Coat of arms
Oh my gosh. I almost got into a fight. At Zara. Over a coat. (In fairness, cute talaga siya). I was shopping for Christmas presents when I chanced upon the Zara store in Soho. I've been reminding myself every couple of months to drop by, but I rarely ever go shopping for clothes anywhere but my regular haunts.
Anyway, in the back, past where they display the fancier items is a treasure trove of reasonably-priced but fancy-looking items. Two Asian girls were trying on coats in front of the lone mirror. One of the coats they were trying on caught my attention. (This was a different one from the one I almost got killed for). The fit was great, and the fabric was versatile, so I started looking through the racks for a similar coat. The only coat in my size (S) was of a different fabric and was pricier. But after 20 minutes of looking around and calculating numbers in my head, I finally decided that I could afford one last coat this winter.
Alas! My coat was gone from the racks. I asked the salesgirl for one in my size, but she said somebody else took the last one. Actually I knew this, but I just wanted to make sure. Finally, after much tugging and smoothing and setting of bags and previous purchases on the floor, I decided I would take the (M). But not before checking with the salesgirl, just in case the other girl decided not to take the (S). Which was quick thinking on my part because she came back from the dressing room with the precious coat!
On my way to getting in line, I passed a rack of basic turtlenecks and remembered how I constantly wished I had a plain black turtleneck while leafing through this season's magazines. Of course, I started looking through the rack. It was okay, I had time since the line was long; the two Asian girls from earlier were at the head of the line, with the same coat as the one I had (I wondered briefly if it was a small). Suddenly, a girl on her cellphone walks by, "Waitaminute. Somebody took my fucking coat!" Oops. I slowly inched my way in line, while wishing that it wasn't the coat I had draped over my arms she was talking about. No such luck, though. Just as it was my turn at the register, a salesgirl inquired about my coat's size. Apparently, the girl had tried the coat on in the dressing room and left it with an attendant, and the other salesgirl innocently thought that she didn't want it.
I looked at her with "You have got to be kidding me," written all over my face. I mean, come on. Who tries coats on in the dressing room, anyway? You just fling your stuff on the floor and try it on right there. Plus, this girl was at least three inches taller than me, and she was actually going to make shorty me get the (M)? But fine, I was gracious, gave her the small, took the medium, and gave the salesgirl my name and number and asked for a list of Zara stores in New York. While all this was going on, the two Asian girls from before (bless their hearts) came dashing back in. On their way out, they found a (S) near the front of the store. "Thank you," I said. "Apparently, everyone wants this coat." "Well, we all have one now!,"she said.
So, to my fellow Zara coat shoppers, congratulations for snagging a very in demand item, and much good karma to those two girls. To the helpful Zara salesgirl, it was an innocent mistake and just one of the snags in the retail world. And to Zara waiting room attendants, please designate a rack for reserved items to facilitate a hassle-free shopping experience.
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Wednesday, November 1, 2006
Top of the world
How cute is this top? Mura lang naman - $210. Hay, I wonder when I can afford to just drop 200 bucks on a top. It's over at built by wendy.
How cute is this top? Mura lang naman - $210. Hay, I wonder when I can afford to just drop 200 bucks on a top. It's over at built by wendy.
Friday, October 13, 2006
Making a mountain out of a molehill
The summer before I went away for college, a couple of friends and I set out for a three-day hike very much against my parents' preferences. I'd gone hiking before, but never long-term. We planned to scale Mt. Mandalagan in Silay (elevation according to various googled sites: 3,000 to 6,000 feet) and spend the night at Tinagong Dagat, a wide valley believed to be an old crater that turns into a lake during the rainy season and reverts back into a mossy plain during summer.
From Silay (a city about half an hour from Bacolod) we took a jeepney to an old hospital in Patag where the trail started. Everybody else had packs to carry, with the tents and stoves and food and water for ten people, and I had a tiny little backpack with a sleeping bag and I still had to stop a couple of times so they could load me up with more Red Bull.
Once, we stopped at a stream to wash up, and a dozen leeches with suckers at both ends of their body immediately attached themselves to my track pants. As night fell, we finally stopped at a clearing, built a bonfire, pitched our tents and slept uncomfortably atop twigs.
We got to Tinagong Dagat early in the morning and as the fog slowly lifted, I saw the most breathtaking sight.
This is Tinagong Dagat after a heavy downpour:
and on a sunny day:
We spent the day lounging and running around, the only people for miles. This was about ten years ago and everything felt untouched - our own little secret world. It was very Jurassic Park.
The descent was much easier and took quicker, with no more Red Bull breaks for me. For weeks afterward I felt closer to and hung out with the same group of people. I've never been back since and have lost touch with most of them.
I've been reading Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods and it brought back so many vivid memories of that summer - the rush of adrenaline I felt when we faced the first steep climb, my mother's rubber shoes caked with mud, my green parachute pants laid out to dry on top of a bush, the guy I had a crush on pulling me up an incline, standing in the middle of the plaza of Silay, grimy and skinny and smiling.
I've no photos of my own (they're in Bacolod) so I stole them here. And more here.
The summer before I went away for college, a couple of friends and I set out for a three-day hike very much against my parents' preferences. I'd gone hiking before, but never long-term. We planned to scale Mt. Mandalagan in Silay (elevation according to various googled sites: 3,000 to 6,000 feet) and spend the night at Tinagong Dagat, a wide valley believed to be an old crater that turns into a lake during the rainy season and reverts back into a mossy plain during summer.
From Silay (a city about half an hour from Bacolod) we took a jeepney to an old hospital in Patag where the trail started. Everybody else had packs to carry, with the tents and stoves and food and water for ten people, and I had a tiny little backpack with a sleeping bag and I still had to stop a couple of times so they could load me up with more Red Bull.
Once, we stopped at a stream to wash up, and a dozen leeches with suckers at both ends of their body immediately attached themselves to my track pants. As night fell, we finally stopped at a clearing, built a bonfire, pitched our tents and slept uncomfortably atop twigs.
We got to Tinagong Dagat early in the morning and as the fog slowly lifted, I saw the most breathtaking sight.
This is Tinagong Dagat after a heavy downpour:
and on a sunny day:
We spent the day lounging and running around, the only people for miles. This was about ten years ago and everything felt untouched - our own little secret world. It was very Jurassic Park.
The descent was much easier and took quicker, with no more Red Bull breaks for me. For weeks afterward I felt closer to and hung out with the same group of people. I've never been back since and have lost touch with most of them.
I've been reading Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods and it brought back so many vivid memories of that summer - the rush of adrenaline I felt when we faced the first steep climb, my mother's rubber shoes caked with mud, my green parachute pants laid out to dry on top of a bush, the guy I had a crush on pulling me up an incline, standing in the middle of the plaza of Silay, grimy and skinny and smiling.
I've no photos of my own (they're in Bacolod) so I stole them here. And more here.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
I've been tagged
Before anything else, a picture:
THREE NAMES THAT YOU GO BY:
1. Mel
2. Melai
3. Mimi
THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD, INCLUDING THE ONE YOU NOW HAVE:
1. uglysullengirl
2. stamp_pad
3. that chick
THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. My hands
2. My ears
3. My undefeated adroitness at Jumble
THREE THINGS YOU HATE/DISLIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. My paunch
2. Lately, my temper
3. My undefeated adroitness at Procrastination
THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
1. My paternal grandfather (who I never met) was a diligent bookkeeper for a cooperative put up by American missionaries (we still have his detailed journals of expenses and supplies)
2. My maternal grandfather was a farmer and founder of a Baptist church
3. My grandmother, my father, my sister and I stock back and current issues of Reader's Digest in the bathroom (for extended lavatory exercises such as waiting for the clay mask to dry, taking a crap, etc.)
THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
1. spiders too, Drey
2. creeps
3. highway accidents
THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
1. Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino
2. Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Blam
3. 1010 AM
THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
1. shorts
2. blue/green dragon shirt I bought in Texas
3. rice pearl necklace that an uncle gave me for college grad
THREE NEW THINGS YOU WANT TO TRY IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS:
1. long distance driving
2. regular tennis
3. going back to school
TWO LIES AND A TRUTH:
1. The exterminator saw me naked.
2. My boyfriend has six fingers on his left hand.
3. I had to use the kitchen fire extinguisher tonight.
THREE THINGS YOU JUST CAN'T DO:
1. sleep early
2. jump rope
3. light a match
THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:
1. reading!
2. playing instruments!
3. watching movies!
THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
1. sleep
2. go away
3. swim
THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING:
1. manager
2. programmer
3. musician
THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:
1. Japan
2. France
3. Alaska
THREE TRUE LOVES:
1. music
2. books
3. coffee
THREE FAVORITE ANIMALS:
1. Smokey the family dog
2. Ricky the family bird
3. assorted sea creatures
THREE REASONS WHY YOU'RE DOING THIS:
1. I don't want to do what needs to be done.
2. I agree, every blog needs a survey - good, bad or indifferent.
3. Rocs, the survey Nazi.
THREE PEOPLE WHO MUST TAKE THIS QUIZ: (You’ve gotta tag two or three or four others.)
1. You
2. you, and
3. you.
Good night.
Before anything else, a picture:
THREE NAMES THAT YOU GO BY:
1. Mel
2. Melai
3. Mimi
THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD, INCLUDING THE ONE YOU NOW HAVE:
1. uglysullengirl
2. stamp_pad
3. that chick
THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. My hands
2. My ears
3. My undefeated adroitness at Jumble
THREE THINGS YOU HATE/DISLIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. My paunch
2. Lately, my temper
3. My undefeated adroitness at Procrastination
THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
1. My paternal grandfather (who I never met) was a diligent bookkeeper for a cooperative put up by American missionaries (we still have his detailed journals of expenses and supplies)
2. My maternal grandfather was a farmer and founder of a Baptist church
3. My grandmother, my father, my sister and I stock back and current issues of Reader's Digest in the bathroom (for extended lavatory exercises such as waiting for the clay mask to dry, taking a crap, etc.)
THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
1. spiders too, Drey
2. creeps
3. highway accidents
THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
1. Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino
2. Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Blam
3. 1010 AM
THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
1. shorts
2. blue/green dragon shirt I bought in Texas
3. rice pearl necklace that an uncle gave me for college grad
THREE NEW THINGS YOU WANT TO TRY IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS:
1. long distance driving
2. regular tennis
3. going back to school
TWO LIES AND A TRUTH:
1. The exterminator saw me naked.
2. My boyfriend has six fingers on his left hand.
3. I had to use the kitchen fire extinguisher tonight.
THREE THINGS YOU JUST CAN'T DO:
1. sleep early
2. jump rope
3. light a match
THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:
1. reading!
2. playing instruments!
3. watching movies!
THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
1. sleep
2. go away
3. swim
THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING:
1. manager
2. programmer
3. musician
THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:
1. Japan
2. France
3. Alaska
THREE TRUE LOVES:
1. music
2. books
3. coffee
THREE FAVORITE ANIMALS:
1. Smokey the family dog
2. Ricky the family bird
3. assorted sea creatures
THREE REASONS WHY YOU'RE DOING THIS:
1. I don't want to do what needs to be done.
2. I agree, every blog needs a survey - good, bad or indifferent.
3. Rocs, the survey Nazi.
THREE PEOPLE WHO MUST TAKE THIS QUIZ: (You’ve gotta tag two or three or four others.)
1. You
2. you, and
3. you.
Good night.
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Sleater-Kinney broke up :(
in one more hour
i will be gone
in one more hour
i'll leave this room
the dress you wore
the pretty shoes
are things i left
behind for you
oh, you've got the darkest eyes
i needed it
(i know it's hard for you to let it go
i know it's hard for you to say goodbye
i know you need a little more time)
if you could talk
what would you say
for you things were
just night and day
take off the dress
take off the face
i'll hold you close
before i leave
don't say another word
about the other girl
in one more hour
i will be gone
in one more hour
i'll leave this room
the dress you wore
the pretty shoes
are things i left
behind for you
oh, you've got the darkest eyes
i needed it
(i know it's hard for you to let it go
i know it's hard for you to say goodbye
i know you need a little more time)
if you could talk
what would you say
for you things were
just night and day
take off the dress
take off the face
i'll hold you close
before i leave
don't say another word
about the other girl
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