I've done a similar version of a vacation log
4 years back. Funny, it feels like I've had a college Christmas break all over again. To be honest, I'm dying in boredom right now on a chilly Friday night and I couldn't go out right now due to my aching right foot (which is getting better, by the way) brought about by that bad new year incident.
Funny too, I'm raring to go back to work this January, and I'm truly hoping to have a very productive and challenging year ahead. The problem with long vacations is you don't appreciate it until it's gone. I just felt I've had too much of it. Right now, I'm staring at my PC and listening to old school OPM songs, and tossing with stuff to do. Remaining on my todo checklist are the following. Guess I'll not finish them all completely:
- PHP Programming (after a month of "resting")
- Finish writing history of my toy collection (and post it in the toy forums)
- Start another Bret Hart action figures/ memorabilia photography
- Create a customized action figures thread for beer44 on the toy forums :P
- Post Cyclops photography on the toy forums
- 2008 at a glance blog
Yeah, they're mostly online stuff. Anyway, here's a log of how I spent my Christmas vacation:
December 17 (Wed):
- took a leave from work, went to DTC Christmas party at night
December 18 (Thurs):
- took another leave from work due to cough and colds
December 19 (Fri):
- forced myself to go to work due to a product release. I wasn't able to finish it though.
- went to the 3rd Christmas Toy Convention in SM Megamall with Virgil. Was able to score a CS 13 Bret Hart for 150php for custom purposes.
December 20 (Sat):
- Ateneo day with Rocky! Drove her from her house all the way to Katipunan. Rocky walked like a duck. Munched donuts at Cello's Donuts, ate barbecue and fish sticks in the stalls in front of Gesu, attended Simbang Gabi from 8:30 - 9:30
- Went to the Stonebench's "Peace on Earth" Christmas party at Popo's place.
December 21 (Sun):
- Not much done except prepared stuff for our Malaysia trip
- Left Angono by 430PM, checked in by 630PM, and endured the 3 1/2 hour flight to Malaysia (suffered temporary deafness too due to excessive ear pressure)
December 22 (Mon):
- Arrived at Dorsett Hotel at 1:30AM, slept at 5AM
- Woke up at 830AM for breakfast, slept again from 10AM-1230PM
- Toured Bukit Bintang area on my own from 1PM - 2PM
- Kuala Lumpur City Tour in the afternoon, dinner at Seri Melayu
- Toured Bukit Bintang again, looking for an internet cafe to chat with Rocky
December 23 (Tue):
- Woke up at 6:30AM for our Melaka Tour
- Went to the following: St. Peter's Church, Portuguese settlements/ village, A Famosa, St. Paul's Church, Christ Church, Lunch at Nancy's Kitche, Cheng Hoon Teng, Jonker Street, Baba-Nyonya Heritage Museum
- Sweated it out in the hotel gym late in the afternoon until sunset at 7pm, explored Bukit Bintang for toy shops again until 10PM (mall closing time)
- Chatted with Rocky again at the same internet cafe I went to the previous night
December 24 (Wed):
- Woke up late in the morning for the buffet breakfast
- Explored Kuala Lumpur on my own as I rode the railways going to Petronas. Got back 2 hours after
- Checked in at Sunway Hotel, went to Sunway Lagoon to explore the "eXtreme" rides. Lined-up and rode the Flying Fox, Linel and I crossed the world's longest hanging pedestrian bridge
- Ate dinner at Canton Bay in Sunway Pyramid Mall, camwhored at night in front of various Christmas decorations. We bought Santa Claus hats and took pictures. Christmas Eve in Malaysia is weird in a good way, it's really festive.
- Explored more of Sunway perimeter, enjoying the festive mood and taking pictures
December 25 (Thurs):
- Woke up early so we can maximize our Sunway Lagoon experience
- Rode various rides in the amusement and water parks, upgraded to scream park
- Ate dinner again at Canton Bay, left Sunway by 9PM
- Checked in early by 10PM, watched WWE Smackdown! on TV while waiting for our flight at 130AM
December 26 (Fri):
- Arrived at Manila in NAIA 3 by 430AM, arrived back in Angono by 730AM. Caught up with online life until 9AM before I slept again and woke up 3PM.
- Early dinner with the family at Max's Restaurant in Taytay, visited Tita Emy's house in the evening for my exchange gift with my cousins.
- Caught up with my online life more until 4AM
December 27 (Sat):
- Woke up late, went to Rocky by 3PM. Got my Nike Team Pilipinas jersey from her.
- Went to Fort Bonifacion and caught up with her in a new Starbucks cafe for us (I lost count, haha)
- Went to Bonifacio High Street and Rocky bought me my Nike Team Pilipinas Shorts as Christmas gift, to match my jersey
- Looked for Rocky's Christmas gift but we couldn't find any. :(
- Spent most of my time at Fully Booked reading wrestling books while Rocky does her own shopping
December 28 (Sun):
- My birthday! See
here
- Highlights include: Driving, CPK, Baler, new Adidas shoes, Tender Bob's, Iskul Bukol
- Replied to Facebook people who sent me their greetings.
- Loosecollector gave me a prototype version of the Stan Lee Cyclops I commissioned him to do. Gave him the correct colors based on the research I did.
December 29 (Mon):
- Woke up late, cleaned my Macintosh iBook using the "Super Eraser" that Kirby bought. And boy, it did its purpose, my iBook feels like new again!
- Played 2 basketball games at Richmond Village (lost both games along with the softdrinks bet huhu)
- Jersey photography; posted updates to my jersey collection on the toy forums (under the "non-toy" collection threads)
- Watched PBA replay on BTV (Air21 vs. Purefoods, wildcard) while writing blog entry for birthday
December 30 (Tues):
- Woke up late (again), caught up with Virgil at Starbucks Ortigas, and reported for work
- Loosecollector called up, saying that the Stan Lee Cyclops was corrected and ready to be shipped to me. :D
- Uploaded Malaysia and Birthday pics at Multiply
- Debugged installer release issues
- Dinner at Racks. Ahh, missed baby back ribs. Yum!
- Rocky and Diane dropped by Jollibee Plaza to bring my pahabol birthday gift: a half dozen box of Cello's donuts from Katipunan. Yay :D Thanks Rocky. :-)
- Spent remaining time scrutinizing and fixing Virgil's latest customized figures for me; sealed/varnished the three customs he did for me plus the repainted Super Hero Squad Stan Lee Cyclops.
December 31 (Wed):
- Woke up on a drizzling afternoon
- Played 2 basketball games again in Richmond Village (lost both games again, huhu)
- Rushed to Save More Grocery in Angono to buy Michael's dried squid strips for exchange gift
- Spent time on fixing Rocky's gifts to me on my magic box, while chatting with Rocky
- Mom's extended family celebrated New Year on Tita Baby's house. Brought my iBook with me.
- Got injured from a fireworks accident (see
here)
- Really had bad time walking around. :-(
January 1 (Thurs):
- Woke up on a drizzling cold afternoon
- Right foot getting better though still feeling pain/ hot compress followed by ice
- Rocky and Rhesa dropped by Angono to visit me and bring maki :D Thanks Rocky :-) Really appreciate it :-)
- Slept while watching 2008 Survivor Series replay on Jack TV (hehe)
- Watched PBA replay (Talk 'n Text vs. San Miguel on Singapore) while chatting with Virgil on the latest custom projects
- Posted 3 Multiply albums on Malaysia
- Funny, I actually left my PC turned on from 8PM to 2AM without anyone using it, and I was just on my iBook the entire time in our TV area.
January 2 (Fri):
- Woke up again on a very cold afternoon
- Boring afternoon/ evening. Attempted to do PHP programming but never got past creating a new table in the database. Debugged problems discovered too.
- Chatted with Rocky in the evening
- Cyclops customs photoygraphy by beer44/Virgil, followed by vintage Bret Hart toys photoygraphy
- Posted 3 more Multiply albums on Malaysia
- Started this Christmas Vacation Log
January 3 (Sat):
- Met Rocky at SM Taytay, had Starbucks and went shopping for my family's needs, plus bought new everyday socks
- Dinner at "Bahay Kawayan" in Taytay over Calamares and Crispy Pata. Yum! Accompanied her until Tikling
- Caught up with Sir Jope, my Philo 101 teacher, over Multiply. Funny, I asked him the answer to one of his quizzes some years ago. haha!
- Posted remaining 3 Multiply albums, including my birthday album
- Chatted with Virgil on his great WrestleMania 4 Bret Hart customized figure WIPs (Work In Progress pictures) that I asked him to do. Can't wait to see it personally!
- Posted my basketball jersey collection over at Jersey Collectors Philippines (JCP). Tedious task especially Multiply's slow.
- Thanked those who sent their late greetings on Facebook, and finally finished this blog. Haha.
Funny, with a day to go, I feel like vacation's
bitin. Again, one of those things that you don't see until it's gone. Hope everyone had a very productive vacation in time for work tomorrow. :-)