da tomāto

Having dinner at half past five earlier wasn't a good idea. I did know then that this is going to happen eight hours later (it's past 1am now) -- I am hungry. Changing to a simple, silver and black desktop background is revitalizing. Had a flower on before and I grew sick of it and its bright colors. Silver is the theme of this machine for now. Thought of putting in the time and date on the desktop too but quickly decided against it. Did that a while back until I saw how it used up a good percentage of ram. Besides, what's the point of having them when I've windows up that cover most of the screen all the time anyway? Exactly.

Haven't been tasting food right. Something's wrong, I think. It has been going on for two days now. Don't remember doing anything different before then. But I did nurse a one-day cold that was probably 'cause of dust that day (tidied up the desk here the day before yesterday). I do taste food (and drink) but flavors would peter out quickly - no "savoring" has been achieved, so to speak. Curious.

It was delivered this morning. Lovely. 'Twas only a nine-day wait from hmv (uk). I love this album. So happy.

I've come to the conclusion that at some point, a pldt dsl subscriber will have to change their dns settings (tcp/ip) for their connection to work. Two times now, I've had to set preferred and alternate dns addresses to load websites properly. The first time was last year on our old computer. And again, this year, on this machine -- just last night, to be specific. I'm not an expert - far from it - but I do well in some areas when it comes to troubleshooting. As long as I don't delete anything or mess with settings that I've no idea about, it should be fine. And since this is a windows machine, restarting the pc is the norm when troubleshooting too. Well, I went through a common-sense checklist of why the pages wouldn't load right. Symptoms: Some pages would load only after repeated "refreshes", some wouldn't load images, and "page load error" on most of them. Usual suspects: 1 - Malware . Scanned machine (on-demand) and everything looked

I couldn't be more satisfied with my current state of WAHJs, by far. Have been for some months now. I feel very productive. I am learning a lot and it is very satisfying. This year has been (and still is) a good time for me, working from home. Owning up: Freelance writing and transcription have fallen by the wayside. But I've not abandoned them. They are my idling wah "gigs" and nothing more, at this time. I've known for a while now that I cannot write on demand and I already explained why here . Transcription assignments from my affiliate have been so few and very far in between AND I like it that way. Sidetracking: It feels nice to write about something good - it's not easy but it feels OK. Words did not come pouring out and I kept editing myself. Without a shadow of a doubt, diatribes are easier - they may be boring to read but they are easier to write.

Looked over my posts about transcribing and saw that I was all over the place when I talked about setting my preferences for express scribe hotkeys (function keys). Thought that I'd break them down clearly now 'cause the current settings work best for me, so far. My current Express Scribe (free from NCH Software ) is v 4.23. To customize the function keys, go to settings-->pedal and hot keys. My most-used (or more appropriately, only-used) keys are: F4 Stop F5 Copy Time (Made adding timestamps a non-issue - just press F5 and then, Ctrl-V [paste on MS Word] without leaving the document window. Easy, breezy.) F6 Step Back 5s (five seconds, my most-used hotkey) F9 Play Functions of express scribe hotkeys F4 and F9 are, I think, default. I changed what F5 and F6 do, and I mentioned why here and here . There are no set functions for F7 and F8 (or maybe I intentionally removed them) so pressing either will just stop the playback. All these are on the top-center of the keyboar

This is going to be about food. I may have had bad dinuguan (pinoy dish that's cooked with blood) earlier. My gut feels funny. Well, it wasn't spoiled or else I wouldn't have eaten it and no one else's gut is rumbling in this house. It may have been not-so-good for me - and only me. Who thought calamares and vinegar went well together? They do, apparently. Had a taste of sweet, soft, wonderful, fried calamares with a vinegar and chopped chili pepper dip. It was so good! Had it the day before yesterday and that one mouthful made my mouth water. Talking about it - my mouth is watering right now. It was yummy.

... the dust. One of my writing affiliates announced that their payment program will be suspended until things on their side pick up (obviously, they meant the economy). I don't know, hopefully they'll recover and this will truly be temporary. But right now, I'm feeling that it's the end (theirs, that is). Edit, 16th June: Just learned that they won't be paying writers who didn't reach the minimum payout this period. I'm sad 'cause that includes me. At the moment, I think that I'll let them have my work (that's pending payment) for free - glass half full and all that. I'll check back on them from time to time. They should carry over outstanding balances for when they start their payment program again -- or should I say, IF it's reimplemented.

My work diary is down to six leaves. It is time to get a new one. This is going to be "one of those posts" which an average person would think of as silly and inconsequential. So, look away (if you're average -- normal, in other words). Asking someone to buy me something that isn't very specific unlike medicine or a pen ('cause I always say what brand I want) is setting myself up for disappointment. More often than not, it happens when I feel strongly about a thing or something completely different 'cause I don't have control over it. I can picture it now: I'm writing down what I want and asking them to scour the stores for something exactly like it. I'm handing them more bills than necessary for "just in case it will cost more than we think". Then 30 minutes later, they'll come back with nothing.

There's something about laying groundwork that's calming. In my case, the prep is typing codes for one of my new wahjs so that the next steps would be easier and quicker. I don't move my head at all and just stare at what I'm copying from. Isn't touch-typing the best? New Java update came in, 6-14, I think it is. It's one of the things that I've auto-update-enabled on this machine. About time too 'cause I wanted to get rid of the old version that used too much space. FYI, it is OK to remove old Java versions and it's actually recommended.

Have two new house shorts and they're boy shorts too. For reasons that I don't care to know about they have mesh and garter on the inside. With the thigh garters, they were a bother to put on 'cause it made them tight - don't know how boys think that that's comfy. And the mesh made my bum sweat -- sorry, but it did. Sure enough, I took a pair of scissors not long after, snipped away the mesh and garter and now they're perfectly comfortable. Goes to show that we ladies can wear boy shorts too - sans the mesh.

After I nitpicked at the music video for "talk you down" by the script a couple of weeks ago here and asked, "Why can't they just play?" or something to that effect, they released the video for their last single "before the worst" (just saw it last night) and they did just that - the band just played. I'm not implying that it had something to do with it, obviously, but some (or many) people may have reacted the same way and the band listened. Well, I'd like to think so. Albeit the inclusion of (what I think has become) the signature "danny walking around" bit, it was close to something that I wanted to see. It would've been better if it were them playing live but it was close. And I am happy with this one cos I really like "before the worst" (they did give it away for free last year - one of the best marketing decisions ever cos it is a really good song and hearing it made me a fan) and I am relieved that they didn'

... and will see if it works. But it's not technically a pill cos it's a capsule. And it is a herbal supplement with valerian root and melatonin - well, that should explain itself. Thirty minutes in and counting, still wide awake. Hmm. Maybe it takes a while to kick in. Wait... I may be feeling something. Tiredness? Could be normal and not at all supplement-induced. In any case, I'm hoping for a good night's rest tonight like last Sunday. On a different note, I've something worth mentioning news-wise. Universities in Manila have pushed back the start of classes cos of the A-H1N1 virus (I don't even know how to write that down). My alma mater reported four cases of it as of yesterday.

This should've been "write when ready" but that's too... lesson-y. And this isn't a tutorial - not at all. I know that my web-writing wahj fell by the wayside cos I can only write when I'm ready. Blogged before about being useless at it when uninspired so I guess a better way of putting it in words is with - I will write when I'm ready. Otherwise, writing is a tedious and forced bore. Take today for instance, wrote two stellar pieces on music and computers. They're two totally different topics but words came out effortlessly and well. Pretty proud of them too. I'd share them but I just sold them so... they're not mine anymore. But they are published under one of my pseudonyms (yes, I've more than one) so they are not totally lost to me. That's a tricky thing about writing web content. The line between knowing what's mine and what's not has been blurred on the Internet. Still, I credit a writing wahj for providing me with the mon

Closing the books for the third first quarter is starting to become a chore. When I'm on it, it appears that I've more to do than what I thought when I started. So close and yet so far. Maybe if I get better tools, it wouldn't be too tasking. And I'm thinking along the lines of a refill for my pilot g-tec. I know, it's neither fancy nor interesting but if it would help make this go on better and quicker... hey, to each their own. I think that of all the months, March is particularly tricky. I don't know why, to be honest. It could be that it's when most prepayments start - like for insurance and such. Yes, I should get a refill for my g-tech g-tec... a C3, no, C4. Yes, C4.

Noticed that I've been turning my eyes to see the forex board/matrix more often - I did put it on one of my sites, on one corner, making it inconspicuous. I open that site everyday because it has a huge calendar but that's beside the point... Been particularly looking at the GBP/USD. Slowly but surely, the pound sterling is getting stronger. I swear that everyday it seems that the cost of buying a dollar goes down a penny. I even saw it go down two pence, once. I may have strong feelings about it... just do.

Sometimes I forget about time zones when I'm on mturk. Been working on hits and noticing that the dashboard updates on the same date as yesterday. It's still today - same as when I left last night. Hazy blue. Did not sleep well. I don't need to say why - been saying why too much already. Weather's not helping, it's dark and rainy. Any other time, I would've been liking this. But not today.

Brunch was pork stewed in tomato sauce ( afritada ). Slept in until 3pm yesterday, Sunday. It was dark. It was cold. It rained the whole day. It made up for, me, not sleeping so well the past weeks month or so. Yesterday morning, I was not bothered at all - no one came in, no one messed about. I was let alone and that was what I needed.

Put off updating to Firefox's 3.0.10 version cos I didn't see any need to (and there are lots of rants about it on the FF board too). Tonight, I hesitantly did it when FF crashed on me - three times tonight - three times when I went to paypal. Now I think that I didn't really need to do it and it was the AVG upgrade that I just bought and installed that was behind the crashes. Specifically, its "safe search" add-on/extension. That "safe search" feature of AVG's looked promising but it's short-lived cos I couldn't work with it - had to disable it. It seemed to raise an app compatibility issue with firefox when I go to paypal. Well, I've just disabled it and FF isn't crashing now. This browser has been good and I hate seeing it with bugs like this. Hopefully, nothing else comes up now that I have v3.0.10 since there's no going back. Fingers crossed.

I've nick drake's "pink moon" album on a loop and it's been playing since early this evening. Did I mention that deezer has been working well? Well it is and times like these when I find good records accessible, make deezer wonderful. Anyway, this album CD is on my wish list. I think it's great.

Been in low spirits this past week - wasn't really up to blogging until yesterday. And still that post was obviously cheerless, to say the least. In an effort to work around this gloom, I'm going to impose some presumptuous music musings today so I apologize in advance. But trying hard to sound like I know a bit about something that I hardly have an idea about -- is going to be fun. Added the pet shop boys' "rent" to my deezer playlist two weeks ago. Hearing it definitely puts a smile on my face. Who cannot like this line, "I love you, you pay my rent"?!? Loving it. I could do away with the non-sung (?) lines though cos they're too obvious, maybe put there just to fill up the melody with lyrics. I think the non-sung (hey, it's not literally "unsung" so leave the parody alone obviously) lines made it dated (psb's "rent" is from the 80's). Just a shame cos it would've been timeless if it weren't for those parts

I used to like working after midnight because it used to be nice and cold. But this bad weather is just putting me out cos it's now 2AM and I'm dripping with sweat. I've a few things to finish then I'm off to bed. I know that I may not fall asleep until maybe 4am so I'm trying to tire myself out. It didn't work last night though, I fell asleep just as light was coming up my windows and I heard the pandesal man honking his muffled horn. I could be thinking too much these days -- finding my proper personal machine, how not to sound like a selfish prick when I do get one and refuse those who try to use it. Lots of scenarios running in my head which is always never good, in my case. I had a brilliant idea of moving this computer out of my room a few days ago. Even if it would've put me in a very difficult situation because it'd far from my work area, I wanted so much to be this dismissive boor who didn't want people coming in her room that she'd wak

Stuffy - Stuffy weather. Weather professionals (?) announced that the summer season officially ended and the rainy season's here. Apart from the five-minute shower tonight, we've had no rain since I last blogged about it raining here (I think so but I'm not sure. Makes sense? Hopefully). It is, again, sticky and humid. Stuffed - I'm stuffed. I had three big meals, all consumed within six hours. Brunch was roasted chicken. Merienda was a big bowl of ice cream and cheese bread (I wasn't really hungry then but I still pigged out). Dinner was grilled milkfish with tomatoes and onions. Couldn't find any more "stuff" to talk about so, moving on... Just sent off tax reports tonight. I'm wondering where I can put the rest of the documents that I'm finished with - they're just laying here, piled on a chair. Planning on rearranging some stuff to make room for more stuff (hey, stuff! ) but it's too hot to move or do anything really. I guess it&

A play on "brekky", this is what I had for "brucky" (OK, brunch) today. If I could eat breakfast for dinner, I would - but not everyday. My glass of cranberry juice on the rocks [smiles] is sweating on my desk and its tissue coaster isn't doing the job of absorbing the water very well. So I'm going to make this quick -- Last night, our neighbor's cat made such a ruckus for a good half an hour. That kitty must've been in heat - or was in labor - to make such annoying noises. It was so noisy!

Been clocking more ten-key time than normal on the keyboard today so it's time for a breather. I've still got over 200 codes to enter - and it's just groundwork - but it's worth it because after this, all I have to do is copy/paste from there (after I double-check that everything's keyed in all right, that is). I think I'm not as good on the ten key as I am on the qwerty board. Coming from someone who also does accounting, that's embarrassing. Well, I can only improve on it from here so it's fine. Had goto (rice congee) tonight. Unfortunately, it leaves an aftertaste that's salty and oily. Haven't brushed my teeth yet so it's still there. Ate a banana and still finishing off a cup of tea to get rid of it - no success. OK then, break's over. Back to multiple open windows and the ten key.

It's a fine Saturday afternoon. No rains but it's nice and cool - quite appropriate for relaxing. Snacking on a chocolate-filled waffle now. The filling has set because it's been in the fridge overnight. The bite in the middle is OK cos it's less messy than if it was warm. I feel silly eating it with a fork though cos it is shaped like a corndog and I could easily eat it with my hand. But I am on the computer and so... yeah. What better music to relax to than with Better Than Ezra's Before The Robots record that I made a playlist of (and didn't delete) before deezer went over their so-called makeover months back. It is a consolation that deezer is still around to provide me a bit of leisure. Putting a playlist together is still iffy cos most songs are grayed out (meaning, not available in my area - such a shame that they implemented this, really. Deezer was perfect before all this fuss.). Glad that I was able to add Jackson Browne's These Days on one of my

Tonight's dessert was a melted chocolate mousse from KFC and a cup of decaf. I liked it. I may have eaten a little too much because my throat's itchy from the "sweet". It's been raining for two days. There's a typhoon and where we are, we're experiencing a Signal No.1 alert. The rest of the country, especially up north, are gearing up for very bad weather. And so, the rainy season begins... I can't wait for when I do not have to share a computer anymore. It's about time that I get my own machine. I easily get upset, you see. I will be more efficient (and relaxed) if I had most things on "auto" and where everything is customized to what I use everyday. It would be a relief not to be bothered with on-demand anti-malware scans, checking to see if any add-ons were installed, if settings were messed up, and all that stuff. Besides, most of what I've been dealing with these past few years have had to do with "professional-me" and

Finally, all-natural cranberry juice. I liked the color and it tasted oh-so-good! My tummy's rumbling a bit. Could it be because of this glass of natural CJ that I had this afternoon? No one seems to be having the same stomach-rumblings so it couldn't have been our dinner which was rellenong bangus , by the way, that was store-bought last night. Someone brought home some spicy Thai noodles. I already had dinner when they arrived but there's definitely room for it tomorrow if there's still some left by then. Maybe I should drink half a glass in stead of a whole glass of this cranberry juice tomorrow. This rumbling in my gut feels strange. The CD that I bought from Amazon arrived last week. So excited to get my hands on it. The book should have arrived by now too. It probably has but no one's bothering to tell me about it. Oh well.

Tucking in to this dry cake was not very pleasant. It looked fine but it was dry. The chocolate layer was tough. Not a good dessert, unfortunately. The cake wasn't from any store (or so I've been told) so I have no one to name guilty for this dry, dense course. A can of Coke helped it go down easy, though. Putting my mturk earnings into fine use last week, I placed orders for another book and a CD on Amazon. Apparently, the production of this particular CD has been discontinued so I was more than eager to place an order with a merchant who had it at a very good price. I can't wait to get these things which, I think, will be by the end of August when someone comes home from their holiday in America. My nieces' birthdays are coming up too. I find it difficult to shop for children. I've only NEVER given presents to other kids. If I did, it was just shelling out my share for a big present with my friends - I didn't take part in deciding what to buy with it. I guess

A weatherman said that the weather we're having is not at all normal. After complaining about the scorching heat a week ago (I think), we immediately started to get these insanely strong showers and cool temp. Like last night, I heard thunders that were too close to one another. It was a curious and scary thing to hear... Well, more curious than scary really. News reported that we were not having any storms or typhoons. They said that what we're experiencing is an odd low-pressure thing - probably due to climate change. Yes, it is quite strange...

Yes, I'm angry. Last night, our Internet connection (PLDT DSL) went out for over 30 minutes. Today, it happened again! Dammit! I should have seen this coming. Last month, it happened for the first time. There are three indicator lights on the modem and the middle, red light normally blinks quickly to mean that there's a good connection. Last month, that red light did not blink at all. Of course, I assumed that it was just us so I tried repairing the connection, checked the filter on our extension, took the cable out of the router and directly plugged it in to the PC, restarted everything -- nothing worked. The red light did not blink at all. I was so upset because I had something important due that I just shut if off and asked everyone I knew who use PLDT DSL if they had Internet connection. Unfortunately, no one was home to check theirs out. After an hour or so, it came back. FYI, I did call PLDT and waited to talk to a human being but the connection came back up before someon

The PS2 optical mouse I ordered last Friday (and paid for this Monday) arrived today. Now, I don't have to worry about the old mouse breaking down on me. The old mouse still works but once in a while it acts up. It is now safely tucked away - a back-up, if you may. OK, the online computer shop that I ordered from is OpenPinoy . And they used the courier, LBC and not JRS like I said before. This Cruiser mouse was very cheap (and it was on sale). It's a bit uneven, wobbles on the table but it's manageable. May take a bit of getting used to but it's fine. What's great is that there is a 12-month warranty on this so I've nothing to be bothered about. So, hurrah! It rained again earlier. It is quite nice and cool now. The weather's been tricky lately. Is it rainy season na ?

Woke up to a fire truck's siren this morning. Turned out, there was a fire four houses down the street from us. It wasn't a big fire (thank goodness). They said some old, stacked wood at the back of the house caught fire. Inhaled a bit of smoke, though, but it wasn't overpowering - just tickled the back of my throat, that's all. And just like that, it rained a couple of hours later. It was a welcome shower (with a bit of thunder too) and it is quite cool right now. I am savoring this weather - ahhh... On a bad note, there's no water. I guess they shut it off just before noon, probably to do some cleaning. Hope it comes back up soon. Phoned the online computer store Saturday. When I ordered last Friday (see previous post), I expected a call about the shipping cost and if my order was in stock (as said on their step-by-step ordering guide). When I didn't get one by five o'clock, Saturday, I called them up. Apparently, they were out of what I originally ordered

Our desktop's wired optical mouse is acting up. I am mouse-less right now and it's been interesting. A lot of tab-pressing and shift-tabs going on. Just have to keep my eyes on where I'm tabbing to though. It is workable but of course, I can't work as fast. We did get a lot out of that mouse but I guess its time has come (or is very near). I think we've had that for what, maybe four years now? It was free too so we did get A WHOLE LOT out of it. Back when this ISP provider was advertising and getting people to sign up for their wireless service, they gave optical mice away. They were basic wired Microsoft P2 mice and they've customized it, painted over the body with their brand name. I just sent someone off to the store to get a new optical mouse and I'm waiting for them to send me a text message on what they find. I also had them bring the (nearly) busted mouse too. So I am just waiting and am a mouse less. :) Update: 9pm Turns out, computer accessories are

The temp's at 35 degrees right now. It's a scorcher. It's muggy. It's hard to breathe, really. I want to turn off the power supply for the modem and router right now, actually. I don't want the hardware to overheat. I want to but I can't because someone's online on another machine, playing a game. Had a bottle of cold water beside me. Had to put it back in the fridge because it became lukewarm pretty quickly. When will this heat break?!? My sticky notes are starting to fall off. Maybe the glue's melting? Haha.

Cranberry juice with ice is a proper muggy, humid day drink. This was so good that I forgave the fact that it's sweetened. Notice the frost on the side of the glass? So refreshing. Last week, I anticipated the 10th (that was two days ago) because I had to send something by a certain time. I got ready for it - double-checked data, fixed the file's title. In my head, I told myself not to forget to send this file on the 10th before 7pm. So on the day , I was on the computer for about an hour and in my head, I reminded myself to send the file before 7pm. At that moment, I looked at the clock and saw that it was a quarter before 7pm! I did send the file on time but that was a close one. I was so sure that I wouldn't forget but I almost did. Short of having important schedules on my mobile and have it ring an alarm for each of them, I've always been schedule-aware (for the most part). I do prefer to put sticky notes up but the computer monitor can't hold any more notes. T

Stepped out of the bath and was bitten by ants - twice. We have red ants running up and down a door pane in neat lines. Rested my elbow on it for a second (before I saw the ants) and yes, they got me. They're itchy bites too. Ugh. Had a glass of newly-bought cranberry juice. I was expecting the tart, sour, earthy taste but when I took a sip, it was sweet. Ugh. Turned out we bought the Splenda-sweetened cranberry juice. Ugh. It's fine - would've preferred it with ice (ice and cranberry juice are best buds) but our freezer is full so we can't make ice cubes. Suffering humidity once again. Snuck in an hour of A/C time at noon... so nice.

I've forgotten how tedious it was to open accounting books for the new fiscal year. I did some reversals, a bit of filling in of column titles, and a lot of ledger-writing. But those are done so, let the recording begin! Now, if only I can figure out where to stash the documents from last year... The space under my dresser is housing the 2006's, the shelf is home to the 2007's and the 2008's are stacked here on a chair. Decisions-decisions. Since I can't toss anything that's less than four (or five? I forget) years old, I'm blighted by the sight of paper. Oh, so where did I put the 2004-2005's? Oh no, I forget - wait, they're probably in the closet. I threw the old stuff (older than 2004) out because they were from the previous "entity". [sticks tongue out] I tried to make 3D glasses yesterday - who the heck knows where to buy them here naman kasi ?!? But nothing I made worked. I think that I had the wrong shade of blue - it's supposed

The weather's a bit dusky lately. We had some rain for the past couple of nights. I like this kind of duskiness. Don't get me wrong, it's not gloomy for me. I think of it as being quiet and relaxed. It's quite lovely, actually. The temperature's cooled down too and no humidity - hurrah! The downside is that the cable's acting up. It would go out and then come back up again. Missed seeing Oliver's Twist though (boo-hoo). Well, they've been showing reruns of it for quite a while now so... It's a pretty old show but it's still good. Haven't grown tired of it, surprisingly. Had a hearty lunch of lechon paksiw (I wonder how long we're going to have that) and just ate a banana. I'm off to work - just a few paces to the computer table... Oh, I'm right here. Nye! I'm actually going to start with some books now, starting the 2009 in-house accounting books and all. Then, it's off to online work. Just wanted to note the lovely, dusk

... Huh? These post-its make me feel woozy. The colors are making me dizzy. I don't know why I still have them here. I've tried my hardest to use them up but I just can't stand looking at them. They're neon, I think. Yes, neon -- they are very bright, hurts my eyes. I'm going to throw these away now. Note to self: Do not get bright-colored post-its.

Since I haven't been posting pictures enough (I think), I suppose two shots of a bitten donut will make up for it. It is by Dunkin' Donut and obviously, has chocolate frosting and peanuts sprinkled on it. Since it just came out of the fridge, the frosting has set and that made it quite sweet. But that did not stop me from finishing it off. Haven't had one of these in a while. Well, I do remember eating some bavarians last month, maybe. But I don't keep a food diary anymore (I used to keep one many years ago - a nutritionist made me do it!) so I am not really sure. At dinner, someone asked me what I had for lunch. I was stumped - for a bit. It took a some concentration but I managed to remember that I had shrimps. I guess the shrimps weren't memorable.

I am going to talk about bad things -- galling rousers. I will use "rousers" here to refer to noises that wake me up and "galling" being that these are personally unpleasant and annoying. These just tick me off. Last night, I went to bed at 2am but did not fall asleep until maybe 4am. I heard a car beep and I woke up, still very tired, when it was still dark. I'm guessing that this was a little after 5am. Immediately, I slept again. Then I was roused by the ruckus of a gate opening and a car pulling in (or out) of a driveway. Fell asleep again. Then, a car honked and a gate was opened and yes, I woke up, again. This time, I looked at the clock and saw that it was 11am. So, between 4 and 11 this morning, I was startled off sleep three times. But the last time (11am) I did not fall asleep right away. I would doze off - when your mind would begin to cloud up and wouldn't hear anything - but after a while, I'd wake up again without any annoying rousers causi

Butter on toasted whole wheat pandesal , yum. Looked like a lot but the bread was so soft that it wasn't, really. On the matter of wheat bread, I have eaten white wheat bread. I've grown not to like white bread but the "white wheat" kind was interesting because it was sweet. Unfortunately, if it's not "whole wheat" (white, red or otherwise) it's not as "healthy" -- yes, I looked it up. I think I read it from the Mayo Clinic site. Anyway, I am thinking of breakfast right now. Hopefully, I'd quickly fall asleep tonight but it's not always the case. For a few nights now, I've had to MAKE myself fall asleep. I'd sing aloud (or sing in my head). Yeah, you may laugh it up but it works for me! HAH! Well, right now, I am quite tired so I may be out as soon as I go to bed. Oh, in relation to my last post, it did rain that night. It was heavy too that we took out flashlights and candles in case of a blackout. Thank goodness that the p

I hear thunder and it smells like rain but it's still very humid now. When I hear thunder, I get nervous when I'm on the computer. It's because - this has happened more than a few times - the power would (how can I put it?) flicker and that is never good. I am very tempted to shut this off now because I don't want any power surge messing things up. Obviously, I am stalling - wishing the thunder would go away. It is very hot and humid here again so I hope the rain will cool things down a bit - if it does rain, that is. Thunder's sounding like it's moving away. Sign of imminent showers, maybe? OK, will shut this off until the thunder goes away. Got to keep my income-generating machine healthy, you know? While I'm on that note, I wish that I were the only person using this machine because I've customized it, in a way. Even invested in a proper "arsenal" of protection too. But if someone else uses this machine less than sensibly (even with the best

I visited Deezer - haven't gone there in a week or so - and I was surprised to find that one of my old playlists is working perfectly. Makes me happy that I did not change tracks there when Deezer fizzled a last month. Well, only one playlist is working fine and the others (I have four) still go to "smart radio" mode. So, Deezer is not quite back... but it's getting there, hopefully. Found a shirt that I haven't really worn before because it's too tight. Got it last year (the hiatus) from the kids' section at Old Navy - the size is XL, extra large. From the rack it looked like it would fit back then. But during that holiday I gained so much weight that it didn't fit me. My sister said that I should have been looking at the petite's section in stead of the kids' section. Yeah... but stuff from the petites' are expensive. [frowns] Anyway, I am wearing the shirt right now and it fits! Wow, I lost my hiatus weight -- woohoo! It's actually

It's been a little over a year now since I added "freelance transcriber" to the list of my "work from home" jobs. I did say here that I aim to type 60 WPM (words/minute) soon. So, I went back to TypingTest just to see if I've improved. And YES, I have and I'm happy to say that I've reached my goal -- 60 WPM. I am transcribing faster -- Hooray! Though my transcription work has been sporadic, I do not have any complaints. If I were to describe it now, it'd be that - once in a while my affiliate will contact me if they have any extra audio that they need to be done. For some reason, I could not have asked for a better set-up because this is exactly what I would have preferred. It's all working out well, thank goodness. Also, this is sort of a first-year anniversary post for "Dada's Blog". I am tempted to reflect on how the past year has been but I am not going to go there. LOL I am tempted but I wouldn't give in because it'

So I went back to the bank yesterday. And no, I didn't struggle with their slippery floor this time. Unfortunately, the bank was packed because only one teller was working with the customers. I think their computer server went down or something because a boss (she looked like a boss) was walking around, clicking her high heels, and going around the terminals with a couple of guys following her. Anyway, there were two men talking to the lady who I came to see so I took my place in line. I did not hover over the lady and the men in front of me so there was quite a gap between us. A couple of boys came and stood behind me so we made a queue -- which was the proper thing to do. Another boy arrived and stood close to the lady-clerk. I thought that that did not look good and that he should go to the end of our line. At that point, the men got up and this boy just swept in and talked to the clerk! He stole my place in line! After that offensive and displeasing thing, the dolt left and I t

Slippery floors, I am almost sure, are going to be the end of me. Curse slippery floors! I went to the bank last week and the building looks fairly new. The moment I stepped inside, I swear, I became so terrified because I almost slipped. Well, it wasn't obvious or anything - I did not scream or make a scene. It's just that when I put my weight on one foot, I slid for a bit but I caught myself quickly - thank goodness! I already walk slowly (and carefully) under normal circumstances but walking inside this bank took longer than when I talked to the clerk which was very annoying - the walking on their slippery floor part, not the talking with the clerk part. Anyway, next week, I will be going back. This time, I will be wearing shoes with better traction... I just HATE slippery floors!!! And what's with the ramps with slippery tiles on them? Seriously, if buildings are going to have ramps, at least layer them with the non-slip stuff. I think that they only add ramps to buildi

I bought a better headset last month from a friend because our old A4Tech one was LOUSY (to say the least!). The old one costs a little over 300 pesos which goes to show how much I got out of it which wasn't a lot! After a few months, the fit gave way and I was already pressing the earphones to my ears just so I would hear better with it. That made some of my transcription work harder than they should be, for sure. It would also slide off my head when I would accidentally tug its cable. It was stressing me out so when my friend asked if I wanted to buy a used, good-quality headset... it was kismet! I immediately decided that I was going to go for the offer even if I haven't seen it yet... Well, not totally because I wanted to make sure that the fit was perfect and everything worked well, of course. When my friend brought it over so I can test it out, I did everything to see if it was all right. So, the fit was good. It was a bit tight at first but now, it feels better on my ear

I just wanted to say that I had some junk food tonight but the word "junked" sounded (and looked) more interesting so I used that. LOL Ate half a can of Pringles Crisps and Coke Light while I watched some dancing competition something show with someone. I think that I ate too much because I don't really remember what I saw and I kept popping potato crisps in my mouth. I do remember putting them on my tongue the "right way". I think I saw it on "Good Eats" - that Pringles chips were intentionally shaped to follow the tongue's curve so that we can eat it with one bite or something. I pulled a double (yeah, like shifts apply when you're working from home! HAHA!) this (just passed) weekend. Submitted a transcript too, two days before the deadline - woohoo!!! To be honest, I liked the audio that I got and the amount of time that they gave me to finish it -- they're just right. See, I have scheduled work tomorrow and checking that off my list fee