Life Lately and look, an invitation set!

We're flying to Singapore next year!

One of my cousins is getting married at SG next year, and since it falls on my sister's birth month too, we decided to go for it for a double celebration! I got three tickets for my parents and my sister first. I told them I had to wait for the result of my US visa application before deciding if I could join, and because I got denied (more about it below), I booked myself a ticket na! But that's after waiting for another seat sale. I got a roundtrip ticket for 5k (yay?). Honestly, I still find it super mahal 'cos I still have to pay travel tax and terminal fee which is mga 2k din huhu. Juskolord ang gastos pala.

Anyway, if you want to score cheap airfares, just follow airline and promo pages on facebook, and set their visibility option to SEE FIRST. That way when you log in to facebook, edi you see them first haha. That's how I look up promos. :D

My 2nd US visa application got denied

To be honest I was surprised that I took this rejection lighter than expected. I even brought shades with me in case I come out of the embassy crying, lol, but I never got to use it. Anyway. As with my first application, I applied for a B1 (business) visa for the same purpose (client meetings) and for a shorter term (8 weeks, my last was 12).

My appointment was scheduled on a Friday at 7:25am. I was already within premises by 6:15am because I didn't want to get stuck in traffic. I parked at Ermita Center, which is nearest to the footbridge closest to the US embassy. You can park anywhere on that entire stretch. Parking fee costs 120 pesos (just 100 really but the bantays there said the extra bente is for kape kape lang lol) and you can stay until 2pm. Lo and behold when I got the receipt, it says 30 pesos for the first 3 hours. Those guys deserve some Starbucks coffee. Yung Venti. Wahaha. Pun intended.

I went in line around 7am and waited some 15 minutes before the guards started assembling people for the 7:25am appointment. There are placards showing which schedule is being served currently, and you have to wait for the guards to replace it with your call time before you can fall in line.

By 7:20 I was already inside the complex, queueing for Step 1: Pre-screening (or something). In which I handed the officer at the window my passport and guarantee letter. He asked for the purpose of my visit, then he turned to his computer to type stuff. After a while, he returned my docs and let me queue for the next step.

Step 2: Fingerprint scanning. In which I'm lucky not to have a menopausal pinay shouting at me to freaking straighten my fingers and dry them properly before trying again for the nth time. That window was scary.

Step 3: Interview aka the moment of truth, also where you should greet the consul with all the positive energy in the world. Joke. Here I was asked a lot of questions. I was also asked for a copy of my itinerary and my previous passport with my old visa. I was left to wait for a long time, and when the consul got back I was denied ultimately, saying I should consider applying for a different visa type instead. I would like to assume H (work visa), after all, my previous visa was annotated "B in lieu of H". Haizt.

I felt bad for the person waiting behind me, but worse for myself because I haven't even properly stuck my passport back to my envelope when he shouted SHAME! *ting ting ting* I mean, NEXT! K, last na yan.

Just finished designing an invitation set!

It's the first time I designed a wedding invitation set so I really had to research on what goes into it. Apparently, ang dami pala lol. This is pretty basic, just four cards in total. The main card, RSVP, entourage and map. When I learned about the theme which is florals, purple, and wood... I knew it'll be easy for me! I'm also so happy to learn that the client loves it! Can't wait to see it printed!

Hire me! I'm all ears (and kilig) on your wedding! :)

:D