When it dawned on me that I will not be reporting for work yesterday night, given my approved leave at work, there were things I drafted impromptu aside from catching up Zzzzsss.

So what were they? Scroll down to know.

After getting enough sleep from the night shift, I spent an hour watching a documentary from GMA 7's Case Unclosed with the episode Lihim ng 1897 (Secrets of 1897). It tries to solve the mystery of Juan Luna and Andres Bonifacio's tragic deaths. Apparently, they say it was Emilio Aguinaldo who ordered to kill the two aforementioned heroes. Given the history geek that I am, it just replenished my mind. I remember back in highschool, this was mentioned to us by one of out tour guides that the reason why Aguinaldo lost a second term for presidency was because it became known that he was the culprit of Bonifacio's death.

Anyway, a couple of hours after being a couch potato, off we went to Jollibee to treat my nephew and niece together with my cousins and mom for dinner. I promised that to my niece earlier that morning after she tripped and scrapped her knees after running to see me when I came home from work.

Once we all got home, we just made room for two to three hours of rest only to hit the road again. This time, for the Visita Iglesia which will be in my next post.

As I type this down, I just arrived after the traditional Visita Iglesia tonight with some members of the family. You might be wondering how come I was able to attend or what am I doing in front of the computer blogging at the wee hours when I normally am at work.

Well, I actually got to avail of a paid leave for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. And what was miraculous there was I got it on the last minute. Just when I have already placed a resolve that I'd be working and it won't be a holiday for us.

I've got to catch some Zzzsss as it's almost 2 am. I think and know I used my first PTO day well. And I'll post that soon; hopefully tomorrow.

I was newly-enjoying this McDonalds commercial, BF-GF weeks ago when I found out that this was pulled out by the McDonald's management out of respect to the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) saying that the commercial might imply a false notion to the minds of children to the concept of courtship' because in this commercial the little girl asks for a confirmation but latter says all she wants was french fries.

Creativity wise, I really don't see anything wrong with the commercial. If I were to compare that ad to this other TVC, I'd prefer the former:

In this one, this guy acts as if he's already that mature enough to date a girl (even at a fast food), warn his parents to stay out of the scene thinking it's embarrassing but at the end, it still were his parents who went on to foot the bill. To be honest, I feel sorry for the parents and hate the guy (even the look in his face) in this TV ad.

Now, with regards to the BF-GF commercial, I just see it as that -- creatively exploring a concept to effectively market a business. With regards to instilling false notions, I suppose, it's up to the parents to educate their kids that courtship is not as easy and as cheap as buying french fries. After all, TV is not always the reality (especially in the case of commercials) and likewise, kids should still be guided with explanation from parents on the concept of commercials (yes, even if they don't say parental guidance).

Oh, and I admire that little girl who asked "girlfried mo na ba ako?" I swear, if I get to see her, I'm going to give her a big bear hug for being such gutsy. I wish I were just like you, kid.

As I write this down, I'm on a morning coffee indulgence. The past months, I have stopped infusing my system with caffeine and so, I just do that whenever I get the weekend mornings off. The month's almost halfway through; likewise, there are some things that have highlighted my April (well, that's of course aside from acquiring Bogs) such as these:

My brother JR finally graduated from FEU with a degree in advertising arts last April 14th. Being the doting ate, from shelling off allowance for his extra-curricular stuff (read: gimik Lol) I'm now consulted by him again for job hunting tips. Welcome to the real world, bru!

I scored some feathers for my cap again. Just before the weekend and another bout with migraine, I had to attend the awards and recognition day at work. I was actually hesitant after realizing that I did not make it to the cut to the final three (because I landed fourth :-p) but well, while it's not the moment yet, I was awarded these thingamajings -- including a certificate excellence for a commendation I received last March 30th.

And I am into books, books and books. While I had to say goodbye to three titles in my little library that went to charity for the office book drive, I recently bought two titles to indulge in. Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go and Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson. Unfortunately, I was unable to finish Mr. Ishiguro's book as I'd like to think I felt all too tired with the long journey and tiny font styles given the additional fact that the time I was mixing reading and working at the office at the same time. It was also hard for me to go through imagineering (thanks for that word Steven Spielberg) a love triangle between three clones (go read the book to find out how). But while I stopped at chapter 16, I will plan to reread the whole thing again once I finish the current book.

Sunday's at Tiffany's on the other hand is by so far, one of the best books I have read to date. While I am a bookworm by heart, not all novels to me are appealing (except for Nicholas Sparks's A Walk to Remember and Jude Devereaux's A Knight in Shining Armor). After all, I don't just read. I paint portraits and images and travel with my mind through the books that I read. I'm really enjoy the adventure I am getting -- from traveling through another country to painting a portrait on my head as to what Michael could look like.

I'm halfway in reading the book. And I don't mind staying up for a few hours late at night as the book's too addicting. For real. But I'll have to put the book down first as I've got to go to church later.

Compared to my younger brother (who's got some images tattooed on his body), I have never tried having a tattoo even before. But this time, after telling mom that I plan to get one (and not waiting for her response) I decided to give it a try. Still, I decided a rather simple design that could be finished within 30 minutes given that I have to be in my station by 7:30 pm. Now, the tattoo reminds me of that scene from one of my favorite films, A Walk To Remember where Mandy Moore got one of her dreams of getting a temporary butterfly tattoo on her back.

Anyway, I clarified with mom that this is just a henna tattoo and won't be permanently etched in my skin. More than just giving in at another exciting dare at 26, I know that I played a part in helping out someone else.

Almost two years ago, I stated in this blog one of the things I have long-really wanted. If you can recall, I said it's a must have for me in this post. Given my erratic task with my freelance writing stint, I badly wanted that gadget but on the other hand, back then, I can't afford that just yet, and so it was a wishful thought.

But when I scored a nice-paying job at a US-based multimedia industry, I really took the effort to save up and turn that wishful thought a reality. I had to ignore the presence of gimmick spots left and right as well as give up indulging tall cups of frappes for the meantime. But likewise, the sacrifice paid me off -- after four months.

Last Sunday, I tagged mom along with me to troop to Gilmore to finally acquire the gadget that I've long wanted. But that's contrary to what I previously mentioned two different brands, last Sunday, I bought and got myself this:

An Acer Aspire One netbook in Black. Prior to purchasing a netbook (yes, I just wanted a netbook and not a notebook both budget and size wise), I was thinking of getting an MSI Wind (because they have my favorite colors) but after comparing the product specifications, I opted to get Acer instead. My netbook is just a single core Intel Atom Processor (a dual core is also great but of course, it comes with in a higher price) with 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and 6-cell battery pack (which is enough to last until 6 hours if I'd be using it outdoors). As per the price, I got the gadget at PhP 12,500 and it included some freebies too.

I'm not really after high-priced, branded gadgets. I'm just a low-maint geek anyway and I prefer my gadget to be that too. Part of me still can't believe that at 26, I finally have a gadget that I purchased using my own money. Yes, it could be quite late, but still, I get to feel proud as if it's an accomplishment of some sorts to have acquired something without asking mom or dad to pay for it. But because I've been occupied with work, my netbook (which I simply called Bogs) as well as its manual is still unread and untouched. I'll be exploring the whole thing tonight.

And since this only has a 1 GB memory, I still am thinking which software would be appropriate to install in it.

In the middle of everything, I got one of the best surprises I could ever receive this week. Exhibit A, that photo on the left. An unexpected mail that was enough to make me cry at one moment and eventually smile a smile of contentment.