Still Alive And Swiping

Half Review of A Dance with Dragons

2011-07-28T15:45:00.000+10:00

I’m halfway through A Dance with Dragons – the fifth book in George R. R. Martin’s epic series A Song of Ice and Fire. I bought the Kindle edition in June and I received it on my phone on the twelfth of July - the day it was finally released. I’ve been waiting five years for this book and normally, I’d have finished this in a day or two but I’ve only been reading it on the train on the way to and from work.

A Feast for Crows, the previous book, was not exactly a letdown but it did not match the pace of the first three books in the series. The first three books dealt with a war and the events that led up to it. The first three books felt like a snowball rolling downhill, gathering momentum and building mass. Feast is wast happens after the snowball hits a tree and smashes to pieces. In the series’ chronology, parts of Dance happen at the same time that the events in Feast occur. The first half of Dance continues that pace. The main characters are still picking up the pieces after the wars that ravaged their lands.

My favorite characters are back – Jon Snow, Bran Stark, Daenerys Targaryen and Tyrion Lannister. So far, I like the development with Jon Snow and Bran Stark. Daenerys is administratively bogged down by the kingdom that she conquered. I liked Daenerys as the queen-general rather than the queen-administrator. Tyrion is either being pushed around or dragged around. He's gone from someone who was shaping the story to a more or less passive character. Arya Stark, another favorite, will supposedly make an appearance later in the book.

That's it for now for this half review. I'll post my over all impression after I finish the book.

Fingers Crossed

2011-07-21T14:24:00.001+10:00

I’ve wanted to write for a while now but it seemed that I couldn’t find the words. It seemed that I had lost my skill for words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs. It’s not just the writing though. My conversation has been terse and unsatisfying. I haven’t been expounding on concepts and ideas that I have been trying to get across. Recent interviews have not gone as well as interviews that I’ve had in the past. Feedbacks I’ve received mention that I did paint a clear enough picture of what I do. Maybe I should bring in a picture of myself work on a spread sheet. A picture paints a thousand words, right?

I used to blame Facebook with its short status messages. I can now switch that blame to Twitter with its 140 character limit but I won’t. I could blame it on the work that I do because all I work with are numbers and numbers speak for themselves. The only one to blame is me. I once read that a writer should write every day even if what he writes never gets published. Writing, like any skill should be practiced and the lack of practice has made my skill close to non-existent.

So this is the goal: Improve my skill with language through writing. I swear to write something every day in view of achieving this goal. It might be true or fictitious. It might or might not make an appearance here. The important thing is to start writing again.

It Took Them Long Enough

2011-02-04T11:01:00.002+11:00

Finally there's a Blogger for Android app. I've been wanting to mobile blogging for the last five years and there has never been a really convenient way to do it. I was stoked when Google announced that they were getting into the mobile OS business and I was expecting this to be part of Android OS from day one but it wasnt. Now it's here. http://buzz.blogger.com/2011/02/introducing-blogger-android-app.html?spref=tw this might just be the catalyst I need to actually return to blogging regularly.

Been A While (Or Back To Blogging?)

2010-10-25T16:45:00.001+11:00

It’s been a while. Over a year and a bit since my last post. I’ll Facebook for that. In a world where everything becoming instant – instant coffee, instant noodles, Google’s instant search – writing a short status message is probably the closest you can get to instant blogging. Like instant coffee, there’s no need to percolate. Status messages were instant gratification. The only problem with Facebook is that it’s a public forum. You can’t just slag off people because it’s highly likely that it’s going to get back to them. Let me tell you that I have some obscure references in my status messages – from song titles to movie quotes – in order to avoid getting in trouble at work.

One major change since my last post is that my blithering idiot of a boss quit. He found a higher paying job at a bigger company. That change brought about a significant improvement in my work environment. Though I am still on the look out for better opportunities, it is no longer a matter of life or sanity. I am also connecting better with my co-workers probably because, their impression of me is no longer through the filter of my ex-boss’ jackassery. Yeah, that’s a word. Google it.

A couple of months after ex-boss left, new boss arrived. He sort of leaves me alone to go about the regular stuff that needs to get done. Get my opinions on the best way to get the information he needs. We have zero roundabout discussions – I get the answer to question I ask without equivocation. He is also definitely better at directing the decisions of our co-workers to getting better outcomes. He tells me not to stay late if there’s no need and doesn’t care what hours I work as long I deliver. Plus he’s fun – he has actually been thrown out of a club once. He says he wasn’t actually thrown out but rather politely asked to leave because it was a high end club. He’s the complete opposite of my ex-boss. In other words, I like new boss.

‘Til next time.

Unbreakable

2009-09-15T19:43:00.000+10:00

I rolled my feet several times over the weekend (not on purpose and not at the same time) but amazingly I away away from the experience with nary a sprain. First time I rolled a foot was during a squash game on Saturday and I rolled the other foot a couple of times after. To my surprise I didn’t feel any pain in my ankles. Then on Sunday, I rolled my foot when I landed wrongly after a smash (don’t get excited, I can’t do really smashing smashes) during a badminton game. I almost fell to the ground but luckily, I kept my footing. I felt pretty sure that the landing was a bad one. I thought I got myself a sprain. I gingerly rotated my ankle and was pleasantly astonished to find no pain whatsoever. Though I didn’t really want to be injured, I would’ve welcomed an excuse to get off work. Yeah, it all boils down to that. Too bad I seem to have become unbreakable over the weekend.

Easter Surprise

2009-04-14T23:24:00.000+10:00

I had one of the most ridiculous arguments with my boss last Thursday. What complicated it was that it was over the phone because he was working from home in anticipation of the public holiday. We were working on the financials of a new product and he was arguing that the profit margin should be lower. I kept telling him that the effect the new product would be for lower spending customers to substitute the new product for the old. The higher spenders would continue buying the older product resulting in the higher profit margin. However, he would listen. He wanted me to subtract something, add something and multiply something. I don’t really remember the specifics but I do remember that it made absolutely no sense and I didn’t sugarcoat my disagreement. I said that what he wanted wouldn’t work but I would do an analysis and send it along in a few minutes. This was at five thirty and the next day was a public holiday.

I quickly put together something simple and direct in a spreadsheet and sent it off in an email. As I log off from my desktop, the phone on my desk rang. I ignored it and walked out the office door. The next day was a holiday. I knew it was probably bound to bite me in the ass but I didn’t want it to affect my four-day weekend. I put the whole incident out of my mind so I wasn’t expecting what happened this morning. When my boss arrived, first thing that he said was that I did a good job the previous Thursday. He said he had been looking at it from the wrong angle and that my spreadsheet helped him see the right angle. Sometimes the win comes when you least expect it and I’ll take whenever I can be it big or small.

Sad Tidings

2008-12-25T00:47:00.000+11:00

Sad tidings on what is supposedly a day of good tidings. Just got home from dinner and as is my habit I checked my email. The top message proclaimed sad news. The seven year old daughter of a friend suffered a cardiac arrest due to a rare viral infection. It’s beyond my comprehension how something like this can happen on this particular day. I am not a parent but I know that I cannot imagine what kind of grief my friend and his wife must be going through. Please say a prayer for Niña and her parents.

Earplugs Please

2008-11-19T23:13:00.001+11:00

One of these days I just might strangle my blithering idiot of a boss. Yes, he’s a blithering idiot! He talks half of the time and more than half of it is nonsense.

So here’s what happened.

The blithering idiot asks me to do some analysis. I do the spreadsheet and after I’m done he asks me to take him through it. He keeps interrupting with question and he never gets the flow of the equations. The blithering idiot complains that what I did was not useful for his purposes. At this point I excuse myself and say that I need to go have lunch. I say that the file is saved on the server if he wants to work on it. I needed to cool off and lunch was the quickest excuse that I could think of.

When I get back from lunch, I find the blithering idiot working on the spreadsheet. He stops for five minutes to give me something else to do. Five minutes after I start working, he calls me over to ask for help on the spreadsheet. I am trying to figure out how he’s equations flow in order to get the number that he wants. He blithers on about how the data is not right, about how I did it wrong, about how he can’t do everything himself and about how I should be picking up the slack. I could have grabbed my chair right then and smacked him over the head with it but instead I grab the mouse and the keyboard and entered a few equations into the spreadsheet.

He takes a look at the spreadsheet again and declares that it’s going to work after all. He takes a look at one of my equations and says that it’s wrong. He changes it and result is wrong. He tries a variety of equations that are all wrong. Ultimately, he ends ups with my original equation with some of the items switched around. His self congratulatory blithering makes me want to hurl but I manage to resist pointing out that it’s my original equation anyway.

I go back to my computer to continue the stuff that I was working on. The blithering idiot then asks me how I’m doing on the work that he assigned. I was talking to you, I deadpan.

I swear, you just can’t make this stuff up.

Burn Out

2008-11-05T20:18:00.000+11:00

Be careful what you wish for. Taking too long to adjust. Spoiled rotten by jobs that didn’t require too much thinking. Still enjoying it but it gets exhausting. Brain might start working again in a year or so.

Shot And Shot Back

2008-09-20T21:40:00.000+10:00

I am totally exhausted and quite bruised and battered. I think that’s what four hour of paintball will do to you. It wasn’t exactly four continuous hours but still, it’s freakin’ exhausting. And those paintballs hurt leavings marks from light bruises to welts depending on how far away it was fired. And I got hit, not as much as some but I think it was a lot. I hate those freaking teenagers. Going all Rambo and just wasting their bullets by just firing everywhere and firing up really close (that really hurts and leaves a really round welt). Getting hit is not the only thing causing all the hurt. All that running and crouching and kneeling take their toll on the legs and knees. After all that, the only reward you get is seeing a couple of your paintballs make contact and splat onto someone’s camouflage jumpsuit. Okay, so I had fun. Can you blame me?

Kaboom!

2008-09-14T20:29:00.001+10:00

So they fired up the large hadron collider. Supposedly, it will help scientists understand the secrets of the big bang. For some reason, it conjures science fiction-y images of a technician accidentally leaning on a button and starting the universe. Of course that would also mean the end of our universe. Is that what they call a paradox?

Fling Into Something

2008-09-03T23:16:00.000+10:00

My curvy new fling is a demanding mistress. She demands that I must always hold her in my arms. In the beginning my hands and fingers were clumsy causing her to make annoyed noises. I began to think that I might have to give her up but it’s a good thing that in the age of the internet it’s possible to learn things you wouldn’t normally learn from the person next door. So I learned how to hold her and my fingers began working a bit of magic and we started making music together. It’s not always beautiful but my hands are still learning and little by little they are learning the right way to stroke her.

Only now the problem is that she’s becoming more demanding. She sits at home waiting for me at night. When I get there, her mere presence draws me in and I am powerless to resist. I hold her in my arms and my fingers move. Time passes and before I know it, midnight has come and gone and I have to sleep for morning will inevitably arrives in a few hours and with it the responsibilities of reality. When I wake up she is there demanding that my hands continue their learning and foolish me just follows her wishes. An hour passes before I realize that I have to go and work but I am still reluctant to leave.

All day in the office all I think about is coming home at night and continuing my learning with my hands. I’m beginning to think that this is turning into something more than just a fling.

Cold Holiday

2008-08-31T21:40:00.003+10:00

Before spring sprang up of us and the snow melted I managed to go up to the mountains and catch a glimpse of this.

I also managed to try skiing. It was fun when you were going down the hill. Stopping was a problem though and I ended up falling most of the time. It wasn’t painful or anything but getting your legs tangled up with the ski was kind of a pain in the ass. It was a little humbling that three year olds were going down the hill faster without falling but then again they were born here and could probably ski before they could run.

Say That Again

2008-08-20T21:42:00.001+10:00

Dag nab it! Sometimes I feel like a I keep saying the same things over and over again and doing the same things over and over again. Oh, wait! Maybe that’s because I am! At first I thought it was déjà vu but I realized that it was actually happening again. I’ve had the same conversation with my boss four times in the past eight working days. For some strange reason, he seems to forget the outcome of the conversion and we go through the entirely futile exercise with a different outcome and I have to redo a spreadsheet. With each repetition, I grew more confused and exasperated that I was a bit short earlier when I just finally said, “Carl, can you just decide which number you want me to use! We’ve gone over this several times and you’ve flipped-flopped as much.” Anyway, I think he came away thinking that I had the number right this time. I don’t know what he’s going to be thinking tomorrow. I’m just glad this day is over.

We also have a consultant working in the office for some process improvement crap and he’s been doing the round of interviews. I’m one of the people he’s been interviewing and for the life of me I’ve explained a certain concept over ten times. I don’t know whether it’s the language barrier because English isn’t my first language and it isn’t his as well. The thing is, my boss has also explained the same thing to him ten times. So what are we supposed to think? What really pisses me off is when he comes to me with a question and then he goes right to my boss for confirmation who tells him the same thing. I wanted to yell, “What the hell did you waste my time for if you were going to ask my boss anyway.” The past couple of times though, I’ve directed him to my boss all the while feigning ignorance.

Oh well, sometimes things just doesn’t turn out exactly the way you want them but there’s no way I won’t trade it for my old job.

New Tricks

2008-08-17T10:49:00.000+10:00

I’ve started trying to learn two new things. One is not exactly new but I could only do it really poorly so I’ve decided to get better at it and to get help learning it. I’ve actually noticed a drastic improvement in the past few weeks that I’ve been doing it. I have the movements and the breathing right so now I just have to get my stamina up so that I can go the distance. When the whole thing is done I hope I’ll be able to go from end to end and back without stopping and standing up sometime in the middle.

The other thing I’m trying to learn is something I’ve been told that I didn’t have the natural ability for and that I didn’t have the right physical qualities for. For some reason though, I’ve always wanted to learn it and a couple of months ago I got the necessary equipment and I started poking around with it. I can’t say that I’m having a as good as an improvement on this one as on the first. It’s requiring me to develop some dexterity and strength in particular areas of my body which didn’t get that much movement. I wasn’t getting frustrated or anything because I was pretty sure this was going to be a challenge. I recently found a pattern that required less drastic changes in position and I’m sort of getting the rhythm right which is giving me hope that I might actually learn this thing.

Anyway, those who really know me know that I have this thing for learning and thirty’s never too old to learn new tricks.

Crabby

2008-08-06T20:36:00.002+10:00

A reminder of summer during this very cold winter (still no snow though).

The Long Way Around

2008-06-24T19:44:00.002+10:00

Here’s another example of how wired (weird) the world we live in. A cousin who lives in Canada leaves you a message on Facebook and Friendster and also sends you an email so that you can tell your mom that a certain uncle has passed away. Apparently, your mom forgot to tell a few people that she had a new phone number that she got with that new prepaid phone and that you’re actually one of those people that she forgot to tell. You end up calling your brother who tells you that your mom has new phone number and you tell him to tell her the news.

Forgive me if I seem callous about my uncle’s passing. It’s just that it’s been expected for quite a while. He had a stroke over fifteen years ago and has never recovered. About fifty percent of his body was paralysed. A second stroke a few years after the first then relegated him to a wheel chair and his speech became nearly unintelligible. You could see the frustration in his eyes whenever he tried to communicate. His health had been on a steady decline – in and out of hospital on various infections and complications. I think he deserves the break from all that. Still, it’s sad to lose someone in the family.

Something To Do

2008-06-19T22:36:00.004+10:00

Dang! It’s been so long since I’ve last written that I seem to have forgotten how. It’s that forced vacation from cyberspace. Anyway, what I want to write about is how I’m enjoying my new job. Basically, what I’ve been doing for the past three weeks is making magic with numbers and designing powerpoint slides. Yep, designing. Basically, I’m helping my boss design the contents so that it’s graphical instead of the usual boring text that you see in most powerpoint presentations. My boss seems to have an obsession for charts yet when I look at the slides they make sense. It’s not a completely new way of thinking but I’m getting reacquainted with it.

He seems happy that I am able to grasp the concepts that he wants to show through the charts and execute the charts accordingly. I gathered the person who had the role before me was let go after only two weeks because she couldn’t grasp my boss’ way of thinking. It’s kind of scary but I’m not even considering the possibility that I might be let go.

My boss seems to be competent in his role. It’s quite encouraging that he spoke with me about his plans and where I fit in them. It’s been quite a while since I felt like I was not just a drone filing to work every day doing my shtick but an actual valued contributor. Of course, the downside to this is that it means I can’t slack off anymore and it’s time to actually time for me to get down to some real work. Oh well, they do say that you should be careful what you wish for and I did wish for a challenging job so who am I to complain.

I'm Back!

2008-06-13T18:32:00.000+10:00

Huzzah! I finally have internet! After moving to a new apartment (actually, it’s old; I’m the one who’s new in it) five weeks ago, I’m back in cyberspace. I actually went on withdrawal symptoms and went online using my 3G phone and ended up with a massive phone bill. Anyway, I just wanted to re-establish my link to cyberspace and I’m off to do something absolutely geeky. Again, huzzah!

Hot Under The Bonnet

2008-05-05T21:58:00.000+10:00

For some strange reason I’ve been getting the feeling that I should take a look under my car’s bonnet (that’s the hood for those who speak American) for quite a while. Call it gut feeling or sixth sense but I’ve been preoccupied with cramming and I took it for granted.

Tonight I finally succumbed to the gut feel and took a look under the hood. At first I didn’t notice anything amiss. I took a second look and noticed that the coolant reservoir was white. It was usually tinged green due to the coolant. I should’ve noticed that immediately. I went to open the cap of the reservoir and found out that it was loosely screwed on.

The last time I looked under the bonnet was a couple of weeks before I brought in the car for servicing and the coolant reservoir was full back then. I see a very pitiful puddle on the bottom of the reservoir as I peeked though the opening. The crew must’ve forgotten to tighten the cap when they topped it up. That was a little over two months ago. Dang! Two months is such a long time. Who knows how long that reservoir has been empty. For all I know I could’ve been driving without coolant and damaging my car for close to two months. I hope I haven’t done too much damaged. So friggin’ stupid! I’ve just been lucky that my car hasn’t overheated.

I ran upstairs to the apartment to get the bottle of coolant that I keep for topping up in case the coolant drops below the minimum line. It was about three quarters full. I emptied it into the reservoir and yet it was still a centimetre or so below the minimum line. It’s going to have to wait until tomorrow.

Dang! Sometimes it’s tough knowing next to zilch about cars and the only thing I know I don’t do often enough – check the fluid levels that is. This is what I get for listening to what that old bloke said, “If you have a new car and you have it maintained by an authorised service centre you don’t have to look under the bonnet.”

Oh well... There’s always the next time.

Exam On Metallurgy (Or My Cramming Was Definitely Not Iron Clad)

2008-05-02T22:30:00.000+10:00

Load off my shoulder. Finally took the exam that I’ve been cramming for, for the past three weeks. Three weeks isn’t cramming you say? To me it is, when you have about 300 pages of materials, loaded with jargon that could’ve been Sumerian for all I know, that you have to go through. This last week was really terrible as I always slept well past midnight then having to wake up at six to get ready for work. Well, I’m done with it for now. Hopefully, I pass so that I can be done with it period.

A friend of mine told me that I’m probably an adrenaline junkie and since I can’t get my kicks off the way the rich kids do, I do it the way I know how. I study for exams at the last minute, stress about what I might have missed and then stress about the possibility of failing. Definitely a weird way to go about getting an adrenaline high, if you ask me I’d rather jump out of a plane. With a parachute on of course.

As has become my tradition, I went to a movie after the exam. And the timing was just right because Iron Man just came out yesterday. I’ve never really been a big fan of the comic book and the character. I was thought that Tony Stark was little too serious. Thank Robert Downey Jr. was able to make him seem serious and flippant at the same time. It made the character enjoyable to watch.

As for the CGI, it was really good. I could believe that it a real aromor. Anyway, to me it seemed no different from most sports cars that you can seen on the movies though I’m not really sure if a sports car is a good comparison.

The action scenes were short and sweet which makes you want to ask for more. I read reviews saying that the final confrontation seemed rushed through but I beg to disagree. I thought it was just right. We didn’t need to see a long drawn out battle between two armor powered individuals. We needed to see some explosive moments, some pounding and some flying. It also gave us a fast thinking Hero who could finish the fight without too much chitchat.

When the movie ended, i hadn’t thought that two hours had passed but two hours did and it wasn’t a wasted two hours. If you’re looking for some good old superhero comic movie, you definitely gotta go see Iron Man.

Not Long Enough

2008-04-16T14:40:00.000+10:00

I’ve been bouncing around from one company to another that I’m no longer surprised when my friends ask where I work even if I’ve been working for the same company for a little over a year now. Whenever anyone comments that I’ve with the same company for quite a while, I’d jokingly add that it seems that a year is too long to stay with one company.

It seems that the time to move along has come around again. I wasn’t really looking though. I’ve been disappointed with a couple of opportunities earlier this year. I wasn’t really keen on those anyway but the rejection did sting.

When the agent called me about me about this job, I was bit reticent because I’ve sort reconciled myself to my job for the mean time but when I read the job spec that he sent I decided to give it a go. I thought I made a pretty good impression so I wasn’t surprised when I was asked back for second interview. What surprised me though, was that they wanted me to do a case presentation for the second interview.

Suddenly I felt like I was back in business school. I crunch the numbers and find something wrong with some of the results that I was getting. Unfortunately, I couldn’t ask the source for clarifications. I make do with what I had. I think it was at this point that I decided that I would take the job if it was offered to me. It’s not very often that I come across a job that asks me to do some actual number crunching.

Earlier today, I made the presentation to the manager and he asked me some questions about how I did my computations. He pointed out to me where I made different interpretations of the case facts. It was quite obvious that it was possible to interpret certain parts of the case in different ways. He didn’t dwell on it. He said he just wanted to see the way my thinking went and I gathered that the other candidate’s thinking didn’t exactly go the way that he wanted.

A couple of hours later, I get a call from the agent telling me that I’m being offered the job. He comments that I don’t sound too happy. I couldn’t exactly start jumping up and down in my cubicle but I was happy. The only concern I had was the resignation. I’ve never been really good at them.

What Exactly?

2008-03-28T04:15:00.000+11:00

I saw this ‘Marketplace Listing’ on Facebook and I can’t help but ask, “What exactly are they selling?” Judging by the ad alone, what would you think?

Someone at that company took the advertising slogan ‘Sex Sells’ a little too seriously. I’m willing to bet that if I clicked on the ad, it would’ve had absolutely nothing to do with that picture.

*No, I’m not running the ad slash getting paid for it.

If It’s On The Internet, It Must Be True

2008-03-27T14:25:00.000+11:00

Not. This news item made me go, “Whaddafuck?”

A pair of hoax ads on Craigslist cost an American man much of what he owned.

The ads popped up Saturday afternoon, saying the owner of a Jacksonville home was forced to leave the area suddenly and his belongings, including a horse, were free for the taking, said Jackson County sheriff's Detective Sergeant Colin Fagan.

But Robert Salisbury had no plans to leave. The independent contractor was at Emigrant Lake when he got a call from a woman who had stopped by his house to claim his horse.

On his way home he stopped a truck loaded down with his work ladders, lawn mower and weed eater.

What kind of people would take an internet ad as truth over the word of the actual owner? Kinda scary really.

Makes you wonder what kind of person would pull that kind of ‘prank.’ On the other hand, they say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Missed Call

2008-03-16T08:30:00.000+11:00

I did not know the reason behind the malaise that has been hanging over me for the past couple of years. Mostly I thought I was just dissatisfied with the type of work that I had been doing. I can’t even find it in myself to dig out enough interest to get into my CPA program materials. I’d been telling myself that it will end when I find a job that would keep me interested. For all I know, it’s probably a lie that I’ve turned into a mantra.

It’s not just the job. It’s the entire field I’m in. I’ve come to realise that number crunching isn’t really what I was meant for. The realisation was a very gradual process and it came about primarily due to envy. For a while now, I’ve been finding friends from high school and college on friendster who are now doctors and I wonder how they actually made it. I find myself saying, “I’m smarter than him,” “He’s a goofball,” “She’s too pretty,” or, “She didn’t want to be a doctor.” It’s mean and conceited. Who said I was nice anyway?

I didn’t slag the others – the engineers, lawyers, programmers, managers or even the more successful ones who actually own their own businesses and are now bigwigs in their own right. For all I know, the grass could be actually greener on their side of the fence but I didn’t envy them. The ones I envied were the doctors. And I can’t really say that the grass is greener on their side because they go through several years of gruelling academics and training and that’s not exactly the end of it because you have to continue learning as you go.

I had the opportunity. I was there in a pre-med course then I tried to shift out because my parents told me that we couldn’t afford med school. I was given another chance when I couldn’t shift out because I lacked a couple of units. The universe might’ve been trying to tell me something when second attempt at shifting to another course got almost sidetracked by technicalities but I didn’t listen.

It’s not all that bad, though. Life has been very good to me. I have a stable job that pays quite well, I’ve got the gadgets that I’ve always wanted and I have a little something extra for rainy days. Yet, I get the feeling that I traded something more for less but as they say, everything is so much clearer in hindsight.

Sack ‘Em All

2008-03-05T17:40:00.000+11:00

The City Council of Wollongong was sacked today after the Independent Commission Against Corruption recommendation because of systemic corruption. A state government panel will be taking over the council for four years.

With all the crap that I’m hearing about the Philippine government right now, I wish something like this can be done about it. Just sack everyone from the president down to the Barangay Captains.

Times like these, I’m reminded of what Manuel L. Quezon once said, “I prefer a country run like hell by Filipinos to a country run like heaven by Americans.” I think I said it before that he seems to have sealed the fate of the Philippines with those words.

I was told that the entire quote read, “I prefer a country run like hell by Filipinos to a country run like heaven by Americans. Because, however bad a Filipino government might be, we can always change it.” Somehow, it seems to give us hope with the ability to change the government as we might see fit. Yet how many times have we changed the government hoping that the latest will be better than the last?

Now, this latest government that was put in power seems hell bent on staying in power and like the City Council of Wollongong, corruption is so systemic that we don’t even need an independent commission to investigate. It’s actually a given that you will need grease money when you have any transaction with any part of the government.

Makes me wish that there was a higher authority where we could appeal to sack the Philippine Government. If there were, I’d also ask them to ban anyone related to the current crop of politicians up to the 5th level consanguinity and affinity. That would probably mean that no Filipino can hold a government position because as they say, a Filipino’s got at least one politician as a godfather.

Yeah, yeah, I know just whingeing and I’m not offering any actual solution to the problems that the country faces but what can I do? I’m just one person who’s living in another country. If I could’ve done something about it, I might never have left.

Invidia

2008-03-01T07:00:00.000+11:00

Here’s a sorta funny story. I had a falling out with a friend after I heard that she’d been telling people that I’d become big show off after I got a car. It was never clear to me how she got that impression. In the first place I didn’t even tell anyone that I was buying a car. I never went around telling people that I had a new car. I don’t even have a picture of my car on Friendster or Facebook. If anything I actually tried to downplay it.

Anyway, I heard a couple of weeks ago from some friends that she was buying a car. Well, good for her, I said. When I logged in this morning to yahoo messenger, I see a status message consisting of a weird combination of letters and numbers beside her name. After a second, I figured out that it’s a license plate number. Must be an announcement. And I’m the big show off.

My friend Regine, once said to me that envy does weird things to people. I guess she’s right.

Win Some, Lose Some

2008-02-20T17:30:00.000+11:00

Two things went on today. First, I took the Australian citizenship test and second, I had a job interview. As usual, I left studying for the test to the last minute – I only read the booklet that the Department of Immigration and Citizenship last Sunday and I did some rereading yesterday. I’ve been told by some friends that the test was fairly easy and as it turns out, they were right. I finished the multiple choice test in no time at all. The computer told me I passed almost right after I clicked the submit button.

I can only wish that the interview went as well. It started well enough but a quarter of the way in, I started spluttering and can’t help but think that I was stuffing the whole thing up. It’s not that the interviewer was attractive which has been known to rob me of my powers of speech it’s just that I’m not entirely confident about what I do right now and it’s translating to job interviews because they ask you to talk about what you do. Well enough of that. I don’t really want to rant about work. I’ll just cross my fingers that they call me for a second interview.

Valentine Schmalentine

2008-02-15T10:00:00.000+11:00

I never really bought into the entire Valentine’s Day conspiracy. Yes, you heard right, it is a conspiracy. One hatched by the greeting card companies, chocolate makers, flower growers and restaurant owners. Haven’t you ever noticed that Valentine cards are a bit more expensive and the chocolates as well? That restaurants have Valentine’s day menus that cost a little bit more? And that the prices of flowers just skyrocket?

What?! You don’t believe me?! Well, why don’t’ you go out and see for yourself? You just got to experience it first hand. Trust me, I’ve been there. Your hard earned cash will be gone faster than you saying something stupid like Frank.

Someone once told me that the relevance behind Valentine’s Day is that it’s the one day in the year when you can show the special person in your life how much you love him or her which I, of course, totally disagreed with. “What about the other 364?” I asked (365 if it’s a leap year). Smart alecky, I know but that’s me.

I’m saying all this but you saw me queuing up for flowers some time ago? That wasn’t me. It must’ve been someone who looks like me. I have that kind of face. Everyone’s always saying that I look like someone they know. Okay. Fine. It was me. Even nonconformists have to conform once in a while if they don’t want to get left out in the cold for the wolves. Especially on the day when everyone else is getting a little something something. And if you must know, I won’t be spending tonight out in the cold. I’ll be inside the house with my 30-inch high definition LCD TV watching Lost.

In any case, three songs follow for those who, like me, are not celebrating. Take your pick.

Someone To Watch Over Me
Performed by Sting

There's a saying old says that love is blind
Still were often told "seek and you shall find"
So I'm going to seek a certain girl I've had in mind
Looking everywhere haven't found her yet
She's the big affair I cannot forget
Only girl I ever think of with regret
I'd like to add her initial to my monogram
Tell me where is the shepherdess for this lost lamb?

There's a somebody I'm longing to see
I hope that she turns out to be
Someone who'll watch over me

I'm a little lamb who's lost in the wood
I know I could always be good
To one who'll watch over me
Although I may not be the man some girls think of as handsome
To her heart I carry the key
Won't you tell her please to put on some speed, follow my lead
Oh, how I need someone who'll watch over me

There's a somebody I'm longing to see
I hope that she turns out to be
Someone to watch over me

I'm a little lamb who's lost in the wood
I know I could always be good
To one who'll watch over me

Although I may not be the man some girls think of as handsome
To her heart I carry the key
Won't you tell her please to put on some speed, follow my lead
Oh, how I need someone to watch over me

Somebody To Love
Performed by Queen

Can anybody find me somebody to love?
Each morning I get up I die a little
Can barely stand on my feet
Take a look in the mirror and cry
Lord what you're doing to me
I have spent all my years in believing you
But I just can't get no relief,
Lord!
Somebody, somebody
Can anybody find me somebody to love?

I work hard every day of my life
I work till I ache my bones
At the end I take home my hard earned pay all on my own -
I get down on my knees
And I start to pray
Till the tears run down from my eyes
Lord - somebody - somebody
Can anybody find me - somebody to love?

(He works hard)

Everyday - I try and I try and I try -
But everybody wants to put me down
They say I'm goin' crazy
They say I got a lot of water in my brain
Got no common sense
I got nobody left to believe
Yeah - yeah yeah yeah

Oh Lord
Somebody - somebody
Can anybody find me somebody to love?

Got no feel, I got no rhythm
I just keep losing my beat
I'm ok, I'm alright
Ain't gonna face no defeat
I just gotta get out of this prison cell
Someday I'm gonna be free, Lord!

Find me somebody to love
Can anybody find me somebody to love?

Love Song For No One
Performed by John Mayer

Staying home alone on a Friday
Flat on the floor looking back
On old love
Or lack thereof
After all the crushes are faded
And all my wishful thinking was wrong
I'm jaded
I hate it

I'm tired of being alone
So hurry up and get here
So tired of being alone
So hurry up and get here

Searching all my days just to find you
I'm not sure who I'm looking for
I'll know it
When I see you
Until then, I'll hide in my bedroom
Staying up all night just to write
A love song for no one

I'm tired of being alone
So hurry up and get here
So tired of being alone
So hurry up and get here

I could have met you in a sandbox
I could have passed you on the sidewalk
Could I have missed my chance
And watched you walk away?

I'm tired of being alone
So hurry up and get here
So tired of being alone
So hurry up and get here

I'm tired of being alone
So hurry up and get here
So tired of being alone
So hurry up and get here
You'll be so good
You'll be so good for me

Consider This

2008-02-13T18:15:00.000+11:00

Sometimes it takes people who are outside the picture to fully appreciate the image.

Whether original or heard or read somewhere else, it's something to keep in mind.

Must Be A Duck

2008-02-07T17:00:00.000+11:00

The Australian economy is in trouble. Inflation and interest rates are going up. It's not likely that the increases can be attributed to anything that the Labor government did because they've taken over form the Liberals a little over two months ago. Yet Wayne Swann, the Labor treasurer is on the news pointing the finger at the former Prime Minister.

I don't understand the political need to assign blame. In the first place, Labor wanted control of the government. They said there was something wrong with the way the Liberals was running the show and they wanted to fix it. The Liberals said they were running the show quite well, thank you, but the voters handed the reigns to Labor anyway.

So now that you have the reigns, one of the things that you said you were going to fix shows signs of getting worse and the first thing that you do is go on television and blame the old guy. He did it! It's his fault. I suppose that makes it all better. By pointing his finger at someone who can no longer effect government policy, Mr. Swann has managed to effective halt the rise of inflation and interest rates. (Of course not! Are you kidding? I was being sarcastic.)

If Mr. Swann wanted to continue playing the blame game, he might as well have persuaded Mr. Rudd (that’s the new prime minister, by the way) not to conduct such a vigorous campaign so that they can continue being in the opposition. Instead Mr. Rudd ran a very successful campaign and Labor was able to win a majority of seats in parliament which means that instead of going on tv and blaming the old government, he should be actually doing something about the problem.

Masha Wins 2008 Australian Open

2008-01-27T10:47:00.000+11:00

Everyone said that Maria Sharapova was the woman to beat in the Australian Open and they were right. She beat Ana Ivanovic in straight sets. She was very dominant from the get go and even if Ana was able to break back in the first set, she didn’t lose her composure and was able to break Ana to close out the set. The second set was more textbook tennis from Maria keeping pressure on Ana’s serve. This year’s Maria Sharapova was definitely stronger that last years and deserving of the win.

Did The World Just Stop Turning?

2008-01-26T17:15:00.000+11:00

Wow! Roger Federer lost to Novak Djokovic in straight sets. Does this mean that an era is an end?

Federer Through To Australian Open Semis

2008-01-24T17:35:00.000+11:00

Roger Federer just beat James Blake in the quarterfinals in order to move into the semis. Does that actually surprise anyone? I don’t think so. I think the point where Federer could’ve been beaten was passed several days when Janko Tipsarevic took him to five sets with the fifth going all the way to 10-8. Anyway, you can’t really take anything away from James Blake. He took many awesome shots (you had to have seen the match to believe it) but it seems that Federer stepped up his game and he was returning almost everything that Blake was giving. Predictably, Federer won in three sets but it was a hard fought three sets with Blake breaking Federer’s serve multiple times. Roger’s now set to meet Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals. Novak, world number three, has some great expectations to live up to. Is he the one to beat the Fed Express? Will their semis match be as predictable as most of Roger's matches?

Maria Sharapova Demolishes Justine Henin

2008-01-23T16:35:00.000+11:00

Did everybody see the Australian Open match between Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin?! It was just unbelievable! What is up with Maria? She practically demolished Justine at 6-4, 6-0. I saw a couple of her matches and I saw that she was moving really well but I expected a longer match against Justine. Though Justine lost the match, you couldn’t really find much fault at how she played. Well, I’m not an expert but Justine played some very good shots. It was just that everything seemed to be going right for Maria. And to think that I was expecting this to be the end of the line for Maria with a very slim margin of her winning - just goes to show how much I know.

Not A Blond Joke

2008-01-18T17:28:00.000+11:00

Did you ask her her yet?

Ask who what?

Did you ask that girl to The Police concert?

Oh, yeah.

What did she say?

She said she’s ‘Never heard of them.’

Kinda dim, huh?

Sorta.

Maybe she’s too young to have heard of The Police. But then again, who hasn’t heard of The Police?

Dude, who hasn’t heard of The Police? ‘Every Breath You Take’ is only the most played song on radio. By the way, she’s 29, just a year younger than me.

Is she blond?

No, but Sting is.

Daughtry, Terry Goodkind And Me (Or Too Much Time On My Hands)

2008-01-09T11:25:00.000+11:00

It’s been a while since I’ve take a train to work. As soon as I got on the train I remembered why I haven’t been taking it. The rain was full and I was gong to have to stand in the aisle until someone leaves. I had earphones in my ears listening to Daughtry singing , “I don't regret this life I chose for me. But these places and these faces are getting old…” I take out my copy of Terry Goodkind’s Chainfire and brace myself against the back of a seat and start reading.

I’ve had this book for ages (among other books that I’ve had for ages but haven’t read yet) but I haven’t gotten around to reading it. It’s part of a series of books that I began reading about a decade ago but somehow, I think it’s lost the freshness and originality of the first three or four books. Somehow, it seemed to have started rehashing the plot of separating the hero and the heroine and their desperate search for one another. Also certain philosophical expositions seemed to be repeated several times within one book and then repeated in other books as well. I think the later novels in the series would’ve benefited from a stricter editor who wasn’t afraid to pare down the bestselling author’s manuscript.

Anyway, the other day, I saw what’s supposed to be the final book in the series and remembered that I haven’t gotten around to finishing Chainfire (the third to the last) yet. Like any self -respecting geek, I have an obligation to finish the series that I started but there’s just too much distraction. There’s the TV, the internet and computer games in the house. I can’t read while driving and I can’t really read while I’m at work. Friends take up some of my other free time. Hence, the reason why I’m taking the train – there is absolutely nothing else to do on a train so I can read to my heart’s content. (It also just happens that there’s an ongoing roadwork on my drive to work which is causing massive delays. Plus it allows me to save on parking and petrol expenses. For the environmentally conscious, yeah, I’m also taking some days off from polluting the atmosphere.)

So that’s how I found myself in this predicament – reading an old book that looked new while standing in a crowded train. After some time, I realize that the train has stopped at central station and people were getting off. I jump on the nearest seat and continue reading my book. Some more minutes pass and it’s my turn to get up and off the train. I shove the book into my backpack and mingle into the crowd heading for work as Daughtry sings into my ear, “Well, I never saw it coming. I should've started running a long, long time ago…”

As The Year Ends... (2007)

2008-01-01T05:00:00.000+11:00

2007 seemed to have passed so quickly that I didn’t even notice that it’s already coming to an end. As usual, there were some goals that I wanted to accomplish, some things went my way while others didn’t.

For the things that went my way: I got a car. Found a permanent job. Passed two CPA exams.

The main thing that didn’t go my way: I still don’t have a place of my own.

For 2008, that will be the main thing. I gotta find an apartment of my own. And what else… I want to find a permanent job that challenges me (yeah, that’s what I said. I haven’t been railing against my job but I want something more engaging). Maybe I’ll take another couple of CPA exams and try to pass them.

I can’t really think of much else. I’m pretty satisfied with I have right now. I know that sounds like a cop out, especially since I’ve been trying to wrack my brains for the past couple of weeks for something that I need to accomplish in 2008.

Street Jazz

2007-12-23T12:45:00.000+11:00

I was walking along Pitt Street mall in the city (on my way to Borders) when I saw some teenaged buskers playing jazz. I stopped for a while and listened. The bongo player had a cowbell and he was putting it to good use. There was a trumpeter and a saxophonist as well as two guitarists. They seemed to be around sixteen or seventeen.

With jazz being called old people music, I was surprised to see boys that age actually having a good time playing jazz. I fished around my pocket for some coins and dropped them in the open guitar case hoping that it might somehow help those guys become better jazz musicians.

Illustration Of Irony

2007-12-21T22:43:00.000+11:00

An ambulance with sirens blaring and lights flashing on the way to an emergency gets hit by a car on an intersection. The ambulance turned on it’s side and the driver had to be extricated through the windscreen and rushed to a nearby hospital in another ambulance.

It was on the 6 o'clock news.

Overheard At The Beach

2007-12-06T20:25:00.000+11:00

“I really can’t see it.”
“But it’s right there! See? There’s the hidden Mickey.”

*No, that wasn't really what they were talking about. I was too far away to actually hear them.

Impulse Buyer

2007-12-03T14:45:00.000+11:00

I went to the mall to buy a shirt or two – being summer and that I can actually go smart casual to the office. I never got around to actually buying shirts though because I got completely sidetracked when I dropped by Borders.

I looked at some books, then some graphic novels and lastly I browsed the DVD section. To my surprise, I saw a boxed set of Cowboy Bebop. The series was shown in the Philippines several years ago but I never really got around to following it because of work and stuff. Although I saw only a few episodes, I was impressed by how they timed action sequences to the jazz and blues soundtrack. The sound track itself is impressive on its own. It’s also populated by quirky characters who draw you into their world.

Anyway, being anime deprived and all, I picked up the boxed set to look at the price but there was no tag. I checked an individual DVD and I’m a little dismayed to find the $29.95 price tag. From that figure I assumed that the boxed set would cost almost a hundred and eighty because there were six discs in all. I head to the information counter and the staff there informed me that it’s a hundred and eighteen. After hearing that, I merrily hopped to cashier. (Okay, so I didn’t exactly hop but I was really happy about the price.)

Having gotten a high from what I bought, I decided to check out the audio-video shop (they sell CDs, DVDs, video games and audio-video gear) for more anime. On the way to the DVD section, a home theatre system priced below three hundred catches my eye. Having never seen one priced that low, I ask one of the shop assistants if that price was for real and apparently it was. I said that if that it was that cheap, was it actually any good. He leaves me for a sec and comes back with a CD which he pops into the DVD receiver. After a few minutes of listening, I was sold.

After paying for the gear, I hurried home to set it up. When I got home, I took it right out of the box, fiddled around with the wires and after fifteen minutes it was all set up with my TV. I chuck in disc 1 of Cowboy Bebop into the DVD player and find my self in audio-visual heaven.

A Coup Again? (or Real Life Comedy)

2007-12-01T16:30:00.000+11:00

I heard there was another coup attempt in Manila again headed by former Navy Lieutenant Senior Grade, now Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. I sincerely believe that there is something seriously wrong with this guy who stages coup attempts in hotels. First Oakwood, now the Peninsula Manila. Aren’t coup attempts supposed to capture significant government and military installations?

Anyway, I heard they got arrested earlier today. That’s probably one of the shortest coup attempts ever. What self-respecting coup plotter stages a plot that lasts less then twenty-four hours? I guess the guy must have accidentally flushed his brain down the toilet yesterday – I mean he’s already a senator yet he stages a coup d’ etat which only results in him getting carted off to jail.

My initial reaction was indifference and after some consideration which took about half a second, I hadn’t changed my opinion. As it turns out, I wasn’t alone in this reaction. Friends who I’ve spoken to also displayed a similar disinterest. One professed anger at the stupidity of the whole exercise. This blog that I came across has a post that ridicules Trillanes’ seeming penchant for staging coup attempts in hotels. Jessica Zafra illustrates more indifference with this post and ridicules it some more with this one.

On a more serious note, Howie Severino makes an interesting observation with the plotters’ use of the name Magdalo. For those who have no prior knowledge of Philippine history,Magdalo was the name of a faction of the Katipunan which was led by General Emilio Aguinaldo who wrested the control of the Katipunan from it’s founder, Andres Bonifacio. (Yeah, okay so I might be a little biased in favor of Bonifacio. Besides, it’s not all that far from the truth.)

Anyway, it’s all over now there’s not much else to say but I will say this: Are they sure that it wasn’t Michael V. and the cast and crew of Bubble Gang who took over the Peninsula?

Never Mind

2007-11-30T15:15:00.000+11:00

Life sucks!

No, I didn’t get fired. I didn’t get dumped. I didn’t lose everything I own in freak meteor crash.

Then what’s the problem?

It seems that I’ve contracted a case of writer’s block and I’m not even a real writer. Every time I sit down to write up a post I end up writing just one sentence and then staring at it for hours (though I have to admit that I usually end up just surfing the net after half an hour or so).

Yeah, I know. I should just suck it up.

I can’t even rant properly. Crap.

Got A New Office Computer

2007-11-15T06:10:00.000+11:00

Not really. They just replaced the one I was using with something that I think might be a little over a year old but has a faster processor and bigger memory plus it’s also thinner. The one I was using previously was positively ancient – it was almost two inches thick and the keyboard had hieroglyphics.

The whole changeover thing was nearly painless. I had gotten this habit of putting all my files in the ‘My Documents’ folder so the transfer was relatively simple. Plus actual reports reside on file servers so the spreadsheets on my computer were relatively small.

The only minor glitch that I encountered was during the installation of a client side application for the financial systems that the company uses. It’s supposed to install automatically after I logged in to an intranet site but the installation wouldn’t proceed. I tried a couple of times then I got the IT guy to try. He logged on to a certain file server to look up the file and tried running it to no avail. He went to his desk to check on the file server and left the file server window open on my computer.

While waiting for the IT guy, I copied the installer from the file server to my desktop and tried running it. Guess what happened next? It worked! I called the IT guy to tell him not to waste him time on it anymore though he couldn’t explain to my why it worked when I copied the thing to my computer.

The whole thing with the installer reminded me of the first couple of jobs where I had to figure out some computer settings on my own because the IT people weren’t able to, then my co-workers would be asking me how to set up certain things on their computers. (Ah, those were the days…) Nowadays, it seems I always get the computer with everything up and running and I don’t even have to worry about setting up a printer (I just have to ask the IT guy where it is).

Different Seasons

2007-10-31T16:07:00.000+11:00

I woke up to a rainy Sunday morning in late winter and hearing the trickling rain, I somehow got the urge to pull up my blinds, open the window and get a whiff of the chilly fresh air. I saw this golden tree and I snapped a pic because, hey, I had a new camera (so sue me).

I kept the photo though I didn’t really know what to do with it. Until today that is. When I got home, I went to my room to change and noticed that it was quite warm. I opened the window to let out the warm air (the air outside was definitely cooler) and saw the same tree. Only this time, it looked a little different (that's an understatement if I ever heard one).

Near Miss

2007-10-18T17:20:00.000+10:00

I’m driving home at half past six. The three lane road is pretty much clear. I’m on the lane that’s close to the curb. Two cars are ahead of me on the lane to my right. The leading car is driving slower than the speed limit and the one following was tailgating.

I was wondering why the following driver was tailgating when road was clear – he could’ve just overtaken. I had noticed that particular car earlier when it was zigzagging its way through traffic. It overtook me a couple of times but I somehow managed to catch up and pass it without trying.

This thought was going through my head when the leading car simultaneously indicates a change and swerves to my lane. Thinking that the driver will continue down my lane, I slow from seventy to match its speed but it suddenly goes to a full stop as it swerves so as not to miss the petrol station’s driveway.

“Fucking idiot!” I yelled inside the car. No one does that – no one pulls into a driveway from the middle lane without enough warning time for the trailing cars unless they were complete idiots. At the speed I was going, slamming on the brakes full on wouldn’t have prevented a collision. As several murderous thoughts cross my mind, I step on the brake three-quarters of the way down, indicate a turn to my right and check my blind spot, just in case a car came up behind, and swerved to the right to avoid the idiot’s tail that wasn’t clear from the road just yet.

As I drove away, it occurs to me that I should’ve honked. Not that it would’ve made a difference in what the idiot would’ve done but it would’ve shown my displeasure at his action. Except I’ve rarely used the horns –so far, I think I’ve honked twice or thrice – that I almost forget that it exists. But no matter, I made a safe getaway anyway - thank God for anti-lock brakes.

Money Matters

2007-10-17T06:25:00.000+10:00

I was chatting with Virgil, my friend in Canada, and somehow it came up that the Canadian Dollar now has a higher value than the US Dollar. Thinking on my own experience, the Aussie Dollar was 75 US Cents when I got here but now it’s slightly higher than 90 US cents.

This is contrary to everything that I’ve grown up. In the twenty plus years that I’ve know about foreign exchange, I’ve only the US dollar’s value to increase but that’s because home country’s currency was continuously on the decline. I saw the US Dollar go from 20 Philippine Pesos to 50.

When I was younger my parents used to say that the exchange rate used to be 1 US Dollar to 2 Philippine Pesos. My eyes would widen at this (is it strange that and eight year old would actually find this stuff fascinating?). It was much later though that I would come to understand the mechanisms of floating and fixed exchange rates.

I’d learned that the lower exchange rate reflected a fundamental weakness in my country’s economy. Of course, with all the graft and corruption going around, there was really no one to take care of the fundamentals. Anyway, I never though I’d see the day that my home currency will go below 50 to the US Dollar but now I’ve already seen it – it’s actually below 44 to the US Dollar.

It would be something to celebrate if only it meant the Philippines economy was fundamentally stronger. Unfortunately, it is actually more a reflection of the weakness of the US dollar because the US Dollar has not only fallen again the Philippine Peso but against a whole slew of other currencies.

I really haven’t kept up with the literature so I’m not familiar with the reason for the fall of the US Dollar. I’ve heard somewhere that it’s because of financial crunch on the US housing marking. Some say that that it’s due to globalization and the transfer of production to facilities outside the US. Other quarters say that the US Federal Government has lost focus on the economy by pursuing the war on terror.

I think I agree with the last one. It not only has a whole lot of economic implications but also creates a lot of image issues for the US which have further economic implications. Then put that together with a president who seems to be doing a stand up comedy routine whenever he gives a speech (so much so that David Letterman has a segment for it on the Late Show) and you can see that the current state of their economy was inevitable.

All these issues seem remote to me but the situation really hits home when I remember that I still have 300 US dollars in my wallet which I bought for a little over 15,000 Philippine Pesos. It’s now worth less than 13,000 which means that I lost 2,000 Pesos without even knowing about it! In the Philippines, that 2,000 would have been good for several night outs (is this still the case?).

Fuck George W. Bush. He’s making my money’s worth less.

*If you read through the entire entry, I congratulate you. [lol]

Found Her Online

2007-10-15T06:30:00.000+10:00

I was a sceptic about the whole online thing but I’ve heard that some had met success with it so I decided to give it a go. I clicked and I looked but I didn’t see what I wanted. Then I saw a button for a more detailed search. I clicked on the attributes I wanted and suddenly there she was: exactly what I wanted. She had good looks and substance and I wanted her.

I was being impulsive but I couldn’t help myself so I entered some of my personal details and enter my credit card number and she would be mine. I didn’t think it would be this easy – I was just looking around and now I just committed myself. I clicked on the option to send her to the office since I couldn’t take a personal leave yet.

I was stoked for the next few days. I knew that she was everything I wanted but would she turn out to be all that in the flesh. I tried to control the building crescendo within me. I got a call from the website manager four days later and they told me that she would be arriving in three days between noon and four in the afternoon. It was all I could do not to jump in the air and shout for joy.

The day of her arrival came and I was like a puppy expecting a reward. I couldn’t sit still at my desk all morning. I took an early lunch just to make sure that I would be in when she got to the office. When I got back to the office, I told the receptionist what I was expecting and she said that she’d give me a call.

One o’clock passed, then two o’clock but no call came. I was beginning to worry so when three came, I went out to reception to check if she’d arrived. As it turned out, she’d been sitting in reception for two hours. The receptionist forgot to call me because apparently she was suddenly swamped with business calls.

None of my co-workers paid me any mind as I took her to my desk. I set her in a corner because I still had work to do and I couldn’t really pay her any attention yet. After a few moments though, I felt guilty, took her to my desk and laid her bare right there. What I saw didn’t disappoint me – she was exquisite. I wanted to run my hands all over her but that would have been too much in the office so I wrapped her back up and set her in the corner again. I couldn’t wait to get her home and play with her.

By the way, here’s what my new baby looks like.

The boring version:

I’ve been complaining about my laptop for a while now and I’ve been window shopping for a new one but I haven’t really seen one with specs that I wanted. I’ve heard that Dell has really great offers online so I decided to check it out. I went online, saw a computer I liked and I customised some of the specs.

Here’s a snapshot of the more relevant specs:

Dell XPS M1330
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7700 (upgrade from 2.0GHz)
4 GB RAM (upgrade from 2MB)
NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS with 128 MB dedicated memory
13” Widescreen with LED backlight
Windows Vista Home Premium
250 GB HDD (free upgrade from 160)
Messenger bag (free offer)

I wasn’t exactly planning to buy one yet but the combination of the price and the specs was irresistible so I ended up buying online. I’m pretty sure the processor, the memory and the graphics card will be able to handle my current and future (three or four years, I hope) requirements. Plus it actually looks good, too. I had it delivered to my office because there’d be no one to receive it at home. I was excitedly waiting for the delivery and found myself agitated that the receptionist forgot to call me when the delivery came.

All in all I’m happy with my decision.

Can't Touch This

2007-10-04T04:00:00.000+10:00

Have you seen the new iPod touch? Of course you have! What kind of question is that? It’s a stupid ass question, that’s what is it. What I actually meant was have you seen it up close and personal? People who own an iPhone are exempt from answering (because, you know, the iPod touch is jsut like an iPhone only without the phone).

I saw the mother of all multimedia devices on the weekend when I went to an electronics shop to… Well, I don’t really know what I was doing in an electronics shop. I think I got too drunk on all the gadgets. It happens sometimes.

But where was I… The iPod touch, right. I saw the damn thing and I was totally blown away. The screen is definitely gorgeous and I can actually imagine watching videos on it unlike the iPod video which has a small screen and don’t get me started on how stupid I think it is to put video playback on an iPod Nano.

So the iPod Touch has this gorgeous screen which begs you to watch movies on it but what the fuck was Steve Jobs thinking putting just sixteen gigabyte of storage on it? He can put eighty gigs on an iPod video but only sixteen on an iPod Touch?! He’s gotta be insane to do that. On the other hand, he might just be a really brilliant man. I mean, you have all those early adopters who want to get their hands on the latest gadgets and willing to shell out the two hundred bucks for the iPod touch. Then a year later when no one’s buying any more, release an eighty gig version and you have the early adopters wanting to upgrade buying again and you also get sales from people who were holding out for the higher capacity version. No wonder he’s frickin’ rich!

Passing The Time While On The Road (Or Does A Good Driver Make A Good Partner)*

2007-09-26T10:35:00.000+10:00

“How long have you been driving now?” Sarah asks. She’s sitting on the passenger seat of my car as we’re heading for her boyfriend’s place for lunch.

“I got the car in the middle of Feb so that’s about seven months. Why’d you ask?”

“It’s just that it seems that you’ve been driving for much longer.”

“That’s just because I’ve been driving to work everyday. You should’ve seen me when I was still a weekend driver. I was so indecisive when I went out on the road. After a month of weekend driving I decided to drive to work everyday (even if the parking charges are highway robbery) just so I can gain some confidence on the road.”

“That’s not exactly it. My friend Irwin has been driving much longer than you have. He’s got a full license but he drives jerkily. Not smooth at all. And I’m always afraid that we might get into an accident whenever I catch a ride with him.”

“Where’d he learn to drive? Manila?”

“No. He learned here. His license just got suspended again.”

“I dunno. I’ve stopped asking. His license is always getting suspended anyway. Are you sure you still know the way to Henry’s?”

“It was night the last time we went there but I still have a vague idea that we’re going in the right direction.”

“Yeah, this looks like the streets that Henry passes when we go to his house. It’s a good thing you know where we’re going even if you’re not familiar with the roads.”

“Well, I’ve always had a good sense of direction. And there’s always the map. I always check the map before I leave so I have some idea of where I’m going.”

“Have you ever gotten lost?”

“Haven’t gotten lost in a while. I think I’m on my sixth month of not getting lost. I got lost several times in the first couple of months that I had my car. A wrong turn here or a missed exit there but I usually ended up where I needed to go anyway.”

“I don’t think I’ll be ever able to drive.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I took lessons in Manila. I got about ten hours but I don’t really remember any of it. Plus I have a terrible sense of direction.”

“You just need practice. And a satnav.” Sarah laughs. “Well, that’s what technology is for.”

“Yeah. Hey, what do you think of Diane?”

“Hmm?” My left eyebrow rises as I glance at her from the corner of my eye.

“You’re not going out with anyone and she’s not going out with anyone and you’re pretty much in the same circle.”

“She’s not my type. Besides, I’m not really into the serious relationship thing right now.”

“What’s you type then? You want a white girl?”

“That would be something but so far I’ve had no luck. It would seem that I’m not their type.” I chuckle and Sarah laughs with me.

“Hey, I’ve got this officemate. She’s a Filipina but she grew up here and she’s really fair skinned. I think you’d like her.”

“Oh-kay. What’s the catch?”

“She’s separated and she has two kids but she’s still young. I think she’s only twenty-five.”

“Uh… I don’t think so. I’m not ready to suddenly become a father figure.”

“Who said anything about becoming a father figure? You’re just going to go out with her. And since she’s already got kids you won’t have a problem convincing her.”

“Convincing her of what?”

“Oh, you know…”

“Not exactly.”

“Come on. You know what I mean.”

“You’re the last person I thought I’d hear that from.”

“Isn’t that why you want a white girl?”

“No, not really. I just like fairer skin. Besides, if you’re co-worker is a mother, then those kids need a more stable environment. At least, I know that much.”

“You’re right,” Sarah sighed. “Hey, wait a sec. I know this street.”

“Yeah, Henry’s street is just around the corner. That didn’t take as long as I thought it would.”

“Wow! We didn’t even take a wrong turn anywhere. Hey, don’t park too far. You can stop here.”

“Relax. I’m just going to turn the car around that corner so I can park on Henry’s side of the street.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“I hope your boyfriend’s a mean cook because I’m starving.”

*That is such a freakishly long title. Sorry I couldn’t come up with something shorter.

That's Just Not Right

2007-09-19T03:30:00.000+10:00

The Sunday Times reports that the number of left-handed people has more than tripled in the past century. The article states:

A large-scale historical study of handwriting down the ages by academics at University College London (UCL) has found that the proportion of left-handers has gone up from 3% among those born more than 100 years ago to 11% today.

Chris McManus, professor of psychology at UCL, said the surge in left-handedness may be due to a reduction in attempts to coerce naturally left-handed children into using their right hands.

To think that I could have been part of that statistic. My mom tells me that I used to be left handed until she trained it out of me. I have no recollection of ever being left handed though. However, to this day, I hold my fork in my right hand and my knife in my left. Even after being told that it should be the other way around on more occasions than I can remember. Also, curiously enough, I remember beating a bunch of my high school classmates at arm wrestling with my left arm but I could never beat anyone with my right.

Hmmm… reminds me that until now I can’t tell the right from the left. That got me in a lot of trouble when I was taking driving lessons. Imagine me arguing with my instructor that I couldn’t turn left because there’s an island to the left which of course was the right. Then imagine me turning right into a no entry road because he told me to turn left. And if I’ve gotten into any driving accidents because of it, I haven’t – I know which way to go but if someone was telling me directions I might be totally lost. There were also these several incidents when a friend was driving my car and I was telling her to go right or left when I meant the opposite. It was a good thing she knew that I always got that mixed up.

If my mom hadn’t trained it out of me, I might actually know which side is left and which is right. My brother on the other hand was stubborn enough not to let go of his being left-handed. Except that was the extent of his stubborn streak. He was much more obedient than I ever was.

Daze

2007-09-17T11:30:00.000+10:00

That’s the state that I’ve been for the past couple of weeks. I don’t completely understand what’s going on in my head but I’m guessing that it has something to do with accepting the offer to do my contractual role permanently. That’s to say that I’m going to be a permanent employee of the company and not a contractual employee permanently. I’m not sure if that made any sort of sense but I think you know what I mean.

I haven’t really written anything about my current job because I didn’t want to sound whiny. I mean, I’m paid fairly well and I’m not overworked. It’s actually quite the opposite of overworked which is the possibly the reason why I was really hesitant to take on the role permanently. I’m tired of going to work and not having anything to do for the day – and this is actually what happens for most of the month. I want to go to work and leave in the evening with that feeling that I accomplished something.

I know that getting paid well for not doing anything is something a lot of guys would envy and at some point I was one of those guys (part of me probably is still) but I want to be in a thinking job again. I’ve been in one job after another where the only thinking that was required was for technicalities on accounting for certain transactions. (I’ve never really been a fan of accounting technicalities – yeah, I know it’s ironic given that I’m an accountant).

Anyway, whatever. I can’t really afford to dwell on the negativity. I just have to keep my fingers crossed.

Funny Analogy

2007-09-11T04:00:00.000+10:00

Got one of those forwarded email jokes. It got me chuckling. Good thing there was no one around to see me guffaw.

A wife was making a breakfast of fried eggs for her husband.

Suddenly, her husband burst into the kitchen.

"Careful, " he said, "CAREFUL! Put in some more butter! Oh my GOD! You're cooking too many at once. TOO MANY! Turn them! TURN THEM NOW! We need more butter. Oh my GOD! WHERE are we going to get MORE BUTTER? They're going to STICK! Careful . CAREFUL! I said be CAREFUL! You NEVER listen to me when you're cooking! Never! Turn them! Hurry up! Are you CRAZY? Have you LOST your mind? Don't forget to salt them. You know you always forget to salt them. Use the salt. USE THE SALT! THE SALT!"

The wife stared at him. "What in the world is wrong with you? You think I don't know how to fry a couple of eggs?!"

The husband calmly sat down and replied, "I just wanted to show you what it feels like when I'm driving."

Numbers Game (Or Should I Be Sleuthing Instead?)

2007-09-01T10:30:00.000+10:00

I sit and stare at spreadsheet on the fourteen inch screen of my office laptop, trying to decipher the cause of the differences between this month’s actual results against the forecast. The differences are ginormous positive and negative figures which could rival the heights of Everest and the depths of the Marianas. (I might be exaggerating… But not by much.)

I haven’t the foggiest idea what to do or where to search next. I’m beginning to think that looking for the cause of these discrepancies is a mystery worthy of Sherlock Holmes. (Incidentally, I once bought a compilation of all the Sherlock Holmes stories but I never got to read it. I misplaced it, not purposely, of course, and never saw it again. Someone suggested that it might have been stolen but I couldn’t really bring myself to believe that anyone in the Philippines would go around stealing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s book. )

A furrow has formed just above the bridge of my nose where my brows met to discuss the best way to find the cause for the seemingly inexplicable number. So far, their concerted effort had yielded no result and I fear that I will have some problem setting them back to their rightful spots on my forehead as they seemed to have decided to take up permanent tenancy.

Three hours of switching back and forth between two spreadsheets has not revealed what I needed to know. I wonder whether cryptologists at the CIA would have better luck figuring this out. A possibility occurs to me. If I were a detective in New York City I’d be rushing out to the street in order to chase down this lead.

But I’m not a detective. I’m a number cruncher in one of the world’s biggest corporations and in order to check out this hunch all I have to do is a couple of quick taps on the keyboard and a couple of mouse clicks which allows me to open a different spreadsheet, one that I haven’t checked yet.

As I roll the mouse wheel, my hunch pays off – some of the adjustments that I made on the forecast were scrapped by my boss resulting in optimistic figures. Part of me wants to go to him and shake him up like what one of those guys from Law & Order (I’m thinking Mike Logan, a.k.a. Mr. Big to all the Sex and the City fans) would do to their suspects – “Why? Why did you do it? Why did you remove the adjustments that I made to the forecast?”

Another part of me, THE sane part of me, tells me that doing that would not change the forecast that was submitted and that I would still have to explain those ginormous differences. I am further reminded that I am but a small cog in the great machine, a very small one at that and apparently with a lot of teeth missing.

As I head home I reflect upon the day’s exciting events with the missing numbers and all and ask myself how much more excitement I can take.

Lunar Eclipse

2007-08-29T14:30:00.000+10:00

Still feeling a little shutter happy and tonight was the perfect opportunity. I didn't even know there was going to be a lunar eclipse when I bought the camera but talk about timing.

And this is what they call the “Blood Moon.” I wonder why...

According to some astronomer dude on the radio this morning, the moon appears red during a lunar eclipse because red is the only color of the spectrum that reaches the moon from the light refracted by the earth's atmosphere.

They're not as great as I'd like but I don't have tripod so I'll live with them.

Sigh...

Some Color

2007-08-26T10:46:00.000+10:00

First is yellow.

Next is something that I think is red.

And lastly, white (it is a color!).

All the images were originally shot by me with my new Canon 400D Digital SLR camera. That ought to break the monotony for a while.

Life Is Stranger Than A Season Of 24

2007-08-16T12:30:00.000+10:00

Read this from Howie Severino's blog. This is a plot even Jack Bauer will be hard pressed to thwart.

Sorry, been watching 24's day 1, 2 & 3 for the past few weeks and I think the symptoms of overdose is beginning to show. I've also been talking to the TV trying to convince Kim Bauer not to do something stupid. Yeah, I know screaming at the TV isn't going to change the outcome of the show but damn! it really gets me fired up.

Never Too Late For The Inner Nerd

2007-08-11T03:50:00.000+10:00

Extra! Extra Read all about it! Famous rock start turns out to be a nerd! Ha-ha!

Yes! Queen’s lead guitarist, Brian May, is one of us (well, maybe not exactly one of us). He just turned in his PhD thesis in Astrophysics after thirty-six years! Apparently, underneath all that curly hair is a brain cable of completing an undergraduate degree in Physics but after three years of working on his doctorate, he decided to drop it and become a rock star with Freddie Mercury, John Deacon and Roger Taylor.

Astrophysicist Dr. Garik Israelian commented, “I have no doubt that Brian May would have had a brilliant career in science had he completed his PhD in 1971.”

Maybe so but what would you rather be: brilliant scientist or international rock star? Tough call, huh?

With Friends Like These

2007-08-10T07:40:00.000+10:00

I just read about this in Howie Severino’s Blog.

It’s a video of a US emergency medical technician, Rory Mayberry testifying in front of a US congressional committee hearing regarding the terrible working conditions of Filipino workers in the US Embassy being built in Baghdad. The fact the working conditions are terrible is actually just the tip of the iceberg. These Filipino workers didn’t even know that they were going to Iraq in the first place. They all knew that they were going to Dubai.

Mayberry testifies that he had unknowingly aided in the kidnapping of these workers. He states that he was initially hesitant about coming forward with this information because he was afraid of putting himself ‘outside of the green zone.’ Whatever caused his change of heart, I am glad that he was able to gather enough courage to go before a congressional committee.

Watch the video. I find it really hard to believe that this sort of thing goes on right under the nose of the US Government without their knowledge. What really gets my goat is that the Philippines is supposedly their ally and that they also have full knowledge of the fact that the Philippine Government has banned Filipinos from working in Iraq.

It’s one thing to recruit workers to work in a dangerous environment with their full understanding of the risks involved but to bring them there under a completely false pretense is an entirely different animal. Who needs enemies indeed.

The Wee Hours

2007-08-07T19:15:00.000+10:00

I slept early at nine but I found myself awake at half past twelve for no apparent reason. At first I thought it might already be six because I usually woke up earlier if I sleep early (quite logical, huh?) but after checking the mobile beside my bed, I was dispossessed of that impression. My mom used to say that when you wake up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, it was because someone was thinking of you. I've told her to stop worrying about me so it can't have been my mom.

Fifteen minutes of trying to get back to sleep and I got up to get a drink of water and take a pee (I'm not sure if you needed or wanted to know that but I went ahead and wrote is anyway).After doing the necessities, I grabbed my laptop which I left in the lounge before I went to sleep. I was going to need help falling asleep. I set it up on the desk in my room, and open up the media player and put on Norah Jones. When I can't sleep, Norah Jones puts me in that state where I'm quite receptive to sleep. I also open up Firefox to do some surfing. Surely enough, after half an hour of Norah Jones’ third CD, my eyelids start to feel heavy but I was still enjoying the music and I start on this post.

The CD finishes and I start another. I decide to post this nonsensical entry and give sleep another go.

I hear Norah crooning... What did you say, I know I saw you say it but my ears won't stop ringing long enough to hear to those...

Three Years of Clear Eyesight

2007-08-07T05:20:00.000+10:00

I look out a window and see the red Fujitsu logo on top of a building about 700 meters away. Three years ago it would have been just a red blur on top a grey block if I didn’t have glasses on but today I don’t wear glasses or contact lenses.

Three years ago I got a LASIK procedure done. I don’t have much to complain about although my sight getting a bit blurry. Well, I was warned about the possible deterioration so I’m not too worried about the blurriness. Also with a job where you have to sit in front of a computer for eight hours a day and put that together with the reading books and or watching TV way up late and I suppose the deterioration should be expected.

Just thought I’d mark the third year anniversary of my LASIK surgery (which I forgot to do last year). (I should get paid for the testimonial.)

Laptop Notes

2007-08-07T04:00:00.000+10:00

Because of the recent crashes that my laptop went through, I decided to download Ubuntu Linux just so I’ll have something to fall back on in case my laptop crashes again. But wonder of wonders! I was having a helluva lot of trouble installing the thing. I checked the system requirements for Ubuntu and as far as I can remember I had the necessary hardware. I tried installing it again and still no luck.

I decided to check my system and lo and behold – I found out that I had only 192 megs of RAM (Ubuntu requires 256). It really came as a surprise because I distinctly remember getting a laptop with 256 megs of RAM. It was one of the minimum requirements I had at the time that I got my laptop. One of the memory chips (it has four) must now be busted. Getting a new memory card is out of the question because the system’s so old that I might as well just get a new system. But I’m not really up to getting a new system just yet. I have no killer app to run and I haven’t installed Photoshop after the crash so I’ve decided to live with the slow performing laptop for the mean time.

However, I have recently come across something on the net which told me that I should definitely get a new computer next year. Starcraft 2 is coming out in 2008! “And what the heck is that?” you might ask. Starcraft 2 is only the sequel (obviously!) to the best ever (in my opinion) RTS (that’s short for real time strategy) game. Whatever computer I get will have to be able to run Starcraft 2 and I’m not talking about just meeting the system requirments. It’s going to have to run smoothly and optimally.

Whether it’s going to be PC or Mac is still up for grabs.

Absolutely Clueless

2007-07-11T08:15:00.000+10:00

“How’s Jill?”

“Oh, she’s okay.” I lie.

“I am absolutely clueless,” would have been the honest answer. We haven’t spoken in a while. And I don’t really understand why friends still ask me. Some time ago, one actually told me that she was hopeful that I might get back together with Jill – with four years history and us both being in Australia. I countered that that particular boat sailed a long while ago, hit an iceberg and sank deeper than the Titanic.

Yeah, we’re no longer speaking to each other. Yeah, that whole ‘cool’ thing and ‘remaining friends’ thing sorta all went out the window. Yeah, well, I’m to blame since I kept trying to rekindle that old flame thing. Well, no. That last part is wrong. I stopped trying to rekindle the old flame long before I flew to the land down under.

It was probably a delusion on my part to think that you can remain friends with your ex especially since you were friends before you became an item. I’m beginning to realize that scenarios like that only happen on sitcoms where the people concerned are named Ross and Rachel. Yeah, they supposedly ended up together anyway but I never saw the final season so I was just talking about Ross and Rachel remaining friends.

Anyway, I was reasonably content to remain friends but apparently our friendship and continuing communication was causing some friction between her and her fiancé which she told me one day, over a year or so ago while having a chat. I agreed that it would be best if we stopped talking. She made me promise not tell but of course promises are made to be broken.

I told a friend who didn’t know Jill. Jill didn’t know her as well so I didn’t think there would be any harm in telling her. She asked me a couple of weeks ago out of the blue if I had recently spoken to Jill, probably thinking that the embargo had already lapsed. After I answered no, her reaction was, “Are you still a threat to him?”

Am I still a threat to him? Uh… no. I don’t know why any one would get that idea. Just because I’m single and unattached doesn’t mean that I’m still pining for Jill. And look at it this way: They’ve been together for how long? Two years? And they’re getting married. I was with her for over four years and I got dumped. So no, I don’t think I’m a threat.

Besides, would a threat try to convince a friend to go to their wedding? I don’t think so. Jeff, a common friend with Jill asked if I heard that she was getting married. I replied that I had heard that she was getting married in December. He said that he got invited and asked if I was invited. I was just incredulous at his question and shot back, “Are you kidding?!”

Jeff just said that he thought he’d ask and that he wasn’t going. I said that I appreciated the loyalty but he should go. Jill’s his friend too. That’s when he said that he didn’t like Jill’s fiancé. That he’d met him only a couple of times but he can’t seem to engage him in conversation and that he seemed to agree to everything.

I said again that I appreciated the loyalty but he should still go. I said that I didn’t know the guy but maybe he was just a little shy. Or maybe he didn’t want to make a bad impression on his fiancée’s friends by saying the wrong thing. Or that maybe he was just a little wary because Jeff is also my friend. I’m not sure if I convinced Jeff but he said that he’ll think about it.

If you think that it’s a bit weird that I was trying to convince someone to attend my ex’s wedding, I can’t disagree with you. Who does that anyway? I don’t know but it felt right.

Now for a perversely funny story that I heard recently. And what is this perversely funny story doing in this entry? Well, that will become clear once you read it. You want spoilers? Let me just say that it also cleared up some things that were not clear to me previously.

Regine, a friend of mine from a previous job was recently introduced to Alain, a friend of mine from college. As recent acquaintances usually do, they started talking about common friends and somehow my name came up. It turns out that Alain was the co-worker of Mina, a common friend of mine and Jill’s, and apparently, Jill confided in Mina when we broke up.

As people are wont to do, Mina ended up telling Alain that Jill was breaking up with me because I was cranky. According to Regine, Alain recounted his reaction as, “What?! After four years, she just now notices that James is Cranky? James has always been cranky! I don’t believe it! It has to be something else.”

Since Alain is one of those people who tell stories animatedly with facial contortions and wild gesticulations, I could just imagine how he told the story and I had to laugh. I also had to laugh because it was true – I have always been cranky. I reckon I could almost pass for Oscar the grouch except I don’t live in a garbage can… and I’m a bit better looking.

Regarding That Exam In May

2007-07-09T18:00:00.000+10:00

I passed that exam that I took in May. Actually, I more than just passed it – I got a high distinction as grade equivalent. I don’t exactly know how many items I answered correctly but I am told that the high distinction is good. I should’ve written about about this a couple of weeks ago but I’ve always had a problem about admitting my achievements, which probably means that I am some sort of a head case.

What’s making it difficult to accept the grade is the fact that I felt that I wasn’t prepared well enough to merit that grade.

A teacher I had in high school used to give us a different maxim everyday. He called them food for thought. Of course, he never claimed that they were his own. He would also cite the author to whom the quote was attributed. I don’t remember the quotes and the authors but one quote has stuck with me and whenever I have to take an exam, I am reminded of it. It goes, “When you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.” Fairly simple and straightforward.

Anyway, I’ve gotten over the shock of ‘passing.’ One down, another five to go. I've already enrolled in my next subject and I hope that this time around, I won't be preparing to fail.

The Birds & The Bees

2007-07-07T09:40:00.000+10:00

I found myself watching That 70s Show last night. I’m not exactly a big fan of the show (I don’t even know if it’s still actually on in the States or they’re showing reruns here) but since it was sandwiched between two shows that I follow, I watched it anyway.

The episode was about the consequences of Eric and Donna’s pregnancy scare. Their parents send them to a premarital counseling session with a minister. The minister has no idea about the couple’s pregnancy scare and asks them what they’re looking forward to when they get married. Eric and Donna look at each other and then give the minister a blank look.

The minister tells them that he was talking about sex. He says that most couples that he’s spoken with were looking forward to having sex once they were married. Since Eric and Donna didn’t react to the question the way he expected, he asks them if they have had premarital sex. Of course the two lie and deny having had sex.

Ultimately, I think the show was trying to get the message that couples should wait to have sex until they are married but the show’s writers might have been going about it the wrong way. Don’t get me wrong – the show was funny – but the message that came across was get married to have sex.

There are so much more things to look forward to when you get married. They could have put in the hopelessly romantic – waking up everyday next to the person you love or coming home to your loved one after a long day. They could have gone for the mundane – having kids or spending Sunday driving. But instead they just singled out sex. Somehow, I got the impression that the reason to get married is to have sex which shouldn’t be.

Anyway, the whole religion and sex theme of the show reminded me of a conversation I overheard while I was outside a priest’s office in the Philippines. Some guy was talking to the priest about how he was dumped by his fiancée several weeks before the wedding. The guy never had a clue and the girl never really explained why (brings to mind someone I know but I can’t really remember who).

Anyway, the priest asks if they guy was having premarital sex with his former fiancée. I didn’t really hear the guy’s answer but the priest’s follow up question cleared that up. The priest asked if he was able to satisfy her. The guy replies that he thought he did. At this point the priest says that maybe he didn’t and maybe that was the reason that she left him. The priest said that that was why sex should only be done after marriage.

At that point, I decided to leave and go for confession some other time. That argument didn’t make sense. If the guy was lousy in bed, would marriage prevent his wife from leaving him? I don’t think so. Women leave their husband all the time. There’s actually a study that says more women cheat on their husband than men cheat on their wives. I think the guy was lucky enough that she left him before they got married. Just think of the hassle that comes with getting an annulment.

Which finally leads me to a radio DJ I heard a couple of years ago. The DJ was asked whether he would prefer to marry a virgin. I don’t remember the DJ’s words verbatim but he said that he would prefer someone who’s had some experience. He said that a virgin might become curious about what sex is like with someone else and therefore, might explore later on and cheat on him. Whereas the experienced one already knows what it’s like and that he can be sure that she’s staying with him not just because of the sex.

Hmmm… my first post about sex. And it’s not even about me having any. Kinda disappointing, isn’t it? Well, if you want to read about someone having sex, go find another blog. My blog isn’t that kind of blog.

So there, go and multiply.

Crash & Burn (Part Deux)

2007-06-23T05:00:00.000+10:00

Yep, that’s right. This is part deux. After my computer crash, ohhh, about a week ago, I was able to restore it to some semblance of order by ‘borrowing’ a Windows CD from the office. But doggone it! It crashed again.

This time around, there was no repairing the operating system. If I tried to boot with the Windows CD, I just end up with a C: prompt (do people still know what that is?) that didn’t really allow me to do anything but to view the directory. After an hour of trying to repair the OS, I finally made the decision to do a reformat.

It was a good thing that I decided to partition my hard drive early on and keep some of my more important data on the ‘other hard drive’ but I’ve also lost a ton of stuff that I’ve saved in the C drive. I’ve lost my MS Office and Photoshop. I don’t have installation discs for those. iTunes is easy to download so that’s no biggie. I lost a bunch of pictures that I’m never going to get back. On the other hand, my resume and most my MP3s are still intact so it’s not that much of a setback.

On a brighter note, starting it up is now a breeze. It takes less than a minute to get to the opening screen after I press the power button. Accessing the web is now also noticeably faster. With these slight improvements in performance, I just might decide to stick to this stripped down version of my computer.

Jerk*

2007-06-14T10:00:00.000+10:00

“I’ll ask my friend if we’re doing something this weekend.”

Who says that? No one says that. You either say, “I’m sorry but I have plans this weekend. Maybe next weekend,” or “I’m sorry but I don’t really want to go out this weekend.” With you. Not just this weekend for the remainder of our natural lives and maybe even during its unnatural continuation (if that event arises).

I’d be okay with either of my suggestions but the answer I get is: “I’ll ask my friend if we’re doing something this weekend and I’ll get back to you.” That’s after you send me a message saying that you lost my email address and that if I could send you an email. Then you suggest that we should go see a movie so I ask if you’re doing anything on the weekend and you answer with: “I’ll ask my friend if we’re doing something this weekend and I’ll get back to you.”

You gotta be kidding me! It’s a Wednesday and everybody knows that by Wednesday you already know what you’re going to do on the weekend unless you’re already attached which means that you’re doing something on the weekend even if you don’t have anything planned unless you specifically plan not to do anything. (Yes, that’s a run-on sentence but I know it will make sense to people who know what I’m talking about.)

Of all the excuses you can come up with, why come up with something so lame? Where’s the creativity? You can say that your dog ate your sneakers or that you need to take your De Lorean for servicing or that you’re going to on a mission to upload a virus to the mothership of an alien invasion force.

If you actually have to ask someone if you’re doing something on the weekend, then I’m absolutely glad that I’m not into you. Yeah, you’re tall, gorgeous and curvaceous, in short – hot, but damn we absolutely have no chemistry. I run out of ways to keep the conversation going. You’re not into computers, tech or science. I can’t even bring up the news because you don’t read or watch the news and sports is something you don’t even know exists. I’ve asked you to play badminton with me and my friends several times but you always have an excuse. You hardly volunteer any information about yourself – information which I can’t use because I’m not into make up and clothes. My sarcastic wit makes you go “Huh?”

The only thing we have in common is that we both like movies except we can’t even talk about movies because all you can say about a movie is whether is was great or not. When I ask you about what was so great about the movie you can’t even tell me if it was the effects, the script, the scenery, the action sequences or just Johnny Depp being Jack Sparrow or Brad Pitt being Brad Pitt. I’ve run out of things to do with you except for one thing which if I bring up might result in me getting my butt handed to me.

I’m tired of this cat and mouse game where I try to ask you out and you make up some excuse so that you don’t have to. Truth be told, I still stay in touch with you for only two reasons. The first one I’ve already mentioned – just on the off chance that maybe, just maybe… The other reason is on the assumption that gorgeous people have gorgeous friends and just on the off chance that you do have gorgeous friends, that you might introduce me to one who I might actually hit it off with. Is that too much to ask?

*I just had to let him out.

Crash & Burn

2007-06-14T09:40:00.000+10:00

Well, nothing burned really, but my computer did crash last monday. Windows would start up then a couple of cryptic popup error messages would show. I’d click on the “Okay” and popup message would disappear and all I would be left with is a black screen.

Hmmm... That paragraph suspiciously sounds like an ad against windows but it isn’t. It really happened. The thing is, I didn't have a Windows installation CD so there was nothing I could do at that time. Luckily, I was able to borrow said CD from the office IT guy and I have already installed it on my computer.

Unfortunately, since the CD key is different from the original Windows installation, some of the stuff I have installed are not running properly and the entirely thing is running slower than an octagenarian being chased by a tortoise.

Aw crap! It's been such a long times since I've actually needed to think about fixing a real computer related problem (questions on Excel and certain configuration problems do not count!). I don't even know if I still have the computer nerd thinking cap.

As a direct result of this, my friend Maroon has been saying that is the perfect opportunity/excuse for me to switch to a Mac. Ha! If only I could. Actually, I could but that would either deplete my savings or make me more heavily indebted to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

And a new computer isn't exactly cheap. For a computer (whether Mac or a Windows-based PC) with decent specs, I'm going to have to shell out at least $1500(Aussie). And I wasn't even thinking of getting a new computer this year.

With that in mind, I'm thinking that I'm going to have to figure it out.

Fan

2007-06-11T16:15:00.000+10:00

How pathetic is this? It is 11:15 PM and I am sitting in front of my computer listening to the Federer-Nadal French Open Final on internet radio.

Oh well. I just can't wait 'til tomorrow to learn about the result of the match.

Computer Rants

2007-06-08T08:40:00.000+10:00

There is something wrong with my office laptop. It’s very slow and it hangs often when I’m working with 8meg (or higher) spreadsheets. It’s pretty old. The colors of ‘Intel Inside’ sticker have already faded and it’s now just plain white and the ‘Pentium 4’ marking is barely readable. It’s very uncharacteristic of the tech company that I am working for. I’d like to ask for a new computer except I’m not exactly sure if a contractor can.

And speaking of slow computers, my cheap-o laptop which I bought in the Philippines now takes forever* to start up. It’s a Celeron and I just use it for email, word processing, blogging and net surfing so I never expected too much out of it. I’ve run defrag more times that I can count and I’m not really using any advanced applications so the slow down doesn’t really make much sense to me. Somehow, I get the feeling that I’ve accumulateds o much spyware over the years** which is now slowing down my computer. Speaking of spyware, I’ve been wanting to download a spyware remover so I hope this serves a personal reminder. Does anyone have any suggestions? If that doesn’t work, I’m probably going to have to get a new laptop***.

Speaking of slow computers reminds me of how Firefox is now running very slowly on my computer. One minute it’s downloading in seconds and now it takes a couple of minutes. Actually, it started after Windows automatically downloaded some program updates. After my computer restarted, I opened Firefox as per usual and it took a long while for Gmail to load. I tried opening Gmail on IE and voila! it loaded in the usual time. So the paranoid delusional person in me is went, “Uh-oh! Bill Gates just downloaded something into your computer to slow down Firefox. Firefox must be really affecting IE usage.” But since my browsing experience on Firefox has been affected, I am back to using IE. Anyone else experience this? Conspiracy theorists are welcome to weigh in on this issue.

*Okay. Forever might be a bit of an exaggeration. Between five to ten minutes is closer to reality.
**As if I’ve had the laptop for a really long time when it’s only a year and half old.
***As if I can afford that right now.

Nerd, Geek Or Dork?

2007-05-29T01:08:00.000+10:00

Apparently, none of the above.

Your Score: Joe Normal

43 % Nerd, 30% Geek, 34% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored less than half in all three, earning you the title of: Joe Normal.

This is not to say that you don't have some Nerd, Geek or Dork inside of you--we all do, and you can see the percentages you have right above. This is just to say that none of those qualities stand out so much as to define you. Sure, you enjoy an episode of Star Trek now and again, and yeah, you kinda enjoyed a few classes back in the day. And, once in a while, you stumble while walking down the street even though there was nothing there to cause you to trip. But, for the most part, you look and act fairly typically, and aren't much of an outcast.

I'd say there's a fair chance someone asked you to take this test. In any event, fairly normal.

Congratulations!

If you enjoyed this test, I would love the feedback!

Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST
Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Choices

2007-05-24T14:01:00.000+10:00

Some people might like to have the current predicament that I am in. I don’t really like it but I seem to get into something similar every now and then.

I’ve got one job offer on the right hand and my left is reaching for another. I’m stalling so that I can get the other offer. I’m more inclined to accept the other offer because the company is a multinational and the office is accessible by train. The other company is domestic and office is only accessible by car but parking is going to be a problem.

Yeah, that’s what it basically boils down to. I know I’m supposed to consider career progression, job content and job satisfaction but I’ve become jaded regarding those concepts. A job is now just something that pays the bills so whatever enables me to better meet those needs is the job that I will choose.

Under Renovation Again

2007-05-15T16:20:00.000+10:00

Please bear with the slight mess. I intend to finish the modifications by the end of the week.

Update: I've decided to stick to my current template. I wish I can say that it's because I just missed it but I've just realized that working with images in the template can get complicated. The image host that I used went offline for a couple of hours and the whole thing just didn't look right.

The Jitters

2007-05-14T14:10:00.000+10:00

What is wrong with me? It’s already the middle of May and this will only be my second entry.

It just that things are in flux (in a good way) at the moment and I’m not really sure when a resolution will come about. I hope the resolution comes in the next two weeks. I’m not really good at waiting and it’s making me anxious and I’m not really good at expressing my anxiety.

Well, maybe I have been able to do that previously but I don’t want to jinx stuff that I currently have in the works by blabbing all over the blogosphere about it. I’ve told a couple of friends about the one thing but I’ve only told one friend about the other.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that both stuff goes well. I’ll be a much happier camper when both these things happen for me. If just one happens, I’ll still be happier. If neither happens, then it’s back to the drawing board.

Anyway, that’s it for now. Hopefully, there will be more on the resolution of the stuff I mentioned (or didn’t mention) above in the next couple of weeks.

P.S. I called my mom earlier to greet her a Happy Mother's Day. Happy Mother's May to all teh mother's who might come across my blog. My mom's birthday is two day's from now.

Test Is Over

2007-05-04T14:00:00.000+10:00

Ah! What a relief! It’s like a splinter was pulled from my finger. I think I might actually pass but if I flunk (if I do, that would be like shoving the splinter back in deeper) I won’t be surprised because I was totally ill-prepared, having crammed during the past five days. I will know whether that splinter will be back in two months or so.

Thanks to everyone who wished me luck with exam (whether online or offline).

Anyway, to celebrate (yeah, I know it might be a little premature) I went to see Spider-Man 3 right after the exam (I have this tradition that I went to the movies the day before the exam but Spider-Man 3 wasn't showing yesterday yet).

It was a good movie. Although, I’d say that it wasn’t as great as the first two. The first two had fully developed villains. Although the effects for Sandman and Venom were excellent, I couldn’t help but feel that they were more or less set pieces. The real story of Spider-Man 3 revolved around three key characters – Peter Parker, Harry Osborne and Mary Jane Watson. Anyway, I don’t want to give away too many spoilers. It’s an enjoyable movie so go see it.

I'm Spider-Man

2007-04-28T15:10:00.000+10:00

I did this a while back and I just thought that this might be the best time to actually post it and my blog's been feelin a bit lonely with my absence.

Your results: You are Spider-Man
You are intelligent, witty,
a bit geeky and have great
power and responsibility.

Spider-Man - 80%
Green Lantern -65%
Superman - 60%
The Flash - 60%
Robin - 55%
Supergirl - 55%
Hulk - 50%
Iron Man - 45%
Catwoman - 45%
Batman - 35%
Wonder Woman - 30%

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

Time Off

2007-04-18T15:08:00.000+10:00

I’m probably not going to post anything in the next three weeks because I’m having my first exam in the CPA program in three weeks and I still have two inches of materials I have to get through. Arhg! I’m a little overwhelmed. I’ve had the materials for over two months and I never found the focus to read them.

Oh well… Time to cram.

A Little Late For The 1st Of April

2007-04-14T03:09:00.000+10:00

“So, how’s your love life?”

“I’m very happy with my new found love, thank you.”

“Oh really? That’s good news! What’s her name?”

“Tricia.”

“Is she an Aussie?”

“She’s half Japanese half American.”

“How did you meet?”

“On the street, if you can believe it.”

“What?!”

“Yeah, she zoomed by and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. The way she moved and her curves were just amazing.”

“And you just followed her and spoke to her?”

“No. Actually, I thought she was out of my league.”

“Man! She must be a real hottie!”

“You said it.”

“How did you end up together?”

“It seemed like I was possessed. I kept seeing her everywhere. So I finally worked up the courage and now we’re together.”

“Damn!”

“By the way, she’s a Mazda 3.”

Better late than never.

The Long Holiday Weekend.

2007-04-12T13:55:00.000+10:00

Drove north of Sydney to Newcastle and Port Stephens over the long weekend. I enjoyed myself immensely but I somehow can’t come up with a substantial entry (or maybe I’m just lazy). So in lieu of a real entry, I’m listing down some words that describe what I did.

Long driving.
Sight-seeing.
Wine tasting.
Sand boarding.
Beach trekking.
Dolphin watching.

I would’ve gotten some pictures except I was having too much fun and I was almost always posing in front of my friends’ cameras (note to self: buy a real camera soon!). I might post some pictures when I get them in my inbox. I also managed to get a lot of sand into my car after sand boarding. This I accomplished right after warning my friends that I’ll throw out anyone who gets sand in my car. Talk about poetic justice.

A New Way To Spend Eternity

2007-04-05T07:55:00.000+10:00

How’s this for a headline?

Woman loses battle to turn dead dad into diamond

It certainly caught my attention. Sounds like something out of a Harry Potter book but as it turned out, it’s something very real. Apprently, a Swiss company offers services for transforming the ashes of your loved ones into diamonds. A 19-year-old woman wanted to avail of this service but her grandmother contested her decision. A court ruled that there was no sufficient evidence that being turned into a diamond was among the last wishes of the deceased father.

Somehow, the thought of your loved ones being turned in to diamonds gives new meaning to phrases “Diamonds are forever” and “Spending eternity together.” On the tacky side, would you wear your parents’ ashes’ diamonds as jewelry? Talk about heirlooms... And what about people who want to have their ashes scattered? Would you scatter their ashes’ diamonds?

Personally, I’d find it really weird offering prayers for a diamond. Just imagine… “I pray to God for the eternal repose of the soul of my loved one whose remains lie on my finger and wife’s ears.” What about lighting up a candle next to a diamond on All Soul’s Day? Hmmm… That’s just not right.

On the other hand, the beauty of it is that you don’t have to carry around an urn that might get smashed to bits thereby unceremoniously dumping the ashes of your loved ones and avoiding the indignity of their remains being sucked by a vacuum cleaner. But then again, having their ashes in an urn minimizes the risk of them being stolen unlike a diamond which is a fair eye catcher.

It just makes me wonder what sort of ads a company that offers this kind of service runs as compared to a memorial park. “Eternity in the Eternal Gardens? Gardens don’t last forever. Now a diamond – that’s forever.” “Why spend the rest of your afterlife hidden away from the people you love and rotting in the ground? Wouldn’t it be much better to spend eternity as a diamond for everyone to see?”

Payo Sa Sarili

2007-04-04T07:10:00.000+10:00

Mabuti pa noong bata ka pa – napakasimple pa ng buhay mo noon. Patakbo-takbo ka lang sa loob ng bakuran nyo, nakikipaghabulan sa alaga nyong aso at sa kapatid mo nung lumaki na sya ng konti. Kapag napagod ka na sa katatakbo, umaakyat ka lang sa punong mangga para makapagpahangin at makapagpahinga. Inaakyat mo yung puno hanggang sa yun sa parte na umuugoy na yung mga sanga dahil sa hangin.

Halos mamatay sa nerbyos ang nanay mo tuwing nakikita ka nyang umaakyat sa mga sanga ng punong mangga ngunit hindi ka nya talaga masaway. Tuwing naaabot mo ang tuktok ng puno ay sumasaya ka na hindi mo maipalawanag. Napuna rin yata ito ng nanay mo kaya hindi ka na nya gaanong sinasaway sa tuwing umaakyat ka sa puno kahit na halos atakihin sya sa puso.

Makalipas ang napakaraming taon, tumatakbo ka pa rin pero hindi ka na nakikipaghabulan sa alaga nyong aso at sa kapatid mo. Ngayon kailangan naka running shoes ka na samantalang noon ay naka tsinelas ka lamang. Matagal-tagal ka na ring hindi nakakaakyat sa punongkahoy. Ngayon pag gusto mong umakyat, kailangan mo pang pumunta sa isang climbing gym at magbayad.

Noong bata ka pa, inaabangan mo ang sabado kasi iyon ang araw na sinasamahan mong mamalengke ang nanay mo. Taga buhat ka ng mga pinamili. Noong una yung mga gulay lang ang pinapabuhat sa iyo ng nanay mo kasi hindi mo pa kayang buhatin yung mga karne na may kabigatan. Tuwing namamalengke kayo, may kinakainan kayong kantina sa palengke. Parati mong inaabangan ang pagkain nyo ng pansit bihon, palabok o sampelot at bibingka, kapet, kalamay o puto.

Pagkatapos nyo sa palengke, sa grocery ang punta nyo. Napakarami nyong pinamimili na grocery noon. Kadalasan isang malaking kahon ang napupuno ng kung anu-ano na hindi mo na maalala. Dahil sa kalakihan ng kahon ni hindi mo man lang yun maisusog kahit na anong tulak ang gawin mo. Tapos may isang malaking lata pa kayon ng biswit na hindi na isinasama sa kahon. Yun kaya mong buhatin at kadalasan niyayakap mo pa nga. Yun ang merienda nyong pang-araw-araw pero kumukupit ka ng biskwit sa bawat pagkakataon na makaklusot ka.

Tumatawag pa ng kargador ang nanay mo para buhatin ang kahon papunta sa sakayan ng tricycle. Tapos binibigyan nya ng piso ang kargador para pamabili ng yosi. Anim na stick yata ang nabibili ng piso noon. Ang bayad nyo sa tricycle ay limampiso lamang at hindi na kailangan makitapagtawaran pa. Pag dating nyo sa bahay, tinutulungan mo ang nanay mong isaayos yung mga pinamili nyo. Kadalasan magmamakaawa ka pa sa nanay mo na kumain ng biskwit kahit na wala pang dalawang oras nung kumain kayo sa palengke.

Ngayon pag namamalengke ka, hindi mo na kailangan ng tricycle at hindi mo na rin kailangan buhatin ng malayo ang mga pinamamili mo. May kotse ka na kaya pag marami-rami na ang napamili mo, inilalagay mo na lang muna sa kotse at bumabalik ka na lang para mamili pa. Iniisip mo na sana’y kasama mo ang nanay mo para maranasan naman nya kung paano kaginhawa ang mamalengke na hindi sangkatutak ang mga bitbit.

Noong lumaki-laki ka ng konti, nagkaron ka ng mga kaibigan. Kung saan-saan kayo nakakarating. Pero hindi ka pwedeng sumama sa lahat ng lakaran dahil minsan may kamahalan ang pamasahe at kukulangin ang allowance mo kung lahat ng lakaran sasamahan mo. Tapos tumuntong ka na kolehiyo at may mga nakilala kang mga bagong kaibigan. Ang iba sa kanila ay may sasakyan kaya nakakasama ka na kung saan-saan kasi hindi mo na kailangan ng pamasahe.

Nais mo sanang makasamang muli ang mga kaibigan mong nakasama mo sa lakaran. Upang magawa mo para sa kanila ang ginawa nila para sa yo. Ngunit kahit may sasakyan ka na hindi mo pa rin sila pwedeng ayain sapagkat nasa ibang bansa ka na at karamihan sa kanila’y may mga asawa’t mga anak na.

At bakit naman napasaisip mo ang mga bagay na ito. Matapos ang higit sa isang taon mong pananatili sa ibagn bansa ngayon ka pa na-homesick? Alam ko kung bakit dumaan to sa isip mo. Naiisip mo ang mga kaibigan mo at mga mahal mo sa buhay kasi gusto mo silang makibahagi sa tinatamasa mong ginhawa sa buhay.

Napakagandang isipin pero dapat magising ka sa katotohanan na ito na ang buhay mo ngayon. May mga bago ka ng mga kaibigan at malayo ka sa pamilya mo. Hindi mo madadala sa nakaraan ang mga nga natamo mong sa kasalukuyan. Kailangan mong mamuhay sa dito at ngayon. Kung gusto mong ibahagi ang tinatamasa mong ginhawa, ibahagi mo sa mga kaibigan mo dito. Isipin mo na lang na ‘pay it forward’ kumbaga at saka wala kang mapapala kapag nagmukmok ka lang sa isang sulok.

Hindi humihinto sa pagsulong ang buhay kay ituloy mo lang.

Autumn Is Upon Us

2007-03-31T10:59:00.000+10:00

Girl on the corner of the street,
Wearing a thin knitted sweater over a cotton tee and a miniskirt,
Shivering, she hugs herself against the cold,
Lights turn green and she runs into the warmth of the nearest building.

Feeling The Zoom

2007-03-27T15:25:00.000+10:00

I got home in record time today as the Warringah and Gore Hill Freeways lived up to their names. The drive which usually takes me an hour, took about 40 minutes.

The freeway was moving so smoothly that I didn’t immediately realize that I was going 90 on an 80. That's in kph by the way, for those who are more familiar with miles. I think all the other drivers were happy about it as well because even if I was above the speed limit by ten kph, they were all going faster than me. I had already gotten used to other cars passing me by because I try as much as possible to stay within the speed limit. So I was surprised to see that I was above the speed limit.

After noticing my speed on the speedometer, I slowed down to 80 and watched other cars speed right by. Getting a speeding ticket is definitely something that I can’t afford (with my probationary license and the high fines that it entails).

I had gotten used to the 40 to 60 that I usually encountered at the Warringah and Gore Hill Freeways (sometimes even slower because of merging traffic. Ah, it was just bliss. Now, I believe that I can say that I know the pleasure of driving.

And to top it all off, the Eraserheads’ Overdrive was playing on my CD player. Gusto kong matutong mag-drive, Kahit na wala akong kotse… – Ako meron na! Yehey!

When I got home, I found out the reason for quick drive home. Lave Cove Tunnel which is on the far end of the Gore Hill Freeway had been opened. It had been under construction since before I got here and with its launching traffic seems to have improved. Well, thank goodness the construction is finally over and the traffic is now really moving.

Up Against The Wall

2007-03-26T15:00:00.001+10:00

Rappelling was something new but it didn’t really make any lasting impressions. It was just what it looks like – you’re tied to a rope and going down a mountain and there’s no real sense of accomplishment at the end of it because I suppose there’s not real challenge in going down a mountain.

So I got together with a couple of friends and we went wall climbing a couple of days ago. The sense of accomplishment, it was definitely there because the challenge is great. I had gravity working against me. Gravity was trying to bring me down. (I’m not sure if I should credit John Mayer for those last two lines but I mentioned his name anyway so I’m probably safe from copyright infringement lawsuits.)

I can’t even begin to describe how gratifying it is to defy one of the four forces of nature (the other three being magnetic force, weak force and strong force – where did that come from?).

Anyway, when I stepped up to this massive wall, the first thing that occurred to me was, “What am I thinking? This is such a massively high wall. What makes me think that I’ll be able to climb it all the way to the top? I’m probably going to fall before I get to the middle.” But despite all these doubts that popped into my head, I grabbed the nearest handhold and stepped onto the nearest foothold and began climbing.

A third of the way up, I stopped. The next foothold is a bit father and out of line than the rest. I tried to look for a different way up but there’s no other logical choice. I stretched my left foot and moved it onto the foothold. I pulled myself up and committed my weight onto the foothold and it felt secure. And found myself stuck – there was no foothold in sight. Well, there were a couple but they were much father than I first thought.

I look around for a solution. For a second I consider the option of letting go and letting the belay rope take me down. But that’s not me. I extend my right arm grab a handhold and do the same with my left. I lift myself up to the next foothold and feel glad that I didn’t stop where I was. The rest of the way seemed to melt before me and I reached the top.

Reaching the top is overwhelming. I’d say that it felt like I was on top of the world but you and I both know that it wasn’t exactly the top of the world. Still, it felt great to be there. I wanted to do it again.

I climbed other sections of the wall with varying degrees of success. As I stood at foot of my last attempted wall, I see it slope upward. I knew instinctively that I won’t make it to the top. I don’t have enough wall climbing experience to tackle it but I go up anyway. Midway up, my grip on the handhold slips and my belayer slowly lowers me to the ground.

After my feet were firmly planted on the ground, we discuss whether we wanted to continue climbing. I admitted that I was tired and hungry but I’d be willing to continue as the belayer. It turned out that my friends were also tired so we decided to call it a night.

As I take a last look at the climbing arena, I remember how I once read that climbers think of climbing as a metaphor for life. I can now see how they came to that conclusion.

By the way, my friends and I are going climbing again next week. And we’re thinking of making it a regular thing.

State Elections Are Over And There's A Winner

2007-03-25T15:25:00.000+10:00

Today was the State Elections for New South Wales and I barely noticed its passing. In case you might be wondering, New South Wales is the Australian State where Sydney can be found (and no, Sydney isn’t lost or missing).

I’ve been seeing political advertisements on the television for the past couple of months but it is nowhere close to the political ads that I grew up seeing on Philippine television. The political ads over here don’t have the most popular actor or actress endorsing the candidates. There’s no political jingle that’s a reworked version of a pop song (Gloria, Gloria anyone? Hindi sya nabasa!).

The political ads here tend to concentrate on the credentials and track records of the candidates. Like in the Philippines, attacks are also made, although these are not personal attacks. They attack the credentials and policies of the opposing candidates. I gather that most of it is actually relevant to the voting decision.

I gotta admit that I don’t know much about the whole electoral process over here. I’m not a citizen yet so I’m not all that interested in learning about it. A friend of mine who turned citizen a couple of months ago told me that people get fined if they don’t vote. So that probably means that I’m going to have to learn about the process sometime in the near future.

So anyway, I’m watching Charlie’s Angels movie on the TV, and a press conference comes on. Peter Debnam, the Liberal candidate for the position of Premier (that’s like the position of a governor), makes a concession speech. He concedes the position to the Labor Party candidate and incumbent premier, Morris Iemma.

As part of his speech, he issues a challenge to Mr. Iemma, to improve services. At the same time, he also throws in his support by saying that he and his party is ready to give additional policy improvements if Mr. Iemma is open to suggestions.

Now, that’s something that’s never happened in the Philippines in all the time that I’ve been alive. As far as I remember, years, maybe even decades pass and the losing candidates still contend that they were cheated out of a win.

Oh well, politicians conceding defeat is definitely something I can get used to. That’s something that’s definitely not going to happen in the Philippine elections for this year.

By the way, I feel like a winner. A winner for not being bombarded by a barrage of senseless political ads and not being subject to the circus that is Philippine politics.

Really Drunken Entry

2007-03-22T01:39:00.000+11:00

I am on a train. I don’t remember how I got here. I try to get my phone out of my pocket to check the time. It takes me a couple minutes fumbling to finally fish out my phone. I see that it is slightly past twelve.

I don’t remember how I got on the train. I feel a little scared. I remember that I got on the right platform at around past ten. I sat somewhere and I must’ve dozed off. Some kind soul must have dragged my sorry ass into the train.

The events of the night come rushing at me. I got an invite last week for an event organized by my current agent – the one that got me into my current job. I confirmed that I would that I would attend the event.

I got hooked on one particular girl. It turns out she’s an agent for my agent’s company. She’s super hot. I talk to her. She’s already talking to an Argentinean guy but I don’t really care. I insinuate myself into the conversation. I somehow manage it smoothly.

She mingles with other contractors. I am left with Argentinean guy. He introduces me to other Argentinean guys and we argue whether Maradona or Pele is the greatest soccer player. The Argentineans insist that Maradona is the greatest player but I continue to hold my ground. They try to convince that I am mistaken and that Maradona is the better player. I somehow manage to extricate myself from the conversation.

I look for the super hot agent. She’s again walking with the original Argentinean guy. Damn! I realize that we are both after her. Suddenly we are surrounded by the other Argentinean guys. Holy Crap! We are all after her.

We make small talk. Argentinean guy, tells me to back off. Well, not exactly. He tells me that he has to talk to super hot agent alone. I sorta get the feeling that super hot agent isn’t really into him and that he doesn’t have a chance in hell. I think he tells the same thing to his Argentinean buddies because they start picking on another girl.

After a while I notice that super hot agent was talking to someone else. I go over to Argentinean guy and ask him what happened. I admit to him that I was after super hot agent. Argentinean guy apologizes to me for telling me to back off. Apparently, super hot agent has a boyfriend. Argentinean guy and I commiserate in our ‘failure.’

Other Argentineans also admit to me that they were also after super hot agent until their buddy told them to back off.

Before all this, I spent an hour chatting up a hot Singaporean chick. It’s just too bad that she turned out to me married. And what’s worse is that she actually turned up to the event with her husband who she only introduced to me after she chatted me up for an hour.

So at about half past nine I decided to go home. At that point, I had already had eight or ten beers. I was still pretty sure that I could still head to the station with a couple of friends. We all hadn’t had dinner but we though we could still get something to eat. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find an open McDonald’s. We ended up going to the train station instead. At the platform, I decide to sit at a quiet corner. It’s some minutes past ten and a couple of minute before my train home arrives.

I doze off. When I come to, I am on the train at central station. I can’t remember how I got on the train but it is slightly pas twelve. I doze on and off. I get o my stop and walk the rest of the way home.

I say a short prayer of thanks to my creator that I was actually able to go home safe and sound. When I get home I turn on my computer and type up this really drunken post and keep my fingers crossed that it will make sense when I read it tomorrow.

Don't Wait In Vain

2007-03-21T16:10:00.000+11:00

So there I was, watching the TV when a trailer for something or other came on. It featured an older woman talking to a younger woman. “A woman should not spend her life waiting for a man to be ready,” was the older woman’s advice to the younger.

Isn’t that a bit sexist, I thought. I’ve endured waiting for women all my life – not just girlfriends but also female friends, cousins, aunts and even my own mother as well. You can set the time but you’ll always end up waiting. I’ve even tried showing up late but I still end up half an hour early. I just don’t understand how they achieve that kind of tardiness.

But that’s taking the remark literally. I wasn’t really paying attention to the trailer when it began so I had no idea of the context under which that sentence said. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that it was regarding the relationship of the younger woman and I would agree. I’ve actually told the same thing to several female friends when they’ve bothered to ask me to get a male perspective.

Well, maybe I didn’t say exactly the same thing. I think what I said was more along the lines of “Get out now as fast as you can! Time’s too precious to just sit around and wait for him to get his act together.” Of course, they don’t always do what I suggest. Months or maybe a year later, they tell me that they should’ve done what I said sooner rather than later.

I’ve done my share of waiting and as they say, hindsight is twenty-twenty. If I knew then what I know now, would’ve I cut my losses? Probably not. Knowing something and actually going through it are two very different things and sometimes we need to go through some things.

At this point while writing, a song starts to play in my head. Can you guess which one? I’ll give you a hint. It’s a song by Bob Marley but I like Annie Lennox cover version better. Ooh girl. Ooh girl…

Nah, I’m no longer doing that kind of waiting. Now I’m just waiting… waiting for the world to change. Please forgive my sudden burst into song. That’s just my last song syndrome.

The Bridge

2007-03-19T15:30:00.000+11:00

People crowded to walk across the harbor bridge today. There was no massive pile up of cars somewhere which prevented cars from coming to the bridge and the trains were working perfectly. People were actually walking across the bridge to celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I was one of them.

And what did I get out of walking across the bridge? A free neon yellow cap. Go Figure.

Why So Early?

2007-03-18T01:00:00.000+11:00

I don’t like the way I’ve been waking up this week. I’m mostly overslept during the weekday and ignoring the alarm. The end result is me coming in a little bit late for work. But that’s not too bad because I haven’t got a ton of stuff to do at work yet.

What gets my goat is that today I woke up at six. No alarms and no nothing to wake me up. And no matter how I tried to get back to sleep, there was just no going back. Don't you just hate it when that happens? Or does that only ever happen to me? I wonder…

Two Weeks Of...

2007-03-16T16:45:00.000+11:00

I haven’t really got much to write about my new job. I've had four jobs in the past year and a half and I think I’ve become desensitized to the whole 'first day at a new job' thing. It’s pretty much the same old thing. It’s always slow at first. I always have to wait for my system access to be granted so that I can get the reports that I need from the system. So that's what I did with most of last week.

My boss also started me off on one of the reports that I'll have to prepare monthly. I worked on it for four days last week. Since I had no access to the reports, he downloaded the the data for me. I could've finished it in one day but I stretched it because I'd have had nothing else to do if I finished it quickly. I was also waiting for another report that has some data I need for my report. The girl who was preparing it was swamped because she was stuck in a seminar the precious week. My boss decided to follow up with her on Friday morning. She sent half the report on Friday afternoon but I needed the whole thing to be able to finish my work. And that is how uneventful my first week was.

This week didn't start out so well and it still isn't going very well. It's Thursday now and I haven't seen my boss since Monday. I missed work on Monday due to something totally out of my control and it's going to require an entry all it's own. I was able to go to work on Tuesday but I have seen neither hide nor hair of my boss until today because he's been sick and I have been sitting in the office with nothing to occupy my time. Actually, I have some materials that I have to go through but it's not all that clear and some of the instructions don't give the same results as shown in the materials and there's pretty much no one around who I can ask for clarifications. And that’s how uneventful my second week is turning out to be.

Walking Down The Side Of The Mountain

2007-03-12T16:21:00.000+11:00

I wrote in my last entry that I was going to jump form the top of a mountain. As it turned out, I was grossly mistaken. There was very little leaping involved. It was more like a lot of very little steps down the vertical side of the mountain.

They started us off on a fifteen feet high rock face that wasn’t too vertical so that we could get a feel for it without intimidating us. Here I am on the beginner’s rock.

After that they moved us to a twenty feet high rock face. And I managed to pull that off that without a scratch. Here I am going down that rock face. By the way, that’s a grin and not a grimace on my face.

Then we tackled a thirty-five feet high rock face where I had a two near disasters. The first was near the top of the rock when I lost my balance, turned upside down and had my foot caught between the rope and the rock. With my body weight pulling the rope down onto my foot, I was literally pinning myself to the rock. With some help from the guide on the top of the rock, I was able to get my foot free. Then near the foot of the rock face, I lost my footing and went into a spin. Good thing there was a belayer through those two mishaps. Otherwise, I’d have broken a bone or worse.

Our last rock face was fifty feet high. And we approached it from the back which meant that we had no idea what it looked which was kinda scary because we had no initial idea where to place our feet when going down. When I got around to going down, I found out that is was more or less straightforward descent.

We ended the day with a barbecue at the house of one of our friends. Food just tastes better after such an active day.

One Big Leap

2007-03-10T12:05:00.000+11:00

Tomorrow, I will jump from the top of a mountain. Why? Because life sucks. And I want to cross something off my list of things to do before the last great adventure. Hopefully, there will be pictures. Not the kind that turns the stomach but the kind where I have a big grin on my face like a kid released into the candy store.

Oh yeah... There will be ropes.

Cutting it Close

2007-03-09T17:00:00.000+11:00

Get a load of this guy. He actually parked his car that close to the barrier. In my reckoning that’s actually less than half a centimeter at the closest point. And he’s on the roof of a five storey high parking structure. If he made any mistake, the cleanup crew would have been picking up pieces.

Wait a sec. I think that IS my car. Holy crap! Any closer and I’d have made it onto the headlines of Sydney papers. I am never parking on that side again. On the other hand, I managed to do a reverse park in one go with the car nearly in the center of the spot – that’s not too bad.

Just to dispel my friends’ notion that there are no traffic jams in Sydney, I am posting this picture. The traffic actually stopped for a couple of seconds just enough for me to snap away this picture. Yeah, it’s not exactly bumper to bumper like it is in Manila but they consider this as bumper to bumper in Sydney. This picture was taken on the way to the harbour bridge. (I just threw in that last sentence because I know that it will irritate someone.)

And why the heck isn’t my lane moving? That’s because I’m on the right turning lane. Why the heck don’t I just get off this lane and then cut in nearer to the turn? Because unlike in the Philippines where that is common practice, here in Sydney, we keep our lanes and we try not to cut in. (Okay, I admit that I’ve actually cut in a couple of times. But that was because I was a newbie and I took the wrong lane because I wasn’t entirely familiar with the roads yet. Yeah, yeah, I'm being too defensive.)

Aussie Bloke Likes Chowking

2007-03-03T03:50:00.000+11:00

I was blog hopping and I stumbled onto this blog. It’s written by an Aussie bloke living in the Philippines. This post is the one that actually caught my attention. He writes about why Chowking is a great fast food joint. As I’ve mentioned on more that one occasion that Chowking is one of the few things that I miss about the Philippines, the entry resonated with me, especially since it was coming from an Aussie. What are you waiting for? Go, read it.

Break From Reality

2007-03-01T15:25:00.000+11:00

Jessica Zafra asks in this entry:

Do you have a theoretical parallel life? Ever think of dropping everything to pursue some possibly half-assed notion?

It’s not a meme or anything of the sort but these questions have been floating around in my mind for quite a while and I thought that it’s time for them to see the light of day.

In my theoretical parallel universe, I never transferred to the College of Business Administration. After taking Molecular Biology seriously and finishing near the top of the class, I took post graduate studies in UC Berkeley. In this parallel universe, I am now one of the researchers working on stem cells and the cloning of human organs. During my spare time, I work on other areas of interest like the use of retroviruses in the treatment of cancers. I do not have a personal life but I don’t need one because I’m working to give the rest of humanity a better quality of life. (What a lofty delusion!)

As for half-assed notions, I was considering dropping everything, becoming a waiter or bartender and pursuing a career in photography – the income from the waiting or bartending supporting me in the early stages of my photography. A couple of people have commented (not just on this blog but also personally) that I take pretty good landscape shots. On the other hand, I’ve had a couple of people complain that I didn’t put them in the center of the photo that I took of them – of course they don’t understand that by placing them off-center, more attention is drawn to them while a the same time the view behind them is showcased. Speaking of which, I just absolutely hate it when I ask someone to take a picture of me with a great view behind me and I end up in the center.

It feels good to take a break from reality every now and then.

Lipatan Na Naman

2007-02-28T16:10:00.000+11:00

Pag gising ko kaninang umaga, naisip kong parang gusto kong mag-resign. Wala lang. Parang gusto ko lang ng bagong trabaho. Kaya pag dating ko sa opisina e pinuntahan ko ang amo ko. Sabi ko, “Boss, magreresign na ko.” Syempre, English ang gamit kong salita kasi hindi nya naman maiintindihan kung tagalog, di ba? Pero parang ganun na rin yung sinabi ko.

Sabi ng amo ko, “Sige. Good luck na lang sa yo.” Syempre, English din ang gamit nyang salita. Hindi naman marunong managalog yung amo kong Aussie.

Pag katapos ang linggong ito, wala na ulit akong trabaho. Buti na lang sa isang linggo may bago na kong trabaho.

Sige na nga. Aayusin ko na ang kwento. Mga two weeks ago, tinawagan ako ng isa sa mga agents ko. Sabi nya may isang kliyente daw sya na nangngailangan ng isang magaling sa numero kagaya ko. Alam daw nyang sa katapusan pa ng Marso matatapos ang kontrata ko pero baka daw magustuhan ko. Pumayag akong ipadala nya ang resume ko dun sa kliyente nya.

Kinabukasan, tumawag ulit yung agent ko. Sabi nya gusto daw akong makausap nung kliyente nya. Sabi ko, “Sige, game ako.” Sa susunod na araw agad isinet yung interview. Walang problem sa kin. Wala namang mawawala sa kin kung pupuntahan ko yun.

Pagkatapos ng dalawang araw, tumawag ulit sa kin yung agent. Ang saya ng dating nya sa telepono. Naisip kong malamang e ako na ang nakuha dun sa trabaho. And sabi nya sa akin pinapa-offer na daw ng kliyente nya sa kin yung trabaho.

Kung titingnan sa papel, interesting yung trabaho kaya sabi ko sa agent ko, tatanggapin ko yung offer. Pero syempre, mapapatunayan ko lang yun pag nandun na ko. So far, wala pa naman akong pinapalpak na trabaho kahit na meron na kong pinalpak na resignation. Exciting na naman to.

Ang ikalawang dahilan kung bakit ko tinanggap yung trabaho ay dahil sa North Sydney ang opisina ng kumpanya. Mas malapit ng konti yun kesa sa pinagtatrabahuhan ko ngayon.

Sa kabilang gawi, contractual pa rin ako. Anim na buwan. Pero sabi sa kin nung CFO noong nag-usap kami, naghihintay lang sya ng headcount mula sa head office para gawing permanente yung posisyon. So, kahit na contractual yung posisyon e tuloy-tuloy na trabaho daw iyon. Yung umalis sa pwesto na yun e naiinip daw sa kahihintay. Isang taon na daw kasing naghihintay yun na magkaron ng headcount. (Hmmm... Paghintayin din kaya ako ng ganun katagal para sa headcount? Tingnan na lang natin kung ano mangyayari.)

Madami ng humirit sa kin na siguro e mas mataas ang sweldo sa lilipatan ko. Ang totoo, napakaliit ng itataas ng sweldo ko. Ang habol ko talaga e yung job content. Sa tingin ko mas marami akong matutunan at mahahasa ako sa lilipatan ko.

Nagpaalam na ko sa amo ko nung nakaraang linggo. Medyo umasa ata ako na baka magbigay sya ng counter-offer. Nakakasundo ko na kasi ang mga ka-trabaho ko. Sa kahit anong trabaho yata e medyo mahirap umalis pag kasundo mo ang mga tao. Kaya lang walang counter-offer kaya tuloy ang paglayas. Tawag nila dito career move. Naiintidihan din nga mga katrabaho ko kung bakit ako nag-resign. Medyo matagal na din nilang napapansin na wala ako gaanong gawain sa opisina kaya sabi nila na mabuti na nga na lumipat na rin ako pari hindi ako mabato.

*Di ko maisulat kanina sa English kasi yung isang kaopisina ko bigla na lang sumusulpot sa likuran ko. At least, di nya naintindihan to kahit nabasa nya.

Zoom Zoom

2007-02-22T16:30:00.000+11:00

I got myself a car. This is not a dream sequence. This is the real thing. I ordered the car a couple of weeks ago and I picked it up from the dealership last Saturday.

I asked my flat mate to come with me to the dealership just in case I lost my nerve to drive the car home. Fortunately, I didn’t lose my nerve and I was actually able to drive my car home.

That afternoon I had to go to a house warming party of a friend. The place was in Artarmon, a suburb north of Sydney. I live a little bit to the southwest of Sydney. Crazy old me who hasn’t had more than fifty hours of driving, decided to drive all the way to Artarmon. Before actually heading to Artarmon, I had to pick up a friend at Strathfield train station. So we got to the party and ate and mingled.

After the party, we went home. I dropped my friend off at Strathfield and I drove home without any incident whatsoever. For a first-time car owner, I didn’t do terribly.

Sunday I decided to derive to where I work. I don’t work on Sundays but I wanted to learn the route I’d have to take if I wanted to drive to work everyday. The route took me through a few twists and turns up ramps and through the harbor bridge. Yeah, the bridge is actually functional, in case you were wondering if it was just some eye candy.

I took a different route on the way home just so I could familiarize myself with some other streets of Sydney.

Seeing Sydney from inside a car made is seem an entirely different city. Well I suppose I haven’t been seeing much of it traveling by train which goes through underground tracks or if not underground, at below grade. Much of the city is actually hidden from you when you travel by train.

I’m looking forward to seeing more of the city above ground.

In case you were wondering, my car looks like this and it’s the exact same color.

Valentine's The Hard Way

2007-02-15T04:50:00.000+11:00

“I gotta get my wife some flowers.” Shane, our manager, declares.

It’s past five, approaching closing time, it is still Valentine’s Day though.

“Marina says that anyone who buys flowers during Valentine’s Day is stupid.”

“What?! What makes her say that?”

“She said that it’s just not practical. Everything’s too expensive.”

“But this is the only time of the year when it counts for more than just double. You can pretty much get away with a whole week at the cricket with your mates if you give your partner something for Valentine’s. She must be just saying that to appear cool.”

“It’s either that or she’s making her husband believe it so that she can keep him on a short leash.”

“Hahaha! You could be right about that. You have to remember James, women always want something for Valentine’s.”

“Yeah, tell me about it. I found that out the hard way – through experience.”

“Whoa. Learning through experience. That’s the best kind of lesson. You’re never going to forget.”

“Yeah. Well my former girlfriend said she didn’t what anything and didn’t want to do anything for Valentine’s. So, I didn’t plan anything and oh boy, did I get a telling off.”

“Hey, I like the way you tacked on ‘former,’ there.” I chuckle. “So was this here or when you were back in the Philippines.”

“That was back in the Philippines.”

“Ooh. I hear those Filipino girls are really spirited. She must’ve really told you off.”

“Yep, that’s learning the hard way.”

P.S. Happy Valentine’s Day.

Hairy Praise

2007-02-13T05:45:00.000+11:00

I got a haircut over the weekend. My hair is super short again. I’ve never had long hair. The longest I’ve had it was four months of growth. I’ve been sorta trying to grow my hair on and off for as long as I can remember. The longest that I’ve gone without a haircut was a little over four months, which isn’t all that long. Anyway, I usually get irritated because it either becomes too hot, too heavy or bothersome.

This time around it’s become too bothersome. Since it’s at that length that it falls to my face, I’ve been constantly sweeping it back. To top it off, we’ve been having a lot of windy days and well… I think you get the picture. Sometimes, I just don’t get how girls deal with long hair. It just seems to be a lot of hassle. Then again, it looks good on them.

Anyway, I got some compliments around the office or at least what I thought were compliments. One of my teammates said that I looked spiffy. The boss’ assistant said that I had funky hair. That’s good, right? As for my boss, he said that my haircut looked respectable. I suppose that meant that my old haircut didn’t.