Black coffee, Sandrine, Tokyo, EBF and the Future

Days passed by so fast that it is almost November. And I'm sure November's gonna come by fast enough as well --- and with this comes the season once again! Just a thought.

Right now I've shifted to having my coffee black instead of the usual coffee+cream+sugar. I dunno, I remember Mark telling me that Paolo drinks his coffee that way for the longest time, coupled by the exercises he's been doing to be the very lean person he is now. Not that I am planning to be athletic (or start exercising for that matter!) but I guess this change in the way I do my morning ritual is a good alternative to loading up on sugar. Besides, I need to lose weight! Haha. New Year's eve is just around the corner...me and Jules would need a lot of preparation! So we'll see how it goes.

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A week and a half ago I went to the baptism of Sandrine, my newest goddaughter. Cute little girl with chubby cheeks --- yup just like baby marshmallow cheeks! Gabe is indeed a kuya to a few of my inaanak...but I guess nothing beats having your own girl huh? I was in the train on my last day in Tokyo and I saw this Japanese girl who is just so cute I couldn't help but take a picture of her. Japanese baby girls really tug my heart! They look so lovable with their chinky eyes!

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And so the Tokyo trip is done and over with. Looking back, no matter how tiring it was (meetings ending at 11ish or so), everything was worth it. On top of the business agenda we've covered, I'm glad we were able to tour around and go to places that even our executive consultant hasn't gone to! We went to Matsushima Bay (said to be the top 3 place to go to in Japan) and the view is amazing --- on board a ferry and with close encounters with the seagulls (we fed them with prawn crackers), you would want life to stop right there and then. Think Kate Beckinsale in Serendipity when she boarded a ferry and just enjoyed the calmness the bay brings. Something like that. Yuki-san, our tour guide who is 66 years old and with two grandkids, looked nothing like a 66 year old lola I swear. She is very healthy and giggles like a high school girl which makes her all the more lovable! Her high pitched tone while explaining how to drink Japanese green tea is just so funny I was imitating her and teasing her about it. I guess people in Japan are particularly healthy and strong because of all the walking they do day in and day out (which up to now I am still learning to accept --- at one point my feet nearly killed me!). She brought us to Zuiganji temple as well where we (me and my directors) bought fortune paper based on our blood type and checked what's in store for us for the remaining time of the year. The fortune paper is based on the year 2006 and what it told me is that my work is and will be going well but not much luck in the personal department (asa pa eh no) as this will come in later on. Never mind the latter, I'm all up for new deals and strategic closures!

Riding the shinkansen (bullet train) was an experience itself. First of all, it is very expensive to have that kind of transportation (think PhP15k for return) and since we need to go up north in Tokyo we had no choice but to go via shinkansen. It's nice because they have cars (coaches) that allow you to smoke and you can even reserve your seats. The best thing about it is even if the speed is like 300km/hr you wouldn't feel it. But damn, that ride was fast! Not to mention that the whole time the weather was perfect! Especially in Miyagi and Sendai, my trench coat was the best thing I got.

Overall, great people I've met along the way made the trip more than memorable. Ebisui-san helped me carry my stuff (heavy stuff that is) the whole time we were travelling; Matsuoka-san was totally funny and not your usual Japanese! Such a nice respite. My colleagues from Costa Rica looked more like Hollywood actors even --- Carlos being Brendan Fraser while Javier being Lou Diamond Phillips. Hahaha.

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EBF - who would've thought? Talking to Hazel brought me to time space warp again. I'm not sure if things are still the same but I am quite surprised to see that I wrote something about it (like the entire story). Very cheesy and very sappy! How come life is complicated? I know I make it complex but can't it just be fine and dandy?

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Cut to present tense, the next few weeks to come will be like make or break. But not the end all and be all type of thing but yeah, I would need to again stretch myself and see if we can get it. Work wise that is. But I can't wait for his visit. :) Makes me think of the itinerary na but I don't want to be so eager beaver. I was complaining to him when he called me up because I accidentally deleted the pictures while uploading the pics of last night from my cam. Ugh...Liza would kill me! But anyway, I so want to talk to Hong Kiat na...I want to get his view but of course I'd have to wait for him to come back from his holiday. So while doing so, things are still status quo and I'll go my way.

Damn, this is a blog I know but somehow, I just can't go deeper in my writing yet and put everything here. But yeah, it feels nice having something to read about later on...and maybe laugh at myself for all the idiosyncracies I have!