Sunday, December 28, 2008

Punggol Singapore Get Together with Mamul

Last night, I went online in my yahoo messenger and I had a chance to converse with Mamul and Agnes. My talk with Agnes was more of how she is, what has happened more or less with her last few days in Makati and basically her next destination and that is Singapore. With Mamul, our conversation was focused on her stay here and how she's doing so far in this really environment friendly Singapore.

Olga and I would love to visit Mamul so we asked her if it was okay to visit her place. So it was signed and sealed last night that we will be visiting Mamul at Punggol(it's a rhyme :P).

This morning at around 11AM, we decided to fly by or rather began our journey to Punggol. Since we will be cooking monggo soup, Olga and I first had to go to the market and bought 100 grams of bilis - dilis in Tagalog or bolinao in Bisaya. After we purchased this special ingredient, we then walked our way to Buona Vista MRT station going for Outram Park Interchange. The ride took us 15 minutes. We then alight and went to the interchange bound for Punggol. The trip took us 45 minutes. After arrival, we alight again and went to the LRT station bound for Cove which if I am not mistaken was at the 3rd floor. This time it was a shorter right or could have been if the car or caboose wasn't in maintenance. Punggol to Cove was just a station away but we had to go a joy ride for the maintenance but it was a blessing in disguise because we got to see the beauty of the place. Mamul fetched us from there after Olga sent an MMS and did a miss call. Mamul had to purchase some spices and other ingredients for the "get together" so we dropped by at the nearest supermarket. After that, we went to a unit nearby to get her Magic Sing Karaoke System. After that, it was time to go to Mamul's place. Check the pictures for our visit:
A Steel Bar Creature Steel Bar Being Modelesque Model too The Elusive Mamul Group Pic The Performance

It was fun seeing a friend and just talk anything mostly crazy stuff. See you next week Mul in your visit to Holland :)

Friday, December 26, 2008

From Cebu with Love

What a surprise that was in December 14 of 2008. I mean it's been like two weeks more or less but the memory still lingers and it will live on.

Since I don't want to cry or anything, I asked my father not to send me to the airport together with my brother. Instead, I asked MJ and Angel to go with me. They are I guess my most beautiful friends. I have lots of great friends who are so sweet and kind and and who truly cared for me but these two ladies are different.

Anyway, as I can still remember that day, these fab friends of mine came to our house just on time. Well, my father went with me until the corner street for the taxi together with MJ and Angel, after I have prepared everything. We got a taxi for ourselves. I told MJ that I have finished reading "The Zahir" so she can borrow it and told them that I was also done watching "The Gossip Girl". Then I realized that I forgot my laptop. We had the driver went back to it's way and I was calling my brother that I will be coming back in a minute to get my laptop. I thought everything were accounted for but not. Thanks for MJ mentioning "The Gossip Girl" series because the DVD was in my laptop and so that was it. I came back to our place running and I saw my dad with my laptop. He gave it to me and then a tap on my back. Well I can kind of cry but I did not allow my tears to even peep. I got back to the taxi and Angel was teasing me that I was going to cry but I told her not. I just took a deep breath, an unfathomable one.

We came to the airport just on time and I just checked in my luggage to SilkAir. After that, MJ and Angel and I were talking lots of things. Our lives and future lives maybe. Well both girls will be coming to Singapore next year and I will play as their host. There was a flight delay for about an hour so we just talked and talked anything and everything under the universe. It felt so relieving with them by my side. I could have wished for more time but reality was in a couple of minutes it was boarding time. When it was the boarding time, MJ and Angel gave me gifts. These were stuff toys and they were named Sark and I forgot the other one so I named him Turbo just today. They are lovely.

I'm glad God gave me these people and somehow showed me some meaning in life. I'll be waiting for you guys to come over here in Singapore and rock our world.

Note:
In the picture, its Pong the turtle, Sark the choco brown puppy and then Turbo the snow as white puppy with the red cap. Aren't they cute ?

Internet connection with Starhub

Well my online hibernation has come to an end as we have just installed our internet connection here at Singapore. Our housemate transacted just this afternoon at starhub and we got a cable connection from starhub which was on a promo, and so we got a cable TVwith free channels and we need to subscribe to TFC so we paid for an extra. The promo also includes two phone connections with an ultimate free local phone calls. That was in a sum of 75 SG dollars a month. We are going to pay for the installation but we decided that we can manage it. So Olga and I did those installation and taaaaaahhhdaaaaaa we have a connection. I am so excited to upload my pictures right now. My connection to my friends and family would be easier from now own. Thanks to this connection things would be a lot different. Oh we will need to get a wireless router for ourselves so others can go online as well and tomorrow we will be checking DLink or Linksys or anything which is cheaper and of good quality.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas To Everyone

Merry Christmas to every living and non living creature on the planet. May we have more blessings, better yet, be a blessing to others!

Well I would like to fill the gaps by narrating some updates to you.

Last December 22, after work, I immediately went to Olga's cube and we went outside to eat somewhere at East Commonwealth Ave.'s food shoppes. I was in a hurry - quite a bit, because I need to pack my belongings. After Olga and I ate dinner which was around 7PM, we hurriedly went off and I proceeded to the MRT station. I needed to reach the house early. Well, I got there after 30 minutes so it was good for me. My hotel mate by the way, was not with me since he was out somewhere at Boonlay to look for his own place. Right after I arrived, I switched on the television and then began packing my things. After making sure that my personal belongings were all accounted for, I just brushed my teeth and fix my hair. I still have a few minutes, so I decided to watch was shown in Discovery Channel. It was 9PM and I decided to go ahead and leave the hotel. The bags were difficult to slide and maneuver because the whole floor was carpeted. To give you an idea, I have one big trolley bag, a smaller trolley bag and a laptop bag. All were carried by my poor shoulders and arms. I could have waited my hotel mate to ask for errand but it was late already. Getting to the elevator was a struggle but i manage to reach the first floor where the reception was stalled. I checked out officially from the hotel and asked the security attendant to get me a taxi. After a minute, the cab arrived and I got my things to the car. They were really heavy but the good thing is the hotel staff helped me so things went smooth :P. Anyway thanks to the staff and crew of Orchard Grand Court Hotel. I arrived at my new place in Ghim Moh at around 9:45PM. I was a little lost and thanks to Olga for fetching me from the entry way. Thanks also to the cab driver for helping me in unloading my luggage. Well, Olga and I just went straight to our unit at the 6th floor of the building and I had to set my things and arrange them. All of the housemates were there so I was introduced to one of them whom I have not known yet. Anyway the night ended with a hot bath and I went to bed.

Last December 24, our office hours was until 12 so everyone in the company was released earlier. Olga and I went out at around 1PM and we took the free bus service of the company going to Bouna Vista. We were invited to go to Christian's place so it was kind of exciting because we will be cooking and stuff and he told me that they have this internet connection where I can again be alive in the cyberspace. Before we went home, we bought some bread and fruit juice and some fruits. I also went to a food stall to buy food. After that, Olga and I went to our flat or unit. It was a long walk but a nice one since there was zero pollution and less heat from the sun as the pavement was covered with lots of greenery - Singapore is near to be a jungle city or a city in a forest, whichever suits you. Anyway, when we arrived at our flat, I ate and Olga watched the television. We decided to go to Christian's place at around 4 or 5PM. Olga got bored so she slept in her room while I managed to put up with the shows. I was getting sleepy, I mean just my eyes, every time the electric fan sweeps and blows the room; but, I was not able to sleep. I just watch and watch every show there was. Well Olga got up and decided to take her bath while I was still in the couch more or like a potato but wasn't mashed. Anyway after Olga, I had my turn. After that, I noticed that I have some messages on my phone and reading the lines, that the get-together at Christian's place was postponed. I replied that it was okay. Olga and I decided to go to Orchard and check the place for some events. Olga brought her pink cannon digital camera and I had my Lumix Panasonic camera. We went to Orchard and rode a 111 bus instead of going for a train. We took some pictures inside the bus and before that, we also took some pictures on the streets. Okay, we are picture freaks or maybe not? We arrived at Orchard at around 7PM. Olga was craving for KFC and in no denying the fact, I too had a craving for the hot and spicy chicken. Well, first order of business was to look for KFC in Orchard but, I needed to change my camera batteries so we went to 7Eleven at Lucky Plaza and I purchased four 2AA batteries. After that, Olga and I strolled along Orchard's pavement or rather sidewalk while taking pictures. While we were in a bus, we saw this rotating Christmas tree so we searched for that. It was at Isetan mall which was just on the opposite side of Marriot Hotel. We got there through an underpass. The drizzle was going on and I hadn't brought my umbrella and Olga's umbrella was having issues of its own. Anyway, we got to that rotating Christmas tree and took some pictures but the lighting was not good so we decided to locate where is that KFC fastfood. I saw a security officer and I asked him where is the nearest KFC. All I could understand from him was 6th floor and he said just go inside of the building while making hand gestures. Olga and I went to the mall and looked for the directory and there was no 6th floor. So tried our luck at the side exit of the building and we saw another directory but still no KFC to be found. There was a security booth at the left side of the exit door, so I asked again and he replied that it's on the 6th floor at the cinema. Olga and I just nod because that was the only English part of his answer. We went back to the main mall and looked for the sixth floor with the cinema. We found it actually but we're a little lost as to how to get there since the escalators looked weird. Anyway we managed to be at KFC after looking for it for quite a while which felt a month. We decided to have a buddy meal which has 4 fried chikens, two mini cups of mashed potatoes and 4 pieces of breaded shrimp. I would have wanted rice instead of mashed potato but they don't serve one in KFC as well as McDonalds so I had no choice. Anyway, it was a nice belly feast and it was the most expensive food I bought for myself. Usually, a meal here would cost me 3SG $ and this one chunk an amount of 6.45 SG dollars off from my limited budget. The price I pay for that craving. Hehehehehe. After we ate, we went out of the building and walk and walk again then take some pictures from here to there. I will post them later here :)

After a long and tiring walk which was by the way fun and exciting with all the drizzle and the crowd, we went to church and hear the mass. After the mass we went home and had our Christmas inside the four walls of the house. Our housemates prepared gifts for us so we opened them on that midnight.

Merry Christmas to everyone once again and I am so excited of the new year. And oh, I sent my merry Chritmas wishes to my family just after I arrived home.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Orchard and the crowd - I felt like a tourist though.

I woke up on a Saturday late in the morning as it was 9:30 AM. This past few days, I would normally get up from bed at 6AM. My Indonesian mate and I just went to the hotel cafe to again savor the free breakfast. After breakfast we went up to our room at the 5th floor. I did my own personal time by browsing the web, checking my gmail and yahoomail, while I listen to music along with it.

At around 1PM the free internet connection that we have in the hotel got disconnected. We just prepared and decided to go to POSB. There's a branch at Ngee Ann City, so we went there and found the bank at the 4th floor of the building. We need to open a bank account for our salary. Here in Singapore, you can use any bank of your choice for your payroll. I was amazed at how fast things were processed. It took me 20 minutes to open the savings account with passbook and ATM card readily available. Well the bad thing is they require 500 SG dollars for the initial deposit amount which was quite a sum.

Olga sent an MMS to me saying that she's coming to Orchard to have our keys duplicated. So we decided to meet her at Lucky Plaza as that's the only place where we can have our keys done. When Olga arrived, she had to call and text me at the same time and I did the same because Orchard was filled with lots of people doing shopping and excursions. I found Olga at the engorge of the building and so we just got inside and looked for the building directory. We couldn't find one so we went to customer service. The staff guy who looked diligently answered our queries. He even pointed out what unit in what floor and which way of the building. He seemed to have memorized the building's blue print.

We arrived at the stall of the key maker and Olga did her transactions. The key for the main door was not duplicated because the key maker did not have that type of key, but the side door's key were good to go. I paid Olga 2.80 SG$ for the key. We felt a little hungry because obviously I did not have my lunch. We went to the building's food court and took our picks for lunch.

After lunch we decided to do window shopping. We walked and walked around Orchard which sent my feet in pain and so we stopped by at Singapore Tourist's Center and had an electronic foot massage. It was soothing. We then decided to just walk around. The three of us bought ice cream bars. There just huge crowd and so we decided to just go window shopping. When Orchard got dark, we thought of stopping by at the street shows. We first stopped at the contortionists show. There were two girls there bending and showing their flexible bodies in dark leotard suits. After that we passed by at a children's choir, then at the Korean community doing some of their cultural show. There was an Indonesian community as well. We also passed by at the pantomime area where the crowd was endless at taking pictures with the animate character. We then stopped at the Filipino community. We spent a total of 3o minutes their watching them sing native songs and some dance performance. The crowd were a mix but you can see that there were other Filipinos aside from us. You would also notice them visibly because after the performance they would clap their hands terribly and scream (is it a sign of narcissism or just pure or total admiration of the performance). For me it was just an ordinary performance. I enjoyed it and also cheered through clapping but not scream. I even asked my self in English candidly and the guy beside me must have overheard and replied that it was just an extreme appreciation of the performance. I just shut myself up and enjoy the performance while laughing at the back of my mind. Another thing caught my attention was when I looked behind me, I saw some member of the Korean Community watching the show which was a little funny for me. I told Olga and we were just slightly laughing. I mean why would they be there instead of attending their own show? Or maybe their show or performances was finished....

After watching three performances, we accompanied Olga to the bus stop bound for Ghim Moh, where my future address be.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Medical Checkup and Chinese 101

Last thursday, I had to wake up early because I need to go back to Boonlay for the medical check up. I woke up at 6AM and I was terribly sleepy. I had no choice. The room was really cold. I am not used to airconditioned rooms so that is why it felt chilly. I got up from bed and grabbed my undies and towel. I went to the shower. Good thing it was a hot and cold shower so I took the hot shower obviously and it has helped. My hotel mate was still asleep and so I had to call his name telling him that his next.

I immediately took my polo shirt and iron it. After I changed what I worn, and after my Indonesian hotel mate was read, headed at the cafe for our breakfast. The meal was as usual good. After the meal which took us 15 minutes, we went back to our room to prepare for the office.

We usually take a train / MRT at Somerset and alight at an interchage going to Bouna Vista where our office is. We arrived at Bouna Vista after approximately 3o minutes of travel, and went to ride a bus at the other side of the station going to the office. We arrived at the office around 8AM. It was really early and the office was really quiet. I was assigned to read the specifications and the technical documents of the project so it was kind of boring. I was waiting for my team lead and our manager to ask for permission regarding my second medical evaluation. I thought that my hypertension has normalized and there I was back on the old track. Anyway my team lead was not around and so when my manager arrived in our office I hurriedly went to him and asked for permission which he gladly approved. I just composed an email and sent to my team lead regarding my itinerary. I waited outside and it felt that the bus was not coming so I decided to take a cab. Too bad he did not turn on the meter and he told me that the taxi charge was 3.80 SG dollars. Anyway, I did not have any choice so I just paid him. I went to the train station knowing that I only have 30 minutes as I was scheduled for 10AM to see Dr. Ang. I needed to relax as I felt tense that I will be late. Good thing, I arrived at Boonly CeterPoint just in time. I went to the reception and the queue was already long. So it felt like forever. I waited for almost an hour just to get my turn. Well the doctor checked my blood pressure and it is now normal. She actually gave me a medicine to take. I guess I don't have any choice so I decided to take the medicine and it's going to be forever.

It was already late so I need to take my lunch. I had fish and a vegetable with rice for 3.80 SG dollars. Not that expensive compared to the meals in Orchard. The problem was I spoke to the servant in English and she would reply to me in Chinese. I did not get what she told me but I just said yes. The words which I only understood from her was when she told me about my bill. Anyway she gave me what I wanted so it did not really matter but at the back of my mind I was really confused and laughing.

Haven't I told you that I am a little stupid at directions. For example I would get lost easily as to where is my left or right or my north and south etc. Wahahaha. I'd get paranoid! Well when I got to the train again bound for Bouna Vista, I honestly dont know where to ride or which train. So I asked the train staff and the train headed for Buona Vista was just infront of me. Wahahaha. So there I took the ride and reached the office on time. I even met Olga at the bus because she also went out from the office to open a bank account at POSB. We arrived on time and we proceeded to our own cubes and I continued reading the manual / specifications which would send me to sleepy mode.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

I'm back and I apologize for the silence

I have not been blogging for about two weeks or so and it felt a little sad. The idea of not being able to blog was also a little maddening though I can manage to go on but I think it has been part of my life. Well, I just would like to share to you the updates and what has been going on in my little world.

Dec. 2, 2008 - The last day of work in my previous employer, RenditionDigital Inc. (RDI). I was so relieved that all the turn over and related stuff went smoothly in the end.

Dec. 3, 2008 - The clearance day. I had a minor issue which was about the health card that I have to surrender to RDI. I had to call and asked my father to send the health card addressed to the company administrative office so I would be cleared. All the other departments cleared me except this one. After the clearance processing, I went home with Olga and took a few hours of rest for the "Datalex" party. I went home tipsy by some bottles of beer and a glass of vodka. Bubba Gump, the venue of the party is cool and the food was great.

Dec. 4, 2008 - The time to fly to Cebu. Prior to that, I have packed my other personal stuff and delivered it to LBC, a local air freight, to be sent to Cebu. An hour after that, RDI admin staff called me telling me that they received the health cards from Cebu but there was another problem. I have alledgedly failed to submit my company ID. It was absurd and made no sense as to why the most basic thing to do wasn't done. It was kind of rude to tell the kind lady on the other line those words and so I just pleaded that it might be just misplaced and asked her to just double check as I was totally convinced that I have surrendered all the company issued cards to her. Thankfully, after an hour she sent me an SMS and informed me that everything was fine as my card was just there on the brown envelope and everything did not have to go to a fiery battle of reasoning and other unnecessary exchange of remarks - and thank God. I went to Cebu with a huge peace of mind. I arrived in Cebu at around 8pm and due to some miscommunication, no one in the family fetched me from the airport. I was a little worried because my brother or father did not send any SMS. Well I decided to just take a cab and head home. My father was a little shocked when I arrived, as he was not expecting me to be home by then. It was all my brother's fault but then things happen and it already did so I just let it go. I had to have dinner outside with MJ and Angel at Max Restaurant.

Dec. 5, 2008 - Meet my friends. I got some cash for my Singapore trip and thanks to a special friend.

Dec. 6, 2008 - I went to money changers to have my cash converted to SG dollars. I had to meet Olga on that day to give her my initial payment of the condominium where I will be living in Singapore.

Dec. 7, 2008 - Went on a lunch date with college friends in Ayala Center.

Dec. 8, 2008 - I went to Metrobank to open an account for my father.

Dec. 9-10, 2008 - Shop at SM City Cebu for the things to use in SG.

Dec. 12, 2008 - I finished the book from Paulo Coehlo, "The Zahir". Then went to ABS-CBN in Mandaue City to claim the lost cellphone of MJ and then went to Simala in Sibonga to offer some prayers.

Dec. 13, 2008 - Went a lunch date with Darylen and Marjo - two of my dear friends. We love to eat fish tinola with lukot. Hehehehe. They actually treat me that lunch:) It was somewhat a reunion for the three of us.

Dec. 14, 2008 - The very day that I have to leave my family and friends and my homeland for Singapore. I did not want to see myself drop into tears so I ask my father to just go with me at an "eskina" or compound corner. I just told him good bye and be good and I couldn't bear leaving and if I stayed longer I may cry so I decided to just get a taxi and rode myself together with MJ and Angel to the airport. After some few minutes of talking, I realized that I forgot to bring my laptop and so we had to have the taxi head back to our place while calling my brother. As soon as we reached our compound and got out of the taxi, I saw my father running towards me carrying my laptop. He slowed down and gave the laptop and tap my back. I miss my family and friends to be honest with all of you who are currently reading this entry right now. Anyway, I got back to the taxi and off we go to the airport of Mactan. I was with MJ and Angel at the airport. I spent two hours with them talking almost anything under the universe as my flight with SilkAir was delayed. Anyway at around 4PM, it felt real that I was already leaving. I had to check-in as the plane boarding will have to begin in 15 minutes. Cebu to Singapore was a three hour plane ride and good thing it was way comfortable and enjoying with SilkAir. I don't know if I can ever ride SilkAir but my first impression was good. The delayed was a blessing in disguise for me. I arrived in Changi International Airport at around 8PM and I was a little hungry and a little lost. I only have the address of the hotel and I wasn't sure if I can make to the hotel on time. Well I took a taxi and it was a mercedes benz taxi (I never had it in the Philippines). I was hesitant to ride on it first but then the taxi charge/fare was just at a regular price so I hop on. My destination was from Changi to Orchard Grand Court Hotel. It was a smooth ride and I paid 19.45 SG dollars for the fare. I came to the hotel and went to the reception and asked for the reservation on my name which was made by the company that hired me in Singapore. At last in just minutes, the reception officer (I honestly don't know how they are called) processed everything. The girl actually greeted me with kumusta upon checking my passport and knowing I was Filipino. She even joked that she is Jericho Rosales' boyfriend. It was a warm welcome and I loved it. After that, I proceeded to my room which was at the fifth floor. I actually have a roommate from Indonesia. Good luck to some language or cultural barriers. Anyway everything went well and my roommate was also a people person.

Dec. 15, 2008 - My first day in the company. My officemate and I went to our company at Ayer Rajah Crescent and we hired a taxi as we were not familiar of the MRT system yet. After the contract signing and all that, we went to Boon Lay for the medical check-up. My first time to navigate the MRT system of Singapore which compared to the Philippines was more organized and advanced.

Dec. 16, 2008 - Orientation day and time to meet my office mates. This day was a great one and meeting people from different countries was awesome. I have office mates who came from China, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, India and from the Philippines.

One of the major reason I did not blog this past few weeks because I was terribly busy, and all I could do was reserved some portions of my daily excursions inside my cranium. Friends of the blogosphere, I think those are the updates that which I felt worth sharing. Thanks for bearing with me.Thanks to Singtel hotspot and I get to blog and thanks for the time available for me to blog.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

I'll be watching Twilight with friends

My friends and I are watching, "Twilight". It is based on a novel by Stephenie Meyer.
I don't have the books yet but I already have the PDF copies of the novels. OMG, the list of books and e-books to read that I have, is already mile-long! But, I will find time to read them, that's for sure. Though I am not expecting this movie to be great, but I hope it can give justice to what Ms. Meyer has written.

Is this going to be just-another-vampire-movie? I don't know! But the movies' trailer looks nice and I am excited to watch the full length show.

By the way, we will be watching the movie at Glorieta and we have reserved the tickets online through sureseats.com. Too bad, we did not decide sooner, so we got the 11PM screening time which is the last show, but it hasn't changed the fact that I am eager to watch this movie with my friends. I was actually the one who convinced them to watch. Honestly, I am hoping that it will be really nice and the story is a must-be-good-one so I won't be tortured by my friends and be fed to the lions.

Got to eat dinner, ciao!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Christmas is in the Air, smell it!

Holidays are coming and are really unstoppable.

At work, our officemates organized Monito/Monita - a kind of exchange gifts activity where there is a specific theme. Last week, we had something green and just this week we had something dark / black / evil. I received a pen that's colored green with a hand sign of peace and yesterday, I received a head and a wrist band which is good for badminton. They were cool gifts and thanks to those who gave them.

I am thinking if there will be gift giving or even big Christmas celebrations or parties in Singapore. Also thinking if vacations in Singapore would be long which I doubt. Sigh :( An hour ago, our HR emailed everyone of the holidays this December (Philippines) and they are as follows:

1. ) December 1, 2008 declared as a regular holiday in lieu of November 30 which commemorates Bonifacio Day
2.) December 25, 2008 Christmas Day
3.) December 26, 2008 Special non-working holiday
4.) December 29, 2008 Special non-working holiday
5.) December 30, 2008 Rizal Day
6.) December 31, 2008 Special non-working holiday

Quite a long holiday here in the Philippines. I will surely miss Christmas as I have foreseen that I will be spending it somewhere else away from home. I'm getting nostalgic already of the thought of it. Well I will be going home to Cebu first week of December and I will spend those days with my family and friends. So I'll make the most out of this mini vacation.

Christmas is really in the air and I am breathing it already. The spirit is sharing and forgiving and if you can do those things, I think you have celebrated Christmas. My way of redefining Christmas looks good to me :)

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Good-bye JIRA issues - hurray !

I just solved three major fixes for the JIRA assigned to me, hurray!

I was lucky enough to have found a solution to these issues which are sort of critical to the project's release. Though things were tough, I just pushed myself and do some overtime work/research to finish it on time. Again, free of charge. Overtime is inevitable I guess if you are working in software engineering but, I think better schedules would make a difference.

But I have some few, I guess, wandering thoughts like, I am just wondering when will I turn over the tasks I am doing. Will my boss give me new tasks aside from the tasks I am working? Basically these critical tasks were assigned to me just last week. I actually have one critical task which I am partially finished with and I am on the testing stage. I have updated my unit test for this tasks but still testing it on a live host if it behaves correctly.

Anyway I hope he won't be giving me more tasks to work on, so I can move on smoothly.

And oh, I got surprised when the HR staff from the company where I will be working in Singapore emailed me of my flight schedule. I am again so excited. What's ironic is that, I haven't purchased my ticket back to Cebu where my departure will be for my flight to Singapore. Silk Air is a sure fun and exciting because it will be my first ever to fly with it in international border.

God bless and many good things to come for everyone :) Ciao!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Enchanted Kingdom, Hot Spring in Laguna and PBA Live with Cebu Friends

Though my Friday was really busy for me, but the weekend plans has got to push through and nothing should stop me, rather, us to enjoy it. My friends from Cebu went to Manila for a great fun and adventure. Thanks to Olga for arranging/managing/coordinating the itinerary for the planned getaway.

Saturday at around 5:30AM, I heard a hard knock on my door and my body just did not mind who was it or my mouth never cared to opened and speak up, I just found myself opening the door and forcefully opened my sleepy eyes. It was Olga and Agnes and they were very alive and kicking and already dressed up. "What? - a bubble thought I had"; so I jumped! I got a soap and wash my face and I took a gargle of Listerene - mouth wash. I then changed my sleeping wear to something suitable. The girls waited for me like for 5 minutes. I actually forgot about the whole fetching thing and for that I did not set my alarm. After everything were set, we went to NAIA 3 to fetch our friends. Morning sunshine is there and the darkness enveloping the sky began to fade away and good thing the plane which our friends were on board hasn't arrived yet. We got to the airport just in time. After some five minutes of waiting, our friends got out of the arrival area. We then went outside of the airport and got a taxi bound to our place. Okay let me introduce them to you who these people are:


(from left to right: Jason, Sly, Olga, Bloom, Ronan, Genesis, Yanna, Jez, Agnes)

We went to McDonalds but it's still so early so we decided to go to our condo to leave their belongings and stuff. After everything was set, we went back to the fastfood to take our breakfast. It was Opaw who cracked the first joke which sent us to laughter. Since we speak another language called, "Bisaya", we would usually have fun trying to translate English words into Tagalog. So basically everyone laughed at the translation for French fries which is "piniritong Pranses". After the chit-chat at McDonalds, we then went back to our condo and prepared for our adventure and our first trip was to Enchanted Kingdom. I have been to the place once and going back their still sounds fun. We got a taxi to Glorieta and went to Glorieta 2. Yanna, Jez and Bloom was with me. We passed by at Ayala Avenue and I sort of acted as a tour guide mentioning the buildings which they will find interesting. Ofcourse, I did not fail to mention Rufino plaza, an old looking building in Makati which was the tallest building in the Philippines in year 1996. We stopped at Glorieta 3 and headed to Glorieta 2 where we can buy our tickets for Enchanted Kingdom. There was a long queue and we waited there for almost an hour after we were attended by the guy in red polo shirt. They had a problem in their ticketing as there was no more printable sheets for the receipts. Anyway things got served but our stomachs were getting angered already.

We arrived at E.K. after an hour ride and that was 1:40 P.M. or something in the afternoon. There was a crowd of all sorts and it was drizzling. Olga the "Girl Scout" of the group had an umbrella and so we were shielded from the slight rainfall while we were waiting for our turn. Jez got us a snack while waiting outside. Some of our friends went somewhere to do some hunting that's good for the eyes. We got our turn and our Cebu friends, got the ride-all-you can tickets and we bought the regular tickets. When we got inside of the theme park, we hurriedly scout for a place to have lunch as we were hungry as beasts already.

After we had a really awesome lunch just enough to give us the energy booster we needed, we looked for a good place to start the fun. Since, my condo-mates and I got the regular tickets, we just looked around and took some pictures. GMA 7 stars were having a show so we just sat there and observed several actors/actresses passing by and stole some pictures of them. Our friends from Cebu on the otherhand, just couldn't be stopped from the rides. I was planning to get a ticket upgrade but I had limited funds so I just decided to feast my eyes for anything that was interesting and beautiful. My condo mates and I decided to walked around and checked for something to buy. We craved for something sweet and so we found ourselves at the counter of an ice cream parlor, while waiting for our friends from the roller coaster ride. The last ride our friends from Cebu took was the space shuttle. The queue was really long and they waited for almost 30 minutes. We actually waited from the roof deck / observation deck where we can capture some scenes. While waiting for them, we also took some pictures. At last, when they had their chance to scream their hearts at the top of their voice, we decided to had our chance to get a ride. My condo mates and I went to ride the carousel. It wasn't heart pumping as what our Cebu friends experienced but it was fun as Ronan made some comical acts. Well it was getting dark and we decided to get our bags from the EK's locker area. After that, we decided to get to our next destination, Rockpoint Resort - hot spring resort in Laguna.

We arrived there at around 8PM and we were very hungry but we did not forget to take some pictures. Ronan did not go with us as he needed to meet his cousin(as if I believed him and he confessed that I was right hehehehe). We got a huge room with ten beds. After we put our things into safety, we went down to their mini restaurant for our dinner. They actually serve Western and Filipino dishes and most of us ordered Filipino food. After we had our dinner, some of us decided to bathe in their hot spring. Of course, everyone were excited and so the tired and aching bodies need to have a good bath and why not in a hot spring? To most of us, it was our first time to go to a hot spring so there was no denying in our face that we wanted to have a nice hot bath :) Everyone got relieved from the stresses of the city, and everyone felt so so relaxed. Well we went to bed after that long night.


It was a Sunday, Nov 16 at 9AM when everyone was awake. We just hit the mini restaurant of Rockpoint and ordered food for breakfast. We actually planned to go to Tagaytay after the hot springs, but it seems that we haven't enjoyed the stay their, so we just finished our food and then headed to the hot spring.

Well we sort of decided to cancel the Tagaytay trip, to not to rush ourselves from the schedule that we have set. We don't want to be stressed from our vacation, right? Hehehehe.

Anyway everyone had a great fun at Rockpoint. We made some comical acts and remarks and specially Opaw who cracked most of the jokes. They were corny but really funny and intelligent sometimes.


After three hours of fun at Rockpoint, we decided to go back to our rooms and prepare for the ride to Manila. It was 12 noon and everyone was hungry. We thought that we need to eat somewhere so we decided to go to Binalot just few meters away from the hot spring compound of Pansol, Calamba Laguna. "Binalot" is a dialect which means wrapped. Well, the food that they served to us wasn't wrapped so I don't know how they call it then. But in Makati where they have a "Binalot" branch, the food they served were wrapped with banana leaves. Anyway we ate and satisfied our stomach.

We then got a bus bound for Manila. It was a almost a two-hour ride. We stopped by at Mantrade and took a PUJ. We were a little in a hurry already because we don't want to be late from the church service at Greenbelt chapel. When we arrived at our Makati condo, we just changed our clothes, washed our faces aka clean ourselves then off we went to the Sunday service. The mass was interesting as always. It talked about God-given gifts or talents to be put to use according to the teachings of Christ. It was enlightening and thought provoking. The priest never failed to deliver the message across (on my part). After church, we decide to go to Cuneta Astrodome so we can watch PBA in raw, live action drama. It took us 3o minutes to get to the sports dome. We don't have our tickets yet and good thing there were business people who offered us some tickets and so we purchased eight of them. It was too bad that we did not watch the game together since the tickets were not in order but even so, we still had fun. Yanna had her dream-come-true moment when he had a picture with Alvin Patrimonio - a once famed basketball star. Agnes got her chance to have her's when she had a photo with Kenneth Duremdes. As for the rest of us, it was crazy. I am not a basketball fan of all sorts but it turn out really awesome. For one thing, I was cheering both Purefoods and Ginebra team who ever gets a point. Yanna wanted me to cheer with her so I just changed which team to side but sometimes I couldn't stop from cheering Ginebra team simply because their play was also amazing. Well the game ended with Ginebra winning it and toppling Purefoods team with a bang.

We were hungry again and decided to go to MOA to dine at Yoshi no ya. After, we had our dinner, we just strolled by at the MOA bar strip and checked them out. We also took some group pictures. We did not want to have some booze because tomorrow would be work already, and so we just continued the long strolls. It was getting dark and everyone wants to eat something again. Good luck to those who were on a diet but nothing can stop a sweet tooth in us, so we again check the delights at a particular ice cream parlor. I just ordered a peach mango shake and Agnes had a parfaite. The rest got halo-halo. After we ate, we strolled again and listen to some live music. When we felt tired and sleepy already we went home and call it a day.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Money Matters! ... Money Matters?

I wish money trees were true....

I have been in some financial turmoil lately and maybe up until now. I asked some of my relatives for help and they too were having some wreckage. I knew I can find other sources. So I scouted my insurance company if they have enough value of my investment and good thing they have. I was able to loan a sum. I knew it was a little improper but I had no choice so I called some friends. A friend who was a classmate of mine since grade school up until college days answered my call and heard me. Thank God she is a blessing and an angel. There were people who helped me and I am so thankful for them. I am touched and moved by their kind heart. The company where I work also had their share. Even if there were issues, they still gave me a sum. I also went to a bank and applied for a loan. My papers were already submitted and I am positive that I am qualified for the said loan. I am crossing my fingers and even my toes? How would I do that then?

Anyway, they are not free and I know that. I have the responsibility and obligation to these folks. So, I have to work really hard, enjoy every bit of sweat I pour, gear up myself and learn from every tidbit of life's journey. I just would like to end this entry with this Biblical passage:

"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold."

Got to go to the church, ciao!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Phoenix's Mission to Mars: a sad note ?

It's geekazoid time.

Well a friend of mine sent me a link regarding the Phoenix Mars Lander. It details about it's last transmission. Phoenix's message feels like he is human.

The Phoenix's mission is a history maker. For one, it has surveyed mars for months to gather scientific data and to ultimately see if Mars is livable. Another thing, it prides NASA and the scientific communities who have helped to make it possible. Data gathered from Phoenix is also an important aspect in this journey. I will give us some answers which could maybe well beyond our knowing. Right now the data is still being analyzed and of course I am excited to also read about it.

To the "Super Cali Fragi Listic Expi Ali Docious" Phoenix, thanks to you too.

To see the write up where it also has some tweeter notes from Phoenix, just visit this link: http://gizmodo.com/5082385/this-is-my-farewell-transmission-from-mars

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

I was late , my boss was checking on me, and I am getting broke

It was a Monday and the log-in system that we have was updated. Basically my name or my log-in credentials were already deleted. I have to write my name on a piece of paper to record my log-in and log-out.

My routine would start for a stand up meeting with the team mates, basically reporting the progress that we have. The load that I have was a little lighter because of the fact that I have resolved the issue when I went to the office last Saturday and I was not surprised that more tasks were assigned to me. New JIRA or program defect or enhancements were given. Basically the routine boring Monday passed by and I was having some financial crisis. I am joining the US and some European countries of the crisis. You see my company won't be giving my salary for November because of my resignation and I will be receiving it on the third week from the last day with the company including my quit claims and other refundable claims. Anyway, I am broke. I know I am not alone on this and I am hoping that I can lend cash from my relatives or friends or from my insurance or a personal loan from a bank. Hope it will be approved sooner too.

Today, I woke up early but then was really slow at moving, and literally I was dragging myself. I don't know, little by little as I am nearing my resignation day, I felt bored and not wanting to go to the office. One thing for sure was I am having no motivation already of the workload I have, plus the fact that I won't be getting my salary any sooner. Good thing I have still food supplies so for sure I won't be experiencing Africa's famine in Makati. Just as I was preparing already to the office, my phone rang and our company's receptionist was on the other line asking if where was I already. He was asking if I am on my way. All I could do was say yes.

Anyway, two issues came in my tasks and I am still figuring out things. All of these issues were not an original work of mine and most of them were not finished, and they were assigned to me to be finished by me. I am already on the brink of telling my boss what I feel and how I think. He is still lucky that I have changed because when I was still younger, I always voice out my opinion and I was really blunt to the point of being tactless. Anyway, my patience is still there and I think I can still manage to pull this off so I'd rather go on and take this as an opportunity for learning and improvement.

Bye for now because I am hungry already. Hehehehe. Have a great evening to everyone!

P.S. I am so excited to work in Singapore, and I am hoping that everything will be in its right place.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Saturday is haunting me :)

This is my first time to work on a Saturday here in Manila. Even if I would love to spend the weekends just watching any movie or reading a good book, I just can't. I'm here at the office trying to change all the build stuff of our project just for the modules that I am testing to be completed. I just wanted to get things done already and not cram on the final day I flee this company.

I wish I'd be out soon and go somewhere like Glorieta or Greenbelt (sigh). My housemate went to Manila Ocean Park and my other housemates are having some fun at home. I wish I'm in the comforts of my room and play the very old StarCraft.

I know I have to do this because it felt uneasy knowing that Dec 2 is really fast approaching. Or am I just a worry freak again?

Anyway I am blogging while waiting for the builds to finish after wiring all the module dependencies. I really like Apache Ant (sigh). I hope Apache Ant will prove useful in my future projects because if not, I will be very disappointed why did I have to delve Apache Ant from the ancient scrolls.

Got to sign off here, the builds are making a good progress. Ciao!

Friday, November 7, 2008

Barack Obama wins, so what's the score?

I was not really that much of an election frenzied as I am situated away from the USA, nor an American. But think about this. USA is such a huge and powerful country. It's decision can make or break the world into rubbles. It's power is vast. Why should I not give a damn?

I myself have likened the speeches of Obama and it moves me specially when I was attentively listening and watching over them at where else? Youtube.com! The moment he stands there on the stage, firm and full of conviction, until he closes his harangue, it's just so full of strength and rage for change. His messages to the millions of Americans and to the world watching, were really effectively delivered. His gestures and his facials were totally convincing. But, what's the score now that he has won the first leg of the race?

Well, he has managed to win the nods of the majority. He deserves to be there as I see it. To those opposed, let us give him a chance to do what he has got to do. I think in a scoring from one to ten, he has already a point - securing the seat in the White House that is. He has still a long way to go and prove himself with what he has had in his harangues. Every American and anyone who are in dire need of change can support him. The call is to support and put aside the bickering and political issues.

So what's the score? As I have said, it's a point. What about you? Do you have already a score for yourself?

Monday, November 3, 2008

Three Pre-requisites Of My Resignation, Blessing or Curse?

Just this morning, I gave my resignation letter to my manager. But prior to that, he talked to me about things and asked me if my decision was final. I replied to him, "yes". He then asked me of three things. First, he wanted me to finish all of the assigned tasks. Second he does not want me to be absent like do unnecessary leaves. Third, he wanted me to help RDI for their recruitment of new software engineers in Cebu. I don't know why they love Cebu.

I honestly was not sure of those things. The first condition was a little difficult because of the fact that the tasks he is giving me keeps coming. I just thought that he could lessen the load and focus more on the transition phase. Well anyway, I have to do what I have to do. For the second part, I will be absent if it is really necessary. In my almost one year of my stay in the company, I only had availed for two sick leaves when I got really sick because of the drastic change in weather and had availed for four vacation leaves. I even got a perfect attendance in my first six months. Basically, being absent for no good reason is totally out of question. On the third part, I honestly did not promise him anything but I will try to ask around. I just felt that I have no credibility at convincing other people to work at the company that I am going to leave soon. And personally, I cannot recommend the company simply because of my personal reasons which are private and confidential.

Anyway, I ended up my day at the office with a little delay in my work because our server computer which is our database server where I was connecting my desktop, was not working and so my work did not progress a lot. I just managed to do some code re-factoring or re-implementation by changing some algorithmns in our code and doing a technical analysis in our end-to-end system tests.

If you asked me of what lessons I had with today? They are:

1.) Don't commit yourself to something you aren't sure you can do.
2.) Don't promise if you can't at least be responsible about it.

I just felt I am still blessed even if I have lots of things to do and I thank my family, friends and most of all our God for everything. I know I will learn a lot from this.

P.S.
The stuff toys on the picture above are: Pong the turtle, Rich the cow which looks like a pig to me, Bench the cute bear with the heart and Scare the cute bear with really coarse covering which what could be the fur. My condo mates and I own those cute toys.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Au revoir, French for farewell.

The reason why I got that weird feeling when our CTO called me up, I mean the reason why it felt uneasy when they gave me a pay raise was because I have decided that I will be leaving the company. I have been thinking about what's good for my life and my family lately, and an opportunity came knocking on my door. I was accepted for a job in Singapore. I believe that the hands of the Great Divine has made the map for me already.

To elaborate, what really happened goes like this.

I was really super busy with work. I remembered that I wrote in my facebook account the words, "kagibunshin no jutsu". I took these words from Naruto, a Japanese anime which means, a thousand clones. I had to virtually tell my self to be cloned so there will be plenty of hands that would be doing the programming adventure.

Anyway it was a Friday and as I have mentioned, everyone was silently working a hard labor. You could hear no murmurs or any voice except the continues taps on the keyboard. People were programming so busily and at 3 PM, there was a brownout in our office and not just the office but the entire building. A water pipe in the building was broken and it has affected the power supply. The management or RDI(company name) decided that everyone be dismissed early from work. After our manager dismissed the teams, a meeting was conducted. After that seemingly caucus, our manager who happens to be the lead in my new project asked me to work on a Saturday. He proposed that he will pay for it. I got confused of the proposal or was I maybe, just maybe did not hear him correctly, and just said that I don't like to work on a Saturday. There was no taking it back as I had made a stupid facial expression and a firm no. Though my head was joggling still the thought of what I heard, it was still a "NO".

When Saturday came, my condominium mate's boyfriend, who came from Cebu had an interview for an employer in Singapore. Well, I woke up around 10 AM and my condo mates were playing the idea of going to the interview as walk-in applicants. Upon knowing what they were up to, I have spoken out that I want to go and told them that we can go. There were discussions but no need to write all the details here, because there were information which might be self incriminatory. Wahahaha. So off we went to Mandarin Oriental Hotel located at Makati Avenue. We came there with a pen and our curriculum vitae (CV). We were excited and kind of not prepared, but, with high hopes. We had brunch by the way to fill our empty stomach before we actually went to the venue. When we came to the hotel, we looked lost and I felt lost and good enough the girl asked as if we were walk-ins. And so a smile was drawn in our faces because we were not even sure if they are going to allow us to hop in. They got our CV, gave us some sheets containing information of available positions to choose. I chose "server applications engineer" and "tools and applications engineer" using Java. It was 1PM already and they were interviewing us one by one initially before we will be interviewed and be subjected to a battery of tests by the technical panel. Mandarin Hotel was cozy and we were hungry. Good thing there was food being served. So we eate there and told ourselves that we need to fill our stomachs because, just what if we won't be accepted at least we were filled. I ate three or four pieces of uber delicious small sized siopao. Well, it was 3PM and were still waiting or should I say queuing and the lobby was filled with more applicants and all of them were not walk-ins. We thought that were not going to be interviewed but we were wrong. At around 5PM my mates were called and lastly it was me. The interviewers were two French guys, an Indian HR Manager and one Singaporean guy. Ofcourse I can't spill out the names because it's confidential or I just thought it is. Hehehehehe. So I got up my seat and shook the hands of the French guy who has a weird English accent. I was having difficulty talking to him and I just put up a smile on my face even if I looked dumb already. Anyway the other interviewers were okay and I understood them. The first part was a practical exam. Prior to that he asked me if I know SQL. I told him I do but I am not an expert. He was going to give me Java threading but he decided to give me Java SQL. He showed me the Java codes and good thing I knew how to solve it. So I filled the missing snippets and explained to him why's. Good thing I got it right. The next one was he let me solved the fibonnacci problem :) I got it right as well. By the way you can't say it was easy because the set-up was weird. While you were actually answering the technical question or solving the problems someone on the panel would radomly throw questions at you from personal to something anything which was confusing and weird. Anyway it was a little stressful as they were bugging your focus. But I tried harder not to lose it and got the idea that it was their way of interviewing. After a few moments intense pressure, the HR manager tapped my back and he told me to go with him on the next room. He then shook my hand and gave me a job offer. I was happy, really happy. When I got out of the room, my mates were there smiling as they had their offers as well. So that was what happened and the rest is history as they say.

Last Friday, October 3, 2008, I talked to my manager privately and told him of my plans. It was not an easy day for me. I just thought that things will be alright and things will be better. And yes Cashmere was right in her predictions.

Au revoir!

Blogging : Award and Friendship














It's always good to share and give back. It's even greater when it comes from the heart. A thank you note is more than enough to give a smile and it makes a difference. Well, there are those who made me smile, some made me see things differently, others entertained me, and a few made friendships blossom. In a way, it has created an impact.

I would like to make mention the blogs and their amazing creators who just well fit this theme. Drum rolling ... Here they are:

Hugo and Roxanne - http://believeachievesucceed.blogspot.com/

Angie Atkinson - http://angieatkinson.blogspot.com/

Johayra - http://letmeplaythemusic.blogspot.com/

Shiera - http://bisdakbabbles.com/

Wen - http://scribble-and-scribble.blogspot.com/

JM - http://webofthought.blogspot.com/

atenean101 - http://insearch4you.blogspot.com/

Cashmere - http://purple-cashmere.com/blog/













Hope you guys continue the great job. There's a lot to do but we can do it. Happy blogging to everyone and continue to make a statement and continue the great works.

And oh, just like Hugo and Roxanne has coined, "pay it forward".

Friday, October 31, 2008

Horror Train, A True Halloween Story

When I was still a kid, I am so used to dreaming a lot. I would wake up in the middle of the night or in bleak dawn screaming because of my nightmares. I would even imagine those clothes outside hanging on the line to be ghosts that is why I would cover my whole body with a blanket during bedtime, including my face. I usually watched horror movies and I like the thought of being scared and that was the reason maybe why I kept on having nightmares. Okay, this is supposed to be the horror train story so I'll kick this off.

When I was ten years young, my friends invited me to go to a carnival. The entrance fee was very cheap so I did not asked my mom for some cash. I just had to notify her and asked for permission. She allowed me to go with my friends and gently advised to go safely and just be home on the right time. I went there with so much excitement. The city lights were glowing in different hues and there was a huge crowd close to becoming a mob already. In the streets were different people selling different goods, from toys to street food. I did not bother to buy or anything of that sort since I was there to go to the carnival. So we came to the place. It was jam-packed. The queue to the entrance was way too long. I was even worried not to be allowed to enter the place because of my young age but, my friends who were a lot older than me were good enough to act as my guardians (evil grin). Anyway, there was this horror train which caught my attention, but, my friends wanted to try the ferris wheel. I remembered my father telling me before I went to the carnival not to try any ride with a ferris wheel as it might be dangerous, so I was really hesitant. Due to my young age maybe, I joined my friends with the ride. We hurriedly got our tickets. We went there arranged ourselves on the seats available and ta-da, we were enjoying the ride. It was fun everytime it went from the top going down. Trust me you would love to really scream your loudest scream. I did scream for that was my first time to ride a ferris wheel. It was scary yet exciting and fun. After the ride, the horror train was still there calling me, inviting me to go and try it. I was having that great urge and so I had the hardest time convincing my friends that we try it. I was telling them that it's fun and exciting and telling them to look at the people and ask those people coming out of this huge booth where the horror train was. They were convinced after some grueling task of getting their approval - persistence really works. So we had our chance to go and try the horror train. When we got to the train, we were actually panicky as to where to sit and be buckled up. Everyone was a little scared even if the train hasn't started to go that huge dark cave. Even if I wanted to sit in between or at the middle, I was displaced and was positioned at the edge. The train started with this really really slow ride. Upon entering the cave, the mini lights inside the cave went to flicker strangely. There were screams and really scary whispers. There were people in sickening costumes you see in horror films wearing scary monstrous masks. I meet Freddie and Jason for real. There were black and white ladies. There was this beheaded priest. My heart was really pumping so hard and my arms were sweating. My friends were already screaming and all I could do was forced myself to close my eyes. I was already shaking and wanted to get out. I also wanted to pee. My friends were getting unruly and they were pushing me around or maybe everywhere, so, I opened my eyes. I was shocked and couldn't react much. There was this really ugly being from hell. He looked real. I was trying to push him away but he kept on coming. My friends were super scared and wanted to jump off the slowly moving train. Because I was so scared, I got a little freaked out and slapped the monster and kicked him. I even took his seemingly bloody mask and tossed it far. At last the train was getting to a close on the outside world, at the far end of the cave and I was still left scared. Well the monster which felt real was not there already. When we got off the train, there was this guy in costume and approached me. He asked me where was his mask. OMG! He was the monster that gave me goosebumps and received some physical blows from me. I was still scared yet laughing at the back of my head. I thought he would strangle me for real, and I would be running and screaming for my life. Well good enough he didn't. I just told him that I did not have it and that I threw it inside the cave. Good thing he believed me.

I just thought that I would love to have another ride of that horror train.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

My new blogspot niche

I was thinking of making a new blogspot niche. I just thought that separating or making a new site where I can publish poems or other literary pieces will be a good thing for me so as not to make a mess of this site. It would make sense to make a site just for my personal stuff and a site exclusively for my poems and other's poems. In this way things will be clearer. I was battling it out for a couple of weeks already and now I have decided to make this a reality. Thanks to Miss Angie Atkinson for making me realize this. I was actually checking on my old posts and this one: http://mycranialjuice.blogspot.com/2008/08/unspoken.html was something for me. I am used to writing poems so it's better to have a site dedicated for this purpose. Again this site will contain my poems and the poems of other's I have read which I think worthy to be shared.

By the way my new blogspot niche exclusive for poems and other literary pieces will be:
http://callthemliterature.blogspot.com/

Hope you guys can visit this new site of mine.

I am now in the process of transferring my poems in http://mycranialjuice.blogspot.com/ but I won't be deleting them here. It will just stay as it is. New entries which will be categorized as poems and other literary pieces will be in http://callthemliterature.blogspot.com/ and other articles such as my critics, my life, my musings and other related materials will stay in http://mycranialjuice.blogspot.com/.

Happy blogging day to everyone and enjoy life :D

Should I be super happy? I got a 10% pay raise.

Yesterday, an officemate approached me and told me that, she was going to the CTO or Chief Technology Officer's office. She didn't know what to do and she was totally clueless.

After a few minutes, the phone on the other side of the cubicle rang. A teammate answered it and called my attention because the phone was for me. I answered the phone and said that it was I on the other line and she replied that I had to go to the chief's office as well.

On my way, I passed my officemate who was called earlier. Her face seemed confused or I guess a little worried and there was no time to ask her of what happened. I just walked briskly and went directly to the chief's office.

There, the HR Manager and the company president were present. The chief was sitting comfortably in his chair and began to introduce me with the company president. After the introduction, the president left the office and our HR manager asked me to sit on the chair located at the opposite side of where she was. I just gestured a soft thank you and then took the seat. She then told me, that because of my outstanding performance based on the recommendation made by our project manager, I was given a pay raise. I was shocked. I was literally tongue-tied. After the HR manager explained, she gave me a formal letter stipulating what she had just discussed. She then asked me as to how do I feel. I guess she was expecting me to jump with joy maybe or cry? (Hehehe). Anyway, I was just shocked. My first evaluation was not really excellent as I got only an average rating but then this past few months, according to my manager, I was doing great and I should keep it up. Actually after the "shocking moment", there was a gigantic flood of thoughts running around my head. I can't exactly tell you right now what are those thoughts about, but in the next few days, I will. Anyway, together with the flooding of thoughts was my nerves were a little shaking and my heart was beating fast. I know I was having some second thoughts on a lot of things. Again, my face was very much attentive as to what the CTO was talking, like he was explaining the new roles and responsibilities to me which he ended up by saying that my manager will elaborate on the details. While doing that, I was actually lost in my own thoughts. I usually have this episodes that I get absorbed to what I am thinking but still listening to the other person. I was actually surprised and shocked of what happened and was screaming at the back of my head, that I wanted to go out of the CTO's office already because I was gonna puke. I mean, I was feeling like I was going to vomit and there were no butterflies or insects in my stomach. They were asking me if what was I thinking about them calling me up? Was it that, I have done something wrong or breached any company policies or displeased the client. But the truth is, it's a lot worse. But then again, I cannot tell you guys what it is and in due time I will. (Is it getting really obvious already?) After the CTO and our HR manager explained everything, at last I was allowed to leave the premise. 10% salary increase is good but I still am having issues with it.

I proceeded to my workstation and pleaded my friends that I needed a break. They too agreed that they needed a break. So, we went to Greenwich and an officemate treated us for a free snacks. I was not able to enjoy the pizza and spaghetti because the thoughts were still swirling in my head. I just decided that things would be over and it will be better.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Guns N' Roses' New Album

I was having a hard time trying to type the apostrophes (hehehe).

For those of you who are so fan of the Guns, they are releasing a new album, "Chinese Democracy". Good publicity? Hmmm. I don't know but I don't like the title. It's very obvious that the concept directors or consultants do not have anything to make of a title for the album so they just came up with that. We all know that China is a communist country so what are they trying to say? I haven't read the scripts how or why they came up with that title but it appears to me differently. The Chinese people can call or do for any Democratic movement and the world can support it. The album may preach the same thing but the real cause here is they want to make a buzz in order to sell. I don't know how else, will they make another title for the album. Haven't heard of the Guns waging for Democracy or if they want to promote Democracy, and just now. To the band who has released their last album way back the 1991 good luck. To the fans, I apologize for being critical on this.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Are you one of the Hobbits?

I am not a Hobbit but I was once a mudblood at Hogwarts.

Anyway, I was able to track all of the LOTR movies like watched them over, and over and over. I bought the trilogy cd and enjoyed it during Halloween, Christmas and New Year, all year round. I think the story is great but did not have cash to buy the novels as there were no paper back issues or at least I haven't seen one. The glossy hardbound issues are really expensive for me. Hope someone can give me an LOTR book, at least one book, so I can kick-off my collection and not just the movies.

In the LOTR movie, one great animation is of Smiggle. I find the character scary yet adorable. The friendship of Frodo to that of Sam. Arwen and Aragorn's love - so great. The great battles and the likes were truly amazing. The sage knowledge of Gandalf. The scary looking creatures of the Orc race. And the happy race of the Hobbits. Thanks to master Tolkien for this great cranial juicers.

Why I write about the Hobbits? Hmmm... It's holloweird! All Soul's and Saint's day is coming and I am planning to watch the trilogy again. I am also planning to watch my matrix movie collections and whole lot more.

And oh, smiggle would make a good Halloween costume. "Precious, precious, precious ...."

Monday, October 27, 2008

UCA Shooting and me being back!

Two opposites; well, I chanced to read the latest news. As I have arrived, someone on the other side of the globe died. It's horrific - a shooting at the University of Arkansas. There were two deaths. What could be the reason behind this shooting? US of A has a serious problem in their schools - emotional or psychological in nature.

Anyway, I just got back from Cebu. Cebu is still Cebu, with lots of pluses like more malls or shopping stores, more people, and ahem ... more dirt? It's slowly becoming like Manila which is a little polluted, and I am hoping not. Hope Governor Garcia and the mayors of Cebu will take good care of our progress, that it will be a balanced progress.

Here are the pics I want to share. Hope you will like them.

This was at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport 3 or NAIA 3. The controvesial airport because of the allegations of corruption when it was constructed.

Since I was all alone in the airport waiting for my flight, I managed to take some pictures. Since my laptop was still fully charged and I have still an hour to wait for my departure, I played Starcraft. Hehehehe.


Click, then click and finally click....

This is kind of nonsense but let it be. Wahahaha. I have been travelling since ages but then I did not have a digital camera. I mean this is my first digi-cam. You see, I usually have to ask some pictures from my friends, whom I'm travelling with, to have photographs which were posted at multiply, facebook or friendster.

This was my flight number bound to Cebu.


Click, then click and finally click....


My pose at SM City Cebu North Wing lobby.

This side of the mall is comparable to some A-shops at Greenbelt. They have expensive brands of clothing and apparel lines opened in here.

Too bad, my money is not for those shops.

Anyway this will give a new meaning to window shopping.




Click, then click and finally click....


Me and my best friend MJ.

Posing outside of BigBy's resto. (Have I spelt the resto name correctly? Wahahahaha!)

We've got nothing to do and we can't have our dinner there so we just took a photo of us.


Click, then click and finally click....


We went to an art exhibit entitled, "Mugnang Halad" which when translated to English would become, "Creative Offering".

The paintings were great and I was messing around. I do love paintings specially the abstract style. This painting was my personal favorite.



Click, then click and finally click....


Dinner with my closest friends at Joven's. These people are my college mates in the good old days at the Cebu Institute of Technology.

Some of these friends became my officemates as well when I started to step into the world of professionals.

I am allergic to shrimp but I still ate a lot.


Click, then click and finally click....


The second Mactan bridge, my first ever photograph of this very important structure in Cebu.

This bridge connects Lapu-lapu City to the mainland Cebu.





Click, then click and finally click....


An aerial view of the second Mactan Bridge.

I took this one from the plane bound for Manila which was 4 hours ago if I am not mistaken.





I still have lots of pictures and as much as I wanted to share them, I just can't. I would prefer to have them treasured and be kept private. Hope you guys understand. :)

Oh I forgot to mention that my brother and my father fetched me at the airport and all I could do when I got out of the airport where they waited was hugged them. I was so happy to see them. Extremely happy!

Anyway, peace and prayers to those who have left this faceless earth and to the families of the victims at UCA.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Jim Norton Versus My Newest Picks

Jim Norton is releasing a new book entitled, "I Hate Your Guts". According to sources, it will be released this first week of November. This book is actually about his dislikes of political and Hollywood figures.

I think with this book we can get some insights about who he is disliking but the question lies on whether it is on the premise of truth. I don't know either, that is why I am having my picks as well. I am not saying that I won't be buying his book but if someone gives a copy then I would browse through it. He is a comedian so it might be good for those idle times. But then again, most of my time is occupied. Anyway I have six books purchased a week ago. The most expensive one is from Paulo Coehlo - "The Devil and Miss Prym". I have not read it yet and did not took it out from its plastic cover as I am still reading, "The Zahir", which I am loving, still from P. Coehlo. The other five books are as follows:

5.1) Black Earth City - When Russia Ran Wild (And so did we) by: Charlotte Hobson - It is about a young woman's heady encounter with the new Russia, as she and the country embrace the passions and risks of freedom.

5.2) Island of Blood by: Anita Pratap - About front line reports from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and other South Asian Flashpoints.

5.3) Speaking Stones by: Stephen Leigh - About two different human settlement in a faraway planet called Mictlan where there is struggle and often disturbing complications in adapting to their surrounding.

5.4) Sap Rising by: Christine Lincoln - About the lives of African Americans whose lives unfold against a vividly evoked rural community.

5.5) A Stone Boat by: Andrew Solomon - About the death of a beloved mother and its aftermath.

I actually got these books from a book-sale at Glorieta. I am usually on a look out, as to where book sales are and get worthy to read books. Hoping that these picks are great. Right now they are because I purchased them for only 189 pesos or around 4 US dollars - all of the five bulleted books.

Deadliest deadline

My boss gave me new tasks and tons of them. He was telling me about the deadline and it's really deadly. Come on, giving me new tasks with limited time to finish it.

What happened to me after that was I can't move. The thought of being able to finish it on time was dreadful. I cannot even make sense of the world already - asking how was he able to set the schedule. Was he even thinking or was he being rational at coming up that schedule? Or, was he just guessing? The first thing I did was tell my friends that I want to collapse already because of the work load. I even forgot to breathe for a split second after I read the email, and when he talked to me about it.

Well I sort of planned what to do first. The first thing that came up in my mind was super multi task by doing plenty of things at the same time. I identified which ones were easy to do and did it right away. I was still having issues because most of the huge tasks are difficult and because I need to check on the specifications which are mostly business rules. By the way my work is in software engineering and my project is related to an industry-grade travel software or platform. I am assigned in a module where you add insurance for your air travels. Well my PC for one thing is a bit cumbersome - hope he won't be acting as if he has his own body and mind. To go on, I did my first two hours sitting in my workstation, convincing myself that I can really finish it.

When I went out for lunch, my boss was there at the lobby and was asking me about the new tasks. I told him that I have a vacation leave so maybe it would be very hard for me to finish in his schedule. Then he remembered that I have a scheduled leave for two days. What the f**k, he really did not check his schedules. I think this is one of the issues that needs to be addressed - right and sensible schedules.

Anyway I am trying my best to beat the odds and making it to the deadliest deadline but, for the next couple of days, I will be going back to Cebu and I don't want my work to spoil the fun so I am leaving it in time-space continuum stoppage.