A Bunch of Randomness

In my mind I've been making up posts for this blog all through the week, but somehow these never made it to the blog.

Anywhooo, I just want to share a few randomness with you today:

• The picture above is from Berkeley Rose Garden snapped a week ago.  Unfortunately, it was too early to visit that very few of the roses had flowers.
• I got my DSLR cleaned professionally.  However, I only got the body cleaned and not the telescopic lens because as usual I'm trying to save money. Turned out the cause of all my problems was the dirty lens and not the body(mirror, etc), ugh!
• I'm taking a month off Zumba.
• One more month and I'm off to Mexico for a little R&R.
• My co-worker is going to Italy this year, her first time, and I'm so excited for her.
• I bought two bags of books from the town library's book sale.  My year's supply of reading is taken care of.
• Speaking of reading, I've been doing a lot of that lately.  A lot, a lot!
• I still haven't seen Insurgent.  It doesn't look like I'm ever going to see it on the big screen.  How was it, for those who have seen it?
• Thankful Emma and Buster are in pink of health, knock on wood.
• I haven't been to San Francisco since last year, can you believe that?  Too much things going on here in the East Bay.
• I could have a bowl of vermicelli bun right now.
• I'm a little under the weather. It's 71 F outside, and I'm inside the house in my bathrobe and feeling really cold, sinus is congested and head pounding, but surfing online makes my aches and pains all manageable.

Cheap is Expensive

Are you like me? Do you have a fascination with buying anything cheap? I like going to the Dollar Tree, Dollar Store, 99 Cents Store, etc to get items like dust pan, brooms, paper clips, legal pads, etc, etc, etc.

Lately, however, I’ve been becoming aware that cheap is getting expensive. Like the soap caddy for instance. We buy at the dollar store. It doesn’t work after a few months. In a year we get to replace the caddy so often. Then there’s my work ID badge, the plastic thingy that you hang on a lanyard? Well I’ve been buying ID badge holder every month at the 99 Cents Store. Finally one day, I had it. On the third week of the last badge holder that I got from the discount store, it broke. I finally had it. I decided to buy one from Walmart. Okay so as much as Walmart doesn’t appeal to me as a “good employer”, the prices cannot be beat and when you’re operating your household under a tight budget, believe me you will grab onto Walmart’s prices so quickly.

Anyway, so we went to Walmart and found a package of 12 badge holders…..for $1.99. Twelve for $1.99!!!! More bang for my buck! And it’s good quality too. I think I will think twice before buying something from the dollar store from now on, although I’m very sure that nothing can stop me from shopping there.

Do you buy anything from discount/dollar stores?

Millie and Other Random Thoughts

Out of the blue I thought of Millie today. Who is Millie? I met Millie in college, freshman year. She’s one of the girls I hang out with. Since we were seated alphabetically (pathetic, right?) we always sit together, both of us have last names starting with M.

In college she wore her straight black hair short, an inch or two above shoulder with bangs. She wore red red lipstick on her nicely shaped lips. She also wore make-up, I thought too much for school setting. She kept her uniform (yes we did wear unis in university) above the knee, highlighting her beautifully-shaped legs, proportional for her short stature.

She was a Manilena, through and through. Okay to be more precise, she was from San Juan. One time we went to their house, I don't remember why.

Anyway, she belonged to the group of gals that I hang with on that freshman year. All of them are from the Metro area and I was the only one that’s from the province. I really felt like I was fresh off the boat for the most part whenever I was around them, or what we used to term, promdi (short for from the province).

She was very nice to me and she has that guile, womanly guile that only a Manilena would know at age 17. In my eyes she was mature beyond her years.

She moved away the next year. I heard she migrated to USA.

Years later, my bff from high school who also migrated to California was on the phone with me and out of nowhere she asked if I knew Millie. They bumped into each other in San Jose and they had me in common. Both of them shared individual experience of how we copied off each other during exams.

I really don’t have a reason for this post except that I realized that so many people come into our lives that are there only for a second or so. Then they’re gone forever. They move on to their own journey on this earth and our journey goes on without them.

Say for instance, all the people in all the classes I’ve been in the university. Out of a roomful of people, there’s one or two that would be important for a period of time, if not forever. What happens with the others?

I’ve lived in dormitories before. I’ve made life-long friends there. But there were more who I ate dinner with regularity and yet I cannot remember their names anymore. At one point in my life, I have shared a chuckle with so many people that have touched my life in some ways.

I don’t know what I’m talking about. But as I was looking at the photos of people I took in Venice, an idea is brewing in my mind. I think I’ll explore that idea further.

In the meantime, I wonder what happened to Millie. Would we recognize each other when we bump into each other? I could only wonder.