Being Away

Today, it is the 24th day I've been miles away from my family -- from my loving wife, adorable daughters, supportive parents, interesting relatives, zesty co-workers, and wacky friends. I've been away from my parents and friends several times before but this would be the longest time I'll be in distance with my own family.

Just after a few days, I was already wishing my family was with me and filling those spaces in the bench with me in a cool afternoon. It'll be so much warmer to have them there beside. My wife and I made ourselves busy to alleviate the feeling of being distant from one another. It's a good thing the kids are having swimming lessons to keep them busy while I occupy myself with learning to cook again and pass time with my hobby. I try to incorporate my photography with my cooking as I try to snap some shots of my cooking journey.

I've had steamed fish, fried fish, pasta, hot dogs, eggs, cereals, and some more of the easy cooking stuff. But I enjoy cooking my steamed fish as it's very easy to prepare and less grease. I use vegetable oil here by the way. It's amazing that it doesn't "sleep" even during the cold days.

Trying to really pass up time, I was able to do the 'Multiplicity' thing from my recent post. Trying to make a boring day really interesting. On weekdays after work, I am usually just inside my room as you will see in 'Multiplicity' photo.

It's a good thing I have been here before and have some co-workers here as well that somehow makes the work day pass with ease. I've been able to go out of my den when my friends invite and fetch me here at hotel. The last time we've been out was when we watched the 'Avengers' movie.

When the weather is great, I try to get some fresh air and take a walk. The weather currently is erratic. One day you'll get a bright and sunny morning and then a cloudy and rainy afternoon. Sometime it's gonna be cold then a little warm then chilly but we haven't had the heat like back home. Sometimes it'll pour heavily at nights and be cloudy the next day. We've had several storm warnings in the past few weeks. There'll also be tornado warnings aside from the thunderstorm warnings. So far, no tornado have been sighted here. Below is a photo of fun of the heavy rains we had last week. I think was a Saturday night. Most of the weekends are cloudy and ruining the chance to go out and play.

The hotel staff are great people and the service have been very well. My room gets cleaned once a week, every Friday. I get to have my towels replaced also during that day. Yes, you read that right. Towels, I get to use four towels a week with three sets of a hand towel and a face towel. No bath robe sad to say for those who are looking for one. I also have my own iron and ironing board. You can see it as a fully furnished "home" except I have to do my laundry at the common laundry area.

When I first visited the laundry area, that's the only time I found out that there was a vending machine too. I've vended a couple of soda, chocolate, and chips to just pass up time. Since I bought my own supply of soda, chocolate, and chips, the only reason I go to the laundry area is to my laundry. Make sense?

Anyway, I also get my bed sheets replaced and my carpet vacuumed. My kitchen sink gets some washing as well as my bathroom too. So far so good. Oh, I had one weekend where my bathroom light was busted and I spend my bath time in the dark as it only got replaced on a weekday. The basic staff (front desk and house cleaning) are only present on weekends. I also get a chance to cherish the hotel's shuttle. I use it mostly on my way to work and rarely call it to fetch me from work.

This afternoon was a really great afternoon as the hotel had their 'Guest Appreciation Day'. I've never heard of it before so I was really curious of about what to happen. When I arrived from work, surely there were lots of people at the lobby. We've had great overflowing pizza, root beer float, ice cream, and soda. I wish there were hotel back home that have something like this. It's was an interesting thing to see other guests of the hotel and make some small talk. It's also a good way making friends with the hotel staff and get to know them since I'll be staying for awhile. The hotel I'm staying is more like of an Inn but they generally called hotels here. It's a three-story 104-room building with a capacity of around 122 guests but it looks like a small building so that's why I asked approximately how many guests and how many rooms they had.

The weather was great tonight and after the little party thing at the hotel lobby, I was finally able to take some photos of the flowers outside the hotel lobby which I was planning to shoot since I got here. I had just the perfect light. It was around 8:30 PM when I shot these blooms in the front lobby. Yes, it was still fairly bright at 8:30 PM here. I just couldn't pass up the chance of how beautiful the light was. I brought out the rich colors of the blooms and I was able to come up with a photo I submitted for a stock photo just in time for spring themed photos.

It'll be our sixth anniversary soon and these flowers have reminded me how I used to give her flowers. Moreover, Mother's Day is also around the corner. These colorful flowers just made me wish I could celebrate our anniversary together and Mother's day as well. Hopefully, we can just celebrate this all on Father's day, right?

I only have 71 days more to go before I see you all again and be back home (with crossed fingers) but technology has made it easier for us to communicate faster and in real-time. A big thank you for that -- most especially the free WiFi here at the hotel. For the mean time I'll be staying here at my home away from home. See you around.

Cheers!

A Weekend Of Balloons

Finally, I was able to make it at the 17th Philippine International Hot Air Balloon Festival at Clark, Pampanga with my family and friends.

Share Eat!

Share what? Share Eat! -- the 'Joy of Eating' with Clara Olé. My family decided to go to this event at Mercato Centrale despite of the 'bed weather' last Sunday morning. We arrived early with just enough time to go around. It was my first time to go to Mercato Centrale which my wife boasts of having a wide array of food choices to fill up the belly.

Anyway, we were there to attend Clara Olé and Mercato Centrale's event for the day of Share Eat! It's an interactive cooking demo with Chef Eugene Raymundo with guest Appetite EIC magazine, Nina Daza-Puyat for Clara Olé's new slogan 'Joy of Eating'. In the event, they also held an on-the-spot photo contest that was open to everyone. Surely, a lot of photo junkies came as well as bloggers that somehow shared the pot alike.

Thanks to Clara Olé for the special gift I received for being one of the first 20 participants for the on-the-spot photo contest. Not bad for a weekend at Mercato Centrale.

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Real Success

Real success is finding your lifework in the work that you love.
-- David McCullough

I read this quote about a week ago and also this morning while I was waiting for the elevator on my way to office. In fact, I have heard several similar quotes or statements with the one above. It made me think if what I am doing now is what I love doing -- to be honest I don't. Somehow it also made me think if I am right for this job.

I might say that I'm one of those who are working for the sake of working to earn. I envy those who are "working" because they enjoy or love what they do. Making work more a lot like play. Though I understand that even playing is not easy but it sure does take a little stress out of it because playing should be an enjoyable activity.

It made me think, not just now, of switching careers. By the way, right now I do technical support and applications programming. Somewhere deep inside me is screaming something else.

Here's what it is screaming out: My Flickr Photos

Slowly I'm working my way to that one day I'll be playing at work too.