teddy bear with braces

my h2b got his teeth done! he is now sporting braces. :) i felt bad for him because for three days, he couldn't eat and he was in total pain. awww... wawa...

he just sent me a pic. my own teddy bear with braces. hihi.. looking quite spiffy. cuteness talaga! :) i think you lost weight na teddy. hehehe

Search Google.

obviously, im procrastinating... im so tired of working that i'm apparently doing anything that i can do in the web... so, afterawhile, i decided to google my name! :)

i always see it in movies, or read it in books - if you want to know who a person really is, google him (her)! so out of curiousity, i decided to try it out. :) maybe i'll find out something about me there. ;)

first i googled: candy chu. turns out, there are a lot of candy chus' in the entire world! and to think people keep asking me what my real name is... it always happens in the philippines, whenever i say my name, people would ask "candy what?" think that candy is just my nickname or something! ngek. it's candy. just candy. no second name. thank you very much.

so no juicy stuff there, i decided to try out: Chu, Candy CPA. and tada!!! there is me! :) i saw the news article that was written for my batch of CPA passers. shucks! i've really come a long way since then... im feeling nostalgic tuloy.

that article brought a lot of memories for me... syempre i wont forget the traumatic event during the night when the results came out!

let's take a trip down memory lane shall we ~~~

may 20, 2003 (i hope i remember the date correctly) - i came from glorietta with my friend Jean. We were trying to forget that tonight is the night when the results will come out. After we went shopping, I headed to the gym.

I promised myself that whatever happens, I will never ever go to PRC to check my results. NEVER. I'll just wait for people to tell me if i passed or failed. Or I'll just wait for the newspaper tomorrow morning. That's it. There's no way people will change my mind. period.

Anyway, back at the gym, while trying to work out the stress im feeling, i suddenly began to palpitate! I slowly went to my sister and tapped her... "Sis, tara na. Hindi ko na kaya. Let's go to PRC na."

So, we went... We waited and waited... The results were not posted yet, so we waited. Suddenly, people started leaving! It turns out, the results were distributed to the different review centers... OMG! This is it!!!

We headed to CRC (beside UE) and I went up the long stairs. I was trembling. "God help me." I went to the CRC office, and there I saw my review mates from DLSU and the Beda boys... Some were shaking their head, some were smiling and laughing like crazy... "It's time. God help me"

I went to the lady behind the desk. I quietly told her. "Chu, Candy po." She looked at me sympatheticly and shooked her head "Sorry. wala e." So to cover the embarrassment I felt, I asked for my friend's name. She passed. I didn't. I borrowed the list and tried to see my blockmates' names. A lot of them passed...

Before, when we were on our way to PRC, i told my sister that I'm okay with not passing. I'm ready if ever that's what is in store for me. I will accept it and will just take the exam again.

So as i went downstairs to our car, that's what keeps rushing through my mind "okay lang candy, okay lang. may next time pa."

But when I got in the car, my sister looked at me. No need for words. No question was asked. I just shook my head and cried! As in I bawled over. I cried my heart out... I kept crying and crying... I couldn't help it... I failed... It hurts.

My sister, who couldn't believe I failed went up and asked. Still the same answer... Chu, Candy was not in the list. :(

After crying for about 15 minutes, I suddenly had a thought! Hold on a minute!!! Chua, Charlemagne was not on that list! That cannot be! There's something wrong...

I rushed back to the room, and pushed my way amongst the Beda boys just to get hold of the list again... "please Lord please..." Page 1... Page 2... Page 3... Page 5... Page.. huh?! Sh*t!!!!!!!!! Kulang ng page!

Yes... kulang po ng page ang listahan na sinend ng PRC sa review center namin. And what a coincidence, yung page pa na maaaring maglaman ng pangalan ko! The spice boys (or mga tauhan ni mrs. casino) saw me and asked "ano ma'am? pasado?" "Manong naman!!! Kulang po yung page!" And without waiting for his answer, i rushed downstairs, i flew down the stairs literally!

When my sis found out, she called and asked her friend where her review center was. We went to Roque Center, they dont give out results to non-Roque reviewees. Selfish!!! So we went to CPAR next... Oh no... most of my blockmates are from CPAR (in front of UST). if my name is not on that list... Wah!

So i asked my sister to go and take a look. I was waiting in the car and I could see people crying, people laughing. It was driving me insane! I cried and cried and cried until i felt like i couldn't cry anymore... I was a nervous wreck. I felt like i might explode any time!

Finally, my sister came down... She crossed the street, opened the car door and sat down... "Well?" She just shook her head... "Oh no..." I was about to start my tirade when she suddenly jumped and jumped and jumped!!!

"You passed sis! You did it!!! Im so proud of you."

OMG! I passed. I did it... I cried a whole lot more... Called my mom, who cried as well. Everyone was crying! Me, my sis, my mom, my grandma! Candy passed her CPA board exam!!!

~~~

Grabe no? Pwede na pang telenobela. I dont think i'll ever forget that night for the rest of my life. I'll share the story with my kids, my grandkids and my grand grandkids!

It's just so funny how things like that always happen to me. hahaha! But I have always believed that God meant for me to be an auditor, who am I to go against his will right? and look at me now. Im an international auditor! Im not just a Certified Public Accountant, but a Certified Information Systems Auditor as well. :D God is really good. :D

here is the link. DLSU got the highest passing rate that year. I dont think they've been able to get 80% passing since then... >>> http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/ContentLoader?page=cpa_may22_2003

btw... found out later on that Chua, Charlemagne didnt take the exam that time... hehe.

update on wedding preps...

okay... timeout muna from the daily recollections. for those who are interested, im posting our wedding updates... la lang... hehe. :D

i met with some of my wedding suppliers when i went back last September. I met with Veluz and actually had my measurements taken na (oh no! diet na dapat. di na pwede lamon. hehe). I also met with Mimi & Karl and Threelogy (although si Jon lang nameet ko.) Oh! I also met for the first time, in person, my oh-so-wonderful coordinator, Clarice. hehe ang chika chika nya. Sarap kasama!

I had so much fun that day... each one of my suppliers is really easy to deal with. Nonstop tawanan nung nandun kami kay Veluz. Kwentuhan naman kina Mimi and Karl. Jon is also very accomodating. Nakakataw nga kasi we actually went there to meet with Threelogy lang, kasi nakasign na kami ng contract. :) So nag pa aircon lang tlaga kami. hahaha!

anyway, here are our supplier list and status. :) yes, yes, i am an early bird... inaamin ko na. oo na. hahaha! but according to mimi, someone beat my record na (see? see?) hahaha

church: Shrine of Jesus, Macapagal Blvd - downpayment paid

reception: 1Esplanade, Macapagal Blvd - downpayment paid
Esplanade is actually being constructed pa lang. i think it will open end of this year. we just took the risk and hoping that the place will turn out great. :)

caterer: Josiah's - downpayment paid
since love ni clarice ang josiah's, love na rin namin eto. :) hahaha... we got sorrento chairs and the free dessert buffet! yum... will have food tasting this october siguro since lui and i are going to manila. :D excited. yum yum (ay diet nga pala)

cake: alex franco - no downpayment needed. reservation made
cant wait to try alex's cake!

photo: Fotogra / Mimi & Karl - downpayment paid

video: Threelogy - downpayment paid (you may also want to visit their blog. :) im a constant lurker there. hehe..

gown: Veluz - downpayment paid

coordinator: An Event to Remember - downpayment paid

hmm.. am i missing anyone? so far, that's what i can remember. oh!!! i was able to persuade my lovely sis to sponsor Charlie's Pritchon on our wedding day! (halata bang matakaw? hehehe)

for hair and makeup, will have THMU in october with either madge or angie & ogie. exciting din to.

so there, till here muna. :)

THE other week...

Day 8: Today, we're travelling to Bangkok for a 2-day stay. We arrived around 9pm BKK time. We headed straight to the hotel and checked-in. My first thought when I saw my room was, OMG! As in OMG!!! ang ganda ganda! i thought crowne plaza was amazing, but Four Seasons Hotel is another league altogether man! As in... AWE!!!! o_o hehe. Well, for US$145++ per night, it SHOULD be that great no! Anyway, my Indian friend living in Singapore, my Vietnamese client who grew up in Illinois and I went out for a late dinner. Grabe hirap magEnglish kapag antok ka na ha. hehe..

Day 9: And the race begins. Grabe W-O-R-K. As in W-O-R-K. Grabe talagang WWWWOOOORRRKKK!!!! hahaha.. can you imagine we spent the whole day interviewing people, conducting workshops, talking, listening, writing, listening listening and listening some more? i was soo tired. I've never had a consulting project before. Usually, I was on the other side, auditing the system and just looking for mistakes. But now, we're looking for mistakes and actually have to find solutions! exciting work really but very tiring nonetheless.

Day 10: One word... COUP D' ETAT. That's what greeted all of us when we woke up that day! Everyone in our team was in utter panic... It was like the end of the world or something... Heller! kudeta lang yan no! But then, I realized, from a person coming from a country where kus are just like any other regular social event, this would seem pretty normal. but for these people (an Indian/Singaporean, a Vietnamese/American, a Thailander/Thailander and a Malaysian/Malaysian) a coup is a verrrryy serious thing. oh well, sige na nga. Martial Law naman daw. okay fine. :) hehe... so anyway, we went back to Malaysia on an earlier flight... Changing tickets was so hassle. Good thing we went to the airport way early.. becoz at the time we finally settled our changed tickets, it was time for boarding! grabe tlaga...

Okay i think i have to cut this short. it's already 11:34, i still have to send a report to my Malaysian boss. and then get up early tom morning. :( just a few more days and im back to singapore!!! yes!!!

btw, i just want to add, being in this project is a very unique experience that i'll never ever forget for the rest of my life. our team is an international team, or should i say United Nations team. :) The project is SAP post-implementation review. and well, it doesnt hurt that the people im working with is really really good with SAP. i am learning a lot and i am actually getting inspired to learn more... hmmm... will have to decide on that. The senior manager i am currently working with is telling me i should switch career path, from audit to consulting. i might consider that. we'll see.

good night!

day 3 and beyond... :D

i know i said im going to do a daily update. but the past few days (or weeks) had been insane! i've been to three countries in one week. rode the plane six times in 5 days!!!

anyway, since i want to stay true to the theme i started, i'll try to write bits and pieces of each day... hihi

day 3: my SM's final night here in Malaysia. wah! ill be all alone in Malaysia from tomorrow onwards! what to do??? anyway, we went to this IT mall near imbi station to buy his favorite... pirated CDs! hahaha. he said if singapore wont sell it, then go to malaysia and buy! haha. too bad i just bought my prisonbreak, house, friends, csi, and all other series in davao! havent even able to watch all of them yet! hihi..

day 4: my first day all alone in malaysia... usual routine. the other day, i saw a TGI Friday's near our hotel so for dinner, i walked there. grabe... super loser ang dating ko. i was the only one in the place who was eating by herself! argh!!! pathetic. i had the fridays burger. yuck dont like it. i just ended up finishing the fries and half of the burger. ack!

day 5: argh! argh! argh! i was trying to finish up everything before we leave for bangkok on Monday so i ended up staying late at the client's office.... around 8pm, i finally went down just to discover that it was raining! damn!!! now im soaking wet and my umbrella is sitting pretty in my hotel room... stupid decision. i was actually contemplating on bringing the thing that morning. but my katamaran/ stupidity won and so now, im wet and cold and hungry! the worst thing about this day is... i can't get any cab to bring me back to the hotel. all of them were saying "sorry, im not going that way" or "sorry too traffic" what i did in the end is i just got on the cab and told the taxi driver "please bring me anywhere near the monorail or to any mall so i can have my dinner" luckily she was going to pick up her kid near the imbi station so i told her to just bring me there... Gahd!!! i was soooo pissed!!! people can be inconsiderate! cant they see i was soaking wet? and they didnt even pity me, all alone, standing at the side of the street, trying my luck at hailing a cab. hay... that never happened in singapore. :(

day 6: i woke up realizing that i did something wrong in my work! i woke up with a hundred different ideas that i wasnt able to do previously. so i went down for a quick lunch, i came back around 12pm and never left my hotel room since then... wah! there was so many things to do that the only time i stood up was to go pee. i didnt even had time to stretch or get dinner! i ordered room service for crying out loud!!! i finally went to sleep at the wee hours of 2am.

day 7: i had late breakfast. and started working soon after that... again, i woke up realizing i did something wrong. argh!!! good thing this time was much better. i finished my work around 8pm and walked to klcc... (petronas tower / twin tower for most). i took some beautiful pics on the way, i may say so myself! haha i took those pics while trying to balance my umbrella in my neck, holding my camera in one hand, and holding my purse in the other... haha it's amazing the picture turned out great. hahaha! will post some pics next time. didnt bring my cable with me...

i love looking at petronas from my bedroom window. it looks like a very happening place. but when you get there, you realize that it's just a mall. albeit a posh mall, still a mall nonetheless. hay... kakalungkot. hehe im not here for shopping kasi so i cant enjoy the place much... i just go there to eat and then scram... i dont want to hang around longer because ill end up spending money that i currently dont have. :(

okay till here muna. next blog, my one week hell week. preview: kl-bk-kl-jk-kl!!! argh!

btw, my baby gabby just celebrated her first birthday! too bad i wasnt there with her to celebrate. but my mom said they gave her a cake... cute no? (sorry for the blurred pics. pasmado na kamay ni mama! hehe)

day 2...

DAY 2: tonight, my manager left me to have dinner with his friends. he didnt even tell me where the heck should i go to! i was really pondering on getting room service (hmph! will serve him right if i get a $30 meal!) but i was feeling a bit adventurous...

so i headed out to the monorail in front of Crowne Plaza, went to the ticket booth to buy ticket and then... uhmmm... where am i going?

i was expecting to see landmarks in the train station diagram but all i can see is raja chulan, imbi, etc etc, how the heck will i know where that goes?? isnt there any train diagram which will say "to food", "to mall", "to theatre" huh??? hmph! not very tourist friendly! hahaha...

so i called up my malaysian friend and asked her where to go... found out that im supposed to go to the next station. bukit bintang.

being the adventurous me, i decided to eat somewhere ive never eaten before... really adventurous right? i decided to eat at... DOME. hehehe. well! so what if they have it in the phils and in sing? i havent eaten there before! so that counts as adventurous! hahaha

wanted to go for a short walk... but got a bit coward and decided to head back. hehe

so much for being adventurous eh?

end of day 2

my unofficial asian tour

sunday... came back to singapore, sad and teary-eyed, miss my family so much! unpacked my things, and repack for my two weeks stint... i found out that ill be going to malaysia for two weeks during my vacation in the phils.

i was a bit nervous because it's the first time i will be travelling on my own... sure, my senior manager will go with me, but eventually, he'll leave me there on my own. :(

anyway, i've decided to start my own 1-2-3... :) ryan has started it with his month-long project in new zealand, ian with his own countdown in the phils... so i decided to join in the bandwagon and do my own daily recollections. :)

let's start with:

DAY 1: my flight was 6:30 am... so i had to get up around 4am. :( it's my first time to ride SIA! hoowee! hehe nothing special, didnt have any meals aboard since it was just an hour's plane ride. so we arrived at kl airport, headed straight to the airport train going to kl sentral. at kl sentral i was hoping that we will be taking a taxi to the city. but... we didn't :( my senior manager and i took the train. wah!! and i was carrying my luggage and my laptop bag!
so, the day went on, met with the client, had several meetings, worked worked and worked... at the end of the day, i couldn't wait to get to the hotel!!! i was dead tired. i felt like i was having a jetlag... so sleepy! hehe

the minute we got to the hotel, i thought "hmmm... not bad. but i dont think this is a five-star hotel" but when i got to my room! whoa!!! nice man!!! good thing the hotel room is great! to think ill be spending three weeks here! i soo love the bathroom! i love the pillows, the bed, and oh! the free red earth toiletries! (photo taken with my new N73. :D)

oh yes, found out ill be out of singapore for three weeks, not two but three! will be going to thailand and indonesia as well. :(

end of day 1...

My surprise visit to the Phils. :)

Im back! Been to the Philippines for over a week and I had a blast! (albeit I felt that one week and 4 days is really really really not enough :( ). There were a lot of things that I planned to do when I went back, but there wasn’t much time… huhu so much to do, so little time!

Aside from Manila, I also went to Davao to surprise some people. First, I wanted to surprise my grandma since it was her bday and second, I wanted to surprise my fiancé just for fun. (pay back time! Bwahahaha)! My mom was with me from the start. She was my accomplice and she was the one who laid out the plan. Hehehe…

My Grandma was not surprised at all! Turns out my mom already told her… hmph! She got too excited and somehow told my grandma that I was coming. But Lui, on the other hand, is a totally different story. Talk about 'surprised'! I think he just stared at me for over 5 seconds! Harharhar! Everyone in my family was watching out for his reaction. And he didn’t fail us, his reaction was priceless!!! Hihihihi

Anyway, after 5 days in davao… 5 blissful days of Lost season 2 and CSI season 6 marathon, I went back to Manila… :( I wanted to stay longer but there were also some things I had to accomplish in Manila…

Back in Manila, I was planning to do some shopping, meet up with friends and a whole lot of things… but I wasn’t able to do any of those. :( But I did meet up with my wedding suppliers and had so much fun! Although, at the end of the day, my pocket was already empty. I didn’t know getting married can cost a lot of money! But it’s okay… money will come and go. :) ( will create a different blog for my first supplier meeting. :) )

The next day, I went on a date with a very handsome man. (yuck! Harhar) His name is Nathaniel Chong, he is a la sallian, tall, handsome, rich, what else can you ask for? Oh! Did I mention he’s my cousin? Ngehehehe… we went to Mall of Asia coz I wanted to check out the place and I asked him to treat me for movie. He was also kind enough to go with me to Shrine of Jesus (that’s the church im going to be married in, but I actually haven’t seen the church in person!) he also checked out the wedding exhibit with me… Talk about SWEET. Hehe… But the best part is… he treated me for an IMAX movie!!! Let me tell you, my cousin is not the type of person who shells out money just for the fun of it, so im so touched when he did. (he even treated me for a Jollibee meal! Hehe) You guys should try IMAX. Way cool! Too bad there are only two movies showing…

Also met up with my kiddies in the office and the Final Four of the SCQ Batch 1… We planned a surprise for our Grand Questor Emil Manalo. Hehehe We gave him a trophy and a blowup picture of our Galera escapade. I really do miss them… I wont forget the two and a half wonderful years that I spent with you guys!! Ian, grabe, as I’ve told you when we were parting ways, I really really will miss you… :( ayan nalungkot na ulit ako… Van! Good luck! Kaya mo yan. Just a few more months and you’re off to a much better place. Emil, hang on friend. You’ll have your turn. For now, just enjoy being an AM. Iba na tlaga. Sabi nga ni rap rap, ibang level ka na. :) Cannot reach na. hehe

For the other days that I was in Manila, I basically spent them with my mom and my dog… I really miss them so much. If I could just stay home and spend quality time with them, I would…
Okay… I think this blog is long enough… I can imagine how long my next blogs will be! As of the moment, I am in Crowne Plaza KL’s lounge. Finishing this blog. :) I’m unofficially on an Asian tour. Hehe more on that on the following blogs. ;)