pneumonic plague

it's the fourth day of my terrible chest congestion coupled with cough and cold--the kind that makes it hard for you to breathe while sleeping, and hard for you to concentrate during your waking hours because of the mucus precipitation (AKA runny nose). because of this i called out sick from work last thursday, and then forced myself to work on saturday, just when the store hours are stretched to midnight. luckily my lungs withstood the prolonged work period, but it was not without a box of tissue in close proximity to my cash register. i spoke with a very nasal voice and my nose was already red from frequent blowing. rudolph the red-nosed saleslady.

i was happily orienting a seasonal employee who's tsinay (filipino-chinese) but looked so young i couldn't believe she was already 39 and with two teenager kids...then mr. OM came by my station to assist my other co-worker on a malfunctioning cash register. we were talking at the same time, that i had to stop talking to the seasonal girl. OM noticed this and said, "i'm sorry, i didn't mean to interrupt you." i like it when he looks straight into my eyes when he says my name. haha. anyway, i also apologized and that was the end of that brief encounter. back to retail reality.

today it snowed, the wet kind of snow. my parents and i attended this annual filipino christmas party preceded by a filipino mass in a school gym. families were told to bring potluck food and their own beverage of choice. we brought pecan pie and my father's special home-made fried chicken wings and legs. there was catering too. the downside to this party was that they couldn't unlock the heater box for the gym, so it was so damn cold the whole time. i couldn't take off my pea coat because i was wearing a skintight top thinking the venue would be warm enough to take off one's coat--without risking pneumonia on top of my cold. even if my immune system has succumbed to the cold virus, my appetite sure didn't dampen come eating time. oh wait, before all this there was a short rondalla music performance by a group of U.P. alumni. but at that point i was too hungry and at the same time being lulled to drowsiness by the antihistamine tablet i took to truly appreciate them. i did manage to take short video clips of the highlights of the party with my digicam, one was the rondalla performance, and the other was at the end, when everybody was dancing to the sexbomb dancers' "ispageti" song and the viva hot babes' "bulaklak" without shame.

one of the parents dressed up as santa claus and was escorted by a flock of lady elves to give out gifts to the little kids. the idea behind this was to have all gifts purchased by the kids' parents themselves, but the gifts would say they're from SANTA. santa read the names on each gift and gave it to them personally, photo op included. the funny part was when this one kid said, "i think santa is MY DAD." well, he sure was right! hehe. santa's beard fell off his face at one point. no velcro to the rescue.