Bit 1: Lately, my faith in St. Anthony has strengthened. You see, I've learn from somewhere that when things are missing or you're looking for something, you pray to St. Anthony de Padua because he is the "Saint of Lost Things." And you know what? It works! (As long as you never fail to say thank you after).

I've prayed that he help me find this piece of paper I've been looking for the entire afternoon on my desk. Upon saying "St. Anthony, please help me find that paper!", I instantly saw the paper on the floor! Now I ask him to look for even bigger things- a parking spot in the mall, a route home with no traffic (there's no Saint for Less Traffic, is there?), even my period! (Well, because it was delayed so I figured it must have gotten LOST and technically, it's MISSING)

But I must be losing my touch. It took him almost 5 days to locate my brush. My sisters have been using it. It just goes to show that my sisters' clutter and mess are strong demons that St. Anthony has difficulty battling.

Bit 2: I watched Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason with A last night. After the movie, I wanted to speak with a British accent. It was quite a lovely movie, actually. Very impressive and rather quirky. I kept inserting the word "Bugger!" in my conversations with A. I even caught myself thinking with a British accent!

Bit 3: Speaking of movies, guess who's playing Robert Langdon on the movie version of The Da Vinci Code? T-O-M H-A-N-K-S. And, it's slated to premiere on 16 May 2006. That's a year and a half to go!!! I hope they do the book justice!

For other books turned into movies, here's what's coming up. Can You Keep A Secret? by Sophie Kinsella is coming out in 2005. The talkative Emma Corrigan is played by no other than Kate Hudson. While rich, sophisticated teenager Blair Waldorf of the Gossip Girl series written by Cecily von Ziegesar will be played by Lindsay Lohan. The movie, Gossip Girl, is coming out in 2005 as well.

Bit 4: Because I've been so busy, I forgot to mention that more than a week ago, I had to go to LTO again to get my license. Ever since I've started driving, I've been carrying a temporary license. It's just a piece of paper, not even a card! I was so furious the day I applied for my license because some of my batchmates got their cards already while I was stuck with a piece of paper due to a computer glitch! The paper was valid for 5 months only. 5 months later, I returned and they still didn't have my damn card! They gave me a 3 months extension. The 3 months came up a week ago and finally, I had my card!

The bad news is I looked drunk in my picture. The picture in my temporary one was so much better! (Where did they get my drunk picture anyway?) The good news is: my signature looked better. (The one in my temporary license screwed up because the pen slipped while I was signing on the electronic pad. Again, where did they get a specimen of my signature?) The even better news is that I don't have to endure long lines to renew my license until 2006! Yippee!

Bit 5: So originally, the plan was too buy toiletries. But no, I happened to stumble on a white mini- skirt I liked and 2 tops I liked. Thinking that buying the white mini-skirt might not be a practical choice because I MIGHT NOT have a top to go with it, I opted for the black skirt. Unfortunately, I only had enough cash for one skirt, one top and my groceries. Seeing that it was 20 minutes before the store closed, I hopped into my car with my purchases, drove to the nearest ATM machine, got the cash, drove back to the store and got that white mini I sooo wanted! I hardly go shopping but when I do, I'm practically possessed by the shopping demon!

Bit 6: Whenever I go to Shopwise, the cashier asks me if I have a Shopwise card. I say no. The lady asks if I want to apply for a card. I ask what are the terms? P5,000 worth of receipts within one month. Hell no! I don't spend that much in groceries in one month. I checked out the mechanics at the booth the other day and it wasn't one month! It was 3 months! It specifically said "period of 90 days"! I could have collected all my receipts from before and have a card by now! Oh, well! Nobody's fault but mine. (Hmmm, sounds like a cheesy day time soap opera). That's the next card I'm gonna get!

Bit 7: I mentioned in my earlier post that I watched Oliver Stone's Alexander last Friday. During the scene where Alexander and Hephaistion declare their love for each other, I expected the crowd to hoot and make cat calls or cringe uncomfortably. Quite the opposite, in fact. They were just quiet. I realized it was probably because the crowd watching in Greenbelt 4 were educated, more open to such relationships (?) and have class.

If I was watching in Megamall, no offense to people who watch movies in Megamall, there would probably be some hooting and cat calling in the audience and a "Yuck, bading!!!" thrown in for good measure. Why do people do that anyway? Is it because they find the scene uncomfortable so they just make fun of it?

That's the reason why A and I prefer to watch all movies in Greenbelt 3. In spite of the expensive tickets, the movie experience makes it worth it. Whenever you enter the cinema, it is always clean. No popcorn or spilled- then- dried-up sticky drink on the floor. People always come on time so you don't expect people walking past you to get to their seats in the middle of the movie. People actually turn off their mobiles (although there are the occassional ones who forget and even have the gall to answer their calls! How inconsiderate! They could just reject the call, text the person and say "I'm in the cinema. Pls text me instead.") But most of all, the reason why A and I love watching in Greenbelt 4? Two words. Love seats.

Bit 8: Last Sunday night, I was surprised that my mobile had no signal! I thought my phone was malfunctioning until I checked my sister's phone and so that hers had no signal as well. For an entire day and night, all of us Globe users had no signal at home. It turns out that there was no signal as well in Quezon City, Malabon and Caloocan. (Wow! Are we that far flung of a city?) When we called Globe, the customer service representative pleasantly said that Globe is currently having a hard time troubleshooting. (A cell site probably crashed due to the strong winds of typhoon Winnie). When asked when will the service return, she sympathetically said, "as soon as possible." I admire the customer service representative for still being patient, polite and pleasant. I'm sure there were thousands of others who kept calling and asking the same questions. If I were her, I'd probably be annoyed for sounding like a pirated CD. (Hahaha! I made that up! It's no longer 'a broken record'! We're in the new millenium, you know. You gotta talk like the times!)

Bit 9: Speaking of crashing cell sites due to typhoons, I heard in the news over the radio on my way home from work, while braving the rush hour, that telecommunications company are trying to patrol and secure cell sites to avoid the loss of signal when the super typhoon Yoyong arrives.

It was raining hard when I woke up this morning and the cool wind made it difficult for me to get up but I knew I had to because work was waiting for me and I had a dinner that night with my college blockmates. I decided to take a different route to work, thinking that my usual route was probably underwater already, and it took me an hour to reach my desk. Three hours later, my dad tells me to go home already because if I stayed in the office any longer, I'd get stranded. I was surprised the moment I stepped out my office door. It was so dark outside! (Oh, right, the lights went off!) All you could see were headlights from cars driving by. The rain was building up and it was cold.

It was my first time to drive home in a storm and I was scared. I was scared of getting stranded in the highway by myself. I was scared that my car might stall and I'll never get it started and I'd have to climb out of my car into Edsa in my high heels. I prayed to God and to St. Anthony (even though nothing was missing or lost) for guidance and a safe journey home. It seemed that everybody was in a hurry to go home and be with their family. I passed by the gas station to fill up my tank for the long journey to Quezon City and everybody had the same idea too. Luckily, Edsa was crawling and cars, buses, taxis stayed in their lanes. People were actually giving in to each other. I was amazed that it had to take a calamity like this to make us all so unified.

For the first time since I began driving 8 months ago, I listened to AM stations in my radio and my heart just ached for those who are homeless, lost a livelihood or a loved one in the flood. Let's all pray for them and hope that the storm is over soon (I know, I know... Lots of you wish that it still stays so that there's no school or work. I just hope we could bargain that it can stay as long as it doesn't destroy any homes or kill anyone with its flood!).