My Recent Obsessions

Lately I keep myself busy by pestering my Facebook Friends to Liking all my contest entries in all the contests I join in Facebook. Yup I am a contest addict. I guess my being too competitive plays a big role in why I am addicted to this. And maybe because of the Free Prizes!

I started becoming addicted to this just a few weeks ago, when I started becoming active in sending photos of Nike to Magazines for their monthly baby themes, then I started having more online mommy friends where I saw their news feeds, where I can see a lot of them joining different photo contests, and then status like contests, and blog contests and every contest you can think of that is possible to do in Facebook.

I got intrigued. I joined, and I kept on joining. Just recently I won a gift certificate from BAYO care of the Johnson’s Body Care Philippines Fan Page. It was a status contest, where you need to write a status message saying what the best compliment you’ve had for your skin and tag Johnson’s Body Care. I believe I won third place during the 4th day of the Promo (with just around 90 Likes). And today I got to claim my Gift Certificate from BBDO.



I guess it’s really not just about winning, but about being part of something. Although some people might think that this is just a waste of time, for me it isn’t. This is something that makes me happy, fills my days with activities and it gives me the opportunity to get things for free for me or for my daughter, Imagine 500 Pesos Gift Certificate from Bayo — Which I could use to buy my daughter a pair of pants, or a dress.

So my advice to everyone is keep yourself busy with joining this free contest, where you’ll have a lot to gain and just a few minutes of your time to lose. It doesn’t cost anything but gives you a chance to win lots of things :)

A New Day - A New Call

So this morning was different, I didn’t wake up from the sound of skype ringing, but my mother woke me up because our NEW DSL Provider Called to ask for directions to our house. Still a good call to wake up for LOL.

Ok I say new because I talked my sister into changing DSL Providers. Why? Because our current DSL Provider (Destiny Internet) Sucks, big time. The guaranteed speed is upto 1 MBPS, and yes when you check the Speedtest website (SPEEDTEST) you will get a download speed of 1 point something Mbps and an upload speed of point 7 Mbps but during actual usage the internet connection will download at a maximum speed of 30-40 Kbps thats on a good day, which is very very rare. The Internet would more likely be intermittent, choppy and I couldn’t even use skype to call my husbands mobile phone in Singapore, and sometimes even if we use skype to skype video calling it would tend to hang because of the turtle-like speed of the internet.

Why, do you say, did we have Destiny Internet connected in the first place. Well, my sisters internet was connected a few years back, when PLDT’s service was still crap, and Destiny was the best internet service provider, but like everything else, they became comfortable with the service they are providing, and has become crappier and crappier as the months go by. And PLDT has improved their service. So now we are transferring to PLDT DSL. Good Bye and Good Riddance MyDestiny Internet, I will call your ever so messy customer service system later and cancel the subscription.

So now that story’s out of the way, I want to show something off. Although I am 100% satisfied with this product, I think its gorgeous, there are still some things that I would have loved this product to have.

So This is my latest Obsession. A Passport Holder. I bought two online for my daughter (Nike) and Myself. Nike’s Passport holder is the White / Pink / Silver Butterfly Designed Holder and My Passport Holder is the Black and White Paisley Holder. It is really gorgeous in person, the only thing missing for me is another Sleeve on the left side so that I can insert both of the flap covers of the passport. But this is a really good buy in my opinion, its not floppy and the whole passport cover is hard and will not fold whatever is inside it and the texture of the cover is like pvc so its water resistant. It has 5 Card slots on the right side and 1 big slot on the left for the tickets and boarding passes. I would have loved it to also have a ball pen slot, so that I can insert my ever so faithful pen in it, everybody know you always need a handy pen anywhere you go, most especially when you are travelling to fill out those embarkation / disembarkation cards.

So my mom called me again around 11 am, she said the maintenance guy from PLDT is already here so I rushed downstairs, excited to play with new Tech toys, only to realize that it was the XEND Delivery guy waiting for me. I forgot all about this purchase, well not really, I just got excited about the internet thingy, LOL, I am a Tech Freak. So when this arrived my mind got diverted a little bit to what’s inside the package, but my craving for more cute affordable passport holders still have not subsided. 

I still think that anyone and everyone who likes to travel should have a really handy passport holder, with slots and sleeves to put travel things in, even if you are not traveling but have a passport, I believe you should invest in a good passport holder because it is one of the most expensive government issued identification cards, and its your pass to enter international grounds (except for the visa ofcourse).

So two things got me excited today. The connection of our PLDT DSL Internet and my new Passport Holders.

Oh, I got the holders from a great online multiply seller BELIKEASTAR. Thanks Emily!

My Thoughts are Jittery and Scattered

So I started my day at 10am - like I usually do. I love sleep and I tend to do it 12 hours a day, but last night I slept late, well, not really, around 2 AM. So I woke up and directly went to my Laptop trying to make it Shush because Skype was ringing, My husbands calling me from Singapore, and my daughter Nike is still asleep. This is how I usually start my day since my husband changed his shift.

I faced my laptop with a smile on my face, morning breath and a morning glory in my eye, yeah, true story. But just like the previous days it is always a good way to start my morning, seeing my husband who is currently in Singapore…Far…Far…away from us.

So he showed me a little bit of magic card tricks that he started learning a few days back from this video that his officemates showed him. One thing I love about Noel is that he is so child-like and gets excited about little things like Magic and toy cars that does drifting, little remote control airplanes and cooking a successful meal for the first time.

later in the afternoon I just can’t stop thinking about Passport Holders, yep, they are my latest obsession. But I can’t seem to find ONE piece of cute but affordable passport holder online, when you search google, you will see plain-leathery-serious looking passport holders that are not cute at all!! I want something that looks like a cute wallet with slots for boarding passes, Luggage Tickets, Embarkation / Disembarkation cards and other things that you use when you travel like Identification cards and credit cards and what-nots. There’s not a cute Passport holder out there! HEY WALLET MAKERS maybe its time you created cute funky Passport Holders, Ticket Holders, Check Holders, Bank Passbook Holders, Card Holders and all the holders you can think of! Its time to make a niche! and I am definitely one of the first people to buy or maybe even buy and sell your products, just make sure they are cute and affordable. Anyway so yeah I was looking at google, amazon, and practically everywhere on the Net and I was only able to come across one Multiply website that sells Gorgeous Korean Made Passport Holders seibufashion shop - a shop in Multiply. Sadly for me the prices are too expensive, although they just range from PhP480 - PhP1500, but I am looking for something thats a bit cheaper, something like PhP200 - PhP300 Per piece but is of the same quality and cuteness. So I continued looking online but found nothing and I suddenly had this craving to go to the Mall, I wanted to go to SM Megamall at first, and then a thought hit me! I WANTED TO GO TO GREENHILLS, just to see if there are shops there that sells cute Passport Holders, yes, I am very Obsessive.

So having no money, I decided not to go out today. Passport holder shopping, rather window shopping will have to be done some other day, specifically pay-day. So I just watched Ugly Betty Season 4 Episodes 15-18 the rest of the afternoon.

And after watching I decided I wanted to get my mom and my dad a valid passport. My dad’s passport was already expired maybe 20 years and my mom never had one. The problems we are facing right now in getting my mom a passport is that she doesn’t have any Identification Cards with her maiden name on it. So I called DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) to confirm what documents we will need in order to get my mom a passport and I got a list:

Mommy’s requirement for passport new application

NSO Certified Birth Certificate - get in http://www.e-census.com.ph

Baptismal Certificate - with daddy

NBI Clearance - go to megamall

Old Transcript of Records or report card - maybe still with daddy

Daddy’s Requirements for Passport Renewal

Old passport and photocopy of passport pages 1,2,3 (amendment). The pages showing latest Bureau of Immigration departure and arrival stamps. - get from daddy

Birth Certificate from NSO in Security Paper (SECPA) or Negative Birth Record from NSO if born 1950 & below - Get from NSO (ecensus)

Drivers License photocopy - get from daddy

SSS ID PhotoCopy - get from Daddy

So once my dad wakes up from his afternoon nap, I have something new to obsess about…GETTING BOTH OF THEM PASSPORTS!

Once I get all of these documents I will just get their application processed online via PILIPINAS TELESERV, Thats the same agency that helped me get mine and my daughters passport last October 12, 2009.

Although my obsession shifted from Passport Holders to Passport, they are still directly related aren’t they? but the other obsession I am having right now is trying to look for an employer in Singapore. Thats Right! I want to work there, because first and foremost it sucks to be away from my husband and Second I was able to visit Singapore last March 18-27, 2010 and it was just so gorgeous. I just fell in love with the place. It seemed so safe and so organized, I was jealous that my husband gets to live in such a beautiful place and I get stuck HERE. Don’t get me wrong I love my family, I don’t want to leave them here (hence doing the first step of getting them passports *wink* *wink*) but I’d really really love to raise my daughter in a place where I wouldn’t have to worry about her getting kidnapped or taken and sold, or raped or murdered, or getting hit by speeding car. I want her to grow up realizing the good things in life and not having to worry about strange murderous people that is lurking in the shadows.

So I have been applying online, via Job Search Engines and via email for the past week and its somehow getting frustrating, because my resume is really bad, and I think no Singaporean employer is interested in me. I have been trying my hardest to find work online, but I guess I will have to go to Singapore to hunt for Jobs personally, Just waiting for my Singapore EPEC (Employment Pass Eligibility Certificate) to push through.

So whats the EPEC? well its a certificate and a 12-month Social Visit Visa to Singapore that will tell your prospective employers that they will not have a hard time getting an S-Pass or E-Pass when they decide to hire you. And as mentioned its a 12 month social visit visa, which means you can stay for a duration of 1 whole year in Singapore to look for work, granted that you can support yourself while you are there. Because you know tourists are only granted a maximum of 1 month stay in Singapore. So for me, knowing that I may have a hard time looking for work, since I have a really bad Curriculum Vitae, I need this EPEC.

Anyway thats all my scattered thoughts for the day. See yah!