I am greeting everyone

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I had big plans for my new year's eve post. I've been planning for it months ago. But since my hours are weird now, I haven't had time to make it. I am very sorry. I hope to have it up by next week at the very latest.

Though this may not be my first New Year's Eve away from immediate family, this will be the first NY Eve I will spend working. Yes, I will be serving drunken yuppies until we run out of alcohol. We have a dinner special and open bar tomorrow night and Kelly has called in for reservations and will be bringing in 6 people along with her. At least I'll have one other familiar face around when I welcome the new year. I'll be sleeping in Brooklyn after work so Cherish and I can head out to the SGI center by 9am. Walang tulugan toh pare! I told Cherish about it and she's very much interested in checking it out. It'll be nice to have a family member present when I receive my Gohonzon. I am also very excited about the party Miyuki and Rahul are throwing in their apartment (again!) on Friday to welcome 2009. I had so much fun the last time that I can't pass on it!

I've been getting a few congratulatory emails from some SGI members who've heard about my decision to hop on. Yey!

Eisa has accepted my request to collaborate on some photographs. I'm so excited! Eisa is a visual artist too and plans to use my photos for her paintings as well. I've been wanting to do this kind of shoot for a while but have not found a model who's "free" enough to do it. Score! Because of this shoot, I'm contemplating on buying my first studio strobe. I found one for $170 and I'm still deliberating whether or not it's worth buying it now. It's a good and affordable entry level strobe and it's gotten great reviews. Ang hirap lang bitawan ang pera kahit na kumikita na ako. Bakit mas madaling gumastos nung wala akong pinag-huhugutan? Ah ewan.

One of my favorite sitcoms of all time would have to be CBS's The Big Bang Theory. It's hilariously written and the cast's dynamic is absolutely brilliant. To those who have never seen it,

From CBS.com
"Leonard and Sheldon are brilliant physicists, the kind of "beautiful minds" that understand how the universe works. But none of that genius helps them interact with people, especially women. All this begins to change when a free-spirited beauty named Penny moves in next door. Sheldon, Leonard's roommate, is quite content spending his nights playing Klingon Boggle with their socially dysfunctional friends, fellow CalTech scientists Wolowitz and Koothrappali."

I just saw the Christmas episode before heading out to work and I was in tears laughing at the last few minutes of the episode.

A brief background on the clip:
Sheldon is self-obligated to go shopping for a Christmas present for Penny after finding out that she got them presents for Christmas. Since he has absolutely no clue what to give her, he then buys several gift baskets and plans on opening her gift first then give her the basket that's closest in value to the gift she gave him, returning the rest for a full refund. The video below is what follows...

Next to Friends, this is one show I can watch over and over and still fall over laughing.

In other news, Kelly, Kyle and Kyle's brother Jamal came to the restaurant today! They had sake and I fed them soy sushi and soy chicken! Hahaha! They said it was good but I'm not sure if they were feigning enthusiasm. haha! They might drop by again on New Year's Eve to drop off the thai tea Louiie sent for me.

Ok, before anything else, let me just say to the only lady who can literally fit in my shoes,

In case you didn't see my YM message, I'm giving you a thousand virtual hugs from New York! I miss you so much you have no idea! You are probably one of the first people I think of when I remember my one year blip back in Manila. Meeting you was worth it. Wheeee!!!

So anyway, today I was in a slight panic. Olivea and Rann were coming over to see my room and check where I planned to keep my Butsudan. My room was a bloody mess and I needed to fix it fast! I made a quick trip to the 99c store to score stuff to organize my bags, scarves, and hoped to get a cheap shoe rack to keep my unnecessary collection of footwear. I couldn't find anything worth spending money on so I had to fix everything up to make my room look worthy enough to house my scroll. I did my laundry to get rid of the unsightly pile that's been building up around the room. In between chores, I was browsing through the SGI website to see what questions I might have when they came. When Oli came in and asked to see my room, I was nervous when I showed her where I planned to keep my altar (by the window facing the back of the building), I was half-expecting her to say "Oh, NO! Not there! That's not at all the right place to keep it! That's not going to work!" Good thing they said it was alright. I didn't have any other place to keep it anyway. I already have very limited space in Omar's dining room-turned bedroom space. I also spoke to Tita Chon about my decision to start practicing and that they may hear me chanting in the mornings and evenings. She laughed and said it was a good thing I told her, otherwise she might have called 911 to say I've gone crazy.

Rann and Oli were patient in answering questions they must have heard a thousand times. There are still so many things I want to know and need to know. They've provided me with enough reading material to last me for a good long while. I've bought quite a few books these past several weeks, all of which I have not even started reading and will have to be set aside again.

The end of the year is coming. So much has happened and so much has changed. I feel like I'm on an express train to a speedy new beginning. Nam-myoho-renge-kyo!

Btw, this is super delayed but I want to give a big shout out to Jun and Lissa for getting hitched last December 20. After 10 years of being together, they have made it official!

Lissa and Jun with the rest of my high school friends
who were in Manila for the wedding.
Annette, Rita, Rona and Tonet

This morning as I was getting dressed for work, I kept thinking about SGI. I don't know why but something in me could not wait for the next opportunity to visit the center. I've been thinking about it a lot and then it dawned on me, "What am I waiting for?" I already know I want it. I suppose the segurista in me just needed to be sure. So I made the decision this morning, on thursday, the first day of 2009, I will receive my Gohonzon. I called Rann and he will arrange whatever needs to be done in preparation for this momentus event. I'm both so excited and nervous I can't even put it into words. Rann and Olivea are coming over tomorrow to discuss everything with me. I will have to talk to Tita Chon about having a buddhist in the house. Hehe. Part of the practice is chanting during the mornings and evenings and I need to be sure she's okay with it. I guess I will have to look for that apartment after all. I can only imagine what Nana's going to say when she sees my altar in the room. She might call for an exorcism or something. Dito pa naman sya natutulog sa kwarto ko when they come visit. She's so going to hate me for this.

So yes! 2009 will be a whole new beginning for me! I feel so optimistic that this will be an awesome start! Let's goooooo!!!!!

Ever since I let go of my old headphones that was handed down to me by he-who-must-not-be-named, I've been wanting to score myself a replacement. I just bought one online tonight :) Merry Christmas Kari!
Walang kwentang kwento...

Ihing-ihi na ko pauwi kanina. Walking to the subway I realized na hindi ako nag-banyo buong shift ko. Tapos ang haba pa ng usapan namin ni Bea sa telepono kanina bago ako sumakay ng train. I had my iPod on and was rocking back and forth on the train and bus stop trying to pretend I was moving to the beat of the song. I couldn't wait and hailed the first cab that passed. Yun lang. Compared to last night, today was blaaahhh....

Kelan ang susunod na gimik?