I’m not fond of watches, a Bulova watch to me is same as any other. So it was surprising to know that guys actually like watches!

I found this out when an officemate of mine urged me to buy a watch for my boyfriend as a gift. I asked him, “Would you really like a watch for yourself on your special day?” and his answer was an honest “Yeah!!”.

I asked my boyfriend too, well, later on, if he liked receiving or buying watches. And he replied in the affirmative too.

And here I thought that it was just one of those things you buy a guy if you don’t know what to buy for him!! My mother once bought my boyfriend an expensive watch from Hong Kong and I just dismissed it as a random gift. But he was so happy when he got it, and it’s his favorite watch to wear on formal occasions up to now. So I guess mothers know best after all! Hahah.

I wish I had gold bars for the holidays. As it is I’ve been spending money like water ever since I came home for Christmas! This has more to do with me realizing how cheaper restaurant prices are in my hometown compared to the big city! Thus, I keep eating out. Overall I have been spending so merrily I think in just one week I’ve burnt through my 13th month pay already!!!

Anyway. It’s Christmas! Wow, how the year flew! Nothing much has changed in my life, but a lot certainly has in Gim’s, and somehow I mark the changes this year by the events in his life.

In February of this year, he took the medical boards in Cebu and passed. The week before his exams, he pre-celebrated with me in Manila, and after his exams came back to me and spent a few weeks just bumming around.

He went back to Zamboanga and started working as an on-call GP across the major hospitals, for about a month or so. By April, he had enough time and money to come visit me in Manila. Spent a fun week with me, and went back home. After one day of being back in Zamboanga, he missed me SO much that he decided to be with me for good and so he went back to Manila. Haha. Best decision he ever made this year!

Around this time, I changed teams at work and started working nights to support Europe, North/Latin America and Asian regions due to the global nature of my job. It was tough at first but I got used to it after a few weeks. The one thing I like about it is being able to go shopping early afternoon during weekdays, when there aren’t that many people in the malls.

End of May, Gim landed a job at UP PGH as a researcher. Not his dream job but he craved the idea of belonging to such a prestigious institution. After a few months, he was bummed out because the job was more menial than he thought, he was doing jobs that a PR person might do, and decided that he needed to find a more suitable job (for his degree).

I urged him to enter residency, because I had never liked him joining UP PGH, and did my best to dissuade him from entering corporate medicine. He applied to a wide range of jobs. By September, he was accepted as an ear-nose-throat surgery resident at Ospital ng Maynila, and I was THRILLED for him. He was beyond ecstatic.

Oh, and by this time, another new thing was that we had moved from our shared condo with two college friends, since the lease was up. We decided to get our own place, and rented an old apartment in the residential part of Makati. It was equal parts near his work and mine. Good thing too I got a raise since it was pretty expensive furnishing everything in our two-storey house!

And that’s how my 2011 went. See what I meant by the time being mostly marked by Gim? I didn’t travel much this year, but Gim and I did spend a lot more time together than the past six years. I foresee lesser and lesser travels as Gim’s job keeps him really busy. But it also means I am more available to friends, and I am hoping to be able to make travel plans with my friends, by myself, and not as a buy-one-take-one half of a couple.

A friend of mine once asked on Twitter why some people suddenly become a “we” and seem to lose their individuality once they become a couple. I think that I am one of these people. But I don’t want to be. And maybe in 2012 I can get some of that Flisha-ness back.

Wish me luck.

When buying gifts for Gim, I usually think of giving him funny shirts or khaki shorts. I’m super bad at giving presents!

I read somewhere that it’s actually better for benefactors to ask their beneficiaries what they wanted, rather than to buy something spontaneous and hope for the best. As a gift-receiver, I definitely appreciate getting what I asked for! So I tried my best to gather what Gim wanted for his birthday in November.

I got a lot of good advice from friends! A watch, the complete Games of Thrones collection, a Kindle, etc. I was going to go by those, until the afternoon of his birthday I came across an email that the 4th book of the Eragon series (Inheritance) was out! I knew Gim had been waiting for the last book for two whole years so I knew that was the perfect gift!! He was ELATED when he got my gift! Sometimes, you just get lucky!

I also got him another thing – Crocs. It was the practical gift. He’s on his feet 24/7 (being a surgery resident with 36-to-48-hour shifts) and he definitely needed some comfortable and easy-to-slip-out-of shoes. So that was another good gift, because he’d hinted at it before though jokingly.

Anyway, point is, the best gifts are the ones well thought of. I’m not the most thoughtful girl, and I definitely admire those friends who take a lot of time to create or pick out gifts for people. If there’s one thing I wish for in 2012, it’s to be a lot more thoughtful, and kind, and generous.

What’s YOUR wish?

My boyfriend’s relative is selling a newly bought car for about 400k PHP (about 9000 USD). I wish I had the cash to buy it, because my family definitely needs a new automobile. Out old jeep is so rusty, dirty and downtrodden that I once slapped the front seat and it blew up tons of dust and dog hair!!! Ew.

But if I were to buy a vehicle, I think I’d go with a motorhome, so I can live a totally mobile life! Moving from one place to another, life would be spent a city a month. As long as I get free RV insurance too, since I think a motorhome is way easier to break into than a house.

I just don’t know how reasonable that would be in an island country like mine. Maybe I would be on a RORO boat (roll-on-roll-off) most of the time!

Maybe it’s time to move to another country?

Right now he’s probably in his lengthy white lab coat, dashing to and fro, attending patient after patient, furiously scribbling on charts, getting tests done, and overall being the busy, busy doctor that he is.

It’s like every single day since he got into the ENT (ear-nose-throat) residency program. Except today is quite special. Today is November 11, 2011. 11-11-11. A binary date. A symmetric date. This day only happens once every century, and given the average human lifespan, well we can say it happens just once in a lifetime.

But that’s not what makes it special. What makes it especially special is that today is the day that my beautiful boyfriend was born, 28 years ago!

I just want to say a few words about him. The one and only love of my life. He never stops smiling. He’s always cheerful. Always so sweet. He’s like a puppy, even if you ignore him and even if you scold him and even if you take away his candy and even if you turn away from him, once you look back, he’s all cute and lovely and wanting to please and so willing to forgive, that you can’t hold a grudge on him and you just give up and love him all the more.

Nobody is perfect, and Gim is definitely NOT! (I could list all his flaws but they would be pages long and oh, this is not the day for looking for faults haha!) But he is perfect for ME. He is the everlasting cheer to my sourpuss, he is the ever optimistic to my pessimistic, he is the let’s-get-up-get-it-done-hyper-active to my laidback-let’s-just-stay-in-bed-tive. He’s my polar opposite but also the person most similar to me, who likes everything I like, and who understands me through and through.

He’s the kind of guy that makes you actually believe in love everlasting. Truth be told, I have no idea why he still likes me. Physically and emotionally I’ve changed so much from the carefree young girl he once fell hopelessly in love with. But somehow when he looks at me, he sees me as I see myself. I’ve never met a guy like him. Who meets his first love at the age of eighteen and despite the many other beautiful women who come into his life, keeps loving her day after day? I always wonder and half-expect that someday in the future things won’t be so rosy. But he always looks at me as though I’m crazy for thinking such impossible thoughts and he always takes my insecurities in stride and he never tires of dealing with all my moody and crazy.

The Harlequin novels of old describe men so wonderful and perfect that most of us women grow up wanting – and expecting – the impossible. I’ve since learned those men don’t exist except on paper. But an everlasting love does. And that’s what Gim is, to me.

To my Gim, I love you, always and forever!

I’m not living in some big steel building anymore, so I can grow flowers as I please!

My mother came over a several weeks ago and needed some company to go buy orchids. I volunteered my boyfriend. Hey! I’m a working girl. And at the time, my boyfriend was temporarily unemployed. He had just resigned from his job as a clinic researcher and had a week’s time to prepare documents so he could go into residency – as he had just been accepted to become an EENT (eye-ear-nose-throat) surgery resident! (Yes! Exciting! Just like Grey’s Anatomy! Without the sex. I hope.)

Anyway. Going back to the orchids. So, Gim went with my mom. Really, she was just looking for someone to carry the orchids and crates for her, so it was much better I sent him. When Gim came home, he was bringing me flowers!! And not the cut ones, but potted ones! So thoughtful!!!!! That is why I love him. Aside from him being exceedingly cute and smiley.

I do love flowers. Cut, potted, hanging, on the ground, on a tree, in between books… lol. I love them, in any shape or form. You couldn’t go wrong giving me flowers.

But I especially like flowers I can keep and APPRECIATE for a long, long time!!! I do hate to watch flowers wilt and die. So, potted flowers = perfect!

Funny!! I haven’t even told you what KIND of flowers they were. Well. They were chrysanthemums. Two yellow bushes, and one violet, is what he got me. And the following day he bought me a bag of rich topsoil and a big long pot to put my flowers in. Wonderful!

So here they are, my glorious flowers!

I don’t send holiday cards.

When I was younger, I used to. My dad had several brothers and sisters in the States so he would let me write some of the cards. My mom had friends in other cities, so I would help her out some too. I myself loved to go out and buy cards for my friends! Even though we saw each other everyday in class, it was the thing to do. Just like in Valentine’s day, you sent out cards to your loved ones.

It was quite fun. I grew up in a small town and we only had a handful of shops, the cards were very limited but I could spend hours just looking for that one card that summed up perfectly what I wanted to say to my mom, my dad, my siblings, my friends, and especially that friend you liked but you hadn’t let on you liked him, and you wanted the card to subtly hint you liked him a little more than he thought.

Wasn’t it a giddy feeling? That Christmas joy, the exquisite satisfaction of preparing handmade gifts and painstakingly handwriting cards… It seemed there were so many parties, events, and most of all, friends.

One of my most favorite memories was creating a Christmas parol made out of native materials. It was a group task, and my groupmates were my best friends Chris and Brian. We’d been so busy that we hadn’t time to create the parol, but we’d gathered all the materials – wood bark, shells, bamboo, etc. It was the day before submission of the parol, and we’d agreed to meet at my house to finish the parol. I was waiting at home, when the lights went out!! And it was raining so hard and heavy!! My poor friends arrived soaked to the bone and it was pitch dark outside!!! The poor things!!! I hastily ushered them in and lent them my clothes, and since all I had were girl clothes, I lent them my gender-neutral school shirts instead. To this day, I don’t think they ever returned them to me. Hahaha! We spent the entire night just working on that parol, and gossiping, in candlelight, with the storm brewing outside. And taking silly pictures with my old film camera. It was one of my most favorite nights. And the Christmas parol turned out beautiful, thank you very much!

How I miss the sense of caring of the old days. Back then, it seemed I could feel so much more, love so much. Maybe because it was a carefree time, I could care so much more. Now, with all the stresses of work and bills, bills, bills, I think I’m spent. All out of care. That makes me feel so sad.

Someone teach me how to care again.

I think I need a receipt printer. Why??

Well.

My company has a nice benefit. They will reimburse me my transportation fees if I go home in the evening. My shift is pretty wonky. I start out at 4pm and my day ends around 1am. So I sure qualify for the reimbursement, provided I furnish the receipt. No problem, right?!

Wrong! The thing is, taxis are always OUT OF RECEIPTS!! And to think the official taxi receipt printers were only handed out late last year. It seems like all the taxis I board are always out of receipt paper, or their printers are jammed, or broken, or something. I could write out a manual receipt, get the taxi’s details like company / driver / license plate / amount / location / etc. And then I’d get the driver to sign the thing. But really – that takes time and more often than not, I am too tired to even bother. So when the taxi driver starts to give me that sheepish look and prepares his lame excuse, I just sigh and let it go.

If I had my own taxi printer, though, I’d just plug in the data cable, and voila, I’m halfway to reimbursement!

If only!

The best method of suppressing appetite that I know, is getting sick. Which is what I have been the past several days. I had somehow caught a cold, perhaps from the office. Next thing I knew, my nose was clogged, my eyes watery, my throat hurt, my temperature up and my head was aching terribly!!!

I did take some pills like Biogesic and Nasathera but neither really did much for me. The only thing that soothed me was soup! So that’s what I had, day in and day out, for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Gim made me a big pot of arroz caldo, so I could just heat up some whenever I wanted. Arroz caldo is basically rice porridge, with bits of chicken and ginger for flavor. Not something I would crave for on a normal basis but it was the only thing I *did* want to eat. Anything solid I had no appetite for.

This is what it looked like, by the way. Not the actual pic, I just borrowed that. Doesn’t look so appetizing, no? But believe me, it’s as comforting as comfort food can get.

The headache seems to have passed already but I’m still sniffling and the feeling of general malaise is still there. But I can hopefully go back to the office by Monday.

I mentioned a few posts ago that Gim is now a surgery resident. I’m still looking for congratulations gifts for men but maybe I will wait until his birthday to actually give him a gift. Two birds with one stone. Is that cheating?? Hahahaha.

Well, these days, money is quite tight so I have to save as much as possible. Gim getting his residency is both a blessing and a curse. Curse because for the next 6 months, he will be working without pay. Yes, that means that I am in fact financially supporting us all by myself!!!

We rented our current place knowing we both had salaries, so yeah, I’m definitely wishing it were already April!

Things I need to scrimp on:

1. Food. Duh!!! I need to stop buying so much soda, bread, jams, ice cream, chips, chocolates, and steaks! The last one is easy because Gim is the cook around here and if he’s not around, I resort to junk food. But I’m not sure I can cut down on my sweets!!
2. Transportation. Thanks to our office policy of work-from-home, I don’t spend much on transpo. But I do prefer to take the taxi if I have to go out. I don’t like buses, and I hate taking jeepneys, and I utterly loathe the tranins!!! However, I might have to take the bus instead of the taxi from now on. With buses, I just hate sitting next to someone else. I usually sit in the two-seater side, and I sit in the middle, and if someone gets on, I look away if I feel like they want to sit beside me. Hahahah!! Evil. But if I go out late, around 4pm to 5pm I can’t get away with doing this anymore since people start to cram the bus. So that means if I want to take the bus I have to get to work a lot earlier!
3. Toiletries . Personally, I don’t use a lot of soap. One big bar can last me a month. But for Gim it only lasts a little longer than a week!! I have no idea HOW he uses that much but I am totally lost on how to make him cut down on soap. Maybe I should make him use liquid soap and sponge instead? Hahah. He might balk at the femininity of it!! What I need to cut down on is shavers. I usually use a shaver once then throw it away. It’s hygenic!!! Maybe I should just stop shaving, it’s not like anybody ever sees my legs and armpits LOL! I don’t use much else other than shampoo and alcohol and no problem with those since one bottle of each can last me for months on end.
4. Cleaning Agents. I am definitely generous with detergent whether I’m washing clothes or I’m washing plates. Reminder to use a lot less!!! And maybe I shouldn’t buy fabric softener anymore. I really haven’t noticed the difference, except that it gives my clothes a nice smell. I just have to buy nicer smelling detergent! And I should cut down on Lysol and Glade stuff. Except I love to Lysol my bathroom… since I don’t like to actually get a rug and scrub clean the molds that form. Ewww! That’s why Gim is so “handy”. Hehehe look at that I made a pun.
5. Books. Not that I spend regularly on this, but once you get me to a bookstore, it’s hard not to splurge. So I guess, I have to now STOP going to bookstores!
6. OK now that I think about it, I don’t really spend much on other stuff, and majority is spent on food. LOL. How the heck am I going to save on food when it’s the one thing that keeps me from getting depressed that I don’t see much of Gim?!?!?

Oh well. I just have to remember that all my sacrifices will be worth it some day. Looking forward to brighter days!!! Good luck to me!!!