Taking turns

It was my last day of tenure at the office yesterday. Not many were present due to their respective holiday vacation nonetheless, it was a good day. Yelen and I went to the museum at her insistence. Granted, we've postponed the trip long enough when the museum is just a block away. The museum is not as grand as the National Museum but it archives some interesting materials from old military uniforms, swords, guns and canyons. Half of the second floor is mostly dedicated to Fidel V. Ramos, ex-President of the country and ex-Chief of Staff, with his memoirs and items all throughout his life as an officer.

Anyway, back to my division, I'm going to miss them. Not the entire department because in general, it sucks bigtime and the gossipmongers are awfully desperate in projecting their adolescent frustrations on younger employees. However, my division rocks bigtime, with the chief already on deliberation for a promotion. That mean he might be a one-star general sometime this new year. Sir Glenn is on leave so we weren't able to cajole him into a last minute treat, after all, we made the IPMS project work. Our office doesn't have complete facilities but we were happy then. I was happy then, but not happy enough to endure unprofessional co-workers outside of my division and the unrelenting hell of payroll madness.

I met up with Beth afterwards because she's been a true friend all these years, she bought my SM gift cheques. I've no use for them, after all. We had dinner at Krokodile Grill and had seafood ala-pinakbet and tuna sisig which both were on par in snuffing out our hunger. We accompanied Bevs at Conti's to buy her cakes (Mango Bravo!)--her consuelo de bobo before her execution day: today. Good luck Bevz; she has yet to text me regarding her parents' verdict which as she had said last night, she might have lost her jaw already. Beth and I dropped by Adidas in Greenbelt at my insistence. The outlet is already selling World Cup jersey particularly that of Brazil, France, Spain, Germany and Russia. I want to buy a Spain shirt but jeezy creezy, the price is overwhelming. I could probably purchase it with both eyes tightly shut but I'd do that if the shirts have corresponding players' names and their respective numbers on it. If they don't then I might as well buy a general South Africa 2010 shirt to suppress my lifelong frustration in football.

At Cors' initiative, we went to the newly opened Gelatissimo to have a taste of what all the socio-elites are going gaga about. The Italian ice creams are obviously unique, Beth had the sour-sweet Forrest Berries while I enjoyed the traditional sweet Tiramisu flavour. It was then I came to a scandalous epiphany with Beth that if the Italians' quotidian ice cream can sell like a small dose of paradise then Filipinos can offer their own version of ice cream: the sorbetes. Just as what Beth had thought, all European things are haute couture. They cannot live without the delicacies and intricacies in their daily lives. Therefore, if they can have a taste of simple yet still undeniably delicious food, they would sell bigtime. Or not? After all, Europeans do not have a tendency to be too pretentious with imported things but I'm digressing. Back to the ice cream. There's a Lime flavoured ice cream which fondly reminded me of Richard's eccentric taste in them. I might as well treat you, Chard to a scoop if you'll treat me to dinner preferably if we can schedule a date for Where the Wild Things Are or another movie.

Instrumentality

I'm finally done with the series and the OAVs of Neon Genesis Evangelion after two days. I want to write something about the anime since it has been one of the landmarks of my teenage years. It was first aired on a local TV network and seeing the complexities and psychological aspects of the series, no wonder it didn't click well with children. It is not meant for the children, in the first place. The characters, like Anno-sensei exclaimed, are too twisted and sick to be understood in a shallow manner.

In relation to watching the series, I should download some scores from Pachelbel. I don't have much of his works in my collection aside from his musical scores used on Eva which I find very alluring. I should also get something of Bach, I've been in love with Suiten fur Violoncello for years.

The BBC Horizon episodes I have downloaded for several weeks are already waiting to be watched. I might keep them in the dark until January. Going jobless will result to complete and utter boredom and I can see that my soon to be daily schedule would be either watching the episodes or reading one book after another.

Anyway, I'm off to sleep; continuous late nights have finally taken its toll on me.

Jotting it down

As much as it will pain me no to have financial support come January 2010, there's an upside to it: I will have time (again) to read. I can reason out that maybe not since I already have a new laptop and parting from it even for a day can be too difficult but no, when I'm stuck at home for the whole day with nothing to do, I tend to lean towards the bookshelf. I have several books waiting to be finished and I believe I'll have a better motivation now that I have what I need.

I invited Beth for the AFP Day, with parade and the silent drill until I realized it was too hyped and nothing special happened except if you can call seeing the President pass by you just a few metres away. I got my mug which has a pretty long hairline crack on it so I plan to ask someone (particularly some officers who obviously don't need those) to trade theirs with mine.

There's no official announcement for a renewal of our contracts nonetheless, I won't sign again so that's about it. I'm sure they can find new folks to fill our positions. I'll miss my division, they're absolutely a brilliant group but there's no love lost for me and the other civilian employees. They can rot until their retirement age for all I care. This little stunt also cleared my perception on government work. Sure, they're lenient, they have perks but the people are a big no to me. I'd rather go back to a private company for awhile and besides, I need better pay if I really plan to enroll for a master's degree already.

Do a Landa*

Everyone is alighting the jeepney.

I step out, but not before my right slipper was tripped by someone behind me.

"Sorry." The woman says half-heartedly.

I glance sideways and grunts, "You should be."


I rarely snap, but when I do, I crack the whip. When a forty-ish something woman spews tribulations of the world and how uneducated some cocky girl on the opposite end of the seat is, one will tend to ignore the tripe and prove to their likes that retaliating will only show otherwise. In behalf of levity, it's downright funny. The woman had to stomp her way towards the farthest seat from me and serve her homily for several long minutes before it even passed by my senses that all her hate was directed at me.

Ah, life. I love the abnormalities of Filipino ethos.

*Cross-posted at LJ

Aadfljsadlf

This week was packed with enough excitement and stress to make me go blind. The General Assembly finally came upon with tons of uniformed officers, an AIM professor and a very tardy Secretary of National Defense amidst the four meals we had to endure while just guarding our PDR booth. I mooched enough sustenance (from a heavy baked mac snack to the cocktails) that I didn't need to eat dinner when I met up with Richard and Bolix at Robinson's Pioneer for Inglourious Basterds. I just have to emphasize this because, it really was the visceral reaction I had upon having the first glimpse of the film, it was gripping in its intensity, enough to erase my exhaustion from the GA and let nearly three hours of Tarantino-esque entertainment to satisfy me. It is something you would rant about even after a week, still seeking for a replay of the film; enough for me to download the film through torrent and bow down to Tarantino's ingenious mind to come up with a musical scores for the film. Then there's Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox which has enough moral values to consider it an adult film dubbed in a kiddie stop-motion animation. Richard promised reviews on the two films so Richard, I'm waiting for it.

The exhaustion however, did not stop me from dropping by Megamall, Shangri-la and St. Francis Square to check around sales and buy some clothes. Mango was having their major sale but I couldn't find a good turtleneck and I'm still waiting for Zara's end of season sale in January.

The office's Christmas party is finally finalized on Monday after office hour, not the supposedly lunch time Christmas party from 10am to 1pm and then get back to work mode. Ex-O's meddling for once had its advantages. Admin the Gorilla is really such a kill joy kid. It's bad enough we share the same birthday.

Oh and Havoc is going to have a Christmas reunion tomorrow at dinner. That's Hannah, Mannel, Olay and I since Amor is in Batangas and Arianne is in Australia. I'm looking forward to see them again.

Luck is crawling

My muse is leaning towards my latest and 3rd Livejournal account where I have successfully posted 2 new drabbles for two days with the help of prompts. It's an exhilarating feeling of success. It maybe a puny product but it means the world to me. My muse is still there, I just need enough time to make it skip its sabbatical. I almost cried in joy, I tell you. Pathetic or not, I am rejoicing.

That means lesser blog posts and more LJ updates. It won't be a permanent thing, that's for sure. It's a tried and tested theory. Blogger always give me the complete feeling of privacy and publicity at the same time. Livejournal can be a second resort but it's more for my collection of vices. The two blog hosting websites are very important to me but they are apples and oranges, not and never meant to be compared.

Beyond indolence

It's long overdue but I had a great time meeting up with KD last Saturday for a dinner. Zena couldn't come on the supposed Sunday trip due to her homework so I had it rescheduled to Saturday which is okay; I got the chance to scour around St. Francis and buy some office clothes. We dined at Gotti's, a new restaurant at Megamall Atrium. The food is lovely and the prices are awesome. I brought Richard there last Wednesday because I couldn't stop thinking about their Arrabiata pasta.

Oh and really many thanks to Richard who finally saw my missing Stylus (lost it on his birthday at Alliance's library), a lovely poster of Matt Bellamy (accompanied with an excited shriek) and the subtitles for Walk on Water which was the spur of the moment while he was nosing through Gitano. Megamall's wifi is pretty decent especially around the Atrium; if you're interested to know that is.

Despite my continuous effort to know the limitation of stipend especially when Chard and I already planned to see Fantastic Mr. Fox at Glorietta on Monday, I suddenly grew some guts and bought pumps at Crossings. It's beyond comprehension why I purchased it. It might be a product of frustration when I couldn't find a size 7 for the flats I saw at St. Francis Square. Or that I really wanted those grey pumps at Charles and Keith. Cors placated me that the shoes I bought are already pretty cheap for it's style. Nonetheless, I have to mourn for the loss of more than a grand for it. Then I got to buy several undies when I dropped by SM Fairview last night; nearly bought that dark blue sleeveless shirt. Jesus Christ. Spare me. I don't know what will happen to my Christmas bonus when it lands on my greedy hands. I plan to enroll on French class again but from the way I spend at the moment, I doubt the plan will materialize.

On the current status of my in limbo muse, I can say that it's a small but good improvement that I'm able to write a few unfinished drabbles/fanfictions since last month. I don't have the stamina of before that I can finish a story in one sitting. I want to experiment and see if I can do that in another environment, preferably a library but seeking one near the area is futile. A coffee shop in a mall can be a second choice but the amount I have to spend before I can get a couch and act all yuppie and self-righteous is too adulterated already.

That said, if anyone can point me to a free for visitors library around Quezon City or even Manila, put in some suggestions. I would love to visit them.

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The whole OJ1 went to PAGCOR yesterday afternoon to watch the highly acclaimed (who acclaimed it?) Flow, the next big production after the successful Wonders. I had no idea what it was about although some of my officemates and even Beth knew. It's a mix between musical and acrobatics. I've always hated watching the circus or any kind of production that includes strenuous body activities. No pun intended. Seriously, I guess it's part of the keen eye I have that makes me nervous when I see straining hands and legs. I go into scientific mode, analyzing too much body flexibility and resistance, and the taunting gravity. It's lovely though, a good performance for kids and worth the ticket price (around P 1,500) if you have the money to spare.

Fun will be non-existent when Monday comes as we go into overdrive in preparation for the PDR General Assembly which will be held on Tuesday. Good luck to my body's immune system.

Make your dreams

In my haste to get home early because of hunger and sneezes, I had to ride the wrong bus (it's only until SM Fairview) and be treated to Twilight (I saw the ending credits) rolling. I couldn't not watch a bit of the film which can probably prove that curiosity can kill the cat because heaven help me, I gained a gruelling headache from it. I don't even know if it's because of the bus driver's skills or my suffering from the film but it was downright terrible. At one point, I got teary-eyed from the headache I almost spilled my merienda(that's pancit and Coke) on the lovely bus isle. Oh I remember, it's the part where Bella's in the hospital trying to fight her way for Edward not to leave him. The scene was so absurd and mind boggling in its relentless intensity my mind shrieked in shame.

Anyway, it's a lovely birthday for me. My officemates had enough energy to cheer me up with their greetings, got hugs from my bosses and a lucky cash advance to boot. My asthma has toned down, thank you very much but the sneezing and snot river are unstoppable until now. The thing is, I'm celebrating the same birthday with our admin officer--the one we always tease as a monkey (a gorilla for that matter) behind his back. Don't look at me! It's the officers who initiated pure evilness. No matter, he's the ugly and hirsute side of my co-birthday celebrants. Let's look at the bright side, David Villa is now 28. I'm 23. 5 years is still probable, yes? He's one of the best strikers in the world and for Valencia's sake, please don't sell him to Man City (for 88 million). It will break my heart (and lungs) and Silva's midget love for you