever!) that the basics are garlic, onion and tomato in a hot pan. When all else failed and burned, I could always depend on my cup noodles, fruits and junks. Ohwellz.

how's my mouthwash and toothbrush there? LOL.
cup noodles. bread. biscuit. cocoa. oats. ovaltine. fruittsss. clipped chips. tea. ALAMANG en SKITTLES... Del Monte Spag sauce. spaghetti.... :)) this kitchenette is full of love!

my usual dinner. fruit (kiwi), brown bread, soup, tomatoes in egg or the other way 'round (*giggles), green tea

The most important lesson I've waded through was PAKIKISAMA. I've mentioned earlier that I felt like life was all about me. Here, I became versed with thinking about the common good. I've been in a flat with various kinds of people with different attitudes and personalities. It was difficult at first since I used to being alone. As time goes by, I finally (*ehem*) mastered the art of getting along with people.Here, I found my second family - the ones I see first in the morning and last at the wee hour of the night.

my flatmates with kuya new well :)

Here, I found the one that my soul loves, my peace of mind, my path and my Only Hope- if I can borrow the song title. <3

Here is the place that I never expected to call my second home :)

*Sadike toast* XD

the highway

Backtrack: Summon of My Past's Delight

noreply@blogger.com (Musing_ngera) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 22:07:00 +0000

Delight. I'm fascinated with the word. It makes me think of Haagen Daz's white chocolate raspberry truffle(*yumyums). I regret to inform you, though, that this post isn't about ice creams or anything palatable you could ever think of. This is about my past's grand happiness and time-killers.

However the images are not the absolute, they are at least, close to the actual I got.

Family computer... Super Mario, Kage and Galaga... my forte was Kage, I had to save a prince and in order to do so, I had to fight against the villains using karate-do! :) I played this with my 'rents and uncles.. good old times.

Next on the line was my gameboy..at the age of 7, I think, I so got hooked to this! I forgot the other games I played here but the BubbleBobble and Addams Family- unsure...hehe

My next thing wasn't really mine. I just had a feel of it and used it for a couple of times. I, admitedlly, dream of owning something like this:

an instant-filmed camera. I know, the films would cost a lot but heck! I'd love the idea that my photos are developed in an instant! Ain't it cool to own a camera like this, huh? I had it checked on my wishlist! POLAROID was and is still the brand of choice.

This gaming gadget wasn't as extravagant as the ones I had before this but man! Oh how I got so addicted to those bricks...

Today, computer which has a CPU lying beneath a monitor is kindov funny- not during my time, though. I remember with this, was the dot-matrix printer which squelled every portion of word it printed.

The pager. I forgot my digits, though, which I have so long memorised until my early college years.boo. I once had a pager, 'twas under Easy Call. My mom used to page me with funny, unnecessary stuff. I had to put it away when I got this in my senior high:

The mighty Nokia 5110! This was Nokia's leading text messaging gadget that time. It was my very first and I was one of those lucky who had it in hand... wwaaahhh I still feel nostalgic whenever I hear Nokia's Standard and Special monotones.. teehee

The last on my backtracks of gadgets and stuff, was a Nokia 6600. I have to include this on my list because it was, after an array of changing from Nokia to Siemens to Motorola to another Nokia series phones, the majestic, which spelled H-A-I-L.. this was the grandest of my possessions before since I got this on my 18th..hihi

Too much blahs already...Until then!

Tahtah~

Whim wham: I Despise You!

noreply@blogger.com (Musing_ngera) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 09:24:00 +0000

I have tumblr-ed this last night but I just couldn't get any peace of mind.
Let's see...
So what was my first course: BS Biology. What a mighty course, eh? I could have gone to a medical school after without minding all the college-spendings my parents incurred. I used to be an iska, the term used to the students who study in the University of the Philippines. It's a Filipino short-term for Iskolar (Scholar). It mean that my parents didn't have to work like carabaos for me to finish my studies. As I've said earlier, I used to, until I shifted to nursing and transferred to a college instead(boohoo*). The college which made my folks pay a fortune, verily! (ggggrrrrr)
When I was a child, I often saw my mom in white uniform. She looked snappy with her cap, too! Remembering those, I've chosen BS Nursing . ohyeah, I know, it was such a silly decision-making. boohoo. My mom told me that most likely, with my slack attitude, I wouldn't love nursing at all. I wanted to prove her wrong. blehehe
The time that I became a Nurse, I proved mom so wrong. It was grandeur to serve; to think of the patients I was attending to, as my very own relatives. Those smiles from their faces even with tinges of grimaces still keep me going. Alas! I won. Florence Nitinghale could have given me her own lamp and cap! I loved so dearly to give medicines, even to take of BPs and temps are a-ok to me and those chit-chat with the patients are always priceless. I love to chart every single detail of my nursing care. I admit, I've had my shares of lazy days to go to work but heck! I loved nursing so much.... not until last night. It was the first night that I wanted to nag at nursing (yeah, right!miaow*). I despise it to its very backbone. I wished I have never gone here in the first place. Nursing today is such a drag-race. I realized that I almost don't want to drive at all. All my nursing wheels have been worn out. Most especially that I am in the most toxic place in the universe! I may be exaggerating, which apparently, I AM (hehee). Hell! Why do I have to follow doctors' commands? Why do I have to stand all my shift and do all dirty stuff. Why do I have to suffer to be away from my family? why, oh, why?!! You may snigger with my miaows now if you really don't know how it feels to be so exhausted: physically and mentally.
What the heck.
call it a love-hate nursing relationship. Yeah, this kinda love-hate rel exists. Whatever.

Milestone: A Welcome-to-Blogspot to Myself Post

noreply@blogger.com (Musing_ngera) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 17:55:00 +0000

wwweeee**

BEHOLD!

This is my very first time to post. You can give me a NEWBIE BLOGGER BADGE! Ok, forgive moi for this excitement but I couldn't help it! It's like, urgh- I've long been planning to blog since my bestfriend is into this. So here I go, still taking a babystep to hardcore blogging. I have tumblr but it's not absolutely like this one, that I can post my way till the nth number of words. I wanted to blog for eons now to be honest but I always have this second thoughts. Yaknow, blogging are for those who writes their asses off pretty well, like my bestfriend. This is for her, who has a plethora of trivial things to say and lots of creative juices on her limbic. Unlike me, who's snoozy to write all those I could ever think about- from the newly discovered planets back here on Earth. I've always reckoned that stuff like these are not for lazy persons like me. wehehe

So there you go, guys! I can microblog this one but I ardently want to post NOW. Here.

Cheerio!