I was supposed to go to 4-day vacation trip to Vietnam courtesy of the company but I backed out. I’m not really a travel kind of person. Or rather, I’m more of a journey rather than a destination kind of person. And airports and airliners are not my definition of a fun journey. Besides, Jeanne didn’t have a passport so I couldn’t take her with me. But I initially decided to go because Michelle said she wanted to go. I asked her what about Jeanne’s situation and she said Jeanne can stay with the grandparents and “can get over” being left. But today, Michelle backed out, probably after thinking hard about the whole leaving Jeanne thing. And since there’s really no good reason for me to go, I too decided to back out. No loss.
PyroMusical
Minette, Glenn, Michelle, Jeanne, and I watched the last evening of the PyroMusical competition featuring Australia and the Philippines. The traffic and crowd was huge! I ended up parking at the highest level of the parking building. Despite that, everyone, including Jeanne (after she got over her initial fear of the noise of the fireworks and the music) had a blast. The finale of each country were especially awesome displays of light. Videos don’t do them justice. After the show, I was also expecting traffic congestion on the way out and indeed we had to wait for almost an hour before we could exit the parking building.
Passport Renewal
My passport was due to expire mid-year so at the start of the year, I applied for renewal at the DFA’s vaunted online system. I found that I can only schedule an appointment by the end of March. I learned later that there’s a 3-month lag time in appointments. No problem. I’ve no travel plans in the next few months so I set my appointment.
Wrong! Two weeks ago, I learned I’ll be heading off to Vietnam courtesy of the company! I estimated the delivery of the passport given my appointment and there was no way my new passport will be available by the travel date. Not good! Fortunately, the company has good travel agents. They were able to schedule me to an interview this morning (how, I don’t know). So there I was at DFA at 7AM on a weekend morning.
2011 Clark Hot Air Balloon Festival
Michelle, Jeanne, and I went to the Clark Hot Air Balloon Festival last year and the experience wasn’t that ideal. This time around we were better prepared. A week ahead Mines booked hotel rooms (actually rather late since there were few choices left) and I bought tickets (also rather late since they have been pulled out from ROX. Luckily they were still available at SM/TicketNet). Aside from Glenn, Mines, Michelle, Jeanne, and me who were staying overnight, Roly and her friend Steve joined us for a day trip.
Driving With A Cold
Michelle had to go to this funeral cum get-together with friends (in this country, practically everything is a social event) so I had to drive and drop her off so she can go to the funeral while I then went on to take Jeanne to the in-laws. Would have been a breeze except that I got bitten by a nasty bug, probably during the holidays, and it’s rearing it’s ugly head. Normally colds would just be sniffles or a congested nose at worst but this one gave me a fever and a bad headache. When we got to the in-laws I had to babysit Jeanne for an hour or so before I got a chance to lie down. I didn’t know who’s been lying on the bed nor what they did but at that point I couldn’t care less. Lying down never felt so good!