housemates from hell

With Singapore having a very limited land area, renting a place is expensive. I mean, unless you are earning BIIIIG bucks or the company is paying for your accommodations, it would be more practical to share a place with other people.

Other people could mean your own family working here, OR relatives OR friends OR friends of friends OR friends of friends' friends OR, lo and behold, total strangers.

The latter proves to be the most challenging ones to live with. Personally, I never had the chance to live or share a place with strangers when I was still in Manila. I was not allowed to move into a dorm despite our place being faaar from La Salle. When I was already working, my mom did not allow me to move out. In a way, it was a disadvantage for me because I only learned how to be independent when I moved to Singapore.

So anyway, in my fooouurr years of living here, so far, I have lived with: (1) a pinoy family for two weeks; (2) another pinoy family for two months; (3) a Singaporean-Muslim for one year; (4) 2 small pinoy families for a few months; and (5) presently, with friends. Among these 5 groups, the worst was no. 4 and the best was no. 3.

There was only a year and a half that hubby and I had our own place. Oh what glorious year and a half it was!!!

Lately, I have been hearing a lot of stories about housemates from hell. Most of these stories came from my friend L.

L is a well-accomplished lady. A professional. Well-behaved. Knows her manners. Unfortunately, her housemate/s are not. I just get so irked when L regales me with stories about some of her housemates, such as C1 and C2.

I also had my own share of housemates from hell. I'm sure you guys have your own experience abouth HfH. Or maybe you heard a story from your friend about their HfH.

Kwnto ko sila sa inyo.

Housemate C1

Etong si C1, nangunguha ng pagkain ni L. As in hindi lang hingi ng konti--ok lang naman kung paminsan minsan at konti lang. Or at least palitan. Pero grabe itong si C1. Sure si L na si C1 lang ang kumukuha kasi sha lang ang natitirang suspect, and L saw it with her own foouur eyes.

Example 1: L buys a pack of cheese, puts it in the fridge, unopened. Paguwi ni L from work, nakabukas na ang cheese at nangangalahati na. Example 2: L buys fishball. Puts it in the ref. Pag-uwi ni L from work, aba, ginagayat na ni C1 ang fishball para isahog sa pancit na linuluto nya. Example 3:L buys canned condensed milk and transfers it in a container. On the second day, nangalahati na ung milk kahit na konti pa lang ginagamit ni L. On the third day, ubos na ang gatas and guess huwat, hinugasan na ang container at tinaob na sa dishrack. O d ba may manners naman, kasi hinugasan naman after simutin.

Housemate C2

Eto namang si C2. May problem sha sa kanyang foot. For some reason, namamaho ito. Kasi daw it started daw a few months ago. Naka-closed shoes sha at naulanan sha. So nabasa paa nya with the closed shoes. And the rest is history na nga. Until now, hindi na ata mawala amoy ng paa nya despite using all the foot powder in the whole of Singapore.

Dito sa Singapore, it's common na to have a common shoe rack somewhere in the house. Apparently, C2 and L are friendly naman with each other. Sometimes, C2 borrows stuff from L and ok lang naman. Mabait naman kasi si C2. Dense lang siguro. Kaya lang one time, sinuot ni C2 ang sandals ni L. At nung time na to, C2 was suffering na from her foot problem. So when L learned na hiniram ni C2, I think she threw the sandals away na, or never na nya sinuot. A few weeks ago, L bought a new pair of closed black shoes. Hindi pa nya nga ata sinusuot. Then, one day, she received a text message from C2: "Uuuy, i borrowed pala your black shoes." bla bla. Kaimbyerna.

Housemate C3

Ewan ko ba, ang malas nitong si L sa mga housemates. Ang lalakas humilik ng roommates nya. It's not that L finds it difficult to sleep ha. Malakas lang talaga humilik at CHORUS pa ung roommates nya sa pag-snore. Kaya dapat talaga mauna sha matulog or else, she will spend the night tossing and turning because she can't sleep. One time, L had to go home late na. She learned na her roommates are home na, getting ready to go to bed. She got so stressed just thinking about her fate for that night--na she has to hurry back and sleep before they do, or else, mapupuyat na sha!

Housemates Room 1 and Room 3

Eto personal experience namen ni Jun (kami yung nasa Room 2). Mahabang kwnto ito. Maldita and palengkera kasi tong dalwang babae na to. Understandable naman with their background. Anyway, I shall just give you some examples of how lame these two are.

Room 3 is accusing Room 1 na kumukupit daw ng sabong panglaba sa kanya. Pati daw dishwashing liquid nya kinukuhanan ni Room 1. Pinapalitan na lng daw ng tubig para hindi obvious, pero halata naman daw kasi hindi na mabula. Anoovah! Magsaksakan na nga lang sila.

Oh I had a shouting match with Room 1, kasi I don't mingle with them naman e there was a time na napikon na kami ni Jun kasi pati kami pinupuntirya. Jun gave me a signal, sabi nya: "sige na hon, sindakin mo na. nahahigh blood na ko." Yahoo, so un. Hinarang ko sha at pinagsisigawan ko. Sa sobrang sindak ko sa knya, FROM THAT DAY ONWARDS, HINDI NA SHA LUMABAS NG ROOM NYA. As in. Lumalabas lang sha para magluto or kung lalabas talaga sha ng house. Pati pagkain, sa room na nila ginagawa. One time, napadaan ako sa room nya, mejo bukas ung door, at naamoy ko --super baho! siguro kasi lagi lang syang nakakulong dun with her 2 year old daughter. parang amoy powder sa singit ng Pana na natuyuan ng pawis! ewwww.

Madami pang kwnto. Pero tamad na ko mag type. Hindi na nga ako makapag straight english eh ahahahaha.

Pero eto talaga ang ultimate Housemate from Hell. I'm not sure if nakarating tong balita na to sa Philippines. The press didn't reveal all the details but here's the gist of the story:

Girlfriend and Boyfriend are sharing a flat with this Guy. Boyfriend murders Guy.

Gist na gist noh? Hahaha. Some who know the people involved say Boyfriend caught the Guy having an affair with his Girlfriend. Some say Guy stole money from the Boyfriend.

Whatever the reason is, I don't want to be murdered by my housemate. I'd rather get stuck with the one that steals the dishwashing soap and the one with the foot problem, or maybe even the one who gobbles up all my food...

my new phone (and why i will never trust Courts anymore)

Most of my colleagues and friends are familiar now about my saga with Courts. My blood boils everytime I think of their lousy service.

If you're planning to get their extended warranty, think about it first. I'm not saying what happened to me will happen to you too. I heard they're now trying to improve their after-sales and all. Pero beware lang talaga. I will never trust Courts again. They told me if anything happens to my phone, madali lang daw bla bla bla. Aarrggh I will never buy from them again. Never!

This was the phone I bought from them:

It's actually Tutuy's phone, but since he bought a new phone last year, he passed it on to me (poor me, tagasalo ng hand-me-downs).

To make a long story short: Courts' after-sales service SUCKS! Customer Service numbers that answers your call after 10 years, staff who don't know the procedure for their extended warranty and takes 5 years to update you about your phone's repair. They didn't even give me a service phone! November 2006 pa nasira ung N91, so I was stuck with an old N6100 since that time.

I gave Courts our N91 in the month of February. In April, they informed me that, according to Nokia, our phone is beyond repair na raw. So they will just replace it na lang.

We bought the N91 for about $1,100 in 2006 (inclusive of the extended warranty). Now, its open market value is $630 na lang daw. So they made me choose which model I like. Good thing, my options were not that bad naman.

Today, I finally got the phone replacement. Yipeee. I finally have a decent phone that works! I chose N95. I just added a few dollars. Apparently, N95 is almost equivalent to N91's market value now. Blessing in dis-guy talaga!

four years ago

May 29 marks my 4th year in Singapore.

Has it been that long?

It seems like only yesterday.

It's too short a time for me to feel like this is my second home.

And too long a time for me not to feel homesick anymore.

*up next: how and why I got on a plane in 2004 and headed off to Singapore*

Cheers.

David Cook and his risky business

Ooohhhkay...if you are an AI fan, you're probably puking now from all those comments about David Cook winning and David "Gosh" Archuleta's loss.

I don't really care about the outcome of the finals because I know Cook will have a great career beyond AI. But hell yeah, it was great that he won, if only for the sake of pulling the rag off Simon's feet.

Give David "Gosh" Archuleta a few more years and he'll develop that star material too. Add some dance lessons on the side plus some more youthful energy so he can sing other songs that aren't too depressing. As Simon says (pardon the pun), "taking all these into account", this baklita has a bright future ahead of him.

Eeehneeeeweiii, Cook and his handlers didn't waste time and got to work at once. I found one of Cook's endorsements and I think it's cute! Remember Tom Cruise in Risky Business? The one where he lipsyched to Bob Seger's Old Time Rock n Roll wearing only his shirt, undies and socks? That's the concept of Cook's Guitar Hero ad. Here it is:



And for nostalgia's sake, let's watch the original version:


Errrmm, I think Cook's version is way cooler than Cruise's.

make your momma proud

Once upon a time there was a child ready to be born. One day he asked God: "They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?"

GOD replied, "Among the many angels, I chose one for you. She will be waiting for you and will take care of you." "But tell me, here in Heaven, I don't do anything else but sing and smile, that's enough for me to be happy."
"Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you every day. And you will feel your angel's love and be happy."

"And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me, if I don't know the language that men talk?"

"Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak."

"And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?"

"Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray."

"I've heard that on earth there are bad men. Who will protect me?"

"Your angel will defend you even if it means risking its life."

"But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore."

"Your angel will always talk to you about me and will teach you the way for you to come back to me, even though I will always be next to you."

At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from earth could already be heard. And the child in a hurry asked softly: "Oh God, if I am about to leave now, please tell me my angel's name."

"Your angel's name is of no importance, you will call your angel: 'Mommy'."

+++++

To my mama, my sister Cha, Inay, Nanay, Maver, Mamu, Tita Tessie, Nang, Chinks, Tins, Lics, Fe, and to all my cuzins, titas and friends who are all mothers...
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY.
Saludo ako sa inyo.

"Of all the rights of women,
the greatest is to be a mother

We're moving out...again!

Last Monday, the owner of our flat told us that her application to buy another flat was rejected.

So that means she and her family will need to move back to this flat.

So that means we have to move out.

In two months' time. (Or maybe three. She is a kind person and is willing to give us more time, if needed, to scout for another place.)

Bad timing. Just when we are getting to realllly like living within the city area.

And I don't think we will be fortunate enough to find a nice flat within the city within the rate that we are paying now. We are really lucky to find this place. But all luck runs out.

So anyway, we are starting to look for a new place, and not surprisingly, we can't find a flat within the city area that is lower than $2,000. Boohoo!

We might move to Sengkang where rental rates are low. It's fine with me, but it's a bit far from Jun's workplace.n And it seeeems so far from civilazation.

Haaaay. Life.