Friday, 13 February 2009

25 Random Things About Me :D

Copying from Facebook... I was tagged by Jinky and I have to say, I had fun writing it. Hehehe... Go try it yourself! I'm not tagging any one here. Hahaha

This is simple, go back to your memory bank and think of 25 random things that not much people know about you - Any facts, habits and goals... Then write them down!!!

1. I am a Papa's girl. :) I adored my father as a child and would always always get what I want. Once just out of nowhere I put on a tantrum and demanded from my dad that I wanted a new set of clothes. And just after pouting my lips and not answering to anybody who talks to me, we went out and he bought me a blouse and a skirt. I can still remember what it was, It's a really short black and white checkered skirt and a matching blouse.

2. My favorite book from the bible is Job. Aside from the fact that it tells the story of Job's faithfulness and the Lord's magnificence, I love it because I first heard that story from my dad. I remember being sick at the time and suddenly he called me and asked me to sit at his side on the bed and he opened his bible, read the first few chapters of the book, closed his bible and told me the rest of the story.

3. I was a very timid child. When me and my family would go out and attend parties (I remember going to a lot when I was a kid!) I would always hide at the back of my mom and just put up a shy smile whenever people would talk to me. I was even afraid of talking to people other than my family and friends. Once my dad asked me to call one of his friends on the phone, I didn't want to do it so I just cried. Hehe

4. When I was a kid, I can't go to sleep without my favortite blanket... Haha.. It was a green and dirty looking floral sheet that has a cigarette burn at one of its corners. It was my favorite sheet because I loved playing with that area - yeah, the burnt corner. I was a weird child, I know.

5. For some freaking reason, I adored Janice de Belen when I was a kid. I don't know!!! But I know I remember I liked her and I put up a fight when my mom decided to remove the worn out janice de belen poster from the wall. Hahaha.. Weird child nga!

6. My fondest memory of two of my brothers is when one afternoon we were out playing at the garage and out of sheer boredom one of my brothers decided to make it a little more fun by lighting their paper airplanes on fire so they could pretend there's an airplane crash... And they did, so while I was quietly and happily playing with my barbie dolls, their crashing paper planes went straight to my hair and so I end up shrieking and jumping while the two of them are having too much fun watching me.

7. My favorite occasion is my own birthday. Hahaha... I love reminding people I exist by telling everyone it's almost my birthday a few days before the big day. Aside from last year's one week celebration of my 27th birthday, my all-time favorite birthday was when I was in my junior year in highschool. I was running for a student council position at the time (grade 9 representative) so I was at the peak of my self-confidence and my social skills were at its finest. A week from the big day, I started telling everyone I would meet in the hallways: "Hi! It's my birthday on Friday!" And guess what... at the day itself, when I arrived at the school quadrangle for the flag ceremony, some of my friends where holding up a banner that says "Happy Birthday Jeliene!" And when we went up to our classroom after the flag ceremony, my little table was filled with little gifts and notes from my classmates. Weeeeee! I love that memory. I love getting notes and little things. I love surprises!

8. My favorite christmas song is Mariah Carey's version of Joy to the world.

9. My super dream job is to be the speech writer of the president :)

10. My ultimate fantasy is to star in my own musical. Yup, parang Lea Salonga lang! Fantasy nga eh, meaning, Will-not-happen! hehehe) I adore her dearly and I feel so lucky having watched her live in three of her plays (Miss Saigon, Baby the Musical, Cinderella) and two of her concerts (one is a benefit concert that I forgot already what it's called and the other one is the Broadway Concert). I also loved watching the 10th Anniversay concert of Les Miserables in Laser. (Hai hai, I watched that in that big laser disk at least a decade ago... hehehe) 

11. I survived more that a year without eating rice last 2007 and some of 2008. Yeah, a desperate attempt to lose weight but it sure worked! hehehe! I'm eating rice again now. ANd yes, it's B1's fault and the rest of the caramoan guys for making me eat rice with the sardines... Awww sarap!

12. I was a book worm in highschool. I can waste an entire day reading romance novels! I can forego eating just so I can finish the book. Once I read a book on a school night and did not sleep a wink because I can't put the book down. So I went to school without taking a bath because I was not able to go to sleep.

13. I love my highschool barkada more than any other friends I have because they know me best. They've seen me cry, heard me complain, watched me make a fool of myself and yet, they are still there any time I need them.

14. When I was a kid, my favorite snack was a Hansel mocha sandwich! As in there was a period in my life that it's the only biscuit I would buy from the sari-sari store. Then one day, I decided I wanted something else. However, when I said "Pabili..." the vendor immediately took one Hansel from their stock and handed it to me. So, not wanting to embarrass her, I took and paid for it even if by that time, I was already fed up with the mocha flavor. After that, I stopped buying from that sari sari store.

15. I consider myself the princess in the family. Having four brothers, I always get what I want. (*evil laugh*) I can ask them to do anything for me -- including buying sanitary napkins during my period... Hahaha.. I love my brothers! :D

16. My favorite drink is water. I can last a lifetime without a juice, a soda, a coffee, etc.

17. I love McDonald's over Jollibee because of three reasons: Nuggets, cheeseburger and fries

18. I don't have finger prints... Hahaha.. I can probably kill someone and get away with it because I don't have finger prints... (This is due to a skin condition that I already forgot what it's called... but the thing is if it's super cold or it's super hot, my hand itches like crazy so I end up scratching them and since we have the extreme weather in the Philippines where it gets really hot in summer and cold in the "ber" months, there is just no time for complete healing for my hands so my finger prints did not resurface. Hahaha.

19. Because of #18, until now I don't have my SSS ID yet. Of course, I applied for it years ago. I went to the SSS office, filled out some forms, fell in line, had my picture taken... but when it was time for the computerized finger print, the computer just did not recognize any thumb marks! The person assisting me said I better have my hands cured first before I get my ID or get a certification from a doctor that my hands will always be like that. Huhuhu... Out of embarrassment, I stayed away from any SSS offices.

20. I wasn't ready to enter college when I entered college. Hahaha.. We should have counselling sessions on this! I soooo didn't know what I wanted to become so I randomly chose courses when I had my entrance exam at UST. Option #1 - AB Political Science. Option # 2 - ECE. Option # 3 - BS Psychology. I passed all three options but I chose AB because of the stupidest reasons: I liked the AB uniform better than the other two... Waaaaaaa!!! And this is one of my greatest regrets in life. I should have chosen option # 2 instead... Btw, I graduated AB Economics. Go figure!

21. I don't like dogs nor cats. I don't like pets. Period.

22. There are three things I'd want to do before I die: bungee jump, go on a cruise and visit Japan

23. I would love to have twins someday! Girl-twins! Like Jessica and Elizabeth from my juvenile years. Remember the sweet valley pocket books? Back in highschool, me and some of my friends who were addicted with that series loved it so much so we started to name ourselves after the characters from the book. Eloisa is Jessica and I was the goody-two-shoes Elizabeth.

24. During our finals in sixth grade, one of my classmates had an almost blank test paper a few minutes before the exam period ends. So while most of my classmates are hovering around our teacher, I took her exam paper and answered it myself. hehehe... kawang gawa :D

25. Last na! Weeeee! I always prided myself with the fact that I was one of the very few students in my freshman year in college who got a flat one (1.0) in my class card for Logic. But now I realize it does not count at all. Especially when your heart falls in love with the wrong guy... Awwww... all the logic in your head fades away. Happy Valentine's Day! :D

Tuesday, 3 February 2009

Confessions of a Plastic Card User

What do you know? I am keeping my promise! I am staying out of credit card purchases... Woohoo! :)

But let me tell you a story behind this...

I was a heavy credit card user. Since I got my first credit card back when I was still working at Sykes as an agent (hmmm.. I think this was in 2004) I've been using it non-stop. I was disciplined before. Though I charge almost all of my expenses to my card, I religiously pay the entire balance due whenever I would get my statement every month. I never gave the bank an opportunity to profit on my use, they never collected finance charge on my account. I was just happily enjoying the freebies that come with the accumulation of my points. And just today, I claimed my best and biggest reward yet - the round trip ticket to HK. But we'll get into that later on. :)

Now, here's the sad part :(

Last year, I messed up big time with my budget. Huhuhu! And one thing I learned when you miss a full payment to your card, you never seem to catch up! Being the impulsive buyer that I am and the traveler geek I turned out to be, I never had the chance to recover. I am not proud of this but let me tell you the story anyway so you'll learn something. :)

So bills piled up... Even if I put in half of my salary each month to the payment of my dues, I always seem to have more to pay the following month. Yes, I know, my travel-attack spells did not help either. Until finally, I had to force myself to wake from this addicting habit of charging all my expenses to that little rectangular plastic card. As you probably know, I literally shredded my Citibank card last christmas (after charging a hefty amount to it for my dream dSLR camera).

It's been a little more than a month since I'm running around the metro without my plastic card on my hands when I go shopping. Yes, I still go shopping and I still buy things and I still go to the salon but the thing is I am surviving with the little cash left in my wallet for these expenses. I am like an alcoholic trying to be sober. I might as well join or start up my own "credit card anonymous" club.

No, I haven't paid up my cards yet! Truly, I wish I have but I am working on it. I've worked out a little plan to finally pay all those off and hopefully live debt-free by next year.

Last Sunday, I bought my first cash purchase for something that damaged me a freaking 5,000 pesos. Hehehe.. Yup, got myself the cheapest and trendiest cellphone I could find. (Don't ask me why) It's the pink Samsung M620. Yes, the only deciding factor why I got that particular model is because of the metallic pink color. Weeee! Pu-re-tteee!! Well anyway, guess what... when it was time for me to hand the five 1000 peso bills to the saleslady, I swear my hands were shaking a little. I was like a drug addict letting go of a free pack of heroin! It was funny because I realized I need to learn on how to pay things in cash. Imagine that... How pathetic can one get?!

But I am getting the hang of it, actually. So it's been a month... by God's grace, I know I could do it. I could go all cash this year and finally payoff my card dues.

So you, my friend, if you are thinking of getting a card - my advise to you: Forget about it! The thing is, you might think you are pretty disciplined and you probably are... But four years down the road, that could all change...

Or if you are a heavy card user as I was... hmmm... sit back and look at the bigger picture. Don't you think it's time to put a stop to the madness?

So there you go. My two cents on credit card addiction :P