August 2008 [Backdated]

08/17/0808/17/0808/17/0808/17/0808/17/08
In August of 2008 we went to Las Vegas. About 12 of my friends and I decided  to go there for the weekend to break the monotony. One of the guys has a vacation house there (I know, right?) so that's where we stayed. All of us had been to Vegas before but that didn't stop us from seeing the sights, hearing the sounds, and just living the "Vegas Life" of beautiful and unexplainable excess. It was a good feeling knowing that the ONLY thing we had to worry about was how to keep the laughter and the good times rolling. The trip definitely served its purpose. For a brief moment, we all forgot about work, school, family issues, and that point during those long weeks where you are so (fed up with) used to the grind that you forget (or don't care to remember) what day it is anymore. But that weekend in Vegas? No sir, those two days we will NEVER forget! Well, the parts that we remember at least. 





[Oh, and there was this one girl...]




That's a picture of her - taking a picture of me. Shy as I am, I don't usually open up to people I don't know. But we both just felt comfortable around each other right away. And in this world where no one is getting any younger (or less cynical), that's something that's not as easy to find anymore. It was the kind of (crap) thing you'd see in a "boy meets girl" type of movie. You know what I'm talking about. The trying to admire/stare at them without getting caught. And you do get caught... but instead of cold shoulders and death stares - smiles ensue. Naturally, we started talking and enjoying each others company (a.k.a flirting). We were trying to capture as much of each other that weekend, you see. The stories, the endearing glances, the smiles, etc. Because as much as I would like to say that "the rest was history" ...it wasn't. The rest went like this:



[She already has a boyfriend.]


Story of my life, really.



signature


1 comment Tags: vegas, pinas

The Unincredible Hulk




We went to Fazoli's in Eastwood last Friday and the waiters had their Halloween costumes on. Save for the boring witches and pirates, we found this gem of a guy. We asked him to pose like The Incredible Hulk, but he gave us his best impression of a constipated Martian instead. He tried his best though, bless his heart.






4 comments

QotD: Snail Mail


QotD: [ When was the last time you received a hand-written letter in the mail? Who sent it? ]

This is funny 'coz my sister and I were just talking about this the other night. I think the last time I got a hand written letter in the mail was 2005. It was extra special because I was still in the Coast Guard back then and our ship was in another country doing boarding operations. When you're in the Military and you're deployed, everyone on the ship gets ONE post office box address. So if someone sends us anything, it takes (at the very least) 2 months to get to wherever our ship is at. 

And what made it even more special was the fact that this letter was from a girl. You know, the kind of girl that sends 3 back to back pages smelling of sweet perfume... with dried rose petals inside... there was even a kiss mark below her signature... a freakin' KISS MARK, people! Needless to say I was a star when I received that letter. Everyone on the ship was jealous.


Man, I miss snail mail.


Now all I ever get are  LOL's  and  BRB's.




10 comments Tags: qotd, snail mail

The Aftermath


I don't know about you, but the aftermath that I saw after Typhoon Ketsana was this:

Ondoy_relief4Ondoy_relief3Ondoy_relief2Ondoy_relief


And that's not even doing it justice. Those pictures are like 0.1% of what's really going on right now. It's like everyone is coming together to help out everyone. There is no upper class, there is no lower class. It's something we Filipinos call "Bayanihan" where everyone puts their differences aside and comes together in times of need. It's half of why I love being Filipino. (The other half is because the food is awesome.)

 
So in that same vein of "Bayanihan", I organized a relief effort for one of our close friends (who lives alone) whose house was swallowed by flood water. All her clothes, furniture, electronics, EVERYTHING was damaged. She managed to take shelter at another friend's house, so she wasn't hurt or anything. When the water finally went down, I called and text messaged the gang to see if they wanted to help her out in her time of need. They said yes. So we went.





Damn right.






2 comments Tags: flood, bayanihan, ketsana, ondoy

QotD: After Death, Then What?

American Beauty
American Beauty


QotD: [ What do you think happens to you after you die? ]

I like to believe that your life will be shown to you, in retrospect, like a movie. Remember the film "American Beauty"? It started (and ended) with Kevin Spacey narrating his life from a bird's eye view of the street he lived in. It then zooms closer down to their actual home, and then the story begins. 

My version would start with a bird's eye view of the hospital parking lot, zooming in further down to the car which I was born in. Yes, I was born (and gladly assured later on in life that I was NOT conceived) in the backseat of a car. 






1 comment Tags: qotd, after death

And so it is...


O.K. so I haven't blogged here in a LONG time. And I'm sure you've been seeing blogs die out everywhere but I happen to have a pretty valid reason that I haven't been able to post: ...I moved to another country.

See? I told you it was valid.

April 2008 was my last post. I'm gonna do a blog entry for every single month since then in order to catch up. Since Oct 2008, I flew back home to the Philippines and the story continues. I'm dead-tired right now but I think I can manage to fill you guys in on what happened to me since my last post. Trust me, a LOT has happened. I'm back in the Philippines now. How exactly that happened, I'll let you guys know soon enough.

The Singing Bee
The Singing Bee

Meanwhile, here's a picture of my sister (eldest) appearing in a game show back in the Philippines. I was washing the dishes and the TV was just randomly on. I heard the host introduce this singer/dancer named "Chingy" who sounded way too much like my sister. Sure enough I turn around, look back, and there she is, on Philippine television in a game show. 
                        Girly screams and a lot of picture taking ensued after that. When the show ended I immediately called my sister back home frantically asking her why she never told me she was gonna be in that game show. Her reply was simply: 

"Hell, I didn't know they were gonna air the show in California."

Onga naman.




2 comments

July 2008 [Backdated]

Someone at work brought peaches.
(and a weak sense of humor, apparently)


In July of 2008 I was still at that job that I didn't like that much but was at least (barely) paying the bills. I think this is around the time I started thinking that things are gonna have to change dramatically if I wanted to get ahead in life. I joined the Coast Guard so they can pay for school, but here I was pushing paper at an office instead of pursuing my education like I planned. I needed something to put me back on track towards my ultimate goal of getting that Bachelor's Degree. I needed a new direction. I needed... a plan. 

So to sum up this month of my life:

 The [SEED] had been planted...

/
/







3 comments Tags: peaches, seed

June 2008 [Backdated]


We're done with May 2008 so let's carry on and do June 2008. At this time in my life, I was (pleasantly) getting used to living with my friends in Southern California, working a dead end job, and savoring the freedom of NOT being in the Military anymore (yes, I was in the Military and I'll tell you all about it some other time). Anyway, I was paying my bills on time and was still able to spend on the little things that I wanted - needed. Things were going good so I couldn't really complain. I was able to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and with the company of good people. Little did I know that in less than 4 months, I'd be experiencing a drastic and dramatic (a.k.a. dramastic?) change that would later affect the next 5 to 7 years of my life! 

How was I supposed to know?

Hell, I'm not Psychic.


Speaking of psychics - and AWESOME segways - I snapped this picture one morning on my way to work. And to this very day, I still wonder if they saw this coming. I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but if you're putting up a business for supposedly being able to "see" into the future, wouldn't this be one of the first things (if not THE first thing) a psychic would "look into"?  (Pun totally intended). 

Return on Investment folks, c'mon now. It's all about that ROI.






1 comment Tags: segway, psychic, out of business

May 2008 [Backdated]


OK so as promised, here I am blogging about every month that passed since my last blog (dated April 2008). Before anything else, I just want to mention one thing. What's good here is that you can actually change the date of every post. Even to a date when VOX itself didn't exist. The question is whether or not to do it since it may confuse the (total of) 2 readers that I have. But it's a good way to keep track of what happened in a nice and chronological manner. Especially if, like me, your main reason for blogging is simply documentation. 

Yes ladies and gentlemen, that is why I blog. Not to entertain you, not to show you how amazing and witty and funny I am (although I am), but merely to document the many complexities of my adult life. A journal you might say. One might even call it a diary. Though I prefer "journal" since "diary" is kind of a feminine way to put it. It's also a huge stress reliever. A form of release. No matter how negative a particular event in your life may be, reading it as a blog entry simplifies the complexities of the situation. Blogging, one might say, is a good way of learning from the past. From yourself. Taking the good, and leaving the bad. And if you ask me... 

"...that's what life should be all about." ._.

(Cue sentimental background piano Music)
or
[ insert eye roll here ____________ ]

Anyway, let's begin. In May of 2008 I was still employed by National Oil Well Varco. They're an oil rig manufacturer and my main job was to track down, chase, and document parts for production. If one little tiny nut or bolt was late, the whole Oil Rig (which costs millions) would be late. So that was what I was doing. Chasing parts for tens of projects that are already late. They're ALWAYS late. I'll leave it up to you to paint a picture of the stress level involved in a job like that. All this from a job position that they advertised as "entry level". Pffft.

                                                          That was my desk. It was a pretty big cubicle for an "entry level" person like me. And I put pictures to relieve the stress and also a little Bonsai tree. Boy did I loved that tree. The pot consisted of the bonsai tree itself, and a little old Chinese fisherman with matching fishing rod and a little fish on its line. Half of the pot was for the tree and half you could put water on. Like a mini "lake". That little bonsai tree made me look forward to going to work, believe it or not. During weekends I would find myself thinking about it, wondering if I watered and fertilized it enough to last the weekend. Bonsai trees are very fickle, you see. It's very hard to take care of one if - like me - you don't know what you're doing. 



Anyway, have any of you tried VOX Mobile? Since my Nokia N95 is the driving force behind me blogging again, I tried it out and it works like a charm. After taking (awesome) pictures on my phone, I would open the application and it would publish the photos right on Vox. And if you don't put titles, it saves the file using the date the picture was taken. Yet another way for me to document the events in my life chronologically. It's the reason why I can go back to a particular month last year and blog all about it. I don't have a pornographic photographic memory like some people do.

And that's about it for May of 2008. I was still working a dead end office job that I didn't really like. I was pretty much channeling Jim from "The Office" every single day. That's honestly what it felt like. 

Jim
Jim





Post a comment Tags: the office, jim, vox mobile, documentation, bonsai tree, dead end job

The Lazy Pug...

03/29/08
03/29/08

I've been having sneezing fits lately and I think it's because of the damn dog. I don't know... If it is, then it's my fault too because I cuddle up right next to her, fur or no fur. I can't help it man, she's growing on me. When I was still bumming around and unemployed - wait - that felt really good to say in past tense. Anyway, I would always sleep in and she would jump up right next to me and lay on my belly. She would just lay there until I finally get out of bed. That is of course, after no one else is left at home to play with but me. But whatever... she's adorable. She's the laziest creature on earth though! They say it's one of a pug's more endearing traits. They're the sweetest dogs ever but they're the laziest too. She just eats and sleeps... oh and poops. She poops a lot. 

As a matter of fact, I never really knew how people could "blame the dog" for farting because I never really thought that dog farts smelled the same as people farts. But since I met this lazy pug, I now completely understand. Man can she fart. I guess female dogs are different from female humans when it comes to discretion of flatulence.

They just don't give a f...

 
1 comment

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