Thursday, July 17, 2008

I found another Topaz Horizon!

And she writes, too!

Gosh. It sucks to have someone else on cyberspace who's just like you.

I haven't read her stories yet but she seems to be prolific. Now I'm envious. I haven't written any stories since 2001. And I call myself a writer, ha! Well, I do write articles and I do edit a magazine but there's an awfully annoying part of me that tells me I'm no good because I haven't written a story for so long.

Anyway, back to the other Topaz Horizon. I'll disappear for a bit so I can read her stuff. Syempre, I assume she's a she. I wonder if she's also a November girl. That's why I named my blog that because I love my gemstone, topaz--the smoky or yellow ones, not those common blue ones. I'm always in search for rings, pendants, earrings that are yellow topazes. They are quite rare!

Hmmm, I wonder if she knows about my blog... Gee, I really feel like we're connected somehow. I mean, we came up with the same name! We must think alike, eh? I'm sooo curious but I'm scared to contact her. What do you think?

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

And the winners are...

Ria and Zemirah, who are both from Quezon City!

They correctly guessed that the bestselling book that featured Platform 9 and 3/4 in this photo was HARRY POTTER!

Every time I have a contest, I have a different criteria for choosing winners (so that I don't get bored and to encourage my readers to join each time). For this contest, my reasons for choosing the winners are simply because I liked their blogs!

Check out Ria's blog here. And Zemirah's blog here.

Both these lovely girls (and readers of my nutty blog) will receive a beautiful Sun Lustre bronzer from Body Shop's latest makeup collection, the Sun-Kissed Makeup Line. Each bronzer is saucer-sized and comes in an exquisite golden case. It's worth $25 each so, to the two of you, super congrats!

Ria and Zemirah, I will email you with the details on the prize. By the way, Ria, you get the Radiant Blush, and Zemirah, you get Bronze Gleam. Congratulations and thank you for reading my blog!

To the other readers who joined my contest, thank you also. I also loved your side comments and I'm so happy I got all correct answers this time!

*product photo from Body Shop website.

Saturday, July 05, 2008

Leaving on a jet plane and landing on a city of tubes

So, finally! Here’s my kwento on our London honeymoon a couple of weeks ago.

We were booked on a Cathay Pacific flight, and darlings, if you must fly, fly Cathay Pacific. Their service is good, the food is great, and you have your own personal TV! The shows and movies are well selected, too. Plus, you can check in online. Tapos, kung sabihin mo sa check-in crew na you’re on honeymoon, they’ll upgrade you to business class! Wowowee, ang bait super!

Basta, the best ang Cathay. Maganda pa yung cabin crew nila, hindi tulad ng Lufthansa—panget na, matanda at masungit pa! Funny lang kasi they kept talking to Vince in Chinese. Heehee, mukha kasing Chinese ang asawa ko.


Anyway, here I am at Hong Kong’s international airport. Ni hao! This is my first time in HK! Grabe, ang ganda ng airport nila. At ang laki! There was one time we even had to take a train inside the airport to get from one gate to another. Nakakaawa talaga ang airport natin dito sa Manila… Anyway, I liked Hong Kong so much (yes, even though I was only there for a few minutes) and since Vince loves Hong Kong, too (aside from living there for a couple of years, he and his family used to visit HK every year), we’re really excited to go back maybe in November or December!

Anyway, the real reason why you want to book a good airline is because 15 hours strapped to a chair is torture. You want to make the experience less inhuman really. By the time we landed in Heathrow (which kinda looked like NAIA but bigger), we were ready to stretch our legs forever. London was more than happy to oblige.


This city is made for walking. The famous Underground is not for the claustrophobic, the weak, the unfit, and the slow paced. I am not claustrophobic but I am definitely not fit. Too many times in the next few days, I gasped in dismay sa sobrang layo ng tunnels, sa sobrang steep ng escalators (yep, sometimes you have to run up those things), and sa sobrang bilis ng mga tao. Grabe, kung mabagal kang maglakad, itutulak ka talaga nila! So when in Rome… or in this case, London, talagang I had no choice but to sprint! Vince nga said he’s very proud of me. I’m a very slow walker kasi; I like taking in the sights, plus I’m asthmatic. But in London, asthma be damned! Mas gugustuhin mong hikain ka rather than be pushed aside by these irate and impatient Londoners.

But 

I loved the Underground. I adapted pretty fast, I’m proud to say. And the Underground, being underground, is warm. In cold cold London, I quickly fell in love with anything warm.



*continue reading… Contest ahead!