Summer of 2010

'Twas 30 degrees outside Hull City yesterday! The weather was smashing hot (which is rare here in UK). Everybody was out to experience father sun before fall starts! Further reductions on summer get ups bombard every shopping mall here. Since I was persistent not to spend a single penny on shopping I tried not to hit the malls. Which I'm proud to say I did!hooray! Honestly I just spent 50 pence take note 50 pence its like 35 pesos on a 6 pair of socks in Primark good bargain ayt? Oh wait Ohla paid for it so yeah didn't spent a penny after all hihihi Another priceless stuff was to have my photo taken on this awesome view before I bid farewell to summer and welcome fall!

cobbled streets of Hull

After we fed ourselves up with those finger lickin' good crispy chicken at KFC we head to Princes Quay and unwind with a bottle of my ever fave "Wicked blue".
Love the ambiance and the wind was divine!I could stay there until evening
BUT reality check: career first before everything else awwww why? Because I'm broke LOL and I need to work my ass out!

Treating ourselves outside the confines of the casino makes all of us sane inside the ship! I'm just wonderin' why I have to retake my psycho test ? I pretty much know I don't need a shrink! Do I? Nahh ...so yeah I'm perfectly sane and I just act crazy sometimes 'cuz that's what life's suppose to be! Once or twice or even thrice in you're lifetime you should goof around, act crazy and stupid. Not everything in this world should be treated seriously 'cuz if you do, you totally defeat the purpose of your existence! Come on.. what am I blabbering about? Well it boils down in to one thing enjoy life and just go with the flow. Cheers!

one WKD Blue and J20 please...

Chillaxing: the croupier's way

Make me sweat

Yesterday I realized I have a lot of wasted time on me! I'm working like 6 to 8 hours per day (not bad huh?) for 6 months without day off though! Since I want to be productive I decided to start sweating off! Yeah right! Sweat? I don't think my sweat glands are working cuz I don't sweat literally! Which results to my very very very as in very dry skin LOL
I remember last year my cabinmate invited me to visit our gym onboard so I tried the treadmill which I enjoyed so much that I jog for like 1 hour( for a first timer?)crazy huh? Well as expected I passed out! hehehe anyway still I'm quite persistent to jog not because I have my new purple trainers to try on( which honestly is one of the reasons) hehehe but I wanna lose the 3 kilos I gained since I signed on board! From 49 kg I went to a shy 52 kg! Who wouldn't? I can't resist lechon paksiw, spare ribs, ice cream, chocolate cake and our free pepsi at the lounge plus the chocolates from unidentified sponsors hahaha And oh after jogging I'll try to eat more veggies on my meal. This is my advocacy for healthy living! (advocacy? what am I talking?) Well I'll update you then on what happened on my jogging spree on our very own car deck onboard. Might try table tennis as well..ciao!

Impulsive Shopping

After 2 weeks of confining myself inside my cabin with only my window as my connection to the real world...




Here I am out in Hull City, UK with my new cabinmate Ohla. Just toured her around and treat ourselves with some chinese food when we stumbled by St. Stephen's Mall and gazed upon this huge red banner with this 4 big tempting words "SALE" so ladies' first instinct is to check it out!(what would you expect us to do?) Few minutes on and I'm at the counter with this white mini skirt and a black tank top being scanned by the cashier.Oh by the way before that, I already robbed my own pocket just to buy this purple metallic trainers that I've been eyeing on for just a couple of minutes.tsk tsk tsk...

Boy just can't help myself! I'm supposed to be on a tight budget. And so I thought... Look! big smile on our faces! Oh Zara? why thou have you tricked us?:D

But before we left town and go back to ship we managed to stop by Empress Bar and fuel ourselves with few bottles of 'WICKED BLUE" oh I just love the taste of it! Looking forward for our next day out in town!

Snow encounter

You might be asking me why am I making this blog where in fact its summer here in Europe. Well I was browsing my notebook and I come across these pics. Just yesterday the Captain announced there will be no power for 4 hours onboard meaning no ac, no water not even a vacuum flush for our toilet! Waaaa its like 4 hours in hell! As in literally since it would be very hot! So I was just imagining how nice if it was winter again....

Yup yup yup twas my first encounter with this thing called snow! So excited to experience it that as soon as our ship docked in Holland I went out of the ship as it is snowing outside. Being a girl scout in high school( which is by the way compulsory) I put on my thickest fur jacket and a comfy boots plus a hand gloves to keep my hands warm. And out I go! So amazed to see everything covered with white crushed ice, its really true that you can make halohalo from it! Few more minutes I was shivering cuz it was freaking cold with all my winter apparels on.tsk tsk maybe my fur wasn't thick enough? Or maybe my boots isnt UGG? LOL Well as what they usually say "first times" are always uncomfortable but once you get used to it you'll love it!:P

Going under the knife

I’ve been thinking lately what if I have my nose done? Lets face it! Its common nowadays and if you have the resources and extreme tolerance for pain, then why not coconut? I’m not really gifted with a “nice” nose I remember being picked on by one of my classmates in elementary calling me “Del Monte Tomato nose” WTF!? ( which by the way I just learned he had crush on me!:P wink wink!)

Back to my future plan of goin’ under the knife, been endlessly searching the net for reviews on good plastic surgeon and been eyeing on this doc from Cebu. So lovin’ the patients’ before and after pics it really makes a difference and they look better than before! But then lots of questions are racing my mind right at this very moment..My long list of what ifs . What if the procedure is unsuccessful, what if it get infected, what if I’m not satisfied with the result, what if I end up looking like a matrona with that swelling high bridge nose who looks like exactly madame auring? Oh boy can’t imagine mysef I’ll be doomed for life!..Am I just being paranoid? If so,then am I ready to go under the knife?

Yeah right I’m doin’ this for myself not because people want me to! Actually its just the vanity and insecurity in me that’s pushing me to go through this. However my decision is not yet final but I will soon.God knows when! I’ll update you and will post my before and after for you to drool on!LOL

Live Love Laugh

I’m so effin over with my being so idealistic ’bout life! Who wouldn’t be? I’ve spent like more than 4 years working onboard. Waking in the evening as if it was morning!(yeah night shift ?) Pretending I’m happy even if I’m totally not. Missing Christmas, New Year, loved ones’ special day and even missing my own birthday! I have my fair share of regrets in life but the thing I regret the most is not having to live the way I wanted it to be. Well it sounds overrated but yes we can’t really have everything we want in life!

Yes..working and travelling at the same time is very rewarding. But it has its cons as well. Been thinking of quitting this job for like a gazillion times but I still ended up hook on it. A career on a ship is like an addiction as much as you would want to quit you keep on coming back to it. I hate to admit it but this is now my comfort zone. Acceptance? yeah I’m trying so hard.

Now, am I happy with my job? Hell ya! I’m trying to be. It’s all in the state of mind. LIVE like there's no tomorrow, LOVE like you’ve never loved before LAUGH like nobody cares!

Big Appetite

Damn I’m suppose to be sick right now..the night before I was feeling chilly, my throat hurts so bad and my whole body is in total pain. Thanks to my new friend Mr. Panadol got the chance to join our BBQ party at De Beer, Holland. Weather was so nice! Much like Philippines but less humid.

So there I go with my polka dot summer dress (which by the way was given by Mok’s sis Ate happy! ) and my huge appetite for grilled food..

I end up eating 6 spare ribs and 3 chicken bbq thighs! beat that!

Paksiw Irong Buang

I was surfing the net and came across this You tube clip. Just watched it now and boy how i laughed my heart out ..”Nawng nimu murag bagtag sa lamok”(your face looks like mosquito legs) hahaha I was so excited to share it with Moks that I text him right away to have a look at it.. damn..he just told me “dugay naman na”(Twas ages ago!!)I’m always behind all the latest news and happenings and thanks to working onboard! Well its better late than neva!:D I’m so proud to be Bisaya!

How I became a croupier

I always dreamed of becoming a scientist since it sounds so smart and unique for a kindergarten. When I reached high school I wanted to be a corporate lawyer. I wanted to dress up in that sexy and sleek black suit with a Luis Vuitton suitcase on my convertible Porsche hehehe Well, when I reached college I ended up taking Mass Communications because I wanted to be a newscaster. Honestly, I sucked in Math and this course offers only Elementary Algebra and Statistics which is quite enough for my mathematics capability.

Then came March 2005 I was there at the university lobby reading company profile at our job fair. Then a friend came up to me telling me that an agency for cruise lines is hiring. Cruise lines? Luxurious ships? ala Titanic travelling around different parts of the world. Perfect! sounds interesting! Right then and there I passed my resume. The following day I got an interview and offered me to be a croupier? A Croupier? I was speechless. I hated Math! I’ve only been to a casino once and how would you expect me to memorize the multiplication table and count percentage mentally? Ugh..this is so not me! But at the back of my mind I was thinking why not give it a try! What the heck? All for my dream of travelling around the world, I grabbed it! And the rest is history!

I’m officially a croupier for more than 4 years now and I’ve been to places which I’ve never expected I can visit and hey travelling the world and getting paid isn’t that awesome? By the way I conquered my fear… Math! Bragging aside I count so quick now!