my green card is not green...
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Posted:Apr 5, 2009 5:01 pm
Last Updated:Apr 7, 2009 6:39 pm 9882 Views
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i thought the snail system was all behind me when i left the phils. three yrs ago. well, this is worse. after 14 months of waiting for the renewal of my actual green card, i was told by the "agency" to go to their nearest office so they can stamp on my passport a one year extension of my already extended green card. i could not believe it! is this the country i know where everything is automated and/or can be done on line?
i understand that the "agency" handles thousands and thousands of cases but it would have been better had they sent out a letter informing me that they were still processing it. i never heard from them after my biometric was taken (twice by the same person on different occasions) and that was several months ago. i have made some successful and unsuccessful follow-ups and what's not funny was the lady i've talked to recently even scolded me for making a follow up. i could still remember how she told me in between sighs to "just wait and we will mail it to you before your extension expires". unfortunately, nothing was mailed to me. she was just so lucky i didn't remember her name!
anyways, without a choice, off we drove to their seattle office last thursday morning. yes, me and my husband both missed a day's work and drove 2.5 hours one way in a nasty weather. i was just thankful that the lady i spoke to this time was very nice, very pleasant, very helpful. we're done in more or less 15 mins and i got out of there with a smile on my face. i still have not gotten my green card but they gave me another one yr extension ( and hopefully i get the real one before this expires). it's kinda liberating i don't have to worry about it now.
it seemed like the weather cooperated with us on our way home. the sun was brightly shining as we headed to lucky eagle casino for their reasonable but not sub par buffet.
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the bigger stuff...
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Posted:Apr 1, 2009 9:31 pm
Last Updated:Feb 6, 2010 12:38 pm 10046 Views
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i have been going gaga over big purses lately. i just bought two dark color ones three weekends ago and how i love them so. oh, please don't think i'm being impulsive. these are the first purses i bought since i got here. for the last 38 months, what i have been using are the ones i brought in from the phils. anyways, my husband says they are big enough to hold our whole kitchen & bedroom. of course, he was just kidding though they are big enough to hold my wallet, cellphone, vanity kit, umbrella, lunch box, other knick knacks and still have some room left. i have been thinking of buying another big one and every time it enters my mind, i have to scold and remind myself of the two big words: recession and save. this makes me sit back and contemplate on a much bigger thing which is more important: save, save, save--- for nobody knows what tomorrow may bring.
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what recession has taught me...
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Posted:Apr 1, 2009 8:30 pm
Last Updated:Apr 7, 2009 6:39 pm 9700 Views
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when some companies all over the US started to lay off employees last year, i was still sitting prettily, very confident that my job was so secure. why would i think otherwise? we did still hire additional staff and even got cash bonus (a few days before halloween) amidst the recession. but you know, even the toughest of the tough can also be hurt. a few days before valentine's day, six of our employees were laid off---on the spot! six more followed a week after. fortunately, i was not one of them, but i felt bad to see those people go. now i dread the feeling that the company might get rid of me anytime without any warning at all. it's ok if it's easy to find another job but nobody's hiring nowadays. anyways, the current situation makes me realize a lot of things. i appreciate and enjoy my work now more than ever while other people have lost theirs; i'm extra thankful for each mornings that i have to wake up to go to work while others have to focus on job hunting; i still a have a roof over my head and able to pay my bills while some have to give up their homes and lived on food stamps. you know, i can go on and on with my list...
i hope that recession comes to an end soon. like me, i know you are also praying for the people and the economic recovery of whatever country you are in right now.
keep hoping! have a great day, everybody.
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just sharing...
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Posted:Mar 31, 2009 10:52 pm
Last Updated:Apr 5, 2009 5:48 pm 10043 Views
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if there is one thing that i want to do manually, it is doing the laundry the "kuskos, piga" way. you can tell, i'm really not a big fan of the washing machine. i like it that it magically washes a mountain of dirty clothes in more or less an hour but hate it so much when it does not do it's job very good. add the fact that it wears out our clothes easily no matter how gentle the cycle is! i admit i do use it because i have no choice: 1) i work full time and don't have the time and energy to wrestle with dirty clothes after a week of mentally draining office work, and 2) i don't know of any laundry woman in this country (and probably there is no one), and if there is one,she probably charges a lot. (if only i can import our fil laundry woman).
oooppps, there is another thing i really don't like using but i just couldn't---the washing machine's twin sister. i'm glad the weather is now starting to get warmer that I can put up my clothesline and take advantage of the heat outside. the sun, i believe, is still the best dryer---and it's free.
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one saturday afternoon...
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Posted:Jun 22, 2008 1:43 am
Last Updated:Jun 22, 2008 5:40 pm 9545 Views
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we were cruising along the willamette river yesterday when i saw a bridge being raised so a 20 feet tall sailboat can pass. i think it was cool to actually see it.
we don't have that kind of bridge in the phils. if we do, i wonder if the government will spend time and money to raise it just to accommodate the fishing & sailing-crazy juan dela cruz.
i think u will agree with me should i say nahhhhh...NEVAH!
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it's not wrong to dream...
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Posted:May 30, 2008 9:14 pm
Last Updated:Jun 3, 2008 10:29 pm 9766 Views
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i was having dinner with my husband last sunday night when a respectable looking older guy approached our table, asked me if i wanted to be a model and handed me his business card. i almost choked! then, i suddenly felt like "this is it!"
just two weeks ago, i was asked to join 5 other ladies and 6 gentlemen at work to model in our "what one can and cannot wear at work" company fashion show. it was like the usual fashion show u see on tv. we had the red carpet covered runway, hairdressers, photographers and the almost 200 employees (plus management) as audience. since i was the only asian and the other girls being 3-4 inches taller than me, i thought i'd give my all to stand out. you had no idea how the compliments i got made me felt some inches taller.
i am skinny and i know i'm a little short to strut on the runway. but, hey, it was the small david who knocked goliath down
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one hell of a day...
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Posted:May 30, 2008 8:32 pm
Last Updated:May 31, 2008 2:47 pm 9527 Views
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i thought yesterday was my worst day at work. i had a pounding headache when i came to work, was not able to balance a customer's $500K payment which came in with 17 pages of remit, had a 10-minute unhealthy lunch and was totally annoyed by the non-stop telephone calls and sneezing and coughing of people around me.
today was no different. i didn't sleep good last night and had no appetite for breakfast. though i had no headache when i went to work, it attacked me right before lunch time. the bosses also annoyed me to the max! they were in and out of my cube (it was the first time in months though) to check out how i was doing with my month end reports. my golly, i had to skip washroom breaks just to finish those paper work! it was so pressuring that my lunch went untouched. and what made everything really worst was my monthly visitor came ahead of schedule!
they say when it rains, it pours. in my case, i got thunderstorm. i'm just so glad it's all over.
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the calendar girl...
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Posted:May 27, 2008 8:22 pm
Last Updated:May 10, 2011 9:44 pm 9790 Views
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...this was one of my earliest entries and i'm posting this again as my Mom, to whom i wrote this for, celebrates her 74th birthday today.
she stands 5'4" and weighs 125 lbs. she has brown eyes, brown skin, and straight salt and pepper hair. she loves ripe mango and kare kare. she makes good coconut oil and you will always love her suman. she is a great fan of local actors sharon cuneta and ariel rivera, and at one point adores geneva cruz (during her smokey mountain days). she has seven , six grandchildren and she is...74! friends, allow me to introduce to you the CALENDAR GIRL... my MOM!
i have always called my mother the calendar girl. no, she's neither a former beauty queen nor did she aspire for one during her prime. I call her the calendar girl because of her unique hobby of collecting calendars.
i grew up seeing my mother collecting at least a dozen calendars every yuletide season and adorns our house with them. my siblings would not mind it at all but this most outspoken of her would always ask, "why do you have to collect many calendars? they only give you one and same information!" without batting an eyelash she would tell me, "this one shows when the full moon is, that one tells me exactly when is ash wednesday, and that other one has different scenic spots with each corresponding descriptions. too pretty to toss it away. besides, the people who gave them spent their hard earned money on them."
her reasons would always make me raise my eyebrows but i would not say anything. but believe me, if looks could kill, the calendars would have been dead on their very first day. they would always suffer from my silent criticisms. there were times when i would secretly take two or three of them off the wall and my mother would always know who the culprit was. "why can't you leave them alone?" she would ask me.
i can still vividly remember one time when i noticed a four year old calendar (with jesus of nazarene on the top page) still on the dining room door. turning the pages of the calendar, i unconsciously said, "hmm... my birthday was a friday four years ago." i was surprised when my mother, suddenly came out of the kitchen still holding a ladle, smilingly said, "you see, if it was not for my calendar, you would not know it."
i don't know what's wrong with me but i have always been bothered by those calendars. maybe because i was old enough to know that it would be nicer should we hang catchy wall frames or pretty curtains instead. but what has been keeping me wondering all these years is no matter how simple a calendar is, my mother would always see and appreciate it's worth.
i am very outspoken --- i can be one's best and worst critic at the same time--- but i admit that this unusual hobby of my mother makes me a tongue tied critic. i maybe bitchy sometimes but i could not be that heartless to take that simple happiness she gets from those calendars. i know i would always find it strange ---her love for calendars---but i think it is one of those simple reasons why i love her more. yes, you don't need to give her expensive christmas gifts to please her!
my mom has always been an understanding, nurturing, and caring mother. i really love her and I will forever be proud to be her . she is my one and only unique MOM...and she will always be my CALENDAR GIRL.
Happy bday, Mom!
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a couple that watches together...
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Posted:Apr 21, 2008 11:27 pm
Last Updated:Apr 23, 2008 8:48 pm 9431 Views
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...stays together!
it's fun to see my husband going gaga over the HGTV channel!
i still remember how he would complain that he could not watch his favorite comedy show because i was very much hooked on HGTV shows. he would even make comments that the shows were just the same all the time, meaning it was always about home and garden design and buying and selling a house. (honey, that's why it was called HomeGardenTV in the first place!) anyways, for almost 2 weeks that he helplessly watched these HGTV shows with me, i noticed that his whining started to tone down little by little by little by little by little until i didn't hear them anymore. what he always says now is that " they are really worth my time" while i touch his forehead to know if he has fever he he. it's now HGTV or nothing for him. it was reminiscent of the time when i enticed him to watch "dancing with the stars" which he used to say was only for gays and gals. he also enjoys it very much now that you would see him dancing with the show's music.
my next agenda? how to make him watch either sex and the city or desperate housewives . it's still a secret...
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