red moon

on the spot where bo's cafe used to be in sorrent0 (along lacson st.) now sits a chinese restaurant called red moon.

after a fun and exhilirating game of volleyball and winning over the business support group on the third set, diane transported us (pepsi, christine and myself) to the place for lunch.

we had a fried garlic tofu, sweet and sour pork, beef with mushroom and a platter of steamed rice.

food is good and fairly priced. the ambiance appeals to small gatherings as evidenced by chinese group diners scattered all over the cozy eatery.

a next visit will surely follow and proper documentation will be observed.

reizvoller alumna plays for durden hunters

hahaha...who would have thought that the shortlived imds volleyball tourney last year would bring me this far. not that we were selected because we're the best of the lot. all six of us volunteered for the fun that the activity is sure to give. and the experience has given me something i can use to make starting over less painful. it's not about making a big splash. my thoughts are directed more towards making a good start.
the wonderful thing about the sportsfest is that the BIG people were there. kit (our site director) was there, ken (our ops mgr coached the bb team which lost by one shot to a veteran and better organized team) too. even our aussie trainors attended to lend support.

week two

with so much things to learn and remember, days seemed to run together and before we knew it, we were tested and found to be competent enough to go through the next training phase. and to mark this day, our section went to MO2, a famous destination for drinking and dancing (not much about eating and conversation though) and celebrate (?)
i only had a bottle of lager there but had countless shots of vodka mixed with lime at ken's place (a senior agent who's being cross trained on our account) while learning the art of poker from bong (a batch mate). i'm not sure about my wins being beginner's luck but the hands i've had saved me from getting drunk (our bets being shots of the alcoholic bev).

a day in the hell hole

note: this is lifted from my journal dated Nov 3, 2005

My mind is a jumble of words. I guess tatay sleep was troubled too with all the ruckus that I created earlier how bad my day in the city turned out today.
My eyes still burn from the tears that flowed freely after I wrote the following text after spying a number of the kids leave the line: "Bless the impatient souls. This afternoon's ordeal was a lot better to what I have been through this morning. Plus the fact that I was well equipped with a large serving of Bob's café iced mocha plus half of Lira's regular one. I think I am ready for anything…except that I feel like I need to expel some of the water that I have imbibed. What
a bummer!
I'm exhausted to the bone and I felt like trashing this morning especially when after painstakingly taking my place in the loooong queue, almost 20 dark souls cut me off for clearance signing at the Registrar's window. Realization dawned on me when a woman, supposedly
revered for her groups holiness (having set apart from the other believers so they can serve the lord in poverty and chastity) came from nowhere and cut me off too. As in! No wonder their students displayed the same degree of barbarism!
At least now I got to sit while waiting for my turn at the 'load validation' window. I wanted to do the right thing …and I did.I patiently waited in line. I wanted to correct what is wrong. I did and
failed miserably. What the hell is wrong with this world? Wala gid ya disiplina (discipline is amiss). The folly of democracy. I think what we need is anotherdictator. But let that happen when I'm out of the Philippines."
I wrote this in between reading Jessica Zafras's Twisted Flicks. Little did I know that a bigger surprise has lain in store for me three agonizing hours later. I left LCC at about 12:30 noon for lunch. I took my chance at finding Beth at the apartment but I have no such luck. I found the door doubly secured but the lights on at the porch. Bad business. So I left, dejectedly, and decided that I'd like to have Chinky's spareribs for lunch, which sis and myself enjoy so much but I found that I even lost my appetite for that. Just Imagine me losing my appetite because I cant. But I managed to finish it. Then I went to meet Lira and Jao at Robinson's where we had our coffee. While waiting for them, I bought Mae's MYMP and blank cds for my smallville season3.
I was back at lcc and got on the line readily. My gladness with the anticipation seeing that I was only like 10 steps away from the office window was aborted prematurely. Somebody came out
of the room and announced that 'were done for the day. Please come back on Monday.' I was stunned for a spell. I sat still where I was seated processing what sta ana (that was her name) just said. It couldn't be real. I mean, it was so wrong and so unfair, I couldn't have heard right. But when the throng finally started to disperse I realize that I heard her right. I slowly made my way towards her and I might have said something interesting that she gave me her full attention. I remembering saying that if that was the case, then all of those that were left on the queue should be given a priority number for next weeks use so that the long wait (gosh three hours was like an eternity, back home nanay could have had an afternoon siesta because I
would have been there to take her chore). Apparently, we think differently. Miles apart different…I lost my cause…miserably.
I left the place so dejected and disappointed and disillusioned, I wanted to be alone yet I wanted desperately to talk to somebody. I was murmuring "stupid" over and over again as a traversed the dark hallway of the high school department on my way to the main gate. I was holding on to the vestiges of my bravado but a call from sis was my undoing. Her timing couldn't be more perfect. I was at the end of the hall adjacent to the staircase. At my first word, I broke down. Thank God the sisters were on austerity, that area was again darkened and quite removed from the public I can howl all I want without arousing curiosity from the bystanders. Before I could make a coherent explanation about my outburst. I know how I sounded. As in I really
cried that soul-wrenching cry. I cried like I never did before (not even after I learned that you-know-who tied the knot-bwahahaha). When all my tears were spent, I laughed about what I just did. But I still hold that resentment…even after I have gone out of the building. My humor
however was restored when I spied the one of the labels in the textile section. It said "span" rayon. Bwahahaha!
You see those things are actually petty. What they lack is system on how to go about with the process. More than that, the issue can be traced back from the management itself. They are blind to the fault of their organization and that is sad. The sadder thing is if somebody attempts to make them see things, they chose to look at the other way. And I'm afraid that there is no hope for them.
I have expected the student council to have a hand in easing the ordeal of the student body. I remember my registration day during freshman year, an upper class from tau gamma helped me out in filling out my form. He even led me to the windows for my transactions. His name was manny. How could I forget him? And to think na frat boy yun ha. Well, the SSG should have thought something like that to aid newbies like me or mothers who haven't gone to schools themselves and wanted to make sure that their children enroll. And if that isn't possible, they should have posted what to do where. They should have labeled windows properly. But I guess that was too much to ask for from their caliber. I give up!
Well, I thank God that despite my missing a crucial episode in Amazing Twins (no thanks to their stupidity…I just can't get over it…give me a week or two), I get to drink my favorite coffee, completed my smallville collection. God is good! After all life would too boring without such distractions. I'm ready to retire now. Tomorrow is another day.

resisting a cuppa

proximity must have a great deal to do about how we much we go after certain things. it attunes to our sense of pride. knowing that we have something that others don't makes us self satisfied in a way.
i remember going out of my way to pass by at bo's from grad school to get my fix of iced mocha (i avoided starbucks since that one sad visit i've made eons ago. it's not about their coffee per se but the culture of their clientele that upsets me. correct me if im wrong but i bet my teletech dollars, most of the people go there to be seen). Cafe Ethiopia, Figaro, and Bo's don't look at all shabby next to it but the clientele are not as snobbish. More so, they seem to genuinely love coffee and go to these places to satisfy their craving of the enervationg brew and not merely to be seen.
going back, i spied 'kuppa' at the lobby while checking out from work. i gave it a look of longing but i heard this voice on the top of my head 'just wait an hour more and have KiLobytes brew instead'. that i did and spared myself from shelling out more than i can afford. when i get my first pay next week, maybe i can splurge a bit on it.

quandary managed

i had a miserable two days. with very little sleep in between shifts, i struggled to keep my eyes open, especially during reporting. the thing is, i've had the misfortune of being assigned the bottom bunk of a double decker and i could hear very shuffling feet on the floor.
besides deciding on taking the matter to the attention of authorities (i'm still drafting my problem statement, proposed solution and how the suggestion would benefit the company), i thought of an immediate remedy to my dilemma. it's nothing grand. i don't know what principle encompassed this idea but the object is "to shut out" unwanted sounds. to be able to do that i brought my ipod along and slept the sleep of the dead with david cook crooning his AI hits at the back of my head. it was a huge success. by the time i get to wake up, my wrist watch said it was already ten past the hour of six in the morning.

first impressions

First day of training wasn't so bad. I made a lot of impressions.

On "kids" these days.
They never stop to stun (yes, stun's the word) me.
Right on our introductory activity, while I revealed my deepest darkest secret as being afraid of addressing a big crowd, theirs ranged from being in love with their best friend, falling for their best friend's gf/bf, did it with their best friend's gf/bf and being a single mom/dad. Is this an issue of generation gap? Maybe, just maybe, because I play soccer and most of them just stay at home and watch tv.

On "senior" colleagues.
Most of the seniors (re: with the company for more that a year) still have that endearing sing song lilt to their speech but they well made up for it by talking a lot while I struggled to keep the conversation going. I guess this happens as I am too mindful of my grammar and choice of words, not to mention the daily battle I have with my dentures in getting the right sound for some vowels and consonants.

On "training"
While the rest of the trainees get to be fined for every vernacular uttered within the training floor, our group will be getting a "log" instead. An accumulation of these logs will sadly be used as a ground for expulsion. As if I didn't have enough torment listening to "intelligible" recordings that almost tore my ears off on top of things to know about (and keep in mind) a country that I have very little chance of setting my foot on. If all goes well though, and we adhere to what is required of us, there's no doubt about our finishing as best in our batch.

On a typical after-work-activity for a discerning out-of-towner.
I went to the nearest quiet room right after class (around 00:05H) but the next vacancy was at 12:59. So I tried the room downstairs and I was in bed by 00:30H. Sleep was elusive though. Apart from being new to the place, it didnt help that heeled shoes clicked against concrete (which, to me is inexcusible having tiptoed my way from the door to my assigned bunk) and phone alarms blared amidst the deathly silence which is only ocassionally disrupted by a snore here and there. I think carpeting should be installed and users would just log their wake up time (and have the minder wake them up at the appointed time) so that the place would live up to it's name as a 'quiet room'. One thing is sure though. It beats sleeping alone in a haunted clinic.

shi fu...the pug

our family is growing. besides lani and tess who were responsible for my not having do laundry ever again, last tuesday we picked up a four month old puglet from its temporary home. Home being the second floor of masters printing press along hilado extension. he greeted us from inside his metal carrier with his sad face as if saying 'you have to get me out of here'. he was pretty good at it. he had us at a pant (never heard him bark).after a night of acclimatizing, he seemed to have adjusted well to his new surroudings now. he slept early for a change. other changes that he notably brought home include: rendering bjork insecure (which led the latter to be more affectionate. on the first night, after seeing that everyone's attention was on the newcomer, he rubbed his face on my arm for aminute or so), increasing our laundry by 100% (his favorite latrine is the long couch at sis' house), forcing the most complacent bone to exercise among others. the days has gotten busy, with his excessive demand for attention. i think i lost two pounds in the last two days avoiding him...lol