mikodalupan

Moving!

2007-04-17T13:45:00.000+08:00

This might be my last post right here in Blogger. Don't get me wrong, Blogger's excellent! I just want something new. So head over to here! Or if you're not that of a reader, scoot over to here.

Ciao!

Mundane Birthdays

2007-01-30T15:10:00.000+08:00

I can't even find anything to write about on my birthday.

No excuse Miko, you've been having blogger's block--and for a long time now.

Let's see soon.

Bunnies Suicide

2006-12-08T13:39:00.000+08:00

My younger cousin was telling me about this book before. I only remembered to check it out on the internet today.

Check it out here.

So far one of my favorites is:

Today's Quick Applicant Stats

2006-11-23T15:59:00.000+08:00

Number of...

applicants that don't know what they're applying for = 5
applicants that are doctors = 1
applicants that are nurses = 1
applicants that have completely undecipherable speech = 2
applicants that have all confidence but no ability = 3
applicants that said "I want to be a call center sir" = 2

and finally:
applicants without gall bladders = 1 *eww

Monday Fun

2006-11-20T18:52:00.000+08:00

Today, Monday, has never been full of joy.

First, I was in charge of orienting the next batch of fresh graduates of our training class, which meant that I had to come in earlier than usual (8am). I arrived, in a hurry, at 8:24am just to find out that out of the 15 plus graduates that were supposed to be disgruntled and impatiently waiting for me, only 2 showed up.

Needless to say, I was kind of relieved (because I was late), but very much disappointed (because I woke up extra early for nothing).

Second, I totally forgot that every Monday, I'm supposed to do a debriefing interview plus join a panel interview for all the fresh people we hire. Not that I'm not used to doing this, but I wasn't expecting to sit and talk to 20 to 30 people again, asking almost the same questions. I need to mentally prepare myself for these things you know. (It's pretty tiring.)

But the day ended pretty okay because of the parents of one of our applicants. (I'm hoping it's the parents decision not the applicant's.) We ended up laughing because this guy's name is, get ready for this...

Wankee

Yes, I'm not kidding: Wankee. As in interviewer is to interviewee, thus wanker is to wankee.

LOL

Working at 10:20pm

2006-11-02T22:29:00.000+08:00

A really big client is dropping by at the center tonight. There's actually no more work to be done but me and a couple of work mates have to stay to create that busy effect. Nobody likes a boring workplace! Especially a boring and idle workplace. So we're actually pretending to be busy and exciting while the client's poking around the center.

Everything's set: we've got fake applicants, fake report writing (that's me writing in this blog), and also fake whiteboard graph (complete with fake figures). The only thing that's real is our collective fatigue.

Yes. I'm dead tired. I've been here since 9am and it's almost 10:30pm.

These clients better invest in us.

No Title Needed

2006-10-24T19:43:00.000+08:00

Well hello there friends.

I was surprised to see that my last entry was dated August 11, 2006! Yes, I've been very busy at work. My company's been working the whole recruitment team like horses.

For now, you and I have to settle for an entry like this. Busyness has not yet ended in my part of Manila.

Aftermath

2006-08-11T14:36:00.000+08:00

One by one, the applicants stopped laughing until it was only Segarino the huge guard filling the fifth floor with his booming chortle.

Miko had to tap the shoulder of Segarino, which was as big as a dinner plate to instantly stop his laughing.

"Surry sir," the guard said.

"Okay," Miko said, "If you would step outside the elevator please."

The applicants stepped outside the elevator and immediately saw the surrounding area.

It was an empty hall. Some walls were torn through and through, revealing the environment outside the building. The support beams were all intact except for a few nearest the perimeter of building walls. The floor was still carpeted with a several areas that looked like the carpeting was stripped of violently.

The whole place was well lit with fluorescent lamps tethered to the support beams. There was little debris scattered here and there, but over all it looked like the place was being cleaned.

And indeed it was.

Suddenly the elevator next to what the group took chimed. The sound startled the seven applicants who were busy minding their surroundings. The doors opened and out came two people dressed in white overalls. Both were carrying tools of varied sizes.

"As you see," Miko started talking, "This floor still hasn't been completely restored."

"What happened here sir?" One of the applicants asked.

"Here?" Miko spoke, "Well, what happened here has become a lesson for all of us."

The applicants looked at each other in confusion.

"A few months back, something came out from the ground."

Miko moved to one of the openings on the west wall and motioned for everyone to follow.

"We were one of the few buildings that survived."

Segarino

2006-07-11T11:37:00.000+08:00

"Ok!" Miko shouts to the waiting crowd. "All those with their green IDs come closer please."

Slowly the group of applicants, some of which are back the second time around, feel their way closer to Miko.

"Welcome to the Ep---ar Open House," he says, "I'll be conducting a short tour of our building and afterwards we shall decide what happens to you."

The crowd suddenly looks nervous.

"Just kidding guys," Miko laughs, "you decide your fate."

The group of people annoyingly try to laugh with him. Some of them give him murderous looks.

"Joining us for the quick tour is our resident guard, Segarino." Miko points to the burly boulder of a man who's suddenly right beside him.

"Say hello Segarino."

The guard stares at them for about 3 seconds, "Hillo."

"Ok!" Miko pats him on the back, "Let's move out!"

They all line up behind our tour guide, walking past the guard. Some of them curiously take a peek at the unusually large batuta (night stick, but for our big guard it looks more like a night mace) that Segarino has strapped behind him.

So seven applicants, one tour guide and one guard cram into one elevator designed to accommodate fifteen people at once.

Miko mentions this small fact to kill the silence inside the elevator as it climbs up to the fifth floor. The elevator then stops and the doors slide open. Segarino quickly steps out of the door.

"Apter yu sir," he says grunting.

A few of the applicants let out a giggle, but this stops almost instantaneously as the hulk of a guard instinctively clutches the hilt of that huge batuta. All seven applicants frantically cram themselves to the back of the elevator, trying to put as much space possible between them and Segarino.

"Be kind guys," Miko pats the guard at the back who immediately lets go of the batuta. "Segarino here believes in only one thing. And what is that Segarino?"

The guard let's out a big sigh, "Yis sir."

"Yes?" Miko asks, "Say what you believe wholeheartedly."

"Da gulden rule sir," he starts, "Du into aders wat yu want dim to du into yu."

The crowd, all jammed at the back of the elevator, nod their heads in unison.

"Sir dey bitter start, or dey wil be layt por da iksi..."

"Yes!" Miko cuts Segarino, "You don't have to mention that to our guests, hahaha," he laughs uneasily.

Segarino, embarrassed, also lets out a big laugh.

And the frightened applicants anxiously laugh along.

So everyone was suddenly laughing at the mouth of the elevator: some nervously, others heartily, and a few unwittingly.

...

More Than Meets The Eye

2006-07-03T09:49:00.000+08:00

Being the geek that I am, the announcement of The Transformers the movie got me all excited. The official site is here.

And here's a test CGI of an Optimus Prime look alike transforming. (I think it's Ultra Magnus).

Can't wait till 2007!

Last Night...

2006-06-29T12:55:00.000+08:00

We had a few...

And I thought Jackie would...

But surprisingly she...

Road Trip

2006-06-23T11:18:00.000+08:00

Saw this over at Spikedhumor. A guy filmed his drive from LA to NYC. I like the part when he stops in the middle of the desert and checks his map. LOL!

Link is here.

Maybe I should also record my frequent trips from Katipunan to Alabang. What will be seen on the video though are frequent standstills due to traffic. Anyone want to lend me a camera?

Quote Of The Day

2006-06-20T14:44:00.000+08:00

"I don't knu sir, everytime I'm in an interbiew, my nerbious breaks me down."

USB-Decapitated Teddy

2006-06-19T10:03:00.000+08:00

Found this at Engadget.com, pretty morbid but very cool. Just imagine the looks on your officemates' faces when you plug in your USB Teddy.

Just One Of Those Days

2006-06-16T16:15:00.000+08:00

Today I thank God for the untimely arrival of rain. Due to the sudden and strong downpour, our alfresco job fair, which was supposed to last till 9pm, was cancelled.

So now we have a Career Center filled with wet and miserable applicants, some of which weren't exactly thinking of applying but since they were already inside, they unwittingly wanted to just try.

Here's a tip. Don't take call center recruitment processes lightly. Yes, we do train people, but we train those that are trainable. If you're not used to speaking English on a daily basis, I suggest you start now.

Be prepared, don't just try.

And on a more interesting note, a rather famous pinoy rapper (I'm not sure if you've heard of him) applied for a job today. Now I don't know if I can openly reveal his identity or talk about him in this blog (I wasn't able to ask permission) but here's a clue: he claims to be able to rap 200 words per minute. He's also currently starring in one of the local commercials we have. Take a guess.

It will be interesting to hear him do sales on the phone.

Sushi Buffet My Butt!

2006-06-15T22:55:00.000+08:00

That's what we felt about Ebisu's eat all you can sushi buffet. It costs 245 pesos per head for an unlimited amount of selected sushi. The catch: it takes forever to get your sushi, plus the sticky rice used tastes really sweet. In the end we just got drunk with a couple of beers for me and several great tasting Lychee Martini's for Jackie.

Jackie Tan was a hermit crab in her past life: always hiding her face...

Today is...

2006-06-14T16:58:00.000+08:00

Jackie's BIRTHDAY!!!

Happy Birthday Love!

2006-06-12T15:38:00.000+08:00

Just two more days till Jackie's birthday!

Revitalization in Progress

2006-06-09T14:02:00.000+08:00

As you all know, this blog has been dead for a couple of months now. I'm planning once again to bring this sucker back to life.
Till then, happy blogging.

Kids, Hands and Rodents

2006-03-24T10:42:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, while we were setting up the company booth in Mega Mall for yet another job fair, I noticed a commotion brewing around the escalators. Normally, that would mean that either a celebrity was spotted or people were just watching a mall program. Needless to say, I was curious so I joined the throng of people trying to get a look of what's happening.

At the foot of the escalator, there were people huddled, mostly service crew and mechanics. I tiptoed and craned my neck farther to see what exactly they were doing to attract this much attention and the scene unfolded.

A kid, about 8 to 9 years old was laying flat on his back, crying. From that height, I could only see the lower part of his torso. Why is he crying, I thought loudly and the person right next to me mentions that apparently, his hand got stuck at the lower entry point of the rubber railing of the mechanical stairs.

Suddenly, a woman, presumably the kid's mother, rushed to the scene, water bottle in hand. She knelt beside him and tried to calm her son down as the group of mechanics were disassembling the whole area around the stuck hand.

This went on for around 10 minutes, it was obvious that the mechanics and staff were trying get the kid clear without damaging both his hand and their equipment. Finally the frustrated kid's father dove in, grabbed a wrench or something and tore off the area enclosing his son's hand.

2 minutes, and the hand was out.

People started cheering and clapping and I went back to setting up the booth. I hope the kid's hand wasn't badly mangled.

Unrelated random link.

Sounds Good...

2006-03-22T14:03:00.000+08:00

I think that the hardest applicants to evaluate are those that sound good, but don't know a damn thing.

Why?

Because it's easy to be drawn to their people skills and away from the skills that you're actually looking for. Worst of all, they lead you (well, me anyway) to think that speaking and sounding good are actually what you're looking for for the position they're applying to. (Unless, of course if sounding good is a primary requirement, but you get what I mean. ;)

Take for example an applicant that we shall call Girl A (for lack of a better name). Now Girl A is applying for a position that requires you to be able to do a lot of reports, be organized, beat deadlines, and analyze figures and their relationships to other matters. (I'm trying my best to be vague.)

So the whole interview takes place. I first ask general questions about why she wants the job and what not, to try and get the feel of how to approach the interview.

At this point, Girl A does flawlessly. She answers on cue. Some of her answers are very well said and to the untrained ear may sound good, but actually they're very well scripted. This, in fact, is ok as long as you can pull off not sounding fake. It only means that Girl A has come a bit prepared for some of the usual questions. I like preparation.

Naturally, I feel like it's time to be more specific. So I start to ask her more questions about the job itself. At this point all I get are mostly smiles and trailing answers...

"Alright," I start, "what do you think are the characteristics that are needed for the position you are applying for?" This isn't a hard question, just an important one to find out what you know about the job.

Long pause accompanied with a smile. She just loves to smile.

"I guess I'm a very dedicated person and," she pauses again with her smile, "and I am organized."

"What else?" I ask immediately, a bit annoyed that she has mentioned this several times earlier.

Her smile disappears in exchange with a look of confusion.

I give her another question of the same sort and I get the same response.

Needless to say, she didn't make it. How could I? Was I too harsh?

I don't think so. These sort of applicants tend to be the hardest for me to evaluate. This is because they sound so good with their flowery answers that rejecting them actually makes me feel bad. But at the end of every interview, I have to make a decision. And usually, it's a coldhearted one.

Hot!

2006-03-21T11:38:00.000+08:00

Today has got to be the hottest day in history here in the office.

I arrived late at work, prepared for the usual temperature drop, donning a long sleeved shirt plus a jacket over it. Let's just say I'm wishing I wore something cooler, because it's extremely humid in here. As I'm sitting down typing this, a drop of sweat's trickling down my neck. I'm not kidding.

Apparently, the AC unit went kaput last night and maintenance has been trying to fix the damn thing. I can just imagine everyone in recruitment with tempers exploding at the end of the day if the damn air conditioning doesn't get fixed soon.

It'll be a joy interviewing people today.

Yet Another Day...

2006-03-20T19:42:00.000+08:00

...has passed at work. Total damage today equals 19.5% hired out of the total number of walk-in applicants.

Jesus.

Our population of unemployed needs to step up.

Call centers, indeed, have become the short term answer to unemployment. People just need to know that it's not easy to get in one. You need a bit of skill and a lot of personality in order to join the ranks of high earning call center agents. That's the reason why we're quite picky. And no, wanting to learn and willing to do so isn't enough to get you in.

I've heard that plead numerous times in the past, more so today, and quite frankly it's never enough to tell an employer that you are willing to learn. Stop pleading and start showing.

That's enough ranting today.

Arrrr...

2006-01-13T12:57:00.000+08:00

Just for fun, here's a picture of how my office desk looks like:

Chaos Beneath

2005-12-06T14:41:00.000+08:00

"Ok, I guess that's about it Marc," Miko says and offers his hand, "congratulations again!"

"Thanks sir," the applicant shakes the offered hand.

"Remember, training starts next Monday," Miko adds, "make sure you make it."

"I will sir. Nothing will stop---"

The floor beneath the newly hired applicant is suddenly torn apart and rises taking both a piece of Miko's office and the now screaming Marc that was merely seconds ago shaking his hand.

"Aaaarrgh!" The applicant is tossed to the farther end of Antipolo.

"What the fuck!" Miko yells and slams his back to the side of his office wall.

A greenish, slimy substance covering the risen earth spurts out yellow fluid that melts the carpet and debris.

Miko quickly dodges a few more spurts and runs out to the open road. He sees that the rest of the recruitment crew are already outside.

People were screaming. The whole of Eastwodd was in total wreck. The clocktower was askew and partailly melted by more of the yellow substance.

An explosion!

"Look out!" People were screaming as half of the IBM Plaza was crumbling onto the Eastwood Cybermall.

There again replacing the now cratered IBM plaza was part of the earth that was covered in greenish slime.

"What kind of earthquake is this?" Miko asks out loud amidst the confusion.

An eerie, ear-piercing scream cuts through the noise.

"It's not an earthquake!" Someone yells, pointing towards the horizon.

Another shriek emits and a dark shadow rises over the whole Eastwood area.

Miko looks up.

"Good lord," he mumbles.

Random Morning

2005-11-15T11:31:00.000+08:00

9:20 am in the morning, I enter the recruitment office and Donna, Joy, and Pam are all huddled giggling in Katie's room. Resisting the urge to join in on female gossip, I directly walk to my room and attentively try to listen from there.

"Are you signing up?" Donna asks.

"Probably," Pam answers.

"Why don't we inquire?" Donna says.

She picks up Katie's phone and starts to dial.

In the mean time, Joy comes to my office and hands me my first applicant of the day: a 21 year old from the Bicol Region.

"I don't know," Joy mentions, "I think she's alright. She's from the province but I think she can make it."

I look at the resume and see that she's a computer science undergrad, straight from Camarines Sur. Fat chance.

"Anyway, just tell me what you think later," Joy fades off entertaining another applicant.

Straight on, I know that this person wouldn't make it. I'm not being mean. It's just that you need a bit of skill, not to mention a lot of personality to be able to enter an international outbound call center.

I call the applicant into my room.

"Good morning sir," she says with a slight regional accent.

"Good morning," I tell her politely, "take a seat please."

I shoot her around 3 questions in which half of the time she was apologizing.

"I'm so sorry sir," she goes.

"Don't be sorry," I try to placate her. She looks like she's about to cry.

"Really," I say, "you didn't do anything wrong."

She just nods at me.

I end the interview by making her read out loud a part of a practice script.

Bingo.

She does quite well and finally, I have something to work on.

I tell her to come back in 20 minutes to calm her nerves, "go smoke or something," I say laughing, bringing the tension down.

"I don't smoke sir," she tells me, "I just relax and eat."

"Ok," I reply while writing a few notes on her resume, "go take a quick snack then."

I send the relieved applicant away thinking that we really need to lower our standards if we want to reach a 100 plus hired people per week.

I go walk to Katie's room, where she and Pam are talking.

"So what's the commotion about?" I ask.

"What commotion?" Pam's confused.

"Well, all you girls were here a while ago," I say while handing the resume to Katie.

"Ahh," Katie says, "there's this ad looking for people to teach in the US."

"Teach what?" I ask, "english?"

"Yup."

"And math," Pam says, "I can also teach biology."

"Ooookay," I say looking at the resume I just handed, "I don't think she'll make it, but Joy likes her."

I walk back to my room.

Recruitment

2005-10-25T12:28:00.000+08:00

I've been working in recruitment now for about 8 months and it just dawned on me how numb I've become. Rejecting people because of small flaws in their speech suddenly seems so easy to do. I've grown so accustomed to zeroing in on the flaws that I miss out on the whole person in front of me. Suddenly personality doesn't count nor does motivation or the real need for the job (most people applying to call centers are those that really need the money, sadly most of these people are not qualified). People are reduced to tick marks. Grammar, check; diction, check; etc... Instead of asking if I could help this applicant, I check if this person can help the company.

I also know that I'm just doing my job. If I suddenly base my decision making purely on conscience, I would have a hundred happy people working in a dying company. Furthermore, when that dying company actually goes bankrupt, there'd be a hundred more unemployed people looking for ways just to get by, including me.

The way I see it, being in recruitment can lead you to take on a number of different roads, depending on how you are as a person. As for me, there are two possibilities. One is that hiring becomes so automatic that you become part of a redundant system, ticking marks along the way. The other is that you try to deviate from that redundancy. Try to grasp, with the few minutes of what you have, a part of the idea of who that person you're interviewing is. I'm not saying automatically accept people who your conscience appeals to the most - that's just taking the first road on another vehicle. If you are to reject people, let them know why exactly they failed and try to give them advice on what to do next. I'm also not saying that you should spoon feed people on how to go about their professional lives, but guide them into realizing what they can do. Make it come from themselves. Don't be the savior, let them be the heroes of their own lives.

I know it seems kind of impossible and not too practical to take on the second choice, especially if you're talking to someone who's a jackass (it's happened before), but sometimes I do try to coach the people I reject. I can't always be so accommodating and kind to the people I interview, but I try to do it a couple of times. And guess what? It works! It is possible! And it feels really rewarding to make someone understand why I can't take him in and how he can do better elsewhere.

So instead of telling a person to wait for a call that will never come. I try to engage that person head on; to tell him straight, but at the same time making sure that whatever I say is justified and has good reasons behind it.

Just my two cents.

Low Tech

2005-10-07T16:35:00.000+08:00

My own version of the hipster pda. I've been quite obsessed with this for the past few days. Let's see how it competes with my Treo 650.

If you don't know what a hipster pda is, click here and be amazed.

Ants

2005-09-27T14:39:00.000+08:00

He woke up to the sound of his cellphone and saw that it was 8 am. Silently thanking the inventor of the snooze button, Miko tries to steal five more minutes of sleep time. Five minutes turn to ten, then fifteen, until finally, at 8:35, he wakes up.

Panic.

8:40 am. Stop panicking, work's only a ten minute ride away, he tries to rationalize shaking off that thick sensation of sleep. Bath: five minutes, dress up: five minutes, drive: ten minutes, he tries to calculate. He checks his phone again: 8:50 am.

More panic.

At least I'm awake, he thinks as he runs to the bathroom. "I love pressure, you work fast under pressure," he rationalizes some more.

If there's anything Miko's good at, it's multi-tasking trivial things: a feat like brushing his teeth and taking a shower at the same time. After successfully gurgling off the toothpaste while shampooing his hair, he grabs at a towel and briskly dries his hair and face.

"OUCH! What the fu--" He feels the sting of a bite to the corner of his left eye, and another between his shoulder blades.

"What the hell?" He scratches at the newest bite on his arm and quickly drops the towel to the floor. Immediately, several red ants crawl frantically in all directions.

Four more bites came one after the other before he turned the shower on again and took refuge in the cool water. He looked at the drainage and saw a handful of red ants draining away.

"Great," he says. Now I'm really late.

Miko then takes the ant infested towel and throws it out to the balcony. He pours a generous amount of rubbing alcohol onto his hands and spreads it out to wherever it hurt.

9 am.

He runs across the corridor to the elevator doors. He hops inside one, wallet between his teeth while putting on a shoe. I can be just ten minutes late if I drive like a madman, he thinks to himself as he adjusts his shirt. Ten seconds later, the elevator door opens.

9:01 am, Miko is now in the 8th floor. By this time Miko just laughs at himself.

Fifteen minutes later he enters his office wondering if 'ants attacking me after taking a bath' could be a good excuse for being late.

Nice And Wet

2005-09-15T16:32:00.000+08:00

I like the fact that it's been raining since this morning. Work seems much more bearable and I'm suddenly in the mood to give applicants a fighting chance to pass the second interview.

My room is placed facing the glass doors to the building. Every now and then I tilt my head to the left a little and steal glimpses of how it looks outside (especially while listening to boring applicants ;). Right now, a man is sitting on a wet chair, smoking. It's probably not wet anymore.

I think I shall have a cigarette.

Thirsty

2005-09-13T09:53:00.000+08:00

I'm neglecting the 3 resumes queued on my desk right this very moment. Why? Because I want to. I start to review their CVs and by the looks of it, two will not make it and one will. Sadly, the former two went to some unknown school and had courses not really in line with the industry they want to enter. So why waste time and still talk to them?

Sometimes people surprise you.

I better call them in and get a glass of water too.

Nimble Sleeper

2005-09-07T15:09:00.000+08:00

I don't know how he does it but here's Neil again making sure that he wakes up in the morning. He's actually dead asleep.

Comment Ad Strategy?

2005-08-10T09:32:00.000+08:00

I was checking my blog this morning and I was kind of happy that I got a comment (call me shallow) until I saw this:

Anonymous said...

CNN Suspends Novak
CNN political commentator Bob Novak has been suspended from appearing on CNN after an live outburst on Inside Politics.
Wow! You have a nice blog here. I'm definitely gonna check back and tell my friends. Keep it up.

I have a work from home site. It's all about work from home and related things.

Check us out if you get time.

Now that's just pathetic. Ads invading your comments area.

But then again, it's pretty effective. I actually clicked on the link (which led me to a money earning site) that this guy posted on his comment.

Why not do the same to promote your own websites?

Miko said...

Hey your blog is pretty cool! I have an awesome blog myself here. I'm definitely going to tell my friends about your site.

Great blogging!

Hmmm... Now people are definitely going to be clicking at my link. (Click my link baby!)

2005-08-09T15:30:00.000+08:00

In as much as I'd like to rant about certain issues regarding where I work, I can't and won't due to the fact of fear of getting fired. Now how bad is that. Blogging is supposed to be about freedom of self-expression. I just might continue my blogging experience anonymously in the near future.

I can't believe I'm saying this but I feel that the lack of any brain activity in my line of work is getting to me. It's beginning to bore into me. So I gladly followed the order for me to attend CCAP Call Center Conference Briefing.

I got there too early and had to wait for an hour or less before it actually started. It was actually refreshing though to be outside the office doing something else.

That's the Boracay Function Hall below where we had the briefing. Later, we were given a few pastries (french toast, a tart and some kind of cheese cake), before we decided to leave. So all in all, it was an ok briefing. Boring, but at least outside the office and free sweets. I then had a quick lunch at the mall and went straight back to work.

Before I left though, I got myself a neat, Okion, all-in-one card reader! :) I was actually planning to get a USB thumb drive but I realized that I had 2 SD cards and my main card reader is actually Bojeck's huge printer that has one built-in. I got it for 900 pesos at the basement of Shangri-la Plaza. There are two colors available: black or silver (I got the black one of course ;). Note how small and cool it is.

Wake Up Call

2005-08-05T09:25:00.000+08:00

Our phone woke me up this morning. Who was on the other line? It was the Ateneo. Apparently, they have some sort of alumni card that's super exclusive for Atenean alumni only. So I got a barrage of info about the damn card jammed into my waking brain as it shifted into morning gear. That was the first telemarketing wake-up call I've received.

In the morning, especially at that first hour of waking up, my brain tends to be in a passive stage. This is great advice to all you telemarketers out there; I'm more susceptible to saying yes in those first few minutes after waking up. My dad probably knew this. That's why he told the lady, who called my house, to reach me in the condo. I love my dad.

Anyways, true enough, I said yes (it was free for a year and only a 1,500 pesos yearly is needed to continue using it. Plus the lady said that I can actually decline using the card later on, that it gives discounts to numerous stores and what not. ;)

Hmmm...

::::::::

It's FRIDAY!

Reunions, Karma, and Bathroom Sponges

2005-08-04T23:00:00.000+08:00

I met up with Jackie and her friends at (I forgot the name of the place) Greenbelt 3. That's (clockwise) Fel, Sassy, Nikki, Alex and Jackie. It was some sort of reunion for them. Significant others invited!

I was pretty late when I arrived (blame it on work ;). Their table was empty and they were chit-chatting about whatever girls talk about (sex? relationships? who knows!). Anyways, the guys, meaning Chris and Niej were kinda quiet like how we usually are whenever the girls have this sort of reunion. And after a few pictures taken, including the one above, we parted ways.

Jackie had another reunion to go to, and me? Well, I had to go home.

::::::::

Fortunately I got myself a parking spot when I reached Katipunan. When I stepped out of the car, I heard something hit the wet ground. It took a while for me to understand what it was when I saw it.

*gasp

My Treo fell! My phone was on the fucking pavement!

I picked it up right away and was thankful that I placed the silicon skin on my Treo this morning. I quickly checked for damage but saw none (whew). When I reached our room, I checked again and I found out that the plastic antenna was sort of scratched. No problem though, I quickly remedied the scratch by sanding it smooth again with a piece of unused, coarse bathroom sponge.

That, my friends, is how karma strikes back: heartlessly, as you step out of your car.

So the lesson for the day is: always have an unused, coarse bathroom sponge.

Of Cousins And Sleeping Friends

2005-08-02T20:27:00.000+08:00

Let's try posting pictures.

That's my cousin, Bojeck. He used to be really round and small, but now he takes up the whole bed, dons a beard and sounds like bass drum. Out of the whole bunch of my cousins, he's the most musically inclined. (And I've to endure his band's practice sessions ;) But he's alright. I get my quick fix of alternative, rock and angst from this guy.

Miss googly eyes above is my other cousin. (She's going to kill me if she sees this picture on the net. ;) This picture was taken when she was trying to wake me up one morning. (Hmmmm... Meeee like pilllooow.)

Meet our resident boarder. He's a regular in our small condo unit. Recently though, we haven't been seeing much of his boarding ways. He's busy focusing on acing that board exam come October. I took this one night I got home from work, finding just the television on. When I turned on the lights, well, James was trying dearly, in a losing battle, to stay awake.

And lastly, Neil, another resident boarder of our condo unit. This guy's different all together. His grasp of self discipline is unconventional. That's him making sure that he wakes up on time. (That's his cellphone sitting on his face:) I often find him sleeping on the floor, because if he get's too comfortable he won't wake up.

Enough said.

Monday

2005-08-01T15:41:00.000+08:00

"Slow day today," Miko mutters under his breath.

He's been sitting on his chair for about an hour and a half now staring at the monitor. The building was awfully quiet aside from the intermittent buzzes of the the guards' radio.

He looks across the room into the empty (usually jampacked) reception area and sees that the guard stationed at the entrance door is talking to the maintenance guy. A sign that today won't bring much people into the building.

He leans back and stretches his legs and quickly puts on his jacket. Leaving his office, Miko strides past the lifeless room and exits the building.

"Where are all the people," he asks outside as he surveys the area looking for a free chair. Walking to a free one, he takes a cigarette and fumbles around his pockets for a lighter.

"Crap," he mumbles with the cigarette between his teeth and hands in his back pockets.

He quickly walks past the guard through the entrance and back towards his room. He reaches over his desk and tries to pull open its drawer. Awkwardly, he tries to place his arm inside trying to feel for that familiar lighter. Apparently it's way in too deep. He tries stubbornly to reach in, but the drawer kept on closing as he did. He holds on to the edge of the desk and with a grunt he reaches in again, harder. There it is, he smiles, but then the cigarette falls from his lips to the floor.

"Damn it."

Job Security: What?

2005-07-12T16:01:00.000+08:00

The last time I heard, geting fired has a process. You'll be called by
your immediate supervisor He or she tells you what, why and how. Then
finally, you'll be given a period of time to prepare.

Call me naive but I just realized that that isn't the case nowadays.

An officemate of mine in another department arrived today just to find
out that she's been fired. She was trying to log-in to her computer
but couldn't anymore. They just erased her profile. No warning, no
memo, email, whatsoever.

That's job security down the drain.

Google Earth

2005-07-04T16:07:00.000+08:00

I was reading Joel's blog and I came across this: google earth

Spy on other countries! It's pretty cool.

Update

2005-06-17T01:36:00.000+08:00

Here's an update on what has been and what's going on.

I'm on my 4th month of working and things have settled down. Meaning, I'm getting used to the whole workaday week. Welcome the routinary.

Oh and I'm now called a placement associate, not a recruitment associate. I also am getting regularized soon as a result of a few drastic changes that have been happening in my work place. And we've also started to compile all the bloopers we come across during our pre-screen interviews. My favorite still is:

Q: Describe a see-saw.
A: If you ride it, it will rise your emotion and increase your temperature.

Sad...

My girlfriend's younger brother, in a fit of rage, slammed my digital camera to the floor. Needless to say, he paid for it in full and I now have a brand new camera. :) I haven't had real time to play with it, but I promise to post a few pictures here when I do. I really miss taking pictures.

Speaking of Jackie, it was her birthday last June 14th! Happy happy birthday love! I hope you keep on using my gift. ;)

We (meaning my family and I) are also planning on getting me a new car! I'm thinking.... Aircon! Faster! No more leaks!

Right now I'm stuck at work and I'm sick, which is really okay since I'm on the graveyard shift (less work more pay :) but I should really use the time to finish my report, which is about 3 months due. :O

Typing that made me panic a bit.

I've got to finish that damn report.

Bad Dream

2005-04-30T08:10:00.000+08:00

I woke up twice during my sleep last night. Once because it was really getting hot and I had to drink water. The second time was because of a nasty dream.

I was at the office looking over some pictures of new applicants. I suddenly came across a brown envelope with the name Badua written on it. It wasn't really anything new because some applicants do tend to send their resumes via snail mail, so I ripped it open. Inside was a generic resume and an 8.5 by 11 picture of what seemed to be a well lit warehouse. From his 2x2 picture, Mr. Badua was a bald guy, wearing glasses and donning a slightly unshaven moustache. He was not fat but stout and looked haggard. I then started to look at the large photograph that came with the resume.

Before I could even focus on the details, someone (an office mate perhaps) tapped my shoulder and told me that that guy, Mr. Badua was one of the people that we were going to hire for the May batch o trainees.

By the time I was going to look back at the picture, my office mate spoke to me again urging me to look at the photograph as if he'd already seen it.

So I did, I looked and I saw something strange.

At the upper-right hand corner of the warehouse photo was a weird shadow that was somewhat blurred, he kind of smudge that can actually look like anything you wish it to look like. I looked at it hard.

Images of Mr. Badua started to filter through my mind's eye. I saw and heard as if from a TV that he was missing and that he had strangled someone to death in a warehouse. I look back at the photograph and the blur on the corner started to move from left to right.

Then it got clearer, I now saw two people: the other struggling from the other's grip. It was Mr. Badua strangling a person. (I don't remember if it was a girl or a guy.)

At that point I felt like I've hired the wrong person. He's going to kill someone. It felt like I had some responsibility and that I was too late.

I then woke up.

I think stress form work is getting the better of me.

*note that if there really is a Mr. Badua, it is purely coincidental that I dreamt about him. :)

Mandatory Overtime

2005-04-23T19:51:00.000+08:00

Those are the 2 words I'm really starting to dislike, especially because it's a Saturday. My shift begins at 1pm and ends at 10pm.

Bullsh!t.

I really can't complain either (another person's cheking in at 10pm till 7am). It has to be done. We have to keep the promise of being a 24 hour recruitment office alive. (Even if no one really comes in at the wee hours of the morning, not even on Saturdays, well maybe a few people... but come on...)

The only good thing about mandatory overtime is the extra pay, which in reality is not that big if you're an entry level recruiter. So the only good thing about this whole situation is actually not that good, really.

It's 8:06, 1 hour and 54 minutees to go.

Wooohoooo.....

Put Your Shoes On The Customer

2005-04-16T03:57:00.000+08:00

I recruit people for a living. More specifically, I pre-screen all applicants who come in through our office doors, filtering out all those that don't deserve to be in a call center.

It's sad and funny.

Sad, mainly because I find those that I filter out, funny. And funny because some applicants really are stomach-aching funny.

"So what do you think makes a good agent?" I ask.
"Well sir," she says, "you have to put your shoes on the customer so that you know how he will react to what you will say." She smiles, confident that her answer was perfect.
Somehow I pause for 5 seconds, trying to figure out what went wrong in that sentence. My mouth agape, I just nod and ask another question.

Minutes after she left I was in tears laughing. And hours later, now actually, I feel really bad.

2005-03-31T18:15:00.000+08:00

I really miss writing.

Been A While

2005-02-03T18:57:00.000+08:00

Holy Crap!

It's been too long.

Will update A-S-A-P!!!

cheers

2004-10-21T15:48:00.000+08:00

One huge-ass glass of taho...

We're Too Old For Debuts

2004-10-17T21:35:00.000+08:00

October 16th, 6 pm, Intramuros, Patio Victoria, I was invited to attend my good friend's sister's debut. The last time I remember attending a debut was waaay back in first year college. Back then, debuts were exciting. Now however, and most of my friends say so too, we're just too old for a debut.

But leave it to Paolo Henson and the Henson family to change my mind. YotYot's debut (Pao's younger sister) was all out--the great food, venue, fireworks, open bar, the works. Through the course of the night, we were all eating our words, this debut was rocking.

It was one of those rare moments where almost all the people I care about were in one round table (complete with girlfriends). Even with two champagne glasses broken, we had so much fun, that we had to take it elsewhere--Malate.

A kid in Malate.

None of us really go to Malate so my lovely girlfriend quickly suggested that we go to Sidebar. After seeing the usual Malate residents: foreigners, crossdressers, and more crossdressers, we arrived at the rotunda along Adriatico street. We decided to wait for everyone at Cafe Havana, where Dino saw his parents, then once complete walked a ways to Sidebar. Dino and Dan, both scotch freaks unanimously decided to order a 750ml bottle of Johnny Walker... I hate scotch, but I had no cash and the nearest ATM was, well, not so near. So scotch it was.

And it was scotch that put Dino to sleep as Jackie drove his car home for us that night. I wasn't too keen on driving either.

I'm going to say it again. I don't like scotch.

2004-10-11T16:05:00.000+08:00

At the airport

2004-10-11T16:02:00.000+08:00

Guess where.

2004-10-09T16:46:00.000+08:00

Our old dining area.

Suddenly Awake

2004-09-30T03:05:00.000+08:00

After what seemed to be a few hours of sleep, I'm suddenly awake. My
right butt cheek was so drained of blood from an awkward sleeping
position, (I think I shouldn't have said that.) that I woke up.

I'm currenty at the old house in Santa Mesa because I had to undergo
minor surgery on my left butt cheek (which explains the awkward
sleeping position). Apparently, I have, or rather, had a sebaceous (is
that spelled right?) cyst. I had it removed by a Dr. Borromeo fellow
at UERM.

The guy was pretty straight forward about the minor surgical operation. "Hubad, pati brief, higa," he started commanding like a prison warden. So I did what he said, besides, my dad was right in the next room and no one else was in the small operating room. Until, of course the assisting nurse came around with the surgical tools and syringes.

Then he started.

The whole process didn't really hurt, except for the first few
anesthesia shots. After which it felt like my right ass was rubber as
he knifed and cut away at my cyst.

I wanted to document the process via my phone cam, but the only
reliable person to do so--my dad, didn't want to. He said he'd feel
sick with the blood and all. So I desperately tried to look back at
what the doctor was doing, especially when I heard snipping sounds.
But it was too hard, all I saw was his left, gloved hand.

It all ended quite quickly. Before I knew it, he was strapping some
strong bandaging tape onto my ass and telling me to get up. He also
showed me my cyst in a small, formalin-filled container, which I
couldn't immediately bring home. It had to go to the lab first for
inspection. It looked like an almond. (I'm getting grosed out.)

So now, I'm staying at Ayessa's room, who is in Mindanao visiting my
grandma. I have free food, an air conditioned room, a TV, a phone and
a computer. I can't sit down properly due to my stitched up ass and I
have to go back to the hospital come Friday to have the bandages
replaced. Oh and one more annoying thing, I'm not allowed to take a
bath...

Great.

And I want to smoke, which wouldn't be a problem if I was in
Katipunan. Here, I'd have to wait until Dad's asleep or gone off to
work. Plus I forgot to bring some smokes of my own so I'd have to
resort to my mom's Hope cigarettes. I might just steal some later.

It feels pretty good to be back in the old house.

Amazing Race

2004-09-25T04:11:00.000+08:00

Chip and Kim won! Boooo...

Colin and Christie should have won, darn it. Why didn't they wake up early! Shit, shit, shit... Aye, they did get around 6 vacations so I guess the million bucks would have been too much.

Not if you're real greedy.

Talk about a bad temper though. Colin almost always explodes when things don't go his way. I still can't forget the Cavite leg where Colin said his ox was broken, hehehehe... But let's give the guy a break, because of his temper they've become one of the most competitive teams in all the Amazing Races. Oh and about his short fuse, I read here that the editing made him look like a psycho.

Because of a "rotten edit," said Colin, "I'm a raging lunatic psycho and Christie just puts up with it - which couldn't be farther from the truth. We actually have a wonderful relationship and I'd like to just state for the record that I am the luckiest man alive being with Christie." -Reality TV World

You can also read there that Colin proposed to Christie on the show in live TV. Why didn't they show that here? Or did I probably miss it?

Oh and my special mention goes to the Filipino driver who got his ten seconds of fame by saying something like this:

Over 100 is illegal here in the Philippines...
... so we have no choice but to break the law.

There goes our reputation.

TAR6 should be good.

Arr...

Morning

2004-09-22T08:59:00.000+08:00

Good morning on this very dizzy, Wednesday... er, morning.

Earthquake

2004-09-16T14:52:00.000+08:00

Early this morning at around 3:15am I was forcing myself to sleep,
when suddenly the whole room was shaking. I thought for a second that
I was just dreaming, but then I saw that the door to the balcony was
moving back an forth.

There was an earthquake!

For about thirty seconds or so, the world was grumbling (probably just
a small part of QC). I woke Bojeck, who amazingly was up and about
real fast. I got my phone and glasses and headed for the hallway.

At that time the earthquake stopped. Bojeck was still in the condo
unit and I was looking up and down through the staircase to see if
people woke up to run downstairs. I saw one person below me and none
above. I went back to the room to check on Bojeck who, I saw, was
sleeping on a chair. My neighbor Kix and her boyfriend were also
outside in the hallway looking around. Then Brian, another neighbor
(but on the upper floors) came rushing down the stairs. He gave us a
weird look, probably thinking why we were just hanging around, and
rushed down again to the lobby. I bet he felt it harder, him being on
a higher floor and all. He he he.

I was thinking, maybe an aftershock comes next, but that didn't come
so I went inside my place again and waited a while outside my balcony.
There I saw Brian talking to the guards about how bottles were falling
of tables and stuff like that. He really was spooked. He he he.

If it had been a fire alarm, like before, people would be downstairs
in the lobby within seconds. I guess earthquakes here in the
Philippines (or around the world for that matter) don't need alarms.
Duh! But I'm saying, if people actually heard a siren going off in the
middle of the night, they'd be more alert and less hesitant to act.

We need an earthquake alarm.

PS: I swear, a few hours prior to the quake, dogs outside were going
ballistic. Even Beans was noisy. It's just amazing how animals can
probably detect these things on their own and we need to create alarms
and systems.

Minus 1 Pig

2004-09-15T17:03:00.000+08:00

Not many of you know that I own two guinea pigs, Pork and Beans. As of
4:30pm today, I now have one guinea pig left. Pork died.

I'd like to think that it wasn't my irresponsibility that led to her
death, but somehow, it was my fault. What a way to learn my lesson.

So now, I have Beans left. She doesn't seem to care that Pork's gone.
(She used to bully Pork frequently.) I think she's even happier now
that she doesn't have to share food.

Oh well... Life goes on. :)

On a lighter note, I recently upgraded to a new phone. No it's not any
of the new phones you see today, but it's fairly new (I do with what I
can afford.). Now I'm obsessing about it: installing stuff I really
don't need and making sure no other files are left once I delete the
applications I don't like. But like all things I own, once this phone
gets a month old, I won't care as much.

Pork shouldn't have died.

Major Overhaul

2004-09-12T16:09:00.000+08:00

I got so bored that I changed how this blog looks.

I guess all I have to do now is to write some more.

I don't feel like it though.

ps: At this very moment, James and Bojeck are both sleeping: Bojeck on the couch and James on the bean bag. I thought of posting a picture but got too lazy.

It's a lazy Sunday.

Ayessa's Birthday

2004-09-07T13:51:00.000+08:00

Three cheers for my cousin on her birthday today. She's in La Union at the moment hoping to soak up some sun and enjoy the surf. My 5 foot tall cousin surfs.

Nothing is impossible.

Funny

2004-09-07T13:45:00.000+08:00

I found this while blindly surfing the internet. Thanks to expectorants.

You know you're living in 2004 when...

1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.

2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.

6. You go home after a long day at work you still answer the phone in a business manner.

7. You make phone calls from home, you accidentally dial "9" to get an outside line.

8. You've sat at the same desk for four years and worked for three different companies.

10. You learn about your redundancy on the 11 o'clock news.

11. Your boss doesn't have the ability to do your job.

12. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home.

13. Every commercial on television has a website at the bottom of the screen.

14. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

15. You get up in the morning and go online before getting your coffee.

16. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. :)

17. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

18. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.

19. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

20. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list.

AND NOW U R LAUGHING at yourself.

Go on, forward this to your friends ...you know you want to!

To Alabang

2004-09-02T14:37:00.000+08:00

There was a bird on that railing, somewhere. It was just too fast for my camera.

EDSA wasn't that congested south bound yesterday, or so I thought. From my place to the Greenhills area, it took me around ten minutes! Now that's probably nothing special, but I drive an old car. (Well actually it's my parents' car but they upgraded to a white Pajero so I got the old one.) Reaching SLEX, things started to get worse. It started to rain. All of a sudden, cars were everywhere. I had no choice, I used the most expensive strip of road south bound, the Skyway.

There were no cars. It was just me in the open road. I imagined driving a Ferrari, top speed, at 150 km/h! Reality check, I was driving a box-type Lancer, full speed, engine blaring at 90 km/h.

But hey, it was great! It was just drizzling so I rolled down my window and felt the cool air on my face. I was really enjoying (I'm easily pleased) that I started singing. (I do sing, but only when I'm driving alone.)

Until a BMW Z4 zoomed past me, leaving a splash of water on my windshield.

Two minutes later, I'm heading down again to the highway, where I met up with the z4 stuck in a 20 km/h traffic crawl. Call me mababaw, but that felt good.

Not so fast now, eh?

I started singing again.

Patience

2004-09-01T04:00:00.000+08:00

I'm generally a patient person. I can, with ease, wait for someone, something or sit out traffic in Metro Manila.

When someone says at the end of August, it usually means the last week of August right? It's freaking September 1 already and I've been waiting for this damn firmware upgrade to my iRiver mp3 player. (Yes, I am a geek.) I'm currently at the site, refreshing the web page every few minutes like a pathetic robot. My patience is running low.

And it's 4 am again.

Aye...

Change

2004-08-31T18:20:00.000+08:00

I woke up to the sound of rain today. (That'll give you a clue to what time I actually woke up.) It's been raing continuously and the balcony's wet, again.

I wonder if Ayessa's cactus would drown from too much water. I think it has adapted pretty well to the too much rain these past few days. The cactus is actually growing. I think it's already too big for its current bamboo pot. Does anyone out there know how to transfer a cactus to another pot? I'd hate to see this one die: it's one of the living things Ayessa owns that actually survived this long.

Fel Cheng invited me for a gmail account. Truth is, I asked her for one. I gave up my days of having more than one, usable email address a long time ago and I was pretty comfortable and content with my yahoo mail address. But 1 gigabyte, and the ease of use of google, plus the better stream lined navigation! I was up for this change.

Now all I have to do is change and announce to everyone my new email address: a very tiring task. That's why I'm not too keen on changing anything I'm comfortable with, which probably has it's disadvantages.

So there. I'm changing my email address. A probable start to changing more things, for the better, in my life.

Now how do I replace the pot of this cactus?

iLike...

2004-08-31T18:10:00.000+08:00

The All-New iMac G5

"What if you could fit your whole life — all your music, all your photos, all your movies, all your email — in a computer as fun and useful as an iPod? Now you can. Introducing the futuristic iMac G5 in 17- and 20-inch widescreen models. The entire computer, including a G5-based logic board, slot-loading optical drive, hard disk, speakers, and even the power supply — dwells inside the enchanting display. Modern living starts at $1299." -Apple

My GOD! Apple just keeeps geting better! Everything's inside the monitor! And it doesn't look bad at all! I wonder when this'll be available here in the Philippines?

Hmmm... $1299 multiplied by 56 pesos equals...

Sleep

2004-08-31T02:16:00.000+08:00

I met up with James a while ago. He said he hasn't been asleep in 18 hours. I guess he's really used to being awake long periods at a time.

I, on the other hand, have been getting 12 hours of sleep on average, which I believe is bad. I can't help it though. I'm usually awake at night until around 3 am and at about 4 am I fall asleep. So if I'm asleep at that time, add 8 hours for the average person, I should be awake at around 12 pm right?

Right. I do wake up at 12 pm. I just refuse to get up. So I fall asleep for 3 more hours. And that's bad and real unhealthy.

Self discipline sucks.

Help Make Blogs More Visible!

2004-08-30T15:34:00.000+08:00

There are by some estimates more than a million weblogs. But most of them get no visibility in search engines. Only a few “A-List” blogs get into the top search engine results for a given topic, while the majority of blogs just don’t get noticed. The reason is that the smaller blogs don’t have enough links pointing to them. But this posting could solve that. Let’s help the smaller blogs get more visibility!

This posting is GoMeme 4.0. It is part of an experiment to see if we can create a blog posting that helps 1000’s of blogs get higher rankings in Google. So far we have tried 3 earlier variations. Our first test, GoMeme 1.0, spread to nearly 740 blogs in 2.5 days. This new version 4.0 is shorter, simpler, and fits more easily into your blog.

Why are we doing this? We want to help thousands of blogs get more visibility in Google and other search engines. How does it work? Just follow the instructions below to re-post this meme in your blog and add your URL to the end of the Path List below. As the meme spreads onwards from your blog, so will your URL. Later, when your blog is indexed by search engines, they will see the links pointing to your blog from all the downstream blogs that got this via you, which will cause them to rank your blog higher in search results. Everyone in the Path List below benefits in a similar way as this meme spreads. Try it!

Instructions

Just copy this entire post and paste it into your blog. Then add your URL to the end of the path list below, and pass it on! (Make sure you add your URLs as live links or HTML code to the Path List below.)

Path List

Minding the Planet
Suburban Playboy
*mikodalupan
(your URL goes here! But first, please copy this line and move it down to the next line for the next person).

(NOTE: Be sure you paste live links for the Path List or use HTML code.)

Inside A Tricycle

2004-08-29T02:24:00.000+08:00

Remembering the elections.

Dan's Birthday

2004-08-28T19:23:00.000+08:00

I attended Dan's birthday celebration last night.

Good food and great friends.

The CRABS were huge!

The cola-scotch was a killer.

No more scotch, just vodka...

Rude Awakening

2004-08-27T14:32:00.000+08:00

The smell of soil and smoke was clear. I could feel my boots sinking with every awkward step I made. Dark clouds loomed over the horizon. I swear it was early morning but the haze of smoke made it seem like mid afternoon. I looked at my watch to try to discern the time of day but its face was covered with muck and grime. I’m sure it’s early morning, I thought to myself.

I was running. I was running away from something. I was trying to escape, but from what? I focused on what I was running away from, but the fear got to me first. I panicked, so I ran faster. Yet the faster I ran, the harder it was to place one foot in front of the other.

My boots sank deeper.

I took my boots off, tied both shoe laces together and slung them on my left shoulder. They felt real heavy. I was now running, without boots, in deep mud.

I wasn’t going any faster.

I could sense that whatever it was that was after me was getting close. I wanted to look back but I feared what was behind me. I was tired and scared. I kept running.

Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. Just ten seconds I thought. I stopped running, hands leaning on my knees, facing the ground.

The ground, I saw, was muddy with patches of grass. My feet were ankle-deep, covered in sludge. Ten more seconds, I thought staring onto the ground.

Suddenly I heard a yell. I looked to my right and I found a soldier running. He was screaming.

“Don’t stop,” he yelled.

“Why are we running?” I shouted back, dropping my boots.

He yelled back something but was too far off to be perceived. The sight of another person running for his life sent fear back to my senses. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing. I ran for dear life.

After a while, I caught up with the other person and was beside him running.

“Why are we running?” I asked him again between breaths.

He answered back shouting but I didn’t hear a thing.

From somewhere, the tune of “It’s A Small World After All” was blaring.

“Aaargh,” I moaned and squirmed in my bed.

I placed a pillow over my head and tried desperately to return to my dream. But the nasty intercom played its tune again and again and again.

It wanted me awake.

I didn’t want to wake up.

It insisted.

F*ck you intercom.

It was adamant, unyielding and merciless as it played its song again and again.

F*cking intercom.

Defeated I woke up and answered the damn machine.

“Hello ser Miko? Hello?”

I grumbled.

“Yung kotse ni mam Ayessa nakaharang, may lalabas po.”

I grumbled again and said, “okay.” I put down the handset and looked for my cousin.

She wasn’t there.

Well anyway, I found out that she was at the next door, watching “My Best Friend’s Wedding.” When she saw me she wasn’t at all surprised that I was grumpy. I’m always grumpy in the morning.

Commenting

2004-08-26T03:23:00.000+08:00

I think you need a blogger account to be able to post your name in the comments area of Blogger. Really sad, but you can always place your name when commenting anonymously...

Marc, Late Night...

2004-08-26T03:06:00.000+08:00

Wow, it works... Here's Marc painting.

James

2004-08-26T03:01:00.000+08:00

Let's try Hello... Here's James studying.

Dr. Pepper

2004-02-27T05:05:00.000+08:00

My usual trip to the Caltex gas station on the way home brought me a taste of Dr. Pepper.
It actually tastes good. If you like Cherry Coke, then you'll like Dr. Pepper. Although, the hint of cherry (I think it's cherry) in the softdrink is subtle and just right.

I think I'll stick to this one for a while.

jackie

2004-02-23T08:18:00.000+08:00

Jackie's onto that Tungsten E of hers like a madwoman.

That's my girl, quite camera shy, but very adorable.

image posting

2004-02-23T05:36:00.000+08:00

here's a trial at posting an image.

I took this at Starbucks G4, it was raining.

simplify

2004-02-23T02:07:00.000+08:00

//Less hassle, simplify.

amanda griffin

2004-02-20T05:12:00.000+08:00

1//Greenbelt 3, on the way to the cinema, Jackie and I we're talking about what doesn't work in the Philippines no matter how much you try.

2//"Wearing you're freaking discman on your wrist," I blurted out as I saw this guy in a sleeveless shirt pass by.

3//"Green hair," Jackie says from the top of her head, "oh and wearing no bra!"

4//My male brain gets it's gears running and I try to search the anonymous crowd for bra-less females. At that same instant, a woman came strutting in front of the both of us. My eyes were fastly affixed towards her purple blouse (since the last word I heard was bra-less.) I suddenly jerked. I shot a glance at her face and looked at Jackie, who was (not totally surprising) as dumbfounded as I was.

5//There she was, Amanda Griffin! In the flesh!

6//It took a moment to register inside both of our heads.

7//"Oh my god," I heard Jackie blurt out as we halted to a stop, "that was *gasp* her!"

8//"Let's go back," Jackie says. "I have to tell her that," she pauses, "hi, I'm sorry for disturbing you but you're hot!"

9//We looked back and she was gone.

escapism

2004-02-19T01:22:00.000+08:00

//I'm supposed to sleep. I'm just addicted to the internet. It's a great feeling to be connected to the globe and not feel under pressure.