went to sheraleens birthday bash at four (the old big wig) on division last night. it turned out to be a really chill lounging area (not so great for dancing because the dj sucks major ass) but nevertheless... mike and i got somewhat tipsy (and in mikes case, he literally tipped over from all the overwhelming alcohol that entered his system). its been a while since i have drank, and last night made me realize why i have shied away from all sorts of alcoholic beverages - the way the damn thing make your stomach do a topsy turvy, and the feeling of lethargy and wanting to pukey - thats why i havent drank in a while! mike could barely walk out of the club, and because he was dragging his feet wit his eyes half opened, there was no way we would survive an hour el ride back home, so we had to hail a cab =) it was cool though - one of my coworkers came to join us at the party and brought his friends with him.. he was such a cutie - very shy at work, and very unshy last night! i love how people let go when theyre either drunk or outside of work! i was supposed to watch out for him for one of my other friends who have a huge crush on this dude - wait till i bring news to her on monday at work!!

anyhoo...

work life is great! i love allstate, and i love my coworkers, and the job isnt bad at all (very busy and tedious, but hey, what is job without being busy and tedious). i really like the new friends that i have made there too. they are a hoot and a bunch of us are so close now, that we are beginning to hang out more and more after work. its great! i was worried about not finding anybody to talk to at work and look what i have now! its been great. got my first paycheck two fridays ago so the next one is coming this friday! woo!!

we are moving along with the green card process too. met with the lawyer and she has collected all the information so she can start compiling the application. things are moving along at a somewhat slow pace but i have plenty of time, so im not worried.

the kitties are grown now - they celebrated their 10th month birthday on the 26th... not long from now, they will both reach "adult" age, and wont be quite so cute!! no wait - my kitties will ALWAYS be cute!

later tonight i will need to go to another friends birthday soiree. it oughta be interesting.

the very last day of OnBoarding program ended yesterday. i feel somewhat relieved yet, with the end of one phase, begin another one... the advent of real work and real business cases and real team mates! not that i havent been doing work but ya know what i mean - this makes it official! lucky me, my team mates are very supportive and none seem that dumb... so hopefully i wont have to experience what everybody has been telling me that i will experience upon embarking into the real work environment (that someone on the team will not be quite as bright as youd like them to be) there are a few really charismatic players too, and you know what i think about those people ;) but that aside *hehe*... this project that i am on is going to be quite straight forward and easy. i wish i had started from the very beginning of the cycle. writing up those business cases and requirement specs, drawing up the process flows, and perhaps even the data models... oh yeah.. im a sucker for that =)

alritey work aside, my dearly beloved husband turned 27 on thursday. its unbelievably amazing how fast this year has gone. before long, we will both be in our 30s, with kiddies in a nice huge housie ... oh man.. so old =(

welp..
i got the new HP book yesterday, and before i knew it, i was already reading the very last page, bawling my eyes off coz JK Rowling decided to kill off a character that is quite important and close to my heart! wtf man! i mean, dont get me wrong - she wrote it well and it all makes sense i spose but still.... very few books have made me cry and this was definitely one of them! it was just so .... sad ... the right word is "sayu" and no translation can do it justice. all in all, superb book that answered lots of gaping holes from previous books, and now i have to wait patiently for the next and final installment of the series.. what to read, o-what to read till then? good thing the 4th movie is coming out this year.. that oughta be quite a treat. the 5th one is set to come out in 07...

tomorrow is yet another monday and already am dreading it.. the waking up in the morning is sooooooooo not appealing. i must say though, that i have sorta kinda gotten used to the ungodly waking up time. 630am man - and im outta the front door by 7, arriving at work between 730 and 745am! if someone had told me a month ago that id be at my desk at 730 in the morning, i wouldve scoffed in their faces and larfed hard - but where do i find meself? at my desk by 730am... =( huwarghhhh!! goodbye to waking hours past 10pm (or 1030pm if im lucky), and goodbye to bumming around in bed for hours before getting my lazy ass out of bed. *poof*

oh well, gots to figure out what to do now for another hour or so, and then time for bed!

yippeee!!!

my toshiba laptop that mysteriously died at the end of last year (or earlier than that, i cant remember), has decided to come back to life! mike plugged it in just to see if it would come on, and lo and behold, without doing ANYTHING like we had to last time, it turned on! miraculous, and im very pleased, because now i dont have to buy another laptop because this one is working fine =) well its a little on the slow side (or rather, a lot on the slow side) but its not like im going to be playing games or anything fancy like that.. so wooptidoodah .. laptop works fine, im happy its friday, and i survived my 2nd week at work .. so w00t!

started my first day at allstate yesterday.. the orientation days and weeks to come *sigh* lots of information to absorb, but am excited to do so (at least for now). yesterday was all about meeting the company as a whole, getting to know the culture, the policies, benefits etc etc and signing up as a new employee. got my badge - making it seem oh so final. today i get to meet my boss and team mates, chill out with the orientation advisor, going over the tons of things that i need to go over for the next 4 weeks. our assignment is to complete all the knowledge based thingies of the company. i think this can get old after a while, but heck, i get exposed so why not.

the 4th of july was spent in the companionship of some itascan friends. as usual the village fireworks were a blast to view. i am now yearning for a big, long holiday already so i can doze in and not have to leave my warm, cosy, filled with the hunk-of-a-man bed so early in the morning. DAMNIT!

well .. im married now =) and i am done with school for a while, and my family met mike and loved him, and we all had tons of fun doing lots of fun stuff for 10 full days, almost 24hours a day (ok, make that 18 hours a day)... and they left me for home *sob sob*... and mike and i went for our final design appointment and picked out stuff that goes inside our new housie, which is the final design choice we shall make and whatever we picked will come to materialize in the next several months.... and now i have a weekend ish before i have to start work at allstate *huwargh* ...

and yeah ... life seems to be somewhat smooth sailing.. cept for the fact that i have an entire laundry list of things to do so i can move along with this green card application process (which is seemingly nightmarish) and i have to, at the same time, apply for my passport renewal... kinda nuts, i thought things wont stay this chaotic but i was WRONG!

so being married doesnt feel any different than not being married .. ok well, nothing too drastic on the surface, most of the differences have maintained a more implicit shape... for example, i feel that everything that i have done with mike and for mike, and for the both of us, is now much more fully vested and secured.. there is an unspoken bond and emotions of security and eternity, at least of my behalf .. that we have signed something that bonded us together .. and its kinda nice to know that i wont have to worry about the future in terms of losing a part of me.. knowing that there IS a future is also nice .. and with the person that ive known for 3 years ...

the other thing that is different is terminology wise - i am starting to get used to the "wifey" reference and calling him my "husband". quite weird in the beginning, it still feels somewhat weird.. but honestly, whats really different? i mean, its JUST terminology right?

so all those people who told me that things will drastically change once i get married - i might have a good rebuttal for them =)