I think the gym needs a facelift badly.  The equipments are still functional and fairly in good condition but new equipments would be wonderful.  The dumbbells’ rubber cover has holes in it.  The ceiling has a hole that appears to be under construction.

Why did I go to the gym today?  Is it to criticize the gym’s condition or to work out?  Of course it was to lose some fats from my pregnancy that I have failed to lose 7 months after my youngest son’s birth. 

Just between you and me…should I come across a newer gym nearby with better facilities and equipments that offers a reasonable membership price…I will be there tomorrow!   For now…let me drag myself to my old gym.

The morning that we arrived in Paris the weather was lovely.  It was about 18 degrees Centigrade and the sun was waving “hello” to me.  When we got to the hotel we got our room keys and per diem then made plans with other crew members.  My colleague Cyrill and I decided early on to go to Versailles on the second day of our stay.  Our Chief Purser on the other hand, made an open invitation to our team members for a steak dinner “French style” on the night of our arrival.  I was sold!  I love steak!  I especially love the New York steaks for the honest-to-goodness taste and tenderness.  I never got to try french steaks so this was a first for me.

We proceeded to our respective rooms and snored the morning away.   Cyrill went out in the afternoon to buy her toilettries while I spent the whole morning reading about Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI.

We all met at the lobby of our hotel at 6pm and since there were 7 of us, we took two separate cabs.  One cab had three passengers and the other had four passengers.  We didn’t know that in Paris they charge an extra 3Euros if four passengers would take the cab.  Weird but true.  The two groups had the restaurant’s name and address written on the hotel paper that the concierge gave.  There was no way of knowing if the driver was taking us for a ride but we were relieved to have reached the place which costed us 17Euros including the extra passenger fare.

photo op

Le Relais de Venise son entrecote

 

our waitress expertly plating the entrecote and frittes

my first entrecote

Yummm… They served me this plate at first and refilled it with another serving when I was done with it. I really thought it was bottomless! (wishful thinking…haha!)  The steak was tender and the sauce was like nothing I’ve tasted before. It seems like it was a mustard sauce of some kind that appeared somewhat like green curry.  It was good, though I’m not used to having that kind of sauce on my steak, it was a welcome change.  I guess I also have to get used to steaks being pre-cut.  I actually don’t like it when they pre-cut the steaks at Smith and Wollensky.  I prefer my steak in one piece but we can’t have everything in life…so it’s all good.

ice cream filled profiteroles with chocolate syrup and almond shavings

 A french meal is always capped with a french dessert.

a beautiful building a block away from the restaurant

the restaurant is near Le Palais des Congres de Paris

Surely I will be back for more!!!  See you soon Le Relais de Venise! 

Last night I was up till it was past midnight +8GMT and I was happy that I did stay up. He popped a message in my Yahoo Messenger and we had a chat.

I told him how I am on sick leave now and the doctor said that it could be stress related due to a lot of factors. Whatever it is…I am staying on ground for now. Since I just gave birth it could be post-partum and my gynecologist prescribed that I stop all medications, change my diet and avoid meat specifically beef and chicken. (what about pork? I really don’t know…but that’s what she said!) Exercise 3 times a week. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Try to be in bed by 10 pm. And I will be rejuvinated. Oh, and she added that I drink St. John’s wort or chamomile tea and pray.

Now there is a big problem there when it comes to being in bed early. If I fly the red eye flights then that means I will be working from 10pm-12noon the next day! Good thing my specialist recommended that I take a week or two weeks of sick leave to get well and feel better. I have been walking like a zombie these past few days and doing things in auto-pilot. That spells D-A-N-G-E-R to me!

Now back to my brother. My brother, being the cool, easy-going guy that he is told me. “My prescription is: watch two funny movies everyday, Take naps in between, download funny clips on youtube, eat the food that you love and pray.

Wow! That sounds like a good plan and I certainly think it would work! Of course I would combine my gynecologist’s prescription with his. I believe that laughter is still the best medicine and of course the most important thing which is common to the two prescriptions. Now I can’t wait to rehab myself!

God Almighty I am claiming healing on my whole body and mind. By the stipes of Jesus I am healed. I know that this is not your plan for me or for my body. Give me the strength to follow the diet that is right for my body and guide me to do what is fit for me. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to chat with my brother and feel his warm hug. Thank You for your love Lord. I rest in the fact that you have plans for me not to harm me. Protect me with the precious blood of Jesus. In Jesus’ name. Amen

I had lower back pains as I woke up and I tried to do some stretching exercises that my physical therapist taught me. Then I proceeded to read the Bible. I have been trying to read the story of Asa in 2 Chronicles 15-16 while I was on the plane last night on the way back here to my second home. I was led to read that story…I don’t know why. So I decided to read the whole story this afternoon when I woke up.

In the beginning of his reign as a king of Judah, Asa was a delight in God’s eyes. He took down all the statues, the high places and the incense altars in every town in Judah. He also commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to obey his laws and commands. (2 Chronicles 15:2-5)

When he went into battle he would seek the Lord first and ask for his hand to help them to win the war and God did answer his prayers.

What I noticed is that when King Asa relied on his own judgement by the time of his last year of reign, he failed God. He took matters in his own hands and forgot to seek God first. He sent silver and gold out of treasuries of the Lord’s temple (which as to my own understanding is like dethroning God and stealing from God) and sending it to Ben-Hadad king of Aram as a bribe (which is a sin) so that Ben-Hadad will break his treaty with Baasha the king of Israel just so that they will stop getting into war with King Asa.

He got sick and never sought God’s help but only from the physicians (2 Chronicles 16:12)

That got me thinking! I am at fault too in seeking my physicians more than I seek God for help to heal me. I know that God will heal me. He is in control of everything. Thank You Lord for your revelation to me today.

Lord, my heavenly Father, forgive me if I at one point trusted on my own understanding and tried to take things into my own hands. Thank You for guiding me and revealing Your word to me. I repent for my unfaihfulness. I want to follow You and delight myself in You. Keep my paths straight O Lord that I will never leave Your side. Heal me O Lord, my body, my mind and my spirit. Shower me with joy, peace, comfort, strength, endurance, clarity of mind, patience, love and understanding. Protect me with the precious blood of Jesus. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen

Today I am in my homebase and feeling rainy like the weather. I just started to try my wings and give Paris a go but I failed.  After being away from work for more than 1 year due to pregnancy and almost 2 months due to sick leave…I have failed.

Tomorrow I will see my doctor and declare sick leave once more.  I never thought that old age paired with having a baby would affect my well-being so much. I am just not ready to spread my wings yet.  Maybe next month…let’s see.

i was so pleasantly surprised to have found a lipgloss that has that minty taste and just the right amount of weight on your lips. it makes it shiny but with the right amount of shimmer and the colors are just wonderful. as a flight attendand it is very handy and reliable too. the dryness of the air inflight simply ruins my skin and my lips too. i am so thankful that i have discovered this wonderful product. i just apply my original lipstick for full blast color and use my burt’s bees lipstick for retouch. viola! ready for my close-up smile!

we ended up ordering food by the pool at the hotel. the ambience was really nice. the weather was perfect and the company of my colleague was comforting. the red wine that i ordered was not that great it costs €12 raim merlot. the iceberg and rocket salad €12 didn’t have any rockets in it. i had to ask the waiter for the missing rockets. i thought it flew off to outerspace.

for my main course i ordered for pasta with tuna, olives and capers €18. it was nothing great and i was disappointed. all in all my rating would be a 4 out of 10. it was better than nothing i would say at least we satisfied our hunger pangs.

the next day we headed to the vatican to eat at Dino and Toni along Via Leone IV. We missed our stop and just trusted my nose. we asked around and found out after 30 minutes of walking that we were trodding the wrong path the whole time! it was not actually totally wrong but it would take us an hour and hundreds of steps if we would continue to tread the path that we were taking. it was totally my fault i admit. so i decided to hail a cab. the cab costs €10 and i was willing to pay it fully but my colleagues were insistent that we all share the cost.

finally we stopped in front of Dino and Toni…it was CLOSED!!! bugger!!! i took a closer look and it was just my luck that it was closed from August 04 – August 30 for the summer holidays. i was really looking forward to having that home cooked italian meal at dino and toni. they don’t have a menu but the antipasti and pasta dishes that they will serve you will surely satisfy your discerning palate. the host is very accomodating as well even if he could not speak much english. the last time i was there they even offered us limoncello for free after the meal. we took pictures and tried to know each other thru little english and sign language. i was really really disappointed that it was closed. after all the walking and wasted time that we had to go through we ended up eating at the fast food next door. the food was lousy.

after looking at bags at via condotti (the main street where all the high end name brands are housed) snapping some pictures at the spanish steps, eating local gelato and buying a bag and wallet, we headed for our shuttle bus. while walking in via del corso (the main street) we were looking for the pizzeria where we were planning to get some pizza for take away. it was fucking closed!

all in all the experience was highly frustrating if not for the company of my funny and patient colleagues. hopefully the pizzeria at the warner village is open tonight where we will have our dinner…i’m keeping my fingers and my legs crossed.

Winter of 2007 I was persistently bothered by a slight pain on my left front tooth. I tried to withstand the pain but it was annoying like a fly that wouldn’t go away.  I finally decided to confront my problem head on. I have decided that since I am going to get my root canal redone…why not have my crowns changed as well? If I was going to have my crowns changed…why not go the extra mile and have veneers instead? You see, it’s a vicious cycle that will never stop. It’s just like love and addiction…(they’re both bad by the way) you know you want to see the person, once you see the person and you kissed, might as well kiss torridly since you’re gonna kiss that person anyway…why not go all the way instead? Hahaha! What a comparison!

Anyway, I had my veneers done and if you were to ask me…I won’t do it if I had a perfectly normal teeth. Yes, even if your teeth is yellowish or a little bit crooked. The experience was very unpleasant. It was taxing and ate up a lot of my time. I also felt violated when the dentist filed my teeth ruthlessly swift as if it was just a task that he had to do. The weirdest feeling of all was when your whole mouth is still sedated with anesthesia and they would ask you to spit…how on earth could you spit when you can’t even feel your freaking lips? Go figure.

Just to give you a better picture as to how time consuming it was let me give you a rough time line:

1^st visit – you will have “the talk” with the wife of the dentist selling you the services/products. The dentist will give you a face analysis and take a picture of your teeth for evaluation.

2^nd visit – you would have decided by then since you came back and go on with the process and choose the plan and service that you prefer. They will cast a mold of your existing teeth.

3^rd visit – root canal or other services had to be done before removing all the previous crowns and filing of the teeth.

4^th visit – removing of crowns and filing of the teeth. Contouring of the gums (if needed).  Attachment of temporary veneers.

5^th visit – I forgot what I did but I remember they polished my temp veneers too.

6^th visit – attachment of the permanent veneers.

7^th visit – adjustment of the permanent veneers. Requested to redo my tooth it was too short.

8^th visit – adjustment of veneers and attachment of redone tooth.

9^th visit – adjustment of veneers due to teeth sensitivity.

And so on and so forth. I thought the sensitivity has gone down. I only felt it when it was really cold in the plane and there was a whiff of cold air while my mouth was open. I do feel better and feel more confident when I smile…but if I was given a choice, nothing beats genuine teeth.

please check for updated blogs there. i won’t be updating this one anymore.

thanks for coming!

miles

it was a beautiful sunny day and the warmth of the sun kissed my skin. the day was not to be spent in front of the computer i said to myself. my days have been rolling along like the spinning wheel of a clock. it just kept on spinning around and around. passing the same way over and over again. i figured i was bored. time to do something exciting.