Tuesday, July 30

Ramadan Stress and De-stress

The holy month of Ramadan started on the 10th of July.

It is during this month wherein we (meaning everybody who is working) gets to work for shorter hours -  6 hours to be exact. Though to be honest, some do stay longer in the office (an unspoken rule for senior management and some instructed by their bosses to stay) while others, they leave the office to continue working at home.

The timings are actually welcomed by everybody but the pressure - not. Since people work on shifts or some their regular working hours, we get requests and queries even if we are not in the office.

Every morning, I think we would see about 10-20 unread emails waiting to be answered. All about follow-ups, new requests and more follow ups!

Now, I understand the phrase,
so little time so much to do... 
And because of the timings and whatnot, it makes me want to read more of my e-books (through my Amazon Kindle) after an exhausting day so that it can take me to a different place, time and sometimes, era. I was able to finish a book (yey!) and am reading the second one.

Unfortunately, we are already on the third week and this will soon be over. Back to normal timings. Sweet.

Ramadan Kareem

Friday, July 19

Do you have the ___________ dream?

In between having my brunch and reading an e-book in my Kindle, my housemate joined me in the kitchen to have his breakfast as well. 

Sensing, I need to have some manners and strike a conversation with him, I decided to put down my Kindle and chatted a bit about things happening around. 

We went to the topic of our friends and families going to Canada. We talked about their struggles and also how their start up is the same as ours here in Dubai. 

I then asked him if he is also planning to go to Canada soon and he said no. He further explained that if given the chance now and choice, he would go back home to the Philippines. 

I thought to myself, I share his sentiments. Though travelling or visiting is not a bad idea but to live there? I am not sure. 

I just realised, a lot of people in the Philippines have the (             ) dream. It can be interpreted in different countries / regions: It started off with the American dream next the European dream, the Canada dream and I think a few have the Gulf dream. 

When I was a kid, people talk endlessly about how having an American dream can solve all the problems they had then. Being in the US, where the money is overflowing, your dependents will also be part of the pail of money that you have. 

Suddenly, the attention was directed to the European dream. Since most of us Pinoys are accustomed to skilled labour, we got the idea that this dream will help us fulfil our wishes to our family. 

Another country would come out and you'd see Filipinos striving to go there and start building their dreams.... what about the Philippines? Doesn't anyone have a Philippine dream?

I ask myself the same thing. 

For one, I did not have a Gulf dream. Being in this country was merely a step. A step closer to going for my true love, R. However, if you will ask me, I have not really seen myself having any of those dreams. 

Sure, I may want to visit those places but the comfort of being in your country is different. The Philippines is not perfect and so is in other countries, it has its ups and downs but nevertheless, it can still shine like the rest. :) 

Now, writing about this just makes me all the more excited to go back! :) 

from http://www.marsman-tours.com.ph/map_philippines.htm
 


Trip to the baby store

My officemate is having her baby really soon and they (husband and wife) decided that she has her delivery in the Philippines due to the sensitivity of her pregnancy.

Since she will be leaving this weekend, I decided to buy some cutie patootie stuff for her baby boy :)

I decided to drag R with me to Centrepoint and search for baby stuff.

photo taken from www.ameinfo.com
There were a lot of cute stuff for both boys and girls (though I really have to say and I think most mothers would agree, girls are easier to dress up than boys)!! The store's design is U-shape starting off with the big girls / boys section (I think about 6 years of age) and then when you go inside the store, you would see clothes for 0-24 months. 

In the middle, they have housed what kids like the most - TOYS! :) It has stuff for girls to cook and fulfil their dreams of becoming a housewife, medical kits for the doctor wannabes and more! 

Going further, you would see these cute onesies for infants. They come in different designs. Most of the  items are currently on sale or on a WOW price (the store's words, not mine). You can get onesies for AED 49 only (in 5 different designs!). 

There were also infant mittens, booties and the headgear. 

For people who just don't know what to get, the store came up with an "everything-that-you-need" gift pack for friends and family who just had their baby.

While browsing around, I said to myself,  I really hope I can do this kind of shopping for my own one day. 

Being in the store was a bit different and weird. 

Different and weird because I guess we have been wanting to have one for a few years now. 

I know it will come and we are just excited to welcome him or her when the timing is right. 

Only God can tell (though I sometimes wish, it's sooner rather than later!). 


Centrepoint or Babyshop outlets are available in most of the malls here in the UAE 


Friday, July 12

Writing in the Past

If you have been my follower for the longest time... I keep telling people that I want to write. Be it on this blog or to write a novel or a short article, basta I need to write.

While browsing through our old external hard drive (yes old... it's WD book version of the external hard drive... the one that needs to powered on before you can get any files unlike the ones now where its portable), I found this baby


photo courtesy of http://www.pencomputing.com/palm/Pen47/dana.html
I always wanted to buy one of these before because I have this feeling that I will be able to write more and focus... The idea is to buy this and start writing my novel! 

This was kind of something I'd really, really want before. I thought if I had this, there will be no distractions whenever I want to write... well, to be honest, this was like my reasoning as to why I bought the Kindle but I still was not able to read as much as I would want to... so you know... (embarrassed)... let's forget I said that.

Seeing this device made me realise that my dream did not die... it was just in hiatus or hibernating... I am planning to write a novel soon...oh please, don't ask me when soon is... :-( but seeing this made me realise that I should really start working on my dream. 

I just think I keep making excuses on what I should be doing (super!).

Hopefully, with all these things popping up, I get to work on my dream. 








Monday, July 1

Local Ads and Recipes

I was just browsing through my blog and re-reading my old posts when I noticed that my blog now has local adverts (naks!) :)

Does this mean people notice my blog? or it was just because of the fact that I live in this region hence the advertisements. Well, whatever that means, I thank people who find time to read my blog (and you are one of them, Stubbsy!)... I am hoping to see some comments though :)

I know I don't write much and I really think I have found the source, it's because I am always pre-occupied with doing a lot of stuff! There was even a tweet not so long ago about this type of disorder that I have!!

RT @UberFacts: "Busy Life Syndrome" is a real disorder causing forgetfulness and lack of concentration in people who take in too much information daily.
(tweet taken from twitter) 

Ha! I need to do something about this and create a routine (possibly) so that I don't fall into this... Focus is the word (which I can hopefully blog in another time -- eep! another promise that I intend to keep)