Solo flight

Last Monday was a holiday, it was a long weekend (for all schools) and long weekends in the past were spent mostly on travels. Since i am the only one that has no office (i work in a school), no travel this time.

And I have nothing to do.

But I do not want an entire day to just go by and do absolutely nothing, so, since I have not used Zeus for quite a while, I thought of doing a photowalk with Me, Myself and I, without any clear plan of where to and/or how to.

I give Manila a try. I picture in my head a Quiapo-Sta. Cruz-Intramuros-Luneta-UP Diliman whole day affair. I rode the LRT, take a jeep and walk under the blazing sun. With no sunblock, no hat, and a small umbrella. Initially, my backpack only has Zeus in, but after the Quiapo trip (and a very dissapointing no shots taken!), it was also loaded with lanzones, oranges, pears, longans, grapes and a pair of slipper worth P35.00! (Nag-photowalk pa ako no? mamimili lang pala ng prutas at tsinelas hehe.)

I was tempted to do Sta. Cruz-Binondo via that street behind the BPI building but I already did that in the past and maybe there's a better time in the future to be back there.

I walk towards the Post Office, turn in a corner, saw an old, abandoned building, took some shots and then I am lost. hehehe. Not that I am lost, as in lost, I am just not familiar with the place. I walk some more and found myself in the Bureau of Immigration area. whew.

I took some long walk inside the Intramuros, and told myself to look for Fort Santiago. You're right, i cannot find it. I am not even sure where is Fort Santiago hehehe. Damned myself for not being prepared, sayang ang pawis ko! I rode a jeep going to Luneta, went to National Museum for a visit, but it's a Monday and it's closed. In Luneta, I want to go inside the Japanese Garden, the Chinese Garden, but since it's a Monday, they're all closed!! waaah.

It's almost noon, and I am sweating like hell. With disappointments left and right, with gates closed and the penetrating heat, I licked my wounded guts inside a fastfood and ordered a nice looking breaded shrimp only to be disappointed more with its breaded taste. HAY!!!

You may be wondering where are the pictures? (The above were from a different photowalk hehe) Well, I told you I wasn't that prepared, so halfway through my Luneta rendezvous, a red thingy appeared on the lcd which means that my battery is now low, and nearing empty. wehehehe. But i was able to take some, and i'll post them later.

And forget about the UP-Diliman, hanggang Luneta lang ako hehe.

Happy weekend!!!

nose bleed

did you notice the picture on my header? AND did you also notice that it wasn't aligned/centered? it wasn't intentional, i just don't know how to do it hehehe.

you see, when i found out that i can easily put a picture on the header i immediately click the browse portion to try and have it save. my little brain didn't realized that an alignment issue will surface and the analytical skills that has been missing in my life since birth will be needed.

hay!

i run to the "edit HTML" or whatever and take a look if i can find something, i did found a lot but i don't know what are those hahaha. and just by looking at the gazillion code-combination of letters, numbers and punctuation marks gave me a horrendous headache and made me swear that reading accounting books is better! okay, the reading part was just a joke :).

but seriously, can anyone help me with this dilemna? my header now has a picture and it has been a life-long dream (don't worry, i'll replace it with another if there will be some protests hehe) but with the uneven sides, it looks horrible!

is there an easier path to this universal problem other than studying the codes and be mesmerized by CSS files? help!!!!

UPDATE: Problem solved! lalalalala hehehe

scam!

For the last few months, i've been receiving text messages from anonymous senders who seem to have unlimited text message allowance and a lot of free time to bombard everyone with their too good to be true "good news".

The following are some of them (messages typed/copied as is):

From +639105524575: CONGRATULATIONS!!! Your cellphone # WON TOYOTA ALTIS plus 300thou as HOMEPARTNER last MAY 21. To claim it, please call now BERT RAMOS of Phil. Com. Center (wow! homepartner kaya saan? tax-free ba yang altis na yan ha? me libreng gasolina na ba?)

From +639092603592: Get up to 2M LOAN,asLOWas.88%int, OR w/1mo PYMNT HOLDAY! 12-48mo!NO COLLTRAL!Cntct Kean 0928-9617484, (02)4618493, 4180720. Ths s an outgoing#. Pls dnt rply hre. Tnx. (whoa! where in the world can you get a 2M loan, with less than 1% interest, payable in 4 years without collateral? mayaman ha! i did call the number out of curiousity, it was answered by a professional sounding man but i didn't say anything to him, at least those landline numbers were legit wehehe)

From +639094747813: D' AUDITOR's of PHIL.CHARITY FOUNDATION nform u dat ur Celfon no. won Php950,000.00 2nd prize winner draw last: 01/05/08 Pls Call Me Now i"m Atty. VILMA Y. TUAZON (naku attorney, bakit di nyo pa ginawang P1 million para naman eksakto at masarap pakinggan dahil milyonaryo na ako! o pang-first prize na yun? kayo talaga.)

From +639297794433: Congratulations! Your cell # had won 1M pesos during the anniversary of the PGMA foundation raffle draw. DTI Permit # 2578 Series 2008 Please Contact Atty. VICTOR T. SALONGA jr. at 09297794433 for details (ayan, with DTI permit number pa yan ha and no less than the President's foundation ang involved, wuhoo! at eto na yung hiniling kong P1 million! hehehe. teka lang, hindi kaya si Victor T. Salonga at Vilma Y. Tuazon ay iisa? hmm, V at T.)

And the last one is the funniest, if not the most stupid: From +639182116931:

Gudpm,favor naman pkiloadan mu ko bgay ko din sau im4tante tlg lng kc d2 ko n0w s bus pauwin jan,e my kailngan ak0ng twgan pr msundo ako.tnx. (hanep, me dramang involve! sana sinabi na lang nya na "sunduin mo ako, now na!" hehehe. at pano ka makaka-text kung wala kang load? okay given na piso na lang ang laman ng cellphone mo, dapat sana tinext mo na lang yung susundo sa yo ng "hir na me, wer na u?" ayan, sa sobrang pagka-creative mo na-extra ka tuloy sa blog na to! next time, mag-seminar muna sa dugu-dugu gang ng istayl ha.)

kayo, me nagpasundo na ba, este, me nareceive na ba kayo ng mga ganyang scam? (wag na muna nating isama ang mga telemarketers, isa pa ang mga yun)

hostage

isa akong hostage.

sa simple kong pagkakaintindi, tungkol ito sa inosenteng biktima na napagitna sa dalawang mayabang ng pwersa, walang magawa kundi maluha at magmakaawa, manginig sa kaba at maihi sa takot.

isa akong hostage. katulad din ng mga ordinaryong tao. na napapagitna sa hirap. sa kalam ng sikmura. sa kawalan ng suporta. sa kawalan ng pera.

bukas, o sa makalawa, tataas ng P0.50 ang isang sakay sa jeep dahil sa himutok ng isang industriyang spoiled masyado sa kinauukulan, na kapag di pinagbigyan ay isang umiiyak na pagmamaktol ang ipupukol sa walang kalaban-labang si juan. tigil-pasada ang sagot, at sa mga pasahero, bahala kayo sa buhay nyo!

at ang gobyerno? kunyari ay astig pero kaagad-agad ding tutupi. at sa mga pasahero? ililibre na lang kayo sa trak ng basura, tapos bahala na rin kayo sa buhay nyo!

ang sarap maging ordinaryong pasahero sa bayang ito no? pipilayin ka sa taas ng pamasahe, papabayaan ka sa kalye, at ni isang hagod ng proteksyon wala kang maramdaman.

sa mga isyung tumutubo dala ng isa pang sutil na industriya ng langis, me konting paghinga ang naibibigay sa muling pagtaas ng pamasahe sa hanay ng mga tsuper at operator ng jeep, naambunan naman ng tila dugong grasya dala ng VAT ang bangkaroteng kaban ng bayan at sila'y nagbubunyi na ito raw ay naibabalik na sa tanan, pero teka lang, ang sa bugbug-saradong ordinaryong pasahero ba na naghihingalo na sa mga pasanin ay meron bang nag-aalala?

meron bang nagsasabi na karapatan naman ng pasahero ang dinggin? na mga pasahero naman ang bigyan ng pansin?

hindi ba isa yang uri ng panggigipit?

isa akong hostage na tinatadyakan ngunit di makalaban. iniipit. pinababayaan.

may boses pero naririnig ba? o mas tamang sabihing, may nakikinig ba?

suntukan na lang tayo! o di kaya ganito na lang gawin nyo sa amin!

Breaking the code

i psyched myself to finish the remaining breakdown of expenses, and i know i can do it even before lunch time. my momentum is building up, suddenly, the boss asked for a little favor: "Please read and correct a certain memo." i said okay for i know it's going to be simple.

as usual, i was wrong. forgive me, but my little brain has abandoned me:

"We would like to inform you of the pick-up of your child(ren) at the get-off point during take-home and the measure to be taken in the near future.

1. Current situation
The parent is supposed to meet his child(ren) and pick up at the get-off point, before the bus arrives at the pick-up point, considering that the period when the bus leaves ___ and arrives the pick- up point (except the blue pas high school student holder).

However, when the bus arrives at the get-off point, the parent and/or the equivalent is not found there. As the bus has to wait for the parent, that might cause bus operation afterwards and also troubles the parent who looks after with kindness until those who do not come on time to pick up, come there.

2. Confirming matters and the measures to be taken

The parent should pick up their children at the pick-up point at designated time, in principle.Under the special circumstances, the family maid and/or the driver comes to pick-up point to receive the children, the parent should confirm whether they are at the pick-up point.

With some special reasons, in case that the parent who is asked by the another parent to pick up will tell the bus attendants to receive the other children.

The parent and/ or the equivalents shall wait for the bus to enable the attendants to confirm them.
The parent shall inform the bus company and/or the bus delegate of his/her cellphone number or landline

The School Bus Committee expects the current situation will be highly improved. However, if it is no development, it will be discussed in the School Bus Steering Committee and the new measures taken by imposing the penalty will be examined.

Therefore, we strongly request the parent to follow the rules and observations.

Thank you for your consideration."

there.

i don't know what's wrong with me, but i don't get this. dapat sanay na ako sa ganito as i am doing the "translation" every now and then, but this time, i need to read, re-read, re-re-read and read more.

lost in translation.

and there's one more coming. waaaah.

good thing, it's friday! happy weekend, kanpai!

run out of words

that can happen, especially if you already said/wrote quite a lot.

since yesterday, i am trying to compose a strongly-worded letter (condemning letter, demanding letter, damning letter, etc), as instructed by my boss to be sent to the estate association who made a horrendous 33% increase in association dues, without any notice whatsoever. with just that, you can already said a mouthful, right?

wrong.

if you are drafting letters of similar nature and/or content to the same person/group for the last three years and you don't get the desired result/s, will you get tired of doing it? i am starting to. and to made it even worse, i have this impression that the top guys of that group were just sitting their fat asses on whatever it is that we're telling/asking them!

they'll set an appointment with us for some explanations, they'll come as the happy-and-we-understand-your-situation type of executives, the meeting will end in a happy note, we'll shake hands and lead them outside like long lost friends. and that's all about it. the part were they live happily ever after will not come. maybe it will never come.

they're like politicians, they'll make promises, they'll say they'll go the distance just for you, but what they'll give us? just that, promises, go the distance yourselves!

hokey, i was, never mind. hehehe.

if what's left of my brain will fail me to make that letter of all letters, maybe what i will do is just to compile ALL the letters/communications we have with them and send all of it to them as an attachment, both as a sarcastic move and as a refresher for their fading memories!

how i wish i can do that!

masungit

saturday, some fastfood.

me: (smiling, o-ha) uhm, 2 chicken with rice, breast part please.

countergirl: (punching the machine, looks at the stainless something behind the counter) chicken legs lang sir.

me: uhm, wala nang breast part?
cg: (pumunta sa likod, nagbilang yata) chicken legs lang sir
me: you mean, wala nang available na breast part?
cg: (lumingon ulit) puro legs na lang sir
me: (makulit ako) pero meron pang ilulutong breast part?
cg: (nakukulitan siguro) puro legs lang iseserve namin sir!
me: (all of a sudden a mutant chicken with six legs comes to mind) ha?
cg: (says nothing and just looked at the machine)
me: uhm, sure kang puro legs lang iseserve nyo? para kasing imposible yun...
cg: (pumunta ulit sa likod, me sinabi sa kitchen that sounds like something)
me: well?
cg: maghintay kayo ng 15 minutes!
me: (nagulat, looked at her but i cannot find her eyes) cancel mo na lang!

(then i walked away, i overheard her saying "ano ba yan!" and then she called her supervisor: "pa-void nga!")

had she said it in a nice, swettie-sweetie way, "sir, kung okey lang pong maghintay kayo ng 15 minutes (then flashed a smile worthy of a toothpaste commercial with eyes blinking ten times per second)..." or words to that effect then maybe i'll wait, maybe she's just tired or just pressured, but she can still be nice to customers right, or better yet, she should be nice to customers, di ba?

o makulit/masungit din ako? lyn said: "masungit ka rin kasi."

and all of a sudden, it's my fault. hay.

WHEW!

and i thought my blogging days (in the office, at least) is over.

the other day, our new IT consultants changed our IP address and installed some web filtering software in our server. it's the most ideal set-up to protect us from unwanted stuffs that are lingering in the cyberworld.

and then it happened.

i cannot log-in on this blog.

i cannot accessed my yahoo account. i cannot view my flickr account. i cannot open my multiply account. waaaaaa! and friendster is the only thing okey??? what the...?

and my eight-month old blogging life flashed before my eyes, patay!

i need to have a plan b. think, think, think. okey, i'll buy a laptop and ask smart bro for an internet connection in the house. sandali lang yun. what? a laptop is more than 1000? wala bang tingi? hahaha, desperation, desperation, desperation.

of course i know how much a decent laptop costs (decent is subjective), and i know it will cost me an arm and a leg, i should know, i've been drooling like crazy whenever i see one (discreetly syempre, but it's different when it comes to dslr kulang na lang yakapin ko yung camera hehe) and i wanted to have one but practicality is what hinders me from getting one (and i have other plan/priority for the little money that i am getting *wink, future, wink*).

yesterday, i talked to our japanese contractor, and he told me it's only for a few days that we will be experiencing some glitches, one week maximum as they are still doing some off-site adjustments.

nakahinga ng maluwag ang lolo hehehe.

and today, everything's back to normal, at least on this blog. obviously, naka-log in nako. the web filter is now working and sad to say, it's goodbye to my flickr and multiply accounts. i still cannot view some blogs, like toe's (under the news advocacy sabi ng filter, di ko alam ano ibig sabihin) or sngl's (forum/message boards daw). i guess, from now on, it's going to be tough accessing anything wordpress related or some stuffs. sigh.

you can't have it all sabi nga, but at least, i still get to blog on my free time in the office (defensive no hehe) and can post something relevant like this or as thought provoking such as this.

happy weekend everyone, kanpai!!!

the Optimus Prime that i know

PS: it's a TRANSFORMERS' weekend!

something's missing

my blogroll.

for the last two weeks, i think, my blogroll is missing (or is it just messing?). for reasons beyond me, i cannot view it. what's wrong kaya? my internet connection is okey (well, sometimes it's slower than the "usual slow"), i can still access this blog and view it and can also post some bits, but the blogroll and those under it are, well, nawawala!!!

i can see all posts, the clock, the flicker photos, my profile and that's it.

if you visit this blog, can you see my blogroll on the lower right side as well as the shared items and the nba widget? even babel?

if you also see some unwanted, r-rated ads (verns saw one), please inform me as i didn't allow it.

thanks.

Black and white

i am posting these pictures to put some activity on this blog, i am not suffering from a writer's block or a blogger's block, i am just pretty much preoccupied with a lot of things (a.k.a work, work, work).

pero isingit ko na rin to (hehehe, at di rin nakapagpigil).

yesterday, i talked to a certain employee of a certain embassy (not japan), she was just inquiring about payments but she's so full of herself, and even on the phone, she is throwing her weights around. being the coolheaded that i am, i explained to her that this is like this and this is like that, and if you want this you have to do that, etc, etc.

but a loud person usually never listens.

in short, she doesn't want to abide with the company rule, our rule, and she wants it her way. why is it so? because according to her, she is from this certain embassy.

and i told her, "and so?"

and then, yadda, yadda, yadda...

i cut her off by saying "you are just an employee of the embassy, you are not the embassy! so stop throwing your weights around and for a minute, be respectful to whom you are talking to!"

and then, a moment of silence...

hahaha, tagumpay! and i am amused at myself that i say those mouthful, maybe because the last thing that i want is to be belittled by a fellow filipino that because they are in a way connected to this or that, they can think they are way above the ordinary mortals. sorry, wrong person to talk to. mabait ako kung mabait ka, pasensyoso ako pero wag kang abusado, at mas bastos ako kung bastos ka.

she deserves it anyway (and now, i am rude hehe), and name-dropping doesn't work for me, we have our rules, follow our rules. simple as that.

and did i say i have tons of work? hahaha.

a chair will do. :)