I’ve always thought that diets will not work for me – I love food too much! I mean, I don’t really eat a whole lot in one meal, but I cannot see myself skipping meals for the purpose of losing excess weight. Typically, that’s ok because I used to engage in a lot of activities like badminton and at least cardio workouts at the gym. In the past 2 years, however, I allowed myself to focus too much on work  – a non-physically active activity, so to speak -  that I can only shake my head at my image in the mirror. The problem is when I remove my eyes from the mirror and again sit in front of my laptop, all thoughts of getting fit fly out of the window, at least until I begin to feel something in my body that will make me worry again about being so unhealthy. Well, I haven’t even tried to read those appedex reviews to see if such pills can help.

Looks like one New Year’s resolution of mine is not working out at the moment, but I can only try to make some change. Maybe writing this here will give a little bit of a much-needed push.

This is not in the very least an important feat but I thank myself for not making a big purchase today when I’m so close to doing so. I was at the Smart Store at the Mall of Asia today, trying to buy their new broadband stick called “Rocket Chic” just because I read that my area is within the 4G/HSPA+ coverage of the network – plus I can’t resist the bright pink color and the promised 12 Mbps speed. Alas, it was not available at the store so I thought, maybe I should buy an iPhone 4S just because of the recent increase in my credit card’s limit and also because I couldn’t stop thinking about the phone anyway.

I got a queue number and when I’m next bolted out the door to clear my mind and weigh the pros and cons. It didn’t help that my sister kept on pushing me to buy already (she said I ALWAYS complain about my current phone anyway), but it turned out that is what kept me from taking the plunge. When someone tells me to go do something I like, I usually begin to question my own want and the direction of my planned action. This would be easier, of course, if I have a stash of silver bars somewhere, but I don’t.

Admittedly, it’s still a question of when I’ll finally give in. But that I won this round against myself is very much appreciated – by me. I really need to be around more people. Maybe.

I bought a Targus black backpack from a deals website last year, thinking that if it looks too “for-school-ish” I’ll just give it to my brother and buy myself another one. It’s very easy to be convinced by the discounts presented to you in such sites (or is it just me?). When my sister found out how much I bought it for (PhP 2,500), she told me it’s too much. (But the site said it was PhP5,000 in stores!)

So I used the backpack for my SG trip last month, hoping that it can carry my iPad and Mac as well as some clothes and a smaller bag – as my hand-carry bag. Turned out, it’s so heavy that although it has so many compartments for other stuff, all I was able to carry with it is my 13-in. Mac, iPad, and small personal necessities (passport, pen, e-tickets, wallet, etc.); I felt that anything more than that will break my back.

After we came back, even my brother is not too keen to take the bag for himself. So now I’m looking for another one in Ebay – maybe a dakine backpack that’s much lighter and hopefully not too expensive – for my upcoming trips. I’m often bad at purchasing stuff (especially online, which I enjoy doing more than actually buying in stores), so this time I think I’ll have to give it more time and research.

I’ve been looking at a deals website because of their offer of 40% discount on two known brands of watches. So what you will do is to pay 6,000 PhP for a 10,000 PhP gift certificate that you can use to purchase any model of your choice. But I still feel it’s a bit steep a price. I don’t really spend much on accessories, jewelries especially, because I tend to lose them. Well, fortunately, I have kept my silver watch for about 3 years now, as it should be because it was a gift from my sister. But I need want to buy a new one, and I’ve been watching out for discounts and stuff in sites such as ed hardy jewelry. Maybe I’ll get lucky to find a cheap but beautiful watch one of these days.

You’ve heard about Apple fanatics – of Apple Inc. products, that is: iPod, iPhone, iMac, Mac, iPad, etc.; you’ve read about how impractical passionate they are about upgrading their tech even if the company comes up with new technology before you even get to fully pay, or make compensations for, your purchases. I have joined their legion in a way because I will swear by the beauty and functionality of the MacBook Pro, even if much better versions got released just 6 months after my purchase (drat!). I don’t intend to upgrade in the near future, but I’m looking at the iPad2 so that will add to my impracticality fascination about Apple products. My brother will feel bad because he’s been asking for ps3 bundles, and that won’t happen if I get the iPad2.  I’m only glad that Globe didn’t process my iPhone4 application before I lost my money interest to acquire that one.

Now I know why fellow Apple fans told me “Welcome to the dark side” when I made my first purchase. There’s no going back.

I’ve always felt like I am bad at giving gifts, first because I’m used to shopping for myself on a rush and mostly acting on whims or on an urgent need. The past few times I had to buy gifts, they’re for babies and little kids, and although one might think that’s easier, I had to wrestle with the idea that what I found “cute” may not be so for the mothers of my receivers. But now I think I know where to look for next. Since everyone loves to keep, well, keepsakes, I think looking for baby keepsake boxes is a good way to start. I think those will be really cute gifts.

I mean that title literally. I am aghast sometimes to realize that I can’t remember some words when I need them, when I know even as I am struggling to remember that they are very simple words that anyone would use in everyday conversation. Obviously, for someone who work with words on an everyday basis, it’s not a good thing. I even have this game I downloaded through the Mac App Store — it’s called WordCrasher, a kind of  a tactile word game — and I hate it when I can’t compose more than 3-letter words, under pressure regardless. Well, I don’t really expect myself to be able to come up with a word like oxyelite all the time, but at least I should go beyond “bin,” “shoe,” “tax,” etc. See what I mean?