Spa Me!

This afternoon, my schedule was to cover this seminar on a new line of beauty products. When I arrived at the venue, the four men, whom I suppose were part of the management team, were surprised to see me. There was no schedule of a product seminar yet, I was informed. There was nothing really going on at that moment except for the preparations they were making for the “big launch”. So as not to waste the time and energy I spent in going there, I just told them that I would do a brief interview about their company and their line of products.

When I was about to take down notes, this man sitting across me told me that he would just get my e-mail address and have their agency send me a media kit. He said that would save me the trouble of jotting down notes and doing the interview. And of course, I agreed. Indeed sending me a media kit would save me on a lot of things. However, he should have had offered me a transportation refund as well for being there and coming on time. Ah shocks.

Since Karen’s office was just across the street, I decided to pay her a visit at the radio station booth. The last time I saw was several month’s ago. She was still preggy then. Anyway, I was glad to see her today. I’m glad that she is happy and in love with someone right now. She deserves to be happy.

I got a call from the office today and I agreed to cover another event tonight. A newly opened spa held a press conference at the Lighthouse restaurant. When I got there, I sat beside this familiar-looking woman. I couldn’t place her face yet but I was sure that I’ve seen her before. I introduced myself to her. She said her name was Cookie. I didn’t catch her last name. She seemed friendly so I tried to converse with her. Soon people were coming inside the room and I noticed that most of them were from the media industry. Of course! It’s a press conference! Gosh! What was I thinking?!And they really all look familiar. I just couldn’t remember how or where I saw these people, but they were really all familiar-looking.

When I signed the guestbook, I noticed Cookie’s name. Cookie Newman. Now, I know her. No wonder she seemed so familiar. I’ve actually read several of her articles in another newspaper. And I was like “WOW! I’m sitting right next to her.” And I was just amazed at how lucky I was to be sitting at the same table with the veteran writers. The other two older ladies sitting across the table were one of Cebu’s prominent media print personalities and I felt a bit nervous and at the same honored to be with them. All three ladies (Cookie, Rose, and Chinggay) were very friendly and accommodating. Well at first, I was intimated by their presence at the table. However, when they started smiling and talking, I felt relieved.

Food at the event were sumptuous. As Cookie said, it seemed that every item on the menu was served at the table. My eyes were looking at the dishes on the table and I was so unhappy. Yes, I was unhappy looking at the crabs and lobsters, the shrimp soup, the fish and the “tahong”. OMG. My face had an obvious frustrated and distressed look on it. What am I suppose to eat here? I hate seafood. I hate seafood.I really hate seafood. I don’t find them delicious at all. I can eat grass but not seafood.

Well, I did eat with Karen before I went to the press conference. I knew what Lighthouse restaurant is. It’s a seafood restaurant. So, I decided to eat dinner first before going to the event. I was already expecting tragedy for me come dinnertime at the restaurant. But of course, I need to eat something while I was dining with these people! So I grab a bowl of shrimp soup. No shrimp. Just pure soup. I tried to act like I was really enjoying the soup but it seemed that the three women noticed that I was not eating. I told them I was full and that I ate dinner before coming to the event. That was not a lie. I was full. I did eat with Karen. But I felt that I had to eat something so as not to look so stupid sitting there doing nothing. So I ate the kangkong and the pinakbet served at the table. And the three ladies concluded that I’m a vegetarian. “She doesn’t eat meat”, one of them said. Well, that’s not true. I adore burger and KFC chicken. Anyway, I told them I don’t eat seafood. Not that I’m allergic to them but I just don’t eat them. “Ah, so you really are a vegetarian”, one of them said. Sigh.

The best part of the event was the giving out of freebies! Gosh! I had a 1k worth of gift certificate from the Queen of Stone spa. And I told myself that GCs are great! Who doesn’t want GCs? And guess what? We were all invited to try out their magic stone therapy for FREE!! We didn’t use the GCs. And I was happy because I wanted to give the GCs to Mama Lorna and Mama Virgie as Mother Day’s gift.

The therapy was OK. Every session would cost 500 pesos but the spa offers programs for 6 to 12 months membership amounting between 10k-20k. So this is how the therapy goes: You get inside this 40 degrees C room and stay there for 15 minutes. For the first five minutes, you lie on the heated floor facedown, the next 5 minutes on your back, and the last 5 minutes you’ll be sitting on the floor. In just 15 minutes, you’ll be dripping sweat. You burn calories, detoxify your skin without doing exercises or undergoing chemical treatments. It’s purely natural. After 15 minutes, we went out of the room and got dressed. I wanted to stay longer inside the room but we had to be considerate because there were other people waiting to try the therapy. I could always go back some other time, I consoled myself.

And just my luck, we were given more GCs before we left the spa. They wanted us to try therapy for five days. And I think that’s cool. I’m tired.

~ by 32flavors on May 8, 2008.