“I Just Voted for Richard Gordon!”
My watch said, “8:45 am”, when the PCOS machine shouted “Congratulations!, no. 74 voter successfully voted. Yes! I just voted for Richard “Dick” Gordon otherwise known as the “Tunay na Lalaki” and had used the controversial PCOS machine under the first ever automated elections in our beloved country – the Philippines. But, that puts the cart ahead the horse! Let me backtrack a little to what transpired early this day, May 10, 2010.
Last night, my family agreed to set the alarm of my cellphone at 5:20 am. We slept early after we celebrated mother's day at the ACE WATER SPA in Del Monte, Quezon City from 2 pm to 6pm and had dinner at the Kamay-Kainan on Kalayaan Avenue.
“Subic Free Port Zone, Summer 2010, Part 2″
We had a good night's rest and we woke up late the next day. It was already 8:30 am when we finally had breakfast. The room rate we got in Grand Season Hotel and Casino included free breakfast for two persons and since we already got a discount for the free extra bed for our daughter, we paid for her breakfast which was a filipino buffet consisting of fried rice, fried egg, tocino, fried bangus, corned beef, fruit juice, coffee and fruits for P255.00.
After breakfast, we drove to Zoobic Safari (about 15 kilometers from the Hotel) which is just a few kilometers away from where the Ocean Adventure is located. We arrived there at 10:30 am. A huge with a mark saying “Forest Adventure Park” serves as the main entrance of the 25-hectare Safari. The entrance fee was P449.00 per person. I thought I could have another movie pass freebie but the total amount for the three of us is below P1,500.00!
“Subic Bay Free Port Zone, Summer 2010″
The heat brought about by the long dry spell known as El Nino phenomenon and the meteoric rise of our electric bill courtesy of MERALCO were the couple of reasons that motivated us to take advantage of the three-day vacation last week-end (May 1 to 3) and spent it in Subic Bay Freeport Zone. While it rained hard last friday evening (the heaviest so far after the deluge brought by typhoon Ondoy last November), I thought that the following days would still be too hot to bear and to use the air conditioners at home would be a suicide as far as the MERALCO bill is concerned, so off we went to Subic.
Never mind if all the hotels listed under Subic Hotels when I google-searched for it in the internet indicated that they were all fully-booked. I told myself told myself that there would still be an available room for me and my family if we would just walk-in. It would be better to take chance rather than stay at home for three days and suffer the 36 degrees of heat!
“Freebies, Freebies from Credit Cards, Lovable Freebies!”
I rarely spend time reading the flyers enclosed with the the monthly bills from the card companies. You see, I am a certified plasticman, i.e., I pay 95% of my transactions using plastic money – popularly known as credit card. As of my last count, I have six active credit cards: two from Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI Express Card and BPI Express Credit Mastercard), two from Citbank (one Visa and one Mastercard),one from Banco de Oro (American Express ) and one from Metrobank (Mastercard). I called up Union Bank to cancel the card they issued to me as a pre-selected customer being an alumni of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business. You see, they sent a machine-generated letter billing me for the annual fee despite the fact that I have not used it since it was sent to me a year ago. The annual membership dues would eat a considerable chunk of my budget and I feel that I am fine with my six active cards.
“My Taping for the Top Rated Agua Bendita – the Conclusion”
I recalled the guideline I received from Direk Jerome during our “May Bukas Pa” days. He said, if I will have to write about our tapings, I could write anything about it but not on something that would divulge the plot of the story. He elaborated that I should avoid subjects which would telegraph the twists of the story. So as to avoid getting in trouble with the Agua Bendita staff, let me now proceed with my notes on my tapings for Agua Bendita bearing in mind the same guideline that I got for MBP.
I was very lucky to share the standby room with Bing Loyzaga and Matteo Guidicelli. When I entered room 414, Bing was already inside together with her aides. I texted Maya Aralar – the AP of Agua Bendita and asked her for a copy of the script so I could study my lines. She texted back that Lenard was going to the standby room to give me the script.