We're all pretty small in the big scheme of things

KPO members swarmed TOSH on 9-11-07 at 3pm and I was invited. Awww...thanks Lilie. Am I still part of the bunch?!


Kimmie wasn't there to enjoy the night with us, though. Thought Markie will be there, too... or maybe he was just around lurking...or maybe disguised? What am I saying? Imagination gone wild again...


Met the new members already, which is pretty funny since I haven't even met all the old ones except Thessie. Both of us were not able to attend the 1st rendezvous. She tagged along her witty daughter who then served as the buffoon of the group. hihi


Oh ...another oldie was there -- Chellie. Soft-spoken Chellie. The lady-in-red-of-the-night who concentrated on babbling with Tarieh, who is, yes a new member. So, there's the new member bonding with a pro writer. Well, Lilie mentioned that they're all good writers. Which is a good thing. At least she's spared of editing heaps of articles. Yippee!


...and good news, Tekla. Oops! Thessie...(whoever started calling you that, btw?! And my my...why?! *wonders*) Lilie said there's very significant improvement in your writing. Cheers to you!


Gracie. How can I forget this bubbly girl who did nothing but pretend snapshots were all candid?! hehe Cute!


...and another bubbly girl -- Reenie. *smiles* Very casual, very childlike, very natural. Tried every food she could reach. hehe


Lilie was beside me all the time and made me feel real comfortable knowing that am naturally shy and don't like crowd. We bonded ...and as what she would always do... left me with encouraging words. Turned the alarm on again and said, "wake up, Siobe!"


No, I wasn't asleep, dearie. My eyes are just naturally like that. LOL


Well, everything you said to me meant something. Honestly, no one has really cared for me the way you do. Like, send me text messages almost incessantly just to check if am happy and fine, although I don't get to reply often. So, thoughtful. Appreciate it a lot.


Nuff of yackety-yack now. Will just show you the snaps. Everything from Lilie, btw. Stole'em so I have something to post here. *beh*

Clambake at The Old Spaghetti House





Here's the KPO caboodle.
Guess who took the shot?





Our bonding moment had to pause for the snaps.





As how Lilie described Me and Reenie on her Friendster...
"her closest chummies in batch one and batch two"





Awww...what can I say?





It's supposed to be just me and Thessie...
then it became threesome





Another pause for a snap.





Here's the three of us again.






Mom and daughter. The lil girl was the night's buffoon
I mentioned earlier.





Gracie...the animated writer with Thessie and baby.





...this is what I was talking about. and there's lots of this kind.
nice one Gracie. keep pretending. hah





they (Chellie and Tarieh) have their own bonding moments, too.






Was it already too late? zzzzzzz

We called it a day past 7. Rennie and Lilie went to have their bonding moment together in Timezone(?).


About the place... sorry Lilie but I like Cibo better. As a good critic, I won't give T an A. Not even a B. Not even a B-. Maybe C will do. *wink* Oh, make it a C- for letting uninvited guests in -- flies.

Following 12 and preceding 14...

Who here believes that the number 13 is unlucky? Or worse a hex? Hmmm. Do I? I dunno but am sure I don't want to stay on the 14th floor of any hotel or condominium unit. 14th floor is, anyway, the new 13th floor.


Come on now! Who are the engineers fooling? However you view it, the number that comes after 12 is 13. Go and check the structure of a building. If it skips a floor after 12 but an empty floor is really there, then 14 is a safe floor. It's really the 14th floor. Otherwise, 14th floor is the floor we all rather shun.


I remember, there's this point in time when I was offered a job by a Makati based company. Thing was, I didn't remember any instance that I forwarded my application to them. They sent me a text message with the complete address where I should go. It says 13th floor of X building. Geesh. Eerie.


Guess what? I did not show up. I never did, even though the same message was sent to me a couple more times that month. Just too spookish.


Can I say now that I believe the superstitious belief? Am I one of the many who have triskaidekaphobia -- fear of the number 13?

....................................

Recently, Paul, Tita Nini, Lizzie and I watched 1408. It's a film based on a Stephen King short story with the same title and starred John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson.


We all liked it, although the flick was only given a B rating. Well, B is not bad afterall.


Why is this relevant to this entry? Good question. It's all because it involves the number 14, which I just said is the new number 13.


1408 is the room in Dolphin hotel in Manhattan, which is said to be an evil room. At least, in Stephen King's short story. Famous ghost writer, Mike Erslin (John Cusack) received an anonymous postcard from the said hotel with this message,

"don't enter 1408".

Next thing, he insisted booking a reservation in that room even after the hotel's manager (Samuel Jackson) warned him that no one lasted more than one hour in room 1408.


Staying in that room changed the author's life forever.

Just watch the flick yourselves. haha. All I can say is I don't want to hear the song, "We've Only Just Begun" again!

....................................

See? 14th floor is the new 13th floor, indeed. And add 1+4+0+8. What do you get?


What's in the number 13, by the way? Dunno too but here's a lil research I did.

How is fear of the number thirteen demonstrated?

* More than 80 percent of high-rises lack a 13th floor.

* Many airports skip the 13th gate.

* Airplanes have no 13th aisle.

* Hospitals and hotels regularly have no room number 13.

* Italians omit the number 13 from their national lottery.

* On streets in Florence, Italy, the house between number 12 and 14 is addressed as 12 and a half.

* Many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue in France, socialites known as the quatorziens (fourteeners) once made themselves available as 14th guests to keep a dinner party from an unlucky fate.

* Many triskaidekaphobia, as those who fear the unlucky integer are known, point to the ill-fated mission to the moon, Apollo 13.

* If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck . Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters in their names.

Here's additional information from Wikipedia about 13th floor:

Skipped

Most commonly, it is skipped altogether. Although the thirteenth floor has been skipped in terms of numbering (e.g., for hotel/apartment/suite numbers), the floor numbered 14 is technically the thirteenth floor of the building; it is simply not numbered as such. Any calculations involving the height of a building based on the height of a floor should take this into account.

12A

Sometimes the floor is simply renumbered as 12a; this does not affect the numbers of the higher floors.


Special designations

Other buildings will often use names for certain floors to avoid giving a floor on the building the 13th floor designation. One such example is the Radisson Hotel in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where the 13th floor is called the Pool floor.


Uninhabited

Sometimes, the floor is put to some other use. For instance, the thirteenth floor of One Canada Square houses the air conditioning equipment and no rentable offices, though the owners insist that this is merely an architectural coincidence.


Letter "M"

Because the letter M is the 13th letter in the English alphabet, some people may use a letter "M" as a substitute for the 13th floor, such as 12, M, 14, and so forth.

Good thing two Friday the thirteenths had passed for this year. In 2008, it's going to be in the month of June. Good luck!

My thoughts are commodities.

It's been five days. Your loyalty was tested. Only a few of you kept up checking my room. It's so sad. But, don't worry. I do understand that maybe it has become too dark and green. Just come back anytime you wish to. You're always welcome.


Am not so busy anymore. Done with promoting my to be released flicks. Which allowed me to be at the zoo for a day. Some of the animals missed me. There are new additions to the zoo and boy I had a hard time toning them down. *whew*


It's no joke being a zookeper, y'know. You only get paid $10 per hour. Yeah, yeah, in 8 hours I get $80 but you have no idea how tough the job is. Not that am complaining. I love the animals and they love me. That's good enough. Maybe, was just too overwhelemed by that day's experience.


As a zookeper, I clean the animals and their cages and I feed them. Most keepers don't play with the animals but I do. *wink* I coddle them...Which is why I am the animals' favorite keeper. *sticks out tongue*


It is a dirty job which balances my being a celeb. Helps me keep my feet on the ground. I suggest that all prima donna attitude should be sent to work in a zoo.

My most favorite task is to educate people about zoo animals. I do researches to share with them and I also tell them about my personal experiences with each animal. Fun! I feel like an expert.

It feels bad, though, when the animals get sick. It breaks my heart. This is the thing I dislike the most working as a zookeeper. Having to nurse sick animals. Can't stand seeing them suffering.

Oh well. I still love the job no matter what.

Take a look at the photos of my 1st day back to zoo. hehehe

This is not my friend Hippo.
This is one of the additions in the zoo.

It finally caught me. Ouch!

No, I don't dream to become the next Steve Irwin
and work as a croc hunter...





Do you have even the slightest idea
how it's like to tame an animal as gigantic as this one?

See how tough my work is? Gotta go back to my small, pumpkin shaped den. And eat my take out fast food...

At least, the dino can't get in here.

Spicy Chicken & Beef Chowfan.
Yumyum.




Chowking Wanton Noodles.

Note: Fiction writing is great. You can make up almost anything.