This can well be the next installment of the Mastercard commercial series:

Green blouse from Maze: 649 php
Velvet skirt from Folded and Hung: 699 php
Brown jacket from Prints and Plains: 1,250 php
Slip-on pumps from Charles and Keith: 999 php
Capiz shells bracelet from SM: 340 php
Beaded necklace from SM: 250 php
Beaded hair accessory from Broadway Gems: 240 php
Clutch bag (on sale) from Metro Ayala: 200 php
Epilin hair removal wax from Demelle, Colon: 170 php
Makeup and hairdo from Davids: 350 php
Taxi fare, house to E-mall: 110 php
Taxi, E-mall to Grand Con.: 130 php
1 shot of vodka, on the rocks, at Grand Majestic: 95 php

MY HOPELESS ATTEMPT TO PLEASE AND BE HAPPY: very very pricey

I was able to contemplate the script while finishing my drink. The damn liquor was burning my Maybelline Watershine lips but did I care? The hell I didn''t. That was nothing compared to theugly malicious looks I was receiving from the waiters at Grand M. I had insisted to a vodka shot even when they obviously look closed. Alas, they didn't have any cigarette. So there I was, sitting on table no.2, alone, with waiters scurrying around trying to go home early. The ceiling was thumping with the bland ballroom music which the party upstairs (where I'm supposed to be at) was having. With poise still intact and eyes trying to steady, I paid my bill to the manager doing the inventory in table one and trudged my way back to the second floor.

Back to the party, I gave my sweetest smile to the horde of gossiping co-teachers around me and took my seat. They were still having the same bland music that they had before I sneaked out. But nobody knew I was already a bit tipsy. hehehe. That's TQ's secret in enduring a totally boring office party.

I had to stay until the end even if I didn't get to register and join the friggin' raffle. And I was late because the make-up artist squeezed in two other clients while I was getting blowdried by her assistant. And I wasn't able to go to the salon earlier because I was waxing my legs!

Geez, I did all that para lang malingaw ko. Para lang I can forget, even for a while, how alone I feel right now without Honey. It's always about him. (*cursing*)