Safe trip, my S630.

Sira ang camera ko. The one my cousin and her fiance gave me last Christmas.

After the Eastwood gimmick last Wednesday, I tried taking pictures of the people as they went home but I noticed my pictures were always out of focus. They were all blurred, distorted and looked like the captured vision of someone who forgot his/her glasses. As soon as I got home, I searched the net for a solution only to discover that my problem was a common defect of that cheap Samsung model... along with many other mysterious defects. The easiest solution is to have it fixed at a service center. But since the camera was bought in the US and the receipts are with my cousin, I'm sending the camera with my aunt so my cousin could have it fixed there under the warranty.

My S630 is traveling tomorrow. It's stopping over in Korea and arriving in Chicago Saturday morning. Ingat sana sya. Lol.

... so I can sell it afterwards.

My brain doesn't freeze, apparently.

Today is about 0 degrees F. Wind chill around -20 F. Again, F not C. Only single-digit highs this weekend. My head still hurts due to the 8-degree cold from the other day. For the life of me, I wore a coat which didn't have a hood and I refused to wear a hat for the simple reason that my blow-dried hair will be ruined. However, I just gave everyone the right to call me stupid because my hair was ravaged by the high winds anyway. LOL.

Okay, what follows is just totally random babbling of which you won't take the time to read unless you terribly miss me or you simply care about me that much. It came to the point that my fingers felt numb after going out in below freezing temperatures, but it seems that my brain continues being the stubborn machinery that it is no matter how cold it may be.

I've gone everywhere. Birthdays, holiday parties, workplace blowouts, family reunions, Christmas concerts, weddings and even funerals. The other day was actually a funeral of someone who passed away before I got to meet her. That's why I blow-dried my hair so I'd look decent enough to blend in with the visitors who were mostly health professionals and concert producers (don't ask about the strange combination); and so that my scalp doesn't freeze and kill me once outside. Funerals never had any effect on me; but I noticed: a death actually seemed sadder during winter. Outside, it was brutally cold and dreary to start with. People shared condolences with mist in their breaths and everyone came in black- suits and coats, wool and leather, scarves and boots.

I think the experience was funny in a sense. First, I went to visit a wake of somebody I don't even know and got to express my condolences to people I met for the first time. Second, the family of the deceased has got this gay relative who produces and promotes concerts in the Chicago area... so those middle-aged ladies who attended the funeral can't stop talking about the upcoming Piolo-Sam concert this March (see, even I now know about this stuff). It's still a mystery if I will be given passes to the after-party or a private dinner with the artistas, but I have to watch my mouth and not say anything derogatory about the the ex-pat fandom; or else my chance for free food will be gone. I assume they're treated VIP style, I'd expect they'll be in a good hotel or restaurant for dinner so you can't blame me if free food is what I'm after. Hehe. The other good thing that could happen though is that if my 14-year old niece gets to perform in an opening act to any of the Pinoy concerts produced here. Even though we are related and I don't seem to exhibit such talents (lol), she has built a reputation in the performing arts being part of the on-stage production of Disney High School Musical in the area. 

Blah. Blah. Blah.

The rest of this entry is in my other blog which I don't get to show everyone.. but it's there. It's just that some opinions are to be left there. Well, at least this is better than being alone in my room and talking to the laptop computer in a strange language in the wee hours of the morning. That's because I'm still self-studying Japanese, which I know seems odd when I should be learning a more useful language like Spanish so I can talk to the Hispanic waiters at restaurants, haha.

Watashi wa Anna desu. Hajimemashita. Dozou yoroshiku. (Dapat pala nag-Japan Airlines na lang para ma-try ito sa Tokyo. Haha.)

-edit-
I can't see my jawline anymore. I compared the new pictures from the despedida shots, I noticed my face appears to have swollen. Ten pounds makes that much difference.