— witsandnuts

Britney Spears

Amongst many celebrations, November spells F1 in Abu Dhabi or locally known as Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. But more than the roaring engines, I am one of those who are more interested in after-race concerts. So we did a concert marathon again like last year (it was Kanye West, Linkin Park and Prince) the past week.

F1 Village

We strategically selected the North Grandstand tickets again since it’s nearest to Yas Arena (concert venue). That we can just do ober da bakod (over the fence) after the race. Well, it’s still steps/corner away but the best location if you intend to fly from the race circuit to the concert gate. We got the buy one, take one tickets by the way and for that I thank over and again a good friend for sourcing for us. I also can not thank the Universe enough because even if we got the regular F1 race tickets (which entitled the holder to after-race concert), we were given (on the day itself) VIP wristbands in the three consecutive nights musical affair. Yehey!

Britney SpearsFemme Fatale Tour (Abu Dhabi)

Months before the Abu Dhabi F1 organizers announced the line up of performers, there were speculations that Lady Gaga will do the opening night. But surmised that she is too liberated for the Emirate. Then it was finally hinted that Britney Spears will kick-off the after-race concerts when Abu Dhabi was announced to  be part of her Femme Fatale Tour. Due to stretchable demand, the concert organizers floated tons of tickets raffled through online contests in order to give way to interested non-F1 ticket holders.

Britney Spears doing the Toxic dance

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At a glance: September to October 2011

August 23, September 23… two of my preceding posts were logged coincidentally on a 23rd. I never thought that I can be absent from blogosphere that long. Anyway, I’m sort of affirming, as the title of this post says, “to pick things up” including the bloghopping part soon. I realized that my attempts the past months were not enough. While things are overwhelming at work and off work, it’s in a nice way and I’m doing really well. I just sometimes wish that we can freeze a moment and/or have more than 24 hours in a day. I’m probably one of the happiest people with this long break brought by Eid celebrations because I finally had the chance to catch up on sleep and savour few hours of lazy days (*points to the specific lyrics of Bruno Mars’ song*).

I have a handful of pending posts, i.e. not even in draft form, the memories are just all written in my head and heart. I don’t know if I should deal with those on a first in, first out (FIFO) or last in, first out (LIFO) basis. Randomness is good at certain times!

  1. My closest aunt stayed with us during her almost 2-month visit to UAE. We shed a gallon of tears that day we brought her to the airport.  We got to re-visit and visit new places in the UAE as we showed her around. Having her with us was an enriching experience for so many reasons. It took us some time to be back to normalcy since every bit of things reminded of her. My mother is probably visiting us next year so we must get used to bittersweet farewells.
  2. Tasted a camelcinno (that’s cappuccino with camel milk) for the first time!
  3. Another first – wore sheila and abaya (UAE’s national dress for women) when we visited Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.
  4. Screamed at Ferarri World.
  5. Had my second godchild (yehey to ninanghood!) in the UAE
  6. Started setting up our Christmas tree (the bokeh below).
  7. Got our buy 1, take 1 (many thanks to a friend!) F1 tickets. After-race performers from November 11 to 13 will be Britney Spears, Incubus, The Cult, and Sir Paul McCartney. It’s been a year since the Kanye West, Linkin Park and Prince high.
  8. Winello, our kittycat, has reached his manhood’s “maturity” and was neutered (i.e. testes removed) last month. After the surgery, he was required to wear a cone for several days to prevent him from licking and scratching the wounds. We got a note from the vet that  literally reads as “he’s a good boy (*insert smiley*)” during the operation. We’d like to think that our cat is too gentleman for a nagbibinata (sexually matured) because he didn’t bother us with all those known mischievousness of a maturing cat. However, we noticed that he became a little moody (probably would like to court an equally ‘mature’ ladycat). He is back to his normal angelic self.

Our kittycat's soon-to-be first Christmas

Just a little sad though I can’t sing “I’ll Be Home For Christmas This Year” concept-wise due to work commitments. I have so far gotten over this fact; I can only be grateful that I had several Christmasses at the Christmas island the past years and even had whirlwind trips back home twice a year for certain occasions. While Christmas is best spent in the Philippines, but it (and any occasion) is nevertheless, also best spent with people we love most wherever we are. Ahem, I have just had an early drama. Forgive me, heehee.

Thanks to everyone who continuously knocked and left messages and comments while the blogger in me was away. I did miss everyone and I earnestly hope to catch up soon!

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Marina Bay Sands Hotel

Marhaba (that’s “hello” in Arabic) to everyone! I can’t believe my month-long absence from this space. Thanks for the continuous visits and I gathered that most of you thought that I’m still in the Philippines for a vacation. I’m back in Abu Dhabi 3 weeks ago, yet I’ve been (and still) swamped with work. My responsibilities are getting crazy and amazing at the same time, but I’m not complaining! When time gets tough(er), I always refer to that scenario when a man complained about his feet sores until he saw a man who’s handicapped. And of course, it’s best to think of the better days. Anyway, here’s to catch up with the things that happened not so long ago. Before I share the Philippine-related entries (i.e. highlights of my recent break), this one’s to reminisce the less than 24 hours we had in Singapore enroute to Abu Dhabi.

Marina Bay Sands Hotel

We intentionally booked the flight with the longest layover in Changi airport since we planned on staying in Marina Bay Sands (MBS) Hotel for a day. Our last year’s trip to the Lion City provided a glimpse to the ship-like establishment; impressed, we wished to the Universe that “alright, we’ll swim,, errr, stay there next time!”

Marina Bay Sands Hotel

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Flower girls in a wedding in Hinatuan

I’m currently home for a short vacation and it’s amazing how much we did the past few days. That goes to say how much we were going around. From Laguna to Davao (it’s good to be back after my 2003-2004 visits) to Surigao to Butuan to Manila-Laguna. We attended a wedding of a very good friend held in South of the Philippines and it follows that we did a little sidetrip to nearby places. All in all it was a mixture of urban and rural experiences. That made me realize how important it is to be genuinely flexible. We had a lot of fun, especially that we had new discoveries about the hidden beauty of the Philippines… our country is full of surprises.

While I’m still sorting photos, I’m afraid that I won’t have enough time to blog (soon) once I’m back to Abu Dhabi. Hence, here’s a peek to the fun-filled past days that zoomed like a blast:

Pearl Farm Resort

Pearl Farm Resort

We stayed in one of the stilt houses in Pearl Farm Resort. It was very nurturing to wake up (in each glance, in fact) with an environment like this.

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escalator arch in malls during ramadan

It’s (the year of) 2011 as most of us generally refer to it, but it would add value to someone like me who lives in the Gulf to know that 2011 is otherwise known as 1432 years or Year 1432.

I can’t believe the irregularity of my recent postings and that I needed to have a guest blogger last week. Thanks to my kyoooot kittycat! I hope that I would be able to write more frequently as I excitedly recall my pending tasks in terms of blogging.  But as we say, the  spirit is willing, but Witsandnuts is hungry for sleep…eeek, the flesh is weak! Did you know that there was that rare moment that I was blogging in my dreams, in fast paced scenarios, along with my other dreams that I am tied up with plenty of tasks? Being haunted in our dreams, scary isn’t it? But don’t worry, that rarely happens. There were days that I woke up feeling like I didn’t sleep at all because I’m so exhausted in the dreamland. On a happy note, there were days that I felt so rested even if I got only 3 to 4 hours of sleep. Sounds familiar, eh?

What’s keeping me (more) busy?

The need to push more to learn Arabic

I mentioned over a year ago that I was enrolled (sponsored) to the Arabic business course – first level. But due to the alignment of priorities and schedule itself, I decided not to take the advanced level. And maybe because of the anyway-I’m surviving-and-the-people-around-me-speak-good-English-and-documents-can-be-translated attitude.  Although inside my head, I always plan to devour my self-study materials. But that does not happen. It’s like that treadmill inside your apartment shouting “Hey! Am I just a decor here?” and you always defer its utilization… until it’s full of dust.

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