It's Okay Not To Be Okay.

This is it I guess. This makes me a superhero. Breaking my bones after saving someone from a fall then reanimate myself by nothing but myself, deal with it. When you love, you get hurt and yes, it is a choice.

PLEASE. Flush the toilet.

Every job has its own dirty side. And as for mine, it's the toilet. 

It is never in our job descriptions to clean the toilet. But we are always reminded to keep it tidy, which boils down to the same action of what else, of cleaning it. Honestly, I could care less about it. I can never open that lavatory door and save myself from the shock of seeing the end result of what you have eaten. But being seated to a jumpseat next to the toilet, I can't stand it. I just have to clean it! I just freakingly have to clean it!

Here's what a flush button looks like in aircraft lavatories aka toilets:

Located in the upper right hand of the toilet bowl is the flush button. Yes it is flat, but pressing it makes the flush work. It is not touchscreen, for heaven's sake, press it. Sometimes, passengers would say that it is not working. Well, with all due respect, it DOES work. Each and every flight, we do this pre-flight check and that includes the toilets. So we know for sure that the flush is working.

And a helpful reminder, the orange button near the mirror is not a flush button. It is the Flight Attendant Call Button which is used in emergencies like if you need some help whilst inside the lavatory. Accidentally pressing that button (sometimes mistaken as a flush) only makes us open the door even if it is locked, making yourselves exposed to us while your pants are down. Geez.

So the next time you board an aircraft, do your flight attendant some favor. Please flush the toilet.

My First Birthday 33,000 Feet Above Sea Level

I don't want to forget the details of my first ever birthday in the skies so I am taking record of it. I know most flight attendants have a list of their own, so here's mine!

July 30, 2012

I operated Flight Number SV 1903 and 1902, Riyadh-Taif and then back again.

Aircraft Operated: Airbus 320

Position Taken: R1 - which was quite a shock since I was forced to take it, as no senior would want to during that time. But then as the flight went on, I indeed enjoyed being R1, and would definitely love to take it again given the chance. :)

Days before that, I met Amira, a beautiful, sweet and funny fellow flight attendant who had the same flight schedule like mine, so I was with her from July 28 until the 31st. By the way she is Egyptian.

Amira and me before the flight

This girl Amira is such a sweetie. In the morning of my birthday, she ordered from the hotel room service for an Egyptian breakfast for me. She wanted me to try Om Ali, a buttery, milky, sweet soup-like breakfast prepared with different kinds of nuts. I love love love it! :) Well, yes I love anything sweet but this is special. I would like to show how it looks like but I'm sorry I finished the whole stuff right before thinking of taking a picture of it.. haha.. :) Thanks to folkmann.ca, here's a picture of it's goodness:

Warmed in the oven until the outside turns brown, but sweet and soooo creamy inside. Hmmm.. :)

I enjoyed the whole day as everyone was so nice. From the cockpit crew with whom I got the chance to serve, to every single crew in the cabin, all of them were so nice, we worked altogether harmoniously.

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Another surprise took my heart away when I finally reached my flat after my flight schedule. My close friend Erikka, who is more like a sister to me, brought out the child in me with this "New Year Cake", as I call it.. This was the first time I had a cake complete with fireworks!! :)

Erikka and me

Erikka and me, and some of our few close friends here had been through a lot. From Day One of application for this airline until now and until the end, we only have each other here as family. **Grouphugggggg**.

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Over the distance, a lot of my friends also extended their love and birthday greetings and wishes, which I am so thankful for. Mkaye and Eds, thank you for having that Starbucks Moment "with me" though I was not there physically.

I don't know if the rest of my birthdays will always be spent on the skies, but definitely I will never forget this first one. :) Thank you Lord for my good friends and for adding another year in my life.

My "Type" of Sunday

Having a job far from home is a very difficult thing that you have to go through everyday. And it can be even harder if we are talking about being hundreds and hundreds of miles apart, which gives you an option of being home only once in every few months.

Ever since I got this opportunity of having the job that will change our lives, I had to accept the sad truth that I will be missing a lot of things and people with whom I come to know as components of my daily life. I miss the waiting shed where I used to stay in at the corner of our nearby street, I miss the rain that gets me soaked up in my corporate attire even before I reach the office, I miss the sari-sari store where I buy my guilty pleasures of Marty's. Above all, I miss our church.

I am a 4th Watcher, (PMCC 4th Watch), a Born-again Christian in easier terms. Every Sunday, in Worship, we partake in the Holy Communion as a remembrance of Christ's suffering for the redemption of our souls and as a covenant between God and us. So when I started to live here in Jeddah, one of my biggest concerns is not being able to partake in that fundamental activity which really breaks my heart big time.

But God moves in our lives and that He keeps us able to think of ways for us to fulfill His will. One of my closest friends in the church has been continuously communicating with me, well, for moral support and of course, for spritual advises. He is an Elder in the church and he really wanted to help me out in having my communion over geographic distance. He then came up with an idea of officiating the communion through, guess what, the Internet.

In the situation that I am in, it is the best idea anyone can ever think of and I am really very thankful of having a friend helping me out to fulfill my duties as a Christian. I managed to open only one window in my desktop (and I demanded myself of this for me to have my focus), I prayed before everything else and I asked God to please bless this communion as this is going to be my first in the world wide web.

Skype was not very helpful at that time so we opened up a chat to have it done. I prepared my Bible, a small piece of bread and a small glass of grape sap. And through the authority that is vested upon him, he officiated the communion.

Officiating this communion is not that easy I must say. Because before proceeding, we need to be apprised first of the Word of God, and Alvin (my Elder friend) has to type and type contiuously in the chat as if he was talking to me personally while deliberating. And me on the other hand, needed to type my response. Ok, it isn't hard to type, right? But doing this is a bit unusual. 

After taking the communion and our prayer, he made me sing the Doxology, and I tell you, I really felt as if I am there at our church standing and singing my heart out. I almost cried. I thank the Lord for making me capable of this and for Alvin, for he was sent by God not only to be my friend, but also as a warrior of faith reaching out to me over the distance.

God never sleeps to make sure we take our breaths, what is a single act from us to show Him that we acknowledge?

Indulge with Strawberry and White Chocolate with Avon Naturals

I guess most girls are smitten with sweetness and softness and everything that comes with it. So there needs no explanation why I came to love this new shower gel and body lotion from Avon.

                                 Strawberry and White Chocolate Shower Gel and Body Lotion

Every time I use these I feel nothing but sweetness and softness and indulgence that lasts. :) Night time is the perfect time to bathe and nourish in these as the scent calms the senses and makes you imagine you're sleeping in a field of strawberries! I just love these two so much that I will be buying again and again, that I am sure of.

* Shower Gel

The shower gel smells so good and it really leaves the skin so soft after rinsing. I use this with a pouf and lather gently in circular motion all over my body. It never strips the skin of its moisture and for people with normal skin, I guess applying lotion after bath is not necessary as this is very moisturizing.

* Body Lotion

Like the shower gel, this body lotion smells equally as good. It gives the skin that needed moisture and gives such a velvety feeling that lasts for hours.

I am glad that my best friend introduced this to me. :) She really knows how to catch my heart. If you have a chance to grab these treats, please do not hesitate, give it a shot right away. I believe Avon offers this on sale for I think a few bucks over a hundred pesos each (I'm sorry I forgot).

And don't worry, ants will not eat you while you're sleeping. :)

MAGNUM: Ahh.. Kaya Naman Pala.

Lately, I have been seeing posts of this ice cream on stick on Facebook and it kept me wondering why on earth this ice cream is such a hit. I haven't tried this yet personally (blame it on the diet), but seeing the hype makes me want to break the rules of my diet just to figure out how did this made it to center stage.

Some of my friends say that it only tastes like most of the ice creams on sticks you can find in the market, and that it is not in any way more special that Dairy Queen's Dilly Bar. But that is just their opinion (thanks to that, I now have no urges whatsoever to kill my diet). Having that said, one thing came into my mind: Great marketing strategy through a very effective media, Facebook (and Twitter).

And this article from Yahoo News validated my idea.

"How an ice-cream bar turned into a trending topic and almost sold out."

It trended when it launched on Feb. 28 and then again sometime around March 7. A week later, on March 15, it was the fourth top trending topic on Yahoo! Search.

Kony? Gerald Anderson’s birthday? A TV announcer’s controversial remark?

Nah. Try Magnum.

The ice-cream bar by Unilever-RFM Ice Cream Inc., has inundated the Net with mentions on Facebook and postings on Instagram, a photo sharing app especially favored on Twitter.

On the day it launched, Magnum immediately became the top trending topic on Twitter, gaining millions of impressions, according to Brian Chanyungco, assistant brand manager of Selecta. In online marketing, impressions are the estimated reach of an ad or a topic.

This means that when the brand’s social media-savvy brand “ambassadors” tweeted or used #Magnum, it was retweeted or re-shared by possibly, tens of thousands of the celebrities’ fans or followers to their own network of friends, and so on.

Celebrity stylist Liz Uy alone has more than half a million followers. She is a Magnum “ambassador” together with actress Solenn Heussaff (498,000+ followers), TV host and Esquire style director Raymond Gutierrez (450,000+ followers), designer Rajo Laurel and Chef Erwann Heussaff (100,000+ followers each), and columnist and social bon vivant Tessa Prieto-Valdes (30,000+).

The Yahoo! search trend on March 15 may have something to do with the celebrity Magnum VIP Party scheduled that evening.

But, you can only hashtag a product so far—officially #Magnum with other crowd-sourced variations like #MagnumIceCream and #Magnummadnessmanila. No hashtag can save a dud from sinking. But the opposite is also true: a great product will create its own perfect wave for others to ride on.

Right time, right product

And for many Pinoys, Magnum was the wave du jour.

It arrived at the sudden onset of summer, when temperatures rose to 32 degrees.

For those who have traveled to the U.S., Europe and other parts of Asia, it’s a familiar product—Magnum being the biggest global brand of Unilever and having been in the market since the 1987.

Described as “gourmet” ice-cream, Magnum is coated with Belgian chocolate—said to be the best in the world—that’s been formulated to crack into desirable shards to reveal a generous bar of vanilla or chocolate ice cream.

In the Philippines, three flavors have been introduced (elsewhere in the world, there are 10 or so variants): Classic, Almond and Chocolate Truffle.


Prized flavors, social buzz

What fed the frenzy was the way certain flavors—especially Chocolate Truffle—seemed to run out faster than the Classic. This led to Instagrams on Twitter showing people triumphantly holding a bar (and sometimes a box) of the prized flavor.

Bindoy Baltazar, marketing director of Selecta, admitted the popularity of the product exceeded their expectations but declined to say by how much. But, he allowed, stores have been re-ordering on a daily basis; before Magnum, re-orders of other products would be made every two days.

And the run has been happening on the strength of social buzz alone. Ads for the mainstream media—radio, TV, print—aren’t due until the coming week, Baltazar added.


Cheap? Not cheap?

At P50 a bar, Magnum is pricier than most—a Cornetto, another Selecta product, is half the price—but Baltazar says that the product, which is made and shipped from Indonesia and Australia, is priced lower than a Magnum in Singapore, which costs around SGD$3, or around P102.

As assistant brand manager Chanyungco puts it, “People can afford a P130 cup of coffee, an P80 cupcake and an P80 milk tea, so P50 for a Magnum is very affordable.”

And given the perennially low stocks in convenience stores and the way rhapsodic status updates continue to show up on social sites, people, so far, have agreed.

Source: Yahoo News

Just For Fun: MakeUp Session With My Friend Jac

It is always exciting to play with make-up but it can be also even more exciting to do it for a friend. Jac is my best friend since college and we went through all of it together and until now, we share the same interests may it be on make-up or skin care.

I am a lover of make up and all the things that come with it, but I am not an expert. So I was so thrilled when she asked me to doll her up for her office event, and who am I to say no?? :)

Here is a Before and After photo of our playtime:

Haha, why was she so shy to smile for heaven's sake? I remember I'd have to convince her to say yes when I told her I'm gonna blog about this. :) I'm glad she was very happy with the end result (though she know that she must, or else...haha..kidding!).

" A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away." - Arabian Proverb

For A Change That Will Do Me Good

My new friends - during the orientation day
(Me, Erikka, Marj and Kikoh)

A month ago, I applied for an airline as a Flight Attendant. Luckily, I got selected after a series of interviews and assessments and I could not thank heaven enough for this wonderful blessing given to me. Until now, the fact still sits at the top of my head and I will have to rub it in to let reality sink in.

My brother is a flight attendant too working for a different airline and I can see how he enjoys the job. Years and years ago, he kept on convincing me to try my luck and join the bandwagon as he knows I will like the things that he likes and enjoy the perks he gets to enjoy. But being the "maton" that I am who prefers chucks over stilettos and jeans over skirts, I doubted. I said I will never get to live the lifestyle exuded by the glam that is of flight attendants and other than make-up, there is nothing I really like about them.

Everything changes with age. After years of brushing my brother's advise, I realized that I am NOT GETTING ANY YOUNGER. Ouch. 5 years from now, it will no longer be cute for me to be "maton" and speaking of being work-wise, I must now decide whether to remain in the so called "technical environment" I used to live in and rot here forever. That sends a not-so-happy thought in my head and a voice in me kicked in saying, it is now or never.

So that's it, a month ago, I checked online, looking for an airline open for hiring and I was able to see one. Immediately, I took all the necessary steps and thank God my heart wasn't broken on this one. Weeks from now, I will be leaving for training and that means that I will have to relocate near the airline's base. Another challenge, yes. Another phase of my life that I will be very excited to discover.

But then again, there are still a lot that I have to learn. When I get to think of what is ahead of me, I feel the fluttering of butterflies in my stomach. Maybe I am just so excited.. It's like the act of preparing to jump in bungee jumping, nerve wracking but with full excitement. :)

When Giving Up Is Not An Option

Tired. That's how I feel. And this, is the kind that no bedrest can fix. The people around me think I am strong enough to handle just about anything. But deep inside, I seek for a pillar to whom I can lean on and rest my worries. I can cry but I must not let them see. I can stop but I have to make it unnoticeable. For these times, it is hard to show strength when mine is nearly used up. But I have to go, go, go..

Because giving up is not an option.

End Of The World??!

Will the world end now that it is finally 2012? I think not. Because for me, it has just started hours ago. The world has started over again to give new chances and new beginnings. There is always something so renewing every New Year and the world is very much thankful that as 11:59 PM of 2011 stroke its final second, 12:00 AM came in with full excitement, shaking the ground with roar and lightning.

The world is old and is subjected to end, we all know that as a fact. But that stays at the back of our minds. Because we, as hopeful human beings would rather face the New Year morning with childlike hearts, keeping prayers in our pockets that in this New Year, we can now get things right, that this is another chance for us to finally set our marks.


For the bad things that broke our hearts in the past year, we now just put them behind and brush them off our shoulders. What didn't kill you only makes you stronger, right? So that makes everyone of us, alive and existing, stronger ones than what we were before. And that single thought of strength is enough for us to keep us going, keep us fighting. For after the 365 days from today, we can once again say, another battle has won.